Remember that Clair knows a lot more about why layers get abandoned than we do. Clair is the only person who knows anything about that at all. Chloe reading this book could be Very Bad.
For all her flaws, Clair’s primary goal still seems to be to prevent whatever it is that happened to Ares. If Clair takes this book and hides it, burns it or swallows it, she might actually be ensuring everyone’s safety.
It seems pretty obvious that she’s constructing an inner world to distract Chloe from external circumstances; when Chloe gets dissatisfied, possibly having some sort of episode, Clair seems to help her forget and starts over. A fresh canvas, a blank slate, a new attempt at making everything so perfect Chloe won’t have to ever remember why she’s focused HERE instead of on what’s out THERE.
Clair certainly thinks its for the best, but I think she’s probably suffocating Chloe and removing any possibility for her to grow and develop and learn to handle whatever’s so bad about their life on the outside.
That’s sort of the thing about headmates, you know? The troublemakers cause problems but it’s because they’re maladjusted. You can’t fix that without giving them proper care and agency.
Clair is trying to do that internally, but evidently it’s not working, probably BECAUSE Chloe isn’t given any agency in their external life.
I don’t see any reason to assume Clair is the one making that descision. Clair says she’s afraid of what’ll happen if she fails. It doesn’t sound like she has a choice in the matter. On top of that, there’s no way Clair would intentionally hurt Achilles. Like, that’d clash willy with everything we’ve seen of her.
I also don’t think Clair is trying to make everything perfect. If everything was meant to be perfect, Chloe would have a roof. Clair wants to keep Chloe busy and wants to keep her busy with ‘productive’ things (I.E the busywork she provides). And “dissatisfied” basically describes every second of Chloe’s life in Halo Head.
I don’t think this is all a mental world that Clair is maintaining for Chloe. The animal villagers have too much agency (Achilles wandered off and explored on his own, Pepper is trying to investigate what the world *is*) and too great a capacity to trick Clair. And viewing the story as just a struggle between Chloe and Clair, you render the animal characters irrelevant even though we’ve had entire arcs focussing on Pepper and Achilles.
i don’t think that’s quite right. clair made this current world, and i don’t think it’s far-fetched to say she made the others, too. shes shown a deep need for control over situations, over people id even say. she doesnt want chloe to remember whatever it is they went through, and as far as others have said, that book seems to be a method through which chloe might start to remember.
clair wants chloe to forget and busy herself. it seems she thinks the escape is the only good coping mechanism — she wants to be the only one who knows. because if shes the only one who knows, then chloe can go live in bliss. despite everything she does want chloe to be happy after all.
i think the staircase and the regions below are just different attempts at halo head. prototypes, even. ares is implied to be a previous version of mars, after all.
basically — yes, clair definitely knows more than she lets on, but i think the way shes handling this situation is less about actually preventing anything bad from happening, and, again, just a method of trying to take control.
I would agree that what a lot of what Clair does is about control. What makes me think that this stuff with the book is different is that Clair feels the need to be deceptive about it.
Clair has also said she’s afraid of what’ll happen if she fails. It could just be her framing her own response to events as some kind of force of nature, or it could be genuinely preventative. I personally don’t think she’s up herself enough to be that worried about something she herself makes the decision to do, but I could be misjudging her on that front.
I have to wonder why the book is even there if Clair doesn’t want any risk of Chloe reading it…
I wonder if it just pops up on its own? Product of her subconscious maybe?
Also I dig the angle showing the window bearing down on the book alongside clair. Chilling…
The dutch angle (at least I think it’s a dutch angle) in the last panel is a really nice touch, adds to the tension of the scene for sure
I imagine that drawing a background you’ve drawn a hundred times but in a new angle is frustrating in the sense that you can’t easily reuse elements of the previously drawn backgrounds, but also exciting because it opens up possibilities for really effective shots like this one!
Somehow someway I don’t trust someone doing a Kubrick Stare upon noticing a book she already tried to steal once before, like bro why you looking so scary rn :mars-point:
she steals it. pepper notices it’s gone. she figures clair probably took it, could potentially confirm that with chloe. he’s like “why tf does she want this.” gears start turning. gets some ideas, figures some stuff out. redoubles his resolve to conquer his stair-fear? it wouldn’t really give him any answers. just kind of strengthen his feelings about the whole situation.
she doesn’t steal it. she starts thinking. pepper is getting pretty dangerous. he p much nailed it or something giving her this book. he also has TONS of other books. and the stairs thing earlier? how much does he know? is he TRYING to ruin everything? maybe it’s time for some /adjustments/. adjustments might be better than resetting the whole island again. adjustments to a character also has a precedent in the story, from when clair started talking about what it would take to fix achilles’ notch.
maybe pepper is different soon after. maybe it’s too much for chloe. clair told herself that their friendship wasn’t very far along, better to make changes now than later. but chloe can’t take it. maybe she starts investigating the truth for herself, taking up the questions pepper was trying to ask her. and since clair might reset everything, or just change things, chloe doesn’t confront her about it. she keeps it to herself and eventually just goes exploring. it could be a couple days maybe before clair notices she’s gone. imo it would make sense for losing another friend to spur chloe to break her mold.
