Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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to be fair, for them it was 2010 six months ago
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June 22, 2026

Hmmmm hmm

by David M Willis on May 20, 2025 at 12:01 am
  • 04 – The Only Exception
└ Tags: joe, joyce

Discussion (197) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    May 20, 2025 at 12:01 am | #

    I see Joyce likes her hot cup of morning Joe as well! ^V^

    re: last Panel, the fun is just beginning Joyce, get on our level! >:D

    • Qube
      Qube
      May 20, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

      Joyce likes her coffee like she likes her men: burly and covered in hair.

      …Joyce has goddamn weird taste in coffee

    • Steamweed
      Steamweed
      May 20, 2025 at 8:42 am | #

      Joyce likes her mornings like she likes her Joe: hot, milky, and sugary. But I’m not one to judge.

  2. Thag Simmons
    Thag Simmons
    May 20, 2025 at 12:02 am | #

    Add it to the tally of the chapter title song being sung diagetically during the chapter.

  3. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    May 20, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    Dorothy if you want to know what it’s like to be a secular marxist you gotta know at least a few more songs from around 2010

    – Sincerely, A secular marxist

    • Dante
      Dante
      May 20, 2025 at 12:55 am | #

      And it’s crucial some of them are from MCR’s Danger Days

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        May 20, 2025 at 8:40 am | #

        “The future is bulletproof!”

        • Dante
          Dante
          May 21, 2025 at 12:20 am | #

          “Everybody wants to change the world, but no-one wants to die! Wanna try? Wanna try?”

    • Decidedly Orthogonal
      Decidedly Orthogonal
      May 20, 2025 at 8:32 am | #

      What’s the meaning of “secular marxist” here? It seems like a redundant term (secular bein superfluous), so I’m guessing it’s a meme, but one I missed.

      • Pergola
        Pergola
        May 20, 2025 at 9:48 am | #

        Someone will now create a “Marxists of Faith” meme for you.

      • marcus erronius
        marcus erronius
        May 20, 2025 at 10:43 am | #

        It’s a thing that only really exists in the minds of fundamentalist christians. It’s one of their boogieman groups, who’ll corrupt you into the ways of the world if you aren’t vigilant enough.

        I joined a boogieman group once. I found it disappointing – not enough men, not enough boogieing.

        • Psychie
          Psychie
          May 20, 2025 at 3:41 pm | #

          At least part of that problem is solved the same way you make a tissue dance, you put a little boogie into it. Be the boogie you want to see in the group! Wanna be a boogieman? You just gotta boogie, man! If you boogie the men will come!

          *plays “Hush, Hush, Hush (Here Comes The Boogieman)” cover by Abney Park on the hacked muzack”

      • Ymbrael
        Ymbrael
        May 20, 2025 at 2:04 pm | #

        Not entirely, Liberation Theology is somewhat popular in Southern America, which attempts to synthesize Christianity and Marxist economic theory. Marx himself was a proponent of secularism, but that doesn’t mean the body of Marxist work hasn’t attempted to grapple with the contradictions of organized religion. Marx himself did a good deal of this in his life, but in his time and circumstance, that being 1800s Europe, saw it as a suppressive super-cultural institution to labor rights. That doesn’t mean it always has to be, dialectical materialism, by its very nature, is a method of analysis flexible to the material conditions of a time and place.

        In this case, however, I believe that Joyce is using it as a refutation of the indoctrinated strawman she grew up with to emphasize her break from her upbringing, so the actual meaning of the words has as just little literary rigor as conservatives so often use to denounce any remotely progressive political tendency.

        • Ymbrael
          Ymbrael
          May 20, 2025 at 2:11 pm | #

          Just realized I used “Marx himself” to start two sentences in a row…
          The lack of literary rigor is, in this moment, unfortunately coming from inside the brain.

        • Llamo
          Llamo
          May 20, 2025 at 10:04 pm | #

          Marx’s parents were also Jews that had been forced to convert to Christianity by antisemitic laws. His dislike of the church also has personal elements.

    • Airyu
      Airyu
      May 20, 2025 at 1:15 pm | #

      Wait is Dorothy saying this or did you accidentally call Joyce “Dorothy”

  4. Fiiiiilo
    Fiiiiilo
    May 20, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    There’s no better feeling than being able to talk to others about music you’re both familiar with.

    • Steve
      Steve
      May 20, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

      The music I loved throughout middle school, high school, and most of college I can talk about with virtually nobody now as it was not only Christian rock, but the obscure stuff. There is no Steve Taylor discourse anywhere on the Internet.

      • clif
        clif
        May 20, 2025 at 1:39 am | #

        That seems unlikely.

        Consults Interwebs. https://www.reddit.com/r/ChristianMusic/comments/wkpwd0/steve_taylor_and_the_fact_he_is_really_good/

        • clif
          clif
          May 20, 2025 at 1:44 am | #

          I mean, he’s got his own Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/SteveTaylorPresents/

          • Enkrod
            Enkrod
            May 20, 2025 at 5:57 am | #

            So you’re saying only boomers know about Steve Taylor?

            • Jim
              Jim
              May 20, 2025 at 11:14 am | #

              Hey, hey, now! A lot of Gen X’ers, and a significant number of Millennials, too, use Facebook!

      • Plonker
        Plonker
        May 20, 2025 at 3:24 am | #

        It wasn’t Christian, and not really rock, but my experience is pretty much the same – hardly anyone I talked to back then, and even more so today, have even heard the names of many of the artists/bands I was in to.

        Luckily, my tastes are pretty eclectic, so there’s almost always at least one or two exceptions. Usually not among my absolute favorites, but at least ones I enjoy listening to and keep on my extended playlist.

        • superglucose
          superglucose
          May 20, 2025 at 2:12 pm | #

          Me, the Frank Zappa enjoyer

          • Fredcritter
            Fredcritter
            May 20, 2025 at 9:47 pm | #

            “The present day composer refuses to die.”

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            May 20, 2025 at 10:42 pm | #

            Hell yeah.

