274

Up, continued
Posted on May 15, 2025 by David M Willis

274 thoughts on “Up, continued”

  1. NGPZ

    imagine how much of a jumpscare it would actually be if someone popped out of the Pile of Lesbos

    o hi Becky XD

    1. Thag Simmons

      I do recall someone wondering what she was up to yesterday.

      1. Sajuuk-Khar

        as it turns out, a lot of strenuous “tailoring work” with Dina had her all tuckered out

  2. Sirksome

    Yo. Sometimes these characters are just creepy.

    1. Steamweed

      Panel 5 reminds me of the creeptastic stand-in-corner scene of the Blair Witch Project movie.

      1. AnonGrouch

        Idk having done this myself many times sometimes you just need to stare in the dark standing up. Definitely creepy to an outside observer I guess but as readers with full context of Dorothy’s mind state I can’t really imagine calling it creepy other than as an empathetic/sympathetic response to Becky’s reaction.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Solidarity. Been there too. Many times.

    2. Joy

      ….She’s just standing there? How is that creepy?

      1. Wizard

        Standing there staring a hole through the wall. I’m a little creeped.

    3. Furie

      Sometimes you need a moment before your dark vision kicks in. Especially if you’ve got blackout stuff.

  3. Nymph

    Yeah, I’d be pretty fucking spooked if my roommate was Blair Witching in the middle of the night.

    1. Cattleprod

      Good thing I skimmed the comments to see if someone made a Blair Witch reference yet.

      1. Steamweed

        Well hells I did first without reading up. Ach.

    2. John Campbell

      I was staying over at a friend’s place one time, and around 2 AM, I glanced up and discovered that his three-year-old daughter was crouched like a gargoyle in the dark at the top of the stairs, staring silently down at me.

      1. Queen Anthai

        Damn, I’m freaked out a bit just reading that.

        1. Clif

          That’s okay. She’ll be watching you tonight.

      2. Amelie Wikström

        I was the jumpscarer one time, if you’ll bear with me for a little story.
        It was full dark one winter evening when I got to my friend’s house unannounced. I could see him through the window, lit up by the computer screen. The only light in the house. His whole family was gone. They even brought the dog for some reason. So I quietly went around the back and crawled in through the dog door and sneaked up behind my friend and stood there for like five minutes, waiting for the right moment. He was playing Doom, and this was back in the day when Doom could be pretty spooky to a teenager. Pretty easy to see how he tensed up when going through an unfamiliar door. So that’s when I slammed my hand onto his shoulder.

        Such happy times.

        1. not someone else

          …Jesus. Did he live? That’s amazing.

        2. Amelie Wikström

          Oh, he definitely died. (In the game.) (Though now he is dead to me.)

        3. Taffy

          Amelie “The Silent Killer” Wikström

      3. Needfuldoer

        At least she wasn’t crawling across the ceiling like a spider.

        1. Steamweed

          I hate it when I do that in my sleep.

        2. Needfuldoer

          I know, right? Spinning your head around to look at the floor gives you such a pain in the neck. :\

    3. yet_one_more_idiot

      What about if they were sleepwalking about? And/or sleeptalking?

      ‘Cos I do both… 😀

    4. Layn

      One night I woke up to my roommate sleepwalking into my bedroom. I was weirdly not spooked, it only set in later. Suffice it to say, I started locking my bedroom after that.

  4. Nono

    Her programming got activated. Dorothy.EXE awaiting further commands.

    1. Steamweed

      Manchurian, er, Presidential Candidate Dorothy Keener.

  5. DailyBrad

    Wonder if Dorothy will talk to her about the whole “probably queer as it turns out” thing.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I feel like Dorothy has not yet reached a state of acceptance where she would be willing to open up about that

      1. Charles Phipps

        It’s weird Becky was 100% right about Dorothy trying to steal her childhood friend for romantic purposes.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          That’s only one (highly biased) reading of DoA. Dorothy didn’t seem to have any sexual interest in Joyce until the breast pictures. So at the time of Becky’s accusation it was not true, even though later Dorothy developed an attraction (and seemingly, so did Joyce).

          And even if Dorothy was interested in Joyce much earlier, her own actions weren’t trying to steal Joyce.

        2. morleuca

          also, Dorothy reads into everything. Everything has to mean something, and nothing can be just accidental or of the moment. because if it were otherwise she wouldn’t be able to keep all of reality’s boxes orderly.

        3. KoboldCatgirl

          I think Dorothy *was* interested much earlier, but I also don’t think she realized it, yeah. To her, it was just an exceptionally close female friendship where her friend would constantly dote on her and pine after her and tell her how pretty she was. She got so used to the friendship effectively feeling romantic that it never registered to her that the romantic dynamic was, y’know, something she’d come to crave.

        4. Dread Pirate Robin

          I don’t think the titty pic activated her bi synapses, I think it was the first time she realized the nature of the affection she held for her. This isn’t superficial “damn girl nice boobs” attraction, this is “oh my god I’m in love with Joyce, she’s the reason i stayed behind and now it’s too late for us to be together” attraction.

      2. Li

        I think Becky could be a good person for her to talk to here…

        …but I can also see sooooo many reasons why Dorothy would not think Becky was a good person for her to talk to here.

