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Just gnawin’ on a quiet desperation sandwich. Adrift in the modern world, y’know; wanted to talk to her girlfriend; couldn’t. Lousy thousand natural shocks the flesh is heir to.
Billie either crawled into bed with Ruth cause she was feeling all lonely and in need of cuddles….or Ruth sorta stealth enveloped her without waking up like a child hugging a toy and Billie is surprised at this. I am uncertain which scenario is correct, though I suspect the former.
Given that Ruth is in exactly the same pose the panel prior, except that Billie has slid herself and the cover under Ruth’s arm, there’s is no possible way that Ruth just sleep-reached out to hold her. This is Billie feeling retroactively awkward and guilty.
I saw it as Billie getting in an tucking her arm over her, so when Ruth wakes up, she’ll have someone to cuddle. Ruth was crying when Billie left earlier, so I reckon she’s worried and is just trying to find ways to comfort her.
That’s more or less what I thought, except I thought Billie was after some comforting of her own, and was feeling embarrassed/guilty about helping herself, as it were.
It looks to me like Ruth fell asleep doing homework. These are college students, remember.
I think the awkward look on Billie’s face is due to worry – she’s seeing a lot of circling vultures in her sky, right now. What’s-her-name, religious girl who knows about her and Ruth. Becky, who seems determined to out her to the entire school. Walky and Joyce, who keep asking questions about her ‘boyfriend’.
Was it Paul who denied Jesus thrice before the cock crowed? That’s kinda how Billie’s feeling, right now.
I may have been that girl, too. In college I identified as “bi-curious”, and I didn’t internalize the bisexuality label until after I graduated. No rush.
This discussion reminds me of a friend of mine. She once told me “I’m straight – I just like having sex with women.” I, needless to say, raised an eyebrow at that (being one of those women) and I told her it is possible to be bisexual but hetero-romantic (ie, only interested in romance with the opposite sex). And then she was like “Oh, yes, that. I’m that.”
Ruth had said “I won’t be able to drink myself to death in the fifty minutes you’ll be gone” or similar – the class is around an hour.
In an hour, she’s gotten some shocks from her friends and acquaintances, and come back to some she really cares about…who IS STILL unceasingly crying, even in her sleep. She hasn’t had much experience with SERIOUS depression, and Ruth’s behaviour (which is actually on an *up* swing) worries her.
…geez, I really am champing at the bit at this ‘much slower than real life’ pace; it could take Billie years of constant interaction to get to the point where she could really understand what Ruth’s going through, and how best to help her (if they even remain together that long); as someone who has undergone that, watching someone else START that journey in Super Slo-Mo is just torture…
Agreed. This comic hit me super hard. If you’ve been there, there’s no confusion about exactly what’s happening in this scene. I’ve been Billie in this comic, years ago with my ex-wife. I hope things work out better for her than they did for me.
Wouldn’t have been as , something like that hast to be right then and there on the spot, also computer malfunction was so bad made me double post without even knowing.
Whoops. The first time I sent it I kept getting an error and assumed it didn’t go through. How EM-BARRASSING. No, but really, she is apparently just normal bi, but says the word sounds too gtoss to describe herself as such.
I can understand that. I mean, calling yourself “gay” or “lesbian” instead of “homosexual” removes focus from the word “sexual”. But there’s no real alternative label for bi people that doesn’t have that focus (unless you count “bi”, but that immediately brings “bisexual” to mind anyway).
For some weird reason i got server timeout when i tried to post and said i already said that when i tried again but did appear even though i refreshed the site many times so sowwie anout the dub, stupid ipad-_-“
Ruth was holding a…calculator or phone in the first frame; I’d assumed that along with pulling the covers up over her (Ruth’s feet were on top of the blanket, Billie also cleared away the papers.
Of course, now I wonder if that was a phone and if it turns out to be significant – maybe Ruth had called someone, and the conversation caused her to cry herself to sleep?
I feel like there are a lot of strips where Billie and Ruth just kinda do something intimate but nothing actually happens to move the plot around or provide a punchline.
It’s nice to see them relatively at peace with themselves (well, maybe not the last panel). I wouldn’t want to see DRAMA! every time they make an appearance.
