271

Low stress
Posted on May 23, 2015 by David M Willis

271 thoughts on “Low stress”

  1. Jen Aside

    Dina trying to emulate Sarah:

    “The fuck. She does?”

    1. AgentKeen

      “You mean to suggest that it is for ‘the fuck’ that Raidah gets Jacob?”

      1. Doctor_Who

        Now I’m imagining Dina as Starfire.

        1. Nono

          Sarah would be Raven easily.

          I guess Joe as Cyborg.

        2. TheTJ

          Lessee… Sal as Terra I guess? Joe could be BeastBoy.

          I’d say Robin would HAVE to be Amazi-girl.

          And Mike for Slade.

          …Danny could be that grub-pet Starfire had.

        3. TheTJ

          Oh what the hell am I saying?!? Walky is so obviously Beast Boy!

          Joe can be Cyborg

        4. Nono

          Except Walky’s distaste for anything resembling vegetables.

          Becky might be the closest thing to Beast Boy, if you replace ‘DUDE!’ with ‘LESBIANS!’

        5. Opus the Poet

          Is Becky vegetarian or vegan? I mean she might consider that since she’s “into cooters” and all, but she said Dorothy was some kind of exotic because she was atheist…

        6. Garrett

          YES FANDOMS UNITE!!!!
          Sarah = Bubblebee?

        7. HeySo

          I was about to say 😛

        8. Dibullba

          I would say Dina would be Beast Boy =P. She could just turn into dinosaurs.

        9. Archivist

          Perfect crossover fancasts are perfect.

        10. 3-I

          My mind went to her being Spock circa Star Trek IV.

        11. TachyonCode

          That’s not *too* much of a stretch…

        12. Plasma Mongoose

          If by Starfire, you mean the early 00s cartoon Starfire, then yes I am too. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

        13. Watson The Snail

          I always pictured Dina having a voice less like Starfire and more like BMO.

        14. Doctor_Who

          I imagine Michelle Ruff as Yuki Nagato, but with a bit more emotion.

        15. JustCheetoDust

          I imagine poorly dubbed English, but only because I saw Wayne’s World 2 again.

        16. Bill

          I questioned this at one time and Willis responded that both Dina and her parents were born and raised in America, so their English is probably on a par with everyone else’s.

        17. HeySo

          However, Dina attempts to formulate the pitch of her words to be appealing and relaxing to sauropods [which if Jurassic Park taught us anything, means she has a deep echoey voice].

          True Sto- actually, I’d not put it past her.

    2. Yet_One_More_Idiot

      On the upside, it seems that this has helped Sarah to get past what Joyce said.

      1. Rycan

        If you consider getting really angry to be ‘helping’.

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Anger can be a great motivator for inspiring people to do other stuff. It can also be transferred. In this case, she’s no longer angry at Joycy ‘cos she’s too busy being angry at Raidah (a much more important target for her anger in her opinion)

    3. Dr. Smart

      she does the fuck?

      1. JustCheetoDust

        She fucks the doe?
        She’d choke fetus?
        Hushed cokefest?

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          There’s apparently 4536 “sentences” that use the letters of “The fuck she does”.

          http://wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=thefuckshedoes&t=1000&a=n

          The internet is weird and wonderful. But mostly just weird. 😛

        2. Rich

          Hey, at least that site is neither cat photos nor porn.

  2. An Average Loser

    WAR.

    1. Cholma

      huh yeah. What is good for?

      1. Doctor_Who

        Sarah: Good God, y’all.

        Joyce: He IS good, isn’t he?

      2. Zan Thrax

        “Dunno, Sarge. Freeing slaves, maybe?”
        “Absol—well, okay.”
        “Defending yourself against a totalitarian aggressor?”
        “All right, I’ll grant you that, but—”
        “Saving civilization from a horde of—”
        “It doesn’t do any good in the long run is what I’m saying, Nobby, if you’d listen for five seconds together,” said Fred Colon sharply.
        “Yeah, but in the long run, what does, Sarge?”

        1. Deanatay

          Which one counts in Sarah’s case? Raidah counts as a ‘totalitarian agressor’, I suppose. Aggressing herself all over HER MAN.

          Passions EnFlamed!

        2. Wizard

          Dear Sir (or Madam, as the case may be),
          Please accept this certificate, redeemable for one internet.

        3. fogel

          Spose every topic that comes up couldbe covered by a passage from the works of SirT?

      3. saltchocolate

        Absolutely nothing . . . but maybe this case is an exception?

      4. Lurlock

        Jack Black absolutely ruined this song for me in that stupid Gulliver’s Travels movie. (Not hating on JB, but he does pick some stinkers to star in…)

  3. otusasio451

    Round 1. FIGHT!

    1. otusasio451

      TEST YOUR MIGHT.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Babality!!

        1. Tacos

          Friendship!

        2. DarkoNeko

          Magic!

  4. TheTJ

    And now for the most powerful emotion involved with getting two people in a relationship.

    …Spite.

    1. Rich

      Also quite good at getting people out of a relationship.

    2. Ancestral Hamster

      Spite does not strike me as the best reason to start a relationship. Whatever drives the plot, I guess.

      1. neeks

        driving the plot isn’t a very good reason to start a relationship either

        1. HeySo

          But unless you drive the plot, how can you crash it into a wall?

          Gee, I pretty much summed up the entire basis of Willis’ previous works, there.

    3. timemonkey

      You may want to reread the strip, Sarah never says she’s going to get with Jacob, simply that Raidah will not be getting him.

  5. Boomwolf

    Takin all bets guys, takin all bets!

    1. Jen Aside

      Fuck bets!

      GET THE PUDDING

      1. Matthew Davis

        Awwwwwwwww Yeah.

      2. fogel

        Zebra pudding? Its all been eaten already.

        1. fogel

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/taken/ (thanks to Rycan 🙂 )

      3. Someone

        The zebra pudding!

    2. Nono

      The Bat vs. Condom Cap vs. Mean Clique

      DING DING!

    3. Rich

      What are the odds on him giving up on women altogether after a few days of this?

      Not that Ethan would mind that outcome…

      1. Rycan

        Or he gives up on a relationship and just settles for a low stress fling with Roz.

