Now, if Dina’s heightened by additional males left watching, they could grab some random guy off the street named Ben. Then maybe both will be squeaked out by watching with another guy, but they’d still do it.
At this point, it would be a Ben/Joe’s-ew-eh-watch
Then they could follow up by all watching DUNE together in the afterglow.
That’s actually quite useful for me, since not being a native English speaker has somehow made me “deaf” for most puns. But explain like this,the “sound and writting” of the two words becomes more clear.
[Sarcasm] The whole point of labels like “autism” is so people can put everybody who fits in one little box with complete homogeneity! [/Sarcasm]
One might suppose that there could be section dividers in that box so outsiders can recognise that e.g. women with autism and men with autism, who typically present differently, get diagnosed at different points in life, etc, do in fact not all display the exact same traits but that apparently defeats the point of putting people in boxes for most… The only group that the majority of people are willing to ascribe heterogeneity to is apparently the one they belong to 😒
So do I. It’s called “not knowing how people will react and overcompensating” (in my case, at least).
Really, I’d prefer to be as honest as Dina is being here (because an ideal relationship (romantic or otherwise) wouldn’t require falsehood), but there’s no one I’m close enough to to take that risk.
Yep. There was a thing on Twitter a while ago that I really identified with but can’t locate now, which was something like:
Autistic Person on TV: I care not for the meaningless conventions of so-called polite conversation.
Autistic Person in Reality: Oh God, I said “Have a nice day” and they said “Same to you” instead of “Thanks, you too”. Is there a difference? HAVE I BEEN GETTING THE DIFFERENCE WRONG??
I gotta say, I actually *don’t* care for the meaningless conventions of polite conversation, except insasmuch as I find them interesting on a sociolinguistic level, but I still play along.
It’s really no different from headbutting my cat. It keeps her happy, which makes me happy, even if objectively it’s just not doing much for me.
I have a chronic problem of understating things, which ends up both understating things affecting me and also things affecting society. I wouldn’t say i have tact though
Honesty and not inherently understanding all social cues is common, brutal honesty is not, as autistic people do not typically say things intending to be brutal or often word things to be brutal.
Dina is also not being brutal here. She just didn’t instantly pick up the social cue that Becky wanted comfort rather than analysis.
I see most people are clashing with your assertment, so let me be one who supports it!
While I don’t always use the 100% open honesty with everyone, the closer one is to me intimately, the less I mask. Thus my close friends will be on the receiving end of my honesty near constantly
Should I be dating someone, I would anticipate that I am close enough to them that they would be getting none of my mask, and therefore the only things they aren’t getting is birthday/christmas gift spoilers
Following the data may find correlations but doesn’t mean there is a causal link she needs to employ the scientific method to see if there is a causal link.
The correlation so far is every time Dina had “pants euphoria” it was after a conversation with Joe. The hypothesis is talking with Joe is needed for Dina to experience said “pants euphoria”. The actual conversation doesn’t seem to matter, except they were talking science when Dina got her “Pants Euphoria”. The experiment to confirm they hypothesis requires talking about science with a random male, a random female, and Joe, then seeing if talking science is the catalyst, or if talking science with a male is the catalyst, or if the combination of Joe and talking science is the catalyst. I call it a catalyst because the person talking doesn’t actually take part in the “Pants Euphoria”, but is required for the reaction that creates “Pants Euphoria” which is a textbook definition of a catalyst.
I find that level of honesty deeply refreshing. While troublesome in this moment, it also makes positive assertions 100% trustworthy.
And I envy Dina for being able to express these thoughts. I’m also rather autistic, but learned at some point that I shouldn’t say certain things out loud – but not WHICH things are off limits. So often I end up saying nothing and people make (completely off) assumptions about me instead and it sucks.
I’m sorry to hear that. I deal with some hallucinations on a daily basis which make it much harder to understand what people are saying. It also makes me hard to understand in general because I talk way too fast when I’m dealing with a hallucination and so logic goes out the window.
maybe in a group of friends/casual acquaintainces, you could wear a tshirt htat’s like “i have no filter” though i suppose unless it’s like a hostile insult, i’d think most things being said could probably be forgiven if they understood versus you like violating someone’s personal boundaries physically
Lesbian as in “woman who’s romantically or sexually attracted to women”, presumably, rather than “lesbian who’s exclusively romantically or sexually attracted to women.”
It’s not an either/or. Plenty of wlw who’re also into other genders call themselves lesbians. Language isn’t proscriptive–queer people pick the word that works for them.
Yeah, not to throw a wrench into that, but I have seen/experienced the circus that happens when an ill-informed bisexual pops out the bisexual when they were perceived as homosexual. It is not pretty.
One way to differentiate I’ve heard is to use the term Sapphic.
As noted, Lesbian often implies that a woman is exclusively into women and is a label that must be chosen by an individual for themselves.
Sapphic, meanwhile, is a term that includes all women into women, regardless of whom else they might be into.