Thank heaven. I thought I was the only one. Let’s hope, she said, traumatized by Ruth’s demise in an earlier strip, that it is not “I have taken the whole bottle because you deserve better.”
Never realized that Billie was a sleepist, just hoping into bed with random people while they are sleeping. I should’ve saw it coming when she did it to Walkerton, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
It worked for her it seems, Billie has herself a baby Ruth now. While being able to say she slept with her associates man, without Dorothy being able to retaliate. Billie has been secretly making power moves without any being able to fight back lol.
I’ve developed into a fan of this relationship. But sometimes I don’t get a particular stip. Like now.
It’s nice that Ruth is reaching out, even if asleep. But, why is Billie with that expression?
Willis always has meanings behind his characters moves and expressions, and I don’t get this. Billie may be would be irritated as doesn’t want hugging, or maybe happy because she does. But this…surprised is closest and that’s not quite it…darker than surprise? Regret?
1) I dunno if Ruth did anything – her arm’s just about in the position it was when Billie first entered,
2) as Solenoid noted below, I *think* it’s Billie coming back from class and finding Ruth still in the throes of her depression.
3) and I *might* be reading into it, but also not knowing how to help or ‘make it all better’ (a lot of people don’t realize that serious depression is like a mountain sitting on top of you; you don’t just ‘fix’ it in the short term…but you can chip away at it and make it a little smaller and easier to deal with over the long…which, given this comic’s pace, will probably be drawn by David Willis, Junior.
There have been afewinstances of Ruth being adorable before, but rarely for more than a few minutes or when both her and Billie are awake at the same time.
I’m wondering if you realized what you’re links spelled out Bagge, & it might not be a coincidence. Ruth has always been…unwilling for people to know her adorable side, & it’s seems to be very much so.
Strip 1 – Asking
Strip 2- Four
Strip 3 -Murder
By posting those links, in Ruth’s eyes, you may be asking four (for) murder… LOL
Okay that didn’t post but gave me a you posted twice msg must wait…but still didn’t post it.
So: one more time. Billie looks not happy in last panel.
I’ve come around to being a fan of this relationship, hoping it works for both their sakes, they need each other.
It is sweet that Ruth is reaching out, even if in her sleep.
But, Billie doesn’t really look surprised. Or sad. Regretful is closest I think and as Mr. W. always has a reason for his characters emotive faces…..
My take is that she’s worried, because even though things feel comfortable right now, she might feel that this relationship is not exactly 100% healthy, and is worrying about how it might get messed up in the future.
Okay that didn’t post but gave me a you posted twice msg must wait…but still didn’t post it. Done it twice now. ‘max. exceeding 30 sec….never seen this in years of posting…so, if dons’t go this time giving up tonight.
So: one more time. Billie looks not happy in last panel.
I’ve come around to being a fan of this relationship, hoping it works for both their sakes, they need each other.
It is sweet that Ruth is reaching out, even if in her sleep.
But, Billie doesn’t really look surprised. Or sad. Regretful is closest I think and as Mr. W. always has a reason for his characters emotive faces…..
Damn. I apoligise for all the posts not at all what I meant to do. And maybe so, she may be worrying about the future or …I wonder if her weird confrontation with Becky has anything to do with it.
Blame teh intarweebs; to be fair, I’m not a big fan of David’s ‘no-edit-feature’ comment section, but to each their own.
But yeah, Billie’s got things going at her from different directions – Becky challenging her to think seriously about her relationship, having to keep said relationship secret from her life-long friends, and then coming back to said relationship and finding the one she cares about so incomprehensibly sad and being unable to help.
I think Billie isn’t ready now for Ruth’s level of commitment and need. Unfortunately, Ruth is ready to fall in love with Billie while Billie is NOT looking or WANTING that kind of relationship.
Which SUCKS because Ruth is trying to use her as a liferaft.
@Charles Phipps – erm, “just a fling” to Billie? Well, looking back, she would disagree
It’s pretty serious for BOTH of them; that said, it’s been going on for what, a week or two in ‘comic time’, so it might still burn out…in a few more months (which would be approximately a DECADE for us)
But it’s Billie who keeps sneaking into Ruth’s room and who seemed most broken up by the breach between them. (I admit she had a lot of other things going on.) It seems to me that you could easily argue for the opposite relationship.
