Okay Joyce, let’s be real. Those are some exceptionally adorable faces you’re making there, but that doesn’t distract from the fact that you’re misuing Fuckface’s powers.
Dorothy needs a nap. You with me, Joyce? A nap!
Also I’m really surprised Dorothy just agreed to spontaneously hang out with Joyce! I must be overestimating how far gone she is, I would have expected her to put up some kind of a fight or something.
(Ennh, okay, I had a rough day and saw an excuse to doodle.)
I think it’s been about a day since they last interacted. It’s not implausible that Dorothy might have a bit of free time if she’s been studying consistently since then. Funny drawing! Nice.
Regalli
Dorothy has been neglecting sleep, meals, exercise and hygiene in favor of studying. If she’s somehow managed to carve out free time in her schedule, the sleep should probably be prioritized. (She has at least been eating semi-regularly, and sleep is the one that takes the longest to reset and compensate for after a period of skimping on.)
thejeff
Obviously she’s broken up with Walky and is now fine. All her problems have been resolved.
ShinyNeen
Yeah, this is fair, but considering A: everything Regalli said, and also B: that, on top of all her other corner-cutting, she broke up with Walky in order to be less distracted, it feels remarkable to me that she’d so casually give time to Joyce. I mean, I’m always glad to see them interact, it’s just surprising.
Unless Dorothy pulled an all nighter, it’s reasonable to assume she only woke up a few hours ago. Plus she looks pretty decent.
I don’t think she needs a nap at the moment.
Catching up on sleep and getting some extra in there is actually necessary with sleep deprivation, and Dorothy has definitely been cutting hers to the point where she’s low-grade deprived. Sleep is weird that way. The sleep she’s been getting recently is probably more REM rebound for the all-nighters she has pulled, which doesn’t work as well.
Rabid Rabbit
She’s not deprived of low grades, and that’s the whole problem!
Regalli
Neglecting your health drives the quality of your studying and work down! Self-care is efficient and productive!*
* Self-care is entirely necessary and even if it weren’t productive people would still need to do it, but appeal to someone on an unsustainable study crunch in language they understand.
ShinyNeen
Dorothy will sacrifice whatever is necessary to recover her grades! And that’s fairly terrifying!
And then Becky starts hanging out with her (secretly to convince her to win Dorothy away from Joyce), and Joyce and Dina team up to for sitcom hijinks!
Yeah no Joyce this is very firmly in ‘stealing and endangering someone else’s pet’ territory now. The rooms sharing a half-bath is one thing, especially since it can be hard to remove an iguana from where it wants to be, but once you’re in the hall all deniability is gone and the chances of Ruth seeing Fuckface (or someone else who can pass it onto Ruth) go up exponentially.
(Mary probably wouldn’t report to Ruth, but I’m betting she might try appealing to Puddinghead on the subject.)
Joyce I like you but SHEESH this story’s got you in a bad light so far.
I did not think about that until I read your comment, so how long until Malaya finds her and gets(rightfully) pissed that she took Fuckface out of her room? Or until Ruth sees her with Fuckface and she has no plausible explanation why she has an iguana on her head? I’d say take bets but with the timeline we live in, it is likely both happen at the same time.
Oh yeah. Joyce is setting herself up for trouble here. And I will cheer for Malaya.
I could see if Fuckface were clingy, but clearly she’s trying to exploit his persuasive powers rather than anything like that going on.
BBCC
I love Joyce, but I’m out of patience for this particular trait of her’s.
Regalli
I really hope this is the ‘yes, here is this flaw the character has and we’re being repeatedly reminded it’s bad before it gets confronted’ point, but I do tend to think we still have another storyline or two before Joyce actually learns. Mainly because this arc’s supposed to be Sal-heavy.
Needfuldoer
Yeah, as much as “Fuckface’s new meat puppet” is, I hope it’s this chapter’s B-plot. We need some Marcie-Sal reconciliation!
BBCC
I think it’ll be a C-plot. I think Amber/Walky will be B plot because that’s leading to some serious stuff with Sal.
BBCC
Yeah, I think you’re right. I know she’ll develop past this stuff eventually, but rn it’s extremely uncool.
Just as a side note: Mary would not report it to Puddinghead. That’s not like Mary at all.
Mary would note it down in her little black book and save it for leverage over Malaya. She’d threaten to report Fuckface, but there’s no advantage in actually doing so.
Reposting what I wrote yesterday for Dumblr of Age–Football Season:
Call it being inspired by B.D. from Doonesbury, or succumbing to my Research Addiction™, but overnight I went over Wikipedia to the Hoosiers Football Team history pages and check the timeline of Dumbing of Age against what happened in the corresponding dates and years.
