Our heroine confronts the villain in the depths of his lair.
Deleted scene that I excised for brevity. --- John: I'm going to have to quit my job over all this. Selkie: Pffft. Knews you weres a quitters. (John glares in quiet fury while Selkie grins smugly) --- Brevity, and also because I don't think even Selkie has quite that much nerve. Maybe when she's older.
BITE HIM! D:
Great idea!
No. He’s baiting her. TRYING to get her to react. Trying to show that things are at least partly Selkie’s fault for being an apex carnivore, etc etc. Biting him is the LAST thing she wants to do right now.
Siiiiiiiiigh, yes, yes you are. You are being mean and several other words as well.
…Yeeaaaahhhh, your are kinda wearing out your sympathy from a notorious sucker, Principal Ashton.
No sorrys for his failings? No trying to smooth things over with Selkie in the hopes of mitigating things with her father? And when politely informed you’ve accidentally used a racial slur, you just brush it off? Nope, this is allll Selkie’s fault.
Looking more and more like a run of the mill bigot, here. I can imagine him pulling similar crap when the schools were racially integrated some decades back.
Yeah, he’s a standard xenophobic dirtbag, and on top of it, he’s acting like being hospitalized, called racist slurs, and having to deal with everyone else’s scorn on a daily basis is somehow *less serious business* than the results of being an ignorant asshole.
And he’s blaming a child… … …
Nooo, don’t bite the GollumWannabe, he’ll give you indigestion.
Plus it wouldn’t be too surprising if he’s trying to provoke Selkie deliberately–to give himself room to argue that she’s dangerous, or more of a problem/troublemaker than a victim. And definitely more of a problem than HE is.
Is he seriously trying to blame an 8 year old for *his* actions? Unless he’s deliberately trying to provoke her so he can say he’s justified.
Yes, because having to take responsibility for your own actions means that you were not being rude or in the wrong when you did them. Makes perfect sense.
He’s gone from acting like an incompetent adult to acting like a child.
There are, sadly, a great many adults who don’t actually act responsible. Not willing to accept personal responsibility for one’s own actions, and continuing to blame other people and circumstances *even when* you’re caught/called on the carpet, is very un-adult.
But his immaturity makes it that easy for Selkie to outwit him on the next page. 🙂
Is he blaming her for getting him in trouble when all she did was bust Truck for him? Who may I remind you was a problem for him, the student and the staff? Or is this actually going to go somewhere?
Ok. So I kind of agree with people, but I hate lynch mobs, even ones chasing fictional, mean characters.
So here’s this: Ashton was informed of Selkie’s nature. He comes into the situation bearing a huge, unexpected burden. Yes, it is an immature response (I’m referring to his thought processes, not a specific action), but who here has not responded badly under stress at some point?
The best thing he might have managed was to request a transfer. But apparently he likes his job, present troubles asside.
I’m not saying he should be excused. Actions have consequences. Lynching someone verbally sets an example, which has consequences.
Thanks to this sob Selkie went to the hospital. He deserves this treatment for what he tried to sweep under the rug. Seriously. Blaming the victim like that was BS.
I don’t disagree. He was a jerk.
But lashing out violantly at adults doesn’t help the case for handling children sensibly.
Really? I thought Selkie went to the hospital because of truck. So it was the Principal out there shaking Selkie in the snow? I’ll have to go re-read that arc.
@Alpo:
Actually, yes, thanks to this SOB, Selkie went to the hospital. Having reread this arc and later arcs, Truck appears to be malleable enough to help when introduced to it properly as opposed to allowed to ignore it. He truly didn’t believe what he was doing was ‘bad’. The Principal stopped said help from reaching Truck in this instance, and possibly past instances. Therefore, yes, the Principal, and individuals like him, are in fact at fault for not allowing said help to reach that boy.
Freaking child abusing jerkface. Someone should break his jaw.
No. Kicking him out of a job market he seems to have been in for much of his career is definitely harsher. And more fitting.
As much as i agree with gryph Ashton’s action indicate that he refuses to accept that the so called “special needs” is the victim in this situation and has adopted a attitude that screams “I think I’m superior”.
His actions following both attacks shows he lacks the maturity to run the workplace . Ashton WAS stressed but he should have dealt with it better considering that he is responsible for the children’s welfare.
I had a bunch of things I wanted to get off my chest about this idiot, but after reading the posts above all I need to say is “ditto.”
Yeah, I had quite a head of steam built up by the end of the comic myself, but after reading the comments by Syri and Tarnagh I think they have a point. The little rat-fink provoking her into attacking him is just the sort of trick that a “it’s never MY fault” professional victim would pull.
That about sums it up for me too.
I know I defended him before, but I changed my mind. This guy is just a prick.
This man… Ooohhh. I hope someone is recording his interaction with Selkie right now.
