Ah! But we’ve been led to believe that extirpation is the worst punishment Anasigma has in store… That might be authorial legerdemain. Perhaps it’s the most basic form of discipline.
Her only hope of getting what she wants is to convince him, going along with his little charade does nothing to advance that. Cards on the table is her best move, impress him with the fact that she’s clever about more than just science and he’s more likely to listen to her.
Dr. Lee is Squirrel Clever. Squirrels are very good at figuring out how to do things, but pretty bad at figuring out whether they should (i.e. getting past all the defenses around the nice warm substation transformer).
This description (of both squirrels and Dr. Lee) is spot-on. Nicely done, sir. Also, the phrase “Squirrel Clever” may have to make its way into my everyday vocabulary.
You chose Ao as a last name, dude. You were lucky Sweetheart’s a dog and doesn’t know Japanese. Lee is friends with NICK. I’m pretty sure “ao” has been used in anime once or twice.
Thanks. Japanese is, of course, really common among Koreans due to a couple of generations of Japanese rule, although some (many?) older Korean people won’t speak Japanese for (legit) political reasons. So even aside from the anime/Nick thing, the odds of her recognizing Ao as a shade of green is pretty damned high.
That is only a possibility if A-Sig managed to construct another Second Gate after Grandma Swamp destroyed the first one. And they no longer have Mendoza to troubleshoot it for them.
The fact that last we saw Ao was in VR is pretty suggestive as to where this place exists in.
Also: seriously, Green? “Why would think that? I was extirpated twelve years ago [and Mr. Green stole my identity].” Cover stories are not /that/ hard!
We first saw Dr. Ao while Sweetheart was in the VR, but she saw him again after she jumped into the volcano and popped out of the VR for the last time. I’m wondering who or what that physical Dr. Ao body was; another drone? Ira in a super-realistic mask? Ira wearing a hologram projector? A high-level Anasigma employee filling in for Ira?
jimhenry: When Sweetheart asked Dr. Ao if the room where he was playing Candy Crush was real, he refused to answer. We don’t see Sweetheart again until some time later, While the idea of more than one person being Mr Green is an attractive one, I don’t think we’ve seen proof that he isn’t simply a VR avatar.
If you look at Ginny between the 3rd and 4th frames, there’s a very subtle difference in the way she’s drawn and where the frame cuts on her that it gives a very puppy-dog-with-ears-down-in-disappointment look. Very nicely done!
You don’t escape if you think you have nowhere to go.
It doesn’t really matter, though. Dr Ao came here to make Virginia an offer, and he can do that whether or not he’s posing as a prisoner. As he’s effectively admitted the subterfuge in panel 3, there’s a chance that he might make his offer tomorrow.
In case anyone comes back and reads 48 comments to find out about these theories: Nick told Ginny that Dr. Ao was a name for Mr. Green a while back: http://skin-horse.com/comic/made-of/
Well, it’s really not very clever to reveal you know someone is not who they say they are.
Well, what’s he going to be able to do to her at this point? Double extirpate her?
There’s plenty of walnuts, he might.
Ah! But we’ve been led to believe that extirpation is the worst punishment Anasigma has in store… That might be authorial legerdemain. Perhaps it’s the most basic form of discipline.
Beware the double secret extirpation!
Her only hope of getting what she wants is to convince him, going along with his little charade does nothing to advance that. Cards on the table is her best move, impress him with the fact that she’s clever about more than just science and he’s more likely to listen to her.
And Dr Ao just revealed that he knows someone who he is not supposed to know.
Often the most clever move is to play dumb.
And Dr Lee is clever enough to know that.
And the dumbest thing right know is to pretend to be clever.
That theory is either really dumb, or it’s really clever…
I would imagine Sweetheart told her about Ao earilier.
I find this much more satisfying than I really ought to.
Dunno about that: it’s pretty darned satisfying.
… Point. I also want to give Nick a recording of this exchange to meme-ify. That may be getting greedy. I really don’t care.
It’s really nice to see him get even a small setback, right now.
