Out-Of-Placers #319

the bone, plant, and limb from otherhive are the things in panel 1
jrm8a

The bone, plant, dead indrel, and baxcid head are all different threats. The baxcid is the "old enemy".

I wonder how much of an old enemy they actually are. Is this some secret blood feud or were there just some territory skirmishes 100+ years ago that baxxid barely took notice of while the indrel went full book of grudges?

A baxxid could probably rip and tear its way out of an ambush and shrug it off. But to a hive of thinking bugs, yeah, that's going in the book of grudges.

Or at the very least it become a thing that must be known to the hive to stay away from.

Even then, I don't feel like he's paying nearly enough attention to her. She's the sole representative of her species to ever leave her hive, she's his responsibility, and he mostly goes "she'll be fine" and does his own stuff. Again, I get why "Skav bullshit" would be very high on his list of priorities, but he's had, what, maybe 6 conversations with Yannit in total?

The fear seems one-sided. The worms were probably just outright predators of the ant people rather than peer-level enemies.

There's a lot I like about this comic, but given the fantasy "dead is very possible" setting it tends to chicken out of conflict very often.
So I'm going to guess there's going to be a deus ex machina in the form of Ran showing up with just the right smells to make this problem go away. "Here Mr. Baxxid, wear this perfume! It smells like friendship!"

Ran was shown to be around, so it's not that much of a stretch.
The better resolution (if resolution is what's coming) is Lopin proving his worth and somehow defusing this, or else Yannit's gonna freak out and run off.

She's less a representative and more a human fan girl who forced herself onto two random grunts. She purposely got herself kicked out of her hive so she could go live with humans. And she's actually the second indrel to come to town. The first one killed a bunch of people and ate their heads. Also to put things in perspective, this has all only been a month and some change. And Kass has spent almost all that time either locked in his room or at the hospital.

I think the only time anyone even mentioned Yannit's potential for a head-ripping spree to Kass was RIGHT before "that thing" exploded in his hand and transformed him.

Kass has been very isolated since the attack. If lopin and Ran weren't bugging him 24/7 he wouldn't even be talking to them.

this comic has always had such bad linework

I mean, she's still the only representative of her entire kind outside the hive. She's no ambassador but holy fuck, it's a start. And it's being squandered. The last few times she's shown up it's been people going "oh right, you're here too."
I mean, damn.

I mean Kass is her friend but he's not her caretaker. His main job right now is sorting himself out while trying to think of reasons why he shouldn't take the open air express elevator at his earliest convenience. Yannit is the houses responsibility and she is being cared for but she's also been given seemingly complete freedom of movement which she's happily taken advantage of. Its a nice sentiment but kass really hasn't been in any condition to drop everything to run around the teeth looking for a girl, who as far as he knows, is exactly where she wants to be.

I mean, she's still the only representative of her entire kind outside the hive. She's no ambassador but holy fuck, it's a start.

Thats really not that big of a deal. She's great for research purposes but beyond that she's really not that important especially to the average person.

Anon, I'm not saying Kass is a terrible person or anything. For the most part he's a moral paragon. But this is very much a dropped ball.

It chickens out of direct conflict because it usually ends in either one character being capable of instakilling whatever is in their way easily or they can't do that so they have to run away and find some other avenue. It's why the majority of actual challenges have been political, communication issues, personal goals, or all of the above.

I think kass is going to be the key here. She puts him on a pedestal more than anyone else

I wish that comic was about this cute sympathetic bug bitch.

And would direct conflict look like 20 or more pages of dedicated fighting? That'd slow the pacing of the story down even more.

Yannit's love of stories might also come into play. If she can twist it around in her head or equate it to a story, she can probably find some way to at least communicate the issue.

Some writers fear conflict

And what exactly would "conflict" look like here? Yannit or Kal dying here would be fucking stupid at this point in the story and having the next year devoted to a complex fight scene that neither character can win would be equally pointless. She's either going to run off and need to be tracked down safely or someone is going to talk her down like before.

At least out of all the people for her to go absolutely apeshit on, Kal seems to be the most resilient.
I think this is the first piece of media where I've actually seen them utilize scent being sapient bugs' primary sensory input.

but he's not her caretaker

He kinda is. He's personally responsible for any heads she rips off.

How much time has even passed since the start of the comic? Seems like less than a month in-universe.

Its been a little over a month now

I wonder when we're gonna see any Dinnlan-related conflicts. Like soldiers looking for deserters and such.

I doubt they would fuck with the main narcotics distributor in the region over a half dozen refugees.

And what exactly would "conflict" look like here?

She's either going to run off and need to be tracked down

You answered your own question; story conflict is not necessarily some cheesy and pointless scene where they all fist fight or whatever. The user you replied to is likely referring to the tendency for any implied conflict to be immediately resolved so the comic could return to status quo shenanigans.

She's actively working with Ran, so I can understand why she's not a priority. She has a job working with one of Kass' direct superiors, so she's kept busy and supervised. Kass is also going from one crisis to the next and spending his downtime adjusting to a new body and fighting off existential terror.

Looks like a comfy place to live

In fairness this was also before Kass became the Trademaster's personal project.