196

Bad guest
Posted on February 17, 2022 by David M Willis

196 thoughts on “Bad guest”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    it feels early in their relationship for assisted care but WHATEVER WORKS!

    1. Ana Chronistic

      YES STEVE!!
      (alt)

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Steve and his cereal have really made an impact.

      2. Marisa Mockery

        Honestly that’s all I really want, I miss Steve

      3. Needfuldoer

        EH STEVE!

        1. Wack'd

          here the needfuldoer, have a trophy ?

        2. PASchaefer

          I, for one, love and adore a HSR reference.

        3. keithcurtis

          I’m gonna buy you a pizza!

      4. drs

        AND THEN THEY UNDRESSED

        WHAT IS THIS LAME SHIT

        –Yelling Bird

      5. foamy

        Alt-text had better frigging follow through after getting my hopes up like this

        1. Felix

          Word

  2. Doctor_Who

    Unfortunately, Becky’s Guilt Complex already thought of that, and she dressed in layers.

    Dina is in for some hard work.

    1. Ophidiophile

      Maybe Dina will teleport Becky out of her clothes. Wouldn’t that be a trip.

    2. Wizard

      Undressing your partner can be a lot of fun. Kind of like unwrapping a present!

  3. The Wellerman

    And so the battle against the Chains of the Sunday School BEGINS!!!

    Everyone get popcorn and soda!!! Or your refreshments of choice! This is gonna be EPIC!!!!

    ??? ??? ???

    Empress of Evolution, show us your POWER!!!

    ??? ???

    *plays “Landfall” by Cycerin on Hacked Muzak*

    1. ThunderNight

      jesus vs raptor
      na na na na na na

      1. Bridgebrain

        He went extinct for our sins

        1. annarchy

          Oh no, you didn’t catch the sequel where Jesus raises Raptor from the grave for a team up against The personification of American imperialisms? It is a banger.

    2. John Smith

      More like painful.

    3. ktbear

      OR, we’re gonna skip back to Sarah.

  4. Thag Simmons

    Whelp, guess they’re really doing this.

  5. Abel Undercity

    Becky’ face in that last panel: Yep, there goes the fuse.

  6. Dana

    Clever girl.

  7. Icalasari

    Man I hope the alt text is serious that would be a hilarious way to censor via scene change

    1. Neeks

      Well it can’t be Dina eating a bowl of cereal, she will be otherwise occupied. 😉

      1. BarerMender

        She’ll be eating her breakfast, but it won’t be cereal.

        1. The Wellerman

          Doesn’t seem likely. Recall that the very first time we saw her in spaghetti straps was a picture of her eating cereal!

        2. BarerMender

          I’m afraid you don’t appreciate my comedy stylings.

        3. The Wellerman

          Not that I don’t appreciate it. I just don’t like to count my dinosaurs before they hatch, if you know what I mean. ?

        4. lsdf

          “I heard I’m supposed to do this like my name is Romaine, so I’ve drafted some mock legal documents.”

      2. Nono

        Riley eating cereal.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Censorship via strategically placed foreground props.

      1. The Wellerman

        ^THIS ?

      2. Keulen

        Yes.

    3. Inbar Fink

      I won’t be suprised if we’re gonna cut back to poor Joyce or the Sarah-Liz-Family-Drama

      1. thejeff

        We definitely need more Sarah and Liz in the car scenes. Even if it’s just the two of them glaring at each other.

        I don’t think we’re done here though, even if we cut away, we’ll be back.

        1. someone

          QC Steve is the zoomr driver. He parked on the side of the road to munch on cereals, because drivers need to refuel, too.

        2. Sev

          No lie, I would be all over a strip that is just Sarah and Liz glaring at each other silently for however many panels.

  8. RassilonTDavros

    …Clever girl.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Dina sneakily undermining Becky’s religion with technicalities, is awesome on so many levels.

  9. Kyrik Michalowski

    Steve eating cereal is such a mood, also it makes me want cereal.

    I guess I’m going to get some cereal for a midnight snack.

    1. King Daniel

      You and me both.

  10. Yotomoe

    Dina really out here trying to kill god.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      She truly is a Shin Megami Tensei protagonist.

      1. The Wellerman

        More so than you might think.

