267

Cinemax
Posted on March 16, 2017 by David M Willis
HEY!  GUYS! I will be at Laughing Ogre Comics here in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday (St Patrick's Day) from 5-7pm!  I will have books and probably magnets with me to trade to people for money.  That's right, I have one single event scheduled this year that I'm currently aware of, and this is it!  No ECCC, no SDCC, Webcomic Rampage is over, and it's too soon to schedule my annual Bloomington trip, SO THIS IS IT, THIS IS IT, ONE DAY'S NOTICE, COME SEE ME I GUESS

267 thoughts on “Cinemax”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Chloe: “Don’t you ‘sir’ ME!”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      is Cinemax still a thing??

      1. Aeron

        If you’re a teenager with the house to yourself on Saturday night, sure.

        1. Toad

          Pretty sure teenagers these days have, you know, the internet.

        2. butts

          Teenagers know how to use this… thing. You, know, the… whatchacallit.

          Computer. Pornbox. Yeah, that’s the one.

        3. Needfuldoer

          “Pornbox” sounds like a name for a voice-activated personal assistant device that hooks up to your TV. An Echo for adult content. It automatically learns over time what your preferences are, but don’t worry it won’t judge you. That’s just projecting humanity onto software. (Right?)

        4. Tawdry Quirks

          In other words, Pintsize from QC, although he would judge.

        5. Rowen Morland

          He would judge you worthy, Tawdry Quirks.

      2. Passchendaele

        I still have the channel on my TV, and there’s a local Cinemax movie theater, so yeah.

      3. StClair

        good ol’ “Skinemax”.

        1. Oberon

          Meh, the soft porn on Cinimax channel is terribad. I was happy when the landlord swapped back to HBO.

          He got lured into one of those ‘intro’ deals that inevitably expires and leaves you worse off than you were before. He has learned his lessons now, and so I once again have Game of Thrones!

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          Game of Thrones!

    2. David

      She isn’t.

    3. Alan Lafond

      I get the feeling the “sir” refers to another person who is already in the room with Chloe. Perhaps whoever drove Howard to the campus.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        ThatsTheJoke.jpg

  2. Mr. Random

    Black eyes. Take warning.

    1. gkheyf

      looks like billie was prepping them, and when they ripened in the fifth panel, ruth took them

  3. Kris

    I could have sworn Game of Thrones was HBO.

    1. BBCC

      It is. Cinemax might have it on demand though.

    2. A Nonymous

      Yes, but Cinemax is/was known for its late-night softcore porn.

      1. Mr. Random

        I assume that Howard has lied at least once about being 18 years old (or older).

        1. Leorale

          Did you know, when those websites ask if you’re 18, you can totally say ‘yes’ even if you aren’t.

        2. Doctor_Who

          This changes everything.

          …Wait, I’m 32, fuck.

        3. a/snow mous/e

          I think I only did that when looking up the website for my M-rated game when I was 17. And M is supposed to be for 17+.

        4. Ana Chronistic

          Would you believe I’ve been >18 for… a while now, and I actually forgot what to say when I was buying a mature title and they asked my age??

          (pretty sure it was XCOM:EU, shut up)

      2. fire_daws

        I thought that GoT WAS late-night softcore porn.

        1. Oberon

          There’s a huge difference between some random, plotless, made purely for the softcore porn TV movie, and Game of Thrones, where they could remove all of the softcore porn and it would still be hugely successful.

        2. Ana Chronistic

          what if you removed all the violence gore from random, plotless, made purely for the softcore porn TV movie?

          oh wait

    3. CleverTrousers

      It’s a porn joke.

    4. Hellespont

      HBO = Game of Thrones = soft core porn = Cinemax

  4. Shadowypenguin

    Is anyone else hoping she just said that without actually looking at who was in the room.

    1. Kris

      Chloe’s just really into non gender bias authoritative titles!

    2. Grethelwvier

      Yes. A lot. Please, oh benevolent and merciful Willis, let it be so.

      1. David

        Howard did not drive here on his own.

        1. A Scientist

          He took a bus [I hope]!

  5. zebrathinker

    I was hoping this would be tagged ‘sir’.

  6. butting

    shit shit shit

    damn you willis

    shit

    (he knows us so well)

  7. Kernanator

    Howard has no concept of situational awareness.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Whenever he actually gets to watch Game of thrones he’s like “Oh boy, what likeable characters, can’t wait to see them all get happy endings!”

      1. Passchendaele

        “Four people are dead in this episode already, but I’m sure those are the exceptions.”

      2. Kernanator

        If he wasn’t a minor, he would have gotten a King in the North tattoo.

        1. Reltzik

          Why can’t minors get tattoos again?

          I mean, I know they’re age-restricted, but who does that ever stop?

          Complete doofuses, that’s who.

          Your comment should read, “If he wasn’t a complete doofus, he would have gotten a King in the North tattoo.”

    2. TheAnonymousGuy

      i’m liking Howie less the more I see his lack of care for his sister having to deal with their grandfather, also on the whole game of thrones thing, i’m sure he’ll enjoy watching Eddard peacefully pass away after naming his son rob king and giving his bastard son, Jon, legitimacy and dividing winterfell in two so they both my rule, and work together defeating king Joffrey with the power of hugs and help change Ramsey’s ways by giving him a dog.

      1. Rukduk

        Uuuummmm, I know this is an exaggerated amount of sarcasm you’re using, but do you actually know who Jon’s real parents are (at least in the show, which have diverted so much from the books that reading them no longer really spouils you for the show)?

        1. Rukduk

          Also, I just really, really need to talk about something beside the strip and whether or not I’ll have healthcare at the end of this upcoming day, that’s why I’m asking.

        2. TheAnonymousGuy

          Yes, yes, i’m aware of the jon snow family tree (not caught up on the books) and all but, I yes was being sarcastic as well as trying to come up with the most Disney style cliché story possible for a laugh.

        3. marianne

          Given that your comment made me almost immediately think of the (rather fantastic) Disney cartoon Wander Over Yonder, I’d say you succeeded 😀 (Any other WOY fans here?)

        4. Oberon

          If you don’t lose it (your healthcare, not your mind) at the end of the day, the Republicans will only keep trying again and again until they manage to make companies richer on the backs of the public and the government.

          Trump’s latest: Rolling back the fuel standards Obama put into place. Which would have allowed American car companies to once again be competitive overseas in countries where they cannot currently be sold because currently American vehicles are barred due to not meeting those countries fuel standards.

          But the auto companies seem to like it just fine because it will save them money in developing technologies for better fuel standards, which is a short term win for their bottom lines. But it is also a long term loss for their bottom lines and the environment.

        5. Kryss LaBryn

          Hah, like that so-called “environment” is even a real thing. ><

    3. Sazazezer

      I get the weird feeling that Howie knows full well what’s going on and that he’s putting on some kind of act. Like he knows he has to act like a happy naive moron as a defense mechanism for abusive grandpa so that he doesn’t incur the old man’s wrath. What he’s doing here is his best way of giving Ruth some kind of warning since he knows that Ruth would have no idea that their Grandpa is in the next room unless he gives her a heads up and he can’t break the act when he could get caught.

      One of the clearest indicators of this would be the simple fact that Howie should know by now what tv options Ruth has, sine he did ask about them during his last visit. He’s not going to just forget about that.

      1. thejeff

        I’ve been suspecting something like that. The whole “Howard can’t be abused because he seems happy and naive and only interested in Game of Thrones” thing seems like it’s assuming a lot.

        1. Sazazezer

          Exactly. He’s introducing himself to Ruth in the Exact Same way he did last time. He knows what her tv situation is (she has a laptop) and he should be very aware that with Sir being around he’s not exactly going to get a moment to watch stuff like that even if it was easy access. Asking for Game of Thrones makes no sense unless there’s something ulterior behind his actions.

