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Pugnacious Peach Pugilistic Punchout

Claire Crimson Cheek Continuation

Marten Mainly Mumbles Methodiclly

Steve Swallows Serially

Battling Bianchi Battlezone

Tai Terrorizes Tall Twin

Jeph Jacques Japes

Waffling Waffles Wander Wonderingly

Butts

[Is it cold in here?]

It's definitely flirt-flavored, unless he would do the same with e.g. Steve.

[Smashwidget]

@Schmorgluck:  Well, Claire being red as a beet is definitely a clue that she finds it "vaguely flirtatious."   

[Is it cold in here?]

There's another reason Claire might not be looking for a relationship. She's a graduate student, probably busy, and definitely passionate about her career. She may prefer not to have the distraction.

Not that falling in love is a matter of choice ...

[T]

Afterwards, Marten will think nothing of it, and continue to treat Claire as before. Claire, however, will be deeply frustrated, particularly if Marten starts dating Emily. Catfights will happen at the library.

Claire and Marten would make a cute couple but I don't want a sad Emily... 

[reicreature]

Well, because they seem warm and affectionate with each other on a level that might go further than friends.
I dunno, I read through the whole wedding arc and Marten seems particularly sweet with her and didn't seem adverse or freaked out by the previous cuddles, more important Claire trusts him not to freak out.

It's true, he might not have any intentions beyond just friendly, but in my opinion the best romantic relationships start out as friendships where people can be honest with each other.
We already know that Marten wants to be in a romantic relationship with someone and wants it to be a real connection rather than superficial.

Claire trusted him pretty deeply right away and she was already invited by Martin to socialize with his unconventional family.  So, these are cuddles and scritches between two friends, yes... but there is a kind of emotional intimacy that is being combined here which I think is where the romantic implications are being assumed.


You're totally right though. Martin could be oblivious to her crush, but I think it's interesting that after suspecting Emily's interest he invited Claire to the party. Also, I think Faye is assuming that Marten also likes Claire and saw his actions as putting the moves on Claire.

[Kugai]

Well!!!!


THIS is where things get interesting - again.

Global Moderator Comment

And remember, any inappropriate ships WILL be torpedoed.

[Schmorgluck]

Maybe? Also...what are "shanks"?

Should have said "calves", my bad.

I should just ask my friends if they think it was flirtatious. I have no clue on these matters.

And remember, any inappropriate ships WILL be torpedoed.

Am I still allowed to ship Abby and Elliot? I avoid mentioning it more than once a year so as not to be obnoxious about it.

[Orkboy]

Great, Monday's comic is Pintsize humping a cereal box with a bowl on his head as a hat.

While Steve is all "Dude, my cheerios!"

[Game and Watch Forever]

Claire and Marten would make a cute couple but I don't want a sad Emily... 

I feel like Emily would bounce back from it quickly, assuming it did make her even a little sad... though perhaps there's a banana smoothie delivery person/superhero she could fall in love with? Pizza girl can't be the only one, right?

Also, I've been squeeing with the whole lot of you. I'm really scared it's going to backpedal several steps back. Or worse, it's not an in-strip dream, but a dream I'm having! 

[T]

Well!!!!


THIS is where things get interesting - again.




And remember, any inappropriate ships WILL be torpedoed.

*Suppressing Pintisize instinct of making innuendo jokes with torpedoes and ships.

[reicreature]

My Ship will always be Fishhead Faye and Moosehead Dora as illustrated in my Avatar.

There are no other ships for me!

[Y]

I wonder if drunk Marten somehow realizes he's cheating on Emily in some way, or that he's now getting involved with 2 girls yet again.

[HiFranc]

I initially squeed but, after reading the comments here, I have come to the conclusion that those suggesting it's a dream are partially right -- I think it is a dream but it's only the last two strips that are the dream.  I suspect that, when she said, "Mistakes were made," she realised going back to Marten's was not something she wanted to do that night.  She's either going to wake up in her own bed and wonder how much of the night was real or she's having this day dream in front of them and she's going to be brought back to reality when Faye or Marten asks her what she meant by "Don't ever stop."

There are two reasons why I think it's a dream:

• It's out of character for Marten.
• The colour of the walls is wrong.

[cesium133]

Claire and Marten would make a cute couple but I don't want a sad Emily... 

I feel like Emily would bounce back from it quickly, assuming it did make her even a little sad... though perhaps there's a banana smoothie delivery person/superhero she could fall in love with? Pizza girl can't be the only one, right?

