Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
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The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
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Yeah, a pretty realistic timeline if we’re talking about real life. It’ll just be an unbearable wait for the rest of us. Perhaps involving some passing each other by or what have you to give us momentary hope, only to crush it with some distracting side-tragedy.
If I ever started a band, it would be called “Anonymous”. Our first album would be called “Untitled”, and every song on it would just be “Track 1”, “Track 2”, etc. Then we could take credit for every anonymous or untitled release in history.
To make Becky not feel awkward about basically being in her underwear (Which she probably wouldn’t have anyway), the rest of the game will be “Strip Apples to Apples”
Still don’t care for Becky. Though her concern that Dorothy is stealing Joyce away from her is somewhat justified, she’s trying too hard, and she’s not really in any position to be combating Dorothy, actively or passively.
As a character shes very well-written (in fact the whole story line is) but to me she comes across as quite an annoying person, doesn’t mean I want bad things to happen to her though
ETHAN: So the winner for “gross” is… whoever played this “make out with Becky” card!
JOYCE: That was mine! I know my audience!
BECKY: *dies of the sads*
I’d like to think a panel before Sal gets the chance to leave Amber will show up… otherwise Willis is just being a troll… oh wait I forgot who I am talking about. Of course he’s a troll
More likely they meet in the hallway, and Amber freaks out again and runs off, and Sal realises where she knows Ethan and Amber from, AND STUFF ENSUES.
Exactly what I was thinking! I think this is the most likely scenario. I think it’s also possible that Danny will be furious with this situation. It’s one thing attacking an abuser, but it’s another thing to attack someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. (yes yes the convenience store thing was wrong. but it’s not like she kept attacking amber and ethan, and went out of her way to harm them)
Maybe it’ll make Ethan come out to his college friends. In order to help Becky, and let her know she’s not alone, and that if she needs to vent, he’s here for her.
That’s how Leslie got her name. In one of his other comics (I think she was created for Shortpacked specifically), David needed a minor, fairly stereotypical, lesbian character for a strip or two. Just to be silly he names her Les Bean, because why not? It’s not like she was sticking around.
Major characters probably shouldn’t have jokey names, but most folks don’t even notice that the minor characters even have names. Especially in Shortpacked.
Well, Leslie ended up becoming one of the most beloved characters in the strip, so she was given a backstory and stayed in the strip, but was stuck with the name.
Actually some of the regular characters do have similarly descriptive names: Dina Sarazu and Ruth Lessick come to mind, I’m not sure if there are others
Shhh! Don’t say that word! *looks furtively around* If he hears us clinging to this ‘mercy’…..bad things will….Ahh! I said it too! *takes cover with comfort blanket*
I choose “the tension in this room right now” for painful. Let’s recap:
-Sal’s sitting right between the best friend and boyfriend of the campus superhero who – unbeknownst to her – wants to take her down
-Danny’s attractions are flitting between Ethan and Amber
-Becky’s stuck between trying to make Joyce feel better and her own jealousy
-Jacob got himself sandwiched between Raidah and Sarah’s argument
-Billie’s stuck between her desire to look cool and actually allowing herself to have fun with people who like her
-Dina’s not between anything – she’s just always awkward.
Well, I’m not sure that Sal realized that Amazi-Girl had a true vendetta against her personally, instead of just as a criminal who happened to be breaking the law that night due to underage drinking.
This is cruel. I suppose Joyce really did move on from her former best friend. You should leave, Becky; as much as she wants you there she clearly can’t appreciate you enough to see that you’re in a lot of pain.
I’m sure Joyce wouldn’t feel like she’s having fun if she knew how hard Becky is having it right now. Also, you can say that this party is also just a distraction to keep the spotlight off of Becky.
Two cards have been played in a game, nothing else. The point is that Becky is still hurt so sure is reading into everything, making her hurt further, which then leads to more over-reading.
“You should leave”? You realize that right now, Becky is homeless, an outcast from her family and most likely any community where she has any kind of context. She’s a little smarter than Joyce, but she still lacks a ton of life experience that Joyce has gotten just living apart from their weird homeschooling community.
She shouldn’t leave just because her friend isn’t constantly perfectly in-tune with her mental state. Especially not when Becky’s trying to hide that. Especially not when Joyce’s failure to “appreciate” her mainly arises from Becky’s own feelings of jealousy that Joyce is friends with another person. That’s a completely understandable emotion–everyone gets jealous when a person they like likes someone else more. But to suggest that the whole party grinds to a halt and that Becky abandon her only benefactor and friend because Joyce likes a person who helped PROTECT HER FROM GETTING RAPED is… bad.
