152

Decision
Posted on November 18, 2011 by David M Willis

152 thoughts on “Decision”

  1. David Herbert

    History repeats Joyce. This may come back and bite you in the FAAACE!

    1. NakedDumblydore

      Or beat her to death with her own bloody femurs.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I have FAAAAAITH in Joyce’s decision.

  2. Michael

    No Joyce, you must go ask Ruth for help! I’ve been sitting on a joke about Ruth for weeks and i want a chance to finally use it.

    1. Henry

      Ruth will find out somehow. And then her hands will thirst for Ryan’s neck.
      Then she, Sal, and Amazi-Girl will team up and end him.

      1. Michael

        Excellent.

      2. Rikushadow5

        This idea is supported.

      3. DarkVeghetta

        And then they all have hot lesbian sex.

  3. Plasma Mongoose

    So she does remember!

    1. rjaco321

      maybe she finally read her tweet about glassing some dude in the faaaace.

    2. AndysDrawings

      Maybe everyone has told her all about it and she has a huge wound in her hand.

    3. Wandering Meme

      and a douche-bag lives to rape another day…

      I was soooooooooooooo hoping to shout “yaaaaaaay MURDER!”

      1. Far

        No, why have blood on your hands with this. Play his trick on him, there should be a gay frat house somewhere. Haul his unconcious rear over to it.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Yeah, but first you’d have to find a gay frathouse filled with jerks unscrupulous enough to rape an unconscious person.

          I like the justice, but in practice it (HOPEFULLY) might not be that easy.

      2. Rikushadow5

        Speaking of Minds, y’know what’s on mine? MURDERS!!!

        YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

    4. Kernanator

      Maybe she tattooed instructions to herself on her hand. Now she just needs to find a wisecracking perverted skull.

      1. AndaisQ

        Wait, when did Harry write on his hand? All I remember is the Sigil.

        1. Kernanator

          The other wisecracking perverted skull, Morte. You know, Planescape Torment?

  4. Doom Shepherd

    Pretty normal. Pretty sad.

    1. MichaelHaneline

      Yeah, most people don’t realize that 1 in every 4 or 5 women in the United States have been or will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Some refuse to believe it.
      Then there are some that think they believe, but then don’t realize that also applies to the women THEY know and are completely unaware of how many have had this happen to them and keep quiet about it out of fear or shame.

      1. S.Yeske

        I thought it was one in 3. And seeing as how I know about 8 or so of my friends who have been, I believe it. And one of them was raped by her pastor. When she was 15. When she tried to tell her mom she got slapped in the face and called a liar.
        Rape culture sucks.

        1. Leorale

          Yah, roughly 1 in 3.

  5. Ridureyu

    So, is she going to rip off the bandage? Because that’s a pretty big sign that stuff happened.

    1. Wackd

      Yeah, but the gash is a bigger sign.

  6. TaZZerath

    aaaaand this is why scum get away with what they do in real life…..

    1. a99steaksauce

      Its not their fault, nature and nurture made them that way…

      1. Izzy

        -.-

      2. MoreWhitecaps

        >_<

        1. a99steaksauce

          I feel like Izzy and MoreWhitecaps have female gravatars up for a reason…

        2. N0083rP00F

          Just be glad that the internet does not provide the “reach out and touch someone” else your femurs would be jeopardy.

        3. a99steaksauce

          well i guess its really hard to convey sarcasm they way i put it. though adding potential alien modifications to the factors woulda helped.

        4. Izzy

          No reason other than I like my exposed boobs avatar. That probably makes me a lil creepy lol. I can put my walky one back up if you’d prefer?

        5. Plasma Mongoose

          Males using female avas and vice versa on the internet is almost as old as I am.

    2. S.Yeske

      No, it’s the screwed up “justice” system and America’s Rape culture that lets the scum get away with it.
      You’re only reasonably likely to win a rape case if you are a prepubescent white girl from a reasonably healthy family. I’ve heard of cases where the defense claimed a ten year old was dressing so she was “asking for it”.
      Even when someone does press charges and go to trial, there is a very low conviction rate for rape. And the victim is on trial just as much, if not more, than the rapist.

      1. Ash

        Really? I’ve actually heard that accused rapists are basically guilty until proven innocent; I’ve heard more than one horror story about a guy who was with a girl, then the girl accused him of rape (as revenge or simply because she regretted it) and pretty much ruined the guy’s life.

