Seriously awesome stuff always happens while you’re in the middle of raid, then you can’t go see it and you have to get it second hand. It’s enough to make someone want to quit MMOs.
Oh yeah tell me about it. one time I was in the midst of a raid when a drunken brawl got started outside and I ran to leave the raid for a moment. Claimed it was for the toilet but they banned me from the guild because I saw a drunkard fighting a trash can and get his ass kicked.
In the last comic I stated that Ruth is my hero. Depending on her actions in the following comics that opinion will live or die. I’m not saying that i know what would have to happen for either outcome to happen, all I hope is that she doesn’t let me down.
From my perspective, Ruth is revelling in another human being’s pain. Laws, morals, and the effects she has on others are all distractions from taking her sadistic pleasures. She has claimed the right to force other people to be her playthings.
Until and unless she is characterized otherwise, the best option is to put her down. She probably has some sob story or another in her background, but if that’s the case then the taint has eaten her. She’s a threat to everyone around her.
Please explain what makes her your hero, so that I may gain perspective.
I’m an RA. I see Ruth as a parody of the position. She gets to do and say the things every RA wants to do at some point during their career because its a comic. So many times are RA’s called to solve problems so stupid we just want to scream. Other times we have to deal with really scary situations, like breaking up a party of twenty drunk strangers. Most of the time though, we have to carry out the bone crushing monotony of administration. I’ve had to let in a locked out resident four times in one day. I’ve had to chase people down to do roommate agreements. It wastes my time, and its stressful. Ruth not only does the job, but she’s unfazed by anger, fear, or frustration. She’s rock solid.
On the subject of Billie…
Billie is narcissistic and anti-social. Normal methods to interact with her won’t work, so forget about asking her to do anything for you. Ruth realizes this immediately and so her interactions with Billie have been abnormal, but effective. She has inspired fear and respect in what will be a big problem as the year continues. You see a sadist messing with an innocent, I see a problem being fixed before it ever has the chance to threaten the rest of the residents in the community.
I’ll have to renounce my position however if Ruth fights back. Judo flips and clotheslines are acceptable, but when its your movement hurting someone else you’ve crossed the line. I want to see Ruth make it apparent how she could expel Billie, or beat her, or set her uniform on fire, and then do something Billie could never do, I want to see Ruth let it go and show a little admiration that Billie had the balls to do it. I want to see her demand she get the roommate agreement and see Billie deliver, and i want the theory that the cut up jersey is fake to be true, and that Billie gets it back. And from that point on maybe Billie might get turned around. Maybe she’ll come to see Ruth as a role model. Maybe Billie will become an RA after redeeming herself. Rose colored glasses aside, I just hope I’m not disappointed.
As a former RA, Ruth has no excuse for doing what she’s doing. Yes, it can get stressful at times, but if the only way you can handle it is through threats and violence then you have no right being an RA.
Ruth has done NO follow up for the sheets that is HER responsibility to get, she assumed Billie was lying without doing any kind of questioning (Ruth has never seen Sal either so it can be safe to assume that no one does), the only effort she’s done for her job beyond beating people up was finding people for the meeting, and the only reason she did that was because she enjoyed terrorizing people. Most RAs don’t terrorize their students, especially when they realize that the students vastly outnumber you. And she’s destroying any future credit the RAs they’ll get in the years to come will have.
I hope Ruth gets fired. Because she makes RAs look bad, and she’s horrible at her job.
I’d agree with you, except its a comic. Of course no RA in real life could act like that and be called a good RA. But in DoA Mike punches people in the face and we laugh.
You assume Ruth has done no follow up because it hasn’t been depicted, for all we know Ruth has been to the room repeatedly looking for Sal. Also, you say she hasn’t put any effort into her job, but every time we see her thats the only thing she’s been doing. As a former RA, you’d know its required to track down as many of your residents before your first floor meeting, so you cant say Ruth’s reason for doing so is just to terrorize. Lastly, Ruth is rough to make sure her residents know their place in the beginning, but she has been helpful to Dorothy, which shows she’s not a complete sadist like so many people believe she is. She would have chaperoned Joice’s date if she hadn’t been busy “following up” on Billie and Sal’s roomie agreement. Another reason to believe the destruction of the jersey is fake is that it doesn’t take an evening to cut out a letter of a jersey. Photoshopping a picture and stitching a fake letter S would however.
Yes, most RA’s don’t act the way Ruth acts because In real life situations aren’t handled the way she handles them, but in a comic it does, it works, its funny, and I like it.
How close minded a person would have to be to let their first encounter with a person of a certain title influence the way they would see others of that title.
Like Chuck Noris, Ruth doesn’t get stressed, she gets busy. I’ll always laugh, because I’m pretty sure any RA could relate.
Wow, that’s quite well laid out and informed. It also does a great deal to lay out her more noble characteristics and explains the context within which they are noble.
Makes me seem petty by comparison. I just like her because I delight in suffering and admire the efficiency with which she brings it about lol. You can watch it spread as she inflicts in on Billie, the most likely to pass it on to everyone else she interacts with afterwards.
The way she compounds emotional damage with physical damage, and then proceeds to add another layer of emotional damage through her response to Billie’s retaliation, creating this sandwhich of misery which holds itself together and will stay with her long after Ruth has left, is quite remarkable. Everything she does very specifically plays on all of Billie’s weaknesses and insecurity for maximum effect. She’s an artist, and has even gone so far as to achieve a position of power, despite the inherent inconvenience and lack of rewards, for the sole purpose of pursuing her art.
Of course, all that stuff you say about her is really cool too. I especially like the “I hate you and your problems” part. Really relatable. We’ve all thought it at some point:)
Though to be fair, I can’t stand Billie. I don’t understand why some people like her, since she’s kind of a pompous bongo who pathetically clings to her status as a high school cheerleader like it matters or makes her better than anyone else.
Ruth is a bit of a bully, but at least she’s funny. Like a more interesting Galasso.
I think bump’s argument is valid simply on the premise that, well, in all likelihood she’s right in that what Ruth is doing is what a lot of RA’s wish they could do. The job seems rather stressful to me, especially when you have to consider that they have to play on a very thin line. They need to come off as authority figures who you should listen to, and yet they can’t do a lot of the things authority figures can to help problems.
To quote someone from yesterday’s comic:
“The policy where I was working was so strict that putting yourself in the middle of a fight to end it (not fighting back understand, just getting in the middle) would be enough to put you on probation.”
If this was high school, a teacher could step in and not get in trouble. Same with elementary school. Hell, the police could too! But an RA has none of these things. The smallest things could get them in trouble, even if they help stop a situation or problem.
Bump isn’t condoning Ruth’s actions. Bump is saying that they see Ruth as their hero for doing the things that an RA likely wishes they could do given these stresses and that for Ruth to maintain this “hero” status she must choose her next action very carefully.
I don’t see how Billie is SO BAD she deserves to get beaten up and her property stolen and defaced. Yes, she’s snotty and yes, she clings to the high school social structure, but doesn’t anyone else remember how scary the first few days of college were? So she talks down to Walky, who couldn’t care less. So she talks back to Ruth, big frigging deal. It’s really not THAT bad.
And Ruth has supposedly determined that Billie is narcissistic and anti-social to the point of being impossible to treat with any respect or consideration at all from what, exactly? She didn’t want to go to the meeting? She can’t get her roommate to sign a form? Everything she’s done has been a huge overreaction.
Billie has been trying to get the stupid form. She tried to stay up all night to get it. It’s not even her job, it’s Ruth’s job to get it. And now Ruth is keeping her from her classes. Billie really ought to get some administrative help against Ruth, because she’s just been totally abusive so far. I’m sure if it wasn’t the roommate agreement, it would be something just as arbitrary she’d be attacking Billie over.
I could forgive the judo flip from the beginning, since Billie did attack her willingly, but stealing the uniform and beating her up afterward is crossing the line. I’m starting to wonder if Ruth is supposed to have some sort of grudge against cheerleaders that she’s punishing Billie for.
And I don’t care that Ruth was nice to Dorothy. Big whoop, plenty of bullies only target one or two people and treat the rest normally.
Ruth is your hero? What the heck is wrong with you? Do you also enjoy seeing the bully shove little kids into the mud? I don’t give a crap if you’re an RA, what she’s doing should only piss you off more. The fact you actually see it as remotely good makes me pray you lose that RA position before you start electrocuting freshmen for the high it gives you. You should be ashamed if her for the negative stereotype of RA’s she supports, even if it is one common to life in a less severe form. You shouldn’t be praising the psychotic bongo.
Yeah, but we’re talking about vigilantes who think the best way to fight crime is to dress up in bright colored costumes and punch it. Unpredictable/unreliable is sort of par for the course with that kind of mentality.
