And now we introduce Mrs. Mina Afkhami’s student assistant: Ms. Jessie Flower.
Jessie's re-emergence requires a little bit of a retcon to her backstory; Wool Mart shoe clerk is now her job she works during summers and between classes while working towards her elementary education degree. When I created her way back when, I turned out to like her as a character more than I thought I would, and many readers grew attached to her very quickly. So I decided on "student teacher" as a means of giving her a more stable supporting cast position.
EEEEE! Jessie! Yay!
Several reactions here. One, it’s nice to see Selkie being outgoing and helpful, especially as compared to how withdrawn she was when we first met her in the orphanage.
Two, it’s nice to see Jessie again – one of the teachers having already met Selkie will be a plus.
Three, NO SPITTING.
Quite right! Gob less, America!
This is an example of a successful ret-con. DC/Marvel, take note please.
I wondered about this, and this is an awesome bit.
It’s good to see selkie having been distracted from things. Yay more happiness!
Is it just me or is she fine with adults looking at her weird as long as her peers don’t make a big deal out of it. Clearly the teacher is having a “Oh… I see…” moment and not hiding it but it doesn’t bug Selkie. Eh. Just curious.
Can I spit?
I’m glad to see Jessie again and to know there is a sort of degrees of separation between characters and the jobs. Seems like a nice active place to live.
*slips in and stealtily tacks up an addendum to the Rules of the Class*
12. ???
13. PROFIT!! 😉
XD Nice one!!
Well, what are the odds of Jessie being there? (pretty dang good, considering it’s part of the story!)
After all the kids beings, well, kids to Selkie earlier, this should make for a fun change, and I look forward to witnessing the shenaneganz that will arise (there will be shenaneganz, right?)
Ohh no…. It is never good when you are the subject of an email. Trust me. I was uhh… never there and you can’t prove anything.
And I think those kids are way to young for chew, so what is the obsession with spitting?
It’s a kid thing. I remember back when I was in grade school, threatening to spit on people was some kids’ method of teasing. There’s also the ‘imitating grown-up films’ aspect, insulting of random strangers, and general gross-out-ery.
Chew isn’t actually involved in any of it. Just spitting.
Dude, this comic is soooooo much better with keeping in characters then most, jesus do I hate when retcons suck, good job man.
Bet Selkie says “Yours the shoes lady!” I predict fun ahead…
I think that we’ll be having a lot of fun with those two now 😛
EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! *dies of happy*
IT’S NEVER OKAY TO BE OUT OF GOLD GLITTER.
Poor Mina – being warned in an e-mail that’one of your students, Selkie Smith, is not physically human; here are her special needs’ is one thing, but having that periwinkle hand with its four webbed fingers waved in her face is quite another.
(I’m looking at Mina’s facial expression in panels 6 and 7, and she seems to have a very *slow* startle reaction?)
Also, now we finally understand the “school days, school days, no more stinky shoe days” chant that Jessie did in the vignette a few months ago.
I for some reason had the impresion she was thinking, ‘wow, I bet she’s a great swimmer. Wish I knew how.’ lol. Atleast thats what I thought before reading the next panel.
Hee hee hee, I didn’t know if anyone caught that. 😀
well, did not see that coming
does the school know about her special somone?
Well, it’s her personal life, and I’m assuming that the school can’t really discriminate. We have laws that say you can’t not hire someone because of sexual preference. -shrugs-
Regardless, YAY JESSIE!! It’s awesome that she’s back. XD
that law depends on the state, these days most dont care but some areas it causes huge issues in schools.
ive seen it myself, had me curious if she was in a safer area so to speak.
This is set in Wisconsin, so…
ah shes relatively fine then, good to know ^^
… why would that matter? It’s not like Alexis is coming to the school to get involved in the teaching (I have this odd feeling that Alexis would be horribly incompetent at teaching, for some reason).
Probably based on the fact that she loves expensive shoes. Not that intelligence and shoe-love are mutually exclusive, but there stereotype dictates a certain way…
Wouldn’t think it’d matter.
YES! We get to see some more of Jessie!
I don’t understand what the retcon comments are about. What got retconned?
