Sarah has learned that as much fun as grumping may be, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, get the caring done, so you can move on with your day.
She could’ve handed it off to Joyce between panels, before hugging her. Typically Willis draws a transfer like that. If this scene continues tomorrow, we’ll see if Joyce recieved it, but it’s a good moment to cut away. So bushes it is.
We can see both of Joyce’s hands in Panel 5. Since one of Dorothy’s hands are obscured it is possible that she is holding it, but I personally subscribe to the yeet theory.
Nah. His face will just rot off, revealing it to have just been a giant decaying toenail the entire time. Then he’ll be hospitalized for a few weeks while a new, healthy nail face grows in and he becomes a loving, non bigot father
I’m glad that, a scant few days after asking for Joyce to get hugs, she has gotten two. (Now all we need is a Joyce/Becky Mutual Comfort And Fear Hug and a Jocelyne/Joyce Mom’s Shit, But At Least I Have An Awesome Sister Hug and we’ll have the complete set!)
“Ask, it doesn’t get done” and “You have to learn to respect other people’s boundaries” are both correct. Understanding human life means embracing a lot of ambiguity, sometimes.
However, “know your audience” is useful. Get to know the people you care for and do the things that you know to show your love for them. Sarah found Joyce’s love language. It just so happens that it matches up with Sarah’s own need for efficiency.
Is there somewhere to go to complain about the ads? Tonight I’m getting 2 or even 3 NRA ads on the page. When I “X” them out and choose “not interested” the come right back. I even tried clearing history and cookies, and they still come back.
Okay, Sarah brings another way of being a moral person besides Dorothy’s “ask”. Sometimes you don’t have time to ask questions, so you have to go on instinct to solve problems that appear immediately. Getting shit done requires integri-Okay, not that kind of integrity.
I just hope Joyce decides to take the appropriate course of action after learning from the rational Dorothy and the impulsive Sarah.
But seriously if we classified morality systems: Dorothy/utilitarianism, Sarah/cynicism, Becky/pragmatism, Dina/positivism, Joe/ethical hedonism, Mike/misanthropy, Walky/absurdism, Joyce/existentialism, Jason/realism, Sal/anarchy, Amber/social darwinism? Amber is hard to know because she is a psychological mess.
I love Dorothy and Joyce’s facial expressions in panel two. Joyce is like, “aw, Sarah being sweet while transparently covering it up.” And Dorothy is more bemused “this person is pretending to not like hugs while initiating a hug with me, does not compute.” I feel like this accurately but subtly conveys their different relationships to her.
It took me too long to realize the roller coaster metaphor in the last panel was a callback to the flashback from the start of the storyline at Six Flags or Cedar Point or whatever midwest theme park that was.
i imagine if Joyce has ever visited Six Flags Great America (I remember her visiting a park with Becky’s family, but I keep thinking they went to a Disney one), the Whizzer is her favorite coaster. The American Eagle might place first instead, but given its height and speed, I wonder.
Also, Sarah is now forgiven for her pizza and cake-hoarding.
Side note: I thought that scene was gonna take a lot longer to find but apparently Joyce and Becky have only been in one strip together since that flashback??
Sarah woke up really effective this morning. And she certainly has taken to an art knowing were she can push Joyce to get things done and rip bandaids without completely overhelm her.
Sarah is being extremely Sarah in this strip and I’m so here for it. Efficiently getting shit done that no one else wants to do, check. Voluntarily providing emotional support while making it known that she is not enjoying it, check. Being an awesome big sister to Joyce, big ol’ check (>* ◡ *<)
“You might have confidently gotten the situation resolved which needed resolving, b-but you didn’t ask textbook perfectly which Joyce just admitted would have failed!”
Let this be a lesson for taking assertive and effective action for your future presidency.
Look at it this way, Joyce — with one less toenail you will need 10% less toenail polish.
And since it was the big toe (larger nail), you’ll probably use even less than that.
Dorothy isn’t really a mother as much as she wants to be. She’s a concerned older sister who offers advise while Sarah is the mother who knows what’s best and gets shit done.
SARAH!! Look at how she just takes care of business so matter of factly. Like, she knows Joyce is distressed and just swoops in like a hawk to fix it. That’s so sweet. I love her even more now.
