catharsis, page 17

here we go - some important stuff about charlotte and a big ol' lie from felix to impress her. the cracks in the Smile Panel were a little challenging to do, but the folie a dupe strip i drew a while ago prepped me for it.

unfortunately, i think this is another page where i just don't have much to say because the comic is obviously setting up, and what the page does offer is very apparent. the shot of charlotte's tail in the previous page was setup for this one's tail shot, although it also was supposed to signal to the reader that she was relaxing a bit. this scene ends on the next page because she becomes too uncomfortable with the topic, and probably by extension felix knowing about it.
her natural response to sources of anxiety is to flee, which has been showcased in her choice to retreat from the potluck, multiple attempts to withdraw from the conversation with felix, and if you are especially observant her inability to finish stories. i learned a lot about myself when i started noticing "flight" as a response to stress, and i think it can help elucidate on how a character or person is feeling when it otherwise might seem totally out of left field.

felix, conversely, has a mix of responses to stress, because... literally that's what their entire disorder is about. literally just different stress responses compartmentalized from each other to preserve them.
felix as an individual identity is a fawn response kind of person, though, i think. it's really weird, because they won't avoid things that they're terrified of -- they'll gravitate toward those things, in fact, which can seem like they're trying to fight.
some could argue that fawning is a type of psychological fighting, but i don't think i really agree, and i think it's useful to differentiate between those two responses in many cases. fawning never really makes the threat go away, and the object of the fawning is never seen as neutralized as much as carefully monitored and mollified.