Tag: food

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“And in some cultures, people do eat insects.” And crustaceans, which are basically the insects of the sea. I’d guess you’ve eaten lobster and crab. If you ever end up in Louisiana, go to a crawdad boil.

I don’t think I have, actually? I’m not a big fan of seafood.

But yeah, good point! Those are also under Taylor’s control (though she hasn’t made use of that at all in the eleven-ish Arcs since that fact was introduced), so she could use her power to essentially go – very effectively – fishing for crabs if she wanted.

End of Prey 14.6

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And with that, I’m pretty sure this part of the Arc comes to a close, surprisingly enough without anyone having to dodge Bakuda bombs.

This was very good. I liked the bits of the Protectorate+Wards vs Mannequin+Crawler battle we got, how Taylor contributed to it and the way Weld accepted without hesitation that she wanted to contribute, but the real star of the chapter was the tangent about eating bugs the whole scene with Amy healing Victoria and arguing with the Undersiders (especially Lisa, who seemed to care a lot about the mind-manipulation in play) about the best course of action forward. At least she intends to undo what she did, even if she’s prioritizing the bodily repairs and then plans to run off again and find a job as a rogue healer without working for the government.

Regent was really good in that part. More of that Regent, please.

One thing I didn’t realize until right at the end was how much the Travelers were backgrounded here. Apparently they were present (but perhaps out of earshot?) for the whole healing scene, but they were barely mentioned and none of them said a word. Neither did Rachel, for that matter, but I’m used to that.

Anyway, it seems we’ve found our next destination: An evacuation shelter. I hope it’s the same one Taylor visited during Extermination, though that might be a bad choice on the Nine’s part, since Leviathan fucked the place – and the door in particular – up.

In there we’ll quite likely find Jack, Bonesaw, however many of Bonesaw’s latest victims, and possibly even Siberian. Sounds like fun!

I don’t really have any other predictions for it right now, so… See you there!

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“My power tells me some of it,” I said, “And I did some reading after we took over our territories, trying to research that stuff.

I didn’t even feel the need to mention the time she’s had to research stuff after she started caping.

It was an idle thought, but I was thinking that if we got into a food shortage, I could feed my people with bugs.”

Well, wouldn’t be the first time she stuck them into someone’s mouth, I guess.

And in some cultures, people do eat insects. In Japan, you can even get wasp cookies.

Imp made a gagging noise.

“Wow,” Regent said.  “See, you just started off by making me think you were warped and creepy because you were suggesting Panacea turn Glory Girl into some sort of bug-borg, and now you’re making me think you’re creepy and weird because you wanted to feed bugs to people who aren’t your enemy.”

Pfffft.

Seriously, I wish we got to see this side of Regent more often. He’s fun when he makes on-point comments like this.

“It was just an idea,” I said, maybe more defensively than I should have, “And bugs are nutritious.  People all over the world eat them.”

They do, it’s true.

I mean, I wouldn’t want to, but…

“Have you?” Grue asked.

I kinda love how off-topic this has gotten.

I shook my head, “But I would have tried them first, if I decided to go ahead with that plan.”

“Please,” Amy cut in.  “Can you?”

Taylor: “What, eat a bug right now?”

I turned to her.  It took me a second to realize what she meant, after the line of questioning from the others.

Yeah, she’s not asking you to demonstrate the eating of bugs. :p

I love this little tangent. If I did numerical ratings for the chapters, I think this last post or so’s worth of dialogue would add a point or two on its own.

End of Prey 14.4

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My prediction that we’d be seeing Greg and Lisa’s first kiss didn’t come true, so this was clearly the most disappointing chapter yet.

…nah, this was a really solid one. Piggot can be beautifully devious when she wants to be, and the tension in the Undertraveler rescue mission was supreme.

