Nice choice, Primordia is excellent. If you like point&click retro games, you might appreciate the “Blackwell” series… There are plot holes, but the writing is great, overall.
Blackwell was my first! –with a break for Resonance, backtracking to The Shivah, now Primordia. A Golden Wake is on my wishlist, but I’m opposed to Steam’s practices (what’s this one-week waiting period to trade items??), so I either have to get it as a gift, from (re-)selling trading cards, or whenever it ends up on massive sale.
Or from GOG, I guess, but I’m waiting on that raise =p
Golden wake ? didn’t know this one, I’m going to check it out. I heard nice things of “The Charnel House” too, if you like soft horror (the psychological kind).
I legit once made a beautiful (and period!) bright Saxon outfit with a lovely bright saffron yellow underdress and a pretty bright blue-and-pink plaid over-tunic just for wearing at people Sunday mornings after SCA wars. 😀
“Reports continue to grow of thousands of people across the globe acting insanely. Beside committing numerous acts of violence, they are reported to all be screaming ‘mike’ as they do so.”
Hmm some Protestant groups use wine, even some hard core fundamentalist ones, though often they have grape juice for the kids. Though some are quite of the opinion, “It says wine, we have to use wine!”
Like many things to do with matters of religious viewpoint, it varies so widely as to be impossible to really guess at without knowing details I doubt Willis wants to get into detail on.
Just on this particular sacrament I’ve first hand experience with churches that don’t do it at all, those that use wine, those that use grape juice, those that do the body but not the blood, those that use wafers, those that use basic generally available leavened bread and those that use some variety of unleavened bread. Then you get the debates about whether it’s essential, about whether it need be administered by an officiant in a church, etc and all these can be expressed within most denominations (Roman Catholics being the most standardized because of it’s import in Catholic church liturgy compared to most other denominations).
My freshman RA instructed us at our first meeting that, if we wanted to get drunk, we should go to him and he’d find us a party because he didn’t want us drinking on the floor.
In retrospect, it would’ve been hilarious if he’d caught the kid who was a chem TA that decided he wanted to distill liquor in one of the bathrooms…
It’s a good thing they stood (or floated horizontally in Walky’s case) in an order that makes sense.
If it weren’t for serendipity, we’d have Dorothy glaring at Dina, who glares at Sarah, who glares at Amber, who glares at Dina again because Dina can bilocate.
Hey, just because she kissed a girl doesn’t necessarily mean Dina’s bilocational. She could also be in one location or the other. She’s figuring it out, don’t rush her.
And Dorothy is her best friend, so it’s even worse that she of all people is drunk. And I think Joyce felt a kindred spirit in the not-drinking thing at their last party, so it’s triple the betrayal of anyone else drinking.
Sarah’s terrified that Ruth will report her, and she’ll get kicked out, and her grades and her plans for the future will be RUINED. In other words, the fear that has driven her since the first comic.
It’s the farthest away while having the occupant completely aware of the situation. She can’t hide in the boys dorm, amber and Dina don’t know what’s up with her, Sal and Billie live right next door.
The booze is already drank up.
So when you write “Becky grabs the booze” are you referring solely to Billie or do you suggest an orgy of drunk people in Dorothy’s room?
Ruth is playing a giant game of meta here. She knows some of them are drunk, but she’s pretending that she isn’t sure yet. She didn’t have to show up to know that someone might be drunk, since she knew Billie was going to the party, and would probably end up drunk sooner or later. She now has to decide which is more risky, penalising them for drinking, or not penalising them for drinking, given that she can’t be sure how Billie will react, but she also can’t be sure that one of the drunks won’t do something stupid, or that no one else who might rat them out knows what’s going on.
This is of course the cue for Mary to walk in next strip.
She will probably play clueless in that area if things don’t get crazy or dangerous… but I guess she also could be really curious on what a sheltered person like Joyce would do in a party. XD
But yeah, Mary would be horrible trouble…
After Mary, that is of course the cue for Sal to walk back in. The tally at that point would be: 5 drunk people, one scared Christian fundie, one judgemental Christian fundie, one runaway redhead, one cranky redhead, one cranky Dina, one grumpy roommate and a fight.
Why is Joyce mad a Dorothy? It’s not like she BROUGHT the alcohol. Plus, how would one drunk freshman matter? Almost everyone is smashed. Especially Walky.
Maybe Ruth is having a social moment and she came to Joyce’s because she’s sure that she won’t have to play the heavy. Maybe now that she hates herself a little bit less she wants to not play the ogre.
I could be wrong, but I thought as long as they could prove Joyce and Sarah are not keeping alcohol in their room, they can’t be in trouble for the rest of the gang being drunk by their own means.
Regardless, Joyce, I’m pretty sure Sarah is referring to the third roommate, not necessarily the drunk Dorothy…or maybe both….
no, the hosts definitely get penalized. i have second-hand knowledge of this. even if it can be proven that the host played no role in providing the booze, the tricky part comes when you have to prove ignorance of it without appearing passively permissive. even then, reasonable doubt can lead the university to punish on the off chance that all were guilty
That sounds like more of an announced BYOB situation. And “reasonable doubt” as a concept applies more to presumed innocence than guilt. If someone wanders into my room with a red Solo cup full of gin and juice, and I’m not close enough to smell it on their breath, I don’t think I’m the one who gets in trouble.
By way of clarification: Students are not afforded by their universities all of the same rights which Citizens are afforded by the united states, in similar scenarios. Your university can expel you in situations the United States Government can not legally rule you guilty. Furthermore, some of the rights you are afforded by the law of the United states are signed away while you attend university.
