165

Shooting
Posted on May 17, 2019 by David M Willis
TOMORROW! New Slipshine comic!  16 pages!  NSFW!  Get your memberships ready!  Oh dang!

165 thoughts on “Shooting”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    …2090

    1. Batz

      I know, right?!
      She’s obviously not Southern Baptist!

    2. Roborat

      My first thought as well; 90 minutes, 90 hours, the turn of the century? And what church service is that fast? The few I am familiar with is a good two hours.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        We had a youth-led service once. Everyone liked it because it was like half an hour ??

      2. Ed Rhodes

        I seem to remember a one hour service at my church. Then we went downstairs for coffee and donuts.

      3. Jim

        Catholic Masses average a maximum of an hour if you go on a standard non-holiday Sunday, less if there’s no music…

  2. CandidCanid

    There’s about to be something wrong with your FAAAAAACE

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      “The only thing that’s wrong is that there’s no place selling beer before noon today.”

      (Yes, Indiana has blue laws.)

      1. anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness

        Pabst only or is it an across the board ban.

        1. King Daniel

          Across the board, any kind of alcohol. Until 2018 apparently, it was for the entire Sunday (2018 reduced it to “just” before noon on Sundays).

  3. BBCC

    Yes, but she’s not talking about that right now, Lucy. 😛

    1. Clif

      She’s fine.

      1. BBCC

        Yeah, well, that’s what Ruth said too.

  4. Delicious Taffy

    She’s gonna fuck her eyes up like that.

    1. Deanatay

      Which one?

      1. Roborat

        The left one.

  5. ktbear

    Woot!

  6. TrueVCU

    Billie: how dare you confront me with the consequences of my own actions

  7. Stephen Bierce

    …I’m in love with her and I Feel FINE

    1. JetstreamGW

      I’m so glad that she’s my little girl. She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world, that her baby buys her things, you know, he buys her diamond rings, you know, she said so. She’s in love with me and I feel fine.

      1. DonDueed

        (Plays air guitar to that awesome hook)

        1. Stephen Bierce

          …And my Muzak work is done. 🙂

  8. Tacos

    It’s FINE. Everything’s FINE.

    Also keep making that face and it’s gonna stay stuck that way Billie.

  9. TheFlamingonator

    Yea same, except I only go to church on Christmas and thats for the choir. I dont think God would even remember me (agnostic/atheist)

  10. Kravis

    Anime Face Billie wants you to know that everything’s okay and nothing is wrong!

  11. Emperor Norton II

    If I tried going into a church at this point, I’d probably burst into flames.

    Or my presence would make the church burst into flames.

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      I keep hoping for that second one, but for some reason it’s never panned out when people drag me to churches for events.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      You do realize that what you are saying is that there probably is at least one supernatural being who cares about your presence or absence in certain specified locales?

      Oh wait, no, you’re that little girl from Firestarter.

      1. Reltzik

        In my case (I’m also in the flaming category) it would be the result of immense friction with the church.

        1. drs

          > immense friction with the church

          That sounds like you’re humping the church.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          You can’t just “hump” the church. You’ll never get results like that. We’re talking’ some major hip work, here. Really show that architecture a good time. If you want fire, you need to bring some serious heat.

        3. Roborat

          But don’t forget the lube, otherwise too much friction when bringing the heat just might start a fire, and probably splinters

        4. Reltzik

          I prefer to phrase it as “screw the church” or “fuck the church”.

        5. Dean

          Always make sure you lubricate your church thoroughly before beginning intercourse.

        6. DonDueed

          And always practice safe sects.

    3. Koms

      You should go to Joyce’s church. Problem solved. (Play the Roundabout song)

    4. Deanatay

      Hey, if a church bursts into flames when you enter it, that’s when you know God is paying attention to you. Most people, he’d just ignore.

    5. Elsendor

      aw man if that happened i’d go to church EVERY week

      1. Roborat

        Probably a different one each week, however.

  12. MatthewTheLucky

    Fuck you and your correct assumptions!

  13. Piotr W

    Yes! Somebody tell her the truth, dammit!

  14. Reltzik

    On the other hand, Billie’s general nastiness in this relationship makes me want to root for Lucy.

    But on the other hand, I feel obliged to root for lapsing from the faith and against persistent and undesired invitations to join someone at church. I know it’s meant to be nice, but that’s still obnoxious.

    …. Ima just walk away from this one, and when I come back it’ll be a bit later and Lucy will be scoring insightful burns on some other topic instead.

