143

Petty selfish
Posted on November 26, 2022 by David M Willis

143 thoughts on “Petty selfish”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “well FUCK YOU for realising we weren’t a good fit and deciding not to drag it out rather than reopening old wounds and pouring the alcohol in”

    wait no?

    1. anon

      as far as we’ve seen at least neither of them have relapsed.

      Unless ruth has the occasional beer with jason , but i don’t think there’s been allusions to her drinking since her “blind date”

      1. Yumi

        I guess it depends on how you define “relapse”? Ruth did seem to get fairly drunk that night she went out with Daisy. As for since then, there was the comic in this strip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/yourex/

    2. Bryy

      Yeah, basically.

      Ruth’s….. trying, but she’s mistaking her newfound strength for wisdom.

      And oh Jennifer. Hit with a truth bomb and your only recourse is to outright say you’re mad that she’s moved on.

      1. Clif

        Hey, they’re actually communicating with each other. This is progress.

  2. darkoneko

    fight ! fight ! fiiiight ! …oh.

  3. The Wellerman

    Re: Joyce & Becky, ?
    WillyWonkaSuspense.gif

  4. BBCC

    These two always wanted to be pushed back.

    Probably best they get some distance for a while.

    Will they? Doubtful. 😛

    1. Sirksome

      Too bad they share that one class together. It’s almost like an evil god created a scenario where they couldn’t get the one thing they really need to move on healthily.

      1. Clif

        Jealousy?

  5. Sirksome

    Well at least this one was quick.

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      XD XD XD XD XD

    2. Spriteless Aunty

      No assault this time they are making progress.

      1. Clif

        Agree. Though, to be honest, this is still “no assault yet.”

  6. Stephen Bierce

    The TV in the next room is playing “Things Can Only Get Better”.

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      Whoever wrote that is too optimistic.

      1. Stephen Bierce

        I had to read the lyrics to understand the verses, as the delivery is both too fast and off-kilter.

  7. BowlerHatGuy

    Hey. This is an improvement for these two. Usually there’s some battery by the middle panel.

    1. Vanessa

      I agree. This feels like relatively healthy dialogue and communication for them. I think it’s nice they are finally talking instead of tamping things down or exploding like a volcano.

      1. Bryy

        Jennifer is so pissed that Ruth is at least attempting civil discourse.

        1. Comic.phile

          I thought she seemed more sad than angry. Or disappointed. Not at the attempt but at how too little too late it came, since it’s well after she broke up with her out of the blue and then barricaded herself in her room so they couldn’t talk. Jennifer knows Ruth. Nothing Ruth just said surprises her. But she was tired of fighting to feel valued, and now she’s just tired of the fight. It’s maturity to just walk away, sometimes. Both the last time and this time she just walked away, it was the mature thing to do.

      2. BowlerHatGuy

        I… dont know if i would day this is “healthy”. Ruth and Jennifer are both codependent. They dont feel worthy of love, so they cant let the other person’s love in. Todays comic could be paraphrased as both shouting “I couldnt feel your love and thats your fault!”. Every interaction they had that ended in an argument or physical violence could probably be paraphrased like that.

        If they ever get to the point of saying “I wouldnt let your love in, and thats my fault”. Then i’d say its in healthy conversation territory.

        1. Leorale

          Relatively healthy. Like, compared to the usual, which frequently includes physical violence. I’m sure we all realize this is a low bar, but hey, that’s where we’re at with these two.

        2. BowlerHatGuy

          Relatively.

          Yes. This IS better than they have been.

  8. Kyrik Michalowski

    Again, I know these two have a toxic relationship but I still hope they work things out and end up together in the end.

    Anyone with me on that? Or have you lost all patience for this?

    1. Sol

      Personally I find it hard to stop kinda rooting for them after nearly a decade of them being a couple, especially since they looked like they were in such a good place prior to the timeskip.

    2. Yumi

      I’ve enjoyed their relationship in the past, destructive as it may have been, but I’m at a point now where I can only really imagine wanting them together in a Distant Finale kind of way, where they’re like sitting on a porch in rocking chairs together going, “Hey, remember when we were in college? What the fuck.”