As such, based on evidence in the comic, Becky is a lesbian (because she self-identified as such) while Dina qualifies as Sapphic (because she’s into Becky and potentially an unknown quantity of other individuals) until she chooses to use a more specific term to identify herself.
Sapphic is a good word. That said, if wlw want to call themselves lesbians while also being into other people, I don’t think that’s a problem that needs fixing.
And eating is required to maintain consciousness during the process. Or maybe an IV drip of dextrose and caffeine, I’ve never tried that. I have done the oral version of sweetened caffeinated beverages with high levels of caffeine and lots of sugar, but never as an IV drip. That sounds like an interesting experiment for someone else to perform, I’ve already done the oral experiment. The results were not pretty, after between 47 and 49 hours awake hallucinations started to set in. This was done during the Jolt cola era, when Mountain Dew had much more caffeine than it does today, and caffeine pills were readily available.
It’s been established through dialogue that Dina… teeny tiny Dina, is a top. Which has suited Becky juuust fine. See Slipshine. So, her meticulously describing how she would use Joe mercilessly for her own purposes (For Science!), then discard, in public, to a perfect stranger, while she had him “subdued” MAY have had an effect. But, probably not because it was Joe.
And then Dina said that while she wasn’t Joe’s sexual partner, if she ever so desired she would likely either ruin sex for Joe or rock his world due to how scientifically meticulous she would be in figuring out what arouses Joe.
Liz basically asked if Joe and Dina were having a thing and Dina said that she would need to examine this by rigorously having sex with Joe to the point of his sexual exhaustion.
I mean, Joe wouldn’t have an issue with it judging from his reaction to Dina describing how she’d break him sexually using the scientific method. I cant remember which strip, it was awhile back.
Dina being a casual dom is always interesting to watch.
Also part of me feels that from that strip, Joe is used to being in charge in the bedroom, so having someone dominate him instead would hit buttons he didn’t know he had.
Then again, his partners have included Roz and Malaya…
Roz had him blindfolded and handcuffed to the bed in ‘Tales of Sinterest’ on Slipshine and Penny had handcuffs for someone to wear for one of their trysts.
Well its a week? Few Days? Since they are together.
the lack of butterflies during subsequent meetings can be worrying, no matter how much you know it works like that.
besides, Becky took a risk and gave Dina her “flower” so probably now she will react nervously to any doubts
They just had sex a few days ago, but they’ve been dating in universe for about four months now. During that time, Becky’s been pretty consistently anxious about the relationship due to her own self-worth issues, and the perceived lack of sexual compatibility, despite Dina’s constant reassurances. All of which is to say that it seems pretty clear that Becky’s anxieties have nothing to do with the fact that they recently did it, but rather are continuances of things that have been issues for them long proceeding that.
They just had sex a few days ago, but they’ve been dating in universe for about four months now. During that time, Becky’s been pretty consistently anxious about the relationship due to her own self-worth issues, and the perceived lack of sexual compatibility, despite Dina’s constant reassurances. All of which is to say that it seems pretty clear that Becky’s anxieties have nothing to do with the fact that they recently did it, but rather are continuances of things that have been issues for them long proceeding that.
“Oh you thought I would actually reassure you and ease your worries about being my girlfriend, how naively cute of you. Nah I won’t do that, why did you think I would?”
I know aggressively uncharitable character readings are common in this comment section but it’s been a while since someone busted out one for Dina.
We’ve known that she doesn’t always understand social cues since literally her introduction. She’s telling the truth here because she has no reason to be dishonest. That she was able to even figure it out after the fact is a sign of significant progress.
You’re right that we’ve known that about her, and I apologize for the vitriol in my reading, I just… idk why it hit me so hard that when she realizes that she’s making Becky even more sure that the doubts are correct, she doesn’t try to reassure her.
My reaction wasn’t about her pointing out the conversation with Joe, but what she said afterwards. If she had mentioned the conversation with Joe and followed it up with “which is weird because I’m not attracted to him in any way” that would have been different.
^ What Proxiehunter said. Akane, your interpretation is a valid one given the comic so far, but Dina realized Becky’s reaction during the last panel as part of the punchline. Maybe save the “I can’t believe she didn’t–” conclusions for another update or two.
I see these “I can’t believe X character didn’t Y” responses a lot on webcomics that update one page at a time, sometimes when character X was not even on-panel, only for Y to happen on the next page. We essentially haven’t seen Dina’s reaction yet, here.
That doesn’t sound like a sentence that would come from Dina’s mouth, but seriously, thats a lot of hostility for someone that didn’t handle a social situation perfectly.. dang
It could be that she cannot confidently say whether or not that’s true. It’s a hypothesis. A lot of this has been framed as Dina exploring her own sexuality as much as it is them figuring out their relationship.
When Dina speaks deliberately and with authority on her own experiences, it’s taken as her being confused or naive because of her autism. But when she actively acknowledges that she’s in a situation she’s not sure how to navigate, people complain that she should know exactly how to handle it.
If this isn’t definitive proof Dina’s autistic, I dunno what is.
