Then Sue (a zombie) wanting your heart reminded me of ‘The Zombie Song’. It’s a love song (!) with lines like “If I were a zombie, I’d never eat your brains. I’d just want your heart. Yeah, I’d want your heart. I’d just want your heart.”
If that’s a standard 6’8″ door, it looks to be about 4′ wide. Way big for an interior door. Worse though, is it appears when Todd stans up he will be taller than the door.
First frame the doorknob is higher than his head. Second frame it’s even with his nose. Third frame splits the difference. 😛
At this point in time, I know EXACTLY what she feels like. My step-sister (no blood relation, from step-moms previous relationship) and I have the SAME name, so I know exactly what it feels like to be replaced. Never wanted to set her on fire but there were times I let her spoiled ass cry because I wouldn’t give her the colored pencils I’d bought myself with money I earned from my job when she, at the age of 4, would just break more of them. I got in major trouble when my stepmother asked why little sis was crying and I wasn’t comforting her to make her feel better. It was always like that- if the little princess didn’t get what she wanted, there was pain involved in some way or another for the myself or my two brothers.
Selkie has every right to feel like she’s being replaced and that’s really difficult to work through. I hope Todd takes this outburst and sees that he’s been, in her eyes, replacing her. I hope he does what my paternal unit never did for me and take her side, remind her that he picked her and wanted her and loves her.
I will admit, when I pointed out as an adult that I, as the eldest child, get to pick the nursing home, I saw both dad and stepmother blanch in an “oh shit” kind of way. That was darkly satisfying.
While “I am stuck with her, I choose you” is technically true I don’t think that’s the right thing for either of the girls to hear now (or ever really).
4 year olds are naturally self-centered. Your stepsister was probably about as miserable as you—maybe more since you were old enough to get what was going on, but she wasn’t.
This is exactly true, and I agree 100% the stepmother (and probably father) probably should have been more proactive in positive ways.
But it bothers me when people put hate on small kids—even during childhood misunderstandings when it is obvious they are (and were) old enough to know it wasn’t their younger siblings’ fault.
I’ve seen that kind of misplaced hostility too often continue during adulthood turning child abuse placed onto other children from insecure adults who think children are conniving manipulators are out to get them.
This is why I call people out on it when I see it. It does no one (including the hurt adult child) any good believing a young child hurt them on purpose or enabling someone to believe that.
I was 15, had been moved from California to Texas with 2 weeks warning and I admit I had a difficult time finding sympathy for a 4 year old that got whatever she wanted (including an allowance when I didn’t get one at all). I had to get a job at 15 to pay for my own food, clothing, etc. for the most part while my dad brought in a 6 figure income. I paid my own car insurance when I was learning to drive or I couldn’t drive. My brothers and I were in a cycle of “which kid does she hate this week” from my step-mom that my dad never stopped. So yeah, while a normal situation 15 year old should have sympathy for a 4 year old crying sibling I didn’t because she knew it’ll get me in trouble, she said so.
Now, at 33, I paid for my own college, my own housing, etc, didn’t get a dime from my parents. They’re paying for over half of her out of state tuition, most of her housing and a trip to Europe for her. I’m not close to my stepsister, she was 6 when I left for the military to get away from that household. I still think she’s spoiled, but she’s turning into an okay adult.
Vixandra– I’m sorry. It sounded like you had a pretty standard Golden Child (step sister) Scape Goat (you/brothers) relationship that your parents only aggravated. Don’t know if either of them can be considered a Narcissist (though Step-Mom’s hate cycle certainly hints at that with your father being an Enabler) but there’s a lot of families that are like yours.
Trying to explain just how incredibly unfair the way you were raised vs. your stepsister to normal people usually ends up with them accidentally defending the Golden Child/Parent because sometimes you can’t make things 100% fair in a house. THAT’S normal. Blatantly favoring a child while emotionally damaging the other, is NOT. What you went through was beyond skewed, and I’m sorry.
Just felt the need to say something. The “I had a normal childhood and don’t believe parents can genuinely be abusive” mentality seemed to outweigh genuine understanding of your situation.
That’s really rough. My cousin grew up in a family like that and was literally forced to pay rent (from her asshole father) when she was 15. I really don’t understand why people bother having kids when they only tie them to the relationships with their spouses/ex-spouses. They should just get a houseplant. A plastic one.
But it’s still not your stepsister’s fault. Hate on your stepmom. Hate your dad. Let go of hate/resentment for a child so young. Most kids have their “bratty” moments—especially when their parents do not set healthy boundaries and show love properly (though action instead of “stuff”). Think of the kind of kid she would have been if your stepmom was actually kind, present and set boundaries. It was not her fault. Though who she is now is her responsibility.
I can understand the anger. I had a stepsister too. She was just a year younger than me. It’s very easy to feel your space invaded in divorce—especially when your parents are being idiots. My mom? She sent me to my grandparents for the summer, left my dad while I was gone, and when I came back? She was already dating other men—including my stepfather who she had invited to our house (before she left my dad).
My first birthday I was forced to share my bedroom with his daughter (my future stepsister). In the middle of the night, we got into a huge fight. She threatened to jump out of the window in my attic bedroom. I stole money from her before she left the next day. It was a nightmare!
Can you believe she is one of the few people in my family I actually have a relationship with? It’s a very distant relationship and we are very different people, but it’s there. We were horrid to each other, but it was our parents’ fault. If they spent a fraction of the time actually paying attention to their kids as they did smoking pot and making drama we’d probably would have been somewhat civil and kind to one another.
Thanks Gabeses and Dotcom. I don’t begrudge her for the living situation, that blame falls on my paternal and maternal units. Little Sis made dream catchers and custom sneakers for my boys when they were born. We just aren’t close, I’m not close to most of my blood or step kin except my aunt And maternal grandmother. I just find it irking that my dad gets put in financial difficulty because she choose to go out of state school.
I’m trying to raise my boys with love, consistency and respect that goes both ways. It’s not always easy but I’m doing my best.
Ohoho so it’s less the fact that she just doesn’t like Amanda and more of the fact that Selkie does not want to share what she deems as hers and only hers. It probably doesn’t help that Amanda isn’t her bestest friend in the whole wide world either though.
Sorry to break it to you Selkie, but he is just as much as Amanda’s father as he is yours. Even Amanda has recognized the fact that Todd is also Selkie’s dad, even if she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to accept it, she knows it. She can hate it all she wants, but she’s aware Todd is Selkie’s dad too.
Hopefully Todd tells Selkie as much. That he is BOTH their fathe whether or not the other one likes it. Selkie doesn’t have to accept Amanda as a sister right off the bat, but she does have to accept that Todd isn’t hers and only hers.
