187

Voice
Posted on November 30, 2021 by David M Willis

187 thoughts on “Voice”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    You thought you were rid of me, but it is I, Liz!

    (starting to think she doesn’t actually have a ride, like Becky)

    1. Thag Simmons

      I don’t know about this being a Becky situation, since we kinda already had one of those

    2. thejeff

      I’ve been thinking there’s something more to Liz showing up than we’ve seen on the surface yet, but in this case she did say when she showed up at Joe’s room that she’d have to “find another ride tomorrow” and it’s still pretty early in the day, so it’s no real surprise.

      I am curious where she spent the night.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        It’s been a busy morning. Maybe the student lounge, or back in Sarah’s room.

    3. Reltzik

      But it’s not like LIZ would have burnt all her bridges behind her, is it?

    4. Roborat

      Becky does have a ride, but she doesn’t want to take it.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Joe never should have wished for women to throw themselves at him on that monkey’s paw.

    1. Yotomoe

      I see no downsides her, but then again I’m pretty ok with any female contact. Or human contact in general.I don’t think I touched another person for 90% of the year 2020.

      1. DarkoNeko

        w-we are in 2021. Almostr 2022 now

        1. Yotomoe

          Oh yeah but now I have a job at a Wendy’s so I have a tendency to brush up against people’s hands when handing them money. And sometimes just touch other people in general for brief periods of time. I can not understate how sincere I am when I mention how little I touched other human beings last year. Touch starved never felt quite so literal.

        2. Mydnyt

          Yea but I’m not looking forward to future fanfic writers romanticizing quarantine scenarios for the little touch starved gays in their heads

        3. Thag Simmons

          Is that not already a thing?

        4. The Wellerman

          In their “heads”? Sorry I didn’t quite catch that.

        5. Thag Simmons

          They’re saying the characters come from the heads of fanfiction writers.

        6. Clif

          The characters spring fully formed from their heads.

        7. Sunny

          Oh, like the goddess Athena!

        8. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Why just for the gays? Everyone not in a relationship during this is touch starved. **I am**, and I at least get to hug my kids, kiss their cheeks, and tell them I love them a couple of times a week. Anyone out there without immediate family around has my deepest empathy for lack of physical contact.

        9. Needfuldoer

          Have you gotten to tell anyone “sir/ma’am, this is a Wendy’s” yet?

        10. Chris

          This is the year 2020 won. Next year will be 2020 too.

      2. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Happy March 639

    2. ThunderNight

      Monkey’s Hompk

    3. Thulcandran

      It was that crafty fuckin’ orb.

      1. The Wellerman

        SAUCE?

        1. Jade

          https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pondering-my-orb

          This possibly?

  3. Blibdoolpoolp

    Oh hey Liz, good to see you

  4. DarkoNeko

    Wait she’s back ?

    1. Giguioto

      She never left

      1. Ray Radlein

        DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK

    2. Walky_Talky

      Of course she’s back…..Joe said the magic words.

  5. Bluewind

    I shall be sending this to a friend without context ^_^

    1. milu

      the best sort of friend.

      1. Bluewind

        I think I’ve sent her about two dozen Dumbing of Age screenshots in the past two months during my reread (not counting other comics). After the first strip she got with Dina (12-19-11), she declared that she was her favorite. Later, she wanted to steal her hoodie XD

        1. Bluewind

          I stand corrected! I just asked her. She said “oh, I don’t remember her name but it’s the black woman. she sounds like the only sane one” (Sarah) XD

        2. Bluewind

          *facepalm* Just realized that this could come off as passive racism. Honestly, most of what she’s seen is Sarah, Dina, Joyce, Walky, and/or Billy with a few appearances by Joe, Danny (my cat’s namesake), Dorothy, and Carla (plus Liz now).

    2. Bluewind

      Her reply
      He looks like a very tired man XD
      She has the energy of a 12 year old and I wanna know her secret

  6. Suet

    The day Liz goes Hompk is a day to be reckoned with-

    She’s back?

