“I-uh, what?” I stammered.  Relief mixed with embarrassment, and the abrupt change of topic left me struggling to get my thoughts in order.

Oh, I think the embarrassment is only gonna get stronger from here if Rachel should choose to elabradorate.

“It’s what guys want.  Tell him you’re available if he ever wants to fuck.  He’ll accept right away, or he’ll start thinking about you as a possibility and he’ll take you up on it later.”

Ahaha

“That’s-  It’s more complicated than that.”

“It’s complicated because people make it complicated.  Just cut the bullshit and go for it.”

That’s a very Rachel way to look at it, which I suppose is the point.

Hm, I wonder if she and Newter would get along if they got to know each other better.

“I don’t think you’re wrong about there needing to be less expectations and rules and rituals around dating, bullshit, as you put it, but I don’t think I can do what you’re suggesting.”

“Whatever.”

“Eh, your loss.”

But yeah, I think there’s some truth to this too.

I realized, belatedly, that she’d actually offered me advice.  As… I struggled to find the word.  As misdirected as her suggestion might have been, especially with Brian, it was probably the most blatant gesture of goodwill I had seen from her, next to her telling Armsmaster that she thought I could kick his ass.

Yeah, that was a quite friendly gesture.

Heh, we’ve gotten romance advice from both Lisa and Rachel now. I wonder if we’re going to get some from Alec too before Taylor/Brian hopefully becomes a Thing.

Of course. She thinks like a dog, she sees romance like a dog… Straight to the doggy style.

That much being clear doesn’t mean it’s not hilarious, though!

She turned to head back inside.  A horrible thought struck me at that moment.

“Do… do you like him?” I asked her.

Oh boy.

Let’s hope not.

She turned her head to give me an angry look, one I couldn’t read in the slightest.

That… could go either way. She could be angry because Taylor is right, or she could be angry because Taylor is wrong.

That said… why include this if she’s wrong?

“Because if you do,” I hurried to add, as I started to walk after her, “Hey, you were here first.  I’ll back off and keep my mouth shut if you want to make a move.”

Seems fair enough.

There were about five seconds where she was very quiet.  My pulse pounded in my throat.  Why did I care so much about this?

“You should offer to sleep with him.”

Ahahahahaha

He smiled, “Good.  I don’t think I can hop this fence without getting on the bad side of those dogs, so I’m going to meet you around at the front door.  I’ll call Coil on the way”

Heh, nice one on bringing up Coil immediately after Rachel decided she needed a thing Coil offered her. Is he going to play up that he’s about to tell Coil no thanks to all the offers, including the one he made to Rachel, in the hopes that she’ll change her mind on the spot?

“Alright,” I said.  As he turned to leave, I raised my hand in the lamest little goodbye wave ever.  Even though I was pretty sure he didn’t see it, I was left mentally kicking myself for doing it.

Ahahaha

I glanced at Bitch, who was giving me a peculiar look.

“What?” I asked her, feeling painfully self conscious.

Ahahahaha even Rachel is recognizing it now isn’t she

“You like him.”

“N-,” I started.  Before I went on to protest, I had to stop myself.

Yeah, no, protesting isn’t gonna help you.

Bitch would appreciate straightforwardness and honesty more than anything else.  I wasn’t sure I could afford to come across as dishonest or two faced, with her.  “…Yeah.  I do.”

D’aw.

She drummed her fingers against her thigh, looking back toward the building.

Looks like you’ve at least got her thinking.

“We are going to deal with them?” she made the question a challenge.

“Yes,” Brian spoke.  “I don’t like that these guys are moving into this area.

Nice. Withdraw from this battle, but don’t give up on the war.

The War of the Docks is building up on multiple fronts, like we honestly knew it would ever since Interlude 2.

I don’t like that they’d go so far as to attack a member of our group.  If we don’t do something to respond soon, it’s going to hurt our rep.  We need reputation, it protects us, gives people reason to think twice before they fuck with us.”

Such as by trying to chase them out of a neighborhood.

“No, man, the E88 tried that and look what the Undersiders did to them!”

