253

Abreast
Posted on June 29, 2021 by David M Willis

253 thoughts on “Abreast”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Jace, why you ALSO answer the door, you wuz a T.A., not a R.A.

    1. Johan

      He doesn’t understand being sneaky

  2. newlland(Henryvolt)

    *Audible gasp*

    1. Clif

      Yes. I totally did not see that coming.

      1. Clif

        and yet, after the last time we saw them, I should have.

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          Meh. Don’t beat yourself up. No-one else saw them *ahem* coming either. The door was closed and Ruth doesn’t have a roommate.

    2. Anthony Paoli

      Seconded!

  3. jupiterror

    this is priceless

    1. Clif

      But I’m betting there’s a cost.

      1. Demoted Oblivious

        But what an opportunity!

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          Ugh… re-reading this, I cringed when realizing my pun about ‘opportunity cost’ is probably too subtle compared to the rapey-sounding taking advantage of a drunk patron.

        2. Demoted Oblivious

          Wow. still strugglung with wording today. mea-culpa

        3. milu

          fwiw i immediately got that the joke was a pun on “opportunity cost” =)
          being economics-ly illiterate i can’t tell how witty it was but it really just sounded too much like a jolly old pun for me to dig any deeper

        4. Delavan

          Yeah, same. I thought it was an econ pun too. I don’t think reasonable people thought you were being cringe. Don’t be hard on yourself!

        5. Wagstaff

          Let’s just ask ourselves: what was Ruth’s next best alternative to Jason?

        6. Clif

          Galasso.

          Both were a bit down the list, but Galasso was next.

        7. Wagstaff

          What about Daisy? I mean, Ruth essentially gave up the opportunity to be with her that night. Thus Daisy would be her opportunity cost.

  4. Wagstaff

    Looks like she had one drink too many last night…

    1. Shitbird

      I don’t think they hooked up, more likely he helped her back to her room and slept on the floor to make sure she was okay

      1. Jammy

        Based on their interaction at the bar, I assume the best, but also wonder how he could have gotten off work to make all this happen.

        1. Clif

          She could have hung around until he got off work.

  5. RassilonTDavros

    I would “joke” that this isn’t what it looks like, but… it probably actually isn’t. Jason actually gives a shit about consent, so I’m betting he just escorted her home and then spent the night because he was tired.

    1. Samantha

      I actually think it may not be though I do like the idea of them and think it could work

      1. Adalisa

        They can work and I think it works better if he just escorted her home precisely because a person who gives a shit about consent and not abusing your partner is whom Ruthless needs.

      2. Proxiehunter

        Except I was under the impression that unlike Jenifer who’s bi Ruth is a lesbian. Could have sworn she said that at some point.

        1. Sam

          Nope. Ruth is bisexual. They had a ‘sexy lesbian suicide pact’ but both herself and Billie are bisexual.

        2. RassilonTDavros

          I think the common misconception arises in part from the fact that Billie/Jennifer is the only Ruth relationship that’s ever gotten any significant attention from the narrative, in either continuity. However, she did have at least one boyfriend back in high school (a Dumbiverse alt version of a character from an old webcomic that was never finished), and it’s not like they broke up because she wasn’t into him— it was because Gramps up and moved her (insert inordinately large number here) miles away and uprooted her entire life.

          (Let’s just forget that one Walkyverse flashback story where she dated Ryan because nope nope nope)

        3. Segnosaur

          There was also some dialog from an earlier comic where she was asked (by her brother i think) whether she was gay now because she was dating billie/jennifer. She responded “maybe?”

        4. Thag Simmons

          Ruth had a boyfriend back in Canada.

        5. King Daniel

          And Willis also drew art of Danny/Jennifer/Ruth for Bisexual Awareness Day some years back.

        6. jeffepp

          In the old comic, they were a kind of threesome. Kinda. Just, not all at once.

        7. Sam Smith

          A boyfriend in Canada?

          Sounds familiar somehow….

        8. Clif

          I suspect that there are many people with a boyfriend in Canada.

          Now mind you, many of those people are in Canada themselves. But still.

        9. Demoted Oblivious

          We tend to have American girl/boy-friends, or sometimes Quebecois. Allegedly crossing provincial boundaries is also effective.