          And literally his last appearance is him asking Billie to take care of Ruth, while looking rather forlorn. He full well knows what the score is.

  8. Lala

    Oh, no. I was anxious all day about this and this strip did not help. Please, Willis, let Ruth be okay.

  9. boop

    R-ruth?

    (please be ok please be ok)

    (please let Chloe catch on and intercede please please)

  10. MatthewTheLucky

    Billie, you do NOT go upstairs!

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      yes, she should actually in this situation, there’s a time to stand with someone and a time to stand back, right now, ruth needs to be able to stand on her own. prove, mostly to her self, she can still stand for herself.

      1. Fart Captor

        That’s certainly what Ruth thinks, but people often get that idea in their head because they think wanting some moral support on hand makes them weak.

        Which is bullshit.

        1. Leorale

          And/or Ruth doesn’t want Billie to see how she is around Sir, or how he treats her.

        2. Foxhack

          Because Billie would yell “What the fuck is this shit?!”

        3. TheAnonymousGuy

          while I will agree with you on that point, in all honesty it may be better for ruth to rip off the do it myself Band-Aid now given over the past week or so she’s had support groups, doctors, therapist, and billie giving her a helping hand, she may want show the people behind that door she can still function on her own. is this the best time, probably not but, the longer the wait the harder it’ll be. Secondly who’s to say Billie would’ve made it past the front door anyway before Chloe made her leave, Up till now she still doesn’t know their a thing, unless someone old them. seeing Billie with Ruth in bed could been taken as a friend being a friend.

        4. Fart Captor

          Billie wasn’t insisting on coming in with her. She was going to wait outside.

          In my experience, “I have to do this alone” is misguided and wrong more often than not, but Cerberus’s explanation of Ruth trying to protect Billie from Sir provides an actual good reason (and I think a more likely one) for her to want Billie to leave.

        5. Cerberus

          True, but it’s a real hard thing to knowingly expose someone you deeply care about to your abuser knowing they’re going to try to hurt them.

          I didn’t have the strength to do it. I still don’t have the strength to do it (not that I need to anymore since they are mostly entirely cut out of my life).

        6. Fart Captor

          I probably could’ve been clearer that I think protecting someone else is a good reason to try to go it alone. My only point is that people should resist the impulse to immediately refuse help without thinking.

          I certainly don’t think that either refusing or accepting help shows weakness, especially when accepting help means giving an abuser another target. Both options just seem really shitty 🙁

        7. Cerberus

          Thanks. And yeah, I got really good at navigating no win situations in that awful period.

        8. Greenygal

          When Rachel called Chloe, she specifically told her that Ruth and Billie were sleeping together, and Ruth backed it up by saying that she didn’t deserve “the prettiest girl in the whole damned wing”. Chloe knows.

          Whether Billie should go upstairs…I guess it depends on what Ruth is worried about exactly. But I wouldn’t do it either without more information than Ruth has given her.

  11. CleverTrousers

    Seriously, what school brings parents in for your adult-ass students?

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      I figure, a full on depression shut down warrants a call to the most immediate family members.

      1. Fart Captor

        She’s an adult, so not really. At the very least, they should have told Ruth about this beforehand. Surprise family visits arranged by their boss can be definitively categorized as “not helping”

        1. Leorale

          Yeah typically you ask the patient first, jeez Louise.

        2. Cerberus

          Fuck, Chloe may have even violated medical confidentiality depending on how “sir” was contacted and got involved.

        3. Oberon

          The law seems to be fairly murky on this. The first time I got in trouble with the law I was 18, and therefor legally an adult. A judge told me I needed to be released to my father. I told him I was legally an adult and wished to be released on my own recognizance. He ignored my adult status.

          My lawyer, who I could not even retain before this proceeding occurred, basically blew this off as being no big deal. And so I never got a real explanation of why my adult status was so trivially able to be ignored by the courts. And if the courts can do it, then an institution such as a college/university can also, as many of them have some kind of ‘in loco parentis’ rules in place.

        4. Victor

          That’s not at all the same thing.

          A judge can release you to pretty much anyone he or she damn well pleases. You are in the custody of the court at that point, your status as an adult is not what matters. You could have been 30 and the judge could have had the same release condition to the same person.

          Colleges, on the other hand, are not courts, students are not accused criminals, and ‘in loco parentis’ does not apply. Colleges may have rules in place that look somewhat like that, but they only apply by virtue of an adult student contracting to follow them – it’s part of the paperwork you sign to get in. Colleges are also subject to privacy laws that put limits on what they can disclose without student authorization, and healthcare providers are also subject to privacy laws.

          I’ve got custody of a kid turning 18 next week. The pharmacy actually sent me a notice that they will be removing my access to his prescriptions, and that he needs to create his own online account, and can grant me access if he wants.

      2. CleverTrousers

        Yeah, if somebody has a mental breakdown there’s a pretty good chance you shouldn’t call anybody potentially in a position of power without telling the patient.

        1. TheAnonymousGuy

          Actually that’s exactly what needs to happen, if someone’s had a mental break down they probably aren’t sound or capable to make important medical decisions, that’s why you have a family member come in, your doctor doesn’t have the right to make medical decisions for you but your family does, hell the doctors may have even suggested the school to contact her family in her best interest, they don’t know her granddad is a prick (as far as we know) so they’re just doing their job as they’re supposed to.

        2. Gwen

          Ruth is depressed, not incompetent to make a decision. That’s an incredibly important distinction, and one I wish authority figures respected more consistently.

        3. thejeff

          Well, depending on exactly how non-responsive she was when brought in, calling the emergency contact may have been justified – assuming he was listed as emergency contact. As CleverTrousers said though, you tell the patient. Afterwards if necessary, but there’s been plenty of time for that.

        4. Victor

          That’s not exactly how that’s supposed to work. Disclosures of protected health information can be made to family members only if the patient doesn’t object or is unable to object. If you’re unconscious when you get to a hospital, they can call family. If you’re conscious, they have to ask, and you have the right to object.

        5. Pat

          That is absolutely the opposite of what needs to happen, even if anything else you said was correct.

      3. Pat

        Unless of course one is competent, in which case it warrants investigating the family members and making absolutely sure that any threat they pose to the patient is eliminated.

    2. Tarmaniel

      I’m guessing it’s a financial thing. Ruth probably agreed to work as an RA in exchange for free/discounted tuition and may have even gotten a cash advance. But as an 18 year old, she probably needed someone with actual credit history to cosign on the arrangement. So now that she’s fired, grandpa now becomes financially liable for everything.

      I’m guessing this mostly because it would provide the perfect excuse for grandpa to really lay into Ruth. If Willis is really cruel this meeting will be Chloe and the board of directors laying out all of Ruth’s “failures” in front of both of them, in the guise of explaining to grandpa how he’s now financially responsible for all of it.

      1. Pat

        If you get fired they take back everything they paid you previously. That’s totally how that works.

    3. Tom T.

      I tend to think that there’s going to be some twist, and “sir” is not actually a parent. Maybe it’s Mr. Snuffleupagus!

      1. David

        Well, let’s hope “Sir” is not actually a parent. It would have been quite unpleasant of her grandfather to dig out either of them and bring the skeleton. It’s not like it would be beneath him, but I should think that he likes to rely on his own authority more than that.

        1. Sam

          I would hate it if skeletons of relatives called me to verbally abuse me like what the fuck, you died, what gives you the right. In your afterlife. To call me up. And criticise me. When you died and I didn’t.

    4. begbert2

      My assumption is that sir was put in as her emergency contact.

