Idk having done this myself many times sometimes you just need to stare in the dark standing up. Definitely creepy to an outside observer I guess but as readers with full context of Dorothy’s mind state I can’t really imagine calling it creepy other than as an empathetic/sympathetic response to Becky’s reaction.
I was staying over at a friend’s place one time, and around 2 AM, I glanced up and discovered that his three-year-old daughter was crouched like a gargoyle in the dark at the top of the stairs, staring silently down at me.
I was the jumpscarer one time, if you’ll bear with me for a little story.
It was full dark one winter evening when I got to my friend’s house unannounced. I could see him through the window, lit up by the computer screen. The only light in the house. His whole family was gone. They even brought the dog for some reason. So I quietly went around the back and crawled in through the dog door and sneaked up behind my friend and stood there for like five minutes, waiting for the right moment. He was playing Doom, and this was back in the day when Doom could be pretty spooky to a teenager. Pretty easy to see how he tensed up when going through an unfamiliar door. So that’s when I slammed my hand onto his shoulder.
One night I woke up to my roommate sleepwalking into my bedroom. I was weirdly not spooked, it only set in later. Suffice it to say, I started locking my bedroom after that.
It’s weird Becky was 100% right about Dorothy trying to steal her childhood friend for romantic purposes.
Decidedly Orthogonal
That’s only one (highly biased) reading of DoA. Dorothy didn’t seem to have any sexual interest in Joyce until the breast pictures. So at the time of Becky’s accusation it was not true, even though later Dorothy developed an attraction (and seemingly, so did Joyce).
And even if Dorothy was interested in Joyce much earlier, her own actions weren’t trying to steal Joyce.
morleuca
also, Dorothy reads into everything. Everything has to mean something, and nothing can be just accidental or of the moment. because if it were otherwise she wouldn’t be able to keep all of reality’s boxes orderly.
KoboldCatgirl
I think Dorothy *was* interested much earlier, but I also don’t think she realized it, yeah. To her, it was just an exceptionally close female friendship where her friend would constantly dote on her and pine after her and tell her how pretty she was. She got so used to the friendship effectively feeling romantic that it never registered to her that the romantic dynamic was, y’know, something she’d come to crave.
Dread Pirate Robin
I don’t think the titty pic activated her bi synapses, I think it was the first time she realized the nature of the affection she held for her. This isn’t superficial “damn girl nice boobs” attraction, this is “oh my god I’m in love with Joyce, she’s the reason i stayed behind and now it’s too late for us to be together” attraction.
I think Becky could be a good person for her to talk to here…
…but I can also see sooooo many reasons why Dorothy would not think Becky was a good person for her to talk to here.
Vanessa Pinter
So far Becky has been nothing but mean and abusive toward Dorothy and a rudely messy roommate too. I bet that pile reeks. Lashing out at every opportunity. Let’s see if she can step up when needed or will pull more “dead dad” guilt trips and crack tasteless jokes. I like Becky and I can see her trauma but she would be miserable to live with even if she didn’t have a grudge against you.”
Sajuuk-Khar
tfw you craft a topically related piece of satirical over-the-top anti-Becky bait for laughs only to be upstaged by someone full of genuine hot boiling haterade and smell-o-vision out of nowhere
Charles Phipps
I enjoyed Joe destroying Dorothy with his maturity. I hope Becky will do the same. Only when crushed forever will Dorothy at last embrace her true evil nature and become Presidential material.
Nah, evil is boring. May as well just kill her off, at that point. Now, if she started beating people up to work off the stress and bad vibes, that’d be interesting.
Li
That’s such a… unique takeaway from that sequence. That Joe was “destroying” her. Idek what to say hah.
Charles Phipps
Dorothy hit him with everything she had and he shrugged it off like a champ.
Then he broke her…with the truth.