        10. wilddeath

          Funnily enough my best friend actually married his canadian girlfriend a few years back then moved up there to be with her. now he is part canadian, they did the blood moon sacrifice for the CONVERSION ritual and everything.

        11. Spencer

          Man if y’all are surprised Ruth is bi you are gonna flip when you learn she’s also Canadian.

        12. thejeff

          Outside of the comments, Canadian has come up much more often than bi.

        13. Spencer

          Jeff I’m gonna be real with you. If the assumption of a character’s sexuality when it comes to same sex relationships is that they are always gay, that doesn’t mean we need to constantly clarify that. That means y’all need to stop assuming one thing.

          You’re the wrong one here. Please stop acting like your inability to change an extremely simple assumption is worth digging your heels into.

        14. thejeff

          huh?
          I don’t even follow.

          People are often surprised by rarely referenced character traits, even if they’re well known to people who follow the story closely. More people will be surprised to learn she’s bi than that she’s Canadian because Canadian is a more prominent character trait. That is literally all I was saying.

          I know bi invisibility is a thing, but at the same time, people miss character traits all the time. Hell, there was someone earlier today who didn’t even think Ruth and Jason had met.

        15. Spencer

          I’m saying if you see a dude kissing another dude you can’t just go “he’s gay until proven otherwise” for all eternity anymore. I’m saying that bi invisibility and us getting rolled into being gay comes from the assumption that, inherently, kissing someone of the same gender means the character is gay, even though there are other sexual identities that do the same thing.

          So instead of going “it’s not their fault, she’s kissed a girl on-panel and not a boy, so it makes sense to assume she’s gay” you should think of it as “Ruth has kissed a girl so the only thing she definitely isn’t is straight.”

        16. Amias

          Willis has referred to Ruth as bisexual multiple times, but I don’t remember if Ruth herself has used a specific term.

    2. Reltzik

      Jason gives a shit about consent in theory, just like he gave a shit about being a good educator in theory.

      In practice? The last we saw of him where sexual consent was concerned, he’d exploited (deliberately or accidentally) his positional power over a student. It wasn’t completely non-consensual, but consent has a bit of a gray border between “they’re definitely not consenting” and “they’re definitely consenting”.

      It seems like Jason thought Sal was definitely enthusiastically consenting when she was actually agreeing in the presence of moderate academic duress that was at least into that gray border, perhaps all the way past the border, and certainly not enthusiastic.

      Without commenting more than that on whether or how much Jason was in the wrong with Sal (because I’ve already said my piece on that a bunch of times), it points to a significant lack of caution on his part where consent is concerned. Even if Sal were enthusiastically consenting (and it seems he thought she was), the situation was such where he should have (at the very, very, very, minimum and less than that even) been alert that what appeared on the surface to be consent may have been… not so much consent. (And there were a lot of problems involved in there BEYOND consent, which I’m not commenting on here.)

      Having had a few drinks doesn’t necessarily make someone unable to consent. They don’t magically lose the ability to say yes and have it mean yes just because there’s a bit of booze in them. Three sheets to the wind and not able to understand what’s happening, that’s definitely nonconsensual, as is nearly- or entirely passed out. But in between the extremes of that and perfect sobriety can be less clear. That sort of grayness, combined with Jason’s precedent of incaution, worries me a little bit here.

      …..

      Oh, wait, this is Ruth we’re talking about, she’s clearly sobered up by this point, and his femurs and other bones appear entirely intact. So yeah, anything that happened was consensual.

      1. Thag Simmons

        I mean I’m not an expert but I don’t think the issue between Sal and Jason is really one of consent.

        1. anonymsly

          I agree, consent was not their issue. He didn’t even gesture in the direction of putting sex in the same room with Sal before she decided to half-strip and climb in his lap.

          Frankly, if consent was iffy on either side there, I’d actually be inclined to wonder about Jason’s, if he hadn’t later specifically said he said yes to the sex.

        2. thejeff

          On the surface, it isn’t, but on a deeper level the reason we have rules about sexual relations when there are power imbalances – like teachers or like employers, is that consent is always problematic when dealing with someone you have power over.

