Me too, cheating is not okay. Of course, severe head trauma isn’t fantastic either.
Jamie
If you had to pick one or the other, though? 😛
Thag Simmons
can i get a helmet?
Sirksome
Cheating feels like the least problematic reason. Maybe for Asher it would be a little messed up, but Jason is no real loss.
Yotomoe
Especially if he gets to watch.
Tan
I didn’t even think of Jason when cheating was brought up. Jason and Ruth doesn’t really seem like the sort of thing that has reached a point where exclusivity automatically attaches. Considering they ‘met’ (not technically their first time meeting, but) while Ruth was on a date with someone else, and they haven’t, to the best of my knowledge, gone on an actual date or… Well I guess she did call him her boyfriend a couple strips ago, to Jennifer… I guess it comes down to if that statement was genuine, or exaggeration for Jennifer’s sake.
Tan
Upon reviewing Ruth+Jason strips I think I rescind this and yeah they’re at least in the neighborhood where it needs to be a conversation before going assuming it’s okay to smooch others.
eh, whatever
…Are you saying America has reached the point where it’s not even a relationship if you haven’t “gone on an actual date”?
Chris (the other one)
Oh please. “America has reached”…. I assume you are European, where you can drive for 4 hours and go through 10 different COUNTRIES. Do NOT confuse the actions/morals/whatever of Spokane, Washington, with Los Angeles, CA, with middle Indiana, with Washington, DC, with Boston, MA, with Dallas, Tx.
How someone in Indiana views relationships should not be confused or confabulated with anyone else in Indiana, let alone “America”.
Decidedly Orthogonal
America, the unique land of distinctive cultures represented by 500+ channels all broadcasting the same “news”.
The Lurker
So, in your view Fox and CNN are broadcasting the same news?
-
Fine, fine, but just as most Yanks think there’s one “British accent” and know basically nothing about Europe (or anywhere else outside of the U.S., honestly), “America” is presented to the world in media essentially monolithically, i.e., there’s scarcely any representation of anything aside from L.A. and New York, except for occasional “hillbillies” or “Southern gentlefolk”. So the majority of outsiders aren’t aware of/ don’t care about the particularities you mention, just as Americans really don’t give a damn about “them funny Europeans” and whoever else.
Monogamy should never be an assumption. If you want someone else to give up their bodily autonomy, that is something you should explicitly state.
thejeff
In theory that sounds good, but it’s kind of a recipe for disaster, since it’s long been the default assumption once a relationship starts getting serious. People are more likely to get hurt by assuming they should be monogamous if they haven’t discussed it than vice versa.
Standard advice of “talk to each other about it” always applies if you’re unsure what assumptions the other party has.
Do you know how long it’s been the default? “Going steady” used to be a later step, so it wasn’t a default among high schoolers in the 1970s, but the ’70s was 50 years ago. Amongst adults I know it’s not really a default, because most adults I know who are trying for monogamy go on many dates in the process of trying to find someone to date monogamously.
Tan
I am saying that whether or not a particular pair of people have been on a date is A FACTOR in determining whether or not those people are in an exclusive relationship. The decisive factor, of course, is if both involved parties agree they are in an exclusive relationship, or agree they are not. Barring any explicit agreement one way or the other, each needs to make a judgment call regarding the other’s expectations.
GENERALLY, if one person is dating around, and the other person knows ahead of time they are dating around, continuing to date around is not inherently cheating unless/until they explicitly go exclusive.
In this case, given that Ruth and Jason have been more or less attached at the hip for the past couple days and have expressed feelings toward one another, there is a pretty reasonable expectation of exclusivity even if neither has brought it up directly.
I explicitly don’t do monogamy, so this is all kinda theoretical for me, but to you a couple days is enough time to assume you’re exclusive? Or am I misunderstanding?
Tan
A couple days generally, no. This SPECIFIC couple days between Ruth and Jason where specifically, so far as I can tell on review of recent strips, Jason has essentially moved into Ruth’s dorm room and they are spending every moment together outside of Ruth’s classes and Jason’s job are enough for me (and I apologize for this convoluted wording) to not assume that the other party is not assuming monogamy without some sort of conversation otherwise.
In this specific instance, were I the partner who wanted to smooch someone else, I would want to bring up the explicit conversation before such smooching takes place, so as to best ensure I don’t hurt my partner’s feelings unnecessarily. On the other hand, were I the other partner and smooching took place without an explicit conversation, I would consider that misunderstanding rather than betrayal, and simply ask that we have that conversation.