I think it also helps to realize as far as Billie is concerned, they just had a fling and now Ruth is considering her a reason to live. From the time perspective, Ruth is going from zero to ten.
The strip before your link. Kind of suggests that what we’re seeing in this strip is the bad news… the “I couldn’t deal with being awake anymore and went back to bed” sort of situation. Estimated in-comic elapsed time from linked strip to current strip: 1h, 30min (bare minimum time to get ready for lecture, attend, and abscond to Ruth’s room) – 2h, 30min (More realistic for getting ready for lecture). It’s still morning.
There’s no way Billie thinks this is just a fling. She practically broke down with guilt when Ruth found out she was still drinking, she said she’d hover around Ruth to make sure she didn’t kill herself, and she was pretty adamant about never actually leaving Ruth’s dorm room. It’s not emotionally healthy, but the two of them are depending on each other for support.
Agreed- that and the fact in an earlier strip Ruth said “the fact that I’m up and can cry is a good thing” and now what, 2 hours later she’s back in bed.
Eh, Billie has always sort of struck me as a worrier. Her look in the last panel doesn’t seem strange to me at all, Ruth has been crying. She’s concerned.
Yeah, I think Billie is entirely comfortable with the fact she’s bisexual. She likes dudes and ladies and has since high school. I like to think the Walkertons have also been an environment which she was raised (because her own parents didn’t do it) that this was no big deal.
Ruth has tears in her eyes. Billie is worried about her depression. If this isn’t the case, and she’s questioning her sexuality, I’ll eat a bowl of live crickets
Remember kids, Billie always has this image of “Problem Solver” in her head, and now she’s running up against a problem like depression that can’t be solved with cleverness or plucky gumption. She want’s to DO something and all she can DO is love and support Ruth… and that can’t fix the problem. It can help, though. Billie wants an action though, and there’s no quick fix for this one. HENCE THE CONCERN.
Has anyone considered the possibility (however faint) that Billie’s expression is just a reaction to Ruth’s snoring? I’ve definitely been on both ends of that look because of the difficulty of sleeping with loud snorers.
I think her expression is a reaction to either the fact she just got into bed with someone who’s asleep, or the fact there’s clearly a note on the bed in panel 2
Just a thought: Ruth’s left handed. (per here If she was writing notes in her bed (before/just-after/while talking to someone on the phone) why would she lie on her LEFT side? Was she sitting up before she ‘got tired’? Why did she move from the desk (where she was writing when Billie woke) to the bed?
And WHY CAN’T I STOP SPECULATING ABOUT A SIMPLE WEBCOMIC?!?
People be like “What’s that look on Billie’s face? I do not recognize this emotion. I see no reason for this emotion. She must be reacting to something that has happened since she last saw Ruth, because she cannot still be feeling something she felt before. It is very mysterious!”
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She’s a sleepcuddler!
What is wrong with Billie is the last panel?
Insomnia?
Is it even night time?
Time of day be damned, I just wanted to reference one of many short-lived Dave Attell projects.
It appears to be midday. Light is shining through the window in the second panel.
Just gnawin’ on a quiet desperation sandwich. Adrift in the modern world, y’know; wanted to talk to her girlfriend; couldn’t. Lousy thousand natural shocks the flesh is heir to.
Well, RuthXBillie IS a consummation devoutly to be wished…
To die, to sleep…Perchance to dream, aye, there’s the rub.
For in the sleep of death, what dreams may come.
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause.
There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time
You know the rules, and so do I!
Go to your room, Haven!
To be, or not to be? Fuck if I know, what am I, the fuckin’ Answer Man?
She realized how gassy she was, and doesn’t want to leave bed or wake Ruth.
Billie either crawled into bed with Ruth cause she was feeling all lonely and in need of cuddles….or Ruth sorta stealth enveloped her without waking up like a child hugging a toy and Billie is surprised at this. I am uncertain which scenario is correct, though I suspect the former.
The look of surprise on Billie indicates the latter. Not sure why this one’s confusing some folks.
See, I can’t tell if that’s surprise or confused sadness.
She kinda looks worried.
Looks guilty to me, although I have no idea why.
Because shes spent the entire day denying that she likes girls. she feels bad about it. D:
No, she was pretty open about the fact that she likes girls. She’s just not a lesbian.
