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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 19d
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(he/him)
⚧
New game! BOLTED 
now THAT is an invitation
Now that is some 3D chess level level flirting. No wonder Ethan is pleased with himself.
I mean, it’s bordering dangerously on full-blown emotional manipulation, actually. But he’s a clever boy for recognizing it was going to be effective! Boybossing above and beyond the sun.
No strings attached, emotionally.
DUDE DUDE DUDE. I just realized!! This is the kind of line MIKE used on Ethan!! Back when they first kissed. Omg. No wonder it’s so smooth???
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/reward/
damn
Hot
Your Lucy grav makes that comment so much funnier. ^^
Ethan Persists Long Enough for Asher to Take What He Wants From Him: A Dumbing of Age Pornographique
Hmmm this feels like a Tingler. You know, I’ve never seen David M Willis and Chuck Tingle in the same room together….
I’ve never seen Chuck Tingle. I have seen Mr. Willis.
To make Chuck tingle, you just have to make the right offer. See: Ethan, panel 3.
<a href="https://lithub.com/chuck-tingle-on-how-writing-is-like-driving-being-an-autistic-artist-and-more/" Chuck Tingle wears a mask so they could still very well be the same person.
darn html fail
>there is actually no classic i feel guilty about never reading because i strongly believe buckaroos should not feel guilt over this kind of thing. there are LOTS of classics i have never read because while i consume a LOT of art there are lots of BOOKS i have never read, it is not really my main medium when compared to music or film, which is something that i think many would feel shame about and tuck away to never admit.
Absolute king
<Pounded In the Butt By My Sense of Ennui and Self-Loathing, and Also Asher, perhaps?
Ethan, no
Ethan needs this. Hell, Asher needs this. Might be good for both of them. Might not be. Who knows, but it will be fun, and they both need that distract them for awhile.
(Gestures vaguely at literally every time someone’s used that reasoning in the comic previously.)
I mean…this is about one step removed from “if you ever stop fucking me/seeing me, I will kill myself,” so I think that long-term, it’s an ill omen. Just because bad things are happening to these two and they deserve some happiness, doesn’t mean that happiness should resemble Billie and Ruth’s relationship arc, lmao.
Ethan, yes
Ethan, *indifferent shrug*
Why no?
Because Ethan is doing it for purely selfish reasons. Asher told him he had a girlfriend, and while Asher may no longer have one, Ethan doesn’t know that (unless he’s been stalking Asher). Also Amber told him who Asher was and that it’d be a terrible idea for them to hook up, and that actually convinced Ethan to hook up with him.
He’s basically using Asher for sex and also to make himself feel worse with no consideration for Asher’s feelings. Will they both come out better? Maybe, it’s a comic, but Ethan’s intentions aren’t to come out better.
I love that despite Asher being an accessory to murder and heir to a crime empire, he’s the more level headed of the two
…And that this STILL somehow feels healthier for Asher than Jennifer’s BS?
To be fair to Asher, now there’s *two* people in his love life, who are about to be disappointed that he isn’t as dangerous to them, as they think he is, and want him to be. He seems to literally be trying to be a normal guy with a normal life, doing normal college stuff, and his current girlfriend now resents him for [checks notes] resembling her childhood friend by being too much of a normal guy who isn’t cool enough for her, while his potential rebound is only dating him because he thinks he can use the relationship as an opportunity for self-harm.
What Asher is getting from Jennifer currently, is some serious bullshit. But given the evil grin on Ethan in the last panel, I’m willing to bet that Ethan will do exponentially more psychological harm to Asher than Jennifer is exposing him to, right now. That sort of one-sided and selfish relationship, where someone is using you as an emotional battery and an emotional sponge, can completely ruin your ability to have normal relationships with other people, for literally forever.
Got to be level headed, to get away with it.
Ethan can have a little self-destruction, as a treat?
c’mon, it’s Cheat Day!
Every day is a The Cheat day.
while Asher may no longer have one, Ethan doesn’t know that (unless he’s been stalking Asher)
Honestly even if he has been. I don’t think Asher knows if he still has a girlfriend or not. I’d be genuinely surprised if Jennifer really knows.
Jennifer will reserve the right to hold Asher fully accountable for everything he does wrong in their relationship, ever since he had the unmitigated gall to [checks notes] slightly resemble a guy who Jennifer is currently bitter at, and have normal human emotions.
However, once Asher responds to Jennifer’s deliberate, punitive, and stinging neglect in any way that could possibly make him look bad, she WILL retroactively blame him for all the ways she is mistreating him, and claim that HER behavior is a result of HIS, and not the other way around, and she will expose him to their entire new friend group, and get him kicked out of his support network as a result. Jennifer will see nothing wrong with this, and Asher will have to double down into Ethan…which is terrible for Asher, and exactly what Ethan has now decided he wants.
Ethan openly is self-sabotaging and Asher has already stated he’s compelled by fatalistic short-sightedness and is trying to be a better person. It is practically textbook “I can make him worse.”
Meanwhile Asher is like “I can make him right” (poor dude, if only he knew…)
imagine the bombshell that’d be dropped if it was revealed that asher was part of amber’s dad’s death, tho would ethan blame him for that or be glad for that too since it’s notl ike it’s asher’s fault indirectly that mike died too
it is if the investigation/cover-up uncovered someone who heard this, and a cop gave him an air embolism or something.
That’s apparently Eric in the window, and he hasn’t been seen since, so you might be on to something…
It’s theoretically possible, but there’s little reason to believe it. Everything makes sense without it. The pieces tie together. Motivations are clear. Mike’s death works better thematically as a redemptive sacrifice.
Asher also becomes completely unredeemable if he’s responsible for that, which really doesn’t seem to be where Willis is taking the character.
