Tag: Parahumans

Interlude 13

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This is actually the 24th Interlude (not counting the bogus April Fool’s ones I added), but sure.

I literally just wrote this about an hour ago, but for the benefit of archival readers going back to this chapter’s tag later on:

Next chapter, I’m pretty sure we’re going into an Interlude. Who did I speculate on us reading the perspective of, again? Oh yeah, one of the Travelers. There’s been so many signs that we’re about to find out about their past that I suspect we’re going to find out before Taylor does, in the upcoming Interlude.

So what am I expecting, more specifically?

Hm. Maybe a bit of flashbacking, possibly put into contrast with how things are now among the Travelers, and a look at how they feel about having just been in Bonesaw’s clutches to save Grue. I don’t know what to expect regarding their actual backstory, but I do have my theory that it involves someone or something being after them, possibly Cauldron.

There’s also the question of which Traveler’s perspective we’d be following. I’m kind of hoping for Sundancer, though I certainly wouldn’t object to getting to know Ballistic a bit better either. Trickster seems most likely, though, since the personality underneath his facade was hinted at in the Arc.

Noelle would also be very interesting. See what all of this, and her situation, looks like from her perspective.

In short, I’d be up for anyone, but Trickster and, secondly, Noelle seem the most likely suspects.

If it’s any of them at all. If I drop that assumption, I have no clue who it’d be, though, and it’s more fun to speculate on the guess I do have.

So yeah! Let’s jump in and find out!

End of Snare 13.10

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S.S. Taylor x Brian is back from the depths!

This was a good dénouement. We got to learn what the hell just happened with Brian’s new power, singular, and while it did lead to some hurt feelings along the way, we got some excellent relationship development between Taylor and Brian. I’m not just talking about their romantic relationship, here – I mean their relationship as a whole. In the process we also learned how Brian’s holding up after all he’s just been through: Not great.

I also appreciate that Brian called out some of Taylor’s self-destructive behavior. Honestly, out of everything at this point, that’s the thing that’s pulling me back towards the ship the most. Taylor needs someone to remind her to live for herself, not just others.

Maybe this would work better as a moirallegiance.

So yeah, now the two of them will have to figure out what the hell they are to each other. Let’s not rush them, though.

Next chapter, I’m pretty sure we’re going into an Interlude. Who did I speculate on us reading the perspective of, again? Oh yeah, one of the Travelers. There’s been so many signs that we’re about to find out about their past that I suspect we’re going to find out before Taylor does, in the upcoming Interlude.

Which I’m going to get started on shortly, so stay tuned! See you there!

Snare 13.10

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Let’s try to make an actual chapter intro post, shall we?

Howdy, everyone, Krixwell here! Contrary to what I said at the end of the, uh, first attempt, I do know how to read (or do I? plot twist???) and that’s what I intend to do tonight. I’m here with Snare 13.10, which I believe to be the wind-down chapter of the Arc proper, much like for example 4.11 or 12.8.

My expectations for this chapter haven’t really changed, so let’s let Pastwell do the talking, since he’s clearly more coherent than me:

Next chapter: The wind-down, I think. First they need to get out of here and fetch Regent and Bitch (Regent can let Genesis know she should dissolve via Shatterbird), though. We’ll likely learn more about Brian’s state, either from him or from Tattletale, and maybe hear Imp’s story from the horse’s mouth.

So yeah, let’s stop messing around (yeah right) and have a look at this chapter!

End of Snare 13.9

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This was pretty good, though I could see it being controversial for giving Brian a bunch of new powers that were super convenient for the situation, almost out of the blue.

It is convenient, but in a way that matches my theories for how trigger events work. There were quite a lot of the powers – which is a little more iffy and might cause misguided accusations of Brian being a Mary Sue – but that was pointed out by Taylor and will likely be addressed further, so I’m not too worried about that.

Bonesaw was somewhat less on the funny side this time than I was hoping she might be (I was prepared for the fact that this might be the case since it was a very serious situation), but she still had her moments. Such a precious little monster.

She also didn’t get anywhere near as far into fucking up the Undertravelers’ bodies as I was expecting. That’s a good thing for the Undertravelers, of course, though I was actually kind of hoping for more on that front too, mainly for the character development as they deal with the consequences? However, the exposition on how powers and brains interface, the Dandelion scene and especially Brian’s powerup make up for it.

In other status quo news, Burnscar is dead (and less importantly, Hack Job, though that might be something I’d missed from a couple chapters back). That means there’s a second open spot in the Nine, signalling that the nomination game plot is likely getting moved away from in favor of taking out the Nine gradually.

