290

Projects
Posted on May 20, 2024 by David M Willis

290 thoughts on “Projects”

  1. NGPZ

    ?
    I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!! ?

    1. True Survivor

      Better than any homerun baseball.

    2. Taffy

      That means you’re next to get diagnosed.

      1. NGPZ

        Hahahaha the irony is that I’ve already been for decades now XD

        1. Lysbeth

          You’re going to get diagnosed with something else. Butts disease.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          How long before Butts Disease shows up in the DSM, and why isn’t it there now? What’s wrong with mainstream Big Psychology?!

        3. NGPZ

          joking aside, the DSM for years has been plagued by medical racism and bigotries of all kinds

          for instance homosexuality was actually listed as a “mental disorder” there for decades, surely you can fill in the blanks ?

        4. Asky

          Though that “mental disorder” allegedly led to one of the greatest protests ever in the form of thousands of men “calling in sick” in Sweden because they were “too gay to function”

          “Sorry, Boss – I’m too homosexual to work today”
          “Understandable, see you tomorrow”

        5. Theluxland

          I would not be able to work, like, ever.
          I’m too gay and this, permanently.

    3. anon

      imagine if it fell on a random passer by and they ended up making dorothy feel ‘obligated’ to helping them through their issues too

      1. Daibhid C

        Imagine if it fell on a random passer by, and they felt obligated to help all Dorothy’s friends with their issues.

        “The curse has been transferred!”

    4. Yet_One_More_Idiot

      Next Slipshine: Dorothy Wants To Do A Sex…with Walky!

  2. Doctor_Who

    Bonk

    Ouch! Dorothy, watch where you throw that thing! There’s commenters down here!

    1. Jamie

      Yeah, but now we have her phone.

      1. Anna

        🙂 🙂 This opens up very evil possibilities 🙂

        1. Opus the Poet

          Now we’re cooking with evil gas. (Grrl Power reference from her dinner at the Fusion restaurant)

      2. Michael Steamweed

        Should be easy to navigate her phone, too. Everything laid out in neat folders, color coded, and intuitive to locate.

  3. Jen Aside

    “Willis has bills to pay between Kickstarters, after all”

  4. IntangibleMatter

    Okay great have fun fucking you two but you really should get her phone before it gets buried in the snow.

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      I really want the next comic being them searching for / recovering her phone.

      1. NGPZ

        *orders bulk energy drink and boots up web app development software*

      2. RassilonTDavros

        Judging by the trajectory, I’m pretty sure she’d have to reach through the fourth wall to pick it back up.

    2. Bruno

      Find it and stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp!

    3. Masumi

      Eh, Amber will be able to locate it quickly.

    4. Shade

      I suspect she has a recent image of her phone data saved, the image back upped and a plan to get a replacement phone.

    5. HueSatLight

      One of these randos got beaned.

    6. Joshua Kronengold

      Not a problem if they do it in the snow.

      Also, guys, DO NOT DO IT IN THE SNOW IT IS COLD

  5. Nash

    Oh, that’s probably not covered by the protection plan.

    1. True Survivor

      You suspect this results in a hard-drive data transfer?

      1. Disastroid

        This is dirty talk on another level.

  6. Dave Van Domelen

    Just gotta find a dorm room in which sex is not currently happening, I guess.

    1. HueSatLight

      burrow into the snow bank, like polar bears.

  7. Animedingo

    The solution to every problem in this series is sex

    1. Vanessa

      Haha that’s college for you. Maybe this whole chapter is just people hooking up.

      1. Vanessa

        Your Lucy avatar is perfect, I betcha they will run into her in the quest for some place private.

        1. Johnny Posadas

          Oh no, for maximum drama they run into her AFTER

        2. Casi

          for maximumer drama, she runs into them while they are somewhere they thought was private enough.

      2. Meagan

        I think the author is trying to do a Slipshine run. There’s been a lot of couples leading up to sexual interludes.

        1. Michael Steamweed

          Eventually, we will get to a slipshine run with all the characters, all paired off (or a few 3somes), in separate places, all sexing at the same time. A compilation slipshine, 40+ pages, because Willis hates himself. 🙂

    2. Thag Simmons

      To alcohol sex! The cause of and solution to all of life’s problems

      1. staszu13

        Hear hear

    3. Bruno

      Life too.

      1. Miri

        Life, problems… It’s a po-tay-toes, po-tah-toes thing ?

  8. Vanessa

    Aw, such cuties.

  9. DailyBrad

    Man. Maaaan.

    Not exactly where I thought this was going, but I’m in.

    1. Coatl

      At least Walky understands Dorothy, and she’ll need a new phone.

    2. Samniel

      She needed to break apart, safely, and this was probably one of the best ways for it to happen, especially since Walky knows and understands her.

  10. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Is it bag of rice time?

    1. NGPZ

      Hearsay says so, but that’d actually make it WORSE.

      My advise? sealed container full of silica gel beads to absorb oxygen and moisture.

      1. HueSatLight

        both of these suggestions are for the sex, right?

        1. Taffy

          Yes. Silica gel and rice both make excellent lubricants once, and there are no downsides to taking sexual safety advice from a person named after candy.

        2. clif

          I assume after is the first name and candy is the last name?

      2. eh, whatever

        Oxygen???

        1. Just_IDD

          Good catch…Yeah they have neverworked with actual electronic repair.

