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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net ⋅ 10h
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 1dDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 9d
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 22d
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$200 dollarmoneys AND Arby’s packets??
gonna make it rain (Horsey Sauce)
Extra packets from all the neigh-Sayers who denied there was any girl-on-girl goings-on.
It’s true, horses are often full of doubt.
“Horses are easily controlled by government satellites. Welcome to …”
#pamelawinchell
Four years ago, this comment would result in drawings of Billie, Mary, & Ruth as ponies. What’s happened to our great nation?
It got greater.
MAKE AMERICA BRONY AGAIN!
*plays Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” on the hacked Muzak*
Raise your hand if you remember when it was a Heinz jingle.
*raises hand*
On french fries, right?
I not only remember that, but I remember the Saturday Night Live parody about the bottled water dredged from the bottom of Lake Erie.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5378456/bill_murray_snl_classic_commercial/
Phew, an entire five minutes for the site to synchronize. Is that a record?
Pretty sure it’s taken longer
Nope.
If you check the archive, Willis has added book 7 chapter 1. Book 6 is about to end.
Becky’s the kind of person who puts lawnchairs out to watch cop chases go by
Or maybe she is fond of Billie and actually concerned.
If you look at her face in the last panel, she appears to be still making her
face.
You might think so. Though consider Becky’s personal history with this sort of thing, I don’t imagine she’d be smiling.
You know… I don’t think she even heard the last part! She heard the confirmation of girl-on-girl, and is heading to “her” room with Dina, to get smoochin’. There was nothing else even remotely getting in her head, after that revelation. When they left for the weekend, Billie had given her the room. Time’s a-wastin’!
Looks more like a
face to me.
I think she’s concerned but can’t stop grinning while superglued to a Dina.
I agree!
Worth noting though that she’s smiled before when her internal world has been nerves and fire and fear and pain. Becky’s really good at that mask. And I think Nightsbridge might be on to something with the personal history. After all, we know that she discovered her mom in a suicide attempt and she’s been flashbacked to that visiting her old house.
I don’t think she really knows Billie well enough to be fond of her. I think she’s just concerned anyway, because she’s just that friggin’ nice.
And probably in part because of some feeling of kinship to a fellow fan of wimmins, but mostly just because she wants to help.
It probably helps that Billie let Becky borrow her bed for awhile.
Oh. Yeah, somehow I completely forgot about that. That would definitely make Becky feel indebted.
Then there’s the fact that Becky has personal experience with this sort of thing.
This. Also, Billie is the first out queer person she ever met and gave her the haircut money she used to begin her path to freedom and recovery from her world falling apart.
So between all of that and the fact that we know that Becky has a lot of gratitude for people who help her in any way and that we know she’s a caring and empathetic person, yeah, all together this probably hit hard and is filling her with a bit of the raw panic.
Between free haircut money and the bed Billie made a huge difference for Becky when she really needed it. Becky is absolutely very grateful.
She also just learned that Billie was in a lesbian relationship and felt the need to hide it, and that there were potentially catastrophic consequences when they were outed. She…. might be able to relate.
Ah, shit. Yeah, there’s that too. Fuck, this is hitting close to home on like 14 different levels, isn’t it?
And yet, I definitely see it as a
face? I mean she does do that mask, as Cerb said, but I would’ve thought she’d have worried eyebrows or something. Guess we’ll find out presently.
Yeah, curse the comic being so small that it’s hard to get a firm reading on her facial reaction.
Can’t tell from her expression in the final panel if she’s still grinning or not.
She’s one of those people who seems to express every emotion with teeth. I have a cousin like that. I don’t know how he can make teeth look sad, but he’s done it.
She also doesn’t like to let it show when she’s upset. That, and/or she’s done such an emotional 180 that her expression hasn’t had time to catch up yet
by the time i get a lawn chair its always over.
Well, probably, but I think she’s freaking out right now because this is hitting her close to home. There is definitely some internal screaming going on
Superglue on the fingers sucks. You will lose skin removing it.
Despite that people still use it to prank others.
I waited it out. Took FOREVER.
Yup.
Try doing something that will make your fingers sweat.
T-t-t-talking to girls?
I glued my fingers together in woodwork class once, in primary school. Except it wasn’t normal superglue, it was a Black’n’Decker hot glue gun.
That burnt my hand and hurt like hell! xD
I don’t get why it bugs people. I run the stuff under cold water to gum it up and stop it from sticking to more fingers, and then I can just slice it off with an exacto knife without cutting myself at all. Source: uses superglue and knives every day
Lighter fluid helps undo the stickiness, but that stuff BURNS.
On a completely unrelated note, keeping a tube of superglue in a small pants pocket is a terrible, terrible idea.
Superglue has a very energetic exothermal reaction with most natural textiles. So keeping it in any kind of pocket is an even worse idea than most people would think at first.
For future reference: Nail polish remover (Acetone) dissolves most superglues.
What about whiteboards?
[ducks]
It dissolves most whiteboards, too.
Leaving only the ding-dongs?
Superglue doesn’t stick to my skin.
I could use this for really evil party tricks. But I don’t.
H…how? What sorcery…?
Fell into a vat of radioactive Teflon.
Saliva helps it come off. First, blot off ALL the excess. Then lick the spot. Then just work it off with fingernails.
Notes on blotting:
1) If some paper towel gets stuck to your fingers, that’s OK, it’ll just help get the whole chunk off.
2) If you do not blot it all off, and then lick your fingers, it’s not my fault.
3) No, this isn’t a prank – this is actually what I do when I get superglue on my fingers.
Is that a common thing, damaging the skin? I’ve gotten lots of superglue on my fingers over the years (including gluing my hand shut at one points when a tube broke) and haven’t suffered more than mild discomfort removing it.
Same. I suspect it becomes more difficult if you let it cure for a day or something, but why would I let it do that? I move my fingers, they become unstuck, and I can continue gluing to my heart’s content. I’ve actually had people tell me “your fingers will be stuck together forever. They use that in surgeries, you know” as I’m doing it, basically saying “that thing you just did is impossible despite obvious evidence to the contrary.” Fun times.
