Well now somebody will probably draw that. Totally unnecessary as I already have several possible visuals playing in my head, but also somebody please draw this.
What about Dina? She does have a prior claim on Becky. unless you want a Joyce, Becky, Dina, and Dorothy foursome.
Clif
No, but I’ve heard worse suggestions.
Kazuma Shouri
given her using “observation” and “experimentation” in describing sex (much to Becky’s prior delight), I could honestly see Dina having an interest in voyeurism
this is of course presuming that she’s not staunchly opposed to poly, and is also biased by my own leanings
Stormtide Leviathan
I think it’s very unlikely she’s staunchly opposed to poly, at least at the moment. I think it’d be something she wants to test out and see how she feels about it, like she did with relationships in general when she and becky got together. But staunch opposition without a test seems very unlike her
Panel one is clearly Becky still masking and telling Dorothy what she thinks she wants to hear so she can, like, go away (“it’s ok! You don’t need to apologize for anything! Everything’s fine!”). Then Dorothy goes and makes it weird by getting super defensive about the clothes thing, and at that point Becky just can’t help herself. Mx. Willis can you please get rid of the obnoxious ad that completely covered the text box as I was typing this.
I hate the ads that do that. They should get out of the way or at least have a button to shrink them after they explode all over the content, doing no favors to the bottom line because I’m not looking to support any advertisers with ads that aggressively anti-reader.
It was for Becky. Since Dorothy is not clairvoyant, she didn’t know in advance that it would do nothing for Becky, so she thought it was worth taking a shot that it would help at least a little.
Also it’s her way of reacting to anyone she feels she may’ve wronged whether she meant to or not. (She’s done this a lot, with the strong implication she’s been doing this for a long time. Tho’ notarised is an extra step, I think?)
I disagree. The apology at no point considered what Becky needed. It was Dorothy trying to address her own feelings of guilt and shame.
If she apologized to WALKY and he responded like this, then you’d be correct, but Dorothy hasn’t wronged Becky. She has nothing to apologize to her for.
AMagicalDuck
Regardless of whether Dorothy wronged Becky or not, she was still harmed by Dorothy’s actions and friends tend to apologise for that regardless of whether they actually are at fault
Adam Black
Why should she. What Becky needs isn’t Dorothy job. That’s been Joyce and Dina.
This is why Becky needs to move in with Robin.
Clif
Lumino, If she apologized to Walky and got the same response, a demand to remove clothing …
What were we talking about again?
Adam Black
a cosplay orgy i think/
Nymph
The idea that Dorothy has nothing to apologize for makes no sense to me. Like she doesn’t HAVE TO for sure, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with her doing so.
It’s perfectly fine to apologize for hurting someone even if you didn’t mean to do so. Even if you didn’t wrong them at all but your actions still caused pain. Don’t you apologize to dogs when you accidentally step on their tail? Do you think you wronged them on purpose? Isn’t Becky more deserving of her feelings being considered than a dog?
IDK, there have been plenty of times I have apologized for someone hurting even though I didn’t set out to hurt them and I don’t think what I did was wrong… and those times had nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with concern for the person I hurt. Maybe I’m in the minority for not weighing out the amount of apology I “owed” like it was a transaction.
Opinion
The difference is with the dog if you could rewind time you would avoid doing the action that hurt them. Your apology is saying “I wish that I hadn’t done this action that hurt you”
In this instance if she could rewind time Dorothy would still get with Joyce. She wouldn’t change her action. Her apology is saying “I wish I had done exactly what I did and you weren’t upset by it”
Nymph
“I wish I had done exactly what I did and you weren’t upset by it”
And?
How dare she wish Becky didn’t have to feel hurt?
I’m genuinely unsure what your point is here. Apologies aren’t this limited-scope thing, if you hurt someone and you didn’t mean to–it’s apology time. Regardless of whether you’d rewind time to undo it or not.
Opinion
But the onus of change is different.
