I wonder if Piper is offended by the fact that Evyle didn't even deign bring her up on her list of people less responsible than Guy, as if her being at or near the bottom of that list was a given? For that matter, I wonder what Evyle's criticism of Piper would've sounded like?

"Based on what the Diplomat has said, you are a remorseless pyromaniac with a hair-trigger temper and rageaholic tendencies who flaunts your close-to-zero restraint and self-discipline"?

"Based on what you have openly said yourself, you are a petty-minded, misandrist, spiteful, rude, vicious little brat of a child with zero self-awareness who could honestly use a damn good thrashing just so you stop being so condescending to everyone who isn't yourself or your beloved Archie"?

"Based on absolutely nothing in particular, you get your jollies out of blindly following the orders of an authoritarian tyrant, and that's typically not-so-much the hallmark of a responsible individual as it is the hallmark of the kinda bullies who willing fall in line with any old fascist who happens to cross their path"?

Seriously, Piper has A LOT of issues that Evyle could tear into if she thought it worth her time and effort... I wonder if Piper is ever going to get any character development, or at least a bit of attitude readjustment?

This group gets along very well, for sure.

Pablo's right, the potential spy is the most responsible one. The real question is can he stop them?

one of the rare times Burk confirms something regarding his nature directly lmao

and seeing as he has a fairly heavy D&D mentality similar to the ghouls, i wouldn't be surprised if he outright aimed for "Chaotic Good" scenarios for himself

I love Evyle has EXACTLY 0 illusions about her nature. Lol

I love Evyle's honest self-awareness.

I don't understand why Piper (who's yet to open her mouth to not complain) calls Guy a chauvinist.

So how long till they find some ancient artefact, wake up the horror within that begins to twist others into its minions leaving them little choice but to burn the whole town and salt the very earth it once stood on to save everyone?

@Tom
I honestly just chalk it up to her being a misandrist at this point. I mean, having re-read big parts of Burk's story, "chauvinist" is outright polite compared to what she has called Burk in the past... Piper is just plain not a very nice person...
(That said, it could also be because Guy tied her up during the whole mess in the Mage Baron's Castle in order to keep her safe -- which Piper might've misconstrued as him implying something sexist about her ability to defend herself.)

Piper is a spoiled pampered blue blooded brat who treats anyone she deems below her social status as been worthless. Would have hoped after nearly been gutted like a fish in a fight she was utterly outclassed in she might have grown up. Sadly been told to watch Guy for when he exposes himself as a spy due to sheer prejudice from the Iron Judge mostly kinda sealed in any chance of her maybe growing as she hates Guy for taking her down and tying her up, I'm still betting on her dying going after Guy at some stage.

I'm going to be a bit critical, and I'm sorry in advance. I don't like to start trouble, and I know this comic is a massive amount of work. I really like HoH, and I love a lot of these characters.

That being said, the dynamic between Piper and Guy no longer feels like something I can comment on without directly commenting on the writing choices involved. And the writing feels sexist.

Here's the thing: Piper has entirely valid reason to think Guy's an ass. Guy *did* wrong her, albeit with "good intentions", and she has no obligation to like him or be happy that she has to travel with him. She would be justified in quietly holding a grudge, or even in protesting his inclusion. She would be justified in telling Pablo that she feels uncomfortable, or unsafe, or disrespected, or like her feelings weren't a consideration.

(sorry, this is a long one.)

(cont.)

(cont.)

Obviously, Piper is young and doesn't have a ton of emotional intelligence, so she probably wouldn't handle those talks super well. But if she tried and failed to respectfully raise the issue, that would still show us more humanity and more genuine vulnerability than we're getting from this routine.

The problem is that Piper keeps being made absurd enough that nobody is ever on her side. Piper just spouts rude remarks at random so everyone else can roll their eyes at how silly and irrational she is. We're assured that Guy saved this young woman's life when he tied her up and gagged her, so any outrage she has becomes silly and hysterical--it was for her own good, why is she still yapping, etc, etc.

It's a rough way to write a teenage (?) girl who has valid grievances against an older man. I don't know how else to put it. It makes me like her *and* Guy much less.

I wish Guy could just apologize (and/or get properly called out) so we could all drop it. Alternatively, I wish Piper could just hold her grudge in a way that doesn't make her look so unreasonable that readers wind up taking Guy's side. We could have a scene where Guy says "well, I saved your life", she'd say "hmph, whatever", and we'd never talk about it again.

But it's been a while, and we're still beating the same drum. "You're a chauvinist PIG!"
"Shut up, Piper."
"Well, you're SEXIST."
"Shut up, Piper."

It doesn't matter if Piper is wrong in the fiction. Writing her this way is a choice, and I'm really hoping we're moving on from it soon. "Dumb woman calling man sexist" is not a great source of comic relief for me.

Addendum to my previous two posts: I am aggressively uninterested in engaging with the "Piper is a misandrist"/"someone needs to put that brat in her place" discussions happening here except to say that these kinds of comments are what you get when you choose to dwell on a story like this for this long.

They're engaging with the story on its own terms and concluding that Piper is too silly and unreasonable to be treated with any respect, so she must just irrationally hate men or need to be humiliated more.

I don't really want to engage with this subplot on its terms at this point. This comic can treat women better, and often does. It's time to move on.

@Tom: Honestly? I think it's just that the rusty judge has ordered her to do something terrible to Guy, so she's working herself up to it. The hostility is just her making her future crimes easier to bear. Well, future attempted crimes, I wouldn't fancy her chances if a fight *did* break out.

@noname
I don't think Piper is misandrist at all? She's just a petty brat and magic elitist.

She hates Guy because he tied her up against her will, and looked down on Burk for fighting with brute physical strength rather than magic.

@Sam
Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but the specific insults she uses, e.g., calling Guy a "chauvinist" and a "pig" over a matter that was a fair bit more complex than him merely being a sexist, and calling our wonderful Burk stuff like "dumb ape" (which feels like a very gender-specific insult to me at least; I've never heard anyone ever refer to a woman that way) for no reason other than him just plain being Burk, really doesn't help paint the way she frames and expresses her elitism in anything but a heavily misandrist light.

Gobo has a way better argument going than I do though, and I honestly concur with them: This subplot has reached a point where it's not really appealing and doesn't make either Guy or Piper enjoyable to read, and I sadly also have to concur with them that the blame kinda has to fall on the way that Neo has chosen to write their conflict... To say nothing of the way that Piper's petty and baseless disdain for Burk has been written...

I think another problem with Gobo's grievances is the timeline. From our perspective it's a dead horse, but storywise not that much time has elapsed with them together. Sorrow's point also stands, that she is just passively complaining because she knows, in the end, she was given the job to watch him and catch him in the act. She's just not mature enough to do it quietly.