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Dina saw Becky brooding.
“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “That time just before exams wasn’t the first time I was kidnapped.”
Becky’s head snapped around and she stared at her, slack-jawed.
“There was one time I was just walking along, minding my own business – this was before I met you – and I found myself swept up in a group of people and suddenly transported to the beach.” She paused as Becky let out a deep exhale of breath and then a little laugh. “In fact, many of the same people were there that day – Joyce, Sarah, Dorothy, Walky…” She paused again as Becky laughed properly and took her hand. “Joyce asked Dorothy what she saw in Walky and she said he had a body that looked like it was made out of sculpted caramel. Personally, I don’t see the attraction.” She slowly started walking her fingers up Becky’s arm, landing on a freckle each time. “Too few freckles.”
There was a different note to the laugh Becky gave that time. “I don’t know. Looking at Sal, I get it…”
“Sal is a hot woman?”
“Sal is a smokin’ hot woman, and you’re a beautiful, sexy woman and so hot you’re magma.”
“Good.” Dina kissed her, then pulled back, searching Becky’s eyes for any lingering traces of sadness. “That’s not the only other kidnapping I’ve been involved in. Well, I didn’t take them – he was abandoned – but he was an actual child. He was Faz. He was… being Faz. I tied him up and gagged him and then requested his removal. I had no choice. He was promptly returned to his parents unharmed.” Becky laughed again.
“Are you good at knots?” Her voice came out fast, eager, breathless.
“Yes. I am very good at knots.” Dina’s grip tightened and she leaned, predatorily into Becky. “Should I show you?”
…
“We have GOT to get a ‘Days since last kidnapping’ sign!!”
“Does doing this reset the sign?”
“This is entirely voluntary! So…no, but that doesn’t mean the sign won’t make me very happy!”
________________
Ruth, to Puddinghead (Chloe?): They all like the sign. They want the sign. It reminds Dorothy of a time when she was a strong leader, utilised others’ strengths, and overcame a terrible situation. It reminds Joyce of all the reasons she wants to grow as a person, why she doesn’t want to go back to what her Mom wants her to be. Becky… She put up the sign and she smiles whenever she sees it. I don’t think she’ll let ANYBODY take it down. I’ve spoken to Amber about it; she says it helps her remember that you need to pick your battles, and that she really does matter to people. Joyce talked to Sarah… She says it helps her keep it in perspective. Walky – David Walkerton – I know he’s not on this floor but he sure spends a lot of time here – also copes through humour. He appreciates it.
I mean, that seems on-brand for Ruth, but I’m less worried about the pessimism, and more about it potentially triggering PTSD, seems like the sort of thing that Ruth’s bosses might object to, even if all of the victims in question said it was fine.
I do not really understand in depth how genuine psychological triggering works, but while that sounds plausible, it also seems like something that seeing every day could help one cope. Can’t think of a better word than “desensitize” but, seems like that might help
Just gonna cut this one off at the pass; research shows that exposure therapy (the technical term for the thing you’re talking about) can be very helpful in recovering from PTSD, but only when done in a clinical setting by a professional. Getting randomly triggered with no warning or preparation generally just reinforces the existing trauma.
(sorry if this comes off as kind of harsh, but the idea that you can treat traumas or phobias by forcibly exposing someone to their trauma/phobia trigger is a depressingly common misconception with genuinely dangerous consequences.)
While you are 100% correct, and I am not disputing your point, I do wonder if something like this might nevertheless be helpful, at least for some, because it isn’t random or unexpected – it’s always present in the exact same place – the hallway of their res-hall, in the liminal space between the outside world and their private places of safety (their dorm rooms), where they are neither alone nor exposed. It is a wholly passive reminder – doing nothing to draw or grab attention, but still readily visible for anyone that wants to focus on it.
Approached with the right frame of mind, I could see it being a very valuable therapeutic aid. That said, it could just as easily have the opposite effect if viewed from some other perspective, so I very much doubt something like it would be employed in a real-life situation analogous to what happened in DoA.
Maybe it’s a sign that someone cares? A reminder that kidnapping is no longer trending? I mean, they did go 3 months without another kidnapping, so things are improving?
It just occurred to me that unless Willis explicitly says something about it in universe, the calendar is going to break/become ambiguous in a couple/few years once we pass the end of february
Well, good to be vigilant, even if parents (relatively) trust them to be on their own in a dorm room, i can imagine some ppl that young making bad decisions even if it doesn’t end in them getting kidnapped, but i can imagine some easily getting into others cars’
Like, if i was walking on the way home i wouldn’t take a ride home from a stranger but i’d prolly call someone first, or maybe lean towards trusting some mom with kids (tho other than a small neighborhood where they recognized me, i’d assume most parents wouldn’t be giving strangers a ride unless it was also a kid looking helpless than a random adult), but other than the lack of experience i might take a ride from a teen who just got their license but i’m just overly paranoid to where in a hypothetical i’d prolly turn down most ppl anyway
To put that into context, the minimum size an olympic swimming pool can be is 50m x 25m x 2m, and holds holds 660,430 gallons. Slightly more than double an acre foot. It looks like a large number, but if you put it in a properly sized container its easy to comprehend.