      2. :0

        Why are you suggesting that Sal may not have been consenting, while totally ignoring the fact that Jason might not have been?
        Power imbalance issues are definitely a thing, but this seems to be the opposite case, really.

    3. jeffepp

      This is the morning of the next day. He was there overnight.

      And as for Jason and consent, lets ask… let me check my notes here, oh yeah… SAL about that. She might have opinions.

      1. Mr D

        Yeah, Sal might have not cared about Jason’s consent alright.

    4. darkoneko

      Se escorted Sal back to the dorm once, too. Even tho they were on pretty bad terms at the time

  6. Sirksome

    Aw! There goes my Daisy ship!…..Along with the idea two people can just talk without banging! A big loss for ol’ Sirk today!

    1. Reltzik

      It’s not sunk, there’s just another yacht in the regatta.

      1. Sirksome

        I kinda don’t want it to happen now. Not because Ruth banged Jason but because she blew Daisy off only to bang Jason. It kind of undercuts the idea she was self conscious about the expectations of that date. Ruth just wasn’t really into Daisy. That’s fine, but Daisy deserves a girl just as into her as she would be into them.

        1. plasticwrap

          Alcohol is a helluva drug.

        2. Mr D

          I’m prepared to wipe egg off my face for this but, I don’t think they banged? Jason’s been very upfront about the whole “being drunk is being dumb” thing the last few pages he’s been on.

        3. Sirksome

          True and I could wiping egg off mine for making a rational assumption based on the images presented. Which would be falling for a manipulation. My only defense is we don’t know how much time it has been. Did the derby happen the same night as the date? Is this the day after both? I don’t know. Also not sure Jason has the best track record on sex ethics considering he banged a student. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow who the egg face is. Should be fun!

        4. Thag Simmons

          I think this is the next day?

        5. Sirksome

          I’m not sure. I usually run off the idea that each storyline typically starts and ends on its own day though I don’t know if that’s a regular pattern. So if the Walky’s hot now thing happened on Thursday then the roller derby was on Friday night which would make today Saturday in comic just as an example. I never actually know what day it is in comic. But that might not even matter. Some people have made good points as to the topic of Ruth’s consent vs drunkeness so I’m not sure what to think. I don’t know why it would be this ambiguous if he really just walked her home. Why sleep in her dorm room? Ugh. I’ve so overthought this now!

        6. Thag Simmons

          I definitely don’t think a day has passed since the Derby game. That was earlier in the morning from this comic.

        7. anonymsly

          Maybe he wanted to make sure her new meds really didn’t have side effects; she had to go to the hospital last time and he knows that. Maybe she wanted company to watch old hockey games, or just didn’t want to be alone on her birthday and thought that someone she could talk to was a good option for company. Who knows? We don’t yet.

          Whatever the case may have been, at this point Ruth seems to have no problem with his presence or reasons for being present. She’s an adult, he’s an adult, he’s no longer any percentage teacher, and certainly wasn’t any percentage HER teacher even when he actually had that percentage. Hell, he’s probably not even that much older than she is. Why would it necessarily be a problem if they hooked up? The issues that existed with Sal don’t exist here, and there’s no real evidence of others. (Yet.)

        8. Sirksome

          @anonymsly There’s nothing wrong with them hooking up. As you noted Ruth seems fine. Unless some problematic details are revealed what happened doesn’t really matter. My issue is that I liked the Ruth and Daisy pairing and regardless of what actually happened between Ruth and Jason they are together right now. That means Ruth chose to spend time with him over Daisy. Even if she was nervous about being with Daisy that night, she still blew her off through text to hangout with someone else. Either she didn’t like Daisy that much or didn’t trust her which tells me any future relationship with Daisy beyond maybe friendship has no hope. Even if Jason shook Ruth’s hand and said “Well good luck with courting Daisy.” before leaving. I wouldn’t want Daisy to be involved with her like that. That bums me out since I was invested. Turned out to be a waste of time. The only way to save this. Would be if Daisy is also in that room.

        9. BBCC

          Each storyline, except where a time skip is noted, is the day after the previous one. Roller derby went past midnight, which is what we saw. This is later the same day.

        10. Sirksome

          But was the date night also the same night as roller derby? That’s my confusion.

        11. milu

          i get the feeling that generally speaking one storyline = one day, but i’m sure there’ve been exceptions?

