I’m not sure Billie’s usual level of alcohol consumption and self-defenestration really mix well.
… actually, I just wanted to use the phrase “self-defenestration”.
Definitely nice. Hole in one, Billy. Strrrrrrrike! OUT OF THE PARK! …Wait, you should probably stick with a hockey metaphor if you don’t want to piss off Ruth even more.
It’s about the level of Clark Kent’s glasses at this point. they aren’t actually fooling anyone, It’s just that everyone’s playing along out of a mix of fear and courtesy.
I mean what I say, And I say what I mean. Every detail you say, about every DOA.
On August 18, Willis mentioned that Maggie said that Billie is smart because of today’s strip.
After reading…
Yeah.
Pretty Smart.
Like I said elsewhere right now I think what they have going is a kinky relationship. But I’m worried that they haven’t sat down and had the mature discussion necessary to establish the limits, boundaries, and safe words that would keep it from slipping from kinky to abusive.
Their relationship is based completely on mutual abuse and caring. It’s the lack of limits and boundaries and safe anything that gives their relationship enough of a charge to keep the lesbian suicide pact from reaching it’s inevitable conclusion.
Gawd, you can’t hate people for having unhealthy relationships; we’d all be targets for that, I’m sure. Hate them for not realising it over time and not changing it or getting out, if you have to.
But boy, do these two give me an sense of impending doom. How often can Ruth possibly pretend to kick Billie out of her room before people start to notice?
Also getting a big co-dependenty vibe from these last few strips. It could be Billie helping Ruth deal with depression and everything will be fine… or this ship could end up crashing.
And she takes off her glasses! That’s the most important step. No one can recognize someone with glasses on. Scientifically proven. There was a study and everything.
Big glasses + hairstyle + phony voice + Amber is reclusive so hardly anyone sees her + Amber’s bodytype/clothing/habits don’t show how super-athletic she actually is.
As a short person, my height and hair are my quickest identifiers from a distance. If I wanted to throw people off, I’d start wearing lifts in my normal shoes.
I’m pretty sure all of her mannerisms – which are actually the main factor most people use to recognize people, albeit unconsciously – change when she puts the costume on, too. Danny had enough exposure to her in both guises that I’ll totally blame him for not seeing through it, but almost no one else in the cast has.
We see Mandy and Grace discuss it. They acknowledge that Amazi Girl resembles Amber but dismiss it. I mean it’s never been a secret to us, but for all they know it could be one of thousands of other girls on campus.
Not quite. One dismisses it, but the other is sticking to her guns. Similarly, the other was positive Billie and Ruth wanted to bang, but the other dismissed that.
Yeah, there’s all of this. Plus, there’s the fact that her DID contributes to her having a full personality switch between the alters. Even if people are like, okay she kinda looks like that recluse girl who stays in her room and we almost never see, it’d be dismissed because Amber is shy and apologizing and reserved and nervous to even look you in the face and Amazi-girl is brash and bold and confident and athletic.
Amber’s tendency to treat Amber and Amazigirl as two distinct personas has been advancing during the course of the comic. Is that a psychiatric deterioration, or just a series of practical accommodations and developing in-jokes? I dunno: DID is pretty obscure.
I fear that it might turn out to be fateful that Danny chose to “date” Amazigirl rather than Amber. He doubtless thinks it’s just a bit of roleplaying fun, but I’m afraid that for Amber there are dangerous issues of self-worth, identity, and reinforcement of self-destructive behaviour.
is it weird that i think it was a genuinely loving gesture for billie to get ruth’s stuff all organized for her? like…that was nice. the tricking her into being a good RA not so much, but like that’s shit ruth needs to pull together.
You know, even assuming I didn’t already know the two were banging, I like to believe that I’d suspect the two were banging. They publicly engage each other way too much.
“You two are just too nasty to each other to not have been nasty to each other.”
Yeah, the downside of trying to hide sexytimes with loud knock-down fights is that anyone who grew up with romantic comedies and romantic subplots in movies is already ready to latch on to the “they seem to hate each other way too much to not be secretly banging” worldview. So yeah, there’s probably a good contingent that assumes they’re hate-fucking, but just don’t care.
Not only that, but panel 4 actually reads like everyone knows, and actually wants to see the lame excuses for this particular loud knock-down fight, for their entertainment.
Smooth move Billie.
Come on guys. We know no one can recognize that AG is really Amber and vice versa.
But how many times does Ruth have to bounce Billy out the door before someone catches on?
The real question is probably not whether anyone has figured it out, but who has figured it out that’s a threat to them. Carla probably doesn’t give a damn. Sierra seems like she would leave them be, but is there a chance she might spill the beans to the wrong person?
I hope getting thrown out becomes a recurring thing like in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when Jazz thought already being outside made him safe, only to learn that he could still be thrown into the house.
If it does, though, they’re going to need to put up a warning sign (“Flying Billie Zone”, like the “Falling Rock Zone” signs on highways) or someone’s going to get hurt. This time it was Agatha that almost got caught in the crossfire and became collateral damage.
what’s this? a comic with a two word title? does that mean that every single word in this strip is a title to a previous strip? have we really reached this point?
Something tells me that Ruth isn’t as in charge in this relationship as she’d always assumed. This could make things… interesting. I wait to see if she can adapt to Billie’s ability to think on her feet and thus manipulate her when the opportunity arises..
In relationship between a guy and a girl you know that the girl is the one who in the end decides about everything and is on top, but how it goes with two girls then?
Uh just like a relationship between a guy and a girl, it depends? And usually it’s not one person that decides everything? (Again just like most relationships I know with a guy and a girl)
I’m pretty sure that’s not even how most heteronormative relationships work, even if TV tries to tell us otherwise. People are people and outside of trying to force relationships into unhealthy dynamics so they more match what is modeled in media, most people just do what works for those inside of it which in a healthy relationship is mutual respect and support.
