I can’t tell if you’re joking or not with that first sentence. In case not, I would like to say that I have been questioning for almost a decade now and I don’t know if that will ever change. I’m fairly positive I’m demisexual and possibly also demiromantic. While I’m somewhat sure I at least prefer guys over girls, I don’t know if that means I’m only interested in guys because most of the time I don’t particularly want to date and I can’t know if I’m sexually attracted to someone until I have a romantic connection with them.
Honestly, it sounds like you’ve already put a lot of thought into what you consuder yourself to be. In time, I’m sure you’ll “test” it out and either confirm it or come up with a new hypothesis.
Do you feel like you just get caught between what people would consider acceptable as the big labels, never quite fitting into them, and also in danger of dropping into what others want to just bongo about as being a ‘special little snowflake’.
A true cishetdom anarchist never stops questioning the government of heteronormativity and the patriarchy, especially in terms of their own identity! Viva la queervolución!
awesome. and that smirk in the last panel is hard to deny. we do still remember that dina heard becky admit that she liked joyce, yes? not saying it’s a big deal, just that it’ll probably come up
I’ve never actually seen ‘strand’ used as a verb like that. Stranded, sure. But usually in this context I’ve typically seen something like ‘abandon’ instead.
From a Rule 34 site, the face looked more than good enough to use for my gravatar, the rest below her neck just looked freakishly unappealing(at least to me) and wrong.
See, I always figured that’s cause the Vogons blew up the planet just before the execution of the final operation and output, and that the former was “subtract 2”. Thus, the Ultimate Question truly is, “what is six times seven?” Clearly, yet another and even bigger computer will need to be constructed to determine (explain) [i]why[/i] this particular question is [i]the[/i] Question.
Someone else, however, suggested that this was the result of (as revealed in later books) the useless third of the Golgafrinchan population landing on Earth, supplanting/mixing their genes with the actual natives, and bolluxing everything up. “Garbage in, garbage out” – they were [i]never[/i] going to get a proper answer (or rather, Question) out of such a compromised system.
Either way, the psychiatrists needn’t have hired/bribed the Vogons, as no one was going to be satisfied or assured by that.
statistically, a failure to replicate in a certain number of tries does not confirm an inability to replicate. it only fails to confirm an ability to replicate
nothing wrong with thinking she might be ace. in fact, she still could be, but it sounds more like she’s just not interested in defining it with a label
Just because there’s nothing wrong with being what you’re stereotyping someone as doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with stereotyping. She’s being singled out as the “might be ace” character for the same reason the other characters have expressed revulsion at thinking of her as a sexual being – because of her appearance and personality.
It varies a lot from person to person. Generally asexual means not experiencing sexual attraction while aromantic means not experiencing romantic attraction (and for any two aro or ace people those simple phrases could describe very different interior emotional experiences).
Some asexual people are repulsed by sex. Some asexual people enjoy sex and seek it out. So for example, assuming Dina is indeed going back for more smooches, Dina could be an asexual person who likes sex and seeks it out, or likes some forms of sexual/physical intimacy but not others, or who doesn’t particularly like any kinds of sexual intimacy but feels kissing is an expression of her desire for closeness with Becky. Dina could also be on the asexual spectrum and experience sexual attraction, but only rarely/only some components of the “full” experience that other people do/only under specific circumstances/something else entirely. Or she could be off the ace spectrum entirely.
Similarly, an aro person might be in/want to be in a romantic relationship for reasons other than “romantic attraction”.
If someone says they’re not ace spectrum then they’re not. Some people feel they are on the asexual spectrum/gray-asexual/whatever because they only rarely experience attraction or because of how they experience attraction or because they only experience attraction under specific circumstances. I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong.
If Joyce had at all enjoyed that kiss, there might have been a conflict. What you’re describing is more confusion and shock than anything else.
Here, on the other hand, recently overturned but probably still instinctive deep-seated homophobia is being attacked by wanting Becky to be happy, while her equally deep-seated romanticism (must set everyone up with a partner) is having to deal with the idea of her best friend ending up with this horrifying proselytizing scientist. Quadruple conflict at least. (I am assuming that realizing she may have been wrong about homosexuality has not yet led her to consider the possibility there are some other certainties she might be wrong about.)
no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i’m not saying that joycce was conflicted about how she felt about the kiss or her feelings toward becky. i’m just saying that her world was suddenly flipped on its head and she was supremely conflicted about how to react. after a bit of time and a trigger word from sarah she did right by becky, but she could easily have cloistered-up and sat as a bewildered mess while becky dealt with it alone. we’re all proud of joyce for working on her world views (except roz), but she did take quite a quick and fotunate step in the right direction at a crucial moment.
and there’s been no sign yet that joyce is concerned with becky getting some science in her (cough). seems like a relatively minor thing to me compared to everything else, but that would be an interesting new dimension to this whole situation
I mean, Joyce did try to wrangle Becky away from Dina earlier only to be met with NO I CAN STILL SAVE THIS ONE, and every time she’s spoken to Dina before this it was really unpleasant for her. I can see her having some “I’m glad Becky might be about to have a girlfriend but also why this girl in particular” feelings. X3
Testing this hypothesis is going to require extensive sampling.
(Which, knowing Dina, will be conducted under controlled conditions with properly sanitized inputs.)