Most Olympic pools however are deeper than the two meter minimum for increased swimmer safety and higher lap speeds.
i assume they’re going back to her room for a change of clothes rather than straight to class, and maybe joe can ask jacob to borrow some clothes if not wait for danny to text them that they’re done
Yeah, there’s a lot of differences between male and female socialization and standards in our society… I’m not entirely sure on how to deal with them all, but so it goes.
But also, fuck the patriarchal standards of masculinity.
I do hope Joe can get more relaxed about this kind of stuff with time, like I don’t doubt for a second Danny could readily say he loves Joe, and I do like that it’s clear here that it isn’t Joe saying he doesn’t love Danny, that he genuinely does and just finds it difficult to really vocalize that.
Even some really emotionally intelligent men don’t tell each other they love each other, purely because of the fact that it would be unusual and a little jarring except in very emotionally intense situations like at a funeral or on an acid trip.
At best you can say “I love you, man“, which for some reason sounds more casual.
Or, even shorter: https://youtu.be/_Da4vGzur74 (from the Share button below the video) — you can likewise cut out the non-URL bit, though adding something like &t=8 starts at the specified time (replace the 8 with whatever number of seconds you want).
Yeah with some guys who are comfortable saying it, the closest you’re going to get to that is something like “I love you brother” or ” I love ya buddy.” But even then you’ll only see that with duds who’ve been tight for more than half a decade.
I actually sometimes tell my friends I love them and they get all bashful and withdrawn about it haha.
For me what love means that “If you died it would basically ruin my life moving forward. Like I just wouldn’t be able to be ok about it for the rest of my life. I would have to change my lifestyle to not do things that remind me of them, Thinking of them would make me cry etc. etc.”
It’s pretty grim but that’s my baseline.
Frankly, I don’t want my friends to not do something because we did it together. I would want them to do it because we did it together and they are remembering that we did it together. The remembering is the key part I don’t want people to fear remembering Good Times.
I have a good friend who is dealing with this a little bit about the death of one of his good friends. Together they all built a picnic table but now that picnic table isn’t used because it’s rotten and unsafe to sit on. It’s just slowly rotting away in a corner of their backyard. I put out the suggestion that we take the hardware from that table which is still functional and build a new table with more durable materials and dedicate the table to the missing friend so the thing they took part in building continues to be used with all of the remaining good metal parts that they used to build the original.
The point of this is that you’re then tying new good time memories to old good time memories keeping the person alive in your heart. You’re moving the focus away from the object and into the memories. And while the object being there remind you that that person is no longer there it reminds you of all of the good things that you’ve done with that person every time you use it.
I’m comfortable saying “I love you,” to friends and family who I have that intense an affection for, but right now it’s just my immediate family and one friend. It’s important to let yourself feel emotions that powerful.
Men are widely known to communicate platonic love in a very specific, non-verbal manner:
Close your eyes.
Hold two fingers up to your forehead.
Furrow your brow really hard. Really hard.
Think “I love you (non-sexually)” at the targeted male so that your thoughts are transmitted psychically into their mind.
Ruth doesn’t count the time she kidnapped Jason because he’s British, and it’s legal to kidnap British people. It’s in the Constitution and everything!
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, fucking love kidnapping British people.
Au contraire: it was clarified in Marbury v. Madison that it is “totally okay for Canadians to engage in Kidnaping the British”, so long as during the commission of the act they say “Fuck the Crown! FUCK those guys”, which we can reliably assume Ruth to have done.
That’s one reason. There was also taxes, the captive-market thing, and various stuff that the English back on the island would have considered uppity if the King had done it to them.
I mean, it would be a way to get poly representation in the primary cast if Dorothy-Joyce started having some feelings for each other, but then also stuck with Joyce-Joe (and possibly Dorothy-Walky, depending how that relationship shakes out).
NORMAL TO WANT AND POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE, JOYCE DEAR.
There’s a reason “life goals or wife goals” was such a catchphrase some years ago. And yeah, I swear to god I’m not tinfoiling, but I’m not sure Joe fully buys her explanation… :’DD
Specifically she wanted to become Yog-Sothoth, the All-in-One, Whom is the Key and the Gate, the Opener of the Way—past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth.
This is some just Brutal foreshadowing.
( Thinking HARD.
WHO is left to do KIdnapping? )
1) Walkys Mother. ( Amber? walky? )
2) Ruths Dad
3) Joycelyn as a victim.
Joyces Mother, or brother
4) Asher ( hes done it before )
5) Faz as a victim ( asher, or ashers Grandfather)
look, Faz is nosy, refuses to stay out of trouble he cant handle probably has secrets of his father.
6) Walkys mother working with Ashers grandfather. ( jointly nab Amber for revenge and becuase she might know too much ) and Faz.
