Pepper begging Mars to let him try to help her as she leaves down the stairs is so juicy. I wonder if Pepper is going to connect the dots that he’s following so closely in Claire’s footsteps.
I also think it’s interesting that going up the stairs was such a hurdle for Pepper, but he ran down without so much as a thought. It could be that he was preoccupied, sure, but I think it also speaks towards the nature of how easy it can be to lose progress with one’s issues. Pepper didn’t stop all the way down the stairs, though, so it feels like maybe he isn’t back to square one?
…I would certainly love to see what my girl Ares will have to say about this.
:batty-long::hearts:
I mean Peps you figuratively and literally looked down on her while telling her. And you act like it’s so easy when you can’t face or be honest abt your own problems, no wonder Chloé feels attac-I mean, Mars
he wants to help, but he’s forcing his friends to be vulnerable while refusing to show his own vulnerabilities. and to someone like mars, that just feels like an attack
I don’t think he wants to help. I think he wants Mars to accompany him while he does his laundry, he needed an excuse and he doubled down on the lie. Maybe that involved drinking his own cool-aid somewhere down the line just because he didn’t want to think of himself as selfish or manipulative.
No matter how you cut it, this started out as unsolicited advice designed to lure Mars into his serial killer den, and it did not become more solicited.
did pepper conquer enough of his fear? or will he be trapped on that platform to wither away like his plant unless he can overcome it without someone around? maybe the end of pepper’s arc for a long time if so
it would make that his last moment to save himself, by basically following the advice he was just trying to give mars and opening up. although it’s like a little more specific than that and the reason he’s afraid of stairs is a whole other ballgame. but still
Good on Mars, once again, for having none of his bullshit :hearts:
To give him some credit, last time he upset Mars he said, “I’m sorry if you were [embarrassed].” This time he said, “I didn’t mean to upset you.” That’s progress. Maybe :pepper-cutesy:
Mars is more than capable of sniffing out the hound’s lie. If he isn’t gonna be honest with her he’s never gonna get anywhere. :mars-what::pepper-surprise:
Jeez man, he doesn’t even try to take anybody’s comfort into account before nuking them from orbit, there’s no reason you can’t offer a seat or a snack or some gratitude for her time and work putting in his skylight and everything, just because it’s easy for her doesn’t mean it’s not worth showing some positive observations before you completely dress her down about something she’s obviously not talked about before. Like, ask questions and be curious and take cues to change your approach before you barrel through on your own plans, getting your observations off your chest right after that cold shoulder showed it wasn’t going to be received properly is crazy man! 📢 Be sensitive you fucker!!!
Yeah, sorry Pepper, but she’s 100% on-point here, you can’t try to get her to open up and then refuse to open up yourself. Hopefully this will be the impetus for him to finally start doing that.
she always can see through his mind shit and knows there has to be something More to what hes saying… now will he be stuck there or will he be able to finish his laundry…?
Okay my initial gut reaction was correct I guess, He should’ve backed off. Maybe if he admitted to what was going on with him she would’ve stayed though. I think she was trying to give him a chance – she did stop at the door to listen to what he said.
So many of these comments here drive me insane. The second someone stops handling Mars with kiddie gloves, they’re an evil manipulative abuser that doesn’t care about anyone else. Mars can dish out anything, but asking her to take direct, uncomfortable communication like “your friendships are collapsing, please be more honest with people” marks you as ontologically evil, according to a shocking number of commenters.
mars isn’t terribly empathetic or patient with people, and pepper has a habit of weaponizing his empathy in indelicate ways when he’s stressed out or impatient.
People ARE fixating a bit on Pepper’s faults here.
I think that’s because they view him as a bit more hypocritical since he has the self-awareness to know when he’s being a shithead about something.
It kinda speaks to how the term poisons the well though, pepper IS being abusive of his empathy but it’s like, a severity 2/10 social encounter that gets flattened by the term Abusive because that more readily calls to mind a burly manhattan dockworker in his 40s wearing a stained wife-beater with belt in hand rather than some immature dunce causing friction with his friends because he doesn’t have quite as strong a grip on himself as he thinks.
