262

Separate
Posted on February 8, 2016 by David M Willis

262 thoughts on “Separate”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “I mean, I’m just tryna STOKE THE FIRE of our LOVE ya know?!?!”

    1. Tabitha Desanto

      If only Billie said that instead . . . if only.

      1. TheNinthShader

        *Cough* They want to burn Becky *Cough*

        1. thebombzen

          bang*

    2. Tabitha Desanto

      Hmm now that I think about it Becky is not homeless.
      With her dad in jail she can do whatever she wants at the house.

      1. Cerberus

        Can she? Does anyone know the laws with regards to inheriting property from a jailed family member?

        1. zoelogical

          yeah it’s not like she owns the house. like….she could probably retrieve her stuff from there, but it depends on how much power Toedad has. and whether he’s willing to go to the effort to stop her from being there.

          I wonder if Toedad still has a mortgage on the house? and if he has enough money stocked away to keep paying it

        2. thejeff

          Well, whether or not she officially owns it, it’s not like he’s gonna be there to throw her out, so she could certainly stay or come and go for awhile. He could have his lawyer send someone to change the locks, I suppose.
          In the slightly longer run, assuming it’s mortgaged he’s probably not going to going be able to continue paying the loan and it’ll be foreclosed on. Or just evicted, if they were renting. In the longer term, even if it’s owned outright he may have trouble paying property taxes.

        3. Dr. T

          Legally speaking in the state of IN, she is allowed there until Toedad legally evicts her and even then she has 30 days to vacate the property.

        4. Tabitha Desanto

          And as long as he is in jail is he will not know if she is there or not.

        5. Spencer

          Though now I’m wondering why he hasn’t ratted her out to the college. He knows that’s where she’s been hiding, right?

        6. Nyzer

          He knows she’s been hiding NEAR the college. He can’t confirm she’s living there, and even if he tried, where would he point the cops? At Joyce’s room? There’s no sign of Becky living in Joyce’s room anyway. Becky’s rooming with Sal right now.

  2. AnvilPro

    Billie is an iron fortress. No secrets escape her grasp.

    1. inqntrol

      The liquor gets out sometimes.

      1. Rowen Morland

        She plays with it like a mouse.

  3. Sarah

    Relationships are hard Billie, you should realize this by now.

    1. Eukie

      Based on the way she acts and what’s been revealed of her previous relationships, I actually have the suspicion that all of Billie’s previous relationships were ones that were easy for her to maintain (until they came crashing down because people realized how self-centered and self-destructive Billie was). Having a relationship that takes effort, and having someone who’s actually invested in her that she needs to care about is something new to Billie (I suspect).

      1. Cerberus

        Based on her encounter with Alice, I’m willing to bet there’s some truth to that. Based on Alice’s recollections of their time together, it definitely seems like it was a “I get what I want and you get to tag along” type of relationship. So having a relationship where her partner’s needs come a lot higher is probably pretty new.

        That being said, Ruth is probably the worst person to learn what a balanced set of needs is because she’s also got a skewed perspective on how another’s needs come in to play in a functional healthy relationship.

      2. Spencer

        Probably. Billie can be a pretty selfish kid when she wants to be, even though she’s also always shown to be capable of showing genuine affection for her loser nerd friends Joyce and Walky.

        Recall that she lied about quitting alcohol, but did so because she thought the important thing was that Ruth, the one with the problem that Billie clearly doesn’t have, stopped drinking.

  4. Psychotic Mantis

    Oh dear

  5. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays Phil Collins’ “Separate Lives” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. TheNinthShader

      Why is there no upvote system WILLIS, I CALL UPON THEE!

      1. Captain Button

        Do not call up what you cannot put down!

    2. saltchocolate

      Not yet!!!

  6. Tabitha Desanto

    I wonder how important promises are to Billie.

    1. Safgaftsa

      Not. That’s how they got into this, remember?

    2. Historyman68

      I dunno, she still hasn’t told anyone Ruth’s.

    3. Cerberus

      Promises are worthless to her. Secrets though? She’s willing to keep another’s secret until the end of eternity.

  7. That One Guy

    She REALLY likes spite.

    1. Cacturne

      It’s her favorite soda.

      Me, I prefer Choke-a-Cola, but whatevs.

      1. That One Guy

        Really? I’d rather go with a Dr. Anger, but it’s your preference.

      2. Doctor_Who

        I’m fond of Root Fear myself.

      3. Disloyal Subject

        Hard to go wrong with Crush. I prefer to let it go flat first, though.

        1. The Other Mike

          Grape(s of Wrath) Crush is particularly good.

        2. Steven

          The Crush need to be crushed?

        3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          I prefer a nice sweet Iwrong Bru. 😀

        4. SundaesChild

          Iwrong Brood, even.

      4. Kamino Neko

        Dispepsi, all the way.

      5. Betty Anne

        She seems more like a Caffeine-free Diet Choke person, I think. No artificial energy boosts, no extra calories, claims of the same taste as the original. (I wouldn’t know, I can’t drink/eat anything with aspartame or sucralose in it. :p)

      6. Mordecai

        I enjoy a good DIEt Cola, every once in a while.

        1. Rorror

          … … … Die @ Choke?

      7. HeySo

        Noone has mentioned Surge [of Rage] yet?
        Come on guys, it’s a classic.

        Personally, though, I prefer sCream Soda, it really lets you lay back as you cut loose.

        1. thejeff

          There’s always Splode.

    2. Ctrl+C D@

      Don’t like regular old Spite? Try New Spyte! Same great Spite, new Spyte flavor!

      And if you don’t like that just wait a few months and we’ll release Spite Classic and act like none of this ever happened.

      1. inqntrol

        Also don’t forget to try Spyte Lemon and Spyte Max!

