220

Rascal
Posted on May 18, 2025 by David M Willis

220 thoughts on “Rascal”

  1. Animedingo

    Amazabecky

    1. Clif

      Pants aren’t all that important.

      There are plenty of substitutes.

      1. Jess

        Like bees!

        1. Tomixcomics

          The situation has been made worse with the addition of more bees.

        2. Subjektivity

          Worse? Or better?

        3. Carl Muckenhoupt

          I’m trying to think of things that aren’t and the only thing I can come up with is horticulture

        4. clif

          Well, yeah, bees. Sure. But depending on the college dorm, in the second semester well after midnight, no pants might also be an option. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/03-trial-and-sarah/rethink/

        5. Deanatay

          It was covered with bees when I got here.

      2. Wizard

        I thought the lack of pants was a good look for Dorothy. Since I’m not a big foot fan, the socks were nice, too.

    2. Poppakat

      Becky totally rocks.

  2. Thag Simmons

    I can see the logic behind this play, and it’s well executed, but this could backfire very badly.

    1. Alongcameaspider

      Becky is working with the information she has

      1. Sajuuk-Khar

        How dare you imply that Becky is a human being with limited context and trying to do her best! Untrue! She is made purely of malice, like the One Ring only gayer!

        1. Lee

          I mean, if you asked Becky, she’d probably quip that gaydar was capable of detecting all of that information for her.

        2. Freemage

          I’m just assuming this is all part of Becky’s plot to get everyone on the wing to kill themselves–just like she did with her mother! (She almost got Billie and Ruth, but they escaped because of Carla.) Of course, she doesn’t always resort to death by suicide. It’s hard to see, but I’m sure she was in the shadow behind Blaine, and thus in a perfect position to push him into knocking Mike off the fire escape.

        3. Sajuuk-Khar

          Well, I mean, I’m sure a fellow truthsayer knows that Becky is the real power behind all the organized crime in Indiana. 😉

        4. Disastroid

          Doing gay, being crime

        5. SillyGoose

          Time for a “gayboarding is not a crime” sticker

        6. GholaHalleck

          Hang on, time out. Let’s be real, the One Ring is Gayer then Becky.

          Becky has had one sexual partner, possibly two.

          Sauron had 24 rings made, and only one of them went to a woman.

        7. Miri

          Dina was definitely her first. Hence the shouting t.o everyone other than Joyce that they’d banged… And the hang ups…
          And discovering that she has a “seeing Dina taking her hat off” thing… And the angst before confirming that they’re basically definitely going to get married so that’s kinda like they’re engaged/married…

          Dina had a sample specimen on whom to explore her powers as a sexual force with no preconceived ideas of what she would like to do/have done to her.

        8. Bruno

          Didn’t she get kicked out of her old school for bangin’ a chick?

        9. thejeff

          For making out with a chick. No more than that.

        10. Heavensrun

          That’s not gayness, that’s misogyny.

        11. Mano308gts

          Sauron had 20 (or 17) rings made:

          1 he made himself
          3 made by elves without him, behind his back
          7 that he captured & Gave to the dwarves
          9 that he captured & gave to humans.

          Small quibble, but still. Miscounting rings in your humorous joke is not allowed! /S

        12. morleuca

          any and all lore regarding Ea, in particular specificity to Arda, and the events thereon, must be taken seriously.

        13. clif

          Technically, Galadrial is a woelf and not a woman.

        14. Steamweed

          Instead of the usual all-male-gay LotR, I would like to see a good all-female-gay LotR treatment. I’m sure someone’s done a good job somewhere on the Sisterhood of the Ring.

      2. Thag Simmons

        Yep, it’s absolutely the right call as far as she knows. It might even still work, odds just aren’t as good as they used to be.

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          (Being real for a second, I can’t really think of a better option for Dorothy to talk to right now, besides maybe Danny? But like, Danny’s still kind of snarky with her and could probably hurt her unintentionally as readily as he might help. He’s a good egg, but he’s got limits.

          Walky, on the other hand, has always connected with Dotty emotionally. Even when they were broken up, they still communicated really well, to the point that Walky saw through her obviously poorly thought out “seduction attempt”.)

        2. Shakes

          It’s either Amazi-Girl or Jocelyne who are going to talk Dorothy through this.

        3. Sajuuk-Khar

          (Huh. I don’t really see Amazi-Girl doing it at all, I think she has decent romantic relationships sense but this is outside of her purview even before you bring in her headmate’s influences.

          Jocelyne will almost certainly be good to talk to…for a sober, well-rested Dorothy not completely devoured by sex grief.)