Oh, Billie really should check up on Ruth right about now. The Leafs just… well…
One of the weird, minor rules in NHL Hockey that almost never comes up is that the home team has to have, on staff for each game, an Emergency Goalie, in case either team’s starting and back-up goalie gets injured. Usually just some guy that’s in-town and an amateur, he gets comp’d for his presence by getting to watch the game for free.
…tonight, halfway through the game, the visiting Carolina Hurricanes had both of their goalies injured, and had to take advantage of this rule, bringing in a 42 year old guy employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs as a Zamboni driver to play goalie for them and defend a 3-1 Carolina lead.
Carolina beat the Maple Leafs 6-3.
There’s “losing badly” and then there’s “losing badly to a guy on your payroll who hasn’t played professional hockey in decades”…
I know! Usually it can make the news when the Emergency Backup Goalie merely has to sit on the bench because the starter leaves and the standard backup goalie gets on the ice.
According to a report I read, the guy was 42-year-old David Ayres, and the highest level hockey he ever played was something called “Junior B” — so I don’t know if he’s even a professional; just a skilled amateur who’s available if needed.
Hydrogen peroxide will get rid of a little blood stain.
Or she could use THE POWER OF OXI CLEAN! THE STAIN SPECIALIST! It’s basically instant hydrogen peroxide, thanks to its active ingredient: sodium percarbonate.)
(RIP Billy Mays)
now she needs to get an antibacterial gell or ointment or shell get a fungus that never goes away …….
Do you know since Joyce is trying ot be a grade school/junior high teacher of some sort what’s she going to do with a bunch of snotty bleeding gross gooey kids? I have a few teacher relatives and the stories they tell…. (like the poor girl whos first period started in the middle of her 7th grade oral report in front of her science class )
unless you take a medicine that can kill your liver for 3 months….
this nail polish stuff that you put on for a week and then have to peel it off your self for 8 weeks
or they surgically make it where the toenail doesn’t regrow …..
Last time i tried to do something I couldn’t use option1 option didn’t work and was hella messy and we were discussing option 3 ..
Honestly. Sarah-the-big-sis is my favorite in this Universe.
..though I feel like she’s gonna end up murdering someone for Joyce at some point now. More than any of the other characters, I feel like she’d actually do it, and ultimately be fine with it after a while.
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Toenail: more nail than has been drawin in 27 years of Walkyverse
You mean aside from Ross’s chin, right?
I think his chin is a second, smaller toe
His chin’s the nail, and the rest of his head’s the toe.
I just checked. It’s a little over 22 years old.
Aww, hugs! And another great Sarah moment.
I have always loved Sarah. For the record. She used to be my avatar!
Username checks out.
Sarah: getting shit done.
Sarah just had a mom moment.
*remembers the booger comic in Walky* I’m good.
But Joyce still feeling better in the near future? Still uncertain.
So Joyce hated Demon? Fair enough.
Sarah willingly joining in on a hug?
I am not (that) drunk. Am I seeing things?
No, that’s why she said “Okay, FINE” after being heavily pressured – what do you mean, no one said anything to her about hugging?
Huh.
On further review, Sarah did more initiating in the only other hug I remember her: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/better-4/ (and the next strip).
I guess around Joyce she lets out more soft caramel friendliness which she usually inside that hard candy (?) shell.
Sarah likes hugs.
Sarah will never ADMIT she likes hugs.
‘t was a tactic to get close enough to pull off the great nail heist of the century! All as planned.
It was me plan, I planned it.
Sarah has learned that as much fun as grumping may be, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, get the caring done, so you can move on with your day.
The food vanishes after panel one, I’m just gonna assume that Sarah casually chucked it into the distance same as the toenail.
She could’ve handed it off to Joyce between panels, before hugging her. Typically Willis draws a transfer like that. If this scene continues tomorrow, we’ll see if Joyce recieved it, but it’s a good moment to cut away. So bushes it is.
Has anyone else completely forgotten what Joyce was eating?
Just me?
I mean, I could go look it up, but I got stuff ta do.
Stacked rice bowl. Easily separated for her convenience.
But still technically touching each other which is the bit she’s struggling with.
We can see both of Joyce’s hands in Panel 5. Since one of Dorothy’s hands are obscured it is possible that she is holding it, but I personally subscribe to the yeet theory.