    3. inqntrol

      Tried some Femurccino yesterday. Has lots of calcium.

    4. heyman

      I like Sierra’s Mist.

    5. Reltzik

      We all know they’re going with Mount’n Chew.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        No Bawls yet?

  8. Cacturne

    Oh yeah, these ones exist. Almost forgot about ’em.

  9. Doctor_Who

    I’m putting Billie’s line in the last panel on a Valentine’s Day card.

    1. Betty Anne

      DAMMIT. You beat me to the idea. :p

      1. inqntrol

        Of course he did. He’s Doctor Who!

    2. TheNinthShader

      Doing it.

  10. gkheyf

    billie is clearly new to this kind of relationship. you can do anything, but the other party reserves the right to hate you for it

    1. Dana

      The other party is going to hate you much of the time, and you have a measure of influence as to why.

      1. Gangler

        In this particular instance Ruth hated Billie before they even met, simply because she got to read about Billie’s history with drunk driving.

        The game’s sort of been stacked from the get go as far as Ruth hating Billie goes.

      2. Captain Button

        So a kind of hate-aikido? Redirect it in the direction you want?

        1. HeySo

          Aikido is more about dissipating attacks so that they do no harm to anyone.
          Judo, on the other hand, is about redirecting the attacks of a more powerful attacker so that they damage the attacker instead of you.
          Think you may have referenced the wrong martial art. 🙂

    2. Bagge

      Dunno, add sex and it seems like Billie’s kind of relationship

  11. Spencer

    I mean, it’s not like Ruth could do anything about Becky. Becky’s not going anywhere for a long time.

    The minute she finds out Becky’s there, the absolute worst thing she could say would be “I won’t report anyone but you need to find different housing”, whereupon the “Marcie lives alone and works long hours” gun gets taken off the mantle and fired.

    1. a snow ʍousɐ

      And we get to Chek it hov the list?

      1. modulusshift

        Aaaaaagh.

        1. Clif

          Bang.

    2. Rutee

      …I don’t understand why this is phrased as a bad thing? Is it because it would actually work, and therefore not be a thing that can plausibly happened?

      1. Willoughby Chase

        Yeah, all the pieces to an amicable solution are dangling around but apparently they need the requisite amounts of drama to be tied up.

        1. Captain Button

          Drama – the duct tape of social repair.

      2. Spencer

        No I mean, we’re literally not going to see Ruth remove Becky because that would mean removing Becky from the cast. The “threat” of Becky being found out by the RA isn’t really going to have any huge painful consequences for anyone involved. It’s not a matter of it being a bad thing, it’s a thing that’s not going to happen.

        I brought up Marcie’s living situation since dropping the tidbits that she lived off-campus and also worked long hours seems like a good way to slot Becky somewhere nearby.

      3. Benjamin

        I was confused as well. When they said, “The absolute worst thing that could happen,” I think what they meant was “Think about the worst that could happen – this is it, and it’s not actually so bad, so don’t worry too much!” As opposed to what I think we both originally thought, which was reading it as, “Oh man, I’m envisioning Horrible Evil Terrorizing Ruthless…the most unimaginable, *worst* thing she could do would be…*gasp!*…not reporting her and asking her to find somewhere else to go!”

        1. Spencer

          That would indeed be the case. Nothing seriously bad’s actually going to happen to Becky, and I doubt we’d ever see Ruth be the cause of it.

        2. Clif

          Yeah, go on. Tempt Willis. And then when she’s homeless on the street, we’ll all say “damn you, Spencer!”

        3. Spencer

          Everything is going to be all right.

  12. Opus the Poet

    Billie is trying to be a good bad person.

    1. Doctor_Who

      If she fails, does that make her a bad bad person, or a bad good person?

      1. gkheyf

        yes

        1. Clif

          And she’s so good bad at it.

      2. a snow ʍousɐ

        A good good person, which is bad.

        1. Captain Button

          Then who will crush womens’ femurs like sparrow’s egg?

  13. Kris

    But you can lie about keeping secrets. That’s the loophole!

    1. That One Guy

      But can you keep secrets about lying?

      1. Disloyal Subject

        It’s kinda essential if the lies are going to accomplish anything.

        1. gkheyf

          or, if all else fails, you can just lie about keeping secrets like everyone else

        2. Clif

          I lie about keeping secrets all the time. I don’t actually have any.

        3. TamiDOA

          I’m not so sure about that. I’ve had several bosses that made it clear that they prefer that I lied to them. So I lied, but I insisted on reminding them I was lying. I’d usually just get the “you’re not from this planet, are you” look, but wouldn’t say a word. It was wonderfully strange!

        4. Jhon

          From a D&D game:

          “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.”

          “Ooh, tell me some lies!”

        5. Reltzik

          Normally I’d say you can loophole around this technicality with the liar’s paradox.

          In this case, no. If Ruth feels she’s losing at brain games she’s liable to impose a handicap with a baseball bat.

  14. Guairdean

    Greed is mankinds purest emotion. Hate runs a close second.

    1. That One Guy

      Uh, you mispelt “Mike”.

      1. Max

        Wait, is it Mike’s purest emotion or is Mike mankind’s purest emotion?

        1. Amazi-Stool

          Mike is Mike’s purest emotion.
          (Mike runs a close second).

  15. Mandy

    Billie’s face in panel 2 is like my new favorite reaction image.

    1. inqntrol

      Still not as good as Joyce’s reaction face.

      1. Mandy

        True, but this face is how I feel all the time. I’m rarely Joyce-level shocked, more of Billie’s “oh shit” face.

      2. Disloyal Subject

        I rather liked Walky’s appropriation of said face.

    2. Dana

      Walky face, fifth panel:
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/freezeframe/

  16. Cacturne

    Willis, how long has it been since the cast page has been updated? I think characters like Mary, Jason, and Raidah should get panels now.

