That was the best thing about the series. It wasn’t predictable good versus evil. But I stopped reading it when he kept introducing new elements that could not be reconciled with the original word concept. Not that seasons lasting for a decade or longer at random ever really made sense, especially with no way to preserve food through such a winter.
Summers last for longer too; presumably people have the foresight to store away food in that time. Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s only the Northern areas that get really cold.
Or it could be the cheerleading part. More than one person and thing has sent Billie clear messages that she doesn’t have the same place or fit the same roll that she used to. When Ruth stole the outfit the first time, it was still the core of her identity. But since then, she’s been a Dorothy and a Ruth, come face to face with the truth of her alcoholism, and made friends who give her honest feedback and criticism. The outfit might have become a symbol more of what she’s lost than a symbol of all that she is. Though even if that’s true, I’m sure guilt for going back on the bargain is a big part of it too.
Godzilla wins. In Godzilla: Final Wars he fights every kaiju he hasn’t already obliterated, all in a row! Don’t know much about Ultraman but I doubt he’s done that.
But we few, we the non-Dannies, we shall stay firm. We bear humanity’s last hope. For though we walk in the valley of the shadow of Danny we shall not succumb. And I dream of a better day, a day when we shall rise once more. And those who bear the mark of Danny, they shall know fear, and they shall know death, and they shall be purged from this world that their unholy footsteps now defile.
Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up to find himself transformed into a “ungeheures Ungeziefer”, literally “monstrous vermin”, often interpreted as a Danny.
They both are, it’s just that Ruth was “tsu” first and then randomly expressed her feelings. Billie is always “tsu” but hasn’t gotten used to the affection.
She sees it. She knows it’s there. She’ll tell herself its there. But just doesn’t know how to respond to actual affection. Beating around the bush is easy. Walking through it is hard.
Why’s that misogynist?
I can say “bongoes be crazy” to anyone of any gender or sexual orientation.
You’re the misogynistic one for implying only women can be bongoes.
I’ve never heard anyone call a guy “crazy bongo” or heard “bongoes be crazy” apply to guys. Because it is a gendered slur typically, especially combined with “crazy,” it’s pretty iffy to use.
Generally when I’ve heard “bongo” used against a guy, it’s because it’s a feminine-gendered slur, and so being used to call his masculinity into question as a bonus insult.
I’m not sure that being open to all genders under “bongoes be crazy” counts you as being “open minded”, as either way it’s a degrading slur. Applauding the fact you’ll use it equally is pretty stupid.
It’s because I don’t hold myself to some high standard of morality. I’m not perfectly nice. I cuss a lot. I am a nice guy, but I’m no longer trying to be perfectly unoffensive and pure all the time. And also I joke around a lot, so just don’t take what I say so seriously.
If “bongo” is used to call a male’s masculinity into question, and also to call a female’s femininity into question, then… Dear Gods… “bongo” is the gender-neutral pronoun we’ve all been searching for!
I for one would support the use of such a pronoun. Not only because I find the idea hilarious, but also because such a use would stop this word from being a slur.
I don’t know, stealing words from other languages is a time honored linguistic tradition. I mean, just look at how many words we stole from the french, it’s a wonder they can still talk.
It’s pretty unnecessary when they’re words we already have in English. “Kawaii” and “baka” come to mind. I know it pisses off some Japanese people when weeaboos use gratuitous Japanese.
Not quite tsundere, not quite kitsune, not quite otaku … they can’t even figure out who’s the seme and who’s the uke here… someone needs to hand them a tvtrope guide.
Actually, I think it was more the reminder of who she no longer was that is getting to Billy. If you remember, when she went to the football game with Ruth the first thing on her mind was how different the view was.
In fact, a lot of this comic has been about how no one really cares that Billy was once a cheerleader. Though that might be part of it as well…
As Reynar-Miri put it earlier, it probably also has to do with the fact her “emotionally stunted father” hasn’t teached her about small gestures of affection and instead used to “show his love through wads of cash”.
I mean, the mix of guilt, remorse and mild emotional crippling cannot be good.
Actually, I think it has to do with the way Ruth is showing kindness and repairing/expanding their relationship. And Billie doesn’t know how to handle this. Whether it has to do with her not being sober like Ruth, or still feeling weird about their past relationship remains to be seen.
Blood should really start with a light jog first. It should make sure it keeps a steady pace through a familiar area and gauge an estimated time between the end of the route and your home so that it can have enough energy to make it back home.
Hm, Ruth’s comment about “the right order” strikes me as a 4th wall comment. But if Willis had had this drawn weeks or months before, he couldn’t have read the comment section.