Realizing your partner needs reassurance, thinking of how best to reassure them, and proceeding to reassure them are three separate steps, each requiring conscious thought and consideration. Dina has JUST realized the problem in the last panel. So yeah, with respect, I’m not really sure why you would expect anything additional in this single strip from this particular character.
Also, Dina isn’t attracted to Becky, either, most of the time. So to her, I think “Joe was present” is… idk, less “obvious anomaly” and more “additional data point that may or may not turn out to be relevant after further analysis.”
It’s just so charming to me that Becky’s mean anxious brain thinks that her worst fear is happening — nobody can be into Becky, she’s doomed to unrequited love forever, everyone will leave her — and her instant honest reaction is not to cling but to set Dina free.
That poor sweet baby.
I must say though, if Joe’s presence is basically like an enzyme/catalyst for causing the reaction for Dina’s “pant’s euphoria” towards Becky, that’s hilarious. Basically Joe is like an aphrodisiac candle, or like the gay (male) porno the lesbian moms in the movie “The Kids Are Alright” watch to get in the mood.
The moms in the movie “The Kids Are Alright” would watch gay (male) porno in the past to get in the mood well before they had their relationship issues in the dumps. Sometimes things that sexually arouse people aren’t the same things people want to have sex with.
Methodically determine if it is a single sensory stimulus.
Auditory: Joe, may me record your voice? It is for science.
Visual: Joe, may we make a life-size poster or cardboard stand of you? It is for science.
Olfactory: Joe, may we borrow an unwashed shirt of yours? It is for science.
Based on how these other encounters have gone, I think the process of deciding on the different trials would produce the pants euphoria, even without carrying the trials out (though meticulousness would demand it).
I’m kinda proud of Becky that she said something right away rather than stewing in this insecurity alone for a while. I guess it does help the plot move along faster too, which is part of why I’m happy about it. It just could have gone another way and been dragged out more and I would not have enjoyed that.
Becky listens to Dina plenty! She’s just also got some gut reactions that’re held over from her cult, and which she’s actively working on ignoring and discarding.
I don’t think any lesbians have ever included Joe. Although I knew this one girl in college who claimed to be a lesbian, and would seduce freshman with the pitch of how to make girls reach orgasm every time. I think she was just into teaching sex as a kink.
Further data is required. Limited to stimuli that are on Joe’s person, my guess is that it has something to do with either his frustration, his smell, or his sound.
Can you blame her? After growing up under the watchful eye of Toedead, she’s hypersensitive to any hints (perceived or real) that something might get taken away from her. (Her agency, her best friend, her girlfriend, her freedom…) She’s just good at masking it most of the time.
“Joyce is friends with Dorothy? But I’m her best friend! Better drum up a one-sided performative rivalry so she knows her place!”
“Known philanderer Joe has a friendly rapport with my girlfriend? Shields up! Red alert!”
Time for Becky to change her entire wardrobe and style. Colourful patterned shirts, dye her hair black and short. Need more smirk. And whatever undoubtedly aggressively “male” cologne Joe wears.
I was gonna say something about Joe never giving off those comic “smell” lines for aggressive cologne use, but then remembered he wore cologne on the one hilariously awful date with Joyce, and she said it smelled nice.
I’m going to have to issue a mea culpa here, folks. A while back, I dismissed the notion that Dina could have been identified as an English language learner due to some aspects of her neurodivergence. I said that wasn’t how ESL identification worked.
Well, I definitely see how it’s possible now- at my school I’m currently dealing with an overlap of potential ESL status and students on the autism spectrum. Fortunately I’ve been given flexibility with how to address these students’ specific needs and not forced to do anything that’s to their detriment, but I can see how someone who looks at students as raw data or stereotypes as opposed to individuals could create a situation that results in Dina being placed in an ESL class.
It was, and my comment was something like “ESL is something schools do, it should have been easy for her parents to say “no, she’s not ESL, here’s proof from her school.”
But I now see the possibility that Dina’s school *did* put her in ESL classes is more realistic than I thought.
Rein in your Insecurity, and remember you’re the one she picked, not Joe. (of course, she probably won’t-you can’t get hilarious misunderstandings by using empathy and common sense.)
If I was 18 and my partner needed the presence of a third party to get turned on I would absolutely take that personally. It’s hard to be rational about sex in your first ever relationship.
Becky and Dina are such a cute/good couple. Dina is recognizing/learning how to read Becky. Plus they have enough trust built up where they can talk about each other’s desires.
joe commented on how good they were together, next strip they are holding hands and dina looks at becky with a smile on her face, then the pants euphoria occurred.
it has something to do with that smile on dina’s face and her thoughts on becky. Becky IS the one she’s attracted to
the encounter with joe was actually rather awkward, what with him running off after mumbling something to them (how good they are together), so i don’t think it was joe himself that was the cause.
wait, darnit, i think i just found it.
it happened right after a specific set of lines.