I’d say it’s less likely than Mike being alive in witness protection and that’s a damn slim chance.
I’m not saying it’s likely, but it is a non-zero chance.
The idea of redemptive sacrifice should be subverted, Mike’s death means Mike can’t become the better person he seems like he wanted to try becoming. His journey ended with a grand gesture showing he had the potential, it didn’t realize a life better lived.
Because it’s plausible, it doesn’t effect Asher’s guilt much. Whether or not cops killed Mike, he risked Mike’s life, and risked cops potentially going after who they think Amazigirl is (Amber or Sal). It’s not Asher putting a hit on Mike or Amber or Sal, it’s him risking their lives. It’s redeemable, but not by looking hot or by being otherwise very courteous or by being a goofball.
I’m not fond of redemptive sacrifice, but I’d rather it be subverted by the character actually having to live and grow and deal with the ramifications of his actions, rather than by surviving his sacrifice and then getting murdered off screen.
It only affects Asher’s guilt if Asher was actually involved. If they somehow already knew about Mike, then they would have already known about Blaine and wouldn’t have needed Asher to set up any of it. I don’t see how Asher brings any more risk to Mike or Amazi-Girl – unless he somehow points the baddies at them. Which he shouldn’t have known enough to do.
Ethan is literally doing all of this to punish Amber for not being there for him. Since Amber has currently wronged him, he will be ECSTATIC that Asher is the one who ruined Amber’s life.
Ethan YES
You know what I think about? Kit Fisto. We know Jennifer eagerly told Malaya and co about him, which means at some point during the New Jennifer arc, she was more comfortable with her nerdy interests than she’s ever been before. This isn’t just about Jennifer getting insecure about dating a dorky nerd. Something fell apart.
Yeah, there’s a lot more to this than “Jennifer decided he’s not that cool”. Like, quite a lot more.
BillieJennifer finding Walky hot for a second, recoiling in disgust, and then finding out Asher coincidentally brocloning it up with Walky (And not despising him at all) happened.Yeah, people forget, she is not actually mad at Asher. She’s mad at Walky, and she’s so unfathomably, inimitably petty and borderline, that she has temporarily lost all respect for Asher’s humanity, because enough of her anger at Walky gets triggered by her constantly remembering the moment where she realized he was Like Walky, that she has thus decided that Asher has personally done her wrong, and must be punished with distance.
This is probably pretty similar to how her parents treat her, I bet. If the way she currently is, happens to make them feel like the way she currently appears and acts reflects positively on them, then she gets some amount of love and attention as a reward. If she ever does anything to embarrass them, though…well, she’s better get to re-perfecting herself, so that she’s not a bad reflection of the people who see her as an extension of themselves, who owes them for the great privilege of existing within or near their bubble.
When did we find out about this? My memory fails me.
Malaya griping about being told about Kit Fisto stuff. I forget the comic in question.
And Raidah complaining about pretending to know or care about who Kit Fisto is
Oh, yeah, sorry, not Malaya, Raidah. Big fan of Malaya. Malaya would never. (they would (but they didn’t))
Malaya would call Jennifer fakey for not being honest about her nerdy interests.
I actually think Raidah isn’t the first person to complain about Kit Fisto, just the first person to do it behind Jennifer’s back while pretending to like her. (I think Ruth and maybe Walky have also teased Jennifer for being a Star Wars nerd.)
It’s a subtle distinction and one Jennifer might not recognize, but I think Ruth and Walky tease her for being a closet Kit Fisto nerd. For hiding it, not for being one.
And Lucy of course, whose reaction was basically “One of us!” Which hurt Jennifer worse than anything.
I mean, Raidah isn’t teasing her at all; Raidah is pretending to like her and not mind hearing about Kit Fisto while secretly not liking her at all and hating hearing about Kit Fisto.
Walky and Ruth’s teasing was always definitely friendly, and yeah, Lucy was just delighted.
This is why my thesis of Billie’s arc is that after her and Ruth split, she’s running away from herself. Walky and Asher getting along and brocloning means Asher now reminds her of the part of herself she hates, so she’s pushing him away in hopes he’ll either become controlling and violent or leave her. Either one’s good at this point.
I just really want them to have sex and (probably after) form an emotionally healthy bond and have sex again.
I think these two would have an emotionally healthy bond in the same way that Ruth and Billie had an emotionally healthy bond.
Yeah, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Well, as scores go, it means they scored twice.
Asher: I can fix him
Ethan: I can make him worse
Ethan of course, tragically unaware of what “worse Asher” looks like
lmao bless you
Forget billie, they’ll make their own relationship; with love, and happiness…and blackjack.
Well Billie would deserve it
I mean she deserves to get broken up with, he shouldn’t just be shitty himself in response.
Well you withhold affection and respect from someone and its likely they’ll look for it elsewhere
is it actually cheating when Billie made it abundantly clear he’s not actually her boyfriend ten minutes ago?
No, but it is awful quick.
I don’t disagree.
I wonder if it’s the first time Jennifer has withheld affection and respect from Asher. I wonder if it’s the time she’s pushed him away somehow.
We’ve seen them be lovey-dovey before this last conflict but that ensures nothing. We don’t know how they got together, nor how long they’ve been together, and there’s a three-month (or more?) gap between Halloween and now.
Kind of. Since that was more Jennifer rejecting the term than breaking up with him. It’s a thing they’re going to have to deal with and Asher’d be well within his rights to break up with her over it, but that was clearly not her intent.
People in our society care more about the exact words being said, rather than the context of the situation. If he wants to be broken up with her, he still has to suck it up, and say so. If he doesn’t say the magic phrase, it doesn’t matter that she has wronged him; he still cheated on her, and that makes her a perfect angel, and him an evil bad man.
Nobody in their universe has the omniscient perspective that the readers do. Please for the love of God, before you respond to my admittedly caustic and bitter take, do well to remember that.