    1. Zach

      Church sounds like a means of addressing an actual problem i this instance, and we can’t call a single invitation from one Christian to another pestering.

      1. Reltzik

        OPEN invitation. Not the first time.

        And if the problem is “I’m angsting about fighting with my same-sex unmarried-yet-still-fucking possibly-ex-girlfriend,” very few churches are the right place to address that. Granted, Lucy’s nice, and I’d guess she’s the liberal sort of Christian, but it’s not really safe assuming that a church is a good place to take that sort of issue if you don’t know anything about that church.

        Also, Billie doesn’t have a problem. She’s fine.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          But if the problem is “I drink like a fish most nights, and some mornings too,” there are some churches that might help with addressing that. Not all of them, and I certainly wouldn’t expect some roomate’s random church to be one of them, and Lucy kinda overstepped bounds bringing it up in the first place.

          Anyway Billie doesn’t see that as a problem.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          I wish there were an edit button. Lucy definitely overstepped bounds with that “Isn’t something wrong?” comment.

        3. Jenny Islander

          Did she? “Hey, I sleep a few feet away from you and you drag your drama around like a disregarded jacket with pockets full of things that jingle so I can’t not notice. And then you pretend that your jacket isn’t in the dirt. I perhaps know of a washing machine…? Of which you also know…?”

    2. Uly

      But Billie and Lucy ARE both Christians, and Billie didn’t say anything about not believing. Inviting a coreligionist to services with you is a pretty normal and reasonable act.

      1. Reltzik

        But it’s also pretty obvious that Billie’s saying no. Not just “not this week”, but a solid no. Inviting once is okay, but to keep on doing it (this is obviously not the first time) in the face of that is uck.

        1. Sam

          I don’t think it is wrong to offer someone a reminder that they have an open invitation to go with you in the future if they want to. If Billie doesn’t want her to ever ask/remind her again, it’s on Billie to say so, not on Lucy to magically know and Billie doesn’t seem to mind in the way that you do so I’d say you are kind of overreacting in Billie’s stead.

          If you don’t want someone to ask you/invite you to something again, it is on you to let someone know, because people have different tolerances for reminders.

        2. thejeff

          Technically this is the first time, though she may have mentioned the open invitation early. Billie moved in last Sunday, so this is the first opportunity for her to actually take her up on it.

          At some point, repeated refused invitations become intrusive, but I don’t think there’s any reason to think she’s there yet.

    3. Keulen

      I like Lucy, she’s a sweet cinnamon roll, but I’d find it annoying if an otherwise pretty nice college roommate kept asking me to go to church with them every week after I’d already turned them down.

      1. Sam

        It is likely she has only asked once before and is reminding her this week ‘by the way, if you want to come to church with me, you are always free to!’ If you don’t want invited again/reminded that you are free to come, you have to tell people that because they can’t guess your tolerance for invitations/reminders of things. Some people might like to be asked every week just because it feels like an attempt to include them, even if they say no every single time, while others like yourself would get annoyed. Billie herself doesn’t seem annoyed though.

    4. Tan

      Billie moved in last Sunday. They met after Lucy came back from church.

      See for reference: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/lucy-glenn/

      Whatever the first mention of the open invite was, it was amidst all the I’m Your New Roommate Stuff(tm) reviewed offscreen; perhaps in the roommate agreement that Billie almost certainly barely glanced at before signing. It is not at all unreasonable to not know if it was lost in the shuffle of that and to offer a reminder the first time that it’s actually relevant, especially if she did not get a clear answer from Billie at the time (likely).

      If Lucy brings it up again after this, that would certainly be imposing, but this is hardly monstrous.

      1. Reltzik

        Wait, it’s only been a week?

        …. yeah, okay, that’s within the lines, I guess. My mistake.

    5. Deanatay

      OTGH, maybe it’s Ruth we should be rooting for.

      1. Roborat

        OTGH? Wow, there is an obscure reference, which I totally got right away and didn’t have to look up.

        1. Tan

          Let me tell you about my journey with this exchange.

          I have never seen the acronym before. However, both contextually and visually it is similar enough to OTOH to be related, I am familiar with the phrase “on the gripping hand” (as the natural progression of the one hand, the other hand, then the gripping hand), and it fit. With that decided, I nonetheless googled. And then I found out the phrase “on the gripping hand” is actually a sci-fi novel reference with actual meaning, and my mind was slightly blown

          Looking back, I think I most likely picked up the phrase from my father and/or my high school science/chess club/knowledge bowl teacher, both of whom were avid sci-fi readers, so it makes perfect sense in retrospect.

