239

Separate
Posted on February 23, 2016 by David M Willis

239 thoughts on “Separate”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “this bed smells like Kinsey Scale 24 lesbian”

    aww =(

    1. Ranthog

      That would be very odd since there have been no lesbians sleeping there.

      1. svata

        Becky.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Who? Nobody by that name has lived in the dorms.

        2. Gareth

          Be cool nark

          (I’m not American, am I using that correctly?)

        3. Wittgenstein On Speed

          While, in my experience, it’s more commonly spelt narc, you are using it mostly correctly. (A fully correct use, in my mind, would have been if you used it in relations to drugs or alcohol use; but I fully grant that’s more about the word’s origin than it’s current usage.)

        4. Marisa Mockery

          Considering I’ve heard “don’t be a narc” when someone skipped school…..yeah it’s changed. No idea where it came from though

        5. Betty Anne

          Yes, to the above two. “Don’t be a narc” comes out of street slang for a narcotics (drug) officer, particularly ones who work undercover in the community. Narcs seem like a cool, average dude, just a newbie to the neighborhood, until the day they turn all the drug dealers and users in. Thus, to “be a narc” is to blend in and hang out with everyone and then turn around and tattle on them behind their back. The phrase just got imported from street culture to the larger culture, like most slang does.

      2. Leorale

        I think Ana meant Billie’s bed.

        1. Ranthog

          I guess visually its Ruth’s bed that struck me as being an important visual focus.

          If its Billie’s bed then yeah. Its just the photo, Billie, and the key strike me as the main focus of those panels and not the bed.

        2. svata

          I think specifically it was a response to Billie’s face in panel 4.

        3. Clif

          The correct response to Billie’s face in panel 4 is “Do it, Billie. Destroy Mary without remorse.”

    2. AngryBamboo

      I’m not usually super into cologne or perfume or whatever but “Kinsey Scale 24 Lesbian” is a fragrance i would be interested in buying. or at least sampling.

      1. Ana Chronistic

        Kinsey Scale 24 Lesbian smells like Teen Spirit

  2. gkheyf

    good night, kids! =3

    1. inqntrol

      Have horrible dreams!

    2. Tabitha Desanto

      Not for Billie she need to think about what to tell Becky.

      1. gkheyf

        not for two whole days!!!

        1. Znayx

          TWO WHOLE DAYS.

        2. Silly Name

          That’s, like, double the time of one day!

        3. marianne

          At the pace of this comic, we’ll see her have to break the news to Becky… what, some time in 2032?

  3. Tabitha Desanto

    See Ruth your missing her already

    1. gkheyf

      all she sees is those evil chibis staring at her through the wall. no amount of concrete can protect from that soul-devouring gaze!

      1. Suchipi

        “Go to sleep you little trash heap”

    2. Jay Eff

      No, she isn’t!
      Ruth just lost her phone, that’s all.

      Yep, that’s what she’s poking around for.

      Her phone.

      .

      …why is water coming out of my eyes…?

      1. Falling Star

        The sadness has popped them.
        Get to a hospital.

    3. Doctor_Who

      She’s just sad because she’s staring at a Maple Leafs poster.

      Bet that’s the real cause of her depression. It’s like that Roadblock poster from Shortpacked, but instead of inspiring fear it causes desolation and ennui.

      1. Kalosec

        I wonder if Ethan has that poster in this universe.

        1. begbert

          Naw; he seems able to sleep.

  4. SailorCakes

    Awww young Joyce and Becky are so cute! 😀

    1. Inkblot

      Yeah but Ruth’s butt curve though

      1. winter

        This dichotomy speaks to me.

        Are you a panel 1 lover – pure fan of young Joyce & Becky?

        Or are you a panel 5 lover – because Ruth’s butt curve?

        1. Doctor_Who

          http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/aoz8kgx8pzknypz7z38n.jpg

        2. Cerberus

          I feel like the strip could very well be subtitled: “Sadness and Butts”

        3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Sad Butts?

        4. Arianod

          Both, obviously.

        5. LimeSheep

          i like panel 2 billie better than both of those things

        6. begbert

          I like Billie’s butt curve better.