Stop navel-gazing. Stop promoting the primacy of one’s own emotions to the exclusion of all other things. NEVER give this kind of advice to another human being.
Wow, you got really passionate there. Sorry if I hit a nerve. However, she does need space from this, and Sarah has been insisting on Joyce finding a more permanent solution to Becky’s homelessness problem so… I wasn’t really suggesting she go out on her own. Just that she should take this as a sign that she should be seeking out permanent housing, if only to give herself space to settle her issues. Right now, she doesn’t have that.
No she didn’t. She simply has made other friends, which Becky is having a hard time handling. Joyce had gushed about Becky to her friends–clearly she still likes her a lot. Becky shouldn’t see herself out because Joyce has made new friends. What were you expecting her to do, not make any friends because she has a friend at a different school?
Well that’s the thing. Becky doesn’t have anybody except for Joyce, and she can’t really go outside her social circle without risk of getting exposed. So she’s stuck seeing the person she loves constantly girlcrush over the friendstealing hussy and she doesn’t even have the luxury of getting some space.
I don’t hate Becky, I feel sorry for her situation. But I don’t understand all this sympathy over what she has just done.
Fourth panel is just embarrassing. Becky is trying to lay Sal using any method she can get: and begging in front of everybody using the excuse she will do anything for Sal to stay because Sal is the coolest person there?
That is rather insulting to the rest of the room, she’s telling them they are all dull.
As to Joyce having a close friend in Dorothy, good grief. Did anyone else here get their feelings hurt because their best friend got another friend? I know I did. But, I didn’t have a freakin’ meltdown. I never was all friendly with the other girl, but I didn’t hate her either. And I would guess that neither do most people.
As for Joyce being unfeeling to Becky’s pain. Oh please. I just don’t get it, she is supposed to be having a good time (Becky said so) not babysitting a kid with hurt feelings).
Becky is like a physic vampire, she bleeds all over you. I hope things turn around for her, for her sake, and for Joyce, so she can get away from her.
When I was jealous of my friends for having other friends (and oh, was I ever), I was still in a fundamentally secure position where their friendship was not the only thing I had in the world. Becky, sadly, is not in that position, and so she is understandably overreacting. So yes, I hope she can find other things and a new place to live because the current situation is terrible for her.
I believe what was meant was “psychic vampire”, which basically feeds off the feels of other people. “Bleeding all over people” seems to imply that she got into her present situation on purpose, so as to feed off the guilt and/or empathy of other people. Which, speaking of empathy, is a really shitty interpretation of the recent events in Becky’s life.
But if that isn’t what idontcarenomore meant by the analogy, then idunno.
I don’t think it’s all that insulting. Sal is pretty universally acknowledged so far as being really, really cool. I think the only people who have been specifically shown to think differently are Amber, the Walkerton parents, Malaya, and Carla. They all have pretty good reasons for that: Amber had a traumatic encounter with Sal three years ago, the Walkertons think she’s some kinda nun-thing, and both Malaya and Carla seem to just hate pretty much everyone.
Becky’s bargaining is common with recently-out gay kids; you are really attracted to people, but only 1 in 10 will ever return your feelings. And most of that minority won’t reveal an already invisible characteristic in most of the world.
I don’t personally buy the 10% statistic. Until we’re at a point where there’s no longer any stigma against being gay/bi/pan/ace, how in the world are we supposed to get accurate numbers? Even anonymous surveys are fucked, because you’ve got internalized queerphobia keeping a lot of people in denial.
But let’s pretend for a moment that the 10% statistic is accurate: that’s 10% of the population who is any kind of queer. Let’s assume half of that 10% are women — it’ll be less, because nonbinary genders are a thing, but let’s assume.
That’s 5% of the population, or 1 in 20.
Now let’s also acknowledge that not every single queer woman in America is going to be attracted to Becky. Even the most wildly overcompensating, hyper-heterosexual self-described “alpha” guy will admit that he wouldn’t actually have sex with any woman who was interested in him.
So yeah. The percentage of people Becky will actually be able to date is a lot smaller than the percentage of people who are any flavor of queer.
I agree with the overall point, though. I didn’t even have as much self-confidence as Becky, but I still remember trying a couple of times to use “jokes” like this to kind of… normalize…? my feelings among friends.
Not even a few weeks. This is, what, her third day here? Since it seems she got caught the only time she and her roommate ever even came close to going at it, and was (probably by the end of that day) pulled from college by her dad, and seems to have basically come straight to Joyce after that, I don’t think it’s even been a week. Also, that was one heck of a run-on sentence there, eh?
