155

Distracted
Posted on August 23, 2014 by David M Willis

155 thoughts on “Distracted”

  1. An Average Loser

    Now for something different.

    1. Ivan

      If he was a real man, he’d puke on her boots to show her he means business when he says he is “Fine-ish!”

      Damn ‘Feelsy’ naggers!!

      ——
      and why isn’t Penny on the pole for 2014? She needs exposure! Like using a techno device in her TA office!!

      1. Justin

        A) GODDAMN IT WILLIS
        B) I Know EXACTLY how Walky feels here, why cant people understand this very simple rule; when we say things are “Fine” they’re not only never fine, but we don’t ~Want~ to talk about what isn’t ~making~ Not Fine.
        C) WILLIS YOU SHAMELESS TEASE XD

        1. Derek

          The literal minded among us (I count myself at least) find it hard to take these responses. Why say you’re fine or that you’d like to meet me again when it’s not true? I’m going to leave you alone if you tell me you need to be left alone.
          I’ve always found these societal cues and rules so hard. I know it’s part of saving face or sparing a person’s feelings, but I feel more hurt when people say things when they don’t mean them.
          Others were speaking about this with the Alice strips, sometimes you go on believing you’re someone’s friend when in reality they decided to cut you off without telling you and it really hurts.
          (though obviously getting away from an abusive person is different, I would never judge the ones that leave their abusers quietly)

      2. Disloyal Subject

        Well, I suppose being on a pole would get her exposure, but the administration might take exception.

        1. Roborat

          And everyone else would take pictures.

          Thank you, thank you, I am here all week, try the veal.

  2. Kerry

    /cries

    1. Leorale

      I know, right?? I super duper want to see more exploration of bisexuality. What is this other-people-having-feelings nonsense.

      1. Leorale

        (was not meant as sarcastic, I really do want to see more.)

        1. Ivan

          Sorry… your wish is only valid in other countries that are not the USA!

          Real men puke on boots and only want to see gorgeous bi-females!

      2. Kerry

        ikr

      3. Jimi

        Dat gravatar, though.

  3. Jen Aside

    TALKING IS FOR CHUMPS

    and foreplay but maybe this isn’t that

    1. An Average Loser

      Foreplay is for chumps?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        In Australia, foreplay is not watching the footy while you’re doing it.

      2. Yotomoe

        I guess I’m a chump. Or rather, I ideally want to one day be a chump!

        1. An Average Loser

          I wish I could become a chump before I turn 30, but seeing as I spend my days trying my best to get first comment on a webcomic made by a chump for chumps, I’m not becoming one soon.

        2. Yotomoe

          You’ll find your Chumpette some day. Or Chump.

        3. An Average Loser

          YOU SAYING I LIKE DUDES!? Cuz’ I don’t.

          . . .

          Here, have a cookie for completely understanding the reference. You’re my hero.

        4. Someguywithakatana

          No, I’m just asking if anything strange has been happening to you

        5. Ivan

          or Chimp or Chimpette

        6. Disloyal Subject

          Should any of you achieve your dreams of Chumphood, you must have a green-haired daughter and name her Zeetha. Search your feelings; you know it to be true!

  4. AtomsOrSystems

    Oh, could this be the First Big Fight(tm)?

    1. Yotomoe

      Someone has totally forgotten the Pajama Jeans debacle.

    2. David Herbert

      I think the PJ jeans counts as that.

      1. Oberon

        My first big fight with my wife (then GF) was over some shorts she bought me. They were perfectly fine, and things I would buy and wear myself. But I kinda freaked out about the whole “you want me to look like something specific” thing. Looking back it was kinda silly. At the time it was almost the end of our relationship.

        1. Ivan

          that’s the worst you got on the remake thing?

          Mine was suddenly into this “get a new style hair-cut that isn’t you, that will be the new you, about 3 months before the wedding date (which I had no say in selecting).

          I did have say, however, in saying that I was postponing it for 90 days – I really had to rethink it.

          Didn’t rethink it enough.

