I sincerely doubt that Tai was prying for the sake of "being a prat." You mean to tell me you've never had a conversation with someone where you knew darn well something was wrong and the person to whom you were speaking wasn't telling you? And had it bother you that they were bothered, not because it had anything to do with you but because you loved or otherwise cared about them?
In all honesty, no, I've never had that sort of conversation with anyone. For most of my life, I've suffered from acute anxiety and confrontation of any type literally makes me ill. I had to take a hiatus from these forums because I got into a spat with someone who actually wasn't trying to be a jerk, but just the incident had me dry-heaving for most of that day. Not making excuses, just stating facts. I have never been and would never be in the situation Tai was in. I think I'm pretty good at reading people, but when people don't want to open up to me or we reach an impasse, I walk away. Tai's behavior is completely foreign to me.
As RF mentions above, neither of them handled it as well as they could've (and I also agree that being shot down when you're trying to help someone or hear them out rather sucks when you're on the receiving end), but I think it's stretching it a bit to say that Tai's poking the bear just for the sake of it.
I didn't mean to imply that Tai went in spoiling for a fight, but Tai seems to me to be the type who doesn't take no for an answer very often or very easily. I think Dora's "DO. NOT. WANT. TO. TALK." signals were very clear, but Tai wilfully (IMO, of course) ignored them, because Tai wanted to talk. That's not OK, in my view. I can accept that she felt upset and helpless that Dora was closing in on herself and not letting her in, but I feel Tai tried to bulldoze her way in and then tried to turn it around on Dora as if her not opening up was some crime.
re I got a reference to Marten, you mentioned him specifically while suggesting that Dora find a new "class" of people, suggesting that you'd surveyed her current group of friends (not just Faye) and found them wanting. Admittedly, I may have misinterpreted your meaning there.
Oh, no, I wasn't really even counting Marten at all! I just feel that because he is just getting things off the ground with Claire, he just hasn't been around CoD that much, plus with Faye not working there, Marten doesn't have too much of a reason to go there that often. I know it's not the same thing, but we barely see Steve there and his girlfriend works there. I was just thinking that Dora really has no "outside friends" (someone else may have made this point as well). She had Faye, Marten, Hanners, Raven, Penny, and later extended that to Marigold and Angus, and even more peripherally, Emily and Claire. Angus and Raven are gone, Marigold doesn't really hang with them anymore, Penny is barely there, I wouldn't consider Cosette or Dale to be friends, etc., etc. To be fair, Faye hasn't been seen with an "outside the group" friend, either, unless you count Sam, but Marten had Jimbo (sorta). Dora doesn't even have that, and she grew up in Northampton. I'd just like to see her get some perspective from some folks outside the little group, as it is likely Faye will get when she joins the support group. Outside friends could aid Dora in her personal growth and development, as well.