220

Larf
Posted on July 2, 2021 by David M Willis

220 thoughts on “Larf”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “The safeword is Oloroso sherry butts”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      “oh wait, it’s supposed to be a word that would never be used in the context of intercourse”

      …

      “love“

      1. Schpoonman

        Jesus Christ, Ana.

        1. Clif

          No, that’s 3 words.

        2. ValdVin

          Avatar is bullseye for the comment.

      2. He Who Abides

        ????????

      3. HeatherJean

        “MEATLOAF”

        Because I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.

        1. Reltzik

          I simultaneously love and hate your 90s-music punning ways.

        2. HeatherJean

          Don’t blame me:

          https://www.facebook.com/gabrielrutledgecomedy/videos/my-safeword-is-meatloaf/754384614756843/?extid=SEO—-

        3. HeatherJean

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGby2IZdrKU
          probably works better. It’s an old gag, anyways.

        4. Felix

          Wellp, guess it’s time to go listen to some meatloaf again…

        5. Needfuldoer

          Oh hell yeah!

        6. Charles Spencer

          “Again”? Why would you stop?

      4. Wagstaff

        I’ve got it!

        “RRRICOLAAAAAA!!!!!”

        1. Subjektivity

          I’ve definitely invoked those yodeling swiss during sexy times.

      5. Chris Phoenix

        “Now I know words can be like weapons, no matter that they’re small /
        I used three tiny words on you and then beat it down the hall / …”

        – Ferron, “Girl On a Road”

      6. Demoted Oblivious

        The thing chained to the black cavity behind my ribs is screaming, “yes, YES! Ana, let the salt melt, flow across the world, and immolate it!”

        “Some people just want to watch the world burn.”
        “I mean sure, if they’re lazy; the rest of us get up in the morning to make it happen.”

    2. Kitschensyngk

      No, it’s gotta be “Pemblebrook.”

      1. Chris (the other one)

        Nah, that’s too hard to say with a ball-gag in…. what?

        1. Eldritchy

          You could always go with Fluggaenkoecchicebolsen

    3. Rainhat

      Seriously: “Knock it the fuck off, [realname].” Nobody’s gonna playfully faux tell me to “knock it the fuck off”.

  2. Wagstaff

    Happy July 2nd Everyone!!!

    This is the date the Declaration of Independence was signed, and it’s the day we should be celebrating, but oh well….

    1. K^2

      Hey, we can’t start celebrating before it’s announced, or the British troops might cease us!

    2. Mr D

      Also, my B-day

      1. sultryglebe

        Happy birthday!

      2. I am Nothing

        Happy Birthday!

    3. Emperor Norton II

      Let us celebrate by playing USA’s national anthem.

      1. Wagstaff

        I was thinking more along the lines of the Canadian National Anthem, but this works too!

        1. Clif

          Texas Our Texas
          For reasons
          https://youtu.be/STMRklYD_G8

        2. Demoted Oblivious

          Given what we’ve done (and do) to our indigenous people, I’m not sure what my feelings are on our anthem right now.

        3. Wagstaff

          Which anthem are you referring to?

          At least the Canadian Anthem is something you can actually sing without having a degree in opera.

          But if you feel that way, how about “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper for the new anthem?

        4. Demoted Oblivious

          Oh yeah, I left out that detail. Canadian. We’re in the process (again) of learning even more about how horribly we treat and have treated our indigenous people.

          Given that the current hottest issue is about how many children were killed and disappeared in the residential school program, but that the program is over, that would probably be in poor taste (which I fully expect was not your intention), but I also am not in a position to know. “Hey teacher, leave them kids alone.” Is certainly apt.

          We still have a reservation system and an obscene degree of misappropriated land and insufficient respresentation for indigenous people and well, the list just goes on and I am not the right person to give this the appropriate gravity.

        5. Jammy

          History’s full of horrible details. After all, it’s about billions of people with often questionable influences or statutes. Don’t ruin yourself over the past you weren’t there to make. Learn from the good and the bad and live your life.

        6. milu

          Demoted wasn’t talking about the past being hardcore generally but instead questioning the way colonial nation celebrate themselves to this day. to me that sounds less like getting worked up over spilt milk and more like attempting to reckon with one’s history responsibly.

        7. Chris

          If you listen to the *old* recordings, you’ll find that the USian anthem used to be much easier to sing. I blame the generations of oneupswomanship at baseball games for making it impossible.

        8. Roborat

          The Arrogant Worms song should be adopted as the national anthem.

    4. Reltzik

      Continental Congress voted for independence on the 2nd. Exact wording was ratified on the 4th. It wasn’t formally signed until August 2nd.

      1. Wagstaff

        Thanks Reltzik!!!!

        Goes to show, if you think you know everything you need to know as an adult after graduating high school, enjoy that feeling while it lasts. It won’t last long.

        Besides, the holiday itself today is more than anything an excuse opportunity for MARVELOUS FIREWORKS!!!!!

        And barbeques, too!!!

