Very likely. Now when Ruth is doing better she can’t use her as an excuse to skip classes. OOOOOPS, TURN OUT WALKY NEEDS A FRIEND TO NAVIGATE HIM THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIMES. TO THE MURDER CAVE TO DRINK ROCKET FUEL!!!
I think she’s going from “I’ll badmouth her a bit to make this seem better” (and perhaps letting out some restrained irritation at Dorothy) to “ooooops, fucked that up, better change tack fast”.
I personally read it as “deliberately over casual?” Like, when one is Tough and Cool, the acceptable levels of overt emotional display are low, so comforting someone in distress often involves intense sideways glances as one attempts to read the level of distress without looking directly at them or indicating that you are in any way worried.
I do notice that in contrast to her appearance of not caring before, Joyce does appear sympathetic here. Wonder what’ll come of that, especially since Joyce is… marginally more tactful than Billie?
Surprised no one mentioned Johny. And if we bring in everyone’s favorite breakup experts Ben and Jerry we can make milk shakes as well as bad decisions. Although combining some of the aforementioned with some flavors of icecream is a bad decision unto itself (Tequila cookie dough strikes me as a particularly bad combination.)
Marsh Maryrose
In Cannery Row, Doc orders a beer milkshake just out of curiosity.
He tells the waitress, “It’s not so bad when you get used to it.”
Proxiehunter
A good stout in a chocolate malt might even be good.
I mean, do we know how many serious relationships Billie had pre-Ruth? Especially since Alice seemed to be much less of a formal relationship due to Billie’s internalized biphobia, and who knows if Walky actually realized they were a thing at all. Certainly Billie responded to seeing/being confronted by Alice again badly, since that spurred the initial sexy lesbian suicide pact.
… Yeah for all we know Billie might not know how to handle a breakup any better than Walky. At least not of a serious relationship.
BBCC
Walky definitely knows Billie and Alice were banging. He joked about how being a drama hurricane was apparently sexually transmissible (implying Alice caught it from Billie. Or vice versa).
Regalli
Thank you! Yeah that definitely means that he knew, and now that I checked he witnessed the ‘I cut off contact over the summer to BREAK UP because you have a serious problem and are endangering people’ speech. So uh yeah, one breakup we know she had and he saw was seriously ugly.
BBCC
Yeaaaaahhhh, Walky knows Billie likes the ladies.
BBCC
*knew I guess. Everyone knows that now.
CJ
I dunno if it’s reading this comic or real life but ” breaking up and no longer willing to talk to someone ” does not rank under “ugly breakup” to me. Ugly starts somewhere around “talking seriously bad about the other person to all and sundry” (venting to selected friends doesn’t count), works it way down with “intentionally telling lies about the other person to make them look bad” (i.e. the talker actually knows they are lies, not talking about the two side of the coin that look incredibly different), and from there on spirals downward into intentionally hurting, stalking, …
Breaking up and no longer willing to talk says “stayed in far too long” to me.
BBCC
I mean, the actual break up was pretty ugly imo, even if their later treatment of each other isn’t.
CJ
What do we know about the actual breakup? I think Billie totaled the car and whathername never showed her face again?
BBCC
I’m referring to the fight in the lunch room. Not much of a break up no but it was pretty ugly.
CJ
Which would be a coward’s breakup Billie had reason to resent, but still there’s some space still before “ugly”.
Or maybe you have a word that goes beyond ugly you can use for worse?
CJ
You have a point about the fight in the lunch room. Saying all that in public starts to go into “ugly” territory.
BBCC
I generally use ‘ugly’ to refer to any unpleasant break up or post breakup interaction, yeah. Seems like different uses.
It seems like the fight in the lunchroom was confirmation for Billie that they didn’t just fall out of touch but Alice didn’t want her anymore and cut her off. So, sort of like a break up?
thejeff
Sort of like a break up sounds right. Because it was sort of like a relationship.
