Selkie,you could ask your Dad? This is just kinda weird. :/ Like maybe sarnothi get really protective of their young during this? ….oh yeah,they’re predators. So they probably are.
Not weird at all. Why would she expect Todd to have any details about the way Sarnothi babies are fed? All he’s got are the same two words she heard herself: “Boobs, mostly.” This is as new to him as it is to her, and she knows it. If he tried to tell her based on what humans do, he’d be making it up. She’s eight, she’s curious, she wants to see for herself.
And she’s a predator by nature too. This is her species she’s wanting to find out about. She’s not afraid of Sai Fen.
Naughty? Yes, of course. She knows perfectly well she’s not supposed to do this. Impolite? Yup, that too; she knows it’s rude to peek at things people don’t want you to see. Weird? To me that would mean not understandable.
This isn’t weird or creepy the way it would be if an adult did it. She’s eight, and the way she sees it, this is about her – about who she is and where she came from and what she was like as a baby. To her, the opportunity to find out for sure about this aspect of her own life is much more important than “tsk, tsk, that’s not polite.”
How would she know? Much less how would Todd know? She’s been raised by humans and probably thought herself a mammal with all the associated things prior to meeting Pohl and his family.
I’ve nursed two kids myself and if a kid was curious I explained what was going on. Only happened once with a buddies kid but still explained its how babies eat (though nothing wrong with bottle/formula feeding, whatever gets your kid the food they need to thrive, go for it.) Selkie has probably seen a human mom feeding her kid before or seen one of those silly puberty videos schools show.
Wonder how puberty works for them… Amanda might be in for some trouble if she snarks at Selkie in a predatory moody teenage mood.
“Boobs mostly” gee. She made it obvious that it’s like humans. So I’m guessing it’s basically the same mechanics. Like. Seriously. Todd can tell her that. And a certain doctor can correct him if he is wrong.
As far as I can see, a certain doctor does NOT want to elaborate:) Methinks there be a reason for that and Selkie is about to show us through her curiosity. I see nothing wrong with the strip at all:)
Mistakes are about to be made. Although it probably won’t hurt in the long run. Selkie’s got to learn this aspect of her biology eventually.
If Sarnothi are really that protective, it seems like a bad move on their part to have invited Todd and Selkie in the first place. This should pan out okay.
So this could go one of two ways. Either our little miss will learn about breast feeding, or (more likely in my opinion) she’ll get a first hand look at the green energy her people use, when the mother lifts/drains the water out enough for her to get in. Place your bets!
That was my first thought, too. She will see some green magic. Cats will escape from bags. Sai Fen will catch her watching, and because Sai Fen is the pretty much the opposite of secretive, she will tell Selkie more than the government wants her to know.
Actually (and this is JUST my opinion!) I’m rather disappointed that Selki was not invited to stay. Human girls (along with females of other social primates) generally benefit from being around mothers being good mothers, for when and IF they choose to be mothers themselves. I thought that was a big reason Todd and Selkie were invited. And, since I would highly doubt Selkie will be able to go to the corner store for Sarnothi formula should she have the opportunity to be a mother and choose to do so, I personally would think Selki would benefit greatly from seeing ALL aspects of infant care first hand. She is not human. Seeing human mothers care for newborns, with umbilical stump, no teeth (generally), diapers, complete helplessness and complete immobility, just may not translate well for her to just what the dickens SHE should do when her own tiny one is swimming around with this big tooth in front and hungry! Where ever she is as a new mom, Sarnothi mom in human society, or Sarnothi mom with human family having returned (somehow) to Sarnothi society, she is going to have PLENTY of potential opportunities to feel awkward and unsure of herself. Anything that can be done to reduce that would seem, to me anyway, to be a very good move for her, and for her potential offspring. Like I already said, I thought that was the reason she and Todd were invited, to give her exposure to how her biological people do this whole “baby thing”.
As a mom of two I will say that the first feeding isn’t always one you want an audience for. Completely aside from the fact that it’s a big moment of mother child bonding some kids are better at latching on than others. With my first child no problem. With my second it was seriously painful (tiny mouth, couldn’t open wide enough, required some boob acrobatics to get her to take it) and I was very thankful that my other child didn’t witness that as it would have concerned and even frightened him a bit.
Trust the Sarnothi Dad on this one and give them privacy.
There will be plenty of opportunities later for them to teach Selkie these things.
Time to learn that sarnothi mothers regurgitate their own stomachs so that their young can feed from the half-digested detritus that clings to the lining.
