Tag: Chapter 12.5

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The Sarah thing was already known. Coil addresses her as Sarah Livsey in her interlude, and she says she’s willing to answer to either that name or Lisa Wilbourn but prefers Lisa these days.

The “Sarah thing” from that one ask is, I assume, the fact that Lisa was previously named Sarah Livsey, which was revealed back in arc 8. I can’t think of any other Sarah things it could be.

Ahh, right!

Here’s the thing: I remembered well enough that Lisa had changed her name. But I did completely forget what her previous name actually was.

(I know, I’m a disgrace to everyone who calls Lisa their favorite Undersider.)

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As the person who sent that worm d20 post, I would like to apologise for the whole spoiler thing. It’s not really a spoiler it’s just me being daft and getting my interludes wrong. I would also like to apologise for the autocorrect of Krix to Kroc and fic to doc, that’s caused way more confusion then I intended. I would be happy to confirm that there is a worm ttrpg system (written by Wildbow), but Worm d20 isn’t it, it’s just a short and funny fic I’d thought you might like.

Ah! Yeah, the Kroc thing I just found funny, but “fic” to “doc” did confuse me a bit. That’s the other part of why I thought Sharks might not have intended to send it – I figured it might’ve been for her, since I don’t remember actually taking recommendations for docs of any Worm TRPGs.

After I answered the ask, it was mentioned to me on Discord that Worm d20 is a fic in the style of Darths and Droids, DM of the Rings, etc (though I figured you and the person who told me that were talking about different things by the same name). That sounds like fun!

I do want to note though that for an adaptation-style project like that, it’s probably better for me to read it after the point in Worm that was current when the thing was canceled, rather than after the point in Worm it had gotten up to with its adaptation. When making something like that, future ideas and details may slip through, especially if the adaptation is comedic in nature. I’m guessing this is why I haven’t been told any of Worm Abridged Arc 3+ is spoiler free yet, too.

That is, if I should read fan works during the liveblog at all. As far as I’ve gathered, at least some of you readers feel like that introduces too much bias from fandom ideas and portrayals, which I’m inclined to agree with.

As for the Worm TRPG, I think I may have known there was at least one – or at least that some parahumans’ powers had been converted into spells – but not that it was written by Wildbow himself, making it official! That’s pretty cool!

And finally, the Sarah thing – yeah, some of the other asks (coming up in the next post) set me straight about that. My reaction to seeing that in the ask was partially a result of me not remembering who Sarah was. No worries, then! 🙂

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Given your interest in how stories handle magic, I’d recommend reading the serials Ra and Unsong. Magic is studied as a science in Ra, and it’s puns and wordplay and mass produced office work controlled by large companies in Unsong.

Sounds like bard magic dominates the world in Unsong. And, uh, office worker magic…? Anyway, sounds like fun!

As for Ra, I don’t think “magic is studied as a science” on its own is enough to get me interested in a work, but it is very appropriate to the post I made. I did basically conclude that if magic didn’t naturally work with human ideas, humans would use science to force it to do so to the best of our ability, because humanity as a whole just doesn’t give up on things like this.

A work that I think does neat things with magic is El Goonish Shive. It doesn’t do the sort of thing I was describing in my post – rather the opposite, in fact; EGS magic is explicitly designed to be convenient both to the author and to the characters. But it also has a will of its own, a nonphysical sort-of-entity in charge of how magic works, which doesn’t quite understand humanity because its only direct perception of people is through the magic they use and because it has trouble with subtlety. So while EGS magic is usually convenient and very rarely dangerous, there’s a) a reason it is the way it is (magic is sentient, sapient and trying) and b) a certain disconnect between magic and humanity’s ideas and behaviors.

Oh, and on top of that, there’s a race of ethereal beings (”immortals”) running around and giving people powers for their own varying purposes. Turns out there’s a lot of plot you can be at the root of even while restricted by law to “guide and empower”.

It also significantly features magitech and magic science, especially around one main character in particular.

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In an alternative universe, bonesaw is known as franken fran

Ahaha, looks about right!

This manga seems like a lot of fun, I think I might read it. 🙂

And hey, look who else makes an appearance:

It’s Buzz 7.3 Skitter!

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I’ve been waiting to say this until it took effect. The full quote from TV Tropes (item 4 on the “here’s what I know about Worm going in” list from your intro post) actually goes like this: “Over the first few plot arcs, though, the story shifts away from the hellish landscape that is contemporary high school towards the more uplifting setting of a bombed out city at the mercy of a roving band of psychopaths.” And now it’s there.

Hah, nice!

