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preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 8h
![We have two major problems in our party: We have a courage problem and we have a competition problem. Because we don't challenge the status quo or people who are in safer blue seats nearly enough, we [end up with certain] candidates who get really comfortable. [highlighted by me] And if there's anything that I've learned from activism and organizing, it's that comfortable people — especially politicians — do not change.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pum3nk6m6xqwqw5e7v5wcbgu/bafkreiau7p4ck7uqou2ywenr4kxtrz5scy64hkksovtg3zbd5v3eb6vryi@jpeg)
Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com ⋅ 10h
) Rigid, likely cast urethane/resin, no leg warping here! Flexible hoses. Beautiful piece! Any prototype collectors interested, hit me up! #beastwars #transformers
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Nothing to see here, folks!
mel! @mel.bzky.team ⋅ 5m
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secrets are like blood in the water for Joyce, huh
Joyce is very good at intelligence gathering
Lesbian love sleuth! Where ‘lesbian’ modifies ‘love’ and unfortunately not ‘sleuth’!
Sounds like a great premise for a visual novel!
That sounds like Jaime the Love Detective on Girls With Slingshots.
Yuss! *blows bubble pipe*
Whatta birthday strip this is
Happy stripday
And many more.
More like a birthday ship.
Oh daaaaaaaaaang.
This will go well with no chance of misunderstandings or miscommunication. Neither Liz, Roz, nor Becky will be at the piza place. Nothing can go wrong.
Way to rub it in, alt text.
Also no Jacob or Walky. For different reasons.
It would still have a chance of going right – except, in Willis world, there’s only that one place that serves pizza, and no others.
Because why would anyone else think there was any money to be made competing in the pizza slinging market in a college town?
Well there’s the place that used to be where Galasso’s is now but had to move out of town to a cheaper place, but they’re not a direct competitor anymore.
GALASSO HAS CONQUERED THE LOCAL PIZZA (AND SUBS) MARKET!
Becky won’t be, she’s in class. Liz won’t be, she actually got carted back to school. Roz might be, but she wouldn’t ruin the pizza time, she doesn’t care that much about Joyce or Joe.
*plays “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin on hacked muzak*
*hacks muzak again, plays “Aammoorree” by Neil Cicierega on it*
Feels appropriate.
When an eel has a maw with a pharyngeal jaw,
That’s a moray!
When his jaws open wide there are more jaws inside,
That’s a moray!
When a grid’s misaligned with another behind
That’s a moiré
When the spacing is tight and the difference is slight
That’s a moiré
You are two are special people. Why aren’t there more like you?
When you use radio waves, to see where the blood stay
That’s M.R.A.
When resonance sees, your angiography-s.
That’s M.R.A.
When the internet chugs from misogynist thugs,
that’s MRAs
There are. Biologists have been singing epics about morays for, uh, a few years at least.
If you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee,
that’s a moray;
if its mouth opens wide and there’s another inside,
that’s a moray!
If it lurks in a reef and has two sets of teeth,
that’s a moray;
if it goes for your leg and breaks it like an egg,
that’s a moray!
Yikes, I didn’t know morays were so vicious. And here i thought my fear of them was entirely mario-64-based.
When our habits are strange and our customs deranged
That’s our mores.
When you swim in the creek and an eel bites your cheek, that’s a moray.
Oh my god please let this be happening.
Have a date night without calling it a date night.
Almost exactly my reaction. “Is this happening? It’s happening!”
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!11
There’s your pizza~
Joe understands the classics.
Re: First Date
re alt text: THATS WHAT YOU WANT US TO THINK
Word of God says Mike is gone for good…
But it would be very Mike to overthrow God and come back anyway, wouldn’t it?
It would be especially Mike to overthrow God and his first action being to punch Joe in the face.
Hey I might temporarily bring Mike back to life in some form in my fan games.
…I mean, that WOULD be the perfect time for Mike to show up. Much as he was able to rely on the perfect timing for a superhero, this too is a time founded fundamentally upon the internal logic of the forces that power Mike and give him his essence of being.
You know.
Being a dick.
He steps on panel, throws a bunch, shakes his hand once, turns to go, and is never seen again.
The person entering Galasso’s in front of them lets go of the door slightly too early, and it hits Joe in the face.
Connie trips carrying a tray, it goes flying and hits Joe in the face.
Joe excuses himself to the bathroom, and the faucet’s broken so it sprays him in the face with water.
