#7.5p1

Hm, well, she can try.

“I don’t think he’ll be willing, as far as ‘fessing up.”

“Tell him that I’m not going to sign any deal with him if he can’t own up to this and get the heat off us, when we weren’t informed and we didn’t agree to taking this kind of action.”

It’s something, at least. Coil doesn’t know that they were planning to decline anyway because of Rachel’s stance on the issue. Question is, though, how much does he actually care whether the Undersiders agree or not?

If his power is strong enough, he wins either way.

I don’t think you know shit about that, Taylor. This just looks like your lack of self-confidence speaking, which has been known to repeatedly make you unfavorably compare yourself to every other girl and ignore the idea that maybe, just maybe, guys look for more than just appearance.

I could settle for just his presence and friendship.  I could enjoy it if there happened to be casual body contact between us, even if it was a bit pervy.

Heh.

Our brief conversation had let me relax and start to enjoy the possibility of an evening in Brian’s company, but what I saw next was a bucket of cold water in the face.

Hopefully not literally.

Actually, what am I saying. Whatever this is is probably worse than a literal bucket of cold water.

...hm. Besides options like Empire mooks causing havoc in the streets, there’s also the possibility that they just arrived outside the apartment and Aisha is there. That would be very fitting for the cold water analogy, what with the associations between cold water and something ruining the sexual mood.

Hm. This ties in with the conversation about how Brian might be able to handle Rachel better, in that it provides a reason for him to not want to take an official leadership role. It seems he’s naturally inclined to take charge (which is why he’s the de facto leader), but is trying to respect the others’ opinions and keep that down. As such, he might not want to take on official leadership because he’s worried it’ll enable him to become an overly controlling ass.

“Really, it’s cool.  It makes sense, given…” I paused, keeping the civilians that were in earshot in mind.  “…the situation, and I like your apartment, so I don’t mind staying there.”

Yeah, Taylor’s on board with this. Not particularly surprising, really.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely.  Hell, I’d have you decorate my apartment when I got a place of my own.”

Hehe.

He chuckled, “I’ll do that for you if you make me that outfit we talked about before.”

The costume.  I’d almost forgotten.

Sounds like a fair trade to me!

“Thanks for reminding me about that.  It sort of slipped my mind.”

“Considering it?”

“Yeah.  Maybe.  It’s a big job, but I guess I have more free time now, and, uh, yeah.  That’s pretty much it.  I could maybe do it, sure.”  

It would be pretty cool to have the team entirely outfitted with Taylor’s handiwork. Or, uh, spideriwork.

Obviously, I couldn’t and wouldn’t mention the fact that my decision to ally myself with the Undersiders for real was a factor.

Our conversation stalled when more people joined us at the bus stop.

“I just realized,” Brian spoke, “I never asked if you even wanted to stay over.”

Whoops!

To be fair, the last he heard was Taylor didn’t want to go home for a couple of days, and that was this morning. It may have caused him to think of it as “she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, just like the rest of the team”.

I looked up at him.  I wasn’t sure how to answer without conveying my full feelings on the subject.  Keep it simple.  “I do.  It’s totally fine.”

Yup. Definitely just “totally fine.” ;)

Although I guess her anxiety might be taking over and pushing the “full feelings on the subject” towards “shit shit shit shit what if”.

It’s not guaranteed that it’ll just be one night, either.

“The fuck?” Alec spoke, “You’re telling us to get out of here, stay in some random place with a bunch of stray dogs, while you go home and kick back?”

Ahahaha

Yes, I suppose that’s pretty much what he’s saying. Just, y’know, with an added “with your probably-crush” at the end.

“Do not get on my case right now, Alec,” Brian pointed a finger at Alec, “As a member of our group, you agreed to answer your fucking phone when it goes off.

Yeeah, might be a bad time, Alec.

I’m not much happier with Lisa, for not having a phone ready, but you’re the one I’m really pissed at.  From what I heard, if things had gone a little differently, one or both of your teammates could be dead.  Because you guys weren’t able to back them up when Taylor asked for it.”

Howdy! It’s that time again... what? No, not “that time of the month”! Why would you even think... I don’t even have a...  oh, you didn’t think that’s what I meant? Uh, never mind then.

*awkward silence*

uhh...

*crickets*

Howdy!

So, last time, we learned that Coil put out a major hit against the Empire - sending detailed personal information of most if not all of its members to local news outlets - at just about the worst possible time for the Undersiders. Now they’re likely to become prime targets for angry skinheads, including about 20 parahumans.

Welp.

I think this chapter will primarily deal with the Undersiders trying to agree on a way to deal with this. It’s only a matter of time before this causes trouble, so the Undersiders will need to prepare for that.

I don’t think it’ll be a particularly long time, either. This might kick off as soon as next chapter - or even this chapter, if I’m wrong about what we’re heading into now.

When I was dry enough, I pulled on a pair of stretch shorts and then started to pull my costume on.

At least this is actually presented as Taylor rushing through all of this, instead of just magically being able to take a full shower, relaxedly change her clothes and play a haunting violin refrain in five minutes.

Given that it was all one piece, barring the mask, belt and armor panels, I couldn’t quite wear it under clothing without having to wear gloves and long sleeves.  That kind of clothing wasn’t an option as the weather got warmer.

Ah, right, that’s a bit of a drawback.

One option I did have, what I’d been ruminating on, after having my bugs crawl all over me to keep my identity concealed, was only putting it on partway. When the lower half of the costume was on, I folded the top half around at the waist, tying the arms together around me, like a belt.

Oh, yeah, that might work out. Could cause a bit of a bulge, but with loose enough clothing around, it might not be noticeable.

I put on jeans and a black and red spaghetti strap top that left some of my midriff exposed.  To finish, I tied a sweatshirt around my waist, positioning it over where I’d tied the upper half of my costume.

So from the outside it’ll just look like she’s tied a big/thick sweatshirt around her waist because it got too warm to wear it. That’s especially fitting in the spring and autumn, since the temperature could go either way and it’s easy to overestimate or underestimate how much clothing you need, or for that value to change while you’re out.

I sized myself up in the mirror.  The material was fairly thin and it stretched, so it didn’t make me look bulkier.  I’d have to see how comfortable the soles I’d built into the foot portion of the costume were inside shoes, but that was something I could adjust.

Huh, that’s cool.

Having the main part of the body pulled around behind my back meant I could hide the bulkier portion under the sweatshirt.  So long as I didn’t untie the sweatshirt where anyone could see, I was golden.

Brian made a pained face, but he nodded, “Go.”

I don’t think Brian particularly likes the idea of Taylor missing out on some of the details, but at least he’ll be able to tell her personally later.

(Also, showering and changing in five minutes? Taylor confirmed for having timebending powers.)

Grateful, I hurried to the bathroom, stopping by my room to grab my costume, a fresh outfit, and my towel.

The shower was being more uncooperative than usual, and I didn’t have the time to wait for it to decide to give me warm water, so I jumped in and endured the chilled water just long enough to rinse myself off, scrub the priority areas and get my hair wet.

Hm, fair enough. I wouldn’t quite call that “a shower”, but alright. Maybe she won’t need timebending after all.