  12. Pablo360

    Oh my god my feels cannot handle this, I just listened to a guy read a SF short story about parents who have to kill their virtual kids because they got infected with a virus from a VR porn site and I literally can’t cry anymore oh wait there it is.

    1. meanderling

      What story is that? Sounds interesting!

      1. Pablo360

        Don’t recall the name of the story, but it’s from a short story collection called Children of the New Age.

    2. Derek

      run that by me again with less acronyms? I’m not quite sure what you’re saying

      1. Fuzzy

        Science Fiction, Virtual Reality.

        1. Derek

          oh thank you, I thought SF stood for San Francisco

  13. SUGauthor

    Her eyes, god dammit look at her eyes.

    1. Fart Captor

      🙁

  14. Mandy

    Ooh, do I want to drive a couple hours up to Columbus on Friday to meet Mr. Willis. Hm.

    1. butts

      cut him open, and crawl around in his skin

      then you will be the willis

      1. StClair

        drink his blood, eat his heart, gain his power

    2. Jess

      He’s going to be in Columbus????!

  15. mrj

    The body language says a lot. First panel: Head tilted upward, back straight, eyes clear. Last panel: Head/back tilted slightly downward, eyes downcast (I think?). The effect for me is to turn Ruth from a defiant adult into a kid being called into the principal’s office, and it genuinely creeps me out.

    1. Cerberus

      Yeah, that’s a major red flag.

      Fuck, these days, just the fact that she calls him sir is a red flag for me just for how many times those types have sent their kids to school nursing black eyes.

      1. Reltzik

        At least he calls him Sir with a word bubble shaped like it’s coming out of a large intestine.

        (And now you can’t unsee it.)

        1. Cerberus

          Well, he makes her stomach feel up in her throat, so of course the intestines are going to be right up against that larynx affecting the speech balloon.

  16. AgentKeen

    But is he Sly?

  17. Pigeon Pollyx

    At this point I expect Sir to just be some Dr Claw type and we never see his actual face, just a prosthetic hand and some kind of evil cat

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      “I’ll get you next time, Carla!”
      -Sir

      1. EvilMidnightLurker

        Can Dina and Becky be the Penny and Brain?

        1. Needfuldoer

          Which one of them gets voiced by Cree Summer?

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Becky, solely for the fact that we’d get to hear Cree Summer shout “Hey, everyone! I’m a lesbian!”

          Video edits would never be the same.

    2. Kryss LaBryn

      Well, now I’m picturing the porn webcomic “Sir and Boy”. I don’t think that’s actually making things better in this case.

      Thanks a lot. :/

  18. Passchendaele

    Ruth with her pre-fire-alarm eyes makes her look that much more tragic, as those black eyes mark her simply-developed past personality. Basically, she has to hide various layers of herself to talk to her grandfather, and now she seems more like a shy and afraid-of-the-lash schoolgirl. All of which is a sharp kick to the balls.

    but frigging Howard, if your grandfather up and dies of a stroke in that room, you’ll still ask if anybody can show you GoT. I admire your persistence. XD

  19. Optimal Optimus

    Oh, honestly! This is just to get more patreon subscribers, isn’t it?

    1. Fart Captor

      No, he also likes to torture us.

      This could go on for days.

      1. butts

        “You want to see Ruth’s potentially abusive quasi-parental figure? TOO BAD. MARY TIME.”

  20. butts

    surprising exactly nobody

  21. Stephen Bierce

    *plays the “Video Vixens” song from Saturday Night Live on the hacked Muzak*

  22. Schpoonman

    Alt-text: Could you, just, like, shut up? Do you know how not okay that is right now?

  23. Optimal Optimus

    It seems like everybody in this strip has horrible parents!

    1. butts

      You are not the first to make that observation, yes.

      Although technically sir is not parents.

    2. Passchendaele

      Eh, a lot of the notable ones do, but Dina’s parents gave her money to take Becky out to dinner, while Mike’s mom will. hug. you. And Joyce’s dad is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and be more accepting than his stubborn, bigoted wife. Walky’s and Danny’s parents just want to see their kids succeed, even if they’re extremely controlling about it; Dorothy’s parents are the most openly benevolent and accepting of their daughter’s aspirations and soul-searching. Billie’s parents are distant, and Ruth’s parents are dead, while Galasso is still himself, Pamela is friendly, Dean McHenry is nice, and so on. So, it’s kind of a mix.

      1. Leorale

        Walky’s parents only seem to care that Walky succeeds — they do the favouritisms a lot, and are implicitly racist too, they don’t count as nice.

      2. BBCC

        Sal and Walky’s parents are negligent and emotionally abusive, not to mention full of preferential whiteness. They are terrible parents.

        Danny’s parents are likewise emotionally abusive, the author even commenting they treat him the way the Danny hating comments section used to.

        Folks who have good parents are Dorothy, Dina, Mike, and Carla, and a few others have one good parent.

    3. shewhosmilesatdeath

      I mean doesn’t everyone have awful parents IRL?

      1. Cerberus

        *looks at own parents*

        You’re not wrong…

      2. StClair

        I didn’t.

      3. Hellespont

        Eh, mine were okay, moving around a lot, before divorcing and living thousands of miles apart with me bouncing between them every couple of years has meant I now have zero social skills. Oh, and the ability to fend off multiple attackers in a toilet block wanting to give the new kid the “Royal Flush”, so it could be worse.

      4. Sam

        Mine are fine. Rarely they say or do things that upset me but that’s not typical, that’s more just parents being people too that don’t always manage to consider your feelings and make mistakes sometimes.

      5. nightsbridge

        There’s a couple things mine do that are a little backward. But they started calling me by my actual name the moment I told it to them and haven’t made a fuss about it, so it seems like I hit the jackpot.

      6. LordHaw

        My dad was frigging awesome…my mom is…not so much.

      7. Delicious Taffy

        My father is dead by his own hand. My mother has worked three jobs at a time to take care of me and my brothers’ largely-ungrateful asses (we got better). She can be incredibly frustrating and bullheaded at times, but it runs in the family, so I can’t hold that against her. She’s also been the leading cause of me not becoming homeless, despite a convicted sex offender managing to turn me against her for about a year. My stepdad did his best, despite being particularly temperamental toward me, up until Desert Storm caught up with him, leading to a mental breakdown and subsequent divorce. He’s gotten better, but we still don’t talk much.

        So, the score is: 1 good father, 1 good mom, 1 good stepdad.

      8. BBCC

        I love my parents, flaws and all. They’re great!

    4. BBCC

      A quick thing I wrote up yesterday to see who in the cast page had good or bad parents, in response to this observation.

      Joyce – Emotionally abusive mom using religion as a reason, dad who formerly contributed to said religion based abuse but has since been learning.
      Dorothy – Good parents
      Walky and Sal – Emotionally abusive and negligent (to Sal) parents (PLURAL. Yes, people, Charles is as well, despite Linda being more in your face about it), preferential whiteness out the wazoo, of the ‘ditch the kid when you can’t make her play ball’ variety
      Billie – Neglegent parents of the ‘kid, what kid?’ variety
      Amber – Good mother, verbally, emotionally and physically abusive dad
      Danny – Emotionally abusive parents of the ‘haha, just teasing, oblivious to their harm’ variety
      Sarah – No information either way, though she’s implied a few times she’s not got a good relationship with them.
      Ethan – Emotionally abusive parents of the homophobic jackass variety.
      Dina – Good parents
      Becky – Good, but deceased, mom, physically and emotionally abusive dad based on homophobia and religion
      Ruth – Parents are dead, emotionally abusive guardian of the ‘everything you do is a failure’ variety.
      Joe – Divorced parents who yelled a lot and his dad seems to ignore him for nookie, but he doesn’t seem to have a bad relationship with them (though he does seem to wish his dad wasn’t so gross)
      Roz – A mom who drives her daughters nuts though not quite a bad relationship with Roz, her mom’s boyfriend she doesn’t seem to hate, and her dad seems like the same as the Walkyverse – a cheating bastard who just dropped out of the kid’s lives one day. So I guess negligence? No word on child support?
      Mike – Good parents
      Carla – Wonderful parents, like, lifetime achievement award winning, good shit right here parents.
      Jacob – Seems to have a pleasant relationship with his family, or at least his brother. Parents uncertain, but based on how he talks about his family and community growing up, I’m willing to hedge my bets they’re positive.
      Marcie – Not much info. She seemed to get along with them as a child and worries about them being deported, but she also had no compunctions about moving out and following Sal so things may be more complicated than that.