As they’re leaving, they catch a glimpse of a cloud formation that vaguely resembles Mike’s hair.
Amber faintly hears Mike cackling.
The only turn of events that could possibly be more disappointing than Mike coming back is Dina finding religion.
Bite your tongue! OFF!!
I cannot see that as even a remote possibility. Thankfully.
I disagree. I could see Dina having a numinous experience contemplating deep time on some dig with her gf, seeing the whole milky way.
Or adopting some Buddhist practice . just distant from dogma.
Depends on the religion! Christianity would indeed be a disappointment for a zillion reasons, but there’s plenty of pagan practices out there that would accommodate scientific rigor, rather than demanding the other way around.
(let’s hope my new pfp works this time…)
Turn into a date! Turn into a date!
It speaks well to the potential relationship that Joe finds this endearing.
Still worried about Joe’s ability to approach the subject given his self esteem issues though.
It’d be nice if he’d just be honest about them, but uh…that seems way too healthy
The tiny smile on his face in panel four! He thinks this is cute!
(And the bigger smile on his face in panel one! He’s happy to see her!)
I just hope this doesn’t end with him running away from her.
In the rain.
(Again.)
Still traumatized by that all these years later
A few more days and we can all sing November Rain when this blows up.
And Joe might’ve just wiggled his way into a date. Wonder if he’ll get flashbacks to their first pizza date. Those were good times…for Mike specifically.
Oh right this is almost exactly the set-up from their last date.
Wondering if Booster’ll show up, since they inherited Mike’s responsibilities.
But instead of face punching makes a casual comment that they didn’t expect Joyce and Joe recognise the mutual attraction for at least a month, prompting Joyce to sputter “Joe isn’t interested in me!” Followed by Joe’s “About that- wait a minute”.
The fanfiction had been written.
It’s like the demon under your bed asking you why you’re so scared at night.
Awe but we only want to help you. 🥺
“Why are you so scared at night?” the monster asked.
“At first I was scared of you, but now I’m mostly worried things have gotten awkward between us.”
Demon: “Why you are so scared at night?”
You: “Because I’m afraid I’ll never find a beautiful and kind demon who wants to marry me.”
Demon: “Oh… well this is bit awkward now.”
I too, long to be the pog champ of a beautiful and kind demon.
I mean, how can you say no to a grin like panel 5?
Ah yes, nothing says love is in the air like Galasso’s Pizza!
Does Becky still work at Galasso’s?
…oh no.
…ooooooooh noooooo
(yes.)
We haven’t seen Becky work there since the timeskip, have we?
We have
Well I hadn’t thought of that, this could be extremely messy and unpleasant if Becky is there and she interrupts them having a moment.
True, though I’m not sure how much emotional labor Joyce is willing to do now to pretend to be her old self. Unless I’m forgetting a bunch of context, Joyce kinda seems low on fucks to give at present, especially towards Becky (sad trombone) – as much as I think in the long term they might be able to make peace.
They’re basically in détente right now, and Becky witnessed this.
She’ll put two and two together, but the question is will she rein in her playful sabotage?
YM “passive-aggressive pretending to be playful”.
I thiiiiink we’re lucky enough that Becky’s in class right now. Gender Studies.
(and subs)!
And maybe Connie.
I think this is more midday and Connie (being sixteen) is in school rather than working.
It’s all fun and games until Booster shows up and starts beating up Joe.
That would be hilarious but Joyce would probably side with Joe this time. If for no other reasons than: Joe is doing his best and she doesn’t know Booster very well.
Unless Mike’s ghost takes over Booster, I think Joe is safe this time.
Personally, I’m still not *100%* convinced that Booster isn’t Mike in a new (much happier) identity, one where they don’t have to pretend to be a dick all the time in order to protect against the looming threat of Amber’s father’s retribution. One where they’re allowed to have loved ones.
…But I do realize that’s unlikely to be canon. The two of them just share a lot of interest in applied psychology, is all.
The fact that we seem to have seen Booster’s twin sister in Leslie’s class undermines the Identity Protection idea.
I thought the prevailing theory was that Mike is now Jennifer, not Booster/’s twin.
Nah, Jennifer will always be Jennifer, no matter how many times she attempts to shed her skin (and past mistakes) and leave it behind.
But Willis confirmed that Mike’s actually Jennifer
Remember, the Muzak does NOT work at Galasso’s. The JUKEBOX does.
