This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Countdown to Countdown
Velinxi
Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
Namesake
Isa, Meg
There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
2 Slices
RJ Morel
After a case of mistaken identity, will awkward Daisuke find help from excitable Mamo, or will his love life be thrown completely off track?
Slightly Damned
Chu
Rhea Snaketail returns from the dead, befriending a Demon who falls in love with an Angel. The afterlife ain't what it used to be!
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
Fantomestein
Beka Duke
Desperate for companionship, Frankenstein's Monster pretends to be the Opera Ghost. A grave mistake.
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I really don’t get where the “aww” reactions are coming from. Ruth is tearing into Billie and then vaguely tries to make up for it.
You know how some folks here think Amber is an abusive person towards Danny? That’s kind of how Ruth and Billie come off to me (just, you know, not to the lengths of somebody like Blaine).
“You made me do normal adult things! How dare you!? I am angry :|” is well within the normal ribbing of both friendships and relationships. Like, Ruth sometimes does say abusive shit, but this ain’t. That pause tells me she’s desperately trying to come up with something because she isn’t actually angry.
I expect this is a matter of expectations. They are dumb kids in a kinky relationship, quite possibly their first one; it’s not immediately intuitive how to behave. Further, and this bears repeating, like basically everyone else, they are dumb, and compounding this, they believe they’re just broken and not engaging in things normal people do. I kinda get why they aren’t trying to look up SnM relationships. Frankly, being dumb is about enough.
Possibly. I’m not entirely sure whether or not they just think it’s normal to be really volatile towards each other, or if they are into it that way. And like, Ruth really doesn’t do friendly ribbing a lot, and when she does she’s usually smirking and making it clear she’s telling a joke, so maybe?
That part about how they believe they’re broken motivating their words and actions, like they kind of expect themselves to always do something wrong, is probably spot on, though. I like that idea.
I’m pretty sure they both think the other is into it, at the very least. Whether they are ACTUALLY into it requires an internal monologue, or an extremely frank, absolutely no holds barred dialogue; the latter is a good idea in this kind of relationship and won’t happen, because they’re dumb and think they’re broken. What I meant with that isn’t that they’re sure they will slip up, incidentally; putting aside that it implies a level of reckless abandon on them both I’m not willing to impute, it’s also just not what I meant. What I mean is, they think they’re broken – therefore, what they’re doing is basically completely new ground, something normal people would never contemplate. Them being young and Dumb is sufficient to not look into something this difficult; it’s kind of a fuckup, but it happens, because young and Dumb. Them being young and Dumb /and thinking you’re fundamentally broken people who do not do what normal people do/ probably kills any chance of looking up how this is normally done. For kids stumbling about in the dark, they appear to be doing a good job, but it’s hard to know for sure without an internal monologue.
I haven’t paid for the newest slipshine (and barely remember the old one; it was what, a year ago?), but it does seem to be overwhelmingly play for them. Where either has crossed the line even a tiny bit (and having looked back on them since they started, ‘tiny bit’ is about as far as I’ll go), I’m inclined to give the benefit of doubt; partially because they’re in a shitty situation and I expect especially Ruth to occasionally lash out, but mostly because most of what Ruth’s done since they start requires her to be more manipulative than she’s ever shown herself to be. And Billie was pretty masterfully trolling her domme into bed more or less immediately (and I have a hard time empathizing with it hurting to insult a sportsball team. Especially the Leafs, I mean come on)
I still don’t get how I can sympathize so much with someone as abusive and bullying as Ruth.
It’s a testament to Willis’ abilities as a writer that Ruth is neither some horrible cartoon villain, but also not having her worst actions glossed over because she has issues and a sad backstory.
I really don’t think lashing out at your partner once and then immediately regretting it is equivalent to Ruth spending the first half of the comic systematically harassing Billie, physically harming her, stealing her stuff, and then sexually assaulting her.
I saw no sexual assault on Ruth’s part. Billie was blindsides, yes, but only because she didn’t think of the possibility at the time (had it been a guy, she’d probably have thought of the possibility). The sparks where there to see for those who could interpret them – as is fairly bog-standard at the start of a romance.
Context. The sexual tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. It didn’t happen out of the blue – it was the culmination of many interactions.
Had that element been absent – sure, I’d agree with you – but it was there and it led to the sensual outburst. Not a mature way of handling it, but hardly criminal – merely raw and lacking any tact.
Sounds like a personal problem, Spence. I agree with him, even if I think he’s explaining it badly.