An apology saying that you wish you had done something different, or that you think you did something wrong is saying “hey I did something and I wish I had done something different”
An apology saying that you wish someone else wasn’t upset by your actions is saying THEY are the ones that should be different. “Hey I did something and I wish you had reacted/responded differently”
Nymph
I disagree entirely that there’s no nuance in the second one. It is possible to wish someone wasn’t hurt by what you did in a way that’s informed by sympathy rather than saying they shouldn’t have reacted that way.
“I wish you didn’t have to experience pain” is a perfectly valid apology.
Leorale
I must be too Canadian for this conversation. I apologized when somebody else walked into my desk.
(I didn’t get it notarized though.)
Clif
Gasp! You have an unnotarized desk? I thought Canadians were always prepared.
Though maybe that was the boy scouts.
Michelle J Caboose
Sure, she’d still get together with Joyce; that wouldn’t change. What would change is she’d try to do it in such a way that hopefully doesn’t hurt Becky so much. Like, maybe not waiting until Becky saw the photo of her and Joyce making out, to tell Becky what’s going on.
Or better yet, insisting that Joyce tell her immediately, instead of waiting until the next morning.
Sirksome
I’m really having extreme difficulty understanding the logic of this apology. To me an apology only has value by how the recipient receives it. How can it be sincere if completely divorced from the emotions of the person you’re apologizing to? How is that any different than pity?
Now if the answer is “Oh, this is just an awkward social mistake Dorothy made.” Then yes, I agree with that. And part of that mistake is noting that even if sincere in intent the apology only helps Dorothy and she should try and do better.
Nymph
“To me an apology only has value by how the recipient receives it.”
This is just not a view I agree with is the main thing. Apologies can be sincere and heartfelt and well-intentioned and still just not hit for the person being apologized to. That doesn’t erase the Apologist’s sincerity or intent, just means it didn’t hit the intended target.
The difference between sympathy and pity is basically all intent and mindset. I think Dorothy is showing sympathy, plenty of people seem to think otherwise. My answer is that I think Dorothy is giving a sincere, heartfelt apology… and it isn’t working out. It’s okay if you don’t agree <3 I don't get your side of things either.
Why would Dorothy think Becky would want a written, notarised apology instead of something verbal anyway?
AMagicalDuck
This is a woman who canonically sends handwritten thank you notes for every gift she receives. She clearly believes that handwritten letters are more sincere and respectful
Plus, carefully writing down your thoughtful apology in advance dramatically reduces the odds that you will fuck up in the heat of the moment and say the wrong thing.
Mind you, learning to speak without fucking up and saying the wrong thing is a kind of important skill for a politician to have, so I’m surprised Dorothy hasn’t worked on it obsessively for years
HueSatLight
Which makes the ritual written apology for the benefit of Dorothy, and Becky is just a prop in it.
nadamás
You know what fuck it, making a Dorothy appreciation thread. Put some nice things here.
Clif
Did I hear a cricket?
Airyu
Thank you. She’s doing her best and a bunch of people act like her trying to make things right with Becky is a great sin. I’d have apologized in that situation too, I write things out too, and if I were Becky I’d want an apology too. It’s great to know that all these commentors would apparently think I’m a asshole by proxy. But anyways, I like Dorothy because she seems to actually care. I want to be as caring as she is. I am slowly losing my faith in human for a lot of reasons, and so is Dorothy, but she cares throughout all of it! And that is admirable because I find myself trying to *stop* caring
Li
FWIW, plenty of other folks would understand that you were making an effort and appreciate that!
Also the thread is down below, namadás just mis-replied, I think. I added some comments to it!
thejeff
Yeah, there’s two aspects here. The form of the apology is obviously just wrong – a notarized letter of apology is just silly and isn’t going to impress anyone, much less Becky.
The impulse to apologize to someone who’s been hurt by something you did isn’t a bad one, even if what you did wasn’t wrong and you don’t regret doing it. “I’m sorry I hurt you” isn’t always the performative nonsense of “I apologize if you were offended”.
Clif
You left out the unsaid part. It goes, I apologize if you were offended against all logic and reason even though [insert favorite all-knowing deity here] knows that any minimally competent excuse for a human being would be less emotionally fragile and have better sense, and so you’re probably faking it for the cheap effect anyway.
