Sweet
Posted on June 21, 2016 by David M Willis

327 thoughts on “Sweet”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “I swear! It’s… this chick who wants her to join roller derby, YEAH”

    1. Mr k

      I can’t decide whether I’d rather date Malaya or Ruth.

      Probably Malaya, since she won’t take my femurs.

      1. butts

        Hey. Hey.

        Ruth has only ever threatened to take someone’s femurs.

        That we know of.

      2. Some1

        Nah, I’m actually more scared of a pissed of Marcie, than pissed of Billie, so Ruth.

        1. Mr k

          What’s she gonna do? Make obscene gestures at me?

        2. Disloyal Subject

          A pissed off Billie has a mean kick from powerful ex-head cheerleader hips.
          A pissed off Malaya has her own physical prowess and could probably skateboard up and down the object of her ire, AND comes with a pissed-off Sal. Hell, Sal might be inclined to take action even if Marcie decided to just accept it.

          And on top of it all, Malaya doesn’t have red hair to go with her freckles.

      3. Shaunock

        You don’t really need them, do you?

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Only if they want to live.

        2. Reltzik

          Eh. Femurs come and femurs go. They’re efemural.

        3. Opus the Poet

          That’s… pretty good. Carry on.

        4. DSL

          I thought that was humerus.

        5. DonDueed

          Tibia not to be, that is the question.

        6. Owlmirror

          Hyoid like to subscribe to your newsletter.

      4. Itama

        but after a while you’d rip out your own femers, to stab Malaya with.

        1. Hielario

          I read something like that once.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Now a Billie on Carla catfight for Ruth’s hand?

    Be that would get her to open the door.

    1. inqntrol

      Comes out, checks what’s going on, says:” You may continue”. Goes back inside

      1. Reltzik

        “No. Stop this. Right now. I need to get popcorn first.”

      2. OsoPescado

        Thissssssss

      3. TheAnonymousGuy

        Billie lunges toward the door, and Ruth accidently shuts the on her hand breaking her fingers. As a result she’s required to help her with any hand required assistance and they as a result get back together.

        1. Michael

          Ruth attempts to repair Billie’s hand by replacing her broken hand bones with femurs she’s collected.

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Does Carla take the Igor role of lightning rod attendant?

    2. Stu

      Not her hand – her femurs.

  3. AnvilPro

    Irony is funny.

    1. Van Jealous

      Irony is what you end up with after Ruthless takes out your femur….no I guess that would be after she takes out your patella…..iron knee…..nevermind….

      1. Disloyal Subject

        http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif

      2. Chaucer59

        Irony is what healthy hemoglobin is: high I iron. Unless your a Vulcan, in which case your hemoglobin isn’t irony—it’s coppery.

        Okay, I’ll stop now.

  4. DarkoNeko

    Gosh, that last panel 😀

  5. Wheelpath

    This works for every fandom and I hate that

    1. Mr k

      Especially when it comes to brothers and sisters.

      Like Supernatural.

      1. Rukduk

        Wait. What?!? Why…why is that a thing?

        1. Mr k

          Gravity Falls has the same problem…

        2. Silly Name

          … They’re TWELVE! It’s a DISNEY CARTOON!

          WHY?!

        3. Tacos

          It’s what fandoms do. They’ll ship anybody with anybody or anything.

        4. StClair

          Ayup.

        5. caesaria82

          You’ve never experienced the depths of Wincest? It’s very popular! I feel like that’s almost a fandom rite of passage now that you or someone you know gets into that dumb show and comes across the wild waters of the Wincest sea lmao.

          I personally say, ship and let ship, whatever, it’s fictional. I’ve read some CRAZY fanfic in my time. (Almost) no regrets xD

        6. merbrat

          also: Gred and Forge twincest is a thing

        7. caesaria82

          Oh yeah totally. So is Elsa/Anna.

        8. Linkletter

          Ruby and Yang as well.

        9. Deanatay

          Ren/Jaune 4 life

        10. DonDueed

          River and Simon?

        11. LWS

          If you don’t mind a little frostbite on your you-know-what…

        12. Palamdrone

          The cold never bothered me anyway.

        13. Rukduk

          ATLA and LoK have now been ruined for me.

        14. marianne

          I seem to remember the show even (quite hilariously) acknowledging Wincest a couple times in its more meta episodes. And no, phone keyboard, I don’t think we need to add “Wincest” to your dictionary!

        15. marianne

          Here’s one of the funniest bits acknowledging it that I remember (spoilers for season 5): Amazing link text!

      2. Reltzik

        Or Star Wars.

    2. Cerberus

      (Ron Perlman voice) Shipping… shipping never changes…

      1. Deanatay

        It’s all over but the shipping…
        And nobody’s shipping but meeee…
        Fans all over know it’s my OTP
        But I just can’t give up on yooooou…

  6. Idontcarenomore

    Carla did come back, bless her little heart.

    Not as misantrophic as she wants us to believe.

    1. Reltzik

      That plate is LOADED with saturated fat and zero fiber.

      Unless that orange juice has pulp, in which case it’s even more evil.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Just what goes into a “balanced” breakfast anyway? The examples you see in ads are always something like a bran muffin, half a grapefruit, an entire glass of orange juice, toast, two sausage links, and of course the bowl of cereal (with skim milk).

        Breakfast for me is a glass of coffee and usually a couple graham crackers.

        1. Excal

          According to this chart you’re due to die in -7 hours

        2. Needfuldoer

          This is luxury.

          When I was a kid we had to get up in the middle of the night, eat a handful of freezing cold gravel, go work in the mines for 14 hours a day for 50 cents a week, and when we got home father would cleave us in two with a bread knife.

        3. Geneseepaws

          You had it easy, there were a hundred and fifty of us livin’ in a shoe box in middle of road, …
          And ya tell that to kids today and they won’t believe you.

        4. Deanatay

          So, you had a box, eh? I lived in a rusty filing cabinet drawer with half the population of Cleveland!

          I had to sell a piece of my liver every day just to afford the air I breathed.

          I had a job licking other men’s boots clean. Didn’t pay nothing. It BUILT CHARACTER!!

          My daddy murdered me every evening, then resuscitated me, then murdered me again! I had to do the second resuscitating myself, and the tarring I’d get if I did it wrong!

          Kids these days just don’t get it.

        5. Roborat

          We were evicted from our shoe box, we had to go live in the lake.

        6. DSL

          You had a bread knife? Luckyyyyyyyy …

        7. hof1991

          For Ruth, that’s not orange juice, it’s mix.

  7. Charles Phipps

    Carla is consistently getting dragged into carrying the load for two people who need to work out their own problems.

    1. Idontcarenomore

      Consistently? Being asked to drop off cookies to Ruthless?
      …and sorta keep an eye on her, which could be just about anything thing.

      Looks to me like the breakfast thing is her own idea.

      1. Cerberus

        I think she might be kind of an optimizer. Like, if she’s going to do something, she’s going to do it right and go all in rather than half-assing it. And that includes the half-assing.