Or put it another way. If you can be charged with sexual assault because you moved to kiss someone on the misguided assumption that they were interested in you and immediately backed off when they protested…well, I’m sorry guys, but awkward dumb never-dated-a-girl-before teenaged me is apparently a criminal.
Now I’m not in any way saying their relationship is 100 percent healthy, because it isn’t. But abusive? I dunno. The problem is that trash talking isn’t my kink, and yet its clearly a turn on for these two. So its kind of hard to judge whether this is a disfunctional relationship or a functional one built partly on faux antagonism. At least for me. But once again I like these two together, so I’m a biased source ever willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Nothri, that wasn’t “moved to kiss someone on the misguided assumption that they were interested in you and immediately backed off”, that was a “slam her against the wall and kiss her before being forcibly shoved away”.
Hard as hell to prosecute without video or something, but definitely fits the definition of sexual assault.
I like this relationship for various other reasons and I don’t think it’s currently abusive, but it surely started out that way.
Also asidely, if your major objection to accepting that something is problematic is that it potentially puts your own past self in a negative light, THAT sounds like a personal problem, and I reallly hope you don’t take that approach to real life situations.
Honestly, I’ve gotta (partially) side with nothri and DarkVeghetta. Sexual assault should always be viewed with disgust and disapproval, but take a look at the comments of that “recalculating” page. They are almost entirely whooping it up and cheering. Everyone regarded it as a culmination of sexual tension, albeit violent. If you wanted to accuse that as sexual assault, you should at least be consistent and have disapproved then, regardless of Billie’s response on the next page. Because if you guys couldn’t tell at the time that it was over the line titled “sexual assault”, then maybe you shouldn’t criticize Ruth for making that mistake in those circumstances, especially when you already know Billie’s reaction and she didn’t.
Granted, the early part of their relationship started with all of the maturity of an 8-year-old shoving a frog inside the bra of a girl they like (a particularly punchy, asshole frog that steals your stuff).
Yeah, I know that feeling. It’s really, really difficult for me to look past Ruth’s abusive actions due to my own history. Like, even just saying “I feel bad for her” kind of makes me shiver a bit.
It’s okay to feel sympathy for people. Even those who harmed you. Even those like those who harmed you, or loved ones. Precisely nobody should suffer. Suffering evoking sympathy is fine. Even of the absolute worst people, which we’re really not dealing with.
A clitoris can get hard. It’s a lot less visually noticeable compared to a penis because most of the clitoris is internal, but it still hardens during arousal like a penis (and if you’re touching a clitoris, you can feel the difference).
So, unless there’s some other reason preventing arousal, they both can, in fact, get hard.
Not ‘Frank’, but ‘the Frank’, like in the Frankish people, the German tribe noted for running amok in mead halls during the early single-digit centuries.
i get it! cuz she’s canadian, she knows what boxing day is!
anyone who thinks that this is a joke, i have a calendar which on dec. 26 has ‘boxing day (c)’ meaning ‘canadian holiday’. i know that it’s also in the uk, but my calendar does not recognize that it’s in america
“That one holiday we Americans make fun of cuz we have not yet co-opted and turned it into yet another reason to get drunk on our respective asses like St. Patrick’s Day, Hallowe’en, Oktoberfest, or Cinco de Mayo.”
I know their relationship is allowing them to continue some pretty self-destructive behaviour, but I appreciate how they oscillate between kinda distracting each other by being playfully snippy, providing actually useful support and these moments of quiet contact (which also count as useful support). It’s really touching until you remember the alcoholic suicide pact aspect.
Well, as i see it, they both might be in bad shape alone but together they will manage to influence each others in a way that will over time get them both back to a more functioning condition which will slowly pull themselves out of the mess they currently are in despite their initial mindset at the start of their relationship…..
Though, i doubt it will be a straight road without bumps, that’s for sure>_<
I’m not sure their relationship is allowing them to continue. I mean, it’s not stopping them, but I don’t see any reason to think they would have stopped without it either.
Well, Ruth might have, but only in a really bad way.
Obviously getting some help and getting off the booze would be better, but there were no signs of that happening and the relationship seems to be helping them function in the interim.
Well in Billie’s case, their relationship is a literal hiding place for her behaviour. Before she moved in, her friends were getting really suspicious to the point that intervention was likely.
Like you suggested, Ruth’s situation probably would’ve ended poorly, at least to the degree that she would’ve gotten caught and removed from her position and/or the school.
