Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

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BUFFER WATCH Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:

June 28, 2024

Shake out

by David M Willis on October 30, 2022 at 12:01 am
  • 01 – Bring Me to Life Drawing

└ Tags: becky, leslie

Discussion (82) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    October 30, 2022 at 12:01 am | #

    /in the same “NOTHING” tone when your mom asked what you kids were up to

    • anon
      anon
      October 30, 2022 at 12:06 am | #

      Smash cut to Dina telling Robin that she and Becky had sex lol

      • Bryy
        Bryy
        October 30, 2022 at 12:31 am | #

        YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP.

      • brionl
        brionl
        October 30, 2022 at 12:44 am | #

        Does Dina even know Robin? She’s not in Becky’s poli-sci class, is she?

        • Bryy
          Bryy
          October 30, 2022 at 1:24 am | #

          oh i read that as becky tells robin.

        • Tan
          Tan
          October 30, 2022 at 1:50 am | #

          I HAVE THE VERY BEST LINK TO GIVE YOU FOR THIS.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/5footturkey/

          (also there was that time Becky and Dina were watching cartoons with Robin, but this one’s both before that and better)

          • maarvarq
            maarvarq
            October 30, 2022 at 9:53 am | #

            Excellent!

          • Decidedly Orthogonal
            Decidedly Orthogonal
            October 31, 2022 at 8:47 am | #

            … Is Robin scared, or experiencing extremely confused arousal?

  2. butts
    butts
    October 30, 2022 at 12:02 am | #

    nothing at all… nothing at all… nothing at all…

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      October 30, 2022 at 12:05 am | #

      stupid sexy dina

      wait no

      …clever sexy dina

      • Cholma
        Cholma
        October 30, 2022 at 12:08 am | #

        Becky as Homer and Dina as Flanders?! No, No! GET THAT IMAGE OUT MY HEAD.

        Too late. Dina’s now wearing a ski outfit.

  3. The Wellerman
    The Wellerman
    October 30, 2022 at 12:03 am | #

    I am lost. What is the alternative?

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      October 30, 2022 at 12:06 am | #

      A thing happened.

      Specifically the kind of thing happened where it happening means what was happening is no longer happening.

    • anon
      anon
      October 30, 2022 at 12:06 am | #

      It not working out and them breaking up, I suppose

      • The Wellerman
        The Wellerman
        October 30, 2022 at 12:09 am | #

        Wait, does Leslie know they had sex?

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          October 30, 2022 at 12:12 am | #

          I don’t see how she would? She might guess based on this interaction

        • anon
          anon
          October 30, 2022 at 12:18 am | #

          well, they had a convo about becky being attracted , and dina possibly being asexual, but i don’t think she’d really be that detailed in a reply and leslie would probably assume they just talked about it as opposed to “we had sex, but dina regretted it” (which she didn’t) but i understand not telling a teacher about it even if it’s leslie (tho tbh i’m surprised more random strangers didn’t overhear it, shouting that kinda stuff like with becky being a lesbian seems like something that’d spread throughout a whole school if not just the wing)

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      October 30, 2022 at 12:09 am | #

      A serious falling-out and/or breakup, I think? Given that the last time Becky talked to Leslie, it was about Becky’s concerns that her own horniness and Dina’s lack thereof were irreconcilable.

    • v.gay.person
      v.gay.person
      October 30, 2022 at 10:04 am | #

      Well, she took Robin’s advice who is not entirely awesome at making adult relationship decisions, so at least one alternative is the world literally reversing in time and gummy-people becoming the dominant species.

      Not saying that was Leslie’s main concern. I think that was more, like “you experience sexual arousal and your partner does not, so you gotta figure out what you are comfortable with together whether that means staying together non-sexually, polyamory or going your separate ways”, but with Robin involved I don’t think gummy-people is out of question.

      • Coco
        Coco
        October 30, 2022 at 4:00 pm | #

        That’s assuming your partner doesn’t want to have sex without asking them. Plenty of asexual people have sex!

        • v.gay.person
          v.gay.person
          October 31, 2022 at 2:11 am | #

          Totes, as Dina has so brilliantly demonstrated. For science.
          I made that comment more based on Leslie/Robin/Becky strips from March. Specifically Leslie’s input around “ya gotta decide how important ~things~ to you and whether it’s worth it”

  4. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    October 30, 2022 at 12:05 am | #

    You read my mind
    Girl I wanna Shake You Down
    I can give you all the lovin’ you need
    –Gregory Abbott

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      October 30, 2022 at 12:13 am | #

      TIL there’s more than one “Greg(ory) Abbott” in the world, and some of them aren’t utterly remorseless monsters

  5. BBCC
    BBCC
    October 30, 2022 at 12:07 am | #

    Oh, Leslie, no teacher in this comic will ever be that.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      October 30, 2022 at 12:09 am | #

      Honestly most of the teachers we’ve met seem pretty detached from the affairs of their students, it’s just that Leslie and Robin have the misfortune of being major characters.