        2. StClair

          Never seen the acronym before (somehow), but quite familiar with the source, to the point that I “got it” pretty much instantly.

        3. Inahc

          Same 🙂

  15. Schpoonman

    Get wrecked, Billie, you high-school-bully-ass nerd.

    I love Lucy. I didn’t read all of Shortpacked, but I saw most of Lucy’s run and her rant on how amazing Starfire is in Teen Titans 2003 and how shallow and terrible her character was in the comics the years following the show spoke to me.

    1. thejeff

      Get wrecked? She’s planning on it.

      1. ShinyNeen

        Wrecked? No, no, c’mon! No car crashes!

        1. Deanatay

          Alas, Billie never acts with integrity.

        2. thejeff

          And plenty of regrets.

          But, to circle around, getting wrecked takes care of them.

  16. Jess

    Ooh, are Becky and Lucy going to meet? I wonder if they’d get along any better than Joyce and Lucy. Maybe not. Becky’s peppy best friend quota is pretty solidly filled, after all.

  17. Woomy

    People talk about how unrealistic it is to have so many lgbt characters in one comic, but what about all these college-age practicing Christians? Where I go, you assume everyone is an atheist by default.

    1. drs

      Indiana.

    2. drs

      Hell, even Caltech, a school where Dina would not be particularly unusual, had multiple Bible study groups when I was there. One for each of the North Houses, one Blacker-Fleming one, and I assume anyone interested from the last two techno-hippie houses also joined that one. (Rickets had an inverted pentagram dominating its dining room, and Dabney had a druggie-hippie reputation; I suspect it was just more openly tolerant about the drugs, but anyway.)

    3. DinaJoyce

      Since the story centers on Joyce, it’s actually surprising there aren’t more Christians. She hasn’t looked for a Bible study group or Christian fellowship on campus. I have been on many many college campuses and I can’t think of a single one where I personally have not known multiple practicing Christians in addition to myself. I tend to seek out Christian student organizations, but even without that, when it’s something that you’re open about, it’s an important shared interest with other Christians that you meet and you tend to feel safe sharing that important thing together and become friends. Even wherever you are, I bet a few of those people you assume are agnostic are actually practicing Christians who don’t feel comfortable sharing that part of themselves with you.

      1. Sam

        That’s because Joyce initially only liked her one exact brand of Christianity most likely. Because if you remember, she did go to church with some other people before (including Mary) and her reaction to people being in different branches of Christianity was pretty much internal screaming while trying not to externally scream.

        1. thejeff

          She didn’t seem to have a problem with Sierra. Other than the lack of shoes. 🙂

          Agatha being Mormon was a bit of a stretch and she definitely overreacted to the Jacob’s Catholic style church. And she didn’t react well to Mary, but that wasn’t really over denomination.
          I can’t think of any other cases where she reacted badly in person, even to the internal screaming part.

        2. BBCC

          Catholics.

          But yeah, Becky went to a university associated with Church of God, initially, so Joyce probably grew up being taught that they were ‘acceptably’ different Christians.

      2. Derek

        “I bet a few of those people you assume are agnostic are actually practicing Christians who don’t feel comfortable sharing that part of themselves with you.”
        I have never met a Christian who was uncomfortable sharing that label of their identity with everyone, and I find that harder to believe for one in the USA.
        Not discussing religion mind you, just identifying themselves as Christians

        1. thejeff

          There is a broad assumption that Christians are or will oppressed and discriminated against. It’s nonsense as far as I can tell, but it’s commonplace. See Carol’s little bit about how the government will come for any of them just for trying to raise their children right.

          I’m sure there are some who aren’t paranoid about it who just don’t want to bring up that they go to church regularly because it doesn’t seem cool or whatever. Probably a lot more in college who did go regularly with their parents, but let it drop when they got to school just because they didn’t have someone pushing them anymore.

        2. Jenny Islander

          I got really quiet about my Christianity in college because of the sneering disgust and loudly flourished ignorance of my hallmates.

          “Oh I bet you’re shocked that we’re having SEX.” (No.)

          “Oh I bet you’re just here to find a man and settle down and pop out babies.” (No.)

          “Oh I bet you obey your pastor like a robot.” (No.)

          “Oh I bet I can get you to be shocked and upset. Let’s all gather around Jenny and try to shock and upset her.” (And that was when I realized that college was just high school but more.)

