182

Refusing
Posted on August 8, 2019 by David M Willis
July's second Patreon bonus strip is about Blowjob Cat, because lord we can't get enough of her. Also: oh hey upgrade your pledge and you can see tomorrow's strip right now

182 thoughts on “Refusing”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    getting these Dazai vibes about being so incompetently suicidal that nothing can kill them

    for serious feels tho =(

  2. BBCC

    Well THAT alt text wasn’t ominous at all.

    1. AntJ

      We can’t end Book 9 until everyone’s in bed angsting

      1. chris2315

        And until Blaine has assembled the Shit Avengers.

        1. Mordecai

          I’m late, but Amazi-Girl has a fucking rogue’s gallery now?! She’s official

        2. timemonkey

          She’s part of her own Rogue’s Gallery.

        3. Mordecai

          Jesus. Accurate.

        4. Deanatay

          Robin’s the only one missing…

      2. jeffepp

        Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

        1. Clif

          I never can keep track.

  3. Schpoonman

    Fuck you, Billie.

    1. Schpoonman

      Oh, NOW Patreon’s down. I was hoping to wash my eyes out, but I guess it’ll have to wait.

      1. Doctor_Who

        You don’t get the email? If you get tomorrows comic, it arrives in an email too, I rarely bother visiting patreon.

        1. Diner Kinetic

          ah! spoilers (not that we couldn’t have guessed- I mean no offense just arrrrgh brain melty sounds)

        2. BBCC

          Come on, don’t post about tomorrow’s strip here. It’s a dick move.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          I mean, tomorrow’s strips are usually worse than today’s strips, just in general. These kooky kids are always up to something.

        4. Marsh Maryrose

          I’m guessing this is something that needs to be enabled, because this doesn’t happen for me, and thank goodness, because I have way too much stuff coming into my email as is.

          Anyway, I really wanted to see what more Willis could possibly have to say about Blowjob Cat.

        5. Ana Chronistic

          It’s opt out (now), but I opted out bc I would check Patreon anyway to like and comment *fistshake*

    2. GoblinScribe

      I think people are kinda taking Billie literally here—this feels more like “self-aware joke about how they keep pushing each other away” than Billie literally blaming Ruth for this—but we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

      These two are self-destructive together and even more self-destructive apart and tbh idk where we’re going with it but Ruth definitely needs friends. So basically, as always, we need more Carla in this storyline.

  4. Doctor_Who

    Next storyline: Ruth tries increasingly elaborate ways to make Billie leave, turns around, and she’s right back on that bed again.

    Final panel: turns out there’s an army of Billies.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Now playing : Björk – army of me

      1. mrnoidea

        “You’re all right…there’s nothing wrong…”

    2. Rartorata

      But the cat came back, the very next day…

      1. Michael Haneline

        beat me to the joke

    3. Needfuldoer

      So Billie is Droopy?

      Ruth goes to the bathroom to rush her teeth, and there’s Billie. She runs off to the lobby, and who’s already in line? Billie. She runs out to the bus stop, and who’s there sitting on the bench reading a newspaper (but we don’t know it until she drops the paper)? Billie. Finally an exasperated Ruth jumps on the first red-eye flight she can find, lands in Belarus, picks a random hotel, gets a room, and finds Billie is somehow waiting for her in the room.

    4. CC

      Ruth And Billie Dot Png
      https://imgur.com/3x0UW6L

      1. TheCozburger

        I was thinking exactly that.

    5. BrokenEye, the True False Prophet

      Billie: ‘night, Ralph

      Ruth: See you tomorrow, Sam

    6. GoblinScribe

      “Weeeell, it’s a possibility!” *Army of Billies all smooch Ruth at once, but in a mocking way, like in Loony Toons, and not in a gay way*

      *Probably also in a gay way*

  5. Nono

    Blowjob Cat is a girl?

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      All of the official references use she/her for Artisticat.

      That said, we only know what pronouns other people use for Artisticat, not what pronouns Artisticat prefers.

  6. Kravis

    “I wish I knew how to quit you.”

  7. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    . . . .I am getting a bit confused here. Something that I sure Ruth is also feeling.

    1. Lokitsu

      Are you implying that there are mixed messages being sent?

      1. jeffepp

        From Billie? Never!

      2. Librain

        Yeah Billy is being pretty clear in her communication here: this whole thing is Ruth’s fault for trying to get rid of Billy by letting Billy walk away. I don’t see how this could possibly be misconstrued.