    1. inqntrol

      “Who’s Mary?”

      1. Ctrl+C D@

        “Where’s Poochie?”

        1. Lord Stoneheart

          He died on the way back to his home planet.

        2. JustCheetoDust

          Statement, 1 – love.

        3. Needfuldoer

          RIP Chuck Cunningham

    2. TamiDOA

      Cast pages are VERY hard to do without becoming spoilers for new readers. For example, any backstory about Toedad would have hurt the drama when he showed up. So I’ve seen very few webcomics that really update cast pages. Maybe they should be called Introductory Cast pages.

      1. DSL

        “Main Cast” page.

    3. John

      As of today, the top 18 characters, by appearances, are:
      1. Joyce (721)
      2. Dorothy (450)
      3. Walky (444)
      4. Billie (417)
      5. Amber/Amazi-Girl (321*)
      6. Danny (270)
      7. Sarah (246)
      8. Sal (213)
      9. Becky (210)
      9. Ethan (210)
      11. Dina (209)
      12. Ruth (184)
      13. Joe (170)
      14. Mike (127)
      15. Roz (71)
      16. Mary (49)
      17. Leslie (46)
      18. Sierra (45) (rackin’ up the background appearances!)

      If Willis were to add another row, they’d be:
      19. Jacob (43)
      20. Carla (40)
      21. Jason (38)

      Marcie, who’s holding 18th place on the current cast page, just misses even that; she’s 22nd, at 34.

      Raidah (30) is way down in 26th place, behind Agatha and the worst dads. I expect Hank (26) and Carol (24) will pass her in the next couple weeks of strips, and probably Jocelyne (18) too before this trip home is over.

      I also expect Carla and Mary are both going to be racking up appearances in the near future, but I’m not really expecting to see much of Raidah, Jacob, or Jason.

      Monkey Master is actually at 44 and Dexter at 39, but I’m not counting them as characters who qualify for cast page entries.

      * This isn’t the number you’ll get if you just add them together; some strips are tagged with both.

      1. Peduncle

        Nice work, John, especially deduping #5!

        1. John

          I was already tracking most of that for the F-bomb count, and, by coincidence, had to update that today anyway.

      2. Amazi-Stool

        If Willis were to add another row, they’d be:
        19. Jacob (43)

        Jacob is already on the cast page!

        1. John

          So is Carla. And Marcie. Mary, Leslie, and Sierra, who aren’t on the cast page, are currently ahead of them in appearances.

  17. Captain Button

    Did she promise not to let her find out, or just not to tell her?

    1. Eukie

      She “promised” not to let Ruth know.

  18. JessWitt

    Think how many wars we’d end if everything ran on hate!

    …

    Wait a minute.

    1. inqntrol

      Imagine how many wars we’d win if we used love!
      ….hold on a second.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        Well, if children’s cartoons are to be believed it can be weaponized as a force on par with orbital lasers, so that might work rather well, for a given definition of winning.

      2. Reltzik

        Imagine how many wars we’d be comfortable with the outcome of if we relied on apathy!

        That’s right, APATHY! The KEY to world PEA…-

        Wait, why am I using exclamation points? I don’t care enough to do that.

        1. neeks

          the real question is why you care enough to capitalize letters or use punctuation

        2. Deanatay

          or even finish sen

        3. Reltzik

          or even reply to-

          … CRAP.

        4. zoelogical

          i know i dont

    2. JonasofAtlantis

      Like how 8-bit theater’s version of the level 9 nuke runs on love? Where every time you cast it the divorce rate goes up because it’s using some of it up?

      1. Emperor Norton

        Ahh, one of the most classic strips from a classic web-comic.

        I always liked Black Mage the most, you know. I mean, it’s not hard to understand his motivations. All he wants to do is to obliterate the universe as we know it and then feast on the screams of lost souls for eternity. Who here cannot sympathize with such a goal?

        1. Rutee

          Black Mage was the best. He was a horrible asshole who the universe constantly shat upon. A lesser evil is someone you might be tempted to feel bad for occasionally (Imagine Garland and him switching places), because the universe is unrelentingly horrible to him, but it’s Black Mage. He’s got it coming.

  19. Betty Anne

    I think Ruth is more mad that Billie didn’t trust her, than anything. Especially once she finds out it’s just Becky and what Becky’s situation is. She’ll be able to hook Becky up with the resources she needs and stick another pin in Mary’s side because Becky will have MORE connections and supporters on campus, not fewer.

  20. achallenger

    Possibly healthiest interaction yet?

    1. Spencer

      There was that one time Ruth decided that she wanted to quit alcohol with her, and thought they could support one another.

      Though, maybe not. Billie just told Ruth what she wanted to hear so she’d be safe, and Ruth pinned all her hopes of getting better onto Billie.

  21. Emma

    Why say yes if you’re just not going to tell her? I do not understand. I guess she’d feel bad about lying about the fact that she knows? I don’t know.

    1. TamiDOA

      A no would have been a lie and Ruth got very unhappy with her when she lied before, but no one said anything about no secrets.

      I won’t lie about secrets either. I will tell you I know secrets, but I will never, never tell what they are.

      1. JessWitt

        Ah the rare elusive Malaya icon.

  22. Kirby

    I think Happiness secretly murdered Willis’ family years ago and he’s been lying to us.

    1. I Write Monsters

      “Why can;t your characters be happy, Wills?”
      “MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!”

    2. TamiDOA

      “The secret to happiness is low expectations”. He’s just trying to lower our/their expectations to the point where we/they are happy if no one is getting hit by a truck!

  23. Cephalo the Pod

    I take it the past two strips were the “intermission” Willis was talking about when he moved a strip featuring a smiling, pointing Billie from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9.