Clearly this means Willis can see the future. Or read future thoughts.
“The Great Faz has been told that the way into a woman’s nether regions is to make them feel vaguely insulted. Did you know the stone used in your construction was subpar, but has left you still looking reasonably attractive?”
So does she not want it cause she was drinking, does she not want it cause she can’t deal with lesbian feels, or does she not want it cause it just doesn’t fit anymore.
Poor Ruth. Either she’s just trying to do something nice, which is entirely possible, or she’s trying to score points with Billie, who is probably not gay, which is a shame for her. It must be awful to have an affection that’s doomed to be unrequited.
To anyone who doesn’t understand:
Bills doesn’t feel ‘worthy’ of Ruth’s favor because she didn’t give up the booze like she said she would. Confrontation probably within the next month
Willis, I swear if the next strip is a depressed Ruth saying “wait …” and next crawling on her bed mumbling “Stupid” then, God help me, there will be retaliation !
Why you gotta make it weird Billie, then again its reason able , Ruth is still coping with the fact she is might be a lesbian, and Billie, who knows how she feels
Potentially dumb question but has Billie had any other same-sex relationships? I know for Bi-Awareness Day Willis drew a pic with Billie, but I was wondering if this is her first relationship with a girl and does Billie self-identify as bi?
We are to assume that she was gassed out of her gourd. I know, there’s a saying that says “In vino veritas”, but I’m sure that if we all think back we will have to admit that each one of us have done things that are way out of character after we’d been hanging around with Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Captain Morgan, or the Walker boys, Blackie and Red.
Being drunk does not randomize your behavior outside of your normal desires. It just lowers your inhibitions on things you want to do but wouldn’t. If Billie didn’t want a taste of caramel rebel, getting drunk wouldn’t suddenly make her want to.
We don’t really know much about what Billie got up to before college, other than hanging out with cheerleaders instead of Walky and getting found drunk and half-naked by firefighters. Leaving aside extrauniversal evidence, all we’ve really got is speculation.
But we do know that she’s totally comfortable with recommending lesbian makeouts as a solution to interpersonal conflict. We know that she’s tried to kiss Sal. We know that she thinks that everyone is bicurious. We know that her first reaction to Ruth kissing her was to kiss back, and she’s never been all “Ah! My lips touched girl lips!” about it. We know that she’s a party girl and totally down with casual sex.
We don’t know if she identifies as bi, or if she’s ever had a relationship or even just sex with another girl… but I’d be surprised to find out that Ruth was the first girl she’d kissed. (Maybe the first girl she kissed who wasn’t doing it to score free booze…)
(We don’t even know if she’s ever had a relationship or sex with a guy, for that matter, though I’d be totally shocked to find out that she’s a virgin. She was waaaaaay too comfortable with climbing on Danny for someone who’s never been on that ride before.)
I’d find it an entertaining twist, anyway, if it turned out that Billie was experienced and comfortable with her bisexuality and Ruth was surprised and confused by hers, given that Ruth was the one who initiated the relationship.
I’m thinking it was, if not exactly literally true, at least similar within poetic license to what happened when she wrapped her SUV around a tree and got busted for DUI. She seemed to be using the phrase to draw an analogy between that event and Ruth’s situation.
Costume details (particularly, Billie isn’t wearing glasses, and Ruth’s got her big square Roomies! frames, not the rectangular half-glasses she wears in DoA), and it got posted on the Bring Back Roomies! site, not here. But, yeah, people’s sexualities are consistent across worlds.
Goddamit Billie. I know you feel that your rejection of Ruth’s advances were responsible for Ruth’s nigh-suicidal alcoholic binge, regardless of what she told you, so you better get your shapely ass back in that room and fess up, unless you want to tell Howard that you let his sister die.
Yeah, hard to tell exactly. My guess is that she’s pretty upset about how things have changed from high school. She doesn’t feel like the girl who could wear that shirt originally.
I think it’s that the fixed shirt is a reward for being a good friend with the alcohol thing.
But Billie is still drinking and so feels remorse and guilt about accepting something for a lie.
Seriously Billie,what the hell are you doing ?
– First you start fights with Ruth.
– Then you reject her when she kisses you.
– Then you worry and get into her room to help when she’s passed out.
– Then you flip out when she acts genuinely nice.
Stop sending mixed messages, damnit !Can’t you see Ruth is not doing okay ? It would be nice if you could help her establish some fucking stability.
For these two to help each other establish stability … there are no short routes. The only way for these two is the long way. Will they both decide to take it? Should they? Can they?