Well super glue was originally as a field emergency suture.
It was designed to bond skin / flesh when on patrol and under fire.
That whole bleeding out thing is such a bummer otherwise.
Superglue comes in different levels of “hotness”. The very hot stuff sets almost immediately, the slower stuff allows you time to separate your fingers before it sets. Superglue is activated by water, so it sucks moisture out of your skin as it sets. Also, as mentioned above, it is exothermic, so it generates heat when it sets, but it isn’t all that hot. So if you get some on you, wipe off as much as you can, then put water on it to trigger the glue, so it doesn’t glue you to something else. When getting the set glue off your skin, the main thing is to go after it right away, it gets harder the longer you leave it.
Well, Becky has no intention of removing it.
I get superglue on my fingers all the time (love to make tiny things that require glue). I do my best to avoid it, but it happens. It is never enough to require greater steps at finger separation than simply pulling them apart with base finger strength, but the part I find personally annoying is the hard crust it leaves behind stuck to your finger. I have found only one way to remove the hard layer of glue from my fingers – sand paper. Yes, I literally sand my own skin to remove it. Between that and my usage of lotion, the skin on my hands is remarkably soft and smooth – like, when I went in to get my fingerprints done (for a job), they had problems getting them because I hardly have any finger prints left. I’m like a master criminal! … this comment went places that I did not expect, and I’m the one who wrote it. ^^;;
Atrociraptors: nest dinosaur name, EVER!
Best even
Really? I think it sounds kinda atrocious.
If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious.
UM DIDLEE UM DIDLEE UM DIDLEE EYE.
Heh, that made my day. Thanks persons.
And yet, it actually looks pretty cute.
So, they are both awesomely AND ironically named? Bonus!
I’m not getting a valid link. It won’t go anywhere.
I KNOW RITE?? It sounds like something a mad scientist would scream.
“FOOLS!!! I will DESTROY you ALL!! Minion, UNLEASH the ATROCI-RAPTORS!! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!1!”
“bok bok bok bok”
“In the catalogue, they sounded so terrifying…
Curses, I thought they were trapped in the sofa of reasonable comfort.
Not even close.
Irritator.
Achilobator.
Borogovia.
Deinonychus.
Citipati.
Khaan.
Just for a start.
Pyroraptor
Having been forced to watch Star Trek movies recently, I can confirm that Irritator and Khaan are interchangable.
And Chipatis are what you have with a nice Rogan Josh
Joyce is so confuddled.
I did the math and that’s about 100 pounds.
Dina is petite.
Yeah, she’s tiny for someone whose diet is 100% carbs. When her metabolism crashes (happens to us all, *SOB*) in a couple of years, she’d better make some nutritional changes.
She’s Asian, though. Everyone from that region seems to have an insane metabolism all the way until they hit 70, when it all comes crashing down.
I think a lot of that’s because they eat better than us, though. Put them on an all Count Chocula diet for a few years, and that’ll change.
Not necessarily though. Im an european living in taiwan, and when I eat the sale stuff as the locals, I get fat fast. While they stay crazy thin. Wish I knew that magic
*same, not sale.
Probably shouldn’t say generalizing statements like that when referring to billions of people.
Don’t be so quick to assume it’ll be a “couple of years” people said the same thing when I was Dina’s age, still have an incinerator for a metabolism.
same with my father… he’s 50 and can pack away 3 steaks and weighs 120 and is 5’8
I eat as much as my boyfriend. I weigh 140lbs at 5’5″. He’s 5’9 and weighs about 230lbs.
Because of some muscle building I’ve done in the past year, I can actually eat more now than I could at 19 without gaining weight. XD
Upside: I basically can eat whatever I want.
Downside: I am literally always hungry, and oh, the grocery bill.
You’re right —
one atrociraptor estimated to be 15 kg
three atrociraptors would then be around 45 kg
1 kg = 2.2 pounds
45 kg = 99 pounds
But Becky ain’t a whole heck of a lot bigger; she shouldn’t be able to pull her around quite as easily as all that.
Becky is pretty active, and muscle tissue can be pretty dense. I wouldn’t be surprised if she breaks 130lbs.
Also, I don’t think Dina’s really fighting her.
I’m short and twiggy like Dina (5’0″). My lightest as an adult was 90lbs (but I didn’t like it because I could feel each vertebra when I would lie down in a floor, it felt creepy and bad). 100lbs is perfectly plausible for Dina’s height and build.
im 6 feet and 115 i know how you feel i even got a fucking raptor neck its ridiculous
ah yes, i lived tghat life in highschool. no chair was comfortable and a stiff breeze an adventure waiting to happen
I thought it was my job to point out stuff like that. Eh, I do enough cliche things around here anyways.
Becky may be a skinny little thing, but she’s super active and has a runner’s build and has definitely some measure of upper arm strength to be climbing all over things in her break-in of her old home. So, yeah, probably at least has the heft to drag along someone who’s trying to keep up.
Yeah, I really can’t imagine Becky having been still for many consecutive minutes of her life.
Has Dina ever used any standard units of measurement or can we assume she measures everything compared to various dinosaurs?
what else is there to compare? the widths of two horses’ buttocks??
We call that a Mary.
She’s only worth like 3/5 of a buttock at best
Perhaps if we measure her height by the width of horses’ hindquarters, she’d rate a 2. It depends on what sort of horses they are, but there are some absolutely massive breeds that in their prime are just that muscular.
She’s measured in donkey buttocks. An ass’s ass.
I lol’d.
Pies?
She’s 2.79 velociraptors tall
It’s the NEW standard.
….. okay, it’s also an old standard, but everything old is new.
She’s only done it for about the past 0.37 millionths of the length of the Cretaceous Period (about 3 years).
I’m just grateful they have found so many smaller dinosaurs (like the atrociraptor).
Can you imagine if Becky had to describe herself as weighing one and one-half millibrontos?
That may be one not to mention around her, like pterodactyls.