      So on the cast list, we’ve got
      Good parents – 4/18 (Dina, Dorothy, Mike, Carla)
      We don’t know, likely good – 1/18 (Jacob)
      We don’t know, implied bad relationship – 1/18 (Sarah)
      We don’t know either way – 3/18 (Joe, Roz, Marcie)
      One good parent, one lousy parent – 3/18 (Joyce, Amber, Becky)
      Bad parents – 6/18 (Walky, Sal, Billie, Ruth, Ethan, Danny)

      1. Cerberus

        Which isn’t all that different from life. About balanced between good and bad, with bad taking a slight edge.

        Oh, and we can probably put Sierra’s parents on the good list given their intervention against Blaine.

        1. BBCC

          True, and Galasso and Pamela seem competent. I was only including cast page list folks, but yeah, the Snowe’s are great

      2. ValdVin

        Sarah, by the one reference, gets along swell with her Nana. (“I think my Nana bought me ‘Other Jacob’!”)

        1. BBCC

          True, but wasn’t that in context of ‘dead grandmothers in heaven’? I took that to mean her Nana was deceased. If not, then she has at least one family member she gets along with, but it’s not her parents (‘Lying to your parents is an adulthood rite of passage, like pretending you love them’)

  24. Cholma

    David Willis is a bad, bad, man.

  25. Ragnarok101

    Fictional characters having to go through this shouldn’t cause physical pain, but I currently feel like I just got kicked in the balls by this strip.

    DYW.

  26. Rukduk

    Ffffffuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk-is what I wanted to scream. Need to keep my composure. Need to keep my composure. Nope. Not working. Fuck composure and FUCK “SIR” UP THE ASS WITH A WOODEN STAKE!!!!!

    1. placeusernamehere

      Seems we can still depend on our motherfucking spite.

  27. Jengoci

    Wow Howie learn to read the atmosphere!

    1. Bagge

      He blabbs about something silly and easy to overlook while playing up his normal dorky self and doesn’t ask Ruth to pay extra attention to him (despite being a sibling she rarely sees who just showed up in her time of need). Compare and contrast Walky.

      And he tries to get himself to his comfort zone of TV as quick as he can.

      I dare say he reads the atmosphere perfectly fine.

  28. Meta

    When it comes to Ruth, the Willis taketh away, and the Willis taketh away.

  29. Tom T.

    I thought she was calling Chloe “sir,” like Peppermint Patty.

  30. valis_kr3

    Who?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Starlord, man. Legendary outlaw?

  31. Keulan

    Dammit Willis, I was hoping to finally see what Ruth’s asshole grandfather looked like in this strip. Now I have to wait until at least tomorrow to see “Sir”.

  32. crys

    nnnnnnn i anticipate the next strip greatly not only because i am worried for ruth but because i really want to know what sir looks like
    if there is a cut-scene then…………. aaaaa

  33. MatsuoTanuki

    Anybody else hoping the man on the other side now feels ashamed and guilty that his words hurt his granddaughter so much, and is now going to apologize profusely and swear to become kinder and warmer?

    1. DonDueed

      Yeah, right, that’s gonna happen.

      1. Sean

        Totally.
        “I’m so sorry you thought I was being hurtful, sweetie. I was only trying to show you how much I *loved* you, but I guess some people are too sensitive for that sort of thing.”
        Follow-up with several weeks of “exact same behavior + guilt-trip because ‘well, I’m *trying*’ every time exact same behavior is pointed out” and/or “now Howie gets to learn what tough love is”.

  34. Derek

    does Howard NOT notice how uncomfortable and apprehensive his sister is right now, or is he that much of callous self centered asshole in that he notices but doesn’t care?

    1. Fart Captor

      Because he doesn’t realize anything is wrong. As far as he knows, this just how families are.

      1. Derek

        how long has Howard been living with Sir? four years? and before that he lived with his parents…so unless their parents were abusive and controlling in the same way Sir is (granted that’s plausible) Howard would know this is not normal

        1. Cerberus

          Unless “sir” only pulls this out for the girl or the oldest. Or hasn’t had an incident come up that makes him realize that his grandpa’s strictness is not actually normal.

        2. thejeff

          Or Howard knows damn well what’s going on.

          I’m moving towards reading his entire weird “I care about nothing but GoT” schtick as a defense mechanism. His way of deflecting the trauma of living with Sir.

        3. Cerberus

          That is also distinctly possible.

        4. nobilis

          That’s also my impression. After all, he did ask Billie to take care of Ruth when he last visited, so I think he understands at least something of what’s happening, and he does care for her. But he does not know how to help her, or himself, so he mainly lives in TV land, hiding from reality.

        5. ischemgeek

          It is actually super common for abusive parents/guardians to have a favorite who can do no wrong and gets away with murder and a target who is treated like shit. It is entirely possible that Howard is the Golden Boy to Ruth’s Problem Child.

        6. ischemgeek

          …in such a case the golden child is often manipulated into enabling the abuse because they are afraid of ending up like the problem kid. My sib took part in tearing me down for being too boyish because she was the golden girl and didn’t want to go back to being the problem kid (she had been the problem kid until puberty hit for me and I started to get more boyish in my behavior and dress, including binding with sports bras and wearing dudes clothes (HOW DID I NOT REALIZE I WAS TRANS UNTIL 28?!).

        7. Cerberus

          Yeah… I had a similar moment looking back. Like, really, it took me this long to notice what was going on? How? But don’t worry on it taking a while to figure out. I didn’t figure it out myself until I was 24. *commiserating trans hugs offered*

          And yeah, the golden child recruitment is one I’ve seen in multiple child families with abusers. It especially helps with the gaslighting, because the golden child is going to have genuinely positive memories of family and will be more likely to dismiss the other kid’s experiences because of that, making them seem “hysterical” and prone to exaggeration.

          (And it is sooooo surprising how the “problem kid” frequently is the one who is uncomfortable in their assigned gender or displays queer attractions early on, while the “golden child” is frequently the one who more fits the gendered/sexual/career expectations even if they are a fuck-up in every other respect.)

        8. Cerberus

          Like, I frickin’ wore skirts while claiming that they were just “ronin” skirts and I was making some sort of feminist point (that I could never fully verbalize in any consistent manner), hid from my reflection in the mirror for years because it was causing me pain, and kept trying to get away with growing my hair long (cause all the guys in the metal bands I love have long hair and that just seems like such a more natural way for it to be and thus worthy of constantly fighting for as if it was a matter of life and death). I even straight out wondered if I was a girl, while constantly dismissing that as “silly”, not to mention the way I got really into lesbian culture (as an ally thing, of course, the stories by queer authors just feel so much better than that het crap… for reasons).

          It’s amazing the things that are easy to ignore when cisnormativity is so loud. And yeah, I don’t know a trans person who doesn’t have a similar spade of stories of “no duh” experiences before they came out and put it all together.

        9. nightsbridge

          ‘Pfft, gender is dumb, girls, boys, it doesn’t really matter, right?’

