148

Patience
Posted on July 1, 2024 by David M Willis

148 thoughts on “Patience”

  1. NGPZ

    Another Pride Month has come and gone,
    but Gay Wrath Year is going STRONG! ?️‍??

    *plays “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor on hacked muzak*

    1. Nymph

      Hey! Moving this request here (from yesterday’s comment section), because I genuinely am curious to know and I think I replied too late yesterday for you to answer – can you show me the comic or comment from Willis that said Becky’s mother was a lesbian? I don’t remember anything like that, and I would love to know if that’s true!

      1. Username Taken

        I was wondering the same: fan theory, or part of the backstory that I missed or forgot? After a decade plus, I’ve definitely forgotten some character and plot details.

        1. Nymph

          I’m guessing, given the lack of an answer yesterday to the many people asking and the lack of answer today (although that might just be due to busyness) that this is a fan theory. Usually if something is canon people are falling all over themselves to confirm it in the comments.

          I hope NGPZ confirms/explains soon, I’m so curious!

        2. NGPZ

          I thought there was a strip confirming it, but am unable to remember it, or really anything much besides Ross saying that God was punishing them for failing to condemn sin hard enough, and I assumed that was it.

          It might have just been hearsay, but I really wish there was an easy way to look through comic dialogue to confirm.

          (Sanda and Woo strips for instance always have their dialogue typed out)

        3. Nymph

          Okay so fan theory until proven otherwise. Thanks for clarifying, was really concerned I had missed something that large and specific to my interests.

        4. Nymph

          I have gone back through all the Ross strips and definitely didn’t find even the slightest suggestion that Becky’s mom was a lesbian. I think she was “just” garden variety depressed and abused by her husband.

          (please note the “” around just because obviously that is also very bad and I’m not minimizing it, just saying it wasn’t compounded with being closeted as well)

        5. Username Taken

          Thanks for following up. Ultimately it doesn’t matter to the plot (for now) WHY Bonnie was depressed, it’s enough to know that she was and that Ross was a factor.

          Ugh. I hate it for Becky so much.

    2. Akane

      Are Joyce and Dorothy slowly coming out for each other part of the gay wrath year?

      1. Amós Batista

        ???

      2. NGPZ

        hopefully

        i really wanna start work on gay ass DoA fan games

        (fuck I can’t wait until i get SSI, rn i gotta take code commissions all most of my time just to feed myself ;-;)

  2. IntangibleMatter

    ADHD and Autism, everybody. Give them a hand!

    1. Taffy

      Sure, if I don’t forget.

      1. NGPZ

        *joyful finger pistols*

    2. Max

      I’ll do it later.

    3. SpaceDorf

      WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
      *runs around in circles*

      WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

    4. Hexx

      Yeah, feeling very called out by Charlie for no reason… Called out as in “the call of my people…”

    5. Spongegirl Circleskirt

      *tosses in a glove*

    6. Kazuma Taichi

      wait, but I still need my hands

  3. Doctor_Who

    Tigers are my actual favorite animal and have been since I was nine, so go Charlie and Carla!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Wow, we’re going on 20 minutes past the o’clock now.

      I’m on vacation for a week and the spacetime continuum goes to shit. Story of my life.

      1. Thag Simmons

        I’ve also been traveling and I feel like it was at around 14ish when I left. Six minutes of drift in under a month feels pretty substantial

    2. Marianne

      Is that when you were introduced to Calvin and Hobbes?

      1. Doctor_Who

        I can actually neither confirm nor deny that, but honestly it might be.

      2. Needfuldoer

        The zebra’s stripes are lacking hue, so they don’t compare to you-know-whose.

        Orange, black and white is what to wear! It’s Haute Couture for those who dare!

        It’s camouflage, and stylish too! Yes, tigers look the best, it’s true!

  4. IntangibleMatter

    Thirty-Second? Feeling optimistic today I see, Carla.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Hey, she’s met a whole human who she likes! That’s bound to improve the rankings.

      (Note: Charlie Georg is an outlier.)

      1. Thag Simmons

        Carla is human despite her protests and she enjoys many things that humans produce, which skews the rankings a bit

  5. ian livs

    I don’t know about Carla, but I’m always ecstatic to hear tiger facts. They’re rad

    1. Ana Chronistic

      New character appears: Ty Garfield
      remarkably similar to Dina
      goes around wearing this hat: https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Animal-Winter-Beanie-Aviator/dp/B017C3C9RO

  6. Imogen

    Is this the first thought bubble since the Dina chapter? The contrast of the two bearers of the thought bubble being our most internal character and our most external character seems deliberate to me. Carla is growing.

