Worm

Just a short chapter to try and pick some momentum back up on this story. Not really sure how I'm going to handle the PRT interlude, so the next chapter may be a while...
Assuming it's taking place mostly in BB/the immediately surrounding area, you've got quite a lot to work with, or at least consider, some of which went woefully underexplored in canon because of how the perspective followed Taylor away from BB.

Off the top of my head, there's...

-Therapy sessions/psych evaluations, much like what we saw with the Wards in Jessica Yamada's interlude. I can even see them being close to, if not actually, mandatory given recent events. This is one of those times when the Youth Guard probably should've appeared (keeping in mind that they didn't even exist until PRT Quest), but now more than ever since the PRT ENE's Wards turned into a concentrated example of every criticism anyone ever leveled at the Wards program. Two of them were killed. Two of them withdrew from the program, and a third defected to follow her lover into the service of a local warlord. Another was captured and violently subverted by said warlord and used as an espionage tool until being discarded, and that happened alongside the revelation that she had been gleefully violating her probation for months on end because she was either being monitored negligently or not at all. And as a capstone to most of that, their school was intentionally used as the site of a thinly-veiled hostage situation intended to capture a notorious villain.

Even from a charitable standpoint, this is a group that has endured three S-Class events. They're surrounded by dead friends and mentors (the Protectorate lost three [four, counting Armsmaster] capes during said S-Class events), and two of the biggest boogeymen on the East Coast have fused into one even more terrifying villain, and the Wards have been demonstrably front-and-center for much more immediately dangerous things. If ever there was a time to be taking their mental health seriously, it would be now.

-General security. The PRT took a huge risk outing Skitter at Arcadia and attacking her in her CID. And it failed about as hard as it could, short of Skitter escaping after turning the school into a slaughterhouse. Any psych profile they had on her would've gone out the window when she became Butcher XV, so I imagine there's the very real fear that Skitter would decide to actually retaliate in a vein she deems 'similar' to the loss of her CID. All of the Wards have friends or loved ones in the immediate area. Even someone as iron-willed as Tagg might fear, with complete justification, for his wife's safety. The last time they met Skitter, this happened...
Imago 21.1 said:
“Yeah,” I said. “Nearly done. You, back there. Are you Mrs. Tagg?”

The woman stepped a little to one side, out from behind her husband. “I am.”

“Visiting him for the night?”

“Brought him and his men donuts and coffee. They’ve been working hard.”

“Okay,” I said. “And you stand by your husband? You buy this rhetoric?”

She set her jaw. “Yes. Absolutely.”

I didn’t waste an instant. Every spare bug I had flowed into the room, leaving Director Tagg untouched, while the bugs flowed over the woman en masse. She screamed.

He reached for his gun on the desk, and I pulled my hand back. The thread that I’d tied between the trigger guard and my finger yanked the weapon to me. I stopped it from falling off the desk by putting my hand on top of the weapon.

Tagg was already reaching for a revolver at his ankle.

“Stop,” I said.

He did. Slowly, he straightened.

“I’m illustrating a point,” I said.

My bugs drifted away from Mrs. Tagg. She was uninjured, without a welt or blemish. She backed into the corner as the bugs loomed between her and her husband.
...so what are the chances that Skitter becoming Butcher XV would make her more inclined to decide that object lessons are more valuable than unexecuted threats. Oh, and now that Taylor has ties to Accord, that means international ties (Accord had the channels available to sell Cody/Perdition to the Yangban)...and Tagg has two daughters in school internationally.

The mayor's family probably falls into a similar category, too. Skitter already stumbled across Triumph's CID (and almost killed him in the process), and it's not like Dinah has a secret identity. And considering that the PRT's Arcadia operation only happened like it did because of information Skitter knows Dinah volunteered by her own free will...well, there's a reason why Dinah was a close second for my omake's perspective.

