Beholden
Posted on May 3, 2022 by David M Willis

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196 thoughts on “Beholden”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    this sounds like a brunch dumpster fire

    a brunchster fire

    …

    [popcorn.gif]

    1. ThunderNight

      douse the flames with Mimosas

    2. Reltzik

      Dejeuner de dechets, avec des oeufs des ourdures et poubelle flambe.

    3. Decidedly Orthogonal

      Ms. Billingsworth has still got no chill,
      but Walkerton’s will has extra chill still.
      Wonder who at brunch he’ll stick with the bill?

  2. The Wellerman

    Really Sarah?

    If anyone’s made a deal with the devil here, it’s Raidah.

    Walky, you lovable demonic screwball! ?

    Give ’em hell!!!! ???

    *plays “Comedian Gallop” by Vassil Kazandjiev on hacked muzak*

    1. Stephen Bierce

      Seen And Raised.

      1. Nova

        Masterful

  3. Darkoneko

    hahahaha Billie already know how it’s gonna go

    1. Doctor_Who

      Jennifer: Promise you’ll behave at brunch!

      Walky at brunch.

    2. Ob

      I feel like this is going to end in a red background strip… for Raidah.

  4. Yotomoe

    Walky and Billie are Cute when they argue.

    *cough*

    Anywaaaaaaay
    https://imgur.com/a/ixbHxSm (NSFW)

    1. Andy

      Walky’s got a fair point there. Don’t complain when someone says they don’t like what you’re doing, Billie, that shit isn’t cool.

    2. Rose by Any Other Name

      Something about Walky’s torso in panel 2 seems… off? Not sure why.

      Otherwise, wonderful as always. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

    3. Taffy

      Several people will be in their bunks.

    4. The Wellerman

      ???

      Oh yes human!! Very tasty!!!

    5. drs

      Dorothy: Sex is not a competition.

      Billie: THEN YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

    6. cbwroses

      Silly, Billie.
      That’s not his money.

  5. Sirksome

    Is Walky like a social STD or something?

    1. Mr D

      oh you’re back to hating Walky for unexplainable reasons.

      1. Sirksome

        That’s not ME hating on him that’s the actual characters. Like Sarah strait said she’s inflicting Walky on Raidah! What am I suppose to do with that?! Also I forgot to mention I don’t trust Asher……but seriously why they suddenly bashing Walky?

        1. Dean

          Walky is a nice guy, but he’s a goofy manchild who doesn’t take anything seriously. To a Type A personality like Sarah, that would be profoundly annoying.

        2. Taffy

          What the hell is a “Type A personality”? Is this a horoscope thing?

        3. The Wellerman

          Eh never mind it slick, it’s humans and their pop psych pseudoscience garbage again. At least horoscopes don’t go out of their way to pretend to be real science. ?

        4. Clif

          Historically, they have at times.

          Personality types may be an extreme oversimplification but they’re real enough that neural networks can be trained to recognize them. And as an English idiom it’s communicating something even if the underlying premise is flawed.

        5. Amelie Wikström

          Funny story, there’s some evidence the type “A” and “B” personality stereotypes were “discovered” by studies paid by cigarette companies trying to prove that not smoking puts you at higher risk of heart attack.

        6. The Wellerman

          Yeah I’d just stay away from popular psychology altogether for this very reason, and even take a lot of stuff in “professional” psychology with way more than just a grain of salt.

          In a capitalist society, it is rather wise not to take advice from people who give advice for a LIVING.

          “Give a human a fish, you feed them for a day. Teach a human how to fish, you’ve wasted a wonderful business opportunity.”

        7. Needfuldoer

          Don’t you mean “teach a hue-mon how to fish”? That sounds like a Ferengi proverb.

        8. Thag Simmons

          it’s some bullshit taxonomy, but they’re all pretty interchangeable

        9. Ana Chronistic

          the way I learned was

          Type A: uptight, everything has its place, clockwork timing, etc.

          Type B: easygoing, embrace levity, do as you feel, etc.

          Type C: the kid, who gets the Eggo

          I learned that from commercials

        10. Ana Chronistic

          oh there it is

        11. thejeff

          Not even necessarily to Sarah, but she knows what Raidah values.

        12. someone

          Walky has suddenly turned into a himbo. An empty-headed buffoon but that people find hot despite his stupidity.

          Asher is apparently bi, he finds Walky attractive too. Sarah and Billifer know Walky enough to understand that behind the attractive shell lies a complete putz.

        13. Clif

          Walky has never been stupid. Lazy, snarky, anoying, poor personal hygiene and diet, and more. But neither a himbo or a putz.

        14. someone

          Walky’s smart when he wants to, which is very seldom. That’s been his characterization since Roomies.

          Most of the time he’s behaving like a putz. That’s the persona people like Raidah get to see because to see Walky being sensible you need to be with him in a crisis, and a disaster brunch is not going to qualify as a crisis as far as he’s concerned.

        15. Freemage

          I think Sarah is digging at him because she feels the need to walk back the notion that these people are now her ‘friends’.

