Snip snip
-EDIT- Patch log 31Dec2018: Fixed an issue with the voice pack implementation. Avery no longer sounds like a little girl, and Selkie no longer sounds like a middle-aged man.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
Second panel has the voices mixed up.
And it’s hilarious.
Sure is. Like an April Fool strip or something.
Well dang it, I missed it and now I want to see the original.
Also, “weird” is misspelled in the second-last panel.
Selkie and Avery’s dialogue bubbles are swapped in panel 2.
Kudos for Benny finding a way to explain this to Selkie that she’ll take seriously.Though he could have soft-pedalled it a bit more.
They’d be using nice, sharp scalpels, not scissors. 😛
Wait.
Does Benny know Pohl’s story?
It was previously confirmed that Benny’s biological father was the one that got mistakenly “processed.”
Though honestly, I have to question how the hell a clearly humanoid being speaking what’s clearly some kind of language and is wearing what are clearly clothes is mistaken for a non-sentient.
Might depend on how mechanical the processing was, and whether it was a big trawling net. Forget exactly how it happened, but possibly if you are stuck in a big net with a lot of fish trying to escape, you might not have much clothes left or be in the ability to speak after that. Also alcohol could have been involved. Not that it is excusable in any case.
Here’s the page where the fishermen had him: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie405/
Still had his clothes. Was definitely speaking. No idea how he was actually caught before they strung him up by his ankles (presumably for one of those ‘dude look at this fish I caught!’ pictures).
And yeah, Rater, just… how. ‘Hey Billy, check out the crazy weird fish we caught! It almost looks like it’s got legs and crap! And look at all that leather stuff it got tangled in, almost looks like the thing is actually wearing clothes! Dude, you gotta take a picture of me next to this crazy thing, this is wild! … okay cool, you got that pic? Great, let’s gut this thing and send it off for filets!’
Pohl could be an unreliable narrator, either because he’s assuming and trying to be charitable, or because that’s the official cover story the government gave sarnoth in the aftermath.
Regardless, what happened is really only possible via complete and utter idiocy or active malice onhe partof the fisherman.
Benny’s father was essentially murdered by humans as what was probably his first contact with humans.
There’s a non-zero chance that he literally believes that stuff like this will happen, and honestly, he’d be perfectly justified based on his experiences that most humans are a-holes.
@Rater202 :: most humans are not assholes. “Asshole” implies the intent to act sh**ty. Most folks are not like that, however; most people are not of above average intelligence. Most people fall into the average group. There are tons of people out there with an intelligence of 90–100. When asked to make a leap of logic, sometimes they lose their footing on the running approach.
Pohl is Selkie’s pediatrician.
the one who cut off the webbing of his fingers WITH SCISSORS.
Behn was Bennie’s father. Though I suppose Bennie was called Voh at the time.
I love Benny for everything about this.
@Dave – is there a cultural significance to Benny calling Selkie “Little Sister?”
considdering that Dave is using Big Letters like its some kind of title, i´m saying thats a definite possibility!
also, yay for benny! ok, he scared the crap out of selkie and probably gave her nightmares too, but he totally got the point across. no glowy eyes in public were other humans can see them, less you want them to come after you with scissors that may or may not be properly sharpened 😉
It stands to reason; Sarnothi seem pretty family oriented. It could be culturally similar to Japan, where younger people sometimes call an older woman “oba-chan”despite not being their actual grandmother, or when little kids call teens / young adults “onii”/”onee”(-san), even if they aren’t their actual brother / sister.
Sure, human cultures usually tend to let it be a sign of respect for elders rather than an avenue for elders to refer to a younger generation, but it’s not that uncommon too.
As a side note, it’s really interesting to see how Sarnothi around the same age interact with Selkie, and that’s not even to mention how dual-culture adapted Benny is.
At least in Chinese, this is common. Reference Kaylee in Firefly calling River mei-mei (妹妹, “little sister”). Old people are frequently called “grandma” (婆婆) or “auntie” as well.
I had a student who was half Chinese and always called his little sister now mei. It was really cute till she actually thought that was her name and didn’t believe it was anything else.
Haha, Brown talking like Selkie is hilarious. Dave, I think you made a bit of a oopsie.
Selkie: “DAAAADS!!”
Tod: “…Do you, or do you not, remember how BADLY I freaked out over this Echo thing when you first started doing it? I already KNOW the scissors aren’t sharp!”
Selkie: “…AAAAAAAAAAAHS!!!!!”
A. Brown: “I officially cannot confirm or deny the existence of a tool-wall mounted with a wide variety of scissor-like equipment that may or may not have been sharpened since the LAST time they were used, next to a cold steel table with restraints, in a government facility I officially did not visit last month. Officially.”
Selkie: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHs!!!!!!!!!!!” (thud)
Benny: “Okay old dudes, I admit I was having some fun messing with her, but trusted authority figures doubling down? You people are SICK! (I like that about you!)
XD bwahahahaha!
What you said! Yes.
