So when does Malaya get to meet Carla? I know the ships in DoA aren’t the same, but their interactions were so great that I bet they’ll still at least become friends.
Although it would be badass to see Marcie and Carla battle for Malaya’s hand. Can Reed Hall even contain such awesomeness?
That’s a newer design than I’ve personally ever seen.
Then again I fall into the maker/DIY end of the BDSM community so a lot of the stuff I’ve seen in this field involves some hardware hacking, some interesting kitbashing or else pure scratch fabrication (well outside the classic long running favorites of remote eggs, balls, rings and butterflies) and some of it falls into the scale of “you need a special room just for that”.
And that’s a big part of why the maker/DIY stuff in this field exists, well that and the fact that there’s a very limited set of mass market options for more… esoteric… interests (say remote operated clover clamps for example).
hmmm, your usernme sure sounds like an old alias i used to use when i plyed with developing this stuff. did you perchance borrow it from somewhere vlad?
Nope. My standard online handle (vlademir1) started life as a D&D character name I played when I was 12., some 26 years ago, and I’ve gone by it, with some minor variation, as my standard online public name for about 20 years.
As far as fun new kit, there’s always something. I’m not exactly deep on the bleeding edge though, I only got into this kinda stuff about 6 years back and lean heavier toward DIY of classic wood, metal, leather and cloth implements rather than the stuff we’re discussing upthread.
I kinda assume it was just weird grammar (‘weird’ as in ‘sometimes people leave out words because that’s just how colloquial grammar works’).
So I think Malaya means, like… “So she’s the one you were fucking [secretly, before you got discovered and job ethics forced one of you out of the dorm], right?”
Pretty much. No one ever tries to excuse her actions the way they do Anna or Mike. She’s an unapologetic asshole and she’ll let you know how stupid you are because you have it coming like Sal did.
I, personally really like Malaya because when I first met her I found her confidence refreshing – I’d not seen very many ladies in fiction who were like ‘I do what I want and I don’t really care if you like me or not, I’m great, what the fuck do I need you to like me for?’ Plus, I’ll admit, I tend to gravitate towards bongo-y characters because I have a very snarky, kinda sadistic sense of humour and their mean remarks usually make me laugh.
I probably wouldn’t like her as much IRL (at least unless I got to see her with the people she liked, like Ultra car in Shortpacked! or Marcie here) because then she’s actually kinda adorable.
Hostility implies intent. She’s what you’d call “tactless”. Like calling someone fat. Even if it’s objectively true it’s pretty rude to say. But Hostile implies you’re saying it with attempt to hurt. So far Sal has been hostile to Malaya. Malaya’s just been sorta rude but not really out to start shit with Sal.
Except Sal doesn’t actually smoke indoors? There’s never been any indication that she smokes in the room. I’m fairly certain that the room doesn’t actually smell like smoke (besides probably Sal’s clothes to some degree), Malaya’s just being an ass to Sal directly, purposely.
Which makes me wonder. Malaya presumably did read the paperwork where Sal was going to be her new roommate, right? And went ahead with it anyway?
Malaya, who was just blasting Sal as “too cool to read the paperwork”, put in for a roomie switch the first hour of move-in day and didn’t specify “no smokers”.
Malaya is way past tactless and definitely into actively trying to piss people off. Either that or she is a clueless idiot, but I don’t think that’s the one.
Also, original point of Billie being the least hostile etc. still stands.
I think Malaya doesn’t like social niceties and would rather just be brutally honest and direct, partially because she’s not very good at more complex social stuff.
Judging from her expression, this is just baseline Malaya rather than battlemode Malaya.
*Tilts head* You mean she’s from Brazil? Is that where she’s from? Is that a Brazilian skin tone? Daniel the Human just keeps chuckling & saying “You froze up last time I told you…”
Oh thanks! I just googled her last name’s origin and it said “Brazilian/Portugeuse/Spanish” so I just assumed. But Filipino makes sense bc that would still mean a Spanish last name in origin.
#6: No loud noises during quiet hours, especially screams of agony and/or cries for help as a result of being murdered. Show some consideration for your peers.