            ‘

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        May 20, 2025 at 4:10 am | #

        I mostly listened to 60s and 70s radio hits and Weird Al in my formative years. My peers only listened to one of those things. :\

      • Byron Orpheus
        Byron Orpheus
        May 20, 2025 at 9:57 am | #

        That’s not just a Christian rock thing. I’ve always been into esoteric music and I’ve gotten used to blank stares when I mention a band. In college was the only one in my dorm who was into punk. When alt.rock started to get popular and my friends started listening to REM and The Cure, I was into industrial and grunge. As I’ve aged it’s gotten worse. About ten years ago I discovered that about half my co-workers didn’t know The Beatles.

        About five years ago in a meeting the lead asked us to take a minute to be silent. He said “Why are we so petrified of silence? Here, can you handle this?” We were silent for a minute, then he asked what we thought about. I said “I thought about my bills, my ex, my deadlines, and when I think I’m going to die. And I longed for the next distraction.” The silence was so awkward it could have tripped over its own feet while lying down. I said “What? You’re the one who quoted Alanis Morissette word-for-word. I was just continuing the song.”

        • Fiiiiilo
          Fiiiiilo
          May 20, 2025 at 11:19 am | #

          It’s like this whenever I try to get to know people and start talking about music (to break the ice). However, not knowing the Beatles is actually wild.

    • Azhrei Vep
      Azhrei Vep
      May 20, 2025 at 11:03 am | #

      I dunno, I can think of a lot of better feelings. A good stretch, a satisfying burp, the first drink of a fresh coke … and the second, and third, and all the rest of the can…

      Honestly, most feelings that aren’t straight up negative are better in my experience.

      • Fiiiiilo
        Fiiiiilo
        May 20, 2025 at 11:21 am | #

        I feel that (the second statement I mean, I personally like my soda partly flat)

    • Jon
      Jon
      May 20, 2025 at 12:02 pm | #

      When my future wife and I first met in meatspace, it was at a picnic organized by our online group. It was a pleasantly warm day, and someone said how nice it was “now that spring is here”. Roughly simultaneously, we broke into Tom Lehrer’s “Poisoning Pigeons In the Park” (I’d put a link in here, but my HTML-fu is weak).

      I think that might have been the moment I truly fell in love with her…

      • Jon
        Jon
        May 20, 2025 at 12:06 pm | #

        Other hand, for songs I’ll lay a shiny quarter that nobody else here is familiar with, Emerson Lake & Palmer’s “Stones of Years” (from the “Tarkus” – concept side, I guess?) helped get me past the nightmares resulting from spending several years planning nuclear wars for the Air Force.

        • John Campbell
          John Campbell
          May 20, 2025 at 1:08 pm | #

          I’ll take that quarter, thanks.

          I mentioned the other day that I have a huge and eclectic music collection. It includes All The EL&P. Including “Space Gospel”, a bootleg pre-release version of EL&Po.

  5. Opus the Poet
    Opus the Poet
    May 20, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

    I’m a secular humanist and I have lots of songs that other people know, but not many people.

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      May 20, 2025 at 12:33 am | #

      Do you mean you have songs in the sense that you are a musician and/or songwriter thus have a portfolio of music or do you mean that own a collection of songs by other people? If the former, is there a place I could enjoy your works? If the later, what’s you favorite sandwich??

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        May 20, 2025 at 12:41 am | #

        Rueben… with extra sauerkraut.

  6. Mym
    Mym
    May 20, 2025 at 12:06 am | #

    D o r o t h y

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      May 20, 2025 at 12:42 am | #

      definitely hearing the wall

  7. Joe Moose
    Joe Moose
    May 20, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    Well, someone seems happy.

    • Zaxares
      Zaxares
      May 20, 2025 at 7:21 am | #

      Along with Sarah and Tony, that makes two sexually satisfied couples waking up this morning. 😉

      • Steamweed
        Steamweed
        May 20, 2025 at 8:46 am | #

        Tomorrow we cut to panel 1, showing happy Dorothy waking up, panel 2 is surprised reaction seeing smiling Becky on her left, panel 3 is more surprised reaction seeing smiling Dina on her right, panel 4 is wondering, and panel 5 is panic.

        • Astariel
          Astariel
          May 20, 2025 at 10:35 am | #

          What happened to Walky?

          • Proxiehunter
            Proxiehunter
            May 20, 2025 at 4:25 pm | #

            He’s the one who convinced Becky and Dina to do that so he could see the look on Dorothy’s face.

        • Joe Moose
          Joe Moose
          May 20, 2025 at 12:18 pm | #

          Then the next comic is Dorothy waking up. XD

  8. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    May 20, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    I am glad that, unlike Joyce initially, we can probably safely assume Joe washed his hand after taking care of her, since he’s in a different shirt. 😛

    • GholaHalleck
      GholaHalleck
      May 20, 2025 at 12:13 am | #

      The sweater vest took the full force of the explosion.
      *Presses F To respect.*

  9. Alongcameaspider
    Alongcameaspider
    May 20, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    So out of curiosity I looked up Paramore because I haven’t actually listened to them for a while and apparently they released a new album just a couple years ago

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      May 20, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

      shit, 2023 is already a couple years ago

      • Dana W
        Dana W
        May 20, 2025 at 12:39 am | #

        My last new album was Daft Punk, Random Access memories. 2023 is like yesterday.

        • Freezer
          Freezer
          May 20, 2025 at 1:00 am | #

          I can’t remember the last time I bought an album that wasn’t the greatest hits or a collection.

          Wait… Yes I do: It was “Bad Meets Evil” in 2012.

          • Dana W
            Dana W
            May 20, 2025 at 3:02 am | #

            I bought that album because it is the most 70sbalbum made since the actual 70s.

            • jonathan young
              jonathan young
              May 20, 2025 at 10:31 am | #

              that Daft Punk album feels like the Art of Noise and Enigma stuff that was coming out back in the 1990s like it’s retro weird and cool

              • Dana W
                Dana W
                May 20, 2025 at 10:43 am | #

                I’m a 70s kid. Every time I hear that album, in my mind I see a turntable and speakers. Its so 70s it hurts. thats one of the reasons its packed with 70s talent. Georgio Moroder, Paul Williams and Nile Rogers to name three,

        • Opus the Poet
          Opus the Poet
          May 20, 2025 at 1:52 am | #

          You do know that Daft Punk did the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy, don’t you?