          Water has salts and minerals in it. First you need to keep that liquid and flush it out with something like alcohol preferably alcohol that doesn’t have any water in it itself. So anhydrous isopropyl alcohol. Then you need to make sure that whatever you use to drive out the water, while it’s the liquid you don’t want it to dry in there, you want to then heat the whole board to get anything under the chips out because that’s where stuff starts corroding is under stuff if you let it sit and dry.

          For somebody that knows nothing about Electronics I would not suggest trying to get it up to Reflow temperature and reflowing the solder to reestablish any connections. That would require temperatures around 750°F and without commercial grade equipment you’re not going to get it up to that temperature in a controlled fashion. But above 250 will drive out any remaining moisture after the Flushing

      3. Just_IDD

        Actually the best is disassemble, soak in anhydrous isopropyl alcohol. Then heat the board sans all plastic to 250°F

    2. AbacusWizard

      Frozen rice.

    3. Ray Radlein

      That sounds like a horrible way to have sex

    4. Needfuldoer

      Rice doesn’t magically fix wet electronics.

      1. Nymph

        Not regular rice, sure. But my Magic Rice (patent pending) is “guaranteed”* to work!

        *guaranteeisusedasacolloquiallismhereandisnotintendedtoofferanycontractualpromisesoragreementsdidyouknowthatbelguawhaleshavesquishyforeheads

        1. Nymph

          offeranycontractualpromisesdidyouknowbelugawhaleshavesquishyforeheads

          Stupid thing cut me off lol

      2. Asky

        Sure it will – you put the phone in rice, and then, when nobody is looking, starving tech workers will emerge from the shadows, eat the rice, and then fix the phone as payment

  11. TrueVCU

    And now, ladies and gentlemen, Walky Performs Another Sex

    1. Doctor_Who

      It should be called Walky Performs an Encore.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        I like that title.

        ALso, “Would you like sex” is an excellent way to show your love.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Only if the girl in the couple suggests it either directly or by innuendo like Dorothy did here.

        2. Johnny Posadas

          Offering is fine, it’s not taking no that’s the problem

        3. Taffy

          And now it’s weird. It was fun and now it’s nasty and weird.

        4. Bruno

          If you can’t bring up your own sexual trauma every five minutes in the Dumbing of Age comment section, where can you bring up your own sexual trauma every five minutes.

        5. Johnny Posadas

          I mean, I was basically just saying it’s fine for a guy to be like “hey how bout it”

        6. Michael Steamweed

          We might have to take it slow, at first. Like maybe once an hour? (just throwing that out there)

        7. Bash

          It’s okay in this case because they’ve had sex before and Dorothy has been hinting at it. If a guy offers sex to a female friend in crisis, it can come across as self-centered and patronizing.

        8. Daibhid C

          Yeah. There’s also normally a sense of the guy is offering, not because he genuinely thinks it’s good for her, but because he’s A Guy, and therefore his main concern is always wanting sex himself.

          But this is Walky, whose previous relationship was defined by Lucy desperately trying to reinterprete her self-imposed sex rules so they could do it, while he was all “Meh, whatever,” so I don’t think that’s how he thinks.

        9. Adept

          It’s been established by Walky himself that girls should just up and kiss him if that’s what they want. He is oblivious to (un)subtle hints.

        10. Nymph

          insert large eyeroll here

  12. Doopyboop

    Eesh. Can’t relate.

  13. Shakes

    Sex: It’s Good For What Ails Ya

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      Sex: It’s what’s for dinner.

      … wait, no, wrong slogan.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        “Right now, vore is more powerful than most nations.”

      2. Michael Steamweed

        Depends, really, what body part(s) is on the plate, and exactly how it’s plated.

    2. BarerMender

      Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. Yes is the answer.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Thumbs up emoji. I’m on the laptop and ain’t got time to be looking up alternate keyboards in Window’s Help pages.

        1. flake

          just google the emoji and copy it from emojipedia ?

        2. clif

          Did you just make up emojipedia? I don’t know why I ask; of course you didn’t.

        3. Asky

          The only surprise that anyone should have relating to emojipedia is the fact that it’s not run by the Unicode Consortium

        4. Nathan

          They are a member of the Unicode consortium

        5. bhtooefr

          Win+. gets you an emoji picker on Windows, FWIW.

          (And, Fn on its own (sometimes you have to tap it twice) does it on modern Macs.)

        6. Michael Lanting

          If by win+ you mean the windows key and the plus key, that gave me a magnifier instead.

        7. tunasammich

          It’s just the windows key and the period key

  14. Callid13

    Make sure to get that phone first, though. And use protection~

    1. cbwroses

      I’m pretty sure Dorothy already has a cover on her phone.

      1. Callid13

        That’s not the kind of protection I was thinking of XD

        1. Throwatron

          of all the responsible things I think I can actually trust Walky to be on top of, I really don’t think he’d do it without a condom! That is a man who does NOT want to be responsible for anything! He knows what a baby is, and he does NOT wanna be anywhere near one, anytime soon XD

    2. Michael Steamweed

      Otterbox brand is superior to Trojan brand. 😀

  15. HueSatLight

    ????????

    plus also an offer of sex.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      The BEST kind of epiphany!

  16. Dana

    Covering your face the way Dotty is in the last three panels is so familiar to me.

  17. DiDi

    Huh…

    So Ruth, Billie and whoever else was right…

    This is like that Two and a Half Men episode where everyone thought Jake was going through major issues and in the end, it turned out he was just really constipated like the house keeper lady said.

