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Cyanide & Happiness
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Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Beeserker
TJ Cordes
This comic is about a robot powered by bees, but it's also about the kind of people who think filling a robot with bees is a good idea, and why they're wrong.
Blindsprings
Kadi Fedoruk
Tamaura, wrested into a world 300 years in the future, must find a way to save the magic fading from her country.
Namesake
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There's ghosts at your heels and fairy tale worlds ahead. What do you do? Jump down the rabbit hole!
The Otherknown
Lorian Merriman
Chandra is a 12-year-old accidental time traveler with a reluctant new dad, who happens to be a member of a feared galactic crime syndicate.
Mac Hall
Matt Boyd
The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
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David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
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Iris Black is a self-proclaimed inventor with the curious ability to bring his drawings to life, and yearns to find a space where he can use his powers freely.
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Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
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Fun fact, the song’s title is actually “what’s up” despite that phrase appearing nowhere in the lyrics, because “what’s going on” was already taken as a title by Marvin Gaye and many others.
Kinda like the well-known 80s hit by Bon Jovi featuring the chorus of “Shot through the heart / and you’re to blame / you give love a bad name” not being named Shot through the Heart as most people I’ve known have assumed. Nah, that was taken.
… by an earlier Bon Jovi song, actually.
(It’s called You give love a bad name if you’re curious)
I don’t think they need a translator Joyce just needs someone to sit down with her and explain sex talk, innuendos, jokes, and the actual deed. If she had that this would be Smarting of Age in no time… except for the other characters, not counting Sal&Dan because I love them and I don’t think they’re that dumb most of the time.
I dunno, I practically grew up on the internet and I feel like I still don’t know what I’m saying half the time. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch it just after I said it.
I mean, are we counting that time Joyce and Dorothy held hands while Joyce had her first intentional orgasm, with Dorothy’s help? Because I know THEY don’t count that, but like…
It is entirely possible for two heterosexual women to have and enjoy all sorts of sexual activities with each other. Sexual attraction isn’t necessarily required for sex to be enjoyable. That’s why some asexual people still have and enjoy sex- it works a bit like a massage, where you don’t need to experience massagual attraction for it to feel good.
buuuuut that does not appear to be what’s going on here.
Dorothy doesn’t usually telegraph her embarrassment out-loud like that. Joyce is all about “I’m definitely not doing this sexual thing!” Dorothy mostly gives a particular look and slinks off.
As best I recall, Ruth is the only person Carla has ever openly spoken to about the fact she’s trans. Admittedly, that was in the context of Ruth completely failing in her job because she was breaking All the Rules, but would have done the right thing if she wasn’t open to blackmail at the time, but still. That does indicate a level of honesty that’s often shared only between friends.
I mean, it’s not really a high bar for honesty when that fact was in the national news. Not that I’m disagreeing with Sirksome (not sure what I think about that; does Ruth even know about Charlie yet?), but literally the only person who didn’t know was Joyce. Part of Carla’s attention-getting shtick is about making sure people also know she’s that Carla. The one who’s definitely named Carla now.
Part of it, but she also never brings it up. Which is why Rabid Rabbit said “has ever openly spoken to”.
I don’t know if it really says anything about level of honesty or friendship, since it only happened after Mary dragged it out into the open.
The only other person I can think of was Malaya, when they asked her about it directly over their own concerns about being non-binary.
They are both sophomores and have that extra year of university experience and lacking the lost-freshman trait, while living among a gaggle of lost-freshman types.
Joyce you don’t wanna get wrecked on your first time, you need to work your way up. It’s similar to how you can THINK you’re a size queen, but it’s better to not put that into practice until after you’ve had fun things inserted and you can really gauge what girth seems best for you.
I don’t keep an official count or anything (because seriously that would be crazy who would do something like that), but Joyce has said “shit” before. Twice. At her mom.
— So we skipped forward. We didn’t get to see what Dorothy’s response to Joyce’s request was.
Now we have them in the halls: Joyce walking tall and proud, not entirely unlike how Becky and Dina’s proud declarations of successful sexing one another; Dorothy scrunched down, blank-faced in the first panel, looking conflicted and a mite unhappy in the second, looking like she wants to disappear.
— Carla and Ruth speak for the readers: does Joyce know what she’s saying? How literal is she being? What on earth are she and Dorothy about to do?
I’m… a little bit reminded of the run-up to the reveal of Joyce’s atheism to Becky, where Becky poked Joyce several times in Christian-y spots (like prompting her to say grace), and I started wondering if she knew Joyce had “lost” her faith and was trying to get Joyce to admit it. I was wrong then: it was just Willis delighting in forcing Joyce into awkward situations. So of course I know I could be just as wrong now! Joyce could have no idea Dorothy likes her and might genuinely be expecting…???
Well, here’s one idea: maybe she wants help performing a sexy getting-ready song for Joe? She wants to wax her legs and squeeze into some complicated lingerie she bought for the occasion but doesn’t know how to put on and do special makeup (though after last time, one would imagine she’d ask Carla’s help for makeup)…? She’s hoping for a last-minute tutorial on condoms and lube…?
I don’t know! And we clearly aren’t meant to. Carla and Ruth wouldn’t be speaking for the readers if Willis intended this to be totally obvious.
— As for Dorothy…
I really don’t know what she’s thinking here.
I’m inclined to assume that it’s one of two possibilities:
a.) intent on helping Joyce through this as a platonic friend, but aware that it’s going to break her own heart in the process, and not appreciating the reminder of how much Joyce is looking forward to later on
b.) intent on telling Joyce that she can’t help her with this because she has feelings for her, dreading that conversation, and not appreciating the reminder of how Joyce has no idea what’s coming, and how her confession might spoil Joyce’s mood and change their friendship forever
Like, strictly speaking, it could also be c.) intent on taking advantage of her BFF’s naïveté and feeling guilty about that…
…but this would be an order of magnitude worse than when she tried to talk Walky into dumping Lucy; much worse even than when she tried to kiss him after he said he and Lucy were “probably” done. Magnified because Dorothy was rock-bottoming there, per her own description, and here she’s had at least some time to think about her feelings for Joyce and isn’t acting out of spur-of-the-moment misery and loss.
So: in other words, this would be premeditated murder, while her previous offense was more like attempted battery in the heat of the moment…? It would be a really big escalation.
Not… entirely out of character, but making something of a leap.
What I’m hoping right now: option b, definitely. I can even sympathize with Dorothy not wanting to have that conversation on the steps where anyone might have walked up to overhear.
I assume that Dorothy’s mind has shut down at this point and she is following on autopilot, still hearing the words “I’m probably gonna have sex” echoing in her head.
Also repeating something I’ve said elsewhere: IT’S ALSO BEEN like a decade! That seems beyond the statute of limitations on “doing the same thing twice is repetitive”.