…and everyone on the floor knows they’re sleeping together. In fact, they are quite amused and keep acting surprised to see how creative they can be at trying to fake the reasons they are seen together. The only oblivious ones are their friends, because sitcom logic.
There’s a betting pool on things like “long lingering looks”, “nearly kissing”, and accidentally describing kinky sex. Sierra or Carla are just trying to steer the action in their favor for the bets.
The RPF is on a fic archive everyone has the link to except Billie and Ruth. Mary’s taking careful notes, because she thinks they’re the author (“BILLIERUTH5EVER”) and is certain it’s non-fiction. It’s going in her file for when she feels she has enough evidence to report them. :p
… I think I spent too much time wrapped up in LiveJournal drama back in the day. >_>
Let’s see: DoA has been running for 62.5 months and has covered five weeks. That’s 12.5 months to cover each week. The characters are at the end of the first week in October, so the Tuesday after the first Mondat in November is about four and a half weeks away, which at the going rate comes to about 56 months… July 2020? Will Dorothy be volunteering?
Taking place in an unspecified year, I think it’s a presidential election year if Willis wants it to be a presidential election year. Though it’s definitely a year where representatives get elected according Robin when she appeared in the gender studies class.
Part of what made me realize I could like them was accepting that Ruth is a terrible person and their relationship is toxic and abusive. They aren’t two tragic lovers against the world, clinging to each other; they’re codependent, suicidal alcoholics.
I was more referring to the constant abuse she heaped onto Billie.
Those parts where she casually describes herself in the worst terms imaginable are when I find myself most in sync with her, but she’s still abusive. That’s kinda sorta terrible.
See, if you mean Billie, I get that (I’d disagree, but I’m not willing to assume ‘kids forget to triple-check is actually them forgetting about consent, but not realizing how important that third check is with this kink), but you seem fairly wrong on the whole. She /does/ put on a mean-as-hell persona, but most of her interactions with others, she’s trying to help, and it’s not like she does so by trying to beat them or threaten them. She’s by no means a sparkling saint, but nobody is. Assuming my read on her is right, she’s just not fundamentally terrible.
I wasn’t talking about their kink, I was talking about how Ruth constantly harassed her, stole from her, and slammed her against a wall and kissed her. She’s done some pretty awful shit as an RA, mostly to Billie but she’s engaged in some minor forms of harassment against some of the other students, which, you know, still crappy of her.
Ruth is complex and interesting but she’s still been abusive towards Billie, though FWIW using a blanket description like “terrible” is kind of unfair of me and puts her more in the league of Blaine and Ross than it accurately sums up Ruth.
Overall I’m fine with “That’s a bit far, I guess”, but I do want to point out that her and Billie were mutually antagonistic to each other. She had the upper hand, but it’s not as simple as “one is abusive”. Yes, the wall kiss was still sexual harrassment, obviously, not going to say it wasn’t.
Fair enough. I put a bit more responsibility on Ruth since she instigated more than a few of the encounters and she’s in a position of authority, but I see where you’re coming from.
Yeah, they treat these little scenes as a normal aspect of their relationship. Nah it’s cool, throw me out of a room or rip my clothes off in a hallway, that’s just how we roll.
Yeah, and it can be a problem for college kids that do like the kink, but don’t know the apparatus to make it more consensual. So Billie, for now, is turned on by being thrown about and slammed against walls, but doesn’t fully realize that her girlfriend playing up the rage because it’s one of the few emotions she can still feel is not a healthy way to get those interactions.
My bad, I wasn’t talking about her being into it (though I can also buy that), but more that she just casually rolls with Ruth’s abusive behaviour, and likewise Ruth lashes out because she doesn’t know how else to act.
You know how Amber in Shortpacked described how her mom took Blaine’s abuse as a “funny quirk”? I think that’s sort of where Ruth and Billie are now, just not as horribly gone as Blaine was.
Oh yeah, I’m on the same page with that. To Billie, she enjoys the loudness and the slamming against walls and the intellectual power plays and the drawn out smack down fights because they work well with her insecurities about silence and her kinkiness, but she’s not noticing that her girlfriend is still frequently stuck in rage mode and takes it out on her without checking for consent.
And that’s the red flag because it pops up repeatedly and Billie is building means of ignoring when it doesn’t feel right by overly focusing on where it feels kinky and sexually satisfying.
This is consensual, enthusiastically, full stop. I’m not going to say what Ruth’s doing is healthy, but they are both agreeing to this with full knowledge of what they’re agreeing to.
Frankly, what we’re seeing seems more like kids not knowing how important it is (and it is FUCKING IMPORTANT) to triple-check what they’re doing. Considering they’re learning about a genuinely difficult kink entirely first hand and without outside aid, they look like they’re doing a good job. Sure, those resources exist, but they’re not interacting with a wider community to know about it, and most people just aren’t introspective enough to look just because when nothing’s gone wrong.
Also, it looks like Ruth is still having to be the one to keep Billie going to class regularly, so it looks like Billie is trying to go the full co-dependent at the cost of her education (which means she’s probably not doing much in the way of studying or writing her essays).
Daaang I love that “Well played” look Ruth gives her. xD I am a little surprised nobody has reported Ruth’s public physical abuse towards Billie. I’d like to think I would. But maybe it’s a “oh I’m sure someone else will” type deal.
It’s less real world commentary (the webcomic does not depict the real world) and more observation of writer bias. Amazi-Girl has attacked a number of people for doing nothing (mike, sal, malaya), and in certain situations other characters have done the same (Joyce slashing Ryan’s face open for being an ass but not really “doing” anything), as well as the RA who has repeatedly attacked students. Meanwhile both Becky and Amber’s fathers aren’t allowed on campus.
While this thread may indeed get deleted, Spencer, something like Johnny Z’s remark about “Joyce slashing Ryan’s face open for being an ass but not really ‘doing’ anything” must not be allowed to pass unchallenged.