      1. thejeff

        Looking at their scrapbook of manicures and backpacking across Europe. 🙂

        1. BowlerHatGuy

          I see what you did there…

    3. Rose by Any Other Name

      I would love for them to work things out and get back together.
      I could say more, but I’m too tired of the related arguments to do so.

    4. Thag Simmons

      I wouldn’t say I’m rooting for them but I also think of them as fundamentally intertwined characters.

    5. zip

      im rooting for them less in the sense that i necessarily think they SHOULD be together as people and more in the sense that i love watching them interact as insane characters and i want to see that forever

    6. Ari

      I want them to get back together and I think they’re being more self-destructive about recovering than they were when they were together

    7. RassilonTDavros

      Honestly, yes. The breakup was caused by Ruth lying about how she felt– which was exactly the sort of dishonesty that was a big part of the relationship’s toxicity in the first place. I think that their relationship could never survive for long if they didn’t have to rebuild it brick by brick first.

      1. BowlerHatGuy

        Cant blame the whole thing on Ruth. These two knuckleheads are both toxic.

        Ruth seems to have gotten ever so slightly better. But she’s still cruel and guilt tripping and blaming jennifer for Ruths own shortcomigs. She still relates to herself as broken.

        Jennifer seems like she’s kinda better right now but it seems to be fed mostly by dating Asher and Raidiah’s web of lies. Cant tell if Asher is part of the lies or not. I assume so. But when those lies comes to light, Jennifer’s lack of self-generated self worth will be exposed like a raw nerve and Jennifer will run back to Ruth, promise a sacrifice, and Ruth will let her back in, then decide shes bad for Jennifer and try to break up with her, and it will be like the bad old times again.

      2. Needfuldoer

        Don’t forget Jennifer’s crab-bucket mentality. Don’t confront your problems, deflect, downplay, and ignore them!

    8. FaerwenOfValenwood

      nah, I’m still into it—partly because I really want them to work it all out and figure out how to be happy together in a healthy way and partly because it’s cathartic fun to explore Fictional Characters Who Aren’t You doing inadvisable stuff

    9. Johan

      Not even a little bit. The relationship has run its course but they thrive on being pissy at each other.

      Unfortunately the being pissy at an ex to move on thing doesn’t work when that was your flirting in the relationship.

    10. Keulen

      I still think Ruth ended their relationship for incredibly dumb reasons, and I hope that if they do get back together in the future, they have a much healthier relationship.

    11. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      No. Gonna be the wise old fart here and say that trying to revive a dead relationship is almost always a bad idea. Besides the problems that killed it before, you’ll now have the baggage and recriminations about the breakup lurking around ready to flare up.

      Move on. Find someone/something else. Learn from mistakes if you can. If you can’t move on, work out how to deal with being alone. Don’t go back into the metaphorical burning house.

      (And I don’t just mean romantic relationships, this applies to friendships, clubs, etc. also.)

      1. Comic.phile

        Agreed. Hold on to what you can learn from a failed relationship, remember the good times fondly, but never go back and never repeat the same mistakes. I’m proud of Jennifer. She’s shown a good bit of growth and maturity the past few strips, with how she treated Joyce, too. Its good to see.

    12. Needfuldoer

      Nah. Ruth deserves better.

    13. WizardPantaloon

      I’ve been saying it for the past two years. Yeah the relationship is a total hurricane of problems. But fiction doesn’t always have to line up perfectly with reality. And sometimes reality isn’t as bleak as we think it is. I want to see these two idiots work things out and find happiness together. I want to keep hoping that they can find the light from the darkness, cliche as it sounds.

      The storyline isn’t over yet. I’m not judging the pairing till it is.

    14. Mark

      I don’t see “together” for them at this point, but maybe “fondly remember what we had, even if it was awful.”

    15. Yotomoe

      I want them to be friends with benefits.