It’s not about magic words; it’s about clarity.
If Jennifer had said what she’s said to me, not Asher, I would not feel justified in assuming that the relationship was broken. Jennifer is clearly just bummed by the entire universe right now. I wouldn’t take it personally.
Likewise, if Lucy had said what she’s said to me, not Walky, I would not feel justified in such an assumption. Lucy is angry, but she’s still working out at whom she is angry and for what. I would wait for her to figure that out.
In either case, supposing that I still find value in the relationship, I would not rush to conclude that the relationship is broken without a clear statement to that effect. Not to obey some ethical abstraction, but because I don’t want to be the one to blow up a relationship that I still want and maybe can still have.
If I no longer find value in the relationship, I would tell my partner in plain language that leaves no room for doubt. I wouldn’t want to leave my partner in doubt — that’s needless cruelty.
None of this relies on omniscience; it is a response to the recognition of my partner’s NON-omniscience.
And my own NON-omniscience.
Ethan is way past the point of caring about subtlety or indirects.
i mean didn’t he already offer to hook up or atl east makeout before XD
Yes. I am talking about that too.
Make out already!
Come on Ethan, this is the perfect chance for makeouts.
They might not be Mike makeouts, but Asher is also a “bad boy” like Mike. So you have a chance for the spicy loving.
…does anything I say make sense?
I dunno. Is it supposed to make sense.
Sorry if I really seem out of it recently.
That said, i hope they really do sexy stuff soon. Would make for a neat break from this depressive post X-mas fallout I’m suffering ;-;
Hang in there, Willis will surely deliver the sexy times.
I hope you feel better soon; I tend to have mental health issues around the holidays, so I get it.
He is getting to it geez! Give the guy sometime to enjoy the foreplay.
Dark Ethan may be his most powerful form yet.
At long last Ethan has become a transformer.
Agreed. I liked him but he was kind of bland before his Corruption Arc… Which actually started when he made out with Mike and–
OH NO. OH NO. THIS IS THE KIND OF LINE MIKE USED ON HIM.
Ethan’s face in the last panel. Awe
probably his first smile in a long time.
I mean, between Jennifer and Dark Ethan…
…Let’s just say Asher has a type, and that time is apparently ‘blunt about what they want’.
Blunt, but not necessarily clear. (Ethan’s being supremely clear here, this side-eye is directed at Jennifer.)
The type is “I can’t fix them but maybe if I sleep with them they’ll calm down a bit”?
Asher’s a sub and it’s very obvious.
Willis, finding out what ‘sub drop’ is
Sokath, his eyes uncovered.
Huh. Wonder if part of the problem between him and Jennifer is he mistook a brat sub for a dom.
Ethan knows his power over Asher, I’m so proud of him, you go girl
Ethan, I love that little last panel smile, it gives me life and joy. Asher, you should be more concerned about people saying stuff like that though lol.
Asher: is upset by the implications on a couple of levels (that Ethan assumes he wants only that/thinks in such transactional terms, is only living for/until that’s done, etc).
Ethan: is darkly pleased, even in his pit of dark despair, that he can get such a reaction.
Upset? Asher is pretty visibly into it. He might be a little unnerved by how into it he is, but yeah, he’s interested.
(Writes “If you try to chat someone up and their smile immediately turns into a tight frown, that’s a good sign” in my journal.)
I learn so much from this comment section!
It’s not a tight frown. Zoom in on his face. What you’re seeing is SURPRISE, pursed lips, shiny eyes, and a cheek blush.
That’s right, it’s not a frown, it’s a squiggle. Squiggle-mouth is partially-suppressed horniness or delight. (But also, yeah, the eyes and blush are more telling here.)
Hmm. You see shiny eyes and blush, I see narrowed eyes and lines. I will concede that his mouth, while going down at the corners, is more of a squiggle than I initially thought.
The lines are red, that’s how Willis draws blushes.
Even odds Asher’s actually aroused
Porque no los dos?
Oh, I think Asher is deeply into it. I’ll take that bet and points.
the eyes, they do not lie
–Dave, he’s about to get li’l hearts floating around his head
i mean, asher did originally say hi/approach ethan because of some level of attraction as opposed to like, being in some group event about transformers or whatever and forming a bond/friendship over mutual hobbies/interests tho still valid either way considering it’s college so might as well attempt to hit on someone without necessarily talking someone just to befriend them
Sorry if it’s too early, but how about another game?
1. How did your Xmas / winter holiday go? Was it good or shitty?
2. What’s something that helps you when you’re like, hopelessly depressed, like, if you feel like you missed out on a big chance at serotonin release?
Feel free to answer either question, or neither.
I practice a musical instrument when I’m feeling bad. I have a violin I really need to get back into trying to learn it because just holding it and fiddling around brings me joy. I think something like that would help with depression. Just fiddling with even a simple instrument and making pleasant sounds is fun. I recommend it.
I concur. I taught myself ukulele and guitar during my worst depressive period (when I was severely agoraphobic) and specifically play songs that are dark but perky (like AJJ Rejoice/I Hate My Brain/Brave as a Noun). I also impulse-bpught a kalimba because it sounds pretty and you can just fiddle with it to make nice songs which is perfect treatment for panic attacks.
1.) It was good! Made a bunch of Chinese food (I was gifted a bamboo steamer and an authentic cookbook, so I was excited to use them), my mom finished up her chemo and both of my parents actually came up to eat Christmas dinner. My husband got me fanceh pots and Kirby, I got him an Xbox Series X and a mug, the child got a dollhouse taller than both of us.