I’m glad we’re acknowledging that dotty and joyce look like blonde clones in-story though lmfao. Same bangs and all! No wonder Carla always got them mixed up.
Not quite the circumstances you envisaged, Walky, but at least even then you didn’t seem opposed to the idea of your girlfriend banging someone else on principle.
Also, I know it’s been 10 years for us, Dorothy, but even so, you can’t complain about the fact we started doubting your Kinsey ranking before you did.
Still time to turn this situation around, but it looks like Dorothy has already let this go on further than she should have. The only morally acceptable response to Joyce’s request in light of Dorothy’s recent realization is a definitive “no.”
Well, she could also, like, fully confess that she’s realized she’s been unconsciously taking advantage of Joyce’s naivete. That would also be morally okay. but also probably skipping several steps to navigating the situation in a healthy way. Really I just want her to acknowledge that she needs to reassess the boundaries she’s been keeping. Immediately. Before she does something actually despicable instead of just messy. You can do it Dorothy, I believe in you!
So just to be clear, helping a dear friend who has asked for your help is despicable? I mean some discussion on exactly what help she’s requesting might be in order. But Joyce seems to be pretty clear in her own mind exactly what she’s asking for. If she’s fine with it AND Dorothy’s fine with it, I don’t see the moral issue.
At a guess, the despicable thing would be having any sort of sexual or romantic contact with Joyce while they both have boyfriends, and those boyfriends likely knowing nothing of said contact in the moment.
Not only that, but also the fact that Dorothy is doing this while not being open about her sexual feelings for Joyce. That’s the real sticking point for me here.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this. But right now it seems like this is turning into laundry 2.0 here.
And if Dorothy goes along with something like that while not being open with Joyce about how she feels, despite now being aware of those feelings? It’s sexual exploitation. Full stop. I will not debate further on that.
For the record I really hope that’s not what’s happening here, I just have a really gross feeling about the direction this seems to be heading.
If I were taking bets, I’d bet on it not being the direction it’s headed. Mostly because Joyce and not Dorothy. But we can wait and see without getting all judgy.
Taffy, I don’t recall any agreements of exclusivity being made, though they might well have happened offscreen.
It is generally culturally appropriate to assume exclusivity unless otherwise stated. “We never explicitly stated we couldn’t sleep with other people” is a shitty excuse for cheating, not a gotcha that makes it okay. If you’re going to be with other people it should be crystal clear from the get-go with each of them, and situations where that’s known and understood as the default are vanishingly rare.
Aside from general cultural norms, we can identify from previous conversations between all of the people involved that exclusivity is expected from each member of the two couples.
If I’m gonna take a guess at Dorothy’s mindstate, I’m assuming she has this feeling in her gut. A little burning sensation, almost like the one you might get when you’re angry but not as hot and without quite as much direction. And it’s heavy, too, like something dense in her stomach, never leaving or feeling entirely comfortable. She doesn’t know it yet, but that’s guilt in there, trying to root her to wherever she stands, so she won’t go into Joyce’s room and do what she’d probably like to do. She’s made mistakes before, maybe gotten a little closer to something than she’d meant to, but now she’s fully aware of what she wants and it’s not doing her any good, because she’s still walking to that room. She’s still following Joyce, knowing full well she’s into her, not bothering to get clarity on what Joyce is actually asking her to do, because she wants it to be The Thing, whether she wants that to be what she wants or not.
It’s all an assumption, of course, and I’m only using my own experience to infer any of it. And it’s only the assumption of an emotional state, not any actual intent on Dorothy’s part. Plus, her being fictional and all, the stakes are as low as they get.
Probably with a bit of hoping whatever Joyce is actually asking for won’t quite cross the line, both so she can avoid coming clean to Joyce and so that she can enjoy the parts up to the line.
Wherever that line actually is for her, which is likely a moving target.
I think a good mess could be Jennie’s advice coming back at an inopportune time. Like, Dorothy gets 10% into it and realizes she can’t go through with this only for Joyce to kiss her like regular best friends are allowed to do. Would be a fun twist.
Not really the point of today’s strip but I was recently looking through the Ruth tag and like. Does anyone else feel like Carla’s interactions with Ruth are by far where Carla has been at her most interesting? I dunno. Strong dynamic.
Carla has all her best character moments when interacting with Ruth, yes. And all her best moments period when torturing Mary. She is otherwise very whatever to me.
Carla is at her most honest with Ruth, possibly because Ruth has little tolerance for bullshit other than her own (and Jennifer’s). She drops her “I’m a super-special Magic Pixie Trans Girl (whose Daddy & Mommy are basically Elon except less batshit and not transphobes)!” persona around Ruth on occasion.
So, yes, because there’s no one else around whom Carla drops her mask more than Ruth. I mean, maybe with Charlie, but I’ve yet to be convinced the mask gets dropped there.
My favourite kind of jokes are the ones where people’s assumptions run away with them, and the outcome is not what they were expecting at all, cos people have grubby minds!
I think Joyce knows exactly what she’s saying and that’s the point.
The main question I have here is about Joyce’s supposed naivety. Given what we know, Joyce likely has her own designs here. She’s aware of the gayness of the laundry trip but has requested and initiated an escalated version of it. It was Dorothy’s idea last time. Contrast her reaction to Carla questioning them on their way to the laundry room to this strip. Confident admission of what they’re about to do and no visible anxiety. Joyce hasn’t brought up the titty pic, but she must have some ideas of why Dorothy might have sent that to her. After all, Joyce is a self-proclaimed lesbian love sleuth. She immediately and purposely frames it as a completely normal thing to do in order to justify keeping the pic in her mind. Then you have Jennifer telling her it’s completely normal to make out with and bang your bestie once or twice. An invitation to what will presumably be a dry humping session immediately following these events isn’t a coincidence. What makes it murky is the pretext or guise it’s about preparing for Joe, but that seems completely like hog wash if you think about it for five seconds. Oh, and the drunken confession of wanting to watch Dorothy have sex with Walky to observe how it’s done (for the same exact reason) while covering up his half with her hand has turned into a full on propositioning Dorothy to show her herself. That’s significant for more reasons than one and a shift from observer to participant.
The idea only Dorothy would morally in the wrong if she participates in what Joyce wants her to do with her and is actively orchestrating is depriving Joyce of agency here. It doesn’t make sense because it’s predicated on the notion Joyce is unaware she’d be getting Dorothy off in this scenario and Dorothy would be intentionally taking advantage of that fact. What’s clear is Joyce is aware they’d be getting off together regardless of her awareness of Dorothy’s now explicit romantic feeling for her. While Dorothy would be knowingly cheating on Walky in a sense, Joyce would, under the pretext of practice and notion that sexual activity between friends is normal and “degayifies” it somehow (only implicit atm), ironically be cheating on Joe in another sense.
I do think most commenters are assuming Joyce can’t possibly know what she’s inviting. I’ve been assuming we would see her realize what the photo from Dorothy meant rather than it happening off-panel.