        4. Steve C.

          Personally, I can’t think of anyone better than Becky for her to talk to. Unfortunately, neither of them are up for a serious, adult conversation right now.

      3. StClair

        One of the things Becky doesn’t know is that Dorothy might be trying to protect her.
        (or at least, recognizes that being totally honest with Becky could set off some of her issues…)

    2. Meagan

      It’s gonna/gotta be hashed out at some point, might as well be tonight.

    3. butts

      sometimes you make the wrong move for all the right reasons based on your limited information

      1. Steve C.

        This. What butts said.

    4. Wereg

      Yeah maybe not the ideal emergency responder, but a safe bet and sweet gesture given the information Becky’s working with.

      While it probably won’t happen tonight, it’s also good for Dorothy and Walky to talk this out sooner rather than later.

    5. Hambone Jones

      Yeah, if Walky wants to be a putz. If he wants to be a decent boyfriend, this was a great maneuver.

      1. thejeff

        Even without being a putz him trying to help by trying to get her to talk about what’s bothering her could lead to problems.

        1. Hambone Jones

          Yes, we should all push things down and not talk with our partners about romantic feelings. That’s a great approach. I concede.

  3. shadowcell

    forty years later, vice president becky still has to make sure president dorothy remembers her pants sometimes

    1. Tan

      They can buy pants on the way.

    2. StClair

      Drawer on AF1 that contains nothing but Emergency Pants.

    3. Illjwamh

      “I have pants at the Pentagon, Becky; it’s in my contract.”

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        the Pantagon

        1. Shade

          The Pentaloon

        2. Poppakat

          This is one of those comments that makes me wish we could like comments on this board.

        3. Steamweed

          What do you mean? The Like link is right next to the Reply and Report comment links. 😀

        4. Shade

          Well a commenting to tell me you enjoyed it makes me happy if that helps.

    4. Kimi

      This seems like such a nice and fun future.

  4. Airyu

    Becky’s pajama colors plus her being a red head are making me think of Ariel

  5. Shakes

    Becky is a sly one. Pol-Sci major for sure.

  6. Van Jealous

    In fact pants are DOUBLY important…in that case you have A PAIR OF PANTS (with apologies to Allen Sherman).

    1. P!enapple

      Can you please provide a link or title to the song? I love his stuff, and have or have seen much of it, but this reference is escaping me, and driving me nuts! tyia ?

      1. HeatherJean

        One Hippopotami.

        https://genius.com/Allan-sherman-one-hippopotami-lyrics

        1. P!enapple

          9h jeezzz, 8 know that song and love it! Ty so much for putting my brain at ease!

  7. morleuca

    Whatever you do Dottie, don’t think to hard about what almost happened, and get some sleep. And then hit breakfast hard. An omelet will do you good.

    1. Steamweed

      A good sleep, a good breakfast, and coffee. Some good coffee. Maybe a mocha coffee.

      1. morleuca

        or some black ivory

      2. Needfuldoer

        Coffee. Lots of coffee. Coffee coffee coffeecoffeecoffee.

  8. Nono

    The Take Care of Dorothy Strike Team, go!

    1. Coatl

      GO!!

      1. DJTsurugi

        while I don’t think this is really what Dorothy needs, it’s better than what she was doing. ~<3

  9. Abdomino

    Walky clocked that almost immediately. Wonder what else he’s gonna figure out tonight.

    1. Thag Simmons

      He’s a perceptive guy and Dorothy’s not exactly great at keeping secrets. I think if he doesn’t find out it’ll be because he chooses not too.

      1. Throwatron

        “Wait, wait, Dorothy? You’re only just now realizing you’re madly in love with Joyce? Sweetheart, I thought you were the smart one! Did you miss all of my extremely subtle joking about this, for the past 18 months?”

        1. justin8448

          Yeah. When Dorothy finally tells him, Walky will definitely care, but it won’t be totally new information.

        2. morleuca

          his reaction will be akin to the reactions the LGBTQIA+ individual gets from all their co-workers when coming out to them after several years of working together while not being circumspect nor subtle.

        3. Steamweed

          She has definitely missed all of his subtle jokes about it for the past semester and a half. (but not 18 months…they’re still in their freshmen year spring semester)

    2. Shade

      I mean that doesn’t sound like something she’d text to him about Becky. So he already knew something was up. That’s why he’s asking the question when he comes in.

      1. Miri

        And Becky cheerfully agreeing with it while being ready to hand him everything he needs to take care of an upset-looking Dorothy doesn’t really cry out “I am blithely unaware I have crossed boundaries, and need rescuing from in the middle of the night” – that plus Dorothy’s bewilderment and Becky handing him her phone amongst the other things does rather add up to “Becky sent a message, Dorothy isn’t OK. Becky is being Becky about it though”

        1. Steamweed

          Excellently put and quite clear summary.