2.) Ashwagandha gummies (Goli(?) because the equate version tastes like punishment). They were recommended to me by my GP as a last measure to prevent me starting anti-depressants [per my request, I had other health concerns] and they surprisingly worked fantastically. Writing or drawing can also help, and sometimes sleep if I’ve been missing it. Also forcing myself to sit outside somewhere like a coffee shop and just exist around humans and sunlight. So I guess my actual answer is the ever unhelpful “take meds, drink water, get sleep, get sun” which I know sucks :\.
The standbys aren’t unhelpful, they’re just not all encompassing and can be really hard to manage. They’re still good things to try to aim for.
I am making an effort to stay hydrated, as well as to stay sober until new years.
I appreciate the answers you all are givin, so so much. T_T
1: Went great! Presents were well received, got stuff I like and have room for, having to work a bit over the break is annoying but it’s quick “pop onto the VPN and push a couple buttons” type crap. Still on vacation until the 2nd too :D.
2: Mostly nostalgic comedy stuff. The YouTubers LoadingReadyRun have a long backlog of fun sketches that I’ve seen a dozen times or more, and they always manage to perk me up a fair bit, for example. Just stuff that I know is good and funny and don’t need to stress about picking between helps a lot.
1) meh, survived christmas with partner’s extended family then did basically nothing. Still doing basically nothing.
2) used to be mushrooms and a hike, now it’s just a hike. The longer and more remote, the better.
Can’t do that right now because my foots fucked up tho :/
Mine was nice! Got to hang out with boyfriend’s family on the 23rd and my family was very fun on Christmas Eve and then Christmas itself was quiet. Presents and lots of movies.
As for cheer ups….sometimes talking to loved ones helps. I also have a couple pick me up movies – Sky High and Encanto for me. Picking at something creative I wanna do helps too.
medium. salmon was too dry. got a ursula laguin book and a cold. nephew who’s often glued to a screen played several games of chess with folks
fine, got snacks at a gas station since christmas isn’t a huge deal in our family
wish it was warmer, maybe i’m just getting older but i kinda miss the heat XD; mabye not super intense summer heat but i am in teh south so kinda bs if it snows or our power goes down b/c no one here seems to have backup generators/uses their fireplaces
My Christmas was pretty good. I live with my sister, and I got her a nice bouquet and a gift certificate for new clothes. She got me a new pair of shoes, socks, and a bag of almonds, because I “like almonds but never buy them.” We had beef stew and cornbread for Christmas dinner. Yeah, we’re country. We’re a little bummed because her house is coming out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy and her mortgage is going way up. WAY the fuck up.
1: i slept through christmas, which oddly made it the best christmas i’ve had in years (normally my father, bf, and i go downstairs to eat with grandma. then she complains for 20 minutes with her mouth full of the food i spent all day making, then my boyfriend go upstairs and i go to sleep hoping i don’t wake up)
2: I don’t really have any outlets for stress, or ways of getting that good happy chemical hit. so i just sleep. though lately, i’ve been making pics with stable diffusion, which helps distract me a bit.
*my boyfriend and i go upstairs and i go to sleep…*
This year was just…meh? Like it’s the third or second (maybe fourth?) Christmas since my dad died and my mother decided to visit one of her sisters for the week, so we just did our own thing at home and then went out for Chinese buffet. I’ve my consult for bottom surgery the 10th of January and having a week off from work means my weight has shot back over the maximum, so I’m stressed which makes me eat even more. At this rate I’m going to be back on ozempic which makes me feel not great, but I’ll lose the weight. But it might have also been the thing the messed up my estrogen levels.
My Christmas was spectacular in kind of a low key manner. Also kind of fun.
I am a naturally joyous person who enjoys life (as long as it isn’t boring) and doesn’t get depressed much, a fact for which I kind of feel I should apologize. The one major depression in my life was after my first fiancé broke up with me. I reacted by throwing myself into work, letting it consume my entire attention so there was no room for anything else. I have my doubts about how healthy this was, but it worked for me until after about eight months I could come up for air without my thoughts spiraling.
I mean, if the work is somethin you genuinely, i get it? Albeit not at the moment.
Maybe I should do somethin with GameMaker, but not commissions necessarily. Something *I* want to do…
*genuinely enjoy
Holiday is hell. Coping bad and spending way to much time playing dating Sims because my lady friend is out of state. Currently binge-watching SVU and binge-drinking Southern comfort because Amanda palmer said so.
Currently too depressed/non functioning to use my usual go-tos, but they include walking the dogs, playing uke/guitar, writing essays on neurodiverse representation in cartoons, and playing life-affirming video games like Spirit Farer. Also using therapy skills but 🧠 says no.
I’m Scottish so my winter holidays end on the 2nd of January, but Christmas went pretty well, thanks. I messed up two parts of Christmas dinner, but they were both still edible, so that was fine, and my present from my sister hasn’t arrived yet (although all the presents I was giving arrived in plenty of time, which is a first, and that’s the important bit.)
Re-reading favourite books, watching Doctor Who and very, very easy video games. The kind with just enough of a challenge that you earn a sense of achievement, but you don’t actually get frustrated.
It was fun, mostly proud of having incredible hair for the party. First Christmas that felt fully back to normal after the Panini and the first I felt like i really enjoyed I’m years instead of the usual depression.
My brother and SIL got me loop earplugs (the fancy kind with extra muters!) after seeing me mad overstimulated and visibly trying not to freak out in a noisy restaurant. They’re both also ADHD with likely undiagnosed autism so they Get It.
Oh I forgot 2. Uhhhhh
Frankly drinking was a big one pre medication, and I know that’s bad.
I eat my feelings typically, which isn’t great but baking is something I can always force myself to do. Creating in general is something I gravitate to but can’t always bring myself to do, but baking easy enough for me and gives the dopamine release from “hey, I made something”. Making new dnd characters or playing the Sims, basically anything that lets me be someone else for a bit. Horror content sometimes too, because I genuinely love it but also I feel so dead inside when I fall into a spiral, getting jump scared feels like a defibrillator and gets my heart pumping. That can temporarily trick my brain into thinking I’m excited about something and I can feel things again for a bit.