And then there’s Amy giving Skitter a flying mount by merging many small bugs into one big bug (that Taylor has to micromanage in flight because it doesn’t know how to function)! That was awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing Taylor incorporate her new steed into her tactics, and maybe even bonding with him. I wonder what she’s going to name him – Buzz Lightyear is a bit too untaylorish and unwormish. Buzz Aldrin might work a little better. Fly-int Coal? Beetle Ray Cyrus?

But nah, Taylor’s not one for silly names, so she might just call him Boberto Francesco or something serious like that.

The end of the chapter unexpectedly left the question of whether the Undertravelers were out of the blast zone as a cliffhanger, rather than give us an action hero explosion escape shot (or at least showing the explosion in this chapter), so I guess they’re still not quite in the clear. Time to dodge Bakuda tech? Though Taylor has a major advantage with flight capabilities, she’d still need to find a way to help the others.

Maybe she could do that by having the bugs (try to) catch the bombs in silk nets? Or failing that, at least fill the air above her friends with bugs so she can sense the bombs’ trajectories and give them signals regarding where to move?

It’s also worth noting that the Undertravelers are moving way faster than Amy is, so if they’re not out of the blast zone, I worry for her.

Whatever the case, the Undertravelers are going to have a serious bone to pick with the Jirector of the PRT when this is over and the Nine are defeated, if not before.

So yeah! Next time we make sure we’re out of the blast zone and maybe tell Jemily than “we lived, bitch”. Also Leviathan invites the Undertravelers to some tea and cakes. See you then!

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There seems to be a theme among at least some of the Nine of great potential wasted on evil.

I mean, you’ve got

  • Mannequin, who used to be Sphere, making major progress towards space colonization and helping society in great ways;
  • Siberian, who could quite possibly take out an Endbringer if they tried;
  • Bonesaw, who could save so many lives and improve the bodies of so many good people if she just understood the concepts of consent and bodily integrity, not to mention provide massive insights into the study of powers and create incredibly useful medical technology;
  • Crawler, who is nearly invulnerable and nearly unkillable by anything that does hurt him, and could do so much good by using that huge body of his to protect people;
  • Shatterbird, another real powerhouse;
  • Pinkie Pie, who could bring smiles to so many faces with normal cupcakes;
  • Cherish, who could be used to find missing people and probably to cure certain mental illnesses;
  • Burnscar, who could (…save people from burning buildings by teleporting?) probably have become great too if her power’s intoxicating effect and the Nine hadn’t fucked her over;
  • and, uh, Jack Slash. I don’t know about him. He’s clever, though, so there’s that.
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But I’d also be trying to use microbes to form some kind of defense.  I’d be reaching out for algae or other plant life I could use to obscure my retreat.

Hmm. That might work?

Something to produce an opaque gas, to block line of sight or give me hiding places.

Ohh, yeah, that makes sense.

There might be a limit to how much she can change at once while running, though.

Amy had far, far more versatility than I did, and I had little doubt she’d be able to mimic my power with a little time for preparation.

How? Change the bugs to have, like, biological radio antennae or something?

With some forethought, preparation and strategic thinking, she was capable of holding her own, getting away.  She had so much potential.

I do wonder if this is, to some extent, Wildbow pointing to how good she’d have been as an alternate main character. :p

I mean, obviously she wasn’t good enough for him to stick with her, or I’d be reading a story called “Guts & Glory” rather than “Worm”, but I get the sense that he did like her.

But Amy Dallon wasn’t that sort of person.  She hadn’t gravitated toward front-line combat, nor had she gotten in any real fights, to the best of my knowledge.

Closest she’s gotten might be against you, actually.

When Leviathan had hit the city, she’d stayed behind to give medical care instead of using her power against him.  Now she was panicking, up against an unstoppable enemy and an inevitable fate, and she didn’t have the tools, mental or otherwise, to hold her own.

Yeeah. Like I was saying between chapters, she’d be dead in no time if it hadn’t turned out Siberian plays with her food and eats it bit by bit.

Siberian would catch her and release her over and over, taking her apart piece by piece.  Eventually the blood loss would mean Amy couldn’t run any more.

And then it’d be over.

