208

Assignments
Posted on September 30, 2017 by David M Willis
Today, Saturday, September 30, I'm gonna be at the Columbus (ohio) Metropolitan Library, filling up space at Laughing Ogre's table at Comics Crossroads Columbus!  It's a fancy comics/arts event that's in a library, so admission is totally free.  If you wanna come see me, I'll be there from 2:30 to 6pm.

208 thoughts on “Assignments”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    shit, THAT should be my Gravatar

    1. Ana Chronistic

      this looks like the start of a beautiful shiptease

      1. Chronos

        B-but we already met our hatefuck quota, for life!

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      If you’re talking about the first panel (AND I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, WILLIS), the background color of the panel is same as the background color of the comments page, so all you need to do is crop and resize. Even I could do it.

      Me, I’d be more the fourth panel, but chacun son gout.

      1. AGV

        Personally, I’d go with the fifth one

      2. smparadox

        Agreed, definitely fourth panel.

  2. Architex

    CARLA WINS

  3. BBCC

    Carla, no, bad! Very bad! No biscuit!
    But awwww, at seeing her so excited about Malaya.

    1. Chronos

      I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so smiley before.

      1. Doctor_Who

        I don’t think I’ve seen anyone smiley about Malaya before.

        I mean, we know Marcie likes her, but she’s not especially smiley in general.

        1. BBCC

          I just ran through her tags and you’re right. She only smiles directly at Sal. She’s also smiled when she, Sal, and Malaya were walking home from roller derby (which she said ‘Fun!’ about) and when she was trying to stealth cuddle Malaya when they were hanging out.

  4. shadowcell

    panel 4 is some prime gravatar material, damn

  5. Mr D

    Carla, that’s kind of a shitty ‘tude

    1. Pablo360

      I’d call it a dick move but that seems a little on the nose

      1. WarDragon

        It may seem paradoxical, but you don’t have to have a dick to be a dick. Still, given her situation, she’d probably take that as a larger, and much different insult than intended. Asshole move, but she’d probably take that as a compliment…

  6. Yumi

    That first panel seems ripe to use for edits. If this were the GKC forum, I’d try to make it into the next “I saw an opportunity” craze.

  7. timemonkey

    Carla and Malaya interacting again, the world is beautiful.

  8. Ivy

    Carla you’re doing great sweetie

    1. ValdVin

      “Carla flashed a pair of of.digits while wearing her infamous shirt today.”
      “Middle fingers, right? Those are her favorites…”
      “No. Two thumbs up.”

      I have nothing but surprise for Carla’s thumbs-ups, and big smile in panel one. Did not know she was so lonely for.someone like Malaya to.be living that the close.

      1. Stella

        You know, this is the first time I’ve thought about it too, but Carla probably *is* really lonely.

        The scenes in which she’s hanging out with Malaya and Marcie might be the only ones where we see her being friendly and perhaps wanting closer friendship. While she’s done helpful things for Joyce (make her shower shoes) and Dorothy (sort-of) these have always been paired with verbal and body-language “back off” cues. She doesn’t want to be either of their friend.

        Unlike, say, Mike, I believe Carla has some deep, serious values and beliefs in doing what is right. While she might pretend she got Ruth into trouble for shallow, self-serving reasons, I think in fact she genuinely cares about most people and felt for Ruth’s suffering through depression and abuse. She stood up to Mary not because she dgaf, but because she *really* gives a fuck about her own humanity and person-hood– as she does everyone’s.

        So if she doesn’t push everyone away because she’s a hateful asshole, why does she? She’s probably been rejected a lot. The tough-girl persona, while not entirely an act, helps pre-empt rejection by automatically rejecting anyone who expects her to toe the line, but it also rejects a lot of other people too. So, she’s probably pretty lonely.

        I kinda want to see a Carla / Amber friendship happen. Have they ever had a conversation? Because I think they’d bring out the best in each other. Carla could show Amber that standing up for yourself, even violently, doesn’t make you monsterous, and that society-at-large’s view of monstronsity is messed up. And Amber could help Carla be more introspective.

        1. thejeff

          Carla helped Amber patch herself up after the happy fun gun time on campus. I don’t think they’ve interacted beyond that.

          Carla was in the parking lot fight with Amazi-Girl though.

          She’s also friends with Sal, probably closer than with either Malaya or Marcie, though both have the whole “tough, don’t care” persona going.

  9. Kernanator

    Yaaay, making other people suffer gets me things I like!

    1. thejeff

      Well, Carla’s being her normal blunt self, but Ruth isn’t lying on the bed, unable to move and waiting to die, and she and Billie can be open about their relationship now.
      I’d say it’s a win all around, despite the complications.

    2. iforgetwhatiputhere

      Yep, everyone learning all the weong lessons from this ordeal… Except maybe Malaya, she’s not learning anything…

  10. Architex

    I also wonder how much more Marcie time we’re gonna see if her two favorite people are now sharing a room.

    1. Gaia

      I wonder if Sal will see something she dosn’t want to see in her room if everything goes the way Marcie wants it to.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      And now I’m wondering — and I don’t think we’ve seen this in-comic —

      Does Malaya know why Marcie is pissed off at Sal? (It’s been maybe a week in-comic — is Marcie still pissed off at Sal?)

      And has Marcie yet gotten around to letting Malaya know what Sal already knows about Marcie’s interest in Malaya?

      I suppose we’ll find out in a month or so (out-of-comic). Or not, depending on how the Joyce-at-the-electric-guitarless-church and the Billie-in-the-McAwesome’s-dorm subplots go.

