240

Messages
Posted on November 7, 2013 by David M Willis

240 thoughts on “Messages”

  1. Super Duper

    Ruth is being nice. Next thing you know, people will like Danny, and Dina will like mammals.

    1. Yotomoe

      Now let’s not get CRAZY!

      1. Spectre

        People liking Danny?

        Joyce’ll end up an atheist before that happens.

        1. Venapax

          Lesbihonest here, we all know the reeeaaal reason Ruth is being nice

        2. Lel

          hah Lesbihonest

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          Best new word ever.

        4. ess

          Y’all think this is a new word? Really? ; ;

        5. Neospector

          Hey, Ruth totally has Gaym.
          There aren’t many puns you can do with homosexuality, so this might come off as trying too hard.

        6. Zombie

          I like Danny, and I don’t care what anyone thinks. He reminds me of me in a lot of ways, which is unfortunate but I still like him.

    2. Doctor_Who

      I think Dina likes mammals fine, she just doesn’t understand them.

      What with their consistent body temperatures and their giving birth to live young. They just don’t make any sense!

      1. Creativerealms

        And they lack feathers and scales/ They need at least one of those for Dina to care.

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      How can you be sure that no dinosaurs have ever being mammals?

      1. Leorale

        …what?

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          I don’t know enough about dinosaurs to be sure but I have heard that some of them were hot-blooded and may have given birth to live young, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch if it turned out that there were dino-mammals.

        2. Doctor_Who

          Birds are warmblooded. Birds basically ARE dinosaurs.

          Dunno if the live birth thing has ever been confirmed, but there are mammals that lay eggs, so I don’t think it’s the singular determining factor.

        3. desolation0

          Mammals also tend to have mammary glands. Yay for mammaries!

        4. John

          The determining factor is that mammals have mammaries.

          o/` Glass of milk, standing in between extinction in the cold and explosive radiating growth… o/`

        5. Kelly

          “hair, three middle ear bones, mammary glands in females, and a neocortex” – WP

        6. Evil Midnight Lurker

          o/` So the warm blood flows
          Through the large four-chambered heart
          Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have… o/`

        7. Exegesis

          Mammal, mammal, their names are called

          They raise a paw!

        8. ProfessorZoot

          Linneaus originally classified humans as members of a group he called quadripeds (along with all other four limbed animals). People got upset that he called hands feet and did not like the classification. So he invented the category of mammal named for the mammary gland, reasoning hat people could not deny having nursed at their mothers’ teats.

        9. Ghostforge

          i wouldnt be surprised either considering the info that velociraptors looked more like birds than lizards. Oh and i love the new Catalina avatar.

        10. Plasma Mongoose

          Doctor_Who, the only ‘mammals’ I know of that lay eggs are both Australian beasties.

          Ghostforge, the problem with studying dinosaurs is the lack of any preserved dino bodies since its all just fossils, also Kiitii! ^_^

        11. insomniac

          The platypus lays eggs, but is still a mammal.

          A warm-blooded dinosaur that gave birth to live young would not be a mammal. It would be a dinosaur.

        12. Kelly

          Sauropsida (including all living and extinct reptiles, dinos, birds and some others) split from Synapsids (so-called “mammal-like reptiles”(terrible term), including Dimetrodon, and mammals themselves) something like 300-320 million years ago.

          Dinosaurs, as a clade of Sauropsida, showed up about 231 million years ago, meaning they missed out being on the mammal branch by at least 69 million years.

          At least some dinos were virtually certain to have been endothermic and tachymetabolic. It is possible that some where not, but evidence for those traits show up in both major dinosaur lineages.

          As far as egg laying, we have many dinosaur eggs from many different branches. It may be possible that some gave birth to live young – some snakes do, as do some sharks and others. But they have have eggs that are held internally for a time and then hatch in the womb, before the young are birthed. It is very, very different from the eggless, placental arrangement of most mammals. If any dinosaurs did have live birth it certainly would have been like what snakes and sharks do.

