Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2018-10-16
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2018-10-16

by shaenon on October 16, 2018 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Figgs and Phantoms
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Discussion (53) ¬

  1. Tuiteyfruity
    October 16, 2018, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    BEES

    BEES

    BEES?

  2. Owlmirror
    October 16, 2018, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    Geez, Virginia, you caught up to jennibrock from six weeks ago.

    I, of course, continue my magnificent losing streak.

  3. Owlmirror
    October 16, 2018, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    Waitaminnit. Virginia got caught by the false etymology for Melanie?

    • Owlmirror
      October 16, 2018, 12:26 am | # | Reply

      I mean, there are non-obvious variants on the name Melissa (Melitta, Melina), if you want to hint at “bee” but not be as obvious as “Melissa” is.

        https://www.behindthename.com/name/melia/tree

      But nooooo….

    • equisetophyta
      October 16, 2018, 2:37 am | # | Reply

      You don’t like Melanie/mellifera but you’re okay with Beatrix/bee?

      • Owlmirror
        October 16, 2018, 7:04 am | # | Reply

        At this point, I am throwing up my hands (or all six legs) in etymological and entomological despair.

        • D. Walker
          October 16, 2018, 9:02 pm | # | Reply

          Language is meant to convey ideas, not to reflect reality with 100% accuracy.

          These are characters in a VR simulation, presumably constituent parts of the Gavotte swarm of bees, and they presumably have suffered a psychological break.

          It doesn’t matter that the etymology of Melanie isn’t correct – what matters is that the “person” behind the name THINKS it is correct, and is subconsciously projecting it onto themselves.

    • Jim McGrath
      October 16, 2018, 7:48 am | # | Reply

      “Virginia got caught by the false etymology for Melanie?”

      I kind of hate to be this guy but … “Actually …”

      I think Ginny is talking specifically here – i.e. she’s recognising the Mel(anie)/Mel(lifera) ‘pun’ in this particular case, not claiming that they derive from the sme source.

    • Author X
      October 16, 2018, 10:35 am | # | Reply

      I mean… she’s not claiming any etymology here, it’s just a pun? Like convergent evolution, words can arrive at similar sounds without having the same origin.

    • awgiedawgie
      October 16, 2018, 9:35 pm | # | Reply

      Considering that Virginia holds probably several doctorates, even if none of her degrees focuses directly on insects, she has quite likely taken several biology courses. And she’s a super-genius. It wouldn’t be difficult for her to make the connection between “Melanie” and “mellifera”.

  4. Otakubouzu
    October 16, 2018, 12:18 am | # | Reply

    ….oh
    OH.
    And here lies a slowpoke.

    • Trismegistus Shandy
      October 17, 2018, 8:21 am | # | Reply

      For Virginia, it’s been a few hours, maybe a day or so at most, since she arrived in VR. For us, it’s well over a month, with time to think and speculate betweeen strips, while she’s been constantly busy. For another, Shaenon and Jeffrey are selecting the relevant bits to show us so we can figure out the mystery without being distracted by too much irrelevancy; Virginia has been immersed in the VR and has no narrative clues to point out which details are relevant to the mysteries of why Mr. Green doesn’t know about the beach and why the women there act oddly, and which details are just things that the VR designer thought looked cool.

  5. EvilMidnightLurker
    October 16, 2018, 12:20 am | # | Reply

    I’M COVERED IN BEES

    • Gus Wiedey
      October 16, 2018, 11:42 am | # | Reply

      Dammit, you beat me to it.

    • codebracker
      October 16, 2018, 11:52 am | # | Reply

      I want to walk in my fathers footsteps.
      And those steps were “AAAAAAAAH, I’M COVERED IN BEEEES!”

    • Daniel Barkalow
      October 16, 2018, 5:49 pm | # | Reply

      I like my seaside resort towns like I like my sweetened tea… COVERED IN BEES!

  6. Shay Guy
    October 16, 2018, 12:37 am | # | Reply

    “It still needs more honey.” -Bialosky Stays Home

    (Children’s book references are always on-topic here, right?)