        2. Plain Marie

          Becky being caring and competent, here. She could have just said, welp, back to sleep, but she’s looking out for Joyce. Put her in good hands.

    3. Yeet

      well, dorothy would never phrase that text like that

  10. AeromechanicalAce

    Love how Walky seems to be aware of EXACTLY what just happened.

    1. AK

      This entire strip is fucking adorable.

  11. Van Jealous

    Excuse my type-o….”Allan” not “Allen”….

  12. Nadamás

    Move over Jennifer, there is a new alpha bongo problem solver in town!

  13. Cheshrin

    I love how Walky knows these two well enough to know that between Becky “Professional Phonejacker” MacIntyre and Dorothy “Would Literally Set Herself On Fire Than Ask For Help” Keener, it probably wasn’t the latter texting him. It’s a fun little triangulation of characterization where all three bounce off each other in a fun and organic way.

    If that makes sense, it’s late and my room is a sweltery mess even with three fans so my brain might literally just be melting.

    1. Fevley

      No you got it, I was about to say the same thing

      1. Bea

        Lol truly. Interesting that she’s being checked by two very observant people who just so happen to prefer acting like doofs most of the time. It’s a good reminder of why Walky and Dorothy work well together. Plus the comparison highlights a some great friend potential between Becky and Dorothy.

        What a shame, their dynamic would be so good if it was good.

        1. Throwatron

          the whole point of acting like a doof all the time, is so that people don’t ask you to take care of everything for them, all the time! As a burnout gifted kid, Dorothy has SO MUCH to learn from Becky and Walky.

        2. Plain Marie

          Somebody wrote an excellent essay on the “eldest daughter” this week, and how the expectations are you just slide into responsibility early, become the expected competent one, and never get a chance to think about what you want for yourself while you’re making sure that everybody and everthing else gets taken care of. Then when you crash and burn, who takes care of you? In this case, Becky.

        3. deliverything

          For what it’s worth: yesterday, in response to the debate over Becky’s “rivalry” with Dorothy, I posted a comment linking many strips showing how that “rivalry” had actually worked out on panel (most people likely missed it because I was late to the comic, and digging through the archives took a while); rather than search for strips about how they’ve been friends so far, I’ll just refer people to that (though their friendship has been shown in non-“rivalry” contexts too).

    2. GholaHalleck

      I also have this feeling Becky types in shorthand, and Dottie would smash her phone with a hammer if she used a semicolon wrong.

      Walky sees: u up/ ned u to get over her h0t diggity n0w my d00d.

      Walky: … This will end well.

  14. Sajuuk-Khar

    Please comment here with your weird screeds about how this is all clearly a manipulative ploy by Becky to humiliate and destroy Dorothy psychologically. You’re so right. Becky is so evil. She is also omniscient and knows, through illegally and cruelly obtained telepathic powers, that this is a bad move that will only cause more drama. She has the context and uses it to hurt Dorothy, because that is all that gives her joy!

    1. Doopyboop

      Becky’s maliciously hacking into Dorothy’s phone for those SWEET SWEET Joyce pics! She knows about them due to lesbian telepathy and will retrieve them at any cost! She’s also planning to sacrifice both Dotty and Walky to her lesbian devil-god and is sending them off to be set aflame as we speak.

    2. Risky

      Becky is a legit puppetmaster and anyone who didn’t see this coming is blinking too many times a minute. Even though I thought she’d message Dina but this is better.

      1. Miri

        I was worried she’d message Joyce. But I guess if she knew she was planning on sleeping with Joe tonight that would be a pretty big reason not to.

    3. Nadamás

      Finally someone is talking about the truth! Wake up shepple!

      1. Thing2

        What beast are shepple? I usually end up with shhep!

        1. Erik

          I thought they were Shempl (related to Moel)

      2. Mano308gts

        Ten thousand years we have slumbered, and now, we rise. We will lead you like lambs to the slaughter. A simile whose existence, by the by, will not do your species any good.

    4. Tan

      Becky’s just getting Dorothy out of the room to move the pile of laundry onto her bed.

    5. GholaHalleck

      That’s not Dotties pillow at all, it’s really full of BEEEEEEEES!!!!

      1. Miri

        Hey, how else do you get a white noise machine that also massages your head and neck?

    6. Throwatron

      This is actually the masterstroke of Becky’s revenge. Against Joyce. Dorothy isn’t even actually bisexual! But, by forcing Joyce’s best friend to suffer what she suffered, she will ultimately inflict the most harm upon Joyce, which has obviously always been her goal, as long as you read between the lines.

