Yeah the way she mentally and physically abused someone into forming a codependent relationship with her and then yanked that relationship away the first chance she got was really selfish.
Yes. Weep for me. Your sorrow will be my nourishment. Cry into my cup, so your tears mingle with mine and those of all who read this arc. The water and salt shall mix together in a maelstrom of emotion, a typhoon of loss and love lost, a whirlpool of vulnerability!
In our sadness, through our tears, we shall truly become as one.
Let our souls merge through despair and desperation. Let our hearts grow heavy with the pain of this outcome. Let the sobbening overtake your senses, salty and wet, yet sweet in its acceptance and comfort.
Now, my children, say the words with me, that this pact may be forever sealed. Say the words with me, so that the Sobbening may truly commence…
And that got posted in the wrong place. It would have been funny after The Wierd One’s post and a good use the the knowledge I learned sitting here after last nights food poisioning but noooo. DAM YOU WILLIS’S WEB DESIGNER!
I still remember laughing my butt off at that line. Most memorable part of the movie, in all seriousness. Just, the tone, the timing. It was comedy gold.
She didn’t tell him the truth! He noticed it for himself! He could have just obliviously not noticed her mask had slipped, and continued on in ignorance. In fact, when he did notice she was Amber, she wasn’t even confident enough in that fact to confirm it. :p
More serious answer, as Suitora already indicated, it was more his (a) putting everything together once he had that one (admittedly rather large) piece of information, and (b) how he reacted to it once he did have it figured out that shows Dan’s recent growth away from Danning Billieing things up.
I… Actully wouldn’t put it past him to have a character get injured. Probably break a leg. Although i think it would probably be Walky for some reason.
Considering the speed at which this strip moves, I’d be drawing them in a cast for the rest of my life. So probably not. It’s sort of the same reason nobody’s gonna die. The strip would be stuck in the mourning period for, like, years. It’d be awful.
Well the problem is not everyone reads all the comments for every strip. Even someone devoted like myself sometimes just completely skips the comments some days for whatever reason unrelated to the comic. It’s not like these answers exist anywhere else, and how are any new readers expected to find these things out?
If a bear Blaines in the woods, would anyone mourn? Okay, that didn’t work out so well. But, if a bear, squatting in the woods, were to be really upset about being interrupted and killed Blaine, would anyone mourn? I think not. But we might enjoy a panel a day of Blaine trying to drag himself to civilization to get help… then failing… because he got run over by a truck. *hehehe* I really need to get back on my meds.
I checked, and this is the third week since the story started (the 4th weekend). Each chapter is a day, except in two cases where there are time lapses, listed below:
Seriously, the art looks like the Shortpacked!s of the last few years, and half the characters are blatant copies where he didn’t even bother to change the name.
Although I guess the creator of Shortpacked! is copying him right back. I hear he did a porn, too.
No, she doesn’t. That’s the problem. There is no point looking the grift horse in the mouth: she has no other purpose or meaning for it. It’s going to be a lot harder for Billie to earn that outfit now as she now has to do the heavy lifting for both of them. And she does not really have much of an option not earning it.
What, being told you have a massive problem, denying everything, and causing the only person who is emotionally attached to you to storm out with angry tears?
You know Plas it’s a shame Brooksie can’t sit down with this pair and help them get this worked out. But I don’t think the campus is anywhere near the store.
I hope for the sake of anyone you might have ever been with that you understand the difference between “fucking” and “fucking up”.
Seriously, though, I don’t even really care if they bang. (It’d just go on Slipshine where I can’t justify the price of the subscription anyway.) But I liked the vibe they had going yesterday (in-comic yesterday), and I want to see them get back to that.
She’s a problem solver. A leader, the alpha-bongo.
And above all impulsive.
But not realizing what you’re doing is hurting Ruth.
Not only that but going on the offensive.
Here.
When Ruth essentially gave her a tentative second chance, despite a feeling of utter betrayal?
I thought she was smarter than that.
She’s shown that she can actually think quickly, resolve tension, and actually help people when she sets her mind to it. And yes, this is all in addition to, not despite, being a huge bongo.
True. But she’s also insecure-masking-as-overconfident and defensive…which means going on the offensive when called out is going to be automatic, and none of those wonderful, take-the-time-to-think-it-through traits get a chance.
Billie goes through a lot of effort to help people. Run-of-the-mill bongo wouldn’t have bothered setting up Walky and Dorothy (I just realized you can bastardize their names to “Dorky” which is so awesome), hiding Ruth in the closest, chasing after Amber’s abusive dad,
man, i’ve never actually met a ‘run-of-the-mill bongo’.
but i sure have heard a lot of people apply it to girls who are into stereotypically feminine activities and don’t make being nice their number one priority.
I knew an actual, real, honest-to-god bongo once. She volunteered (along with me and a whole lot of others) at the local little theatre group, and had very firm ideas of who was worth her time (actors) and who wasn’t (techies). If you weren’t a major actor or the director, she not only wouldn’t talk to you, if you said hi when you passed her in the hallway she would COMPLETELY ignore you. No response, no eye contact, nothing. Unless you had something actually important to say to her (and unless you WERE someone she considered important you really didn’t) she wouldn’t even acknowledge your existence.
Her daughter tended to sort of lean in that direction as well (although not to the same extent, thankfully), and had a really good singing voice and tended to get the leads in the annual big musical because of it. I stopped hating her and just felt really sorry for her, though, after she came in second in the local music festival. She’d performed really well and was honestly just out-done, and that year the judges gave the top award to the best singer instead of to her anyways (her mum was very influential), and when she went to sit down again with her mum, her mum wouldn’t even look at her. Coming in second was a *failure*. The poor girl was pretty much in tears.
They kept this woman around because the one valuable trait she had was that she was EXCELLENT at getting donations and support out of the local businesses; but she wasn’t invited to any of the after-show parties.
Nah, I mean I’m not saying women are never bad people or mean or whatever. I just think there’s a sort anger/smugness people get from calling a women a bongo, fictional character or otherwise. Even more when the woman enjoys things like cheerleading, makeup, etc. (there other similarly terrible words for women who don’t)
I dunno it just makes me kinda uncomfortable. Like, why is Billie a bongo? Like why toss that word out there? It’s just…weird
On that same note, what made you wanna share this story of this chick you really hate? I mean, I know it was in response to my comment but… why? This isn’t accusation, I honestly am interested in your answer.
I spend all week trying to pinpoint why exactly I just can’t get behind these two as a couple, and then Willis does me the service of spelling it right out in blunt fashion
i know right? it’s like how you can’t really have an anti-war movie that really works as one, because the audience will always be sufficiently far removed from all the horror and awfulness that it’ll be entertaining on some level, so even if they leave with the intellectual understanding that what they saw was bad, they won’t feel it on a visceral, emotional level.
I didn’t mean my response as emotional, really. I say this as a reader who likes Ruth very much as a character and Billie next to none, but coming away from this strip my first reaction is thinking that Billie really ought to fucking book it away from this trainwreck in the works as fast as possible. For her own safety.
what i meant is that a lot of people seem to look at the massive trainwreck that is Ruth and Billie’s relationship and even if intellectually they have no choice but to conclude that it’s a trainwreck, they still don’t fully accept it. after all, Ruth is the same person who singled out Billie for two? weeks of pointless torture just as a weird expression of something like affection i guess, so just imagine what she’ll do now that she’s angry and hurt. it is absolutely dangerous for Billie to be around all this. Ruth needs help of the professional sort.
but like the anti-war film that can’t really be anti-war, a comic that involves as dysfunctional a relationship as this is always going to have an entertainment factor to it that makes it that much harder to see how horrible it is.
It’s worth remembering that Billie threw the first punch. Neither of these girls are innocent, and I think they deserve each other. Both the good and the bad.
The first time Billie and Ruth got into it, Billie was the one who escalated it from a confrontation (and a confrontation mostly about Billie not wanting to be told what to do, at that) to a fight. All Ruth did was call Billie’s bluff.
Ruth’s been the aggressor in their fights since, but Billie’s the one who started it. And the whole thing has just been a pissing match because Billie was used to being the alpha bongo in her little high school pack, and thought she could challenge Ruth’s position here in the big leagues. Since the chat in Ruth’s room during the fire alarm, Billie seems to have settled down, content to be Ruth’s beta, and they’ve been getting along fine with that resolved. (The alcoholism and lust are separate issues.)
So…Billie is the one who provoked Billie into actually taking a swing at Ruth, and Ruth literally daring her to do it–and I do mean literally daring her to do it, rather than, say, ignoring her or brushing her off like someone who isn’t looking for a fight to assert her position of power like she’s Kim Jong-un–has nothing to do with it.
Yes, Billie is entirely responsible for Billie deciding to challenge Ruth’s authority, and for Billie deciding to threaten Ruth with violence, and for Billie actually taking a swing at Ruth when Ruth called her bluff. They were Billie’s decisions, Billie’s actions, Billie’s sole responsibility.
“I dare ya,” is not a mind control spell. It does not absolve Billie of responsibility for Billie’s violent and aggressive actions. Billie could at any time have backed down and accepted the loss of face that would have involved, and that would have confirmed Ruth’s authority just as well. But Billie decided – all by herself, no one else in her head making decisions for her, ‘cept maybe Jack Daniels – that she was going to fight Ruth instead.
That Billie got her ass handed to her doesn’t absolve her of her responsibility for starting the fight, either.
John, I’d have to disagree. No one deserves abuse, regardless of how messed up they are. If someone is that dysfunctional, they should be alone, not in a relationship.
Keep in mind abuse was happening when Ruth didn’t realize what she wanted (she tells Billie that they learned that Ruth likes girls “together”). Neither of them is abusing the other at this point. The only one getting abused is the ol’ whiskey bottle, and she likes it
No. “My only hope was you” is an incredibly manipulative, emotionally abusive thing to say, even if Ruth didn’t intend it that way. If Billie tries to stay in this for the long haul she is going to be destroyed.
Okay, so, note that every time Billie has punched Ruth (or threatened to), it’s because she was explicitly pushed. The first time, Ruth gave her permission and even goaded her on because she knew she was capable of protecting herself. The second time, Billie was pushed over the edge after Ruth repeatedly threatened her with harassment and extortion. Remember that time Amber punched Blaine in the face? That really awesome time when she punched him in his asshole face? Blaine didn’t actually hit Amber first, but nobody is saying he didn’t deserve it because he was being a threatening asshole and Amber wanted him to leave. Ruth, much as I love her, has done pretty much the same to Billie since the day they met. She’s been every type of abusive toward Billie, and, despite the fact that Billie is really sort of an asshole, she doesn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.
It was wrong of Billie to lie about quitting alcohol, yes, but that doesn’t make it her fault if Ruth goes off the deep end again.
As a former drunk, I can tell you that no one person is your only hope. You are your only hope. Putting faith in another drunk is a recipe for relapse. I know first hand.
It is, but it is one that Billie brought on herself. Whose idea was it to quit drinking together? Not Ruth’s. Billie’s. So, even if it isn’t the best idea on Ruth’s part to have put her faith in another active alcoholic to be her support in quitting drinking, Billie invited her to do so.
They both have done wrong things here. (And I’m not even including little things like breaking & entering and theft…) But this current situation is largely because of Billie’s dishonesty.
Not that it makes it any better, but I at least think we can all agree that Billie’s dishonesty wasn’t malicious. She was lying to herself as much as anyone else, and she was doing it out of habit, not out of a desire to hurt anyone. It’s a habit connected with her drinking, and one she needs to break just as much. And the first step will be…
DAMN IT, BILLIE! FOLLOW RUTH AND APOLOGIZE! Then the two of you need to have a long and open conversation about both of your failings, and what can be done to try and overcome them.
Considering that there, at the end, she just shoved all responsibility for any future shitty life decisions off onto Billie, yeah, she’s going to be halfway though a six-pack before the first panel of tomorrow’s strip.
Just have your Gravatar give a heartfelt apology to mine. Mine will still be pissed off as all hell, but maybe it will start to help lay a new foundation.
“I’m fine now” is probably one of the biggest and most frequently told lies. Any addiction is hard to kick forever. Trust me, I know.
Billie, you done fucked up bad. You threw away someone caring for you for the bottle. The thing about the bottle is, there’s always a bottom to the bottle. If you’re lucky, there’s not a bottom to someone caring for you because you fill it up with caring of your own. Go after her, and admit you need help too.
It’s definitely a two-way street, too. Ruth is heaping a huge and sudden amount of responsibility onto Billie with, ‘My ONLY hope was YOU.” It’s a huge guilt trip onto someone already, well, not recovering from addiction and being guilty about it.
Did Billie sign up for this? Sure, and she has major problems she’s refusing to acknowledge. But Ruth isn’t that much better, and she needs to find some support that will let her be able to stand on her own. She was already making good progress with staying sober four days running, let’s just hope she doesn’t let Billie push her off the wagon.
Ruth hates herself, Billie is impulsive. Ruth relied on Billie to help her, help her through this stage. Billie is impulsive. As much as I KNOW Billie is a complete ass right now, I can’t help but think that Ruth’s heart picked the wrong person. I blame Willis.