-Depending on when you place the interlude, there are a few things you could work with. Lily's departure is one thing. I know she told Yamada about her relationship with Parian, and I'm willing to bet that she might've done the same with the Wards (or just dropped enough hints for it to be obvious) since the relationship existed for at least some time before Parian was even remotely allied with the Undersiders. I didn't see any reason in the last chapter why the Wards/PRT would know about Lily's chance in allegiance, so to them, it might look like Lily ran off looking for her girlfriend and fearing for her safety in a group that was suddenly being run by the latest Butcher...and then she dropped off the radar. Lily has done very little to endear herself to Skitter and a bunch of stuff that she might hold grudges over, especially with the encouragement of fourteen killers, madmen, and everything combination of the two screaming in her head. Hell, the last time a Ward fell into the Undersiders' grasp, they let Hijack turn her into a meat puppet...though now that I think about it, knowing Skitter is Taylor Hebert (and knowing about SS's probation violations) probably means that they've got an explanation for what happened there (even if it's pretty far off the mark). Taylor doesn't have any visible reason to hate Lily as much as Sophia, but the verbal disrespect and physical injury she dolled out isn't exactly working in her favor. On a similar note...

-...you can play with reactions to Alexandria's speech, depending on the timing of the various interlude parts. With Skitter's CID outed, it doesn't take a Thinker rating to see between the lines of her speech, and the PRT ENE/local Wards know Taylor's story better than most. For all we know, Alexandria's speech was intended to target them, too, and make them more receptive to the truce that MM and Flechette had brought back from their meeting with Taylor after Arcadia. And whatever fears might be assuaged by the apparent confirmation that Skitter began as a hero who thought she could do more actual good as a villain, that casts her in a really dangerous light. Taylor is a wildcard. I dislike characterizing people with terms that have become tropes, but she's a well-intentioned extremist. What she does is dictated by her own personal code. And on a roughly similar note...

-...don't discount the possibility for all of this to be exploding, to some level, in the PRT's face, and especially on a local level. As one example, there's Danny. He was almost bafflingly impotent throughout the story despite supposedly being a veteran union official for the local longshoremen's union. Even in 'The Wire,' Frank Sabotka showed more push against local law enforcement than Danny ever visibly exerted, and that was while fighting against charges like murder and human trafficking. And unlike canon...a line has been crossed. He's old enough to remember Butcher and the Teeth, and he probably remembers the general time when it was finally discovered and publicized why it was always Butcher who led the Teeth, and that Butcher was more than just a title for the latest leader of a gang. If ever there was a time for Danny to actually be relevant to a Worm plot, it'd be a time line this.

I imagine the PRT central office might also have a few words about ENE's decision to put so much damn stock in Dinah's prophecy, too, especially when she was the one to volunteer the information without any prompting from them. It wouldn't even be all that unfair to look at the situation and see a bunch of reasons why Dinah's involvement in anything Skitter-related ought to be given a bit of extra scrutiny, to say nothing of the reckless endangerment of minors that was apparently required as a part of it. And that's on top of the mountain of existing issues in ENE that would only get magnified under scrutiny because of the total failure of their takedown of Skitter. In canon, Skitter turned herself in not all that long afterward. Here? HAHAHAHA, no.

Oh, and Defiant might have an interesting perspective to consider. The entire reason he and Dragon were even close enough to get shanghaied into the Arcadia debacle was because he was returning to BB to apologize to Skitter for all the shitty things he had done to her. Now, on top of having no CID to return to, she's Butcher XV. Considering how personally responsible he felt for pushing Skitter further and further away from her genuine aspirations of heroism, that's getting into 'Now your failure is complete' territory.

...hm. Well, that (unsurprisingly) turned into something long and rambly. I'll wrap things up on this note:
storybookknight said: ↑
Slowly, the corner of Lily's mouth drew up into a smile. "Yeah, okay. Sure, I guess." She dropped the smile, looking at me hard. "What you were saying, before. A truce between the Protectorate and the Undersiders. You're still doing that, right? I'm ready to help Parian, to help you, but ... the Wards are still friends, you know? I don't want to have to fight them."

"Assuming everything works out, yes." I anwered. "Part of that will depend on how we handle Director Tagg, but ideally I'd like to have all of us focused on the real problems. Did you and Miss Militia talk about the idea at all with anyone else?"