        1. Rich

          If we’re betting on flings, what are the odds on Jacob and Amber’s mother getting together? 🙂

        2. fogel

          Only if Mike takes an interest 😉

        3. you can't see me

          YES! I finally get all of the shortpacked references!

        4. Rycan

          What? Who said that?

        5. Rich

          Assuming you’re not joking, Shortpacked Mike set up a situation that led to Amber’s mom and Jacob sleeping together.

        6. Rycan

          No, I swore somebody made a comment about finally getting all the Shortpacked! references, but I can’t see them.

        7. JustCheetoDust

          Because Disqus commenting is awful?

        8. Rich

          Oh, duh. Was looking at the gravatar, not the actual ID. Right over my head.

        9. JustCheetoDust

          At least you didn’t totally misread all that like I did.

          (I thought there was a callback to some comment on the SP! site)

    4. Beckett

      $20 on “Jacob gets sick of the drama after about 2 seconds of this shit and bows out of the whole situation so he can study”.

    5. Garrett

      I bet no one gets the Jacob. He can’t handle the drama

      1. DarkoNeko

        He doesn’t have time for dramas.

      2. Inlaa

        No no no, see: he just needs someone that doesn’t get involved with drama and isn’t going to start fights with anyone except in the most extreme of cases.

        He gets with Dina.

        1. Someone

          Just don’t mention creationism vs evolution

  6. Nono

    I could argue about the points made in the first two panels but I’m actually oddly happy that Sarah is fired up now.

    1. Jen Aside

      “There she is. Our girl on fire.”

      1. Jordan

        Oh wait… that’s Raidah… Sarah actually set her on fire.

        1. HeySo

          Look, it’s not her fault, okay?
          She wanted to add a literal component to ‘having her stew in her own juices’, and things just got out of hand.

          Cardigans are apparently highly flammable, and you know how Joyce manages to get herself and others into troublesome situations..

  7. David Herbert

    And now the silly rom com antics begin.

    1. Nono

      I’m just anticipating Sarah being Wil E. Coyote and using giant ACME boxes to get rid of Raidah.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Painting a tunnel on the wall is the ultimate classic.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Raidah is Roadrunner?

        1. Rycan

          Then Sarah will never succeed. Poor Sarah.

        2. Bill

          Do you think Willis has the same set of rules?
          https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_SEWU8XIAIXsC5.jpg:large

        3. Rycan

          That left off the most important rule: The Coyote will never catch the Road Runner.

        4. Bill

          These were the original nine rules; they were later expanded to 11, one of which was that the Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Road Runner.

    2. maxyai

      Except this is awesome, unlike every romantic comedy ever made.

      1. JessWitt

        Yeah, def’nitely not silly. Everyone will be Kung fu fighting.

        1. grantimusmax

          Those kicks? Fast as lightning.

        2. Tacos

          It was a little bit frightening.

        3. Bantha

          But they fought with expert timing.

  8. Mandy

    Oh lord.

  9. saki

    You go, Sarah! 🙂

  10. Rich

    Answered the “how long have they been dating” question I asked yesterday. Not long – but unless the first date was yesterday evening, it happened before he broke off talking to Sarah.

    1. Li

      He was trying to be her friend, not necessarily trying to date her.

      1. Rich

        Sure, but Sarah was maneuvering towards a more romantic (or at least sexual) relationship. And who knows, Jacob might not have minded drifting in that direction if things had worked out differently.

  11. JessWitt

    Stop the lies, Sarah! Last thing you need is Jacob only hearing Raidah’s side of the story.

  12. Zaidyer

    Hey, do you know what time it is?
    Time to take care of business.

    1. grantimusmax

      More like _take out the trash_.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        But Zaidyer already said “take care of business,” now everyone age appropriate has to hear Bachman-Turner Overdrive in their heads.

        1. fogel

          Yep, every day

  13. Smiling Cat

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVBqBosf5w

    Just came to me.

  14. Kelli

    I will not… I will not… I will not go archive diving to see if this stuff is explained somewhere.

    1. Rich

      Just click on the Raidah tag. She’s only appeared in about 30 strips, and the first big clump of them is the flashback story covering the Dana-Sarah-Raidah story from Sarah’s POV. Takes like ten minutes to read, tops.

    2. Weebles

      Weird. It would never occur to me to drop into the middle of a story and not read from the beginning! 🙂

  15. Opus the Poet

    I thought Sarah had given up on Jacob?

    1. Gangler

      She’s experiencing a sudden change of heart.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        She wants him now that Raidah has him.

        1. merbrat

          I’m guessing she just wants to make sure Raidah *doesn’t* get him.
          So, he doesn’t hear just Raidah’s side of it.

        2. Rich

          That, exactly. Spite is a wonderful motivator.

    2. Greenygal

      Yeah, but that was before she knew her arch-enemy had gotten him.

      1. Jen Aside

        It’s like the kid who gets first choice of cupcakes but can’t decide so says, “Whatever one [the next kid to pick] wants, THAT’S the one I want.”

        1. Jen Aside

          except, I guess, there’s one cupcake and Sarah decided Raidah can’t have it

          and it’s beefcake, really

          mmm

        2. Deanatay

          “I don’t really want your cupcake. I just want to lick all the frosting off of him – er, it. Then, you can have it back.”

        3. Rycan

          Poor Jacob.

    3. Zan Thrax

      I think she’s just mostly just angry at the idea of yet another person, especially someone she’s attracted to, winding up on the “Sarah’s a huge bongo” bandwagon.

    4. Alex

      Spite is the strongest aphrodisiac.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Amber and Mike would know.

        1. Captain Batson

          As evidenced by Donna.

  16. Mollyscribbles

    Run, Jacob! Run for the hills! I know it might sound hot to imagine two girls fighting for your affections but even Archie got tired of it after a while.

    1. Rich

      Yeah, but Archie decided two weren’t enough, the greedy bastard.

      Me, I’m shipping him with Cheryl.

      1. Matthew Davis

        Why do you hate Archie? What’d he do to you?

        1. Rich

          What, you want the poor guy to stick with Betty and Veronica? He’s been with them since the 1940s and still hasn’t seen third base. At least with Cheryl he might see some action – the publisher flipped out over her being “too sexual” back when she first showed up.