My little brother actually went to IU. Plenty of Freshman drinking parties in the dorms. Most of which involved the RA being present and drinking with them… Some RA’s were not so liberal. Some parties were broken up, some reported. The school did very little in the way of punishment. Basically it was a “you know better, don’t do it again, not go to class.”
d’aawww! it turns out that ruth was just lonely. do the christian thing and include her so long as she conforms to your way of partying.
gotta love how several of the characters are familiar with pockets of pop culture that i’ve never heard of before. this comic is an educational experience all around!
Sarah: Joyce, YOU DID THIS TO ME!!
Joyce: It wasn’t me, Dorothy’s the one who’s drunk!!
Dorothy: It wasn’t me! Billie gave me the booze!!
Billie: I… I… I… DAMMIT WALKY!! (her default blame target)
Walky: Wheeee!
From what I heard from some news stories from America over the last few years, it sounds like men are legally responsible if they have sex while drunk while women are not.
In Ohio, it’s illegal for someone to “[administer] any drug, intoxicant, or controlled substance” to another person “[f]or the purpose of preventing resistance”. (Unless they’re married and living together, in which case it’s apparently perfectly fine.)
There’s nothing in the Ohio codes that makes it illegal if the participants are already intoxicated (absent intent to overcome resistance) and then decide to do the horizontal mambo.
IANAL, but did serve jury duty on a case where this was germane.
Cases like Steubenville, where the female victim was unconscious, where there is video evidence of her being gang raped by laughing male perpetrators, are STILL treated like the woman’s fault. Those men got slap on the wrist sentences while CNN bemoaned how their lives would be destroyed (something the network never apologized for even slightly, despite a campaign launched to demand it).
We know that rapists use alcohol because they tell us themselves, in anonymous surveys and case studies. They target victims who are already drunk, and then get them to drink more. They take these victims home and rape them, knowing that they can claim they were both drunk. It’s much easier than actually drugging someone, and safer too! Drugs show up in you screens. (This is one of the major reasons why date rape drug-detecting products are useless.)
We also know (again, research has been done) that bartenders tend to over-serve women and under-serve men, as in women who ask for a mixed drink will literally receive higher alcohol content. This is on top of the average woman bring smaller than the average man, which makes us just a bit more susceptible to even the *same amount* of alcohol.
So, guy and girl order the same amount of drinks — the girl is probably going to wind up more drunk, for reasons that are not her fault.
Everyone but Joyce, Sarah, Amber, Dina and Becky is drunk. Billie’s still actively got alcohol and Becky is living there illegally. Unless Walky starts blabbing about Becky he’s the least of their concerns.
Which is the closest we’ve seen to an embarrassed, apologetic Ruth. If there’s one person more likely than Billie to get some slack from her it’s Amber – and ironically, Amber doesn’t need it.
If Ruth busts the party, she’s busting Billie. Billie is on record with the office as having a drinking problem. So, it could go bad for Billie, and in reflection Ruth herself.
But the ones with the most to lose are Joyce and Sarah, for hosting the party: but mainly for boarding Becky secretly.
Joyce is just mad at everybody about now, except Sarah.
It has been a long time since I have literally fallen out of bed laughing at this comic (I usually do laugh a lot, but not that much) but Walky’s face in the last panel is just too good.
Really Sarah?
“Hmm, what should I do to make sure Ruth doesn’t find out about Becky? I know, I’ll comment in a way that makes it obvious we’re hiding something. Oh and I’ll also throw Joyce an angry look. Yeah, that will help.”
…
In a room full of underage drunks where Becky is one of the few people not breaking the dry campus rule? Yeah, she really pointed attention right at her, you bet.
Becky’s breaking the rules just by being there, which might be what Sarah is focusing on when she says her line.
But then, Sarah’s kind of been a jackass most of the party, so I might be assuming she’s referring to Becky rather than all the underaged drinkers in her room.
Billie, if you’re attempting to transfer blame to Walky, don’t bother. He’s flying high and lost to this world. I also think that tomorrow’s hangover will render him useless for the day!
So, is Ruth lonly and bored? Or is she just not happy unless she’s making people miserable?
Okay, I’m genuinely not sure any more if Ruth is doing her ‘R.A. crashing the party to check for outlawed shenanigans’ bit for reals, or if she actually just wanted to come sit in on a party for once and not be alone in her room all evening, but has to put up her scary R.A. front in public because she can’t not.
I’ve got a strange feeling that, if there are no distractions (like having to take Walky to the emergency room to have his stomach pumped), Ruth may end up confiding in someone.
Ruth is probably thinking, “I am a hypocrite if I bust these drunk kids when I won’t bust Billie, but I have to send an anti-alcohol message as an RA, and maintain my image as Ruthless. So I’m going to sit here and pretend I don’t know for sure they’ve been drinking, but that I’m on to them, and that way they will stop drinking, sober up, and I’ll have ensured that everyone is safe. And all I need to do is endure bad Christian music sober. Also, that Walky kid is so lucky I’m not his RA.”
Does anyone really think Ruth is going to report anyone if she doesn’t have to? Threaten them. Scare them. Even rip out their femurs. But not report them and go through all the process and paperwork. That’s not her style.
I’m not sure what she’s actually here for, but it’s not going to be that.
That’s a strong possibility. I could see her focusing on Billie as the source of the alcohol and dragging her off to a horrible fate (sexytimes back in her room, of course). Leaving the others scared straight.