1) RAs have to be students I think so she volunteered and just had to be able to seem better in theory than the other ones and we have seen she can be okay in small doses. Mystically she is actually still better than the other RAs which should tell you a lot about the kinds of people that usually volunteer for the position and have to be hired due to lack of other options.
2) She likely didn’t look for a job elsewhere. She probably only took the RA one because it helped her attend and would reduce her school costs.
3) Why is she still one? Her grandfather said so and convinced Chloe to keep her as one.
To be fair to Eru, Numenor had become ruled by an evil cult practicing human sacrifices and literally marching an army into elf heaven to become immortal, while persecuting non-cult members who had for the most part fled to the colonies in Middle Earth.
I don’t know how much pay would be enough, but the job *definitely* needs to come with a benefits package that includes health insurance that has mental health coverage of some kind.
Yes! Both come from the same Greek root, eugenios, which means well-born. This became names in various languages – like Eugene in English – implying nobility. And then later it became the name of a pseudoscience trying to breed “better” people.
I am starting to think people on the dorm will be more disapointed in Ruth if she doesn’t try to throttle Mary or Malaya in 6 months. It’s probably a Lose-lose for her.
Panel four caused spontaneous Ringer’s leakage from my ocular-orb O-ring seals. Leaking O-rings are very dangerous, Feels indicator shows pressure exceeds Max specs. Calling subroutine selfchek.exe and emo-reset.bat
One small Billie in panel 4, no lines. And she makes the most of it.
In another way, Malaya’s special talent shines through: Getting the most Goddammit Malaya she can out of every syllable uttered, not just at the people in her new wing, but also to Billie, and we only imagine, other bystanders.
Malaya put in her request to swap immediately. My guess is that Puddinhead put it on hold until she found someone to inflict her on who could handle it. Sal can trade insults with Malaya in the way most frosh couldn’t. Or else she just dumped the two brown girls together because it was easy.
So who wouldn’t Malaya want to kill on sight? Marcie is the only one we have seen her interact with without spitting poison.
That’s funny. I would have worded your first line as “Who wouldn’t want to kill Malaya on sight?” Marcie excepted, of course…
If not on sight, then after hearing her speak, at least. She sounds altogether too much like the overprivileged rich white kids who went to my daughter’s school who should be sterilized to prevent them breeding more of their kind.
Theory on yesterday’s strip: between the new church and the old sweater, Joyce and Sarah arrive at Jacob’s church to see the pastor requesting prayers/etc. for his son who was attacked and is now in the hospital.
noone’s gonna comment on that legitimate attempt as a kinda-fake-but-vaguely-nice first impression for Ruth? She’s trying so hard. Last panel’s honestly more sad than funny to me.
Panel 5 to 6: The very, very small change in Ruth’s eyebrows, positioning of her glasses/hair, and her facial features between the eyes and the top of the smile really sell this.
They’re big parts of the unease-inducing smile she unloads at the end.
I’m genuinely proud of Ruth here. Like she’s struggling so hard not to lapse into her old patterns and struggling with how much this job is a daily reminder of the vast control over her life her grandpa has.
And yet she tries to hold true to the person she is trying to be. She holds her fake smile, she keeps her statements oblique, and she even tries to be genuinely friendly at the beginning.
Like, having been through patches of intense depression and in spaces that were deeply triggering, I know just how fucking hard it is to dig deep for spoons like that and I’m proud of her for all the effort she is throwing into that.
^ This. I came her to congratulate Ruth. She’s finding that place where you can work the you people used to know into the new, healthier person you’re becoming with help. Sometimes, you have to be an asshole to get the point across to other assholes. However, when you can do it with a smile and the knowledge that you don’t have to be that way 100% of the time, it can be more useful – people have to assume you mean business, instead of “she’s just that way, roll your eyes and move on.”
Not just coping energy, energy for ALL your daily tasks. Like “action points”. Physical and mental effort. And if you run out before you run out of things on your to-do list, well, some of those things will just have to wait. If you’re chronically short, things start to pile up…
I admit, whenever Sal and Malaya fight, I am on Mal’s side. Why? Because I do like that Mal doesn’t take any crap. She knows Sal hates her and it’s not because of anything she did.