    3. WarDragon

      She might still be mad at Sal, so that’d be really awkward. I don’t think they’ve been seen together since Sal got her fired from the security job…

      1. BBCC

        Nope, last thing we’ve seen her say to Sal was ‘I was working security and you started a fight, you piece of shit!’

  11. Stephen Bierce

    *plays “Treat Her Like A Lady” on the hacked Muzak*

  12. Keulen

    I like Carla’s shirt.

    1. Chronos

      “Fuck humanity” indeed.

    2. Agemegos

      It’s an anti-bestiality message, right?

      1. Pablo360

        Actually it’s a pro-bestiality message aimed at animals.

        1. Chronos

          Mike designed that shirt, for a nickel.

  13. Gaia

    I disagree Willis, some day Carla might make some insane machine that will literary fuck all of humanity.

    What would cause Carla to such action is hard to tell…. Mary declaring her undying love for Carla maybe? :3

    1. Blackbird

      Ohhhh, the alt-text is about Carla’s shirt. I thought it was about Ruth’s “keep my door closed” line.

      1. Benet

        I thought the same

        1. Minotaur

          It is? Anyway, I thought so too

        2. Willinwoods

          Well, it could be applied to several lines, e g:
          “Malaya’s cool!”
          “Getting you and Billie caught (…) is really working out for me!”
          “I know her!”
          …
          OK, the last one is maaaybe a bit of a stretch. Trade me ‘literally’ for ‘biblically’ anyone?!

      2. Needfuldoer

        I’ve heard it both ways.

        1. SgtWadeyWilson

          +1 pineapple.

  14. Passchendaele

    Watch out, carla, that room could end up as the murder cave again. :p

  15. Urukak

    …Squidward?

    1. ValdVin

      Sq: “What, is it time to ruin my day already?”

      …

      Patrick: “Hey Spongebob, is it time to ruin Squidward’s day yet?”

  16. Romanticide

    wow Carla is overjoyed of having Malaya in the dorms, at least one thing goes out well, sorry about that Ruth.

    1. Yumi

      I mean, a lot of the fallout hasn’t been great, but I’d count Ruth getting help as good too. It’s not ideal that it was forced upon her, but…

      1. Fart Captor

        It was, but it seems like now she’s continuing to get help because she wants to, even if she’s also required to

        1. 3-I

          I am completely gung-ho about Ruth continuing to be alive. No matter the circumstances. That is a Good Thing that Should Continue.

  17. UltraKyrie

    carlaaaaa
    in personal news, i’ve got an appointment to talk to a doctor about starting hrt next week 😀 wheeee

    1. MM

      Gratz!

    2. Lapin

      “*High five* That’s awesome!”

    3. Chronos

      Good luck.

    4. Opus the Poet

      Yay! I have several trans friends who count their lives as starting from the day they began HRT.

    5. BBCC

      Excellent! Congrats! <3

    6. Ozzi

      Great news just beindful how long you are on it. Studies show there’s correlation between being on hrt too long and osteoporosis

      1. Creatrix Tiara

        For a lot of trans people NOT being on HRT is NEVER going to be an option, osteoporosis be damned.

        1. hallucigenia

          …in which case you gotta make sure to look out for prevention extra hard, get plenty of exercise and eat enough calcium etc., surely?

      2. Kamino Neko

        Since when?

        Female HRT is known as a preventative against osteoporosis. And was a recommended treatment for it, until a study suggested it increased risk of various other (non-bone-related) conditions.

        Going OFF long-term HRT can increase risk of osteoporosis, however.

    7. BigDogLittleCat

      Congrats!

    8. Fart Captor

      Rad as hell

    9. K the Nerd

      Congratulations! Hope it goes well

    10. Arioch

      WooHoo! Congrats!

    11. Skater Girl

      Congratulations Kyrie.

    12. Norah

      Congratulations!

  18. Reltzik

    I have just one thing to say.

    Panel 4.

    That is all.

  19. DailyBrad

    Carla is a cutey. As per usual.

    I hope Ruth will be happier at least given Malaya seems on track to making Mary’s life that much more irritating

  20. Lapin

    Same, Carla. Same.

  21. Sporky

    “Where’d you get that shirt, Carla? I kinda want one.”

  22. Some1

    I feel like in a weird way, Carla needs Mary, simply because she needs someone worse than she is so people will tolerate her. Problem is it’s difficult to be worse than Mary without falling into downright criminal territory, so I’m not sure if Mary will get a heel face turn/enemy mine. However it would be amazing if this happened

    Joyce: Mary! Ruth’s grandfather kidnapped her!

    Mary: What do I care?

    Joyce: Also he stole your picture bible!

    Mary: I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!

    1. Yotomoe

      Carla’s sort of like a terrible bass guitar player in a shitty band. You’re so focused on how awful the vocalist is and how off beat the drums are, you sometimes don’t notice that the bassist is never on beat and is just playing quarter notes.
      But then the Bass solo comes up and you realize how bad the bassist is for a brief second before the rest of the band drowns them out again.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      For a lot of people at the fringes of any given social environment, it is indeed useful to have someone lower on the totem pole than they are.

      But my reading of Carla is that she doesn’t really care that much whether or not people like her. That is a huge part of her bond with Malaya.

      She does, however, care a lot about respect and disrespect. She desires respect even from people she doesn’t care about, and she is deeply wounded by disrespect even from people she loathes (like Mary).

      If Mary weren’t there, Carla would still be outside of the normal social circles, and she’d be okay with that.

      1. WarDragon

        A very relateable sentiment. Some people might not like you, but being treated with respect is necessary to feel like a person at times.