“Lab partners?”, “Lab partners”.
they both know that they weren’t really talking about being lab partners, the meaning behind it must’ve been what set her off.
that sort of “I do” moment.
im not sure of the best words to describe it, but its like the reality of the relationship really hit her at that moment.
it happens to me sometimes with my boyfriend.
we live together, eat together, sleep together, etc together.
and one day it hit me that he was basically my husband in every way but the ring. i wanted him even more after that moment.
Ok, so here is the ideal Scenario. Joe is tied up, spread eagle to the wall, rack style, next to the dinosaur. Dina is doing the Tease & Denial thing she mentioned earlier, and his Sexual Torment is fuel for the Sexy Times between Dina and Becky. He will not cum, but they will.
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could be a place-joe effect?
NO
yeah, it’d really be more of a play-see-joe effect
Maybe more of a doe-se-doe effect…
Now, if Dina’s heightened by additional males left watching, they could grab some random guy off the street named Ben. Then maybe both will be squeaked out by watching with another guy, but they’d still do it.
At this point, it would be a Ben/Joe’s-ew-eh-watch
Then they could follow up by all watching DUNE together in the afterglow.
…Okay, maybe I worked too hard for that one, in retrospect.
What were you going for? I do not understand
but yes
Perfection.
“word of god”, everyone! it could not, in fact, be a place-joe effect.
I have to be honest, it took me an extra 30 seconds to figure out what you were going for.
I know what the Placebo effect is, and I still don’t get the joke. Autism! 😅
It is being pronounced like placebo but with a J in place of the B, and that is pretty much the entirety of the joke.
You say that like it WASN’T a brilliant pun.
It was good, but would have benefited from a dash here imo to clarify pronunciation: pla-ce-joe…I don’t know, that’s still maybe not clear.
Pla-SEE-Joe?
That’s actually quite useful for me, since not being a native English speaker has somehow made me “deaf” for most puns. But explain like this,the “sound and writting” of the two words becomes more clear.
That is good to know, thank you for sharing that!
I do not mean to minimize the amazing/terrible pun, only emphasize that there is not some other hidden reference or meaning that one might be missing
fuck, that’s really awful. well done
So say we all.
Or we should.
pherjoemones.
pherojoes flows better i think
Lovely piece of work
Ana, I would like to congratulate you on a job well done.
That pun… **chef kiss** Truly terrible.
boos while also slow clapping
A pun so bad Sir Willis himself felt the need to comment. You have my admiration.
😮
“Science shows no mercy.”
— Land of the Lost
Nice! Original Saturday morning series, or Will Ferrell comedy?
there is no will ferrel comedy version of land of the lost
comedies are funny
This is what you sign up for when you date an autistic person. Brutal honesty.
Not always
That’s just a stereotype.
Yeah our autisms all look different. We’re very diverse, not only from neurotypicals but from each other, hence, neuro-diversity. 🙃
[Sarcasm] The whole point of labels like “autism” is so people can put everybody who fits in one little box with complete homogeneity! [/Sarcasm]
One might suppose that there could be section dividers in that box so outsiders can recognise that e.g. women with autism and men with autism, who typically present differently, get diagnosed at different points in life, etc, do in fact not all display the exact same traits but that apparently defeats the point of putting people in boxes for most… The only group that the majority of people are willing to ascribe heterogeneity to is apparently the one they belong to 😒
People are kinda rubbish like that.
Are you kidding? I sugarcoat shit constantly. It’s called tact.
So do I. It’s called “not knowing how people will react and overcompensating” (in my case, at least).
Really, I’d prefer to be as honest as Dina is being here (because an ideal relationship (romantic or otherwise) wouldn’t require falsehood), but there’s no one I’m close enough to to take that risk.
Yep. There was a thing on Twitter a while ago that I really identified with but can’t locate now, which was something like:
Autistic Person on TV: I care not for the meaningless conventions of so-called polite conversation.
Autistic Person in Reality: Oh God, I said “Have a nice day” and they said “Same to you” instead of “Thanks, you too”. Is there a difference? HAVE I BEEN GETTING THE DIFFERENCE WRONG??
(I should add that I’m 90% sure the original had a much better example of conversational uncertainty, but I can’t remember what it was.)
I gotta say, I actually *don’t* care for the meaningless conventions of polite conversation, except insasmuch as I find them interesting on a sociolinguistic level, but I still play along.
It’s really no different from headbutting my cat. It keeps her happy, which makes me happy, even if objectively it’s just not doing much for me.
I have a chronic problem of understating things, which ends up both understating things affecting me and also things affecting society. I wouldn’t say i have tact though
Depends on the autistic person. Some of us have long ago realized that most neurotypical folks rarely actually want to hear brutal honesty.
Honesty and not inherently understanding all social cues is common, brutal honesty is not, as autistic people do not typically say things intending to be brutal or often word things to be brutal.
Dina is also not being brutal here. She just didn’t instantly pick up the social cue that Becky wanted comfort rather than analysis.
Don’t I be saying it?
I see most people are clashing with your assertment, so let me be one who supports it!