        1. Mav

          “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”
          – Ron Swanson

        2. Reltzik

          You DO realize that whole-assing the half-assing is self-contradictory, yes?

          I think it’s just that she realizes she’ll be called to account for not doing the job right. Some criticism she might have a thick skin towards, but I think Carla would take legit criticisms of her legit failures fairly seriously. More seriously than transphobic crap, at least.

        3. Cerberus

          I can see that.

          As far as my point, I was more thinking that she tends to go balls to the wall in just being a goofball as well (thinking of the parkour or jumping over Mary with the skates). When she’s just futzing around, she pulls off some major skills that require serious coordination and practice and at least with the parkour, it’s hinted that she’s throwing herself into it based on some youtube videos Sal showed her.

        4. Michael

          Speak for yourself. I frequently put 300% effort into doing a half-assed job.

  8. miados

    Poor carla. I’ll pretend to date you so nobody will suspect you like ruthless. Wait nope i can’t do that. I would want to actually date her.

    1. Reltzik

      No wait this is doable. Actually date both of them, and when you’re caught, and this will double-unship the two due to their jealousy-fueled cattiness.

      WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

      1. DarkVeghetta

        Unship due to CATTINESS?! Ahahahaha! Hilarious. It will have the exact opposite effect! The shipping would not only increase, it could even stabilize into a shipping triangle!

  9. Cerberus

    And 5 strips exactly! Oh, Carla and your predictable empathy:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/todo/#comment-1118000

    1. butts

      Literally her next appearance. Good job, Carla, that was even faster than I was expecting!

      1. Reltzik

        Not only is she faster, she’s breakfaster!

        …..

        …. I’ll just be outside in the car, if that’s okay.

        1. Orion Fury

          And with her skates on, she’s breakfastest?

    2. Bagge

      What are you talking about? She CLEARLY said she wouldn’t help. She is OBVIOUSLY too cool to care

  10. Teddae

    Welp, more drama ensues?

    1. butts

      I’d say Billie should be smart enough to be able to figure out what’s going on and act reasonably, but she’s not exactly in the most stable place right now.

  11. nobodybasically

    How did Rachel find out about that time Ruth held Carla against her will in Sweden?

    1. Janine

      That’s Double Stockholm Syndrome.

    2. Roborat

      And if she was held in a feedlot, it would be stockyard syndrome.

      And if she was held by an evil former sidekick, it would be Syndrome syndrome.

      1. begbert2

        Stockyard syndrome? No, it’s stock home syndrome.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Where you can’t bear to live in a house that is exactly as it was originally built?

  12. Mr. Mendo

    Oh, I don’t think things are going exactly as planned! 😉

  13. Jay Eff

    Ruth would have actually opened the door if Carla had mentioned the Bacon and Eggs, too~

    1. merbrat

      Maybe she shoulda brought Poutine

      1. Dellaran

        A large double-double and a box of Timbits! (Or a box of Tinnitus, suggests my autocorrect…)

        1. foamy

          Mm, Timbits. Now I’m hungry. 🙁

        2. Geneseepaws

          Pea meal and French toast?

      2. Deanatay

        Or some Kraft Dinner?

    2. quarktime

      TIM. HORTONS.

  14. Cattleprod

    They’re already one of those couples that looks like each other.

    (Seriously, I sometimes have to take a second to figure out who it is, I’m glad their fashion senses are generally different.)

    1. Cerberus

      You know… it would actually be a healthier relationship than Billie and Ruth (largely because Ruth and Billie will always have that awkward and abusive start to their relationship and the way it colors their interactions). I could actually see it working if the narrative went that way.

      1. Bagge

        “healthier relationship than Billie and Rut”

        Yey…

        1. Cerberus

          If you set a low enough bar, literally anything can clear it.

        2. Reltzik

          Nonsensesicalitiness! No matter how low you set the bar, there’s something even worse than that.

        3. Orion Fury

          You can always trip over a bar on the floor…

        4. Arianod

          Or you can walk into a bar.

        5. DSL

          And the bartender will say: “Is this some kind of joke?”

        6. DarkVeghetta

          And then the horse kicks the bartender. Horses HATE bartenders.

        7. DSL

          … to which the string replies, “No, I’m a frayed knot.”

      2. Reltzik

        Maybe. Carla would definitely be less inclined to put up with Ruth’s shit, they’ve both got that shared layer of misanthropy, Carla’s got an independent streak that Ruth would appreciate…

        … not sure what Carla would get out of it. Or if she’s oriented towards women. … or at all. Crap, language difficulties. Is asexuality an orientation or is it a non-orientation?

        But in any case, all the things that are keeping Ruth and Billie apart would also keep Ruth and Carla apart. ((Though… Mary might NOT think it’s an abomnation? … no, wait, premarital, it’s a nono.))

        1. Spencer

          Carla is homoromantic ace, like Ultra Car.

          And, yeah, put me down for Ruth/Carla. My ability to like Ruth/Billie is always kind of tempered by their beginning interactions, so I like that Carla is someone who won’t put up with Ruth’s crap, but is also someone Ruth hasn’t actually hurt before she started to work on some of her problems.

        2. Will

          I need like a chart of these things. Unless you’re assuming based on her appearances in the other webcomics I know nothing about, then I’m more of the idea that nothing can be said until proven otherwise.

          On that line, it seems to me Carla would probably be one of those people that don’t tend to fall in love as easily as others.

        3. Spencer

          Sexuality is consistent between this series and the Walkyverse comics, so Carla is homoromantic ace like she was in Shortpacked, where she was Ultra Car.

        4. Will

          Gotcha!

          Might need to actually check the rest of the comics eventually.

        5. Reltzik

          Wait, so Danny is bi in the Walkyverse?

        6. Spencer

          Indeed. WV!Becky’s gay and WV!Dina’s polysexual (or possibly polyromantic, if she actually is ace).

        7. Regalli

          Over on Bring Back Roomies Willis commented on one strip where Walky meets Danny as Danny realizing he’s bi via retcon, so yep!

        8. Cerberus

          This, though she’s mentioned the homoromantic bit in this strip as well:
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/spilled/

        9. DarkVeghetta

          As I believe Willis stated before, we shouldn’t assume a certain trait is the exact same between DoA and the Walkyverse.
          Most are similar, probably because Willis has a certain vision/fondness for that character’s personality/preferences, but it’s by no means a given. Or so I remember from a rather old post of his.
          In other words, I wouldn’t be so certain Carla’s homoromantic/ace… though it is a pretty good bet, from what we’ve seen so far.

        10. David M Willis

          spencer is right about what i have stated, and i have no idea where darkveghetta got his counter information

        11. DarkVeghetta

          Odd, but as I did say, I might be misremembering. It was something regarding DoA and Walyverse not being the same, because certain people kept referencing what characters did in the Walkyverse, which was something you didn’t want them to do if possible. Somehow that must have given me the impression of what I stated above.
          My apologies for the mistake.

