Tag: Krixwell liveblogs

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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.

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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.

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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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“I made it anyways.”

She adjusted her mask, turning it so it hung off one side of her head.  She was glowering at me.  “Why didn’t you listen when I told you to fuck off?”

“Because I’m your friend.”?

Two ways I could interpret that question.  “Don’t worry about it.  Look, the hamburgers will be ready soon…” I trailed off.

I suppose it could be read as going all the way back to Insinuation, and various “fuck off”s from there on.

I like how we’re treated to Taylor actually attempting to employ the tactic she just mentioned a couple paragraphs back, in order to illustrate Taylor feeling the need to escape the dual question without actually saying it. Chekhov’s social escape tactic.

An awkward silence reigned.  I turned to head downstairs.

“What do you want for this?”

Friendship?

It took us a while to get here, but I think I can finally accept this relationship as a shaky friendship rather than hostility and denial.

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“Looks like Brutus,” she said.

😦

I didn’t see it, but I didn’t see fit to correct her either.

She pulled it on.

“It’s just a little bit flexible, if you want to bend any bits that are rubbing in the wrong place, or shape it to fit your face better.”

“It’s fine,” she said.  She adjusted her jacket again.

She’s gonna look so cool with that mask on.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s costumes. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing those too in this chapter, when the others arrive. There’s plenty of scrollbar left.

“If you want me to change anything-”

“No.”

Her refusal was so curt it gave me pause.  I couldn’t tell if she was upset or happy.

If anything she might be upset that there’s nothing to be upset about.

I forced myself to keep my mouth shut.  I’d give her a few seconds to let me know either way.  If she didn’t, I was ready to escape by pointing out that lunch would be waiting for us.

“You made stuff for the others?”

Maybe we’re about to see the other costumes before the others arrive. Though I’m not sure I want to. I’d like to see their reactions too.

“Yeah.”

“But I didn’t ask for it.  I told you to fuck off when you asked me for my measurements, remember?”

Ah, here we are, though it’s more civil than I was expecting at first.

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“Yeah?  I didn’t get a chance to get your measurements, so I went by memory, based on the jacket you lent me.”

That was, what, two months ago? How good is your memory for such things?

She pulled it on and adjusted the front.  “Fits fine.”

“Here,” I said.  I turned around and grabbed the next piece.  I handed it to her.

She turned it around in her hands.  I’d cheated and formed the base sculpt out of chicken wire, covering the remainder with layers of dragline silk and painting the end result.  It was, as close as I’d been able to manage, a recreation of what her power did to her dogs in the form of a mask.

Oh man, that’s awesome.

Except I’d made it half human and half dog.

THAT’S EVEN BETTER

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“I don’t wear tights,” she said.

“I thought you could wear them under your pants if you were expecting a serious fight.  I gave you an inner layer with a really fine weave for the inner thighs, for when you’re riding, so there’s less chafing.”

Taylor Mode (Edna Hebert?) over here has clearly put a lot of thought into this.

“Uh huh.”

“I went out of my way to give you lots of pockets like you had in the other jacket.  I don’t think it’ll be too hot.  There’s zippers in the armpits so you can ventilate some cool air inside, and you can detach the hood if you want, but I liked how it looked with the fur.  I’m planning an inside liner for when it’s-”

Is Rachel about to call Taylor out on the fact that she didn’t ask for any of this?

“It’s fine,” she interrupted me.  “Stop talking.  It’s good.”

😀

I think that’s the closest we’ve ever gotten to a compliment from Rachel.

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Barker had pushed me, I’d left him mewling like a baby.

At the same time, I faced a dilemma on the opposite end of things.  I wanted to help people, and I wanted to build friendships with the others.  With the way Bitch sort of mandated that I go the extra mile, it was hard to be nice to her without seeming weak to others.

And seeming weak to her isn’t good either, even when trying to be nice.

Well, what they didn’t see didn’t hurt them.

So basically you’re going to be nice to her in secret?

First tsundere Rachel and now secret meetings where their true feelings can shine? You’re spoiling the Taylor/Rachel shippers this chapter.

I stepped downstairs.

“Bitch?” I asked.  “A word?”

She frowned, glancing at the food.

Take it with you.