        13. Graq

          ^^^ Hi Dina! 😀

        14. Kelly

          😀

        15. Crumplepunch

          Look closely at panel 2.

          Billie’s shirt is a shark.

          Freshwater sharks can swim up the Ohio river into Indiana.

        16. Morgauxo

          Um, to be a mammal they would have to be descended from mammals. Thus, clearly not dinosaurs. Egg laying mammals only exist because they split off from the rest of the mammalian line before mammals developed live birth and stopped laying eggs. If a line of mammals developed into something similar to a dinosaur it would not be a dinosaur. It would be something with similarities to a dinosaur that is a mammal. Actually… that makes me think of a Rhino!

    4. Ancestral Hamster

      It’s a sign of the Apocalypse!

    5. Aizat

      I like Danny…then again, I’m not exactly a people person.

    6. newllend

      All this will happen the minute mike falls in love with Joyce…..bahahahahahahahah

      1. Aizat

        And when they actually released the missing episodes of Monkey Master.

        1. Mr K

          And when Roz becomes a Nun and Joe becomes a Monk.

    7. Bunk

      I like Danny, He’s like an example of the exact person you don’t want to be.

  2. Tunaro

    Ruth is just Adorkable.

  3. TheOthin

    Ruth’s giving it another try!

    1. Doctor_Who

      She’ll get into Billie’s pants even if she has to sneak in and do it when Billie’s not around!

      1. Urzu13

        Kinky?

        1. Opus the Poet

          You see this is why we need a like button in the comments section.

        2. Aizat

          Not as kinky as stampeding cattle through the Vatican…but what do I know.

      2. Arkadi

        What?

        1. HMRC4EVR

          Arkadi, watch Blazing Saddles if you’re not easily offended.

          That’s a line towards the end.

          Welcome to the world of Mel Brooks.

          You can thank us later.

      3. Rutee

        They’d be pretty roomy, what with the fact that Billy’s fat.

  4. EvergreenFir

    MORE OVERALL SHORTS

    1. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

      Overalls are like the final boss of denim fashion. If you can manage to look good in them, you’ve conquered the whole level.

      1. Leorale

        I’m afraid that this boss may be unbeatable.

      2. EvergreenFir

        Ain’t nothing hotter than overalls…

        1. desolation0

          *hides torch* Wasn’t me.

    2. Aizat

      A Youngster’s dream.

  5. Yotomoe

    How many years will it take to get her out of them.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Webcomic years or our years?

      1. Jay Eff

        Dog years, of course.

    2. Urzu13

      Or to get Billie into them. I’m sure they would both find that equally agreeable.

  6. Plasma Mongoose

    You know what else is mixed? Cocktails! 😀

    1. All-purpose guru

      Woo Catalina avatar.

  7. Rabbling Rouser

    Ruth is being both tsudere and yandere…….I am both touched and scared

    1. Yotomoe

      The only dere that matters is Dere-airs (Derrieres)

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Dina is kuudere, also nice buns err puns Yoto! 😀

      2. Leonou

        I approve of this pun !

      3. brionl

        As opposed to Dairy-airs, which are best avoided.

    2. KingMabel

      Dear God, we’ve reached “yandere” level, where things start going from loving to crazy instead of the other way around…

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Billie better hope that Ruth never goes from yandere to yangire, now that would be bad.

    3. Leorale

      I like this avatar very much

      1. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

        So does Dina, I suspect.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Her hat has evolved.

        1. Rutee

          Pretty sure Pokemon would give Dina conniptions.

        2. begbert2

          ‘That is not evolution, that is metamorphosis. The development of Caterpie into Butterfree could not make this more clear. I find that the persistent misuse of the terms to be inspiring something in me, which I believe to be an emotion. Perhaps the one called “annoyance”.’

  8. Juliecat

    Aww! :3

  9. HK-A6A7

    … The more I see Ruth’s behaviour, the more I realize that she is pretty much a female version of myself.

    1. Yotomoe

      Did you steal a dude’s football uniform and kiss him in the hallway?