          Billie is digging at him because that’s their established dynamic, in that she’s sure he’s going to embarrass her.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Walky is annoying and immature, and I think that’s the extent of this

      1. justin8448

        Part of it is the context too. Everyone there accepts Walky despite those traits, at least enough to walk with him to class and hang out with him sometimes. But they all know that Raidah doesn’t realize what she’s in for.

  6. Yotomoe

    I don’t know why Sarah would be mad at Walky for this at all actually. Like…are they friends? I barely even register them as acquaintances. If he knows about her beef with Raidah it’s only really passing knowledge and they don’t have the kind of friendship where Walky would blow Raidah off for Sarah’s sake.
    I dunno, my memory’s not great but that just seemed odd.

    1. Laura

      They were kidnapped together, so they do have that shared trauma-bond.

      (Like the old poem, “Jake and Ten-Ton Molly,” goes: “Strangers, ’til an hour ago. Now comrades. And survivors.” I think of that line a lot.)

      Sorry I been gone for a while. I get parano about the internet. Stresses me out.

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        Yeah, you don’t live through a life threatening incident together without at the least getting a little bit close. Those are the moments where you get a good glimps of what kind of person someone really is.

        1. Agemegos

          Sarah does. She is just as acid to those involved now as she was before.

        2. Taffy

          This feels like projection. Sometimes people just don’t connect.

      2. The Wellerman

        No worries Laura! It’s all cool here.

        This is a place for all us to CHILLY DOWN with demonic lovable screwballs like Walky!!!! ??

        *plays “Chilly Down” by David Bowie on hacked muzak*

      3. The Wellerman

        BTW you should try Brave Browser to remove those pesky ads. ?

        1. Laura

          Thanks. 🙂

        2. The Wellerman

          No problem!

          BTW in case you weren’t here when I said it,

          I finally got an ADHD diagnosis!!! ?

        3. Laura

          Congratulations!

        4. The Wellerman

          Thanks! ? I feel so assured and comforted to know so many folks around here share many of my neurodivergent stripes I can relate to — its like I’ve found my people after all these years! ?

          Also the lyrics from “Circle of Life” ?

        5. epitome of incomprehensibility

          Welcome to the ADHD club!

          (Apparently there is a club.)

        6. The Wellerman

          You have it too?!?! ?

    2. RedCat

      I kinda get it. When you really don’t like someone, you don’t want them to have nice things. Like, at all. Even if said nice thing is brunch with one of your friend-adjacents.

      1. Spencer

        It’s that, yeah.

        Sarah’s not mad because her friend Walky has betrayed her, she’s mad that someone she hates is having a pleasant interaction with someone, and that someone isn’t intimately in-tune with how much Sarah hates her.

        1. Sombrero

          Beware of Walkys bearing pleasant interactions.

        2. RedCat

          Yes, that’s what I said.

    3. thejeff

      They don’t have that kind of friendship maybe, but it’s not surprising she’d be upset about it. Raidah did harass her for most of last year, very likely including trying to peel any potential friends away to isolate her.

      And Walky does know at least something about their issues. He was there for the confrontation over Jacob at Joyce’s party.

  7. BBCC

    Dude, yes, I agree with Sarah, this sounds hilarious and I want it.

    1. Clif

      Walky is in because Lucy wants it and hey, free food. Both will be blindsided when Raidah and more subtly, Asher, make their moves.

  8. Darkoneko

    Asher looks at Walky and really likes what he sees

    1. Thag Simmons

      Asher looks at Walky and sees dude!Sal without the baggage, I’m pretty sure

      1. Amós Batista

        hahhahaha

  9. EAG46

    I just feel sorry for the waitstaff at whatever place they go to.

    1. epitome of incomprehensibility

      Ha yes, agreed.

    2. anon

      well at least billie prolly has enough money to give them a decent tip or so, as long as walky doesn’t cause property damage i’m sure local restaurants are probably used to college students being ap ain lol

  10. Thag Simmons

    Walky will embarrass you, no way out of that

    1. Laura

      What’s surprising here is that Billie previously chided Alice, “Don’t leave because of my dork friends. It’s really shitty of you.” (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/scoot-2/) At the time, she seemed to believe that it was wrong to avoid friends because of feeling embarrased by them.

      1. Sirksome

        It was almost like she had an epiphany and matured! Too bad she’s backslid real hard like 4 months later! Alice is right to avoid her. That being said there’s gotta be a good equalibrium of the healthier yet vain, and status obsessed Jennifer, with the more self aware and empathic, but alcohol dependent, and severely depressed Billie. A perfect Billifer must exist. The science proves it’s theoretically possible!

      2. Sporky

        She’s a hypocrite, what else is new

  11. Laura

    So… what’s going on with that all-black panel 1? Is that supposed to be Billie seeing black or something, at the thought of Walky spilling all her secrets?

    1. The Wellerman

      Think that’s just an artistic choice. Willis wanted to show all them in scene but couldn’t shove all the details in.

