Fort William in Scotland
When we saw Beate’s lodgings earlier in the story, they looked to me like the sort of place where infestations would be an issue. I read somewhere that the colour yellow wards off bedbugs. Apparently it reminds them of the sun. Or Mr Happy. Look, I’m not an entomologist. I’m just someone who is terrified of bedbugs.
Is that Beate in panel 4?
Looks like her. I guess Beate is now the shade haunting Skellottie?
Beate looks lost, almost completely gone
Yes, and now Skellottie’s got the bobble.
And Beate’s no longer the one wearing the Bobble.
The Bobble has changed heads. as noted 3 times now. GAHHH!
I mean, I’m pretty sure that the bobble, being a physical item, has to be on the head that’s actually physical at the moment.
that is, the *Bobbly* Head
Looks like Titia’s “outlandish explanation” in yesterday’s comments was correct.
Nice catch!
Yep. Sad to think she’s watching her body do crimes without the possibility to stop it.
Might recontextualize/confirm that the speech bubble from last time is original Beatte
Little Claire levels her guns and lets her have a SALVO. (Although, from a realistic viewpoint I don’t think skeletons really have a butt-butt.) It’s the spirit of the thing, and I hope it annoys her to hear the defiance in Claire’s voice!
Anyone who underestimates Claire is in for a rude awakening.
Apparently I’m in Fort William in Scotland right now. I did not know that. Thanks, Dean.
(You might like to know it’s raining too.)
I dearly love that you decided to put Uncle Bryn from Gavin and Stacey in this, and then give him a massive schlong.
I’ve never seen Gavin & Stacy so cannot comment!
This reminded me that we actually do see part of Dean’s area in Giant Days
The last few panels about Lottie’s fighting spirit are kind of a good summation of just her entire character over the years
Normal speech bubbles. How does Skelottie suddenly have normal speech bubbles??
Not trying to fake Lottie’s voice anymore.
I looove my Cornwall-purchased classic green Wellingtons. They have served me well and sturdily for several decades. Beate seems like a practical girl even in her psychotic rages and is sensible enough to wear her Wellies when the going gets tough.
She was still doing it on the previous page though. Out of habit?
Anyone who wears green gumboots (‘wellies’ for the UK crowd) deserves to itch
I’m just glad she didn’t snag one of Lottie’s puffers. That would be the ultimate sacrilege aside from trying to murder her friends.
I always buy green ones after seeing abattoir workers having a fag break in the black ones when I was a kid.
It would matter what kind of socks (heavy, thick wool better)
Well Beate, Lottie has friends, family and a support network. I’m sure that has something to do with her gradual recovery after the Miyamoto Incident. You might have had something like that had you not spurned Claire’s offer of friendship.
Plus hot chocolate!
“She pulled herself off her bedroom floor” with a little help from Mildred.
“and somehow began to rebuild in Sheffield” with a little help from Claire and Glenn.
Lottie gets by with a little help from her friends.
“She pulled herself off her bedroom floor…” Huh? How did Skellottie get such a detailed view of Lottie’s past experiences, something that only Lottie’s Mum, or Mildred witnessed?
Maybe Skellottie really is a demon.
I’m not sure why, exactly, but those boots really don’t go with the skeleton outfit. I know, I know… under the circumstances, they’re absolutely necessary, but they keep jumping out at me, every time I look at the page. And I rarely put much thought into what I’m wearing, myself. The hat and the jacket work fine for me. And green’s my favorite color, and green and black’s my favorite color combination. So I’m not sure exactly why the boots seem all wrong with the skeleton outfit. And yet, they do.
What’s stylishly wrong is that she looks like a bag lady who should also be pushing a shopping cart (Which might be the next phase of her life?)
This is what happens when you take your fashion cues from John Entwistle and your footwear cues from the late QEII.
In the ’90s Phoebe Bridgers brought the skeleton onesie to a whole new generation
I think it was later than that — she was an infant in the 90s. (Maybe she wore a skeleton onesie then, too, but not on TV or in front of audiences.)
How did Beate know about Sheffield? Lottie used a fake travel itinerary and a disguise
Beate really has good intelligence about Lottie and her friends!
Are you thinking of her Glasgow trip? Lottie’s Solvering with Gyln and Claire has been HQ’d in Sheffield for a while now, so it would be more surprising that a stalker wouldn’t know about Sheffield.
And yes, she does have good intel about Lottie and frens.
Had Beate taken a somewhat less dubious life turn, she might have made for a decent spy.
Not less dubious, but less revenge-focused.
Maybe she got info from some grudge-bearing cryptid. Lottie did once say that MOST cryptids don’t hold grudges…clearly implying that a few of them do. 😐
Oh, Bea… we know you’re in there somewhere still. Come back, make amends and new friends! And maybe spend a stint in therapy and paying for your crimes.
Now I’m wondering (again) if it was actually the Beate personality that left those Scrabble tiles behind, having somehow surfaced just long enough.
Admitting that she’s sick and in need of help might be a sign of weakness and that’s how the other personality formed, to take control of the situation.
Even if she does, I think Beate is beyond help at this point. She made her choice long ago when she chose to spurn Claire’s offer of friendship and embrace the nihilists.
There’s something comical in the way Skelottie is saying it’s all Lottie’s fault. She seems unable to understand how much Lottie’s friends helped her, because she has no friends. Seeing Bea’s “ghost” near to her is weird. What’s are them? Just two different personality or there’s something supernatural involved?
I think anyone reading this story would like to know that because it’s the greatest mystery. The answer could be anything. It could be based on a living example of mental separation into two personalities, but it doesn’t need to be based on any reality.
Beate herself could be a cryptid!
It’s the other one (if either of them)
Bitch gotta itch
How well does Claire see without her glasses? I guess what I’m really wondering is how much of panel 3 is rage and loathing and how much is Claire squinting trying to get a decent look at the foe.
Well spotted. Claire is very short sighted.
Not surprising.
Committing arson is very short-sighted.
Claire always skips the cutscenes.
It’s great how Dean automatically engages his “random info” subroutine under stress. I wonder if he’ll have time to get to bees, or the thickness of an atom, or…
We can see in panel 6 that the imposter’s hips are very bony. How did nobody notice this when she was passing herself off as Lottie?
Perhaps the Dowager picked up on it.
It seems like a hot minute since we last saw the Chibus Vampirellum. I wonder if Phantom Beate and CV will get a chance to interact with each other.