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hlvrai-loving · 3 years

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Something Lacking

Joshua held his legs as he sat on the grass, silently watching the newly-recovered crow peck at a bowl of raspberries and blueberries. He'd figured it was only fair, giving it something to help it get back on its feet. It was his window the poor thing flew into after all.

"... You know, someone in my class, he used to get a lotta crows at his place..." He spoke softly to the bird, as though it could understand or respond. "I always thought he was pretty lucky, getting all those birds there. I figured they must really like it there, to fly over every day and eat whatever they could find... Must've been a paradise for them..."

The corvid bit back a few more berries, cawing before it went back for more. Joshua sighed, staring up at the cloudy sky. It still felt like it was getting colder, day by day, despite how weather usually was in New Mexico. Even during the winter months, he stood by the fact that it was never this cold before.

"... Anyways, I guess his dad kinda got fed up with them for ruining his lawn or whatever. He set up a bunch of things so they'd fuck off, but... well, they ended up being the neighbors' problem since it was closest to the other house. Neighbors complained to the dad, dad complained back to them. Like, what a big mess for a couple'a birds, am I right?"

The crow stared at him for a few moments, only to caw and flap its wings. Joshie gave a ghost of a smile. "Feeling better? Good enough to fly off yet, lil guy? Heh..." He wouldn't say he was still feeling stressed exactly, not entirely at least, but there was a large part of him that felt... anxious about heading back into his room. About going through more and more messages. About looking through more and more files. About... about finding out things no one should ever know. The words one of the messages spoke seemed to ring through his head endlessly. "Maybe they just stopped existing."

Despite the absurdity of it all, the thought itself sent chills up his spine. Whatever might've happened in that sector all those years ago... was he really ready to see through it all to the end?

Was he really ready for whatever consequences finding the truth might have?

He ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. He was too far in now to give up, wasn't he? If he was going to be watched, tormented, threatened, he might as well make the most of it. Can't be too sure any of it would go back to normal if he suddenly stopped, can he? At least continuing on didn't make all the crap he was going through completely meaningless, right?

"... A lot of problems would be so much easier if I were like you. Could just fly away, maybe to wherever dad is. I'd actually be doing something worthwhile..." The crow stepped over to him as he spoke, eyeing him and letting out a few calls.

Evidently, it was still hungry.

Josh sighed. "I don't have anymore, sorry." The avian bobbed its head a few times, calling out louder and louder, before suddenly running off and taking flight.

"... Hm." He watched it for a bit, pushing himself up to head back inside when it was out of sight.

Josh shut the door of the garage behind him, cringing slightly at how loud it was. After finding the bird dazed and thankfully uninjured, he'd decided it'd need food and energy of some kind to make up for the stress it must've been going through. Seeing as the garage was closer to the kitchen than the front door was, it made sense to him at the time to go through here, even though opening the door to the damn thing probably took the same amount of time it would've taken him just to run through the front and to the kitchen anyways. Would've saved him from having to hear it again, that's for damn sure.

With that done, he turned to head towards the inner door, and that's when he spotted it. On the bottom shelf, nearest to the door, was a metal box, shut tight with a sturdy-looking lock. That... wasn't there before, was it? He's almost positive he would've noticed it before among the rest of the items, it wasn't like this place was used by anyone these days. It didn't even seem to have any dust on it...

Cautiously, Josh reached out and took it. It wasn't particularly heavy, whatever was in it didn't seem to move much when he tilted it. He wasn't exactly dumb enough to try shaking it, whatever's in there could be fragile after all.

"What the hell..." He muttered, looking around the shelves and drawers for a key. Of course, he came up empty. Whatever keys there were in here were old and much less sleek in design than the box itself was. Still, he made sure to try, just in case. Yet, no matter which one he tried, not a single one would fit.

Josh groaned in annoyance, slamming the box back onto the shelf. Another pointless loose end to add to his ever-growing list. Just another pointless item to piss him off when he's already stressed.

However, his anger quickly vanished as he froze, having heard something past the door. It was soft, faint, but repetitive. Footsteps, he realised, and they were getting louder.

The boy's eyes grew wide as he took a quick glance around the room, desperate and trembling as he searched for somewhere to hide. Finally, his eyes settled on a large wooden board propped up against the wall, just the right angle for him to hide behind and still check on whoever entered, hopefully without being seen. As quickly and as quietly as he could, he hid within, figuring he'd take a peek once he was sure they weren't looking.

The door slammed open not even a moment later, causing Josh to silently cower.

He heard them stomp in, rummaging through a toolbox as loudly as they could. Next, they made their way to the center of the room before stopping, perhaps weighing their options. Then, after what felt like an eternity, they spoke.

"... Come on out, fucker! I know you're in here! If you come out now, I'll letcha keep your kneecaps!"

And it was at this moment that Joshua's fears bubbled away into annoyance. You're kidding, he thought, You've gotta be fucking kidding me. It was the absolute furthest possibility from his mind, but his ears couldn't have deceived him. Just to be certain, he took a look.

And there, wielding a large wrench from one of the toolboxes, was Allen. It was nobody but Allen.

"Jesus fucking christ!" The smaller boy exclaimed, exiting his hiding spot. Allen whipped his body towards him as soon as he spoke, the menacing face he wore fading into a jovial smile once he recognized him. "You damn near gave me a heart attack! What the fuck are you doing?!"