Is she feeling guilty that she’s in this relationship with Ruth, and isn’t a lesbian, and would end up breaking Ruth’s heart if it got more serious?
More serious than ‘I won’t leave, I don’t care about literally anything else’?
I was thinking uncomfortably horny? Body thinks its go time but head knows it’s not.
Walky had a similar moment sharing Dorothy’s bed, but the boner left a little bit less up to interpretation.
Not like she seemed at all worried before when she was being followed by Becky.
Given that Ruth is in exactly the same pose the panel prior, except that Billie has slid herself and the cover under Ruth’s arm, there’s is no possible way that Ruth just sleep-reached out to hold her. This is Billie feeling retroactively awkward and guilty.
I saw it as Billie getting in an tucking her arm over her, so when Ruth wakes up, she’ll have someone to cuddle. Ruth was crying when Billie left earlier, so I reckon she’s worried and is just trying to find ways to comfort her.
That’s more or less what I thought, except I thought Billie was after some comforting of her own, and was feeling embarrassed/guilty about helping herself, as it were.
Ruth’s eyes are still wet; I think Billie’s still trying to cope with caring about someone with deep depression.
Maybe Ruth just pissed herself. Or farted.
She’s getting the Z.
It’s like the D, only it takes place on the dreamscape and Leonardo DiCaprio’s butt is flying around making loud farts that sound like this
She has the sads.
I think she’s worried about Ruth who looks like she cried herself to sleep.
It looks to me like Ruth fell asleep doing homework. These are college students, remember.
I think the awkward look on Billie’s face is due to worry – she’s seeing a lot of circling vultures in her sky, right now. What’s-her-name, religious girl who knows about her and Ruth. Becky, who seems determined to out her to the entire school. Walky and Joyce, who keep asking questions about her ‘boyfriend’.
Was it Paul who denied Jesus thrice before the cock crowed? That’s kinda how Billie’s feeling, right now.
When you lay it out like that Billie has a lot to worry about. Ruth was crying though right? Did I misread that?
Also I feel I must inform you that said religious girl is Mary…she’s “important” now.
It was Peter who denied Jesus.
Classic Peter.
No wonder Jesus dumped him for John
I don’t think so. She’s got a little notpad in one hand and a phone in the other. When I see that I remember Ruth on the phone going ‘yes sir.’
She has deep feelings for another human being, and it’s freakin’ her shit out, big time.
She’s worried about Ruth, and looking over at her with concern.
Wet pillows are awkward to sleep on.
Doing calculus to 2359 means NEW RUTH AND BILLIE STRIP YAAAAAY!
Billy reminds me of my roommate who says she’s not a lesbian, she just likes girls.
I understand completely, I like girls but I wouldn’t call myself a lesbian either.
I like girls as well, but I would also not call myself a lesbian….cause I’m a guy.
I’m a guy, vut consider myself a lesbian.
I don’t even like the sight of my own penis.
I like girls so I call myself a lesbian trapped in a man’s body
I completely get what you mean, but to be fair she could be bi rather than lesbian and still like girls. We all know that girl, though.
I may have been that girl, too. In college I identified as “bi-curious”, and I didn’t internalize the bisexuality label until after I graduated. No rush.
This discussion reminds me of a friend of mine. She once told me “I’m straight – I just like having sex with women.” I, needless to say, raised an eyebrow at that (being one of those women) and I told her it is possible to be bisexual but hetero-romantic (ie, only interested in romance with the opposite sex). And then she was like “Oh, yes, that. I’m that.”
I can’t hear the term “bi-curious” these days without hearing Roxy Richter in the Scott Pilgrim film proclaiming herself to be “bi-FURIOUS!”
I applaud you for restraining to one Z per bubble instead of the more commercial three Zs of descending sizes.
And a saw cutting through a log would have just been going way too far.
Indeed, that would be Zzzelling out.
I guess ZZT would be too much to ascii for.
Ruth never stopped being depressed today, huh?
I don’t think she has stopped being depressed for as long as we have know her.
obviously was taking a sexy selfie for billy also probally still tired after what happened the night before
Well, the last time we saw her, she was crying at her desk for some unknown reason. But then, it’s hard to gauge time passage at the moment.