    16. Kindra

      I hated Ruth and Billie as a couple right from the beginning – slamming someone against a wall and kissing them without their consent is straight-up SA, and their relationship stayed at that level of toxicity for its entirety. I was so relieved to find out that they broke up during the timeskip.

      That said, I *would* like to see them reconcile enough that they can be amicable with each other. There’s probably too much baggage to ever be close as friends, but maybe they can at least get to the point of leaving comments on each other’s social media posts.

    17. Noselfesteem27

      I totally agree with you. 100%. I really hope that when this comic ends, Ruth and Billie will be back together with a much healthier and happier relationship!

  9. Laura

    …Is it too early for a game? If so, please ignore!

    Here’s the game:

    1st person says a song title inspired by the comic. For example, since the alt-text is about tiptoeing past the door, the 1st song could be “Tiptoe through the tulips.”

    2nd person names a song title inspired by the 1st song. So, since the 1st song was about “tulips,” the 2nd song could be, “It’s in his kiss (the shoop shoop song)”, because “tulips” sounds like “two lips”.

    3rd person names a song title based on the 2nd song. So, for example, the 3rd song could be “Shoop,” by Salt n’ Pepa.

    Not too much more “Shoop” songs, but it could be a word that sounds like “Shoop,” so, for example, “*Sloop* John B” or “Hang on Sloopy”, etc.

    Sound like fun?

    OK, new prompt: since the strip is about being OK with selfishness, how about “You’re So Vain”?

    …Any takers?

    1. Yotomoe

      I was gonna say “She’s not the End of the world.” by Reel Big Fish

      but if I’m gonna play off of You’re so vain…Actually I am drawing an absolute blank.

      1. Laura

        That’s a great one, though! ;-D And it DOES work as an *answer* to “You’re So Vain”.

      2. Sirksome

        Hope I’m playing the game right cause that could transfer pretty well into Superfreak by Rick James’ running off of the “She’s” in the title. The word “She”s” featuring heavily in that song. Or maybe I’m totally off on what the rules are here.

        1. Laura

          Hey, it works, it works! So long as you can explain the link, sky’s the limit for how far afield you can go. There is no home run fence. ;-D

        2. Laura

          Ok, my answer to “Superfreak” would be, “No such thing as Superman” by Gil Scott-Heron.

        3. Yotomoe

          I’ll keep the Ska Punk going with “Superman” by Goldfinger

        4. Laura

          Rock on!

          …OK, how about “Superfly,” by 4 Non Blondes?

        5. a/snow/mous/e

          “Super Freak” by Rick James

        6. not someone else

          Kryptonite, 3 Doors Down.

        7. JBento

          Something Just Like This, by Coldplay, (wrongly) references Superman plus a lot of other heroes.

        8. Yotomoe

          “Closer” by The Chainsmokers.
          Not only did the Chainsmokers ft on “Something Just like this” but the choruses between the two songs are incredibly similar. Also both involve themes of embracing mundanity in relationships.

        9. Laura

          Love it! Way to get creative!

          OK, well, I’ll refrain from the obvious next choice (there’s a version featuring the Muppets that will make your eyeballs bleed) and instead, we’ll, since the last one was by the Chainsmokers, how about:

          “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke (that cigarette)” by Tex Williams?
          https://youtu.be/fIN8MmMloZE

        10. JBento

          Is that smoke because you’re burning through the sky? Yeah? 200 degrees and that’s why they call you Ms. Fahrenheit? Like told on the song “Don’t Stop Me Now”, which I VERY DEARLY HOPE I don’t have to say who it’s by?

        11. Laura

          Aww, yeah, you know my style! I know you said don’t stop me now, but I’m gonna have to ask you to “Stop! In the Name of Love…” (-The Supremes)

        12. Yotomoe

          And since we’ve STOPPED.

          It’s Hammer Time. Cuz you can’t touch this.

        13. JBento

          Did you know that MC Hammer had his mansion repossessed because he welched on his taxes?

          Turns out you CAN touch that if you are the Taxman (- the Beatles).