      At least I think that’s what happened. I dunno really ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    2. Thag Simmons

      It’s emphasizing a theme of “I don’t want to draw nine characters in a single throwaway panel”

      1. Sirksome

        Especially if that panel has Carl in it. Dude’s not even a character…not really.

    3. Plain Marie

      *nods* Artistic choice.

    4. Agemegos

      The first panel isn’t all-black in my browser. It has silhouettes in black of nine people against pale blue, probably the background of image showing through. I think that perhaps the image file has transparency that doesn’t display properly in some browsers.

      1. Yumi

        Yeah, that. And I imagine some of the people responding see it the right way, based on their responses…so now I don’t know what Laura meant by “all black.” But if it is that the silhouettes aren’t appearing properly, it’s probably their browser.

  12. Agemegos

    What loyalty does Sarah think Walky owes her?

    1. Sirksome

      I mean they were kidnapped together? A shared experience like that would imply a sense of comradery right? They’re in the same social group and it’s common knowledge Raidah and Sarah have grade A beef between them. This could be considered a little rude to accept an invitation from a friend’s enemy right in front of them.

      1. Agemegos

        Has Sarah shown Walky any consideration since the kidnapping? I have the impression that she continues to treat him with undisguised contempt, but it’s possible that I have failed to notice a change in her behaviour.

        1. Sirksome

          They walk in the same direction to class every morning? That’s closer to Sarah than most get. Walky might even be a better friend to Sarah than Becky is. Maybe this is actually a tell from Sarah that she does consider Walky a friend.

        2. Nono

          I feel like the only people Sarah considers friends are Joyce, Dina and maybe Dorothy.

          Anyone else, she kinda deigns to be in the presence of (usually by coercion from Joyce).

        3. Clif

          I find it difficult to believe that Joyce is coercing Sarah to be around Walky.

        4. cbwroses

          It’s hard to say with Sarah, and they definitely don’t seem to spend much time together alone, but I thought the same, that Sarah actually considers him some kind of friend.

          Besides, everyone in his social circle except the people he dates downs Walky to his face.
          His blood sister, his play sister, and let’s not forget that Joyce seems to hate his guts but still referred to him as family once (I believe it was to Becky when they were talking about her staying when she ran away).

          And Walky accepts it (at least on the surface) and often gives as good as he gets. There are certainly people who believe that you can only make those types of remarks and “jokes” to people they’re close to, though to what degree that applies to these people, I wouldn’t want to guess.

        5. JBento

          I mean, she treats him with undisguised contempt RIGHT HERE. “it’s inflicting you on her” is a pretty shitty thing to say of someone, just like it was when Becky told Walky the next time she wanted to emabrass Dorothy she’d just remind her that she dated Walky.

          I don’t know why Walky would show Sarah any particular consideration, other than “fuck you too, specifically”.

        6. Clif

          Undisguised contempt??? Walky is snarky. This invites being snarky in return. I have good friends who are snarky and I respond in kind. Is this a generational thing?

      2. Taffy

        They’ve barely interacted since that, though. Being kidnapped at the same time doesn’t really obligate them to be friends or anything.

      3. Agemegos

        As for accepting an invitation from Sarah’s enemy right in front of her, what does Walky know of this feud? He wasn’t here for the Deed Against Dana or the Semester of Slander. He wasn’t present during the Disrespecting of Dina. Have Sarah and Joyce told him about the Homewrecking of Jacob? I would have thought they were too ashamed.

    2. Laura

      They are both on Team “Take Care of Joyce”.

      1. Spencer

        Are they?

        Walky doesn’t really like Joyce, he told her to unwind on a Sunday morning. That’s a normal thing to say to anyone you regularly associate with, it’s only significant because Joyce’s closest friends have still proven completely incapable of asking if she’s holding up okay and Walky saying that is so far the singular expression of decency about Joyce’s collapse of her worldview she’s gotten.

        Like five strips ago he was making fun of her for having menstrual pain. The hell kind of friend does that?

        1. cbwroses

          Joyce seems to actually hate Walky’s guts and yet still referred to him as family once, and I’d venture to say he feels similarly.

          Also, he didn’t make fun of her period from what I could see.
          He made fun of her layers.
          Now the layers seem to be directly due to the period, but I’m not sure how much of that is obvious to Walky.
          When asked directly about it, he just said he couldn’t talk about it without getting into trouble.
          Lucy noticed Joyce didn’t look good and was wearing layers, and could generally assume she gets periods, but she didn’t put that together on her own.

        2. Spencer

          Walky knows Joyce has really bad periods because he was able to instantly link Joyce’s current state to the timeskip back when he got pajama jeans (in like 2012) where she also went through them, though obviously off-panel. He can’t get in trouble without talking about it because I don’t think there’s any social situation where a guy can say “don’t mind her, she’s on the rag.”

          Which is to say that when he jabbed at Joyce for “having a reverse Dorian Grey going on,” he knows it’s because her current misery is being caused by the bad periods she has. Lucy puts it together and Walky instantly links back to a point where Joyce previously went through this.