Hey, dum-dum, did you forget that Ryan was the person who roofied Joyce’s drink? Joyce recognized the situation before it got too far out of hand and took action, and whatever happened to Ryan was fully deserved — especially since he was able to get away during the hubbub surrounding Amazi-Girl’s appearance, and he and his Rohypnol (or whatever he was using) are still out there somewhere.
You know I was expecting the “Joyce beat up Joe for thinking dirty thoughts routine.” I would still disagree with their argument still because that was Joyce and Mike who did it. (Though I don’t like that scene because I thought it treated assault as a joke). And as for Amazi Girl and Ruth, I expect them to face consequences in the future. In Ruth’s case I’m starting to get the feeling they may come as early as this chapter. (She seems to be blowing off RA work lately. This might encourage people to go to the higher ups with complaints and for the higher ups to start taking complaints more seriously).
But then the person making the argument decided to go with “Joyce glassed that one guy for no reason” when said reason was that the guy drugged and tried to rape Joyce and holy fucking shit, what the fuck is this, why would someone who makes that kind of conclusion even read this comic, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck… (Repeat as necessary)
Ryan drugged her drink, and regardless of that, he was trying to rape her. Joyce was totally justified in slashing his face open – he got off way too lightly, actually. I can’t believe you’re saying that he was simply being an ass who didn’t really “do anything” when he literally drugged her so he could rape her, uh.
I mean, I probably would’ve gone with Joyce hitting Joe if you’re going to use Joyce as an example, but since you’re saying the dude that drugged and attempted to rape someone did ‘nothing’, I’m going to say you might also have some bias in what you wrote.
one could make the argument that joyce didn’t yet know she’d been drugged when she hit Ryan (and she didn’t), however you’re still allowed to defend yourself when you can reasonably assume you’re in imminent danger, and Ryan screaming obscenities at her and trying to force her into the bathroom against her will certainly qualifies.
Even if she or Sarah had killed him, it would be unlikely that any jury would convict (self defense, defense of a third party). Nor should they.
I think it’s at the point when my mind drifts to insults such as “mung huffer” (DO NOT look ‘mung’ up. Please do not.) that I should understand that I cannot respond some things in a calm and rational manner.
You know, things like people who defend those who make use of date rape drugs.
Theory, this individual is one of those species of internet goblins that regularly communicates with others entirely in rape threats. He claims Ryan did nothing because Ryan’s threats translate into “I think you have pretty eyes” in the ancient language of his people.
Common misunderstanding among the more isolated, insular tribes found on the interwebs.
Are you aware that you just compared Joyce defending herself from her attempted rapist to a madman bringing a gun on campus and kidnapping someone at gunpoint?
They have reported it. Ruth mentions that the higher ups know that she’s a bit…physical, but don’t mind because she runs a tight ship….get it? Tight Ship? ;P
I seem to recall that Ruth actually shows a lot of care and concern for every resident except Billie. Plus, Billie publicly attacked Ruth twice. Most people are probably thinking that Billie keeps pushing things with Ruth.
Why? I’ve been trying to figure out what about their relationship would get Ruth fired. (Outside of the boozing) Billie is consent aged, and Ruth isn’t faculty or anything… Go to admin, tell them you’re considering a relationship and see if Billie can be transferred to another dorm if necessary. Heck, unless there’s preferential treatment occuring homophobia is the only reason anyone in dorm would care…
That requires the two to be sober long enough to formulate a plan, and if Billie was in another dorm that would mean less time spent hovering around Ruth making sure she didn’t kill herself.
She doesn’t even ever have to actually use her official room. She could officially swap with Malaya, and just live in Ruth’s room like she’s doing now, and and Becky could live with Lucy, and Sal and Malaya would be roommates. It would be hilarious.
I don’t think the relationship is the problem with these two. They have serious problems and relying on the relationship to save them isn’t going to work, but it’s not like either of them was planning on getting help before the relationship, so I’m really not sure it’s making things worse.
I don’t think they’re actively driving themselves to worse behaviour, but the stated intent of their relationship is that eventually Ruth is going to kill herself and Billie is forcing her to take her along.
Maaaayyyybe they’ve start to calm down a bit, but I think getting together is exacerbating things and it’s only going to get worse when their relationship gets exposed.
Most schools have restrictions on RA/resident relationships because the RA is in a position of power or authority (however limited) over the resident. You can usually get an exception but that’s the kind of thing you should do before you ply the minor with alcohol to get her to have sex with you.
The administration is going to ignore everything it can until something goes wrong, and then either blame the victim or scapegoat whomever has the least power and privileges. When it comes to the administration throwing Ruth to the lions do you think they will refrain from bullshitting? When someone accuses Ruth of bullying a vulnerable teenager in her care, plying her with drink, and fucking her without free and sober consent, Ruth will have no effective defence.
OTOH, as far as I can tell it’s also illegal for Ruth to drink. She’s not that much older than Billie, right? Isn’t she 19? Maybe 20.
I’m not sure how the “supplying alcohol to a minor” thing works legally when you’re also a minor. And it’s not like Billie hasn’t been supplying her with alcohol too.
Yeah, but when it’s a question of being fired rather than prosecuted things are simpler. Not only are they both under drinking age, but it is a dry campus. Ruth could be fired for drinking in the dorm even if she were 21. She can definitely be fired for boinking a resident over whom she has a measure of authority and for whom she has a duty of care.
Ruth is doing a ton of things that parents pay for dorms on the (misguided) understanding that the residences will prevent from happening. If word gets around that this residence not only allows what in happening to Billie but actual pays Ruth and gives her authority while she is doing it there will be a bloody scandal and the residence will suffer. If the administration finds out that Ruth bullies and assaults the teenagers in her care, breaks into their rooms, steals their stuff, wilfully damages it, drinks herself into stupors, supplies the kids she is supposed to care for with alcohol sufficient that they drink themselves into stupors, then has sex with them, and had entered into a suicide pact with one it will sack her in the twinkling of a bedknob.
