Uniform Stealing Board

A fun chapter, setting up a promising new story arc.

I'm really enjoying the Blink/Knipperen contrast. As stated before, Blink is one of my favorite characters in the series, and the parallels between her and her sister are well realized and intriguing. Knipperen isn't the most sympathetic character, but she's an intriguing villainess, not to mention rather intimidating.

I really liked how Knipperen nonchalantly opens the kiosk door to reveal the real coffee girl. A nice way of showing how little she cares for her victims. It did remind me a bit of the scene in my story with Zuhal and the ice cream vendor, but I wasn't sure if it was intentional.

The takedown of Piper and Jocelyn was great - hypnotizing one maid to knock out the other is a clever and original play. And it led to some good discussion between Blink and Knipperen about the morality of their jobs. It's the character moments that really make the story shine.

The mugging of the gardeners was great for the same reason. Blink's sympathetic treatment of the victims is certainly a change of pace from her brash sister - and even from Tina and her sisters.

Speaking of which, I only noticed after finishing the story that Tina never appears, nor do any of her sisters play a substantial role. Remarkable that this series has become so expansive and immersive that the stories can function perfectly well even without the central characters.

Well done once again. I look forward to learning more of Ulla's quest. Hopefully it doesn't get too dark...

Tirepanted Thank you very much!

The more, I really dive into her psyche, the more I'm finding myself enjoying writing Ulla, you see. Ulla herself is kind of a dark horse here, we know about her past and we know about her mindset, but here's the thing. When we first saw her, she was devastated wasn't she. She was very emotional, driven by a need for a purpose and trying to find a way to calm her mind. Now look at her. It's almost like she's given up completely, she's stopped trying to find a purpose, she now views her life as nothing more than a burden, she's such an empty shell of her former self and she's creating so many tall emotional walls.........Now what I also mean by dark horse, is that even when Angel and Mag went out to stop her and the crows in her first appearance, Ulla didn't put up a fight, the crows did and they got their backsides kicked. But Ulla just surrendered, so we actually have no idea what she's going to be like when faced with danger again........Will the weight of her depression overwhelm her and she'll just crumble? Will she become a lone warrior and just abandon all of her soldiers as she doesn't want to get close to them? Or will she actually become a descent leader and try her best to save as many people as she can? Hhhhmm time will tell.

I know Blink is one of your more favourite characters, so I enjoy giving her some of the spotlight. Blink and Knipperen's interactions together in this chapter, was one of the most joyful things to me. I really like the idea of having two infiltrators who have completely different views on things going on a job together. Indeed the only person Knipperen will ever love will be Blink, she views every woman she comes across as nothing more than a disguise opportunity. To Knipperen, women are just pawns for her to overpower. I must admit, I'm having fun writing Knipperen too as she's allowing me to experiment with other types of USB scenes and add some variety in my chapters.

If I'm being honest here, I truly think that Blink and Knipperen's scene's of where they are discussing things like how an infiltrator should act and how they shouldn't act was one of the things I really wanted to highlight in this story and judging by the feedback, it seems that I accomplished what I set out to do.

The whole scene with Blink and Knipperen discussing Shannon's future I think is a real eye opener, because believe it or not, what Knipperen said actually holds a thick layer of truth, for instance. Yes Shannon can grow up and go to university and earn top degrees, but at the same time, when she's all grown up and working, she might genuinely find herself being mugged by an infiltrator who steals her clothes and leaves her somewhere, bound and gagged in a cramped space. She might even come into contact with an infiltrator who doesn't care what happens to her and basically just leaves her without telling anyone where she is...........It's scary actually to think that Knipperen is actually right on this one, but at the same time Blink is doing the best she can to be the best mother she can be. You see, Blink thinks that she's failed as a role model for her daughter, so she's doing absolutely everything in her power to make sure that she showers her with lots of love and tries to find a way to save up so she can send Shannon to the best schools and the best universities to get her the best education. Blink just doesn't want Shannon to grow up like her.

Originally, this chapter did feature Tina and her sisters recovering Mikasa and her sisters from the adoption centre, but I quickly realised that their scenes were quite plot heavy as well and since I already had Ulla filling up the plot heavy scenes as it was, I was actually fearful that the USB scenes themselves would have been too few and far between, so I decided to wait and save them for the next chapter, so don't worry, Tina and hers sisters will be back in the spotlight in the next part of this arc and we will see them help Mikasa and her sisters too.

Well done once again. I look forward to learning more of Ulla's quest. Hopefully it doesn't get too dark...

Thank you very much again! Indeed, please get used to seeing Ulla in this arc because as I said, she's playing a very large role here and judging by the looks of it, I have her appearing in every future part of this arc. Anna herself is actually a character that needs to be closely watched as well. Because, yes, Anna is a massive coward, but she's smart, she's a business woman and a very cruel one at that. I mean, why didn't she just hire one of Heartfelt's military officers to lead her new army? Heck, why didn't she just have Pearce lead her new army? Anna really had her heart set on freeing Ulla and having her lead her soldiers didn't she......Now why is Anna so fixated on Ulla I wonder.

I'll try my best not to make it go "too" dark, but as we all know, it's darkest before the dawn, I'll try my best I really will, but some scenes I have in mind will be on the more darker side, because some weight will need to be added to really make this arc feel powerful.