        She is pure, yes, but that purity has a dark side.

        That all will soon see…

        https://imgur.com/a/kbTYOx8

      2. Rose by Any Other Name

        Okay, Taffy, you just won the award for best comment of the evening. Congrats.
        **heartfelt applause**

        Seriously good to see some SMT love.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          My favorite Persona is Slime. Whether that affects your response I cannot know.

        2. Regalli

          I’m admittedly a sucker for the absurdly adorable mascot. Hee-ho!

        3. Doki

          As a Persona fan, I concur!

      3. Thag Simmons

        I don’t think those guys have the copyright on trying to kill god.

        1. Wack'd

          that would be the fantastic four

        2. Thag Simmons

          I’m pretty sure it’s in the public domain by now but I definitely don’t think they have it.

      4. Spencer

        “The God you so cravenly worship is dead.”

        – Joyce, descending from the sky in front of Tokyo Tower

    2. Kyrik Michalowski

      I think the filter is eating my comments but I have no idea why unless Willis is doing it.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Willis, can you shed some light on why the comments are being eaten?

        1. King Daniel

          Comments are Willis’s cereal?

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Artists gotta eat somethin’, right?

        3. King Daniel

          Willis drinks tears, but we never before knew what counted for food.

        4. Kyrik Michalowski

          I’m going to try again, but the phrase I keep trying to post is: K,a,m,i w,a s,h,i,n,d,a

        5. Kyrik Michalowski

          Yep it got eaten again, clearly Willis is eating them or the filter is picking up on something for some unexplainable reason.

        6. David M Willis

          They’re getting auto-flagged as spam, possibly because things that aren’t in English are deemed by akismet as likely to be spam.

        7. Delicious Taffy

          Dang, akismet racism moment?

        8. Agemegos

          Perhaps I’d better stop posting in Latin.

        9. King Daniel

          I dunno, I once invoked Cthulhu in the comments and the filter didn’t flag it as spam. 😛

        10. Thag Simmons

          I would assume majority english comments are fine, but if you wrote a comment entirely in Gaeilge or something, you’d run into problems

        11. eh, whatever

          Post enough English filler text with your non-English bits, and Akismet lets it through.

        12. Clif

          Mi wonder dewe da filter feels ere da use fo belta?

        13. The Wellerman

          Hakuna Matata to you too?

        14. OBBWG

          Add to that Hasa Diga Eebowai.

    3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

      Can’t kill what was never alive to begin with.

      ~an Atheist. xD

  11. BBCC

    Well, that’s one way to solve that problem. XD

    1. Clif

      Dina is a veritable fountain of good ideas.

  12. Laladoria

    Dang, Dina been doing some sexy research!

  13. Thulcandran

    The part that makes me especially sad is that so many people I know who kept this shame had to find out the hard way that getting married absolutely did NOT magically vanish it.

    also, hellllll yeah Dina, thinkin’ of solutions!

  14. TrueVCU

    Becky: AT LAST, A LOOPHOLE

    1. True Survivor

      I don’t know. Undressing and letting yourself be undressed don’t seem all that different. Like those old bullying PSA’s on being a bystander.

      1. angie

        depends on the person. to me those are COMPLETELY different things. with new partners (or even long time partners if I’m feeling particularly shy for some reason) it’s very difficult to undress myself, but getting undressed by them is not a big deal at all

      2. drs

        Like rape fantasies? Becky undressing is SIN. Becky getting undressed by her gf is out of her control so not her fault.

        I think some fans have speculate that Becky even wanted that for sex, for Dina to be uncontrollably horny and ravish Becky, so Not Becky’s Fault.

      3. Daibhid C

        It very much depends on what the issue is. The impression I’m getting is that Becky isn’t actually morally opposed to getting undressed in front of Dina in the same way as she is with pre-marital hanky panky (clue: literally suggesting it) she just can’t actually bring herself to do it. Dina undressing her isn’t a loophole in her beliefs, it’s a workaround for a condition her beliefs have left her in.

    2. PirateTawnee

      *considers God’s Loophole for the Hacked Muzak, then remembers that song is for the straights.*

      1. Bicycle Bill

        Take her go-karting, Dina.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__d03IqV4BE

        1. The Wellerman

          HOLY CRAP!!!! ???