Ruth/Billie is desperately romantic and we love it to bits. It is also an egregious failure of the residence’s duty of care for its residents. The residence cannot legally be in loco parentis, because the residents are adults. But its business model depends on helping the customers kid themselves that it is.
Anyone else think she looks good in that shirt? For a comic character of course….I’m not one of those freaks who…..yeah no i’m definitely one of those freaks.
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Nice
Sal seriously just needs to teach Billy the art of self-defenestration, though. Would save a lot of hassle.
I’m not sure Billie’s usual level of alcohol consumption and self-defenestration really mix well.
… actually, I just wanted to use the phrase “self-defenestration”.
I think degeneration, self or otherwise, would have to be out the window. And I think Sal has a patent on that.
Defenestration. No edit plus spell correct is a mean combination.
You’re telling me. My comment is now forever stuck with Billy instead of Billie.
Your avatars could not be more perfect for that.
You should have claimed credit for it.
Billie is strictly forbidden from autodefenestration by that roommate agreement that Ruth made her make. That clause cuts both ways!
Definitely nice. Hole in one, Billy. Strrrrrrrike! OUT OF THE PARK! …Wait, you should probably stick with a hockey metaphor if you don’t want to piss off Ruth even more.
“Yeah, well just you wait until I mate YOU”
… no wait
…maybe? or should i say MATEBE
I’d be more confused about the ponytail than the meeting
I’m sure they’ll get to that later.
The ponytail is the far more pressing matter
Change blindness.
Masterstroke
Billie is an evil genius.
My respect for her climbs.
H. C., P. S.
Ruth looks seriously pissed at that EPIC save by billie.
Well, they have to put on a show and make it look real.
Well Billie basically just forced her to go to that meeting. hence the “check, mate” alt text.
I’m not sure who they think they’re fooling anymore
Themselves?
Carla in the next panel: “Huh, so that’s what the banging on my wall was about… ew…”
It’s about the level of Clark Kent’s glasses at this point. they aren’t actually fooling anyone, It’s just that everyone’s playing along out of a mix of fear and courtesy.
Never underestimate the power of “Naw. Can’t be.”
Oh, Billie’s gonna get such a pounding for that one! 😉
don’t worry, she’ll like it
In more ways than one, knowing these two.
A pounding or a pegging?
Yes.
And possibly a spanking if she’s into that.
All the best people are! 🙂
I approve of this comment, and feel new slipshine possibilities forming. 😋
A spanking! A spanking!
–And then, the oral sex.
Well I could stay a bit longer.
I mean what I say, And I say what I mean. Every detail you say, about every DOA.
On August 18, Willis mentioned that Maggie said that Billie is smart because of today’s strip.
After reading…
Yeah.
Pretty Smart.
Well remembered! Yup. Billie is smart
I marked it on the calendar. 😀
Vey smooth.
Well played, Billie.
Oh my!
Okay. That was actually pretty nice.
Fuckin’ score for Billie. Well done, girl. <3
Today’s Forecast: Heavy Tsunderestorms
My new favorite word!
I like to think Mary is the one who asked the question.
I think she’d be tagged if she were.
I didn’t even realize she wasn’t in panel 3 because of course she’d take the chance to catch them.
That was smooth. I’m pretty sure Billie is in the doghouse now though.
Someone’s getting hatefucked tonight.
Probably. Which I’m counting as a double victory for Billie, frankly.
And she got the booze!
Then make it a triple victory.
But Billie will be without her femurs.
3 wins out of four, not bad considering she was in a depressive spiral a week ago.
I’m pretty sure that happens a lot with them.
Ruth has indeed been played.
It’s good to see Billie starting off her day with a healthy breakfast.
Breakfast of champions!
*looks around for his copy of “Tell Her No”*
Part of me wants to hate Billie/Ruth for having a really unhealthy, borderline abusive relationship, but I just can’t.
Like I said elsewhere right now I think what they have going is a kinky relationship. But I’m worried that they haven’t sat down and had the mature discussion necessary to establish the limits, boundaries, and safe words that would keep it from slipping from kinky to abusive.
Their relationship is based completely on mutual abuse and caring. It’s the lack of limits and boundaries and safe anything that gives their relationship enough of a charge to keep the lesbian suicide pact from reaching it’s inevitable conclusion.
So far.
Please, let it be evitable.
Like.
Gawd, you can’t hate people for having unhealthy relationships; we’d all be targets for that, I’m sure. Hate them for not realising it over time and not changing it or getting out, if you have to.
……………………*slow clap*
Since I saw this was filtered on the tumblr, I want to try it out, and see what it does.
The day that Billie forced Ruth to have an impromptu floor meeting was the worst day of her life…
For Billie it was Tuesday.
it was friday.
A Black Friday if we can say.
So what did it do?
That one line from Street Fighter the Movie gets automatically removed due to overuse.
Got played.
“Oh yeah, there totally is a floor meeting. Oh, and Billie, thanks again for talking with Joyce about what we discussed. Let me know how that goes.”
Two can play that game.
I don’t think Ruth could play it as well as Billie can.
No they can’t. it’s Ruth’s job, even if Billie did talk to her Ruth is still obligated.
Billie, you magnificent bastard, you.
I read your BOOK!!
Billie wrote a book?
Famous quote by Patton, about Rommel, actually.
I drink your
LIQUORMILKSHAKE!!Well ain’t ya slick, Billie?
Well, pissing Ruth off is a turn on for her, so probably yes.
She likes things loud and certain:
http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/133357998517/this-panel-is-among-the-most-billie-est-things-i
Well played, Billie.
But boy, do these two give me an sense of impending doom. How often can Ruth possibly pretend to kick Billie out of her room before people start to notice?
Also getting a big co-dependenty vibe from these last few strips. It could be Billie helping Ruth deal with depression and everything will be fine… or this ship could end up crashing.
