It’s kind of sad that I didn’t “get” the symbolism in this dream sequence until this strip. And yeah, definitely some nightmares about her fight with “Truck” – I’m looking forward to seeing Agent Brown lay into his parents though!
If there’s something about yourself you reject, sometimes in dreams you project that quality onto another character or invent a whole new character to trpresent that thing. True ecample: if I’m jealous of my friend deep down but don’t want to admit it, I might dream of defending her from some shadowy, anonymous jealous girl.
I digress. The point is, maybe Selkie rejects her SKREE as being too inhuman. It’s all wrapped up with memories of prople being scared of her and hurting her.
In a different direction, I see it as Selkie projecting the recent bullying into her dream as a way to reconnect an old memory of the bad Selkie people who hounded her Selkie people, therefore the “skreee” which is used by her race may even be a scary memory of someone who attacked her and her mother as they were fleeing. Ah, the intrigue grows.
Consider a wild animal who knows that growling a certain way is a threat. They’d probably project this behavior onto those for whom it is foreign, because it is what they know.
Similarly, you don’t smile at a chimp (or was it another type of simian?), because baring your teeth is a threat and the chimp can’t conceive of the reason for which we smile.
That’s what I was picturing, anyway. Truck threatened her, so obviously he made the sound that her people make when trying to threaten or drive away.
While I understand that the nightmare will eventually be useful plotwise and I appreciate the artistic value of it, I’m sitting here going “How many more of these do we need before we get back to the plot??”
I love the dream/life contrast.. your non-lined art is absolutely gorgeous.. that’s one thing I struggle with. Also I love the colors. They pop out so much.. the art really does feel like a dream sequence!
Fever nightmares from post traumatic stress are nasty. Especially when you are just a kid. 🙁
Either she’s about to wake up screaming or they got into a wreck.
As I read it, she’s waking up in the last ‘panel’.
It’s kind of sad that I didn’t “get” the symbolism in this dream sequence until this strip. And yeah, definitely some nightmares about her fight with “Truck” – I’m looking forward to seeing Agent Brown lay into his parents though!
As am I.
I didn’t realize it until I read your comment.(I feel kinda stupid right now.)
Possible PTSD would be another thing against Truck if that’s really what it is.
This is the most terrifying nightmare that did not arise from the use of dream magic in the history of webcomics.
Also, I find it interesting that the Truck is going “SKREEE!” when it was Selkie “SKREE”-ing in real life.
If there’s something about yourself you reject, sometimes in dreams you project that quality onto another character or invent a whole new character to trpresent that thing. True ecample: if I’m jealous of my friend deep down but don’t want to admit it, I might dream of defending her from some shadowy, anonymous jealous girl.
I digress. The point is, maybe Selkie rejects her SKREE as being too inhuman. It’s all wrapped up with memories of prople being scared of her and hurting her.
In a different direction, I see it as Selkie projecting the recent bullying into her dream as a way to reconnect an old memory of the bad Selkie people who hounded her Selkie people, therefore the “skreee” which is used by her race may even be a scary memory of someone who attacked her and her mother as they were fleeing. Ah, the intrigue grows.
Ah but at this point Selkie doesn’t know about the bad Selkie people who hounded her Selkie people.
Not consciously, anyway.
Exactly;)
Consider a wild animal who knows that growling a certain way is a threat. They’d probably project this behavior onto those for whom it is foreign, because it is what they know.
Similarly, you don’t smile at a chimp (or was it another type of simian?), because baring your teeth is a threat and the chimp can’t conceive of the reason for which we smile.
That’s what I was picturing, anyway. Truck threatened her, so obviously he made the sound that her people make when trying to threaten or drive away.
Selkie might be “skreeing” in her sleep and is hearing it as she does it. I’ve certainly woken myself up from nightmares by my own screaming before.
So Mr. Truck *is* mad at her…
I just got back from a seminar and I’m catching up. Is Selkie asleep in the car? Is something happening? Is she in an accident? Aaaagh!
While I understand that the nightmare will eventually be useful plotwise and I appreciate the artistic value of it, I’m sitting here going “How many more of these do we need before we get back to the plot??”
I love the dream/life contrast.. your non-lined art is absolutely gorgeous.. that’s one thing I struggle with. Also I love the colors. They pop out so much.. the art really does feel like a dream sequence!