          And I cannot lie.

        7. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Word.

          Billie seems to have a much cuter and curvier butt here.

          Although I’m all about the Dorothy butt usually. 😀

        8. TheNinthShader

          I is all about that Dina butt.

        9. altalemur

          truly, i find both butts appealing.

    2. vonniesaur

      Awww, look at little Becky’s weird squinty eyeee

  5. inqntrol

    “Insert sad violin song here”

    1. Smiling Cat

      alternately…

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vns3ruSbUrY

      1. StClair

        Nice, but I’ll see that and raise you Sarah McLachlan

        When somebody loved me
        Everything was beautiful
        Every hour we spent together
        Lives within my heart…

  6. Leorale

    It took me a minute to realize that Becky put that up on Billie’s wall. She has almost no possessions but still managed to save a picture of baby-Joyce and baby-herself. True Love.

    1. Cerberus

      Joyce has a matching picture on her wall:
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/socialized/

      And I also love that she’s got a picture of Dina and 2 different types of dinos as well up on that little bedside. She really does love her dinosaur girl.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Best part is, it looks like she just printed it out from a regular black & white printer. She couldn’t even wait for access to a photo printer, she just snapped a pic of Dina smiling on her phone, and printed it out ASAP.

      2. Leorale

        Awww.
        Man, those two are great.

      3. Historyman68

        That’s really cool that they’ve got matching pictures.

    2. Peduncle

      The picture is a reference to the final panel of this strip.

      (I believe I’m remembering somebody else posting that and not making the connection for myself.)

      1. Historyman68

        Oh I was thinking that!

  7. Makkabee

    Such sadness. I hope they utterly destroy Mary soon so they can be together again.

    Also, utterly destroying Mary is just fun.

    1. Opus the Poet

      She will be years (comic time) recovering from the crushing defeat, mending the broken bones.

      1. Doctor_Who

        See, I picture it as more of a “She’s going to come back even worse” scenario, because drama. It’s like when Batman accidentally knocked Red Hood into that vat of chemicals.

        Guess what I’m saying is, we should knock Mary into a vat of chemicals.

        1. Rukduk

          I’ll be perfectly honest here, I find the concept of Joker Mary very intriguing.

      2. John

        There will be no mending. She needs her femurs to live.

  8. Mandy

    I can’t remember the last time this comic was happy. 🙁

    1. Betty Anne

      I can’t remember a lot of happy in college, so…that’s how it is, I guess?

    2. Leorale

      But Carla got a burn on Mary and had a big ol’ smile on, just a few days ago! That was happy.

      1. Leorale

        oh, and Hank being a good dad after all.
        I mean, most of us were too busy dreading Carol to fully enjoy it, but still.

    3. dailybrad

      Hank agreeing with Joyce that Ross was an asshole was nice.

    4. Spencer

      Well Danny and Ethan were having fun reading Amber’s slash fic until Danny went into bisexual panic mode and started talking about how he thinks Amber is breaking.

      Walky and Dorothy are still good, though Walky is keeping his grades hidden from her too and that’s inevitably going to blow up in his face.

      Oh hey and we got the first inkling that Becky/Dina wasn’t perfect where we learned that Dina feels like she’s just Becky’s rebound.

      But Joyce is gone back home with her dad trying to be a better Christian, well then there’s her mom who immediately got on Becky’s case for daring to be gay in her home.

      Gender Studies was pretty fun until Joe started angsting about how marriage is a sham and bottled up his feelings like a TruMan.

      ok fine everything is angst

      1. Emily

        The only person in this series who is actually like completely content with their life seems to be goddamn Mike which just goes to show there is no justice in the world of DoA

        1. Tenchan

          “I dream I grew like Mike. If I could be like Mike!”

        2. Leorale

          The background characters are probably doing alright. Like Sierra and Agatha, who got to pray together and deeply annoy Mary. They gave each other such a high five.

    5. Luzahn

      Walky and his McNuggets, probably.

      1. TheGrammarLegionary

        Can’t imagine that would be happy for very long…

    6. Bagge

      Dina and Becky in smoochy-land!

      1. Emperor Norton

        Related: The realisation that god answers lesbian prayers.