        1. Thag Simmons

          You really shouldn’t be setting fireworks off in this climate, might accidentally torch half the fucking continent

        2. Wagstaff

          Just one more reason to fight climate change!

          Or invent cheap, smoke-free pyrotechnics… I’m going for the former though!

        3. Thag Simmons

          There will always be people dumb enough to do the stupidest imaginable shit with explosives.

        4. Opus the Poet

          Why not both dot gif.

        5. SeanR

          I’d love cheap, smoke-free pyrotechnics, but I live under a flight-line, and the pilots might think I was trying to blind them if I started bouncing lasers off the bottom of the clouds.

        6. Needfuldoer

          I like those drone swarms that can fly in formation and light up to make different shapes.

        7. Reltzik

          *grumbles about the inevitable string of inconsiderate neighbors who will be setting off fireworks after midnight for the next month*

        8. Wagstaff

          Next month? My neighbors do that sporadically ALL YEAR! I’m not kidding!

        9. Regalli

          Right? Mine started intermittently in early June. (It’s at least been less constant than last year, where the non-pyromaniac contingent of the neighborhood was starting to contemplate homicide.)

    5. Needfuldoer

      Freedom ain’t confined to just one day, pal. This weekend is all about freedom, beer, freedom, nationalism, and completely missing the point of songs like Born in the USA and Fortunate Son.

  3. Regalli

    When Sal puts it that way, they are in fact perfect for each other, aren’t they.

    1. Reltzik

      In that they each reflect, amplify, and enable the other’s vices? Yes, perfect for each other, just the way that Ruth and Billie were perfect for each other.

      1. JBento

        Heterosexual suicide pact.

  4. Sirksome

    Every week my Daisy and Ruth ship just gets dealt another blow!

    1. Shitbird

      Same

    2. Demoted Oblivious

      Why not a throuple? Or a quouple?

      1. milu

        quinple
        sexple
        heptple
        octople
        novple
        decaple

        1. Risky

          Much like decimating your decaple doesn’t actually mean what the etymology suggests (except when it does), all non-asexple groupings are sexples regardless of size.

      2. Deanatay

        Just call it a ‘ple.

        Or, fuck it, a PILE

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          Yes. The point is to fuck it. You are correct.

        2. He Who Abides

          Okay, we might be doing ours wrong then.

  5. Thag Simmons

    Seriously though why did Ruth take a hostage?

    1. Wagstaff

      Maybe that’s her new code word for her current victim “lover”-to-be?

    2. Regalli

      It seemed like a good idea at the time?

      She doesn’t know how to express affection in non-disastrous if not actively criminal ways?

      An elaborate scheme to pit her (abusive asshole, clearly influential if not outright wealthy, controlling to the point she sees no way out) grandfather against Dargon ‘cruel captain of industry’ Chesterfield, Jason’s dad? (Also wealthy, also influential, from Jason’s mentions almost certainly also an abusive asshole, but like SO MUCH MORE WEALTHY AND INFLUENTIAL Clint will most certainly be crumpled up like scrap paper and also his name’s frickin’ DARGON.)

      Her desire for self-destruction, as evidenced by her getting drunk and torpedoing the Daisy date because Daisy could do better?

      1. Clif

        It was her birthday.

        1. Wagstaff

          Unless we find out whether or not Jason voluntarily gave himself to Ruth, we still don’t know….

        2. WanderingLynx

          I truly enjoy the imagery of “gave himself to Ruth”. Thank you :’3

        3. Demoted Oblivious

          I’m having trouble picturing. @Yotomoe any chance you could bless us with a render of this so we can understand what Wags and Wynx are working with?

        4. milu

          Wynx!!! =3 <3*
          (*subject to to Wynx's approval)

      2. Edwin I Callahan

        #3 on your list occurred to me as well (I posted the idea on the early release version yesterday). It’s implausible, I know, but plausibility hasn’t exactly been important in anything Willis has ever written.

        1. Regalli

          I’m pretty dang sure it’s not the case – that would mean DEALING WITH Clint and/or Dargon, which would be terrible – but if this gets found out and she gets expelled Clint will have Opinions. So it’s not like there’s another win condition involving him here besides ‘Jason’s terrible father, whose invocation will almost certainly screw Jason over.’

          ‘Seemed like a good idea at the time’ and ‘Ruth’s inappropriate ways of expressing attraction while depressed’ are where I’m actually leaning.

    3. Reltzik

      Isn’t the point of a hostage letting others know that you have one so that they’ll hold off attacking?

  6. Shitbird

    I don’t like the Ruth and T.A. ship tbh

    1. DailyBrad

      It’s maybe not Mr. Right, but maybe she just wants Mr. Right Now.

    2. Blackdrazon

      The RA/TA ship.

      1. Mr. Random

        It is A RAT of a ship.

      2. King Daniel

        Flip it around, and their ship can be TARA.

      3. Jamie

        Ass-istants?

      4. ninja_jesus

        They should get that inked on their arms. Then it will be a RA/TA TAT.