I’m not entirely sure that she’s thinking that “oh Sal is totally gay because she’s hot as hell.” I mean, would you say “oh Joe seems to operate on the logic of every girl he wants to make out with is straight.” I’m guessing not. I think the first part was kind of a desperate joke, and then the last part was kind of a flustered after thought.
Whilst I doubt that Becky’s bargaining position was the strangest thing that Sal ever heard, I’ve got the feeling that it’s up there. In either case, I think that it’s back to Joyce’s sweater-vests for Becky!
Now, I wonder what’s up with Marcie (and likely Carla) that has Sal all in a hurry?
All this time Becky has only been playing pretend: the jacket, the haircut, the “LES AND LOVIN’ IT” bombast, all a facade hiding the fact that she’s hanging off the edge of a cliff and has no idea how long she can hold on or where she’ll land, and she’s now doubting her remaining lifeline.
Sal looks at the Becky making absurd pleas and takes away the costume, leaving her almost naked and left to confront the truth. The fact that this sequence (panels 4-6) is done with largely comical dialogue about how hot Becky finds Sal makes this astounding.
We are playing Break the Cutie with Becky. Everything in her life is painful. Lost her family, church, social circle, college chances. She has nothing, so now she has to lose Joyce …and then the jacket. She has the clothes she’s wearing and that’s about it.
People feel for Joyce and hate on Becky. Joyce has family, friends, acceptance at her church, a place to live and money for food. Becky has nothing but hurt.
I also like that her instinct when she was hurting was to try and do something nice for Joyce (by making an appeal to Sal to stay). It’s a really adorable touch even if it wasn’t effective.
Honestly, I’ve been where Becky is right now. Kind of. I wasn’t in love with my friend. So maybe more like Sal. But the girl was (and is) my best friend EVER. BFFs since we were 3. And I remember the first time I heard her call someone else her best friend…cut like a knife. I was jealous, I was hurt, and I wondered if I was being replaced. It wasn’t until I realized that I had best friends other than her that I realized how silly I was.
I think for many people, it’s hard to understand, in the moment, that everyone has multiple friends. We love them all, and it’s okay to do so. I think both Becky and Sal are going through that moment. Having to realize that they are no longer the center of their friend’s universe…but that it’s totally fine for that to be the case. They are still loved, and are NOT being replaced.
I’m hypothesizing that it’s not a booty call. I’m also guessing that she will get to meet up with Amber tonight after all… But perhaps in costume instead, and no Ethan to make sure things don’t get out of hand.
I’ve been in Becky’s situation before. At a party, and my ex-girlfriend was flirting with another guy. i ended up embarassingly invested in getting a friend of mine to kiss me as part of some party game. Remember kids, if you find yourself matching a desperation joke in a webcomic, rethink your actions.
Me if I ever see Tony Hawk: Hey you’re Tony Hawk the famous skateboarder. That’s right I recognise you. Won’t be able to get any content out of this will you, you piece of shit
How to read all 28 issues of my Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane run on Marvel Unlimited:
1: The first four issues were published as the miniseries "Mary Jane."
www.marvel.com/comics/serie...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we have to be shown children learning and relearning what sex is, for Reasons, even though they already clearly know and have prepared nuanced questions about it!
also that Gran must hate, if she's still alive, how Old Juliette is the same but with gray hair
one of my favorite things is when a commenter explodes WHEN DO THESE CHARACTERS GET THERAPY but directed towards a character who canonically has a regular therapist
Hot Toys Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 1/6 Scale Darth Vader Deluxe ($495) & Standard ($315) is up for preorder at Sideshow - shrsl.com/4wcx6 #ad
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btw if you're one of those rando bluesky weirdos who doesn't know me but sees me in the wild being sarcastic and don't know i'm being sarcastic because you haven't taken like 30 seconds to, like, maybe look at my user profile or something, keep walking, you're not going to score internet points here
Here's an entertaining cite at the bottom of the first page
Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
JUST IN: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan moves to dismiss federal criminal case against her for allegedly helping immigrant hide from ICE. Her lawyers say she's protected by official acts & judicial immunity and 10th Amendment. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 3d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 12d
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I feel like if Becky and Daisy ever meet, that’s the end of DoA because LESBIAN SINGULARITY
Oh man I kinda want that to happen now.
We’ve been waiting for quite a while now. I’m sure we’ll still BE waiting for quite a while yet; The Willis is a fickle and cruel master.