But not an acknowledged one and probably more serious on Alice’s side. Or possibly Billie was just in denial. Couldn’t actually be dating a girl, just fooling around with her friend, like girls do. 🙂
And probably having drunken sex with boys all along.
Regalli
For me it’s the ‘saying all of this in public, with friends around, including that detail about the drunken car accident that New Friend probably doesn’t know about’ combined with the ‘cut you off without explicitly telling you we were broken up* and you apparently didn’t realize this’ thing. Neither Billie nor Alice comes off particularly well from that detail.
* Granted, we’re pretty sure there was some serious ambiguity about that relationship, but since Alice was invested enough to say she thought she loved Billie, still not a good way to do things.
I’m not sure if he’s saying Billie isn’t good at breakup counseling or if he’s saying he will take 10.000 h to be good at not being with Dorothy.
Or both.
(And you know the saying that if you learn a new instrument (or craft) , you have to invest 10.000 h in practice to become good at it?)
Poofdepoof
I thought he was joking that Billie had had 10,000 breakups, so that’s why she was good at it.
Just, like, as a kind of mean banter to undermine her tone of superiority (and also because she seemed to be annoying him)
Schpoonman
Nah, it’s that Billie is doing a shit job of being comforting right now, in part because she hasn’t done it much before.
poofdepoof
I mean, Billie /is/ doing a terrible job, and she’s also always assuming that her guidance is good because of her experience — so Walky’s comment is, like, poking at that presumption, /because/ she’s being so unhelpful and condescending?
LOL the more I try to explain myself the more complicated it seems, but it really does make sense in my head. o.O
I’m not sure what activity Walky is referring to practicing for 10000 hours to master, whether it’s for Billie or himself but I think she’s not the most helpful person right now.
Ah. That makes a bit more sense. Billie has said two negative things about the breakup/Dorothy already and it’s only been a few seconds.
Imagine what more she can say over the next few hours.
139 thoughts on “Hyperaware”
Jay
poor walky
DailyBrad
Billie means well, but yowch.
butts
Does she mean well, though? Or does she mean to use Walky’s breakup as an excuse to ditch class and get smashed.
Jay
why not both
Doctor_Who
She doesn’t need an excuse, she was perfectly capable of coming up with one herself a few strips ago.
What she needs is someone whose shoulders she can sit on while wearing a trench coat and a false mustache. That’s what Walky is for.
Jim
THIS! This made me spit out my morning coffee.
laladoria
I’m a little concerned about Billie’s motives, not gonna lie.
They’re gonna skip all the rest of their classes and get completely smashed.
Bagge
Very likely. Now when Ruth is doing better she can’t use her as an excuse to skip classes. OOOOOPS, TURN OUT WALKY NEEDS A FRIEND TO NAVIGATE HIM THROUGH THIS DIFFICULT TIMES. TO THE MURDER CAVE TO DRINK ROCKET FUEL!!!
AnvilPro
Billie saying someone’s girlfriend wasn’t as good as they think. Glass houses.
Nono
Considering how they started off, I don’t think Billie was ever in a stage of thinking that about Ruth.
jeffepp
Considering how they started off, I don’t think Billie has ever stopped thinking of Wally as her not-my-boyfriend.
Danni
this could be good for walky?
Jay
I feel like billies help is beer
Doctor_Who
Not helpful enough. Dr. Billie proscribes at least 40 proof worth of help.
Danni
she could recognize drinking wouldnt help
darkgloomie
And she’ll demostrate it first-hand.
Deanatay
Walky is now learning the life lesson: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. All that worrying about depressed Billie? Now it comes back to bite him.
Schpoonman
I really hope Billie sticks around for a bit so Walky can really get going.
Also: Hella side-eye from Sal, goddamn.
DailyBrad
I’m having trouble reading her expression here. Is she being aloof? Is she angry? And if the latter, wonder why.