New evidence is emerging regarding the relationship between Doasaurus saruyamensis and a new species, which has yet to be officially described by paleontologists. For the purposes of this scientific summary, we will refer to it as Doasaurus lesbiensis (as coined by renowned paleoecologist Bicycle William). This species has been found with remains of the species Doasaurus brunneis, and is often found very close to these remains. The relationship between the two species is still under debate, with some paleoecologists believing that their intereactions may have led to a Willis-Slipshine potential, whilst others vehemently deny this in favor of the more scientifically valid Willis-Slipshine potential between D. lesbiensis and D. saruyamensis. Additionally, both remains have been associated with the larger, more solitary (and seemingly more aggressive) D. clinton.
D. clinton despite an attempt to send out the proper pheromones had been largely unsuccessful in her attempt to mate with D. calidum (name still being decided by scientific community)
She was never straight in any universe. Her last appearance in Shortpacked plus what Willis said about it on his tumblr at the time was confirmation that she was indeed a “non-heteronormative” character herself.
I’m glad Dina wasn’t kept as a background character with mysterious motivations for humor reasons. Now at least there are REAL REASONS for her to be the most popular character! : D
except that placing something in a line is, in fact, putting it in a position so that it’s called up next, thus giving it exactly an identical meaning to its homonym
Nah, not at all. Queue something and it will be called up hours later. Cue it and it will in fact be called immediately next. That’s why stage directions are cues and mail office lines are queues.
Also, homophone*
Converse (talk) and converse (opposite) are homographs cos they’re graphically the same but you can tell them apart in conversation
Cue and queue are homophones cos you can’t tell them apart when on the phone but you can in texts
Club and club are homonyms cos without context you don’t know what i’m talking about. Do I have a stick? A large group of people with shared interests? A black playing card??? You shall never know
While i’m not fussed on the whole Dina Becky I do hope they go to town on each other because it’ll expend Joyces mind exponentially…or cause it to flip out, either of which is fine by me
I think we are learning a bit how Dina’s tagging-along mechanism works. She drifted into the Questioning meeting with Ethan and Joyce and now she got her sausage pizza so now she drifts on.
As far as Dina is concerned, Becky is going today, so I guess she is the priority. Sarah is not really going anywhere. There is no real rush to talk to her.
DINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
OH MAN. ACTUALLY. Given the inner monologue aspect of this chapter, I’m really excited to see dina monologuing about Becky. For not-Dina people, there’s just ALL of the second guessing and anxiety, and I’m psyched to see Dina’s response to the same situation. She’s gonna do it differently. aaaaah.
I find myself coming later than usual to the party. And as a detective, I can’t live with the thought of arriving at the scene late. I have no choice but to turn in my badge.
But in other news, surrounding more relevant matters, THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE SOME MOUTH SMOOCHES UP IN THIS PIECE!!!
Oddly enough, I could see the Shortpacked! version of Leslie snarking about that it’s become a fad and that she was out before all the cool kids did it!
It’s really, really cute how early teen innocent Joyce is sometimes. There is a part of her that desperately wants to giggle about ‘doing naughty things’. I also wonder if there really is a tiny part of her that feels jealous or even guilty that she can’t be this for Becky.
Meanwhile, it is in Dina’s nature that I am quietly confident that she is not doing and saying this just to play with Joyce’s head. Non-factual communication is pretty much something she’d never imagine doing.
I think it’s appalling how everyone here is automatically sexualizing the Dina-Becky meeting upstairs. They seemed to like each other sure, and there was a little kiss beforehand, but that’s no reason to … pffffttttt … HAHAHAHA … I can’t do this! I wanna see them in a bunk kissing and hugging and groping and undressing each other and … TEXT DELETED BY CENSOR.
Oddly enough, we are only following Joyce’s lead. Just like her, our imaginations are filling in the gaps of what will probably mostly be Dina encountering new territory – talking about feelings. Meanwhile, if I got the preview panels right, I think that Becky is going to be trying to study, so she may not be particularly receptive.
Trying to study what for what purpose? I mean until and unless she gets enrolled here or anywhere, there’s no reason for her to be studying, so I think you probably misinterpreted those panels.
Dina also literally just said kissing Becky would be an acceptable outcome of that conversation, so. It’s not a stretch to hope there will be kissing.
If she told each teacher she was taking the various classes for audit (no credit just attending for the knowledge) she could at least get some education that way. But wo books and such it would be lacking.
This is true… I guess I am just deeply skeptical that Becky would tell the girl she was excited to kiss yesterday “no sorry I’m studying for the classes I’ll be pretending to audit in the future”.
And she would find mouth-smooching an acceptable outcome. I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be a step in between, but what do I know? Maybe Dina watches some highly specialized cereal commercials.
Thinking about it… Was today’s conversation the verbal equivalent of Dina hanging a sock on the dorm room’s doorknob? Y’know, telling Joyce to be somewhere else and do something else that doesn’t involve her room?
Yeah, but if she and Dina are going to make out don’t you think they’s go to her (Billie’s) room or Dina’s room rather than binking in Joyce&Sarah’s room? And if they do, why doorknob Joyce?
Joyce is already in a tizzy thinking about them kissing “on the mouth,” just imagine if she blundered in and they were kissing each other elsewhere? She’d probably go catatonic…
Dina: “The extreme rigor of this round of experimentation has left me unable to process collected data. I may be disoriented for, at least, another half-hour, still.”
Becky: “Madam has been given the finest kaboodle-noodling. Pizza time…”
This may be a stupid question, but what does she mean by when Becky leaves? Is Becky planning to go soon? I missed that part, or it probably just went over my head.
I personally never had a problem with Becky, but I think some of the issues people saw were how dependent she was on other people when she was first introduced. However, I’d definitely say that her character’s become more dimensional and her independence more easily asserted. Don’t read too much into my response, though, since I don’t know the full depth of how folks reacted to Becky.