Emphasis on cruel. I feel like if they do meet it’ll only end in the saltiest of tears.
He throws his characters and readers a bone from time to time. Sadness loses impact if spirits are too ground down to crush any further.
True that.
He throws a bone then sometimes emdiatly takes it away as well just to taunt you.
Immediately?
Willis is a harsh mistress. Master! That’s what I meant.
That’s when the trucks come.
Right. Even Wildbow understands that.
Get ready for Amazigirl to become a wanted fugitive paralyzed from the waist down!
But they’re lesbians, they don’t want a bone.
It would be a meeting which would likely lead to mutual happiness, so it probably won’t happen for at least another five years.
Which will be like, 3 weeks comic time? Eh, sounds fair.
Yeah, a pretty realistic timeline if we’re talking about real life. It’ll just be an unbearable wait for the rest of us. Perhaps involving some passing each other by or what have you to give us momentary hope, only to crush it with some distracting side-tragedy.
A “ships passing in the night” sort of situation, eh?
You should be ashamed of that pun.
…oh who am I kidding, that was brilliant.
Ta!
I feel like it might happen sooner than later, if only cause hes gotta keep the Slipshine train moving.
Of course, Billie is aware of Daisy’s situation, so perhaps she’ll do some “fixing” in the form of “fixing up.”
That’s what I’ve been saying for months! Daisy and Becky are natural. They’re almost twins.
Shhh! Don’t give Willis ideas – he’ll make them actual twins just to spite us
I’m not sure if Lesbian Singularity needs to be the name of a band or a bar.
Can’t it be both?
I’m pretty sure it’s how Fox News thinks the world will end.
Lesbian Singularity: Live at The Lesbian Singularity… Best live album ever, ever.
Lesgularity……wait how the hell did i do that?
Is that a point beyond which lesbians can’t see, or lesbians beyond which nobody else can see?
Uh, so she REALLY was waiting for a texT.
…also, panel 4 is really painful.
Maybe. Or she’s, you know, lying. Oh, cell phones, you’re so useful for dealing with awkward social situations.
eeh, but she looked like she was having fun in the last few pages.
Don’t know why everyone assumed she was lying to Sarah.
“Someday I must read this great scholar Everyone. He seems to have written so much, nearly all of it wrong.”
Rivaled only by the scholars Somebody and Nobody.
TAMORA PIERCE FTW!
If I ever started a band, it would be called “Anonymous”. Our first album would be called “Untitled”, and every song on it would just be “Track 1”, “Track 2”, etc. Then we could take credit for every anonymous or untitled release in history.
…some men just want to watch the world burn.
So pretty much EVERYONE wants Sal, huh?
Queing Tears for Fears here… “Every body wants to do the Sal…”
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to do the Sal ♫
She’s like the female Jacob!
It’s practically the law.
Not Mike.
Doesn’t count, he already has an ample supply of nickels and mothers.
Yep. In the slipshine that will never ever be drawn, even Walky.
Joyce looks awfully sly right about now.
And by right about now, I mean in the first panel.
she looks pretty much like
のもの
She’s showing cynicism, she’s playing the game.
And the name of the game is Apples to Apples
And I’ve just finished my milk.
…No, wait, that line doesn’t belong there.
Desperate makeouts are the best makeouts.
I think you’re forgetting hateful/angry.
Why does everyone want to make out with Sal?
who DOESN’T want to make out with Sal?! She’s fuckin’ HOT!
Then why doesn’t everyone want to make out with Walky?
Cos he lacks the cool vibe that Sal exudes.
Naw naw, they just haven’t seen his caramel abs!
Why do you think Dorothy told him to put his shirt back on! She doesn’t want the competition!
Because he tastes like Nachitos?
for some thats a point in his favor
He has short hair, doesn’t smoke, and lacks a bike.
They do, they just don’t know it yet.
He thinks “Time’s Short” is a better Dexter & Monkey Master episode than “Wedding Smashers”. That’s a major turn-off for some.
He’s the one without boobs.
Walky isn’t supper active and assertive the way Sal is. She rocks life in an aggressive no holds bar way.
Because he’s a childish, irritating jerk a lot of the time? Not all the time, but often enough to be aturn off.
The lack of accent.
Because she’s Sal. Duh.
Sounds like a legit enough reason.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
It’s her excellent dental hygiene. Carries a toothbrush everywhere, she does.
That’s bakemonogatari material right there.
That scene just weirds me out. Which is no mean feat.
I wonder what that text from (probably) Marcie was about…
Naw, booty call from Jason. Why else would she have to leave immediately?