I didn’t know it was a TVTropes quote – I only knew of it because Sharks said it while recommending Worm. But in retrospect, it really does sound like something TVTropes would say about this story. 😛

I think it’s going to be fun to check out TVTropes’ Worm page(s) if TVTropes still exists when I finish Ward.

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Your recent post about “magic that doesn’t follow human ideas” made me think of a webcomic called Triangle and Robert that I read years back. The magic there doesn’t /really/ fit what you’re talking about, but I figure a magic system based around the four food groups (grain, meat, vegetable, dairy) instead of the four elements might be non-traditional enough to spark your interest somewhat. Possibly worth thinking about as fodder for a future liveblog?

Huh. That’s certainly an interesting approach to it!

End of Plague 12.5

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That was a very good chapter.

We had a nice sense of urgency running through the first part of it as Taylor saved as many people as she could on her way home. Then the Shattering hit, just too late for Taylor to really save Danny from it like she was trying to, but fortunately, Danny’s a smart cookie and knows to take Taylor seriously.

Then at the end we had a bit of paranoia directed at some paramedics who, indeed, turned out to not quite be what they seemed. I liked my explanation for why they could be regular paramedics, but that wasn’t what the story needed right now. Right now it needed someone who could bring Taylor the message that Coil wanted her to take care of her territory.

And with another painful departure from the Hebert family house as Danny begged her to stay, Skitter took off to do just that.

So next chapter, it’s time to find out how badly things went there. I’m going to refrain from speculating much right now because I fucked up and did a chapter in one really long session again, and all I really want to do right now is go to sleep. More on what I expect for next chapter in next chapter’s intro post!

Until then, I leave you with this:

image

See ya!

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“I love you dad,” I said, then I backed away a step.

“Stay,” he said.  “Please.”

This poor man.

I’m so sorry, Danny. Taylor can’t stay. Skitter has to go.

I shook my head.

I stepped back once again, and then hopped down from the back of the ambulance, turning away.

“Taylor!”

Here we are again.

Always like this, now.  Always walking away, knowing how much it hurt him.  I blinked more tears out of my eyes.

“You make sure he’s alright,” I ordered the paramedic, ignoring another of my father’s shouts.

The man nodded.

:’|

“I can tell him we aren’t allowing ride-alongs, just in case we need more bodies in the back.”

That would be a nice white lie.

I like this guy.

“Thank you.”

My power buzzed at the edge of my consciousness as I turned my back on the scene.

“Hey. Hey, listen. Skitter. Talk to us.”

Fuck all of this.  Fuck the Nine.  Fuck Shatterbird.  Fuck Jack.  Fuck Leviathan.  Fuck Coil.  Fuck Hookwolf.

Fuck Kaiser too, just for old times’ sake.

Fuck me, most of all.

And yeah, that’s about how I expected that to end.

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He nodded once.  “More specifically, your teammates sent us.  They’d hoped we would pick you up and drive you here, but we weren’t able to find you, and we were delayed because we had to take safety measures first.”

Ahh, fair enough!

Not gonna lie, though, I really liked my idea of them being early because of Taylor’s/Sierra’s warning.

He looked towards the van.  I realized he was talking about the removal of the glass.

Yeah, I figured.

Relief surged through me, and I felt tears welling up.

That relief proved short-lived.

What now?

“Our employer feels there’s very little you’ll be able to do with your father here, and quite a bit you could do elsewhere.

Oh fuck off, Coil.

He did say he understands if you want to prioritize your family.”

Sure, but did he also tell you to put that super passive-agressive emphasis on “employer”?

My eyes widened in understanding.  Coil wanted me to attend to my territory, now, in this moment of crisis.  “He wants me to leave my dad?”

While pretending it’s up to you, yes.

It might as well have been a rhetorical question.  The paramedic didn’t respond.  I felt my heart sink.

“We’ll give him the best care we can,” he said.

Thank you.

You seem like a good enough guy. It’s just your employer who’s a dick in sheep’s clothing. I hope you didn’t take too much flak from fans for the message he had you deliver.

I turned and climbed into the ambulance.  My dad was gingerly dabbing at one of his eyes with a wet cloth.  I was pretty sure he didn’t see me.

Time to dramatically put the mask back on?

I bent over him and kissed him on the corner of his forehead, in a spot where the blood didn’t cover his face.

Aw, that’s sweet.

Y’know, besides all the blood. That’s salty-sweet, and faintly metallic.

He snapped his head up to look at me.  The white of one of his eyes had turned crimson, the green of his iris pale in the midst of it.

H’eye there.