Seems Billie went to her morning class so I’d say maybe two to three hours tops.
Ruth had said “I won’t be able to drink myself to death in the fifty minutes you’ll be gone” or similar – the class is around an hour.
In an hour, she’s gotten some shocks from her friends and acquaintances, and come back to some she really cares about…who IS STILL unceasingly crying, even in her sleep. She hasn’t had much experience with SERIOUS depression, and Ruth’s behaviour (which is actually on an *up* swing) worries her.
…geez, I really am champing at the bit at this ‘much slower than real life’ pace; it could take Billie years of constant interaction to get to the point where she could really understand what Ruth’s going through, and how best to help her (if they even remain together that long); as someone who has undergone that, watching someone else START that journey in Super Slo-Mo is just torture…
Agreed. This comic hit me super hard. If you’ve been there, there’s no confusion about exactly what’s happening in this scene. I’ve been Billie in this comic, years ago with my ex-wife. I hope things work out better for her than they did for me.
SHIT! I just realized I missed a opportunity for a hand boning joke last page
Couldn’t you just post it on the previous page’s comments? Old ones don’t close.
Wouldn’t have been as , something like that hast to be right then and there on the spot, also computer malfunction was so bad made me double post without even knowing.
Awwww…. Hmmm is ruth’s waterwork leaking or is it just me? >_<
This is so sweet.
Billie reminds me of my roommate who says she’s not bisexual, she’s just attracted to both men and women.
Bisexual isn’t the only sexuality where you’re attracted to both men and women.
Okay now explain how it isn’t the name for the wider category which includes all forms of sexuality where one is attracted to both men and women.
Not wanting to be called something doesn’t actually make its definition not apply to someone.
No, self identification is important.
This is basically a rejection of the idea that there are objective facts. You are, basically, saying that Ethan and Danny are straight.
You tried it a second time because you realized the first one wasn’t too hard to reconcile?
Careful — there are a lot more flavors of non-binary sexualities than there are flavors of the binary sexualities.
Rude
Whoops. The first time I sent it I kept getting an error and assumed it didn’t go through. How EM-BARRASSING. No, but really, she is apparently just normal bi, but says the word sounds too gtoss to describe herself as such.
I can understand that. I mean, calling yourself “gay” or “lesbian” instead of “homosexual” removes focus from the word “sexual”. But there’s no real alternative label for bi people that doesn’t have that focus (unless you count “bi”, but that immediately brings “bisexual” to mind anyway).
I don’t think Billie has ever said she wasn’t bisexual though. All she said was that she wasn’t only into women.
Awwww. Comfort and company. This strip is almost more adorable than sad.
Shit ! I just realized I missed an opportunity for a hand boning joke last page.
I have a Regular Show reference for that, but I’m not sure if “hand boning” was intentional or a misspelling of “hamboning.”
I thought the same. Hamboning will save your life some day, don’t you know.
Words of wisdom from Trash Boat.
Awww… Hmmm is ruth’s waterwork leaking or is it just me? >_<
For some weird reason i got server timeout when i tried to post and said i already said that when i tried again but did appear even though i refreshed the site many times so sowwie anout the dub, stupid ipad-_-“
Damn typos, meaned “did not appear” and “about the dub” not “anout” xD
Upon further examination, it does sort of look like she might be crying in her sleep. Google tells me this happens to some people.
Why the waterworks, tubbo, were they out of pie?
Okay, I seriously hope tomorrow’s comic explains Billie’s expression in the final panel, because I don’t get it.
It’s either drool-soaked pillow to the ear, or “Huh, maybe I am a lesbian after all.”
…or worry for her bedmate who’s still crying.
To be honest, I’d say it’s a mix of all of them. David likes heaping all manner of stressors from all directions on people…kinda like real life.
Ruth is crying in her sleep. look close
Let me guess: medically relevant cloud of alcohol?
that best not be regrets XD
I wonder if Billie woke Ruth up temporarily with the crinkle from sitting on that piece of paper.
Ruth was holding a…calculator or phone in the first frame; I’d assumed that along with pulling the covers up over her (Ruth’s feet were on top of the blanket, Billie also cleared away the papers.
Of course, now I wonder if that was a phone and if it turns out to be significant – maybe Ruth had called someone, and the conversation caused her to cry herself to sleep?