        1. milu

          respect.

        2. Deanatay

          Well, he’s an ex-TA, so it should be XTA/RA.

          Extra?

  7. DiDi

    Can’t say I saw this coming…

    1. Clif

      words you never say to a truck.

      1. Clif

        Ask Ruth.

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          That got dark fast. I like it.

  8. Yotomoe

    I don’t like safewords. I prefer danger words. When you say it your partner intensifies.

    1. Zach

      Green
      Yellow
      Red

      1. Wagstaff

        I dunno about that. What if one of you wants to role-play as a traffic director? Or a car? *hint* *hint*

        1. WanderingLynx

          Agreeing on the meanings of the traffic director’s flag movements beforehand would work for one. And for the other… Cars beep? Or you can reeve the engine and it’d even be a pun.

        2. Wagstaff

          I was thinking more along the lines of Carla, but sure!

        3. Geneseepaws

          And who uses a checkered flag, and for what, exactly.

        4. Demoted Oblivious

          Someone who needs:

          To let your partner know if you reached the finish line.
          To give them permission to do so if you normally forbid them from it.
          To indicate the direction of the wind.
          Semaphor.
          A poor dazzle pattern poncho if you don’t have better camouflage.
          A blanket (or towel/don’t panic).
          To indicate the size of an adjacent object in photography.
          A drunk zebra costume.

  9. Yotomoe

    https://imgur.com/a/x1Oc24W
    Also a Walkyverse Billie and Joyce.

    1. DailyBrad

      Smoosh’d.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      “Also”? Is there another drawing I missed?

      1. Yotomoe

        I did do one yesterday.
        https://imgur.com/a/S7UxCoB

        1. ValdVin

          Great stuff!

      2. Clif

        See yesterday’s comment section.

    3. Wagstaff

      Nice touch with the tongue! Beautiful clean coal art once again!

    4. Schpoonman

      You know that while Joyce was the only one brave enough to say “Boop!” aloud, Billie absolutely thought it.

  10. StClair

    Baka Begone!

  11. Stephen Bierce

    *plays The Pretenders’ “Don’t Get Me Wrong” on the hacked Muzak*

  12. DailyBrad

    Sal’s always a bit of a righteous one, ain’t she. 😛

    Not saying she’s wrong, though, either to have resentment or in her reading of things. Definitely a lot of, “and this is your business, why?” at play, though, but that’s where the righteousness come into play.

    1. He Who Abides

      I personally feel that she’s being a wee bit of a bongo here, but that’s because I (unlike Sal) remember the last time we saw Ruth get pissed in front of Jason.

      Also, off topic but, question for Willis: do you already have one of the X-Panse Transformer or not?

      1. He Who Abides

        Oh yeah, forgot to add that Sal initiated her hook-up with Jason, and did so with the expectation of better grades. So, more than a bit of a bongo.

        1. anonymsly

          An expectation that she never verbalized specifically, even. If it were me, I’d have at least gotten a clear co-sign on the exchange before a pounce-and-strip maneuver.

        2. BBCC

          Jason knew what she was talking about. Slipshine preview has his response to her comment – “That is not what I meant and you know it.”

        3. fridge_logic

          Doesn’t that stand as a tacit rejection of her aims? I guess it’s ambiguous. I guess a better person would clarify that in no way would this improve her grades.

        4. Regalli

          Given he was in some way responsible for her grades (and even as he handed them off to someone else, she perceived that he was and since he wasn’t and telling anyone he was sleeping with a student, he could have stopped and no one would have been the wiser,) the onus was on him to shut that down ENTIRELY. Tell her he was not on board with this because of the inherent power imbalance.

          The onus was also on him not to express attraction to her the first time she came to him for help (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/hours/ and which she was clearly not on board with then, the next strip,) and not to dismiss her as ‘hopeless’ and tell her she should drop the class when his tutoring methods weren’t helping.

        5. BBCC

          fridge_logic – I don’t remember Sal’s response to that, but I do remember hi saying ‘This is completely unethical’ to which she grinned and said ‘Yeah.’ and then he kissed her. While Jason didn’t intend it that way, it’s easy to read that as him accepting it. Hence him clarifying later he was saying yes to the sex, not to the grades.

          @ Regalli – Particularly since he didn’t hand off her grades until after the second time they banged.

    2. Lumino

      Especially because SHE basically forced herself on Jason. He didn’t “coerce” or “manipulate” her, she was the initiator!

      I have no idea what beef she seems to have with Jason, but she’s got absolutely no right to be as big of a bongo as she is right now.

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        She also is wrong about this being about a power imbalance. Unless the imbalance is that he’s handcuffed.

        1. BBCC

          She’s saying they’re both into power imbalances because of Ruth/Billie and Jason and her. Not because of Ruth/Jason.