    1. Taffy

      I think about that episode a lot.

    2. Bash

      They are correct that she wants to get laid, but they are incorrect in thinking it will solve the problem completely. It’s not like she is going to exit Walky’s room and her personal crisis will be resolved.

      1. Throwatron

        yeah, but at least she’ll be dealing with the rest of her problems while not suffering massive sexual frustration!

    3. Needfuldoer

      So he was just full of shit the entire time… ?

  18. StClair

    You mean like what you did just now? Using your words? Words are good.

  19. brumagem

    (I get Dotty’s really saying she has a problem with seeing everything as problems to be solved [relate hardcore], but it’s worth noting that relationships ARE projects. You have to pay attention and keep working on them and check in to see how things are going. People ARE projects, they’re just not checklists.)

    1. Freemage

      I think her response would be that relationships are projects, but PEOPLE are not. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one.

      1. brumagem

        Fair!

  20. Jerach

    That “I need to find other ways to say I love you” hits so damn hard. Not that I have felt the same exactly but damn, that sums up so much of Dorothy’s difficulties that she’s faced. She’s gotta learn to be able to connect with people in a way that doesn’t exclusively pile more stress on her and I think she’s maybe starting to figure it out.

  21. Nono

    Sounds like unlike her phone, Dorothy isn’t getting a… COLD RECEPTION!

    1. Steve

      She’s just making a DIAL CONE.

  22. Sirksome

    Walkerton twin fuck synergy! Lets go!

    1. Coatl

      Oh….well, at least Walky knows Dorothy correctly.

    2. Miri

      That’s… The weirdest example of twin synergy I have come across.

      But maybe that’s partially because when I see articles about twins sharing sexual partners, or twins marrying twins and both having more sets of twins who are genetically siblings to their cousins I tend to smile nervously and step away… (The second one is interesting scientifically, but that people live their lives that enmeshed seems so sad…)

  23. Mr. 2

    Tomorrow on DoA: Walky escorts Dorothy to Joyce’s room and casually walks away.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I highly doubt that’s actually where this is going, but it would sort of explain the odd phrasing in Walky’s offer.

    2. Taigan

      I was thinking Dorothy escorts Walky to Joyce’s room and says “ok, now watch carefully.”

    3. Amós Batista

      Ok, that is a plot twist .

  24. Suet

    I know Dorothy chucked her phone like a bowling ball because if she didn’t, she’d melt the snow hill with that much seething.

    Been missing him for very long (woah dirt hill)

    1. Shakes

      I guess the snow-dirt-snow hill really is a metaphor.

  25. Dday

    Dammit Walky you never actually broke up with Lucy. You gotta make that shit official first

    1. YordleJay

      That’s an issher

    2. Taffy

      Who gives a fuck, Lucy would date the snow pile if you gave it a decent ass and drew a speech bubble containing a compliment in it. She’ll be fine.

      1. Puppeteer Nessus

        That’ll work on me too

      2. Bruno

        The thing about Lucy is that as weighty as she *thinks* everything going on is, her view of it is superceding whatever actually exists. A metaphor for religion in general, really. Lucy is basically making up a guy to get mad at, just like she made up one to “be in love with”, just like she made up one to forgive her sins.

      3. Alanari

        That’s not a valid reason to hurt her. She’s still a human being.
        Also, being attracted to a look you find attractive is basically how it works.

        1. Bruno

          She constructs elaborate situations in her head where Walky’s actions, that is, those of a real person, are sure to hurt her, so she can get mad about it later, and that’s absolutely a valid reason to not care about hurt her. Walky’s not going around pushing her off her bike, but he is gonna live his life and not be controlled by this crazy person with no boundaries.

        2. Username Taken

          It was fair of Lucy to be upset that Wally waited until AFTER she put herself through the stress of dealing with his racist parents to tell her that she’d misheard him on the “I love you” misunderstanding. He didn’t ask Lucy to engage with his parents, quite the opposite, but he knew that she was laboring under a false impression that she was doing it for someone she loved and who loved her back. He could have and should have corrected her sooner.

          Lucy creates her own problems too, and it’s not like Walky is a monster, they’re both just finding their way in the world and making missteps while they learn. 🙂

        3. Taffy

          The attraction part was never a factor in what I said. The “valid reason” stuff may as well be a couplet about rice pudding, for all the bearing it has on what I said.

      4. Dday

        … You made me do this.
        https://i.imgur.com/UeQwryX.png

        1. Taffy

          Yes, this exactly. We dig it.

        2. Amós Batista

          hahaha nice

        3. HueSatLight

          it’s perfect

    3. RassilonTDavros

      …I mean, I’m pretty sure she broke up with him.

      1. Adept

        That’s what I think as well

    4. Freemage

      If Lucy’s “Fuck you” was not a break up, and she later discovers that he took it that way, that’s on her, not him; not demanding further explanation was, in fact, very much him honoring her obvious desire to get some distance.

    5. DailyBrad

      Ehhh. Ross Geller was right, and I hate that I have to say it.

      1. Bash

        In a very technical sense, but he was also unwilling to admit that he was the catalyst for the “break” and his actions afterwards were not great either.

        1. BBCC

          I’d also say that they had two different ideas of the term ‘break’. Rachel meant it as ‘we should take some time apart and get our heads together, but we’re still in a relationship’ and Ross took it as ‘we’re on a break from our relationship, we might get back together but I’m single right now’.