      1. HK-A6A7

        Close:
        Broke an important photo of someone, then I went ninja, took it from her house and fixed it with the magic of scanner + photoshop.

    2. norj

      Should we call the cops?

      1. HK-A6A7

        No thanks, I’ve had enough after being chased by a man dressed as a Banana in Pyjama.

  10. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

    TSUN -> DERE

    1. Doctor_Who

      Apparently she lost the tsun with the booze.

  11. KingMabel

    Why? Why must you fuel our hunger for this ship?!?!?!?

    JUST THINK OF THE ARTWORK!!!

    Pages upon pages of these two attractive disturbed females locked in a gentle embrace while simultaneously insulting one another…. is this what you want?

    1. FordDent

      Yes?

      1. Yotomoe

        Uh, yeah.
        Fuck yes.

        1. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

          How was that even a question?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          Me thinks it was a rhetorical question.

        3. Totz the Plaid

          Hell fucking yes.

    2. Leorale

      Pretty much, yeah.

    3. nothri

      Of course.

      Also, this is air I am breathing, kitties are fuzzy, science is awesome, and the Nazis were not nice people. Any other questions regarding the blisteringly obvious you want to ask?

      1. N0083rP00F

        well there are naturally hairless kitties, so that drops a chunk of doubt onto the rest of your absolute assertions …… Note: Science is a methodology and the subject or question may not be all that awesome [sadly].

        1. nothri

          Well, thank you captain buzzkill! Yeah, that’s right. You are a superhero now. That’s your name and your power.

          So basically you are Danny in tights. I hope you are proud of yourself!

    4. Arkadi

      Hell to the yeah.

    5. StClair

      So very much yes.

  12. Shrugs

    Really this whole relationship between Ruth and Billie is basically Mixed Messages: The Musical.

    1. Kladeos

      Soon to be followed up with Meaningful Glances: the Movie.

      1. TaintedSpud

        Then five years later Mixed Messages: the Reboot.

        1. acutepandemonium

          Quickly followed by the direct-to-video, schlock horror cult classic Mixed Messages: Reckoning

        2. Mr K

          Finally Ends with Mixed Messages: Electric Boogaloo

        3. N0083rP00F

          Not to be confused with Mixed Massages: [XXXXXX]

  13. Beachfox

    Billie’s just mainly worried Ruth saw her with booze bottles.
    It’d be fair turnabout, after all.

    1. Thanks, I'll Have Another!

      I suspect that Ruth probably re-thefted Billie’s uniform before Billie had her relapse. Ruth’s not nearly accusatory enough to lead me to believe she suspects anything yet.

      1. begbert2

        “What’s this box of moths for?”
        “Oh, that’s just for if I find out that that booze in your room isn’t Sal’s. So you’ll have to wait a bit before I give this back.”

        1. The E-man

          omg i want this to happen

      2. Bemmie

        Or maybe she’s overlooking it due to mixed and confusing emotions, her desire for Billie overwhelming her desire for sobriety etc. subconsciously though she can’t overlook it, and recriminating behaviour slips through, hence mixed messages…. (Ie welcoming her in, opening up, at the same time telling her she’s not supposed to be there and or threatening to punch her)

        1. Bemmie

          Wow, for a long time my grav kept changing from Danny to Danny… I thought it might be a sign, thought it couldn’t get worse, haven’t posted for a while and now I find I’m Mary?

          Am I aloud to blame Willis for this? (Or is it just my own damn fault for not doing my own damn grav like all the other cool kids?)

  14. Mr. Random

    Mixed messages are the best kind. Best of both worlds.

    1. KingMabel

      “Congratulations, you got this high-paying job with several benefits. But your boss doesn’t like you very much, so yeah”

      1. Mr. Random

        Enjoy your new pool and the water bill that goes with it.

  15. Kladeos

    Someone(s) totally called this… Like a year ago.

    Also. My heart. Burst. Joy.

    Now I hope Billie feels guilty enough to confess.

    1. Yotomoe

      She doesn’t need to confess. She just needs to stop doing it.

      1. norj

        She needs to confess so that they could fight and have make-up sex later.

