Worm Liveblog #1
UPDATE 1: Superhero Aspirant
Alright, now for something different. I’m going to read Worm during the next year and half or two years, apparently! The author is named John McCrae, from now on referenced as ‘Wildbow’, because that’s his online name. It’s a long, long story. Luckily, long stories don’t intimidate me. Let’s get into this with gusto, shall we? There are thirty arcs to deal with here, and as it’s obvious, we’ll start from the top. Let this journey into the world of Worm be worthwhile.
Brief note from the author: This story isn’t intended for young or sensitive readers.
So I have heard, author, thanks for the note. Not that such warning means much, in terms of plot or characters. I have always been a bit wary when the author of a story says it isn’t intended for ‘sensitive readers’, but from what I have heard, this time it’s a valid warning. I wasn’t given any specific details, though, and I don’t really want details. I’m sure I’ll know why the warning was given once I get to those parts.
Looks like this is a story narrated in first person! Tackling the difficult challenges, eh, Mr. Wildbow?
This story starts in a classroom setting, and the so-far unnamed narrator’s first action is being impatient and fidget with her pen, doodling and unable to focus. An acceptable introduction, I’d say. The class is about capes, a topic the Narrator was hoping to hear about since the start of the semester, and unless the Narrator is some kind of hardcore fan of the intricacies of geography/geology, I’d say ‘capes’ refer to the article of clothing. Now that the topic is finally touched she can’t focus.
The teacher, Mr. Gladly, is the kind of teacher teenagers would like to have in their schools, the kind that’s usually relegated to Disney live-action movies, but the Narrator doesn’t like him. I have the impression she finds him grating, at the very least. A classmate by the name of Madison Clements smirks, class is over, and homework is given: ‘think about capes and how they’ve impacted the world around you’. Worldbuilding ahoy, perhaps?
Worm Liveblog #2
UPDATE 2: The Wannabe Heroine’s First Outing
Last time Taylor had introduced herself, shown the awful place that’s her high school, and showed her powers. Also she wants to be a superhero and plans to try get into that world very soon. Let’s see if her dreams are torn to shreds in this update.
There were no doubts Taylor takes seriously her training, and if anyone had doubts, she proceeds to dispel such doubts by describing her exercise regime. Running, mostly. There was a time jump here, straight to the day when Taylor will try her hand at being a hero. That was quick! I was sure it’d take longer than that, that there’d be a couple scenes more at school, but nope! Here we are, she’s ready to go outside and kick ass. You know, I had been warned a couple times that Worm had a slow start – slow burn, is that what they call it these days? – but this wasn’t slow at all! It took just like 5000 words! That’s like the blink of an eye! It’s almost as ridiculous as when one calls a 4000 chapter in a book ‘a long chapter’.
But yeah, Taylor is prepared and dyed her costume, buying the rest of the pieces to save time. Some of the armor wasn’t ready so she went ahead without it. I really hope that won’t be as troublesome as I have the impression it could be…you sure you know what you’re doing, Taylor? Her mask design includes lenses and bug mandibles. I admit I’m a bit surprised there’s no antennae, but that’s a good election. Antennae would provide foes a way to grab someone. It could be said the same about long hair, now that I think about it, but it doesn’t sound to me like Taylor has unnecessarily long hair, so she should be fine.
While Taylor walks to the bad side of the town, she proceeds to do some worldbuilding for the reader’s benefit. ‘From pretty much any point on the Docks, you could see one of Brockton Bay’s landmarks, the Protectorate Headquarters. Besides being a marvel of architectural design with its arches and towers, the PHQ was a floating base of operations that a squadron of local superheroes called home, outfitted with a forcefield bubble and a missile defense system.’ That’s cool. Not the subtlest of headquarters, but at least it has defenses. I thought the superheroes’ need for secrecy would include not having headquarters in middle of the city like this, but I suppose not as much secrecy as I thought is needed. Just enough to keep their real identities away from their hero work. I wonder who are the three leading members of the Protectorate. Surely they’ll appear at some point in the story.
The need for money and the lack of work made the blue-collar workers of Brockton Bay fueled the supervillain population of the city. Henchmen are always on high demand, aren’t they? And this is a job, so those workers had to join and do their best. Hope they at least got good enough pay for that. Villains thrived until heroes started to fight them, and now there’s a balance between the two factions. It’s all a familiar setting, in some ways. It feels like I have heard something similar to it before.