          Or rather, he claimed he did. I would argue that him attempting to hide the girl he had sex with was evidence he knew damn well what Rachel meant and didn’t want to admit it so he could be right.

      2. Bash

        In a very technical sense, but he was also unwilling to admit that he was the catalyst for the “break” and his actions afterwards were not great either.

      3. Azhrei Vep

        I have no idea who that is, but if that means you agree that Walky and Lucy are broken up, then that means I agree with you.

    6. Throwatron

      i, uh, totally don’t agree. lucy absolutely broke up with him. i don’t think it would be reasonable to assume, for him or for us reading, that lucy has not broken up with him. at the very least, i gave no second thought to any interpretation of what she said to him, because i couldn’t conceive it to mean anything other than “i am breaking up with you, because you wouldn’t stand up for me.”

      which was completely fair for her to do, just in case someone might read me as implying otherwise!

      1. Dday

        Eh I think it could also be interpreted as “I’m immensely disappointed in you, you’re in the doghouse right now, this relationship is on the rocks.” I honestly doubt they were going to recover as a couple, but she could still see it as something of a betrayal if he immediately starts boinking his ex.

  26. Reltzik

    … so AGAIN, I have to ask, did Lucy and Walky actually break up or not? Because the ambiguity is kinda relevant right now.

    1. John Campbell

      I am genuinely baffled by the notion that this might not constitute Lucy dumping Walky’s ass.

      1. True Survivor

        This may just be because my romantic resume is startlingly blank, and thus I think I might tend to imagine relationships being kind of like job contracts;
        However, I think maybe Lucy was just very upset here with Walky and is now craving space to rethink things. Without Lucy explicitly ending the relationship, I too am somewhat uncertain as to whether she is simply giving him to cold shoulder out of anger and/or sadness and expects to be able to make a formal decision about resuming normal business hours at a later date.

        1. Taffy

          Tough. She coulda said any of that explicitly, but she didn’t, so it can’t be reasonably expected.

        2. Bruno

          Like that’s ever stopped Lucy.

        3. Adam Black

          So what?

          Lucy thinks she can retroactivey start a relationship, insiide her own mind
          and probably thinks she cab retroactively not end one.

          so what?

          If she is deciding whether she even wants to be friends with walky, that is just placing him on the hook for later. Thats means broken up.

          Lucy knows how to use her words. Shes gone out her way to be friendly with Sarah and Jacob.

          and its clear she wuld have dated Jacob except she wanted to continue to be by herself and not on the rebound,

        4. Mark

          Exactly.

      2. Miri

        Sorry, I accidentally reported you when I meant to click Reply because Yes!! She dumped him then got ambiguous after the fact but then has been acting “I’m indifferent to you because we’re exes who are friendly” since so ?

      3. Wereg

        Followed up with their next interactions being [this] and [this]? Hard to take it any other way.

      4. GoblinBagsSumo

        Because she never explicitly said it. And is also a tremendous dorkus who was having her first relationship with Walky. I’d bet dollars to donuts that she’s going to be upset when she finds out Walky is moving on… And potentially I can see this leading to Lucy knocking on his door mid-coitus to “talk” or “formalize the breakup” or something and then this adds all kinds of drama.

      5. Throwatron

        hard same dude, hard same

      6. Azhrei Vep

        I would actually point at the strip after that one even harder myself. I can’t see any interpretation other than “they’re broken way the fuck up.”

    2. DailyBrad

      It’s ambiguous, but I’m inclined to think of it as a breakup.

    3. DashWallkick

      As a reader: they are broken up. The panel layout of “See you tomorrow, Walky” and no background indicates whatever they were is no more and never will be. It’s clearly what he’s indicating.

      As a writer: there is *just* enough ambiguity and Walky has remarked repeatedly that he doesn’t know what their current status is that I’m assuming Willis has something planned where Dorothy and Walky upset Lucy in some way. It would mirror what’s gong on with Asher and Ethan and since Walky didn’t actually follow up on it because he’s bad with emotions and flighty, I can see her being upset that he rebounded bc she doesn’t know what breaking up is.

      1. Bash

        I very much thought they broke up, and I think Lucy was acting like an ex when they next interacted. I am not sure if Walky realizes that they broke up, because he needs things to be spelled out for him when it comes to relationships and feelings.

        1. DashWallkick

          My gut says that there’s no reason to include that wiggle room in the story unless it was going to come back in some way. It seems like an odd detail to add, where they never actually ended things because Lucy is too sweet and innocent to be firm and Walky runs from problems. I feel like at some point Lucy is going to realize Walky immediately went out and fucked his ex and it’s going to mess her up, at least.

        2. Throwatron

          i personally don’t think walky would be offering no-strings-attached sex to his ex, if he thought he was still in a relationship. he’s emotionally avoidant and lazy, he’s not usually straight-up disrespectful of others in such an intentional way.

    4. Johan

      I think they are but then again he was hoping it was Lucy at his door and not Dorothy…

      So… Uhhh not his first choice here.

  27. cbwroses

    Just a reminder that Walky has repeatedly said he is not completely sure he and Lucy are done, and he has repeatedly rebuffed Dorothy’s advances.

