Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
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The legendary early-aughts webcomic that inspired a wave of webcomic creators.
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While I happen to know that garden hose connectors are compatible with appliance faucets, and shower heads incidentally, I’m wondering where they got a garden hose on short notice.
That does seem like an odd item to have laying around a dorm room.
I had an abnormal childhood where I didn’t do stuff like this to either of my younger brothers, but I do understand this is a very sibling type of thing to do and is really sweet. And it also feels, to me at least, that Sarah is starting to expand her big sister role to Joyce’s friends as well, which makes me squee a little inside.
Absolutely. And it is a relief for her to be able to say goodbye like this rather in some kind of soppy, passive aggressive “I will miss you, also you are fat”-fashion.
It’s what’s-her-face; she’s an untagged regular in the comic, but you never see her in her entirety (or if you do, it’s from far enough away that her face can’t be seen). I think her name’s Bloodrose?
You don’t need a hose to cause serious water-related chaos in a college dorm, but it’s the most efficient way. However, you’d be amazed what can be done when everyone on the floor fills up their trashcans in the showers. Or at least I think that’s how the boys of the fifth floor filled up that kiddie pool in their floor lounge.
I know trashcans filled with water were part of the epic waterfight between the girls of the 8th and 10th floors and the boys of the 5th and 7th floors.
How was Amazi-Girl able to produce both a grappling hook and caltrops while wearing an otherwise skin-tight costume? She was prepared for whatever the narrative required.
And Billie, of course, is a head cheerleader and problem-solver.
Becky would definitely approve. Not so sure about Joyce, especially since it’s her mattress that would be growing mold if non-comic microbiology applied.
Most dorm mattresses, so far as I know, have plastic surfaces.
Because you’ve got a bunch of teenagers who may or may not have been taught housekeeping, who almost certainly haven’t learned their lesson about moderation with alcohol, newly free from parental supervision, and thus prone to do shit like this.
If you give them mattresses likely to mildew, the dorm is unlikely to be livable when they move out. (Possibly deliberately.)
Then she hasn’t thought things through. That bed has probably held several years of college student, some of whom used it for more than sleeping.
Of course, we all know Joyce hasn’t thought things through. Her bubble bursting, and all the uncomfortable truths rushing in to crush her is a major theme of the comic.
I don’t know about you guys, but when I went to college, ONE of my school supplies was a zippered plastic mattress cover.
I would imagine that Joyce took a similar reason, and for the same reasons; hygiene, or not having to wonder what the mattress still harbors.
The blankets will need time in the coin-op dryer on low. It’s probably time enough to change the sheets, anyway.
And if you look to you’re right, you’ll see the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Seriously though, it’s genuinely nice to see them getting along. Especially as Billie and Ruth seem to be doing a lot better, and that might lead to Sarah no longer viewing Billie as a bad influence on Joyce.
…
I just want people to get along in one reality that isn’t mine. Is that so much to ask?
…
Also, just realized that because of the universe theory, there could be a universe where all of the DoA characters are real and we’re all characters in a webcomic they read. Mull that over for a second.
we don’t make for a very coherent narrative though
unless, in that other universe, our stories have been cleaned up and rewritten
does that imply that the DoA characters in that universe would be similiarly as unlike their comic counterparts as our fictional counterparts would be from us? that the DoA we read bears only a loose resemblance to the ‘real’ lives of these people, who actually live all around the world and not in one dorm, only interacting in the comment section of AoD ?
Nah. We’re the side characters. We’re not fleshed out enough for our stories to be coherent, but since you only see us on screen for a few minutes every decade, (of real time), or so, you don’t notice.
That’s why technology is advancing so fast. In the Real World(r), the Pentium 4 was the best you could get for over a decade, and CD’s didn’t have a popularity shelf-life of only around three decades before the iPod started their death spiral.
But since we’re in Comic Time, we get new toys every few months, sometimes weeks, rather than the years it takes R&D to develop them Out There.
Now. Aren’t you happier knowing you’re merely Make Believe, and the last year of your life took a decade of the authors? And the author isn’t all that young, anymore?
And the author is maybe getting a little bored with this project, and probably hasn’t lined up anyone to continue drawing the strip when he or she dies or quits?