Worm Liveblog #3
UPDATE 3: Gestation
Last time Taylor had gone into her first self-imposed mission as superhero, which went…better than expected, actually! She didn’t die or get burned to ashes, that’s a plus. The problem is that she saved a team of villains and now they think she’s a villain too, so it was all for naught—in terms of trying to be a hero, that is. So let’s continue.
Taylor did decide to stick around and wait for a hero to arrive…or just a few seconds passed since Grue and the rest of his team left. It’s not clear nor it matters that much. The point is that a bona-fide superhero has arrived, and Taylor starts to describe him and the feats. What kind of hero is this person in charge of protecting the city, some may wonder? It’s the Armsmaster, his weapon is a nifty Halberd with capital H, and his powers…well Taylor doesn’t mention those yet.
‘The largest superhero organization in the world was the Protectorate, spanning Canada and the States, with ongoing talks about including Mexico in the deal.’ Huh. I got it wrong! I was under the impression the Protectorate only protected Brockton Bay. Haha, sorry, my bad. Sometimes it’s easy to forget a world isn’t just a city, that there’s this big ball of dirt beyond what one sees in the story. The Protectorate is divided in different teams, each one in charge of protecting a specific part of the country, most of the teams focused on cities where it’s known heroes and villains thrive, and this big guy here is the leader of the team. Certainly significant that the leader came here. I choose to believe this is a sign of how dangerous Lung is – which in turn would make Taylor more impressive since she managed to inconvenience Lung more than most newbies would.
The Armsmaster approaches Taylor, having noticed her. The very first thing he does? Ask if Taylor was going to fight him. Really. ‘“You gonna fight me?” He called out.’ Aw, consarn it! Make your best innocent face, Taylor, you don’t want to get on the big-time hero’s bad side. Taylor clarifies she’s not in the side of evil, the hero is skeptic. ‘Stepping closer to me, he tilted his head, “You don’t look like one.”’ I knew the bug costume wasn’t exactly a shining example of how a hero looks. Maybe Taylor should consider investing in more dyes to make it less gray and sinister.
The implicit insult hurts Taylor. No surprise that hurts, not only it came from someone like the Armsmaster, this costume is pretty much a symbol of Taylor’s skills and abilities. I don’t think I want to hear what the Armsmaster would say about her powers. Taylor defends her costume, saying the edginess wasn’t intentional. Thankfully, the Armsmaster doesn’t have any more unwelcome criticisms about Taylor’s choice of costume, instead deciding she’s telling the truth. Problem averted!
Worm LiveBlog #4
UPDATE 4: Dreaded School Days
So, last time Taylor decided not to take any credit for Lung’s capture, given how dangerous that’d be, and returned home, where her father was worriedly wondering why she had left the house at midnight. He decided to talk with her in the morning. Let’s see if that happens!
This second arc is called ‘insinuation’, which, unlike Gestation, tells me absolutely nothing. I don’t know how it’ll fit in anything. Maybe by the time I finish the second arc I’ll know.
The narration is back to first-person in Taylor’s point of view. She wakes up almost three hours after going to sleep. She must feel awful! And indeed, she does. It’s never easy to wake up when you sleep for so little. ‘I made myself change into sweats and walk down to the kitchen sink to wash my face, fighting to keep awake’ You know, if someone tells you it’s possible to get used to sleeping just a couple hours…that’s a lie. One can’t get used to that, trust me, I tried. Taylor, you’re going to have a very tough time if you don’t sleep at least six hours, that much is guaranteed.
Once her father descends into the kitchen, Taylor describes him in terms the narration had already used last time. Yeah, he’s not an attractive man. ‘As he entered the kitchen, he looked surprised to see me there. That’s just the way my dad always looked: constantly bewildered. That, and a little defeated.’ You’re so going to find out he has reasons to be bewildered, Taylor…and ‘a little defeated’ is an understatement. It seems to me that just like Taylor has been keeping silent of how bad the situation is for her, he’s also trying not to show how defeated and angry he feels. That’s very human. Happens very often.