It beats the heck out of long, sustained verbal and physical abuse that eventually leads the bullied to choose the “disproportionate revenge” ending that ends with SWAT, body bags, and interrupted daytime programming.
It’s hard to think when someone is shoving you back into a corner. Had Ruth put some thought into things, she’d have realized she was doing this before she got here.
Actually, if you look at her positioning in the panels, she’s gotten up and moved to the other side of the door in the last one, implying she’s moving towards the closet or other clothing container to change into her Amazi-Girl outfit.
That’s WHY she’s bongoing it had to happen during a raid – ‘cuz now she has to miss yet another raid, all in the name of heroism.
There is no who’s right here, just a who’s wrongest. Personally, I think it’s Ruth. Given that she only gave Billie half a day to find someone she barely knows, stole from her and vandalized her property, whereas Billie was only acting uppity and did make an attempt to catch her roommate coming home. Even if she had done the sensible thing and waited till she saw Sal again in her morning class, Ruth crossed a serious line.
I’d agree with you if she were a responsible authority figure. The moment you start breaking the law, you’re no longer right, regardless of how much authority you have.
That’s the irony of it though. In theory authority figures are subject to the same rules as everyone else, in practice it’s not at all uncommon for them to get away with things that would be unacceptable for anyone else.
See, the joke plays on the juxtaposition between the noble purpose of authority, and vulgar objectives that authority is used to achieve.
Here, the RA is supposed to be an agent of peace and wellbeing. In point of fact though she’s an agent of oppression and suffering.
Creating further juxtaposition between the harsh truth present in the previous dichotomy, and the more pleasant truths that are so formative during early childhood, completes the joke.
I feel this suits the setting, which is commonly associated with coming of age, and the shedding of naive ideals.
TL;DR being an authority figure doesn’t actually make one inherently right. It merely gives them enough power that the distinction is meaningless. This is hilarious.
Screw being a mild-mannered reporter for a top Metropolitan newspaper… Everyone knows that the best secret identity these days is an antisocial college student.
Is it just me, or was anyone else in awe of the amazing bendi-glasses? I mean it looks like she just bent them back into their original shape… like she purposely got glasses that would do this, in preparation for fights.
I’ve had some of those too. There are a few types, there are the flexon frames (which can be broken, I suspect, the number of pairs broken by kid-me while under the it’s unbreakable warranty, contributed to why they stopped that…)
The other kind is very light and made of I think a titanium bromide alloy, and if you’ve seen old glasses with screws, looks like a modern version of those, but with pressed plastic to hold them. (Which comes out way too easily, which is why I don’t have them anymore. The glasses themselves can be broken, but that’s always been the sides.)
Of course, there is always the type that it appears to be: regular (non-bendy) glasses, in which case, she just bent them back into shape, depending on the bridge, is easy enough to do, but it’ll eventually snap.
The image of Ruth dressed up as a wizard (mickey mouse in fantasia style), throwing magic missiles and chain lightnings at men dressed in tin foil armor holding foam weapons has me laughing now. Not gonna be able to free myself from the idea of Ruth the Larper.
Wait, wut? If she’d vandalized something valuable that would be one thing. Smashing a computer or keying a car. Vandalizing a shirt though, I simply must view as the lesser offense. That’s the kind of thing a classier individual would laugh off.
“Holy Shit you made it say Rago! That’s hilarious!!! Look at you all ‘Imma hold yo shirt hostage’ and evil like.”
Fair enough. I’ll admit I’m not much of a sentimentalist. Still, seems like this is entirely an emotional problem. Thus, an appropriate response would be in the same court, rather than moving it into the domain of the physical.
Of course Ruth isn’t justified. She’s has the upper hand. There’s a difference.
It’s not that I don’t grasp why Ruth is wrong. I merely think you’re trivializing the the leap that goes from vandalism to assault. One ends in hurt feelings, the other in broken bones.
You see, you’re claiming that beatdowns are fine, whereas vandalism is terrible. I would argue that beatdowns are not at all fine. Beatdowns are a terrible, terrible offense. The fact that Billie has her feeling hurt, damaged pride, and possibly even some bizarre form of existential turmoil does not compare to what she has attempted here.
Nah, she just seemed more frustrated by missing the fight than the raid. If she was a real WoW addict, she’d be living in her parents basement and live on nachos.
(The scary thing is some WoW addicts DO live in their parents’ basement).
when did we find out that Amazi-girl is a WoW addict? I think you are confusing her with Amber, who is a different person. If you keep forgeting, it helps to remember that Amber has Glasses.
And Ruth continues her “worst RA ever” streak by FIST FIGHTING one of her residents. I will give her credit if she protects Billie from administrative consequences after the fight (no matter how it goes) but that will be character credit. There’s no way to come back in terms of being the shittiest RA in the world.
There have been two punches thrown. Ruth attacked first.
Remember how Billie was lying on the ground holding her gut? I’m sure the group of witnesses do.
She doesn’t seem to have gotten all the way up yet, actually.
It wasn’t implied that people were watching until Billie punched Ruth. From my experience with comic works, this typically means they weren’t: nobody was around for Ruth’s hit nor for her letter throwdown and her taunting.
But we’ll have to see when this continues tomorrow.
Too many people in the hallway, too quickly. At a minimum, some of them looked out to see Ruth standing over a gut-clenching Billie, taunting her with the photo and the letter scrap. At that point, Billie’s got support for any claim she makes that Ruth struck first, which means that Ruth can take it to the administration–which in turn seriously limits her options here. She can’t even administer a full-on beat-down without drawing the ire of the school.
We’ll have to see. Honestly, my experience with college dorms is that during class hours the halls are rather empty. People are either in their rooms or in class, so seeing so many people at once is surprising to me.
I didn’t say they saw her throw the punch, I said they witnessed the results. Like I said, Billie still hasn’t gotten all the way up yet in this comic and her glasses are lying on the floor. I’d think that it’s pretty apparent she got hit.
Nah, the worst RA ever was that guy who set up hidden cameras in the girls’ dorm bathrooms, and when called on it said, “Well, if they didn’t want to be filmed, they wouldn’t take their clothes off!”
Have you ever been in a situation where two people are fighting and you can watch? Or seen the victim of a car accident laying in the street with police and an ambulance nearby? These things just… draw people in. It’s morbid, but we can’t look away. Dina is simply succumbing to that same thing.
No, I want Billie to win, too. However, these things rarely turn out the way I want, so I fully expect Ruth to pull something out of her ass, and not have to deal with the consequences of what an unbelievable bongo she’s been.
I believe in David Willis. There will be justice. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon, the mighty hand of karma will strike her down.
I don’t care who wins so long as the loser walks away shaken emotionally. I just want one of these two to question themselves, and the other to have their sense of superiority completely confirmed.
I for one hope that Ruth gets smacked up and then told off. That shit there was crossing a line, and that whole “I’m better than thou and can do what I want” attitude was bound to bite her in the ass sooner or later.
Yea, but Billie has the exact same attitude. It’s not as effective if one person with that way of thinking is the one who does the ass biting. This has to lead to something that bites them both in the ass. Probably Joyce.
She’s kinda got it worse, though. Not only is she trying to have a real life and balance it with WoW, she’s trying to be a superhero too. Somethings just gotta give.
Seriously. Who the hell just punches someone in the middle of a crowded hallway? Time and an effing place. Did no one teach Billie this?
She’s two for two now. She just belts Ruth in a crowded location when she’s practically waiting for it. Is she just mentally incapable of bottling that rage to be unleashed at an opportune moment?
It’s like she’s going barbarian, when what we need is a rogue. Not helping herself at all. When you’re out-leveled and out-geared, it’s time to use your head.
She didn’t consider it at all. That’s the point. It’s a terribly thought out decision, in that absolutely no thought went into it.
I think she could have gotten a lot more mileage for that punch with a lot less consequence, or even have found a better course of action than melee combat, were she to have used her head… at all.
Basically, what it comes down to is that this was a really stupid decision on her part, and likely no good will come of it.
Agree with your barbarian/rogue analogy. From what I’ve seen of Billie in this and other comics, letting her rage cloud her thinking processes is not surprising.
@skye: Good point. No one’s putting forth their best work directly after waking up, let alone after a night of drinking to excess. The energy drinks likely only compound the problem (maybe. Never tried ’em together)
Except that Ruth didn’t throw a punch, she forcefully stopped Billie. It was provocative to be sure, but just like a shove, of if she’d tripped Billie, it doesn’t really count as throwing the first blow.
At the end of the day though it’s an entirely different game for Ruth. The witnesses are an advantage to her, as they testify in her favor. Billie being enraged and vengeance driven was most likely one of the goals behind her actions.