        Or, as Machiavelli put it, “It is best to be both loved and feared… but if one of the two must be found wanting, it is safer to be feared.”

    3. geno

      I don’t see your argument that Carla is bad. Certainly an outsider, but Carla is way easier to deal with than Malaya. I swear some people in the comments thread would rather Ruth died again.

      1. 3-I

        So, like… Carla has not been the aggressor in any situation thus far. And the thing with Ruth was above her pay grade, and she knew it. This wasn’t something she was equipped to be able to handle.

        I’m really not comfortable with people saying she’s a shitty person for the crimes of “Being subject to transphobic attacks” and “Not keeping a lesbian suicide pact a secret.” c.c

        1. Sdrainbow

          Jumping up and down a hallway in roller skates is pretty disruptive behavior. I honestly can’t remember whether that or Mary being transphobic at her came first, but I don’t think you can let Carla off Scot free there, ‘specially since she’d be disrupting EVERYONE on the floor with her roller skate antics, whereas the pie machine only affected Mary.

        2. Liliet

          Carla jumped on roller skates because Mary broke them.
          I think her intention WAS to attract the RA and inform her that she’s doing this because she can’t skate, oh why would that be?
          …there is an argument to be made that Carla is not a ‘go to the authority’ kind of person, but it just fits too neatly.

          Also, “disruptive behavior” and “a campaign of bullying” are not on remotely the same scale. Carla is not only incomparable with Mary, she’s incomparable even with Ruth.

          Now, if you typo’d Ruth for Carla there, I can agree with you. Ruth is way more likable because of her firm anti-Mary stance, that we only got to find out about because Mary was there.

        3. Tan

          The jumping up and down on skates (which we have no evidence of actually bothering anyone besides Mary; it’s a dorm, random noises in the middle of the day are fairly expected) came after Mary squirted glue on Carla’s skates while Carla was skating, which A: caused a crash in which Carla could easily have been injured (though she was not), and B: ruined Carla’s skates to the point that she wound up having to buy new ones.

        4. Arioch

          I’m with 3-1 on this. The only person who was bothered by her skating in the hall was Mary. Mary was trying to bully her because she is a transphobic jackass. What Mary did (the glue stunt) could have resulted in serious injury, but it didn’t, and Mary suffered no real consequences for it. And, frankly, whether Ruth and Billie want to face any time soon or not what Carla did in “ratting them out” was be a real friend. She saved Ruth’s and probably Billie’s life. They are doing better. Yes, Carla has an asshole facade – lots of people do because it makes life easier. But, watch her actual interactions. She likes Joyce. She likes Sal. She likes Malaya. She has friends.

        5. thejeff

          And Carla went back to Billie first and if Billie hadn’t reacted completely dismissively, she wouldn’t have had to go public with it

        6. Norah

          And IIRC, Rachel was the one who called Chloe.

        7. Fart Captor

          Yeah, as much as it was not an ideal response, Carla did the best she could with the information Billie gave her and the experience/knowledge she was able to draw upon. For how unprepared she was, she still managed to accomplish the most important thing: Ruth is still alive and getting help.

          That’s a fuck ton more than a lot of other people might’ve been able to accomplish

      2. Yotomoe

        Carla is totally as bad as Malaya. Malaya is a passive aggressive jackass but outside of that she just sorta doesn’t have tact and speaks her mind. Similarly Carla says mostly what she has on her mind and REVELS in being a jerk. It is actively something she likes to be seen as. IMO they’re both on the same level of jerkiness.

        1. thejeff

          While Carla clearly wants to seen as an asshole, we’ve also seen a lot of compassion and caring behind that facade. We haven’t seen anything similar from Malaya. It might be there, but we’ve little evidence for it yet.

        2. Yotomoe

          Someone who acts like an asshole with a heart of gold, for all intents and purposes is equal to someone who acts like an asshole and is an asshole in my eyes.

        3. thejeff

          Except for the parts where they don’t act like an asshole and actually show they care. Which the real asshole doesn’t do.

          Carla wants to be seen as an asshole, but she’s actually pretty bad at being one.

    4. the final pam

      I think it’s kind of a weird take to say that Carla’s only tolerable because an actual bigot is also living on her floor? Like, Carla is simply abrasive and slightly insensitive. Mary is a straight-up hateful bigot. If anything, I’d sooner compare Carla to Sarah or Sal, two other gals with a general sour demeanor and a tendency towards not-nice behavior.

      1. thejeff

        And Carla has shown again and again, that behind the abrasive persona, she really does care and will go out of her way to help. Denying it and complaining about it the whole way.
        Because, behind it all, she’s scared.

        1. the final pam

          Yeah! Like, honestly, Carla and Sarah have a lot of similarities in my eyes? The only difference is that Sarah’s gotten more screen time to delve into her backstory a bit and show how sympathetic she is, whereas we’ve just scratched the surface with Carla.

  23. Tacos

    Can I just say? I love Carla’s shirt.

  24. Yossarianduck

    Panel 6 would be a pretty great book title. if Carla didn’t just have one.

  25. Kris

    Wow. That was actually in pretty poor taste Carla.

    1. Nightsbridge

      She’s desperate to try to believe that she did a good thing.

      1. thejeff

        And to let everyone know that she doesn’t care at the same time.

  26. vlademir1

    Man do I feel panel 4 so much. I know that face. I make that face all the time at people who say absurdly asinine things in my presence, much as Ruth is here due to Carla’s comment.

  27. Pablo360

    I’m resisting the urge to call that a dick move, does anyone know any creative synonyms?