    7. trlkly

      I hear this a lot, but, to me, this comic is more often happy than sad. Sure, we had 3 sad comics in a row, but we’ve also had multiple happy comics in a row with the driving stuff.

  9. Stephen R. Bierce

    *reprises Phil Collins on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Stephen R. Bierce

      Ooh, so typical
      Love leads to isolation…
      And you built that wall (built that wall)
      Yes you built that wall
      And you MADE IT STRONGER!

    2. Psychotic Mantis

      I was basing mine off the first verse of the song. A song from recent memory.

      You based yours off a far-in verse of a song from 1985.

      How do you do this?

      1. Stephen R. Bierce

        I’m a product of the Second Generation of Rock-N-Roll. Or the Blank Generation, if you prefer. Anything 1974 though 1994, I’m all over that.

    3. Sunny

      I was thinking “Give back the key to my heart”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JsKbaYpLdE

  10. Too Old To Be Cool

    …but equal – equally miserable.

  11. Mr. Mendo

    This scene probably has the sad walking-away music from The Incredible Hulk playing…

    1. Doctor_Who

      I’m hearing the sad music from Scrubs. The one they started lampshading in later seasons.

      “Bada ba ba ba BA ba Bum”

  12. Psychotic Mantis

    Oh, jeez.

    I gotta do this one.

    *Plays David Bowie’s ‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore’ on the hacked muzak.*

    1. Psychotic Mantis

      Curses, foiled again!

  13. Ctrl+C D@

    Ruth has like the flattest butt ever.

    1. Someone

      great, now I want someone to make a chart o butt sizes

      Should males have a separate chart?

      1. Ctrl+C D@

        No, no need to discriminate. Butts are something that transcend all forms of discrimination and exclusion.

        Right now I think Billie holds first place with her massive butt.

        1. Someone

          I would put Amber in 1st place. Billie in second

        2. Ctrl+C D@

          I think we need to put Amazi-Girl and Amber as a tie for right now.

        3. Someone

          Wait! What about Carol!?

        4. Ctrl+C D@

          Fuck Carol!
          😀

        5. Disloyal Subject

          No, that’s Hank’s job.

        6. Dellaran

          Not for all the nickels in Indiana.

        7. Emperor Norton

          Delleran: OK, so I tried to figure out just how much money you’re potentially losing out on, by finding out how many nickels are generally in circulation, and then take the population percentage that Indiana represents.

          Now, unfortunately, what I found out is that nobody actually keeps track of how many nickels are lost/destroyed, so it’s all pure guesswork. So all I know is that in 2011*, there’s been a total of about 465 billion nickels produced. Said guesswork estimates that about 25 billion of those (or roughly six percent, which seems like a reasonable guess to me) are still around and in circulation.

          Now, Indiana’s got about 2.1 percent of the US population. We’ll just round down to 2 to make the math easier here. Two percent of 25 billion is 500 million nickels.

          In other words, you just lost out on two and a half million dollars.

          *Since DoA is a “timeless” comic that started at around that point, I feel like it’s as good a number as any.

        8. Emperor Norton

          BZZZT! Wrong, you stupid Emperor Norton.

          He lost out on twentyfive million dollars.

          Stop being so stupid!

        9. Captain Button

          People were speaking well of Carol’s the other day.

      2. Leorale

        Beware, down this road is becoming Faz.

        1. Reltzik

          … so wait, you think Faz’s butt-chart entry is becoming?

        2. Ctrl+C D@

          Oooh right, I forgot about Faz.

          I think he ranks just slightly higher than Dina, but is below Mary in terms of rump curvature.

          Now to decide who holds the better booty between Joe and Jacob.

        3. Disloyal Subject

          Jacob, hands down. He doesn’t seem like the sort to skip leg day, and his upper body puts even Joe’s to shame. Sculpted muscle makes for a mighty fine butt.

        4. Ctrl+C D@

          The only way to settle this is to have Willis draw both of them bare ass naked and side-by-side.

        5. Disloyal Subject

          Neither of them has much body fat, but I think Joe is a little leaner. Just a little squish or jiggle to go with muscle makes for an optimum butt, and I’m assuming they both rank pretty damn well on the tush-o-meter.
          Never have I dedicated this much thought to the male butt. Or any butt.