      2. Thag Simmons

        he was a really shitty teacher

        1. Regalli

          Like, INCREDIBLY so, including dismissing her as hopeless almost immediately when his specific teaching method wasn’t connecting for her. While he almost certainly had inadequate training as a teacher to offer different strategies, it reflects VERY poorly on him that he decided it was clearly a problem with her inherent capabilities.

        2. Demoted Oblivious

          Unfortunately, post secondary acadamia, unless its in teaching, offers zero instruction on how to teach others. So in the process of gathering students, teachers are left to their own devices to figure out how to teach. (even if they have seen it done for 18+ years prior)

        3. Regalli

          Yeah, lack of training does in fact suck, and Jason is an entirely expected result because teaching’s a skill.

          I’m still going to call the teacher who called both students we saw him tutor ‘hopeless’ a pretty shitty teacher, especially when one of them did in fact improve with another tutor and he doubled down upon seeing that. (‘So maybe you FINALLY started to listen.’ – https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/nothanks/ While Walky wasn’t trying very hard in their tutoring sessions, either due to ADHD or not wanting to actually study and already considering himself a lost cause on some level, Sal WAS paying attention. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the concepts with Jason’s teaching method. It took until Sal left for him to even consider that maybe she had a point.) Even if ‘bad teacher’ is a foreseeable result of no training, the impact on said students was that they got a shitty teacher who didn’t respect them.

          Also he DID have ethics training not to sleep with students in his class, but he didn’t follow that one either and he started flirting in their first interaction, well before Sal propositioned him for grades. So what little instruction we know he had, he was still bad at following.

        4. BBCC

          Also, if Jason’s attitude to teaching was ‘I’m getting paid X an hour, I have no training, IDC, I just want to get through this and do my Ph.D’, I’d be a lot more understanding of him being a crappy teacher. He’s the one who said repeatedly that being a good teacher mattered to him. In that case, once it became clear he was not good at helping, he’s the one who needed to do something about it. Again, I’d have settled for googling tutoring tips on his phone while he was flying solo at the bar.

        5. Demoted Oblivious

          100% My earlier post was not intended as a contradiction but to point out a contributing factor. Thank you for taking the time to write up the issues in further detail.

        6. Regalli

          Aaaahkay. Hard to tell for sure sometimes with tone. But yes, definitely a contributing factor!

      3. fridge_logic

        It’s very likely that Sal is sincerely attracted to Jason, that’s the reality in the Walkyverse so it’s not out of the question here. After hooking up twice they did go on a date, and it was very clear that Sal was up for more of Jason.

        But Sal got too drunk and got walked home. Then Jason got fired for sleeping with Sal. And everything just fizzled.

        Sal’s reading the room, she sees Jason getting dominated by someone else. Of course that hurts. She felt less alone with him, like she could talk to him and maybe make a friend.

        1. AY

          Is your hyperlink empty somehow? I can’t get it to work

        2. AY

          Oh, huh. I’m Asher now

        3. fridge_logic

          Sorry, somehow I messed up the html tag. Here’s the raw link:
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/trousers/

        4. thejeff

          That wasn’t a date. They separately ended up in the same bar and he approached her. Not sure why you think she was up for more – at least before she got really drunk.

          There’s a physical attraction, I think, but no more than that.

  13. Yotomoe

    “fuck you forever”
    That could be an insult or an invitation.

    1. Wagstaff

      That reminds me of game I used to play…

  14. TheKelliestKelly

    Alt text like this is why I also read the strips on Patreon and on the website

  15. Zach

    The power imbalance is that, of body and will, he is weak and Sal is strong.
    I really don’t see what she’s so fussy about.

    1. BBCC

      A) Sal’s pretty blunt about people liking each other. See also, her telling Walky and Amber to have a fuckapalooza for all she cared.

      B) I’m pretty sure she’s jealous. Not of Jason liking Ruth specifically, moreso about relationships in general. A few people have had the vibe she’s been lonely relationship wise lately and I think there might be truth to that.

      And
      C) She finds Jason aggravating at the best of times.

      1. MrSmith

        4. Sal can also be quite arrogant at times ie calling other students “kids” because they don’t have the same experiences as she dies

        1. BBCC

          I’m trying to remember anybody she’s called ‘kid’ besides Joyce and with Joyce it’s affectionate.

    2. fridge_logic

      Sal used to Jump on Jason
      She’d pin him to the floor.
      Now he turns up in Ruth’s room
      handcuffed to the door.

      She used to be the one he’d walk home
      but he wouldn’t stay the night
      Now she knows she could have had him
      if she put up a better fight.

  16. Tenzhi

    For a moment I was stumped trying to figure out what FFT stood for before it dawned on me it was an onomatopoeia.

    1. Clif

      Here I thought the correct spelling was Pffft.

      1. Jamie

        Look, some people don’t prefix their fricatives with a plosive.

        1. milu

          those are two entirely different onomatopeia, one is like, “fft” and the other is like, “pffft”.

          see?

    2. thejeff

      Fast Fourier Transform?