        1. Vanessa Pinter

          So far Becky has been nothing but mean and abusive toward Dorothy and a rudely messy roommate too. I bet that pile reeks. Lashing out at every opportunity. Let’s see if she can step up when needed or will pull more “dead dad” guilt trips and crack tasteless jokes. I like Becky and I can see her trauma but she would be miserable to live with even if she didn’t have a grudge against you.”

        2. Sajuuk-Khar

          tfw you craft a topically related piece of satirical over-the-top anti-Becky bait for laughs only to be upstaged by someone full of genuine hot boiling haterade and smell-o-vision out of nowhere

        3. Charles Phipps

          I enjoyed Joe destroying Dorothy with his maturity. I hope Becky will do the same. Only when crushed forever will Dorothy at last embrace her true evil nature and become Presidential material.

        4. Taffy

          Nah, evil is boring. May as well just kill her off, at that point. Now, if she started beating people up to work off the stress and bad vibes, that’d be interesting.

        5. Li

          That’s such a… unique takeaway from that sequence. That Joe was “destroying” her. Idek what to say hah.

        6. Charles Phipps

          Dorothy hit him with everything she had and he shrugged it off like a champ.

          Then he broke her…with the truth.

        7. Nymph

          Yes. They had a conversation where Joe was kind and understanding as Dorothy wrestled with a difficult new awareness of herself. If you want to phrase that like it was WWE you totally can.

        8. Megan

          do you not remember him saying “Checkmate, liveral” before doing a kick flip into a hot tub? it was a pretty pivotal scene

        9. Li

          @Nymph: hey no kinkshaming

          @Charles: I really didn’t see either of them as attacking each other; just Dorothy lashing out (kind of generally, an explosion more than aimed attacks), and Joe being understanding about it, but.

          @Megan: d’oh, I totally forgot that part, ty

        10. Nymph

          I’m a proud kinkshamer. Some people are into that.

        11. Li

          Pff. Okay, that’s fair. I shouldn’t speak for other people about whether or not they wanna be kinkshamed. ?

        12. Li

          Pow’s Law continuing to Poe and Law its way up and down this comment section heh.

        13. Nadamás

          Putting “abusive” on the high shell until people learn to use it responsibly.

        14. Clif

          Good luck with that.

        15. someone

          Are you saying that people are abusing “abusive” abusively?

          Also, language cannot be policed, otherwise people would have stopped using “irregardless” long ago.

        16. Joy

          (-__-) I don’t use that word because words mean things and that word doesn’t and is therefore only pretending to be a word.

        17. clif

          Irregardless, I shall continue to use it as a synonym for regardless, though seldom and only for effect.

          But since “nothing” doesn’t mean anything, should we conclude it isn’t a word either? And if it does mean something, is that thing thereby not nothing?

        18. Nadamás

          That isn’t how that works though, the concept of nothing is not the same as the word nothing, which does have a definition and so it is a word with meaning.

        19. Heavensrun

          But it still doesn’t mean anything.

        20. Nadamás

          Good nobody was policing anything here. I am just telling someone they use a word with a very specific and heavy meaning in a stupid about a situation where it doesn’t apply.

        21. Big Z

          Hey, laundry piles like that save lives!

          (it’s true. My college roommate had one, and once his girlfriend fell out of his loft but landed in the atomic boxer pile instead of on the concrete floor.)

        22. Li

          One of those moments where for a split second you’re not sure you’re glad you landed somewhere soft ffffffff

        23. Big Z

          “I’m alive… but at what cost?”

        24. Li

          Exaaaactly.

        25. HueSatLight

          Those are probably clean clothes. The same ones are always on top. So the dirty ones she takes off aren’t going there.

        26. Bryy

          Yeah, this is either gonna be wholesome

          or not.

    2. AK

      I think that would be a really cool scene, I really hope it happens.

    3. Mturtle7

      “Becky, I…I’ve recently been having…some THOUGHTS about Joyce…of a sexual nature…”
      “HEY GUESS WHAT YOU’RE A LESBIAN BI!!!”

  6. CitrineMonster

    WILLIS PLEASE NO WAY DO NOT MAKE THEM KISS OH MY GOD HAHAHAHA

    1. Nymph

      I don’t think there’s any risk of this, but it’s a trainwreck I’d be down to see.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Odds of that happening are pretty insignificant, I think

      1. Freezer

        But never non-zero.

    3. Fiiiiilo

      NGL, I hadn’t even really considered that as a possibility.

      I just hope this is all resolved in a way that doesn’t involve anyone cheating on their partner.

  7. Nadamás

    Sometimes you just stand there in the dark because doesn’t know what to do anymore.

    1. Longshot97

      Been there, done that. This new direction isn’t precisely scary, but it is inspiring a steadily rising feeling of dread.

  8. BBCC

    This might be a REALLY not fun night for Dorothy.

  9. TheFungus

    I think Dorothy is starting to hit Komm Susser Tod levels here mental state-wise, this seems dire.

    1. Nadamás

      Can confirm!

    2. Longshot97

      Actually my suspicion as well. It would pay off some () unresolved discussions with Ruth from the previous semester. But yeah. My heart genuinely bleeds for Dorothy.