          That would make for the Best Science Experiment EVER!!! ???

          In fact, if given the right ingredients, I might just be able to turn this scenario into a game…. ? ?

      2. zee

        How about just Loophole by Noel Miller? I mean it’s about derfing but everything he does is for the lesbians.

  15. Dr. T

    Oooh!! I wonder if I can try that argument on my wife. That solution sounds quite…..intriguing.

  16. Sporky

    Man, the whole rest of the cast really does do all of Becky’s character development for her, don’t they.

    1. Leorale

      Lifelong brainwashing is DIFFICULT. Becky’s doing a ton just by being here and expressing absolutely everything that’s going on for her.

  17. Florence

    You gosh darn genius Dina. Who’s to say if this works but this might thread the needle of what Becky needs without activating her shame instinct. It’s technically Dina forcing Becky sort of but also it’s collaborative which helps Becky understand she has control here.

    And being horny is plaguing Becky with how it hits her religious trauma.

    I was so pessimistic about this but gosh dang darn it am I happy with how this is turning out.

  18. Nathan

    You can see, like, the wheels of an entire Swiss clock factory turning in Becky’s eyes right now.

    1. Jon S.

      BECKY.EXE has stopped responding. Abort/Cancel/Retry?

      1. The Wellerman

        A hacker like me sees a very special fourth option —

        1. Open Task Manager

        2. Right Click BECKY.EXE

        3. Set Priority to Real Time or High, depening on OS Version

        Now all Dina needs to do is find the analogous set of steps. My first guess is something to do with blood glucose, given the brain uses 25% of our energy.

        But let’s see what the Empress of Evolution can do! ???? ✌️?

  19. Darkoneko

    yeees

  20. Mel

    When you read this and QC and fully burst out laughing at the hover comment

    Fantastic.

  21. True Survivor

    I’ve finally figured out what’s been bugging me about Becky’s hat: It looks like it should have a barcode or price printed on that center white piece. I keep waiting for some check-out clerk to appear with one of those beeping scanner things.

    1. Needfuldoer

      I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be something like a Carhartt toque, with a logo printed or embroidered on that patch.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        “Vote For DeSanto”

  22. StClair

    Points to Becky for some honesty and self-awareness here. No wacky deflection, just admitting it to Dina and herself. It’s genuinely refreshing.

    1. Florence

      Big emphasis on the “No wacky deflection”.

      Especially in panel 3, that’s Becky really letting down her guard and telling the truth of what’s deep down.

    2. Keulen

      It’s definitely nice to see that from Becky. Especially since her wacky deflections have been grating on my nerves for some time now.

  23. Bryy

    I’m super glad Becky recognizes her behavior *when she’s getting something she wants*.

    Note the sarcasm.

    1. zee

      Ah i was wondering how someone was gonna twist this into Becky being a bad person without straight up crossing the line of “your religious sexual trauma means you’re abusive and Dina deserves better”

  24. Amós Batista

    I guess it’s a huge no, Dina. You better stop.

    1. Dark

      Yeah no, Becky’s clearly uncomfortable. This is rapidly approaching Squick territory.

      1. drs

        Becky is clearly Intrigued by Dina’s suggestion in the last panel.

        1. Dark

          …No. That’s not how it works.

          No means no. It doesn’t matter the reasoning, if someone says no, you stop. End of discussion.

        2. Daibhid C

          If the people I know interpeted “I want to be able to do this but I can’t” as “No”, I would literally have spent the last twenty years in a dark room being miserable.

        3. Dark

          Except that’s not at all what’s going on. Becky has explicitly expressed discomfort at the situation. Regardless of her rationalizing, she’s uncomfortable.

          Becky is saying “I SHOULD want to do this but I can’t.” She’s doing the same thing as Joyce was, overcorrecting after leaving a life she’s no longer part of.

          If she can’t bring herself to do these things, you don’t keep going and loophole your way through it. You stop and address the underlying reason as to WHY you can’t.

        4. Spencer

          Okay you’re right, except it’s Becky trying to loophole her way out of her sexual guilt complex by having Dina pressure her into it so Becky can tell herself she tried to resist her sinful loins.

