Editing Brian Laborn (section)

==Personality==
Brian has an overly professional demeanour, as well as a desire for personal freedom. He readily accepts burdens when it comes to his family and friends, but he values his ability to walk away from it at anytime.<ref name="SV1">It's sorta kinda permanent. You think they're just going to let you leave, when you've seen the faces of local heroes? When you've seen behind the curtain and have seen dirty laundry aired (like how someone could comment on Kid Win's unofficial weapon, for example). Or are they going to lean super heavily on you until you agree that maybe you could compromise and move to a small town with 2-3 capes and minimal activity, or let you go but maintain weekly visits and more oversight and more regulation?<br/>Joining the Wards/Protectorate is a big deal. I mean, you're signing up for partial school days, heavy oversight, testing, and all that. Brian is helping to deal with Aisha the hellion, and maybe for a time, he just can't see himself having that time to set aside to deal with official stuff. <br/>Look at things from his perspective. If he signs up, he's adopting this more regimented, official lifestyle, and he's seen how his dad has struggled to deal with Aisha from the same vantage point. Once he confines himself, limits himself, then that just gives Aisha more leeway to mess with him or go do her own thing. If he's stuck with official stuff to do, what can he do if Aisha recognizes that and decides that every time she's going to run away, she's going to hop on the first bus out of town?<br/>Could the PRT deal with that? Maybe. Probably. Could they give him leeway? Bend rules or pull resources, as part of his bargaining with them to join? From Brian's standpoint, even if he's cynical about it, I imagine he imagines they could.<br/>But Brian has to weigh the negatives against the positives, and keep in mind that he's dealt with the 'system' for a time (CPS and Aisha and his parents), and even if he's more like his dad than his mom, pay attention to the small details - he does martial arts but doesn't stick with one class. He's in school but he's doing it online, more freeform. He walks his own path, he doesn't subscribe to much - he could theoretically ditch the Undersiders at any time. Less so with the PRT.<br/>If it goes wrong, he can't back out easily.<br/>It's likely he didn't just jump into high profile burglary for high profile clients. Smaller jobs, smaller stuff, to cover Aisha's bail or help his dad pay for something to keep things more copacetic in the household. Maybe he found he was setting money aside, he started thinking about looking after Aisha himself, things scaled up, and then he found the Undersiders (or the Undersiders found him).<br/>Edit - this is why I'm reading the let's read and discussion - I'm looking at fleshing out Brian a bit more in the rewrite/polished version, and I'd thought about this stuff but writing this out it dawned on me how little I'd shared. - [https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/2468389 Comment by Wildbow on SufficientVelocity]</ref>

Brian is a cautious individual who tries to prevent emotion from affecting his actions. He appreciates practicality, and tries to have a plan whenever possible. When pressured, Brian uses self-discipline and rules in order to cope.<ref>Orders, demands, statements, condemnations, use of skull in costume: solo operator, organized, careful to divorce emotion from action & agenda.  Falls back on order, rules, self discipline in times of stress. - [[Interlude 8.y]]</ref> Tattletale described him as pragmatic, with a tendency to take a lot for granted and act automatically brought on by several years' experience as a cape.<ref name="4.2">"You and Brian are similar, but I wouldn't say he's cautious.  He's… pragmatic.  You both are.  The difference between you two is that he's been doing what he does for three years, now.  Two years of experience, before he joined the group.  So a lot of what he does is automatic.  He doesn't give a second thought to the little things he's done dozens of times already.  He takes a lot for granted." - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/shell-4-2/ Excerpt] from [[Shell 4.2]]</ref> This points to long term issues with intimacy.<ref name="Tarot">The Lovers<br>"Upright: Union, love, relationships, values alignment, choices <br>Reversed: Disharmony, imbalance, misalignment of values"<br><br>Grue<br><br>'''Grue's central challenge is one of intimacy & attachment.  He's driven by group affiliation and a need to attach himself to others, but disharmony and imbalance plague him at all stages of his life, first through Aisha, then through trauma.'''- [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ntXwQcmkioq4NPPayBEIjA4dHPD-TXpjU1bnul3udWg/edit#gid=0  Major Arcana], bolded addition by Wildbow.</ref> 