        12. thejeff

          Yes. Just after midnight, so on a different day.
          There was only one strip, of Lucy and Walky cuddling, between Daisy leaving the bar with Jason and Ruth still there and the start of the roller derby game.

        13. thejeff

          I think there’s only been one exception – one early storyline had a multiday skip a couple strips in, clearly noted in a caption. Otherwise each storyline has been one day with any time skips in between and clearly noted.

    2. seen2much

      The Daisy Ship can join the Ruthless Armada

    3. Lanie

      This is probably pretty naive, but I’m still hanging on to the idea that they didn’t bang, mostly because it hasn’t been explicitly stated yet. Maybe Jason just helped her get home, and they did just talk all night? She was pretty wasted, and they really did seem to click on a surface level. Ruth seems like she might need someone to talk to that she doesn’t have previous baggage with. Again, probably naive, but I do love to see the S.S. Friendship sail too.

      1. Demoted Oblivious

        Agreed. S.S. Friendship is awesome. Also, welcome to the Sarah Club Lanie.
        May I enquire as to your pronunciation? LAWN-ee, LAY-knee, other?

        1. milu

          Lanie like Kanye?

        2. Lanie

          I’m thrilled to be in the Sarah club! I hope I do the avatar proud. You got it with the second one, LAY-knee.

  7. Samantha

    Loooll I don’t hate it actually

  8. Schpoonman

    What.

  9. Josh Spicer

    “Ruth I thought you were gay.”

    “I am.”

    “I slept on the floor. My back hurts.”

    1. DailyBrad

      She’s bi, it’s come up before.

      1. Josh Spicer

        Noted.

        The remainder stands though.

  10. MrSmith

    Huh, well I didn’t see that coming

    1. Reltzik

      Not until the Slipshine, at least.

      1. MrSmith

        I hope it goes something like this:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAs9laxC-rs

    2. Demoted Oblivious

      If they kept the lights off, maybe Ruth didn’t either.

  11. VanVelding

    I literally didn’t recognize him without the bowtie.

    1. Golden Yak

      You’re not alone.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      I recognized him, but he went without for five or six years in the original continuity so I guess my familiarity with that made it easier for me to recognize him here.

      1. VanVelding

        Okay, “I didn’t recognize him without a bowtie, turtleneck, or angst.”

    3. Thag Simmons

      I mean he’s got a new look going.

    4. Wizard

      His hair looks a little different, too, but maybe that’s just me.

      1. Lanie

        He definitely doesn’t have his hair slicked back anymore. His whole presentation is a lot more relaxed now.

    5. Keulen

      The lack of bowtie and his new hairstyle confused me for a moment.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        That’s not a hairstyle; that’s ‘bed-head’.

  12. DailyBrad

    This is only going to be more awkward if neither of them have pants on. Or trousers to Jason, I guess.

    1. Meanderling

      No, it’s *definitely* worse if he doesn’t have pants on then.

  13. Stephen Bierce

    *throws a copy of Lady Antebellum’s “Bartender” through the office shredder*

    1. Demoted Oblivious

      There’s not much of a bass-line, but I really dig the rythym.

  14. TheKelliestKelly

    For some reason, I think it’s sweet that Sal still calls Ruth Ruthless. Also, I have a theory that Sal is terrible at remembering names and that’s why everyone gets a nickname from her. Math TA is good support.

    1. MrSmith

      Thats an interesting take because one of the reasons I dislike Becky is because of her habit of giving people nick names yet thats a legit (albeit lazy and rude) reason for Sal to do so

    2. Sirksome

      She does know his name though. She even knows his last name. She probably just doesn’t care anymore cause he’s no longer relevant to her. Honestly surprised she didn’t just call him a tool.

    3. BBCC

      Sal calls almost everyone nicknames until she knows them better, so I think you might be right. Once she knows them better, she either switches to their name if she likes them or calls them less than pleasant names if she doesn’t.

      So, I’d take this as either she doesn’t know them particularly well (true with Ruth at least) or doesn’t like them (Jason).