    Not that she needed to grow–we all know she’s perfect and the most important person ever and has never been wrong in her entire life–but, you know, it’s still fun to see her arc.

    1. Taffy

      No, it’s happened a few times in between. You don’t get receipts on that, I’m too lazy.

    2. Doctor_Who

      Nah, Carla is just using the new Rutech MindProjekt app to make her thoughts appear in a hologram above her head, so she can continue to subject the public to whatever she’s thinking on the rare occasions she isn’t actually telling them.

    3. HueSatLight

      There have been a few. But “recently” they changed from color-coded to black on white. I don’t have my list, but this is one I remember: https://www.dumbingofage.com/turnaround/

      1. Imogen

        Neat! Okay, so I guess somewhere down the line Willis decided to bend that rule a little. In all honesty, I was thinking that this comic might be stronger without the bubble, especially considering it doesn’t have that extra oomph of contrast.

        It’s a good little prompt for thinking about the issue of show-don’t-tell. Is it better for the speech bubble to make Carla’s growth extremely obvious, or would it be more powerful for Carla to just silently sit down and wait, encouraging the reader to consider why she’s taking that action and think about what it means for her to make that choice?

        There *is* a certain power to the visual of Carla physically trying to hold the words in and it manifesting as thought bubbles, but I think it only really works if either there’s a lot of words or thought bubbles are a lot rarer.

        1. Tan

          I think the thought bubble in this case does a good job contextualizing that the first two panels are the act of Carla purposely and mindfully calming herself. Not just being patient but *making* herself be patient. To show this properly without the thought bubble would’ve taken more panels, probably the entire rest of today’s strip. Which is a choice you can make sometimes, to decompress and focus in on a particular moment because it is important, but it really needs to be used sparingly in a one-a-day, lest it drag the overall pacing to a screeching halt. Plus you’d have the entire comments section for this day freaking out about how many hours it’s taking Charlie to respond, how there’s “no way” Charlie is independently functional, etc, etc, etc.

        2. Nymph

          Not that it completely stopped those comments from happening anyway, but I really hope they fizzle out at some point.

      2. HueSatLight

        Just remembered, thought bubbles are how we know Carla isn’t faceblind.

        1. Needfuldoer

          And how we know she doesn’t have aphantasia.

    4. PedanticJerkass

      Speaking of Dina, the fact that this is empty (at least as of now) makes me a bit sad.

  7. Bittersweet

    Oh! Okay! So it is more like just a short lag/delay thing. I feel 900% better than yesterday.

    Also, this is adorable.

  8. Kyrik Michalowski

    Carla learning to wait patiently and respect someone else’s speed of life? Has Hell frozen over?

    1. True Survivor

      I don’t know, but Charlie seems to have melted her heart (though come on -how could she not?).

    2. Thag Simmons

      Maybe she needs something like this

    3. Meagan

      Right?

    4. Kamino Neko

      Being sweet on somebody will do that.

      If she transfers it to other people, that will be impressive.

    5. anon

      well she did agree to booster about it but even if she needed extra instruction/prep to be told about ‘extra’ i would hope most partners would be patient than rushing or just grabbing

      Tho be funny if charlie agreed to be in some modified wagon thing she could comfortably sit on while carla skates with it , in emergencies if they were to like hang out in a cafe and needed to go bc its closing time

  9. daeranilen

    Ohhh, I feel this audio processing delay in my SOUL.

    1. dalniente

      Big big same.

  10. RassilonTDavros

    Huh. Learned something new about tigers today!

  11. Taffy

    Carla will be playing a tiger-striped Hrothgar lady once the Final Fantasy XIV Online: Dawntrail expansion is released. It’s canon, Willis confirmed it, this is explicitly stated in the comic now.

    (Anyone who mentions the free trial gets their gay gene replaced with a Twizzler.)

    1. anonymsly

      What job does she main? Inquiring minds want to know! (Is it machinist?)

      1. Taffy

        She bought level skips for every single class and doesn’t have a particular preference for any of them. She’s actually intentionally bad at the game and plays every class like a tank.

