Scolopendrophobia
Roko has so many embarrassing stories to share
Comments (107)
Oh my gosh! I am so excited to have stumbled upon Questionable Content again after losing track of it and so many other fantastic webcomics after the fall of Google Reader and my subsequent failure to thrive on Feedly! 😍 Should anyone be up to a challenge and would like to help me figure out where the heck I left off, I would be forever in your debt! The last thing I remember happening was Faye opening the repair shop with her robo-love, Bubbles. They also had just discovered a secret about Faye's mom (I think) regarding her, um, particular line of business. What do you think? Sound familiar? 🤞🏻💜🤞🏻💜 Thank you so much! Edit to add: Has Jeph said anything about contributing to update on here for free tier folks? The website seems to be suffering from some issues...
House centipedes are some of the most beautiful creatures on Earth. Like little racing eyelashes.
I joined the Patreon so I could see the comics while the website is hacked. Today is May 7. The most recent one I can see is this one, from April 21. Why do free members have to wait over two weeks to see a comic that is already public?
(Posting here as this is the most recent post I can comment on at Free tier) I hope you are able to get your site properly recovered! That's lousy to have happen. Thank you for this amusing series, may things go well for you.
The name Scolopendra just makes me think of a nine-tiered attack
It's weird to me how people freak out about a very common, harmless little animal that eats our pests for us. Said the zoology major who used to get paid to handle tarantulas. (I worked in a science museum.)
Sure, centipedes make me squicky (and thank you Jacques for the proper latin for that; that's gonna be a fun party trick to pull from a back pocket one day), but honestly? Scorpions. [insert pause whilst I reboot from the weird mini-shutdown even typing the word gives me 😬] Fun fact; until today it had never occurred to me to look up the 'phobia' name for this, and I have to object; "Arachnophobia"? But I LIKE spiders (well, most of them at least). I would have thought it would be something like scorpiophobia, though I suppose people would then ask why I was scared of people born between October 23 and November 21. 🤷🏻♂️ Which gets even dumber when I remember a friend in Santa Cruz told me my Moon was in Scorpio. Oh, it's totally irrational; I grew up in New York where there were no scorpions whatsoever. Everyone's got their something. 😱
But they can rock you like a hurricane.
If they're afraid of house centipedes, wait until they meet the Director's giant robot centipede AI buddy, Chilopody.
I'm confused. I thought that Yay disappeared and reduced their conciousness to a single body specifically because they were terrified the Director would expose them. But they seem to be on good terms with the Director so now I'm wondering if I misunderstood why Yay did what they did.
The issue is that someone less benevolent as the director could possibly replicate the detection method and out them to the world.
I'm with Yay on this
Tbh Roko could ask merely for business reasons. Having a direct line to the Director (and other high-level AIs) would help immensely with her work.
She could get a Moray!
We don't have house centipedes in Australia. I guess the snakes and spiders eat them.
I’m sure that when I visited Uluru, there was a notice in hotel room saying that the one local bug that might possibly show up that was seriously worth worrying about was a centipede.
Eh, interacting with a Moray doesn't sound that high bandwidth. Someone's worried :D
There is definitely a time (early on in their friendship) when Roko would have bristled at what Yay said in panel 2. There's another time when she would have rolled her eyes and snarked. NOW, she doesn't just call out Yay's bullshit, she ups the ante xD
Absolutely love Roko in panel 3
How can Yay not see that Roko is Wife :)
House centipedes are very rare in the UK, so when you guys are all commenting about them, I like to imagine they are three to seven feet long :)
Meters, Stephen, meters. They range from 3 to 7 meters in length. :)
I am given to understand that house centipedes are very important for managing pests in the homes where they exist. I would prefer not to live in homes where they exist.
I mean, according to Dungeon Crawler Carl, Scolipendra has a 9 tier attack that can destroy worlds so I think it's good to at least be wary...
House Centipedes are our many legged friends and I'll hear no ill sentiments towards them! It's not their fault they look terrifying Did you know? They can live up to seven years, supposedly
The most fun description I’ve heard of their appearance, which I now use at every opportunity, is “free-range mustache”. 😁
For the record, house centipede is not closely related to Scolopendra (same class, but different orders)
This. House centipedes are scutigera, and they scuttle. Scolopendra are elegant guys who glide.
And here I kept expecting a reference to Dungeon Crawler Carl...
Oddly I have never heard of a house centipede outside of Questionable Content. and I don't plan to expand my search.
I've only ever seen a centipede outdoors. Much like with garden spiders, it's definitely better in an environment where you can give it a WIDE berth. The idea of encountering one INdoors is 😰
When your friend won't take you To the d'rector of Cube, That's not Moray!
That's "a bore, Yay!"
Wow, ok, late to the party but FUUUUCK house centipedes Is I had a nickel for every time one has landed on me from above and skittered madly across my person, I’d have at least fifteen cents
So that's like at least three major cardiac events?
I don't know why Roko is acting like she's cool with house centipedes. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5391
Jeph definitely has a Thing about house centipedes xD For Roko, though, I think that any fraction that she can be cooler about them than Yay is a victory.
