Your screenname makes me ponder. Do you give true sounding prophetic statements in a questioning tone? Do you give Prophecies about quantum particles? Are your prophecies only Boolean type? The mind wobbles…
If Billie just wanted to get better and would go to the therapy she has been provided with then maybe they could work this out. But it only works if Billie wants it to work and wants to get better.
Yeah, you have to believe first that the therapy can actually work… Which is a hard mental leap to make when you think that you are just bad and that’s it.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I’m sure it being hard plays into it, but mostly it’s just that she’s poison and therapy’s not going to fix it, so why bother with a doomed effort.
There’s a really twisted bit of ego there, too: the notion that one is uniquely and especially terrible and toxic, and the therapist has never seen a case as bad as yours.
(ha ha, no.)
I mean, that might be part of the issue for Ruth, but Billie’s reason for not going to therapy (or doing anything else, really) is never going to be “that costs money”.
Willis: “We all know that fictional characters can come back to life. However, here’s a contract that establishes that Blaine wouldn’t appear in Dumbing of Age ever!”
This is how we’re introduced to Grandpa, but not by burying Blaine (because of course not), just him doing his job and Asher bein like “so yeah I got this thing.”
“I choose to wear the tattered flesh of my enemies!”
“I’ll snap off your legs and feed them back to you through your eye sockets!”
“I will beat you both to death myself with your own bloody femurs.”
I’d much rather see Billie and Ruth talking about their problems than the league of evil parents. Which means the next strip will probably go back to them.
Sydney will appear in the next Blaine strip.
Blaine: “Rules are for inferior people. I refuse to take the trouble to look both ways before crossing the road.”
*a car hits him*
Sydney: “FOOL! THAT HAS BEEN YOUR UNDOING!”
Last panel: “This was a DOA PSA, because now that I have kids I have to take every opportunity to reduce the chances that their monkey brains don’t get them killed.”
They’ve seemingly had some revelations, so there’s that, at least. Kinda early to tell if anything will come of it.
I do wish Billie would tell her what happened with Alice, though, given that might give additional context as to her keeping up barriers with Ruth and her fear of being poison. But hey, one step at a time.
It kinda is your fault, Billie, or at least you shared in it and contributed. Cold shouldering Ruth because she stood up for yourself was CRUEL, and you can feel now what Ruth was trying to prevent.
On the upside, this should brushable under the rug as far as her RA job, it’s not wrong to go to the hospital for worry about an allergic reaction.
“Stop trying to kill me” is a hell of an ultimatum. I can see how Billie is completely at fault here.
Of course, none of that is what happened, as Billie is telling us here. She didn’t leave because Ruth made an ultimatum. She left because she thinks she’s poison and dangerous to Ruth and tried to piss her off so she could leave without it hurting Ruth so much.
Which is fucked up in so many ways, but well-intentioned, I guess.
Ultimatums for dickish people who want to control the other party, and for people who can’t get the other party to respect basic boundries any other way.
Also for business deals but please only make them in groups or if your okay with the other party following through.
im not sure if i love this or hate this, even though i love billie and ruth’s relationship a lot more than i would than if it were real life friends of mine dealin with something this toxic.
it looks like they’re both really trying, just, really, really badly.
Other than providing a compelling story arc here, there is no reason in real life a relationship like this would continue. Billie is 18, Ruth is 20 — they would either outgrow each other or realize thru therapy that they are unhealthily codependent.
Having been through a few relationships with toxic people, I can tell you these dont last. To expect their love to last by the time Billie hits her mid-20 is unrealistic.
Of course, the fact that freshman first semester has taken 15+ years here makes the situation feel more draining to us than to them.