          Becky wants sex, but she still relies on her fundie upbringing to tell her it’s wrong, as opposed to the possible truth of the matter where Becky was violently traumatized by her entire life getting thrown into a chaotic mess and sex is scary to her because being a good girl that says no to sex is the last part of Becky’s old life that’s left. Becky constantly reinforces in Dina that she wants to be perceived as sexy and enticing, so that’s why Dina’s exploring Becky’s boundaries without, explicitly, actually having sex.

        5. Delicious Taffy

          I’m interested to see how close a commenter gets to throwing the R-word I’m Dina’s direction. I really am.

        6. Devin

          Except Becky has already said why. She understands where the block is coming from, and is clearly unhappy about it.

          Erring on the side of consent is absolutely the best way to go about it, but these characters are not new to us. We know that Dina is not the type to blunder about disregarding signals she has difficulty reading. Her history shows a tendency to do her best to learn when she can to do right by her peers, and if she is unsure about a situation she’s shown a history of asking or erring on the side of caution.

          If any character in this strip deserves benefit of the doubt, it’s Dina. Seriously folks.

        7. Delicious Taffy

          “These characters are not new to us”
          What do you mean, every strip isn’t individually the oldest and most recent? I thought these events were all stand-alone bubbles devoid of context, to be picked apart for misbehavior and then discarded within 24 hours, not an ongoing story connected to previous stories!

        8. Spencer

          I thought these events were all stand-alone bubbles devoid of context, to be picked apart for misbehavior and then discarded within 24 hours, not an ongoing story connected to previous stories

          ok i know youre being sarcastic but

        9. Erika

          Regarding the discussion of “no means no” and whether Dina is coercing Becky… Becky’s made it very clear she’s interested in this sexual exploration thing, it’s just her own neuroses that are holding her back. As someone who has also had a lot of sexual anxiety in the past, I can confirm that:

          “I am uncomfortable with this, but I dislike that I feel that way, and may need to find an alternate approach to help myself break through that mental barrier”

          is very different from:

          “I am uncomfortable with this and further attempts to get me to do it anyways would be unwelcome”

        10. thejeff

          It is, but it’s definitely dangerous territory – especially if you start to use pressure to get past those barriers and/or those barriers keep them from clarifying what they want.

    2. Anon A Mouse

      It isn’t, though. Becky WANTS to do things for Dina, wants to at the very least “sexy” for Dina without threatening their chastity. She also admits that her hesitation is not from lack of desire but from her own restrictive upbringing. It’s a delicate subject, to be sure, and one that should not be pressured, but she very obviously doesn’t want Dina to stop.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        I’ve been reading this entire situation as Becky being sort of stuck in the mindset from her upbringing, and she’s just not super thinking about the sort of loopholes and alternate ideas that would let her act and be the way she clearly wants to act and be. Dina’s offering those other ideas, and each time Becky seems to be like “Oh yeeeaaaah! That’d work!”.

        Maybe that’s just me.

        1. Nono

          Part of it is that Becky wants that agency taken away from her. If she was the one instigating it, she’s consciously going against her fundie upbringing. So she wants Dina to be the one ravaging her, etc.

          This isn’t a perfect solution, but Dina being in charge can be a decent way to test her boundaries.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          She could stand to go against that upbringing a little more, tbh. It doesn’t seem like it’s bringing her a whole lot of happiness, at least in certain parts of her life. Hopefully Dina’s gentle pushing can help in that regard. Long as the pushing stays gentle and she doesn’t take it too far.

        3. Regalli

          Yeah, the shame block definitely has an aspect of ‘but if you just so happened to COMPLETELY LOSE CONTROL then I could give into my passions because it’s not MY fault you couldn’t control yourself and instigated it (please ravish me) and then if we do then hey, easier to ask forgiveness once the bandaid’s already ripped off once, right? And it’s okay if I enjoyed it if I didn’t START it.’

          It’s the Old School Romance Novel Rape Fantasy Loophole, basically. The issue is Dina is then struggling to find where the line is between ‘No, stop, don’t, but also yes please I just feel obligated to say this’ and ‘actual, genuine no,’ because as Liz and Joe demonstrated a few in-strip days ago, even BECKY probably isn’t sure where that boundary truly is.