"I heard the fuckin, the garage door, loud as shit! I thought somebody broke in!" Allen chuckled. "The fuck you doin' in here?"

"Hiding!" He retorted, "I thought you were-! Wait, why are you in my house?!"

Allen shrugged slightly. "Well, you weren't picking up your phone or answering my texts so I came over to check on you. One of the windows was open so I kindaaa... maybe came in through it?"

Josh gave an incredulous stare. "... You saw I wasn't picking up so you just... broke in?"

"Hey hey hey! It's not breaking in if the window's open, got it? Besides, I made sure to lock it once I was in." The taller boy corrected, the wrench still tightly gripped in his right hand.

"How long have you been in my house for? Were you jus-"

"Look look, you can ask me this later, alright? I came here for two reasons. First was to make sure you weren't, y'know, dead or something. Second was, uh... to ask you something."

He couldn't believe it. His heart was still hammering in his chest, his body still trembling just from this light scare, and what for? Just a question? Just to check in?

But then he noticed. On Allen's back was his schoolbag, seeming full to the brim and holding on with a single strap. His knuckles were scraped, his jeans a mess of dirt and small tears. Al ran a hand through his messy hair, tugging at a few of his crimson streaks, seemingly unconcerned.

"... Man, heh, this is like, wicked embarrassing." The taller teen chuckled, glancing away from Josh. "Could I... y'know, crash at your place for a bit? Not-mom 'n pops are being pretty... eh, unrad right now, so I don't exactly wanna head back while they're still mad, ya feel?"

He didn't know what to respond at first. Sure, this wouldn't be the first time Allen slept at his place, but the circumstances this time, they... They were unfamiliar to him. But, regardless of all that, he found himself fretting over what might happen if he refused. Where Allen might head instead and how he'd feel... He came to Josh first, most likely, and he wasn't close enough with their other friends to ask them for something like this.

Ultimately, it was probably no surprise that, with a gentle smile to his best friend, he said yes.

"Of course, I... I getcha. I'll have to check back in with mom when she returns, but you can stay here until then, alright?"

Allen gave a big smile, his eyes seeming to light up at the confirmation. He pulled Josh into a tight hug, surprising him with the sudden affection. "Thanks. I'll owe it to ya later." Then he pulled away with a playful laugh. "Anyways, let's get the hell outta the garage. Gotta bed to set up, don't we?"

It seemed too sudden, making light of the whole thing as if it were nothing more than a sleepover, but that tended to be how many interactions with Allen went. All Josh could do in response was smile slightly and nod.

"Yeah, you'll have to put that away though. Don't need any rust in my room." He referred to the wrench of course. Al glanced down at it and rolled his eyes.

"Nyeh nyeh, whatever, neerrrd!" He plopped it back into the toolbox with a clang. With that done, he sped over to the door. "Race ya to your room, NERD!"

"Hey! No fair!" Josh called back, chasing after him with a soft laugh.

The locked box on the shelf was already nothing more than a distant memory as he ran.

#jfreeman #joshua freeman #hlvrai joshua #ask joshua freeman #mostly just for my ask blog but i hope you enjoy it anyways #not my best work but itll have to do

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frostygar · 4 years

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Arrow S7 Ep1 Thoughts

I haven’t watched Arrow in a long time, but watching the recap and uhhh Ricardo Diaz or whatever was the most annoying fucking bitch… the biggest reason I’m watching Arrow is because of the Elseworld’s crossover (since I stopped on the episode for The Flash) and also because the show is ending and I’d hate to not finish it after putting in six seasons so far so let’s fucking goooooooooo

- See, this is the problem I have with many shows. They use the same annoying villain for more than a season and honestly I just want the pain to fucking end. Why do you think they only have villains for a season, and then they defeat them and are never seen again? Because otherwise it gets repetitive and boring. Also low-key forgot that William was Oliver’s son. Oh… that was a nightmare Oliver was having um… well everything still applies.

- Ruelle’s songs are always amazing for badasses I love it and her!

- “Watch it, Arrow” bitch are you really going to try and fight him he’s THE ARROW. You’ve seen him fight. Stop being a little bitch. Also, wouldn’t they have to put Oliver in solitary confinement considering he’s a hero (or at least, a big target for the other inmates)?? And what does that security guard have against Oliver like—

- OMG THAT DUDE… I MADE A SUPERNATURAL FIC WHERE MY OC WAS HIS SISTER AND WENT ON WITH SAM AND DEAN. Brendan Fletcher is such a great actor! Anyways,,, we all know Oliver’s going to refuse helping him because he’s trying to stay alive and out of trouble but it’s in his nature to help people so he’ll definitely end up helping him.

- That guy looks like Mick Rory. Also, okay dumbasses, good luck beating the shit out of T H E A R R O W 😂😂😂

- How to tell that someone is cosplaying as the Arrow other than Oliver being in jail: they unnecessarily shot this guy in the hand, and then made a spectacle out of him by posing him on the tire of a police car at the precinct.

- Why does Oliver look surprised he has a visitor? YOOOOOOOO DIGGLE!!!! Oliver’s number one since the first episode 🥺🥺🥺

- OLIVER’S EYES WATERING UP MY FUCKING HEART!!! Also, I give him shit sometimes but he’s so fucking strong? Physically, yes, but I mean mentally as well. Any other show would take some insane, nonsensical route to get the main character out of jail but Oliver knows that he has to stay down and out of the spotlight for once and he IS. Incredible.

