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That was originally going to be “Don’t care! Removing shipping pants now!” but it would logically be putting the shipping pants on and that just doesn’t have the same resonance.
I started singing the chorus to this once when I was trying to help my daughter remember to bend and straighten her legs on the swing. She still forgets to bend/straighten her legs, but she sure remembers to sing the chorus every time she’s on the swing!
Oh nice! Coincidentally, it’s also the number of felonies a certain person in power has, and the reason China picked that number specifically for its retaliatory tariffs. I’m sure it’s not intentional given the time buffer Willis has, but I wouldn’t be upset if that turned out to be a meta retcon.
yeah, but defs don’t give them more attention than they deserve, it only feeds into their goals and the corporate clout-seeking stenography machine of social media and shit which really don’t help us and is basically the tobacco of the digital age
heck it’s produced by the same crooked colonial white assholes who have been growing it for centuries at our expense — except in recent decades they ran out of *land* to colonize, and so basically they started colonizing our MINDS
Yeah, but porn actually has value in our society. I don’t have multiple flash drives full of bigoted old white men, and I probably can’t buy them from comic artists.
Well you know, it could be that Jennifer left lunch before Joyce spoke on her behalf and possibly made Alice reconsider. Every other bridge has burned and so she may be checking on whether Ruth’s offer to dump Jason and pick up with dysfunctional relationship is real. If she and Ruth happen and then Alice shows interest, what happens then?
I’d also kind of like to see more of them, in part because I’m not sold on it at all (which felt deliberate, after Ruth confirmed that she would go back to Jennifer in a heartbeat if Jennifer asked her to).
I just want to see more of their dynamic. Where is he when he isn’t crashing with her?
If one assumes that a relationship is always and forever defined by its beginnings, sure.
But “had to be forced” is not accurate. When Jennifer found Ruth in a worrisome state, she comforted her; she wasn’t the one who got Ruth to the hospital, but I think she would have, and she made no effort to harm herself or encourage Ruth to get worse.
As fun as they were in the beginning…
This is sad.
They can’t really stay away from each other.
Or at least… Jennifer… Billie in this instance, can’t really find anyone that matches her insecurities just as much.
As much as I like Ruth/Jason, I hope this leads back to Ruth/Billie(Jennifer.)
I don’t actually like Ruth/Jason, but lets focus on the part of Jennifer being Billie again.
This has low key established that Jacob and Lucy have been fucking so much Jennifer doesn’t feel comfortable retreating to her own room in a time of emotional distress. That’s probably a reach, yes, but that’s what I’m going with.
Perhaps it is possible that we cannot take Jennifer at her word that she simply dislikes visible sexual activity, and that seeing a happy couple together constantly might make her upset for other reasons.
Although given that they’re a college couple and that behavior isn’t unheard of in that age group especially in a new relationship it’s also entirely possible that what she says is happening actually is happening.
Although both Lucy and Jacob are decent enough people that if it is happening they likely haven’t realized how much they’re having sex and that it’s interfering with Jenifer’s daily life and would cut back or find other places to do it if she actually brought it up with them. But being Jennifer she’s likely at best done some passive aggressive hinting.
I imagine she’s here because Alice once again managed to put her into the “I’m poison, the only person I can touch is Ruth (who is also poison)” mindset.
I feel like, right now, Jennifer’s more likely to want some kind of perspective to help with the Alice situation. I don’t know how willing Jennifer is to acknowledge how badly both of them would like to continue just yet.
But seriously I fucking love these two as a thing and always will, and I really really really wanna see them make it work with each other, in spite of everything. They were what really got me hooked when I first binged this comic, and couldn’t put the metaphorical book down.
(Note to self: the ‘HTML close tag’ gag doesn’t work in a comment section which accepts actual HTML tags. I knew that already, but forgot that that includes this site.)
So I briefly dabbled in an English major because I love reading and literary analysis (insert your art of choice in place of “literary”) is something I very unironically enjoy. I still read a lot (and read a lot of TVTropes) so while I’m not at my best in that specific academic field I feel like after enough time spend “studying” a work I can at least pick out an important central theme. One of the many in The Stormlight Archive that O could identify is “So long as someone is willing to try, they deserve a chance to try.”
