Sorry for being late(er than usual), did a few redraws on Panel 4.
↓ Transcript
Look, next time you want my help, just ASK like a normal person.
Oh, like you'd ever help anyone without being made to.
You're one of the meanest people I know. You'd never help anyone.
You’re too AWFUL to help people.
I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TEETH!!
Woah, what the hell?!
Oh, like you'd ever help anyone without being made to.
You're one of the meanest people I know. You'd never help anyone.
You’re too AWFUL to help people.
I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TEETH!!
Woah, what the hell?!
Alternate, too-dark dialogue option was: "I'll eat your skin!" Never write while hangry, folks.
Normally I’m anti-Amanda but I’m on her side for being angry here. Tehk was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of line with that comment.
In the words of Sam Wilson: “He’s out of line, but he’s right.”
(To be clear, him being right doesn’t mean she’s wrong.)
There’s an old saw from the worlds of right-of-way which goes, “He was right, dead right, as he sped along, / But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong.” Adjust for context….
You have “The True Wisdom.” Use it wisely, as you demonstrated here. It is powerful juice.
For being a water-based being in his natural habitat, Tehk is amazingly good at providing the fire for Amanda’s gasoline.
I also don’t blame her for this one. Tehk really is way out of line.
Yuup, for once I’m on her side 100%. I dislike Amanda immensely but honestly I dislike Tehk a whole lot more. He’s had an entitlement about him since day one that I find far more vile than Amanda’s anger issues. Tehk feels completely justified in blackmailing and manipulating her and Selkie since he feels morally superior to Amanda and that a hell of a lot more icky to me then anything Amanda has done.
At least she is seeing a therapist too. I don’t know if Tehk could even see one to help with the trauma he is dealing with. I don’t know if there is one that would understand Sarnothi.
Honestly this ass whooping is a bit over due. Tehk has been a massive dick from the start and Amanda has been trying so hard to be a better person. But sometimes a kid has to learn that being a piece of shit will get you punched in the face.
War orphans weren’t invented by Sarnothi. There are plenty of qualified therapists.
It doesn’t have anything to do with the war and everything to do with the culture. Even if Sarnothi weren’t a different species (which could mean differences in the brain, processing stress, etc that a non-Sarnothi wouldn’t know to look out for), cultural differences can have a big play in how things are handled, what they are used to, former social dynamics, and other things. There have been issues in the past about one culture not understanding another. Sarnothi culture also isn’t really something that can be looked up. The best thing would be an actual Sarnothi therapist rather than a human one, but we don’t even know if they exist. We have seen one being a doctor, but not one being a therapist yet.
I think you hit it on the head, he feels he’s entitled to act however he wants and always has some excuse for why it’s OK. I think we all knew at least one of those kids in school, they were the ones who grew up to be adults who justify lying and stealing because ‘everyone does it’ and ‘____ deserves to be stolen from’ and then are shocked and indignant when they get caught.
So we’ve found ourselves a new bully. Where it was Truck that bullied purely on his physique, we have Tehk here with a razor sharp tongue
You all sound like you’ve never dealt with kids suffering from trauma and/or abuse. This is often what they are like.
Not saying what anyone is doing is OK, only saying this is a stage they go through on the way to healing.
(shrugs) truth hurts, Amanda. This is your reputation that you have built at the school. So much so new kids are warned about you.
Tehk isn’t saying anything other kids haven’t thought. Amanda may want a redemption arc, but she’s got a lot of past history to account for. And her hair trigger is still in evidence as we see here.
Sorry folks. I know she’s “only 8 and abused”, but I was 8 and abused once, and didn’t terrorize others. I was bullied by kids like Amanda, and it’s hard to read her.
“And her hair trigger is still in evidence as we see here.”
Let’s just hope that her hair trigger remains in place or this is about to be a much weirder confrontation than anyone wants.
How did you respond to the abuse? Personally, I withdrew. It would have been MUCH healthier for me to lash out for control than be apathetic and self defeating.