        Honestly, I think there are examples of both in the current justice system, which is, truthfully, broken.

        1. S.Yeske

          I think it mainly depends on where you are. In the more conservatives states (esp Utah) it’s almost always the girl’s fault. (in their minds)

          And it largely depends on who the girl is, who her parents are, and who the boy is. Economic level. If the girl’s parents are well respected members of the community and the boy is from the wrong side of the tracks, yeah, he might end up in jail even if he didn’t do it.

          But if the situation is reversed, he probably won’t, even if there is loads of evidence or he beat the girl half to death.

          There are quite a few people out there with the opinion that men are ravening beasts and if they think the girl is dressed inappropriately or somewhere they think she shouldn’t be, then she was really “asking” for sex and it wasn’t really rape. Those are the same sort of people who believe it’s not rape if it’s your boyfriend/husband, because you gave them permission to sleep with you before, and apparently they believe that negates a girl’s right to say “no”.

          Utah is especially bad about this, as the Mormons teach their girls it is better to *die* than to lose their virtue.

        2. Zitseidu

          I’m Mormon, in Utah, and wondering what on earth you’re talking about. We don’t teach girls that, we also don’t believe in double standards (such as “it’s always the girl’s fault”). Sex before marriage, whether you’re male or female, is considered a sin, as it is in pretty much any other christian religion you can find. I’m certainly not aware of any that preach otherwise, Joyce’s “Premarital Hanky Panky!” from an earlier comic demonstrate this.

          I’m left wondering if you’ve even been to Utah, or met the Mormons you seem to look down upon. I live here, and have never seen the mind set you describe.

        3. Lis

          Less than two percent of reported rapes are false. I think it might be 2 in every thousand but I don’t want to be quoted as extreme there so I’ll go with my original. The fact that the false accusations get more publicity and the majority of rapes go unreported makes it seem more likely… now I know of a guy who I believe was falsely accused (but not officially) of rape and this actually caused a major schism among my group of friends so don’t get me wrong I know it can happen but its very rare for an official case to be false.

      2. Jason

        The US justice system is founded on the principle that a person is “innocent until PROVEN guilty”. The trouble often comes when the only proof is one person’s word against another. Who do you believe, without additional evidence?

        And which is worse? Letting a guilty person go free or sending an innocent person to prison for a crime they didn’t commit? Regardless of how you personally feel about it, the US justice system is founded on the idea that the latter is worse than the former.

        Sal is sadly probably right. Without hard evidence, Joyce would far more likely be the one in trouble if she reported it than Mr. Rapist would.

      3. Kryss LaBryn

        I read many years ago of an alternate way to bring him to justice while working WITHIN the system: Accuse him of indecent exposure.

        Say he just jumped out at you in the parking lot and wiggled it in your face and dashed off.

        The reason you’d want to do this instead of accusing him of RAPE? Sadly, it’s pretty simple: It’s far, far easier to get someone convicted of weeny-wiggling than it is to convict them of rape. The victim isn’t on trial. The sentences tend to be longer. >< And finally, while, even if you manage to get a rapist sent to jail, in that culture someone who rapes women often has a certain amount of status, someone who gets convicted of public exposure has NO status. Their time in jail will be much harsher on them.

        What's he gonna do, say he raped you? Unlikely. And the victim may be able to describe his unit well enough to convince a judge that she did indeed see it.

        Also, it takes the power away from a rapist and turns him into some lame perv.

        Now, that advice was written probably about twenty years ago from an American perspective, so YMMV and you may want to do some research before doing it these days. Buuuut… it may be a viable alternative to going through that whole victim-asked-for-it nonsense. Some guy leaps out from behind a bush and shoves his willy in your face before running away, no one's gonna ask what she was wearing. Or if she was coming onto him. Or how many sexual partners she's had. Or any other nonsense.

        If Joyce complains to the faculty that THAT's what Ryan did, and her witnesses to the attempted rape back her up, he's gonna be sent home in disgrace. People WILL believe that a nice pastor's boy would do something like that when they might otherwise go "Oh no, not RYAN. He's such a NICE boy!!" And she won't need drugs in her system as proof.

  7. Hyp3rB14d3

    …This seems familiar somehow. Almost as a similar solution was used to a similar situation back in another iteration of the story. Like if Grace mind-wiped herself to forget that she had seen a porn video back in “It’s Walky” or something.

