Being aggressively “Normal” in dress, mannerisms, and style. Only wearing/doing things that’ve been completely white-washed and steam-pressed by Popular Culture.
Her name is spelled “Björk”. And she only said she’s into bestiality. Furries are still weirder than that in my opinion, though not as weird as Otherkin. There is some overlap between the groups, admittedly.
I… I *think* they believe Billie’s glasses are fake and used for sexy-times, but she’s so hardcore into roleplay that she’s using actual prescription lenses in her fake glasses? (I seem to recall that Billie’s taken steps to hide her glasses from her floormates in the past)
That is also my read. Billie took off her glasses when she first walked into this dorm, so they think she doesn’t need them, so when they see her with them they assume she’s very dedicated to her “staged normcore”, because apparently no one in this dorm has invested any points in “critical thinking”.
Well, obviously the cool kids must be having cool sex! So if something about her sex seems uncool, the only rational explanation is that pretending she isn’t overwhelmingly cool is how she gets off!
That is Beatrice. She is deaf. She signs when she talks, and sometimes also Nash signs conversations going on around her to help her keep up (though she does seem to be able to lip-read to some degree as well)
To quote an earlier strip: “Whatever you said, shut up and let us help you get set up in here.” She and Nash frequently do ASL but Beatrice is the one always looking at it rather than Nash who seems to do it for Beatrice’s ease of keeping up.
It’s not that hard…especially if she’s farsighted, or has a strong prescription. (The latter doesn’t seem to be the case. Hard to guess on the former.) The lenses cause distortion – even my relatively weak glasses for nearsightedness cause a visible disjoint in the line of my face between the bits behind glass and the bits not.
My old glasses/prescription the lenses were like 6mm thick at the edges. The new ones are much smaller so I can peep under them to read up close, but I’m basically blind past 10 feet. So yeah, if the person they’re made for is near sighted enough it’s possible to tell from across a room if the lenses are prescription.
It is obvious sometimes from thickness of lenses or because you can visibly see distortion when you look at them or because light bounces off differently. Rose herself also wears glasses so this also likely makes it easier for her to tell as she has seen many times herself what glasses look like.
Those girls are really really strange in a creepy way and I don’t like them. I’m not a Lucy fan and feel sorry for her, having them as her de facto social group and feel that Carla is a better friends choice. But can also see, if she ever goes there and they realise she’s trans as well as rich, a friend of Billie’s (sorta) etc them deciding to either worship her instead of Billie in this sort of fetishistic manner and be unwittingly really othering and problematic – or deciding she tries too hard and being nasty, othering and REALLY problematic.
Carla might just need to burn down their Halls either way.
Honestly, I think they and Billie would be better off if they were to worship Carla – mostly because I believe Carla would be able to handle them. The first Billie’d have needed to do is either be honest with them about Ruth or tell them that her personal life is none of their concern – but she didn’t due to “I was a cheerleader”-glory being supported.
Carla constantly indicates she’s worthy enough to be worshipped, but I bet if they’d go too far in one point or another, such as lingering in front of her room when she clearly wants privacy, she’d very likely tell them so without caring about scaring them off. I doubt they’d be nasty, and if they were – Carla knows ways of dealing with that (also, don’t they have Zaph in their dorm?). Just my thoughts, though.
“Honestly, I think they and Billie would be better off if they were to worship Carla – mostly because I believe Carla would be able to handle them.”
Like, she literally is the Tearer of Band-Aids, the Cleaner of Closets, Air-er of Laundry, Shatterer of Illusions. She would find it entertaining for a while, surely, but once she was bored I have no doubt she would straight-up say “you are grown women, this is not high school, update your value set to something sensible and stop being so damn ridiculous.”
Ruth is only a dom for people she needs to intimidate for professional reasons (keeping the kids in the dorm in line). I don’t think she’s actually into the whole BDSM scene IRL. However Word of God could say I’m all full of it.
Not much evidence, but there was one of the comics where they’re…I think hate-making-out or something? And Ruth starts saying what she’ll do to Billie but is interrupted somehow, but the alt-text of the panel finishing her sentence is “…and I’ll spank you so hard” and I could see Ruth saying that.
These three are delusional. Real life sexuality isn’t like in porn movies. There’s no awkward penthouse letters narration, badly written plots about infidelities and science fiction scenarios, and no unrealistic expectations from hentai.
Also, being a dominatrix and using respecripted glasses aren’t mutually exclusive. You can be sexy and have disabilities at the same time.
From my read it means ‘Billie bought prescription lenses instead of normal fake lenses to pretend to be dressed in a way that is deemed as normal by everyone for sexual roleplay purposes where she pretends to be normal rather than literally amazing’. Because they think Billie doesn’t need glasses because of you know, Billie hiding that she needs glasses.
