Some new thoughts
↓ Transcript
ANDI TEXT: What does Selkie’s mother
have to do with it?
TODD TEXT: She made the suppressor
that’s causing Selkie
to have issues.
ANDI TEXT: Oh, like that thing
they clipped to Amanda?
TODD TEXT: Yeah
TODD TEXT: Selkie wore it for three years
and it stunted her latent
abilities to do... all of this.
TODD TEXT: We've been talking about it as
a tool of construction, of a way
to build things and improve
people's lives.
TODD TEXT: But there's something about
seeing your little girl blow
somthing up with her eyes
that changes your thoughts
on it.
have to do with it?
TODD TEXT: She made the suppressor
that’s causing Selkie
to have issues.
ANDI TEXT: Oh, like that thing
they clipped to Amanda?
TODD TEXT: Yeah
TODD TEXT: Selkie wore it for three years
and it stunted her latent
abilities to do... all of this.
TODD TEXT: We've been talking about it as
a tool of construction, of a way
to build things and improve
people's lives.
TODD TEXT: But there's something about
seeing your little girl blow
somthing up with her eyes
that changes your thoughts
on it.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
I understand their fears and concerns. But I hope they don’t let those fears limit their daughters.
“Todd, Selkie’s seen Frozen and where ‘conceal, don’t feel’ led to….”
Yeah. The concern is understandable, but at the same time, direct projection might just be the simplest and most easily measurable application of this power.
Turning it into claws or using it to carefully sculpt or manipulate other materials seem like much more complex techniques which you really don’t want to start practicing until after you’ve learned to summon, direct, and control a steady power flow.
… I recommend talking to Pohl and getting some input/perspective.
I definitely think Pohl would be helpful in the ‘this is normal and not inherently violent and NECESSARY,’ particularly as a reality check for Todd that, among other things, that inhibitor clearly hurt Selkie. And may have hurt Amanda, as well, and possibly other orphanage kids, in allowing them to develop an attunement that Amanda at least finds deeply disorienting and physically sickening in a way Selkie does not. They obviously have to be trained to use it RESPONSIBLY, much like any kid their age in karate classes would have to have the Responsibility Talk. And there’s clearly some discussion down the line about how the expectations and responsibilities Sarnothi society has for its Echoes seem… worrisome, especially when they extend to eight-year-olds (thanks, Gien, but also I have some Concerns about how Scar starts his flashback storytelling with how the kelp farm was the closest he could get to opting out of using his Echo skills for Societally Expected Purposes and how Plo Quar was a peacekeeper. Like to be proven wrong, but… Concerns.) But right now, suppressing the power beyond what’s necessary to keep Amanda from puking is clearly not a good idea. The inhibitors aren’t exactly SAFE for long-term use, and it’s not wise to leave eight-year-olds with magic powers they don’t know how to control… including, especially in Amanda’s case, how NOT to use it and be tapped into the green worm hell. I get why the adults are disoriented, but it’s also something the girls will have to live with no matter what. Pretending it isn’t won’t do any of them any favors.
It suddenly occurs to me why, in story terms, the girls have been learning woodworking. Grandpa Theo might have some wise words (and vomit-inducing pictures) about learning to use things carefully. A saw has uses other than making chairs (and a chainsaw more uses than cutting down trees, based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). And these girls basically have the saw in place of an arm.
Or the hammer, in Selkie’s case. https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1330/
A hammer not only forges a weapon, it forges a woman.
-Summon Night
On Todd’s side of history, TNT was developed as a SAFER explosive to use in mining, and immediately led to the development of much more deadly weapons.
Right. It’s scary but even parents don’t have the right to take away something that belongs to their children. The only ones who should make that decision are Selkie and Amanda.
Todd, it STILL IS a way to improve people’s lives. dont discount the positive just because of the negative.
i also cant help but recall what ol Prof Trunchbull said about “values wholly alien to ours” (in strip #434). ignoring Trunchbull’s absolutely unnecessary value-assigning of good-or-bad there, this could be something at play here. in the question of how to train/introduce Selkie to her powers, there is a bit of a notion in this arc of Todd’s native values (secular, modern, Westernized) vs Scar and Agent Brown and Selkie’s other teachers, who are operating on or defending/preserving Sarnothi values and moral-spiritual priorities.
back to the “value-assigning” bit above for a moment: even different HUMAN cultures have morals and priorities wildly different from one another, and it’s not taken into account nearly enough at ALL. we’re not a “one big human family who are all the same underneath”, we’re a cacophonous mosaic. but that’s not a reason to stop trying to understand each other; if anything, it’s even MORE of a reason to bridge gaps and try to learn about one another – just highlights the fact that we need to NOT assume or accidentally (super)impose our own values, and actually, truly listen.
in Todd’s case, he at least means well, but he needs to get over his own inhibitions here. he’s done a lot of wonderful listening so far during his entire guardianship of Selkie, but i feel like this is going to be a moment that absolutely HINGES on open-mindedness.
> i also cant help but recall what ol Prof Trunchbull said about “values wholly alien to ours”
Hmm. I don’t believe that a culture that lives in a technological civilization, which the Sarnothi clearly do, CAN have values that are WHOLLY alien to ours. A certain coincidence of values would seem to be necessary just to maintain such a way of life.
I understand the concern Todd, but do you really want her to not know how to control this and then get mad at you cause you grounded her the weekend before a big concert/party/trip/whatever?
With great power…