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Well basically it replaces “b****” because it was being used a lot in the comments for one strip so Willis changed all instances of the word to “bongo”.
I wonder how they hooked up? Raidah’s likely not done with repeatedly running Sarah over with the shame train. The question is…..Did Raidah know who would be there, and insisted on joining Jacob instead of being asked to come along?
Hopefully Sarah will wait for someone else to bring up the ‘invitation only’ rule, and not get involved if they don’t. I doubt it, but hopefully…
Cock blocking? I don’t think that’s quite the right word if you’re talking about Roz or Sarah.
Although I’ll concede that the utterly implausible threesome between Sarah, Raidah, and Jacob would give the Mike+Amber slipshine a run for being the Most Epic of Hatefucks.
Don’t think it originated there, variations of it have been around a long time now. I can remember being jokingly called a “box tease” before the internet was even a thing.
I find that part harder to believe than the room size. Never lived in a dorm that couldn’t jam in 8-10 people, and that was without those spiffy loft beds. The mattresses, though – ye gods, some of those were tiny.
Because no one their age in this country is capable of spatial awareness anymore and they only realize how cramped it is in there every time they awkwardly bump into each other, before they forget again, until the next awkward bumping?
I don’t know, the South Koreans seem pretty focused on getting in the zone (game wise), while North Korea seems led by someone who plays with some interesting toys they really shouldn’t…
Sarah is making pretty damn sure her scholarship doesn’t fall apart, so she’d be in the zone studying, while Raidah’s social group was led by someone who started using her bong a bit too much, not that it’s legal…
Great job Jacob. You’ve taken a party that otherwise could not possibly have been anything but a model of healthy social interaction between young adults and turned it awkward.
Well Raidah lives somewhere in the building if I remember correctly. And while she’s a different year than Jacob, she’s also pre-Law. So if Jacob has classes with Sarah; it’s not too unlikely that he would also have classes with Raidah as well.
Yeah, I was kinda surprised since she was pretty careful about mentioning it to most of the guests. Maybe Amber being there in the room when she wasn’t expecting it threw her off?
Is it just me? I feel it’s extremely rude to invite anyone to someone else’s party without asking their approval first. If I was throwing a party (hahaha yeah right) I would totally freak out if the guests weren’t precisely the ones I’d invited or whose presence I had approved after being asked.
I would never assume an invite excluded a date (or spouse) unless that was stated explicitly. It’s really rude to expect people to come to a party single – even more so if (as Joyce was doing) you’re playing matchmaker.
That said, it’s polite to tell your host who your +1 is just to make sure there’s no personality clash. I bet Jacob has really put his foot in it here – not only did he not tell Joyce he was bringing a date, he probably didn’t tell Raidah they were going to Sarah’s room.
I’d always assume I should ask the host first if it’s okay to invite someone else, so they can prepare (snacks, drinks etc) accordingly.
Plus, this is a dorm party we’re talking about, which means limited space, which means only so many people can attend, which means if everyone brings a date you’re not even gonna be able to breathe.
Maybe I’m just too used to attending parties that could barely qualify as parties and are really just small gatherings of less than 10 people where just one or two extra people make a big difference. Or maybe it’s because of my social anxiety making it necessary for me to prepare for an exact number of people and I’ll freak out if there’s more.
YMMV, of course. I do find that the odds of people actually showing up when they can’t bring a date drops off badly, and if you’re talking about married couples they’re almost always a package deal. Unless you’re unattached, parties are one of those things you do with your SO for most of the folks I know.
My dorm parties always wound up with a pool of people drifting between multiple rooms anyway. The crowding balanced out naturally, and there were always some folks who’d leave early or come late. With a more formal party, RSVPs are more of a requirement, of course.
Well of course if I’m inviting someone who I know is in a couple I’d formally invite their partner as well. Sorry if it seemed otherwise, I didn’t mention it before because it seemed obvious to me. ^^”
Ooh yeah that makes sense. I never stayed at a dorm so that didn’t occur to me, haha.
Also, this party was fairly short notice, so there wasn’t a whole lot of time for date vetting or anything. Becky didn’t even know some of the people she was inviting, so it makes it tough for her to vet a date.
Still, this is clearly Becky’s fault – more fuel for the Becky hate-flames.
I’m in the “don’t assume you can bring an extra” camp. But maybe my group of friends is a bit different in that we are fine with doing things independently from our significant others.
Honestly, I find the implication of having to bring a date or SO who wasn’t invited really rude. It’s like they’re saying “I’m sorry, I don’t like or want to talk to any of you people, so I had to bring my own little entourage to entertain me. I’m here to eat your food, drink your drinks, talk to my SO and then leave.”
Granted, I know some people have a lot of social anxiety in going places alone, but the types of parties I throw aren’t big ones with lots of people who don’t know each other well, they are little ones (normally dinner parties) with people specifically selected who either know each other very well or I’m deliberately trying to introduce people who I believe will get along really well (and so far I’ve been right).
I can understand that usually invites will tell you if you can or can not bring a date. I find it a bit rude not to make sure that it’s okay because you are inviting someone else into the personal space of someone else.
But what gets me is that Raidah actually came with him. Wouldn’t the invite to this date involve Jacob telling Raidah that they are going to the dorm party of Joyce? I’m assuming that Raidah remembers that Joyce is Sarah’s roomy. If I’m reading things right things my not still be fully rocky between them but it isn’t smooth either. I hope that Becky’s situation is exposed and they start butting heads over the issue just because of the past and not what is the best thing to do.
I can understand Raidah, she only met Joyce once and the subject of who her roommate was didn’t come up. JACOB knows though, pretty sure he brought a girl just to spite Sarah.
Does Jacob know about Sarah’s history with Raidah? We’ve never seen them discuss it. Actually most of the discussion between Jacob and Sarah has involved Joyce stories. Sarah really didn’t seem to want to open up and discuss other things. I kinda of doubt that she told Jacob about her old friends. She didn’t tell Joyce until the day at the mall after it had exploded into conflict.
(Looks at Jen’s comment that I can’t reply to). Oh, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how someone would get that interpretation. I don’t hold it though, because I’m not entirely sure if Jacob was ever romantically interested in Sarah. (He seemed to want to be friends more than anything else). Or if he knew that Sarah wanted to do him. (I could see him bringing a date as a way of telling Roz that he’s definitely not interested, but I don’t think Jacob even saw the guest list).
I’ve hosted a lot of parties, and which it is varies. Sometimes, I’d call a friend and say “bring everyone you can see” (which ended up with double the number of people I expected arriving, and about a third of the party being lesbians. Good party though!), sometimes it was just the invited, and sometimes I would have to make up an excuse to kick out a creepy person who was utterly unwelcome while still being kind of polite.
At my college there werent all these complicated social dynamics to worry about: we used to say that a party was 3 guys & a joint OR a 6 pack (depending on your preference in refreshments). Good times….
I was gonna bring my other girlfriend, Dana, but she was busy. Smokin’ weed with her new girlfriend Kaitlin. They’re hanging out at a party at Faz’s house, you see.
I don’t know if you’re joking, MeghanTheWorldEater, or if you are not of the age group that is excessively familiar with the song because they played it (and many other songs by Limp Bizkit) all the damn time on the radio (we couldn’t escape it) and then Fred Durst started doing all kinds of douchey things in the press and became pretty universally hated.
See, when George Michael sang that song, it was actually good. Damn kids and their new-fangled screaming claiming to be music and ruining all the good old songs…
The blimp that was my happiness was rising. Then I saw this Raidah dame, and it slowly fell back down.