I feel like there are a lot of strips where Billie and Ruth just kinda do something intimate but nothing actually happens to move the plot around or provide a punchline.
I’m surprisingly okay with that. I like that they’re relationship is just kindof an easy, comfortable thing
TBH nothing about this relationship seems easy or comfortable.
Aside from Billie’s surprise at being engulfed by Ruth’s blanket, it’s cute, and cuteness his its own justification.
It’s nice to see them relatively at peace with themselves (well, maybe not the last panel). I wouldn’t want to see DRAMA! every time they make an appearance.
I’m wondering whether the pad of paper on the bed, in the first panel, is signifcant.
Second panel. Darn.
Or Ruth’s phone, which was in her hand and is probably now in Billie’s.
Thank heaven. I thought I was the only one. Let’s hope, she said, traumatized by Ruth’s demise in an earlier strip, that it is not “I have taken the whole bottle because you deserve better.”
I thought ‘note?’ but I can’t imagine Billy wouldn’t have read it in that case. Perhaps copying something off her phone?
Dang, I wish I’d read down further when commenting the same sort of thing (the phone in Ruth’s hand)
And remember the last thing Ruth said the last time we saw her: “I’ve got too much shit to do to die today.”
hmmmm….
(and David has a nasty tendency of {unintentionally, maybe} leading us to jump to conclusions and overthink things…)
Never realized that Billie was a sleepist, just hoping into bed with random people while they are sleeping. I should’ve saw it coming when she did it to Walkerton, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
You know, I’ve tried, but found that hoping myself into someone’s bed rarely works. Too bad.
It worked for her it seems, Billie has herself a baby Ruth now. While being able to say she slept with her associates man, without Dorothy being able to retaliate. Billie has been secretly making power moves without any being able to fight back lol.
I see what you did there.
I’ve developed into a fan of this relationship. But sometimes I don’t get a particular stip. Like now.
It’s nice that Ruth is reaching out, even if asleep. But, why is Billie with that expression?
Willis always has meanings behind his characters moves and expressions, and I don’t get this. Billie may be would be irritated as doesn’t want hugging, or maybe happy because she does. But this…surprised is closest and that’s not quite it…darker than surprise? Regret?
Empathy. She knows Ruth’s hurting inside. That knowledge in itself is sad for her.
1) I dunno if Ruth did anything – her arm’s just about in the position it was when Billie first entered,
2) as Solenoid noted below, I *think* it’s Billie coming back from class and finding Ruth still in the throes of her depression.
3) and I *might* be reading into it, but also not knowing how to help or ‘make it all better’ (a lot of people don’t realize that serious depression is like a mountain sitting on top of you; you don’t just ‘fix’ it in the short term…but you can chip away at it and make it a little smaller and easier to deal with over the long…which, given this comic’s pace, will probably be drawn by David Willis, Junior.
I can now cross ‘see Ruth being adorable’ off my bucket list.
There have been a few instances of Ruth being adorable before, but rarely for more than a few minutes or when both her and Billie are awake at the same time.
I’m wondering if you realized what you’re links spelled out Bagge, & it might not be a coincidence. Ruth has always been…unwilling for people to know her adorable side, & it’s seems to be very much so.
Strip 1 – Asking
Strip 2- Four
Strip 3 -Murder
By posting those links, in Ruth’s eyes, you may be asking four (for) murder… LOL
O crap, I didn’t notice that. But it does seem to be a fitting response to calling Ruth adorable.
So…. in unrelated notes I’m eaten by wild dogs now.
*Pokes remains with stick*
Okay that didn’t post but gave me a you posted twice msg must wait…but still didn’t post it.
So: one more time. Billie looks not happy in last panel.
I’ve come around to being a fan of this relationship, hoping it works for both their sakes, they need each other.
It is sweet that Ruth is reaching out, even if in her sleep.
But, Billie doesn’t really look surprised. Or sad. Regretful is closest I think and as Mr. W. always has a reason for his characters emotive faces…..
My take is that she’s worried, because even though things feel comfortable right now, she might feel that this relationship is not exactly 100% healthy, and is worrying about how it might get messed up in the future.