        4. Florence

          I was pretty optimistic but you’re all right that this is still dangerous territory.

          @regalli – You have a pretty good read on Becky, where do you think this is going? Do you think this the right kind of boundary pushing or will Becky freak?

        5. The Wellerman

          Even if Becky freaks a little, I’m sure Dina will know exactly what to do.

          This is more than anything an extraordinary and exciting scientific endeavor, and Dina wouldn’t even be doing this unless she knew BOTH of them were prepared.

          Dina’s a scientist as well as a partner here, but she’s more than that. She’s venturing into dangerous, uncharted territory, gathering knowledge that’ll help not only her and Becky, but those who’ll have to face the same challenges. She’s a HERO, and she’s about to show us what she’s made of!!!!

          ???

          *plays “Cross the Stormy Sea” by Shinji Miyazaki on Becky’s Phone*

        6. Florence

          Well I’m hoping for the best

          Good tune by the by

        7. thejeff

          I’m not at all convinced Dina does know. It was only yesterday she was introduced to the concept that “sometimes when somebody says they don’t want to talk about it, maybe they want you to make them talk about it.”

          She might well be right to apply that here, but it’s not at all clear she’s got a good handle on how to tell when it applies and when it doesn’t.

        8. Spencer

          I think Dina is smart enough to know the difference between the vagueness of human contact and pressuring your partner into sex acts.

          Like, the entire point of this interaction is that Dina wants to explore Becky’s boundaries, with Becky’s consent, without threatening her chastity. That is a thing that was said five days ago now.

          Dina’s problems with social interactions is in how she can’t pick up social cues, whereas Becky has been a bundle of neuroses but has stated that she wants to be sexually enticing but without sex itself. Becky’s hangups are contradictory, but Dina herself has already plainly stated she’s not going to have sex with Becky now.

        9. thejeff

          And as long as she’s not going to have sex with Becky now, it’s perfectly fine to do anything else over Becky’s objections, because stripping her doesn’t threaten her chastity, even though she’s clearly uncomfortable doing it?

          Don’t get me wrong, I think Dina’s probably right here, but I’m not at all sure she is and even less sure she’s prepared to catch the nuances that’ll let her know she’s pushing too hard.

        10. Spencer

          Okay but Becky isn’t objecting. That’s the point.

          Becky wants to be sexually enticing without having sex. They are exploring her boundaries, it’s just that her boundaries are rooted in something more complex than she is capable of saying aloud.

          Becky is, innately, going to be nervous about approaching sexual interactions. That’s why, specifically, this is meant to a safe exploring of a difficult subject.

          Like, bud, I dunno how to tell you this, but we’re not in for The Story Where Dina Pressures Becky Into Sex Because She’s Too Blind To Social Cues.

        11. thejeff

          That’s fair. As I said, I think she’s probably right here.

          I just think this is treacherous territory and just “not objecting” is really not enough to be sure.

        12. Spencer

          She’s not just “not objecting,” they’ve made it abundantly clear that this only goes as far as Becky wants, won’t threaten her chastity, and Becky being sexually enticing to Dina is a thing that Becky has repeatedly, loudly and verbally, insisted she wants.

          Your read is being filtered through the idea that a neurodivergent person is incapable of knowing when their sexual partner wants to stop in a scenario where boundaries are being repeatedly checked and acknowledged.

        13. Regalli

          I feel pretty confident, based off past behavior, that Dina will lean on the side of ‘you said no, was that a hard no or a keep pushing no?’ or just stop outright – she needed the ‘sometimes people want to be asked even when they say no’ explained directly, but that means her default is ‘take a no at its word,’ and she has consistently been respectful of ‘Becky doesn’t want to have sex’ (it’s just that she also kind of does but struggles to articulate that directly). Which is good, because I think there’s a high chance Becky will in fact reach the Firm Nope Point, and given BECKY doesn’t seem to know where ‘I feel ashamed but it’s okay if someone else is in control’ gives way to ‘I am Not Okay With This’ I’m not sure she’ll realize they’re at the point until it’s crossed. (Note: If that point is crossed, it won’t be either of their faults any more than Joe and Liz’s encounter was a thing where they were ‘at fault.’ They’re teenagers. Liz and Becky have enough sexual shame that they don’t know for sure where their boundaries really lie because they haven’t had the space to safely contemplate sex at all. Joe and Dina can’t be expected to know better than their partners on that front – Joe could have been skeptical enough about it to say HE personally was uncomfortable having sex with HER, but taking Liz at her word was not in and of itself a bad thing. So long as they stopped when the other says ‘stop,’ that’s fine.)