That’s one of Dumbing of Age’s central themes, I think. And it’s why I reacted so strongly to Tall Rachel, Sarah, and now Alice saying to someone, anyone, “You cannot change.” Yeah, Jennifer is way behind the progress Ruth and Joe have made, but she’s going to need, and I’m paraphrasing Joyce here “as many tries as it takes.”
Alice does not have to give Jen the time of day. But she sure as shit doesn’t get to tell her she cannot change. Diagetically speaking, she’s arguing against the closest thing her universe has to a active god with that line.
Frankly speaking, I don’t know if Ruth really has THAT much progress over Ruth. A lot of it is that we just see her less, but when we do, refer back to how her and Jason even began being a thing if you want to give her too many pats on the back.
There’s a big difference between ‘cannot’, ‘will not’ and ‘has not’. Alice doesn’t believe Jennifer will ever change. That’s not the same as saying she can’t. I think at any point in time, Carol could stop being a raging bigot and apologize to her daughter. I don’t think she ever will though.
An 18 year old has a lot more time to change, for sure, and who knows what the future holds for anyone, but you have to consider the actual evidence in front of you for anyone. In Alice’s observation, Jennifer has not changed significantly from the person whose self-destructive habits were pulling her down and there’s no evidence such a change is coming. That’s not to say it never can but based on knowing her, it may be enough to say she won’t (or at least, not in enough time for Alice to want to stay and see it through).
Thanks for the smile.
Also, I just noticed your avatar has a autoboot shirt. I like it, and it reminds me: I saw that Hasbro is printing a collection of all their original transformer comics, or something like that. Therefore, I assume all the profits from the most recent Dumbing of Age book will be going to buy that.
Is their division shitty merch? I bought a shirt off their site a few years ago and it was so low-quality the print was gone in maybe two years. I just had a plain green shirt with their branding on the tag.
That’s all sports merch nowadays. One company does basically every sports league, because they found a new way to make more product way faster and way cheaper than everybody else.
Their innovation was to make the products shoddily designed and really, really shitty. Which increases profits. So, the leagues are all really happy with them, and all the consumers hate it.
Well, that’s disappointing. The really cruddy thing is, even if everyone who buys the crap only does it once, immediately learns their lesson and never buys it again, there are billions of sports fans on the planet so it’s always gonna be someone’s only time buying.
Honestly, at the end, she was arguably less of a mess than she is right now. She’d stopped drinking well before the breakup happens, Ruth was just concerned with how precarious that peace seemed, not without cause, be it her own toxic aspects or Jennifer’s.
Yeah I may be in the minority on this but I really think the way Ruth nuked their relationship from orbit was completely unforgivable, and that Jennifer is the healthier person with the more reasonable coping mechanisms. Ruth didn’t actually deal with any of their codependency when she forced their break-up, or that she had given Billie completely legitimate reasons to believe Ruth wasn’t being honest about her desire to breakup and that Ruth needed Billie around to not spiral into despair. Ruth basically dumped all of the relationship baggage on Billie and made it her problem alone to solve it. Why wouldn’t Billie want to abandon her entire identity and change her name when she had been thrown into the trash like that. In context, Ruth telling Jennifer she would go back to her in a heartbeat was disgusting. It’s like Ruth is declaring “It’s okay if I am awful to people as long as I make sure I am doing it on purpose, instead of letting it slip out accidentally.”
No one owes anyone an explanation for why they end a relationship. Ruth didn’t want to be in a relationship with Jennifer. There was physical violence involved. Jennifer refused to accept it. She’d been trying for some time too.
No one “owes anyone an explanation”, but we as outside observes can still consider their motivations and their honesty. And for that matter, can the people involved.
And in this particular relationship, I think Ruth did need to do more if she really wanted to break up with Jennifer. Because of the terms she’d asked for early on and had still held to: “Billie. Please don’t [leave me]. Ever. Not even if I get stupid and make you. Stay.”
Now, that’s all unhealthy bullshit, but it still changes the context.
Ive relationships without explanation, but i still think reading this it’s among most Fed up thing ive read in weeks. It would be first, except Fascist govt doing fascist things takes #1.
