180

Driven
Posted on December 21, 2017 by David M Willis

180 thoughts on “Driven”

  1. CandidCanid

    Walky, I feel like Dorothy might have problems other than you that she’s burning out on.

    1. Jess

      Unfortunately, it’s rather too much to ask of almost any college student — real or fictional — that they make thoughtful, well-informed decisions with their lives.

      1. Jess

        Those beanheads.

      2. Dean

        It’s not called Thoughtful, Well-Informed Decisions of Age.

        1. Amias

          This comment section has no system for upvotes or likes or anything. Consider this to be that.

        2. maarvarq

          +1

        3. Wright

          +10

    2. Stu

      Beyond that, him breaking up with her would probably be more damaging to her emotional state while still bringing down her GPA.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Don’t worry, all she has to do is buckle down and study even harder. There is no academic problem you can’t power through that way.

      /s

      1. Delanoooooo

        I got through all of Undergrad thinking that. First semester of grad school I crashed hard, haha.

      2. thejeff

        Better scheduling. That can fix any problems.

        “Now where can I fit in an emotional breakdown. Hmm. Tuesday at 3:30, I think.”

        1. das-g

          “AM.”

  2. Ana Chronistic

    broken up if you do,
    broken up if you don’t

    =C

    1. Stephen Bierce

      I don’t want to tie you down
      Don’t need a reason to have you around
      But each time you walk away
      Don’t be surprised if I ask you to stay
      Can’t sleep alone at night
      I just can’t seem to get it right
      Damned If I Do…Damned If I Don’t
      But I Love You      –The Alan Parsons Project

      1. Renadt

        I actually sang that.

    2. Sambo

      If Walky breaks up with her, it’ll be one of the most wonderfully bittersweet beautiful selfless heart-wrenching terribly rational things in this whole comic. It’ll make me respect Walky so much more

      1. Sambo

        Wait, what the heck is that gravatar?

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          According to the gravatar image info, it’s Bloodrose. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, there’s an entry on Walkypedia.

      2. Agemegos

        If he started studying that would be even better, and deserving of more respect.

        1. Sambo

          Eh

      3. MM

        Well, except for the part where Dorothy will take the breakup hard and her meticulous study plans will be shot to hell as she tries to recover.

  3. ValdVin

    Walky, nooooo!

  4. AnvilPro

    Remember how this was supposed to be a little fling for Dorothy before she gets her transfer to Yale? This is why it was supposed to be little

    1. CleverTrousers

      No???

    2. Joe Covenant

      Aye…
      Some might see this as Karma….

    3. geno

      Or maybe Dorothy should grow up and face her problems too? Pretending it’s always someone elses fault isn’t healthy

      1. Oz

        what are you saying, Dorothy’s problem is that she thinks ALL problems are HER problems. She thinks everything is in some way her fault.

        I mean, even Danny, she felt guilty for “not breaking up with him sooner”

        1. Fomalhaut88

          Which is just…all kinds of bitter irony.

          She broke up with Danny “for his own good”, now she’s going to have it happen to her.

          Or not, because the ship is a fan favorite and Willis likes being able to eat.

  5. Regalli

    Those are some big vulnerable eyes this strip. LEGO Robin would be jealous.

    1. Deanatay

      Eh, there were some tear-sparklies, but no scleras. It’s REALLY bad when Walky’s scleras show.

  6. Yumi

    …This reminds me of a song that I wrote when I was fourteen, which oddly enough got stuck in my head earlier today.

    Also, I feel like Joyce would kill him.

    1. Beef

      Did you happen to record the song? :O

      Joyce would probably force them back together again

      1. Yumi

        I did not, nor will I ever. The chorus goes like, “So you go out and be fucking amazing / I’ll be fine I don’t mind waiting / And becoming someone someday you’d like to know / But right now I think it’s time for you to go.”

        Joyce would kill him and then realize Dorothy wants to get back together and so Joyce would have to Weekend-At-Bernie’s it.

        1. Pl0x

          That’s amazingly angsty. Which is great because angst is one of my favorite things to see in media. It reminds me of the SU theme song, because of the self-esteem topic and comparing yourself to other people. Also I wouldn’t be reading DoA if I didn’t want to see angst.

        2. Yumi

          Right? Like, I had never even been on a date at this point, but man was I ready to angst over the end of a relationship.