Back when she was with her mother, Selkie was an only child. In the orphanage any babies would have been bottle-fed. When would she have had the chance to find out?
And, sure, she could ask now, but why settle for mere words that could be the kind of fibs or partial truths people often tell kids, when there’s this chance to find out for herself, for sure, with her own eyes? Naughty, absolutely. A skeeze? Tch. That’s projecting adult motives onto a child.
Mind you, I think what’ll happen is she’s going to stumble upon something quite different. She’s going to see Sai Fen using the Sarnothi green magic.
What the hell is with everyone screaming about “magic”? At what point has the comic hinted to exposing magic.
If anything, Selkie’s race is alien in nature, but I’m on the fence about that. Instead I just choose to believe they have advanced technology or something.
At no point has the comic demonstrated literal magic.
I was using the word loosely, as in: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from…”
I only meant it as a shorthand way of referencing “all that mysterious green and black Sarnothi stuff that hasn’t been explained yet.” Sorry for any confusion!
When we say sarnothi magic we mean that green glowy stuff they have been shown to be able to do, like when Pohl was telling his son a story and made images to go along with it appear, the glowy toy Selkie’s mom made for her in the flashback, as well as Sai Fen’s knife.
Yeah. It’s possible there’s a non-superpowers explanation for that stuff, but as presented so far, it’s superpowers, and “magic” is as good a term for it as anything else.
You know, my first thought last page when Sai Fen said “boobs mostly” was- Jeez I hope that egg-tooth sheds quick then! Because Owww!
Now I’m thinking- they’re carnivores, what if the egg-tooth (and later other very pointy teeth) means that baby Sarnothi suckle milk AND blood from their mothers? Would explain why she didn’t want to traumatize the human and the human-raised by it. Can’t wait for weds.
I can’t help buy think that if his had been the same situation, but with Amanda instead, people would be saying what an invasion of privacy and blatant disregard for authority this is.
It is both, who’s saying otherwise? That said attitude does matter. When Amanda acts up it’s usually with anger or malice, in this case it does not look like Selkie’s doing it to hurt anyone, and while what she is doing IS wrong, she likely does not realize just how big of a deal something like this is and why.
No one in particular. I just thought I’d point out the double standard. If this had been Amanda, I’m almost positive half the comments would be about how she’s a terrible little brat who’s invading someone’s privacy. Even if she did it out of genuine curiosity.
Yea, I just think everyone acknowledges that, at least I’d think they would. 🙂
She definitely should have a stern talking to about it at the least, what she is doing is definitely wrong and should be addressed when the adults find out.
And Selkie may not realize what she’s doing is a bigger deal than she thinks it is, but you can tell by her smug look she thinks she’s outsmarted everyone and she’s very aware she’s doing wrong and yet still choosing to do it. What she’s doing is lying and an invasion of privacy simply because she wants to get her way. It’s not necessarily malicious, but as she’s doing it to satisfy her own curiosity and with such a look on her face, it’s definitely not just her being innocently curious. This is Selkie being a sneaky little brat in her own right.
I should have said this instead. I knew there was something off about this. But yeah. Let’s hope Selkie gets a stern talking to about respecting other’s privacy.
But Amanda is a human. Selkie is another species entirely, who didn’t even know what she was until recently. Pohl’s family is her only oppotunity to learn about her own biology, in a human-world.
If Amanda had peeked on Sai Fen, yes, Amanda is a butt. But Amanda has not, and will likely not any time soon, been introduced to any of this. If Amanda wanted to peek at a human mother and baby, that might be different. But Amanda strikes me as the type who would scoff, be disgusted at all of it, and ignore them, even if it were humans.
…
I had JUST left a comment on the last page about maturity being measurable by one’s willingness to put aside their own curiosity out of respect for another’s privacy.
Selkie,you could ask your Dad? This is just kinda weird. :/ Like maybe sarnothi get really protective of their young during this? ….oh yeah,they’re predators. So they probably are.
Not weird at all. Why would she expect Todd to have any details about the way Sarnothi babies are fed? All he’s got are the same two words she heard herself: “Boobs, mostly.” This is as new to him as it is to her, and she knows it. If he tried to tell her based on what humans do, he’d be making it up. She’s eight, she’s curious, she wants to see for herself.
And she’s a predator by nature too. This is her species she’s wanting to find out about. She’s not afraid of Sai Fen.