I think she’s coming to terms with her past and how things have changed. Consider that she was a popular cheerleader at high school, only for all her friends to stop speaking to her once they graduated. She goes to college, only has a few friends, puts on weight and drinks to deal with it.
Her cheerleader’s vest was precious to her at the start of the series because she hadn’t given up on her ambition to join the college cheerleading squad and become that popular girl again. Now I believe she’s realized that it’ll never happen, and it hurts.
Danny takes Billie’s self-image seriously –> Billie is trying to fuck him in the next three seconds.
Ruth takes Billie’s self image seriously –> Billie panics and is pushing her away in 5 seconds.
I think Kirkyboy is right to a point, but I also think that her parent’s neglect left her with this gaping need for intimacy and acknowledgement so powerful that exposure to it is either overwhelming (as with danny) or terrifying as with Ruth right now.
Neither of these were about self-image. Danny complimented her, which she hadn’t experienced in a while. Ruth showed her a lot of kindness (which she didn’t deserve), which also hasn’t happened in a while, unless you count Sal taking on Ruth for her before the kiss incident.
I disagree about Danny. She wasn’t really reacting to him that way until he apologized for being out of her league and forgetting his place. That was the cue to passion. Not the complement. He validated her sense of her rightful place, which no one had done for her since she got kicked out of cheerleading. Ruth comes in at a different angle but does the same thing, acts as if what the cheerleading uniform represents is the valid way to see Billie, and Ruth respects it. It’s all too much for Billie, the neglected child, who’s biggest fear is that she doesn’t matter. That’s what neglect does to you. It doesn’t teach you that you’re terrible, but that you’re irrelevant.
I have not gone through the already long thread of comments so I am at risk of repeating this: she finally gets that is a part of the past, is no longer definitive of her, and may even be something she regrets as it may have been a culture that conspired with her alcoholism? And yes, can they just date already? This is starting to feel like HIMYM’s current season where a damn 3 day wedding is going to take a whole freaking season.
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DRAMA
BOMB
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
!!!!!!
*silence*
*Sad Dramatic Music*
*Fade to credits*
*Post Credits*
Hand shoots out of ground
Drama Zombies
Drama Zombies and Avengers Stinger.
Drama Schwarma!!
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
*Evil Laughter*
Oh what now
IN THE NEXT ISSUE: EVERYONE DIES!
That’ll never get old.
I mean, people are still reading George Martin right?
Yes, they are. I can’t work out why, either.
Yeah I stopped myself. It’s apparent he has a poor or nonexistent outline for the series which is as foreboding for it’s future as his writing.
That was the best thing about the series. It wasn’t predictable good versus evil. But I stopped reading it when he kept introducing new elements that could not be reconciled with the original word concept. Not that seasons lasting for a decade or longer at random ever really made sense, especially with no way to preserve food through such a winter.
Summers last for longer too; presumably people have the foresight to store away food in that time. Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s only the Northern areas that get really cold.
well he is just following the model that Robert Jordan did for his Wheel of Time series.
So, rocks fall first, right?
Probably feels bad that she isn’t keeping up with her end of the cold turkey bargain.
That’s my guess as well. Plus is probably not as used to symbolic gestures. (As opposed to throw-money-at-them gestures.)
I wonder if its conflict about the relationship.
That or the reminder that she’s still drinking even though it’s what cost her cheer-leading to begin with.
Or it could be the cheerleading part. More than one person and thing has sent Billie clear messages that she doesn’t have the same place or fit the same roll that she used to. When Ruth stole the outfit the first time, it was still the core of her identity. But since then, she’s been a Dorothy and a Ruth, come face to face with the truth of her alcoholism, and made friends who give her honest feedback and criticism. The outfit might have become a symbol more of what she’s lost than a symbol of all that she is. Though even if that’s true, I’m sure guilt for going back on the bargain is a big part of it too.
Yeah, my thought was the cheerleading too. But it could be booze-guilt. Either way, oh the feels!
And RUTH is the one sending mixed messages???
Noone said they both couldn’t send them.
Billie’s message is muddled self loathing mixed with equal parts guilt and lying
I think their communication algorithm is broken.
“DAMMIT RUTH, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MISSED THE CHANCE TO SPELL RAD SNOG”
Or Dagon, or Radon, or Rodan.
Or RAD SONG.
Gonads!
Or GONADS….. R.
ORGANS….D
GRO NADS
I don’t think that’d be pleasant for a girl.
Oh… but it is! IT IS!!
Or Dargon.
She could wear it to math class. Totally discombobulate Jason.
Better yet, loan it to Sal.
Math = Easy, Englishes am hard
(For those not so up on the Walkyverse, Dargon’s Jason’s father’s name.)