The result? The reason why nobody talks much about the football team is that they’re having a poor season. At this point (Book 9), it’s Week 8 of the season and the Hoosiers are 2-4 with no in-conference wins.
Book 1: Win over Towson. Book 2: Loss to Virginia and win over South Carolina State. Book 3: No games scheduled (takes place entirely on weekdays). Book 4: Loss to Missouri. Book 5: Bye Week. Book 6: Loss to Ohio State. Book 7: Loss to Nebraska. Book 8: No games scheduled.
So the next game is a very “important” one, against Penn State. The Hoosiers must win this one and two of the remaining five to have a chance at a Bowl game. There’s going to be considerable social pressure on the student body to have everybody show up to the stadium and fill the seats.
(I’m using the sliding progression scale. The Penn State game mentioned will be played this month!)
Dorothy? Are you ok? Actually, that was a stupid question, we all know that you are not okay right now. Better question, how long until you realize you aren’t alright and ask for help instead of secluding?
Also – Dorothy is absolutely right here. If the iguana were actually magic and could actually compel people to do things, using it to get someone to do something you KNOW they don’t want to do, for good reason like trying to get their grades up, and get around their no would be an incredibly shitty thing to do.
And Dorothy did hang out with her yesterday. She’s been running herself ragged slightly less these last couple of days, and actually maintaining some social contact. There have been times where I’m like ‘someone get Dorothy away from her classwork for an hour or two for her own good,’ but this one is not it.
BBCC
Yeah, pretty much. I’m glad Dorothy’s happy to hang out. She deserves it and maybe she’s almost done catching up.
thejeff
I kind of hope she’s not. That smacks a little too much of “She broke up with Walky and now everything’s fine.”
BBCC
That’s true. Maybe she’s just done enough work that she can take a break to hang out?
I spent all weekend doing school stuff and prepping to apply for grad school, but I still had some free hours between things.
thejeff
Yeah, that’s a very normal rational approach.
But it’s still a sign her issues with it are fading away now that she’s broken up with Walky. Before she wasn’t making time for sleep and food, now she’s happy to take a break to hang out.
That’s good. That’s healthy. You actually accomplish more that way.
I just don’t like the implication that breaking up with Walky was actually the fix for her impending overwork breakdown.
BBCC
I think the break is still coming – she still doesn’t look very good (her hair’s a mess). I think she might be hiding it better though, possibly to avoid dealing with the break up?
130 thoughts on “Grants”
Ana Chronistic
“ok I lied it’s actually Celebi”
“That only works on Amber, MAYBE“
TrueVCU
“Why is there an iguana on your head?”
“DEUS VULT!”
Doctor_Who
The Duck Man from Discworld had this exact same origin story.
MatthewTheLucky
What origin story? He was just a perfectly normal fellow with some odd friends.
JBento
What duck?
keithcurtis
quack.
buggerit!
millennium hand and shrimp.
Kris
Nothing you’ve said actually disproves the iguana theory though.
Deanatay
Theory? The Alt-Text is proven fact!!
timemonkey
The real question is how long until Malaya realises Joyce is walking around with her illegal pet on her head?
Doctor_Who
Is it officially lizardnapping at this point? Should we call in Grand Theft Iguana?
Jamie
It’s not really “Grand”. Petty Theft Iguana?
Felix
So thats what “GTI” on cars means… (°◇°)
Sporky
Maybe it’s just me, but does Dorothy seem oddly cold to Joyce here?
Gojira
The last time they spoke, Dorothy told her to get a receipt for personal lubricant for her own good. Instead she got a lizard hat.
Doctor_Who
I mean, she doesn’t know for sure Joyce didn’t get both.
timemonkey
She agreed to hang out instantly with a smile on her face. Not sure how that’s cold.
CJ
Right, didn’t Dorothy promise Joyce she’d hang out if Joyce bough some personal lubricant?
(Now this sounds rather leading without the context.)
Deanatay
It’s because her view of Fuckface is obscured by the bunk. His full squee-inducing powers are muted as a result.
Gojira
Fuck face’s true power is the ability to compel women to put him on their heads.
thejeff
It is actually Fuckface who’s stolen Joyce!
Deanatay
Fuckface is taking Joyce out for a Joyce-ride.
A Joyceride is like a joyride, but with more Bible verses.
JetstreamGW
Dorothy, don’t be a killjoy.
MatthewTheLucky
I think a better question would be why isn’t there an iguana on your head?