Taylor’s Dad starts being doting, not showing anger or hinting he knows Taylor left the house last night. Instead he shows interest in Taylor’s glumness. Good way to start the chain of thoughts that’ll lead to a certain topic. “You know, you could go back to bed, sleep in for another hour or so. You don’t have to go on your run.” He’s right, but given how that may be unusual – Taylor strikes me as the kind of person that sticks to the training no matter what – accepting the proposal would be like hinting she was outside doing who knows what. She’s not going to take the suggestion, is she?
Hoh, is that so? Well looks like I made a fool of myself. I was sure I had heard somewhere it was like in 2005, but that was wrong, then.
Thanks for the information!
Worm Liveblog #5
UPDATE 5: Let’s Join a Team of Villains
Last time Taylor was on infodump duty, using the Internet to find information about several characters. It was all rather useful, but among this all there was a message for Taylor, signed by Tattetale. Should she answer? Signs point to yes. So let’s continue!
But before anything else happens, there are depressing high school days to endure. The group of bullies that usually torment Taylor gathered six other people to bully her today. Alright, I’m prepared for what may happen. Honestly, I’m easily manipulated by scenes where a character gets mercilessly trampled – metaphorically and/or literally – so I’m already kind of dreading what I’ll see.
There was no beating around the bush here. The very first line of the chapter was outright telling to Taylor’s face that nobody wanted her around. Ouch. The rest of the girls soon join, starting to hurl every insult they could think. ‘It was both calculating in how they were managing plausible deniability while at the same time they were acting totally juvenile by pretending I wasn’t there.’ Well what can one say, a lot of people say kids and teenagers are cruel. They certainly have the potential to be, I guess.
Not that Taylor bothers to react much. In fact…her narration sounds rather matter-of-fact, not a hint of being affected by any of this, and that seems to be intentional. It isn’t like this is the first time anyone insulted her, and this group wasn’t even that good at it. ‘The point wasn’t being witty, being smart or being on target. It was more about delivering the feeling behind the words over and over, hammering it in.’ Well they’re not doing a very good job, then! Taylor sounds very unaffected by this all. It’s a big relief, honestly. Compared to what happened with the juices and ruining her stuff, this is almost ineffectual. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still horrible and all these girls deserve a good slap to the back of the head at the very least, but it’s not the worse Taylor could have experienced.
‘They wanted me to fight back, because everything was stacked in their favor. If I stood up for myself and they still ‘won’, then it only served to feed their egos. If I came out ahead in some way, then they got more persistent and mean for the next time.’ In other words, Taylor will just lean against the wall and let them rave to their hearts’ content. You know, not give them the satisfaction of giving them any reaction. It doesn’t seem to me like the girls care, though, they just keep going. Not even when Mr. Gladly leaves the classroom they stop. Well there you have it, buddy, proof positive of bullying and who does it. You kinda wanted it as a start to help Taylor, didn’t you?
Worm Liveblog #6
UPDATE 6: The Newbie
Last time Taylor had agreed to join the Undersiders, after having met with most of its members. They’re all rather welcoming! Well, except Bitch, who didn’t seem to like the idea at all and didn’t even go to meet Taylor. The point is that Taylor is in the group, kind of planning to be a mole for the good guys. So let’s continue!
“I felt a touch guilty, for acting under false pretenses. I also felt pleased with myself, in an irrational way.” Aw, it’s not irrational! I understand the feeling guilty part, given that they all seem genuinely excited and happy about you joining them, but I think it’d be normal to feel pleased. I mean, they wanted you, they bothered to send you a message – it’s all very different to what’s going on in the high school. I think it’s natural Taylor would feel pleased, even if she may not know exactly why. So now what? Now that there’s a new member in the group what shall be done, Lisa wonders? May I suggest presenting her to the big boss? I’m curious what’s up with that!
They are going to “our place”. Oh, they have a hideout! And maybe Rachel is there. Hm, given how unhappy she was, maybe dragging Taylor all the way there may not be a good idea. There may be an easier way to do that.