Nobody owes an explanation to refusing a date or a relationship. But if you believe this it means relationships are meaningless and you endorse everyone ghosting you. If Ruth owes anything to anyone, its the girl she bullied into being a girlfriend.
Are you confusing approval with explanation?
Nobody owes someone approval.
But you can’t get divorced without an explanation. The only thing you can do without explanation is die, and everyone will still feel owed.
I know i am guilty. Ive composed 100s of explanations but feared ill or fragile health would make expectations either impossible or actively cause harm.
Ruth could have dragged her to therapy. Said they needed a breakup to end codependance and grow.
Quick explanation of the light skin stare since I didn’t bother to check back yesterday
TikTok thirst trap, stare into the camera, rub hands, lick then bite lip, head swivel, play Sin City wasnt made for you in the background. Light skin black dudes are known for doing this bc they think they’re pretty (blah blah blah colorism I’ve written enough about that on sal/Linda pages). White Boys do it too but they probably stole it like they did everything else on TikTok.
-signed, a light skin girl who finds the light skin stare both hilarious and annoying
The unrequited love of their mutually toxic honesty is probably my favorite version of their relationship. What they had was bad and they both miss it so so so much.
has the second desk continued to be there the entire time? has that been a thing throughout? is this sapphic eddie valiant’s desk, preserved until ruth finally gets better?
(or am I making this all up, it’s been a minute since they were still together)
I assume Jason has been using it. There was a pre-Jason strip where the folding chair was folded up, but I don’t remember if the second desk was still there.
You mean the opposite, right? The way Ruth treated Billie at the end was beyond awful. I don’t want them to get back together because Jennifer deserves better than someone who will toss away their commitment and willingness to change like that, and then play at still caring about them. What Jennifer has done to herself to cope after the breakup isn’t healthy, but it’s sure as hell healthier than staying around Ruth and letting Ruth yank her heartstrings whenever Ruth needs someone to take out her existential angst on.
I mean she knows? She tried to get Ruth to promise she wouldn’t drink on the premise that it would mess with her medication, and Ruth told her she’s changed medications.
I have to say that Ruth & Jennifer are still one of my favorite couples in the series. Yes, they’re a mess, but they were helping each other improve. Hopefully that trend continues here.
Same. I know it started out super unhealthy, but I think towards the end it was good for both of them.
A naive version of me thinks they could actually be happy and healthy together.
My favorite girls are getting back together let’s fucking goooo, I hope their relationship will be at least a little healthier this go but seeing them together is already great
Spectacular use of light and shadows. Jennifer is desperately trying again, let’s hope Ruth will be strong and say no. Ruth deserves to be happy and that with Jennifer is impossible.
No no this is good for them actually. Let’s remember that they started their relationship in an alcohol-fueled suicide pact but then ended up getting sober and going to therapy because of each other.
Healing isn’t linear and these two heal each other.
There’s so many scenes in her room have this kind of lighting. Obviously the lighting means something most of those times, but I was wondering from a practical standpoint if she blocked her windows, with blackout shades or cardboard or paint. Sunlight also seems to meansomething, with regards to Ruth.
I found a strip of Ruth’s room with sunlight, post-painting / medication, though. So not painted over. https://www.dumbingofage.com/karaokeing/
Now to decide if the sunlight in that strip means something, what, or if it’s just because it’s dawn.
It could be the time of day combined with the height of the neighboring building/trees that prevents light from entering her window at certain times of day.
It’s winter, so the sun could even be down at this moment. It’s almost certainly the afternoon since they had lunch earlier.
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Oh nice Billie’s back
Still Jennifer, it seems.
yea, but the wordplay wouldn’t hit as well to say “Jennifer’s back” since she never exactly left
Frist comment and first rate pun? You are on fire tonight, Dot.
The possible ship returning is not ideal tho even assuming she just wants to re-befriend alice verssu dating her
Don’t care! Actively shipping now!
That was originally going to be “Don’t care! Removing shipping pants now!” but it would logically be putting the shipping pants on and that just doesn’t have the same resonance.
No no no, shipping pants just restrain the shipping. So when you want to really go hog-wild on them, the shipping pants have to come off.
…and her butt.
I came to comment about Billie hitting rock bottom, but now it’s just a part of your word play.