But like, this sort of subversion of expectations would certainly explain why Willis would have wanted to skip showing us that!
Technically, she concluded the JENNIFER pic got sent to her by mistake; she was kind of overwhelmed by the Dorothy photo, and didn’t directly connect it to Walky.
It’s definitely possible, especially with the set up of Jennifer’s line, but it’s also still possible Joyce is still focused on getting wrecked by Joe tonight and on getting advice from Dorothy, not practice.
There’s an emphasis on Dorothy physically demonstrating what to do in Joyce’s fantasy scenario (extra emphasis on just watching what Dorothy does). It was also another way to poke at and remind us of the suppressed desire Joyce has for Dorothy. In that scenario, it also involves two people in action. What is happening now is for the same purpose but no Walky involved and Joyce specifically says “we’re doing hanky panky stuff.” I don’t think it’ll be as innocuous as just getting advice, but I’m welcome to surprises here.
I’m also not saying Joyce has figured out Dorothy completely, but must at least have some kind of inkling about something. It goes into how she’s altering these events (the pic, Jennifer’s sage wisdom, the Laundry trip, so on) to fit into a framework that doesn’t make it “weird”, which will open up another can of worms once she’s completely honest with herself. Joyce also connects round one (“you took me to do laundry”) and two (“I took you drinking”) with the statement “we’ve learned how to let each other say yes.” What does that mean for round three? Joyce took the initiative here.
I feel I should stress that I don’t think any attraction to Dorothy is replacing or supplanting her obvious very intense attraction to Joe. I didn’t really mention that in my comment, but yeah.
Oh, that’s obvious, yeah. That goes without saying.
In a sense I’m doing an exercise in logic (the last two Joyce/Dorothy pages are call backs) while considering other story elements to make an educated guess on underlying motive. It’s more the actual intent I’m thinking of with this whole thing. I thought some responses to Dorothy were rough regarding the C-word and didn’t consider Joyce fully if you’re going down that route. Personally, I don’t think it goes that far, but there will likely be mutual boundary pushing that results in a permanent change in their relationship and the next story line in this book will have a lot of things happening because of it.
I think how Joyce frames those two outings with “we’ve learned how to let each other say yes” is significant and it’s purposeful to have them encounter Carla to make the connection. The other two times Joyce answered Carla she spilled the beans (inadvertently once and on purpose the next), too.
Joyce doesn’t have to have lost any interest in or focus on what’s going to happen later tonight with Joe, for her to also be interested in Dorothy rn. False dichotomy, you know?
Every now and then I remember I need to kinda push back on the idea that all D/J shippers are anti J/J. Mostly Joe just doesn’t occur to me as a factor when I’m talking about D/J, but not because I want him to disappear or have any trouble acknowledging Joyce’s obvious Joe-thirst.
Joe is cool to me. I think what will probably end up happening with D/J is the most narratively interesting development for all characters involved.
To speak further about the Joyce’s simultaneous interests, that is an entanglement she will have to come terms with herself. From what I understand, her issue with Ruth and Jason was the idea Ruth had to choose a preference and stick with it despite acknowledging what bisexuality ultimately is. She was with Jennifer, so she shouldn’t be dating guys now. I’m assuming that will be a problem for her in the very near future along with the idea of sexual fluidity, which is also something Becky is currently dealing with. A lot of things are converging atm huh.
Yeah, this is definitely not a good look for Joyce here if she’s actually thinking of doing what it seems like she’s doing. I think people fixate on Dorothy because she’s already crossed the line once somewhat (the picture to Joyce) and generally been dodgy with respecting other relationships in general (not just Joyce/Joe, but Lucy/Walky as well)
If Joyce does go through with it, I’ll have lost a lot of like for her as a character. Mistakes happen and changing is hard, but I [as a neurodivergent bi woman who struggled a lot with things like “saying no” and understanding appropriate friendship behaviors] cannot give anybody a pass on cheating on their significant other whose specific bad trigger is infidelity. It makes it worse than Dorothy cheating on Walky imo, at least that could trigger positive development for Walky. I don’t see Joe getting cheated on causing anything but a spiral.
Of course there are also the possibilities that Joyce doesn’t do anything, or that she and Joe talked about it offscreen (we know D and W didn’t) and he was cool with it, stuff like that. My harsh judgment is purely for the outcome of Joyce cheating.
Joyce knows what she is doing and thinks it’s okay because Jennifer said best friends are allowed and they’ve already done things that are in the same family. Dorothy is…. either shamefully going along with this or plans on discussing why she can’t once they’re in private. I’d argue that she could have had a quiet outdoor conversation about this instead of going to dangerous territory so she’s absolutely thinking about going along with it.
Her own fault that Joyce is (somewhat) innocently spreading the word to bystanders.
Awful decision by Dorothy but great decision for all of us who get to see how this train wreck goes down.
Even Jennifer’s thing about best friends really only was meant to apply to “while still being straight”, not cheating on a partner.
And I can see Dorothy a) Not wanting to have this conversation in public,
b) wanting to delay having this conversation at all in hopes Joyce doesn’t mean what she seems to mean and she doesn’t have to confess yet,
c) dealing with the temptation of what Joyce does seem to mean.
If Joyce really does follow through on the “you’re allowed to bang your best friends” thing thing with Dorothy, that’s really going to mess with Becky when she finds out.
I mean, I know she’s happy with Dina and all, but damn.
Man, lot of people in these comments who seem to have forgotten what they’re ACTUALLY doing. Look, I ship Joyrathy, I have shipped them for awhile. I’m practically captaining the vessel.
But no, Joyce isn’t planning to bang Dotty, guys. She THINKS she’s getting advice on how to do sex with Joe. Hence “We’re doing hanky-panky stuff.” She either isn’t thinking about how that sounds to Carla (likely) or is just leaning into the running gag about them being gay together (less likely but possible) but I’m about as certain as you get that she’s not planning to sex Dotty.
Dotty is clearly about to break, though. It’s just a question of if she’s gonna panic and kiss Joyce like Becky did, or if she’s gonna have a meltdown and confess, or if she’s just going to try and be the best person she can be and give the girl she likes honest, good advice on how to please her boyfriend. I don’t think she sees any possibilities that result in anything but heartbreak for her.
Hey, be fair: it’s not like Joyce invited Dorothy to go get ice cream and the rest of us are imagining stuff. Willis gave us a very deliberately ambiguous setup here, where yes: the rational brain says, “Joyce cannot possibly be asking Dorothy to warm her up for Joe.”
But the rest of the brain is going, “She’s LITERALLY asked Dorothy to warm her up for Joe!”
Willis could’ve immediately resolved the ambiguity by showing us Dorothy asking Joyce what she meant and getting clarification, but instead cut straight to the two of them walking to Joyce’s conveniently-vacated room with Joyce proudly telling Carla they’re gonna go do some sex-ish-stuff and Dorothy avoiding Carla’s eye contact, culminating in Ruth and Carla both being like, “…..they’re not actually… right????”