I feel like the phrase “she asked for this” is not a good gravitas to lend this sort of behavior. Nobody “invites” creepy, obsessive behavior like this. That’s not a justification.
Is she? Or is leaving them merely more unkindness to the rest of the world? Like that one guy who shall apparently never be mentioned in this comic again. Mitchell or something?
Because it is kind of fetishistic/creepily obsessive/fixated on their sex lives like fujoshis. They don’t even know Ruth and they are creating a narrative for her and Billie’s sex life based on literally nothing. It’s not quite the same, but it is hitting some of the same notes as it.
A fujoshi is basically a woman (usually straight) who fetishes gay men and their sex as some ‘sinful guilty pleasure’. They basically generally want gay (particularly sexual) content but don’t support real gay people or want to listen when gay men say ‘hey, it’s cool if you enjoy this content, but can you maybe treat it as if it is a loving intimate act rather than an abombination/not label gay men as your nasty sinful babies for being gay and in love’. They’re the types of people that think it is ‘hot’ but still want to be homophobic about it.
Wait, do they not know Billie wears glasses, or do they, the three of them all wearing glasses, think the fact that Ruth wears them is somehow notable?
NORMCORE
someone should let Ryan know
Next strip: they’re listening to the door with a cup.
“What are they doing now?”
“I think cramming for midterms.”
“Kinky!”
I’ll be in my bunk.
Yes! Firefly ref!
OK, what exactly does Normcore mean?
Everybody in the bar greets you in unison when you enter, then you say a self-deprecating one-liner.
Isn’t that Cheers?
Oh, right. It must be when you’re a carpenter, you wear plaid shirts, and you make furniture in a big workshop full of power tools.
And you wish you were a girl like your dear papa?
In that quote THEY use the term ‘girlie, just like my dear Papa.” … Not Just an Idle comment.
I see what you did there.
I said ‘carpenter’ not ‘lumberjack’!
I’m only leaving a comment here because I saw other Dinasaurs and wanted to start a herd.
With a thick Boston accent!
Theah’s no more impoatint safety rule, than to weah these safety glasses.
I believe that it’s pronounced “glassers”.
I don’t think so, Tim.
“That was the joke.”
/Eeyore voice
Being aggressively “Normal” in dress, mannerisms, and style. Only wearing/doing things that’ve been completely white-washed and steam-pressed by Popular Culture.
What the hell, girls
I agree with this comment.
and all three of them wears glasses, too !
Why they know no one cool would ever wear glasses!
Nash carries more than one pair. Guess bifocals don’t work for her.
Thirded
These people are less believable than *Galasso*.
That could apply to any non-Galasso character, though.
I don’t follow.
It seems pretty straightforward, he’s saying Galasso is the most realistic character.
Man I feel so bad for Billy. Literally the most annoying kinda people
Dumbing of Age Book 10: [basically any line from the last three panels]
DIA Book 10: Don’t Think I Didn’t Notice The Glasses?
And it works with several characters.
DIA BOOK 10 — Staged Sexual Normcore
DoA Book 10: Financial Dedication To Staged Sexual Normcore
…WTF does that even mean?
Billie has a vanilla fetish, apparently.
It’s a Milla Vanilla fetish. Sex while lipsyncing to the pre-recorded sounds of another couple (preferably married) in missionary position.
Ask Bjork. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bjork-normcore-sexuality-feminism-interview-a7352951.html
The real bombshell in that article is her admitting she’s a furry.
Like that’s a surprise after the swan costume?
And then there’s the whole Human Behavior video.
Her name is spelled “Björk”. And she only said she’s into bestiality. Furries are still weirder than that in my opinion, though not as weird as Otherkin. There is some overlap between the groups, admittedly.
Yeah…bestiality still isn’t acceptable. Animals cannot give consent.
Although I suppose a horse could kick you.
Still don’t get it. Am I too old? Fishnet stockings as a thing everyone is into seems a very strange idea to me.
I believe fishnet bodysuits were a thing back in the 60s and 70s. Maybe stockings are not risque enough by comparison.
… that… that was a read.
….
… I own Bjork albums.
I… I *think* they believe Billie’s glasses are fake and used for sexy-times, but she’s so hardcore into roleplay that she’s using actual prescription lenses in her fake glasses? (I seem to recall that Billie’s taken steps to hide her glasses from her floormates in the past)
That is also my read. Billie took off her glasses when she first walked into this dorm, so they think she doesn’t need them, so when they see her with them they assume she’s very dedicated to her “staged normcore”, because apparently no one in this dorm has invested any points in “critical thinking”.
Ah, teenagers.
Well, obviously the cool kids must be having cool sex! So if something about her sex seems uncool, the only rational explanation is that pretending she isn’t overwhelmingly cool is how she gets off!