    So he has either recently decided that he and Lucy are done,
    Or
    He’s pulling a Ross (which is kinda bad because, while I didn’t really watch the show, it’s my understanding that the relationship with Rachel had a lot of turbulence after that).

    Also, he’s treating this offer of sex as a way to help her, from what I can tell, and not as an attempt to reestablish a romantic relationship, which has the potential for both drama and shenanigans.

    1. staszu13

      Oh that Ross. For a minute I thought you were referencing Toedad

    2. Schpoonman

      The Friends thing was actually referenced when Dorothy first asked that they go on “pause.”

      Whether it will come up again is going to be interesting.

    3. Sirksome

      He and Lucy are done. They have been done. For some reason people think Lucy and Walky were somehow still in a relationship but I think that was mostly Walky just being moody about the split. This is not Ross and Rachel. I would really dislike Lucy if she somehow sees anything Walky chooses to do with any girl as somehow unfaithful. I hope for zero shenanigans.

    4. HueSatLight

      Walky not being sure what’s going on with Lucy feels more like an echo of Lucy never really knowing what was going on with Walky. I could be reading Lucy wrong, but she seems more like she’s pondering if she wants to work her way back to friendship with Walky.

    5. sakamism

      Lucy and Walky should probably have another talk just for closure and clarification, but they’re basically broken up. It’s not a Ross-Rachel situation.

    6. Adam Black

      Naw.
      He doesnt know becuase it was lucys decision not tell him explicly and let him stew: Its her power move.

      You cant just take that agency away from her and blame Walky for it.

      Walky can also … Move on. Like she did.
      If Lucy comes back she doenst own him.

      re friends its a poor analogy because that Break was explicit and By Rachel.

      1. Adam Black

        Ross was an entitled man baby and douchbag and tropeholder of “friendzoned”

        But this was the one time he was correct. ( in that he didnt cheat)

        “”The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break”, Rachel asks Ross if they should take a break after an argument about their anniversary. The break happens due to a number of reasons, including Rachel’s career, a co-worker she suspects is causing problems, and Ross bringing a picnic basket to her office on their anniversary. ”

        the Emily things is more messed up

        1. Bash

          Oh thank goodness. I feel like I’m shouting into a void trying to talk about Ross and Rachel. Rachel broke up with Ross after he became very jealous of her coworker. Ross hooked up with someone else. Rachel realized she was too hasty and wanted to get back together. She was not pleased when she learned the truth.

          The issue is not even whether this is technically “cheating”, the issue is that Rachel was hurt and Ross didn’t want to acknowledge his role in that.

        2. Random832

          The phone call is also an element of the Ross/Rachel thing that isn’t present here.

      2. Archieve

        I think Lucy is unfortunately internalizing how Jennifer treats Asher as how to act with Walky, she sees Jennifer making her boyfriend uncertain about their status and even though Asher explicitly told lucky he wasn’t trying to play that game with Jennifer, Lucy still idolizes her.

    7. thejeff

      Or he’s not actually offering sex with her, which might be the next twist in this conversation.

  28. staszu13

    Dorothy: Wait. You mean with you?

    1. Mturtle7

      Walky: What? No! No. I was just gonna text Joyce an’ tell her you wanted a booty call.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        We* need that slipshine.

        *totally mean ‘i’ in this case.

  29. I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

    Yippee !!!

    1. I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

      I was so sad six years ago ( Jesus! ) when they first broke up. Feeling nothing but vindication for my dweeby high school self rn lol.

      1. Adam Black

        stop it. it was just before halloween.

  30. YordleJay

    Excuse me just a moment

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    I hope they get back together after this

    1. BBCC

      You and me both.

      1. Opus the Poet

        The only reason why I don’t is Mrs. Walkerton was so goofy over Dorothy the first time. This would be like justifying her racism.

        1. Bruno

          So, your main issue with this relationship is that it’s interracial?

        2. Taffy

          Do you know how to read? It really doesn’t seem that way.

        3. clif

          Mm.

        4. Bruno

          The thing about interracial relationships is people are going to think what they’re going to think, and there aren’t any that piss off all the people you want pissed off while at the same time making everybody you like happy. It’s always going to be a clusterfuck.

        5. Taffy

          The carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist,[2][3][4] all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, Daucus carota, native to Europe and Southwestern Asia. The plant probably originated in Persia and was originally cultivated for its leaves and seeds. The most commonly eaten part of the plant is the taproot, although the stems and leaves are also eaten. The domestic carrot has been selectively bred for its enlarged, more palatable, less woody-textured taproot. Carrots are commonly consumed raw or cooked in various cuisines.

        6. Bruno

          Your mom’s commonly consumed raw or cooked in various cuisines.

        7. HueSatLight

          Not liking a possible narrative in fiction is not the same thing as passing a value judgment.

        8. Opus the Poet

          I agree with Taffy on this one, reading comprehension wasn’t your forte. I object to giving Walky’s mother anything she wants. Unless it’s a glass of water.

        9. bemisawa

          I feel you, but at the same time, people with terrible views are still going to have terrible views, regardless of what the rest of the world does. And yeah, it feels bad, and maybe Mrs. Walkerton will feel like she won out in some way, but at the same time, so what? What matters for Walky’s relationships is that they are good for *him*, that *he* has control over his own life.