(As a sode note, I dunno who this Raidah girl is. This is my first Willis comic ever, so yeah, if someone could fill me in? From the look on her face, she doesn’t seem to be a Raidah die kinda girl. Get it? Cause it sounds… like ride or….. nevermind, I don’t even know if that joke made any sense, I just really wanted to use it…)
Wait she had a name? I remember reading that page, but I never knew about the character tags, and if her name was msntioned before, I sure as heck didn’t remember it. Thanks to you and the others who helped clear that up.
Dude. First panel of the strip immediately after the one I linked. XD But I guess sometimes names don’t really register if the character doesn’t appear often enough haha.
Raidah isn’t in the other universe from what I remember. In this universe, she’s a friend of Sarah’s old roommate Dana, and was briefly a friend of Sarah. This lasted until Sarah helped facilitate Dana’s withdrawal from school, and Raidah is convinced that Sarah betrayed Dana simply to remove a distraction. Now Raidah and her friends bully Sarah because of this. (Raidah also briefly conversed with Joyce before Sarah showed up and punched her in the face).
Or maybe we just never saw her Walkyverse counterpart, as she just mever crossed paths with anyone important. You know, like the Fans characters’ counterparts, whom we only really saw to illustrate that in the Walkyverse they’re just normal, boring people.
When the author says ‘Raidah has no Walkyverse counterpart’ it’s pretty clear that there is no Walkyverse Raidah. Not ‘never crossed paths’ but ‘is not’.
Whenever people correct Willis on his own writing, it reminds me of the story about how Ray Bradbury walked out of a class at UCLA because they told him he misinterpreted what Fahrenheit 451 (his own book) was about.
There’s a school of thought among the loonier parts of fandom that authors don’t create anything, they’re merely interpreting dimly perceived alternate realties that they’re in tune with as fiction in our universe. Really pretty insulting in a lot of ways, but it has produced some amusing fanfiction over the years. Very easy to do silly meta tuff with the idea.
Just in case it’s going to be confirmed or denied in the next strip, I’ll lay my crazy Raidah theories while there’s still time to prove I was assuming these before they were revealed/disproven:
!- Dana was the only regular pot-smoker amongst her friends. She didn’t light up around them.
@ – Raidah was the one who pressed Dana to invite Sarah into their circle.
# – Part of Dana’s unrelenting pot-fueled depression was guilt over not ‘getting better’ yet, like Raidah insisted she was.
$ – ‘Raidah’ is actually a persona made by combined efforts of a pair of identical twins who wanted to reinvent themselves for college. The First one is the git who makes exaggerated dismay faces, is the more impulsive and hysterical of the two, and has made the majority of appearances as Raidah. The Other one is more level-headed and more lawyer-y. Fancies herself as her sister’s guardian angel (Hysteria Raidah being the one with the plan. Lawyer Raidah being the brains.) Her first appearance as Raidah being in the strip where she said “I accept your apology.” To Sarah. This strip, who knows?
She is essentially Sarahs arch-enemy. Being a girl who started picking on Sarah after she got her friend Dana get kicked out of the school for doing drugs. Dana was depressed and was going to end up killing herself, but only Sarah was able to see how bad things had gotten (they were roommates). I hope this makes sense.
Dana wasn’t kicked out of the college. She was pulled out after Sarah informed Dana’s father about her increased drug dependence and worsening emotional state.
If Sarah hasn’t changed rooms from last year, Raidah was probably thinking “Wait, this hall is familiar. Wasn’t that the bongo Sarah’s room last year. Well, if there’s a party there, it can’t be hers…”
Echoes of Gen. McAuliffe at the siege of Bastogne. Americans thoughtc that that was hilarious in 1944. Watch the movie Patton: Patton/George C Scott throws his head back and laughs when hes told that “aw, nuts” was McAuliffes answer to a German surrender demand.
I wonder if Willis laughed at all our speculations of how the drama would happen. I mean, we all knew it was coming, and some even thought Raidah might show up somehow, but like this? Who’d have guessed XD
DAMN I know I saw someone guess Raidah. Who was it? Who? I remember seeing that and going pshhh whatever like THAT would happen. And then it fucking did.
Well to be fair the person / people who guessed Raidah would make an appearance seemed to think it would probably be from Joyce inviting Raidah directly. Which seemed pretty unlikely. XD
I’m guessing she’s giving the stink eye to Sarah right now. But yes, somebody better check if Mike is still alive because she is channeling his spirit right now.
This I agree with. I can see assuming that dates are welcome, and Becky didn’t tell him it was a curated party, but if you’re going to ask at all, do it beforehand.
I have the image of some person in a horror movie running into a room and locking the door behind them, only to discover the monster is now in the room with them. Except in this case the monster is some embodiment of drama.
I’ve noticed people commenting on if it’s okay to bring guests to a party! Where I was raised, it’s usually expected. Typically, you plan as if everyone is going to have a date.
However, I had a friend from Japan who told me that in his culture, it is unacceptable to bring a guest to a party without the host giving the okay. Doesn’t matter what the get together is, you have to ask.
So I think people’s opinion on Raidah coming is just based on how we were raised. Though I will say that it is always politer to ask ahead of time.
Poor Jacob. He has no idea what he’s just done…I think he brought a date to make Sarah jealous…but he didn’t realize just what he’s done! Or maybe this is a genuine date, and he’s just being an accidental douche.
I dunno. I think Jacob just sort of stopped making an effort to talk to Sarah. He didn’t seem to think they were more than friends, and she was making it hard for him to get to really know her. I mean, what we know about Sarah is different than what Jacob knows about Sarah. And, to be fair, Sarah has come off as an extremely unpleasant person to him. She’s brushed him off multiple times when he simply wanted to start a conversation, and when she finally spoke, it was basically just her disparaging Joyce. To be blunt, Sarah, from Jacob’s point of view, probably doesn’t even come off as interesting, since the only conversation she made with him was gossip. And he was probably just going along with it in order to make conversation. People have a low opinion of those who talk badly about others in a casual manner such as the way Sarah did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jacob got a bad impression of her from their previous interactions.
It’s also most likely that Jacob didn’t know Sarah and Raidah’s situation, and he and Raidah got to know each other some other way. It could also be that they both somewhat knew they didn’t like Sarah, and their experiences with her reflect similar interpretations of the situations.
Jacob may well have a negative impression of Sarah now, but he’s made it pretty clear that he was interested in her (not necessarily romantically, but as a person), and was going out of his way to try to be friends with her. But I agree with you that he’s probably not bringing Raidah to make her jealous, although characters have surprised me before. (If he knows Raidah doesn’t like Sarah, and brought her anyway, my opinion of him will drop, but I suspect he didn’t know.)
I was kind of surprised at how many people thought it was unacceptable to bring a date uninvited, but I guess it’s different everywhere. I do think it would be polite to ask, but this party was thrown together super last minute, so Radiah was probably invited even more super last minute on a whim.
I don’t think an attempt to make Sarah jealous is completely out of the question, but… do we really have any reason to think so? There hasn’t been any indication that Jacob has considered Sarah as more than (possibly) a friend.
I mean, it was really weird when Joyce randomly decided they were soulmates. Let’s not take her example.
Jacob’s decision to bring a date aside, why is Raidah here? Did she know who was hosting the party, and just came by to rub it in Sarah’s face, or did she legitimately not know where she was going?
It’s pretty likely she didn’t realize this would be Sarah’s room. Jacob may have told her Joyce is hosting the party, but Raidah has only met Joyce once. And Jacob probably wouldn’t have brought up it was Sarah’s room too because he has no idea about the history between Sarah and Raidah.
This is actually a situation that Mary can’t really make worse. Nobody wants her to stay so they would just tell her to leave and she can’t go to the RA because her relationship with Ruth involves attempting blackmail and cockslaps.