So yeah, you’re completely right, but also, it’s not like Willis doesn’t want us all speculating like mad.
Definitely true and it’s not just Willis ship teasing either, since it’s pretty clearly hitting Dorothy the same way it’s hitting the commentariat, so it’s serving her character arc.
But at the same time, that doesn’t mean Joyce really plans to practice sex with Dorothy.
To add to this because it’s funny, the idea of Joyce on her own initiative breaking up Dorothy and Walky is in the text and not something out of thin air either lol. I was very surprised when Booster said that and that they thought it was a possibility. I don’t think that’s going to happen but I assume it was said for a reason.
“honest, good advice” seems like a stretch to me. She might attempt to do that, but she attempted to do that with Walky, and the advice was empty platitude at best, possibly subconsciously sabotaging him. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready” is closest to this situation, because he was asking for advice about sex with Lucy. But everyone loves when you’re obnoxious and Poor communication is important for a relationship fit the bill too. Dorothy is ordinary, and gives ordinary quality advice. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and it’s going to be influenced by how she’s feeling whether she intends it or not.
I wonder how many people in this strip have figured out what Joyce’s “we” is referring to.
I wonder how many people in this strip will be wrong about this “we”.
I wonder if one of these people will be Joyce.
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Four-Eyed Blondes sounds like a geeky indie cover band of 4 Non Blondes.
Which is ironic, because they definitely left Ruth and Carla wondering what’s going on?!
Welp, should have checked the alt-text, Willis has bested me.
Still good, to think of that before you read the alt-text.
Always check the alt-text first. It’s just natural law.
Hey, I’m just disappointed it wasn’t wishing us a happy Hitler’s birthday.
Plenty of better things to celebrate on 4/20.
Hey this is that song He-Man does
Worse cultural legacies for a song to have.
Honestly that’s probably one of the best cultural legacies for a song to have.
especially with how accurate it is. ~<3
Fun fact, the song’s title is actually “what’s up” despite that phrase appearing nowhere in the lyrics, because “what’s going on” was already taken as a title by Marvin Gaye and many others.
Kinda like the well-known 80s hit by Bon Jovi featuring the chorus of “Shot through the heart / and you’re to blame / you give love a bad name” not being named Shot through the Heart as most people I’ve known have assumed. Nah, that was taken.
… by an earlier Bon Jovi song, actually.
(It’s called You give love a bad name if you’re curious)
I think you’ll find it’s Prince Adam singing, not He Man. How could you mix that wimp and that hunk with the exact same body type and hairstyle up?
They both know Joyce well enough now to know they need a translator.
I don’t think they need a translator Joyce just needs someone to sit down with her and explain sex talk, innuendos, jokes, and the actual deed. If she had that this would be Smarting of Age in no time… except for the other characters, not counting Sal&Dan because I love them and I don’t think they’re that dumb most of the time.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/mandangle/
To be fair, she’s probably less reluctant to google things now!
Nice reminder that I was able to comment before the Ana and Jen that day. I had forgotten that.
I dunno, I practically grew up on the internet and I feel like I still don’t know what I’m saying half the time. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch it just after I said it.
I’m not sure it’s practical to fill her in on literally every single existing innuendo, which is what would be needed to avoid them entirely.
I do find it kinda cute that Carla refers to it as hanky panky around Joyce.
I mean, 90% she’s making fun of her as she does it, but still.
Making fun of can be a sign of affection!
Carla is the goddess who knows how to talk to her worshippers. (and everyone’s a worshipper, whether they know it or not)
There’s definitely an extremely heterosexual explanation for this…….right?
Absolutely.
Completely.
Definitely.
Totally.
Undoubtedly.
Not.
Sure, Joyce’s second time is gonna be with Joe.
I mean, are we counting that time Joyce and Dorothy held hands while Joyce had her first intentional orgasm, with Dorothy’s help? Because I know THEY don’t count that, but like…
I’m counting what is definitely about to happen and cannot possibly be an impending failure with disastrous consequences.
… this is the one Jeph Jacques writes, yeah?
There is absolutely a heterosexual explanation for this.
It’s not the correct explanation. But there is one.
It is entirely possible for two heterosexual women to have and enjoy all sorts of sexual activities with each other. Sexual attraction isn’t necessarily required for sex to be enjoyable. That’s why some asexual people still have and enjoy sex- it works a bit like a massage, where you don’t need to experience massagual attraction for it to feel good.
buuuuut that does not appear to be what’s going on here.
There is if you ask Jennifer.
Okay, so it was a reversal of before in a different way than I was thinking.
Okay, so that wasn’t what I was trying to do before.
The HTML defeated you.
Dorothy doesn’t usually telegraph her embarrassment out-loud like that. Joyce is all about “I’m definitely not doing this sexual thing!” Dorothy mostly gives a particular look and slinks off.
Dorothy mentally calculating if she has to actually wreck Joyce for instructional purposes, or if she can just give helpful tips on being wrecked.
Do the right thing Dorothy.
Joyce?
That seems right to me
Joyce is, indeed, the right thing.
Meaning, she’s the one on the right, when they’re walking.
Dorothy, as Nike (the company, not the goddess) would say, “Just do her.”
(dunno, maybe the goddess would say it, too)
♫ And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs ♪
[possum screm]
I prefer edibles myself for gettin real high ^^
Happy 4/20 AND Easter! Also Dotty X Joyce Bedtime fun begins!!!
*plays “No Joke!” from Steins;Gate Music CD on hacked muzak*
Damn, I was hoping for more Billie/Alice time, so I’ll have to assume they are getting soft serve, and talking.
Someone please help Joyce with sex language and idioms. I cringe when she says stuff like this because I realize how off-putting it is.
They reach Joyce’s room only to find that Billie and Alice are already banging in it
One would think they’d have headed back to Forest to use one of THEIR rooms! How inconsiderate can you get
It was close by and it was empty
Side note. I think Ruth and Carla are best friends, or at least as close to best friends as either of them are capable of admitting.
I think you’re right:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/todo/
Maybe not the best example but An Example.
As best I recall, Ruth is the only person Carla has ever openly spoken to about the fact she’s trans. Admittedly, that was in the context of Ruth completely failing in her job because she was breaking All the Rules, but would have done the right thing if she wasn’t open to blackmail at the time, but still. That does indicate a level of honesty that’s often shared only between friends.
I mean, it’s not really a high bar for honesty when that fact was in the national news. Not that I’m disagreeing with Sirksome (not sure what I think about that; does Ruth even know about Charlie yet?), but literally the only person who didn’t know was Joyce. Part of Carla’s attention-getting shtick is about making sure people also know she’s that Carla. The one who’s definitely named Carla now.
