This reminded me that I wanted to write a story about being a hive for a swarm. I love the thought of peeling away and cracking open to reveal the exoskeleton beneath. Whenever I imagine becoming a bug I think of melting inside of a cocoon first, so I really admire the sheer violence of the transformation as you write it--I love how gross and brutal and oozing it is. It really captures the kind of feelings that I think draw trans people toward identifying with insects, though even still it's hard to articulate. The train ride scene works so well toward that end, because while it's partially about being protected by your own skin, it's also partially a sense of revulsion that seems to drive us, a morbid fascination that pulls us toward the disgusting, as well as the plain desire to come together and use overwhelming numbers as our power--solidarity in the hive that lets us reflect death back on itself. I love the swarm scene a lot, too--I'd go deeper into why, but I don't wanna put a content warning on this comment, I guess. Anyway, loved this a lot. Thank you so much!
glad you liked it! thinking back, the swarm scene and the final train ride / metamorphosis scene both stick in my head as the sort of "essential" pops of the story; that is, the moments that I felt like needed to be really perfect to carry out the whole image I was going for. Knowing they both worked at all is still really assuring, especially like, a year after originally posting it. Thanks for the comment~