Or at least put too much on her. I’m still pissed at Billie, and that self-righteous “Well, I didn’t need to keep my promise in the first place!” line doesn’t make that any better. But Ruth…placing all your hope for success on one person, let alone someone as….ummm…someone like Billie, is a recipe for failure. Worse, its the sort of trap your brain works out for itself to suck you back into addiction, a condition for success you’ve basically set up as a landmine on the road to your recover. Also, and I hope I’m wrong about this, it sounds like emotional blackmail, as in “Now you’ll see how fucked up I get and it’ll all be your fault”. Which is also fucked.
To be fair, it’s not like Ruth had a lot of options outside of, well, actual counselling. Other than Billie, the only person she has any kind of relationship with is her brother, and she’s deliberately been keeping him insulated from her emotional problems.
But it’s important to note that she didn’t actually choose to confide in Billie. The alcohol abuse and depression were something Ruth kept safely locked up in her room – something she had no intention of letting anybody else find out about. Then Billie accidentally stumbled onto Ruth’s secret, and then decided to get directly involved – and stay involved – despite the fact that Ruth initially didn’t even want her help.
Thing is, once you go from being alone and keeping all of your problems bottled up to suddenly having a person who’s checking on you every day and knows what you’re going through – of course you’re going to fixate on them. They literally are the one thing keeping you from sinking back into depression.
In hindsight, it feels like Ruth spent a lot of this arc trying to express how much that relationship and that support meant to her, and Billie repeatedly missing the significance of those actions because she’s too wrapped in her own guilt. “You were my only hope” is a lousy parting shot, but I think it’s also about as succinctly as Ruth can express why this whole situation hurts so badly to somebody who – let’s face it – still doesn’t seem to get it.
Walkverse. She died real early. Danny (are you really surprised) got drunk and was driving around; Ruth was following him in her car; Danny was about to get into an accident with a truck so Ruth kinda bumped his car out of the way and got mowed over for her trouble.
As in she was driving in her own car and sped up alongside Danny and rammed into him to force him off the road and out of the path of the truck, and in the process crashed right into the truck herself.
It didn’t help that there was an aura being emitted from the cheerleader uniform. If only they had a mage or sorcerer to “detect magic.” They might have ditched it before this veritable train wreck.
That’s what happens when you assign a million character flaws in order to beef up that one skill you really liked (I’m mixing my gaming metaphors here, but what the hell?).
Basically everyone except Dorothy and Sierra seems to have made the mistake of believing that taking Shitty Parents is a good deal for the build points it gives you.
Billie seems to have dumped everything else and spent the points she got from Shitty Parents, Criminal Record, and Addiction (Alcohol) on ranks of Attractive and Resources, and a few points in Athletics.
Ruth took Shitty Parents, Traumatic Past, Addiction (Alcohol), and Vulnerabilty (Trucks), and for some reason seems to have spent all the points that didn’t go into Position of Authority on Close Combat (Judo).
Amber took Shitty Parents at max ranks and Traumatic Past like five times plus Enemy and the Secret Identity complication, which is why Amazi-Girl is such a machine. She’s got like twice anyone else’s BP just from the flaws. That’s also why she couldn’t tell Danny her real identity… she didn’t have enough XP to buy off the complication until after she beat Blaine down.
Danny took Oblivious as well as a rank in Shitty Parents, but I don’t know what the hell he spent the BP on. Int maybe, but Oblivious keeps him from using it effectively most of the time?
Most of Sal’s points went into Attractive, Charisma, and the bike. And Language (ASL) for some reason. I think she was colluding with Marcie when they were building their characters. Walky picked up Attractive too, but assumed that’d let him dump all his social skills and buff Int instead. (Though to be fair it seems to be working for him.)
Joe of course has ranks in Attractive, and buffed Cha and Perform (Sex).
Dorothy, of course, just grinds low level homework, studying, and reporting all day, hence her nearly universally high stats (int/cha/wis/dex) even without taking shitty parents/trauma.
I recovered from self-harm, and it helps to have other people in the same boat as you but like
I can’t help my friends when they’re triggered because talking about wanting to self-harm triggers me and hinders my recovery
like
We all know this ship has issues and Ruth hinging her own recovery on Billie’s is a serious problem
I’m…I’m honestly surprised. There was attempted rationalization instead of instant-drama running away and crying…I…I can’t tell if I’m more saddened, or slightly cushioned from the inevitable panels of tears we will undoubtedly get.
I’m also taking all bets. How many xN strips of crying will we see, where N = the panels of kissing we got just before this. I’m guessing 2xN minimum.
This is not healthy, no. Man, those late teens early twenties are rough stuff. I would not want to go back to that. Welllll, maybe have the body. But not the mind. Oh nosireebob.
Billie you arn’t even danning this up. Danny screws up because he dosn’t have all the information. Billie you on the other-hand know exactly what you did and are making things worse so bravo for making Danny look better in hindsight
You know, I’m starting to wonder if somehow Willis has a deal where he makes a nickel every time someone says, “Damn you, Willis!” in his comments, and that is how he makes a living. It would explain a lot…
I’m not saying it’s an excuse for everything with her, but keep in mind that her parents died when she was younger. That kind of trauma can lead to changes in a person
As I said elsewhere, I’m pretty sure that was a deliberate fly in the anointment. One thing addicts (and really anyone who does and does not want to accomplish a thing) will do is invent terms and conditions for their own recovery (“okay, in order for this to work I’ll need this to happen…”). That’s the brain’s way of making ultimate recovery less likely- it gives it a wat to satisfy the urge to try to get better while providing an easy excuse in returning to the pattern of behavior it knows and is comfortable with.
Except (1) she doesn’t exactly have a lot of choice at the moment, and (2) she isn’t so much dumping responsibility on Billie so much as clearly stating the reality of their current relationship.
I don’t see this as an addiction behavior, but a depression one. Yes, Billie shouldn’t have to be Ruth’s only source of hope, and ultimately, escaping a severe depression to live a semi-normal lifestyle means growing beyond that to cultivate a wide range of relationships and activities that keep you from retreating back into your head.
But you can’t just wave a magic wand and make that happen. You have to start somewhere and then claw your way back up to normality, even if it is just that one person who’s willing to take a chance on you.
No, but realistically, it isn’t fair or good for Billie and Ruth to try and claw there way up on each other. It just means they’re both gonna fall down.
Honestly? I’m thinking on campus therapy.
Ruth’s an RA (or whatever) right? Chances are she even has the numbers and pamphlets she’s supposed to use if she sees this happening with someone else. I say they sit down and call those numbers.
Which would be great if either of them had enough perspective or humility to go down this route yet. But Billie doesn’t think she has a problem, and Ruth strikes me as far too guarded about her issues to willingly sit around discussing them with a group of strangers – especially with that added social stigma that mental health issues like depression carry.
Y’know, I think Ruth’s fucking up, too. Not the way Billie is, but… more of a tactical error. Instead of storming off hurt and betrayed here, she should be going on the offensive. “This was your idea, Billie, and if I’m going to do it, you damn well are, too!” That’s the point of having a partner for things like this, right? She keeps you on the wagon, you keep her on it? Billie’s actually been holding up her half of that deal; it’s Ruth who hasn’t.
Idk. Breaking an addiction is rough- particularly going cold turkey. Like, I can’t really be mad at Billie, a college freshman, for not kicking the habit immediately. I think she meant when she said she was going to stop. But there are completely independent adults in support groups, who struggle and relapse (and thats not a diss or anything, it’s an incredibly hard thing to do).
I don’t know why, but I’m just expecting some bad decisions on both parties now ..I also want to make a reference to the deep passionate relationship between Ruth and trucks, but I feel its gonna be said eventually anyway
Billie is an alcoholic. Alcoholics lie…to everyone….to anyone….to themselves. Alcoholics don’t know how bad other people hurt.
I was married to one. I know.
Ruth is an alcoholic. Trusting another alcoholic was her second mistake.
Her first is, “I’m going to go get drunk, and it’s all your fault. You’re my only hope”
My heart hurts for both of them. Especially Ruth.
Happy Valetine’s Day.
Amber just beat the unholy hell out of her father, a while back she stabbed another girl with a knife, and her hobby is finding people she can justify beating up.
Sal attempted to rob a convenience store with a knife.
Sarah punched another girl in the face just for talking to Joyce.
Joyce hired a guy to beat up her date for thoughtcrime, and then joined in.
Mike’s the guy Joyce hired to beat up her date.
The others are generally less violent, but they’ve still got enough issues to stock a periodicals department.
I guess Sierra seems nice and fairly issue-free, but what’d she ever do to you that you want to stick her with Billie?
okay, does anyone, besides me , want to know exactly ‘why’ Sal went to rob the store in the first place? Cause acting out is one thing, but there had to be a specific event leading up to that moment .
Damning Willis aside this is all Billie’s fault. She was the one who suggested they both give up together so for her to not only go back on her word but say it doesn’t matter is really selfish even if she is “better now”.
Damn you again Willis for having a very good reason for this!
But it was the only way she could think of to help Ruth – and it _worked_, and Ruth’s objection is irrelevant since Billie does not, to our knowledge, have any access to a car, sober or drunk, on campus. Her point stands, that her drinking is less harmful to herself than Ruth’s was.
Y’know, it’d crossed my mind a couple of times to wonder why, with all her family’s money, Billie doesn’t seem to have a car. I only just realized that it’s probably because, after her summer adventures, Billie probably doesn’t even have a license anymore.
That isn’t the issue here. The issue is that Ruth is quitting because she has motivation to now because Billie was meant to be going through it with her. That’s why I said even if she is better now that doesn’t make Billie’s actions any less selfish.
Wow, I was not expecting this. As much as people hate Danny for no reason, what Billie is doing is far, far worse. I really expected her to at least apologise and express, y’know, regret over breaking a promise and lying to Ruth about something important. But nope. Ruth is probably better off without her if she’s too immature to accept responsibility
Okay, but…she is immature. Billie’s what, 18? I think she’s ashamed and hurt and frustrated and so she acted stupid, but this setup was kinda doomed from the beginning.
She relapsed! Man, fighting an addicting is really really hard…I’d be shocked if she didn’t relapse, this isn’t exactly professional rehab, you guys.
Billie shouldn’t have yelled at Ruth, obviously, but I honestly think its unfair to say she stabbed her in the back. Cut her some slack.
Billie did not relapse. There’s a reason that when Ruth asks her if she ever actually tried to quit she just looks at the floor guiltily and says nothing. Go back to the previous strip and look at Willis’s comments, and you will see that he confirms that Billie never actually tried to quit at all and even her “three days sober” was a lie.
So whats happening here is not “Billie relapsed, then lied about it and Ruth is mad now that she’s found out” its “Billie lied to Ruth when she promised her they would get sober together and has actually been drinking behind her back the entire time, lying to Ruth every step of the way”
So yes, Billie stabbed her in the back. She lied to and manipulated Ruth and never once held up her end of the bargain.
Whoa whoa whoa, what Ruth is doing is SO much worse than what Billie did. Relapsing once is nowhere near threatening to go and push the OD limit because YOU FAILED ME Miss not-a-professional-who-I-arbitrarily-pushed-the-responsibility-for-my-entire-wellbeing-on.
I have confidence in Billie’s ability to make this up to Ruth after she has had time to think about it. As we have seen in recent comics she is decisive, clever, well meaning and a good peacemaker.
Hm. Sad. Not up to a “Damn you, Willis” level, yet.
Kind of a little disappointed in Ruth, but only a little. She was looking for something solid to stand on in Walkieverse, and found it after at least one disaster, though it was very expensive for her in the end.
Billie’s response didn’t surprise me much. I like her, but she’s not standing on anything other than her own whims. Not much solid ground there. She’s a good kid at heart though, so hopefully she’ll find her surface and grow up.
“A lone voice continues its journey through the universe, constantly shrieking its message of pain and love mingled into a single, agonized cry. As the cosmos shifts about it, eons pass. Entire civilizations are born and die on many glorious star systems, children grow old, conquerors rise to power and are cast down. Whole galaxies are created and snuffed out, as the single voice travels on. But there is only so much energy that can be used in the universe, and eventually it must vanish. And soon after it, matter must follow. Eventually this, too, comes to pass. And in the resulting void, only the voice exists. With a final, keening cry, it expands, evolves. It ascends beyond the confines of its mortal shell of flesh and bone, and becomes pure energy, pure pain. It envelops the void, and gives birth to new energy reactions. Atoms and particles are formed from the maelstrom of feelings. Nebulas form. And a new universe is born.
And in this new universe, living beings develop as well. And although they may never come to hear it, every single atom of their existence vibrates to a very singular tune. Every single one of their quarks screams in unison;
“DAMN YOU, WILLIS!””
Not as good as the first one, I think. Maybe I went a bit over the top here. And before you ask, yes, I am following you, and no, I’m not going to stop anytime soon.
God damn it, Willis. I’m drunk as all god damn fuck (yet I can still type coherent sentences, woo!)
