Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2018-09-03
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2018-09-03

by shaenon on September 3, 2018 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Figgs and Phantoms
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Discussion (63) ¬

  1. Tuiteyfruity
    September 3, 2018, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    hm, the VR program used on Nick perhaps?

    • Steven
      September 3, 2018, 12:29 am | # | Reply

      I believe it. Or maybe the one used on Sweetheart.

      • Troutwaxer
        September 3, 2018, 1:01 am | # | Reply

        Virginia is the new Number Two.

      • Tuiteyfruity
        September 3, 2018, 1:34 am | # | Reply

        AH, but that was still the VR program used on Nick! It’s not the SAME world, but the same tech being used.

      • codebracker
        September 3, 2018, 2:24 am | # | Reply

        You mean the one where Sweetheart went insane?
        Given Green likes Virginaia, I think he just put her in a private VR haven for the duration of the war to get her out of the way

        • Tuiteyfruity
          September 3, 2018, 12:22 pm | # | Reply

          Yes the very same where Sweetheart went insane, which was the same tech used on Nick.

          Again: same technology being used, but not the same VR world. is nobody reading what I’m writing? yall are just repeating what im already saying

          • Daibhid C
            September 3, 2018, 1:12 pm | #

            I think the word “program” is ambigious. Like, it’s now clear you were using it to mean the basic “engine”, but to a non-techie like me — and it seems to others — VR program and VR world are pretty much synonymous.

            But I get what you mean now.

          • awgiedawgie
            September 3, 2018, 8:07 pm | #

            But was it ever mentioned anywhere that the VR used on Sweetheart was the same as anything Nick had been in? I was under the impression that the VR software that Nick was in with Lovelace and Aimee had been abandoned by Whimsy and the entire server was given to Baron Mistycorn as a “retirement” gift. And the VR that Nick was in during his development was specially designed on-board software that crashed (was forced to crash).

            I imagine that A-Sig has numerous different VR programs, each finely tuned for specific purposes. So I see no reason to assume that the program they use on one person is the same as what they use on anyone else. They may have originated from the same basic core program, but they would be unique beyond that.

  2. thedoctor55
    September 3, 2018, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    OMG! She’s in THE Village!

    • Eddurd
      September 3, 2018, 12:31 am | # | Reply

      Where am I?
      IN THE VILLAGE
      What do you want?
      WE WANT EXTIRPATION … EXTIRPATION …

      • DoctorObscure
        September 3, 2018, 4:18 am | # | Reply

        I am not a number, I am a free mad!

    • s854
      September 3, 2018, 2:34 am | # | Reply

      Wherever it’s supposed to be, it looks nothing like The Vilage.

      Does Virginia have a map thing on her phone, though?

      • arqyx
        September 3, 2018, 6:24 am | # | Reply

        Virginia Beach?

        • Ogden Wernstrom
          September 4, 2018, 12:00 am | # | Reply

          *THIS USER HAS BEEN BANNED*

    • Urlance Woolsbane
      September 3, 2018, 10:25 pm | # | Reply

      Green Alert!

      • Pygar
        September 3, 2018, 11:27 pm | # | Reply

        Watch for a Green Dome…

  3. Towering Barbarian
    September 3, 2018, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Is it possible that being Ira’s love interest might have it’s perks? o_O

    • Pygar
      September 3, 2018, 12:19 am | # | Reply

      You’re *believing* him on that point? There’s more to him than we’ve been shown… remember Baum! We’re seeing him through Green-colored glasses!

    • awgiedawgie
      September 3, 2018, 1:00 am | # | Reply

      It’s only been other people who have said that Mr. Green was in love with (or as Nick put it “wants to bang”) Virginia. He has never actually confirmed nor denied it, allowing people to continue in their belief, without really giving anything away.