Part of it, but she also never brings it up. Which is why Rabid Rabbit said “has ever openly spoken to”.
I don’t know if it really says anything about level of honesty or friendship, since it only happened after Mary dragged it out into the open.
The only other person I can think of was Malaya, when they asked her about it directly over their own concerns about being non-binary.
They are both sophomores and have that extra year of university experience and lacking the lost-freshman trait, while living among a gaggle of lost-freshman types.
Pretty sure they’re both juniors, actually.
Oh! That just tells me I need to re-re-read the whole dang thing, from very first episode.
4-eyed blondes, time to square up with the 4-eyed redheads.(They’d get their asses kicked though.)
Carla is roller-derby material. Ruth isn’t but definitely could be. Both Dorothy and Joyce would be the freshest of fresh meat.
Ruth’s look of absolute stunned shock, so stunned she can’t even make a face because all the circuits have shut down, is so beautiful here xD
She’s in “you don’t realize what you just said, do you” overload.
Their brain cells do not accept that (1) Joyce actually knew what she was saying and (2) meant it.
Well, my brain cells have not actually accepted it either, but that’s partially because Willis is a known tease.
What? You don’t believe fully completely in your heart that Willis will provide us a Dorothy-Joyce sex scene? Shirley you can’t be Sirius!
Joyce you don’t wanna get wrecked on your first time, you need to work your way up. It’s similar to how you can THINK you’re a size queen, but it’s better to not put that into practice until after you’ve had fun things inserted and you can really gauge what girth seems best for you.
Neither have you, Carla.
Carla always knows what she’s saying, she just doesn’t much care
Welp I guess I’m gonna have that song stuck in my head for the next few hours-and-or-days. He-Man is risen indeed!
(now is time for CAKE)
The Power of Greyskull COMPELS you!
Joyce is the only person in this comic who isn’t feeling thoroughly awkward in some way, and that’s because she’s the only one who’s being so awkward.
Also Dorothy’s facial expression, dammit girl needs a hug.
Not sure a hug would help, in this situation…
!
i don’t claim to know what the best solution to All Of This would be. all i know is i think dorothy deserves to squeeze some boobies
I see a lot of conflict on Dorothy’s face. Sadly I think Dorothy’s moral compass will win out
oh damnit the alt-text makes me want to listen to 4-non-blondes. Actually, let’s goooo
Love that Joyce can say she’s going to get wrecked but *not* ‘shit’ even with her new policy on swearing.
I don’t keep an official count or anything (because seriously that would be crazy who would do something like that), but Joyce has said “shit” before. Twice. At her mom.
For the benefit of those too new here to get the joke, John Campbell maintains the official F-bomb list for the benefit of the community.
She’s PG-13 and angling for that R.
Joyce has never said “Hey, what’s going on?”
You need to give Jugs some time to learn. It’s hard going up that great big hill of hope.
Dorothy is deeply concerned with this turn of events.
And yet, she’s not fighting it…
Dorothy did not comment on Joyce’s answer.
Dorothy frequently follows Joyce wherever she leads.
— So we skipped forward. We didn’t get to see what Dorothy’s response to Joyce’s request was.
Now we have them in the halls: Joyce walking tall and proud, not entirely unlike how Becky and Dina’s proud declarations of successful sexing one another; Dorothy scrunched down, blank-faced in the first panel, looking conflicted and a mite unhappy in the second, looking like she wants to disappear.
— Carla and Ruth speak for the readers: does Joyce know what she’s saying? How literal is she being? What on earth are she and Dorothy about to do?
I’m… a little bit reminded of the run-up to the reveal of Joyce’s atheism to Becky, where Becky poked Joyce several times in Christian-y spots (like prompting her to say grace), and I started wondering if she knew Joyce had “lost” her faith and was trying to get Joyce to admit it. I was wrong then: it was just Willis delighting in forcing Joyce into awkward situations. So of course I know I could be just as wrong now! Joyce could have no idea Dorothy likes her and might genuinely be expecting…???
Well, here’s one idea: maybe she wants help performing a sexy getting-ready song for Joe? She wants to wax her legs and squeeze into some complicated lingerie she bought for the occasion but doesn’t know how to put on and do special makeup (though after last time, one would imagine she’d ask Carla’s help for makeup)…? She’s hoping for a last-minute tutorial on condoms and lube…?
I don’t know! And we clearly aren’t meant to. Carla and Ruth wouldn’t be speaking for the readers if Willis intended this to be totally obvious.
— As for Dorothy…
I really don’t know what she’s thinking here.
I’m inclined to assume that it’s one of two possibilities:
a.) intent on helping Joyce through this as a platonic friend, but aware that it’s going to break her own heart in the process, and not appreciating the reminder of how much Joyce is looking forward to later on
b.) intent on telling Joyce that she can’t help her with this because she has feelings for her, dreading that conversation, and not appreciating the reminder of how Joyce has no idea what’s coming, and how her confession might spoil Joyce’s mood and change their friendship forever
Like, strictly speaking, it could also be c.) intent on taking advantage of her BFF’s naïveté and feeling guilty about that…
…but this would be an order of magnitude worse than when she tried to talk Walky into dumping Lucy; much worse even than when she tried to kiss him after he said he and Lucy were “probably” done. Magnified because Dorothy was rock-bottoming there, per her own description, and here she’s had at least some time to think about her feelings for Joyce and isn’t acting out of spur-of-the-moment misery and loss.
So: in other words, this would be premeditated murder, while her previous offense was more like attempted battery in the heat of the moment…? It would be a really big escalation.
Not… entirely out of character, but making something of a leap.
What I’m hoping right now: option b, definitely. I can even sympathize with Dorothy not wanting to have that conversation on the steps where anyone might have walked up to overhear.
But jeeeeeeez.
Good analysis, I think
Heh, thank you.
We’ll see, of course!
I assume that Dorothy’s mind has shut down at this point and she is following on autopilot, still hearing the words “I’m probably gonna have sex” echoing in her head.
Also possible! Buffering can take a while sometimes…
Definitely b
Like a twist on Becky confession but this time pulling away with the perception it won’t go anywhere
Yeah…
It still feels like a scene Willis wouldn’t actually want to do twice but I guess we will see.
Also repeating something I’ve said elsewhere: IT’S ALSO BEEN like a decade! That seems beyond the statute of limitations on “doing the same thing twice is repetitive”.
You will never gaslight me into believing Joyce is blonde. That’s been brown and that remains brown.
lol i love dorothy being like
while also still completely following joyce to her room to wreck her
First:
“I’m…I’m not going to have sex with her. I’m just going to tell her how I feel about her.”
Then:
“I’m not going to tell her that; it would ruin her enthusiasm. I’ll just explain to her some simple sex stuff.”
Then:
“Okay, I can’t just explain it, because she needs some practice. I’ll keep the sex stuff simple.”
A slippery slope.
(so slippery)
This’ll be the day we’ve waited for.