Basically, the difference between Ruth and Billie here is the difference between Leroy Jenkins and a good tank giving a proper taunt. Leroy Jenkins acted stupidly based on passions and got slaughtered as a result. The tank achieved the necessary aggro required for the desired results.
Clotheslining someone so they end up doubled over in pain on the ground is assault. Ruth has no legal right to ‘forcefully stop’ a student. She can yell at them, she can impose whatever sanctions are within her authority, she can be passive-aggressive and make Billie’s life hell, but she initiated physical contact, which means she could easily end up being in a cell. (The reason people use the ‘accidental trip’ bit is precisely because they can claim it was an accident; clotheslining requires deliberate effort, making it clear-cut assault.)
She also bragged about the whole “stolen and damaged property” scheme in that very same crowded hallway. The only way she skates on this is by intimidating the entire group of witnesses.
Hasn’t she intimidated them all? Authority goes a long way.
The clotheslining qualifies in the technical sense the same way that if you tripped them and they busted up their face it technically qualifies.
She has no right to do the clotheslining the same way she has no right to trip Billie or shove her.
At the end of the day though, everyone watching knows that it was Billie who turned this into a fight. All Ruth did was provoke her.
At the end of the day I have a hard time believing her heavy fisted tactics have ever been a secret. The witnesses mean nothing because everyone already knows and does nothing.
Oh, no. No, a shove will land you an assault charge just as surely as a swing. Even the threat of violence you can’t possibly back up can land you charges. Seriously, eighty-year-olds land up in court on assault for making the wrong gesture toward some jerk (though it’s not always a jerk) a third their age.
Given Billie is ALSO someone who is bound to not respond to authority (We’ve already seen Billie has issues dealing with Ruth. She doesn’t like Ruth, she doesn’t want to take orders from her. The only reason she is is for her uniform), so what could would Ruth going “Billie! Come here!” do? Most likely Billie would respond with a “F*ck you!” and kept going for whatever she was late on.
@Zuche: Yes, assault charges are one thing, and I’m sure if this was brought to court all sorts of nasty shit would reflect poorly on both of them, but Ruth moreso than Billie.
This being said, it’s not going to court is it? Like I said, everyone knows about Ruth, and yet they do nothing. That tells me that this is getting settled between Ruth and Billie, and Ruth has all the power. She’s smarter, stronger, more skilled and experienced than Billie. Out-leveled. She has authority, tools at her disposal, and credibility that is unavailable to Billie. Out-geared.
This is not a conflict Billie can win with a head-on approach. The very terrain works in Ruth’s favor. Witnesses are far more inclined to take Ruth’s side of the story. Any clotheslining is likely to be skimmed over, barely mentioned, if at all, in the retelling of the story. Billie’s punch will be retold in vivid detail. The bloody nose, the broken glasses, the “hurt” expression on Ruth’s face. These all make it into the story.
Probably was a gut/self-defense mechanism, she didn’t realize what she was doing until she did it.
At least, that’s how it went the couple times I slapped someone. And yes, the consequences are bad–I’m not at the college anymore. But when you just keep pushing and pushing someone (I was in a bad being bullied situation) something snaps inside and you act without realizing it.
Yeah, that’s the truth of it. I got bullied a lot in the younger years, and I like to think I’ve learned a proportionate level of self control, but not everyone has that. Even the best of us have a snapping point.
At the very least, that seems to be what’s happened here. Billie slipped into a rage, attacked a foe she couldn’t handle, and now she seems to be slipping out just in time to watch and understand the ramifications of her actions.
This being said, Billie snapped after a day and a half of bullying and some minor property damage. That is a freakishly low threshold. Not to mention that it’s not even the first time she’s defaulted to this behavior over the course of this period of time.
Victims of bullies often grow to react in ways that makes the bullies happy. They react negatively, sometimes with their fists and sometimes just taking it.
Billie is the type to react with her fists almost instinctively when she’s angry enough, which is likely caused by her superiority complex that is being challenged and beaten with a baseball bat by Ruth.
Good point. A lot of people can have the same experience and learn entirely different lessons.
I learned essentially not to get pulled into the bully’s rhythm. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve never fought back, but I always avoid conflict when I can, and I never throw the first punch.
Aside from that, I’m a fan of the notion that a good scare will stop them from wanting to choose you over an easier target. People who engage me pretty consistently find they’ve brought a knife to a gun fight so to say. Leave them with scars. Make sure they have a reminder of what happened last time they thought they could make you a victim.
After that, rely on lack of evidence, a good reputation with the authority figures, and your visibly docile nature to get you off the hook. At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that people view you as more suspicious than the publicly violent individual.
Billy’s essentially acting on the same “Stand up to the bully” principle. Her methods are just less refined. As long as she keeps doing what Ruth wants/expects her to do, Ruth has all the cards. You can’t win when she has all the cards.
Of course, your emotional analysis is spot on. This outcome was really unavoidable looking at her personality. You could recreate these circumstances as many times as you wanted and her response would stay the same. It’s practically hardcoded into her.
Huh. I’m a little surprised at the nosebleed. I was under the impression that this world’s Ruth possessed the same superpowers that the alien abductees from the Walkyverse had. Which might still be the case, but I was expecting this comic to reveal Billy with a broken hand and Ruth completely unaffected (aside from damaged glasses).
It’s the internet. If you want to raid at nine in the morning, you can find a timezone or group of people with the appropriate schedules to provide this.
I remember one guild in particular I had was effectively three entirely different groups of people depending on the hour. I don’t know what it says about me that I was well acquainted with all of them, beyond the fact that I have a terribly erratic sleep schedule.
I find that a lot of the guilds that raid in the early mornings are Australian guilds who raid in the middle of the night. But I know very few of them myself.
But yea, a raid at 9 in the morning isn’t hard if you find the right server.
You can also get a lot of success from guild mates who simply lack lives to consume all that pesky time they could spend raiding with you. When a lot of guldies are online seventeen hours a day, it’s pretty easy to find a group at any hour.
Find a good tank who doesn’t sleep and you’ve found a man worthy of whatever amount of crazyness you’ll likely have to put up with.
Torontonians think they’re tough, but in actuality they’re toxic air has made them much feebler than the average human. It’s Science so it must be true.
Leafs fans are only tough in groups. Of course, they’re belligerent and numerous, so they can usually find themselves a group to be in. But without the protection of their sheer numbers, they’re total wimps.
I’m a Sens fan living in Toronto. Now *that* takes toughness. Well, toughness and cuteness. Most people don’t want to get *too* violent in their disagreements with a cute girl, even if they are disagreements of hockey allegiance.
I have to agree, that does. I remember how much I pissed off my family back last year when I was cheering for Montreal for no other reason than they were in the semi-finals and Toronto wasn’t (I don’t care a lot about hockey. I think I’m the anti-Canadian).
Honestly, I find it disappointing how much of a failure the Leafs are, given they are, y’know, the biggest hockey franchise in the league. Leafs games cost more money then any other team.
Man it’s a good thing that Amber turns into Spider-car and not somebody like Amazi-Girl, who by sheer coincidence happens to look so similar to her that Ruth and Billie would instantly identify her on sight. (Especially Ruth could.) But since she turns into Spider-car instead, she’ll be able to retain her secret identity!
Fortunately that doesn’t matter, as Clark Kent IS Superman whereas Amber is not Amazi-Girl. Everyone knows that Amber is Spider-car! (At least, you do if you read Shortpacked!) She really needs to hide her tires better…
I can only pray Ruth gets exactly what horrifying bullies like her deserve: a broken jaw, a trip to the hospital and a life destroying lawsuit. To hell if she has a sob story.
Sadly, in this life, people like her win pretty much on a constant basis.
She should’ve kept up the assault. By pausing to stare in shock at what she’s done, she’s only given Ruth the opportunity to recover and go on the offensive.
Remember: if they don’t go down in one punch, keep punching until they do.
Valid, if she’s gonna take the frontal offense approach, she should at least do it right. Follow that right up with a left, then keep that combo going for as long as you can. Once she’s dazed you can start pounding the gut and any other soft spots you can find.
All a single punch does is politely ask for retaliation.”Excuse me Miss, would you mind providing me with a legitimate excuse for medical leave? It would be ever so much appreciated.”
Billie is gonna get in a lot of trouble for throwing the first punch but if she went to the res life (or whatever) on campus first and said her RA stole stuff from her room, Ruth is screwed…Poor planning Billie, poor planning
Billie did not throw the first punch. Billie did not throw the first punch. The first assault was Ruth clotheslining Billie; at that point, anything Billie does is pretty much guaranteed to be self-defense.
