It would not surprise me. He sees himself as a bad man, after all. He would not let the raw biological reality keep him from pointing out that he is not parent material.
If he was sleeping (or whatever they do) with her mama 9 years ago, and she is 9 years old — what is the gestation period?
If I had sex with a woman 9 years ago and this kid shows up and says that I am her daddy, I would expect this kid to be no older than eight. Because that 9 months between, you know, doing it and the kid showing up.
They lay an egg, and IIRC it hatches relatively soon, in a very tadpole-like form. But they count the hatching as being born, not the morphing into a limbed creature.
People aren’t always exact in how long it’s been… “nine years ago” could mean “nine years and five months” for instance. Or even a length of time that’s closer to ten years, but if you’re thinking by calendar years or how old you personally were/are (not uncommon), it might still get put as nine years.
Also, the betrayal presumably would have come after the conception, and we (and Selkie) don’t know how much time could have been in between while they were still on good terms.
(Also what DancingFibers says about their gestation period and then whatever it is that Scar’s about to say.)
I’d like to add to your reasoning that Scar doesn’t know how much over 9 years old Selkie is really, so he could reasonably assume it’s been roughly 9½ years since whatever they start counting their age from.
Also, while Selkie’s first memory is from a pond, I don’t think anything states she necessarily hatched there. For all we know, Scar could’ve tried to sell Plo Quar only after her daughter was old enough to not need nursing anymore.
I think we actually saw the sequence of events in an earlier comic: Scar wined and dined Plo Quar, took her to bed, and literally put the inhibitor on her while she was in his room. Selkie was tagged as being “technically present”.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie380/ is the first appearance of her egg in the comic I can find, but doesn’t have a date. I had the impression it was several months, but comic time is hard to track! We also don’t know how long the egg was in the tank or inside of her mom.
If it has been a full 9 years and she’s only 8, you can’t be the father because human pregnancy lasts 9 months! Whereas if it’s been 9 years and however many months, she still counts as 9 years old and until her 10th birthday.
I would expect, as an active predator species who’s young seem to gestate like fish or tadpoles: externally… that they don’t go through what we consider as gestation. From what we saw with the doctor’s child…they develop very quickly from egg to free-swimming “larva” to limbed toddlers. They can’t spend much time debilitated by pregnancy or by a helpless life stage.
That was in response to Alpo saying if he had sex with a human woman 9 years ago, their daughter couldn’t be older than 8.
Back to Sarnothi, Tai Li was born/hatched December 22nd selkiecomic dot com/comic/selkie777/
selkiecomic dot com/comic/selkie380/ is the first appearance of her egg in the comic I can find, but doesn’t have a date. I had the impression it was several months, but comic time is hard to track! We also don’t know how long the egg was in the tank or inside of her mom
I don’t think that logic fully tracks… if it had been exactly nine years and the mother wasn’t, like, in labor when you last saw her, the child would still be eight. If you had only been with the mother for one night and then it was nine years and five months later, the child would still be eight.
Again, people often aren’t exact with years, rounding them as they make the most sense, and we don’t know how long it was between conception and birth for Selkie or how long along her mother was when she blasty-blasted.
I don’t see how being a predator has anything to do with it. Plenty of mammals are predators.
Speaking of which, are sarnothi mammals? That is, do they breastfeed their children? We’ve seen them drawn with what appears to be a slight bulge in the chest area, but how does that work with the whole “we put our children in tanks” thing?
Todd and scar had a conversation I think where todd basically forbade scar from calling himself selkies father in order not to confuse or pressure her. She is already a fish out of water in both senses of the term.
Jerry Springer is a talk show host that gave paternity tests and dramatically released them on TV. Lots of screaming and occasionally violence. His tag line was “You are NOT the father!” (Or you ARE the father!)
My wild conjecture? Scar is Selkie’s uncle. He betrayed his own brother that day.
It would explain Scar’s behavior as it has always been a little odd. We took it as estranged father and betrayer, but looking at it as avuncular? It slots in a little different.
As Sebastard says below, the way he talked about his relationship with Plo Quar (Selkie’s mom), saying that both of her parents are echos when echoes are super rare, the mixed heritage thing. The Jin’Sorai “Whisper” picked up on it as well and threatened Selkie if Scar didn’t do what he wanted him to.