Wow. I was expecting maybe Sal past drama. Not whatever this is going to turn into. This is like watching a Zeppelin slowly begin to hover over a town, expecting it to drop bombs or something and instead another Zeppelin runs into it. You’re like “How’d you sneak a zeppelin in to ram another friggin blimp?”
Willis you’re like a drama ninja.
I’m really new to the “Walkyverse”, as you kids call it. I’m not sure i’ve seen Jacob’s date before, but your comments have me very worried for the fragile peace and happiness they’re clutching to. Is there a drama bomb about to go off?
Handy tip, if you can’t figure out a character’s past interactions, try clicking on the tag with their name. It pulls up their previous appearances – in Raidah’s case there are only a few, and it’s easy to see what the problem here is. You can also search for multiple names that way to see who’s met who and how.
Ooooohh snap! The fuse has been lit even sooner than I thought. I actaully laughed when I saw Riadh, she is like the worst person to show up for Sarah.
Also where are all these people going to fit in that small room.
The people that will likely attend:
Joyce,
Sarah
Becky
Billiy
Dorothy
Walky
Ethan
Danny
Amber
Jackob
Roz
and now Riadh
That is like 12 people in a small two people room.
To be fair, I’m sure some of the town’s population had other plans, and others will beg off. It is a Joyce party, after all. I’m sure her reputation has reached Tunisia by now.
I had to go back and check who Raidah is because of everyone’s reactions, but yes, this whole evening has pretty much turned into ‘slap Sarah where it hurts most’.
Oh geeze. I hope this isn’t building up to be some kind of “See, it’s not so easy to keep a party safe is it? You tried to keep things under control but still but still created a chaotic environment where rapists could flourish.” kind of development.
I mean, I can see this party becoming a giant ball of drama, but I don’t see it turning out like the last party. It’s still a dozen people or so in Joyce’s room. Raidah and Danny are the only ones who aren’t explicitly invited and there’s no reason that Joyce can’t have them leave if she wanted them gone.
Oh no! becky is going to tell her to leave bc she’s a rando but Raidah is gonna make a stink about it and assume it was Sarah’s doing! And then she’s gonna tell Jacob about it!! D:
I am currently sitting alone in my house, and I am still feeling socially overwhelmed by how many people are in that room right now. I need to leave, this is too many people for me to cope with in one enclosed space. *twitches*
(Also: Jacob! NO. Inviting other people to someone else’s private event is not cool, unless you KNOW the host enjoys random strangers & slight acquaintances showing up in their home uninvited.)
Well, yeah, but his message was “I’m not available” or possibly “Look what you are missing out on”, not anything close to the amount of “you suck” this means in Sarah’s mind.
We don’t. It’s incredibly unlikely Sarah informed Jacob about her Raidah seeing how unwilling Sarah was to talk about herself. (It would also be very strange for such a development to take place offscreen). It’s possible that Raidah told Jacob about Sarah offscreen but it doesn’t seem like he’s doing this out of spite. He seems to have quite ignorantly set up a potentially massive shitstorm.
Nuts. Jacob didn’t know anything about their past history. How would he have? Sarah sure didn’t tell him, and why would Raidah? She probably didn’t even know Jacob has met Sarah until she walked in the door.
You are ascribing malice where ignorance will serve just as well.
That’s what the ‘not the intensity’ meant. In fact if you actually read my other comments on the page you’ll see I’ve pointed out those very facts myself.
I’m half convinced that you’re right. He had to know Sarah would be at the party, we know Jacob isn’t interested in any casual relationship, which makes it even more curiouser that he introduced Raidah as a date.
He said he wasn’t interested in one-night stands, and was looking for a real relationship. You usually start a lasting relationship by dating someone – apparently Raidah, in this case.
One thing on the “is it okay to bring a guest univited” topic is something that’s not an issue for Joyce’s party but is an issue for a lot of parties — Are the people old enough to drink? I’ve been to several parties where the hosts are over 21 and don’t want under 21 year olds there.
In one case, a guy brought two univited friends, promised that the one who wasn’t even 18 wasn’t a drinker at all, but then proceeded to get the under-18-year-old completely smashed, which was even more uncool because it wasn’t just a rented apartment or a dorm room, it was at the host’s house and she could have been in really deep S*** if the police had been called. And this wasn’t a college party. The hosts and most of us were almost 30, the guy who brought uninvited guests was about 23 or 24.
Valid concern. Been rather a long time since having underage kids (who would be less than half the age of the other attendees) at a party was a personal concern of mine, it’s easy to forget that matters.
I was hoping she’d hunted down Dana and then they’d have a happy reunion where she thanked Sarah for all that shit that went down which ended up being better for her in the long run and happy happy sunshine party land.
Jacob said he would stop making the effort to be friends with Sarah yesterday. (It’s in the “Three’s a Crowd” chapter, it’s difficult to link strips on my phone). Also to your comment below, I don’t see it making a difference or not if Ethan knows about Raidah. He already knows Jacob is straight.
You know what I don’t see this blowing up, I really just see Sarah being upset and deflective and angrily stomping out the room and Roz being dissappointed and… I dunno. I don’t know Roz character that well… SHe doesn’t seem like the tpe to flip out over a small thing like this though.
Roz will probably just leave. She’s got another party to go to anyway, and while she’s interested in sexy times with Jacob she isn’t the kind of person to obsess over it.
On the one hand, Sarah was literally just about to leave anyway when Raidah walked in. On the other hand, it’s one thing to leave your room because you’re not into parties and you’re mad at your roommate, and another to leave because someone you don’t like is there in your space. Plus if she leaves and Raidah doesn’t, she can obsess about whether Joyce is making friends with Raidah all night. (That’s basically what caused Sarah to punch Raidah last time, after all.)
This may prove to be quite interesting. I don’t quite see so much as a blow up as I do Joyce standing up for Sarah. It would make sense considering how Joyce just snapped at Sarah about it just earlier. However, I’d like to know if Jacob said anything about having associated with Sarah to Raidah considering their track records…. This is gonna go so far south that it’s gonna hit space Antarctica and I’d better be ready with my popcorn when it does!
I actually hope that Dina shows up next and decides to correct Raidah’s assumption that she is a “retarded little girl” in full earshot of Jacob. After all, she might have an actual grudge against Sarah but her terrible treatment of someone she does not even know at all really showed how terrible a person she really is. Seriously, there was no possible excuse for that.
Raidah did think that Dina had some sort of mental disorder (which, I mean, is deeply offensive to assume of somebody), but it was one of her friends who said that to Dina. She also grabbed onto Joyce’s arm to keep Sarah from pulling her away.
Raidah thinks the same of Sarah as Sarah thinks of herself; she’s terrible and everybody would be happier without her.
Raidah actually called her friends out on things like calling Dina ‘retarded,’ although she was condescending to her. The part where she calls them out is really the only time I’ve actually ever liked Raidah.
Did Jacob not get the part where it was a list of people Joyce felt comfortable with? Why would he be allowed to bring someone (I assume) is not on the list just because she’s a ‘date’.
I really hope Joyce steps up to support Sarah here and asks Raidah to leave. Joyce having her back when it comes to someone who treated her so poorly in the past is the kind of kick Sarah needs to enjoy the party.
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WHAT THE FIG
Jacob you have no taste
I know! So rude, that bongo.
I can no longer tell if commenters are typing bongo or bongo when they reply.
Yes, we are.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I say bongo. I don’t know why, but it make me feel bongoinly awesome.
Always assume they really typed bongo, funnier that way
I’d ask what “bongo” is supposed to replace, but I imagine you’d just answer “bongo”.
Aw, bongo…
The word bongo automatically replaces the word that rhymes with itch.
im still waiting for the day itch gets replaced with ongo
Then we get hongo, snongo, wongo, dongo, and pongo.
