…I forgot Aisha.
Tag: chapter 15.1
Well, we’ve dawdled long enough. Let’s see what Alec and Rachel think of going against Coil!
I suspect Rachel isn’t going to like it. While there have been other reasons for her to feel the way she did about things, she’s always been against the major changes to the status quo, and with her and Taylor finally making headway, the time seems right for Rachel to wind up a temporary antagonist.
A couple things that also seem to point to this: One, the beginning of this chapter was a fakeout of Taylor vs Rachel, which I do not think was unintentional. Then Rachel brought up Coil as one of the people giving her “gifts”, which despite what Taylor said about them not really being gifts might be one of the reasons why she’d side with Coil.
Alec… will probably have some good points (on-point Alec is best Alec) but I don’t know if he’ll particularly care for or against. If there’s a schism, though, he’ll probably stay with Taylor’s group… although… I suppose if he goes with Rachel and Coil, that group gets to have Shatterbird, increasing the difficulty of this mission sharply.
Not that it’s not already pretty difficult, given Coil’s resources, powers and employees, including the Travelers. They’d be formidable foes if they took Coil’s side.
Last night, I bought and installed Worms: WMD, but didn’t have time to play it. I did, however, have time to start making some teams.
Yes, the Undersiders sound like English policemen. None of the other voices fit, I didn’t want to go for the generic ones, and with this being the team I’ll most likely be playing the most, I decided to go for the funniest one. And hey, ironic contrast!
The Arctic Explorer actually voice fits the Nine more than you’d think. Better than Artist, even – you’d think that one would fit them from the name, but it’s, well, based on Bob Ross.
(Homestuck spoilers in the one below)
Shame there weren’t any bed-like gravestones.
The names are from Round Trip’s MLP in a Nutshell series. I blame the fact that “Twilight Sparkle” wouldn’t fit the character limit.
(I ended up using Big Mac for the eighth slot instead of a character whose inclusion would make sense because that character’s involvement would be a spoiler for someone I might end up playing this team against. Also because I love Big Mac’s name in MLPiaN.)
I think I’ll leave this discussion for the next session. See you Thursday!
“You wanted to touch base?” Brian asked, after he’d pulled off his mask.
I swear, “touch base” is by far one of the most euphemism-sounding terms for meeting up and chatting.
“I had some words with Skitter,” Lisa answered. “I think it’s about time we all got on the same page.”
Coil. It looks like we’re going down that route this Arc.
“In terms of tactics?”
Lisa shrugged, “There’s that. I think working independently is kind of throwing us off, and it leaves us weak against any coordinated attacks from the Chosen. We work best when we complement one another.”
It’s more fun from a reader’s perspective too.
Alec shrugged. “Okay. That’s easy enough to arrange. Not really a reason to throw a major group meeting.”
On point Alec is back.
“There’s something else,” I said. I swallowed, looking at Regent, Imp and Bitch. “I’ve already talked about this at length with Lisa, and I’ve discussed it some with Brian. This isn’t an easy topic to broach, because it sort of fucks with the team’s status quo.”
Yep. Coil it is.
By all appearances, they were too.
“Safe to turn around,” Tattletale told the boys.
They did. I gestured, and people found seats in the various chairs.
“Feels like we’re different people than we were an hour ago,” Imp said, looking around.
I had a haircut today, but I suppose that’s not quite the same as a complete costume overhaul.
I considered her words. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I think it’s more accurate to say we’re different people than we were a week ago.”
Fair enough, but veering off topic, if you mean what I think you mean.
There were some nods. I glanced at the scar on Tattletale’s cheek, at Shatterbird, who stood obediently behind Regent, and at Grue, who had transformed more than any of us.
…okay, fair. Fair. It’s on topic.
And I couldn’t forget the change I’d undergone, even if I didn’t have the objectivity to nail down exactly what about me was different from a week ago. Sure, my costume was different, and I had the three hundred pound beetle that was resting on the roof.
You seem to have gotten harder. More willing to lash out and deliver disproportionate retribution.
Or proportionate retribution, in the case of the Nine themselves.
For Regent and Imp, I’d settled on bodysuits and masks. Regent would wear his beneath his costume and Imp would wear hers as a simple black bodysuit, complete with a scarf and the horned mask Coil had provided.