        1. Kladeos

          I can’t take the trauma of them fighting again. It is forbidden!

        2. begbert2

          Don’t worry, they wouldn’t fight. They never do; their dynamic is more one of ‘She advances slowly but relentlessly; she flees in panic terror but keeps finding her pursuer inexplicably appearing in front of her wherever she goes’.

        3. John

          They sure do a lot of punching for a couple that never fights.

      2. Kladeos

        Yeah, that works too. BILLIE STOP DRINKING OR YOU’LL MAKE RUTH SAD.

    2. Peer

      Also, maybe Ruth already *knows*. She was in Billie’s room after all.

  16. Yotomoe

    Just be happy Ruth is breaking in and not breaking you!

    1. That Damn Rat

      Or breaking you in.

      1. Rutee

        Pretty sure that’s Billie’s end game, really.

    2. Aizat

      I just imagine Ruth as Bane…..don’t know why.

      1. Arkadi

        It’s just like that time when Bane shredded Batman’s cape in a fight then snuck into the Batcave to sew it back together again.

        1. Aizat

          Wow, you and I remember Knightfall quite differently.

        2. E.R.

          Wait, did some variant on that actually happen?

        3. Mr. Random

          He had a disproportionately tiny sewing machine. It was hilarious.

        4. DSL

          You know what they say about people with large sewing machines?

        5. acutepandemonium

          That they either do a lot of sewing or they work in a sweatshop?

        6. Rutee

          That sounds amazing.

  17. Sammie1053

    If Ruth doesn’t already know about Billie’s secret drinking, when she finds out, that uniform is gonna end up in an industrial shredder.

    1. Yotomoe

      With Billie in it.

  18. dailybrad

    Really cute here.

  19. John

    I said I would die of the cute if this happened, so.

    *ded of cute*

    *hopes you’re happy*

    1. KingMabel

      Here lies John. He passed on after a tough battle with the cute.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Dot Warner wanted for questioning.

        1. Jay Eff

          Dot Keener doing the questioning.

    2. nothri

      I feel like this needs one more statement:

      *you monster*

      You know, for the sake of completeness.

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      Cute: The other dreaded C-word.

      1. Aizat

        The first one is…..cat?

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Cancer.

        2. Aizat

          I feel sorry for the crustacean. All its names are always related to diseases.

        3. begbert2

          Yeah! And they’re actually very nice; they just want to help people. We should give them a nickname to show how helpful they are. Something like ‘aids’.

        4. Bemmie

          I feel bad for the person that caught yabby…

      2. hof1991

        Was in a crowded fast food place when a seven year old announced that one of the adults had used the C word, by which he meant crap. He went on loudly about the C word for about three minutes before his parents could make him stop. Ahhh. Family.

  20. etyb

    “Thosebottlesyouprobablysawtotallyweren’tmine.”
    “What?” “What?”

    1. Doctor_Who

      Blame it on Sal. Everyone knows you can’t maintain a proper southern accent without being drunk. A good buzz is the only reason she doesn’t talk like Jason.

      1. etyb

        Sal would probably just sip straight moonshine. Beer? Pfft. Vodka? Hah!

        1. John

          And then she’d be unconscious.

          The Walkertons are not known for their alcohol tolerance. Joyce could drink them both under the table.

  21. Leorale

    She’s fixing it! Like my broken heart <3

  22. Baker

    Billie rejected Ruth, but last strip she put her hand on her and keeps checking in on her. I’d say she’s also guilty of mixed messages.

    1. nothri

      Agreed. Though it might also be that the real guilty one is Willis, and he is guilty of perpetuating that damn “Will they, won’t they” thing that made the X-files so popular and made the Star Wars prequels terrible.

      1. ninja_jesus

        Except there was no “will they, won’t they” in the prequels because we already knew the ending.

        1. Mr. Random

          Romantic tension can be good, despite knowing the outcome. I read IW! With a big ass banner that had Joyce and Walky! Above it.

    2. etyb

      She rejected being assaulted and then kissed against her will.

