264

Dislodged
Posted on June 28, 2022 by David M Willis

264 thoughts on “Dislodged”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    This is where I came in! *walks out of theatre*

    1. Ana Chronistic

      coincidentally I just finished the first Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, and he ALSO has a thing about destroying doors

      1. Clif

        Your avatar is incredibly appropriate.

    2. ThunderNight

      In the eternal words of Snagglepuss: “Exit, Stage Left”

    3. Sajuuk-Khar

      Next time, Ruth exits, pursuing a bear

      1. ktbear

        I promise not to run too fast.

        1. Clif

          Grizzly bears can run at 35 mph while Polar bears max out at about 25mph.

          The literature is suspiciously silent about KT bears.

        2. Devin

          Nobody has ever outrun a KT bear, I guess!

      2. Ana Chronistic

        that is an interesting stage direction to bring up, given current events
        https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25528801-exit-pursued-by-a-bear

  2. Sirksome

    I mean…this is kind of how their relationship started so how do I know this isn’t just flirting for them?

    1. Reltzik

      That and/or foreplay.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        **pulls up a chair**

        I’m in.

        1. BarerMender

          Me, too. Popcorn?

        2. Jamie

          Popcorn. Chocolate-flavored, even. (It’s good. I promise.)

    2. Nicoleandmaggie

      But… they’re both dating other people. Have they discussed this with their current partners and are they on board?

      1. Xaeon

        Even odds Jason is already in there and won’t object. Possibly out of fear. I feel like Asher’s only reaction will be being upset he didn’t get to watch like Jason.

      2. Lan

        Suggesting that Jennifer and Ruth would make healthy choices re: relationships

  3. Stephen Bierce

    IDS HEADLINE: HACKED MUZAKS SEIZED; HACKER STILL AT LARGE

    1. The Wellerman

      oops sorry, did you want it back? ?

  4. The Wellerman

    YO!!!! BILLIE!!!! ?

    Sure hope she know’s what she’s doing! ?

    *Doom music or something starts playing on hacked muzak, I dunno*

    1. Laura

      This is what they get when they ask for “Billie”.

      (Hi, NG. 🙂

      1. Laura

        …Joyce rattled her confidence. Now she’s turning to force to get it back.

      2. The Wellerman

        Welp, at least things get a lot more exciting when she’s “Billie”, I give you that! ??

        And hello Laura! How have you been?

        I spent all day working on a rough map of Galasso’s Pizza (and Subs), and I’m almost done!

        1. Laura

          Good luck with it, NG!

          I’m exhausted.

          (Plays Jason Lewis on the hacked muzak:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wELOA2U7FPQ )

        2. The Wellerman

          This literally sounds like it’ll really help! Thanks! ?

        3. Laura

          YW. This channel helps me a lot. I listen every day.

          My concentration is absolutely shot, and my joint pain is killing me. Way too much work left to do.
          (…So I come here and read the comments. *Facepalm*)

        4. The Wellerman

          Ooooo! Sorry about your joints! ?

          Also, I still think it’s possible to do both work AND comments! 15 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of comment reading on repeat should do the trick! ?

          At least that’s how I would do it. Whatever works for you! ?

        5. Laura

          Yes, that works, NG.
          Been reading about “neurodivergent love languages”:
          https://stimpunks.org/2022/01/22/the-five-neurodivergent-love-languages-2/
          Being here is kind of like getting my “body double” (https://www.additudemag.com/getting-stuff-done-easier-with-a-friend-body-double/) — while I work, I’ll know folks are chatting among themselves, and having that kind of “parallel play” with y’all helps me keep calm and connected.

        6. The Wellerman

          What a coincidence! For years I imagined that when I meet my relationship partner(s) in the future, be them neurodivergent or not, “parallel play” is exactly what I imagine as my ideal way of bonding with them. So wonderfull! ?

          Sorry if that sounds awkward (and definitely don’t mean it as love-bombing you), just so weird how i always wanted to intellectually bond with someone just like this, and now it even has a name! Not only for partners and Pog Champs, but all kinds of human friends should embrace this!

        7. Laura

          Thanks, friend. No discomfort taken – all good.
          My family’s all about the parallel play.
          Let’s go to someone’s house and flop down on their couch with a good book or a crossword puzzle, maybe pet the animals or take a nap.
          That’s our idea of a really social evening. 🙂
          Warm silence can be magical.

          I know we’re supposed to keep it on-topic for the strip…
          I think that’s how Amber/Amazi-Girl and Danny bonded, and later Danny with Sal: just having projects (music, games, comic books…) to work on, side by side and together. That was all the interaction they needed.

          You see that sometimes with Joyce and Dorothy. Dorothy will be sitting doing homework, and Joyce will be sociable in the background. It’s nice.

        8. The Wellerman

          I could imagine all that right now, that Jason Lois playlist you posted makes the PERFECT background music for it. Simply wonderful! ?

          Re:articles, this is why I feel neuro-diversity is so important, as well language to make it more conceptually accessible, not for people to read it as “disorder”, but as different ways of being, different ways of living from which all humans can learn from example.

          Imagining all those characters happily parallel-processing in their relationships, I predict that all of this will really come to form the models of modern human relationships we see in the future! ?

        9. Laura

          Yeah. Right around midnight, the fog lifts, the music kicks in, and I can remember what it feels like to concentrate and get things done.
          …It’s like being a different person.
          We need to find strategies that WORK, to help us be all we really are.