        3. cbwroses

          I didn’t say he didn’t know she had bad periods.
          I said I’m not sure how much he associates bad periods with layers.
          After all, this is their first cold weather time together unless it happened in December of panel, which means previous bad periods probably didn’t require wrapping up to this extent.

          Remember that Lucy saying Joyce looks terrible is most likely independent of her wearing layers as that doesn’t inherently indicate how bad someone looks, let alone how bad they feel other than cold. So when she says Joyce looks terrible, she’s almost certainly talking about her face or, more likely considering she could barely walk the other day (same day?) and how Raidah and Billie saw her from a distance, how she’s moving.

          You’re also assuming, negatively, why Walky thought he couldn’t talk about her periods.
          When I read it, I assumed he only meant it wasn’t cool for a guy to comment on a woman’s personal health condition/situation/problem in general or Joyce wouldn’t want him specifically to comment on it.

          There’s “a guy shouldn’t talk about a woman’s periods”, which is a bit immature, and there’s “a guy can’t say she’s on the rag” which is just kinda rude and dismissive.

        4. Spencer

          I mean yeah that everyone just goes “you look bad” while Walky explains outright that he can’t say why she looks bad without getting into trouble is my point. He knows it’s caused by her period, Lucy asks him and he signals that the answer is one he can’t say and when Lucy says it he mentions a time it happened previously.

          Which is why it’s Something I Guess that Walky’s getting a dig at Joyce because of having a bad period.

        5. cbwroses

          How does feeling like he can’t comment on a woman’s period without getting in trouble equal trying to dig at her?
          It doesn’t say anything about her to say that and it’s not trying to be funny.

          We know Walky has some underdeveloped ideas about masculinity so the likelihood is that’s he’s being completely innocent.

          Unless you’re equating the layers comment to being about her period, which I didn’t, there’s no dig being made about her period.

          He’s not even saying it for her to hear as it’s just a conversation between him and Lucy, as compared to the layers comment which started out as a conversation about the weather that everyone joined in on.
          If he’s taking a shot at her while she’s right there, I’d expect he’d want her to hear it.

        6. Spencer

          Unless you’re equating the layers comment to being about her period, which I didn’t, there’s no dig being made about her period.

          I am, yeah. He’s making a crack at her for a thing he knows is being caused by something he then says he can’t talk about without getting in trouble.

        7. cbwroses

          You have nothing to associate those two comments with, but whatever. That’s how you see it.

        8. Sirksome

          I think Walky knows it’s her menstrual cycle but also knows better than to push teasing or continuing to comment of a woman’s period as a man. He made a comment about a similar scenario happening in a one panel timeskip gag of him waiting for pajama jeans. He remembers.

          That being said I do also think Walky teases Joyce too much. People try to justify it as a sibling back and forth, but Walky does not bicker and jab with Sal or Jennifer nearly as much whether out of respect or fear or whatever. But he always puts the screws to Joyce. It’s fair when she bites back but situations like this morning Joyce was barely capable of moving and talking to say anything to him and he still poked at her. He even kind of knew better. Sal has even checked him once or twice for jabbing a little too much. I think this is a rare characfer flaw for Walky. Just because Joyce considers him family doesn’t mean it’s okay to roast her everytime they’re around each other. Especially when she doesn’t roast back.

        9. cbwroses

          Never said it’s ok, but Joyce definitely gives as bad as she gets, and I actually think she gives it worse to him, but I may be biased.

          And like I said, I never said he didn’t know she had bad periods.
          I said he might not connect the layers to the bad period.

        10. Sirksome

          Maybe he doesn’t know. Honestly that would be really weird and a little creepy if Walky was keeping track of Joyce’s menstrual cycle. The lines with Lucy are pretty open ended so fair.

          I actually think they usually have a pretty even back and forth, but unpromted aggression isn’t justifiable to me. Also Walky’s been known to pick on more sensitive stuff like when Joyce first got glasses. I mean he even compared her to Mary! I like Walky, maybe it is bias, but I think he could ease off the Joyce teasing just a bit.

        11. cbwroses

          That’s fair, but I always remember how Joyce dumped on his relationship with Dorothy, manhandled him when he broke up with her and insulted/yelled at him to get back with her, basically celebrated when they broke up on Dorothy’s terms, and then got on him for seeing Amber like a day earlier than she was pushing him on Amber.

          That stuff always bothered me more than their usual back and forth.

        12. thejeff

          Keeping track of someone’s menstrual cycle is normally creepy, but if it’s near incapacitating and thus extremely obvious, it’s almost hard not to.

        13. Spencer

          Well, Walky and Joyce do both get unprompted digs at each other (Joyce was extremely vocal that Walky was not good enough for Dorothy and did constantly butt in with saying this. I don’t remember if Joyce straight up mocked him for getting dumped but I will take someone else’s word for that since my memory from then is hazy). It’s not a friendly relationship, but the both of them do give it back at each other.