Okay that didn’t post but gave me a you posted twice msg must wait…but still didn’t post it. Done it twice now. ‘max. exceeding 30 sec….never seen this in years of posting…so, if dons’t go this time giving up tonight.
So: one more time. Billie looks not happy in last panel.
I’ve come around to being a fan of this relationship, hoping it works for both their sakes, they need each other.
It is sweet that Ruth is reaching out, even if in her sleep.
But, Billie doesn’t really look surprised. Or sad. Regretful is closest I think and as Mr. W. always has a reason for his characters emotive faces…..
That’s when Billie realized that Ruth had peed the bed.
Damn. I apoligise for all the posts not at all what I meant to do. And maybe so, she may be worrying about the future or …I wonder if her weird confrontation with Becky has anything to do with it.
Blame teh intarweebs; to be fair, I’m not a big fan of David’s ‘no-edit-feature’ comment section, but to each their own.
But yeah, Billie’s got things going at her from different directions – Becky challenging her to think seriously about her relationship, having to keep said relationship secret from her life-long friends, and then coming back to said relationship and finding the one she cares about so incomprehensibly sad and being unable to help.
Billie’s got a few reasons to frown…
I’m more of an “R” man myself, but “Z” is pretty cool too
What is that look on Billie’s face?
Ruth is so cute!
I think Billie isn’t ready now for Ruth’s level of commitment and need. Unfortunately, Ruth is ready to fall in love with Billie while Billie is NOT looking or WANTING that kind of relationship.
Which SUCKS because Ruth is trying to use her as a liferaft.
Which sucks x10.
Well, Billie does have a pair of large flotation devices. Sorry! I’ll go now.
@Ed – wot, her buttocks?
@Charles Phipps – erm, “just a fling” to Billie? Well, looking back, she would disagree
It’s pretty serious for BOTH of them; that said, it’s been going on for what, a week or two in ‘comic time’, so it might still burn out…in a few more months (which would be approximately a DECADE for us)
Damn HTML! Here’s the links I tried to do refer to:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/never-2/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/far-2/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/playmates/
But it’s Billie who keeps sneaking into Ruth’s room and who seemed most broken up by the breach between them. (I admit she had a lot of other things going on.) It seems to me that you could easily argue for the opposite relationship.
I think it also helps to realize as far as Billie is concerned, they just had a fling and now Ruth is considering her a reason to live. From the time perspective, Ruth is going from zero to ten.
Billie is maybe ready for one.
Oh crap.
If Ruth’s gone up to ten, I think Billie goes up to at least eleven.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/goodnews/
The strip before your link. Kind of suggests that what we’re seeing in this strip is the bad news… the “I couldn’t deal with being awake anymore and went back to bed” sort of situation. Estimated in-comic elapsed time from linked strip to current strip: 1h, 30min (bare minimum time to get ready for lecture, attend, and abscond to Ruth’s room) – 2h, 30min (More realistic for getting ready for lecture). It’s still morning.
Ah, depression. Ah, constant inability to deal with the world at large. Ah, side effects including longterm exhaustion. Poor Ruth. Poor Billie.
There’s no way Billie thinks this is just a fling. She practically broke down with guilt when Ruth found out she was still drinking, she said she’d hover around Ruth to make sure she didn’t kill herself, and she was pretty adamant about never actually leaving Ruth’s dorm room. It’s not emotionally healthy, but the two of them are depending on each other for support.
If you look closely you can see Ruth is crying in her sleep and that is what I think billy is concerned about.
Agreed- that and the fact in an earlier strip Ruth said “the fact that I’m up and can cry is a good thing” and now what, 2 hours later she’s back in bed.
I thought I was just imagining that! So she really IS crying.
Eh, Billie has always sort of struck me as a worrier. Her look in the last panel doesn’t seem strange to me at all, Ruth has been crying. She’s concerned.
Ruth never seems to mess around on her phone. It only seems to come to be in her possession when Unknown Malevolent Stranger upsets her by calling
Well spotted, extremely worrying.
Which might explain why Ruth appears to be crying, as noted by Jeremy above.
Billie is still bothered/troubled by her interaction with Becky. She claimed she wasn’t a Lesbian, maybe now she is wondering if that is true of not.
That is the way it looks to me.