          Of course, she has been kind of awful in some of her later appearances. I guess if you want to go all modern and everything then Val gets my vote. Gotta love a musician girlfriend who does neko cosplay.

        2. 3-I

          Ever read Little Archie? He kind of was a monster.

        3. Bantha

          Isn’t Archie dead? Died trying to save a friend or something?

        4. Rich

          I think he’s been dead a couple of times, and a zombie at least once. He’s a comic character, it doesn’t stick.

          Little Archie was outside my experience, I read old-school 50s and 60s hand-me-down stuff and then got re-familiarized with the stuff in the early 2000s because a friend’s kid was into it. The internet makes him sound like a Dennis the Menace knockoff, which would be awful.

  17. Haha

    I wonder how this will turn out: will Sarah focus mainly on breaking them up, or attempting to seduce Jacob??

  18. Greenygal

    I say this with the deepest of whole-hearted sincerity: Uh-oh.

  19. Rani

    LET’S TO IT PELL MELL
    IF NOT TO HEAVEN
    THEN HAT IN HAND TO HELL

  20. Rani

    MichaelJacksonEatingPopcorn.gif

  21. Shining Wizard

    C’mon, don’t make Jacob a part of this, Sarah… That’s not fair. D= This kind of drama is so intense on a college dorm

  22. Cheryl

    WOOOO GETTEM SARAH!

  23. Archivist

    GO GET THE MACGUFFIN, SARAH. SARAH CLINTON FOR JADED P.I. PROTAGONIST.

    1. grantimusmax

      It was a dark night, in a dorm hall that knows how to keep it’s secrets…

      1. Deanatay

        *Plays ‘Weird Al’s “Word Crimes” on the Muzak*

        rrrr GRAMMAR HAMMAR!!! *SMASH*

  24. Plasma Mongoose

    How will Sarah be able to win Jacob back without resorting to riff on Joyce?

    1. Nono

      Clearly the solution is to tout a new boytoy around to make him jealous.

      So, Joe or Ethan?

      1. Rycan

        Ethan?!?

        1. Rich

          I assume the thinking is that he’s Jacob’s roomie, so it would bother him more.

          But still, no. Just no.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Ethan is a bad idea on so many levels, heck even Mike would be a better choice.

        1. Deanatay

          Plas, this is about irrational Sarah rage. Good choices have no place here.

        2. Rycan

          There are degrees of irrationality. A girl has to be pretty irrational to intentionally date a gay guy, and I don’t think Sarah has reached a Joyce level of irrationality yet.

  25. Tacos

    Oh it is -as the kids say- on like Donkey Kong.

  26. Sarah-2

    Go Sarah!!! Get your man!! And i wish she’d somewhat defend herself when people accuse her of getting rid of her roommate. Even a one line ‘she needed help for her seriously personal issues!’ would be better than ‘….No I didn’t!!!’

  27. nothri

    “You know what? Gauntlet thrown down. Gauntlet picked up. And now I will happily beat you to death with the gauntlet you so foolishly provided to me.”

  28. Mr. Mendo

    Oooooooh! Shit’s gettin’ real!

  29. Koms

    Second date!!! Oh no… And will she be able to tell Jacob her side of the story without Raidah interfering and stopping her…oh the suspense!!!

  30. PunkThug

    Man… Joyce didn’t get all her guests there before it fell apart… She is going to HATE parties!!

  31. Kris

    If there’s a hot bod that exists that’s worth fighting for it’s Jacob’s.

  32. Kennerly

    I never really got why Sarah hates Raidah. Is it really just because Raidah doesn’t like her? But doesn’t Sarah assume everyone who knows her doesn’t like her already, so what’s so different about her?

    1. Benjy

      Sarah got Raidah’s drug-abusing and arguably suicidal best friend removed from college, and Raidah’s hellbent on making Sarah miserable for the perceived betrayal.

      1. Kennerly

        Hellbent? Hardly. Its not like Raidah goes out of her way to make Sarah miserable, like Sarah is clearly plotting against her

        1. Rycan

          Oh, she does. She really does.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/taken/

        2. Hiraku

          Oh man, i didn’t remember that strip.

          Really, /that/ was Raidah’s response when Sarah said to her that Dana was doing drugs? “We liked her”?

          Dana’s life was on the line, Raidah hears it, and all she cared about was “We liked her”?

          Wow. Raidah, you may not be hearing yourself talk, but you made yourself sound like all you cared about was just partying it up when it comes to your best friend right there while ignoring her well-being.

          That’s not good.

        3. Lord Stoneheart

          Raidah didn’t know the full extent of Dana’s depression, because Dana was good at masking it in front of her and her friends.

        4. Bantha

          Sarah did the right thing but didn’t word the explanation real well. Not that Raidah was interested in hearing it anyway…but Sarah could have worded it a little better to let her know she didn’t see the real severity of Dana’s depression because she didn’t live with her. Sarah saw the real deal, not the front Dana put up. But the “drugs” part wasn’t really the problem. It was just pot. No big deal. The depression though? That needed some serious treatment and her friends never saw that side of it, just Sarah. They’re mad they lost a friend so they just blame blame blame and refuse to hear the truth of it.

    2. Rich

      Raidah blames her for Dana getting pulled out of school – and it’s not even untrue, as such. But that doesn’t make Sarah feel any better about having had to do what she did, and it might not have been necessary if the rest of Dana’s so-called friends had just listened to her. Raidah’s the worst of the lot, simply because she made the most effort of any of them to be friendly with Sarah back then and she still refused to believe her about Dana.

      That is plenty of grounds for hate.

      1. Jen Aside

        it’s like Sarah doesn’t realize college is for getting wasted with friends

      2. Em

        Raidah is angry at Sarah for a choice Dana’s father made. Sarah didn’t ask him to pull her out. All Sarah did was make him aware of the issue. That’s something a good friend does.

      3. Deanatay

        I’d argue that Char is worse, she backs up her resentment with charged slurs. But, we don’t see as much of her.
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/bullies/

        1. Rycan

          Thankfully.

    3. Kris

      It can also be argued that Raidah is partially the reason Sarah assumes most people don’t like her. Past Sarah seemed far less jaded then present Sarah.

