seen from Ukraine
seen from India
seen from Algeria
seen from Türkiye
seen from Netherlands
seen from Algeria
seen from Türkiye
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Mongolia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Brazil
Alright, so it’s getting late, I’m about 45% of the way through the chapter judging by the scroll bar, this seems like a relatively natural break point, and I don’t really feel like I’ve got the patience for Bryce’s bullshit right at this moment. So that’s where I’ll stop for tonight.
I’ll try to get in a session tomorrow night, but failing that, Thursday morning should also be available. See you soon!
(Between chapters) (Colony 15.7, part 1)
“A what?”
“Tape and warning signs. Ignore the warnings, just go to the manhole cover and shout down at them, tell them to get back to work.
Hah, all that on my end and then she ended up explaining what she meant immediately afterwards.
I know they’re just sitting in the dark and drinking. And tell them no power tools, now. Not if they’ve got alcohol on their breath.”
Can’t just slack off with Skitter around to keep them in line.
“Okay. If they don’t listen to me?”
“I’ll take care of that,” I told him.
He ran off.
Ominous. For them.
“Big bad supervillain, giving orders to little kids,” Bryce commented.
Ahh, here we go. Time for him to live up to his title as a li’l shit.
That left me with the kids and Bryce. I studied him.
Time to figure out why he’s in this chapter.
Is it simply a matter of getting an update on how things are going with him, or does he have a more significant purpose?
His black hair was cut so short he was nearly bald, and like Brooks he was wearing dark gray cargo pants and a beige sleeveless t-shirt.
So they’ve made him look like a little soldier. I’m sure he’s thrilled at the gesture of inclusion.
He’d put on some muscle since I’d seen him last. His still-bandaged stump of a wrist tapped impatiently against his leg.
And the kids… they were wearing some of the clothes I’d had shipped in, but they didn’t look like the typical bunch of kids one would see around a schoolyard. Before taking advantage of what I had to offer, they’d been eating the bare minimum, spending all of their time outdoors.
I suppose the outdoors is what was familiar to them, compared to the hive of this strange bug villain.
But diet and exercise weren’t entirely to blame for the lack of softness in their faces or expressions. They’d seen people they loved die.
Which means they can now see thestrals and be angry and annoyed at the revelation that it’s been spooky ghost horses that were chewing on their shoelaces all along, thus wearing down their youthful love of equines and the softness it brought to their faces.
“Okay. Let me pack this wound and then I will need to go there. I’ll grab what I need myself.”
I waited while Brooks unpackaged and pressed bandages in place around the spike.
“How is the pain, on a scale of one to ten?”
I bet Taylor’s narration is about to comment on how uselessly abstract this system is.
“Ten high? Maybe a three until I move it, then it’s more like a seven.”
“I am surprised you are not passed out already. Do you have a high pain tolerance?”
Huh. I was very much expecting her to comment on that.
Is the use of “are not” instead of “haven’t”/”have not” just a bit of wonky writing or is it a subtle reinforcement of Brooks’ accent?
“I wouldn’t have thought so. But maybe. Or maybe the way it bonded kept it from damaging or exposing nerve endings?”
“Maybe. Okay. Ginger girl, show me the stuff?”
Ginger... y’know, Sierra was described as red-haired, but I may have taken it a bit too literally in my imagination. The scarlet red I’ve been imagining her with doesn’t still count as “ginger” in my book.
“We have those things.”
He looked surprised.
I looked to Sierra, “We did get that delivery of stuff for Dr. Tegeler?”
Doctor who now? ...No reference intended.
No results for “Tegeler” on the blog. Either it’s a new character whose off-screen acquaintance is pretty convenient right now, or it’s blog search being unreliable again.
Wait, so if you’ve got a doctor in the territory who can use these things, why did you get Brooks over here instead? Trust? Or do you not believe Tegeler’s got what it takes?
“The dentist? Yeah. But it’s not unpacked.”
Ah. That would explain it.
I turned to Brooks, “We have rotary grinders that we’ve been using for the cleanup, not sure how clean they’d be. But the rest of that stuff, we’ve been having it delivered, so the people with medical training can start helping out. Since we already have an able-bodied dentist, we’ve been setting her up. It’s kind of surprising how many people will start having issues with their teeth over just a month.”
Makes sense!
I called Tattletale instead.
“Skitter?” she answered. “How did it go?”
“Could have gone worse. I paid Parian off, and she’s leaving the city. No blood shed, mostly.”
Y’know, apart from yours.
“Mostly?”
“Flechette was there. I got stabbed.” I remembered that Coil could be listening in. “I don’t want to bother Coil with it, busy as he is.”
Nice save.
“Being stabbed is serious.”
“It’s not too bad. Can you lend me your medic?”
“You’re just leaving Dolltown now?”
Ooh, yes, let that guy do it, whatshisface... Brooks, that’s the one.
“Flying home.”
“He should be there before you arrive. I know you two haven’t gotten along in the past, but he won’t trouble you.”
He won’t trouble me. Was that her way of informing me that he was safe? Well, I still felt better than I would be if I were putting my life in Coil’s hands.
Makes sense. Lisa wouldn’t send him if she thought it wasn’t safe, I think, unless she also thought Taylor’s situation was definitely life-threatening anyway.
Colony 15.7
Howdy! Let’s go walk into a trap. Or check on Taylor’s territory. Or both.
I don’t really have anything to add to my predictions from the end of last chapter (which boil down to the above), and I’m starting kind of late, so let’s just cut to the chase and start reading!
Well, I’d do what I could. Supply what they needed, keep an eye on things.
“Your name?” I asked one of the oldest kids.
Viceroy Sir Bobert von Berenstæin the fifth.
“Guy.”
“Not your gender, your name.” “Guy.” “Your sister’s name?” “Girl.” “I’m not asking you whether she’s a girl.” "That’s my aunt.”
(I’m just gonna go ahead and headcanon that Guy is just the Viceroy’s nickname... y’know I’m starting to think there may be some differences in how Wildbow and I name characters.)
“Sierra didn’t have anything for you to do?”
“We’re waiting until Char comes back,” he said, pronouncing it ‘shar’.
Oh, trust me, you don’t want to mess with Chara, they’ll... oh, wait, you mean Charlotte?
Just in case, stay away from buttercups, okay?
“She said she was going to put us in charge of some younger kids, then have us run water out to the people working.”
Nice.
“Good. For now, you can run an errand for me. Head out the door, turn right, go two blocks. There’ll be an open manhole with a cordon around it.”
I briefly misread that as “condom” and I don’t think a manhole with a condom wrapped around it is a good sign that you should send kids down there.
I also don’t think there’s one of these wrapped around it:
And I highly doubt she’s sending them to a manhole two blocks away in the French commune of Cordon:
I also suspect there isn’t a mayoral sash, a bunch of cricket players, or a pruned plant around the manhole:
Which leaves a line of things meant to enclose the manhole, like traffic cones. Makes sense.