        1. BBCC

          I think Billie’s referring to what just happened when she says Ruth’s trying to get rid of her, then she compares it to her trying to push Ruth away recently and then she’s sad Ruth was going to let her go.

        2. thejeff

          I’m not sure she’s saying it’s her fault necessarily. At least in the sense of placing blame.
          I seem to recall that coming up before – Ruth pushing her away (or at least assuming she’d go away eventually) and then she could die without worrying about hurting anyone.

  8. Kyrik Michalowski

    I’m so frustrated with these two, mostly Billie, but gods above do I just want them to be happy together. Is that so much to ask Willis?

    1. Clif

      The only day bro find out is keep reading.

      1. Clif

        The only way to find out is keep reading. Shakes fist at tablet’s spell correct function.

  9. DarkoNeko

    It gets harder to make sense of any of this haha

  10. Stephen Bierce

    *plays “Hard Habit To Break* on the hacked Muzak*

    1. TheHorseCouncil

      Not that one song about a cat coming back?

      1. StClair

        That’s the one I was thinking of…

  11. timemonkey

    Damn, was really hoping for a break up.

  12. Alanari

    This is so screwed up on several layers. I don’t really know what to say to that.

    1. Reltzik

      This particular turn of the relationship, or the relationship overall?

      1. Trrebi981

        yes.

  13. Questionor

    I confused I thought Billie had many many copies of Ruth’s key. Why would she need to pick the lock? Am I forgetting something?

    1. Nono

      Door was probably replaced after Chloe discovered them, maybe?

  14. Mada

    Ruth in Panel 1 is all of us.

  15. not someone else

    I have no personal emotional context for what the hell these two are on about so I’m just gonna give props to Willis for managing to make a blue-red-green-white-beige color scheme not eyesearing. There’s even little yellow and orange bits and they manage not to clash due to careful composition (and probably dicking around with the saturation for ages)! Gotta respect.

  16. Lacuna

    “We went in opposite directions at the clinic! How’d you get here before me?”

    “I – how did we get here, Kronk?”

    1. Xerxes

      “Well you got me…by all accounts it doesn’t make sense”

      1. Keulen

        “Oh well. Back to business.”

        1. StClair

          (A+ for the above comment thread.)

  17. Kat

    For the record, Billie looks really cute in that last panel. She sounds like a deranged lunatic, but she looks really cute. Both of those things are to be feared.

    The only other time I’ve seen a relationship revolving around issues this complex, it was a Changeling: The Lost game. One of the characters had the problem of her Keeper (horrible fae entity that kidnapped her as a child and in her case, then hunted her for sport) would actively use anyone she got close to against her by wounding or killing them to flush her out. The other had a Keeper who had literally stolen his heart with magic and forced him to be in love with her, and naturally had super trust issues upon escaping. The girl would often do these long, super complicated manipulations that would make the GM tear his hair out because she needed information to fall into certain people’s hands at certain times but she couldn’t be seen as getting close to any of them.

    1. Seth

      I kinda love Changling… Or anything WoD.

      I have a potent blood atm and she’s adorable and sassy and totally has her own issues with her bongo of a mom.

      1. Kat

        Given Potent Blood’s effects, she probably should. My character was the girl in said relationship, and she has been described as “a box of feels, sympathy and horror” by most people I’ve played her around. I work really hard to bring both the sense of magical wonder and glorious insanity that is Faerie and the crushing despair of the consequences of what actually happens to Changelings to the game, and apparently I do a good job.

        1. Greebs

          As someone whose attempts at playing Changeling rarely rose above ‘X-men with double-weird PTSD’, I can respect the hell out of that…

  18. Pocky

    Space is Warped and Time is Bendable~

    1. Sunny

      It’s just a jump to the left.

      1. Clif

        Let’s ride the TARDIS again.

  19. TrueVCU

    Everybody in the house say “codependent”

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      “Codependent”

      1. Clif

        What is the code pendent you speak of? And does it measure up to a sexy lesbian suicide pact.

  20. AeromechanicalAce

    Okay, this has officially Crossed into gaslighting.

    Ruth, Dump her like she was the aftermath of Taco Tuesday.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Yeah, this is extra unhealthy. This is like a Luther Burger, except with emotions.

    2. Schpoonman

      I’m glad someone else reached the same conclusion.