          In time, you’ve got an 90% chance to discover the same thing (but only a 50% chance you’ll do anything about it. If you’re hitting total time of a decade or so together (pre-post nuptial), and you’re low 30s or so? prepare for rethinking SQUARED, and start hiding or siphoning off cash to store under your mattress!!

          (Just be sure you get the bed! Best way to assure that is get caught banging someone on it!)

  5. Pyr05

    I’m a man, damnit! We don’t TALK about these things!!

    1. Yotomoe

      Our code is that we’ll keep our emotions bottled up right here, and then one day…I’ll die.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        As nature intented! 😛

        1. JessWitt

          Bottle it up.
          Bottle it up.
          Bottle it up and you’ll die!!

        2. Ivan

          NO NO NO!

          You puke it up! With blood if you didn’t start the Pepcid soon enough!!

    2. MrSirk

      We just say “Hey, you alright?” then take whatever you say at face value.

      1. Deathstalker

        Respond Accurately, always confuses people.

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      “We also don’t talking about owning lots of shoes”.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        “Ownership is perfectly acceptable, a conversation about it is when we have problems.”

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          That is WAY too many shoes, I doubt I ever had that many pairs in total over my lifetime.

  6. Plasma Mongoose

    I’m with Walky here, talking about your feelings is so bothersome.

    1. An Average Loser

      Yeah, who wants to actually take time out to hear about overly complicated feelings and debate on the validity of said feelings out of pure curiosity? Shit’s annoying.

      1. TachyonCode

        If you like pickles, and you break open what you’re keeping them in, then you just pick out the glass and rinse them off, and you’ve got a little snack.

        If you don’t like them, and you break ’em open, then you have to clean up the pickles and the mess that comes with them, and do your best to make sure everything makes it into the trash.

        And in either case, if someone comes along and smashes your jar of pickles, then you yell at them for doing it and possibly aggress towards them, before you get around to whatever you personally do to deal with a shattered jar of pickles.

        Manfeelings are like pickles.

        1. Gigafreak

          It’s funny because pickles are phallic

        2. Ivan

          I don’t mind talking about them if the problem is a hunting arrow stuck in my thigh and I’d really like help removing it before I go into shock.

          Same goes for the Flight for Life ride – I’d need someone to dial 911 since I’d probably have fainted – especially if I was in TARGET. The irony would push me over the top.

    2. Doom Shepherd

      Your feelings are bad, and you should feel ba- I mean, NOTHING!!! YOU SHOULD FEEL NOTHING!

  7. Rani

    guess they’re going to call it “Walkying” it all up now

    1. Mix

      Because he doesn’t want to discuss his childhood friend’s depression with the girlfriend he’s had for just a few weeks (who, by the way, has made it clear that their relationship has probably has an expiration date from the beginning)? That seems super reasonable to me.

      When it’s someone else’s problems that are upsetting you, it’s gossipy and inconsiderate to talk about them behind their back, even if it’s coming from a place of concern.

      1. Nena

        Whenever people ask me questions about somebody I am worried about, I tell them that it’s not in my place to tell you and if they wanted you to know
        about it, they will tell you about it. I take confidentiality VERY seriously.

        1. Boom

          Preach.

  8. MrSirk

    He’ll learn how to process complex emotions eventually.

    1. Pink Freud

      Or maybe reprocess them into emotion nuggets.

      1. Sean Crosser

        -which then gets thrown up on by Billie.

  9. Yotomoe

    Because if he said he didn’t wanna talk about it, you’d probably poke and prod him until he eventually tells you anyway. And that’s annoyin’.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      He knows where that kinda talk leads to and he wants none of it.

    2. timemonkey

      She doesn’t have to, she can just ask Joyce.

  10. Wonder Wig

    Joyce keeps getting higher in every frame, as all the pre-martial hanky-pankiest sink down to H-E-double hockey sticks.

    1. Yotomoe

      They just walked to the Quicksand Wing of the Campus.

