Slip
Posted on May 31, 2015 by David M Willis

151 thoughts on “Slip”

  1. Jen Aside

    So that’s, what, three years?

    1. Jen Aside

      dang, hovertext beat me to it (and actually did math)

      1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        *An Englishman walks in* The word is Maths with an S! 😛

        1. Jen Aside

          Mathematical Anti-Teleharsic Harfatum Septomin

        2. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Many Additional Topics Have Sums 😀

        3. Screwball

          Man, All This Hurts Squishybrain…

        4. Wack'd

          I made a Look Around You joke yesterday and no one noticed and that’s not a fate I want to befall anyone else.

          Thanks, Aside. Thaside.

        5. Jen Aside

          they didn’t look around them =(

      2. Lightsabermario

        Dang hovertext. I’m hovertext-deprived ever since my compy crashed.

        1. Historyman68

          It shouldn’t have been drinking

        2. Sindisil

          If you’re reading on mobile or tablet, you can tap to the sides of the nav bar.
          It can be a bit flaky – sometimes it just reloads the page, sometimes there is a delay.
          FWIW, the left side seems to work more reliably for me.

  2. Nono

    Man, panel one Ethan still has that bod. Dina graced us with this.

    1. Pier

      Glad you admitted it this once, Danny.

    2. JessWitt

      Ethan Slipshine. *sigh* Someday.

      1. Juliacool82

        I’ll be stalking the site everyday until one is up.

  3. Doctor_Who

    Not enough people thank Billie. She’s like the booze fairy, handing out intoxication where it’s needed.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      She would be a lot more popular if she was the Green Fairy.

      1. Opus the Poet

        And some of us are old enough to know what that means…

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Parental Bonus

        2. Ancestral Hamster

          Though not old enough, well read enough to get the reference.

        3. Someone

          Not old enough will google search

        4. Arianod

          It’s no longer just old geezers and bookworms who get that reference: the Green Fairy is coming back in style! At least in Europe, it is ^^

        5. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Also the Green Fairy appeared as a character in the movie Eurotrip. ;D

        6. Corey

          Also in Moulin Rouge

      2. 0kami

        Billie’s taking a ride on the Wilde side.

  4. Plasma Mongoose

    All work and no foreplay makes Dotty a dull girl.

    1. DarkoNeko

      She looks like she’s about to snap

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        If she also crackles and pops, she becomes a cereal killer.

        1. saltchocolate

          Seven internets for you.

        2. DSL

          In that case, she should get Life.

      2. Rich

        Pour the girl a drink already, Billie. And take her phone away for the night.

    2. Proxiehunter

      Which is probably what several pages of at least one of her research papers says.

    3. fogel

      ?? But she has been gettin’ those Slip Shiny Goodtimes…

      1. fogel

        Could that be a euphemism? “I was slipshining him/her/them…”

  5. Dr. Smart

    seems a reasonable thing to do at a party, I mean who needs fun when you have homework!

  6. DarkoNeko

    Amber sitting between Ethan and Danny, eh. That… why… Danny, I get where you ‘re coming from but that won’t end well, i feel XD

    1. SUGauthor

      It’s kind of weird to think about the fact we’re never going to get to see these guys graduate, or even finish their first year. We’ve been following them for so long…

      1. SUGauthor

        Ack! Sorry, wrong section.

      2. jfamdope

        wait, why won’t we?

        1. Leadsynth

          Eh, Willis has said he didn’t plan on having the strip last longer than freshman year. Luckily, at this rate, we’ll still get another coupla decades of DoA.

        2. Someone

          He might just skip right to graduation at the end of the strip. Its like dorothy and amber are eating lunch and then 3 years later…end of strip!

        3. Kamino Neko

          At about an in-universe week to a real-world year, we’re looking at almost 30 years just to get to the end of Freshhman year.

          I don’t really expect to be alive when spring break rolls around. >_>

        4. Agemegos

          And my expectancy of remaining life is only about twelve years.

        5. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          My life expectancy at this point is about 50-60 years, so I might see towards the end of Sophomore year. Depends on what Willis’ own life expectancy is though… xD

        6. xKiv

          By that time, he will have another 50 years worth of buffer.

        7. Rycan

          Although, I have to wonder if the breaks will pass faster.