Brian is well versed in multiple martial arts, being able to pick up the basics very quickly,<ref name="3.2c1">He’s not talking about competence. He’s talking about the philosophy and focus. Grappling vs. striking, example holds, Tae Kwon Do vs. Karate as a striking style, etc. He pretty much admits he didn’t get any mastery.<br><br>Just like a very talented singer can learn a song after hearing it once, Grue can pick up the basics of a fighting style after seeing them demonstrated once or twice, which helps learn the katas. In addition, he doesn’t need to learn the very very basics of, say, striking or grappling, because the very very basic stuff translates relatively well between two striking or two grappling styles.<br><br>Once you get into the differentiating aspects of two styles, you get into the stuff that interests him. That’s what he’s talking about.<br><br>There are problems with this ‘lesson’/chapter, but what you describe isn’t what concerns me (maybe I’ll outline it better). - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/agitation-3-2/#comment-48104 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Agitation 3.2]]</ref> but he does not dedicate himself to one particular style, being more interested in using a plurality of styles. He was confident enough to train his teammates how to fight. 

Brian took courses online, allegedly to help him pay for his apartment, so he didn't need to attend classes. He had trouble remembering that school was a factor.<ref>"I gotta get home and get ready for school."<br/><br/>"Ah, right," Brian said, "I forget about stuff like that."<br><br>"You guys don't go?"<br><br>"I take courses online," Brian said, "My folks think it's so I can hold a job to pay for my apartment… which is kind of true. Alec dropped out, Rachel never went, and Lisa already applied for and tested for her G.E.D. Cheated using her power, but she has it." - [[Insinuation 2.6]]</ref><!--“I miss you too,” I whispered.
<br/><br/>He nodded in response, a hard part of his mask scraping against a part of mine.
<br/><br/>
I could sense the others gathering bodies, starting to make their way back here, to our rendezvous point.<br/><br/>

“See,” Imp said, appearing right next to us, “This is exactly what Regent was talking about.”
<br/><br/>
“We weren’t doing anything,” I said.  I pulled away from Grue, annoyed.
<br/><br/>
“You were being sweet.  That’s probably a death sentence.”
<br/><br/>
“They were snuggling?” Regent asked, rounding a corner.
<br/><br/>
“Christ,” Grue said, under his breath.  Firmer, he said, “Enough of that.”
<br/><br/>
Imp only cackled, and she kept cackling.  I was pretty sure she prolonged it just to be annoying, stopping and starting again until Rachel and the last of the Wards returned.<br/><br/>“Let’s talk plans,” Grue said.  “We’ve got a good roster here.  Two teams.  Almost three full teams, if we pick up Parian, Foil and the Ambassadors.”
<br/><br/>He sounds more confident.  A little more balanced.  The agitation isn’t so obvious.<br/><br/>
“There’s more wounded in the area,” I said.  “And we’re running out of space.  Each dog that’s loaded up with the injured is a dog you guys can’t ride.  Fires are getting closer, so we pick up everyone we can, load them onto makeshift sleds, then hurry back to a place where we can get them medical care.”
<br/><br/>“It’s a plan,” Grue said.
<br/><br/>“And,” I said, “We need to find a better use for our strongest members.  Citrine could be useful.  Grue?  If we get the sled going, you stay close to the wounded.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/crushed-24-1/ Excerpt] from [[Crushed 24.2]]</ref>

how he is doing post second trigger and post skitter-weaver switch
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=== Reputation ===
Grue was considered a barely successful, "B-list" villain prior to joining the Undersiders.<ref>From what I knew of Grue and Hellhound, they were both marginally successful B-list villains who had been barely scraping by. Now both were on a team that was pulling high profile heists and confounding even the likes of Armsmaster. - [[Insinuation 2.5]]</ref>

