He’s a few years older than Selkie, so he’s perfectly aware that his word was bad… as we’ve seen by: A. Agent Smith immediately over-voicing him, and B. the discussion that ensued after.
There’s no way to guarantee that, though. Just look at… well, practically every comic book villain (or the odd hero) out there that started on their path because “One day, I just… lost control.”
See also: Carrie.
Seriously? She just started and even Pohl says she’s lightyears from crawling. There’s no way she’s about to hurt anyone in the immediate future. It’s going to take a long time.
Also really? Carrie? She practiced for weeks and her powers weren’t anything like Selkie’s.
In bioluminescent creatures the bioluminescence doesn’t actually “switch off.” It’s more that it’s removed from view. The light producing organ is retracted or covered up by something like a flap of skin.
lantern fish will blink their bioluminescent organs, as will comb jellies (more of a neon woosh through the color spectrum. Also if you have lantern fish as pets. I strongly suggest not having them in your bedroom. The blinking lights will kinda freak you out a bit in those moments between sleep and waking…
To be honest, selkie doesn’t really have any abilities beyond slightly glowing, and has little hope of developing them as far as we know. Like yeah, she shouldn’t show off, I feel like she’s getting a bit more grief than she entirely deserves here.
Well considering that very few of the actions taken against her have resulted in consequences (see for reference Amanda’s continuing bullying, Benny’s recent bullying, etc.) its hardly surprising that she’d think that.
Or you know, cause she’s 8 and was being harassed (again without consequence) by Tekh so she decided to fight back the only way she could. Was it a mistake? Sure. Has she been given any serious explanation as to it being vitally important that she not let anyone see her eyes can glow? Not that we have seen. Sorry but young kids are not that great at keeping secrets. Expecting them to behave like adults is irrational. Also kids make mistakes.
Not to mention Selkie is being scolded for risking something she did not (so far as the comic has told us) know she was even capable of. There’s been no mention of “going nova” to her. She has witnessed other echos having far more powerful abilities than she does, but nothing remotely in the realm of uncontrolled explosion. It’s one thing for her to be in trouble for potentially exposing something she was supposed to keep secret (though for cripes sake, we are already talking about the reveal of another sentient species with sharp, scary looking claws and teeth, whose emperor has demonstrated the technological ability to shoot a MASSIVE SCARY LASER. Selkie having glowing eyes, which as has been pointed out can easily be explained away as benign bioluminescence, something which is well established in the animal kingdom, particular the aquatic parts, hardly seems worth freaking out over) But to be in trouble for something she didn’t know about? Thats ridiculously unfair.
“But to be in trouble for something she didn’t know about? Thats ridiculously unfair.’
You don’t remember being a kid, do you?
Do anything the adults don’t like, even if you were in no danger and they never told you not to do it? You’re in trouble.
Something bad happens and it’s their fault, not yours? You’re still the one in trouble.
Half the class is “misbehaving” (talking amongst themselves during free time?) Whole class gets yelled at, and teachers act like little bitches and insist that you were totally talking when you complain about how unfair it was.
Getting bullied literally right in front of the teacher, bad enough that you start hyperventilating? You get pulled aside and told that you wouldn’t get bullied if you didn’t hyperventilate(“you know that completely involuntary reflexive action that happens in response to stress? Yeah, cut that out”) and put in the corner for disrupting class while the fracking sociopaths bullying you literally right in front of the teacher in the middle of class get off Scott free.
Someone knocks out one of your teeth(by accident) while you’re right in front of the teacher’s desk? Teacher stares at you while you bullied for half a minute and when you leave the classroom to go to the nurse you get in trouble when you get back because it doesn’t matter that you were profusely bleeding and she could clearly see this, you didn’t have permission to leave.
Don’t want to go on a field trip? Fail the fifth grade because the teacher kicked you out of Science and English for the entire rest of the year but still expected you to do the work that you weren’t there to receive or learn about. (the same teacher once said that “autistic” was another way of saying “retarded” and that I’d never make it to high school. God do I want to rub my BA in her bitch face.)