I just don’t think she’ll be writing anyone up, other than as an extreme last resort.
Poor Dotty. I think this is the only time in the comic she has done something genuinely stupid, and it takes ten minutes for it to backfire spectacularly.
Billie’s hiding the fact that she just got most of the people here drunk.
Ruth’s hiding the fact that she’s sleeping with a student on her floor and has an even bigger drinking problem.
Becky’s hiding the fact that she’s currently homeless and living in Joyce’s room.
Joyce’s hiding the fact that she was almost sexually assaulted at the last party she went to.
Before she left, Sal was hiding the fact that she’s sleeping with her T.A.
Sarah’s hiding the fact that she really wants to bone Jacob.
Amber’s hiding the fact that she’s a violent vigilante and sleeping with Danny.
Danny’s hiding the fact that he might be bi for Ethan.
Ethan’s hiding the fact that he’s gay.
Dorothy’s hiding the fact that she knows way too many of the above secrets.
Dina’s hiding the fact that she thought, besides its paleontological sins, Jurassic World was a pretty decent movie.
With this many drunk bubbles, no way all of these secrets are leaving this room intact.
Well, Dorothy’s hiding the fact that she’s drunk. Dina’s hiding behind the door. Walky’s hiding that he bombed a math quiz, and that there’s more to him than his goofy façade (but if he’s trying to hide that he’s drunk, he’s doing a really, really bad job of it). Joyce is hiding that she’s sheltering homeless lesbians in defiance of parents, college, and possibly God Himself, and also that she really wants to get laid despite the terrifying experience she had at the last party she went to. Billie’s hiding that she’s in a sexy lesbian suicide pact with the RA. Ruth is hiding that she’s lonely and depressed. Amber is hiding that she beat her father senseless. Danny is hiding that he knows that, and, along with Ethan and Dorothy, that they know that Amber’s Amazi-Girl…
“No, you aren’t invited because you are a jerk. please leave”, while rude and uncomfortable, would have worked at my school. But then again our RAs weren’t there to enforce “the rules”, they were there to act as advisors and mediators, so they didn’t have any special authority to search students’ rooms or report them for underage drinking, or smoking, or anything that wasn’t specifically a safety/property damage issue.
Ruth and Billie end up arguing, Billie kisses Ruth because of her buzz, everyone is shocked, Ruth quickly says “If any of you talk, I’ll have you taken out with me for underage drinking.”
Joyce “But Sarah and I weren’t drinking!”
Ruth looks around, then sees Becky trying to hide
“Well, you’re harboring a run away or something, aren’t you?”
Joyce eeps
Amber “What about me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Ruth looks around again. Grabs a sock and some scissors, making a bandanna, then puts it around Amber’s eyes.
Whole room is shocked (except those that already knew.)
Ruth is just doing her job. Show up and the drinking stops. The drunk kids don’t do something stupid or get in serious trouble. She won’t report or discipline anyone. Doesn’t need to for order to be restored.
Drunk freshmen will go play in traffic. Climb building walls. Throw up or urinate in public places. Attract the attention of campus security or police. Ruth just prevented all that. The party can continue much as Joyce originally wanted. Dorothy can remove Walky if she wants.
No one is in any serious trouble so far. Ruth may kill Billie but that is a personal matter. As long as Becky stays unnoticed all will be well. So Becky will be noticed.
Ok this one actually made me physically laugh, which is rare for me. I zoom in on the individual panels so walky scrolling onto screen was totally unexpected
We’ll know more in a few hours, but try this one on: It’s not an anger glare-chain (in fact, Dorothy’s look is more shock and fear than anger) — they’re all, in turn, looking at Walky, and he’s the source of the relevant drunkbubbles. And I’m going to farther out on the limb and say Walky’s playing silly buggers to give Becky a chance to run for cover. Because he blunders into nobility like that.
Damn I wish you could edit these things. Better, in my view, to say Dorothy’s look is more shocked-and-hurt-and-betrayed — which makes more sense if it’s directed at Walky rather than Billie.
… Why can’t I help but be reminded of 2D from Gorillaz by that last panel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that face … it just won’t stop clicking in my head.
Ruth totally knows that they have something(s) to hide. Exactly what she knows, what she will find out, an what she chooses to do with information remains to be seen.
Sarah’s glare is clearly directed at Joyce, but I can’t tell if Joyce is glaring at Dorothy, and Dorothy at Billie, or if each of them is glaring past the person on their right toward Walky at the end of the chain. At least Walky is (drunkenly) happy at the moment. I don’t know if he’ll be smiling so much when the hangover kicks in.
Fun fact, I went to College with Amy Grant’s daughter. She dated a close friend of mine. Girl was not opposed to getting wasted and having a good time.
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Walky: 8D (literally so!)
((inb4: I was playing Primordia, dang Steam sale))
Don’t worry, you’re still first.
I meant yesterday, since people seem to think that means I died or something =p
You put so much effort into it, so….
Bah.
We planned the funeral and everything. It was going to be beautiful. Well, I suppose, there’s no rush.
I read this in your gravatar’s voice. It was fitting.
Oh my god you said that and now so did I and it was amazing!
Not sure if walky knows something or is just being drunk walky and reacting to the crowd.
Nice choice, Primordia is excellent. If you like point&click retro games, you might appreciate the “Blackwell” series… There are plot holes, but the writing is great, overall.
