45 thoughts on “Chapter 4: Trouble Every Day, page 73”

  1. This is escalating, and now there is a curling iron involved. I get the feeling this will get really ugly, really quickly.

    My brother grabbed one when he was 3, burnt his entire palm.

    1. At least it’s unplugged.
      So um.
      No accidental toaster-bath situations. I hope.
      God, they are both just digging deeper graves. First Scip, now Pippi.
      But that is a strange reaction she’s having. Scip’s not exactly the violent type.

      1. It is a very strange reaction. There’s no way Scip would attack her. Reflects on what her history must have been like.

  2. Um. There’s still a little green in Scip’s eye in the bottom left panel.

    Also holy hell, armed with a… oh, this is bad. This is scary.

  3. The more we see, and the more I think about this, the more I’m convinced Scip HAS gotten the wrong idea from that police report. Cops get shit wrong, and they lie like a rug when it suits them.

    1. Regrettably, so do people. And they don’t need circumstance or liability to do so. Everyone on Earth is a lying, cheating bastard. Only some of us end up in the police department.

  4. I’m doubting Pippi is wrong. That was a multiple page report Scip handed to Eddie, not just one little possible misunderstanding. Pippi’s got some dirt she’s been hiding, not just the presumed rape.
    I think she’s freaking so bad because she has absolutely no self-control and her cushy life with Mr. Gullible has just gone up in smoke.

    1. hmmmmmmm………………even if scip has this all wrong, she still has no right to act like this to him.

      1. I think it’s not an unreasonable reaction from an abused person when told they were making it all up, especially about a rape. You cannot expect to be a shithead like that and then for the other person to just be all sweet and reasonable to you in return.

        1. Liars backed into corners act accordingly. Victims, too, I suppose.

          With luck, Epiphany will receive an epiphany.

          I have the feeling that the intention for us to truly feel sorry for her will come after nobody believes her calling “wolf” anymore and a real wolf comes along.

        2. Seems to me she’s acting exactly the way a rape victim acts when they are accused of having lied about the whole thing, and having a large & intimidating looking man accuse you of lying isn’t exactly going to make her feel comfortable and safe, so yes, if she has been trough being forced, and had a man do what he wanted anyway whether or not she fought, this is how she’s going to react. She’s going to assume that now that someone she thought would protect her has decided she’s a liar & therefore must be a slut, that he’s going to try to hurt her.

        3. Being a shithead? It’s a plausible concern. Either the police have evidently gotten everything wrong in a case that they would have had to be involved in to file a report, or there’s some underlying falsehood that’s just being uncovered. I’m not saying she’s necessarily not a victim, but for one she sure screams antagonist every opportunity that arises. Had she dealt with it in the proper time and reasoning, there would be none of this. I believe Scip is right to bring it up like this, because the only way to rid yourself of a tic is to burn it out.

  5. Oh… oh dear… Scip’s getting even madder, his language is slipping (not even the curse on this and the other page, but he’s less neat with grammar now – “cuz” instead of “because,” etc)… I really, really hope Scip is right with this – I don’t entirely doubt he is, since he has the police report(s), he isn’t the type of person to automatically jump to the worst conclusions about a person, and after reading back it seemed like he knew her mother at least a little bit (especially referencing Chapter 2, page 30, and he presumably also knows what the boyfriend was like?). And Pippi admitted that she does “real dumb shit” (in the August 5th comic – granted, that’s apparently mainly when she gets mad, but who knows the surrounding circumstances with the allegations with the mother’s boyfriend). I’m not saying that he’s right in suggesting that Pippi slept with the boyfriend because SHE wanted to – I’d even be willing to go out on a limb and say she never slept with him, or got mad at him and used the threat as a bargaining chip (of sorts), or the mother misunderstood the actual relationship between the pair, or one of multiple other situations.