    4. OnnaStik

      Because Raidah (and her buddies, but Raidah seems to be the ringleader) has been harassing her all year?

      She won’t let Sarah eat lunch in peace. She tries to prevent anyone else from being friendly with her. Quite frankly, what’s not to hate?

      1. Bill

        Just for grins and giggles, someone needs to repost the second link OnnaStik provided and change Raidah’s voice balloon to “Bongo”.

      2. Charles RB

        I’d forgotten about those moments (wow, the art changed more than I remembered). Come out swinging, Sarah! MAXIMIZE!

  33. Moonshine McGee

    Seems like Raidah’s life is one long bongo solo.

    1. JessWitt

      Didn’t know Raidah was such a hepcat. :-p

    2. SUGauthor

      I feel like I’m the only person on this site that feels like Raidah isn’t a one dimensional hatemonger.

      1. Jen Aside

        I don’t think she is (she DID tell Char not to call anyone “retarded” whenever they’re in THE UNIVERSE)

        however

        she’s one of those people who takes the side of whoever’s the most fun to be around, even if the less-fun person has a legitimate concern, as though “out of sight, out of mind” is a real coping tactic

        you know, privilege

        possibly also not really grasping depression and what it really does to a person, as though it just means “oh she was sad sometimes”

        …possibly also… LESBIANS

        WE SHALL SEE

        *popcorn a-plenty*

        1. SUGauthor

          I don’t know, I feel like if I was in Raidah’s position, I would have taken Dana’s side too, not because Dana is more fun, but because to this day Dana is still claiming Sarah made the wrong call. And it’s worth noting that Dana was hiding her worst moments from all of her friends, and right before this happened Sarah was whining to them about how she couldn’t focus and her grades were falling. From Raidah’s perspective Sarah stabbed her best friend in the back when she was at one of the lowest points in her life just because she didn’t want to deal with a grieving roommate. If the story was told from Raidah’s perspective, Sarah would look like an absolute monster (at least for most of the story anyways).

        2. Gordon

          To be fair, we don’t actually know what Dana said. Just that Dana isn’t happy. The fact that Dana willingly volunteers this information to Raidah, when before she was hiding her emotional state completely indicates some level of improvement in Dana.

          Whether she actively blames Sarah for everything is unknown. Raidah certainly does, but her perspective on what happened is entirely different from Dana’s, as Dana can blame her father and Raidah can only blame Sarah. My guess is she blames her father and probably doesn’t give much thought to Sarah. Because Sarah was locked out of the conversation right after making the phone call, it probably wasn’t until later that Dana even found out and got to process that Sarah was the one who called her dad.

        3. Cerberus

          This. They both have radically different perspectives on the situation and different pieces of the story. That Dana is still miserable months later is a red flag, but Dana is also good at masks and tends to bottle up and internalize everything for when she’s alone (and in that way, she’s very alike Sarah).

          I think the reality is that they are both good people, trying to do right with their piece of the story and that leads both in radically different directions where Raidah views Sarah as a dangerous abuser who will throw you to the wolves if you inconvenience her and Sarah views Raidah as a bully who just won’t let go of a really bad moment and a tough decision.

          And it’s unlikely that either is the one-dimensional villain the other sees the other as.

        4. Marie

          Thing is, they both think they took Dana’s side.

        5. Rich

          Note that while Raidah did come down on Char for that slur, she was also the one who jumped to the conclusion that Dina was developmentally challenged and proceeded to speak down to her as though she were a child. That’s really just a more PC way of delivering the same insult Char did a few moments later. And she has never apologized to Dina for any of that encounter, despite the fact that a girl in a dinosaur hat that eats in your dining hall is not exactly hard to find.

        6. SUGauthor

          Well yeah, but Raidah honestly did believe she was developmentally challenged, and also assumed Sarah was taking advantage of her for it. I don’t think there was any malicious intent behind her actions like there was with Char, and to be honest she probably still thinks Dina is like that, if she didn’t I’m sure she’d apologize.

        7. Bantha

          I think you’re giving Raidah a little bit more credit than she deserves. She was being condescending to Dina. She was just a little more polite about it than Char. She was still being rude…just masking it behind false pretenses.

        8. Marie

          Except you shouldn’t talk down to random people regardless. Unless you actually know them and know that simplifying and stuff is relevant to their disability and how it affects them (and, obviously, that they actually have that disability), you don’t talk to someone like that. Of course, maybe Raidah is just dumb about that and not a repackaged version of Char, but that doesn’t make it something that’s okay to do, regardless of honesty.

          I was really disappointed that Raidah didn’t even react to Dina’s “her tone and posture denote condescension” comment; that would have given me a better opinion of her, but she didn’t even notice.

      2. Moonshine McGee

        She literally exists in the comic to be a dick to Sarah.

        The closest thing she has done to demonstrating that she has a decent bone in her body is agreeing not to go out of her way to antagonize Sarah, and only after Sarah demonstrated she is willing to get physical.

        And, hell, the agreement just kinda went out the window anyway.

  34. Ciritus

    kennerly , it is because Raidah constanly bullied Sarah after the roomate incident , even trying to anatgonize Sarah by putting people agaisnt her

  35. nothri

    Easy solution, follow Billie’s advice then just make it a threesome.

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/bonecity/

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      (Reads Billie’s comment regarding bitter rivaleries leading to bone city). Well that’s some foreshadowing I didn’t catch before.

      1. nothri

        That part is pretty damn amusing, too.

  36. epershannd

    raidah’s got one hell of a flexible arm

  37. Kraken

    Holy shit, that Sarah face is the best face ever.

  38. Bagge

    Jacob sure knows how to show the ladies a good time

  39. Kitschensyngk

    This will end in bloodshed and tears, I can sense it.

    1. AtomsOrSystems

      Like all good Willis strips.

  40. Rycan

    Jacob, if you want low-stress, avoid making contact with anybody else in this comic. Well, Dina might be safe to say hello to. But that’s it.

    1. JessWitt

      Hell, he should have considered visiting another comic. Bask in another cast of characters’ problems.

      1. Rycan

        *wanders over to It’s Walky!*

        Yeah, no, this is worse.