What StClair said. There is a difference between being blunt and being an ass. And it might be very likely that Malaya being an ass was what sparked her conflict with Sal.
Billie: Right. So, just in case, I’d really appreciate it if these two failing to get this agreement to you in a timely fashion didn’t end up with you sleeping with either of em.
fffffff Ruth needs to be composed and tempered because her volatility’s damaged herself and the people around her, but Malaya *is* Malaya. I’m…not super sure I’m looking forward to their next meeting. <.<
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they sign the roommate forms with pen
or else Ruth gets femurs again
Good rhyme.
So when does Malaya get to meet Carla? I know the ships in DoA aren’t the same, but their interactions were so great that I bet they’ll still at least become friends.
Although it would be badass to see Marcie and Carla battle for Malaya’s hand. Can Reed Hall even contain such awesomeness?
…at Carla’s first appearance?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/beer-weiser/ here
Aw man, I forgot she was there. Oh well, hopefully they get to interact more now.
Which was also Malaya’s first appearance, aside from a cameo in the form of an easily identified, but otherwise insignificant NPC in book 2.
They met back in book four! Check out “Up All Night to Get Vengeance”.
They have literally met already in this comic… They were literally both there when AG went to try to instigate Sal for underage drinking.
Oh dear.
I feel terrible for Ruth. I just want to give her a hug and tell her it’s still okay to frown sometimes.
New smiley Ruth is somehow more menacing than old scowly Ruth when she says things like that.
new ruth: physical threats served with a smile!
The fake smile really sells the sense of “I’m gonna rip out your throat like wires of a cheap rc toy”
If your femur isn’t ripped out within 30 minutes your beating is free!
Smiley Ruth probably has a better chance of getting through to Malaya than Scowly Ruth ever would.
Its the kind of smile that says, “I am on the edge, and if you push me over, the universe will shatter under the weight of my divine rage”.
Agreed.
Oh, *there’s* the TACT that Malaya is so well known for!
Bad is an accurate word for Malaya to wear.
It says ‘RAD’. Forget what you saw yesterday.
Just what Malaya needs right now:
Another smiling face…
Don’t let out inner Ruth. She’ll fuck ya up
Well she’ll fuck ya someway
Don’t make Ruth angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
RUTH SMASH
Ruth in the fourth panel: Must..not..rip out..their..femurs..
There’s my girl. Good to have her back.
ruth is very relatable.
‘Were’?
they both mightve agreed to put their relationship on hold, considering the circumstances
Unless they are psychically fingering one another at the moment I don’t believe they are currently fucking.
Actually, thanks to the wonders of teledildonics, they really could be doing that
Is this real? Asking for a friend.
Very real
That’s a newer design than I’ve personally ever seen.
Then again I fall into the maker/DIY end of the BDSM community so a lot of the stuff I’ve seen in this field involves some hardware hacking, some interesting kitbashing or else pure scratch fabrication (well outside the classic long running favorites of remote eggs, balls, rings and butterflies) and some of it falls into the scale of “you need a special room just for that”.
Well now I’m just imagining one of those little drone kits you can get, only with a dildo instead of a camera
…oh…
*learnt something new today*
Very interesting. My friend may need to look further into this.
Although you should be warned…
And that’s a big part of why the maker/DIY stuff in this field exists, well that and the fact that there’s a very limited set of mass market options for more… esoteric… interests (say remote operated clover clamps for example).
hmmm, your usernme sure sounds like an old alias i used to use when i plyed with developing this stuff. did you perchance borrow it from somewhere vlad?
i wonder if there’s some fun new kit out there
Nope. My standard online handle (vlademir1) started life as a D&D character name I played when I was 12., some 26 years ago, and I’ve gone by it, with some minor variation, as my standard online public name for about 20 years.
As far as fun new kit, there’s always something. I’m not exactly deep on the bleeding edge though, I only got into this kinda stuff about 6 years back and lean heavier toward DIY of classic wood, metal, leather and cloth implements rather than the stuff we’re discussing upthread.
Yes, it’s an actual thing: remotely-controlled sex toys.
