Originally, Hestia’s powers were more similar to Rachel’s, and her M.O. was to direct others to attack first, then move in herself to finish the job with overwhelming force. But the association of fire with burning at the stake and its other implications was too delicious to resist, especially after we recapped what had happened to Scarlett. And it fits Hestia’s name better.

Phil was with me on most of the details of the sisters here. We spent a lot more time debating the victims’ names (Sieglus and Nizar, not that it ended up mattering even a little) and their speech patterns like “bwoy.”

I remember we pushed John and Jason to make the second wave of sisters racially diverse, not to send any particular message but just to correct a bit for our tendency to default white with other extras (like the unnamed Fightopians). Intended or not, the sight of four nonwhite officers beating the hell out of two white innocents with rulers/nightsticks has a certain… resonance. If it was our only scene with law enforcement, I might worry more about being misinterpreted here, but we had white and nonwhite cops sneering at Syr’Nj as far back as Chapter 2. And anyway, Hestia is clearly in charge here, no matter what title she uses.