Furthermore, Ruth’s taunts were obviously made in front of numerous witnesses, even if the initial clotheslining wasn’t. There’s no way she walks on this if it actually moves up the authority ladder. Hell, at this point, Billie COULD SUE THE SCHOOL for putting a violent psychopath in a position of authority with improper supervision.
Because of the fact that people could abuse self defense, it can only be applied when certain conditions are met. To sum them up…
1. The defender must only act in terms of defense. Attacking someone a good 30 seconds after they hit you once and have not hit you since does not count as self defense.
2. The defender must attempt to disengage from fighting as early as possible. In other words, the first chance Billie gets to get away, she’d have to.
The first one already doesn’t apply, since Billie’s punch was NOT done as an act of defense since Ruth was no longer hitting her, but rather as a strong offense brought on my anger. A self-defense attack would’ve been if Ruth was trying to hit her still and Billie countered. This isn’t happening.
The second one, well, we’ll see, but Billie’s claim of self defense is gone.
Skye is correct. In the real world, mutual assault charges would be more applicable here.
Nevertheless, Freemage’s assertion about who threw the first punch does apply. It doesn’t matter whether the first blow was struck by a hostile finger poke or shillelagh; assault is assault.
A clothesline isn’t a punch, and it wouldn’t have hurt if Billie had been walking like she should have been. But Billie was running in the halls. All Ruth did was put a firm arm out and let Billie run into it.
That still constitutes assault. A person that intentionally struck you, even just by throwing an arm up in front of you unexpectedly, can be charged. It wouldn’t matter that the arm didn’t hurt you. It wouldn’t even matter if you couldn’t swing your arm hard enough to stop a newborn kitten, let alone another human.
Actually, as physical contact was made, I’m pretty sure it means assault and battery, as the threat alone would be assault. At least, that’s the way I understand it to be here in California
@ Bump ” Lastly, Ruth is rough to make sure her residents know their place in the beginning”
Are you freakin kidding me? Did you seroiusly just say “know thier place”- a college student, whether they act like it or not, is a grown adult. An RA is…what…a whopping 1 to 3 years older? Man, what vast amounts of wisdom they must have at 21:p
I was fortunate enough to have cool, respectful RA’s in college, but if I had one like Ruth, I would have made her life hell. Sorry, no respect bullies here. I feel bad for students who don’t know their rights and get fooled/intimidated into allowing authority figures like Ruth at schools violate them.
What does age have to do with anything? Being adult doesn’t mean you’re at the top of the food chain. Over the course of your life you’ll probably have to serve men half your age.
I seriously don’t see how the lack of an age discrepancy is at all relevant to the concept of knowing your place.
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Oh it is on!
Can’t wait to see Amazi-Girl join the fray. There may be clothes ripping.
If I’ve learned anything from hockey, the first move will be pulling her shirt over her head in prep for uppercuts.
That would be very Tie Domi of her.
So do we want to see Ruth boobs or Billie boobs? We’ve seen Billie boobs in the shower strip, but a second look couldn’t hurt.
Scruffy: Second
Decisions, decisions.
“So do we want to see Ruth boobs or Billie boobs?”
Uhhh….yes?
Or?
What is this or?
AND!
AND is the correct answer or at least it should be.
The question is whether Ruth shelled out the extra money for the Authentic jersey with the fight strap. And, uh, the pads to attach it to, I guess.
At any rate, it looks like Amber’s gonna have to hand out some Five-Minute Majors.
Now, now. We haven’t confirmed that Dinah is Amazi-Girl yet.
or maybe a clothes rack will magically appear between them like when Robin faugh Sarah Palin.. grumble grumble
Seriously awesome stuff always happens while you’re in the middle of raid, then you can’t go see it and you have to get it second hand. It’s enough to make someone want to quit MMOs.
Can you imagine if Minecraft was around when Batman got started? Wouldn’t be a dark knight then, would there?
Oh yeah tell me about it. one time I was in the midst of a raid when a drunken brawl got started outside and I ran to leave the raid for a moment. Claimed it was for the toilet but they banned me from the guild because I saw a drunkard fighting a trash can and get his ass kicked.
my roommate and his friend walked in and both barfed on my bed while i as i was in a raid….it was horrible
This was the last time anyone saw Billie with her Femurs
Oh… snap… Shit’s going down now. Billie must be shakin’ in her boots now!
She does have a “WTF did I just do?” look in the first panel.
She does. It has me excited. I’m hoping we see her fleeing in fear tomorrow.
That’d be boring. Violence is much more interesting.
Snap is what her femurs will do.
Amazi-Girl to the rescue?
Someone call Spider-Car!
It is on! On like Donkey Kong!
Very interesting. Looks like Amazi-Girl will be there soon to keep the peace. Sure is hard living a double life isn’t it Amber…
I approve.
I wholeheartedly approve.
god how i wish i could truley see billies face right now
I wonder how long it will be before Joe hears about this chick fight and kicks himself for not being there.
Now that was a facepunch. Complete with nosebleed, and not the good anime kind, either.
No, instead it’s the good VIOLENT PUNCH kind! 😀
Damn good punch, but the bad news is: Ruth’s still standing and she’s pissed
Bent glasses are bent. Back.
In the last comic I stated that Ruth is my hero. Depending on her actions in the following comics that opinion will live or die. I’m not saying that i know what would have to happen for either outcome to happen, all I hope is that she doesn’t let me down.
From my perspective, Ruth is revelling in another human being’s pain. Laws, morals, and the effects she has on others are all distractions from taking her sadistic pleasures. She has claimed the right to force other people to be her playthings.
Until and unless she is characterized otherwise, the best option is to put her down. She probably has some sob story or another in her background, but if that’s the case then the taint has eaten her. She’s a threat to everyone around her.
Please explain what makes her your hero, so that I may gain perspective.
I’m an RA. I see Ruth as a parody of the position. She gets to do and say the things every RA wants to do at some point during their career because its a comic. So many times are RA’s called to solve problems so stupid we just want to scream. Other times we have to deal with really scary situations, like breaking up a party of twenty drunk strangers. Most of the time though, we have to carry out the bone crushing monotony of administration. I’ve had to let in a locked out resident four times in one day. I’ve had to chase people down to do roommate agreements. It wastes my time, and its stressful. Ruth not only does the job, but she’s unfazed by anger, fear, or frustration. She’s rock solid.
On the subject of Billie…
Billie is narcissistic and anti-social. Normal methods to interact with her won’t work, so forget about asking her to do anything for you. Ruth realizes this immediately and so her interactions with Billie have been abnormal, but effective. She has inspired fear and respect in what will be a big problem as the year continues. You see a sadist messing with an innocent, I see a problem being fixed before it ever has the chance to threaten the rest of the residents in the community.
I’ll have to renounce my position however if Ruth fights back. Judo flips and clotheslines are acceptable, but when its your movement hurting someone else you’ve crossed the line. I want to see Ruth make it apparent how she could expel Billie, or beat her, or set her uniform on fire, and then do something Billie could never do, I want to see Ruth let it go and show a little admiration that Billie had the balls to do it. I want to see her demand she get the roommate agreement and see Billie deliver, and i want the theory that the cut up jersey is fake to be true, and that Billie gets it back. And from that point on maybe Billie might get turned around. Maybe she’ll come to see Ruth as a role model. Maybe Billie will become an RA after redeeming herself. Rose colored glasses aside, I just hope I’m not disappointed.
Thank you for the insights.
As a former RA, Ruth has no excuse for doing what she’s doing. Yes, it can get stressful at times, but if the only way you can handle it is through threats and violence then you have no right being an RA.
Ruth has done NO follow up for the sheets that is HER responsibility to get, she assumed Billie was lying without doing any kind of questioning (Ruth has never seen Sal either so it can be safe to assume that no one does), the only effort she’s done for her job beyond beating people up was finding people for the meeting, and the only reason she did that was because she enjoyed terrorizing people. Most RAs don’t terrorize their students, especially when they realize that the students vastly outnumber you. And she’s destroying any future credit the RAs they’ll get in the years to come will have.
I hope Ruth gets fired. Because she makes RAs look bad, and she’s horrible at her job.
I’d agree with you, except its a comic. Of course no RA in real life could act like that and be called a good RA. But in DoA Mike punches people in the face and we laugh.
You assume Ruth has done no follow up because it hasn’t been depicted, for all we know Ruth has been to the room repeatedly looking for Sal. Also, you say she hasn’t put any effort into her job, but every time we see her thats the only thing she’s been doing. As a former RA, you’d know its required to track down as many of your residents before your first floor meeting, so you cant say Ruth’s reason for doing so is just to terrorize. Lastly, Ruth is rough to make sure her residents know their place in the beginning, but she has been helpful to Dorothy, which shows she’s not a complete sadist like so many people believe she is. She would have chaperoned Joice’s date if she hadn’t been busy “following up” on Billie and Sal’s roomie agreement. Another reason to believe the destruction of the jersey is fake is that it doesn’t take an evening to cut out a letter of a jersey. Photoshopping a picture and stitching a fake letter S would however.
