Alt text references an event where then-President Bush posed for a very rah-rah military photo op with a banner declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”, referring to war in Iraq, around the time people were beginning to become disillusioned with the war.
I seem to recall something like that. I wasn’t trying to exhaustively or precisely explain the situation, just write enough that someone who was like… born in 1998 or something could get the basic joke and look up the details themselves. I’m not even sure if the photo op was about the war in Iraq. It might have been Afghanistan still.
My characters don’t really age, so as time passes for us, their birth year increases by one every year. In two years’ time, that birth year for most of them will be 1998, as it is currently 1996.
Wait… that means they’re already younger than I am.
And I started reading this thing in 2011 when I was 15-16.
I started it in high school and now I know more about college life than they do.
Damn Willis at this rate if I eat right and the cost of healthcare drops I might be able to see they’re midterms. Assuming your children want to carry on the family webcomic.
The Bush administration was celebrating the fact that we’d won the war — public opinion hadn’t started to sour, yet — and they were…well, wrong. So they changed what the whole debacle meant.
Roughly half of our politicians in America are Cory Bernardi’s (yes I just googled that name). Most of them are Republicans, but there’s a couple wackjob Dems too.
How can you not follow THAT political blunder? YOU WERE PART OF IT – Coalition of the Willing, etc.
Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 9 April 2003. These were the United States (148,000), United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194). 36 other countries were involved in its aftermath.
Except is wasn’t, that was the post-rationalisation after the shitstorm went down. US presidents don’t fly out to aircraft carriers and hold massive press conferences every time it’s their time to cycle out of theatre.
Actually, just about everybody who had a smidgen of common sense knew it, but apparently there were no people with this trait in the Bush administration. Including (most especially) Bush.
That was a LIE concocted by Bush apologists long after the fact in an attempt to explain away the hubris and stupidity. A bald-faced LIE meant to sow doubt about the reality of Bush’s blunder; easily checked and discovered to be false, but useful as an alternative story for those too azy or ideologically blinded to bother checking.
Given the snail pace of this comic, the fact that we even have a storyline where they speak to each other within a month instead of in like 2025 is unexpected enough.
Yeah, no kidding. This little exchange already is working against a lot of the most toxic stuff from their big argument. I know I’m making a terrible mistake but part of me feels a little more optimistic about their prospects than before that big blowup. My heart flutters with hope for a mutually supportive relationship, rather than codependency.
Nah, I wouldn’t categorize him as a catalyst. He’s just the solvent that creates the conditions necessary for the reaction to take place (kind of like water).
Walky brought the two together in one place so they can react. He does not surround, outnumber, or dissociate them. They could have theoretically reacted without his involvement, but he accelerated the process. He is totally more catalyst than solvent.
For real. I know people are all worked up about two girls making out, but it’s nice to have some actual conflict resolution/character developement first.
Ehh that came out harsh. I just think it’s nice to see a romantic relationship between two girls that gets an actual storyline, you know? Not just a hookup.
For a second I thought Ruth’s self-correction “I’m doing f– …I’m doing okay-ish” represented a conscious lowering of her barriers for Billie. (It might still be, but that’s not where I’m going with this.)
…Then I realized, well, Billie just said “I’m fine” over and over and was obviously lying, so Ruth probably didn’t want to phrase her own answer exactly the same way. Welp.
If this encounter is over, that was… well, remarkably less painful than expected. Ruth’s probably not ready to forgive Billie yet, but… it’s a start. Ruth’s stopped drinking, and Billie had a hand in that, so… she did something helpful for someone she cares about. That’s certainly worth a smile after yesterday’s existential crisis.
I think it’s a little of column a, little of column b. Picking a different word because she’s heard how it rings hollow, but also being a bit more honest because she’s chastising Billie for lying about the same thing.
Ruth is not nicknamed Ruthless for nothing. She may still care about Billie, but she is not in any way getting involved with her again at his point.
Billie’s faced some very hard truths about herself. She has no friends and feels she’s accomplished nothing. Now maybe she can wonder why, and start working on fixing it.
I’m glad that it went as sorta well as it did. Ruth has quit drinking, Billie seems really glad for her. That’s a good thing.
You want Ruth back Billy? Go to AA, you can’t stop on your own, you proved that already.