  17. Yotomoe

    I dunno if there’s extra history I missed but Jason has honestly been an upstanding gent for most of the series. Or however much of a gentleman you can be while still fucking your students. And I mean it’s SAL. It’s a pretty tempting offer.

    1. Nik

      Putting aside the whole power dynamic issues of Jason and Sal’s sexual history (’cause it’s a whole thing, but he’s at least acknowledged he committed a faux pas and has suffered consequences for it), he was a tremendous jerk to her when he was actually tutoring her. He talked down to her and acted like her inability to learn and improve was entirely due to personality issues on her part. Then Sal got better, proving that the real problem was that Jason had not been tutoring her effectively, and when she tried to shove his failures in his face, he doubled down. Sal’s been dealing with that kind of treatment from authority figures for a long time, particularly from her parents, so it’s something she holds a grudge over.

      Judging by how a few of their interactions have gone, Sal seems not to totally dislike Jason. But because he’s never acknowledged his shortcomings or apologized for denigrating her, she’s still going to hold it against him. Hell, the last time they talked, she prioritized making pointed remarks about how much he sucked as a teacher before asking if he’d named her to the university. Jason understands he did wrong, but by focusing only on the fact that they had sex and thinking the matter is settled, he still hasn’t acknowledged the wrong that is most important to Sal.

      1. Brumagem

        After reviewing the evidence at https://www.dumbingofage.com/tag/jason+sal/ I’m not really seeing this. Sal and Jason have had multiple interactions between the “attitude comment” and now, and none of them seemed to have this kind of resentment on Sal’s part. As much as Sal’s been genuinely wronged by authority figures, she also likes to get even by lashing out at them, rightfully or otherwise.

        I think Sal still has some kind of baggage RE jumping his bones for better grades. She used him, which was a shitty thing to do. But being led to believe that quid pro quo is just the way of the world and still not getting what you want out of it is also shitty.

      2. Keulen

        Based on how he tried to tutor Sal and later Walky, I think Jason’s a pretty poor tutor. And he can be a kinda insulting jerk.

        1. Insanenoodlyguy

          Wally isn’t on him at all. If anything he spent too much time on Wally. You spend a study session with me insulting me, I can’t imagine lasting more than 5 minutes.

    2. thejeff

      That’s a pretty huge exception.

      “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”

  18. Nik

    It’s 2021, and Jason still doesn’t understand why Sal is mad at him.

    Maybe he’ll figure it out by the end of THIS decade. We’ll see.

    Also, blown away that Sal brought up the time he walked her home, since I don’t think that’s been referenced since it happened, what, five years ago?

  19. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Sal seems to have a strange habit of not being approving of guys that were good for her to have a fling with but not good enough for anyone else, I wonder why that is.

  20. BBCC

    So do both, Jason! Do both. You might enjoy it. Nothing stopping you.

    Pretty sure what Sal’s saying here is ‘She likes you, you like her, based on your past partners pretty sure you’re both into power imbalances’, except, y’know, jealous as hell (not so much of Jason liking Ruth specifically, just relationships in general) because I’m pretty sure whoever speculated she’s been lonely lately is bang on and also aggravated because she dislikes Jason.

    1. StClair

      “goldang it, everyone’s hookin’ up with someone ‘cept me” 🙁

  21. Dave

    Okay so, I remember obviously that Sal and Jason were fucking and Jason got fired for it, but why does Sal hold a grudge about it? Didn’t she initiate the whole affair? I’m pretty sure I remember her jumping him.

    1. Clif

      well, yes, but she never got the implied grade boost.

      1. Yotomoe

        Imagine fucking an authority figure and NOT getting a boon from it.

        1. Wagstaff

          Hey Yotomoe! Sorry about that inflammatory comparison I made last strip. If Godwin’s Law is to apply anywhere, it should apply here.

          I didn’t really mean to be insensitive. I just want people to be less prejudiced and more open towards A.I. and robots moving forward, that’s all.

        2. Yotomoe

          I’m not upset or anything. I just don’t like when people try to bolster their opinion by creating a moral outrage. It’s fine to not like something but it does kinda rub me the wrong way when we just jump to bringing it to bigotry to make people feel guilty for enjoying things. All history has the overtones and I’m sure in 20 years we’ll look back at what we’re doing now and be like “wow can you believe we still acted that way?”. I’m not gonna speak for all black people or nothin’, I’m sure there’s plenty of people who agree with that point. I just feel like constantly tying older things to the negative ideas of the time seems close minded. As if these ideas couldn’t evolve beyond their history. Which y’know…We’ve evolved our culture and how we work with this media and concepts and drag it kicking and screaming to the rhetoric of the 1930s. Especially since by doing this you might fall into the pitfalls of the time trying to make your point.

        3. Wagstaff

          Thank you, Yotomoe.

          I guess there’s no use crying over every mistake,

          We’ll just keep trying till we run out of “cake”….

        4. JBento

          And then you can cry, because there’s no more cake.

          Because Lex Luthor stole the rest.

        5. Yumi

          And that’s terrible.