Clif
But I have to agree with Nymph somewhere above. You can be completely sorry that you hurt someone without the slightest bit of regret for the thing you did that resulted in hurting them. The two are not the same.
You can sincerely wish that it was possible to do that thing without causing them pain.
Dorothy is Clairvoyant. Either she knew that the letter would have a positive result.
Or she saw that it would enrage Becky while looking good in Joyce eyes.
But either way this is on Dorothy.
389 thoughts on “Cuddlin’”
QueenofSodor
dorothy’s desperately trying to avoid revealing her shibari sweatervest
Risky
Well now somebody will probably draw that. Totally unnecessary as I already have several possible visuals playing in my head, but also somebody please draw this.
Yet_One_More_Idiot
“It’s sweater-vests all the way down…” xD
Gigafreak
If Joyce has to be informed what shibari is, the ideal format has been found to be Twenty Questions (but with unlimited questions).
Odo
Predictive markets + Shibari… is that EA I see?
Opus the Poet
A shibari sweater would basically macrame with carefully placed knots over the naughty bits.
Rose by Any other Name
Or with large gaps over the naughty bits, depending.
Rowen Morland
I vote gordian knots. A true test of character, meticulous puzzle solving, or simple scissoring.
ValdVin
So, my 6th grade arts and crafts class plant hanger wasn’t a waste of time?
Doctor_Who
“Take it off, or I’ll rip it off!”
“I’d like to see you try!”
And that’s how this story gets a sordid new twist.
Ty34er
It’s okay, my brain went there too
Kazuma Shouri
+1 to the count from me
QueenofSodor
i need becky and dorothy to make out and have angry sex so bad
Irreleverent
The whole cast just needs to fuck it out at this point.
Ray Radlein
“That wasn’t Tear Gas the National Guard was firing, it was FUCK GAS!”
Taffy
“What’s a fuckass?”
Azu
you would know!
Opus the Poet
What about Dina? She does have a prior claim on Becky. unless you want a Joyce, Becky, Dina, and Dorothy foursome.
Clif
No, but I’ve heard worse suggestions.
Kazuma Shouri
given her using “observation” and “experimentation” in describing sex (much to Becky’s prior delight), I could honestly see Dina having an interest in voyeurism
this is of course presuming that she’s not staunchly opposed to poly, and is also biased by my own leanings
Stormtide Leviathan
I think it’s very unlikely she’s staunchly opposed to poly, at least at the moment. I think it’d be something she wants to test out and see how she feels about it, like she did with relationships in general when she and becky got together. But staunch opposition without a test seems very unlike her
mindbleach
Dorothy’s bi panic unfolding like Leela’s impulsive murder spree.
Dorothy: Okay. Next time I want angry lesbian sex, I’ll just… have a stick of gum.
Jennifer bumps past her.
Dorothy:
Dorothy: Hey Jennifer.
Dorothy: Got any gum?
Acher4
NGL, that would be an awesome (drama-wide) twist.
Sirksome
Don’t trust sudden requests to strip.
Pocky
yeah, kind of a step too far. We can only handle so much cheating in one comic.
Sharizard
I think the Paladins would literally explode.
Pocky
unless it’s a polycule; in which case just throw them into the fuck pile.
Astariel
Hmm, maybe Becky really should have started that apology portfolio.
Also, it’s cold in here, Becky! Probably because of that gas leak causing the heat not to work.
Risky
Campfire might help
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Probably against dorm rules…
TheCruisiest
I would advise against the use of fire during a gas leak
Dwampre Scorrigank
And I advise against taking a leak on a gas fire.
jeffepp
She isn’t wearing Joyce’s clothing under that coat. Or, any for that matter.
brionl
That’s what I was thinking.
anonymsly
Why would she go to her classes naked? In January?
Nymph
I mean, she didn’t. She went in a coat. As long as you don’t remove it, it’s no different than going in a dress.
Nymph
or shirt if it’s a short coat.