Sorry; that should have been *Dina* describing herself in millibrontos — 1/1000 of a brontosaurus.
Oddly enough, that’s how I read it.
I am weighing everything in atrociraptors from here on out.
I had just realized, “oh yeah, Joyce thinks Billie is straight, this is going to be an interesting revelation for her.” Although, given the circumstances surrounding this revelation, there might be a few other higher priorities.
I thought Billie was openly bi? Becky definitely knew about it.
I thought becky just speculated it because she wanted more lgbt friends
I didn’t think so, at least not to Beckybut when I went looking for evidence I found that you are correct.
oh right, forgot that scene
Joyce knew that Billie had at least experimented with girls. She just hadn’t put that together with the “Billie’s in lurrrrrrrve” part and realized that Billie’s new lover was a girl.
Her assumption that Billie was in love with a guy got cemented before she made her critical software update:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/scenarios/
I know where this is going, ok Sarah what are going to do ? Are going to pull that Trigger?
I think she gets out the lightsaber.
So how much does an Atrociraptor weigh than?
About two henways.
WHAT’S A SAFEWAY LOLOLOLOL
wait no I did that wrong
Enough to accordionate a coyote.
15 kilograms
Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak freshmen stronger
Gold!
Just like in Dragonball?
But with more elegant dances. (Tiptoes away to fuse the Joker with Pennywise.)
(Now I want a Joker played by Tim Curry)
I thought that was Steven Universe.
Is that hot or cold fusion?
I wonder how Hank is reacting about so many lesbians around her daughter. I hope the Cool Dad doesn’t wear off.
Anyone else concerned that hearing about all these girls coupling up might frighten Hank?
Only mildly. I’m more worried about what he might think about the whole gay = suicide trope being reinforced within his earshot.
Ohhh dear and crepes on a cracker, I forgot about that trope.
someone should tell him that its not really being gay that makes us suicidal so much as the oppression that we experience and how for a lot of us life is hard as shit and we just get tired of it
Maybe he’ll just stick to only worrying about joyce and keep his thoughts inside in a wait and see tactic.
Content Warning: Homophobia and Transphobia
I mean, that’s the reality of it, but to folks in that twisted subculture, gays are suicidal because “they recognize the inherent immorality of their diseased lifestyle and the pain of being separated from God’s love by their ‘bad choices'”.
Similar to how way too many people blame the trans suicide rate on “the mental illness of trans people to believe something ‘fundamentally’ untrue”.
Cause otherwise they’d have to admit the role they actually have in making those suicide rates for either group as high as they are.
*slow clap*
That, and the massive amounts of media covering this trope doesn’t exactly say, “Young lesbians, there’s hope for you.”
Generally speaking, yes, but in this case it was a largely unrelated case of depression, plus the love was forbidden for reasonable, non-homophobic causes. (Granted, Mary coming in with a huge heap of homophobia didn’t help, but it’s hard to label her the cause so much as an aggravating factor.)
I’ve been wondering if Hank or Carol have reconsidered Becky’s past actions and deduced her true feelings towards Joyce in retrospect. If so, Becky having a girlfriend is a plus.
True, then the Browns wouldn’t be worried about Becky turning Joyce gay or any similar silly BS.
That’s assuming they think rationally about it, and that they don’t assume Becky’s “lesbian depravity” automatically makes her polyamorous.
I think Hank is won over, but Carol…
Oh, Carol is a lost cause. No turning over that leaf.
Carol is downright convinced that Becky has aims at “converting” her daughter. Hell, that was the whole point of Carol stalking Becky throughout the house and freaking out on Becky anytime Becky and Joyce were in the same room together.
Carol would be. She was concerned about Joyce being exposed to all them atheists and lesbians and whatnot.
Hank, I think will first react to “two students on Joyce’s floor were suicidal and that’s terrible”, then move on to “at least one of them is Joyce’s friend how is she going to handle this?”, and only then get to “oh yeah also they’re lesbians and that’s supposed to matter right now for some stupid reason”.
If hank or carol turn out to be the new toedad, then they might be hoping becky and dina dissappear like billie and ruth
Actually I’m hoping that getting used to the idea that lesbian couples are normal on this campus will help him ease into a new mindset of it not mattering. The more lesbians in humanizing situations he encounters, the more humanized they’ll be in his eyes.
So my reaction to Hank hearing about ALL the lesbians is unbridled glee :>
BECKY GO GO GO SAVE DA DAY WOO
But seriously Becky is awesome
( This could also be a case of me reading the comic wrong so CORRECT ME IF I AM)
No, I also got the impression she’s rushing off to check on Billie.
I got that too, so going with that till I hear otherwise.
nah her mom killed herself a few years back we saw she has some traumas bc of this shes worried about her friend
I work with superglue all the time working on wargame miniatures. Gluing your fingers together sucks ass.
…. if the accident ends up with ass being sucked, I’m pretty sure you did worse than glue your fingers together.
I mean yes, gluing your fingers together means you’re doing it wrong, but that’s above the pale. I have no idea WHAT you’re doing wrong, but you’re managing to do even doing it wrong wrong, and yes that was correct grammar.
Isn’t English great?
Super glue makes terrible lube, or so I hear.
Anyway enjoy that mental image.
Specially when it’s the type of glue that burns the skin.
Super glue vs Super lube Warning — NOT safe for work…
I wonder how many atrocious-raptors I weigh?
.
(answer: a lot more than Dina)
That’s supposed to be an “I”, not a slash, by-the-way
Doesn’t really work well on it’s own with the <i> tag, huh?
Writing that comment was like
Woah now…
I weigh 7 of them! I’m also Dina’s height. This has done bad things to my cholesterol levels.
Me, I prefer to be weighed in terms of Achilobator, which I weigh .4 of.
Wow. Between her new girlfriend and her hair last year, I think maybe Becky overestimates the number of problems that can be solved with superglue.
True, but if superglue can’t help, there is probably a place for duct tape.
Why not use both of them? That’ll be double the fun.
But not double the pleasure.