*debbie downer trombone*
to be fair, this is the same group of kids who still can’t recognize Amber when she puts a tiny mask on.
And she takes off her glasses! That’s the most important step. No one can recognize someone with glasses on. Scientifically proven. There was a study and everything.
When ever I take my glasses off at school
“hey theres a new kid in class”
“every fucking time guys”
You reminded me of this. The last one is my favourite.
Big glasses + hairstyle + phony voice + Amber is reclusive so hardly anyone sees her + Amber’s bodytype/clothing/habits don’t show how super-athletic she actually is.
As a short person, my height and hair are my quickest identifiers from a distance. If I wanted to throw people off, I’d start wearing lifts in my normal shoes.
I’m pretty sure all of her mannerisms – which are actually the main factor most people use to recognize people, albeit unconsciously – change when she puts the costume on, too. Danny had enough exposure to her in both guises that I’ll totally blame him for not seeing through it, but almost no one else in the cast has.
We see Mandy and Grace discuss it. They acknowledge that Amazi Girl resembles Amber but dismiss it. I mean it’s never been a secret to us, but for all they know it could be one of thousands of other girls on campus.
Not quite. One dismisses it, but the other is sticking to her guns. Similarly, the other was positive Billie and Ruth wanted to bang, but the other dismissed that.
They eventually asked Amazi-Girl about it, but they figured she was actually Other Rachel (which according to Willis was their actual guess).
Yeah, there’s all of this. Plus, there’s the fact that her DID contributes to her having a full personality switch between the alters. Even if people are like, okay she kinda looks like that recluse girl who stays in her room and we almost never see, it’d be dismissed because Amber is shy and apologizing and reserved and nervous to even look you in the face and Amazi-girl is brash and bold and confident and athletic.
Full-on Dissociative Identity Disorder? hm.
I don’t know if I’d say she really has that. I mean, it’s more like a persona she PURPOSEFULLY puts on, but that she’s kind of been dependent on.
Amber’s tendency to treat Amber and Amazigirl as two distinct personas has been advancing during the course of the comic. Is that a psychiatric deterioration, or just a series of practical accommodations and developing in-jokes? I dunno: DID is pretty obscure.
I fear that it might turn out to be fateful that Danny chose to “date” Amazigirl rather than Amber. He doubtless thinks it’s just a bit of roleplaying fun, but I’m afraid that for Amber there are dangerous issues of self-worth, identity, and reinforcement of self-destructive behaviour.
Crows can, but do we really think Read Hall’s population is smarter than corvids?
Course not! Crows are at least as smart as grad students.
So Ruth is into girls and her girlfriend doesn’t wear glasses. Problem solved.
Of course, all Billie has to do is point out that her not being in her room gives Becky a place to stay.
…Out of Ruth’s earshot, that is.
That won’t cut any ice with Mary.
is it weird that i think it was a genuinely loving gesture for billie to get ruth’s stuff all organized for her? like…that was nice. the tricking her into being a good RA not so much, but like that’s shit ruth needs to pull together.
Morning Workout. May not be 50 Shades of Grey, more like 50 shades of Red.
Seriously though how much padding do we have left to cover till we get to Amazi-girl V Sal : the Civil Battle
Probably not for like another year. They just had another confrontation last chapter where Sal totally chewed her out.
First the sneaky ponytail, now this.
Billie, you are a little genius.
I just really adore both Billie and Ruth’s outfits for some reason.
I dunno, I like Billie’s, but Ruth’s makes her look like a gas station attendant.
You got something against gas station attendants?
That faint smell of gasoline gets my motor running.
I prefer my everyday maintenance functions to be completely free of the warmth of human contact.
I don’t think lavender is Ruth’s color.
I like it; it makes her hair stand out without clashing. Lavender is like black in that it goes well with most colors.
You know I think Billie may need to borrow Dina’s “clever girl” shirt after all this here.
I don’t think it would fit.
Not a problem.
Wow… Billie’s pretty devious.
You know, even assuming I didn’t already know the two were banging, I like to believe that I’d suspect the two were banging. They publicly engage each other way too much.
“You two are just too nasty to each other to not have been nasty to each other.”
I’m sure Mandy and Grace argue about that constantly.
Yeah, the downside of trying to hide sexytimes with loud knock-down fights is that anyone who grew up with romantic comedies and romantic subplots in movies is already ready to latch on to the “they seem to hate each other way too much to not be secretly banging” worldview. So yeah, there’s probably a good contingent that assumes they’re hate-fucking, but just don’t care.
Not only that, but panel 4 actually reads like everyone knows, and actually wants to see the lame excuses for this particular loud knock-down fight, for their entertainment.
Maybe it’s Mary asking?
Aaand Billie wins that round. *applauds*
Smooth move Billie.
Come on guys. We know no one can recognize that AG is really Amber and vice versa.
But how many times does Ruth have to bounce Billy out the door before someone catches on?
The real question is probably not whether anyone has figured it out, but who has figured it out that’s a threat to them. Carla probably doesn’t give a damn. Sierra seems like she would leave them be, but is there a chance she might spill the beans to the wrong person?
6 panel : “…well played, arsehole”
I hope getting thrown out becomes a recurring thing like in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when Jazz thought already being outside made him safe, only to learn that he could still be thrown into the house.
If it does, though, they’re going to need to put up a warning sign (“Flying Billie Zone”, like the “Falling Rock Zone” signs on highways) or someone’s going to get hurt. This time it was Agatha that almost got caught in the crossfire and became collateral damage.
I like the dainty ‘raised pinky finger’ as Billie takes a hit off the bottle in the first panel.
This is the page that Maggie commented that Billie is very clever on!!
Yes I marked my calendar back when he said it.
My calendar’s waiting for January 17, 2017. This has been a long year.
Can’t she go out the window like a normal human?
I think Sal trademarked that.
what’s this? a comic with a two word title? does that mean that every single word in this strip is a title to a previous strip? have we really reached this point?
