And, doing the responsible thing, immediately tears Billie’s heart open. Because when you see someone with chronic issues finally start to make some progress, it’s important to immediately punish them for it, so they don’t develop the terrible misconception that successfully changing will mean anything to anyone they care about.
To be fair (a hard thing here I’ve noticed), Billie probably had no idea how much of an asshat she was at the time. And Alice doesn’t know that Billie is trying to change.
Though with how Billie used to be, the question remains if Alice would even believe it.
It’s not Alice’s responsibility to do what’s best for Billie. It’s her responsibility to do what’s best for HERSELF. Billie saying she doesn’t want to be her old self doesn’t automatically mean Alice should let her back into her life.
Believe it or not, Alice is the rational actor here.
Misteline
I’d disagree about the rationalness of this sort of behavior is appropriate. Not being around Billie may be the best thing for Alice, especially if she isn’t strong enough or independent enough not to get sucked in. But treating someone the way she treats her in this scene or encouraging others to alienate Billy just because She couldn’t handle being a part of her life is neither rational nor ethical. Its one thing to say “I can’t be a part of your life” and another to say “No-one should be a part of your life and you are universally awful.” The first may very well be a rational response, the second rarely if ever is.
Strain Of Thought
Yeah, I concede you guys are probably right. Alice clearly has a great deal of buried pain that she’s been unable to share with Billie, and it’s unfair to expect her to hold it back indefinitely for Billie’s sake. I’m just incredibly annoyed by the paradox that Alice was trying to put up a polite front for Billie right up until she realized that Billie might not be totally oblivious to her self-destructive nature anymore. I’ve seen that pattern a lot before- and I mean in real life, too- and it always completely flummoxes me.
Arrghus
My guess is she was afraid starting that conversation would hurt Billie, and possibly provoke her into doing something dangerous (telling a dangerous person you think they’re dangerous is frequently a not-good idea). In avoiding the topic, Alice hoped to get out of the situation while neither hurting Billie nor putting herself at risk. Then Billie brought it up herself, making it somewhat clear she knew most of it and probably wouldn’t do anything stupid if confronted with it. So Alice took a chance for some catharsis.
Deanatay
More like, she was afraid starting that conversation would ruin any chance she had with Billie. They were ‘best friends’, but evidence shows Billie was probably oblivious to Alice’s extended feelings toward her. As usually happens when you suppress negative feelings in favor of positive ones, the negative feelings fester and grow until they burn away all the positive ones. That seems to have happened here.
Victor Riley
Yeah, Billie is the one that starting calling Alice “shitty”, because she thought she was doing the cool-kid thing and rejecting her “dorky friends”. I think that’s more of what set Alice off… knowing how Billie was before, how dare she say that Alice is being the shitty one.
fogel
Yes, but you don’t know how that kind of situation is going to play out. Look at what Billie’ s done to Ruth. Alice maybe should have told Billie why she was breaking off back during the summer and told her she needed to get her act together but how would that have gone before Billie’s rude awakening call at college? Even in the encounter in this arc Billie latched onto Alice as if they were still in high school, still trying to hold onto that world. Even Billie’ s “epiphany” wasn’t what Billie thought it was: Alice wasn’t down on Billie’ s “dork friends”, she was trying to evade Billie grabbing hold of her and pulling her down with her, with no reason to think it was otherwise.
OMG I also had a less than keen grasp of the obvious. Now the strip is even more heartbreaking. I want my obliviousness back. Damn you Damn Rat and Camachri!
Might not have been Alice’s first time. From her interactions with Ruth, two things are becoming clear:
1) Billie seems to be attractive to women. This may mean she’s generally attractive (having a bit of Asian blood probably adds an exotic hint to her appearance that attracts people), or that she has some element that attracts women (not sure if such an element exists, I’m just hypothesizing).
2) Billie does not seem to be AWARE that she’s attractive to women. She knows men like her, and has used that to her advantage in the past. But it seems to me Ruth was her first Sapphic experience (seeing how fumbly and rocky it was).
gigafreak
Alice is Asian, though. Billie’s Asian-ness would not be exotic to Alice.