When all Becky has is a hammer she will BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THAT NAIL!!!!
Me thinks this is not the most prudent thing to confess in front of Hank, RA’s shacking up with freshmen on their floor.
I mean he’s been cool lately but still…
Yeah.. I wonder if he’ll tell Joyce’s mom about this?
The list of things Hank is NOT going to mention to Carol is growing every second he’s here. He probably regrets coming upstairs.
Yeah, he should’ve stayed down in the lobby and invented the Internet.
“Plausible deniability, plausible deniability, dammit, Hank. You KNEW it wouldn’t pay knowing things.”
Awesome reference to the beginning of the comic, John.
I really hope Becky isn’t about to go bursting into the room shrieking about having more lesbians and demanding high fives or something else completely tone-deaf and inappropriate.
That certainly sounds like Becky to me.
dude her mom killed herself shes legit worried about a friend
Please remember, Becky is History’s Greatest Monster.
That’s definitely not why she’s running off. She might not be the most tactful person, but that shit would be monstrous.
Actually she might think that a potentially working way to cheer them up – by overloading them with good old Becky wackiness.
We already know that Ruth is no longer in the room. And Billie probably left with her…
is atrociraptors a normal unit of measurement in that world?
I hope they are
It is in mine now.
But is there a International Standard Atrociraptor kept in Sèvres, France at controlled temperature and humidity?
There is only one specimen of Atrociraptor, so I guess by default it would be the standard.
They’re not still going to be there, are they? Someone HAS TO have gotten them to a therapist or something by now.
Campus health center, and I’d guess they could still be there. Especially on a Sunday.
Yeah, Dina said Ruth was taken to the Health Center, and I can’t see Billie leaving her side unless physically restrained. And presumably Ruth is out of a job and won’t even be allowed back in the dorm to get her stuff. But Becky doesn’t know this.
Maybe not, the supervisor seemed sympathetic to Ruth’s problems.
The RM is sympathetic but too many people know for it not to get back to the RM’s bosses. She probably will have no choice but to fire Ruth.
If we’re lucky she won’t get expelled so she and Billie (and Becky?) can live off campus instead of disappearing. Maybe they can all work together at a certain pizza place or chicken place?
Wait, why -even if she lost her job as RA which seems unlikely to me given the current situation – would she not be allowed to get back to the dorm to get her stuff?
Being escorted off your (former) work premises and not being allowed to get your stuff should not be legal as long as you are not likely to attack someone or hide evidence of your misdeeds. Why should she be treated like that?
Right now, if I were her boss, I’d sweep the illegal consorting with someone from her floor under the rug of “depressed and not really responsible for her actions” and try to figure out if I can get a formerly (from my pov) well working RA back into working shape again.
No one complained about Ruth’s style of RAing to the lady from above.
Yeah, there’s no reason she wouldn’t be allowed her stuff. It could possibly be that she doesn’t want to see it again, but she would be allowed. If she didn’t, I think it would still be on her to find someone to clean it out, or face fees.
(and I agree, I have doubts to her firing, unless it’s purely because of strict anti-dating rules. it’s possible, but more possible they’ll tell her to take leave, or see counsellors regularly if she keeps working)
The point was that Ruth and Billie are not likely to be there. Ruth told Billie many times that fraternizing = firing. So I assume she’s right. Some commentors mentioned it might even be considered criminal. For the RM to cover it up would require the cooperation of everyone on the floor, INCLUDING MARY.
And of course she’ll get her stuff. The usual thing is for the RM to box it up and give it to the fired employee, who is not allowed back in the building. Considering they don’t even allow un-approved parents in, I doubt we’ll see Ruth in the dorm again.
Of course, a twist of Willis-ness is always possible and somehow Ruth will return. I vote for Sal as the new RA!
Ruth’s definitely fired, but they wouldn’t expel her over this, right? They’d just boot her into a free dorm and get someone else.
The alcohol abuse, and especially giving alcohol to Billie, that’s really bad but she’s not getting kicked out of the comic forever. IU must have dealt with at least one alcoholic student before, right? And her depression could probably also complicate things.
You know, that “I” up there looks like a slash. Whoops~
Whoops again– I meant to reply to this post of mine.
My posting skills today are simply… Atrocious.
*dodgers raptor fossils*
Re: hovertext-
It’s all filmy, and peels off. Wood glue is almost as bad, but Polyurethane varnish is the worst!
I welcome dissenting opinions. They give me time to line up my sights.
Acetone or fingernail polish remover also works to dissolve the bond.
So, we have confirmation that Dina is worried about Becky leaving her for Joyce.
Huh. I didn’t initially read it that way, but that’s pretty much the only thing Dina could have meant by proximity to “others”.
So I guess that issue’s resolved then! Everything will be happy FOREVER
except for billie and ruth…
I probably should have made it clearer that that last bit was me being in pretend denial. Sadly, these two being adorable together probably won’t be enough to make all their other problems go away
I like Becky’s response though. Like, Dina has expressed on multiple occasions her general disbelief that her gf could find her awesome and agreeable and has been somewhat convinced that Becky at some point will see something in her non-normative responses that convinces her to back off from dating her.
But every time, Becky’s not only said the right thing, but said an even better than the right thing response that highlights just how highly she thinks of Dina and how in awe she is of everything Dina is (her incredible science insight, her boundless database of sweet dinosaur facts, her bravery in fighting her dad).
She’s been in love with Joyce for awhile, but she’s head over heels for her dino gal and shows it to an incredible and adorable degree.
Absolutely! She really loves her awesome little dinosaur chick, and she waste no time letting her know it.
Doooooooofuses
wuh-oah wuh-oah stuck like glue, you and me baby we’re stuck like glue
^it’s fanart. i guess i cut out like half the comment somehow, but whatever
So cute!
thank you ^^
Just gonna go ahead and save that.
Geeze, I might need to make a DoA subfolder in the fanart folder. Or maybe an Adorable subfolder.
an adorable folder would just be every pic of dina and becky interacting, ever
Sure, but that’s a perfectly acceptable topic for a dedicated subfolder of fanart.