    2. JustCheetoDust

      What would they be doing in Michigan?

      1. Ivan

        Joint IU/Michigan State program – MD post doc, cash/loans only… that IS the quicksand.

        Especially when they find out just before graduation there isn’t much of a need for Geriatric D.O.s specializing in hip-related sexual injuries.

    3. begbert2

      That and they’re walking down a staircase ahead of her.

      A staircase into hell!

  11. Kernanator

    But do you want to talk about not wanting to talk about not talking about it?

    1. Emperor Kiva

      Stop that my brain hurts.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        You ain’t seen nothing yet.

        1. Jen Aside

          It’s when they stop talking about wanting to talk about never wanting to talk about starting to talk about not wanting to talk about the thing they stopped talking about when they started talking about not talking about the talk about the talk, and when they start walking the walk

  12. David Herbert

    He’s a manly man who does not share his feelings.

    1. Yotomoe

      Feelings are for ladies and wimps and combinations of the two.

  13. Emperor Kiva

    YAY, JOYCE IS BACK!……..Walky don’t be an asshole.

    1. Ivan

      Yay! It’s time for a new NSFW “Walky Does Her Back…DOOR!”

      1. Ivan

        Walky! Don’t MISS the asshole!

        1. Emperor Kiva

          Oh shut up

  14. Idon'tcarenomore

    Pretty much sums it up Pyr05
    Find it interesting that Walky is really concerned. Lots of jokes about his growing up…but looks like he really is.
    And Dorothy, you want to be his concerned GF, but this is a backoff apparently.

  15. Sam

    Feelings be important, you shall learn to speak of them Walky, which will get them off your chest, and reduce your overall stress.

    1. Yotomoe

      That’s not always true. Sometimes you just feel shittier.

    2. Mix

      Also, when your feelings are about someone else’s (deeply personal) problems, it’s not exactly considerate to discuss them openly with people who aren’t in their support network.

  16. Saintslayer

    Friday: ~1100 comments
    Yesterday: ~540 comments
    Today: ~Probably pretty few.

    1. AgentKeen

      Man, it’s gotta be some sorta twilight zone when Danny is more popular than Joyce and Dorothy.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I bet the number of comments would multiply if Joyce and Dotty were doing something squee-worthy.

        1. John

          If Joyce and Dorothy were having a gay moment, I bet we’d get some more comments.

    2. Lanval

      Walky probably doesn’t want to talk about it.

  17. Saintslayer

    *gasps*
    SQUIRREL!

    1. Opus the Poet

      And Willis forgot to tag it.

      1. Opus the Poet

        But then he only did it the .

        1. Opus the Poet

          Bolluxed that html, let’s just post the link here. http://www.dumbingofage.com/tag/squirrel/

        2. Ivan

          Fudge Bombs?

          Is that a euphemism for something toxic or naughty?

        3. Norah

          “Fudge” is Joyce’s word for fuck.

    2. JustCheetoDust

      Maybe it’s the magical kind that ruins football games.

  18. Plasma Mongoose

    When a man says “Everythings fine” when it isn’t, it’s code for “I don’t want to talk about it”.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Most ladies I know do that too. Hard to tell when it’s healthier to break that shell & when to stay out of it, so Dorothy’s prodding is understandable.

  19. AgentKeen

    First you give us feels, now you give them feels…
    WHEN WILL THE FEELS STOP?!?!
    THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

    1. newllend

      “Dady the feel scare me.”

      “Its OK son, its OK.”

    2. Gigafreak

      Yeah, the children need feels too.

  20. Ben

    Walky, it’s okay. Feelings are fine, and you can talk about them… At least with these two fembots. The others would like be confused and the menfolk would point and laugh.

    1. tinfoil theory

      Sometimes I play the Blues. Not to make myself feel better, but to make other people feel worse. So cheerful and observant, just asking to have their mood crushed.

  21. Opus the Poet

    Dorothy is being so pushy today… Wanting to talk about feelings and stuff.