Some one on one conversations with Scar and either Pohl or Then and some melancholic behavior from Scar that Todd picked up on. If I recall correctly it started around comic #1312 where Scar told about Plo’Quar and him growing closer. In #1323 Todd realizes what he might infer to as the timeline might add up: Selkie being born in imprisonment and Plo’Quar escaping as soon as Selkie was able to talk and stuff.
In 1612 Scar explicitly says Selkie is of two clans: Jin’Sorai and Sar’Teri, while Scar is Sar’Teri… That’s how it took form and was cemented in for us when Todd talked to scar in 1427 where the implications were spoken out loud and Scar didn’t correct him: He seemed to geniunely believe he’s Selkie’s father.
Also the Jin’Sorai “Whisper” blackmailed/emotionally pressured Scar by threatening to reveal that he was Selkie’s father, which he explicitly said would mean she would be bullied/mistreated. When Scar reacted, he said something along the lines of “well I thought you were her father, thanks for confirming”.
You know, Todd is an awesome father. Bringing Selkie to meet Scar to answer all her questions is super supportive of him. I mean the guy chose to take in a lost little girl from another sentient species, with totally different physical and emotional needs from his own kind. Raising a human orphaned girl would have been difficult enough. Todd has a huge heart. Kudos to you, Dave for writing such excellent characters.
I hope Selkie mgets coloration like her mom when she grows up. Her mom is quite cute.
…no?
Luke, I am NOT your father?
I’m imagining he’s gonna point out that her dad is still Todd, the man who’s chosen her to love forever
I kind of hope Scar’s follow up on that is something like “THAT MAN *points at Todd* is your father.”
It would not surprise me. He sees himself as a bad man, after all. He would not let the raw biological reality keep him from pointing out that he is not parent material.
Oh man, I was thinking the same thing!!
My thinking as well. Todd has stepped into that role and does an awesome job of it, Scar may be about to acknowledge that.
If he was sleeping (or whatever they do) with her mama 9 years ago, and she is 9 years old — what is the gestation period?
If I had sex with a woman 9 years ago and this kid shows up and says that I am her daddy, I would expect this kid to be no older than eight. Because that 9 months between, you know, doing it and the kid showing up.
They lay an egg, and IIRC it hatches relatively soon, in a very tadpole-like form. But they count the hatching as being born, not the morphing into a limbed creature.
People aren’t always exact in how long it’s been… “nine years ago” could mean “nine years and five months” for instance. Or even a length of time that’s closer to ten years, but if you’re thinking by calendar years or how old you personally were/are (not uncommon), it might still get put as nine years.
Also, the betrayal presumably would have come after the conception, and we (and Selkie) don’t know how much time could have been in between while they were still on good terms.
(Also what DancingFibers says about their gestation period and then whatever it is that Scar’s about to say.)
I’d like to add to your reasoning that Scar doesn’t know how much over 9 years old Selkie is really, so he could reasonably assume it’s been roughly 9½ years since whatever they start counting their age from.
Also, while Selkie’s first memory is from a pond, I don’t think anything states she necessarily hatched there. For all we know, Scar could’ve tried to sell Plo Quar only after her daughter was old enough to not need nursing anymore.
I think we actually saw the sequence of events in an earlier comic: Scar wined and dined Plo Quar, took her to bed, and literally put the inhibitor on her while she was in his room. Selkie was tagged as being “technically present”.
That was in response to Alpo saying if he had sex with a human woman 9 years ago, their daughter couldn’t be older than 8.
Back to Sarnothi, Tai Li was born/hatched December 22nd https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie777/
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie380/ is the first appearance of her egg in the comic I can find, but doesn’t have a date. I had the impression it was several months, but comic time is hard to track! We also don’t know how long the egg was in the tank or inside of her mom.
Did the two of them only sleep together once or did their relationship last several months before the betrayal?
All that we know for certain is that he betrayed her at some point after Selkie was conceived, but before she was born (laid?).
But also, rounding.
If it has been a full 9 years and she’s only 8, you can’t be the father because human pregnancy lasts 9 months! Whereas if it’s been 9 years and however many months, she still counts as 9 years old and until her 10th birthday.
I would expect, as an active predator species who’s young seem to gestate like fish or tadpoles: externally… that they don’t go through what we consider as gestation. From what we saw with the doctor’s child…they develop very quickly from egg to free-swimming “larva” to limbed toddlers. They can’t spend much time debilitated by pregnancy or by a helpless life stage.
That was in response to Alpo saying if he had sex with a human woman 9 years ago, their daughter couldn’t be older than 8.