If you’d been paying attention, you’d have noticed this is not the first two-worder.
I hope this is a long day, Carla is wearinv a very cute outfit and I wamt her to get some spotlight before the next clothing cycle 😮
I like how the University wants the alcoholic RA who assaults her students to help people deal with the violence on campus.
Who better than an experienced source, though?
Come on, she’s a professional.
That reply had nothing to do with my comment o.O
I wasn’t actually expecting her to drink the booze.
Alcoholism, ladies and gentlemen.
Protip: Alcoholics think they function best after a drink, so they drink in the morning. (Also: “Best cure for hangovers: a drink. Not of water.”)
Billie’s far from the first one who grabbed a swig on the way out the door to class.
Billie is what Nate Ford would describe as a “functioning alcoholic”.
Where Ruth realises: Ooh, she’s good.
Which pretty much explains Ruth’s pursed lips and arched eyebrow in panel #6.
Something tells me that Ruth isn’t as in charge in this relationship as she’d always assumed. This could make things… interesting. I wait to see if she can adapt to Billie’s ability to think on her feet and thus manipulate her when the opportunity arises..
In relationship between a guy and a girl you know that the girl is the one who in the end decides about everything and is on top, but how it goes with two girls then?
Uh just like a relationship between a guy and a girl, it depends? And usually it’s not one person that decides everything? (Again just like most relationships I know with a guy and a girl)
I’m pretty sure that’s not even how most heteronormative relationships work, even if TV tries to tell us otherwise. People are people and outside of trying to force relationships into unhealthy dynamics so they more match what is modeled in media, most people just do what works for those inside of it which in a healthy relationship is mutual respect and support.
…and everyone on the floor knows they’re sleeping together. In fact, they are quite amused and keep acting surprised to see how creative they can be at trying to fake the reasons they are seen together. The only oblivious ones are their friends, because sitcom logic.
The only one who is neither amused nor a friend, Mary, is biding her time then.
Poor Mary is going to be so disappointed when she finally tries to reveal that they are sleeping witch each other and no one is surprised.
There’s a betting pool on things like “long lingering looks”, “nearly kissing”, and accidentally describing kinky sex. Sierra or Carla are just trying to steer the action in their favor for the bets.
The RPF is on a fic archive everyone has the link to except Billie and Ruth. Mary’s taking careful notes, because she thinks they’re the author (“BILLIERUTH5EVER”) and is certain it’s non-fiction. It’s going in her file for when she feels she has enough evidence to report them. :p
… I think I spent too much time wrapped up in LiveJournal drama back in the day. >_>
Nobody suspects a thing~
CoughMaryCough
Ò3Ô
… Clever girl, Billie. Well played.
This morning when Agatha called her family the phone almost ran out of power and she had to charge it. DRAMA!!!
Sierra stayed up a little too late and now she’s a bit groggy.
Hey! Has anyone worked out what date it’s going to be in the Dumbiverse on the 8th of November next?
When the Dumbidate gets to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, is is going to be a presidential election year?
It wasn’t in 2012….
It wasn’t November in 2012.
Let’s see: DoA has been running for 62.5 months and has covered five weeks. That’s 12.5 months to cover each week. The characters are at the end of the first week in October, so the Tuesday after the first Mondat in November is about four and a half weeks away, which at the going rate comes to about 56 months… July 2020? Will Dorothy be volunteering?
Taking place in an unspecified year, I think it’s a presidential election year if Willis wants it to be a presidential election year. Though it’s definitely a year where representatives get elected according Robin when she appeared in the gender studies class.
With two year terms, I don’t think House members ever stop running.
Please no. The presidential election cycle drags on far too long as it is…
and Billie now joins Dina in the “Clever Girl Club”
But if she gets a Dino hat, will she be able to comprehend its powers?
They’re not just OTP. They are best OTP.
I just threw up a little.
They’re certainly interesting at least.
Part of what made me realize I could like them was accepting that Ruth is a terrible person and their relationship is toxic and abusive. They aren’t two tragic lovers against the world, clinging to each other; they’re codependent, suicidal alcoholics.
They’re two tragic lovers against themselves!
NTS: When people who are facing suicidal ideation do not behave as model persons, they are actually terrible.
I was more referring to the constant abuse she heaped onto Billie.
Those parts where she casually describes herself in the worst terms imaginable are when I find myself most in sync with her, but she’s still abusive. That’s kinda sorta terrible.
See, if you mean Billie, I get that (I’d disagree, but I’m not willing to assume ‘kids forget to triple-check is actually them forgetting about consent, but not realizing how important that third check is with this kink), but you seem fairly wrong on the whole. She /does/ put on a mean-as-hell persona, but most of her interactions with others, she’s trying to help, and it’s not like she does so by trying to beat them or threaten them. She’s by no means a sparkling saint, but nobody is. Assuming my read on her is right, she’s just not fundamentally terrible.
I wasn’t talking about their kink, I was talking about how Ruth constantly harassed her, stole from her, and slammed her against a wall and kissed her. She’s done some pretty awful shit as an RA, mostly to Billie but she’s engaged in some minor forms of harassment against some of the other students, which, you know, still crappy of her.
Ruth is complex and interesting but she’s still been abusive towards Billie, though FWIW using a blanket description like “terrible” is kind of unfair of me and puts her more in the league of Blaine and Ross than it accurately sums up Ruth.
Overall I’m fine with “That’s a bit far, I guess”, but I do want to point out that her and Billie were mutually antagonistic to each other. She had the upper hand, but it’s not as simple as “one is abusive”. Yes, the wall kiss was still sexual harrassment, obviously, not going to say it wasn’t.
Fair enough. I put a bit more responsibility on Ruth since she instigated more than a few of the encounters and she’s in a position of authority, but I see where you’re coming from.
Well-played.
Normalizing of abuse and subterfuge to manipulate your partner.
Truly we have never known greater love.
We all know this situation is going to end in tears and disaster.
