The problem here is if she can bring out her ‘inner amazi-girl’ or if her compartmentalizing will end badly. Like she has ten thousand issues tied to this and i- oh shit, actually, with all that about redemption, this might be a good redemption moment. We’ll see tho.
Indeed. If that is where this is going, the redemption would be “I’ve seized the criminal’s knife (again)… And I can discard it. Justice is not revenge.”
Tgape
I seized a criminal’s knife (again), used it to cut his wallet out of his pants, dropped the knife, and took the wallet, so I can report the whole name, and end that …….’s expectation for a future.
She was wearing the Amazi-girl costume then, though. I think Amber / Amazi-girl’s psyche is broken to the point that if she isn’t wearing Amazi-girl, she isn’t Amazi-girl 🙁 RIP Amber and Dorothy.
Eldritch Gentleman
She still punched and bloodied her father when he was picking a fight with her… I think her being Amazi-girl might be Safer. Being Amazi-girl puts limiters on her anger and brutality. She tries to live by some super hero rules. On the other hand a sufficiently provoked Amber might just go berserk and beat the absolute shit out of her opponent. We’ll see ow it goes.
thejeff
Amusing typo in that last line.
It may indeed go “ow”.
Eldritch Gentleman
Heh, I’m hoping for some stronger effect than just ow XD
Deanatay
I think that qualifies as a ‘Freudian slip’.
Ducky
That’s how Amber thinks, anyways. To herself, Amber has “anger issues” that need to be compartmentalized. She does that by channeling them into a sort of righteous anger, expressed by Amazi-Girl. But since Amazi-Girl has principles that have to be followed (whereas Amber is only human), Amazi-Girl can’t stab a dude in self-defense. Amber could kill him, 100%.
Knives are different from guns. You can get inside a gun’s effective range. Not so easy to do with a knife.
Eldritch Gentleman
My point is more about experience. Ryan is just some creep with a knife he probably doesn’t even know how to use properly while Amber has considerable experience in beating people up.
Roborat
Yes, but it is relatively easy to get outside the effective range of a knife.
The problem is that it’s not, ‘some cowardly little shit with a knife’, it’s that it’s ‘some cowardly little shit… with a knife‘.
Some of our fellow readers are worried that Amber might become paralyzed due to a similarincident in her past. Me? I see the exact opposite happening, only Amber will have a knife available, and we don’t know if Dorothy is strong enough to pull Amber off Ryan’s soon-to-be-shanked ass.
Yesterday I joked to myself about Dorothy having to pull off Amber after she stabbed Ryan in the balls, multiple times, incidentally traumatizing Joe (who had been stalking Dorothy himself waiting for Ryan to make his move) who’d wrestled Ryan to the ground while Ambers trigger was switching itself ‘on’. But that was when we had the possibility that it wasn’t a knife, and Ryan’s background wasn’t red…
Mind you, I’m not concerned at all for Ryan. He’s an attempted Rapist who’s currently menacing two women (and wants to raise the stakes to Assault With A Deadly Weapon, if not Attempted Murder and beyond). everything that happens to him is something he brought on himself. I’m more concerned for Amber, who might have to walk past a bloodstain on the steps to her dorm everyday for the rest of the comic, knowing she was the one who put it there. And Dorothy, who might blame herself for not watching her own back and leading Ryan there. Hell, might as well add Joyce, who now has confimation that Ryan could’ve been anywhere on campus, stalking her, and could get to her at any time. Each of these three has had a bad day (two of them in the past 30 minutes), and don’t need to have any reminders of Ryan to ruin the rest of their days here in IU.
Eldritch Gentleman
Yeah this worries me a bit too. If she gets pissed enough she might go berserk and stab him how she stabbed Sal in the past. Pre-Sal Amber would freeze, but this Amber might just lose it and try to stab Ryan with his own knife…
Oh please, I sincerely doubt Willis is the kind of writer to kill of two or even one of his characters like this.
If he was, Amber would probably have died back when she was car surfing.
Willis has said he has no intention of killing any character in DOA, because given the extended time frames, the rest of the characters would be in mourning *For the next several real-time years*.
AeromechanicalAce
Really hope he makes an exception for “Ryan” here.
Nobody would mourn him.
Woobie
His mom?
Maybe not his dad.
HeySo
Pretty sure a lot of readers are breathing sighs of relief in recalling that fact, considering the situation.
Then again, “not dying” isn’t exactly an especially restrictive condition. :S
Lone Wolf
I’m reminded of the second Aladdin movie. “You’d be surprised what you can live through.”
It would be difficult to kill a major character with the way Dumbing of Age handles time. Grief is all consuming and unless there was a massive time skip (which could theoretically happen) it would just be unending weeks of sadness.
Also Amber has way too much shit to still work through to die now, and Dorothy dying with some variation of “she was too good to survive in this world” would be some seriously hacky writing.
Durandal_1707
Dorothy was a Beautiful Cinnamon Roll, Too Good For This World, Too Pure.
HeySo
Aaaaand now I want a cinnamon roll.