Blackwell was my first! –with a break for Resonance, backtracking to The Shivah, now Primordia. A Golden Wake is on my wishlist, but I’m opposed to Steam’s practices (what’s this one-week waiting period to trade items??), so I either have to get it as a gift, from (re-)selling trading cards, or whenever it ends up on massive sale.
Or from GOG, I guess, but I’m waiting on that raise =p
Golden wake ? didn’t know this one, I’m going to check it out. I heard nice things of “The Charnel House” too, if you like soft horror (the psychological kind).
**cough** Lucas arts **cough**
**cough** Abandonware downloads **cough**
**cough** Available legit these days **cough**
**cough** GOG.com **cough**
I cleared half my wishlist, and on top of that bought all the Metal Slug games.
I’m wondering how the hell I avoided the 2014 sales.
omg walky….i cant even
Walky’s expression is both scary and hilarious. 8DDDD
Walky be all like: BABY I’m so Glad you’re mine! Oh yeah!
(His heart’s in motion)
You booze, you lose!
Ruth probably won’t be able to tell Drunk walky from normal Walky. He’s pretty silly, normally…
Walky defeats Gravity! FLAWLESS VICTORY
But the question is, am I talking about the gravity of the situation or the physical gravity in the room?
Yes.
The pink elephants are holding him aloft.
“What keeps him there?”
“Art.”
“Art?!”
Was Art in Roomies or something?
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy!
LOL, Walky’s face.
Oh dear…
Walky seems happy.
Or he’s just trippin’ on the strong stuff! Revenge is not Joyce’s way otherwise I’m sure she’d be talking very loud around this bunch tomorrow.
I legit once made a beautiful (and period!) bright Saxon outfit with a lovely bright saffron yellow underdress and a pretty bright blue-and-pink plaid over-tunic just for wearing at people Sunday mornings after SCA wars. 😀
People with hangovers can be hilarious.
I cannot even visualize what something like that must have looked like.
I had an olive green paisley bathrobe in college, for much the same purpose.
Wearing *at* people? 🙂
It’s similar enough to his normal personality that she might not notice.
Thats it.
Comic is over.
There is no way that anybody can top Walky.
I’m pretty sure if we ever saw Mike make the same face, it would end not just the comic but the world.
“Reports continue to grow of thousands of people across the globe acting insanely. Beside committing numerous acts of violence, they are reported to all be screaming ‘mike’ as they do so.”
If DoA Mike reacts to booze as W-verse Mike did …
He’d have to act like some Mike-Walky hybrid, which is in and of itself a disturbing thought.
True. Drunk-Pleasant-Considerate Mike never made a face like the one that Walky is pulling here.
No, Mike’s smile is worse. Cerberus runs yelping in terror at the sight.
He does whenever he gets drunk
I’m sure with the right person he might let them top.
Just look at the sidebar.
DAMMIT CABOOSE! See what I did there? Because it’s a blame… train…
“Dammit, Roshi!” “Shut up, Krillin.” *ding*
—Just no getting over you~u~u~u!
love that last panel where billie knows they are fuck’d.
More like “daaamn I’m starting to see pretty bad drunk illusions”
“Damnit, Walky, stop defying gravity!!”
“You can’t pull me down!”
What’s wrong with Ruth? Can’t she see the Drunk Bubbles?
Ruth lives in a constant haze of Drunk Bubbles and therefore can’t even see them anymore.
She sees them constantly, so she just assumes they are always there.
Of cause not, you need to wear your beer-googles to see those things. 😀
Oh, Ruthless knows.
I Think so too
Ruthless is a feline playing with mice.
I’m guessing the alt-text is a lyric from an Amy Grant song? Cause all I’m getting is Fresh Prince of Bel-Air…
*whispers* I don’t know who Amy Grant is…
Amy Grant is one of those Christian Rock stars from the 80-90s.
That was a thing?
“Look angry. Pass it on.”
Drunk Walky can end any game of Telephone on the spot.
Dammit, how did it do that again?
Yup it was a thing and from what I heard, it’s still a thing.
I got Keane
uh
(p sure it’s “Baby, Baby”)
I hated Christian music, even when I was fairly religious and did things like go to church summer camp as a teen for fun.
But the line’s from an Amy Grant song that actually hit top 40, so I recognized that. It’s “Baby, Baby.”
It may not be a proper Christian party but there are certainly err “holy spirits” involved…
Unfortunately, Joyce isn’t Catholic, so she can’t blame it on that.
Well, there is wine involved in christian ceremonies, right?
Grape juice as far as Joyce’s concerned
Jesus can turn his blood into wine thus pickling himself anytime he wishes.
Not with a lot of Protestants. Definitely not with a fundie like Joyce. They’d just use grape juice.
The SDAs have even more of an anti-alcohol slant than most other Christian denominations do.
Hmm some Protestant groups use wine, even some hard core fundamentalist ones, though often they have grape juice for the kids. Though some are quite of the opinion, “It says wine, we have to use wine!”
I heard that grape-juice could be classed as an unfermented wine,
Does that make gruel unfermented beer? Because that might be a good way to market it.
Like many things to do with matters of religious viewpoint, it varies so widely as to be impossible to really guess at without knowing details I doubt Willis wants to get into detail on.
Just on this particular sacrament I’ve first hand experience with churches that don’t do it at all, those that use wine, those that use grape juice, those that do the body but not the blood, those that use wafers, those that use basic generally available leavened bread and those that use some variety of unleavened bread. Then you get the debates about whether it’s essential, about whether it need be administered by an officiant in a church, etc and all these can be expressed within most denominations (Roman Catholics being the most standardized because of it’s import in Catholic church liturgy compared to most other denominations).