My brain went “so Jocelyne gets discovered and Carol (who’s on record saying “I’d die for you, Joyce, I’d die for you”) tries her hand at doing a Ross.”
I’m telling my brain that would be almost a beat-by-beat repeat of the Becky Incident(s). Broken record that it is, though, it won’t shut up.
If I had to wager, it’ll be Carol. She or another member of the family will probably have seen Joyce’s #dranks post on social media, assumed college has finally corrupted her precious angel too much, and come to take her back to wherever she’s staying now since she sold the house so that the Lord’s loving embrace may heal her.
I had a dream, that there was a strip with Danny in it, and he was wearing a brown shirt, with a band’s name and logo on it in white. But the shirt was blurred, like Willis selected the region and did a big guassian blur, so it was abrupt at the edges of the selection. All that was visible on the shirt was the word “Milwaukee” in a mild Blackletter typeface. Also, Danny’s face was blurred in the same way, with abrupt edges to a gaussian blur.
Willis’ comment was that the band, which was from Milwaukee, turned out to be connected to neo-nazis, and they didn’t find out until after posting the strip. Implying that they had to go through the whole chapter and re-draw Danny’s shirt with a different band (and maybe change dialogue). No explanation why Danny’s face was also blurred.
I don’t believe prophetic dreams are real, but if I have the gift, now would be a good time to double check the band on Danny’s shirt in the upcoming chapter.
Well, Dot is openly not trying to be president anymore, so she can stop worrying about her electability, so that’s one less obstacle to her love. All that’s left is for Joyce to turn lesbian (hmm maybe) and Dorothy to stop caring about Becky’s feelings (haha sure).
>97 days since the last kidnapping
well, now we know how long it’s been since that whole mess took place.
i hope they’re showing us that because they want to establish a timeframe, and not to tell us to expect that number to drop to 0 again.
Dorothy’s “I gotta go,” is very sudden. It makes me think she’s either rushing off to do something important, like dig out that Yale letter, or we’re going to cut to her being on top of the dryer again.
Or taking a chan e and talking g to Walky again. Like actually talking things out, not just a desperate plea to stave off the demons. Or she’s off to talk to Danny again regarding their relationship, and how she ended it.
The “97 days since the last kidnapping” board was savage.
The people here have a great sense of humor (even that the most victims of it were from another clark).
Hey! Apropos of the sign that Ruth put up and my terrible brain, y’all want to see a little word blossom that popped into my diseased brain and created 2,000 words of concentrated sad?
Ooh, my random avatar is Carla. How deliciously appropriate. If I were her, I’d be the person who probably most loves themselves in all of dumbingofage.
Optimus Prime broke down and cried on the set of "Transformers" (2007) due to the extensive use of green screen filming. He reportedly said, "This is not why I became an actor."
“I’m just going to say it, shame on any of us who throws a trans child under the bus for thinking they’re going to get elected. That child deserves our support. Don’t worry about the pollsters calling it distractions, because we need to be the party of human dignity.”
Minnesota Star Tribune@startribune.com ⋅ 2d
Gov. Tim Walz is doubling down on trans rights — and criticizing members of his party who are retreating — at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and back home in Minnesota.
they managed to get the arms and thighs to be different grays, which I wasn't sure they'd be able to do, the way the mold's set up
though maybe they're just producing a lot of extra thighs and/or arms in the wrong colors and throwing those away, i dunno
Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com ⋅ 2d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 2d
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⚧️Coming Out
Hailey Piper 
re: last panel
“97 days since the last kidnapping”?
Just. Wow.
… Willis counted.
I’m more disturbed by the fact that they have that hanging in the dorm. Seems… pessimistic.
I assume it started as a dark joke to cope… before kinda morphing into a dark reminder.
Dina saw Becky brooding.
“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “That time just before exams wasn’t the first time I was kidnapped.”
Becky’s head snapped around and she stared at her, slack-jawed.
“There was one time I was just walking along, minding my own business – this was before I met you – and I found myself swept up in a group of people and suddenly transported to the beach.” She paused as Becky let out a deep exhale of breath and then a little laugh. “In fact, many of the same people were there that day – Joyce, Sarah, Dorothy, Walky…” She paused again as Becky laughed properly and took her hand. “Joyce asked Dorothy what she saw in Walky and she said he had a body that looked like it was made out of sculpted caramel. Personally, I don’t see the attraction.” She slowly started walking her fingers up Becky’s arm, landing on a freckle each time. “Too few freckles.”
There was a different note to the laugh Becky gave that time. “I don’t know. Looking at Sal, I get it…”
“Sal is a hot woman?”
“Sal is a smokin’ hot woman, and you’re a beautiful, sexy woman and so hot you’re magma.”
“Good.” Dina kissed her, then pulled back, searching Becky’s eyes for any lingering traces of sadness. “That’s not the only other kidnapping I’ve been involved in. Well, I didn’t take them – he was abandoned – but he was an actual child. He was Faz. He was… being Faz. I tied him up and gagged him and then requested his removal. I had no choice. He was promptly returned to his parents unharmed.” Becky laughed again.