Only one group gets the hands-on project exactly right within thirty seconds of starting despite having no instructions and only a very vague diagram explaining what to do? Whole class fails, has to do a test(that the teacher literally threw on the floor) to make it up.
Teacher randomly brings in a cat that won’t leave you the hell alone because it can smell your cat on you? Somehow it’s your fault that you’re distracted in class.
Guy beats the ever loving crap out of you? You get suspended for fighting.(Even if you did not, in fact, fight back)
I can relate to most of that, though the bullying was more being spat on and the like. Did your parents tell you there was something wrong with you for being angry all the time and send you to a shrink?
I can name that tune and sing it all the way through. let’s add your sociopathic younger sister starts dating one of the guys who makes your life hell, and your parents insist you be a “good sport” about it when he is at your house.
My mother chewed out a teacher who got me erroneously put on a suicide watch-list(we had to write a short-story about someone deciding that their useless super-powers werren’t so useless after all. She didn’t care for Immune-to-suicide boy’s backstory.)
From that day forward, they made sure they had their facts straight before they punished me.
Thank you for saying that. I hope that Selkie didnt hear it, but yeah, what you said. Plus I was too busy yesterday, so you beat me to it before I had time to say it.
He had a growth spurt off camera. In absolutely no way shape or form did I decide that drawing an early teenager at about the same height as the eight year olds was a silly idea.
Oh? I thought you were just showing realistic growth development. 🙂 Boys have crazy growth spurts between 13-16. There’s a really wide range of height in tweens, too. Some girls outheight the tallest boys, but then stop growing (or steadily continue if they are destined to be tall). Liking Benny’s new ‘do to go along with his new vertical outlook. 🙂
Do not dis’ your not negligible powers of art in front of your ur readers, or else risk the wrath of “I don’t know what!” and the rest of your readers for whom your art is beyond their equal,… Just dont do that.
As a father, I’m still upset that Todd–who’s fought for his daughter tooth and nail–simply stood there and allowed someone to verbally abuse his daughter so harshly. What, did he zone out, wasn’t paying attention? He’d had zero reaction. That’s just not right.
At the same time, I do understand the idea of story progression – is Dave wants to make the focus again that Todd is going to fight for his children (we’ve seen this a few times) or is Dave going to give a few panels to showing others of Selkie’s species being disappointed in her, and letting her no in a not-mature way (since Benny is a kid as well) and getting to have a story arc in a different direction. There’s only so many panels Dave can make, and if he did draw every reaction, it could be longer to get to the parts he wants to show.
Plus, Todd may be so angry that she resused to tell him what was up, that he was befuddled as to what to do or say. Happens to me a lot. Someone cuts in line ahead of me, and I’m caught up in deciding what to say and then the moment is gone.
Agent Brown (sorry that I kept calling him Agent Smith, I’m terrible with names of side characters) did apologize, and Todd responded: He isn’t wrong.
So he acknowledges the rude bit, accepts the apologies, but validates the message: You messed up, sweetie.
Hmmmmm? She kind of deserved it and it was tongue-in-cheek. It’s easy to miss tonality, their off-screen relationship, and—thus—context here. Truth is? She put herself and others in danger. A little shaming from a friend who’s a little older is not unwarranted nor what I would consider bullying. This feels more like a sibling relationship thing, and totally I would be okay with an older child calling out a younger one for dangerous behavior—even with the f-bomb involved.
If I were Todd, I would really have trouble keeping a straight face on with “tragic origin story”. Which would be bad for parenting. Selkie is just too much sometimes.