- FELICITY?! WITH THAT PINK HAIR AND NOSE RING?! Please keep this hacker-esque Felicity! It’s so good and looks so fucking hot—

- This guy just trusting a random barista to know what to do, and around his work. What an idiot lmao but whatever I love hacker!Felicity we rarely see her. Her fake-name is Erin… okay. Interesting.

- Wait… Dinah, someone who literally betrayed them (last I remember, it’s hazy because again it’s been awhile and I remember her plot being kinda boring so I didn’t pay that much attention tbh) and was going off the rails… is now the captain of the precinct?? How? However, she SEEMS okay and was pretty cool from what I just witnessed so maybe I’ll give her another shot.

- RENE MY BABY BOIIIII!!! He’s teaching self defense to teenagers and his daughter PLEASE I LOVE THIS?!?!? I love his relationship with his daughter (and the idea of them fighting crime together when they’re able to again) but high key wasn’t she very, very young last season or am I tripping?

- “So it’s on us to protect ourselves” EXACTLY WHY RENE/WILD DOG IS TEACHING YOU SELF DEFENSE… Kid, he can’t be Wild Dog right now. I guess for safety or whatever but like damn I get that your parents were robbed the week before but maybe you could, I don’t know, ask Rene as your self defense teacher, to help you?? You don’t NEED Wild Dog…

- Can people stop calling Oliver “Arrow” it’s low-key annoying…

- NOT THUS DUMBASS KID TRYING TO BUY GUNS. BUT YASSS RENE KNOWING HE’D DO SOMETHING STUPID AND COMING TO THE RESCUE NOW I GET TO SEE RENE BEAT THESE GUY’S ASSES

- “The Green Arrow” technically still protecting Rene (despite the real Oliver and Rene’s iffy relationship) we love to see it

- Honestly though I think Oliver and Felicity are kind of cute and have an… okay… relationship but she’s much better suited with like nerdy guys. than guys like Oliver. I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on exactly why I’m not really into Olicity (other than the stans) but I miss her being a hacker and helping out instead of just being Oliver’s wife or whatever

- LAUREL!!! I mean, not the REAL Laurel if I remember correctly, I’m hoping that the Earth-2 (?) Laurel isn’t going to be as annoying and flip-floppy as she was last season.

- “… this New Green Arrow a threat” LIKE OLIVER WAS ONE??? YOU BITCHES DEEMED HIM A VILLAIN FOR THE DUMBEST BULLSHIT BECAUSE OF THE REAL VILLAIN RICARDO DIAZ, BUT NOW THAT THIS GREEN ARROW IS ACTUALLY A THREAT… NOW Y’ALL ARE SCARED?????????? Jesus Christ.

- It’s been 17 minutes but this feels like an entirely different show. Almost refreshing, if Ricardo Diaz wasn’t the villain (or that the government is against Oliver like idk it’s just not… interesting really)

- YAY AWWWW I MISS CURTIS!!! One of my ultimate faves 🥺🥺

- Well that dude is definitely not Tommy (even though I did hear about him coming back somehow??)

- That poor guy. Is he going to end up becoming a villain or something because Oliver didn’t protect him?

- Rene caring more about his kids having hope than their dumb immunity deal 🥺🥺🥺

- WILLIAM. If anyone hurts him I swear to GOD… I will kill them myself. Also, his bond with Felicity 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

- How convenient that the guy’s cell is directly next to Oliver’s. And Oliver’s reaction to seeing the guy all fucked up… the guilt :(

- Yeah, both of you have family but you also are both in jail… maybe wrongly accused I don’t know if that’s true but in jail it’s a game of survival and as sad as it is for Oliver to look out for himself and his future, he’d risk everything for someone he doesn’t even know and he’s done that his whole life and look where he is now…

- YESSSS RENE MY FUCKING MAN!!! Doing what he needs to do for the sake of his kids at the community center!!!

- Oliver’s fighting naked I’m—

- WILLIAM SHOWING UP IN THE CORNER NOT ONLY SCARED THE FUCK OUT OF MY BUT IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HIM—

- “Thank God you monologue” THE WAY I’M SCREAMING!?!??! Also Felicity being allowed to fight back and be badass since Oliver isn’t there to take control we love to see independent women! Iris West could never! Honestly why the fuck does Diaz even CARE. All I remember is that he found out who Oliver was and didn’t like it because oof his own tragedy or something and now he wants to make Oliver pay, but it’s like… POINTLESS. It’s like Hiram Lodge in Riverdale… Diaz is boring.

- That “you’re okay” from Oliver when he saw Felicity aww!

- FELICITY… I GET THAT YOU’RE AFRAID BUT YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE WILLIAM!!!

- How exactly is Felicity going to fight back, though. Like, yeah she knows some moves but her speciality is hacking.

- Dinah is still as annoying BUT she at least makes sense so that’s a plus.

- William’s “you’re leaving me” NOOO 😭😭😭

- YESSSSSS OLIVER GOING OFF!!!! Also not that guard just watching and doing nothing like he doesn’t make any sense. He hates Oliver but lets him fuck up the people that he has to know is doing bad shit like??