Anglicans use wine. Don’t know about others.
Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, some Lutheran and some Baptist all use wine. Other Christian denominations it’s widely variable.
when you have 4 catholics you are likely to find a 5th.
Wow, I used to get stoned with my RA…
You didn’t live in a glass dorm did ya? 😛
My freshman RA instructed us at our first meeting that, if we wanted to get drunk, we should go to him and he’d find us a party because he didn’t want us drinking on the floor.
In retrospect, it would’ve been hilarious if he’d caught the kid who was a chem TA that decided he wanted to distill liquor in one of the bathrooms…
“I picked a bad day to quit drinking.”
“Guess I’d better pick a different one. Oh well.” ::chug::
I picked a bad day to quit sniffing glue.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines
Is somebody holding him up? Is he hanging off of the bed frame? Are we seeing him right in the midst of a dramatic leap across the room?
Yes.
Gravity is irrelevant where Walky is concerned.
His Heart’s In Motion! 😛
Walky’s like a honey badger: he don’t give a shit! And he’s immune to cobra venom. Probably.
It’s Walky!
It’s Walky !
It’s Drunky!
And instantly I think of that scene from Shrek, where they are all calling each others names … guess who is Donkey in this strip 😀
WAL-KAAAYYYY
Why is Sarah mad at Joyce??
Why is Bert mad at Ernie?
Why is Brain mad at Pinky?
Why is Abbot mad at Costello?
It’s their dynamic.
Honest question? Because she’s stowing away Becky in their room.
But why is Joyce mad at Dorothy?
She’s next in line.
It’s a good thing they stood (or floated horizontally in Walky’s case) in an order that makes sense.
If it weren’t for serendipity, we’d have Dorothy glaring at Dina, who glares at Sarah, who glares at Amber, who glares at Dina again because Dina can bilocate.
Hey, just because she kissed a girl doesn’t necessarily mean Dina’s bilocational. She could also be in one location or the other. She’s figuring it out, don’t rush her.
I assumed she was bilocational so that she could be on the sides, the two Dinas you didn’t even know were there.
Clever Girl.
But she can only be on two sides at once as long as you don’t look at either one: the moment you do, the function collapses.
Schrödinger’s Dina?
Because Dorothy and her stupid boyfriend are drunk in her room.
And Dorothy is her best friend, so it’s even worse that she of all people is drunk. And I think Joyce felt a kindred spirit in the not-drinking thing at their last party, so it’s triple the betrayal of anyone else drinking.
Walky is an idiot in Joyce’s mind, but Dorothy should know better. It’s not only a violation of common sense but of their friendship
bah.
The Becky thing?
Because Joyce is keeping contraband (to wit Becky) in their room!
My guess is she’s lashing out because Joyce hurt her feelings pretty badly.
Sarah’s terrified that Ruth will report her, and she’ll get kicked out, and her grades and her plans for the future will be RUINED. In other words, the fear that has driven her since the first comic.
Throw it back at her. “Just like it’s fine if we visit you in your room at random. It’s not like you have anything to hide.”
Quick, have Dina distract Ruth with sweet Dino facts while Becky grabs the booze and runs to Dorothy’s room.
Why Dorothy’s room? We trying to pin the blame on her?
It’s the farthest away while having the occupant completely aware of the situation. She can’t hide in the boys dorm, amber and Dina don’t know what’s up with her, Sal and Billie live right next door.
The booze is already drank up.
So when you write “Becky grabs the booze” are you referring solely to Billie or do you suggest an orgy of drunk people in Dorothy’s room?
You really think Billie’s out of booze?
Ruth is playing a giant game of meta here. She knows some of them are drunk, but she’s pretending that she isn’t sure yet. She didn’t have to show up to know that someone might be drunk, since she knew Billie was going to the party, and would probably end up drunk sooner or later. She now has to decide which is more risky, penalising them for drinking, or not penalising them for drinking, given that she can’t be sure how Billie will react, but she also can’t be sure that one of the drunks won’t do something stupid, or that no one else who might rat them out knows what’s going on.
This is of course the cue for Mary to walk in next strip.
She will probably play clueless in that area if things don’t get crazy or dangerous… but I guess she also could be really curious on what a sheltered person like Joyce would do in a party. XD
But yeah, Mary would be horrible trouble…
After Mary, that is of course the cue for Sal to walk back in. The tally at that point would be: 5 drunk people, one scared Christian fundie, one judgemental Christian fundie, one runaway redhead, one cranky redhead, one cranky Dina, one grumpy roommate and a fight.
Subtle Sarah is subtle.
Why is Joyce mad a Dorothy? It’s not like she BROUGHT the alcohol. Plus, how would one drunk freshman matter? Almost everyone is smashed. Especially Walky.
It’s Drunky!
Joyce and Drunky.
The Drunkyverse.
Shortkegged!?
Drunkies!
DuA: Drinking under Age
🙂
Maybe Ruth is having a social moment and she came to Joyce’s because she’s sure that she won’t have to play the heavy. Maybe now that she hates herself a little bit less she wants to not play the ogre.
Yeah, like I thought, she’s feeling lonely.
Yeah, Ruth hate playing the Heavy. She much prefers the Scout and smashing people’s faces with his bat.
She’s better at playing the Medic, though, so her team usually yell at her for picking Scout.
I thought smashing people’s face with a bat was Sarah’s thing.