I would totally root for a team called the Rodans. He was my favorite Kaiju as a kid.
I like either Ultraman or Godzilla; not sure who would beat who in a fight.
Godzilla wins. In Godzilla: Final Wars he fights every kaiju he hasn’t already obliterated, all in a row! Don’t know much about Ultraman but I doubt he’s done that.
Well Ultraman’s beat up the Godzilla suit with a neck frill, does that count?:p
No way. That neck frill totally ruined his aerodynamics. It was a handicap to make it an even fight.
And I think Don King Kong got him to throw the match anyway.
If the fight lasted longer than about 5 minutes, Godzilla would win.
GODS RAN would’ve been awesome as well.
NRG SODA?
Nah, I think Jen won.
ROD SANG
NO DARGS
GRAD SON
SNOR GAD
… yeah I dunno
*The word “DAGRON” carved into a table*
“…you just keep doin’ what you’re doin’, man.”
rad snog is British for amazing makeout.
Billie you idiot.
Looks like she pulled a Danny
Danny Count:
Danny
Ethan
Amber
Billie
Everybody’s Danny, Just this once, everybody’s Danny!!!
I’m Danny! You’re Danny! Dannies everywhere!
I’m Danny and so is my wife!!!
Noooooooooooooooooo!
And when everyone is Danny…no one will be!
But we few, we the non-Dannies, we shall stay firm. We bear humanity’s last hope. For though we walk in the valley of the shadow of Danny we shall not succumb. And I dream of a better day, a day when we shall rise once more. And those who bear the mark of Danny, they shall know fear, and they shall know death, and they shall be purged from this world that their unholy footsteps now defile.
Resistance is futile you will be Danny.
Everybody’s Danny, Dave.
Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up to find himself transformed into a “ungeheures Ungeziefer”, literally “monstrous vermin”, often interpreted as a Danny.
Are you my Danny?
Damn it, Billie.
Willis. Damn you Willis.
Who’s a jerkface? Whooo’s a jerkface? Jerky, jerky, jerky?
Billie’s.
Damn you, Billie’s!
Well, she DID just smack Ruth in the boobs…
Silver linings i guess?
I dunno. I don’t think boob smacking is enjoyable for either party…in this case.
Let’s see Dina figure that one out…
Wowowow, she’sjust started her first semester in Socialising.
You can’t throw her graduate finals already.
Wait, I thought Ruth was the tsundere?
You cannot have this much electricity without tsundere.
Electric girls do make the best tsunderes.
Speaking of awkward gestures of affection, nice Gravatar!
They both are, it’s just that Ruth was “tsu” first and then randomly expressed her feelings. Billie is always “tsu” but hasn’t gotten used to the affection.
She sees it. She knows it’s there. She’ll tell herself its there. But just doesn’t know how to respond to actual affection. Beating around the bush is easy. Walking through it is hard.
I’m gonna find an american english word for tsundere so I can stop using it.
I left my weaboo days behind, internet. Stop trying!
You can take the man out of weaboodom…
But you can’t take weaboo out of the man…
“bongoes be crazy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAS4CSLAiyY
So our choices are weaboo or misogynist?
Well, I guess it is the internet…
Why’s that misogynist?
I can say “bongoes be crazy” to anyone of any gender or sexual orientation.
You’re the misogynistic one for implying only women can be bongoes.
I’ve never heard anyone call a guy “crazy bongo” or heard “bongoes be crazy” apply to guys. Because it is a gendered slur typically, especially combined with “crazy,” it’s pretty iffy to use.
Hmmm….I have. I guess I’m just mo’ open minded :3.
Generally when I’ve heard “bongo” used against a guy, it’s because it’s a feminine-gendered slur, and so being used to call his masculinity into question as a bonus insult.
I’m not sure that being open to all genders under “bongoes be crazy” counts you as being “open minded”, as either way it’s a degrading slur. Applauding the fact you’ll use it equally is pretty stupid.
It’s because I don’t hold myself to some high standard of morality. I’m not perfectly nice. I cuss a lot. I am a nice guy, but I’m no longer trying to be perfectly unoffensive and pure all the time. And also I joke around a lot, so just don’t take what I say so seriously.
If “bongo” is used to call a male’s masculinity into question, and also to call a female’s femininity into question, then… Dear Gods… “bongo” is the gender-neutral pronoun we’ve all been searching for!
.
NO, not really! Geez!
ROTFL
I for one would support the use of such a pronoun. Not only because I find the idea hilarious, but also because such a use would stop this word from being a slur.
WE’RE TAKING IT BACK.
bongo.
I like your post, but also find your gravitar to be amazingly appropriate.
