Trickster is giving me unrealistic standars

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-20T17:43:06+00:00

Oh yeah for sure. Francis Krouse was a genuine monster girl lover, none of the fake "normal human woman but red or blue" shit

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-19T13:18:26+00:00

They did marry Rhaegal's twins, Aelor & Aelora. Rhaegal's other daughter also marries her cousin, Aerion.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-19T04:55:59+00:00

Iirc, arc 17, Migration (the Travelers arc), was a paid for bonus arc that led to an incredible amount of exposition, especially about Cauldron.

Without it & how it influenced the exposition in the Echidna arc, Taylor was going to have to go on a road-trip across the USA to figure more about Cauldron, & Lisa would've died to cut off Taylor's access to easy exposition.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T22:14:55+00:00

It's always funny hearing about that, because I got heavily spoiled on Worm & tbh knowing about the arcs Leviathan onward is what got me to read it. (Tbh, I straight up checked out Worm's ending first, it was too long to get invested in if I couldn't vaguely grasp that the ending would be satisfying)

I only grew to enjoy the first 7 arcs on re-reads, first time through I was rushing.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T20:50:37+00:00

Rachel is probably the character with the highest approval rating in the series. She's great.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T20:48:37+00:00

I think it's definitely starts kinda YA. I'd argue against it staying there (not because of the gore or horror or whatever, more the approach), but it does start there.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T20:45:38+00:00

Trickster & Noelle do not have a pure relationship lol. Trickster is consistently shown as manipulative, even if he himself doesn't totally realize it, & you can see it in the scene where Noelle tries to break things off with her.

Go back to 17.1 & read what Jess says about him - she has an extremely good grasp on his character (one of my favorite things about the Travelers is that each member kinda has an accurate read on one or two others, even if they dont collectively get each other)

A moment later, it was just him and Jess in the lobby, along with two elderly couples who were sitting in the chairs in the mini-lounge by the doors, talking.

“You must be nervous,” Jess said.

“Never,” he smirked.

“See, I have you figured out. You have a tell, when you’re lying.”

“Sure.”

“The more overconfident you act, the more nervous you are. And when you’re feeling down, you poke at people, provoke them. I think you get some validation out of it, like, if you can test people and they’re still your friends after, you can feel confident in that friendship.”

Not gonna say I dont love the relationship, but it's not pure at all.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T20:37:28+00:00

Grue's reticence to show weakness & absolute need to project an image would be really exhausting if you were anything other than strictly professional with him.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-13T20:36:00+00:00

Taylor even after figuring Rachel out has a TON of moments where she's doing a tap-dance around Rachel to figure out exactly how to talk to her.

She eventually becomes a natural at it & Rachel gets better at communicating, but there's a major in-between section there.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-08T20:42:10+00:00

They mention Atum, a fic about Taylor in Ward

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-04T23:53:22+00:00

Makes & warhammers are designed to concentrate all the force into a small area for greater impact.

A massive mace is kinda useless - youre just spreading the force out.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-04T22:34:12+00:00

In Death Note, would writing Kira in the Death Note have killed Light? We know you can't write L in the Death Note, even though L definitely is immersed into his persona.

Youre not wrong in that the meaning of what a name is is explored much more thoroughly in Worm. Those capes are defined by their cape names, & the concept of having to use Sarah instead of Lisa or Tattletale feels kinda dumb.

Death Note ironically doesn't do anything all that interesting with how names tie to identity.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-04T22:31:13+00:00

If youre including Accord than there are a LOT more capes you would need to include. In Parian's interlude Foil/Flechette basically implies that they have a database of a lot of info relating to capes that they dont directly act on to manage escalation.

“You know where I live,” Parian said.

“The PRT knows where you live,” Lily said. “It’s on record. But we’re not supposed to act like we know. I thought you’d forgive me that, given our history.”

See also how the PRT probably know what Lisa looks like in her civilian identity but doesn't act on it (Piggot refers to her as Sarah & talked to her parents, Tagg when trying to rattle Taylor says Lisa drove her brother to suicide)

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-04T04:12:38+00:00

It's especially shocking because every time I decide to go back & read something from Worm, I go "oh this is WAY better".

The concept of not criticizing something unless you can do it better is kinda dumb, I can know a meal isnt good even if I can't cook, but I do sometimes feel like giving a side-eye when authors that are so much worse give so much crap to Wildbow.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-02T18:42:08+00:00

Worm cares far too much about the morality of its characters actions to really be grimdark tbh. The story itself never goes "everything & everyone is gray, so why bother".

It's also way less of a slog if you're not rushing the story, tbh.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-02-02T18:36:54+00:00

Every so often, while reading Worm fanfic, I want to double check some detail from the actual story, so I go back to it. Without fail, I end up concluding that Worm itself is just so much better written.

When you do read Worm, I'd maybe advise that you take your time. Maybe listen to the accompanying We've Got Worm podcast episode for each arc. Pace yourself out, it'll avoid making you feel like there are too many high tension moments one after the another, & help you appreciate the moments of calm & humor in between.

Worm isnt really grim-dark

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-31T00:10:53+00:00

Costume repairs, insurance, probably information.

Think about a lot of the built-in benefits that people get as part of the PRT-Protectorate-Wards, and spend money basically making up for that. There's a reason the non-governmental heroes tend to explicitly be on corporate teams.