        8. Matthew Davis

          Neither will Willis, but thanks to the dude’s work ethic our descendants will be able to enjoy the strip in the centuries to come. I can only hope they thank his holographic reconstruction at a con someday.

    2. Swissaboo

      Of course it won’t end well, it’d be no fun for Ethan! for it to end well he’d need to scoot over next to Ethan and save a spot for Amber on his other side!

  7. Xailenrath

    Workaholism is a disease.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Salt is a cure.

      1. Opus the Poet

        So is pepper and sugar.

    2. JustCheetoDust

      Workahol in moderation.

      1. Leadsynth

        Billie is like a workaholic, but for booze. :-p

        1. A Scientist

          I want to say there’s a word for that, specifically, but I just can’t quite form it…

        2. Kamino Neko

          Boozaholic, of course.

  8. maxyai

    Everybody knows the cure for stress: Orgy!

    1. Bagge

      That kinda has been her coping mechanism so far… if caramel boy counts as an orgy.

    2. Jen Aside

      all the joking about sex I do aside, I think an orgy would seriously stress me out

      if STDs weren’t a thing and I were sterile, maybe

      1. Screwball

        I’m a robot, STDs are nothing to me, not gonna knock anyone up, count me in! Why you laughing Daniel the Human? No I would NOT freeze up again! That was only once. Cause it was hot. My processor overheated. YES IT WAS A HOT NIGHT! In Winter. Wha, ah scrap, auto-dictation’s still on. At least I didn’t say

  9. Rich

    Wait – research papers? Plural? Damn, that’s some serious multitasking going on there.

    Poor girl has got to learn to relax.

    1. Rycan

      And just plain insane for a college freshman.

  10. CarlaGriffin

    Danny and Ethan are reminding me of my school where there was a rule about always being a Bible width apart.

    1. Viktoria

      Save space for Jesus! He enjoys being the middle of the sandwich.

      1. Joe

        Today I learned that Jesus was a bit of a kinky dude.

    2. neeks

      Reminds me of the empty seat straight dudes leave between themselves when they go to see a movie with a bro, lest anyone get the impression they’re on a date or something. My friends and I called it “the empty seat of heterosexuality”, although I guess now we’d call it “the no homo seat”

      Which…is basically the context here, really.

      1. Vince

        neeks – that’s nothing compared to “urinal etiquette”.

      2. maarvarq

        I went to the movies at an older theater not so long ago, and should have left one of these seats between me and the next person, because the seats weren’t wide enough for my shoulders or the shoulders of the people on either side of me. That was a cramped 105 minutes.

        1. Matthew Davis

          That really more than anything else is why I leave a space unless it’s my wife. I’m a pretty big guy and I have an outsized sense of personal space. On the other hand, I sit in the very back of the theater so I don’t block anybody’s view accidentally and I worry about taking up extra space on planes and subways. So I guess it’s all relative.

      3. Rich

        I don’t think I’ve ever been to a movie with anyone who did that. We’d have mocked the hell out of anyone who tried to space out like that, even back in the 70s and 80s when casual homophobia was a lot more widespread.

        Is this really a thing these days? My theater-going has been almost all stage plays since about 2000, movies are too easy to watch at home with friends now.

    3. timemonkey

      Jesus likes to be in the middle.

  11. Plasma Mongoose

    2075 our time?

    1. Rich

      I’ll be well into my second century by then. And hopefully reading this strip in my apartment on the Moon.

      So far the 21st century has not lived up to what I was promised as a child.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I wonder if I would even be still alive in 2025 let alone 2075.

        1. Rich

          Ah, ten years is nothing. Remember, there is absolutely no definite empirical evidence that you’re mortal, and from your point of view there never will be.

        2. Opus the Poet

          There is empirical evidence in my case that I’m not mortal, so who knows how long I might live?

        3. Clif

          I’ll bIte. What evidence is that?

    2. brionl

      Well, I’m shooting for at least 2076. I’ll only be 116 years old, and I can tell all those young punks about how the bicentennial was way better than the tricentennial.

      1. brionl

        I used to own a Spirit of ’76 Vega. It was craptacular in Red White and Blue.

      2. Leadsynth

        We’re coming up on the Sestercentennial in 2026: the USA’s 250-year anniversary. Damn, we should start preparing! I’ll bring the Sprite.