I think people were a little put off at first by her very “LOOK AT ME!!!!” attitude and general blundering. But she seems to be a fun/interesting/good-natured character at heart and she’ll be a popular favorite once she gets over the “newness” of being out of the closet.
What was the precise question Dina wanted answered? Was it a more general “Do we like each other, is this ok?” kind of thing, or more explicitly, “I feel that we should replicate a screen door in a hurricane, would you like to do that as well?”
I think the question has migrated since it came up as Joyce and Becky’s get together.
It started: “Could you be involved with another female?” To which she acknowledge she hadn’t considered, one way or another.
Now, it looks like it’s changed to “Do you want Becky, in particular?”
Waitaminnit.
Dina asks where Becky is because she wants to “…say goodbye to her before she leaves.” First of all, who said Becky was leaving?
Secondly, Joyce then makes the non-committal remark “Well, no rush really.” Does Joyce know something about Becky’s residency status — such as she’s going to become part of the U of I/DoA community, whether as a student or through some other manner — that we have not yet been brought up to speed on?
And then after reading the remark posted by Jimmy at 8:56 AM (above) I realize now what’s going on. I was giving Dina credit for knowing the actual circumstances behind Becky’s presence in the residence hall instead of just thinking she was here on a social visit.
And when you think about it, Dina is not stupid. Add to that the fact that she seems to possess the powers to cloud one’s mind much like LaMont Cranston (The Shadow) in that she always seems to be able to be present but unobserved, and I figured that she had been around during one of those conversations where Becky’s situation was being discussed and then was able to put two and two together.
I know propose that ‘The Shadow’ be redone, but with Dina instead of Alec Baldwin as The Shadow.
Everything else can stay the same.
(Honestly, The Shadow is one of the few movies I hate a little less each time I see it. Another 20 or 30 times and I might start talking about it at all the film parties I go too.)
OMG! Becky will find true love!!!!
But it’s with a girl???
But they really like each other!!!
But they might do premartial mouth-smooching????
But Becky will have someone who loves her the way she deserves to be loved!!!
But that someone is not me…
Take a screen-cap of your favorite Dina-smile, click “Get a Gravatar” just next to NAME right of the comment field and get an account, and cool!Sal will be replaced by adorable!Dina!
Was anyone else confused by the little strands of hair on Dina’s face by her ears? I honestly kept staring at the pictures and trying to figure out why there was this weird marking on her face. It looked like something had gone horribly wrong. But it’s just hair.
Anyone else think she had a weird tattoo or scar there all of a sudden?
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“Crotch smootching is also acceptable.”
*Dina harnessing her inner TJ*
I thought you meant Theodore Jasper Detweiler for a second and I was like what episodes were you watching
I also thought that.
lol the way shes drawn in that last panel it’d be hard to tell WITHOUT CHARACTER CONTEXT whether she’s slightly panicking….or Squeeing
damn my randomvatar is sexy today
It’s hard to tell WITH character context.
Man, that womps.
Yeah, you can tell that Joyce’s mind went there for a tiny fraction of a second. You’re going to kiss each other on the error error error mouth.
(kapoodle)
Doing butt stuff
Come on guys Lesbi-honest.
oh you.
Thats right folks, the ship youve all been waiting for.
TJ from Luann?
What does the guy that replaced Tommy on Turbo have to do with this?
STOP
TJ?
Smooch alot.
But yeah, honestly, Q can only last for a while. Eventually, the quantum state has to be observed.
At least the Questioning is way better than the Quickening.
Highlander 2: The Questioning sounds like a better movie. Or a better fanfic anyway.
Who wants to bone forever?
Who waaaaants to bonnnne forever?
Do you really want to bone forever … forever … forever?
When Bone Must Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!
(if your bone does not die for over four hours, seek medical advice and treatment.)
We’re the princes of the boning-verse…
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we aaaaaare
booorn to be queers
we’re the princesses of the boning-verse~
oh, “Dumbiverse” would have worked perfectly. oh well.
…forever tongue!
All of the laughter right now. I thank you sir/ma’am/other.
I can’t tell if you’re joking or not with that first sentence. In case not, I would like to say that I have been questioning for almost a decade now and I don’t know if that will ever change. I’m fairly positive I’m demisexual and possibly also demiromantic. While I’m somewhat sure I at least prefer guys over girls, I don’t know if that means I’m only interested in guys because most of the time I don’t particularly want to date and I can’t know if I’m sexually attracted to someone until I have a romantic connection with them.
Honestly, it sounds like you’ve already put a lot of thought into what you consuder yourself to be. In time, I’m sure you’ll “test” it out and either confirm it or come up with a new hypothesis.
Do you feel like you just get caught between what people would consider acceptable as the big labels, never quite fitting into them, and also in danger of dropping into what others want to just bongo about as being a ‘special little snowflake’.
A true cishetdom anarchist never stops questioning the government of heteronormativity and the patriarchy, especially in terms of their own identity! Viva la queervolución!
<3<3<3 You reminded me of this: http://manarchistryangosling.tumblr.com/
Like her hoodie, dina is a bit horny
rimshot.wav
it makes her 3 times as horny 😉
As long as she keeps from being corny:-P
awesome. and that smirk in the last panel is hard to deny. we do still remember that dina heard becky admit that she liked joyce, yes? not saying it’s a big deal, just that it’ll probably come up
I’ve never actually seen ‘strand’ used as a verb like that. Stranded, sure. But usually in this context I’ve typically seen something like ‘abandon’ instead.
true, the slang nowadays is more like “ditch” or “bail (on)” vs. “strand”, but it used to be in regular use
Joyce is not one for keeping up with slang so she’s not the savviest person to consult.