        1. anonymsly

          Delightful! Thank you.

  12. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    And Polar Bears have black skin under that white fur.

    1. Carla's #2 Fan

      Technically it’s clear fur anyhow! They just happen to be around a lot of white.

  13. HueSatLight

    Isn’t that how most animals with markings in their fur are? [seaches images of hairless calico cats]

    1. Daibhid C

      This NatGeo article says it’s not true of zebras, cheetahs or giraffes, but is of other big cats such as snow leopards.

      https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/animals-skin-colors-zebras-big-cats

      1. HueSatLight

        hm, not sure what to think of that article. I don’t know of anything that would keep all markings on the skin for every single animal. But also says domestic dogs and cats, but hairless calico cats and dalmatians have spots. I see other sources for the zebras, but so far they either directly/indirectly cite one particular zoo’s factoid page, or don’t cite. Guess I’m going to have to break into the zoo and shave a zebra (it’s ok, they’re really close to the outer fence, I see them when I walk by).

      2. HueSatLight

        appreciate the article, though, thanks.

  14. Doopyboop

    These two are adorable.

  15. Switchchris

    I love that Carla is now capable of Understanding and Patience, thats the biggest character development in this entire series, with a Close second being Joyce’s whole change lol. I wonder how long it will take before she will be able to do things like Apologize or Comfort somebody who isn’t Charlie.

    1. Throwatron

      W-why would she be able to do that? Those people are Not Carla and Not Charlie. There’s absolutely no bandwidth for paying attention to pointless nonsense such as that!

  16. audkitten

    Carla and Charlie are my fave

    1. NGPZ

      Pika pi!!!

      They are certainly to Becky X Dina as an ADHD autism power couple!!!! ^^

  17. anonymsly

    Good job, Carla! Understanding and patience, especially the latter, don’t come easy to you, so it’s double nice to see.

  18. Yotomoe

    Fun Fact: Apparently Tiger Urine smells like Popcorn.

    1. NGPZ

      wait so it’s not just me?

      does that mean I’m part tiger? 😮

    2. pyrock_mania

      So now you know, if you can suddenly smell popcorn, there’s a tiger VERY nearby!

      1. Dean

        Most tiger attacks occur in movie theatres, this is 100% true.

        1. pyrock_mania

          It’s their perfect hunting ground!

    3. ValdVin

      Are you sure it’s not a sample urine test on tigers which have been eating only popcorn “butter” for three days straight?

      1. NGPZ

        they probably wouldn’t survive that…

        tigers are obligate carnivores

  19. Blume

    This made me feel joy. I’m just happy that Carla is actually practicing what Booster preached. I hope she continues to in more ways than one! And I hope Charlie keeps giving more animal facts 😀 there’s a lot of them out there. This is the part where I’d put what I know, but I forgot.

  20. Birion

    Did you know that humans also have stripes? They’re just normally the same colour as the rest of the skin, so we can’t see them. But some animals, such as cats, can.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      That’s actually a myth; neither cats nor any animals can see the patterns in our skin. There are ways to find out what yours look like, but I do not know how. I know only that I was told it is possible.

      1. clif

        I assume your talking about Blaschko’s Lines which are a series of stripes. You need UV light. See https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/n76btq/til_human_skin_is_overlaid_with_blaschkos_lines_a/

        1. clif

          Apparently visibility under short UV light is not universal. If interested in the patterns though, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaschko%27s_lines .

    2. Taffy

      Are you sure you’re not thinking of tan lines?

    3. StClair

      I dunno if you’re doing a bit, but:
      A few years back, I saw an image that confirmed that panthers have spots just like other kinds of leopards, they just can’t (usually/easily) be seen in our visual spectrum.

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        “Panther” is really a catch-all term for any large black pantherid, I think. (Panthera being the genus of lions, leopards, mountain lions, etc.) It’s like reverse albinism. I suppose it’s not too surprising that spots are differentiable at some level, since the patterns would still form at different times/places in the embryo (presumably the general coat followed by localized spot patterns).

        1. eh, whatever

          Not mountain lions; they’re Puma, not Panthera, and are more closely related to Felis than to Puma.

        2. lyzyrdwyzyrd

          While true, cougars are also called panthers. But they’re not black panthers.