Yes, most RA’s don’t act the way Ruth acts because In real life situations aren’t handled the way she handles them, but in a comic it does, it works, its funny, and I like it.
How close minded a person would have to be to let their first encounter with a person of a certain title influence the way they would see others of that title.
Like Chuck Noris, Ruth doesn’t get stressed, she gets busy. I’ll always laugh, because I’m pretty sure any RA could relate.
“I hate you and your problems.”
Wow, that’s quite well laid out and informed. It also does a great deal to lay out her more noble characteristics and explains the context within which they are noble.
Makes me seem petty by comparison. I just like her because I delight in suffering and admire the efficiency with which she brings it about lol. You can watch it spread as she inflicts in on Billie, the most likely to pass it on to everyone else she interacts with afterwards.
The way she compounds emotional damage with physical damage, and then proceeds to add another layer of emotional damage through her response to Billie’s retaliation, creating this sandwhich of misery which holds itself together and will stay with her long after Ruth has left, is quite remarkable. Everything she does very specifically plays on all of Billie’s weaknesses and insecurity for maximum effect. She’s an artist, and has even gone so far as to achieve a position of power, despite the inherent inconvenience and lack of rewards, for the sole purpose of pursuing her art.
Of course, all that stuff you say about her is really cool too. I especially like the “I hate you and your problems” part. Really relatable. We’ve all thought it at some point:)
Well said! I agree wholeheartedly!
Though to be fair, I can’t stand Billie. I don’t understand why some people like her, since she’s kind of a pompous bongo who pathetically clings to her status as a high school cheerleader like it matters or makes her better than anyone else.
Ruth is a bit of a bully, but at least she’s funny. Like a more interesting Galasso.
You ever been clotheslined? Hurts like a sonofagun. Not to mention the emotional damage she has clearly inflicted via theft and property damage.
Sorry, your argument is invalid.
how so?
Totally invalid!
I think bump’s argument is valid simply on the premise that, well, in all likelihood she’s right in that what Ruth is doing is what a lot of RA’s wish they could do. The job seems rather stressful to me, especially when you have to consider that they have to play on a very thin line. They need to come off as authority figures who you should listen to, and yet they can’t do a lot of the things authority figures can to help problems.
To quote someone from yesterday’s comic:
“The policy where I was working was so strict that putting yourself in the middle of a fight to end it (not fighting back understand, just getting in the middle) would be enough to put you on probation.”
If this was high school, a teacher could step in and not get in trouble. Same with elementary school. Hell, the police could too! But an RA has none of these things. The smallest things could get them in trouble, even if they help stop a situation or problem.
Bump isn’t condoning Ruth’s actions. Bump is saying that they see Ruth as their hero for doing the things that an RA likely wishes they could do given these stresses and that for Ruth to maintain this “hero” status she must choose her next action very carefully.
I don’t see how Billie is SO BAD she deserves to get beaten up and her property stolen and defaced. Yes, she’s snotty and yes, she clings to the high school social structure, but doesn’t anyone else remember how scary the first few days of college were? So she talks down to Walky, who couldn’t care less. So she talks back to Ruth, big frigging deal. It’s really not THAT bad.
And Ruth has supposedly determined that Billie is narcissistic and anti-social to the point of being impossible to treat with any respect or consideration at all from what, exactly? She didn’t want to go to the meeting? She can’t get her roommate to sign a form? Everything she’s done has been a huge overreaction.
Billie has been trying to get the stupid form. She tried to stay up all night to get it. It’s not even her job, it’s Ruth’s job to get it. And now Ruth is keeping her from her classes. Billie really ought to get some administrative help against Ruth, because she’s just been totally abusive so far. I’m sure if it wasn’t the roommate agreement, it would be something just as arbitrary she’d be attacking Billie over.
I could forgive the judo flip from the beginning, since Billie did attack her willingly, but stealing the uniform and beating her up afterward is crossing the line. I’m starting to wonder if Ruth is supposed to have some sort of grudge against cheerleaders that she’s punishing Billie for.
And I don’t care that Ruth was nice to Dorothy. Big whoop, plenty of bullies only target one or two people and treat the rest normally.
Yes. To everything.
Ruth is your hero? What the heck is wrong with you? Do you also enjoy seeing the bully shove little kids into the mud? I don’t give a crap if you’re an RA, what she’s doing should only piss you off more. The fact you actually see it as remotely good makes me pray you lose that RA position before you start electrocuting freshmen for the high it gives you. You should be ashamed if her for the negative stereotype of RA’s she supports, even if it is one common to life in a less severe form. You shouldn’t be praising the psychotic bongo.
Gah, fights are so inconveniently timed, aren’t they, Amber?!
She’s totally going off to change into Spider-car!
In lieu of my gravatar, I guess I should say that hitting Ruth means that Billie likes her.
Well, in the Walkyverse! they’ve slept together…
…just sayin…
Sooooo this fight could possibly break out into lesbionic hate sex? With Roz recording for…posterity?
Scruffy: Second.
Hooray, someone got it right! 😀
I’m hoping this leads to an Amazi-Girl & Billie team-up, which will then in turn lead to Billie becoming Amazi-Girl’s sidekick, Lush Lass.
Y’know, ’cause she drinks a lot.
Wouldn’t that make her really unpredictable/unreliable?
Yeah, but we’re talking about vigilantes who think the best way to fight crime is to dress up in bright colored costumes and punch it. Unpredictable/unreliable is sort of par for the course with that kind of mentality.
I meant more in a Jason Todd-y sorta way. It’s too early in the morning to be making me think about these sorts of things.
It beats the heck out of long, sustained verbal and physical abuse that eventually leads the bullied to choose the “disproportionate revenge” ending that ends with SWAT, body bags, and interrupted daytime programming.
Yeah… we don’t want VT or Columbine on our hands here. This is a comic. This is for teh laughs not teh cries.
You don’t understand. Everything is for teh cries.
Everything.
You do realize this is a comic by David Willis, right?
And in fact, Willis has stated that the “drama tag” is pre-pulled on this one. We’re not in for a laugh riot here.
For some reason I look at Ruth in a Leafs jersey and wanna say “…Ceilidh?”
Old school, man. Old school. I’d love to see Willis go for some serious twistiness here.
Teachers never pronounce my name right.
And then Akuma comes in from out of nowhere and Raging Demons somebody.
You know it’s gonna happen.
What.
the suspence is killing me.
…And i still have perverse sexual lust for Ruth.
As much as Ruth deserved that, you don’t go punching someone wearing a hockey jersey. Especially a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Billie is about to die.
+1 on the ‘leafs jersey thing. Any poseur can wear a Dallas Stars jersey, only a real fan would even bother getting a ‘leafs jersey.
Shit’s going DOWN!
Seeing as how both girls are actually unlikable, I’m hoping our favorite campus superhero beats them both up.
Probably should have thought before she punched…. XD
It’s hard to think when someone is shoving you back into a corner. Had Ruth put some thought into things, she’d have realized she was doing this before she got here.
And then it was on.
Their fight will somehow knock out Amber’s connection, mid-raid, and she will murder them both.
That’s one thing you never do to a nerd.
Actually, if you look at her positioning in the panels, she’s gotten up and moved to the other side of the door in the last one, implying she’s moving towards the closet or other clothing container to change into her Amazi-Girl outfit.
That’s WHY she’s bongoing it had to happen during a raid – ‘cuz now she has to miss yet another raid, all in the name of heroism.
Wow… that brought Dina from behind the door! It must be special!
There is no who’s right here, just a who’s wrongest. Personally, I think it’s Ruth. Given that she only gave Billie half a day to find someone she barely knows, stole from her and vandalized her property, whereas Billie was only acting uppity and did make an attempt to catch her roommate coming home. Even if she had done the sensible thing and waited till she saw Sal again in her morning class, Ruth crossed a serious line.
Billie couldn’t wait until she met Sal in class. She was on the way there when Ruth attacked her.
Ruth is the authority figure and that makes her right.
*Cue the rainbow*
The more you know.
I’d agree with you if she were a responsible authority figure. The moment you start breaking the law, you’re no longer right, regardless of how much authority you have.
That’s the irony of it though. In theory authority figures are subject to the same rules as everyone else, in practice it’s not at all uncommon for them to get away with things that would be unacceptable for anyone else.
See, the joke plays on the juxtaposition between the noble purpose of authority, and vulgar objectives that authority is used to achieve.
Here, the RA is supposed to be an agent of peace and wellbeing. In point of fact though she’s an agent of oppression and suffering.