    3. Li

      It does currently kinda resemble Ruth sitting in the dark on her bed, but I think we need a few more strips before we know exactly how bad Dorothy’s doing.

      She’s not in a great place, but.

      1. thejeff

        Yeah, a single night of that isn’t really a big deal, especially when it’s tied to an actual specific cause.

        What was scary about Ruth was summed up in Jennifer’s “Yeah, that’s normal”

        1. Li

          That, too, for sure. 🙁

  10. Dot

    Sometimes you gotta Blair Witch it a little. We’ve all been there.

    1. Steamweed

      *nods sagely

  11. Sajuuk-Khar

    This is beyond the pale. Just because Dorothy isn’t moving much in every panel, BECKY, doesn’t mean you can harmfully cast her in your already reprehensible Five Nights at Freddy’s fan game without her consent. And FURTHERMORE

    1. NGPZ

      earthling, don’t tempt me >:D

  12. JepMZ

    Oh man, are they gonna trauma bond??

    1. Vanessa Pinter

      Becky will likely lash out even more and make everything worse, but perhaps she will step up and they can start a Joyce Fan Club.

      1. AGV/Ruby

        “?Just let us adore you?”

        1. Fiiiiilo

          which of the diamonds would Joe be?

        2. Finep

          I would say Blue, Dorothy as Yellow and Becky as White. If we really must, of course.

        3. Taffy

          Blue’s whole thing is she’s constantly feeling huge emotions out loud and making them everyone else’s problem. I don’t know if that works for Joe.

    2. Li

      I thought trauma bonding was more like… what everyone did during the kidnapping? I thought the trauma had to be simultaneous.

      (I also kinda think trauma is a strong word for gentle rejection, no matter how deep your feelings for someone.)

  13. Sammich

    I didn’t expect an Azumanga Daioh reference but I’m not disappointed xD

  14. Icalasari

    Please Dorothy do not tell Becky about your moment with Joyce it will only go poorly

    I love Becky, but she is 100% a Chaos Goblin

    1. NGPZ

      her and Amber really need to do a Chaos Goblin Fusion Team Assemble XD >:D

      1. Clif

        Can a Chaos Goblin and a Trash Goblin fuse or are they incompatable?

    2. Ed Callahan

      Not really, but she plays one in the comic strips.

      1. Icalasari

        Basically, she’s a good person, but she is also a chaos goblin. It’s how she’s presenting herself – It is an act, sure, but she still plays the role as she tries to find out who she is

        And she WOULD ramp up the Arch Nemesis bit to distance herself from the heartbreak of Joyce willing to be gay for Dorothy but not her. I don’t think she’s fully over Joyce. Doesn’t mean she’s a bad gf to Dina, but it does mean that something like “Oh, Joyce would be gay for Dotty but not me” would still sting, and she reacts to emotional pain via her bits

        IE 100% Chaos Goblin

  15. Animedingo

    White woman jumpscare

  16. NGPZ

    re: alt-text,

    LOL classic (^.^)4

    1. OnyxIdol

      very much so!

      1. NGPZ

        *plays “Raspberry Heaven” by Oranges and Lemons on nearby laptop*

    2. RynFromK2L

      Aww… you woke up.

    3. The Queer Agenda [frog memes]

      Tricksy frying pans.

  17. Amós Batista

    Joyce has entered good in her mind. She’s even more shattered than before.

  18. Charles Phipps

    Azumanga Daioh is the most beloved reference Willis has made after decades of Transformers and Batman ones.

    At least to me.

  19. Tessea

    Well Dorothy and Becky have something in common now. They both fell for Joyce. But in Dorothy’s case, she was the one to back off.

    I get it, and Dorothy was absolutely right to pull away from Joyce considering their existing relationships. But _damn_ I feel for Dorothy so much right now. I hope Becky can give her an actual heart-to-heart conversation about this.

    1. Li

      It could be nice for both of them…!

      It really all depends on which Becky we get here. There’s a Becky who’s both very serious and very compassionate, who I think WOULD in fact make an excellent shoulder to cry on for anyone, especially someone suffering sapphic heartbreak.

      But there’s… also the Becky who’s been, kinda, bullying Dorothy out of jealousy over Joyce ever since they met, and who recently has been vibrating with anxiety over the very concept of sexual fluidity (which Joyce miiiight have been demonstrating in the very confusing moment they had together earlier).

      (And, by the way, I think that moment WAS confusing, probably for both of them, even though “we were… just confused” has terrible optics as a thing to say about bisexuality orz.)

      1. Steamweed

        Dorothy could benefit from a Becky-and-Dina talking.

        1. AnonGrouch

          Has to be with Dina present. I can’t imagine Becky having a sane, rational, helpful conversation with Dorothy about this without her own baggage coming into play. Dina however, could definitely keep her grounded enough to be helpful think.

        2. Li

          I can. I don’t think Becky’s entire grudge against Dorothy has been performative, but I do think that we’ve seen her acknowledge when she’s taken it too far, and we’ve seen her turn on a dime when someone’s actually hurting. I think a key element in said grudge was the belief that Dorothy was 100% straight, as well as a fear that “no matter what Joyce might say to make me feel better, if she was actually straight with just one exception, that exception would be Dorothy”.