          I do think it oversteps (in that either it is a joke I kinda cringe at or it’s an in-universe factor that Walky is overstepping) when he says these things to her obvious distress (the glasses, constantly prodding about her supreme gayness for Dorothy, the crack about her being a reverse Dorian Gray), in that it’s “overstepping” if these two actually liked each other and didn’t constantly snipe at their leisure. They only really casually interact through other people they know, or on the way to math class. It’s not “funny” to me in the sense that I don’t think it’s friendly bickering, but two people who are antagonistic and fight each other getting cuts where they can, which is what makes it funny when they’re being asshole to each other.

          I also don’t think he’s straight up keeping track of it or anything so much as he’s just recalling a time she got like this.

        14. cbwroses

          @Spencer didn’t say she mocked him. I said she basically celebrated, as in was very and openly happy about it.

          And yeah, they definitely do not seem like friends to me either, but that’s par for the course with Walky. The closest people too can barely stand him half the time. Hell, I’m a Walky fan, he’s my favorite character, and I wouldn’t want to be around him for long periods of time.

          As for Joyce calling him family, I always think of it as “you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family”; Walky is not someone Joyce would seek out for friendship if she knew how he was from jump and what their dynamic would be, but he’s been around for so long that he’s a part of her life now and it would just seem weird if he weren’t around.

  13. Dave Van Domelen

    Walky 2.0: New sexy packaging, same contents.

  14. Suet

    Biscuits are just grownup waffles/pancakes/donuts

    Be the personality mole, cool kids don’t realize they need a quirky friend

  15. newlland(Henryvolt)

    I can’t tell if Jennifer desperately doesn’t want Walky to come along so he doesn’t cramp her style or if she is actually looking our for him knowing it really wouldn’t be his type of thing.

    *Reads last panel* Oh so it’s the former of the two.

    1. Clif

      I think it’s just they have this sibling relationship thing down cold.

    2. Ereb

      I think it can be both. She’s not making fun of him in panel 2 per se, she is taking his interest’s into account – the vegetable to fried carb rate is crucial to Walky’s interest in a social event over food, as we have seen time and time again. Remember when he said he’d suck off a dude to fit in with the questioning, queer and allies pizza event? And his only caveat for a date with Lucy was 1) that they’d go to the place he preferred, 2) that he’d be able to keep eating while holding her hand.

      Jennifer knows Walky well enough, and she knows how these breakfasts go. If she feels like he’s going despite having no real reason to do so, except to crash places she is going to (which, tbh, he did when he followed her to the media campus and the newspaper).

  16. RassilonTDavros

    This is gonna blow up in somebody’s face and I am here for it.

    1. alongcameaspider

      Likely Raidahs since Walky has no shame and Jennifer can see the disaster coming a mile away

      1. Bryy

        I really want to see Walky actually be the most mature out of all of them.

        I actually want to see Walky put Raidah in her place.

    2. JessWitt

      I’ll get the popcorn.

  17. goggleman64

    Hell yeah, Walky

  18. Sirksome

    Y’know I don’t think I’ve been to a fancy breakfast place. Lunch or dinner sure, but breakfast food has always had a diner type feel to me. A place where you can get pancakes and sausage or a good omelette or scramble. What does “fancy” breakfast look like? I don’t think I know. Is it like Brunch? I’ve brunched. Is that what this is? Still can’t imagine a breakfast you’d have to dress nice to go to.

    1. Otl1973

      Lobster eggs Benedict, crème brûlée brioche French toast, caviar with blinis, mimosas. Not that I’ve actually had most of those, but it’s quite possible to have a fancy (and expensive) breakfast…

      1. The Wellerman

        If you think that bourgeois banquet is appealing, you havent tasted my Cup of French Toast (I used Gary the Snail’s recipe, sssshhhhh!!!)

      2. anonymsly

        Crème brûlée French toast is delightful, can confirm.

        1. khn0

          I have no idea what this is.
          I mean crème brûlée, no prob. Toast, well it’s not french so I have to guess it has to do with french bread? both together I’m at loss. I mean when do you use the soldering lamp?

        2. temperaryobsessor

          Not sure if your kidding but French toast when you mix cinnamon into an egg slather a piece of bread in ii and I think cook it on a grittle.
          Not sure how it would mic with Crème brûlée though.

        3. khn0

          I wasn’t. There’s so many “french” things that are canadian, belgian, or 17th century french, or never had any relation that I have a hard time figuring this.
          What you describe is not particularly french – it exists, minus cinammon, in France (you’d find for example commonly cinammon recipes in the eastern, frankish/niederdeustch-speaking part, or in the south with an history of umayyad settlements) but also everywhere in Europe… crème brûlée itself is either french or spanish (which would rather go with cinammon), but commonly in posh places, the burning of the sugar crust happens at the table.

        4. thejeff

          It’s not particularly French, but that’s the name for it in the US and usually the UK.