        6. Wagstaff

          Why Lex Luther of all people?

        7. OBBWG

          Old meme.

        8. Wagstaff

          Wow. And I thought I was old…..

        9. milu

          @Yoto “Imagine fucking an authority figure and NOT getting a boon from it.”

          i would be SO MAD

      2. Dave

        Aaaaah right, had to backtrack, forgot Jason fucked her then fucked her OVER.

        1. anonymsly

          Not really? There was no agreement re: grades except in Sal’s mind. She offered sex. If there was supposed to be an exchange, she really should have gotten co-sign on the exchange part (or ‘payment’ in advance) before the pounce-and-strip maneuver.

        2. Keulen

          Yeah, Sal seemed to think Jason would give her better grades if she had sex with him, but she never made it clear to him that she expected better grades in exchange for sex. And he definitely didn’t catch on that she expected that either.

        3. Chris Phoenix

          And then after that came clear, they had sex again by mutual consent.

          I think she’s mad because she’s attracted to Jason, she’s lonely, he’s basically unavailable, and she doesn’t want to admit any of this.

          Interesting character development, if so.

      3. JBento

        There was no implied grade boost, though? Jason never said or did anything that would suggest “bang me, and your grades will improve.”, nor did Sal do or say anything suggesting “I’m gonna fuck you, and you’re gonna give me better grades because of it.”

        1. milu

          sal told Jason “ya said it yerself, efforts don’t matter, ah’m only bein judged against my marks”. to me that sounds like Sal is in fact implying (wink Devin) that she’s fucking with Jason so that he’ll bump her grades.

          did Jason not realize that’s what she meant, or did he wilfully ignore it? who knows.

          in any case i’m surprised that so many of us can see a failing student make a pass at the TA in charge of grading them and not think that some preferential treatment is expected by default. there’s a reason why such entanglements are verboten in most institutions.

        2. thejeff

          There was also the “We both want to get out of here” leading up to it – if she’s not going to get her grades up by fucking him, then why should the sex lead to ending the tutoring, since she still doesn’t get it.

          But mostly and overwhelmingly that last paragraph. If you’re a teacher, this is going to come up, whether explicitly or implicitly for grades or just because of a crush. You still need to not do it.

        3. JBento

          Like I replied to milu, I totally missed those connotations (well, until Sal said them out loud later on, because Jason missed them too), but there’s absolutely no doubt that was a “Bad Jason! BAD!” moment. Like, do not fuck anyone you have institutional power over, it’s not that hard.*

          *before anyone remarks on it, yes, I’m aware that if Jason’s was not that hard he wouldn’t have fucked Sal or anyone.

        4. Yotomoe

          I dunno. Probably harder than you might think when you’re pent up, tensions are high and a smoking hot biker chick hops right into your lap and starts taking clothes off. It would probably take all of my willpower not to act on it in that situation. Sorta the advantage of not being in power. You can hop on Jason’s lap, rip your top off and somehow still not be at fault. Jason’s in power from a hierarchical standpoint but I’d be hard pressed to not say that Sal was absolutely taking the reins in that situation.

        5. JBento

          I certainly didn’t realise that’s what she meant, and I don’t recall anyone in the comments making that claim at the time. WHICH IS WHY I went back and read them just now, and there are, in fact, a couple of people who managed to make that connection.*

          Jason, of course, should have DEFINITELY kept it in his pants, regardless.

          *there are, much to my eeeww, MANY people cheering Jason on, and, much to my amusement, people who are SHOCKED that Sal would try to use her body for grades and/or casual sex.

        6. BBCC

          Also, this isn’t anywhere but the slipshine, but the preview shows Jason did know what Sal meant by that because he replies “That’s not what I meant”.

        7. thejeff

          That line helps, but I’m not sure it’s definitive. It makes sense if he’s thinking of sex for grades, but it’s not that much of a stretch for it to make sense anyway.

        8. milu

          every time i scroll down the comment section on old comics (pre-, what, 2016 maybe? i don’t do it often) i come out of it slightly perturbed. i get the feeling it used to be a bit wilder around here, rowdier (and randier), sometimes funnier but also on the whole less sensitive maybe?

          meh, some of the actual old-timers around here are sure to have less clueless takes on the evolution of the comment section

    2. Thag Simmons

      I mean Jason can be a real prick sometimes.

  22. Josh Spicer

    ….what?

    *reads again*

    …what?

    There’s just too much to unpack here.

  23. WanderingLynx

    I truly need someone to clarify for me what would the power imbalance be between Ruth and Jason. I mean. Clearly Ruth needs to learn about BDSM and Jason is a great candidate for a submissive, uptight Brit that he is, but beyond that…

    Sal, I love your but this is super uncalled for. There’s clearly jealousy here and… Those two should’ve never fucked, considering Jason was a TA and all, but Sal treated him like she hated him the whole time? And there was a closure after he got fired. She has no claim nor stakes in this.

    1. Yotomoe

      I mean the second handcuffs get involved the power definitely becomes unbalanced.