        14. Laura

          True, true…

          “Late last night, I heard the screen door slam
          And a big yellow taxi took away my old man.
          Don’t it always seem to go
          That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?
          They paved paradise, put up a parking lot
          (Shoo-bop-bop-bop-bop).”
          (“Big Yellow Taxi,” -Joni Mitchell)
          Tax—>Taxi

        15. JBento

          Before I go to bed:

          Look, if your play is a yellow vehicle, you’re just forcing me to go back to the Beatles with Yellow Submarine.

        16. Laura

          Ooh, good one! Sleep well!

    2. Yumi

      “You’re So Vain” would actually be a pretty fun song for these two.

      Anyway, how off in a direction can you go? Like, my first thought off of “You’re So Vain” was “Falling In Love At a Coffee Shop” because the first lyrics that came to mind were the ones about “clouds in my coffee.”

      Second song that came to mind was “You’re Welcome” from Moana. So. Take your pick?

      1. Laura

        Oooh, tough choice! Both great answers!
        Personally, I think “You’re welcome,” from Moana is a *liittle* bit more on point. Perhaps the next players will take *their* picks as well! “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”

        1. Laura

          …And to answer your question, so long as one can explain the link, no distance off-topic is too far!

      2. JBento

        It’s unfortunate that you’re still in the process of falling in love at a coffee shop, because it’s Closing Time, by Semisonic (but do you know who you want to take you home?).

        1. Laura

          LOL!

          Ok, but how about if we just “hold the line,” for a moment? After all, “love isn’t always on time”! (-Toto)

          ;-D

        2. JBento

          Toto? That’s a dog’s name! Who Let the Dogs Out? Who, who, who, who, who? Was it the Baha Men?

        3. Laura

          Oh, yeah? Well, according to Big Mama Thornton, “You ain’t nothing but a Hound Dog!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHDrzw-RPg)

          (I had the joy once of playing this song on a big old concert grand piano in the lobby of our local hospital… just for fun… the staff had left it unlocked…)

        4. JBento

          Well, in that case, sing us a song you’re the Piano (wo)Man, sing us a song tonight, cos we’re in the mood for a melody, and you got us feeling alright.

          (- Billy Joel)

        5. Laura

          Eh. I’d rather be the Piano Persun, or Mx. Fahrenheit. It’s all good, though…
          ;-D (shrug!)

          Well, so long as I get my drinks for free: Give me a pigfoot and a bottle of beer! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hbQEapPrjGM

    3. anon

      https://youtu.be/oTBznAr_c80 did i rly let go (lol maybe not as accurate to their dynamic but that’s what popped in my head)

      1. Laura

        Love it! Great pick!

  10. AKP

    …I feel like when it comes down to it Ruth did want to break up and she is glad it happened, but she has complicated feelings about it that she has no right pushing onto Jennifer (she made her choices and Jennifer abided by them). And also oh my god I wish she would stop communicating like an asshat because that is what she has been doing the entire time and the way she broke up was bad and she needs to just let Jen have space.

    1. Sirksome

      Emotions are complicated sometimes. It feels like Ruth wants to have her cake and eat it too. Simultaneously trying to justify what she did to herself while also wanting to be mad at Jennifer because it worked.

      My beef with this scenario is that Jen didn’t come here for drama with her ex. She came to support Joyce and Ruth ambushed her with this. Kind of shitty to me. Save it for the minutes after gender studies please. That’s agreed upon neutral territory.

  11. Yotomoe

    A lot more cordial than I expected.

    Also I still think Jennifer looks great in that outfit.
    https://imgur.com/a/wB7pfXX

    1. Laura

      Yoto, you are truly an artist!

      1. Yotomoe

        Y-yep that’s that thing I am 😀

        1. Shade of Blue

          It’s true! Yoto is my hero!

        2. Clif

          Well, fine. As long as you’re willing to share from time to time.

        3. Yotomoe

          Now now…I’m no hero. I put my pants on badly, just like everyone else.

        4. Laura

          But you take ’em off (your characters) so well!