          All that said, if Leslie is teaching a unit on kink and safe words that would probably be beneficial for Becky given what we’ve seen of the ‘no I don’t want to have sex… but I’m disappointed you won’t give into your passions and rip my clothes off’ thing.

        14. Florence

          That sounds about right, especially with Becky hitting a “no” point. Yea Becky might really benefit from exploring kink even if it’s only research.

        15. Amós Batista

          Peharps someone could say I was getting so far in my comment. Maybe yes.

          Maybe because it’s a comic, and we already know how the Dina and Becky couple dynamic works.

          It’s hard to think, and there’s so few author that creates about neuroatypical people. It took me a time to figure out Willis is not writing about a funny couple. How can a ex-fundie, who is struggling about her faith and a person that have some mental issues can live together?

          And, something is bugging me: the boundaries between they, is the same like any other couple? …

        16. The Wellerman

          I see you find this fascinating! Excellent! ?

          If there’s only one thing I had to disagree with right off the bat though, it’s referring to neurodivergence as “mental issues”. I really prefer to think of it as the brain “functioning differently”. ?

        17. Amós Batista

          Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll pay attention for this.

        18. The Wellerman

          No problem bruh! ?

        19. The Wellerman

          Dina is testing around the edges, gathering data, searching for ways to bypass Becky’s Sunday School Defenses, and the latter is well aware.

          This is science Dina’s doing. She’s experimenting, building a model of Becky’s Fundie Programming, and will proceed to gain better and better understanding of how it works so they can exploit it to both their benefit, as with any other phenomena in the universe.

          And it’s 10 billion percent EPIC!!!

          ?️????

          *plays “Chemical G Funk Mix” on Hacked Muzak*

        20. Amós Batista

          U know, I aways click on the link, to read your comments while I’m listen the song…

      2. not someone else

        I mean, she doesn’t, but she does? This is definitely starting to head into “are you sure” territory, and that’s gonna be hard to navigate.

  25. RassilonTDavros

    Yeah, this is definitely autobiographical.

  26. Jade

    *reads alt text*

    Wait hold on gotta look something up.

    Ok yeah, this is funny.

  27. Francoinblanco

    Inaction/ being passive is also sin and that have sad implication

  28. Dafydd

    Hate to break it to ya Becks, but there’s no guarantee that Fundie Shame Mental Block(TM) will actually go away once you’re married. Best work on breaking it down now, so you can be happier later in life.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      I’m trying to figure out how she got past the Fundie Shame Mental Block™ about getting married to someone of the same sex.

      1. Spencer

        Becky is able to dissociate from any part of her upbringing that contradicts that God loves her.

        Becky still needs sexual purity to count because she’s afraid of changing (my guess is that losing her virginity is the last sign that Good Girl For Jesus Becky with alive parents and a Joyce bestie is dead and gone forever), and so it still has a foothold in her head as something she needs to justify to herself.

  29. PirateTawnee

    Damn you Willis, I just made a Steve from QC comment yesterday.

  30. Tim C.

    I suspect this will only end when God sends his dinosaurs to eat all his chosen people while the others are “Left Behind”

    That’s right, the Velocirapture.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I assume he’ll use bigger raptors but the Utahrapture might give people the wrong idea

      1. Deanatay

        The Dino-Mormons were right all along?

  31. Throwatron

    the alt-text made my night 100% thank you mr willis

  32. zims

    If you actually make tomorrow’s strip just Steve eating cereal I will physically mail you five dollars

    1. Joshua Hollis Wright

      I will match this. Make it happen, Willis!

    2. King Daniel

      There was once a hovertext that promised the next day’s strip would be a Mary/Galasso hookup. I’m still waiting.

    3. Thag Simmons

      There was a QC cameo so there is precedent.

      Would not be surprised if there was a Coffeeright Theft somewhere in the area

  33. Alex Boston

    Steve eating cereal! Do iiiiiiiiiiit!!!!