Teledildonics? Sounds like a subdivision of Omni Consumer Products in RoboCop.
What would Malaya know about their status?
Rumors, then process of elimination because Sal’s not leaving.
I kinda assume it was just weird grammar (‘weird’ as in ‘sometimes people leave out words because that’s just how colloquial grammar works’).
So I think Malaya means, like… “So she’s the one you were fucking [secretly, before you got discovered and job ethics forced one of you out of the dorm], right?”
I forget, what’s the workaround that makes it wrong to just not like Malaya?
That she’ not Mary?
Or Blaine, or Ross, or Ryan.
Seriously. She’s probably in my top 5.
Well, you don’t want people thinking you’re some kinda racist, do you? 😉
Seriously, though, I don’t think anyone’s gonna say you’re wrong for not liking Malaya. She’s kind of an ass, after all.
I like Malaya because she’s an asshole that people treat and react to as if she were an asshole.
Not a super edgelord mary sue like Mike, where he constantly harasses and demeans everyone but they still want to fuck him.
So you like her as a character, but not as a person?
Pretty much. No one ever tries to excuse her actions the way they do Anna or Mike. She’s an unapologetic asshole and she’ll let you know how stupid you are because you have it coming like Sal did.
She’s a great ass, on top of having a great ass.
So, with great ass comes great assholery.
I, personally really like Malaya because when I first met her I found her confidence refreshing – I’d not seen very many ladies in fiction who were like ‘I do what I want and I don’t really care if you like me or not, I’m great, what the fuck do I need you to like me for?’ Plus, I’ll admit, I tend to gravitate towards bongo-y characters because I have a very snarky, kinda sadistic sense of humour and their mean remarks usually make me laugh.
I probably wouldn’t like her as much IRL (at least unless I got to see her with the people she liked, like Ultra car in Shortpacked! or Marcie here) because then she’s actually kinda adorable.
Ruth should’ve gathered more femurs when she had the chance
Not to be weird but do you go to VCU by chance?
I gotta say, Malaya is probably the most reasonable, least hostile person in this room. That’s kinda sad.
Is persistently saying the most spiteful possible things really non-hostile?
Also, Billie is in the room and has said nothing since Malaya arrived.
Hostility implies intent. She’s what you’d call “tactless”. Like calling someone fat. Even if it’s objectively true it’s pretty rude to say. But Hostile implies you’re saying it with attempt to hurt. So far Sal has been hostile to Malaya. Malaya’s just been sorta rude but not really out to start shit with Sal.
Really? Three strips ago, JUST THREE, she entered the room with a snide comment about Sal. She’s DEFINITELY hostile and trying to start shit.
Malaya: [Entering room] “Ugh. Is that the faint stench of cigarette smoke I smell in here or OVERHYPED PERFORMATIVE REBELLION?”
To be fair (though not as verbose) I’d probably comment too if the room did smell like ciggarettes. Probably just as rudely too.
You’re gonna be living with this person for next unknown months. Being rude might not be the best thing to start out with.
I’m also gonna be living with these lungs for the next unknown years(hopefully). Cigarette smoke might not be the best thing either.
Except Sal doesn’t actually smoke indoors? There’s never been any indication that she smokes in the room. I’m fairly certain that the room doesn’t actually smell like smoke (besides probably Sal’s clothes to some degree), Malaya’s just being an ass to Sal directly, purposely.
Which makes me wonder. Malaya presumably did read the paperwork where Sal was going to be her new roommate, right? And went ahead with it anyway?
Malaya, who was just blasting Sal as “too cool to read the paperwork”, put in for a roomie switch the first hour of move-in day and didn’t specify “no smokers”.
Malaya is way past tactless and definitely into actively trying to piss people off. Either that or she is a clueless idiot, but I don’t think that’s the one.
Also, original point of Billie being the least hostile etc. still stands.
I think Malaya doesn’t like social niceties and would rather just be brutally honest and direct, partially because she’s not very good at more complex social stuff.
Judging from her expression, this is just baseline Malaya rather than battlemode Malaya.
Wait… How is Billie being hostile? She seems to just be standing there. Perhaps a bit annoyed, but who wouldn’t be?