          While it does suck that his mother’s racism (and more importantly, Walky’s failure to stand up to her in the moment) is what torpedoed his relationship with Lucy, that relationship never read to me as being entirely whole. It was like he was in the relationship because he liked Lucy, and he felt like she was a good person, and logically those two things seemed to him to be a decent reason to be in a relationship with someone (“Why didn’t I see it before!”)… but not necessarily because he wanted to be in that relationship. And (as someone who once acted similarly, though towards something which was MUCH more ambiguous and might not have been a come-on at all), it sure felt like he rejected Dorothy’s previous attempt to get back together with him because it would’ve been shitty towards Lucy, not necessarily because he wouldn’t have preferred to be back together with Dorothy. (Perhaps supplemented in his case because he was a bit tired of being yanked around by Dorothy’s neuroses.) So this seems like a better relationship for him overall, and I think that is more important than that his relationship somehow teaches his mother a lesson. (And she probably wasn’t going to learn it anyway.)

          That said, Mrs. Walkerton will eventually get some consequences for being manipulative, racist, and possibly low-key abusive when she largely loses access to, and control of, her children. She’s already lost both of their respect, and even being in a dependent position, they’ve both pushed back on some of her bullhonky.

  31. Taffy

    She said the thing we’ve all been whining and griping about. Let’s be happy about it.

    1. HueSatLight

      plus Walky’s about to introduce her to Arnold so they can have sex.

    2. HueSatLight

      Dorothy was reading today’s strip on her phone?!

    3. Reltzik

      We know Willis giving us happy things just means he’s going to hurt us with them. It’s like a two-edged knife.

      ….

      NO I’M NOT LETTING THAT DIE EVER!

      1. Adam Black

        at least this ship was actually consumated. Not queer teased like Ethanx danny.

      2. clif

        it’s like a two edged comb.

        Fixed that for you.

      3. Throwatron

        yea, i can’t believe dorothy was irresponsible enough to just throw her knife like that lol

  32. BBCC

    I – WILLIS DON’T TEASE ME OH MY GOD.

    1. Sol

      How much you wanna bet we’re gonna be screaming a DYW in a couple days, maybe weeks at most? I want them back together so bad…. ;-;

    2. Kyrik Michalowski

      I’m excited by the idea of them getting back together. I know Dorothy originally broke up with him because she felt she was losing focus, but I think Dorothy and Walky dating was good for both of them.

      Please Willis, don’t break my heart again. (I can imagine Willis rubbing his hands together and saying, “I must use this power to break my characters and fans.”)

      1. justin8448

        I’m calling it now: The endgame is a poly situation where Joyce and Dorothy are in a relationship, while also being in relationships with Joe and Walky, respectively.

        Joe already knows that Joyce’s first sexual experience was with Dorothy, and he told her explicitly that all he really wants is for her to have what she wants. And Walky referred to Dorothy as “my girlfriend’s girlfriend” about a million comics ago. Both dudes already know what they’re getting into here.

        And anyone who thinks Joyce and Dorothy aren’t into each other has somehow missed a giant-snow-pile worth of clues.

        1. justin8448

          *…Walky referred to Joyce as “my girlfirend’s girlfriend”

          Blerg. I knew I would mess something up in that post.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          I am _here_ for the “Dorothy/Joe/Joyce/Walky” polycule.

        3. Sajuuk-Khar

          Three completely stable poly relationships (yes yes Joe and Dorothy have to talk to each other I know shut up) and then Joyce and Walky bickering the entire goddamn time

        4. Michael Steamweed

          Oh gods please stop I’m too worked up already as is!

        5. Throwatron

          “And anyone who thinks Joyce and Dorothy aren’t into each other has somehow missed a giant-snow-pile worth of clues.”

          Better phrasing: “anyone who thinks Joyce and Dorothy aren’t into each other, is more oblivious than Joyce and Dorothy!” XD

    3. clif

      Deep breaths, BBCC, deep calm breaths.

      1. BBCC

        I’ll be calm later, this is ship squealing time

  33. EpochFlame

    loving the yeet-towards-the-reader

  34. John Campbell

    Okay, so who wants to prank-call Joyce?

    1. anon

      cue joyce either walking in on them or being butt (heh) dialed 8D;

    2. Adam Black

      I mean Yeah.,
      But then id feel bad for prank calling a college student who was just kidnapped, made kind of homeless by her crazy mother. and crazed rapist already hunted her down.

      and Amber tracks doroythys phone
      Lets just prank walky instead. or Lucy.

      1. Throwatron

        you just made me realize that a “Amazi-Girl returns Dorothy’s Phone to her” punchline is also in our future, lmao

  35. Taffy

    Offering sex is Walky’s way of saying “I love you”. It’s just, he didn’t really get much opportunity until college.

  36. All-Purpose Guru

    ..and any chance of him ever getting back with Lucy just went right THROUGH the window.

    1. anon

      I mean, i think going back to an ex is a bad idea depending on how it ends but i can’t imagine walky reaching out again and trying to give another shot with it

      1. Johan

        Except Dorothy is an ex. Actually twice the ex.

        1. anon

          @johan: sure, but walky is (potentially) offering a hookup, not toget back together long term

    2. John Campbell

      Thank the gods.

      1. Adam Black

        You should offer to author “Lucy performs a sex” Maybe with arthur.
        Put a stake through it/

    3. Bruno

      The evil is defeated.

  37. ian livs

    I love the phone escaping the panels. And y’know, sometimes when you’re overthinking, the solution really IS for somebody to bang you til your brains are leaking out your ears. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    For real, though, idk exactly where this is going, but I hope it goes well.