I pre-emptively played you!
This is what we call entropy
Exponential?
Forward and back?
I started singing the chorus to this once when I was trying to help my daughter remember to bend and straighten her legs on the swing. She still forgets to bend/straighten her legs, but she sure remembers to sing the chorus every time she’s on the swing!
Jennifer is gonna be entropy wife one day.
The Return of the Disaster Sapphics
Disapphsters
Ca-sapph-strophes.
…
Cata-sapphics?
Sapph-tastrophes?
Catastrophywives
Sapptastrophes, one thousand percent. That’s the perfect portmanteau.
I’m putting my support behind ‘disapphsters’.
Disast-hers ?
WorthLess!
+1 you made me spit out my tea XD
Holy shit. Nice.
ruth is so cute this chapter argh !!! the hair & the outfit combo .. i love it. thank u willis for the characters with freckles
Ah. Well…I don’t approve.
Better than her getting more involved with Alice than she already was, anyway.
Not that I think this is the end of her trying to get more involved with Alice in some way.
I see “34” in the middle panel
XD
BTW happy Passover to all who celebrate ^^
Lucky number?
https://thehockeywriters.com/maple-leafs-100-years-of-the-number-34/
Oh nice! Coincidentally, it’s also the number of felonies a certain person in power has, and the reason China picked that number specifically for its retaliatory tariffs. I’m sure it’s not intentional given the time buffer Willis has, but I wouldn’t be upset if that turned out to be a meta retcon.
also Rule 34, we can’t forget that surely?
bigoted white men in the US aren’t the center of the universe, we should not treat that as though it is true
I mean, porn isn’t either. Bigoted old white guys have a lot more impact on my day-to-day life.
yeah, but defs don’t give them more attention than they deserve, it only feeds into their goals and the corporate clout-seeking stenography machine of social media and shit which really don’t help us and is basically the tobacco of the digital age
heck it’s produced by the same crooked colonial white assholes who have been growing it for centuries at our expense — except in recent decades they ran out of *land* to colonize, and so basically they started colonizing our MINDS
Yeah, but porn actually has value in our society. I don’t have multiple flash drives full of bigoted old white men, and I probably can’t buy them from comic artists.
No, no. 69.
Nice.
That Rules
There are many exciting ways this could go wrong, eager to see what it settles on.
Well you know, it could be that Jennifer left lunch before Joyce spoke on her behalf and possibly made Alice reconsider. Every other bridge has burned and so she may be checking on whether Ruth’s offer to dump Jason and pick up with dysfunctional relationship is real. If she and Ruth happen and then Alice shows interest, what happens then?
we’ve moved from one set of sapphics to another. ~<3
Willis is being good to us.
It won’t last.
Somebody tell Jennifer that being depressed underneath a Maple Leafs decoration is redundant.
Usually Billie was the one pointing that out
This is not going to end like Jennifer hopes, regardless of what that is
YUP.
Does Jennifer know how Jennifer hopes it will end?
See, I’m not entirely sure she does
Please break up with that British loser
Honestly, I’d love to see more of Ruth and Jason. It’s been very little of them so far, and Ruth having a steady BF is cute, even if it’s just Jason.
I’d also kind of like to see more of them, in part because I’m not sold on it at all (which felt deliberate, after Ruth confirmed that she would go back to Jennifer in a heartbeat if Jennifer asked her to).
I just want to see more of their dynamic. Where is he when he isn’t crashing with her?
But at least she got him a TA position again…?
I don’t think we’re supposed to be sold on them.
I mean yeah that’s what I said (“which felt deliberate”), but I’d still like to see more of their interactions.
That relationship is so unhealthy it makes Ruth’s last one look downright stable.
I can’t even tell if Ruth likes him, he’s definitely not her first choice.
He’s nobody’s first choice. That’s his entire character, an eternal “Eh. Good enough for now, I guess.”
Ruth tolerates him well enough and I think she appreciates that it’s a lower stakes relationship. Billie was her world and Jason’s just some guy
Some guy with a dick the exact dimensions of a standard soda can, complete with tab.
Nah, it’s longer than that. Sal compared it to a pint glass. So no tab either but it’s hollow in the middle to store fluids.