Reminds me of the old CD jukeboxes Papa Gino’s used to have. The speakers had basically zero treble left in them, so all you got was muffled midrange with a little bass. They also used to have classic arcade machines, but they got rid of them several years ago. A different local pizza place got a working Turtles in Time machine about 10 years ago, but I think the servers got tired of listening to the attract mode all day every day because they disconnected the speaker after a few months.
Now where was I… oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn’t get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…
I know Joyce means well but her final smile worries me, because she could become very sad/surprised if she learns that she is tied to some of his anxieties.
Aww, yeah, that’s kinda a concern huh. It is hard being the source of someone’s anxieties. especially somebody you care about.
Aw yeah, this is happening
EVERYBODY STAY CALM!
You know, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a signature Joyce triangle smile.
it’s so precious and precarious aaah
Now Joe will learn that Joyce is the one who posted the Do List.
A DATE
Oh I am heavily in anticipation mode now. Good, bad, ugly, this is going somewhere interesting, I’m sure.
I do not like Joe and Joyce as a thing, but I also know that’s irrational.
IT’S HAPPENING
Well. Something’s happening, anyway.
Why does Joyce care that much about his anxieties, is this just her meddler nature coming into play again
Joyce acts like she doesn’t care about Joe, but I think its pretty obvious she has a big old crush on him and is looking for an excuse for them to interact just as much as Joe is.
She’s not yet admitted to herself that she’s crushing on Joe, she just cares a lot about him and his feelings and how they’re doing, and it’s her thing to be bubbly and care about her friends, right?
I think she likes him. Furthermore, she probably wants to know how he’s done. She seemed impressed he helped Amber, and beyond that, she has gone to him in the past to talk about her parents’ problems, so maybe she wants to return the favor.
They’re friends and friends care about each other? I assume friends care about each other at least. Wait, do friends NOT care about each other? Have I been friending wrong my whole life?
Gadzooks!
Naw, she cares a lot about Joe and they have historically bonded by discussing shared experiences of family conflict. Plus Amber specifically encouraged Joyce to come talk to Joe about his anxieties, and in the context of Amber talking about how SHE and Joe have bonded by talking about them. This is very much not out of nowhere on Joyce’s part.
Holy cow it’s happening!!
Joe you slick mf
Joyce also maybe too you slick mf?
it’s almost midnight and im stuck in a work meeting
im really craving breakfast foods. eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast, the works.
ominous joyce smile will have to do for now. good luck, joe!
I’m sorry. May the breakfast Gods bless you with a plentiful bounty.
PS. If their favor is in doubt, be sure to appease them by sacrificing what ever monster made you work this late. Blood for the Sausage God! Skulls for the Syrup Throne!
The tragedy of being a programmer is sometimes you have to work at midnight to make sure nothing blows up when you do important upgrades. Even if it’s automated, you gotta make sure everything works so you don’t get a call at 6am.
Joe’s face (faaaaace) in panel four! He seems simultaneously worried and charmed and I love it
Willis’s illustration and writing skills has evolved over the years. Both are now quite sleek.
Don’t put it past Mike to come back from the dead to make a particularly crass-but-accurate observation when one of his friends is in a…particular…situation.
“You mean you could’ve come back at any time?!”
“No, not at any time. Only when it was
funnytruly assholey”At least he’s not there to punch Joe!
Roger Rabbit was a gift. Saw a meme a while back with Roger labelled as ADHD and the line “Only when it was interesting or urgent,” and it was like I was looking into the Ark of the Covenant.
Still need to get around to watching that movie. It seems like a good time.
The guy who played the detective died not too long ago and I felt sad.
That’d be Bob Hoskins — died of pneumonia in 2014 at age 71.
He was also great in HOOK.
And we can’t forget his iconic role as Mario Mario, from the hit film Super Mario Bros., released in the far-off future year of 1993.
I DON’T KNOW IF MY BODY CAN TAKE THIS
depending on how it’s phrased i assume joyce would prolly freak out or need some time to process this
[banging a fork and a knife on a table] DATE DATE DATE DATE DATE DATE
Dates go much better when they’re double-blind.
Proper experimental dating.
Woo, we get to see Galasso again! Also does Becky have a shift at this time?
Hopefully not, because she’s currently in Gender Studies and would be missing it.
Two thoughts.