        12. DarkVeghetta

          PS: Seems I didn’t actually say I might be misremembering in the initial post… huh. I must have edited it out and forgot to put it back in when I actually posted. Whupsie.
          (Had to clarify since “but as I did say” didn’t seem right without me actually saying such in the post before it… which I thought I did. So yeah. 😛 )

      3. Spencer

        Part of how Billie’s attraction to Ruth “makes sense” to me is that I think Billie feels vindicated in breaking through Ruth’s earlier abusive behaviour, and that she found that Ruth wasn’t just the bullying jerk she thought she was. It’s sort of like how I feel Danny was expecting his romance with Amazi-Girl to go, where he’d have a big dramatic payoff for his investment in their relationship.

        She’s the Alpha Bongo, and even that jerkface RA is now wrapped around her finger and is totally sub for Billie. She defanged Big Bad Ruthless.

      4. Falcon

        …ehhh, both Ruth and Carla have issues/disinclinations to connect or communicate what they’re feeling clearly. Fights and misunderstandings would be difficult to recover from.

        At least with Ruth and Billie, they’ll both crash and burn together, ending their lives in a romantic death spiral. Uh, I mean complement each other as Ruthless has better standards and organization, while Billie is more willing to reach out and make sure people understand each other. Yeah, that one. >.>

      5. LWS

        That’s like saying a healthy relationship between France and Germany; not exactly a high standard to exceed.

        1. Reltzik

          But….

          …. France and Germany DO have a fairly healthy relationship.

        2. DarkVeghetta

          Well, that relationship did spawn part of my family, so there’s that. 😛

  15. Idontcarenomore

    Also, it may get someone in there to care for her, looking like Ruthless needs some help.

  16. Durandal_1707

    Is it just me, or does Other Rachel look like she’s in her 50s rather than college aged?

    1. -Sentinel-

      50 is still college-aged, you know. 😛

      I’m more disturbed by those terrible eyes of hers.

      1. Reltzik

        They’re just Joyce-eyes behind magnifying glasses.

        ….

        #prayforyoursoul

        1. DarkVeghetta

          *shudder*

  17. Emoroffle

    I ship Carla with Mary’s frustration.

  18. Regalli

    Right, dammit, scene changes. We’re gonna draw this shit out. Glad Carla’s checking in on her, though, and that Billie at least knows that yep, someone is going to check in on Ruth.

    Meaning this is at least enough time for someone to go out, feel guilt, and pick up dining hall food for her and knowing my college dining hall at least, Sundays opened later. Worrying may be slightly warranted now. (Though I’m certain Ruth wouldn’t emerge even if she is awake and okay now until the crowd’s gone.)

    1. Kernanator

      On my campus, the dining commons doesn’t open on weekends until 10:30. Let’s hope that IU does it earlier.

      1. Regalli

        Mine was probably around that time if not waiting until 11 AM even, can’t quite recall.

        I’m hoping it’s somewhat earlier given it’s running implied-timeline-simultaneously with Joyce and co. at church, which would probably start earlier, but… still. Oh dear.

    2. Emperor Norton II

      What about the possibility of Carla the engineering major with super-rich parents having the food delivered by her own built-from-scratch drone after the servants in her mansion home made it?

      1. Regalli

        Potentially! That does look like actual plate and glassware instead of a styrofoam container and a paper cup, so I could totally see it being from not-the-dining hall. But that would still take a decent chunk of time to prepare.

        1. merbrat

          This is Carla. She probably just walked out with them.

      2. Reltzik

        Servants? You mean automatic food-cooking AIs?

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Po-tei-toes, po-tah-toes.

    3. thejeff

      OTOH, it’s what? Maybe 9AM on a Sunday? More than an hour after she checked before, but still really early to be panicking about a college student not being up.

      1. Cerberus

        I think there might be one or two signs that Carla is a worrier type about whether or not other people she begrudgingly cares about are okay.

        1. Spencer

          I am reminded that during her confrontation with Amazi-Girl, she first joked that she wanted to give her a medal for knocking Malaya over, but when Malaya actually got overhead tossed like five feet, Carla was the one who actually checked up on her.

        2. Cerberus

          Aw, shit, I forgot about that one. Yeah, she’s got a long history of trying to pose like an apathetic badass and then rushing over to check on everyone and anyone.

        3. DarkVeghetta

          Explains why I do rather like her. She’s a good one, if rather reluctantly.

        4. DarkVeghetta

          *cut the excess second ‘rather’… damn I wish I could edit my posts.

  19. Mav

    Gosh, I hope Ruth is okay. Ah, how I’m familiar with the living-inside-your-room phase – for a different reason, though. It unfortunately still comes and goes.

    1. Regalli

      Not a fun phase at all, no. (Mine was combination depression/anxiety, personally.) Hope you’re doing at least somewhat better these days, and all the internet hugs to you because uuuugh.

      1. Mav

        Thank you for your kindness! I am currently experiencing a wave of wanting to be at home all the time (also from anxiety and depression!) and working through it, but it’s comparatively MUCH better than the first few times, when I was in college and I literally lived in my room at one point.

        1. Regalli

          Yeah, fortunately I couldn’t literally hole up in my room for more than three to five days before running out of food, and once I got there again it helped prompt me to go Talk To Someone before things got to the point where my mom had to drive over to campus to make sure I was still alive a second time (… not a good fall, that year), but late 2013-most of 2014 was not a good time.

        2. Mav

          I empathize. College can be very rough for people. When I was there, we had a name for sophomore year depression, although tough times can of course strike at anytime.

    2. Cerberus

      Yup, it’s rough.

      This scene’s definitely giving me some flashbacks to some of the days when my ex couldn’t leave the room and wasn’t feeling people existing in her space, so I’d just make dinner and then knock on her door and see if she felt good enough to make it to the kitchen or to invite me in to the bedroom to eat with her, or if it was a bad day and I’d be putting the food in the fridge and checking in on her periodically to make sure she ate something.

      Damn our families for having exacerbated what was already a volatile mental health situation for her.

      1. Mav

        I’m sorry about that. That must have been very difficult for both of you. I know what it’s like to have family interactions exacerbate mental health conditions – sending virtual hugs!

        Also, all the kudos to you for helping your ex. My really big wake up call, I also wasn’t taking care of myself and (predictably) ended up in a crisis. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if my friend hadn’t happened upon me. It’s funny how it’s like you have no idea how un-okay you are until someone else just takes the time to really reach out to you.

        1. Cerberus

          It was such a weird time in both of our lives that it really didn’t feel out of place. And she did similar to keep me more or less functional when I got into my depressed can’t leave the room mode a few years before that.

          As you note, it’s really hard to be aware of how un-okay you are when it’s all happening, cause you’ve got the really bad days to make it feel like the ones where you are more or less functional are the good ones where everything’s okay.

        2. Cerberus

          Also, massive *hugs* for what you’re dealing with. I can say as someone who made it to the other side of all that to a large degree, that the agoraphobia phases do pass.

        3. Mav

          Thank you! Its a real relief to hear, especially from someone familiar with these experiences.

        4. DarkVeghetta

          Thankfully these… moods tend to pass. About two years ago I’ve spent 2+ months inside my room, with the occasional bathroom visit. Probably not the best choice I ever made, but… it was a strange time. Apathy and depression together can really drain on you. I got better. Friends. Friends are important.

