it's not just getting hotter outside

Fifty degrees
Posted on April 2, 2026 by David M Willis

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Tags: becky, joyce

148 thoughts on “Fifty degrees”

  1. Astariel

    Ha, that’s great! I’m really glad to see the two of them like this again.

  2. Dara

    Jesus, Becky, now I’m flustered too

    1. NGPZ

      you ain’t the only one 😳

    2. Lysbeth

      Damn, she’s an amazing lesbian love sleuth.

    3. Reltzik

      That imagery was very saliscious.

      1. elebenty

        It’s early, but take my upvote

  3. Crotonhurst

    Surely it’s just at least 5 more strips of Becky listing every other woman but DIna?

    1. clif

      Becky settles for the second best option and runs with it. Joyce fails to learn to be careful what she asks for.

  4. StClair

    she knows

    1. Elf grrl

      Oh, Becky hasn’t even begun to unleash her full potential

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        something something, this isn’t even her final form.

  5. Jo_cubstar

    Oh Joyce would totally have the hots for Sal

    1. Formedras

      I’m sorry, WOULD?
      You mean “absolutely does, possibly even more than Dorothy”.

    2. Elf grrl

      Okay but, whom among us doesn’t have the hots for Sal?

      1. clif

        Um, Walky???
        …
        Is this a trick question?

        1. GreyICE

          Billie… maybe… hmmm

          I might want to rethink that.

          Malaya! My final answer.

        2. John Campbell

          Billie absolutely has the hots for Sal. And I bet Malaya would hatefuck her, and then tell her she’s not that good in bed.

        3. Dwampre Scorrigank

          that’s not very diagnostic for Malaya

      2. Jo_cubstar

        True

    3. RassilonTDavros

      There’s no “would” about it.

      1. Taffy

        Wild of Joyce to directly ask “Can I touch your dick?” so early in the story.

        1. Rose By Any Other Name

          I mean, just look at the size of it. How could she not?

  6. Sirksome

    But what about Jennifer’s boobs?!

    1. Taffy

      Something something overplayed The Simpsons reference something something where are Billie’s boobs

    2. Amós Batista

      It will be a character for each strip

    3. Dean

      She’s saving that for the follow-up.

  7. M!a

    …I was totally thinkin it

  8. Dave Van Domelen

    Good to have a hobby.

  9. Freezer

    Love that Becky had her pegged the whole time.

    1. Stormtide Leviathan

      Joyce wasn’t exactly subtle

    2. Kelli

      Phrasing…

      1. Dara

        Are we still doing phrasing?

        1. Arianod

          Always.

        2. clif

          We are, but it’s just a phrase we’re going through.

    3. John Campbell

      Becky wishes

  10. Grimey

    The prophecy of Ruth continues to get hints dropped.

  11. Cholma

    I’m not even a lesbian and that gets me revved up! (I do love me some long, silky, black hair… unless it’s on a guy; then I’m all “Get a haircut, ya hippie!”)
    What’s that? That’s just normal hetero attraction? Nah, can’t be!

    1. Bajja

      ……..
      SIDE EYE

    2. deliverything

      Please don’t take this the wrong way, but… demanding others conform to your own aesthetic preferences? Not a great look.

      1. deliverything

        …and that unintentional pun undermines my point, I guess.

      2. Falcon

        I would prefer we give people grace where possible. Cholma may well have been referring to their own preferences, rather than something she’d tell somebody else.

  12. Bill Erak

    SHE CAUGHT YOU IN 4K JOYCE!!!! IN 4K!!!!

  13. darkoneko

    Joyce what the hell ? Let her get her coat

    1. Bill Erak

      I think it’s meant to signal their familiarity with each other—Joyce knows Becky’s climate preferences

  14. Agentomega

    *sickos_yes.png*, but it’s Becky or Jocelyn (probably)

    1. Agentomega

      *Jocelyne

      (Obligatory “made typo on Internet, now yamcha dead” joke)

  15. StClair

    IMO, it’s about 1/3 not wanting to be mean to her friend (which, good on her, sincerely) and 2/3 desperately clinging to the lie story she’s been taught to tell herself.

    1. Needfuldoer

      That sounds like Joyce’s M.O. alright.

    2. Adept

      Exactly. Joyce desperately needs to believe that there is one, singular perfect love interest for her, and all of her attraction is directed at that person.

      1. StClair

        Which is why poly (messy or otherwise) is/was never an option, and she’s putting off that talk with Joe until she figures out how and/or finds the resolve to tell him that.
        On the other hand, if she puts it off long enough, there’s a slim chance that she manages to examine and unpack her indoctrination and realize that’s not how her heart actually works.

