Okay so, bit of explanation needed for this one, because I have hecked UP.
I thought I’d try pencil and ink drawing this one, but I for got to pack my pens so I tried just making the pencil lines clean. But they… yeah hey don’t color well right now, and are goin to need a lot of clean-up to work right, and I reached a “it needs to get online” moment so here we are.
I don’t know right now when I’ll be able to go back to it and fix it because it’s practically a do-over to get it cleaned up. So calling this “blugh” for now and will address fixing it at a later date.
NEXT TIME I AM PACKING MY PENS DAMMIT
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
Not to fret Dave, we all make mistakes from time to time.
Thanks for explaining what a “pakdaire” is in the best way! Now I kinda wish there had been bets taken on my question on the 6th…. I love that the answer is such a simple thing that causes such a massive problem.
It Begins!
https://youtu.be/j5TLlaKWqN8
You want the “best villain laugh” EVER?
https://youtu.be/C65oaIHsdYM
Wonder how Selkie’s supervillain laugh would be…
“Selkie’s tutor made it for me to ease some symptoms, since he’s both a licensed Human and Sarnothi doctor. We were SUPPOSED to be keeping it a secret from the Hu-mons. Turn it back on, you ████.”
This would be the way.
Except Amanda’s what? Nine? And already angry at Tehk. And probably currently in pain.
I didn’t think about there being a completely visible power button.
All I can think of now is how the agents/government have failed on so many levels. They definitely didn’t set the kids up to succeed on keeping this a secret.
Yeah, they definitely shoulda done “and put a barrette cover on this” at a minimum. It’s like they forgot there were other Sarnothi kids around.
(Which, to be fair, they may have. Adults in an Adult Agency sometimes forget that kids are not oblivious…)
I feel like if you don’t want someone to touch something, kids would be the last thing you would put it around. People in general can be pretty bad about that though, since curiosity really gets people and they tend to touch a lot without asking. Just ask any pregnant woman, people with young kids (that adults like to go up and touch), or people training service dogs. So much touching. I really wouldn’t put it past someone (even a teacher) touching it and accidentally hitting the power button, or pulling it off like Amanda’s mom did.
It’s pretty obvious that the Agency is fucking this up on MANY levels.
ruh roh
Why are all these people touching Amanda’s hair pin? Were they raised in a barn?
Possible clash of cultures, since it’s only been a couple of the Sarnothi kids who have been handsing on Amanda so far.
I get the impression that while the Sarnothi kids are familiar with Echo-created items, they’re not often allowed to “play” with them.
Also just general lack of respect. Sarnothi seem to have a good bit of hardcore classism/class rivalry embedded in their culture, I suspect that someone who isn’t even Sarnothi would intuitively rank even lower than the “least” Sarnothi. So yeah, if a “hu-mon” has a bit of Sarnothi tech, I’d expect there’s a degree of entitlement to be able to fiddle with it at will.
These kids are old enough to know not to touch someone else or their property without consent first.
Eh, all that really means is they understand why they’re being yelled at.
Tehk needs to learn about boundaries.
So much this. He’s going to learn about it the hard way one of these days.
Soon, perhaps.
Yeah… Of course, now I’m remembering Tehk laughing at Amanda for thinking she could become an Echo, and thinking of the shock when he’s shown how wrong he is.
Yep. That’s why I’ve worried about this confrontation the most. He teased Amanda and made her feel like a fool. He is the one person in the whole school who could get her angry enough to “blow her cover.”
And it looks like that’s about to happen unless he turns the thing back on. Heck, at that point it might happen anyhow because she’s going to be So. Angry.
I think I figured out how Selkie’s mother escaped from the collar this device was originally attached to.
OK, at this point the whole “not at all concealed Sarnothi tech barrette” plus “extremely visible power button” thing is seeming like a HUGE oversight on the part of the adults and literal CIA agents involved in all of this. At no point did *anyone* think “hey wait, there’s two sarnothi kids literally IN the girls’ class, perhaps we should take steps to hide this so they don’t mess with it” or better yet, that they should just keep the girls home from school entirely until they’d plus figure all of this out? Like geez this is going to be a whole mess XD
Just had another thought. I’m interested to see what Amanda’s last speech bubble looks like when this strip gets color.
Is she going in and out of Echo mode now that the barrette is turned off?
Hey Dave, whenever I click on a link on the page (such as the home link or the comment link) it redirects to some random ad/link page. Might be some bad HTML or CSS somewhere.
Good news: Amanda’s voice didn’t turn eldritch yet.
Makes me wonder if she’s feeling the nausea yet, or she just reflexively closed her eyes to avoid an incident. Or both.
Turn it back on! Turn it back on! But, first – tell me which way Tony is from me?
“Why’d you want to know that?”
“Just in case it doesn’t work.”
After SEVERAL similar mistakes, I have finally learned myself not to try new stuff under time pressure. Because chances are, all planned schedule will go out the window at least once before I’m done.
Speaking of hindsight, maybe would’ve been a good idea to disguise the device into a bow like Selkie’s.