      1. Kladeos

        This. Now that Ruth isn’t behaving in a fucked up way – in fact, now that Ruth is providing stability for Billie – a kiss might result in a different outcome. Even back then, Billie kissed for back before pushing Ruth away. Let’s see if Ruth will actually try again though, because it seems like she’s respecting Billie’s perceived rejection like a decent person.

    3. Kladeos

      Billie’s been sending a hell of a lot of signals that she might be interested. I mean, there is the fact that Ruth is basically the only person who understands her so she probably does also want to have a real friend, but taking into account that Billie knows Ruth likes her, she does seem to be acting overly friendly.

    4. John

      Billie’s complaint about the kiss was “bongo shouldna shoved me”. She’s never made any complaint about bongo trying to lick her tonsils. If Ruth tried it again without leading off with an elbow to the sternum, I bet she’d get a much more positive response.

      1. Rutee

        I ship them as hard as the next gal, but she said “FUCK OFF.” “bongo shouldna shoved me” was later, regarding her concern for Ruth.

        My guess is that Billie reciprocates, but Ruth’s timing was utter shit, what with it being in the middle of Billie’s angst and right after a request for stability; Ruth decided to respond to that with violence then licky-style. That isn’t stability. Maybe if Ruth actually can stick to a caring persona (Or lack thereof, rather) they’ll be okay and there can be lesbian happies that aren’t Leslie’s (who is herself boned anyway). Course, now that I say that, Willis will ensure it does not. damn you, willis!

        1. Rutee

          Clarification: That is to say, if Ruth can just care, with no particular persona attached, they may be okay. Or at least, a consistent persona.

  23. nothri

    Oh Christ. When she figures out Billie is still boozing it up she’s gonna….

    1. Rip that cheerleading outfit apart piece by piece.

    2. Strangle Billie.

    3. Rip apart all of Billie’s clothes except the cheerleading outfit.

    …..shut up. If I wanna dream this will end in sexy shenangigans and not drama, I’ll go ahead and do that and aint none of you gonna stop me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    …..I think I should have been in bed ages ago….

    1. Rutee

      Since when does drama automatically not lead to sexy shenanigans? Like, that’s not even true in the Real World, fiction only makes it more likely.

  24. Aizat

    Wait, when did Ruth break into Billie’s room? Does she know Billie’s been drinking?

  25. Emoroffle

    Breaking and entering is Ruth speak for “I wanna kiss you licky style.”

    1. Urzu13

      Of course. What else could it mean?

      1. Aizat

        “I wanna do you 6 ways from Sunday”?

        1. norj

          “I wanna have your lesbian babies”?

        2. Mr. Random

          “I want us to break the bed.”

        3. Aizat

          “I want to do the bedroom tango with you”?

  26. insomniac

    GODDAMMIT KISS HER ALREADY

    1. Urzu13

      Willis is not kind enough to give us that joy so soon. It will be weeks, maybe months. But the longer the pain is before it happens, the less likely he is to destroy such a beautiful thing before our eyes. Hopefully.

    2. Aizat

      What we are witnessing is called the “tease phase”. In this phase, the author will pull scenes like this to tease the readers.

      1. Leonou

        The readers’ reaction to this phase is a mix of :
        Enjoying the teased relationship way too much.
        Cursing the Author for being such a tease.
        Making Fanfictions in order to cope with the delayed satisfaction.

        1. Aizat

          And what all these reactions do is to create such a huge build up to the Payoff Phase which will go one of the 2 ways: either the payoff is worth it or a huge disappointment(as in Duke Nukem Forever disappointment.)

      2. xKiv

        Scenes like these to tease the read’s.

  27. Kernanator

    Now make out. Make out, dammit.

  28. EvergreenFir

    Also, I read the title in my RSS feed as “Massages” and got my hopes up

  29. shadowcell

    man, i read through the entire archives last night and almost the entire time i thought Ruth was a singularly horrid person even despite the general vague feeling that there was some arguably morally exculpatory background behind her horridness, and now this arc is happening and my expression is pretty much the same as hers in panel three

    i’m not sure why but i think the most fitting thing to say here is DAMN YOU WILLIS

  30. Locke

    GUILT, BILLIE.

