Ivanq

“You're doing that crazy mastermind thing again," Cuff said.
"Which crazy mastermind thing?"
"Where you talk to the other masterminds and one of you leaves something unsaid, and the other knows what that thing is without asking”
― Wildbow, Worm

“And all at once he noticed something about the people around him. It was as though they knew, somewhere deep down, that the future was overdue.”
― Daniel Suarez, Influx

“No, let’s be fair,” I said. “Being a villain’s an option.”

“You did not say that,” Fox-mask said, incredulous, “It’s not an option at all.”

The girl in blue looked at Mrs. Yamada, “Ex-villain’s corrupting the kids, and you’re not stopping her?”

Mrs. Yamada was frowning at me.

“I’m going somewhere with this, honest,” I said.

“If you’re sure,” she said. “I can stop you at any time.”

“You can.”

I looked at the gathered kids. A few of the less successful butterfly catchers had drifted away and approached.

“I always hated the speeches when I was in school, the preaching in auditoriums, the one-note message. Stuff like saying drugs are bad. It’s wrong. Drugs are fantastic.”

“Um,” Fox-mask said.

Mrs. Yamada was glaring at me, but she hadn’t interrupted.

“People wouldn’t do them if they weren’t. They make you feel good, make your day brighter, give you energy-”

“Weaver,” Mrs. Yamada cut in.

“-until they don’t,” I said. “People hear the message that drugs are bad, that they’ll ruin your life if you do them once. And then you find out that isn’t exactly true because your friends did it and turned out okay, or you wind up trying something and you’re fine. So you try them, try them again. It isn’t a mind-shattering moment of horrible when you try that first drug. Or so I hear. It’s subtle, it creeps up on you, and you never really get a good, convincing reason to stop before it ruins your life beyond comprehension. I never went down that road, but I knew a fair number of people who did. People who worked for me, when I was a supervillain.”
― Wildbow, Worm

“I’d done everything right, near as I could figure, and I’d still been screwed. The natural answer was that I’d need to do something wrong to get out of this. Fuck that. With all sincerity, fuck that idea backwards and forwards. I was not going down that road.”
― Wildbow, Pact