          • Dana W
            Dana W
            May 20, 2025 at 3:01 am | #

            Of course. 🙂

          • Kamino Neko
            Kamino Neko
            May 20, 2025 at 5:11 am | #

            That soundtrack was so disappointing.

            I was expecting Daft Punk…I got a standard movie score, just a little more electronic.

            • Dana W
              Dana W
              May 20, 2025 at 10:44 am | #

              Trying to build on Wendy Carlos’s work from the previous film no doubt.

          • Mr D
            Mr D
            May 20, 2025 at 8:33 am | #

            You do know that soundtrack came out before RAM, right?

        • Kamino Neko
          Kamino Neko
          May 20, 2025 at 5:15 am | #

          Last album I bought came out less than a month ago. Not often I’m on the cutting edge. >_>

          (Ghost – Skeletá, FTR.)

          • Azrael
            Azrael
            May 20, 2025 at 5:38 am | #

            Same. Though I also bought Myles Kennedy’s The Art of Letting Go, Tremonti’s The End Will Show Us How, and another album at the same time that I can’t remember along with Skeleta over the weekend.

          • Azhrei Vep
            Azhrei Vep
            May 20, 2025 at 11:05 am | #

            You’ve certainly got me beat. My last album came out … sometime during a previous life, if I had one.

            • Jon
              Jon
              May 20, 2025 at 12:08 pm | #

              Thanks to streaming, I don’t remember when I last bought an album. I think it might have been Type O Negative’s World Coming Down? Not really certain on that.

  10. The 25th
    The 25th
    May 20, 2025 at 12:09 am | #

    Joyce is breaking me and Dorothy’s hearts

  11. Pocky
    Pocky
    May 20, 2025 at 12:09 am | #

    I too enjoy knowing songs that other humans enjoy

  12. EtchJetty
    EtchJetty
    May 20, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

    from the discord im in the three reactions i see when i open the doa thread:

    OW

    ouh

    augh

    yeah. Aough

    • Enkrod
      Enkrod
      May 20, 2025 at 6:00 am | #

      Is that onomatopoeia of the Wilhelm Scream?

      • deliverything
        deliverything
        May 20, 2025 at 7:09 am | #

        According to the Rusty & Co. webcomic, it’s spelled “aawaagh”.
        https://rustyandco.com/comic/level-8-71/

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          May 20, 2025 at 4:24 pm | #

          I can hear it in my head when I read this, so this makes sense to me.

  13. Nono
    Nono
    May 20, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

    I had to take a second of mental math to remember that yes, even with the sliding timescale these guys were already born when the song came out.

    For now.

  14. SaraHysaro
    SaraHysaro
    May 20, 2025 at 12:11 am | #

    In the blissful aftermath of a lovely night, Joyce’s subconscious returns its gaze to Dorothy and the moment they shared.

    • DJTsurugi
      DJTsurugi
      May 20, 2025 at 1:41 am | #

      she went from flirting with Dorothy, to heading out to have sex with Joe, to deciding not to have sex with Joe, getting fingered by Joe, to reminiscing about Dorothy and their moment. Willis I plead the 4rth! the 4rth dial on the Kinsey scale. ~<3

  15. Suet
    Suet
    May 20, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

    🎵 I know a song that makes the whole world sing… 🎶

    Rejected Title: Is This What It’s Like to Be a Secular Marxist

  16. Steve
    Steve
    May 20, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

    Re: the alt text: Love how Amber’s Nintendo device changed from a DS to a 3DS to a Switch without her noticing. Pretty soon it’ll be a Switch 2.

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      May 20, 2025 at 12:20 am | #

      You think somewhere their college loans are doing a Dorian Grey? Like the kids stay the same age, but the bill keeps getting bigger?

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      May 20, 2025 at 2:24 am | #

      Eventually we’re going to get to the point where Dorothy’s going to need a new childhood dream.

      High warlord of the michigan free states or something

  17. Blume
    Blume
    May 20, 2025 at 12:14 am | #

    Comic theory: You know how Joyce has always been curious about poly relationships???? Maybe that’s what’s gonna happen. I’m not coping, you’re coping. Maybe it’ll be poly, or an open relationship?? Because Joyce doesn’t like Wally and Dorothy doesn’t like Joe BUT their girlfriends are into each other and- and… I WANT EVERYTHING TO WORK OUT UGHHH

    • Heavensrun
      Heavensrun
      May 20, 2025 at 1:25 am | #

      Poly relationships don’t just automatically work out, either. Not everybody is cut out for one and they can be difficult to balance. Even if they try it, there’s no guarantees it’ll work for everybody.

    • Dorjojoe
      Dorjojoe
      May 20, 2025 at 3:09 am | #

      I don’t think it’ll be a big love circle, but I can certainly imagine Joe and/or Walky in a “yeah this is my girlfriend and her girlfriend” situation, so long as it was properly communicated.

    • John Campbell
      John Campbell
      May 20, 2025 at 9:03 am | #

      I’ve been rooting for Joe/Joyce/Dorothy/Walky/Amber polymer chain for a while. (For bonus fun, add Amazi-Girl dating Dorothy but not Walky while Amber is dating Walky but not Dorothy.)

      I think Dorothy is the biggest impediment to it. Joe will go along with whatever makes Joyce happy. Walky’s been characterizing Joyce as his girlfriend’s girlfriend for a while. Amber is a chaos goblin who craves mess. And I honestly think Joyce could be in a poly relationship with Joe and Dorothy for months without actually realizing that she’s a) in a poly relationship, or b) bisexual, unless someone explained it to her. (Really, she is already. Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship has not been strictly platonic for a long while. Even if it didn’t get sexual until the laundry incident, it’s been romantic a lot longer than that.)

      But Dorothy is having problems with her girlfriend dating Joe, and with the notion that her relationship with Joyce is cheating on Walky. Maybe she needs some Sierra wisdom.

