I think this is the first time we have seen one of the otters genuinely terrified.
Well, it's one thing to be in the thick of the moment with the rest of the team and the adrenaline pumping, and another to be left for dead and alone with just your thoughts, which leaves open for introspection such as "even if we're clones and 'Mask' will be replaced, 'She' can't be 'me', since 'I''m still alive, and even if I manage to find the exit and come back the rest of the team might not let me back among them".
Well, it's one thing to be in the thick of the moment with the rest of the team and the adrenaline pumping, and another to be left for dead and alone with just your thoughts, which leaves open for introspection such as "even if we're clones and 'Mask' will be replaced, 'She' can't be 'me', since 'I''m still alive, and even if I manage to find the exit and come back the rest of the team might not let me back among them".
That and what I think really sent her over the edge was seeing two Friends not just fight but actually kill the other. The ONE thing that she could count on is that Friends are always... friends and that just got taken away.
When your whole life you've depended on the collective, had your very identity defined by the collective, what do you do when that collective abandons you? What do you rely on? Who do you become?
The bubble in the second panel is just fantastically well written, probably my favorite in the whole series. She's trying so hard to project herself, for her "I" to be the "Giant Otters" and not "this otter", but she can't manage it. She's not capable of the total self-negation required; her will to survive is just too strong.
Weyward said:
I think this is the first time we have seen one of the otters genuinely terrified.
There's a quote on the edge of my memory, or maybe it's a total fabrication: "No one truly knows themselves until they know fear."