Lily nodded, slowly. "Yeah, but that was before you went Butcher, and before I disappeared to join Parian. I don't know what they're thinking now."
They're probably working under the assumption that that ship's already sailed, but possibly also reflecting on a rather distinct pattern: Skitter and the Undersiders reach out to the PRT during some major disaster, the PRT tells them to get bent, and then they lose heroes due to circumstances that could've been avoided until the Undersiders manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Refusing to work with, or even properly coordinate, with the Undersiders and their allies against the S9 helped their three most dangerous members escape the city, and the heroes lost Battery and all that remained of New Wave. Ignoring, or at least failing to take seriously, the Undersiders' intelligence on Echidna cost them Myrddin, Weld (and quite a few other Case 53s), and as of this last chapter, the leadership of the Triumvirate. Declaring total war against Skitter specifically when dangerous groups like the Fallen and the Teeth were still at large was a big PR blow, MM's wishy-washy non-apology was followed up by a fat lot of nothing in terms of convincing the PRT, or at least its capes, to work with the Undersiders in fighting the far more immediate and dangerous threats to the city, and as a result the Undersiders went against Butcher and the Teeth with only their own assets and allies as support and the heroes are left to wonder if maybe there wouldn't be a new Butcher with every reason to personally hate them if they'd actually tried to help.

More generally, I think it's important to consider how knowing Skitter's CID would affect various PRT/Protectorate/Ward opinions of her. We got to see some of them being rather forward and vocal about their opinion of Skitter, like here particularly for Clockblocker, but other than the conversation with Miss Militia here, we're barely given a chance to see people meet, or even talk about, Taylor after having only known (and fought) Skitter. I'd love to see what finding out about Taylor Hebert does to their thoughts about Skitter, and it's especially relevant since I think 'Taylor Hebert, who happens to be Skitter, is now Butcher XV' is a far more frightening thing from their perspective than just 'Skitter is now Butcher XV.'

I just realised why Sophia played cool with Taylor.
"She's like a Hippo. Gives no fucks because nothing can really harm her."

So, this is gonna be Burn Up with less face punching and explosions, and more eating disorders and arts & crafts? I'm down with that. No more stealing people's clothes though...

And suddenly Constellations gleefully waves this fic over to share first places for most upbeat Wormfic I've read. Sure the start was a bit disconcerting, what with Taylor tripping out on her power, but now she has found a direction to go with her power. And what power it is, first comparison that popped to my head was something out of Exalted. To taste what others can only wonder about and then making something new and wonderous from things most scoff at.


Now I'm wondering what gemstones and the like will be for Taylor, since some of them can have suprisingly complex chemical compositions. Like Lapis Lazuli, a cheap semi precious stone. It's main component is lazurite (Na,Ca)8[(S,Cl,SO4,OH)2|(Al6Si6O24)]. I have a feeling that things like these could be, um, mind expanding. Or just pop rocks. The most amazing pop rocks the world has ever known, but still just pop rocks


Taylor didn’t hear it. She was watching the lines play over Emma’s face.

Taylor stood.

Emma stepped back. Then a glimmer of frustration flashed across her face and she took two steps forward, her jaw clenching to hide the tremors, something strange flashing in her eyes as she rounded the edge of the table and waited for Taylor there.

Taylor walked around the table. Now they stood face to face.

Emma said something more.

Taylor hugged her.
I... can't have been the only one expecting her to recreate the scene they were just talking about, can I?
(for reference, Taylor had just been reminiscing about how when she and Emma were kids, they practiced kissing on one another)


JinglyJangles said: ↑
Uranium? Where was she supposed to get uranium?
Um... maybe hold off on the radioactive, and other hazardous, materials? That could potentially end up bad for you? Or, you know, probably end up causing escalation.

JinglyJangles said: ↑
nibbling at a stick of rebar as she walked.
JinglyJangles said: ↑
It was a long trek though bad neighborhoods. Taylor thought she might get accosted. She was surprised it hadn’t happened already, she was in Merchant territory after all. But no one stopped her. It was strange, really, but she decided not to worry about it.
Yes let's assault the girl casually walking alone at night who's munching on rebar like a snack.

I do have to wonder how long it's going to take Taylor to find prices on something similar to what she's actually making.

Also, great story - warm and slow. Maybe Parian will come by to make an order? Or a casual alliance of rogue parahumans with Lisa and Taylor?

I can also see why Taylor might be left alone; molten glass is both dangerous and painful, not to mention the molten steel whip she was showing off - that kind of thing would leave a mark on almost any parahuman in BB.

I look forward to her first mail delivery at her really-quite-obvious renovated penthouse container.

Assurance: We wanted this.
Annoyance: Then we forgot.
Acknowledgment: Then you made us remember.
Amusement: How dare you.


Its like I'm taking an acid trip everytime I read something you write.

Moar.


She kind of feels like Ashbeast and Shatterbird's illicit love child.