    • Shannon
      October 16, 2018, 8:40 pm | # | Reply

      OMG, I love that book. I have it from when I was a kid and read it to my kids. Great catch.

  7. thedoctor55
    October 16, 2018, 12:40 am | # | Reply

    Brains!
    Beauty! And she won’t take
    Bee Poop off anybody!
    Dr. Lee YOU are the woman!

  8. Owlmirror
    October 16, 2018, 1:36 am | # | Reply

    It sure looks like Mrs Apis doesn’t know that she’s bees. In fact, she seems to be shutting Virginia out while she’s having her epiphany.

    Sudden notion: Has Gavotte been successfully treated with the Cure, and that’s why her components aren’t integrating?

    • Urlance Woolsbane
      October 16, 2018, 2:06 am | # | Reply

      It’s possible, but I think it’s more likely that the VR simply suppresses hive-intelligence.

      • WuseMajor
        October 16, 2018, 3:17 am | # | Reply

        It’s also likely that they might be drugged. Otherwise putting all the little helmets on them would be a nightmare.

        • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
          October 16, 2018, 4:31 am | # | Reply

          What a terrible and yet strangely adorable mental image

  9. BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
    October 16, 2018, 1:56 am | # | Reply

    The snow is mostly gone, and look at the pavement. Pavement is mostly not bees. I’m going to head over to the hospital, see if I can get this mole looked at.
    Bees followed me into the car and cut the brakes. God, I might be high. Good thing it was only another mile to the hospital SHUT UP BEES I’M WRITING IN MY DIARY JOURNAL

    Go to hospital
    hospital is bees. Already, how? I just got here. No, wait, it’s just my glasses. My glasses were definitely bees.

    I didn’t schedule an appointment or anything, but the nurse called a panic team or whatever it is and they ran me to a doctor. How thoughtful, but it’s really not an emergency. I really just need them to look at a mole. Except that the mole is bees.

    The doctors looked at me and said they didn’t see anything wrong. Well, of course there’s nothing wrong, except the bees. And the bleeding, but that’s to be expected from beestings. They argued for a while, and then sent me away.

  10. Candace
    October 16, 2018, 2:15 am | # | Reply

    It’s bees all the way down.

  11. Hoodiecrow
    October 16, 2018, 2:45 am | # | Reply

    Only slightly modified, I’m told my scansion is always off. Thought it was kind of fitting.

    She was a working girl
    Anasigma way
    Now she’s hit the V.R.
    In the U.S.A.
    And if she could only hear me
    This is what I’d say.

    Honey pie, you are making me crazy
    I’m in love but I’m lazy
    So won’t you please come home.

    Oh honey pie, my position is tragic
    Come and show me the magic
    Of your Hollywood song.

    You became a legend of the silver screen
    And now the thought of meeting you
    Makes me weak in the knee*.

    Oh honey pie, you are driving me frantic
    Sail across the Atlantic
    To be where you belong.

    Will the wind that blew her boat
    Across the sea
    Kindly send her sailing back to me.

    Honey pie, you are making me crazy
    I’m in love but I’m lazy
    So won’t you please come home.

    *) bee’s ~

    • Jeffrey C. Wells
      October 16, 2018, 5:50 am | # | Reply

      I love you right now.

    • Robert Nowall
      October 16, 2018, 9:33 am | # | Reply

      I like it. I’ll put off my own efforts till tomorrow. (I was gonna anyway.)

  12. 5-tons-of-flax
    October 16, 2018, 7:39 am | # | Reply

    Oh my god. Bees.

  13. Mike
    October 16, 2018, 7:50 am | # | Reply

    This is Gavotte’s “daughter”, isn’t it?

    • Frank
      October 16, 2018, 9:09 am | # | Reply

      At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Gavotte herself

      • Frank
        October 16, 2018, 9:09 am | # | Reply

        Or worse: each “beach dweller” a separate swarm

      • Shadowmehr
        October 16, 2018, 7:30 pm | # | Reply

        Given her previously established love of tiki statues and tropical decorations, Gavotte’s little prison being a beach town would actually be appropriate.