“Are you good at knots?” Her voice came out fast, eager, breathless.
“Yes. I am very good at knots.” Dina’s grip tightened and she leaned, predatorily into Becky. “Should I show you?”
…
“We have GOT to get a ‘Days since last kidnapping’ sign!!”
“Does doing this reset the sign?”
“This is entirely voluntary! So…no, but that doesn’t mean the sign won’t make me very happy!”
________________
Ruth, to Puddinghead (Chloe?): They all like the sign. They want the sign. It reminds Dorothy of a time when she was a strong leader, utilised others’ strengths, and overcame a terrible situation. It reminds Joyce of all the reasons she wants to grow as a person, why she doesn’t want to go back to what her Mom wants her to be. Becky… She put up the sign and she smiles whenever she sees it. I don’t think she’ll let ANYBODY take it down. I’ve spoken to Amber about it; she says it helps her remember that you need to pick your battles, and that she really does matter to people. Joyce talked to Sarah… She says it helps her keep it in perspective. Walky – David Walkerton – I know he’s not on this floor but he sure spends a lot of time here – also copes through humour. He appreciates it.
I know it seems dark, but it’s helping them.
A+
I love your take on Ruth’s view of it.
S-tier fanfic.
Adopted as head-canon.
Seconded.
Once you get to day 7, the joke stops being quite as funny.
Yeah, what RA would possibly all-OK makes perfect sense.
I’m just amused that it somehow ended up being exactly 97. That number just follows these people around like a ghost of another life.
When else has 97 ever appeared? Since when has that number had a special mavity for the dumbiverse?
Since 2010, I think.
We’re not doing mavity
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I don’t think one person has ever successfully stood in the way of fandom lingo.
Molyne Mujoh be like
Good luck with that
I mean, that seems on-brand for Ruth, but I’m less worried about the pessimism, and more about it potentially triggering PTSD, seems like the sort of thing that Ruth’s bosses might object to, even if all of the victims in question said it was fine.
I do not really understand in depth how genuine psychological triggering works, but while that sounds plausible, it also seems like something that seeing every day could help one cope. Can’t think of a better word than “desensitize” but, seems like that might help
Just gonna cut this one off at the pass; research shows that exposure therapy (the technical term for the thing you’re talking about) can be very helpful in recovering from PTSD, but only when done in a clinical setting by a professional. Getting randomly triggered with no warning or preparation generally just reinforces the existing trauma.
(sorry if this comes off as kind of harsh, but the idea that you can treat traumas or phobias by forcibly exposing someone to their trauma/phobia trigger is a depressingly common misconception with genuinely dangerous consequences.)
This urgently needs upvotes.
While you are 100% correct, and I am not disputing your point, I do wonder if something like this might nevertheless be helpful, at least for some, because it isn’t random or unexpected – it’s always present in the exact same place – the hallway of their res-hall, in the liminal space between the outside world and their private places of safety (their dorm rooms), where they are neither alone nor exposed. It is a wholly passive reminder – doing nothing to draw or grab attention, but still readily visible for anyone that wants to focus on it.
Approached with the right frame of mind, I could see it being a very valuable therapeutic aid. That said, it could just as easily have the opposite effect if viewed from some other perspective, so I very much doubt something like it would be employed in a real-life situation analogous to what happened in DoA.
That’s what I meant LOL
yeah that’s messed up
Maybe it’s a sign that someone cares? A reminder that kidnapping is no longer trending? I mean, they did go 3 months without another kidnapping, so things are improving?
One could argue that’s Chekhov’s sign… knowing Willis.
This is a dorm where Ruth is the RA and multiple characters use dark humor to deflect. It’s on-brand, I think.
Just as long as they don’t have to reset the clock. Or get a double event.
This means we can confirm the exact current date for the timeline! The date of the kidnapping was October 20. 97 days later is January 25th, which aligns with https://walkypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dumbing_of_Age_Timeline
Just two days after Dina / Sarah’s Birthday. Fuck.
I mean Mike took a dive that very day.
his present to Sarah.
what about January Break?
are these calendar days, or actual semeester days?
It just occurred to me that unless Willis explicitly says something about it in universe, the calendar is going to break/become ambiguous in a couple/few years once we pass the end of february
Well, good to be vigilant, even if parents (relatively) trust them to be on their own in a dorm room, i can imagine some ppl that young making bad decisions even if it doesn’t end in them getting kidnapped, but i can imagine some easily getting into others cars’
Like, if i was walking on the way home i wouldn’t take a ride home from a stranger but i’d prolly call someone first, or maybe lean towards trusting some mom with kids (tho other than a small neighborhood where they recognized me, i’d assume most parents wouldn’t be giving strangers a ride unless it was also a kid looking helpless than a random adult), but other than the lack of experience i might take a ride from a teen who just got their license but i’m just overly paranoid to where in a hypothetical i’d prolly turn down most ppl anyway
Whoever set it up only saw the need for two digits.