It’s very small and probably only noticeable to me, but I changed Jessie’s profession from “full time retail employee” to “part time retail employee/fulltime elementary education student”
Yeah, I like this world where a woman wearing a religious headcovering can be a public elementary school teacher and her assistant can be a lesbian with a streak of blue hair and nobody’s wigging out. 🙂
But then, nobody is really freaking out very badly at Selkie. The other two are quite mild by comparison.
This is a very tolerant world. I approve. X3
YAY!! Jessie!
End of Line.
First off, I love the “Rules” poster! Not sure you mentioned spitting at all, though. 😉 Second, Mina’s reaction is… troubling. I REALLY hope that she doesn’t treat Selkie any differently- not being mean to her persay, but just completely avoiding her due to not knowing how to treat her…. and lastly…. Yaaay, Jesse!! Great comic, like usual!!!!
Having Jessie an authority figure the class might help, though. She’s met Selkie before and will probably show Mina exactly how alike every other student Selkie really is. Anyways, that’s what I’m expecting.
I’m with ya there but I’m sure she’ll be fine. Her reaction is similar to how Todd reacted when he first saw her.
Also, Jessie YAY!! ^^
Was Jessie an albino the last time we saw her? I so don’t remember that….
Yes, she was.
JESSSSIE<333333
HEEEEEEY, we know her! It’s been a while, I didn’t expect Jessie to show up again.
Dave probably didn’t either haha. The character turned out so well and so many people liked her he decided to keep her long term.
For some reason it looks like Selkie knew she was comming or noticed before she opened the door and wants to surprise her.
Or she´s hiding behind the door to avoid freaking the newcomer out… because she knows that´s what her appearance tends to do to people who haven´t met her before. Let´em come in and close the door behind them so they can´t escape – *then* freak them out… ^_^
lol, I’ve done the same. I’m a big guy, 6 foot, 260 pounds and I can still manage to sneak up on people with jingling keys on my belt. Some people just cant seem to grasp how weird it is that things can surprise you even if you know somehting is up.
Yay, the return of Jessie! 😀 A Muslim teacher and a lesbian student teacher; there’s a good mix of characters and lifestyles in here.
Also, I love the quote “There was an e-mail.” XD
lol at the class rules. 😛
Awesomeness! Though, I doubt elementary school students would know what “acknowledged” means (nor be able to pronounce it with ease)
They could. They’d know what it means anyway.
We just forget how fast kids progress.
I think they most certainly would—especially 3rd/4th graders. My 2.5 year old says acknowledged. She also memorized all the names to the My Little Ponies and dinosaurs. Of course she’ll also pick up any cuss word that flies out of my or her dad’s mouth (redirect, redirect, redirect – amazing we got her to say “Sunnyday Finch” instead of “son of a b-tch”…for now. Kids are little sponges! I wish I still had a brain like a 3rd grader. I think there was a lot of useful information I knew that I forgot.
Yes, they are, though they do have a tendancy to say what they think they heard rather than what they actually heard. A friend of mine attended her first funeral around seven or eight years of age, and was convinced until her early teens that the litany went “in the name of the Father, the Son, and into the hole he goes”.
Of course, she is a bit of a leg-puller.
True that! I was about to say something similar about my 3 yr old. She turned 3 today, actually, and has pretty awesome elocution!
Lol Jessie’s back, I did not see that coming. /What a tweest!
Even with the rewriting of history (when I write stories that take me years to write, I find myself having to do that often), I really like how you involved Jessie again. She’s been established as a side character already, and reusing one of those in a believable manner is always better than creating a new one from scratch.
I also like the teacher’s reaction to Selkie – but even more so I love Selkie’s reaction to the teacher knowing her name! It’s great in a very cool way that she doesn’t really see herself as anything special in this context. I wonder who emailed the teacher, the orphanage or Todd?
I´d say either the principal, someone else in charge, or the previous year´s teacher e-mailed Mrs Afkhami. It´s their job to make sure she knows about her students´ special needs.
I´m sure Selkie sees herself as special… or at least different. But as first reactions go, Mrs Afkhami´s must be one of the better ones. I can see Selkie get really snarky about this first reaction thing as she gets older… “Whats? Never seens a girls befores?”
Selkie’s class is in 3D 😀
First of all; JESSIE! Eee!
Second; when I google “Selkie” you come up second, right after the wikipedia page. Congrats.
This would be the first time I realised Selkie has one less finger than the others…
I got a great laugh out of those Rules of the Classroom.