Selkie

Gonna be a long commentary today. :D In addition to many moving testimonials about the impact of bullying, the last strip also brought up a lot of questions about how much the school does and doesn't know about Selkie's nature. I tried a coule times to work this information in to the school strips, but it always felt so out-of-character on the dialogue. So, I thought I would delve into some of my background logic concerning Selkie and the school officials. I established previously that Selkie attended this school while at the orphanage, and also that the orphanage only realized she is not human through observation and induction and a little experimentation. My thinking is that the orphanage would share this information willingly with someone like Todd, who will be responsible for Selkie the rest of her life and will need vital information like this to care for her. School system employees are another matter, though. For Selkie's safety and security, certain details and specifics about her nature were/are withheld from the school employees, and many of her odities are explained as an "undiagnosed condition" and/or "birth defects". Her gills are an example of this. Most of the school system employees understands them to be abnormal growths that cause chronic chest congestion issues. Selkie's tried telling a few people that they are gills, btu they just assumed she was compensating for her differences with imaginative stories (she is a kid after all). Selkie has been accustomed to taking a bottle of dechlorinator to school even before being adopted by Todd, and the orphanage has told the school that due to her condition she needs freedom to use the bathroom at will. A couple people have witnessed Selkie inhaling water, but mostly they assume she must have been drinking it and they were mistaken. I make pretty shameless use of the "people create their own context" philosophy. XD

I almost chickened out of this particualar story point at least twice.