        5. Tan

          Cinnamon is not actually required for french toast. I presume that is just the way temperaryobsessor is used to it. The dish itself dates back to the Ancient Romans, and the name for it as “french toast” in English dates back to at least 1870.

    2. egg egg

      For Mother’s Day, my family liked to go to this Brazilin place for brunch. They had a buffet of really good food, a waffle iron, all the desserts you could dream of. They also walked around with giant skewers of meat and cut off whatever portion you wanted. So fancy breakfast could mean a side of lamb.

      Personally, I feel like places are trying to be fancy when they offer single cups of cranberry juice for 5 bucks.

      1. epitome of incomprehensibility

        Oooh, I like buffets. Hopefully they’ll be coming back as things get less pandemic-y.

        I had fancy avocado toast at a restaurant once. It came with sliced cherry tomatoes and some sort of sprouts for garnish. Pretty good, actually!

        But that was about $20 with the tax and not, like, $200.

  19. Lucky Winner

    Asher looks amused at Jennifer and Walky’s interaction. Through this whole arc, Asher doesn’t seem to be trying to be cool. I think he’s confident of his social ranking, which frees him to pay attention to other things. Jennifer and Raidah are both working hard on social ranking.

    1. JBento

      Asher is the most “I don’t give a fuck” character of the secondary cast, and I’m here for it.

    2. Blue

      I have never seen him TRY to look cool, if anything it happens automatically because he smokes and he rides a motorcycle. But I get the impression that he genuinely enjoys those things and they’re not performative.

      1. Dunedon

        When one likely is going to inherit a mob family, you don’t need to perform … You know you’re untouchable.

  20. Icalasari

    …I almost feel bad for Raidah

  21. Kirtro

    oh god….. what does it say about me that Walky’s response to Jennifer is EXACTLY word for word what I would have said 0 _ 0;

    1. Clif

      It says you’re someone’s sister.

  22. Florence

    Welp, at least Sarah didn’t take the bait in front of Radah and the most she did was be spiteful about walky going to breakfast

  23. Nathan

    Is anyone else getting kinda Faz-y vibes from Walky in this one?

    1. RedCat

      Do you mean smug, because yes.

  24. Rabisch

    I just can’t think at something more useless and snobbish of a “Fancy breakfast “. My hope is that Walky will ruin it. Even because I’m afraid Raidah would try to intimidating Lucy, or at least try something for make them break up. Because she wants him. Can’t wait to see which side Jennifer will decide to take or if she will abandon Lucy and Walky.

    1. Nova

      Why is Fancy Breakfast useless and snobbish? Making things fancy is fun and it still nourishes you as easily as non-fancy breakfast.

      I can think of a bunch of things more useless or snobbish!

      1. Daibhid C

        Does it, though? “We made this omlette with half an egg and large amounts of pure air, because only unsophisticated people want food to actually make them less hungry.”

        1. molochmachine

          I think it depends on both the place and the clientele. There’s “fancy” meaning pretentious and economically aspirational (for me the extreme of that is anywhere that puts gold flakes on food) and there’s “fancy” that entails high quality ingredients, interesting recipes and a comfortable, relaxed social setting, prepared and presented with passion and attention for the craft. There’s plenty of crossover and confusion between the two paradigms, but I don’t begrudge the existence of the latter at all. It would be great if that were *more* accessible (and if the people engaging with it were doing it for the “right” reasons).

        2. Nova

          You have some interesting ideas about the word “fancy” and I’m not going to argue the difference between your ideas and mine. Suffice to say I wasn’t thinking of something the super-rich ate on yachts, but something you have to put a nice outfit on and sit in a pretty room for.

      2. JBento

        Making things fancy sounds like the OPPOSITE of fun.

        1. Nova

          Fair enough! Everyone has different ideas of fun!

    2. Wraithy2773

      How about looking down on other people for the type of breakfast that they might enjoy? I’d call that pretty useless and snobbish.

  25. Judas Peckerwood

    My Breakfast with Walky

  26. WanderingLynx

    I’m about to pass out for sleeping purposes BUT, has anyone considered Walky saw this crowd and acceptedbecause he’s worried about his adoptive sister? He may be childish but he’s smart. He’s def accepting this with full intent to suss out intentions, make Raidah pay for his food and see if Jennifer would reconsider her distance if he can prove she’s horrible.

    He’s protective, even when outgunned (like when he punched Asher – Whomstd, hey! Is a part of that group too!). If he doesn’t know about Sarah’s (and Joyce’s, and Dina’s and—) beef, that still leaves him with excellent reasons.

    1. The Wellerman

      Great points fam fam! Walky’s such a lovable ADHDemon! ?

    2. Wraithy2773

      It’s certainly possible. Walky does have this tendency to be a fair bit deeper than he lets on, since he enjoys being the goofy kid most of the time, but that doesn’t mean that he stops thinking.

      Not that he wouldn’t do this sort of thing if he wasn’t worried about Billie, it’s just breakfast with a friend of a friend and his girlfriend’s interested in it, but it does give him an extra reason to go.