Well, there's Chinese Delivery Man. We haven't seen any other delivery superheroes that I know of.

[reicreature]

Great, Monday's comic is Pintsize humping a cereal box with a bowl on his head as a hat.

While Steve is all "Dude, my cheerios!"

Pintsize is yelling at Steve to pour the milk on him.

Winslow is off to the side saying "I'm not filming this"

[T]

I initially squeed but, after reading the comments here, I have come to the conclusion that those suggesting it's a dream are partially right -- I think it is a dream but it's only the last two strips that are the dream.  I suspect that, when she said, "Mistakes were made," she realised going back to Marten's was not something she wanted to do that night.  She's either going to wake up in her own bed and wonder how much of the night was real or she's having this day dream in front of them and she's going to be brought back to reality when Faye or Marten asks her what she meant by "Don't ever stop."

There are two reasons why I think it's a dream:

• It's out of character for Marten.
• The colour of the walls is wrong.

Yeah, Marten is strangely smooth. I don't think alcohol alone could do this.

[Aziraphale]

I wonder if drunk Marten somehow realizes he's cheating on Emily in some way, or that he's now getting involved with 2 girls yet again.

Maybe I'm missing something (lord knows, wouldn't be the first time), but how does one cheat on someone with whom one is not sexually, emotionally or romantically involved? I imagine Things will Happen (of one kind or another) and Marten will analyze the crap out of it, because Marten. But he'll eventually get to a healthy place with it all (perhaps via a clue-by-four administered by one of the gang). I think the intern thing is a workaround for someone he may not be that interested in -- and who, bear in mind, we haven't even established is interested in him -- but who he probably just doesn't want to be an asshole about.

[Is it cold in here?]

Claire trusted him pretty deeply right away

He's lived up to that trust, thus reinforcing it. It's a good foundation for whatever Marten and Claire end up doing.

[hedgie]

Honestly, I don't think that things will go into "and then they screw" territory any time soon.  If this ship is going to set sail, it needs to get out of the harbour first.  Claire has pretty much stated that she's never had a relationship, *and* has anxiety issues (hence the Ativan scrip), so I don't think that in this arc, it'll go beyond maybe some smooching, and ending up like the wedding arc, except where she doesn't switch beds in the middle of the night.  It'd make more sense from a storytelling perspective, since it'd provide more time for things to grow, and develop the evolution of not only Marten and Claire, but the other characters in the story as well.  And like any good harem anime, even sad Emily would still love her friends.

 Jeph could, of course, twist the knife and make things fall apart.  But given that for a little while, I hadn't been getting as much out of the comic as I would have liked, no matter which way he takes things, I know that I'm seriously hooked.

As a side-note, when Claire first appeared, she rather annoyed me as a character, since I just saw her as "girl Clinton".  I'm glad that she's developed far past that into a much more interesting and endearing character. 

[HiFranc]

I just had another thought: What if the last two strips form Marten's dream?  I can just see Faye asking Marten, "What do you need bathroom breaks from?"

[Kugai]

Well!!!!


THIS is where things get interesting - again.




And remember, any inappropriate ships WILL be torpedoed.

*Suppressing Pintisize instinct of making innuendo jokes with torpedoes and ships.

Global Moderator Comment

While I may have said it lightheartedly, my last comment was NOT to be taken facetiously.

[reicreature]

There are two reasons why I think it's a dream:

• It's out of character for Marten.
• The colour of the walls is wrong.

I don't have an argument against your first point except that Marten has been pretty chill with Claire from the beginning (He was actually pretty chill with Faye in the beginning. The Dora break-up kind of shook him up for a while I think)
-but yeah...He's being pretty unusually smooth here. 

as for two...
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2768

They look like the same walls to me?

[FunkyTuba]

To be clear, my "dream theory" was intended as a "maybe Jeph is trolling us" joke

It's a new kind of awakening for Claire but there's still the very real possibility of it getting weird.

Marten, I think, is simply getting better with practice.

[reicreature]

I loved the idea someone posted earlier where Faye completely takes the convo from the current comic out of context.
I think that has a potential for mild drama and high comedy that could be pretty entertaining for a long run.

[Shjade]

Regarding the out-of-characterness of this interaction with Claire, I don't see it that way.

Consider the following:

- Last time in recent memory we saw Marten being social and buzzed at the same time, he made an (awkward) advance that ended up in a one-night stand.