          I think Joyce is beginning to come to terms with her own special and unique gifts, and how learning strategy from folks like Dina and amber who’ve been practicing longer can help her. I hope so, anyway.

        10. The Wellerman

          Re: being a different person, the times I feel that cognitive euphoria myself are much fewer and further between no matter what I try, sometimes I worry whether or not I’ll be able to achieve it ever again ?. Glad you can get that tho, makes me more hopeful ?

          Re: Joyce, yeah ideally that would happen, but yet again this isn’t Smarting of Age. Considering Joyce is no stranger to black-and-white thinking, it’s really likely that Joyce is gonna go from freaking out and loathing about her potential autism straight to the other extreme of toxic positivity about it, much to the annoyance of others, especially Dina.

        11. Laura

          Woo-hoo! Work is finally finished!

        12. Clif

          I just wanted to point out the The Wellerman the fact that is well known to Science that Galasso’s is topologically incorrect and not to scale. If your map is to be accurate, it must be true of your map as well.

        13. The Wellerman

          Don’t you worry, I just mapped the restaurant on which Galassos is based — Mother Bear’s Pizza at IU, of course! ?

    2. Ray Radlein

      She might! I mean, there’s a first time for everything

  5. Nono

    Well whatever this is, looks like it’s been simmering for a while.

  6. Thag Simmons

    Kinda not sure what provoked this, eager to find out though

    1. Rororoyourboat

      I think Jennifer wants Ruth to get angry at her like she used to. Ruth appears to just suck up all her feelings when it comes to her and that doesn’t fly with Jennifer.

      1. Sirksome

        Yeah, I think Ruth initiated the breakup and feels guilty about it, so she’s giving Jennifer a lot of slack and probably pretending a bit that she’s better than she really is.

        1. Thag Simmons

          I think more likely Ruth fucked up real bad, bad enough for Jennifer to end the relationship, and feels guilty about that

        2. Sirksome

          It’s just a theory based on little clues of dialogue but i don’t think Jen broke up with her. She talked about caring too much and that was pretty obviously in reference to Ruth.

        3. Fuzzy

          You keep saying that and I don’t really get why it’s a clue that Ruth broke up with her? I took it to imply the opposite. Ruth cared too much and was being overbearing and so Billie broke up with her.

        4. Sirksome

          It’s hard to confirm which is why it’s just a theory. She could have been applying that in reference to Ruth or herself. I would assume since Jennifer was the one talking she was talking about herself but just having to make an assumption leaves this and hypothetical because text media can’t convey tone.

          To me Billie cared too much about their health in the relationship and Ruth who has kind of backslid into alcohol didn’t and broke up with her. Cause if Ruth cared more for Billie they’d both be together and sober instead of broken up and one hopefully sober while the other flounders in muted depression and insecurity. (Also dating Jason)

        5. Sirksome

          Also I don’t 100% know if Jennifer is sober but I believe she is because we haven’t seen her drink so far. Willis could drop a reveal like that.

        6. Thag Simmons

          no boozles

        7. Gizen

          I have a suspicion that Jennifer is the one that fucked it up. Ruth keeps acting like it’s her fault, and Jennifer is acting like it’s her fault, and it reads too… suspicious? Like, considering Jennifer’s ego, and Ruth’s own depressive and self-destructive tendencies, I have a feeling that it was actually Jennifer who fucked up, blamed Ruth for her own fuck up, and Ruth just went “yeah, this was my fault somehow I guess”. I already suspected this beforehand, but the way Mary talked to Jennifer just now, and the way she’s getting pissed off and demanding Ruth stop lying to her when Ruth is basically saying ‘yeah, I’d understand why you’re mad at me’, it reads to me like their breakup was Jennifer’s fault, and she’s pissed off that Ruth isn’t fighting her on it and giving her the blame she feels she deserves, that Ruth isn’t indulging her guilt complex the way she wants her to.

        8. Wereg

          My gut is telling me that Jennifer ended up backsliding on/kept consuming alcohol and Ruth couldn’t handle the temptation in her life.

        9. thejeff

          It’s certainly possible, but it’s worth remembering that Ruth is drinking now and as far as we’ve seen Jennifer isn’t.

        10. Rabisch

          Ruth drinked the day of her 21st birthday. I think it was like a ritual and no more.

        11. thejeff

          Ruth’s an alcoholic. “It’s my 21st birthday is just an excuse.”

        12. Keulen

          Same, I’ve suspected for a long time now that Jennifer caused their breakup, and Ruth is just taking the blame for some reason.

      2. Laura

        REALLY toxic, physically abusive relationship. Whole thing was bullying from start to finish, with a little sweetness tucked in the middle, just to keep the bitter palatable. …That’s how I see it, anyway. 🙁

        I never thought there needed to be anything extra having happened on Halloween, for their relationship to have ended. I figured Ruth’s actions that we’ve seen on camera were bad enough.

        1. cmasta1992

          Took the comment right out of my mouth. They were just awful together. I don’t need much more context to know that them staying together definitely ends with one or both of them dead.

        2. Vanessa

          This behavior certainly cements a “Ruth needs to get the fuck away from Billie whatever it takes” feeling. I liked Jennifer and her hypocritical, social climbing acquaintances much better than this out-of-control rage machine. Although I’m guess we’ll find that she thinks “Ruth being polite to her ex” is the same as “Ruth is trying to die.” Exes are people you are polite to, you don’t know them anymore, you have to grow the scab over before you can be normal around them.