Panel 1: Joyce trying to get her misanthropic friends to hang out together… I think it might actually be working.
Panel 2: I like how their expressions just barely soften. Like neither were independently going to make the first move, but they are both way less wary/hostile to each other than they have been in the past (mostly from the Sarah direction).
Panels 3-4: If you have to ask “where are we?”, it is not a good place to fuck. Basic snogging rules.
Panel 5: Others have noted it, but I love Billie’s expression and Sarah’s soft smile in the background. It’s like some sitcom family bonding thing where the two big sisters conspire to prank the little brother. And I think that aspect will really warm Walky’s heart.
And sorry everyone for mostly disappearing this weekend. My fiancee decided to break up with me again over text message after putting me through some… stuff including a date where I was genuinely scared they were going to hit me for crimes I supposedly committed that they seemed to make up on the spot. So I’ve kinda been in an emotional state this weekend.
Yeah, both my secondary and therapist independently told me that the relationship was starting to look abusive… My brain weasels are still trying to tell me that it’s somehow my fault for being bad though.
The worst of it is I know a lot of it is them being in a bad place and going through some nasty paranoia episodes, but the narratives they were spinning about me while I was trying to do everything I could to support them and not overstep my welcome were getting… intense.
Job is good and secondary relationship is good at least. Getting good reviews and the kids seem to be liking the classes. But sometimes it feels like only two parts of my life are allowed to be going well at a time.
I kinda know that feeling (of some parts of your life being great and others going down the drain) well, though I’ve never been in a similar situation, just pretty different (and probably not to those extremes). Really sorry you’re going through that
Anyway, the real reason why I commented: *offers hugs*
Yeah… also I hate toxic masculinity for making it really hard to cry at times like this because I was beaten whenever I dared show emotion at intense times so it gets hard to cry at times like this when I really need to.
*hugs*
Is there anything we can do in a healthy and supportive way to help you cry if you need too? It’s a kinda weird question to ask, but I think valid. You deserve to be able to cry when you feel like it as a healthy expression of your emotions.
*double hugs*
And I’m also sorry about the toxic masculinity you’ve had too deal with. I got messed up bad emotionally by that stuff growing up, so I can’t imagine how much harder it must be for you.
Just, anything this sorta stranger sorta community member who deeply respects you can do to help, let me now.
Always good to have you back! Also, thoughts on your new Carla Gravatar? The shuffle has made it difficult to find some of the major players, I was starting to wonder if I’d just completely missed you.
*hugs*
I’m so sorry to hear that Cerberus. And I know about those nasty brain weasels that make it feel like everything is your fault, even though you know from a logical and conscious stand point that it isn’t true. Sometimes are subconscious is the biggest bully to us.
But it’s nice to hear that the new job and the secondary relationship is going well.
Just remember; you’re awesome, there are a ton of people here and in other places well that deeply care about you, you do a ton of good for the world and deserve any and everything good that comes your way, and just like Carla you are a motherfucking goddess.
Always prioritize yourself over “chores” like having to be social online. I know we worry about you if we don’t see you that often, but if your energy is needed elsewhere, it’s needed elsewhere.
You deserve to be treated well. Not as a reward for being a good person or anything like that, but because everyone deserves the basics of not being shat on and abused.
I’m sorry you have to go through that. I’m mostly been just lurking around the comment section, but I usually always read your analyses and they are always interesting and thought-provoking. As for the situation with your fiancée… please don’t blame yourself. Even if they are going through hard times and that is the cause of their behaviour, you still deserve to be treated well. Please take care of yourself.
Glad to see you back Cerberus. I always enjoy your comments. I’m sorry that things did not work out with your fiancee and I hope you do not listen to your brain weasels – they are weasels, after all. It is not your fault. Please, take care of yourself. You are a wonderful human and are cared for by a number of people who have never even met you.