      2. thejeff

        Force them back together, so that Dorothy could dump him. Again. 🙂

        Though I think Joyce has actually moved past that.

    2. Doctor_Who

      If Walky broke Dorothy’s heart, Joyce would make him long for something as sweet as death.

  7. Doctor_Who

    But Walky, once you go caramel, you never…read parables? That’s all that’s bearable? You can’t find a urinal?

    Hard word to rhyme.

    1. Yumi

      Depends on how you pronounce it.

    2. OBBWG

      …You’ll never do Gargemel?

      Uh, thanks RhymeZone…maybe.

      1. merbrat

        That was unbearable.

    3. ValdVin

      What harm’ll come from going caramel?

      (Using the two-syllable pronunciation here.)

  8. Keulen

    Seriously Walky, she won’t be old enough to run for president for about a couple more decades in-comic, and the current dumbass-in-office demonstrates that you don’t have to be smart to become president.

    1. Bast

      Democracy: Rabble politics by a popularity contest.

  9. Kernanator

    Garbage Roof sucks, time to go to the Okay Swimming Pool.

  10. Passchendaele

    garbage roof claims another victim.

    1. Passchendaele

      wait that doesn’t make sense.

      garbage roof claims its first victim.

      1. Passchendaele

        UGH that sounds terrible

        I’ll just default to ;-;

        1. MM

          Garbage roof has a way of making things sound garbage.

    2. skart

      I still support garbage roof and its support-group nature!! Even if this is a silly conclusion for Walky to come to.

  11. Doopyboop

    I like that Walky is talking about this with Amber and I hope she can use her own recent break-up experience to steer him away from this.

  12. Some Random Name

    I mean, considering this is suppose to be a fling and this is why she broke up with Danny anyway…

    1. David M Willis

      *throws head repeatedly into brick wall*

      1. Doctor_Who

        That’s not how you are supposed to play with Titan Masters, Willis.

      2. geno

        Ah the sad sound of a frustrated creator. At this point I think the comment section is just trolling you Willis

    2. Shiro

      …I mean. My primary relationship was supposed to be a fling, too. I was like “he’ll be fun for a month or so and then we’ll just naturally let it fade”

      Nearly six years later…

      1. Inahc

        yeah, my husband too 🙂

      2. tirachokko

        yo saaaaaaaame!

      3. ValdVin

        A woman’s roommate, 19mumblemumble: “Another new boyfling, Bunny? You change them like you change shirts!”

        2017: Bunny and I are still married.

        (PS Thanx to Jeph Jacques for the word bottling.)

      4. Oz

        #same

    3. Aggrax

      That’s not really true. As I read it, part of the reason Dorothy and Danny broke up was because Danny essentially saw their relationship as basically done. They were together and would get married and Dorothy’s ambition wouldn’t get in the way of that. He didn’t want to change or improve or work to make himself a better partner. He has done the work, now they just coast, which also gives the appearance that he believes that Dorothy will settle. Walky, by contrast, believes in Dorothy and instead worries that he’ll never be good enough to live up to the standard she sets for him by default.

    4. Deadjolras

      Dorothy didn’t break up with Danny because he was energy-sucking garbage (as Walky currently believes himself to be). She broke up with Danny because she realised he was revolving his entire life around her and had no aspirations of his own nor the desire to find any goals for himself, while at the same time failing to show full support of her choices.

      1. Lazy Bone

        Did Walky have any aspirations of his own or the desire to find any goals for himself?

        1. Nono

          Trampoline park.

        2. Deanatay

          Sweet LEGO mansion.

          Superintelligent velociraptor pet.

          Fifty McNuggets (aspiration achieved!).

        3. TemperaryObsessor

          Watch cartoons and delay growing up for a couple more years not the grandest goals but at least they didn’t revolve around Dorothy.
          Danny on the other hand was making major decisions based on what do I think best allows me to fit into Dorothy’s life.

        4. Kamino Neko

          What they said. Walky’s goals are small, and childish, but they’re HIS goals, and that they involve Dorothy is because Dorothy is compatible with them. There’ll probably come a time when they conflict and he’ll have to decide which he wants more, but even then, if he chooses her, it’ll be ‘I like you more’, not ‘you’re the only option’.

          Danny’s goals were entirely to be with Dorothy. Luckily, he learned from the breakup.