- WAIT A FUCKING SEC, ROOY AND WILLIAM?!?!?! OH BITCHHHHHHH

I’M HERE TALKING ABOUT HOW ARROW IS BORING BUT THIS EPISODE WAS SO FUCKING GOOD? Maybe it’s because it’s the season 7 premiere and the hype does tend to flutter off throughout the season but holy fuck!!! That was… really good!!

#Arrow #Oliver Queen #Felicity Smoak #William Queen #John Diggle

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manifestoonmoralmanlove · 5 years

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Gormless Ch. 4 - Dab on them Pineapples

A well-meaning friend gave me a book series that is hilariously bad. The first book was Souless and my riffs were entitled brainless. This second book is entitled Changless and these riff are then gormless.

I mean to say I have entitled them gormless! Not that my riffs are dumb, and the effort I spend on them stupid since I’m the only one who enjoys them. HAHA!

The story is SUPPOSED TO be about how a badass lady wearing a rad-looking carriage dress hits baddies with her umbrella and bangs her hot werewolf husband. In reality it’s mostly poor attempts at being witty, flirty, and superior.

For the last book check out the brainless tag.

If you want the TL;DR version but want to read these new riffs anyway?

This story is set in supernatural Victorian steampunk England. Alexia is our NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protag. She is a soulless, which means she’s able to negate the abilities of vampires and werewolves by touching them. She’s recently married a big oaf, named Lord Connel Maccon. He’s the manchild in charge of the supernatural police with a zillion dollars and he’s totes super hot too ok. Their relationship is mostly arguments about how Maccon can’t tell her fucking anything. Alexia has also recently become head of ~Soulless affairs~ in Queen Victoria’s government. She has a dumb friend named Ivy, a gay vampire friend named Akeldama, a family who’s evil because they do the same shit as her but while being blonde, and most importantly Alexia is better than everyone cause…cause.

Last time on Gormless:

There’s some mysterious force that’s turning the Vampires and werewolves into humans. Alexia is in charge of figuring out that deal, and she is doing a bad job at it. Her husband is in charge of the Supernatrual Police (BUR) so he’s going to Scotland about it.

There’s a dude named Channing who wants to punch and have sex with Alexia, and Ivy is getting married to some rich slub, even though she’s in wub with Maccon’s servant Tunstell.

Alexia’s hubby told her to go to a hat store for mysterious plot reasons, she brings her dopey friend Ivy. The hat store is run by a hot lesbian and as they’re chatting BOOM an explosion! GOLLY WHAT’S NEXT!?

Chapter 4 - Dab on them Pineapples

This chapter starts off totally under described. Basically the explosion shook the hats on their nice dangling hooks, and turned out the lights. They don’t even describe it as unbalancing Alexia. So the whole next bit makes so little sense. She first reacts by feeling around for Ivy. She finds Ivy has fainted…cause okay? Ivy is whispering about Tunstell though so she’s like, “YEAH MY FRIEND UNCONCIOUS ON THE FLOOR AFTER AN EXPLOSION IS FINE! BYE LOSER!”

She immediately starts scurrying around for that secret passage she thought she saw earlier. Finds it, goes in, and down an elevator. I just…I was so flummoxed that this was her first response? All it would take for this to make more sense is to write, “It sounded as if the explosion happened below them, and Alexia would bet you 100 pounds that this secret passage would lead her straight to it. And what if someone was hurt down there?”

It seemed so bizarre for her to go, “EXPLOSION? I’M GOING TO MAKE A BEELINE FOR THE SECRET PASSAGE! MY FRIEND OUT COLD? WHATEVER!”

When she gets down there she finds a messy workshop, where a small explosion clearly took place. She finds LeFoux yelling at a child and there’s a ghost lady just chilling there. The gist of the conversation is that the child threw a rag soaked in ETHER into a huge furnace which caused the explosion. The boy is just like, “lol it went bang.” And Alexia thinks that’s hilarious and reintroduces herself. LeFoux has to remark that WOW ISN’T LADY MACCON SMART FOR FINDING OUT THE SECRET PASSAGEWAY? GOSH I KNOW I CONFIRMED IT TO HER MINUTES AGO! BUT SHE’S SO SMART! The ghost is LeFoux’s aunt Beatrice, and the boy is introduced as LeFoux’s son Quesnel even though the two do not look related.

I also find it odd that LeFoux, the owner of this establishment, with a shop full of customers, just slips into the passage and doesn’t give a token, “DO NOT PANIC CUSTOMERS I’M GOING TO FIGURE OUT THE ISSUE, PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”

Alexia praises the child for the explosion. I can’t help but feel a bit exasperated by the book’s tone for this. This child could have not only killed himself on a flight of fancy but perhaps a block worth of buildings full of humans in a crowded city, and the story treats it like he stole a pudding out of the fridge he wasn’t supposed to have. But I mean, my job is to worry for the well-being of children and I have a habit of overthinking this shit so take that paragraph with as much or as little care as you see fit.

LeFoux punishes Quesnel and tells her aunt to take him away so she can have sexual tension with Alexia. Alexia, you do not deserve the sexual attention of anybody except your dipshit husband. Leave the MacDougalls and LeFouxs for the more-deserving slutty, bisexual hate-readers okay.

Faps you realize you will never be able to have sex with a fictional character right?

Faps why would you want to bang a fictional character in a story you don’t even like?