  41. Ry

    I can’t help but feel that Jacob’s sexiness is an informed attribute. *shrug*

    1. Bagge

      Of course it is. It’s an opinion shared and voiced by Ethan, Amber and Sarah. Sexiness is in the eye of the beholder, not a god given character trait.

    2. Pinja

      Racist

    3. timemonkey

      Yeah, root for the asshole bully whose been actively insulting and alienating Sarah for over a year over an incident that was at worst a well intentioned misunderstanding and at best saved her supposed best friend’s life.

      1. timemonkey

        Not sure how this even happened

  42. Ridureyu

    Jacob doesn’t get to choose who gets Jacob.

  43. Wendy

    Honestly, I’m rooting for Raidah in this one. \^_^/

    1. Bagge

      Given the situation I think making a few snide

      1. Bagge

        … remarks and leaving in a huff is pretty reasonable

    2. timemonkey

      Yeah, root for the asshole bully whose been actively insulting and alienating Sarah for over a year over an incident that was at worst a well intentioned misunderstanding and at best saved her supposed best friend’s life.

      1. Zatar

        She immediately verbally attacks Sarah right after getting over her initial shock and than when Sarah stands up to her she leaves in a huff. Timemonkey is right she is a bully, even if we didn’t have the context of the previous comics she would still be a bully in this situation.

      2. wil

        I mean, she’s not really doing anything worse than other characters in this strip. Sarah has a hard time with people, but she also openly treats them like lint. Mike is a horrible person but people still seem to like him. So on and so forth.

        1. Rich

          Who likes Mike, exactly? I mean, readers, yeah, but characters? They don’t shun him, but has there been a single occasion since Joyce’s date with Joe that anyone has sought out his presence or went out of their way to invite him to go anywhere?

        2. fogel

          Ethan doesnt LIKE Mike it seems and chose not to room with him yet seemingly considered him a friend the last time the issue came up. And Mike claimed to be Ethans only friend, a while back, even as he copped to being “some blond asshole” and told Ethan that having him as his only friend was even worse than being in the closet….

        3. Rycan

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/04-the-bechdel-test/backpack/

        4. Rycan

          Oops, wrong one. Here:

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/04-the-bechdel-test/stand/

        5. fogel

          Indeed, yes, and yet, also, later on, Mike tells Ethan that his life sucks because his social isolation is so profound that “your only friend is some blond asshole” AND Ethan doesnt challenge Mikes characterization of their relationship. (And ive lost track of that strip again so cannot link to it) Which might be reconcilable: otoh, Mike has no friends, according to Ethan; otoh, Ethans only friend is Mike, according to Mike…

        6. fogel

          “Mikes okay to hang with now & again ….” 🙂

          Although i, personally, havent seen what Ethan (and Amber, i suppose), get out of hanging with Mike. Altho Ethan readily leapt on Mikes claim that coming out to Amber was “boneheaded” …. Im surprised that Amber didnt pound mike for that.

  44. TrueVCU

    War were declared

    1. Keroshino

      War has changed.

      1. TrueVCU

        War NEVER changes

  45. Keeveet

    Whoo, Sarah plot! She’s one of my faves but because she’s so NO about everything, I can imagine it’s hard to write a plot for her.

    Of course it looks like it’ll be a plot about her doing something very ill-considered and indefensible like try to steal a girl’s bf to get back at her.

    Raidah probably doesn’t spend all her time obsessing over what happened to Dana, right? We just only ever see her at those moments.

    1. Rich

      That’s part of the reason those two get along so badly. They can’t see each other without being reminded of Dana, and whether they care to admit it or not, both of them feel guilty about that situation.

  46. Chaucer59

    Sic ‘er, Sarah.

  47. Idon'tcarenomore

    Raidah was supposedly Dana’s best friend, and she did nothing to help her with her drug problems. A best friend should know when something is wrong with a friend…even if not what to do. But not ignore it. So yeah, she should think about Dana.
    Sarah was afraid of losing her scholarship because Dana and friends partied and doped it up in their room. And she was afraid Dana was going to die if she didn’t get help. So she informed Dana’s parents. Not the school. The parents took her out of school, not sure the school even knew the real reason.
    Raidah and friends took up the juvenile attitude of harassing Sarah as a snitch and accusing her of getting Dana kicked out. Sarah was instrumental yes, and also likely in saving Danas life.
    Maybe Raidah is jealous Sarah did the right thing, maybe she’s just bully.

    As for Sarah ‘wanting the cookie another kid picked out first”. I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure Sarah always wanted to be with Jacob, she does like him (what’s not to like), she is just so pulled back from the whole campas because of those who harassed her, that she just is afraid to have a relationship. And she is not really socially ept, if you notice, she’s the original grind. She did try, and failed pretty badly.

    I think it is more like Sarah finally having had enough: between Joyce’s comment, and Raidah’s mouth, Sarah is going to do something she wants to do, even if she’s afraid to do it.
    And does anyone really think mature Sarah is going to do a dirty to get Jacob, like busting them up? Jabob just stated that he wanted a casual date. He is not ‘commited’ to anyone. I’d say there is nothing to bust up.
    I think Sarah is going to talk to Jacob, tell him the truth, and tell him maybe, that she’d like a second chance. She is the one that walked away from him. So maybe he will go for it. Or maybe not. Thing is I hope he learn what really happened, and maybe figure out part of why Sarah is like she is.
    Then she will go find her baseball bat, and Raidah .

    1. saltchocolate

      ^ This. Pretty much all of it.

    2. Just Me

      Maybe wishful thinking, but I would like to see Dana up, sober, drug free and healthy then Thank Sarah to what did.

      1. Gordon

        I’d rather just see a happy reunion in some way. Like Sarah calls Dana to talk to her, after them being out of contact for so long, and Dana is just happy to hear from her.

        I don’t think Dana needs to be grateful, just some evidence that Dana doesn’t blame her. I think it would go a long way for helping Sarah move on. Currently Sarah’s thinking is along the lines of “The first person who ever gave me a chance hates me for trying to help her. Why even bother?” Joyce has succeeded in befriending her despite that attitude.