Every relationship is different. Part of it is discerning one’s specific partner’s expectations at any given point in a relationship (whether through explicit discussion or through more implicit signals), and, really, deciding if you care about those expectations. In both directions. For example, if you make a point of explicitly laying out what your partner SHOULD expect of you, and your partner sets different expectations that you did not agree to, it is absolutely fair to decide not to care about those. On the other hand if you do agree to expectations and then fail to live up to them, you’d better have a good reason.
Sometimes there needs to be compromise, sometimes there needs to be forgiveness, and sometimes there needs to be maturely recognizing that something isn’t going to work. And if you can figure out exactly which applies where, you can make millions writing a book to let the rest of us know.
Steelbright
interesting discussion, some good points made. as another non-monogamous person, i think it’s worth mentioning that non-monogamy shouldn’t be assumed either. when there’s been a change in the relationship, things are fuzzy & you’re not sure what the other person expects, that’s the time to talk. whether that be at 2 days or 2 months or whenever.
Spiderkiss? Like the small one ties the big one up in silk to mate but then has to run away before their partner breaks free and sucks their liquified insides out like a milkshake?
The League of Canadian Superheroes is up right now.
Taffy
I don’t know what that is. Do they have Wolverine and Squirrel Girl?
Oruncrest
They have the Werewolf of London, Ontario and Katt O’Nine Tails. Much better in my opinion.
Also, sorry about the accidental flagging. My bad.
Taffy
I wouldn’t have known you flagged me if you hadn’t said anything. And even if I could tell somehow, I wouldn’t be bothered.
Rose by Any Other Name
I feel like my Game Grumps/Spiderman meme went over some heads here.
Taffy
Those are the guys who pretend to be bad at Sonic games for views and helped along the “Sonic games suck and that’s why we like them” sentiment, right?
Rose by Any Other Name
Arin pretends nothing.
Arin has difficulty concentrating on playing any and all games while also hosting a show, and this results in sloppy but also funny gameplay.
He also is critical of things he likes, so as a major fan of Sonic, he complains loudly and often about sonic games. However, he mostly complains about the badly made ones – Sonic Boom in particular, but most of the 3d Sonic games since they’re all at least somewhat awful.
One of my pet hates is the expectation that two characters who openly hate each other are clearly meant to be, with people getting kicking-and-screaming outraged when they don’t hook up, so it was weirdly cathartic to see the almost kiss in panel 2 descend into violence immediately.
BigDogLittleCat
This. It’s especially unpleasant when violence is cheered on as foreplay.
Biblioholic93
And when it happens its cheerABLE, aka doesnt look like flaming garbage every single time, the way it IS, and is supposed to look without heavy set up and prior consent… even then, not the healthiest desire. Nothing to be normalized, displayed, or to be proud of. At best that’s transgression-centric fetish and at worst it is just literal assault and abuse.
I always liked Ruth for other reasons, mental health and meds and alcoholism struggles, and never really liked Jennifer.
FlamestAndLight
I think violence can be foreplay but like a flirtatious sword duel or a flirtatious hand to hand fight. Like I think Enemies to Lovers only really works if there’s an in between step where they are both still fighting because they’re expected to but they don’t actually hate each other anymore and they’re obviously attracted to each other and clearly care about each other even in a weird way
Shadowsnail
Those examples of violence made a new connection in my brain – now I did fencing in college with the “violence club” and Mr. Miyagi was teaching Daniel “Miyagi-do violence”.
thejeff
This is a bit of different scenario since the two don’t openly hate each other and had a history during their relationship of using fighting as foreplay – consensually except for the pre-relationship stuff.
Jennifer’s letting her anger out here, but it at least wasn’t open before this. She might think Ruth is lying about being concerned about her, but again it’s certainly clear that Ruth wasn’t openly hating her.
imagine being a freshman and seeing this for the first time, and then another person like “don’t worry you’ll get used to this it happens every other week”
or entering the college hearing of these ‘legendary’ dramas and the dorms being fairly uneventful
Honestly I think it’s sort of flirting. This is their idea of flirting, with how messed up their dynamic is.
The thing that drew them to each other and that sparks the most intense feelings of attachment is the idea that they are both “poison”, but they “can touch each other”–that is, they can feel free to let loose their worst impulses and lay bare the deep vulnerable parts of themselves they’re most ashamed of, without judgement or it damaging the other person or their relationship.
So to them, duking it out and being viscous at one another is an intense form of vulnerability that they can’t seem to reach with anyone else, and it reignites the spark that fueled their desire to be together in the first place.