Nymph
Yes. They had a conversation where Joe was kind and understanding as Dorothy wrestled with a difficult new awareness of herself. If you want to phrase that like it was WWE you totally can.
do you not remember him saying “Checkmate, liveral” before doing a kick flip into a hot tub? it was a pretty pivotal scene
Li
@Nymph: hey no kinkshaming
@Charles: I really didn’t see either of them as attacking each other; just Dorothy lashing out (kind of generally, an explosion more than aimed attacks), and Joe being understanding about it, but.
@Megan: d’oh, I totally forgot that part, ty
Nymph
I’m a proud kinkshamer. Some people are into that.
Li
Pff. Okay, that’s fair. I shouldn’t speak for other people about whether or not they wanna be kinkshamed. ?
Li
Pow’s Law continuing to Poe and Law its way up and down this comment section heh.
Nadamás
Putting “abusive” on the high shell until people learn to use it responsibly.
Clif
Good luck with that.
someone
Are you saying that people are abusing “abusive” abusively?
Also, language cannot be policed, otherwise people would have stopped using “irregardless” long ago.
Joy
(-__-) I don’t use that word because words mean things and that word doesn’t and is therefore only pretending to be a word.
clif
Irregardless, I shall continue to use it as a synonym for regardless, though seldom and only for effect.
But since “nothing” doesn’t mean anything, should we conclude it isn’t a word either? And if it does mean something, is that thing thereby not nothing?
Nadamás
That isn’t how that works though, the concept of nothing is not the same as the word nothing, which does have a definition and so it is a word with meaning.
Heavensrun
But it still doesn’t mean anything.
Nadamás
Good nobody was policing anything here. I am just telling someone they use a word with a very specific and heavy meaning in a stupid about a situation where it doesn’t apply.
Big Z
Hey, laundry piles like that save lives!
(it’s true. My college roommate had one, and once his girlfriend fell out of his loft but landed in the atomic boxer pile instead of on the concrete floor.)
Li
One of those moments where for a split second you’re not sure you’re glad you landed somewhere soft ffffffff
Big Z
“I’m alive… but at what cost?”
Li
Exaaaactly.
HueSatLight
Those are probably clean clothes. The same ones are always on top. So the dirty ones she takes off aren’t going there.
Discussion (274) - “Up, continued”
NGPZ
imagine how much of a jumpscare it would actually be if someone popped out of the Pile of Lesboso hi Becky XD
Thag Simmons
I do recall someone wondering what she was up to yesterday.
Sajuuk-Khar
as it turns out, a lot of strenuous “tailoring work” with Dina had her all tuckered out
Sirksome
Yo. Sometimes these characters are just creepy.
Steamweed
Panel 5 reminds me of the creeptastic stand-in-corner scene of the Blair Witch Project movie.
AnonGrouch
Idk having done this myself many times sometimes you just need to stare in the dark standing up. Definitely creepy to an outside observer I guess but as readers with full context of Dorothy’s mind state I can’t really imagine calling it creepy other than as an empathetic/sympathetic response to Becky’s reaction.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Solidarity. Been there too. Many times.
Joy
….She’s just standing there? How is that creepy?
Wizard
Standing there staring a hole through the wall. I’m a little creeped.
Furie
Sometimes you need a moment before your dark vision kicks in. Especially if you’ve got blackout stuff.
Nymph
Yeah, I’d be pretty fucking spooked if my roommate was Blair Witching in the middle of the night.
Cattleprod
Good thing I skimmed the comments to see if someone made a Blair Witch reference yet.
Steamweed
Well hells I did first without reading up. Ach.
John Campbell
I was staying over at a friend’s place one time, and around 2 AM, I glanced up and discovered that his three-year-old daughter was crouched like a gargoyle in the dark at the top of the stairs, staring silently down at me.
Queen Anthai
Damn, I’m freaked out a bit just reading that.
Clif
That’s okay. She’ll be watching you tonight.
Amelie Wikström
I was the jumpscarer one time, if you’ll bear with me for a little story.