While they don’t usually, I have heard of a select number of couples who have had unhealthy toxic relationships but later surprisingly turned them around because both of them decided to work for it. It isn’t unrealistic or impossible – it just isn’t the most common of outcomes, and usually because one of them has no interest in committing to doing anything differently. I’ve also heard of a couple where a terrible relationship turned into a great relationship then was ended for different reasons too so even if they turn it around, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
To everyone who is saying that Billie needs to stay with Ruth in order for Ruth or both of them to heal: You Are Never In Charge Of Someone Else’s Healing! They can break up and then get help separately. Ruth might need a support network right now but it doesn’t need to involve Billie. This kind of feels like Ruth is (unintentionally) emotionally blackmailing Billie to stay with her right now.
Yes, Billie shouldn’t have left the way she did but Ruth gave her an ultimatum that she (Billie) wasn’t interested in dealing with and she left thinking that Ruth was better without her. They were both stupid but they can continue to do so separately.
Or together. They could stay together and get help too.
I get what you say about emotional blackmail, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here, even unintentionally. Billie wants to stay with Ruth, but thinks she’s poison and will hurt her if she stayed, so she pulls the self-sacrifice ploy and leaves, trying to piss Ruth off so she won’t be hurt as badly.
And that backfires, so here we are.
Now we get to see if Billie can really step up or if this has to still get worse.
I don’t think they need to stay together to heal but I do think Billie needed something like this to happen to learn that you can’t protect someone by trying to forcibly tear yourself out of their heart and life when they clearly do not want that.
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“You know why I hate you so much? BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!”
yikes
actually I bet there’s a Mad-Libs for couples fighting tho
My favorite is Billie’s “I hate your stupid grumpy face. I wanna kiss it.”
Basically sums these two up.
I think this is going about as well as it’s going to go.
Dumbing of Age Book 9: I Will NEVER Hate You, Except ALL THE GODDAMN TIME
(psst, Ctrl-F failed)
Dumbing of Age Book 10: I’d Say It Ultimately Backfired
“I love/hate you too!”
Ruth being an English major, she could go with “Odi et Amo.”
English majors study latin?
Dissecting etymology is our one party trick.
I thought puns were on the list somewhere.
That’s a great way to have your English Major badge revoked
Your screenname makes me ponder. Do you give true sounding prophetic statements in a questioning tone? Do you give Prophecies about quantum particles? Are your prophecies only Boolean type? The mind wobbles…
Only if you don’t know to refer to them as”fatal Cleopatras.”
They study Catullus. At least I hope they still do.
If Odie et ammo, Jon’d better give him a purgative.
and then leave the premises.
I’ll kill you too, buddy. I’ll kill you too.
Book titles abound: “I will never hate you, except all the goddamn time”.
it’s cool, i know that one
“It’s Excruciating, and I Long For the Peace of the Grave” is gong t be really hard to beat though
It’s a day later and that one still brings tears of mirth to my eyes.
Although it’s better with the main title included.
A perfect title for the eventual multi-volume collection of books that take place during finals.
Really sums up their relationship, doesn’t it?
What’s a DoA strip without two or book titles?
“Maybe A Side of Revenge”
“I Don’t Do This Shit Anymore”
get outta here axel
You really do remember me this time? I’M SO FLATTERED!
But you’re too late!
Two!?
Got it memorized?
He was busy solving some plots before the end.
It’s just The Same Old Song
But with a different beat since you’ve been gone…
Billie, don’t be a wino
don’t be a fool with your liiiiiiiiiife
Dumbing of age book 9: “I don’t hate you, expect all the God damn time.”
They’re way too good together to be so terrible together
This.
Oh, you beautiful, pissy little dandelions, I will pay for your therapy myself if you’ll both just GO.
“Pissy Little Dandelions” is my next band name.
If Billie just wanted to get better and would go to the therapy she has been provided with then maybe they could work this out. But it only works if Billie wants it to work and wants to get better.
“Yeah but that’s hard and it takes effort!”
– Billie’s internal monologue, probably
Billie has a collossal supply of self-hatred andshe believes that she ruins everyone around her.