    7. StarfighterVicki

      It’s the pants. She picked a pair with holes in them to make Dorothy look like a hypocrite. Soon, Dorothy will have no choice but to let Walky wear the jean-sweatpants again.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Jean pajama pants. Not sweatpants.

  15. gnoka

    handed off from one person you cant talk about your problem with to the other worst person to talk about it with. rip dotty

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      Yes, Walky is the worst person to talk about this with.

      Becky should have called Joyce. She knows this, and didn’t, just to hurt Dorothy. Also she smells very bad and cannot clean any surfaces.

    2. Dot

      I have yet to see a single convincing reason she can’t talk to Becky about this.

      1. Alongcameaspider

        Becky may still hold a torch for Joyce

        Becky is currently experiencing anxiety about the idea that sexuality is fluid and 2 more examples might send her spiraling

        Dorothy currently doesnt want to talk about it with anyone

        Take your pick

        1. DailyBrad

          I feel like the second reason is the big one, though Dorothy would maybe think the issue is moreso 1 and 3. She sort of tried to with Danny, but she kind of hit a block with her baggage that prevented her from being open about some of her dubious behavior like texting the pictures, and she was resistant to talking about it with Joe, despite him being pretty understanding.

          I don’t think talking about it with Walky would be a bad idea, but I think she’d need to make it clear how important it was to her, and be prepared for him to be potentially upset with her about some of her actions.

        2. GholaHalleck

          I think a big problem will be Walky NOT being upset by it. Or at least saying he’s fine with it. Because he’s still very much in a “Dotty is a perfect person, if something it wrong it’s got to be on my end” mindset.

          So she gets the go ahead from Walky, and she *thinks* she got the go ahead from Joyce, now she just needs to either get rid of Joe, or get him on board the poly train.

          Which is going to be interesting, because we HAVE a functional Polyship within walking distance of Joyce’s room. (I think? I forget where their room is, just that they are already in the storyline and Joyce is aware of them.)

        3. Throwatron

          That’s been the thing I’ve ultimately always been worried about. This ship is super-cute and it getting Very Poly makes it Super-Cute-r, but I’ve always harbored genuine dread that Walky and Joe will enthusiastically consent and encourage Joyce and Dorothy, both fully believing that they’re totally okay with their girlfriends banging, purely because neither of them have spines where their relationships are concerned, and neither of them are actually fully in touch with their own feelings and needs. It’d be a sad way for all these kids to get hurt, in the long term.

        4. thejeff

          I suspect that both Joe and especially Walky would be more likely to step aside than to suggest a poly relationship. He’s likely to see Dorothy coming back to him as just being part of her denial over being into Joyce. And he might be right.

        5. AK

          Walky specifically has some poly indicators going on historically–see the interaction about the fake girlfriend ploy. I think Walky is probably more likely to be genuinely poly leaning than most characters in the main cast, with the possible exception of Amber.

        6. thejeff

          Under other circumstances, maybe. Here I think any poly leanings are basically irrelevant.
          He’ll step aside because of what he’ll think this means about why Dorothy came back to him, not because he’d have problems with the idea under other circumstances.

        7. deliverything

          Off-topic, I know, but I’ve never understood how far “walking distance” is supposed to be. Humans can walk for hours without stopping, after all.

        8. eh, whatever

          A distance you’d rather walk than use some other transport for.

        9. deliverything

          Well, then it depends what the other transport is. For example, most places are in walking distance if the alternative is a cybertruck.

        10. George the Archon

          Easy walking distance, to expand on eh, whatever’s, take – it’s the distance that you’d be happy to walk rather than take your own motor vehicle or available public transport.

          If you want to ball-park it, think less than 15 minutes of your own walking speed.

          The more recent “15 minute city” concept clarifies and expands on the idea, if you’re interested.

          That cover it? ?

        11. DailyBrad

          I don’t know about that. We’ve seen Walky be able to resist Dorothy’s advances when he was still with Lucy, hold a grudge with Ruth because of her being an authority figure who got with Billie inappropriately, and not go further than he did with Amber because of his feelings about her having stabbed Sal. He does have boundaries and I do think he’d have been very hurt if she *had* kissed Joyce.

          Now, it might be different because it didn’t escalate, but I do think he might not be as surprised as he could be, after his reaction to Dorothy bringing up the idea of Joyce watching the two of them have sex. It’s… not entirely without precedent.

        12. StClair

          This, or rather, these.

      2. Lanie

        Because they aren’t particularly close and she doesn’t want to…? I mean that’s not a reason she can’t, but it’s certainly a reason she won’t.