First: Alt-text “no mike” har-har-har
But also, there is,and it’s all in Amber’s head, so maybe this is **all** a Dynasty delusion…
Second: Despite my emotional desire to horn out over Joe and Joyce, this also kinda tropes on dudes not being able to be emotionally vulnerable with women unless they’re attracted to them. Which is a whole issue in the toxic masculinity umbrella. Whichever way this is being played, I’m keen to see it all.
does Amber not count?
Oh, she’s counting on this alright. You don’t want to waste perfectly good fan-fiction.
So this time Becky’s the chaperone?
*psst* hey, Becky…. if you get Joyce and Joe in bed together you won’t have to hide your own sexings from her any more…
She already does have to hide it, she just is for some reason.
Doesn’t. Doesn’t have to hide it. Thanks, phone, for always “correcting” my posts exactly one unit of Planck time before my thumb hits the Post Comment button.
Well, now she won’t have to even under her own messed up logic.
Becky’sin Gender Studies right now, watching Carla melt down over someone ignoring her.
Joyce… I don’t know if she is autistic but what she is doing now is not ok.
Actually, what she’s “doing right now” is completely fine, actually. It only won’t be fine if Joe has a problem with it. I don’t think you invite someone to talk over pizza if you’re not being receptive. No idea what her potentially being autistic has to do with anything.
Are we just villifying all human interaction now, is that what we’re doing? They’re two friend-adjacent people with an obvious interest in each other, why shouldn’t she offer to talk about his anxieties? Do you just not talk to your friends about things or make that offer to them? I mean, you do you, but we can’t just go around declaring simple, positive interactions like this to be “not okay”.
This comments section regularly villainizes normal human interaction. (I’m a huge introvert, and it still baffles me.)
I’m an introvert as well, which is how I know that normal human interaction is the WORST. It deserves to be villainized!
… I might be more introverted than most.
Honestly it’s not that different from Twitter. It’s an Extremely Online reaction to having to acknowledge that other people exist.
Eh, she’s honestly fine right now, she’s not crossing any boundaries here. If he said no and she didn’t drop it, that’d be something else entirely.
Doors are technically boundaries, right? Knocking typically involves making a fist and hitting the door, which is technically violence. Therefore, Joyce is violently coercing Joe into removing a boundary he set, with the intent to then pry into his insecurities for her own selfish purposes.
That’s a bit of a stretch there Reed Richards…
That was indeed the point. I don’t see any way this could be considered “not ok” without channeling one’s inner Elastigirl.
Beautifully put, but ironic, since Elasti-girl was about encouraging people, “to be more flexible“.
How is what Joyce is doing not ok? Joe seems perfectly fine with it so far. And what does this have to do with whether or not she’s autistic?
Autism is when you knock on somebody’s door and then have a conversation with them.
This was my first thought too. But for more context, Joe has been there for Joyce when she was at her parents house with Becky. Maybe she feels grateful to him and wants to be there for him too? And maybe she’d back off if he said he didn’t want to discuss it? Especially now that she’s more conscious of not crossing boundaries.
It’s a bit pushy and the way Joe described it as “make me fess up” indicates he wouldn’t share this of his own volition. But I also think that may be part of the persona he puts up, a person who would never willingly share his feelings. If he really didn’t want to talk to Joyce about it he could tell her to get lost. This might be seen as manipulative with someone else, but I think Joe is okay with it.
Too soon, alt text, too soon.
And now they meet Connie in front of Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs).
Wasn’t she a bit younger here? I guess it’s been months in universe since we saw her last, but still, may not be an issue.
Wait, no, I think we saw her last when Daisy and Ruth had their sorta date thing.
Yes IIRC Connie’s sixteen in this universe, she works in her dad’s restaurant as a waitress. I think it’s probably too early in the day for her to be there right now, she’d be in school.
I don’t know Connies age. I doubt that the day is still early. In this storyline they went to the pharmacy and had 2 classes – that usually classifies for late afternoon in comic universe.
She’s like 16, maybe 17 if her birthday was during the time skip. It was only mentioned once in a Patreon strip though, I think (don’t quote me on that), so it’s not like you could be expected to know off-hand. But now you know.
“Connie, I need you to run these beers to tables 15 and 22.”
“I am 16.”
“…Like, out of ten?/in metric?”
Paraphrased conversation between Becky and Connie.
So it’s (technically not) a date
…and God laughed.