    1. CJ

      I’ve been wondering myself. The first page of my try at google revealed nothing helpful but unearthed someone stating that a certain four-letter-word beginning with c was “gender-neutral”. I decided not to find out what else that search might yield.

      1. Socks

        If you guys just want a gender neutral but not creative option, everyone’s got an asshole. You could also describe her move as shitty, which, again, we can all agree is bad. It all comes back to butts in the end.

        1. Pablo360

          Please, I’m an artisan. I can’t just use commonfolk words.

          For now I’ll just call it a “girldick move” and hope nobody opens that particular can of worms

  28. Ben

    Ruth’s face in panel 4 is the best.

  29. Josh Spicer

    “Consistently award for” WHEN THE HELL ARE ANY OF YOU REWARDED FOR BAD BEHAVIOR?

    Mary isn’t rewarded, she just found somebody to hang off of which distracts her from everybody else.

    And that other asshole got stabbed repeatedly to a state of emergency.

    Then there’s that Amber situation.

    1. Josh Spicer

      Maybe “bad” behavior wasn’t the right term, but still.

      1. geno

        Carla did the right thing. Even if there are unpleasant consequences. It was a bad situation that the people involved were only going to make worse left to their own devices. Carla is a hero

    2. BBCC

      By telling the RM, Billie and Ruth’s relationship is now public (and, mostly, publicly supported), Billie got to move to a new dorm so they could continue dating, Ruth wasn’t fired (though Carla doesn’t know the hows and whys of that yet), Ruth is getting help and is more stable, and now Billie’s replacement is her friend, Malaya.

      This worked out pretty well for Carla.

      1. thejeff

        And Carla got free bonus cookies!

      2. Deanatay

        CLEARLY, acting like a dick is the best way to improve everyone’s life. Life lesson learned. Everyone, take notice.

        1. BBCC

          I didn’t say it was a good thing, I said this seems to have worked out for Carla, as far as her knowledge goes.

  30. Falcon

    Carla did the right thing by informing the authorities about Ruth’s issues once she reached crisis. I don’t like Carla and I don’t like her choice in friends, but she did a good thing for both Billie and Ruth. Maybe one day they’ll see that.

  31. RogueParasol

    Usually I like Carla, as an (almost) equal opportunist spirit of chaos, who has a “nice” (or more caring? Non-apathetic with empathetic capabilities?) under her “fuck humanity” schtick. But I do not like Carla here. I hate the phrase “too soon, man!”, but this honestly feels too soon for Carla to “gloat” that the chaos ended in her favor.

    1. bejouled

      Same, Carla is usually my favorite character, but… this was a really crappy thing to do. I think she was right to get Ruth and Billie help, but she shouldn’t be talking about it like this.

    2. Liliet

      I think Carla is trying to bond with Ruth, here. Just talk to her, try to connect, inform her of what’s going on. It’s as adorable as it is… potentially workable actually, I think if Carla keeps this up Ruth will feel better for having one more connection to the world.

      1. thejeff

        I think so too. There’s actually no need for her to ask about Malaya moving in. She just talked to Malaya.

        She’s using it as an excuse to check in on Ruth, while keeping up her facade of “I don’t care, it’s all about me”.

        1. monkyvirus

          Yup when I’m really depressed I enjoy people trying to connect with me by making me feel bad. That’s actually my favourite.

          It’s not cute, it’s mean and lazy.

        2. thejeff

          I didn’t say she was good at it or that it always worked out. Cerberus has a better explanation, as usual.

  32. Yotomoe

    Jeez Carla. No sense of tact or shame on you whatsoever huh. Even Walky treads more lightly than you do.

    1. Reltzik

      It’s challenging to tip-toe in roller skates.

      …. I mean, you can do it, and you can do it awesomely, and it’s a great way to show off, and that’s why it can’t be done tactfully.

    2. 3-I

      Walky has more to be ashamed of.

  33. Bagge

    Oh Carla.

    Despite the foot-in-mouth-disease in the last half the strip, I’m just so glad for how happy she is that her friend from the “cool kids”-gang is moving over.

    How often has Carla been happy over someone living in the dorm?

    How often has someone been glad to see Malaya?

    1. BBCC

      I KNOW! My brain says ‘Carla, no, bad!’ but my heart says ‘SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE’

    2. Yotomoe

      “foot-in-mouth-disease” sorta implies some amount of regret in saying it. She said it and stands by it.

      1. Fart Captor

        She implies that she stands by it, but from her face in panel 5, I’d say she might’ve chosen differently if she hadn’t been caught up in her own excitement.

        When she feels guilty, her instinct seems to be to hide it so it can’t be used against her. Not really a reaction that’s very compatible with apologies

        1. Bagge

          That’s how I read it too, which makes the first panel all sorts of adorable. If it ISN*T a conscious attempt to be an assole, it is a genuine wish to share her happiness with someone close enough to a friend to share happiness with, which says something nice about how Carla regards Ruth.

        2. ValdVin

          Yep. I don’t know if we’ve seen Carla look that apologetic ever.

      2. Kamino Neko

        Her claim to not regret what she said includes an admission that it was a bad thing. It’s another attempt to defend her Informed Assholism, that isn’t quite working.

        1. StClair

          “Nuh uh, I am totally an asshole!”
          …..
          *knocks tips over small trinket to ‘prove’ it*

        2. Bagge

          A trinket that don’t break easily, of course.

        3. StClair

          of course It was the closest one! really!

    3. 3-I

      It’s hard to fit that whole skate in her mouth.

      1. Bagge

        CARLA CAN IF SHE WANTS TO!

  34. Dana

    Sort of maybe friends. The perfect amount of friends.

