I imagine Pohl off-screen doing the “oh damn she did not” face.
↓ Transcript
AMANDA: You've had nightmares about ME?
SELKIE: Ugh... yeah.
SELKIE: My "favorite" one is when you threw me down into a volcano for not being a pretty pony.
AMANDA: Pfft.
AMANDA: HA HA HA!
AMANDA: Pony?! Seriously?! HA!
TODD" Amanda, that's not an appropriate response to what Selkie just shared.
AMANDA: I know, but PONIES?!? HA HA HA!
SELKIE: Ugh... yeah.
SELKIE: My "favorite" one is when you threw me down into a volcano for not being a pretty pony.
AMANDA: Pfft.
AMANDA: HA HA HA!
AMANDA: Pony?! Seriously?! HA!
TODD" Amanda, that's not an appropriate response to what Selkie just shared.
AMANDA: I know, but PONIES?!? HA HA HA!
Selkie Zap coming in 3… 2… 1…
I see Amanda doesn’t really properly grasp the impact she’s had on Selkie.
She doesn’t, but she’s a kid. There are adults who can’t or won’t grasp (or even acknowledge) the negative impact they’ve had on others.
I don’t mean ‘she’s a kid’ to excuse her, only to point out that she’s still at a fairly early emotional and social development level, and while it is a) not something Todd should just let pass, and b) definitely something she will need to learn in order to become a well-adjusted adult, it is not surprising that she’s not very good at it yet.
No, I’m with Amanda, this is actually pretty funny.
The three nightmares in my childhood that most strongly impacted me were, respectively: my dad getting dragged away by lava monsters, my mom drowning in the river under my bed, and my brother turning into Scrooge McDuck and going through a clothes wringer, coming out flat on the other side.
They’re probably pretty hilarious for anyone to think about. And I can even find them amusing now. But they seriously messed me up at the time — I think for at least one of them, I woke up crying my eyes out.
It’s weird because I’ve dreamed all manner of things that other people might consider nightmares, but for me are pretty fun. Falling, or getting chased and captured or attacked, or going through creepy places. None of that really bothers me. And most of the dreams where I’m still at college are good ones (though I did have one some months ago where I “realized” I’d signed up for classes but forgot to show up for the whole quarter).
The elements that have bothered me have been getting chased/attacked by a small animal that I can’t fend off (which I think ties into my minor phobia of dogs, though the thing that attacked me (triggering the real-life phobia effect) wasn’t small), or having problems walking in the desired direction with reasonable speed (keep turning like a broken shopping cart, or movement is slowed like walking through sludge), or not being able to stop a car in time (blowing through a stop light or stop sign, which I don’t think has anything to do with cars).
But yeah, from the outside, you can have entirely the opposite reaction of what the dreamer has from the inside. Dreams are unpredictable and it’s not surprising that sometimes what’s traumatizing to one person is hilarious when another hears it.
Also, corpsing is a thing (being unable to stop laughing even though you know you should and it’s interfering with things). But I hope that Amanda can master herself soon.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
I was severely bullied myself as a kid, to the point that no one wanted to even speak to me for a long time (for this reason, Selkie’s bullying always seemed “tame” to me: SHE had friends–although I know this is an unfair comparison). Anyway, one of the many reasons I was bullied was my lack of interest in boys.
So, in the hypothetical scenario where I dreamed a group of my bullies threw me into an active volcano because “they were marrying handsome princes and had impressive weddings and I didn’t”…
Yeah, that’s still funny. I can only inagine thinking “What the heck?!?!?!” as I’d fall in the volcano. I think I would wake up shocked and hurt that the bullying affected me to the degree I’d have a nightmare about it, but the nightmare itself still feels funny.
Yeah, being bullied and traumatized by someone, believing you are free of them, only to be forced back together again, maaaaaybe thinking things have changed only for them to mock you for your suffering is HILARIOUS.
NOTE: heavy sarcasm
“where you brutally murdered me because i looked different from you, a difference you convinced me was freakish and ugly and taught and encouraged everyone around me to do the same.
don’t forget amanda sabotaged selkie by making her the scary freak to every new kid who showed up, actively preventing her from friends and support as often as possible.
she did to selkie what her adopted brothers did to her and i wonder if she would laugh so hard if that was made plain.
Todd’s even correcting her and she’s still doubling down. Poor Selkie.