Since walking around the city in full costume in broad daylight kind of attracts eyes, Taylor has to take the costume off and show her identity to them. For some reason she didn’t expect it. May be the lack of sleep. What follows is a description of Taylor taking off her costume and changing, her insecurities starting to flare. Let’s see…
“I kept the mask on as I undid the belt and peeled off the main costume. I wasn’t indecent – I was wearing a black tank top and black biking shorts underneath, in part for extra warmth. Silk wasn’t the best insulator on its own.” Hope you never encounter someone who can encase you in ice, then! That seems to be kind of weakness. Then again, it’d be rather uncomfortable to wear thicker clothes underneath that costume. It limits movement, yo. “What would they think when they saw the real me? Brian and Alec were good looking guys, in very different ways. Lisa was, on the sliding scale between plain and pretty, more pretty than not.” I don’t remember the exact words, given that I read it like a week and half ago, but I remember Rachel/Bitch wasn’t exactly supermodel material. I don’t think they care at all about how you look, what’s going to be useful here is your powers. Chin up, Taylor, you’re going to do well. She psyches herself up by reminding herself she sent Lung to the hospital and almost killed him with the power of spiders – that last part was my addition.
Worm Liveblog #7
UPDATE 7: Officially a Villain
Last time Taylor had pretty much joined the Undersiders, and then almost quit like ten minutes later because Rachel still didn’t like the idea of she joining her, opinion she demonstrated by ordering her dogs to harm Taylor. Fight ensued, Taylor won. So let’s continue.
Taylor feels rather apprehensive about returning back to the group since she had claimed she was going to quit. “A part of me wanted to apologize, but a larger part of me felt I shouldn’t.” She thinks it’s because she’s not used to violence. You’re going to have to get used to violence, dear, that’s a part of this genre that isn’t going anywhere. Besides, since Alec and Lisa were willing to have you in the team, I think they’d be glad to see you come back! Don’t worry too much about Rachel.
Rachel is there, scowling and most likely still bleeding around – although that goes unmentioned – so instead everyone focuses on Taylor’s wounds. She’s bruised and there are a few puncture wounds. Nothing too bad, but Mr. Wildbow’s descriptions also make it sound ghastly and worth of attention. At least it all sounds like something Taylor may be able to hide?
““That was awesome, you know,” Alec told me, as he returned with the first aid kit, “I didn’t think you had it in you to kick someone’s ass.”” Hahaha, that’s rude! I mean, I’m pretty sure Taylor herself had no idea she had it in her to get into a fisticuff like she did, but still…besides, it’s nice to know Taylor would be capable of defending herself physically in case her bugs can’t stop someone. I imagine she’d have a role in this team that involves strategizing and staying at some distance from the foes, but it’s good she’s capable of punching and aiming to vulnerable spots. Not that it’s going to be useful against every enemy they may encounter. Superpowers are a tricky thing.
““I think we’re going to clean that and stitch it.” …stitches…? That’s…going to be harder to explain if Taylor’s dad notices. Taylor endures everything rather stoically, without protesting at all. Instead she asks if they all have first aid training, and they do! Courtesy of Brian, who was a hard-ass about getting everyone to learn it. Paraphrasing. Good, that’s a valuable skill. ““I already did,” I admitted, “One of the first things I did.”” Something I like of Taylor is that she did a lot of preparation to follow her dream. Better to be safe than sorry!
Worm Liveblog #8
UPDATE 8: It’s Officially the First Day with her New Friends
Last time Taylor had officially turned into a member of the Undersiders. She may still plan to betray them by giving information to heroes, but for now she’s okay with staying with them. So let’s continue! Today we start the third arc of this story – Agitation – so let’s get going!
Alright, the first thing here is a descriptin of more of Taylor’s routine. She had realized that she’d need stamina to be a hero, and after three hand half months she had managed to make quite some progress on that. Not that she’s going to reduce her current efforts in any way, just because she’s doing well it doesn’t mean she’s going to stop. “I didn’t aim to just jog, though. I steadily increased my pace with every block I ran as I headed towards the water. By the fifth block, I was running.” Hm, seems like a decent way to exercise and build stamina. It’s always nice when things like these are rooted into reality, instead of expecting any random person to have excellent stamina once they start their hero careers. In general, Worm has proven to be fairly down-to-earth about many things. It’s something I’m grateful for.