          (I’m not saying this is accurate to Joyce’s sexuality now or in the past, I’m just saying I think it was a sinking feeling Becky had very early on in her interactions with Dorothy and Joyce, like at the party when they were all playing Apples to Apples.)

          So it’s definitely possible that realizing Dorothy was actually bi ans heartbroken might flip that script.

          It’s just also possible for it to very much NOT.

          Dina’s presence would help tho ?

      2. John Campbell

        Bisexuality Orz? Orz is not *many bubbles* like *campers*. Orz is one with many *fingers*. Orz *fingers* reach through into *heavy space* and you *see* Orz *bubbles* but it is really *fingers*.

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          Oh fuck me, someone call the Kzer-Za

        2. SDGlyph

          Well, in googling “what the hell are people talking about”, I have learned two new things before breakfast. 🙂

        3. Jay

          Uh oh. Normally Orz being here would mean the Androsynth *aren’t*, and Burying Your Gay Fascists is a heck of a thing… Bisexuality Orz in this storyline won’t make for *happy campers* and it doesn’t need more *dancing*!

        4. Li

          I have clearly said some sort of trigger phrase that’s activated yall sleeper agents but I swear I just meant the little emoticon for “oh jeez oh no”, haha.

        5. Yumi

          Man, I’m learning about all sorts of things this morning.

        6. Li

          Also written OTL

          It’s supposed to look like a lil stick figure dude on his hands and knees with his head bowed low

          orz

          It’s more convincing in some fonts than in others.

          I bet this emoticon is almost as old as me, honestly. It must date back to like at least Usenet.

        7. Yumi

          It’s from 2002 (I looked it up this morning); how old are you?

          I have seen it, but moreso when Japanese characters are used for part/all of it. Helps me not just read it as a word or acronym. (But those don’t work in all places.)
          _|￣|○

        8. Li

          Oooo, that’s so much younger than I thought AND I have never seen that variant! The internet is so funny.

          I think I was assuming because it just felt like something that came from the height of like ASCII art. Which for the record dates back to 1966, though there are earlier examples from before modern computers even.

          (I googled it after typing that, fully prepared to be like “which is ALSO way younger than I thought, holy cow”.)

          (I am a lot older than orz/OTL/etc, and now I know.)

        9. Dana W

          You make Usenet sound ancient. I spent the 90s there in arguments that make me glad I changed my name. I suppose to some it would. I date back to BBS systems. The horrible realization I’ve now been online more than thirty years is terrifying.

        10. Li

          @Dana aw! Sorry ? Usenet predates my internet usage but not because I was actually too young for all of the 90s. More like because we didn’t have an internet-capable computer in the house. My folks weren’t early adopters.

        11. thejeff

          I got my first Usenet feed from a BBS back in college.

          Back in the days of yore.

        12. Big Z

          Once you’ve summoned the Star Control II obsessives, you can’t ever put the genie back in the bottle.

        13. Li

          Thank you for explaining the reference! I did want to know, but I also wanted to make my joking response ?

        14. Big Z

          I was 100% reading this thread thinking “oh, man, no one has actually SAID ‘Star Control II’ yet, someone better.”

        15. Pergola

          I am laying off Google for a week, until this all goes away.
          ( it will go away wont it )

      3. Davus

        I think in that moment you have the compassionate Becky, although it will get messy since the specific relationships between Becky Joyce and Dorothy.

    2. Sajuuk-Khar

      Becky, out of respect for Dorothy’s obvious suffering, will only spend five minutes crowing “I TOLDJA CHICKS WERE AWESOME, DOTTY” instead of the usual ten.

  20. Charles Phipps

    Dorothy losing Joyce is less painful than losing it to JOE.

  21. John Campbell

    I thought she was holding a bottle at first, but it’s just her hand below her exercise watch.

    1. MeghanTheDreamCrusher

      Not an unreasonable assumption honestly, given Dotty’s been a bit quick to turn to the bottle as of late

  22. Sirksome

    Look Dorothy fans. I know this seems rough on poor Dotty but uh…them’s the breaks. I’ve learned from long time Jennifer supporting that every bisexual must go through a period of suffering. Jen went through it, Ruth went through it, hell even Danny went through it! It’s just what happens. They all came out the other end better for it. We just read through Jen’s suffering era and now she’s smoozing with her hot platonic bestie. Dorothy is just paying her dues.

    And don’t be surprised when it’s Joyce’s time. She’s flirting way too much to not get some healthy bisexual angst. She racking up that tab. We’ll see who’s jealous when Dorothy’s eventually juggling too much pussy to handle and it ain’t Joyce’s.

    1. Sajuuk-Khar

      Jason Chesterfield, Consolation Prize

    2. Reltzik

      I’m revoking your metaphor privelges for 24 hours as a penalty for introducing my literalist brain to the image of “juggling pussies”.

  23. Reltzik

    … so, I momentarily thought that Dorothy might possibly be on the edge of self-harm. Just an impression that I got. And then I thought, whether she is or not, Becky’s going to jump on that possibility in an instant.

    1. Vanessa Pinter

      Huh, maybe we’ll get the compassionate fellow gay Becky instead of the jealous Becky.