  35. Rodimiss

    Ugh, Carlaaaaa. Don’t say thaaat.

    I do like to see how happy and excited she looks in the first panel.

  36. BigDogLittleCat

    Congrats!

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      That was supposed to be @ Ultrakyrie.

      1. UltraKyrie

        ty i saw it anyways 🙂

  37. newllend(henryvolt)

    You’re making defending you on this case really hard for me Carla !

  38. Fart Captor

    I’m excited because Carla’s excited. Also because Ruth seems to be doing relatively well despite Billie moving out if she’s still able to be THAT expressive.

    …I wonder if Carla was checking up on her?

    1. Bagge

      OF COURSE SHE WASN’T, SHE’S TOO COOL TO CHECK UP ON PEOPLE Puh, Ruth seems to be doing OK TOO COOL I TELL YOU, TOO COOL

  39. BBCC

    https://www.gofundme.com/alecsdr

    Jon Rosenberg’s gofundme broke 50K! <3

  40. Frost Magi

    Ruth’s reaction killed me lmao

    By the way, hey everyone! Been a super long time. Life caught up with me haha, still read every day though ^_^

  41. Arianod

    Ah, yes. Carla and Malaya are gonna click together just fine.

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      Like a switch on a time bomb…

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        …and who doesn’t like time bombs?

        1. Eldritch Gentleman

          Most of the world I would imagine.

  42. KSClaw

    WOW Carla. How about you open your mouth just a bit more so you got room to shove in your rollerskate?

  43. BenRG

    Carla in panel 4: “I… er… have just stuffed one of my roller skates in my mouth, haven’t I?” It’s difficult for Carla though; I think that she is one of those people who isn’t that good at the “think before you speak” skill and it shows sometimes.

  44. Danni

    innocently insensitive

    1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

      innosensitive???

      1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

        or maybe innoscensitive? not sure what to do with the s/c thing

  45. Bluesnake462

    I still firmly believe that Carla was in the right.

    1. Danni

      she couldve done without saying that second sentence.

      1. Deanatay

        Carla would be a much nicer person if she’d stop speaking sooner.

    2. Liliaeth

      just because she was in the right, doesn’t mean she has to rub Ruth’s nose in it.

    3. newllend(henryvolt)

      Which she was.

    4. Emily

      She was but it doesn’t mean she’s not being an insensitive jackass here.

  46. ValdVin

    “We’re sorta maybe friends” qualifies Carla as Malaya’s on-campus emergency contact, right? Let’s face it, if anyone is closer to Malaya it’s been well-hidden.

    1. thejeff

      Marcie. Though I suppose she’s not on-campus.

      Who has an on-campus emergency contact anyway? Is that a thing?

      1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

        I don’t know if it’s a thing, but it’s probably a good thing to have if you are ever in imminent peril.

      2. ValdVin

        I don’t know, I just wanted to explore how Malaya is at IU with xx,000 undergrads, plus grads, faculty and staff, and if she has a closer friend among that set of people than “sorta maybe friend” Carla we have yet too see it.

        And if that brings us back to Marcie (who moved to Bloomington to be near Sal) and whatever happened after she and Sal got on the outs…

    2. Eldritch Gentleman

      Considering they are hanging out Sal might be her emergency contact… but both of them would probably prefer to die than make that happen.

  47. Aprion

    Damnit Carla, I like you and all but that deserved a swift slap in the face.

  48. OnyxIdol

    Ruth’s panel four face needs that cartoonish sound effect. You know, the one that goes “schlob”.

  49. Fallingivy

    That’s some excellent restraint from Ruth here.

    As far as what went down, I think that while Carla was right to alert someone over the situation, I think she was one hundred percent in the wrong to do so in the way she did, making it a really loud public spectacle, dragging Billie through half the hall and basically yelling it out.

    Also, even if what you did ended up good in some ways (Ruth getting therapy, the blackmail ending,) it’s really gross of her to say shit like this knowing that her actions had other, awful consequences. Like, I like Carla, but this is…typical of her to choose being an asshole over apologizing, but not great.

    1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

      I don’t think Carla knows about Ruth’s grandfather, so perhaps she’s not aware that her actions had consequences of that scope.

      1. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

        But she is certainly being an asshole.

      2. Socks

        This is a thing that’s always driven me nuts about some people. As a teenager, I dealt with SO many people with horrible parents, while at the same time being continually told by well-meaning authority figures that the right thing to do with a friend in crisis is tell their parents (or another adult, who would likely tell their parents). THE PROBLEM IS THEIR PARENTS, STUPID. So not only was I trying to help my friends, I was also constantly trying to make sure no one clueless went and told their parents or something stupid, either.

        And it all comes from these people with, like, functional family relationships? Carla is clearly one of those people: her parents have clearly supported her through her transition for her to be so far along in it so young (if the school’s had her in the girl dorms the whole time, which it’s implied they have, her documents and stuff have probably all read female since at least some time before she was accepted to IU and assigned housing, and I know that’s usually a pain to do even with your parents helping), they built her that ultra car toy, they sound great. Presumably, her narrative went something like ‘be trans > tell parents > useful therapy, loving support > problem (being closeted and treated as male) is fixed’. Or how Joyce’s first impulse when becky revealed her being kicked out of school was to call SOMEONE’S dad, because dads fix things. Even Sarah’s solution to Dana’s problems was to send her home, which, like, might have been the right answer, it probably was, but ONLY if her dad doesn’t suck. I hate it. I hate it so much. I know people with parents who support them through crises exist… but I’ve literally never met one in person, ever. That fucking advice, ugh.