BBCC
My best guess is she somehow knew he was behind her and is suspicious what’s up.
butts
I can’t imagine she hasn’t noticed Walky ditching.
Joseph
I think she’s going from “I’ll badmouth her a bit to make this seem better” (and perhaps letting out some restrained irritation at Dorothy) to “ooooops, fucked that up, better change tack fast”.
Nelly Dreadful
I personally read it as “deliberately over casual?” Like, when one is Tough and Cool, the acceptable levels of overt emotional display are low, so comforting someone in distress often involves intense sideways glances as one attempts to read the level of distress without looking directly at them or indicating that you are in any way worried.
thejeff
Did I miss Sal finding out they broke up or is she commenting on something else?
Passchendaele
*class magically apparates behind him*
cbwroses
I was about to question if they were old enough, but they should all be 17.
SgtWadeyWilson
*Looks up apparate.* Wait, are you saying that I’m old enough to magically teleport to or from a place?
Deanatay
You had to look it up? I though everyone learned what ‘apparate’ meant from Harry Potter…
SgtWadeyWilson
I uhh… *Mumbles something about reading other books, and not paying enough attention to the movies to learn new words.*
DailyBrad
I do notice that in contrast to her appearance of not caring before, Joyce does appear sympathetic here. Wonder what’ll come of that, especially since Joyce is… marginally more tactful than Billie?
Doctor_Who
She’s gonna wait until his back is turned before she breaks into a song and dance routine because she’s got Dorothy to herself now.
Master of tact!
SgtWadeyWilson
Quick, Billie, how many strategies can you try for helping a friend with a break-up? You have thirty seconds, go!
Jay
beer. lots if it
SgtWadeyWilson
I said many strategies!
Billie: Okay, meet Jim, Jack and Jose.
butts
Don’t forget Jameson, Jerry, Juan, and… Jägermeister.
SgtWadeyWilson
Billie: …and that’s just the “J”s!
I uhh… Okay, gotta admit, I’m a little impressed.
Tacos
How many alcoholic beverages begin with “J”?
Proxiehunter
Surprised no one mentioned Johny. And if we bring in everyone’s favorite breakup experts Ben and Jerry we can make milk shakes as well as bad decisions. Although combining some of the aforementioned with some flavors of icecream is a bad decision unto itself (Tequila cookie dough strikes me as a particularly bad combination.)
Marsh Maryrose
In Cannery Row, Doc orders a beer milkshake just out of curiosity.
He tells the waitress, “It’s not so bad when you get used to it.”
Proxiehunter
A good stout in a chocolate malt might even be good.
seregiel
Beer milkshakes are a thing in Colorado. And yes, yes they are. A vanilla porter goes nicely too.
Liquid Len
I’ve done Guinness ice cream floats…
butts
crap I forgot johnny
Hielario
Vodka and gin probably go well with lemon ice cream.
Derek
is Walky saying Billie is bad at helping in the last panel?
DailyBrad
Probably, or implying it’s not something Billie is especially practiced in.
Regalli
I mean, do we know how many serious relationships Billie had pre-Ruth? Especially since Alice seemed to be much less of a formal relationship due to Billie’s internalized biphobia, and who knows if Walky actually realized they were a thing at all. Certainly Billie responded to seeing/being confronted by Alice again badly, since that spurred the initial sexy lesbian suicide pact.
… Yeah for all we know Billie might not know how to handle a breakup any better than Walky. At least not of a serious relationship.
BBCC
Walky definitely knows Billie and Alice were banging. He joked about how being a drama hurricane was apparently sexually transmissible (implying Alice caught it from Billie. Or vice versa).
Regalli
Thank you! Yeah that definitely means that he knew, and now that I checked he witnessed the ‘I cut off contact over the summer to BREAK UP because you have a serious problem and are endangering people’ speech. So uh yeah, one breakup we know she had and he saw was seriously ugly.
BBCC
Yeaaaaahhhh, Walky knows Billie likes the ladies.