    2. Nadamás

      Been there so I thought the same.

    3. Bittersweet

      Yeaaaah, I’ve seen that face on myself one too many times and it always either immediately precedes or is in the middle of my brain doing a hijacking for a suicidal episode. I cannot possibly imagine that this is where that is going because that is the darkest possible thing, in front of *Becky* no less, but that’s what that blank, non-responsive expression normally means on me.

      Dorothy needs like… idk. She refuses to do actual therapy, but she needs like an intervention. This reaction to rejection (especially with the PTSD flashback to the emotions if not the event) is so far from healthy that I don’t expect anybody except a professional to actually know how to address it. If this were my friend or roommate, I’d probably be doing a Dana style “call the parents” situation after seeing this. She has spiraled frighteningly quick.

      1. Sajuuk-Khar

        There is no evidence Dorothy has “refused to do therapy”, what??

        There’s evidence that she may have not given the full truth to her school therapist and EVEN MORE that the therapists at IU are, how do you say, “dog shit”, but this is just not factual.

        1. Nadamás

          Not telling your therapist the full truth about the issue that being you there, because you actively didn’t want to, IS refusing to do actual therapy. They cannot actually do their job if you are not honest with them about why you there.

        2. Nadamás

          Just to clarify, this is not a matter of trust, Dorothy ‘s therapist could be the single kindest most trustworthy person ever and she still wouldn’t have disclose anything about her actual metal heath problems, because them it would be on record and they even *gasp* prescribe her medication and couldn’t allow that to happen due to her political ambition at the time.

        3. Reltzik

          Well, there was this exchange:

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/03-joementum/inwithyou/

      2. Joy

        As someone with PTSD, please don’t interact with us?

    4. RocketRelm

      My expectation is that given the time of night, the darkness, the previous relationship, is that Becky will at first presume this is messing around, and act accordingly. Then, either later in the conversation or the next day, she’ll realize it was serious, and have to deal with the drama that unfolds.

  24. Masumi

    This strip made me realise I don’t actually understand how the beds are arranged in those rooms. I always assumed they’re on opposite walls, but for Becky to see Dorothy at that angle (and considering Dorothy hasn’t moved in relation to the carpet and wall of clothes), they seem to be next to each other on the same wall? How did I miss that for so long?

    1. MeghanTheDreamCrusher

      First panel of this strip does a good job of showing off the layout

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/paleoblog/

      Don’t feel too bad about not noticing. I thought they had bunk beds for I don’t know how many years

      1. Rotunda

        The desks are under the beds; the closets and the door into the half-bath are on the opposite wall from the two loft-beds. One other wall of the room has the door to the hall, and the other has the windows.

        1. Clif

          So basically, they do have bunk beds, it’s just that the desk has the lower bunk.

    2. HueSatLight

      https://www.tumblr.com/itswalky/133282007082/look-its-a-room?source=share

      door to hallway is behind and to the left the camera, the hinge in the corner with the half-bath door.
      closets and half bath are behind and to the right of the camera, arranged like this:
      https://www.tumblr.com/dumbingofage/781842201301958656/itswalky-because-i-dont-have-enough-to-do?source=share

      Rooms on the other side of their respective half-baths are mirrored more-or-less.

      1. HueSatLight

        wait… Sarah and Joyce’s closets are criss-cross from their beds. D:<

        1. HueSatLight

          Dina and Amber/AG’s closets are criss-cross too. Trying to find a good shot of Sal’s closet to see if they’re all criss-cross.

        2. HueSatLight

          Danny and Joe’s closets are not criss-crossed.

        3. HueSatLight

          Sal and Jennifer Malaya’s closet is criss-crossed. Dorothy and Sierra Becky’s is not.

    3. Li

      Adam Driver “everyday I wake up” meme only it’s “every day I wake up and someone new in the comment section has learned that there are no bunk beds only loft beds against their will”

  25. AbacusWizard

    “I do! I understood that Azumanga Daioh ref!”

    1. Rose by Any other Name

      Likewise.
      Now someone needs to get bitten by a cat.
      Or admit to being bisexual while correcting someone about the definition.

      1. NickG

        Now I’m imagining Kaorin following Carla around in a cloud of shoujo flowers and bubbles.

  26. Jon

    Oh my god Becky pick up your damn clothes

    1. Nadamás

      The pile of lesbos will remain forevermore!

    2. Vanessa Pinter

      No kidding. I can just smell the reek, what an awful room for Dorothy to have in live in. You can just imagine all the dirty dishes and sex wipes all over the place too. Thanks goodness she doesn’t seem to wear makeup or there would be q-tips, half-open containers of perfumed muck, and face wipes everywhere too.

      1. Nadamás

        Okay let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, it is literally just that one pile of clothes.

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          Remember when Becky signed that agreement with the county to store containers of hydrofluoric acid, used needles, and radioactive material in the dorm room, and then pooped in Dorothy’s bed? She was so wrong for that

        2. Nadamás

          Oh yeah I forgot about that, sorry my mistake.

        3. Buck Ripsnort

          [Eyes bug out] This is real? Could someone give me a linkee to that strip?

        4. Heavensrun

          =_=

        5. someone

          Bed pooping? It was Amber who did that, or so I’ve Heard.

