I'll be the first to admit, I've gotten pretty cynical about all you normal folks out there.

So far, the normals I've encountered have captured gifted, tortured them, experimented on them,

created me to exist as a fucking brood mare, all for their benefit.

Interacting with Iris and the Splinter has only made my feelings about normal people worse. But today, today gave me just a

little bit of hope for all you normals out there. I know, I know. Don't tell anyone I'm losing my

edge. Still, I want to tell this story, not just because I like talking about the Splinter's defeats, but because I know a lot of you gifted folk out there must be wondering if we can ever live, if we can ever coexist with the ungifted. A lot of you must be wondering if it's worth it to even try to prevent the awakening.

And so, for those of you looking for just a little bit of faith in humanity, here's the story

of how one tiny little village in the Scottish Highlands looked the splinter in the eye

and told them to fuck right off. This is Spines.

... Shannon I went to Scotland thanks to some of Winry's research, and I went to Scotland thanks to some of Winry's research, and also because of some tips we'd been receiving from gifted folks and allies all around the world.

When the race to put together this new mosaic started, Iris and her people were focused on gifteds here in the United States.

They were trying to get their tiles assembled as fast as possible. Iris and her people were focused on gifteds here in the United States.

They were trying to get their tiles assembled as fast as possible.

But with all the interruptions from us and our allies, the splinter started having to cast their net a little bit wider.

We've been hearing about splinter agents showing up in South Africa, Japan, Costa Rica.

And then we got two simultaneous high-priority sightings.

One in Scotland, the other in Hong Kong.

Winri couldn't say for sure which of those two was most likely to be the target, so we split up.

Me and Shanda Scotland, Winry and Zachary to Hong Kong. One of my tiles had visited Scotland before. I think it was Lexi. I remembered the heavy gray sky,

the thick accents of its people, the constant smell of rain.

The moment we got out of Edinburgh and into a long stretch of road looping through cow pastures and moors, Shan asked me to pull over. They stepped barefoot onto the grass and let out a long,

happy sigh, like a burden that they'd been carrying for years had been lifted.

...