It is kind of unfair for Selkie having someone she hates in her personal space pretty much constantly, or looking forward to Christmas with her family and then this stranger gets to invade that too. Home should be where you feel safe and comfortable and not always on guard.
I can relate to this from when my mother was dating some guy, it’s not even that I disliked him, but it did mean that when he was over I suddenly had to pay attention in my own house so I don’t say, run into him when I’m coming out of the shower in only a towel.
I’m honestly not sure what the right solution here is, but I think Selkie is at least partly justified in her anger.
Oh its alright that she’s upset. It’s just, maybe now she understands a bit more why Amanda was upset too. Both girls have to realize you don’t always get your way. And yeah, it sucks Selkie feels like she’s being invaded in her own home, but that isn’t Amanda’s fault. I’m sure she’d like to not have Selkie around as well, but Todd can’t always send Selkie away when Amanda is around or she really WILL feel as if she’s being replaced. Likewise if he doesn’t spend time with Amanda he risks alienating her as well. The best compromise is have Amanda come over to the house.
Amanda has just as much as a right to see her father. Hell, she could feel arguably worse than Selkie, because she’s just ‘a visitor’ in her father’s life. She doesn’t get to live with her dad, she gets to visit him, while, in her eyes, someone who isn’t truly his daughter gets to live with him in his home. I mean, both girls are getting a pretty bad deal here in terms of feelings. There’s not a whole lot to be done about until someone decides to talk to both girls at once and explain the situation.
But everyone is too stupid to do that. It would’ve been the first thing I’d have done once I’d realized what the situation was. Get everyone’s problems sorted out and explain the rights and wrongs on all parties.
If I was Todd, I would take Selkie into my arms, kiss her forehead to show her how much I care that I was willing to put my health on the line to comfort her. Then explain that nothing could change the fact that she’s my daughter. That all that has happened now is I have another daughter, but I do not love one more than the other.
Then spend afternoons when it is just the two of us letting her pick the activity, let her pick the way the day goes without Amanda, without Andi, without anyone. Just me and Selkie.
Actually, it is Amanda’s fault, at least in part. Selkie is generally a well balanced kid. She might have had these feelings to one degree or another regardless, but they are of this magnitude because her space hasn’t just been invaded, its been invaded by an overtly hostile force that is doing her best to make Selkie miserable. Which at least some of the adults know about and what have they done to address the systematic and constant bullying? Nothing.
So, Amanda’s fault for being so incorrigibly awful to Selkie. Adul’ts fault for not paying attention to this stuff. And a different set ot adult’s fault that Amanda has such a hate for Selkie in the first place, because it doesn’t matter if some new interesting alien gets dumped on your orphanage doorstep, that doesn’t just mean you can up and ignore the emotional needs of the other children in your care because something shinier turned up; you have a responsibility to all kids you’re responsible for. That last is on the orphanage staff, and they fucked up big
“Which at least some of the adults know about and what have they done to address the systematic and constant bullying? Nothing.”
Spot. On. This is what has bothering me soooo much about this thread of the comic. Not to mention when one person FINALLY tried to stand up and get the other adults to hold Amanda accountable for her awful behavior it basically gotten forgotten thanks to, well Amanda’s behavior. Granted he didn’t do it in the most diplomatic fashion, but honestly Amanda keeps doing terrible things to people and the consequences have been:
1. Gets forgiven without apologizing (but gets apologized TO)
2. Gets ground for one week for physically assaulting someone
3. Gets ice cream for getting drunk
Its driving me insane!
I’m just glad I’m not the only person who isn’t jumping on the Amanda Bandwagon.
Oh, I am not on Amanda’s band wagon. I just see her on the path I took so I sympathize with her and know it can get worse.
As for your issues, Heather needed to be the first to apologize as that duo of actions was started by her.
The second I can’t condone so I wont.
And the third was not about the drinking, it was about showing her she is not going to be cast away.
Parenting is an odd balance in situations between punishment and comfort. One must look at the underlying issues and fix those. For Amanda the underlying issue is trust. If they can get through to her, show she can trust again, all your problems with her, and everyone else’s problems with her will go away. If they don’t get fixed, trust me, she will get a lot worse. A whole lot worse.
All of this!!! Why the heck is Amanda getting off scot free for all the hell she had put Selkie through in the past (and present though they seem oblivious to that fact.) I’ve been reading for years now and this latest story line has been getting me closer and closer to doping the comic. Everything the adults are doing is for there own selfish convenience. Not a single action or thought has been given to how much this would be hurting Selkie. Not a single thought has been put to addressing the conflict between the girls beyond scolding them for fighting. “It takes two to fight.” Why would Selkie ever speak up about being harassed or bullied when she gets in just as much trouble as the one doing the harassing? Is the most horrific victim blaming attitude and that seems to be how the adults are treating this situation. Keep them from openly hating each-other and problems solved as fare as the adults are concerned its pure selfish and cruel.
Selkie isn’t speaking up because she’s been putting up with it for years. She thinks it’s normal. She doesn’t realise that adults should protect you from bullies and make them stop because no one has ever done it for her, they’ve just told her to be quiet and, at best, put surfactual fixes in place. Todd is now just doing the same thing.
Selkie’s not the most well balanced kid as you put it. She’s vengeful, spiteful, and aggressive. In fact the only time her family has seen her and Amanda fight was when she attacked Amanda.
Also I doubt Amanda has done any real bullying to Selkie recently because I think Dave would have shown something worse than Amanda bumping her off the couch a few pages back.
If you honestly think that some of Selkie’s outbursts aren’t par for the course for the average 10 year old, you haven’t spent much time around kids. I have seen a lot more children who would have (understandably) gone waaaaaay farther than Selkie has when put under that sort of sustained hate campaign. Especially with zero adult support. Heck, given Todd seems eager to sweep everything that’s happened under the rug and start afresh without ever addressing the past and the damage it’s done, I’d actually say she’s got negative adult support there, poor thing.
And Dave doesn’t have to explicitly show us Amanda still bullying Selkie, devoting multiple pages to each incident to get the point across. That single panel does it perfectly well; that is, that the relationship between Selkie and Amanda is back to the status quo (read: Amanda being unfailingly hostile to Selkie any time she can get away with it) but the difference is now? It’s happening in her own house. In her safe space.
I will repeat; the adults need to get their heads out of their asses fast. The only reason Selkie took this long to break is because her normal meter is thoroughly fucked, and there’s something unrelentingly tragic about a little girl who doesn’t realise that not being able to get away from your bully in all aspects of your life (first the orphanage, now in Todd’s home) isn’t usual, and isn’t something she should have to put up with.