That was my guess, too.
They most probably don’t even have each other’s number.
I am all for implied sexytimes, but the last time those two were together, Sal was yelling at Jason for being a super shitty tutor.
But they drank together. If people yell at each other but also drink with each other, sexytimes remain possible.
Ugh. Personally I can’t stand the pairing of Sal and Jason. I’m hoping to never suffer any sexytimes between the two again.
obviously it’s not a college party until the clothes start coming off
First Ethan’s jacket, now the jacket Becky was wearing. Who else is wearing a jacket? That person is next.
Walky tried but Dorothy stopped him.
It kinda does look like Becky’s just loungin around in underwear now…
To make Becky not feel awkward about basically being in her underwear (Which she probably wouldn’t have anyway), the rest of the game will be “Strip Apples to Apples”
With your avatar, I’m now picturing Dina saying your post.
Dina will win because she’s wearing the most layers (unless the point is to strip the fastest, in which case she would lose).
Just as long as Dina can leave her hat on.
Well its not like shes Micheal Phelps or anything.
“Dina, do you know what you are suggesting?” “No”
Well Ethan is already sans hoodie.
I hope all you Becky haters are happy now, because now we have sad Becky, and it’s RIPPING MY HEART TO SHREDS.
I don’t hate Becky. I actually quite like her.
That doesn’t mean I don’t relish her misery at times.
Still don’t care for Becky. Though her concern that Dorothy is stealing Joyce away from her is somewhat justified, she’s trying too hard, and she’s not really in any position to be combating Dorothy, actively or passively.
As a character shes very well-written (in fact the whole story line is) but to me she comes across as quite an annoying person, doesn’t mean I want bad things to happen to her though
I think thats the point. Willis definitely takes time to highlight each characters flaws whenever they have an arc.
We were annoyed with Walky during his PajamaJeans phase
We Hated Dan because he was Danning things up.
AmaziGirl’s arc was dedicated to seeing how blasted crazy she is.
Billy’s early arc was about her still trying to be the alpha bongo like in high school (can we say that word?)
And it looks like Sarah is gonna have another arc dedicated to seeing her inner crabbyness come out in full form.
I’m liking how Willis is showing what happens when two friends grow apart (or rather one changes) which is something I think we can all relate to
Its subtle yet moving
Indeed
Yep.
Shit sucks.
Worse because it’s nobody’s fault so you can’t direct that anger/distress at an appropriate target of blame.
…and Dorothy sometimes crosses the line between “helpful” and “controlling”?
Well it’s nice to have a make out with Becky card in your back pocket if that’s what you’re into.
Y’know, just in case…
ETHAN: So the winner for “gross” is… whoever played this “make out with Becky” card!
JOYCE: That was mine! I know my audience!
BECKY: *dies of the sads*
That was really horrible.
oh nooooo T.T
This is a legit Cards Against Humanity situation here. Haha, the dark humor D:
Well done!
Will somebody please give Becky a hug and tell her it’s going to be okay? Please?
I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE
It should be a guy…she might misinterpret a hug from a girl as an invitation to make-out.
Ethan to the rescue. Gay people helping each other is always good.
She doesn’t know he’s gay, though, does she?
She doesn’t have to because the audience does, and she’ll find out soon after.
What do you want to bet Amazigirl comes in a panel after Sal leaves?
Or Amber as herself. Either way, it would appear that bullet’s been dodged.
But I don’t WANT that bullet to be dodged!
I’d like to think a panel before Sal gets the chance to leave Amber will show up… otherwise Willis is just being a troll… oh wait I forgot who I am talking about. Of course he’s a troll
CURSE YOU WILLIS!!!
DAMN YOU WILLIS!!!
More likely they meet in the hallway, and Amber freaks out again and runs off, and Sal realises where she knows Ethan and Amber from, AND STUFF ENSUES.
Face-to-face at the door.
Or is that face-to-FAAAAACE?
Exactly what I was thinking! I think this is the most likely scenario. I think it’s also possible that Danny will be furious with this situation. It’s one thing attacking an abuser, but it’s another thing to attack someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. (yes yes the convenience store thing was wrong. but it’s not like she kept attacking amber and ethan, and went out of her way to harm them)
sorry, I meant to tack on “after the fact” to my last sentence.
Becky finds a way to make it “strip Apples to Apples”.
Dang, beaten to the punch.
This party is going to degenerate into Becky finally breaking.
It’s going to be glorious.
It’s going to be sad.
Damn. You. Willis.