Billie appears to be one of those people who peaked in High School, and the rest of their life is just a downward spiral. However it is possible to overcome that and actually have a decent life.
The night before yesterday in comic-time, Billie was sitting outside Ruth’s door obviously drunk. If it’s withdrawal, it has set in both quick and in force.
It could also just be stress, anxiety, and/or sleeplessness caused by the former two; I think the off-colour scratches under Billie’s eyes are supposed to be dark rings.
I seem to recall Ruth mentioning that she was feeling effects only a couple days after she stopped drinking. If these girls drink as much as they are implied too, a couple days might be enough.
Withdraw is my guess, personally. At least, I HOPE that Billie is actually learning something, here. I really want Ruth X Billie to work ;~;
Um, yeah…no. Alcohol withdrawal, like most psychoactive drug withdrawals, is acutely uncomfortable when you do it abruptly. In fact, if you’re as physically dependent as Billie is, going cold turkey will make you…well, so sick that you’ll look like a cold turkey. (That’s where the term comes from.) If she does stop drinking suddenly, she’s going to be very sick for several days.
Poor Ruth wants someone to help her deal with her alcohol issues. Billie, on the other hand, isn’t ready to make that commitment to alcohol avoidance. Ruth needs to find someone more experienced in the ways of alcohol avoidance to help her get through the early patches like Leslie Bean.
And by alcohol avoidance, I mean of course something else.
In my experience, even the most slovenly of dudes will clean everything spotless or near-spotless when a girl they’re interested in comes over. Those sheets are probably clean for once.
The next chapter is titled “When Somebody Loved Me”. I predict it’s going to be an Amber-centric story arc and will explore the backstory of the relationship between Ethan and herself that ended up with the aborted post-prom rendezvous.
I dont like Ruth. She isnt honest with herself, she is overly hostle to others to hide her own vulnerabilities. She is verbally abusive to people, especially Billie. She stalked/hyperfocused on Billie which reminded me of a more socialized/well thought out version of Walky when he was infatuated with Dorothy. I see many warning signs that a relationship between Ruth and Billie would become abusive. Ruth is verbally abusive, she gets jealous (hense the jabs about Billie and Walky), she instills fear in people, she uses her emotional lability against others, she has a history of alcohol abuse, blames others for things she does (distroying Billie’s outfit and blaming her because she hadnt finished the roomate agreement), she clearly doesnt respect Billie’s boundaries.
I get that Ruth is hurt by the loss of her parents and that she uses fear and anger to keep others away. She still is responcible for not victimizing people, and in particular Billie. I know she didn’t seek this interaction out but i think they have been pretty toxic for one another. Billie basing all her self worth on helping Ruth quit drinking is only going to get them more codependant.
This is the weirdest pairing in the whole strip. As you say, these two would be classically toxic to one another in real life — yet the fandom (including, to be fair, me) ships Ruthingsworth for all it’s worth, despite knowing that fact about them.
I think this is the one pairing people WANT to see a happy ending, even though there’s the omnipresent dread that it’s going to end in a fiery explosion. They’re both selfish, emotionally stunted people who are only connected by mutual antagonism.
They also appear to be the only characters in the comic who seem to actually care about what the other is doing. Yes, Billie bullies Walky into showing concern by literally appearing in his lap, but he doesn’t seem THAT interested to go out of his way under normal circumstances. Ruth seems to be even more distant, with dorm residents unwilling to check up on her even when its more work for themselves not to (the trash chute).
They’re off to a rocky start, sure. But the audience wants to see them heal and grow, and right now, it looks like the only cast members who have a chance to do that is themselves.
Well, you need drama for couples to be interesting but I think this ship shouldn’t sail to be honest. I think both would be happier with other partners but I’d like to see them act on their attraction. Then again, I wanted Leslie to be with someone other than Robin so what do I know?
What’s interesting is the Robin in this strip isn’t a very nice person from all we’ve seen. She’s a massive hypocrite and kind of slimy as a politician. Robin’s status as a Senator was a joke in the show while it’s clear she’s focused on this.