This… Augh. I’m seeing my favorite ship sail out on the H.M.S. Failure get struck by a small iceberg named Reality and yet, even though there’s but a small gash in the hull, I see that ship sinking slowly, and hoping it eventually makes it to port.
Man, I know everyone who writes has a bit of reality mixed in. What the fuck happened to you? Don’t have to explain, just idle wondering. I just get the sense (I’ve watched this comic for a while), some things hit pretty close to home. Regardless, like I said, no explanation necessary, just being honest when I say what I did. Please keep making feelgasms like you do. You’re fantastic.
I hope they spend some time apart, or at least at a dispassionate emotional distance, and get their heads on straight. They both need to be in a place where they can’t rationalize or lie or stake their recoveries on conditionals anymore.
I’m really, really glad Willis included this sequence. I had a family member who was an addict. I wasn’t the one who spent the most time with him or tried to help him, but we talked about it sometimes, and the rationalizations and lies and defensive self-righteousness… nailed it. It’s… I dunno… refreshing to see Willis showing what it’s like. Cathartic, I guess. I know we all wanted them to immediately recover with the power of love and have sloppy lesbian makeouts that would only be ruined by the acrid taste of detox puke, but I’m grateful for this story.
I know people saying “damn you, Willis” are showing deep appreciation in their own way, but I gotta seriously say it. I know there are many people who tell stories about addiction, but I’m glad Willis is one of them. This is important. Thank you.
So at this point is it safe to say that the verb “Billie-ing” mean “to make an assertion of well-being or superiority in defiance of known facts and situations”?
Willis has had me at the edge of my seat the whole week, and it’s still not over. Tomorrow’s strip could be Billie trying to make things right again (unlikely) or the focus could switch to some other characters (more likely) – or it could be something completely different altogether (who knows?) – but since I can’t know for certain, I’ll be clicking the “new comic” button tomorrow like a rat in a Skinner box, desperate to know how it turns out.
Yeah, this has been a pretty grueling sequence, but in a good way. Probably the first time in about 15 years of reading webcomics that I’ve found myself counting down the hours until the next part posts.
There’s apparently three more days left in the current storyline, so my guess is that we’re getting one more strip of how Billie reacts to all of this but no resolution. On the plus side, Ruth’s showing up again in a month and a half.
Though Ruth, that is fucking emotional blackmail. You didn’t live up to my expectations so now I have nothing left therefore making anything I do all your fault.
Because they find Danny annoying. Billie is wrongheaded and hurtful, but she doesn’t grate on the nerves the way Danny can. Apparently stupidity is worse than lack of consideration and lying.
Billie doesn’t try to be a bad person you know. It isn’t like she did anything for anything other than selfish reasons, she wasn’t doing it to hurt Ruth after all. Ruth is the one being emotionally blackmaily here. She just told Billie that if she kills herself it is Billies fault. NOT nice.
billie doesn’t try to be a bad person, but she doesn’t try to be a good person either. She just tries to get what she wants. And I didn’t get the idea that Ruth was blaming a possible suicide on Billie, it seemed more like she was saying she had been using Billie for stability only to be betrayed. Not blackmail, just a feeling of abandonment.
Well, for one I don’t agree with your interpretation of Billie. She has issues with social standing, but she isn’t shallow the way some characters in other series (who’s name starts with an M and ends with a “aya”) are. She’s genuinely tried to help and given advice to people in trouble several times in the series. Whether any of that advice is GOOD advice is debatable, I’ll grant you.
What it comes down to is empathy. I empathize with Billie. I don’t with Danny. Not yet, anyway. The fact that Billie is a much more flawed character than Danny with some much more serious struggles going on in her life (well, until recently, anyway) helps. When I see her trying to do the right thing, I want her to succeed that much more because she’s coming from a lower place than Danny is. When she succeeds I feel that much more happy for her victory. There’s nothing wrong with Danny, really. I just don’t know enough about him to empathize as much, as the level of obliviousness he demonstrates grate on my nerves, especially when it leads to disasters like the Blaine incident. I’m prepared to like him more when his background gets fleshed out or when he has to deal with higher level problems/decisions (like the Blaine incident) than he has through most of the story.
Those tears! I just had to go and do an inventory of strips where people are crying. There are not as many as one would expect, but I fear we may see many more in the future.
Amber does most of the crying, but as far as I am concerned the Oscar for this category goes to Ruth. Her tears have a certain understated yet expressive quality that goes straight to my feels. Today, they are almost as painful to see as they were back in “Broop broop broop”.
Here’s the inventory of tears, BTW.
While I do like me some girl/girl romance, I’m neither surprised nor upset at Billie/Ruth not happening at this juncture. Neither of them is emotionally equipped to handle a relationship yet, and the fact that (as is so easy to forget with the comic’s pacing) they’ve only known each other two to three weeks only complicates it further. I think the best they can hope to be, for some time to come, is friends. And even that isn’t likely to happen unless Billie recognizes that, yes, she does have a drinking problem (not to mention a trustworthiness problem). Nor unless Ruth recognizes that “You were my only hope” is neither an objectively true nor a healthy assumption.
Also, this sequence brings to mind one of the problems with “buddy system” approaches to recovery. (AA and associated 12-step programs make it worse by encouraging the belief that individuals are”powerless” to take responsibility for their recovery.) Chronic alcohol abuse, be it in the form of psychological dependency or outright physiological addiction, is a disorder, an illness. And at the levels Ruth and Billie are experiencing it, supervision by a qualified health professional is necessary to treat it. If they individually see such a person about it on campus–it’d be covered by their student health insurance–they have a much better chance of staying sober. And if they can do that, they have a better chance in turn of rebuilding mutual trust and at least renewing their friendship. Beyond that…it’s too early for anyone who isn’t Willis to know.
Wow, this page couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time… a young woman, local to me, just recently killed six people in a drunk-driving accident where she got on TWO freeways going the wrong way. She had a prior DUI, and had in fact just gotten her license reinstated because she had just turned 21. (Her prior occurred when she was 16…) This comic in particular just hit me in the gut, never mind all the emotions and feels Ruth is going through. Not feeling too sorry for Billie, though.
Two things. First, seconding everyone who thinks Billie totally screwed this up, from the decision to keep drinking to her non-apology just now.
But second, Ruth’s response makes me glad the relationship was torpedoed in ten seconds. No healthy romance can operate when one is depending on the other, and the other only, to keep from collapsing into a pile of self-destruction. The one providing the support will start to feel trapped, because the alternative to staying with the supported FOREVER is to permit their figurative (or literal) demise. And the supported one will likewise feel obligated to stay with the supporter, because she owes her (and because she fears her fate if she leaves). The result: bitterness, fear, dependence, anything but actual love.
I’ve never been particularly fond of Billie (unlike MANY readers, to my surprise), but this is pushing her dangerously close to “least favorite character”.
Well….it isn’t very….’good’ of Ruth to push her entire life on Billie like this. “My only hope was you”?! What the fuck. No, it is not ok to make anyone else responsible for your sanity/life/stability. Billie is not a bad person, she is not healthy, and she is irresponsible, but you make it sound like she intentionally tried to screw over Ruth. So she lied about drinking, SO WHAT. She didn’t know Ruth was going to be suicidal over it. It was wrong of her, but I heavily doubt she did it out of spite.
Yes, it is not “very good” but, as many people above have observed, it was all Billie’s idea. And I very much disagree with “SO WHAT”. It is shitty of Billie; not just the lying per se, but the way she’s trying to justify it in this strip. I would still think so even if Ruth wasn’t going to be suicidal about this – and in fact, I’m not so sure she will be. Sure, “you were my only hope” is quite a dramatic thing to say, but I’m hoping she’s saying that more to make Billie feel guilty (which she totally is) than anything else.
Oh yeah, because god forbid Ruth take any personal responsibility for her own problems. No, it’s all Billie’s fault she’s a dysfunctional mess that can’t salvage her own self-worth.
I’m not hating Billie because of Ruth’s problems. Ruth would have issues also without Billie – hell, she might even be dead if not for her. I’m just not willing to forgive Billie’s behavior here. She’s in no position to act like that; she’s guilty and she knows it, yet she doesn’t even try apologizing and chooses “stupidly defensive” instead.
She can’t admit she fucked up. Can’t admit that about Ruth. Can’t admit that about the DUI. She’s supposed to be better than everyone else. She doesn’t make mistakes. She’s a cheerleader, she the top of the social pyramid. She doesn’t mess up, she’s stronger than everyone else. She’s the alpha bongo, she solves everyone else’s problems and has none of her own.
What I’m now curious about is WHY that’s so important. Why does she feel that she HAS to be above the “nerds” and the “normals”? What in her mind does it mean about herself if she doesn’t measure up to her own self-imposed need for superiority? What is it about her life that demands she meet her own criteria? Who is she trying to impress? Who’s attention is she looking for?
And then it occurs to me that her parents never came to visit.
Wow, I felt like I wanted to bawl about Amber, now this strip makes me want to bawl again. Damn these feels. Oh and I flipped the bird to your alt text, happy valentines indeed. :p
Well, I was hoping Billie would confess to backsliding and somehow salvage the relationship, but she managed to make things even worse. I remain optimistic however that this will lead to some introspection and personal growth on her part, and they will eventually manage to get back together, so it will all be for the best in the long run.
.
.
.
Then I remember who the author is, and I have to admit I have no idea where this is going to go, but I am sure I will enjoy the ride.
I sympathize with Ruth in the situation, butI am a little reminded of the last scene from the old episode of Titus “deprogramming Erin”
“You mean because I started drinking you gave up on life? Erin, I love you, and I’m sorry… But that’s crap!”
Not quite the same situation here, but seriously, Ruth needs to get inboard with the idea that Billie IS a deceitful alchoholic and while anger is a perfectly justified reaction, it’s more productive to turn it into a “you couldn’t even go one week?!” Guilt trip.
Ruth is struggling with severe depression and self esteem issues, exacerbated by her alcoholism. Billie was, for a brief shining moment, her light in the dark, the thing that made her feel like she could escape her own inner torment.
These things aren’t about what’s productive. When you’re depressed, you -know- it isn’t productive, that’s part of the problem. Because you can’t just -stop- being depressed through force of will. But the unproductive nature of depression just makes you -more- depressed.
Ruth is trapped in a cycle of hating who she is, failing to be anything else, and hating herself more for that. It’s hard to escape from something like that.
Yeah, not feeling the sympathy for Billie anymore, and I completely feel for Ruth. My uncle was killed by a drunk driver when I was five (he was walking well along the shoulder, nowhere near traffic) and a wonderful artist peer of mine was killed by a drunk driver when I was in college. (She was 19; her 12 and 9 year old siblings were killed along with her – they were out Christmas shopping, the drunk crossed the center line and they weren’t able to get out of his way, and her parents lost all three of their children two days after Christmas as a result.) The drunks walked away “fine” in both instances.
Alcoholics/drunks like Billie, who don’t understand why they’re “not hurting anyone ‘now,'” piss me off beyond belief.
I see what you’re getting at, and drunk driving is by no means ok, but that doesn’t mean you should stop drinking. Just don’t drive when you do. It’s one thing to drink so much that you’re passing out in your room by yourself. And it’s another thing to drink so much it impairs your driving. The latter amount is a much safer amount than the former. Drinking to the point where driving is dangerous is perfectly fine, just DON’T drive. Yes, Billie drinks a lot. And yea, she bent a truck around a tree, and that was a stupid decision. But she’s kinda right. She isn’t hurting anyone anymore. She made one bad decision. Doesn’t mean she needs to swear off alcohol. She just needs to not drive when she drinks.
I see what you’re getting at, and drunk driving is by no means ok, but that doesn’t mean you should stop drinking; just don’t drive when you do.
Easier said than done. When your judgment is impaired from drinking, unless you have others around you who can make sober decisions, then there’s a chance that this would never cross your mind, or that you would make justifications to yourself or others about your decision to drive drunk. Rather than saying “it’s okay to drink as long as you don’t drive”, I am of the opinion that if you plan to go anywhere outside of where you can safely drink, and you have to make the return trip by yourself, then don’t drink.
It’s one thing to drink so much that you’re passing out in your room by yourself, and it’s another thing to drink so much it impairs your driving; the latter amount is a much safer amount than the former.
The implication you’re unknowingly making here when you use the phrase “impairs your driving” is that the person who’s drinking is already planning to get behind the wheel or has already made the decision to drive while drunk. To drink enough that it impairs your driving not only puts yourself in danger, it puts other drivers or pedestrians in danger as well. This isn’t safer in any means than drinking to the point of blacking out.
Drinking to the point where driving is dangerous is perfectly fine, just DON’T drive.
Once again, easier said than done if you’re out drinking somewhere and you don’t have anyone sober around to help you make good decisions. I think that if you have to drive anywhere, or if you don’t have a designated driver, then don’t drink at all, even at the cost of a good time.
Yes, Billie drinks a lot, and yeah, she bent a truck around a tree, and that was a stupid decision, but she’s kind of right. She isn’t hurting anyone anymore. She made one bad decision, but it doesn’t mean she needs to swear off alcohol; she just needs to not drive when she drinks.
