Something tells me those 'vitamins' are something experimental and/or illegal. Would explain some of the flashbacks.

Come on, math is fun!

i have to disagree in my house that is a cussword due to how 99% of the time I had EXTREMELY BAD (as in just barely passing by the enamel of my teeth) grades due to inept teachers, and teachers who refused to accept the correct answer despite my dad showing me a different way to reach the same answer and have it be EASIER for me. #W$(*%$ Math and all this "it has to be this way or not at all" bs teachers who need a boot to the head

I normally came up with my own ways as well, but my teachers still gave full scores as I reached the right answer often faster even!
it is like solving puzzles in my mind, when figuring how you solve a puzzle in portal, The Talos principle. lemmings, etc or solving a math issue is the same kind of fun for me.

Reminds me of the incredibles movie “MATH IS MATH! WHY WOULD THEY CHANGE MATH!”

Omg yes and LoL

I was “gifted” in math up until around 8th grade. Not sure if I stopped doing well because I stopped watching Cyberchase, or because they suddenly started adding letters, or if it was just burnout. Either way, I hate math now. And I don’t remember most of it now.

So this sets of a lot of warning bells in my head, interesting to see where this goes. Also I feel like while probably not meant as an insult being called a "sponge" is pretty accurate on how most education systems treat kids, as sponges to absorb and retain knowledge just long enough to pass a test or exam.

For me was kinda like that too, I literally don't remember many stuff I "learned" on class, even more math, I have no idea of how calculate a triangle today!

That's where the Education System has failed, they dont teach, where people learn, they only teach what can be thrown back up, on a test or exam

Vitamins huh? I'm guessing those are not the ABCDEK vitamins, but something outside the dietary requirements. I have to wonder if Saffy's mother really is supportive and that she isn't fully thinking about what Saffy wants for herself.

Who said that was her mom? For all we know she could just be an employee of Saffy’s father. The fact that they’re both otters could just be incidental or even coincidental.

Or if you want to go deeper she could be less of a mother and more a genetic template.

You might getting somewhere, like Saffy is some genetic clone of her mother kind of like Boba Fett to Jango Fett.

Page 80 has a woman that looks basically identical to her, being told "So get her back to work, or there will be consequences," and Saffy is left thinking "What will [Daddy] do to Mummy? I'll never see her again..."

So I suspect this IS her mom, who saw nothing wrong with her 4-year-old being in what amounted to a very intensive gifted program. But this is an earlier flashback, before things had ramped up to undeniable abuse. I would assume the kids who flunk out don't suffer any horrible consequences... or so she's been told. Probably true during this flashback, but it's entirely possible things changed later!

the way she talks about chloe being taken out of class is unsettling. and thefact that she isn't even five and doing such advanced math, was she being given those 'vitamins' as soon as she was born?

You mean like Saffy was a part of either an illegal or government black budget cloning/Gene Therapy program to create advanced anthropomorphics (I was going to humans but...) and Chloe was removed from the test group after failing to produce expected results as to not taint the final results?

You know that's poor science, right? Removing those failing testing. If you're testing the efficacy of these 'vitamins' then you need to keep the outliers in the classroom in order to properly observe the bellcurve. If you're just testing the children as they are, then the same is true also as you'd need them to act as a control group.

Unless the vitamins are only one part of the experiment and the test was to see which subjects would be moving on to the next phase.

If you’re testing memory retention and learning ability removing those that fail to achieve results makes sense as to not taint the results.

If Saffy had told chloe the answers and she continued to be in the class that would taint the final results.

Especially after the fairly recent release of that film with an oddly similar theme - don't remember the name of it, but it basically involved a dystopia where kids who failed to meet certain thresholds in education were (presumably) killed.

The one that had logan paul or whoever?

So THAT was his childhood... No wonder she is so broken now... His mother look like verry obsessed with success...

Who said that was her mom? For all we know she could just be an employee of Saffy’s father. The fact that they’re both otters could just be incidental or even coincidental.