          My agender ass had no idea and I have no idea why.

        10. MatsuoTanuki

          “Ronin” skirts, ma’am? I’m curious why they were called such.

        11. boopdeboop

          Gonna point out how difficult it can be for people in abusive situations to recognize it as abuse, regardless of whether they’ve experienced healthy situations before. Abusers can get under a victim’s skin to where everything is put into question–memories, sanity, security, etc. Even if Howard’s parents were perfect and provided the best home possible, living for ~4 years with an abuser as a child can really wreck you.

          And, like, can we remember that not everyone responds to trauma and abuse in the same way? Ruth and Howard can both be just as much victims of this grandfather, just with different coping methods. It’s unfair to expect Howard to handle this situation when he’s a child who’s probably going through a lot himself.

    2. MatsuoTanuki

      He clearly isn’t reading the atmosphere of the room, but I highly doubt it’s because he”s a self centered asshole. When he left after Family Visit week or whatever it was called, he told Billy to, I quote “Be good to my sister.” and you only had to look in his eyes to see how much he cared about Ruth to ask that.

    3. Bagge

      I think he just wants to get to the relative safety and comfort of TV as quick as possible. I think he knows perfectly well what will happen with Ruth and “Sir” in the same room.

      1. StClair

        When “Game of Thrones” is better than your actual home life…

        1. Bagge

          In Game of Thrones the bad people die!

          (So does the good, admittedly, as if that’s such a big difference for little-orphan Howie-who-just-almost-lost-his-sister-too)

    4. iforgetwhatiputhere

      Am I the only person reading this as Howard having bluescreened to the point of only being able to think of retreating to the TV? “Sir” has likely been muttering or yelling about Ruth the whole way there…

  35. Carms

    So Ruth’s eyes went black again, is that symbolically stylistic or an I reading to much in

    1. Gwen

      It’s symbolic. She didn’t have the green eyes until after billie rescued her from nearly drinking herself to death.

  36. Bagge

    I… I don’t think I have ever seen Ruth this scared before. 🙁

    1. Cerberus

      The nightmare that reduced her to a broken wreck from 30 seconds of phone call is right here in person and with a tailor-made situation by which to demand even greater control of her life…

      Yeah, I’d be petrified too.

  37. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: Stuck frozen, unable to pull the door. I’m reminded a lot of this scene with Becky:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/hi-2/

    And it’s such a strong reminder of how shitty those two parental figures are, that they induce such momentary terror into both of their lives.

    Panel 2: Oh, this hits really close to home. Having to tell the partner to stay away so you can face your abuser alone because you know if you don’t, your abuser will hurt them and that’s so much worse than just taking it on the chin… It feels awful. But I’ve been there. I’ve had to do that.

    When I was still trying to beg my parents forgiveness for being trans, when my dad was accusing my ex of being an “Iago” trying to force me to be trans because of her evil bisexual lusts, I had her stay away, so they couldn’t berate and hurt her. It wasn’t enough. What they were able to reach through still fucked us. But damn did I try.

    I think Ruth’s going to have the same mixed success here.

    Panels 3-5: Oh, this is just heartbreaking. Billie struggling to understand how Ruth could freefall in her emotions so quickly and shut her out, not fully understanding that this is a necessary kindness even if it doesn’t feel like it. And that look she gives Ruth as Ruth tries to glare her away. She’s frickin’ heartbroken. Especially after the sweetness they’ve been sharing and the good progress that Ruth had been making.

    And that’s what’s so horrible about fuckers like “sir”. The way they can wipe out all the progress you made in a second of awfulness and reduce you to a broken mess trying to cling to the very edges of functionality again.

    Panels 6-7: Still so hard to step through. Yeah, I’ve been on the outside of too many doors like that for my liking.

    Panel 8: And this panel is the worst. Ruth’s fight is gone, her eyes have gone dark, her body language defensive, slouched, defeated. It’s all the progress she made wiped out because she now has to deal with “sir”‘s abusive bullshit. And yeah, it’s pretty much guaranteed that he’s abusive as fuck. Because non-abusive people don’t instill this in their kids. Non-abusive people don’t make their kids or folks they are legal guardians too this hesitant and broken.

    We haven’t seen him, yet, but the damage he’s done reaches far and says far more than his inevitable face ever will as to how horribly he’s mistreated Ruth. And I just want to whisk her away where “sir” can’t control her. Where she can recover in peace.

    Ugh… fuck you Chloe. Fuck you for enabling this shit, for inviting him here, for not recognizing the million and a half red flags dripping off this situation.

    1. Bagge

      Ouch, yeah that scene with Becky is a good parallel. That scene ended with her triump. There is no guarantee that will happen now.

      And what you went through is horrible.

      Yeah, I’m really not a fan of Chloe. She left a quickly spiraling Ruth unsupervised despite her running the floor like a tyrant, and now she invited “Sir”. Without asking. Without WARNING.

      And Chloe is not a young and dumb teenager. She is the person in charge of taking care of situations like this.

      1. Tarmaniel

        Chloe is basically Human Resources. Her responsibility is to the school, not the employees. “HR is not your friend and is not on your side” is a very important life lesson people need to learn sooner rather than later.

        1. trlkly

          And responsibility to the school means not putting the school in danger of being sued, which this does.

          Plus Chloe had previously indicated she cared about Ruth. Either that was a lie, or she’s really messed up on what is acceptable.

        2. Falcon

          So a person gets suicidal and is admitted to the hospital. As the HR person, do you inform the legal guardian of the student? Or do you not? You can’t get information out of the suicidal student. You don’t want to be picking at wounds that is the hospital’s job to be tending to. Without further information, the obvious answer is to inform the legal guardian. Because *not* informing the legal guardian is, given what you know, the less responsible option and the one that will more likely get the school in legal trouble.

          Now, do you inform the student? Not while she’s in the hospital! The panic from realizing her family knows about her screwed up state is exactly the sort of danger you do not want to stimulate in a suicidal person. But once she’s discharged, then yeah. Then she’s certified “ready to deal with life”, and you let her know what’s going on. This is the meeting Ruth was headed to.

          Chloe may have made the situation worse, but she’s not to blame for calling Sir.

        3. DonDueed

          I am not a lawyer, but since Ruth is an adult I don’t believe “Sir” is her legal guardian anymore.

          However, he may still be next of kin and/or emergency contact. It may be school policy to inform either or (if different) both of those in the case of a student’s hospitalization.

        4. Falcon

          Fair point. Point stands with next of kin. The school doesn’t *want* to be saddled with a suicidal student indefinitely. The student’s own family and support network are what the school will naturally want to hand the student off to. The student has indicated that the next of kin is a trusted party.

          Chloe did the right thing given what she knew. It just so happens that in this case… 🙁

        5. iforgetwhatiputhere

          This. It’s right there in the name, kids. HR is about you being a resource. As soon as you become a liability for any reason, their only concern is damage control.

        6. ischemgeek

          I think you’re partly right. Other part is Chloe is likely under the misunderstanding that everyone has family that “loves you in their own way.”

        7. Cerberus

          I have a number of bitter bitter stories about HR proving that particular canard. Like the HR director who not-very-subtly essentially put out a bounty for any form of fireable information against me because she was trying to get rid of me for being trans. Or the current HR folks who’ve been conveniently turning a blind eye to everything we’ve reported about our head of school and his harassment/endangerment of a student.

          I’ve still yet to meet an HR department that does the job its supposed to do rather than serve the interests of the powerful within an organization.

        8. LordHaw

          That’s the sad and sorry truth. My trust in HR departments went out the window when my wife had a bad run in with them at a previous place we both worked. They tried to can her after coming back from maternity leave but the Ministry of Labour took issue with that and forced them to give her job back. And they also completely ignored the super abusive manager I had and let him abuse and berate my co-workers and myself. So glad I quit that place!