    Her reactions to his accusations can be taken one of two ways – shock that he would doubt her story, or anger that her lies were found out. At the moment, I’m leaning towards the latter, since now she’s completely angry and making threats of bodily harm if Scip “touches her,” and her claims that he “does what [he] fucking want[s]” (the underlying tone to that seems to be “especially in regards to her”…). Both the claims and the threats are a little… too… reminiscent of rape accusations to be dismissed in this case. Especially since Scip only requested that she talk to him, and hasn’t tried to touch and/or restrain her in any way (or suggest that he wanted to)… (And let’s not forget the whole issue that happened when Ben met her the first time, and strong, strong hints that he was a pervert just because he accidentally walked in on her – [Chapter 2, pages 29-31 mainly].)

    Anyway, in either case I applaud your storytelling, and eagerly wait for the upcoming updates! I apologise for reading and lurking for.. well over two years now, but your art and plot lines have always been wonderful. :)

    (And I hope Pippi remembers that Scip’s a bodyguard, if she does decide to attack him – and not only that, but a bodyguard who has no doubt run into people trying to attack before, and who is also into non-harmful philosophies; I don’t doubt he knows ways to disarm someone without causing much damage to the attacker.)

  6. ಠ_ಠ ……. am I the only one that’s really worried about Flora right now? Whether she’s telling the truth in this case or not is kind of irrelevant, Pippi’s demonstrated extremely destructive behavior whenever she gets angry. She thought about breaking his laptop last time, for nothing more than not turning it over to her as quickly as she wanted. Now she’s just gone off her rocker, and… well… the chicken’s shown up a lot in the last couple of pages. D:

    1. I don’t want to believe anything will happen to Flora, man… I just.. I don’t. Scip is a big dude, and he can handle himself. Pippi can die in a fire. But poor little Flora is all defenseless.. what would she do if Pippi came after her, peck at her fingers?

    2. Oh dear. I already felt sorry for/liked Scip,,,Pippi is a personality I can’t stand, but she’s still had my sympathy…

      It actually all does make perfect sense that Scip is “suddenly” coming at her about this- especially after today’s strip I get the feeling that he’s been psyching himself up for this confrontation for at least as long as we’ve known him, not because he’s angry at Pippi’s lies, but because he feels hurt and betrayed by them keenly because he’s her only defender, exactly as he said…and likely feels very alone as a result, especially since not even she will give him the time of day; not really.

      Her temper really is borderline crazy- I fear you’re exactly right, and something that might make Ozzy wince is about to happen to poor chicken.

      We can already tell how important this whole matter is to Scip- what will his pet being killed by someone he calls friend (or wants to) do to him?

      …and by extension, to Pippi when Regan finds out? I’m pretty sure Ray’ll want to literally kill her. O_o

  7. Yeah, Pippi expects Scip to beat her up, because that’s how she’s used to be treated, and that’s how she thinks the world works : show one weakness and people will beat the shit out of you.

    I still haven’t made up my mind on whether Pippi was raped or not. I’d really like to know what the police report said. Of course the boyfriend would say she was consenting, and of course the mother would blame it on her, that happens all the time. At this point of the story, I see both versions as just as valid as each other.

    1. Or she’s hoping the neighbors will overhear.

      I hope this doesn’t end with Scip accused of something he didn’t do. :(

      1. oof. That would be an interesting story, but I’m really hoping this ends well, especially for Scip.
        Damn, Spike’s good at this.
        Although, I’m thinking that the last panel will lead to Scip calming down, oddly.
        It might make him realize how intimidating he’s being.

  8. Yes, I’m worried about Flora, too. It is not good for Scip to be carrying her around so near when Pippi is flipping out. Pippi may give her a bad looking perm after all. ;)

    But seriously, this is getting kind of scary.

    What I don’t get is how Scip can be so furious when just moments before he was trying to convince Pippi’s boyfriend to stick around for her after shoving the same report in his face? Scip may be mad, but I have a feeling his intention is not to toss Pippi out yet.

    1. I think the boyfriend saw the specific report in question before Scip had looked at it closely, and that’s what drew Scip’s attention to it. Just a theory.

  9. Scip’s mad at himself as much as Pippi, ’cause he’s found out he’s been played big time – people (*cough* Reagan) have been telling him that all along, and he didn’t want to believe that, and now he’s been handed proof that she hasn’t told him the real story. He hadn’t even asked for it; Cully did it for his own good, and I wonder if that stung a little too. Notice he never yelled until the panel about everyone else recognizing bullshit except him.