Creating further juxtaposition between the harsh truth present in the previous dichotomy, and the more pleasant truths that are so formative during early childhood, completes the joke.
I feel this suits the setting, which is commonly associated with coming of age, and the shedding of naive ideals.
TL;DR being an authority figure doesn’t actually make one inherently right. It merely gives them enough power that the distinction is meaningless. This is hilarious.
Screw being a mild-mannered reporter for a top Metropolitan newspaper… Everyone knows that the best secret identity these days is an antisocial college student.
Is it just me, or was anyone else in awe of the amazing bendi-glasses? I mean it looks like she just bent them back into their original shape… like she purposely got glasses that would do this, in preparation for fights.
I’ve had some of those too. There are a few types, there are the flexon frames (which can be broken, I suspect, the number of pairs broken by kid-me while under the it’s unbreakable warranty, contributed to why they stopped that…)
The other kind is very light and made of I think a titanium bromide alloy, and if you’ve seen old glasses with screws, looks like a modern version of those, but with pressed plastic to hold them. (Which comes out way too easily, which is why I don’t have them anymore. The glasses themselves can be broken, but that’s always been the sides.)
Of course, there is always the type that it appears to be: regular (non-bendy) glasses, in which case, she just bent them back into shape, depending on the bridge, is easy enough to do, but it’ll eventually snap.
I noticed that too. It’s all too suspicious.
I have to wonder what Ruth will do next.
My glasses are like that because I used to LARP. So I guess that counts as being in preparation for a fight, but not really.
The image of Ruth dressed up as a wizard (mickey mouse in fantasia style), throwing magic missiles and chain lightnings at men dressed in tin foil armor holding foam weapons has me laughing now. Not gonna be able to free myself from the idea of Ruth the Larper.
I… I pray so much that Willis reads this comment and goes “I’m doing that” and puts it in at some point!
Ruth looks… almost ready to cry, not sure if that’s intentional or not. If so, excellent subtlety there, Willis.
I honestly see Joyce, Sal, and Mike interrupting this, actually, not Amazi-Girl.
Joyce, Sal and Mike are in class.
I just hope Amazi-Girl comes in on the right side.
I think she’s gonna beat them both into the ground for interrupting her raid time.
Much as I like Billie, I support this. Beatdowns are fine, vandalism is not.
Wait, wut? If she’d vandalized something valuable that would be one thing. Smashing a computer or keying a car. Vandalizing a shirt though, I simply must view as the lesser offense. That’s the kind of thing a classier individual would laugh off.
“Holy Shit you made it say Rago! That’s hilarious!!! Look at you all ‘Imma hold yo shirt hostage’ and evil like.”
If it were “just a shirt,” as you say, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. In that case, it’s a petty crime that most people wouldn’t charge.
But this is not just a shirt and your inability to recognize that seems to indicate that you have not had something that was sentimental.
I don’t know why you continue to say that Ruth is justified here.
Fair enough. I’ll admit I’m not much of a sentimentalist. Still, seems like this is entirely an emotional problem. Thus, an appropriate response would be in the same court, rather than moving it into the domain of the physical.
Of course Ruth isn’t justified. She’s has the upper hand. There’s a difference.
It’s not that I don’t grasp why Ruth is wrong. I merely think you’re trivializing the the leap that goes from vandalism to assault. One ends in hurt feelings, the other in broken bones.
You see, you’re claiming that beatdowns are fine, whereas vandalism is terrible. I would argue that beatdowns are not at all fine. Beatdowns are a terrible, terrible offense. The fact that Billie has her feeling hurt, damaged pride, and possibly even some bizarre form of existential turmoil does not compare to what she has attempted here.
I JUST realized that Ruth is wearing a Maple Leafs jersey!
Yep. She trully has embraced the dark side of the Force. It is too late for her now… :p
Hey, I just thought of something, which side will Amazi-girl take? Or will she just beat them both up?
I’m gonna say both. You don’t mess with a WoW addict’s raid time.
Nah, she just seemed more frustrated by missing the fight than the raid. If she was a real WoW addict, she’d be living in her parents basement and live on nachos.
(The scary thing is some WoW addicts DO live in their parents’ basement).
I’m a WoW addict. I don’t live of nachos and live in a basement. If you mess with my raid time, I cut you. 🙂
when did we find out that Amazi-girl is a WoW addict? I think you are confusing her with Amber, who is a different person. If you keep forgeting, it helps to remember that Amber has Glasses.
I hear boss fight music, specifically the one from Final Fantasy VII……… it feels right
And Ruth continues her “worst RA ever” streak by FIST FIGHTING one of her residents. I will give her credit if she protects Billie from administrative consequences after the fight (no matter how it goes) but that will be character credit. There’s no way to come back in terms of being the shittiest RA in the world.
I dunno, while it’s implied that they’re “fighting” it might not have gone beyond that one punch yet.
True, for all we know Ruth is going to defuse this by walking away and using the punch as further incentive for the form.
There have been two punches thrown. Ruth attacked first.
Remember how Billie was lying on the ground holding her gut? I’m sure the group of witnesses do.
She doesn’t seem to have gotten all the way up yet, actually.
It wasn’t implied that people were watching until Billie punched Ruth. From my experience with comic works, this typically means they weren’t: nobody was around for Ruth’s hit nor for her letter throwdown and her taunting.
But we’ll have to see when this continues tomorrow.
Too many people in the hallway, too quickly. At a minimum, some of them looked out to see Ruth standing over a gut-clenching Billie, taunting her with the photo and the letter scrap. At that point, Billie’s got support for any claim she makes that Ruth struck first, which means that Ruth can take it to the administration–which in turn seriously limits her options here. She can’t even administer a full-on beat-down without drawing the ire of the school.
We’ll have to see. Honestly, my experience with college dorms is that during class hours the halls are rather empty. People are either in their rooms or in class, so seeing so many people at once is surprising to me.
I didn’t say they saw her throw the punch, I said they witnessed the results. Like I said, Billie still hasn’t gotten all the way up yet in this comic and her glasses are lying on the floor. I’d think that it’s pretty apparent she got hit.
Nah, the worst RA ever was that guy who set up hidden cameras in the girls’ dorm bathrooms, and when called on it said, “Well, if they didn’t want to be filmed, they wouldn’t take their clothes off!”
I can relate Amber. I can relate.
Why… in God’s name, is anti-social Dina leaving the room for something as violent as a fight? That’s just… weird.
Have you ever been in a situation where two people are fighting and you can watch? Or seen the victim of a car accident laying in the street with police and an ambulance nearby? These things just… draw people in. It’s morbid, but we can’t look away. Dina is simply succumbing to that same thing.
I know, right?
is it horrible of me that i want billy to win? XD
I don’t see why it would be…
No. Not in the least.
No, I want Billie to win, too. However, these things rarely turn out the way I want, so I fully expect Ruth to pull something out of her ass, and not have to deal with the consequences of what an unbelievable bongo she’s been.
I believe in David Willis. There will be justice. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon, the mighty hand of karma will strike her down.
I believe this is the first time I’ve heard I believe in David Willis as opposed to a collective damn you Willis.
We should correct that…
DAMN YOU WILLIS!
I’m saving that for if Ruth skates away from this clean, without anyone showing her up.
I don’t care who wins so long as the loser walks away shaken emotionally. I just want one of these two to question themselves, and the other to have their sense of superiority completely confirmed.
TORONTO ALL THE WAY!
…. You, sir, win an internet. I <3 you.
Pfft. Sens FTW. I don’t care if they *are* last in the east right now, they’re *still* miles better than the Maple Laughs.
I for one hope that Ruth gets smacked up and then told off. That shit there was crossing a line, and that whole “I’m better than thou and can do what I want” attitude was bound to bite her in the ass sooner or later.
Yea, but Billie has the exact same attitude. It’s not as effective if one person with that way of thinking is the one who does the ass biting. This has to lead to something that bites them both in the ass. Probably Joyce.
I felt for Amber when she said it always happens in the middle of a raid. Everything happens when you try to do any raiding and have a real life.
She’s kinda got it worse, though. Not only is she trying to have a real life and balance it with WoW, she’s trying to be a superhero too. Somethings just gotta give.
Now class, the lesson to be learned here is that violence is never the answer.
Next unit we go into why violence isn’t the answer, namely witnesses and enraged vengeance driven victims, and how these can be avoided.
Seriously. Who the hell just punches someone in the middle of a crowded hallway? Time and an effing place. Did no one teach Billie this?
She’s two for two now. She just belts Ruth in a crowded location when she’s practically waiting for it. Is she just mentally incapable of bottling that rage to be unleashed at an opportune moment?
It’s like she’s going barbarian, when what we need is a rogue. Not helping herself at all. When you’re out-leveled and out-geared, it’s time to use your head.