    1. David M Willis

      yup

  24. Tomas

    Is ’97 Billie’s in-story birth year? Will that shirt change before our eyes over time?

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      Actually I think 98 is her birth year now if she’s 18.

      It will probably always be 97 because out of universe that’s when Billie was created. It was 97 at the start of this comic too.

      1. a snow ʍousɐ

        She could be born in ’97 and be 18 in 2016, if she hasn’t had a birthday yet.

        1. Lord Stoneheart

          Well yes, though it’s currently October 2016, so the odds are she probably has.

          In any case that shirt has said 97 since the beginning of the comic so it certainly has nothing to do with Billie’s in universe birthdate.

    2. Disloyal Subject

      I think it’s some form of jersey. I don’t think cheerleaders get numbers, but however she came by that shirt, it’s unlikely to change, not least because Orwellian edits are probably more extra work than Willis wants to deal with.
      As for birth year, the perpetual ‘now-ish’ date of the comic has changed in-universe birthdates, and will continue to do so as our time outpaces theirs.

    3. Ivan

      Who grows around wearing a shirt with their birth year written on it?

      1. John

        Malaya?

        1. Bicycle Bill

          Since Malaya is a roller-derby skater, I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be her number as a member of the team.  In addition, I believe that Willis is using this specific number (11) as this was also the number worn by roller-derby skater K.C. Carr (played by Raquel Welch) in the 1972 movie “Kansas City Bomber”.

        2. John

          Malaya has that number because it’s the year she first appeared in Shortpacked!. Billie has ’97 for similar reasons.

    4. AgentKeen

      It was never intended to be. The comic started in 2010, so if it had been her birth year, she’d only be 13 then.

      1. Random832

        Yeah, but it’s 2016 now. Remember, sliding timeline.

        1. John

          Billie was wearing that shirt in her first appearance on move-in day, when it was 2010.

          It’s Roomies!’ birth year.

  25. Russ

    Should she have lied and said she knew nothing?? We just don’t know

    1. Spencer

      Maybe? Ruth would probably try to press some info out of the other dorm members, but they wouldn’t have any reason to crack, I’m pretty sure.

      1. Russ

        But then when Billie moves back into her regular dorm, they’re going to have an extra passenger?? Where is Becky even going to go

        1. Spencer

          Probably back into Joyce’s room, I’m pretty sure, if the whole thing doesn’t get blown open soon.

        2. Russ

          It.. It’s probably going to blow open soon, isn’t it.

        3. Spencer

          Well, Ruth knows now, and it’s being held over her head as blackmail.

          Still, given that we just got off of a story, and are almost certainly heading into a new one, about things being dramatic and serious for Joyce and Becky, I’d say things will be fine for a while at risk of the universe imploding into a Grief Singularity.

        4. Russ

          I for one am ready for this tsunami of grief

        5. Reltzik

          Oh please. Willis would never give us a grief singularity (save at the grand finale of the comic itself). A grief singularity merges all the grief into one point and thus robs him of the ability to switch scenes from one griefmageddon to another, concurrent one.

        6. TamiDOA

          Leslie kind of hinted she might help with finding somewhere for Becky here:
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/sandwich/

    2. Rutee

      Someone’s got to lose. What Billie should have done depends on your priorities. Most would say “Nah, lie”. Pretty sure I’m in ‘most’ here.

  26. Skizz

    Quote of the month!!

  27. trlkly

    I think Billie’s trying for humor here. At least, it reads sarcastic to me in that last panel.

  28. xeno112

    hey she didnt lie to her when asked so its a growth point. shes still worried about when ruth said that if she ever lied to her again she’d hate her forever

  29. Syngraphea

    Kismeses 4 EVA! 😀 <3<

  30. Uniqueantique

    Yeah the timebomb is ticking…..tic…tic….tic

    As to lying….well this is the first time Ruth asked her about a homeless person living in the dorms? So, as a matter of real fact, Billie didn’t lie to her. She just didn’t bring it up in conversation. And, now that Ruth asked, she told her. So, no harm, no foul?

    Besides, if Billie had told her, then that would make Billie a real rat wouldn’t it? If Billie wasn’t living with Ruthless, there would never arise a reason why she would tell her. So what’s the big deal?

    Yeah I know, but pretty good rationalizations there for not telling Ruth. But I really don’t think she should have anyway.

    1. JonasofAtlantis

      In fairness, Billie’s just a student, she has no obligation to do Ruth’s job for her. The only person failing here is Ruth, what with knowing who has access to the dorm and evaluating potential threats to the physical safety of the residents being her entire job.

      1. Rutee

        So she’s bad at her job because she is not capable of defeating the ENTIRE HALL united in a particular subterfuge against her in the specific? Kay.

      2. thejeff

        Just for the record

        General responsibilities include:

        Knowing each resident in the community
        Serving as a resource person for questions regarding residence hall and university offices
        Familiarizing residents with and enforcing university and residence hall policies and regulations
        Mediating conflicts between residents
        Helping residents maintain an environment conducive to learning
        Assisting residents to improve study techniques and personal problem solving skills, as appropriate
        Providing social and educational programs for floor/unit residents, other residence hall students, and residents across campus

        That’s not really her job. Not having immediately realized Becky was staying there or divined that her father was going to hunt her down with a gun is not going to get Ruth in trouble.
        Now that she’s been told, she’s going to have to act on it.

        1. Cerberus

          Yeah, of all the shit Mary’s holding over her, someone sneaking their friend into the dorms for a longer than average visit is not really something that’s going to get the RA in buckets of trouble, more just brought in for an uncomfortable meeting where they ask if she knew anything about it or anybody reported anything.

          Honestly, I think this is more about Ruth’s collapsing pride in “running a tight ship” than anything related to her getting in to legitimate trouble.