Mars, meanwhile, is directly physically and verbally abusive and has painted herself as a very specific kind of person she doesn’t seem to actually be. This pretense blinds even herself, as she’s definitely a very insightful person who doesn’t want to be perceived as such. She has a more intuitive grasp of people than Pepper I think, who relies a bit too heavily on braining it out where she can just kinda “get it” and pick up on shit without being able to articulate it well.
Strong agreement of your analysis. Pepper isn’t evil, he’s just kind of being a jerk who needs to learn from this. I’d even go so far as to say he’s being a relatable jerk; glass houses and all that.
I think a good part of why people are focussing on Pepper’s flaws here is that this is the first time they really came to surface. You could count the time he pressured Achilles into lying, but I don’t.
And no one here has used ‘abusive’ or ‘abuse’ besides you and Sciath right here.
Mars hasn’t been physically abusive, either. Notice how she hasn’t touched Pepper here. She’ll do things to Achilles cause he’s into it, and she badgered Pepper into arm wrestling that one time. I guess you could count the thing where she’ll use Pepper’s tub whether he likes it or not, cause he can’t stop her, but that still seems like a stretch.
Has he tried going up backwards
He’s not getting those clothes out of the dryer.
Pepper begging Mars to let him try to help her as she leaves down the stairs is so juicy. I wonder if Pepper is going to connect the dots that he’s following so closely in Claire’s footsteps.
I also think it’s interesting that going up the stairs was such a hurdle for Pepper, but he ran down without so much as a thought. It could be that he was preoccupied, sure, but I think it also speaks towards the nature of how easy it can be to lose progress with one’s issues. Pepper didn’t stop all the way down the stairs, though, so it feels like maybe he isn’t back to square one?
…I would certainly love to see what my girl Ares will have to say about this.
:batty-long::hearts:
The less clothes he has, the better. :hearts:
Pepper being stuck without his hoodie, we should be so blessed.
I mean Peps you figuratively and literally looked down on her while telling her. And you act like it’s so easy when you can’t face or be honest abt your own problems, no wonder Chloé feels attac-I mean, Mars
he wants to help, but he’s forcing his friends to be vulnerable while refusing to show his own vulnerabilities. and to someone like mars, that just feels like an attack
I don’t think he wants to help. I think he wants Mars to accompany him while he does his laundry, he needed an excuse and he doubled down on the lie. Maybe that involved drinking his own cool-aid somewhere down the line just because he didn’t want to think of himself as selfish or manipulative.
No matter how you cut it, this started out as unsolicited advice designed to lure Mars into his serial killer den, and it did not become more solicited.
Just let her sleep on it. It’s a lot to process 😟
gdi Pepper, you gotta give a bit!!
did pepper conquer enough of his fear? or will he be trapped on that platform to wither away like his plant unless he can overcome it without someone around? maybe the end of pepper’s arc for a long time if so
it would make that his last moment to save himself, by basically following the advice he was just trying to give mars and opening up. although it’s like a little more specific than that and the reason he’s afraid of stairs is a whole other ballgame. but still
RIP pepper o7 :achilles-onedge::clair-sad:
Good on Mars, once again, for having none of his bullshit :hearts:
To give him some credit, last time he upset Mars he said, “I’m sorry if you were [embarrassed].” This time he said, “I didn’t mean to upset you.” That’s progress. Maybe :pepper-cutesy:
Mars is more than capable of sniffing out the hound’s lie. If he isn’t gonna be honest with her he’s never gonna get anywhere. :mars-what::pepper-surprise:
She’s trapped the pupper
hey I know I was a massive dick and this is none of my business but let’s restart also I won’t apologise :pepper-shoot:
put his ass in the doghouse
Pepper, I love you, man, but you definitely deserved that. That was an asshole move.