      • HueSatLight
        HueSatLight
        May 20, 2025 at 11:54 am | #

        I don’t think Dorothy’s problem is with Joe specifically. She raged at Jennifer because Jennifer did something to help Joyce. Dorothy considers herself Joyce’s sole protector.
        I had thought Dorothy isn’t cut out for having metamours, but Amber-Walky-Dorothy-AG might work. First, the dynamic with Dorothy and AG is different than with Joyce. When Dorothy fails to protect Joyce, AG shows up to protect them both. Joyce “wants to be” Dorothy, Dorothy said the same thing about AG (2-3 traumas ago). Second, when AG belittles Amber around Dorothy, I would expect Dorothy to stick up for Amber, out of reflex.
        Only possible sticking point is AG, who might not be bi, or up for polyamory.

        • John Campbell
          John Campbell
          May 20, 2025 at 4:46 pm | #

          Dorothy has jealousy problems over Joyce in general, but she also has problems with Joe specifically, though their recent conversation seems to have helped with that.

          She also has problems with Jennifer specifically. Maybe there’s room in that polycule for them to hatefuck it out.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        May 20, 2025 at 8:56 pm | #

        Her relationship with Joyce is cheating on Walky. Or would be if she took it any farther than she has since I don’t really agree they’re already in some kind of poly relationship.
        Her having that notion isn’t a problem, it’s a sign that she’s aware of what’s going on.
        That doesn’t mean she couldn’t have a talk with Walky (and with Joyce) about the idea of a poly relationship, but she hasn’t and until then, it’s cheating.
        It’s not poly if everyone involved isn’t agreeing.

  18. UrsulaDavina
    UrsulaDavina
    May 20, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

    Paramore is quite vocal about the proletariat seizing the means of production!

  19. Qube
    Qube
    May 20, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

    for a moment I though it was weird that he was laying on top of her and then I remembered oh yeah, she likes to be Squished

  20. ZombieKyrik
    ZombieKyrik
    May 20, 2025 at 12:21 am | #

    Waking up with your significant other, and being able to speak with them first thing in the morning is wonderful. I miss doing so; it’s been 12 years since I had someone to wake up with.

    Having someone like that be the first person you see when you wake up is a great way to start your day. Anyone else, or do you prefer to wake up alone, and then see them later?

    • GMOrganism
      GMOrganism
      May 20, 2025 at 12:33 am | #

      I love waking up next to my SO. And then they wake up too, enter “uncontrollable ADHD nonsense” mode, and I question my life decisions.

    • Astariel
      Astariel
      May 20, 2025 at 10:40 am | #

      I absolutely agree. It’s been 24 years for me, and I miss it terribly.

  21. TheFungus
    TheFungus
    May 20, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

    Somethin’ tells me Joyce and Dorothy both got VERY different things out of their experience last night…

    • Big Z
      Big Z
      May 20, 2025 at 8:47 am | #

      Yup, that’s what this indicates to me. Couldn’t tell you WHAT either of them was thinking, except for “Joyce doesn’t think it was wrong/cheating” if she’s comfortable with that song in this context.

      • John Campbell
        John Campbell
        May 20, 2025 at 9:13 am | #

        Pretty sure Joyce was thinking, “Best friends can make out, maybe bang once, and still be regular friends.”

        Jennifer has a lot to answer for.

      • Jon
        Jon
        May 20, 2025 at 12:12 pm | #

        Joyce touched Dorothy’s cheek. Kindly explain to me the context in which that’s “cheating”.

        • Airyu
          Airyu
          May 20, 2025 at 1:21 pm | #

          Dorothy sees her feelings for Joyce as already “cheating,” so she might have taken it as a sign that Joyce is fine with her “cheating”. It’s not, but Dorothy seems to see it that way based on her conversation with Danny. I don’t think Big Z thinks it’s cheating, just that that’s what Dorothy was probably thinking

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          May 20, 2025 at 8:26 pm | #

          That in and of itself isn’t cheating, but the question is what Joyce was thinking then, what she wanted to happen and what would have happened if Dorothy hadn’t pulled back when she did. Dorothy clearly thought something was about to happen that would qualify as cheating.

          The argument here is that Joyce apparently doesn’t. If Joyce had been about to kiss Dorothy or something even more significant, but was stopped by Dorothy’s sudden withdrawal, then she’d still be uncomfortable with the song, even though they didn’t go through with it. Or possibly, as John Campbell said above, she was going to, but doesn’t see it as a big deal because “Best friends can make out, maybe bang once.”

      • TheFungus
        TheFungus
        May 20, 2025 at 6:14 pm | #

        I think it’s very funny that Joe decided to touch base with Dorothy specifically to extend the olive branch and try to get her to stop self destructing in a half aware haze of what she’s actually doing only for Joyce to immediately take the reigns and start doing it herself but worse because this time Dorothy’s left the matrix, the illusion is dispelled she knows full well that what’s going in is not normal and that her feelings for Joyce run VERY deep.

        Joyce however is a master of denial, she’s already had a gay panic back in book 3 and rationalized it away with the logic that she’s into men so she CAN’T be into girls but that logic should have failed a VERY long time. But instead she’s buried those thoughts deeply into the furthest reaches of her mind long past the point she has any logical reason to repress them. But when it comes to listening to her real desires her sorta Id (i feel talking about Freud risks invoking forces i’m totally unprepared for) they all point her in the exact direction she’s been trying so hard to ignore. It makes me wonder if her repressing her own bisexuality is because of her general sexual repression as a whole and not because those thoughts are “gay” specifically.

        I think the arc i think about the most from my IW binge was the Anti-Joyce arc and how important it is to Joyce as a character even in DOA. Joyce is totally willing to ignore the truth even when it’s right in front of her willing to deny that self actualization at all costs to the point of lashing out at others and self destruction. The main difference is our Joyce has spent a lot of time de-tangling and challenging the ingrained beliefs that led to Anti-Joyce existing in the first place but she’s far from done, there’s nothing left for her to do but face herself again.

  22. AnonGrouch
    AnonGrouch
    May 20, 2025 at 12:31 am | #

    Well I mean the means of production are definitely being seized right about now…

    • AnonGrouch
      AnonGrouch
      May 20, 2025 at 12:34 am | #

      The Joeletariat

      • True Survivor
        True Survivor
        May 20, 2025 at 12:43 am | #

        That is very clever and very funny. It does lack class, but what else can be expected from a communism joke?