        1. deliverything

          “Becky, we’re not enemies. We routinely come to each other for advice.”: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/nemesis-3/

          Alongcameaspider gave some persuasive reasons, though.

      3. Fiiiiilo

        I think it’s largely due to a fear of how Becky would react, since it would legitimize all of her pervious jealousy.

      4. Thag Simmons

        Becky has complicated feelings about Joyce, and her mostly joking nemesis dynamic with Dorothy is rooted in that. It’s not an open wound or anything, but it’s not something Dorothy is going to want to pick at by talking about how she’s having a queer awakening and got like 75% of the way to a mutual smooch with Joyce.

        I actually think Becky would probably be able to have this conversation with some grace, but I don’t think Dorothy would be willing to take a chance on that.

        1. Seralyna

          that’s a really good assessment I think

      5. Bea

        Well, she doesn’t have gooood reasons. More like thinking she knows what everyone needs and using mind reading/consideration as a way to avoid relying on others is a core character flaw of hers.

        1. Shade

          Hmm no, it’s definitely a good reason to consider not telling someone who had a massive crush on someone that you almost kissed that person and how it’s tearing you up.

    3. Plain Marie

      Maybe she won’t be able to talk to Walky about this, but there is comfort in familiar company in the middle of trauma, no less. She could do worse.

      1. Plain Marie

        Trauma may be overstating it. But certainly processing shock of new feelings. Or the terminology of your choice.

  16. Pocky

    She’d change it, and it probably would still be something her friends will guess after like 2 tries.

  17. Joe Moose

    Meanwhile Dorothy is all, “what’s going on?”

    1. Throwatron

      extreme dissociation is actually great when you actually are surrounded by people who are committed to taking care of you. at least, when you’re the kind of person who would never ever allow anybody to take care of you, for any reason, ever. your own complete mental absence really removes a lot of the friction from the mortifying ordeal of being cared for

  18. SevenFerns

    Probably the best option with the info Becky had but it’s really funny that this is basically throwing Dorothy into the lions den.
    Time to get a handle on this or get eaten by your boyfriend, Dotty! And not in the fun way!

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      Walky has a long history of cannibalism and domestic violence in the comic, so this checks out.

  19. EtchJetty

    my friend on discord summarized this update by saying

    good lord. the comic’s good.

    1. Straximus

      +1

  20. The 25th

    I just want dotty to be happy.

    1. Coatl

      She deserve it.

  21. DailyBrad

    I hope Dorothy can open up to Walky about some of this, even if there will potentially be consequences. Realistically, I feel like she’s more likely to just kind of need a bit of care while she processes this (or resists processing it, historically a choice she goes to more often). In that case, Walky is probably the only real option right now.

  22. Icalasari

    Will be great when Becky eventually figures herself out and drops the chaos goblin act. Because she is a genuinely good, organized person

    1. Nadamás

      She can be good and organized AND a chaos goblin!

    2. BarerMender

      Yeah, I’m almost beginning to like Becky.

  23. Sporky

    This is peak

  24. IntangibleMatter

    10/10 Becky, well played

    1. Sporky

      It’s either incredibly well played or incredibly poorly played. There’s definitely no in between though.

      1. NGPZ

        The Comments Section is a perfectly balanced game, if Becky fails it just means she gotta Git Gud XD

      2. Thag Simmons

        I mean it’s well played regardless of whether or not it’s the right play

  25. Megan

    well, becky, this just went from sort of awkward to downright mortifying for dorothy

    1. Nadamás

      Booo

  26. HueSatLight

    Walking by Joyce’s room momentarily.

  27. Kyulen

    This is a pretty good way for Becky to handle this. Also I love that Walky knows it wasn’t Dorothy who sent him that text.

    1. HueSatLight

      Becky hands him Dorothy’s phone, among everything else. I don’t think it was really a mystery.

      1. Shade

        Yeah, but he already wasn’t buying it before that. There’s a reason he was asking that question.

      2. Kyulen

        I didn’t even notice that Becky gave him Dorothy’s phone until now. I just assumed he figured it wasn’t Dorothy beforehand.

        1. HueSatLight

          Becky’s intentionally obvious fiction is part of “everything else”, but discussing dialogue fucking sucks in the comment section. She’s not trying to deceive Walky, and phone is the plainest evidence of it.