    1. Yotomoe

      Next thing she’s gonna want him to listen to her and her needs.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Slippery slope my friend, slippery slope.

      2. Gadgeteer Smashwidget

        THE HORROR! :O

    2. Marc in MN

      Indeed. I thought she was “just having some fun” with Walky. Now we’re talking about feelings?? 😉

  22. newllend

    Now if Billie thought like this we wouldn’t be in this mess.

    1. Leorale

      You mean if Billie talked about her problems to a skillful and supportive feelings-person, instead of just stewing on them alone until they literally make her sick?

      1. Disloyal Subject

        The alcohol withdrawal wasn’t helping.

  23. Cholma

    o/~ Feelings! Nothing more than feelings… trying to forget my… feelings ’bout Billie…! o/~

  24. Rabid Rabbit

    I loathe Walky to the depths of my being, but I admit I’m with him on this one. Dorothy, if she’s as sensible as she thinks she is, should stop now. If she carries on tomorrow, I will be miffed at her.

    Not everyone is good at discussing feelings. This is not actually necessarily a problem with them, in the same way that one person fangasming over Dexter while another merely mildly enjoys it does not imply that the latter has issues. Forcing someone to talk about things when they don’t want to (especially when they involve a third person) is actually appalling intrusive; keeping it up is rather rude.

    1. Greenygal

      Dorothy actually isn’t asking him to talk about the situation; she just wants him to say “I don’t want to talk about it” instead of telling her things are fine when they aren’t. Of course, tomorrow we’ll see if she can actually leave it at that.

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        Yes indeed. My stiff British upper lip wishes to see whether your appallingly cheerful smile can possibly be so sensible.

        1. Boom

          *cough* Clearly one of us has to change.

  25. JessWitt

    Trouble in caramel paradise.

  26. neeks

    Repeat after me, Walky: “I’ll tell you later.”

    Whether you do actually tell her later depends on her tenacity and how much you feel like opening up.

    Ok it feels like I’m making a tutorial in emotional unavailability somehow

    1. Jen Aside

      That may be an appropriate Grav, then

  27. Ancestral Hamster

    Have Joe cure both Billie and Walky of their respective problems with his penis.

  28. Bizze

    Oh, Dotty…
    Men have this annoying habit of saying exactly what they mean. It tends to confuse the hell out of women. He isn’t trying to subliminally ask you to pepper him with questions about it.

    1. begbert2

      Saying exactly what he means…except for lying about things being fine instead of fine-ish.

      We can more directly criticize her for forgetting the number one rule of language: “It’s fine” means “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!”

      1. Gangler

        I have a sneaking suspicion that things aren’t even fine-ish.

    2. L. E. Hairstylist

      What? That’s like, the opposite of what’s happening here. Walky said something that he clearly DIDN’T actually mean (“It’s fine” when actually things are unpleasantly weird) and when Joyce pointed that out, Dorothy straight up asked him if Joyce was right and that “I’m fine” meant “I don’t want to talk about my feelings,” and then went on to clarify that if he doesn’t want to talk about his problems right now, it’s a lot clearer to say that exact thing instead of saying the problems don’t exist and then continuing to act weird.

      It’s really weird to me how so much of this particular strip’s comment section is saying stuff like “That’s just how men are, fundamental difference between the genders that Dorothy will never grasp” when a) women say “It’s fine” to mean “It’s crappy but I don’t want to explain it” with probably the same frequency and b) when women do it, it’s some ridiculous thing that only women do and need to stop doing, as per every hacky comedian with a routine on how men are different from women. “My girlfriend always says things are fine when really she means she’s angry at me! And then she gets even more angry when I think she really means she’s fine! Ladies, amirite?”

      1. Brady

        That’s just what I was going to say. But you said it better.

      2. caramelundqueer

        I was waiting for someone else to point this out. She’s not trying to force him to talk about the problem. She’s just asking for him not to pretend everything is fine when something is clearly bothering him.

      3. Winter

        Word!