- Marten's been pretty chill with Claire for a fair amount of time now, so he has no reason to be awkward around her as he might be around/toward relative strangers.

I think it's a pretty cut and dry case of SUI (scratching under the influence). No reason to read too much into it one way or the other. He's demonstrated a tendency toward being more amorous (or at least more open to the possibilities in that direction) while buzzed and he's comfortable around Claire. These two things are intersecting. This does not surprise me.

[Angelus_Primus]

By the bys: Neko_Ali and Angelus_Primus have the same avatar.

I'm guessing Angelus copied mine. I made mine from the comic. I suppose they could have done the same thing, but it looks exactly like mine.

Guilty, I'll change when I have a moment. I was making my own, with the exact same picture and then I saw yours and I was already late for work so...

If you run into me I'll buy you chocolate ice cream.

[KOK]

I loved the idea someone posted earlier where Faye completely takes the convo from the current comic out of context.
I think that has a potential for mild drama and high comedy that could be pretty entertaining for a long run.

Hasn't Jeph stated repeatedly that he is not going to write a comedy of errors?

[Loki]

I am in the "Everyone realizes Marten is making a move - except Marten" camp, but that may just be projection.

That said, this is absolutely adorbs. I repeat, absolutely adorbs.

[Rghfrgl]

While I may have said it lightheartedly, my last comment was NOT to be taken facetiously.

I don't think there's any ships left. Just about everyone's taken.(Note: Not a challenge for people to start coming up with some)

And even if that weren't the case I'm not getting off this luxury cruise for some beat up fishing dingy anyway.

[Angelus_Primus]

 I do feel bad for Emily, first the little fiery redhead steals her peas joke, and now a potential smooching partner.
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2437

[Arancaytar]

I hope this isn't considered transphobic of me to say, but I remembered Marten does have a hangup which will make it kind of hard for him to be in a relationship with Claire. 

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=18

Sex doesn't always have to be parts going in other parts, you know.

Also, Claire's parts have never been alluded to in the comic, because they weren't relevant. There's no basis to assume what her transition involves beyond what she explicitly said (#2324).

[Loki]

Let's just not talk about parts anymore.

[Angelus_Primus]

Let's just not talk about parts anymore.

Awwww...

[Masterpiece]

I know I'm late to the party, but,

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

And I also want to say, this sort of situation is EXACTLY how I got together with my ex-girlfriend.
So,

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sidhekin]

It's definitely flirt-flavored, unless he would do the same with e.g. Steve.

What, he wouldn't flirt with Steve?

... oh, those weren't canon?

[Aimless]

I'm in the "Marten is too Marten to let himself or others know what he wants" camp. The only questions I have are: what will he admit to? and how will he mess it up?

*cynic*

[Platypodes]

I am in the "Everyone realizes Marten is making a move - except Marten" camp, but that may just be projection.

That's how I interpreted it too.  He's drunk, he's doing what feels good without thinking about it, and eventually he'll realize that the reason it feels good is that he's developing feelings for Claire.  (Once he realizes it, he'll probably get a good deal more awkward and possibly freak out about the ethics of dating an intern.)

Edit: PS. Regarding Emily, Marten didn't seem at all attracted to her (his reaction to the idea of her having a crush on him was more or less "oh s***, I hope not"), so it's not like there's really some "choice" for him to make between Emily and Claire.  I don't think that in all his discussion of Emily kissing his cheek, he ever once alluded to any possibility that he might even maybe want it to lead to something.

[ElsaStegosaurus]

Registered a while ago to read some discussion, but hey, maybe I'll finally post in the glorious attempt to hit 15 pages.

Holy crap, I had not realized just how much I was rooting for this to happen!  I see so damn much of myself in Claire as a fellow anxious, medicated trans woman who moved to a new part of the world where no one knows my medical history...  So yeah, I have a little bit of myself invested in her story.  I've been reading QC for years and years, but in the last several months I find myself clicking and subconsciously hoping that Claire's (and her pun-face) in the comic.

I think Platypodes is spot on with everything they said, the "intern ethics" thing is surely going to come up one way or another, but I'm hoping against all hope that at least this night ends well.

Quack.

[hedgie]

(Once he realizes it, he'll probably get a good deal more awkward and possibly freak out about the ethics of dating an intern.)

Easy enough way around that.  Remove Marten from the chain of command, and make $intern whose ship has sailed Momo's responsibility.  That way, it'd just be like dating someone you work with.