That kind of feeling does not really prompt you into putting effort into self-care…
Yeah, you have to believe first that the therapy can actually work… Which is a hard mental leap to make when you think that you are just bad and that’s it.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I’m sure it being hard plays into it, but mostly it’s just that she’s poison and therapy’s not going to fix it, so why bother with a doomed effort.
She would probably just ruin the therapy for everyone else. Or so she’s convinced herself.
“I can’t go to therapy. It would be bad for the therapist.”
There’s a really twisted bit of ego there, too: the notion that one is uniquely and especially terrible and toxic, and the therapist has never seen a case as bad as yours.
(ha ha, no.)
It’s a common one though.
Rooted in the “I’m too messed up. No one can help me. It’s hopeless.” dynamic.
See also: Amber.
I mean, that might be part of the issue for Ruth, but Billie’s reason for not going to therapy (or doing anything else, really) is never going to be “that costs money”.
No, see, it’ll work, because who doesn’t love free stuff?
Yes, yes, they are talking seriously about their problems. Now, I WANT TO SEE HOW THE LEAGUE OF EVIL PARENTS IS DOING!
I don’t. If the next strip had a footnote saying that Blaine died on the way back to his home planet, I’d dance with glee.
Willis: “We all know that fictional characters can come back to life. However, here’s a contract that establishes that Blaine wouldn’t appear in Dumbing of Age ever!”
Next strip: Asher is standing next to an elderly Korean man. Two guys with shovels are filling in a hole.
ASHER: Sorry to bother you about this, Grandpa.
GRANDPA: It’s fine. I never liked that guy anyway.
This is how we’re introduced to Grandpa, but not by burying Blaine (because of course not), just him doing his job and Asher bein like “so yeah I got this thing.”
i chuckled. god i wish this would happen.
Hahaha! Thanks for the mental picture. I laughed.
Oh Poochie, we hardly knew ye – wait. No, you were a horrible mistake and i’m glad you’re dead.
Thou shalt not tempt the Willis.
Pfft. Like any of us could out-evil the Willis.
“I choose to wear the tattered flesh of my enemies!”
“I’ll snap off your legs and feed them back to you through your eye sockets!”
“I will beat you both to death myself with your own bloody femurs.”
I’d much rather see Billie and Ruth talking about their problems than the league of evil parents. Which means the next strip will probably go back to them.
Off tangent but I feel robbed we didn’t see more of Sydney Yus, emergency driver.
AND THAT WILL BE OUR UNDOING!
I’m sure we have not seen the last of her.
You have to leave something for the patrion strips.
Sydney will appear in the next Blaine strip.
Blaine: “Rules are for inferior people. I refuse to take the trouble to look both ways before crossing the road.”
*a car hits him*
Sydney: “FOOL! THAT HAS BEEN YOUR UNDOING!”
Last panel: “This was a DOA PSA, because now that I have kids I have to take every opportunity to reduce the chances that their monkey brains don’t get them killed.”
Pissy weary love
The second and third panels sum up the core of their relationship.
Gasp! Is it at all possibly that without her glasses, Billie is defenceless? Or at least vulnerable.
An’ possibly mundane!
Ermagerd the KH ref yaaaassss
Horray, their relationship is back on track again!
…that’s good, right?
Let’s hope that it’s not the railroad that leads to destruction.
…whenever has it ever been something else?
I choose to believe, gainst all the evidence, that this time they’re going to make it.
They’ve seemingly had some revelations, so there’s that, at least. Kinda early to tell if anything will come of it.
I do wish Billie would tell her what happened with Alice, though, given that might give additional context as to her keeping up barriers with Ruth and her fear of being poison. But hey, one step at a time.
Huh. Well full steam ahead then.
How could it not be?
*Warning: Bridge out ahead*
Oh.
Since Willis deliberately quoted Axel Kingdomhearts on purpose, what’s everybody’s favorite Keyblade?
I like Kingdom Key W and Midnight Blue.
I really like Guardian Bell and Pumpkinhead
Out of the Didney world Keyblades in KH1, those two are the best-looking.
Oblivion. Hands down.