So either they’ll need to change it, or there’s gonna be a Mayan-calendar-type event within three days. Ulp.
maybe they’re using a hexadecimal system, that gives up to 255 days, more than enough time to last through the end of the semester
Or they just tack a + symbol at the end, like McDonald’s did with the “hamburgers sold” counter that only had two digits on their old signs.
Wow, they sold over 99 burgers? That’s really impressive.
Technically, yes!
The last time I cared enough to look, it just said “billions and billions served.”
decriminalization. Dont know how many of them have the signs anymore.
And now I need to find out.
Decriminalized burgers?
damn maybe some time i should share my recipe for weed burgers :9
I mean, McDonald’s “Burgers” should be crimes.
Thank you, Carl Sagan.
Well, they might need to set up some sort of library checkout if.people keep getting kidnapped…
no clinical trials on the effectiveness downgrade for taking it with a gallon of Sprite, tho
well THAT post is wrong
I don’t imagine so, no.
Also, what?
(I imagine copy paste error?)
No posting from the future! Bad!
(sprays water)
A time anomaly? It’s ON.
(cocks ray gun)
They don’t call her Ana Chronistic for nothing.
laughing my ass off right now much more than I should
Acre-foot, an acre in area covered by a foot of whatever liquid, when gallons is just too small a unit.
It is an impressively large number, but not impossible to get. 325828.8 gallons = 7.48(gallons in a cubic foot) x 43560 (square feet in an acre).
To put that into context, the minimum size an olympic swimming pool can be is 50m x 25m x 2m, and holds holds 660,430 gallons. Slightly more than double an acre foot. It looks like a large number, but if you put it in a properly sized container its easy to comprehend.
Most Olympic pools however are deeper than the two meter minimum for increased swimmer safety and higher lap speeds.
Yay for context, it was super useful to me, thanks!
17 minutes past the hour?
The server lag is getting real bad these days. Yikes.
I don’t know what’s scarier, students being kidnapped, or that it happens so often there’s actually a “Days Since Last Incident” board for it.
I know right? I want to know who put that up xD
Would you believe Dina?
It was the best she could do.
… too soon?
Go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done.
A smile better suits a hero, Big Brother Edward.
For Ruth, that’s positivity!
joyce wants to be absorbed into a homogenous paste with dorothy
Jorodoyceothy
“Congratulations!”
“Congratulations!”
“Congratulations!”
I understand that reference dot gif.
Joe: throwing out the vows he’d written in his head
I have definitely confused the two (in both directions, lmao)
Yes, I know that’s the joke
Being gay have it’s set of problems I guess :’)
Do I want to be that, or do I want to do that.
in my experience the answer is a resounding “yes, please”
So are they just gonna walk around with Joyce in an oversized shirt and Joe in his boxers (or boxer briefs)?
Meh. I walk around in less.
Around a collage campus or around your home?
Well, when posting, I was thinking around my own home – given that I was wearing far less when posting.
However, if wearing a shorter shirt counts as wearing less, then yeah, I can own that too.
Can’t they be normal like the rest of us and stay in blue jeans 24/7 to the point of sleeping in them?
i assume they’re going back to her room for a change of clothes rather than straight to class, and maybe joe can ask jacob to borrow some clothes if not wait for danny to text them that they’re done
It has been 30 seconds.
Walky already talked her into Pantsless Sundays, sooo….
Yeah, there’s a lot of differences between male and female socialization and standards in our society… I’m not entirely sure on how to deal with them all, but so it goes.
But also, fuck the patriarchal standards of masculinity.
Yes, masculine “I love you”s between straight men usually involve beer, punching, or both.
“I love you man!” is the stage of drinking right before barfing.
nah, man, you gotta kiss the homies goodnight
gotta be confident, tho good to say it casually too, to the point you can say it to everyone in the area if you’re with a group of friends
tho it’d be more awkward if a friend was gay and secretly had a crush on you
This is what I like the most about my group of guys. Saying that you love someone sincerely and often is the best
Joe should scissor Danny. To show that he loves him.
Joe would just pretend it’s a figure 4 leg lock and say they were wrestling.
I’m waiting for both of them just hug each other. But, hey, I won’t complaing if they goes like that.
(Joe just have to say “no homo”).
“Yeah I counted”
You mean that’s not just another reference to 1997, the year Roomies started?
“Porque no los dos?” dot gif.
I do hope Joe can get more relaxed about this kind of stuff with time, like I don’t doubt for a second Danny could readily say he loves Joe, and I do like that it’s clear here that it isn’t Joe saying he doesn’t love Danny, that he genuinely does and just finds it difficult to really vocalize that.
Even some really emotionally intelligent men don’t tell each other they love each other, purely because of the fact that it would be unusual and a little jarring except in very emotionally intense situations like at a funeral or on an acid trip.
At best you can say “I love you, man“, which for some reason sounds more casual.
Has Dorothy ever told Joyce that she loves her before?
…That sign existing implies that there has been at least one other kidnappiOh right Toedad Episode 1
…Holy carp that sign is actually warranted
Blaine also briefly kidnapped Danny way back, though that was not widely known
Also, Danny/Blaine, for all that Danny is too clueless to realize when he’s being kidnapped.