      • Dante
        Dante
        May 20, 2025 at 12:57 am | #

        Who last night learned the Joyce of revolution!

        • jonathan young
          jonathan young
          May 20, 2025 at 10:33 am | #

          damn, Dante that is an underappreciated comment.

          • Dante
            Dante
            May 21, 2025 at 12:21 am | #

            Hey, I’m happy you liked it! :33 Thank you!

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      May 20, 2025 at 8:43 am | #

      “Seize the means of production” jokes are all over my favorite webcomics.

      https://www.leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=870

  23. BBCC
    BBCC
    May 20, 2025 at 12:32 am | #

    Yep! Welcome to being a liberal heathen, Joyce!

  24. Dana W
    Dana W
    May 20, 2025 at 12:36 am | #

    I’m only a secular Socialist. I need to be ungraded to a secular Marxist right away!

    • Disastroid
      Disastroid
      May 20, 2025 at 5:59 am | #

      I’m sure there’s a class you can take.

  25. bwooom
    bwooom
    May 20, 2025 at 12:38 am | #

    HUMMING THE SONG SHE ALMOST KISSED DOROTHY TO RIGHT NOW IS MADNESS. WHERE AM I.

    • Gigafreak
      Gigafreak
      May 20, 2025 at 12:44 am | #

      On your way to believing?

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      May 20, 2025 at 12:48 am | #

      ok, that could be.a very very evil move, if Joyce was a villain

      • staszu13
        staszu13
        May 20, 2025 at 1:57 am | #

        Anti-Joyce lives! 😱

    • Adept
      Adept
      May 20, 2025 at 7:35 am | #

      Unless she just doesn’t see any conflict here. She may still think she just loves Dorothy like a sister.

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        May 20, 2025 at 8:44 am | #

        She can bang her best friend once, get that pesky virginity out of the way, and then start having regular (temporal) sex with her boyfriend.

  26. Kyulen
    Kyulen
    May 20, 2025 at 12:50 am | #

    Joyce may be secular, but I highly doubt she’s a Marxist just yet. That generally requires reading and understanding some of what Marx wrote first.

    • Dana W
      Dana W
      May 20, 2025 at 12:55 am | #

      You forget Republican 101, “Anything I don’t like is Marxism” Not a one of them knows what Marxism is, but they are pretty sure it has something to do with pronouns or free school lunches. I used to be a Republican I am sadly familiar with this particular line of thought.

      • Kyulen
        Kyulen
        May 20, 2025 at 1:01 am | #

        Sadly most Americans don’t really know what Marxism is. Decades of Cold War-era anti-communist propaganda in this country has made many people afraid of a lot of things without actually knowing what they mean.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          May 20, 2025 at 1:10 am | #

          To be fair, Marxism is 2nd for, “Group that has a fandom that utterly goes against what it claims to be” after Christianity.

          • yak
            yak
            May 20, 2025 at 1:16 am | #

            I think the US Libertarian Party actually beats both of them.

            • Nadamás
              Nadamás
              May 20, 2025 at 4:29 am | #

              I am Argentinian and we have a far right libertarian president. You guys freaking stamp that out while you can, it sucks.

            • Taffy
              Taffy
              May 20, 2025 at 7:07 am | #

              That would be impressive, considering Christianity has several hundred years of a head start. The USA hasn’t quite managed 250 years yet, let’s not forget that.

              • yak
                yak
                May 20, 2025 at 3:43 pm | #

                Oh if we’re going for time then Christianity wins by a landslide.

        • Kyulen
          Kyulen
          May 20, 2025 at 1:12 am | #

          By the way, if people do want to learn what those things mean, there is a website where you can read what Marxists wrote for free. marxists.org

          • Charles Phipps
            Charles Phipps
            May 20, 2025 at 1:32 am | #

            I use this joke to explain it.

            https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1kfn76c/every_time_scifi_writers_try_to_make_a_point/

            • perpetual sea
              perpetual sea
              May 20, 2025 at 2:27 am | #

              I think the marxist theory might still be better than a reddit post if you’re looking to learn something.

              • Charles Phipps
                Charles Phipps
                May 20, 2025 at 3:44 am | #

                It’s a joke.

              • perpetual sea
                perpetual sea
                May 20, 2025 at 6:28 am | #

                Nevertheless, a lot of people might need to hear that advice!

            • jflb96
              jflb96
              May 20, 2025 at 2:46 am | #

              A communist utopia would be a post-scarcity society. This is a distinction without a difference, presumably to avoid having to admit that the Federation is what leftists are trying to work towards.

              • Charles Phipps
                Charles Phipps
                May 20, 2025 at 3:44 am | #

                But not JUST a post-scarcity society.

              • thejeff
                thejeff
                May 20, 2025 at 8:24 am | #

                Not really.
                Or more accurately, Communism claims the utopia can be achieved through simply reorganizing society and redistributing existing resources, while science fiction post-scarcity societies rely on often implausible technological advances to produce massive abundance first.

                And often don’t really resemble Communism at all – other than in the relative material well being of the masses.

                • deliverything
                  deliverything
                  May 20, 2025 at 8:54 am | #

                  As a couple of hypothetical examples:
                  A society that meets all the basic needs of its people through some kind of technomagic is technically post-scarcity even if everything beyond those basic needs is attained through a hypercapitalistic Ferengi-style economy.

                  By contrast: imagine a perfectly co-operative society where everyone contributes as best they can and the benefits are distributed to cover everyone’s needs… but if people were ever to stop working, starvation would quickly set in. Would this be a communist utopia? Scarcity still exists in this example, but is being continually warded off.

                • thejeff
                  thejeff
                  May 20, 2025 at 8:09 pm | #

                  And that latter is probably the best that could have been done in early 20th century Russia. 🙂
                  At the very least, scarcity was not going to vanish.

    • yak
      yak
      May 20, 2025 at 1:13 am | #

      thousands of terminally online internet marxists beg to disagree!

  27. Dante
    Dante
    May 20, 2025 at 12:53 am | #

    NOT YET JOYCE. BUT YOU COULD BE.

    Can someone pass her the Manifesto, I think she’s at a point where she’d enjoy it. Certainly would at least appreciate the prose.