      1. WanderingLynx

        Hence the BDSM quip (and they should work on a safeword, come on Ruth, it’s not nice to leave your sub begging for a screwdriver). But I meant it like… There’s no intrinsic power imbalance between Ruth and Jason, not like it was with Sal. So was Sal just commenting on how much of a bottom Jason is?

        (I have no Patreon nor Slipshine access, but I’d bet money Sal topped the hell out of Jason back in the day :’D)

        1. Yotomoe

          I think she’s bringing it up cuz Ruth abused power with Billie and Jason abused power with Sal. It’s what they have in common.
          Gimmie some Ruth femdom action, Willis

        2. WanderingLynx

          It makes sense now, thank you!

          I’d be goddamn delighted if Willis gave us femdom, and you know what? I’m liking this ship. I wanna see it!

    2. BBCC

      The power imbalances Sal’s referring to are Ruth/Billie and Jason/Sal. She’s saying they’re both into that.

      I think she’s more jealous about relationships in general right now than she is about Jason and Ruth specifically. Remember her and AG talking about Asher?

      1. WanderingLynx

        Yeah, that day a lot of people were like “she’s jealous and into Asher despite […]!” but this makes it a pattern. +1 at everything you said

        1. Fist_of_Life

          erm…isn’t this just a coincidence? Doesn’t there need to be a third transgression for it to become a pattern?

        2. JBento

          A third time would make it enemy action.

        3. Insanenoodlyguy

          Nah see, she was already pissed about somebody she had complicated feelings for being in a relationship with not-her. And while musing on that, she suddenly encounters a somebody else she has complicated feelings for being in a relationship with not-her. It’s an already raw nerve being poked.

      2. fridge_logic

        I thought it was implied that Jason was the bottom in the Sal/Jason fling.

  24. JessWitt

    Well, Jason is gonna wave down someone else for help. And Princess Diana help him if he sees Mary.

    1. Leorale

      I’d be delighted to see Mary, I like when she gets ineffectually upset. Actually I’d enjoy lots of people in a row, and their amusing reactions to a handcuffed blonde British-ing at them.

      1. JessWitt

        I’m just imagining Mary kinkshaming Jason even though being handcuffed is not his kink. Also some of these dorm residents besides Sal have been in his class, so awwwkward.

  25. RacingTurtle

    This is the second of Sal’s exes to hook up with someone else this semester (using both “exes” and “hook up” a little loosely). That’s gotta be aggravating her loneliness

  26. Dr. T

    I like Sal in general, but she is yet another character that is due for a reality check for the way she treats other people:

    A) Yes, Jason deserves some scorn for abusing his authority, but it isn’t like he sought to do so. Her grades were terrible, he was terrible at helping her improve them, and she basically jumped his bones and expected that was what Jason was looking for from her all along and would fix her grades in return for the sexual favors. She assumed he was a corrupt bastard looking to perv on vulnerable students, when the reality is he simply was too weak to say no to her (and sucked at his job in general due in part to his own arrogance).

    B) She is actually pretty disrespectful to kids her own age as well.

  27. Rabisch

    Sal wanting to protect Ruth is both very sweet and a surprise ♡. She’s still unable to believe in Jason, probably she will never be able to do it. She has a reason, I know. But I hope she’s wrong and Jason has not bad intentions on poor and vulnerable Ruth. Also, I wonder if Ruth is really interested in him, or she just thinks at him as a good friend.

    1. zee

      I. Really doubt there’s any kind of protection going on here. She basically just said they’re as bad as each other

      1. Rabisch

        Wait.. Sal is approving their relationship? I didn’t understand it!

  28. Bagge

    “I’m capable of both and I will do neither”

  29. Sombrero

    I don’t know if Ruth going from lesbian suicide to heterosexual homicide counts as improving.

    1. DailyBrad

      Bisexual suicide to bisexual homicide, but yeah, not quite sure WHAT she’s going for here, other than “thing she did drunk, I guess.”

      1. Thag Simmons

        Despite both Ruth and Jen being Bi, the description “lesbian suicide pact” is still accurate because it describes the perceived nature of their relationship.

        Lesbian and Heterosexual are words that (depending on context) can describe to things people do rather than things people are.

        1. Leorale

          Not for everyone! Even when I’m dating a heterosexual man, I’m still dating him bisexually. I don’t do anything heterosexually, and he doesn’t do anything bi- or pansexually.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Yeah, I read those as adjectives describing the relationships, not necessarily the people involved.

        3. Leorale

          But my relationship isn’t a straight relationship. If somebody thinks it’s straight because I present like a lady and he is/presents as a man, that’s an understandable mistake somebody could make, but the relationship is still not actually straight.

          “Lesbian suicide pact” is likewise not 100% accurate, they just say it because it’s fun to say.
          We’re kinda overthinking it.