        3. Taffy

          “out-of-control rage machine” yeah ok

        4. Bysmerian

          That reminds me of my youngest sibling talking about eventually reconnecting with their ex-partner as friends. It took several attempts separated by months each before they managed it, and it took the valiant sacrifice of a worker bee from their previously shared hive to succeed.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      Probably Halloween. Which I believe is starting very soon…

      1. Bryy

        I am here for a year of All Hallow’s Eve.

      2. Needfuldoer

        The next chapter starts on Saturday, July 2nd. I get the feeling this week is an extended segue…

  7. Rororoyourboat

    Ruth doesn’t exactly look scared in the last panel. Maybe a different feeling though

    1. Kaos

      i would dare to say that she looks confused.

  8. Mr D

    …
    So, this ends up in one of two ways. Crying or Fuckin.
    or both!.

  9. RassilonTDavros

    Jennifer’s one hundred percent right– Ruth had no intention of actually filling out the repair form.

    1. Sambo

      Perfect comment!

    2. a/snow/mous/e

      Ruth was going to get Jason to fill out the form, and she’d just sign her name at the bottom.

  10. Mydnyt

    Is this another case of “What in gods name happened on Halloween?”

    1. alongcameaspider

      Fortunately we should be finding out the answer to that question in the near future

    2. CrazyJ

      Clearly it’s because they both had the same costume.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Incidentally, can’t wait to see what costumes everyone winds up wearing

        1. Needfuldoer

          Random guess time? Random guess time.

          Grace, Mandy, and Sierra: Charlie’s Angels.

          Joe and Joyce: The main characters from Tangled.

          Roz: Mystique from the live-action X-Men movies.

        2. Thag Simmons

          I don’t know if Joe and Joyce are at “couple’s costumes” yet, not intentionally anyways.

      2. Lawzlo

        Yeah, it was one of those two-person horse costumes, but then they both wanted to wear the front half.

      3. Jon

        “I’m not changing.”
        “Well, I’m not changing either.”

        Decide for yourself if this was about their costumes, or their personalities — the end result would be the same

    3. Reltzik

      No. It’s the SAME case.

    4. Keulen

      I’m hoping that will be revealed in a few days, when the next chapter starts.

    5. vancore

      The good part about skipping all those holidays is you can now have flashbacks to those times near the actual months without speeding up time. A single year hasn’t gotten over for the story, yet so much has changed during that half a year.

  11. Thag Simmons

    Incidentally, not a great sign when something breaks so often you start learning the individual part names

    1. Biblioholic93

      Probably happens more often than one would like in a full dorm building with hundreds of individual dorms. Plus, she has her own habit of kicking doors in on college dime…. she probably does all the installs herself to keep that between the students.

  12. FaerwenOfValenwood

    are…are they gonna kiss

    1. shrub

      I hope not.

      Shoves isn’t love someone once said

      1. shrub

        Or something similar

      2. the illerman

        ‘Twas Carla the great!

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/secretly/

    2. Rose by Any Other Name

      I hope so.

      @shrub – as long as they are consensual shoves, it’s all good.

      1. Fay

        Well, as long as they’re consensual, pre-communicated, and safe-word-backed shoves.

        1. Clif

          Consensual is incredibly important. Pre-communicated and safe-word-backed is certainly one way to do it, with a lot to recommend it. But humans have all kinds of communication channels and it’s not the only way to do it. What works for people is tricky to judge from the outside. Coming up with rules that apply outside of the local cultural understandings held by the participants and trying to apply them moralistically is not useful. There are billions of ways to say I love you and some of them are downright weird. And that’s okay.

    3. Amós Batista

      that sounds like something Becky would say

      1. the illerman

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/03-see-you-in-the-funny-page/phase/

        You are quite correct

  13. Mewzard

    Freeza: Have we been here before? I feel like we’ve been here before…

    1. True Survivor

      Dragon Ball Abridged right? My friends and I loved that.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        DBZ Abridged is/was one of the best youtube series and I’m still super bummed that they won’t be finishing it.

        1. Taffy

          If they’d kept going, it would have sucked. They’ve openly admitted that they were more or less out of ideas for the show, so finishing where they did seems for the best.

        2. RassilonTDavros

          I’m honestly glad it ended when it did, rather than mid-way through the Buu saga. If they had tried pressing on, I think they would have burned out and left it unfinished. This way it at least has a satisfying ending.

  14. BBCC

    Well it’s nice to see these two getting along so well.

    I beg for backstory. XD

  15. Biblioholic93

    Considering thaf I’m still a quarter convinced that this might be flirting for them, I do have to agree they were awful for each other. Still, the fact that Billie and Ruth saved each other from alcoholism more or less, and that Ruth finally started trying medication that works for her, it was a kinda stepping stone relationship.

    Mmh. What was the lie tho? How Ruth would try to date her editor in chief…? Honestly she’s clearly not entirely stable right now anyways, so… the Sir will be good for her, not another emotional wreck who’ll need attention and convincing, preening and complimenting, when Ruth can’t always trust her own self discipline….

    1. Felian

      It’s not necessarily a good thing to have a stable partner doing the stabilising for you. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before you can start taking self-responsibility. Having a partner hold you up can keep you from growing your own strength. And might create dependency which potentially opens the door to being taken advantage of.
      Having a partner who doesn’t have the habit of saving you from yourself, and instead encourages you to take responsibility yourself, and supports you by cheering the progress you make, now THAT would be helpful.

  16. True Survivor

    Awwww a reverse of their first kiss … I my literary symmetry senses are a tingling, though I hope they don’t kiss again (cheating is mean).