Seriously, people in this dorm *are* creepy…
where “some” is a number that can vary between a single entity to the total population of said dorm.
Billie isn’t the only person in this dorm who needs a prescription.
GoodNESS I worry about these girls.
I worry about everyone in their path
i’d close the door slowly, too. wtf. take the excitement down from an 8 to, like, a 3, okay Billie’s Personal Fanclub?
I for one look forward to that slipshine
Why look forward, when you can look to the past?
Scandalous? Mmmm-maybe.
Bright side, no one is still calling Billie‘s bluff, in any shape or form
Honestly I wouldn’t want to introduce anyone, be it a friend or romantic interest, to these creepy fetishistic fucks either.
I wouldn’t even give them an introduction to Shakespeare
Why is that one girl doing sign language? Is she partially deaf?
Yes.
AFAIK, Beatrice is deaf.
That is Beatrice. She is deaf. She signs when she talks, and sometimes also Nash signs conversations going on around her to help her keep up (though she does seem to be able to lip-read to some degree as well)
Beatrice is deaf.
To quote an earlier strip: “Whatever you said, shut up and let us help you get set up in here.” She and Nash frequently do ASL but Beatrice is the one always looking at it rather than Nash who seems to do it for Beatrice’s ease of keeping up.
These people definitely need to go outside some more.
Why are you exposing the general population to them? Keep them confined.
How can Rose tell the glasses are perscription? Is Rose a superhero?
Depending how strong they are and if they’re coated, they may visibly refract/reflect light differently to thin plain glass.
It’s not that hard…especially if she’s farsighted, or has a strong prescription. (The latter doesn’t seem to be the case. Hard to guess on the former.) The lenses cause distortion – even my relatively weak glasses for nearsightedness cause a visible disjoint in the line of my face between the bits behind glass and the bits not.
My old glasses/prescription the lenses were like 6mm thick at the edges. The new ones are much smaller so I can peep under them to read up close, but I’m basically blind past 10 feet. So yeah, if the person they’re made for is near sighted enough it’s possible to tell from across a room if the lenses are prescription.
It is obvious sometimes from thickness of lenses or because you can visibly see distortion when you look at them or because light bounces off differently. Rose herself also wears glasses so this also likely makes it easier for her to tell as she has seen many times herself what glasses look like.
Everyone here is wearing glasses, which is what’s weird. How do Nash and Beatrice not notice the obvious not-plane-ness of them?
Perhaps they were distracted by the (imagined) sexy.
It’s even easier with those of us who prefer traditional ‘lined’ bi- and tri-focals.
Those girls are really really strange in a creepy way and I don’t like them. I’m not a Lucy fan and feel sorry for her, having them as her de facto social group and feel that Carla is a better friends choice. But can also see, if she ever goes there and they realise she’s trans as well as rich, a friend of Billie’s (sorta) etc them deciding to either worship her instead of Billie in this sort of fetishistic manner and be unwittingly really othering and problematic – or deciding she tries too hard and being nasty, othering and REALLY problematic.
Carla might just need to burn down their Halls either way.
Honestly, I think they and Billie would be better off if they were to worship Carla – mostly because I believe Carla would be able to handle them. The first Billie’d have needed to do is either be honest with them about Ruth or tell them that her personal life is none of their concern – but she didn’t due to “I was a cheerleader”-glory being supported.
Carla constantly indicates she’s worthy enough to be worshipped, but I bet if they’d go too far in one point or another, such as lingering in front of her room when she clearly wants privacy, she’d very likely tell them so without caring about scaring them off. I doubt they’d be nasty, and if they were – Carla knows ways of dealing with that (also, don’t they have Zaph in their dorm?). Just my thoughts, though.
“Honestly, I think they and Billie would be better off if they were to worship Carla – mostly because I believe Carla would be able to handle them.”
Like, she literally is the Tearer of Band-Aids, the Cleaner of Closets, Air-er of Laundry, Shatterer of Illusions. She would find it entertaining for a while, surely, but once she was bored I have no doubt she would straight-up say “you are grown women, this is not high school, update your value set to something sensible and stop being so damn ridiculous.”
Agreed.
That would just make them fangirl even harder.
Now I can’t unpicture Billie in dominatrix-gear.
Easier to picture Ruth. Billie’s a bottom.
Ruth is only a dom for people she needs to intimidate for professional reasons (keeping the kids in the dorm in line). I don’t think she’s actually into the whole BDSM scene IRL. However Word of God could say I’m all full of it.
[Laughs in Slipshine] For just a few easy payments of $147.35 a week, you could find out.
**raises eyebrow**
It’s $9.99 a month. Jeez, don’t over-inflate the price.
Oh, is that the real price? “I” “wouldn’t” “know”.