Their relationship does allow them to function, but there’s still scary moments like that strip a while back where Billie wakes up and has to check Ruth’s pulse to make sure she’s alive. I think the relationship is really cute and supportive at points (that was the main point of my original comment), but I just didn’t want to make it seem like I thought it was completely healthy.
We have previously seen that Ruth, on some level, resents her feelings and relationship with Billie, since she feels like she’s dragging her down with her.
Loving someone gives a hostage to fortune. If Ruth destroys herself, that’s just her, no one else really gets hurt*. If she destroys Billie and herself, she’s destroyed someone she loves.
And if Billie loves Ruth, Ruth destroying herself will hurt Billie.
It is an awful lot of responsibility to deal with when she can’t even deal with her own life.
* Except Howard, her other hostage to fortune.
(Yes other people who care about Ruth will suffer lesser hurts, but depression will tell you that they don’t really care, nor should they. And it hard to care about their theoretical future pain over your real here and now pain.)
A friend who is Can-Am, grew up mostly Can but has grown jaundiced the last few years says that the fabled politeness is really passive-aggressiveness. (Whereas Americans are just in your face aggressive, but either aren’t even aware of it OR will blame you for deserving it and claim that its strictly defensive.ĺ
America knows what Boxing Day is.
It’s the day you put the things you got for Christmas back into their boxes and take them back to the stores to return them for the things you *really* wanted.
I love this couple. And my heart goes out to Billie, who is devastated by Joyce’s not-okay condition. Those who know a lot about depression may be able to say more or correct me; but from my perspective, feeling bad about someone else’s pain seems like a step away from being locked inside one’s own misery.
For all her issues, Billie really has this fixer mentality (‘head cheerleader, problem solver’), and uses trying to help solve other people’s problems as sort of way of avoiding or a substitute for dealing with her own.
And now Joyce too is struggling with something Billie doesn’t know how to deal with, and I think that’s really getting to her here.
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“you and your tryna make me keep my job and stay happy and shit, GOD”
“It’s like you actually care for me!”
“…I mean, who even DOES that anymore…?”
sometimes it can be hard to stay happy and want to do your job. especially to stay happy
“Girl, if you’re looking for sympathy, it’s in the dictionary”
“Why the f*ck do I sleep with you?!”
d’awwwwww
Endless d’awwws and <3's.
Are squees appropriate, or do they lose their luster once the ship becomes canon?
Keeping the squees polished up nice and shiny is a critical duty of any ship’s crew.
In that case
I really don’t get where the “aww” reactions are coming from. Ruth is tearing into Billie and then vaguely tries to make up for it.
You know how some folks here think Amber is an abusive person towards Danny? That’s kind of how Ruth and Billie come off to me (just, you know, not to the lengths of somebody like Blaine).
“You made me do normal adult things! How dare you!? I am angry :|” is well within the normal ribbing of both friendships and relationships. Like, Ruth sometimes does say abusive shit, but this ain’t. That pause tells me she’s desperately trying to come up with something because she isn’t actually angry.
I expect this is a matter of expectations. They are dumb kids in a kinky relationship, quite possibly their first one; it’s not immediately intuitive how to behave. Further, and this bears repeating, like basically everyone else, they are dumb, and compounding this, they believe they’re just broken and not engaging in things normal people do. I kinda get why they aren’t trying to look up SnM relationships. Frankly, being dumb is about enough.
Possibly. I’m not entirely sure whether or not they just think it’s normal to be really volatile towards each other, or if they are into it that way. And like, Ruth really doesn’t do friendly ribbing a lot, and when she does she’s usually smirking and making it clear she’s telling a joke, so maybe?
That part about how they believe they’re broken motivating their words and actions, like they kind of expect themselves to always do something wrong, is probably spot on, though. I like that idea.
I’m pretty sure they both think the other is into it, at the very least. Whether they are ACTUALLY into it requires an internal monologue, or an extremely frank, absolutely no holds barred dialogue; the latter is a good idea in this kind of relationship and won’t happen, because they’re dumb and think they’re broken. What I meant with that isn’t that they’re sure they will slip up, incidentally; putting aside that it implies a level of reckless abandon on them both I’m not willing to impute, it’s also just not what I meant. What I mean is, they think they’re broken – therefore, what they’re doing is basically completely new ground, something normal people would never contemplate. Them being young and Dumb is sufficient to not look into something this difficult; it’s kind of a fuckup, but it happens, because young and Dumb. Them being young and Dumb /and thinking you’re fundamentally broken people who do not do what normal people do/ probably kills any chance of looking up how this is normally done. For kids stumbling about in the dark, they appear to be doing a good job, but it’s hard to know for sure without an internal monologue.