    FEEL THE GUIIIILT.

    1. Aizat

      That gravatar…is that Gillian Seed?

  31. Bill

    Ruth stole the uniform and vandalized it during the first week or so (she was using it to force Billie/Sal to get their roommate agreement taken care of).
    Later, Billie swiped the uniform back a day or so after their ruckus in the hallway, when Amazi-Girl carried Billie off the scene.
    Now we find out that since then Ruth (using her master key, no doubt) got back into Billie’s room to retrieve the uniform in order to make repairs; this probably occurred after their heart-to-heart about their drinking problems.  But when?

    DAMMIT WILLIS, IT’S BEEN OVER THREE YEARS REAL-TIME BUT ONLY MAYBE FIVE WEEKS DUMBIVERSE TIME.  WE NEED A TIME-LINE AROUND HERE!!!

    1. Leonou

      Nitpicking here, but Ruth may not have needed her masterkey.
      She once told Billie about teaching her how to “discreetly pick a lock”. Which would be way more badass, if a tad less practical.

      1. Bill

        And Leonou, Ruth did use a master key when she came in to watch TV and drink beer with Billie, so that’s why I mentioned it.

        1. Leonou

          True

    2. John

      It’s not even five weeks. This is, I believe, the fourth Sunday. The first Sunday was arrival day. The second Sunday Joyce took Dorothy to church, Billie jumped Danny, and Dorothy kissed Walky. The third Sunday Joyce took Ethan to church, Ruth dropped in on Billie for beer and TV, and Dorothy cast her body into the cragged shame pits of the lustwolves. And the fourth Sunday began with Sal strangling Joyce.

      Ruth informed Billie that she was holding the uniform hostage on the first Tuesday.

      The brawl where Amazi-Girl spirited Billie away was the first Wednesday.

      Billie snuck into Ruth’s room on the first Thursday, and came out of the closet, with her uniform, Ruth’s booze, and blackmail photos, in the wee hours of the morning on the first Friday.

      On the second Monday, Sal returned to the room to find Billie drunk and wearing the still-damaged cheerleader uniform (and then Billie tried to put the moves on Sal).

      The Kiss was the third Monday night, and then Ruth locked herself in her room for the next two days. (It seemed longer than that…)

      The fire alarm, discussion in Ruth’s room, follow-up floor meeting, and Ruth giving Billie the key were all the third Wednesday, and then it was Timeskip With Dorothy until Freshman Family Weekend, which has been the third Saturday and fourth Sunday (today!).

      I’m actually working on putting together a spoileriffic timeline, but I’ve only gotten up to the third Sunday so far. I’m pretty sure about the timing of those third-week events, but not 100%.

      1. Kladeos

        Good stuff.

      2. Bill

        Well, whenever you get it caught up and posted it will be a huge help.

  32. Gottawonder

    Great avatar for that msg. Locke. 🙂

    They are getting closer and closer and …. closer…..
    Maybe by Christmas.
    Unless Ruth finds Billie drinking and kills her.

  33. someguywithakatana

    3 years… but totally worth it…

  34. Tahkuya

    The Shipping is going crazy over a shirt… it don’t take much does it?

    1. Graq

      Since it’s taken three years our time for five weeks of comic time to pass, the only development we’re going to get is slow development. Nothing wrong with that, and we can praise it when it happens.

      1. Tahkuya

        Yeah but this cant go as bad as the Ethan/Joshua fiasco right?

      2. slicedtoad

        This is the fastest updating comic I read (and I read quite a lot) and yet it has one of the lowest comictime:realtime ratios. Somehow, though, I don’t mind at all.
        If it went at a faster pace we wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of detail and character development. In fact this is probably one of the more realistic ways of writing fantasy since it’s a blow by blow account of just about every moment in the characters’ lives.

        1. Kevin

          I can’t follow Megatokyo anymore because it takes four years of updates for an hour of time to pass in the comic.