Snongoes get stongoes?
But what about Perdita?
Yeah, what about Perdita? She is… an actual… bongo…
WHOA. *mind blown*
Eldritch ?
Eldrongo.
Sounds like some sort of dragon…
I like to play football on a football pongo?
bongo.
It replaces a word that starts with b and ends with itch.
Blair Witch. No?
Britch?
Well basically it replaces “b****” because it was being used a lot in the comments for one strip so Willis changed all instances of the word to “bongo”.
Kettle drum.
bongo…Dammit!
I like to play the bongos, personally.
Depends. Are they talking about Bongo?
The shongo has hit the fan now
Shitch?
I wonder how they hooked up? Raidah’s likely not done with repeatedly running Sarah over with the shame train. The question is…..Did Raidah know who would be there, and insisted on joining Jacob instead of being asked to come along?
Hopefully Sarah will wait for someone else to bring up the ‘invitation only’ rule, and not get involved if they don’t. I doubt it, but hopefully…
Figs and bongos. Must be an awesome party.
God hates figs.
…Oh, it’s goin’ down.
…and sugar, we’re goin’ down swinging.
I’ll be your number 1 with a bullet?
A loaded god complex, cock it an pull it.
I love all of you.
I’m yelling timber!
♫ I’m rhyming “timber” with “remember”…! ♪
You’d better move, you’d better dance…
This’ll be a night, they will remember..
Don’t mind me, I’m watching you two from the closet, wishing to be the friction in your jeans.
I don’t know, according to Billie, bitter rivalries like these always lead straight into bone city…
And the cock blocking begins…or the first three-way on slipshine starts to form…
I think it’s possible that you, like me (initially), forgot who that is.
Cock blocking? I don’t think that’s quite the right word if you’re talking about Roz or Sarah.
Although I’ll concede that the utterly implausible threesome between Sarah, Raidah, and Jacob would give the Mike+Amber slipshine a run for being the Most Epic of Hatefucks.
Guilded Age gave us “Boxblocking” for when the situation is like this. Time to use it!
Don’t think it originated there, variations of it have been around a long time now. I can remember being jokingly called a “box tease” before the internet was even a thing.
I’ve also seen “beaverdam”.
Ooh, that’s a good one. Have to remember that.
Oh crap, shit just hit the fan! Duck and cover!
the cool thing about everyone you know being in the same place is also the uncoolest thing, tho
Says you. This party just got interesting. Joyce party’s just getting started!
I’m really hoping Joe crashes the party, after all his oldest friend is there and his new main is there as well
Yeah I loves me some drama
Looks like Roz is free for the evening, just like Joe. Danny may come home to a sock on the doorknob yet.
Oh, you’re just saying that because– Wait….
So THAT’s why Willis made the Raidah Grav!
Why is nobody questioning how they managed to fit around 10 people into a single college dorm with room to spare?
The same way they fit two into a college dorm bed without necessarily having to spoon.
I find that part harder to believe than the room size. Never lived in a dorm that couldn’t jam in 8-10 people, and that was without those spiffy loft beds. The mattresses, though – ye gods, some of those were tiny.
It’s not just that they were tiny, it’s that they were old, along with the springs, so they sagged enough to force you together.
Willis is building up to a Duck Soup joke.
Crap, wrong movie, I meant A Night at the Opera joke.
Because no one their age in this country is capable of spatial awareness anymore and they only realize how cramped it is in there every time they awkwardly bump into each other, before they forget again, until the next awkward bumping?
*covers herself under reinforced shield*
And here’s the panel where you see Sarah’s heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.
Well, maybe not her heart, but something vital.
As weird as it sounds, I like this development.
How could you like possible character development? Weirdo.
Doesn’t worry me, I have always being pretty odd.
*John Ralphio voice* The woOorsst~
Mike walks in, looks around
“It’s lit”
Way to Dan it up, Jacob.
… Well, shit.
Wow.
Joyce says she’s not on the list.
Excuse me while I laugh for the next 10,000 years.
And thus, the fragile Raidah/Sarah truce is shattered.
Truce? More like ceasefire.
There relationship is like that between South Korea and North Korea.
Don’t ask me which is which, I’m not sure myself.
North Korea is the one with the unstable dictator, South Korea is the one with hardcore MMO players, K-Pop, and lots of plastic surgery.
So, NoKo is Sarah, SoKo is Raidah? Interesting metaphor, there…
I don’t know, the South Koreans seem pretty focused on getting in the zone (game wise), while North Korea seems led by someone who plays with some interesting toys they really shouldn’t…
Sarah is making pretty damn sure her scholarship doesn’t fall apart, so she’d be in the zone studying, while Raidah’s social group was led by someone who started using her bong a bit too much, not that it’s legal…
Ya forgot lots of 2D animation studios for the USA’s and Japan’s outsourcing needs since the 80s.
Oh, lord, we did get Raidah…albeit in a way that actually makes sense. >_>
Willis must have been looking at the comments section and laughing and laughing…
This is a Raidah/Ra-ra-Raidah/Ra-ra-Raidah/Raidah/Raidah
PING!
Oh damn.
Okay, people, time to duck and cover, this shitstorm’s gonna hit any second!
In a word, no.
Okay I’m just gonna say it.
Wurst party evar!
at least it’s not a sausage-fest
And Mary’s not around, so no brats to worry about.
Somebody’s gonna double dog dare you if you aren’t frank about it.
What a lot of baloney.
What kind of wiener comes up with a pun like that?
I like this development
Your Raidah ava seems to agree with you. ^_^
appropriate gravatar is appropriate
I wasn’t sure who it was when it first appeared but now i’m quite stoked about it
Holy synchronicity Batman!
The fact that there’s also an Alice grav me wonder if she’s coming too.
Great job Jacob. You’ve taken a party that otherwise could not possibly have been anything but a model of healthy social interaction between young adults and turned it awkward.
I guess it’s super lucky that Jacob isn’t dating Joe or Mary or Ryan. >_>
Or other Jacob. That would be a real low blow.
Sarah and Jacob could play with other Jacob together, though. Sharing is fun.
Not boths Jacobs are a strictly monogamous romantic relationship.
They fulfill each other and they’re getting married tomorrow.
OH it’s gonna go DOWN.
Welp. Shiiiiit.
Well… shit.
*looks back in archives for “Raidah”
Well shit.
Me- “Hmm, Raidah? Haven’t seen her in a while, wonder what scenes she was a background character in!”
*looks at tag*
Me- “oh!…oh…ohhhhhh…”
Oh yeeeeeah!
Please people, get a room <_< It's indecent
Jacob and Raidah, of all people. Did not see that coming, but we’ve seen very little of either of them.
awkwaaaaaaaard
Inevitable shitstorm aside, what I’m most interested in is finding out how on earth Jacob met her?
Most likely share a class, or ran into one another in the dining hall, or maybe the gym.
I’m more curious as to whether Raidah knew she was going to a party in Sarah’s room.
Aren’t all three studying law? I’d bet class over anything.
Well Raidah lives somewhere in the building if I remember correctly. And while she’s a different year than Jacob, she’s also pre-Law. So if Jacob has classes with Sarah; it’s not too unlikely that he would also have classes with Raidah as well.
Maybe a law course. The strip linked blow gives me the impression that Raidah is pre-law too. Though she doesn’t seem to be in the class that Sarah and Jacob have together.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/relax/
Which is probably intentional on Sarah’s part. I don’t think Sarah and Raidah share any classes.
If this was a show, I would pause and make some popcorn for what’s about to go down.
Oooooh
I knew this party would be very much not drama free, but things went south so much faster than I anticipated.
And man, who invites people to someone else’s party? Rood.