OMYGOSH they’re SO CUTE =D Becky’s expression is just perfect! =D
thank yoou >///<
I’m guessing Becky’s running off to find Billie? I was gonna write something about how I’m not sure Becky could do anything, but then I remembered… Becky actually has experience with this… I dread to think what might be going through her head right now…
On a complete sidenote, I have this little Joyce fanart I’ve made that’s gotten zero attention, so I’m just using this opportunity to shamelessly try and correct that.
aww, what a cutie, brace and all =D
=D Thank you :3
Her limbs are a little thinner than I’d expect, but that’s a great rendition of Joyce. Seeing her hair in a nonWillis style is a touch disorienting, but MAXIMUM CUTE is more than worth it.
The cuteness levels are over 9000
Yeah, I tried to get her hair to look more Willis-y but it just never looked right, so I decided to just embrace my own style ahah. ^^” Thank you~ Maximum cute is what I was aiming for, I am sooo happy if I hit that target! =D
The locks cascading over her shoulders are still very distinctive, so it’s definitely recognizable as Joyce. (I hope I’m not the only person here who relies primarily on hair to identify people.)
Hair, yes. Occasionally things like clothing colours. I am absolute shit at identifying people by other means. :/
I’m not sure there’s anything rational happening in Becky’s head right now. Only screaming.
Bringing Dina with her for this feels like a good call
Hm, good point.
It’s nice.
Regarding the first half of your comment: I had completely forgotten about that. Now I’m worried.
Regarding the second half: it’s nice(ly distracting). You chose a good opportunity to be shameless.
Yeah I’d sort of put it out of my head too. The more I think about it, the more worried I get about Becky because I mean she was just reminded of this, what, yesterday in-comic? And now this? Not to mention this is still the same week as Toedad’s crap. Like holy shit, the universe is really piling on. I’m just hoping Becky will manage to drop the “I’m totes doing super cool” act and talk to someone, cuz this is a LOT.
And I’m so rarely shameless. Things worked out I guess ahah.
What is this “shame” you speak of?
It is super cute, thank you for sharing.
I like how Sarah moved away from the window and is pretending that she wasn’t watching for Joyce to return.
I guess Becky wants Dina to stick around.
And this coming back from the weekend of a break in. She’s already got sticky fingers.
But she’s no stick-in-the-mud.
Questing of Age.
Joyce sits in the common room. She plays with the La Porte card in her hand.
One by one, people begin to enter. Including: Sal, Amber, Ethan, Becky, Dina, Dorothy, Walky, Carla and Sarah.
Joyce: I think you know why I brought you here.
Walky: (Whispering to Dorothy) she’s more serious than usual.
Dorothy: Shhh.
Joyce: 5 days ago, Danny was killed in the battle against Blaine. This card…
Joyce tosses the card onto the table
Joyce: May hold the secret to getting him back.
Sal: Could we really raise the dead?
Joyce: I don’t know, but I’m willing to try.
Becky: Joyce…you’d be going back to your family…
Joyce: And what would he have done!?….I’m sorry…
Joyce sighs
Joyce: Point is…I need a team, Becky and Dina are already in.
Becky: I don’t want to leave Joyce.
Dina: I don’t want to leave Becky.
Amber: I’m in…I owe him…
Ethan: Also in.
Dorothy: Sounds fine. I’ll stay with Joyce.
Walky: Great now I gotta go!
Sarah: Fine.
Sal: Sorry guys, I have my own crew. I’ll be heading off with them.
Carla: I’m with her (motions to Sal)
Joyce: Wait…where’s Ruth and Billie.
Sarah: They left a while ago. We don’t know where.
Joyce: Whatever. We leave tomorrow.
Everyone nods (besides Sal and Cara)
Else ware an older man sits in shadows, he picks up a ringing phone.
Mysterious guy: So, Blaine is dead. He always was an idiot, still…this does get in the way of my plans…
I wasn’t initially interested in the tournament, but this fic keeps getting better. It’s adorable and amazing. <3
I want to illustrate this so badly.
“You know, who I pointed out to you on Friday?”
…that was a bit over 6 months ago: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/humility/
…damn this weekend has been going by slow. Still faster paced than EGS, tho :).
“A sister is in trouble! To the Dinomobile, Raptor Girl!”
“Holy Jurassic, Tyrannowoman, who is it this time?”
If they’re running off to Billie & Sal’s room they are in for some disappointment unless she figured out what to do since Ruth left.
Billie and Sal’s room is next to Joyce’s, sharing a half-bath, so if they’re running there they’re taking a roundabout route. Not sure where they’re going exactly. Ruth’s room, not realizing they’ve left?
*Googles atrociraptor estimated weight*
Huh…
So Dina’s about 100 pounds, give or take?
Is that light? That sounds light.
Dina is about 5 foot nothing more or less and a small frame, so 45kg isn’t too hard to believe, which is equal to 3 velociraptors.
Dina is very very smol.
I, on the other hand weigh about .01% of a triceratops.
You know, reading Joyce’s dialog in the first panel today indicates to me that the off panel voice in the last panel from yesterday’s comic was Hank and not her. But I do sometimes have difficulty with dialog flow.
Well crap, probably not what they were expecting to hear as soon as they got back.
Can we get the last panel big?
please
I really want Dina and Becky together forever and ever and ever and ever and…
same
I know! Their relationship is just so healthy and joyous!
They’re not kidding about that “bonds skin instantly” on tubes of cyanoacrylate. It bonds lead minis rather slower, which is kind of annoying.
The trick to escaping superglued fingers is -no joke- more superglue. If you’re quick enough the solvent from the fresh glue will be enough so you can open your fingers, then you can scrape off the clue once it’s dried
You just write over it with…
Wait, what??
Becky and Dina are risking running into Mary in the hall. Sarah might have warned them, but I think only Ruth and Billie knew that Mary threatened to turn in Becky for staying in the dorm illegally. And if Mary spots Becky and Dina’s relationship, she go into self-righteous mode and do something we’ll regret.