          Like, Mary’s statements about everything collapsing around her are probably still resonating painfully, so this notion that she could have missed “a whole person” is probably pretty galling to her pride.

        2. thejeff

          Well, there’s also the possibility that if she stops running a “tight ship” and her bosses start asking questions, they’ll stop looking the other way on her methods and she will get in trouble for her real problems.

        3. Spencer

          From what I understood it’s less about “looking the other way” on Ruth’s abuse, but more that since things are quiet they just assume she’s doing a good job.

          Condoning the actions of an abusive employee would put them in a place where any backwards lawyer could sue their asses off.

  31. Yotomoe

    I’m much more interested in the concept of GIANT BRAS than anything else in this strip. 😛

    1. inqntrol

      Back to the drawing board then and create something fantastic!… Pretty please? :3

    2. Bagge

      Ruths mind does not stray far from Billies boobs, even when angry. Especially when angry.

    3. Spencer

      I’m surprised you haven’t already gotten the fanart done.

    4. Yotomoe

      http://i.imgur.com/Ps4J3Cx.png
      Kay-O!

      1. Bagge

        No use to fight it, Ruth.

        Awesome!

      2. Kryss LaBryn

        😀 <3

  32. Lordess of Madness

    If anger was a useable power source, then we’d be set for years to come!

    1. Reltzik

      The trick is to make sure it pollutes. If it pollutes, then we’d get free anger from a bunch of Greens and it would be a renewable (albeit polluting) energy source. We could then CALL it renewable energy and, hey, more anger! It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

    2. Doc

      Well actually there’s a great SF short story about that concept.
      http://www.drabblecast.org/2013/10/03/drabblecast-298-flying-hatred-neighbors-dog/

  33. Bagge

    “What kind of relationship do we even have?”

    1. Deanatay

      It’s based on anger. There’s a lot of biting. And hair-pulling. And scratching. By the time they’re done, they’ve usually forgotten what they were angry about. Then after a while, they remember again, and the cycle continues.

  34. Rabid Rabbit

    Man, Ruth’s taking this harder than she wants to let on. All those “likes” in the first two panels. She doesn’t usually talk like this. (No, this isn’t a joke about how she hates everything, though it works that way too.)

    Aside from that, Becky’s left, so her alloted days of visiting go back to zero. No problem at all.

    1. thejeff

      I was wondering how that worked. Does it reset with a single night away? Would it reset if she switched to a different room? From a guest of Joyce at first, to one of Sal/Billie now? Could she legally stay the whole semester if she just kept moving down the hall?

    2. Spencer

      …Is that how that would work? I’m legitimately curious.

      1. Rutee

        If it’s anything like most housing agreements, it’s X days in a Y period, and I suspect X isn’t long enough that shuttling down the hall would work.

  35. Pastafarian

    Official high school oversized bras. Better go patent that!

  36. Rukduk

    Und like zat, ze var begins.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Whoops, did Billie just accidentally a war?

  37. Yossarianduck

    IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

    “I don’t need anyone finding, like, giant bras with your highschool team logo on it”
    “Don’t worry, I’m wearing that one right now, see?”
    “……………………..Go Dragons”

  38. RonMexico

    Ruth deserves what she gets. She’s just an awful human being.

  39. Ardin

    I actually don’t understand what backlash it would have on them if people found out about their relationship. Like, what exactly is the problem here? Is it against the rules for RAs to get with students? I understand that living in the same room is kinda breaking the rules but it’s not like the end of the world, they’d just make her move back to her own place.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      This has already been discussed at length. Yes, it is against the rules for an RA and a student they’re responsible for to be romantically involved. If Billie just moved to a different floor things would be fine.

    2. JonasofAtlantis

      Depending on the state laws regarding people employed at educational institutions, which generally tend to be stricter than normal sexual harassment law (which for non-educators is usually a civil matter), how Ruth is handling her relationship is actually felony sexual misconduct, roughly the same crime as statutory rape.

      RAs have supervisory and disciplinary authority over the other students in their dorms, it’s the same set of issues that would come up if the boss was fucking one of the employees in any job. Usually if you officially disclose the relationship it’s fine, but keeping it secret (plus the whole ‘plying a minor with alcohol to seduce her’ thing) makes this a relationship that is (a) really bloody creepy and (b) potentially rife with actual for-reals legal consequences as well as a liability clusterfuck for the university.

      The fact that there are about a billion minor things they could do to make the relationship perfectly legit and they haven’t even considered any of them is also a really huge neon sign pointing out that the relationship is toxic in general, but that’s more an ethical matter than a legal one, and that part’s not the university’s problem as such.

      1. thejeff

        I’m not sure the “plying a minor with alcohol to seduce her” actually applies when you’re a minor too. It’s no more legal for Ruth to drink than for Billie. Nor, though it’s harder to prove, is she actually plying Billie with alcohol to seduce her. Their alcohol problems are even more serious than that.

        I’d also need to see some hard evidence before I bought into the “felony sexual misconduct” thing. Against University policy certainly.

        1. Spencer

          Yeah, they’re drinking a lot, but Ruth isn’t using that to coerce Billie into sex. I’m pretty sure it’s still the same crime if a minor or an adult supplies someone below the drinking age with alcohol, but feel free to correct me.

          I think Jonas is saying that Billie isn’t a position where her full consent in the relationship actually matters, since Ruth is fully barred from having relationships with the students in her dorm. She probably wouldn’t be charged with anything, though. From what my 30 seconds on google told me, she’d just be fired.

        2. thejeff

          Looking a little more closely, I think you’re right about the alcohol. Of course, that also means Billie is just as guilty of providing alcohol to Ruth.