Yeah, they treat these little scenes as a normal aspect of their relationship. Nah it’s cool, throw me out of a room or rip my clothes off in a hallway, that’s just how we roll.
If I recall, Billie showed genuine anger at the clothing stunt, so they aren’t that far gone.
Yeah, and it can be a problem for college kids that do like the kink, but don’t know the apparatus to make it more consensual. So Billie, for now, is turned on by being thrown about and slammed against walls, but doesn’t fully realize that her girlfriend playing up the rage because it’s one of the few emotions she can still feel is not a healthy way to get those interactions.
My bad, I wasn’t talking about her being into it (though I can also buy that), but more that she just casually rolls with Ruth’s abusive behaviour, and likewise Ruth lashes out because she doesn’t know how else to act.
You know how Amber in Shortpacked described how her mom took Blaine’s abuse as a “funny quirk”? I think that’s sort of where Ruth and Billie are now, just not as horribly gone as Blaine was.
Oh yeah, I’m on the same page with that. To Billie, she enjoys the loudness and the slamming against walls and the intellectual power plays and the drawn out smack down fights because they work well with her insecurities about silence and her kinkiness, but she’s not noticing that her girlfriend is still frequently stuck in rage mode and takes it out on her without checking for consent.
And that’s the red flag because it pops up repeatedly and Billie is building means of ignoring when it doesn’t feel right by overly focusing on where it feels kinky and sexually satisfying.
This is consensual, enthusiastically, full stop. I’m not going to say what Ruth’s doing is healthy, but they are both agreeing to this with full knowledge of what they’re agreeing to.
Frankly, what we’re seeing seems more like kids not knowing how important it is (and it is FUCKING IMPORTANT) to triple-check what they’re doing. Considering they’re learning about a genuinely difficult kink entirely first hand and without outside aid, they look like they’re doing a good job. Sure, those resources exist, but they’re not interacting with a wider community to know about it, and most people just aren’t introspective enough to look just because when nothing’s gone wrong.
One of the things they have agreed to is mutual suicide.
My prediction.
Attendance will be checked. Becky will be exposed either by her attendance or offscreen with her name. Problems defo coming for ‘tight ship’ Ruth.
Also, it looks like Ruth is still having to be the one to keep Billie going to class regularly, so it looks like Billie is trying to go the full co-dependent at the cost of her education (which means she’s probably not doing much in the way of studying or writing her essays).
Daaang I love that “Well played” look Ruth gives her. xD I am a little surprised nobody has reported Ruth’s public physical abuse towards Billie. I’d like to think I would. But maybe it’s a “oh I’m sure someone else will” type deal.
Only males get reported for assault on this campus.
Can we not get into this? Stuff like that usually ends up a huge signal flare for MRAs.
Besides, men don’t get reported; Amazi-Girl beats the shit out of them.
It’s less real world commentary (the webcomic does not depict the real world) and more observation of writer bias. Amazi-Girl has attacked a number of people for doing nothing (mike, sal, malaya), and in certain situations other characters have done the same (Joyce slashing Ryan’s face open for being an ass but not really “doing” anything), as well as the RA who has repeatedly attacked students. Meanwhile both Becky and Amber’s fathers aren’t allowed on campus.
Did you seriously just try to defend the attempted rapist?
I’d make some smarmy comment but why bother when this entire comment chains going to get deleted. Adios!
(and also Ross and Blaine are, like, the WORST anyway – so I don’t think you can compare them to the other characters’ stuff)
While this thread may indeed get deleted, Spencer, something like Johnny Z’s remark about “Joyce slashing Ryan’s face open for being an ass but not really ‘doing’ anything” must not be allowed to pass unchallenged.
Hey, dum-dum, did you forget that Ryan was the person who roofied Joyce’s drink? Joyce recognized the situation before it got too far out of hand and took action, and whatever happened to Ryan was fully deserved — especially since he was able to get away during the hubbub surrounding Amazi-Girl’s appearance, and he and his Rohypnol (or whatever he was using) are still out there somewhere.
nb — everything in the second sentence is being addressed to Johnny Z, not to Spencer.
We really need an ‘edit’ or ‘delete’ feature around here.
You know I was expecting the “Joyce beat up Joe for thinking dirty thoughts routine.” I would still disagree with their argument still because that was Joyce and Mike who did it. (Though I don’t like that scene because I thought it treated assault as a joke). And as for Amazi Girl and Ruth, I expect them to face consequences in the future. In Ruth’s case I’m starting to get the feeling they may come as early as this chapter. (She seems to be blowing off RA work lately. This might encourage people to go to the higher ups with complaints and for the higher ups to start taking complaints more seriously).
But then the person making the argument decided to go with “Joyce glassed that one guy for no reason” when said reason was that the guy drugged and tried to rape Joyce and holy fucking shit, what the fuck is this, why would someone who makes that kind of conclusion even read this comic, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck… (Repeat as necessary)
wow
Ryan drugged her drink, and regardless of that, he was trying to rape her. Joyce was totally justified in slashing his face open – he got off way too lightly, actually. I can’t believe you’re saying that he was simply being an ass who didn’t really “do anything” when he literally drugged her so he could rape her, uh.
Also, he got hit with a baseball bat! That was cool.
Careful or you’ll get a rant about the evils of self help and vigilante justice.
But yeah, it was cool.
Roofying a girl’s drink goes well beyond “being an ass but not really doing anything”.
I mean, I probably would’ve gone with Joyce hitting Joe if you’re going to use Joyce as an example, but since you’re saying the dude that drugged and attempted to rape someone did ‘nothing’, I’m going to say you might also have some bias in what you wrote.
one could make the argument that joyce didn’t yet know she’d been drugged when she hit Ryan (and she didn’t), however you’re still allowed to defend yourself when you can reasonably assume you’re in imminent danger, and Ryan screaming obscenities at her and trying to force her into the bathroom against her will certainly qualifies.