I use it fairly often, but I’m Old so maybe it’s a generational thing?
Those of we younguns who rely on a reader’s vocabulary use it often enough, I think.
I must be strange then, because I use it as such regularly.
“You are never truly abandoned for God will always be with you.
You might get stranded someplace, though.”
She’s not doing anything you haven’t done, Joyce.
Questioning has an aftertaste. Like marinara sauce.
Note to Dina: brush first before questioning Becky. Just in case.
Becky might like the taste of breakfast cereal.
In our case, that would be sausage pizza (and subs)
More like sesame oil. No aftertaste like that.
When dealing with marinara, you should use your noodle.
Becky is about to be scienced!
that has to become a euphemism. it just has to
And if it gets used enough, it will become a new entry in the dictionary.
Science is a verb now. http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=QC-SCIENCEVERB
Science needs to go beyond being just a verb and cross into innuendo.
Mike sciences your mom for a nickel.
I don’t have any nickel; what will he do to Plasma Mongoose’s mom for a cobalt?
I don’t want to be a Boron etiquette Copper, but I Zinc that comment was out of line …
In this economy? Mike will be lucky to get a nickel from the NIH.
“So, in the fact of overwhelming odds, I’m left with only one option: I’m going to have to science the shit out of this.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQqhfq87FgY
Verbing weirds language.
Isn’t that pretty much what happened yesterday?
Masters & Johnsoned!
I don’t think either Dina or Becky are going to be Johnsoning anyone.
With their penis?
Err… Plasma, where did you get that Lin avatar? The original picture I know is of poor taste.
sorry I don’t have a Tumblr account.
From a Rule 34 site, the face looked more than good enough to use for my gravatar, the rest below her neck just looked freakishly unappealing(at least to me) and wrong.
Sorry, didn’t read this until now.
Ok, it’s the same picture then. Thought to comment it just in case you didn’t know and didn’t want to use this kind of picture. Never mind 🙂
Dina just wants to make crazy science with Becky!
Dina’s curiosity is adorable. I can’t wait to see how Willis uses this to send her into the Angst pit he had Amber in for a few months.
The angst pits are the home of the lust-wolves.
No, you’re thinking of the shame pits, the angst pits are the abode of the depression-badgers.
They’re adjacent to one another though.
That’s probably because the lust-wolves figure the girls in the Angst pit will put out.
Ten bucks says there’s no easy answers.
G’on girl! Get that consequence!
The answer is always 24.
WRONG! Will always be 42.
*The answer
Without autocorrect, your first reply still works.
You meant 42 right?
High five!
Better yet, a Hi-42!
We’re gonna need more hands. Any donors?
You’ll also need a couple extra fingers. I volunteer my pinkies.
But that book a I read said it was 42!
Damnit now I hafta go get my money back!
In this case, I think 34 would be even better.
I think they never actually specified if that was the answer to every single thing, or just everything when taken as a whole.
42 could also be a reference to Molybdenum(Mo)
They specified that it was the answer to the Ultimate Question. And then they went on to trying to figure out what the Question is.
What do you get when you multiply six by nine?
fifty-four
which is why the universe is fundamentally wrong.
Base 13 is serious business.
Not in Base 13.
The author himself admitted the base 13 thing was purely accidental, in an interview.
If you have an even number that’s not divisible by 4, it’s going to be 42 base something
Unless it’s two, six, or fourteen.
See, I always figured that’s cause the Vogons blew up the planet just before the execution of the final operation and output, and that the former was “subtract 2”. Thus, the Ultimate Question truly is, “what is six times seven?” Clearly, yet another and even bigger computer will need to be constructed to determine (explain) [i]why[/i] this particular question is [i]the[/i] Question.
Someone else, however, suggested that this was the result of (as revealed in later books) the useless third of the Golgafrinchan population landing on Earth, supplanting/mixing their genes with the actual natives, and bolluxing everything up. “Garbage in, garbage out” – they were [i]never[/i] going to get a proper answer (or rather, Question) out of such a compromised system.
Either way, the psychiatrists needn’t have hired/bribed the Vogons, as no one was going to be satisfied or assured by that.
… I really hate trying to comment here after posting on other boards.
Maybe the Ultimate Question reveals that math is wrong.
It’s only science if you can replicate your results, after all.
It’s still science even if not as that would show the first results was not replicable:-P
statistically, a failure to replicate in a certain number of tries does not confirm an inability to replicate. it only fails to confirm an ability to replicate
Science REQUIRES replication. And repetition. And more replication. And MORE repetition! 🙂
(publishing, too … but that’s a Slipshine matter …)
"It’s never wise to judge an experience from just one data point."
This is going to kill many of my hours. Thank/damn you!
That grin in the last panel.
Priceless!
Go get your answers Dina! We’re all rooting for you!
(well, a lot of people are for different reasons, but still…rooting for ya!)
Dina plans to doing all the rooting here! 😀
Yep, love that Dina smile. Go science her Dina, science her HARD. 😀
repeated testing *is* how you get more confidence in your results…
Gahahaha I guess I know what I’m officially shipping now
Dina/Joyce? 😛
Go get those answers, clever girl!
Asexual eh? right guys.
nothing wrong with thinking she might be ace. in fact, she still could be, but it sounds more like she’s just not interested in defining it with a label
Just because there’s nothing wrong with being what you’re stereotyping someone as doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with stereotyping. She’s being singled out as the “might be ace” character for the same reason the other characters have expressed revulsion at thinking of her as a sexual being – because of her appearance and personality.
asexual =/= aromantic
just because she wants to smooch doesn’t mean she wants to have sex ^^
im ace but I still enjoy a good smooch!