I’m really sorry about that, no one as brilliant as you should have to go through this. Your analyses are always amazing and thoughtful, and are half the reason I bother to read this webcomic,and you have a ton of people who deeply care about you , despite some never having met you. Take care of yourself
My first thought was ‘LED desk light’, with the sprayer as the light and the hose in Billie’s hand as the bendable neck. (Those suckers get bright!) Then I noticed the green went across the room and got all confused.
whoops, that was one heck of a brain fart i had
in my sleepy mind, where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts, if Walky is making out with Amber then it must be because Walky/Amber/Dorothy is a thing and they’re all happy and fulfilled with their relationships.
so it’d be Amber killing Walky for the Amazi-Girl thing
Given that their clothes are staying on even after Billie took the time to fetch the hose and, I don’t think they’re hanky-pankying. I think they just decided to cuddle-sleep.
Personally I’d go with Terrifying. Think what would happen if they’d recruit Carla for their group. Their reign of terror pranking would have to be stopped by the Chosen One (probably Joyce in cardboard armor with a cardboard Excalibur.)
Okay, so completely off-topic: Seems like the automatic avatars are in the lowest possible resolution – when I zoom the page, people’s custom gravatars mostly remain sharp, but the automatically assigned ones get blurry…
I am reading EGS from the start and am up to mid-2009. Have I forgotten when your avatar appeared as such (cat ears), or did I not reach it in the timeline yet?
I’m in two minds here, first thought is: seriously Billie why would you do that? Do you just not like seeing a couple in a healthy relationship or do you just not like seeing Walky happy
On the other hand its a bit rude and impolite to be getting up to that kind of carry on in someone elses bed, especially Joyces
OK I didn’t get to read the comments until seven o’clock in the evening so it’s already going downstream but Cerberus, hugs or some kind of support. And everyone, as Willis says.
Was at a DACA rally today and why do we have to even think the things we had to say.
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
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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 ⋅ 2d
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?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 1d
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 2d
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 11d
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it gets the bed free of the sin
or else it gets the hose (again)
winning coment here
Where’s the lotion?
Walky probably has it
And we all know what lotion is used for…
Tanning? (Glad you’re whitelisted again.)
10/10 comment.
It’s the simple things in life you treasure.
Gotta love those beatific smiles on both Billie’s and Sarah’s faces.
But where did they get the hose extensions?
While I happen to know that garden hose connectors are compatible with appliance faucets, and shower heads incidentally, I’m wondering where they got a garden hose on short notice.
That does seem like an odd item to have laying around a dorm room.
Maintenance/Groundskeeping has to water stuff somehow.
My dorms were almost across the street from a local large general store. Something like this could be grabbed within about 8 minutes.
Garden hose? I assumed they grabbed it out of the janitorial storage, maybe used to clean the showers.
Don’t yuck their yum
“Title text”
This looks somewhat elaborate though
That’s the kind of panel that you could just end the comic on and I’d be like, “Yeah, that’s what it’s all about”
Yep. Can’t get better than this. Look at that awesome expression on Billie’s face! Billie & Sarah bonding! So kawaii!
Billie’s expression is perfect.
I can’t help but read it as fondness, both for Walky, and how much she’s going to enjoy this
Yeah, it feels like a sisterly prank which means she’s fully embracing rebuilding that brother/sister relationship they have.
I had an abnormal childhood where I didn’t do stuff like this to either of my younger brothers, but I do understand this is a very sibling type of thing to do and is really sweet. And it also feels, to me at least, that Sarah is starting to expand her big sister role to Joyce’s friends as well, which makes me squee a little inside.
Absolutely. And it is a relief for her to be able to say goodbye like this rather in some kind of soppy, passive aggressive “I will miss you, also you are fat”-fashion.
That is seriously cold-blooded
DO IT
AND hilarious, you forgot the hilarious part.
Nah, I’m pretty sure they’re just gonna use water
Unless Sarah turns the hot water on instead.
In a moment, yes. Right now Walky and Dorothy are still hot blooded.
Check it and see.
…….. Check it and see?
CHECK IT AND SEE????
….. *googles lyrics*
….. huh. So it’s NOT “chick in the sea”. Well okay then.
I guess they thought the happy couple should have hit the showers too.
Perhaps Billie’s simply early to the baby shower.
More like it’s a “preventing a baby shower.”
Oh how nice, they started to bond.
Dammit, new ship.
Billie and the showerhead?
Jokes on you. Making out while soaking wet seems to be their kink.
All the stars….
Joyce: Billie? Sarah? Why are you in the showers now?