Ethan’s face in the last panel, I like that he’s relishing, even if his motivations are suspect from a self-preservation standpoint.
Also, part of me has a theory, but I really don’t know if folks are going to like it. What if Jennifer and Asher over here break up (for the best), but it also means her examining that maybe she really isn’t entirely over the feelings she had for Walky growing up? What a goddamn mess that’d be, especially since I know he has indicated in the past he wasn’t receptive to viewing her that way. Would be kind of an interesting blast radius, though.
Ah, Ethan is becoming Ruthless 2.0, I see.
I think Ruthless was better honestly. At least she kept up appearances. Ethan is bombing it all out of spite.
Booster to their psych professor: “Can I use my social circle as my thesis? No? How about I bring them in for the graduate students to analyze? Because they all need help. Seriously.”
Everyday Booster thanks their lucky star that they ended up meeting the most fascinatingly messed up people in this college.
would that be objective enough if it’s within their social circle as opposed to observing other ppl with their permission lol
tho, while unprofessional, i wonder how many psych teachers are like “you seem fascinating, allow me to study you” tho that’d be creepy either way
The truth is, most people aren’t fascinating. >_>
As a psych student, not many I feel. You’d be more likely to get referred to a (different) psychologist or therapist, and they’d probably do what they could to make accomodations for you in their class.
Fun fact, bc the psych community in my country is tiny and everyone is 4 degrees of separation from everyone in general, the psychologist who did my mandatory psychoeducational examination to get my learning disability accomodations, and diagnosed me with dyscalculia and PDD also turned out to be my abnormal psych teacher. I don’t think she noticed until I gave a presentation at the end of the semester
Good for you, babygirl!
He said >:3
So… Billie’s just made it clear that she and Asher aren’t girlfriend/boyfriend… and also gave him explicit permission to hook up with all the guys he wants…
… okay, yeah, Asher’s totally in the clear and he absolutely won’t get in the least amount of trouble for this. Not in the slightest.
Asher may be out of reasons to care if Jennifer gets mad about it.
It’s gonna be hilarious when Asher cheats on Jennifer, and all the Jennifer stans come out of the woodwork to claim that none of this is Jennifer’s fault, and that she’s a perfect golden angel, and that she wasn’t even treating others that bad, and also how it’s totally not a full-blown narcissistic manipulator move, for Jennifer to poison the well of Asher’s whole support network, behind his back, and make sure all his friends ditch him for her by the time everything is over. It’s just all Asher’s fault. He shouldn’t have been so awful to Jennifer, by slightly resembling a different person who she happened to be mad at!
I was going to contest your characterization of Asher “cheating” on Jennifer, but then I went back and checked and technically Jennifer only gave him permission to kiss a billion dudes, not sleep with them, so that might be cheating.
…. and this feels like a very lawyery approach to a romantic relationship, in ways that feel inapplicable but which I can’t pin down.
She also only gave that permission because she thought he was making it up to make her jealous, not that she was really okay with it.
So if he acts on that, he’s the asshole. Of course, she’s also the asshole assuming that’s what he meant and reacting that way, but I would not read that as really having permission.
Red flags to the left of him, red flags to the right, red flags in front of him…
i mean, not that i’m condoning it/it isn’t immoral but a cheating story is pretty low on the scale of horrible things that’ve happened in this comic
at least this isn’t going to lead to some suicide pact lol
To cheat he would need a girlfriend or boyfriend. Not someone he thought he was a boyfriend to until they developed an allergy to any basic humanity.
But we haven’t tested for acidic humanity yet.
you’ll have to use a ghost litmus strip
–Dave, cuz no WAY he’s not haunting this group
The cheating isn’t really the issue I have here, honestly. It’s more the “I’m sticking around so we can fuck” thing from Ethan thing.
Yes, he’s at least partly saying it in jest, but still, that’s the kinda thing that’d make me nope right the fuck out.
The fact that you and I are the only two people in this entire comment section, who recognizes that Ethan is leading Asher into an emotionally vampiric, abusive relationship, is extremely troubling to me. Everyone’s like “yes! boyboss Ethan! Slay!” at language which is semantically, zero words removed from “if you stop paying attention to me, I will literally kill myself.”
volleyed and thundered
That’s hot.
lol nice icon, i realizei t’s a christmas theme with the santa hat and joyce holding a candy cane but at first i thought it was some kinda’ zombiefied’ joyce with a stitched mouth XD
This is very funny to read now, bc Taffy’s icon has since become a zombie Joyce(?)
What was in that candy cane???
hey Asher, what if instead of fucking Ethan to play into Billie’s very bizarre and unhealthy relationship power dynamics, you just fuck Ethan because you want to and he’s into it?
He can do both! It is pretty funny that selfishly having sex with Ethan and telling Jennifer would likely save his relationship even if he didn’t want it to.
Hey! It would only save it temporarily! It’s still a burning garbage skiff, lost at sea!
…what about Panel 3 makes you think that Ethan’s dynamics are going to be significantly more healthy than Jennifer’s?
He’s saying Billie’s is unhealthy, not that Ethan’s is better.
Sure, but there’s also a difference between “my partner has gone cold,” and “my partner is holding me personally responsible for every aspect of their continued existence, by holding the guilt of their eventual suicide over my every mistake and transgression, so they can use me as an emotional battery to trauma-dump into, while absorbing all the good emotions I give back, in a completely parasitic model of a relationship.”