Selkie isn’t taking this seriously at all. I know being a smartass is perfectly in character for her, but she really should at least be saying sorry, if only for appearances sake. It’s good no one is screaming at her though, that wouldn’t solve anything. I like that Agent Brown asked her if she knew why they were upset, it’s a way to make her reflect on her actions, although it seems like she’s still trying to minimize her actions even though she’s aware of what she did being wrong, since she clearly felt nervous about getting into trouble before. Hopefully this is handled with Agent Brown acknowledging that this sort of sensitive information was too much to put on a kid her age, but that he’s still disappointed with how she handled the situation by bragging about her abilities in order to put herself above someone else. Government secrets aside, she needs to learn real quick that her powers do NOT make her better than anyone else. Shes not a tool to be used nor is she a god to be worshipped. I feel like the adults have failed her pretty hard by not stressing the severity of her powers being kept secret as well as not effectively teaching her to cope with her temper issues for when things don’t go her way. Same with Amanda, she needs to be taught there are better outlets than anger and being a bully for her self worth anxiety, just like Selkie needs to learn that being smug to others makes you a small person.
I feel like these kids issues just aren’t realized and that they’re left to fester, especially in Amanda’s case. No one has sat her down and ASKED her why she bullied Selkie. Now, I’m glad she hasn’t been punished retroactively for things she’s already done, because that won’t solve anything, but a simple conversation would help get to the root of her issues. If she got angry and responded negatively or insultingly in regards to Selkie, THEN she should be corrected, in the moment, so she realizes what she’s done isn’t right, but that her issues and feelings are still being heard. It’s just… no one is paying close enough attention to her, and I feel Selkie gets the same treatment honestly.
Todd is a great dad, but I think he doesn’t parent enough. Instead of explaining to Selkie that her sarcastic attitude and how she carries herself as being super special can reflect poorly on her, he berates her in the moment (His own anger issues flaring up.) but never gives reason as to WHY. All he’s taught Selkie is to not do it in front of him or get caught. He can’t expect her NOT to act in line with her personality if he sometimes brushes off her sarcasm (And I mean actual times where she’s taunting someone else.) as being cute and silly, but then acts like it’s arrogant and rude later because it makes HIM look bad. Selkie isn’t to blame for her smugness, the adults are for letting her think it’s fine as long as she does it when no one is looking or keeps the taunting to minimal snark levels, just enough to make the other person mad by pushing their buttons, but not outright being a jerk. This is why Amanda learned to be sweet in front of adults and a jackass behind closed doors. These kids need guidance and proper ownership of one’s actions! I feel for them. I really do.
Also, Benny, my friend, it’s about time you stop instigating. Come on Avery, send him off and tell him that egging someone on isn’t the right way to get his point across. I get that he’s being a typical teenager by trying to get under her skin, but that isn’t gonna help the situation at all. Agent Brown needs to step up here.
Ok, first let’s take a moment to remember that while Dave has been writing this comic since 2010 in the world of Selkie it hasn’t even been a full year since the adoption yet. Todd and Selkie are still finding their way and Todd is doing a pretty good job for a brand new parent who has had all this insanity thrown at him. (adopting a “special needs” child, learning she’s not human, learning about her race, their war, the refugee underwater villages, “glowy powers”, his biological child not being dead as he was told by his ex, Said ex and bio daughter being back in his life AND being his adoptive daughter’s nemesis. The guy has been handling a lot.
Also remember that some things happen “off camera” as it were. Just because we haven’t seen Amanda getting asked for her motives doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Bad behavior between the sisters has been shut down as it happens by more than one adult (including Todd) over the course of the comic.
“bragging about her abilities in order to put herself above someone else.”
Bragging to try and put herself above Tehk is perfectly understandable given that he has constantly been putting her down since they first met for (at least from her perspective) no legitimate reason. Pretty typical 8 year old behavior to respond to a bully by trying to one up them. Maybe if the adults around her actually intervened once and awhile to address the bullying she faces she wouldn’t feel like she has to do something on her own?
But setting that aside, why should she take it that seriously? Her response says it all “s’just glowing”. So far as we know up to this point the fact that her powers can get to the “nova” stage has never been explained to her. From Agent Smiths perspective her behavior might be potentially dangerous, but SHE didn’t know that. Its unreasonable to be upset at her for taking a risk she had no idea she was taking. Yes, absolutely she COULD be handling this better, but she’s 8. She’s still learning. The adults and Benny meanwhile have far less excuses for how badly they’ve been handling things.