        9. Killjoy

          The name of the department is “Human Resources”… employees are an expendable resource, and not actual people, under the HR model.

    2. butting

      There’s another angle to sending Billie away: Billie’s presence would be an instant outing. And while ISTR that Howie knows about them (we can only hope he hasn’t said anything to sir), that’s still not really a discussion to have in front of him when he’s flying his gimme-dirty-telly-right-now colours.

      1. Bagge

        Ouch, yeah, that’s an entirely new can of worms that can open at any moment.

        Ruth is having the time of her life 🙁

        1. Cerberus

          She might still end up screwed on that score if Chloe lets slip any form of warning to not fuck up by continuing to see Billie (if she’s keeping her job) or consolation that she can keep seeing Billie (if fired).

          Which… hell of a way to be outed to an abuser.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          At least “Billie” sounds like “Billy” and the name alone might not immediately out Ruth. :/

        3. Fart Captor

          Chloe addressed Billie as “Jennifer” the last time they spoke…

        4. Gwen

          Oh god, I would *hope* Chloe knows better than to out someone to their parental figure on whom they are likely still financially dependent, but she hasn’t inspired great confidence so far.

        5. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          This is the same idiot who didn’t clue in to how Ruth was running the floor. She’s exactly that stupid.

    3. Lightbulb

      Don’t think Chloe deserves that comment, there’s no proof that she knows of Ruth’s home situation and as other commenters have shown, she might have done this in an attempt to help or be forced to do it by the school . there’s more proof against her knowing actually if you think of her surprise at Ruth being depressed and alcoholic. Chloe seems to actually care about Ruth and attempting to treat her as well as possible. it’s like saying fuck you to a cat for bringing you a dead bird, it doesn’t know that’s a bad thing for humans

      1. anonymsly

        In fact, IIRC, the only people who DO know in-strip are Billie and Ruth herself, and Billie only knows because of eavesdropping. Ruth never confided in her, never provided a single detail apart from the fact that ‘Sir’ isn’t her father because her father is dead, IIRC.

        I join Lightbulb in wondering why Chloe is getting blamed for not knowing something that only two people (who don’t share) know. What Chloe knows is that one of her RAs was suicidally depressed, and that’s it. Should she have assumed ‘awful and abusive families exist, so I have to assume that’s Ruth’s family situation, so it’s much better not to engage said in her recovery. It’s definitely best that she have no support system other than campus medical, 1/10 of my time if that, and an equally suicidally depressed fellow student with whom she’s entered into a suicide pact.’

        1. Greenygal

          Chloe doesn’t have to assume anything. Ruth is right there, an adult person with rights to medical privacy, available to be ASKED whether she would like her family contacted. Current evidence is that Chloe not only skipped asking, she even skipped telling. That’s what she’s getting blamed for.

  38. Tnoy

    This is a serious question: does Howard have a psychological or emotional disorder? It didn’t really come up last time, but he seems to not read situations, or other people, at all. He seems like a good kid, but I feel like someone tapped into their family dynamics would know at least a bit about how Ruth and her grandfather. When family fights, they fight loud.

    1. Sam

      It could be a response like Becky’s where playing up the can’t read the room persona makes it seem like he is less broken and that Ruth needs him to not be broken.

      It could be that ‘Sir’ has been very good at primarily pulling stuff on Ruth and keeping Howard mostly in the dark of how bad it is even though he seemed aware before that something was off with Ruth, he might not know how bad it *really* is.

      It could be that he has completely blue screened here and has defaulted to ask about TV which is his personal escape.

  39. Teddae

    *cracks knuckles and prepares to draw hate fanart of “sir” aka fuckface of a shitstain*

    1. Emperor Daniel

      Hey, Fuckface is a cool iguana! Don’t taint him by association with Sir!

  40. CJ

    No question that your first impulse is to keep the people you love away from abusers. But is it really a wise move?
    Isn’t it part of taking on too much responsibility?
    And how much is part of hiding how bad it is?
    Billie doesn’t know how Sir gets to Ruth, she only knows he does. And she’d sure as hell would like to help, would like to protect Ruth, and isn’t allowed to. Abusers are difficult and she might not have the necessary tool to do so, especially since Ruth never told her what’s really going on there.
    But. Billie might do better on the spot than most of us because she is used to privilege and winning (or used to be) and she is more afraid for Ruth than for herself.
    Walking in there without an ally rather than risking someone else that’s part of how abusers are successful in separating you from others.
    I hope that Dorothy is in there, for even without Sir, a witness for what happens would be important.
    I’m still not sure if Sir is really there, Ruth didn’t take take to look. She is so convinced he’s there to be her doom she didn’t even make sure with Howard.

    And yes, if he is there and Cloe didn’t warn her that’d be a really huge shitmove on her part. (Even her mentioning that people were there and not saying who was one, btw.)

    1. Cerberus

      Well, as someone who’s made that choice before, here’s my answers:

      1) *complicated shrug* It might not be wise, but it’s a hard thing to knowingly do to expose someone you care about to someone you know will try and hurt them. Even if you know you’ll be stronger together. It’s really hard to make that choice. Or at least it is for me given that I’m a lot better at absorbing when people are awful to me than awful to people I love (and yeah, that’s probably a bit of conditioning from abuse).

      2) Yup, 100%. It’s definitely taking on too much responsibility and taking a much harder hit than you would otherwise, but we’ve got a whole culture based on the “noble sacrifice” that makes it hard to turn away from or feel like you have a right to complain about it.

      3) A considerable portion. In my particular case, I saw how bad just a little taste of the poison my family was spewing out hurt my partner because back when they assumed I was a guy, they were absolutely gaga for her. And thus it made it really hard to expose her to it full blast on the regular, especially when she was dealing with her own abusive family. And so it became much easier to hide and minimize what was going on so as “not to worry her”. Didn’t particularly work, but it was a hard mindset to get out of and the stresses and strains on both of us trying to independently do the noble sacrifices for the other with our respective family (and my family finding other means of making sure my ex knew exactly how much they blamed her for how I ended up and abusing her for it) ended up ripping us apart.

      But yeah, allies for strength are important, but abusers are good at isolation as you note and it can seem a really good idea at the time to give in to that. A partner or ally speaks up and all of a sudden they are under attack with all sorts of hate. It can feel real noble to try and keep that partner or ally away and “safe”, thus letting yourself get isolated and outnumbered for their targeted abuse.

      Plus in this instance, I imagine Ruth doesn’t want to out herself to “sir” and give him one more piece of information to attack her with as abusers are great at picking up pieces of information you give them over the years and exploiting those as “weak points”.

  41. Danni

    cinemax, more like skinemax

    1. Hellespont

      I am so out of the loop on cable porn, I just assumed Howie wanted to watch Strike Back.

  42. HopelessPedantic

    Kinda tired of people assuming the worst about Howie and Chloe with only a few dozen frames tops involving them in this comic and very little visibility into the choices they’ve made and why.

    For Howie, from what I remember,we really don’t know much about him at all.

    For Chloe, I skimmed the HIPAA and FERPA FAQs. They strongly suggest, if not outright state that there are exemptions for situations in which a student is suicidal. So on the “Chloe has no right to contact the next-of-kin/former guardian/family member/whatever” bit, it reads to me like she does. Plus, we don’t even have proof yet that she did call “Sir”. (Someone else made that argument above).

    As to the, “goddamnit why did you summon the abuser” bit, I understand that. However, Chloe might not have any idea that “Sir” is an abuser or even that Ruth has been abused. AFAIK, it’s only come up in Ruth’s flashbacks/backstory.

