A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
All Known Alternatives
Karolina 'Kajotko' Jankiewicz
Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
BOOKMARK Click "Tag Page" to bookmark a page. When you return to the site, click "Goto Tag" to continue where you left off.
BUFFER WATCH
Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:
Also, I meant: “Copulating, cohabitating, corny, combusting, coke addicted cops on a 21 Jump Street mission who also happen to be consumed with a ravenous femur lust.”
Please bear in mind that, in-universe, Billie speaks and Sal hears in phonemes rather than letters, thus ruling out both copulating and consumed (and several other replies) which share the letters C-O but are pronounced with a different O sound.
He’s currently not so much a nerd as a man child…..but I have a feeling he’s going to either mature real fast or never mature at all. Haven’t read the other comics so I don’t know his older incarnations BUT this one is pretty childish.
If anger turned inward is depression then depression turned outward is rage. Then again, I flunked psychology in High School–partly because it was taught by the Baseball coach.
No. Book One was six days, Book Two was nine days, three of which were timeskipped, Book Three was six days, two of which were timeskipped, Book Four was four days, Book Five was four days, and Book Six was seven days, three of which were skipped. This is the first day of Book Seven,
It’s currently lunchtime on Monday of Week Six, or Day 37 since the beginning of the strip.
Detailed timeline here, or (usually) linked through my name/gravatar, though I’ve only gotten it up to partway through Saturday at the moment.
Mmm, sort of – each book is ROUGHLY one week, but some of those get timeskipped, and some books simply aren’t that long. John has a more detailed timeline, but yes, that calendar is correct. It’s roughly Oct. 4th.
1) This Campus Is A Friggin’ Escher Print (Sunday, Week One)
2) The Cragged Shame Pits of the Lustwolves (Saturday, Week Two)
3) Your Stupid Overconfidence Is Nostalgic (Monday, Week Three)
4) Amazi-Girl Is Always Prepared For Anything (Sunday, Week Four)
5) Hey, Guess What, I’m A Lesbian! (Thursday, Week Four)
6) Book Title Unknown/Unrevealed (Monday, Week Five)
7) Book Title Unknown/Unrevealed (Monday, Week Six)
And what with three starting on Monday, two on Sunday, and one on Saturday, with six out of seven books starting after the ‘school week’ is over, I’d say that time blurs out the last one (Thursday) and thus most people would remember/assume that each book is a week long.
Poor Billie. She can’t see what’s going on from the outside. Ruth and her need time apart, at least 24 hours worth so that the staff can evaluate her and see if she can see Billie yet. From their perspective, the relationship has the possibility of being harmful. I’m sure after a day they would allow a short monitored phone call though, but from the inside out it must be rough and unfair. I hope Billie keeps her therapy appointments. She needs it.
Defining someone as “the only thing you have” and your “sole reason for staying alive” is akin to admitting that you are addicted to a narcotic. If that person is your sole source of stimulating your pituary to get your brain to release endorphins (no matter how little, or how rarely you get those), you’re pretty well addicted to them like a heroine addict is to heroine.
Your drug can make you miserable and feel like shit 99% of the time, but you still live for that 1% of the time that you feel good… even if it’s only a few minutes.
And it’s because of that they can’t see each other, and the hospital staff know this. If they’re a decent hospital with actual intentions to help, they won’t let them interact again after just a single day, because that would just be reinforcing the addiction and now allowing adequate time to determine just how to get their patient to a state where she can be released and not immediately go back to what caused her near catatonia to begin with.
Maybe after a week they’d allow a monitored phone call if BOTH of them show good progress, including going to appointments, talking to their assigned therapists, and not trying to buck the system by either lying to or conning it, or forcing their way through to get to each other.
Yeah, all that and well, defining a relationship as the only thing keeping you alive is also a tacit admission that you would be suicidal if that relationship was ever to fail and that’s especially relevant considering Ruth and Billie’s tailspins were caused by them just having to take a temporary break due to blackmail.
If something that short can cause such adverse results, they’re gonna want to make sure there’s a robust real source of self-esteem and desire to live before letting them continue to reinforce the idea that they only have worth in a relationship with each other.
OTOH, if you’re a responsible doctor and you think both parties are in that kind of state, you probably shouldn’t keep them from seeing each other and set one of them loose with no more than a loose “come to therapy in a week”.
I suspect the doctors were focused on Ruth and didn’t really pick up on how badly off Billie was. If they really thought Billie was also likely to be suicidal, she’d be in there for observation for a couple days as well.
They might have a better idea once Ruth’s through her first therapy session, but more likely after Billie actually has one.
I was almost like that once. Then the other person was like “fuck this” and got away from me, and my head was only focused on how I didn’t have a reason to live anymore and how I should probably just die then cuz I wouldn’t be able to be happy again. I was like that for several days. It’s weird talking about it now cuz it was like a week ago that it happened
Yeah, hospitals are there so that you don’t die right now. Billie isn’t going to die right now, so out she goes… but she is still very much not okay.
I forget, did they encourage her to go get some outpatient follow-up?
At my old school they definitely would have strongly encouraged her to go to the hospital/taken her to the hospital, because she basically also has suicidal ideations. They really didn’t take chances on people when it came to suicide, especially because no one knowing has lead to tragic consequences. It’s so important to take people seriously. A lot of times we say we’re fine, when we’re not.
I wonder if her status now depended on how much she told them. If she didn’t tell them about the pact and all they knew was that Ruth was the one that was very ill, they might not have known to do that. After all, no one really knew how sick Ruth was until she couldn’t hide it anymore. Billie hides her feelings really well, especially with Anger.
I doubt she’ll really go to the therapy sessions, though.. she seems to be in a place where she thinks everything is bullshit right now, and one way to not get anything out of therapy is to not care enough to listen or share.
Ah, taking my part in the Suicide Watch. One of my favorite memories of Basic Training. Not. Neither of them were actually serious about it. One was a little off, the other a goof off. Them sitting in a little room, and the rest of the flight taking turns sitting at a desk, watching them.
Billie seems to be in a “We don’t need anyone else or anyone’s help so long as we have each other” place. That’s particularly dangerous, IMO, as it means she is unwilling to hear anything that doesn’t fit in with her beliefs about the relationship that she perceives as her reason for existing.
I forget, did Joyce already know Walky is having trouble with math? Because if she didn’t already she definitely knows now after seeing his grades work.
It’s because Walky’s panic reopens old wounds for those of us who had a traumatic first semester of college. Especially if we handled it by throwing ourselves into our work as hard as we could but still falling into depression, rather than just avoiding it and getting angsty like Walky.
Or because it reminds us of our own avoidance tendencies.
Well, anyway, I’m pretty sure the reason it’s really easy to get mad at Walky is that he represents the basest part of ourselves, the juvenile part we’ve worked really hard to push to the side so we could get shit done. Walky is our natural instinct to seek pleasure instead of work. Walky is the part of our brain we argue with when we know that it’s really fun to comment on Dumbing of Age, but it’s a quarter till one and we need sleep for our test tomorrow.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Especially that last part.
I got like ten past one here, so it’s almost the same thing. Well that, and just south of two decades out of school, or something like that. Either way, I feel you.
I think Walky’s problem is that he’s one of those kids that coasted through high school without having to put any real effort into his schoolwork because it’s wasn’t challenging him. So he never developed any kind of study or homework habits. Now that he’s in college and the difficulty and expectations have gone up, he doesn’t know how to handle the change. He keeps trying to get by like he did before, but it’s not going to work anymore. Believe me, this happens to plenty of young people when they go to college. Because they’ve never had to work to get good grades, they have no clue how to do it when they really need to.
Oh, Walky. It really hurts to watch him in this downward spiral, because his entire struggle with no longer being “the smart kid who doesn’t need to study” is like looking in a mirror. Brings back a lot of painful memories of the worst part of my freshman year depressive slump.
It was calculus for me, too. I ended up dropping the class and then switching majors. Ha! Take that, calculus! You’ll never hurt me again!
I hope to see it happen, but it can’t happen now. I’m hoping that if Billies does see Ruth in the hospital, one of them is responsible enough to hit the brakes on any reunion ideas.
They’re both desperately unhealthy people and would only drag each other back down again. At least one needs her shit together before they can reasonably be in a relationship.
It would, though I feel like it would contradict his character arc as it’s been progressing so far, and he’d learn the wrong lesson from it. Painful as this is to watch, and much as I know those feels, I think this character growth might be good for Walky, and is bound to be interesting for us.
Yeah, it’s one of those things that’d make a great joke after the character growth. Like: “Hey, even though it’s cool that I am now committed to (studying/actually admitting weakness), it’s kinda funny that the paper I threw out to avoid confirmation of my fears got a petty good grade! Man, I’d have totally screwed myself over if I had seen that!”
Also Billie is starting to fucking scare me, is she just going to ride the range train all day? On that note it feels like to me she’s determined to be in denial of the fact that just because she doesn’t have any relative family that’s there no one who cares about her even though her child hood friend ( whether she excepts it or not) and other keeps flipping their shit when they think she’s in danger.
And on that note what did she mean by business? Revenge Maybe, but against who Carla, Mary, Ruth’s grandfather.
I like to think in the back of her mind she can’t blame Carla, coz she just did what Billie told her to do: check on Ruth to see if she’s fine, and run to Billie if she isn’t
Starting? Billie passed scary behaviour ages ago. Her mix of denile over her problems and shocking acceptance of horrible self-destructive behaviour and their consequences is terrifying.
I dunno if “denial” quite captures the reality of what’s going on here.
It’s not so much that she’s unwilling as unable to believe that people care about her, or that she deserves to have people care for her.
Walky’s had the best luck getting her to believe otherwise, they have the most history (even though parts get rocky), and they’d already started to reconnect earlier in the semester. Sal might also be a childhood friend, but it doesn’t seem like they were ever very close, and they definitely haven’t hung out at all in years.
Sal’s attempt to reach out worked for a moment or two, before Billie’s depression shut it down.
Somewhere, Mary feels a disturbance in the Force. Billie is coming.
Seriously, Billie and Ruth had a nice downward spiral going as a pair, then Mary split them apart and Ruth fell off the cliff alone. Mary delenda est. (one of the few benefits of three years of Latin)
Maybe, but currently most of her rage is pointed directly at herself and is only leaking out in every other direction because that’s the only way to keep from folding into a fetal position of pure self-hatred.
…doesn’t billie have family that [arguably as the parents haven’t been shown] loves her? And friends who like her? I mean, this “We’re all I have left” seems a bit overreacting to her deteriorating relationship with ruth. And having lost her high-school status. Which roundabout-ly led to their relationship.
Her friends are…sparse. Anyone who she hasn’t actively tried to push away (as she has with Walky and Sal) she’d scared off with her behaviour, or shed through simple neglect as she’s gotten more and more wrapped up in Ruth.
I don’t think Ruth was a factor there – she didn’t have a solid friendship with really anyone except Joyce. Walky is more her brother, and well, aside from that… she’s done at best light annoyance of those around her.
Her parents have never appeared (even over the phone) because they’re never around. She’s spent so much more time with Sal and Walky’s parents that she’s said she would call accidentally call them “Mom” and “Dad”.
She’s had a complete falling out with all of her friends from high school due to her DUI, and more or less gave up on making new friends after running into her ex and then starting a downward spiral, so Walky, Sal and Joyce are literally all the friends she has.
Also, she is severely depressed, and an alcoholic to boot, who is being forced apart from her also severely depressed girlfriend, who is in the hospital because she had literally lost the will to live.
Even without the depression, that seems like a hell of a lot of shit to deal with.
If I remember right, Billie’s parents are rich…as in rich. She was left alone a lot, but given lots of money to cover her expenses. Guess they thought that was good parenting.
I think that I remember her coming home to a very big, very empty house, feeling sad and noting the parents were gone again: and deciding to go off on a road trip seeing as how there was no one around to tell her no.
She tied a lot of her cheer leading HS rep. into her self image, and when she didn’t get the respect she thought she was due in college based on that, it cut a big chunk of her confidence out from under her.
And yes, the DUI lost her a lot of friends. She came into college with little support. And didn’t win friends with her HS attitude.
She is hurting now, and does need that therapy time.
Not sure why Sal is interested, but she is trying to be more social I think: based on her last AG encounter where she says “look at me, making friends”.
Considering how she offered Joyce a ride earlier, I’d say Sal has actually worked herself up to the possibility of maybe letting other people in besides Marcie, but here I think Sal’s interested simply because she cares about Billie.
If Billie and Walky are like surrogate siblings, I think that Billie and Sal are like surrogate cousins. There’s still a family-like bond there from having grown up together, even if they don’t share many of the same interests or spend much time together.
Sal does seem to have some implicit trust and fondness for Billie. I do recall that early on, she quickly went into a sage nod as she realized Billie was right about how much she could trust everyone with competence.
The least sibling-like thing about them is that Billie has no westermark effect with Sal, I think, but they’re definitely not close in any case. I like to think this is just Sal, caring, though, it just so happens that her distant sister is the one in trouble.
Billie is rather disconnected from people. She asked the Latina women working for her parents about where the homeless her father had moved had been put. This is so out-of-touch I don’t even know where to start analyzing.
Doesn’t expect her parents to be there, didn’t even begin to realize this wasn’t done to help the homeless, didn’t really get why the woman was angry with her for asking. When the term started out, she expected people to defer to her because she’d been a cheerleader. She was totally invested in there being social inequality and her being on top and rejected Walky’s friendship because it didn’t fit her image of her status. Just to find this status janked out from under her feet and find she had nothing to stand on and no social skills to connect to others.
And she probably sees both her DUI and people’s reactions to its the source of all this and is equally angry with herself and the others about it, but this was just a tipping point, not the reason she is so isolated now.
Family? Not really, her parents are neglectful and substitute love with money and the friends Billie has are few and far because of her DUI scaring off her old ones except Walky and Sal and her ‘I am better than you’ attitude making many people stay clear except like, Joyce who cares about everyone for the most part.
She mentioned that her parents do love her, but they’re emotionally cold and only know how to relate through money. I remember a line about how her dad’s version of a hug was a $20.
When someone trusts you enough to tell you that the reason they got an order of protection on their ex is because after the breakup he raped them, don’t tell them that they should have known better and that they have learned a valuable lesson while acting like it’s no big deal (especially if said meeting is IRL). It is a big deal and rape is not a victim’s fault even if they are drunk and streaking through town. Please try to act like a human or take so etiquette and empathy classes because a refresher course is needed.
Sincerely,
Someone whose day was fucking ruined who felt the need to vent anonymously
Me too. Today was a nice day until that. My nephew got married yesterday (technically day before yesterday now) and I was showing off pictures of the wedding to people. The weather was lovely. Ben and Jerry’s pints were on sale. It was going to be a good day. It’s funny how something so small can ruin a good day.
I’m so very sorry that happened to you. I find that most often people who say shit like that are any of the following:
1. Empathy less assholes who love to say “I told you so” no matter the context (because the bottom line is usually something along the lines of “I’m better than you, because of course that wouldnt have happened to ME”)
2. Have had a similar experience and reject anyone who causes them to remember those things, which includes shutting down people who genuinely want empathy and help so they won’t feel uncomfortable psychologically
3. Have never had that happen to them, and thus can’t literally understand, thus more likely to buy into victim -blamey bullshit to rationalize it.
4. Are a lot less open and wonderful than they think themselves to be, see #3 – especially applies if they fucking asked in the first place. These people often have a superficial idea of what trust means..
5. Misogynistic assholes who take most chances they can to put down all rape victims
Again, I’m sorry that happened to you. I know the pain of having someone reject your pain. My person rejected mine to so he could continue to be inert in protecting me. Very often the person has no comprehension of what a huge failure that is.
He is an older educated Christian man with a doctorate who works as a chiropractor that I’ve known two years whose office is near where my ex lives. I let him know I got an order or protection so I could ask if it was okay if I text him before I came in just in case my ex was there and he asked what had happened. He’s also friends with my dad. I’m not sure where to stick him now because he shocked me so much by how he acted but I sure know where he can stick his opinions!
Btw, I’m an atheist, but he doesn’t know that. I mentioned he’s a Christian because it is a big part of his personality. He became a chiropractor because he believes his god works through his hands to help him heal people. When he doesn’t have Christian music playing in his office, he has his portable tv on Fox News.
FOX news, yikes! That guy seems pretty intensely invested in his views. Ive been there with the atheist stuff – tell them I don’t go to church and see their faces fall and just close off. It’s so weird, because previous to that you’re perfectly fine and normal to them.
Oh yeah. I’ve gotten so many reactions. Slows uncomfortable backing away. Insisting on coming to their church so I can get back in touch with the holy spirit. Hearing rants about how the government is turning people away from god. Told I’ve been let astray by the devil and need help. Accused of worshiping the devil. Accused of being in the illuminati. Told I can’t be an atheist because they are hateful people who want to abolish all religions and go door to door trying to turn people away from god. Told to get a tattoo of the devil from the tarot cards because I don’t believe in the devil so it doesn’t matter and when I say no (because I think it’s ugly and don’t want it on my body), the person going into “so you must still believe in god if you refuse to get the devil tattooed on you” speech. It crazy!
If you see him for his profession, then I’d say it’s probably time to find someone else to do that for you. If you can manage to do so without damaging yourself, tell him why you no longer want to be his client and that your departure is, in no uncertain terms, because of his toxic behavior towards you.
If you do decide to inform him on why you’re no longer going to have anything to do with him, I’d say it’s your choice on whether you choose a polite response, or just say “You’re a fucking asshole and I don’t need you. Go away.”.
Either way, unless this guy is willing to listen, understand, and profusely and sincerely apologize to you and actively work on being a better person, you don’t need him and shouldn’t suffer his presence regardless of what relation he has to your family.
Here’s the sucky part. I live in a small town and he is the only chiropractor. I get terrible migraines, so if my neck goes out it’s all I can do to drive the few miles to his office. He’s also really good at what he does. Not going to him means driving 40 minutes with a migraine that causes extreme pain and left side weakness (I have hemiplegic migraines) to go to a so so chiropractor or nearly 2 hours to a good one. I would love to not go back, but I have no choice. He’s one more bigot I will be forced to deal with. Sometimes I want to run away from here. Move to another town where being an atheist doesn’t cause some people to think I worship the devil or joined the illuminati. Where I don’t get the baby killer taking away god speech for admitting I’m a Democrat. Where I can openly be myself instead of constantly pretending to be things I am not just to avoid drama… but I don’t see it happening soon.
Is there a physical therapist in the area? If so, they should be better equipped to help, as they don’t have some of the genuinely dangerous views on how to “manipulate” the body that chiropractors do.
I’ve been to physical therapy and it did nothing for my migraines although it helped me get my left side strong enough to use it again. Before I started going to him once a month, I had a migraine more often than not and abortive meds didn’t really help. I still get them, but now it’s about 7 manageable migraine days and 2 to 4 bad days a month where it was 10 or more manageable days and about 10 to 12 bad days. It’s unfair and I would love to never have to see him again, but the world is rarely fair.
Me too. On the plus side, I had a friend help me through it. I texted her (the one not currently off on her honeymoon) right after it happened (it just said “Someone put the blame for being raped on me today. I’m upset”) and instead of texting back or waiting until she got home or something, she called from work and said “Okay. Who do I need to kill?” It actually made me laugh because she’s the kind of person who apologizes to a squirrel if her dog barks at it. It didn’t erase what happened but it helped be not feel as crapy. A part of me always blamed myself so what he said brought that doubt back. I told her the details of the encounter and before I went into that stupid little doubt that feel like will never be completely gone, she went into “Fuck him! That’s victim blaming. It doesn’t matter if you are drunk and streaking through town, nobody has the right to do that!” It helped a lot.
I feel like this forum is a safe place thanks to Willis. I hope he hasn’t had to delete too many inappropriate comments. I don’t want to create extra work for him over my venting.
Me too. I’m so tired of bigots. I don’t know why he feel this way. Maybe he’s got too much Fox News on the brain with all the talk of Trump denying ever touching the women that have come forward? I don’t know. It’s still terrible either way.
and since I’ve yet to find a better way to express it than with the words of our wonderful Cerberus, all of the *appropriate gestures of support* I can possibly muster and so many more.
Get lost. Get the hell lost. You are parasites on this planet and do not belong here. Go to the Moon or something. Preferably the far side, so we can’t possibly see you.
Dear humans who are victims of said assholes:
If there’s anything I can do for you, up to and including you punching my arm as a stress relief, then I will.
Dear humans who do have sympathy for said victims:
Let’s ensure that said victims will not stand alone. Let’s make sure that when they tell their stories, that we are there to amplify the volume, to make sure that it’s heard. Let’s do our best to kill the toxicity of entitlement that is at the root of all this.
*huge Internet hugs* That was wonderfully well put. Thank you. ^_^
I ended up going on a video binge after it happened which helped take my mind off it all. Simon’s Cat (example https://youtu.be/pTBjHjRhx_Y ) is great for that. Also, schmoyoho created a musical battle between Trump and Hillary using auto tuning with Weird Al asking the questions (link here https://youtu.be/FdBF6h7oH5I ) which was awesome on so many levels (also two Olympic ones that are worth a watch). Between a good friend, a good distraction, and a good vent with subsequent amazing support, I’m feeling much better than I was.
Bluewind
October 25, 2016 at 1:13 pm
*huge Internet hugs* That was wonderfully well put. Thank you. ^_^
I ended up going on a video binge after it happened which helped take my mind off it all. Simon’s Cat (link to video titled The Monster) is great for that. Also, schmoyoho created a musical battle between Trump and Hillary using auto tuning with Weird Al asking the questions (link to that video which was titled Bad Hombres, Nasty Women what are both things Trump actually said during the debate) which was awesome on so many levels (also two Olympic ones that are worth a watch). Between a good friend, a good distraction, and a good vent with subsequent amazing support, I’m feeling much better than I was.
Assholes like that guy are why I start off in attitude to the kind of Christian who builds their identity and self-worth around being more holy than thou as “unfriendly,” to put it in D&D terms.
No, not all Christians are victim-blamey assholes, but most evangelical types with a fondness for Fox are IME. And by “most” I mean “literally all but one that I’ve ever met in my life.”
1, I’m sorry he was a human dumpster fire to you, and I hope eventually he develops enough as a person to learn that Donald Trump is not a role model for empathy.
2, I’m glad your friend was supportive.
3, Fuck that guy.
If the commisseration thing helps to you, I’ve been there, and it really fucking sucks, and you’re right to be pissed off, and he’s got admirable flexibility for a grown man to be able to live his life with his head stuck up his ass like that.
*big hugs* I’m sorry anybody has to go through it. You, me, and all the others, we don’t deserve this. I can only hope we can evolve and grow as a species to where that one day such things become relics of the past only known through the historians who study us.
Eeeeew. There was a time I thought humanity as a whole was getting better, but between Trump supporters and the growing Far Right influence in Europe, I’m seriously considering volunteering to be one of the first Mars colonists, functioning habitats optional.
Extra penalty points for the asshole being medical-adjacent, which requires a position of trust above and beyond “person you deal with.”
I used to say “rape is only the rapist’s fault,” but I’m seriously considering moving into “rape is only the rapist’s fault and also of the people who say it isn’t”.
Thank you hun. And I would totally volunteer to go to Mars too if I didn’t have so many medical issues. The experiments will jellyfish on the international space station were really amazing showing that creatures born in non earth environments adjust well to their birth environment. It gives me hope for colonization of other planets although I do wonder how well we will be able to communicate with each other…
I’ve noticed. Willis really does an amazing job moderating. I don’t have to filter here for fear of backlash. I don’t know how he does it all especially with twins demanding attention.
I think he once said something to the effect that after moderating certain particular strips that “invited” the assholes to come out, taking care of the twins becomes far less demanding in comparison. At least they only spread their poop into diapers, instead of on the comment field for all to see.
I am so sorry that happened to you. You need to know that’s not true at all and he can go fuck himself up the road and down the block if he’s going to be such a tremendous asshole about it.
I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with him until a practical alternative comes up. He’s awful. Try not to speak with him unless you have to to answer a medical question or something. How DARE he violate your trust like that.
Wow. Hard to believe someone can be that clueless and still be able to breathe without assistance, much less function in society. I commend your restraint in not defenestrating the dumbass. I count myself very lucky that I don’t live in a community where I have to put up with people like that, I am sorry that you are forced to put up with nuclear grade stupidity.
I’d like to charge this chiropractor with unlawfully exposing Bluewind to stupidity, but sadly that’s not a real offence. Too bad, because this dickbag would have about a million counts.
But what about the way that Sal refuses to find anoth–
Bagge: THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CODEPENDENCY!
*waits until the ringing in the ears subsides*
Sorry, you are obviously correct about this and everything else you ever have an opinion of, of course. Silly of me to not realise this sooner, really.
Billie is hurting big time, I hope she goes to therapy sessons that have been set up for her.
I don’t know why Sal is interested, but I’m glad she is. Maybe because she recognizes the depression. Maybe because she said to herself after her last encounter with AG, ‘look at me, making friends’. Maybe that’s what she is doing, just trying to be a friend.
Walky is doing sort of the same thing with his grades as Billie is with her refusal to admit her need for help (I know she can’t admit it, yet).
I know Billie’s is more life threatening, she is down right depressed. She is very likely suicidal.
Walky is not in that classification, but his refusal to admit he needs help is still serious, even if on a diff. level.
He has been very much aware of and proud of the fact of how smart he is – finding out he is not is apparently a major shock to him.
Some people would just go get a tutor. Some would drop out rather than admit it. And then there is Walky.
And it’s pretty obvious why you managed to get a little bit more than the others today. You asked how Ruth was doing. You even caught yourself saying Ruthless and corrected it, and for just a few seconds, you got something else than rage in response.
And this is no surprise, of course. I’ve said before that for the last two (comic book) days, Billie has always been worried about things on Ruth’s behalf, not her own. She still thinks herself as worthless, and she couldn’t care less about being outed as bi on her own behalf or where she was going to sleep or anything like that. But talk about Ruth being in trouble and everything changes. So anyone else who shows even a glimmer of sympathy towards Ruth’s situation will have a better chance of getting through…
…Until she remembers to be upset at the whole damn world, of course. Then she pushes them away again, making any excuse to keep her anger up. And this one is particularly funny, because if Sal hadn’t cared, she would not have in a million years have asked about Ruth’s well-being. And Sal only pretends -not- to care about people; when she appears to care, then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be genuine.
It’s a large part of why I believe Sal would be a good therapist.
She’s been through shit so she can genuinely empathize with people who’re struggling with big stuff and she knows how to talk to people in crisis and get more from them than most can.
Of course, she might be insulted if you suggest she could become a good therapist, considering her view on said profession…
But the counterpoint to that would be to tell her that she would be… well, a counterpoint to those people. Because she would actually be able to figure out the real reason behind people’s behaviour and help them from there; instead of making all sorts of remarks that are carefully tailored to appear innocent, yet undoubtedly show nothing but judgemental attitude towards those you’re supposed to help.
Yeah, I’m assuming that the latter is what she got a big helping of.
Walky, Walky, Walky… Just because you haven’t seen the score doesn’t it mean it hasn’t been observed. The grader has seen the score, and the waveform has collapsed. It isn’t in superposition anymore.
When the Shrinks said ‘codependent’, they were right. Ruth had become the be-all and end-all of Billie’s existence – she defined herself as Ruth’s girlfriend and carer and, without her, she’s got nothing. Naturally, that’s causing anger issues because she literally is lost without this key relationship to give direction to her life.
Yup, and that’s been the chain around this relationship’s neck for awhile. That they don’t just treat it like a relationship, but the thing that will and is the only thing that can save them from the dark.
I find Walky’s behaviour ironic. He was all “I’m a manly man, I only have one pair of shoes!” And now he is running away from his problems instead of facing them and trying to fix them…
Walky has been playing one role or another imposed by external expectations all his life and this has worked out fairly well to date. Now that isn’t working out so well anymore and he’s lost. The only way he really has to confront his fears now is to run from them; it’s not as if he’s ever had to learn how to handle situations like this before!
True words and yet the solution could be quite simple. Like asking Dotty to tutor him a bit… but the mere thought of admitting his problems to her probably terrifies him more than anything…
There is a toxic assumption that the male must always be the one ‘in charge’ and to admit to Dorothy that he needs help would, in his mind, be a failure to live up to his gender role in their relationship. To him, in a bizarre way, admitting to her that he needed her help would be betraying her.
Those socialized as if boys tend to be hit hard with messages that the the worst thing you can do as a man is show vulnerability. To show sadness, panic, weakness, or just to ask for help. These are the things that are forbidden, that will “get you beat up” if you express them openly and it leads to a lot of badness where folks who need help, who need therapy, or who need real genuine connection with others feel a lot of stress as they try and force themselves to do without.
It’s a big part of why I call it toxic masculinity, because not only does this type of performative desperate “masculinity” make one more toxic for others, but is also toxic for one’s self and one’s ability to ask for help when it is needed.
Panels 1-3: Waiting at the exit to try and pretend he still attended class rather than running away, hiding from his results, lying obviously to his friends. His avoidance strategies are not going to hold for long and the harder he tries to hold on to them, the more likely he’ll be to clash with his friends as they pick up on what’s going on.
On the plus side, though, this means he’ll be getting an intervention sooner rather than later.
Panel 4: Emperor Nortion II mentioned it up above, but yes, it’s so very key that Sal asks about Ruth, even checks herself when she slips and does the mocking nickname and is there for Billie.
Sal might not like it, but she’s good with people in crisis and a good listener and that makes her a very valuable friend.
Panel 5: Oof, and here we see why Sal doesn’t reach out more. Because she’s just accused of pretending to care because she seals off from folks so often. Which, definitely feels like an introvert thing.
Panel 6: “We’re all I have left”.
Damn, that’s a brutal summation of the central problem with Billie/Ruth. That they are codependent, and not just codependent a little bit, but in a way that ties their whole sense of identity and self-esteem to their roles in their relationship.
And for Billie, we’re seeing more and more signs that she should have been kept in observation as well, but she’s too good at faking “functional”. Cause if being a part of a “we” is all she has left, what would she do if that ended, if for whatever reason Ruth had to break it off.
That mindset of the relationship being all that Billie has is dangerous in so many ways and it’s why the codependence of their relationship has to be broken for a new healthier romantic dynamic to replace it.
Your panel 6 analysis reminds me of when I said that Billie and Ruth was basically like Ruth having arterial bleeding; with Billie putting just enough pressure on it to prevent Ruth from bleeding to death right now, but she’s incapable of actually stopping it, and she refuses to call out for someone who can (partially because she’s worried Ruth’s grandpa would hear the shouting, and would come over and just rip the wound straight open again).
Now you made me realise that Billie’s also been doing it to herself too. I mean, I’ve said for some time that Billie has mainly been upset on Ruth’s behalf rather than her own the last few comic days, but I mostly looked at it as a positive thing (and in some ways, I still think it is); forgetting that there is also a less healthy aspect to this behaviour. She’s putting pressure on her own arterial bleeding as well as Ruth’s, but without the same worry… And if Ruth is not saved, she’ll pull off that tourniquet faster than you can say “suicide pact”.
And just to make sure, Ruth is in faaaar too bad a place herself to be able to help anyone else, so no wonder she can’t help with Billie’s bleeding.
Also, I don’t think it was just faking it as far as functionality goes. I’m assuming that Billie radiated so much genuine concern over Ruth to the hospital staff that it overshadowed her own situation; such major concern over Ruth possibly dying was probably interpreted that she still has some desire to keep on living; thus making it less acute than Ruth’s situation.
Aaah, THAT explains Billie’s shittiness – Ruth withdrawal!
Her whole reason for quitting alcohol was to be near Ruth, so basically she just swapped addictions. Which is normal for most addicts, but its always a really bad idea to make another person the focus of your addictive behavior. That’s how we get stalkers.
Except for the lack of quitting alcohol. Her only reason for talking about quitting alcohol was because she was worried about Ruth’s alcoholism. She didn’t have a problem, so she kept right on sneaking drinks until Ruth caught. Then there was no point in quitting. Then they got together in their SLSP and started working on drinking themselves to death.
Ruth quit again over the blackmail and I don’t think we’ve explicitly seen Billie drink since, but we also haven’t seen her show any signs of withdrawal – other than being crankier than normal, which has plenty of other possible explanations.
She put Walky down as her emergency contact and has identified herself as a surrogate walkerton daughter. But yeah, she doesn’t want anything to do with anyone but Ruth except defenestrating Carla and any doctors.
Loading ...
“look, there ain’t a lotta words that fit in that particular blank and make sense”
“WE’RE COOPERATING”
“nice try”
“…CO-SIGNING ON A HOUSE”
“k”
We’re ‘It’s complicated’ on Facebook.
NOT COMPLICATED ENOUGH!
“Copulating”?
“Cohabitating”?
“Corny”?
“Consumed with a ravenous femur lust”?
“Combusting?”
“Cocaine addicts?”
“Cops on a 21 Jump Street mission?”
I’d watch that.
I want to ask which one, but more than that I want it to somehow be all of the above.
21 Jump Street Mission to bust Combusting Cocaine Addicts? Sounds like it could be the plot of the next movie.
Wait, wasn’t it the plot of the first movie?
I…don’t remember. Hold on.
The combustion was unrelated to the taking of the drugs, so no.
Oh, ok.
The second movie?
(Haha, who am I kidding, nobody watched the second one)(Right?)
Not the movies. Never the movies!
Also, I meant: “Copulating, cohabitating, corny, combusting, coke addicted cops on a 21 Jump Street mission who also happen to be consumed with a ravenous femur lust.”
@sgtWadey I would totally watch that too. Unless the “combusting” part is supposed to be about the pre-burnout phase. It’d totally douse my fire.
Coagulating corporeal comestibles!
Blathering Blatherskite!
Billions of bilious blistering blue barnacles!
And me without my spoon…
“They said we’re co- that we’re going to combine.”
“We’re going to combine?!?!?”
“They’re going to combine?!?!?’
~theme music plays~
“TENGEN TOPPA BILLY RUTHLESS!!!!”
Megathrusters are go?
Cutting a hole to take the femurs!
Their whiskey is the whiskey
THAT WILL INTOXICATE THE HEAVENS
“Believe in the me that believes in you!”
See, this one works already.
Please bear in mind that, in-universe, Billie speaks and Sal hears in phonemes rather than letters, thus ruling out both copulating and consumed (and several other replies) which share the letters C-O but are pronounced with a different O sound.
Next thing you are going to tell me that Amber can’t speak l337.
Now you’re getting into MegaTokyo-verse.
But it rules in possibilities like “we’re kokoros”
Like 心? That can technically be written cocoro already. But the only time I’ve seen that way is for a penetrable sex toy.
A for effort Sal
Poor Billie, so utterly transparent….
No, she’s opaque.
Sal was in Aqua?!
You know Billie, behaving like Ruth isn’t going to help a goddamn bit.
All the disparate threads are merging together! Merge, threads! MERGE!
Trying to make a rope?
Wouldn’t that require more of a braid then a merge?
A braid merges threads, right?
That’s more a twist than a merge
Can’t it be both?
Bad idea. They tried that in End Of Evangelion, did not go well.
Giant Hatless Dina will turn everyone but Billie and Ruth into Tang™.
Can’t decide if want to make DBZ or SU fusion joke
ah sal, i think i loved a male you
You loved Walky?
Only if Walky had Sal’s personality at some point because otherwise he ain’t a male Sal. I dunno what he is, but will never have a motorcycle.
He’s currently not so much a nerd as a man child…..but I have a feeling he’s going to either mature real fast or never mature at all. Haven’t read the other comics so I don’t know his older incarnations BUT this one is pretty childish.
IMO, this Walky (and, tbf, this Joyce) are way way WAY more mature than their Walkyverse selves.
Their Walkyverse selves were 37 and 36 when last we saw them, if my memory serves.
You loved a Duke from southern England?
Ah, good ol’ lashing out, the perfect way to cope with depression. I consider myself an expert.
If anger turned inward is depression then depression turned outward is rage. Then again, I flunked psychology in High School–partly because it was taught by the Baseball coach.
Isn’t it ‘depression turned inwards is anger’. Pretty much fits Billy.
There were times in my Graduate school career that I was Walky.
It doesn’t work out.
If your denial isn’t working, DENY THAT YOUR DENIAL ISN’T WORKING!
That business, of course, being murder.
You know, we haven’t seen Carla since Billie yelled at her last night…
That doesn’t mean that her body is hidden in a murder den or anything. Could be in the junkyard…scrounging for parts?
Deceptively-eccentric-but-more-stable-than-most-of-the-cast Sal is weird to read simultaneously with Walkyverse!Sal.
hasn’t it been like 3 weeks since school started
I think closer to six?
It’s been just over a month
Every “Book” is a week.
http://rocktavian.tumblr.com/post/150154674797
No. Book One was six days, Book Two was nine days, three of which were timeskipped, Book Three was six days, two of which were timeskipped, Book Four was four days, Book Five was four days, and Book Six was seven days, three of which were skipped. This is the first day of Book Seven,
It’s currently lunchtime on Monday of Week Six, or Day 37 since the beginning of the strip.
Detailed timeline here, or (usually) linked through my name/gravatar, though I’ve only gotten it up to partway through Saturday at the moment.
Mmm, sort of – each book is ROUGHLY one week, but some of those get timeskipped, and some books simply aren’t that long. John has a more detailed timeline, but yes, that calendar is correct. It’s roughly Oct. 4th.
For those that don’t want to click through…
1) This Campus Is A Friggin’ Escher Print (Sunday, Week One)
2) The Cragged Shame Pits of the Lustwolves (Saturday, Week Two)
3) Your Stupid Overconfidence Is Nostalgic (Monday, Week Three)
4) Amazi-Girl Is Always Prepared For Anything (Sunday, Week Four)
5) Hey, Guess What, I’m A Lesbian! (Thursday, Week Four)
6) Book Title Unknown/Unrevealed (Monday, Week Five)
7) Book Title Unknown/Unrevealed (Monday, Week Six)
And what with three starting on Monday, two on Sunday, and one on Saturday, with six out of seven books starting after the ‘school week’ is over, I’d say that time blurs out the last one (Thursday) and thus most people would remember/assume that each book is a week long.
I almost flunked out my first freshman semester, and it wasn’t nearly as eventful as this
Aw, she almost opened up to Sal.
So close
Was that part of their room agreement? Stay on each other’s side?
Poor Billie. She can’t see what’s going on from the outside. Ruth and her need time apart, at least 24 hours worth so that the staff can evaluate her and see if she can see Billie yet. From their perspective, the relationship has the possibility of being harmful. I’m sure after a day they would allow a short monitored phone call though, but from the inside out it must be rough and unfair. I hope Billie keeps her therapy appointments. She needs it.
Defining someone as “the only thing you have” and your “sole reason for staying alive” is akin to admitting that you are addicted to a narcotic. If that person is your sole source of stimulating your pituary to get your brain to release endorphins (no matter how little, or how rarely you get those), you’re pretty well addicted to them like a heroine addict is to heroine.
Your drug can make you miserable and feel like shit 99% of the time, but you still live for that 1% of the time that you feel good… even if it’s only a few minutes.
And it’s because of that they can’t see each other, and the hospital staff know this. If they’re a decent hospital with actual intentions to help, they won’t let them interact again after just a single day, because that would just be reinforcing the addiction and now allowing adequate time to determine just how to get their patient to a state where she can be released and not immediately go back to what caused her near catatonia to begin with.
Maybe after a week they’d allow a monitored phone call if BOTH of them show good progress, including going to appointments, talking to their assigned therapists, and not trying to buck the system by either lying to or conning it, or forcing their way through to get to each other.
Yeah, all that and well, defining a relationship as the only thing keeping you alive is also a tacit admission that you would be suicidal if that relationship was ever to fail and that’s especially relevant considering Ruth and Billie’s tailspins were caused by them just having to take a temporary break due to blackmail.
If something that short can cause such adverse results, they’re gonna want to make sure there’s a robust real source of self-esteem and desire to live before letting them continue to reinforce the idea that they only have worth in a relationship with each other.
OTOH, if you’re a responsible doctor and you think both parties are in that kind of state, you probably shouldn’t keep them from seeing each other and set one of them loose with no more than a loose “come to therapy in a week”.
I suspect the doctors were focused on Ruth and didn’t really pick up on how badly off Billie was. If they really thought Billie was also likely to be suicidal, she’d be in there for observation for a couple days as well.
They might have a better idea once Ruth’s through her first therapy session, but more likely after Billie actually has one.
I was almost like that once. Then the other person was like “fuck this” and got away from me, and my head was only focused on how I didn’t have a reason to live anymore and how I should probably just die then cuz I wouldn’t be able to be happy again. I was like that for several days. It’s weird talking about it now cuz it was like a week ago that it happened
Haha, more like coDERPendent, amirite Billie AH JEEZIS MY FEMURS
He needs those, for femuring!
I’m thinking the decision to release Billie might have been a bad call. :/
Yeah, hospitals are there so that you don’t die right now. Billie isn’t going to die right now, so out she goes… but she is still very much not okay.
I forget, did they encourage her to go get some outpatient follow-up?
Yeah. She said she would have to come back to the health center weekly, presumably for some sort of therapy sessions
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/stock/
They did.
She’s supposed to meet weekly, but who knows if she’ll go through with it.
Neat, thank you both!
At my old school they definitely would have strongly encouraged her to go to the hospital/taken her to the hospital, because she basically also has suicidal ideations. They really didn’t take chances on people when it came to suicide, especially because no one knowing has lead to tragic consequences. It’s so important to take people seriously. A lot of times we say we’re fine, when we’re not.
I wonder if her status now depended on how much she told them. If she didn’t tell them about the pact and all they knew was that Ruth was the one that was very ill, they might not have known to do that. After all, no one really knew how sick Ruth was until she couldn’t hide it anymore. Billie hides her feelings really well, especially with Anger.
I doubt she’ll really go to the therapy sessions, though.. she seems to be in a place where she thinks everything is bullshit right now, and one way to not get anything out of therapy is to not care enough to listen or share.
Ah, taking my part in the Suicide Watch. One of my favorite memories of Basic Training. Not. Neither of them were actually serious about it. One was a little off, the other a goof off. Them sitting in a little room, and the rest of the flight taking turns sitting at a desk, watching them.
Billie seems to be in a “We don’t need anyone else or anyone’s help so long as we have each other” place. That’s particularly dangerous, IMO, as it means she is unwilling to hear anything that doesn’t fit in with her beliefs about the relationship that she perceives as her reason for existing.
I forget, did Joyce already know Walky is having trouble with math? Because if she didn’t already she definitely knows now after seeing his grades work.
*”graded” not “grades”. You’re killing me here autocorrect.
She did. That was how she found out.
Oh yeah. Wow. I can’t believe I forgot that.
A WITCH!
I’d read that.
There are ways of telling witches.
Now what do we burn other than witches?
Apples, very small stones, … A Duck!
More witches?
Build a bridge out of her!
Ah, but can you not also build a bridge out of steel and reinforced concrete?
Strange, you don’t look very newtish.
I am super patient with all the characters (and with people in general) and yet, I kinda just want to yell at Walky. What’s up with that?
It’s because Walky’s panic reopens old wounds for those of us who had a traumatic first semester of college. Especially if we handled it by throwing ourselves into our work as hard as we could but still falling into depression, rather than just avoiding it and getting angsty like Walky.
Or because it reminds us of our own avoidance tendencies.
Well, anyway, I’m pretty sure the reason it’s really easy to get mad at Walky is that he represents the basest part of ourselves, the juvenile part we’ve worked really hard to push to the side so we could get shit done. Walky is our natural instinct to seek pleasure instead of work. Walky is the part of our brain we argue with when we know that it’s really fun to comment on Dumbing of Age, but it’s a quarter till one and we need sleep for our test tomorrow.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Especially that last part.
Yes.
I got like ten past one here, so it’s almost the same thing. Well that, and just south of two decades out of school, or something like that. Either way, I feel you.
Release your inner Walky.
I think Walky’s problem is that he’s one of those kids that coasted through high school without having to put any real effort into his schoolwork because it’s wasn’t challenging him. So he never developed any kind of study or homework habits. Now that he’s in college and the difficulty and expectations have gone up, he doesn’t know how to handle the change. He keeps trying to get by like he did before, but it’s not going to work anymore. Believe me, this happens to plenty of young people when they go to college. Because they’ve never had to work to get good grades, they have no clue how to do it when they really need to.
Walky’s a fuckboi, that’s why.
I mean I’m pmuch a fuckboy tbh
No student would say “graded assignment” without a pound of sarcasm on it. If sincere, it would be quiz, essay, etc. Is Joyce getting snarky?
….I say ‘assignment’ all the time. Especially if it’s not an essay/quiz/test and it’s not regular homework.
That’s probably how I would have put it, especially since that way he knows its something old being handed back, not a new assignment being given out.
Oh, Walky. It really hurts to watch him in this downward spiral, because his entire struggle with no longer being “the smart kid who doesn’t need to study” is like looking in a mirror. Brings back a lot of painful memories of the worst part of my freshman year depressive slump.
It was calculus for me, too. I ended up dropping the class and then switching majors. Ha! Take that, calculus! You’ll never hurt me again!
Same here, reading this arc is like reading into my own past. I start ignoring it too when things don’t go well for me.
literally happening to me right now
Same. Unfortunately, I need this class for my major, and I love my major.
Fortunately, it’s the only math credit I need. I just need to pass, and not wreck my GPA in the process….urgh.
Walky not even going to loak? So no faith anymore that’s sad.
Fingers crossed that if/when Ruth and Billie get back together, they do it the right way, for the right reasons. What they had before… wasn’t healthy.
That’s right, Becky and Dina can’t hoard all the happy couple feels.
Even if they can’t by legally do that, de facto- it appears they are hoarding all the Happy Couple Feels. (U.S. Trademark reg.penna.dep.agr.)
Seriously, those two gotta learn to share.
I hope to see it happen, but it can’t happen now. I’m hoping that if Billies does see Ruth in the hospital, one of them is responsible enough to hit the brakes on any reunion ideas.
They’re both desperately unhealthy people and would only drag each other back down again. At least one needs her shit together before they can reasonably be in a relationship.
Agreed.
Wouldn’t it be funny if Walky got an A on that assignment?
It would, though I feel like it would contradict his character arc as it’s been progressing so far, and he’d learn the wrong lesson from it. Painful as this is to watch, and much as I know those feels, I think this character growth might be good for Walky, and is bound to be interesting for us.
Ah, but you assume that he would find out what his grade was before he panicked himself into firmly resolving to forge better study habits.
Yeah, it’s one of those things that’d make a great joke after the character growth. Like: “Hey, even though it’s cool that I am now committed to (studying/actually admitting weakness), it’s kinda funny that the paper I threw out to avoid confirmation of my fears got a petty good grade! Man, I’d have totally screwed myself over if I had seen that!”
No paper with that much red ink on it would be an A.
As are also red!
Also Billie is starting to fucking scare me, is she just going to ride the range train all day? On that note it feels like to me she’s determined to be in denial of the fact that just because she doesn’t have any relative family that’s there no one who cares about her even though her child hood friend ( whether she excepts it or not) and other keeps flipping their shit when they think she’s in danger.
And on that note what did she mean by business? Revenge Maybe, but against who Carla, Mary, Ruth’s grandfather.
I like to think in the back of her mind she can’t blame Carla, coz she just did what Billie told her to do: check on Ruth to see if she’s fine, and run to Billie if she isn’t
Mary and Old Man Lessick on the other hand…
Starting? Billie passed scary behaviour ages ago. Her mix of denile over her problems and shocking acceptance of horrible self-destructive behaviour and their consequences is terrifying.
I dunno if “denial” quite captures the reality of what’s going on here.
It’s not so much that she’s unwilling as unable to believe that people care about her, or that she deserves to have people care for her.
Walky’s had the best luck getting her to believe otherwise, they have the most history (even though parts get rocky), and they’d already started to reconnect earlier in the semester. Sal might also be a childhood friend, but it doesn’t seem like they were ever very close, and they definitely haven’t hung out at all in years.
Sal’s attempt to reach out worked for a moment or two, before Billie’s depression shut it down.
Also, pretend I connected those thoughts in some way so it seems smart, and less like a series of loosely-related tangents
What did she mean by business? Drinking, I suspect.
Somewhere, Mary feels a disturbance in the Force. Billie is coming.
Seriously, Billie and Ruth had a nice downward spiral going as a pair, then Mary split them apart and Ruth fell off the cliff alone.
Somewhere, Mary feels a disturbance in the Force. Billie is coming.
Seriously, Billie and Ruth had a nice downward spiral going as a pair, then Mary split them apart and Ruth fell off the cliff alone. Mary delenda est. (one of the few benefits of three years of Latin)
That’s more of an ongoing initiative than a task that gets ”taken care of”, though she might need to acquire more booze
Maybe, but currently most of her rage is pointed directly at herself and is only leaking out in every other direction because that’s the only way to keep from folding into a fetal position of pure self-hatred.
…doesn’t billie have family that [arguably as the parents haven’t been shown] loves her? And friends who like her? I mean, this “We’re all I have left” seems a bit overreacting to her deteriorating relationship with ruth. And having lost her high-school status. Which roundabout-ly led to their relationship.
Her parents are best described as ‘neglectful’.
Her friends are…sparse. Anyone who she hasn’t actively tried to push away (as she has with Walky and Sal) she’d scared off with her behaviour, or shed through simple neglect as she’s gotten more and more wrapped up in Ruth.
I don’t think Ruth was a factor there – she didn’t have a solid friendship with really anyone except Joyce. Walky is more her brother, and well, aside from that… she’s done at best light annoyance of those around her.
Her parents have never appeared (even over the phone) because they’re never around. She’s spent so much more time with Sal and Walky’s parents that she’s said she would call accidentally call them “Mom” and “Dad”.
She’s had a complete falling out with all of her friends from high school due to her DUI, and more or less gave up on making new friends after running into her ex and then starting a downward spiral, so Walky, Sal and Joyce are literally all the friends she has.
Also, she is severely depressed, and an alcoholic to boot, who is being forced apart from her also severely depressed girlfriend, who is in the hospital because she had literally lost the will to live.
Even without the depression, that seems like a hell of a lot of shit to deal with.
All of this.
Also, she thinks she’s literally toxic to people who aren’t alcoholic and depressed and so Ruth feels like the only one she can touch without ruining.
If I remember right, Billie’s parents are rich…as in rich. She was left alone a lot, but given lots of money to cover her expenses. Guess they thought that was good parenting.
I think that I remember her coming home to a very big, very empty house, feeling sad and noting the parents were gone again: and deciding to go off on a road trip seeing as how there was no one around to tell her no.
She tied a lot of her cheer leading HS rep. into her self image, and when she didn’t get the respect she thought she was due in college based on that, it cut a big chunk of her confidence out from under her.
And yes, the DUI lost her a lot of friends. She came into college with little support. And didn’t win friends with her HS attitude.
She is hurting now, and does need that therapy time.
Not sure why Sal is interested, but she is trying to be more social I think: based on her last AG encounter where she says “look at me, making friends”.
Sal’s interested because Billie’s her roommate, and arguably her friend.
Considering how she offered Joyce a ride earlier, I’d say Sal has actually worked herself up to the possibility of maybe letting other people in besides Marcie, but here I think Sal’s interested simply because she cares about Billie.
If Billie and Walky are like surrogate siblings, I think that Billie and Sal are like surrogate cousins. There’s still a family-like bond there from having grown up together, even if they don’t share many of the same interests or spend much time together.
Sal does seem to have some implicit trust and fondness for Billie. I do recall that early on, she quickly went into a sage nod as she realized Billie was right about how much she could trust everyone with competence.
The least sibling-like thing about them is that Billie has no westermark effect with Sal, I think, but they’re definitely not close in any case. I like to think this is just Sal, caring, though, it just so happens that her distant sister is the one in trouble.
Billie is rather disconnected from people. She asked the Latina women working for her parents about where the homeless her father had moved had been put. This is so out-of-touch I don’t even know where to start analyzing.
Doesn’t expect her parents to be there, didn’t even begin to realize this wasn’t done to help the homeless, didn’t really get why the woman was angry with her for asking. When the term started out, she expected people to defer to her because she’d been a cheerleader. She was totally invested in there being social inequality and her being on top and rejected Walky’s friendship because it didn’t fit her image of her status. Just to find this status janked out from under her feet and find she had nothing to stand on and no social skills to connect to others.
And she probably sees both her DUI and people’s reactions to its the source of all this and is equally angry with herself and the others about it, but this was just a tipping point, not the reason she is so isolated now.
Family? Not really, her parents are neglectful and substitute love with money and the friends Billie has are few and far because of her DUI scaring off her old ones except Walky and Sal and her ‘I am better than you’ attitude making many people stay clear except like, Joyce who cares about everyone for the most part.
She mentioned that her parents do love her, but they’re emotionally cold and only know how to relate through money. I remember a line about how her dad’s version of a hug was a $20.
The Head Alien: “Freaking Alternate universe Walky. I wish I could get my hands on that little brat and blast him.”
Willis: “No need. He’s on self-destruct.”
Dear humans who lack empathy,
When someone trusts you enough to tell you that the reason they got an order of protection on their ex is because after the breakup he raped them, don’t tell them that they should have known better and that they have learned a valuable lesson while acting like it’s no big deal (especially if said meeting is IRL). It is a big deal and rape is not a victim’s fault even if they are drunk and streaking through town. Please try to act like a human or take so etiquette and empathy classes because a refresher course is needed.
Sincerely,
Someone whose day was fucking ruined who felt the need to vent anonymously
Wow, what an incredible jerk, I’m sorry that they said that colossal BS that to you. I hope tomorrow is better.
Me too. Today was a nice day until that. My nephew got married yesterday (technically day before yesterday now) and I was showing off pictures of the wedding to people. The weather was lovely. Ben and Jerry’s pints were on sale. It was going to be a good day. It’s funny how something so small can ruin a good day.
I’m so very sorry that happened to you. I find that most often people who say shit like that are any of the following:
1. Empathy less assholes who love to say “I told you so” no matter the context (because the bottom line is usually something along the lines of “I’m better than you, because of course that wouldnt have happened to ME”)
2. Have had a similar experience and reject anyone who causes them to remember those things, which includes shutting down people who genuinely want empathy and help so they won’t feel uncomfortable psychologically
3. Have never had that happen to them, and thus can’t literally understand, thus more likely to buy into victim -blamey bullshit to rationalize it.
4. Are a lot less open and wonderful than they think themselves to be, see #3 – especially applies if they fucking asked in the first place. These people often have a superficial idea of what trust means..
5. Misogynistic assholes who take most chances they can to put down all rape victims
Again, I’m sorry that happened to you. I know the pain of having someone reject your pain. My person rejected mine to so he could continue to be inert in protecting me. Very often the person has no comprehension of what a huge failure that is.
He is an older educated Christian man with a doctorate who works as a chiropractor that I’ve known two years whose office is near where my ex lives. I let him know I got an order or protection so I could ask if it was okay if I text him before I came in just in case my ex was there and he asked what had happened. He’s also friends with my dad. I’m not sure where to stick him now because he shocked me so much by how he acted but I sure know where he can stick his opinions!
Btw, I’m an atheist, but he doesn’t know that. I mentioned he’s a Christian because it is a big part of his personality. He became a chiropractor because he believes his god works through his hands to help him heal people. When he doesn’t have Christian music playing in his office, he has his portable tv on Fox News.
FOX news, yikes! That guy seems pretty intensely invested in his views. Ive been there with the atheist stuff – tell them I don’t go to church and see their faces fall and just close off. It’s so weird, because previous to that you’re perfectly fine and normal to them.
Oh yeah. I’ve gotten so many reactions. Slows uncomfortable backing away. Insisting on coming to their church so I can get back in touch with the holy spirit. Hearing rants about how the government is turning people away from god. Told I’ve been let astray by the devil and need help. Accused of worshiping the devil. Accused of being in the illuminati. Told I can’t be an atheist because they are hateful people who want to abolish all religions and go door to door trying to turn people away from god. Told to get a tattoo of the devil from the tarot cards because I don’t believe in the devil so it doesn’t matter and when I say no (because I think it’s ugly and don’t want it on my body), the person going into “so you must still believe in god if you refuse to get the devil tattooed on you” speech. It crazy!
If you see him for his profession, then I’d say it’s probably time to find someone else to do that for you. If you can manage to do so without damaging yourself, tell him why you no longer want to be his client and that your departure is, in no uncertain terms, because of his toxic behavior towards you.
If you do decide to inform him on why you’re no longer going to have anything to do with him, I’d say it’s your choice on whether you choose a polite response, or just say “You’re a fucking asshole and I don’t need you. Go away.”.
Either way, unless this guy is willing to listen, understand, and profusely and sincerely apologize to you and actively work on being a better person, you don’t need him and shouldn’t suffer his presence regardless of what relation he has to your family.
Here’s the sucky part. I live in a small town and he is the only chiropractor. I get terrible migraines, so if my neck goes out it’s all I can do to drive the few miles to his office. He’s also really good at what he does. Not going to him means driving 40 minutes with a migraine that causes extreme pain and left side weakness (I have hemiplegic migraines) to go to a so so chiropractor or nearly 2 hours to a good one. I would love to not go back, but I have no choice. He’s one more bigot I will be forced to deal with. Sometimes I want to run away from here. Move to another town where being an atheist doesn’t cause some people to think I worship the devil or joined the illuminati. Where I don’t get the baby killer taking away god speech for admitting I’m a Democrat. Where I can openly be myself instead of constantly pretending to be things I am not just to avoid drama… but I don’t see it happening soon.
Is there a physical therapist in the area? If so, they should be better equipped to help, as they don’t have some of the genuinely dangerous views on how to “manipulate” the body that chiropractors do.
I’ve been to physical therapy and it did nothing for my migraines although it helped me get my left side strong enough to use it again. Before I started going to him once a month, I had a migraine more often than not and abortive meds didn’t really help. I still get them, but now it’s about 7 manageable migraine days and 2 to 4 bad days a month where it was 10 or more manageable days and about 10 to 12 bad days. It’s unfair and I would love to never have to see him again, but the world is rarely fair.
I’m so sorry that person so completely, utterly failed to live up to the trust you placed in them. That is just awful
Me too. On the plus side, I had a friend help me through it. I texted her (the one not currently off on her honeymoon) right after it happened (it just said “Someone put the blame for being raped on me today. I’m upset”) and instead of texting back or waiting until she got home or something, she called from work and said “Okay. Who do I need to kill?” It actually made me laugh because she’s the kind of person who apologizes to a squirrel if her dog barks at it. It didn’t erase what happened but it helped be not feel as crapy. A part of me always blamed myself so what he said brought that doubt back. I told her the details of the encounter and before I went into that stupid little doubt that feel like will never be completely gone, she went into “Fuck him! That’s victim blaming. It doesn’t matter if you are drunk and streaking through town, nobody has the right to do that!” It helped a lot.
I like her already. She’s absolutely right, and I’m glad she was able to counteract at least some of that toxicity
Me too
I’m sorry that happened to you. The rape and the breach of trust. Thank you for trusting us.
I feel like this forum is a safe place thanks to Willis. I hope he hasn’t had to delete too many inappropriate comments. I don’t want to create extra work for him over my venting.
I’m sorry that you had to hear that shit. I hope things get better.
Me too. I’m so tired of bigots. I don’t know why he feel this way. Maybe he’s got too much Fox News on the brain with all the talk of Trump denying ever touching the women that have come forward? I don’t know. It’s still terrible either way.
I did post here in sympathy, but think it was taken as offensive, and as such was deleted. Sorry for offending.
Oh, geez
that’s awful.
and since I’ve yet to find a better way to express it than with the words of our wonderful Cerberus, all of the *appropriate gestures of support* I can possibly muster and so many more.
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Dear victim-blaming assholes:
Get lost. Get the hell lost. You are parasites on this planet and do not belong here. Go to the Moon or something. Preferably the far side, so we can’t possibly see you.
Dear humans who are victims of said assholes:
If there’s anything I can do for you, up to and including you punching my arm as a stress relief, then I will.
Dear humans who do have sympathy for said victims:
Let’s ensure that said victims will not stand alone. Let’s make sure that when they tell their stories, that we are there to amplify the volume, to make sure that it’s heard. Let’s do our best to kill the toxicity of entitlement that is at the root of all this.
In short: Let’s make things better.
*huge Internet hugs* That was wonderfully well put. Thank you. ^_^
I ended up going on a video binge after it happened which helped take my mind off it all. Simon’s Cat (example https://youtu.be/pTBjHjRhx_Y ) is great for that. Also, schmoyoho created a musical battle between Trump and Hillary using auto tuning with Weird Al asking the questions (link here https://youtu.be/FdBF6h7oH5I ) which was awesome on so many levels (also two Olympic ones that are worth a watch). Between a good friend, a good distraction, and a good vent with subsequent amazing support, I’m feeling much better than I was.
Just wanted to say that I did in fact reply, but didn’t realize including 2 links would lock it for moderation. Oops XD
Hey, no worries. I grabbed one of those hugs you were giving out below, so it’s all good.
Here’s what I said minus links.
Bluewind
October 25, 2016 at 1:13 pm
*huge Internet hugs* That was wonderfully well put. Thank you. ^_^
I ended up going on a video binge after it happened which helped take my mind off it all. Simon’s Cat (link to video titled The Monster) is great for that. Also, schmoyoho created a musical battle between Trump and Hillary using auto tuning with Weird Al asking the questions (link to that video which was titled Bad Hombres, Nasty Women what are both things Trump actually said during the debate) which was awesome on so many levels (also two Olympic ones that are worth a watch). Between a good friend, a good distraction, and a good vent with subsequent amazing support, I’m feeling much better than I was.
*all the internet hugs*
*takes hugs and passes them out to everyone in this thread*
Assholes like that guy are why I start off in attitude to the kind of Christian who builds their identity and self-worth around being more holy than thou as “unfriendly,” to put it in D&D terms.
No, not all Christians are victim-blamey assholes, but most evangelical types with a fondness for Fox are IME. And by “most” I mean “literally all but one that I’ve ever met in my life.”
1, I’m sorry he was a human dumpster fire to you, and I hope eventually he develops enough as a person to learn that Donald Trump is not a role model for empathy.
2, I’m glad your friend was supportive.
3, Fuck that guy.
If the commisseration thing helps to you, I’ve been there, and it really fucking sucks, and you’re right to be pissed off, and he’s got admirable flexibility for a grown man to be able to live his life with his head stuck up his ass like that.
*big hugs* I’m sorry anybody has to go through it. You, me, and all the others, we don’t deserve this. I can only hope we can evolve and grow as a species to where that one day such things become relics of the past only known through the historians who study us.
Eeeeew. There was a time I thought humanity as a whole was getting better, but between Trump supporters and the growing Far Right influence in Europe, I’m seriously considering volunteering to be one of the first Mars colonists, functioning habitats optional.
Extra penalty points for the asshole being medical-adjacent, which requires a position of trust above and beyond “person you deal with.”
I used to say “rape is only the rapist’s fault,” but I’m seriously considering moving into “rape is only the rapist’s fault and also of the people who say it isn’t”.
All the support to you.
Thank you hun. And I would totally volunteer to go to Mars too if I didn’t have so many medical issues. The experiments will jellyfish on the international space station were really amazing showing that creatures born in non earth environments adjust well to their birth environment. It gives me hope for colonization of other planets although I do wonder how well we will be able to communicate with each other…
*appropriate gesture of support*
That’s some awful victim-blaming horseshit right there.
Very much agreed.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
This is a really open, accepting place, so please feel free to vent about your problems. The people here have done the same for me.
I’ve noticed. Willis really does an amazing job moderating. I don’t have to filter here for fear of backlash. I don’t know how he does it all especially with twins demanding attention.
I think he once said something to the effect that after moderating certain particular strips that “invited” the assholes to come out, taking care of the twins becomes far less demanding in comparison. At least they only spread their poop into diapers, instead of on the comment field for all to see.
Eloquently said, but sad that the problem exists. :\
Fuck. That. Guy.
I am so sorry that happened to you. You need to know that’s not true at all and he can go fuck himself up the road and down the block if he’s going to be such a tremendous asshole about it.
I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with him until a practical alternative comes up. He’s awful. Try not to speak with him unless you have to to answer a medical question or something. How DARE he violate your trust like that.
And I’m sorry my story upset you so much *hugs*
I’m not upset so much as angry with him. I’m fine, don’t worry about me at all. I hope you’re feeling better. *hug*
Wow. Hard to believe someone can be that clueless and still be able to breathe without assistance, much less function in society. I commend your restraint in not defenestrating the dumbass. I count myself very lucky that I don’t live in a community where I have to put up with people like that, I am sorry that you are forced to put up with nuclear grade stupidity.
I’d like to charge this chiropractor with unlawfully exposing Bluewind to stupidity, but sadly that’s not a real offence. Too bad, because this dickbag would have about a million counts.
This made me laugh XD
Then my work here is done!
That is god damned awful, and I’m sorry to hear about it. Hope you’re feeling better now, at least.
Sal and Marcie know nothing about codependency, of course.
But what about the way that Sal refuses to find anoth–
Bagge: THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CODEPENDENCY!
*waits until the ringing in the ears subsides*
Sorry, you are obviously correct about this and everything else you ever have an opinion of, of course. Silly of me to not realise this sooner, really.
THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CODEPENDENCY!!!!! NOTHING!!!!!!
*ears keep ringing*
…
*ears are still ringing*
…
*ear ringing subsides a bit*
I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I didn’t quite catch it.
Also, are you related to someone named Ygritte, by any chance? Coming from the cold north and everything…
Sometimes it’s easier to spot in others what you’re so fervently denying to yourself.
It especially helps when the problem is exacerbated XD
knew it
Wish he’d at least checked if it was a good grade first
Marcie doesn’t at least
There’s a difference between pretending to do something, and just starting to do something.
Billie is hurting big time, I hope she goes to therapy sessons that have been set up for her.
I don’t know why Sal is interested, but I’m glad she is. Maybe because she recognizes the depression. Maybe because she said to herself after her last encounter with AG, ‘look at me, making friends’. Maybe that’s what she is doing, just trying to be a friend.
Walky is doing sort of the same thing with his grades as Billie is with her refusal to admit her need for help (I know she can’t admit it, yet).
I know Billie’s is more life threatening, she is down right depressed. She is very likely suicidal.
Walky is not in that classification, but his refusal to admit he needs help is still serious, even if on a diff. level.
He has been very much aware of and proud of the fact of how smart he is – finding out he is not is apparently a major shock to him.
Some people would just go get a tutor. Some would drop out rather than admit it. And then there is Walky.
Y’know, when Walky’s denial train finally hits the buffers, it’s going to be a spectacular fireball!
I wonder how Walky occupied all that class time? Just by dressing up as Reginald and bumping into things? Not healthy.
He also hid behind Ethan, don’t forget about that
Sal… You almost got through to her.
And it’s pretty obvious why you managed to get a little bit more than the others today. You asked how Ruth was doing. You even caught yourself saying Ruthless and corrected it, and for just a few seconds, you got something else than rage in response.
And this is no surprise, of course. I’ve said before that for the last two (comic book) days, Billie has always been worried about things on Ruth’s behalf, not her own. She still thinks herself as worthless, and she couldn’t care less about being outed as bi on her own behalf or where she was going to sleep or anything like that. But talk about Ruth being in trouble and everything changes. So anyone else who shows even a glimmer of sympathy towards Ruth’s situation will have a better chance of getting through…
…Until she remembers to be upset at the whole damn world, of course. Then she pushes them away again, making any excuse to keep her anger up. And this one is particularly funny, because if Sal hadn’t cared, she would not have in a million years have asked about Ruth’s well-being. And Sal only pretends -not- to care about people; when she appears to care, then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be genuine.
It’s a large part of why I believe Sal would be a good therapist.
She’s been through shit so she can genuinely empathize with people who’re struggling with big stuff and she knows how to talk to people in crisis and get more from them than most can.
Now picturing Future Sal as smartass therapist Dr. Corrine Buenvenida from Questionable Content.
Link fail: http://questionablecontent.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Corrine_Buenvenida
Of course, she might be insulted if you suggest she could become a good therapist, considering her view on said profession…
But the counterpoint to that would be to tell her that she would be… well, a counterpoint to those people. Because she would actually be able to figure out the real reason behind people’s behaviour and help them from there; instead of making all sorts of remarks that are carefully tailored to appear innocent, yet undoubtedly show nothing but judgemental attitude towards those you’re supposed to help.
Yeah, I’m assuming that the latter is what she got a big helping of.
Walky, Walky, Walky… Just because you haven’t seen the score doesn’t it mean it hasn’t been observed. The grader has seen the score, and the waveform has collapsed. It isn’t in superposition anymore.
The more I read, the more I think almost everyone in this comic just really sucks at showing they care.
Except Dina. OK, she started out badly, but now she is the best at sympathy via an appropriate amount of touching.
wow. That would be sad, but I’m more happy for Dina.
Also Joyce, Becky, Dorothy, Marcie, Ethan, Hank and Jocelyne.
Sal seems to be getting the hang of it, even if she doesn’t do it often
Oh gods, Hank is just The Best at showing sympathy. Even better than Dina.
And thus the love letter from Gary remains unread. They will never be man-married and ride off on a dinosaur into the sunset.
….It finally happened.
Bagge made a comment, and it made me sad to read it. Poor Gary!
On the flip side, renown bachelor Reginald, duke of Thingley, is in the area, looking for love…
He is fleeing his fiancée from his arranged marriage for a proper aristocratic political alliance.
He may using the tactic “make myself look like such a loser that she dumps me” strategy.
Those aren’t the professor’s markings, they’re just little hearts!
It’s Gary’s own fault, really. The accepted method of courtship for the Walkerton family are offerings of toys, applied directly to the head.
…
*Throws Zoid at Sal’s head*
You… you know what zoids are? ;u;
Rumor is Gary got man-married to Dirk Lonestyle and they now run a bed-and-breakfast in Connecticut.
Seems Ruth’s rage has transferred to Billie now. I really hope she goes to therapy or something, she clearly needs it.
When the Shrinks said ‘codependent’, they were right. Ruth had become the be-all and end-all of Billie’s existence – she defined herself as Ruth’s girlfriend and carer and, without her, she’s got nothing. Naturally, that’s causing anger issues because she literally is lost without this key relationship to give direction to her life.
Yup, and that’s been the chain around this relationship’s neck for awhile. That they don’t just treat it like a relationship, but the thing that will and is the only thing that can save them from the dark.
which is better? Straight-haired Sal or Curly Sal? I like both
I find Walky’s behaviour ironic. He was all “I’m a manly man, I only have one pair of shoes!” And now he is running away from his problems instead of facing them and trying to fix them…
Walky has been playing one role or another imposed by external expectations all his life and this has worked out fairly well to date. Now that isn’t working out so well anymore and he’s lost. The only way he really has to confront his fears now is to run from them; it’s not as if he’s ever had to learn how to handle situations like this before!
True words and yet the solution could be quite simple. Like asking Dotty to tutor him a bit… but the mere thought of admitting his problems to her probably terrifies him more than anything…
There is a toxic assumption that the male must always be the one ‘in charge’ and to admit to Dorothy that he needs help would, in his mind, be a failure to live up to his gender role in their relationship. To him, in a bizarre way, admitting to her that he needed her help would be betraying her.
This.
Those socialized as if boys tend to be hit hard with messages that the the worst thing you can do as a man is show vulnerability. To show sadness, panic, weakness, or just to ask for help. These are the things that are forbidden, that will “get you beat up” if you express them openly and it leads to a lot of badness where folks who need help, who need therapy, or who need real genuine connection with others feel a lot of stress as they try and force themselves to do without.
It’s a big part of why I call it toxic masculinity, because not only does this type of performative desperate “masculinity” make one more toxic for others, but is also toxic for one’s self and one’s ability to ask for help when it is needed.
Sal is smarter than most characters give her credit for.
So, Jack Chick is dead.
Internet cookies and drinks are on me!
To further celebrate, every commenter today (except the assholes) will all get One Imperial Internet Point each from Us.
“Well, ‘toxic’ doesn’t start with a ‘co’ so.”
Clearly, Sal meant “coxic.”
Never pictured her as a Scrubs fan…
Walky’s problems seem so average compared to the rest of the drama happening in the comic.
Yet, for him, they are quite devastating in terms of his self-esteem and his ability to function.
Comic Reactions:
Panels 1-3: Waiting at the exit to try and pretend he still attended class rather than running away, hiding from his results, lying obviously to his friends. His avoidance strategies are not going to hold for long and the harder he tries to hold on to them, the more likely he’ll be to clash with his friends as they pick up on what’s going on.
On the plus side, though, this means he’ll be getting an intervention sooner rather than later.
Panel 4: Emperor Nortion II mentioned it up above, but yes, it’s so very key that Sal asks about Ruth, even checks herself when she slips and does the mocking nickname and is there for Billie.
Sal might not like it, but she’s good with people in crisis and a good listener and that makes her a very valuable friend.
Panel 5: Oof, and here we see why Sal doesn’t reach out more. Because she’s just accused of pretending to care because she seals off from folks so often. Which, definitely feels like an introvert thing.
Panel 6: “We’re all I have left”.
Damn, that’s a brutal summation of the central problem with Billie/Ruth. That they are codependent, and not just codependent a little bit, but in a way that ties their whole sense of identity and self-esteem to their roles in their relationship.
And for Billie, we’re seeing more and more signs that she should have been kept in observation as well, but she’s too good at faking “functional”. Cause if being a part of a “we” is all she has left, what would she do if that ended, if for whatever reason Ruth had to break it off.
That mindset of the relationship being all that Billie has is dangerous in so many ways and it’s why the codependence of their relationship has to be broken for a new healthier romantic dynamic to replace it.
Your panel 6 analysis reminds me of when I said that Billie and Ruth was basically like Ruth having arterial bleeding; with Billie putting just enough pressure on it to prevent Ruth from bleeding to death right now, but she’s incapable of actually stopping it, and she refuses to call out for someone who can (partially because she’s worried Ruth’s grandpa would hear the shouting, and would come over and just rip the wound straight open again).
Now you made me realise that Billie’s also been doing it to herself too. I mean, I’ve said for some time that Billie has mainly been upset on Ruth’s behalf rather than her own the last few comic days, but I mostly looked at it as a positive thing (and in some ways, I still think it is); forgetting that there is also a less healthy aspect to this behaviour. She’s putting pressure on her own arterial bleeding as well as Ruth’s, but without the same worry… And if Ruth is not saved, she’ll pull off that tourniquet faster than you can say “suicide pact”.
And just to make sure, Ruth is in faaaar too bad a place herself to be able to help anyone else, so no wonder she can’t help with Billie’s bleeding.
Also, I don’t think it was just faking it as far as functionality goes. I’m assuming that Billie radiated so much genuine concern over Ruth to the hospital staff that it overshadowed her own situation; such major concern over Ruth possibly dying was probably interpreted that she still has some desire to keep on living; thus making it less acute than Ruth’s situation.
Aaah, THAT explains Billie’s shittiness – Ruth withdrawal!
Her whole reason for quitting alcohol was to be near Ruth, so basically she just swapped addictions. Which is normal for most addicts, but its always a really bad idea to make another person the focus of your addictive behavior. That’s how we get stalkers.
Yup! All of this.
Except for the lack of quitting alcohol. Her only reason for talking about quitting alcohol was because she was worried about Ruth’s alcoholism. She didn’t have a problem, so she kept right on sneaking drinks until Ruth caught. Then there was no point in quitting. Then they got together in their SLSP and started working on drinking themselves to death.
Ruth quit again over the blackmail and I don’t think we’ve explicitly seen Billie drink since, but we also haven’t seen her show any signs of withdrawal – other than being crankier than normal, which has plenty of other possible explanations.
YEAHHHHH… uhm, I know everyone is focused on Billie and Ruth but… Walky really REALLY needs help right now.
I see myself in his actions. He is going to fail if he doesn’t find a way to get out of this spiral.
I’m surprised that Joyce isn’t trying to help Walky as that seems to be her main thing (trying to solve problems I mean, not help Walky specifically)
Poor Billie doesn’t seem to think of Walky or Sal as siblings.
She and Sal have never seemed close. I think she does see Walky as family, but right now she hates the world, family included.
She put Walky down as her emergency contact and has identified herself as a surrogate walkerton daughter. But yeah, she doesn’t want anything to do with anyone but Ruth except defenestrating Carla and any doctors.