        6. Joy

          Compared to everything that Johnny Depp put her through, shitting the bed once seems pretty mild.

        7. Li

          People made such a huge thing out of that like it proved abuse. Really really revealing for folks who hadn’t already noticed that for most NT people, “weird/gross/symptomatic behavior” is completely synonymous with “abusive”.

      2. Taffy

        Gods, you sound like my sister. You just invented an entire mess that’s literally not there, for the sole purpose of upsetting yourself.

        1. Sajuuk-Khar

          Taffy, don’t tell me YOU forgot about the radioactive waste! Or how Becky was cackling to Dina about how she sewed the remains of several murdered mob witnesses into Dorothy’s mattress!

        2. Taffy

          It’s called recycling.

        3. Clif

          Insert “recycling your mom, for a nickel” joke here.

        4. Nadamás

          Hey, I am the one who makes nonsensical your mom jokes around here! Get off my corner, I am not smart enough to come up with another schtick!

        5. Clif

          Hey, it’s actually Mike’s schtick. He’s just not using it right now.

        6. Laura

          Unlike yer mom.

          Whom he is using right now.

          For a nickel.

        7. Clif

          <3

        8. Wilde

          Vanessa is to Becky what anonymouse has been to Dorothy. The comments in every thread about Becky will continue until morale improves crashes.

        9. Nadamás

          Or they finally stop commenting after pissing off enough people.

        10. Taffy

          HAHAHAHAHAHA

        11. Nymph

          Yeah, that’d be nice. Lemme know if it ever happens.

        12. Nadamás

          It literally happened with anonymouse, as it’s the one Wilde and I am were referring to. So well letting you know since you asked.

        13. Taffy

          Yeah, that was just people dogpiling and telling someone to shut up forever just because they misunderstood something. It was genuinely shitty.

  27. Mym

    Me too, Dottie

  28. OnyxIdol

    Alttext: Now there is a name I haven’t heard in a while. I guess we’re both just old Willis

    1. Clif

      Now wait. You cant both be old Willis. One of you must be new Willis.

      You guys are going to make me google azumanga daioh aren’t you? And it’s going to be another rabbit hole. Probably a very scary rabbit hole. One with a very scary rabbit, so I’m not going to fall for it.

      Brings up new tab with Google for reasons.

      1. StClair

        It’s usually not scary. It’s funny and charming.
        usually.

        1. Clif

          But it is a rabbit hole.

        2. Charles Phipps

          Osaka is my spirit animal.

        3. NickG

          Not so much a rabbit hole as a pile of cats (Some of the cats may be scary)

        4. Clif

          All cats are scary if you properly understand cats.

  29. Mada

    [Twisted Nerve whistling]

    “Oh, you’re awake. That’s too bad.”

  30. Taffy

    Becky’s uncommonly hot, in that tank top.

  31. Jesse

    The new social media trend: Blair Witching.

    1. Nadamás

      It’s less stupid and less likely to kill you that many other trends at least

      1. Holly

        I dunno, jump scare some people from sleep and you’re risking it.

  32. xronium

    Sata andagii!

  33. V98

    Ohhh, she is *broken…*

  34. IntangibleMatter

    What isn’t shown in the comic is her repeatedly trying to interact with the corkboard before saying “no, that won’t work” to herself

    1. StClair

      “I can’t use those two things together.”

  35. Opus the Poet

    Dorothy is disconsolate. What a lovely archaism, “disconsolate”. It was going out of style when I was a kid 50 years ago, but it’s still lovely.

    1. Clif

      Out of style? Disconsolate is a perfectly cromulent word.

  36. Morhek

    “How did you get over Joyce?”

    “…over?”

  37. Suet

    “Sudden Dorothy!”

    she’s just standing there… unexpectedly

  38. Woop de doop

    Dorothy turns around slowly.
    She looks at Becky with her haunting eyes.
    Becky is terrified for her life.

  39. Laura

    …OK anyone want to play a game?

    3 questions, for tonight:

    1. What is on Dorothy’s corkboard?

    2. What is on YOUR corkboard, or would be, if you had a corkboard?

    3. What is the COOLEST (or strangest, or silliest…) thing you could see putting on a corkboard?

    1. Laura

      I can go:

      1. Pinned-up homework assignments and newspaper story drafts, in order of deadline.

      2. 3 years’ worth of way-overdue tax forms. Plus some Sanskrit lyrics I’ve been carrying with me from place to place for the past 30 years.

      3. A simple proof of Fermat’s last theorem.

      1. Clif

        1. Copied articles from the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

        2. Miscellaneous project notes. Currently this includes (A) a notecard with the chords E, F, G, A to be played repeatedly in order while the notes A, C, D, Eb, E, G, and A are played semi-randomly above them. (B) A listing of javascript code to enable a web page to allow playing American Mah Jongg against three AI opponents – Incomplete and being debugged. (C) A printout of Unicorn Glade, my latest attempt at digital arting. (D) Notes for new story in progress, The Memory Thief. (The man woke. His head was pounding. He was laying on the ground, his cheek pressed up against cold rough cobblestones. He groaned and tried to push himself up, but it wasn’t easy. His limbs felt heavy and uncoordinated and the chill of the damp pavement seeped through his clothes. He was in a narrow dark alleyway. It looked unfamiliar.) (E) Notes for my alternate machine learning algorithm and architecture that doesn’t depend on gradient descent for optimization and could represent a great leap forward, but probably doesn’t.