    2. anon

      black looks good on most ppl (even if you have pets lol). it’s supposedly slimming tho you can tell she’s still ‘stacked’ with her chest /shot

    3. Kyrik Michalowski

      Well done man, and yes Billie/Jennifer continues to be smoking hot. The phrase: “I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave,” is applicable here.

      1. Yotomoe

        To be fair I’d also like to see her come. That wasn’t meant to be a euphemism but I stand by it.

    4. Amós Batista

      thanks for repair in these details I do, but I haven’t courage to say it loud…

  12. RassilonTDavros

    “I should’ve known you’d be (un)selfish!”

  13. DailyBrad

    I realize she probably stopped for a while, but it’s funnier if she’s just really slow.

    1. Yumi

      Carla fuckin’ replaced the regular carpet in the hallway with the SuperStick carpet again.

      1. anon

        if anything i’d think she’d want wooden floors/tiles to skate smoother across in

        1. Yumi

          She likes to mix things up.

  14. Sporky

    I thought this interaction would go a lot worse than it did

  15. Blackdrazon

    There’s no need to tiptoe! She just has to ask Sal how to use the window!

  16. Thag Simmons

    Yeah I figured that’s where Ruth was going with this. Always fun to see the comments start arguing about speeches the characters haven’t finished delivering yet.

    1. DailyBrad

      People get ahead of themselves. See also, “these people are terrible friends!” about people who were mildly annoying for like 2 days in-universe.

  17. ADLegend21

    Hell yeah Ruth! Stick it to Jennifer by being happy for her!

  18. Cmasta1992

    ZSnap protocol initiated

  19. Suet

    Tiptoe by the Ruth door, that is where she’ll be

  20. Rabid Rabbit

    Someone please lock these two in a room together with a counselor for an afternoon so they can actually just have this conversation instead of spreading it over endless random encounters where they only get through ten sentences each time before waiting for the next random encounter.

    1. Yumi

      Kidnapping 3: This Time, It’s Therapy

    2. anon

      that would be an interesting movie assuming they don’t also kill each other

      i think jen knows of booster but hasn’t come across them yet, wonder how she’d react to their reading of her psyche (tho ideally they’d have a real pro to talk to)

      makes me wonder tho, there must be ‘friends therapists’ if couples therapists are a thing even if some ppl don’t consider friendships deep enough to try to work through issues through a pro as opposed to a mutual friend trying to be a mediator

    3. BowlerHatGuy

      What they need, they cant get from the other.
      They need some self esteem, self worth, self confidence.
      The entife problem between these two dumdums is neither one has any, and they keep trying to sacrifice to the other to get some from them, who, also, doesnt have any.

      Lock them in a room with a therapist and the first thing the therapist should do is put them in different rooms.

      Q: Ruth, tell me why you broke up with Jennifer if you say you love her.

      A: Because Im broken, i dont deserve her, i will bring her down, and she’s better off without me.

      Q: Jennifer, why are you mad ay Ruth?

      A: because i loved her, and even though we are both broken, she loved me back. And she was suicidal, but i told her i would give myself to her and either that would lift her up, or if not, then we would both die together.

      Therapist: (big sigh)

      This has nothing to do with whats happened betwern them and everything to do with them both being codependent personalities, no self worth so they try yo get it from someone else. And this isnt a problem that locking them in a room will solve.

  21. Rabid Rabbit

    @Willis: Are there ever going to be combos for the books after book 6?

    1. anon

      maybe try asking on twitter/tumblr if there wasn’t a direct comment/feedback section on the kickstarter ?

  22. anon

    congrats on book 11, maybe one day when cons are fully up up again safely there’ll be someone with multiple copies to get autographs on it

  23. Jon

    Jennifer & Ruth conversations continue to just kinda…happen, I guess.

    I’m pretty bored with this storyline – it would be interesting to see one of them actually analyzing the disaster relationship they’d had, but this weird game of Angst Chicken they’re having is not interesting at all.

  24. Taffy

    You’re both to blame. Now either play Four Swords Adventures together or hush up.