        5. ValdVin

          Keep using KMart soap. Wear pajama jeans in public spaces.

    5. Reltzik

      Yes! Exactly the way to apply rational logic to matters of the heart!

      (Though also I think Dorothy wanted a bit more space, and Danny wasn’t willing to give her that and Walky was.)

  13. buddy

    irrelevant but reading it’s walky! and then reading dumbing of age is a trip and a half

  14. Aggrax

    I apparently picked a very strange time to realize I was being an asshole and stop yelling at a fictional character for my personal failings.

    1. Yumi

      But, like, good for you all the same.

      1. Aggrax

        Oh absolutely. I just find it hilariously ironic that the day after I stop yelling at Walky to break up with Dorothy is the day he suggests that very thing. It’s like reverse predicting the future, but worse.

  15. Nono

    And of course Walky is taking this route out other than the ‘wait what if I learn to actually be better so she won’t need to take care of burden me?’ route.

    Priorities, Walkerton. Just because the road where actually learning is harder and goes counter to your ‘I’m a lazy lifehack schmuck’ doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking.

    1. MM

      To be fair, if he’s setting his standards as “good enough for the first female atheist President,” I can see why he’s overwhelmed.

    2. Shiro

      I think this is a bit uncharitable. Jason is being as much of a problem as he is, right from the start where he just wrote Walky off as a fail. He just needs to find a tutor he meshes better with, and he has a few options in the cast.

      1. Nono

        I mean, until we see him actually explore those options, he’s still considering breaking up with her before:

        1. Actually trying to pay attention during tutoring

        2. Asking Joyce to help tutor him

        3. Admitting he’s in over his head with this course and figuring out an alternative

        Like I feel for the dude, because it’s hard to feel like you’re being a waste of somebody else’s time when they could actually be productive and do good things. But defaulting to ‘well if I cut this off now I’ll save them future heartache’ is both defeatist and a subconscious attempt to avoid actually trying to improve (which, at the end of the day, is what should matter).

        1. Icalasari

          I think part of it is that Walky might be depressed? He’s not used to needing to rely on others, and he has no idea what he’s doing or how to go about it, so he’s starting to go on a spiral

        2. StClair

          I think he may be trying to pay attention, but his brain doesn’t work quite right (undiagnosed, ’cause he’s been able to coast until now and is Mommy’s Special Perfect White-Coded Boy).

        3. StClair

          (of course, some might say that having Jason as a TA is a learning disability in itself.)

        4. tyersome

          A jab worthy of your avatar 🙂

          I agree we seem to have:
          Walky – learning disabled – some sort of attention deficit?
          Jason – teaching disabled – some sort of empathy deficit?

      2. anonymsly

        In Jason’s defense in this case, he actually is doing his best to be part of the solution here. It is not remotely his fault that Walky draws dinosaurs eating him instead of paying attention or taking notes, and Walky has made exactly zero effort regarding tutoring. We have no idea how effective Jason might have been for Walky, because Walky decided that he didn’t want to.

        The only person at fault for Walky’s math woes and refusal to put effort in is Walky. He has to decide to do the hard thing and work, and he has steadfastly refused to do that.

        1. MM

          Walky not having put in the effort and Jason being lousy at teaching in general are not mutually exclusive.

        2. anonymsly

          I simply had to point out that Walky’s current mess isn’t entirely or even mostly Jason’s fault the way this particular thread seems to think.

        3. thejeff

          I will point out, yet again, that it’s not so simple as “has to decide to do the hard thing and work”.
          He doesn’t actually know how to study. He’s never had to. If he did decide to, he wouldn’t know where to start.

        4. anonymsly

          Simple, no. But it’s step one, and Walky has refused to take it. And before you accuse me of whatever, I was in exactly Walky’s position in school, even down to the class. But I decided to put in the effort to learn, and I got better. It starts with the decision.

    3. skart

      Yeah, agreed to some extent. Hopefully this will give him the motivation needed to detach from the “easier” self-loathing path and work through his problems and improve instead of just deciding that he’s not good enough for perfect Dorothy.

  16. Shiro

    Nooooooo Walky :c

  17. tirachokko

    Gosh darn it Garbage Roof, and your depressing quality of making people honest about their inner turmoil

  18. Deadjolras

    “Just like the Spiderman movie. Haven’t you seen that? MJ and Peter Parker can’t be together.”