Well, that certainly is a sincere smile filled with nothing but goodwill.
the goodest of goodwill!
She is trying her goddamned best not to rip out their femurs. If that doesn’t count as goodwill, then I don’t know what does.
Looks like Malaya’s likely Brazilian!
*Tilts head* You mean she’s from Brazil? Is that where she’s from? Is that a Brazilian skin tone? Daniel the Human just keeps chuckling & saying “You froze up last time I told you…”
Isn’t she Filipino? I think somebody mentioned it recently.
Yeah, she’s Filipino
To be fair that doesn’t mean she’s NOT Brazillian I guess.
True enough.
Oh thanks! I just googled her last name’s origin and it said “Brazilian/Portugeuse/Spanish” so I just assumed. But Filipino makes sense bc that would still mean a Spanish last name in origin.
Filipino, actually.
Not sure where Brazil’s coming from.
Maybe they are discussing her personal grooming habits.
Googled her last name, said Brazilian origin. I definitely should have lead with that in the first comment bc it seems to have caused confusion!
She is Filipino, it was mentioned in Shortpacked but still those character traits remain in this comic.
Is it weird if, as a Brazilian, I find this musing mildly offensive?
I said that because I googled her last name and one of the origins said “Brazilian”….I hope you don’t think I meant that based off her appearance???
Ground rules:
#1: murder is acceptable (especially if you suceed)
#2: do we really need any other rules?
no eye gouging
#3: make sure to hide the body propperly. We don’t want more Police sniffing around…
#4 Take care of Marci.
#5 (possible new #1): don’t talk abour murder club.
#6: No loud noises during quiet hours, especially screams of agony and/or cries for help as a result of being murdered. Show some consideration for your peers.
#7: If #6 is ignored, vocal chords are a legitimate target.
Man I’m still not used to seeing Ruth smiling this much.
Smiley Ruth seems more intimidating than Scowly Ruth.
🙁
RIP Old Ruth.
Yeah, the actively suicidal, numb, excessively-drunk version of Ruth will surely be mourned.
That’s not what she would have wanted.
I like actively-trying-to-get-better-after-the-hospital-gave-her-a-kick-start Ruth, though.
Rest in peace can also be like “bless her heart”.
I was being a smartass…
How did Ruth get hired for this job? Follow-up question, how did she fail to get a job anywhere else?
She didn’t get hired. She was placed there. Apparently at her grandfather’s insistence.
1) RAs have to be students I think so she volunteered and just had to be able to seem better in theory than the other ones and we have seen she can be okay in small doses. Mystically she is actually still better than the other RAs which should tell you a lot about the kinds of people that usually volunteer for the position and have to be hired due to lack of other options.
2) She likely didn’t look for a job elsewhere. She probably only took the RA one because it helped her attend and would reduce her school costs.
3) Why is she still one? Her grandfather said so and convinced Chloe to keep her as one.
She reminds me of Lord Vetinari with her “Don’t make me come over there” approach to leadership.
Or Eru’s approach to conflict resolution, which involved blowing up a continent.
“Don’t let me detain you.”
As you do, really.
To be fair to Eru, Numenor had become ruled by an evil cult practicing human sacrifices and literally marching an army into elf heaven to become immortal, while persecuting non-cult members who had for the most part fled to the colonies in Middle Earth.
Ruth is really really scarry when she’s nice (as Billie has noted before)…
Poor Ruth. Is the past had been different, she would proberly be the best RA in the world
*Panel 5* That, everyone, is what self-restraint looks like.
Also, what the hell Malaya?
Ruth has a really fucked up Joyce smile right there.
Ruth actually doing her job is a beautiful thing to see. But I have to wonder, where does she channel all the anger now?
Hate sex would be nice.
Those last two panels are priceless. Poor Ruth. She’s not getting paid enough for this.
What pay *would* be enough for this?
I don’t know how much pay would be enough, but the job *definitely* needs to come with a benefits package that includes health insurance that has mental health coverage of some kind.
Aw Ruth you are doing good well dun
“Wanna kill her NOW!”
I read Sal’s line in a whiny little girls voice.
Like Veruca Salt.
Exactly like that!