  17. DailyBrad

    Some Jennifer strips end up sticking that one song in my brain way too hard.

    “Billie, don’t be a hero
    Don’t be a fool with your liiiiife”

  18. Sirksome

    I just gotta say this wing does not have proper problem-solving skills. It’s mostly just Jennifer and Ruth, but most of the girls here have shown they’ll turn to violence in an instant.

    1. Thag Simmons

      We know Carla’s good with practical problems, at least.

    2. Nono

      Dorothy, Carla, Agatha, Mandy, Sierra, Grace, Meredith, Rachel, Other Rachel, Roz…

      1. Sirksome

        This is not convincing. Dorothy and Carla are the only ones with any viability, maybe Roz too. We have no idea what those other girls get up too. In fact I think two of those girls are known for regularly getting into lover’s quarrels. And we know what hotheads the girls that actually get panel time are. This wing is like the Wild West.

        1. Nono

          That doesn’t mean they turn to violence. Quarreling isn’t violent. There is a difference between hotheadedness and violence.

          Dina turns to violence far more readily than most of the girls in the dorm. I wouldn’t call her hotheaded. Rachel’s hotheaded. I wouldn’t call her violent.

          Like the amount of people that are actually ‘violent hotheads’ would just be Joyce, Ruth, Sal, Malaya (Jennifer no longer lives here). Sarah’s a misanthrope and she’s only actually been violent against people she has a grudge against or who actually deserve it (Ryan, people who take her hostage). Amber’s cooled down a lot since the timeskip.

      2. Leorale

        Are you listing people you think *do* have problem-solving skills, or people who *don’t*?

        Dorothy is pretty good at it! (Particularly if it involves spreadsheets.) Sometimes she orders people around, to varying degrees of success, and she hasn’t figured out how to tell anyone that she’s been accepted to Yale. But she’s got a lot of maturity, integrity, and calm, plus major executive function skills like prioritization and organization. When people around Dorothy are okay with her taking the lead, she can go Future President on it. When they aren’t, her attempts backfire.

        Carla’s solution is to be bigger and louder than the problem, and Carla saw that this was Good.

        We haven’t really seen those other characters solve many problems, though anyone in a longterm throuple without apparent drama is probably skillful at it.

        Whatever went down between Rachel and Ruth, that problem didn’t get solved, as Rachel holds a grudge about it to this day.

        I rather like Roz, but, shall we say, problem-solving isn’t one of her strengths.

        1. Leorale

          — oh, you were listing people who don’t act physically violent.

          People who are ready for violent action include: Joyce but usually it’s appropriate, Sarah if she has to, Dina but it’s played for laughs, Amber/AG but nowadays they’re channeling it successfully into Roller Derby. Mary evilly attempts to get people to hurt themselves.
          And of course, Ruth and Jennifer, and it’s actively terrible.

        2. Thag Simmons

          Carla’s an engineer. She’s good with practical problems

        3. cmasta1992

          For example, how am I going to stop some mean mother hubbard from kicking a structurally superfluous hole in my door

        4. Needfuldoer

          Her dispensers dispense sweet pranks instead of health and ammo.

        5. Thag Simmons

          There’s a little pie arm for dealing with troublesome sappers.

        6. Needfuldoer

          She respects the idea of sappers, but won’t sit idly by while they ruin her fun.

    3. Leorale

      Most *people* don’t have proper problem-solving skills.
      It’s a problem, but I don’t know how to solve it.

    4. Eric

      This is America.

  19. Joe Moose

    [Careless Whisper blares out on hacked PDA speakers]

  20. Yumi

    Jennifer should try yoga.

    1. The Wellerman

      Are you kidding me?

      Jennifer’s already doing therapy, and even that’s not doing jill shit.

      Gotta work her way up from booze somehow. Maybe weed? Hundreds of times less poisonous and damaging to the body and brain than alcohol, and nearly impossible to OD, so it would be a step in the right direction, at least.

      1. Yumi

        1. Yes.
        2. We don’t know that she’s still doing therapy, just that she said she “got therapy.”

        1. StClair

          and now she’s all better, see?

        2. Yumi

          She is doing so well.

        3. The Wellerman

          glad we’re on the same page re:Jennifer and weed

          about your second point, I foresee two other possibilities other than her still doing therapy:

          A. She discontinued because it really didn’t work for her, either on a personal basis or was really turned off by a “professional” that was insensitive or even downright bigoted.

          B. She only went a few times or even once just to be able to say that she did without technically lying, and brag about it as a part of her being All-Grown-Up™ “Jennifer”.

        4. Yumi

          Oh, we’re not on the same page about weed, I just didn’t want to get into that with you. My points were going in order of what you had said.

        5. The Wellerman

          Oh woops, i guess i misread that ?

          But yeah which one of those possibilities re:therapy you think is most likely. My bet is with option B, so much like her. ?

        6. Yumi

          I think B is most likely, based on how she brought it up:
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/02-look-straight-ahead/soundlike/

          Doesn’t sound like A to me.

          My experience of college counseling centers at a school comparable to IU is that they just kind of rush you along. You might get someone who sets up “regular” sessions with you, but those might only be for six to eight weeks. (Even that’s lucky; there’s also a lot of inaccessible referrals given after an initial assessment.) That can definitely help in some cases, and I think it’s possible Jennifer got something out of it, but I don’t think it’d go deep enough for all that she has going on.

        7. The Wellerman

          If by “got something out if it” you mean bourgeois bragging rights, then yes, that pretty much sums up the benefits for her.