I HAVE TO FIND SOMETHING TO ENJOY HERE OKAY!?

During some mild flirtation where Alexia first realizes women are hot, LeFoux explains that Maccon commissioned a gift that is ready for her.

It’s a huge ugly umbrella that takes a page to describe just its physical appearance, which was hard to follow. My favorite detail is,

“The handle looked like something that might top an ancient Egyptian column, carved with lotus flowers---or a very enthusiastic pineapple.”

I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean but with that line I have decided that the handle of her umbrella looks like this:

(Picture of a pineapple dabbing, while wearing bright red shoes.)

And you cannot convince me otherwise.

We spend a few more pages explaining what her James Bond styled umbrella can do. Which includes:

Shoots poison darts.

Can switch between a silver and wooden tip depending on if you’re stabbing vampires or werewolves.

Can emit a magnetic field which can disrupt steam engines temporarily.

Can spray different kinds of toxic mists which can kill humans, and severely injure werewolves and vampires.

Okay sure, she gets a proper weapon with a lot of weird uses. Sure good!

So now it’s time for me to complain about some writing choices!

Much to my annoyance, every time LeFoux smiles at all (which is a fucking lot) instead of using multiple verbs and descriptors such as, “She smiles, grins, smirks, beams, looks amused/smug/delighted/etc.” She says LeFoux ~dimples~ 100% of the time. And I’m like nobody verbs dimples that way you fucking weirdo who writes like they’re 12.

There’s also this really clumsy pointless exchange where it’s revealed that LeFoux has made special equipment for Prof. Lyall, and she remarks that he’s a curious man. Alexia says he’s not a man at all (cause he’s a werewolf) and LeFoux remarks, “I, too, am not a man. I simply enjoy dressing like one.”

….This is like super clumsy and not how humans talk at all. And there’s no reason why you need to bring that up AGAIN at all? We can tell she enjoys masculine dress because…she’s described as dressing masculine. Like….why?

Like I know this isn’t meant to be a complex novel, but like I feel condescended to how often unimportant shit needs to be brought up again and again. UGH!

So they head back upstairs, Tunstell shows up so he and Ivy can stare longingly at each other, and OH YEAH tell Alexia Lyall wants to speak with her.

You gotta do more for me to ship Tunstell/Ivy then like show them cozy with one another and shouting in my ear about how they pine for one another. Like maybe some dialog besides, “How are you?” “Oh I’m fine”?

So Alexia goes to see Lyall. She struts in swinging her new umbrella like HEY! HEY! ASK ABOUT MY NEW TOY! Lyall does not. Lyall has his issues don’t get me wrong. But I find it so refreshing that he refuses to feed Maccon and Alexia’s shitty little egos.

Lyall says the humanization phenomenon has been ~spotted~ again and it’s moving toward Scotland, a bit ahead of Maccon, who is also heading that way. Maccon doesn’t know he’ll be meeting the mysterious soul-sucking power soon, which could be a problem since he’s only useful in the sense that he has powers.

Alexia takes note of this, and decides she wants to have Lord Akeldama and LeFoux meet cause that would be cool I guess. That’s where we leave off. I’m not sure if the two are going to get along immediately upon meeting or hate each other’s guts. I hope they hate the other’s guts cause I think that would be more entertaining.

Say something nice Faps:

These chapters don’t always end and start on similar notes. So it doesn’t feel repetitive.

Lyall, while not totally free from this writing’s bullshit, helps ground this material by being a voice of sanity. A lot of authors can get caught up in HOW FUCKING COOL THEIR PERFECT FUN CHARACTERS ARE and it’s just kinda refreshing that this author has enough self-awareness to realize how exhausting and irritating their antics/personalities can sometimes be. Or in the very least enough awareness of writing to know when to slow it done and take a breather.

LeFoux is hot.

Since I have identified her new murder parasol as having a dabbing pineapple handle, all mentions of it conjure hilarious mental images for me. She was described as cradling it like a baby, and swinging it wildly in order for it to fail to catch Lyall’s attention.

I also kinda like how despite getting a badass weapon crafted for her, it’s hideous. Like perhaps it’s for the humor sake, but I appreciate we’re not just going to steamroll how cool and great Alexia is. Even though she got this super rad weapon with all these functions without having to earn it. The item does have the downside of being tacky and heavy. You know?

#gormless #changeless #riffing

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journeysintowebcomics · 7 years

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Worm Liveblog #26

UPDATE 26: The End of the Truce

Last time I had started to read Arc 6 ‘Tangle’, which featured another attack onto the ABB’s forces, and also Taylor is going to help Brian with furniture. All in all, these are rather mellow chapters, compared to the last few. The calm before the storm, if you may say that. I really doubt the rest of this arc will be as calm as this, yeah. So let’s continue!

Mr. Wildbow isn’t playing around, this goes straight to showing how dazzled Taylor is about Brian’s features now that Lisa pointed they may be a couple. Well, she’s also surprised about how clean the inside of the apartment building is, but her flabbergasted feelings are mostly because of Brian, that much I’m sure about. I blame Lisa for this sudden fixation on him, hah. I mean, frankly I did always feel like Mr. Wildbow’s intention was to make Taylor be interested in Brian, and also vice versa, but all feeling of subtlety has gone out of the window by now.

Problem was, I’d been distracted, not so much by Brian’s features, but by the realization that I had been looking at them.