Everyone reacts to abuse differently. Amanda also had issues with people that adopted her and then neglected and ignored her compared to her other kids, returned her to the orphanage, and then that trauma was ignored since Selkie was also being dealt with at that time. I don’t think that her trauma was ever really addressed until Andi adopted her, and she could get that one on one time that she really needed. If she was a soldier with PTSD, people would understand if they had a violent episode while being out of it. Why then should we not give the benefit of the doubt to Amanda, who at 8 is no where near as mentally and socially developed as an adult soldier would be? We have also seen evidence that she has been working on her temper (with the counting, etc), but change takes time. Also, I am sure that being told that she is awful, implying that it is alright to threaten and bully her without consequences or guilt, hits on quite a few triggers from that household that she had been adopted to. (For references, note 1550 for therapist talk, starting page 237 for Heather talking about Amanda’s background, and 596 for Amanda’s show and tell story that is based off of her background).
We now know that kids get PTSD much worse than adults do and are not really as resilient as we used to think.
Amen.
Huzzah!
New lessons for male Sarnothi kids “a woman scorned, is the worst enemy you could even piss off…”
“You’re the meanest person I know” You say that and yet you blackmail and insult her. Dude you asked for this ass kicking. I’m not even talking morally, you’re dumber than a sack of hammers Tehk. If you know they’re volatile, why provoke them?!
Big “You believe your employer goes out at night and beats people to a pulp, and your first response is…to blackmail him? Good luck with that.” energy.
“When you were adding the numbers up, did you remember to carry the stupid?”
“The risk was a calculated one, but man, am I bad at math!”
Amanda’s TRYING to do better… and here comes Tehk just being an absolute jerkface.
Tehk hasn’t even known her very long.. what’s his deal? She’s WAY less mean NOW!
I think this is what Amanda may be hearing:
“You are forever defined by my interpretation of your worst past actions, and you don’t deserve to be offered the opportunity to be helpful.”
There’s poking the bear, and then there’s covering it in clown makeup and booping it’s snout with a wiffle ball bat
Has she been mean to people she didn’t feel wronged by?
Not that it’s a justification, but I don’t remember her bullying anyone besides Selkie. Tripping strangers in the hall on a power trip is a very different flavor of jerk.
And Tehk hasn’t seen her bully personally.
I think even Truck was technically only mean to people he felt wronged by. The problem was he felt wronged even when there was really no valid reason to.
In fact, I think that’s quite a common reason for people to be mean or outright horrible: a skewd view of who did more wrong.
Not that it’s the case here, though. Amanda, I think, has at least a somewhat valid reason for retaliation against Tehk. But I think it’s implied she’s been kinda mean in the past to everyone apart from her closest friends.
*(Truck was also often mean without thinking but my point stands)
*Picks up that phone, because I called it.*
Never EVER poke the redhead.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Tehk.
Pot, meet kettle.
Love how he’s saying “what the hell”. Like what did you THINK was going to happen, Mr Surprised Pikachu Face?
“I’ll rip out your teeth!” is a terribly stupid plan when those teeth are dripping with venom.
On the other hand, what more intimidating threat can you make to a obligate carnivore? Sarnothi: no fruits or vegetables, and only weak teas? Amanda scares Me, and I can eat soft cooked veggies. He cannot. Crystal ball says to be buying stock in Gerber (baby foods), now.
Calling it now hair will get pulled and laser eyes will commence.
I didn’t even think of that. Why again did agents think that it was a good idea to send her back to school before she learns control, including in emotional situations? I still think that having her stay on a farm or rural area and home school/online learning would be best.
Because when you keep kids out of school for too long it looks suspicious.
Kids move all the time. Also, with Selkie’s issues with being bullied (and subsequent health issues), I have a feeling that they could come up easily with a reasonable explanation for “homeschooling” her. Could even be something like grandpa has health issues, so we wanted the kids to spend time with the grandparents just in case he doesn’t survive, so they are staying with the grandparents now to get that time with them. With the government involved, you could easily come up with “evidence” for an explanation.
Oh, God, I can just see that happening. If the barrette gets pulled off the fireworks will commence and Amanda just isn’t gonna care.
*Count to 10 Amanda, just count to–*
TEN! RAAAAAGH!
He’s not wrong. Poor timing, but not wrong.
He sees *very* surprised that this boiled over. I think he has a lot of learning to do about acceptable trash talk banter in human culture. (As so most elementary students, but Tek has additional culture clash to deal with. )
I’m thinking back to the clan based insults he made before and how adult Sarnothis dismissed the language as “normal”