          You think Yoga would get any deeper? Weed could go deep too, but I’m starting to think that maybe the problem is less about what would help her and more about her actually wanting to change.

        8. Yumi

          Like I said, the yoga comment was a joke.

          And no, I meant a more temporary and surface level sense of calm, and maybe assistance in stopping drinking. And those things aren’t nothing, especially depending where one’s at when seeking therapy. They’re just not everything.

        9. The Wellerman

          Eh, it might just be me, but the way she’s reacting here (YIKES), it seems to me more like a “holding it all in with ducktape” kinda way? With ducktape being recognition from her bourgeois friends and ego inflation from being the problem-solving alpha-bongo.

          The old Billie and all her habits and attitudes are still there, tightly packed inside. Once she looses her incentive to keep up her facade (which I’m guessing will come during the big bourgeois breakfast), Billie’s gonna burst out and spiral right into relapse.

        10. Laura

          Hot yoga actually could provide a welcome release, though. Endorphins, adrenaline, cortisol, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, melatonin… all the brain chemicals you can get from sex or drama or alcohol (or other substances), you can get from sustained strenuous exercise, especially in a class with others.

        11. The Wellerman

          I tried Yoga myself a few times, didn’t quite work on account of my barely cooperative host body. ?

          I find that walking or other light exercise works, on account of release of all those, especially when I use it in conjunction with half a thc gummy bear. Whatever works!!!

        12. Laura

          Yoga doesn’t have to be about physical exercise, BTW. It can be done through just breathing, or chanting/singing (Kirtan dubstep is among my fave dance musics) or meditation, or study and reading, or even just while sleeping or “doing stuff that your body enjoys”. Lots of ways to yog’. Anything you do thoughtfully and deliberately, with intention and purpose, can be an expression of yoga.
          (I’d link to the Wikipedia article on the topic, but it’s a little religious, and I know we try to keep the discussion secular.)

        13. The Wellerman

          I never thought of it that way!!! ?

          It’s kinda like martial arts then! ?

          Or are least I hears that somewhere I dunno. ?

          Anyway thanks a million Laura! ?

          (So much for Wikipedia keeping a “neutral point of view”, but of course oh wells we shouldn’t be relying on it anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

        14. Laura

          Well, exactly. Yoga is a form of martial arts. There’s even a fighting style based on it. It’s pretty badasse. There’s a movie that really showcases it — I think it’s just called “Indian”. Tragic plot, but wild fight scenes.
          Yoga really just means “discipline,” or “practice”.

        15. eh, whatever

          Duct tape – wholly unrelated to ducks.

        16. Laura

          Although there is a brand of duct tape called “Duck Tape”. There’s another one called “Gorilla Tape”. Strangely, though, they are not actually used to tape up ducks OR gorillas. Just ducts.

          Q. Why is duct tape like the Force?
          A. Because it has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

        17. Needfuldoer

          Ironically, ducts are one thing “duct tape” is terrible for. Use the silver foil tape on ductwork, duct tape will just dry up and fall off, leaving horrible sandy residue behind.

          For everything else, gaffer’s tape is superior anyway. (Well, until it dries out or the adhesive turns into goo. That usually takes a few months, but at least it peels off cleanly until thrn.)

        18. Laura

          Wow! The more you know…
          Today I learned something new!

        19. Clif

          Objectively untrue. Duck tape will work just fine for taping ducks together. You just have to apply it to their legs and not to feathers.

        20. Needfuldoer

          Duck tape won’t work on gorillas though, they can easily tear it. That’s what Gorilla tape is for.

  21. thakoru

    it’s like poetry, it rhymes

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      The poem in question: T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”

      1. Bysmerian

        But we aren’t in April yet.

  22. the illerman

    Jennifer looks like she’s out for blood. Barring a literal arrow shot from the bow of Cupid himself, I can’t imagine any way that she’d be up for anything more intimate than a fist fight (NON-EUPHAMISTIC) with Ruth.

  23. ADLegend21

    Huh?????

  24. C.T. Phipps

    Shoves are not hugs, Billie.

    We’re passing into an actively abusive relationship.

    1. RedCat

      Loves, not hugs, I think. I don’t remember who said that, though.

      1. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

        It was the great Carla! https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/secretly/

  25. Nono

    Well now I’m confused. Why did Ruth step out into the hallway? She was still in the doorway in the third panel. The wall in the last panel isn’t blue like her room.

    1. Carl

      now i’m just imagining between panels a polite “can you step over here? thanks”

  26. Mr. Random

    Is everyone not over anyone in this comic over the last 4 months?

    1. Bunny

      exactly!

    2. Nono

      Dorothy’s pretty decidedly over Danny.

      1. Bunny

        the exception to the rule

        1. Nono

          Well we haven’t seen Jacob, so we can’t confirm him vs Joyce/Raidah/Sarah/Roz. Ethan’s probably over Danny. Amber’s over Walky, if not the other way round. Joyce is probably over Ethan.

      2. C.T. Phipps

        Danny is sort of like Felicity. Chasing after his dream date across college.

        Except Dorothy is creeped out and wanted to be rid of him.

  27. Cerusee

    Yeah okay, fine. I’m intrigued. What the heck went down between them that has Jennifer not just bitter, but *violently* bitter, while Ruth is abjectly apologetic about it all?

  28. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

    Jennifer: “I have a BOYfriend now. You were just a phase. I don’t want to be around you, and I’m better off without you. I’m going to drop a class because you’re in it and set you up with someone else so you stop bugging me (and for my personal gain).”