        6. Clif

          Wait. Are we objectifying Faz and Joe now?

        7. Historyman68

          Methinks it speaks to a philosophical difference between our friends Joe and Jacob. Joe’s world seems to revolve around sex, so he must put his effort into looking good. Therefore, he probably puts a lot of effort into having a fine butt.

          Jacob, on the other hand, works out but seems either oblivious or even a little embarrassed of the amount of attention he seems to get. (Not sure exactly how much of his character I’m pulling from Shortpacked!, sorry.)

          So, which butt is better? The butt that tries, or the butt that is effortless?

        8. Someone

          I’m more of a chivalrous pervert

        9. Doctor_Who

          I bet Robin had a butt flatness chart. Much to his dismay, she found she also had a prominent place on it. Luckily her lesbian didn’t mind.

        10. Bagge

          Faz is great in inverse proportions to his butt, as seen in this chart.

        11. Moon dude

          I always believed that Joe have the best ass but he isn’t around here anymore to have a good look at him

    2. trlkly

      Actually, I thought her butt was uncharacteristically round in this scene. I picture her as being a bean pole, but this gave her a little bit of a butt.

    3. StClair

      Canada has no butts to give.

  14. Cattleprod

    That first panel was previewed ages ago and I always assumed it would be Joyce looking at the photo.

    1. Bagge

      I assumed it would be Becky. Oh well.

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      Yeah, I was expecting Jangst.
      Instead we got Bangst.

  15. EdHead

    Hello from the other side..

  16. Bagge

    Becky had the room for two days. On the wall is the photo of her best friend, her girlfriend and some printouts of seriously rad dinosaurs that symbolize her love to her girlfirend, the new life she is building and the fudge-you to the life she escaped from.

    All Billie has is a key to a room where she is not welcome. If she’s feeling sentimental she could also bring out the cheer leader uniform for the team she was kicked out from.

    She is… she is not doing that great in college.

    1. Bagge

      I DID expect to be sad from the photo of Joyce and Becky when I saw it in the preview panel. Not for this reason, though.

      The perfect girl is gone, says Ruth, says Billie.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, on literally all of that. Though if I remember right she doesn’t even have the cheerleader outfit anymore. She at least has already tossed her penant:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/optimistic/

        1. winter

          I think this is really important – Billie is feeling so much more lost and sad than she did in high school, and I think that’s really what made the difference. From an objective perspective, Billie was never that perfect girl. Even in HS she was drinking and crashing cars and breaking Alice’s heart. But she felt like she was on top of the world, and that’s what counts.
          And I know she wants to go back to that, and is realising it’s just not possible, but the way out is through. She’s actually becoming more aware. Becoming better. And I hope she gets to a point where she realises that she doesn’t want to go back to when she was oblivious to her problems.

        2. winter

          Or I guess she’s already there “>there and I just forgot. Tee hee!

        3. Historyman68

          I love how many layers there are. Even when she’s *trying* to not be oblivious with Alice, she’s still super oblivious.

    2. Ctrl+C D@

      To be fair, I assume she wasn’t decorating that much considering she was rooming with Ruth most of the time.

      But yeah, that’s like seriously depressing.

      1. Cerberus

        Not to mention she tried to burn her life behind her for moving in to Ruth’s… which lasted about a week. So, not only is it ascetic, but it’s also a hollow tomb of where she didn’t want to ever return. Filled with the harsh warmth of someone else’s life and the cold metal of a key that she can’t use.

        1. Ctrl+C D@

          You should seriously write fanfiction, or see if Willis wants someone to do a novel version of his stuff.

        2. Bagge

          You should! You really should.

        3. Rukduk

          That metaphor is both poetically beautiful and slightly poetically depressing. Still very poetic.

        4. StClair

          Agreed.
          (Some would say that’s the best poetry.)

        5. Rukduk

          I think Robert Frost was one of those people.

      2. Rutee

        There’s a lot depressing here, but the serial killer deco isn’t it. She did indeed try to move them to Ruth’s room – it’s why the serial killer side was Sal’s, when Ruth first entered the room.

