#14.11p1

Oh boy. Let’s see what sort of mess the paranoia and fighting have made.

“Calm down!  If we all just stop fighting, then this doesn’t end in tragedy.”

“You’re cured,” I told her.  “That’s it, that’s all it takes.”

Ohhhh.

Right.

Ahahahaha

fuckin’

all the ways she could’ve done this though

and she went for the healing smooch

Huh.

I like these bits of local history. 

Police had made arrests, but actually moving the ships out of the way required sailors, and the move had mobilized enough of them that clearing the upper areas of the docks of the ships became all but impossible.  Things capped off with fights, gunfire and a deliberate sinking of a container ship by one of the protesters.

Damn!

Opinions varied on whether the incident had been a symptom or a cause of the collapse.  Either way, the result was the Boat Graveyard- an entire section of the coastline where boats had sat for so long that they’d rusted or taken on water.

Of course. Too friendly.

“You’ve got ten minutes to teach them,” Tattletale grinned.

Pfft.

“Unless you’d rather go and kiss people?”

“Whatever.”

“You’ll see about curing the others?”

“Yeah.”  Bitch pointed, “But it won’t work with my dogs.  They kill any parasites while my power’s working.”

Oh yeah, good point.

Wait, “while [your] power’s working”. What about Bentley? Does him being stuck in hellhound form until you specifically revert it mean you can not be using your power on him at all times and thereby have it not kill the parasites?

Right.  I could remember curing Sirius of heartworm.

I shrugged.  “Another way?  Maybe if you dose some fresh water with the new parasites, spit in it, then splash people?

I suppose that might work.

Let’s also take a time-out to consider that not everyone has costumes that allow skin access.

People are going to start getting better fast, with the water changing, but let’s make sure our side is okay?”

Bitch nodded once, curt.

If this doesn’t work, she might kill me for real.

If this does work, she’s gonna kill you even harder.

Tattletale helped me to my feet and handed me my glasses.  I got my mask in place around the lower half of my face and then gathered bugs over the mask and glasses to hide my features.

It’s a pretty fetching if somewhat disturbing look.

“How’s that work?”  Tattletale asked.

“The effects are being generated by a parasite.  Panacea changed the parasite to some kind of symbiotic species that overrides the effects of Bonesaw’s work and heals the effects on the brain.  My bodily fluids are carrying it.  That means that right now, the parasites in Bitch’s bodies should be dying or getting replaced or transformed or something.  I hope.”

Thanks. It does help to get it recapped in a more laymannish way like this.

I dusted myself off, wiped at my costume where I’d landed in the water, and made sure none of my belongings had dropped from their positions in my armor or my belt.

I didn’t hurry to meet Bitch’s eyes, because I knew that when I did, I’d have to maintain that gaze.

It’s gonna be one hell of a gaze.

Only when I was done did I meet her eyes.

She took her time responding.  “I was going to have Bentley break you.”

Ahaha

This scene is delightful.

I rolled my eyes, scattered the bugs, pulled my mask down and leaned over to give her a quick peck on the lips.

“Now fill me in.  I’ll fill in the blanks as you explain, and hopefully it’ll work fast enough that I can catch up.”

Sounds like a good plan.

Seriously, though, it’d be fun to see how the shippers reacted to this chapter when it first came out. :p

If we add 7.5, Taylor has now kissed three out of five other Undersiders. She’s making good progress towards that harem ending.

“Jack and Bonesaw tricked me and Coil to figure out where both Cherish and Amy were.  I gave chase, and Jack left before he accomplished anything more than head games.”

Pretty decent summary.

“State she’s in, head games are pretty serious.”

True. If there’s anyone here who knows a thing or two about how head games can affect people, it’s Lisa.

“Maybe.  But at least she didn’t cave on his demands.”

“Sure.”

At least for now.

“The bad thing is… Jack knows about Dinah’s prophecy.”

Tattletale looked as though I’d slapped her.  “Shit.”

Yeah... I think Taylor has been underestimating how bad that is.

Granted, I also think everyone’s overestimating it, but I think she’s underestimating it in the context of that overestimation.

Success! Woo!

It extended out in every direction, promising to revert most or all of the affected bodies of water.

“You couldn’t have waited until after you’d cured me before you put the bugs on your face?”  Tattletale asked.

Ahaha!

This is exactly what I was just joking about with the puckered lips - Lisa wants some hot mind-healing action too.

Though to be fair, Taylor didn’t make it entirely clear that she doesn’t need to go around kissing everyone in the city to heal them.

She was smiling as she asked it.  “Unless you want me to drink that water.”

This too was part of why I made that joke.

“Sorry.  No, I’ll help you out.”

Sounds about right, mostly.

“Just going by looks, when you can’t see half my face?” I asked.  Without breaking eye contact, I reached up and pulled down the lower half of my mask.  “You don’t recognize me?”

I think it was more about behavior.

She didn’t glance away from my eyes.  “No.  Now move.  I will order them to attack.”

She would.  She could.

Only question, really, is why hasn’t she already?

I leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

...