BBCC
*knew I guess. Everyone knows that now.
CJ
I dunno if it’s reading this comic or real life but ” breaking up and no longer willing to talk to someone ” does not rank under “ugly breakup” to me. Ugly starts somewhere around “talking seriously bad about the other person to all and sundry” (venting to selected friends doesn’t count), works it way down with “intentionally telling lies about the other person to make them look bad” (i.e. the talker actually knows they are lies, not talking about the two side of the coin that look incredibly different), and from there on spirals downward into intentionally hurting, stalking, …
Breaking up and no longer willing to talk says “stayed in far too long” to me.
BBCC
I mean, the actual break up was pretty ugly imo, even if their later treatment of each other isn’t.
CJ
What do we know about the actual breakup? I think Billie totaled the car and whathername never showed her face again?
BBCC
I’m referring to the fight in the lunch room. Not much of a break up no but it was pretty ugly.
CJ
Which would be a coward’s breakup Billie had reason to resent, but still there’s some space still before “ugly”.
Or maybe you have a word that goes beyond ugly you can use for worse?
CJ
You have a point about the fight in the lunch room. Saying all that in public starts to go into “ugly” territory.
BBCC
I generally use ‘ugly’ to refer to any unpleasant break up or post breakup interaction, yeah. Seems like different uses.
It seems like the fight in the lunchroom was confirmation for Billie that they didn’t just fall out of touch but Alice didn’t want her anymore and cut her off. So, sort of like a break up?
thejeff
Sort of like a break up sounds right. Because it was sort of like a relationship.
But not an acknowledged one and probably more serious on Alice’s side. Or possibly Billie was just in denial. Couldn’t actually be dating a girl, just fooling around with her friend, like girls do. 🙂
And probably having drunken sex with boys all along.
Regalli
For me it’s the ‘saying all of this in public, with friends around, including that detail about the drunken car accident that New Friend probably doesn’t know about’ combined with the ‘cut you off without explicitly telling you we were broken up* and you apparently didn’t realize this’ thing. Neither Billie nor Alice comes off particularly well from that detail.
* Granted, we’re pretty sure there was some serious ambiguity about that relationship, but since Alice was invested enough to say she thought she loved Billie, still not a good way to do things.
cbwroses
I’m afraid I’m also unsure about what exactly the punchline is trying to say.
CJ
I’m not sure if he’s saying Billie isn’t good at breakup counseling or if he’s saying he will take 10.000 h to be good at not being with Dorothy.
Or both.
(And you know the saying that if you learn a new instrument (or craft) , you have to invest 10.000 h in practice to become good at it?)
Poofdepoof
I thought he was joking that Billie had had 10,000 breakups, so that’s why she was good at it.
Just, like, as a kind of mean banter to undermine her tone of superiority (and also because she seemed to be annoying him)
Schpoonman
Nah, it’s that Billie is doing a shit job of being comforting right now, in part because she hasn’t done it much before.
poofdepoof
I mean, Billie /is/ doing a terrible job, and she’s also always assuming that her guidance is good because of her experience — so Walky’s comment is, like, poking at that presumption, /because/ she’s being so unhelpful and condescending?
LOL the more I try to explain myself the more complicated it seems, but it really does make sense in my head. o.O
Jago
Is he wrong, tho?
Nono
Walky has Jason to thank for this… “help”.
Stephen Bierce
As soon as forever is through
I’ll Be Over You…
Kyrik Michalowski
I’m not sure what activity Walky is referring to practicing for 10000 hours to master, whether it’s for Billie or himself but I think she’s not the most helpful person right now.
Nono
Helping someone to navigate through breakup is what he’s referring to. Billie has not done a stellar job of it so far.
cbwroses
Ah. That makes a bit more sense. Billie has said two negative things about the breakup/Dorothy already and it’s only been a few seconds.
Imagine what more she can say over the next few hours.
Regalli
And this is Billie Helping While Sober.