Ultimately, it’s not the drinking that’s hurting others, but her poor choices. Her choice to drink and break the promise she made has hurt Ruth, her choice to argue about breaking that promise has hurt Ruth, and the fact that she couldn’t go three days without drinking means that she does have a drinking problem. Billie is an alcoholic, but alcoholism is not her true problem. It is merely a symptom of a larger issue she holds within her heart, one that hasn’t been touched upon yet; I think that the absence of her parents, who did not show up for Freshmen Family Weekend, plays a key part in this.
DumbingOfAge theme in a nutshell: Teens with ridiculous amounts of emotional baggage entering dating scene way too late, and then overreacting to everything. EVERYTHING. Did you think things would be happily ever after? NOPE! Let’s OVERREACT!
Next up, Amber Overreacts to super nice Danny genuinely caring about her. Followed by Amber overreacting to a perfectly justifiable smack down she laid out on her scumbaggodad.
“Well, the girl I kissed once right before nearly dying/getting expelled for alcohol promised she would quit drinking with me and then it turns out she didn’t, after she kissed me back.
Yes, because being a recovering alcoholic in a relationship with someone who refuses to stop drinking and is willing to lie to you about it sounds like an excellent basis for a relationship that no one should ever have any qualms about getting into ever.
Also, I don’t think that’s a suicide threat. I think that’s a “I feel fucking betrayed because you said you would help me and I believed you and now I feel crushed and hopeless” statement.
What Ruth is doing is making her happiness (or worst case scenario, her will to live) dependent on someone else’s actions. Someone she KNOWS is a spoiled fuckup. No matter how you slice it, it’s a pretty shitty thing to do.
I’m picturing a scene in which Billie stumbles from her room the next morning exhausted from crying all night, and stumbles into Walky, and in a moment of weakness tells him the whole story. Walkerton in turn tells her what he did with his evening. Then offers to give her advice.
Then Billie starts screaming, and never stops. Ever.
Actually, as the son of a recovering alcoholic, Ruth’s kind of got a good deal of blame here, it’s not all on Billie. You can’t hinge your whole sobriety on a single person, you just can’t, no matter how much you care about them, or they care about you and support you.
Putting that on anyone is just daring them to fail you, and it WILL happen sooner or later. Yeah, Billie made a mistake. Now let’s stack that single mistake against every horrible thing Ruth has done to her with little to no provocation, and see where the score sits…. Yeah, Ruth definitely owes her some understanding here.
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DAMMIT FEELINGS
YEAH, NO ONE EVER GOT DRUNK AND NARROWLY AVOIDED DEATH BY TRUCK, EH??
Trucks only exist in this universe to be ridden on by superheroes.
Freight means nothing!
Ruth just took a truck to the heart!
Truck to the heart, and you’re to blame…
Dagnabbit Willis!
u monster
Billie is greedy
I was referring to Willis, but sure Billie too.
Yeah the way she mentally and physically abused someone into forming a codependent relationship with her and then yanked that relationship away the first chance she got was really selfish.
Well, when ya say it like THAT…
for science!
…Well, I’m depressed. Anyone up for a long cry?
Let us weep.
Tear.
Yes. Weep for me. Your sorrow will be my nourishment. Cry into my cup, so your tears mingle with mine and those of all who read this arc. The water and salt shall mix together in a maelstrom of emotion, a typhoon of loss and love lost, a whirlpool of vulnerability!
In our sadness, through our tears, we shall truly become as one.
Yes. Let us engage in…the sobbening.
Let our souls merge through despair and desperation. Let our hearts grow heavy with the pain of this outcome. Let the sobbening overtake your senses, salty and wet, yet sweet in its acceptance and comfort.
Now, my children, say the words with me, that this pact may be forever sealed. Say the words with me, so that the Sobbening may truly commence…
“DAMN YOU, WILLIS!”
HASA DIGA WILLIS!
Dem avatars 😐
Them capoldies
A million voices cry out and will not be silenced, suddenly or otherwise, “DAMN YOU, WILLIS!”
I read that in the voice of “Hedy” It’s Hedley! Lamarr.
You know, you didn’t have to go through all that work. There are rehydration drinks that are mostly salt and water. Any pharmacy has them.
And that got posted in the wrong place. It would have been funny after The Wierd One’s post and a good use the the knowledge I learned sitting here after last nights food poisioning but noooo. DAM YOU WILLIS’S WEB DESIGNER!
:'(
:’P
Liquid shame ;_;
Always!
RUTH
… literally means, “mercy.”
Hiyyyyoooo
Truly the day of Romance.
Today’s comic was brought to you by Kleenex®.
You we’re the chosen one!
It was said that you would DESTROY the Sith, not JOIN them!
The prophecy foretold a rebalancing.
After the freat rejoicing of teo days ago, something would have to fall.
“Right now I feel more like the frozen one”
*falls face first into snow*
(points for whoever gets my refference)
ArticUNO, ZapDOS, MolTRES
Someone could use pants.
I love that more than one person remembers this one obscure line from a movie released 14 years ago.
Slowking is the damn BOSS.
I still remember laughing my butt off at that line. Most memorable part of the movie, in all seriousness. Just, the tone, the timing. It was comedy gold.
You were her only hope…
*cry*
DAMNIT NO STOP RUINING EVERYTHING
NO HE’S DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT!
David Willis is the best fleshling.
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW, MACHINE!!! ALL YOUR FEELINGS ARE ARTIFICIAL!!!
He knows a brilliant storyteller when he sees one 🙂
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Valentines sucks.
Damn it, Billie. Wrong answer! Now please, for the love of Glob, go after her and apologize!
Seriously. Even Danny wouldn’t Billie this up this badly.
Well, with Dan finally gaining self awareness, someone needs to be the new go-to term for such things, I guess.
How is Amber telling him the truth “self-awareness”?
Danny’s reaction after her telling the truth is him gaining self-awareness. He fully admitted he Danned things up in this comic: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/broken/.
She didn’t tell him the truth! He noticed it for himself! He could have just obliviously not noticed her mask had slipped, and continued on in ignorance. In fact, when he did notice she was Amber, she wasn’t even confident enough in that fact to confirm it. :p
More serious answer, as Suitora already indicated, it was more his (a) putting everything together once he had that one (admittedly rather large) piece of information, and (b) how he reacted to it once he did have it figured out that shows Dan’s recent growth away from
DanningBillieing things up.When shown the fully-assembled puzzle, Danny is capable of seeing the picture!
I don’t think it was fully assembled [“Your father…?”], but maybe all the edge pieces are together now
Admit it Willis, you spared her from truck death because it was too quick and you wanted her to suffer more.
But what if she still got hit by a car? By a certain person who has been drowning their sorrows in alcohol? If you see what I’m saying?
I see what you’re saying. Danny did it.
DAMN YOU WILCOX
I… Actully wouldn’t put it past him to have a character get injured. Probably break a leg. Although i think it would probably be Walky for some reason.
…did we ever see Faz leave campus?
Considering the speed at which this strip moves, I’d be drawing them in a cast for the rest of my life. So probably not. It’s sort of the same reason nobody’s gonna die. The strip would be stuck in the mourning period for, like, years. It’d be awful.
That is actually very reassuring
Indeed, in spite of the fact that so many will disregard the explanation in comments for future strips.
Well the problem is not everyone reads all the comments for every strip. Even someone devoted like myself sometimes just completely skips the comments some days for whatever reason unrelated to the comic. It’s not like these answers exist anywhere else, and how are any new readers expected to find these things out?
I feel peace, covering my previous sadness.
Not even a “your great-aunt Emma who hated you died, we’re gonna make you attend the funeral the weekend you had huge-ass plans”?
Not if Blaine died, amirite? *rimshot*
If a bear Blaines in the woods, would anyone mourn? Okay, that didn’t work out so well. But, if a bear, squatting in the woods, were to be really upset about being interrupted and killed Blaine, would anyone mourn? I think not. But we might enjoy a panel a day of Blaine trying to drag himself to civilization to get help… then failing… because he got run over by a truck. *hehehe* I really need to get back on my meds.
So, like Funky Cancercancer?
Yeah, this comic has been going since september 2010, and it hasn’t even been a month in comic time. I mean, it started when school starts, and the leaves haven’t even started to change (as seen here: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/wordplay/ ).
So broken arms, which take months to heal, would last for about a decade of our time 😀
I checked, and this is the third week since the story started (the 4th weekend). Each chapter is a day, except in two cases where there are time lapses, listed below:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/04-time-keeps-on-slippin/year/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/too-long/
WELP
Billie, you have fucked up real bad this time. You have dug a hole that is going to take a long time and a lot of effort to get out of.
Now excuse me while I go forget your fuckups with alcohol of my own.
Why doesn’t anyone learn from Billie’s example? Alcohol isn’t the answer!
hurf durf it is a solution though /oldjokes
also it’s delicious
Also it’s fucking valentines day, I literally cannot think of a dsay where I would more like to drink
except new years, I guess? maybe? not even, since I hang out with friends on new years and that’s fun drunk or sober.
The hover text made my night.
Eh, it’s just ripping off Shortpacked!
Now that you say it, this whole comic looks like a ripoff of Shortpacked!.
Dammit, David Willis….stop ripping-off David Willis!!!
Seriously, the art looks like the Shortpacked!s of the last few years, and half the characters are blatant copies where he didn’t even bother to change the name.
Although I guess the creator of Shortpacked! is copying him right back. I hear he did a porn, too.
BOTH of them are ripping off It’s Walky!, which ripped off Roomies!
…THEFT ALL THE WAY DOWN
“And I want my cheerleader outfit back.”
Ruth will be so cute in it!
No, she doesn’t. That’s the problem. There is no point looking the grift horse in the mouth: she has no other purpose or meaning for it. It’s going to be a lot harder for Billie to earn that outfit now as she now has to do the heavy lifting for both of them. And she does not really have much of an option not earning it.
“Grift horse.” +1 for your cleverness.
“‘I’m not hurting anybody’? Wow. Talk about oblivious.” -Dan
“She really doesn’t understand people, does she?” -Dina
“But man, Billie, lying to her like that. Dick move.” -Mike
“Hurting someone like that… unfathomable. Who could be so cruel?” – Blaine
“Faz would not do her unless asked very nicely” – Great Faz
“You’ve got to make it up to her, Billie.
I know!
Take her shoe shopping!”
– Sierra
That’s what you get for drinking!”
-Mary
“Yikes! I probably wouldn’t sleep with her.”
-Daisy
“Yeah, these two have some serious issues.” -Amber
“Mmmrow” – Mike’s cat
“DAMN YOU, BILLIE!” – Willis
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to to not to quit drinking” – Billie
“How could you break your promise to take care of my sister ? Betrayer !” – Howard
Haha! I think the Amber quote is the winner. 😉
“This is hilarious!” -The author of Dexter and Monkey Master
“What sort of cruel person would do that to someone? I mean, I wouldn’t.” -“Dexter”
Trying to reverse Head Alien’s self-awareness is hard.
Faz picks up Billie on the rebound!
“You’re not hurting anyone… but yourself.” -Ethan
“You’re hurting Jesus, Billie. He wants you to reach out and take his hand, and walk the sober path with him . . . and Ruth.” — Joyce
“Hello?! ‘It’s the rain’?! I am friggin’ SHAKESPEARE.” – Walky
I laughed out loud at the Blaine quote.
Help Me Billingsworth. You are my only hope.
“What are we doing tonight, Brain?” “The same thing we do every night – getting our heart broken by Dumbing of Age.” “Narf.” 🙁
+1! 😛
Aaaaand we have a new ad slogan!
Are you pondering what I’m pondering?
I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find two bisexual alcoholic tsunderes and a cheerleader uniform this time of night?
… Oh, right.
+1 😀
This entire comment thread is EXCELLENT.
I’m sick of this liiiiiife
I just wanna screeaaaaaaaaaaam
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME
So….Ruth’s drunken stupor begins in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
Ouch, my feelings. AND AT 12 DAMNIT.
This is either the least appropriate strip for Valentine’s Day, or the most appropriate.
This epitomizes everything Valentines Day stands for.
What, being told you have a massive problem, denying everything, and causing the only person who is emotionally attached to you to storm out with angry tears?
Sounds like the perfect set-up the a Valentine’s Day Massacre to me.
It just sounds like a regular Valentine’s Day to me, honestly.
… I’ll just be over there, crying in the corner.
You know Plas it’s a shame Brooksie can’t sit down with this pair and help them get this worked out. But I don’t think the campus is anywhere near the store.
Megatainment’s out in like Kansas I think.
with less of the requisite martyrdom [as in, actually being killed]
Billie. Quit fucking up.
Wait, I thought the whole point was that we wanted her to fuck (Ruth) up ?
No, we wanted to her to fuck up, down, and sideways. Which oddly, isn’t actually supposed to include fucking up.
I hope for the sake of anyone you might have ever been with that you understand the difference between “fucking” and “fucking up”.