  16. Elf grrl

    Now THIS dynamic I can get behind! Glad Becky’s inner gremlin is alive and well.

  17. Nono

    You are (not?) the only exception

    1. Buck Ripsnort

      Now we just have to fix Becky/Dina

      1. Heavensrun

        I suspect that will work itself out now that Becky’s in a healthier headspace. She just needed time to process the new situation.

  18. Dot

    Oh thank Christ I was really worried we’d end up getting more of this martyr complex but it looks like Becky’s deflating it right quick

    1. HueSatLight

      I guess if we’re returning to the status quo anyways, better sooner than later.

      1. Sirksome

        Eh, Becky’s motivation for being upset and thus Dorothy and Joyce’s weird martyr complex over it was very selfish and silly from all angles. I’m glad that’s over quickly at least.

        1. Pocky

          yeah, while Joyce and Dorothy did a bad towards Joe and Walky, Becky’s hangups are things that she kinda needed to handle. Plus she has to make up, or at least break things off in a better way with Dina. That’s on her; and Dina didn’t deserve to feel like the second place trophy.

    2. Big Z

      And really, one can also hope that Becky will stick the needle in for all of Joyce’s various malfeasance in starting up this thing with Dorothy. Lord knows that’s ALSO what best friends are for, to tell you when you have truly fucked something up and how to fix it (much like she’s doing with the friendship itself)

  19. Bryy

    There are way too many jokes I can make here that the comments are gonna take seriously and then start making incredibly inappropriate psycho-analytics of my life over.

    1. Taffy

      What a typical ISFJ Capricorn assumption to make about others smh my head drink some rose quartz essential oils and relax

      1. Bryy

        I see what you did there and I tip my hat.

        1. Throwatron

          Umm???? don’t you think this post is VERY insensitive to people who don’t have the privilege of a hat?!?

        2. Aquila

          @Throwatron
          No I don’t : just like it’s possible to play an air-guitar, anyone can tip an air-hat.

        3. clif

          Never tip an air-hat more than $5. though. It’ll just go to their head.

  20. Kitschensyngk

    The way this conversation is going, I don’t think Joyce even needs a coat.

  21. Golden Yak

    “I’m crossing my legs as I walk because I’ve always walked like this forever and no other reason!”

    1. Taffy

      “Ignore the magnificent and nigh-untamable erection!”

    2. StClair

      She always has coffee when she watches radar, everyone knows that!

  22. Shogo

    Alright, so, Becky’s mistake was that she picked the Childhood Friend class. You might think the romance is a shoe-in with all the bonuses to time spent with the object of your crush, but this is a rookie mistake. They never tell you about the invisible penalty of a -95% chance of smooching your crush. A devious decision by the game developers to make the ultra hard mode option look like the easy mode option.

    1. Aquila

      There’s actually a workaround for the -95% thing. You need to get a specific combination of items and throw them in the wishing well before Joyce’s 15th birthday event.
      You can find more info on the forums, but if you ask me it’s borderline using cheat codes and it kinda ruins the gaming experience.

      1. Sirksome

        Joyce missed the secret sister route and didn’t unlock Jocelyne for years. Dorothy has completely abandoned her president job class. Amber took the childhood trauma debuff to try and shortcut to dual classing but that’s now likely cutting her exp gains whenever AG fronts. Becky didn’t realize the childhood friend title locks out her romance options with her most desired love interest. Billie took on the alcoholic perk in high school and nearly ended her entire run and temporarily lost an important party member, things she’s only now recovering from. Most of these idiots are playing the game really sub optimally. It’s like it’s their first time. Maybe they’ll get their runs and builds figured out by their 30’s.

        1. Jon

          See, the problem is one a lot of players make: Alcoholic isn’t a perk, it’s a penalty. Sure, it can give you temporary buffs to your Charisma and lower your Inhibition score, but it also causes major debuffs to your Driving skill and gives a reaction penalty when dealing with Lawful people. There are also long-term effects on your Health score. Billifer should really have read the description all the way through before choosing it. Hopefully, she’ll have enough XP soon to start buying that one off.

  23. Qube

    well that’s just cheating

    1. Cameron Stone

      And if there’s one thing Joyce is an expert in, it’s cheating!

      1. Bryy

        I was drinking water.

        How dare you.

      2. Thag Simmons

        I feel like Joyce is very much beginner-level at cheating

      3. Astariel

        I feel like an expert on cheating wouldn’t end up with it on the front page of a newspaper.