So basically, not much has changed for them either besides the materials involved, and Aisha turning into a ninja.
There was more to do: belts, Imp’s scarf, Tattletale’s mask and Bitch’s shirt, not to mention finishing my new mask, and my plans for different masks for our various minions.
This is a pretty solid proof of concept, though. I suspect they’ll need to but these costumes to use before Taylor finishes tailoring these extra bits.
When we’d been fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine, I’d lamented the fact that I hadn’t better outfitted the team, and people had been hurt where the costumes would have otherwise protected them. In the days I’d had to wind down, focusing on getting people organized and working on cleaning up the area, I’d been in range to get a serious effort going on the costumes.
Ahh, so that’s why right now is when this is happening. Makes sense.
I was satisfied with this.
You should be! You did really good work here.
Man, how long has it been since Taylor was last satisfied with something she accomplished?
Grue’s costume was not unlike his motorcycle leathers in terms of thickness and design, making him one of the most heavily armored of our groups in terms of the amount of material he was wearing. His headwear was the part I’d changed the most: I’d modeled the face-plate after a figurine he’d bought at the market.
Oooh.
It was a step away from the visor he’d worn up to now, more demonic than skeletal.
Sibling themes!
I think I like him being the grim reaper better than him being a demon, but it’s still pretty neat.
The only real trick there had been making it non-porous enough that his darkness wouldn’t bleed through. A quick experiment proved that my efforts had turned out alright. In costume, the face-mask down, the darkness framed his mask but didn’t cover it unless Grue forced it to. A demon’s face in dark gray in a vaguely human-shaped twist of darkness.
The way his costume makes use of his power has always been really cool. As long as that’s included I’m not terribly disappointed.
When I turned to head downstairs, she followed.
I guess that means ‘thank you’.
Best you’re gonna get for now, yeah.
We were greeted by the others in the kitchen. There was just enough time to grab and prepare our burgers before the others arrived. Grue, Tattletale, Imp, Regent and Shatterbird.
One of these is not like the others.
They turned down the offer of food, and together, we ventured back upstairs.
There’s a lot of up and down those stairs today, huh.
Watch out for the stairs.
With everyone gathered in my headquarters, I handed out the costumes. Like Bitch’s, the other costumes were in various stages of completion, primarily with minor details missing or askew. I ate while the others tried it all on.
Aw, we’re not getting extended first reactions for them?
It’d take a while, maybe, but it’d be fun.
Lisa’s costume was virtually the same. The complicated aspect had been maintaining the crisp differences in color without any bleeding of black into lavender or vice versa. There’d also been the issue of getting the mask to fit her face well. I’d accomplished the former by making the black and lavender pieces separately and attaching them to a gossamer-thin sub-layer when I was done.
Well, her costume was pretty neat to begin with, so I can’t complain.
We had the boys and Shatterbird turn away while Lisa and Aisha changed at one end of the room. The mask was a failure, it didn’t sit right around the eyes, but I was left with an idea of what to do.
You could, of course, have sent them back down the stairs, or even up the stairs, but I suppose this works, and raises fewer questions from Rachel’s minions.
I looked over my shoulder. “What? Nothing.”
“You’re trying to get some favor from me.”
She already got one of those today…
“No, I’m really not. It might feel like it, with the timing and what we’re going to talk about with Lisa and the others, but it’s really not.
Hm? So this upcoming meeting is not about their costumes.
Is it about going up against Coil?
You’re free to argue and disagree with me or the rest of us, just like usual. The costume’s a gift.”
“I don’t get many gifts.”
Well, then this can be considered a first step towards fixing that. 🙂
I shrugged. What was I supposed to say to that? I couldn’t help but feel that if I were a little more socially adroit, I’d have had a snappy answer.
She kept talking. “All of the stuff I’ve gotten, it’s been with strings attached. Used to get gifts from one of my foster dads,” she paused. “And I get the money from Coil.”
Money from Coil may seem like a gift but I really don’t think it is.
“Those aren’t really presents. They’re more like bribes or enticements. Really truly, this is no strings attached. You can act like you normally would, I won’t expect any different.”
Again, that glower.
Maybe the glower is just Rachel’s way of saying “thank you”.
I swallowed. “Wear it or don’t wear it. It’s okay either way. It’s not a big deal.”
“I’ll wear it,” she said.
Excellent 🙂
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