Also it is unlikely that Billie’s unaware of her own attractiveness to girls, or she’d be oblivious to Joyce’s stare.
Victor Riley
“Love” might also not be the romantic/sexual kind. I love my friends, too… enough to take a bullet for them. But I don’t want to do the horizontal hokey-pokey with them.
JWLM
Billie may well have been unaware of the depths of Alice’s feelings towards her, but the alt-text makes it clear that they were lovers as well as friends.
I thought the alt-text was a tongue-in-cheek comment about the car wreck, not their “friendship.” I’m not really sure why that was the impression that I got, but it seemed more humorous than “hur-de-hur, girls sometimes try sexy stuff with their friends.”
Znayx
The alt-text refers directly to this (see link below), although I understand what you’re getting at. I see how you could have thought that, but the referenced strip removes that ambiguity. It is funnier your way though, but it was only intended as a reference/reminder, not humor.
And so, another minor Roomies character goes off into the wilderness to die. Maybe. I hope not.
Incidentally, “Drama Hurricane” is going to be my next Tumblr URL.
Forgiveness and second chances are not obligatory. Everyone has a right to withhold that as they wish. Billie is not in the best of states right now anyway, attempt at change or not.
No joke. Billie hurt her terribly in the past, and Alice — wisely — walked away. She has absolutely no responsibility to let herself be drawn back into a relationship with someone who so blithely did her such harm.
It’s gonna be a long ass three to four years for all the characters so I would be surprised if Alice is a one and done. Especially after that drama bomb she just dropped.
I hope so. I’d prefer not to have any more new recurring characters, especially ones that just cause the audience to feel anger and resentment instead of amusement or happiness, at least until a few older ones get written out.
Being true doesn’t make it something that should be said, not like this, not now. If she had to call Billie poison it should have been when she decided she couldn’t be around Billie anymore. Not after sneaking away and hiding for months, letting Billie keep thinking they still were on good terms. And she never should have told Walky and Joyce to abandon Billie as well.
Kryss LaBryn
To be fair, she did try really hard to politely indicate that she really didn’t want to stay in Billie’s social circle anymore.
She just failed miserably. But it’s not like the conversation went, “Alice! Hi! Long time no–”
“Poison! You’re poison! Stay away from me!”
Gadgeteer Smashwidget
Yeah, but… it kinda did.
“Hi Alice! Go Dragons!”
“Poison! POISON! DRAMA HURRICANE!
fogel
“Hi Alice. Go Dragons!” = “Wasn’t High School GREAT! Let’s go get smashed and wreck a car, maybe kill someone this time!”How do we know Alice didn’t talk to Billie about that? We just heard Alice say that Billie was in denial about it which was both sad and scary for Alice. We do know Billie showed up at IU wanting and expecting to be Cool Queen Bee. And why didn’t Billie get in touch with Alice over the summer? Why was it all on Alice? Alice is starting to cry as she leaves. I don’t see grounds for blaming Alice for doing what she had to to escape Billie’ s undertow OR to think that now Billie is ready for Alice to save her.
Eh, she tried being nice, it wasn’t cutting it in heavy traffic, sometimes you just gotta let someone have it. Remember this is clearly painful for Alice too, she quite clearly had very intense feelings for Billie, and had to go cold turkey, so Billie showing up opened some old wounds of hers too.
Alice was willing at first to excuse herself politely. But after Billie’s final comment in the previous comic, if she left without explanation, Billie would believe it was because of Walky and Joyce’s presence and feel like SHE had the moral high ground while Alice was being an asshole. I think THAT was what forced Alice to call Billie out on the real reason for her departure.
that…was a tad bit tasteless toward the victims of that particular hurricane you based the name off of
Gadgeteer Smashwidget
The best way to heal old wounds is to laugh about them. Besides, it’s been like 9 or 10 years since Katrina.
ivan
No can do, if it still gets a piece of you every day. No matter how long ago it was. Hence the classic shrink opening… ‘tell me about your parents/childhood’ – as the imprint is there, and too often forcing its way in years later, then withdrawing, (rinse repeat) – because for the antagonist, ANY response even if negative, is better than no response.