  24. Icalasari

    “Or that one former cheerleader, asking fer yer help gettin’ her outfit off… Joyce? Joyce? Oh, I think I killed her”

  25. Trip

    Panel 5 is a heretofore undiscovered variation on the pee-pee dance

  26. june gloom

    Can someone help? How do I add a profile picture under the new comment system??

    1. Bill Erak

      You need to have a gravatar! It’ll associate with the email and the pfp you have there.

    2. Needfuldoer

      RIP avatar roulette.

  27. Li

    B’awwww.
    .
    Don’t love “that would make me PURPOSELESS”, but this still feels like a little bit of progress. One day at a time on self-worth sometimes.

    1. nadamás

      Sorry if this is weird but you are one of the people i actually enjoy talking to here and needed someone to talk to.
      I fell like being here is just bad for me, make me angry, make me fell bad about myself and bring out te worst parts of me and i just don’t like it. I think i should just leave but even when i really try to stay away i end back anyway.
      I don’t know, it’s dumb but it just don’t fell good to be here anymore.

      1. Li

        🫂
        .
        I definitely have also felt that way sometimes! I think taking a break from this place has helped me in the past and it might help you. 😞 I’m really sorry you’re feeling this way right now!
        .
        Another option is to just ctrl+f for names you know you enjoy talking to and ONLY responding to those comments for a while.
        .
        I would miss you if you stopped commenting entirely!! But please take care of yourself. Don’t keep doing a thing that makes you feel crappy :<

        1. nadamás

          Thanks you i really appreciate it. Maybe i really should take a break for a bit.

        2. Li

          Internet gesture of support 😞 I hope the feeling passes soon!!

    2. Big Z

      One can hope that “purposeless” is hyperbolic, but I kinda think that depends on how much of what’s going on with Becky in this particular instance is “mental health” vs. “sad due to revelations and circumstances”. I feel like we don’t REALLY have enough of an idea what’s going on inside her head to be sure of that at this point.

      1. Li

        Yeah, I’m just… laying a flag on this play, I guess, metaphorically speaking! That combined with “this is what I was put on this earth for” are both potentially… REALLY negative self-talk.
        .
        Also idk if you saw but ! I got a job ! 🙂 So I am doing much better fff.

        1. Big Z

          I did see, I was on a comment hiatus (due to just having too much to do in meatspace) for a bit there but I’m happy to hear it!

        2. Li

          ❤️ I was hoping it was something like that, re the scarcity of Big Z comments 🙂 thank you!

        3. StClair

          And yet, in a metatextual sense, that is almost exactly her role in this story, this universe that Joyce is the center of. (Not the only reason, the entirety of her role, but a pretty major part of it.) Go fig.
          Also, congratulations on the job.

        4. Li

          @StClair: orz that haha thank you was for you 🙂

      2. Li

        Hahaha, thank you.

  28. Maddie B

    Critical hit!

  29. Queezle

    Yeah… that is what I thought, Joyce wanted Dorothy to be the only exception. Makes sense with her character and her view of love.
    Anyway, this is kind of cute, I love that Becky saw straight through it too.

    1. Gigafreak

      More like she saw gay through it

  30. Taigan

    Does Amber do femslash? Let her flesh that scenario out.

  31. IntangibleMatter

    I’m doubtful that anybody who’s attracted to women wouldn’t find that hot.

    I know I would, it’s only a shame Sal’s straight…

  32. Fireprincesslily

    I like Becky knowing about Joyce’s attraction to Sal

    1. Jon

      Might just be Becky’s attraction to Sal. I mean, look at the girl!

  33. Corey C.

    Last strip I said Joyce was clearly into Sal since the beginning of the series but now won’t admit it to herself because her romance-novel brain convinced her that Dorothy’s the one person she should ever have eyes for. But I’m glad that her crush is so obvious that even Becky knows about it and can have some fun at Joyce’s expense.

  34. bunivasal

    This is cute. I’m glad this is shaking out this way. Truly a masterful performance.

  35. Mravac Kid

    Maybe it’s time for a current version… :)
    https://www.deviantart.com/mravac/art/It-s-Walky-PSL-Lineup-48573254

    1. Taffy

      What’s a pumpkin spice latte lineup?

  36. Getes

    Becky’s one of us.)derogatory)

  37. TimeKiller

    Yay, they’re communicating again. Please stay happy the two of you

  38. SvenTS

    Problem solved? Probably not entirely.

    Progress made? Thankfully.

    Becky getting to (friendly) torment Joyce? Priceless.

  39. Opinion

    For story reasons I kinda wish one of the people that were impacted by/reacted to Joyce/Dorothy getting together dont just instantly snap to being fine with the new status quo in a strip or two after Joyce talks to them.