That’s kinda efficient.
There is no way Jason and Ruth is a more unhealthy relationship than Ruth and Jennifer. They had to be forced out of a suicide pact.
It started as a suicide pact, but they really did help each other become healthier.
If one assumes that a relationship is always and forever defined by its beginnings, sure.
But “had to be forced” is not accurate. When Jennifer found Ruth in a worrisome state, she comforted her; she wasn’t the one who got Ruth to the hospital, but I think she would have, and she made no effort to harm herself or encourage Ruth to get worse.
How is Jason & Ruth more unhealthy? I find it oddly warming. Billie & Ruth was desctuctive. Mothts to the flame.
I agree, except with the “just Jason” part. He is an under explored character.
There’s no need for that.
Both women are bi. This could be the beginning of a beautiful thing.
Ah, poly shipping?
It’s the god’s eye view
Everything they say is so
No original sins
The house always wins
-Walter Becker, “God’s Eye View”
I can’t lie, I have the biggest grin on my face right now. My favourite codependent yuri couple might be back! Please!
For maximum irony, Jennifer wants Ruth to talk to Alice for her.
That was one of my thoughts as well.
Both funny and painful – a perfect DoA combo.
Or how about this…Billie/Jennifer tries to get Ruth back…and maybe does. Alice sees this and gains respect – and becomes interested in Jennifer again.
Barf.
As fun as they were in the beginning…
This is sad.
They can’t really stay away from each other.
Or at least… Jennifer… Billie in this instance, can’t really find anyone that matches her insecurities just as much.
Jennifer just keeps insulting everyone who is actually her friend.
As much as I like Ruth/Jason, I hope this leads back to Ruth/Billie(Jennifer.)
I don’t actually like Ruth/Jason, but lets focus on the part of Jennifer being Billie again.
THE YURI STOCKS ARE CLIMBING ONCE AGAIN
Don’t worry, Jennifer will impose the tariffs again in another three months.
This has low key established that Jacob and Lucy have been fucking so much Jennifer doesn’t feel comfortable retreating to her own room in a time of emotional distress. That’s probably a reach, yes, but that’s what I’m going with.
Perhaps it is possible that we cannot take Jennifer at her word that she simply dislikes visible sexual activity, and that seeing a happy couple together constantly might make her upset for other reasons.
It’s also entirely possible that Jennifer is so self-deceptive, that we couldn’t convince her that the thing you said was true, even if we tried.
Although given that they’re a college couple and that behavior isn’t unheard of in that age group especially in a new relationship it’s also entirely possible that what she says is happening actually is happening.
Although both Lucy and Jacob are decent enough people that if it is happening they likely haven’t realized how much they’re having sex and that it’s interfering with Jenifer’s daily life and would cut back or find other places to do it if she actually brought it up with them. But being Jennifer she’s likely at best done some passive aggressive hinting.
I’m not sure Jennifer would mind the fucking.
It’s the cute snuggling in the afterglow that sends her.
I imagine she’s here because Alice once again managed to put her into the “I’m poison, the only person I can touch is Ruth (who is also poison)” mindset.
oh speaking of bisexual women blowing up their lives
I know Ruth said she’d leave Jason for Billie/Jennifer in a heartbeat, but let’s see how it actually plays out.
50:50 they either have sex and deal with the emotions later, or get into another fight.
With these two they don’t have to pick just one of those.
Why not both?
I feel like, right now, Jennifer’s more likely to want some kind of perspective to help with the Alice situation. I don’t know how willing Jennifer is to acknowledge how badly both of them would like to continue just yet.
I suspect that Jennifer has shelved the Alice situation for the time being. I think she’s having a more general “what is my life?” moment.
She put a lot her effort into her reinventing herself and was proud of it, but now she’s back where she started.
But with a new old name.
Porque no los dos dot gif.
Just wanna say I love the use of light and shadow here. Looks neat and really adds to the mood.
Title of my 15th biography: My Existence is Easily My Greatest Mistake
Yeah let Jennifer mope there after being rejected by Alice. As if there’s any other significant thing~
Roughly 14 billion years ago God created the universe, but there are many who say that was a Bad Idea…
Everything is the Big Bang’s Fault. https://youtu.be/r_hxc1aJ0Io?si=nHSY0jAfbsae6lvF
like she never left
which is the point.