Trust me. The first thing can be solved by breaking up. The second thing can’t be solved, by even two or three decades of continuous and specialized therapy. We’re not talking apples to oranges, here; we’re talking butter knives to atom bombs.
or let Ethan fuck you, as the vibes are clearly pointing to
–Dave, por que no los dos, eh
well it’s not as if he didnt show interest before instead of openly hitting on ethan b/c he was the first person he saw in front of billie or whatever, tho i imagine he’d prolly talk it out a bit instead of impulsively frenching him in the middle of the hallway lol
Jesus, Ethan, hot enough for you?
Oh, Ethan don’t you know he’s just after your Transformer collection. How will you ever get that back?
This is not murder eyes, this is the eye of someone who won’t stop until that poor boy is begging for him to do unspeakable things to his behind
Asher. Cheat on her. Do it.
I don’t condone cheating…
But Jennifer needs the heaviest of shake ups
It’d prolly be something that she’d be ok with or so lol
She got one of those in October. This would hardly register.
Good point.
Asher, call a therapist for her
Okay, was yesterday not actually a breakup? Cause I’m having a hard time reading it as anything but a relationship ender. Like, maybe not what Jennifer actually WANTED to signal with that, but it feels like very much what she DID.
I don’t read it that way at all.
Not a “you’re not longer my boyfriend”, but a “you never were, but we’ve still got our thing going, we’re just not calling it that.”
Which is fucked up, but not quite the same.
I feel the same. But with the comments, I understand why people are considering a break-up.
Anyway, I don’t care at this point, Asher x Ethan is something I want very much lol
In a sense, she’s trying to push Asher into making a mistake, so that she can misrepresent their relationship to his friend group, and paint herself as the absolute victim, so she can socially use the pull she gets from her parents’ last name, to push Asher entirely out of Raidah’s friend group…just so that she doesn’t have to feel sick and embarrassed for seeing him, anymore. Just so that his presence, won’t give her the ick, by forcing her to remember that for a brief second, he reminded her of Walky.
In a sense perhaps.
Or maybe she’s just upset and lashing out without any nefarious plans behind it all. If her patterns hold and she’s trying to push him away, it’s because she’s falling back into her “I’m poisonous” phase and she wants him gone before she destroys him.
It’s NOT cheating. She was informed. She gave permission
She was asked multiple times if they were gf, which a reasonable person knows is exclusive, and she’s refused over and over to say so.
The only things she said she wanted was Asher smoking and not dressing like Walky.
All because of Raidah stupid breakfast. Which somehow managed to break up two couples.
i don’t know about ‘permission’ but jen would prolly either hypocritically get huffy about it or respect him more
It was the Halloween of breakfasts.
Raidah has immense power
Until there is explicit consent or an explicit breakup: it’s cheating bro. None of it has been clear. I will gladly view your sources of a clear breakup, tho. She’s being an asshole, but has never said “this is over.” “I don’t want to date you” or even “fuck you
WalkyAsher, I’ll see you in math tomorrow.”Asher also hasn’t said “you know what, I deserve better, it’s over”
Ambiguity is not permission, nor is it a breakup
It’s cheating.
Also, where was our “permission?” As I only saw Jennifer playing mind games
She did say earlier “Kiss a billion dudes, I don’t care”.
But that was in the context of thinking it was a ploy to make her jealous.
Expanding on your thoughts with my own view: That’s the equivalent of the “Do what you want” mindgame. None of it was “I want you to romantically get involved with a dude” “I want you to do more than kiss a dude.” It wasn’t clear, it was a defense response
I think what she needs is to spend some time alone and figure out how healthy it is to try and rebuild her personality into “someone who’s the coolest and most popular girl at UI” and why that’s something she thinks she wants considering how much it seems to make her hate herself and it doesn’t even mean anything to her, cause that seems to be the source of a lot of her panicking, self-contradicting, wildly unfair and unpleasant behaviors.
But, you know, breaking up with Asher can only help with that.
I agree, she’s being insanely unfair!! So many of these characters just shouldn’t date people
(I’m ancient and tell people to never date anyone in their freshman year for more than a couple funsie dates)
Okay, but she can’t re-run her Cool Cheerleader Arc with her new Cool Kids Friend group, if she doesn’t have a studly boyfriend to accessorize! Remember, she’s returned to the world of social climbers with no real relationships, who only care about everyone for their basic utility. She has no goal of improving herself, she just wants to get back all the things she feels she’s “lost” since leaving high school and enrolling in college, and she only knows of one pattern of behavior, which allows her to maybe do that. The whole point of Jennifer’s current arc, is that she’s willfully regressed to who she was before the strip started, because it’s the only thing she’s ever experienced, that makes her feel as if she’s succeeding, socially or otherwise.
Man, Asher Really needs a baseline for a Healthy relationship, but he’s not likely to find one any time soon.
wouldn’t be the best start but be hilariously ironic?/amusing if it starts off as a cheating relationship and ends up the most heaalthy/wholesome in teh series
are you literally insane
In THIS comic?!
*laugh track*
He should ask Lucy and then just act opposite
All the stuff with Asher and Jennifer aside, Ethan looks REALLY unhealthy. He’s thin and his face looks gaunt here.
yeah and given that he said “persist long enough” even if it’s a bit more subtle than how some others would say it but to me he may as well have said “I still kinda wanna die/kill myself, but i don’t mind having sex with a stranger beforehand”
tho while it’s slightly more safe in a college campus where ethan has friends who cares about him i’d imagine there are ppl who have depression spirals that end up doing ‘risky’ behavior like sex or drugs (while sex shouldn’t be too risky if you’re being safe i’m sure some ppl might end up with stds while drunk or uncaring enough because they don’t expect to stick around long enough to deal with teh consequences)
Asher is the one who brought up persisting (which really makes me think of him with Jennifer), which does invite the word choice on Ethan’s end. Though I agree that it’s not super comforting.
