Speaking of spiders, Spiderverse won an Oscar, yaaaay.
Also, I doubt this was intended, but the way panel three has Amber turning and leaving, when in panel 1 and 2 her back was to the edge of the roof makes it looks like she leapt off and vanished into the night like Batman ditching Jim Gordon.
Since it’s Amber, we can’t actually rule out that she did.
. . . Alright so that ship is shipwrecked now. Not sure I like the idea of Amber CALLING herself a Rebound even if that is technically what that entire relationship started off as.
Also Tattoos. Always a good place for a conversation starter.
For the time being, but with Walky getting cut off here, I feel like it’s not impossible for there to be unfinished business. If this is all it amounts to, though, hope they had fun while it lasted.
What do you mean, it’s wrecked? The kiss got tabled but sal’s cool with the relationship. Walky’s still figuring himself out, and amber still has interest. I think they very much will resume the kissyface at some point in thennext couple (in-comic) days.
I think it could potentially sail again, after all parties involved have had some time to settle and get to know each other a bit. Definitely I think Sal’s going to be subtly nudging Amber that direction when they see each other, and maybe once Amber’s confident she’s more than just a rebound, we might see a repeat.
And then I say “Yeah, Ah’m aware ‘a that, but it ain’t really that big a deal.”
timemonkey
But spiders are bugs! What they are not are insects.
Khyrin
Spiders are not bugs.
All True Bugs are insects, and members of order Hemiptera.
BBCC
That’s just not true. Bugs is used colloquially to refer to all sorts of things that aren’t insects, including spiders.
BBCC
Ah, wait, True Bugs is scientific order, isn’t it?
Mea culpa. I am not an animal expert.
Regardless, the word ‘bugs’ is usually not referring to the scientific order of animal, it’s using the word colloquially.
Marsh Maryrose
Arachnids and insects are both in the same phylum. For comparison, mammals and fish are both in the same phylum. So a spider is an insect in the same way that you are a fish (hi, Angela Melick!).
But to non-entomologists, spiders are in fact bugs, as are beetles, flies, ants, bees, moths, and crickets, none of which are True Bugs.
Marsh Maryrose
And now you have to crawl to The Ugly Bug Ball, where a lovely time was had by all.
thejeff
Less so I think. If I understand correctly, the common ancestor of insects and spiders would be an arthropod – neither an insect or a spider.
The common ancestor of mammals and fish was a fish. Mammals are just a subgroup of fish. 🙂
My updated understanding is that your understanding is correct, depending on how one interprets the word “fish.” The analogy would certainly have been better if I had compared, say, humans and lampreys, or better yet, humans and sea squirts.
The word “fish,” as used by those of us who are not marine biologists, includes the cartilaginous fish that are the most direct descendants of our common ancestor, but it also includes salmon, which are nearer to us, and lungfish, which are closer still.
Or, do you include lampreys, which are older? Or maybe even tunicates? After all, all life on earth came out of the sea.
As Angela Melick of Wasted Talent would say, “A fish you is!”
I hope we get a bit more on Amber and Walky later, like, I feel like the two of them have some more to say to each other.
Still, I’m glad, this feels like it’s more pressing. I wonder if Sal picked the spider out for a particular reason, or it just looking cool. Given her age, she can’t have had it terribly long.
(I mean, hopefully she had it professionally done, but I also like to imagine it’s some shitty stick-n-poke done out by the dumpsters at her Catholic boarding school.)
In my opinion, this is the best possible outcome. Just because Sal gave them their blessing doesn’t mean Walky would’ve been okay with dating Amber after finding out about her history with his sister (not to mention there were still other things Amber was hiding from him, like her changing his grades even when he explicitly told her not to).
The Walkerton twins trying to rebuild their relationship is all I’ve wanted to see throughout this chapter.
Can I just say how excited I am? Sal and Walky’s growing relationship was on of my favorite character dynamics in It’s Walky, and I’m kinda super excited to see them getting along again.