One option would be to hang out at a neutral spot, just go out for ice cream or movies with Amanda, don’t have her be over and expect Selkie to spend time with her in her own home.
Amanda being a nasty bullying little shit, however, most definitely is. And this was the one place in *years* where Selkie was finally safe from that, and now here she is again.
Its not kind of unfair, its monumentally unfair that the person who has been mercilessly tormenting Selkie for who knows how long now has been allowed to not simply be part of her life but has basically invaded her life and her father, the person she is supposed to be able to trust has allowed it to happen to a degree that he’s been actually neglecting her (not intentionally, but still happening) to focus on Amanda.
THAT is what Selkie should have lead with (though she’s in elementary school, so I understand she’s not quite up to that level of thinking perhaps just yet), that Todd hasn’t just been oblivious to how she feels but has forced her to accept her abuser and said abuser has not been disciplined or taught that treating Selkie as a monster is wrong, merely just not to do it when Todd is around.
Umm… Selkie has cried before in earlier strips. Like the time when her shirt got stolen and the time she got angry when she was told her saliva was poisonous.
Selkie is miserable and angry because:
– When Amanda fell asleep on the couch, Todd covered her up and tucked her in. But when Selkie was on the couch later, she was just lying there shivering and he didn’t even notice.
– Todd hasd been using “Sweetie” as his pet name for Selkie, making her feel special. Now she feel like she isn’t his special “Sweetie” anymore because he gave *her* pet name away to Amanda. She most likely wouldn’t have minded Todd giving Amanda a different pet name of her own, or at least not as much.
– I seem to recall a few more instances of Selkie having cause to feel replaced, but I don’t have time to review the strip right now.
Finally, in addition to her secret bullying, Amanda is well aware of all this and openly gloating about it (at Selkie only, ofc) every time the adults aren’t paying attention to the two of them.
Guuuuh, poor Selkie. Forced to share your home, the one place you should feel safe, with the one kid who has made it her mission in life to make yours miserable, and all the grownups are doing is ignore or worse, not even notice the problem? That sucks. I knew a kid like Amanda when I was that age, and thankfully I never had to let him into or even near my house; but I still wanted someone to drop a tungsten rod on him from orbit. Still do, in fact, thinking about it. Having no refuge from that little brat would have been agony.
Selkie is stuck between a rock named Todd and a hard place called Amanda, no doubt.
Todd has a real dilemma, doesn’t he? He has to do something NOW to make Selkie feel special and loved again, but he can’t do what she wants him to do, namely, reject Amanda. So what can he do?
He needs to come up with an immediate answer, and a long-term one.
For the moment, I’m hoping he’ll have a story from his own childhood that will help Selkie understand that she’s not being replaced. Because, look at this: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie75/ “Todd was our first child, and after him we adopted Marta…” Yeah, that moment there. He knows what it feels like.
What Selkie needs more than rejecting Amanda is some private fun time beyond tinseling the house. She needs to be put back up on the stage in Todd’s life. Much as I say trust is Amanda’s underlying issue, isolation is Selkie’s. She’s afraid of being alone because she is so much different than everyone else.
So as I said above, Todd needs to devote days, not just a day, but several days when it’s just the two of them to do whatever Selkie wants. She wants to try a new sushi place? Todd, you take her to a sushi place. An amusement park opens nearby? He’s going to the amusement park with her. Selkie needs a reassurance that Amanda is not going to take her place and sadly, Todd is such an idiot reading people that he has not reassured her. And Amanda is not helping the situation.
I should add that of course it’s not exactly the same. Amanda isn’t Marta. (Though…. come to think of it, we don’t know anything about what Marta was like when she was first adopted. Taking into account that even as an adult she’s the one who most often has to pay into the swear jar, it may be that she was a little hellion when she arrived.)
Anyway. The first and most important message Todd has to get across to Selkie is: “You are not being replaced. My heart has enough room in for two daughters. I care about both of you.”
The trouble is that, while parental love is not a zero-sum game, parental time and attention are. There are only 24 hours in a day. It’s very difficult not to give time and attention where they seem most needed, and let the child who seems to be doing more or less okay get the short end of the stick.
Let’s hope that, now he’s realized, he’ll start doing a better job.
Also, just in case everyone forgot since I’ve seen a couple assumptions on what Todd and Amanda have done. Aside from ‘hogging the couch’ as Selkie so nicely put it (I’d have said booted from the couch.) we’be not seen Amanda do anything else to Selkie at the house. Likewise we’ve not seen Todd coddle and fawn over Amanda and reject or neglect Selkie. This is all currently hearsay and assumptions. All we know for a fact is;
Amanda kicked Selkie off the couch and looked smug about it.
Selkie is jealous and possessive over her property.
Todd is oblivious about Selkie’s feelings.
That’s literally all we currently know about what’s gone on in the house. Now, we can all assume Amanda is being terrible to Selkie, but we don’t know if she’s being downright malicious and demeaning to Selkie or if she’s just making mean faces at her. Likewise we’ve no idea if SELKIE has instigated anything with Amanda over her growing anger and jealousy. She very well could be starting up the fights and Amanda is simply retaliating. I get that Amanda is sly and clever around adults and she’s probably not being a perfect little angel, but I truly think she wants to make a good impression with her father and is probably trying to somewhat behave.
Meamwhile, we get to see another side of Selkie. The side that could become very mean spirited. I’m actually GLAD we get to see Selkie be a little more human in terms of her actions. Selkie will not always be the clever, good little girl, she will be mean and get jealous. I like that. It’s good characterization.
I DO wish Todd would step it up and have a sit down with both girls, individually AND together though and with Andi and his parents present. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how this family needs to work out their problems and stop avoiding the subject and just ‘move forward’ in life. Moving forward is good, but only AFTER everyone has come to terms with the past.
Which no one has FLIPPING DONE YET! Except for maybe Andi. She’s currently trying to make up for her past mistakes and move forward. Granted, she’s had some missteps and falls along the way, but at least she’s trying in her own way. I do think she needs to have a serious talk with Amanda about her anger issues, Heather, Selkie, her bullying and her previous abuse though. Once she’s done that, I think she’s good to go.
We have limited information yes, but we can make educated guesses based on past behavior. And past behavior shows that Amanda has spent FOREVER tormenting Selkie and sees her as literally not a person but a monster, a freak, not worth respecting at all. Believing that she is still tormenting her is absolutely reasonable and unless and until Amanda has demonstrated different behavior I see no reason to assume she has changed.