        1. Rycan

          Since we’re celebrating the birthday of a nation of over 300 million people, that’s going to be a lot of Sprite.

        2. Batmang

          Aaaawwww the USA is only 100 years older than my house.

          How cute 🙂

      3. Joseph

        So, there were a few people in 1976 who might have remembered 1876, but none of them seem to have been older than 10 or 12 in 1876. Which means that 2076 will probably be the first American centenary where people can recall the previous one*… Which I find fascinating!

        * Assuming 1) the survival of the USA as a state till 2076, and 2) the survival of humanity till 2076 with current longevity trends.

      4. Rich

        If I make it that long and the US is still a country, I’m looking forward to collecting tricentennial quarters to go with all the 1976 ones I’ve hoarded. Them and wheat pennies, my only numismatic weaknesses.

  12. Opus the Poet

    Poor Danny/Dorothy, unable to have fun because of “stuff”. Different species of “stuff”, but it all ends up smelling pretty much the same.

  13. Stephen Bierce

    Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
    When the world was the street where she lived…

    1. Matthew Davis

      and a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
      with a picture of Veronica…

  14. The Wizard

    Saw that last panel coming.

  15. beetnemesis

    I kinda want to know Dorothy’s reaction to the fact that we’ve had a bunch of presidents who have done hard drugs, let alone drink a bit of underage alcohol.

    I mean, her thought process is two-fold, right?

    1. Can’t get involved with drinking and such because I need to focus on studying, and

    2. Can’t get involved with drinking and such because what if I got in trouble/someone took a picture, it could ruin my political career.

    Both of which are kind of legitimate… until you pick it apart and realize that taking a night off won’t make you fail, and Obama admitted to using cocaine and everyone kind of shrugged and went “eh.”

    1. Rich

      I don’t think she’s delusional enough to believe that a little underage drinking in college could endanger a political career. It isn’t true now, and it will be even less so when she starts jockeying for a serious office ten or fifteen years down the road.

      1. neeks

        Fair, but the media and voters are much less likely to shrug off a woman candidate’s youthful (and otherwise) indiscretions than a man’s.

        1. Random832

          I would hope that that road’s been paved for her by then, too. Twenty-four years (while the minimum is 35, the youngest president was 42) is quite a while.

        2. Rich

          She’ll probably have to run for lesser offices before trying for the Oval Office, so a bit sooner than that.

        3. Random832

          Yeah, but the real shit-slinging doesn’t start until you’re running for president, as witnessed by all this stuff that gets dredged up every four years when governors and senators are running.

        4. Rycan

          But, honestly, if it were revealed tomorrow that Hillary Clinton engaged in underage drinking decades ago, would anybody care?

        5. Rycan

          Don’t get me wrong – I’m not denying that double standards exist. Rather, you can still get away with some things as a woman without ruining your political career.

        6. Matthew Davis

          She said as much at one point — that she had to be twice as careful because she was a woman. I can’t recall the specific comic, though.

        7. Wack'd

          Here you go.

    2. TheOthin

      The thing is that those presidents had a lot of advantages that she doesn’t. All of them being male is a big one (and Christian, for that matter) but there’s also the matter of things like money and political connections that many if not all of them lucked into, which she doesn’t want to have to count on. There’s a reason most people don’t even get close to being President, after all.

      That said, I don’t understand how she’s managed to pick up this level of workload in her first semester at what seems to be a pretty standard college. I can understand doing all she can do, but even all she can do shouldn’t call for this much schoolwork.

      1. licoricepencil

        Also, all of these current and former presidents had the advantage of not growing up in the age of smartphones and the internet, where every transgression (real or perceived) remains forever.

        1. Random832

          Except their transgressions did remain long enough to matter if they would have mattered, as witnessed by the fact that we know about them.

        2. Rycan

          They don’t have dozens of half-century-old pictures of college parties hanging over their heads. The point is, there are probably transgressions that have remain unnoticed that wouldn’t be so easily missed were they to occur today.

      2. Captain Batson

        She’s trying oh so very hard to impress Yale, so she’s got to make sure her life is going exactly according to plan. And once she’s in Yale, she’s gonna be doing her best to be the absolute top of her class, so as to be super duper impressive. However, I feel like she might be wasting her time chasing a fool’s ideal. I don’t think the average voter really gives much of a care where someone went to college. Otherwise, people would talk more about how Hillary Clinton was once ranked among the top 40 lawyers in the country.