      Bets on how long it takes for Billie to break Ruth’s sobriety again and then shift the blame literally anywhere but on herself?

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Less than three weeks, but more than two.

        1. AeromechanicalAce

          Comic Time or Real Life?

        2. Delicious Taffy

          I refuse to answer these loaded questions.

      2. thejeff

        Considering the last time it was by trying to leave her, I suspect the quickest way would be by actually letting Ruth ditch her.

  21. ShinyNeen

    Y’know? I honestly thought the last one was the end of this. This update kinda spooked me when I first saw it!

    These two are a rollercoaster, and… I might need to be let off for a little while >.>

  22. DailyBrad

    Okay, I laughed. It’s fucked up, but I laughed.

  23. Diner Kinetic

    Billie’s ridiculous asshole panel one smile is my favorite thing in like forever. Willis may be a malevolent god, but his malevolence just makes me so happy sometimes

  24. Sporky

    Aw come on.

  25. Delicious Taffy

    Billie is being more than a little creepy, right now.

  26. Hoodiecrow

    The Mould-mannered Canadian and America’s Medium-sized Sweetshart.

    I love these two inadequates so much. Possibly because I am one myself.

    Look, Ruth, she’s sitting under the Blue Leaf. Kiss her, or throw her to the floor, or something.

  27. Reltzik

    I mean, I want to say this is a fucked up move, a huge red flag, and a deal-breaker, but given that it’s THESE two it’s just par for the course. And that’s probably a huge sign that the relationship (the course) is awful and toxic… but that’s always the case with these two.

    The thing is that somehow… SOMEHOW… they slowly manage to turn that toxicity into something that helps them both be better, healthier, more actualized people together than apart. And I can’t help but feel that however messed up this is by normal-people standards, by Billie-and-Ruth standards this is going to work out as a net positive, not just for the relationship, but for them as individuals.

  28. Schpoonman

    You know, I finally (kinda) agree with Billie. She is a horrible poison that will slowly destroy everything and everyone she touches.

    She doesn’t HAVE to be this way, but she refuses to correct her course, so I’m just gonna break out the hazmat suit anytime I have to even look at her.

    1. Shane Wegner

      Billie gives herself credit for being a fundamental, universal force of destruction, like Tiamat or entropy or something. That sounds a little tragic and glamorous, but the truth is its slightly more fun in the short term to make irresponsible choices and not update her obsolete cheerleader–based self esteem model.

      1. HMH

        I had a friend like that for a solid twelve years.

        The key word in that sentence is “had.”

  29. CMasta

    Every time I think these two can’t get more TM06 they find a way.

    Breaking and fucking entering? Come ON

    1. thejeff

      Par for the course. Their relationship started with breaking and entering. On both sides.
      Sometimes for good.

  30. mrnoidea

    Damn, this storyline is lingering like an EDM riff.

    Also, Billie, if you really want to stop drinking and improve your mental health, then take a break from romantic relationships and focus on yourself* for a couple months.

    *Without the ego, anyway.

  31. Mordecai

    What kind of ridiculous…

  32. Marsh Maryrose

    I think everyone is overlooking the most important thing we have learned tonight: Billie is way better than Ruth is at route optimization.

    1. David M Willis

      well she had to pick up her prescription on the way home

  33. Marduk

    *fingers crossed*
    Yandere yandere yandere…pleeeease go yandere.
    C’mon, Willis, you can do it. Dye her hair pink, have her Elfenleid Blaine…

    1. Schpoonman

      The pink-haired yandere you’re thinking of is Gasai Yuno from Future Diary. Lucy was a butcher, but she wasn’t yandere.

  34. Rabid Rabbit

    “I DIDN’T teach you to pick locks! You taught yourself!”

    “Only because you never got around to actually teaching me like you promised, you pissy red dandelion!”

  35. Chaucer59

    Billie’s unassailable logic wins Ruth over. Or something.

  36. Shane Wegner

    I’m waiting for Ruth to go from seeing this as adorable to annoying and unworthy, and calling it off. I feel like the luster is already wearing off.

  37. Mal

    Nooooope. None of that shit, Billee. I’ll give characters some slack in these scenes, because characters have to show their emotions outwardly for the audience in a way real people don’t/shouldn’t. But since this is just the latest move in a prolonged sequence of nonsense by Billee, I’m disinclined to do that. Don’t try to flip this onto Ruth, especially not right now. Stop being an asshole and own your shit, or go away for awhile.