  48. brumagem

    No Sarah just drop it you are too studious and adult for that kind of drama

  49. Charles RB

    Oh what a cliffhanger. What a lovely cliffhanger! 😀

  50. Hippoman

    Time for a little bit of VENGEANCE!

  51. Enigma

    If she’s such a friend to you, do you ever contact her?

    1. Rich

      She’s been in touch at least once since Dana was pulled out of school, but we don’t know how recently that was. At the time Dana was apparently very unhappy, but considering she’s presumably in being forced into therapy that’s unsurprising, especially if it was early on. Would be entirely unsurprised if Dana’s father is doing his best to keep his daughter well away from her idiot college friends that were helping enable her drug habit. Wouldn’t you, if you were a parent?

      1. Cerberus

        Presumably because we want to assume Sarah actually did what’s best for Dana. But this isolation would be just the same if he was an abusive jerk who is deliberately isolating her.

        And we don’t know which is true, but it’s very clear that Raidah and Sarah are getting very different pictures of the whole thing and since we’re not seeing Dana’s story, we don’t know if it’s a really caring dad trying to force a recovery before coming back or something on the level of toe-dad but with drugs. Unfortunately for Sarah, I suspect the latter based on my experiences as a teacher of students often dealing with drug issues, but who knows. We do know that neither of them knows the other’s perspective on the situation and neither is willing to sit down long enough with the other to find it out.

        1. Rich

          It’s possible Dana has a Helldad, but there’s no evidence one way or the other. If nothing else remember the guy is also still going through the grieving process himself – it was his wife that died, after all. That doesn’t bode well for his own stability, but it might also give him and Dana a tighter bond over as they help each other through it. Some families fall apart in those circumstances, others grow closer together.

  52. mogoskier

    Do we know anything about Sarah’s family? I mean I know she has a grandma because she said it once but anything other then that?

    1. neeks

      well she snarked about “pretending to love your parents” being a normal thing to do, so there’s that, but that might just be sarah being generally cynical.

      1. Lord Stoneheart

        She also told Dina’s family that she’s up for adoption. It seemed to be a joke, but it could imply a number of different things.

    2. brumagem

      We know her grandmother is probably very sexually liberated. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/veevee/

    3. Someone

      Im fairly certain her grandma is dead. Given that when Joyce mentioned her Grandma looking down on her. She said that her grandma bought her other-Jacob.

  53. Mr. Random

    I keep feeling like the whole thing with Sarah is that she keeps doing the right thing for both the right and the wrong reasons, with the latter taking presidence.

  54. Edward Starsmith

    I’m feeling very sorry for Jacob right now. He doesn’t deserve what’s about to happen to him.

  55. Rheios

    No Sarah. Chill out. You’re rational. Don’t Hulk out here, think. Do you REALLY want to try and date Jacob out of spite and anger here? I mean, assuming this doesn’t just blow up in your face, how far do you think that plane’s gonna get with such a volatile propellent?

    1. DarkoNeko

      “I’m done with being rational”

    2. timemonkey

      That’s not what she said though, she just said RAIDAH, won’t be getting him.

    3. Rutee

      Why do people think that her actual attraction to Jacob went out the window anyway? It’s not like she doesn’t want him (hence Other Jacob). She’s just under the pretty fair impression that she’s screwed, because she can only alienate him.

      1. Rich

        Her initial interest in Jacob seemed to be mostly physical. From the way she reacted when he told her he wasn’t interested in flings (which was in reference to Roz, not Sarah) it seems likely that she wasn’t after a committed long-term relationship herself. Whether that’s because she doesn’t want to expend the time and effort to maintain a relationship, or because she’s got some real self image problems, or because she really just wanted some no-strings sex isn’t clear.

  56. DarkoNeko

    Oooooh SNAP.

  57. 3-I

    Callin’ it now: She does NOT mean “I am going to go get Jacob,” she means “Yeah, I’m not letting that bongo turn HIM against me too, he gets to hear my fucking side of things.”

    Leave us not forget: Some people’s lives do not revolve entirely around boning people. There are other emotions than boning. Do not let the boning distract you from the other things. The boning is a red herring.

    1. Parkrndl

      Yes and no. I have a feeling you’re right about wanting Jacob to hear her side of things, and that’s how it’ll start out… But then we’re going to time jump to her waking up in his room and saying something like “oh crap, that escalated quickly…”

    2. timemonkey

      She pretty much just said Raidah won’t be getting him, not that she would.

  58. Lasenna

    Yay Sarah. I want to see Raidah get taken down a few notches. She most assuredly doesn’t deserve Jacob.

    1. timemonkey

      But what if Jacob isn’t a good thing?

      1. Gordon

        Perhaps Jacob being a bad thing will be a catalyst for Raidah and Sarah to reach some sort of peace. Or at least a ceasefire.

        The fact that Joe has a high a opinion of Jacob isn’t exactly a point in his favor.

        1. A5PECT

          Joe judges people based on very superficial qualities. He’s already explained he sees Jacob as good a good wingman because of his physical attractiveness. I doubt Joe even knows much more about Jacob beyond that.

          From what we’ve seen of Jacob, he’s friendly, outgoing, and (mostly) respectful even to complete strangers. So unless he’s sacrificing babies to Satan or something he can’t be that terrible of a person.

        2. timemonkey

          He was pretty disrespectful of Sarah. ‘interact the way I want you to at the pace I want you to or we’re done even though you’re clearly upset and hiding something important’.

        3. A5PECT

          Jacob’s past behavior is nowhere near as aggressive and malevolent as you’re describing. Jacob tried connecting with Sarah at a pace he by all rights believed she was comfortable at. It worked, for a time. Sarah went along with poking fun at Joyce and they bonded to a degree.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/joycestories/

          Then Sarah reveals she actually feels guilty about it and doesn’t want to do it anymore. Jacob promptly apologizes, explains why he thought it was okay at the time, and stops doing it. That’s pretty damn respectful in my book.

          From there on, all Jacob sees is Sarah shutting out his attempts to connect with her at every turn. Jacob has his own feelings to worry about, and when his friendliness is only met with disaffection, he has every right to cease it.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/effort-2/

        4. A5PECT

          Also, when someone is “clearly upset and hiding something important,” but you only know them as a casual acquaintance, you don’t pry.