Since when is it rude to bring a date to a party?
The list was exclusive, penned by Joyce, who is dealing with a traumatic situation and is uncomfortable around certain people.
Was Jacob informed of this?
It seems Becky forgot to mention that since this is the only interaction we see her have with Jacob about this. Damn you Becky.
Yeah, I was kinda surprised since she was pretty careful about mentioning it to most of the guests. Maybe Amber being there in the room when she wasn’t expecting it threw her off?
It’s not like he asked if it was ok to bring a date.
Oh wait…
Well, at that point, are you just going to tell her to leave? Well, Sarah might, if she weren’t already dead set on leaving herself.
You’re not supposed to ask when you’re already there. It just puts people on the spot because now they gotta say “yes” or “no” in front of everybody.
Is it just me? I feel it’s extremely rude to invite anyone to someone else’s party without asking their approval first. If I was throwing a party (hahaha yeah right) I would totally freak out if the guests weren’t precisely the ones I’d invited or whose presence I had approved after being asked.
Different strokes for different strokes I guess, If I have a party/gathering etc then I always assume single people will bring dates (if they want)
I would never assume an invite excluded a date (or spouse) unless that was stated explicitly. It’s really rude to expect people to come to a party single – even more so if (as Joyce was doing) you’re playing matchmaker.
That said, it’s polite to tell your host who your +1 is just to make sure there’s no personality clash. I bet Jacob has really put his foot in it here – not only did he not tell Joyce he was bringing a date, he probably didn’t tell Raidah they were going to Sarah’s room.
I’d always assume I should ask the host first if it’s okay to invite someone else, so they can prepare (snacks, drinks etc) accordingly.
Plus, this is a dorm party we’re talking about, which means limited space, which means only so many people can attend, which means if everyone brings a date you’re not even gonna be able to breathe.
Maybe I’m just too used to attending parties that could barely qualify as parties and are really just small gatherings of less than 10 people where just one or two extra people make a big difference. Or maybe it’s because of my social anxiety making it necessary for me to prepare for an exact number of people and I’ll freak out if there’s more.
YMMV, of course. I do find that the odds of people actually showing up when they can’t bring a date drops off badly, and if you’re talking about married couples they’re almost always a package deal. Unless you’re unattached, parties are one of those things you do with your SO for most of the folks I know.
My dorm parties always wound up with a pool of people drifting between multiple rooms anyway. The crowding balanced out naturally, and there were always some folks who’d leave early or come late. With a more formal party, RSVPs are more of a requirement, of course.
Well of course if I’m inviting someone who I know is in a couple I’d formally invite their partner as well. Sorry if it seemed otherwise, I didn’t mention it before because it seemed obvious to me. ^^”
Ooh yeah that makes sense. I never stayed at a dorm so that didn’t occur to me, haha.
Also, this party was fairly short notice, so there wasn’t a whole lot of time for date vetting or anything. Becky didn’t even know some of the people she was inviting, so it makes it tough for her to vet a date.
Still, this is clearly Becky’s fault – more fuel for the Becky hate-flames.
I’m in the “don’t assume you can bring an extra” camp. But maybe my group of friends is a bit different in that we are fine with doing things independently from our significant others.
Honestly, I find the implication of having to bring a date or SO who wasn’t invited really rude. It’s like they’re saying “I’m sorry, I don’t like or want to talk to any of you people, so I had to bring my own little entourage to entertain me. I’m here to eat your food, drink your drinks, talk to my SO and then leave.”
Granted, I know some people have a lot of social anxiety in going places alone, but the types of parties I throw aren’t big ones with lots of people who don’t know each other well, they are little ones (normally dinner parties) with people specifically selected who either know each other very well or I’m deliberately trying to introduce people who I believe will get along really well (and so far I’ve been right).
I’m with you, Jacob is being very rude here.
I can understand that usually invites will tell you if you can or can not bring a date. I find it a bit rude not to make sure that it’s okay because you are inviting someone else into the personal space of someone else.
But what gets me is that Raidah actually came with him. Wouldn’t the invite to this date involve Jacob telling Raidah that they are going to the dorm party of Joyce? I’m assuming that Raidah remembers that Joyce is Sarah’s roomy. If I’m reading things right things my not still be fully rocky between them but it isn’t smooth either. I hope that Becky’s situation is exposed and they start butting heads over the issue just because of the past and not what is the best thing to do.
I can understand Raidah, she only met Joyce once and the subject of who her roommate was didn’t come up. JACOB knows though, pretty sure he brought a girl just to spite Sarah.
Does Jacob know about Sarah’s history with Raidah? We’ve never seen them discuss it. Actually most of the discussion between Jacob and Sarah has involved Joyce stories. Sarah really didn’t seem to want to open up and discuss other things. I kinda of doubt that she told Jacob about her old friends. She didn’t tell Joyce until the day at the mall after it had exploded into conflict.
I think Timemonkey doesn’t mean that that he specifically picked Raidah to spite Sarah, just that he brought a girl of some sort to spite Sarah.
I’m not sure if I agree or not with that assessment, but it seems possible? I don’t know Jacob enough to know if he’d do that sort of thing.
(Looks at Jen’s comment that I can’t reply to). Oh, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how someone would get that interpretation. I don’t hold it though, because I’m not entirely sure if Jacob was ever romantically interested in Sarah. (He seemed to want to be friends more than anything else). Or if he knew that Sarah wanted to do him. (I could see him bringing a date as a way of telling Roz that he’s definitely not interested, but I don’t think Jacob even saw the guest list).
Lord Stonheart, yeah, I think you may be right that he just wanted a friend and never considered Sarah romantically.
I’ve hosted a lot of parties, and which it is varies. Sometimes, I’d call a friend and say “bring everyone you can see” (which ended up with double the number of people I expected arriving, and about a third of the party being lesbians. Good party though!), sometimes it was just the invited, and sometimes I would have to make up an excuse to kick out a creepy person who was utterly unwelcome while still being kind of polite.
At my college there werent all these complicated social dynamics to worry about: we used to say that a party was 3 guys & a joint OR a 6 pack (depending on your preference in refreshments). Good times….
OH SHIT
Initial shock aside, it’s cool to see Raidah again. I’ve been wondering what she’s been up to.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s having a hell of a day here.
OH….NOOOOOOOO!
I was gonna bring my other girlfriend, Dana, but she was busy. Smokin’ weed with her new girlfriend Kaitlin. They’re hanging out at a party at Faz’s house, you see.
Wait, who’s Kai– Oh, right, Becky’s girl”friend”
………Nope……no….no.
Of course Jacob was gonna date Raidah.
But hey at least Joes not invited
Willis, Sir, you have outdone yourself with this one
I almost believe Jacob did this burn to Roz and Sarah by accident. Almost. Of course. He doesn’t know Raidah’s and Sarah’s history…
Be really surprised if he knew they had a past history. He’s going to get an earful of it soon enough, though.
You know, I’m sure that somebody handed Joyce a CD with a song on it called “Faith”
Then this plays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-EdCNjumvI
What in the hell was that horrid abomination masquerading as music?
I don’t know if you’re joking, MeghanTheWorldEater, or if you are not of the age group that is excessively familiar with the song because they played it (and many other songs by Limp Bizkit) all the damn time on the radio (we couldn’t escape it) and then Fred Durst started doing all kinds of douchey things in the press and became pretty universally hated.
See, when George Michael sang that song, it was actually good. Damn kids and their new-fangled screaming claiming to be music and ruining all the good old songs…
*Comic turns red, Deadly Viper music plays*
I’m hearing that one right now.
The blimp that was my happiness was rising. Then I saw this Raidah dame, and it slowly fell back down.