      • DailyBrad
        DailyBrad
        October 30, 2022 at 12:18 am | #

        Right, Doc Brock has demonstrated zero interest in forming bonds with his students, for better or worse.

        • C.T. Phipps
          C.T. Phipps
          October 30, 2022 at 12:23 am | #

          Much for better.

          I really want him and Dina to become archenemies.

        • Jeff K!
          Jeff K!
          October 30, 2022 at 1:43 am | #

          He had a close bond with a student once, back in 1985. Then the punk stole his Delorean.

          Never again.

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            October 30, 2022 at 11:28 am | #

            I like to think he had a DeLorean, but sold it after the movie came out because people wouldn’t stop making references.

    • anon
      anon
      October 30, 2022 at 12:36 am | #

      Well both professor Alex’s (?) didn’t really care, tbh i think leslie and robin are the only teachers (if you really consider robin a prof) that are actual ‘cahracters’

  6. Johan
    Johan
    October 30, 2022 at 12:08 am | #

    I keep forgetting she’s like 26.

    • a/snow/mous/e
      a/snow/mous/e
      October 30, 2022 at 12:21 am | #

      shit i’m Leslie’s age now i feel old

      • a/snow/mous/e
        a/snow/mous/e
        October 30, 2022 at 12:22 am | #

        not that Leslie is old, it’s just that i’ve accomplished approximately jack shit in life

        • C.T. Phipps
          C.T. Phipps
          October 30, 2022 at 12:23 am | #

          Don’t worry. Leslie thinks the same!

          • a/snow/mous/e
            a/snow/mous/e
            October 30, 2022 at 12:24 am | #

            Leslie is my spirit lesbian

        • anon
          anon
          October 30, 2022 at 12:38 am | #

          i mean, do we really need to ‘accomplish’ anything? should be enough just to be alive, but alas, capitalism has poisoned everyone’s thinking (nothing wrong if you do have a dream to chase after of course, but i think it’s fine as opposed to you actively trying to make the world worse or so)

          • StClair
            StClair
            October 30, 2022 at 12:41 am | #

            If you’re not making optimal use of every moment of every day, you’re “quiet quitting” on life.
            Slacker.

          • C.T. Phipps
            C.T. Phipps
            October 30, 2022 at 1:56 am | #

            I actually think accomplishing things is a fundamental drive and most people LIKE to do things that make the world run/be productive. One of the things that frustrates people trying to reform prison labor is due to how crushingly horrifically boring life is (to the point of mental torture), there’s a vast list of volunteers for prison jobs even when they’re paid pennies.

            Because at least you’re not just SITTING there.

            • Mark
              Mark
              October 30, 2022 at 9:25 am | #

              YES.

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            October 30, 2022 at 10:24 am | #

            As opposed to the good old days before capitalism poisoned everyone’s thinking? And the vast majority of people could have no ambition but trying to scrape by farming a patch of land they couldn’t even own.

            • Joy
              Joy
              October 30, 2022 at 9:28 pm | #

              Under feudalism, which wasn’t geographically universal nor extant during the entire history of humanity.

              • thejeff
                thejeff
                October 30, 2022 at 10:30 pm | #

                Or various empires, which weren’t feudal, but still left vast majorities in dire poverty.
                To be fair, one could count hunter-gatherer societies, which did have much more leisure time, but had their own problems.

                Mostly, there’s a tendency in some circles to blame capitalism for problems that run much deeper in the human condition.

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          October 30, 2022 at 2:48 pm | #

          I’m 64 and most of my accomplishments are surviving shit that most people wouldn’t. And delivering my youngest daughter at home with a compound breech delivery and nobody even had a serious injury, those are not infrequent killers of either the baby, the mother, or both.

      • BarerMender
        BarerMender
        October 30, 2022 at 1:12 am | #

        Enjoy it while you have it. I’m a few years shy of three times Leslie’s age.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      October 30, 2022 at 1:16 am | #

      10 years of difference enough to make us fell older, huh?

    • chuckroast
      chuckroast
      October 30, 2022 at 3:19 am | #

      I’m older than Leslie… I hate this world

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      October 30, 2022 at 11:26 am | #

      I don’t know why, but I always assume she’s about 32.