        5. DarkVeghetta

          I feel for you, Cerb. I’ve had a very similar experience with one of my ex’s. She got into a state where she didn’t even go to work anymore, or get out of bed… I was living with her at the time and it was really hard to see her deteriorate like that in front of my eyes. I tried to help her, I fed her, even carried her to the bathroom because she’d fall down when she tried to go by herself. It was compounded by violent episodes… had to dodge a few pots and pans… had to cover her up when she decided to stand naked on a couch in the middle of winter after sed violent episode.
          Sadly I couldn’t get through to her after one or two weeks of this. She then broke up with me and drove me to the airport. *sigh*
          Thankfully her grandmother found her and managed to get through to her. To this day I am thankful to that granny. We got together two times more, and it got bad again, but not quite that bad… well, not in the same way at least. Haven’t heard from her for nearly a year, but for about two years now she’s been with someone and seems stable/content – I’d have preferred she’d also be happy, but I’m glad she’s alright now. I still worry about her sometimes though.

          Huh… didn’t mean to go spill my relationship guts out like that.
          Anyway, as I intended to say before I got all nostalgic: *sends hugs to Cerb*, glad you’re doing better these days and also hope your ex is doing better likewise.

  20. timemonkey

    Carla’s going to need a lot more pies.

  21. Rodimiss

    Carla is never doing a favor for anyone again now that this has given the rest of the floor the erroneous impression that she has things as base as human feelings.

    I laugh at “leaving breakfast out for the RA” like she’s a stray cat that comes around sometimes that they put food out for (okay, maybe that’s not wrong), but it’s very sweet of Carla to come back around with more than just a knock on the door.

    1. Cerberus

      Now I’m just imagining Carla shaking a box of femurs to try and bring out Ruth to eat. “Here Ruthy (shake shake shake). Dindins on. They didn’t have the blood of your enemies but they did have orange juice.”

  22. altalemur

    Carla and Ruthless sitting in a tree. P-U-N-C-H-I-N-G. no wait… that’s actually Ruthless’ courtship dance.

  23. JessWitt

    I ship thee “Redheads of Read Hall”.

    1. DSL

      A “Dover Boys” for our time.

  24. magicallady

    “are you two fighting over me?” “fuck that”

  25. Russ

    Please don’t let this misunderstanding lead to drama. Please.

    1. Tacos

      Y’know what would really lead to drama? If Mary walks outside due to the “commotion” and starts her bullshit while everyone is there.

    2. Disloyal Subject

      I wonder if Mary’s clever enough to use the allegation to get Ruth investigated before her ACTUAL relationship with Billie is fully concealed.

  26. Cerberus

    I kinda love how Carla makes a big show of how misanthropic she is and then goes above and beyond for what was asked for her.

    Like when she was told to deliver the cookies and made a big show about how she tried and was going to eat them all and then got on her hands and knees trying to shove a cookie under the door and doing a whole mental health intervention thing.

    And here, she’s asked to check in on Ruthless, so after making a big deal of lol, wiped off phone, the rest of the day is me time, she straight up either acquired or made breakfast and fresh juice and arranges it neatly outside her door.

    It’s just an awesome flavor of jerk, who wants so badly to be seen as the jerk, but she’s just too damn nice and caring to ever make it really stick on anything other than a superficial level.

    1. magicallady

      so shes jerk with a heart of gold?

      1. Rukduk

        Yep, although the “jerk”‘layer is a very thin crust it appears.

        1. magicallady

          like crepe thin? or pancake thin?

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          wafer thin.

        3. magicallady

          holy fuck thats thin

        4. Dean

          Like spider hair thin.

      2. Cerberus

        Yeah, but it’s not even the jerk with a heart of gold arc. It’s someone who desperately wants to be a shit and can’t manage beyond the superficiality of being an asshole because she cares too much about people to actually harm them.

        It reminds me a bit of Lapis Lazuli from Steven Universe. Wants so hard to be the misanthropic loner but keeps on going out of her way to save Steven.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          And that is because, as we both know, she is a jerk because that is her shield. She isn’t a jerk simply because she wants to be a jerk, like Mike is. She is a jerk so people can hate her for being a jerk, instead of hating her simply for being Carla.

          (We have had this conversation before, so I know you know all this; so this reply is mainly for the benefit of new comment field readers.)

        2. Cerberus

          Yup! That’s still my reading on her as well.

          Hell, is there a queer redhead in this strip who doesn’t have some elaborate coping mask to hide the mess they are inside and deal/hide their traumas?

        3. Emperor Norton II

          Is there a queer redhead in the real world that doesn’t have that?

          OK, now I am making myself sad.

        4. Cerberus

          Tilda Swinton?

        5. Emperor Norton II

          True, she’s not being kick-ass to cope, she simply is kick-ass, period.

        6. StClair

          Not just queers or redheads, either! See also Sarah. (Speaking of conversations already had.)

    2. caesaria82

      I love her sooooo muuuuccch. *cries*

    3. vmgx

      She is a total Sandor clegane

  27. Shaunock

    This seems to be occurring in a future without pants.

    The future is bright indeed.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      I gotta wear shades.

  28. Sporky

    Billie’s just like “it’s too early for this shit”

  29. -Sentinel-

    I hope the door opens inwards.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Since people can be pennied in, I think they have to.

      1. Reltzik

        If the room is designed anything at all like the rest of the hall, yes. Dina has thoroughly demonstrated the door-hiding potential of inward-opening doors.

        1. Silamy

          I’m pretty sure Billie kicked it in, way back when.

    2. Bicycle Bill

      The room doors all seem to open inwards; in fact, when Mary opened her door to see what Carla was up to, pulling the door inward is what put tension on the string that triggered the GRRM (Great Rutech Revenge Machine).

    3. Inspector Hound

      They’d have to. Your basic door swings open to the hinge side. Having hinges on hallway side of the wall would mean that anyone could break in by removing bits of hinge (lots of choices there), allowing them to remove the door.

      1. Rycan

        It also prevents you from being easily barricaded into the room.

        1. thejeff

          That’s what pennies are for.

  30. Benjy

    Everyone’s just askin’ fer a pie to the face tonight.

    1. magicallady

      i do like pie

  31. Rukduk

    Reaction 1: Aww, you can’t hide the fact that you actually care about people Carla.
    Reaction 2: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp for air* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *starts wheezing* Sal…just…shipped…Carla…and Ruth. And everyone else…is latching on to it…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
    (Each “…” stands for a deep breathe to recover from to much laughing, I laughed way too much when I read this)

    1. Cerberus

      What’s even more amazing than this, at least to me, is that it’s Sal who’s shipping them. Since I’ve pretty much assumed that Carla’s had a crush on Sal since the skatefailing liar arc, this is, in my head, Carla’s actual crush mocking her and saying she’s got a crush on the person she’s only checking in on for said person’s actual secret crush.

      That’s Shakespearian levels of convoluted misunderstanding right there!