          I think we also agree that Ruth is at least breaking University policy by sleeping with Billie. It’s the felony on the level of statutory rape that I don’t buy. I’d be surprised by that for a teacher, much less an RA. Fired, certainly.

  40. boomboom

    Ruth’s just the worst character. And i unironically love Mike.

    1. Reltzik

      Some other possible worst characters:

      Toedad.

      Dickdad (aka Blaine).

      Ampersand. Seriously, have you EVER tried to write an ampersand by hand? It is the WORST.

      1. butting

        Fffft. Try scoring music by hand, clefs make ampersands look like child’s play.

        (I’M LOOKING AT YOU ALTO)

        1. a snow ʍousɐ

          The treble clef has always reminded me of an ampersand.

      2. Needfuldoer

        It starts as a backslash, then turns into an eight, before ending a bit like a capital G.

        1. Random832

          There are other ways to write it. You can do a backwards 3 with a line through it. Or (to really emphasize the “Et” origin), do a backwards 3 where the middle crossbar is elongated bottom part comes up to meet it so it looks like a “T”. Bend it downwards a little and you can sort of see where the current conventional version comes from. http://i.imgur.com/560R8Xa.png

    2. Spencer

      Not that I’m against any opportunity to hate on Ruth, but how does one unironically love Mike?

      Does that mean his actions are recognized as OTT, completely ridiculous breaks from reality that would never fly and thus can be played for humour, or does “unironically” in this case mean “Mike is good because he hurts people all the time.”

      1. Random832

        The thing is, most of what he’s actually done in DoA has been, at worst, being a sarcastic prick, and, at best, at least aimed at making people confront issues that they need to confront (even if he’s ended up making things worst, or at best it hasn’t fully panned out yet)

        1. Spencer

          He told Amber she was doomed to become a violent abuser like her father because she wasn’t the one “picking jerks.” It had nothing to do with, say, her violent compartmentalizing of her identities, or running around wearing a cape. It was just “oh hey you have an abusive dad. Guess you’re damaged goods.”

          That’s basically the ultimate “Mike is not actually helping” moment for me. Stuff like him engaging in a lot of slut shaming towards Dorothy, harassing Joyce with drawings of dicks on her whiteboard (and stealing her marker, which eventually led to Joyce having a PTSD induced breakdown), or telling Ethan that he’d be happier if he pretended to be straight had no positive outcomes except for the ones his victims would have reached anyway without him, probably sooner and with a lot less baggage at that.

          Anyway I know he’s supposed to be a joke, but he’s not funny. I don’t get where this idea of him “making people confront their issues” comes from, because for the life of me it just comes off as romanticizing abuse.

        2. chris73

          IMHO people identify with and/or defend Mike because Mike says and does what a lot of people would like to do, so in defending Mike they’re basically trying to defend their own actions

        3. Rutee

          I’m willing to cut Mike slack on the chik-fil-A thing. He was clearly trying to frame pretending to be straight as a bad thing. It blew up in his face, and hurt Ethan, sure, but he was clearly surprised at how that conversation went and had it in his head that this would keep Ethan from pretending to be straight. It’s the “WOW.” at the end where Ethan comes to the conclusion he was sarcastically talking up that sells that to me.

          The rest, I don’t get the feeling for. I can’t figure out how he could plausibly get there with Amber (Who I expect it for – Amber and Ethan are his nominal friends) But with Ethan, he was genuinely trying to help in a flatly horrible way, and it failed.

          Mind that I /do/ like him. His failures are entertaining (mostly). I like all of the kids except Ryan. But I can like him because he failed. In the Walkyverse he was apparently nigh-omniscient, and that’s just a fucking bother.

        4. Spencer

          See, the part where he goes “wow” at Ethan taking him up on the idea of pretending to be straight I can actually buy as him just facetiously saying something horrible, and he’s genuinely aghast that Ethan took him up on that. It’s just that it’s Mike so it’s hard to discern when he’s saying horrible things in jest, or because it’s a day ending in ‘Y’.

          At the same time, that joke landed Ethan in a bad position for a really long time, because even if Mike was saying something outrageously horrible for a laugh, that probably sounded really enticing to someone who suffered a lot over his sexuality.

          As for the nigh-omniscience, I thought that went well in SP!, because his relationship with Amber was about breaking that down and making him a bit softer, but no less Mike. At the end of the day he was still the same asshole as always who proposed to his girlfriend using a recording of Jacob banging her mom, just with a bit of the edge shaved off.

        5. Rutee

          It did! It clearly fucked up and did not help Ethan! But neither did honest advice from Amber, so I don’t know! But yes, this is literally the only thing Mike did that I’m positive he was trying he was trying to help with, and only because he threw the audience a fucking bone. Without that bone, it’d just get filed away with the rest, as ‘probably malicious’. Sure, it’s Mike, but people do have some differences in verses, it feels like.

          But it just didn’t work for me in SP!. The thing I liked best that had Mike involved was Robin threatening to mop the floor with his ‘pansy ass’ because he needed to learn to be caring at least some of the time, because he had a kid on the way. And obviously, that’s Robin’s actions. It’s fine if you liked it and all, I guess, but I couldn’t fucking stand it.

        6. Trolldrool

          “At least aimed at making people confront issues that they need to confront.” This is true. The problem is he doesn’t merely point this out to them, but chooses the most spiteful methods to do so. I like Mike’s sarcasm. I’m sarcastic. Whether it’s because of my ADD, my OCD or my tourettes syndrome or just a part of me being an ass, I have difficulties expressing my opinion without several layers of sarcasm.

          Sarcasm doesn’t need to be meanspirited. That’s what Mike is, and that’s the problem. For whichever reason has yet to be revealed, Mike appears to enjoy making other people miserable. Sure, he helps them reach important reflections on their own actions, but even then, he does so in such a spiteful manner that I’m not sure he’s doing it for their sake or for the opportunity to spread the misery.