  40. Sharizard

    It’s been six months since Becky and Dina were last in a strip together.

    Please can these two talk? Please? I can’t even tell if they officially broke up or not. That was not a clear breakup talk.

    1. thejeff

      Dina’s in the class they’re going to, so hopefully soon.

      So is Joe.

  41. AbelUndercity

    Aaaaaannnnnd she’s back.

  42. Rosicrucian

    Becky knows Joyce pretty well, even with recent developments.

    So she knows Joyce’s narrative brain has kicked in and is retconning Dorothy as her destined soulmate, and is thus rewriting everything to reflect her being the only exception to Joyce’s heterosexuality (since Dorothy helpfully gave Joyce a song and everything).

    And Becky knows that’s kinda bunk.

    So she’s going to poke a whole lot of holes in Joyce’s heterosexuality.

  43. Adept

    Well done Becky. I knew I liked you for a reason :D

  44. Hof1991

    If Sal and Billie are also exceptions, then where does that leave Joe.

    1. Adept

      Let’s see what happens next time Joyce is alone with Joe for more than a few minutes.

    2. Rosicrucian

      That leaves Joe really hoping the polycule is still on the table.

      1. Firefly

        Have to be a big table.

  45. Rogue 7

    So I’m having a hard time reconciling a Joyce that’s still uncomfortable even acknowledging that she might find Sal attractive with the same Joyce having gotten it on with Dorothy in the public showers about an hour ago.

    Joyce had been slowly (by the standards of the comic, of course. 1 DoA day is, I would estimate, packed with several weeks’ worth of IRL drama and character development. If we treated Joyce changing in the timeframe that she has realistically, it’d be a different conversation) overcoming her repression and getting more comfortable with attraction, sex, and public discussions thereof. But as this strip shows, she’s still got plenty of distance left to cover. And…I’m not seeing how getting it on in such a way that other folks can hear/know what you’re doing isn’t much further down that road.

    The easiest way to disagree with me is to simply say that these are separate axes- that Joyce being comfortable having shower sex with Dorothy is unrelated to her discomfort in admitting her attraction to Sal. Which, sure, I suppose that’s possible, but that really doesn’t match my experience or my previous understanding of what repression is like.

    It’d be interesting if Joyce verbalized something like “oh, I can’t do that, it would be betraying my love for Dorothy”, that would be a different sort of justification, and it would be another point of evidence that Joyce is a wee bit codependent, but that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening here.

    1. Rosicrucian

      Joyce right now does not think she’s bisexual. Charitably, she thinks she’s heterosexual with an asterisk. If you asked her flat out, she’d say she’s Dorothysexual and waggle her eyebrows.

      Understanding your sexuality is a journey, not a destination. In spite of Joyce wanting it to be one.

      1. Rogue 7

        Sorry, I’m not actually talking about identity much at all here. From what I can recall, Joyce gets, as Becky says, “flustered” whenever the notion that she might be attracted to anyone, regardless of their gender identity, gets brought up.

    2. deliverything

      I’m pretty sure the explanation you gave and dismissed in your final paragraph (that Joyce thinks of Dorothy as her One True Love), in combination with her belief that, in the service of love, anything is permissable, is the truth of the matter (even though she’s not verbalising it in this specific strip), and when she’s with Dorothy, external matters (such as the people outside the shower stall) are easily forgotten.

    3. Doopyboop

      Joyce still has some deprogramming to do from being a fundie. Shower sex with her One True Love Dorothy that she loves so much and sacrificed for? Fantastic! It even gives her extra happiness because she got to have sex, yay!!! Admitting that she may find more people than Dorothy attractive, especially other women? Alarm bells! Hussie behavior! NOOOOOO. This is also an overcorrection regarding how she, you know, did kiss Dorothy while dating Joe so I’d say she’s trying to double down on being SO MONOGAMOUS THAT SHE’S ONLY EVER BEEN INTO DOROTHY as well as the fact that, like others said, it’s one thing to admit she likes Dorothy, who is Dorothy. I don’t think Dorothy registers as like, being a woman in Joyce’s mind so much as “this is Dorothy she is like a quantum person of Dorothyness that I’ve been in love with for a while now”. I think she’d get similarly flustered if she had to describe physical things she adores about Dorothy, such as Dorothy’s freckles or her boobs or something. I can kinda get it because part of the journey to admitting attraction like this is admitting it isn’t a “one time fluke”. When I had my first girlfriend, I at first was like “okay but she’s the only woman I like” and obviously as I got older and more experienced I could say “no, I do like women in general, like them a lot actually”. It is kinda funny that she’s got hangups about that and not about pseudo public sex, but Joyce has proven that she contains multitudes of complexes. Plus admitting she finds Sal attractive doesn’t, like, give her the dopamine sex with her girlfriend does, it just makes her feel ashamed and guilty and weird and leads to her unpacking just how not straight she truly is. That it isn’t just Dorothy “proving” she can be bi, that she’s been bi for a while and never realized it.