      • Towering Barbarian
        September 3, 2018, 7:53 am | # | Reply

        There was that rather odd moment when he seemed to be making a play for Virginia while controlling the Violet Bee telefactor robot during the St. Charlie episode. >_>

        • awgiedawgie
          September 3, 2018, 1:54 pm | # | Reply

          Point. But then again, Violet was always kind of hitting on most everybody, and messing with their heads, so what of her behaviour can you really say was sincere as opposed to manipulation?

  4. Dave
    September 3, 2018, 12:29 am | # | Reply

    So it seems Extirpation is just “everyone who annoys me gets shipped off to a remote island for the rest of their lives”?

    • Candace
      September 3, 2018, 2:02 am | # | Reply

      Well, it *looks* like she’s on an island. But is it a real island, or a virtual island?

    • Gyrre
      September 3, 2018, 4:01 am | # | Reply

      “YOU’RE GOING TO PRISONER ISLAND!!!”

      I hope that’s not too obscure.

      • awgiedawgie
        September 3, 2018, 4:17 am | # | Reply

        Would it happen to have anything to do with pizza?

    • jimhenry1973
      September 4, 2018, 8:09 am | # | Reply

      This reminds me of the Dread Kingdom of Suffering. I won’t identify what work of fiction that’s from, to avoid spoilers, but those who’ve read it will recognize the possible similarity.

  5. dvandom
    September 3, 2018, 12:35 am | # | Reply

    Extirpation: where we save the disobedient but clever people we’re gonna need to rebuild things after the War.

    • awgiedawgie
      September 3, 2018, 1:03 am | # | Reply

      Maybe it’s like Dave Island, but with both men and women, and thereby, kids. Or it’s Hotel California, but on a deserted island.

      • Shadowmehr
        September 3, 2018, 11:37 am | # | Reply

        That might be closer to the truth, really. If you listen to the lyrics of Hotel California, they can be really disturbing.

        • Foradain
          September 3, 2018, 8:54 pm | # | Reply

          Which is why I don’t listen to them. ^_^

        • Bathymetheus
          September 4, 2018, 12:14 pm | # | Reply

          The lyrics to Hotel California are a really good poem.

          Set to music. Really good music.

      • Sheik
        September 3, 2018, 4:13 pm | # | Reply

        We don’t know if this really is island. It may be just some beachfront property she can’t leave or communicate from, probably because of an implant.
        While not surrounded by water it may just as well be an island.

    • M. Alan Thomas II
      September 3, 2018, 3:20 am | # | Reply

      And the hostages.

  6. palenoue
    September 3, 2018, 12:55 am | # | Reply

    Wait, is this Night Vale?

    • Shadowmehr
      September 3, 2018, 11:56 am | # | Reply

      No, Night Vale only has the beachfront property, it doesn’t have the water.

      • palenoue
        September 3, 2018, 3:24 pm | # | Reply

        Not seeing any water here.

        • Efogoto
          September 3, 2018, 5:29 pm | # | Reply

          Virginia does.

    • jdreyfuss
      February 3, 2020, 3:05 pm | # | Reply

      I don’t see a glow cloud anywhere.

  7. Moe Lane
    September 3, 2018, 1:33 am | # | Reply

    …Now I want a Florida Keys mod for Conan Exiles.

  8. David B Huber
    September 3, 2018, 2:02 am | # | Reply

    Skee-Ball!? The fiends!

    And the walnuts are the size of *coconuts*!

  9. codebracker
    September 3, 2018, 2:28 am | # | Reply

    Those 2 palm trees look suspiciously like a teleporter gateway

    • OneUniverse
      September 3, 2018, 1:12 pm | # | Reply

      They do, don’t they?

      People really *die* sitting under palm trees, when a nut falls and conks ’em on the noggin’. Maybe that’s a guilt free way of offing someone.

  10. Bruce A Munro
    September 3, 2018, 3:52 am | # | Reply

    Could be VR.

    Could be the Village.

    If the buildings start rocking up and down while the sea stays still, it’s an Infinite Improbability Drive.