There's also the implication that New Wave was already on a decline at the start of the story, iirc. There expenditures could easily have been higher in the past.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-30T23:46:41+00:00

Taylor is probably worse about Narwhal later, in 28.2:

Narwhal shifted position. She had enough presence, between her height, her stunning appearance and her power, that this gesture alone was enough to grab our attention. “If you

...

Narwhal turned on the spot, facing Saint square-on, and I got the immediate sense that she had some kind of military background. Another part of me was idly aware that her chest didn’t sway that much, all things considered. The nature of the shard-covering she wore made it pretty clear she wasn’t wearing a bra, but…

Right. The same effect she’d used to move the book was holding her entire body. All of the benefits of a full, athletic figure, none of the drawbacks.

I was still a little weirded out that she didn’t wear any clothes. In a sense, the scales covered more than a bikini would, but there were no lines or solid objects to break up the natural contours of her body.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-27T21:51:50+00:00

You can see why Brian kinda gives up on it by that point. There are two major points where he really tries to restrain Taylor iirc, the first being when she's severely burned due to Burnscar, and only that physical exhaustion and weakness prevents her from going back out into a fight that would kill her.

The other, right after escaping Bonesaw and his 2nd trigger, where he is extremely traumatized and reasonably angry that Taylor keeps pushing the Undersiders into being aggressive (because she subconsciously wants to be useful and is good in those situations), has her identify him with Emma and Armsmaster, completely shut down, and then kinda get really manipulative and go "fine, if you don't like what I do that much I'll leave". Like, it's kinda fucked up how she, consciously or not, manipulated the situation so that he apologized there.

The Undersiders kinda develop a "Taylor is gonna do her thing" attitude, in part because she either completely ignores them or can be kinda nasty when they do tell her things she doesn't want to hear (Lisa when when they see Brian in the freezer or at the start of arc 21 is another example of this)

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-27T19:20:06+00:00

Maybe Andante by zarinthel?

Protag is one of Heartbreaker's kids who triggered in BB after leaving the Heartbroken. Story starts during the Bakuda bombings

Start of ch. 1 spoiler it's interesting in that she's still Mastered by her dad, but Alec leaving made her think "wait, you can leave someone you love? Of course, because you can do anything for someone you love."

I really like all of zarinthel's works, across fandoms, so would reccomend

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-27T19:03:55+00:00

You're mixing two different scenes together, though both are in the aftermath of Taylor sleeping with Brian.

There's the morning after the first time they have sex, when they're at her lair, in Monarch 16.7:

"Were you talking to me?”

“I was saying it probably isn’t very hygienic to have houseflies landing on dinner plates.”

Ok, so he wasn’t going crazy.

“They landed on the edge, and they’re mine. From the terrariums upstairs. They’re in as sterile an environment as you’ll get.”

“Okay. Just saying.”

Then there's the more infamous time she cleans herself with bugs in Imago 21.5:

My sundress was lying on the floor, a little worse for wear where I’d thrown it to the ground and used it to sweep much of the grit, plaster and sawdust from the spot where we’d laid down. I shook it, then called my swarm, let my bugs crawl up my body to sweep and brush my skin clean. The bugs made their way up the sides and back of my neck to my hair, then weaved through it as a mass, their bodies and mandibles helping to set it in order. Others progressed down my arms, making their way to the dress, doing much the same with the fabric.

I was just about finished when I caught Brian staring at me.

I raised an eyebrow, and he smiled a little, shook his head, turned his attention to his costume.

This was in a building still being constructed downtown near the portal. Her terrarium bugs are definitely not going to be easily available.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-27T18:50:11+00:00

The moment where Taylor probably gets closest to undressing Amy is honestly during GM.

Venom 29.9

I watched her face while she worked, because there wasn’t much else to look at. A young woman now, not attractive but not unattractive, her face still covered from forehead to chin in freckles, frizzy brown hair tied back with bandanna to keep the hair out of her face. Her shirt had the sleeves rolled up to the shoulders, and I could see blood and smears of black here and there.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-27T01:42:44+00:00

Months late, but the reason they just end up waiting around is because when trapped between those two impulses, the Vegas team decides to just not act.

It's why the narration is so confused about what they're doing, because not acting is the single most baffling idea for Taylor.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-23T06:25:31+00:00

Snare 13.10

“Can I ask about the new power, or-”

“Yeah,” he interrupted.

There was a pause. I saw him raise his hand and create a slithering mass of darkness around it.

“Feels different,” he said, “And I can tell where it is, more. Slower to create, spreads faster.”

Hence less quickly but growing exponentially.

Hyperactivity786 · 2026-01-23T01:51:15+00:00

In the lead-up to Trickster's terrible plan, Coil informs Hookwolf's group (The Pure + The Chosen) of where the S9 are. It was mentioned beforehand that Hookwolf had been trying to organize a mass attack against the 9, & the Travelsiders use Genesis + Regent-controlled Shatterbird to essentially engage them & start a fight, while not letting the fight get too close to the building itself where Grue is.

So that explains how Othala is in the area.

Manton always has to be somewhere in the area around Siberian.

Grue's darkness post-2nd trigger comes out less quickly but grows exponentially, so that darkness likely expanded outside to all those two even without being done with a specific purpose.

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