    (Yes I’m trying to distract myself from the fact she was humming That Song. Owwww. Willis truly saved Dorothy a prayer for the morning after ;AA;)

  28. JSpider
    JSpider
    May 20, 2025 at 1:25 am | #

    I’m sure the drama will turn out differently but my mind is almost too familiar with the cycle where you wake up and every day they love you a little less lol.

    I wanna see where this goes but I keep feeling that it’s the beginning of the end for Joyce/Joe.

  29. Heavensrun
    Heavensrun
    May 20, 2025 at 1:28 am | #

    So Dorothy is modeling existential panic and Joyce is modeling avoidance.

  30. staszu13
    staszu13
    May 20, 2025 at 1:56 am | #

    It means that Joe and Joyce have become self aware of the sliding timeline! 😱

    • Deanatay
      Deanatay
      May 20, 2025 at 7:32 am | #

      Joe: Sure, if it’s 2010.

      Joyce: So, six months ago?

  31. Aquila
    Aquila
    May 20, 2025 at 2:01 am | #

    Aren’t ALL Marxists secular?
    … or is that Bolsheviks?

    • jflb96
      jflb96
      May 20, 2025 at 3:06 am | #

      Marx famously said that ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses,’ by which he meant that it’s self-medication to numb the pain of living under capitalism, but AFAIK there’s nothing stopping you saying ‘All people are equal, but a god isn’t a people’ and creating a religion of equality under your chosen pantheon, just so long as you don’t reinvent the Church.

      Marxist-Leninists do generally take the position that all modern religion is a tool to befuddle the proletariat and convince them to not do an uprising in this life in hopes of getting a reward in a nebulous next, and of course the biggest and most famous examples of practised Marxism came to their theory via Lenin, which is probably whence the appearance of enforced atheism comes.

    • Bruno
      Bruno
      May 20, 2025 at 5:30 am | #

      Joyce is not speaking from a position of familiarity with the subject matter.

    • yak
      yak
      May 20, 2025 at 3:52 pm | #

      There are definitely theologans who have been influenced by Marx, but it’s true that Marxism (although that must be distinguished from socialism, which has a long and storied involvement from various religious movements) is an almost enturely secular ideology.

      • Proxiehunter
        Proxiehunter
        May 20, 2025 at 4:43 pm | #

        Marxism should really be considered separate from Communism too. A commie these days calling themselves a Marxist feels to me like a psychiatrist calling themselves a Freudian. There’s more to the subject than what was written by a white European guy in the 19th century. Theory didn’t stop at Marx, or even Lenin.

        Get with the times, work on seizing the means of production in ways relevant to our century. The manifesto and Das Kapital are great for understanding the base others are working from, but calling yourself a Marxist makes it sound like those are where you stopped.

        • yak
          yak
          May 20, 2025 at 8:06 pm | #

          Honestly, I think a very large proportion of commies actually haven’t gone past Marxism. It’s not that no substantial contributions to the theory have been made since then, but back when I was watching communist youtube videos a lot it certainly felt like they were trying to fit everything into a Marxist framework.

          I know youtube video essays aren’t anything close to actually reading theory, but that’s going to be most peoples’ only exposure to socialist thought at all.

  32. Pappenheimer
    Pappenheimer
    May 20, 2025 at 2:36 am | #

    Gets complicated. A lot of early Christians, and occasional breakoff sects, lived/live in communes, sharing work and rewards equally. Christian Socialism and Marxism are definitely things.
    Marx himself might not have approved, being an atheist and having a deep (and, to my mind, pretty accurate) distrust of the motives of any organized religion.
    Stalin’s ‘Bolshevik’ state made peace with the Russian Orthodox Church soon after the Nazis invaded in 1941, harnessing any strands of possible resistance to Hitler, but remaining secular.

  33. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    May 20, 2025 at 2:38 am | #

    … it took me longer than I care to admit to realize that the reason Joyce looks different is the absence of glasses.

  34. Pappenheimer
    Pappenheimer
    May 20, 2025 at 2:40 am | #

    Few of the actual Bolsheviks – the revolutionaries – survived Stalin.

    • Nadamás
      Nadamás
      May 20, 2025 at 4:26 am | #

      Well maybe they should had listened to paramour.

      • Pappenheimer
        Pappenheimer
        May 20, 2025 at 11:52 pm | #

        Maybe they should have listened to Paul Simon instead…

        “Slip out the back, Jack…”

        Didn’t help Trotsky, though

    • Bruno
      Bruno
      May 20, 2025 at 5:30 am | #

      Virtue signaling for American empire. Whenever someone makes even a passing mention of Marxism or the Soviet Union or anything you have to break out some nonsense curse like you’re the bastard child of Mu’awiya and SatAM Dr. Robotnik.

      • Charles Phipps
        Charles Phipps
        May 20, 2025 at 6:12 am | #

        If you think the US is the only one who have issues with the Soviet Union, maybe you should talk to my Ukrainian relatives.

        The people most invested in the East vs. West narrative were always the Americans and Russians, never the actual people underfoot.

        • Bruno
          Bruno
          May 20, 2025 at 2:42 pm | #

          Every country is full of people who will see an American boot, ask “is anybody going to lick that?” and not even ask for an answer. The few good ones have laws against doing that but God if you people don’t work every day to overthrow them.

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          May 20, 2025 at 9:09 pm | #

          ^ this. Russia even after “communism” (if you could really call it that?) continued to be authoritarian, and long before Marx was even born, the country has been known around the world for having some of the most brutal absolutism and militarism since at least the days of the Mongolian Empire.

          Russia since then has been US’s involuntary partner in this game of good cop bad cop (-_-)

      • eh, whatever
        eh, whatever
        May 20, 2025 at 7:26 am | #

        Virtue signaling for American empire.

        Nobody was mentioning or alluding to anything American. What’s the matter with you?