    3. thejeff

      From yesterday’s strip it seemed that he accepted because Lucy wanted to go.

  27. Clif

    Breakfast Crepes. Gulls egg omelets. Dom Perignon Champagne jelly doughnut. Lobster Claw Frittata topped with caviar. Breakfast with the Australian Prime Minister ($11,000)

    1. Clif

      That was a reply to Sirksome – example of fancy breakfast.
      Somehow it wound up down here.

    2. Taffy

      How’s a gull’s egg fancy? The trash birds are friggin’ everywhere, even here in bumfuck nowhere, a landlocked fruckin’ state. How hard could it be to get an egg offa one?

      1. Rotunda

        Gulls nest in colonies, and they’re collectively nasty to intruders looking for eggs.

        1. Taffy

          That’s why you go use a big glass dome to keep you safe from the pissed-off seagulls, while you’re stealing their eggs. And in case they get too frisky, you can bring a broom to shoo ’em off. Nobody gets hurt now, aside from I guess the eggs.

    3. Agemegos

      Scummo ate champagne-jelly doughnuts? What a buffoon!

    4. Needfuldoer

      But the seagulls, they peck my head. Not fun!

  28. JediMB

    Panel 5 Walky is chef’s kiss.

  29. JBento

    And the great thing about YOU problems, is that they’re not mine.

  30. Amós Batista

    Shit. Now I want Walky mess the entire breakfast. Stop being his mon, Jennifer.

  31. Spriteless Auntie

    Walky, post backbone for mum style. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

  32. Dot

    Billie’s trying to have her cake and eat it too – divesting herself of her friendship with Walky while also expecting to be able to make demands of him.

    1. Sporky

      Same as it ever was

  33. Nicoleandmaggie

    I really like the way Willis respects that Jennifer wants to be balled Jennifer and not Billie.

    1. RedCat

      I mean, he came up with it, right?

      1. Clif

        You can come up with things without respecting them. This is Willis educating by example.

        1. RedCat

          True.

  34. Spencer

    It’s okay to refer to another person as something to have inflicted upon you if you’re “bad with people,” since that means you’re allowed to say whatever you want with zero consequence.

    Like I kinda figured when someone described themselves as “bad with people” they meant it like being horribly awkward in social situations, having trouble following along in conversations, and missing social cues here and there. I did not actually think being bad with people meant “everyone near me is a receptacle for my constant petulant anger, but it’s fine because I care deep down.”

    1. Blue

      Sarah is not so much “bad with people” as “bad with emotions”. Why should the burden of forgiveness be on her? She’s bad with emotions. Why should she let go of a grudge? She’s bad with emotions. Why should she support her younger siblings as they go through an emotional crisis? She’s bad with emotions. But if people want to do the emotional labor of constantly forgiving her because she cares deep down, hey that’s cool as long as she’s not expected to change.

  35. Deviant

    I never understood breakfast places. It poses a logical problem for me.

    See, in order to go GET breakfast, one most likely SKIPPED breakfast before. That means no sugar in my system and no coffee.
    And I probably couldnt find my way out of my apartment in that state, much less go be sociable at a breakfast place.

    I’d probably be worse than Walky in that state.

    1. Eldritchy

      Yeah withdrawal can be harsh on a person.

  36. Beau Kirin Maysey

    I cannot wait until Raidah tries to make moves on Walky, like opens her shirt to exclaim, “Boobs!”, and Walky’s like “Neat! I do have a real cool girlfriend, though, so nah thanks :)” and it all falls apart

    1. Spencer

      Y’all have with some real fucked up takes sometimes.

      1. Taffy

        I don’t get what’s fucked up about Walky staying faithful to Lucy?

        1. Brighter Side

          …I think Spencer had a problem with the part before that in this scenario.

        2. Taffy

          Boobs?

  37. John

    “That sounds like a you problem”

    Ahh, there’s the Walky I know and love.

  38. ButWhyASpoon

    Walky is in the right here.

    Billie is treating their friendship like trash, and still claims ownership of Walky’s actions, which is the benefit of a Close Friend.

    Billie should know her place, and seek to repair it.

    Walky is the Mature one here.

    He is aloof, and not desperate.

    Women crave the Man they can’t control.

    Billie sees Walky ascending the Social Grapevine, and she wants to kick him back down.

    She is the one who claimed “Frienimies”, but Walky never listened to that nonsense, because he’s not playing her abusive Game.

    This is Billie trying to be the Superior Cheerleader again.

    Walky is above her.

  39. Bagge

    I’m so glad none of this will ever become a Walky-problem.

  40. Keulen

    I love that Walky is basically saying “I missed the part where that’s my problem” in the last panel.

  41. Stephen Nedland

    Walky has a point; if Jennifer feels embarrassed being around him, that is all on her.

    1. Amelie Wikström

      She doesn’t want to talk to him or do things with him because he’s embarrassing, she doesn’t want to be seen with him because he’s embarrassing, she doesn’t want him talking to anyone else because he’s embarrassing, it’s like Jennifer is 14 years old and Walky is her dad.

