She’s saying “I actually fell for that? Well, there goes my reputation as a cynical, jaded hipster…guess I’ll just chuck it all in and run away.”
Well, now we know that Claire is aware of the NCS on her part. The question is: wistful, regretful, or simply confused?
“NCS”? Non-consensual snuggling?
I guess it was the barge reference that confused me.
NCS. I’m guessing it’s either nerve conduction study or National CAD Standard.
Unless I’m missing something that’s too hip for me, it’s just another way of saying “in a van by the river”.
Nailed in one. Sorry, I forgot not everyone on this board ALSO reads the QC forums, where that is a common acronyms. mea culpa :smack:
I don’t quite get the last panel of 2435, where Marten is hugging Claire and then coughing something about hair. What did I miss? She and her hair seemed perfectly huggable in 2410, including an extended edition with Marten’s new step-dad.
Her hair is like mine. It gets places it shouldn’t be able to, it tangles…
I think Jeph was stuck for a punchline for the final panel of 2435 and used Hack! Cough! Hair! for that purpose. Lame finish for that strip, but I’m glad Marten and Claire snuck in a good hug just before.
Now I’m curious if Claire showing up at COD + pizza + beer will lead somewhere interesting re Claire + Marten. Probably not, and I should stop shipping them, right? 
I’m pretty sure Claire has an Interest in Marten. I don’t think she would have outed herself to Marten, otherwise.
Claire is in that unfortunate position of finally being open about her sexuality way later than most of her peers. While most straight people figure out how to handle interactions with the opposite sex somewhere in high school, she didn’t have that opportunity because she was still physiologically male.
I saw this in college with a few gay friends. They didn’t really get to figure out the whole dating thing in high school because they weren’t out yet, so when they did finally come out in college they made all the usual mistakes someone makes when they start dating. Which, while I was his friend, the dating drama got annoying fast.
So I think Claire is very uncertain of herself and may simply not be sure how to express her attraction, plus she’s in that vulnerable state where a guy paying attention to her can be mistaken for attraction more so than regular friendship.
I think Marten only sees her as a friend, and since he’s her boss (more or less), he’s probably wary of dipping his pen in the company ink. Then again, it’s been a long time since Padma was in town…
I’m sorta interested to see how the Faye/Angus situation resolves itself.
Good post, but I don’t think we should make assumptions about what her physiology is currently. It seems likely that all she’s done is take hormones and grow her hair, but who’s to say? But I take your point that she’s a different person than she was a few years ago, which can be a mess to figure out socially, on many levels.
“Still presenting as male,” would be the most accurate term to use there.
It’s possible she hasn’t had the usual genital surgery, but I would tend to think she has. While her swimsuit here isn’t exactly formfitting, it would be obvious if she had something there. And she seems to wear skinny jeans, which again isn’t impossible to have male genetalia with, but seems unlikely. But then, in this strip she only mentions hormone replacement therapy.
And I just realized I wrote out a whole post obsessing over a webcomic character’s penis or lack thereof. I think I need help.
Yup, my take is that she is into him but he isn’t interested in her that way - he sees her as a buddy, not a potential lover.
Remember how thoroughly passive Marten is. They will have a relationship if and only if Claire decides upon one.
Agree. 
Also, it’s worth pointing out that there are transwomen who have a penis and are perfectly happy keeping it. We can’t know at this point what Claire’s plumbing situation is, or what her ideal plumbing might be. I think it’s possible Jeph may never tell us.
So we need to wait for him to take a vacation and Trudy Cooper to do a guest strip.
Yelling Bird might also fill us in.