…ooooh, now you’ve got me meta-ing. I don’t think Carla and Vriska are actually similar characters–Carla affects a veneer of obnoxiousness as a shield, while Vriska is just naturally a Deeply Obnoxious Person what with all the megalomania. Both do, I think, genuinely care about their friends, but Carla is better equipped to actually like…understand what it means to care about a person, while Vriska seems to care more about her friends as props to demonstrate how cool and in control she is at any given time.
Like say, Tavros’s rocket chair, she gave him that not because it would improve his life, but so he would be properly grateful to her for Improving His Life and also so he’d be able to more efficiently treasure hunt with her. Which I suppose DOES mirror Carla making Joyce shower shoes so Joyce would be properly worshipful of her, but still, I feel Carla is generally a nicer and more sincere person who only wishes she was Extremely Annoying, whereas for Vriska it’s automatic and genuine.
That said, I totally can see Carla finding Vriska relatable as an example of her ideal self-image.
Can’t really comment about Homestuck, but with the shower shoes I think the difference is that Carla loudly ranted about doing it to Own Joyce, but Joyce saw right through her.
This is probably the best way this could all have gone. Yet we’re still in Dumbing of Age. What’s going to go wrong elsewhere in the plot to preserve the Law of Conservation of Drama?
Iirc Billie is on her “(probably not but one can hope) last bender” before she gives up booze so she can be with Ruth without alcohol being the specifically stated thing that sabotages their relationship. So that should be fun, for various values of “fun”.
133 thoughts on “Blessing”
Ana Chronistic
“so, talking”
“yeah, that’s new fer me, too”
“it’s weird”
chalcara
It’s all three of them being pretty mature about this that freaks me out. They’re growing up!
Doctor_Who
Speaking of spiders, Spiderverse won an Oscar, yaaaay.
Also, I doubt this was intended, but the way panel three has Amber turning and leaving, when in panel 1 and 2 her back was to the edge of the roof makes it looks like she leapt off and vanished into the night like Batman ditching Jim Gordon.
Since it’s Amber, we can’t actually rule out that she did.
Nono
Amber’s not tagged, so maybe it was a ghost after all.
butts
amber was dead the whole time
tim gueguen
Perhaps Herr Willis has not decide whether it’s Amber or Amazi-girl yet.
BarerMender
It’s Amber. You can tell by the pink cheeks.
Thursday Violist
Like Batman, she already left last panel: it’s just that we hadn’t noticed yet.
Madock345
I choose to believe she did
Sunny
Thing is she’s not turning and leaving. She’s leaving and then half turning.
AnvilPro
In another medium Sal x Walky would be the ship the author was going to make happen. We all know what medium that is.
pjeseb
Howard: “Game of Thrones!”
Thursday Violist
Is the medium “metaphors”?
“”Ah can only cockblock amber so many times ‘fore ah feel like an asshole””
…
Oh, wait, in this metaphor, AMBER is the cock and WALKY is the front-hole. Oh, right, that makes it better. No Sal x Walky in this metaphor.
MatthewTheLucky
And Amber doesn’t secretly want to do butt stuff with Sal, either!
Thursday Violist
Oh, yeah, I love it when I get spiders on my arm.
So cool.
jeffepp
I was totally expecting “Now Kiss”.
William Leonard Reese Jr.
. . . Alright so that ship is shipwrecked now. Not sure I like the idea of Amber CALLING herself a Rebound even if that is technically what that entire relationship started off as.
Also Tattoos. Always a good place for a conversation starter.
DailyBrad
For the time being, but with Walky getting cut off here, I feel like it’s not impossible for there to be unfinished business. If this is all it amounts to, though, hope they had fun while it lasted.
Rezby
What do you mean, it’s wrecked? The kiss got tabled but sal’s cool with the relationship. Walky’s still figuring himself out, and amber still has interest. I think they very much will resume the kissyface at some point in thennext couple (in-comic) days.