  7. Sirksome

    Geez there is just way too much Liz going on in this storyline.

    1. Yotomoe

      And by way too much you mean, not nearly enough!

    2. cmasta1992

      Avatar checks out

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        **sage nod**

    3. Thag Simmons

      I kinda thought she was going to be a single chapter character, who comes in, disrupts the status quo and then fucks off, but nope

      1. Sirksome

        At this rate she might get on the cast page. Although I guess she still has technically only been around less than a day.

        1. Thag Simmons

          She’s in the gravatar pool.

        2. woobie

          And I’m trying every combo to get her….

        3. The Wellerman

          Assuming it’s all random, there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll eventually get her after 17 tries.

        4. The Wellerman

          Wait, no. Make that 20 tries.

        5. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Wellerman’s statistics are correct 100% of the time, when they’re right.

        6. The Wellerman

          Well I actually have some math to prove the 20 try figure:

          There are 29 site avatars in total. The chance that you WON’T get any particular avatar after X number of tries is

          (28/29)^X

          In other words the chance of NOT getting the desired avatar decreases with every subsequent try, assuming complete randomness on behalf of WordPress code or whatever this site uses.

          After 20 tries, the odds of NOT getting your desired avatar is

          (28/29)^20 = 49.6%

          Which leaves a 50.4% chance of getting your avatar.

          TL;DR don’t stop rolling! You’ll get your avatar eventually!!!

    4. MrSmith

      Don’t you mean too much Walky

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        But Walkyng is good for you!

    5. Jon

      Yeah I’m intrigued, but definitely felt like her exit made sense and came at the right time so I’m not sure I understand why she’s back! We shall see i guess…

      1. thejeff

        She didn’t really exit. Last time we saw her was in Joe’s bed putting her shirt on and we knew she didn’t have a ride out that night.

        It could have been her role in the story was fulfilled and we wouldn’t see her again, but it seemed likely to me there’d be more fallout. We haven’t seen Sarah’s reaction to her staying yet, for example.

  8. The Wellerman

    Well, damn! She’s not strong enough after all. ?

    Believe it or not, I wasn’t as startled by Dina as much as I was by Liz suddenly appearing!

    1. Needfuldoer

      I check the blurry Patreon preview every morning, and she’s far enough to the side that she got cropped out of it. That happens a lot with these surprises…

    2. Eromer

      Well…..Dina hompked

  9. ian livs

    Here’s hoping this leads to open communication that leaves both of them feeling a lot better about themselves than their last interaction did.

    1. Regalli

      Agreed!

    2. Giguioto

      Honestly, same. I’d hate to see her going back to the initial stage… The question is, where did she sleep?

      1. alongcameaspider

        I assumed Joe let her sleep in Danny’s bed (or he took dannys bed and let her sleep in his), the question is where did Danny sleep last night

        1. PirateTawnee

          In the pines, he’s going where the cold wind blows (possibly).

        2. Romanticide

          My Joe, my joe dont lie to me… tell me where did you sleep… last night ?

        3. davidbreslin101

          Out on the town where the cougars roam
          An’ you got to pet them right.

      2. Steelbright

        Is this even the next morning?? did anyone need to sleep?

        1. milu

          it is the next morning.

      3. Decidedly Orthogonal

        She changed her mind about having sex again, ran into Beef and got down with him. Liz crashed in Beef’s bed.

  10. Yotomoe

    Joe! Covered in women, as per usual.

    1. cmasta1992

      Damnit I’m not topping that one.

      1. The Wellerman

        I think you just did LOL.

    2. DarkoNeko

      …heh

  11. Sirksome

    I mean realistically it’s late and Liz probably still needs a place to sleep tonight since it’s too late for a ride. I hear the couches in the commons area are pretty comfy.

    1. Yotomoe

      Late? It’s tommorow.