Back to Sarnothi, Tai Li was born/hatched December 22nd selkiecomic dot com/comic/selkie777/
selkiecomic dot com/comic/selkie380/ is the first appearance of her egg in the comic I can find, but doesn’t have a date. I had the impression it was several months, but comic time is hard to track! We also don’t know how long the egg was in the tank or inside of her mom
I don’t think that logic fully tracks… if it had been exactly nine years and the mother wasn’t, like, in labor when you last saw her, the child would still be eight. If you had only been with the mother for one night and then it was nine years and five months later, the child would still be eight.
Again, people often aren’t exact with years, rounding them as they make the most sense, and we don’t know how long it was between conception and birth for Selkie or how long along her mother was when she blasty-blasted.
I don’t see how being a predator has anything to do with it. Plenty of mammals are predators.
Speaking of which, are sarnothi mammals? That is, do they breastfeed their children? We’ve seen them drawn with what appears to be a slight bulge in the chest area, but how does that work with the whole “we put our children in tanks” thing?
I’m pretty sure we saw Sai Fen nursing her baby.
He’s NOT!
Please, Dave, be careful with my neck… I can’t keep up with these plot twists xD
I checked the anatomy sketch and it says they gestate for 3 weeks before laying their egg. Not long at all. Dunno how long it takes to hatch though
I’m not cause your real dad is floating at your side, or I’m not cause your real dad is my old farmhand Mr CleftChin?
Todd and scar had a conversation I think where todd basically forbade scar from calling himself selkies father in order not to confuse or pressure her. She is already a fish out of water in both senses of the term.
Oooh, you’re right!!
…or even “Mr CleftChin whom I turned in the very next day. For jealousy.”
*claps hands* then explain-
*Jerry Springer has entered the chat*
I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.
*confusion has entered the chat* whos jerry springer
Jerry Springer is a talk show host that gave paternity tests and dramatically released them on TV. Lots of screaming and occasionally violence. His tag line was “You are NOT the father!” (Or you ARE the father!)
ohhhh my dad told me about that tho i thought the host was a woman lol
Jerry Springer is the one there’s an opera about.
Wasn’t that Maury Povich?
Jerry Springer was the fights, Maury was the paternity tests.
Legit forgot about Maury. My brain had all of it filed under “Jerry Springer.”
Oops
fights????? bro apparently I was born in the wrong generation this sounds hilarious
My wild conjecture? Scar is Selkie’s uncle. He betrayed his own brother that day.
It would explain Scar’s behavior as it has always been a little odd. We took it as estranged father and betrayer, but looking at it as avuncular? It slots in a little different.
Oooh, I like this theory!
Haven’t had a reason nor time to comment here in awhile, so why did the characters all start assuming that he was her dad in the first place?
As Sebastard says below, the way he talked about his relationship with Plo Quar (Selkie’s mom), saying that both of her parents are echos when echoes are super rare, the mixed heritage thing. The Jin’Sorai “Whisper” picked up on it as well and threatened Selkie if Scar didn’t do what he wanted him to.
Some one on one conversations with Scar and either Pohl or Then and some melancholic behavior from Scar that Todd picked up on. If I recall correctly it started around comic #1312 where Scar told about Plo’Quar and him growing closer. In #1323 Todd realizes what he might infer to as the timeline might add up: Selkie being born in imprisonment and Plo’Quar escaping as soon as Selkie was able to talk and stuff.
In 1612 Scar explicitly says Selkie is of two clans: Jin’Sorai and Sar’Teri, while Scar is Sar’Teri… That’s how it took form and was cemented in for us when Todd talked to scar in 1427 where the implications were spoken out loud and Scar didn’t correct him: He seemed to geniunely believe he’s Selkie’s father.
That was meant to be a reply on Alphaghoul
Also the Jin’Sorai “Whisper” blackmailed/emotionally pressured Scar by threatening to reveal that he was Selkie’s father, which he explicitly said would mean she would be bullied/mistreated. When Scar reacted, he said something along the lines of “well I thought you were her father, thanks for confirming”.
I completely missed that one, thanks.
Oooh twist
You know, Todd is an awesome father. Bringing Selkie to meet Scar to answer all her questions is super supportive of him. I mean the guy chose to take in a lost little girl from another sentient species, with totally different physical and emotional needs from his own kind. Raising a human orphaned girl would have been difficult enough. Todd has a huge heart. Kudos to you, Dave for writing such excellent characters.
Hanging on, waiting for the dramatic reveal of Mr. Cleftchin.