    “But the whole point of Spiderman 2 is that MJ and Peter Parker could be together.”

    “Yeah, I know, but the point is Spiderman 3 is everything sucks and it falls to shit! Ginny, what I’m trying to say is, I don’t want my life to be like Spiderman 3. I hated that movie.”

    1. Aggrax

      Shouldn’t we judge this based on the relationships in The Amazing Spiderman, since this is the reboot alternate universe?

  19. motorfirebox

    FFS don’t swallow pills you found on some random roof

    1. Reltzik

      It’s not some random roof.

      It’s called Garbage Roof.

      That makes it better.

      1. Bast

        Nothing like expired meds to get the juices flowing. 😛

  20. Carms

    Set some boundaries! You can’t be there for me if you can’t take care of your own shit.
    Poor Walky. I’ve been there- unable to trust a partner to maintain their own priorities. It’s not heroism, burning all your reserves on me! It’s totally counter productive! Don’t do it!

    1. Bagge

      Agreed. And it makes everything so much harder. Because of Dorothy’s refusal to back down, she has forced Walky to worry about her as well. Suddenly his math score is part of her eventually burning out.

      No pressure.

  21. Goki

    I kinda wanted Joyce and Walky to somehow end up together…. but not like this..

    1. geno

      You can always just read the alt universe for that.

      1. Goki

        You’re not wrong… but I like the idea that those two dorks are so perfect for each other, they will end up together in any universe. Kind of romantic in a weird way.

  22. Nobody

    Walky… she’ll just blame herself for the breakup and make it worse

  23. OBBWG

    One positive thing about this sequence is Amber getting out of her own head for the first time in almost a week (and Amazi-Girl not getting in). That may be the healthiest thing for her at the moment.

  24. Adj

    Walky: Drop the class and admit that you need to actually pay attention in future classes.

    Dorothy: Stay in Indiana and go to the Ivy League for your postgraduate degree. That way you put Indiana into play as a swing state for your presidential bid.

    Autocorrect: When I capitalize a word, realize that, as a proper noun, it doesn’t need correction. “Walky” was intentional, and doesn’t need to be changed to “Wally.”

    1. Remmington Steele

      Harvard as a path to power (or much else) is over-rated anyway.

      Unlike the UK, where going to Cambridge or Oxford is a prerequisite for high office, you do have a reasonable chance of being POTUS without going to Harvard or somesuch.

    2. KSClaw

      I’m sorry, the autocorrect part made me burst out laughing

  25. Bagge

    Yeeeeees, you CAN do that.

    OR you can put down your foot about her tutoring you, demand to fight your own math battles and don’t MAKE YOUR RELATIONSHIP A FRIGGIN’ DEPENDENT ON YOUR MATHSCORE!!!!

    Just imagine how much easier it would be to learn if you didn’t have to feel every mistake was directly hurting your girlfriend and your chances of keep being together.

    1. Lexi

      That sounds hard though! Almost like emotional work and growing up!

      Breaking up is way easier.

    2. Pl0x

      Math battles sounds like star wars but with math.

      1. Roborat

        Dueling calculators at 10 paces.

      2. adjudicus

        Making the calculus run in less than 12 parsecs

  26. Re: Monkey

    Act with integrity?

    1. podian

      pls no

    2. Pl0x

      Many regrets.

  27. Fart Captor

    help I ship Walky and Amber real bad now but him breaking up with Dorothy would be really sad

    1. Yumi

      *starts chanting* Po-ly! Po-ly! Po-ly!

      1. Fart Captor

        Even if Dorothy and Amber would be into that, I feel like the effect having TWO girlfriends would have on Walky’s ego would create a monster

        Although Joe learning that Walky had two girlfriends would probably murder him outright

        But then Danny learning Walky was dating both of his exes might have a similar effect on him

        help now I’m conflicted on multiple dimensions

        1. Yumi

          I just want to create a poly web that consists of all the undergrad aged characters in the comic. Just partners and metamours all over the place, man.

        2. Loki

          I am honestly confused why so few poly romantic fiction exists. Normal jealousy and love triangles have been done to death… how about an unrequited crush on a metamour? Oh, the drama THAT could cause. Why is nobody writing novels about that???

        3. BBCC

          Polyamory solves all love triangles.