Both Ruth and Billie are intensely sensitive to the perceptions and judgements of others, and so the rare experience of not having to feel on guard in that way around someone feels very special, like something they want to cling to. And the lack of judgement makes it feel to them like there are no lasting consequences for enabling each other’s worst impulses.
But the truth of the matter is, despite how it feels, there are negative consequences. For themselves and for each other. Their partner is not actually immune to toxicity just because they themselves are toxic, though they’re more accepting and understanding about it than others might be.
So long as they each (deep down) believe that the shameful parts of themselves are immutable and unchangeable, so long as they fail to address their insecurities and instead bury them down, they’ll remain vulnerable to that intoxicating pull of validation from each other.
Basically, Jennifer’s outburst here is being caused by recent events triggering her insecurities and fears about herself–the fear that there are things deeply wrong with her that she can’t change, no matter how hard she tries. And Ruth is the person she instinctively goes to to work through those sorts of feelings.
“Stop lying!” means “Stop hiding the anger and resentment and frustration. I don’t want to hold them in any more. Be vulnerable with me, so I can feel free to let this out. Please.”
And that’s why they have that moment in panel 2.
Quite frankly this is deeply romantic in a super fucked up way and I’m so into it.
They are broken up. Billie doesn’t have the right to demand that anymore, she doesn’t deserve it. The whole point of breaking up is to disentangle from all the mutual demands and expectations and go your separate ways. All you are required to give your ex is the barest of politeness, with as little interaction as possible. Especially when someone is as violent and volatile as Jenifer, avoiding her entirely for a couple of years will keep everyone out of the hospital and the jail.
So true! Jennifer/Billie is just digging for drama right now, trying to recapture the old dopamine hit.
pope suburban
I agree, well put. Ruth seems to be doing her best to actually move on, and while that’s very much a work in progress, I believe that when she is polite or kind to Jennifer, she means it- or at least wants to, because she knows the way they were (separately and together) is unhealthy. I mean, I thought that’s what Jennifer was doing too, per what she said to Walky when we came back from the timeskip- and maybe she is, we just haven’t seen the therapy while we have seen her spending time with fake awful people like Raidah, so it’s harder to say. But this right here feels like Jennifer just rooting around trying to get that old familiar thing, without regard for whether or not that’s a good thing or whether or not Ruth wants to be involved in it.
Joy
Yeah– Jennifer’s behavior right now isn’t just because of Ruth. It’s the way Joyce was insensitive, the way Sarah was judgemental and shaming her, it was Walky needling her and being a jerk, it was Mary being horrible on purpose to rile her up (to manipulate her into getting into trouble of course), and it’s Raidah being fake-nice all the time in ways that she’s probably picking up on only subconsciously as of yet.
Wereg
Yuuup. Ruth isn’t close to Jennifer’s biggest annoyance right now, but Ruth is the most persistent background sting. Plus Ruth is the person most likely around to actually hit her back.
304 thoughts on “Beautiful”
The Wellerman
OH SHIT! ?
This is gonna be quite the BRAWL!! ?
*plays Dragon Ball Z battle music on hacked muzak*
RassilonTDavros
Points for going with Kikuchi over Faulconer; I see you are an alien parasite of taste.
Ana Chronistic
PRETEND THIS
STOP LYING THERE
ThunderNight
CONDESCENDING PILEDRIVER
Yotomoe
I DIDN’T MISS YOU THAT TIME.
pope suburban
Welp, that’s it, that’s the best comment. We can all go home and bask in the glow of having read this.
Vanessa
Hahaha I’m so glad they didn’t kiss!
True Survivor
Me too, cheating is not okay. Of course, severe head trauma isn’t fantastic either.
Jamie
If you had to pick one or the other, though? 😛
Thag Simmons
can i get a helmet?
Sirksome
Cheating feels like the least problematic reason. Maybe for Asher it would be a little messed up, but Jason is no real loss.
Yotomoe
Especially if he gets to watch.
Tan
I didn’t even think of Jason when cheating was brought up. Jason and Ruth doesn’t really seem like the sort of thing that has reached a point where exclusivity automatically attaches. Considering they ‘met’ (not technically their first time meeting, but) while Ruth was on a date with someone else, and they haven’t, to the best of my knowledge, gone on an actual date or… Well I guess she did call him her boyfriend a couple strips ago, to Jennifer… I guess it comes down to if that statement was genuine, or exaggeration for Jennifer’s sake.