        2. Kevin

          Although that’s because Fred only updates twice a month.

        3. Roborat

          Well, considering the medical problems he and his family has been having, among other problems, I consider myself lucky that he is updating at all. Hopefully it will pick back up soon.

        4. Kevin

          Considering he just did a Kickstarter to make a visual novel, I don’t see him getting back to serious work on the comic for years. I understand and am sympathetic about his medical problems, but I do not like the fact that he makes a living on getting funding for projects he will never finish. They still haven’t made, much less shipped, books that people ordered years ago. They haven’t been shipping store orders. AFAICT Fred does about five hours of work a month, but he’ll happily take 300k for a project he’ll never finish when he can’t even update his own comic.

        5. Roborat

          Have you read Between Failures? It took some 300 pages to do one day of comic time. I suspect it is the current record holder.

        6. PokeyPuppy

          These comments are so confusing to me. How can this much time have passed? How long have I been reading all of these comics, anyway?

          I have such a poor sense of time…

        7. xKiv

          How long has it been in Freefall? 2421 pages in 15 years. Apparently, that’s something like 3 weeks of in-universe time there? And #500 had “a day is just 24 hours, but that one felt like it took a year and 37 weeks to get through”, which would be .. “only” 267 strips?

    2. Aizat

      Dude, I’ve seen shipping frenzy between two characters who both never met and never talk to each other.

      1. norj

        Vader and Azula OTP

        1. Aizat

          Mordecai and Twilight Sparkle FTW!

        2. ninja_jesus

          Stormtrooper #4,682,593 x Redshirt #735,419 OTP

        3. Aizat

          Ryoma Nagare X Noriko Takaya OTP

      2. The Candyman

        That doesn’t mean anything! Jon and Daenerys WILL get together, dammit!

  35. ninja_jesus

    You know, I feel like David Willis is going to burn this ship to the ground and give both Billie and Ruth different significant others to be with. I don’t know why I feel that way, but it’s the worst-case possibility I can think of. ._.

    1. Graq

      Oh I can think can think of worse cases than that.
      #1: They can’t work out a relationship with each other OR anyone else and and descend into further self destructive behaviors and are miserable for all time.
      #2: They get together and are happy, but one of them dies tragically, and the survivor ends up with a vastly inferior new love interest (that’s not even a Roomies reference so much as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer one)

      1. Mr K

        Worst: It turns out to be Billie’s wet dream

  36. Martin Smith

    “overall shorts”? You mean dungarees?

  37. Heavensrun

    I’m calling it. This ship will continue to sail in smooth waters right up until the moment when they finally kiss again, with mutual consent, at which point Ruth tastes the alcohol on Billie’s breath…

    1. hof1991

      When Ruth realizes that Billie has been cheating on her with Bud, Johnny Walker and Old Grandad.

    2. Rutee

      Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

      I also choose to believe that it will survive, but have to put into port.

  38. Crumplepunch

    “it only took three years to get ruth back in overall shorts”

    Time well spent, I say.

  39. joeyo

    “So…how about you try it on.”

  40. acutepandemonium

    Can someone explain to me how you get Gravatar to cycle through the Gallery du Willis cause I straight up don’t get it ;_;

    1. Gigafreak

      Willis-drawn, regularly-cycling gravatars are assigned to people who don’t already have one. It’s a nice feature that cuts out the subconscious “this person is a SECOND-RATE CITIZEN OF THE INTERNET” effect that a lack of avatar sometimes has.

  41. Pat Myers

    PLEASE STOP BEING CREEPY, RUTH.

  42. OmegaDez

    …Why is Ruth suddenly so cute?
    Why did it take me years to appreciate this character?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      That’s because for a long while, Ruth was often dipicted as either awesome or a bongo.

  43. Eukie

    Is that guilt for relapsing and not saying anything about it in panel 3, Billie?

    1. John

      Yeah, I’m really hoping Panel 4 is Billie going, “Man, Ruth’s so appreciative of me going cold turkey with her. Maybe I should actually do that.”