Freemage
So… sometime during the holiday season?
LeslieBean4Shizzle
Agreed. Garbage Scow is docked, not wrecked. May she sail the seas once more.
… is this nautical humor doing it for you all?
Geneseepaws
And those who loved her best, and were with her to the end, like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!
thejeff
Though even the interrupted kiss was supposed to be a farewell kiss on the cheek. The budding relationship was done at that point.
Doesn’t mean the Garbage Scow can’t get patched up and put back out to sea of course.
Deanatay
Technically, the ship’s been scuttled. By mutual agreement, apparently.
Marsh Maryrose
It’s not shipwrecked. The sails are fouled pretty badly, and that’s not good, but the ship is still seaworthy.
Shiro
I think it could potentially sail again, after all parties involved have had some time to settle and get to know each other a bit. Definitely I think Sal’s going to be subtly nudging Amber that direction when they see each other, and maybe once Amber’s confident she’s more than just a rebound, we might see a repeat.
newbie
fingers crossed, seeing how these two dorks gel well with each other, just hoping that there is more to come
Keulen
I don’t think this ship is sunk yet, but it’s damaged and definitely not sailing for a while.
butts
realistic sibling interaction
Xenocide
Exceedingly realistic. Even when you get on just fine with your sister, this is still not uncommon.
Maybe that’s just because I’m bad at conversation though.
Yumi
The last panel is hella cute.
TrueVCU
Spider tat, Spider tat
looking all bad and tough like that
TheKelliestKelly
Is it from
My cartoon?
No, Carla, I just like bugs
Flame Warp
She saaaaays, “Spiders ain’t bugs, you know.”
And then I say “Yeah, Ah’m aware ‘a that, but it ain’t really that big a deal.”
timemonkey
But spiders are bugs! What they are not are insects.
Khyrin
Spiders are not bugs.
All True Bugs are insects, and members of order Hemiptera.
BBCC
That’s just not true. Bugs is used colloquially to refer to all sorts of things that aren’t insects, including spiders.
BBCC
Ah, wait, True Bugs is scientific order, isn’t it?
Mea culpa. I am not an animal expert.
Regardless, the word ‘bugs’ is usually not referring to the scientific order of animal, it’s using the word colloquially.
Marsh Maryrose
Arachnids and insects are both in the same phylum. For comparison, mammals and fish are both in the same phylum. So a spider is an insect in the same way that you are a fish (hi, Angela Melick!).
But to non-entomologists, spiders are in fact bugs, as are beetles, flies, ants, bees, moths, and crickets, none of which are True Bugs.
Marsh Maryrose
And now you have to crawl to The Ugly Bug Ball, where a lovely time was had by all.
thejeff
Less so I think. If I understand correctly, the common ancestor of insects and spiders would be an arthropod – neither an insect or a spider.
The common ancestor of mammals and fish was a fish. Mammals are just a subgroup of fish. 🙂
Marsh Maryrose
XKCD: The problem with Wikipedia 🙂
My updated understanding is that your understanding is correct, depending on how one interprets the word “fish.” The analogy would certainly have been better if I had compared, say, humans and lampreys, or better yet, humans and sea squirts.
The word “fish,” as used by those of us who are not marine biologists, includes the cartilaginous fish that are the most direct descendants of our common ancestor, but it also includes salmon, which are nearer to us, and lungfish, which are closer still.
Or, do you include lampreys, which are older? Or maybe even tunicates? After all, all life on earth came out of the sea.
As Angela Melick of Wasted Talent would say, “A fish you is!”
Needfuldoer
Wait, no
It’s an arach-a-nid
DailyBrad
I hope we get a bit more on Amber and Walky later, like, I feel like the two of them have some more to say to each other.
Still, I’m glad, this feels like it’s more pressing. I wonder if Sal picked the spider out for a particular reason, or it just looking cool. Given her age, she can’t have had it terribly long.
Yumi
True, Sal has never broken a rule in her life.