    1. Shane Wegner

      “how dare you” is not how you pronounce “I’m sorry I did that”, Billie! Some ownership and remorse would be nice. I feel a vibe of “My actions were OK because I had some wacky hijinx in mind! It’s your job to rein my free spirit in.” I sense Ruth is getting tired of this job.

  38. Bagge

    …I start to think there are unhealthy aspects of this relationship

    1. BBCC

      Whaaaaaaaat? No way.

      Next thing you’ll tell me is it’s not all backpacking and manicures. 😛

      1. Bagge

        Then again, the rest of their lives ALSO are filled by unhealthy aspects.

      2. thejeff

        I’m still rooting for the backpacking and manicures. I think they can make it.

        1. Bagge

          If there ever is an ending with an epliog to this comic, I’m going to be SO DISAPOINTED if that’s not included.

  39. BenRG

    Billie, there’s this thing called ‘communication’, where you tell people what you really want and you act in accordance with those statements. You might want to try that at some point.

    I also think that you and Joyce both need to go to a special class to be deprogrammed of all those basically toxic and destructive romcom tropes.

    1. Clif

      Pffft. You think Billie knows what she really wants.

      1. thejeff

        Ruth. Alive and well.
        And alcohol.

        She’s now been pushed to the point where she understands those conflict and she’s got to act on that. The first attempt was “I get alcohol and Ruth stays alive and well without me”, which backfired. Now we get to see if she can actual go through with giving up the alcohol.

        1. PB

          ^ This.

  40. newllend(henryvolt)

    Unpopular opinion but I find this tugging at my Heartstrings a bit. Sure maybe it is a bit messed up but still, especially since I read this as “Am I not worth trying to win back?”

    1. Madock345

      I’m with you. Billie is awful at expressing herself appropriately, but her emotions here are completely understandable

      1. Mal

        For all my negativity, I agree, Billie’s emotions are understandable. But that doesn’t make them healthy, and it doesn’t give her the right to make Ruth responsible for Billee’s decision to walk away. Billie decided to leave and shut Ruth out, so it’s not fair to put the responsibility on Ruth to make Billee come back and open the lines of communication. I mean that as an explanation for why people are being negative toward Billie, I’m not trying to correct you or say you can’t sympathize with Billie. Billie feeling these emotions is one thing, that makes sense, even if it’s not objective and nice to think about. It’s another to put that type of pressure on Ruth, particularly since Ruth just left the hospital/clinic after entering a self-destructive spiral over Billee walking away.

        1. Mal

          Especially when, as other people in these comments have pointed out, Billie is making it seem as if Ruth abandoned her and made her walk away, when it was Billee’s decision to do that. That’s just not ok.

        2. thejeff

          Was it? I guess it depends on when you’re thinking of.

          Their last interaction was Billie saying her ploy to save Ruth by leaving her failed, so she was starting therapy and giving up booze, to which Ruth replied “Neat” and we can presume walked away, since the next strip is them walking home separately.

        3. Clif

          Also, Billie is completely aware that she’s talking nonsense and knows Ruth knows she’s deliberately talking nonsense. It’s in line with Ruth’s earlier I never hate you except all the time.

        4. Mal

          But in this strip, they both agree that Billee left first. That’s the one thing she and Billie agree on in this strip. Billie walked away, says Ruth, and Billie says she did, but only to try and get rid of Ruth. And THEN Billie asks how Ruth could let her do that?
          Ruth isn’t responsible for Billie walking away, whether Billie walked away for realsies, or as part of some nonsense mixed signal. Ruth just got out of the clinic after she went drinking, and said that it was all fine, because now she could be with Billie! It’s been minutes, and Billie has broken into her room, and is trying to spin it that Ruth did something wrong by letting Billie leave. And that is not on Ruth. Billie is in agreement, SHE LEFT, to get rid of Ruth. But now that Ruth seems to want space, Billie is turning around and asking how Ruth could dare let her leave. Billie is asking how Ruth dared to let Billie do what Billie did, to Ruth.

        5. thejeff

          They had a deal. They’d stick together and Billie wouldn’t let Ruth die.

          Billie thought it was okay to leave because she thought Ruth would be better off without her. Since she immediately went drinking (so she could stay with Billie), that wasn’t true. No point in being better or living without Billie. Then she doesn’t accept Billie’s claim she’ll stop drinking and they leave the hospital separately.