      1. Rukduk

        I just realized that if Shakespeare were alive today, he would either be a) having a field day b) directing or writing a low budget soap opera or c) both.

        1. thejeff

          d) clawing at the lid of his casket

        2. Rutee

          “All of these people redoing my plays AND THEY AREN’T ADDING DICK JOKES!?”

  32. Dara

    What’s this ship name, then? Cruth? Carless? Rucarla? Rula?

    1. LadyThrimbletrimmer

      “Car Wreck”

      1. merbrat

        +1 (or Titanic)

      2. Spencer

        I used to insist on “Ginger Snaps”, but this is way better.

  33. caesaria82

    I hate this childish ‘ooooh, you like her/him/them, don’t you’ teasing. I’ve hated that SO MUCH in school, it made me so uncomfortable when someone did that to me. Ughhhhh. Shivers.

    Damn I just had a full-on flackback to my youth and I DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL xD

    1. Emperor Norton II

      On one hand, it shows that Willis is good at making realistic situations.

      On the other hand, *hugs*

      1. caesaria82

        Aww thanks <3 It's not for real bad, it was just… an eerie feeling, like, yikes, I've been there. And you're right, very well done, Mr Willis!

    2. Cerberus

      I just had a thought. Carla is a homoromantic ace trans woman. Meaning that that sort of teasing probably wasn’t always innocent and little kid like, but there was probably a period in there where “midwestern nice” manifested in some genuine bullying about her non-traditional styles of loving and being.

      Not to mention the fact that being ace and being trans, building up to asking someone out can be a very fraught thing because asking the wrong person can get you beat or killed or being asked to do things you’re not really comfortable doing.

      So this might be a much more deeply unpleasant experience for her than we’re fully being aware of.

      1. Regalli

        Ooooh, dear, yeah. Hopefully the Ruttech parents could at least pull her out of an environment if it was shitty enough, but having to weigh any friends you have there versus the bullying would undoubtedly suck even before all the trouble of going and starting new and ugh.

      2. caesaria82

        Oh god yeah, totally =/

    3. Disloyal Subject

      Right there with you. At least Sal’s being relatively benign, with “You’d make a cute couple,” and not needling Carla about it all day for amusement.
      Then again, the day is young.

      1. caesaria82

        I’d like to think Sal wouldn’t be a bully like that, but you never know.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Sal might do that if she really dislike Carla, because Sal’s weak point is behaving acceptably against people she really dislikes.

          But she thinks Carla’s perfectly OK (they have been seen talking to each other as equals). We know that for sure. They might do some light ribbing at each other; but other than that, no, Sal would not do that to Carla.

        2. Cerberus

          Which is why Carla likes her so much. 🙂 … as a person, I said person, no one heard otherwise.

        3. StClair

          >.> <.<

    4. Bagge

      Yeah, you are right, and it’s so ingrained in our society that it’s seen as a normal part of courtship OR friendship when in reality it is a pretty harsh tool of social control.

      Goddamit, Rachels.

      1. caesaria82

        Oh TOTALLY. I was an exceedingly shy and insecure teenager, no self-esteem. terrified of everything and very in my own head. And as soon as the bullies in my school sensed some weakness, they’d pounce. It was so bad when I actually DID like someone… They would NOT stop with this ‘na na na you liiiiiike them’ and then they’d tell the person that I liked them and oh GOD. Then the bullying could REALLY start! Just the thought of that almost brings me back to 14, 15 year-old me and how shitty that made me feel.
        I mean, I was bullied every day and for years and this was nowhere near the worst of it. But it’s just SUCH an accurate example in the comic that it just opened the floodgates for me. Sorry for the wall of text lol.

        1. Rukduk

          *hugs* I had to go through something very similar for about seven years (fifth grade through junior year of high school) compounded by the fact that those who bullied me latched onto my name being, as they put it, “a girl’s name” (it’s actually masculine from my cultural descent, but is commonly used as a feminine or gender neutral name) So I at least think I know how you feel. And it sucks. I say no need to apologize for a “wall of text”.

        2. Bagge

          *hugs*

        3. Disloyal Subject

          Yeah, that sounds uncomfortably familiar.

        4. Dana

          High School sure can suck, huh. ::hugs:: That’s no wall of text, you’re just being real.

  34. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Silly Carla. To lure out the elusive ruthica lessica you bait the trap with a screwdriver, not plain orange juice.

  35. kkiten

    How many days has it been since any has seen Ruth? Also, I think this is the first time we have gone 2 weeks without seeing beloved Sal, nice to have her back!

    1. kkiten

      I went back and checked the tags, and it turns out there was that terrible month of May this year where there was NO SAL AT ALL. Made up for it with lots of Carla and Dina though.

    2. Reltzik

      We actually saw Ruth yesterday, when Mary was demanding she do something about Carla’s revenge.

      It’s just yesterday was approximately 2.6 forevers ago.

  36. Spaz

    Dammit, Carla! Why can’t you be in touch with your human side! Billie asked you to check in on Ruth! How dare you knock once and then walk away, you Goddess!

    …..what? This is being posted on the wrong comic?

    *sigh*

    1. Cerberus

      Heh. 🙂

    2. Emperor Norton II

      I will admit, that right now I do feel a bit smug for knowing this strip would happen. Yeah, I did not call it out as explicitly (and spot on) as Cerberus, but I still knew. And it was sort of fun* to read comments that clearly indicated they did not think that Carla was going to follow up with this.

      *If you want to know what my idea of “fun” is, think of me as Davan MacIntire (no relation to Becky) from Something Positive.

      1. Silamy

        It’s now my headcanon that they ARE related -Toedad’s part of the asshole side of the family Fred never contacts. And now I really want to see Becky and Dina meeting Vanessa, and Davan and Fred taking Becky in, or at least letting her know that she does have supportive family, if she wants it. Jerks, certainly, but benevolent-and-actually-caring Carla-style jerks. Meeting older Christian relatives who say, “yeah, you’re a lesbian. So what? Means you’re not gonna get knocked up out of wedlock,” or something else like that and just leaving it at the “you’re you, you’re a good kid, and that’s what matters to us”.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Considering that we know how Fred’s side of the family is indeed comprised of a bunch of fundie assholes, and how Fred left the fundie town he lived in because marrying another woman when you’re a widower was looked upon as “bad” somehow….

          You know what, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. They are in fact related!

          David and Randy, time for some cross-over strips!

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Only SP chars in DoA, strips, please. Other webcomic characters visiting SP has a bad history.

        3. Emperor Norton

          “Other webcomic characters visiting SP has a bad history.”

          That is exactly why I want them to visit! *evil grin*

        4. Shadewest

          Whump!
          Really, though, Fred has already adopted one redhead who was shit on by her bio-dad.

        5. Mercimary

          I never considered this until now, but it makes so much sense that its part of my headcannon now.

  37. Bagge

    I really like the rachels

    1. Cacturne

      Rachel is best girl.
      Other Rachel looks like an old lady who dyed her hair to me. I don’t like her.

    2. Whammy

      Don’t like the Ross though. Fortunately he’s going to be on a long break.

      …couldn’t resist the reference.