It was full dark one winter evening when I got to my friend’s house unannounced. I could see him through the window, lit up by the computer screen. The only light in the house. His whole family was gone. They even brought the dog for some reason. So I quietly went around the back and crawled in through the dog door and sneaked up behind my friend and stood there for like five minutes, waiting for the right moment. He was playing Doom, and this was back in the day when Doom could be pretty spooky to a teenager. Pretty easy to see how he tensed up when going through an unfamiliar door. So that’s when I slammed my hand onto his shoulder.
Such happy times.
not someone else
…Jesus. Did he live? That’s amazing.
Amelie Wikström
Oh, he definitely died. (In the game.) (Though now he is dead to me.)
Taffy
Amelie “The Silent Killer” Wikström
Needfuldoer
At least she wasn’t crawling across the ceiling like a spider.
Steamweed
I hate it when I do that in my sleep.
Needfuldoer
I know, right? Spinning your head around to look at the floor gives you such a pain in the neck. :\
yet_one_more_idiot
What about if they were sleepwalking about? And/or sleeptalking?
‘Cos I do both… 😀
Layn
One night I woke up to my roommate sleepwalking into my bedroom. I was weirdly not spooked, it only set in later. Suffice it to say, I started locking my bedroom after that.
Nono
Her programming got activated. Dorothy.EXE awaiting further commands.
Steamweed
Manchurian, er, Presidential Candidate Dorothy Keener.
DailyBrad
Wonder if Dorothy will talk to her about the whole “probably queer as it turns out” thing.
Thag Simmons
I feel like Dorothy has not yet reached a state of acceptance where she would be willing to open up about that
Charles Phipps
It’s weird Becky was 100% right about Dorothy trying to steal her childhood friend for romantic purposes.
Decidedly Orthogonal
That’s only one (highly biased) reading of DoA. Dorothy didn’t seem to have any sexual interest in Joyce until the breast pictures. So at the time of Becky’s accusation it was not true, even though later Dorothy developed an attraction (and seemingly, so did Joyce).
And even if Dorothy was interested in Joyce much earlier, her own actions weren’t trying to steal Joyce.
morleuca
also, Dorothy reads into everything. Everything has to mean something, and nothing can be just accidental or of the moment. because if it were otherwise she wouldn’t be able to keep all of reality’s boxes orderly.
KoboldCatgirl
I think Dorothy *was* interested much earlier, but I also don’t think she realized it, yeah. To her, it was just an exceptionally close female friendship where her friend would constantly dote on her and pine after her and tell her how pretty she was. She got so used to the friendship effectively feeling romantic that it never registered to her that the romantic dynamic was, y’know, something she’d come to crave.
Dread Pirate Robin
I don’t think the titty pic activated her bi synapses, I think it was the first time she realized the nature of the affection she held for her. This isn’t superficial “damn girl nice boobs” attraction, this is “oh my god I’m in love with Joyce, she’s the reason i stayed behind and now it’s too late for us to be together” attraction.
Li
I think Becky could be a good person for her to talk to here…
…but I can also see sooooo many reasons why Dorothy would not think Becky was a good person for her to talk to here.
Vanessa Pinter
So far Becky has been nothing but mean and abusive toward Dorothy and a rudely messy roommate too. I bet that pile reeks. Lashing out at every opportunity. Let’s see if she can step up when needed or will pull more “dead dad” guilt trips and crack tasteless jokes. I like Becky and I can see her trauma but she would be miserable to live with even if she didn’t have a grudge against you.”
Sajuuk-Khar
tfw you craft a topically related piece of satirical over-the-top anti-Becky bait for laughs only to be upstaged by someone full of genuine hot boiling haterade and smell-o-vision out of nowhere
Charles Phipps
I enjoyed Joe destroying Dorothy with his maturity. I hope Becky will do the same. Only when crushed forever will Dorothy at last embrace her true evil nature and become Presidential material.