  25. Blume

    Ohhhh! Gosh these two are so complicated….

  26. Queezle

    I never understood the “I am breaking up with you for your own good thing”. If you respect a person, which I would hope you do, if you are in a romantic relationship with them, wouldn’t you let them make that choice?
    Why decide for them?

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      It lets you pretend that you are being noble rather than being selfish, and avoid arguments about why you aren’t happy with them and the relationship. Probably with a good dose of self-deception mixed in.

      Also ties into the idea that you need a good reason to end a relationship. Which at least at this level, you don’t. “I don’t want to be with you anymore” is all that is needed, and all that matters.

      1. thejeff

        In this case though, I think it was more Ruth being self-sacrificing. Not “I want to end it and I’ll use this as an excuse”, but “I’m a disaster and she’ll be better off without me.”
        She told Dorothy she was the happiest she’d ever been in her life when she was talking to her about breaking up with Jennifer.

    2. Nono

      There are, sadly, cases where people can be too blinded by love or idealism to make moves that are right for them.

      Like, Danny would have never broken up with Dorothy. But it was the right thing to do for Dorothy to do it. Same with Ethan and Amber.

      Now, I’m not saying it’s completely altruistic. Dorothy wanted someone who wasn’t just a hangers-on. Ethan needed to be able to explore his sexuality. But you can be selfish while still knowing it’s also the right thing for the other person as well.

    3. Kyrie

      If you respect a person

      You definitely answered your own question. Tho it can be hard to learn that people you like are entitled to their bad decisions

    4. BowlerHatGuy

      “I am breaking up with you for your own good thing”

      If you feel you are bad for a person, like maybe you like to drink casually and they struggle with sobriety, maybe? You want kids and they do not? Then i guess break up with them? But take ownership of breaking up with them. Dont blame them for your decision. “This isnt working for me” or whatever might work. If you throw a “Im doing this for your own good” then thats shirking responsibility for your choices.

      These 2 knuckleheads got irresponsibility in spades.

      Everything they do, they wanna blame on the other person.

      I sacrifice myself for you! Why dont you love me?

      Uh, because thats not love or anything resembling love.

      Now i hate you for the sacrifice I made.

      I didnt ask you to do that and if you had asked if i wanted it, i would have said no.

      This has been … half? Of the relationship conversations that Ruth and Jennifer have had.

    5. Alex

      I think it says more about your assessment of yourself. “Oh I’m no good, I must be holding them back”.

    6. Sam

      This most often happens with people with low self-esteem because you think badly of yourself, you are also likely to project these thoughts onto others or deem them as ‘too good’ for you because you are unable to see what value you have and it is hard to accept others saying you are valueable to them as truthful.

      To the person, it may feel selfless, but in many ways, how you express it can be entirely selfish or based on incorrect/warped perspectives, and an unwillingness to ACTUALLY confront uncomfortable emotions or discuss them like insecurity, feeling like a burden, or having difficulty forgiving yourself for bad behaviour when you were less well. It can feel ‘easier’ and more ‘right’ to unilaterally decide you are worthless and tie should be cut immediately.

      Now in some select cases, this may not be entirely wrong. If you are enabling someone or realise you are abusive, a discussion may not be productive, and they may argue like hell with you and refuse to see harm you cause them. Your presence may bring someone back into bad habits they’d outgrown.

      But then the way to put it is that you it is no longer working for you/you are no longer comfortable with the relationship dynamic, not wording it as a self-induced punishment.

  27. William

    They didn’t fight…they didn’t even get into a shouting match. I’m both relieved and disappointed. I’m not sure what to make of these two anymore.

    1. Amós Batista

      Typical old toxic couple. Their relationship get not sad anymore. But they got annoying with time.

  28. Axel

    at least I can be happy about panel 2 being said (I believed it, but I wanted Billie to acknowledge or at least hear it after she said Ruth was lying)

  29. Joy

    “this relationship made us both happy but i ended it because you promised you’d kill yourself if I did and emotionally supported me until I didn’t want to”

    It’s… That’s… Ugh. Ruth needs to want to be happy more.