  28. Leaflet Erin

    You know what? Becky did EXCELLENTLY with this. Good on ya, Becks

  29. Mal

    No matter how this ends Dorothy’s end, Becky sure as heck tried here. Yes, this could be not what Dorothy wants or needs right now, given what she’s thinking about and her turmoil about her relationship with Walky already/as a result, it could backfire horribly, BUT
    Becky is doing her best. She doesn’t know why Dorothy is crashing. She just knows: Dorothy is going through something; Joyce is almost certainly busy at the moment [and yes, maybe there’s a teensy bit of Becky’s territorial-ness about Joyce underneath, but Becky’s human and there are other valid reasons not to call Joyce right now, given Becky’s attitude in this case I see no reason to assume the worst of her]; Walky can be summoned and will show up; Dorothy needs SOMEONE that is not Becky right now. Based on the information she has, she has made a genuine effort, after waking up to see Dorothy having some unspoken catastrophe. It’s fair to say this might not be the right decision for Dorothy right now based on what WE know, but Becky sure as heck tried.

  30. Risky

    I doubt she’s in mental shape to play this right but if she can she might get what she needs from this without hurting Walky’s feelings. Not that he needs protecting necessarily but hurting him is likely to hurt her more which should not be the goal.

    1. yak

      Honestly I don’t think Walky would be all that hurt by this. He doesn’t seem to be under any illusions about their relationship.

  31. darkoneko

    …While I assumed it would be Walky, the way it happened sure threw me for a loop lol

    1. darkoneko

      But hey, even if you don’t have some deep conversation (that would probably hurt you both and/or the relationship), just cuddling or a shoulder to cry on will really help, too.

      1. Masumi

        Yeah, plus Walky has done his own share of not being okay but not wanting totalk about it, so I’m hopeful he’ll know to give her that kinda space.

        1. Plain Marie

          Maybe he could take her up to garbage roof. Seems like a good place to process complicated feelings.

  32. brionl

    Pants are only important for their absence in the Pants-Off Dance-Off!

    1. Pergola

      You don’t need pants to do the Victory Dance.

  33. BYM!

    Y’know I’m sure Becky knows what Joyce’s plans for the evening are (it’s not like she’s been quiet about it), I wonder if eventually Becky puts two and two together.

    1. Kelli

      Becky might put two and two together but she might get three instead because she already knows that Dorothy disapproves of Joe and is worried about Joyce getting hurt.

  34. Proxiehunter

    Walky figured it out? This is a real low point!

    1. John Campbell

      Walky is way sharper than he usually lets on. The obfuscating stupidity is a defense mechanism.

    2. Mari

      Ahh, classic reference to The Good Place.

  35. BBCC

    Yeah, these two have some straightening out to do. Might not be tonight but hopefully soon.

    Becky knowing how to outsource her Dorothy care! That’s my resourceful girl!

  36. Queezle

    Aww, Becky.

  37. Ophidiophile

    You learn more from your mistakes than your successes, and Becky is looking very learned. I suspect there’s a lot about Becky we don’t know.

  38. Bash

    The intention was good, but the last thing she needs right now is her boyfriend who she accidentally cheated on before she realized her feelings.

  39. Nadamás

    I will use this and yesterday strip every single time anyone ever says that Becky is a bad person or friend, to Dorothy or anyone else.

    1. AnonGrouch

      People are complicated. She’s grown a lot as a person. This is a good example of that growth and her better qualities.

      1. Schpoonman

        Becky’s biggest problem this semester has been the flatter writing. This has always been her MO, it’s just that the more subtle interactions from the fall semester just don’t happen anymore. It takes a big brake-pump on the writing for stuff like this to happen because “Whacky rivalry Becky” has ballooned over the rest of her qualities. This happened before with Joyce days after laundry where the entire fiasco was only narratively smoothed over by “Yeah, I went along with Dorothy’s bullshit because I don’t want to mount Joe too soon.”

        It’s my One Big Problem with the spring semester so far. In fairness the writing is still way deeper than most of its webcomic peers, but whenever it’s compared to the fall semester it’s noticeably more flanderized.

        1. Nadamás

          No, not really. I think that is just you.

  40. Florence

    A rare appearance of heroic Becky in the final panel

  41. Joy

    You’ve gotten notably better at rendering the appearance of volume using light and shadow over the course of this past year of comics.

  42. CJ

    It’s strange to see a bunch of grown ups to get into as bad a state about Dorothy‘s ill-advised tit pic as Dotty is.
    No, it’s not cheating to send a tit pic to your best friend. It’s stupid for a very long number of reasons and totally out-of-character for Dorothy, who always thought about how things might impact her career aims.
    She spirals, bc
    1) she just realized she is attracted to her best friend (and has been for some while) and questions her every interaction through this new lens and it puts her in a bad light in her own eyes
    2) she’s hung up on the bi stereotype that being bi means you always cheat all of your partners bc one partner can’t fill both parts of attraction
    3) no one has aquainted her with the concept of poly yet
    4) after already questioning her career aims, she now questions her current relationship and friendships which leaves her without any anchor
    5) on top of that, she did the right thing by not kissing Joyce and letting her go off to have sex with Joe and it fucking HURTS.