For the other part, there are definitely a variety of risks that can be taken with sex. It can also be… well, kind of hard to describe in the abstract, so I’ll just say that I know I’ve used sex as self-harm, and I’ve made choices I would certainly advise my friends against.
As someone who does the “persist long enough” thing, it’s actually pretty effective. You can just procrastinate nullicide if you keep coming up with dumb stuff to do first, even if it’s not healthy.
I can’t speak to unipolar depression, but bipolar can cause mixed mania/depression and hypersexuality is extremely common with bipolar mania.
It’s so intense it can actually result in people changing sexual orientation from straight to b — they just want sex with ANYONE. In my case, I am always bisexual, but I code as straight to most straight people when I am not manic. If I am manic the dial on my attraction to men goes up significantly, and my sexual attraction generally goes way up. I also act in ways that code more classically gay.
I know it’s obviously not hyper-realistic, but we can probably safely assume he is at least 15-20 pounds lighter than he was last semester, and even accounting for winter, he’s definitely getting out a lot less.
I don’t WANT it to happen, for how awful it’d be on him, but I kind of wonder if a visit from Naomi would shake him out of this on any level. Would be a quick reminder that even Linda Walkerton can probably peak at 3rd place in the awful mom score board in this cast, because she’s a goddamn monster.
50/50 if that would make him want to die even more or want to live purely to spite her.
Depends I think. She eventually came around in the Walkyverse so who knows? Maybe there’s hope for Naomi here too.
well, amber did call him ’emaciated emo ethan’s so it’s def noticeable to ppl that know him, although while joyce is busy with everything else going on with joe and her mom, i’m sure she probably would’ve reached out/semi-dragged him to lunch or a bowl of kraft if they had the opportunity to have time together (ethan did let booster go along with hanging out with him all day and wasn’t bothered by their company)
lol i’m sure a lot of…let’s say ’emotionally stable’ guys also look/dress like ethan but you’d think with his dark circles and depression wear it’d be a concern for it too tho i guess it’s not like asher would rly know
I mean those could be depression insomnia/exhaustion circles, or they could be “shit I stayed up until 4 am binging my shows/playing videogames/watching 8 hour media analysis videos again” circles. Which like, most college teens are the latter I feel
Yes, but Ethan kinda fit the bill for the latter without looking as wrecked as this.
In the fall semester, that is. Maybe he stayed up until 4 arguing with people over the internet about Transformers, but he never had this look until the spring semester when he’d notably lost weight over the timeskip.
he also could look ‘rougher’ and hard for us to tell with the cartoony style tho i assume with the all black and unkempt hair it wouldn’t surprise me if he skipped showering for like, a week, unless jacob politely asked him to stay hygenic versus the normal college/teenage boy funk (i def shower after i sweat but other than summer and stuff, i think i used deodorant more so as a teen compared to when i became an adult)
Sweet dreams are made of thiiiiis
Who am I to disagree?
I am Internet Old, so any time I hear that song the only thing I can thing of is Conan clapping his fists together while staring intensely at the camera
Hang in there, baby
“…you know what, maybe Billie isn’t so bad, hope you feel better soon.”
“You’ll be back.”
Damn not the Depression Rizz
I wonder how much asher is ‘aware’ of, other than jen also being called a ‘dumpster fire’ i’m sure there are semi-functional depressed college students forcing themselves to go to class or at least it’s enough of a distraction/busy work to where most ppl wouldn’t know/tell unless they were closer
but i’d just assume ashers intial attraction is finding ethan as some kinda ‘broody’ emo boy that’s ‘jaded’ by life in the regular ‘angsty /edgy teen’ way rather than “oh he’s been through trauma” kinda way (not that teenage puberty/hormones and just small life regular ‘bad days’ aren’t valid to affect ur mental state that way)
It could just be, and I’m spit-balling here, that Ethan has been repeatedly codified and specified by multiple people in the comic, as being genuinely hot. He’s an attractive boy, the likes of which boy-likers would want to smooch and to hold. The initial attraction, probably isn’t this big huge thematic deal. Ethan is just provably hot, from the perspective of the objective universe that he exists in.
Everything that comes after is important for themes and foils and arcs. But you don’t need an excuse for a slightly-superficial guy, to be attracted to an accessible, attractive one.
This is a terrible idea and I really want to see this trainwreck. my sense of wanting to protect Ethan from himself wars with my desire to watch humans fucking up. oh no
i mean, potential cheater aside, it’s not like he’s a total scumbag as opposed to, say, ethan hooking up with some rando drug dealer twice his age and completely throwing himself into a drug fueled sexual lifestyle that’d take him years to recover/bounce back from
Honestly, I’d rather Ethan just do that, if his end goal is self-harm for the purpose of punishing Amber for not being there for him. At least then, Ethan would be the victim, instead of the victimizer.
and Willis anticipated the commenters on this
down to Ethan’s sekrit smile
SIX MONTHS AGO
The biggest takeaway I’m getting from all these relationships, starting and failing, is that these kids need to start therapy rather than starting a new relationship.
if there are even therapists helpful enough to be effective, let alone others being emotionally mature enough to admit that they need tehrapy
this group needs Dr. Yamada from Worm
I feel like that’s most teenagers but that could just be my skewed “depressed since 12, never single since 14” perspective (I very much regret that latter one)
This. I want this to happen. Call Jennifer, leave her and then gather ye Ethan while ye may.
Asher, this is your chance to redeem yourself.
Show this boy some love, and pull him away from the edge.
i mean that’d be sweet, but emotional support from friends/proper relationship aside i’m not sure if going into a relationship in (both) the mental state(s) would be good for them in the long run/a potential breakup might be bad
If your “girlfriend” just told you that she is not your girlfriend and does not have compassion for you, is seeing someone else really cheating?