        I say this as someone who doesn’t decorate her walls without external prompting. Sal is My People in this regard.

        1. Amazi-Stool

          I seriallyseriously do not understand you comment, what are you referring to?

          When Ruth entered the room?

          Is that a reference to this poster, which Willis has stated being “an actor Billie has previously mentioned finding attractive”?

        2. Spencer

          Ruth asked if Sal was a serial killer because of the lack of any kind of posters or decor on her wall.

        3. Amazi-Stool

          Thanks, didn’t remember that! It was this one!

    3. caesaria82

      This comment is beautiful in its sadness. If you juxtapose these two storylines, it makes it even sadder. *sigh*

  17. Just Me

    Becky also put up pictures of dinosaurs. She probably doesn’t have one of Dina yet, so this was the next best thing.

    1. Bagge

      Why chose when you can have both? (check the image again)

      1. Cerberus

        Top right of the images on the wall.

  18. JessWitt

    And scene. Guess Joyce’s homecoming spans the next storyline.

    1. Lou

      I think almost all the storylines have been one day.

      So Joyce’s homecoming will be the next two storylines.

      1. JessWitt

        For Joyce’s sake, let’s hope things improve at home or else cut the visit short.

      2. Amazi-Stool

        I think almost all the storylines have been one day.
        No, all the storylines have been one day. There were some fast-forwards between storylines, but i wouldn’t expect that for this weekend.

        1. thejeff

          Judging by the previews, they’re going to be back home for a long time, at least in real time.

          There’s a May 21 shot of Joyce, Becky & Jocelyne in suburbia, for example.

  19. Yotomoe

    How long ago is that pictuure meant to be taken?

    1. Cerberus

      Not sure, but I’m going to guess elementary school. It’s the eponymous six flags trip that Joyce talked about here:
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/disagreement/

    2. Gordon

      Judging by the backgroun of the roller-coaster, I would say it’s one of the trips they took with Toedad.

      1. Roborat

        Oh, that is a roller coaster, at first glace, I thought it was the Sydney Opera House.

    3. Bagge

      Hmmm. Same haircuts as when the comic started, bestest of friends, not too old for DisneyLand or whatever place they are with cool rides…. Could be anything from age five to last month.

      1. DinaWho

        Joyce actually has the same picture up in her dorm room as well – when that panel was previewed I was assuming it was a shot of Joyce’s wall.

      2. Someone

        Its six flags, no one is really to old for six flags.

        1. Roborat

          Well, except for that creepy skinny dancing guy.

        2. ChrisHerself

          Bless that guy I love him so

    4. Leorale

      I bet it was the day Becky’s dad took them to Six Flags.

      1. Leorale

        aw, ninja’d. But still! Anyway it’s hard to tell because all the characters are stylized, but they look the same age as the flashbacks to Walky and Sal at the Hymnel audition. So, like eight or nine, I guess?

    5. Ctrl+C D@

      It’s from the future. It’s meant to throw you off because later down the line Joyce and Becky discover the fountain of youth.

      Turns out it’s at Six Flags.

      1. Yotomoe

        I understand that they found the secret of youth. I’ve made peace with that. When did they find the time machine?

        1. Ctrl+C D@

          That happens after they find out that Dina is actually a Dino-Princess and Becky has to fighter her uncle, the evil Tyrana-Gore for the right to marry her since Becky’s a filthy human.

        2. Bagge

          By that logic Dina has already won Becky’s hand fair and square.

          This is not lost on Becky.
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/fought/

        3. Ctrl+C D@

          Toedad was a puny, strangely shaped human.

          Tyrana-Gore is twenty feet tall and has a Ferrari.

        4. Leorale

          Tyrana-Gore has trouble fitting in his ferrari, and even when he rips off the roof so he can kinda fit, his li’l arms are too short to reach the wheel. This is the source of his rage.

        5. Emperor Norton

          OK, that made me laugh. Well done!

        6. Historyman68

          His source of rage is not the fact that nobody listens to him about the global warming/a giant comet coming to destroy his world?