As others have pointed out Selkies ONE safe space has now been invaded by her worst nightmare, the person who she has been abused by for ages. She finally had some happiness in her life, a place free from bullying and with a parent who loved her. That’s all been ripped away from her. But you would have us pretend that it’s both girls potentially at fault. Sometimes, often in fact one party does a little wrong because the other does a LOT wrong and the most unfair thing that parents end up doing, sometimes because they have no way of doing otherwise is to punish both equally. One of the things I hated most as a kid was having to get equal punishment when the other person was absolutely more at fault. I don’t blame Selkie one bit for lashing out. Her life went from happy to crappy in the blink of an eye and only Grandma seems to notice.
Everything you say is true. Selkie does have every reason to feel angry. Even if Amanda has not been doing any bullying at all since the big reveal, she’s still the unfriendly lifelong past tormentor suddenly present all the time in what used to be Selkie’s safe space. And nobody seemed to care.
And yet… and yet…
Todd can’t give her what she wants. She isn’t going to get a world in which Amanda is not her sister. She isn’t going to get a world where it’s just her and her Dads, ever again. The answer to healing one child’s hurt feelings can never be being cruel to another child.
Todd needs to teach Selkie all of this. I hope he doesn’t try to leap to the end, though, without first acknowledging her feelings as valid, and doing something about his own behaviour.
Todd should not simply abandon Amanda, but he should have before now and definitely now get to the bottom of what Amanda has been doing to Selkie and make it absolutely clear it must stop. He doesn’t have to do it in a way where he cuts Amanda off or is overly harsh with her, but he needs to SHOW not TELL Selkie that she matters, that what happened to her mattered and is not going to be forgotten and that their home IS going to be a safe space for her.
Yes, he’s not going to be able to give Selkie an Amanda free life, but he can absolutely make sure that having Amanda in her life isn’t going to be a continuation of the previous nightmare.
I don’t believe Todd’s actions up to this point have been an active effort to neglect and harm Selkie, but through ignorance, stupidity, and distraction of focusing on Amanda he has absolutely dropped the ball and its imperative that he make steps to fix that. If its just more “Amanda is my daughter two and both of you are going to have to be nice to each other” b.s. I see no reason why Selkie should forgive him or make any effort to continue to accommodate Amanda.
I never once insinuated that Selkie was at fault here. I did, however say she cannot be lead to believe she’s allowed to be possessive of someone who isn’t just hers. That will make her grow up to be a terrible person. She doesn’t have to accept Amanda as a sister and she doesn’t have to like that Amanda is around, but she does have to accept that Amanda is also Todd’s daughter and given the circumstances she has to be around when Selkie is around, lest either girl be neglected. Todd does need to spend time and talk with Selkie and reassure her that having another daughter doesn’t make her less important. But if he sent Selkie to be with her grandparents while Amanda visited, she’d feel pushed aside and neglected. If he didn’t spend time with Amanda, Amanda would feel as though he doesn’t care about her.
There’s no other option here other than to have outings or invite Amanda over to the house. TODD needs to be more aware of his surroundings and how Selkie feels. He’s done a bad job at that.
And no, we shouldn’t just assume Amanda is being horrid to Selkie. That makes us just as bad. We don’t know if she’s trying or not. I still think at the very least Amanda is a very clever and sly girl who is PROBABLY holding back so that she doesn’t get in trouble or make a bad impression on Todd. She’s probably done things similar to bumping her off the couch, making mean faces or namecalling but I doubt she’s said or done anything truly horrible to Selkie with Todd around. And if you seriously think making mean faces or sticling your tongue out at someone constitutes being horrible, then there’s something wrong with you, because they’re 9 and 9 year olds do that. The name calling is bad, because she’s intentionally being malicious there. Then again, my sister called me butthead or jerk and I didn’t hate her for the rest of my life. A little name calling is also normal. Malicious name calling is another thing entirely though.
What Amanda has done to Selkie goes far beyond simple name calling. She has lead a campaign of psychological and sometimes physical abuse against her. She ACTIVELY works to get people to believe Selkie is a monster. She routinely uses a derogatory term that is, in Selkie’s mind at least, essentially the equivalent of using the n-word. Of course kids can be cruel at times, but Amanda’s treatment of Selkie is sadistic and ongoing.
Further I think there is no reason to assume she is NOT still treating Selkie that way because we have been given no reason not to believe it. If you have a pattern of behavior and you want people to assume otherwise its incumbent on you to show it. So far we have no demonstration of Amanda changing her treatment of Selkie, in fact we have examples (limited though they may be) of her continuing to harass Selkie. So yeah we absolutely should assume that abuse is continuing, its the logical thing to do.
Of course Selkie wouldn’t set anyone on fire. She’s a water type! She’d rather have Amanda drowned, so she could be there, underwater, watching her rival suffocate…
I think she’s going to spit in someones face eventually first. That conversation she had with Sai Fen about spitting being very dangerous makes me think we’ll see the effects of it sooner or later.
I wonder if Selkie could have a talk with Andi to get a better look at why Amanda needs her father. Remember Andi talking with her mother before the adoption? She wants nothing to do with Amanda. “I said my goodbyes eight years ago.” Amanda and Andi would have no one but each other if not for Todd, Mari, and Theo. Amanda probably wouldn’t have the benefit of having caring grandparents at Christmas without them. My cousin had this ordeal, because his dad’s side of the family never sent him anything for any reason. The adults on his mom’s side, my aunt by blood, made sure that boy had as many presents as possible to show we thought about him.
SO! Instead spending my time sleeping, I just read 766 pages of a web comic! Life is good.
P.S. To the writer whos name I havnt looked up yet. This is one of the most well paced, themed, and topical stories I have ever seen. I would love to se this made directly into a live-action TV or web series, providing as few storie changes as possible. Thank you for your creation and I hope all is well for you and your family.
So…. Nobody ever should Todd that demonstration analogy with the candles? The one where a parent explains to a kid who is scared they won’t be loved anymore that the parent has enough love for them and the new sibling.
“This candle represents me, the flame is my love.” Uses first candle to light a second candle. “This candle is you, the flame is my fatherly/motherly love for you.” Uses first candle to light a third candle. “This candle is [new sibling], my love didn’t go out when I gave it to [new sibling], and your candle is still lit, too.”
I really hope someone knows what I’m talking about.
Whelp… it’s okay, I absolutely didn’t need my heart…. you can just sweep all the pieces of it into the corner now…
If you’re not using it Sue could use it: http://sueandkathryn.com/comic/sue-and-kathryn-57/
Then Sue (a zombie) wanting your heart reminded me of ‘The Zombie Song’. It’s a love song (!) with lines like “If I were a zombie, I’d never eat your brains. I’d just want your heart. Yeah, I’d want your heart. I’d just want your heart.”
Proportions look off in that second frame.