Very sad but hopefully they’ll learn from it and be stronger for it…maybe
Maybe it’ll make Ethan come out to his college friends. In order to help Becky, and let her know she’s not alone, and that if she needs to vent, he’s here for her.
Hey, is she a lesbian?
Because I don’t think you’re making it obvious enough. :V
Becky is a lesbian? HOW CAN THIS BE?!
What, it’s not like she’s actually named Les Bean or anything.
heh that name reminds me of the teacher Leslie Bean, but yeah there is no way she is a lesbian… I mean it would be too obvious!
That’s how Leslie got her name. In one of his other comics (I think she was created for Shortpacked specifically), David needed a minor, fairly stereotypical, lesbian character for a strip or two. Just to be silly he names her Les Bean, because why not? It’s not like she was sticking around.
Major characters probably shouldn’t have jokey names, but most folks don’t even notice that the minor characters even have names. Especially in Shortpacked.
Well, Leslie ended up becoming one of the most beloved characters in the strip, so she was given a backstory and stayed in the strip, but was stuck with the name.
What’s there some white heteronormative crusader actually named Whitey? :V
You’re thinking of Nate Allman…..
You mean Whit(ney) McJority?
(I woulda gone with Dwight McJority myself)
Actually some of the regular characters do have similarly descriptive names: Dina Sarazu and Ruth Lessick come to mind, I’m not sure if there are others
Or that a harsh RA might be called Ruth Lesse… wait, it’s Lessik now.
Much like Leslie, Ruth wasn’t originally sticking around. She was created to die.
Sad Becky makes me sad.
Also Sal’s exit before Amber’s entrance prevents near catastrophe.
Unless they meet at the door.
Amazi-PUNCH!
Or at a window.
It’s been bugging me that Amber’s spot is just by the window since they sat down <_<;
The text was that Amazi-Girl caught them and they need bailing out? Unlikely, but it would explain Amber’s absence if she’d stumbled on something big.
Yeah, that seems to be a rare case of Willis’s mercy.
Shhh! Don’t say that word! *looks furtively around* If he hears us clinging to this ‘mercy’…..bad things will….Ahh! I said it too! *takes cover with comfort blanket*
I chose “Dumbing of Age” for painful. Painful Dumbing of Age.
I choose Willis for Damned…Damn you Willis!
I choose “the tension in this room right now” for painful. Let’s recap:
-Sal’s sitting right between the best friend and boyfriend of the campus superhero who – unbeknownst to her – wants to take her down
-Danny’s attractions are flitting between Ethan and Amber
-Becky’s stuck between trying to make Joyce feel better and her own jealousy
-Jacob got himself sandwiched between Raidah and Sarah’s argument
-Billie’s stuck between her desire to look cool and actually allowing herself to have fun with people who like her
-Dina’s not between anything – she’s just always awkward.
> “superhero who – unbeknownst to her – wants to take her down”
They already fought once, in a parking lot, tho. Granted, it was mostly one sided.
Well, I’m not sure that Sal realized that Amazi-Girl had a true vendetta against her personally, instead of just as a criminal who happened to be breaking the law that night due to underage drinking.
We all knew that was coming at one point, also don’t worry Becky now shell never be able to work that jacket like you did.
This is cruel. I suppose Joyce really did move on from her former best friend. You should leave, Becky; as much as she wants you there she clearly can’t appreciate you enough to see that you’re in a lot of pain.
Thats not really fair, the party is supposed to be about Joyce having fun
I’m sure Joyce wouldn’t feel like she’s having fun if she knew how hard Becky is having it right now. Also, you can say that this party is also just a distraction to keep the spotlight off of Becky.
If you want to keep the spotlight of Becky why would you invite a whole bunch of people she barely knows to a party shes attending?
Because you’re bad at making decisions.
Two cards have been played in a game, nothing else. The point is that Becky is still hurt so sure is reading into everything, making her hurt further, which then leads to more over-reading.
“You should leave”? You realize that right now, Becky is homeless, an outcast from her family and most likely any community where she has any kind of context. She’s a little smarter than Joyce, but she still lacks a ton of life experience that Joyce has gotten just living apart from their weird homeschooling community.
She shouldn’t leave just because her friend isn’t constantly perfectly in-tune with her mental state. Especially not when Becky’s trying to hide that. Especially not when Joyce’s failure to “appreciate” her mainly arises from Becky’s own feelings of jealousy that Joyce is friends with another person. That’s a completely understandable emotion–everyone gets jealous when a person they like likes someone else more. But to suggest that the whole party grinds to a halt and that Becky abandon her only benefactor and friend because Joyce likes a person who helped PROTECT HER FROM GETTING RAPED is… bad.