While I don’t always use the 100% open honesty with everyone, the closer one is to me intimately, the less I mask. Thus my close friends will be on the receiving end of my honesty near constantly
Should I be dating someone, I would anticipate that I am close enough to them that they would be getting none of my mask, and therefore the only things they aren’t getting is birthday/christmas gift spoilers
Becky, Dina is a scientist. She follows the data where ever it leads.
Following the data may find correlations but doesn’t mean there is a causal link she needs to employ the scientific method to see if there is a causal link.
The correlation so far is every time Dina had “pants euphoria” it was after a conversation with Joe. The hypothesis is talking with Joe is needed for Dina to experience said “pants euphoria”. The actual conversation doesn’t seem to matter, except they were talking science when Dina got her “Pants Euphoria”. The experiment to confirm they hypothesis requires talking about science with a random male, a random female, and Joe, then seeing if talking science is the catalyst, or if talking science with a male is the catalyst, or if the combination of Joe and talking science is the catalyst. I call it a catalyst because the person talking doesn’t actually take part in the “Pants Euphoria”, but is required for the reaction that creates “Pants Euphoria” which is a textbook definition of a catalyst.
Becky looks defeated, I can’t imagine what she’ll do about it. Although Dina probably could have kept the Joe thing to herself.
Would you prefer a significant other tell you about something like that? Or not?
I find that level of honesty deeply refreshing. While troublesome in this moment, it also makes positive assertions 100% trustworthy.
And I envy Dina for being able to express these thoughts. I’m also rather autistic, but learned at some point that I shouldn’t say certain things out loud – but not WHICH things are off limits. So often I end up saying nothing and people make (completely off) assumptions about me instead and it sucks.
Wow, that does suck. I’m so sorry that happens to you.
Yeah this shit happens to a lot of autistics out there, and I’m no exception 😪
Wellerman, I gotta say, this is a much healthier outlook than the last few times I saw you talking about Autism, proud of ya for it.
I’m sorry to hear that. I deal with some hallucinations on a daily basis which make it much harder to understand what people are saying. It also makes me hard to understand in general because I talk way too fast when I’m dealing with a hallucination and so logic goes out the window.
maybe in a group of friends/casual acquaintainces, you could wear a tshirt htat’s like “i have no filter” though i suppose unless it’s like a hostile insult, i’d think most things being said could probably be forgiven if they understood versus you like violating someone’s personal boundaries physically
This is Pants Science to Dina. A puzzle to be solved, not to be hindered by emotion.
becky gonna accept the NTR situation and the comment section is gonna cry at a “bad ending”
I feel like Joe would both be happy that he was indirectly responsible for lesbian sex, and also unhappy that he caused a rift between lesbians.
I don’t think Dina is a lesbian, though you’re point stands if you’re in Joe’s POV.
Lesbian as in “woman who’s romantically or sexually attracted to women”, presumably, rather than “lesbian who’s exclusively romantically or sexually attracted to women.”
“Bi” rather than “lesbian”, then.
or “pan” obvs
It’s not an either/or. Plenty of wlw who’re also into other genders call themselves lesbians. Language isn’t proscriptive–queer people pick the word that works for them.
Yeah, not to throw a wrench into that, but I have seen/experienced the circus that happens when an ill-informed bisexual pops out the bisexual when they were perceived as homosexual. It is not pretty.
Nor fair really, but humans gonna human.
I would not argue that bi lesbians are not ill-informed. They just don’t give gatekeepers that power over them.
One way to differentiate I’ve heard is to use the term Sapphic.
As noted, Lesbian often implies that a woman is exclusively into women and is a label that must be chosen by an individual for themselves.
Sapphic, meanwhile, is a term that includes all women into women, regardless of whom else they might be into.
As such, based on evidence in the comic, Becky is a lesbian (because she self-identified as such) while Dina qualifies as Sapphic (because she’s into Becky and potentially an unknown quantity of other individuals) until she chooses to use a more specific term to identify herself.
Sapphic is a good word. That said, if wlw want to call themselves lesbians while also being into other people, I don’t think that’s a problem that needs fixing.
Hey now Becky, this could very well be what you humans call a blessing in disguise.
Perhaps it is not Joe himself, but something about Joe, or happening to him, that elicits Dina’s arousal.
And that’s how Becky ends up wearing loud Hawaiian shirts from now on.
She would in a heartbeat, too.
Becky is always attractive, but when COMPARED to Joe, she’s irresistible.
Have we seen Zombie-Becky before?
Right after Joyce shot her down, I think she looked like that. I could be wrong, in fact there is a non-zero chance that I’m wrong.
o3o
Due to recent events in television I am strangely in a mood for weirdly complicated threesome scenarios involving FFM trios.
Are we getting some Dina/Becky/Joe fanart anytime soon? 😛
Sometimes I think you guys take for granted how lazy I actually am. I’d love to draw ALL the threesomes but there’s only so many hours in the day.
Come, now. You don’t really need to eat and sleep do you?
But I like sleeping. More than I like being awake.