Don’t care how. I want it now!
https://youtu.be/Pqsy7V0wphI?t=1m4s
but moooooom i wanna kill my roommate nooooow
Sal’s face is adorable in panel 2. I just wanna smush her face!
Has Joyce been offering a course on triangle smiles?
…Is there a reason Malaya’s last name is so close to “Eugenics”?
Yes! Both come from the same Greek root, eugenios, which means well-born. This became names in various languages – like Eugene in English – implying nobility. And then later it became the name of a pseudoscience trying to breed “better” people.
+1
Yay etymology! +1
I see etymology, I +1
Not to be confused with entemology, of course.
Which, ironically enough, is a plot point in Gunnerkrigg Court.
Me talking to my kids 5 minutes after my wife leaves.
I am starting to think people on the dorm will be more disapointed in Ruth if she doesn’t try to throttle Mary or Malaya in 6 months. It’s probably a Lose-lose for her.
I don’t know why, but Ruth reminds me of Norman Bates in that last panel.
“I could crush you like a bug but I won’t. That way, when I come to trial, the jury will say: ‘What a sweet little girl… She wouldn’t hurt a fly!“
I’m wondering at what point “I’m a terrible RA” turns into “my residents are assholes and need to be punished by a higher authority”.
How about “flinging around transphobic slurs”?
That’s a start.
Ruth’s face is somehow more frightening with this creepy forced smile of hers XD
It’s an “incipient mass murder” smile, I agree.
Poor Ruth.
The Stepford RA’s
Too much Malaya. I can’t take it. I’m gonna explode for being angry about her. Also I should take a break from reading comments maybe.
Yeah, I always thought that Malaya’s problem was a total lack of survival instinct and this kind of confirms it!
Back up Ruth! This dorm wing has room for only one Joker-class Supervillain!
The femur hunger cannot be suppressed forever.
Those wild dogs wont feed themselves.
I love how Ruth actually did a decent job as a fake!nice RA… until she met the reality of the people in her charge.
Well, there goes what willpower Ruth had amassed for the day.
All I see are time bombs being passed off as female characters infront of me right now.
So… new gravatar?
That’s just disturbing when taken out of context.
It’s perfect.
But in context it’s also disturbing.
There’s really no way to normalize that smile, is there?
Well thats one way of handling it I suppose, walking away would have been another but it wouldn’t have been as amusing
Panel four caused spontaneous Ringer’s leakage from my ocular-orb O-ring seals. Leaking O-rings are very dangerous, Feels indicator shows pressure exceeds Max specs. Calling subroutine selfchek.exe and emo-reset.bat
It does occur to me that giving Sal and Malaya a common enemy might make them less likely to keep antagonizing each other.
One small Billie in panel 4, no lines. And she makes the most of it.
In another way, Malaya’s special talent shines through: Getting the most Goddammit Malaya she can out of every syllable uttered, not just at the people in her new wing, but also to Billie, and we only imagine, other bystanders.
How badly has she pissed off Asma by this point?
What a cruel fate for Ruth. I hope she gets her revenge on that shitting excuse for a grandparent.
Malaya put in her request to swap immediately. My guess is that Puddinhead put it on hold until she found someone to inflict her on who could handle it. Sal can trade insults with Malaya in the way most frosh couldn’t. Or else she just dumped the two brown girls together because it was easy.
So who wouldn’t Malaya want to kill on sight? Marcie is the only one we have seen her interact with without spitting poison.
Or maybe this was just the first vacancy that came up. We’re still fairly early in the semester, remember .
That’s funny. I would have worded your first line as “Who wouldn’t want to kill Malaya on sight?” Marcie excepted, of course…
If not on sight, then after hearing her speak, at least. She sounds altogether too much like the overprivileged rich white kids who went to my daughter’s school who should be sterilized to prevent them breeding more of their kind.
Not in the mood for PC, eh?
Except that she’s not white, not as far as we know, rich.
You don’t have to be rich to be an obnoxious, self-centered asshat. It just makes it more likely, statistically speaking.
Thus the “like”.