Stop navel-gazing. Stop promoting the primacy of one’s own emotions to the exclusion of all other things. NEVER give this kind of advice to another human being.
Wait, are you defending Becky or not? I can’t tell.
My read of that was “defending Becky”
Wow, you got really passionate there. Sorry if I hit a nerve. However, she does need space from this, and Sarah has been insisting on Joyce finding a more permanent solution to Becky’s homelessness problem so… I wasn’t really suggesting she go out on her own. Just that she should take this as a sign that she should be seeking out permanent housing, if only to give herself space to settle her issues. Right now, she doesn’t have that.
No she didn’t. She simply has made other friends, which Becky is having a hard time handling. Joyce had gushed about Becky to her friends–clearly she still likes her a lot. Becky shouldn’t see herself out because Joyce has made new friends. What were you expecting her to do, not make any friends because she has a friend at a different school?
Well that’s the thing. Becky doesn’t have anybody except for Joyce, and she can’t really go outside her social circle without risk of getting exposed. So she’s stuck seeing the person she loves constantly girlcrush over the friendstealing hussy and she doesn’t even have the luxury of getting some space.
I don’t hate Becky, I feel sorry for her situation. But I don’t understand all this sympathy over what she has just done.
Fourth panel is just embarrassing. Becky is trying to lay Sal using any method she can get: and begging in front of everybody using the excuse she will do anything for Sal to stay because Sal is the coolest person there?
That is rather insulting to the rest of the room, she’s telling them they are all dull.
As to Joyce having a close friend in Dorothy, good grief. Did anyone else here get their feelings hurt because their best friend got another friend? I know I did. But, I didn’t have a freakin’ meltdown. I never was all friendly with the other girl, but I didn’t hate her either. And I would guess that neither do most people.
As for Joyce being unfeeling to Becky’s pain. Oh please. I just don’t get it, she is supposed to be having a good time (Becky said so) not babysitting a kid with hurt feelings).
Becky is like a physic vampire, she bleeds all over you. I hope things turn around for her, for her sake, and for Joyce, so she can get away from her.
I think I read that manga once.
…Karin ?
When I was jealous of my friends for having other friends (and oh, was I ever), I was still in a fundamentally secure position where their friendship was not the only thing I had in the world. Becky, sadly, is not in that position, and so she is understandably overreacting. So yes, I hope she can find other things and a new place to live because the current situation is terrible for her.
Do I want to know what a physic vampire is? And why do they bleed all over people? Can they drink their own blood?
I believe what was meant was “psychic vampire”, which basically feeds off the feels of other people. “Bleeding all over people” seems to imply that she got into her present situation on purpose, so as to feed off the guilt and/or empathy of other people. Which, speaking of empathy, is a really shitty interpretation of the recent events in Becky’s life.
But if that isn’t what idontcarenomore meant by the analogy, then idunno.
I don’t think it’s all that insulting. Sal is pretty universally acknowledged so far as being really, really cool. I think the only people who have been specifically shown to think differently are Amber, the Walkerton parents, Malaya, and Carla. They all have pretty good reasons for that: Amber had a traumatic encounter with Sal three years ago, the Walkertons think she’s some kinda nun-thing, and both Malaya and Carla seem to just hate pretty much everyone.
Becky’s bargaining is common with recently-out gay kids; you are really attracted to people, but only 1 in 10 will ever return your feelings. And most of that minority won’t reveal an already invisible characteristic in most of the world.
I don’t personally buy the 10% statistic. Until we’re at a point where there’s no longer any stigma against being gay/bi/pan/ace, how in the world are we supposed to get accurate numbers? Even anonymous surveys are fucked, because you’ve got internalized queerphobia keeping a lot of people in denial.
But let’s pretend for a moment that the 10% statistic is accurate: that’s 10% of the population who is any kind of queer. Let’s assume half of that 10% are women — it’ll be less, because nonbinary genders are a thing, but let’s assume.
That’s 5% of the population, or 1 in 20.
Now let’s also acknowledge that not every single queer woman in America is going to be attracted to Becky. Even the most wildly overcompensating, hyper-heterosexual self-described “alpha” guy will admit that he wouldn’t actually have sex with any woman who was interested in him.
So yeah. The percentage of people Becky will actually be able to date is a lot smaller than the percentage of people who are any flavor of queer.