Dot
Panel one is clearly Becky still masking and telling Dorothy what she thinks she wants to hear so she can, like, go away (“it’s ok! You don’t need to apologize for anything! Everything’s fine!”). Then Dorothy goes and makes it weird by getting super defensive about the clothes thing, and at that point Becky just can’t help herself. Mx. Willis can you please get rid of the obnoxious ad that completely covered the text box as I was typing this.
Lee
Oh has that happened to you too? Re: ad. It’s a Hiveworks issue I suppose but it made the comic unreadable the other day.
Risky
I hate the ads that do that. They should get out of the way or at least have a button to shrink them after they explode all over the content, doing no favors to the bottom line because I’m not looking to support any advertisers with ads that aggressively anti-reader.
Adam Black
Panel 5 is backmasking
It says On
Sirksome
Also Dorothy’s apology did nothing for Becky so I have to ask again what was it for? Just for the sake of it? Because that means it was for Dorothy.
Astariel
It was for Becky. Since Dorothy is not clairvoyant, she didn’t know in advance that it would do nothing for Becky, so she thought it was worth taking a shot that it would help at least a little.
Dara
Also it’s her way of reacting to anyone she feels she may’ve wronged whether she meant to or not. (She’s done this a lot, with the strong implication she’s been doing this for a long time. Tho’ notarised is an extra step, I think?)
Lumino
I disagree. The apology at no point considered what Becky needed. It was Dorothy trying to address her own feelings of guilt and shame.
If she apologized to WALKY and he responded like this, then you’d be correct, but Dorothy hasn’t wronged Becky. She has nothing to apologize to her for.
AMagicalDuck
Regardless of whether Dorothy wronged Becky or not, she was still harmed by Dorothy’s actions and friends tend to apologise for that regardless of whether they actually are at fault
Adam Black
Why should she. What Becky needs isn’t Dorothy job. That’s been Joyce and Dina.
This is why Becky needs to move in with Robin.
Clif
Lumino, If she apologized to Walky and got the same response, a demand to remove clothing …
What were we talking about again?
Adam Black
a cosplay orgy i think/
Nymph
The idea that Dorothy has nothing to apologize for makes no sense to me. Like she doesn’t HAVE TO for sure, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with her doing so.
It’s perfectly fine to apologize for hurting someone even if you didn’t mean to do so. Even if you didn’t wrong them at all but your actions still caused pain. Don’t you apologize to dogs when you accidentally step on their tail? Do you think you wronged them on purpose? Isn’t Becky more deserving of her feelings being considered than a dog?
IDK, there have been plenty of times I have apologized for someone hurting even though I didn’t set out to hurt them and I don’t think what I did was wrong… and those times had nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with concern for the person I hurt. Maybe I’m in the minority for not weighing out the amount of apology I “owed” like it was a transaction.
Opinion
The difference is with the dog if you could rewind time you would avoid doing the action that hurt them. Your apology is saying “I wish that I hadn’t done this action that hurt you”
In this instance if she could rewind time Dorothy would still get with Joyce. She wouldn’t change her action. Her apology is saying “I wish I had done exactly what I did and you weren’t upset by it”
Nymph
“I wish I had done exactly what I did and you weren’t upset by it”
And?
How dare she wish Becky didn’t have to feel hurt?
I’m genuinely unsure what your point is here. Apologies aren’t this limited-scope thing, if you hurt someone and you didn’t mean to–it’s apology time. Regardless of whether you’d rewind time to undo it or not.
Opinion
But the onus of change is different.
An apology saying that you wish you had done something different, or that you think you did something wrong is saying “hey I did something and I wish I had done something different”
An apology saying that you wish someone else wasn’t upset by your actions is saying THEY are the ones that should be different. “Hey I did something and I wish you had reacted/responded differently”
Nymph
I disagree entirely that there’s no nuance in the second one. It is possible to wish someone wasn’t hurt by what you did in a way that’s informed by sympathy rather than saying they shouldn’t have reacted that way.
“I wish you didn’t have to experience pain” is a perfectly valid apology.
Leorale
I must be too Canadian for this conversation. I apologized when somebody else walked into my desk.
(I didn’t get it notarized though.)
Clif
Gasp! You have an unnotarized desk? I thought Canadians were always prepared.