Tan
Upon reviewing Ruth+Jason strips I think I rescind this and yeah they’re at least in the neighborhood where it needs to be a conversation before going assuming it’s okay to smooch others.
eh, whatever
…Are you saying America has reached the point where it’s not even a relationship if you haven’t “gone on an actual date”?
Chris (the other one)
Oh please. “America has reached”…. I assume you are European, where you can drive for 4 hours and go through 10 different COUNTRIES. Do NOT confuse the actions/morals/whatever of Spokane, Washington, with Los Angeles, CA, with middle Indiana, with Washington, DC, with Boston, MA, with Dallas, Tx.
How someone in Indiana views relationships should not be confused or confabulated with anyone else in Indiana, let alone “America”.
Decidedly Orthogonal
America, the unique land of distinctive cultures represented by 500+ channels all broadcasting the same “news”.
The Lurker
So, in your view Fox and CNN are broadcasting the same news?
-
Fine, fine, but just as most Yanks think there’s one “British accent” and know basically nothing about Europe (or anywhere else outside of the U.S., honestly), “America” is presented to the world in media essentially monolithically, i.e., there’s scarcely any representation of anything aside from L.A. and New York, except for occasional “hillbillies” or “Southern gentlefolk”. So the majority of outsiders aren’t aware of/ don’t care about the particularities you mention, just as Americans really don’t give a damn about “them funny Europeans” and whoever else.
Nathan
Monogamy should never be an assumption. If you want someone else to give up their bodily autonomy, that is something you should explicitly state.
thejeff
In theory that sounds good, but it’s kind of a recipe for disaster, since it’s long been the default assumption once a relationship starts getting serious. People are more likely to get hurt by assuming they should be monogamous if they haven’t discussed it than vice versa.
Standard advice of “talk to each other about it” always applies if you’re unsure what assumptions the other party has.
Nathan
Do you know how long it’s been the default? “Going steady” used to be a later step, so it wasn’t a default among high schoolers in the 1970s, but the ’70s was 50 years ago. Amongst adults I know it’s not really a default, because most adults I know who are trying for monogamy go on many dates in the process of trying to find someone to date monogamously.
Tan
I am saying that whether or not a particular pair of people have been on a date is A FACTOR in determining whether or not those people are in an exclusive relationship. The decisive factor, of course, is if both involved parties agree they are in an exclusive relationship, or agree they are not. Barring any explicit agreement one way or the other, each needs to make a judgment call regarding the other’s expectations.
GENERALLY, if one person is dating around, and the other person knows ahead of time they are dating around, continuing to date around is not inherently cheating unless/until they explicitly go exclusive.
In this case, given that Ruth and Jason have been more or less attached at the hip for the past couple days and have expressed feelings toward one another, there is a pretty reasonable expectation of exclusivity even if neither has brought it up directly.
Nathan
I explicitly don’t do monogamy, so this is all kinda theoretical for me, but to you a couple days is enough time to assume you’re exclusive? Or am I misunderstanding?
Tan
A couple days generally, no. This SPECIFIC couple days between Ruth and Jason where specifically, so far as I can tell on review of recent strips, Jason has essentially moved into Ruth’s dorm room and they are spending every moment together outside of Ruth’s classes and Jason’s job are enough for me (and I apologize for this convoluted wording) to not assume that the other party is not assuming monogamy without some sort of conversation otherwise.
In this specific instance, were I the partner who wanted to smooch someone else, I would want to bring up the explicit conversation before such smooching takes place, so as to best ensure I don’t hurt my partner’s feelings unnecessarily. On the other hand, were I the other partner and smooching took place without an explicit conversation, I would consider that misunderstanding rather than betrayal, and simply ask that we have that conversation.
Every relationship is different. Part of it is discerning one’s specific partner’s expectations at any given point in a relationship (whether through explicit discussion or through more implicit signals), and, really, deciding if you care about those expectations. In both directions. For example, if you make a point of explicitly laying out what your partner SHOULD expect of you, and your partner sets different expectations that you did not agree to, it is absolutely fair to decide not to care about those. On the other hand if you do agree to expectations and then fail to live up to them, you’d better have a good reason.
Sometimes there needs to be compromise, sometimes there needs to be forgiveness, and sometimes there needs to be maturely recognizing that something isn’t going to work. And if you can figure out exactly which applies where, you can make millions writing a book to let the rest of us know.