  34. Geneseepaws

    Dina’s line and Becky’s face in the last panel are the best Valentine’s present I got this year. Thanks Mr. Willis!

    1. milu

      Sounds like some serious parasocial relationship you’ve got going on there Geneseepaws =P

      1. Geneseepaws

        I am so sad for Becky, she is in such a weird place, Orphaned, and her Bestie, Joyce, changing so much. It looks like Dina is just the best thing that might happen in her whole life. I am fraught, Fraught I Say, with hope and fear, wishing it goes well for her, and that she can rise to the challenge.

  35. Bagge

    Look like someone is about to be absolved of guilt by not undressing herself!

    1. Delicious Taffy

      And let’s be honest, even in non-sexy contexts, it’s more fun getting undressed by someone else anyway.

      1. milu

        You mean like when you were a kid and you would go right on playing with your toys while a parent pulled off your clothes? Yeah that was neat

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I was thinking more in terms of adult life. Parents weren’t quite that hands-on, so I had to change my own clothes while I played with my Bionicles/PS1.

  36. GUIGUI

    Questionable Content Steve? (I don’t really read Questionable Content, so I don’t know if it actually has a character named Steve)

    1. Thag Simmons

      Questionable Content has many characters and one of them is Steve.

      He eats Cereal sometimes

    2. Axel_Grease

      Sometimes when things get too dramatic the author cuts away to Steve just eating cereal.

  37. Arianod

    Science will find the way <3

  38. Reltzik

    Is it just me, or is there a bit of Dina nibbling on her lower lip in that last panel?

  39. Sombrero

    Checkmate, fundies!!! Now on to Dina Master Strategist: The Chronicles.

  40. Juanoku

    IF YOU CUT AWAY FROM THIS SO HELP ME GOD WILLIS

  41. Rabisch

    Once again, Dina prove to be a genius ♡.

  42. Carla's #2 Fan

    You mean Steve might show up more here than in QC? Lol

  43. goggleman64

    Y’know, this is an amazing storyline and a great moment in that storyline, but I’ve been playing a lot of Disco Elysium and right now all I see is Becky’s hat having an RCM halogen watermark X)

  44. Beau Kirin Maysey

    SLIPSHINE APPROACHETH

  45. Keulen

    I’m kinda hoping this works and helps Becky get out of her fundie issues with nakedness and sex. And from my interpretation of Becky’s face in the last panel, she seems to be ok with Dina’s solution.

  46. Spriteless Auntie

    I really wonder how much of this is autobiographical.

  47. Vulcanodon

    Getting through the fundy shame mental block is like picking a lock, but there’s almost no way to do it well.

    1. ahecht

      A click out of one, two is binding, nothing on three…

  48. Spencer

    “The problem is always me.”

    Dang it’s almost like Becky grew up in an authoritarian household with a controlling parent who instilled in her that disobedience was a moral and spiritual failing, and so problems instilled in her by another source are now failings on her part.

    Like how the strip where we find out Becky’s trying to convert Joyce back had her insist “she hates me more than she’d be willing to come back to Jesus” or how being told about asexuality by Leslie and Robin led her to start blaming her sinful horniness.

    1. misanthropope

      the first time i encountered the idea that some large majority of the cells in your body aren’t genetically _you_, it creeped the absolute shit out of me. fast forward to reading _Brave New World_: the already heavy “62400 repetitions make one truth” pretty much triggered an existential crisis over how much of me is actually me psychologically and mentally.
      been living a life of frantic idiosyncrasy ever since 🙂

  49. Mr. Random

    QC steve.
    That’s a DEEP cut reference at this point.

  50. Florence

    Having thought about the strip as an autistic, can everyone who’s saying Dina is naive about consent because she’s autistic stop, it’s infantilising in its implication and deeply ableist.

    It has only been a conversation so far and Dina has just now started getting physical, always being clear verbally. Yea she isn’t getting every piece of info but she also hasn’t pushed Becky’s boundaries because of a lack of it. All that’s occurred is questions and suggestions.

    I understand some of the worries with Becky, I’ve had them too, but that’s all Becky’s internal stuff, and making all of Becky’s choices Dina’s responsibility whilst also treating her as naive because autism is not cool.