Jeez man, he doesn’t even try to take anybody’s comfort into account before nuking them from orbit, there’s no reason you can’t offer a seat or a snack or some gratitude for her time and work putting in his skylight and everything, just because it’s easy for her doesn’t mean it’s not worth showing some positive observations before you completely dress her down about something she’s obviously not talked about before. Like, ask questions and be curious and take cues to change your approach before you barrel through on your own plans, getting your observations off your chest right after that cold shoulder showed it wasn’t going to be received properly is crazy man! 📢 Be sensitive you fucker!!!
Sorry Pepper, but if you want honesty, maybe you should offer some yourself.
Yeah, sorry Pepper, but she’s 100% on-point here, you can’t try to get her to open up and then refuse to open up yourself. Hopefully this will be the impetus for him to finally start doing that.
my man needs to be more like achilles (specifically in the way achilles has no shame about his emotional needs)
Real and true.
dogy:pepper-1:
she always can see through his mind shit and knows there has to be something More to what hes saying… now will he be stuck there or will he be able to finish his laundry…?
Pepper should be transparent. And Mars should listen.
Problem solved, give me a cookie. :clair-say:
Also, cute panicking doggy face in panel 1. :pepper-cutesy:
Okay my initial gut reaction was correct I guess, He should’ve backed off. Maybe if he admitted to what was going on with him she would’ve stayed though. I think she was trying to give him a chance – she did stop at the door to listen to what he said.
So many of these comments here drive me insane. The second someone stops handling Mars with kiddie gloves, they’re an evil manipulative abuser that doesn’t care about anyone else. Mars can dish out anything, but asking her to take direct, uncomfortable communication like “your friendships are collapsing, please be more honest with people” marks you as ontologically evil, according to a shocking number of commenters.
mars isn’t terribly empathetic or patient with people, and pepper has a habit of weaponizing his empathy in indelicate ways when he’s stressed out or impatient.
People ARE fixating a bit on Pepper’s faults here.
I think that’s because they view him as a bit more hypocritical since he has the self-awareness to know when he’s being a shithead about something.
It kinda speaks to how the term poisons the well though, pepper IS being abusive of his empathy but it’s like, a severity 2/10 social encounter that gets flattened by the term Abusive because that more readily calls to mind a burly manhattan dockworker in his 40s wearing a stained wife-beater with belt in hand rather than some immature dunce causing friction with his friends because he doesn’t have quite as strong a grip on himself as he thinks.
Mars, meanwhile, is directly physically and verbally abusive and has painted herself as a very specific kind of person she doesn’t seem to actually be. This pretense blinds even herself, as she’s definitely a very insightful person who doesn’t want to be perceived as such. She has a more intuitive grasp of people than Pepper I think, who relies a bit too heavily on braining it out where she can just kinda “get it” and pick up on shit without being able to articulate it well.
They make excellent foils for one-another.
Strong agreement of your analysis. Pepper isn’t evil, he’s just kind of being a jerk who needs to learn from this. I’d even go so far as to say he’s being a relatable jerk; glass houses and all that.
I think a good part of why people are focussing on Pepper’s flaws here is that this is the first time they really came to surface. You could count the time he pressured Achilles into lying, but I don’t.
And no one here has used ‘abusive’ or ‘abuse’ besides you and Sciath right here.
Mars hasn’t been physically abusive, either. Notice how she hasn’t touched Pepper here. She’ll do things to Achilles cause he’s into it, and she badgered Pepper into arm wrestling that one time. I guess you could count the thing where she’ll use Pepper’s tub whether he likes it or not, cause he can’t stop her, but that still seems like a stretch.
:0 she swore!
There goes the comic’s one allotted F-bomb. Mars is gonna have to stick to ship, frick and darn from here on out.
Mars: “F this s, I’m out!”
If Pepper learned psychology from Lucy Van Pelt he’d know he has full blown climacophobia.
Peppers problem is that he’s completely unable to ask for help without framing it as if he’s trying to help someone.
He did with Achilles. “CAN you stay?”
True! I forgot about that.
I’d still argue it’s pronounced enough to be considered a problem:peachy-1:
I really, really like this comic and I really want to see more of the implications related to the previous iterations and all that.