      1. Thag Simmons

        that’s pretty late

    2. Regalli

      We’re at the next morning, sometime after 10 AM. Dina mentioned it before getting her cereal. However, it apparently was too late for her bus after the abortive hookup, so that did still apply I’m sure. Just, last night, and presumably soon her real bus will arrive.

      1. Sirksome

        Bleh. The window made me think it was night time since it looks so dark out. I have no idea what time it actually supposedly is.

        1. Regalli

          Probably curtains, but also, it is January.

          (It is bright out by 10 AM in January and I’m pretty certain we saw an establishing morning shot but I need a UV lamp from fall to spring to keep myself at Regular Lowkey Depression levels rather than Seasonal Depression Levels, I am allowed to resent the lack of sun.)

        2. The Wellerman

          I didn’t know UV lights had such an impact. ?

        3. Jamie

          If you’re considering one, see if you can get your Vitamin D levels checked first. If you’re not suffering a deficit, a UV light probably won’t improve anything (and, speculating, but I’d also assume it could spill into harmful territory).

          Basically, consider it a medical treatment for a specific symptom rather than some kind of catch-all.

        4. Thag Simmons

          What I’m reading is that I should get myself a basking lamp

        5. Steelbright

          Seems wise. & Kinda fitting that an iguana (avatar) posted the previous description.

        6. milu

          should you take your medical advice from an iguana though?

        7. JBento

          Beats taking it from all the quacks Oprah constantly paraded and gave a platform to, and yet people still did.

        8. Miri

          Full spectrum lamps on the other hand trick you into thinking there’s sunlight and producing melatonin makes sense… I recently purchased some blue light glasses which apparently do the same and am definitely starting to feel less like I should he hibernating…

  12. Kyrik Michalowski

    I’m hoping Liz is here to make Joe feel better about earlier. Unrelated to that, I’m so happy with Dina’s decision to “Hompk” onto Joe. Though it makes sense that he didn’t go down just from that.

    So what does Dina do now? Drag her prey away and share it with her mate? Or is Liz enough of a threat to scare Dina off?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Dina’s a pack hunter.

      Now the real attack comes, not from the front, but from the side, and the other two Dinas you didn’t even know were there.

    2. Nathan

      It’s all fun and games until Dina finally eats someone.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Yeah, Mary would taste awful and probably give her prions. Nobody wants that

        1. Regalli

          I think it’s fine so long as she doesn’t eat the spine or anything. The prion issue, anything, nothing can improve the taste.

        2. The Wellerman

          I think prions are found in blood and saliva?

        3. Regalli

          * Anyway. God I hate this cognitive/neurological bullshit.

        4. The Wellerman

          Wait, “cognitive”? Am I missing something?

        5. The Wellerman

          Ooooooh. Are you talking about lack of sleep?

        6. Regalli

          I had COVID two months ago despite taking every possible precaution. So far, I’ve proven to be one of the unlucky 50-80% whose symptoms outlast the initial infection. We’re not sure if I’m a long-hauler yet because it can stay in your system for three months just in general. In particular, I’ve had a nasty streak of aphasia since getting sick, which results in these typos I don’t notice until it’s too late. I sorely hope it’s the ONLY significant longterm neurological symptom because I am not up for more bullshit.

          Get vaccinated if you can, folks. Thanks to said vaccine, my actual symptoms while I was sick were indistinguishable from a sinus infection. I still have longterm effects. I am deeply bitter and resentful from this because near as I can tell, I caught it going to the doctor FOR the sinus infection I had preceding it! Which sure is going to worry me every time I need to go to the doctor ever again!

          I try and pare back how much I talk about that one. Bear in mind not everyone’s always up to do the Educational Spiel here.

        7. The Wellerman

          ? ?

          That must be awful! I hope you feel better soon!

      2. v.gay.person

        Becky volunteers as tribute

    3. Thag Simmons

      Dina hooks in with her sickle claws, starts flapping her wings to pin her prey down, and begins tearing chunks of flesh off

      1. Jamie

        … my knowledge of birds is incomplete, but I wasn’t aware of anything that flapped their wings to push downwards.

