“What can I say? When you ask me who I am, I write down in the name slot: ‘Bitch’.”
Tag: chapter 13.5
Brown Recluses are the necrotizing ones, that rot off a whole chunk of meat around the bite, yes
Pretty nasty stuff!
Noelle is incredibly powerful, but “if Noelle used her power in this battle you’re talking about, everyone loses.” There have been numerous bits of information about Noelle but nothing really concrete. Do you have any specific speculation on what Noelle can do/what Noelle’s power(s) might be?
Hmm… I suspect we’re looking at a werewolf-like situation, though not tied to specific times.
It was repeatedly implied that Noelle was monstrous in form before we actually got a look at her, and I think a lot of those implications still need to be considered. It’s also indicated that she has a hunger, and can lose control, and that it doesn’t matter who you are to her when she uses the power.
Noelle’s power probably transforms her or makes things happen like she were transformed (like Jack’s pseudo-extended blades but with a monstrous body). While in the transformed state, she loses control of her mind and ferociously attacks anyone who’s too close. While she’s not transformed, the power wants to be used, which manifests as the “hunger” and is why she needs to be contained.
When you were making your Slaughterhouse/Undertravelers similarity post i could really see most of them and understand where your coming from with them. But i gotta ask: Grue and Crawler? Trickster and Hack Job? what was your reasoning behind those?
I was expecting this question, especially the Grue and Crawler part.
Trickster and Hack Job is one of the weaker connections there, only really matching up through the fact that they both have powers involving teleportation.
As for Grue and Crawler, I gotta admit that was largely because of process of elimination. Neither of the two have a good match as far as I could see, and given the choice between Grue, Noelle and Oliver, I’d rather have Grue in the post because it feels more complete that way. I did come up with the extremely flimsy justification that they’ve both got a dark aesthetic, but even I don’t really buy that one.
Crawler and Noelle may be better, depending somewhat on what her power actually does. I suppose they do share the horror treatment in Dinah’s Interlude.
End of Snare 13.5
No holds barred. This is getting quite interesting.
I enjoyed this chapter quite a bit. We had a throughline of similarities, with Taylor pointing out similarities between herself and Bitch, similarities between the Travelers and similarities between the Undersiders and the Nine, and each part was quite good.
The part with Bitch was definitely the highlight, though. Instead of focusing on locating her and getting her out of some sort of trouble, we got a really good interaction between Taylor and Rachel, in which they both opened up with each other more than ever before, for better and worse. I think they came out of it with some positive development of their relationship, and while there is still a long way to go, I stand by what I said at one point during the scene: This is one of the most important interactions for the development of their relationship so far.
I think it’s fairly likely now that the Travelers’ shared backstory and their overall high power levels have something to do with Cauldron. Yes, it’s possible they all triggered young, possibly together, but this chapter strongly hinted that that’s not the right track.
And finally, there’s the meeting. Taylor may need to work on how she introduces pitches like this, but it ultimately worked out. The no holds barred tactic seemed to get approval, with less reluctance than I’d honestly expect. And apparently she wants to blow the Nine the fuck up? I can’t blame her.
Sundancer’s reluctance to kill may prove troublesome later, we’ll have to see. A fair bit of time was devoted to establishing that, so I doubt it’s entirely irrelevant.
Next chapter, well… it’s time to attack. We’re not going to learn the plan until we’re seeing it in action, so I think it will for the most part work out, though complications may occur in the later stages.
See you then!
Then I told them what we’d be trying to do.
Ah, but that is an end-of-chapter-y line.
*scrolls down to confirm*
Hey, three paragraphs and it ended without us learning the plan like I was suggesting. I got the number of paragraphs slightly wrong but I’ll still call that a win.
“Hold on,” Lisa cut in. “You’re talking about Ballistic and Sundancer using their powers without limits, you want to use Noelle, now explosives?”
“no holds barred” indeed.