I doubt we’ll see much of the Leslie/Robin relationship except through Roz’s eyes. (a) in the eyes of #damnyouwillis, Robin and Leslie have already been the central characters in Shortpacked, and (b) he wants to look at a cast of characters he himself loves through a different set of eyes. Leslie and Robin are (older) adults in a young adults’ world.
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Hehe, Smothering.
Smothering leads to motorboating.
And Billie is an optimal vessel.
She does run on ethanol. 😀
I thought Joyce ran on Ethanol. … No wait, she runs on Diesel. Vin Diesel.
I heard Billies get get great mileage too!
I heard Billies were kinda high-maintenance.
Lots of PM involved, but so long as the PM gets done in timely manner repair jobs are few, so it balances out.
Ethanol damages motorboat engines.
Billie seems pretty damaged to me, so the metaphor fits.
I have no idea what this metaphor is supposed to be.
The metaphor is that too much booze will fuck you up.
And a motorboat is a kind of ship.
Wouldn’t that be the other way around?
Panel 5 Billie: “So you’ve got booze you don’t need, then?”
WAIT A MINUTE!
If the alt text is right… this semester has at least 5 years to go!!
Billie does care.
1/64 of a care, but it’s a care.
I think Billie’s problem is that she cares a bit too much. She wouldn’t be on this downward spiral if she didn’t care about Ruth.
Audience might be too young for that reference…
ohmygoshIhateitwhenpeopledothis WHAT REFERENCE
oh wait no the alt text okay
I wouldn’t have pictured Ruth as a Bush support, well maybe a ‘bush’ supporter…
“I love it when people say there’s a reference and don’t tell anyone what the reference is.”
– Absolutely No One, 2014
Alt text references an event where then-President Bush posed for a very rah-rah military photo op with a banner declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”, referring to war in Iraq, around the time people were beginning to become disillusioned with the war.
Wasn’t the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner originally referring to something else – the end of the carrier’s mission or something like that?
I seem to recall something like that. I wasn’t trying to exhaustively or precisely explain the situation, just write enough that someone who was like… born in 1998 or something could get the basic joke and look up the details themselves. I’m not even sure if the photo op was about the war in Iraq. It might have been Afghanistan still.
People born in 1998 are old enough to read this strip?
(mental calculation)
Oh God, I’m old.
Hell, most of the characters in this strip’ll have been born in 1998 in two years.
for some reason i have a hard time parsing that.
My characters don’t really age, so as time passes for us, their birth year increases by one every year. In two years’ time, that birth year for most of them will be 1998, as it is currently 1996.
I look forward to the day when the characters turn out to have been born in 2010.
Wait… that means they’re already younger than I am.
And I started reading this thing in 2011 when I was 15-16.
I started it in high school and now I know more about college life than they do.
Damn Willis at this rate if I eat right and the cost of healthcare drops I might be able to see they’re midterms. Assuming your children want to carry on the family webcomic.
So you’re using the Marvel sliding timescale?
i was born in 1998! 😀
YOU ARE HERE ILLEGALLY. PREPARE FOR PATRIOT ACT SEQUESTER AT GUANTÁNAMO BAY FOR RE-EDUCATION.
(apparently, based on the other prisoners, you’ll be re-educated a a Muslim!)
An extremist Muslim, no less.
Yup.
Yup, I’m old, too.
Oh man. -_-
I was born in 1961 and the weirdest thing is that I’m not even the oldest person who follows Willis’ webcomics.
1958 here, I’m one of the oldest, but AFAIK not THE oldest.
1949 but in 65 years I’ll have been born in 2014.
I’m born in 2001 and I read this comic. >.>
Good for you. When I was your age teachers would tell me that the stuff I read would rot my brains. Um, they may have been right.
The Bush administration was celebrating the fact that we’d won the war — public opinion hadn’t started to sour, yet — and they were…well, wrong. So they changed what the whole debacle meant.
I think we call that a “retcon”, yes?
not just people born 1998+, don’t forget us people who don’t really care about american polictics
*australian born in 1997*
How can you not follow American Politics, they have heaps more Cory Bernadis to laugh at. 😛
*Australian old enough to be most of these people’s dad, apparently. Eek*
As an Australian born in 1992, I feel that one Cory Bernardi is enough for anyone’s sanity.