I fail to see how she has any obligation to hide her powers at all. She is a US civilian citizen, her body is her business as long as it is not breaking the law.
Whatever echo powers CAN be used for is totally irrelevant to anything they could actually have to discuss with her. Are they going to insist the tall slouch and regulate exercise so we need permits to get ripped? Why would you want those muscles nexuses for punching! Right?
And her behavior has UTILITY for her. She is a freak. Bizarre, and will always be treated poorly for it. Why should she change her behavior? Because in ideal conditions where everyone is nice it can only be used for ill? She needs to be able to defend herself.
She also needs to value herself. Loudly stating her superiority does that.
I’m glad to see Selkie’s not crumpling immediately.
It’s a paper shield, though. She does know she messed up. She knew the minute she did it, that’s why she’s been acting the way she has. If her fantasy of being a fictional super-villain is going to lead her to make mistakes like this, it’s not harmless. She needs to let go of it. She has to learn that what she has is a real thing that she has to learn how to use responsibly.
Todd has been letting her hang on to her villain fantasy — probably because he realizes it’s emotional compensation for having been bullied so badly — but he was never going to let her grow up to be evil.
Selkie, what I think Agent Brown is trying to say… there’s already a war. We do not need a witch hunt, because of other adults getting stupid from fear of the unknown.
Gee. That would be years from now at how she’s going. Glad to see Benny’s not being told what he said was inappropriate. But whatever.
He’s a few years older than Selkie, so he’s perfectly aware that his word was bad… as we’ve seen by: A. Agent Smith immediately over-voicing him, and B. the discussion that ensued after.
Didn’t just mean the swear. I meant the whole spheal that Agent Brown let him do. But whatever.
He was made a deal to be able to actually do it… so yeah, I kinda see your point.
There’s no way to guarantee that, though. Just look at… well, practically every comic book villain (or the odd hero) out there that started on their path because “One day, I just… lost control.”
See also: Carrie.
Seriously? She just started and even Pohl says she’s lightyears from crawling. There’s no way she’s about to hurt anyone in the immediate future. It’s going to take a long time.
Also really? Carrie? She practiced for weeks and her powers weren’t anything like Selkie’s.
can they be sneaky and just say its bioluminescence, because cmon heaps of sea creatures glow, its not too bad of an excuse ;^)
Didn’t know you could switch that off, or that it only happens sometimes? :p
In bioluminescent creatures the bioluminescence doesn’t actually “switch off.” It’s more that it’s removed from view. The light producing organ is retracted or covered up by something like a flap of skin.
lantern fish will blink their bioluminescent organs, as will comb jellies (more of a neon woosh through the color spectrum. Also if you have lantern fish as pets. I strongly suggest not having them in your bedroom. The blinking lights will kinda freak you out a bit in those moments between sleep and waking…
Lightning bugs flash
To be honest, selkie doesn’t really have any abilities beyond slightly glowing, and has little hope of developing them as far as we know. Like yeah, she shouldn’t show off, I feel like she’s getting a bit more grief than she entirely deserves here.
Smith doesn’t know that. And Todd is just pissed off about the explaining he needs to do to Mina.
Point is, she STILL doesn’t understand that actions have consequences, and sometimes bad ones.
Well considering that very few of the actions taken against her have resulted in consequences (see for reference Amanda’s continuing bullying, Benny’s recent bullying, etc.) its hardly surprising that she’d think that.
Or you know, cause she’s 8 and was being harassed (again without consequence) by Tekh so she decided to fight back the only way she could. Was it a mistake? Sure. Has she been given any serious explanation as to it being vitally important that she not let anyone see her eyes can glow? Not that we have seen. Sorry but young kids are not that great at keeping secrets. Expecting them to behave like adults is irrational. Also kids make mistakes.