This will be the day we open up the door
Wait, this is round THREE? Round One was the laundry room masturbation, but what was Round Two? What have I missed ??
As Suet has reported elsewhere, https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/underagedly/
We have lost the plot so badly
But there it is right there. Joyce was fairly definite.
Nah, pretty sure I’ve seen this flufferette plot in some porn somewhere.
I’m glad we’re acknowledging that dotty and joyce look like blonde clones in-story though lmfao. Same bangs and all! No wonder Carla always got them mixed up.
There’s the same problem with Sal and Amazigirl. No wonder Jennifer always gets them mixed up.
Jugs and Not-Jugs _do_ look similar.
And more importantly, neither of them are Carla.
“Yer PROLLY gonna hafta bang her.” https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/progress/
Not quite the circumstances you envisaged, Walky, but at least even then you didn’t seem opposed to the idea of your girlfriend banging someone else on principle.
Also, I know it’s been 10 years for us, Dorothy, but even so, you can’t complain about the fact we started doubting your Kinsey ranking before you did.
Oooh great callback! Looks like a nice bit of foreshadowing from here.
Daang, that was 9 and a half years ago.
Such simpler times.
I was reading on a bit from here and came across this old strip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/spouse/
Which is just :chef’s_kiss: re-read with the context of the current storyline
Still time to turn this situation around, but it looks like Dorothy has already let this go on further than she should have. The only morally acceptable response to Joyce’s request in light of Dorothy’s recent realization is a definitive “no.”
Well, she could also, like, fully confess that she’s realized she’s been unconsciously taking advantage of Joyce’s naivete. That would also be morally okay. but also probably skipping several steps to navigating the situation in a healthy way. Really I just want her to acknowledge that she needs to reassess the boundaries she’s been keeping. Immediately. Before she does something actually despicable instead of just messy. You can do it Dorothy, I believe in you!
Fuck the “healthy” way. I wanna see Dorothy almost go too far but not quite get there, because it opens up more fun paths.
So just to be clear, helping a dear friend who has asked for your help is despicable? I mean some discussion on exactly what help she’s requesting might be in order. But Joyce seems to be pretty clear in her own mind exactly what she’s asking for. If she’s fine with it AND Dorothy’s fine with it, I don’t see the moral issue.
At a guess, the despicable thing would be having any sort of sexual or romantic contact with Joyce while they both have boyfriends, and those boyfriends likely knowing nothing of said contact in the moment.
Not only that, but also the fact that Dorothy is doing this while not being open about her sexual feelings for Joyce. That’s the real sticking point for me here.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this. But right now it seems like this is turning into laundry 2.0 here.
And if Dorothy goes along with something like that while not being open with Joyce about how she feels, despite now being aware of those feelings? It’s sexual exploitation. Full stop. I will not debate further on that.
For the record I really hope that’s not what’s happening here, I just have a really gross feeling about the direction this seems to be heading.
If I were taking bets, I’d bet on it not being the direction it’s headed. Mostly because Joyce and not Dorothy. But we can wait and see without getting all judgy.
Taffy, I don’t recall any agreements of exclusivity being made, though they might well have happened offscreen.
It is generally culturally appropriate to assume exclusivity unless otherwise stated. “We never explicitly stated we couldn’t sleep with other people” is a shitty excuse for cheating, not a gotcha that makes it okay. If you’re going to be with other people it should be crystal clear from the get-go with each of them, and situations where that’s known and understood as the default are vanishingly rare.
Aside from general cultural norms, we can identify from previous conversations between all of the people involved that exclusivity is expected from each member of the two couples.
Ruth has the best “Wait, what?” expressions.
If I’m gonna take a guess at Dorothy’s mindstate, I’m assuming she has this feeling in her gut. A little burning sensation, almost like the one you might get when you’re angry but not as hot and without quite as much direction. And it’s heavy, too, like something dense in her stomach, never leaving or feeling entirely comfortable. She doesn’t know it yet, but that’s guilt in there, trying to root her to wherever she stands, so she won’t go into Joyce’s room and do what she’d probably like to do. She’s made mistakes before, maybe gotten a little closer to something than she’d meant to, but now she’s fully aware of what she wants and it’s not doing her any good, because she’s still walking to that room. She’s still following Joyce, knowing full well she’s into her, not bothering to get clarity on what Joyce is actually asking her to do, because she wants it to be The Thing, whether she wants that to be what she wants or not.
It’s all an assumption, of course, and I’m only using my own experience to infer any of it. And it’s only the assumption of an emotional state, not any actual intent on Dorothy’s part. Plus, her being fictional and all, the stakes are as low as they get.
Probably with a bit of hoping whatever Joyce is actually asking for won’t quite cross the line, both so she can avoid coming clean to Joyce and so that she can enjoy the parts up to the line.
Wherever that line actually is for her, which is likely a moving target.
I think a good mess could be Jennie’s advice coming back at an inopportune time. Like, Dorothy gets 10% into it and realizes she can’t go through with this only for Joyce to kiss her like regular best friends are allowed to do. Would be a fun twist.
heck yeah, Joyce, keep ’em guessing
Not really the point of today’s strip but I was recently looking through the Ruth tag and like. Does anyone else feel like Carla’s interactions with Ruth are by far where Carla has been at her most interesting? I dunno. Strong dynamic.
It’s good stuff!
Carla has all her best character moments when interacting with Ruth, yes. And all her best moments period when torturing Mary. She is otherwise very whatever to me.
Carla is at her most honest with Ruth, possibly because Ruth has little tolerance for bullshit other than her own (and Jennifer’s). She drops her “I’m a super-special Magic Pixie Trans Girl (whose Daddy & Mommy are basically Elon except less batshit and not transphobes)!” persona around Ruth on occasion.
So, yes, because there’s no one else around whom Carla drops her mask more than Ruth. I mean, maybe with Charlie, but I’ve yet to be convinced the mask gets dropped there.
Heeeeeyyeeeeeyeeeeeeyeeeeeeey I said hey. What’s going on?
Dorothy is rising.
Joyce is risen!
Will Joe rise?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/03-joementum/touched/
Hey now, sometimes Joyce is aware of how what she says sounds, she just doesn’t realise why it sounds like that…
Lookin’ forward to how she later describes to Sarah what’s about to happen.
My favourite kind of jokes are the ones where people’s assumptions run away with them, and the outcome is not what they were expecting at all, cos people have grubby minds!
Are you talking about the commentariate?
Because I’m going to assume you’re talking about the commentariate.
Probably. Though Dorothy’s definitely also running with the grubby assumptions.
Maybe.
Always fun to see Ruth and Carla in the same strip
Round One
Round Two
“She Has Never Once Known What She Was Saying”
Maybe the ambiguity of her innuendos is just smoke and mirrors.
At least the last two are straight-forward, what’ll they do this time?
Thank you for the reminders, I couldn’t remember the second time!
