There is a meeting taking place inside your mind.
Nobody planned it. The chairs are mismatched. The agenda has gone missing. Someone has brought biscuits, and somebody else is already quietly worried there will not be enough.
This is the Hive.
There will be magic, biscuits, questionable meeting minutes, and the occasional Bee being wildly dramatic. Not because difficult feelings are a joke, but because sometimes humor gives us enough room to look at them.
The Bees are not separate from us. They are the little parts of us that appear when life gets loud.
The part that worries and makes a list.
The part that gets frustrated when nothing makes sense.
The part that looks after everybody else.
The part that makes a joke because the feelings have become a bit too big to carry quietly.
None of these Bees are bad. They are all trying to help, even when their ideas are slightly questionable and involve turning a small problem into a full-scale internal meeting.
This is the first introduction.
Come in. There are biscuits.
Most of us have a worried part, a frustrated part, a caring part, and a part that makes a joke at exactly the wrong moment. They do not take turns neatly, either. Sometimes they all show up before lunch and start making decisions.
That does not mean there is something wrong with you.
It means you are human. Different feelings appear for different reasons, especially when life gets busy, confusing, unfair, or simply a bit much.
We are going to meet the Bees one by one, find out what makes them buzz, and work out what might help them settle.
First up is Mallow, who is currently treating biscuit distribution as a full and balanced meal.
The one who checks whether everyone is okay. The one who remembers the biscuits, the tea, the birthday, the thing you mentioned three weeks ago when you were having a bad day.
Looking after people can be a lovely thing. But when Mallow is always on duty, it can become very easy to forget that you are one of the people worth looking after too.
Sometimes Mallow does not need a huge solution. Sometimes they just need someone to say, “We saved you one.”
A biscuit. A break. A bit of help. Permission to stop holding everything together for five minutes.
Next, we meet Pip, who has some thoughts about the plan. And possibly a backup plan for the plan.
When something feels uncertain, Pip starts collecting details, making lists, and trying to think three steps ahead. Sometimes that helps. A plan can make a big day feel a little less wobbly.
But Pip cannot plan every surprise away. And if Pip has been busy for too long, even a small decision can start to feel like it needs seventeen folders and a weather report.
Pip is not trying to spoil the day with all those “what ifs?” Pip is trying to keep us safe.
Sometimes what helps is one small plan, one calm person, and the reminder that we only need to work out the next step.
Now, let’s meet Rumble, who has noticed that nobody has actually followed the agenda.
A plan changing without warning, rules that do not make sense, too many people talking at once, being asked to just “go with it” when nobody has explained where we are going. That can make Rumble buzz very loudly.
Anger can feel big, but it rarely arrives from nowhere. Sometimes it is telling us that something feels confusing, unfair, unsafe, or simply too much.
Rumble does not always need to be told to calm down. Sometimes he needs someone to ask, “What has changed?” “What is unclear?” or “What do we need to do next?”
And sometimes, once the plan has been rescued and everybody has had a biscuit, the Hive needs someone to make everyone laugh.
That is where Fizz comes in.
Not because Fizz does not care. Often, it is because Fizz cares so much that they are trying to give everyone a little more room to breathe.
A joke does not make a hard feeling disappear. But sometimes it helps us sit beside it long enough to say, “This is difficult,” instead of carrying it alone.
That is what the Hive is for.
Not getting rid of our feelings. Not pretending they are not there. Just learning to notice who has turned up, and what they might need.
Maybe Pip needs one small next step.
Maybe Rumble needs something explained clearly.
Maybe Mallow needs someone to remember them too.
Maybe Fizz needs us to laugh, take a breath, and carry on.
And maybe we all need a biscuit.
If this gives you a way to talk about a feeling with a child, a friend, a class, someone you love, or even yourself, take it with you.
Put it on a board. Read it together. Share it with whoever might need another way into the conversation.
There are more Bees to meet.
But for tonight, the biscuits are safe.
This post is staying completely free. I wanted you to be able to meet the new Hive properly, read the full story, and decide whether these slightly odd little Bees might be useful to you too.
Some of you will remember the original Name the Bees. This is its next chapter. Same noisy minds. Same need to make difficult things feel less lonely. But this time, the Bees get to step into real-life moments and tell bigger stories.
Not every Bee will look the same all the way through this journey. As we meet them properly, some may take us somewhere unexpected. Some magical. Some beautiful. Some, frankly, a little terrifying.
That is part of the point.
The Bees are us. They are the worried part, the caring part, the frustrated part, the part that laughs when the feelings are getting too big. I want to give those parts a voice, bring a little humor into serious things, and challenge myself to tell stories in a completely different way.
From the next post onward, every article will still include free comic pages alongside the full written story. But paid subscribers will receive the complete comic edition inside each post, with every page and the whole journey through the Hive.
So yes, this is me being a tiny bit shameless now: if you would like to help me keep building this strange, rainy little world, paid subscriptions are still 20% off for a little while longer.
If a subscription is not your thing but you would like to support the work, there is also a Buy Me a Tea button on the way out. Because apparently writing a magical Bee comic requires an unreasonable amount of tea.
Most of all, I would genuinely love to know what you think. Which Bee feels familiar? What would you like them to explore? And would you share this with someone who might need a different way to talk about what is happening inside their mind?
The Hive is only just getting started.
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