        1. Captain Batson

          Oops, I meant to say that Hillary was TWICE ranked among the top 100 most INFLUENTIAL lawyers in the country. My bad, yo.

        2. Rycan

          The average voter, no. But, if you go to place like Yale, there’s a chance that your average megadonor is also your old classmate.

      3. Rich

        Maxed out her credit load and maybe talked her advisor into letting her go beyond that, maybe? And she does have a fair amount of non-class stuff going on, playing reporter and doing volunteer work. And a boyfriend, which may not have been in her plans originally.

      4. beetnemesis

        I think it’s mentioned that she does a bunch of “extras,” so there is a thin justification for a first year freshman having that much workload.

        It’s probably better not to dissect it, but I can’t help flashing back to my college years and shouting (in my head) “Just RELAX a little!”

      5. fogel

        Speaking of Christians, being Atheist is a BIG electoral handicap at present. Will that change by the time Dorothy is ready to run for some elective office?

        1. Rycan

          I think that’ll be Dorothy’s biggest handicap, and she isn’t the type to fake belief for the sake of politics.

    3. DSL

      If Willis is going for realism re: Dorothy, she’ll work and work at Doing Everything Right to prepare herself for her goal, only to get to the brink of it and find the rules have changed and everything she had been doing right was suddenly all wrong.

      1. Clif

        Ruth for presidennt, if you want t keep your femers.

  16. Kraken

    As Billie gets more drunk her standards for “what constitutes a party” lower.

    1. chisci

      well she may be like “this sure is some sort of party but it’s so not a college party”

  17. readwitch

    Yeah don’t normally comment but “slipped” myself some alcohol. I just really wish, at a certain point, we’ll see Billie actually happy at some point. I mean, the only time we see it is with Ruth which is, as much as I like both of them, a somewhat toxic relationship (although I couldn’t say to what degree). Can’t there be a weekend where all of these crazy kid just have honest, no angst included fun? I imagine it would be (in real time) at least a year from now but, you know, 🙁

    1. Rich

      She was pretty happy at the first party, at least up until the incident with Ryan interrupted the festivities.

  18. Lapin

    Please, for the love of happiness, give that poor girl some hard cider and some fun game nights.

  19. neeks

    A few thoughts:

    – what is Dorothy doing with her right arm in the second panel..?
    – ruth: “go to the party and see if there’s anything I need to know about”
    Billie: “it’s a Joyce party, not like anyone is going to bring booze”
    Billie: *brings booze*
    – this third bullet point is just to make it three so I don’t have to change “few” to “couple” because I’m too lazy to do that but not too lazy to type this out

    1. neeks

      – appropriately numbered fourth thought: Dorothy is breaking the fourth wall in the last panel cuz she sure ain’t showing her phone to Billie

      1. Someone

        She knows were here and that means…she’s knows about the slip shine!
        I’m sorry Dorothy!

        1. Rich

          You’re not actually sorry.

        2. Someone

          Well given that I never payed for the slip shine. I am not.

    2. Screwball

      -Billie butt grab 😛 ? She’s approaching from behind, so probably poking her in the back to get her attention.

      –She knew noone would bring booze, so she corrected that mistake herself…

      -That little change would have probably been less effort overall, but then again, you would have to reach for the mouse, or move the icon to the right place…..Yeah, alright, I see your point…

      -Her mobile’s in her right hand, so she’s probably resting her wrist, letting it line up with her arm properly, with us seeing it as an added bonus. I mean, it’s not like there are fictional characters who interact with the real world, that’d be silly- wha, who’s Deadpool…

      1. neeks

        I’m on mobile and moving the cursor around to alter stuff is a bit of a pain in the ass on the small and occasionally oversensitive screen.

  20. JessWitt

    I feel for ya, Dorothy. I’m attempting a balancing act between grad school work and leisure (aka living my life) – it’s hard stuff.

    1. Matthew Davis

      Wait until you’re dissertating.

  21. grantimusmax

    Oh Ethan… so innocent, so unaware of your inner SEXO LOCO

    1. JessWitt

      Always the cute ones who are unaware of their SEXO LOCO.