  38. Bagge

    Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for a ridiculous rumor to form

    1. Spencer

      Grace is furiously scribbling away at the whiteboard she uses as a shipping chart for her dorm.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        2D won’t be enough. Get out the tinker toys.

  39. Some1

    Theres only one real way this story arc can end

    Mary and Carla are preparing to do mortal combat, Mary removes her wristbands, and they thud heavily on the floor.

    Carla: (removes her hat, and it thuds on the floor) ah, I see you use weighted clothing as well!

    1. Some1

      okay…I have to do this now.

      Announcer (please read with voice of dragon ball tournament guy): Welcome to the annual Dumbing fighting tournament! The first warriors right out of the gate are Joyce Brown and Dina Saruyama!

      Becky: I don’t know who to root for!

      Sal: This could turn out to be an interesting battle…heh.

      Announcer: The fighters are know entering the ring! Who will leave victorious!?

      Dina and Joyce, enter they take a minute to size each other up.

      Joyce: Don’t worry, I won’t hurt my best friend’s girlfriend.

      Dina: You wouldn’t be able to anyway.

      Dina takes off her hat and throws it out of the ring.

      Announcer: and…..began!

      Joyce kicks off with her foot and throws a punch at Dina, Dina quickly dodges and does a leg sweep. Joyce jumps out of the way, but when she recovers Dina can you longer be seen.

      Announcer: This is certainly and odd fight folks! Dina seems to have disappeared!

      Joyce thinking: where did she go…behind me!

      Joyce leaps out of the way, just as Dina comes at her with a flying kick.

      Dina: I’m impressed you dodged that one, it won’t be that easy the next time.

      Joyce thinking: I have to finish this quick, Dina isn’t that strong so I solid hit should take her out of the ring. Sorry, about this Becky.

      Joyce and Dina run at each other

      Joyce: CREATION OF ADAM!

      Dina: FURY OF THE RAPTOR!

      There attacks hit one another and form an explosion, Dina dodges, assuming Joyce was taking out by the blast.

      Dina: wait a sec…(looks up to see Joyce coming down on top of her) it was a distraction!

      Joyce slams her foot into Dina’s stomach, kicking her out of the ring.

      Announcer: this has certainly been an exciting battle folks! Next up is Danny Wilcox vs David Walkerton!

      Tune in tomorrow to find out who wins between these two Dorothy lovers!

      1. Falling Star

        All I can see in my head is a Sailor Senshi battle.

  40. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: I love Carla’s pose here so much, because it feels so out of place. Arms square, hands locked behind her, back straight. It’s such a butler pose (and chalk one more on my private theory that Carla is a BBC addict), especially when combined with the careful placement of the food and drink outside her door.

    And it makes such an interesting contrast to Carla’s usual persona which is the loud and off the walls punk. It makes her seem vulnerable in this moment when combined with the overhead shot.

    Panel 2: I also love that Carla didn’t even realize what she was doing. And it paints a picture of her trying to go about her motherfuckin’ goddess day and then getting to worrying and then going, okay, maybe I’ll grab some juice or something and that’s spiraled into her delivering a full breakfast delivered to her door as if Ruth was the master of her household.

    Like, I don’t think she can help herself. When she sees someone in emotional or physical distress, she goes into this hyper mommy mode and it’s just adorable as fuck and definitely strange enough to earn her some ribbing from Sal.

    Panel 3: That face. That’s a face of some genuine distress right there. No, no I’m not interested in… her.

    Panel 4: And finally the lock of her hands is broken and she’s adopting the slightly looser posture of her usual punk self. Also, totally reading her “it’s somebody else” as an intentional double meaning in that Carla has a crush on someone else as well as “somebody else” having the crush on Ruthless. It’s nice synchronicity. Especially with Rachel jeering in the background.

    Panel 5: I love that the Rachels have essentially become the greek chorus of the comic, rambling through on opportune moments, nearly always as a pair. It’s kind of adorable.

    And poor Billie at the end. I have no doubt she doesn’t at all think Carla is making the moves on Ruthless, but that’s got to be an awkward interaction to navigate. Ah yes… Carla has a crush on Ruthless. That is definitely the case and no one else could possibly have a crush or a secret sexy lesbian suicide pact with-

    Oh, percussive instrument, did you just call my feelings Stockholm Syndrome? I will… defend Carla in these attractions I am sure are genuine because Ruthless has many fine qualities… that I abhor since we are mortal enemies…

    *awkward smile* (smoke bomb) RUN AWAY!

    1. Bagge

      I love your idea about panel 2. “Hmmm, I can’t just give her ONLY juice, can I? What if she’s starving, I’ll give her a sandwich. That’s a REBEL thing to do, right?”

    2. Disloyal Subject

      Yeah, I picked up on that double meaning in panel 4 before I even realized what it was evidently supposed to mean. You might be on to something with Carla/Sal. That could be… interesting.
      And haven’t the Rachels been a Greek chorus since DoA began?

  41. Bagge

    Heh, Sal and Carla has a cute little rivalry going on. Sorry Carla, Sal won this one.

    1. Cerberus

      Their friend flirting is always adorable, they’ve got great queer-platonic chemistry, even if they have the same sexuality incompatibility as Joyce and Becky.

  42. Cacturne

    I never noticed how much taller Carla is than Sal, and thus the majority of the girls dorm.

  43. Reltzik

    I hereby dub this ship The Redhead Rampage.

    1. inqntrol

      Imagine if Billie, Carla and Ruth hang out toghter, you can say they’ll paint the town red. Heh heh( I’ll show myself out)

      1. Falling Star

        *Becky

  44. Koms

    So that’s what they were looking at. The preview panels are so mysterious they could be about anything.

  45. Girldisaster

    Ngl, with the combo of Carla being trans and how folks tend to minimize or be dismissive or blind to women who are romantically into each even when it’s smacking them right in the face, the fact that people are so quickly jumping on the “Carla likes Ruth” train makes me v uncomfortable.

    1. Spencer

      I can see why some folks are taking this uncomfortably, especially since the characters going “you have a cruuuush” are all straight.

      If it helps at all, this is really just people ribbing on Carla for being nice, because she puts so much effort into being a wacky indomitable prankster who totes hates everyone.

  46. Mav

    If Sal is here, I wonder where Amber is and what she might be doing. In my head I imagined her jumping on Sal Batman-style

    1. Spencer

      Amazi-Girl’s been in charge of Amber’s headspace for the entire day, then chances are Amber’s either crashed in her room right now, or we might even see Amazi-Girl climb through her window before we see Amber’s identity assert itself again.

      1. Mav

        I hope shes in her room. She needs like a lot of rest. The mental/physical gymnastics is too much on one’s mind and body. I’m not sure about her particular disorder, but lack of rest can really worsen a person’s psychological state, especially if they already suffer from a pre existing condition. I guess I’m also assuming that Amazigirl takes over mostly at night (I cant remember though)

        1. Spencer

          The thing with Amber’s behaviour yesterday is that it’s her further legitimizing her need for Amazi-Girl. Previously Amber had enough control to run away from Sal when her PTSD started flaring up, but seeing her then caused her to immediately slip into Amazi-Girl to deal with her trauma, and that last strip she appeared in made it clear that Amber views herself and Amazi-Girl as distinct identities.