Danny/Blaine is the most cursed thing my eyes have laid on today
That sounds like you’re issuing us a challenge…
Curses, hoisted by my own petard!
…….. Go on. But I do wanna hear about Danny/Blaine too :3c
Amber/Ryan. It’s canonical because Amber got her hands on his phone and started started slashing.
Holy shit it’s beautiful, snuff, and somehow queer. I dig it
You made me laugh!
I forgot about that
Mostly because I forget about Danny pre Sal/Danny
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Joyce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Da4vGzur74&pp=ygUyam9obm55IGJyYXZvIGkgd2FudCB0byBsb29rIGxpa2UgdGhpcyBub3QgYXQgdGhpcyA%3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Da4vGzur74 is enough, you don’t need the personally identifying stuff that starts with “&”.
Or, even shorter: https://youtu.be/_Da4vGzur74 (from the Share button below the video) — you can likewise cut out the non-URL bit, though adding something like &t=8 starts at the specified time (replace the 8 with whatever number of seconds you want).
Yeah with some guys who are comfortable saying it, the closest you’re going to get to that is something like “I love you brother” or ” I love ya buddy.” But even then you’ll only see that with duds who’ve been tight for more than half a decade.
I’d almost expect a “but”, like “I love ya man, but you need to cut that shit out.”
absolutely not confusing or queer in any way whatsoever ^_^
Panel 4 is A) an epitome of the Girl Code, and B) another decent sign of Joe’s maturity
You can also mix it up with a bro/dude/man and be like Yo, Willisssss, I love ya, man, but did you count the days out of realization or frivolity
He planned it ahead of time just to make the joke.
Whoops that attached to the wrong comment, should have been with the ones about 97 days.
Still works, though.
I actually sometimes tell my friends I love them and they get all bashful and withdrawn about it haha.
For me what love means that “If you died it would basically ruin my life moving forward. Like I just wouldn’t be able to be ok about it for the rest of my life. I would have to change my lifestyle to not do things that remind me of them, Thinking of them would make me cry etc. etc.”
It’s pretty grim but that’s my baseline.
That’s how it starts. Eventually avoidance becomes more painful than remembering. But the rest: that seems pretty accurate.
Frankly, I don’t want my friends to not do something because we did it together. I would want them to do it because we did it together and they are remembering that we did it together. The remembering is the key part I don’t want people to fear remembering Good Times.
I have a good friend who is dealing with this a little bit about the death of one of his good friends. Together they all built a picnic table but now that picnic table isn’t used because it’s rotten and unsafe to sit on. It’s just slowly rotting away in a corner of their backyard. I put out the suggestion that we take the hardware from that table which is still functional and build a new table with more durable materials and dedicate the table to the missing friend so the thing they took part in building continues to be used with all of the remaining good metal parts that they used to build the original.
The point of this is that you’re then tying new good time memories to old good time memories keeping the person alive in your heart. You’re moving the focus away from the object and into the memories. And while the object being there remind you that that person is no longer there it reminds you of all of the good things that you’ve done with that person every time you use it.
I’ve been a holdout against Jorothy but panel 5 means even though it’s not for me I can see it coming
One day Dorothy’s gonna just vanish and be replaced by Joyce wearing her clothes, and haircut and assuming her role as the Joyce-Dorothy. The Joyothy.
I mean, I’m pretty sure they’ve made at least two movies about a woman wanting to be another woman so badly that she tried to replace her.
and three of men, but all the same movie
I’m comfortable saying “I love you,” to friends and family who I have that intense an affection for, but right now it’s just my immediate family and one friend. It’s important to let yourself feel emotions that powerful.
Men are widely known to communicate platonic love in a very specific, non-verbal manner:
Close your eyes.
Hold two fingers up to your forehead.
Furrow your brow really hard. Really hard.
Think “I love you (non-sexually)” at the targeted male so that your thoughts are transmitted psychically into their mind.
If it’s non sexual, you perform an instant transmission to their person and give them a platonic hug.
If it’s sexual, you yell “Special Beam Cannon” as you want to penetrate their body with your power move.
Ruth doesn’t count the time she kidnapped Jason because he’s British, and it’s legal to kidnap British people. It’s in the Constitution and everything!
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, fucking love kidnapping British people.
The legal situation is not that clear, on account of Ruth being Canadian.
I’m sure there’s some technicality with the Treaty of Ghent she could use to justify it as an act of war.
Au contraire: it was clarified in Marbury v. Madison that it is “totally okay for Canadians to engage in Kidnaping the British”, so long as during the commission of the act they say “Fuck the Crown! FUCK those guys”, which we can reliably assume Ruth to have done.
She would also have to repeat it in French, in an equally loud or louder voice.
I Think we fought a whole war because Britain thought Kidnapping Americans was a crown power.
No ones using this spare white guy, think we will just permananly borrow him out to sea.
Sounds fake, tbh.