It’s a tiny bit weird to spy on someone breastfeeding when you can ask. Like there is another sarnothi. :/
Naughty? Yes, of course. She knows perfectly well she’s not supposed to do this. Impolite? Yup, that too; she knows it’s rude to peek at things people don’t want you to see. Weird? To me that would mean not understandable.
This isn’t weird or creepy the way it would be if an adult did it. She’s eight, and the way she sees it, this is about her – about who she is and where she came from and what she was like as a baby. To her, the opportunity to find out for sure about this aspect of her own life is much more important than “tsk, tsk, that’s not polite.”
Except it isn’t really…whatever. I don’t care. You go with whatever you want.
Well now, she should really know better, both how babies are fed and not to peek…
That said fingers crossed for sarnothi magic!
How would she know? Much less how would Todd know? She’s been raised by humans and probably thought herself a mammal with all the associated things prior to meeting Pohl and his family.
I’ve nursed two kids myself and if a kid was curious I explained what was going on. Only happened once with a buddies kid but still explained its how babies eat (though nothing wrong with bottle/formula feeding, whatever gets your kid the food they need to thrive, go for it.) Selkie has probably seen a human mom feeding her kid before or seen one of those silly puberty videos schools show.
Wonder how puberty works for them… Amanda might be in for some trouble if she snarks at Selkie in a predatory moody teenage mood.
“Boobs mostly” gee. She made it obvious that it’s like humans. So I’m guessing it’s basically the same mechanics. Like. Seriously. Todd can tell her that. And a certain doctor can correct him if he is wrong.
As far as I can see, a certain doctor does NOT want to elaborate:) Methinks there be a reason for that and Selkie is about to show us through her curiosity. I see nothing wrong with the strip at all:)
I never said it was? Just that it was weird. But whatever. -__-
Mistakes are about to be made. Although it probably won’t hurt in the long run. Selkie’s got to learn this aspect of her biology eventually.
If Sarnothi are really that protective, it seems like a bad move on their part to have invited Todd and Selkie in the first place. This should pan out okay.
I hope.
yeah, I’d say if they were comfortable enough to invite them to the hatching they trust Todd pretty well and presume Selkie to be just a kid.
Cue the scaring of the eyes.
So this could go one of two ways. Either our little miss will learn about breast feeding, or (more likely in my opinion) she’ll get a first hand look at the green energy her people use, when the mother lifts/drains the water out enough for her to get in. Place your bets!
That was my first thought, too. She will see some green magic. Cats will escape from bags. Sai Fen will catch her watching, and because Sai Fen is the pretty much the opposite of secretive, she will tell Selkie more than the government wants her to know.
Actually (and this is JUST my opinion!) I’m rather disappointed that Selki was not invited to stay. Human girls (along with females of other social primates) generally benefit from being around mothers being good mothers, for when and IF they choose to be mothers themselves. I thought that was a big reason Todd and Selkie were invited. And, since I would highly doubt Selkie will be able to go to the corner store for Sarnothi formula should she have the opportunity to be a mother and choose to do so, I personally would think Selki would benefit greatly from seeing ALL aspects of infant care first hand. She is not human. Seeing human mothers care for newborns, with umbilical stump, no teeth (generally), diapers, complete helplessness and complete immobility, just may not translate well for her to just what the dickens SHE should do when her own tiny one is swimming around with this big tooth in front and hungry! Where ever she is as a new mom, Sarnothi mom in human society, or Sarnothi mom with human family having returned (somehow) to Sarnothi society, she is going to have PLENTY of potential opportunities to feel awkward and unsure of herself. Anything that can be done to reduce that would seem, to me anyway, to be a very good move for her, and for her potential offspring. Like I already said, I thought that was the reason she and Todd were invited, to give her exposure to how her biological people do this whole “baby thing”.
Selkie is 8.
You need to put some paragraph breaks in your post, because as it is, I can’t read that huge wall of text.
Noted. Makes total sense. Sorry, and thank you.
:-/
As a mom of two I will say that the first feeding isn’t always one you want an audience for. Completely aside from the fact that it’s a big moment of mother child bonding some kids are better at latching on than others. With my first child no problem. With my second it was seriously painful (tiny mouth, couldn’t open wide enough, required some boob acrobatics to get her to take it) and I was very thankful that my other child didn’t witness that as it would have concerned and even frightened him a bit.
Trust the Sarnothi Dad on this one and give them privacy.
There will be plenty of opportunities later for them to teach Selkie these things.
I think Selkie is about to get another shock.
Careful what you wish for Selkie.