Taffy
Nah, evil is boring. May as well just kill her off, at that point. Now, if she started beating people up to work off the stress and bad vibes, that’d be interesting.
Li
That’s such a… unique takeaway from that sequence. That Joe was “destroying” her. Idek what to say hah.
Charles Phipps
Dorothy hit him with everything she had and he shrugged it off like a champ.
Then he broke her…with the truth.
Nymph
Yes. They had a conversation where Joe was kind and understanding as Dorothy wrestled with a difficult new awareness of herself. If you want to phrase that like it was WWE you totally can.
Megan
do you not remember him saying “Checkmate, liveral” before doing a kick flip into a hot tub? it was a pretty pivotal scene
Li
@Nymph: hey no kinkshaming
@Charles: I really didn’t see either of them as attacking each other; just Dorothy lashing out (kind of generally, an explosion more than aimed attacks), and Joe being understanding about it, but.
@Megan: d’oh, I totally forgot that part, ty
Nymph
I’m a proud kinkshamer. Some people are into that.
Li
Pff. Okay, that’s fair. I shouldn’t speak for other people about whether or not they wanna be kinkshamed. ?
Li
Pow’s Law continuing to Poe and Law its way up and down this comment section heh.
Nadamás
Putting “abusive” on the high shell until people learn to use it responsibly.
Clif
Good luck with that.
someone
Are you saying that people are abusing “abusive” abusively?
Also, language cannot be policed, otherwise people would have stopped using “irregardless” long ago.
Joy
(-__-) I don’t use that word because words mean things and that word doesn’t and is therefore only pretending to be a word.
clif
Irregardless, I shall continue to use it as a synonym for regardless, though seldom and only for effect.
But since “nothing” doesn’t mean anything, should we conclude it isn’t a word either? And if it does mean something, is that thing thereby not nothing?
Nadamás
That isn’t how that works though, the concept of nothing is not the same as the word nothing, which does have a definition and so it is a word with meaning.
Heavensrun
But it still doesn’t mean anything.
Nadamás
Good nobody was policing anything here. I am just telling someone they use a word with a very specific and heavy meaning in a stupid about a situation where it doesn’t apply.
Big Z
Hey, laundry piles like that save lives!
(it’s true. My college roommate had one, and once his girlfriend fell out of his loft but landed in the atomic boxer pile instead of on the concrete floor.)
Li
One of those moments where for a split second you’re not sure you’re glad you landed somewhere soft ffffffff
Big Z
“I’m alive… but at what cost?”
Li
Exaaaactly.
HueSatLight
Those are probably clean clothes. The same ones are always on top. So the dirty ones she takes off aren’t going there.
Bryy
Yeah, this is either gonna be wholesome
or not.
AK
I think that would be a really cool scene, I really hope it happens.
Mturtle7
“Becky, I…I’ve recently been having…some THOUGHTS about Joyce…of a sexual nature…”
“HEY GUESS WHAT YOU’RE
A LESBIANBI!!!”CitrineMonster
WILLIS PLEASE NO WAY DO NOT MAKE THEM KISS OH MY GOD HAHAHAHA
Nymph
I don’t think there’s any risk of this, but it’s a trainwreck I’d be down to see.
Thag Simmons
Odds of that happening are pretty insignificant, I think
Freezer
But never non-zero.
Fiiiiilo
NGL, I hadn’t even really considered that as a possibility.
I just hope this is all resolved in a way that doesn’t involve anyone cheating on their partner.
Nadamás
Sometimes you just stand there in the dark because doesn’t know what to do anymore.
Longshot97
Been there, done that. This new direction isn’t precisely scary, but it is inspiring a steadily rising feeling of dread.
BBCC
This might be a REALLY not fun night for Dorothy.
TheFungus
I think Dorothy is starting to hit Komm Susser Tod levels here mental state-wise, this seems dire.
Nadamás