        3. buli-buli

          I had those worries in undergrad.
          The actual reason I was quiet about was because of some poor choices in finding a group.

          I had a much better time in grad school.

      3. thejeff

        Maybe? Of course I went to college in a very different part of the country decades ago, but I can’t remember many practicing Christians. Probably many nominal Christians, but the only one who went to Church regularly was a girl I dated for a couple of years and she really only went because her parents lived in town and would check up on her. (Irish Catholic.)

        Obviously I wouldn’t have known in all cases, but none of my roommates did – or if they did, they were committed to hiding it.

  18. Bagge

    There are times to be a busy-body.

    There are times to scamper off as quickly and silently ass possible.

  19. Batz

    Panel 4: “All too real” in a mere 3 words.
    Also: NINETY?! MINUTES?!!!

    Jeez! I was raised in the south. My granny DRAGGED me to church every Sunday, and it lasted for HOURS!
    Christmas and Easter? Bring snacks and extra clothes, ’cause you are leaving at the butt-crack o’ dawn and you’re NOT getting back home that day!

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Uphill both ways!

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Whuppin’ bobcats the whole time!

    2. not someone else

      Damn, right? Even the sermons are usually longer than that among my relatives, not counting any “youth sermons” or volunteer work beforehand or right after and of course doesn’t the whole church expect you’re gonna go to some bougie sitdown chain restaurant right after or you’re being insufficiently sociable?

    3. Liquid Len

      I’m sure that 90 includes the walk to and from the church.
      On a similar note, my parents are still practicing Catholics, But I know that my father doesn’t have a tolerance for a long mass, so they’re usually up at the crack of dawn to go to the earliest mass available. In and out in 45 minutes.

  20. Cyrus

    This strip reminds me that I wish we’d gotten to see more of Carla, Lucy, and Ruth hanging out.

    1. Dean

      And I already cast my vote for the Patreon bonus strip, dammit.

  21. Cholma

    “Look, you just go to church and I’ll… just float down this Egyptian river, okay?”

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Billie’s awake, dressed, and showing no visible signs of hangover, before church on a Sunday morning. Pretty easy for her to be in denial, this one particular moment. Those other moments aren’t happening right now.

    2. Deanatay

      “Or swim in it! Deep, deep in it…”

  22. DailyBrad

    Billie’s face there is hilarious, but kinda cute.

    Something’s wrong, sure, but honestly, not really sure how God could help her out with this one. Her and Ruth have a whole lot of baggage, but their issue is with faith in themselves and other people, not faith in the man upstairs.

    1. Sam

      I don’t think the point was that God could fix it. I think Lucy was just pointing out that something actually is wrong and Billie’s going like ‘how dare you not let me be in denial >:/’.

    2. thejeff

      Billie’s issue is booze.

      Some people find church programs helpful with this.

      1. DailyBrad

        that’s her biggest problem, true, but I think her issues run deeper. Like, consider her and Alice, and her realizing she doesn’t want the old her back, and how being moved to this wing effectively brought the old her back when she got the cheerleader validation again. She needs to work on who she wants the real Billie to be, and what’s important to her, and the booze problem only gets worse because of this.

  23. Nono

    Wow, it’s been over two months since we last saw Billie.

    1. ShinyNeen

      *Blinks* Woah, it has! She wasn’t in the last storyline at all, huh.

  24. Mr. Random

    Denial.
    Such a happy state.
    They have rainbows and puppies.
    And no disease.
    And no threat of constant annihilation!

    1. Geneseepaws

      I’m not going there until they have cookies. If they have cookies, I’ll be first in da Nile.

    2. Keulen

      Thanks to denial, I’m immortal!

      1. Roborat

        Seems to be working great so far.

  25. Josh Spicer

    That fifth panel face is about as cartoon a face as I’ve ever seen.

    1. Lingo

      Yep. Like a cross between Lucy Van Pelt and Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy.

      1. Geneseepaws

        I’m thinking Pogo.

  26. LeslieBean4shizzle

    **sigh**
    I can’t reup my Slipshine account until someone buys a commission from me, thus providing me with surplus spending money.
    Here’s hoping I get one soon.

    1. not someone else

      This is an official request to see your portfolio/webpage/information so you can share it without feeling weird. 😀

  27. Grant

    ninety whole minutes? what is this, holy week?

    (so glad i got raised Catholic, where Mass can be an hour or less, depending on the line for communion, and the sermons are 15, 20 minutes tops)

    1. drs

      She has to get to the church and back.