You can’t have him, Dr. Lee, he belongs to another.
Dr. Lee is the best.
Dr. Lee is Squirrel Clever. Squirrels are very good at figuring out how to do things, but pretty bad at figuring out whether they should (i.e. getting past all the defenses around the nice warm substation transformer).
This. ^
Upvote!
I’ll third.
And they like nuts
This description (of both squirrels and Dr. Lee) is spot-on. Nicely done, sir. Also, the phrase “Squirrel Clever” may have to make its way into my everyday vocabulary.
Yup, made me laugh. Love the “Squirrel Clever” term. Should become an actual term….
I think it just did…
And I’m going to use it.
“The new Number 2”
Wait… Extirpation is The Village?
That almost makes a strange sort of sense.
They’re not exactly dissimilar.
You chose Ao as a last name, dude. You were lucky Sweetheart’s a dog and doesn’t know Japanese. Lee is friends with NICK. I’m pretty sure “ao” has been used in anime once or twice.
Ginny is the sort to pick up languages at a scary rate anyway. Probably fluent in a dozen before high school.
Er, also Ginny may actually be Japanese. Did we ever get a country of origin?
She’s of Korean descent! skin-horse.com/comic/about-which-was/
She’s Korean, I believe.
Thanks. Japanese is, of course, really common among Koreans due to a couple of generations of Japanese rule, although some (many?) older Korean people won’t speak Japanese for (legit) political reasons. So even aside from the anime/Nick thing, the odds of her recognizing Ao as a shade of green is pretty damned high.
Called it!
Well, this should be interesting now.
Now Mr. Green must decide if she is more dangerous here or back in the “real world”…
I wonder if – instead of VR – this could be a pocket universe accessed through the second Gate?
That is only a possibility if A-Sig managed to construct another Second Gate after Grandma Swamp destroyed the first one. And they no longer have Mendoza to troubleshoot it for them.
The fact that last we saw Ao was in VR is pretty suggestive as to where this place exists in.
Also: seriously, Green? “Why would think that? I was extirpated twelve years ago [and Mr. Green stole my identity].” Cover stories are not /that/ hard!
Maintaining your cool when no one’s ever questioned your cover identity, on the other hand…
No, when the plug was pulled and Sweetheart-in-the-drone came back to “reality” Dr. Ao was there, too.
We first saw Dr. Ao while Sweetheart was in the VR, but she saw him again after she jumped into the volcano and popped out of the VR for the last time. I’m wondering who or what that physical Dr. Ao body was; another drone? Ira in a super-realistic mask? Ira wearing a hologram projector? A high-level Anasigma employee filling in for Ira?
jimhenry: When Sweetheart asked Dr. Ao if the room where he was playing Candy Crush was real, he refused to answer. We don’t see Sweetheart again until some time later, While the idea of more than one person being Mr Green is an attractive one, I don’t think we’ve seen proof that he isn’t simply a VR avatar.
If you look at Ginny between the 3rd and 4th frames, there’s a very subtle difference in the way she’s drawn and where the frame cuts on her that it gives a very puppy-dog-with-ears-down-in-disappointment look. Very nicely done!
Maybe Dr. Lee should’a let Dr. Ao give the reason he was extirpated for. We could always use a few more laughs.
And if she’s really smart, she’ll also see that if he can help her to escape, why would he still be here himself?
“I’ve got his plan, see? But it needs 2 people…”
Also, if he accesses her records then he knows she got here by being too trusting. >_>
You don’t escape if you think you have nowhere to go.
It doesn’t really matter, though. Dr Ao came here to make Virginia an offer, and he can do that whether or not he’s posing as a prisoner. As he’s effectively admitted the subterfuge in panel 3, there’s a chance that he might make his offer tomorrow.
And the cracks in the program begin to show . . .
In case anyone comes back and reads 48 comments to find out about these theories: Nick told Ginny that Dr. Ao was a name for Mr. Green a while back: http://skin-horse.com/comic/made-of/
But she might not have remembered.
The correct answer is “because you just told me”, Dr. Lee.