  46. Jerna

    Ah, the old lesbian adage of crushing on a girl that’s not feeling it for you, while talking about women who are hot.

  47. Toes14

    To be fair, the picture Becky paints in the last frame would fluster most people . . .

  48. wakeangel2001

    I think you call this specifically “bisexual homoromantic” right? Or is it just the awkwardness of a bisexual person in a monogamous relationship?

    1. Lys

      Bisexual homoromantic means sexual attraction to both genders but romantic attraction only to same gender. Joyce appears to be capable of falling in love with men, so she’s bisexual biromantic.

  49. Heavensrun

    I love that Becky IMMEDIATELY clocks that Joyce is full of shit on “There’s no one else” and knows exactly who to dangle in order to prove it.

    1. Lys

      Becky always knew that Joyce was into women, she just couldn’t deal with Joyce not being into her, but she’s getting over it.

  50. Suet

    what other girls? unless if the IUCU is expanded, there’s no other girls to talk about
      
    great, now that Paramore song is ruined

  51. Lys

    Good god, they’re going out in 50 degree weather dressed like that!? That’s what I wear when I am indoors with the thermostat set to 75.

    1. Jason

      They grew up in the frozen wastes of Indiana. If anything they’re overdressed for the weather.

  52. DashWallkick

    Becky had to mention the hair, because she apparently was there for at least one Joyce comment of “I want to brush it.”

  53. Dandi_Andi

    I’m seeing so many comments today saying that Joyce’s romanticism is leading her to insist that Dorothy is her one and only true soulmate while apparent ignoring the explicit textual explanation that admitting to being attracted to more than one woman feels like being mean to Becky. It stays to feel like “In attracted to ALL SORTS of women, just not you because your not good enough.”

    1. StClair

      It can be more than one thing. Which, ironically, is the exact lesson that Joyce needs to learn/thing she needs to admit to herself. Lately, she’s been forced into a lot of situations where she’s seen/has to confront that the world is actually a lot more complicated than that. But ’tism brain’s tendency to all-or-nothing binary thinking plus almost two decades of indoctrination that (for example) Monogamy Is The Only Way are going to be a tough hill cliff to climb.

      1. Dandi_Andi

        Sure, it CAN be, but it doesn’t need to be. She had no problem deleting herself to be heroically gay to Raidah. She had no problem declaring herself to be gay in gender studies with Roz. She couldn’t contain herself from telling Lucy that she had arc with Dorothy. I see no evidence of her having any trouble currently with admitting to liking women except for this statement about feeling like she’s being mean to Becky.

        1. Doopyboop

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/sorest/ She has also prior described herself as only being gay for Dorothy so although I’m sure “saying I like more ladies is rude to you” is still a correct statement, it’s not the complete truth for why Joyce has difficulty admitting an attraction to other women. After all, Becky’s not in this linked strip.

        2. Dandi_Andi

          Your linked strip is of Joyce being reluctant to accept a queer identity explicitly because she identifies queerness with oppression which she had not experienced. And that’s evidence that she’s reluctant to admit to Becky that she’s attracted to women because of romantic ideas of true love?
          .
          Thanks. I needed to be reminded of this

        3. Doopyboop

          …I don’t really know what that tiktok has to do with anything but. Okay. I intend it as evidence that Joyce has difficulty admitting she is attracted to more women than Dorothy since you asked for that.

        4. Dandi Andi

          Ideally you watch the video that I linked. The context is in there.

        5. Doopyboop

          Yeah it was about ducks?

        6. Doopyboop

          If its your way of saying you would rather socialize with ducks than me, then… okay. Ducks are good.

  54. Imp

    Oh come on, Becky, that one was too easy. Make her flustered about Billy.

  55. beth

    Back in Book 14 Joyce said Sarah was pretty.

  56. Cabbage Jack

    Okay, this is a relief. I know things aren’t good yet – and may never be – with Dina, but I really didn’t want Becky to be completely broken over all this. Glad to see her starting to bounce back.

  57. Jay

    And thats the Becky problem swept under the rug and solved.

    Yaaay

  58. Tequila Mockingbird

    Okay, this is just a suggestion but… who now wants to see Becky/Sal ship?

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