        7. Leorale

          Historyman68, you’re thinking of his older brother, Turing-Gore, who invented the internet. However, nobody believed him about that, either. It’s tough out there for a dinosaur.

        8. Bagge

          And what on earth did the fountain of youth do to Becky’s haircut? It’s not rad anymore!!!

        9. Ctrl+C D@

          Because the fountain of youth turns your body back to what it was at that certain age point. So like if she stayed in there long enough to de-age back to thirteen, she’d have the haircut she did at thirteen.

        10. Clif

          That is completely logical and makes total sense. You have convinced me.

  20. Wolf

    Billies’ having second thoughts.

    oh god…. WHAT HAVE I DONE!!?

    1. Wolf

      After I look at this strip another time, I have a question:

      Did Billie stay up all night? Was she thinking about Ruth or just staring at that photo? Both?

  21. Someone

    I got a few e-mails from I.U today, I was greatly disappointed that they weren’t signed Dean McHenry

    And people say I have trouble telling fiction from reality, completely idiotic…right?

    1. Inspector Hound

      I imagine the hours of no response to your desperate plea for reassurance must be stressing you out, so please let me be of some help.

      It’s not completely idiotic.

    2. Roborat

      Were they telling you that they couldn’t accept donations to pay for the housing of a fictional lesbian?

      1. Someone

        No, they excepted my donations, funny enough I’ve heard that I.U might be making some pretty big improvements to their football field.
        Wonder where they got the money?

  22. caesaria82

    Becky put up pictures of herself & Joyce, Dina and dinosaurs. That made me smile :3

    Then the rest of the strip crushed my soul.

  23. Catty

    Ah, dammit, Willis. You really love yanking that drama tag.

    Can we just have a week or two of light-hearted stuff to give us a break? You know, Ethan being kind, Mike being sarcastic, Joyce being optimistic, Becky being unstoppable, Walky being … Walky, Sal being awesome and Dorothy being Lisa Simpson? Please.

    1. Needfuldoer

      There’s some Walky-Sal bickering coming up soon, if that helps.

  24. Shiro

    I still think she was bluffing about the dozens, but one or two is plausible.

    We’ve had a lot of sad sapphic ladies laying in bed and cuddling things that remind them of their girlfriends lately…

    1. Bagge

      Strangely, none of them have been Daisy

      1. Shiro

        That would require her to have a girlfriend first.

        Was…was that too far?

        1. Emily

          Yes it was, how dare you.

      2. Disloyal Subject

        She’d have to have a girlfriend for that. Or have had one.

  25. DinaWho

    Becky’s wall decorations give me a small fleeting moment of happiness in this story.

    1. Clif

      The better to crush your feels.

  26. Russ

    No discourse today. Only sadness 🙁

  27. FuryOfFirestorm

    That feel when you realize that straight girl is having a better lesbian relationship than you are.

    1. Shiro

      Who?

      1. Clif

        Fury is talking to Billie about Joyce.

  28. saltchocolate

    Heart officially broken. I mean, there are enough reasons why relationships end already: “cheating,” “prior marriage,” “fundamental incompatibility” . . . But to have to add “Mary” to the list . . . that just sucks.

  29. les-be-friends dinosaurs

    Man…Becky is a weird looking kid

    1. Someone

      She does look extremely uncomfortable

    2. Bagge

      She has an un-rad haircut. I find that weird.

    3. Leorale

      It’s the wide-spaced eyes.

  30. Badgermole

    Today was not a good day to put me through this, Willis.

    Song for Ruth: http://www.lizaannemusic.com/the-colder-months2/

  31. Iceholder

    Dumbing of Age -or- Making a Catgirl Cry: The Adventure

  32. AgentKeen

    Come on, Ruth, after all the times you’ve pointed it out, I think you’d know you’d have to reach a bit further out to cop a feel of Billie’s butt.

  33. Pedantic Peanut

    Okay, a better question because I’m trying to dissect the drama here.

    Near as I know the school shouldn’t care if Ruth is in a relationship so long as it isn’t someone she has authority over. Couldn’t Billy just, y’know, canvas the whole dorm place a transfer request and try to get a room on a different floor?

    Of course that would take time. And make sense . . .