The fire is coming from inside the dorm room.
But seriously I fucking love these two as a thing and always will, and I really really really wanna see them make it work with each other, in spite of everything. They were what really got me hooked when I first binged this comic, and couldn’t put the metaphorical book down.
this feels like home but, at same time, it feels so wrong…
“LA’s fine, but it ain’t home
New York’s home, but it ain’t mine no more”
Paul Baumer energy.
(Note to self: the ‘HTML close tag’ gag doesn’t work in a comment section which accepts actual HTML tags. I knew that already, but forgot that that includes this site.)
So I briefly dabbled in an English major because I love reading and literary analysis (insert your art of choice in place of “literary”) is something I very unironically enjoy. I still read a lot (and read a lot of TVTropes) so while I’m not at my best in that specific academic field I feel like after enough time spend “studying” a work I can at least pick out an important central theme. One of the many in The Stormlight Archive that O could identify is “So long as someone is willing to try, they deserve a chance to try.”
That’s one of Dumbing of Age’s central themes, I think. And it’s why I reacted so strongly to Tall Rachel, Sarah, and now Alice saying to someone, anyone, “You cannot change.” Yeah, Jennifer is way behind the progress Ruth and Joe have made, but she’s going to need, and I’m paraphrasing Joyce here “as many tries as it takes.”
Alice does not have to give Jen the time of day. But she sure as shit doesn’t get to tell her she cannot change. Diagetically speaking, she’s arguing against the closest thing her universe has to a active god with that line.
Frankly speaking, I don’t know if Ruth really has THAT much progress over Ruth. A lot of it is that we just see her less, but when we do, refer back to how her and Jason even began being a thing if you want to give her too many pats on the back.
What’s she gonna do with a back pat, anyway?
Pair it with a front pat and set them making cake.
Surely you’ve heard of patty cake?
There’s a big difference between ‘cannot’, ‘will not’ and ‘has not’. Alice doesn’t believe Jennifer will ever change. That’s not the same as saying she can’t. I think at any point in time, Carol could stop being a raging bigot and apologize to her daughter. I don’t think she ever will though.
There’s a big difference between saying a 60ish year old person is not likely to change and saying the same thing about an 18 year old, though.
An 18 year old has a lot more time to change, for sure, and who knows what the future holds for anyone, but you have to consider the actual evidence in front of you for anyone. In Alice’s observation, Jennifer has not changed significantly from the person whose self-destructive habits were pulling her down and there’s no evidence such a change is coming. That’s not to say it never can but based on knowing her, it may be enough to say she won’t (or at least, not in enough time for Alice to want to stay and see it through).
Hovertext: “The house always wins.”
Unlike the Leafs! (rimshot)
Thanks for the smile.
Also, I just noticed your avatar has a autoboot shirt. I like it, and it reminds me: I saw that Hasbro is printing a collection of all their original transformer comics, or something like that. Therefore, I assume all the profits from the most recent Dumbing of Age book will be going to buy that.
Hey, they’re leading their division
Is their division shitty merch? I bought a shirt off their site a few years ago and it was so low-quality the print was gone in maybe two years. I just had a plain green shirt with their branding on the tag.
That’s all sports merch nowadays. One company does basically every sports league, because they found a new way to make more product way faster and way cheaper than everybody else.
Their innovation was to make the products shoddily designed and really, really shitty. Which increases profits. So, the leagues are all really happy with them, and all the consumers hate it.
Well, that’s disappointing. The really cruddy thing is, even if everyone who buys the crap only does it once, immediately learns their lesson and never buys it again, there are billions of sports fans on the planet so it’s always gonna be someone’s only time buying.
Jennifer missing when she was a mess but happy vs being a mess and constantly miserable
Honestly, at the end, she was arguably less of a mess than she is right now. She’d stopped drinking well before the breakup happens, Ruth was just concerned with how precarious that peace seemed, not without cause, be it her own toxic aspects or Jennifer’s.