Wright
Dangit, beat me to it.
Cholma
DO NOT QUESTION THE IGUANA!
Goki
Dang it Lisa… I mean Dorothy, stop turding things up by overthinking.
ShinyNeen
Okay Joyce, let’s be real. Those are some exceptionally adorable faces you’re making there, but that doesn’t distract from the fact that you’re misuing Fuckface’s powers.
Dorothy needs a nap. You with me, Joyce? A nap!
ShinyNeen
Also I’m really surprised Dorothy just agreed to spontaneously hang out with Joyce! I must be overestimating how far gone she is, I would have expected her to put up some kind of a fight or something.
(Ennh, okay, I had a rough day and saw an excuse to doodle.)
Kris
I think it’s been about a day since they last interacted. It’s not implausible that Dorothy might have a bit of free time if she’s been studying consistently since then. Funny drawing! Nice.
Regalli
Dorothy has been neglecting sleep, meals, exercise and hygiene in favor of studying. If she’s somehow managed to carve out free time in her schedule, the sleep should probably be prioritized. (She has at least been eating semi-regularly, and sleep is the one that takes the longest to reset and compensate for after a period of skimping on.)
thejeff
Obviously she’s broken up with Walky and is now fine. All her problems have been resolved.
ShinyNeen
Yeah, this is fair, but considering A: everything Regalli said, and also B: that, on top of all her other corner-cutting, she broke up with Walky in order to be less distracted, it feels remarkable to me that she’d so casually give time to Joyce. I mean, I’m always glad to see them interact, it’s just surprising.
(Also thank you for compliment!)
cbwroses
Unless Dorothy pulled an all nighter, it’s reasonable to assume she only woke up a few hours ago. Plus she looks pretty decent.
I don’t think she needs a nap at the moment.
Regalli
Catching up on sleep and getting some extra in there is actually necessary with sleep deprivation, and Dorothy has definitely been cutting hers to the point where she’s low-grade deprived. Sleep is weird that way. The sleep she’s been getting recently is probably more REM rebound for the all-nighters she has pulled, which doesn’t work as well.
Rabid Rabbit
She’s not deprived of low grades, and that’s the whole problem!
Regalli
Neglecting your health drives the quality of your studying and work down! Self-care is efficient and productive!*
* Self-care is entirely necessary and even if it weren’t productive people would still need to do it, but appeal to someone on an unsustainable study crunch in language they understand.
ShinyNeen
Dorothy will sacrifice whatever is necessary to recover her grades! And that’s fairly terrifying!
Cephalo the Pod
…hey, does anyone else want to see one pf Dorothy’s childhood friends appear in this strip? Just to see Joyce get jealous?
MatthewTheLucky
And then Becky starts hanging out with her (secretly to convince her to win Dorothy away from Joyce), and Joyce and Dina team up to for sitcom hijinks!
newllend(henryvolt)
I’m going to be honest I don’t think she had a lot of friends growing up.
Regalli
Yeah no Joyce this is very firmly in ‘stealing and endangering someone else’s pet’ territory now. The rooms sharing a half-bath is one thing, especially since it can be hard to remove an iguana from where it wants to be, but once you’re in the hall all deniability is gone and the chances of Ruth seeing Fuckface (or someone else who can pass it onto Ruth) go up exponentially.
(Mary probably wouldn’t report to Ruth, but I’m betting she might try appealing to Puddinghead on the subject.)
Joyce I like you but SHEESH this story’s got you in a bad light so far.
Kyrik Michalowski
I did not think about that until I read your comment, so how long until Malaya finds her and gets(rightfully) pissed that she took Fuckface out of her room? Or until Ruth sees her with Fuckface and she has no plausible explanation why she has an iguana on her head? I’d say take bets but with the timeline we live in, it is likely both happen at the same time.
BBCC
I’m still pissed she took Fuckface to see Sarah. She didn’t know Sarah knew about him and she promised to keep him a secret.
Between this and her obnoxious habit of waking people up, it’s only a matter of time before Malaya decks her.
Regalli
Oh yeah. Joyce is setting herself up for trouble here. And I will cheer for Malaya.
I could see if Fuckface were clingy, but clearly she’s trying to exploit his persuasive powers rather than anything like that going on.
BBCC
I love Joyce, but I’m out of patience for this particular trait of her’s.
Regalli
I really hope this is the ‘yes, here is this flaw the character has and we’re being repeatedly reminded it’s bad before it gets confronted’ point, but I do tend to think we still have another storyline or two before Joyce actually learns. Mainly because this arc’s supposed to be Sal-heavy.