I haven’t paid for the newest slipshine (and barely remember the old one; it was what, a year ago?), but it does seem to be overwhelmingly play for them. Where either has crossed the line even a tiny bit (and having looked back on them since they started, ‘tiny bit’ is about as far as I’ll go), I’m inclined to give the benefit of doubt; partially because they’re in a shitty situation and I expect especially Ruth to occasionally lash out, but mostly because most of what Ruth’s done since they start requires her to be more manipulative than she’s ever shown herself to be. And Billie was pretty masterfully trolling her domme into bed more or less immediately (and I have a hard time empathizing with it hurting to insult a sportsball team. Especially the Leafs, I mean come on)
*plays the Beatles “You Like Me Too Much” on the Muzak*
I love this song so much.
Also plays the Beatles’ “She Loves You”, “Love, love me do”, and “Please please me”. xD
Plays the Beatles on spotify
Oh, Ruth. *Sympathetic depression headpats*
Billie realizes that the most vulnerable point of the Ruthesarus Becks is her Achilles Nape.
Much like the Titans in Shingeki no Kyojin?
I still don’t get how I can sympathize so much with someone as abusive and bullying as Ruth.
It’s a testament to Willis’ abilities as a writer that Ruth is neither some horrible cartoon villain, but also not having her worst actions glossed over because she has issues and a sad backstory.
plus he saves that role for AmberWord.
Suspicious. (Damn you Deus Ex HR!)
I really don’t think lashing out at your partner once and then immediately regretting it is equivalent to Ruth spending the first half of the comic systematically harassing Billie, physically harming her, stealing her stuff, and then sexually assaulting her.
Agreed.
I saw no sexual assault on Ruth’s part. Billie was blindsides, yes, but only because she didn’t think of the possibility at the time (had it been a guy, she’d probably have thought of the possibility). The sparks where there to see for those who could interpret them – as is fairly bog-standard at the start of a romance.
Ruth slammed her against a wall and forcibly kissed her.
Context. The sexual tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. It didn’t happen out of the blue – it was the culmination of many interactions.
Had that element been absent – sure, I’d agree with you – but it was there and it led to the sensual outburst. Not a mature way of handling it, but hardly criminal – merely raw and lacking any tact.
I can’t express in words how much you are creeping me out.
Sounds like a personal problem, Spence. I agree with him, even if I think he’s explaining it badly.
Or put it another way. If you can be charged with sexual assault because you moved to kiss someone on the misguided assumption that they were interested in you and immediately backed off when they protested…well, I’m sorry guys, but awkward dumb never-dated-a-girl-before teenaged me is apparently a criminal.
Now I’m not in any way saying their relationship is 100 percent healthy, because it isn’t. But abusive? I dunno. The problem is that trash talking isn’t my kink, and yet its clearly a turn on for these two. So its kind of hard to judge whether this is a disfunctional relationship or a functional one built partly on faux antagonism. At least for me. But once again I like these two together, so I’m a biased source ever willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Nothri, that wasn’t “moved to kiss someone on the misguided assumption that they were interested in you and immediately backed off”, that was a “slam her against the wall and kiss her before being forcibly shoved away”.
Hard as hell to prosecute without video or something, but definitely fits the definition of sexual assault.
I like this relationship for various other reasons and I don’t think it’s currently abusive, but it surely started out that way.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/stability/ and the following two strips. That’s not misreading signs, that’s not ‘moving in to kiss’, that is a kiss forcibly given when no reasonable person would consider one invited.
Contrast with Daisy, who got caught up in a moment and wasn’t thinking: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/likethis/
And even more distinctly contrast Becky with Joyce, who did in fact spectacularly misread signs: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/jealous/
What I’m saying is that DoA has a lot of nonreciprocal girl-on-girl kissing, it’s just the Billie and Ruth one that’s assault
Also asidely, if your major objection to accepting that something is problematic is that it potentially puts your own past self in a negative light, THAT sounds like a personal problem, and I reallly hope you don’t take that approach to real life situations.
Honestly, I’ve gotta (partially) side with nothri and DarkVeghetta. Sexual assault should always be viewed with disgust and disapproval, but take a look at the comments of that “recalculating” page. They are almost entirely whooping it up and cheering. Everyone regarded it as a culmination of sexual tension, albeit violent. If you wanted to accuse that as sexual assault, you should at least be consistent and have disapproved then, regardless of Billie’s response on the next page. Because if you guys couldn’t tell at the time that it was over the line titled “sexual assault”, then maybe you shouldn’t criticize Ruth for making that mistake in those circumstances, especially when you already know Billie’s reaction and she didn’t.