Borrowing a spare white guy: war!
Borrowing a whole lot of non-white guys: states’ rights tho? Let’s circle back on this in like 85 years.
I mean, technically they were usually already out to sea.
That’s one reason. There was also taxes, the captive-market thing, and various stuff that the English back on the island would have considered uppity if the King had done it to them.
…………They are laying it on thick with the possible queerness of Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship lately. Kind of more and more so I think?
I am. Looking. tbh
I’m pretty sure that some time ago, Willis used pictures of these two in a Pride-themed promotion. There is definitely Something.
I mean, it would be a way to get poly representation in the primary cast if Dorothy-Joyce started having some feelings for each other, but then also stuck with Joyce-Joe (and possibly Dorothy-Walky, depending how that relationship shakes out).
Y’know, incidentally…
Yeah.
Who can say
–
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–
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Sweet? tho wanting to be someone also seems slightly unhealthy
And if it’s the love that she grew up to expect thanks to the family church then I have questions
Oh Joyce, honey.
NORMAL TO WANT AND POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE, JOYCE DEAR.
There’s a reason “life goals or wife goals” was such a catchphrase some years ago. And yeah, I swear to god I’m not tinfoiling, but I’m not sure Joe fully buys her explanation… :’DD
Yeah. For the most emotionally constipated character, He has a stellar high social IQ.
He always had The Potential, but willingly refused the call, me thinks. And now through his softening arc, he’s been unlocking it as hell.
( wait, thats not true, its easily confused esp with same sex ….OH! )
Well played , Willis
Although this definition of love is a lot closer to what Dorothy smeant to Walky . and what Walky means about Nachitos.
hey thats not always confused with romantic attraction. sometimes it’s confused with gender. (Non applicable in this case. Probably).
And people wonder why there are so many trans lesbians.
Is this our first confirmation that Joyce knows Danny’s name?
No, she also remembered his name when she talked about how he and Sal were banging.
Basically now that she saw him claimed by a warrior woman he’s a person of note.
Joyce’s respect for Sal has finally brought the name of her trophy into…
Not attention. Awareness, probs.
Joyce and Jocelyn really are two peas in a pod, huh?
Oh, right. New computer. Again.
We keep trying.
That one’s pretty good, better than the first one IMHO.
Panel one Dorothy looks like she’s just been hit with so many positive emotions that she doesn’t know what to do with them
She should take the day off and do literally whatever.
Treat herself to ice cream. A very very very long hike into the wilderness.
A tea ceremony. Something.
Dunn’s Woods is right there.
Oh she’s thinking about treating herself to some caramel
Whatever it takes for her to internalise that she is loved
so Joyce wanted to be a God in the past.
Specifically she wanted to become Yog-Sothoth, the All-in-One, Whom is the Key and the Gate, the Opener of the Way—past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth.
Lovecraft would never have perpetrated this “whom”. Him is neither the Key nor the Gate!
Shit, one more daydreaming history I have to create in my mind.
Damn Dorothy got dumped and she doesn’t even realize it
Only… Dorothy -Does- mean that!
My poor baby </3 !
This is some just Brutal foreshadowing.
( Thinking HARD.
WHO is left to do KIdnapping? )
1) Walkys Mother. ( Amber? walky? )
2) Ruths Dad
3) Joycelyn as a victim.
Joyces Mother, or brother
4) Asher ( hes done it before )
5) Faz as a victim ( asher, or ashers Grandfather)
look, Faz is nosy, refuses to stay out of trouble he cant handle probably has secrets of his father.
6) Walkys mother working with Ashers grandfather. ( jointly nab Amber for revenge and becuase she might know too much ) and Faz.
Regarding #3 on your list
2 storylines from now is called “The one where Jocelyn returns”
Just something to think about
Good, then we can get Jocelyn in the bonus comics finally.
My brain went “so Jocelyne gets discovered and Carol (who’s on record saying “I’d die for you, Joyce, I’d die for you”) tries her hand at doing a Ross.”
I’m telling my brain that would be almost a beat-by-beat repeat of the Becky Incident(s). Broken record that it is, though, it won’t shut up.
Dear gods, Jocelyn is gonna kidnap somebody.
im assuming you meant granddad for #2 as ruths father is dead
That just makes it a better twist.
Ah yeah, I was checking one last time the comments and it finally hit. The… the framing is really purposeful on that last panel. Bad Vibes.
Let’s get Faz and Howard together for shenanigans
If I had to wager, it’ll be Carol. She or another member of the family will probably have seen Joyce’s #dranks post on social media, assumed college has finally corrupted her precious angel too much, and come to take her back to wherever she’s staying now since she sold the house so that the Lord’s loving embrace may heal her.
Dumbing of Age Omnibus Collection Pt 1: THAT’S What You Mean By Love?!
Is Joyce a little weird in second panel, or is it only me?
I don’t know how to explain.
Is it her arm/hand in that panel? I understand what she’s doing in theory, but it does look strange to me.