Both of them: We needed to leave.
Oh dear. Sara and Billie might need to leave.
I was going to make an XKCD reference, but sadly wetriffs.com is apparently long gone.
They’re just Keeping It Clean.
Contrary to popular belief, the hose is for Dorothy’s sake, as Walky hasn’t showered in days.
The best way to proclaim a truce is to declare war against a common enemy.
Well, it worked from 1942 to 1945, so I guess that’s true?
Indiana University. Home of the Hosers.
So the home of the Hosers isn’t in Canada?
And yes, I understand the pun. Just let me have my unfunny joke.
Both of your gravatars improve this exchange by 100%.
Ok what in god’s green earth is my gravity supposed to be?
Bloodrose
It’s what’s-her-face; she’s an untagged regular in the comic, but you never see her in her entirety (or if you do, it’s from far enough away that her face can’t be seen). I think her name’s Bloodrose?
If you are on Earth and reasonably close to sea level, your gravity is pretty close to 6.67 × 10^-11 m^3 kg^-1 s^-2.
Unless you are a liquid and want to know your specific gravity. You’re just going to have to measure that yourself.
Earth’s gravity, of course, is roughly 9.8 m/s^2.
DVD or Blu-Ray, depending on the playback equipment you own.
It’s supposed to be defied… I think. You should try defying gravity.
Or possibly deified? The First Universal Church of Gravity welcomes new worshippers!
But as a religion, it’s a real downer.
Very heavy.
I like to believe Sarah’s always kept a hose in the apartment, just in case. :p
…is anyone else curious why she just has a hose lying around?
I’ve heard of using shower heads but this is extreme!
Hover-text….
That simply raises further questions!
Questions leading to more questions is the point of higher education!
……
…… okay, imagine I just said something like that WITHOUT making higher education sound stupid and pointless.
Can’t do it, Jason grav… too powerful!
Either way, having that thing in college dorm spells serious trouble
You don’t need a hose to cause serious water-related chaos in a college dorm, but it’s the most efficient way. However, you’d be amazed what can be done when everyone on the floor fills up their trashcans in the showers. Or at least I think that’s how the boys of the fifth floor filled up that kiddie pool in their floor lounge.
I know trashcans filled with water were part of the epic waterfight between the girls of the 8th and 10th floors and the boys of the 5th and 7th floors.
Good times, good times.
How was Amazi-Girl able to produce both a grappling hook and caltrops while wearing an otherwise skin-tight costume? She was prepared for whatever the narrative required.
And Billie, of course, is a head cheerleader and problem-solver.
And at the end of this chapter, Joyce is going to return to a still-damp bed. >:/ Certainly some short term thinking on this prank.
It’s funny in the moment, though, and maybe Joyce’d approve if she knew what it was for?
Becky would definitely approve. Not so sure about Joyce, especially since it’s her mattress that would be growing mold if non-comic microbiology applied.
“So you helped them keep pure by interrupting their premarital hanky-panky?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“…. so where’d they go?”
“Back to one of their own beds, I think.”
Pranking Walky? Definitely.
Dorothy? Don’t get her Cinnamon Roll soggy!
Most dorm mattresses, so far as I know, have plastic surfaces.
Because you’ve got a bunch of teenagers who may or may not have been taught housekeeping, who almost certainly haven’t learned their lesson about moderation with alcohol, newly free from parental supervision, and thus prone to do shit like this.
If you give them mattresses likely to mildew, the dorm is unlikely to be livable when they move out. (Possibly deliberately.)
By that time, we shall have forgotten. But Willis… Willis remembers!
Remember remember,
The fifth of September
The water hose dousing plot
The water so cold
Will surely grow mold
But at least not for naught
Yep. Maybe Billie and Sarah have thought far enough ahead to point a fan on it afterwards, but I doubt it.
Joyce probably woud prefer having a wet bed to having a defiled bed, though.
Then she hasn’t thought things through. That bed has probably held several years of college student, some of whom used it for more than sleeping.
Of course, we all know Joyce hasn’t thought things through. Her bubble bursting, and all the uncomfortable truths rushing in to crush her is a major theme of the comic.
Maybe she doused it in Lysol and wrapped it in several layers of fitted sheets.