Roughly half of our politicians in America are Cory Bernardi’s (yes I just googled that name). Most of them are Republicans, but there’s a couple wackjob Dems too.
Because they have Rupert Murdoch controlling 90% of Aussie media too. Have you seen the batshit coming out of Sydney?
Anyone in search of wackjob politicians needs to read the history of Louisiana. The current crop worldwide are strictly amateurs.
How can you not follow THAT political blunder? YOU WERE PART OF IT – Coalition of the Willing, etc.
Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 9 April 2003. These were the United States (148,000), United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194). 36 other countries were involved in its aftermath.
You didn’t forget Poland!
But he did forget Iraq who was kind of involved.
They weren’t really among the “willing” per se.
Except is wasn’t, that was the post-rationalisation after the shitstorm went down. US presidents don’t fly out to aircraft carriers and hold massive press conferences every time it’s their time to cycle out of theatre.
Well, if you remember all the drooling the press did over Bush’s flightsuited ‘package’, it’s a wonder they don’t do ops like that more often.
It referred to victory against the war on Saddam Hussein and his regime. People didn’t know yet that that would be the easy part.
Actually, just about everybody who had a smidgen of common sense knew it, but apparently there were no people with this trait in the Bush administration. Including (most especially) Bush.
That was a LIE concocted by Bush apologists long after the fact in an attempt to explain away the hubris and stupidity. A bald-faced LIE meant to sow doubt about the reality of Bush’s blunder; easily checked and discovered to be false, but useful as an alternative story for those too azy or ideologically blinded to bother checking.
Dawwww billies smile is sooo cute
I wish I got paid in smiles…
no wait…
Well there goes your muney for any art commissions you were going to do in the future.
I’m doing one now! So HAH!
That was before they knew they could pay you in smiles.
I still prefer credit.
I prefer cash on the barrelhead. Also, I want a barrelhead.
Easily done. How big a barrelhead you interested in? http://www.barrelsonline.com/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
I almost want to cry from how much better this is going than what I expected.
Did you expect ruth to come in here and kick Billie’s ass for 10 comics straight?
Well, who would’ve been surprised?
Given the snail pace of this comic, the fact that we even have a storyline where they speak to each other within a month instead of in like 2025 is unexpected enough.
Yeah, no kidding. This little exchange already is working against a lot of the most toxic stuff from their big argument. I know I’m making a terrible mistake but part of me feels a little more optimistic about their prospects than before that big blowup. My heart flutters with hope for a mutually supportive relationship, rather than codependency.
If life has taught me anything, the correct answer to awkwardness and angst is hiding beneath the covers and pretending it doesn’t exist.
That’s also the sure fire way to protect yourself from monsters.
but not a sure way to protect yourself from fire.
But fire kills monsters. So it evens out.
Not if the monster is under the bed. (In Walky’s case, that would be Mike.)
you cheated on her with alcohol, if it were me, I’d have left five seconds after walky left.
Looks like she did.
Common be serious if that was the case she would be mad that she didn’t have a three way with her and alcohol.
Careful, Billie, Ruth might decide to actually smother you.
That might be Billie’s kink.
That’s most peoples kink, hell its my kink too.
Smothering Billie?
The question is with what. 😀
That went well………I think
Its a starte
We are a long way from seeing these two get too any Bases are we?
I think Billie’s Way off base.
I don’t even think she is even on the plate. . . or even the stadium.
She’s positively acidic.
Walky is neutral, and yet also the catalyst.
Nah, I wouldn’t categorize him as a catalyst. He’s just the solvent that creates the conditions necessary for the reaction to take place (kind of like water).
Walky brought the two together in one place so they can react. He does not surround, outnumber, or dissociate them. They could have theoretically reacted without his involvement, but he accelerated the process. He is totally more catalyst than solvent.
They’re not putting much effort into their soap opera love hate relationship.
Maybe because Love/Hate relationships are exhausting and miserable?
Smiling is for inferior lifeforms. Our lord and saviour Dina will lead a revolution and cleanse this planet of emotions.
But you need not fear. Dina will remove fear. Dina will remove sex and class and color and creed.
So Dina will initiate Third Impact huh?
Dude! Spoilers! Not cool!
Good, now kiss and make up.
In honor of this historic victory, Ruth returns to her room and downs a 1/5 of scotch.