Not to mention Selkie is being scolded for risking something she did not (so far as the comic has told us) know she was even capable of. There’s been no mention of “going nova” to her. She has witnessed other echos having far more powerful abilities than she does, but nothing remotely in the realm of uncontrolled explosion. It’s one thing for her to be in trouble for potentially exposing something she was supposed to keep secret (though for cripes sake, we are already talking about the reveal of another sentient species with sharp, scary looking claws and teeth, whose emperor has demonstrated the technological ability to shoot a MASSIVE SCARY LASER. Selkie having glowing eyes, which as has been pointed out can easily be explained away as benign bioluminescence, something which is well established in the animal kingdom, particular the aquatic parts, hardly seems worth freaking out over) But to be in trouble for something she didn’t know about? Thats ridiculously unfair.
“But to be in trouble for something she didn’t know about? Thats ridiculously unfair.’
You don’t remember being a kid, do you?
Do anything the adults don’t like, even if you were in no danger and they never told you not to do it? You’re in trouble.
Something bad happens and it’s their fault, not yours? You’re still the one in trouble.
Half the class is “misbehaving” (talking amongst themselves during free time?) Whole class gets yelled at, and teachers act like little bitches and insist that you were totally talking when you complain about how unfair it was.
Getting bullied literally right in front of the teacher, bad enough that you start hyperventilating? You get pulled aside and told that you wouldn’t get bullied if you didn’t hyperventilate(“you know that completely involuntary reflexive action that happens in response to stress? Yeah, cut that out”) and put in the corner for disrupting class while the fracking sociopaths bullying you literally right in front of the teacher in the middle of class get off Scott free.
Someone knocks out one of your teeth(by accident) while you’re right in front of the teacher’s desk? Teacher stares at you while you bullied for half a minute and when you leave the classroom to go to the nurse you get in trouble when you get back because it doesn’t matter that you were profusely bleeding and she could clearly see this, you didn’t have permission to leave.
Don’t want to go on a field trip? Fail the fifth grade because the teacher kicked you out of Science and English for the entire rest of the year but still expected you to do the work that you weren’t there to receive or learn about. (the same teacher once said that “autistic” was another way of saying “retarded” and that I’d never make it to high school. God do I want to rub my BA in her bitch face.)
Only one group gets the hands-on project exactly right within thirty seconds of starting despite having no instructions and only a very vague diagram explaining what to do? Whole class fails, has to do a test(that the teacher literally threw on the floor) to make it up.
Teacher randomly brings in a cat that won’t leave you the hell alone because it can smell your cat on you? Somehow it’s your fault that you’re distracted in class.
Guy beats the ever loving crap out of you? You get suspended for fighting.(Even if you did not, in fact, fight back)
To be a child is to be treated unfairly.
I can relate to most of that, though the bullying was more being spat on and the like. Did your parents tell you there was something wrong with you for being angry all the time and send you to a shrink?
I can name that tune and sing it all the way through. let’s add your sociopathic younger sister starts dating one of the guys who makes your life hell, and your parents insist you be a “good sport” about it when he is at your house.
No.
My mother chewed out a teacher who got me erroneously put on a suicide watch-list(we had to write a short-story about someone deciding that their useless super-powers werren’t so useless after all. She didn’t care for Immune-to-suicide boy’s backstory.)
From that day forward, they made sure they had their facts straight before they punished me.
Get professional help. You got a bad deal, yeah, but it’s eating you alive. Trust me, I know.
+1
Selkie you were orphaned due to war you already have your tragic origin story…
Thank you for saying that. I hope that Selkie didnt hear it, but yeah, what you said. Plus I was too busy yesterday, so you beat me to it before I had time to say it.
Benny looks like he picked up a foot here. Seems to get getting along better with his stepdad, too.
That’s the part I was catching here. Benny and Avery have some epic level maturity going, and I really love how you see the relationships here.
He had a growth spurt off camera. In absolutely no way shape or form did I decide that drawing an early teenager at about the same height as the eight year olds was a silly idea.