That’s probably a good thing to do. If they just took out Jack, I do think the Nine would fall apart (though Siberian and Bonesaw would probably stick together), but I’m not sure the six or seven remaining Nine running around Brockton Bay individually is that much better.

Next chapter: The wind-down, I think. First they need to get out of here and fetch Regent and Bitch (Regent can let Genesis know she should dissolve via Shatterbird), though. We’ll likely learn more about Brian’s state, either from him or from Tattletale, and maybe hear Imp’s story from the horse’s mouth.

See you then!

Snare 13.9

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There’s a lightning storm outside. Let’s read some Worm.

So! Last time, shit went downhill harder than a cross between a bicycle and a sailboat with a strong wind on its side.

Shit obviously doesn’t belong down there, so now Taylor and co. need to figure out a way to beat their paralysis before Bonesaw fucks them up too much, and ideally to convince her to fix one mr. Brian “living freezer room” Laborn, so they can transport the shit back uphill.

Yeeeah, this ain’t gonna be easy. The wind and the hill are against the sailcycle now, and it’s intent on picking the vehicle apart and reshaping it into something completely different, like a biboat.

My extensive use of this analogy may or may not have something to do with me having just been out biking against strong wind.

As for more specific predictions, I’ll defer to Pastwell:

The situation reminds me a lot of when Bakuda got her hands on the Undersiders, with our protagonists being paralyzed at the mercy of a crazed villain who intends to fuck with their bodies. The stakes are higher, though, because of how Bonesaw does things, and this time, I don’t think they’re coming out with just a concussion.

I do think at least three of them are going to make it out of this situation alive, not counting Grue, but there’s little chance this isn’t going to lead to permanent changes for at least one or two of the protagonists, unless they somehow manage to convince Bonesaw to fix things without using that to her advantage.

Which, incidentally, is the only way we could get Grue home.

Regent is are out there still, but he has no reason to believe something’s wrong inside yet, so I doubt he’s going to be coming to their rescue. I suppose it’s possible that a stray light blast from Purity could cause an opening for the Undertravelers somehow.

I’m guessing there’s either one or two chapters left in this Arc (not counting Interludes). The next one’s probably going to be horrifying and hilarious and I’m very much looking forward to it.

(See also this ask about whether Grue will live or not and a couple more long-term things. TLDR: His chances are really bad.)

In hindsight, I’m going to up the minimum survival number to four or five. And that’s still not counting Grue, so if he does survive, he doesn’t count against that.

Other than that, I don’t really have any other solid predictions. I just want to move on and see what creative way Taylor gets out of this one.

Let’s go!

End of Snare 13.8

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Bonesaw is so good and so horrible, I love her so much. Not as a person, mind you, but as a character she’s fucking fantastic.

Trickster’s plan worked pretty well, but they came too late for Grue to be in particularly good shape, and in an effort to get Bonesaw to fix him, Taylor, Ballistic, Trickster, Tattletale and Sundancer ended up at Bonesaw’s mercy. Damn, that’s a shitty situation to be in.

But hey, at least they found Imp?

The situation reminds me a lot of when Bakuda got her hands on the Undersiders, with our protagonists being paralyzed at the mercy of a crazed villain who intends to fuck with their bodies. The stakes are higher, though, because of how Bonesaw does things, and this time, I don’t think they’re coming out with just a concussion.

I do think at least three of them are going to make it out of this situation alive, not counting Grue, but there’s little chance this isn’t going to lead to permanent changes for at least one or two of the protagonists, unless they somehow manage to convince Bonesaw to fix things without using that to her advantage.

Which, incidentally, is the only way we could get Grue home.

Regent is are out there still, but he has no reason to believe something’s wrong inside yet, so I doubt he’s going to be coming to their rescue. I suppose it’s possible that a stray light blast from Purity could cause an opening for the Undertravelers somehow.

I’m guessing there’s either one or two chapters left in this Arc (not counting Interludes). The next one’s probably going to be horrifying and hilarious and I’m very much looking forward to it.

See you then!

Snare 13.8

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Hey, everybody, what’s good? Well, Worm is, so let’s read some!

Last time, Taylor tried and failed to enlist the Protectorate’s help against the Nine, but in some way, the conversation she had with Miss Militia and Legend (the rest of the Protectorate members who were around acted as background props, though for all I know the fact they were present for that might have a bearing on their views on Skitter later) gave Trickster an idea.

I don’t know what the specifics could be, but I suspect Trickster’s idea involves us learning more about him and his team. We’ve been getting more build-up for the revealing of those details in this Arc than any before it, especially in the last chapter, and I think it’s about to pay off – if not in this chapter, then at least before Trickster and Skitter’s excursion ends. And, hell, failing that it’ll still probably be before the end of the Arc (which I suspect is coming up soon).