        3. The future Dumbing of Age strips in which Joe reanimates the corpse of Mike Warner.

        1. Laura

          DANG, Clif! Wow!

        2. Clif

          Unicorn Glade – https://scontent-hou1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/495194440_24322895357300838_950860114614135736_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=z_rcYT7WLv4Q7kNvwEoTp2I&_nc_oc=AdnbJeehhjWsPfYsCv3yut0bMFpJ8SsieWP1If7Av44HtvssdUbbqa8eKd2SFoXWzVSkNbXD8_EnfnecAdl1gou9&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-hou1-1.xx&_nc_gid=TlZnGI7puQ5d3lwlILqoMw&oh=00_AfLxHAM6jlaw_6QE9oucM_opV3psASn4UKg1yhzy2VrMEw&oe=682B6F18

        3. Laura

          ???
          Wowee! Yowie kazowie!

        4. Clif

          Oh, yeah. The notecard (A) should specify that the notes above the chords should be played in a swing rhythm.

      2. clif

        Do you have a translation of the Sanskrit lyrics that you’re willing to share?

        1. Laura

          Meh. Kind of. I got the lyrics from an abusive cult when I was pretty young, so I don’t really want to risk connecting anyone with that group by providing a link or a direct reference. But the lyrics roughly translate to, “Spread joy. One candle of joy lights another.”
          …I like the general message, anyway, even if not the source.

        2. Laura

          For an English-language song that conveys the same general message in a liberatory way, you could look to, “This Little Light of Mine”

          https://www.npr.org/2018/12/24/679895682/how-the-civil-rights-movement-transformed-this-little-light-of-mine

          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Au0AFyB-m_8

          (*Played on the hacked protest megaphone.*)

    2. Taffy

      I. Homestuck/My Hero Academia crossover fic
      ii. Closest I got is a magnetic chore board my sister made for the house, so we’d all remember to do our damn chores. It helps and nobody feels passively aggressed.
      iii. Nuclear launch codes, because what teenager doesn’t need those

      1. Laura

        Impressive! Rock on!

    3. Bittersweet

      1.) Campus events, cards she’s been given or sought out for some reason, due dates and things for assignments. I can’t help but see hers as purely functional.

      2.) My corkboard here at home has every single card I’ve received from the last ten years pinned on it. It is not big enough lol.

      3.) Uh, idk. I was unaware that corkboards could have anything cool on them, they sort of seemed a little lame by default. I guess postcards from other countries?

      1. Laura

        An overflowing collection of cards received over 10 years is SUPER cool! Shows all your connections with other folks! Definitely cool.

    4. HueSatLight

      academic stuff / CV stuff / rules, and a couple of photos. Like a visual representation of what her priorities have been, relative to each other.

      would be: doodles, postcards (blank backs, just there for the fronts), todo/shopping list, rabbit hole stuff

      aestheometry made out of colored strings

      1. Laura

        Huh. Neat-o! Today I learned what aestheometry is!

  40. Acher4

    Oh no :O

    Is she ok?

    1. Nadamás

      *Looks at literally everything relating to Dorothy in the last few storylines*
      Do you really have to ask?

  41. Arianod

    That’s not what a jumpscare is, Becky

    1. Clif

      Let’s see how you react when you wake up and Dorothy is unexpectedly standing in your room in the dark.

      1. Yumi

        You get used to it.

        1. clif

          <3

    2. BorkBorkBork

      Jumpscare is what happens if you stand over someone at the crack of dawn, while they’re still sleeping, with the world’s biggest smile on your face, and saying, “GOOD MORNING, FRIEND!”

  42. Nadamás

    Dorothy is very relatable.

  43. Holly

    Being a high masking autistic for decades, I can’t help but also think of previous theories that Dotty may also be, and masking it reaaalll hard. Which makes me read this kind of a breakdown as, not just bad for the PTSD reasons, but also as a potential meltdown and shutdown to go with her potential burnout.

    1. Doopyboop

      As someone who has long been saying such in the comments, I agree. I think Dotty is autistic, and she just masked and masked HARD.

  44. ADLegend21

    Becky….she lives there

    1. Nymph

      Right, and if you groggily woke up to someone who lives with you just standing upright in a dark room in the middle of the night, it might scare you for a second.

  45. Yugnat

    Sudden Dorothy!

  46. AndysDrawings

    Wait, is this … THE FOURTH WALL???

    [counts] no, wait, I think it’s … just the third. We’re safe.

  47. Adept

    I forgot Becky is her roommate. This is bad. Becky has consistently been an arsehole towards Dorothy.

    1. Layn

      I dunno, she may at first, but I can imagine her also realizing she needs to take care of the baby gay.

    2. V98

      friendstealinhussysayswhat

  48. Kyulen

    I’m glad to say that when I was in college I never had a clothes pile. I actually put my clothes away. I’ve always liked keeping my room neat. Unfortunately the roommates I had in college were slobs.