          Amazi-Girl has usually showed up at night, but the way Amber treated it was like letting the dog out in the backyard for a bit. She lets “her” do her rounds when she needs to and then Amber goes on with her day, and since the beginning of the series that’s gone from Amber putting on a mask to do a specific task she believes she needs Amazi-Girl for (to the point where she once told Danny that Amazi-Girl wasn’t a real person he could ever love), to Amazi-Girl developing her own set of rules for how she functions and deals with things, chief among them, I think, is how both alters deal with anger.

          We know Ethan and Mike are showing up at her door soon, so I could easily see something like Amber only coming home this morning still with Amazi-Girl in the driver’s seat, because right now Amber’s in a self-convincing spiral that she needs Amazi-Girl and needs to sacrifice more to her narrative.

        2. Mav

          Amazigirl developing her own set of rules is a very scary thing. I realized upon reading the previous strip that Amber/Amazigirl has really lost control of a lot of herself. I agree that Amber really thinks she needs Amazigirl to survive her trauma/express her negative emotions and positive intentions in(what she feels) is a productive fashion. It makes me sad that she thinks so little of herself and her worth, although it makes sense given what’s she’s been through. I wonder how Ethan or Mike can help, although Mike will probably make it worse.

        3. Spencer

          Mike’s a dude who literally told Amber that the reason she was attracted to Ethan and Danny was that she was just looking for a victim to abuse, so, yeah, Mike makes things worse.

          But, yeah, Amazi-Girl has steadily become her own identity since the beginning of the comic, and now it’s come to a head where Amazi-Girl “needs” to exist to “protect” Amber from her own violent nature, Danny’s betrayal, and Sal the Evil One’s sinister machinations. Amazi-Girl is everything that Amber thinks she can’t be.

          I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that Amber reacts to yelling at Danny by bursting into tears and running away, boxing her latest infraction as proof that she’s irredeemable shit, but Amazi-Girl feels completely vindicated in tearing him down for not following the rules she didn’t bother to explain.

        4. Cerberus

          Very much so! Unfortunately I have a suspicion that AG intentionally kept AG/Amber up all night fighting crime in order to try and prevent a switch over happening back to Amber. Which means she might be in an even worse state than yesterday.

        5. Spencer

          Yeah, I’m really convinced that this is where things are going to start going for Amber. That Amazi-Girl must be in control because she’s the good one, people like her, she can’t make mistakes, and it’s okay for her to be angry, and as time goes on she’s going to try and box Amber out more and more for “her own good.”

        6. StClair

          “You don’t want to be Amber, anyway. She’s terrible. She’s weak. You never wanted to be that. You wanted to be me. So just be me, all the time. Awesome, and righteous, and immune to criticism.”

          “… okay.”

        7. Spencer

          Well, hey, she’s right.

          Amazi-Girl is who Danny wanted over Amber at the beginning.

          Amazi-Girl didn’t stab Sal.

          Amazi-Girl didn’t lose control and hospitalize Blaine.

          Amazi-Girl is who Dorothy believes in as a symbol and an icon.

          Amazi-Girl is the one the girls’ dorm fangirls over.

          Amazi-Girl rescued Becky while Amber wanted to stop on account of crashing into a windshield and almost dying.

          Amazi-Girl channels Amber’s rage into something productive and helpful.

          It’s really obvious to us why Amber needs to stop being Amazi-Girl and get therapy, but so far Amber has been completely vindicated in her actions. She doesn’t have a reason why she needs to stop, and even something as significant as Danny begging her to give it up just causes her to double down on her narrative.

        8. Cerberus

          It’s the inherent danger in talking up a particular alter as the avatar of everything good and positive in your self. It creates a smokescreen that hides all their awful elements and convinces the whole to cede far more control and power to that alter than ever should be given.

          AG/Amber has gotten the wake-up call, but it might be a while before Amber fully believes it, because it seems that AG’s doing the same emotional abuse* thing to Amber that my “good” alter did to her fellow alters.

          *Specifically speaking down to, demanding control of, calling uncontrolled and dangerous, and playing up herself as the thing that everyone loves by actively preventing the others from enjoying the positive stuff.

  47. Dean

    In panel 4, Rachel is clearly saying her line in a singsong schoolyard style. I admit no other possibility.

  48. Spaz

    Oh. she’s wearing jean shorts.

    For a minute there, it looked like she was wearing no pants.

    Which, I mean, is a good thing too.

    As one of my heroes, Keisuke Onigashira, from Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes does not exist once said:

    “Free the d***! Free the p****! Free the a******! To all the dirty jokes in this world, waiting to be spoken….FREEDOM!!!” And then he threw a bunch of condoms in the air before being arrested for sexual terorrism.

    True story.

    Really inspiring dude.

    https://res.cloudinary.com/the-news-hub/image/upload/q_60,f_auto/v1436952250/ndf4jtlbdzbtlvj6rden.jpg

  49. Kamino Neko

    Not commenting on the comic, but it amuses me that, due to the fact that the tags sort alphabetically, Other Rachel always lists before Rachel.

    1. Dana

      I noticed that too. 🙂

    2. Bicycle Bill

      Maybe Willis can change the tag for ‘Other Rachel’ to ‘Second Rachel’; that would then alphabetically as ‘Rachel’ and ‘Second Rachel’.  And if he decided to included a ‘Third Rachel’, this person would then automatically sort third.

      Either that or change ‘Rachel’ to ‘Original Rachel’ — same thing; ‘Original Rachel’ would come before ‘Other Rachel’ (and ‘Third Rachel’ would still be third in the list).

  50. Spencer

    I am okay with the idea of Carla being Ruth’s servant.

    Then Billie gets into a fight because only she is allowed to be Ruth’s sub.

    1. Apostate

      Stop putting ideas in my brain that I actually kinda like =P

    2. Cerberus

      Carla’s posture is very service oriented submissive in that panel…

      1. StClair

        Fanart of Carla looking sweet or very uncomfortable in a maid outfit in 3, 2, …

      2. Apostate

        …Yup. Definitely gonna look into accelerating the timeline on my next time together with my dom. Friggin’ long distance relationships.

      3. Apostate

        Hell, I’ve been in that pose countless times, I don’t know why I didn’t see it until you mentioned it.

  51. Rycan

    In the back of her mind, Carla knew that being nice had always been a bad idea.

  52. BenRG

    This is the moment when Carla learns that other people inevitably suck, especially when you’re trying to do the right thing.

    1. StClair

      I’m sure she had that moment a while back.

    2. Rycan

      She learned that long ago; she’s just being reminded.

    3. Cerberus

      She’s already learned that.

      I think right now, she’s also learning that as much as she wishes it were not true, she likes people too much to not be able to completely turn her back on humanity and be the misanthropic punk who doesn’t give a fuck about the world.

      Which is I think is a very common Stage 2 of learning to deal with a world that sucks on a lot of your identities at once.