I could be wrong, but I thought as long as they could prove Joyce and Sarah are not keeping alcohol in their room, they can’t be in trouble for the rest of the gang being drunk by their own means.
Regardless, Joyce, I’m pretty sure Sarah is referring to the third roommate, not necessarily the drunk Dorothy…or maybe both….
no, the hosts definitely get penalized. i have second-hand knowledge of this. even if it can be proven that the host played no role in providing the booze, the tricky part comes when you have to prove ignorance of it without appearing passively permissive. even then, reasonable doubt can lead the university to punish on the off chance that all were guilty
Sarah : “I didn’t know, I spent all the party in the bathroom”
Authorities : “…yeah right”
That sounds like more of an announced BYOB situation. And “reasonable doubt” as a concept applies more to presumed innocence than guilt. If someone wanders into my room with a red Solo cup full of gin and juice, and I’m not close enough to smell it on their breath, I don’t think I’m the one who gets in trouble.
Students of a university don’t have all of the rights of Citizens of the United States. In fact, they sign some of their rights away.
By way of clarification: Students are not afforded by their universities all of the same rights which Citizens are afforded by the united states, in similar scenarios. Your university can expel you in situations the United States Government can not legally rule you guilty. Furthermore, some of the rights you are afforded by the law of the United states are signed away while you attend university.
My little brother actually went to IU. Plenty of Freshman drinking parties in the dorms. Most of which involved the RA being present and drinking with them… Some RA’s were not so liberal. Some parties were broken up, some reported. The school did very little in the way of punishment. Basically it was a “you know better, don’t do it again, not go to class.”
*Now* go to class.”
My bad.
d’aawww! it turns out that ruth was just lonely. do the christian thing and include her so long as she conforms to your way of partying.
gotta love how several of the characters are familiar with pockets of pop culture that i’ve never heard of before. this comic is an educational experience all around!
Give her a drink.
Sarah : “dooom angry glare”
Joyce : “trying to look angry here”
Dorothy : “help I’m panicking”
(it’s the eyebrow)
Walky: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY
Walky: “It’s a party! Lighten up! :D”
Walky: “Can’t stop me, mofo’s! I’m on a boat!”
Billie: “NOT AMUSED”
Sarah: Joyce, YOU DID THIS TO ME!!
Joyce: It wasn’t me, Dorothy’s the one who’s drunk!!
Dorothy: It wasn’t me! Billie gave me the booze!!
Billie: I… I… I… DAMMIT WALKY!! (her default blame target)
Walky: Wheeee!
*trying to remember the last time we saw Sarah genuinely smile*
introducing other jacob to joyce or laughing at joyce getting a flu shot? one of those, maybe
nope, i was wrong. it was drawing the ding-dong
DAWWW
I’d be fine with an endless strip where each character stares down another.
I don’t see the big problem here, all Dorothy has to do is take Walky somewhere and give him sexy times
that’s your answer to everything! it only sometimes works 8D (walky)
It works pretty well with drunk 19 year old males, at least it did when i was 19 (or however old Walky is)
I think he’s 18
Even better
seeing how slushed he is he might puke midway tho. Terrible idea.
Funny story to tell the kids later then so its all good
But can Dotty legally consent as she’s drunk.
But Walky is even drunker then she is! Not sure how that works legally
From what I heard from some news stories from America over the last few years, it sounds like men are legally responsible if they have sex while drunk while women are not.
In Ohio, it’s illegal for someone to “[administer] any drug, intoxicant, or controlled substance” to another person “[f]or the purpose of preventing resistance”. (Unless they’re married and living together, in which case it’s apparently perfectly fine.)
There’s nothing in the Ohio codes that makes it illegal if the participants are already intoxicated (absent intent to overcome resistance) and then decide to do the horizontal mambo.
IANAL, but did serve jury duty on a case where this was germane.
…Is IANAL “I am not a lawyer”? There really is an acronym for everything these days.
You have heard incorrectly.
Cases like Steubenville, where the female victim was unconscious, where there is video evidence of her being gang raped by laughing male perpetrators, are STILL treated like the woman’s fault. Those men got slap on the wrist sentences while CNN bemoaned how their lives would be destroyed (something the network never apologized for even slightly, despite a campaign launched to demand it).
We know that rapists use alcohol because they tell us themselves, in anonymous surveys and case studies. They target victims who are already drunk, and then get them to drink more. They take these victims home and rape them, knowing that they can claim they were both drunk. It’s much easier than actually drugging someone, and safer too! Drugs show up in you screens. (This is one of the major reasons why date rape drug-detecting products are useless.)
We also know (again, research has been done) that bartenders tend to over-serve women and under-serve men, as in women who ask for a mixed drink will literally receive higher alcohol content. This is on top of the average woman bring smaller than the average man, which makes us just a bit more susceptible to even the *same amount* of alcohol.
So, guy and girl order the same amount of drinks — the girl is probably going to wind up more drunk, for reasons that are not her fault.
Thats a whole can of worms I don’t want to be opening
Best to keep those worms aside for fishing.
True on many levels of meaning.
But what if Walky’s drunk enough to be… um… non-functional?
Or, like, not in the mood to.
Hes 18, hes just discovered sexy times in the last couple of weeks and hes drunk so he’s probably…”up” for it whenever Dorothy gives him the go ahead
Everyone but Joyce, Sarah, Amber, Dina and Becky is drunk. Billie’s still actively got alcohol and Becky is living there illegally. Unless Walky starts blabbing about Becky he’s the least of their concerns.