If that’s a standard 6’8″ door, it looks to be about 4′ wide. Way big for an interior door. Worse though, is it appears when Todd stans up he will be taller than the door.
First frame the doorknob is higher than his head. Second frame it’s even with his nose. Third frame splits the difference. 😛
It’s all right. At any time, his eyebrows may need that headroom.
Nah, he’s just got little tiny velociraptor thighs.
At this point in time, I know EXACTLY what she feels like. My step-sister (no blood relation, from step-moms previous relationship) and I have the SAME name, so I know exactly what it feels like to be replaced. Never wanted to set her on fire but there were times I let her spoiled ass cry because I wouldn’t give her the colored pencils I’d bought myself with money I earned from my job when she, at the age of 4, would just break more of them. I got in major trouble when my stepmother asked why little sis was crying and I wasn’t comforting her to make her feel better. It was always like that- if the little princess didn’t get what she wanted, there was pain involved in some way or another for the myself or my two brothers.
Selkie has every right to feel like she’s being replaced and that’s really difficult to work through. I hope Todd takes this outburst and sees that he’s been, in her eyes, replacing her. I hope he does what my paternal unit never did for me and take her side, remind her that he picked her and wanted her and loves her.
I will admit, when I pointed out as an adult that I, as the eldest child, get to pick the nursing home, I saw both dad and stepmother blanch in an “oh shit” kind of way. That was darkly satisfying.
While “I am stuck with her, I choose you” is technically true I don’t think that’s the right thing for either of the girls to hear now (or ever really).
4 year olds are naturally self-centered. Your stepsister was probably about as miserable as you—maybe more since you were old enough to get what was going on, but she wasn’t.
This is true. The point still stands, though, that the step mother could have helped both girls come to a better relationship, and didn’t.
This is exactly true, and I agree 100% the stepmother (and probably father) probably should have been more proactive in positive ways.
But it bothers me when people put hate on small kids—even during childhood misunderstandings when it is obvious they are (and were) old enough to know it wasn’t their younger siblings’ fault.
I’ve seen that kind of misplaced hostility too often continue during adulthood turning child abuse placed onto other children from insecure adults who think children are conniving manipulators are out to get them.
This is why I call people out on it when I see it. It does no one (including the hurt adult child) any good believing a young child hurt them on purpose or enabling someone to believe that.
I was 15, had been moved from California to Texas with 2 weeks warning and I admit I had a difficult time finding sympathy for a 4 year old that got whatever she wanted (including an allowance when I didn’t get one at all). I had to get a job at 15 to pay for my own food, clothing, etc. for the most part while my dad brought in a 6 figure income. I paid my own car insurance when I was learning to drive or I couldn’t drive. My brothers and I were in a cycle of “which kid does she hate this week” from my step-mom that my dad never stopped. So yeah, while a normal situation 15 year old should have sympathy for a 4 year old crying sibling I didn’t because she knew it’ll get me in trouble, she said so.
Now, at 33, I paid for my own college, my own housing, etc, didn’t get a dime from my parents. They’re paying for over half of her out of state tuition, most of her housing and a trip to Europe for her. I’m not close to my stepsister, she was 6 when I left for the military to get away from that household. I still think she’s spoiled, but she’s turning into an okay adult.
Vixandra– I’m sorry. It sounded like you had a pretty standard Golden Child (step sister) Scape Goat (you/brothers) relationship that your parents only aggravated. Don’t know if either of them can be considered a Narcissist (though Step-Mom’s hate cycle certainly hints at that with your father being an Enabler) but there’s a lot of families that are like yours.
Trying to explain just how incredibly unfair the way you were raised vs. your stepsister to normal people usually ends up with them accidentally defending the Golden Child/Parent because sometimes you can’t make things 100% fair in a house. THAT’S normal. Blatantly favoring a child while emotionally damaging the other, is NOT. What you went through was beyond skewed, and I’m sorry.
Just felt the need to say something. The “I had a normal childhood and don’t believe parents can genuinely be abusive” mentality seemed to outweigh genuine understanding of your situation.
That’s really rough. My cousin grew up in a family like that and was literally forced to pay rent (from her asshole father) when she was 15. I really don’t understand why people bother having kids when they only tie them to the relationships with their spouses/ex-spouses. They should just get a houseplant. A plastic one.
But it’s still not your stepsister’s fault. Hate on your stepmom. Hate your dad. Let go of hate/resentment for a child so young. Most kids have their “bratty” moments—especially when their parents do not set healthy boundaries and show love properly (though action instead of “stuff”). Think of the kind of kid she would have been if your stepmom was actually kind, present and set boundaries. It was not her fault. Though who she is now is her responsibility.
I can understand the anger. I had a stepsister too. She was just a year younger than me. It’s very easy to feel your space invaded in divorce—especially when your parents are being idiots. My mom? She sent me to my grandparents for the summer, left my dad while I was gone, and when I came back? She was already dating other men—including my stepfather who she had invited to our house (before she left my dad).
My first birthday I was forced to share my bedroom with his daughter (my future stepsister). In the middle of the night, we got into a huge fight. She threatened to jump out of the window in my attic bedroom. I stole money from her before she left the next day. It was a nightmare!
Can you believe she is one of the few people in my family I actually have a relationship with? It’s a very distant relationship and we are very different people, but it’s there. We were horrid to each other, but it was our parents’ fault. If they spent a fraction of the time actually paying attention to their kids as they did smoking pot and making drama we’d probably would have been somewhat civil and kind to one another.
Thanks Gabeses and Dotcom. I don’t begrudge her for the living situation, that blame falls on my paternal and maternal units. Little Sis made dream catchers and custom sneakers for my boys when they were born. We just aren’t close, I’m not close to most of my blood or step kin except my aunt And maternal grandmother. I just find it irking that my dad gets put in financial difficulty because she choose to go out of state school.
I’m trying to raise my boys with love, consistency and respect that goes both ways. It’s not always easy but I’m doing my best.
Ohoho so it’s less the fact that she just doesn’t like Amanda and more of the fact that Selkie does not want to share what she deems as hers and only hers. It probably doesn’t help that Amanda isn’t her bestest friend in the whole wide world either though.
Sorry to break it to you Selkie, but he is just as much as Amanda’s father as he is yours. Even Amanda has recognized the fact that Todd is also Selkie’s dad, even if she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to accept it, she knows it. She can hate it all she wants, but she’s aware Todd is Selkie’s dad too.
Hopefully Todd tells Selkie as much. That he is BOTH their fathe whether or not the other one likes it. Selkie doesn’t have to accept Amanda as a sister right off the bat, but she does have to accept that Todd isn’t hers and only hers.