Are you making fun of people for that? Because, rude.
Asexual people also enjoy smooching.
We really need to squash the idea that asexuality automatically means that someone abhors any form of physical contact.
Your confusing Asexuality for Aromantic.
Asexuals have no desire to have sex but as the people above me have said an enjoy smoochy-smoochies and be in relationships.
Aromantics meanwhile don’t really want to be involved in a romantic scenario at all.
At least that’s my understanding.
It varies a lot from person to person. Generally asexual means not experiencing sexual attraction while aromantic means not experiencing romantic attraction (and for any two aro or ace people those simple phrases could describe very different interior emotional experiences).
Some asexual people are repulsed by sex. Some asexual people enjoy sex and seek it out. So for example, assuming Dina is indeed going back for more smooches, Dina could be an asexual person who likes sex and seeks it out, or likes some forms of sexual/physical intimacy but not others, or who doesn’t particularly like any kinds of sexual intimacy but feels kissing is an expression of her desire for closeness with Becky. Dina could also be on the asexual spectrum and experience sexual attraction, but only rarely/only some components of the “full” experience that other people do/only under specific circumstances/something else entirely. Or she could be off the ace spectrum entirely.
Similarly, an aro person might be in/want to be in a romantic relationship for reasons other than “romantic attraction”.
“Or she could be off the ace spectrum entirely.” As you’re defining it, I’m actually not sure she, or for that matter anyone, could
If someone says they’re not ace spectrum then they’re not. Some people feel they are on the asexual spectrum/gray-asexual/whatever because they only rarely experience attraction or because of how they experience attraction or because they only experience attraction under specific circumstances. I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong.
See, this doesn’t actually help with the thing where I can’t shake the thought that none of it means anything.
Guys, she still doesn’t KNOW what she is – that’s the question she’s trying to answer. “Do I like girls, and in particular, Becky?”
Joyce ships Dicky so hard
Now that’s what I call a ship name.
ya, but talk about a misleading label…
and i’m fairly certain that the sentence is awesome out of context as well
I’m fairly sure that a lesbian ship with a phallic name counts as some kind of irony.
i’m coining the term “nominal phallusy” for this purpose
NICE!
Not Terrible Lizbians?
I’m disappointed.
I’ve always been partial to “beckasaur”
I thought we all agreed it was Dinasaurus Becks.
I didn’t before. Now I do. That’s a wonderful name.
😀
Dinky, on account of Dina being tiny and Becky being “not tall”.
dina is particularly awesome today. her arm will tire of high-fives if she keeps this up.
also, joyce has never felt so conflicted? i believe when becky kissed her the look on her face screamed ‘no, but what the what?’
If Joyce had at all enjoyed that kiss, there might have been a conflict. What you’re describing is more confusion and shock than anything else.
Here, on the other hand, recently overturned but probably still instinctive deep-seated homophobia is being attacked by wanting Becky to be happy, while her equally deep-seated romanticism (must set everyone up with a partner) is having to deal with the idea of her best friend ending up with this horrifying proselytizing scientist. Quadruple conflict at least. (I am assuming that realizing she may have been wrong about homosexuality has not yet led her to consider the possibility there are some other certainties she might be wrong about.)
no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i’m not saying that joycce was conflicted about how she felt about the kiss or her feelings toward becky. i’m just saying that her world was suddenly flipped on its head and she was supremely conflicted about how to react. after a bit of time and a trigger word from sarah she did right by becky, but she could easily have cloistered-up and sat as a bewildered mess while becky dealt with it alone. we’re all proud of joyce for working on her world views (except roz), but she did take quite a quick and fotunate step in the right direction at a crucial moment.
and there’s been no sign yet that joyce is concerned with becky getting some science in her (cough). seems like a relatively minor thing to me compared to everything else, but that would be an interesting new dimension to this whole situation
I mean, Joyce did try to wrangle Becky away from Dina earlier only to be met with NO I CAN STILL SAVE THIS ONE, and every time she’s spoken to Dina before this it was really unpleasant for her. I can see her having some “I’m glad Becky might be about to have a girlfriend but also why this girl in particular” feelings. X3
That’s a good tally of what goes through Joyce’s mind. Especially the romantic part.
Yey, smooches, yey, Becky’s happy… but… evolution and * gasp* girl hanky panky… DO NOT COMPUTE
L-lewd
I interpret Joyce’s conflict as being, “I can’t abandon Ethan but OMG I NEED TO SEE THIS!!”
Dina look so adorable when excited to test her hypothesis!
She’s going to do some test runs all night long.
Testing this hypothesis is going to require extensive sampling.
(Which, knowing Dina, will be conducted under controlled conditions with properly sanitized inputs.)
Who’s the little kid now Joyce ?
Yeaaah!!! WHO?? *high five*
New evidence is emerging regarding the relationship between Doasaurus saruyamensis and a new species, which has yet to be officially described by paleontologists. For the purposes of this scientific summary, we will refer to it as Doasaurus lesbiensis (as coined by renowned paleoecologist Bicycle William). This species has been found with remains of the species Doasaurus brunneis, and is often found very close to these remains. The relationship between the two species is still under debate, with some paleoecologists believing that their intereactions may have led to a Willis-Slipshine potential, whilst others vehemently deny this in favor of the more scientifically valid Willis-Slipshine potential between D. lesbiensis and D. saruyamensis. Additionally, both remains have been associated with the larger, more solitary (and seemingly more aggressive) D. clinton.