No she’s not white. Doesn’t mean she can’t like the person Ntrovert described.
so was it her last name that had you jumping to advocating eugenics re:people you can’t stand, or do you hold that position normally? -.^
don’t support forced sterilization, joe
Am I the only one who finds smile!Ruth INFINITELY MORE TERRIFYING
Theory on yesterday’s strip: between the new church and the old sweater, Joyce and Sarah arrive at Jacob’s church to see the pastor requesting prayers/etc. for his son who was attacked and is now in the hospital.
And so begin the adventures of Bat(Baseball)woman and her sidekick One Punch Sweater Face.
Who’d have thought a smile could look so much like a battle axe.
Ha ha! It’s funny because I’ll fucking murder you and no one will find the body!
noone’s gonna comment on that legitimate attempt as a kinda-fake-but-vaguely-nice first impression for Ruth? She’s trying so hard. Last panel’s honestly more sad than funny to me.
Oh, yes. Ruth drew up all the reserves of niceness she could, and in about ten seconds of [Sal + Malaya] it evaporated.
Panel 5 to 6: The very, very small change in Ruth’s eyebrows, positioning of her glasses/hair, and her facial features between the eyes and the top of the smile really sell this.
They’re big parts of the unease-inducing smile she unloads at the end.
Comic Reactions:
I’m genuinely proud of Ruth here. Like she’s struggling so hard not to lapse into her old patterns and struggling with how much this job is a daily reminder of the vast control over her life her grandpa has.
And yet she tries to hold true to the person she is trying to be. She holds her fake smile, she keeps her statements oblique, and she even tries to be genuinely friendly at the beginning.
Like, having been through patches of intense depression and in spaces that were deeply triggering, I know just how fucking hard it is to dig deep for spoons like that and I’m proud of her for all the effort she is throwing into that.
^ This. I came her to congratulate Ruth. She’s finding that place where you can work the you people used to know into the new, healthier person you’re becoming with help. Sometimes, you have to be an asshole to get the point across to other assholes. However, when you can do it with a smile and the knowledge that you don’t have to be that way 100% of the time, it can be more useful – people have to assume you mean business, instead of “she’s just that way, roll your eyes and move on.”
“Spoons” means something from a blogger, but I forget who.
(Also it’s the name of cartoonist Abby Howard’s cat, at JSPowerhour, but that’s not what I’m thinking of. )
Been meaning to ask about the “spoons” thing for months.
‘Spoons’ = coping energy. Something people with depression must ration carefully.
Not just coping energy, energy for ALL your daily tasks. Like “action points”. Physical and mental effort. And if you run out before you run out of things on your to-do list, well, some of those things will just have to wait. If you’re chronically short, things start to pile up…
Thank you for the term.
Here’s the other Spoons, who shows up at the end.
http://www.jspowerhour.com/comics/166
Another metaphor I heard is spell slots.
I know she’s trying but man, Ruth in the first panel is so pretty.
Agreed. (But then, I’m biased. 😉 )
i feel like i’m the only one who can’t STAND malaya. like at all.
Nope. I don’t like her either.
Well there’s also Sal.
I admit, whenever Sal and Malaya fight, I am on Mal’s side. Why? Because I do like that Mal doesn’t take any crap. She knows Sal hates her and it’s not because of anything she did.
No false politeness.
No genuine politeness, either. In fact, none at all.
What StClair said. There is a difference between being blunt and being an ass. And it might be very likely that Malaya being an ass was what sparked her conflict with Sal.
Perhaps, but mostly it was “interfering” with her friendship with Marcie.
True, though friendship might less accurate than Lust considering Marcie openly said she wants to “hit that”.
Her “nice way” of doing things is scarier than her old aggressive ways.
Well since Malaya is Filipino, fun fact: “Malaya” means freedom in our tongue. Both apt and ironic for what’s transpiring in this scene.
Billie: Right. So, just in case, I’d really appreciate it if these two failing to get this agreement to you in a timely fashion didn’t end up with you sleeping with either of em.
Yeesh I forgot how insufferable Malaya was
fffffff Ruth needs to be composed and tempered because her volatility’s damaged herself and the people around her, but Malaya *is* Malaya. I’m…not super sure I’m looking forward to their next meeting. <.<