Steelbright
interesting discussion, some good points made. as another non-monogamous person, i think it’s worth mentioning that non-monogamy shouldn’t be assumed either. when there’s been a change in the relationship, things are fuzzy & you’re not sure what the other person expects, that’s the time to talk. whether that be at 2 days or 2 months or whenever.
Achallenger
Excellent form tho
Blibdoolpoolp
Fight fight fight! Kiss? No! Fight!
Rose by Any Other Name
Spiderkiss?
True Survivor
Spiderkiss? Like the small one ties the big one up in silk to mate but then has to run away before their partner breaks free and sucks their liquified insides out like a milkshake?
Opus the Poet
Now I’m seeing Spinerette tying up some guy so she can have a kid to raise with Marylynne. (Different comic than this one)
Taffy
Haven’t checked up on that series since they started doing the White Heron stories more and more often.
Stanistani
The League of Canadian Superheroes is up right now.
Taffy
I don’t know what that is. Do they have Wolverine and Squirrel Girl?
Oruncrest
They have the Werewolf of London, Ontario and Katt O’Nine Tails. Much better in my opinion.
Also, sorry about the accidental flagging. My bad.
Taffy
I wouldn’t have known you flagged me if you hadn’t said anything. And even if I could tell somehow, I wouldn’t be bothered.
Rose by Any Other Name
I feel like my Game Grumps/Spiderman meme went over some heads here.
Taffy
Those are the guys who pretend to be bad at Sonic games for views and helped along the “Sonic games suck and that’s why we like them” sentiment, right?
Rose by Any Other Name
Arin pretends nothing.
Arin has difficulty concentrating on playing any and all games while also hosting a show, and this results in sloppy but also funny gameplay.
He also is critical of things he likes, so as a major fan of Sonic, he complains loudly and often about sonic games. However, he mostly complains about the badly made ones – Sonic Boom in particular, but most of the 3d Sonic games since they’re all at least somewhat awful.
Sirksome
Whelp…still don’t really know if this is flirting or not. Like yes, this is a violent confrontation but you’d be surprised how often they went there.
Thag Simmons
This feels a lot more hateful than any previous confrontations, so I’m gonna put in a vote for “not fliriting”
Cattleprod
One of my pet hates is the expectation that two characters who openly hate each other are clearly meant to be, with people getting kicking-and-screaming outraged when they don’t hook up, so it was weirdly cathartic to see the almost kiss in panel 2 descend into violence immediately.
BigDogLittleCat
This. It’s especially unpleasant when violence is cheered on as foreplay.
Biblioholic93
And when it happens its cheerABLE, aka doesnt look like flaming garbage every single time, the way it IS, and is supposed to look without heavy set up and prior consent… even then, not the healthiest desire. Nothing to be normalized, displayed, or to be proud of. At best that’s transgression-centric fetish and at worst it is just literal assault and abuse.
I always liked Ruth for other reasons, mental health and meds and alcoholism struggles, and never really liked Jennifer.
FlamestAndLight
I think violence can be foreplay but like a flirtatious sword duel or a flirtatious hand to hand fight. Like I think Enemies to Lovers only really works if there’s an in between step where they are both still fighting because they’re expected to but they don’t actually hate each other anymore and they’re obviously attracted to each other and clearly care about each other even in a weird way
Shadowsnail
Those examples of violence made a new connection in my brain – now I did fencing in college with the “violence club” and Mr. Miyagi was teaching Daniel “Miyagi-do violence”.
thejeff
This is a bit of different scenario since the two don’t openly hate each other and had a history during their relationship of using fighting as foreplay – consensually except for the pre-relationship stuff.
Jennifer’s letting her anger out here, but it at least wasn’t open before this. She might think Ruth is lying about being concerned about her, but again it’s certainly clear that Ruth wasn’t openly hating her.
King Daniel
Remember, Jennifer is previously on record as firmly believing that your ex should be Your Enemy.
anon
imagine being a freshman and seeing this for the first time, and then another person like “don’t worry you’ll get used to this it happens every other week”
or entering the college hearing of these ‘legendary’ dramas and the dorms being fairly uneventful
powerpowerpow
Aren’t most of them freshmen though? They’ve all only been there a couple months.
Undrave
This feels like Jennifer saying “I deserve to be yelled at for what I did”, like she needs it to really get over this whole thing.
Joyfulldreams
Honestly I think it’s sort of flirting. This is their idea of flirting, with how messed up their dynamic is.