  53. nothri

    Its okay, everyone. I can already see what kind of problems might arise from this misunderstanding, and I have already devised a solution that solves everything.

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneTrueThreesome

  54. Willoughby Chase

    Oh Carla, you big softy!

    (P,S. You forgot the maple syrup)

    1. Dean

      On bacon and eggs?!

      1. DSL

        Ruth’s Canadian. Maple syrup goes on whatever brown gravy doesn’t.

      2. Willoughby Chase

        I’m hoping there’s a pancake there as well.

  55. Kamenhero25

    So ‘do whatever you want’ turned in to bringing Ruth breakfast when Ruth wouldn’t respond or come out. That really sweet actually.

    1. Bagge

      NO IT’S NOT, IT’S COOL AND TOUGH AND INDEPENDENT AND… and… Ruth’s OK, right? NOT THAT SHE CARES OR ANYTHING

      1. StClair

        Of course not. 🙂

      2. Apostate

        This is a Carla, the most Tsundere of residents.

    2. BenRG

      I think that Carla is as worried about Ruth as I am. I suspect that this arc may climax with Carla, Sal and Billie having a mutual panic attack and knocking down Ruth’s door to ‘rescue’ her (yes, I’m expecting her to be sleeping deeply and be understandably annoyed at said rescue).

  56. Zaxares

    It’s probably just the way it’s drawn, but I can’t help but think that Carla’s not wearing any pants in this strip. XD

    1. Cerberus

      She’s fearless as fuck with regards to her presentation and part of that is regularly wearing short shorts which is something that takes some confidence of steel to wear as a trans woman*.

      Which is a large part of why she is simply amazing!

      *Not just because of culturally-imposed fears of “passing” but how short shorts are treated culturally by some terrible forms of men as signals that a person is sexually coming on to them and how these same terrible forms of men tend to react very violently to trans women who they perceive as “trying to attract them”.

      1. Apostate

        Piping in to confirm that short shorts are absolutely terrifying in my experience, yeah. Also everything you said is absolutely accurate, never ever again. Not for me at least.

  57. m-no

    No good deed goes unshipped is the truest thing I’ve ever heard.

  58. Lordess of Madness

    Or Carla is making an investment in keeping her femurs

  59. DSL

    Kind of interesting to me that Carla’s graduated from “the strange girl who has her room all to herself” to someone who can be teased. This is social progress of a sort if the teasers realize and respect boundaries.

    1. Bagge

      I got the impression that it was mostly Joyce who thought about her like that.

      She and Rachel seem to have some sort of banter during the DingDong arc, at least
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/suspects/

  60. AndroidDreams

    I think the main thing is we’ve realised the rest of the girls dont mind lesbians. Like whats mary got on ruth now?

    1. Spencer

      Ruth is bi.

    2. Reltzik

      An administration which draws a hard line on both evidence of alcohol abuse and evidence of RAs sleeping with people they’re assigned as RA’s for.

      1. Charles Phipps

        A certain redheaded teacher may indicate the only people who would get fired in such an event are those no one likes. Which, again, I suppose means Ruth is screwed. I would be more sympathetic if not for the physical violence she threatens against students.

    3. Kamino Neko

      The issue has never been ‘banging a girl’ for anyone but Mary (the fact that nobody on the floor except Mary and early Joyce had anything against girls loving girls was pretty clear early on), it’s been ‘banging one of the students she’s responsible for’, which is against the rules (and likely only concerns the administrators, not the rest of the floor).

      1. Charles Phipps

        I’m not sure that’s such a huge issue by itself as colleges often run into serious issues when they try to regulate consensual relationships.

    4. Cerberus

      The technical rule she’s got her on is the illegal relationship with Billie. But the more critical thing she’s got on her is the fear she might report on her and thus prompt an investigation.

      As Ruth is a recovering alcoholic and prone into falling into substance abuse when she gets depressed (and she’s always depressed), regularly fails duties because of her depression, relies mostly on a system of not making trouble downstairs, and can’t rely on her support network, because it’s one thing to have a rumor of a fraternization with a charge and another to be literally sharing a room with them.

      Also, while this may not reach legal consequences as Charles notes, it would likely still result in her being terminated from the position and denied the funds and free housing that come with it, which would put her in a worse position with whoever the abusive man on the phone with her that one time was.

      And you’re right that the rest of the floor does not have many negative feelings about queer issues. A large portion of the floor are queer women (Mandy, Grace, Billie, Ruth, Carla, Sierra, Agatha?, Dina) or personally know and platonically love a queer person (Joyce, Sal, Amber, Roz? (depends on if she actually likes her sister at the end of the day or not, politics not withstanding)).

      That part is just Mary’s crusade and likely to blow up in her face if she tries to push that angle.

  61. DredGraves

    Carla looks so adorable in this one. Love her outfit

  62. podian

    Willis. Don’t.

    1. DRA2840

      I agree. Please don’t. That’s… plain cruel. She’s my favorite.

  63. Falling Star

    Irony can be so cringey.

    1. Spencer

      What’s ironic about Other Rachel gleefully noting that the only way someone could have any kind of affection for Ruth is if they had stockholm syndrome?

  64. Tomas

    That’s such a motherly thing she’s doing. If Ruth is an orphan maybe Carla could adopt her, and get Ruth out from under that unseen jerk who was mean to her on the phone.

    1. Spencer

      Billie is offended at the idea that some other rich girl could take her place.

  65. Jake

    do these girls think they’re in middle school or something?

    1. Cacturne

      As long as nothing stems from this misunderstanding, I’m ok with it.
      If something happens because of this rumor, I’ll be mad

      1. I Eat Cheese

        have You read this comic

        of course something is going to happen

    2. Bagge

      Billie is sad because she can’t join in with the middle school teasing.

    3. Palamdrone

      My 40 years of experience tells me people never out grow the way they were in high school.

      1. Bagge

        That’s possibly the scariest thing I ever heard.

      2. Lovely Monsters

        I’ve only been out of high school 17 years now, but so far it seems like everyone just becomes the most mediocre parts of themselves.

  66. Sam

    Hahahaha….this is a hilarious turn of events.

  67. waelcyrige

    Carla. Sinnamon roll. Best. Fave.

    1. welcrye

      Also apparently I borked the name and therefore gravatar. Go me

      1. welcrye

        o god how does this work help

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Gravatar goes by the email address you enter, not the name.

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Or maybe not.

        3. welcrye

          That doesn’t seem to change anything?

        4. welcrye

          nope wait there it goes

          Apparently there was a rating issue.

        5. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          same name, different email

        6. DRA2840

          Gravatar uses the MD5 hash of the lowercase e-mail to find your image (web dev here). You probably have both addresses in your account.

        7. foobar Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I changed the email and it went into moderation with a different avatar. This is my original email but with the name changed.

  68. Opus the Poet

    Sweet! My cishet male determination of who the two hottest males in the comic were came in one-two! Wait until I tell the LGBTQI group at church.

    1. trlkly

      Anyone else see that word and think sis-SHAY instead of cis-het?

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