Those two four-eyed blondes are a right pair of bongo bosses! We know it’s true because Joyce said so!
GOD
REALLY FUNNY DUPDATE TODAY HUH
A pair of four-eyed blondes and a pair of four-eyed reds.
Two pair! Unless any of youse has better, I’m takin’ the pot.
I got four queens.
Well dang. Unless we’re playin’ dragon poker (a la Robert Asprin), then I’m guessin’ you win.
You have a pot to piss in? In this economy?
Yes, but it was made in China, so we can’t afford to replace it.
Family heirloom.
Well, someone’s getting wrecked, one way or another, I suppose.
Why all the fuss? Joyce is going to get some help with her music, that’s all.
Dorothy is looking a little butch here
This is somehow less awkward than Carla’s most recent interactions with Joyce.
I think Joyce knows exactly what she’s saying and that’s the point.
The main question I have here is about Joyce’s supposed naivety. Given what we know, Joyce likely has her own designs here. She’s aware of the gayness of the laundry trip but has requested and initiated an escalated version of it. It was Dorothy’s idea last time. Contrast her reaction to Carla questioning them on their way to the laundry room to this strip. Confident admission of what they’re about to do and no visible anxiety. Joyce hasn’t brought up the titty pic, but she must have some ideas of why Dorothy might have sent that to her. After all, Joyce is a self-proclaimed lesbian love sleuth. She immediately and purposely frames it as a completely normal thing to do in order to justify keeping the pic in her mind. Then you have Jennifer telling her it’s completely normal to make out with and bang your bestie once or twice. An invitation to what will presumably be a dry humping session immediately following these events isn’t a coincidence. What makes it murky is the pretext or guise it’s about preparing for Joe, but that seems completely like hog wash if you think about it for five seconds. Oh, and the drunken confession of wanting to watch Dorothy have sex with Walky to observe how it’s done (for the same exact reason) while covering up his half with her hand has turned into a full on propositioning Dorothy to show her herself. That’s significant for more reasons than one and a shift from observer to participant.
The idea only Dorothy would morally in the wrong if she participates in what Joyce wants her to do with her and is actively orchestrating is depriving Joyce of agency here. It doesn’t make sense because it’s predicated on the notion Joyce is unaware she’d be getting Dorothy off in this scenario and Dorothy would be intentionally taking advantage of that fact. What’s clear is Joyce is aware they’d be getting off together regardless of her awareness of Dorothy’s now explicit romantic feeling for her. While Dorothy would be knowingly cheating on Walky in a sense, Joyce would, under the pretext of practice and notion that sexual activity between friends is normal and “degayifies” it somehow (only implicit atm), ironically be cheating on Joe in another sense.
I like this interpretation of events.
I do think most commenters are assuming Joyce can’t possibly know what she’s inviting. I’ve been assuming we would see her realize what the photo from Dorothy meant rather than it happening off-panel.
But like, this sort of subversion of expectations would certainly explain why Willis would have wanted to skip showing us that!
I’m pretty sure she’d concluded that the photo was sent to her by mistake when Walky got a bunch more.
Technically, she concluded the JENNIFER pic got sent to her by mistake; she was kind of overwhelmed by the Dorothy photo, and didn’t directly connect it to Walky.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-15/03-me-and-who-you-say-i-was-yesterday/regrettably/
(There is virtually no chance you see this at this point, but I still feel compelled to respond)
Not explicitly, but the impulse to delete it clearly suggests that she is assuming that sending it to her was a mistake.
It’s definitely possible, especially with the set up of Jennifer’s line, but it’s also still possible Joyce is still focused on getting wrecked by Joe tonight and on getting advice from Dorothy, not practice.
There’s an emphasis on Dorothy physically demonstrating what to do in Joyce’s fantasy scenario (extra emphasis on just watching what Dorothy does). It was also another way to poke at and remind us of the suppressed desire Joyce has for Dorothy. In that scenario, it also involves two people in action. What is happening now is for the same purpose but no Walky involved and Joyce specifically says “we’re doing hanky panky stuff.” I don’t think it’ll be as innocuous as just getting advice, but I’m welcome to surprises here.
I’m also not saying Joyce has figured out Dorothy completely, but must at least have some kind of inkling about something. It goes into how she’s altering these events (the pic, Jennifer’s sage wisdom, the Laundry trip, so on) to fit into a framework that doesn’t make it “weird”, which will open up another can of worms once she’s completely honest with herself. Joyce also connects round one (“you took me to do laundry”) and two (“I took you drinking”) with the statement “we’ve learned how to let each other say yes.” What does that mean for round three? Joyce took the initiative here.
I feel I should stress that I don’t think any attraction to Dorothy is replacing or supplanting her obvious very intense attraction to Joe. I didn’t really mention that in my comment, but yeah.
Oh, that’s obvious, yeah. That goes without saying.
In a sense I’m doing an exercise in logic (the last two Joyce/Dorothy pages are call backs) while considering other story elements to make an educated guess on underlying motive. It’s more the actual intent I’m thinking of with this whole thing. I thought some responses to Dorothy were rough regarding the C-word and didn’t consider Joyce fully if you’re going down that route. Personally, I don’t think it goes that far, but there will likely be mutual boundary pushing that results in a permanent change in their relationship and the next story line in this book will have a lot of things happening because of it.
I think how Joyce frames those two outings with “we’ve learned how to let each other say yes” is significant and it’s purposeful to have them encounter Carla to make the connection. The other two times Joyce answered Carla she spilled the beans (inadvertently once and on purpose the next), too.
I agree. I think what I was trying to say is:
it can be both.
Joyce doesn’t have to have lost any interest in or focus on what’s going to happen later tonight with Joe, for her to also be interested in Dorothy rn. False dichotomy, you know?
Every now and then I remember I need to kinda push back on the idea that all D/J shippers are anti J/J. Mostly Joe just doesn’t occur to me as a factor when I’m talking about D/J, but not because I want him to disappear or have any trouble acknowledging Joyce’s obvious Joe-thirst.
Joe is cool to me. I think what will probably end up happening with D/J is the most narratively interesting development for all characters involved.
To speak further about the Joyce’s simultaneous interests, that is an entanglement she will have to come terms with herself. From what I understand, her issue with Ruth and Jason was the idea Ruth had to choose a preference and stick with it despite acknowledging what bisexuality ultimately is. She was with Jennifer, so she shouldn’t be dating guys now. I’m assuming that will be a problem for her in the very near future along with the idea of sexual fluidity, which is also something Becky is currently dealing with. A lot of things are converging atm huh.
I think it’s probably also in part… who the heck is Jason???? Joyce KNEW Jennifer! She SHIPPED Ruth/Jennifer!
But yeah, the idea that a bi person might actually date a boy definitely took her aback.