          Billie thinks Ruth’s letting Billie go so she can die.

        6. Clif

          And she’s not wrong.

  41. Wraithy2773

    ……………okay, look.

    I like the drama about the Billie/Ruth relationship. It’s had some great moments and some great twists and turns.

    But… look, it’s starting to feel like the Ross/Rachael thing from Friends. We’ve hit this same sorta story beat so many times already, it’s honestly getting a little tiresome. I get that the issues that the pair are dealing with are not the sort that can be easily dealt with and will keep coming up…

    …but from a storytelling perspective, what’s changing here? What’s new? What’s different? Because this feels like the last five “Ruth and Billie are totes in love but are super self destructive too” storylines…

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Ruth seems increasingly fed up with Billie’s side of things, at least. She may have been the instigating party, but it sorta looks like she bit off more than she could chew.

    2. Shane Wegner

      I think Ruth feeling that repetition fatigue is actually exactly the point.

    3. BenRG

      It’s worth remembering the glacial pace of Dumbing of Age. A single day can last months IRL. So, rapid change in any of the characters cannot be expected.

    4. Doki

      IDK, I think it’s reaching some sort of threshold/breaking point. I don’t quite know what it is yet (because I’m not psychic haha), but I feel like the tone here is a little… different. Maybe it’s that Ruth does seem to be getting tired of Billie’s shit? She was desperately emotional while drunk but has now sobered up (literally!), and I’m curious to see if that goes anywhere.

      And we still have to see if Billie will actually even attempt to make good on her promise to do therapy. Unless I missed an earlier strip somehow, that’s new!

    5. thejeff

      I don’t actually think they’re that repetitive. They’ve definitely progressed – most obviously Ruth, but Billie’s showing signs too.

      A lot of their bits in recent chapters have been building up to this confrontation, but they’ve been relatively minor story beats. I can see that seeming repetitive, since that was needed to establish this conflict. I
      It was only a couple of days ago that Ruth was blunt enough to get it through Billie’s thick skull that her going on about drinking all the time was dangerous. This is all fallout from that.

      As Doki said, the promise to go to therapy is new and the one to stop drinking hasn’t really been more than hinted at (at least since the very beginning.) If she just blows that off now, that’s bad. If she fails to stay sober immediately, that’s less of a problem, as long as she’s actually trying.

  42. bengrue

    Borderline. Personality. Disorder.

  43. HMH

    billie pls stahp

  44. Tarkara

    Oh christ, it’s this relationship

  45. Bryy

    “How dare you let me.”

    And for a while, I thought Billie was actually trying to help Ruth.

    1. BenRG

      At this point, I’m not sure that Billie knows where this is going, only that someone else (Ruth) should be doing what she actually wants, even if she’s unable to articulate what that is until after the fact!

  46. Rosstifer

    For as long as it takes, I hope Ruth’s only line of dialogue is ‘Get the fuck out of my room.’

  47. Gunslinger

    I don’t need to Patron to know what tomorrow’s strip SHOULD be; copious amounts of hatefucking.

  48. Badgermole

    Pushing Ruth to drink. Withholding affection when she wouldn’t. Breaking into Ruth’s room (again!) to tell her that was somehow her fault.

    I’m starting to think Billie isn’t just toxic but emotionally abusive.

    1. Zaxares

      This was pretty much my train of thought too. In fairness though, Ruth was the one who bullied and manipulated Billie into the relationship first. Honestly, as cute as these two can sometimes be together, they are NOT good for each other.

    2. thejeff

      See, I just don’t read it that way.
      She wasn’t intending to push Ruth to drink – see her reaction when Ruth actually does drink. She just was continuing her habits without understanding the effect on Ruth. When Ruth confronted her, she changed. Not in a good way, but she did change.
      Not “withholding affection” in that sense, but trying to protect Ruth by removing her toxic presence. Totally messed up, but not an attempt to manipulate Ruth, certainly not into drinking again.

      And breaking into her room is par for the course for these two. Part of their original deal. Especially if Billie thinks Ruth is pushing her away so she can die without anyone caring. Which was kind of a thing.

      1. Clif

        I’m glad someone else is reading the same comic strip I am.