It is kind of unfair for Selkie having someone she hates in her personal space pretty much constantly, or looking forward to Christmas with her family and then this stranger gets to invade that too. Home should be where you feel safe and comfortable and not always on guard.
I can relate to this from when my mother was dating some guy, it’s not even that I disliked him, but it did mean that when he was over I suddenly had to pay attention in my own house so I don’t say, run into him when I’m coming out of the shower in only a towel.
I’m honestly not sure what the right solution here is, but I think Selkie is at least partly justified in her anger.
Oh its alright that she’s upset. It’s just, maybe now she understands a bit more why Amanda was upset too. Both girls have to realize you don’t always get your way. And yeah, it sucks Selkie feels like she’s being invaded in her own home, but that isn’t Amanda’s fault. I’m sure she’d like to not have Selkie around as well, but Todd can’t always send Selkie away when Amanda is around or she really WILL feel as if she’s being replaced. Likewise if he doesn’t spend time with Amanda he risks alienating her as well. The best compromise is have Amanda come over to the house.
Amanda has just as much as a right to see her father. Hell, she could feel arguably worse than Selkie, because she’s just ‘a visitor’ in her father’s life. She doesn’t get to live with her dad, she gets to visit him, while, in her eyes, someone who isn’t truly his daughter gets to live with him in his home. I mean, both girls are getting a pretty bad deal here in terms of feelings. There’s not a whole lot to be done about until someone decides to talk to both girls at once and explain the situation.
But everyone is too stupid to do that. It would’ve been the first thing I’d have done once I’d realized what the situation was. Get everyone’s problems sorted out and explain the rights and wrongs on all parties.
If I was Todd, I would take Selkie into my arms, kiss her forehead to show her how much I care that I was willing to put my health on the line to comfort her. Then explain that nothing could change the fact that she’s my daughter. That all that has happened now is I have another daughter, but I do not love one more than the other.
Then spend afternoons when it is just the two of us letting her pick the activity, let her pick the way the day goes without Amanda, without Andi, without anyone. Just me and Selkie.
Actually, it is Amanda’s fault, at least in part. Selkie is generally a well balanced kid. She might have had these feelings to one degree or another regardless, but they are of this magnitude because her space hasn’t just been invaded, its been invaded by an overtly hostile force that is doing her best to make Selkie miserable. Which at least some of the adults know about and what have they done to address the systematic and constant bullying? Nothing.
So, Amanda’s fault for being so incorrigibly awful to Selkie. Adul’ts fault for not paying attention to this stuff. And a different set ot adult’s fault that Amanda has such a hate for Selkie in the first place, because it doesn’t matter if some new interesting alien gets dumped on your orphanage doorstep, that doesn’t just mean you can up and ignore the emotional needs of the other children in your care because something shinier turned up; you have a responsibility to all kids you’re responsible for. That last is on the orphanage staff, and they fucked up big
“Which at least some of the adults know about and what have they done to address the systematic and constant bullying? Nothing.”
Spot. On. This is what has bothering me soooo much about this thread of the comic. Not to mention when one person FINALLY tried to stand up and get the other adults to hold Amanda accountable for her awful behavior it basically gotten forgotten thanks to, well Amanda’s behavior. Granted he didn’t do it in the most diplomatic fashion, but honestly Amanda keeps doing terrible things to people and the consequences have been:
1. Gets forgiven without apologizing (but gets apologized TO)
2. Gets ground for one week for physically assaulting someone
3. Gets ice cream for getting drunk
Its driving me insane!
I’m just glad I’m not the only person who isn’t jumping on the Amanda Bandwagon.
Oh, I am not on Amanda’s band wagon. I just see her on the path I took so I sympathize with her and know it can get worse.
As for your issues, Heather needed to be the first to apologize as that duo of actions was started by her.
The second I can’t condone so I wont.
And the third was not about the drinking, it was about showing her she is not going to be cast away.
Parenting is an odd balance in situations between punishment and comfort. One must look at the underlying issues and fix those. For Amanda the underlying issue is trust. If they can get through to her, show she can trust again, all your problems with her, and everyone else’s problems with her will go away. If they don’t get fixed, trust me, she will get a lot worse. A whole lot worse.
All of this!!! Why the heck is Amanda getting off scot free for all the hell she had put Selkie through in the past (and present though they seem oblivious to that fact.) I’ve been reading for years now and this latest story line has been getting me closer and closer to doping the comic. Everything the adults are doing is for there own selfish convenience. Not a single action or thought has been given to how much this would be hurting Selkie. Not a single thought has been put to addressing the conflict between the girls beyond scolding them for fighting. “It takes two to fight.” Why would Selkie ever speak up about being harassed or bullied when she gets in just as much trouble as the one doing the harassing? Is the most horrific victim blaming attitude and that seems to be how the adults are treating this situation. Keep them from openly hating each-other and problems solved as fare as the adults are concerned its pure selfish and cruel.
Selkie isn’t speaking up because she’s been putting up with it for years. She thinks it’s normal. She doesn’t realise that adults should protect you from bullies and make them stop because no one has ever done it for her, they’ve just told her to be quiet and, at best, put surfactual fixes in place. Todd is now just doing the same thing.
Selkie’s not the most well balanced kid as you put it. She’s vengeful, spiteful, and aggressive. In fact the only time her family has seen her and Amanda fight was when she attacked Amanda.
Also I doubt Amanda has done any real bullying to Selkie recently because I think Dave would have shown something worse than Amanda bumping her off the couch a few pages back.
If you honestly think that some of Selkie’s outbursts aren’t par for the course for the average 10 year old, you haven’t spent much time around kids. I have seen a lot more children who would have (understandably) gone waaaaaay farther than Selkie has when put under that sort of sustained hate campaign. Especially with zero adult support. Heck, given Todd seems eager to sweep everything that’s happened under the rug and start afresh without ever addressing the past and the damage it’s done, I’d actually say she’s got negative adult support there, poor thing.
And Dave doesn’t have to explicitly show us Amanda still bullying Selkie, devoting multiple pages to each incident to get the point across. That single panel does it perfectly well; that is, that the relationship between Selkie and Amanda is back to the status quo (read: Amanda being unfailingly hostile to Selkie any time she can get away with it) but the difference is now? It’s happening in her own house. In her safe space.
I will repeat; the adults need to get their heads out of their asses fast. The only reason Selkie took this long to break is because her normal meter is thoroughly fucked, and there’s something unrelentingly tragic about a little girl who doesn’t realise that not being able to get away from your bully in all aspects of your life (first the orphanage, now in Todd’s home) isn’t usual, and isn’t something she should have to put up with.
One option would be to hang out at a neutral spot, just go out for ice cream or movies with Amanda, don’t have her be over and expect Selkie to spend time with her in her own home.