The thing that drew them to each other and that sparks the most intense feelings of attachment is the idea that they are both “poison”, but they “can touch each other”–that is, they can feel free to let loose their worst impulses and lay bare the deep vulnerable parts of themselves they’re most ashamed of, without judgement or it damaging the other person or their relationship.
So to them, duking it out and being viscous at one another is an intense form of vulnerability that they can’t seem to reach with anyone else, and it reignites the spark that fueled their desire to be together in the first place.
Both Ruth and Billie are intensely sensitive to the perceptions and judgements of others, and so the rare experience of not having to feel on guard in that way around someone feels very special, like something they want to cling to. And the lack of judgement makes it feel to them like there are no lasting consequences for enabling each other’s worst impulses.
But the truth of the matter is, despite how it feels, there are negative consequences. For themselves and for each other. Their partner is not actually immune to toxicity just because they themselves are toxic, though they’re more accepting and understanding about it than others might be.
So long as they each (deep down) believe that the shameful parts of themselves are immutable and unchangeable, so long as they fail to address their insecurities and instead bury them down, they’ll remain vulnerable to that intoxicating pull of validation from each other.
Basically, Jennifer’s outburst here is being caused by recent events triggering her insecurities and fears about herself–the fear that there are things deeply wrong with her that she can’t change, no matter how hard she tries. And Ruth is the person she instinctively goes to to work through those sorts of feelings.
Joyfulldreams
“Stop lying!” means “Stop hiding the anger and resentment and frustration. I don’t want to hold them in any more. Be vulnerable with me, so I can feel free to let this out. Please.”
And that’s why they have that moment in panel 2.
Quite frankly this is deeply romantic in a super fucked up way and I’m so into it.
justin8448
Thanks for writing this, it really helps me understand what’s going on!
YanderePanzer
At last, a battle! Someone, where’s the Street Fighter music?
The Wellerman
were you reading my mind just now?!??!
YanderePanzer
Not intentionally, but stranger things have happened before.
The Wellerman
Yeah, so excited for this Billie vs Ruth battle!!!! ??
Just which street fighter music did you have in mind BTW?
Rainhat
Not who you were talking to, but may I suggest “The Beep” from III?
Jeff K!
Ken Stage SF2.
Disastroid
I happened to have “Les Bêtes” from Evangelion playing while reading. Different scale, but still.
Rororoyourboat
Called it. Jennifer just wanted Ruth to be honest with her.
Vanessa
They are broken up. Billie doesn’t have the right to demand that anymore, she doesn’t deserve it. The whole point of breaking up is to disentangle from all the mutual demands and expectations and go your separate ways. All you are required to give your ex is the barest of politeness, with as little interaction as possible. Especially when someone is as violent and volatile as Jenifer, avoiding her entirely for a couple of years will keep everyone out of the hospital and the jail.
Laura
So true! Jennifer/Billie is just digging for drama right now, trying to recapture the old dopamine hit.
pope suburban
I agree, well put. Ruth seems to be doing her best to actually move on, and while that’s very much a work in progress, I believe that when she is polite or kind to Jennifer, she means it- or at least wants to, because she knows the way they were (separately and together) is unhealthy. I mean, I thought that’s what Jennifer was doing too, per what she said to Walky when we came back from the timeskip- and maybe she is, we just haven’t seen the therapy while we have seen her spending time with fake awful people like Raidah, so it’s harder to say. But this right here feels like Jennifer just rooting around trying to get that old familiar thing, without regard for whether or not that’s a good thing or whether or not Ruth wants to be involved in it.
Joy
Yeah– Jennifer’s behavior right now isn’t just because of Ruth. It’s the way Joyce was insensitive, the way Sarah was judgemental and shaming her, it was Walky needling her and being a jerk, it was Mary being horrible on purpose to rile her up (to manipulate her into getting into trouble of course), and it’s Raidah being fake-nice all the time in ways that she’s probably picking up on only subconsciously as of yet.
Wereg
Yuuup. Ruth isn’t close to Jennifer’s biggest annoyance right now, but Ruth is the most persistent background sting. Plus Ruth is the person most likely around to actually hit her back.
Nathan
I think that is a weirdly binary view of relationships.
woobie
I think it’s more than that.
thejeff
Maybe.
Or maybe she wants Ruth to feel what Jennifer thinks she should feel. Not so much honesty as matching her expectations.
FlamestAndLight
Were people reading Ruth as not being honest? Cause I genuinely thought that Ruth was being caring because she still loves Jennifer
Nathan
When she yelled down the hall about how much she’d moved on that seemed distinctly dishonest.
Dana