  14. colomon
    October 16, 2018, 7:53 am | # | Reply

    “The only one whose name doesn’t make sense is little Bea!”

    This is totally me, the person who read the American Gods preview and instantly knew who Mr Wednesday was, but didn’t have a forking clue who “Low Key Lyesmith” was until hearing Gaiman read it outloud days later.

    • Lady E
      October 16, 2018, 11:44 am | # | Reply

      If it makes you feel better, I didn’t realize WHILE READING THE BOOK until very, very late in the book. Yep. I’m that person, too.

    • equisetophyta
      October 16, 2018, 12:47 pm | # | Reply

      My worst wordplay-obliviousness was when I didn’t get that Kreacher (Harry Potter) was “creature.” :/

    • serpentrose
      October 16, 2018, 2:11 pm | # | Reply

      Glad to know I’m not the only one

  15. Dr. Steve
    October 16, 2018, 8:12 am | # | Reply

    Perhaps the sunglasses hide the multifaceted eyes?

  16. katfairy
    October 16, 2018, 8:38 am | # | Reply

    Suspicions confirmed.

  17. Robert Nowall
    October 16, 2018, 9:34 am | # | Reply

    They’re all girls, too.

  18. s854
    October 16, 2018, 10:36 am | # | Reply

    Why would they have avatars which look human except for having compound eyes, though? I realise they may not have chosen their avatars, but someone will have done.

    • Kaymyth
      October 16, 2018, 1:07 pm | # | Reply

      Might be the VR system can’t keep the swarm’s core identity from bleeding through the code.

    • Kaymyth
      October 16, 2018, 1:08 pm | # | Reply

      Heh. They “patched” the code error with sunglasses.

  19. waynezombie
    October 16, 2018, 11:55 am | # | Reply

    Any bee’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in beekind. Therefore send not to know for whom the hive buzzes, it buzzes for three.

  20. chh01
    October 16, 2018, 12:59 pm | # | Reply

    Ok, all of the “bee” characters we’ve met have had specific necessary traits (strength, impetuousness). What trait would Mayor Queen bring to the party? And if they film this, would it be a bee movie with bee-list actors?

    • Kaymyth
      October 16, 2018, 1:10 pm | # | Reply

      Every healthy, reproducing hive has to have a queen. In Gavotte’s case, her queen is probably the central director of the gestalt entity. That mansion isn’t a house, it’s a prison – lock Gavotte’s queen away so she can’t reform her full personality in VR.

      • mickeyjf
        October 16, 2018, 9:58 pm | # | Reply

        If there is no Queen, the workers will create one. True.

  21. =Tamar
    October 16, 2018, 2:02 pm | # | Reply

    Beatrix = bee + a + trix, or tricks
    Apis = Ape + is = a copy
    Queen Mayor => Mayor rhymes with Mere, French for Mother,
    and also mer, French for ocean (hence the beach)

  22. Ogden Wernstrom
    October 16, 2018, 2:42 pm | # | Reply

    Only one man can fix an identity crisis like this. Somebody needs to get Phil on the horn.

  23. theysabet
    October 16, 2018, 3:26 pm | # | Reply

    So poor Gavotte or Pavanne (or both) got fragmented? I guess that makes sense– kinda hard to upload *one* part of a gestalt entity. Me, I’m allergic to bees and mortally terrified of them but I feel amazingly sorry for whoever she/they are– one bee doesn’t survive, alone.

  24. Dr. Steve
    October 16, 2018, 6:07 pm | # | Reply

    Hmmm…. If Dr. Lee can extract a human brain and keep it living happily in a VR, I wonder if she could extract a lot of little tiny bee brains (perhaps keeping them in little jars)… but I’m distracting myself… ANYway, could she revise/rewire the VR to bee more supportive of the hive mind?

  25. thoughtsofmotion
    October 16, 2018, 8:13 pm | # | Reply

    NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEEEEEES

  26. duane
    October 16, 2018, 10:11 pm | # | Reply

    singing “vikings and bee keepers, vikings and bee keepers”
    all those little tiny vr helms must have horns

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