Except it’s not the biological contamination Joyce worries about, it’s the spiritual contamination.
And that is why God invented prayer!
Now picturing: Mr Clean commercial, except… Jesus!
(Oh, Gods! Why?!)
Naturally, this is a Jesus in a blue sash and a Shortpacked video.
Selling cleaning products. And CPRs.
*shortpacked uniform. WTH did “video” come from?*
Well, in my brain he wasn’t wearing the shirt for some reason. (As much as I wish he had been.)
But, yeah, close enough.
https://defendingcontending.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/mr-clean.jpeg?w=634
Time to wake up to a cold reality.
Time to wake up and smell the hoses.
Daaaaw. Billie looks so loving as she is about to hose them down. True family adoptive sister/friend moment here.
I’m mostly concerned about them getting Joyce’s bed all wet.
Which them?
I thought about including this parenthetically at the end of my comment, but then I thought, “No, someone else will do it for me.”
So thank you.
They’re just washing the sin away. Joyce approves!
Me too, they’re gonna have to dry off Joyce’s bed when they’re done.
I kind of think Joyce would rather have damp sheets than Walky & Dorothy sex-juice all over.
I don’t know about you guys, but when I went to college, ONE of my school supplies was a zippered plastic mattress cover.
I would imagine that Joyce took a similar reason, and for the same reasons; hygiene, or not having to wonder what the mattress still harbors.
The blankets will need time in the coin-op dryer on low. It’s probably time enough to change the sheets, anyway.
Darn it. The avatars have rotated.
I liked my Danny avatar.
They have?
Ohmigosh, I can be Amazi-Girl? I’m gonna be Amazi-Girl now.
A brief spray should be sufficient to get the point across.
Because Billie is known for her measure and good sense.
*OH YEAH INTENSIFIES*
Eww, Billy wet the bed!
No, she’s ABOUT to wet the bed, with Sarah watching.
Eww intensifies.
Is that a smile from Sarah? That’s adorable!
Smiles on a face that rarely smiles are like rivers in the desert.
Everybody flocks to them and sets up a living space and possibly some agriculture on the edges of them?
… sure, let’s go with that.
I’m kinda wondering how Joyce got out of bed without waking Dorothy and Walky.
Levitating from the Sarah-smile!
(Also, at least Walky seems to be easy not to wake up)
Levitating away from the Walky in her bed more likely.
She actually recovered better from that than I expected her to.
Also, when they are already talking to each other, how do they ignore Billie hovering over them?
“I only have ayes four ewe,” said Walky sheepishly
very, very carefully
either that or both dorothy and walky sleep like the dead
Nice
It’s gonna be tough avoiding the wet spot on that mattress More than usual, that is.
A garden hose would be a good idea in a dorm for cleaning up all the various fluids the disgusting college students leave behind.
Sometimes I wish I could do that to annoying couples on the subway
With a name like yours, I’m really not surprised.
Bonding through inflicting misery unto Walky!
And if you look to you’re right, you’ll see the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Seriously though, it’s genuinely nice to see them getting along. Especially as Billie and Ruth seem to be doing a lot better, and that might lead to Sarah no longer viewing Billie as a bad influence on Joyce.
…
I just want people to get along in one reality that isn’t mine. Is that so much to ask?
…
Also, just realized that because of the universe theory, there could be a universe where all of the DoA characters are real and we’re all characters in a webcomic they read. Mull that over for a second.
we don’t make for a very coherent narrative though
unless, in that other universe, our stories have been cleaned up and rewritten
does that imply that the DoA characters in that universe would be similiarly as unlike their comic counterparts as our fictional counterparts would be from us? that the DoA we read bears only a loose resemblance to the ‘real’ lives of these people, who actually live all around the world and not in one dorm, only interacting in the comment section of AoD ?
somewhere, Wham You Dillis is inking a strip about Cerberus and Ana Chronistic fighting over the last belgian waffle
And Becky and Dina are squeeing when Bagge makes a long awaited return to the comic.
Nah. We’re the side characters. We’re not fleshed out enough for our stories to be coherent, but since you only see us on screen for a few minutes every decade, (of real time), or so, you don’t notice.