Wow,denied basic fairytale, that is no way to raise a child. Even if she is the smartest of the bunch she should still be allowed to have some fun.

By the looks of things, she was there from as a child younger than five until her teenage/adult years. Another thing to note is the hush hush stories which would mean her and the other subjects were never told any fictional stories which could mean the scientist are testing something with inteliigence, something along the lines of long term memory recall, or processing power for calculations. The vitamins could be the reason for the test or it could just be their food, no flavour and just what the body needs but not wants. Based on how the doctor looked on the third pannel, it might she is unwilling to continue this experiment based on how Saffy said Chloe is leaving the class, meaning either abandonment, further testing or killed. Hope she was the cause for the escape of Saffy as she has appeared in Page 80 in defending letting Saffy have a childhood and happiness instead of focusing on work.

Is this... The Centre? Or something similar? Where are Jarod and Ms.Parker?

Awwwww, poor little Saffy!

Bad feeling about these vitamins:c

Appropriate story choice... oof.

does anyone else read every character in a different stupid accent for fun?
because i sure do
and this new character is now dubbed australian
theres no reason for it, i just felt like it

I am 4th dimension grandmaster smartypants in social studies. But I am garbage at math.

I'm assuming the allusion to Rapunzel is no accident (girl kept from the real world against her will by a controlling mother figure for their personal gain who's manipulative and prone to gaslighting)

That's Tangled, though; I don't recall the generic Rapunzel's captor claiming to be her mother. Still, a LOT of fairy tales can provide inspiration for teenagers being held prisoner to break free and find their happily ever after!

Not necessarily pretending to be her mother, but yeah my idea of Rapunzel is definitely primarily based on Tangled lol. Even though it's not totally accurate to the original, it's honestly better imo, but that's just my take.

Formulas are only as hard as the skill of the teacher.

I remember working hard to memorize the solution formula for quadratics and how to use it before the Math Olympiad competition, and then being disappointed when it never came up... then it was on one of the problems the *next* year. >:3

This situation reminds me of the novel "Killing Time" by Caleb Carr. It came out in either 1999 or 2000, and is set in the year 2023. It's kind of like a 21st century version of Jules Verne's "Master of the World".
Not to spoil too much, but the main characters are a brother and sister who were experimented on as children and given "treatments" to enhance their intellects. It's a great novel that has has only increased in relevance over the years. I highly recommend it.

Oooh, page 73 makes much more sense with this context.

she's soooo cute too bad she's in a crazy lab environment

i will say i found quadratic equations fun to plot on a graphing calculator, idk if you had any when you were in school

Why am I getting flashbacks to my own childhood? Being forced to learn Pythagorean Theorem and algebraic equations at five years old?

LOL I have a math learning disability so this immediately overwhelms me. We were doing quadratic formulas in like...7th grade? I was 12. 5 is too young to be doing those!!

Fun fact, one of my characters is based on rapunzel. Or rather her hair is. It is cursed to always be touching the ground/floor no matter the situation.

This one is really hard to read for me. Not because of any family or childhood stuff but... quadratic equations... ugh.

I am getting illegal children experimentation vibes right now and I'm not happy about it >~>

Little saffy is so cute! It hurts to know she was in an environment like this :(

ALSO very off topic question but how do yoo do anatomy so good?????

i have the feeling the "vitamins" are a part of an experiment in chemical neural acceleration experiments to enhanced memory recall and learning to create genius level intellect individuals but may not be exactly a sanctioned by governing bodies and maybe super illegal

Oh wow, stealth modern tech/low sci-fi notes, all in one page. I always enjoy your twists. ^-^

Poor saff 😭 what they did to her was awful. These flash backs are starting to show how she lived no wonder shes an adult baby. I know still in the closet till the hypnosis accident. i hope this accident shows her its ok to be little and shes able to embrace her little side fully. 😢

OOF Star OOf

This reminds me of “level 16” it’s a movie don’t recommend it has gore

Quadratic equation was a component of the Rabinowicz Correction we applied during capillary rheology tests run on plastic and polymer resins.