Seriously, though, I don’t even really care if they bang. (It’d just go on Slipshine where I can’t justify the price of the subscription anyway.) But I liked the vibe they had going yesterday (in-comic yesterday), and I want to see them get back to that.
Really? C’mon Billie, i thought you were smarter than that.
It’s the glasses, isn’t it.
You…Haven’t really been paying attention to the strip, have you?
She’s a problem solver. A leader, the alpha-bongo.
And above all impulsive.
But not realizing what you’re doing is hurting Ruth.
Not only that but going on the offensive.
Here.
When Ruth essentially gave her a tentative second chance, despite a feeling of utter betrayal?
I thought she was smarter than that.
You’re saying what Billie thinks of herself. In reality, Billie is just a regular, run-of-the-mill bongo.
She’s shown that she can actually think quickly, resolve tension, and actually help people when she sets her mind to it. And yes, this is all in addition to, not despite, being a huge bongo.
True. But she’s also insecure-masking-as-overconfident and defensive…which means going on the offensive when called out is going to be automatic, and none of those wonderful, take-the-time-to-think-it-through traits get a chance.
Billie goes through a lot of effort to help people. Run-of-the-mill bongo wouldn’t have bothered setting up Walky and Dorothy (I just realized you can bastardize their names to “Dorky” which is so awesome), hiding Ruth in the closest, chasing after Amber’s abusive dad,
man, i’ve never actually met a ‘run-of-the-mill bongo’.
but i sure have heard a lot of people apply it to girls who are into stereotypically feminine activities and don’t make being nice their number one priority.
just sayin’
I knew an actual, real, honest-to-god bongo once. She volunteered (along with me and a whole lot of others) at the local little theatre group, and had very firm ideas of who was worth her time (actors) and who wasn’t (techies). If you weren’t a major actor or the director, she not only wouldn’t talk to you, if you said hi when you passed her in the hallway she would COMPLETELY ignore you. No response, no eye contact, nothing. Unless you had something actually important to say to her (and unless you WERE someone she considered important you really didn’t) she wouldn’t even acknowledge your existence.
Her daughter tended to sort of lean in that direction as well (although not to the same extent, thankfully), and had a really good singing voice and tended to get the leads in the annual big musical because of it. I stopped hating her and just felt really sorry for her, though, after she came in second in the local music festival. She’d performed really well and was honestly just out-done, and that year the judges gave the top award to the best singer instead of to her anyways (her mum was very influential), and when she went to sit down again with her mum, her mum wouldn’t even look at her. Coming in second was a *failure*. The poor girl was pretty much in tears.
They kept this woman around because the one valuable trait she had was that she was EXCELLENT at getting donations and support out of the local businesses; but she wasn’t invited to any of the after-show parties.
TRULY a bongo.
Nah, I mean I’m not saying women are never bad people or mean or whatever. I just think there’s a sort anger/smugness people get from calling a women a bongo, fictional character or otherwise. Even more when the woman enjoys things like cheerleading, makeup, etc. (there other similarly terrible words for women who don’t)
I dunno it just makes me kinda uncomfortable. Like, why is Billie a bongo? Like why toss that word out there? It’s just…weird
On that same note, what made you wanna share this story of this chick you really hate? I mean, I know it was in response to my comment but… why? This isn’t accusation, I honestly am interested in your answer.
The title should have tipped you off.
Going down with the ship. I weep
STOP DANNING IT UP BILLIE.
STOP BILLIEING IT UP BILLIE.
GOD DAMMIT BILLIE.
“People have been using my name to mean ‘make a small mistake’?”
“…
…yes.”
Welp, I’ve got a bottle of tequila and this comic. That’s my v-day.
Ruth Emo Mode engage.
Oh DAMMIT Billie!
Angst: The best Valentine’s Day present ever.
And Ruth was never seen again.
Yet another reminder that the Willis giveth, and the Willis, he taketh away.
Wait, so is the DoA alt-text the answer to the Shortpacked! alt-text?!?!
Fffffffuuu….
Denial is apparently not just a river in Egypt
Although I hear Depression is a popular name everywhere.
Happy Valentines Willis.
You glorious sunnavabongo.
I read this, and I was thoroughly upset. Damn you, Willis!
However, I read the latest Shortpacked immediately after…
THANK YOU, WILLIS!!!
You know there was a much better response Billy, you didn’t have to ruin it.
Billie’s no Obi-Wan Kanobi, that’s for certain.
She’s not even an Admiral Akbar. She’s barely a Jar-Jar at this point.
Hey! Listen! Jar-jar is a genius!
I loved that website. “Summon giant fish”, still love that line.
Hey, at least she’s being honest now.
I spend all week trying to pinpoint why exactly I just can’t get behind these two as a couple, and then Willis does me the service of spelling it right out in blunt fashion
i know right? it’s like how you can’t really have an anti-war movie that really works as one, because the audience will always be sufficiently far removed from all the horror and awfulness that it’ll be entertaining on some level, so even if they leave with the intellectual understanding that what they saw was bad, they won’t feel it on a visceral, emotional level.
I didn’t mean my response as emotional, really. I say this as a reader who likes Ruth very much as a character and Billie next to none, but coming away from this strip my first reaction is thinking that Billie really ought to fucking book it away from this trainwreck in the works as fast as possible. For her own safety.
oh, yes, absolutely.
what i meant is that a lot of people seem to look at the massive trainwreck that is Ruth and Billie’s relationship and even if intellectually they have no choice but to conclude that it’s a trainwreck, they still don’t fully accept it. after all, Ruth is the same person who singled out Billie for two? weeks of pointless torture just as a weird expression of something like affection i guess, so just imagine what she’ll do now that she’s angry and hurt. it is absolutely dangerous for Billie to be around all this. Ruth needs help of the professional sort.
but like the anti-war film that can’t really be anti-war, a comic that involves as dysfunctional a relationship as this is always going to have an entertainment factor to it that makes it that much harder to see how horrible it is.
It’s worth remembering that Billie threw the first punch. Neither of these girls are innocent, and I think they deserve each other. Both the good and the bad.
and of course, Billie threw the first punch after being provoked by Ruth, which is also worth remembering
so yeah, i guess they’re both horrible people! hooray
The first time Billie and Ruth got into it, Billie was the one who escalated it from a confrontation (and a confrontation mostly about Billie not wanting to be told what to do, at that) to a fight. All Ruth did was call Billie’s bluff.
Ruth’s been the aggressor in their fights since, but Billie’s the one who started it. And the whole thing has just been a pissing match because Billie was used to being the alpha bongo in her little high school pack, and thought she could challenge Ruth’s position here in the big leagues. Since the chat in Ruth’s room during the fire alarm, Billie seems to have settled down, content to be Ruth’s beta, and they’ve been getting along fine with that resolved. (The alcoholism and lust are separate issues.)
So…Billie is the one who provoked Billie into actually taking a swing at Ruth, and Ruth literally daring her to do it–and I do mean literally daring her to do it, rather than, say, ignoring her or brushing her off like someone who isn’t looking for a fight to assert her position of power like she’s Kim Jong-un–has nothing to do with it.
Gotcha.
Yes, Billie is entirely responsible for Billie deciding to challenge Ruth’s authority, and for Billie deciding to threaten Ruth with violence, and for Billie actually taking a swing at Ruth when Ruth called her bluff. They were Billie’s decisions, Billie’s actions, Billie’s sole responsibility.
“I dare ya,” is not a mind control spell. It does not absolve Billie of responsibility for Billie’s violent and aggressive actions. Billie could at any time have backed down and accepted the loss of face that would have involved, and that would have confirmed Ruth’s authority just as well. But Billie decided – all by herself, no one else in her head making decisions for her, ‘cept maybe Jack Daniels – that she was going to fight Ruth instead.
That Billie got her ass handed to her doesn’t absolve her of her responsibility for starting the fight, either.
More like Billie quaffed the first punch to come her way.
John, I’d have to disagree. No one deserves abuse, regardless of how messed up they are. If someone is that dysfunctional, they should be alone, not in a relationship.
Keep in mind abuse was happening when Ruth didn’t realize what she wanted (she tells Billie that they learned that Ruth likes girls “together”). Neither of them is abusing the other at this point. The only one getting abused is the ol’ whiskey bottle, and she likes it
No. “My only hope was you” is an incredibly manipulative, emotionally abusive thing to say, even if Ruth didn’t intend it that way. If Billie tries to stay in this for the long haul she is going to be destroyed.
Okay, so, note that every time Billie has punched Ruth (or threatened to), it’s because she was explicitly pushed. The first time, Ruth gave her permission and even goaded her on because she knew she was capable of protecting herself. The second time, Billie was pushed over the edge after Ruth repeatedly threatened her with harassment and extortion. Remember that time Amber punched Blaine in the face? That really awesome time when she punched him in his asshole face? Blaine didn’t actually hit Amber first, but nobody is saying he didn’t deserve it because he was being a threatening asshole and Amber wanted him to leave. Ruth, much as I love her, has done pretty much the same to Billie since the day they met. She’s been every type of abusive toward Billie, and, despite the fact that Billie is really sort of an asshole, she doesn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.
It was wrong of Billie to lie about quitting alcohol, yes, but that doesn’t make it her fault if Ruth goes off the deep end again.
*ETA: For clarification, when I say “Nobody deserves that,” I am actually saying “Nobody but Blaine deserves that.”
“guess i’ll just have to go break all the femurs or something”
chapter title reference? “The only hope for me was you”
I didn’t even catch that until you said it. Thanks!
confirmed by willis as well. Truly my genius is unparalleled.
As a former drunk, I can tell you that no one person is your only hope. You are your only hope. Putting faith in another drunk is a recipe for relapse. I know first hand.
This makes perfect sense. (And congrats on your recovery.)
Dave whyyyy
Would you look at that, Billie is the new Dan!
Noone will ever replace Danny’s special place in my heart.
By the end of this strip, everyone’s name will have become a verb synonymous with “messed up.”
Billie needs to drop that Idiot Ball already.
She has sticky fingers. They won’t even let go of the bottle.
Yeah, that’s the route you shouldn’t have taken Billie.
Wow. That is one hell of a guilt trip, Ruth.
It is, but it is one that Billie brought on herself. Whose idea was it to quit drinking together? Not Ruth’s. Billie’s. So, even if it isn’t the best idea on Ruth’s part to have put her faith in another active alcoholic to be her support in quitting drinking, Billie invited her to do so.
They both have done wrong things here. (And I’m not even including little things like breaking & entering and theft…) But this current situation is largely because of Billie’s dishonesty.
Not that it makes it any better, but I at least think we can all agree that Billie’s dishonesty wasn’t malicious. She was lying to herself as much as anyone else, and she was doing it out of habit, not out of a desire to hurt anyone. It’s a habit connected with her drinking, and one she needs to break just as much. And the first step will be…
DAMN IT, BILLIE! FOLLOW RUTH AND APOLOGIZE! Then the two of you need to have a long and open conversation about both of your failings, and what can be done to try and overcome them.
(Please, Willis?)
Nope.avi
Or tackle her to the ground and go at it lick style!
(Please, Willis?)
Holy moley NOPE.
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
nopeoctopus.jpg
No one brings on manipulation and abuse onto themselves.
Boy, this brings back some fun memories.
Hm. That was supposed to be a response to the strip in general. Oh well.
Dammit, Billie, that’s the kind of stupid statement that gets you into trouble every time.
Ruth had better not use Billie’s drinking as an excuse to resume.
It seems almost inevitable that she will.
Considering that there, at the end, she just shoved all responsibility for any future shitty life decisions off onto Billie, yeah, she’s going to be halfway though a six-pack before the first panel of tomorrow’s strip.
*Slowclap* Good work, Willis. Excellent timing.
Dammit Billie, get out of my Gravatar and go make things better with Ruth!
Just have your Gravatar give a heartfelt apology to mine. Mine will still be pissed off as all hell, but maybe it will start to help lay a new foundation.
Then Kiss !
Ouch … now My avatar hurts.
Heh.
You got it, dude
And now she is going to crash her car in a truck while saying, “Reassess that!”
Well… crap.
“I’m fine now” is probably one of the biggest and most frequently told lies. Any addiction is hard to kick forever. Trust me, I know.
Billie, you done fucked up bad. You threw away someone caring for you for the bottle. The thing about the bottle is, there’s always a bottom to the bottle. If you’re lucky, there’s not a bottom to someone caring for you because you fill it up with caring of your own. Go after her, and admit you need help too.
It’s definitely a two-way street, too. Ruth is heaping a huge and sudden amount of responsibility onto Billie with, ‘My ONLY hope was YOU.” It’s a huge guilt trip onto someone already, well, not recovering from addiction and being guilty about it.
Did Billie sign up for this? Sure, and she has major problems she’s refusing to acknowledge. But Ruth isn’t that much better, and she needs to find some support that will let her be able to stand on her own. She was already making good progress with staying sober four days running, let’s just hope she doesn’t let Billie push her off the wagon.
Hm. That’s not fair.