“Being invaded” isn’t Amanda’s fault, no.
Amanda being a nasty bullying little shit, however, most definitely is. And this was the one place in *years* where Selkie was finally safe from that, and now here she is again.
She’s beyond upset, and with good reason.
Its not kind of unfair, its monumentally unfair that the person who has been mercilessly tormenting Selkie for who knows how long now has been allowed to not simply be part of her life but has basically invaded her life and her father, the person she is supposed to be able to trust has allowed it to happen to a degree that he’s been actually neglecting her (not intentionally, but still happening) to focus on Amanda.
THAT is what Selkie should have lead with (though she’s in elementary school, so I understand she’s not quite up to that level of thinking perhaps just yet), that Todd hasn’t just been oblivious to how she feels but has forced her to accept her abuser and said abuser has not been disciplined or taught that treating Selkie as a monster is wrong, merely just not to do it when Todd is around.
Glad this finally came out, now hoping Todd won’t make it worse somehow. Fingers crossed.
Oh, God, the tears. I wouldn’t have expected that Selkie could cry but she obviously can and this is just tearing her apart.
Umm… Selkie has cried before in earlier strips. Like the time when her shirt got stolen and the time she got angry when she was told her saliva was poisonous.
Selkie is miserable and angry because:
– When Amanda fell asleep on the couch, Todd covered her up and tucked her in. But when Selkie was on the couch later, she was just lying there shivering and he didn’t even notice.
– Todd hasd been using “Sweetie” as his pet name for Selkie, making her feel special. Now she feel like she isn’t his special “Sweetie” anymore because he gave *her* pet name away to Amanda. She most likely wouldn’t have minded Todd giving Amanda a different pet name of her own, or at least not as much.
– I seem to recall a few more instances of Selkie having cause to feel replaced, but I don’t have time to review the strip right now.
Finally, in addition to her secret bullying, Amanda is well aware of all this and openly gloating about it (at Selkie only, ofc) every time the adults aren’t paying attention to the two of them.
Amanda is a bully and an all around horrible person. Forcing her to be part of Selkie’s family is blatant cruelty.
Guuuuh, poor Selkie. Forced to share your home, the one place you should feel safe, with the one kid who has made it her mission in life to make yours miserable, and all the grownups are doing is ignore or worse, not even notice the problem? That sucks. I knew a kid like Amanda when I was that age, and thankfully I never had to let him into or even near my house; but I still wanted someone to drop a tungsten rod on him from orbit. Still do, in fact, thinking about it. Having no refuge from that little brat would have been agony.
Selkie is stuck between a rock named Todd and a hard place called Amanda, no doubt.
Todd has a real dilemma, doesn’t he? He has to do something NOW to make Selkie feel special and loved again, but he can’t do what she wants him to do, namely, reject Amanda. So what can he do?
He needs to come up with an immediate answer, and a long-term one.
For the moment, I’m hoping he’ll have a story from his own childhood that will help Selkie understand that she’s not being replaced. Because, look at this: https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie75/ “Todd was our first child, and after him we adopted Marta…” Yeah, that moment there. He knows what it feels like.
What Selkie needs more than rejecting Amanda is some private fun time beyond tinseling the house. She needs to be put back up on the stage in Todd’s life. Much as I say trust is Amanda’s underlying issue, isolation is Selkie’s. She’s afraid of being alone because she is so much different than everyone else.
So as I said above, Todd needs to devote days, not just a day, but several days when it’s just the two of them to do whatever Selkie wants. She wants to try a new sushi place? Todd, you take her to a sushi place. An amusement park opens nearby? He’s going to the amusement park with her. Selkie needs a reassurance that Amanda is not going to take her place and sadly, Todd is such an idiot reading people that he has not reassured her. And Amanda is not helping the situation.
I should add that of course it’s not exactly the same. Amanda isn’t Marta. (Though…. come to think of it, we don’t know anything about what Marta was like when she was first adopted. Taking into account that even as an adult she’s the one who most often has to pay into the swear jar, it may be that she was a little hellion when she arrived.)
Anyway. The first and most important message Todd has to get across to Selkie is: “You are not being replaced. My heart has enough room in for two daughters. I care about both of you.”
The trouble is that, while parental love is not a zero-sum game, parental time and attention are. There are only 24 hours in a day. It’s very difficult not to give time and attention where they seem most needed, and let the child who seems to be doing more or less okay get the short end of the stick.
Let’s hope that, now he’s realized, he’ll start doing a better job.
Also, just in case everyone forgot since I’ve seen a couple assumptions on what Todd and Amanda have done. Aside from ‘hogging the couch’ as Selkie so nicely put it (I’d have said booted from the couch.) we’be not seen Amanda do anything else to Selkie at the house. Likewise we’ve not seen Todd coddle and fawn over Amanda and reject or neglect Selkie. This is all currently hearsay and assumptions. All we know for a fact is;
Amanda kicked Selkie off the couch and looked smug about it.
Selkie is jealous and possessive over her property.
Todd is oblivious about Selkie’s feelings.
That’s literally all we currently know about what’s gone on in the house. Now, we can all assume Amanda is being terrible to Selkie, but we don’t know if she’s being downright malicious and demeaning to Selkie or if she’s just making mean faces at her. Likewise we’ve no idea if SELKIE has instigated anything with Amanda over her growing anger and jealousy. She very well could be starting up the fights and Amanda is simply retaliating. I get that Amanda is sly and clever around adults and she’s probably not being a perfect little angel, but I truly think she wants to make a good impression with her father and is probably trying to somewhat behave.
Meamwhile, we get to see another side of Selkie. The side that could become very mean spirited. I’m actually GLAD we get to see Selkie be a little more human in terms of her actions. Selkie will not always be the clever, good little girl, she will be mean and get jealous. I like that. It’s good characterization.
I DO wish Todd would step it up and have a sit down with both girls, individually AND together though and with Andi and his parents present. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how this family needs to work out their problems and stop avoiding the subject and just ‘move forward’ in life. Moving forward is good, but only AFTER everyone has come to terms with the past.
Which no one has FLIPPING DONE YET! Except for maybe Andi. She’s currently trying to make up for her past mistakes and move forward. Granted, she’s had some missteps and falls along the way, but at least she’s trying in her own way. I do think she needs to have a serious talk with Amanda about her anger issues, Heather, Selkie, her bullying and her previous abuse though. Once she’s done that, I think she’s good to go.
We have limited information yes, but we can make educated guesses based on past behavior. And past behavior shows that Amanda has spent FOREVER tormenting Selkie and sees her as literally not a person but a monster, a freak, not worth respecting at all. Believing that she is still tormenting her is absolutely reasonable and unless and until Amanda has demonstrated different behavior I see no reason to assume she has changed.
