[584] ...later.

So Jones came with Coyote and Ysengrin, or just at about the same time? And why “Coyote, Ysengrin, and I” rather than “Reynardine, Ysengrin, and I”?

Oh, you’re right.

Or unless they were part of the simulation, and he was giving her to them to use

Ahahahahah

Check out the sun! It's blindfolded- symbolism, anyone?

I think handing the flowers out may be just another show of Jones' dry wit-- Just like the quip to Eggers about not undressing the female students, maybe the thought of seeing the kids reactions as they receive a flower from an entirely unemotional woman is funny to her...

Maybe it's just that she's handing out a "prize" to people that say something important/ask an important question. I've been in classes before where teachers will hand out small candies to people that ask questions or give answers.

I'd say shes using the flowers to explain how Seed Bismuth works, considering flowers come from seeds.

I thought it was obvious that the speech balloon was Reynardine's. (Maybe Tom needs to shift the point slightly to center on him a little more, though I hope it won't come to that.)

If the humans *were* sheltering from a war (one of Jones' speculations), I wonder which one it was. The last battle fought on British soil was the Battle of Culloden in 1746. That would fit the three-cornered hat worn by one of the humans in the simulation. Gunnerkrigg doesn't strike me as a Jacobite stronghold, but Culloden was followed by a heavy crackdown on Scottish culture by the English, and some Scots might well have wanted to hide in a great tangled forest, if one was available (and we've speculated before that Gunnerkrigg and Gillitie are in the neighborhood of Scotland and northern England). We know that Donald is Scottish, though he and Kat are the only characters we've met at Gunnerkrigg yet to have a Scottish background (so far as we know).

But the wishing to be apart from the rest of humanity might be closer to the truth; it certainly echoes Annie's own unsocial nature. Or maybe it's a third reason, one that Jones hasn't mentioned. We'll have to wait and find out.

I would agree with this.

She's very unexpressive, but she's far from lacking a personality, and definitely has a sense of humor. It's just not the most social.

Everyone recieving a flower, more literarily, could definitely be interpreted as an allegory. Krazehpenguin already mentioned the flower seed/Seed Bismuth angle, but in a way, the children are the flowers of the SB -- it has grown and created these Court members.

Also, technically, if they were escaping a war, it needn't be fought in Britain; there was plenty of British involvement other places in history. They may have been running from conscription, societal pressure, or were deserters.

Or it could be a metaphorical war, like "the war on drugs." It could've been a war on their beliefs or lifestyle.

And a person of a more cynical disposition than I might point out that "a war" and "humanity itself" aren't necessarily two different things :/

(And I'm not even in school now.)

How could Surma resist a face like that? :P




Then why give Reynardine a flower? They probably have an actual purpose later on. But if that was true, wouldn't she have handed them out all at once?

Or Tom could be using an old comic artist's trick. When there isn't a lot of movement happening you have one of the more quiet characters do something with their hands. It helps panels flow. But that doesn't seem very likely either.

Yeah I'm probably over thinking it. I always do. You can imagine how I thought Chapter 6: a Handful of Dirt would turn out.