Has anybody else noticed Ruth’s evil cat/Sauron eyes in panel 3-ish?
Cooool
I believe those are supposed to be the ends of her bangs.
The bangs in her hair, just to spell it out for some of you.
That is such a cute Billie smile oh my gosh.
So tsun, much dere.
Wow
very love
Jesus christ, people. Let these two kids work through their emotions and issues before clammering for them to fuck on the bed.
Agreed
For real. I know people are all worked up about two girls making out, but it’s nice to have some actual conflict resolution/character developement first.
Ehh that came out harsh. I just think it’s nice to see a romantic relationship between two girls that gets an actual storyline, you know? Not just a hookup.
Until they work out their issues, they can settle for doing it against the wall.
I want them to nail right after Willis finishes wringing the drama out of them.
I accept that the payoff will be slightly delayed this way.
Ok Billie, there you go. Now both of you get your stuff together, you crazy kids.
Aaawwww, they care about each other so much :> Also, panel 3 Billie is just about the cutest thing.
For a second I thought Ruth’s self-correction “I’m doing f– …I’m doing okay-ish” represented a conscious lowering of her barriers for Billie. (It might still be, but that’s not where I’m going with this.)
…Then I realized, well, Billie just said “I’m fine” over and over and was obviously lying, so Ruth probably didn’t want to phrase her own answer exactly the same way. Welp.
If this encounter is over, that was… well, remarkably less painful than expected. Ruth’s probably not ready to forgive Billie yet, but… it’s a start. Ruth’s stopped drinking, and Billie had a hand in that, so… she did something helpful for someone she cares about. That’s certainly worth a smile after yesterday’s existential crisis.
I think it’s a little of column a, little of column b. Picking a different word because she’s heard how it rings hollow, but also being a bit more honest because she’s chastising Billie for lying about the same thing.
Ruth is not nicknamed Ruthless for nothing. She may still care about Billie, but she is not in any way getting involved with her again at his point.
Billie’s faced some very hard truths about herself. She has no friends and feels she’s accomplished nothing. Now maybe she can wonder why, and start working on fixing it.
I’m glad that it went as sorta well as it did. Ruth has quit drinking, Billie seems really glad for her. That’s a good thing.
You want Ruth back Billy? Go to AA, you can’t stop on your own, you proved that already.
Billie appears to be one of those people who peaked in High School, and the rest of their life is just a downward spiral. However it is possible to overcome that and actually have a decent life.
I’m pretty sure Billy’s sick, but is it from being hungover or is it from withdrawal?
The night before yesterday in comic-time, Billie was sitting outside Ruth’s door obviously drunk. If it’s withdrawal, it has set in both quick and in force.
It could also just be stress, anxiety, and/or sleeplessness caused by the former two; I think the off-colour scratches under Billie’s eyes are supposed to be dark rings.
I seem to recall Ruth mentioning that she was feeling effects only a couple days after she stopped drinking. If these girls drink as much as they are implied too, a couple days might be enough.
Withdraw is my guess, personally. At least, I HOPE that Billie is actually learning something, here. I really want Ruth X Billie to work ;~;
Um, yeah…no. Alcohol withdrawal, like most psychoactive drug withdrawals, is acutely uncomfortable when you do it abruptly. In fact, if you’re as physically dependent as Billie is, going cold turkey will make you…well, so sick that you’ll look like a cold turkey. (That’s where the term comes from.) If she does stop drinking suddenly, she’s going to be very sick for several days.
Careful Ruth, your caring, human side is showing
If Ruth has truly not gone back to drinking than Billie can feel that she made a positive impact on her regardless of how Ruth may feel about Billie.
that smile is so frickin cute! Well mr or miss Tenn i think we can count that as a breath of air for the good ship billie/ruth wouldnt you agree?
Know why they call it Canon? Because it always sinks your ships.
Poor Ruth wants someone to help her deal with her alcohol issues. Billie, on the other hand, isn’t ready to make that commitment to alcohol avoidance. Ruth needs to find someone more experienced in the ways of alcohol avoidance to help her get through the early patches like Leslie Bean.
And by alcohol avoidance, I mean of course something else.
Eeew, no Billie. Those sheets have Walky bits all over them.