    3. JBento

      You’re not the only one…:

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/dramahurricane/

      1. thejeff

        I’m always amused and saddened when we get comments agreeing with a characters distorted perception of themselves – most obviously in the past with those seeing Amber as a monster who should let the good Amazi-Girl just replace her, but seen here with Billie as well.

        1. Diner Kinetic

          It’s just, sometimes their self perceptions are *kind* of accurate – when it functions right, Billie and Ruth have a relationship that gives both of them a lot of joy and stability and it can be really sweet. But at the same time, Billie lets *thinking* she’s toxic lead to actually *being* toxic in a horrible self fulfilling prophecy kind of way, by being inconsistent and less present instead of whatever she thinks she would do to be harmful. She was really mean to Ruth for the past couple of arcs and she needs to be helped to stop; I just think Ruth isn’t the person to help her do it since she’s so close to the situation and has so many of her own stuff that might be harder to deal with sans stable emotional support

          (Sorry to crash the Billie and Ruth positivity thread I just thought a distinction has to be made! )

        2. JBento

          The problem is that the only stability their relationship ever gave them was “staying the course in a downward death spiral”, which, granted, IS stability.

        3. JBento

          I, on the other hand, am very much not amused when we get comments about psychological manipulation and gaslighting saying it’s all dandy because it’s wuuuuuuuvvvvvvv.

        4. JBento

          Hells, Billie in this strip alone is like half the narcissist’s prayer.

        5. thejeff

          Whereas I see the comments about psychological manipulation and gaslighting and think they’re reading an entirely different comic than I am.

        6. JBento

          Really? Because 2nd panel is Billie LITERALLY going “oh, look at this bad thing you did that it was definitely you who did.”. It just doesn’t go further because panel 3 Ruth is calling her out on it “nooooo, it was definitely *you* that changed the lamp settings.”

        7. Pigeon

          Gaslighting is not exactly the right word, but it’s the word that leaped to mind for me. Billie is not disputing the facts, but she’s reframing them as “actually, the bad thing I did is your fault.” Acting as though the fight doesn’t matter makes me squeamish, because it’s disregarding Ruth’s Billie denying that she was trying to get Ruth to drink during their fight earlier is also incredibly disingenuous, when she immediately follows it up with encouraging Ruth to find some loophole that allows her to get better and also drink. When I say Billie is being manipulative, I don’t mean that she’s acting with malice aforethought. I think she’s an emotional mess who’s conflicted about what she wants because she can’t have all the things she wants–Ruth alive, Ruth loving her, and alcohol–all at the same time, and the things she’s doing are manipulative and guilt-trip-y. I say that as someone who has also told my partner, “it’s okay that I picked a fight to try to get you to break up with me, because my intentions were good, and I changed my mind and you should’ve foreseen what I actually wanted without my telling you.”

  49. Lone Duck

    I wonder if Billie learned relationships via her own parents and Walky’s parents, or if she’s just her own brand of wrong. On the bright side, they’re both still alive?

    1. BenRG

      I think that Billie has the same problem as Joyce: They’ve both internalised the plots of trashy teen romances as ‘normal courting behaviour’.

    2. JBento

      I didn’t get the idea that the Walkertons’ relationship was dysfunctional, but maybe I’m forgetting something or missed some hints. As BenRG put it, this seems much more like (one of) Joyce’s problem(s), in which they got exposed to a bunch of fictional relationships and every supposedly-responsible adult in their their life failed to tell them that they were bad.

      1. thejeff

        I don’t see that at all. They’re definitely screwed up, but not in anything that resembles common fictional patterns to me. This is much too desperate and sad for that.

        1. JBento

          Billie’s the asshole that repeatedly hurts and clashes with the love interest until the end of the movie, when the LI realises that none of those faults matter because it’s twuuuuu wuuuuuuvvvvv and the asshole has promised to do better anyway. Of course, that’s when the movie ends, so the asshole never REALLY does better.

  50. Zero

    And its at this point I am officially no longer a fan of Billie. This is getting both creepy and even more dangerous for Ruth.

    1. Clif

      Compared to what has gone before, not so much. Billie fell in love with Ruth watching her while spying hidden in Ruth’s darkened closet where she had hidden while trying to retrieve a beloved garment that Ruth had stolen from her room as part of an extended pattern of bullying caused by the fact that Billie reminded Ruth of the irresponsible person who killed Ruth’s parents. Nothing about this relationship had ever screamed healthy, but now it has evolved to the point where Billie can confidently expect Ruth to hear and understand what she is carefully not saying in the words she is spouting. The whole thing is kind heartwarming in a very twisted fashion, even if it triggers the more judgemental end of the comment section.