    1. Michael

      I believe you mean Joyce. Man, correcting someone about that kind of makes me feel like a dickhole.

      1. Hyp3rB14d3

        Oops. Yep, I meant Joyce.

        1. narmenduke

          Did you make that mistake because you read El Goonish Shive and because Grace and Joyce are somewhat similar? Oh, I hope so.

        2. narmenduke

          Somewhat similar characters, I mean.

        3. Hyp3rB14d3

          Possibly. I do read El Goonish Shive, and the characters do have somewhat similar personalities…

        4. Leorale

          Good point, though. Early Joyce is sometimes tempted to run from the scary, impure truth.

      2. Jackson

        If Joyce’s parents had a second daughter and named her “Grace,” I would not be surprised in the slightest.

        1. Aydr

          If she weren’t the only girl in the family that would definitely seem like a likely name.

    2. Ragnal

      Except here, there’s no Head Alien to taunt her, no secret agency to take her to, and no gun for mind-wiping.

      Joyce is about to realize, one way or another, reality hurts.

      1. Jacob

        and reality hits you hard, bro.

        1. a99steaksauce

          Harder than your mom?

        2. L

          That depends, got a nickel?

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          Only if your mum has a penis.

        4. Michelle J Caboose

          Or femurs.

        5. Henry

          The thing is that we’ve seen that no matter how hard reality hits, Joyce tends to hit back, sometimes with sharp objects in hand.

      2. Lord Synick XXIII

        OR SO THEY SAY

  8. Kernanator

    Deja vu: The sensation that an author is referencing a previous work.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      2/ A repeating event that occurs when something in the Matrix has being altered.

      1. fellixe

        3/ A 2006 crime drama/time travel movie featuring Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer.

        1. a99steaksauce

          4/ Waking up in a strange room feeling like youve felt this pain in your backside before.

        2. Izzy

          dejablue- feeling as though you’ve drank from this water bottle before
          dejamoo- feeling as though you’ve eaten this steak before
          dejaflu- feeling as though you’ve felt this sick before
          dejatwo- feeling as though you’ve had this feeling twice in the past
          dejashoe- feeling as though you’ve worn this footwear before
          dejagoo- feeling as though you’ve felt this slime before
          dejachoo- feeling as though you’ve performed this sneeze before

        3. narmenduke

          Dejawho – Feeling as though you’ve seen this small thing asking why you’re taking its Christmas tree before.

        4. Wandering Meme

          Deja-fu – martial art requiring the practitioner to channel and manipulate the powers of time and space, creating a time paradox , thus multiplying and/or maximizing the physical damage, psychological effect, and in some cases combo rating for each assault.

          Ex.: Next with nicolas Cage; prince of persia; anyone that hits you so hard you end up in last week (see old testament sarah vs ryan)

        5. begbert2

          So *that’s* where hi disappeared off to! He didn’t run away – he just vanished and appeared at the start of the storyline! He actually was never born, but simply appeared one afternoon, with no clear memories in his head except that he needed to get back at this lightbrown-haired girl…

  9. Locke

    Uh oh, Sarah’s gonna mess someone up later.

  10. AaronS

    It looks like Sal finally realizes the bad effect her words have had on an emotionally compromised girl recovering from drug-induced memory loss.

    I don’t blame any of the characters, but I really wish Sal had stayed out of it. Something like this almost happened to an old roommate of mine (well, everyone decided to leave an unconscious girl in a house with people known to take advantage of said people) and then not talk to the authorities about it because they thought it wouldn’t do the girl and good (and it would get people in trouble). Okay, so maybe the situation’s different, but it brings back all those old feelings. I told an RA and the situation with my roommate ended up fine… but this same attitude of “these things happen, don’t tell the authorities” really bums me out.

    That means that Willis is doing a great job making us care for his characters and their wellbeing. I’m proud to read a webcomic that keeps its characters true to themselves even in times of crisis, although I wish the characters themselves would do the right thing. I suppose the title “Dumbing of Age” is true: It’s hard at that age to know what the right thing to do is.

    1. iSaidCandleja-

      I’m not sure Sal realized anything of the sort. I think she simply acknowledges that she and Sarah have opposing views and she may have made an enemy thanks to not minding her own business.

      1. Jacob

        I think he’s talking about Sal’s look in the last panel.