        I’ll give people that Dorothy is being a bit pushy now, but extrapolating that onto men saying what they mean is BS. Men and women alike are constantly saying shit they don’t mean to get points across indirectly.

        1. Winter

          Which is part of why the world is so confusing for Dina.

        2. Heavensrun

          I don’t agree that she’s being pushy. She did not ask him to talk about the thing I doesn’t want to talk about, all she did was ask him not to lie about things being fine when they’re not.

  29. saltchocolate

    Anyone for “Hey, Joyce, she wasn’t talking to you, now was she?” (aka “stay out of my relationship with Dorothy!”)? Or is it just me?

    1. Gangler

      Eh, I don’t feel like Joyce and Walky have a relationship where he can reasonably expect her to be complicit in secrets. Dorothy might not have been talking directly to Joyce with that particular question but Joyce was probably a part of the conversation. The three of them have a habit of walking and talking together, and likely were doing so leading up to this moment. Joyce probably did not insert herself into an interaction that was not meant to include her.

      1. saltchocolate

        She isn’t really with them in the first panel, as I see it. And that’s part of what I’m reacting to — the way she doesn’t give them space. I do take timemonkey’s point below, though.

    2. timemonkey

      Joyce is worried about Billie too. And she doesn’t even like Walky, he’s been nothing but rude to her and openly hostile even when she’s nice to him. He really can’t expect her to back him up, especially when it comes to lying to Dorothy.

    3. Lanval

      I think this is a first time a fan has asked Joyce to stay out of that relationship.

  30. Jackson

    Something tells me he doesn’t want to talk about not talking about not talking about it, either.

    Man, Walky got more levels than a Nippon Ichi TRPG.

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      And all of those levels come to the same thing.

      Namely, fifty McNuggets.

      1. MrSirk

        For TEN BUCKS! That’s a godfather deal.

        1. Jackson

          You’re making me hungry, guys.

  31. APersonAmI

    Please don’t shout, Walky.

    I would prefer it if people said “I don’t want to talk about it” rather than “I/it/they is/are fine”. Partly, I admit, because it’d be nice if it wasn’t just me and my girlfriend that say that.

    Maybe if more people did it, people would actually trust that not talking about it produces the superior outcome, instead of everyone getting upset when I say that sentence.

    *Sigh*

  32. AgentKeen

    Aww, this means we missed their Gender Studies class.

    But instead, we got to watch someone learn he’s bisexual. That’s extra credit, right?

    1. Brady

      We really don’t know that for sure yet. I hope he is, because it’s very rare to encounter a fictional bisexual who isn’t a total jackbutt. Most people agree that I’m not a total jackbutt (with some dissenters) and I’d like to be represented in fiction.

      1. APersonAmI

        I love the way you phrased that.

        I want to hug you.

      2. APersonAmI

        I also really sympathize, because I have a similar desire.

        I am agender, and it would be neat to see an agender person in fiction who did not start life with no reproductive organs. I had reproductive organs when I was born and I am agender. Indeed, I’d like to be represented in fiction.

        1. Brady

          OK. Hug then, I guess.
          I’ve noticed that about agender characters. They’re all robots and aliens. And asexual characters are all robots, aliens, and Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.

      3. Greenygal

        Word of the author confirms that Danny is bisexual.

        1. 3oranges

          Thanks for that! I understood he was here, but it confused me a little, because I didn’t remember it from the Walkyverse and remembered something about everyone having the same orientation.

          Now I know: he was just too into Sal and Billie to notice.

      4. Lanval

        I think Willis has confirmed it on Tumblr or some other extra-fictional source. From the sounds of things too, there will be a thing with Ethan and Willis seems to be implying that they might get together by the end of it (At least discussing how he felt Ethan’s Shortpacked BF was bland and he was hoping to change that, in the same article as the Danny is Bi announcement). I’m a little sad, because I liked Amber/Danny and this is going to mess with Amber but Danny/Ethan has chemistry and as you said, it’d be good to have a major Bi Male who is not a complete “jackbutt” (inspite of what commenters may claim).

