Chris Liveblogs Twig

Just a guy giving his thoughts on a web serial. May read Ward eventually.

[chris-reads-stuff]

Probably was a bad idea to start liveblogging basically half asleep. I figure this is a good pause point. I'll pick it back up in the morning (PST)

*looks at scroll bar*

good lord what have i gotten myself into

[chris-reads-stuff]

"I stared at its eye, and saw how it didn’t move as the head swept from one side to the next, the slit of the iris barely changing in response as the faint light from the window swept over its head."

Oh! Its eyesight isn't just bad, it's practically non-existent. The boi is blind! What a stroke of luck for our plucky young(?) heroes(??)!

"“It’s blind,” I whispered."

Pfffff. Maybe if I scrolled down a little, I wouldn't have felt all smart for figuring that out for nothing.

"The movements of the creature came to a halt.  It froze, nostrils wide."

Ah. Right. Blind. Not deaf. Get ready to run kiddos

[chris-reads-stuff]

"I saw its nostrils flare.  It opened its mouth to taste the air with a flick of a thin tongue."

D'awww. It's just a big snakey baby! Can you not see well? You can do it, boy! You can sniff out the snackey snacks! *ahem* I mean I'm guessing that, even though it has legs, it still has that terrible snake eyesight, hence the tongue flicks.

"The way things looked, we were very close to doing the opposite of ‘flourishing’.

It was hard to put into words, but my thoughts connected with that thought, and it was funny."

Is our main boy this group's Imp? I love him already. I can feel all the little shit energy radiating from him.

"I grinned, and flakes of wax fell from my face at the movement.  I watched the thing continue onward, toward the back of the hayloft, head turning as it sniffed the surroundings.  It unwound its long tail from the wooden pillar that held up the one end of the overhanging hayloft, and it moved with a slow carefulness."

Wax? Skin condition? Temporary mask? Not yet explained biopunk thing? Oh! Is it what's keeping the snek from finding them? Neutralizing their scents? Good lord its eyesight must be bad if it can't see the four distinct blobs standing in the sunlight on the edge of the loft. Wonder if that tail was doing anything important.

[chris-reads-stuff]

"It uncoiled, setting a claw on the floor, and the old floorboards didn’t elicit an audible creak.  Large as it was, it managed to distribute weight too evenly, and used its tail to suspend some of its weight."

Just in case we couldn't tell this thing wasn't one of them naturally occuring monstrosities.

"It didn’t walk, but slinked, each foot falling in front of the last as it passed within three feet of us.  Its wide mouth parted, showing just a hint of narrow white teeth."

I have a strong feeling it's playing with them. Not fun playing, but more like a cat messing with its meal before it finally ends its misery.

"There was no cover, nothing to hide us from it."

I also have a strong feeling these kids aren't easy prey. What's your plan here?

[chris-reads-stuff]

"What had once been a barn had been made into a warehouse, then abandoned partway through a third set of changes.  A floor of old wooden slats reached only halfway down the length of the old building, what had once been a hayloft.  If we stood on the edge, we could look down at the floor below to see uneven floorboards on top of compacted dirt. The original barn’s door was still there, mounted on rollers.  I leaned over to get a better look. I could see a table, some scattered papers, books, and a blackboard. The only light was that which came in through windows. A scattered set placed on the upper floor, and more well above head height on the lower one."

Ooh okay long paragraph. So I was at least right about the warehouse bit, not so much the city bit. I think. Wonder why they're there. Stealing documents? Academic sabotage? I know they're probably not the Good Guys based on previous experience with good ol Wildbow's stuff. It also looks like they're committing their ~foul deeds~ in the daylight. Ballsy! I approve!

"Aside from the four of us, one other thing occupied the hayloft.  It was hard to make out in the dim light that filtered in through the window, like an eel in dark water, and if it weren’t for the fact that we’d seen it approach, we might not have noticed it at all.  Sleek, four-legged, and tall enough I couldn’t have reached its shoulder if I stood on my toes, it was wound around the pillar as a snake might be. Unlike a snake, though, it had four long limbs, each with four long digits, tipped with claws.  Head flowed into neck, which flowed into shoulder and body without a without prominent ridge, bump, bone or muscle to interrupt the sequence."

Wow! Okay! First off, we're going in full on media res, then. Secondly, I'm diggin the monster design. Always a sucker for lithe, sinuous death machines. Thirdly, I'm guessing this group consists of 4 children? Get out of here, kids! Why are you even messing with this thing??

[chris-reads-stuff]

Taking Root 1.1

A two word arc title! Haven't even gotten into the actual story yet and I'm already surprised.

"How does it go?  The first lesson, something even the uninitiated know.  For life to flourish on the most basic level, it requires four elements.  Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen."

Oh wow. Okay, so obviously the main character's thoughts. Starting the biology stuff off strong, I see. Going to try and keep from going on a theory ramble on the first paragraph.

"We were doing fine on that count.  The air around us was stale, but it was still oxygen.  Water ran around and below us, flowing over our bare feet, redirected from gutters to the building’s inside."

'Us'. A group? A team? Why are they barefoot? Are they orphan hoodlums? That "uninitiated" comment from earlier makes me think otherwise. Cultists, maybe? Also, where are they? Some sort of Victorian Warehouse? Gutters makes me think city. But that could also be my Worm bias creeping in.

[chris-reads-stuff]

Hi!

A friend of mine recently convinced me to read Twig, and I figured, why not share my thoughts on it.

I've already read Worm and a bit of Pact (forgot to check for updates while it was still going and ended up forgetting about it. I'll probably reread/catch up on it here). Haven't touched Twig at all. I know the bare basics of it: set in the Victorian-ish era, and everyone is biopunk. I also know that the main character is a boy, and also looks like a 4th grader, thanks to the r/Parahumans banner. Other than that, I have no idea! Can't wait to find out more :D