(I mean, hopefully she had it professionally done, but I also like to imagine it’s some shitty stick-n-poke done out by the dumpsters at her Catholic boarding school.)
DailyBrad
i mean, it might be from a fake ID or some such, but I don’t know much much mischief she got up to post-stabbing and pre-college.
Geeky Warrior
Something to do with her friendship with Marcie. Marcie’s skateboard had a similar looking spider on it. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/alphabet/
BBCC
This just reminded me Leland stole Marcie’s skateboard when he attacked her.
Fuck Leland.
crys
what else was your decision about walky
Sean Dillon
Is Amber supposed to be tagged?
Andy
Well, I hope to god that’s not Amazi-girl. Pretty sure it’s Amber because cheek spots?
Thursday Violist
Twist ending: It’s just a cardboard cutout.
Icalasari
Damn Amber, that’s pretty grown up of you
Plasma Mongoose
Spider Sal going to have her very own Mary Jane very soon.
Deadjolras
In my opinion, this is the best possible outcome. Just because Sal gave them their blessing doesn’t mean Walky would’ve been okay with dating Amber after finding out about her history with his sister (not to mention there were still other things Amber was hiding from him, like her changing his grades even when he explicitly told her not to).
The Walkerton twins trying to rebuild their relationship is all I’ve wanted to see throughout this chapter.
Marsh Maryrose
Amber has learned growth!
It’s…kinda mixed?
Madock345
So this is where the Sal/Walky ship sets sail, right? /s
someguywithakatana
Can I just say how excited I am? Sal and Walky’s growing relationship was on of my favorite character dynamics in It’s Walky, and I’m kinda super excited to see them getting along again.
Rezby
Carla’s been bugging Sal because Carla is 100% a homestuck and 100% in love with Vriska, who she finds very relatable at all points in the comic.
Shiro
…ooooh, now you’ve got me meta-ing. I don’t think Carla and Vriska are actually similar characters–Carla affects a veneer of obnoxiousness as a shield, while Vriska is just naturally a Deeply Obnoxious Person what with all the megalomania. Both do, I think, genuinely care about their friends, but Carla is better equipped to actually like…understand what it means to care about a person, while Vriska seems to care more about her friends as props to demonstrate how cool and in control she is at any given time.
Like say, Tavros’s rocket chair, she gave him that not because it would improve his life, but so he would be properly grateful to her for Improving His Life and also so he’d be able to more efficiently treasure hunt with her. Which I suppose DOES mirror Carla making Joyce shower shoes so Joyce would be properly worshipful of her, but still, I feel Carla is generally a nicer and more sincere person who only wishes she was Extremely Annoying, whereas for Vriska it’s automatic and genuine.
That said, I totally can see Carla finding Vriska relatable as an example of her ideal self-image.
/2 AM Homestuck rant
thejeff
Can’t really comment about Homestuck, but with the shower shoes I think the difference is that Carla loudly ranted about doing it to Own Joyce, but Joyce saw right through her.
Zee
This comment stole the oxygen from my lungs. But fuck you you’re right
Sporky
Spiber,
kitty
spiddre
Sunny
I think the kids call them “spooders” now-a-days.
Agemegos
I feel very sorry for Amber.
Rabid Rabbit
Oh, so that’s why Sal was all ‘Nnf’ over Sayid. Her spider just wanted to crawl all over his webs.
Neeks
Well, she did like his arms.
Solenoid
This is probably the best way this could all have gone. Yet we’re still in Dumbing of Age. What’s going to go wrong elsewhere in the plot to preserve the Law of Conservation of Drama?
Neeks
Iirc Billie is on her “(probably not but one can hope) last bender” before she gives up booze so she can be with Ruth without alcohol being the specifically stated thing that sabotages their relationship. So that should be fun, for various values of “fun”.
MatthewTheLucky
Also if Lucy hears this was a mutual, clean, break-up, she’ll be free to move up her time-table on learning what a moves are.
Probably from Billie.
BBCC