“We’ll be done before the food is,” I promised.

Oh, right, it’s not done yet.

She followed me up the stairs.

“It’s not complete,” I admitted, walking over to where I had fabric draped over a workbench.

Ooh, costume show-off time!

Fashion montage! Fashion montage! Fashion montage!

Except… wasn’t Taylor not supposed to make one for Rachel?

I picked up one piece and flicked it out.  “I just figured you’d want to see it and voice any complaints before the others got here, so your voice doesn’t get drowned out.”

That really is a good thing to do. The others are quite a bit more talkative than Rachel, so she can have trouble getting her points across.

She took it from my hands.  It was a jacket, not dissimilar to the one she’d lent me once upon a time, but it was naturally lighter.  There was a hood with a fluffy fur border at the edges, extending around in front of her shoulders.  Besides the zippers and buttons, the fur was the only thing I hadn’t made myself.

Ooooh. Taylor made a costume but made sure it was in Rachel’s style.

So does that mean this jacket is made of spider silk?

“I dyed it dark gray.  I figured if you wanted it any color, you’d want it something dark, so I can tint it dark red, dark blue, dark green, or whatever you want.”

Rachel: “I’m colorblind.”

She stared at it, her forehead creased.

“It’s spider silk.  Tensile strength like steel, but flexible enough to resist wear and tear that steel wire would experience.  And it’s lighter than the steel would be.  Knives won’t cut it.  I figured you’d want a heavier feel, judging by the jacket you lent me before, so I put rectangular panels of armor in between the inner and outer layer to give it more substance.

Awesome.

I originally meant for there to be an undershirt or something you can wear to protect your upper body for when you don’t have it zipped up, but I kind of cannibalized it for my own costume, after I burned my legs.  I’ll have the shirt ready for you in a week or two.  Here, there’s leggings, too.  They survived.”

I picked up the leggings.  Unlike the jacket, they were skin-tight.

I don’t know how Rachel’s going to feel about that.

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I stepped up into my lair to take the call.

“We’re a few minutes away,” Lisa told me, the second I picked up.

Hello to you too. 🙂

“Bitch is here already,” I answered.  “Come in the front door when you get here.”

Are they just officially using that now, with the secret being compromised already in Interlude 14?

“Righty-o.  Ta ta.”

She hung up.

Al…righty then. What was the narrative reason for the inclusion of that phone call when we already knew they were coming?

Are they not going to arrive in a few minutes, eventually causing Taylor to worry? Is the fact that they’ve been asked to come in the front door somehow relevant?

I took a second to compose myself, alone in the second floor of my lair.  Dealing with people, the sensitive management of Bitch and her underlings, pretending confidence where I didn’t necessarily have it, and thinking of all the little details that would help me convey the image of someone confident and powerful… it was draining.

I guess the narrative reason was just to get Taylor away from people so she could have some introspection time.

And introversion time, given what she’s saying here.

It meant standing straighter, having the answers, thinking two steps ahead and using intimidation and fear to prevent any argument or insubordination like Barker’s little stunt.  It meant retaliating in excess to any slight or disrespect.

…I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself again. You’re making yourself act like a mixture of Coil and Rachel.

Or maybe like Bakuda. 

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While they continued talking, I stepped away to check on the hamburgers that Charlotte was cooking on the stove.

“Is he going to be okay?” she asked me.

Oh, Barker? Might have a sore throat for a while.

It took me a second to realize who she meant.  I looked back at Barker.  “Yeah.”

“I mean, is he going to attack us?”

…oh.

She doesn’t want a repeat.

“I dosed him with pepper spray, basically, as well as a few stings and bites to add to the hurt.  That’ll generally put someone down for half an hour, so I don’t think he’s a threat.  I don’t think he’s stupid enough to attack with Bitch and I here.”

She nodded, but she didn’t look relieved.  I would have asked what was up, tried to pry for more clarification on just why she hadn’t slept well, or why she was so easily spooked, but I was interrupted by the vibration of my phone.

As much as I had trouble with the relevant scene in Interlude 14, I’m pleased with the fact that this chapter suggests we’ll be following up on Charlotte’s mental state going forward.

So what does Lisa have to say today? Trouble on their way here?