That’s why technology is advancing so fast. In the Real World(r), the Pentium 4 was the best you could get for over a decade, and CD’s didn’t have a popularity shelf-life of only around three decades before the iPod started their death spiral.
But since we’re in Comic Time, we get new toys every few months, sometimes weeks, rather than the years it takes R&D to develop them Out There.
Now. Aren’t you happier knowing you’re merely Make Believe, and the last year of your life took a decade of the authors? And the author isn’t all that young, anymore?
And the author is maybe getting a little bored with this project, and probably hasn’t lined up anyone to continue drawing the strip when he or she dies or quits?
OK, that… was seriously creepy. Congratulations, nicely done.
*insert “it gets the hose” joke here*
…Look, they can’t all be winners.
It keeps its clothes on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Awwwwww, best of friends.
But where DID they get a garden h…?
*Reads alt-text*
Yeah, I buy that. I’m good. Carry on.
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: Joyce trying to get her misanthropic friends to hang out together… I think it might actually be working.
Panel 2: I like how their expressions just barely soften. Like neither were independently going to make the first move, but they are both way less wary/hostile to each other than they have been in the past (mostly from the Sarah direction).
Panels 3-4: If you have to ask “where are we?”, it is not a good place to fuck. Basic snogging rules.
Panel 5: Others have noted it, but I love Billie’s expression and Sarah’s soft smile in the background. It’s like some sitcom family bonding thing where the two big sisters conspire to prank the little brother. And I think that aspect will really warm Walky’s heart.
And sorry everyone for mostly disappearing this weekend. My fiancee decided to break up with me again over text message after putting me through some… stuff including a date where I was genuinely scared they were going to hit me for crimes I supposedly committed that they seemed to make up on the spot. So I’ve kinda been in an emotional state this weekend.
Take care of yourself. You’re cool and I like you.
That goes for everybody.
Let’s face it, you tolerate me
Thanks.
That last paragraph doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship tbh.
Nevermind, I don’t know either you or your fiancé. Also I’m really the last guy who should judge other peoples relationships.
Aaand there’s and ‘e’ missing in fiancée.
Yeah, both my secondary and therapist independently told me that the relationship was starting to look abusive… My brain weasels are still trying to tell me that it’s somehow my fault for being bad though.
The worst of it is I know a lot of it is them being in a bad place and going through some nasty paranoia episodes, but the narratives they were spinning about me while I was trying to do everything I could to support them and not overstep my welcome were getting… intense.
One day I hope to have a primary relationship that doesn’t go all the way unhealthy at the end.
Either way, I wish you all the best.
It’s not your fault. And remember that you’re important, to both us and yourself. It’s okay to walk away to protect yourself.
*hugs*
*hugs strongly back*
*more hugs* (again, but with the non-glitched address)
It’s good to hear from you, as always.
Though I’m sorry you have to deal with… everything.
Job is good and secondary relationship is good at least. Getting good reviews and the kids seem to be liking the classes. But sometimes it feels like only two parts of my life are allowed to be going well at a time.
I kinda know that feeling (of some parts of your life being great and others going down the drain) well, though I’ve never been in a similar situation, just pretty different (and probably not to those extremes). Really sorry you’re going through that
Anyway, the real reason why I commented: *offers hugs*
Aw man, that blows. :[
Yeah… also I hate toxic masculinity for making it really hard to cry at times like this because I was beaten whenever I dared show emotion at intense times so it gets hard to cry at times like this when I really need to.
*hugs*
Is there anything we can do in a healthy and supportive way to help you cry if you need too? It’s a kinda weird question to ask, but I think valid. You deserve to be able to cry when you feel like it as a healthy expression of your emotions.
*double hugs*
And I’m also sorry about the toxic masculinity you’ve had too deal with. I got messed up bad emotionally by that stuff growing up, so I can’t imagine how much harder it must be for you.
Just, anything this sorta stranger sorta community member who deeply respects you can do to help, let me now.
Hugs Cerberus. I’ve mostly been a lurker, but I really enjoy reading your comments. I’m sorry things are so bad for you at the moment.
Always good to have you back! Also, thoughts on your new Carla Gravatar? The shuffle has made it difficult to find some of the major players, I was starting to wonder if I’d just completely missed you.
I love it!