        5. timemonkey

          I never said he should pry. He should have just let her be and assured her he’d be there if she wanted to talk.

          Instead he made it all about her. I only talked about Joyce because of YOU, YOU are shut down, YOU need to talk to me. He made little effort to find a topic they both liked (why not bring up the subject matter of the class, you know the thing they’re both studying and are therefore interested in).

        6. Spencer

          Actually, he was disrespectful to the person he repeatedly tried to interact with, but who kept shutting down any attempts and ignored him. Jacob isn’t Sarah’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl, whose sole reason for existing is to work through her issues.

          Joyce is basically the only person in the entire comic who sees Sarah’s good side. Every other time, Sarah makes it a point to be as rude, dismissive, and alienating as possible. If I were in Jacob’s position, which also includes being unaware of all of Sarah’s issues, I’d be looking elsewhere too.

        7. timemonkey

          There’s nothing wrong with him looking elsewhere. It’s how he went about it.

  59. Arianod

    http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu52/magicalpaul/ItsOnNowChaps.png

  60. Spencer

    This strip does a great job highlighting Sarah’s somewhat warped mindset. Just yesterday she told Jacob that he didn’t want to be friends with her, and now that she’s being challenged on that, suddenly she won’t let Raidah “have” him.

  61. hof1991

    This all assumes a lack of agency on Jacob’s part. Two guys fighting over a girl who may not really want either of them is a romcom staple, so Joyce should know all the tropes, just in reverse.

    1. Marie

      Yeah, and it’s pretty gross. Unless she means that she intends to ruin it for Raidah, regardless of whether she herself gets to date Jacob. Which is spiteful but actually a bit less fucked up in my opinion, because while incredibly nasty (and dumb, and will probably make her look bad enough that Jacob believes Raidah wasn’t (or wasn’t totally) at fault in whatever Sarah says) it doesn’t ignore Jacob’s consent.

  62. JBento

    Huh. Generally, hatefucks are between the people who hate each other. What’s this going to turn out to be, then? Hatefuck by proxy? Hatefuck once-removed?

    1. Catullus

      Eskimo hate-sisters?

  63. Cerberus

    I think Sarah and Raidah’s antagonism of each other is probably one of the more interesting conflicts of the strip and certainly one of the more complex, because both of them have half a story and both resent the choices the other made with their half. I mean, as much as we view Raidah as “the bad guy” owing to us getting more of Sarah’s half, she’s got a strong moral compass, a strong sense of loyalty, and a strong sense of compassion.

    Heck, even here she does a good thing, recognizing a toxic situation, removing herself from it rather quickly after recognizing it and being sure to assure her boyfriend that it wasn’t his fault that things went south (or even blame anyone outside of fate).Raidah is a good person, privileged, yes, but definitely on the level of trying to do good as she sees it.

    And that’s important, because I don’t think Sarah has all the pieces either as much as she’s angry that Raidah doesn’t. I mean, think about it. Dana was completely closed-off post-funeral with mom and her dad pulled her out of college the second he heard about her being depressed and doing pot. Now, think about that. Not taking her temporarily to a treatment center or encouraging her to seek a therapist or even emotionally being there for his daughter. Nope, just straight removal in the middle of the night.

    Now, maybe its my job as a teacher to a lot of students who turn to illegal drugs as a way of coping with terrible home situations, but this screams abuse red flag to me and Raidah’s response seems to me to be more in response to that. It’d be like if say Billie saw Becky doing something wrong or sleeping in the library and called her dad to grab her. To Billie’s eyes it would be no thing but to Joyce it’d be an unforgivable betrayal and I get that vibe from Raidah, especially when combined with this

    That one moment where Raidah checks Sarah’s assumption that she did the best thing for Dana’s recovery with a note that she has actually been in contact with Dana and that’s not true is really the center of this conflict to me. And certainly the center for Raidah. In Raidah’s eyes, Dana is now stuck in a bad, possibly abusive, certainly distant connection with her father far away from friends that can support her. If she was suicidally depressed in the dorm, how bad could self-abuse be getting at home? We don’t know.

    And we don’t know because Sarah doesn’t want to know. In her eyes she made a difficult choice with a suicidally depressed roommate and an untenable situation with her scholarship and she really doesn’t want to face the possibility that she actually didn’t do right by her roommate. I mean, she hasn’t even checked in with Dana yet and when Raidah dropped that bomb, she’s quick to evacuate the scene and claim that the future will absolve her.

    And similarly, Raidah doesn’t know how much Sarah agonized over this decision and how much it still tears her up to this day. To Raidah’s eyes, Dana was doing fine albeit normally sad about the death of her mother and Sarah has always phrased her issues with Dana in the dumbest most selfish ways possible (which is more due to her issues with communication than anything).

    I mean, to Raidah’s eyes, Sarah seems to think that the fact that she smoked pot was a major situation deserving of putting her in a bad situation. And getting young people to give a single fuck about pot usage is really really hard unless they’ve had a bad situation with a really bad pothead. Additionally, to Raidah’s eyes, Sarah made a bigger deal about her scholarship than Dana’s welfare. And most damningly of all to Raidah, Sarah hasn’t checked up on Dana post decision, while Raidah has clearly been in contact with her and that has been upsetting enough to keep her mad at Sarah.

    So to each, the other is terrible. To Raidah, Sarah is selfish and disloyal and someone who will sell you out if you inconvenience her. To Sarah, Raidah is a bully who has given her massive trust issues and won’t let her move on from a really tough decision and who actively seeks to warn any social connections she does make of being toxic. But in reality, they both just cared very deeply for Dana and tried to do best for her with their little piece and that is just cataclysmically breeding bad blood between them.

    I hope eventually we see Raidah’s piece and I suspect that when it comes to fruition there’ll have been enough bad blood on both sides that even if the central conflict is resolved they will still hate each other and that’s what makes this so interesting. Two good people who could have been friends but instead became intense antagonists because their perspectives just never got shared.

  64. Marie

    ‘kay so I said above and might as well not reword

    “[the sitcom ‘fighting to steal other person’s person regardless of what the person you want wants’ thing]’s pretty gross. Unless she means that she intends to ruin it for Raidah, regardless of whether she herself gets to date Jacob. Which is spiteful but actually a bit less fucked up in my opinion, because while incredibly nasty (and dumb, and will probably make her look bad enough that Jacob believes Raidah wasn’t (or wasn’t totally) at fault in whatever Sarah says) it doesn’t ignore Jacob’s consent.”