Ruth hates herself, Billie is impulsive. Ruth relied on Billie to help her, help her through this stage. Billie is impulsive. As much as I KNOW Billie is a complete ass right now, I can’t help but think that Ruth’s heart picked the wrong person. I blame Willis.
Typical, blaaaaaame the writer….. 😛
Or at least put too much on her. I’m still pissed at Billie, and that self-righteous “Well, I didn’t need to keep my promise in the first place!” line doesn’t make that any better. But Ruth…placing all your hope for success on one person, let alone someone as….ummm…someone like Billie, is a recipe for failure. Worse, its the sort of trap your brain works out for itself to suck you back into addiction, a condition for success you’ve basically set up as a landmine on the road to your recover. Also, and I hope I’m wrong about this, it sounds like emotional blackmail, as in “Now you’ll see how fucked up I get and it’ll all be your fault”. Which is also fucked.
Agreed, to all of the above.
To be fair, it’s not like Ruth had a lot of options outside of, well, actual counselling. Other than Billie, the only person she has any kind of relationship with is her brother, and she’s deliberately been keeping him insulated from her emotional problems.
But it’s important to note that she didn’t actually choose to confide in Billie. The alcohol abuse and depression were something Ruth kept safely locked up in her room – something she had no intention of letting anybody else find out about. Then Billie accidentally stumbled onto Ruth’s secret, and then decided to get directly involved – and stay involved – despite the fact that Ruth initially didn’t even want her help.
Thing is, once you go from being alone and keeping all of your problems bottled up to suddenly having a person who’s checking on you every day and knows what you’re going through – of course you’re going to fixate on them. They literally are the one thing keeping you from sinking back into depression.
In hindsight, it feels like Ruth spent a lot of this arc trying to express how much that relationship and that support meant to her, and Billie repeatedly missing the significance of those actions because she’s too wrapped in her own guilt. “You were my only hope” is a lousy parting shot, but I think it’s also about as succinctly as Ruth can express why this whole situation hurts so badly to somebody who – let’s face it – still doesn’t seem to get it.
“My only hope was you” Am I the only one hearing alarm bells go off?
Nope. Though I’m hoping against hope she’s just being overdramatic.
And then Ruth goes out driving while distressed, and swerves to not hit someone else, and gets killed in this universe too.
Which universe did she die in D:
SPOILERS:
Walkverse. She died real early. Danny (are you really surprised) got drunk and was driving around; Ruth was following him in her car; Danny was about to get into an accident with a truck so Ruth kinda bumped his car out of the way and got mowed over for her trouble.
…she pushed a car?
The Mary gravatar makes this comment look wonderfully skeptical.
(With her car.)
SPOILERS:
As in she was driving in her own car and sped up alongside Danny and rammed into him to force him off the road and out of the path of the truck, and in the process crashed right into the truck herself.
relax, no one’s gonna die: see word of God above.
That awkward moment when everyone in the party rolls a one for their Intelligence AND Diplomacy checks and makes the situation worse.
Looks like a 1 on Wisdom as well.
To think this whole thing could have been avoided if Ruth hadn’t put so many ranks in Perception.
It didn’t help that there was an aura being emitted from the cheerleader uniform. If only they had a mage or sorcerer to “detect magic.” They might have ditched it before this veritable train wreck.
To be fair, there were a lot of shitty rolls for everybody during character creation.
That’s what happens when you assign a million character flaws in order to beef up that one skill you really liked (I’m mixing my gaming metaphors here, but what the hell?).
Basically everyone except Dorothy and Sierra seems to have made the mistake of believing that taking Shitty Parents is a good deal for the build points it gives you.
Billie seems to have dumped everything else and spent the points she got from Shitty Parents, Criminal Record, and Addiction (Alcohol) on ranks of Attractive and Resources, and a few points in Athletics.
Ruth took Shitty Parents, Traumatic Past, Addiction (Alcohol), and Vulnerabilty (Trucks), and for some reason seems to have spent all the points that didn’t go into Position of Authority on Close Combat (Judo).
Amber took Shitty Parents at max ranks and Traumatic Past like five times plus Enemy and the Secret Identity complication, which is why Amazi-Girl is such a machine. She’s got like twice anyone else’s BP just from the flaws. That’s also why she couldn’t tell Danny her real identity… she didn’t have enough XP to buy off the complication until after she beat Blaine down.
Danny took Oblivious as well as a rank in Shitty Parents, but I don’t know what the hell he spent the BP on. Int maybe, but Oblivious keeps him from using it effectively most of the time?
Most of Sal’s points went into Attractive, Charisma, and the bike. And Language (ASL) for some reason. I think she was colluding with Marcie when they were building their characters. Walky picked up Attractive too, but assumed that’d let him dump all his social skills and buff Int instead. (Though to be fair it seems to be working for him.)
Joe of course has ranks in Attractive, and buffed Cha and Perform (Sex).
Danny rolled all 1s.
Dorothy, of course, just grinds low level homework, studying, and reporting all day, hence her nearly universally high stats (int/cha/wis/dex) even without taking shitty parents/trauma.
Grinding always works.
Good work Willis. Did you also crush all romantic spirit for Sweetest Day?
I think I actually respect that holiday even less than Valentines day.
I recovered from self-harm, and it helps to have other people in the same boat as you but like
I can’t help my friends when they’re triggered because talking about wanting to self-harm triggers me and hinders my recovery
like
We all know this ship has issues and Ruth hinging her own recovery on Billie’s is a serious problem
So wait, I’m not the only one who thinks Ruth has a really severe problem? Like, she really needs intense therapy.
The avatar of Rodney Dangerfield delivering his best line in Caddyshack kind of undercuts that message.
I tell ya’, no respect!
Nope, I think everyone is right there with you!
Half the cast needs intense therapy.
Provided by Mike.
What the hell are you doing Billie go AFTER her.
Knowing Willis, tomorrow’s comic is going to focus on someone else.
Considering we haven’t seen him in a while, my money is on Mike. It would be a rather fitting jump I think.
Oh come on Willis isn’t that much of a…..that basterd
Yeah… Amber’s mom might still be around campus.
For his next trick, Willis will turn Good Friday into Worse Friday Ever! 😀
The Good Friday strip is just going to be a single panel of Historical Jesus on the cross, speaking those very three words.
+1ed
In the voice of comic book guy, I hope.
Billie you are in denial! And Ruth that was just a teeny bit dramatic.
I’m…I’m honestly surprised. There was attempted rationalization instead of instant-drama running away and crying…I…I can’t tell if I’m more saddened, or slightly cushioned from the inevitable panels of tears we will undoubtedly get.
I’m also taking all bets. How many xN strips of crying will we see, where N = the panels of kissing we got just before this. I’m guessing 2xN minimum.
REASSES.
the door isn’t locked!!
This looks like a job for the Drama Llama!
This is not healthy, no. Man, those late teens early twenties are rough stuff. I would not want to go back to that. Welllll, maybe have the body. But not the mind. Oh nosireebob.
Damn you Willis. I was already sad that I’d be alone on V day, but at least I was used to it. I don’t want more heart break.
Billie you arn’t even danning this up. Danny screws up because he dosn’t have all the information. Billie you on the other-hand know exactly what you did and are making things worse so bravo for making Danny look better in hindsight
So now we’ll refer to it as Billieing it up?
That is what people seem to be doing.
STAB. EVERYTHING.
Your gravatar makes this so great.
Ice King: You blew it, man.
Zuko: That’s rough, buddy.
Damn it, does that mean that Cinnamon Bun is going to get Ruth, too? Guy needs to stop hogging all the cute, fiery red heads.
I thought it was “dope”, not “hope”. Yayyy emotional blackmail!
Well hopefully this will slow down Ruth’s yandere tendencies.
Why does today suck so much?
Happy Valentine’s Day.
(Damn you, Willis!)
Have hope! Today just started
The week worked out that Valentine’s day started sucking on Monday.
I know no one will ever read this reply, but man did V-day go badly.
Billie makes for a terrible Wizard.
I know right? I’ll bet she doesn’t even know one spell!
She’d spell it absolutely Wizzard.
You know, I’m starting to wonder if somehow Willis has a deal where he makes a nickel every time someone says, “Damn you, Willis!” in his comments, and that is how he makes a living. It would explain a lot…
The porn is just him getting greedy.
Nope. Still hating Ruthless. Anything that little ball of anger and spite gets, she brought on herself.
I’m not saying it’s an excuse for everything with her, but keep in mind that her parents died when she was younger. That kind of trauma can lead to changes in a person
Love Ruth, but it’s stupid to rely on one person you just met.
As I said elsewhere, I’m pretty sure that was a deliberate fly in the anointment. One thing addicts (and really anyone who does and does not want to accomplish a thing) will do is invent terms and conditions for their own recovery (“okay, in order for this to work I’ll need this to happen…”). That’s the brain’s way of making ultimate recovery less likely- it gives it a wat to satisfy the urge to try to get better while providing an easy excuse in returning to the pattern of behavior it knows and is comfortable with.
Except (1) she doesn’t exactly have a lot of choice at the moment, and (2) she isn’t so much dumping responsibility on Billie so much as clearly stating the reality of their current relationship.
I don’t see this as an addiction behavior, but a depression one. Yes, Billie shouldn’t have to be Ruth’s only source of hope, and ultimately, escaping a severe depression to live a semi-normal lifestyle means growing beyond that to cultivate a wide range of relationships and activities that keep you from retreating back into your head.
But you can’t just wave a magic wand and make that happen. You have to start somewhere and then claw your way back up to normality, even if it is just that one person who’s willing to take a chance on you.
No, but realistically, it isn’t fair or good for Billie and Ruth to try and claw there way up on each other. It just means they’re both gonna fall down.
Honestly? I’m thinking on campus therapy.
Ruth’s an RA (or whatever) right? Chances are she even has the numbers and pamphlets she’s supposed to use if she sees this happening with someone else. I say they sit down and call those numbers.
Which would be great if either of them had enough perspective or humility to go down this route yet. But Billie doesn’t think she has a problem, and Ruth strikes me as far too guarded about her issues to willingly sit around discussing them with a group of strangers – especially with that added social stigma that mental health issues like depression carry.
:C
NOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!
Yessssss!
Dammit Willis.
I feel for Ruth. :[
Also: goddamit Billie.
Billie Dan-ed it up this time
Billie-ing is worse than “Dan-ing” at this point!
Y’know, I think Ruth’s fucking up, too. Not the way Billie is, but… more of a tactical error. Instead of storming off hurt and betrayed here, she should be going on the offensive. “This was your idea, Billie, and if I’m going to do it, you damn well are, too!” That’s the point of having a partner for things like this, right? She keeps you on the wagon, you keep her on it? Billie’s actually been holding up her half of that deal; it’s Ruth who hasn’t.
That’s…actually a really interesting point. I mean I don’t think they should be relying on each other in the first place but still.
Idk. Breaking an addiction is rough- particularly going cold turkey. Like, I can’t really be mad at Billie, a college freshman, for not kicking the habit immediately. I think she meant when she said she was going to stop. But there are completely independent adults in support groups, who struggle and relapse (and thats not a diss or anything, it’s an incredibly hard thing to do).
I have no strong feelings one way or the other.
*looks at hovertext*
NO WILLIS IT IS NOT HAPPY
Damn you, Willis! (I know it’s redundant at this point, since I got here so late tonight, but the hovertext sent me over the edge!)
-holds out a wine glass- Let me drink your tears. They make me stronger. ♥
Hmm… normally my little chant goes “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT kiss kiss” but it seems that it was reversed this time
I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but ha! Somebody having it harder on Valentines Day than the single guy score!
Also, damn you Willis for swamping this ship as fast as you built it.
Just remembered that Billie HAS passed out in her own room
as well as ruth’s closet
and at parties
…yeah, billie has no room to talk about passing out.
Damn you Billie….DAMN YOU!!!
I don’t know why, but I’m just expecting some bad decisions on both parties now ..I also want to make a reference to the deep passionate relationship between Ruth and trucks, but I feel its gonna be said eventually anyway
Ruth and Optimus Prime Perform a Sex
What we readers need is for the next comic to be a happier one, like for example “Dina Performs A T-Rex”
I don’t think even Dina could fix this. “Dina and Riley perform a T-rex with special guest-star Lucy” that should do the trick.
Didn’t we already see that on a poster?
Okay, it looked more like a velociraptor, but the intent was there.
That’s in the past, Cybersnark. Stop living in the past.
But that’s where all the T-Rexes are!
i should have seen this coming…it is Willis we’re talking about here….
Oh Billie, why did you have to make it worse by totally Billie-ing the situation?
Billie is an alcoholic. Alcoholics lie…to everyone….to anyone….to themselves. Alcoholics don’t know how bad other people hurt.
I was married to one. I know.
Ruth is an alcoholic. Trusting another alcoholic was her second mistake.
Her first is, “I’m going to go get drunk, and it’s all your fault. You’re my only hope”
My heart hurts for both of them. Especially Ruth.
Happy Valetine’s Day.
Too be fair, Ruth is a violent person with major issues, so I really hope Billie finds someone better.
+1
Not that Billie’s much better.
Who isn’t?
Billie threw the first punch.