    • awgiedawgie
      September 3, 2018, 4:09 am | # | Reply

      But the buildings washing up and down while the sea stayed steady as a rock was just a hallucination of sorts for Ford and Arthur, caused by the ship having used the Infinite Improbability Drive. I mean, yes, they really saw it, but there’s not really any predictable way of going back and seeing it again, because even with programming, you still pass through every point in the universe, so what you are able to actually witness is completely up for grabs. While such a thing happening is very, very improbable, it’s not impossible. So this could be the one place in the universe where it actually happens. You wouldn’t need the Infinite Improbability Drive to get here, as long as you know where “here” is.

    • Gyrre
      September 3, 2018, 5:21 am | # | Reply

      If it’s VR, then I’m guessing the “it involves walnuts” and “with walnuts” are command phrases or event trigger parameters.

  11. Rimwolf
    September 3, 2018, 6:41 am | # | Reply

    It’s a magical place.

    • fromthedarkorblackwater
      September 3, 2018, 1:35 pm | # | Reply

      T.A.H.I.T.I.

      • reynard61
        September 4, 2018, 10:42 pm | # | Reply

        A great place for Rest and Resurrection! (Just ask Phil Coulson, he’ll tell ya…)

  12. Fan of Most Everything
    September 3, 2018, 6:47 am | # | Reply

    I know there are palm trees right there, but I can’t help but suspect that this is an elaborate joke at the expense of New Jersey.

    • Rob Nobody
      September 3, 2018, 4:19 pm | # | Reply

      I was gonna say, the houses are definitely giving me a Cape May vibe.

  13. 5-tons-of-flax
    September 3, 2018, 8:38 am | # | Reply

    My first thought was of the quaint California town from that one episode of Black Mirror.

  14. Pat
    September 3, 2018, 10:51 am | # | Reply

    The horror will come when she realizes she lost her pension.

  15. Robert Nowall
    September 3, 2018, 11:02 am | # | Reply

    Looks like extirpation has been way oversold. Stay tuned for further developments.

  16. Cbob
    September 3, 2018, 11:27 am | # | Reply

    Well, if there’s no parking, it’s Cape May

    • shaenon
      September 3, 2018, 1:54 pm | # | Reply

      I am weeping in joy that someone recognized Cape May.

      • Rob Nobody
        September 3, 2018, 4:21 pm | # | Reply

        YES, I WAS RIGHT

  17. This Guy I Know
    September 3, 2018, 11:45 am | # | Reply

    Technically, Janie didn’t specify *where* to take her. Just saying.

    And suddenly my brain is full of theories in which Janie’s friend in Cryptography is encrypting her visual feed or something, and somehow this helps her escape? …I probably shouldn’t have watched an entire season of Doctor Who last night.

  18. mickeyjf
    September 3, 2018, 12:14 pm | # | Reply

    Palm trees notwithstanding, the architecture looks more Cape Codish than any of the other places mentioned.

  19. JET73L
    September 3, 2018, 2:49 pm | # | Reply

    …hang on. Did they re-clothe Virginia while she was unconscious/brain-scrambled/being dragged kicking and screaming? Now I really am starting to hope that this is VR and not just a Huxleyan “retirement home for people we want out of our hair”.

    • awgiedawgie
      September 3, 2018, 2:55 pm | # | Reply

      That’s the one thing that makes me think it might be VR. Not only are the clothes different, but they’re also tattered and worn.

  20. Frank
    September 3, 2018, 4:28 pm | # | Reply

    Not Skeeball! That game is evil! … oh right

  21. tremor3258
    September 3, 2018, 6:10 pm | # | Reply

    If after all the build up, extirpation is just a VR/isolated location of a bucolic vacation spot that would make Patrick McGoohan nod in professional approval; I’m going to be a little disappointed, honestly.

  22. jdreyfuss
    February 3, 2020, 3:07 pm | # | Reply

    So the shea butter is in the suntan lotion and the walnuts are from a boardwalk vending cart?

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