Bisexuality is a thing you know
Yeah, I think Billie is entirely comfortable with the fact she’s bisexual. She likes dudes and ladies and has since high school. I like to think the Walkertons have also been an environment which she was raised (because her own parents didn’t do it) that this was no big deal.
Ruth has tears in her eyes. Billie is worried about her depression. If this isn’t the case, and she’s questioning her sexuality, I’ll eat a bowl of live crickets
You can never take that back.
That promise is here forever.
WILLIS LOOK AT THE COMMENT! I WANNA SEE SOMEONE EAT CRICKETS!
XP
I really don’t think willis would do a slipshine if billie wasn’t sexually attracted to ruth guys
Remember kids, Billie always has this image of “Problem Solver” in her head, and now she’s running up against a problem like depression that can’t be solved with cleverness or plucky gumption. She want’s to DO something and all she can DO is love and support Ruth… and that can’t fix the problem. It can help, though. Billie wants an action though, and there’s no quick fix for this one. HENCE THE CONCERN.
Bingo.
*Ding ding ding* Give that man a cookie…
YAYCOOKIES
Is…is Ruth crying in her sleep? D:
Great, now I’m crying. Over freakin’ Ruthless.
Thanks for making me see it too, now I’m sad.
“Ruth I know you’re awake, you’re just saying ‘Zeeee, Zeeee, Zeeee’ over and over again.”
Nah, she’s from Canada.
Zeddd, Zeddd, Zeddd.
+1 internet for you, eh!
This is America. There should be laws mandating that people sleep English when they come here, eh?
Indeed me ol’ chap; can’t have any of these silly Colonials muddying up the Queen’s English now, can we? {/sarcasm}
Now I wish your grav was Jason.
I think Ruth (and maybe Billy) should seek professional help.
Ruth absolutely needs professional help. Sadly, the best thing for Billie to do is step away.
Has anyone considered the possibility (however faint) that Billie’s expression is just a reaction to Ruth’s snoring? I’ve definitely been on both ends of that look because of the difficulty of sleeping with loud snorers.
I feel like the alt text is a direct reference to Friday’s QC (2881)
That hovertext…
My interpretation is that Billie draped Ruth’s arm around herself.
I think her expression is a reaction to either the fact she just got into bed with someone who’s asleep, or the fact there’s clearly a note on the bed in panel 2
I would argue that Ruth, being a college student, would almost ALWAYS have notes around her…but, yeah.
I’d thought she was holding a calculator in her hand, but it’s a phone (trim around back-camera visible)…
…last time we saw her really go into the deep end, she had just talked to someone on the phone…
…per the notes, she was writing as her desk when Billie woke up, and made the comment “I got too much shit to do to die today”.
I’ve overthought minor things in Willis-comics before, but this seems to be a lot of little signs to something…
Could the atltext be hinting at Ruth not being asleep in the 3rd panel…?
Do I see tears or is it just me?
This is the most adorable toxic co-dependent, suicidal couple I’ve ever seen/
Just a thought: Ruth’s left handed. (per here If she was writing notes in her bed (before/just-after/while talking to someone on the phone) why would she lie on her LEFT side? Was she sitting up before she ‘got tired’? Why did she move from the desk (where she was writing when Billie woke) to the bed?
And WHY CAN’T I STOP SPECULATING ABOUT A SIMPLE WEBCOMIC?!?
SIMPLE? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
That was supposed to be a reply to jadedcynic.
Blame Willis’s WP comment section
But yeah; offhand remark without analysing everything (which is kinda the point )
…and apt avatar is apt *thumbs up*
oh lord i just read that title as “truck”
O_O
Wow…even a conspiracy theorist couldn’t justify that Willis did that deliberately but…just wow
*pats BL’s shoulder sympathetically*
So glad that was a phone in Ruth’s hand and not a glass.
Don’t google iFlask then. :-p
I just did, thanks for that.
People be like “What’s that look on Billie’s face? I do not recognize this emotion. I see no reason for this emotion. She must be reacting to something that has happened since she last saw Ruth, because she cannot still be feeling something she felt before. It is very mysterious!”
I can’t remember how I found this webcomic, but I’ve finally caught up with it. It’s great.
I read the address bar version of the title of this strip as Truck 3 times before I got it right. Freaked out every time