Tag: Arc 15

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Reaching out, she fumbled, felt the dim warmth of skin.  An arm so thin she could wrap her hand around it, middle finger and thumb touching.  Her hand slid down the arm and her fingers twined with those of a hand smaller than hers.

A child?

The physical contact seemed to put the physical sensations of air on her skin into a kind of context.  The sense of pressure faded.

Maybe if it’s fading, we can figure out what’s going on here.

“I’m hungry,” the girl beside her spoke.

“I am too.”

“I want to go home.”

“I know.”

Hmm.

How about this: Cauldron test subjects?

There was the sound of a key in the lock, and her heart leapt.

The light felt like knives being driven into her eye sockets, but she stared anyways.  A man, tall, tan and long-haired, entered the room, a lantern in one hand and a plate of food in the other.

…Trickster, is that you?

If not for the child I would take this to mean we’re in Noelle’s head… that might still be the case, but we need to figure out what’s going on with the child.

Is it Dinah? Did Coil decide to store her with Noelle while she’s recovering? That seems like a tremendously bad idea.

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Darkness.  Almost a physical presence, bearing down on her as though she were deep underwater and the weight of all of the water above her was pressing against her head and shoulders.

Alright, so we’ve got a female POV. There go most of my suggestions.

Is this Grue’s darkness, which is indeed a physical presence with a sense of pressure and resistance?

And if so, who would be describing it as if unfamiliar? Are we dealing with a female Coildier here? Except this is not the kind of tactic the Undersiders were going to go for, at least not to begin with.

Civilian bystander?

Some of that was fatigue, some of it was hunger, some was thirst.  She had no idea how much time had passed.

I guess it’s not Grue, then?

Where is this person? Lost in a desert or something?

She might have been able to guess from her period, but her body had decided such would be a waste of precious resources.

Okay, wow, if she’s right about this being the reason and not just “it hasn’t actually been that long”, it’s been pretty damn long.

It hadn’t come, and she had no idea how many weeks or months it had been.

Darkness, so absolute she couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or closed.  As she breathed, it almost felt like the dark was pressing down on her, making exhaling harder with every breath.  It didn’t help that the room smelled like an open sewer mingled with body odor.

Again, the implication that the darkness is a physical thing.

Whatever the case, this gal is clearly not having a great time.

I’d suggest Shatterbird, but from Regent’s Interlude, it doesn’t seem like being under his control should make things like this.

Hmm. I do suppose this sounds a bit like Cherish’s predicament, but a second Cherish Interlude would break what’s been a pretty solid rule so far: No repeat Interludes.

Interlude 15 (Donation Bonus)

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Well, that’s a surprise! An Interlude this early in the Arc? Sure, why not.

So who are we following today, then?

I’m inclined to think we’re about to learn a thing or two about the Travelers and their perception of Coil. Maybe one of them finds out what the Undersiders are up to somehow.

Perhaps more importantly, a Traveler Interlude would give us a chance to find out what the hell their deal actually is. I’m thinking Trickster’s perspective would be ideal for that, but Ballistic is more likely because we don’t know him as well as the other main Travelers. Maybe Ballistic finds out the 325?

If it’s not the Travelers… I have no clue who it’d be. Who else is relevant to this Arc that hasn’t had an Interlude? Brian, I suppose, but I don’t think we’re getting him right now. Rachel’s minions (I feel like Barker and Biter might be put to use at some point), but they don’t seem important enough to get an Interlude yet…

I don’t know.

So let’s find out!

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I’m pretty sure all that asker was saying with the “end of book 2” was that it’s the end of the S9 arc. I don’t think it has any more implications than that.

The thing is, I was expecting a boss battle and an Interlude Arc. To be fair, the Nine have been a three-Arc-long boss battle of sorts, but I was thinking we’d be seeing another Endbringer attack fairly soon.

But if an Endbringer Arc, followed by an Interlude Arc, were to show up within the next three or so Arcs, people would not consider that the end of book 2, not Prey.

(I’m 99% certain more Interlude Arcs will happen at some point. Especially because I have seen how Sentinel looks in the official table of contents.)

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Abou the “we see everything through Taylor’s lenses” thing, the ridiculous amount of WOG that Wilbow leaves on reddit and other places give a better idea of what the situation is like. They are compilated on a spacebattles thread, so you could maybe read them once you finish Worm

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Although maybe it’ll be better to wait until after Ward, depending on what comes up there? You guys will know better than me on that front, so you can figure it out with Sharks when the time comes.

(Later is probably better than now because there’ll be more of Ward to judge by.)

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While Taylor was very brutal in her reaction, I can’t really feel sorry for Barker. Calling a supervillain a gendered slur to her face in the middle of her base was an enormously bad idea. Unlike non-powered women she has the power to punish him for it and isn’t bound by the social rules of proportionate response. He is just lucky she isn’t someone like Bakuda because then he would probably have died painfully instead.

Fair enough. I suppose I just didn’t really see it as him calling her that, just saying it to activate his power for demonstrative purposes, despite it literally blowing up in her face.

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Frech speaker here, lightning in french is éclair, which is pretty close to éclaire which is a baked good. Guess the family did try theme naming… they just didn’t do enough research.

I’m sure you’re gonna get 20 asks about this but I can’t resist being the obnoxious Frenchperson telling you that Éclair is not only a pastry, but also means lightning (without an e in either case, that is Wildbow’s mistake or the girl’s).

Oh, huh. Sounds like a very shocking pastry!

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George and Lennie are two characters in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. You should read it or watch it. (The same guy wrote The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden.)

I believe “George and Lenny” is a reference to “Of Mice and Men”. I’m sure that the big-and-strong-but-mentally-challenged character in that book is named Lenny at the very least.

…ohh, those guys! I haven’t read or watched Of Mice and Men, but I have seen Overly Sarcastic Productions’ summary of it. Not that I would’ve made the connection if you hadn’t mentioned that Lennie is not just dumb but “mentally challenged”.

I’m glad Taylor seems to be wrong about this, because if she turned out to be more right than she bargained for in that comparison, it would not be pleasant for Biter down the line.

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Wait a minute.

I included Charlotte in the Wheel of Time crossover thing because I wanted someone from Worm to be able to channel the One Power subconsciously and only learn about it after ending up in Randland (this would be how they activated the portal stone), but didn’t want to give any of the Undersiders additional powers. In retrospect, though… I totally should’ve given it to Skitter.

I mean, who better to use a magic system themed after weaving than the spidery tailor?