Bitch nodded.  “Okay.”

Brian quirked an eyebrow, “Okay what?”

Okay, you’re leaving?

“I’ll go, and the dogs come with.”

Nice. It’s time to find a new doghouse.

Oh hey, didn’t someone offer to make you one recently?

“I can handle myself.”

I sighed a little and planted my shovel in the ground.  I had to think of a way to convince her.  If I lost my patience in the face of her stubbornness, she would win the argument, and we would all lose.

The “you get to punch me if I piss you off” thing is still in effect, right?

“I know.  But isn’t it better to rely on us?  To actually handle this instead of going it alone, hiding and letting those fuckers have the power?”

“I’m not hiding,” she gave me an angry look.  “I’m protecting-”

You’re gonna have a hard time protecting anything on your own if the E88 scale this up.

Brian interrupted her, “Protecting your dogs would mean taking them somewhere safe.”

She shook her head violently.  “No.  I do that, the fuckers win.”

Ah, yes, there it is.

It’s stubbornness and pride versus the caring for her dogs, and so far the former actually seems to be winning out.

“I’ve been there,” I told her.  “Really, I know what you mean.

Even if my ultimate prediction was wrong, I’m going to take this as proof that I was at least partially right about the logic that led me there.

But our number one priority is keeping you and those dogs safe.  Once we’ve handled that, we can focus on dealing with any threats.”

Though I suppose “protecting a friend” should’ve been in the other column.

“There’s bullet holes in the front door,” Brian spoke from the other side of the chain link fence, raising his voice to be heard over the torrent of barks.

Yes. Yes there are.

He was wearing his costume and helmet, but had the visor flipped up and he wasn’t shrouded in his darkness.  From a distance, he’d look like some guy in motorcycle gear.

That’s… actually very handy. Most capes with secret identities and a power that doesn’t transform them need a place to change clothes, but Grue’s costume can pass for regular clothes if he just turns off his power.

“Quiet,” Bitch ordered, and the dogs fell silent.  Seeing what the other dogs were doing, the few who hadn’t learned the command stopped after one or two more barks as well.

Showing how “they’ll learn from the pack” works in practice, nice.

“Yeah, they fired off their guns a few times,” I told him.

“And you’re still here,” he said, in mild disbelief.

“My call,” Bitch told him.

Gonna take a little more than just some guns to get Rachel packing.

“It’s a bad call,” he admonished her.

“I’m not leaving.”

I agree with both sides on some level. Not leaving stands a good chance of provoking larger scale harrassment or even full-scale attacks by the E88, but on the other hand, I completely understand not wanting to let them bully her around and get their way.

Hm. “Bully her around”, huh? I wonder what Taylor’s stance on this is going to be. She’s spent a long time avoiding her own bullies and not standing up to them, because that’s what she felt worked best to minimize her own trouble and she had no effective way to stand up for herself. But a) this time she actually does – there’s no moral issue with using her power against the E88, especially E88 capes, b) this isn’t about protecting herself, but rather a friend, and c) Taylor has changed over the last few weeks. She’s gotten a lot more willing to stand up for herself, both in general and against the Harpies.

Then again, she’s also rather cautious and wants a minimal amount of bloodshed, even if it’s E88 blood.

This could go either way. I think my bet is that Taylor will be somewhat conflicted, but ultimately side with Rachel on this.

Brian arrived as Bitch and I were trudging through the field with shovels and trash bags in hand.  Not the image I wanted him to get of me, but I was glad to see him nonetheless.

Feel free to elaborate on what image you do want him to get of you any time, Taylor :3

(I for one think Brian would be the type to appreciate that his potential mate is willing to get her hands dirty to help a friend.)

I’d rinsed off using the tap at the dog’s water trough, but I was still covered in dirty paw prints, grass stains, and my skin still itched with the feeling of bugs crawling on me.

Yeeah, I can see that not being a particularly comfortable state to be in as your crush arrives.

I had little doubt that with my wet hair and the state of my clothes, that I looked pretty damn grungy.

Ahaha

“pretty damn grungy” is almost as funny to me as “mucho cred”. :p