        3. a/snow/mous/e

          ah, yes, that’s why I was thinking they could be panthers as well. but that’s very confusing terminology when “panther” is already used for black pantherids! not that it’s a meaningful label, but cougars/mountain lions/etc. have so many terms for them already…

        4. a/snow/mous/e

          anyway, apologies for the “panther” conflation; you’re right that pumas are in Puma, not Panthera (and that’s another reason why “panther” is a bad term for them!)

        5. lyzyrdwyzyrd

          Melanism is the word you are looking for

        6. a/snow/mous/e

          ah, I see. I would have thought “hypermelanism” maybe, but then I suppose albinism isn’t called “hypomelanism”…

      2. Daibhid C

        One of the coolest effects in Zootopia is the black jaguar where you can see this based on how the light hits different fur layers.

    4. eh, whatever

      Microchimeric humans have stripes or patches. Genetically homogenous ones, though?

  21. APersonAmI

    Wow. Giving Charlie time to process. I absolutely love that. I can take a while to process what people say to me, and so rarely do people have patience.

    Carla is great.

  22. French Fan

    The expression of Carla in the last pannel is adorable.

  23. Shakes

    Charlie doesn’t seem functional enough for college life or most jobs. I hope we get more detail about her soon.

    1. GreyICE

      You’d be shocked about how much you can do with ADHD. Vyvanse will be her friend, but assuming you’re not doing something where twitch reflexes matter, ADHD is not as big a barrier as you might think.

      1. Mr D

        y’know, vyvanse doesnt mess with my twitch reflexes but every few hours I do get slightly shaky hands lol

      2. thejeff

        With ADHD is one thing. Plenty of people have ADHD and are capable of interacting with the world around them in real time.

        1. dalniente

          And plenty of us aren’t. It’s a disorder with a lot of variation; some of us are barely tethered to the earth if unmedicated. It’s been really nice to see someone like me in fiction.

  24. Richard Barrell

    I feel like Willis has drawn Carla and Charlie prettier than usual in this comic strip. Charlie in particular. It might just be the really cool shirt, but I think it’s probably actually a reaction to the how cutely both are smiling. ❤️

  25. M!a

    Aww. ? Cutest Carla face ever in Panel #whichever-panel-that-is.

    1. Bash

      The way she bites her lip is too much. I’ve never actually seen her look happy before.

    2. Richard Barrell

      Strongly agreed!

  26. 3oranges

    Tiger, tiger, in her mind
    Look at Carla being kind

    1. BohNo

      yes the tiger is free

      yes

      yes

  27. Cimorene

    A guy at the zoo today asked me if I knew tigers had striped skin and I said yes 😮

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      wow, did you tell him you learned it through webcomics

  28. AGV/Ruby

    Also, did you know that polar bear fur is translucent rather than white?

    1. eh, whatever

      All white hairs are translucent. Mammals don’t make white pigments.

      1. JBento

        LEARNING! 😀

  29. Acher4

    That second panel is just…. so perfect!

    I love Carla here!

    C&C FTW! 😉

  30. nothri

    Honestly, Carla might be PERFECT for Charlie. Her somewhat compulsive need to get attention actually kind of goes well with Charlie zoning out…I mean, it seems like Charlie needs someone who is persistent enough to coax her back and get her back on the task of going about her day. The patience and understanding part will be the struggle, especially for Carla, but maybe having someone who will eventually respond happily to your desire for attention is a good trait to have. Carla’s obsessive persistent attention seeking might be a net positive in this case.

    Also, tigers are cool. And I didn’t know about the striped skin thing.

  31. Carla's #2 Fan

    Carla’s face in the last panel is so cute! OMG!

  32. Pylgrim

    If a few years ago you told me that Carla was capable of self-improvement, I’d have laughed in your face.

  33. Needfuldoer

    When did Carla grow a patience?

  34. Zamperla

    Aw. Honestly Carla just sitting and waiting a second is so sweet to me… sometimes it takes a second to realize you heard someone.

  35. JasonAW3

    Charlie has SERIOUS ADHD.. If my having it and knowing the symptoms means anything…

    1. Taffy

      Hey wait, you’re not supposed to take your lived experience and form thoughts about things with it. That’s illegal.

  36. Rabisch

    Carla is trying really hard to be a better human being. So, thanks a lot Charlie, she’s precious and likes Carla, who is amazing. I wonder what Mary will do for destroy their happiness…

    1. Laura

      For anyone out there who is trying to do something hard and scary, like Carla’s attempts to BE in relationship with another human being (besides, of course, herself) here’s some comforting music on the hacked high-school PA system:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JYXzKYbNUw

  37. darkoneko

    Wait what ?