I don’t want to know what ‘bits’ refers to do I.
Walky strikes me as the kinda guy that eats in bed and gets crumbs everywhere.
NO! reallllllly.
Eh, Dorothy seems OK with it.
In my experience, even the most slovenly of dudes will clean everything spotless or near-spotless when a girl they’re interested in comes over. Those sheets are probably clean for once.
Well that’s the end of this storyline. Wonder what the next one will be.
Ruth is not out of the room yet…
The next chapter is titled “When Somebody Loved Me”. I predict it’s going to be an Amber-centric story arc and will explore the backstory of the relationship between Ethan and herself that ended up with the aborted post-prom rendezvous.
I’m getting bad vibes and negative feels already.
Correction — that should read “an Ethan-centric arc, etc”.
Is Ruth still alive? Isn’t her job to be the girl who dies, like Sean Bean?
Trucks only exist to be ridden on in this universe.
Seriously though, Willis has said that nobody will die in this comic.
Dammit! There goes all my Dandoom ideas! 🙂
That smile says so much. Willis, you’re amazing at conveying emotions through facial expressions in art.
Ruth’s hair in third panel makes her eyes look lizard-like. she looks yet more dangerous than ever with these eyes. cool.
I dont like Ruth. She isnt honest with herself, she is overly hostle to others to hide her own vulnerabilities. She is verbally abusive to people, especially Billie. She stalked/hyperfocused on Billie which reminded me of a more socialized/well thought out version of Walky when he was infatuated with Dorothy. I see many warning signs that a relationship between Ruth and Billie would become abusive. Ruth is verbally abusive, she gets jealous (hense the jabs about Billie and Walky), she instills fear in people, she uses her emotional lability against others, she has a history of alcohol abuse, blames others for things she does (distroying Billie’s outfit and blaming her because she hadnt finished the roomate agreement), she clearly doesnt respect Billie’s boundaries.
I get that Ruth is hurt by the loss of her parents and that she uses fear and anger to keep others away. She still is responcible for not victimizing people, and in particular Billie. I know she didn’t seek this interaction out but i think they have been pretty toxic for one another. Billie basing all her self worth on helping Ruth quit drinking is only going to get them more codependant.
This is the weirdest pairing in the whole strip. As you say, these two would be classically toxic to one another in real life — yet the fandom (including, to be fair, me) ships Ruthingsworth for all it’s worth, despite knowing that fact about them.
I think this is the one pairing people WANT to see a happy ending, even though there’s the omnipresent dread that it’s going to end in a fiery explosion. They’re both selfish, emotionally stunted people who are only connected by mutual antagonism.
They also appear to be the only characters in the comic who seem to actually care about what the other is doing. Yes, Billie bullies Walky into showing concern by literally appearing in his lap, but he doesn’t seem THAT interested to go out of his way under normal circumstances. Ruth seems to be even more distant, with dorm residents unwilling to check up on her even when its more work for themselves not to (the trash chute).
They’re off to a rocky start, sure. But the audience wants to see them heal and grow, and right now, it looks like the only cast members who have a chance to do that is themselves.
man, what
Well, you need drama for couples to be interesting but I think this ship shouldn’t sail to be honest. I think both would be happier with other partners but I’d like to see them act on their attraction. Then again, I wanted Leslie to be with someone other than Robin so what do I know?
While I’m totally for this ship, I agree with you on the Robin Leslie one. I’m curious to see if I end up liking Robin x Leslie in this comic, more?
What’s interesting is the Robin in this strip isn’t a very nice person from all we’ve seen. She’s a massive hypocrite and kind of slimy as a politician. Robin’s status as a Senator was a joke in the show while it’s clear she’s focused on this.
I doubt we’ll see much of the Leslie/Robin relationship except through Roz’s eyes. (a) in the eyes of #damnyouwillis, Robin and Leslie have already been the central characters in Shortpacked, and (b) he wants to look at a cast of characters he himself loves through a different set of eyes. Leslie and Robin are (older) adults in a young adults’ world.
Was I the only one surprised to see Billie’s feelings defined as “grief”?
Alright, started reading this comic yesterday and it seems I have caught up. Not sure what else to say so I shall say that Sal is my favorite. 😉
Will you kill her last?