10, and they just paid the insurance claims for the last 10,000 victims, or denied for the last time, in July. Most of them were denied, a few were finally paid off.
If by “blow over” you mean “become an impossible weather phenomenon that always turns around and strikes again as soon as everyone whose still alive pokes their head out to see if it’s gone”….. Cuz I think that’s more likely for this comic….
428 thoughts on “Drama hurricane”
An Average Loser
So powerful, even Alice notices it. . .
Strain Of Thought
And, doing the responsible thing, immediately tears Billie’s heart open. Because when you see someone with chronic issues finally start to make some progress, it’s important to immediately punish them for it, so they don’t develop the terrible misconception that successfully changing will mean anything to anyone they care about.
Shade
To be fair (a hard thing here I’ve noticed), Billie probably had no idea how much of an asshat she was at the time. And Alice doesn’t know that Billie is trying to change.
Though with how Billie used to be, the question remains if Alice would even believe it.
Packy
It’s not Alice’s responsibility to do what’s best for Billie. It’s her responsibility to do what’s best for HERSELF. Billie saying she doesn’t want to be her old self doesn’t automatically mean Alice should let her back into her life.
Believe it or not, Alice is the rational actor here.
Misteline
I’d disagree about the rationalness of this sort of behavior is appropriate. Not being around Billie may be the best thing for Alice, especially if she isn’t strong enough or independent enough not to get sucked in. But treating someone the way she treats her in this scene or encouraging others to alienate Billy just because She couldn’t handle being a part of her life is neither rational nor ethical. Its one thing to say “I can’t be a part of your life” and another to say “No-one should be a part of your life and you are universally awful.” The first may very well be a rational response, the second rarely if ever is.
Strain Of Thought
Yeah, I concede you guys are probably right. Alice clearly has a great deal of buried pain that she’s been unable to share with Billie, and it’s unfair to expect her to hold it back indefinitely for Billie’s sake. I’m just incredibly annoyed by the paradox that Alice was trying to put up a polite front for Billie right up until she realized that Billie might not be totally oblivious to her self-destructive nature anymore. I’ve seen that pattern a lot before- and I mean in real life, too- and it always completely flummoxes me.
Arrghus
My guess is she was afraid starting that conversation would hurt Billie, and possibly provoke her into doing something dangerous (telling a dangerous person you think they’re dangerous is frequently a not-good idea). In avoiding the topic, Alice hoped to get out of the situation while neither hurting Billie nor putting herself at risk. Then Billie brought it up herself, making it somewhat clear she knew most of it and probably wouldn’t do anything stupid if confronted with it. So Alice took a chance for some catharsis.
Deanatay
More like, she was afraid starting that conversation would ruin any chance she had with Billie. They were ‘best friends’, but evidence shows Billie was probably oblivious to Alice’s extended feelings toward her. As usually happens when you suppress negative feelings in favor of positive ones, the negative feelings fester and grow until they burn away all the positive ones. That seems to have happened here.
Victor Riley
Yeah, Billie is the one that starting calling Alice “shitty”, because she thought she was doing the cool-kid thing and rejecting her “dorky friends”. I think that’s more of what set Alice off… knowing how Billie was before, how dare she say that Alice is being the shitty one.
fogel
Yes, but you don’t know how that kind of situation is going to play out. Look at what Billie’ s done to Ruth. Alice maybe should have told Billie why she was breaking off back during the summer and told her she needed to get her act together but how would that have gone before Billie’s rude awakening call at college? Even in the encounter in this arc Billie latched onto Alice as if they were still in high school, still trying to hold onto that world. Even Billie’ s “epiphany” wasn’t what Billie thought it was: Alice wasn’t down on Billie’ s “dork friends”, she was trying to evade Billie grabbing hold of her and pulling her down with her, with no reason to think it was otherwise.
Jen Aside
loved…?
Camachri
Check the alt-text. “Best friends” was a bit of an understatement.