Now all that remains to see is if Taylor is daring enough to tell Brian about how she feels. I really don’t think it’ll happen in this chapter, or in this arc, or...in this quarter of Worm, but someday it may happen. It’ll be fun to try to guess when it’ll be.

Brian’s apartment is rather spacious and sounds pretty expensive. Well, Brian’s villain activities do give him quite an amount of money, but I didn’t think he’d be living this well. If I had to guess, I’d say he has this nice apartment for his sister’s sake. Nothing here is like Taylor had imagined his apartment would be, but she likes it. It’s like seeing another side of Brian, she thinks.

Assembling furniture doesn’t take long, it’s finished in two paragraphs. There’s more to be done, but the main focus here is Brian trying to make sure Taylor is comfortable, offering her drinks like tea or soda. Hah! This isn’t going to make Taylor feel any less nervous, is it.

The other piece of furniture to assemble is taking quite a lot more work and paragraphs, and that isn’t helped by Taylor’s sudden reactions to Brian making the slightest bit of contact against her. Seriously, read this:

Without glancing my way, he placed his hand over top of mine to adjust the angle a fraction. The contact made me feel like someone had plucked a guitar string that ran from the top of my head down through the middle of my body. A deep thrum deep inside me that couldn’t be heard, only felt. I was very glad for the long sleeves of my top as goosebumps prickled my arms.

Before this day, I’m kind of sure Taylor would have all these reactions. Ever since Lisa spelled in layman terms one chapter ago that Brian and Taylor may be feeling attraction towards each other, Taylor seems to be on the verge of melting into a puddle of hormones. It’s almost jarring how quickly things are going. Maybe it’s because this stretches my suspension of belief a bit, but this is going rather fast. Well, as long as Taylor doesn’t get into this kind of thoughts during situations that don’t warrant them -- in example during a fight – then there’s nothing wrong with this.

“That’s faster, thanks,” he replied, after a second, “Want to grab me the nut?”

Oh, wow. You know, if this had been any other moment, if it wasn’t for all the internal narration Taylor has done just in this chapter, my mind wouldn’t have hinted me innuendo in this innocent phrase. All the blame lies on you for this, Mr. Wildbow, you embarrassed me. The assembling of furniture continues while Taylor gets more and more flustered, somehow.

At least she manages to sound a bit carefree, even if she’s making bad excuses about why she’s holding her breath. That answer about you fearing having bad breath wasn’t that bad, Taylor. That prompts quite the reaction from Brian, though.

Then Brian leaned close, closing the scant inches of distance that separated us, until our noses were practically touching.

“Nope. You smell nice,” he told me.

I can imagine it, Mr. Wildbow chuckling to himself while writing all this chapter so far. There’s no way he wasn’t conscious of everything he wrote here.

Brian’s sister, Aisha, arrives not too long after Taylor frets a bit more, prompting admiration from Taylor because Aisha is attractive. Very attractive, from how Taylor is describing her. She also thinks Aisha seems to be trying to offset her natural beauty by trying to get a ‘trashy’ look. I’m a bit compelled to agree on her opinion here. Neon green fishnet leggings?

Aisha sees the situation and immediately catches on the romantic tension in the air. Apparently, the social worker that enters right after Aisha feels it too. Oh, great, she’s here. Aisha changed the time of the meeting without telling Brian, so now Taylor is going to see what will happen, because now that this started, it’s unlikely she’ll leave. We as readers need our first-point-of-view character to know what happens, after all.

The social worker kind of does her job, needling Taylor about why she isn’t in school right now. But then again, Taylor’s presence here is none of her business, so after some insinuations of disapproval she goes to talk with Brian about things like the apartment’s location and Aisha’s bedroom, leaving Aisha and Taylor alone. It’s an awkward situation for Taylor, she doesn’t know what to say.

“So. You’re on my brother’s team?”

Oh. Looks like Aisha is aware of Brian’s work as a supervillain. Taylor tries to play dumb, feigning disbelief, but Aisha even deduces Taylor is the one who has the bug powers.

“He told me that he had powers, didn’t say what they were. Since he has powers, he thinks there’s a chance I could get ’em too. Didn’t want me to be surprised. I figured out who he was after that, saw something about some villains robbing a casino on a night he wasn’t at home, started keeping track of times he wasn’t available and it kept matching up. Called him on it, and he didn’t do a very good job at denying it.”

Makes some sense to me, trying to keep her prepared in case it happens. I’m aware powers seem to have some sort of genetic component, and I don’t know anything about Brian and Aisha’s biological parents – besides the little Brian himself has said -- but I don’t think Brian having powers means Aisha may have powers in the future too. The odds say she won’t. Also Aisha is much more observant than I thought she’d be, she found out about Brian’s double life by noting when her brother wasn’t available...nice, I’m kinda impressed.

Hands cupped around her mouth as though she were shouting, she mock-shouted at a volume barely above regular speech, “Ladybug and Grue, in da house!”

Aisha seriously isn’t very concerned about keeping this a secret, but the way she says it, and the wording, would make it hard to believe she’s serious about it, so don’t worry too much about it, Taylor. Just stay silent and let Aisha bother Brian about it later. I have no doubts she will.