*hugs*
I’m so sorry to hear that Cerberus. And I know about those nasty brain weasels that make it feel like everything is your fault, even though you know from a logical and conscious stand point that it isn’t true. Sometimes are subconscious is the biggest bully to us.
But it’s nice to hear that the new job and the secondary relationship is going well.
Just remember; you’re awesome, there are a ton of people here and in other places well that deeply care about you, you do a ton of good for the world and deserve any and everything good that comes your way, and just like Carla you are a motherfucking goddess.
Hey Cerberus, I hope you’re doing better
Always prioritize yourself over “chores” like having to be social online. I know we worry about you if we don’t see you that often, but if your energy is needed elsewhere, it’s needed elsewhere.
You deserve to be treated well. Not as a reward for being a good person or anything like that, but because everyone deserves the basics of not being shat on and abused.
[Insert unique (yet appropriate) gesture of support here.]
(You deserve ’em all, but I’m pretty tired, so serious words escape me.)
Sorry you have to deal with that. *sends hugs over the internet*
*appropriate gesture of support*
I’m sorry you have to go through that. I’m mostly been just lurking around the comment section, but I usually always read your analyses and they are always interesting and thought-provoking. As for the situation with your fiancée… please don’t blame yourself. Even if they are going through hard times and that is the cause of their behaviour, you still deserve to be treated well. Please take care of yourself.
*appropriate gesture of support*
Glad to see you back Cerberus. I always enjoy your comments. I’m sorry that things did not work out with your fiancee and I hope you do not listen to your brain weasels – they are weasels, after all. It is not your fault. Please, take care of yourself. You are a wonderful human and are cared for by a number of people who have never even met you.
*appropriate gesture of support*
I’m really sorry about that, no one as brilliant as you should have to go through this. Your analyses are always amazing and thoughtful, and are half the reason I bother to read this webcomic,and you have a ton of people who deeply care about you , despite some never having met you. Take care of yourself
Shit.
Yeah.
Cerberus you are the coolest. Hope you are okay, Thanks for making comment sections so enjoyable.
*appropriate gesture of support*
-adds additional hugs, in a considerable hugpile of fluffiness-
*pets gently* The brain-weasels are wrong, you don’t deserve to have this crap piled on you. You’re a super person.
*hugs/appropriate gesture of support for a motherfucking goddess*
Oh, Cerb, I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve that. You have my email if you want to talk and until then *appropriate gestures of support*
Tell your brain weasels to fuck off.
I am really enjoying Billie’s expression in the last panel.
Enemies of my enemy….
Awww. Billie and Sarah have found a fun mutually enjoyed activity to bond over.
Yeah, it’s so sweet!
Got a haircut today. More info to come.
You know, I was thinking, judging by your profile pic, that you could use one ;P
I mean, maybe a better hairstyle was needed, but obviously long hair is superior. *Sarcastic hair flip.*
…..
…. so if we’re just getting news about your haircut, is that the buzzcut buzz?
Oh. OH. That’s a garden hose. Good, for a second there I thought it was a camera or som’n
I thought it was a lamp.
Me too.
My first thought was ‘LED desk light’, with the sprayer as the light and the hose in Billie’s hand as the bendable neck. (Those suckers get bright!) Then I noticed the green went across the room and got all confused.
For some reason, glancing at your grav and reading “Oh. OH.” wigged me out…
Are you sure you want to do this Billie? Walky isn’t as annoying when he’s asleep.
Walky isn’t asleep. That’s kind of the point…
but he’s not asleep. he’s at least a little bit awake, and noisily making out and/or cuddling with Amber.
Who would kill Walky first, Dorothy for his infidelity, or Amber because he’d inevitably blurt out Amazi-Girl’s secret?
whoops, that was one heck of a brain fart i had
in my sleepy mind, where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts, if Walky is making out with Amber then it must be because Walky/Amber/Dorothy is a thing and they’re all happy and fulfilled with their relationships.
so it’d be Amber killing Walky for the Amazi-Girl thing
I’m sorry for the loss, Willis
What?
Now, Billie! That’s not very nice! Joyce was showed so much love for you and now you’re going to soak her bedsheets?
Billie: That’s what I was about to say to Dorothy!