Thanks to his solo career, the heroes had some information on his capabilities.<ref>We know so little about them. Grue and Hellhound were working on their own before they joined the group, so there's some information there, but the other two? They're nonentities. - [[Gestation 1.6]]</ref> Grue had a Parahumans Online page describing his career and listing his power as "darkness generation".<ref name="2.2 e1"/>
===Relationships===
====[[Aisha Laborn]]====
Brian had a falling out with his sister a year after he got his power and a year before joining the [[The Undersiders|Undersiders]].<ref>“I know, but you’re not getting it.  I was the type to go after someone if they showed a vulnerability.  Wasn’t until I’d had my powers about a year, Aisha tells me I was being an asshole, just like one of her stepdads used to be.  So I tried to be better, but I always wanted to protect her, always wanted to help others.  Teach you and Alec to fight, step up and take charge when a situation demanded it.  Sometimes when a situation didn’t.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/monarch-16-6/ Excerpt] from [[Monarch 16.6]]</ref><!--And on his relationship with imp--> While he does love his sister, their extended time together has made it easier for his sister to know what annoys him and exploit it.

He does try to keep Aisha safe how he can, from getting her to join the Undersiders to trying to stop her from forming a friendship with Regent.
====[[Taylor Hebert]]====
Grue initially reacts to Taylor’s advances on him with the response that he thinks of her more as a little sister.<ref>"It’s… more like you’re my sister," - [[Buzz 7.6]]</ref> He had not had many relationships with unrelated women given his upbringing with his father.

However, following Grue’s second trigger, they had a brief romance. The author described theirs as a "failed relationship".<ref name="SBR">Relationships & a struggle with relationships & the impossible task of balancing relationships with the monumental goals she's set for herself are a thing in Taylor's story. Look at how she develops as a character, the failure in her relationship with Brian, with teammates and friends, having to find her own way of bonding & holding on to incomplete bonds. With Brian, especially, it sort of breaks from the norm in terms of how protagonists of YA works typically find their love and live happily or unhappily ever after. The break from that pattern & everything it entailed, awkward and all the rest, making peace with something imperfect and incomplete, ties into what Worm is about, in an abstract sense. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/12857031/ Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles]</ref>
====[[Alec]]====
The two teammates often trade barbs and general put-downs, but their insults lack any actual hostility.<ref>"Last and certainly least, we have Regent."<br><br>[...]<br><br>"Fuck you, Grue," Regent retorted, with a chuckle and a tone of voice that made it clear he wasn't really that offended. - [[Gestation 1.5]]</ref>
====[[Lisa]]====
Lisa and Grue had a recurring argument over the fact that he lived separately to the team, leaving him nowhere to go when he was injured.<ref name="2.7" />
====[[Rachel]]====
Brian had a complicated relationship with Rachel. Grue was willing to use physical force to enforce his authority if needed when Bitch crossed a line.<ref>On the opposite side of the room, Brian was rubbing the back of one of his hands. The three dogs were sitting in a neat line ten feet away from a girl who was lying on the ground. The girl had blood running from both of her nostrils. I recognized her from the picture I had seen on her wiki page. Rachel Lindt. Hellhound. Bitch.<br><br>“I fucking hate it,” Brian growled at the girl, putting emphasis on the swear, “When you make me do that.” - [[Insinuation 2.8]]</ref> He didn't understand how to relate to Rachel, Taylor helped with that.
====[[Shadow Stalker]]====
Shadow Stalker believed Grue was her "nemesis" because of the interaction between their powers,<ref>Alec explained to me, “She’s got it in her head that Brian is her nemesis. You know, her number one enemy, her dark opposite. She’s been going after him every chance she gets.”<br><br>[...]<br><br>Tattletale shook her head, “Her powers and Brian’s sort of have a weird interaction with one another. - [[Agitation 3.3]]</ref><ref>"Shadow Stalker is AWOL?" Gallant asked.<br><br>"Couldn't make it in time," Aegis grunted, "Told her to stay put."<br><br>"She's going to hate that. Doesn't she have this huge hate-on for Grue?" - [[Interlude 3]]</ref> She used lethal force against him,<ref>“Her power doesn’t work well while she’s inside Brian’s darkness, for whatever reason. She isn’t as fast or agile, he can see her better, and she can’t see him in the darkness,” Tattletale told me, “So it becomes something of a very intense game of tag, with one very fast person that’s essentially blind and deaf but carrying lethal weapons, while Brian, the other, is trying to take her out without getting shot.” - [[Agitation 3.3]]</ref> violating her probation with the [[Wards]] and, eventually, genuinely earning his enmity.<ref>"Now she’s a probationary member of the Wards, with the condition that she uses tranquilizer bolts and nonlethal ammo for her crossbow.”
“Which she isn’t,” Brian growled, “At least, not when she comes after me.  That arrow she shot through my side had a fucking arrowhead on it.” - [[Agitation 3.3]]</ref> Another reason for this was the fact that he beat her soundly when they first fought.<ref name="9.6 e1">Grue stood to her left, arms folded, almost indistinguishable from the darkness behind him.  After her first humiliating loss to him, she’d made it a mission to drive him out of this city.  He’d stubbornly refused.  - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/sentinel-9-6/ Excerpt] from [[Sentinel 9.6]]</ref>