      1. milu

        i’m a nicknamer who also happens to be fairly good at remembering names, so (not faces though i suck at faces i wish i could nickname faces if that’d help but alas that’s not how faces work)

    4. thejeff

      Walky does something similar. At least close enough to be an interesting parallel.
      His refusal to remember Jason’s name, when he was supposedly being tutored. Or Amber’s before they got together.

      1. milu

        reading a few pages downstream from Thag’s bungled link somewhere on this page and it seems that no one calls Jason by his actual name ever

  15. Mr. Random

    I mean.
    Damn Sal.
    At least remember the person’s name.

    1. Dr. T

      I may not remember everyone’s name, but I sure as hell would remember the name of someone who lost their job because of their sexcapades with me.

      1. anonymsly

        Lost their job and is now dodging deportation to some extent, even.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          If he didn’t wanna get deported, maybe he should have tried not being British.

        2. Demoted Oblivious

          How is Damn you Willis like Paul Revere?

        3. Demoted Oblivious

          We depend on both of them to find out if the British are coming.

      2. thejeff

        Yeah, poor Jason. Losing his job because he had sex with a student.

        A reason to remember him, I suppose, but I wouldn’t phrase it that way.

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          It really seems to depend on country, culture, and individual school policies. TA’s are often students themselves (Masters or PhD candidates). Some schools seem to be zero tolerance, others are “not if you’re marking *that* student’s papers, if something comes up, disclose to your supervisor and hand their assignments to another TA to mark (or the prof).”

          Since Jason was reported by another TA who was herself doing the same thing, more prolifically than him, he does have my sympathy.

        2. thejeff

          I’ve got some sympathy for Jason, but not enough to blame Sal

        3. Demoted Oblivious

          Yeah, I didn’t blame Sal either. Jason was office adjacent to a female TA. My understanding was that the other TA turned him in despite her also being shown to have done the same thing repeatedly. Yeah, Penny the TA threw him under the bus with a false accusation. (she didn’t know he actually had until after she told him she got him fired too).

  16. JessWitt

    Poor Daisy’s dry spell continues.

  17. AntJ

    well executed

  18. Dr. T

    I guess Ruth did get a birthday present after all.

  19. Cmasta1992

    I mean Ruth and Jason PROBABLY didn’t bang right

    1. Leorale

      He’s in his undershirt, but he always bangs with the bow tie on.

      1. Clif

        Proof positive.

  20. Leorale

    I’m curious, what are the other two things bugging Ruthless is good for (either in truth or according to Sal)?

    1. Sirksome

      Ruth is actually pretty good at beating up middle aged adults. She’s 2 for 2 in that regard.

    2. Loki

      Kicking ass of abusive parents?

  21. Kravis

    If they have a kid (and they die not long after) he’ll be a Naruto.

    1. AGV

      Goodness DoA is a prequel to Naruto, it makes so much sense now

  22. Thag Simmons

    Jen’s big dumb plan to get Ruth laid seems to have succeeded.

    But I suspect Jen setting Daisy up with a girl who broke off the date and then shagged the bartender is going to backfire to an insane degree.

    1. Reltzik

      Given that Daisy blames herself (specifically her bowels) for that? Probably not.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Maybe. I don’t know, I feel like setting Daisy up with a date who went on to go home with a boy will get her into a worse mood even if she doesn’t blame Jen.

    2. drs

      How would Daisy know the shagging part?

      1. Clif

        Sources.

  23. Joe Moose

    MATH T.A.!
    BARTENDER!!
    DOCTOR SCOTT!!
    ROCKY!?
    [glare]

    1. Sam Smith

      BULLWINKLE!

      1. Clif

        NO moose is good moose.

        1. Wack'd

          OR: THE VANISHING CANADIAN

      2. Keulen

        Donkey!

      3. Eldritchy

        KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

      4. Roborat

        Gary?

  24. BBCC

    Well, THIS oughta be interesting.

  25. Steelbright

    oh no, math TA :(((

    1. Wagstaff

      It’s time for everyone’s favorite subject: MAAAAATTHH!

      [##$$== -------‐---------------------------------- ==$$##]
      [##$$== SPOOP MODE ACTIVATED ==$$##]
      [##$$== -------‐---------------------------------- ==$$##]

    2. Needfuldoer

      They could both do worse…

  26. Rognik

    Jason? JAson!