End of Prey 14.1

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Huh. I suppose Siberian is the prey now. Among others. Honestly I think everyone is prey in this Arc.

This was a very nice chapter. It started out quite casually with a cozy breakfast and adorable shipping fuel, neatly segued into Cherish trying to manipulate the Undersiders, and gave us the revelation that Siberian has a vulnerable male body for the Undersiders (and probably the Travelers) to go after. We also got a scene of Rachel taking the initiative to understand Taylor for once, which was nice.

Even as the tone got a little darker, he content less breakfast-centric, and Cherish’s attempts at manipulation sent off icky vibes, the chapter stayed pretty casual right up to the end, which I appreciate. It’s a calm between the storms, and hoo boy we’re in for a storm.

This isn’t going to be anywhere near as easy as “show up nearby, find Siberidude (Dudeberian? Siberiman.) with the bugs, off them and go home”. There’s got to be complications, and I’d say the monochrome Siberian counts as a big one. Her prey might also cause trouble in his own way. Please tell me he’s not trying to fight her head on…

He’s trying to fight her head on, isn’t he.

Come on, Colin. She’s very close to an Endbringer in melee power, and you’ve already used up aaaaaaaall the luck against one of those. It didn’t work out for you then.

Anyway, this ought to be a wild ride, and I’m looking forward to it. See you soon!

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“I’ll get in touch with Coil, then,” Lisa said.  She got up and headed into the room where she and Aisha had been sleeping.

Sounds good.

I focused on my breakfast, hurrying to finish it before it got cold.  I’d been distracted by the conversation, and cold toast was depressing.

The mood of the chapter changed after they started discussing the Nine, and it’s staying that way judging by this paragraph.

When I looked up from my plate, glancing at the others to double-check that they were okay, that I wasn’t missing anything, I saw Bitch staring at me.

Seriously, what’s your deal this time, Rachel?

“You want more food?”  I offered.

“You mean what you said?”

The stuff from last Arc? That they’re not so different, and they’re friends?

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“Morn,” Lisa replied.  “We were out making sure there wasn’t trouble.  Very, very quiet, after the last couple of days.”

But is that very, very quiet in the sense that there’s no trouble, or in the sense that everybody’s dead, Dave?

Rachel glanced at me but didn’t say a word.

…alright?

“Want food?”  I offered.  “I’ve got some stuff on the stove.  There’s some bacon if you want to give some to the dogs, Rachel.”

Is feeding them that healthy?

“It’s bad for them.  And I don’t give my dogs human food.”

Yeah, figured that might be the case.

And I guess not feeding them human food is in part to prevent them from learning the habit of begging for it?

“Right.  Thought they might want a treat, sorry.”

“But I’ll have some,” she said.

Well, that’s something. 🙂

Honestly, that’s one of the friendlier bits we’ve seen from Rachel, even if it were just the bacon she craved and not the social stimulus of eating breakfast with the team.

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Much of the water in the kettle had been heated, already, and it didn’t take long to boil as we got our individual breakfasts together.  I took it off the stove and began preparing Brian’s coffee and my tea.  After a moment’s consideration, I began preparing bacon and eggs, and rummaging around for toast, bagels or english muffins.  I’d use whatever I found first.

Or you could combine them!

…I doubt that’d be much good.

Tattletale, Bitch and three of the dogs came in through the front door.

Oh hey! I was just wondering where you were.

I didn’t miss how Brian turned to face the door, tendrils of darkness creeping through the gaps between his fingers and crawling up his arm.

At ease, soldier. They’re friendly.

Well, Lisa is, anyway.

It took him a second to relax.  Tattletale threw me a package.  I opened it and found a pair of glasses.  I slid them on.

I like how she just throws the glasses. I mean, to be fair, they might’ve been well protected in the package, but still. 😛

Leaving the food cooking on the stove, I brought Brian his coffee.  Maybe some normalcy would help.

“Morning,” I said.

Honestly, I too quite appreciate it.