Jen Aside
[thanks for spelling it out, Captain Subtlety]
Deanatay
(That’s Captain Sub-title-y. Fixed that for you. 🙂
Roborat
Nice to meet you, I am Major Disaster.
Gigafreak
Joyce is taking the revelation far more calmly than last time.
D
She might not have understood what Alice meant just yet…
An Average Loser
She was totally lesbians for Billie.
Plasma Mongoose
WAS been the key word there.
ocbrad1
Aren’t we all.
Keroshino
I know I am…and I’m a dude! 😀
That Damn Rat
What the drama hurricane being sexually transmitted comment was to subtle for you?
OldFart
OMG I also had a less than keen grasp of the obvious. Now the strip is even more heartbreaking. I want my obliviousness back. Damn you Damn Rat and Camachri!
Farmer_10
It would appear Ruth wasn’t Billie’s first rodeo with the Sapphic side of the Force.
Deanatay
Might not have been Alice’s first time. From her interactions with Ruth, two things are becoming clear:
1) Billie seems to be attractive to women. This may mean she’s generally attractive (having a bit of Asian blood probably adds an exotic hint to her appearance that attracts people), or that she has some element that attracts women (not sure if such an element exists, I’m just hypothesizing).
2) Billie does not seem to be AWARE that she’s attractive to women. She knows men like her, and has used that to her advantage in the past. But it seems to me Ruth was her first Sapphic experience (seeing how fumbly and rocky it was).
gigafreak
Alice is Asian, though. Billie’s Asian-ness would not be exotic to Alice.
Also it is unlikely that Billie’s unaware of her own attractiveness to girls, or she’d be oblivious to Joyce’s stare.
Victor Riley
“Love” might also not be the romantic/sexual kind. I love my friends, too… enough to take a bullet for them. But I don’t want to do the horizontal hokey-pokey with them.
JWLM
Billie may well have been unaware of the depths of Alice’s feelings towards her, but the alt-text makes it clear that they were lovers as well as friends.
StrawGirl
I thought the alt-text was a tongue-in-cheek comment about the car wreck, not their “friendship.” I’m not really sure why that was the impression that I got, but it seemed more humorous than “hur-de-hur, girls sometimes try sexy stuff with their friends.”
Znayx
The alt-text refers directly to this (see link below), although I understand what you’re getting at. I see how you could have thought that, but the referenced strip removes that ambiguity. It is funnier your way though, but it was only intended as a reference/reminder, not humor.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/inevitable/
John
‘exotic’ ‘sapphic’ jesus, dude.
Camachri
Oh.
Ohh.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
An Average Loser
And it’s gone.
Khaner
And so, another minor Roomies character goes off into the wilderness to die. Maybe. I hope not.
Incidentally, “Drama Hurricane” is going to be my next Tumblr URL.
anonymous
Eh, it’d serve her right for not giving Billie a second chance.
Nightsbridge
Forgiveness and second chances are not obligatory. Everyone has a right to withhold that as they wish. Billie is not in the best of states right now anyway, attempt at change or not.
whatho
What Nightsbridge said.
JWLM
No joke. Billie hurt her terribly in the past, and Alice — wisely — walked away. She has absolutely no responsibility to let herself be drawn back into a relationship with someone who so blithely did her such harm.
Hoboturtle
Really? Cause Sexually Trasmmited Hurricane will be mine.
sps48
Leaving Sexually Transmitted Drama Hurricane for me.
Jen Aside
I got Drama Hurricane Sexual Transmission!
Kryss LaBryn
Drama-Transmitted Sexual Hurricane for me! 😀
JessWitt
Anybody want Poisonous Sexually Transmitted Drama Hurricane?
Anderhail
More of a band name, I’d think
Pink Freud
Sounds like something you’d put five points in on your Borderlands character.
gigafreak
“The Sexually Transmitted Drama Hurricane does _________, but hopefully you just saw the skill name and were like DUDE I WANT THAT.”
Sageress
Beat you to it nerd
MrSirk
It’s gonna be a long ass three to four years for all the characters so I would be surprised if Alice is a one and done. Especially after that drama bomb she just dropped.