I mainly hear it as a name for those who bongo about everything.
I bongo a lot. We all bongo. By that logic we are all bongoes.
But the term tsundere started on the internet, and Internet is a universal language.
I don’t know, stealing words from other languages is a time honored linguistic tradition. I mean, just look at how many words we stole from the french, it’s a wonder they can still talk.
It’s pretty unnecessary when they’re words we already have in English. “Kawaii” and “baka” come to mind. I know it pisses off some Japanese people when weeaboos use gratuitous Japanese.
Not quite tsundere, not quite kitsune, not quite otaku … they can’t even figure out who’s the seme and who’s the uke here… someone needs to hand them a tvtrope guide.
I am a little confused. Isn’t kitsune the word for fox, or is there some other meaning I am not aware of?
Tsundere, Yandere, Kitsune, Kawaii, Kamekaze, Kamehameha, Ku Klux Klan, Mortal Kombat, Moral Condition, Motorcycle Club, MC, JC, PC, Dell
And the next page is Ruth walking into Billies room later that day wearing nothing but that shirt (maybe some socks).
“Ruth, Give me back my clothes”
“Not until I get a thank you hug”
Would it not be better if Billie gave the hug AFTER removing the shirt from Ruth ? (the socks are optional)
Jesus, the ponytail-helmet and alcohol…I can’t take it…it’s beautiful…
Here you go.
Guessing Billie feels guilty because Ruth is doing things for her when she’s not even keeping up her end of the cold-turkey pact.
This was my first thought as well.
Yeah, I thought that was supposed to be apparent.
Yeah, that’s clearly it. For shame, Billy.
Actually, I think it was more the reminder of who she no longer was that is getting to Billy. If you remember, when she went to the football game with Ruth the first thing on her mind was how different the view was.
In fact, a lot of this comic has been about how no one really cares that Billy was once a cheerleader. Though that might be part of it as well…
As Reynar-Miri put it earlier, it probably also has to do with the fact her “emotionally stunted father” hasn’t teached her about small gestures of affection and instead used to “show his love through wads of cash”.
I mean, the mix of guilt, remorse and mild emotional crippling cannot be good.
That would be my guess, but I guess we will have to wait and see
That or body image. Billie’s a bit chunkier than when she was cheering, ne?
The Freshman Fifteen already? It’s only been a few weeks into the first semester.
She probably would’ve spent the summer doing cheerleading boot camps or something, but wouldn’t have this summer.
More calories (alcohol) minus calorie-burning cheerleading = Pre-Freshman Fifteen.
Ruth goes after, they talk a bit, finally Billie confesses:
“When I’m alone at night and have nothing to do I can’t stop myself from drinking”.
Ruth replies: “Well, I have a solution to that.”
“I can fix that.”
Cookies to whoever gets that reference
no socks.
Socks are for people who can be in a normal relationship with a person!
By this logic everyone in this comic should be barefoot all the time…
Ironically, the one girl who IS barefoot all the time is probably the most easygoing of them all.
Her status as cheerleader means nothing in college. The shirt is a reminder of that and it’s too much for her to handle. Sound about right?
Actually, I think it has to do with the way Ruth is showing kindness and repairing/expanding their relationship. And Billie doesn’t know how to handle this. Whether it has to do with her not being sober like Ruth, or still feeling weird about their past relationship remains to be seen.
I think you’re closer to correct with your first assessment. Billie doesn’t know how to handle this so she’s trying to avoid the situation entirely.
How much you wanna bet she goes back to her room and pops open a cold one? And Ruth, who has followed her, catches her?
Never stopped her from loving it before.
I agree with others, I think she feels guilty for cheating Ruth.
She’s gon’ cry when she gets in the car.
TIME TO CONFESS BILLIE. I know you feel guilty!
Also: </3
BLOOD WILL RUN IN THE STREETS, WILLIS.
Blood should really start with a light jog first. It should make sure it keeps a steady pace through a familiar area and gauge an estimated time between the end of the route and your home so that it can have enough energy to make it back home.
??????? 🙁
Implication is that Billie feels guilty about lying to Ruth re: quitting drinking, and had to leave before the feels made her confess.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is this ship’s captain speaking with an important announcement:
RIDE TOGETHER DIE TOGETHER
Aye aye, capt’n…
Time for hugs. hugs self quietly
*Hugs
I’m confused.
So is Billie
She feels bad that Ruth is doing things for her when she doesn’t deserve it.
No you’re not! You’re gangler!
gangler is confused!
gangler hurt itself in confusion!
Ruth tried to use Compassionate Moment!
….but it failed!