(My apologies, but it was right there.)
Given that their clothes are staying on even after Billie took the time to fetch the hose and, I don’t think they’re hanky-pankying. I think they just decided to cuddle-sleep.
I feel Joyce would be alright with the water… Because that stopped the hankey pankey IN HER BED.
I dunno, I give 1:3 odds that she’d find it romantic (if icky).
Oh dear, the two devils are getting along. Not good.
No doubt Ruth used that hose with delight if she caught people smoking in their rooms or in the halls.
nothing makes people join up faster than someone they can prank TOGETHER. it’s good to see them get along.
also, yesterday all the books arrived here in Norway! I stayed up late reading them, and I love the commentary and bonus-stuff.
Personally I’d go with Terrifying. Think what would happen if they’d recruit Carla for their group. Their reign of terror pranking would have to be stopped by the Chosen One (probably Joyce in cardboard armor with a cardboard Excalibur.)
Unfortunately, cardboard armor would stand no chance against a garden hose.
She’ll need to take it to a Tech-mage so he can cast a hydrophobic spell on her cardboard equipment.
By which you mean Carla, right?
Perhaps a simple wax coating?
Oh yeah Carla is perfect. She’d give her one of those “fetch me some soda” quests as payment.
Huh. Usually when the all-loving hero.asks two females to put things aside for harmony, they end up fusing into a giant woman.
That only happens in Leslie’s fantasies.
Such a Lucy Van Pelt smile in the last panel <3
Thinking about it, Lucy would probably turn out a lot like Bille
And then Sal bursts in at the last second, interrupting the impending disaster. Billie, of course, is outraged.
“What!? Why would you ruin such a perfect opportunity?”
“As much as Ah think he mighta deserved it… bros before hose.”
AAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH!!!!
That was beautiful
*slow clap*
brilliant
Okay, so completely off-topic: Seems like the automatic avatars are in the lowest possible resolution – when I zoom the page, people’s custom gravatars mostly remain sharp, but the automatically assigned ones get blurry…
Mine gets jaggedy or jittery, which attests to my c. 1997 mad graphic skills.
How did you get yours
Cutting out (from an upscaled comic panel) in Krita.
Hey it’s Tedd’s dad. Now that’s a crossover I want to see happen. Tedd should go to college in Indiana.
I’m not sure what that says about my memorability, since there’s been a Tedd here even longer than his dad. >_>
I am reading EGS from the start and am up to mid-2009. Have I forgotten when your avatar appeared as such (cat ears), or did I not reach it in the timeline yet?
You haven’t reached it, yet. It’s from 2014. (It’s also from EGS:NP*, not the main story comic.)
* The Playing With Dolls arc, which is one of the handful of canon NP arcs.
Okay. I’ll get there eventually.
I had no idea it was Tedd, as where I’ve been in the arcs he’s in the longer hair and usually the glasses.
RISE AND SHINE!
Or should that be rinse and shine
(Mostly replying to myself to see the newgravs ooo)
That last panel would make a glorious poster or print.
I so totally <3 that expression on their faces in the last panel
Ya know I think this is my favorite strip of the whole comic so far
Oh friendship
I’m in two minds here, first thought is: seriously Billie why would you do that? Do you just not like seeing a couple in a healthy relationship or do you just not like seeing Walky happy
On the other hand its a bit rude and impolite to be getting up to that kind of carry on in someone elses bed, especially Joyces
two wrongs dont make a right but they may make a funny
oh i forgot my lowercase grav was grace. i wonder what are my options…
I can live with Robin, but let’s do one more
Robin it is
Yeah I dunno it just seems like yeah its funny but its also a bit mean not even taking into account Joyce having to dry her sheets and all
Spite: Bringing people together since ~200,000 BC.
Roz is going to be deeply disappointed with you, Sarah and Billie. Not that I expect you to care.
OK I didn’t get to read the comments until seven o’clock in the evening so it’s already going downstream but Cerberus, hugs or some kind of support. And everyone, as Willis says.
Was at a DACA rally today and why do we have to even think the things we had to say.
That last panel may be my favorite thus far
I can imagine Walky’s hair going “fweep!” again, to Dorothy’s amusement.
You know, *before* they get hosed