Maybe the idea also involves bringing in someone he knows in Brockton Bay who hasn’t been introduced before? I don’t know. I’m also not sure how that would come to mind based on the conversation Skitter had.

But hey, there’s a way to find out…

End of Snare 13.7

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This went places I didn’t expect. Instead of jumping straight to trying to rescue Grue, we got so much good stuff. Cherish trying to out-Tattle Tattle, her read on Karkat Trickster and Taylor’s musings on that, the idea of Cherish being tied to a fucking bouy in the middle of the bay, Trickster and Tattle awkwardly being like “Coil totally isn’t just using us all, we all believe that, right guys”, Taylor being awesomely dramatic with her swarmophone, Legend and Taylor waxing philosophical about good and evil and identity…

Yeah, it’s safe to say I like this one.

Next time: Trickster has an idea and I have no clue what it might be. All I know is it’s something he could be inspired to come up with by Taylor’s conversation with the heroes. I’m pretty sleepy right now, though, so maybe some theories will occur to me by the time I start the next chapter. I’ll keep you posted if they do.

Finally, before I go off to snooze in my food and eat my bed, I want to officially predict that we’re getting less vague details about the Travelers’ backstory soon. Hell, maybe even next chapter, but I’m thinking next Arc at the latest. We might have a Traveler POV Interlude at the end of this Arc, even. It’d be cool if it were Noelle’s.

So yeah! That’s it from me tonight. See you next time!

Snare 13.7

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It’s Wormerin’ time!

So! Last time, the first major ambush on the Nine was a success, but in the process of executing Plan B, the Undertravelers left Grue behind on a rooftop after his impatience made him choose to fall from a fairly high altitude. It’s likely that impatience is why he wound up (according to Cherish, who might have something to gain from lying) being captured.

Of course, the Undertravelers can’t have Grue getting Bonesawed or Siberian’d or… pretty-much-any-member-of-the-Nine’d. So now the next goal is to rescue him as soon as possible, and also figure out how to use Shatterbird and Cherish to their advantage when Cherish has told the other Nine about Regent. Of course, even if they fail to do that, just having them out of the fight is a benefit.

Y’know, in a sense, the victory last chapter can be partially tied back to the same event that earned Tattletale her glasgow smile. If she hadn’t tried to mess with Jack by alerting him to Cherish’s betrayal, she wouldn’t have been in the position where she’d want to make a deal with the locals. Yet. And that’s a major reason the Undertravelers are still alive, so hey, at least her backfiring attempt wasn’t entirely in vain.

Enough about last chapter, though – what are we in for this time?

Time is of the essence for the Undertravelers, so to convey the speed of events, I suspect we (the readers, not the characters) might skip the planning this time and go straight to the attempt to rescue Grue. Maybe. It’s also possible we’ll be hanging out at Coil’s base a bit first, hopefully learning about what happened to Imp.

Whether it’s this chapter or not, the mission to save Grue is probably going to go well. I doubt Wildbow would kill him off-screen between chapters if at all, although doing it that way might be worth it for the angst of Taylor being faced with a Bonesawed husk of his former self when they come to rescue him. Damn, that’d be dark.

So yeah, without further ado, I wanna read!

End of Snare 13.6

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This was a pretty solid chapter!

I was a bit surprised by Wildbow’s decision to partially eschew the Unspoken Plan Guarantee, but what was left of it still allowed things to go well. And hey, complication at the end, as expected, though I didn’t think the end would be after the ambush.

My remaining predictions came true too: Reluctance to kill came into play (though Ballistic’s turned out more troublesome than Sundancer’s, and may have been a blessing in disguise) and we’re still shooting for the shogi plan. I’m very pleased with that last thing, though Cherish may have made that difficult.

We still don’t know where Imp is or what she’s doing, but we have learned that she was supposed to “help [Cherish] get back at the Nine” and that Imp did respond to Cherish in a way that Cherish could hear. Cherish implied that it would be surprising for Imp to have found a way to get this information back to the rest of the Undertravelers, though, which might mean bad things if she wasn’t just implying that to increase her bargaining power.

Next chapter, the Undertravelers are going to need to figure out how to circumvent the fact that the Nine know about Regent’s power and also how to get Grue out of the living hell that is being captured by a team that includes Bonesaw and five other sadistic pieces of shit. I feel like the answers to both things may lie in the words “as soon as possible”.

We might also learn more from Cherish about Imp’s fate.

So yeah. See you then!