Yeah, this is definitely not a good look for Joyce here if she’s actually thinking of doing what it seems like she’s doing. I think people fixate on Dorothy because she’s already crossed the line once somewhat (the picture to Joyce) and generally been dodgy with respecting other relationships in general (not just Joyce/Joe, but Lucy/Walky as well)
If Joyce does go through with it, I’ll have lost a lot of like for her as a character. Mistakes happen and changing is hard, but I [as a neurodivergent bi woman who struggled a lot with things like “saying no” and understanding appropriate friendship behaviors] cannot give anybody a pass on cheating on their significant other whose specific bad trigger is infidelity. It makes it worse than Dorothy cheating on Walky imo, at least that could trigger positive development for Walky. I don’t see Joe getting cheated on causing anything but a spiral.
Of course there are also the possibilities that Joyce doesn’t do anything, or that she and Joe talked about it offscreen (we know D and W didn’t) and he was cool with it, stuff like that. My harsh judgment is purely for the outcome of Joyce cheating.
The fact that Dorothy isn’t even trying to say something back show very well what she decided to do. Can’t wait!
Does it tho?
I don’t think so. I think she’s leaning on plausible deniability as long as she can. Then we’ll see which way she goes when it comes down to it.
Assuming that Joyce is really going where she (and we) think she is.
For once Joyce might actually know what she’s saying. Though it would be funny if she somehow still doesn’t after all this time.
Joyce thinks she knows what’s she’s saying. Bail for Yale, Dorothy!
I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed. Whatever Dotty does at this point, she’s a future IU alum.
Joyce knows what she is doing and thinks it’s okay because Jennifer said best friends are allowed and they’ve already done things that are in the same family. Dorothy is…. either shamefully going along with this or plans on discussing why she can’t once they’re in private. I’d argue that she could have had a quiet outdoor conversation about this instead of going to dangerous territory so she’s absolutely thinking about going along with it.
Her own fault that Joyce is (somewhat) innocently spreading the word to bystanders.
Awful decision by Dorothy but great decision for all of us who get to see how this train wreck goes down.
Even Jennifer’s thing about best friends really only was meant to apply to “while still being straight”, not cheating on a partner.
And I can see Dorothy a) Not wanting to have this conversation in public,
b) wanting to delay having this conversation at all in hopes Joyce doesn’t mean what she seems to mean and she doesn’t have to confess yet,
c) dealing with the temptation of what Joyce does seem to mean.
If Joyce really does follow through on the “you’re allowed to bang your best friends” thing thing with Dorothy, that’s really going to mess with Becky when she finds out.
I mean, I know she’s happy with Dina and all, but damn.
I made a super nerdy snort noise at “four eyed blondes” I admit.
Because I’m old. Also, nerdy.
Also, I’m old.
Is “wrecked” really slang for sex these days? Without other context, I’d assume it was about getting drunk.
Or is Joyce just misusing slang she doesn’t really understand?
It implies heavy-duty sex. Intense and messy and possibly rough, with a severe need for hydration afterward.
What Taffy said.
I seriously doubt Joyce means that she wants it rough, but I do think she wants, like. A Lot of Sex. Much Sex. High-intensity sex.
At least in her daydreams.
I’m pretty sure slow and gentle and vanilla would more than make her happy for her first time.
And likely some difficulty walking for a brief period after.
Oh I get it. Dorothy is one of those go-getter executives who wants to relinquish control in bed by bottoming for Joyce.
Dorothy, you are allowed to say no. In fact, you should say no.
bro is it happening for real
Man, lot of people in these comments who seem to have forgotten what they’re ACTUALLY doing. Look, I ship Joyrathy, I have shipped them for awhile. I’m practically captaining the vessel.
But no, Joyce isn’t planning to bang Dotty, guys. She THINKS she’s getting advice on how to do sex with Joe. Hence “We’re doing hanky-panky stuff.” She either isn’t thinking about how that sounds to Carla (likely) or is just leaning into the running gag about them being gay together (less likely but possible) but I’m about as certain as you get that she’s not planning to sex Dotty.
Dotty is clearly about to break, though. It’s just a question of if she’s gonna panic and kiss Joyce like Becky did, or if she’s gonna have a meltdown and confess, or if she’s just going to try and be the best person she can be and give the girl she likes honest, good advice on how to please her boyfriend. I don’t think she sees any possibilities that result in anything but heartbreak for her.
Yeah, I think some folks are being a little quick on the draw with a certain C-word (not that one) and it’s a little silly.
Hey, be fair: it’s not like Joyce invited Dorothy to go get ice cream and the rest of us are imagining stuff. Willis gave us a very deliberately ambiguous setup here, where yes: the rational brain says, “Joyce cannot possibly be asking Dorothy to warm her up for Joe.”
But the rest of the brain is going, “She’s LITERALLY asked Dorothy to warm her up for Joe!”
Willis could’ve immediately resolved the ambiguity by showing us Dorothy asking Joyce what she meant and getting clarification, but instead cut straight to the two of them walking to Joyce’s conveniently-vacated room with Joyce proudly telling Carla they’re gonna go do some sex-ish-stuff and Dorothy avoiding Carla’s eye contact, culminating in Ruth and Carla both being like, “…..they’re not actually… right????”
So yeah, you’re completely right, but also, it’s not like Willis doesn’t want us all speculating like mad.
Definitely true and it’s not just Willis ship teasing either, since it’s pretty clearly hitting Dorothy the same way it’s hitting the commentariat, so it’s serving her character arc.
But at the same time, that doesn’t mean Joyce really plans to practice sex with Dorothy.
Practice sex with Dorothy? Clearly she’s planning to perfect sex with Dorothy so she can blow Joe’s mind. And other parts of Joe.
To add to this because it’s funny, the idea of Joyce on her own initiative breaking up Dorothy and Walky is in the text and not something out of thin air either lol. I was very surprised when Booster said that and that they thought it was a possibility. I don’t think that’s going to happen but I assume it was said for a reason.
“honest, good advice” seems like a stretch to me. She might attempt to do that, but she attempted to do that with Walky, and the advice was empty platitude at best, possibly subconsciously sabotaging him. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready” is closest to this situation, because he was asking for advice about sex with Lucy. But everyone loves when you’re obnoxious and Poor communication is important for a relationship fit the bill too. Dorothy is ordinary, and gives ordinary quality advice. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and it’s going to be influenced by how she’s feeling whether she intends it or not.
Well, those later two links just plain don’t say what you said.
everyone loves when you’re cocky, taffy
Yes, they do. You should see me perform, sometime. I put on a hell of a show.
+1 lmao
“That’s an… interesting characterization of those links” was the kindest response I could come up with personally.
I said “try,” mind.
I wonder how many people in this strip have figured out what Joyce’s “we” is referring to.
I wonder how many people in this strip will be wrong about this “we”.
I wonder if one of these people will be Joyce.
Dorothy would have been an awful RA but Carla absolutely should have the job instead of Ruth.