    1. anon

      might not solve all your problems but orgasms wouldn’t hurt lol

      that said , i’m sure walky’s fine/they’ve been intimate before but wonder how sobering/frustrating it’d be if dorothy did have a random fling and having super bad/disappointing sex

  38. anon

    “Oh, not with me , though, i just meant like, in general.” LOL well, i guess a hookup isn’t too bad/at least they’re both sober but wonder how far it’ll get before she has to circle back to confronting her ambitions or new ones/life choices or so

  39. Bruno

    YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY

  40. Drain

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  41. Francoinblanco

    I hope this phone has a strong password, especially if it has medical data.
    although I understand the symbolism of throwing away the phone, it is super stupid.

    1. eh, whatever

      Lots of medical data on that phone.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        With cross-connected data, hyperlinks, and spreadsheets.

  42. Florence

    This is quite healthy and exactly what Dorothy needs, just some no strings attached sex

  43. Acher4

    Everybody is Sex N Riding (hoo! Huh!)
    Your mind becomes free of angsting
    Although the future is a little bit dumbing (little bit dumbing )
    It’s the book of your life that you’re aging (life that you’re aging)

  44. Rotunda

    Surely this is one of the great DoA strips. I was against the “Dorothy just needs to get laid” view, but now that Walky understands Dorothy to be asking for it, I can see it as part of her healing.

    I wonder if Dorothy’s binders jumped off the shelf when she threw her phone.

  45. AbacusWizard

    Holy hamburger, she threw that phone right out of the comic! Watch it, young lady, you’re liable to break the fourth wall with that sort of reckless behavior!

  46. Steelbright

    I really love this dynamic for them. Whatever it is.

  47. Rabisch

    And now I really dislike Walky.

    1. Daibhid C

      Interesting.

      I had more to say there, but I realised I was speculating wildly on your reasons for this without context, so I deleted it.

    2. Adept

      Why on Earth? For having empathy and taking up her offer? What can he possibly be doing wrong here, in your mind?

      1. Rabisch

        I can’t give a rational explanation, I only know that the whole story of Dorothy getting together with him because he’s kinda cute and she sees him as a project where she can improve him, then gets rid of him when she realizes she has more important thing to do had deeply disgusted me. It bothered me that he continued to consider her a friend and it saddens me that now he has fallen for it again. Especially considering that, perhaps, he still has a girlfriend. I have never been able to understand what love is, but if this is a representation of love I’m almost happy about it. Now what? They will have sex, maybe they’ll get back together and what will they solve? She will repress the clear doubts she has about her relationship with Joyce inside her subconscious? This situation is hopeless and I was hoping Walky had understood that.

        1. HueSatLight

          My intention is not to discourage your irrational dislike of a character, I’m fine with that. I don’t think this offer of sex is a “I want to get lost in you again” type of sex. It’s a “I recognize you were hinting at it earlier, and I think it might make us both feel a little better, and I’m going to communicate for a change.” It may lead to where you fear, they may fall back into their familiar patterns. But I think in this particular strip, Dorothy is explicitly rejecting making him a project, she’s not manipulating him, and he’s not falling for anything.

        2. Rabisch

          She went to his room with that intention and now she’s making an over-the-top dramatic scene. Maybe she isn’t aware of it, but this is still a kind of manipulation. Congratulations to Dorothy for getting what she wanted. This will backfire on both of them.

        3. Adept

          Sex is nice, they like each other, and it may make Dorothy feel a little better, at least for a while. It tends to be a good pressure release (psychologically I mean), and the flood of feel good pheromones are genuinely healthy for us humans.

          Also they are 18 – 19, right? Even if they do their very best, they are going to get a lot of things wrong. I sure did.

        4. Rabisch

          I imagine what you say may be true for a large number of people. This doesn’t change the fact that this situation, to me,is a disaster that will only bring pain to both after maybe a pair of hours of feeling good.

        5. Anon A Mouse

          You should probably not take a comic, especially a Drama/Comedy comic like this one as any representation of “love”. I think you are making some broad assumptions about peoples motivations and actions. Also, assuming having sex will somehow make Dorothy backslide into her old habits is a pretty big leap of logic.

        6. Rabisch

          You’re probably right.

        7. Pergola

          Suddenly Dorothy discovers that wanting to be President is actually a great idea.

        8. Peter Huppertz

          Here, lemme fix that for you

          “she SAW him as a project where she can improve him, then gets rid of him when she THINKS she has more important thing to do”, only to find out later that she was suffering from skewed priorities, unrealistic expectations, and from being blissfully ignorant about her own needs. And finding out she was still in love with him.

          It’s called “growing up”.

          In narrative terms, it’s called character development.
          Walky has shown character growth that was unexpected for her, he evidently understand her better than possibly anyone else, and for that reason only, it makes perfect sense for her to realise she’s more in love with him than she thought.

    3. Amós Batista

      Don’t worry, Danny is taking revenge on us.

  48. Adam Black

    Is this going to be a triple slipshine?
    ethanx Asher
    Dannyx Sal

    can we add Joycex Joe to the list ?

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      this is gonna be like one of those Sense8 sex scenes

  49. CianM1301

    There’s a new contender for the Patreon bonus strip: Dorothy’s phone.

    1. Rotunda

      Danny’s old hat had a bonus strip, so why not?

