Love the little character development Flo inserts in the introductions here and there. Harky has worn his role as the avatar of his people for so long that it’s hard to tell where exactly the mask ends and he begins. Penk is aware that some of his doubts and insecurities cannot be shown to the Champions at large (Magda will get to know him better than the others), but hey, if it’s just us readers, he can let his hair down a lot more. “It’s pretty great!”

I think Flo looked back at this piece later and was like, “Hmmm, that’s two jokes about humiliating Harky in rapid succession… coincidences happen, but we shouldn’t rule-of-threes this one if we want people to take him seriously as a threat later.”

She was probably harder on herself about it than that– she generally was when she noticed a flaw– but that was the gist.