(As a sode note, I dunno who this Raidah girl is. This is my first Willis comic ever, so yeah, if someone could fill me in? From the look on her face, she doesn’t seem to be a Raidah die kinda girl. Get it? Cause it sounds… like ride or….. nevermind, I don’t even know if that joke made any sense, I just really wanted to use it…)
If you start reading from here it should clear some things up. Oh and the girl in the first panel is Dana, Sarah’s former roomie.
Wait she had a name? I remember reading that page, but I never knew about the character tags, and if her name was msntioned before, I sure as heck didn’t remember it. Thanks to you and the others who helped clear that up.
Dude. First panel of the strip immediately after the one I linked. XD But I guess sometimes names don’t really register if the character doesn’t appear often enough haha.
Raidah isn’t in the other universe from what I remember. In this universe, she’s a friend of Sarah’s old roommate Dana, and was briefly a friend of Sarah. This lasted until Sarah helped facilitate Dana’s withdrawal from school, and Raidah is convinced that Sarah betrayed Dana simply to remove a distraction. Now Raidah and her friends bully Sarah because of this. (Raidah also briefly conversed with Joyce before Sarah showed up and punched her in the face).
She was in one of the SEMME teams in the Walkyverse, I think.
Raidah has no Walkyverse counterpart.
Or maybe we just never saw her Walkyverse counterpart, as she just mever crossed paths with anyone important. You know, like the Fans characters’ counterparts, whom we only really saw to illustrate that in the Walkyverse they’re just normal, boring people.
When the author says ‘Raidah has no Walkyverse counterpart’ it’s pretty clear that there is no Walkyverse Raidah. Not ‘never crossed paths’ but ‘is not’.
Whenever people correct Willis on his own writing, it reminds me of the story about how Ray Bradbury walked out of a class at UCLA because they told him he misinterpreted what Fahrenheit 451 (his own book) was about.
http://www.laweekly.com/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted-2149125
There’s a school of thought among the loonier parts of fandom that authors don’t create anything, they’re merely interpreting dimly perceived alternate realties that they’re in tune with as fiction in our universe. Really pretty insulting in a lot of ways, but it has produced some amusing fanfiction over the years. Very easy to do silly meta tuff with the idea.
Whoops, my mistake.
Raidah is obviously the Multiversal Singularity, around whom all of existence orbits.
Just in case it’s going to be confirmed or denied in the next strip, I’ll lay my crazy Raidah theories while there’s still time to prove I was assuming these before they were revealed/disproven:
!- Dana was the only regular pot-smoker amongst her friends. She didn’t light up around them.
@ – Raidah was the one who pressed Dana to invite Sarah into their circle.
# – Part of Dana’s unrelenting pot-fueled depression was guilt over not ‘getting better’ yet, like Raidah insisted she was.
$ – ‘Raidah’ is actually a persona made by combined efforts of a pair of identical twins who wanted to reinvent themselves for college. The First one is the git who makes exaggerated dismay faces, is the more impulsive and hysterical of the two, and has made the majority of appearances as Raidah. The Other one is more level-headed and more lawyer-y. Fancies herself as her sister’s guardian angel (Hysteria Raidah being the one with the plan. Lawyer Raidah being the brains.) Her first appearance as Raidah being in the strip where she said “I accept your apology.” To Sarah. This strip, who knows?
She is essentially Sarahs arch-enemy. Being a girl who started picking on Sarah after she got her friend Dana get kicked out of the school for doing drugs. Dana was depressed and was going to end up killing herself, but only Sarah was able to see how bad things had gotten (they were roommates). I hope this makes sense.
Dana wasn’t kicked out of the college. She was pulled out after Sarah informed Dana’s father about her increased drug dependence and worsening emotional state.
Forgive my mistake batman!
That last panel got a whispered holy shit from me. This is going to be intense.
Raidah looks soooo happy to be there. Soooo happy.
Yaaay.
If Sarah hasn’t changed rooms from last year, Raidah was probably thinking “Wait, this hall is familiar. Wasn’t that the bongo Sarah’s room last year. Well, if there’s a party there, it can’t be hers…”
*Writes all that, then remembers the filter… :P*
Saw that coming.
I don’t know why I love that Roz said “Aw, Nuts” but I do.
Because watching her plans to get Jacob in bed go down in flames is hilarious?
Echoes of Gen. McAuliffe at the siege of Bastogne. Americans thoughtc that that was hilarious in 1944. Watch the movie Patton: Patton/George C Scott throws his head back and laughs when hes told that “aw, nuts” was McAuliffes answer to a German surrender demand.
Dun Dun DUUUNNNNNNNNN~~~
Yea I’m going to go stand behind the door with Dina. This is going to get ugly.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Oh good, I was worried that there wasn’t going to be any drama… -___-
BRB, getting popcorn.
Jacob….you poor, innocent child…
I wonder if Willis laughed at all our speculations of how the drama would happen. I mean, we all knew it was coming, and some even thought Raidah might show up somehow, but like this? Who’d have guessed XD
DAMN I know I saw someone guess Raidah. Who was it? Who? I remember seeing that and going pshhh whatever like THAT would happen. And then it fucking did.
Well to be fair the person / people who guessed Raidah would make an appearance seemed to think it would probably be from Joyce inviting Raidah directly. Which seemed pretty unlikely. XD
First Joyce, now Jacob. Hasn’t Sarah been through enough hell?
*bring hands together in an evil posture*
no.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING JACOB WHY DID YOU BRING RAIDAH AAAAHHHHHHHHH
I bet Sarah wishes she had fusion cannon on her arm.
Truthfully, we all wish to possess a fusion cannon.
Yeah, but you’re a fleshling so you can’t.
Yaaay, I could!! XD
…Well, if I was strong enough…
…And if it wasn’t the same size AS me…
Man, Mike’s Raidah-suit is super realistic.
It shows a bit in the eyes though. I guess he can’t help the facial expression, even with a mask.
I’m guessing she’s giving the stink eye to Sarah right now. But yes, somebody better check if Mike is still alive because she is channeling his spirit right now.
Eh, I’m sure he’ll be back, one way or another…
I thought it was to Roz, for her comment.
Suit? What suit? Shape shifting is one of Mike’s range of assholism fueled superpowers.
And then the dorm room spontaneously combusted.
So much for a curated party. If DANNY was almost not allowed, then I can’t imagine Raidah would have made the cut.
I hope Becky acts as an enforcer with her newfound idgaf-ness and tells her to leave.
Rule of thumb, you don’t ask to bring a date, a few minutes before the party, in the doorway of the party, that’s just putting your host on the spot.
This I agree with. I can see assuming that dates are welcome, and Becky didn’t tell him it was a curated party, but if you’re going to ask at all, do it beforehand.
Yeah, it’s really really rude to put your host/hostess on the spot like this.
-silently enters the drama bunker and closes the frigging door-
-pulls the drama tag that was hidden behind some of the boxes in your bunker- Oopsie.
Unfortunately, a drama bunker is where you store the drama, not where you hide from it.
This is why I own a comedy bunker. That said, I don’t think we’ve critical mass yet, so I’ll stay here.
I have the image of some person in a horror movie running into a room and locking the door behind them, only to discover the monster is now in the room with them. Except in this case the monster is some embodiment of drama.
I’ve noticed people commenting on if it’s okay to bring guests to a party! Where I was raised, it’s usually expected. Typically, you plan as if everyone is going to have a date.
However, I had a friend from Japan who told me that in his culture, it is unacceptable to bring a guest to a party without the host giving the okay. Doesn’t matter what the get together is, you have to ask.
So I think people’s opinion on Raidah coming is just based on how we were raised. Though I will say that it is always politer to ask ahead of time.