Granted, the early part of their relationship started with all of the maturity of an 8-year-old shoving a frog inside the bra of a girl they like (a particularly punchy, asshole frog that steals your stuff).
Ruth reminds me of a childhood bully I had. It’s hard to not wish her harm.
Yeah, I know that feeling. It’s really, really difficult for me to look past Ruth’s abusive actions due to my own history. Like, even just saying “I feel bad for her” kind of makes me shiver a bit.
It’s okay to feel sympathy for people. Even those who harmed you. Even those like those who harmed you, or loved ones. Precisely nobody should suffer. Suffering evoking sympathy is fine. Even of the absolute worst people, which we’re really not dealing with.
ohohO i BET shes been busting your ass ohohohoho
Making her put on clothes is less hot.
Unless it’s like kinky cosplay or something. We know they have access to a cheerleader outfit, at minimum.
And a couple sets of lingerie.
Nah. The right clothes that accentuate a person’s best physical attributes while still being work appropriate and publicly presentable is rather hot.
It’s kinda hard when a friend’s going through a hard time.
but neither of them can get hard… oh wait… you meant… oh ok nevermind
A clitoris can get hard. It’s a lot less visually noticeable compared to a penis because most of the clitoris is internal, but it still hardens during arousal like a penis (and if you’re touching a clitoris, you can feel the difference).
So, unless there’s some other reason preventing arousal, they both can, in fact, get hard.
I like how Dr. Smart is being schooled by Not A Doctor. What a delightfully rare moment.
Don’t forget the nipples.
I’ve no clear reason why, but I do really like these two.
because they’re adorbs and fit well together! :3
Ruth doesn’t realize that she spilled booze on the back of her shirt, and Billie is just sucking on the stain.
That would make Billie a hypocrite given how she reacted to Walky.
You think it’ll be the 1st time Billie’s been hypocritical about something?
Howinthehell does one spill booze on the *BACK* of their shirt?
I don’t know, but if past habits are any indication then Billie and Ruth are the likeliest to figure it out.
Quaffing mishap. Happens all the time in mead halls.
*very drunken speech* Heyjagowaahn maaate? TO MATES!!”
*Goes to take a drink, is too dunk, misses face, pours booze down back*
“Ahh shnit, who the Frank pushed me…?”
Who the eff is Frank?
Not ‘Frank’, but ‘the Frank’, like in the Frankish people, the German tribe noted for running amok in mead halls during the early single-digit centuries.
Push the button, Frank.
“And that was when I developed a drinking problem.”
Is Billie asleep?
…yes. Yes she is.
Ruth is reacting the same way I always do when I’m faced with a situation like this.
sometimes actually being there is better than knowing what to say
i get it! cuz she’s canadian, she knows what boxing day is!
anyone who thinks that this is a joke, i have a calendar which on dec. 26 has ‘boxing day (c)’ meaning ‘canadian holiday’. i know that it’s also in the uk, but my calendar does not recognize that it’s in america
In America, every day is boxing day!
“who need boxing when you have guns ?”
Ah Boxing Day. That one holiday we Americans make fun of cuz it’s not ‘Murican. Well one of the multiple holidays made fun of anyways.
“That one holiday we Americans make fun of cuz we have not yet co-opted and turned it into yet another reason to get drunk on our respective asses like St. Patrick’s Day, Hallowe’en, Oktoberfest, or Cinco de Mayo.”
Fixed it for ya.
You forgot Labour(Labor) Day.
Boxing day? Who’s fighting?
Boxing Day is about gifting, showing appreciation. Not fighting.
But they haven’t even reached Halloween in comic time.
Eating left-overs and whining about the footie.
“I hate you right now… but ooooooh my god snuggling you’re forgiven”
Ruth in a ponytail is still so inexplicably adorable.
(today’s title) via light physical contact.
Aw
In b4 diamond cutter.
I know their relationship is allowing them to continue some pretty self-destructive behaviour, but I appreciate how they oscillate between kinda distracting each other by being playfully snippy, providing actually useful support and these moments of quiet contact (which also count as useful support). It’s really touching until you remember the alcoholic suicide pact aspect.