And you know what, ASSton, you didn’t ask to ‘baby-sit’ a ‘fish-girl’. But you did take on the job of watching all students in your school and treating them equally. Instead you let a child bully another for being different and tried to sweep it under the rug.
Also. Insulting the CHILD you ALLOWED to be injured. Way to go. I really cannot wait for this man’s comeuppance.
+1
All of that, totally agreed.
Congratulations, dude. You have demonstrated you have no business being in a position of power in a school in general, a public school particularly. You don’t get to put up your diversity posters and call it a day while your students are being bullied and you have demonstrated a complete failure to deal with special needs students.
I am so glad Agent Brown is in this building.
Yeah! Way to go out on a high note!
Yeaaaah I was wondering if this was going to happen. He knows his job is over… for some people, retaliation in some form, any form, is the last act of office. Keep a grip on your temper Selkie!
Tell him: “I thoughts doing things you didn’t wants to do was part of being a grown ups! You don’ts likes thems, but you know you haves tos! Likes homeworks and payings bills!”
Love this!
Wallowing in self-pity is not the best course of action, Ashton.
Wow, everybody’s still tossing hate at Ashton? I’m thinking that Dave’s setting up to do another “He’s not so evil after all” reveal.
See, we’ve all (or I have) *tried* to see him as a victim in this, but every time he opens his mouth, godawful garbage falls out. Makes it really difficult to be sympathetic with his position.
I also suffer sudden brainfarts, so I know how it feels to spit frogs. I have to respect him little, that he still tries to speak it out, though he don’t have all the words he needs.
Fish-person is still rude, but can you make any better out of nothing.
A “not so evil” reveal at this point would take a massive deus ex machina. I’m talking telepathic control, mind-altering drugs, or something of that rediculous scale.
There’s no excuse for his behavior to this point except to declare that his behavior is completely someone else’s decision.
Nah… he’s going full xenophobe with him.
Nah, put me in as another for “trying to see both sides of this, but the principle’s side keeps looking uglier and uglier”.
Alright I had some sympathy for Ashton. Since this page? Now I don’t.
Wow… Frodo just went 3rd-grader on her.
Here’s the thing – it’s been pointed out many times now that Selkie’s “disabilities” pose no greater challenge than many human children have to work with on a regular basis. Dietary restrictions, fragility, looking different – all of these things are dealt with in real life.
As such, the principle’s problems are of his own making. Handling stuff like this was his job, but viewed it as “dealing with a fish-person” rather than “dealing with a special-needs child”.
And it looks like he’s going to carry that non-lesson around with him now.
Some folks are saying that clearly Ashton can’t be THAT evil but some people in this world really are just dirtbags in some/many situations. Ashton is one of them. Man, how fucking racist of him — “fish-person”? Any moron can see that wouldn’t be received well.
Ashton is one of those folks who needs a job that doesn’t deal with people, especially people that require patience. Kids being bullied, having special needs, etc… (and as Alteredstory said, Selkie has no special needs that aren’t somewhat mimicked by other conditions on the broader scale), Ashton just isn’t cut out for this.
But good grief he could have handled it better. He needs to suck it up and accept that this isn’t the work for him, not throw mud like a five year old. He acts younger than his students.
Ashton, you (bleep)ing moron! “All the crap that´s happened” has happened solely because YOU persistently refused to do your job.
Selkie: You should now directly to your dad and tearfully tell him, in front of the rest of the PTA, that Ashton called you a “fish” and a “piece of work” and that he thinks it´s all your fault. You know, just to generate additional sympathy for Principal Hobbit.
Hey, just a thought… Selkie still has her phone, right? She could totally be recording this conversation right now.
I can defend Tommy and Prof. Trunchbull, but I dunno about this guy. Calling her mean? She never specifically went out of her way to do anything to him. Calling her dad mean, sure, at least that would make sense somewhat, but her? That doesn’t even make any sense remotely. I guess blaming her for the problem existing in the first place is what he’s going for.
I understand he’s upset at the situation and the adults at the PTA were absolute immature morons, but taking it out on a kid seems… really low. Things could have been handled in a better manner and I can sympathize with that, but I can’t really give him any ground other than that.
Be mad at Todd, be mad at the PTA, be mad at the ex-teacher, but don’t be mad at the children.
I will say that if he has no idea what Selkie is and where she comes from or the project she’s involved in, it really was unfair for this to happen. And before you all go this is an expirament to see how integration into society would work yadda yadda, yes I understand that, but people would be viewing it with more clarity and understanding. Because if this did work out teachers and staff would be informed. Special measures would be taken, KNOWLEDGE would be had. This expiramemt is a lot to throw on ANYONES plate. Some people handle it better than others. Not everyone one will take it in stride like Todd. Heck even Todd had to know what she was.