I actually don’t know if she’s thinking about stealing it – it’s entirely possible that her reaction to seeing it again is just recontextualizing WHY Chloe was so insistent on keeping it before? Like, “oh, she kept grabbing it back because it wasn’t hers, it was Pepper’s, and she wanted to return it”.
Honestly I think she might just be going “…ohhhh, Chloe was so insistent about keeping the book because she wanted to RETURN it to Pepper and didn’t want me to steal his property.”
People jumping to Pepper getting rewritten seem kinda paranoid, especially when what we know about how these worlds work is that she CAN’T just reprogram the inhabitants, she has to start a whole new island if something goes wrong.
I bet the book is a red herring. Just the cover torn off with a notebook glued into its place with only one sentence written in. “I’m on to you, Halo-Head…”
Dont take the book dont take the book DONT TAKE THE BOOK NOOOOOOOOO
Fuck. Clairrrrrrrrr:clair-despair:
>Clair notices the book
fuck
>Pepper is now alone in a room with Clair, who noticed the book
fuuuuckk.
do it, angel girl. show those true colors.
(orange, white, pink)
Fear.
Do it clair. Be the antagonist you see in the world.
Do it, Clair. Become the antagonist you see in the world.
So much for “If she tries anything I’ll take care of her for ya”.
CLAIR DONT YOU DARE :mars-shout:
… thank you ma’am! :chloe-happy:
She’s seeing the book as if it were the Only Ring, at any moment she will say “My precious”
Wonder if chlo will see anything up on that skylight
(guy from Impractical Jokers in earpiece) ok clair now take the book and RUN
Remember that Clair knows a lot more about why layers get abandoned than we do. Clair is the only person who knows anything about that at all. Chloe reading this book could be Very Bad.
For all her flaws, Clair’s primary goal still seems to be to prevent whatever it is that happened to Ares. If Clair takes this book and hides it, burns it or swallows it, she might actually be ensuring everyone’s safety.
👆👆👆👆👆
💯💯💯💯💯
Ends justifying the means
Clair IS the one who abandons layers.
It seems pretty obvious that she’s constructing an inner world to distract Chloe from external circumstances; when Chloe gets dissatisfied, possibly having some sort of episode, Clair seems to help her forget and starts over. A fresh canvas, a blank slate, a new attempt at making everything so perfect Chloe won’t have to ever remember why she’s focused HERE instead of on what’s out THERE.
Clair certainly thinks its for the best, but I think she’s probably suffocating Chloe and removing any possibility for her to grow and develop and learn to handle whatever’s so bad about their life on the outside.
That’s sort of the thing about headmates, you know? The troublemakers cause problems but it’s because they’re maladjusted. You can’t fix that without giving them proper care and agency.
Clair is trying to do that internally, but evidently it’s not working, probably BECAUSE Chloe isn’t given any agency in their external life.
I don’t see any reason to assume Clair is the one making that descision. Clair says she’s afraid of what’ll happen if she fails. It doesn’t sound like she has a choice in the matter. On top of that, there’s no way Clair would intentionally hurt Achilles. Like, that’d clash willy with everything we’ve seen of her.
I also don’t think Clair is trying to make everything perfect. If everything was meant to be perfect, Chloe would have a roof. Clair wants to keep Chloe busy and wants to keep her busy with ‘productive’ things (I.E the busywork she provides). And “dissatisfied” basically describes every second of Chloe’s life in Halo Head.
I don’t think this is all a mental world that Clair is maintaining for Chloe. The animal villagers have too much agency (Achilles wandered off and explored on his own, Pepper is trying to investigate what the world *is*) and too great a capacity to trick Clair. And viewing the story as just a struggle between Chloe and Clair, you render the animal characters irrelevant even though we’ve had entire arcs focussing on Pepper and Achilles.
*Clash wildly, not clash willy. Please don’t clash willies.
can’t have sh** in pride month
Don’t tell people not to clash willies during pride month smh
i don’t think that’s quite right. clair made this current world, and i don’t think it’s far-fetched to say she made the others, too. shes shown a deep need for control over situations, over people id even say. she doesnt want chloe to remember whatever it is they went through, and as far as others have said, that book seems to be a method through which chloe might start to remember.
clair wants chloe to forget and busy herself. it seems she thinks the escape is the only good coping mechanism — she wants to be the only one who knows. because if shes the only one who knows, then chloe can go live in bliss. despite everything she does want chloe to be happy after all.
i think the staircase and the regions below are just different attempts at halo head. prototypes, even. ares is implied to be a previous version of mars, after all.
basically — yes, clair definitely knows more than she lets on, but i think the way shes handling this situation is less about actually preventing anything bad from happening, and, again, just a method of trying to take control.