        4. StClair

          *points* see, that’s the problem right there. Solved problems and happy polygons have no cheap drama for lazy writers to write about!

          (yes, I know that in actual relationships, rather than wish-fulfillment fic, poly groups have plenty of drama, per Loki’s post. Not the point! 😉 )

        5. Rogue

          Unrequited crush on a metamour???

          All I can imagine is my partner trying to set me up with her girlfriend after I admit a small crush. Thanks for that. >.>

        6. Oz

          But that just adds to the drama when the metamour is still uninterested and you got your hopes up so now your crush is worse than ever and you start to feel jealous and that puts a strain on your relationship with your partner so there’s drama all over the place

          so
          1. polyamoury is a neverending stream of drama, even is monogamic tropes are off the table
          2. i would totally read a poly romance story! maybe in the end you form a happy trio? Or you don’t but you manage to restore balance somehow? Or someone else comes int the picture and changes the whole dynamic?

        7. Roborat

          I used to read a slice of life webcomic about a poly relationship, I found it quite interesting how they navigated the various issues that arose. I even met two of them at a comic con. I have managed to lose track of it however.

        8. OnyxIdol

          Because poly isn’t really a concept that the mainstream is aware of. I mean I know now that it exists, but it’s still a strange concept to wrap my head around.

        9. Bast

          Dear lord I had to re-read it 3 times before I realized you said undergrad not underage.
          Thanks brain, you are as helpful as ever.. -_-*

        10. Yumi

          As I was typing it I was like, “People are going to read this as ‘underage.'”
          So don’t worry, I get it.

    2. BBCC

      Welcome, my friend, to multishipping HELL

    3. Remmington Steele

      This ship shall be named Wamber, all who sail in her etc

  28. newllend(henryvolt)

    Hmm like I said before she’ll either sink into depression or berry herself in work to forget about Walky.

    1. Fart Captor

      I think she’ll attempt the latter, burn out horribly, and then move on to the former

    2. Pl0x

      Buried with berries! Sounds like a good hole to sink into. Until they make you sick of course. 🙁

      1. ValdVin

        She will succumb to high levels of pectin, vitamin C, soluble fiber, and antioxidants. Actually, she would really have to overdo it to harm herself there.

  29. pinkie

    I’m going to go against the grain and say that the breakup might be for the best. The relationship feels like a time-sink, like putting Dorothy’s grades (and potentially her futurejob) at risk to satisfy their need for sex, and to say otherwise feels a bit patronizing. Aww, isn’t it cute how Dorothy thinks she can get a good job, we’ll go along with her and let her think a woman can be president, but really, shouldn’t she shoot for something a bitmore realistic, like maybe keeping a boyfriend?

    Walky needs to want to dig himself out of this hole, Dorothy can’t make him, and she can’t do all the hard work for him. And if Dorothy is serious about getting good grades and transferring, study and sleep are more important than goofing around with Walky. Otheteise, she’s just kidding herself.

    1. MM

      Can a woman not be president and have a fulfilling social/romantic life? Especially if she wants to avoid burning out before she’s eligible to run?

      1. Fomalhaut88

        I mean, can a man? When’s the last time we had a male president whose marriage wasn’t some kind of mess? Even Michelle had complaints about how the job interfered with their family, and they were the most well adjusted in decades.

    2. Loki

      I would argue that Walky deciding to break up with her “for her own good” (at least that’s how I understand his motivations) is patronizing.

      “Oh, look at miss future president. Cannot make her own decisions about her love life. I will make the decisions for her uwu;”

      1. Delanoooooo

        Coming from experience, it is. He will regret and she will resent him for it. I broke up w/ the love of my life because I thought it was better for them, but it was not my decision alone to make. I masked my fear as strength, some noble self-sacrifice for their greater good. I was young, wrong, and stuck up my own backside.

        They need to talk. Honest talk. Walky needs to suck it up and tell her what he’s thinking or else it will stay bottled up and he will take the drastic measure of “breaking up for her”. Dorothy is helping out of love, but also out of her need to fix and control everything. His fear of being a hindrance to her and her need to make things perfect is a heavy cycle.

        They are good for each other and neither of them need to break up with the other for Dorothy’s sake. They just have to have a slightly uncomfortable conversation. How’s it go? She helps him keep his feet on the ground and he helps her get her head in the clouds.