So… when is Ruth going to notice last-time-I-saw-you-you-were-fleeing-your-father Amber?
Actually, the last time those two met was when Ruth dropped by to inform Amber that her jerkbag of a daddy was in the hospital.
Which is the closest we’ve seen to an embarrassed, apologetic Ruth. If there’s one person more likely than Billie to get some slack from her it’s Amber – and ironically, Amber doesn’t need it.
8D
that’s walky
>:(
>:(
🙁
8D
You missed Billie
: /
Becky is A-ok with more chicks in the party !
This comic makes me so happy.
Who can’t hold his liquor across universes? It’s Walky!
And Sal, but she always got second fiddle.
If Ruth busts the party, she’s busting Billie. Billie is on record with the office as having a drinking problem. So, it could go bad for Billie, and in reflection Ruth herself.
But the ones with the most to lose are Joyce and Sarah, for hosting the party: but mainly for boarding Becky secretly.
Joyce is just mad at everybody about now, except Sarah.
Time for Becky’s parents to show up.
Parents? As in, plural?
I mean, I know ToeDad’s considered an asshole, but I doubt he’d exhume his wife for a trip to haul Becky back home.
Oh dear gods, I remember Amy Grant… the song Emmanuel is playing in my head at this moment.
But it’s not even December!
Ruth is successfully hiding the fact that she loves playing Apples to Apples.
It has been a long time since I have literally fallen out of bed laughing at this comic (I usually do laugh a lot, but not that much) but Walky’s face in the last panel is just too good.
I know what you mean, this story line has been gold for laughs and feel for me. It’s really been a great ride.
Really Sarah?
“Hmm, what should I do to make sure Ruth doesn’t find out about Becky? I know, I’ll comment in a way that makes it obvious we’re hiding something. Oh and I’ll also throw Joyce an angry look. Yeah, that will help.”
…
In a room full of underage drunks where Becky is one of the few people not breaking the dry campus rule? Yeah, she really pointed attention right at her, you bet.
Becky’s breaking the rules just by being there, which might be what Sarah is focusing on when she says her line.
But then, Sarah’s kind of been a jackass most of the party, so I might be assuming she’s referring to Becky rather than all the underaged drinkers in her room.
Billie, if you’re attempting to transfer blame to Walky, don’t bother. He’s flying high and lost to this world. I also think that tomorrow’s hangover will render him useless for the day!
So, is Ruth lonly and bored? Or is she just not happy unless she’s making people miserable?
Moments like this are why Walky will remain my favorite character ever.
8D
Okay, I’m genuinely not sure any more if Ruth is doing her ‘R.A. crashing the party to check for outlawed shenanigans’ bit for reals, or if she actually just wanted to come sit in on a party for once and not be alone in her room all evening, but has to put up her scary R.A. front in public because she can’t not.
And Walky in the last panel is hilarious.
I’ve got a strange feeling that, if there are no distractions (like having to take Walky to the emergency room to have his stomach pumped), Ruth may end up confiding in someone.
Ruth is probably thinking, “I am a hypocrite if I bust these drunk kids when I won’t bust Billie, but I have to send an anti-alcohol message as an RA, and maintain my image as Ruthless. So I’m going to sit here and pretend I don’t know for sure they’ve been drinking, but that I’m on to them, and that way they will stop drinking, sober up, and I’ll have ensured that everyone is safe. And all I need to do is endure bad Christian music sober. Also, that Walky kid is so lucky I’m not his RA.”
Does anyone really think Ruth is going to report anyone if she doesn’t have to? Threaten them. Scare them. Even rip out their femurs. But not report them and go through all the process and paperwork. That’s not her style.
I’m not sure what she’s actually here for, but it’s not going to be that.
I’m with LouisvilleRobin. Ruth is lonely right now and is trying to maintain superiority by acting like femur-tearing Ruthless.
That’s a strong possibility. I could see her focusing on Billie as the source of the alcohol and dragging her off to a horrible fate (sexytimes back in her room, of course). Leaving the others scared straight.
I just don’t think she’ll be writing anyone up, other than as an extreme last resort.
I think she’s feeling lonely, or more importantly, she’s feeling tired of feeling alone.
“Joyce!”
“Dorothy!”
“Billy…”
“Walky-”
“WALKY!”
This comment made me laugh just as hard as the comic today.
WHOA, Sarah, cast your accusing gaze to Billie, not Joyce. This party was for her.
Sarahs probably thinking about Becky not the drinking
Poor Dotty. I think this is the only time in the comic she has done something genuinely stupid, and it takes ten minutes for it to backfire spectacularly.
Hey, defying gravity is not against dorm rules.
…or is it.
Sounds like a Hogwarts rule
Pretty sure we’re not in Hogwarts.
Who DOESN’T have anything to hide in this room?
Billie’s hiding the fact that she just got most of the people here drunk.
Ruth’s hiding the fact that she’s sleeping with a student on her floor and has an even bigger drinking problem.
Becky’s hiding the fact that she’s currently homeless and living in Joyce’s room.
Joyce’s hiding the fact that she was almost sexually assaulted at the last party she went to.
Before she left, Sal was hiding the fact that she’s sleeping with her T.A.
Sarah’s hiding the fact that she really wants to bone Jacob.
Amber’s hiding the fact that she’s a violent vigilante and sleeping with Danny.
Danny’s hiding the fact that he might be bi for Ethan.
Ethan’s hiding the fact that he’s gay.