        1. fellixe

          I don’t think Sal blames herself in the least for Joyce’s decision. But it has to be disappointing to lay the facts as you see them out to a person so they can make an informed choice and have them ultimately decide to retreat into their personal fantasy. It’s like Sarah was offering option A, Sal presented option B, and Joyce decided to have the Waldorf salad instead.

    2. a99steaksauce

      Its also called drama. Helping push stories along since ancient times.

  11. Larson E. Jones

    Repressing things like that will undoubtedly lead to cancer, Joyce. FIDN THAT PUNK AND BEAT. HIM. DOWN.

    1. Locke

      My theory: she’s just saying that in hopes that it will rule her out as a suspect when she tracks him down later and leaves his mutilated, bloodied corpse behind a bush in a local park.
      Then she’d continue to go on a violent crusade against crime, killing repeat criminals before they can hurt anyone else again.

    2. Wandering Meme

      Yes Joyce! FIDN HIM! FIDN HIM SO HARD IT THEY NEED TO SPELL IT WRONG TO GET THE FULL EFFECT!

      AND WHEN YOU FIDN HIM…CASTRENUATE HIM!

  12. shoeboxjeddy

    “Pretend things to be”? Wouldn’t it be more natural if she said “I just want to pretend things are the way they were before”?

    1. deepblueink

      Willis usually doesn’t write his characters “wordy” but I think it fits given the context. Joyce is speaking without filtering first. (Something I suspect she usually does a lot) It should come out a little awkward when dramatic stuff happens.

    2. Michelle J Caboose

      Willis has said over in “Shortpacked” that when he edits dialogue, sometimes words get left in that shouldn’t. And deepblueink’s comment makes a good in-story explanation.

    3. haikuginger

      I don’t think this was an error at all. Joyce wants to actively pretend to herself as well as to others that nothing happened. She wants to pretend the situation better.

    4. fellixe

      I think it works well as written. “Pretend things are” would be more passive than “pretend things to be.” With the first she would merely be acting as if they were what they were before. With the latter she hopes to actually return things to the way they were before by pretending they are still that way. It makes sense from a person of faith such as herself to think she can create a reality by believing it is already so.

  13. Lt. Taz

    And then Sal and Sarah went on a quest for vigilante justice!

    In tights

    What? It could happen.

    1. a99steaksauce

      But way sexier than your thinking.

  14. NakedDumblydore

    Why do I get the feeling Leslie’s next lesson plan is going to cause a whole bunch of awkward in class on Monday?

  15. Plasma Mongoose

    The only way we can do that Joyce is by disposing of the body.

    1. deepblueink

      Or the FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        HOLY MEME NON-SEQUITUR BATMAN!

        1. deepblueink

          Eh, I try… too hard… on purpose.

        2. Valerie

          With your penis?

        3. Wandering Meme

          Trying “hard” costs a nickel.

  16. Zobot257

    Oh Joyce… you choose poorly. So very very poorly.

    1. Karishi

      This kind of thing is why people have designated drivers. This kind of thing is why people are allowed to make decisions for sedated loved ones at the hospital. Because people who are drugged up have a habit of making really poor decisions.
      It’s easy to say “In the end it’s your decision,” in a situation like the party, but when the person you’re talking to has been drugged it’s also the wrong thing to say. You don’t let her choose how things will go. You do the right thing immediately.

  17. Aizat

    The look on both Sarah’s and Sal’s faces show a possibility that one of them will have to finish the job.

    1. begbert2

      The vibe I get from Sal is more, “Jeez, what’s that gal starin’ at me all murderous like that fer? I didn’ make the girl pick that way, I jest pointed out the way thins are.”

  18. NCP19

    So…who else thinks Bossy Interloper is a pretty cool superhero name for Sal to take on her vigilante actions?

    1. narmenduke

      It sounds like a superhero who, instead of fighting crimes, stops you on the street and chastises you for smoking, or having an extra drink with dinner, or something.

      1. fellixe

        And she mesmerizes people into tolerating it with her amazing power of pantslessness.

        1. narmenduke

          And her motorcycle. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’d become a vegan on the spot if a hot chick with no pants pulled up on a motorcycle and told me I should.

  19. Shifty

    Stupid decision Joyce.

  20. Valdrax

    Poor Joyce. I don’t think this will end well for her, but part of making a good and realistic character is letting them make mistakes in character.

  21. |Agent

    No! Bad Joyce!