  30. Nicoleandmaggie

    Glad that they don’t live in the same hall anymore.

  31. Grayfinity

    Fun Fact: Gait Recognition is a real thing. Remember that if anyone tells you “I knew it was you going by”.

    Burned out on the Jennifer/Ruth drama. What’s Walky up to?

    1. Jon

      Hopefully eating a 20-piece McNuggets, far away from this boring dumpster fire.

      1. Yotomoe

        I hope he’s sharing it with Lucy. Oh wait she’s with Joyce right now.

        1. The Wellerman

          funny you should mention Lucy….

      2. Noselfesteem27

        Me still trying to figure out how to put out said dumpster fire and make it work so it’s not toxic and abusive, but sweet and romantic.

  32. Rabisch

    Finally! A good and controlled talk between Ruth and Jennifer without violence! Ruth is understandable in her irrational petty selfish part, because she’s actually happy for Jennifer. I’m happy to see Ruth able to say that and stop to always ask for forgiveness and see Jennifer able to walk away sad, but not ready to hit her. But I’m afraid what will be Ruth’s reaction when Raidah’s mysterious scheme will be revealed and Jennifer will probably be crushed.

  33. Adept

    Billies is so *not* over this. I’m not convinced she ever gets over anything, to be frank.

  34. BowlerHatGuy

    I wonder if Ruth/Jennifer are “milepost” characters? Not sure if thats the term. Its characters who dont change so that the change other characters have gone through can be compared and contrasted by the reader.

    Ruth now seems about as good as she’ll get for years, Billy seems pretry fragile and could easily revert.

    These two have a serious “Let that be your last battlefield” vibe going on.

    1. thejeff

      Ruth is an alcoholic and she’s drinking again. Jennifer isn’t drinking.

      Ruth is easily as fragile as Jennifer is here – even her seemingly positive comments are her trying to reassure herself that she did the right thing dumping Jennifer. That Jennifer is better off without her. That her sacrifice was worth it.

    2. Sam

      You mean a static character?

      I wouldn’t say so because Ruth has shown growth before and has not FULLY reverted (she did go back to drinking, but she is still trying medications and isn’t trying to die or willing to let someone die with her) and Jennifer has shown some progress in certain areas (like giving up drinking for real) even if not in others (still calling her girl loves ‘phases’).

  35. Imogen

    Help I’m starting to ship it again. The more time we spend with these two, the more it starts to feel less like a toxic and possibly abusive relationship and more like a deeply conflicted relationship where a lot of problematic conflict arises from the characters’ self-destructive habits. Jennifer’s lashing out feels less like abuse and more like her trying to help Ruth in a very unhelpful way, because neither knows how to help the other. Ruth pulls away as a form of self-destruction, Jennifer lashes out to try to save Ruth but doesn’t know how, and it becomes an argument neither wanted.

    In real life, I’d say it’s still not a good relationship to be in. As a fictional romance, though, I think a gray area is emerging where you could probably write it as an arc of a relationship that gradually improves.

    I doubt we’re going in that direction, but, like, if we do? Bully for Willis for taking some chances and writing a properly fucked up romance where both characters improve and grow and earn a happy ending.

    1. WizardPantaloon

      Thank you!! I cannot stress this point enough.

    2. thejeff

      It does kind of feel like there’s going to be more to this relationship.
      All the other relationships that have ended aren’t still a big focus of the character’s plot. In many cases, they’ve moved on to other love interests. These two have both theoretically moved on, but their other relationships still get less screen time than theirs.

    3. Noselfesteem27

      Starting to ship it again? Dude I’m STILL shipping it.

  36. Alex

    I like this because it shows the inherit contradictions that can live inside a person.

  37. Stanistani

    The problem with their relationship is that they understood each other.

  38. Noselfesteem27

    Am I the only who still ships Bille and and Ruth after everything they’ve been through? Yes I know there relationship is toxic and mostly built on sex and arguing, but the moments where they are being genuinely sweet and romantic with each other is the cutest thing ever!!!

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