This is too beautiful. She is so completely out of fucks to give that she actively robs everyone else of theirs.


Rule of thumb, if someone can melt bricks with their faces they might be able to melt the faces of people who bother them or use melting bricks to peel their faces. Better to allow someone else to discover which option the scary cape prefers.


This really isn't whats happening. PRT finds out some teenager is selling parahuman crap they made on the boardwalk, find out who she is. Clearly this kid isn't affiliated with anyone, and isn't bothering to seriously hide their identity, so they go and have a talk with her parent, to make sure everything is kosher. They aren't pushing, or threatening, or compelling. They are making an offer that she is welcome to refuse.

Edit: also, assuming they make the connection between taylor and the cape who hangs around the boatyard melting walls with her face, they know she would be relatively safe. Assuming taylor has the same power as Burn Up, with fewer mental problems, shes got a brute rating of "Fuck No"


The first thing that you learn in Brockton Bay is that if the other guy is sitting there calmly saying "I don't want no trouble" while literally chewing glass, you leave him alone because that's the kind of trouble that you don't want neither.


Taylor is so adorably high on life!

It's great to see such a contrast with Burn Up here. Taylor is so goofy but incredibly endearing to like everyone.

Hell, even the Trio can't really bring themselves to stay mad at her. It's great.

...I think this might be the first time that Taylor is the one that's helping Lisa with her problems, and all she's doing is obliviously spazzing out and somehow succeeding!


This Taylor is like syrup, thick and sweet. leaving a little bit of that sticky sweet goodness on everything she touches.
JinglyJangles said: ↑
“Dad… I’m a caperoonie.”
I wanst eating, I wasnt drinking, This still almost made me choke.
JinglyJangles said: ↑
She wasn’t worried about it. She wasn’t worried about anything.
This is such a complete and utter turn around from canon and even most worm fanfiction that for a moment I was extremely concerned. My "finely honed fanfic instincts" were screaming "ITS A TRAP!", and now that worry is drowning in syrup.
JinglyJangles said: ↑
“I’m asking what’s wrong with you. Are you taking drugs? Happy pills? Are you high, Hebert?”
High on life! and glass! and metal!


Don't forget the flaming rebar whip. Because while she didn't quite go full Balrog, that's an excellent first step.
Or the flaming rebar snack. Generally I avoid messing with people who can casually eat steel.


its gonna be great when one of the gangs tries to confront her about her "territory". Because Taylor just won't get it when they try to intimidate her and they'll end up just walking away confused.


I think I just realized one reason why Emma is taking this new Taylor as badly as she is. It's not just Taylor turning the other cheek.

It's the return of the old Taylor. The cheerful motormouth. Albeit perhaps less motor, but the worst they could inflict on her just...brought her back to her old self. One of the lynchpin's of Emma's psyche is keeping Taylor crushed, validating herself by seeing that the old Taylor is still gone, of course because of Emma.

Now? Now Taylor is taking the worst Emma can dish out with a smile, not even caring, and his enough left over to pity Emma and try to fix her.

Hell, this Taylor's utter confidence and zen like lack of car probably makes me her look good. The lack of self-conciousness and willingness to go where she knows she isn't welcome puts them off their game, and in its own way is sort of charismatic. Especially once Emma ran away in tears; not because of Taylor being mean, but because she was nice.

Seeing as it worked, that makes Taylor look less a gullible rube, and more someone who seems to have Emma's exact number. Which is kind of hilarious, because Emma's spent years digging up Taylor's secrets to hurt her, and Taylor has gotten more of a reaction out of Emma without stooping nearly as low.

But this right here, is everything Emma fears. Not only is the old Taylor back, older, a little wiser, she's now so over Emma that Emma is probably correctly afraid that she'll never be able to drag Taylor back down to her level. That Taylor has proven herself strong, and in Emma's eyes, that makes Emma weak.

I hope we get an interlude in Emma's head; it'd be nice to get a more complete picture of what's going on there.

Also some things I'm hoping to see, is Hookwolf trying to intimidate Taylor or fight her, and the entire time Taylor is just licking her chops and imagining how Hookwolf would taste seasoned in copper and broken glass.

Because this Taylor is the only person who would salivate at the thought of eating her weight in broken glass and it is wonderful.

Also in the vein of amusing encounters with Taylor...Emma finds out about Taylor's side job and comes to taunt her. Because always double down, sooner or later you'll win and break even.

