Panel 2: Yyyyyeah, as I recall I was quite hesitant about having Emp blurt what she did, and was in fact sweating that the dialogue might well be verging on TV Trope's "narm" territory. In the end, though, I believe this moment works pretty well in conveying that Emp absolutely had glommed onto Rivet as a father figure substituting for her own untimely deceased daddy.

Panel 3: The idea here is that Emp shocked herself with the previous panel's unthinking outburst.

Today’s Patreon update: Originally done as a means of scratching out more worktime to complete the long-gestating Empowered vol. 12, I've switched over to a Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday Patreon posting schedule that won't feature the fixed content format I previously used. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren