Not sure 8 rounds of seven minutes in heaven can prepare her for that meeting. Hopefully everyone has a brain in their skull for once and simply makes sure she’s mentally sound before officially relieving her of her R.A duties and sending her back to her wing for some R&R.
“Ironically enough, even factoring all this in, you’re still our best RA.”
“But… how?!?”
“You really don’t want to know. Now if you excuse me I need to put out a fire on the third floor. No. A literal fire.”
Lemme see if I have this right. You’re talking about engineering students starting a fire, and doing something in the process to make it so that if the fire goes out, the building collapses? …HOW?
“We also caught a Russian spy, had an outbreak of bubonic plague, caught one of the RAs selling weed to their charges, discovered a sweat shop of elves making fake Nike shoes, and had an English literature professor and a student duel each other with rapiers.”
“The fuck?”
“I’m honestly expecting someone to become the host to an alien hive mind or for a portal to hell to open up. I’m pretty sure this school is built on cursed land”
(from outside) “Holy shit! I think I just found a Native American burial site!”
“Why does everything happen here?”
“Well, actually, we’ve got an alien who looks like Dexter from that cartoon? Only he’s backwards? Anyhow he’s flying around on a giant tarantual-shaped flying mecha and demanding that we bring him half our freshman class so he can gloat and reveal their secrets.”
“Wut.”
“Yeah, he said something about mere continuity not being able to contain him. I think. He was cackling a lot.”
“Also, we have a squatting homeless girl in our rooms.”
“We can’t…”
“Which we’re allowing because she could sue us for poor security and not calling the cops earlier. Do whatever she asks. Frankly, we have free tuition and accomadations as a bribe to hush her up but she hasn’t asked for it yet. She’s just looming around us, hoping we’ll up the offer. Clever girl.”
My thoughts exactly, although they should bang on the door and wait until they have an audience before progressing. Make sure there’s plenty of tongue action and some light groping to really make Mary twitch. And be sure to block the doorway so she can’t get past them but can’t close the door on them either! She’d curl up like the Wicked Witch: “I’m melting!”
If you haven’t, buy a pair that fits you well when you can. There have lots of pockets and they are good for when you have a project or don’t need to look dressy. They are easy to sneak layers under in the winter. If you have small hips and no ass (like one of my dad’s friends) you don’t have to worry about your belt failing or being uncomfortably tight. Being baggy they can be great for bloating (naturally or from big meals) or pregnancy as long as you are careful how you take them off. And let’s not forget that if you have boobs, the buckles will bring attention to them. They aren’t an everyday thing though (especially for people who aren’t use to straps on their shoulders), but they do come in handy.
Lol! I haven’t worn overalls in a few years because I got too big for the 2 I owned and never replaced them, but I loved them when I had them. When I was younger, I had a sweater with Mickey bending over and looking at you through his legs that I loved because when warn with my overalls, all you could see was his ass poking out of the top XD
Despite everything I’m glad they can finally be open with their relationsip. Making out in the hallway seems like a hour well spent to me.
Heh, it sounds like Chloe is setting up a parlor scene. “I first became aware of the mysterious events when I found a dick drawn on my door…”
At the very least, she is not gathering “everyone” in order to tell Ruth she is fired and have to go home. There will be an attempt at a solution. Maybe even a good one.
I imagine Ruth isn’t fired at all because Puddinghead seems to have a real love for her. I wonder if we’re going to find out, Days of Our Lives style, she was Ruth’s teenage mother.
Yeah, they died in a car crash with a drunk driver involved. It is possible Ruth’s parents adopted her, but that’s highly unlikely (and something I would be more likely to write. *shivers*). Chloe’s treating Ruth with respect because Ruth was still one of the most effectivd RAs in the school, and Chloe knows how screwed up Ruth’s life has been. So Chloe’s being friendly and giving Ruth some space, which is one of the better options in this case.
Okay but how SHITTY must the other RA’s be that Ruth is one of the best.
Like, I can’t think of any situation where the shit Ruth did would fly unless the other RA’s are like, starting cults or using students as furniture or shit.
Well, I mean, Chloe basically said that Ruth was the only RA who had her stuff together, and Ruth did once say that she does run an effective and quiet hall. As such, it could be concluded that Ruth, despite being authoritarian and not informing the college of her own abuses of power, is among the more competent of RAs, or at least the best at hiding all of her problems. The other RAs might be tame in comparison, but far more blatantly unstable and unreliable. Or using students as furniture, that too. 😛
The general assumption is that she’s best at hiding the problems. She said early on that she “ran a tight ship” and “they loved her upstairs”. The implication to me was always that even if she didn’t handle things the best way, to say the least, she kept them from bothering Chloe and the other administrators. Quite possibly the others are constantly hassling them for things they should be able to handle on their own. Our only other example is the boys wing – “Trek marathon’s on. Later.”
Ruth has done some good things: handling Blaine was above and beyond the call, for example.
Unless, sudden twist, she and her brother were actually adopted the entire time.
…
Naw that would be too soap opera esque. We’re already dangerously close to being a Tella Novella as it is.
a. Ruth is Canadian
b. She and Chloe look almost nothing alike
c. Ruth was involved in the accident that killed her parents, why in the hell would they lie to her about her parents.
d. Dude, seriously.
I love Ruth’s story truly and am enjoying seeing a realistic depiction of depression with a actual ray of hope at the end. However, I can’t help but feel like something was lost in the swerve into this topic as I was very interested in the follow up of the fact Ruth, despite her better qualities, was a vicious bully who scared as well as abused her position. Here, Puddinghead’s unwavering support of Ruth is nice for the depression storyline but utterly ignores the darker side of Ruth’s struggle. That she hurt people to make herself feel anything at all.
Even when it does, Chloe may not know the whole thing – she knows Ruth slapped a sharpie dick on Mary’s face, but that could be played off as roughhousing – she’d need to hear the full extent of what Ruth did to know how bad it was, in a way she can’t ignore.
If Mary had complained about it then Ruth would have been asked about it before now. Mary didn’t complain about it because of Ruth’s confidence it wouldn’t matter.
I miss Willis’ old ‘thumbs-up’ avatar. That cheeky grin really went well with some of his angrier comments. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn’t his thumbs he wanted to hold up. 😉
I highly doubt that they’d appoint Joyce as the RA. She’s expressed no interest in the position, she’s demonstrated few leadership qualities that would make her stand out to most of the residents of the floor, she’s a freshman (it’d be unfair to put that much additional work on her, especially without her asking for it). Dorthy is the most responsible choice out of the people who want the job, although Roz might be more popular.
That may actually be a good administrative decision with both playing to their strengths and no one person has to deal with all the drama that is constantly percolating here … percolating? ….. dang I need a coffee.
I’m calling it. Chloe will make Billy RA. Just look at her track record.
– Did RA work while Ruth was out of commission
– Helped Ruth doing RA work while they were dating
– Did a lot to save Ruth from killing herself.
– Kept Mary at bay
– Tried to sort out the Roz/Dorothy situation
– Gave Becky her room
– Has done a lot to keep Joyce stable.
IF Ruth was right before, and Chloe is willing to have pragmatic solutions rather than by-the-book-solutions, then Billie would be a good fit… if Chloe herself keeps an eye on Billie’s alcoholism.
Replacing an alcoholic, depressed and suicidal RA with an equally alcoholic, slightly less depressed, slightly less suicidal RA who hasn’t asked for the job, has shown no sighs of responsibility, and would probably decline the job out of a concern for Ruth (who might feel bad about Billie getting the job)… the idea is absolutely absurd, almost as much so as a republican congresswoman squatting in the house of a lesbian gender studies professor during a campaign.
That wouldn’t resolve the conflict of interest problem, though. Either one of them has to move to another floor or neither of them can be the RA. (They could also end their relationship, but that’s not enforceable and the school can’t ask that.)
However, it would give Billie a social ladder to climb, which she’s been in search of since being disqualified as an IU cheerleader. (I’m not saying that would factor into Chloe’s decision. Just that it would be a facet of the outcome.)
They should arrive at her office naked and glowing with post coital bliss. That would make it super awkward when she announces the decision was for Ruth to keep her job.
For a moment I was afraid that “everyone” might include ‘sir’, as he’s Ruth’s family support, except that he’s abusive. But, iirc, sir is not allowed on campus. He’s not gonna be there, right?
Willis has written two physically-abusive patriarchs, who both arrived without warning, so that’s why it occurred to me. But you’re right, plus I hope the school would be more sensitive than that, plus don’t think Willis would like “surprise! abusive patriarch” to be his style.
I would like to continue not meeting sir.
Yeah, there’s just nothing quite like having your emotionally abusive father with undiagnosed mental issues who’s been out of your life for two years more or less forcing your mother to start the divorce process because of feet dragging on his end crashing your high school graduation celebration.
…
Sorry, I was projecting a bit there.
Or changing his email address so he can avoid the block you put on his email address to beg you to consider reparative therapy again and throw slurs at you…
… which sure would be bad of “sir” to do, yes… Ok, yeah, projecting too.
Also *appropriate gesture of support* for that shitty HS graduation “surprise”. Worries about abusive family members “crashing” is why I’m not publicizing any information on where or when my wedding will be and only telling people I trust never to post it publicly on their facebooks.
*reciprocal gesture of support* I hope the wedding goes well for you and your fiancé. Also, I hope preparations for it aren’t stressing either of you out two much.
When she was confronting Blaine, she said ‘I don’t care [that Blaine is her father]. If you’re not on the [approved family member] list, you’re not allowed in the building. Believe me, just being related doesn’t earn you anything.”
The ‘believe me’ part implies that she has personal experience with this, and the only relative we know of for that is Sir. Howard is clearly allowed in the building.
I don’t think there’s a restraining order, just that he’s not allowed on campus. All that takes is him making an ass of himself.
Also, emotional abuse is fully capable of knocking fear into folks even if you can’t legally be near them. That’s why they often come with ‘do not contact’ clauses.
It could also be a “believe me, because I’ve dealt with/seen student housing deal with this sort of things before” because this isn’t her first year as an RA. Or a “believe me, this has blocked entry even for people who a resident wanted to come, so you sure as hell aren’t getting pass” (like, say, if her controlling, abusive grandfather demanded veto power over what relatives she put on her approved family member list – even though that wouldn’t necessarily prevent them from meeting her elsewhere)
And even if she were vaguely referring to her grandfather, in that case, it was about relatives not being automatically entitled to come into the dorm. You don’t have to be on an approved family list to be on the campus in general.
She seemed pretty personally invested in it, which is why I think it refers to her grandfather. And while she only said he wouldn’t be allowed in the building, Chloe is asking to meet in the building, so he definitely wouldn’t be allowed in.
Unlikely, since Ruth and Howard moved to the US after their parents died to live with their grandfather, so presumably he was their caretaker in the US.
Most universities have privacy policies limited what they can share regarding the students, which apply even to parents unless the student is a legal minor.
I’m assuming ‘everyone’ will include the girl Billie is switching room assignments with and her new roommate as she moves to another floor not under Ruth’s purview, thus allowing Ruth and Billie’s relationship to continue without conflict of interest.
I mean, there’s no need to gather ‘everyone’ to tell Ruth she’s canned. If Ruth were straight-up canned, everything that happens after as far as new RA is largely none of her business. Chloe could just tell her she’s canned, tell her how long she has to clear out, then separately go meet with everyone else as regards the next step.
That’d be Chloe’s bosses. Unlikely that they’d meet Ruth face-to-face. Possible, certainly, if they haven’t made up their minds yet, but the more likely case is that Chloe gave them a report, and they gave Chloe a directive to carry out.
Soon, all the preparations will be complete, and Chloe will be ready to perform the dark ritual that will summon forth Ruth’s replacement. If Ruth is able to slay her in single combat, she gets to stay on as RA.
Panel 1: 😀 All the happiness for this panel. Cause, yeah, this is partially what I wanted to see happening. Billie speaking up about what she wants on an equal footing to Ruth even if it’s just a brief respite from the impending chaos they are all facing to disappear into a moment of certainty and comfort.
And it’s also just a beautiful moment. Ruth being able to smile back at her as Billie leans her head on her shoulder. The tender request. The subtle Fun Home Musical reference.
It’s… genuinely sweet in a way that the Ruth/Billie dynamic has not really had the space to be that reliably owing to both of their mental illnesses.
Panel 2: And moment ruined.
Panel 3: Oof, the call in by the bosses. Never fun. Especially with the uncertainty of what exactly you’re going to be dealing with in the meeting and knowing it is likely going to be bad.
Great for anxiety too. I’ve had plenty of these in the past and I’m sure I’ll be getting some more in the near future as I don’t think my boss much likes how much I’ve been advocating on behalf of my trans students and especially on behalf of the student who got sexually assaulted. Especially since he knows someone reported him to HR (wasn’t actually me, but I’m the prime suspect because I’ve openly spoken up about disagreeing with his handling of the situation) and so is looking for retaliation.
Panel 4-5: A fair interpretation. After all, it is a moment between them and if Ruth was a shoe-in for returning to the job, it’s likely that the relationship would be heavily frowned upon…
That said, I imagine Chloe understands that relationships and feelings aren’t exactly things you can turn off in an instant and that removing a major coping strategy of someone who nearly committed suicide isn’t great. So it’s possible the solution that will be proposed will involve shuffling some folks around to remove the power dynamic and put Ruth under a much tighter leash.
Panel 6: But no matter the situation, I’m glad that Billie and Ruth can be fully out now as themselves in this relationship. Because that additional stress of a closet was not doing the recovery of either any favors. And I think that openness is going to give them a much better chance of rebooting healthier as a couple than it would be if Chloe had disapproved them into hiding again.
I dunno, I’m kind of rooting for these two to harvest something positive and healthy out of the wreckage of the codependent mess they had crafted previously.
Agreed. The past is ugly and the future is scary, but right here, right now they can have a beautiful relationship moment. And they have moved far away from their initial abusive dynamic.
I may be wrong, I often have been in predicting Willis’ narrative direction before, but I strongly suspect that Chloe is going to keep Ruth in the position and force her to take on some underlings or a co-RA to help handle the day to day stress of running of the floor while she gets herself back in order.
I’ve honestly been suspecting the same. Especially since everyone seems so certain that Ruth will be fired, but it would seem so counter to so many storylines to have her removed from the dorms.
FWIW, I first proposed a while back that Chloe and the other managers may choose to create a fictitious role for Ruth to keep her in the dorms and partially funded by the College whilst the actual RA duties fall on her ‘deputies’.
It might actually be interesting to see if Dorothy and Roz can work together as a team or if their incompatible personalities lead inevitably to conflict!
*Sympathy by light internet contact for panel 3 reaction* I’m sorry to hear that boss is still a) in his position b) trying to get at you. Also, as to the rest of this comic, it smells like Chloe’s pulling a little paperwork shuffle here. Either swapping Billie with someone in a different hall (unlikely due to storyline purposes), putting Ruth on some sort of probationary status, or giving this hall someone like say Sydney Yuss as the de jure RA while having Dorothy act as the de facto RA. I say this mainly because a) Dorothy, and Billie to an extent, have shown themselves capable of being RA material b) legally or by college policy Chloe might be required to have a sophmore or higher be RA and c) this hall has been able to keep itself together for about three or four days (I think) without an official, functional RA through a combination of great hallmate compatibility (sans Mary) and someone (aka Billie) keeping the only real troublemaker (Mary) in line.
I’m reading Ruth’s reaction to the summons differently.
She’s not dreading it. She’s already moved on to acceptance. Hell she was at acceptance before she got hospitalized, and then when she got meds and Chloe was visiting, and now when she’s back. She’s consistently at acceptance. This isn’t something she’s dreading, it’s just a step in chucking her old normal in the bin and moving on to find the new normal.
I read the book when new, then heard a few of the songs. And Judy Kuhn has been a favorite of mine since Chess. I gotta see this show and delve into the OCR.
The fact the status of their relationship isn’t even worth discussing is awesome to me, as we’re seeing that they will power through whatever happens. Together.
I strongly suspect that the unknown evil will take the form of two or three assistants who already reside on the floor to aid Ruth in her core RA duties with possibly one tasked with forcing her to take care of herself. No points for anyone guessing who I mean here.
Meeeeeehh…I know I’m being a paranoid asshole, but I’m not as enamored with the “let’s go make out in the hallway” conclusion to this strip. On the one hand, I’m all for Ruth and Billie getting to be open and affectionate whenever they want instead of having to hide it and add that stress to their lives. And getting time for “them” before whatever meeting they might face is something I desperately want for them.
On the other hand, and really, I KNOW I’m being paranoid, this also has a shadow of slipping back into their old habits of avoiding complications by focussing on physical distraction. Billie was going to say something emotional, they were going to openly and privately communicate for basically the first time since Ruth got sent away. That’s good! But, as soon as it got awkward, they dropped that and went for a physical “distraction.” That’s one way they avoided their problems before. And they’re going to do it in the middle of a hallway where Ruth just had to face some heavy disapproval from her residents, which could backfire. It’s a human response, certainly, I get why they’re doing it, I don’t mean to imply that they are bad people for wanting a distraction. It just…doesn’t seem like an entirely healthy decision.
I also realize this might just be a bit of the “tone” thing that I sometimes have problems with in DoA: a serious topic cut off or interrupted at the end of a strip by a quippy joke or banter. It can be a bit jarring.
Also entirely possible. I’m having the same trouble with this strip that I was having with some of the Robin strips: is this comic humor to break the dark mood? Self-aware sarcasm on the part of the characters? Neither, and we the audience should be detecting questionable choices behind what WOULD be humor in a different universe? The fluctuation in tone leaves just too many options.
If Ruth is not getting fired, it makes sense to reduce her stress. Move her to a different floor as RA. Swap other floor in to Ruth’s room. Billie now free to have open and non-power-dynamic relationship with Ruth by running upstairs.
Ruth gets someone responsible as assistant who will keep an eye on her emotional state. New RA or Dorothy is to keep an eye on Billie. All solved.
That’s a curious phrasing from Chloe: “We should have everyone by then”. I’m guessing that that includes the Dean but I’m also wondering if the investigation into the incident also merged into looking into Mary and Carla’s feud and how it impacted on Ruth personally.
Mary could quite possibly be in serious trouble if she has been determined to have a pattern of hateful and manipulative behaviour.
Everyone. Certainly legal. Also likely the RA she is switching with. Can’t see assistant RAs, since that isn’t a thing. Moving Billie to another floor would work, but Puddin didn’t ask for a meeting with Billie and has no real power to force her to move. Ruth is an employee. Puddin can set conditions on her remaining so. Moving to a fresh start on another floor is the condition.
You know, for a long time I was thinking that Willis was teasing or subverting almost every Walkyverse relationship. Walky-Joyce, Mike-Amber, Robin-Leslie, Billie-Danny, Danny-Joyce, Joe-Sarah, Jason-Sal…
But then I realized that these two goofballs hooked up in both ‘verses and it’s not just a fling and it’s not just a shiptease.
….. oh, and I think Walky-Dorothy was a backstory-thing in Walkyverse? Maybe?
Yeah; IIRC, Dorothy was Walky’s ex in the Walkyverse and was so obsessed with “the path not taken” that she ended up going postal (the Head Alien’s interference may or may not have been an aggravating factor). She attacked his wedding to Joyce and kidnapped him, trying to convince him to take her instead.
Both Ruth/Billie and Dorothy/Walky make sense as revisitations of previous relationships; they were both retroactive continuity inserts created well after events had moved on and made further development of them impossible. (Dorothy/Walky didn’t even happen in the main timeline; Walky just had a crush.) So in this universe they get a chance to be really explored.
Baseball players and felons both get “three strikes” before they’re out. And the phrase “Carry on” means to 1) continue doing what you had been engaged in before an interruption (as in the military; when an officer enters a room and the room is called to attention, the officer will usually give the order to “carry on”) or 2) to persevere in the face of adversity (as in “Keep Calm and Carry On”).
It may also mean to engage in monkeyshines, but I highly doubt that it is being used in that sense at this time… 🙂
So I’m calling it now. Ruth is in for a surprise; she will find that she still has her RA position, although she will be under closer scrutiny — a ‘supervised probation’, if you will — from Puddin’head Chloe or others from further up the chain of command within the Housing Office.
My guess? The Dean of Students definitely and possibly some other high-rankers in administration. However, I’m also expecting Dorothy and Roz and possibly Mary and Carla.
I think that Carla (to her horror), Dorothy and Roz are going to be appointed Ruth’s ‘deputies’. The official decision will be that Ruth’s breakdown was caused by ‘over-work’ and that she needs to give most of her responsibilities to her ‘deputies’; this arrangement to be reviewed at the end of the term based on whether Ruth has finished her out-patients alcohol rehab and depression treatment program.
Meanwhile, Mary will be told that she needs to make more of an effort to avoid confrontation in future. She will also be reminded that IU is an inclusive school and, even if she has a problem with someone’s lifestyle or biology that doesn’t affect school policy. Mary will realise that she’s just been told “Strike One” and will probably simmer down for a while (although she’ll doubtless be plotting an undetectable revenge).
Somehow, I suspect that we’re in for a bit of a surprise. I don’t think Ruth is going to actually lose her RA position.
Bear in mind, (Hey! That’s a grizzly thought!) how everyone in the dorm kind of came together and we’re concerned about her? She had made a MAJOR impact on the other students with her presence as well as her absence. Things did not go wild without her, primarily, BECAUSE of her!
Getting rid of someone with THAT much influence over the majority of the students of the dorm would be very short sighted, and more than a bit stupid. Of course, this IS a college bureaucracy, so they’ll likely not only, fire her, ban her from the college, but also arrest her for vagrancy! People running colleges can be both very unimaginative, as well as very short sighted.
Even if either is proposed, it seems very unlikely to happen. Either Mary says “uh, I appreciate that you thought of me, but no” or Billie does as threatened and reports that Mary blackmailed Ruth into the hospital, with the entire floor backing the story. Whatever might or might not happen to Mary in the wake of that, pretty sure it wouldn’t be assigning her to work with her blackmail victim to be RA for a floor that hates her.
They wouldn’t. It’s called “gallows humor” and is strictly a way to ease tension. Curling up together in private is both a viable, and likely, option. However, I’m betting on a little more social interaction from some of their friends, and I little more anti-social interaction from a couple of others.
I think the main reason is probably to celebrate the fact that they no longer have to hide their relationship anymore, now that Mary can’t blackmail therm, and (they assume) Ruth is already going to be fired.
Except Carla wouldn’t really mind that much. Especially because of how much Mary would hate it, but remember she was totally on board with “managing the courtship of cute two queer ladies” before she found out what else was going on.
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Bring a spoon. Pudding will be served.
In Indiana, Pudding serves you.
In the best way possible: cold.
With sprinkles.
So, is it rice pudding, or…?
Not sure 8 rounds of seven minutes in heaven can prepare her for that meeting. Hopefully everyone has a brain in their skull for once and simply makes sure she’s mentally sound before officially relieving her of her R.A duties and sending her back to her wing for some R&R.
Yahbut, it’s not Seven Minutes In Heaven.
They’re not in a closet.
Not anymore they’re not.
Also, it’s not a sure thing she’s being relieved, just probable.
Well of course not. There are no more closets. Becky nuked them.
Where’s The Spoon Theory, and go?
Dun dun dunnnn!
“So, when can you come back to work, Ruth?”
“What?”
“Next week too soon? I mean, I’d love you back now but…”
“What? But I broke all the rules!”
“We had a kidnapping attempt last week and a politician is presently squatting in our Women’s Studies professor’s home. This? This is nothing.”
“Ironically enough, even factoring all this in, you’re still our best RA.”
“But… how?!?”
“You really don’t want to know. Now if you excuse me I need to put out a fire on the third floor. No. A literal fire.”
“But not the one on the fifth floor. That’s now a load-bearing fire. I have no clue how but…. fucking crazy engineering students…”
Lemme see if I have this right. You’re talking about engineering students starting a fire, and doing something in the process to make it so that if the fire goes out, the building collapses? …HOW?
with SCIENCE!
I’m imagining it involved dares and jello shots.
…. and possibly an indoors hot-air baloon.
We’re talking about engineering -students-. How can this -not- happen?
“We also caught a Russian spy, had an outbreak of bubonic plague, caught one of the RAs selling weed to their charges, discovered a sweat shop of elves making fake Nike shoes, and had an English literature professor and a student duel each other with rapiers.”
“The fuck?”
“I’m honestly expecting someone to become the host to an alien hive mind or for a portal to hell to open up. I’m pretty sure this school is built on cursed land”
(from outside) “Holy shit! I think I just found a Native American burial site!”
“Why does everything happen here?”
“Well, actually, we’ve got an alien who looks like Dexter from that cartoon? Only he’s backwards? Anyhow he’s flying around on a giant tarantual-shaped flying mecha and demanding that we bring him half our freshman class so he can gloat and reveal their secrets.”
“Wut.”
“Yeah, he said something about mere continuity not being able to contain him. I think. He was cackling a lot.”
Is that a giant monkey climbing the tower?
… Not to mention that group two floors up that seems to have some kind of party going every night with those weird chants and the pig’s blood.
And who is this Cthulhu anyway?
“Oh, and then there’s Steve. We don’t talk about Steve.”
Don’t forget an on campus shooter? and a student going around pretending to be a superhero.
“Also, we have a squatting homeless girl in our rooms.”
“We can’t…”
“Which we’re allowing because she could sue us for poor security and not calling the cops earlier. Do whatever she asks. Frankly, we have free tuition and accomadations as a bribe to hush her up but she hasn’t asked for it yet. She’s just looming around us, hoping we’ll up the offer. Clever girl.”
Pretending?
Yes – but under the costume there’s another costume. It’s the ultimate disguise!
Worst thing to happen my first freshman semester at IUB was the 9/11 attacks.
Yeah, top that, suckers.
Make out right across from Mary’s room, so she can’t leave without facing her sins.
On roller-skates :p
She’ll have to jump through the window if she wants to out of her room.
Billy has power over Mary and a reason for revenge…I’m sure she will be completely mature about this.
Yes
My thoughts exactly, although they should bang on the door and wait until they have an audience before progressing. Make sure there’s plenty of tongue action and some light groping to really make Mary twitch. And be sure to block the doorway so she can’t get past them but can’t close the door on them either! She’d curl up like the Wicked Witch: “I’m melting!”
trying to remember if i ever wore overalls
If you haven’t, buy a pair that fits you well when you can. There have lots of pockets and they are good for when you have a project or don’t need to look dressy. They are easy to sneak layers under in the winter. If you have small hips and no ass (like one of my dad’s friends) you don’t have to worry about your belt failing or being uncomfortably tight. Being baggy they can be great for bloating (naturally or from big meals) or pregnancy as long as you are careful how you take them off. And let’s not forget that if you have boobs, the buckles will bring attention to them. They aren’t an everyday thing though (especially for people who aren’t use to straps on their shoulders), but they do come in handy.
Looks like someone’s in the pocket of Big Overall.
The one on the front, right?
Lol! I haven’t worn overalls in a few years because I got too big for the 2 I owned and never replaced them, but I loved them when I had them. When I was younger, I had a sweater with Mickey bending over and looking at you through his legs that I loved because when warn with my overalls, all you could see was his ass poking out of the top XD
I could never wear overalls. I’m a guy and I find them INCREDIBLY attractive on women. It would confuse my penis.
I too find women attractive in them, especially if they overall-shorts worn over leggings.
God yes.
Did you live in the 80s, or were you a girl in the 90s? Then yes.
Despite everything I’m glad they can finally be open with their relationsip. Making out in the hallway seems like a hour well spent to me.
Heh, it sounds like Chloe is setting up a parlor scene. “I first became aware of the mysterious events when I found a dick drawn on my door…”
At the very least, she is not gathering “everyone” in order to tell Ruth she is fired and have to go home. There will be an attempt at a solution. Maybe even a good one.
I imagine Ruth isn’t fired at all because Puddinghead seems to have a real love for her. I wonder if we’re going to find out, Days of Our Lives style, she was Ruth’s teenage mother.
Ruth’s parents are both dead.
Yeah, they died in a car crash with a drunk driver involved. It is possible Ruth’s parents adopted her, but that’s highly unlikely (and something I would be more likely to write. *shivers*). Chloe’s treating Ruth with respect because Ruth was still one of the most effectivd RAs in the school, and Chloe knows how screwed up Ruth’s life has been. So Chloe’s being friendly and giving Ruth some space, which is one of the better options in this case.
Okay but how SHITTY must the other RA’s be that Ruth is one of the best.
Like, I can’t think of any situation where the shit Ruth did would fly unless the other RA’s are like, starting cults or using students as furniture or shit.
Well, I mean, Chloe basically said that Ruth was the only RA who had her stuff together, and Ruth did once say that she does run an effective and quiet hall. As such, it could be concluded that Ruth, despite being authoritarian and not informing the college of her own abuses of power, is among the more competent of RAs, or at least the best at hiding all of her problems. The other RAs might be tame in comparison, but far more blatantly unstable and unreliable. Or using students as furniture, that too. 😛
The general assumption is that she’s best at hiding the problems. She said early on that she “ran a tight ship” and “they loved her upstairs”. The implication to me was always that even if she didn’t handle things the best way, to say the least, she kept them from bothering Chloe and the other administrators. Quite possibly the others are constantly hassling them for things they should be able to handle on their own. Our only other example is the boys wing – “Trek marathon’s on. Later.”
Ruth has done some good things: handling Blaine was above and beyond the call, for example.
I guess I’m just in disbelief, then. I remember all of *my* RA’s being… *significantly* better than Ruth. Like, doing all the shit she did and more.
I’m also… skeptical that nobody’s ever complained about her being a, to quote the cinematic masterwork, “HUUUGE BIITCH”.
Unless, sudden twist, she and her brother were actually adopted the entire time.
…
Naw that would be too soap opera esque. We’re already dangerously close to being a Tella Novella as it is.
“dangerously close”
“Dangerously Chloe”?
Well obviously Ruth THINKS her mother is dead.
She saw the truck with her own eyes.
yep, it was impressive how Puddinghead managed to survive.
You are aware that:
a. Ruth is Canadian
b. She and Chloe look almost nothing alike
c. Ruth was involved in the accident that killed her parents, why in the hell would they lie to her about her parents.
d. Dude, seriously.
PDA: Pudding Death Assembly.
Some pudding required,
Aww, that crooked little sort-of smile on Ruth in panel 1.
That was the first thing to draw my eye. I like it when Ruth is happy.
Grab your mattress, drag it into the hall, and stuff Marie inside of it so you can literally make out on top of her for an hour.
Marie is the bizarre forced fusion between Mary and Marcie.
What homeworld thinks of fusion indeed.
(I kid, I kid, but seriously, her name is Mary. XD)
Gah, now you’re making me picture what a forced-fusion of Mary and Marcie would even look like…
My work here is done. 🙂
*plays Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” on the hacked Muzak*
Disco Till You Die.
I love Ruth’s story truly and am enjoying seeing a realistic depiction of depression with a actual ray of hope at the end. However, I can’t help but feel like something was lost in the swerve into this topic as I was very interested in the follow up of the fact Ruth, despite her better qualities, was a vicious bully who scared as well as abused her position. Here, Puddinghead’s unwavering support of Ruth is nice for the depression storyline but utterly ignores the darker side of Ruth’s struggle. That she hurt people to make herself feel anything at all.
I suspect we’ll pick up that loose thread when they all talk about Ruth keeping her position or not.
If no-one complained about her being a bully, then they don’t know.
Meeting hasn’t happened yet.
Even when it does, Chloe may not know the whole thing – she knows Ruth slapped a sharpie dick on Mary’s face, but that could be played off as roughhousing – she’d need to hear the full extent of what Ruth did to know how bad it was, in a way she can’t ignore.
I’m sure Rachel would fill her in.
If Mary had complained about it then Ruth would have been asked about it before now. Mary didn’t complain about it because of Ruth’s confidence it wouldn’t matter.
Ruth already told Chloe she slapped someone – didn’t give a name, but Chloe knows it happened.
Did you recently change your avatar by adding facial hair or did this happen ages ago and I only just noticed.
He did it a bit after his twins were born IIRC
Huh?
The twins are well over a year old now.
The new avatar appeared this week.
Speaking of which, Mongoose, your avatar is looking a little different as well…
(I kid. I kid.)
I still change it, just not as often anymore.
I miss Willis’ old ‘thumbs-up’ avatar. That cheeky grin really went well with some of his angrier comments. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn’t his thumbs he wanted to hold up. 😉
Good to make the most of the minutes that you still have. Keep on loving, you two!
(oh god, nobody better be watching with a camera in hand, or watching at all. I hope Joyce’s Sermon-barrier(tm) works for an hour or so.)
Also, I’m still betting the new RA is Joyce.
I highly doubt that they’d appoint Joyce as the RA. She’s expressed no interest in the position, she’s demonstrated few leadership qualities that would make her stand out to most of the residents of the floor, she’s a freshman (it’d be unfair to put that much additional work on her, especially without her asking for it). Dorthy is the most responsible choice out of the people who want the job, although Roz might be more popular.
Calling it: new RA is Asma.
Prediction is that Ruth keeps her job, but gets Dorothy as an assistant RA.
Sappy reminder that she has people that care about her, and doesn’t have to face everything alone, etc.
That may actually be a good administrative decision with both playing to their strengths and no one person has to deal with all the drama that is constantly percolating here … percolating? ….. dang I need a coffee.
Giga pudding, giga pudding
Thanks DoA commenters for this lovely cultural lesson.
I see yer Japanese commercial and counter with: Her Divine Pudding
Vairyo, A O
A Hom Va Ya Ray
;D
Nice.
“Carry on,” sounds like approval to me. Go extremely public displays of affection! (Preferably right in front of Mary.)
I’m calling it. Chloe will make Billy RA. Just look at her track record.
– Did RA work while Ruth was out of commission
– Helped Ruth doing RA work while they were dating
– Did a lot to save Ruth from killing herself.
– Kept Mary at bay
– Tried to sort out the Roz/Dorothy situation
– Gave Becky her room
– Has done a lot to keep Joyce stable.
IF Ruth was right before, and Chloe is willing to have pragmatic solutions rather than by-the-book-solutions, then Billie would be a good fit… if Chloe herself keeps an eye on Billie’s alcoholism.
I second.
Replacing an alcoholic, depressed and suicidal RA with an equally alcoholic, slightly less depressed, slightly less suicidal RA who hasn’t asked for the job, has shown no sighs of responsibility, and would probably decline the job out of a concern for Ruth (who might feel bad about Billie getting the job)… the idea is absolutely absurd, almost as much so as a republican congresswoman squatting in the house of a lesbian gender studies professor during a campaign.
So, in other words, perfectly logical within this comic’s universe?
Note: I cannot read sarcasm or irony without some form of sequential aid.
That would be cool, wouldn’t Billy have to apply first though?
I’ve said before that Billie would be an awesome RA, and that the position would be good for her.
But I don’t think Chloe’s on the ball enough to know one tenth of that.
That wouldn’t resolve the conflict of interest problem, though. Either one of them has to move to another floor or neither of them can be the RA. (They could also end their relationship, but that’s not enforceable and the school can’t ask that.)
Haven’t you heard? Conflicts of interest aren’t a problem any more! Nobody in politics cares (as long as they’re in your party)!
I don’t know if it would happen.
However, it would give Billie a social ladder to climb, which she’s been in search of since being disqualified as an IU cheerleader. (I’m not saying that would factor into Chloe’s decision. Just that it would be a facet of the outcome.)
Puddin isn’t inviting Billie down for a meeting. It’s going to be binary. Ruth is fired or not (probably under some kind of probation).
They should arrive at her office naked and glowing with post coital bliss. That would make it super awkward when she announces the decision was for Ruth to keep her job.
Go Leafs!
For a moment I was afraid that “everyone” might include ‘sir’, as he’s Ruth’s family support, except that he’s abusive. But, iirc, sir is not allowed on campus. He’s not gonna be there, right?
I wouldn’t see any reason for him to be called given that Ruth is a legal adult. So, it’s probably just going to be Chloe and the “forces downstairs”.
Willis has written two physically-abusive patriarchs, who both arrived without warning, so that’s why it occurred to me. But you’re right, plus I hope the school would be more sensitive than that, plus don’t think Willis would like “surprise! abusive patriarch” to be his style.
I would like to continue not meeting sir.
Abusive Patriarchs are the worst surprise party ever.
Yeah, there’s just nothing quite like having your emotionally abusive father with undiagnosed mental issues who’s been out of your life for two years more or less forcing your mother to start the divorce process because of feet dragging on his end crashing your high school graduation celebration.
…
Sorry, I was projecting a bit there.
Or changing his email address so he can avoid the block you put on his email address to beg you to consider reparative therapy again and throw slurs at you…
… which sure would be bad of “sir” to do, yes… Ok, yeah, projecting too.
Also *appropriate gesture of support* for that shitty HS graduation “surprise”. Worries about abusive family members “crashing” is why I’m not publicizing any information on where or when my wedding will be and only telling people I trust never to post it publicly on their facebooks.
*reciprocal gesture of support* I hope the wedding goes well for you and your fiancé. Also, I hope preparations for it aren’t stressing either of you out two much.
It’s Blaine that’s not allowed on campus. “Sir” was Ruth’s caretaker in Canada.
Ruth heavily implied her grandfather is not allowed on campus.
When was that? (Not doubting, just curious)
When she was confronting Blaine, she said ‘I don’t care [that Blaine is her father]. If you’re not on the [approved family member] list, you’re not allowed in the building. Believe me, just being related doesn’t earn you anything.”
The ‘believe me’ part implies that she has personal experience with this, and the only relative we know of for that is Sir. Howard is clearly allowed in the building.
Don’t think this means Sir is not allowed on campus. If there was a restraining order, she would’ve reacted differently when he called.
I don’t think there’s a restraining order, just that he’s not allowed on campus. All that takes is him making an ass of himself.
Also, emotional abuse is fully capable of knocking fear into folks even if you can’t legally be near them. That’s why they often come with ‘do not contact’ clauses.
It could also be a “believe me, because I’ve dealt with/seen student housing deal with this sort of things before” because this isn’t her first year as an RA. Or a “believe me, this has blocked entry even for people who a resident wanted to come, so you sure as hell aren’t getting pass” (like, say, if her controlling, abusive grandfather demanded veto power over what relatives she put on her approved family member list – even though that wouldn’t necessarily prevent them from meeting her elsewhere)
And even if she were vaguely referring to her grandfather, in that case, it was about relatives not being automatically entitled to come into the dorm. You don’t have to be on an approved family list to be on the campus in general.
She seemed pretty personally invested in it, which is why I think it refers to her grandfather. And while she only said he wouldn’t be allowed in the building, Chloe is asking to meet in the building, so he definitely wouldn’t be allowed in.
Unlikely, since Ruth and Howard moved to the US after their parents died to live with their grandfather, so presumably he was their caretaker in the US.
Oops, I forgot that detail.
Most universities have privacy policies limited what they can share regarding the students, which apply even to parents unless the student is a legal minor.
And so the world passes.
:3
Yeah, Chloe’s “carry on” made me think of this song, for some reason.
Same here…
Made me think of this one, actually. (Warning, depressing)
Huh, it made me think of that song by fun.
I’m assuming ‘everyone’ will include the girl Billie is switching room assignments with and her new roommate as she moves to another floor not under Ruth’s purview, thus allowing Ruth and Billie’s relationship to continue without conflict of interest.
I mean, there’s no need to gather ‘everyone’ to tell Ruth she’s canned. If Ruth were straight-up canned, everything that happens after as far as new RA is largely none of her business. Chloe could just tell her she’s canned, tell her how long she has to clear out, then separately go meet with everyone else as regards the next step.
I’m pretty sure “Everyone” here is whoever it is that actually gets to decide if Ruth is fired. Chloe said earlier that it wasn’t only up to her.
That’d be Chloe’s bosses. Unlikely that they’d meet Ruth face-to-face. Possible, certainly, if they haven’t made up their minds yet, but the more likely case is that Chloe gave them a report, and they gave Chloe a directive to carry out.