I would agree that what a lot of what Clair does is about control. What makes me think that this stuff with the book is different is that Clair feels the need to be deceptive about it.
Clair has also said she’s afraid of what’ll happen if she fails. It could just be her framing her own response to events as some kind of force of nature, or it could be genuinely preventative. I personally don’t think she’s up herself enough to be that worried about something she herself makes the decision to do, but I could be misjudging her on that front.
:clair-what2: Pepper, how long did she borrow this book for?
:pepper-scruffy: You promised you’d be in and out. Please leave.
Clair about to unintentionally make things worse again
CLAIR. NO. BAD CLAIR. **BAPS WITH NEWSPAPER** CLAIR DONT.
DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!! :mars-shout:
Wham bam thank you ma’am
Though I think referring to Chloe as ma’am is a bit of a stretch
RIP Pepper. He’s gonna be disappeared. Or at least part of his personality will be.
this is one of the things I was thinking. RIP :pepper-cutesy:
Ya know, it took five years, but I finally noticed that Clair and Chloe are desperately trying to prevent the pair from opening a third eye.
SHES DOING THE THING SHE WANTS CHASE THAT BAT
AND CLAIRS DOING A FREAK FACE
oh she’s totally gonna argue with him recommending her the book isn’t he
The first panel looks so cool, I love the crooked tail and wobbly halo :chloe-XC:
As long as Clair doesn’t steal it, Pepper should really get that book disinfected. Chloe had it stuffed in her pants for hours.
I have to wonder why the book is even there if Clair doesn’t want any risk of Chloe reading it…
I wonder if it just pops up on its own? Product of her subconscious maybe?
Also I dig the angle showing the window bearing down on the book alongside clair. Chilling…
aw crumbs that was not supposed to be a reply
The dutch angle (at least I think it’s a dutch angle) in the last panel is a really nice touch, adds to the tension of the scene for sure
I imagine that drawing a background you’ve drawn a hundred times but in a new angle is frustrating in the sense that you can’t easily reuse elements of the previously drawn backgrounds, but also exciting because it opens up possibilities for really effective shots like this one!
Somehow someway I don’t trust someone doing a Kubrick Stare upon noticing a book she already tried to steal once before, like bro why you looking so scary rn :mars-point:
ok ok ok. so clair wants to steal the book again.
she steals it. pepper notices it’s gone. she figures clair probably took it, could potentially confirm that with chloe. he’s like “why tf does she want this.” gears start turning. gets some ideas, figures some stuff out. redoubles his resolve to conquer his stair-fear? it wouldn’t really give him any answers. just kind of strengthen his feelings about the whole situation.
she doesn’t steal it. she starts thinking. pepper is getting pretty dangerous. he p much nailed it or something giving her this book. he also has TONS of other books. and the stairs thing earlier? how much does he know? is he TRYING to ruin everything? maybe it’s time for some /adjustments/. adjustments might be better than resetting the whole island again. adjustments to a character also has a precedent in the story, from when clair started talking about what it would take to fix achilles’ notch.
maybe pepper is different soon after. maybe it’s too much for chloe. clair told herself that their friendship wasn’t very far along, better to make changes now than later. but chloe can’t take it. maybe she starts investigating the truth for herself, taking up the questions pepper was trying to ask her. and since clair might reset everything, or just change things, chloe doesn’t confront her about it. she keeps it to herself and eventually just goes exploring. it could be a couple days maybe before clair notices she’s gone. imo it would make sense for losing another friend to spur chloe to break her mold.
I actually don’t know if she’s thinking about stealing it – it’s entirely possible that her reaction to seeing it again is just recontextualizing WHY Chloe was so insistent on keeping it before? Like, “oh, she kept grabbing it back because it wasn’t hers, it was Pepper’s, and she wanted to return it”.
Honestly I think she might just be going “…ohhhh, Chloe was so insistent about keeping the book because she wanted to RETURN it to Pepper and didn’t want me to steal his property.”
People jumping to Pepper getting rewritten seem kinda paranoid, especially when what we know about how these worlds work is that she CAN’T just reprogram the inhabitants, she has to start a whole new island if something goes wrong.
surely clair won’t do something stupid a third time :clair-cute:
Pepper’s so silly :pepper-1:
You don’t have to thank her right this second puppy boy, you’re bound to see her again. :clair-happy:
Love the pacing of this one. You can feel everything go quiet as Clair contemplates her options.
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU CLAIR IM GONNA TEAR MY OWN HAIR OFF I SWEAR TO GOD
:mars-middlefinger:
Im sorry im clairs biggest hater dammit
I feel like whatever she has planned she has it coming to her
I bet the book is a red herring. Just the cover torn off with a notebook glued into its place with only one sentence written in. “I’m on to you, Halo-Head…”