Well, as i see it, they both might be in bad shape alone but together they will manage to influence each others in a way that will over time get them both back to a more functioning condition which will slowly pull themselves out of the mess they currently are in despite their initial mindset at the start of their relationship…..
Though, i doubt it will be a straight road without bumps, that’s for sure>_<
I’m not sure their relationship is allowing them to continue. I mean, it’s not stopping them, but I don’t see any reason to think they would have stopped without it either.
Well, Ruth might have, but only in a really bad way.
Obviously getting some help and getting off the booze would be better, but there were no signs of that happening and the relationship seems to be helping them function in the interim.
Well in Billie’s case, their relationship is a literal hiding place for her behaviour. Before she moved in, her friends were getting really suspicious to the point that intervention was likely.
Like you suggested, Ruth’s situation probably would’ve ended poorly, at least to the degree that she would’ve gotten caught and removed from her position and/or the school.
Their relationship does allow them to function, but there’s still scary moments like that strip a while back where Billie wakes up and has to check Ruth’s pulse to make sure she’s alive. I think the relationship is really cute and supportive at points (that was the main point of my original comment), but I just didn’t want to make it seem like I thought it was completely healthy.
“pretend”
sure, ruth
We have previously seen that Ruth, on some level, resents her feelings and relationship with Billie, since she feels like she’s dragging her down with her.
Loving someone gives a hostage to fortune. If Ruth destroys herself, that’s just her, no one else really gets hurt*. If she destroys Billie and herself, she’s destroyed someone she loves.
And if Billie loves Ruth, Ruth destroying herself will hurt Billie.
It is an awful lot of responsibility to deal with when she can’t even deal with her own life.
* Except Howard, her other hostage to fortune.
(Yes other people who care about Ruth will suffer lesser hurts, but depression will tell you that they don’t really care, nor should they. And it hard to care about their theoretical future pain over your real here and now pain.)
hovertext tells me willis has never seen a Canadian boxing day.
our politeness carries over. maybe not to ruth, but y’know…
I am assuming that Ruth was thrown out of Canada for insufficient politeness. The dead parents thing is just a cover story.
^ thingy. This ^
A friend who is Can-Am, grew up mostly Can but has grown jaundiced the last few years says that the fabled politeness is really passive-aggressiveness. (Whereas Americans are just in your face aggressive, but either aren’t even aware of it OR will blame you for deserving it and claim that its strictly defensive.ĺ
Except I do kind of actually like you. Well played.
“‘Cause I don’t. Baka.”
You so tsun-tsun, Ruth-chan.
“Your turn to hurt, my turn to comfort.
Man, we have the healthiest dynamic, don’t we?”
For the last time to you Americans
THAT’S NOT WHAT BOXING IN BOXING DAY MEANS
Yeah, well, it’s Ruth. She’ll take any excuse to hit people.
America knows what Boxing Day is.
It’s the day you put the things you got for Christmas back into their boxes and take them back to the stores to return them for the things you *really* wanted.
Sounds about right.
For example.
Ruth is Canadian
Ah, Ruth! You’re not the hopeless case that you believe yourself to be (and, occasionally, want yourself to be)!
Shoulder blades make excellent pillows.
Shouldn’t that be more like “Oo mush my ash miss mawning …”? She does have a pen in her mouth.
She has a very talented mouth.
What?
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Billie is my spirit animal! All the hugs.
I love this couple. And my heart goes out to Billie, who is devastated by Joyce’s not-okay condition. Those who know a lot about depression may be able to say more or correct me; but from my perspective, feeling bad about someone else’s pain seems like a step away from being locked inside one’s own misery.
For all her issues, Billie really has this fixer mentality (‘head cheerleader, problem solver’), and uses trying to help solve other people’s problems as sort of way of avoiding or a substitute for dealing with her own.
And now Joyce too is struggling with something Billie doesn’t know how to deal with, and I think that’s really getting to her here.
Agreed.
My mother has dementia. I’m an engineer who’s spent all his life fixing things and I can’t fix her.
I like all the people freaking out over Willis’ boxing day joke. Seriously guys, calm down. It was a joke.
this is cute and i love moments with ruth and billie like this.
Adorbs
So anyone looking forward to reassembling Squadron 33 in XCOM 2 this February? I know it’s one of the first things I’d do with the character editor.
Dina maybe a nerd, but she sure gets more sun than Billie.
Ummm not to alarm anyone… But the sound of music… Is on NBC…
Thanks for the warning, I will be sure to steer clear of NBC.
This has to be my favourite Billie/Ruth strip.