You’re making the assumption that Billie fully considered her decision to punch Ruth in the face. Or even partially considered it.
She didn’t consider it at all. That’s the point. It’s a terribly thought out decision, in that absolutely no thought went into it.
I think she could have gotten a lot more mileage for that punch with a lot less consequence, or even have found a better course of action than melee combat, were she to have used her head… at all.
Basically, what it comes down to is that this was a really stupid decision on her part, and likely no good will come of it.
Agree with your barbarian/rogue analogy. From what I’ve seen of Billie in this and other comics, letting her rage cloud her thinking processes is not surprising.
Don’t forget she’s probably drunk and/or hung over right now, so her capacity to think is below her average.
@skye: Good point. No one’s putting forth their best work directly after waking up, let alone after a night of drinking to excess. The energy drinks likely only compound the problem (maybe. Never tried ’em together)
Ha, you’re last paragraph just described a party I’m running. I swear they set off every trap in the last dungeon I ran them through.
And Barbarian kinda fits her, now I’m wondering what the other characters would be.
Teach *Billie* this? I assumed you were talking about Ruth.
Y’know, the one who threw the first punch in the middle of the hallway and is now being attacked by her enraged vengeance-driven victim…
Except that Ruth didn’t throw a punch, she forcefully stopped Billie. It was provocative to be sure, but just like a shove, of if she’d tripped Billie, it doesn’t really count as throwing the first blow.
At the end of the day though it’s an entirely different game for Ruth. The witnesses are an advantage to her, as they testify in her favor. Billie being enraged and vengeance driven was most likely one of the goals behind her actions.
Basically, the difference between Ruth and Billie here is the difference between Leroy Jenkins and a good tank giving a proper taunt. Leroy Jenkins acted stupidly based on passions and got slaughtered as a result. The tank achieved the necessary aggro required for the desired results.
Clotheslining someone so they end up doubled over in pain on the ground is assault. Ruth has no legal right to ‘forcefully stop’ a student. She can yell at them, she can impose whatever sanctions are within her authority, she can be passive-aggressive and make Billie’s life hell, but she initiated physical contact, which means she could easily end up being in a cell. (The reason people use the ‘accidental trip’ bit is precisely because they can claim it was an accident; clotheslining requires deliberate effort, making it clear-cut assault.)
She also bragged about the whole “stolen and damaged property” scheme in that very same crowded hallway. The only way she skates on this is by intimidating the entire group of witnesses.
Hasn’t she intimidated them all? Authority goes a long way.
The clotheslining qualifies in the technical sense the same way that if you tripped them and they busted up their face it technically qualifies.
She has no right to do the clotheslining the same way she has no right to trip Billie or shove her.
At the end of the day though, everyone watching knows that it was Billie who turned this into a fight. All Ruth did was provoke her.
At the end of the day I have a hard time believing her heavy fisted tactics have ever been a secret. The witnesses mean nothing because everyone already knows and does nothing.
Oh, no. No, a shove will land you an assault charge just as surely as a swing. Even the threat of violence you can’t possibly back up can land you charges. Seriously, eighty-year-olds land up in court on assault for making the wrong gesture toward some jerk (though it’s not always a jerk) a third their age.
Given Billie is ALSO someone who is bound to not respond to authority (We’ve already seen Billie has issues dealing with Ruth. She doesn’t like Ruth, she doesn’t want to take orders from her. The only reason she is is for her uniform), so what could would Ruth going “Billie! Come here!” do? Most likely Billie would respond with a “F*ck you!” and kept going for whatever she was late on.
@Zuche: Yes, assault charges are one thing, and I’m sure if this was brought to court all sorts of nasty shit would reflect poorly on both of them, but Ruth moreso than Billie.
This being said, it’s not going to court is it? Like I said, everyone knows about Ruth, and yet they do nothing. That tells me that this is getting settled between Ruth and Billie, and Ruth has all the power. She’s smarter, stronger, more skilled and experienced than Billie. Out-leveled. She has authority, tools at her disposal, and credibility that is unavailable to Billie. Out-geared.
This is not a conflict Billie can win with a head-on approach. The very terrain works in Ruth’s favor. Witnesses are far more inclined to take Ruth’s side of the story. Any clotheslining is likely to be skimmed over, barely mentioned, if at all, in the retelling of the story. Billie’s punch will be retold in vivid detail. The bloody nose, the broken glasses, the “hurt” expression on Ruth’s face. These all make it into the story.
Out-leveled and Out-geared was a Reaally important part of the equation.
Probably was a gut/self-defense mechanism, she didn’t realize what she was doing until she did it.
At least, that’s how it went the couple times I slapped someone. And yes, the consequences are bad–I’m not at the college anymore. But when you just keep pushing and pushing someone (I was in a bad being bullied situation) something snaps inside and you act without realizing it.
Yeah, that’s the truth of it. I got bullied a lot in the younger years, and I like to think I’ve learned a proportionate level of self control, but not everyone has that. Even the best of us have a snapping point.
At the very least, that seems to be what’s happened here. Billie slipped into a rage, attacked a foe she couldn’t handle, and now she seems to be slipping out just in time to watch and understand the ramifications of her actions.
This being said, Billie snapped after a day and a half of bullying and some minor property damage. That is a freakishly low threshold. Not to mention that it’s not even the first time she’s defaulted to this behavior over the course of this period of time.
Victims of bullies often grow to react in ways that makes the bullies happy. They react negatively, sometimes with their fists and sometimes just taking it.
Billie is the type to react with her fists almost instinctively when she’s angry enough, which is likely caused by her superiority complex that is being challenged and beaten with a baseball bat by Ruth.
Good point. A lot of people can have the same experience and learn entirely different lessons.
I learned essentially not to get pulled into the bully’s rhythm. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve never fought back, but I always avoid conflict when I can, and I never throw the first punch.
Aside from that, I’m a fan of the notion that a good scare will stop them from wanting to choose you over an easier target. People who engage me pretty consistently find they’ve brought a knife to a gun fight so to say. Leave them with scars. Make sure they have a reminder of what happened last time they thought they could make you a victim.
After that, rely on lack of evidence, a good reputation with the authority figures, and your visibly docile nature to get you off the hook. At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that people view you as more suspicious than the publicly violent individual.
Billy’s essentially acting on the same “Stand up to the bully” principle. Her methods are just less refined. As long as she keeps doing what Ruth wants/expects her to do, Ruth has all the cards. You can’t win when she has all the cards.
Of course, your emotional analysis is spot on. This outcome was really unavoidable looking at her personality. You could recreate these circumstances as many times as you wanted and her response would stay the same. It’s practically hardcoded into her.
Huh. I’m a little surprised at the nosebleed. I was under the impression that this world’s Ruth possessed the same superpowers that the alien abductees from the Walkyverse had. Which might still be the case, but I was expecting this comic to reveal Billy with a broken hand and Ruth completely unaffected (aside from damaged glasses).
Also, that crowd showed up quick.
Wait… Raid early in the morning?…
Does she paly korean servers or something
Or just a cover to change into Amazi-girl
It’s the internet. If you want to raid at nine in the morning, you can find a timezone or group of people with the appropriate schedules to provide this.
I remember one guild in particular I had was effectively three entirely different groups of people depending on the hour. I don’t know what it says about me that I was well acquainted with all of them, beyond the fact that I have a terribly erratic sleep schedule.
You too, huh?
I find that a lot of the guilds that raid in the early mornings are Australian guilds who raid in the middle of the night. But I know very few of them myself.
But yea, a raid at 9 in the morning isn’t hard if you find the right server.
You can also get a lot of success from guild mates who simply lack lives to consume all that pesky time they could spend raiding with you. When a lot of guldies are online seventeen hours a day, it’s pretty easy to find a group at any hour.
Find a good tank who doesn’t sleep and you’ve found a man worthy of whatever amount of crazyness you’ll likely have to put up with.
Oh yes!
This is gonna be awesome! 😀
Billie, why the fuck would you mess with someone wearing a Maple Leafs jersey? Especially if it’s a Colton Orr Maple Leafs jersey.
Because Toronto Sucks.
It’s true. Three Dead Trolls in a Baggy said so.
Torontonians think they’re tough, but in actuality they’re toxic air has made them much feebler than the average human. It’s Science so it must be true.
*their
As a Torontonian… hmm… do I agree with this?
I mean, yes, Toronto sucks, but I’ve seen some pretty tough people, especially when it came to Maple Leafs fans.
If Ruth is indeed a Maple Leafs fan, the worst Billie could’ve done was get blood on that shirt. Then she’d be a dead Billie.
But otherwise, yea, Toronto sucks and so do the Maple Leafs
Of course Toronto sucks. It’s the gravity, you see, drawing everyone in.