Naturally Emma tries to overturn Taylor's table and destroy her hard, valuable work and break Taylor that way. But Taylor already know how durable her creations are, and is not phased. Just put out that she's going to have to put them back in order.

Emma freaks more when she sees the trinkets unharmed, and decides that clearly the next best step is to stomp on them to break them into itty bitty pieces.

Emma's foot breaks into itty bitty pieces.

Which could lead to...lots of plotlines actually. Taylor having trouble with the PRT? Taylor calling Emma and ambulance, fixing Emma up, and this time Emma can't run away because she broke her own foot? Taylor and Emma becoming the new hit Youtube video, courtesy of Uber and Leet?

I actually like the second one a lot. It is deliciously ironic.


Kind of a Fridge Horror thought here, but as mentioned before, Taylor's power is definitely messing with her head. She doesn't get sad, or angry, or even anxious anymore.

This sounds like the typical alien-baby-space-whale-logic that goes like this: "Host is feeling bad. Host does not want to feel bad. I know! Let's remove Host's capacity to feel bad. HALPING!"

Given her... episode before, it could be that all the glass and such she is eating is having a drug-like effect as well.

Also, I almost want to see someone try to fight her, just for the look on their face when it becomes clear that her blood is pretty much molten glass. ... But that required Taylor to bleed in enough quantities to get on someone, which would be sad.
Or maybe she just gets high from eating all that stuff? That could explain it too in my opinion.

Taylor the terrifying stoner.

Hm... I wonder if Emma and Co would go so far as to put broken glass in Taylor's locker.

Taylor: *squee* Ohhh you shouldn't have!


she bleeds lava, and heals. you know how they say only the invincible can afford to be kind? she might be.


also, is her shard broken? too chill to be a normal one, maybe behemoth chiped in?


Ok, so I just love the way you write JinglyJangles. It's like a cross between a relaxing massage at a spa, an acid trip, and stargazing. This chapter was great, and the chill factor Taylor brings to everyone she spends time around (except Emma) is just fun. It's honestly almost like she has a master power to just calm people. I give Emma a few more weeks of exposure before she cracks.

Also, she gave MM something like 6x or 8x the amount of "glass" they wanted for the trade, didn't she. I wonder if Armsmaster is gonna keep sending rare materials her way if that's her trade rate.

JinglyJangles said: ↑
“I changed.” Taylor took another bite. “I had a lot of anger in me, I think. Or something like anger. Frustration. Confusion. So it wouldn’t have been so much ‘I want to be a hero,’ as ‘I want to hurt someone and be right.’ Does that make sense?”
That is....wow. That's gotta be one of the most succinct, hard-hitting, from-the-mouths-of-babes descriptions for what parahumans do and what Taylor in particular did in canon. Especially since almost all triggers come from bag places and want to take it out on someone.

I can imagine all sorts of parahumans, especially heroic types, shuffling awkwardly as they heard that line. It hits close to home, and all the harder for the fact that Taylor is clearly past that when some heroes *coughShadowStalkercoughGloryGirlcough* are clearly not past that stage.


This Taylor is like a weird mix of a Hippie, Buddhist Monk, and Derpy Puppy/Kitten. This fic is the closest thing to a warm bath in literary form I have ever seen.


As Taylor continued to chew, maybe eating just a little of it in the process, Miss Militia remarked, “Many things just started to make more sense.”
This is my favorite line in a wonderful, feel-good chapter. I love Miss Militia. I enjoyed big-brother-Merchant. Taylor/Lisa is warm and fuzzy as always.

Entity: *Make conflict*
Shard: eeehh, nah.
Entity: ...*confusion*
Shard: i can't me arsed.
Entity: *innovation nessessary for evolution. Evolution nessessary for solution*
Shard: bloody... fine. materials, eh... taste different. And she can shape it. And, wow, that is a lot of unused energy... she is hard to hurt too? Yeah that works.
Entity: ... *motivation for innovation?*
Shard: told you, taste. She will want to taste different things so she will seek new stuff out.
Entity: ...*acceptable... barely*
Shard: cool, me and Host have a cat to find.
Entity: *significance of small feline*
Shard: we are like 70%sure it's magic
Entity: *resignation*


“He really did not like that,” Miss Militia said.