Could be that Sarah just casually handed the food off to Dorothy. “Joyce will eat if Dorothy feeds her. Another problem sorted.”
Things happen… *between* panels??
[ surprisedpikachu.jpg ]
Maybe she put it in her coat pocket?
It was put into hammerspace.
I hope people appreciate how much Sarah actually cares about Joyce. It’s a very sisterly love and I approve of it.
Even if Joyce does drive me crazy.
Appropriate Gravatar is appropriate.
Claireface is not appropriate, though.
Claire face is ALWAYS appropriate.
Not that Claireface, though. The one with her eyes all sparkly, from when she’s hoping Veronica and Jim hit it off, seems like a better fit here.
Problem with that one is it’s got half Tai’s face in it when I try to crop it (yes, I’ve tried to add it to my collection). This one is from slightly later in that story arc.
Oh yeah, their heads are touching in that panel. Well, at least you tried.
Still hoping to see an appropriate moment for Stoned Claireface.
Claireface https://imgur.com/a/w4CY2yB
Sarah is best.
Sarah comes and save the day…well, about 10 min of it.
I like Dotty’s face on the last panel a lot.
I’d rather be a hammer than a nail…
Sometimes you’re the steppy thing
Sometimes you’re the nail
especially if it’s Chekhov’s metaphorical toenail
Joyce Sarah
Shit. Wouldn’t let me put the diamond in
Moirallegiance?! A fellow Homestuck?!
IT KEEPS HAPPENING
I warned you about those stairs bro
Guilty
“Sarah♦Joyce”
Like so? ALT+4 on the num pad produces the ♦, assuming this doesn’t get et.
Will toedad be discarded like that toenail?
Nah. His face will just rot off, revealing it to have just been a giant decaying toenail the entire time. Then he’ll be hospitalized for a few weeks while a new, healthy nail face grows in and he becomes a loving, non bigot father
This could be the beginning of a great crack fic
Yes, Sarah, pretend reluctance in giving a hug that no one had specifically asked for. It’s adorable, even if it’s not convincing in any way.
I’m glad that, a scant few days after asking for Joyce to get hugs, she has gotten two. (Now all we need is a Joyce/Becky Mutual Comfort And Fear Hug and a Jocelyne/Joyce Mom’s Shit, But At Least I Have An Awesome Sister Hug and we’ll have the complete set!)
When ever i find myself in these situations my morbid curiosity takes over and I MUST hold the nail, scab or what ever.
I think its something primal.
I used to have a similar fascination with my baby teeth when they came out. A sort of “I can’t believe this thing used to be in me!” feeling.
Sarah is my favorite, best sister, she knows Joyce’s thought process and knows how to override needed issues.
“Ask, it doesn’t get done” and “You have to learn to respect other people’s boundaries” are both correct. Understanding human life means embracing a lot of ambiguity, sometimes.
Context: It matters! ™
Hell yeah….
Nails are a foreign concept to your artstyle
Big Sister.
Sarah, joining a hug and getting rid of the gross dead toenail?
Damn, she REALLY wants Joyce to feel better. She’s a good big sister.
Although, I feel ‘ask, it doesn’t get done’ is REALLY not a lesson you should reinforce for Joyce. Just…no.
However, “know your audience” is useful. Get to know the people you care for and do the things that you know to show your love for them. Sarah found Joyce’s love language. It just so happens that it matches up with Sarah’s own need for efficiency.
This is a valid point but given Joyce already sucks at boundaries, I feel this is a bad idea to reinforce.
There’s a lot to be said for a friend who knows you well enough to know exactly how and when you need to be pushed.
Is there somewhere to go to complain about the ads? Tonight I’m getting 2 or even 3 NRA ads on the page. When I “X” them out and choose “not interested” the come right back. I even tried clearing history and cookies, and they still come back.
I’m getting Bergdorf Goodman.
Home Depot here. Better than the soft-porn-manga ads I’m getting on a few of the other web comics I follow.
Sarah Clinton. Problem Solver.
“Goalposts move with stress levels”
RE-LA-TA-BLE.
i love sarah’s sweatshirt with the purple and the trees! beautiful idea! and that sarah joined the hug 🙂 and joyce and dorothy’s discussion!
god youre right that is a sweet hoodie
I was thinking the same!