        1. Thag Simmons

          It’s more about maintaining stability, but it’s been observed in modern birds of prey, and it’s also a theory about how Dromaeosaurids might have hunted.

        2. The Wellerman

          OOO!!!

          SAUCE?

        3. Thag Simmons

          “The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychus and the Origin of Flapping in Birds” is the study, and this is the XKCD comic which is the only reason I know the actual paper to cite.

        4. milu

          Yes!!! They call it the, actual quote from the paper, “Raptor Prey Restraint (RPR, or Ripper)” haha.

          Here’s a neat artist’s reconstruction.

          …and now that the video linked to from XKCD is “no longer avb” i’m looking for a new one, and i think this is probably sort of what it might’ve looked like? WARNING, the video i link to shows violent animal behaviour, and also features atrocious background music. Click at your own risk.

        5. The Wellerman

          *taking the risk and clicking anyway*

          This is footage is FUCKING AWESOME!!!! ?

          As for the background music, it’s fine. But if it were my choice, I would have gone with something like “Just Awake” by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas.

        6. milu

          loooool @ your music suggestion, very cool tune though!!!

          Yeah, that attack is pretty riveting right??? and awesomely shot.

    4. Bryy

      Yeah, I’m thinking that Liz has 100000% already blocked it out of her head that she literally just had a mental breakdown and a traumatic experience.

    5. Reltzik

      See, this is a mark of character growth. Used to be that Joe would have gone down quickly if Dina had jumped on him.

    6. Needfuldoer

      I hope she hasn’t just put the façade back up and will run around lying that they had all kinds of hot the sex.

      1. Clif

        Why is that?

        1. Reltzik

          Sarah. Baseball bat.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Also, Joyce. Feels.

        3. Clif

          You mean that Joyce surprises herself by feeling possessive of Joe and Sarah is vindicated, with drama all around.

      2. Needfuldoer

        (Because dumb me do words bad, I just want to clarify I hope that’s not what Liz is doing.)

  13. DarkoNeko

    But seriously, Joe is like a big teddy bear when Dina is involved haha

  14. Katerly

    Welp, RIP Joe. Cause Liz is about to explain that she does want to ride his little Joe and Sarahs gonna hear it and its all downhill from there

    1. Segnosaur

      Or worse… Sarah will find that liz visited joe, assume something sexual happened, and murder joe with a bat… Without joe even having any fun.

  15. Mano308gts

    That last panel Joe face is something that would make a seriously good gravatar image, like ‘won the lottery’ level good.

    1. Mano308gts

      (the sad-little-puppy face in panel 3 would also be quite good…)

      1. hof1991

        It not hard to make your own gravitar. Screen shot, crop and you’re delivered from the roulette wheel of life.

        1. milu

          https://en.gravatar.com/
          don’t even need to crop your screenshot beforehands, cropping is one of the steps of the gravatar creation process.

          then you only have to post using the same email address than the one you made a gravatar account with, and this site will automatically fetch your custom pic. if it doesn’t work immediately don’t panic, it might take a couple minutes to update

        2. StClair

          I’ve been hung up on the “only one custom gravatar per user for ALL sites”, but now that I think about it, would you be able to change it up by varying your email capitalization, the way we do for the predefined ones here?

        3. milu

          huh! i wouldn’t think so. of course you can just create a bunch of email addresses and get a different grav for each, but of course then there’s the moderation thing, it’s a hassle.

          ok let me try throwing in a couple capitalizations and let’s see what happens.

        4. milu

          welp!

        5. thejeff

          Nah, gravatar uses your email as a login. It’s case insensitive, since that’s how email practically works.
          The default random gravatars throw your email into a hash to pick one. There’s no reason for gravatar to do that.

        6. Needfuldoer

          What about the address suffix thing some email providers support for automatically tagging and sorting? Maybe Gravatar will fall for that.

        7. Yumi

          So what I do for my Gravatar is put my email in the email box as “[my email address handle]+doa@gmail.com,” and that seems to make it so that my grav only shows up here.