====[[Cozen]]====
His girlfriend after Taylor, more conventionally attractive, but of a similar professional nature. Brian appreciated that she shared his desire for a modest lifestyle.<ref name="II19.g eCozen">“Driven.  She could really perform, she could put on an act, and I think that’s important when you’re a cape.  She had a long history as a thief and a burglar, and I actually got my start as a burglar for hire.  [...] I liked that she reminded me of who I used to be.  Who I wanted to be, back when I got started.  I think I lost sight of all of that.”<br>[...]<br>“Out of costume, she was a much quieter person.  Like she saved up her energy for the performances when she put her mask on.  I liked that part of it.  She’d make dinner one night, I’d make it the next.  We’d skip lunch, sometimes skip breakfast too, just to sleep in or do other things instead.  The way we traded off on the chores and work, it’s like we took turns taking care of each other.  It was calm.  Even when we were in costume.  But-”<br>[...]<br>“Year and a half.  My longest relationship.  We were together when the world ended.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/02/18/infrared-19-g/ Excerpt] from [[Infrared 19.g]]</ref>

====[[PRT]]/Authority Figures====
Grue didn’t trust authority figures, preferring to be self-sufficient rather than relying on them.<ref>“The boss is helping on that last bit,” Lisa said, “The allowance and a share of the other income Brian is getting is coming back to him in the form of a paycheck from a legitimate company, and the manager of said company is both willing and able to provide a glowing recommendation on his behalf.”<br/><br/>“Which I’m less than thrilled about,” Brian admitted, “It’s… convenient, I don’t know how else I’d manage it, but I don’t like being so reliant on someone I don’t know at all." - [[Shell 4.4]]</ref> Brian's reasoning on not joining the Wards was tied into the restrictions they would have placed upon him.<ref>If he signs up, he's adopting this more regimented, official lifestyle, and he's seen how his dad has struggled to deal with Aisha from the same vantage point. Once he confines himself, limits himself, then that just gives Aisha more leeway to mess with him or go do her own thing. If he's stuck with official stuff to do, what can he do if Aisha recognizes that and decides that every time she's going to run away, she's going to hop on the first bus out of town?<br><br>Could the PRT deal with that? Maybe. Probably. Could they give him leeway? Bend rules or pull resources, as part of his bargaining with them to join? From Brian's standpoint, even if he's cynical about it, I imagine he imagines they could.<br><br>But Brian has to weigh the negatives against the positives, and keep in mind that he's dealt with the 'system' for a time (CPS and Aisha and his parents), and even if he's more like his dad than his mom, pay attention to the small details - he does martial arts but doesn't stick with one class. He's in school but he's doing it online, more freeform. He walks his own path, he doesn't subscribe to much - he could theoretically ditch the Undersiders at any time. Less so with the PRT.<br>If it goes wrong, he can't back out easily. - [http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/2468389 comment] by Wildbow on Sufficent Velocity.</ref><!--may have to cut this up a bit more-->