Sarah’s the kind of big sister Joyce really needs in her life
Aside from Jocelyn, the big sister she doesn’t know she has.
was half expecting the toenail to have a tag
It kind of was one, does that count?
Sarah’s like a big sister right now, and I love it.
Who are you and what have you done with the real Sarah?
She was kidnapped and replaced by the head Alain, hiding behind the scenes as usual in this universe.
In our universe HA introduced autocorrect.
But it always substitutes the worst possible word for the situation.
Goalposts move with stress levels.
Ain’t that the truth.
Stress levels rise with moving goalposts, IME.
Stress rises when other people move the goal posts you’re supposed to aim for.
When stress rises, the goal posts you set for yourself move to compensate.
Gotta love how Sarah’s pretending to be reluctant about hugging Joyce and Dorothy.
You can’t fight it, Sarah. You officially care now.
Big sister :3
Okay, Sarah brings another way of being a moral person besides Dorothy’s “ask”. Sometimes you don’t have time to ask questions, so you have to go on instinct to solve problems that appear immediately. Getting shit done requires integri-Okay, not that kind of integrity.
I just hope Joyce decides to take the appropriate course of action after learning from the rational Dorothy and the impulsive Sarah.
But seriously if we classified morality systems: Dorothy/utilitarianism, Sarah/cynicism, Becky/pragmatism, Dina/positivism, Joe/ethical hedonism, Mike/misanthropy, Walky/absurdism, Joyce/existentialism, Jason/realism, Sal/anarchy, Amber/social darwinism? Amber is hard to know because she is a psychological mess.
and that Amber has multiple contradicting systems keeps her that way ,
But at least one of them is Empathy
Ain’t nothing impulsive about Sarah. This is the behaviour of someone who has made the conscious decision to care.
Sarah’s going to make one damned fine lawyer/judge/Supreme Court Justice.
Like Bat Simpson. Yes, he became a judge of the Supreme Court.
Look at Sarah pretending not to care.
I love Dorothy and Joyce’s facial expressions in panel two. Joyce is like, “aw, Sarah being sweet while transparently covering it up.” And Dorothy is more bemused “this person is pretending to not like hugs while initiating a hug with me, does not compute.” I feel like this accurately but subtly conveys their different relationships to her.
It took me too long to realize the roller coaster metaphor in the last panel was a callback to the flashback from the start of the storyline at Six Flags or Cedar Point or whatever midwest theme park that was.
Ohh I totally wouldn’t have put that together, good catch!
i imagine if Joyce has ever visited Six Flags Great America (I remember her visiting a park with Becky’s family, but I keep thinking they went to a Disney one), the Whizzer is her favorite coaster. The American Eagle might place first instead, but given its height and speed, I wonder.
Also, Sarah is now forgiven for her pizza and cake-hoarding.
Yep, it was Six Flags – you were probably thinking of Disney because of the knockoff Elsa doll though: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/02-to-remind-you-of-my-love/princess-2/
Side note: I thought that scene was gonna take a lot longer to find but apparently Joyce and Becky have only been in one strip together since that flashback??
Sarah woke up really effective this morning. And she certainly has taken to an art knowing were she can push Joyce to get things done and rip bandaids without completely overhelm her.
Sarah is being extremely Sarah in this strip and I’m so here for it. Efficiently getting shit done that no one else wants to do, check. Voluntarily providing emotional support while making it known that she is not enjoying it, check. Being an awesome big sister to Joyce, big ol’ check (>* ◡ *<)
I guess sometimes its okay to tattle and sometimes it isn’t.
As the very antisocial grumpy friend in a majority of my circles, I relate to Sarah.
Coveted Hug from Sarah aquired!
It’s strips like this that make it hard to remember that Sarah isn’t Joyce’s foster mom.
This strip is one of my favorite Sarah moments.
Same <3
It’s true. The morality rides that go upside down are the most interesting.
“You might have confidently gotten the situation resolved which needed resolving, b-but you didn’t ask textbook perfectly which Joyce just admitted would have failed!”
Let this be a lesson for taking assertive and effective action for your future presidency.
Look at it this way, Joyce — with one less toenail you will need 10% less toenail polish.