Bets that she will run off to drown her sorrows.
You’d better call the police! Sorrows needs our help!!!
She should have put it on so it said “Dagrons”
Click here for more “Dragons” anagrams
What sorcery is this!?
Hm, Ruth’s comment about “the right order” strikes me as a 4th wall comment. But if Willis had had this drawn weeks or months before, he couldn’t have read the comment section.
Clearly this means Willis can see the future. Or read future thoughts.
Maybe Willis is from the future and can see the past!
Maybe he exists outside of time?
Willis is The Doctor?
No, he’s the TARDIS.
It’s been well-established that Willis can predict the comments section. Not that it’s usually difficult to guess what this lot is thinking.
(Usually “Now make out!”. Regardless of who’s in the strip.)
Not true sometimes we think death to Faz/Danny.
Danny’s fineish, I guess, but Faz really needs to find someplace else to infest.
Although, I am curious wtf he was doing while his dad was trying to spy on Amber.
You don’t want to know what Faz does when he’s alone.
Probably trying to neg the fountain statue.
“The Great Faz has been told that the way into a woman’s nether regions is to make them feel vaguely insulted. Did you know the stone used in your construction was subpar, but has left you still looking reasonably attractive?”
Yeah, I can see that.
So does she not want it cause she was drinking, does she not want it cause she can’t deal with lesbian feels, or does she not want it cause it just doesn’t fit anymore.
Probably the first one. Hope its the third one.
I was thinking the second at first. However the first one listed came to me second. The third if true is so anti-climactic it would BLOW MY MIND
The interesting thing about the third, is it would be a kind of physical manifestation of the first.
It’s cause she was kicked offa cheerleading for drinking, right? Wasn’t that a thing? And now she feels too guilty to deal?
Yeah, Billie, aren’t identity crises a total bongo?
Poor Ruth. Either she’s just trying to do something nice, which is entirely possible, or she’s trying to score points with Billie, who is probably not gay, which is a shame for her. It must be awful to have an affection that’s doomed to be unrequited.
Billie’s bi!
Like I said yesterday, Billie is literally the poster girl for bisexuality.
I thought that was robin
Evidence is that Robin is basically straight+Lesliesexual.
Billie tried to kiss Sal. She’s definitely bisexual, or maybe bicurious
So did Joyce, she just doesn’t know it yet.
…I think everyone’s just Sal-sexual.
Even Sal herself? Or Walky?
To anyone who doesn’t understand:
Bills doesn’t feel ‘worthy’ of Ruth’s favor because she didn’t give up the booze like she said she would. Confrontation probably within the next month
Billie leveled up…
– She learned “Guilt”
Ruth leveled up as well. She learned “Guilt Trip”.
Wouldn’t it be the other way around?
And that was the sound of Ruth’s heart cracking into a few pieces due to misunderstanding just what that rejection was rejecting exactly.
Geez, these two make me feel good about myself and my relationships.
Oh god I didn’t even think of that. Another rejection… Poor thing.
Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of how Ruth would misinterpret it based on the available evidence. These two are gloriously screwed up.
DAMN YOU WILLIS.
Willis, I swear if the next strip is a depressed Ruth saying “wait …” and next crawling on her bed mumbling “Stupid” then, God help me, there will be retaliation !
See, you just made my original observation that much worse, because now I’m picturing it.
Why you gotta make it weird Billie, then again its reason able , Ruth is still coping with the fact she is might be a lesbian, and Billie, who knows how she feels
I am saying all this because that’s what I think is going on not because I ship this
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051223
Granted, it’s about mary sues, not shipping, but last panel. Seriously, we know the difference. Or at least, some of us do.
So I don’t know whats going on, well to be honest your rite I don’t at first I thought I did but I don’t, I don not have a single clue
Willis has said that this is somewhat autobiographical. So which character is *HIS* Mary Sue?
Or has he, like Voldemort, ripped his soul into several pieces and passed them out between multiple characters?
I thought ripping your soul into multiple pieces and distributing them amongst fictional characters *was* writing.
Naaa, it’s also also a PTSD side effect
Willis has said that Joyce is somewhat autobiographical.
I love that comic, glad to see others know about it as well.
It was the overalls, Ruth.
Can’t be… I don’t see Billie ravishing Ruth
Roses are red
Violets are blue
STOP SMOTHERING ME!
Potentially dumb question but has Billie had any other same-sex relationships? I know for Bi-Awareness Day Willis drew a pic with Billie, but I was wondering if this is her first relationship with a girl and does Billie self-identify as bi?
Not a relationship, but she’s into Sal.
Thought that was more idolization, but yeah I guess…
There’s idolization, and then there’s trying to kiss her.