Even if Mary saw them and got an authority figure, Becky could explain it away as visiting her girlfriend. I’m pretty sure it’s still daytime, so I don’t see anyone from another floor being too suspicious about Becky sleeping there.
Sometimes Becky doesn’t use her head. That can be part of her charm, but not in this case. Ruth is likely gone from the dorm by now and Billie with her. In any case neither of them need Becky added to the gawkers. Talking about bonding with other lesbians is a not a good idea just at this moment.
I’m wondering how long Becky’s luck is going to hold out now that Ruth and Billie have been outed as roomies, and Ruth as seriously needing help.
Hard to remember sometimes, but Becky doesn’t belong in the dorms, and she isn’t exactly a low profile character, as witnessing the last panels today
“Oh. It’s you.”
lol
Internal dialogue: Must minimize excitement at seeing her safe and sound. Must hide fears that she’s in a bad mental state for going home. Must hide how important she is to my life. Agh, spent too long focusing on that, need to say something, anything in response.
“Oh. It’s you.”
Internal Monologue: … god damnit, Sarah, you idiot.
“Should have gotten Dina to teach me how to hide behind doors.”
Hide in Plain Sight is always a useful skill.
Yeah, that definitely wasn’t me watching out the window for your return, or dreaming that you were waking me up or acting so lonely that even Dina noticed. And I just happened to be standing by our door waiting for it to open.
… baka.
…it’s not like I wanted to Dina-glomp you out of pure relief for you being back and safe and sound or anything.
What is Becky running to in the last frame? What kind of expression is she making? It might be that it’s low detail, but is she seriously smiling?
There’s no way Hank is going to find out she has nowhere to live at IU and just leave with that being the case, right?
Ruth’s room, Billie’s room? Just running in a general panic because suicidal friend probably hits some really raw buttons and that’s causing her to wacky Becky to hide it?
Yeah, the smile is throwing me off too. I’m thinking she’s rushing to the other “girl-on-girl action” and didn’t hear the suicidal bit. Or, as Cerberus said, she’s trying to hide that it hit a nerve.
Not sure about Hank tbh. Idk what he’s gonna do…
I really don’t think that’s a smile. I think her mouth is just wide open. It wouldn’t even make sense for her to have not heard the last part. She was making absolutely no move to leave until she heard the words “found them sprawled out on the bed, wanting to die.” Just like she found her mom. THEN she bolted.
I initially thought it was a smile too, but I agree that she probably isn’t. Her hair thing is blocking the actual edge of her mouth, so people fill in the blanks that she’s smiling because she usually is anyway. She could very easily be doing a
or a D:, but given the context I think it’s more of a :O
I’m wondering if Sarah’s reputation for misanthropy and pessimism is coming back to bite her. Simply put, Becky is assuming that she’s exaggerating to the worst possible interpretation because that’s basically what Sarah does.
I don’t think Hank really NEEDS to find out Becky has no where to live. He already knows that she got kicked out of her school, and obviously she’s not going to live in her old house.
Since he’s probably still hoping his marriage can survive the shitstorm he’ll be going home to, he probably can’t promise much help. I can’t see him leaving without making sure they have some sort of a plan, though. At least for Joyce’s sake, if not Becky’s
Yes, Hank, the dorm floor is nothing but one huge ongoing soap opera! Which, from your own college experiences, proves that nothing much has changed at IU!
Oh, and your daughter is gambling using condiment packets. Won’t that get her darned to heck?
Joyce’s dad’s probably thinking “wow i was not prepared for all this drama today”
“And given the amount of drama I DID prepare for, that says something”
“We have a sexy lesbian suicide pact…”
“OH NO, ADORABLE LESBIAN DINOSAURS SAY YOU DON’T!!!!”
The dinosaurs all died out from a giant lesbian suicide pact.
If all the dinosaurs were lesbian, then no suicide pact would be needed for them to die out.
Adorable insecure-in-her-relationship-Dina is adorable.
Becky better distract her quick unless she want the entire cataloge of Dina’s weight expressed in different dinosaur species. What am I saying – of course she wants that.
Hank is all, ‘Sexy lesbian suicide pacts? That takes me back. Do colleges still have those?’
I bet there is an app for that nowadays. Damn kids today with their fancy toys.
I was going to make an ‘uphill both ways’ joke, but that may be a bit too much.
/Hears that someone wants to die/
/Runs off still with a grin on her face/
Uhhh… Becky? The hell? Did that not sink in? I mean I know you talk about not being upset about your own problems so as not to be a ‘downer’ but other people’s problems I thought were another issue.
Unless it reminds her of her mum and she’s running off to deal emotionally with that? Still… Becky dear: people would not object to a very obvious look of horror I think. Because most people would be. It’s pretty creepy honestly otherwise and /is/ actually a real cause for concern this reaction of yours. Much more so than reacting negatively at all would be. I mean you didn’t react with smiles and cheer when Joyce mentioned Ryan.
Like it makes you look either:
a)monstrous and altogether terrible
b) indicates something else must be going on for those who don’t believe you to be those things.
Yikes. Idk. I can understand her running off but the smile doesn’t even look like it’s faltering. If it /is/ really hitting a nerve at all Becky is even more of a stepford smiler than first suspected.
I think it’s just that for Becky, her facial expressions literally aren’t connected with her actual emotions, just the superficial ones of her perky persona. “HOLY SHIT SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL THEMSELVES LIKE MY MOM DID” just isn’t within the realm of what the persona includes, so Becky’s stuck with her default grin, however horrified she is inside.
It’s just… a disconnection. She did not change her expression when she heard that. I think her immediately running off and dragging Dina with her is a better indicator of how seriously she takes the situation than anything coming out of her mouth.
Becky is just… not the kind of person to HAVE horrified expressions for any situations other than dealing with her dad with a gun. They are not in her toolbox.
Yup. Hell, there’s only a few times we’ve seen her go below a positive or neutral facial expression and those were times of extreme stress and pain:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/goodwill/
Hell, at this point, her being at Wacky Level 10 is usually a very good sign she’s going through some extremely difficult emotions of one form or another.