Roko has a new hairstyle again!
She does! And it is cute.
... Jeph reads Dungeon Crawler Carl? Neat!
I would hide, too, Yay.
They are harmless to humans and devour cockroaches. I just let them go their way back into the walls.
I would never hurt one, but house centepedes freak me out so bad. Yay is entirely justified.
❤️ Roko.
Well, you know... everyone has their limitations.
The Black Meat.
I'm with Yay on this one.
Same
no, his name's EEEEE BUGFRIEND
It is to Melon, anyway xD The house centipede was actually a colleague from work. Like Melon, it doesn't always remember which door is whose.
Glad to see Yay and the Director are becoming friends.
It just wanted to play footsies - which, I'll admit, can be a bit overwhelming in its case.
The Director was the one who set off Yay's existential crisis, right?
Are there undertones of deeper insecurities hiding beneath the veneer of flippant banter here?
Yay used to have many many legs.
But they were not all connected in pairs, following each other, UGH
Better than a horse centipede. The thunder of 100 hooves will keep you up at night.
Would you rather fight a horse sized house centipede or wait no fuck that I'll take the second option it doesn't matter what it is nuke that thing from orbit.
shoutout leggies my friend leggies
Still not as bad as that time they saw a human centipede.
Honestly, it's a toss up...
The Director already knows. Just waiting for the right moment...
Some people just require a letter of introduction. The Director needs to be sent a polynomial in 17 variables.
You know how people say that spiders are good because they eat other critters you also don't want in there? Guess what house centipedes eat.
Chihuahuas
We love how Roko sees right through Yay's deflection, every time. Bookbeard, would you be so kind as to provide the "you want to be friends" strip?
Your wish is my command. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3923 And for bonus points. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4040
After Yay met the centipede it was renamed Leg-o-loss
So Claire and Emily have the baseline processing capabilities necessary for the frankly breathtaking amount of bandwidth required to interface with the Director?
Being in the same room with the Director and conversing via Moray is probably very different to interfacing with the Director.
House centipedes are the only creepy crawly I cannot abide. My old apartment had a house centipede problem and they would flutter over my feet at 3am while I was gaming 🤢
😱
Glass houses Roko, glass houses. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5391
House centipedes are horrifying. I’m glad they exist, I just wish I never had to see them ever.
What do they even need all those legs for, it's too many
I find it suspicious.
well at least your house centipedes don't cause skin rashes! (refer to Hairy caterpillars for fun facts)
Plenty of insects can pull that trick. I’m told that there are moths in South America which just flutter gaily round one’s bedroom, scattering irritant hairs on sleepers below.
Not Legolas?
No. Not even Legolam.
I feel like these two are very much platonic soulmates at this point
It's so nice to see Roko happy. And the new haircut is adorable.
Every day we get a Yay comic is a day that just got a little bit better.
friend or not they are TERRIFYING
And what about the moth that time that Faye was walking towards you. Hiding from a moth by ducking behind Roko? For shame... At least Faye did get to see your puppies.
Oh, the short arc starts here: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4270
I am once again envious that the QC-verse got a benevolent and quirky singularity, and our universe got shitty LLMs.
Don't worry, we could still get the uncontrolled paperclip factory style singularity as well. We're not too late for that one.
You made Roko cuter again didn't you
He made Yay cuter again too.
Oh please, Jeph, do this! I want to see the the hijinks that ensue.
Leggies!!! Friend!!! ❤️🐛🐛🐛
My first introduction to house centipedes was after a shower and seeing one in the corner coming towards me... I think I have seen to many movies because my first reaction was "dangerous alien looking creature, kill it immediately!" It was only after I calmed down and tried to search the Internet did I realize how great they are... Provided they stay away from me...
I could never trap myself in a cupboard, when something terrifying is roaming around. What if the centipede crawled into the cupboard with me?!! I would have to stand on a chair and keep lookout.
I believe you meant that his name was Leg-o-lots.
His sister is Leg-o-lass?
And that's WITHOUT getting into how you met Aurelia, Yay.
I misread Leggies and thought you named him Legolas for a minute
That's what "Leggies" is short for.
To be fair, most of us would have burned down our homes for anything with six or more legs.
I love house centipedes, actually. They’re just neat! And they eat other bugs! …unfortunately, our Genji-kitty ALSO loves house centipedes. In much the same way that the proverbial lion loves the lamb.
Love this little community. Recognize your pic. The rare times we're on FB it tries to make us friends 🤭. (Don't remember who we have in common atm though.)
I blame Jeff Vandermeer but every time I hear house centipedes I want to reread the last Southern Reach book
I'm with Yay on this one. I understand centipedes are friends and all, but some friendships rely on never actually *seeing* each other.
"House centipedes are nocturnal predators that eat many types of soft-bodied insects and larvae, including spiders, silverfish, cockroaches, crickets, moths, bedbugs, earthworms, and even other centipedes." the enemy of ALL MY OTHER ENEMIES is my friend
I can't remember, didn't Yay fully switch to singular pronouns?
Could just be an old habit from when they were a collective. Though now they could say they’re using the royal we