The fact of the matter is, special precautions would be taken and information would be given. So in that respect I DO feel bad for a man, a common public school principal, who got more than he ever signed on for.
He should have said something then, when Avery visited him.
He may already be aware of the situation, in which case he’s just a jerk or the pressure was too much for him to bear. Also, it shouldn’t have to be him to ask what’s going on, he should be told the situation in order for him to properly handle it or at the very least say he’s not up to the job/task at hand. I only feel bad for him in the sense that he /may/ have been put in a difficult situation that is unfair to him since it’s not something in his job description to be part of inter-species delegations.
And before anyone says anything, special needs children come with KNOWLEDGE OF SAID SPECIAL NEEDS. No one just drops of a disabled or special needs child and says, “Hey figure it out lol we don’t know what’s wrong with them. Good luck!” in which case may have been Selkie’s case. It seems very likely that she was dropped into the school system with no real knowledge of what to do with her. In the orphanage it was trial and error for food. No one calls them heartless assholes. Now, the principal is not doing this right in any way and IS being a jerk, but maybe it’s not 100% his fault. If someone threw a sick kid at you then blamed you for not fixing them because you had no idea what to do, you’d feel pretty wronged.
Not trying to make excuses for him, just looking at it from a different perspective.
But it’s still wrong of him to insult the child even if she is unintentionally the direct cause/source of his problems.
He’s a jerk, no doubt about it. However, jerks can advance a plot nicely. This hallway meeting between the two was engineered for a reason. If he WAS made aware of the larger situation, which is quite plausible, then — right now, in this one on one chat, with him still feeling raw from that PTA meeting where his career just (deservedly) ended — he may spitefully tell Selkie something that was supposed to be top secret. Information that more responsible and caring adults would have kept from her.
I kind of find it unlikely that he knows all about her species, but it IS possible with his baby sitting fish comment. That strikes me as it could be him passive aggressively saying he didn’t WANT to do this, he didn’t sign on for this sort of thing, but was possibly forced into it with very little information on why.
Perhaps someone just told him they we’re integrating ‘fish people’ into society because of a war and hostiles hunting down the refugees. Althought that seems unlikely to me, it WOULD be highly interesting to see him say something along the lines of, “It’s not MY fault your mother died in the war and we got stuck with you.” even if her mother isn’t dead, he doesn’t know that. Or he could just make an abandonment due to the war comment.
I’d really love to see something like that happen for story purposes. As sad as that would be for Selkie and he’d probably end up in some high security prison for breech of information of national security.
Which makes me think that he doesn’t know much aside from, she’s some sick kid from another country, just handle it we don’t really know what’s wrong with her sooooo uhhhhh yeah have fun with that lol!!
I really just wanna know what happened to her mother and her people.
As someone pointed out above, Agent Brown is in the building. If he happens along just as Ashton is spilling the beans… that’d be… uh.
Watch out, Ashton. Your day COULD get even worse.
I’m pretty sure that her restrictions WERE told to the school staff, by the orphanage staff at the least, otherwise how would they have known to keep her inside during school recess in cold weather? that and various other statements and actions by the teachers and kids make me believe that they DID know at least her physical and dietary limitations, granted, they were NOT given Top Secret levels of information, as implied by Agent Orange’s talk with Todd about how certain kids were already in foster care, but with the parents having undergone special training, and signing NDA’s and other Top Secret type stuff… the only ones I’d say were on the short end of the stick concerning ACTUAL knowledge of any use to them, was the Orphanage Staff!… THEY were the ones that had to go thru the trial and error of feeding, etc… i’ll hazard a guess that Selkies mom dropped her off there totally on her her own, without ANY government involvement at all, and that Federal Agents only found out about her later, after it was too late to really do anything (IE, cover ups), so they went with their next best option… integration experimentation as per his and Todd’s conversation.
As for the SCHOOL not knowing about what to do with her, I’d say NO… she’s a frickin’ KID… she needs to learn “stuff” at school!!!… THAT’S what they should have been doing with her. irrelevant as to her looks/ race/ “special needs” or not, she is a STUDENT first. also, remember that Selkie was a student there even BEFORE she was adopted… she hated gym class previously because she couldn’t run in the shoes that orphanage had, she already knew the names of various other teachers and staff, she was well acquainted with the Librarian, etc… so she was assuredly NOT just “thrown into the school system” as you implied…
Exactly how was she not? So she’s been attending school for a while. Is there a nurse TRAINED to treat her? Nope. Did anyone try to give her better suited shoes for P.E.? Most people aside from the weird secretary didn’t even know she flushed her gills. No one has been trained to deal with her. She still gets served inedible food there. No one in that school has any real proper idea of how they should be caring for her. They have very limited knowledge of what to do with her.