And eating is required to maintain consciousness during the process. Or maybe an IV drip of dextrose and caffeine, I’ve never tried that. I have done the oral version of sweetened caffeinated beverages with high levels of caffeine and lots of sugar, but never as an IV drip. That sounds like an interesting experiment for someone else to perform, I’ve already done the oral experiment. The results were not pretty, after between 47 and 49 hours awake hallucinations started to set in. This was done during the Jolt cola era, when Mountain Dew had much more caffeine than it does today, and caffeine pills were readily available.
Woah! Just what were you doing with that over-clocked brain for that long? 🤩
Yoto’s art is great too but c’mon guys, you could actually commission others if you wanted something specific, esp smut lol
It was Rick and Morty, wasn’t it? 😛
You must be cackling like a mad scientist as we speak.
I know I am. 😈
*plays “Re-Animator Theme” on hacked muzak*
All I’m saying is Jerry fans like me got a fat W.
I too enjoyed the second episode of A League of Their Own.
Damm it, now I want some h*nd h*lding action too
Three way hand holding? That’s pretty intense!
I’m pretty much always into complicated FFM relationships. So much so that I wrote a whole novel on that subject.
I’m intrigued.
What was the unexpectedly sexual verbal encounter Becky had with Joe and Liz in the lobby, mentioned in panel 2? I couldn’t find it with tags.
Dinah leapt on Joe’s head and Liz was all “is this another one of your maidens?”.
This comic, I believe.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/02-ill-leave-you-a-phantom/tedium/
It’s been established through dialogue that Dina… teeny tiny Dina, is a top. Which has suited Becky juuust fine. See Slipshine. So, her meticulously describing how she would use Joe mercilessly for her own purposes (For Science!), then discard, in public, to a perfect stranger, while she had him “subdued” MAY have had an effect. But, probably not because it was Joe.
Maybe that’s it. She has to want to do science to Becky, not with Becky.
Becky needs to dress as a prey animal and scamper about in the park to trigger Dina’s hunter instincts. It’s obvious.
She may enjoy that.
And then Dina said that while she wasn’t Joe’s sexual partner, if she ever so desired she would likely either ruin sex for Joe or rock his world due to how scientifically meticulous she would be in figuring out what arouses Joe.
Liz basically asked if Joe and Dina were having a thing and Dina said that she would need to examine this by rigorously having sex with Joe to the point of his sexual exhaustion.
Ah, got it. Thank you all for enlightening me! 😀
Oh god, I know that face. *hugs Becky forever*
Emo mode acquired. Mascara automatically applied.
I mean, Joe wouldn’t have an issue with it judging from his reaction to Dina describing how she’d break him sexually using the scientific method. I cant remember which strip, it was awhile back.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/02-ill-leave-you-a-phantom/tedium/
I don’t always find Dina hot. But that one. That one did it for me.
It was definitely cute seeing Joe’s reaction anyway.
Dina being a casual dom is always interesting to watch.
Also part of me feels that from that strip, Joe is used to being in charge in the bedroom, so having someone dominate him instead would hit buttons he didn’t know he had.
Then again, his partners have included Roz and Malaya…
Roz had him blindfolded and handcuffed to the bed in ‘Tales of Sinterest’ on Slipshine and Penny had handcuffs for someone to wear for one of their trysts.
Agreeing with Nick and also pointing out how much Malaya was running the show during their encounter.
Joe would just be pleased as punch to finally be a good wingman
Well Dina doesn’t seem to be in the mood now so there for Becky is over thinking this.
Well its a week? Few Days? Since they are together.
the lack of butterflies during subsequent meetings can be worrying, no matter how much you know it works like that.
besides, Becky took a risk and gave Dina her “flower” so probably now she will react nervously to any doubts
They just had sex a few days ago, but they’ve been dating in universe for about four months now. During that time, Becky’s been pretty consistently anxious about the relationship due to her own self-worth issues, and the perceived lack of sexual compatibility, despite Dina’s constant reassurances. All of which is to say that it seems pretty clear that Becky’s anxieties have nothing to do with the fact that they recently did it, but rather are continuances of things that have been issues for them long proceeding that.
They just had sex a few days ago, but they’ve been dating in universe for about four months now. During that time, Becky’s been pretty consistently anxious about the relationship due to her own self-worth issues, and the perceived lack of sexual compatibility, despite Dina’s constant reassurances. All of which is to say that it seems pretty clear that Becky’s anxieties have nothing to do with the fact that they recently did it, but rather are continuances of things that have been issues for them long proceeding that.
“Oh you thought I would actually reassure you and ease your worries about being my girlfriend, how naively cute of you. Nah I won’t do that, why did you think I would?”
I know aggressively uncharitable character readings are common in this comment section but it’s been a while since someone busted out one for Dina.
We’ve known that she doesn’t always understand social cues since literally her introduction. She’s telling the truth here because she has no reason to be dishonest. That she was able to even figure it out after the fact is a sign of significant progress.
You’re right that we’ve known that about her, and I apologize for the vitriol in my reading, I just… idk why it hit me so hard that when she realizes that she’s making Becky even more sure that the doubts are correct, she doesn’t try to reassure her.