        4. milu

          a friend of mine refers to herself as a “bisexual lesbian” (or used to, i haven’t had news in a while) (though she might be reading this comic??? if so, ti kaneis glykia mou, mou leipeis <3)

          if i remember her rationale correctly, this was her way of saying both that she was now 100% a lesbian but also that she'd many straight relationships in the past, some of which had been important and she wanted her identity to reflect that.

  30. darkoneko

    Sal is being so relationship-wise recently

    (also no, they’re mostly getting off on mocking the stupid americans)

    1. Rabisch

      What does it matter to be able to speak if then you don’t tell everyone everything that comes into your mind?

  31. dralou

    Sal barely knows Ruth and, maybe besides from a biblical standpoint, she knows very little of Jason either. Also, if memory serves, she doesn’t care about at least Jason, she’s pretty clear that she doesn’t like him. As far as I can figure, this is their first encounter since last semester.

    Why does she care about whatever’s happening between Ruth and Jason ? From where does she think she gets the right to say anything ?

    1. Leorale

      From her jealousy of relationships at the moment, plus she figures she has the right to say stuff generally.

      1. dralou

        Which, granted, she generally has. And I understand that she’s FINE with being alone, really, which is why she needs to prove it to the world even if nobody asked for any proof.

        It’s just that, in this situation, her advice sounds a whole lot like: “Hey, you, person I barely know and don’t like very much, go and make your feelings clear to that other person I know even less and don’t care that much about”. It’s jarring.

    2. Rabisch

      What does it matter to be able to speak if then you don’t tell everyone everything that comes into your mind?

  32. Smooti

    Iunno Sal, I understand still not liking Jason personally, and maybe seeing Ruth do the Ruth-equivalent of flirting with a bartender and go “hey, that’s probably a bad idea” but you’re not like, friends with either of the people there, and you have no say in who either of them bang. Like you can personally think its a bad idea, and maybe ask Ruth or Jason if they’re okay, but it’s not really your business, Sal, and anger is probably a pretty shitty response to it.

    That being said. Personally I hope they don’t bang and they just are friends, as I also don’t think Ruth should be dating a bartender who is in this country somewhat illegally cuz he got fired from his teaching job. Seems like it’d go poorly.

    But the two of them as friends, commiserating on how shitty America is and how shitty their parental figures are? Hell yes. Love that for them.

  33. Anon A Mouse

    Sal in panel 3 and 4, accurate as she may be, is stepping WAY over a line here. I’m not going to argue Jason’s guilt, there have been long discussions of that and he’s still guilty of abusing his power regardless of how you feel about Sal’s responsibility in it. But throwing out these kinds of things, especially as some sort of “Gotcha”, is really bongo-y behavior on her part.

  34. Kitsune

    The safeword is “Martha”… now you know this Batman vs Superman makes so much more sense.

  35. FacelessDeviant

    Maybe he’ll give the next saviour the A, but Ruth already got the D.

  36. Amelie Wikström

    Suddenly Amazi-Girl shows up.

    “You know, in movies and TV they always use safewords for jokes, and it’s always just one word so the joke doesn’t overstay its welcome, but you’re allowed to do more than that. Many kinky people, I’ve read on the Internet, use the traffic light system to communicate a whole spectrum of safety – green for more of that, yellow for slow down, red for stop right ow, that sort of thing. Just as long as it works for both of you.”

    Jason considers this momentarily.

    “I like the concept, though in the heat of the moment I don’t fancy thinking about colors in the abstract. I shall have to modify the words to round objects of appropriate colors: Lime, lemon, tomah-to.”

  37. Hinoron

    It DOES seem like both of those together would be the better idea, rather than
    “either/or”.

  38. Delicious Taffy

    Okay, but… is there a power imbalance between Jason and Ruth? She lives and works at school, he lives ??? and works at a coincidentally nearby bar. The only thing I could see is him having power over her access to alcohol in that one specific location, and I’ve seen plenty of people giving their partner drinks in that exact setting. It doesn’t seem any more imbalanced than, say, only one of them having a car.

    1. milu

      there wasn’t a power imbalance so Ruth made one

    2. Spencer

      She’s referring to how she slept with Jason in the hopes of getting a better math grade, but then he refused to update it (and then they had sex again).

      I think commenters saying this is Sal venting about her own loneliness are on point.

  39. Spencer

    Don’t worry, Sal, you too can find someone to slap some handcuffs onto.

    Danny is absolutely into that.

  40. Kelly

    The password can still be “stop” or “no”, just preface it with “Simon says.”

  41. Pocky

    these relationship developments have been. . . odd, to say the very least

  42. Ray

    I dunno… the whole “abuse of authority” thing has a smidge of a gray area given that Sal is the one who ripped Jason’s clothes off in a fit of horny pique and initiated the whole thing.
    Now, I’m not arguing that Jason could/should have said no, but SHE boinked HIM and then SHE discarded HIM….. there’s fault to be shared……

    1. Meagan

      Seriously, I did not think Sal would take this tack. In fact I would have expected her to scoff at anyone who put forth this version of the narrative, because it denies her agency.

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.