      1. Taffy

        So did Joyce’s Jugs.

  50. poofdepoof

    Genuinely was not expecting Walky to be down to clown! Interesting

    1. poofdepoof

      Now reading the other comments’ observation that it might be ambiguous whether this was an offer “with me”… I guess I’m not gonna know until I know ?

  51. Needfuldoer

    Dorothy, no! Throwing knives is dangerous!

  52. ValdVin

    I also would have accepted

    “Well, now that you mention it.” Or

    “Have you seen what Ed and Nina are up to over at BF?

  53. Nicoleandmaggie

    Yay!

  54. Alan in DC

    One day I’m going to open Slipshine and find the latest erotic DoA has been rendered into lifelike 3D by some AI plug-in (or Daz, if we’re in a hurry).
    I’ve wondered for a few years how the gang would look as semi-lifelike renderings. The Simpsons and Griffins have already been done to death so this would be welcome.

    1. Vulcanodon

      May 2D hand-drawn art live forever…

  55. Aslan

    I like this. I like how it was written, I like what it adds to the arc, I like what it means for the characters, and I’m settling into my chair with opera glasses and a bucket of popcorn in anticipation of whatever scandalous developments occur next

  56. DarkoNeko

    It’d gonna be a lot of people stuck outside their room this morning~

    (meanwhile Joe is still walking aimlessly in the corridors in underwears)

  57. Amós Batista

    As a person with not much money, I gor triggered by Dorothy throwing her phone into the snow.

  58. Yeet

    I miss when throwing your phone was more hazardous to anything it hit than the phone itself
    we should really be demanding that level of ruggedness from all our electronics

    1. Pergola

      There are phone throwing contests in Europe.

      1. Peter Huppertz

        Yes, but I think we only throw old Nokias.

      2. Yeet

        despite EU regulations helping prevent various charger standards proliferating, they don’t prevent phones being delicate as fuck

  59. goggleman64

    I appreciate the ellipses wobbling before the “yes please” ✨

  60. Sception

    So much for me thinking that moving hangouts to the snow pile (public, cold enough to force jackets) was Walky gently but deliberately refusing Doroty’s advances on account of his currently nebulous relationship status.

    1. Nicoleandmaggie

      I don’t think you were wrong.

    2. Mturtle7

      I think he WAS gently refusing her advances, but not because of his nebulous relationship status. He just noticed (on some level, at least) that there was something worryingly desperate and insincere about Dorothy’s way of asking. And now…well, she’s still desperately asking for sex, but at least she’s no longer being insincere! Apparently Walky just needed to clear the air between them, first.

    3. Taffy

      If I go to Dairy Queen for chicken strips and then decide to instead go to that cute little local ice cream place with all the fun sprinkles and toppings instead, that doesn’t mean I never meant to get the chicken strips.

  61. moriarty70

    Ohhh, awkward, silly, laugh at themselves, cathartic sex. The kind you can have with someone you trust implicitly. We all had that one person in college.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      Sadly (most sadly!), no, not all of us.

      1. Peter Huppertz

        ^^^ this.
        I did end up experiencing that, but at a slightly riper age.

    2. Nathan

      I suspect your actually in a minority on that! I think most college students haven’t figured themselves out enough for that yet.

  62. Da Boy

    If they’d get back together it would be an interesting balance. Walky trying to grow up and take charge of his life while Dotty trying to relax and let go a bit. With a bit of luck they’ll meet somewhere in the middle.

    1. morleuca

      The middle is where most people keep their sexy bits.

  63. Bryy

    It is time.

  64. Michael Steamweed

    Sometimes, ya just need to be asked directly. Or to ask directly.

  65. Amós Batista

    I’m sad for Lucy. I know she dumped Walky, but I was in hope she, as a christian, could finally get free of all her fear and get intimacy with him.

    As a realistic comic like DoA, wish the world could get more easily to people like Lucy. Personal issue.

    (For Dorothy, too, even she’s able to have love agian with Walky).

    1. Peter Huppertz

      I think it’d be very good for Lucy to get free of all her fear and get intimacy.

      Just not with Walky.

      1. Sajuuk-Khar

        Lucy should get laid…by literally anyone else. Seriously, that they never banged was a dodged bullet. It would’ve screwed things up worse, and that’s all it would’ve done.

      2. Amós Batista

        geez, she’s not Mike

  66. yak

    lmao, dorothy read all our comments

  67. Sajuuk-Khar

    Dorothy: I consent!

    Walky: I consent!

    Joyce: *I* DON’T! (UNLESS I CAN WATCH AND MAYBE BRING JOE ALONG!)

    1. morleuca

      I had days like this in college

    2. Michael Steamweed

      Joyce is quite the wannabe voyeur. She needs education. Her friends are qualified instructors.

  68. Plaaaaaa

    I don’t know how, but Lucy is going to cockblock them.

    1. Taffy

      She’s gonna do a diving save and put her hand directly between their crotches, right at the last moment.

      1. morleuca

        There are soooo much better ways to have a threesome

        1. Taffy

          She doesn’t want a threesome, she’s just trying to prevent an enthusiastically consensual 1-on-1 sexing between two legal adults in their right minds who fully understand the rules and stakes of the event. Y’know, cuz she’s a Christian.

  69. Zamperla

    Legitimately good for her. Figuring out that Feverishly Solving All Problems aint workable is really good progress. Talking this shit out is great.

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