    Ruth: “I’ve found someone else, and I’m moving on. You are better off without me.”

    Jennifer: “Everything you say makes me hate you more. How dare you try to be fine without me!”

    1. Bryy

      Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup.

      1. Vanessa

        Haha yes I don’t understand Billie at all here and I think Ruth needs to get a restraining order. This is the kind of person I will avoid and be extra polite to. I think a nice freezingly polite British “good day to you, mam!”, a shut door, and a call to security is called for.

        1. Bryy

          Like I said.
          Jennifer is fucking around and is very close to finding out.

        2. Sam

          Only makes sense if you are using toxic high school logic or toxic romance ideas I think currently but we’ll need to see what Jennifer says next. But it does look like it is building to a ‘you are supposed to chase me, not move on, WTF!’ Which is not healthy reasoning.

  29. Bunny

    the confrontation a long time coming

  30. RocketRelM

    I’m fairly sure what’s happening is that Jen thinks Ruth is lying about “having moved on”, in regards to earlier. And what’s going to happen next strip is that “the bartender” is going to peek out and be like “what’s this now”, and then Jennifer’s going to just be sad, in shock, and perhaps walk away.

    Or maybe she’ll confront things outright, that’s also in her personality style, but my guess is her disengaging after that reveal.

    1. Bryy

      Yeah. Yup.

      Jennifer isn’t any better than Mary at this point. She literally believes that other people cannot possibly be independent of her (and I’m starting to understand that their run-in was more than witty banter), and rather than accept that, she resorts to extremes in order to “force the truth out”.

      Ruth may be mean, but Jennifer is toxic and going down a dark path.

    2. Sajuuk-Khar

      can we please stop comparing people who are engaged in problematic behaviors to an actual fascist

      like, the gap between Mary and a Nazi is just that she would think armbands are “larping”

      Jennifer has got Bad Problems, and you don’t have to like her, she’s frequently DEEPLY unpleasant

      but she’s not a fuckin’ Nazi

      1. Bryy

        I think Mary likes the idea of fundamentalism but would crumble like a house of cards if she actually did get Ruth or Jennifer killed.

      2. Taffy

        Is this meant to go under a different comment? RockerRelM and Bryy didn’t say the word Nazi at all

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          No, this was meant to address comparisons to Mary, which I think are kind of the DOA version of Godwin’s (First) Law. No one has done anything equivalent to Mary, because Mary is like three inches from being an actual Nazi. I do not agree that she’d fold if her actions harmed people. I think she’d talk herself into feeling justified and emboldened.

        2. Taffy

          Oh, that makes more sense. Sorry, I’ve been high for the waking majority of the past week and it might be addling my brain a little bit. Yeah, I can totally see Mary as half a blink away from full-on uniform wearing.

        3. Sajuuk-Khar

          No worries, I only wish I had bought some supplies for which to be high the past week myself.

        4. Taffy

          Let’s just say there are times when lucid sobriety may be more helpful to a person, and other times they get more benefit from essentially transporting their brain to another dimension to cope with the base state of existence. This is a little too far into that second bit lmao.

  31. newlland(Henryvolt)

    I did not expect to get slapped in the face with Déjà vu when I came here.

  32. shrub

    The build up to Halloween is excellent

  33. brionl

    Do you mean there are people who *don’t* know all the parts of a lockset?

    1. Taffy

      Only people who intend to commit crimes know the names of the parts of things. Knowledge is suspicious and people who learn things are the devil.

      1. Clif

        What you said, only with even more sarcasm.

      2. the illerman

        “Only people who intend to commit crimes know the names of the parts of [foods like tuna casserole]. Knowledge is suspicious and people who learn things are the devil.”
        – Joyce, probably ?

  34. Bagge

    Stop… flirting? …fighting? …something else?

    1. StClair

      that part comes later

      (on Slipshine)

  35. MisterJinKC

    I know it’s probably lil over from the Halloween incident (yet to be revealed), but I also wonder if Mary’s comments/attitude somehow gave Billie a clue that Mary has been blackmailing Ruth and that’s why Billie is pissed. I mean, Mary was terrified of Billie after Billie decked her. If I remember correctly, this is the first time since then that Mary was directly antagonistic to Billie’s face. She seems a bit too cocky unless she feels she has some kind of leverage.

    1. Fay

      Oh shit, that’s actually a really good theory that hadn’t occurred to me at all.
      I’d assumed it was just Mary being stuck reliving her glory days- the blackmail incident, aka the only time in her life she’s held power over someone else.

  36. PirateTawnee

    This can’t be THAT serious, Billie only used one A in “face”.

  37. Sajuuk-Khar

    “The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the victim. Now I am the instigator.”

    “Only an instigator of problems, Jennifer.”

    1. Needfuldoer

      Former cheerleader. Alpha bongo. Problem solver causer.

  38. BarerMender

    Ruth: The truth? Very well. I haven’t moved on. You’re my heart. You’re my life. I need you. Please come back.
    Billy [to Jason]: You. Fuck off.

    1. Taffy

      And then Jason fucks off and Ruth and Billie are now girlfriends again now but this time with only the good stuff and it’s fucking insufferably sweet to the point that they’re out of focus for several in-story weeks the end

      1. Sajuuk-Khar

        Jason: YOU FORCED ME TO RELOCATE ALL MY THINGS IN THERE, LESSICK! AT LEAST LET ME GET MY DAMNED BOW-TIES!