Oh? I thought you were just showing realistic growth development. 🙂 Boys have crazy growth spurts between 13-16. There’s a really wide range of height in tweens, too. Some girls outheight the tallest boys, but then stop growing (or steadily continue if they are destined to be tall). Liking Benny’s new ‘do to go along with his new vertical outlook. 🙂
Lets go with… whichever explanation makes me look more competent. ;P
Do not dis’ your not negligible powers of art in front of your ur readers, or else risk the wrath of “I don’t know what!” and the rest of your readers for whom your art is beyond their equal,… Just dont do that.
A magician never tells his/her secret. 😉
As a father, I’m still upset that Todd–who’s fought for his daughter tooth and nail–simply stood there and allowed someone to verbally abuse his daughter so harshly. What, did he zone out, wasn’t paying attention? He’d had zero reaction. That’s just not right.
At the same time, I do understand the idea of story progression – is Dave wants to make the focus again that Todd is going to fight for his children (we’ve seen this a few times) or is Dave going to give a few panels to showing others of Selkie’s species being disappointed in her, and letting her no in a not-mature way (since Benny is a kid as well) and getting to have a story arc in a different direction. There’s only so many panels Dave can make, and if he did draw every reaction, it could be longer to get to the parts he wants to show.
Plus, Todd may be so angry that she resused to tell him what was up, that he was befuddled as to what to do or say. Happens to me a lot. Someone cuts in line ahead of me, and I’m caught up in deciding what to say and then the moment is gone.
Agent Brown (sorry that I kept calling him Agent Smith, I’m terrible with names of side characters) did apologize, and Todd responded: He isn’t wrong.
So he acknowledges the rude bit, accepts the apologies, but validates the message: You messed up, sweetie.
Hmmmmm? She kind of deserved it and it was tongue-in-cheek. It’s easy to miss tonality, their off-screen relationship, and—thus—context here. Truth is? She put herself and others in danger. A little shaming from a friend who’s a little older is not unwarranted nor what I would consider bullying. This feels more like a sibling relationship thing, and totally I would be okay with an older child calling out a younger one for dangerous behavior—even with the f-bomb involved.
If I were Todd, I would really have trouble keeping a straight face on with “tragic origin story”. Which would be bad for parenting. Selkie is just too much sometimes.
Selkie isn’t taking this seriously at all. I know being a smartass is perfectly in character for her, but she really should at least be saying sorry, if only for appearances sake. It’s good no one is screaming at her though, that wouldn’t solve anything. I like that Agent Brown asked her if she knew why they were upset, it’s a way to make her reflect on her actions, although it seems like she’s still trying to minimize her actions even though she’s aware of what she did being wrong, since she clearly felt nervous about getting into trouble before. Hopefully this is handled with Agent Brown acknowledging that this sort of sensitive information was too much to put on a kid her age, but that he’s still disappointed with how she handled the situation by bragging about her abilities in order to put herself above someone else. Government secrets aside, she needs to learn real quick that her powers do NOT make her better than anyone else. Shes not a tool to be used nor is she a god to be worshipped. I feel like the adults have failed her pretty hard by not stressing the severity of her powers being kept secret as well as not effectively teaching her to cope with her temper issues for when things don’t go her way. Same with Amanda, she needs to be taught there are better outlets than anger and being a bully for her self worth anxiety, just like Selkie needs to learn that being smug to others makes you a small person.
I feel like these kids issues just aren’t realized and that they’re left to fester, especially in Amanda’s case. No one has sat her down and ASKED her why she bullied Selkie. Now, I’m glad she hasn’t been punished retroactively for things she’s already done, because that won’t solve anything, but a simple conversation would help get to the root of her issues. If she got angry and responded negatively or insultingly in regards to Selkie, THEN she should be corrected, in the moment, so she realizes what she’s done isn’t right, but that her issues and feelings are still being heard. It’s just… no one is paying close enough attention to her, and I feel Selkie gets the same treatment honestly.