Poor Jacob. He has no idea what he’s just done…I think he brought a date to make Sarah jealous…but he didn’t realize just what he’s done! Or maybe this is a genuine date, and he’s just being an accidental douche.
In Hawaii, it could go either way, but it’s usually polite to ask beforehand, not on the day it happens.
Is the party at a neutral location, like an event center or a park? Bring a date, no permission required.
Is it at someone’s home? You’d better freakin’ get permission first!
I dunno. I think Jacob just sort of stopped making an effort to talk to Sarah. He didn’t seem to think they were more than friends, and she was making it hard for him to get to really know her. I mean, what we know about Sarah is different than what Jacob knows about Sarah. And, to be fair, Sarah has come off as an extremely unpleasant person to him. She’s brushed him off multiple times when he simply wanted to start a conversation, and when she finally spoke, it was basically just her disparaging Joyce. To be blunt, Sarah, from Jacob’s point of view, probably doesn’t even come off as interesting, since the only conversation she made with him was gossip. And he was probably just going along with it in order to make conversation. People have a low opinion of those who talk badly about others in a casual manner such as the way Sarah did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jacob got a bad impression of her from their previous interactions.
It’s also most likely that Jacob didn’t know Sarah and Raidah’s situation, and he and Raidah got to know each other some other way. It could also be that they both somewhat knew they didn’t like Sarah, and their experiences with her reflect similar interpretations of the situations.
Jacob may well have a negative impression of Sarah now, but he’s made it pretty clear that he was interested in her (not necessarily romantically, but as a person), and was going out of his way to try to be friends with her. But I agree with you that he’s probably not bringing Raidah to make her jealous, although characters have surprised me before. (If he knows Raidah doesn’t like Sarah, and brought her anyway, my opinion of him will drop, but I suspect he didn’t know.)
I was kind of surprised at how many people thought it was unacceptable to bring a date uninvited, but I guess it’s different everywhere. I do think it would be polite to ask, but this party was thrown together super last minute, so Radiah was probably invited even more super last minute on a whim.
I don’t think an attempt to make Sarah jealous is completely out of the question, but… do we really have any reason to think so? There hasn’t been any indication that Jacob has considered Sarah as more than (possibly) a friend.
I mean, it was really weird when Joyce randomly decided they were soulmates. Let’s not take her example.
Jacob’s decision to bring a date aside, why is Raidah here? Did she know who was hosting the party, and just came by to rub it in Sarah’s face, or did she legitimately not know where she was going?
Yeah you’d think she’d have gotten a hint when Jacob lead her to the exact room Dana used to stay in with Sarah…
Is it the same room, though?
Oh. Right. I just assumed Sarah’d gotten the same room again but I guess that’s not necessarily the case.
It’s pretty likely she didn’t realize this would be Sarah’s room. Jacob may have told her Joyce is hosting the party, but Raidah has only met Joyce once. And Jacob probably wouldn’t have brought up it was Sarah’s room too because he has no idea about the history between Sarah and Raidah.
When I think it wont get any more awkward it tops itself.
Well…
I just have one thing to say…
INCOMING!!
OH SHATNER
“Oh, and there’s a platter in the hallway with what looks like a… human heart?!?”
I thought the worst person to show up was Mary! She still is the worst, but Raidah is a pretty good second.
And Mary shows up with her date, a nice pastor’s son named Ryan.
See? It can always be worse?
Don’t give Willis any ideas! D:
This is actually a situation that Mary can’t really make worse. Nobody wants her to stay so they would just tell her to leave and she can’t go to the RA because her relationship with Ruth involves attempting blackmail and cockslaps.
Wow. I was expecting maybe Sal past drama. Not whatever this is going to turn into. This is like watching a Zeppelin slowly begin to hover over a town, expecting it to drop bombs or something and instead another Zeppelin runs into it. You’re like “How’d you sneak a zeppelin in to ram another friggin blimp?”
Willis you’re like a drama ninja.
Party’s only just begun. Sal might yet show up.
Two panels after Amber, no doubt.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE DRAMA HAS ARRIVED.
*record scratch*
I’m really new to the “Walkyverse”, as you kids call it. I’m not sure i’ve seen Jacob’s date before, but your comments have me very worried for the fragile peace and happiness they’re clutching to. Is there a drama bomb about to go off?
Protip; read through the other comments to find answers.
This is the Dummiverse. The Walkyverse is where Willis’ other comics take place.
Handy tip, if you can’t figure out a character’s past interactions, try clicking on the tag with their name. It pulls up their previous appearances – in Raidah’s case there are only a few, and it’s easy to see what the problem here is. You can also search for multiple names that way to see who’s met who and how.
Ooooohh snap! The fuse has been lit even sooner than I thought. I actaully laughed when I saw Riadh, she is like the worst person to show up for Sarah.
Also where are all these people going to fit in that small room.
The people that will likely attend:
Joyce,
Sarah
Becky
Billiy
Dorothy
Walky
Ethan
Danny
Amber
Jackob
Roz
and now Riadh
That is like 12 people in a small two people room.
I thought it was just a typo, but you spelled Raidah’s name “Riadh” twice and so I have to point it out or it’s gonna bug me all day.
Becky invited the whole city or Riadh?? Wow, you’re right, they won’t fit in the dorm room…
To be fair, I’m sure some of the town’s population had other plans, and others will beg off. It is a Joyce party, after all. I’m sure her reputation has reached Tunisia by now.
…oh, Sarah.
I just…Sarah is my favorite, and I just feel so bad for her right now.
I had to go back and check who Raidah is because of everyone’s reactions, but yes, this whole evening has pretty much turned into ‘slap Sarah where it hurts most’.
Same.
Oh geeze. I hope this isn’t building up to be some kind of “See, it’s not so easy to keep a party safe is it? You tried to keep things under control but still but still created a chaotic environment where rapists could flourish.” kind of development.
I mean, I can see this party becoming a giant ball of drama, but I don’t see it turning out like the last party. It’s still a dozen people or so in Joyce’s room. Raidah and Danny are the only ones who aren’t explicitly invited and there’s no reason that Joyce can’t have them leave if she wanted them gone.
Oh no! becky is going to tell her to leave bc she’s a rando but Raidah is gonna make a stink about it and assume it was Sarah’s doing! And then she’s gonna tell Jacob about it!! D:
Aw Jacob you sweet gentleman.
…
no, seriously, why did it have to be her of all people ^^;
I am currently sitting alone in my house, and I am still feeling socially overwhelmed by how many people are in that room right now. I need to leave, this is too many people for me to cope with in one enclosed space. *twitches*
(Also: Jacob! NO. Inviting other people to someone else’s private event is not cool, unless you KNOW the host enjoys random strangers & slight acquaintances showing up in their home uninvited.)
“Ladies, one at-a-time… Unless you’re just into that sort of thing…”
Tomorrow will just be silent panels of everyone’s expressions. Third panel will be Walky eating natchos
My actually reaction to this strip was to physically recoil and screech internally.
Jacob totally did this on purpose, maybe not the intensity but he knew Joyce’s roommate was Sarah.
Well, yeah, but his message was “I’m not available” or possibly “Look what you are missing out on”, not anything close to the amount of “you suck” this means in Sarah’s mind.
I don’t think Jacob knows about Sarah and Raidah – do we have canon otherwise?
We don’t. It’s incredibly unlikely Sarah informed Jacob about her Raidah seeing how unwilling Sarah was to talk about herself. (It would also be very strange for such a development to take place offscreen). It’s possible that Raidah told Jacob about Sarah offscreen but it doesn’t seem like he’s doing this out of spite. He seems to have quite ignorantly set up a potentially massive shitstorm.
That’s the best quite of shitstorm-setting!