Hm, this was how it felt to Selkie but this was not the reason Amanda was bullying her. Amanda never really cared that Selkie was a blue fish-like kid with sharp teeth. She was only mad because the arrival of Selkie in the orphanage coincided with her own arrival and confusion, depriving her of support. It would have been the same if in place of Selkie it was an autistic kid, an immigrant kid from Asia, or literally any other child whose needs monopolized the carerakers’ attention in HER time of need. Selkie’s different appearence was just the thing Amanda weaponized, not the actual cause of her wrath.
In comparison, Amanda was beaten by her own “family” for no clear reason. There was nothing difficult/weird about her at that time, just that her step-siblings were jealous and the step-parents didn’t care. I’d say the betrayal Amanda went through is a lot more painful that what Selkie went through– especially considering Selkie DID have the support of grown ups in the orphanage, AND friends, despite everything Amanda did. Amanda had no one while in her old “family”.
I’m not saying that what Amanda did wasn’t bad, but the seriousness of what she did to Selkie paled in comparison to what her old “family” did to her.
But, I could be wrong.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
I was severely bullied myself as a kid, to the point that no one wanted to even speak to me for a long time (for this reason, Selkie’s bullying always seemed “tame” to me: SHE had friends–although I know this is an unfair comparison). Anyway, one of the many reasons I was bullied was my lack of interest in boys.
So, in the hypothetical scenario where I dreamed a group of my bullies threw me into an active volcano because “they were marrying handsome princes and had impressive weddings and I didn’t”…
Yeah, that’s still funny. I can only inagine thinking “What the heck?!?!?!” as I’d fall in the volcano. I think I would wake up shocked and hurt that the bullying affected me to the degree I’d have a nightmare about it, but the nightmare itself still feels funny.
Agreed. Amanda is the worst.
Yeah I’m not surprised this is going the way it’s going.
This is the first time the secret commentary is actually empty – before it was technically lying about being empty.
I’m kinda with Amanda on this one. Like, I get that it’s a metaphor, and my heart goes out to Selkie, but I can’t imagine trying to keep a straight face if someone told me they had horrifying nightmares about getting attacked for not being a pretty pony, even at 9.
Maybe Selkie needs to “go off” a little like a real-life sister does. An up-in-your-face scream sometimes makes the point better than talking it out. I’m not saying “going green (glow” is the appropriate level, but the “I’ve thoroughly had it with your hatred crap” kind of thing might be worth it.
Annnnd my sympathy for Amanda is gone.
Where’s Paaaaaants when you need him? Perhaps losing a limb or two would finally teach Amanda not to be awful.
This has been a hard chapter to read for me. Amanda is seriously triggering for me. I struggle to sympathize because frankly she has faced zero consequences for her actions. And Selkie is still suffering because of her. Amanda has “poor me, I’m a monster” down, but zero actual empathy for her victims. Dave is writing her like a budding narcissist, and growing up in a house with two left lifelong scars.
Really hoping the next page is Todd laying down the law for Amanda on why her behavior is inappropriate and giving her some
consequences for it.
I think Selkie spit in her face when they were 4.
It SOUNDS like Amanda’s shocked that SELKIE would fear HER, so she must fear Selkie.
TBH, right or wrong, to me this feels the most like a very… little kid moment. Your sense of appropriateness isn’t really developed yet; and neither is your ability to communicate.
Note: This doesn’t absolve being Awful. But they’re both kids. I think this feels/reads right.
Yeah, like…as an adult, I’ve had plenty of times where I’ve had to bite back a laugh in situations where laughing would *not* have been an appropriate response and I knew it wouldn’t have been appropriate. I really don’t read this as Amanda being deliberately malicious but just lacking in awareness and, yes, probably lacking a little bit in empathy as well. Fortunately, these are things that can be fixed with time and some effort.
Agreed on all points.
It’ll be interesting to see how Todd handles this. He’s definitely in an unenviable position, that’s for sure.
Agreed.
The same goes to Selkie, earlier: Amanda is screaming in obvious pain and horror, is vomiting and crying out “what did you do to me?!”
And Selkie’s response is “grrr, how did you steal my powers?!” when this was obviously NOT what was going on. To me that was a shocking moment of lack of empathy and stupidity from Selkie. (An equally cruel but less stupid response might have been: “that’s what you get for trying to steal things from me”). However, I don’t think Selkie is malicious nor stupid, she’s just a little kid.
Oh I remember that dream! https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie123/