  49. SDGlyph

    Dotty Punk – (Up All Night to) Get Lonely

  50. CC

    The alt text said Azumanga Daioh, my brain read Higurashi

    1. Da Boy

      Considering the amount of stabbings and violence in this comic, it does feel closer to Higurashi than Azumanga XD

    2. Da Boy

      Although if we consider the amount of crazy driving… Yukari might be able to compete.

  51. Leon

    I’m thinking there’s no way Dorothy actually talks to Becky about what’s bothering her atm for a number of personal reasons. Outside of those reasons, Becky learning about this needs a more dramatic set up. It’s been an expressed fear of hers for so long, even something innocuously insinuating Joyce/Dorothy not even two days ago gets a sad face from Becky. More time is needed to showcase Joyce’s reciprocation to get the most out of it, too.

    The three people (Amber, Joe, Booster) who definitely know about Dorothy’s feelings have no reason to divulge it so I’m assuming she puts the pieces together herself in a later storyline. Same with the suspecting people like Danny and Sarah. Not sure if we should add Carla and Ruth to that list now.

  52. Taffy

    I just remembered something.

    Joyce has had this dream before.

    1. Ruby

      damn, good memory ya got there. also oh my god willis

    2. V98

      let’s just hope joe slunk back to his dorm before they ended the night.

    3. HueSatLight

      On alternating nights, Dorothy would watch Joyce sleep or try on all her clothes at the same time. And since she can’t do either tonight, she’s having trouble sleeping, and I’m sure that’s the extent of insomnia.

    4. PB

      We’ve seen hints here and there that Joyce has powers beyond our ken, and this now confirms that Joyce is a psychic everything is amazing /being silly but still though

  53. HueSatLight

    The most troubling thing about this strip is how the fire escape map is inconsistent. It’s not new, there’s several reasonable explanations, and it doesn't trouble me at all.

    1. Taffy

      But they’re different rooms. Is the dark square not meant to mark which room you’re in?

      1. HueSatLight

        They are adjacent rooms.

        1. Taffy

          Oh wait, yeah. They wouldn’t be across the hall from each other, like the maps indicate. Something fishy is going on in this hall.

    2. HueSatLight

      I have a Watsonian explanation now. Someone switched the doors around in some previous year, and the school doesn’t do careful enough safety inspections over summer.

  54. Jennifer Bak

    Coincidentally, I got out my Azumanga Diaoh DVDs the other day and started rewatching them for the first time in years (this is about the alt text, if anyone doesn’t know what I’m referring to)

    1. NickG

      Now there’s a good idea, shouldn’t take more than 12 hours while I procrastinate about continuing with ‘Generic Kowloon Romance’.

  55. ESM

    Out: Joyce cheats with Dorothy
    In?: Becky cheats with Dorothy

    1. ESM

      I mean, I sincerely doubt anyone’s cheating on anyone with anyone in this comic, but man can you IMAGINE what the comment section would be?

      1. BorkBorkBork

        If Dorothy and Becky hooked up, all it would be would be Becky shouting loudly about hate sex, and Dorothy reminding her in breathless gasps that she actually liked Becky, really, and Becky shouting even louder about going down on her nemesis.

        1. Taffy

          “Becky, I know I’m new to this lesbian sex thing, but I’m pretty sure the one getting eaten out is supposed to scream, not the one doing the eating. This is weird. You’re making it weird.”

          [Anakin voice, muffled by Dorothy’s crotch] “I HATE YOU”

  56. Roborat

    The last thing I ever expected to see in this comic was an Azumanga Daioh reference.

    1. Nadamás

      Your mom is an azumanga daioh reference.

    2. BorkBorkBork

      The last thing I ever expected to read in this comment section was the phrase “Azumanga Daioh reference.”

      Probably because I’ve never seen those particular letters arranged in that particular order before.

  57. PB

    OK, so first of all, Azumanga Daioh is the best.

    Second, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Becky might actually be the exact person Dorothy needs to talk to about this.

  58. Pokedad

    Azumanga Daioh mentioned!

    Nature is healing.

  59. SarahTerra

    And she’s standing like she’s possessed now
    Spooking Becky beside her mess now
    Learning to repress I guess now
    But she’s picturing Joyce’s.. vests now

  60. Dana W

    Life has dropped so many changes on me, so many excitements and so many tragedies, I thank it sincerely for not dropping “sudden Bisexuality” on me as well. I’ve had about all the surprises I can this life.

  61. BlackScarabFilmZ

    They call it “Blair Witching”, are your kids taking part in this new viral internet trend? And is it dangerous? More at 11.

    1. Taffy

      I like the inclusion of “And is it dangerous?”. It gets people’s attention, makes them ask the question too, and then if they don’t see evidence to the contrary their incurious monkey brains will settle on “It’s dangerous” and they’ll have a whole new Thing Which Must Be Stopped™.

  62. Vulcanodon

    Relatable.
    When I’m not OK I sometimes just stand there in a room, disconnected, not looking at anything in particular. Might have come into the room for something

    Activities help a lot. Cleaning, organizing. Drawing.

  63. Thomas O.

    Suddenly I want to see the cast in salmon-pink school uniforms. lol

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