    2. Reltzik

      Presumably that includes time for travel, meet-and-greet, and coffee.

    3. Marsh Maryrose

      Well, she does have to walk there and back. If the service is one hour, that’s half an hour of walking (15 minutes each way).

  28. Kern Wallace

    Everything’s fine and that’s really all there is to say on the matter.

  29. JessWitt

    I’ll remember to use Lucy’s “look away” method when breaking uncomfortable truth-bombs to people.

    1. TheFlamingonator

      Or just wear a blindfold; looking to the side for too long might strain the eyes.

      1. Liquid Len

        Also saves you from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

  30. jmsr7

    Best. Billy face. Evar!

    Actually, it kinda reminds me of some of those early 20th century black and white cartoon animal expressions.

  31. abysswatcher1993

    Don’t test your luck with Billie, Lucy.

  32. BenRG

    A bit too early, Lucy. It’s going to take another big event for Billie to be able to make that admission to herself.

  33. fire_daws

    Knew there was a reason why I put Lucy in my top three characters ^.^

    1. Jay

      Because she snoops in someone elses business who’s shown absolutely no interest in asking for any advice or help at all?

      1. FacelessDeviant

        Maybe because she’s trying to help but knows when to back off?

        Also, when Billie shows up drunk to peoples movie nights, she sorta makes it peoples business.

      2. Sam

        I don’t think you know what the word snoop means as this is not that – it requires 0 investigation to know something is up with Billie. And Lucy hasn’t offered her any advice or help here. She just pointed out the obvious that something is wrong and then exited out before Billie could throw a fit for her daring to not pretend her life is 100% perfect with precisely 0 problems in it.

      3. Roborat

        Who, or what, is your avatar, she is terrifying.

        1. Lingo

          http://www.avasdemon.com
          Great comic! I just started reading it recently. Has some cool animations.

        2. Jay

          Already answered but yeah Avas demon great comic and this panel just spoke to me so I made her my avatar

        3. Roborat

          Strange, I can’t get my computer to load any of the pages.

  34. Danielle

    i see billie is taking robin lessons in ignoring problems

    1. Deanatay

      Eh, Billie could teach the class already, she don’ need no lessons.

  35. NinjaNick

    Billie’s a second away from firing lasers from her own eyes.

  36. Eldritch Gentleman

    Billie, there was something wrong with your life for years now.

  37. Eldritch Gentleman

    It just crossed my mind… Lucy is into cartoons and anime and goes to Church… and so does Mary. I think we could do something with that?

  38. Jay

    Lucy needs to mind her own

    1. BenRG

      She’s alt-Joyce, so offering spiritual remedies is automatically in-character.

    2. Sam

      She literally just offered an invitation to go to church with her and pointed out the obvious (that something is wrong) in response to what Billie said (that nothing is wrong). Lucy doesn’t have to pretend that things are perfect in Billie’s life just because Billie is and if Billie doesn’t want her to invite her to things, she’s the one who has to say so but unlike people here in the comments, Billie doesn’t seem to actually care about that part at all, just that Lucy dares to not accept her denial outright as the truth.

      1. Norah

        Just as long as Lucy doesn’t keep inviting her to church, this one time is ok. But she shouldn’t do it again.

        1. Jay

          Billies been pretty clear on the “leave me alone” front since they became roomies. Knowing the track record this isn’t going to be the only time (nor has it been the first probably)

        2. Zee

          Well it’s only been a week so, yeah it’s the first time

    3. Zee

      “hey I know you’re going through some stuff, you can come to church with me if you want”
      Yeah totally what a fuckin Snoop mind your own business
      /Sarcasm, if you can’t tell.

      1. Jay

        Let people deal with their shit. it’s THEIR shit. I hate people that offer to help when nothing was asked, if the world ain’t ending and you weren’t asked or gone to for help, mind your own that’s my view on it.

  39. missilentmurmur

    She’s going to church in a top like that? In October?

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      Cold weather is nothing when compared to the frigid animosity her room-mates exposed her to.

    2. Ainara

      The hatred in Billie’s stare will keep her warm

  40. Lone Duck

    So Billie’s ex-GF has confided to Lucy that she’s worried about her. Everyone Lucy has talked to takes it as fact that Billie has a drinking problem. Now, if you ask me, church is not the best place to go to resolve something like this. The better option would be the therapy that Ruth invited Billie to, that she refused to go to. It’s a fair assumption that a fellow Christian might want to go to church.