D. clinton despite an attempt to send out the proper pheromones had been largely unsuccessful in her attempt to mate with D. calidum (name still being decided by scientific community)
Quick question though who is D. brunneis? I know thats latin for brown. Unless of course its Jacob and I am a complete dolt.
Nope. That is Joyce. Joyce Brown.
Ken Watanabe’s character from Godzilla (2014) –
Let them smooch.
Or let it pooch:-P
For Becky’s sake, I hope Dina’s not still straight.
If she’s not, I’m going to start calling Becky’s condition “reverse Amberfication.”
*is. Is still straight. I second the previous statement elsewhere that this feed needs an editing feature.
She was never straight in any universe. Her last appearance in Shortpacked plus what Willis said about it on his tumblr at the time was confirmation that she was indeed a “non-heteronormative” character herself.
Asexual would have worked. But so does bisexual.
I’m glad Dina wasn’t kept as a background character with mysterious motivations for humor reasons. Now at least there are REAL REASONS for her to be the most popular character! : D
She still was when she first showed up in the first ever DoA panel, though now i guess she will be in more “demand” 😛
yes, dina is (sunglasses) evolving as a character!
but seriously, she’s like a completely different person in many awesome ways this chapter. her popularity is like an evolutionary catalyst!
wouldn’t that be more along the lines of metamorphisis?
…………don’t get scientific with me :{
Huh, in the past getting scientific has only led to hanky panky. Never had it turn someone off.
Dina is on the intergenerational scale
She’s Digivolving to her Mega form using the Crest of Cuteness.
But who’s the human she’s drawing the energy from??
Becky, obviously.
Well no, Ethan, throught the hat.
Only if Dina is a Pokemon or Digimon.
Queue the next Slipshine comic…
Call it up (cue).
Not place it in a line (queue).
Sorry, pet peeve. And a very faithful pet it has been over the years.
And Dina’s tired of the “Q” now anyway…
except that placing something in a line is, in fact, putting it in a position so that it’s called up next, thus giving it exactly an identical meaning to its homonym
queueing and cuing are basically interchangeable
Nah, not at all. Queue something and it will be called up hours later. Cue it and it will in fact be called immediately next. That’s why stage directions are cues and mail office lines are queues.
Also, homophone*
Converse (talk) and converse (opposite) are homographs cos they’re graphically the same but you can tell them apart in conversation
Cue and queue are homophones cos you can’t tell them apart when on the phone but you can in texts
Club and club are homonyms cos without context you don’t know what i’m talking about. Do I have a stick? A large group of people with shared interests? A black playing card??? You shall never know
While i’m not fussed on the whole Dina Becky I do hope they go to town on each other because it’ll expend Joyces mind exponentially…or cause it to flip out, either of which is fine by me
Confirmation she get on something nonetheless if she is into such this or not so a success test it will be anyway xD
Silly, she’s immune to influence! Weren’t you paying attention at all?
Hmmmmm, are “emotions” related to “influence” cause am pretty sure this experiment will be kinda biased in it’s tests:-P
Awww she’s growing up
Um… shouldn’t Dina be getting back to Sarah before she does anything else?
oh, she will. but first she must follow a family circus style path around campus stopping for several hours by becky’s room
I think we are learning a bit how Dina’s tagging-along mechanism works. She drifted into the Questioning meeting with Ethan and Joyce and now she got her sausage pizza so now she drifts on.
her species is a nomadic scavenger
That would be awesome.
As far as Dina is concerned, Becky is going today, so I guess she is the priority. Sarah is not really going anywhere. There is no real rush to talk to her.
Not until she’s gathered relevant information. I doubt Sarah was expecting usable dirt in the next 30 minutes.
I’m imagining Sarah waiting a few hours in the cafétéria, personally.
Wait, where is the Canadian prog-rock I was promised by the title?
Just be glad it wasn’t about a right-wing shock-jock.
How’s this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5XA_uTXmY
I bet Dina wants to invite her to a museum or something. Mouth-smootching would be an acceptable outcome.
Joyce: OTP? NoTP? OTP? NoTP? OTP? NoTP?
Toilet Paper is a scarce community ever since Joyce kept wearing it to the bathroom.
I had to read that several times before it clicked… Did you mean ‘Commodity?’
Yes, he meant commodeity
You can get it Dina!
I like how Dina is not looking Joyce in the eye…and that smile!
I’ll say. That grin made me happy to be alive again.
Dina is so cool in the 3rd panel… <3
Dino Slipshine.
DINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
OH MAN. ACTUALLY. Given the inner monologue aspect of this chapter, I’m really excited to see dina monologuing about Becky. For not-Dina people, there’s just ALL of the second guessing and anxiety, and I’m psyched to see Dina’s response to the same situation. She’s gonna do it differently. aaaaah.
AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE
Is another Slipshine on the horizon?
I think i can spot the slipshina town at that hankpanky island over there:-P
HMS Becna setting sail!
[I will defend that ship name with my life, because dark magic is the only explanation for the enchanting allure of that grin.]
I like Dicky as a ship name myself.
Most misleading, I must say.
So is there an Eye of Becna? A Hand?
I find myself coming later than usual to the party. And as a detective, I can’t live with the thought of arriving at the scene late. I have no choice but to turn in my badge.
But in other news, surrounding more relevant matters, THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE SOME MOUTH SMOOCHES UP IN THIS PIECE!!!