    • Delavan
      Delavan
      October 30, 2022 at 11:39 am | #

      As someone who was an adjunct from 24-26… it is sometimes hard to remember!

  7. Kravis
    Kravis
    October 30, 2022 at 12:11 am | #

    We didn’t bang like crazy raptors on heat or anything, if that’s what you’re not asking…

    • Clif
      Clif
      October 30, 2022 at 1:12 am | #

      Well, that’s two people we care enough about to lie by omission.

  8. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    October 30, 2022 at 12:16 am | #

    This reminds me that Becky still holds a bit of shame for banging Dina. Otherwise why lie to her preferred mother figure?

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      October 30, 2022 at 12:18 am | #

      Probably in part that, and in part that this is maybe more of a Robin-style move and thus may make Leslie feel slighted.

      • Sirksome
        Sirksome
        October 30, 2022 at 12:26 am | #

        How would Leslie feel slighted though? She never said that Becky and Dina couldn’t bang, just that they should talk things out and would eventually come to a solution. Which is exactly what happened. Robin just said it’s okay to make mistakes. If Becky is more relating her experience to Robin’s advice over Leslie’s than it feels like she thinks sex with Dina was a mistake.

        • BarerMender
          BarerMender
          October 30, 2022 at 1:14 am | #

          She explicitly told Robin they’d made a mistake.

    • Bryy
      Bryy
      October 30, 2022 at 12:33 am | #

      Also, I feel like her refusing to tell Joyce is a way for her to feel superior to Joyce.

    • anon
      anon
      October 30, 2022 at 12:37 am | #

      i like leslie and all but unless we were the same age and actual friends rather than her being a teacher figure, i wouldn’t have told her either. if anything i’d be more likely to tell joyce

    • v.gay.person
      v.gay.person
      October 30, 2022 at 10:12 am | #

      I didn’t even read it this way! I just took it as a “yes we did the talking and did not break up/there was no negative consequences”. With your meep I’m curious to see whether it *is* hiding that smex happened or not.

  9. C.T. Phipps
    C.T. Phipps
    October 30, 2022 at 12:21 am | #

    Remember, adult adoption is a thing! Go ahead and do it, Leslie!

    • anon
      anon
      October 30, 2022 at 12:41 am | #

      i mean even if she’s technically 18 now? i’d think she’d still be considered a kid/teen being taken in if she needed a place to stay (if anything i’m surprised any 18 year old can move out on their own even with a roommate or two the same age, other than a landlord scamming/taking advantage of someone not yet in their 20s/just starting out, i’d also feel like some places would make you cosign with someone 25-30+ or so as some kinda ‘responsibility’ thing to insure that some young dumb teen doesn’t wreck the place/ruin the other neighbor’s experiences [tho i’ve never lived on my own so idk how hard it is to find an apartment /decent living situation even if you have enough money])

      • Clif
        Clif
        October 30, 2022 at 1:14 am | #

        If you have enough money, many things become possible.

      • CJ
        CJ
        October 30, 2022 at 4:32 am | #

        What’s happening? It used to be normal for 18 years to move out. Have rents jacked up so much in the US that you are starting to tell people kids should stay with their parents until they are in their twenties?
        Some people I know moved into their own tiny flats when they were 16.

        • Jess
          Jess
          October 30, 2022 at 5:29 am | #

          Places near me are 900-1200 a month for a 500 square foot studio.

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            October 30, 2022 at 10:36 am | #

            … That’s about what my mortgage costs for double the space.

            I paid under a grand for an 800 square foot one-bedroom from 2014-2018.

            The fuck.

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              October 30, 2022 at 10:32 pm | #

              Nice thing about a mortgage is that you can fix much of the cost, so it doesn’t change when prices spike.

              There are also of course vast differences depending on location.

              • Needfuldoer
                Needfuldoer
                October 31, 2022 at 7:18 am | #

                Yup. The only part that changes is property tax, and that’s chump change compared to the principal.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          October 30, 2022 at 8:16 am | #

          So, do you just not read the news, or are you from someplace else, where things aren’t as incessantly terrible? The rent’s been too damn high for years and years (and years), and it’s not showing any signs of getting any lower. People are broke, landlords are predators, and robots are buying all the houses.

        • v.gay.person
          v.gay.person
          October 30, 2022 at 10:15 am | #

          I live in Australia, and my mum moved in with /me/ because of the cost of living. Shit’s fucked.