“No he did not,” Taylor agreed. “But it’s fine. Things are like that, sometimes.”
Agh! How did it take me this long to see the parallels between Taylor's quest to de-flea an angry cat and her interactions with Emma?!

But, uh, moving on from my obliviousness...goddamn, JinglyJangles. Whatever your muse is, keep on listening to it. Despite the link of this and 'Burn Up' both having Taylor get a power that noticeably alters her mind (and her biology, apparently), they both feel so distinct in terms of tone while never once falling into the trap that's killed otherwise interesting Worm fics for me before: becoming difficult to read. At no point do I feel like I'm surviving parts of the story for the sake of what may or may not come afterward. And 'Burn Up' had dark spots in it, but they never felt draining. The story always had a kind of vibrancy to it, and this has that, too, just on a much different...wavelength, I guess, for lack of a more apt term springing to mind.

So kudos, JJ. I sincerely doubt you need me to tell you, but you've created some wonderful things, and I'm one of many who appreciates it.

Hmm~ It Seems to me at least, that 'Conflict' isn't needed for evolution in her, maybe all that eating of different things replaces 'Conflict', or maybe think of it as a different kind of 'Conflict' She has yet to back down, From Emma, Merchants, Anyone, Think on that for a moment, Taylor, She has happily met them in open conflict, But, But! With different tactics than most, not avoiding conflicts, just a Different Way, of dealing with them, of "Evolving" as it were.


I'm kinda ehhhhhh on the whole Shards Cause Conflict thing to begin with, but it's not difficult to find an angle for the Glassmaker shard in that worldview.
To be fair, people constantly mistake conflict for "hitting stuff".
Also, the conflict is a means to an end, not the end itself. Shards need their hosts to use their powers, and to be creative with them. Conflict drive ensures that they will, but if someone uses their powers in new and interesting ways without getting into scraps with other people, a Shard would be just fine with that. It's the people that play it safe, or don't invest time and effort in their powers, that get the short end of the stick.

Taylor uses her power all the time in this fic, and is being fairly creative. No reason to suspect that her Shard would be unhappy with her.


(From a passage in an archived PRT report)

The Glassjaws were a gang in name only. They didn't run rackets, they barely held any territory, and they bought more drugs than they sold. Their membership seemed to be drawn from civic-minded members of the Merchants as well as previously unaffiliated citizens. Their only significant accomplishment was the transformation of the Bayside area known as the Ship Graveyard into a water park.

Addendum: according to sources in the Merchants and sister organizations, they are also responsible for the Brockton Blast cultivar, which is currently sweeping the nation due to its potency.

Regarding Taylor's transformation... yes, Taylor was molded into this new self of hers.

Experience does this.

The Locker was quite literally a crucible for Taylor, and turned her into one herself in this story. She's not "just" super happy go lucky all the time. This attitude came about from what seems to be a great deal of reflection and thought, albeit in an extremely short span of time and hastened by her powers changing her physiology and neurology. I think what happened is her mind has become more objective and streamlined. And rather than leaving here some emotionless robot thing with no initiative or drive, she was able to figure out how to make decisions for greater happiness.

An entire story could be made about how Taylor got to this point, but the author chose to tell a story about how Taylor affected the world around her after this transformation.

What happened to Taylor? I mean... really, what the hell happened to her? It's like bits of her are broken now, and yeah, it's done wonders for her outlook on life, but like one reader said, it edges on lobotomy territory at some points.
Well, my interpretation has been that if you stick with the "glass" theme... Taylor has achieved clarity, or equanimity. Her mind is clear, like glass. Throughout the story it's been pretty clear (whoops!)that she's living in the moment, not letting past aches and pains bother her or influence her decision-making. Her interactions with Emma show that... and she saw Sophia, clearly, without a weight of judgement clouding her vision.
backgroundnoise said: ↑
Also... why doesn't knowing about Taylor freak Lisa out?
Again, sticking with the glass theme: Taylor is transparent. I'd say she's is possibly the only person on the planet where Lisa doesn't have to worry about her power dragging up something surprising or distasteful, especially in the heat of the moment - everything is there to see already. Lisa might be able to figure out what happened to her, but she'd also be able to easily see that Taylor truly believes that it's done, it's in the past... sure, it was sad, but nothing can undo it, and it's only a burden if you carry it with you. Considering Sarah's past, I can see her digging that kind of philosophy - especially if it's a truly heartfelt one.