        1. BarerMender

          Come back in an hour for our bow-ties. Make that two hours. No, leave your bow-ties. I’ll be out of your hair by sundown. I have to get back to my boyfriend.

        2. BarerMender

          your bow-ties. Not our bow-ties. We don’t have joint bow-ties. Just a joint woman.

        3. Sajuuk-Khar

          Plot twist: when Jason returns at sundown, Jennifer and Ruth have used all his bow-ties for NSFW purposes.

          Jason experiences the British form of despair, which I am told is not readily discernible from “existing in Britain”, or what the French call “ennui”.

        4. Sajuuk-Khar

          I love that our gravatars make it look like Amber and Carla are co-writing a fanfic.

        5. Sajuuk-Khar

          (With help from Taffy.)

        6. Taffy

          And then the camera smash-zooms out and reveals that Billifer and Jason have been smoking a transparent .png of Ruth’s model sheet from this storyline.

          (It’s a sight gag)

  39. Twig

    THERE she is.

  40. Rabisch

    I have no idea what the hell happened on Halloween to make Jennifer act this way, but her behaviour is totally wrong and impossible to justify. Jennifer is reacting to something Mary said by getting mad at Ruth, this is the only thing we see and I don’t like it because Jennifer looks very dangerous right now, she could beat up Ruth and maybe even Jason if he comes out of the room just to see what’s going on. I wonder if Mary is watching this.

    1. Yakkorex

      I think that Billie is reacting to something Joyce said…

      1. Clif

        Or possibly a delayed reaction to something Ruth said.

  41. Auroki

    I hear Guilty Gear music playing, does anybody else?

    1. Taffy

      We do like a bit of Big Blast Sonic now and again.

  42. Kaffeeteria

    Where the F did that come from??

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      A two-month-long and extremely intense sapphic relationship with a lot of issues bound up in it that fell apart on Halloween, I’d wager

  43. Arianod

    I can’t believe Jennifer is slamming the residence assistant ?

    1. Taffy

      Wait til tomorrow, when she busts out the Kaio-ken. Ruth is about to learn the difference between a low-class warrior and a Saiyan elite.

      1. Eldritchy

        You mean crying like a little baby when Frieza steps on you?

        1. Taffy

          Exactly.

        2. Clif

          Are we losing sight of the fact that Ruth can toss Jenifer around like a tub of lard?
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/pun/

        3. Taffy

          It’s true, she can toss her pretty well. I’d say something closer to “like a sack of rice” though, since it’s more a more flexible object and doesn’t have anti-fat connotations. Not to sound like a scold, of course.

  44. AGV

    Damn, we’re learning some things this week

  45. Reaver

    Interesting how the lack of humor changes the view on violence, Dina pouncing people and attacking them due to innacuracies? Hilarious!
    Radia getting slapped by Sarah? Justified! Jennifer shoulder slams Ruth? horrific violent individual.

    Tone really is everything and Willis has mastered it

    1. Leorale

      Absolutely. Imagine Jennifer was drawn with a big sharp-toothed ‘clever girl’ type of grin, instead. And rather than having your eye go straight to the impact on Ruth’s shoulder, which makes the slam look strong, have Billie’s cute rar-face be the emphasis — or better yet, have the actual impact happen offscreen. (Definitely don’t showcase Ruth looking concerned about it.)
      …that would give a totally different, no-real-consequences, cartoony kind of vibe, which is the tone Dina gets, but it’s not the tone for these two characters.

  46. Sombrero

    It was nice to think for a moment that the Jennifer change helped her to reach a better place. But the better place was Archer and Raidah, so we really knew it was fake. Billie/Ruth fireworks are fine entertainment, though.

  47. Masumi

    So does that mean they’re hooking up again sooner than expected or

    1. egg egg

      Unexpected reunion, with a brit to bully to keep things fresh and entertaining.

  48. GUIGUI

    Will we finally know why everyone hate Billie? I mean Jennifer? Whatever.

    1. Axel

      Who hates her? (other than Sarah, who has since she met her)

      1. Taffy

        Jimmy does. We haven’t met him yet.

      2. Nono

        Mary?

        1. Clif

          This is so sudden. Let me think about it.

          Oh, wait. You said Mary.

        2. Axel

          Okay true, but Mary also always hated her, so there’s not really a reason to find out.

  49. Acher4

    https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlapSlapKiss

    Round… 371?

    1. Clif

      Ha! You can’t trap me with your innocent looking tvtropes link.

      But what could one tiny peek hurt?

      1. the illerman

        It’s a trap!!!

        https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tab_explosion.png

  50. Just another fan

    We’ll certainly learn but if it’s something so bad you get all toxic in the comments, I’ll just remind you of Mary.

  51. Needfuldoer

    Jennifer: “STOP LYING TO ME! You’re not over me! You AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE be over me! Stick to the teen drama script I wrote in my head!!”

    Ruth: “ha ha boyfriend go pip pop cheerio”

    Jason, from inside the room: “NO I DO NOT.”

    Seriously, I feel like that’s where this is going. She fucked around playing those guessing games before, now she’s finding out.

    https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/refusing/

    1. Rabisch

      I kinda wish the truth were just so pathetic, without any big revelation.

      1. Needfuldoer

        I have a hunch we’re going to find out this week.