It kinda is your fault, Billie, or at least you shared in it and contributed. Cold shouldering Ruth because she stood up for yourself was CRUEL, and you can feel now what Ruth was trying to prevent.
On the upside, this should brushable under the rug as far as her RA job, it’s not wrong to go to the hospital for worry about an allergic reaction.
Ruth made an ultimatum and Billie walked out on her, I don’t see how that’s not healthy behavior.
Oh wait, it’s because it’s over alcoholism.
:sarcasm intended:
“Stop trying to kill me” is a hell of an ultimatum. I can see how Billie is completely at fault here.
Of course, none of that is what happened, as Billie is telling us here. She didn’t leave because Ruth made an ultimatum. She left because she thinks she’s poison and dangerous to Ruth and tried to piss her off so she could leave without it hurting Ruth so much.
Which is fucked up in so many ways, but well-intentioned, I guess.
Ultimatums for dickish people who want to control the other party, and for people who can’t get the other party to respect basic boundries any other way.
Also for business deals but please only make them in groups or if your okay with the other party following through.
im not sure if i love this or hate this, even though i love billie and ruth’s relationship a lot more than i would than if it were real life friends of mine dealin with something this toxic.
it looks like they’re both really trying, just, really, really badly.
so, carry on, i guess.
Finally a true discussion between them!
Other than providing a compelling story arc here, there is no reason in real life a relationship like this would continue. Billie is 18, Ruth is 20 — they would either outgrow each other or realize thru therapy that they are unhealthily codependent.
Having been through a few relationships with toxic people, I can tell you these dont last. To expect their love to last by the time Billie hits her mid-20 is unrealistic.
Of course, the fact that freshman first semester has taken 15+ years here makes the situation feel more draining to us than to them.
That’s true, but it doesn’t make those teenage/college age relationships seem any less serious or important while you’re in them.
While they don’t usually, I have heard of a select number of couples who have had unhealthy toxic relationships but later surprisingly turned them around because both of them decided to work for it. It isn’t unrealistic or impossible – it just isn’t the most common of outcomes, and usually because one of them has no interest in committing to doing anything differently. I’ve also heard of a couple where a terrible relationship turned into a great relationship then was ended for different reasons too so even if they turn it around, it doesn’t guarantee anything.
Ruth’s bad attitude is alcohol-impelled confirmed.
Meanwhile, I think that the time has come for Billie to realise that she and Ruth are going to have to heal together or not at all.
I don’t think this interaction could be more self-destructive unless they Thelma and Louise’d themselves
Aw, I love these two.
Angry Ruth is normal. Vulnerable Billie is creepy.
panel 2 is the best single line you have ever written, david.
It’s cool how they know their pattern. Self-aware characters, woo!
This is … oddly reassuring.
To everyone who is saying that Billie needs to stay with Ruth in order for Ruth or both of them to heal: You Are Never In Charge Of Someone Else’s Healing! They can break up and then get help separately. Ruth might need a support network right now but it doesn’t need to involve Billie. This kind of feels like Ruth is (unintentionally) emotionally blackmailing Billie to stay with her right now.
Yes, Billie shouldn’t have left the way she did but Ruth gave her an ultimatum that she (Billie) wasn’t interested in dealing with and she left thinking that Ruth was better without her. They were both stupid but they can continue to do so separately.
Or together. They could stay together and get help too.
I get what you say about emotional blackmail, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here, even unintentionally. Billie wants to stay with Ruth, but thinks she’s poison and will hurt her if she stayed, so she pulls the self-sacrifice ploy and leaves, trying to piss Ruth off so she won’t be hurt as badly.
And that backfires, so here we are.
Now we get to see if Billie can really step up or if this has to still get worse.
I don’t think they need to stay together to heal but I do think Billie needed something like this to happen to learn that you can’t protect someone by trying to forcibly tear yourself out of their heart and life when they clearly do not want that.
“Durr I could get better too, with you, but that sounds hard”
Because this way is so easier, amirite Billie?