Should Dina lie?
My reaction wasn’t about her pointing out the conversation with Joe, but what she said afterwards. If she had mentioned the conversation with Joe and followed it up with “which is weird because I’m not attracted to him in any way” that would have been different.
We’ve got four panels and a punchline to end on. Give her some time.
^ What Proxiehunter said. Akane, your interpretation is a valid one given the comic so far, but Dina realized Becky’s reaction during the last panel as part of the punchline. Maybe save the “I can’t believe she didn’t–” conclusions for another update or two.
I see these “I can’t believe X character didn’t Y” responses a lot on webcomics that update one page at a time, sometimes when character X was not even on-panel, only for Y to happen on the next page. We essentially haven’t seen Dina’s reaction yet, here.
That doesn’t sound like a sentence that would come from Dina’s mouth, but seriously, thats a lot of hostility for someone that didn’t handle a social situation perfectly.. dang
It could be that she cannot confidently say whether or not that’s true. It’s a hypothesis. A lot of this has been framed as Dina exploring her own sexuality as much as it is them figuring out their relationship.
Totally! She is 19. She shouldn’t have to sugarcoat figuring out her own sexuality for the sake of someone else’s insecurities.
When Dina speaks deliberately and with authority on her own experiences, it’s taken as her being confused or naive because of her autism. But when she actively acknowledges that she’s in a situation she’s not sure how to navigate, people complain that she should know exactly how to handle it.
If this isn’t definitive proof Dina’s autistic, I dunno what is.
It. Never. Gets. Any. Easier.
*bleak laughter* This. Good lord.
…Dude. i am in AWE.
Yep.
Realizing your partner needs reassurance, thinking of how best to reassure them, and proceeding to reassure them are three separate steps, each requiring conscious thought and consideration. Dina has JUST realized the problem in the last panel. So yeah, with respect, I’m not really sure why you would expect anything additional in this single strip from this particular character.
Also, Dina isn’t attracted to Becky, either, most of the time. So to her, I think “Joe was present” is… idk, less “obvious anomaly” and more “additional data point that may or may not turn out to be relevant after further analysis.”
👏👏👏
I think that would depend largely on what happens after the final panel, in which Dina has only just realized that Becky wants reassurance.
Haha, awww, poor Becky.
And good job on Dina for picking up on those cues. I hope she can help her out.
It’s just so charming to me that Becky’s mean anxious brain thinks that her worst fear is happening — nobody can be into Becky, she’s doomed to unrequited love forever, everyone will leave her — and her instant honest reaction is not to cling but to set Dina free.
That poor sweet baby.
Must be his shirts
Compare the shirts he wore when Dina was aroused to those he wore when she wasn’t aroused.
I must say though, if Joe’s presence is basically like an enzyme/catalyst for causing the reaction for Dina’s “pant’s euphoria” towards Becky, that’s hilarious. Basically Joe is like an aphrodisiac candle, or like the gay (male) porno the lesbian moms in the movie “The Kids Are Alright” watch to get in the mood.
Their relationship was down in the dumbs though.
The moms in the movie “The Kids Are Alright” would watch gay (male) porno in the past to get in the mood well before they had their relationship issues in the dumps. Sometimes things that sexually arouse people aren’t the same things people want to have sex with.
I think the fact that Joe is often talking about sex or making suggestive jokes may be part of it.
Dina: You want to have a threesome?
Becky: NO! THE OPPOSITE OF YES!
Dina: I know what no means.
Joyce gets freak-out faces
Dina has 🔘 _ 🔘
But why does Joe have to be the firestarter
and there’s the wip3out flashback.
(hey hey hey)
Methodically determine if it is a single sensory stimulus.
Auditory: Joe, may me record your voice? It is for science.
Visual: Joe, may we make a life-size poster or cardboard stand of you? It is for science.
Olfactory: Joe, may we borrow an unwashed shirt of yours? It is for science.
Then work on combinations.
Based on how these other encounters have gone, I think the process of deciding on the different trials would produce the pants euphoria, even without carrying the trials out (though meticulousness would demand it).
That’s a false positive if I ever saw one.
They should try the same with someone else, maybe not Carla, she would be to big-headed as a result.
I’d say “poor Becky” but, nah. She can afford to take this hit. Dina’s been nothing but reaffirming to her till now. She’s making herself upset here.
Oh shit, insecurity o’clock. Godspeed.
It’s always insecurity o’clock for Becky, but she’s usually better at masking. usually.
I’m kinda proud of Becky that she said something right away rather than stewing in this insecurity alone for a while. I guess it does help the plot move along faster too, which is part of why I’m happy about it. It just could have gone another way and been dragged out more and I would not have enjoyed that.
Becky’s soul has astral projected
As long as Mike’s spirit doesn’t take over the empty body, she’ll be fine.
This Becky Face is Joyce Face tier
First lesson of science and statistics, Becky:
Correlation does not imply causation.
This is the same Becky that doesn’t listen to Dina over her own cult-born POV of relationships.