  33. Charles Phipps

    Dorothy is surprisingly awful at this, “not having a serious relationship” thing with Walky.

  34. Suitora

    I just find it funny that people are asking for more Danny now that he has discovered his bisexuality. No one liked Danny before, and now they’re begging for him to Dan up his relationship with Amber in, like, one of the worst ways possible. I mean, as for Amber, I liked it because Danny, much like Ethan, would be there to support her, and she seemed to thrive on that. And Danny was actually attracted to her unlike Ethan so it could work. But with Amber, like with Dorothy, it was a very unequal relationship. Danny was the support, while only Amber and Dorothy benefited in terms of support, and only Dorothy realized it when she saw its dark side. Danny had really nothing to live for. I don’t think Danny really was able to do that with Amber. But something about Ethan tells me that he’s different. Both of them would be able to support each other. Ethan’s the only one who really saw his good side. Amber and Dorothy are too caught up in themselves and their worlds to really even notice Danny. But that leaves the question of who would be a good fit for Amber? Jacob’s my best guess. Mike, Walky, or Joe don’t really have the emotional sensitivity to deal with Amber’s entire world. However, they haven’t really met.

    For Danny’s sake Danny+Ethan is best, for Amber’s sake, Danny+Amber is best.

    1. Kai

      +1

    2. Jen Aside

      Actually, I still don’t care about Danny, but the discussion’s funny

    3. TJ Baltimore

      I love Amber. I’m indifferent torwards Danny. But Amber’s relationship with Danny is screwed up for a lot of reasons, mostly of Amber’s doing. I want Amber to get the help and support she needs so badly, but she’s the one keeping Danny from being there for her. And that may not be her fault: she simply may not be “strong” enough or emotionally mature enough to do that. I don’t know . . .

    4. tinfoil theory

      No one liked Danny
      Objection!

      But seriously, thank you ♥ for putting that into words.

  35. OhHey

    Current setups:
    DannyxEthan
    LoisxClark- er, DorothyxAmber
    RuthxBillyxWalky..?
    MikexJoe
    RileyxDina
    Salx..Becky?

    1. tinfoil theory

      Sal x Marcie, surely.
      Jason x … Penny?

      1. Jen Aside

        JasonxMaths

  36. Aolbain

    This is going to be a bad day for everyone, isn’t it?

  37. caramelundqueer

    There seems to be a hell of a lot of reading comprehension failure going on in these comments. Dorothy isn’t forcing Walky to talk about his feelings or poking him or prodding him. All she’s asking is that he just say, “I don’t want to talk about it.” When he doesn’t want to talk about something. She wants him to not pretend everything is fine when it isn’t. Because it is equally frustrating hanging around someone who is CLEARLY upset about something but refuses to say anything other than, “It’s fine.” But god it’s weird how quick people will jump on the women are like THIS men are like THIS train when given the opportunity….

  38. Ashley

    Looks obviously not fine but says “fine” when asked = Doesn’t want to talk about it.
    This isn’t rocket science, people.

    1. Gangler

      My line of thought is that if somebody says they’re fine, either they’re fine or they want the conversation to continue as if they are fine.

      Sometimes conversation is the honest exchange of information, but mostly it’s just word-dancing. No need to be pointing out lies. Yes, everybody in the room spotted that obvious discrepancy in the story, but we’re not in a courtroom and you’re not Phoenix Wright. Just take the premise and run with it.

  39. Megatron

    And this is where Dorothy demonstrates that she is different from many flelshlings. Many fleshlings will, if you say you don’t want to talk about something, insist that you talk about it. BTW, this is the #2 cause of fleshling fusion cannon death.

  40. Krell

    Walky: Do the Feelings Thing!

    1. Krell

      http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004881

  41. arias01

    I know I’m ready for some good ol’ heterosexual angst again.

  42. Kugai

    And the second rule of not talking about it is ……….

    1. Clif

      Don’t talk about not talking about it?

  43. Onion

    Careful, Walky.

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.