Amber just beat the unholy hell out of her father, a while back she stabbed another girl with a knife, and her hobby is finding people she can justify beating up.
Sal attempted to rob a convenience store with a knife.
Sarah punched another girl in the face just for talking to Joyce.
Joyce hired a guy to beat up her date for thoughtcrime, and then joined in.
Mike’s the guy Joyce hired to beat up her date.
The others are generally less violent, but they’ve still got enough issues to stock a periodicals department.
I guess Sierra seems nice and fairly issue-free, but what’d she ever do to you that you want to stick her with Billie?
okay, does anyone, besides me , want to know exactly ‘why’ Sal went to rob the store in the first place? Cause acting out is one thing, but there had to be a specific event leading up to that moment .
Marcie convinced her.
Well, crap
Happy Valentine’s Day! I got you a sunken ship. Hope you like it! X)
Sunken ships: The perfect addition to any aquarium. ^_^
My aquarium filled with the tears of upset shippers!
Mostly mine!
I hope you don’t keep any fresh water fish in there then.
Hey
Hey Billy
You have a proooooobleeeeeeem
I mean, if this isn’t enough to point it out to you, I’m guessing the next step will literally be a giant blinking neon sign.
Drunk together, sober together, Billie!
Happy Valentines Day. ♥
Awwww crap.
*ahem*
YOU BLEW IT!
Huh. My first genuine DAMN YOU WILLIS!
Same.
Dang. I figured Billie would get all defensive and stick her foot in it, but wow.
All together now: DAMN YOU WILLIS
I guess you could say Billie got a little bit…Ruth-less
(there is a special spot in hell for me)
silly iwllis, i don’t celebrate valentines day
i celebrate hatetines day, which is celebrated with alcohol and scowls
the best part is that hatentines day can live every day in your heart, if you just hate hard enough
forutnately the world provides me a neverending dstream of awful events nad people to hate!
I thought it was Valenpains Day, where everything is misery
Billie, lies and betrayal ARE hurting people. -_-
And there’s the truck.
WHAM
splat
WILLIS!!
*shakes fist at the air*
Damning Willis aside this is all Billie’s fault. She was the one who suggested they both give up together so for her to not only go back on her word but say it doesn’t matter is really selfish even if she is “better now”.
Damn you again Willis for having a very good reason for this!
But it was the only way she could think of to help Ruth – and it _worked_, and Ruth’s objection is irrelevant since Billie does not, to our knowledge, have any access to a car, sober or drunk, on campus. Her point stands, that her drinking is less harmful to herself than Ruth’s was.
Y’know, it’d crossed my mind a couple of times to wonder why, with all her family’s money, Billie doesn’t seem to have a car. I only just realized that it’s probably because, after her summer adventures, Billie probably doesn’t even have a license anymore.
That isn’t the issue here. The issue is that Ruth is quitting because she has motivation to now because Billie was meant to be going through it with her. That’s why I said even if she is better now that doesn’t make Billie’s actions any less selfish.
You’re not convincing me that the problem isn’t that she got caught.
Wow, I was not expecting this. As much as people hate Danny for no reason, what Billie is doing is far, far worse. I really expected her to at least apologise and express, y’know, regret over breaking a promise and lying to Ruth about something important. But nope. Ruth is probably better off without her if she’s too immature to accept responsibility
Okay, but…she is immature. Billie’s what, 18? I think she’s ashamed and hurt and frustrated and so she acted stupid, but this setup was kinda doomed from the beginning.
That’s what I was saying. Danny messed up because of the stuff he didn’t understand but he didn’t actually stab anyone in the back like that.
She relapsed! Man, fighting an addicting is really really hard…I’d be shocked if she didn’t relapse, this isn’t exactly professional rehab, you guys.
Billie shouldn’t have yelled at Ruth, obviously, but I honestly think its unfair to say she stabbed her in the back. Cut her some slack.
Billie did not relapse. There’s a reason that when Ruth asks her if she ever actually tried to quit she just looks at the floor guiltily and says nothing. Go back to the previous strip and look at Willis’s comments, and you will see that he confirms that Billie never actually tried to quit at all and even her “three days sober” was a lie.
So whats happening here is not “Billie relapsed, then lied about it and Ruth is mad now that she’s found out” its “Billie lied to Ruth when she promised her they would get sober together and has actually been drinking behind her back the entire time, lying to Ruth every step of the way”
So yes, Billie stabbed her in the back. She lied to and manipulated Ruth and never once held up her end of the bargain.
Whoa whoa whoa, what Ruth is doing is SO much worse than what Billie did. Relapsing once is nowhere near threatening to go and push the OD limit because YOU FAILED ME Miss not-a-professional-who-I-arbitrarily-pushed-the-responsibility-for-my-entire-wellbeing-on.
Billie voluntarily assumed that responsibility. The whole cold-turkey pact was her idea.
Where Ruth’s screwing up is that she took on responsibility for keeping Billie sober at the same time, and she hasn’t been doing it.
These Ruth tears; they burn.
God Dammit Billie! You Danny’d it up!
I think, given the fact that Danny’s actually become self-aware recently, the term is officially changing to, “Billied it up.”
Fair enough.
God Dammit, Billie! You Billied it up!
Yeah, like hanging all your hopes on one person was going to end well.
DAMN YOU WILLIS.
DAMN YOU, BRUCE WILLIS!
YOU WEREN’T EVEN TRYING IN THAT MOVIE!
Oh shit wait
I was going to ask which movie, then I realized it was ALL OF THEM.
Happy Valentines day, have your heart broken xD
I have confidence in Billie’s ability to make this up to Ruth after she has had time to think about it. As we have seen in recent comics she is decisive, clever, well meaning and a good peacemaker.
Your gravatar makes me think you’re being sarcastic.
DAMN YOU WILLIS! Stop making me feel all my feels!
…and Billie, don’t be an idiot! Say something BLOODY RIGHT before Ruth can get out that door!
(Screw this Valentine’s Day, I didn’t need this…and yet I can’t stop reading this comic. xD)
Hm. Sad. Not up to a “Damn you, Willis” level, yet.
Kind of a little disappointed in Ruth, but only a little. She was looking for something solid to stand on in Walkieverse, and found it after at least one disaster, though it was very expensive for her in the end.
Billie’s response didn’t surprise me much. I like her, but she’s not standing on anything other than her own whims. Not much solid ground there. She’s a good kid at heart though, so hopefully she’ll find her surface and grow up.
BILLIE needs to grow up? Not Miss “If I drink myself to death it’s all your fault”?
I warned you. Now I must start screaming “DAMN YOU WILLIS!” for all eternity.
“A lone voice continues its journey through the universe, constantly shrieking its message of pain and love mingled into a single, agonized cry. As the cosmos shifts about it, eons pass. Entire civilizations are born and die on many glorious star systems, children grow old, conquerors rise to power and are cast down. Whole galaxies are created and snuffed out, as the single voice travels on. But there is only so much energy that can be used in the universe, and eventually it must vanish. And soon after it, matter must follow. Eventually this, too, comes to pass. And in the resulting void, only the voice exists. With a final, keening cry, it expands, evolves. It ascends beyond the confines of its mortal shell of flesh and bone, and becomes pure energy, pure pain. It envelops the void, and gives birth to new energy reactions. Atoms and particles are formed from the maelstrom of feelings. Nebulas form. And a new universe is born.
And in this new universe, living beings develop as well. And although they may never come to hear it, every single atom of their existence vibrates to a very singular tune. Every single one of their quarks screams in unison;
“DAMN YOU, WILLIS!””
Not as good as the first one, I think. Maybe I went a bit over the top here. And before you ask, yes, I am following you, and no, I’m not going to stop anytime soon.
I don’t care, this is utterly brilliant.
Also… DAMN YOU, WILLIS!
Jennifer Billingsworth you better run after her, or I will find a way to enter this comic universe and kick your alcoholic butt.
God damn it, Willis. I’m drunk as all god damn fuck (yet I can still type coherent sentences, woo!)
This… Augh. I’m seeing my favorite ship sail out on the H.M.S. Failure get struck by a small iceberg named Reality and yet, even though there’s but a small gash in the hull, I see that ship sinking slowly, and hoping it eventually makes it to port.
Man, I know everyone who writes has a bit of reality mixed in. What the fuck happened to you? Don’t have to explain, just idle wondering. I just get the sense (I’ve watched this comic for a while), some things hit pretty close to home. Regardless, like I said, no explanation necessary, just being honest when I say what I did. Please keep making feelgasms like you do. You’re fantastic.
AAAHhhhhhh nooo no no….wrong answer Billie. Oy.
Billy is better off this way, and so is Ruth. You can’t put that sort of pressure on another person.
Especially in a relationship.
I hope they spend some time apart, or at least at a dispassionate emotional distance, and get their heads on straight. They both need to be in a place where they can’t rationalize or lie or stake their recoveries on conditionals anymore.
I’m really, really glad Willis included this sequence. I had a family member who was an addict. I wasn’t the one who spent the most time with him or tried to help him, but we talked about it sometimes, and the rationalizations and lies and defensive self-righteousness… nailed it. It’s… I dunno… refreshing to see Willis showing what it’s like. Cathartic, I guess. I know we all wanted them to immediately recover with the power of love and have sloppy lesbian makeouts that would only be ruined by the acrid taste of detox puke, but I’m grateful for this story.
I know people saying “damn you, Willis” are showing deep appreciation in their own way, but I gotta seriously say it. I know there are many people who tell stories about addiction, but I’m glad Willis is one of them. This is important. Thank you.
FUCK NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
So at this point is it safe to say that the verb “Billie-ing” mean “to make an assertion of well-being or superiority in defiance of known facts and situations”?
And Ruth-ing to mean “blaming other people for your own shortcomings” or should that be Blain-ing? Yeah, I went there.
I thought “Ruthing” was “to scare the shit out of people as part of a mating dance you completely fucked up”.
Willis has had me at the edge of my seat the whole week, and it’s still not over. Tomorrow’s strip could be Billie trying to make things right again (unlikely) or the focus could switch to some other characters (more likely) – or it could be something completely different altogether (who knows?) – but since I can’t know for certain, I’ll be clicking the “new comic” button tomorrow like a rat in a Skinner box, desperate to know how it turns out.
Yeah, this has been a pretty grueling sequence, but in a good way. Probably the first time in about 15 years of reading webcomics that I’ve found myself counting down the hours until the next part posts.
There’s apparently three more days left in the current storyline, so my guess is that we’re getting one more strip of how Billie reacts to all of this but no resolution. On the plus side, Ruth’s showing up again in a month and a half.
Billie, you should find a more quiet, less moody girlfriend. I bet Marcie is secretly a lesbian.
“Secretly”? Have you seen Jen Aside’s gravatar?
Though Ruth, that is fucking emotional blackmail. You didn’t live up to my expectations so now I have nothing left therefore making anything I do all your fault.
Wait what car tree when
I ‘might’ have missed a few strips.
Here you go.
>My only hope was you.
No, there is one other.
Billie has a twin sister? Or would it be a brother?
Walkerton. The force is strong with him.
By which I mean he’s the only dude in this series in a steady, healthy relationship that has managed to get some so far.
And people hate danny more than Billie why? At least he tries to be a good person….
Because they find Danny annoying. Billie is wrongheaded and hurtful, but she doesn’t grate on the nerves the way Danny can. Apparently stupidity is worse than lack of consideration and lying.
Billie doesn’t try to be a bad person you know. It isn’t like she did anything for anything other than selfish reasons, she wasn’t doing it to hurt Ruth after all. Ruth is the one being emotionally blackmaily here. She just told Billie that if she kills herself it is Billies fault. NOT nice.
billie doesn’t try to be a bad person, but she doesn’t try to be a good person either. She just tries to get what she wants. And I didn’t get the idea that Ruth was blaming a possible suicide on Billie, it seemed more like she was saying she had been using Billie for stability only to be betrayed. Not blackmail, just a feeling of abandonment.
Well, for one I don’t agree with your interpretation of Billie. She has issues with social standing, but she isn’t shallow the way some characters in other series (who’s name starts with an M and ends with a “aya”) are. She’s genuinely tried to help and given advice to people in trouble several times in the series. Whether any of that advice is GOOD advice is debatable, I’ll grant you.
What it comes down to is empathy. I empathize with Billie. I don’t with Danny. Not yet, anyway. The fact that Billie is a much more flawed character than Danny with some much more serious struggles going on in her life (well, until recently, anyway) helps. When I see her trying to do the right thing, I want her to succeed that much more because she’s coming from a lower place than Danny is. When she succeeds I feel that much more happy for her victory. There’s nothing wrong with Danny, really. I just don’t know enough about him to empathize as much, as the level of obliviousness he demonstrates grate on my nerves, especially when it leads to disasters like the Blaine incident. I’m prepared to like him more when his background gets fleshed out or when he has to deal with higher level problems/decisions (like the Blaine incident) than he has through most of the story.
Those tears! I just had to go and do an inventory of strips where people are crying. There are not as many as one would expect, but I fear we may see many more in the future.