Becky listens to Dina plenty! She’s just also got some gut reactions that’re held over from her cult, and which she’s actively working on ignoring and discarding.
Becky’s ideas of how to be a lesbian never included Joe
I don’t think any lesbians have ever included Joe. Although I knew this one girl in college who claimed to be a lesbian, and would seduce freshman with the pitch of how to make girls reach orgasm every time. I think she was just into teaching sex as a kink.
Correlation is not causation, Becky
THIS.
Further data is required. Limited to stimuli that are on Joe’s person, my guess is that it has something to do with either his frustration, his smell, or his sound.
I think it’s that Joe is often talking or joking about sex, which Becky usually isn’t comfortable enough to do.
Wow… Becky looks like dead inside. It’s really devastating for her.
Can you blame her? After growing up under the watchful eye of Toedead, she’s hypersensitive to any hints (perceived or real) that something might get taken away from her. (Her agency, her best friend, her girlfriend, her freedom…) She’s just good at masking it most of the time.
“Joyce is friends with Dorothy? But I’m her best friend! Better drum up a one-sided performative rivalry so she knows her place!”
“Known philanderer Joe has a friendly rapport with my girlfriend? Shields up! Red alert!”
Yeah this. Her masking, besides making me sick to my stomach, just says volumes about what she’s been through. 😔
Someone needing Joe to be happy is such a weird concept…
Relax Becky, use scientific thinking. What’s the best experiment to disproved Joe is a facilitating factor in Dina’s pants euphoria?
Well, Joe’s right here and it’s not happening now.
Time for Becky to change her entire wardrobe and style. Colourful patterned shirts, dye her hair black and short. Need more smirk. And whatever undoubtedly aggressively “male” cologne Joe wears.
I was gonna say something about Joe never giving off those comic “smell” lines for aggressive cologne use, but then remembered he wore cologne on the one hilariously awful date with Joyce, and she said it smelled nice.
Becky is just a touch insecure here…
I’m going to have to issue a mea culpa here, folks. A while back, I dismissed the notion that Dina could have been identified as an English language learner due to some aspects of her neurodivergence. I said that wasn’t how ESL identification worked.
Well, I definitely see how it’s possible now- at my school I’m currently dealing with an overlap of potential ESL status and students on the autism spectrum. Fortunately I’ve been given flexibility with how to address these students’ specific needs and not forced to do anything that’s to their detriment, but I can see how someone who looks at students as raw data or stereotypes as opposed to individuals could create a situation that results in Dina being placed in an ESL class.
I thought it was a doctor using ESL as a reason she wasn’t on the autism spectrum.
It was, and my comment was something like “ESL is something schools do, it should have been easy for her parents to say “no, she’s not ESL, here’s proof from her school.”
But I now see the possibility that Dina’s school *did* put her in ESL classes is more realistic than I thought.
BECKY!!
Rein in your Insecurity, and remember you’re the one she picked, not Joe. (of course, she probably won’t-you can’t get hilarious misunderstandings by using empathy and common sense.)
If I was 18 and my partner needed the presence of a third party to get turned on I would absolutely take that personally. It’s hard to be rational about sex in your first ever relationship.
True.
bisexual girl needs some hetero eye candy to get her motor running? That was terrible I feel terrible but I will still post it to own my cringe
Joe is a Paladin with an Aura of Horny.
Becky and Dina are such a cute/good couple. Dina is recognizing/learning how to read Becky. Plus they have enough trust built up where they can talk about each other’s desires.
I am getting a warm fuzzy feeling, for realz. 🙂
It’s spite. The answer is spite. Dina gets off on spite.
joe commented on how good they were together, next strip they are holding hands and dina looks at becky with a smile on her face, then the pants euphoria occurred.
it has something to do with that smile on dina’s face and her thoughts on becky. Becky IS the one she’s attracted to
the encounter with joe was actually rather awkward, what with him running off after mumbling something to them (how good they are together), so i don’t think it was joe himself that was the cause.
wait, darnit, i think i just found it.
it happened right after a specific set of lines.
“Lab partners?”, “Lab partners”.
they both know that they weren’t really talking about being lab partners, the meaning behind it must’ve been what set her off.
that sort of “I do” moment.
im not sure of the best words to describe it, but its like the reality of the relationship really hit her at that moment.
it happens to me sometimes with my boyfriend.
we live together, eat together, sleep together, etc together.
and one day it hit me that he was basically my husband in every way but the ring. i wanted him even more after that moment.
Ok, so here is the ideal Scenario. Joe is tied up, spread eagle to the wall, rack style, next to the dinosaur. Dina is doing the Tease & Denial thing she mentioned earlier, and his Sexual Torment is fuel for the Sexy Times between Dina and Becky. He will not cum, but they will.
savage
IMHO, this event was forshadowed.
*wipes brow*
That’s uh…That’s quite the mental image, yes.
Becky gonna get NTRed! Everythings coming up Milhouse!!!
Small hint, Dina.
BECKY DOES NOT UNDERSTAND