When the caseworker and Brian come to inspect the kitchen, Aisha is shooed to the balcony while Taylor is allowed to stay. First than all, Brian did a good job with the preparations and the logistics, so congratulations! Not bad! But the social worker has concerns such as the apartment not having much of Aisha’s influence in terms of decorations and the such. I don’t really think Aisha would have cared at all about that? She doesn’t strike me as the type of person that’d be willing to go choose furniture. I do see the social worker’s point, though, and I agree with her. Besides, anything that helps Aisha be under her brother’s custody is good – and I think this is as good as done, the social worker seems to be fine with leaving Aisha in Brian’s care, but she’s a professional and therefore has to do her job properly.

It’s nice to see a social worker in fiction not being demonized. It’s something that happens often, doesn’t it? Social work is one of those professions that in fiction are shown to be a burden, most times.

Once Aisha and the social worker are gone, Taylor tells Brian about Aisha’s pestering and he apologizes.

“She promised she wouldn’t say anything to anyone… and it really bothers me that she was indiscreet enough to raise the subject with someone I hadn’t okayed. But Aisha wouldn’t tell for the sake of telling. I think she was probably messing with you.”

Eh, I agree that she really shouldn’t have started this conversation no matter how sure she was about it, but it wasn’t like Aisha was being actively malicious! She was definitely doing this to mess with Taylor, there’s no room for debate here. The conversation grinds to a halt when Taylor receives a text message. Looks like the moment of calm and joy is over now.

srry to interrupt smoochfest. you two need to hurry back. shit is going down.

Oh, you wish there was a smoochfest, Lisa.

Since there’s an emergency, Taylor and Brian prepare to depart, not before having a bit more of romantic tension involving Brian leaving his hand a bit longer than necessary on Taylor’s hand.

Fuck. I mentally moved up my timeline. No longer than a week, and I’d have to take what I knew about the Undersiders to the Protectorate. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself for any longer than that.

Okay, looks like this whole denial thing about tattling on the Undersiders to the Protectorate will be solved very soon. That’s good, the sooner this is laid to rest, the better. I don’t know why the repetition of this point bothers me so much. Maybe it’s because to me it’s very unlikely Taylor will really betray the Undersiders, so trying to raise the question as if she really is going to do it seems kind of pointless to me.

There’s a chance I’m wrong, I suppose, but if Taylor does do it then I’m going to be very surprised, that’s for sure. What’s she going to do during the rest of Worm? Be with the Protectorate as another hero, try to make herself a place in the world as a heroic cape? It’d be interesting, that’s for sure. I’m sure whatever Mr. Wildbow ends doing, it’ll be nice to read.

That marks the end of this chapter. As you can see, it was mostly to establish Taylor messing around with her lovelorn behavior. Mission accomplished, subplot introduced. I think they’ll get together at some point, yeah. Whether they’ll last or not is an entirely different matter, though. Being a villain is a lot of pressure, stress and what not...it can be hard to maintain a relationship with a team member.

I have some time left, so I’m going to read the next chapter now.

“Thanks to a concerted effort by members of Brockton Bay’s Wards and Protectorate teams, the local gang, the ‘ABB’, or Azn Bad Boys, has fallen.”

Oh! Well that was fast! The truces lasted less than a week. Of course when everyone bands together against one common target, that target doesn’t have good odds of staying afloat. That said, can you really say the ABB has fallen when Lung is not imprisoned? I’m supposing this means Bakuda was caught, but Taylor explicitly said Lung had gotten away. It’s a bit hard to say the gang is gone when the big leader is free.

Oooor maybe not, because apparently Lung was found and brought into custody! Okay, the ABB has fallen.

That said, it’s quite telling that as soon as the ceasefire was over, every villainous group except the Undersiders and Faultline’s crew resumed their activities with intensity, attacking mercilessly and hitting hard. Museum, airport, the possibility of open warfare in the streets...living in Brockton Bay must be quite the major headache these days.

The anonymous benefactor isn’t going to sit around and let every other villain of the city take the metaphorical cake for themselves, he has a job for his team, the biggest one to date. Awesome! The problem is that there’s no time to prepare or to dawdle around, it has to be done that very day. It’s all because the mayor and the heroic capes want to take the credit, make it look like it’s all thanks to them there’s peace and sanity in Brockton Bay again – as much peace as you can say there is right now. Brockton Bay is starting to look like the poor man’s Gotham City.

“I’m not liking the direction this is going, here,” I told her.

I suppose Taylor didn’t expect an intensive mission so soon. These characters never have time to rest, do they? With some luck this time she won’t sustain injuries that’ll be visible for long. That reminds me, she hasn’t gone to see Dad Hebert...if she doesn’t go at all, then things are going to get very awkward between she and him. All in all, this is not a good situation for Taylor.

The boss’ plan is insane: there’s going to be a party where lots of heroes will be at, as well as those in the higher echelons of Brockton Bay’s society. The Undersiders shall crash the party, roughhouse a little, and leave. The boss really must want his group to make a splash amidst the recent chaos, eh?

Brian finds everything hilarious, but Taylor is more outraged than anything else. She brings up very good points, frankly.

“And the plan is to piss them off?” I asked, incredulous, “Not just them, either, but that party’s probably going to be attended by the mayor, the DA, the police chief… You’re aware that if we tried this and any of us got caught, it would pretty much be a first class trip to the Birdcage?”

