Grumpy boi
↓ Transcript
SELKIE: Good morning, Te Fahn!
TE FAHN: Morning Selkie! How’s your day?
SELKIE: Going super! Bout to gets super-er!
TE FAHN (VO): Oh, good! What's going on?
SELKIE (VO): Secrets!!!
SELKIE: Hey Tehk! How’s my favorites test of patience?
TEHK: Hmff!
TE FAHN: Tehk’s guardians grounded him, Selkie. He’s only allowed to talk if it’s kind or helpful.
SELKIE: So... gonna be muted forevers, huh?
TEHK: HHMMMFF!!
TE FAHN: Morning Selkie! How’s your day?
SELKIE: Going super! Bout to gets super-er!
TE FAHN (VO): Oh, good! What's going on?
SELKIE (VO): Secrets!!!
SELKIE: Hey Tehk! How’s my favorites test of patience?
TEHK: Hmff!
TE FAHN: Tehk’s guardians grounded him, Selkie. He’s only allowed to talk if it’s kind or helpful.
SELKIE: So... gonna be muted forevers, huh?
TEHK: HHMMMFF!!
If you can't say something nice, grumpo about it
Now that is just funny.
Are Sarnothi children that obedient, or is he afraid that his cousin will rat him out?
He is at school. His guardians are not. How would they know if he obeyed them or not?
I get the impression that Sarnothi-raised children have things like Duty, Responsibility, and Obligation pretty firmly drilled into them. Echoes get the worst of it but I’m guessing that all of them get it to some degree. They grow up within a fairly rigid caste system based on what group of Sarnothi they’re born into. This is likely some kind of extension of that.
I agree… When the introduction seminar was going on, and Trunchbull was protesting and Ms Flower was asking questions, Then had mentioned that Native Sarnothi children are taught strict rules regarding their claws and fangs and using them on others… I’d suppose general morals would go along with that.
Plus, Tehk has his kind of goody-two-shoes cousin here to tell her parents if he misbehaves. From her introduction, she’s been very meek, obedient to authorities, and kind…. So I expect her parents raised them in a strict household. I seem to remember her telling Tehk the first time he opened his mouth at someone, that “they’re supposed to be kind”
” From her introduction, she’s been very meek, obedient to authorities, and kind…. ”
The older I get, the harder it is for me to see “obedient to authorities” as a component of being “good”.
I suppose some degree of that is appropriate for children, though.
Also, there’s a difference between “good” and “goody-two-shoes”.
There is definitely a stronger correlation between good behavior and obedience the younger the child is.
Considering many of the first “orders” they’ll be receiving are things like:
“Don’t put that fork in the wall socket!” and “Don’t hit that other child just because you both want to play with the same toy!”
Obeying their first authority figures (their parents) is how they’re being taught to be good children (and eventually good adults). MOST of what they’re being told is well-meant and for their long-term benefit, and most often the persons telling them to do things are valid authority figures (their parents and teachers).
That’s when the system is all working well, as it’s intended to. I like to think this is all true much more often than not, but when we get bad persons abusing their authority, and combine with children’s natural/conditioned obedience to authority, that things can go quite wrong.
The problem to be corrected there isn’t the obedient “good” children however; it’s the rotten adult that needs correcting and/or removing from their position of authority.
If I throw a rock at a window and the window breaks, the fault is not with the window.
I assume that since Te Fahn is his cousin, they’ll be asking her whether or not he followed the rules. And she hardly seems the type to lie for him.
Teachers report ongoing misbehavior to parents regularly. That’s quite normal; you’ve even seen it in this comic several times. Granted there’s a language barrier in this case, but I’m sure they’ve worked out a system by this point.
Tehk may technically be muted, but those “Hmff”s are speaking volumes to me.
Maybe some pizza will cheer him up.
Oh my goodness. Love this!
Ok, Amanda and Tehk have so much in common it isn’t funny. Both have temper issues, sarcastic, speaks their minds, stubborn and when told that if they can’t say something nice, they both resort to “HMFF!” Give it a few years and who knows….
I ships it.
What’s the portmanteau?
Amantehk
Ooh, sounds romantehk… but I couldn’t shake the feeling that was at least two Pharoahs!
Hang on, aren’t Tehk’s guardians Te Fahn’s parents?
Yeah that phrasing seems odd to me too
English is her second language. There’s probably a Sarnothi equivalent that would make more sense in this context and she’s doing a literal Sarnothi to English translation.
At least, that’s my guess.
Te Fahn is Tehk’s cousin on his maternal side. Tehk’s guardians are his paternal uncle and aunt.
Thank you for the clarification, Dave! 🙂
Oh my god I love this interaction
Literal enforcement of “When you don’t have anything nice to say”