    She doesn’t need anyone to preach purity to her. She needs someone who can listen to all of this without adding their own moral judgements to the ones she already carries around. Give her an anchor, maybe suggest decent framing, and giving her a safe space to work it out.

    Becky knew she couldn’t, kudos to her for trying to get someone that usually would be a good choice for anchoring her. She can’t know it might be the wrong one.
    But if Walky just puts her to bed, holds her and lets her sleep some more, he is still the better choice than either doing nothing or calling Joyce (even Becky knows Dorothy never’d live down the shame (in her own eyes) of interrupting Joyce’s date with a mental breakdown.

    1. Bruno

      In the same way the Simpsons is weird to watch now because the economy doesn’t work that way anymore, DoA has been running so long that atheists today are more preachy and moralising than Christians were when it started running.

      1. yak

        I think that depends a lot on your feed.

        1. Bruno

          It depends on whether you’re trans and notice.

      2. thejeff

        I’m definitely not plugged into youth culture today, but I’ve seen this come up before referencing the comments here and I don’t see it. At the very least, “preachy and moralising” among supposedly atheist commenters here is very differently focused than standard Christian tropes. Sex in general outside of marriage isn’t condemned. Queer sex isn’t broadly condemned. Cheating is condemned and predatory behavior is condemned.

        I’ve seen it come about Joe, but with from people who claim old Joe’s only problem was that he liked having lots of casual sex, which is very definitely not the authorial take on it.

      3. HueSatLight

        “atheists are the real religious people” is a canard older than everyone here.

        1. HueSatLight

          As is “atheists don’t have morals”. A person does not have to believe one or more gods exists to have morals or express opinions about morality.

          You are confusing piety and morality.

        2. Bruno

          And you are confusing my post with something else you made up in your head.

        3. HueSatLight

          no

        4. Bruno

          Religious people have also gotten bolder, if youve paid attention.

      4. Nadamás

        That sounds like an exaggeration.

      5. Bloody Altima

        Yes, well known Atheist hate group the Heritage Foundation is certainly making life worse for everyone.

      6. Astariel

        I’d love to live in the alternate universe you’re from, cause in this one, Christians control the entire government and are using its power to force everyone to live by their rules. Atheists, not so much.

      7. CJ

        Strange, to me it seems that fundy Christians have much more influence on actual politics in the US than they had 20 years ago.
        Easily recognizable by the ever diminishing reproductive rights of women.

        When I use preaching, it refers to a behavior that’s based on moral judgements and telling people there’s only one way. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter if the source of the judgements is a religion (take your pick which) or any other all-encompassing world view. Structurally, it’s the same thing.
        The thing is it’s one-sided, hierarchical and ignores the reality of the person being preached at to achieve a goal that as little or no relation with the problem at hand.

    2. thejeff

      I don’t really see much of that.
      1) There’s been a lot more concern in the commentariat for Dorothy than condemnation of the tit pic, especially recently. Personally, I’d agree with Dorothy’s assessment of it as “accidental cheating”. Weird but not cheating among best friends, but colored by her unadmitted crush on Joyce. Not a huge deal, but she wouldn’t have done it without the crush and shouldn’t do it again now that she’s faced up to it.
      2) I don’t think she’s hung up on that stereotype – she brought it up because she thought of what she’d done as cheating and in the context of her initial denial of her attraction not as a long term have to cheat to fill both parts thing.
      3) I’m sure she’s aware of poly – her former roommate’s in a poly relationship. But she’s not and neither is Joyce, so it doesn’t really affect what she sees as her cheating or the temptation she felt and resisted to go farther with Joyce – which I think we can all agree would have been cheating.
      4-5) Definitely agree here, though I think there’s also some guilt for even coming as close as she did to kissing Joyce.

      But no one’s preaching purity to her. Very few even in the comments. Especially since she put a stop to whatever exactly was about to happen. Since we came back to her after seeing J&J’s date, I’ve seen mostly support and concern for how she’s doing, not condemnation of her for cheating.

    3. Plain Marie

      Or for another bi-perspective, your chosen partner has “won” you over other people in *twice* the population! At least that’s how my SO put it once. ?

  43. Chasey

    Dotty might be refusing her help, but Becky did help a lot here, I think. :>

  44. aSnowyEvening

    Sometimes, you gotta get help without the knowledge or consent from the person who needs it. I think Becky did well, here. Becky went from Annoying Little Sister Friend to Genuine Mom Friend in moments. Good job, Beck’s.