    • Adept
      Adept
      May 20, 2025 at 6:44 am | #

      Lenin already hated actual Marxist communists, and crushed their regional worker’s councils. The Soviet Union was just the Russian Empire with a new state religion to control the masses.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        May 20, 2025 at 8:32 am | #

        Which frankly was inevitable. The Communist Utopia is exactly that – a utopia. Not something that exists in the real world.
        Following the Revolution, the new Communist nation had to continue to exist in the real world of both global geopolitics and domestic policy. The demands of both don’t simply vanish because of how you organize your internal economy. Access to resources still matter on a global scale, which requires trade and foreign currency. The ambitions of other global and regional powers pose threats to your new state and they worry that you’ll pose a threat to them.

        Some aspects of the Communist approach can definitely make things for the domestic masses if well implemented, but even that isn’t completely clear over the long run – and once given control allegedly communist rulers don’t necessarily follow such policies.

        • Adept
          Adept
          May 20, 2025 at 9:03 am | #

          I don’t think we’ve ever had a ”communist ruler” in the spirit of what Marx wrote. Wouldn’t that be something of an oxymoron in the first place?

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            May 20, 2025 at 9:04 pm | #

            Well, I’ve never been able to really grasp how the “dictatorship of the proletariat” was supposed to work without turning into the more usual version of dictatorship.
            But that’s kind of the point: Because the communist utopia is a utopia, when you try to implement it in the real world, things get messy. You wind up with someone seizing power “to preserve the revolution” or some similar slogan. Or the Party elites.

            Because people are people and some of them like to use whatever tools are available to lord it over others. Or have good intentions, but think they need the power to achieve them.

        • Dana W
          Dana W
          May 20, 2025 at 10:48 am | #

          This is the part where the state shrivels away right? Right? “Send her to the gulag!”

          • Proxiehunter
            Proxiehunter
            May 20, 2025 at 4:47 pm | #

            The state will never shrivel away. We need to kill it ourself.

          • CJ
            CJ
            May 20, 2025 at 6:18 pm | #

            Yea, the state is torn down by the people who most profit from no rules: the rich and powerful who get to do what they want without any laws or law enforcement hindering them.
            The idea that no state and no law makes us free is nice, utopian, and has no relation to reality. Unfortunately.

            • CJ
              CJ
              May 20, 2025 at 6:22 pm | #

              Also: the a lot of people in the US get their knickers in a twist about the not at all communist idea of generally available health insurance, which is even more crazy than allowing people to privately own rapid-fire weapons bc of an amendment at a time where no one could imagine such weapons would ever exist. From a Western European standpoint.

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              May 20, 2025 at 8:48 pm | #

              And that form of the state being torn down certainly doesn’t end with no laws or law enforcement. It ends with the rich and powerful recreating states and fighting each other for control.

              I’m sympathetic to some left-anarchist ideas, but to function, anarchism is a lot of work and I really doubt enough people are up for effort to make it work on a large scale.

        • Bruno
          Bruno
          May 20, 2025 at 12:21 pm | #

          Don’t you people have a genocide to be arming

        • Dot
          Dot
          May 20, 2025 at 12:31 pm | #

          Communists are not utopians.

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            May 20, 2025 at 8:45 pm | #

            Maybe Marx wasn’t, though the whole “withering away of the state” idea seems pretty utopian to me. And there have been plenty of serious thinkers who try to figure out how to apply communist ideas in the real world.

            A lot of modern online leftists are very much utopian though. There’s a recurrent theme that the Revolution will come and end capitalism and then … Well that’s basically it. Everything will be good then.

        • Proxiehunter
          Proxiehunter
          May 20, 2025 at 4:47 pm | #

          This is why most modern day communists are also anarchists and oppose rulers communist or otherwise on general principal.

          • Dot
            Dot
            May 20, 2025 at 5:42 pm | #

            This is not true lol

      • yak
        yak
        May 20, 2025 at 4:12 pm | #

        Leninism is essentially a reinterpretation of Marxism, and all Marxist thinkers since Lenin have had to respond to Lenin in some way.

        I think almost all of the conflicts between the Red Army and other socialist factions during the Russian civil war were due to political clashes rather than ideological clashes. The Bolsheviks, who were fighting a brutal, exceptionally chaotic civil war and were basically taking control of a collapsed state, felt that they needed to consolidate power in a strong state (which they happened to control) in order to enact their reforms to society. That meant putting down what they perceived to be rebellions.

        I think it’s really important to look at how the conditions of labor, and the distribution of capital, were substantially different after the civil war ended. While it was an imperialist state, it was not the same as the old Russian empire. Not even close.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          May 20, 2025 at 8:39 pm | #

          Internally it was different in both domestic politics and economy, but as a player in global politics? It wasn’t that different. The realities of access to resources and relations with other regional and global powers as well as your own client states are just that. Realities. They don’t go away with a revolution.
          Even internally, the factions definitely change, but there are still ethnic groups with their own interests who need to managed, for example.
          Which ties to what you said: The politics keeps going, regardless of ideology.

  35. Dorjojoe
    Dorjojoe
    May 20, 2025 at 3:06 am | #

    I got so used to the glasses that it feels strange to see her without them. But Joyce remains best Joyce regardless of how Joycey that Joyce looks.

  36. Arianod
    Arianod
    May 20, 2025 at 3:31 am | #

    One of us! One of us! 😀

  37. Acher4
    Acher4
    May 20, 2025 at 3:53 am | #

    Really love how happy Joyce is at this moment. Pure bliss.

    And the colours really sets the right mood so much!

  38. Dread Pirate Robin
    Dread Pirate Robin
    May 20, 2025 at 6:29 am | #

    “And I’ve always lived like this
    Keeping a comfortable distance
    And up until now I had sworn to myself
    That I’m content with loneliness
    Because none of it was ever worth the risk
    But you are the only exception”
    Dorothy: 🧍‍♀️

  39. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    May 20, 2025 at 7:05 am | #

    Joe really is her weighted comfort blanket. I wonder how many hours she slept like that.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      May 20, 2025 at 7:08 am | #

      Yesterday’s comic established Joyce was asleep for exactly 3 hours.

  40. Gin
    Gin
    May 20, 2025 at 7:25 am | #

    It looks like things went well!

  41. aSnowyEvening
    aSnowyEvening
    May 20, 2025 at 7:29 am | #

    Joe: That [finding new secular music] was fast, how did you find out about Paramore? Did someone introduce you to it yesterday?