[HES]

It's the big events that tend to move people from being just lurkers to active participants.

Or from lurkers to slightly-less-lurky lurkers

[ankhtahr]

Yeah, I guess a freak out from Marten is very likely after this. The alcohol has lowered his inhibitions, and he's probably going to regret this, because it changes the status quo. Then come his troubles with dating an intern.

I am in the "Everyone realizes Marten is making a move - except Marten" camp, but that may just be projection.

Also likely.

I mean, the drunk bubbles are still around. He's clearly just doing what he's feeling like right now.

[Zebediah]

(Once he realizes it, he'll probably get a good deal more awkward and possibly freak out about the ethics of dating an intern.)

Easy enough way around that.  Remove Marten from the chain of command, and make $intern whose ship has sailed Momo's responsibility.  That way, it'd just be like dating someone you work with.

As I've said before, there are two easy ways to deal with it:

1. Marten needs a better job anyway. He goes out and gets one. Problem solved.

2. Claire, Emily and Gabby were described as "summer interns" when they first appeared. Summer ends, and Claire's internship ends. Problem solved.

Either way, Tai is in a position to cover for them until things are resolved, as long as they don't get too affectionate at work.

[HES]

The way I see it the whole "moral dilemma" is just Marten making excuses and isn't actually a problem.

[bhtooefr]

You know, I'm wondering what a retail job at a music store would pay, relative to his job at Smif. It'd be a lateral move at best, but it'd be at least working with things that he likes, and he could get an employee discount.

[ZoeB]

Falling asleep in each other's arms is appropriate at this point though.

That's what we did in a similar situation at New Years Eve 1979. By February 1980, just two months later, we were engaged, and married a year later.

It's been an interesting 33 years.

Pretty much like today's story. Same words too "Don't ever stop."

As for the elephant in the room - it would be unreasonable for commenters not to remark on it. OK, it's been remarked on, so onto more important things. Two rather nice people who just might be falling for each other. Does it matter that one has red hair?

And if this is a long term thing - "Don't ever stop." - whats Veronica's reaction going to be? There is plenty of scope for comedic confusion, as so many think they know more than they do, and some misconceptions are hilarious. She's likely to have more than most.

Then there's the desire for genetically related grandkids. But we're maybe only 25 years away from that in this Universe, and the QC one is definitely more scientifically advanced in many ways. I'm sure if one of the Deep AI's was persuaded to take an interest, it would be a choice Claire could have. Maybe Marten's Dad or his partner too, for that matter.

Meanwhile Claire is finding out just how good it is to be a straight girl in a really nice guy's arms. *BLISS*

I'm going to SQUEE now. I confess, I hope it's something serious, and not just exploration. Afraid to keep my hopes up too high though.

Meh. What the heck.

SQUEEEEE

[TheEvilDog]

(Once he realizes it, he'll probably get a good deal more awkward and possibly freak out about the ethics of dating an intern.)

Easy enough way around that.  Remove Marten from the chain of command, and make $intern whose ship has sailed Momo's responsibility.  That way, it'd just be like dating someone you work with.

Which is still somewhat unethical. I've known a few bosses and managers whose opinion about workplace relationships can be summed up as "Don't dip your pen in the company ink". Even if Marten was no longer in charge of the interns, he'd still be a superior by dint of working there for longer.
We don't know what policies Smif might have, so there's a potential hurdle.

[jwhouk]

Barroom Blitz
(Remember, folks, I didn't start this thread.)

Pugnacious Peach Pugilistic Punchout    6 (7.6%)
Claire Crimson Cheek Continuation    41 (51.9%) <== Bright Crimson Red.
Marten Mainly Mumbles Methodiclly    5 (6.3%)
Steve Swallows Serially    1 (1.3%)
Battling Bianchi Battlezone    4 (5.1%)
Tai Terrorizes Tall Twin    1 (1.3%)
Jeph Jacques Japes    6 (7.6%)
Waffling Waffles Wander Wonderingly    3 (3.8%)
Butts    12 (15.2%)

Total Members Voted: 79

[hedgie]

Does it matter that one has red hair?

Well, it's a well-established fact that gingers don't have souls, so…

[Rhymeless]

Unlurked! I am unlurked!

[KOK]

You know, I'm wondering what a retail job at a music store would pay, relative to his job at Smif. It'd be a lateral move at best, but it'd be at least working with things that he likes, and he could get an employee discount.

The problem is, he would not be able to afford an employee discount.