its so nice to see chloe getting comforted after keeping her issues bottled up for so long!! i really hope pepper can get a similar relief at some point.
also unrelated but if pepper called me his little urchin then i could die happy :batty-long:
I think just Chloe opening up more like with help Pepper a lot, actually. Well, in a codependent sort of way perhaps. Look, Chloe’s hugging him! Ares would probably slot in the gaps pretty well to really get a full picture of Clair. Well, a full picture of the negative aspects of her. I don’t think it’s as black and white as that, but she’ll probably need to be open up about herself to get people to see that.
Chloe showing off again and again that she IS very attentive and listens to people. Things are important to her, she remembers. She’s not just drifting through her life without paying attention to anything… If anything, her attention to detail brings a new and uncomfortable context to how unusual it is that she can’t remember more than a few details about The Memory yet. But it’s getting clearer and more specific with each revisit. [Also reminds me of Pepper asking Achilles to prove that he doesn’t have brain damage, and Ach lists off details like the last book pepper bought.]
I continue to remain FLOORED by how smart the writing is in this comic. There are so many impressively subtle details that every time I reread it I notice something I didn’t before.
The irony in this scene is delicious, Clair created Pepper to be a model resident, only to grow resentful of him once he ended up being better than her at her own job though the very traits she endowed him with, and in turn, HE grows resentful of HER for continuing to act like she knows everything and should be able to dictate how everyone behaves when everything she does only worsens the problems of the people she is supposedly trying to help.
There may be some allusions to the church in that respect, considering the whole angel motif Claire’s got. I doubt that was an intended commentary but considering declining church attendance in the west I think it does end up tapping into something a lot of people are feeling subconsciously at the moment.
And there’s SO MUCH MORE besides that – Pepper is very good at getting people to trust him, but as we’ve already seen it’s such a double-edged sword, it can be used for meaningful dialogue like in this scene, or it can be used to manipulate others and drive them to do immoral acts, like he did with Achilles. And his schemes will inevitably become increasingly Machiavellian, because even though he encourages people to trust him, he never trusts ANYONE but himself, which is why we never see the ‘upstairs’ of his house, just as he never lets anyone know what he’s really thinking.
Every single page of this comic I feel like I could write an essay on, there’s so much happening, and all of it is conveyed to the reader PHENOMENALLY, it never treats them like an idiot who needs to have things spelled out for them. There’s some tough competition out there but I have to say this is probably my favorite comic, every time I revisit it I just get more impressed.
FANTASTIC reading of Pepper! Especially the symbolism of how their houses are (or aren’t) shown. I wonder if we’ll ever get to see inside Mars’ place?
:mars-wtf:
We’ll never see upstairs of Pepper’s house – hell he doesn’t even have a clock that tells the time (only North, West, South and East) – but he might just show other residents of Halo Head The Stairs leading to the scrapped world Below.
GHAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
fuck. I’m jealous of a dog
U GET IT
That’s a dangerous enlightenment there buddy
He’s running it all through!!
he’s learning…
its so nice to see chloe getting comforted after keeping her issues bottled up for so long!! i really hope pepper can get a similar relief at some point.
also unrelated but if pepper called me his little urchin then i could die happy :batty-long:
I think just Chloe opening up more like with help Pepper a lot, actually. Well, in a codependent sort of way perhaps. Look, Chloe’s hugging him! Ares would probably slot in the gaps pretty well to really get a full picture of Clair. Well, a full picture of the negative aspects of her. I don’t think it’s as black and white as that, but she’ll probably need to be open up about herself to get people to see that.
And yeah you’re so right about that. :batty-long:
it is nice seeing the resident therapy dog figuring it all out. He is gonna be barking mad at Claire soon I can feel it.
We finally found the dog that pets humans… Well, demons.
Kiss
Chloe showing off again and again that she IS very attentive and listens to people. Things are important to her, she remembers. She’s not just drifting through her life without paying attention to anything… If anything, her attention to detail brings a new and uncomfortable context to how unusual it is that she can’t remember more than a few details about The Memory yet. But it’s getting clearer and more specific with each revisit. [Also reminds me of Pepper asking Achilles to prove that he doesn’t have brain damage, and Ach lists off details like the last book pepper bought.]
I wonder how much Pepper will unintentionally (or intentionally) demonize Clair while talking with Chloe…
Heh heh demonize :clair-despair:
Well Pepper, now you have the extremely uncomfortable context you were missing.
oiuuwuuwuwuwwww………………..
He finally gets it
Good going Clair :clair-what:
WHAT A FUCKIN CALLBACK
TO A 2021 COMIC
I continue to remain FLOORED by how smart the writing is in this comic. There are so many impressively subtle details that every time I reread it I notice something I didn’t before.
The irony in this scene is delicious, Clair created Pepper to be a model resident, only to grow resentful of him once he ended up being better than her at her own job though the very traits she endowed him with, and in turn, HE grows resentful of HER for continuing to act like she knows everything and should be able to dictate how everyone behaves when everything she does only worsens the problems of the people she is supposedly trying to help.
There may be some allusions to the church in that respect, considering the whole angel motif Claire’s got. I doubt that was an intended commentary but considering declining church attendance in the west I think it does end up tapping into something a lot of people are feeling subconsciously at the moment.
And there’s SO MUCH MORE besides that – Pepper is very good at getting people to trust him, but as we’ve already seen it’s such a double-edged sword, it can be used for meaningful dialogue like in this scene, or it can be used to manipulate others and drive them to do immoral acts, like he did with Achilles. And his schemes will inevitably become increasingly Machiavellian, because even though he encourages people to trust him, he never trusts ANYONE but himself, which is why we never see the ‘upstairs’ of his house, just as he never lets anyone know what he’s really thinking.
Every single page of this comic I feel like I could write an essay on, there’s so much happening, and all of it is conveyed to the reader PHENOMENALLY, it never treats them like an idiot who needs to have things spelled out for them. There’s some tough competition out there but I have to say this is probably my favorite comic, every time I revisit it I just get more impressed.
this is SUCH an excellent reply, i love it <33
:hearts:
FANTASTIC reading of Pepper! Especially the symbolism of how their houses are (or aren’t) shown. I wonder if we’ll ever get to see inside Mars’ place?
:mars-wtf:
How much longer we think until Pepper shows her the stairs?
I’m thinking about this too
We’ll never see upstairs of Pepper’s house – hell he doesn’t even have a clock that tells the time (only North, West, South and East) – but he might just show other residents of Halo Head The Stairs leading to the scrapped world Below.
Clair also mentioned first impressions when they first met. but she wasn’t thinking of what pepper’s first impression of her would be.
I wonder if pepper can remember juuuust before that? like where he was before that?
I’m also wondering if he’ll circle back to his lack of memories. I can sense the stress already :pepper-onedge:
wehhhh🥺🥺🥺battyyyy you cant keep getting away with this