  38. Eric

    Was everything Charlie said a lie? All the pop psychology says that looking up and to your left is not recalling a fact or memory, but making one up

    1. Adam Black

      That’s looking to the right.
      But it’s been debunked.

      When a person lies they look at you and say “i am lying but you will not remember this because of { redacted phrase *}. “ . For example: ”i am lying {phrase} NLP is the greatest you will buy all my books. On this.”
      *Hardwired into humans since the Keely accords in 791}

    2. Taffy

      Sounds like a load of bullshit, like most of the pop psychology I’ve heard.

  39. thumb

    Holy shit, growth! Is that allowed?
    *checks name of the comic*
    No.

    1. Jeremiah

      Grow IS allowed! It just doesn’t stop anyone from still doing stupid things.

    2. BohNo

      as long as there is an equal and opposite dumbing somewhere else

  40. raultsi

    I did not know that. I learned something today.

    Rats. I’ll forget pants tomorrow, though

  41. Whirlakitty

    Carla crushing is do darn cute.
    Though not as cute as tigers, but comparing humans to tigers (or cats of any kind) is hardly fair.

  42. Florence

    These two ?

  43. BohNo

    oh my god she’s being lesbian trained this is so great this is so great

    1. Taffy

      I’m curious about this “lesbian trained” thing. Could you elaborate on it, please?

      1. Nymph

        Yeah I also want to know. Is this a thing you sign up for or get chosen for? Did I need to earn a certain number of points in something to get in the beta?

        Details! I need details!

        …for a friend.

        1. Mark

          How many CEUs do you get if you pass?

  44. Alan in DC

    Did the story ever indicate who Charlie is roommates with?

    1. Taffy

      Her roommate is Brynhilde Skovgaard, a Danish exchange student. She’s 5’11”, has brown hair and eyes, and is pretty well muscular on account of her hobbies. Said hobbies include fencing, dancing, and playing the fiddle, and she also goes to the gym twice a week for some cardio and weight lifting. Her major is engineering, but she kinda sucks at it so she’s probably gonna fall back on her minor next year, which is art history. This is canon, confirmed by Willis in a 2021 Kotaku interview.

      1. Alan in DC

        Okay, now im going to want to see Brynhilde in a future strip

    2. anon

      it prolly hasn’t come up later tho idk if it’ll reuse a chara we already know versus a new one. or just someone we’ll never see bc it doesn’t matter story wise

  45. anon

    other than a zoo tiger that had to be partially shaved for like a vaccine or treatment or so, wonder if ppl just observed a baby tiger or if someone was brave/foolish enough to just full on shave a tiger lol

    zoo date maybe :3

    1. Nymph

      Dead tiger seems a likely option as well.

    2. Taffy

      They’d have to go out of town for a zoo date.

      1. anon

        well tehy did go to the beach once early on in the series so i’m sure they could set aside some time to find that or an aquarium lol

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Or a tiger with an illness that mad their hair fall out. There’s a picture out there of a bear in that situation, and bears don’t look at all like you’d think.

      1. Taffy

        Unless you’ve played Fallout and encountered a Yao Guai. Then you’ve basically seen a hairless bear.

      2. HueSatLight

        There was a chimp at our zoo that had alopecia, and she was like the daughter of a matriarch or something, I don’t remember exactly. But the other young chimps started pulling out their own hair to be like her.

  46. ElderlyMarxist

    awww they’re so precious :]

  47. Amós Batista

    I don’t know if Charlie is mocking Carla hard, in second panel, or if she just tripping.
    Both ways, it was great.

    In general, today trip is so awesome.

    1. Jeremiah

      I think it ha been made abundantly clear that Charlie genuinely have delayed reaction to people talking to her. Pretty much the discard the possibility of her doing it intentionally to mess with people.

    2. NGPZ

      I mean she’s probably ADHD or autistic, or likely both

      executive dysfunction like that makes it hard to pay attention like that

      i really love that this is happening

      even tho its hard to socialize, i love idea of accessible romance <3

  48. elfroyalty

    i love them SO much

  49. jflb96

    Speaking of striped skin, that’s a thing that humans have! The stripes are generally invisible to the naked eye, though.

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