We are to assume that she was gassed out of her gourd. I know, there’s a saying that says “In vino veritas”, but I’m sure that if we all think back we will have to admit that each one of us have done things that are way out of character after we’d been hanging around with Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Captain Morgan, or the Walker boys, Blackie and Red.
Being drunk does not randomize your behavior outside of your normal desires. It just lowers your inhibitions on things you want to do but wouldn’t. If Billie didn’t want a taste of caramel rebel, getting drunk wouldn’t suddenly make her want to.
We don’t really know much about what Billie got up to before college, other than hanging out with cheerleaders instead of Walky and getting found drunk and half-naked by firefighters. Leaving aside extrauniversal evidence, all we’ve really got is speculation.
But we do know that she’s totally comfortable with recommending lesbian makeouts as a solution to interpersonal conflict. We know that she’s tried to kiss Sal. We know that she thinks that everyone is bicurious. We know that her first reaction to Ruth kissing her was to kiss back, and she’s never been all “Ah! My lips touched girl lips!” about it. We know that she’s a party girl and totally down with casual sex.
We don’t know if she identifies as bi, or if she’s ever had a relationship or even just sex with another girl… but I’d be surprised to find out that Ruth was the first girl she’d kissed. (Maybe the first girl she kissed who wasn’t doing it to score free booze…)
(We don’t even know if she’s ever had a relationship or sex with a guy, for that matter, though I’d be totally shocked to find out that she’s a virgin. She was waaaaaay too comfortable with climbing on Danny for someone who’s never been on that ride before.)
I’d find it an entertaining twist, anyway, if it turned out that Billie was experienced and comfortable with her bisexuality and Ruth was surprised and confused by hers, given that Ruth was the one who initiated the relationship.
I don’t believe being found drunk and half-naked by firefighters was was supposed to be a thing that had actually happened to her, actually.
I’m thinking it was, if not exactly literally true, at least similar within poetic license to what happened when she wrapped her SUV around a tree and got busted for DUI. She seemed to be using the phrase to draw an analogy between that event and Ruth’s situation.
Actually, the Billie in the Bi-awareness day image is actually the Walkyverse Billie, not the Billie from Dumbing of Age.
How do you know? Not that it matters, because sexual orientation is constant through universes.
Costume details (particularly, Billie isn’t wearing glasses, and Ruth’s got her big square Roomies! frames, not the rectangular half-glasses she wears in DoA), and it got posted on the Bring Back Roomies! site, not here. But, yeah, people’s sexualities are consistent across worlds.
In that case, I especially like that she’s looking at Ruth.
Billie can send mixed messages too!
I’ll be honest: I completely forgot what the uniform originally said.
“No Drag~” – Billie went to a very anti-crossdressing school.
Or the Indiana Institute of Aero- and Hydrodynamics.
Billie is capable of feeling guilt. I find myself oddly disappointed in her.
OK OK so it could be guilt or there friendship getting weird
welp, painful memories + feeling guilty about falling off the wagon?
oh BTW.
Who wants to see my pinup?
Is this a trick question?
(I do)
Cuz here it is
NSFW
Yaaay~
Marcie and Sarah?
Sierra.
Do the other half of Squad 48 next!
Need to know: Should I be afraid to click this?
Nah, this one’s good.
*IS CRYING INTERNALLY*
*IS CRYING EXTERNALLY*
It really is an all-around crying shame
*IS CRYING METAPHYSICALLY*
*IS CRYING ETERNALLY*
All of the above.
Too bad no like buttons Yotomoe.
‘slow clap’
I …gottawonder.
Does the reply button not work fro you or something?
One does not reply to Yotomoe.
Yotomoe replies to you.
Little did he know, Yotomoe is Soviet Russia.
All the guilt a monthly internet bill can buy
Goddamit Billie. I know you feel that your rejection of Ruth’s advances were responsible for Ruth’s nigh-suicidal alcoholic binge, regardless of what she told you, so you better get your shapely ass back in that room and fess up, unless you want to tell Howard that you let his sister die.
Yeah, hard to tell exactly. My guess is that she’s pretty upset about how things have changed from high school. She doesn’t feel like the girl who could wear that shirt originally.
So Ruth TOTALLY should have misspelled it!
I think it’s that the fixed shirt is a reward for being a good friend with the alcohol thing.
But Billie is still drinking and so feels remorse and guilt about accepting something for a lie.
I think Billie is guilty about still practicing alcoholism.
I would have loved to see a “SNODGARD” shirt!!! Rofl.
You’ve got an extra ‘D’ in there……
Fuck yeah, “Contact” reference in the alt text.
