Wormsday Worm: Arc 1: Gestation + Interlude 1

[rachelmanija]

In which Taylor has a fun day at school, works on an art project with her classmates, and meets some people in the neighborhood.

This is the discussion post for Arc 1 of Worm, by Wildbow. Any and all comments welcome! Spoilers for events later than this arc must be encoded via rot13.com. Spoilers for this arc should not be encoded.

Want to jump in?

1. Read it online. If this makes your eyes bleed...

2. Email me at Rphoenix2 @ gmail and I'll send you an epub. If you do this, please pay Wildbow something via his PayPal or Patreon. This is not an offer with an expiration date - I'll send it along any time.

Spoilers!

For me Taylor's bullying is one of the darkest and most disturbing parts of the entire book, because it's so painfully realistic. I didn't ever eat lunch on the toilet, but the general bullying and refusal of the school to do anything about it is all too familiar. If I'd gotten Taylor's power I'd have been unable to resist immediately using bugs to torment my bullies. They'd have never had a bedbug-free night for the rest of their lives. Honestly Taylor shows an immense amount of restraint.

The cranberry juice getting dumped over her has got to be a deliberate nod to Carrie, given that Taylor actually references it.

Taylor opening her eyes to see bugs covering the bathroom is so cinematic and spooky. It reminds me of the crows on the jungle gym in The Birds.

I love how organized and efficient Taylor is at getting the spiders to weave her costume. She rotates the spiders on a weekly basis!

Taylor trying to block out the feedback from her bugs on the exact shape and size of Lung's junk as they bite it cracks me up. So does her exchange with Armsmaster where he says she doesn't look like a good guy (mean!) and she defensively replies that her costume came out edgier than intended.

The interludes are some of my favorite parts of the book. This one is a bit info-dumpy, but it's intriguing info. Also, ouch at Danny thinking Emma stopped spending time with Taylor because she was afraid of the bullies.

Comments

[yhlee]

Oh yeah, I totally get wanting to bust heads and the visceral satisfaction thereof! But her power really seems to me like GOD MODE for recon/intelligence! I mean. Bugs are already EVERYWHERE. I realize she's limited to how fast they are or whatever, but if she can use them to get into places, check whether Rando #23 is wearing a bomb under their vest, check out what's in that crawlspace, map topography, etc?!

I can totally see why Taylor loves her father. He seems to care about her but he is completely ineffectual and, I mean. He's the grown-up/parent, it's on HIM to step up. So yeah.

[rachelmanija]

And nobody notices a stray bug or two!

[yhlee]

Right! And even once knowledge of her power DOES get out, she now has PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE mode where every time someone sees a flea or cockroach, they have to wonder...is it a SPY BUG or is it just a rando bug that isn't currently connected to her? Sort of like the thing in tournament chess (I am told) where even if you're NOT cheating during the bathroom breaks (by sneaking in a chess computer/consulting Stockfish somehow/etc.), by e.g. taking extra-long bathroom breaks you can PSYCH OUT your opponent into wondering if you ARE. The cheating is against regs but the psyching-out is NOT.

[mikeda]

And even if you don't see any insects there's always going to be some of them around somewhere in your vicinity.

[yhlee]

For yucks, she should go into pest control. Perfect cover story!!