    Joyce: Yes! It was Doro– oh…

    Joe: Oh?

    Joyce: We, uh… Have to talk…

    Joe: *Internal screaming trying not to freak out*

    • Adept
      Adept
      May 20, 2025 at 9:04 am | #

      Nah, I don’t buy it.

  42. Steamweed
    Steamweed
    May 20, 2025 at 8:39 am | #

    Joyce can now tell people she and Joe slept together. At the very least, it’s linguistically correct. Which is technically correct. Which is the best kind of correct.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      May 20, 2025 at 9:02 am | #

      Happy for her.

      But now, I wonder who else didn’t have some awakening, or a first time.
      I hope DoA have more to going on, because it have more than 10 years.

    • Yumi
      Yumi
      May 20, 2025 at 9:08 am | #

      She and Joe slept together before.

      • Charles Phipps
        Charles Phipps
        May 20, 2025 at 10:06 am | #

        They’ve had sexual relations twice no less. President Joyce would not be lying before Congress.

  43. Weepwop
    Weepwop
    May 20, 2025 at 9:32 am | #

    Incredibly heterosexual behavior to be humming the song you and your lesbian lover nearly had your first kiss over after having a night of settling for a man

    • Charles Phipps
      Charles Phipps
      May 20, 2025 at 8:55 pm | #

      Bah, Joyce is just cheating on Dorothy!

  44. Ray
    Ray
    May 20, 2025 at 12:18 pm | #

    I suppose it’s fair to say she’s experiencing “digital” afterglow……

  45. Dot
    Dot
    May 20, 2025 at 12:30 pm | #

    I need to see Joyce talking about the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and the progression of history through conflict between socioeconomic classes. Mr. Willis do you take commissions.

  46. BorkBorkBork
    BorkBorkBork
    May 20, 2025 at 1:16 pm | #

    “Secular Marxist.”

    Well, that brings back memories.

    My wife’s brother and sister-in-law, maybe ten-ish years ago, showing us with urgency this video about how “social Marxism” is infiltrating all of colleges and modern thinking and the like. Crazy sort of corkboard-style conspiracy theory based off of nothing but Cold War era fearmongering.

    And my wife and I – who at the time were degrees of center/right, but who were both college graduates who were actually knowledgeable on the subject – both watching this thing with the same sort of queasy, disgusted fascination that is usually only reserved for high speed crashes and rotting animal carcasses.

    And us driving home afterwards, quietly digesting the fact that these two were *very earnestly* getting horribly offended about the idea of social programs that tax richer people higher and paid for social programs that benefitted people that “didn’t earn it.” All this, despite the pact that HE was a pastor, and SHE was collecting disability, and so *all* of their income was non-taxed, and came either directly from those social programs, or from donations from others.

    They tried explaining it to me this way. “No, you SHOULD be giving your money, but that should be your *choice*, something that God calls you to do! If this is forced on people, then *no one* will choose to give money at all!”

    Which, honestly, says a whole lot about you, if you think that people will stop giving out of their abundance if they’re taxed just a little more.

    I have zero patience for people who want to pass laws that punish people for “sinning,” but do not want to pass laws that make sure that good is done. It’s the whole abortion thing again. OK, sure, so you’ve concocted something that makes you believe that the Bible says something very definitively about this. Fine. But it says VERY CLEARLY HERE that we are all called to provide for the poor, the widows, and the orphans – which the analogue today would be LITERALLY the young single mother you’re creating with your policies – and you’re arguing about how you shouldn’t have to pay for “lazy freeloaders.” Fucking hypocrites.

    We don’t see these guys anymore. On the plus side, he’s no longer a pastor. Church attendance dropped to basically nothing.

    • Charles Phipps
      Charles Phipps
      May 20, 2025 at 8:54 pm | #

      That isn’t Christianity but Ayn Rand’s view of charity.

      Which…yeah.

      Maybe he’d be happier in Bioshock’s Rapture.

  47. Felian
    Felian
    May 20, 2025 at 3:14 pm | #

    That is soo relatable tbh. I hardly new any of the songs my classmates knew. it is a form of social isolation to not relate to your peer group.

  48. Hello
    Hello
    May 20, 2025 at 3:17 pm | #

    Oh man, Dorothy really did bring her into in-comic-current-year with music recs!

    • Li
      Li
      May 20, 2025 at 6:48 pm | #

      It’s not 2010 in the comic. Check the FAQ. 🙂

      • Hello
        Hello
        May 21, 2025 at 9:47 am | #

        /joke

  49. Yeet
    Yeet
    May 20, 2025 at 4:57 pm | #

    see now this is a very normal amount of pillows

  50. Moonie
    Moonie
    May 20, 2025 at 5:07 pm | #

    The cognitive-emotional dissonance of Joyce singing this song while literally under Joe is breaking my brain

    • Moonie
      Moonie
      May 20, 2025 at 5:07 pm | #

      I don’t think I’ve actually ever said this, so THANKS WILLIS

      • Moonie
        Moonie
        May 20, 2025 at 5:07 pm | #

        I mean for real thanks for the great comic
        but also
        thanks

  51. Shakes
    Shakes
    May 20, 2025 at 9:10 pm | #

    After reading this comment section I’ve come to the conclusion that you are all Roz.

  52. Owlmirror
    Owlmirror
    May 20, 2025 at 9:53 pm | #

    Looks like everyone except for me has forgotten that a few months ago (TEN FUCKEN YEARS), Joyce watched “Frozen”, which, as a musical, has songs that were written and performed in this millennium, and which are known by other people.

    Still vaguely bugged by the fact that the power ballad lyrics use a word that’s younger than I am. Oh, well, let it go…

  53. Pappenheimer
    Pappenheimer
    May 20, 2025 at 11:44 pm | #

    It’s weird that the songs I can sing the words to were written in the 1960’s and ’70’s but sound like they’re from the 1700’s, and it’s them I sing to myself while walking…

    “Pale was the wounded knight who bore the rowan shield,
    Loud and cruel were the ravens’ cries as they feasted on the field…”

    I mean, it’s kind of a love song…

    Owlmirror – do you mean ‘fractal?’ Yeah, that one caught my ear…

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