    In conclusion, my references:
    HIPAA FAQ for Individuals says: The provider or plan can share your information with family or friends if:[ ]They are involved in your health care or payment for your health[; ]…using its professional judgment, a provider or plan believes that you do not object.

    FERPA FAQ for School Officials:

    For instance, if a school official believes that a student poses a significant threat, such as a threat of substantial bodily harm to any person, including to the student, then, under FERPA, the school official may disclose PII from the student’s education records without consent to any person whose knowledge of the information will assist in protecting a person from that threat.

    For more complete information, see the following:
    When is it permissible to utilize FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception for disclosures?
    What does “articulable and significant threat” mean?

    1. Hellespont

      I totally agree with you about Chloe, but, considering no one on here has any power to alter Chloe’s career path, what with her not being a real person and all. I just take people’s reactions as concern for Ruth and looking for someone to blame for something that has not happened yet (and probably would have, inevitably, sooner or later anyway). Not a response I agree with, but I can understand it.

      1. HopelessPedantic

        Yeah. I can see that. As for the characters not being real, I do understand that there are plenty of people who have gone through shit like this, and that’s awful. Now I hope some people are thinking that the next thing I’m going to say will be something like “but again, they’re not real so let’s all chill out”… well, not quite, so psych! 😛

        It may be true that they aren’t real, but they are moving portrayals of situations that are all too real for far too many people. How we react to those situations, generating discussion, and raising awareness are all valuable and important pursuits. So, despite sometimes thinking to myself “god, chill out ppl, it’s just a comic”, I try to remind myself that this discussion, with all it’s anger, fear, sadness, goofiness, and more, is possibly as important as if it were.

        1. Cerberus

          *hugs* Thank you for that. And yeah, it looks like you’re right about the law. It honestly feels like how I bristle in general when a company or a person does something that is “technically legal” but massively fucks over someone already dealing with abuse/PTSD.

          But in reality, as disappointed as I am in Chloe, it is likely that she’s not aware of the extent of abuse “sir” has put her through and that he’s a significant portion of what has worsened her depression.

        2. thejeff

          OTOH (or the same hand really), even if it’s legal and even if Chloe doesn’t have reason to suspect the abuse and that he’s part of the problem, there’s absolutely no reason to blindside her with it. If you think he’s there to help, let her know she’ll have support (not really support, but you think it will be.) That’ll help her feel safer going in.
          If you think it’ll be bad, then warn her.

          No excuse at all for surprising her.

          Other than dramatic necessity of course. 🙂

        3. Random832

          If she has no reason to suspect abuse or anything other than a “normal” healthy relationship, she might have thought that letting her know he was here was implicit in “we should have everyone necessary by then”

        4. Hellespont

          You completely missed the point of what I was saying, but you got there on your own anyway. Well done.

    2. BBCC

      He has the right to be told Ruth is suicidal, as it is a medical emergency. He does not have the right to be in her employment meeting and Chloe should not have let him in.

      1. Hellespont

        I am still not convinced this is an employment meeting. Or at least not just an employment meeting.

        1. BBCC

          She told Ruth to come and discuss whether or not she’s being fired. That is an employment meeting and not one her grandfather gets to sit in on. Either he should be outside waiting to be asked in for the non-employment parts or he’ll be asked to leave when they get to that and then Ruth and Chloe are gonna need to have a talk.

        2. thejeff

          Or she’ll be asked if she minds if he sits in and she’ll have to either agree to allow him or openly defy him and face the later consequences. From what little we’ve seen of their interactions, including just the look as she enters the room, defying him isn’t very likely.

  43. acher4

    oh COME on!

    1. Hellespont

      Next week of strips: Amber and Ethan in a chair fort.

      1. MatsuoTanuki

        If ‘Sir’ doesn’t show his ugly mug tomorrow, we riot.

  44. BenRG

    I’m still guessing that we’re going to get a string of strips of Ruth and Billie monologuing at or replying to an unseen and unspeaking figure. If we see Ruth’s grandfather at all, it will be at the end of the scene with his final reaction and the outcome (basically fixing his view of Ruth and how he views her future at IU).

    1. StClair

      All of Sir’s dialogue will be represented by muted trumpet noises.

  45. Reltzik

    I just had a thought.

    How much money has Sir Not Shown In This Strip contributed to the university? Because that might be explaining his inappropriate level of access. And possibly make the upcoming encounter’s power dynamic even worse.

    1. DonDueed

      I don’t think we’ve had any indication that Ruth’s family is particularly wealthy. If they were, she would more likely be at a private college, or at least not have to work as an RA — and it’s pretty clear she needs the job and couldn’t afford school without it.

      Then again, maybe “Sir” has money but is just unwilling to invest it in Ruth. But then why would he make large contributions to IU?

      1. Greenygal

        I can easily envision a personality type who would make large contributions to an institution, allowing them to make a public showing of wealth and be acclaimed and congratulated for it, but not give a damn about helping individual family members.

      2. Cerberus

        Not uncommon. I know some folks who have a rich familial abuser and some of them love this “oh, you need to learn the value of hard work” while also resisting their ability to fully sustain themselves so that the abuser can still dangle the purse strings to ensure compliance.

        Our broken model of capitalism aids this a lot because it makes it harder to do a clean break, because having to move back in with family members for a time is not uncommon when you’re just starting to make your way and build a means of sustaining yourself.

        1. missilentmurmur

          We get on well with my father when I happen to fit into his idea of a daughter, but when not, I am regularly threatened with the withdrawal of all the financial support he provides. This puts me in a peculiar situation: I’m in relative financial stability, but I never know until when. I always tried to minimize my costs while getting the most out of the situation (I mean, I did go to university, but I didn’t go on trips with friends). It runs in the family though. Feel free to spend our money, but make sure you buy things we want you to. It’s like a government tender, it doesn’t matter you need books for school, the only available tender is for new boots, so boots it is.

    2. BenRG

      He’s Ruth’s next of kin. If he still has parental rights over her and if this meeting is going to go into her mental health condition then he has a right to be present.

      1. thejeff

        She’s 20. A legal adult. He has no parental rights.

        Even then, it’s sketchy as hell to bring him in without warning her. Even if you think you’re helping you don’t surprise the patient, you tell them “You’re grandfather’s very concerned. He’ll be up to visit and help you recover.”

        And then reconsider when Ruth relapses in full panic.

        1. Cerberus

          That would be what a competent and genuinely caring RM would do, yeah.

  46. Reltzik

    Also. Speculative prediction (no I haven’t looked ahead):

    Tomorrow will be either A) just a splash page of the meeting room with Sir and Chloe, with Chloe saying “Have a seat” or “come in” or something like that, and the plot won’t get advanced at all.

    Or B) Cut to another story arc.

    1. Optimal Optimus

      I just had the same thought!

      1. BP

        I will find a way to burn things with my eyes if that happens s2g (twitchytwitch)

  47. Joe Covenant

    When Chloe told Ruth about the meeting she stated “…we should have EVERYONE necessary by then.”

    Which seems WAY out of context, if there is only one person (other than herself) sitting there?

    1. BenRG

      I’m guessing Ruth only cares about Chloe (her immediate superior) and her grandfather right now.

      1. Joe Covenant

        Oh absolutely…
        I’m just hoping that they are not the only two people in the room.

  48. Ntrovert

    Given the out used under FERPA to contact Sir, I am wondering if Ruth is not only going to be fired as RA but expelled or suspended from school as well…

    1. Cerberus

      Oh, that’s a terrifying thought.

      “As you know drinking on campus is a severe disciplinary issue and you’re suspended from campus housing because of it. I’ve contacted (sir) as he is the one listed on the tuition and housing paperwork and it’ll be up to both of you to find alternative accommodations during your recovery. I’m very sorry it turned out this way.”