          Like, for other sites where I use the same email and the comments use Gravatars, I just leave out the “+doa” bit, and I don’t have Daisy.

        8. milu

          Wowww thanks for the tip. I’m not sure how that works on the gravatar profile end but I’ll try it out

        9. Yumi

          I think on the Gravatar site, you add the email address with the “+doa” (or probably “+whatever,” honestly) as an email and then you can set it as a specific picture without making a new email address.

          I did this a while ago based on a tip from here, so I’m not 100% that I’m describing the process correctly, but I think that’s the basic idea of it.

  16. BBCC

    Hi, Liz!

    Good job Dina. Much subdued, very halt, so captured, wow.

  17. Josh Spicer

    THE HOMPK RETURNS

  18. Imogen

    Oh, gosh, I hope Liz isn’t about to pretend that they had sex and expect him to go along with it.

    1. The Wellerman

      Given her previous behavior, it’s more than likely.

      Brace yourself (if that’s at all possible).

      1. Bryy

        Either that or she acts like Nothing Happened.

    2. Yotomoe

      She just winks and clicks her tongue a bunch.

      1. sultryglebe

        Nudge, nudge, say no more.

        1. Andy

          Funny, I hadn’t thought Liz was from Purley

        2. Geneseepaws

          I’ve seen grown men tear their own heads off rather than face Dina’s ‘Hompk’.

        3. Roborat

          Is she into photography?

    3. MrSmith

      Then Sarah shows up…

  19. Megan Rivera

    Mm. Sturdy.

  20. Stephen Bierce

    SGT. DEUX-DEUX: Will you come quietly or must I subdue you some more?

  21. woobie

    Sarah sees Liz this next morning in 3… 2…

    1. Needfuldoer

      Wearing the same clothes she had on yesterday.

      1. milu

        not realizing that Joe already looked miserable before he noticed her, and assuming his face is a tacit admission of sisterbanging.

  22. Fart Captor

    WHO RULES CRETACEOUS BARTER TOWN??

  23. StClair

    *record scratch*

    “Yeah, that’s me.”

  24. RacingTurtle

    Joe’s day is going so strangely that he developed sclera.

    I love when dot-eyed characters are forced by circumstance to develop sclera.

  25. MrSmith

    Dina obviously never played any contact sports.

    When you’re smaller you go round the legs Dina not the upper body

    1. The Wellerman

      Well, the legs would be the choice if she actually intended to knock him down.

      However, with 90+ pounds of extra weight now hindering his mobility, he is effectively subdued, as per Dina’s original goal.

      1. MrSmith

        Not entirely sure its Dinas weight or Joes resignation thats gotten him subdued

        1. Throwatron

          Joe’s pretty fit, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere quickly right now. Case closed?

        2. MrSmith

          Oh hes defeated and hes carrying a heavy load, just not a physical one. Dina would be round the 90-100 pound mark I’m guessing

        3. milu

          She weighs about 3 Atrociraptors.

          How many pounds that represents exactly has been intensely debated in the DoA/palaeo subfandom.

          But yes. it’s in the 90-100 pounds bracket. (for some reason i never stopped to consider whether the imprecision was intentional on Dina’s behalf. Maybe she doesn’t know exactly and chooses to ballpark her weight by using a purposefully low-accuracy unit.)

        4. MrSmith

          I just thought she was around the 40 – 45kg being that shes quite short and slim

        5. The Wellerman

          Yet another reason I relate with Dina.

          My weight fluctuates like CRAZY, and don’t even ask me how frequently I come up borderline underweight because of it.

  26. 0phidiophile

    Too late, Liz; Joe has already been grabbed by some other girl.

  27. jeffepp

    Bad Joe! No falling desperately in love! Again. That’s what Joyce is for.