Time to learn that sarnothi mothers regurgitate their own stomachs so that their young can feed from the half-digested detritus that clings to the lining.
This is interesting. As a child who had three younger siblings, one of whom came along when I was 2, I’ve never not known what breastfeeding was.
I guess, if you’re an only child, you might not know somehow?
Weird, by her age I already knew how infants were fed. She could have asked and had it explained, instead she turned into a skeeze.
Back when she was with her mother, Selkie was an only child. In the orphanage any babies would have been bottle-fed. When would she have had the chance to find out?
And, sure, she could ask now, but why settle for mere words that could be the kind of fibs or partial truths people often tell kids, when there’s this chance to find out for herself, for sure, with her own eyes? Naughty, absolutely. A skeeze? Tch. That’s projecting adult motives onto a child.
Mind you, I think what’ll happen is she’s going to stumble upon something quite different. She’s going to see Sai Fen using the Sarnothi green magic.
What the hell is with everyone screaming about “magic”? At what point has the comic hinted to exposing magic.
If anything, Selkie’s race is alien in nature, but I’m on the fence about that. Instead I just choose to believe they have advanced technology or something.
At no point has the comic demonstrated literal magic.
I was using the word loosely, as in: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from…”
I only meant it as a shorthand way of referencing “all that mysterious green and black Sarnothi stuff that hasn’t been explained yet.” Sorry for any confusion!
When we say sarnothi magic we mean that green glowy stuff they have been shown to be able to do, like when Pohl was telling his son a story and made images to go along with it appear, the glowy toy Selkie’s mom made for her in the flashback, as well as Sai Fen’s knife.
Yeah. It’s possible there’s a non-superpowers explanation for that stuff, but as presented so far, it’s superpowers, and “magic” is as good a term for it as anything else.
You know, my first thought last page when Sai Fen said “boobs mostly” was- Jeez I hope that egg-tooth sheds quick then! Because Owww!
Now I’m thinking- they’re carnivores, what if the egg-tooth (and later other very pointy teeth) means that baby Sarnothi suckle milk AND blood from their mothers? Would explain why she didn’t want to traumatize the human and the human-raised by it. Can’t wait for weds.
It doesn’t look particularly sharp in some frames though.
That would be creepy. Also kinda interesting… almost like a vampire kid.
Don’t think that’s the case, and glad it’s not. Would make Sai Fen’s enthusiasm even weirder.
Hahaha! Good for you Selkie. Aside from the lying.
I can’t help buy think that if his had been the same situation, but with Amanda instead, people would be saying what an invasion of privacy and blatant disregard for authority this is.
It is both, who’s saying otherwise? That said attitude does matter. When Amanda acts up it’s usually with anger or malice, in this case it does not look like Selkie’s doing it to hurt anyone, and while what she is doing IS wrong, she likely does not realize just how big of a deal something like this is and why.
No one in particular. I just thought I’d point out the double standard. If this had been Amanda, I’m almost positive half the comments would be about how she’s a terrible little brat who’s invading someone’s privacy. Even if she did it out of genuine curiosity.
Yea, I just think everyone acknowledges that, at least I’d think they would. 🙂
She definitely should have a stern talking to about it at the least, what she is doing is definitely wrong and should be addressed when the adults find out.
And Selkie may not realize what she’s doing is a bigger deal than she thinks it is, but you can tell by her smug look she thinks she’s outsmarted everyone and she’s very aware she’s doing wrong and yet still choosing to do it. What she’s doing is lying and an invasion of privacy simply because she wants to get her way. It’s not necessarily malicious, but as she’s doing it to satisfy her own curiosity and with such a look on her face, it’s definitely not just her being innocently curious. This is Selkie being a sneaky little brat in her own right.
I should have said this instead. I knew there was something off about this. But yeah. Let’s hope Selkie gets a stern talking to about respecting other’s privacy.
But Amanda is a human. Selkie is another species entirely, who didn’t even know what she was until recently. Pohl’s family is her only oppotunity to learn about her own biology, in a human-world.
If Amanda had peeked on Sai Fen, yes, Amanda is a butt. But Amanda has not, and will likely not any time soon, been introduced to any of this. If Amanda wanted to peek at a human mother and baby, that might be different. But Amanda strikes me as the type who would scoff, be disgusted at all of it, and ignore them, even if it were humans.
I imagine it looks like a leech sucking for sustenance
…
I had JUST left a comment on the last page about maturity being measurable by one’s willingness to put aside their own curiosity out of respect for another’s privacy.
…Well… she IS eight.