    *whaps her on the nose with a newspaper*

    It doesn’t go away if you pretend it didn’t happen!

    1. a99steaksauce

      No, It only goes away if you burn it, with fire I would presume, and sweep the ashes under the carpet,maybe in someone elses house.

      1. N0083rP00F

        mmmmm BBQ ……. what?

  22. MacSimon

    FUCK DA POLICE
    I like this Joyce.

    1. TemplarKnight

      I’d like to point out this is going to turn real bad once Ryan files a police report against Joyce and Sarah for Assault and Battery and and their defense will become really sketchy when they claim it was in response to attempted rape without filing a police report to support their claim.

  23. saturnwonder

    Dang, it’s just puppy eyes and butterfly kisses this week ain’t it?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      and dead ham-hams.

      1. saturnwonder

        *Starts crying*

  24. Uniqueantique

    Looks like a no-win situation at this point. I think that Sal and Sarah are both right. Sal saying that they screwed up by not taking care of business when it happened pretty much sums it up realisticlly. Sarah saying they should leave it to Joyce to decide is correct, as far as it goes. But Joyce is still hurting, upset, and disillusioned. Is she really ready to make an intelligent decision, becasue it doesn’t look like it. This isn’t going to go away. And just where is the would-be-rapist anyway? Dead. Hiding? Damn Willis, you make me care.

    1. Karishi

      Who knows? Maybe the drugs in the glass got all up in his bloodstream and between that and the concussion he has no idea what happened last night.

  25. Uniqueantique

    Ah me, no edit…sorry for the spelling.

  26. NerdAtComputer

    So, almost rape as drama? Not bad, not bad.

    This will all end up with Joyce falling into a Coma, and Faz discovering he is the father of Billie’s kid.
    I TELL YOU, THIS IS NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

    1. AndysDrawings

      Billie’s alternate possible kid FROM THE POSSIBLE FUTURE.

  27. huh

    I guess it shows my paranoid nature that I agree with Sal. Police really aren’t as helpful as they should be in reality, and that’s not just a “only jerks become cops” mentality I’m speaking from. The bureaucracy that is the American justice system is pretty ridiculous, and in a situation like this I honestly doubt the police could do anything. They don’t know the dickheads name, they don’t have any proof he did anything, and he is pry in bad enough condition medically that his story is more likely to be believed, especially considering he is a good lair and the girls would most likely stick to the truth. Which involves assault, however justified. I get that going to the cops is supposedly the “moral” thing, I just don’t see what good could realistically come from it.

    1. saturnwonder

      Not a whole lot really. I agree with you on the justice system sucking, and that the cops themselves won’t be a whole lot of help.

      This reminds me of when my sister and her ex got into it, where he took advantage of her like in the comic, and she threw a boot at him. They went with calling the cops, and she ended up staying the night in jail because, though he not only started it and used her in ways that would of put him in jail, but she was the one that did physical harm to him where there was proof.

      It sucks, but like I said going to the cops wouldn’t be the best thing. Joyce could get into some serious crap if they do.

  28. Matt

    This storyline hits distressingly close to home. Friends and I found out that we knew a serial rapist and set about trying to find out what we could do about it. Which turned out to be… nothing. We ostracized him- fortunately and unfortunately, our social circles were tightly interwoven- but that was all we could do.

    1. N0083rP00F

      Thsere is always getting the IRS or in this day and age, Homeland Security on him.

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        The IRS? O_o Forgive my ignorance (not American), but what can the IRS do about stopping a serial rapist? O_O Is there a tax I’m unaware of? 😉

        1. fellixe

          It’s a revenge thing with the humorous twist of being a punishment as painful as the crime yet almost wholly unrelated.

        2. Karishi

          The FBI brought down Capone on tax evasion rather than his ridiculous list of larger crimes. Whatever works, ya?

  29. Fauxlosopher

    Good luck, Joyce. I don’t think that’s possible, but if it is, I really hope you can.

    1. begbert2

      She has an edge – she doesn’t remember the event, and from a physical standpoint Ryan didn’t even get as far as assaulting her, so she lacks both sorts of trauma that really can burn this sort of thing into a person. All she has to remember the event is a cut hand (which will heal), and a second-hand account of a person’s nasty betrayal.

  30. Ed

    I like the last bit with Sarah. Good to see her doing so much cool stuff given how rarely she appeared in the first series.