Todd is a great dad, but I think he doesn’t parent enough. Instead of explaining to Selkie that her sarcastic attitude and how she carries herself as being super special can reflect poorly on her, he berates her in the moment (His own anger issues flaring up.) but never gives reason as to WHY. All he’s taught Selkie is to not do it in front of him or get caught. He can’t expect her NOT to act in line with her personality if he sometimes brushes off her sarcasm (And I mean actual times where she’s taunting someone else.) as being cute and silly, but then acts like it’s arrogant and rude later because it makes HIM look bad. Selkie isn’t to blame for her smugness, the adults are for letting her think it’s fine as long as she does it when no one is looking or keeps the taunting to minimal snark levels, just enough to make the other person mad by pushing their buttons, but not outright being a jerk. This is why Amanda learned to be sweet in front of adults and a jackass behind closed doors. These kids need guidance and proper ownership of one’s actions! I feel for them. I really do.
Also, Benny, my friend, it’s about time you stop instigating. Come on Avery, send him off and tell him that egging someone on isn’t the right way to get his point across. I get that he’s being a typical teenager by trying to get under her skin, but that isn’t gonna help the situation at all. Agent Brown needs to step up here.
Ok, first let’s take a moment to remember that while Dave has been writing this comic since 2010 in the world of Selkie it hasn’t even been a full year since the adoption yet. Todd and Selkie are still finding their way and Todd is doing a pretty good job for a brand new parent who has had all this insanity thrown at him. (adopting a “special needs” child, learning she’s not human, learning about her race, their war, the refugee underwater villages, “glowy powers”, his biological child not being dead as he was told by his ex, Said ex and bio daughter being back in his life AND being his adoptive daughter’s nemesis. The guy has been handling a lot.
Also remember that some things happen “off camera” as it were. Just because we haven’t seen Amanda getting asked for her motives doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Bad behavior between the sisters has been shut down as it happens by more than one adult (including Todd) over the course of the comic.
“bragging about her abilities in order to put herself above someone else.”
Bragging to try and put herself above Tehk is perfectly understandable given that he has constantly been putting her down since they first met for (at least from her perspective) no legitimate reason. Pretty typical 8 year old behavior to respond to a bully by trying to one up them. Maybe if the adults around her actually intervened once and awhile to address the bullying she faces she wouldn’t feel like she has to do something on her own?
But setting that aside, why should she take it that seriously? Her response says it all “s’just glowing”. So far as we know up to this point the fact that her powers can get to the “nova” stage has never been explained to her. From Agent Smiths perspective her behavior might be potentially dangerous, but SHE didn’t know that. Its unreasonable to be upset at her for taking a risk she had no idea she was taking. Yes, absolutely she COULD be handling this better, but she’s 8. She’s still learning. The adults and Benny meanwhile have far less excuses for how badly they’ve been handling things.
I fail to see how she has any obligation to hide her powers at all. She is a US civilian citizen, her body is her business as long as it is not breaking the law.
Whatever echo powers CAN be used for is totally irrelevant to anything they could actually have to discuss with her. Are they going to insist the tall slouch and regulate exercise so we need permits to get ripped? Why would you want those muscles nexuses for punching! Right?
And her behavior has UTILITY for her. She is a freak. Bizarre, and will always be treated poorly for it. Why should she change her behavior? Because in ideal conditions where everyone is nice it can only be used for ill? She needs to be able to defend herself.
She also needs to value herself. Loudly stating her superiority does that.
Well now she’s just asking for an appropriate punishment.
Ah well, this is how kids learn.
I’m glad to see Selkie’s not crumpling immediately.
It’s a paper shield, though. She does know she messed up. She knew the minute she did it, that’s why she’s been acting the way she has. If her fantasy of being a fictional super-villain is going to lead her to make mistakes like this, it’s not harmless. She needs to let go of it. She has to learn that what she has is a real thing that she has to learn how to use responsibly.
Todd has been letting her hang on to her villain fantasy — probably because he realizes it’s emotional compensation for having been bullied so badly — but he was never going to let her grow up to be evil.
Selkie, what I think Agent Brown is trying to say… there’s already a war. We do not need a witch hunt, because of other adults getting stupid from fear of the unknown.