“And I’m talking about me using black widows, brown recluses and every nasty bug I have at my disposal. I’m talking about us packing guns and grenades. All of us. No holds barred.”
Brown recluses were the ones that really pissed Lung off, weren’t they?
Trickster rubbed his chin. “Okay. They broke the unspoken rules between capes, so there’s no reason to actually follow those rules. Sure. But do you actually have a plan?”
Judging by how she was talking earlier, I think she probably does have some ideas. And I don’t think we’re about to hear what they are. End of chapter in 1-2 paragraphs, maybe?
“Yes,” I replied. “Keep in mind that this could change pretty dramatically depending on where we find them and what they’re up to when we run into them.”
Okay, no, this isn’t an end-of-chapter-y bit like I was expecting.
And yeah, they say no plan survives contact with the enemy. That probably goes double for these enemies.
There were some nods from the others around the room. My bugs had finished connecting the tattered pieces of fabric. It wasn’t pretty, but a few tugs to test it showed it was as sturdy as anything I’d made. I draped it over my lap. Until my legs healed, I’d be wearing my new costume for my upper body, with the tattered cloth as a skirt to protect my burned legs.
Huh. That’s pretty neat.
The Travelers were way, way too fond of that line.
Hehe.
“Then, Coil, what kind of munitions do you have?”
“Most. I can provide virtually anything, given time, but for tomorrow morning? Well, tell me what you need.”
Tell me what you want, what you really really want…
“I’m thinking explosives. How much can you provide?”
TEAM SLAUGHTERHOUSE IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN…!
Six hours of sleep, with everything I had on my conscience?
“Sure,” I lied.
Pfft, sounds about right.
Workaholic isn’t really the right word. Guiltridden works, but I’m not sure Grue would think of Taylor’s behavior that way, and it’s more descriptive of the reason than the thing I wanted him to be commenting on.
“But we attack first thing in the morning, or as soon as Tattletale pins them down.”
“First chance,” he agreed.
As long as everyone’s gotten that sleep, of course.
“Is there any possibility that we could deploy Noelle?” I asked Trickster.
“No,” Trickster said.
Nah, that cat needs to stay in her monster-proof bag for a while. Maybe they could take her out against an Endbringer.
“If she’s as powerful as you say-”
“If Noelle used her power in this battle you’re talking about, everyone loses.”
Sheesh.
“It’s not that simple!”
“It really is,” I replied. “I don’t think we need an answer now, but you need to let us know before we begin.”
Is it? You haven’t killed, Taylor, not directly. You don’t actually know what it’s like.
“What else do you need?” Lisa asked, through the phone.
“We can’t do anything until you find them. I know the local technology is down, but-”
Is it Imp’s time to shine, informing them of how she’s actually already found them?
I mean I don’t know if she’s even here, but still.
“But the local police and capes brought in emergency communications, just like Coil did for us. I’ve been listening in on the radio transmissions. Narrowing it down. I could pull an all-nighter, listen in, and figure it out.”
Sounds good, I suppose.
I mean, even if Imp tells them, the Nine were talking about torching the place she found and relocating. I don’t think that’s going to be dropped just because they couldn’t find the culprit. It’s still a good idea to do it since they have reason to believe someone knows where they are.
“That’s as good an excuse as any,” Grue said. “If I’m going to help with this, I need to know that you’re on the ball. I don’t do this unless everyone that’s going to be on the battlefield gets six hours of sleep before we begin. By that time, Tattletale will have a location.”
Seems like a reasonable demand.
He faced me square on as he said it.
“I don’t have normal sleep patterns,” Genesis replied, “In fact, I need to be awake to recharge.”
Oh, huh.
That’s kinda neat. Fits with the idea that she truly lives when she’s asleep.
“Exceptions allowed, of course,” Grue said, without turning away from me.
Heh, he’s really challenging Taylor on this. “Sleep for once, you workaholic doof.”
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