Return of the Triangle Smile
This feels like it could potentially become a date, and I really hope so. Or at least, Joe opening up a bit about his issues with Joyce and them understanding each other better. Hopefully.
Yesterday someone mentioned them going to get pizza and neither of them thinking to call it a date.
Whoever you are, I hope you’re entirely right.
I hope I am too!
I’m about to lose my goddamn mind.
Are they going to get a do-over of their first date?! Is this actually going to happen? This is so romantic?!?!?! THIS IS PERFECT STORYTELLING?!?!
Joyce is really a lovely nosy girl ♡. Good idea for Joe asks to move the conversation, over a pizza it will probably be easier to talk. But from the outside, this might look like a date…
The difference between a date and not-a-date is whether the parties think it is.
And also whether everyone who knows the parties KNOW that it is, whether those two dense idiots realize it or not.
What is this? The book where nice things happen? What are you scheming, Willis?
WHERE IS THE TRAP???
Wait: the life drawing! Will it happen in this book or not??
Still calling it as Joyce will go there only to see (and I mean SEE) that Joe is the live model.
What about: Joe, talking about his feelings to Joyce, DURING life drawing?
They might be more on display than usual.
Oh my god, are we actually getting a pizza not-date that because they are pretty clearly gone on each other looks kind of like a date?
Oh, and it’s even happening when Becky’s in Gender Studies and thus can’t be a dick to Joyce’s face during the not-date or snipe on the subject of Joe’s Y-chromosome or whatever thoughtless disruptive Becky thing she’d do! YAY.
Of course, this just means Becky will hear about it later, jump to the conclusion that Joyce is dating dudes and keeping it secret from her, and she’ll be a jerk about that instead. (Might as well ruin my ‘called it’ streak early LOL!)
It really does feel like a lose-lose situation with Becky, ever since she learned about Joyce losing her faith. She was always quippy and teased Joyce a lot, but now it just feels mean-spirited most of the time.
Twist: Becky’s gender studies class is over in 5 minutes and she’ll be on shift in 15.
And there are people who will find a reason to side with Becky.
smooth
Is it a date or is it needing to leave the bedroom?
“yes”
There is a pattern and it’s leading to
Panel Seven: Oops! All teeth!
asdfhdslfh I’ve really come to love these two and I wish them the best!
I hope they can have a good pizza date!
This is so cute and so wholesome. And this is really good for Joe. He’s learning how to be supportive really well and learning to gain some support too and not feel bad about it and working through his issues this is nice I like the growth from him and Joyce even if they have their hangup. Pizza Date do over!!!
Um, so the “trading anxieties” thing was just the set-up to a scene of Joe hallucinating Ghost Mike at Galasso’s with Joyce, right?
soooooooooo like
a date, Joe?
*Shipping noises intensify*
I still feel like it’s never gonna happen but I DREAM.
This is not a discussion Joe wants to have in his shared bedroom. Pizza is about as neutral as it gets. Especially if it’s afternoon and not evening. They might end up talking more about his divorced father and her divorced mother. Both were role models until they weren’t.
Ah, communication, my one true love. I’m always glad to see it.
Joe just got his second date, and Joyce doesn’t even realise.
which is probably best as no pressure expectations put on Joyce.
I think it becomes a date retroactively if hes honest and she reacts positively.
Stealth date stealth date
There is no way this can go wrong
it is now a decent hour and i made myself some scrambled eggs
I wonder if there’s going to be more *gasp* hand-holding in Joe & Joyce’s immediate future.
But will Dorothy be jealous?
That could be the best plot twist ever.
There may not be a Mike anymore, but there’s still a Sarah. Joe is going to wake up the morning after with a baseball bat to the Kidneys
These two could either be really good for each other or AMAZINGLY bad for each other. I feel like the balance is more toward “good” at the moment but oh man the fireworks either way.
panel 5 reminds me of the anime thing where some girl puts on a huge smile in the face of the MC, like Uzaki or Nagatoro
Quite right, alt-text, I wouldn’t discuss my anxieties with someone if there was a mike either.
Whoever wanted them to get a pizza and talk is in for a treat.
Scene change in 3… 2…
SECOND DATE TIME LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
insert 500 eyes emojis!!!! EXCITE
It keeps feeling like it’s been entirely too long since we saw her triangle smile.
As an aside, it’s been SOOOO long since we’ve last since Joyce smile like this, and I must admit, it’s like a ray of sunshine.