As others have pointed out Selkies ONE safe space has now been invaded by her worst nightmare, the person who she has been abused by for ages. She finally had some happiness in her life, a place free from bullying and with a parent who loved her. That’s all been ripped away from her. But you would have us pretend that it’s both girls potentially at fault. Sometimes, often in fact one party does a little wrong because the other does a LOT wrong and the most unfair thing that parents end up doing, sometimes because they have no way of doing otherwise is to punish both equally. One of the things I hated most as a kid was having to get equal punishment when the other person was absolutely more at fault. I don’t blame Selkie one bit for lashing out. Her life went from happy to crappy in the blink of an eye and only Grandma seems to notice.
Everything you say is true. Selkie does have every reason to feel angry. Even if Amanda has not been doing any bullying at all since the big reveal, she’s still the unfriendly lifelong past tormentor suddenly present all the time in what used to be Selkie’s safe space. And nobody seemed to care.
And yet… and yet…
Todd can’t give her what she wants. She isn’t going to get a world in which Amanda is not her sister. She isn’t going to get a world where it’s just her and her Dads, ever again. The answer to healing one child’s hurt feelings can never be being cruel to another child.
Todd needs to teach Selkie all of this. I hope he doesn’t try to leap to the end, though, without first acknowledging her feelings as valid, and doing something about his own behaviour.
Todd should not simply abandon Amanda, but he should have before now and definitely now get to the bottom of what Amanda has been doing to Selkie and make it absolutely clear it must stop. He doesn’t have to do it in a way where he cuts Amanda off or is overly harsh with her, but he needs to SHOW not TELL Selkie that she matters, that what happened to her mattered and is not going to be forgotten and that their home IS going to be a safe space for her.
Yes, he’s not going to be able to give Selkie an Amanda free life, but he can absolutely make sure that having Amanda in her life isn’t going to be a continuation of the previous nightmare.
I don’t believe Todd’s actions up to this point have been an active effort to neglect and harm Selkie, but through ignorance, stupidity, and distraction of focusing on Amanda he has absolutely dropped the ball and its imperative that he make steps to fix that. If its just more “Amanda is my daughter two and both of you are going to have to be nice to each other” b.s. I see no reason why Selkie should forgive him or make any effort to continue to accommodate Amanda.
I never once insinuated that Selkie was at fault here. I did, however say she cannot be lead to believe she’s allowed to be possessive of someone who isn’t just hers. That will make her grow up to be a terrible person. She doesn’t have to accept Amanda as a sister and she doesn’t have to like that Amanda is around, but she does have to accept that Amanda is also Todd’s daughter and given the circumstances she has to be around when Selkie is around, lest either girl be neglected. Todd does need to spend time and talk with Selkie and reassure her that having another daughter doesn’t make her less important. But if he sent Selkie to be with her grandparents while Amanda visited, she’d feel pushed aside and neglected. If he didn’t spend time with Amanda, Amanda would feel as though he doesn’t care about her.
There’s no other option here other than to have outings or invite Amanda over to the house. TODD needs to be more aware of his surroundings and how Selkie feels. He’s done a bad job at that.
And no, we shouldn’t just assume Amanda is being horrid to Selkie. That makes us just as bad. We don’t know if she’s trying or not. I still think at the very least Amanda is a very clever and sly girl who is PROBABLY holding back so that she doesn’t get in trouble or make a bad impression on Todd. She’s probably done things similar to bumping her off the couch, making mean faces or namecalling but I doubt she’s said or done anything truly horrible to Selkie with Todd around. And if you seriously think making mean faces or sticling your tongue out at someone constitutes being horrible, then there’s something wrong with you, because they’re 9 and 9 year olds do that. The name calling is bad, because she’s intentionally being malicious there. Then again, my sister called me butthead or jerk and I didn’t hate her for the rest of my life. A little name calling is also normal. Malicious name calling is another thing entirely though.
What Amanda has done to Selkie goes far beyond simple name calling. She has lead a campaign of psychological and sometimes physical abuse against her. She ACTIVELY works to get people to believe Selkie is a monster. She routinely uses a derogatory term that is, in Selkie’s mind at least, essentially the equivalent of using the n-word. Of course kids can be cruel at times, but Amanda’s treatment of Selkie is sadistic and ongoing.
Further I think there is no reason to assume she is NOT still treating Selkie that way because we have been given no reason not to believe it. If you have a pattern of behavior and you want people to assume otherwise its incumbent on you to show it. So far we have no demonstration of Amanda changing her treatment of Selkie, in fact we have examples (limited though they may be) of her continuing to harass Selkie. So yeah we absolutely should assume that abuse is continuing, its the logical thing to do.
Of course Selkie wouldn’t set anyone on fire. She’s a water type! She’d rather have Amanda drowned, so she could be there, underwater, watching her rival suffocate…
Just wait till she learns how to do green sarnothi lasers… Let’s hope Amanda stops being a bully by then. 😀
I think she’s going to spit in someones face eventually first. That conversation she had with Sai Fen about spitting being very dangerous makes me think we’ll see the effects of it sooner or later.
I wonder if Selkie could have a talk with Andi to get a better look at why Amanda needs her father. Remember Andi talking with her mother before the adoption? She wants nothing to do with Amanda. “I said my goodbyes eight years ago.” Amanda and Andi would have no one but each other if not for Todd, Mari, and Theo. Amanda probably wouldn’t have the benefit of having caring grandparents at Christmas without them. My cousin had this ordeal, because his dad’s side of the family never sent him anything for any reason. The adults on his mom’s side, my aunt by blood, made sure that boy had as many presents as possible to show we thought about him.
SO! Instead spending my time sleeping, I just read 766 pages of a web comic! Life is good.
P.S. To the writer whos name I havnt looked up yet. This is one of the most well paced, themed, and topical stories I have ever seen. I would love to se this made directly into a live-action TV or web series, providing as few storie changes as possible. Thank you for your creation and I hope all is well for you and your family.
Well, Amanda does have flaming red hair…
As they say, suddenly getting a second daughter is a lot like suddenly getting a second wife.
So…. Nobody ever should Todd that demonstration analogy with the candles? The one where a parent explains to a kid who is scared they won’t be loved anymore that the parent has enough love for them and the new sibling.
“This candle represents me, the flame is my love.” Uses first candle to light a second candle. “This candle is you, the flame is my fatherly/motherly love for you.” Uses first candle to light a third candle. “This candle is [new sibling], my love didn’t go out when I gave it to [new sibling], and your candle is still lit, too.”
I really hope someone knows what I’m talking about.