So pardon me if you will for assuming, might I add most likely correct in my assumption, that she was indeed dumped into the school system. Because if this fictional government wasn’t completely stupid, they would have given INSTRUCTIONS on how to care for her. No logical organization would just do this. Sure they don’t have to explain everything, the specifics aren’t 100% necessary. They don’t need to go into details about the war, hell I’d say they wouldn’t need to give specifics on her being a different species aside from it making no sense. No one could possibly think she’s just ‘sick’ because that’s absurd.
But at the very least this government should tell THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF MONITORING HER how to PROPERLY HANDLE AND CARE FOR HER but instead we have this completely unrealistic integration bull. Yeah uh huh so here’s this kid… Errr she’s sick and uh… No one REALLY knows what’s the matter with her but you’ll figure it out I’m sure. Good luck! It’s for science and politics!
Utterly ridiculous. People would give them specific instructions. You don’t drop an epileptic kid into a classroom and be like, so yeah sometimes this kid spazzes out. I’m,sure you’ll deal with it. I mean we warned you that the kid spazzes out what more do you want? Perfectly logical right there.
The school isn’t a fault here, it’s the damned idiots who are ‘keeping tabs’ on her.
It’s like, the more this guy talks, the worse he paints himself for the reader. His intentions may have been believable as being well-intended at first, but then he opens his mouth and you see him for what he really is. You really can’t have any sympathy for a guy like this.
I pray someone comes around the corner and sees this.
Preferably Todd… 😀
I am holding out some hope that either Professor Trunchbull or Barb Fairweather will come around the corner, see this, and show some character development by taking the Principal down a notch or three for his BS.
actually I’d say i hope that it’s just about anyone BUT Todd… it would then be a “He said, She said” kind of a thing, and Todd’s voice of reason would be thrown out because “of COURSE YOUR DAD would stick up for you”… if it were someone ELSE, then there is that layer of remove that would lend THEIR words a bit MORE oomph…
Taking a step away from the obvious horrible factors here, what would Selkies spices definition be? Humans are primates and homo-sapiens. What would Selkie be classified as? Fish or Chordate in not accurate because of her lack of a tail unless newly hatched ones have them…
a really good point – they need a tail, or to hatch with one per se, to qualify as a chordate, which seems to be what Dave would be aiming for biologically.
I’ll use my AS Biology skills and Wikipedia:
Phylum: chordate (she has a spinal chord, and probably some sort of vestigial tail). Humans, after all, are chordates.
Class: ???
There really isn’t enough evidence to go any further. Selkie’s species would probably have their own class, as they’re so different to all other “fish”, but probably aren’t anything else. They’d probably be classed as tetrapods (four limbs)? So closest to amphibians, except that’s obviously not right. I suspect they have a similar relationship to fish that mammals have to reptiles.
I’m wondering if there are any creatures similar to Selkie’s species, but less intelligent. You know, like sea-chimps.
i know it’s another comic and all, but… did they ever come up with a Latin-sounding designation for Abe Sapien, from the Hellboy / BPRD comics? that woulod probably be *just* about right for here, except that Abe was a pure Water-breather, NOT an Amphibian like the Sarnothi…
Ooh, Selkie’s hands are behind her back. Does she have her phone? I bet she’s recording the whole conversation.
He better hope that Selkie isn’t recording this confrontation.
For what it’s worth I think that his job isn’t an easy one to handle, it’s his job to make sure everything is running smoothly and try to be used as little as possible.
I wouldn’t call him mean at all to be honest, he was given a really hard task and handled it poorly. He is far from the worst character in the comic.
Not evil, just incompetent. They have very similar outcomes.
You dug your own grave, you Lobelia-wannabe, so do us all a favor and stop whining about it.
you know, had a school counselor and several teachers say what hes saying, that I’m the reason why I was bullied and why they (the teachers) had to give me bad grades despite my work, turns out they were racists who hated our tribe and anyone from it
So if only you could start being white like all the good kids, they´d give you decent grades and do something about the bullying?
The people they´re letting teach kids these days…
Oh poor Ashton. If only that mean old Selkie hadn’t come around, all existing and being a student and stuff, he wouldn’t have had all this trouble. If she’d just been invisible, or housebound, or dead, or something, he’d still have his job, yep, totally.
Scumbag.
Yeah, not her fault he’s a terrible person (very likely even before Selkie came)
Dave, in reference to the transcript, I’m glad you didn’t put that in. It would have made Selkie come off as less of the victim, here, no matter how much she actually is. I personally think that having her make snarky comments and cheap feel good moments will degrade her character, as well as the situation and the story you’ve worked hard to tell. Selkie hasn’t been showing any signs of being too emotionally affected by this whole ordeal (i mean the school’s reaction, not Truck’s attack) and I find that to be unrealistic for a young child.
i also find it hilarious that Ashton is LEANING on the Fourth Wall framing of that last panel.
oh my god he is such a jerk, why would you blame the child for your awful administrating?