And since it was the big toe (larger nail), you’ll probably use even less than that.
Sarah ain’t no Dorothy, but she’s getting results.
Which must hurt for Dorothy.
Dorothy isn’t really a mother as much as she wants to be. She’s a concerned older sister who offers advise while Sarah is the mother who knows what’s best and gets shit done.
and Joyce needs both
and, yes Becky. Joyce also needs her wacky-best-friend-forever to keep things interesting
SARAH!! Look at how she just takes care of business so matter of factly. Like, she knows Joyce is distressed and just swoops in like a hawk to fix it. That’s so sweet. I love her even more now.
“You can only see nails in my drawing style if they’re dead”
What does this imply about Ross’s arc, hrmmm? o.0
Ross is a zombie?
Sarah is a proper Big Sister! <³ aww 🙂
Also, nice callback to Becky's and Joyce's childhood trip to the amusement park.
Oh, Billie really should check up on Ruth right about now. The Leafs just… well…
One of the weird, minor rules in NHL Hockey that almost never comes up is that the home team has to have, on staff for each game, an Emergency Goalie, in case either team’s starting and back-up goalie gets injured. Usually just some guy that’s in-town and an amateur, he gets comp’d for his presence by getting to watch the game for free.
…tonight, halfway through the game, the visiting Carolina Hurricanes had both of their goalies injured, and had to take advantage of this rule, bringing in a 42 year old guy employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs as a Zamboni driver to play goalie for them and defend a 3-1 Carolina lead.
Carolina beat the Maple Leafs 6-3.
There’s “losing badly” and then there’s “losing badly to a guy on your payroll who hasn’t played professional hockey in decades”…
Woo! Canes!
I know! Usually it can make the news when the Emergency Backup Goalie merely has to sit on the bench because the starter leaves and the standard backup goalie gets on the ice.
According to a report I read, the guy was 42-year-old David Ayres, and the highest level hockey he ever played was something called “Junior B” — so I don’t know if he’s even a professional; just a skilled amateur who’s available if needed.
And they were impressed enough with him that they took him for their next game as well.
Sarah has finally accepted her role as a substitute mother for everyone, especially for Joyce. This is really sweet ♡♡♡♡♡.
Sarah is the best Dorm Mother now that she seems to have accepted the role.
The morality takeaways don’t go upside-down, Joyce!
My takeaway probably shouldn’t be jealousy… Sarah finds a fitted hoodie that actually covers her wrists?! that’s a tall girl gold mine.
Joyce is now going to have to burn that sock.
And the shoe. And the foot….
From experience, there’s usually some blood still… liquid under there, so that sock is definitely stained since she didn’t wash up the area.
I’ve had some come off after healing up completely underneath.
Hydrogen peroxide will get rid of a little blood stain.
Or she could use THE POWER OF OXI CLEAN! THE STAIN SPECIALIST! It’s basically instant hydrogen peroxide, thanks to its active ingredient: sodium percarbonate.)
(RIP Billy Mays)
C’mon, Sarah.
That’s littering.
Very gross, disgusting littering.
now she needs to get an antibacterial gell or ointment or shell get a fungus that never goes away …….
Do you know since Joyce is trying ot be a grade school/junior high teacher of some sort what’s she going to do with a bunch of snotty bleeding gross gooey kids? I have a few teacher relatives and the stories they tell…. (like the poor girl whos first period started in the middle of her 7th grade oral report in front of her science class )
unless you take a medicine that can kill your liver for 3 months….
this nail polish stuff that you put on for a week and then have to peel it off your self for 8 weeks
or they surgically make it where the toenail doesn’t regrow …..
Last time i tried to do something I couldn’t use option1 option didn’t work and was hella messy and we were discussing option 3 ..
bleh move the first line under the 2nd paragrahp … .
DoA Book 10: Oh, Are We Doing Hugs Now? Okay, Fine.
Honestly. Sarah-the-big-sis is my favorite in this Universe.
..though I feel like she’s gonna end up murdering someone for Joyce at some point now. More than any of the other characters, I feel like she’d actually do it, and ultimately be fine with it after a while.
Joyce’s face in that last panel. She loves Sarah [weeps]
I’m now oddly disappointed that Joyce’s toenail didn’t get a tag…
Sarah is the bestest big sister.