  27. bcb

    Oh my Cheese this is perfect! Will either Sal or Jason be willing to admit to their affair in front of Ruth or Lucy?

  28. BenRG

    Okay, I’ll admit that this is 100% something that I didn’t see coming!

  29. Yotomoe

    Bartender?
    I hardly know ‘er! haha
    Also called it.

  30. Needfuldoer

    Another surprise hidden at the end of the strip so you can’t see it in the blurry Patreon preview!

  31. PB

    I knew it! Yay for Ruth and Jason for gettin’ some! Also yay for Lucy, I hear she has a boyfriend now!

    1. Deanatay

      Lucy: Hi Ruth! You have a boyfriend now? _I_ have a boyfriend now! Eh? EH???

      Ruth:…i am too hungover for this right now.

      1. Deanatay

        Ruth: Also… does he know?

        Lucy: W- Yes he knows!! WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP ASKING ME THAT??

        1. thejeff

          Jason: I didn’t know I was a boyfriend.

          Ruth: Don’t worry. You’re not.

  32. br44n5m

    I’m gonna go with “I escorted her to the dorms cause she was drunk, but also I was too tired to go home. Fetch my coffee, student”

  33. Rabisch

    A few strips ago, Sal said she was “totally fine” at not having a relationship using the tone of someone trying to convince herself. Now she’s annoyed that Lucy tells her she has a boyfriend, sayd to her who that can’t last and then she sees the guy she had a short, intense and controversial, relationship with in a room (and in a tank top) with a girl she loves to annoy. Everything seems to remind Sal of the fact that she don’t has a Special someone… Her level of anger and frustration grows more and more. She needs to talk with her friend Danny. He’s the only one who seems able to calm her down.

    1. Spencer

      Yes.

      Her friend, Danny.

      And nothing more.

      1. Rabisch

        Sal can only benefit from a loooong chat with her good friend Danny.

  34. Sombrero

    Sal should not be surprised. The Commonwealth still exists, and there is nothing strange in two of the Queen’s subjects banging each other.

    1. Eldritchy

      They just need an Australian to complete the set.

    2. Demoted Oblivious

      Incorrectness. One is a subject of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The other is a subject of the Queen of Canada. Those these offices are both house within the same person, they are separate. Though Ruth and Jason are both citizens of Commonwealth nations, of which Liz is the head. She is busy with her own troubles at the moment. Fankly I just hope her grandkids can settledown and give her some peace in her twilight years.

      And @Eldritchy, we need way more additions to complete the set, but I really like where you’re going with this!

      1. Demoted Oblivious

        *Frankly. hehe, fankly.

      2. Eldritchy

        Pleasure and joy are Common Wealths that should be shared!

      3. Sombrero

        Thanks for the wonderful explanation! Somehow now I cannot stop thinking when Danny was trying to date Amber and Amazi-Girl at the same time…

      4. Demoted Oblivious

        Good lord. Grammar/spelling/conjugation much? Apparently I wasn’t quite awake yet. (of course, that presumes I’m ever really cognizant of myself)

  35. Keulen

    Though they were kinda getting along last we saw Jason and Ruth together, I wasn’t expecting them to actually do a sex. Or maybe he just escorted her back to her dorm when she was drunk and they haven’t actually done it yet, I don’t know.

    1. BenRG

      If I understand the timeline right, we are the morning after Ruth’s birthday crash-and-burn with Daisy. So, yes, Jason has spent the night with Ruth. Now, maybe he was just watching her to make sure she was okay after drinking heavily but, in all honesty, it is most likely that they were having sex, yes.

      Ruth’s a legal adult and Sal has no claim on Jason so she has no right to be annoyed but she will be because she’s the sort of person who holds onto grudges, even petty or hypocritical ones, long after it stops making sense.

      1. milu

        unlike you, obviously. U_U

        1. BenRG

          No-one is perfect

        2. milu

          Pobody, truly

      2. BBCC

        Where is Sal annoyed? She’s just surprised here.

  36. AGV

    Hold up a cod darned minute

    Did Ruth and Jason actually fudge???

    Or is this a very funny misconception?
    I want it to be the later because no one will believe them, not even the comments

  37. Delicious Taffy

    Casual reminder that Ruth is consistently the hottest character in every strip featuring her.