    1. Clif

      Please see the title of the Comic.

      1. Knightsky

        Also, even if she did put in a transfer request to another dorm, it probably wouldn’t go through until the following quarter/semester.

        1. Roborat

          Or they could get married. Wouldn’t that circumvent the issue, and they would be allowed to live together?

  34. DarkoNeko

    Now that’d have been the perfect page for Valentine’s day

  35. GVickers

    This is truly touching. Thank you, Mr. Willis.

  36. Rutee

    Poor things.

  37. Bagge

    This is sad and all, but let’s look on the bright side. Mary won! She stood up for what is right and made sure there will no further cheer-leader-defiling.

    Oh, wait, that’s not the bright side.

    1. engineer

      But if Ruth had paid just a bit more attention to her RA job there wouldnt have been all that trouble.
      Why is noone allowed to run in the hallway, but Carla is allowed to skate and stomp and annoy? Marys request for silence was just legit, why couldnt Ruth step in for her?
      Lets face it: Ruth is a horrible RA after all.

      1. Bagge

        Oh, I’m sure Mary will fix that to in due time.

      2. Emily

        Ruth is a truly awful RA. Even on the rare occasions she actually deigns to do her job she is almost always hampered by her poor decision making like when she failed to stop Blane because she was morning drunk or this entire fiasco with Mary.

        1. thejeff

          The entire fiasco with Mary I’ll give you, but failing to stop Blaine? Physically trying to stop him was already far above and beyond her job description. Tell him he’s not allowed and call for security is what she’s supposed to do. RA’s are trained or paid enough to actually handle people intent on violence.

          And she wasn’t drunk at the time, she was in withdrawal. Not that it changes the argument.

        2. Spencer

          In hindsight, that thing with Blaine was kind of weird. Why is this smooth talking manipulator who grinds his victims down just outright trying to assault this woman right in front of him, and why did nobody report him for that? If he tried to beat the shit out of Ruth, in front of witnesses, why did she send Billie to chase after her alone?

        3. engineer

          I feel that the confrontation of Blaine and Ruth was quite too unrealastic. Does anybody seriously buy that a 100lbs girl with alcohol issues can stop a mad man like Blaine?
          Whatever amazing martial arts Ruth is supposed to know, it wouldnt work IRL.

        4. Gigafreak

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/approved/
          Right before Ruth suplexed him, Blaine lunged at her full-force. She doesn’t need a whole lot of muscle to throw him down: he provided 90% of the necessary force himself.

          Besides, if Daisy Ridley can lift 176 pounds as a routine workout, Ruth can sure as hell lift that much just once for a split second while hopped up on adrenaline.

        5. Emily

          I mean a major component of a number of martial arts is fighting people bigger than yourself by redirecting their own force. It’s not actually super hard to keep someone moving in a direction they were already going you just have to exploit their inertia.

      3. Spencer

        Carla wasn’t allowed, Mary says as much. Given that Ruth appeared immediately after Mary misgendered Carla, chances are she was hounding them both down to get Carla to knock the noise out and then decided to deal with the important matter.

        but yes ruth is awful

  38. engineer

    I wonder why they dont fallback to their best coping strategy: booze!

    1. Bagge

      Turning to the booze would be yet another failure, and one more than either of them can bring themselves to right now.

      Or because Ruth threw it away.

      1. thejeff

        Ruth not doing so fits precedent. Billie not drinking, especially when upset, is a change. Possibly, along with her mention of addiction yesterday, a good sign?

        1. engineer

          Billie seems to have been learning a few things. Her behaviour towards Walki has improved a lot. I guess she is developing in a positive way.

    2. Leorale

      The night is young.

      1. thejeff

        But the storyline is over. If they were drinking tonight, it would have to be shown now.

        1. Leorale

          Oh, you’re right. The night isn’t young after all.

  39. BenRG

    Ah! I was wondering where that old picture of Joyce and Becky (which was in a preview panel a way back) was going to fit in! I thought that it might be in Joyce’s room back home but, no, it turns out to be on the wall beside the bed that Becky made her own.

    I guess Sarah was almost right. The torch never really fades and Joyce will always have a special place in Becky’s heart. However, it’s nice to see that she’s also found a picture of Dina somewhere (possibly from the school paper) to put there.