  31. MoreWhitecaps

    Noooo, Joyce. This is not the proper response, regardless of whether or not it’s a normal response.

  32. Frrabian

    Worse decision EVER!!

  33. Marisynos

    This one made me cry. I know it’s a hard decision from personal experience. *hugs Joyce*

  34. sun tzu

    Well, Joyce, the decision is yours.
    AND YOU MADE THE FUCKING WRONG ONE!
    Even if Ryan doesn’t come after you next (hell, would any of you be able to recognize him? You have lapsed memories of the event, and I’m not sure Sarah got a good look), he’ll still be coming after other girls.

  35. Matt of Steel

    Joyce is making the only decision in her viewpoint that will let her stay at college.

    Super wrong to not report it … but again, they handled the situation in the worst possible way. Sal explained all the ways in which it would be pointless as well as the possible other side effect of getting Sarah in trouble for assaulting someone with a weapon.

    We all want justice, but in the real world it is not that easy. You need evidence and witnesses, something they have none of.

  36. Lordphulish

    Even if they leave the issue alone, will Amazigirl? Remember, she is immune to criticism.

  37. Queen Anthai

    Oh Joyce. You idiot.

  38. Gundi

    To those who keep saying the cops “couldn’t” do anything, let’s look at a few facts:
    -Chances are this is not the first time the the has done this. He seemed to really have his “act” together. Therefore, chances are there could be other victims besides Joyce. Ideally, the police investigate such claims. (Depends on the police force in question as to whether this wil actually happen. I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt for a police force that has to deal with on-campus crime though.) I can’t say how sucessful the police’s investigation will be (As I said earlier it depends on the police force in question’s ability as well as how good ‘Ryan’ or whatever his name is is at hiding his tracks and just random chance.) but at the very least it would help the authorities should he ever try to do this again. (And you know he will. Well, he might have trouble now that he has a huge scar on his face.)
    -As for Sarah being charged with armed battery or something of that nature, well… I hate to say it but that is probably a valid charge. She kept hitting him after he was on the ground, bleeding and unresisting. That definitely goes past self-defense or just trying to protect Joyce. So… rapists are bad people but you can’t just beat them to death. Not that I blame Sarah, I probably would have reacted the same way.(Not that that, you know, makes it right.)

    1. Habap

      Well said. Even if it doesn’t result in any charges against him THIS time, the police will now have more reason to believe the victim the next time.

      1. N0083rP00F

        I really doubt that given the polices propensity for not noticing things till too late – Jeffry Balmer is an example of just that.

        1. Kryss LaBryn

          Not to mention Robert Pickton. The cops were having women reporting assault and attempted murder and that women were heading out to his farm and never coming back for TWO YEARS before the cops thought it might be worth looking into.

          Of course, they were just prostitutes. You know. Not anyone that MATTERED. *eyeroll*

    2. Aydr

      The cops couldn’t do anything because they can’t even give a NAME right now. Maybe once the girls find out who Ryan actually*is*.

  39. Jimmy

    SAL WILL RUE THE DAY SHE MADE AN ENEMY OF SARAH.

    RUE.

    1. Leorale

      Deja-rue

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        Deja-Roux: The uncanny feeling that you’ve had that sauce before.

  40. Moonshine McGee

    Forget tha police comin’ straight from the underground.
    Young fundie got it bad ’cause she’s Brown.

  41. Jen!

    As someone who works in Residence Life, this make me cringe. At least file a damn anonymous report with the campus police! What happened is a violation of the Clery Act and should be reported…

    (Man, this imaginary college’s ResLife sucks!)

    1. Henry

      It’s only half-imaginary. It is IU…

  42. Joebo

    It occurs to me, just because the drugs are no longer effecting her brain doesn’t mean that they’re out of her system. I’m sure that a prompt urine sample would be able to corroborate their story.

    1. saturnwonder

      You’re right! I didn’t even think about that, since it takes a full 48 hrs to a week for any sort of drug to be completely out of her system. There’s their proof that she was drugged.

      Also, they wouldn’t find any alcohol either, because she was drinking soda, so she wouldn’t get pegged with underage drinking. Sara would be okay because she was defending the drugged one, Joyce.

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        “I used the minimum force necessary to restrain him.”

        Got that one straight from a cop. Apparently you can do just about anything so long as that’s what you tell the police when they arrive.