Billie, just tell her you cheated on the whole quitting drinking thing. She will forgive you, after breaking your femurs.
Billie wants to have her cake and eat it too. She wants to keep her friend and and keep her femurs.
yea billie wants ruth 🙂
ARGH YOU TWOoooo
Release the Drama!
*CANNED LAUGHTER*
THE SHAAAAAAME.
Feel it, Billie. FEEL IT.
I’m a little lost, why is everyone saying billie is not holding up her end of the cold turkey agreement? Is it shown in a previous comic somewhere or?
yeah actually I think 20 comics ago or so she’s laying in bed and she’s sipping something suspicious…
link: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/nightnight/
I thought you said “I’m a little toast” and laughed really hard until I reread it, thank you very much.
Your welcome, I guess :p
And thanks for link, I looked for a while and totally missed that.
Ermegherd too much drama need laffs
You’re being TOO NICE
She CAN’T HANDLE THIS MUCH NICENESS
Ruth should’ve just given her a $20.
Like Danny, she’s just being faithful to her current lover -alcohol- and needs to back off other ships to maintain the commitment.
Seriously Billie,what the hell are you doing ?
– First you start fights with Ruth.
– Then you reject her when she kisses you.
– Then you worry and get into her room to help when she’s passed out.
– Then you flip out when she acts genuinely nice.
Stop sending mixed messages, damnit !Can’t you see Ruth is not doing okay ? It would be nice if you could help her establish some fucking stability.
For these two to help each other establish stability … there are no short routes. The only way for these two is the long way. Will they both decide to take it? Should they? Can they?
I think she’s coming to terms with her past and how things have changed. Consider that she was a popular cheerleader at high school, only for all her friends to stop speaking to her once they graduated. She goes to college, only has a few friends, puts on weight and drinks to deal with it.
Her cheerleader’s vest was precious to her at the start of the series because she hadn’t given up on her ambition to join the college cheerleading squad and become that popular girl again. Now I believe she’s realized that it’ll never happen, and it hurts.
Or she just feels guilty because Ruth is being nice to her for going on the wagon, and she has already fallen off said wagon.
DAMN IT BILLIE
OH COME ON!!!!!!!
??!
Danny takes Billie’s self-image seriously –> Billie is trying to fuck him in the next three seconds.
Ruth takes Billie’s self image seriously –> Billie panics and is pushing her away in 5 seconds.
I think Kirkyboy is right to a point, but I also think that her parent’s neglect left her with this gaping need for intimacy and acknowledgement so powerful that exposure to it is either overwhelming (as with danny) or terrifying as with Ruth right now.
Neither of these were about self-image. Danny complimented her, which she hadn’t experienced in a while. Ruth showed her a lot of kindness (which she didn’t deserve), which also hasn’t happened in a while, unless you count Sal taking on Ruth for her before the kiss incident.
I disagree about Danny. She wasn’t really reacting to him that way until he apologized for being out of her league and forgetting his place. That was the cue to passion. Not the complement. He validated her sense of her rightful place, which no one had done for her since she got kicked out of cheerleading. Ruth comes in at a different angle but does the same thing, acts as if what the cheerleading uniform represents is the valid way to see Billie, and Ruth respects it. It’s all too much for Billie, the neglected child, who’s biggest fear is that she doesn’t matter. That’s what neglect does to you. It doesn’t teach you that you’re terrible, but that you’re irrelevant.
I think it’s more Ruth trying make amends for wronging Billie – just fixing what she broke.
I’m with Jack on this
Spoiler alert: ruth follows billie back into her dorm room and they make out
“I don’t understand. Maybe I should’ve shoved her?”
I find the lack of Walky in the past two weeks disturbing.
Spoiler alert. She drank Soda in bed. Instead she’s guilty about something else. I personally think she’s been cheating on Ruth.
honest question: is this because the reminder of not being a cheerlader is too painful?
It´s either that or Billie feels guilty for drinking when she said she wouldn´t.
..?Can they hurry up and date…?
I have not gone through the already long thread of comments so I am at risk of repeating this: she finally gets that is a part of the past, is no longer definitive of her, and may even be something she regrets as it may have been a culture that conspired with her alcoholism? And yes, can they just date already? This is starting to feel like HIMYM’s current season where a damn 3 day wedding is going to take a whole freaking season.
NOW who’s sending mixed messages…?
This comic makes me sad, and makes me smile at today’s comic (check my time stamp).
I can only assume the comic after that made you sad again. Much, much sadder than this one.
Although it does explain Billie’s actions.
I’m guessing she doesn’t think she deserves it.