  40. Fernando Martinez

    Boo, Leafs!

  41. TheNinthShader

    I can’t think of anything witty to say bout the strip because there are no words.

    1. Wublub

      Sure there are. “Toronto Maple Leafs Nation”.

      1. Bagge

        “Go Leafs”

      2. TheNinthShader

        I didn’t actually expect to get a reply to this xD

    2. Pat Myers

      (^_^)-b

  42. Pat Myers

    Too many angsty bisexuals/pansexuals. We need Mike.

    1. Spencer

      Hey it’s not just the bi and pan characters who are miserable.

      The gay ones are sad too.

    2. Emperor Norton

      Who’s to say Mike’s not angsty? He might very well be, and his assholery just happens to be the way he chooses to hide it.

      1. Spencer

        I honestly have a difficult time registering Mike as a queer character. The farthest we’ve ever seen was him fucking a dude in the name of comedy.

        Not that he needed to ever bang a dude to prove his queerness, I’m not some stupid asshole who thinks that baseless shit, but it’s kinda like, it only ever happened as a joke? So it’s hard to actually view it as legit.

        Of course, that also requires registering Mike as an actual character and not a walking punchline of horribleness.

        1. Emperor Norton

          I was going to speculate about how he may be sexually attracted to acts of douchebaggery rather than people… But then realised that yeah, you’re right, he’s not enough of an actual character to warrant that type of speculation.

  43. Liminality

    Have either of them even looked at the RA handbook or whatever it would be called? There could be a simple “if in relation, do this” type thing of notification. I don’t know what to call it properly, the thingy that would be used to notify and to try to either curtail nepotism, or make it so it is known and watched or something. Or is that me thinking too much into this?

    1. Bagge

      “If attracted to one of your charges, bully her, steal her shit, force-kiss her, get repeatedly drunk with her and have epic hate-sex. Try to keep it a secret.”

      “Huh, well that’s straight forward.”

      1. TheNinthShader

        ¨I seem to have missed a step¨ ‘Only do this if an asshole’ ¨Nevermind then.¨

  44. engineer

    I just wish I knew why that Ruth Billie break up leaves me so incredible sad. Makes me emotional af.
    It’s probably that I like Ruth’ soft side so much, you know, after their first night she was just so lovely… whatever… I’m just sad.

  45. Drew

    The bit of pocket sticking out from under Billie’s shorts is a nice little detail that many artists would have overlooked.

    1. Captain Button

      Does this mean that Billie is not wearing Girlpants?

      1. ChrisHerself

        Girlshorts pockets are even worse, you THINK you’ll actually get to use them as intended until you realize that everything in the pockets is hanging below the hem making you look like a sad hotpants squirrel.

  46. Guairdean Beatha

    “…just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year…”

  47. Tenn

    Everything ends with people in be(n)ds.

    That was a rhyme. Shut up.

  48. Joey245

    “End of storyline”

    Wait…what?

    But…what about Carla? And what about Mary getting her true comeuppance? And what about Joyce and Becky back at the Brown’s house? And who exactly is “that perfect girl” the title referred to?

    Well, I guess it’s gonna get resolved in the next storyline. Guess I’ll just go re-read a previous chapter…

    *goes to story drop-down menu*
    *sees title of next storyline*

    …oh no. This is gonna hurt.

    1. Captain Button

      Tune it tomorrow, same DoA time, same DoA website for our next exciting episode!

    2. winter

      “That perfect girl” is Carla. Or, rather, what Carla shouldn’t have to be. But it’s pretty easy to extrapolate and extend the connection to other members of the cast.

      Also it might be a Frozen reference.

      1. Spencer

        I think it fits for most of the cast in this storyline, and not just Carla.

        Joyce is practically self explanatory, but now we’ve got Danny realizing that Amber isn’t the perfect magical superhero he thought she was, we’ve got Ruth and Billie’s first major fight since they got together.

        Plus, Dina’s perfect girl is gone now too.

  49. Zaidyer

    Ow! My feelings!!

  50. Just Here

    Gods-Danny-it Ruth!

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