Needfuldoer
Yeah, as much as “Fuckface’s new meat puppet” is, I hope it’s this chapter’s B-plot. We need some Marcie-Sal reconciliation!
BBCC
I think it’ll be a C-plot. I think Amber/Walky will be B plot because that’s leading to some serious stuff with Sal.
BBCC
Yeah, I think you’re right. I know she’ll develop past this stuff eventually, but rn it’s extremely uncool.
Alanari
She just openly carried him over the floor. His presence is known to everyone who saw her. And she has to go back.
BBCC
Exactly. So much for keeping him secret/
thejeff
Just as a side note: Mary would not report it to Puddinghead. That’s not like Mary at all.
Mary would note it down in her little black book and save it for leverage over Malaya. She’d threaten to report Fuckface, but there’s no advantage in actually doing so.
BBCC
Gee, it sure is a shame Mary disappeared after trying to blackmail Malaya.
We think she moved to a different art school, we dunno.
thejeff
A missing person who nobody missed at all.
BBCC
I mean, her parents might. They’re supposed to be good people who love their daughter.
Kamino Neko
Mr Lizard? Is Joyce going to need another Timmy?
Deepthought42
So fuckface is basically the hypno toad except not the hypno toad.
Glory to the hypno iguana!!
Stephen Bierce
Reposting what I wrote yesterday for Dumblr of Age–Football Season:
Call it being inspired by B.D. from Doonesbury, or succumbing to my Research Addiction™, but overnight I went over Wikipedia to the Hoosiers Football Team history pages and check the timeline of Dumbing of Age against what happened in the corresponding dates and years.
The result? The reason why nobody talks much about the football team is that they’re having a poor season. At this point (Book 9), it’s Week 8 of the season and the Hoosiers are 2-4 with no in-conference wins.
Book 1: Win over Towson. Book 2: Loss to Virginia and win over South Carolina State. Book 3: No games scheduled (takes place entirely on weekdays). Book 4: Loss to Missouri. Book 5: Bye Week. Book 6: Loss to Ohio State. Book 7: Loss to Nebraska. Book 8: No games scheduled.
So the next game is a very “important” one, against Penn State. The Hoosiers must win this one and two of the remaining five to have a chance at a Bowl game. There’s going to be considerable social pressure on the student body to have everybody show up to the stadium and fill the seats.
(I’m using the sliding progression scale. The Penn State game mentioned will be played this month!)
Needfuldoer
Maybe that’s why we hardly ever see Tony?
Kyrik Michalowski
Dorothy? Are you ok? Actually, that was a stupid question, we all know that you are not okay right now. Better question, how long until you realize you aren’t alright and ask for help instead of secluding?
Marsh Maryrose
Dumbing of Age Book Nine: Why Is There An Iguana On Your Head?
Darkoneko
Unsurprisinglym Dotty4s not feeling too cheery uh<
BBCC
Joyce, put the damn iguana back. I know you have a difficult time grasping things like this, but he’s actually not fucking yours.
BBCC
Also – Dorothy is absolutely right here. If the iguana were actually magic and could actually compel people to do things, using it to get someone to do something you KNOW they don’t want to do, for good reason like trying to get their grades up, and get around their no would be an incredibly shitty thing to do.
Regalli
And Dorothy did hang out with her yesterday. She’s been running herself ragged slightly less these last couple of days, and actually maintaining some social contact. There have been times where I’m like ‘someone get Dorothy away from her classwork for an hour or two for her own good,’ but this one is not it.
BBCC
Yeah, pretty much. I’m glad Dorothy’s happy to hang out. She deserves it and maybe she’s almost done catching up.
thejeff
I kind of hope she’s not. That smacks a little too much of “She broke up with Walky and now everything’s fine.”
BBCC
That’s true. Maybe she’s just done enough work that she can take a break to hang out?
I spent all weekend doing school stuff and prepping to apply for grad school, but I still had some free hours between things.
thejeff
Yeah, that’s a very normal rational approach.
But it’s still a sign her issues with it are fading away now that she’s broken up with Walky. Before she wasn’t making time for sleep and food, now she’s happy to take a break to hang out.
That’s good. That’s healthy. You actually accomplish more that way.
I just don’t like the implication that breaking up with Walky was actually the fix for her impending overwork breakdown.
BBCC
I think the break is still coming – she still doesn’t look very good (her hair’s a mess). I think she might be hiding it better though, possibly to avoid dealing with the break up?
JBento
Possibly stimulant pills.
Pacce