I don’t call it Newfoundland Mecca for nothing.
Ok, that one I gotta take offense to.
Comparing Newfoundland to Toronto is just unfair. Newfoundland is so much better and cleaner!
Leafs fans are only tough in groups. Of course, they’re belligerent and numerous, so they can usually find themselves a group to be in. But without the protection of their sheer numbers, they’re total wimps.
I’m a Sens fan living in Toronto. Now *that* takes toughness. Well, toughness and cuteness. Most people don’t want to get *too* violent in their disagreements with a cute girl, even if they are disagreements of hockey allegiance.
I have to agree, that does. I remember how much I pissed off my family back last year when I was cheering for Montreal for no other reason than they were in the semi-finals and Toronto wasn’t (I don’t care a lot about hockey. I think I’m the anti-Canadian).
Honestly, I find it disappointing how much of a failure the Leafs are, given they are, y’know, the biggest hockey franchise in the league. Leafs games cost more money then any other team.
The moment I saw the last panel, the music for Mortal Kombat started. This is going to be good.
VS
FINISH HER!
Gee, now I wish I had the free time to do quick animations, but I’m having trouble finishing drawings at the moment.
There will be blood it might be yours
so go kill someone signed, Badhorse?
I will be sorely disappointed if this does not result in a shirt being ripped off.
Billie’s shirt, to be precise.
LOL! A Leafs jersey! It’s no Wonder Billie landed her first blow so easily. 🙂
That’s almost a look of remorse in Amber’s eyes for being stuck in WoW (or whatever MMO she’s playing these days).
Maybe its time to pull the plug. Or will Amazi-girl pull the plug for her?
Well Ruth has the makes of a super villain so maybe she will be Amazi-Girl’s Arch Nemesis.
This is a *much* better alibi than always having to rush off to cover a story for the paper, I must say.
Man it’s a good thing that Amber turns into Spider-car and not somebody like Amazi-Girl, who by sheer coincidence happens to look so similar to her that Ruth and Billie would instantly identify her on sight. (Especially Ruth could.) But since she turns into Spider-car instead, she’ll be able to retain her secret identity!
But Amber wears glasses, and Amazi-Girl doesn’t. It worked for Clark Kent!
Fortunately that doesn’t matter, as Clark Kent IS Superman whereas Amber is not Amazi-Girl. Everyone knows that Amber is Spider-car! (At least, you do if you read Shortpacked!) She really needs to hide her tires better…
“Those are her boobs.”
I can only pray Ruth gets exactly what horrifying bullies like her deserve: a broken jaw, a trip to the hospital and a life destroying lawsuit. To hell if she has a sob story.
Sadly, in this life, people like her win pretty much on a constant basis.
Why do they deserve that? Just because they prey on the weak and the helpless?
Yes? For precisely that reason? I don’t understand what you don’t understand.
Tongue in cheek humor. Maybe I should have used an emoticon to make it more clear the spirit in which this was meant.
Ooo, big mistake Billie.
She should’ve kept up the assault. By pausing to stare in shock at what she’s done, she’s only given Ruth the opportunity to recover and go on the offensive.
Remember: if they don’t go down in one punch, keep punching until they do.
Valid, if she’s gonna take the frontal offense approach, she should at least do it right. Follow that right up with a left, then keep that combo going for as long as you can. Once she’s dazed you can start pounding the gut and any other soft spots you can find.
All a single punch does is politely ask for retaliation.”Excuse me Miss, would you mind providing me with a legitimate excuse for medical leave? It would be ever so much appreciated.”
Ah, now I get it! Ruth was the narrator of “The Hockey Sweater”! It all makes sense now.
Stupid Monsieur Eaton. This is all his fault.
I am so glad that RA got here face punched, she was in serious need of a reality check! Woo Hoo!
Lol. Yes, she certainly seems to have been brought back to reality by that punch.
… seriously? Do you think this initiated some manner of paradigm shift? I’m not seeing it.
Amazi-Girl: “I’m being denied my epic shoulders for this shit, you two better have a good reason for starting it!”
*wonders what race/class Amber plays*
hope it’s alliance! 😛
Amen to that. My guess is a human warlock. She seems the caster type.
i can see it, she’d max out dps and kill anyone who tries to out dps her
Billie is gonna get in a lot of trouble for throwing the first punch but if she went to the res life (or whatever) on campus first and said her RA stole stuff from her room, Ruth is screwed…Poor planning Billie, poor planning
Billie did not throw the first punch. Billie did not throw the first punch. The first assault was Ruth clotheslining Billie; at that point, anything Billie does is pretty much guaranteed to be self-defense.
Furthermore, Ruth’s taunts were obviously made in front of numerous witnesses, even if the initial clotheslining wasn’t. There’s no way she walks on this if it actually moves up the authority ladder. Hell, at this point, Billie COULD SUE THE SCHOOL for putting a violent psychopath in a position of authority with improper supervision.
Billie. Did. NOT. Throw. The. First. Punch.
Sadly, self defense doesn’t work that nicely.
Because of the fact that people could abuse self defense, it can only be applied when certain conditions are met. To sum them up…
1. The defender must only act in terms of defense. Attacking someone a good 30 seconds after they hit you once and have not hit you since does not count as self defense.
2. The defender must attempt to disengage from fighting as early as possible. In other words, the first chance Billie gets to get away, she’d have to.
The first one already doesn’t apply, since Billie’s punch was NOT done as an act of defense since Ruth was no longer hitting her, but rather as a strong offense brought on my anger. A self-defense attack would’ve been if Ruth was trying to hit her still and Billie countered. This isn’t happening.
The second one, well, we’ll see, but Billie’s claim of self defense is gone.
Skye is correct. In the real world, mutual assault charges would be more applicable here.
Nevertheless, Freemage’s assertion about who threw the first punch does apply. It doesn’t matter whether the first blow was struck by a hostile finger poke or shillelagh; assault is assault.
Lol. Yes. Because if you repeat it that makes it more correct^^
Doesn’t make it less correct.
True, true. Generally saying it once is sufficient though.
i forgot about that, sweet, she didn’t hahaha
A clothesline isn’t a punch, and it wouldn’t have hurt if Billie had been walking like she should have been. But Billie was running in the halls. All Ruth did was put a firm arm out and let Billie run into it.
That still constitutes assault. A person that intentionally struck you, even just by throwing an arm up in front of you unexpectedly, can be charged. It wouldn’t matter that the arm didn’t hurt you. It wouldn’t even matter if you couldn’t swing your arm hard enough to stop a newborn kitten, let alone another human.
Actually, as physical contact was made, I’m pretty sure it means assault and battery, as the threat alone would be assault. At least, that’s the way I understand it to be here in California
Let this be a lesson. If a woman is wearing a Leafs Sweater, YOU DON’T START CRAP WITH THEM!
She *didn’t*.
@ Bump ” Lastly, Ruth is rough to make sure her residents know their place in the beginning”
Are you freakin kidding me? Did you seroiusly just say “know thier place”- a college student, whether they act like it or not, is a grown adult. An RA is…what…a whopping 1 to 3 years older? Man, what vast amounts of wisdom they must have at 21:p
I was fortunate enough to have cool, respectful RA’s in college, but if I had one like Ruth, I would have made her life hell. Sorry, no respect bullies here. I feel bad for students who don’t know their rights and get fooled/intimidated into allowing authority figures like Ruth at schools violate them.
What does age have to do with anything? Being adult doesn’t mean you’re at the top of the food chain. Over the course of your life you’ll probably have to serve men half your age.
I seriously don’t see how the lack of an age discrepancy is at all relevant to the concept of knowing your place.
Let’s see, who to root for…
Billie:
* Drunk
* Snob
* Threw the first punch
Ruth:
* Bully
* Thief
* Vandal
There’s no good guy here, really. So let’s just hope as much clothing gets ripped as possible.
Good and evil are relative. Catfights are a universal truth.
No go back and look, Ruth socked her in the gut first.
over 200 comments in under 24 hours. That might be a record.
We’re just so full of RAGE.
;P
no wait soory that was yesterday.
So, I can now see the face of the dark skinned girl. I don’t know if I’m happy or dissapointed she’s not Sydney…
The answer is obvious; get Ruth and Mike to have multiple bouts of hate-sex and maybe everyone else will be better off.
What the heck is Amber doing raiding in the morning? Is she with a euro guild or something? -.-
“brb bio”
That would have gone badly if the glass broke.
Woot! Maple Leafs!
First blood!
The Sylvester Stallone references are coming fast and hard now eh.
Kick her ass billie she ls a toronto fan!!!!!
And she just stands there like it was nothing! Oh damn she about to get her ass wooped