    Not naming names and I don’t wanna fight about it but it makes me uncomfortable.

    To be clear, I’m also uncomfortable with following that logic for a moment myself.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Co-signed. It’s weird and a little gross.

      1. Florence

        I hesitate with call-outs but it keeps happening with this storyline

    2. Spencer

      Sexual puritanism and ableism.

      Name a more iconic duo.

      1. Florence

        It really feels like the idea that sex can be bad without there being deeper moral implications is alien to some, maybe it just doesn’t work out

    3. The Wellerman

      ??? Yeah, as a neurodivergent, this is EXACTLY why I HATE labels like “autism” — they’re just so overgeneralizing, and lead to people making REALLY hurtful assumptions about us. ?

      I feel that telling neurotypicals “autism is a spectrum and we’re all different” isn’t enough, with that one label their brains are all too tempted to extrapolate and project traits that aren’t there and wind up painting over our intellect and personality with a single brush stroke.

      For now, I guess just autocorrecting with the better “neurodivergent” works, but I really just wish we had a better system for describing our unique stripes of neurodivergence the same way we describe our gender or sexuality with like 10 billion options to choose from.

      The system we have for describing neurodivergence now, you might as well try to capture the beauty of an Aurora Borealis with a disposable camera.

      1. Florence

        I find the autistic circle is useful for any neurodivergence

        https://themighty.com/2020/03/autism-spectrum-wheel/

        1. Florence

          Specifically in discussing differences

        2. The Wellerman

          ? You know, although I think this model needs work, at the very least this is actually a good starting point for understanding all kinds of neurodivergent stripes, “autism” or not! I can see traits that belong in current categories like ADHD and various anxiety disorders going in here too for instance! ?

          I’m not so sure about vague parts of it though. What exactly does “aggression” mean? Who gets to define what makes for “””abnormal””” speech?

          One of the biggest things I hate about package deals like the “autism” label is that it makes it VERY hard for neurotypicals to tell the difference between our disabilities and our PERSONALITIES.

          In fact, in a very strict sense, labels like this were never even originally meant to help us at all, but marginalize us so neurotypicals wouldn’t even need to give a thought about us, let alone understand us. “Autism” is actually Latin for “morbid self absorption”, and that alone says A LOT about the AWFUL place these labels came from without going into the gruesome details. ?

          Even today, speaking realistically, these labels are practically controlled by neurotypicals managing popular media who rarely have our best interests, and are inevitably a VERY distorted lens to attempt to understand us from, and an ESPECIALLY distorted lens to develop a CHARACTER from.

          That said, it still gives me hope that we’ll be able to find better ways to describe ourselves, and show all our beautiful, unique stripes of gender, sexuality and neurodivergence for all the world to see!

          Thanks for sharing Florence!!! ?

        3. Florence

          No worries ???, it’s an ongoing conversation that should always be about preferring our perspective as neurodivergent folk and not governments for example

      2. Keulen

        I like both terms. For me, “autistic” is the specific type of neurodivergence that I am. It’s what I was diagnosed with fairly recently, and it’s not my fault that some neurotypical people have some harmful misconceptions about what the word “autism” means. I try to educate those people on those misconceptions when I can and I feel up to it. While autism can be more disabling for some than others, I feel more comfortable with the neurodivergency way of looking at it. My brain just works differently than most people.

        Kinda wondering how many people are actually gonna see this comment since the next strip updates in about an hour.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I see every comment. Especially the autistic ones.

        2. Florence

          It’s all about what makes us comfy, and yea I still like autism as a descriptor despite its baggage. The real problem is we is orgs like ‘autism speaks’ being the bigger voice than autistic and neurodvergent folk in general

  51. Wakeangel2001

    passively standing by while another party has their way with your body, yeah, that sounds like a fetish a fundamentalist Christian would have

    1. Spencer

      I think that’s just bondage.

    2. Delicious Taffy

      It also seems relatively common in gag manga, for some reason.

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        Manga artists seem to love inserting their favorite fetishes and playing them for laughs 😛

        1. The Wellerman

          Well, Willis does already have the gag manga habit of naming chapters and characters after puns. ?

  52. Rocketboy1313

    I can strangely relate to this.

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