        • Joy
          Joy
          October 30, 2022 at 9:33 pm | #

          Haha yes rents have indeed gotten that jacket up. It’s so bad that people are staying with family until they want to start a family and sometimes they stay with their parents even then. (That’s actually completely fine with me and is what I view as more traditional than the nuclear family structure, but it’s still bad because abusive parents exist. You should want the option to move out.)

        • Cerusee
          Cerusee
          October 30, 2022 at 10:37 pm | #

          Yes? It’s almost prohibitively expensive for young adults to live on their own in modern America, and there’s no fucking reason why they should feel like they have to in the first place. Multi-generational households are historically the norm through most of human existence, across all continents and civilizations.

          The “moving out at 18 and setting up your own household” thing is very recent, culturally speaking, and it’s kind of an American white person expectation in the first place. It’s a bullshit idea that rose during a weird little bubble of prosperity for a certain class of Americans for a few decades, and it’s rapidly falling out of favor now that that kind of prosperity has vanished and all the money has been sucked back up by the wealthy.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        October 30, 2022 at 10:38 am | #

        I mean, I’m kind of surprised landlords don’t pull that shit too, but at the same time it would make it even harder for young adults who don’t have parents to fall back on. Like, what would a Becky do if she’d somehow managed to scrape together enough money/roommates for rent but still wasn’t allowed to unless she could get her parents to cosign? Or even some “more adult” adult.

        I think generally these days they don’t use age strictly, but they use credit checks, which can amount to the same thing, since near homeless teens don’t really build up good credit scores.

        I know back in my late teens and early 20s I rented a bunch of different places without any kind of co-signing. A lot of them were subletting from other young renters – roommates or taking a room over a college break, but some were directly through the landlord. Long time ago now, but I don’t remember that ever coming up directly.

  10. Sajuuk-Khar
    Sajuuk-Khar
    October 30, 2022 at 12:27 am | #

    Leslie’s entire body vibrating at a frequency of MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER PLEASE LET ME LOVE YOUUUUY

  11. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    October 30, 2022 at 1:39 am | #

    Losing everything in life make a huge scar in anybody, but I think Leslie is dealing well…

  12. Holly
    Holly
    October 30, 2022 at 2:19 am | #

    Fun fact, in the UK teachers can get fired from their entire career without warning for attending the same sports club as a student and the police might get alerted to investigate, just in case!

    If that’d been the case here, both Becky and Lesley woulda been screwed :-/

    • J. Gawain
      J. Gawain
      October 30, 2022 at 9:13 am | #

      so…if a teacher is a longtime member of a sports club, and one of their students decides to join said club on a whim, the teacher has to quit that club? Is there some other bit of context that I’m missing, because that seems really unfair.

      • Holly
        Holly
        October 30, 2022 at 11:25 am | #

        Hmm, I’m unsure about that order tbh! Schools don’t all have the exact same set of rules though, and some are more strict in their interpretations than others.

  13. Kaos
    Kaos
    October 30, 2022 at 5:20 am | #

    Uhm… Leslie can easily hear it from the other students because Becky wasn’t extacly subtle that she got laid with Dina.
    Yikes. good i am not in Becky’s shoes when Leslie finds out.
    “Why did you lie to me? i thought you TRUSTED me? did you think i would kick you out just because you got sex?”

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      October 30, 2022 at 8:08 am | #

      Sure, except none of the other students are talking about it, because they don’t much care, and to the extent that any of them do care, they’re mostly not talking about it in case Joyce finds out.

      Also, the Leslie in my head understands why people might not be comfortable discussing certain things in certain circumstances. She’d be a bit hurt, but she wouldn’t take it out on Becky. I accept the Leslie in your head feels differently, and we’ll just have to see which is closer to the Leslie in Willis’s head.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        October 30, 2022 at 2:38 pm | #

        Or in one case, not talking about it in fear of parental retribution if they do.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/forbidding/

  14. darkoneko
    darkoneko
    October 30, 2022 at 8:12 am | #

    Yeah you WISH, Leslie. lol

  15. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    October 30, 2022 at 3:21 pm | #

    This is incredibly sad. Becky is afraid to tells the truth to one of the women that helped her the most in her life. She’s afraid of her reaction… she don’t trust Leslie at all…she don’t trust herself at all too! Now I want to see if Becky will do the same with Robin.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      October 30, 2022 at 10:34 pm | #

      Or she doesn’t want to tell a mother figure about having sex – because that’s not the kind of thing she thinks you tell mothers.

  16. bagge
    bagge
    October 31, 2022 at 2:49 am | #

    leslie, you are amazing but out of your many talents, normal boundries is not it

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