        And she didn’t even use that, at that. Because he was still able to get up and sneak away while they were occupied, right? So really, it would be more like “I used the minimum force necessary to restrain him– and it wasn’t enough.”

        But yes!! You’re absolutely right. A urine sample containing roofies but no alcohol would go a long way to supporting their story.

        Hmm. Now, how to get her to actually agree to pee into a cup..?

    2. L

      I just said that yesterday…

    3. huh

      Hate to be a downer, but you guys are wrong about drugs. Not all of them take at least 48 hours to pass. In fact, one of the reason ruffies and date rape are so popular is because the drug is completely out of the victims system in less then 24 hours, and that is at a high dosage. Its also one of the reasons date rapists are among the hardest to convict. No sign of forced sex, and no drugs in the victims system if they do report it, since they can’t even remember the crime until much later. And of course for this reason most women don’t.

      1. saturnwonder

        So they have at least 12 hrs to go get this done, if they decided to go to the police, but it looks like they really aren’t because now Walky is talking about the Pajama jeans again lol

  43. Gargamel

    Joyce is making the right decision. It’s too late to actually prove any kind of attempted rape actually happened. If they had immediately gone to the police then the situation could have been resolved with some (possibly serious) embarrassment.
    Vigilantism can’t end well, though I get the feeling that Sarah and Sal are going to try anyway. And if Ryan is the kind of scumbag I think he is then they are going to find themselves well out of their depth.

  44. The Geek

    haha very funny comic!

  45. icepyrox

    I haven’t read all the comments yet, but I feel like we all feel the way we do because we are witnesses to the act and its results.

    Someone mentioned Ryan filing a police report against Joyce/Sarah, but that’s not going to happen because he doesn’t know they haven’t filed one against him (and apparently won’t) so he’s not going to offer himself if they had.

    Everyone is saying poor choice, but that choice more or less happened “last night”. If she remembered her parents last night, she probably will remember now, and not to mention he didn’t actually succeed in even hurting her. Does it suck? Is it a bad choice? Sure, but I think if anything was going to happen it would have last night.

    And while she claims to want to pretend it never happened, she decided this looking at her hand. That mark will not pretend it didn’t happen and I don’t think she is really pretending it didn’t happen either. To be honest, I think she knows most of what happened if not the full implications thereof.

    While a sad commentary on a broken justice system, it is true that nothing good would come of going to the police. Mention of attempted rape would be dismissed without any proof, and while the drugs would show up, it just wouldn’t stick without one or both of her and Sarah going to jail for assault. Her parents would be called then, and she really will go away and never see the world again.

    Or she can smile, say she wishes to pretend it never happened, remain in Uni with good friends that are truly better than anyone could hope for without knowing them for more than a week, and hope this drama doesn’t drive any of them far. Everyone she cares about (and most at the party) knows who to look out for, so no one will be taken unawares by his charm/drugs/etc. While justice is not served this time per se, he will not succeed again. This really is probably the best possible outcome that doesn’t drive the entire cast apart forever.

    1. Michelle J Caboose

      “And while she claims to want to pretend it never happened, she decided this looking at her hand.”

      It could be that, while she was staring at her hand, she decided (realized?) she actually got off pretty lucky. She could have gotten raped, could have gotten a disease, could have gotten pregnant could have even gotten beaten or killed (for all she knows). What she actually got was a gap in her memory and a cut hand. Now, maybe a bit less naive and a bit more wary, she’s hoping to get back to her life with minimal disruption.

      Yeah, I’ve been in situations which, while not exactly like this one, have resulted in me reacting the same way.

  46. Kaling

    Well Ms. Joyce. There be some murder’n tonight!

  47. Zem

    In the policemen’s defense (because it seems everyone is turning it into a commentary on a broken justice system), all they can do at this point is that some guy at a party, -probably- named Ryan, tried to drug their friend. (No real rape/assault occurred.) That amount of information is hardly going to merit an investigation. If they intend to follow up on this and try to identify the guy, and/or if they reported it immediately then the police would have more to work with. As it is, the weight of the crime and the amount of police work it requires do not really match up.

    Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t REPORT a crime, because the fact that it was filed and is proveable may become important later, but it’s not the police’s or the system’s faults that a case like this does not always lead to proper action.

    (Yeah, I know that in many places the police are dicks who’d arrest a man for assaulting a burglar and such, but this is not one of those cases.)

  48. BrokenEye, True False Prophet

    “If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;”

    Job 9:27

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