Eh, regarding the Dora thing, I was more thinking a bit of short verbal sparring that's resolved a strip or two later more than world-shaking drama. The word was "rude" not "bridges burning in the distance".
This is Dora we're talking about. She doesn't do 'limited'; of late the nuclear option has been her only option. That said, I could see her treating it as a joke and offending Marten because of that.
Regarding the 'accidental outing', I think that too many people seemed to think that CM_Albion's suggestion is the only way to do it. My idea was something like this: Tai is teasing Claire about wearing Marten's shirt (clinched at the back with safety pins so it doesn't hang off of her). Emily gets excited and, in an unguarded moment (possibly even thinking that she's
defending Claire) blurts out that, of
course Claire can wear boy's clothes; didn't she used to be a boy? There is a horrified dialogue-free box of Claire, Tai and Marten staring in shock at a deer-in-the-headlights Emily. Then Tai says: "Yeah, I worked that out for myself but it isn't the sort of thing you should just blurt out in public you know,
Ms Azuma." The last panel is Emily running off, tears streaming down her cheeks.
The focus actually would be
Emily and why she is how she is; Claire would go to find her because she's actually
worried about what Emily might do thinking that it would make things 'better'. Then then have a reconciliation which is similar in some ways to the scene when Claire comes out to Emily and in which we learn more of Emily's back-story. It would run parallel in Marten getting clarification from Tai about how she knew (that only needs to be a single strip). At the end of the sequence, Claire tells Emily that she's like the baby sister she's always wanted but never had and it's impossible for her to stay mad at her. Emily has the last word by saying something cute but otherworldly about families.
Off topic: I've just been over to the Subreddit. There is a long thread criticising Jeph for dissing them on Twitter and they're basically saying saying that he owes them. In fact, some are so angry that they're swearing off of QC because they can't tolerate the artist not liking their opinions. One or two are even trying to work out if a Subreddit-group boycott of QC would ruin Jeph and thus punish him for his disrespect. There was also the usual spiel about the strip having become boring.
Additionally, according to at least two posters, these forums are a moderator-heavy place dominated by sycophants where no seriously discussion of Claireten or the character of Claire is permitted. I actually consider that quite funny.