yeah, the intention was for people to figure out at the end of last chapter that it was the Nine, creating tense dramatic irony in this one. we’ve been tearing our hair out in #worm_spoilers this whole time.

“And it was all hinted towards at least as early as the last line of last chapter, which I found really weird. Someone smarter than me could probably tell from that line what was going on” – This was WB’s intention I’m pretty sure. The last line of 14.8 is treated by the fandom as one of the best reveals in the story, not as early foreshadowing.

Yeah, absolutely. The most telling part about that being the intention is that if you don’t get the implication (like, ahem, a certain doofus over here who’s currently talking from experience), it doesn’t really work well as a chapter-ending line. It’s written to be understood as “this is Bonesaw”, and if you don’t get that, the line just… flops.

Which, to be clear, is not criticism. The line works quite well when understood properly.

I can’t believe you believed Lisa and Brian to be coldblooded murderers (especially Lisa) and Brian to be an emotional manipulator. You don’t have a pretty good opinion about these two Undersiders, eh? I personally realized who they’re for real when “Tattletale” said that Skitter should not swear. Tattletale was never against swearing so far in this story.

Like I mentioned earlier, a recurring problem for me in 14.8-9 was that I gave the miasma way too much credit. I thought they were deeply corrupted, all while (more quietly) questioning why changes like these didn’t seem to be happening to Taylor yet.

Y’know, instead of questioning whether the changes were actually because of the miasma at all (beyond “maybe this is a side of them they’ve never shown Taylor”, which was largely dismissed).

This is the tensest chapter of the read-through yet. I keep being half-convinced Krix has already realised, especially with “he just flipped a switch back to fake normality.” I can’t throw any blame around though: I can’t remember exactly when I worked it out, but it definitely wasn’t from the end of the previous chapter which I only got on hindsight. 

Yeah, you’d think that, wouldn’t ya. :p

But nah, I wouldn’t string you guys on like that, even for entertainment purposes. This blog is supposed to be open and honest. Whenever I realize something and don’t tell you immediately, it’s a mistake on my part that I try to avoid.

Anyway, good to hear I’m not the only one who didn’t get it. Do you remember if the closing line of 14.8 seemed weird to you at the time?

Of all the chapters so far, this is the one I wish you hadn’t split up.

That’s fair, but hey, at least this way, I wasn’t exhausted by the time Taylor spelled the twist out for me, probably making my reaction much better.

Are we allowed to remind him of OTHER blonde-haired parahuman girls in Brockton Bay who have previously gone around asking people not to swear? Because seeing him completely miss one of the most heart-stopping lines in the story is just painful.

Hopefully the ridiculousness of my idiocy in the next chapter made up for it, rather than making it worse.

Sharks didn’t specify, but I suspect this ask:

Thanks, screener! 🙂

was in response to Sharks not letting this through. A decision I agree with, honestly.

I was blaming you not figuring out that “Tattletale” and “Grue” weren’t actually Tattletale and Grue on the fact that the liveread format means you’d already forgotten that “Hey! Don’t swear!” Is litterally Bonesaw’s reaction… But I have to side with others now: You’re wayyyy too trusting in Taylor’s internal narration.You haven’t figured it out yet so I’m looking forward to your shock when you do. I hope it’ll be before it’s spelled out though.

I didn’t really forget (how could I? it’s one of Bonesaw’s most endearing and hilarious features, I love it). It just fell into something that ended up being a recurring problem throughout the next chapter: I kept giving the miasma way too much credit. Much like Taylor did, but worse.

Like a couple other asks point out, I even called out that it was like Bonesaw. But instead of thinking “hey, this is actually Bonesaw, not Lisa!”, I went “hey, maybe Bonesaw made the miasma cause people to dislike swearing! but why isn’t that affecting Taylor? maybe the miasma caused her to forget why she didn’t dislike swearing anymore…”

You’re probably gonna see the word “idiot” a lot in this ask session, because that’s really what I was being. :p