    Of course, in Billie’s defense, we haven’t seen her drink since moving in with Lucy. Despite the breakup over Ruth’s decision to quit drinking, it’s possible that Billie has been responsibly drinking since changing dorms. Who knows?

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      Church is unlikely to solve the problem but perhaps the atmosphere or what the priest says might motivate Billie to change and try to solve it. She already rejected the idea of therapy when offered, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped so the first step is to make her Want that help.

      Didn’t she drink just recently and popped up into Lucy’s “date” with Walky? Ah found it
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/hurrah/

      1. LauraS

        Even if the act of going to church is unlikely to help, doing a social thing (a step towards building a friendship) with someone who isn’t causing or worsening the problem is unlikely to hurt.

    2. Sam

      We know for a fact Billie has not been drinking responsibly since changing dorms – she has skipped classes to go to bars and recently had an all out binge on alcohol.

      But I don’t think Lucy was inviting Billie to go to church for healing reasons. I think she was just doing that to be friendly like you would invite someone to go to a party or to breakfast at a diner if you were already planning to go.

      1. Charlotte

        Yup, this.

    3. BenRG

      Of course, the concern here isn’t the efficacy of Lucy’s proposed course but the fact that Billie clearly doesn’t think anything is wrong, even though Ruth does to the point where Billie and her are on a pause and, indeed, Ruth may even be moving on to Carla.

    4. C.T Phipps

      Nothing “solves” alcoholism but it helps to be social and something that helps put you in a different state of mind.

  41. Darkoneko

    Lucy learn denial !
    It’s super effective

    1. ShinyNeen

      Man, Lucy is no match for Billie’s Drink-Denial stalling strategy. She’s just going to get ground down and finished off when Billie uses Selfdestruct.

      1. Darkoneko

        She should be safe in the church, last time Billie entered one she caught on fire

        1. Darkoneko

          (she breathed too close to one of the candles)

  42. Tadpole7

    I figured out what bothered me about Lucy’s interaction with Billie. The invite from Lucy was fine and Billie’s response was a decent no indicating which two days she does go.
    Even the assertion that everything isn’t wrong was to be expected with what Lucy has seen and heard recently.

    It was the still looking to the side comment that bugged me. It avoids, dismisses Billie’s reaction. Lucy seems to do these little pushes, sometimes big ones with people from time to time. It feels familiar me in not a good way.

    Honestly a minor thing but it grates.

    Lucy’s been a tough character for me. I think she is a nice person and her interaction with Carl was quite fun. But she does this push, push thing that leaves me looking at her side eyed.

    1. Apostate

      Carla*

    2. Daibhid C

      I dunno. I mean I genuinely don’t know what the correct reaction is. You say dismissing it is wrong, and I respect that. But acknowledging it also seems wrong to me. Lucy’s being glared at for asking if things are wrong. The correct response is to pretend things aren’t wrong, surely?

      This is one of those situations where I’d just say “Um, right” and leave, and worry incessantly that this was wrong for the rest of the day. Mind you, now I think about it, that’s most situations.

      1. Jay

        The correct answer is to accept someones answer and leave well enough alone. It’s simple, if someone isn’t asking for help or reaching out in any way, don’t provide it?

  43. Ryan

    I love how these “going to church” strips are positioned above ads for a gay slipshine comic

  44. HeatherJean

    So, how is Billie reading those books without her glasses? Izzat why her eyes look so weird?

    1. Needfuldoer

      She can probably read perfectly fine without them if she’s nearsighted.

    2. fire_daws

      She doesn’t wear her glasses in Forest Hall because this.

    3. Rowen Morland

      Do contacts not work for reading?

  45. PB

    (sigh) God, I hope Billie wakes up.

  46. Matticus

    That Billie face tho

  47. C.T Phipps

    I’m still on the team that the best thing for both Ruth and Billie is that they break up and stay far apart from one another.

    Then again, I’m a Ruth/Carla shipper.

  48. Jenny Islander

    I think that while at first glance her explanation is just standard Let’s Be Flippant and Witty Instead of Being Honest bumf, it’s really honest.

    Church is (to some people at least) where problems get fixed. If I go to church outside my usual pattern, I may be admitting that there’s a problem. If I just pretend as hard as I can that there is no problem, there will be no problem. Therefore, no church today. (And also, CHANGE BAD. NO CHANGE. ONLY SUBMARINE CHURCH.)

  49. ValdVin

    Okay, who will have a conversation about church in tomorrow’s strip?

  50. Rowen Morland

    Billie, if you are feeling sinister, go off and see a minister.

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