*Reboot impression*
WARNING: INCOMING SMOOCH
WARNING: INCOMING SMOOCH
win
GAME OVER: THE LESBIAN WINS
Actually if they do end up being lesbians don’t we all win?
I AM SO ABOUT THIS
Oh good, I was worried there wasn’t going to be enough lesbians.
I think my sass level was too high there
Your Leslie Bean profile pic makes this comment.
Oddly enough, I could see the Shortpacked! version of Leslie snarking about that it’s become a fad and that she was out before all the cool kids did it!
Hipster Leslie? [By the way, they probably call you BenRG because that’s your handle.]
I mean, she’s not a lesbian. So your sarcasm is entirely misaimed.
beware Dina’s all-consuming lust
All-consuming dino cap.
So is Dina gonna go up there, open the door, get Becky on the floor, and everyone does the dinosaur?
Seems like the most likely outcome
They’re gonna do the thing.
Woah hey, I don’t swing that way. I’m a one-person rock monster.
It’s really, really cute how early teen innocent Joyce is sometimes. There is a part of her that desperately wants to giggle about ‘doing naughty things’. I also wonder if there really is a tiny part of her that feels jealous or even guilty that she can’t be this for Becky.
Meanwhile, it is in Dina’s nature that I am quietly confident that she is not doing and saying this just to play with Joyce’s head. Non-factual communication is pretty much something she’d never imagine doing.
Whiptails confirmed?
I think it’s appalling how everyone here is automatically sexualizing the Dina-Becky meeting upstairs. They seemed to like each other sure, and there was a little kiss beforehand, but that’s no reason to … pffffttttt … HAHAHAHA … I can’t do this! I wanna see them in a bunk kissing and hugging and groping and undressing each other and … TEXT DELETED BY CENSOR.
Oddly enough, we are only following Joyce’s lead. Just like her, our imaginations are filling in the gaps of what will probably mostly be Dina encountering new territory – talking about feelings. Meanwhile, if I got the preview panels right, I think that Becky is going to be trying to study, so she may not be particularly receptive.
Trying to study what for what purpose? I mean until and unless she gets enrolled here or anywhere, there’s no reason for her to be studying, so I think you probably misinterpreted those panels.
Dina also literally just said kissing Becky would be an acceptable outcome of that conversation, so. It’s not a stretch to hope there will be kissing.
Hugs are nice, too.
Hugs are excellent. I’m just saying, people filling in the gaps with smooches are currently following Dina’s actual lead here.
If she told each teacher she was taking the various classes for audit (no credit just attending for the knowledge) she could at least get some education that way. But wo books and such it would be lacking.
This is true… I guess I am just deeply skeptical that Becky would tell the girl she was excited to kiss yesterday “no sorry I’m studying for the classes I’ll be pretending to audit in the future”.
Your lucky Becky isn’t there to hear you say that, Joyce. I have a feeling her answer to this question would be “Well, maybe to begin with…”
Joyce’s internal monolouge: OMIGOSH! DINA’S NOT EIGHT! HOLY SHIT! THIS IS SO SERIOUS I HAVE TO SWEAR!
Joyce ships it!
Well, that was inevitable, really. Joyce ships everything but Jesus+Darwin.
Darsus?
Jarwin?
SHE DONT CARE….SHE SHIPS IT!
Dina just wants to know what kind of cereal Becky likes! 😉
And she would find mouth-smooching an acceptable outcome. I’m pretty sure there is supposed to be a step in between, but what do I know? Maybe Dina watches some highly specialized cereal commercials.
Well, Becky might not have brushed her teeth, yet.
Thinking about it… Was today’s conversation the verbal equivalent of Dina hanging a sock on the dorm room’s doorknob? Y’know, telling Joyce to be somewhere else and do something else that doesn’t involve her room?
Becky is not staying in Joyce’s room any more. She has moved in to Billie’s place, sharing a room with Sal.
Dina does not know that, she’s out of the loop when it comes to Becky’s situation.
Dina asked if Becky might be in Billie’s room, so.
Wasn’t she still in the room for that part of the conversation? Wasn’t that the part of the conversation when they all forgot she was there?
She was there Becky and Joyce had their “I’m not over you yet” talk and Billie gave up her room.
becky is on Joyce’s computer at the moment, so in Joyce&Sarah’s room.
Yeah, but if she and Dina are going to make out don’t you think they’s go to her (Billie’s) room or Dina’s room rather than binking in Joyce&Sarah’s room? And if they do, why doorknob Joyce?
A lot of people talking about slipshine and all, but they’re, like, on “accidental” first kiss basis.
I assume she wants to be able to talk with her alone, since those matters arekinda sensisitive.
Socking the doorknob for a sensitive conversation seems like over-classifying to me. Don’t make this sock a liar!
Hehehe. This makes me happy.
Joyce is already in a tizzy thinking about them kissing “on the mouth,” just imagine if she blundered in and they were kissing each other elsewhere? She’d probably go catatonic…
Or use alien machinery to erase her memory.
Walky be like: I have this weird deja-vu feeling…
look at her faaaace in panel 4 omg
Also that line about answers being upstairs is so friggin romantic.
jfc I have less game than Dina.
Does Dina sound like Starfire from Teen Titans in anyone else’s head?
Starfire with something closer to (but not) a monotone, maybe?
Yep.
Dina: “The extreme rigor of this round of experimentation has left me unable to process collected data. I may be disoriented for, at least, another half-hour, still.”
Becky: “Madam has been given the finest kaboodle-noodling. Pizza time…”
Too energetic.
“smootch on the mouth” rythmes, too 🙂
oh Dina, you remain the best ~<3
And, just like that, she’s forgotten all about the surveillance mission…
IT’s finished, she couldn’t follow them into the elevator.