LockeZ
I hope so. I’d prefer not to have any more new recurring characters, especially ones that just cause the audience to feel anger and resentment instead of amusement or happiness, at least until a few older ones get written out.
Ridureyu
I like telling people that they’re poison and advising all their friends to abandon them, too!
Because that’s a totally decent thing to do.
Carriethedragon
Ok, sure, but why do I get the feeling what Alice said is– well, was, when Alice knew Billie– true?
timemonkey
Being true doesn’t make it something that should be said, not like this, not now. If she had to call Billie poison it should have been when she decided she couldn’t be around Billie anymore. Not after sneaking away and hiding for months, letting Billie keep thinking they still were on good terms. And she never should have told Walky and Joyce to abandon Billie as well.
Kryss LaBryn
To be fair, she did try really hard to politely indicate that she really didn’t want to stay in Billie’s social circle anymore.
She just failed miserably. But it’s not like the conversation went, “Alice! Hi! Long time no–”
“Poison! You’re poison! Stay away from me!”
Gadgeteer Smashwidget
Yeah, but… it kinda did.
“Hi Alice! Go Dragons!”
“Poison! POISON! DRAMA HURRICANE!
fogel
“Hi Alice. Go Dragons!” = “Wasn’t High School GREAT! Let’s go get smashed and wreck a car, maybe kill someone this time!”How do we know Alice didn’t talk to Billie about that? We just heard Alice say that Billie was in denial about it which was both sad and scary for Alice. We do know Billie showed up at IU wanting and expecting to be Cool Queen Bee. And why didn’t Billie get in touch with Alice over the summer? Why was it all on Alice? Alice is starting to cry as she leaves. I don’t see grounds for blaming Alice for doing what she had to to escape Billie’ s undertow OR to think that now Billie is ready for Alice to save her.
Plasma Mongoose
But do you do it while Poison by Alice Cooper is playing in the background?
Keroshino
I call my friend Poison…
…but that’s only because that’s his favorite Ultra Street Fighter 4 character!
Anytime he tries to choses another character, I’m like “No, You’re Poison!”
That Damn Rat
Eh, she tried being nice, it wasn’t cutting it in heavy traffic, sometimes you just gotta let someone have it. Remember this is clearly painful for Alice too, she quite clearly had very intense feelings for Billie, and had to go cold turkey, so Billie showing up opened some old wounds of hers too.
FlyingFish
Alice was willing at first to excuse herself politely. But after Billie’s final comment in the previous comic, if she left without explanation, Billie would believe it was because of Walky and Joyce’s presence and feel like SHE had the moral high ground while Alice was being an asshole. I think THAT was what forced Alice to call Billie out on the real reason for her departure.
Kernanator
Drama Hurricane could be Dumbing of Age’s alternate title.
anonymous
The punless alternate title?
Tobias
Hurricane Kadrama?
Mattyos
that…was a tad bit tasteless toward the victims of that particular hurricane you based the name off of
Gadgeteer Smashwidget
The best way to heal old wounds is to laugh about them. Besides, it’s been like 9 or 10 years since Katrina.
ivan
No can do, if it still gets a piece of you every day. No matter how long ago it was. Hence the classic shrink opening… ‘tell me about your parents/childhood’ – as the imprint is there, and too often forcing its way in years later, then withdrawing, (rinse repeat) – because for the antagonist, ANY response even if negative, is better than no response.
Opus the Poet
10, and they just paid the insurance claims for the last 10,000 victims, or denied for the last time, in July. Most of them were denied, a few were finally paid off.
Clif
Tastelessness in the comments? Oh, no!
Camachri
The important thing about a Drama Hurricane is that it will blow over eventually.
Sageress
But not before causing untold destruction
Pantheon the Mantheon
If by “blow over” you mean “become an impossible weather phenomenon that always turns around and strikes again as soon as everyone whose still alive pokes their head out to see if it’s gone”….. Cuz I think that’s more likely for this comic….
Siggimus Maximus
Not inaccurate. Hurricanes do that.