    AND, because Eddie left*, Scip’s also got on his mind what he said before, that Pippi was right to lie ’cause otherwise no one good would stick around. He does care about her, and he’s not going to hurt her, nor probably even kick her out, but how would she know that? She’s scared shitless as much as angry. She only trusted him before largely because he didn’t know the truth about her; now he’s going to have to earn her trust back as much as she’s going to have to earn his.

    I love how well this comic is written.

    *or did Eddie leave? We didn’t see for sure. Maybe he’s out in the hall now, waiting for the blowup to finish. Man, that would be one awkward date.

  10. Scip wouldn’t be acting like this if he wasn’t entirely sure Pippi’s been lying to him. Whatever happened with the alleged rape may be besides the point – one way or another, she’s been lying to him, living in his home while hiding who she is and the things she’s done.

    I would be freaking out on her too. Right or wrong, I think Scip’s actions are understandable. We all know he’s a sweet, level-headed kind of guy – he wouldn’t act this way unless truly hurt.

    Also, I love that the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in this comic aren’t so black and white. No one in real life is perfect, and I guess all this rudeness and freaking out proves just how real the character of Scipio is.

  11. I’d liked to point out that Scip is probably not getting angrier but more emotional in his actions as Pippi gets more…defensive, in her own way. I see Scip’s words as more trying to convince her to talk to him or see where he’s coming from rather than yelling at her in anger. But it’s still not good, he needs to stay calm so Pippi can at least stop escalating as much as she is. Which I can see why because think about it, her mother had to have beat her either way. It has to be in the police report or Scip wouldn’t have reached at least THAT conclusion. And if she lived with someone who would beat her that hard for something so stupid? I feel sorry for Pippi, I really do. It will be near impossible for her to fuction in society…well, okay maybe not Templar’s society, if you can call it that, but still. I’m worried, I’m worried for Pippi, because if Scip can’t convince her to talk to him…she’s fucked. She won’t improve. And I see her and I see a chance…if she gets professional help…mainly with her anger. Flora will be fine because Scip is a gigantic black man that knows martial arts. I don’t think things will get too bad…Scip’s probably is going to calm down…if he’s still smart right now, and Pippi’s being defensive, she won’t start something especially if Scip is calm. I’m not going to side whether or not she was raped. It can be seen either way if you’re not bias or something, and Spike is brillant for making it like that while keeping it feeling real. I’ll just go with what’s for sure for now. But I will say this just to point out a fact, Scip is smart. He would’ve thought about, questioned, and re-read the report at least 5 times before coming to the conclusions he did. Meaning the police report HAS to have something pretty convincing. But it can still be wrong consider police, especially in a society Templar’s, can be horrible douches…alright I’m done with my rant.

  12. If you look closely, Skip is putting Flora on the bed in the first panel before opening the door. So Flora should be out of harms way.

  13. I’m not sure if yelling at and chasing a kid with a history of abuse and who’s practically feral as it is is going to do much good. He can talk to her from the other side of a door, it might even give her enough physical security to calm down. I mean, a large apparently angry man is trying to get her to come within easy reach. Even if in his mind it’s just to talk, she has good reason to fear close proximity to angry grownups. Yeah she’s being defensive, but there’s a good chance she’s also genuinely afraid of getting beaten up again and as long as that seems likely, for instance when a large angry man is yelling at her, there would be no reason in her mind to calm down or stop being hostile. Especially if he keeps trying to get into the room after being warned clearly to back off. Of course Scip is mad under the circumstances, it follows from his nature. But it follows from her nature to treat aggressive behaviour as a threat of violence. After all, if you err on the side of caution people just yell, if you err on the side of trust you get beaten.

  14. Man, if you guys are worried about the chicken, don’t be. All creatures will fight when threatened, no matter how docile, and chickens are THE DEVIL! Trust me, I will show you some scars. Anyhow, they’re also really hard to catch even if they can’t fly, so I’m not worried for flora.
    Hmmm, getting yelled at by a large, angry man…. In a Kilt!? Kinda diminishes it.
    I’m enjoying this comic immensely, very fun, please keep it going.

  15. I must note with some amusement the number of people more concerned with the safety of the chicken than the girl.

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