Yeah I may be in the minority on this but I really think the way Ruth nuked their relationship from orbit was completely unforgivable, and that Jennifer is the healthier person with the more reasonable coping mechanisms. Ruth didn’t actually deal with any of their codependency when she forced their break-up, or that she had given Billie completely legitimate reasons to believe Ruth wasn’t being honest about her desire to breakup and that Ruth needed Billie around to not spiral into despair. Ruth basically dumped all of the relationship baggage on Billie and made it her problem alone to solve it. Why wouldn’t Billie want to abandon her entire identity and change her name when she had been thrown into the trash like that. In context, Ruth telling Jennifer she would go back to her in a heartbeat was disgusting. It’s like Ruth is declaring “It’s okay if I am awful to people as long as I make sure I am doing it on purpose, instead of letting it slip out accidentally.”
No one owes anyone an explanation for why they end a relationship. Ruth didn’t want to be in a relationship with Jennifer. There was physical violence involved. Jennifer refused to accept it. She’d been trying for some time too.
No one “owes anyone an explanation”, but we as outside observes can still consider their motivations and their honesty. And for that matter, can the people involved.
And in this particular relationship, I think Ruth did need to do more if she really wanted to break up with Jennifer. Because of the terms she’d asked for early on and had still held to: “Billie. Please don’t [leave me]. Ever. Not even if I get stupid and make you. Stay.”
Now, that’s all unhealthy bullshit, but it still changes the context.
Ive relationships without explanation, but i still think reading this it’s among most Fed up thing ive read in weeks. It would be first, except Fascist govt doing fascist things takes #1.
Nobody owes an explanation to refusing a date or a relationship. But if you believe this it means relationships are meaningless and you endorse everyone ghosting you. If Ruth owes anything to anyone, its the girl she bullied into being a girlfriend.
Are you confusing approval with explanation?
Nobody owes someone approval.
But you can’t get divorced without an explanation. The only thing you can do without explanation is die, and everyone will still feel owed.
I know i am guilty. Ive composed 100s of explanations but feared ill or fragile health would make expectations either impossible or actively cause harm.
Ruth could have dragged her to therapy. Said they needed a breakup to end codependance and grow.
Well here they are, again.
FINA-FUCKING-LY!
Congratulations!
You persevered, and your patience was rewarded.
Wooo! Congrats!
How many rolls did it take?
64! Quite an admirable season of searching for Sal, I’d say!
64! = a big number I am not going to calculate.
Congratulations. We had faith in you.
This is a fun game. Only thing that makes the changing avatars worth it is the thrill of the search! XD
It’s always such a pleasure.
bleh different device, forgot the capitalization
It’s okay, you have a Sal icon in spirit.
Remember how you tried to kill me twice?
Oh how we laughed and laughed
Except I wasn’t laughing.
Under the circumstances …
Huh? When?
The song!
Thanks!
Congrats on the Sal!
I have found a Sal!
Bucky: You couldn’t have done that earlier?
Falcon: I hate you.
If the dorms use a lock better than a Defiant I’d be shocked. You could rake those open with a hot dog. Ruth didn’t have to teach Billie anything.
What if “these are actually easy to open” isn’t something Billie would have guessed on her own?
…at least she removed her shoes
Disaster lesbians comeback??? Let’s go?????
Aww, she misses her pissy red dandelion.
Quick explanation of the light skin stare since I didn’t bother to check back yesterday
TikTok thirst trap, stare into the camera, rub hands, lick then bite lip, head swivel, play Sin City wasnt made for you in the background. Light skin black dudes are known for doing this bc they think they’re pretty (blah blah blah colorism I’ve written enough about that on sal/Linda pages). White Boys do it too but they probably stole it like they did everything else on TikTok.
-signed, a light skin girl who finds the light skin stare both hilarious and annoying
The unrequited love of their mutually toxic honesty is probably my favorite version of their relationship. What they had was bad and they both miss it so so so much.
wait
has the second desk continued to be there the entire time? has that been a thing throughout? is this sapphic eddie valiant’s desk, preserved until ruth finally gets better?
(or am I making this all up, it’s been a minute since they were still together)
I assume Jason has been using it. There was a pre-Jason strip where the folding chair was folded up, but I don’t remember if the second desk was still there.
there’s a strip with Jason using it. But he hasn’t left anything behind. Well, maybe his grad level math text book ahahahaha
please dont let these two end up back together, ruth is so much healthier without jennifer dragging her down
Health is an outdated concept from a less civilized time. More toxic yuri = more human rights.