      Of course it isn’t, because Willis hates us all and wants us to suffer.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        It’s what gets him up in the morning. 😀

  44. Mal

    Three years ago, I hated Ruth, but thought Billie was pretty okay. I posted a comment about not liking Ruth, Mr. Willis responded saying that he’d work on it, and I thought that was pretty cool.

    Now, I think Ruth is pretty cool, and I really dislike Billie right now. That’s progress. And good storytelling.

    1. Kladeos

      Hah, when I was archive binging a few weeks ago I disliked both, but now Ruth is my favourite and Billie is top 5. How can you dislike Billie after her heroic rescue of Ruth?!

      1. Mal

        It’s that she’s secretly drinking still. Ruth is putting in all the effort, going through the pain, struggling to be a better person, while Billie is remaining stagnant, and is dishonest about it.

        I think Billie’s dishonesty in this one subject is worse than anything Ruth ever did to her.

  45. Aaron Bourque

    They have the perfect relationship.

    Such a perfect relationship.

    1. Slinx

      If by “perfect” you mean “entertainingly dysfunctional”, then I agree. What would a slice-of-college-life comic be without drama?

      1. Aaron Bourque

        Good?

  46. Kevin

    Now, we all know that men can’t “win over” lesbians (unless said man is Vin Diesel), and it’s disrespectful to the entire lesbian population to suggest otherwise (unless said man is Vin Diesel). Hopefully Willis understands one of the fine points of storytelling, that there is a double standard… lesbian characters should be fully capable of “winning over” straight women…

    1. Kevin

      Plus, Billie is too curvy to be straight. Ba-dum PSSHH.

    2. John

      I don’t see any straight women here. Billie is literally the poster girl for Bisexual Visibility Day. (You can’t spell “Billie” without “Bi”!)

      1. xKiv

        Or even visiBIlity, when we are at it.

    3. Rutee

      Billie is bi, no, its not a double standard (don’t further the jerkery gay people go through) if hypothetically a lesbian won over a straight woman” although its dumb and unrealistic, and its still dumb and offensive if the dude were Vin Diesel, who is by no means an avatar of unfettered sexiness at any rate.

      1. Kevin

        Was just joking. The Vin Diesel thing was a reference to the latest Riddick movie.

  47. Orangey

    THEYRE SO CUTE IM JUST GONNA asdjoi

  48. Spik

    awwwwwwww

  49. Jessica Sideways

    I can’t wait for Billie and Ruth to just hook up. 🙂

  50. Aaron

    Okay, now I want Billie to just be honest with Ruth about her drinking, have Ruth get mad and/or upset, then 7 months from now (irl) we can have the reconciliation, which in the timeline of the comics will be within a week.

    Alternately, Billie really DOES stop drinking and we see a panel with her throwing out the booze. I’m good with either.

  51. Nightwing

    I agree with comment above

  52. HMRC4EVR

    Heya Walky-

    I know you’ve got this stuff planned out, loaded in the system to auto update and all that jazz (or Huffer, or Tracks….or Cosmos…)…

    but PLEASE have these two sit down and TALK about that kiss. I don’t care if they don’t sleep together for another few weeks in comic time, but I really would like to see these two at least address the issue of the elephant in the room.

    1. David Willis

      why would they do that

      1. xKiv

        Yes. Too much sitting and talking, not enough doing.

      2. Lel

        As part of an occult ritual to please the fanservice gods and ensure a good harvest this year?

      3. HMRC4EVR

        Advancing the plot?

        Character development?

        To keep me from going CRAZY wanting closure on that scene?

  53. Joe

    When do these kids study? Lab reports? Homework? Will all but Dorothy and Dina fail their freshman year? Walky may have been able to skip through high school on talent and power of observation but this is college. (Even if it is Indiana.)

    1. Rani

      This has been a really compressed time frame. This past year has been a single weekend in Walky-time.

      1. Joe

        Not compressed. The opposite of compressed. And not a single weekend either. More like a week. A week vaporized over 10 months.

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