    Why would Jason be in there? Has he even interacted with Ruth before? He’s more or less white noise to me.

    1. DailyBrad

      Yeah, a few times at Galasso’s bar, notably recently.

      1. thejeff

        Yeah, this was set up at the bar during Ruth’s date with Daisy. It wasn’t clear this was going to happen, but people were speculating on it.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Yeah, in his two most recent appearances (starting <a href="https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/curse-2/&quot; and here)

      1. Thag Simmons

        Dammit, I’d been doing so well with the tags

    3. Demoted Oblivious

      As a fellow ginger-canadian, I would love to think that this implied something about me too, but well, it just doesn’t work that way.

    4. Yotomoe

      That may be true if Jennifer wasn’t in the comic. 😛

    5. Needfuldoer

      I mean, you’re not wrong.

      (She’s up against some tough competition sometimes, though…)

  38. Carla's #2 Fan

    Not a good birthday present to me if this is what it looks like! I want Daisy to get a girlfriend, dangit! Ruth could been good if given more time to relax! Maybe I could be Daisy’s girlfriend? Write me in as myself 4 or 5 years ago.

    1. Vegetalss4

      This sounds like the very purpose and soul of that most hallowed institution known as fanfiction.

    2. Yumi

      Yup, I’m back to shipping Daisy with the barely existing purple haired character who once worked the desk at Forest Quad. While I don’t think Ruth and Jason banged, this doesn’t look good for her and Daisy.

      (Unless Ruth and Jason stayed up late into the night conferencing on what she should say while texting Daisy???)

  39. Bagge

    Good on Sal refuting that ‘need permission’ bullcrap.

    and good on Ruth for ‘drinking the english tea’

    1. milu

      good on Lucy for being on boyfriend-announcing terms with her brother!

      good on Jason for helping Ruth answer the door!

  40. Mancuso

    Whatever he did last night, Ruth seems to be without a hangover. The Bartending is strong with this one.

  41. darkoneko

    OH SHIT ?!

  42. ValdVin

    Love the callback to Jennifer clearing the trash chute. Now that her cheerleader legs and flexibility aren’t there who will do it?

    1. Eldritchy

      I mean, if you’d grab him by the legs and swing him around Jason would make a fine unclogger

      1. Needfuldoer

        He’s the 21st century college dorm version of Bert the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins.

        We just need Agatha to come back to kick-start the musical dance number.

    2. milu

      now that you mention it, why would they need the RA to clear the trash chute?
      if it’s just blocked i’m sure anyone can find some sort of stick and push it down? (or sure, kick it down if they’re wanting to show off)
      and if it’s actually full, well, someone has to go down to that room with the dumpsters and like move a new dumpster under the chute? does that make sense, raised eyebrow emoji

      1. Eldritchy

        I imagine they want someone who has the authority and is held accountable to do that stuff, not wanting any potential damage and all that.

        1. Demoted Oblivious

          I’d guess (despite them being american) it’s less about liability, and more about it either being ‘dirty’ or ‘not my job’ or both.

        2. Eldritchy

          Ah I didn’t word it correctly. I meant it from the perspective of the administration rather than students. At least I Assume there are some rules that only a member of the administration can fiddle with the chute.

        3. Demoted Oblivious

          Oh I getcha now. Indeed, admin types definitely be like that. Especially beaurocrats. Fortunately young people are more often, “that rule is dumb, so whatever.” Honestly with how burdened we are by rules these days, I think our children need to be more subversive.

        4. thejeff

          Of course, the existence of the rule means they get to avoid any liability if something does happen when the students mess with it.

        5. Demoted Oblivious

          Maaayyybe. It’d be up to a judge based on the exact circumstances. Personally I’m rather appalled at the attitude of shunting liability rather than taking responsibility for what we see in the world (not saying this is you thejeff, just out in the world).

      2. raccoonrebels

        Most likely the RA has the authority to submit a work order to the maintenance staff.

      3. Needfuldoer

        Ruth would be the one expected to call building maintenance about problems like this.

        Watch them send in the wise old groundskeeper who looks like Ray Walston. I’m sure he’ll have some pertinent advice.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Fack. That link is supposed to be:

          https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Boothby

  43. Deanatay

    Hehe, the ways Panels 2 and 3 flow together, it looks like Sal’s hair is WAY more voluminous than usual… I love it.