Today, her exercise takes her to the Boardwalk, where he encounters Brian. ““Hey, you’re right on time,” Brian said.” Oh, so it was a planned encounter, and with only Brian. It doesn’t sound like anyone else is supposed to come. Taylor ponders about Brian’s clothing and receives breakfast, surprised they can afford things like Worm-Starbucks. Then again, this is a team of villains that receive cash by the truckload thanks to their work. Maybe part of Taylor’s character arc in the near future is getting used to the thought of having a lot of money within reach, seeing if it affects her morality, all that! Right now she’s reluctant to indulge in that money: “I wasn’t willing to spend the money, knowing where it came from, so it was just sitting in the cubbyhole I kept my costume in, nagging at me” Will that change in the future, I wonder?
Looks like Dad didn’t notice the stitches. Alright then. But yeah, it isn’t like Taylor was going to wave her injure in front of Dad’s nose, either way.
Brian apologizes for Rachel’s actions and delivers some very valuable exposition about Rachel’s life, which fits what Taylor read in the wiki. ““She’s kind of a special case,” Brian said, “I think that growing up the way she did kind of messed her up. No family, too old and, uh, not really attractive enough to be a good candidate for adoption. I feel bad saying that, but that’s the way those things work, you know?” He glanced over his shoulder at me.” You know what people say, human behavior is a combination of natural personality plus their environment. Rachel was dealt a very bad hand during all her life, it’s no surprise she’s, hm, antisocial.
Worm Liveblog #9
UPDATE 9: All Crimes Need to be Planned Carefully
Last time Taylor had run away from school for the third time in a row, deciding to go to the Undersiders’ loft. Things get fun when she learns sparring and is informed they’re all going to do a bank heist. It’s going to be the first villain work, cool! Let’s see!
“No,” Brian intoned, “Such a bad idea.” Oh, it seems there are dissensions already, in the very first line of the chapter. Unfortunately, Brian, I don’t think you’re in position to argue about if you’re going to do this or not. I mean, maybe he’d be able to make a case towards their benefactor as to why a bank robbery is a bad idea, but there are a few problems: one, you don’t know why the benefactor wants a bank robbery. Two, you have no way to contact the benefactor unless Lisa knows exactly who he is and had a way to contact him. And three, any delays in following the order may make the benefactor angry, I doubt he’s going to wait forever and ever. Given that it seems they rely on him for many things, that could be fatal. So yeah, it seems to me that there’s going to be a bank robbery in the near future no matter what.
Lisa doesn’t mind the task given to them. She even calls it ‘a rite of passage’. So they never had to do something like this before? I mean, they’re talking about the average haul of a bank robbery like they haven’t seen it with their own eyes, this may be the first time they receive such order. Hmmmm…
“Exactly. It’s not millions like you see people getting away with in the movies. Banks don’t keep a lot of loose cash on hand, so we’d be pulling in less than we would for most other jobs. Account for cost and the fact that this is Brockton fucking Bay, where banks have a little more reason to keep the amount of cash in their vaults to a minimum, and we’d be bringing in twelve to sixteen thou. Divide five ways and it’s what, two or three thousand bucks each?”
Brian is completely right here. Banks have small amounts of money in their offices, but not as much as some people think. They’re not going to have Fort freaking Knox in your local bank, so to say. In fact, to retrieve considerable amounts of money, you’d need to give a bank ample time to gather the money in cash, up to two weeks. It’s not like you can make a call and strut into the bank two hours later to receive the cash. Add that there are a lot of regulations and federal rules, and that it’s an obligation to report any notable movements to the government departments – and the amount of money to report that stuff is not high at all. All in all, yeah, banks are not mountains of bills ready to be taken away.
Adding to that, the most effective way of robbing a bank is not entering waving a gun and wearing a sock over your head. Sure, in a world of heroes and villains things are going to be flashier than that, but here in the real world it’s different. Most times, successful robberies involve simply giving a note to the teller, more likely than not it having a threat towards the physical integrity of the teller and/or their close family if anything funny happens or if ink packs or trackers are placed along with the cash. And that won’t deter the teller from alerting anyone, most of the cases. If there’s no way to, say, activate a bulletproof shutter to protect the teller, they are sometimes obligated to actually give the money instead of delaying the robber, but that’s because there are many other security measures that will lead to the robber getting caught. There are many ways to diminish the chances of getting caught, but more often than not anyone who tries to rob a bank is going to get their faces described, their fingerprints caught, and an attentive teller paying attention to even the smallest details that could lead to the robber’s capture. Is all that worth it for a measly twenty thousand dollars? Because that’s among the largest amounts one is going to get from robbing a bank.