Not much evidence, but there was one of the comics where they’re…I think hate-making-out or something? And Ruth starts saying what she’ll do to Billie but is interrupted somehow, but the alt-text of the panel finishing her sentence is “…and I’ll spank you so hard” and I could see Ruth saying that.
I think they both switch. If that’s what’s actually going on.
They definitely were both getting turned on by the fake fighting they were staging earlier. And it wasn’t always Billie losing.
Dumbing of Age Book 10: Financial Dedication to Staged Sexual Normcore
Unironically this
I fucking love these women
Agreed. They are the best characters.
Jesus christ can forest hall just stop
all signs point to… no.
These three are delusional. Real life sexuality isn’t like in porn movies. There’s no awkward penthouse letters narration, badly written plots about infidelities and science fiction scenarios, and no unrealistic expectations from hentai.
Also, being a dominatrix and using respecripted glasses aren’t mutually exclusive. You can be sexy and have disabilities at the same time.
I mean, they’re also all first-year college students, and given the general theme of the wing, they are all incredibly sheltered.
They all sound like 17-19 year olds having fun jumping to wild conclusions. Except for a bit of stretching for comedy’s sake, all pretty normal.
prescripted*
Haven’t seen that many glasses wearing girls in one comic since I last checked out Frivolesque
I feel really called out by this page
don’t kink shame me
WTF?
The girls in this hall are definitely creeping me out. Also I have no idea what “financial dedication to staged sexual normcore” means.
From my read it means ‘Billie bought prescription lenses instead of normal fake lenses to pretend to be dressed in a way that is deemed as normal by everyone for sexual roleplay purposes where she pretends to be normal rather than literally amazing’. Because they think Billie doesn’t need glasses because of you know, Billie hiding that she needs glasses.
… I feel like this is what it feels like for people to be shipped in real life, and being told about it.
Just remember. Billie wanted their admiration. She wanted this.
Consider her petard thoroughly hoisted
Admiration, not obsession.
She wanted attention, without considering possible blowback. She asked for this.
I feel like the phrase “she asked for this” is not a good gravitas to lend this sort of behavior. Nobody “invites” creepy, obsessive behavior like this. That’s not a justification.
Malaya deserves an award for not killing everyone in this building when she was here.
Agreed. She’s more kind that she seems.
Is she? Or is leaving them merely more unkindness to the rest of the world? Like that one guy who shall apparently never be mentioned in this comic again. Mitchell or something?
What’s with the blue / transparent hands? Does that indicate ASL or something like that?
Yes. It’s also used with Marcie (and Malaya and Sal when they’re talking to her).
Yeah, the right most character Beatrice, is deaf I believe.
Okay, at first I thought they were okay but harmless, but now I really don’t like those people. This shit is creepy
Is this what fans are like? Is this how people see fandoms?
This is what obsessive fetishistic creepy fans are like at least.
Billie Fanfic!
Restraining orders for everyone.
My god, these girls are unbelievably creepy!
Why is this reminding me of the “fujoshi” anime trope? I mean it’s clearly not between dudes but the nutso reasoning seems on par.
You want a term for female fans who enjoy any media works or fanworks with romantic relationships between women, rather than men.
Because it is kind of fetishistic/creepily obsessive/fixated on their sex lives like fujoshis. They don’t even know Ruth and they are creating a narrative for her and Billie’s sex life based on literally nothing. It’s not quite the same, but it is hitting some of the same notes as it.
I am at work, and for my own safety, will not look up that word until I get home.
A fujoshi is basically a woman (usually straight) who fetishes gay men and their sex as some ‘sinful guilty pleasure’. They basically generally want gay (particularly sexual) content but don’t support real gay people or want to listen when gay men say ‘hey, it’s cool if you enjoy this content, but can you maybe treat it as if it is a loving intimate act rather than an abombination/not label gay men as your nasty sinful babies for being gay and in love’. They’re the types of people that think it is ‘hot’ but still want to be homophobic about it.
Well, that’s the worst case scenario anyways.
A fujoshi is just a female fan of M/M ships.
You are perfectly safe looking up that word. Don’t however, mix up that word with futanari. I made that mistake once. . . . Once.
FACEPALM! People on this floor are impossible. Malaya has all my support
for leaving it as soon as possible.
Gross.
That is just sad and unhealthy. I feel sorry for them.
nobody in this dorm talks or behaves like a normal person
Versus the other characters in the comic?
God these people are creeps
Good work, Genius Squad.
Also I kind of hate Forest Quad a little now.
Wait, do they not know Billie wears glasses, or do they, the three of them all wearing glasses, think the fact that Ruth wears them is somehow notable?
They don’t know that Billie wears them, if I remember correctly.
They didn’t know, but Joyce told them when Faz came to visit.