Even if she or Sarah had killed him, it would be unlikely that any jury would convict (self defense, defense of a third party). Nor should they.
…Are you reading a different comic than the rest of us?
I think it’s at the point when my mind drifts to insults such as “mung huffer” (DO NOT look ‘mung’ up. Please do not.) that I should understand that I cannot respond some things in a calm and rational manner.
You know, things like people who defend those who make use of date rape drugs.
Dude, you are aware that attempted rape, attempted murder, and systematic abuse are bad, right?
Theory, this individual is one of those species of internet goblins that regularly communicates with others entirely in rape threats. He claims Ryan did nothing because Ryan’s threats translate into “I think you have pretty eyes” in the ancient language of his people.
Common misunderstanding among the more isolated, insular tribes found on the interwebs.
Are you aware that you just compared Joyce defending herself from her attempted rapist to a madman bringing a gun on campus and kidnapping someone at gunpoint?
They have reported it. Ruth mentions that the higher ups know that she’s a bit…physical, but don’t mind because she runs a tight ship….get it? Tight Ship? ;P
Oh I see, I guess it didn’t really sink in.
But is that really true or is it part of Ruth’s successful intimidation tactics?
I seem to recall that Ruth actually shows a lot of care and concern for every resident except Billie. Plus, Billie publicly attacked Ruth twice. Most people are probably thinking that Billie keeps pushing things with Ruth.
If they would just admit they were dating their relationship would drop from Super Problematic to just Kinda Dumb.
And Ruth would be sacked.
Why? I’ve been trying to figure out what about their relationship would get Ruth fired. (Outside of the boozing) Billie is consent aged, and Ruth isn’t faculty or anything… Go to admin, tell them you’re considering a relationship and see if Billie can be transferred to another dorm if necessary. Heck, unless there’s preferential treatment occuring homophobia is the only reason anyone in dorm would care…
That requires the two to be sober long enough to formulate a plan, and if Billie was in another dorm that would mean less time spent hovering around Ruth making sure she didn’t kill herself.
She doesn’t even ever have to actually use her official room. She could officially swap with Malaya, and just live in Ruth’s room like she’s doing now, and and Becky could live with Lucy, and Sal and Malaya would be roommates. It would be hilarious.
That could work, but I don’t think Billie’s even thinking that far ahead.
Besides, the last thing these two need is a legitimate foothold to continue their relationship.
I don’t think the relationship is the problem with these two. They have serious problems and relying on the relationship to save them isn’t going to work, but it’s not like either of them was planning on getting help before the relationship, so I’m really not sure it’s making things worse.
I don’t think they’re actively driving themselves to worse behaviour, but the stated intent of their relationship is that eventually Ruth is going to kill herself and Billie is forcing her to take her along.
Maaaayyyybe they’ve start to calm down a bit, but I think getting together is exacerbating things and it’s only going to get worse when their relationship gets exposed.
Ruth is in a position of authority over Billie. Dating her residents is against IU rules and regulations.
If Billie just moved to a different floor, they’d be totally in the clear.
Most schools have restrictions on RA/resident relationships because the RA is in a position of power or authority (however limited) over the resident. You can usually get an exception but that’s the kind of thing you should do before you ply the minor with alcohol to get her to have sex with you.
Billie is 18.
And so not a minor. It’s still illegal to supply her with alcohol.
Oh right. I forgot that the drinking age is 21 over in America.
Still, his argument was “Ruth was getting her drunk to have sex with her” so still wrong as hell.
The administration is going to ignore everything it can until something goes wrong, and then either blame the victim or scapegoat whomever has the least power and privileges. When it comes to the administration throwing Ruth to the lions do you think they will refrain from bullshitting? When someone accuses Ruth of bullying a vulnerable teenager in her care, plying her with drink, and fucking her without free and sober consent, Ruth will have no effective defence.
OTOH, as far as I can tell it’s also illegal for Ruth to drink. She’s not that much older than Billie, right? Isn’t she 19? Maybe 20.
I’m not sure how the “supplying alcohol to a minor” thing works legally when you’re also a minor. And it’s not like Billie hasn’t been supplying her with alcohol too.
Ruth is 20.
Yeah, but when it’s a question of being fired rather than prosecuted things are simpler. Not only are they both under drinking age, but it is a dry campus. Ruth could be fired for drinking in the dorm even if she were 21. She can definitely be fired for boinking a resident over whom she has a measure of authority and for whom she has a duty of care.
Ruth is doing a ton of things that parents pay for dorms on the (misguided) understanding that the residences will prevent from happening. If word gets around that this residence not only allows what in happening to Billie but actual pays Ruth and gives her authority while she is doing it there will be a bloody scandal and the residence will suffer. If the administration finds out that Ruth bullies and assaults the teenagers in her care, breaks into their rooms, steals their stuff, wilfully damages it, drinks herself into stupors, supplies the kids she is supposed to care for with alcohol sufficient that they drink themselves into stupors, then has sex with them, and had entered into a suicide pact with one it will sack her in the twinkling of a bedknob.
Ruth/Billie is desperately romantic and we love it to bits. It is also an egregious failure of the residence’s duty of care for its residents. The residence cannot legally be in loco parentis, because the residents are adults. But its business model depends on helping the customers kid themselves that it is.
They just need to hide Mary’s corpse first. No one else on the floor gives enough of a shit to rat them out.
Is anyone actually buying this?
im pretty sure everyone is pretending to be fooled at this point
dysfunctional relationship much?
Whaddya expect? Romance is about dysfunctional relationships.
Anyone else think she looks good in that shirt? For a comic character of course….I’m not one of those freaks who…..yeah no i’m definitely one of those freaks.
You’re among friends, have no fear.
Is that a Morty face? She’s making a Morty face, isn’t she?
Touche…
*
Right then Billie, as you were
Does Billie and Ruth have a ship name yet? How about Canadian Dragon?
Go Dragons? xD