    Either way I feel bad for Jacob. Even if Sarah’s not treating him like an object, he’s about to watch stupid their dramatic shit go down (Sarah and Raidah’s problems are slightly less stupid, but I refer to but the way they handle them), and for very superficial reasons he’s going to be involved and probably kept involved, because even if Sarah knows it’s nothing to do with him he was the catalyst and that is hard to separate once you’re arguing. He’s about to witness and probably receive a lot of yelling.

    I also feel bad for Sarah in that I feel like Raidah, like Joyce before the party, has a knack for saying something incredibly cruel without entirely meaning it (I don’t remember what my evidence for this is or if it’s only an impression). You know, those moments where you cover your mouth because you didn’t mean to/know you could say something like that, but it’s mostly factual so taking it back doesn’t mean anything?

    Although, if that does happen, Jacob probably will have to take a step back from Raidah because ‘holy shit, what did you just say to another human being?’ and so maybe that’s Sarah’s plan.

    1. Cerberus

      Yeah, I agree it’s not a shining moment for Sarah. She’s literally objectifying him in that she’s seeing him in this spite-filled moment as a means of striking back at Raidah rather than a real person and she’s uninterested to learn his whole story of his relationship or their dynamic.

      Heck, that’s probably both Raidah and Sarah’s biggest flaws. Neither is interested in getting the whole story and think they are entirely morally justified in their piece (and that extends beyond Dana, I’m thinking of this moment for Sarah and Raidah’s assumptions that Sarah would pull a Dana on anyone she is friends with back in the shopping mall arc. Once they’ve got their mind settled, they’re both very stubborn).

    2. Rich

      Raidah’s utter disrespect of Dina when they met at the mall is a fine example of the kind of cruel behavior you’re looking for…and she still hasn’t apologized for that, despite quite a bit of time going by. What’s the matter Raidah, you don’t recognize the girl in the dinosaur hat when you see her in the dining hall you both share, or just now when she was standing two feet away from you in your field of vision?

      1. Marie

        Yes, thanks. And as I said elsewhere, I’d respect her more if she did have that moment of ‘what did I just say, oh fuck,’ or at least acknowledge Dina’s comment about her condescension. And I do think that counts as an example that hits in a too-true way, since Dina thinks/knows she’s strange and makes people uncomfortable (exposited to Amber) and that comment while incorrect as far as we know reinforces that.

      2. A5PECT

        I know Dina’s a fan favorite, but for Raidah “girl I’ve known for a year who got my best(?) friend kicked out of college” commands a lot more attention than “girl I met once at a mall a month ago.”

        1. Rich

          That only excuses the current strip. It’s been weeks since the mall encounter. They eat in the same hall, as to Char and Chan. We supposed to believe they’ve never once crossed paths with Dina and her incredibly distinctive headgear?

          You’re probably right, they’ve forgotten what they did to Dina because they just don’t care about her. And that’s a damning statement about their character.

  65. Marie

    I forgot a thing. It’s come up in several comments so instead of replying I’m just going to put it here.

    Raidah’s mad because Dana’s not happy/better off, this is most people’s basis against Sarah, yeah?

    If Dana is severely depressed, whether it has been a lifelong thing or she just intensely misses her mom and that brought it on and has stayed a constant, or whatever, having gotten home from school isn’t going to have magically fixed it. It’s been less than a year, so even with therapy and meds, she’s probably not feeling great, and she probably harbours a lot of resentment about the loss of control. At home, she’s probably being monitored (safety being a large reason Sarah called them). She can’t self harm (via drugs or otherwise) or make attempts nearly as easily, and has had a lot of options for that taken away, in any case. She may or may not be in treatment, but she’s got a break from school so she doesn’t have to worry about failing, or keeping up with her friends, but that comes with the negative of less social interaction.

    Anyway, what I’m saying is: we have no evidence of abuse, and the general things about being home vs being at school are good for her, but also things (many justified) she would be very resentful about regardless of helpfulness (and that’s ignoring that her depression isn’t just going to disappear with a safer situation and possible therapy). Of course she’s not happy, she might even think she’s worse, whether or not she is. That doesn’t mean she should be at the school right now.

    This isn’t my full opinion, since we don’t know if home is abusive, or what may have happened at the school, or any of those useful things, it’s just my response to ‘Dana isn’t happy, so Raidah’s right.’

    1. Lel

      As someone who’s very recently recovered from clinical depression; Sarah did the right thing.

      You can’t, and I repeat can’t, just treat yourself when you’re depressed. Even if (like me) you got proper medication. Treating your depression is a lengthy process, requiring changing your diet, exercise patterns, sleep patterns and generally also social life; they’re all thrown out of whack, and you’re not going to get better until they’re back into a healthy rythem. Except that when you’re depressed, your ability to motivate yourself is basically nil.

      I, unlike Dana, got diagnosed. I had wonderful, supportive parents. I was determined to finish my year. And you know, having every advantage in the world didn’t help. I needed monitoring almost constantly to eventually recover from it, and a roommate is NOT the person to provide that monitoring.

      I have sympathy for Sarah. She absolutely did the thing that was best for Dana, and went above and beyond what an ordinary friend would do.

      1. Em

        Yep yep! Raidah is the one being the bad friend by saying “she was getting better!” You don’t just “get better.” You need help. And demonizing Sarah for contacting her family to help Dana is absolutely ridiculous.

  66. Vangeln

    But you already have other Jacob, Sarah!

    1. A5PECT

      Hey, two is always better than one.

      1. timemonkey

        Jacobs will fill all of her holes!

  67. Halloween Jack

    It’s on like motherfucking Donkey Kong!

  68. OmegaDez

    I like this girl’s attitude. Go Sarah.

  69. Rheios

    “Bow your head to Wrath” is something I’ve had a campaign villain say before. He was speaking in third person but definitely villain monologuing.

    1. Rheios

      Dangit. Wrong page..

  70. JA

    HulkSarah?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.