It’s a bit of a childish plan, like going to tag the police station with graffiti in the middle of the night. What does the boss win with this, I wonder...there must be some advantage to him. It can’t be that he got jealous of everything the other villains were doing, surely there must be something else. A distraction, perhaps...? A way to make a statement? Or – and this is me considering the worst case scenario – an attempt to get rid of the Undersiders? I don’t get this, there must be something going on behind scenes...

Much to my surprise, everyone is against the boss’ plan. Excellent! Even Rachel and Alec don’t like the idea. Can they reject the orders, though? Wouldn’t this risk angering the benefactor? In moments like these I’m glad I have a nice, normal life without quandaries like this one. Saves me the trouble of not knowing what to do.

“You have to understand,” Lisa sighed, “I don’t disagree with what you guys are saying, but what I can tell you is that this is a test. The boss wants to see if we can pull this off, and if we can, we’re that much more valuable to him. A lot more valuable.”

...huh. I suppose that...makes sense. But if they fail, then the benefactor wouldn’t have a team at all. It’s an all-or-nothing bet. Extremely risky. Just what kind of person are you, boss? This is intriguing, I hadn’t imagined he’d be the kind of person that’d suggest something like this. What’s for sure is that Lisa isn’t faking the existence of a boss or something. It wasn’t likely, but I really can’t see her putting everyone in danger like that.

That said, it was said before the capes don’t tend to go that hard on villains when they’re first captured, unless they are particularly heinous, that is. This is far from heinous, and everyone thinks of the Undersiders as minor villains. If they’re caught, I don’t think they’ll be sent to the Birdcage. Maybe the benefactor is counting on that.

Brian asked her, “Can we turn this down? I mean, he’s never forced us to take a job.”

Oh, that’s an option? Okay! But nobody jumps at the chance of rejecting the job, no matter how unhappy they are about it. Well, Lisa does want to take the job. Hm. It’s a good thing I as reader trust her enough to feel she wouldn’t lie to the benefactor and say they’re all for it, because that’d be a stupid move.

As last resort, she brings up something else:

“Just to be clear… One million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, divided five ways,” Alec said, “For this?”

“Like I said,” Lisa smiled a little, “Biggest job yet.”

...wow...that’s...I don’t know what to say, that’s a lot of money. So the boss has more than one million dollars prepared to be paid, just like that? I’m astonished. For some reason, Coil was the very first name that passed through my head. Maaaaaaybe? I mean, he has enough money to be hiring Faultline’s team, and professionals in the form of soldiers. Whoever Coil is, he has money to burn, that’s for sure.

I’m not saying Coil is the boss here, but it’s a possibility I’ll have to keep in mind.

Taylor isn’t letting herself be swayed by the amount of money offered because she doesn’t really care about money or anything like that. I have the feeling that, despite Taylor’s arguments, she’ll find herself overruled, four versus one. The Undersiders will be crashing a party tonight, won’t they?

Lisa brings up that completing this task successfully would mean meeting with the boss and talking to him directly. Huh. Okay, that should be enough to get Taylor into the plan. It’s her big chance! And it’s not like she’d have other ways to meet the boss. Rachel wants to think about it, Alec wants to do it...with Taylor’s vote it’d be settled that they’d do the plan. Do it, Taylor! She thinks this very well, analyzing her standing and once again knowing she doesn’t want to be a traitor, but yeah, I’m pretty sure at the end of these paragraphs I’ll see a ‘yes let’s do it’ or something like that.

Taylor is willing to take risks, but the last thing she wants is to be like Emma. Ooooh, so that’s what Emma is for, besides being one of the mean characters at school! She’s the character the protagonist must strive to avoid turning into. I see now. And, if my opinion of Taylor is accurate, she’s going to do everything in her power not to be like Emma, even if it includes sticking with the Undersiders.

And there it is, she changed her vote. Everyone’s surprised, especially Lisa. Taylor, agreeing to do this risk? I wouldn’t be surprised if Lisa starts getting suspicious after this. Methinks you may be leading to your own undoing, Taylor, but...I like it. This is going to be exciting, this will be fun.

Alec doesn’t beat around the bush, he outright says he expected her to stick with Brian’s side and reject the plan. Hah! What a comment, Alec.

“What changed your mind?” The question came from Lisa.

I had to avoid tripping any alarms with her. The safest way to go about it would be to stick with the truth, or something very close to it.

“It bugs me that I don’t know who our employer is. There’s some real ugly possibilities, and I’d rather know sooner than later, if they were the case.” There, truth enough.

I have to wonder how Lisa will react once she finds out about Taylor’s plans. Will she confront her privately? Will she tell the rest of the team? Because this is rather suspicious. Part of me is hoping Lisa finds out through her power and talks with Taylor, because that’d settle the deal about Taylor not betraying anyone. Come on, Lisa, please do it.

The important thing here is that the matter is settled. Four votes against one, Brian is outnumbered. Funny how Lisa turned the tables around with ease. But yeah, looks like I now know what the rest of the arc will be about! This will be great. Can’t wait to read what grand adventure this will be! And...also how much it’ll hurt Taylor, because pretty much every adventure so far has led to Taylor’s ideals and/or body being hurt. She can’t get unscathed. Every mission pushes her a bit further into the dark side, and I’m pretty sure she knows it.

All in all, this is starting to be another promising arc. Let’s see how it goes! Next time, that is.

Next update: three updates

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