        And MAYBE the therapy Ruth is getting will ultimately do more good than the harm caused by bringing Howard in, but that wasn’t a calculated chance. That was Ruth not considering that everyone’s home life isn’t safe. AND THAT REALLY BUGS ME. Just like, in general. How many people don’t consider that at all.

        I mean also it WAS way above Ruth’s pay grade, but hey maybe there were options to help the situation between “involve self in lesbian death cult” and “spectacularly out Ruth and Billie, to Ruth’s boss and everyone on the floor, holy shit”.

        1. thejeff

          Like for example, go to Billie – who’d dumped the whole thing on Carla’s back without giving her any idea how deep the shit was – and tell her, so she can do something? Except that Billie reacted to Carla’s panic over Ruth wanting to die, by just dismissing it as “normal”.

          So, in her situation, what the hell is she supposed to do? Take on a therapist support role in secret, that’s way the hell above her pay grade? Wash her hands of the whole affair and leave Ruth to lie there and die?

          Got an actual option? Preferably suitable for someone unprepared, panicking in a crisis?

          What should she have done?

        2. Norah

          Yes exactly. I do think she could’ve done the whole thing more quietly. But she did care about Ruth and didn’t need want her to die, so she had to do something. And this is something that I believe was discussed on here before: who’d have known that the grandfather woildve been contacted without Ruth’s permission? Ruth is 20, an adult. She was fully conscious during all this, even if she was depressed. It seems like this would’ve been handled between Ruth and Chloe, or Chloe’s bosses, since it involved Ruth’s employment as an RA. So Carla telling someone didn’t automatically mean the grandpa (who Carla didn’t even know about and possibly still doesn’t) would be contacted.

        3. Socks

          There were still options between “ah, Billie doesn’t care, ah well” and “carry her kicking and screaming down the hall”. Like, uh, expressing “no billie that isn’t normal you go fix it or I’ll have to tell someone responsible”, which would give her a chance to at least address things more quietly. Or “no billie that isn’t normal, go find ruth a therapist and take her there or I’ll have to call an ambulance myself”, if we’re insisting on a professional being brought in, which is probably a better idea anyway. Most (all?) schools have mental health services she could have consulted to see what they recommend, so at least it’s a professional making a decision instead of just Carla. Or just calling a regular ambulance and pretending ruth hit her head or something. Just off the top of my head. Can you actually not see any possible middle ground between the two extremes?

          Now, if your argument is “Ruth clearly should have been fired because she was abusing her position of authority and fucking one of the people she’s in charge of, PLUS her mental breakdown and failure to perform her job duties, and so making everything super public was the best choice for THAT reason”, then, that, I could actually understand. But otherwise, there’s no way making things public could possibly be seen as better FOR RUTH than letting her maintain her employment and any amount of dignity on the way to the hospital… even IF you don’t consider the “her family might suck” angle.

          But also I just remembered it was actually Rachel who called in the RM… but like, she wouldn’t have if Carla hadn’t dragged the kicking and screaming Billie through the halls while shouting at her to fuck her suicidal girlfriend. So, still. I maintain that Carla handled the situation really, really poorly, secret good intentions or no.

          On a side note, I guess I also really don’t think Ruth was going to die, there. She was not actually, like, from what we or Carla saw, in the state that a therapist would deem her a threat to herself. She was just kind of catatonic, and only had been for like a day. You have to pretty much explicitly state “yes, I want to die, I have a plan, and it’s accessible to me” for them to be concerned. That is actually a thing my psychiatrist said to me. Even “well I guess I’d probably do X” or “I am actively hurting myself in these ways on a regular basis” isn’t enough (by report of friends who have said these things and then left therapy just fine), and I can definitely attest that “no, it just would be awesome if I were dead” is definitely not, apparently, medically concerning. I probably would have reacted like Billie did, myself. Maybe Willis intended for this to strike us as more dramatic than I read it because my perspective is kind of fucked up, but like… no, yeah, that’s just been a regular Tuesday for me, and it… I dunno, really stops being that big a deal. Having my entire work and living situation and an extended group of aquaintances who also hate me all thrown into the situation… would not have helped.

        4. thejeff

          And yet, when Chloe took one look, she called in the professionals and when they got a look they kept her for three days and pushed her into therapy and onto medication.
          They seemed to think it was “medically concerning”.

          It was definitely treated as a big deal in the comic.

        5. BBCC

          Actually, according to MedScape, admission to an ICU is the treatment of choice for catatonia, because of the large risk of complications.

      3. WarDragon

        Billie told her that “her home is not safe, Carla!” but that’s the extent of her knowledge, I think.

        1. Norah

          I’d forgotten that.

        2. Fart Captor

          And that knowledge wasn’t even shared with Carla until after the fact

    2. timemonkey

      Does Carla even know about the awful part that came out of it? As far as she can tell everything turned out great and Ruth is happier and got to keep her job.

      1. Norah

        I don’t think she does.

  50. CianM1301

    You can practically HEAR the “mmwop” sound effect in Panel 4.

    1. Roborat

      I thought that was an annoying song by Hanson?

      1. CianM1301

        No, that’s MmBop.

  51. Emily

    Good god Carla have some tact.

  52. |Agent

    Man, I love Carla. I might be a bad person.

  53. Liliet

    RUTH HAS A NEW FRIEEEEEND

    I love Carla sooooo much <3

  54. Teddae

    i like carla but she reminds me way too much of some of my friends who just have no tact when it comes to really sensitive situations lol…

  55. Daisy

    Carla leaning round things is my favourite trope

  56. Black

    Oh my god that fourth panel!

  57. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    There is so much I love here that I can’t even!