I LOVE panel 4 – don’t let Joyce forget them arby’s sauce packages, Becky.
“Hope you like our new spicy sauce, it’ll make you feel that everything around you is burned to the ground. Enjoy Arby’s.”
“Is everybody Gay at IU? Is it like some kind of cool kids club?” – my friend after his first semester in Bloomington.
So, Grav Roulette has made me Joyce.
Joyce is… a very complex character and hard to dissect. She’s a moving target. She is defined, not by her beliefs or her personality or her experiences or her reactions to events or by her relationships with people, but instead by how those things are changing.
If she has a single defining trait, I’d say it’s a core of idealistic, almost Pollyanna-level kindness and charity. This may have been instilled in her by her religious upbringing, but that was hardly the only factor… the same attitudes do not seem to have affected her oldest brother much. It’s certainly survived having her faith shaken, and I think it would survive if she were stripped of faith entirely. She genuinely cares about the comfort and happiness of others and actively works to make that happen. I… kinda feel the same way, but Joyce takes it to the next level… and then two levels beyond that. It’s a difference of degree so great that it’s a difference in kind. For this alone, Joyce is awesome.
Unfortunately, that core value is buried underneath a case of severe naivete and some REALLY toxic religious indoctrination which makes it hard for her to figure out how to help people to be happy. She wants to make people happy, but her religion tells her that the best way to do this is doing things that in fact just piss them off or actively hurt them… and her naivete makes it very hard for her to realize this ahead of time, or even after the fact. Much of Joyce’s arc is about confronting (whether she wants to or not) the ways in which her faith is distorting her views of the world and harming herself and others, and discarding those pieces one at a time, because her kindness is stronger than her faith. (Or, perhaps, because the important-to-her parts of her faith make her kind rather than dogmatic.)
As she goes along discarding these pieces of her religious background, the repeated pattern is starting to sink in in two ways. First, it’s becoming an easier road for her to walk down. Not less painful, but something that she is more experienced in and increasingly able to recognize when confronted with it. And second, she’s starting to question the whole, as well as the parts.
She still has a lot of toxic baggage, but… I have a hard time holding a person’s background against them, and that toxicity is more Joyce’s background than Joyce herself. What’s important is that she’s moving in the right direction, with more responsibility than most people would show in her place. I could imagine her eventually arriving at a place of highly-humanistic atheism, but I think it more likely that she’ll end up in a sort of vague, liberal, socially-caring and -accepting Christianity.
It’s a good arc and she’s a good character, but her arc is very much not mine. The things that define her do not define me and she is a very poor representation of who I am.
I think I read that Joyce is semi-autobiographical in this universe.
There is a depiction of Ethan’s butt that I can show you. Because butts.
(Well actually, it’s how Joyce sees Ethan’s butt in a dream…)
“I weight roughly three Atrociraptors” might be the funniest line this strip has produced to date, though admittedly my judgment may be flawed.
It would make a great book title, though.
Becky, Carla, and Dina are all good for book covers.
My new favorite unit of measurement is now Atrociraptors.
Let Becky through. She has experience with these situations.
I find Becky’s attitude in panel 2 relatable. For me as well, the more people I meet the more I appreciate the few that I don’t loathe.
Happy lesbians to the rescue!
Band name, or Saturday morning cartoon?
It works for both!
A Saturday morning cartoon ABOUT a band!
YES
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: Hank’s inner monologue: Lesbian couple too adorable… homophobia melting…
What? I can dream, right? Seriously though, Hank, be cool. You’ve done a lot of things right this weekend. Just keep pushing through.
Panel 2: I said a while ago that Becky is just amazing at being a girlfriend and a lot of the ways she’s amazing is because she doesn’t think through things or try to be amazing.
Her gf expresses fears of being cast aside, because being not neurotypical, she presumes that her personality and mode of interaction with others must be offputting to all and that eventually Becky will realize that. And I’ve been there, worried that partners who’ve said they love me will somehow see some dark rotted part of me or see one of my identities in the fresh light of day and go running screaming away.
And Becky’s response is perfect, better than perfect, not only reassuring her, but celebrating her awesomeness. And she does it because she genuinely doesn’t see Dina’s various characteristics as flaws. She loves the directness, she loves the hyperfocus on dinosaurs and science because she’s learning so much, she loves that her gf tackles her when she comes back from a rough weekend, and she loves that her gf is a badass who fought her dad and promised to keep her safe.
Becky genuinely loves and is in awe of her gf and she expresses that so warmly and genuinely every time that it’s really awesome to see. They have an incredibly healthy relationship and it makes me want to root for them to go the distance with each other and be that one random relationship in the friend circle that got together in early college and is still together decades later.
Becky really can’t believe her luck with her amazing, smart, talented, honest and devoted girlfriend, but Becky is not the kind of person who second guesses good news. She is the kind the SNOGGS THE SHIT OUT OF THEM (….which isn’t exactly the metaphore I had hoped to come up with).
For Becky, to land such an amazing girlfriend just a few days after coming out is nothing short of a miracle… which she is totally cool with. Thanks, God. Nice work answering lesbian prayers. Also, cool sunset the other day. Keep it up, I owe you one.
Comic Reactions 2: Temple of FAAAACE:
Panel 3: Sarah on the other hand is terrified of showing others how important they are to her and because of her traumas from trying to help out Dana, she tries to actively avoid showing others how she actually feels and resents when it comes across.
So of course the woman who’s been nervously glancing out the window waiting for Joyce to come back and fatalistically wondering whether or not she’d even come back or if she’d be functional when she did is going to downplay that concern and worry into an “Oh, it’s you” and happily accept a conversation topic that changes the subject from the mess of feelings she feels seeing Joyce safe and sound and smiling for the first time in a week.
To quote Bagge: DOOFUS!
Panel 4: Ok, I unabashedly love two things about Becky’s response at the top of this panel.