Soon, all the preparations will be complete, and Chloe will be ready to perform the dark ritual that will summon forth Ruth’s replacement. If Ruth is able to slay her in single combat, she gets to stay on as RA.
Oh, ominous obscuring followed by making out. My kind of strip.
So…that “carry on” definitely gives them carte blanche for the hallway makeouts, right?
I’m actually curious what Billie was going to say.
Also, Ruth’s eyebrow and crooked smile in that panel is “totes adorbs”.
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: 😀 All the happiness for this panel. Cause, yeah, this is partially what I wanted to see happening. Billie speaking up about what she wants on an equal footing to Ruth even if it’s just a brief respite from the impending chaos they are all facing to disappear into a moment of certainty and comfort.
And it’s also just a beautiful moment. Ruth being able to smile back at her as Billie leans her head on her shoulder. The tender request. The subtle Fun Home Musical reference.
It’s… genuinely sweet in a way that the Ruth/Billie dynamic has not really had the space to be that reliably owing to both of their mental illnesses.
Panel 2: And moment ruined.
Panel 3: Oof, the call in by the bosses. Never fun. Especially with the uncertainty of what exactly you’re going to be dealing with in the meeting and knowing it is likely going to be bad.
Great for anxiety too. I’ve had plenty of these in the past and I’m sure I’ll be getting some more in the near future as I don’t think my boss much likes how much I’ve been advocating on behalf of my trans students and especially on behalf of the student who got sexually assaulted. Especially since he knows someone reported him to HR (wasn’t actually me, but I’m the prime suspect because I’ve openly spoken up about disagreeing with his handling of the situation) and so is looking for retaliation.
Panel 4-5: A fair interpretation. After all, it is a moment between them and if Ruth was a shoe-in for returning to the job, it’s likely that the relationship would be heavily frowned upon…
That said, I imagine Chloe understands that relationships and feelings aren’t exactly things you can turn off in an instant and that removing a major coping strategy of someone who nearly committed suicide isn’t great. So it’s possible the solution that will be proposed will involve shuffling some folks around to remove the power dynamic and put Ruth under a much tighter leash.
Panel 6: But no matter the situation, I’m glad that Billie and Ruth can be fully out now as themselves in this relationship. Because that additional stress of a closet was not doing the recovery of either any favors. And I think that openness is going to give them a much better chance of rebooting healthier as a couple than it would be if Chloe had disapproved them into hiding again.
I dunno, I’m kind of rooting for these two to harvest something positive and healthy out of the wreckage of the codependent mess they had crafted previously.
Agreed. The past is ugly and the future is scary, but right here, right now they can have a beautiful relationship moment. And they have moved far away from their initial abusive dynamic.
I may be wrong, I often have been in predicting Willis’ narrative direction before, but I strongly suspect that Chloe is going to keep Ruth in the position and force her to take on some underlings or a co-RA to help handle the day to day stress of running of the floor while she gets herself back in order.
I’ve honestly been suspecting the same. Especially since everyone seems so certain that Ruth will be fired, but it would seem so counter to so many storylines to have her removed from the dorms.
FWIW, I first proposed a while back that Chloe and the other managers may choose to create a fictitious role for Ruth to keep her in the dorms and partially funded by the College whilst the actual RA duties fall on her ‘deputies’.
It might actually be interesting to see if Dorothy and Roz can work together as a team or if their incompatible personalities lead inevitably to conflict!
I feel a sitcom starting!
*Sympathy by light internet contact for panel 3 reaction* I’m sorry to hear that boss is still a) in his position b) trying to get at you. Also, as to the rest of this comic, it smells like Chloe’s pulling a little paperwork shuffle here. Either swapping Billie with someone in a different hall (unlikely due to storyline purposes), putting Ruth on some sort of probationary status, or giving this hall someone like say Sydney Yuss as the de jure RA while having Dorothy act as the de facto RA. I say this mainly because a) Dorothy, and Billie to an extent, have shown themselves capable of being RA material b) legally or by college policy Chloe might be required to have a sophmore or higher be RA and c) this hall has been able to keep itself together for about three or four days (I think) without an official, functional RA through a combination of great hallmate compatibility (sans Mary) and someone (aka Billie) keeping the only real troublemaker (Mary) in line.
I’m reading Ruth’s reaction to the summons differently.
She’s not dreading it. She’s already moved on to acceptance. Hell she was at acceptance before she got hospitalized, and then when she got meds and Chloe was visiting, and now when she’s back. She’s consistently at acceptance. This isn’t something she’s dreading, it’s just a step in chucking her old normal in the bin and moving on to find the new normal.
“The subtle Fun Home Musical reference.”
I read the book when new, then heard a few of the songs. And Judy Kuhn has been a favorite of mine since Chess. I gotta see this show and delve into the OCR.
It’s totally worth seeing live if you get a chance!
The fact the status of their relationship isn’t even worth discussing is awesome to me, as we’re seeing that they will power through whatever happens. Together.
So we’re about to meet our ‘unknown evil”….
I strongly suspect that the unknown evil will take the form of two or three assistants who already reside on the floor to aid Ruth in her core RA duties with possibly one tasked with forcing her to take care of herself. No points for anyone guessing who I mean here.
What’s a PDA in this context?
Public Display of Affection.
Although now that I think about it, I’m not sure if “public” really fits in this case, since it happened inside Ruth’s room in the dorm…
With the door open, it’s still public. Remember, a naked person behind an unobstructed window can still end in a public indecency charge.
Public display of affection
Meeeeeehh…I know I’m being a paranoid asshole, but I’m not as enamored with the “let’s go make out in the hallway” conclusion to this strip. On the one hand, I’m all for Ruth and Billie getting to be open and affectionate whenever they want instead of having to hide it and add that stress to their lives. And getting time for “them” before whatever meeting they might face is something I desperately want for them.
On the other hand, and really, I KNOW I’m being paranoid, this also has a shadow of slipping back into their old habits of avoiding complications by focussing on physical distraction. Billie was going to say something emotional, they were going to openly and privately communicate for basically the first time since Ruth got sent away. That’s good! But, as soon as it got awkward, they dropped that and went for a physical “distraction.” That’s one way they avoided their problems before. And they’re going to do it in the middle of a hallway where Ruth just had to face some heavy disapproval from her residents, which could backfire. It’s a human response, certainly, I get why they’re doing it, I don’t mean to imply that they are bad people for wanting a distraction. It just…doesn’t seem like an entirely healthy decision.
I also realize this might just be a bit of the “tone” thing that I sometimes have problems with in DoA: a serious topic cut off or interrupted at the end of a strip by a quippy joke or banter. It can be a bit jarring.
This may be me but I interpreted that last panel as Ruth and Billie being sarcastic to each other as a way of coping with what is about to happen.
Same here.