    Panel 1: The sheer joy on Carla’s face here is amazing. Like, I’ve talked before how trans women aren’t usually allowed the vulnerability of public joy, because of assholes using that as an excuse to attack and how important these moments of Carla being ecstatic over a thing are.

    And Carla here is absolutely over the moon here. Having one of her few friends move in, connecting her social circle closer to her is powerful for her and she can’t even bother with the usual performance she would give about how little friends or being liked matter to her.

    And that she wants to confirm and share that moment with Ruth, who she has been establishing this sort of wavy pseudo-friendship with is just beautiful. Like, yeah, she wants to confirm that reality is real, but that’s not why she’s here. She’s here as an excuse to share her excitement with Ruth, because she’s happy and wants to share that happiness with her because she’s liking spending time with her, even if she’s in a place where she has to pretend to have an excuse.

    And that resonates, especially when you realize that part of what she’s doing is cultivating her own form of community. Outcasts and queer folk and others who’ve falling through the cracks. She’s drawn to them and wants to form a network with them, but is still so cautious about it for fear of making herself vulnerable.

    But in this moment, she can’t quite keep the mask on straight and it’s beautiful to see her without that layer of protection.

    Panel 2: But oh dear, she is way too excited to correctly read the room. Like Ruth’s response is so by the book, needlessly clinging to the language of process to avoid the emotional pain of what this means to her. Malaya being here means the person she is in love with isn’t. And yes, she’s close by, but depression doesn’t play nice with facts like this.

    Ruth is hurting about this and likely fighting off her brain echoing all the awful things “sir” grampus said to her about the people she loves leaving her. Certainly its the type of shit my brain likes to do to me in similar circumstances and we’ve seen Ruth fall down that rabbit hole before.

    And it just makes me want to hug Ruth and tell her it’ll be okay.

    1. Bagge

      Carla does not bother with her usual mask/shield/protection to hide her happiness.

      Her coming to Ruth, and not putting the mask up.

      Those two things taken together are ALL ADORABLE… so it’s really sad that it has to deliver such a nasty barb to Ruth in the process.

    2. Inahc

      “the vulnerability of public joy”

      …

      I don’t quite have words but that… well, that put into words something that some part of me was struggling with recently. yay words 🙂

      …and apparently something about how that contributes to Guess Culture. huh. neat.

  58. Cerberus

    Panel 3 (first half): But again, Carla is so excited by the news that she doesn’t pick up on it and her phrasing is just a great character moment. She’s not even fully sure Malaya considers her a friend rather than a person hanging in a similar group, but that connection is important enough to Carla on its own to be worth celebrating.

    Carla treasures the people in her life she has pseudo-friendships with. They matter deeply to her and it’s beautiful to see that genuine care and excitement.

    Panel 3 (second half): But oh dear, does her mouth run away on her. Like, Carla didn’t mean to say something epically fucked up. She’s excited and babbling and trying to make a joke about the circumstances that lead to this happy moment for her.

    And yet, she did. Like, this is fresh wounds for Ruth and that moment in particular is a maelstrom of various emotions. She is definitely not ready to make that a joking matter and especially not about how Carla has benefitted from her emotional turmoil in this matter.

    But I think what’s really interesting is this moment in context for Carla. Like, we know that she takes deeply moments she feels she has fucked up, that she sits with them even when she is uncomfortable showing that. We also know that she tries to handle that uncomfortability with jokes, sometimes ill advised ones, similar to Becky.

    And this feels like the perfect demonstration of that. She probably has been obsessing about this moment and her conflicted feelings of thinking she did what she had to to save a person’s life and horrified about how easily it could have gone wrong given Ruth’s abusive “sir” grampus.

    It’s likely why it was so close to the tip of her tongue to come out here. And it’s just a sad moment that she is still so wrapped up in her defensive layers that she shies away from the earnestness that would serve her best in this moment, letting her check in and apologize in a meaningful way.

    And it’s why the irony shield is not a great one. There are so many moments where sincerity is critical and Carla makes her life way harder in those moments in fear that her honest feelings make her a target.

    Panel 4: And you see how poorly it lands here. That Ruth face communicates everything that needs to be said about how inappropriate and ill-timed Carla’s joke was.

    1. Bagge

      That’s a very good description of it. This is such a Becky moment for Carla… in fact, most of the time Becky has better control over who is collateral damage to her jokes than Carla has her.

      I have spent most of my comments about this strip gushing about Carla, but from Ruth’s perspective this is pure hurt. And the fact that she shows self control speaks to her credit.

  59. Micki

    Carla has been reading too much B.F. Skinner…

  60. Cerberus

    Panel 5: And one of the things I love about Carla is you see that that does matter to her. She’s not so lost to irony and presenting herself a certain way that she’s stopped caring about hurting others (coughing meaningfully Mike’s direction). She cares deeply every time she fucks up and hurts someone. It hits home about as heavily as anything can.

    Like, you see it all over her face, the shock and horror of realizing the full context of what she said and the fear that she just hurt Ruth in this moment. You know she’s going to be beating herself up about it in private and will likely come back at some point and give something closer to a proper apology and check-in.

    Panel 6: But Carla’s tragedy is that it is still so hard for her to admit fault in the moment and show that earnest regret more directly.

    Which makes sense. It’s a thing when you are super marginalized where assholes will use your desire to do right by others as a weapon. Using your empathy for helping others to get you out in the open or absorbing more pain than you should. Using your fears of hurting others to bad-faith argue that any type of defense is actually proof of your evil. Using your desire for good-faith to gaslight you.