I agree with the overall point, though. I didn’t even have as much self-confidence as Becky, but I still remember trying a couple of times to use “jokes” like this to kind of… normalize…? my feelings among friends.
…and now I ship it. DAMN YOU WILLIS
Becky seems to operate on the logic of “This person MUST be gay because I really want to make out with her.”
Maybe she’s just heard those rumours about normal colleges and the “experimental phase”?
She just came out a few weeks back. It would make sense for Becky not to have all her bearings in on being a lesbian.
Not even a few weeks. This is, what, her third day here? Since it seems she got caught the only time she and her roommate ever even came close to going at it, and was (probably by the end of that day) pulled from college by her dad, and seems to have basically come straight to Joyce after that, I don’t think it’s even been a week. Also, that was one heck of a run-on sentence there, eh?
Wait, where are you getting that from? I would think it’s “I hope this person is gay, because I really want to make out with her”.
Course, I’m not looking for reasons to hate her.
I’m not entirely sure that she’s thinking that “oh Sal is totally gay because she’s hot as hell.” I mean, would you say “oh Joe seems to operate on the logic of every girl he wants to make out with is straight.” I’m guessing not. I think the first part was kind of a desperate joke, and then the last part was kind of a flustered after thought.
Whilst I doubt that Becky’s bargaining position was the strangest thing that Sal ever heard, I’ve got the feeling that it’s up there. In either case, I think that it’s back to Joyce’s sweater-vests for Becky!
Now, I wonder what’s up with Marcie (and likely Carla) that has Sal all in a hurry?
Well, she has experienced drunken Billie trying to make out with her before.
Nooo, Becky is not cool anymore. Now she’s only rad
She’s at least bodacious, maybe bordering tubular.
NOW becky looks like miley cyrus!
SHE CAME OUT LIKE A WRECKING BALL!
SHE NEVER HIT SO HARD IN LOVE!
ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO BREAK YOUR WALLS!
So much fitness.
Sal seems pretty pissed at the proposal.
So would I, if someone was just like “please stay. do you want to make out? cause i’d do that for you if it would make you stay.”
I wouldn’t be pissed as much as incredibly weirded out.
Sal cuts to the heart of it without realising it.
All this time Becky has only been playing pretend: the jacket, the haircut, the “LES AND LOVIN’ IT” bombast, all a facade hiding the fact that she’s hanging off the edge of a cliff and has no idea how long she can hold on or where she’ll land, and she’s now doubting her remaining lifeline.
Sal looks at the Becky making absurd pleas and takes away the costume, leaving her almost naked and left to confront the truth. The fact that this sequence (panels 4-6) is done with largely comical dialogue about how hot Becky finds Sal makes this astounding.
The sad thing is Becky is surrounded by people who would help her but her own behaviour is pushing them away.
We are playing Break the Cutie with Becky. Everything in her life is painful. Lost her family, church, social circle, college chances. She has nothing, so now she has to lose Joyce …and then the jacket. She has the clothes she’s wearing and that’s about it.
People feel for Joyce and hate on Becky. Joyce has family, friends, acceptance at her church, a place to live and money for food. Becky has nothing but hurt.
Darkness Induced Apathy
And then… kung fu.
You cannot compete with Marcie, Becky!
Panels 2 and 6: That’s one sad lesbian.
I also like that her instinct when she was hurting was to try and do something nice for Joyce (by making an appeal to Sal to stay). It’s a really adorable touch even if it wasn’t effective.
Honestly, I’ve been where Becky is right now. Kind of. I wasn’t in love with my friend. So maybe more like Sal. But the girl was (and is) my best friend EVER. BFFs since we were 3. And I remember the first time I heard her call someone else her best friend…cut like a knife. I was jealous, I was hurt, and I wondered if I was being replaced. It wasn’t until I realized that I had best friends other than her that I realized how silly I was.
I think for many people, it’s hard to understand, in the moment, that everyone has multiple friends. We love them all, and it’s okay to do so. I think both Becky and Sal are going through that moment. Having to realize that they are no longer the center of their friend’s universe…but that it’s totally fine for that to be the case. They are still loved, and are NOT being replaced.
I’m hypothesizing that it’s not a booty call. I’m also guessing that she will get to meet up with Amber tonight after all… But perhaps in costume instead, and no Ethan to make sure things don’t get out of hand.
I’ve been in Becky’s situation before. At a party, and my ex-girlfriend was flirting with another guy. i ended up embarassingly invested in getting a friend of mine to kiss me as part of some party game. Remember kids, if you find yourself matching a desperation joke in a webcomic, rethink your actions.