Didn’t follow them to the door to verify they actually parted.
Didn’t report back.
With any (bad?) luck Sarah will be back in the room (so, with Becky) by now.
I mean, she was kind of pressing her luck at that point. They’d almost noticed her.
Dina has been avoiding eye contact during the whole conversation.
Which means she’s just as bashful as Joyce; her tells are just a lot subtler.
I was thinking about the previous night “processing issue”, but you’re probably right.
I thought she was thinking ahead… looking up towards the room, where her answers are. Then the shy/sly smile… sooooon…
I think Carol Cleveland said it best: “A spanking! And then the oral sex.”
This may be a stupid question, but what does she mean by when Becky leaves? Is Becky planning to go soon? I missed that part, or it probably just went over my head.
As far as most people know, Becky is temporarily there, visiting Joyce from Anderson, so presumably, she’d leave to go back to school soon.
I’m trying to remember if Dina is supposed to be one of the few that has figured out or overheard that Becky is staying there indefinitely.
Dina doesn’t know that Becky has ran away. The only people who do are Joyce, Walky, Dorothy, Sarah, Billie and maybe Ethan.
Mike might also know, from when he answered Joyce’s phone…
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/answer-2/
It’s best to just assume that Mike knows everything.
Ohh I gotcha. Thanks for the explanation.
I want a tricera-top.
I want one now. I would never take it off. It would be fucking great
So the readership is okay with Becky now?
Is it just because Dina’s into her?
I personally never had a problem with Becky, but I think some of the issues people saw were how dependent she was on other people when she was first introduced. However, I’d definitely say that her character’s become more dimensional and her independence more easily asserted. Don’t read too much into my response, though, since I don’t know the full depth of how folks reacted to Becky.
I think people were a little put off at first by her very “LOOK AT ME!!!!” attitude and general blundering. But she seems to be a fun/interesting/good-natured character at heart and she’ll be a popular favorite once she gets over the “newness” of being out of the closet.
Most people like Becky.
There are some people who think she’s annoying, and that’s okay.
There are people who think she’s a swindling mooch who dared to get a nice haircut, and those people are kind of nutty.
Dina is about to write her newest slipstream.
On your bed Joyce, premarital hanky panky on YOUR BED!
Billie’s bed.
What was the precise question Dina wanted answered? Was it a more general “Do we like each other, is this ok?” kind of thing, or more explicitly, “I feel that we should replicate a screen door in a hurricane, would you like to do that as well?”
I think the question has migrated since it came up as Joyce and Becky’s get together.
It started: “Could you be involved with another female?” To which she acknowledge she hadn’t considered, one way or another.
Now, it looks like it’s changed to “Do you want Becky, in particular?”
THE SLIPSHINING
huh i feel like dina has a better concept of romance/sexuality than i do.
Waitaminnit.
Dina asks where Becky is because she wants to “…say goodbye to her before she leaves.” First of all, who said Becky was leaving?
Secondly, Joyce then makes the non-committal remark “Well, no rush really.” Does Joyce know something about Becky’s residency status — such as she’s going to become part of the U of I/DoA community, whether as a student or through some other manner — that we have not yet been brought up to speed on?
And then after reading the remark posted by Jimmy at 8:56 AM (above) I realize now what’s going on. I was giving Dina credit for knowing the actual circumstances behind Becky’s presence in the residence hall instead of just thinking she was here on a social visit.
And when you think about it, Dina is not stupid. Add to that the fact that she seems to possess the powers to cloud one’s mind much like LaMont Cranston (The Shadow) in that she always seems to be able to be present but unobserved, and I figured that she had been around during one of those conversations where Becky’s situation was being discussed and then was able to put two and two together.
I know propose that ‘The Shadow’ be redone, but with Dina instead of Alec Baldwin as The Shadow.
Everything else can stay the same.
(Honestly, The Shadow is one of the few movies I hate a little less each time I see it. Another 20 or 30 times and I might start talking about it at all the film parties I go too.)
Well Becky was only visiting, supposedly.
Joyce completely ships it, but she feels horribly conflicted about shipping it.
Yup.
OMG! Becky will find true love!!!!
But it’s with a girl???
But they really like each other!!!
But they might do premartial mouth-smooching????
But Becky will have someone who loves her the way she deserves to be loved!!!
But that someone is not me…
I wonder how a Fundamentalist (assuming they decided not to be anti-gay) would feel about premarital hanky-pankies when it was with homosexuals…
It’s for within the confines of marriage
Dina for the win. Always. I love this girl
Joyce: sin sin sin si…I so….sinn sinnnnnnn…….can I watch?
Dat smile.
Joyce: “Do I need a Slipshine account for this?”
Seriously, how comes any of us have non-Dina gravatars any longer after all these adorable smiles?
Because I have no idea how to change mine.
Take a screen-cap of your favorite Dina-smile, click “Get a Gravatar” just next to NAME right of the comment field and get an account, and cool!Sal will be replaced by adorable!Dina!
And replace Hexadecimal? You’re crazier than she is.
Was anyone else confused by the little strands of hair on Dina’s face by her ears? I honestly kept staring at the pictures and trying to figure out why there was this weird marking on her face. It looked like something had gone horribly wrong. But it’s just hair.
Anyone else think she had a weird tattoo or scar there all of a sudden?
They happens often.
dina just keeps getting more and more adorable. where can i get three?
love dina way too much now.
Willis is killing it for all the redhead + Asian fetishists.
re-readin this chapter.
I really like seeing Dina smile.