Also entirely possible. I’m having the same trouble with this strip that I was having with some of the Robin strips: is this comic humor to break the dark mood? Self-aware sarcasm on the part of the characters? Neither, and we the audience should be detecting questionable choices behind what WOULD be humor in a different universe? The fluctuation in tone leaves just too many options.
so uh there’s no way Ruth’s getting fired is there
like
the dramatic irony speaks against it
If Ruth is not getting fired, it makes sense to reduce her stress. Move her to a different floor as RA. Swap other floor in to Ruth’s room. Billie now free to have open and non-power-dynamic relationship with Ruth by running upstairs.
Ruth gets someone responsible as assistant who will keep an eye on her emotional state. New RA or Dorothy is to keep an eye on Billie. All solved.
Hopefully not this sort of pudding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-3u32P3a7o
That’s a curious phrasing from Chloe: “We should have everyone by then”. I’m guessing that that includes the Dean but I’m also wondering if the investigation into the incident also merged into looking into Mary and Carla’s feud and how it impacted on Ruth personally.
Mary could quite possibly be in serious trouble if she has been determined to have a pattern of hateful and manipulative behaviour.
That, or they decided that the final test is to see whether Dorothy and Roz can best Ruth in the ring of whatever-martial-arts-Ruth-does.
Six femurs enter, two femurs leave.
Or her replacement: Sydney Yus.
Everyone. Certainly legal. Also likely the RA she is switching with. Can’t see assistant RAs, since that isn’t a thing. Moving Billie to another floor would work, but Puddin didn’t ask for a meeting with Billie and has no real power to force her to move. Ruth is an employee. Puddin can set conditions on her remaining so. Moving to a fresh start on another floor is the condition.
You know, for a long time I was thinking that Willis was teasing or subverting almost every Walkyverse relationship. Walky-Joyce, Mike-Amber, Robin-Leslie, Billie-Danny, Danny-Joyce, Joe-Sarah, Jason-Sal…
But then I realized that these two goofballs hooked up in both ‘verses and it’s not just a fling and it’s not just a shiptease.
….. oh, and I think Walky-Dorothy was a backstory-thing in Walkyverse? Maybe?
Yeah; IIRC, Dorothy was Walky’s ex in the Walkyverse and was so obsessed with “the path not taken” that she ended up going postal (the Head Alien’s interference may or may not have been an aggravating factor). She attacked his wedding to Joyce and kidnapped him, trying to convince him to take her instead.
Both Ruth/Billie and Dorothy/Walky make sense as revisitations of previous relationships; they were both retroactive continuity inserts created well after events had moved on and made further development of them impossible. (Dorothy/Walky didn’t even happen in the main timeline; Walky just had a crush.) So in this universe they get a chance to be really explored.
Baseball players and felons both get “three strikes” before they’re out. And the phrase “Carry on” means to 1) continue doing what you had been engaged in before an interruption (as in the military; when an officer enters a room and the room is called to attention, the officer will usually give the order to “carry on”) or 2) to persevere in the face of adversity (as in “Keep Calm and Carry On”).
It may also mean to engage in monkeyshines, but I highly doubt that it is being used in that sense at this time… 🙂
So I’m calling it now. Ruth is in for a surprise; she will find that she still has her RA position, although she will be under closer scrutiny — a ‘supervised probation’, if you will — from
Puddin’headChloe or others from further up the chain of command within the Housing Office.Everyone? Wonder who else will be attending the meeting.
My guess? The Dean of Students definitely and possibly some other high-rankers in administration. However, I’m also expecting Dorothy and Roz and possibly Mary and Carla.
I think that Carla (to her horror), Dorothy and Roz are going to be appointed Ruth’s ‘deputies’. The official decision will be that Ruth’s breakdown was caused by ‘over-work’ and that she needs to give most of her responsibilities to her ‘deputies’; this arrangement to be reviewed at the end of the term based on whether Ruth has finished her out-patients alcohol rehab and depression treatment program.
Meanwhile, Mary will be told that she needs to make more of an effort to avoid confrontation in future. She will also be reminded that IU is an inclusive school and, even if she has a problem with someone’s lifestyle or biology that doesn’t affect school policy. Mary will realise that she’s just been told “Strike One” and will probably simmer down for a while (although she’ll doubtless be plotting an undetectable revenge).
Somehow, I suspect that we’re in for a bit of a surprise. I don’t think Ruth is going to actually lose her RA position.
Bear in mind, (Hey! That’s a grizzly thought!) how everyone in the dorm kind of came together and we’re concerned about her? She had made a MAJOR impact on the other students with her presence as well as her absence. Things did not go wild without her, primarily, BECAUSE of her!
Getting rid of someone with THAT much influence over the majority of the students of the dorm would be very short sighted, and more than a bit stupid. Of course, this IS a college bureaucracy, so they’ll likely not only, fire her, ban her from the college, but also arrest her for vagrancy! People running colleges can be both very unimaginative, as well as very short sighted.
It seems clear enough that Ruth keeps the job. My guess is that it will be with Mary appointed as a deputy. This is a drama strip, after all.
What if it’s the other way around?
Even if either is proposed, it seems very unlikely to happen. Either Mary says “uh, I appreciate that you thought of me, but no” or Billie does as threatened and reports that Mary blackmailed Ruth into the hospital, with the entire floor backing the story. Whatever might or might not happen to Mary in the wake of that, pretty sure it wouldn’t be assigning her to work with her blackmail victim to be RA for a floor that hates her.
Making out in the hallway could be a positive move. If they sold tickets, they could make enough off of the boys to pay for at least a semester.
but is it worth the water bill?
She’s keeping the job.
I’m calling it right now.
Why does this woman’s hair like one of those fancy ice cream lollies.
*look like
1) Any couple making out in the hallway, especially on purpose instead of spontaneously, is just really inappropriate.
2) Unless those two are exhibitionists, why on Earth would they want to do that?
to clarify, not against disney-style kissing or even a quick surreptitious butt squeeze in public, but tongue is too far
They wouldn’t. It’s called “gallows humor” and is strictly a way to ease tension. Curling up together in private is both a viable, and likely, option. However, I’m betting on a little more social interaction from some of their friends, and I little more anti-social interaction from a couple of others.
I think the main reason is probably to celebrate the fact that they no longer have to hide their relationship anymore, now that Mary can’t blackmail therm, and (they assume) Ruth is already going to be fired.
Spiting Mary might be another reason.
and, on a darker note, spiting the sex-repulsed asexual who outed them loudly to everyone
by which i mean Carla
Except Carla wouldn’t really mind that much. Especially because of how much Mary would hate it, but remember she was totally on board with “managing the courtship of cute two queer ladies” before she found out what else was going on.
i was thinking more of them exploiting the “fluids are gross” angle like she was in Shortpacked, but you make a good point, FC
what’s the point of spiting her? she’s already full of spite 90% of the time
Why is “everyone” stressed? Are Roz and Dorothy going to be waiting as well?
O.o I just caught up, and this is greets me?!