      Unless it’s like Asher is a controlling asshole who’s more or less systematically working to isolate Jennifer from her friends. Ooh, there’s so many things that could come out in this brunch.

      1. thejeff

        She’s played this before – all through high school and the start of the first semester. She thinks he’ll lower her social status and keep her from being in the popular groups she wants to join. And, to be fair, she’s probably right.

        Like she’s 14 and he’s her dad – or like he’s her kid brother who keeps hanging around.

        She also falls back on him as her support when she really needs it because that brother-sister thing is something that she can trust, even as she abuses it.

      2. thejeff

        Also, that “got a new boyfriend and am cutting contact with everyone I previously knew” thing is a big red flag for abusive relationships. I’m less concerned than I was at first, since we haven’t seen much else that’s scary and she does seem to have formed new friendships – shallow though they likely are. We also don’t know the sequence of events – if she hooked up with Asher after cutting ties with her old circle, it’s not likely his fault.

        1. JBento

          I mean, it’s definitely not his fault. Like, in the previous strip, Asher is encouraging Walky and Lucy to come with them, and mind you, considering Walky suckerpunched him once, he’d be perfectly within his rights to not want him along.

          This is whole thing is Jennifer having a second go at “now that I’m in college, I can reinvent myself to project the image that I want people to perceive of me”, which she tried and failed at at the start of the first semester.

        2. Spencer

          Yeah that.

          Asher’s been… I dunno if nice is the right word here, but he seems affable enough to Walky, who previously punched him in the face for something Asher inferred he thought he had coming, and then last strip he’s the one taking initiative to invite him and Lucy along.

          “Dumping all the nerds out of my life and being head cheerleader alpha bongo” is what Jennifer wanted to do right at the start, and then she had an alcoholic death pact with someone who kicked the crap out of her a whole bunch. What is Jennifer supposed to come back to? Were there ever more than a few occasions where she didn’t grouse at Walky before letting him tag along anyway?

          Like, mechanically, are the two of them acting any different now than they ever did outside of her most vulnerable moments?

        3. Amelie Wikström

          Yeah Asher would have to be playing a real long game for it to make sense. But I’m not putting anything past him.

  42. C.T. Phipps

    Raidah is a terrible friend. After ridding herself of a toxic influence, she’s bringing David back into Jennifer’s life. She’s just gotten her life back together and now she will be pelted with stuffed toys.

    1. JBento

      I love how you think that between Jennifer and Walky, WALKY is the toxic one. Not the girl that tried to get a rehabbing alcoholic to drink, no, no, she’s just fine. Walky’s the problematic one.

      1. C.T. Phipps

        Absolutely! Jennifer is a cheerleader.

  43. Brighter Side

    Confident Walky is dangerous, but I don’t know how exactly. It’s just a gut feeling at this point.

  44. Nathan

    What does wearing layers have to do with bad periods? I saw a bunch of comments upset at Walky for commenting on the layers because he seems to know she gets bad periods.

    1. JBento

      Heavy menstruation (like every heavy blood loss) lowers your body temperature.

  45. JBento

    I hear RvW is about to kick the bucket. Pour one out. Best of luck to you folks.

    1. The Wellerman

      What is RvW? Is it something important to humans?

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        it is, at least for people who live in the US… the Roe v. Wade verdict of the Supreme Court which protected the right to abortion

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          (and it still does, for now… but the Supreme Court has basically said they’d overturn it, so if the GOP gets enough seats for a congressional motion, they’re going to set the country decades back…)

        2. The Wellerman

          ? Oh! I remember now!!!

          ? OOOH NOOOO!!!!

          Let’s see to it that the GOP does not succeed!!!

          ? ☠️ ? ☠️ ?
          ?????????

          *plays “Be Quick or Be Dead” by Iron Maiden on hacked muzak*

        3. thejeff

          Not even waiting on the GOP controlling Congress. Once the Supreme Court formally rules on the case, individual states will be able to ban abortion. The case in question bans abortion after 15 weeks in Mississippi, but other states also have currently unenforceable laws still on the books that they could start to enforce immediately.

          A copy of the opinion was leaked. It might not be final, but the Court has confirmed it’s not a fake.

        4. a/snow/mous/e

          oof, hope some of the Justices will change their opinions…

        5. Agemegos

          It’s very unlikely now. They have life tenure unless impeached (and impeachment is an unworkable mechanism), and a strong interest in representing the Supreme Court as above political pressure. They will not allow themselves to be seen to knuckle under to any external influence. It seems to me that the most likely result of the leak is that Roberts will now either join the majority or issue a concurrence instead of dissenting on the grounds of satre decisus.

          Our best hope now is that Roberts, though holding Roe v. Wade to have been wrongly decided, makes a strong argument for upholding Griswold v. Connecticut, and thus dissuades the Red states from attacking other decisions based on it, such as Eisenstadt v. Baird, Carey v. Population Services International, and Lawrence v. Texas.

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