  49. JBento

    Unrelated to the strip question: today expires the US whatever-the-hell-you-call-it that congress did to increase the debt limit, which means that if something isn’t done, well, likely yesterday, the US will be officially… bankrupt? I guess? What does this mean, nation-wise? It’s not like debtors can go and repossess Hawaii or something.

    1. BBCC

      That they will owe some very grumpy people a lot of money.

    2. HopelessPedantic

      Indeed. A country cannot be bankrupt. Bankruptcy is a legal thing that applies to people, companies, and maybe some other kinds of entities that I didn’t bother to look up while lying here in bed.

      So if we don’t raise the debt ceiling, we have two options:
      * Print money to pay for the debt, which history and some econ theory suggests leads to horrific inflation.
      * Default on our debt. Or Forbes, we have done this once once since Alexander Hamilton became president and only on a very small scale and only because of a combination of unique circumstances. Ultimately, we even paid those people. See here.

      Defaulting on our debt destroys the world’s faith that we will pay back our debts, which means our currency becomes much, much less valuable and trusted (read: worthless). This in turn wrecks or ebony and tanks most everyone else as well.

      1. thejeff

        As a practical matter, if we’re actually not prepared to handle this, what happens is that bills come in, we don’t have money in the treasury so we don’t pay them. This isn’t just debt repayments, but everything else the government spends money on – paying salaries, paying contractors, paying for supplies, etc, etc.
        To some extent the Treasury can prioritize things and that’s what they’ll start doing today. This apparently gives them some months to come up with a solution.
        Which will be: raise the debt ceiling. There’s no question there. The only question is what else they’ll try to push through on a “must-pass debt ceiling ” bill.
        As the HopelessPedantic says, we can’t go bankrupt. There’s no legal process for it. We could simply refuse to pay creditors and new bills, but that rapidly leads to trouble and it simply won’t happen.
        We could theoretically print money, which some economists find horrible and others don’t see as any worse than borrowing, though printing may be more tempting and thus easier to get yourself into inflationary trouble.

        1. JBento

          And special thanks to you, who always take the time to explain the US craziness whenever I ask!

    3. JBento

      Thanks.

    4. Hellespont

      Raising the debt cieling has to do with how much the government can borrow to pay its bills. Not whether or not it pays its debt. The Government already has a great deal of income, but falls short of its ability to meet its obligations by about US$440 Billion a year (the deficit).
      The government also has other sources of revenue (extraordinary means) that will last about six months. That gives congress time to argue over appropriations bills etc being attached to the debt limit being raised.
      There are also ways of lowering debt, such as restricting the issue of government bonds used to finance various projects etc. or closing down projects and rebuking the bonds used to finance them.
      Bankruptcy and default are not an option. Not paying federal employees is the first consequence, should funds run low, followed by a closing down of federal infrastructure. These outcomes are possible, but not likely and it is highly unlikely they would last any great amount of time.
      It all depends on how long negotiations go on.

      1. JBento

        Thanks.

  50. Killjoy

    One thing we haven’t seen is abusive parent/guardian situations lingering. Toedad is in jail. Blaine was last seen getting his ass handed to him. Joyce’s dad is keeping her mom at bay. Etc.

    So, while this is going to hurt to watch, there’s some hope that it won’t linger and that we’ll get some relatively direct resolution. I somewhat doubt that Ruth is going to get yanked out of school and disappear, or be put into a “lives with abusive grandpa for the next 400 stripes” situation.

    1. BBCC

      Eh, if he disappears soon, we’ll still have the Walkertons and the Wilcoxen to deal with.

    2. Zatar

      The thing is though that both of those characters did outright illegal things and thus could be removed physically.(And I’m still not sure we’ve seen the end of Blaine sadly.) My fear is that Sir will be an abuser who always stays exactly within the letter of the law, and thus will be much harder to get rid of.

      1. Zatar

        I missed the reference to Joyce’s mom but I think my analysis otherwise holds up.

      2. Greenygal

        Right, but Killjoy’s talking from a writing perspective. Blaine and Ross did illegal things that allowed them to be removed because Willis wrote them that way, and I think he said at the time that he used the gunpoint abduction plot specifically so that the threat of Ross wouldn’t keep hanging over Becky’s head forever. He’s not necessarily going to have “Sir” go to jail, but I expect things to resolve in a way such that “Sir” isn’t an immediate threat, if only because I don’t imagine Willis wants all of Ruth’s screentime to be tied up with her abuser forever any more than we do.

        This is all in the long term, of course. In the short term, things are going to be horrible.

        1. thejeff

          Well, if we’re looking at parallelism, we might expect an initial confrontation with an apparently successful resolution, (Amber with Blaine in the dorm with backup from Ruth leading to Blaine being removed from campus, Ross being directed away by Dina), followed by a more dramatic final confrontation sometime hours or up to a few days later.

        2. Zatar

          Yeah that’s actually a pretty fair point.

    3. Guairdean Beatha

      Living with Sir for the next 400 strips could turn Ruth into “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Girl_Who_Lives_Down_the_Lane_(novel)

  51. Zatar

    So since this is possibly the last strip before we see the piece of shit, anyone have a specific headcannon of what Sir looks like? I’ve been picturing him as a alternately a ginger Tywin Lannister in a suit or a old man with a long beard who’s going bald.

    1. Sam

      David Tennant with a mustache just to very clearly push everyone’s emotional sanity right through a shredder.

      1. Zatar

        Holy shit.

      2. Pogo

        That would just make me like him too much

  52. Oberon

    So, what have Chloe and Sir been discussing for the past hour? Awkward silence after inane greetings and talk of the weather?

    And who else is in the room?

  53. Kugai

    @$^$#@!!!

    DAMN YOU WILLIS!! DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!!!!!

  54. Joebo

    I am literally coming to Columbus… on Saturday.

  55. BP

    I’m hoping this ends in a Dina’s-parents kind of way. Like, Chloe doesn’t know the situation, Sir makes it obvious WHAT the situation is (if his phone call to Ruth is any indication he’s hard to shut up and will give himself away like Blaine did), and Chloe immediately finds a way to help Ruth through the rules. (Bonus points if Sir thinks of getting therapy as “weak” and brings this up in front of Chloe, since she’s the one who made Ruth get help.)

    I’m also hoping it wasn’t Chloe who contacted Ruth. If Ruth’s doctors have been in touch with her, Chloe might already KNOW the situation (assuming it came up in group therapy).

    Just please please please Willis make it stop, please.

  56. chris73

    So will the next strip feature “Sir” or will it cut away to another storyline just add extra tension to the plotline

    Also is Howard the single most oblivious character in this comic?

  57. Sibre

    Time for a BIG TWIST: he’s not a redhead. It could happen!

  58. Zatar

    I only just now read the Alt Text. Damn You Willis

  59. chris73

    Am I the only one being slightly weirded out by Howard saying got instead of have or get?

  60. chris73

    Of course Ruth could be saying Sir to just about any male in authority, so it could be the dean in the room with Chloe

  61. kater

    So, tomorrow’s strip is just Billie and Howard listening at a closed door. right?

  62. Murgatroyd

    Hmm…I was just struck by the similarity between Ruth’s eyes in Panel 8 and Howie’s in Panel 3 (/always?). Are his eyes naturally like that? Or is it that we’ve only ever seen him in the negative repressed state that in Ruth is symbolized by her eyes going dark?

  63. Belharris

    Sir? If the person she is talking to isn’t Sidney Poitier, then he is most likely an abusive man. I don’t like seeing Ruth that afraid. 🙁

  64. Elsendor

    Oh no her eyes ;_;

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