Amber does most of the crying, but as far as I am concerned the Oscar for this category goes to Ruth. Her tears have a certain understated yet expressive quality that goes straight to my feels. Today, they are almost as painful to see as they were back in “Broop broop broop”.
Here’s the inventory of tears, BTW.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/gay/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/choice/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/paid/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/pie/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/broopbroopbroop/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/needle/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/rage/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/shockingreveal/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/alwaysopen/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/coercing/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/happy/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/flee/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/weirdo/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/freezeup/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/down/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/taste/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/reassess/
…this was a sad way to spend your Valentine’s Day.
Gentlemen, it’s been an honor shipping with you http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iHsx1cvACkY
https://soundcloud.com/brazzabelle/what-is-love-brazzabelle
Is this supposed to make me feel something like sympathy?
Blaming other people for not living up to your standards, when will folks learn you can’t live for other people?
While I do like me some girl/girl romance, I’m neither surprised nor upset at Billie/Ruth not happening at this juncture. Neither of them is emotionally equipped to handle a relationship yet, and the fact that (as is so easy to forget with the comic’s pacing) they’ve only known each other two to three weeks only complicates it further. I think the best they can hope to be, for some time to come, is friends. And even that isn’t likely to happen unless Billie recognizes that, yes, she does have a drinking problem (not to mention a trustworthiness problem). Nor unless Ruth recognizes that “You were my only hope” is neither an objectively true nor a healthy assumption.
Also, this sequence brings to mind one of the problems with “buddy system” approaches to recovery. (AA and associated 12-step programs make it worse by encouraging the belief that individuals are”powerless” to take responsibility for their recovery.) Chronic alcohol abuse, be it in the form of psychological dependency or outright physiological addiction, is a disorder, an illness. And at the levels Ruth and Billie are experiencing it, supervision by a qualified health professional is necessary to treat it. If they individually see such a person about it on campus–it’d be covered by their student health insurance–they have a much better chance of staying sober. And if they can do that, they have a better chance in turn of rebuilding mutual trust and at least renewing their friendship. Beyond that…it’s too early for anyone who isn’t Willis to know.
+1 for petty all of the points you just made.
Going on the defensive, Billie? Really? You’re going to have to work SOOOOOOOOO hard to earn anything resembling a happy ending after this.
The happiest ending Billie should hope for is Ruth checking into a rehab clinic.
Wow, this page couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time… a young woman, local to me, just recently killed six people in a drunk-driving accident where she got on TWO freeways going the wrong way. She had a prior DUI, and had in fact just gotten her license reinstated because she had just turned 21. (Her prior occurred when she was 16…) This comic in particular just hit me in the gut, never mind all the emotions and feels Ruth is going through. Not feeling too sorry for Billie, though.
dammit. i just spent the entire morning catching up now im enraptured and now i have to wait. why did this comic have to be so interesting?
Two things. First, seconding everyone who thinks Billie totally screwed this up, from the decision to keep drinking to her non-apology just now.
But second, Ruth’s response makes me glad the relationship was torpedoed in ten seconds. No healthy romance can operate when one is depending on the other, and the other only, to keep from collapsing into a pile of self-destruction. The one providing the support will start to feel trapped, because the alternative to staying with the supported FOREVER is to permit their figurative (or literal) demise. And the supported one will likewise feel obligated to stay with the supporter, because she owes her (and because she fears her fate if she leaves). The result: bitterness, fear, dependence, anything but actual love.
I totally agree. That kind of dependency and passive aggression is NOT healthy.
Well, that was a bummer.
All the hugs Ruth, all of the hugs.
An emotionally manipulative alcoholic? Who’s ever heard of such a thing!?
You forgot ducking responsibility and blaming others for their own shortcomings.
I’ve never been particularly fond of Billie (unlike MANY readers, to my surprise), but this is pushing her dangerously close to “least favorite character”.
Well, there’s always Blaine and Faz but… close.
Well….it isn’t very….’good’ of Ruth to push her entire life on Billie like this. “My only hope was you”?! What the fuck. No, it is not ok to make anyone else responsible for your sanity/life/stability. Billie is not a bad person, she is not healthy, and she is irresponsible, but you make it sound like she intentionally tried to screw over Ruth. So she lied about drinking, SO WHAT. She didn’t know Ruth was going to be suicidal over it. It was wrong of her, but I heavily doubt she did it out of spite.
Yes, it is not “very good” but, as many people above have observed, it was all Billie’s idea. And I very much disagree with “SO WHAT”. It is shitty of Billie; not just the lying per se, but the way she’s trying to justify it in this strip. I would still think so even if Ruth wasn’t going to be suicidal about this – and in fact, I’m not so sure she will be. Sure, “you were my only hope” is quite a dramatic thing to say, but I’m hoping she’s saying that more to make Billie feel guilty (which she totally is) than anything else.
Oh yeah, because god forbid Ruth take any personal responsibility for her own problems. No, it’s all Billie’s fault she’s a dysfunctional mess that can’t salvage her own self-worth.
I’m not hating Billie because of Ruth’s problems. Ruth would have issues also without Billie – hell, she might even be dead if not for her. I’m just not willing to forgive Billie’s behavior here. She’s in no position to act like that; she’s guilty and she knows it, yet she doesn’t even try apologizing and chooses “stupidly defensive” instead.
She can’t admit she fucked up. Can’t admit that about Ruth. Can’t admit that about the DUI. She’s supposed to be better than everyone else. She doesn’t make mistakes. She’s a cheerleader, she the top of the social pyramid. She doesn’t mess up, she’s stronger than everyone else. She’s the alpha bongo, she solves everyone else’s problems and has none of her own.
What I’m now curious about is WHY that’s so important. Why does she feel that she HAS to be above the “nerds” and the “normals”? What in her mind does it mean about herself if she doesn’t measure up to her own self-imposed need for superiority? What is it about her life that demands she meet her own criteria? Who is she trying to impress? Who’s attention is she looking for?
And then it occurs to me that her parents never came to visit.
you pretty much described why I never liked her in the first place. Yes, I also think much of this comes from her lousy parents.
Maybe it’s the way that Billie taking an interest in Ruth sort of came out of left field (imo), but this week has felt a little melodramatic to me.
Wow, I felt like I wanted to bawl about Amber, now this strip makes me want to bawl again. Damn these feels. Oh and I flipped the bird to your alt text, happy valentines indeed. :p
Well, I was hoping Billie would confess to backsliding and somehow salvage the relationship, but she managed to make things even worse. I remain optimistic however that this will lead to some introspection and personal growth on her part, and they will eventually manage to get back together, so it will all be for the best in the long run.
.
.
.
Then I remember who the author is, and I have to admit I have no idea where this is going to go, but I am sure I will enjoy the ride.
Well, Ruth, you have hit on what we like to call the problem.
Aaaaah frakit!!!
I sympathize with Ruth in the situation, butI am a little reminded of the last scene from the old episode of Titus “deprogramming Erin”
“You mean because I started drinking you gave up on life? Erin, I love you, and I’m sorry… But that’s crap!”
Not quite the same situation here, but seriously, Ruth needs to get inboard with the idea that Billie IS a deceitful alchoholic and while anger is a perfectly justified reaction, it’s more productive to turn it into a “you couldn’t even go one week?!” Guilt trip.
Ruth is struggling with severe depression and self esteem issues, exacerbated by her alcoholism. Billie was, for a brief shining moment, her light in the dark, the thing that made her feel like she could escape her own inner torment.
These things aren’t about what’s productive. When you’re depressed, you -know- it isn’t productive, that’s part of the problem. Because you can’t just -stop- being depressed through force of will. But the unproductive nature of depression just makes you -more- depressed.
Ruth is trapped in a cycle of hating who she is, failing to be anything else, and hating herself more for that. It’s hard to escape from something like that.
And guilt trips aren’t productive.
… All of the “Damn you Willis.”
All of it.
when are we going to go back to the happy 🙁
Yeah, not feeling the sympathy for Billie anymore, and I completely feel for Ruth. My uncle was killed by a drunk driver when I was five (he was walking well along the shoulder, nowhere near traffic) and a wonderful artist peer of mine was killed by a drunk driver when I was in college. (She was 19; her 12 and 9 year old siblings were killed along with her – they were out Christmas shopping, the drunk crossed the center line and they weren’t able to get out of his way, and her parents lost all three of their children two days after Christmas as a result.) The drunks walked away “fine” in both instances.
Alcoholics/drunks like Billie, who don’t understand why they’re “not hurting anyone ‘now,'” piss me off beyond belief.
I see what you’re getting at, and drunk driving is by no means ok, but that doesn’t mean you should stop drinking. Just don’t drive when you do. It’s one thing to drink so much that you’re passing out in your room by yourself. And it’s another thing to drink so much it impairs your driving. The latter amount is a much safer amount than the former. Drinking to the point where driving is dangerous is perfectly fine, just DON’T drive. Yes, Billie drinks a lot. And yea, she bent a truck around a tree, and that was a stupid decision. But she’s kinda right. She isn’t hurting anyone anymore. She made one bad decision. Doesn’t mean she needs to swear off alcohol. She just needs to not drive when she drinks.
Easier said than done. When your judgment is impaired from drinking, unless you have others around you who can make sober decisions, then there’s a chance that this would never cross your mind, or that you would make justifications to yourself or others about your decision to drive drunk. Rather than saying “it’s okay to drink as long as you don’t drive”, I am of the opinion that if you plan to go anywhere outside of where you can safely drink, and you have to make the return trip by yourself, then don’t drink.
The implication you’re unknowingly making here when you use the phrase “impairs your driving” is that the person who’s drinking is already planning to get behind the wheel or has already made the decision to drive while drunk. To drink enough that it impairs your driving not only puts yourself in danger, it puts other drivers or pedestrians in danger as well. This isn’t safer in any means than drinking to the point of blacking out.
Once again, easier said than done if you’re out drinking somewhere and you don’t have anyone sober around to help you make good decisions. I think that if you have to drive anywhere, or if you don’t have a designated driver, then don’t drink at all, even at the cost of a good time.
Ultimately, it’s not the drinking that’s hurting others, but her poor choices. Her choice to drink and break the promise she made has hurt Ruth, her choice to argue about breaking that promise has hurt Ruth, and the fact that she couldn’t go three days without drinking means that she does have a drinking problem. Billie is an alcoholic, but alcoholism is not her true problem. It is merely a symptom of a larger issue she holds within her heart, one that hasn’t been touched upon yet; I think that the absence of her parents, who did not show up for Freshmen Family Weekend, plays a key part in this.
Damnit, this has been a bad week for shippers.
First Ryuko turns out to be Satsuki’s sister and now this drama.
Ah well, at least there’s always Nonon…
Calmmmm Ruth ;-; STAY CALM
DumbingOfAge theme in a nutshell: Teens with ridiculous amounts of emotional baggage entering dating scene way too late, and then overreacting to everything. EVERYTHING. Did you think things would be happily ever after? NOPE! Let’s OVERREACT!
Next up, Amber Overreacts to super nice Danny genuinely caring about her. Followed by Amber overreacting to a perfectly justifiable smack down she laid out on her scumbaggodad.
“Well, the girl I kissed once right before nearly dying/getting expelled for alcohol promised she would quit drinking with me and then it turns out she didn’t, after she kissed me back.
Better go kill myself.”
Yes, because being a recovering alcoholic in a relationship with someone who refuses to stop drinking and is willing to lie to you about it sounds like an excellent basis for a relationship that no one should ever have any qualms about getting into ever.
Also, I don’t think that’s a suicide threat. I think that’s a “I feel fucking betrayed because you said you would help me and I believed you and now I feel crushed and hopeless” statement.
What Ruth is doing is making her happiness (or worst case scenario, her will to live) dependent on someone else’s actions. Someone she KNOWS is a spoiled fuckup. No matter how you slice it, it’s a pretty shitty thing to do.
Billie dodged a bullet
you see, mister willis, this is why i have trust issues. you give us the much expected bille x ruth, then you shatter it into a million pieces
I’m picturing a scene in which Billie stumbles from her room the next morning exhausted from crying all night, and stumbles into Walky, and in a moment of weakness tells him the whole story. Walkerton in turn tells her what he did with his evening. Then offers to give her advice.
Then Billie starts screaming, and never stops. Ever.
Actually, as the son of a recovering alcoholic, Ruth’s kind of got a good deal of blame here, it’s not all on Billie. You can’t hinge your whole sobriety on a single person, you just can’t, no matter how much you care about them, or they care about you and support you.
Putting that on anyone is just daring them to fail you, and it WILL happen sooner or later. Yeah, Billie made a mistake. Now let’s stack that single mistake against every horrible thing Ruth has done to her with little to no provocation, and see where the score sits…. Yeah, Ruth definitely owes her some understanding here.
Do ALL webcomic artist like to make one’s heart wrench from anguish? Because I think it’s a trend…
Yep, staying away from this comic for a few days before V-Day was definitely a good call. 🙁
I’m gonna assume you don’t know spanish and go ahead and say this: Sos un hijo de puta, Willis. Y te amo.