        1. Just a Ian

          I agree with you, they do need to have that talk and sort things out even if its going to be hard on them both, if they do this they will grow as people.
          that said, this is a comic and its down to the writer what happens..

        2. Oz

          But, are they really good for each other? I think Walky is really good for Dorothy tbh, but the other way around is kinda shaky. Dorothy grounds Walky and pushed him to be more relaxed and mature, yes… but also being with her makes him feel like he is garbage next to her, like he is pushing her down, like he has to be perfect. That’s not her fault exactly but it isn’t healthy.

        3. Agemegos

          He could do wonders for his own self-esteem with a bit of earned accomplishment. He can fix all his problems by turning of the blasted cartoons, cracking his textbook, and accepting that it is up to him to learn the material, not up to someone else to teach it to him. It wouldn’t kill him to go for a run at least twice a week, either.

          High self-esteem with no foundation to rest on is a killer. And contempt for effort makes you stay dead.

        4. nightsbridge

          It’s not weakness to need help. Walky needs to learn to study, but he has no idea. It’s NOT self-evident, no matter how much people would like to think otherwise.

          But, they BOTH need to realize that. Walky needs help with studying and Jason isn’t giving it to him, but Dotty isn’t the only person who CAN offer it.

        5. nightsbridge

          What I mean to say is, Dotty’s got a big network of people who can help ease her burdens if she asks. People who can take the load off. People who can, for instance, help Walky learn to study.

          She needs to learn to do what only she can do, and remember that the people who love her will do for her what she’s so eager to do for them.

        6. Agemegos

          I worked my way through my second degree as a private tutor, providing remedial coaching in undergraduate maths and economics. I was mostly very successful at it. I do know that people have to learn how to learn.

          It seems to me that Walky’s big problem at the moment (academically, anyway) is that he expects to learn by having someone else make the effort. He may come to other problems later, but only if he solves that one now.

    3. Ellegos

      Maybe. It probably would be better for her ambitions. But I think it might be a better idea for Dorothy to understand her own limitations, and to set realistic goals and workloads. She needs to have some balance between her work and personal life, and she needs to learn how to make compromises between the two in a healthy way.

    4. StClair

      Basically, I think that Dorothy has already missed the cut, and is in futile pursuit of an ever-receding, unreachable goal. As others have noted, transferring into an Ivy is even harder than getting into one in the first place. Destroying herself will not change that.

      To the best of my knowledge and belief, my opinion would not change if this were a male character. It’s just not going to happen, and the sooner ______ accepts this (and stops chasing the sunk cost) and adjusts their expectations and goals, the healthier it will be for them and everyone else around, IMO.

      1. Delanoooooo

        Both Obama and Trump (ugh) transferred to Ivy league schools for Undergrad. Trump to Penn and Obama to Columbia. Not saying it’s easy but hardly impossible and still a reachable goal.

        1. OnyxIdol

          I dare say it’s possible when you’re rich.

        2. thejeff

          I don’t think Obama was rich. Then, at least.

        3. MM

          Obama’s backstory is more compelling than Dorothy’s, I suspect. Plus, the application pool’s gotten a lot bigger since the 80s, what with anyone being able to pull up the form online.

    5. not someone else

      I kinda imagine a break might be good for them both to get their personal shit together, but at the same time I doubt either of them would take that space and start getting said shit together. Like, that being an effective solution seems to depend on either of them already being more mature than they actually are (and as we’ve seen lately, Dorothy isn’t actually super mature for a freshman, she’s just been taught habits with a different failure condition).

    6. Dalben

      At this point I think her being president is more likely than transferring to Yale. And being President does not depend on your grades. Not that she should stay with her freshman boyfriend for the rest of her life, but in a theoretical sense a husband who was willing to put her career ahead of hers and just stay home with the kids and be eye candy would probably be good for her political career.

      Also, I’m not sure how important acing all your classes is if you’re going into journalism.

      Of course, grades are still important to have career options, even setting aside politics and ivy league schools. But Walky should let her decide how she wants to s spend her time instead Of trying to decide for her.

      1. BBCC

        Dorothy’s in polisci, not journalism. That’s Billie.

      2. Wright

        At this point, Dorothy’s better off starting her own reality TV series, or wearing a small ferret on her head.