      2. boomboom

        it’s half that he’s over the top and unrealistic. and also he’s a total misanthrope, which i can identify with. However, having said that he’s much more outwardly aggressive than I am, so its a combo of him being something i recognize in myself, and recognize being a charicature of something i see in myself.

        I won’t claim that I’m a good person.

        1. boomboom

          so yeah what chris73 said, i don’t think i’m justifying as much as just enjoying it though

  41. Reltzik

    DOOOOM.

  42. Pylgrim

    And this is the only way Ruth can let herself say “I like your big boobs and find myself thinking of them constantly”.

    1. Captain Button

      She like big boobs, but they cannot lie?

      1. TheNinthShader

        I prefer the other gender. Though boobs are always fun.

  43. BenRG

    Wow! Ruth really didn’t know about Becky! Maybe her issues have made her unable to do her job!

    1. JonasofAtlantis

      I think the fact that she never had any intention of even attempting to do her job is most of what’s “making” her not do her job.

      It’s not like she’s been trying and just failing or something, even when she tried to break up an argument she only did it as an excuse to assault someone under her care, not with the intent of actually breaking up the argument.

    2. Cerberus

      Yes? But also the entire hall has been hiding her for the week. I mean, for all Ruth would know, Becky visited last weekend and went home.

      I mean, Ruth has crippling depression and was implied to have had difficulty regularly getting out of bed this week and to have let a lot of work slide earlier in the week thus prompting Billie to start getting her in “can-do” mode. So yes, her illness is impacting her work, but it would have been easy for most RAs to miss Becky what with the Underground Homo Railroad she’s got going on.

      1. Spencer

        Can The Underground Homo Railroad be the title of Book 7?

        1. Rutee

          God I hope so.

  44. Crash

    Why did some of the comment sections get erased/blocked a few days back? I wasn’t here for the day those specific strips went out so I’m very confused about the lack of comments o_o

    1. Rukduk

      Willis preemptivly closed the comment sections on those days to limit as much as possible any hate speech spewing bigots, and thus prevent them from causing the rest of the readers untold amounts of emotional pain and trauma. This is because those strips were about Carla being transgender. Willis has a decent amount of trans readers, and he closed the comments in order to make sure they had at least some protection from any transphobic individuals who read this comic.

      1. Blackbird

        … and also to protect people who aren’t as involved in the transgender discussion from being attacked by opposing hate speech spewing bigots for just not understanding, as they are seemingly everywhere else on the internet the topic comes up. The amount of hatemongers this particular discussion attracts to both sides is frankly amazing. I don’t blame Willis for not wanting to turn his comic over to that battleground.

        1. Emily

          Ugh. I really doubt that Willis closed the comments to protect ignorant cis people who don’t have the good sense god gave a goose to keep their uninformed and dehumanizing opinions to themselves from trans people who are sick of listening to shitty opinions about themselves.

        2. Lord Stoneheart

          (Looks at various tweets Willis made on the days he closed the comments. Looks at the comments in the sections that were closed)

          I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Rukduk has a much better grasp on the reason here.

        3. Emperor Norton

          Indeed. As long as (general) you showed a certain bit of humility and accepting that you are ignorant, the responses would not be hateful at all, but educating.

          And even if you were coming off as somehow less than humble, then it would still be educating replies, only with more harshness to them. Harsh, but not hateful. Of course, a big ego can easily confuse the two, but that’s the problem of the owner of said ego.

          Here is a recent reply tree that is a great example of how less humility gets harsh but not hateful (but only slightly harsh at that); and also that humility gets respectful replies:

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/leverage-2/#comment-956550

          Notice the responses to -Sentinel- there? They are not only educated in a level-headed manner, they are applauded.

        4. Emperor Norton

          “how less humility gets harsh but not hateful (but only slightly harsh at that)”

          Should read as:

          “how less humility gets harsh (and only slightly harsh at that) but not hateful)”

          Is anyone interested in working as my editor? I can’t pay you, but you’ll get lots of exposure in this comment field, I’m sure!

        5. Cerberus

          This.

          Though I understand why members of a dominant group would feel that they are “attacked” for “just having questions” and “not understanding things”. Largely because when you are a dominant group member, you are used to not being held to heel on a marginalized group’s rights.

          Like, most of the time, individuals of a dominant group are in fact coddled and are given a lot of gentle education at the expense of the marginalized group member, largely because calm education of the dominant group members is usually a key part of education and visibility. And even more times, they are used to facing zero anything regarding a marginalized group member and face no social cost for learning nothing independently about a marginalized group’s existence.

          The downside of this though is that the dominant group member gets used to either not having to experience the reality of marginalized group members or being overly coddled and treated with kid’s gloves, outsourcing their education to the marginalized group members and putting it on them to calmly educate them no matter what.

          So when marginalized group members feel fragile or snarky or hurt or are just sort of done doing calm education work, it can feel completely out of place and unfair. After all, the ignorance is the same, the questions are the same, and even the dismissive treatment of marginalized perspectives the same, but all of a sudden, it’s getting different, harsher response.

          Well, that and the fact that it’s a great way to make oneself the victim and give oneself a free pass from educating themselves further or growing as a person. Oh, I tried, but then mean ol’ marginalized group members attacked me and called me X-ist simply because I unknowingly and unintentionally reinforced societal bigotries and attitudes towards said marginalized group members.

          And sometimes also sends a nice little passive-aggressive threat to said marginalized group members to let them know if they insist on continuing to push on said issue, they’ll be reacted to as a victimizer rather than a victim and thus could “lose” some social support or respect and seen as a deserving target for abuse.