    2. pope suburban

      I really hope this is what it is. Ruth has grown as a person (at least somewhat; I’m well aware she has a ways to go still, though Jason actually seems to be helpful in that regard), while Jennifer has yet to really work through some things despite her whole “oh gosh we’re all real grown-ups now!” thing with her new crew. And frankly, I can understand why Jennifer might not have actually put in the work around these people; they’re very catty and shallow, so better to throw up a mask than deal with constant put-downs and exclusion. I mean best of all not to spend time with them, but that’s something she’ll have to figure out for herself. Maybe she’s going to shortly, which would be a healthy step.

      1. thejeff

        Maybe. I don’t think either of them are in good shape. Jennifer’s got her obvious issues, but Ruth is drinking again and Jen doesn’t seem to be.

    3. egg egg

      the idea of Ruth saying that around Jason and him being offended really tickles my funny bone

  52. Jabberwocky

    Something tells me Billie isn’t over her!

  53. Amós Batista

    Congratulations, Joyce! You had learned to summon a Billie.
    But you need to figure out how to send it back.

  54. Marrow

    billie what the heck

  55. Axel

    she… won’t fill in another repair form?

    1. Taffy

      She filled one out a while ago and then just scanned it onto her phone so she can print an exact copy out whenever she needs it. At this point, they’ve stopped asking questions and assume she just gets pranked a lot.

    2. Bysmerian

      Yeah, I was just wondering about that. “Another” just…yeah. Get on with it, get us to Halloween already.

  56. foducool

    everybody is straight up having a bad day lol

  57. Bryy

    Something tells me that Jennifer should take Luke’s advice. This isn’t going to go the way she wants.

  58. John

    Ahh, there is the violent psychopath I know and hate.

    1. Clif

      Everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinions.

  59. Hof1991

    Mary’s comments triggered this, along with Joyce. Reading this daily gets in the way of understanding sequential art. Mary was there for a narrative reason and has no story of her own, unlike Joyce.

    1. Clif

      No one has a story all their own, but Mary has had a number of stories. Her approach to art is a source of frustration, for example. But her best story line ended with her being billed for the pie on her face.
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/ruttech/

  60. Carl

    my guess is billie got dumped, “i don’t find you attractive anymore” or something. and jennifer can’t handle not being desired and the center of everyone’s world. the “i understand” is just ruth’s depression and feeling like she’s hurt jennifier and I wouldn’t mind if sir accent walks out and just PHYSICALLY STOPS this assault and opens a dialog on why ruth allows it to go on

    1. Needfuldoer

      My guess is she pulled her “how dare you let me leave you” play one too many times. Ruth got tired of her guessing games and realized Jennifer’s toxicity was holding her back, so she either dumped her or did/said something hurtful enough to make Jennifer break it off.

      That would explain Jennifer’s self-reinvention tonal whiplash, and the progression we’ve seen as her mask has been slipping. “I’m not a problem! I don’t have a problem! I’m normal! YOU’RE the problem!”

      I guess we’ll find out by the end of summer!

    2. thejeff

      I’m just amused by the idea of Jason “PHYSICALLY STOPPING” anything. I mean, him intervening might, but physically Jennifer would just toss him aside.

  61. zee

    I can only assume they’re gonna make out

    1. Clif

      We can always hope.

      I mean, we know Willis is toying with us, but we can hope anyway.

      1. Clif

        It’s like how we really know deep down that we’re going to get a recap of Halloween without ever seeing anyone in costume.

        Or finding out how Amber and Walky broke up or finding out how Mike really died. Or learning how Jennifer and Ruth broke up without having our hearts broken.

  62. Adept

    Billie is a goddamn psycho. This is genuinely disturbing.

    1. Clif

      Jennifer can be a psycho. So can Ruth. It’s one of the many things they have in common.

    2. thejeff

      Jennifer is mad. We don’t currently understand why, so it seems irrational.

      There’s little in her history that actually hints at “psycho” though. She’s fairly low on the list of characters here who react with inappropriate anger and violence.

      1. Laura

        Nor hallucination to the point of clinical psychosis.

      2. Alex

        Yeah, this. I want to know what happened!

    3. Taffy

      Are we just throwing around the word “psycho” now? I mean, if that’s the vibe we’re going for.

    4. Segnosaur

      And to think she was telling Joyce that she would be a good resource to rely on as a ‘normal’ person.

  63. Username Taken

    These two are so bad for each other. Like, SO bad. Suicide-pact-having, abuse-as-foreplay levels of bad. If Billie was the catalyst for Ruth to address her alcoholism and depression, that’s great, but I don’t think they’re a healthy match overall.

    1. Alex

      Something about this strip makes me think they don’t have good conflict resolution skills.

  64. Chaucer59

    Cute couple. Hard to believe they ever grew apart.

  65. Willoughby Chase

    In the words of the Philosopher Sifre

    “It must be love”

  66. Jay

    Oh yeah, we’ve all seen where this leads to.

    They’re getting back together

    1. Rabisch

      Or Ruth will ask for a restraints order against her crazy jealous and violent ex girlfriend. Using Jason and.Mary as witnesses of the facts.

      1. Casi

        This is Dumbing of Age, not Taking Appropriate actions of age

    2. Sajuuk-Khar

      Doom spiral doom spiral dooooommmmm spiiirrrraaaallll

      Let’s get this fuckin trainwreck GOING baybee

      Let’s mess it UP

  67. anon

    lying? what, did she say that mary was ‘gonna behave’ or so? (which woudln’t last long without constant authority figures she respects anyways lol)

    1. Needfuldoer

      I think “it’s fine” was the lie that put her over the edge this time.

  68. MIR

    I sense a twinge of jealousy. Billie + Ruth ftw XD

    1. The Wellerman

      me too wtf

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