    7. geno

      I seriously don’t understand how half this fandom can pretend Dorothy has no problems on her own. I get liking a character, but you’re taking this pretty dang far. Not that I disagree with your first point mind you. Breaking up could actually be helpful. I just find your reasoning really shitty

  30. AFluent reader

    *Tears streaming down face*
    Damn you Willis.

  31. Eldritch Gentleman

    It’s not Walky’s fault, it’s Dotty’s. She keeps biting way more than she can chew and just can’t imagine living any other way…

    1. geno

      Too be fair they both dug this hole. They need to have a conversation rather than trying to find quick solutions

  32. Rogue

    So that undiagnosed ADHD and relationship impermanence is finally doing him in huh?

    On a serious note, I think that they shouldn’t break up, but decide to focus more on themselves while having devoted times to be together (they’re together an awful lot due to similar friend groups). Walky needs to go to therapy and be diagnosed because that Twice Exceptional Syndrome SUCKS hard and this will only get worse (from personal and multiple second-hand experiences).

  33. NinjaNick

    No, you don’t want to dump Dorothy just because you feel like garbage.

  34. Danni

    or…. you can talk about this with her. just a thought.

    1. Bagge

      He… KINDA tried that. It will take real work to get through to Dorothy in her current “must-not-fail-at-anything-and-don’t-accept-the-need-to-prioritize-things-away” mood.

      1. Danni

        hes gonna have to try harder.

        1. That Damn Rat

          Talking isn’t going to cut it to penetrate Dorothy’s delusional state. She needs to crash to accept that she can’t win at everything and realise her limitations. Certainly Walky won’t be able to talk her down, he’s bought too much into her delusion of competence.

        2. Bagge

          That’s true. He will have to try harder. There is no guarantee that it will work, but he will have to try.

  35. CoMa

    I somehow loathe how this arc will turn out, but then again I really want to see if Dorothy would actually break down from it (which is likely in her sleep-deprived, stressed out state), or if she’d somehow be able to set his head straight about it being her choice to spend time with him…

    As a person who’s been broken up with one-sided without any previous talking with regards to the matter, I hate this kind of thing. (especially when it’s a reason like that. Not to say it’s not a valid reason, but at least let Dorothy know about some of your thoughts, before making a decision. If you end up breaking up, it’ll at least not come out of the effin blue)

    1. Emily

      Yeah being dumped “for your own good” feels pretty awful even in the rare case where it’s true.

  36. Khno

    You know, explaining something to someone is possibly the best way to actually learn it (so Diderot and Wittgenstein and me, I may not be as reliable a curator cause I haven’t got a nephew). Please someone tell this to Walky: he’s helping her. He should even start to follow all her class so she can explain…

  37. Emily

    Here’s an idea you giant drama queen: find someone else to tutor you and actually make a damned effort to improve instead of dicking around the entire time.

    1. OnyxIdol

      Agreed.

    2. Jay

      He did go out of his way to find a tutor. she won’t stop tutoring him tho. Do you forget the whole math tutor thing

  38. Vulcanodon

    Not sure but this seems like a good conversation for Amber. Not-garbage without having to say it.

  39. Parzival

    I have waited years for this.

    1. Wright

      Nice RPO reference in your name.

  40. TomHCinMI

    Walky’s heart is in the right place IMO. It’s just that the law of unintended consequences might be lying in wait to ambush him and Dorothy.

  41. Jeremy

    Or…hear me out…you could study math more. It’s been established that Walky isn’t a stupid person, just incredibly lazy. Most of the time “ruin the good thing in my life” isn’t the answer to the problem I have.

    1. timemonkey

      He doesn’t know how to study. It’s not easy to do if you never had to before. You can’t focus and you don’t understand what you need to do.

      1. James

        Yeah, sad as it is, it’s very possible that the tutoring interactions we’ve seen with Jason so far ARE Walky trying. Possibly not as hard as he can, but it’s likely that this actually is what an expenditure of effort looks like for him.

        Which isn’t to say he can’t learn to do much better, but I think it’s pretty dismissive to write it off completely.

  42. Micki

    This hits right in the feels D:

  43. Remmington Steele

    Hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me!

  44. dn3s

    oh no! you’re supposed to be being garbage, not catastrophizing!

  45. Leon

    But is Dorothys relationship with Walky not exactly the kind of thing she has to handle in order to overcome her flaws?

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