It’s her face
You mean how instead of climbing Joe’s torso like a mountain she’s about to climb his arm like a pole? She can have multiple goals if she likes.
I had a dream, that there was a strip with Danny in it, and he was wearing a brown shirt, with a band’s name and logo on it in white. But the shirt was blurred, like Willis selected the region and did a big guassian blur, so it was abrupt at the edges of the selection. All that was visible on the shirt was the word “Milwaukee” in a mild Blackletter typeface. Also, Danny’s face was blurred in the same way, with abrupt edges to a gaussian blur.
Willis’ comment was that the band, which was from Milwaukee, turned out to be connected to neo-nazis, and they didn’t find out until after posting the strip. Implying that they had to go through the whole chapter and re-draw Danny’s shirt with a different band (and maybe change dialogue). No explanation why Danny’s face was also blurred.
I don’t believe prophetic dreams are real, but if I have the gift, now would be a good time to double check the band on Danny’s shirt in the upcoming chapter.
I didn’t believe in prophetic dreams either until I read this. Somehow it fits into the Willis lore perfectly.
In Joe’s defense, there is a lot of uh…non-platonic subtext between Joyce and Dorothy that has confused Becky quite a bit.
Mostly waiting to see if it turns into text. Kind of like how Victoria/Ashley should have been directly canon during Ward.
Panel 3: of course it was Joe, being mean to Danny, again. Joe shouldn’t worry about to say he loves Danny, because he doesn’t.
According to who?
Erm, is that “love”? <.<
Or a bit of Silence of the lamping?
“Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it’s cold outside
Or thunder when it rains”
Note to self: Figure out the implications of that day count later.
We really need to bring back the different versions of love like what the Greeks came up with.
We have that now, they just have cumbersome, clinical names.
Seconded! Too much confusion.
Well, Dot is openly not trying to be president anymore, so she can stop worrying about her electability, so that’s one less obstacle to her love. All that’s left is for Joyce to turn lesbian (hmm maybe) and Dorothy to stop caring about Becky’s feelings (haha sure).
Joyce is pretty clearly into dudes as well, like. Five minutes before redefining romance for Dorothy here, she was intent on getting sexual with Joe.
I would love to think it’s only Jennifer who can simultaneously be bisexual and proclaim that bisexuality isn’t a thing.
I hope tomorrow’s comic clarifies that last panel.
You counted? Counted wha- “97 days since last kidnapping.”
Oh. Oh no.
>97 days since the last kidnapping
well, now we know how long it’s been since that whole mess took place.
i hope they’re showing us that because they want to establish a timeframe, and not to tell us to expect that number to drop to 0 again.
If Dorothy was more honest about her feelings towards Joyce, they would definitely be scissor pals.
Dorothy’s “I gotta go,” is very sudden. It makes me think she’s either rushing off to do something important, like dig out that Yale letter, or we’re going to cut to her being on top of the dryer again.
Or the tears are about to start.
All 3 at the same time
This. Definitely this. I know that feeling.
Or taking a chan e and talking g to Walky again. Like actually talking things out, not just a desperate plea to stave off the demons. Or she’s off to talk to Danny again regarding their relationship, and how she ended it.
wow, 97 days since the last kidnapping already.
That “Days since last kidnapping” board isn’t ominous or worrying at all, no siree bob.
I’m taking it as comic relief for a rather weighty scene.
We can only hope.
What women call love, men call envy.
The “97 days since the last kidnapping” board was savage.
The people here have a great sense of humor (even that the most victims of it were from another clark).
It really should read “mass kidnapping”. They’re really underplaying it
Anybody else afraid what will happen in the 100 mark?
they’ll update the sign
Hey! Apropos of the sign that Ruth put up and my terrible brain, y’all want to see a little word blossom that popped into my diseased brain and created 2,000 words of concentrated sad?
It’s, uh, it’s got Jason’s dad in it!
I dunno if “sad” is how I’d describe it. “Grim”, maybe. Good shit.
I bet her favorite MHA character is Himiko Toga
that’s certainly a bit of an odd definition of love
I can understand that. I also want to be someone I love.
Ooh, my random avatar is Carla. How deliciously appropriate. If I were her, I’d be the person who probably most loves themselves in all of dumbingofage.
so true joyce, ive NEVER confused the feeling of wanting to be a woman and wanting to be WITH said woman
never
We should check her thoughts on Sal
Joyce gonna go into Himiko Toga mode now….
Minus the blood and stabbing and all that
haha, yes. Famously easily distinguishable from each other.
Nobody noticed the most jarring part of this comic. Joyce REMEMBERED DANNY’S NAME. She is pretending not to know just to fuck with him.
Obviously Joyce, as a loving and caring partner, would remember that her boyfriend has a best friend named Danny.
What does that have to with Hat Guy?
Bah. Have to do with Hat Guy.
I thought Joe was gonna go somewhere else with this but no, just commenting on one of the many ways toxic masculinity hurts men too. I love new Joe.
Eh, I give it a couple years. And/or a fateful highway with a truck of destiny. Then the Dorojoyce can happen.