  45. Juanoku

    Becky is a great friend

  46. Zamperla

    Becky has a good idea of what people need and I maintain part of why she’s “antagonistic” is because one thing Dotty doesn’t need is another person she’s trying to take care of.

  47. Poppakat

    I love Becky, she is such a good hearted human being.

  48. Plain Marie

    Becky did good here, and I am loving it.

    1. spriteless aunty

      Me too. <3

  49. zee

    Genuinely surprised at the total lack of people calling Becky evil and abusive for this somehow. This is wonderful

    1. Nadamás

      I know! A miracle has occurred: this comment section is actually being normal!

  50. Reltzik

    I don’t know whether to count this as a further evidence that you should never trust Becky with your phone or as evidence that sometimes maybe you should.

  51. Stephen Nedland

    Becky being the bestie that Dorothy didn’t know she had, or needed.

    Also, this has to be the moment where Dorothy comes clean about how she feels towards Joyce, and who better to tell this to than her current partner. Even if nothing comes from it (still hoping that it does), not telling Walky is only going to create tension between them, as she is/will not be capable of fully being in a relationship, not as long as she refuses to be honest with herself about Joyce. Not being honest with herself, leads to not being honest with Walky, and if their relationship is not open and honest, there is no trust.

    1. BorkBorkBork

      This makes me feel more uncomfortable.

      Because if she ISN’T able to talk about it right now to Walky, either because she’s way too overloaded with everything else, or she’s just as much “not… with you…” with Walky as she was with Becky, it’s going to create that tension anyways.

      Guess it depends if the reason Dorothy didn’t want to talk to Becky was because Becks had that long-running arch-nemesis bit, or because of her long-running unrequited love of Joyce. Becky assumed that the reason Dorothy wouldn’t share was because Dorothy wouldn’t trust her, but Dotty’s smarter than that. I think she didn’t say anything because she knew that Becky could be very personally hurt by what Dorothy had to say.

      And if that’s the case, I don’t see Walky getting her to talk any easier.

      … maybe, just maybe, this is Booster’s time to shine. Fingers crossed. I’ve been hoping for them to use their sharp observation and social ability for more than feather-ruffling, shitstirring, and egging on.

  52. keithcurtis

    From Dorothy’s perception, she has just been handed off from the one person she cannot talk to about this without hurting them, to the other person she cannot talk to about this without hurting them. This is not much improvement.

    1. Felian

      True, that was my thought, too.
      But Becky has no way of knowing that and considering that, it’s a very sweet move.

      1. keithcurtis

        Total agreement. Becky is tops, here, working with the information she has.

  53. Tessea

    Awww *hugs Becky* Clever girl.

    1. Felian

      i’m afraid at this point dinosaur related content might be associated with horniness in Becky’s brain 😀

      1. Reltzik

        Of course. Dina’s triceratop has horns.

  54. Smooti

    It’s almost like Becky has a very, very good reason to know exactly what someone in a mental health crisis needs and that they don’t need to be alone.

  55. DashWallkick

    Becky has the emotional intelligence to read the room and navigate a social situation and improve it without people suspecting she’s lowering her shields.

  56. Cmd1095

    God I love Becky and how she helps others, either directly or indirectly. Always looking out for everyone. I want only the best for her. Might just be my favorite character tbh. Of all of them she’s the one I’d love to know irl I think.

    …maybe Walky/Dorothy cause we’d probably nerd out over similar things. But probably Becky

  57. Suet

    Either Dorothy’s passcode is guessable or Becky’s been spyin’

    And here I was expecting a Dark Week, devastating

  58. PB

    Serious question, is Walky the only person who is the worse choice to talk about this than with Becky?

    1. 3oranges

      Joyce?

    2. John Campbell

      Nah, Walky’s the best person to talk about this with, because he’s the one who can say, “What, I thought you two were already smoochin’ it up. Just brush your teeth before you kiss me after. ‘Cause, ew, Joyce cooties.”

      But I can see why Dorothy would think he’s the worst.

    3. Taffy

      I’ll toss Carol in, as a last minute suggestion.

  59. Mari

    Mary. For real though, I can see things getting very biphobic if Becky called Jennifer. “Oh well sometimes you just feel those things, but they pass and then your cereal turns back into “Oops! All Cocks!” Cap’n Crunch again

  60. motorfirebox

    Becky is so damn incredible.

  61. Victor Riley

    I do like that Walky knows the text was a load of crap (knowing Becky got into the phone). Not sure if Dotty will feel comfortable opening up to him in this instance, as she’ll be concerned about alienating/cheating on him. Also, he might say something that could be callous rather than helpful… but it’s a bit of a gamble with him.

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