  51. Taigan

    Damn this comic for having a relationship that:
    a) is so obviously toxic
    b) I can’t help but root for. ?

  52. Teddae

    Okay i literally got chills. Like…bille, come on please PLEASE seek help

    1. timemonkey

      She did just say two strips ago that she was going to.

      1. thejeff

        Yup and she needs to repeat that to Ruth now.
        And then go do it tomorrow.

  53. Alan in DC

    The string section is warming up right about now to play the “Psycho” violin score.

    Screech – Screech – Screech . . .

    1. BenRG

      This is beginning to demonstrate some of the symptoms of stalking, isn’t it?

      1. thejeff

        Out of context, sure.

        1. Madock345

          It’s something I’ve noticed a lot with the comments here. Long term patterns and character arcs are often ignored in favor of whatever’s been happening in the last few strips. I understand it’s been like ten years real time, so people lose track of the older events in comic, but it’s not really fair to the characters when this stuff was last week for them.

  54. Vulcanodon

    Toxic heartwarming relationship.

    1. fire_daws

      The sarcasm is strong with this one.

  55. JBento

    JFC, Billie. “Everything is someone else’s fault, even when I’m the one doing it”, is that where we’re at? Are you angling for the presidency? I know you’re filthy rich, but you need to be a white dude for the public to let you get away with that stuff.

  56. Rabisch

    Well… Billie has a point here. Now is time for a true conversation.

  57. Clif

    Oh, good. The dance continues.

  58. Portland

    Okay, I totally get where everyone is coming from with their insightful analyses of this relaitonship, but I just have to say that the juxtaposition of yesterday’s panel two and today’s panel one is the funniest fucking thing I’ve seen in a while.

    1. Diner Kinetic

      Ha yes it made my day

  59. zombycow

    All aboard the worry train, this shit bout to get reeeeal troublesome.
    be warned before you board, this train has NO stops.

  60. GutterChick

    Big fuckin oof

    Literally just went through this kind of emotionally manipulation with a partner breaking up with you or saying that you shouldn’t or can’t be together then beating and guilting you for letting them say that or not trying to talk them out of it

    1. GutterChick

      *berating

      1. Clif

        I’m very sorry that happened to you. No one should have to deal with that. It sounds to me that you are much better off with that relationship behind you.

        But Ruth and Billie’s relationship is not your relationship. The last panel, in context, is Billie being vulnerable.

  61. Bobcat

    I just got out of a hard day at work and I’m tired as heck, but I just can’t understand what the heck Billie is trying to say here.

    1. Diner Kinetic

      Ruth: you were being an asshole!
      Billie: right, you’re supposed to push past that and run back to me anyways

      It’s… Not ideal. Billie seems to be taking their effed up dynamic for granted as something *good*, or lay justification to keep dating. Honestly it’s some impressive mental gymnastics and I love how Willis writes her but also she is… Very messed up

  62. Corey

    that last panel reminds me of me too much and i resent it

  63. DragonLizardJareth

    Dear lord… this conversation is happening in her head isn’t it… Billie isn’t really there…

    1. Clif

      That’s a new interpretation.

  64. eskimolos

    YES long live the disaster ship

  65. TheFlamingonator

    isnt this a perfect example of how billie is still im such a high school state of mind? or is that just me?

    1. TheFlamingonator

      *im

  66. Roborat

    Is Billie trying to invent a new form of dere? Mashing up Tsundere and Yandere until she evolves into a new form?

    1. CianM1301

      Billidere: Not admitting that you like someone, but also being homicidally crazy in love with them?

  67. raker

    This is the part of the relationship where I would finally, FINALLY realize, “Ohhh, I see, they’re batshit insane. This explains so much.”

  68. C.T Phipps

    Is it pointless to continue hoping for a breakup now?

  69. JessWitt

    What the hell indeed. Billie, go to your room. And no, Ruth’s room isn’t a shared space.

  70. Mr. Random

    How dare you not try to completely disregard my stated intentions.

  71. PB

    I think people are taking Billie too literally here. She’s not ACTUALLY blaming Ruth for this, it’s more of a self-deprecating joke along the lines of “You’re like, 80% of ky impulse control.”

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