    Carla is a tech-inclined trans woman with a fierce intellect, empathy, and awareness of the world. There is no way she has not fallen afoul of TERFs* in her daily life. There’s no way she hasn’t seen their frequent habit of arguing that simply existing is something she needs to apologize for or hasn’t been stuck in circumstances where her empathy was weaponized against her.

    *Trans-exclusionary radical feminists, basically really creepy old women who spend all their time trying to drive trans kids to suicide and harassing them.

    So I get why she fears fully owning “oh fuck, I just fucked up here”. It’s one of the central tragedies done to a lot of trans women that makes such things way more fraught than they have any right being.

    But it’s still so heartbreaking. You know she feels bad. Fuck, she can’t even maintain eye-contact and is in full defensive body posture. She knows she fucked up, but still she feels almost automatically she needs to present this persona out of sheer habit even though it’s the last thing Ruth needs and the last thing Carla wants to present.

    And that’s genuinely tragic and I hope that her having more and more of a community of her people will let Carla feel safer in certain areas showing some of the vulnerability she fears will mark her for abuse.

  61. Bagge

    It’s a small comfort, but I’m sure Ruth gets it. She knows perfectly well how it is to use an asshole persona as a shield, and she knows how it paints you in a corner.

    If nothing else, she has seen it before
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/sorry-4/

    1. Bagge

      (meant as an answer to Cerberus… but since they comments ended up after each other it kinda works. Go me!)

  62. wakeangel2001

    hey, that may not have been a popular decision but if she didn’t do it her RA would have fallen further into depression and possibly committed suicide, plus nobody says that Billie and Ruth can’t continue their relationship so they just lost a little bit of convenience. I say the scales of karma are in her favor.

  63. Nezumi

    I… need to learn to be more like Carla. I’m empathetic and try to put others first to the point it hurts me, yet often fail to do anything meaningful despite that.

    1. Jhon

      Um, I don’t think pretending to be an uncaring asshole will make you more effective. As long as you try, you can’t blame yourself.

  64. Nymphie

    We won against the nazis! Just thought you might want to know about the anticipated biggest nazi march since WWII in europe completely flopped today <3 one civilian and one police hurt but otherwise no big damages. We were over 10k protesters against 400-500 nazis. It was anticipated that they were gonna be 1k and police all over from sweden were called in.

    Just thought you all would want to know how it went before you get to hear alternative facts

    1. Cerberus

      Congratulations!

    2. Norah

      Great!

    3. Bagge

      High five!

    4. BBCC

      I’m proud of all of you <3

    5. Pablo360

      Thank goodness the Nazis are still unpopular somewhere.

  65. Ferret

    Really Ruth? I thought it was because of the naked freshman girl in your bed.

  66. Stella

    Can I just say, regarding Carla, that she 100% made the right move with the whole Ruth/Billie/Suicide thing?

    She saved Ruth’s life. Indirectly, she gave Billie a fresh start. Carla can’t solve all of Ruth’s problems, and it’s not her job to, but fortunately it sounds like Ruth now has a therapist who may be able to help her unpack the effects of her parents’ deaths and being abused have had on her. And she has that therapist because Carla “tattled.”

    I honestly will forgive Carla any number of transgressions for that reason alone. She has zero social grace, is rude, is bad at making friends. So what? Ruth and Billie’s lives are finally looking up, and that is almost entirely to Carla’s credit.

    Also to her credit:

    –standing up to Mary
    — helping Joyce with her shower-related germaphobia by giving her home-made shower shoes
    — helping tend to Amber’s wounds after she tried to fight Becky’s dad
    — never revealing AmaziGirl’s identity even though she likely figured it out
    –comforting / distracting Sal when she was fighting with Marcie even though Sal definitely wouldn’t do the same for her
    — taking Walky’s opinions about cartoons seriously and challenging him to think critically about them (rather than dismissing them as stupid or being blindly enthusiastic)

    Come to think of it, Carla really *isn’t* an asshole. She keeps saying she is, she has a snarky / cutting sense of humor, but…if actions speak louder than words, she cares about almost everyone. She’s not like Mike, or Rachel, or even Ruth, who seem to genuinely disdain most or all people. Rather, Carla *wishes* she were a misanthrope, because it’d be a helluva lot easier than dealing with being the empathetic, tender, socially awkward outcast she actually is.

    #TeamCarla

    1. BBCC

      I think a lot of this is accurate. Sure, it’s fair to criticize the method, but the results have been good, to her knowledge (though that can change whenever with Grampus hanging around).

      Also, why don’t you think Sal would do the same for Carla? Sure, I don’t think she’d be good at comforting people, but her response to people who are upset’s been about as decent as Carla’s, as seen with her response to Ryan attacking Joyce.

      1. Stella

        Hmm, true, I may be being unfair to Sal. Sal seems like someone who is genuinely introverted while also having legit reason to mistrust people. If she had a normal life, I suspect she’d still be a bit of a loner naturally, which is probably why it seems to me like she wouldn’t be apt to step up to the plate to meet someone’s social / emotional needs, barring an emergency like the Ryan thing.

        Thinking on it, that’s not a bad thing either; if Carla needs distraction or comfort she can seek out other help-y people (like Dorothy) or people who enjoy her company more (like Malaya, potentially). Also, I might be reading Sal without enough nuance.

  67. Jhon

    So somehow Ruth’s door was open?

    1. Mephron

      A lot of RAs, at least when I went to college, left or propped their doors open when they were alone in their rooms, making it a ‘come in’ kind of thing if people had problems or questions.

      If their door was closed, you could usually figure out why – private discussion, in class, person of interest visiting and naked times happening.

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