And really, something like what Benny did is just what Selkie needed. :O
The problem with Benny’s little talk is that he is understating the Hollywood movie humans responses to anything that they find, either extra terrestrial, or dirt based. Them, It, King Kong, The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati, the giant Chicken Heart, etc. Hollywood believes we would just blow stuff up, The Twilight Zone showed is that there were alternatives to fear, uncertainty, doubt, and panic.
I feel like all the positive or neutral alternatives have already been explored in the comic by this point.
Positive: Human adopts non-human, and human family integrates peacefully with non-human. Non-human finds friends that know they’re non-human, and both sides treat each other as equals regardless of the species differences.
Neutral: Non-human shows superhuman powers, and human friends and family are concerned, but know that the non-human is a good person and will not try to harm others with said powers.
The only alternatives left are the obvious bad ones at this point. Keep in mind mass integration of a “new” sentient species is a painful process. In the US in 1787, African-Americans were finally considered to be 3/5ths of a human. After the Jim Crow laws were abolished after reigning from 1877 to 1950, it still took decades for African-Americans to be socially accepted a regular human beings in the US, and the echos of that process are still felt today.
And the sad part is that’s how ACTUAL humans were treated. So yes, while Benny is understating the truth, the real truth is far worse. The fate of her entire species could rely on her not acting like a stereotypical alien invader.
But at least now she’s actually realizing the danger she put herself in.
Either way, though, Benny IS accurately describing one of the possible outcomes, and thus why keeping the Echo thing a secret is a good idea. Even if it’s not guaranteed to happen, it’s still a realistic possibility.
” … Problem is that benny is UNDERSTATING …”.
Humans are often very accepting of bug-eye green skinned monsters on TV: My Favorite Martian, Alf, Dr. Who, Smallville, 3rd Rock from the Sun. Just not so much in movies, (I’m thinking, “Die, Monster, Die,” Gamera, Independence Day, The Preditor, and “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera,” et cetera).
Understated or not, doesn’t matter. She’s seen the movies too. She’d just been identifying with the humans. All he needed to do was make the connection for her about which role she’d be playing, in some of them. That’s enough to scare her into taking this VERY seriously.
“That’s its, I am never running with scissors agains!”
Don’t worry, Selkie, you’re not an alien. You’re from Earth. And you know how well humans treat other species on Earth.
Oh…
As far as I know there aren’t any other sentient species on Earth (wish there were), just different human races, but your point sadly still stands.
A variety of other species are known to have sentience. Various apes, a few birds, dolphins, and even the surprise invertebrate; octopus.
The Neanderthals are on the time-phone, they’d like to raise a few points…
Selkie, don’t worry about being dissected. It only hurts the first time.
Dissection is perfectly painless. It’s vivisection you have to worry about.
wish I could upvote this comment, haha
Your Comment = Spot On!
Also Il-Lumier-ing (cough), I mean illuminating.
I don’t think Benny completely gets it. The human element is a tiny part of what Selkie should worry about. The other Sarnothi (including some from her own race) are a much bigger issue.
I disagree. The Sarnothi may be a threat, but she’s at danger from Humans every day – It’s been shown lately that there’s a lot of hatred for anything/one even slightly different out there.
Oh, humans are a danger, but they always have been. I suppose in a sense her glowing eyes can endanger all the Sarnothi. However, 1) it’s a matter of time before humans find out about that anyhow, and 2) Sarnothi already are in danger of being stigmatized for being the “other” and human tribalism (the fear of the “other” people get that creates bigotry/prejudice).
The Sarnothi she needs to hide her abilities from, however, are a much more direct threat. They are not just driven by fear, but a lot of other feelings that are amplified to 10 because they are in war—including greed, hate, aggression, and possibly the desire for revenge. There is probably a really strong reason her mom hid her among humans and had her abilities hobbled by the bow.
GOd I love everything about Benny right now, and this is probably why Avery brought him along. Benny remembers the Sarnothi home, and Selkie will pay attention to him.
“With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”
Selkie, now you know why the smart supers wear masks.
But not capes. No Capes!
Benny has been really productive to this whole discussion and doing a lot of the bridging both from a racial and age perspective (Even if the adults don’t really how much, but that’s the entirety of being a teenager – right Benny?). I’ve always been pretty neutral to him before, but I’m warming up to him real quickly now.
I’d say I hope he’s been involved in helping Avery with the other migrants, but at the same time that’s a lot of work and pressure to put onto one kid who really just wants to get back to his computer games.
OK, so Selkie is going to be pretty solidly convinced by this that in future she really will have to keep her powers under wraps. Might take a bit more talking, a few more pages, but I think she’ll be willing to cooperate in any plan.
They do need a plan, though. How can they deal with the security breech that just happened? There are actual eyewitnesses, and wildly flying rumors. And Tehk… they will need Tehk to cooperate, too.
Easy. The eyes are just bioluminescent. Since she can’t yet – if ever – do more, safe lie.
Guess all the Sarnothi kids do need a “we don’t talk about Echoes” lecture, huh?
I like that we’re seeing just why Benny came along. Just asking to tell Selkie she effed up doesn’t make sense for him tagging along on a Talking To mission like this, but ability to talk to Selkie kid to kid? THAT’S a very good thing. Benny’s the one who’s getting through to her the best.