        6. Emperor Norton

          I have said earlier, as someone belonging to the dominant group in practically all aspects of life*, I don’t even have the right to accept, say, a transsexual, because that implies a right not to accept them; and that should not be a right. To accept a transsexual should be on par with accepting a cis-sexual: Happening so automatically, it doesn’t really count as accepting.

          But I do think I can choose whether to accept or not certain snarky or harsh comments coming from the direction of such groups.

          And in my opinon, I feel like I can and should easily accept those most of the time**. Because if that’s the worst I ever get for any mistake I make —or even for being a dominant group kind of person in myself— then it’s still nothing, nothing at all, compared to what they’ve faced over and over in their lives. The context around those comments that (being the fantastic person they are) Cerberus has provided makes it clear that however much they could hurt my pride or ego; at the end of the day, I’m still fully accepted into society, and they are not.

          That fact alone should hurt me more than any angry words could.

          *I am currently living in a different country than I was born in, but my other “dominant group” traits ensures that I’m pretty much fitting in as well as anyone from around here; it certainly hasn’t caused me any problems so far, and most likely never will. That’s how fricking’ lucky I am.

          **As always, there are certain lines that I think should not be passed, but for now, those lines have been pretty theoretical for me.

  45. acher4

    oh, lol.
    I really love these two together. Unhealthy, but a great relationship nonetheless.

  46. CianM1301

    If hate was a renewable resource, one hour of this relationship could power Australia for a week.

    1. Fwip

      Australia had Tony Abbott; you guys could’ve powered the planet.

  47. lightsabermario

    It’s called plausible deniability, Ruth.

    1. BenRG

      I commented a few days’ back that I felt Ruth’s position as RA and her position as Billie’s girlfriend were incompatible and that there would inevitably be a conflict between the two. It looks like I’m being proved right a lot faster than some might have expected.

      1. Clif

        Why would you say that.

  48. Willoughby Chase

    Luckily, there’s no crockery to hand …

  49. The wizard

    Giant bras, why would she have those again?

    1. TheNinthShader

      For her Beewwwbiesss

      1. The wizard

        What bewbies?

        -burn-

  50. TheNinthShader

    Are they intending to burn Becky?

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      What? That doesn’t even what? Why would you…

      No!

      1. TheNinthShader

        *cough cough* kindling *cough cough*

    2. Cerberus

      The real question is… does she weigh as much as a duck?

      1. Clif

        Given that she has giant bras, I’m guessing she weighs at least as much as a European duck.

  51. TheNinthShader

    neck in third panel= velociraptor

  52. Sigurther

    Yikes.

  53. Deanatay

    A good relationship is based on trust. However, it’s naiive to think that lies always violate trust. People lie for good reasons – it is NOT always better to know the truth. You need to be able to trust your partner – and that means knowing that, if they lie to you, that the lie is in your own best interest.

    1. TheNinthShader

      A good relationship is based on donut input and output.

    2. Cerberus

      Seriously. Yeah, lies erode trust and for Billie and Ruth, Billie is starting off from a position where she has already majorly violated Ruth’s trust at least once (the “stop drinking” deal they made, where Billie never actually quit drinking).

      But… people need to have the right to secrets and white lies otherwise a relationship becomes paranoid and suffocating. And Ruth’s demands here are unreasonable, expecting Billie to betray someone else’s confidence and trust in order to play “good girlfriend”.

      But then, Ruth’s never really needed an excuse, per se, to get a good rage going on Billie.

      1. saltchocolate

        This.

      2. Rutee

        Well, we’ll see. Even if it’s easy as an objective outsider, it’s valid to feel a little hurt – especially when the confidence someone is asking you to keep is at the expense of your lover. Like yeah, Billie has a right to not talk about stuff, but she should probably talk about stuff that can affect Ruth.

        I mean, I’d rather she keep Becky secret, but Ruth’s hurt is a valid reaction because it’s a secret that impacts her.

  54. Allie

    Does Ruth ever need to go to RA meetings/interact with other RAs? I’m an RA on my campus, and we have three hour meetings with our staff every Thursday. We also have one on ones with our boss weekly, eat lunch as a staff, and plan a ton of events per week. Ruth should be required to go to similar things, right? If she was, it would be easy for her staff to see that things are not going well for Ruthless.

    1. Charles Phipps

      Ruth blowing them off would be, again, entirely in character for her. Then again, they’re not exactly stepping up to investigate threats of murder either.

  55. Loki

    Anger power? Welp, time to post this ancient strip:

    http://www.overcompensating.com/whenigrowup/index.php?comic=80

  56. Vangeln

    ‘What are you gonna ask me later? Not to cheat on you? Pfft.’

    1. TheNinthShader

      ¨Like, who are you to ask me to not cheat? Like, really?¨

      1. inqntrol

        ”It’s not like you mean something for me.”

  57. Ruthmost

    Time for a prediction.

    With the Jesus community’s support, the ‘perverted vagrant’ gets enrolled in Joyce’s school and no longer squats the dorm hidden under people’s beds.

    With how much Becky we’ve seen, she’s not leaving the strip anymore.

    1. Spencer

      Becky can’t enroll until next semester, which we’re probably not going to see for at least a decade if things continue at this pace.

    2. Gordon

      That is unlikely. If Joyce’s community were that accepting of homosexuality, she wouldn’t have struggled with it when Becky came out to her.

  58. Nicster216

    I mean im sure ruth will be mad at first but will probably understand its what the school decides that will make the difference tho.

  59. SundaesChild

    If nothing else, election season would generate enough power for DECADES.

  60. erejnion

    Billie still best girl <3

    Okay, okay, only after Dina.

  61. Eireni

    Oh my god you’re not british so you wont have seen it, but ‘powered by anger’ distinctly reminds me of the latest National Lottery video. This is hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC056876n9A

  62. Fernando Martinez

    The love, she needs stoking.

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