I’m waiting for Walky to waltz in and mix things up.
be interesting if he was able to charm it into a proper date like “my girlfriend apparently needs a break from me, how about we get a drink?” (well i guess in their case/age , dinner or so)
No cheating, nope.
Well that’s certainly one way to flirt…
I ship them
What is Ethan
A miserable little pile of angst! But enough talk! Have at you!
*wineglass!*
gesundheit!
Baby don’t hurt me
Don’t hurt me
No more
I think Ethan has been replaced by one of Mary’s anime characters. I mean, how is that Ethan’s face? He’s become unrecognizable.
he does look particularly gremlin like in the last panel tho his hair is recognizable if a bit long, but i think marys anime boys would over compensate on a sharp chin or just look ‘girly’/androgynous
he literally isn’t eating or sleeping because he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. crisis depressives are not known for their great personal maintenance skills.
Oh this is a TERRIBLE decision.
Hooray!!
ooh boy
I really do believe Ethan became a vampire in the meantime.
Or worse, took up LARPing.
Mob Boy just got played like a damn string instrument
thus those eeeyes
–Dave, he’s now making a list of hacked songs to be played upon him
I see Ethan is either in the “openly discussing his shrinking list of reasons to carry on” stage of depression, or the “goblin boy who is learning it’s fun to weaponize his own emotional state to get reactions out of people” stage of depression.
But also if this is an attempt at a come-on, I’m not sure I follow? It implies once Asher gets it, Ethan won’t want to persist any more.
Yeah, but that’s the hook. Once Asher can’t leave Ethan without Ethan dying, Ethan now has a “friend” who can never leave him, because he has the persistent threat of ending himself as punishment, for any perceived slight, or instance where he decides that his needs aren’t being met. It’s a great way to get somebody doting on you forever, if you ignore the fact that you are completely using and abusing them to meet your emotional needs, while offering them zero tangible support or reciprocity in return.
People who have a deep-seated fear of abandonment – especially those like Ethan, whose fear of abandonment has been actualized and justified – can produce some of the worst, and most damaging, abusive behavior of any type of bad relationship.
Ethan doesn’t need to give it all at _once_
Kind of feel sorry for Asher. Everybody just treats him like a piece of meat.
asher did approach him first, other than the potential cheating/not ‘properly’ breaking up or saying that he needs distance from jen, he could’ve easily approached someone else
Good Godfrey kids, I know each other’s genitals is initially more fun but you know what would be better for the whole cast? Like just an entire team of therapists.
Ethan’s taking a page from Booster’s playbook here. Incisive questions. Good to see him smile.
ok well this isn’t healthy either but lol I approve of it more than Jennifer making Asher feel like shit
Ok, now the gist of what was said is good. But the wording makes me somewhat worried.
But you know what, baby steps.
We’ll get to somewhere healthy.
Eventually.
Hey i mean if Billie won’t even call you her boyfriend then it’s not really cheating. And even if it is…fuck it. This is one of those scenarios where you deserve to be cheated on ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I begin to wonder, how much of Jennifer’s assholery is because she ran out of energy/spoons being nice to the Walkertons? No, that’s not right. She has been an ass to Asher before. The nicest possible interpretation is she’s not willing to be fake around him. And he’s not dissassociated enough to see it that way, because, geeze you don’t just assume everyone’s fake unless you are fake.
Asher has revealed himself to be a whole person with complexity and depth, which has largely turned Billie off from the relationship.
And, worse than that, she’s now completely ick-ed out by Asher, because she can’t separate her deep-seated rage at Walky undermining her, from the mere fact that Asher slightly resembles him. She’s genuinely treating him with ultimate contempt and disgust, just because he’s loosely similar to the actual person she is mad at, who she wishes she had a way to punish.
Bets on Walky walky-ing in on them?
get that diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
GODDAMNIT, I’m having a cold and I fell asleep and I missed this WORK OF ART of a strip. I love it. “Take what you want from me”, holy shit. Someone has been reading Amber’s fics.
I want them desperately to bang. Ethan’s smile spells Mistakes and Asher is into it. I want them to be a hot mess but also I want Asher to pull Ethan away from the edge and aaaaaaaa. There’s nothing I can say other commenters haven’t said. Also, going by the strips with Mike, Ethan is a top. IDK if he’s a Dom (not the same thing) but he did top that bad boy.
I stand by my assertion a few days back that Mike was very subby. Domming him would not have been difficult, it’s pretty explicitly what he’s into. He also seems to specifically have been something of a masochist.
Agreed that Ethan seems like a top, at least in DoA, but I’d venture to say he’s a Service Top, and any Domming he did would be similar.
A+++ analysis, you’re super right o.o. Mike WAS a masochist (he was in the Walkyverse, and there’s also evidence in the DOAverse!!) – How come I hadn’t seen this? And yep! Service Top sounds exactly like Ethan in their dynamic!! (God I wish I had gotten to see that…)
The thing is, I wonder how Ethan would behave now. He’s def gained a lot of issues along the way, and it feels like his style has changed a little, if that makes sense?
Haha, yw.
This is a really good point re: Ethan’s current behavior.
Ethan’s attitude in this strip reminds me of Amber; sort of a similar sardonic misanthropy. Seems like a neat character beat, like he’s pulling out tricks he learned from her.
Yeah. I think he’s channeling his inner Mike, too.
Who was it who said to Amber, about Walky, “He’s like a version of your trauma you can ****”? I remember the line but forget the strip.
That’s what Asher’s like to Ethan.
Fantastic Erhan. Just one line and now the strip has the same tension as a Korean yaoi.
Asher: I think I hauve covid
*Snrrk!* ;-D
i hope milu is enjoying murder eyes + murder boy.
The smug is strong with this one.
Hg
Asher would be better off fucking a toaster.