  22. Jimmy

    So 2075 in this world is….2500 our time?

  23. zebrathinker

    i would like to congratulate future dorothy on her break

  24. Rycan

    Dorothy, Billie, stop chitchatting and sit on the floor already!

    1. Bagge

      When kids play games the parents stand around, making sure no one is fighting, and I think that’s how those two regard themselves at this party.

      1. Rycan

        Billie is also steadily getting herself drunk, and has already gotten one of the kids drunk.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Maakes me wonder what the tally will be by the end of the night. But there’s only a limited quantity of alcohol.

  25. 6Qubed

    an artist’s rendition of Walky at this present moment:

    o3o

  26. Mr. Random

    Buffer currently in September. Willis can technically take a summer vacation.

    1. Screwball

      Gotta give Mr Willis credit for building up a bloody good buffer. It’s almost as if he’s been doing this kinda thing for a while :P. Pretty sure there’s plenty of other web comic artists who would be VERY jealous of a full 3 month buffer…

  27. chris73

    Dorothy is rapidly becoming a great girlfriend

    1. DarkoNeko

      Not sure if sarcasm

      1. chris73

        Not sarcasm at all eg has sexy times with Walky, likes the same cartoons and sees the benefits and having a few drinks every now and then

        Sounds like a pretty good girlfriend to me because not everything has to be drama

    2. Rich

      Bordering on flawless, although she puts too much pressure on herself a lot of the time.

  28. Bagge

    That was a surprisingly respectful and open discussion between Billie and Dorothy.

    I can’t really put my finger on why I expected them to be more antagonistic towards each other, but I’m glad they don’t. Maybe they both feel a bit protective about Walky and Joyce.

    Phones are crappy writing media, Dorothy. Write a draft on paper and transfer it to your computer later tonight.

    1. Kraken

      It takes some effort sometimes, but Dorothy always manages to avoid being a jerk to people.

    2. beetnemesis

      Yeah Dorothy has been cool. While whatshername, Joyce’s roommate, is super uptight and judgey about anything fun, Dorothy is more “Eh, it looks like you’re having fun, and I don’t plan on partaking at this moment, but if it’s working out for you, more power to you.”

    3. Klohunt3r

      I can see how the party girl vs. studious workaholic dichotomy seems like an obvious source of tension. But I think Dorothy is far too diplomatic of a person to fall straight into that, and at this point in her character development even Billie knows not to be so superficial and start petty conflicts for little reason.

      It helps that Billie is being forward and honest here. I imagine if she had been difficult or layed on too much sarcasm she may have gotten a rise out of Dorothy.

      Oh, and depending on the exact device and software used, typing relatively large documents on a phone isn’t too bad. It’s much easier to copy+paste multiple pages of hurried, phone-typed text to a larger device, then do a spellcheck/formatting pass opposed to the writing out multiple pages once, then having to type it all out again word-for-word to transfer it to a computer.

      Personally, if I were in her shoes I would’ve brought my laptop, social inappropriateness be damned.

      1. Rycan

        I bet there would be tension were they roommates. Well, not at present, with Billie having effectively moved into Ruth’s room.

  29. Em

    Make space for the holy spirit!

    …I know people have made the ‘save room for Jesus’ joke, but this reminded me of a Catholic school my friend went to. (and yes, I know that none of the main cast is catholic) At school dances, the teachers would patrol and if they saw students dancing too close together, they would separate them by making a chopping motion between the students while saying “Make space for the holy spirit!” (I told my friend to say ‘but I don’t want to grind on the holy spirit’ at the next dance, but she wouldn’t do it)

    1. Jen

      Gimmie that Christian Side Hug! 😉

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa0EtdtPi8w

      If you find that one funny, there’s a follow up song.

  30. LiaHansen

    for a second i thought that said 2015 and was like damn willis this buffer has gotten out of control

  31. PunkThug

    I love dorothy!

  32. nothri

    Billie has her addictions, and Dorothy has hers.

  33. ThatGuy

    If its any consolation, you’ll probably be dead.

  34. Peas

    I like how Danny’s suggestion to leave space for Dorothy means both that he’s not so close to Ethan that he’ll be overwhelmed AND that no one else is going to get between them unless Dorothy shows up. D’awwwwww… 😀

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