Don’t Care! Removing pants now!
The pants symbolize the good sense not to ship these two.
Perfection.
Also my actual pants.
You mean the opposite, right? The way Ruth treated Billie at the end was beyond awful. I don’t want them to get back together because Jennifer deserves better than someone who will toss away their commitment and willingness to change like that, and then play at still caring about them. What Jennifer has done to herself to cope after the breakup isn’t healthy, but it’s sure as hell healthier than staying around Ruth and letting Ruth yank her heartstrings whenever Ruth needs someone to take out her existential angst on.
And the End ?
The beginning was no picnic either.
And the middle wasn’t so great.
At some point, Jennifer’s going to find out Ruth’s drinking again. That’ll be fun.
I mean she knows? She tried to get Ruth to promise she wouldn’t drink on the premise that it would mess with her medication, and Ruth told her she’s changed medications.
She knows Ruth was talking about it. She doesn’t know Ruth actually has been.
Because Ruth/Jason is so much healthier? Or Jenn/Asher (Basher? Bishie?)?
ruth/jason is healthier, not healthy but healthier, jennifer/anyone is unhealthy
Fanfuckingtastic art
Yeah it’s impressive. Not just the art in itself, but how it’s used as a tool to impart emotion.
What else is art for, tbh?
Panel 2 Ruth is perfect.
I have to say that Ruth & Jennifer are still one of my favorite couples in the series. Yes, they’re a mess, but they were helping each other improve. Hopefully that trend continues here.
Same. I know it started out super unhealthy, but I think towards the end it was good for both of them.
A naive version of me thinks they could actually be happy and healthy together.
The shipper part of me wants to see these two get back together, but the rational part of my brain isn’t sure that would be a good idea,
No need to be rational!!!! DoA is a comic about reveling in watching young adults make the worst decisions of their lives!!!!!
Ah shit, here we go again.
I guess it finally sank in who her real friends are.
Woo, my prediction was right. Guess we’ll see where this goes.
My favorite girls are getting back together let’s fucking goooo, I hope their relationship will be at least a little healthier this go but seeing them together is already great
Spectacular use of light and shadows. Jennifer is desperately trying again, let’s hope Ruth will be strong and say no. Ruth deserves to be happy and that with Jennifer is impossible.
Except she was happy with Billie. So happy she got scared of it.
No no this is good for them actually. Let’s remember that they started their relationship in an alcohol-fueled suicide pact but then ended up getting sober and going to therapy because of each other.
Healing isn’t linear and these two heal each other.
I don’t think Ruth was happy.
Maybe you should reread the Halloween strips? She like, explicitly talks about this there.
The cruelest cut of all: the cut (away) that Willis pulls just when the hooks are in us.
Yes. Change my mind.
I can’t, I think this genuinely may be good for them >.>
There’s so many scenes in her room have this kind of lighting. Obviously the lighting means something most of those times, but I was wondering from a practical standpoint if she blocked her windows, with blackout shades or cardboard or paint. Sunlight also seems to mean something, with regards to Ruth.
I found a strip of Ruth’s room with sunlight, post-painting / medication, though. So not painted over. https://www.dumbingofage.com/karaokeing/
Now to decide if the sunlight in that strip means something, what, or if it’s just because it’s dawn.
It could be the time of day combined with the height of the neighboring building/trees that prevents light from entering her window at certain times of day.
It’s winter, so the sun could even be down at this moment. It’s almost certainly the afternoon since they had lunch earlier.
Guess I should have left in the reference to ambient daylight even when the window was in the shade.
beloved toxic yuri….yessssss
WE’RE MORE BACK THAN EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE.
AAA. AAAAAAAAA
According to the buffer watch, the strip is now complete thru this date next year — one whole year of DoA is in the can and waiting.
Anything we write here as conjecture and analysis will be looked upon with bemusement and cocked eyebrows by the powers that be for the next 365.
This is the second time Alice s cruel uneccesary and cutting words sent Billie into Ruth’s bed.