Though maybe that was the boy scouts.
Michelle J Caboose
Sure, she’d still get together with Joyce; that wouldn’t change. What would change is she’d try to do it in such a way that hopefully doesn’t hurt Becky so much. Like, maybe not waiting until Becky saw the photo of her and Joyce making out, to tell Becky what’s going on.
Or better yet, insisting that Joyce tell her immediately, instead of waiting until the next morning.
Sirksome
I’m really having extreme difficulty understanding the logic of this apology. To me an apology only has value by how the recipient receives it. How can it be sincere if completely divorced from the emotions of the person you’re apologizing to? How is that any different than pity?
Now if the answer is “Oh, this is just an awkward social mistake Dorothy made.” Then yes, I agree with that. And part of that mistake is noting that even if sincere in intent the apology only helps Dorothy and she should try and do better.
Nymph
“To me an apology only has value by how the recipient receives it.”
This is just not a view I agree with is the main thing. Apologies can be sincere and heartfelt and well-intentioned and still just not hit for the person being apologized to. That doesn’t erase the Apologist’s sincerity or intent, just means it didn’t hit the intended target.
The difference between sympathy and pity is basically all intent and mindset. I think Dorothy is showing sympathy, plenty of people seem to think otherwise. My answer is that I think Dorothy is giving a sincere, heartfelt apology… and it isn’t working out. It’s okay if you don’t agree <3 I don't get your side of things either.
shepsquared
Why would Dorothy think Becky would want a written, notarised apology instead of something verbal anyway?
AMagicalDuck
This is a woman who canonically sends handwritten thank you notes for every gift she receives. She clearly believes that handwritten letters are more sincere and respectful
Jon
Yea but. Like. Know your audience.
Ray Radlein
Plus, carefully writing down your thoughtful apology in advance dramatically reduces the odds that you will fuck up in the heat of the moment and say the wrong thing.
Mind you, learning to speak without fucking up and saying the wrong thing is a kind of important skill for a politician to have, so I’m surprised Dorothy hasn’t worked on it obsessively for years
HueSatLight
Which makes the ritual written apology for the benefit of Dorothy, and Becky is just a prop in it.
nadamás
You know what fuck it, making a Dorothy appreciation thread. Put some nice things here.
Clif
Did I hear a cricket?
Airyu
Thank you. She’s doing her best and a bunch of people act like her trying to make things right with Becky is a great sin. I’d have apologized in that situation too, I write things out too, and if I were Becky I’d want an apology too. It’s great to know that all these commentors would apparently think I’m a asshole by proxy. But anyways, I like Dorothy because she seems to actually care. I want to be as caring as she is. I am slowly losing my faith in human for a lot of reasons, and so is Dorothy, but she cares throughout all of it! And that is admirable because I find myself trying to *stop* caring
Li
FWIW, plenty of other folks would understand that you were making an effort and appreciate that!
Also the thread is down below, namadás just mis-replied, I think. I added some comments to it!
thejeff
Yeah, there’s two aspects here. The form of the apology is obviously just wrong – a notarized letter of apology is just silly and isn’t going to impress anyone, much less Becky.
The impulse to apologize to someone who’s been hurt by something you did isn’t a bad one, even if what you did wasn’t wrong and you don’t regret doing it. “I’m sorry I hurt you” isn’t always the performative nonsense of “I apologize if you were offended”.
Clif
You left out the unsaid part. It goes, I apologize if you were offended against all logic and reason even though [insert favorite all-knowing deity here] knows that any minimally competent excuse for a human being would be less emotionally fragile and have better sense, and so you’re probably faking it for the cheap effect anyway.
Clif
But I have to agree with Nymph somewhere above. You can be completely sorry that you hurt someone without the slightest bit of regret for the thing you did that resulted in hurting them. The two are not the same.
You can sincerely wish that it was possible to do that thing without causing them pain.
Adam Black
Dorothy is Clairvoyant. Either she knew that the letter would have a positive result.
Or she saw that it would enrage Becky while looking good in Joyce eyes.
But either way this is on Dorothy.
Sirksome