Nuts. Jacob didn’t know anything about their past history. How would he have? Sarah sure didn’t tell him, and why would Raidah? She probably didn’t even know Jacob has met Sarah until she walked in the door.
You are ascribing malice where ignorance will serve just as well.
That’s what the ‘not the intensity’ meant. In fact if you actually read my other comments on the page you’ll see I’ve pointed out those very facts myself.
Okay, the posts where I made that distinction clearly were eaten by page errors but still!
I’m half convinced that you’re right. He had to know Sarah would be at the party, we know Jacob isn’t interested in any casual relationship, which makes it even more curiouser that he introduced Raidah as a date.
He said he wasn’t interested in one-night stands, and was looking for a real relationship. You usually start a lasting relationship by dating someone – apparently Raidah, in this case.
*Joyce pulls a party popper*
The very last place Raider (sorry, I really can’t help it) expexted to find Sarah is at a party.
It IS Sarah’s room… (Then again, maybe she had no idea the party was there, as she’s just tagging along with Jacob)
I predict only good things happening.
Oh, Willis, you magnificent bastard, this… this is beautiful. It’s the trainwreck of dreams. OF DREAMS!!!!!!
I just have a question: who’s the “we” Joyce is talking about in the second panel? Her and Becky (no, she doesn’t love you THAT way)? Her and god?
Sarah’s letting Becky stay there and saved Joyce from being raped. Sarah’s likely pretty high up Becky’s awesome people list right now.
I have the sinking feeling she means Jacob. Because of course that’s how it works.
Roz got it right.
“Aw, nuts” is indeed the correct response.
Sarah must have been the only kid that didn’t fall under the Cherry Coke principle.
Kid 1) “I like Cherry Coke.”
Kid 2) “You like Cherry Coke?!? I like Cherry Coke we are gonna be best friends!”
Kid 1) “I like Cherry Coke.”
Sarah) “You like Cherry Coke?!? I like Cherry Coke we can’t be friends we are too different”
Kid 3) Stop drinking all my Cherry Coke, you bastards!
One thing on the “is it okay to bring a guest univited” topic is something that’s not an issue for Joyce’s party but is an issue for a lot of parties — Are the people old enough to drink? I’ve been to several parties where the hosts are over 21 and don’t want under 21 year olds there.
In one case, a guy brought two univited friends, promised that the one who wasn’t even 18 wasn’t a drinker at all, but then proceeded to get the under-18-year-old completely smashed, which was even more uncool because it wasn’t just a rented apartment or a dorm room, it was at the host’s house and she could have been in really deep S*** if the police had been called. And this wasn’t a college party. The hosts and most of us were almost 30, the guy who brought uninvited guests was about 23 or 24.
Valid concern. Been rather a long time since having underage kids (who would be less than half the age of the other attendees) at a party was a personal concern of mine, it’s easy to forget that matters.
I was hoping she’d hunted down Dana and then they’d have a happy reunion where she thanked Sarah for all that shit that went down which ended up being better for her in the long run and happy happy sunshine party land.
Are you new to this comic or something?
*Grabs and covers mouth* Shhhhh, shhh….leave him to his sunshines and rainbows. His land of Unicorns and Sugardrops needs his happy naivety to thrive.
You ain’t the only one.
That would happen, if it wasn’t Willis at the steering wheel.
Wow, when I got to the last pannel I couldn’t help but picture a nuclear explosion going off on the computer screen. This is gonna be bad.
Well, here’s the clusterfuck we were all waiting for. Poor Jacob has no idea what he just did.
So here’s a thought, how long have Jacob and Raidah been seeing each other? Could this be their first date? Their hilariously awful first date?
How many days ago [DoA time] has it been since Sarah and Jacob last spoke to each other?
Jacob said he would stop making the effort to be friends with Sarah yesterday. (It’s in the “Three’s a Crowd” chapter, it’s difficult to link strips on my phone). Also to your comment below, I don’t see it making a difference or not if Ethan knows about Raidah. He already knows Jacob is straight.
Oh, and does Ethan know about Jacob’s date?
yo this is good you guys come on
Wow. Of all the women on campus. You’d think Willis was trying to make this awkward or something.
You know what I don’t see this blowing up, I really just see Sarah being upset and deflective and angrily stomping out the room and Roz being dissappointed and… I dunno. I don’t know Roz character that well… SHe doesn’t seem like the tpe to flip out over a small thing like this though.
Roz will probably just leave. She’s got another party to go to anyway, and while she’s interested in sexy times with Jacob she isn’t the kind of person to obsess over it.
Sarah’s harder to predict.
I don’t know. I can see Sarah insisting that Raidah leave, because the alternative is to be forced to leave her own room.
On the one hand, Sarah was literally just about to leave anyway when Raidah walked in. On the other hand, it’s one thing to leave your room because you’re not into parties and you’re mad at your roommate, and another to leave because someone you don’t like is there in your space. Plus if she leaves and Raidah doesn’t, she can obsess about whether Joyce is making friends with Raidah all night. (That’s basically what caused Sarah to punch Raidah last time, after all.)
This may prove to be quite interesting. I don’t quite see so much as a blow up as I do Joyce standing up for Sarah. It would make sense considering how Joyce just snapped at Sarah about it just earlier. However, I’d like to know if Jacob said anything about having associated with Sarah to Raidah considering their track records…. This is gonna go so far south that it’s gonna hit space Antarctica and I’d better be ready with my popcorn when it does!
Oh fuck.
Welllllllll crap.
This won’t end well.
Get to the fallout shelters, ’cause the drama bombs have been dropped!
But, but, my shelter is in the shop undergoing repairs from the last fangasm! D:
and this is the exact moment when the excrement made physical contact with the hydro-electric powered oscillating air current distribution device.
I get the feeling Sarah’s no longer as “done” as she claims.
And Sarah is about to have a Lawful Neutral BSOD in 3…2…..1…..
Damn it Jacob!
Oh wait, that’s no fair. He doesn’t know what we know.
DAAAAAAMN YOU WILLIS!!!!!!
Blame Jacob.
Do I have to? He is innocent in the whole affair. And I’ve never damned Willis before.
Sorry, been referencing another comic here.
Nae bother.
RUH ROH.
Why, hello there, powder keg! Have you met my friend, firecracker?
I actually hope that Dina shows up next and decides to correct Raidah’s assumption that she is a “retarded little girl” in full earshot of Jacob. After all, she might have an actual grudge against Sarah but her terrible treatment of someone she does not even know at all really showed how terrible a person she really is. Seriously, there was no possible excuse for that.
Raidah did think that Dina had some sort of mental disorder (which, I mean, is deeply offensive to assume of somebody), but it was one of her friends who said that to Dina. She also grabbed onto Joyce’s arm to keep Sarah from pulling her away.
Raidah thinks the same of Sarah as Sarah thinks of herself; she’s terrible and everybody would be happier without her.
Raidah actually called her friends out on things like calling Dina ‘retarded,’ although she was condescending to her. The part where she calls them out is really the only time I’ve actually ever liked Raidah.
Did Jacob not get the part where it was a list of people Joyce felt comfortable with? Why would he be allowed to bring someone (I assume) is not on the list just because she’s a ‘date’.
Read the strip where he was invited. Becky didn’t say a word about this being a curated party to him.
No, actually, he didn’t.
Becky forgot to mention that part; http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/everywhere/
(it’s still rude though imo)
I really hope Joyce steps up to support Sarah here and asks Raidah to leave. Joyce having her back when it comes to someone who treated her so poorly in the past is the kind of kick Sarah needs to enjoy the party.
DAMMIT, WILLIS!
This seems like it’ll go well. I see nothing wrong with the newly presented situation.
May I also comment on the occasional difficulty of depicting sarcasm on the internet in the form of text.