47 thoughts on “Chapter 4: Trouble Every Day, page 71”

    1. Seconded. And it seems like Scipio’s fairly calm, considering. No exclamation points–some emphasis, yes, but altogether he’s pretty level so far.

      I can’t see this going anywhere pretty, though.

      Incidentally, Spike, someone from ‘real life’ whom I haven’t spoken to in years actually tracked me down last night through my comments to Templar. Apparently you are now the great uniter. Or reuniter.

      1. thirded. i think its like the cartoon gag where you red flash the screen when someone stops suddenly after something gets said.

        1. Sometimes being calm is the only response for a guy. I’ve dealt with people who have acted as if any anger from a man must always be a terrible, vile thing, so you don’t dare allow anger to arise in front of them. At other times, people will fixate on something having been able to cause a reaction, or they’ll insist that they were able to cause a reaction themselves. At times like that, observation and scrutiny can be much more necessary than anger. There are circumstances, however, that do warrant sincere anger.

        2. More importantly, a lot of the time, I find that I’d much rather be happy with my life than to allow things to make me angry, unhappy, inhibited or whatever. Cheerfulness merits a lot more weight at times like that, though to be cheerful and content is sometimes an ongoing challenge.

  1. Oh good god, Scipio’s asserting himself. Next thing you know Ben will be doing the same thing, and Reagan will be apologizing for something.

    And then the moon will fall into the sun.

    1. In true Templar fashion, we have no idea what’ll happen next.*
      It’s one of the things I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig about your plots and characters, Spike. ^^

      *dons flame retardant underwear…just in case.

  2. Wow. I would break Scip’s nose. Whatever problems she has, Scip, and whatever’s on that rap sheet, people don’t wind up like Pippi is by accident.

    1. Considering who’s bigger…she’d find it really challenging to break Scip’s nose. A lot of people would. He’s a large guy, and he’s had that bodybuilding job for a long time. That’s not something that’s going to make it easy for anyone simply to break his nose, as if he were small and unskilled.

  3. Oh. It’s on. This is J.Springer action right here. Somebody needs to “check themself before they wreck themself”

  4. Oh c’mon guys, she’s probably tellin’ the truth! The cops probably have it wrong on the report! C’moooooooooon!

  5. it thickens like an awkward stew. potatoes of discomfort floating next to tender carrots of “did he really just say that,” in a rich, meaty broth of “oh god get me out of here.”

  6. It’s a 50/50 with the rape issue, but regardless I would say that something happened to her along the way. People aren’t ermm…”out-of-track” just because.

      1. Unfortunately, so have I. Poverty’s no excuse with the ones I’ve met, either, because a lot of people overcome that without having to be manipulative.

  7. I get a sneaking suspicion that this is the first time Scip’s trust has been betrayed to such a degree, and he won’t be the same big friendly giant we’ve come to know and love. It seems natural for a guy like Scip to try to “rehabilitate” some Holden Caufield-esque character, but we really don’t know under what circumstances that Pippi came to live with Scip (which is kinda unorthodox on its own, but hey, this is Templar).

    I mean, we haven’t seen any of the major characters go through a great shift like that yet, right? Just glimpses of backstories so far.

  8. I’m guessing she did something stupid she was ashamed of and lied to cover it up. I don’t think Pippi’s a bad person. She’s just a stupid teenage girl. I knew girls in high school who had big old heaping helpings of crazy and drama every week, and most of them turned out fine. Scip’s speech to Eddie when he was trying to get the guy to stay sort of implies he still cares for her. I think he’s so mad NOW because well, he basically gave her a chance to come clean, and she blew that. He’s mentioned before he hates lies.

    Angry Scip is Intimidating Scip.

  9. Don’t know why, but I actually believe her about this. The look on her face of disgust and indignation do not look like an act. Scip’s right though to be calling her out on things, bc I’m sure there’s more in the police report rap sheet than what they are talking about.

  10. I’m right there with Scip, too. I want to believe she was a victim.

    How bad is it when you want to believe that she was raped and beaten?

  11. I don’t know what makes Scip seem more gullible — that he believed what Pippi said then, or that he believes what the police report says now.

    Scipio is intelligent, generous, gentle, and even wise, but he is also an all-day sucker.

  12. People really do lie about things like that. Having lived with a pathological liar, I will believe that people will lie about anything.

    1. Shit, so have I. That’s legitimate. People are awful, and some people are messed up in ways that are frankly confusing. But you can’t take them at face value. Then again, that may not be entirely applicable here. I couldn’t lay claim to the knowledge of how this will unfold.

  13. There’s a VERY worrying line in one of the books. In it, Scip basically says: “It’s no surprise she’s screwed up, everyone who has ever been nice to her has ended up in JAIL!”

    Wait, what?

  14. One could see the gravity of her reaction as her panicking because she was caught in a lie she can’t get out of. That said, I think she might have told him a version of what happened, not necessarily The Correct version, but she could have been telling at least partial truths… But I’ve also lived with pathological liars before. Past a certain point it gets really hard to tell whether what they say is actually true or if they just really believe it’s true.

    I used to live with a kid in college who had me convinced that he had a girlfriend, who I talked to online but whenever I had a chance to possibly meet her, oh suddenly something came up. This girl caused untold drama in my life between my friend and I, and eventually I’d had it up to my eyes with her and was about to tell her off when another friend of mine pointed out that my roommate, myself, and the supposed girlfriend all had the same IP address on our forum. I certainly wasn’t posting the comments so…

    Ultimately it came down to a confrontation between my former (note, former) roommate and I, and I can kind of see that ugly conversation reflected ever so slightly in today’s comic. And speaking from the one in Scip’s shoes, I’d HATE to be Pippi right now.

    1. Oh, agreed, Charlotte.
      I can see Pippi’s story being something along the lines of either, “I hated the bastard so I lied about it to get away from him and my mother,” or “That actually did happen but not with him.” It’s either a total lie or a partial truth. I can really see this going to the ugly and awkward confrontation between Scip and Pippi you were talking about and probably end up in a fight, doesn’t matter if it’s physical or verbal (though I can’t see Scip actually fighting), and one of them leaving for quite a while.

    2. That’s a definite possibility but to me it seems she could also be thinking about what could lead to such a claim. If your only provider suddenly doubted you out of the blue, you’d be fairly upset yourself. A moment of “is this happening” isn’t inexplicable.

  15. Because rape ALWAYS gets reported to the police, and they ALWAYS get the right version of the story, and they ALWAYS believe the right person and reflect that in their reports. When a good-for-nothing little screw-up accuses a fine upstanding gentleman of assault, who are the cops going to believe?

    This is hitting some really tender nerves with me, and I hope it isn’t going where I think it’s going.

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