Dorothy’s hiding the fact that she knows way too many of the above secrets.
Dina’s hiding the fact that she thought, besides its paleontological sins, Jurassic World was a pretty decent movie.
With this many drunk bubbles, no way all of these secrets are leaving this room intact.
I like how everyone has some moderately real concerns and then there’s Dorothy and Dina who’re like yeah… you guys are weird.
Well, Dorothy’s hiding the fact that she’s drunk. Dina’s hiding behind the door. Walky’s hiding that he bombed a math quiz, and that there’s more to him than his goofy façade (but if he’s trying to hide that he’s drunk, he’s doing a really, really bad job of it). Joyce is hiding that she’s sheltering homeless lesbians in defiance of parents, college, and possibly God Himself, and also that she really wants to get laid despite the terrifying experience she had at the last party she went to. Billie’s hiding that she’s in a sexy lesbian suicide pact with the RA. Ruth is hiding that she’s lonely and depressed. Amber is hiding that she beat her father senseless. Danny is hiding that he knows that, and, along with Ethan and Dorothy, that they know that Amber’s Amazi-Girl…
They can all hide together! 😀
Dumbing of Age: Still the Webcomic of Meaningful Glances
Dear God, please let that Walky face become a Gravatar and please let me have it.
it’s not particulary hard to crop that in MS paint and upload it for your use ^^;
Is this the first time Joyce has been angry at Dorothy?
I guess the romance is over.
Joyce!
Dorothy!
Billie!
It’s Walky!
“no you can’t, now get the fuck out or I will call the cops” how hard is that?
“Sure, tell them to bring breathalysers while you’re at it”
“No, you aren’t invited because you are a jerk. please leave”, while rude and uncomfortable, would have worked at my school. But then again our RAs weren’t there to enforce “the rules”, they were there to act as advisors and mediators, so they didn’t have any special authority to search students’ rooms or report them for underage drinking, or smoking, or anything that wasn’t specifically a safety/property damage issue.
Ruth and Billie end up arguing, Billie kisses Ruth because of her buzz, everyone is shocked, Ruth quickly says “If any of you talk, I’ll have you taken out with me for underage drinking.”
Joyce “But Sarah and I weren’t drinking!”
Ruth looks around, then sees Becky trying to hide
“Well, you’re harboring a run away or something, aren’t you?”
Joyce eeps
Amber “What about me? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Ruth looks around again. Grabs a sock and some scissors, making a bandanna, then puts it around Amber’s eyes.
Whole room is shocked (except those that already knew.)
Ah yes, Baby Baby. They used to play the heck out of it in the local skating rink that I used to go to.
First thought: Walky is hilarious.
Second thought: Wait, he kinda looks like he’s going to…devour Billie*…um…
*Cue double entendre
Ruth is just doing her job. Show up and the drinking stops. The drunk kids don’t do something stupid or get in serious trouble. She won’t report or discipline anyone. Doesn’t need to for order to be restored.
Drunk freshmen will go play in traffic. Climb building walls. Throw up or urinate in public places. Attract the attention of campus security or police. Ruth just prevented all that. The party can continue much as Joyce originally wanted. Dorothy can remove Walky if she wants.
No one is in any serious trouble so far. Ruth may kill Billie but that is a personal matter. As long as Becky stays unnoticed all will be well. So Becky will be noticed.
I like this Walky! Though I predict he’ll turn slightly obnoxious later and piss off Dorothy somehow, leading to a fight . . .
Ok this one actually made me physically laugh, which is rare for me. I zoom in on the individual panels so walky scrolling onto screen was totally unexpected
I just love the glare chain here. And the buck stops with Walky. Of course.
We’ll know more in a few hours, but try this one on: It’s not an anger glare-chain (in fact, Dorothy’s look is more shock and fear than anger) — they’re all, in turn, looking at Walky, and he’s the source of the relevant drunkbubbles. And I’m going to farther out on the limb and say Walky’s playing silly buggers to give Becky a chance to run for cover. Because he blunders into nobility like that.
Damn I wish you could edit these things. Better, in my view, to say Dorothy’s look is more shocked-and-hurt-and-betrayed — which makes more sense if it’s directed at Walky rather than Billie.
Yes to all that. Joyce is looking past Dorothy who’s looking past Billie and to Walky who is playing silly buggers.
Walky will eat your face… WITH GLEE!!!
Well I’m sure Walky could probably pass off his drunkenness as his regular goofiness.
My headcanon is that Walky’s doing the Aracuan bird song.
Walky! Now is no time to forget that gravity exists!
The twist will be that Walky never drank anything, the bubbles are due to Walky finding a bubble machine, and thats just how Walky acts normally
Walky’s face is the best thing in the world
“These are not the drunks you’re looking for … move along!”
… Why can’t I help but be reminded of 2D from Gorillaz by that last panel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that face … it just won’t stop clicking in my head.
Ruth totally knows that they have something(s) to hide. Exactly what she knows, what she will find out, an what she chooses to do with information remains to be seen.
Sarah’s glare is clearly directed at Joyce, but I can’t tell if Joyce is glaring at Dorothy, and Dorothy at Billie, or if each of them is glaring past the person on their right toward Walky at the end of the chain. At least Walky is (drunkenly) happy at the moment. I don’t know if he’ll be smiling so much when the hangover kicks in.
Fun fact, I went to College with Amy Grant’s daughter. She dated a close friend of mine. Girl was not opposed to getting wasted and having a good time.
Goddammit, Walky!