    1. Deanatay

      HA! Same with Panels 4 and 5! It’s intentional, isn’t it, Willis?

  44. Smooti

    Lot of people jumping to conclusions on whether or not they slept with each other

    Like, you can spend the night at someone’s house, especially if you’re concerned for their wellbeing and want to make sure they’re okay.

    …Watch the next strip prove me wrong, I guess

    1. Demoted Oblivious

      No Smooti. Even if these two *did* engage in congress, your point is still absolutely valid. It’s a pity that hollywood and media does so little to show people just being friends or even just decent to each other. In some ways I suspect it’s due to the format (limiting cast size) but it really doesn’t seem like it should be *that* hard to have two people of different genders be friends without a persistent undercurrent of *will they fuck already*?

    2. Sirksome

      I’m really rooting for yhis Smooti. I hope that’s how it turns out.

  45. thumb

    “Shocking truth!”
    That said, I’m betting they just hung out. That’s why she got no problem answering the door with the bartender in tow.

  46. Yumi

    I’m on team “I don’t think they banged” myself.

  47. Sirksome

    I feel like I need to say one more thing before I close my thoughts on this Jason and Ruth spending the night together scenario. He’s been in this exact situation before. The whole being a “gentleman” and escorting the drunk girl home. With Sal.

    https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/sappy/

    You know what he didn’t do in that situation? Stay the night with her. Stand next to her with his shirt off. He left, even though it was late and he could’ve been tired. Even though Sal kind of wanted him to stay (although she was very drunk) So even if Jason and Ruth didn’t bang he is interested in her. This isn’t an entirely innocent development.

    1. Yumi

      One difference is that he was still a math T.A. at that point, and getting caught in a compromising position with a student could have gotten him questioned/fired. He can’t get fired now.

      1. zee

        Also sal was annoying to him while he and Ruth her pretty amicable, so i don’t think he wanted to be there any longer than he had to be. Sal also hadn’t been previously hospitalized due to a bad interaction of alcohol and meds like Jason knows Ruth had.

        1. Sirksome

          I think this only proves my point more. Ruth was indeed a lot less annoying and a lot more amicable. Further enticing him to stay the night with a women he enjoys being with. If Jason had no interest in Ruth like he had no interest in Sal, he would’ve left.

  48. Yumi

    Also, Sal isn’t wearing her gloves and her scar is visible and I feel like we all just brushed over that in the question of whether or not Ruth and Jason banged.

    1. Spencer

      Oh dang you’re right.

    2. BBCC

      Not her first time going gloveless, but it’s pretty cool to see <3

    3. OBBWG

      Sal stopped wearing her gloves regularly after having it out with Amber/Amazi-Girl.

  49. Pocky

    hold up; just gotta go throw up for a sec

  50. fishamaphone

    Jason: *puts on hat*

    Sal: “PERRY the Math T.A.!?”

    1. Yumi

      Have an upvote

  51. Wagstaff

    That’s strange; why am I counting only 201 comments when it says 235?

    1. Yumi

      Some were deleted– well, I think one was deleted, which deleted the replies/comments under it– which could affect it. But also, do you regularly count the number of comments on the comics?

      1. Wagstaff

        Nah, I just couldn’t find comments that I remembered were there, and did a count just to check.

        The comments in question are still available for viewing in the RSS Feed, by the way.

        1. Eldritchy

          Pretty sure it was lulu and their accusations of biphobia that got yeeted.

        2. Demoted Oblivious

          Yeah. Whole thread’s gone. Pity, as I found it an interesting dialogue, but it seemed to be pretty upsetting to some and I certainly wasn’t at my best.

        3. Rabid Rabbit

          Ah, I was wondering where that had gone. Admittedly, all I saw was the first post, to which I considered responding for a second before nope-ing right out of there, but I was looking forward to seeing the thread it spawned. Guess I should have checked sooner.

        4. RowenMorland

          How do you read them via the RSS?

  52. DT

    How’d they recognize him without the bowtie?

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      Sal’s seen him without the bowtie before. At least with enough of the bowtie missing for it to count.

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