One, that she remembered the bet and her payout to Joyce and that since she was unable to pay the actual money, she has no expectation that Joyce owes her money either. Now it’s Arby’s sauce packets, because that’s fair.
Two, that she called it “girl-on-girl” instead of lesbian. And this really warms my heart, because not only is it more accurate to their form of relationship, both being bi women. And not just because most people would just go immediately to lesbian because that’s the cultural language for talking about this sort of thing.
But also, because I feel this might have actually been deliberate on Becky’s part. Like, she knows Billie’s bi. She’s heard about bi-ness from Sierra and she’s tried to incorporate accepting that into her quick growth that has come from abandoning how she was raised.
And this feels like her completing that cycle, making sure that she refers to Billie’s relationship accurately in the heat of the moment and doesn’t erase her sexuality even though she’s nowhere around to see it. It’s a strong bi ally moment and it’s a really nice touch.
I needed that for panel 3. Would it be fuuny if that was just a happy accident on Willis’s part for panel 4?
What she said: “Oh, it’s you.”
What she meant: “THANK GOD YOU ARE ALL RIGHT, NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN, I COULDN’T STAND IT IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU” *hugs Joyce thightly*
Comic Reactions 3: The Last FAACE-sade:
Panel 5: Wow, okay, so a few thoughts.
One, Sarah doesn’t realize it but the phrasing, “found them both sprawled on the bed, wanting to die” has got to be boiling pitch on Becky’s insides for all that echoes how she found her mom (possibly too late). Like holy shit, she’s been through the wringer this last weekend and stared that particular flashback in the face, so hearing that probably stirred up all sorts of shit, especially since she likely partially let down her emotional guard enjoying her reunification with Dina.
Two, I love how aware Becky is about what she says to Dina and what she promises, especially knowing how seriously Dina takes promises, to the point where she apologized because she promised to stop her dad and physically attacked him but it wasn’t enough. Like, she promised she wouldn’t run off or at least made a joke referencing that, so she’s careful to keep that joke running when she actually is running off and keep her hands held with Dina so it didn’t feel disingenuous, even if that means dragging her along as she rushes who knows where. And Dina’s response is so Dina, it’s totes adorbs.
Three, I’m really curious where she’s running to because there’s a lot of possibilities.
One, would be Ruth or Billie’s room (the “her” bed in Sarah’s comment could be interpreted either way) to make sure they are okay, especially since Billie means a lot to her and has done her a number of very solid turns (not to mention, now brought up a lot of extra feelings given this framing makes it feel like the gift of the money and the bed to sleep in was part of a larger suicide plan with her gf*)
*And I suspect from what little we’ve seen with Becky and her mom, that Becky’s mom was the type of suicide planner to try and give her daughter a really good day before she planned out her attempt as a pre-apology (did that before an attempt and then felt so self-conscious about that I never told the person I did that for about the attempt).
Two would be Grace’s room. Both because she’d know where Ruth and Billie are and Becky’s probably anxious to make sure they are both okay, given that background with the mom, and also possibly to show support to Grace, having been in that position of having to discover suicidal folks and knowing how rough that was. Especially since Grace’s gf Mandy has done her a good turn in the past, being part of the Queer Underground that has protected her from Ruthless.
And three would be blind panic because this is probably filling her with too many feelings and that tends to bring out Wacky Becky running this way and that to an immense degree (see her running off to say hi to Joyce’s siblings [and make nazi jokes at them] because she was hyper-nervous and full of feelings about the family dinner).
I dunno, I’m really curious to see where this ends up going as I feel this is a “your weekend nightmare is not over” moment for Becky.
Seriously, I was going “Oh Becky’s rushing off” and not even sure she knows precisely where, not entirely connecting the ‘why’ in my head all the way, but it’s even down to the phrasing: When Becky found Bonnie, it was in bed and mid-attempt. She is immediately hella invested and probably set off by this.
Now actually I’m kind of hoping she bumps into Carla or finds out she’s involved because I feel like they could both definitely use an outlet to go “Holy smokes, this is a terrifying experience” and there’s a lot of potential benefit from it being someone they tangentially know but whose first main encounter with each other would be “I’ve been through what you’ve been through and maybe don’t really feel like talking about it now, but DAMN we both know precisely how messed up it is.”
Also the potential of Carla adopting Becky and them having Queer Sciencey Redhead Girls Shenanigans together would be awesome, even before we consider all the benefits of “So I have a new friend whose dad kidnapped her at gunpoint and tried to send her to a creepy cure camp or something for being gay, she wants to go to school here, how can we help?”
I now need this in my life.
I really can’t decide who would be a bad influence on who, but it would be glorious.
Which of those two is my favorite is already determined entirely by which one has appeared more recently, so if they start showing up together I think it might get me stuck in some kind of loop
Ouch, yeah, Becky thought she had evaded her mother’s ghost for now…
I love how she, when faced with one of her worst nightmares (and it’s neat demonstration of just how fucked up Becky’s situation is that I need to clarify that her mother’s suicide is just ONE of her worst nightmares) she hesitates for about 0 seconds before she RUSH TOWARDS THE PROBLEM. Billie and Ruth want to die… OH NO, NOT ON BECKY’S WATCH, THEY DON’T!!!!!
I wonder what Joyce’s dad thinks of all this…presumably he’s still in the room and heard everything. O_O
Wait, an atrociraptor is a real thing? Not a made-up animal from Homestuck or Dr McNinja? Dinosaurs have weird names.
Are you new to the Net? Google is your friend.
Atrociraptor is the most metal name I’ve heard.
omg now I’m picturing death metal dina
i cant
Nah, it’s a name made up by scientists. Scientists are weird.
Maybe it’s just me, but that face at the end does not look happy. It looks like it’s frozen in place from the last panel.
It’s just the goofiness of her comment that I think makes it seem happy. But that’s typical Becky covering things up.
Can someone explain the Arby’s sauce packets thing to me please?
an old* bet: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/payup/
*like, WEEKS old
So she weighs…roughly 45-48 kg? She’s tiny