  28. Segnosaur

    I really wonder what Liz is doing now…

    Ok, she wasn’t ready for sex, and joe did the right thing and followed her request to stop. She should not feel any shame or embarrassment for wanting to stop. But joe and her are not really friends, and the situation the previous night was awkward… So why approach joe at all?

    1. Clif

      She’s changed her mind.

    2. Alex

      Well Joe was a good dude about it. She probably regards him as a friend. Hopefully she can communicate this to him and he’ll feel a little better.

  29. NinjaNick

    I’m impressed by Dina’s leaps.

  30. Rabisch

    Of course, Liz is back. Or maybe she had never left. I think she wants to be good friends with Joe. This could help him feel less like a horrible shameful monster.

  31. Sombrero

    Dina: Joe, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

  32. Amós Batista

    They are planning to take Joe down, like they tried with Thanos in Avengers 3.
    First Dina. After, Liz. Tomowwo, it will be Sarah, with her bat.

    1. Schpoonman

      Who Star Lords it up?

      1. Keulen

        Joyce, maybe?

        1. Amós Batista

          she fits very well

      2. Reltzik

        Danny. I don’t know HOW he’ll do it, but he’s going to be the one to Dan it up.

  33. Azhrei Vep

    Oh no. I just noticed the asymmetric coloring on Dina’s sleeves.

    This outfit and the arc featuring it are ruined for me forever.

    1. Geneseepaws

      No, no, it is ok! The left sleeve is the same color as the fringe/dags on the right sleeve. The right sleeve color is the same as the dags/fringe on the left side. Symmetry is maintained, balance is good, Joe has been subdued, the elk is molting and the fluff gets up your nose. And where IS the ambiguity? In the box with the reality??
      All is right with the world.

  34. Spencer

    I want Liz and Joyce to meet before Liz takes off and compare all the awesome sex they’ve definitely had with Joe.

    “The way he spooned me was great, he remembered to bring my favourite dessert.”

    “It was so good that he had to wear two condoms.”

    1. milu

      “We did missionary, it’s a thing he learned in Bulmeria”

      1. Clif

        Hey, leave Willis some lines.

    2. davidbreslin101

      “He shook me all night long. I’m still rattling. Literally!”

  35. ValdVin

    Joe’s face in the last panel is a hoot & a half.

  36. Deanatay

    Quickly, Dina! Flap your wings to maintain stability!!

  37. Dave

    Yup – quick prediction: so Liz will BOTH, absolve Joe’s guilt by thanking him for being so understanding, AND making him feel like a creep by saying something to perpetuate his image as a Lothario.

  38. egg egg

    For anyone wondering about the sizing of the Dina Jacket from Amazon, I’d say it runs small if you’re used to American sizes. I ordered a 2XL because I like my jackets Big and it came to be probably about the L size. Seems to be Asian style sizing.

    Or maybe it’s just for children. Won’t stop me though.

    1. davidbreslin101

      One of my friends has a running joke that she’s a Large Child.

    2. Dave

      “Asian style sizing”. Is that a micro-aggression?

  39. Keulen

    Joe looks like he’s just resigned to the fact that this is how his life is going now.

    1. Eldritchy

      It could become a symbiotic relationship. Joe provides a vantage point for Dina and Dina provides snacks to Joe.

      1. milu

        pre-chewed cinnamon toast crunch! uwuuuuuuu

  40. Ragingagnostic

    Honey, this isn’t what it looks like!

  41. Bagge

    Not quite the threesome Joe imagined, but here he is.

  42. Bathymetheus

    I disagree that Liz has changed her mind. But she does seem happy to see Joe, so I infer that she will to some degree relieve his shame.

    (note correct usage of “infer”)

  43. nightshade

    joe has the dad look perfected early……..

    1. Bathymetheus

      Yes . . . I wonder if Joyce has rejected the idea of motherhood along with all the other things she was taught were her role in life?

      If not, Joe will one day have use for that look. Probably many days, in fact.

  44. Steamweed

    Poor Joe. He just has women all over him.

    1. DarkoNeko

      “This is my life now. Women jumping me at every corner”

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