Way to go, you jerk. :’|
They’re not implying they die, they’re implying we skip straight to the aftermath and find out what happened through people discovering it instead of watching it happen.
Okay, i’m a bit lost now, there’s almost nothing to pin him with, why would he fuck himself over like that?
Meta
this kind of stalking/revenge behavior is unusual, but far from unprecedented for sexual predators. He’s probably not trying to stop the news from getting out. May be a little at odds with his “my dad’s gonna see that” line, but plausible.
dn3s
or he’s resigned that his dad will see it, and thus he’s got nothing left to lose?
JetstreamGW
Because he’s an idiot?
HeySo
Male dominance mentality, perhaps? He made it pretty evident he doesn’t put thought into women past his own gratification, so having a woman “dare to speak out against him” could make for a very stimulating trigger.
That said, consider what he’s actually saying, and recall the fact that his dad is a minister (and consider also that such a position is one which is known to be taken up by extremely social-conscious individuals). It doesn’t matter how valid or provable the claims are, the stigma of having such claims made against one’s son could be devastating toward a socially conscious individual- or for a less critical interpretation, even just to an individual who relies on social perception to help others.
That said, considering how Ryan turned out (and nevermind how ‘bad parenting’ seems to be a reoccuring theme in DoA) it’s not unreasonable to assume that his father will probably be very harsh in dealing with the matter (which of course is also in line with behavior associated with socially-conscious parents).
So, in sum, he’s probably doing it due to a combination of ‘I’m fucked, my abusive father is going to punish me’, and ‘you’re just a stupid woman, how dare you’.
Or, y’know, maybe he’s just doing it ’cause individuals with such mentalities generally aren’t the most rational thinkers to begin with.
Arioch
I have a similar thought. It is most likely not the first time he has done something like this. But, I wonder if he did this previously and got away with it because there was absolutely no proof – not even a grainy picture. He got away with it because his pastor dad gave him the benefit of the doubt when he said he didn’t do it. (Notice, I didn’t say he believed him, and I didn’t say he said he was innocent) Now, there’s a picture, and a name that matches his son’s middle name, and his son has a new scar…. His dad is gonna see that. He’s gonna get in trouble this time. He might actually get in trouble for all the times now, all the accusations…
Yeah, this is about where guys like him lose their shit, if that is what is happening.
The same over-inflated sense of pride and entitlement that lead him to feel women owe him sex also means that there is nothing that enrages him more than a woman inconveniencing him in any way.
We already saw how fast he got pissed off and violent simply because Joyce didn’t want to go into that grody bathroom where he could attacker her.
Now she’s not only escaped him, but she’s conspired with other women to try and inflict Consequences For His Actions on him?? Even if there were none, I imagine just learning of the attempt would make him irrationally angry.
It will end with Sal and Amber triumphantly kissing over the mangled body of whatever his name use to be. How better to express their love, than by curb stomping someone, together.
The directory gives names, which you can crossreference with google and/or social media. It’s a pretty solid way to find someone if you’re not looking for specific information about them.
Depends if it’s the internal directory or some sort of public listing- an internal directory typically also stores student ID photos (for the purpose of reprinting Student IDs if they’re lost or damaged). That said, it’s a digital age and at least some of the individuals involved are familiar with journalism concepts (such as, y’know, researching information)- google-cross-checking would hardly be a non-intuitive consideration.
They likely checked the Ryans and his face wasn’t there. He’s just said it is his middle name so it likely wouldn’t show up in a dictionary or most student resources as anything past an initial if it is included at all.
623 thoughts on “Directory”
Ana Chronistic
“…SAL”
*Sal busts in and dropkicks him Zangief-style*
–srsly tho, Amber’s already p good with a knife, we saw??
Koms
Oh I’d like to saw Ryan all right.
Kelandrea
The problem here is if she can bring out her ‘inner amazi-girl’ or if her compartmentalizing will end badly. Like she has ten thousand issues tied to this and i- oh shit, actually, with all that about redemption, this might be a good redemption moment. We’ll see tho.
Gigafreak
Indeed. If that is where this is going, the redemption would be “I’ve seized the criminal’s knife (again)… And I can discard it. Justice is not revenge.”
Tgape
I seized a criminal’s knife (again), used it to cut his wallet out of his pants, dropped the knife, and took the wallet, so I can report the whole name, and end that …….’s expectation for a future.
BP
Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please ….
Eldritch Gentleman
She took on a guy with a gun while on the roof of a speeding car. Some cowardly little shit with a knife is nothing to her.
Trousle Undrhil
She was wearing the Amazi-girl costume then, though. I think Amber / Amazi-girl’s psyche is broken to the point that if she isn’t wearing Amazi-girl, she isn’t Amazi-girl 🙁 RIP Amber and Dorothy.
Eldritch Gentleman
She still punched and bloodied her father when he was picking a fight with her… I think her being Amazi-girl might be Safer. Being Amazi-girl puts limiters on her anger and brutality. She tries to live by some super hero rules. On the other hand a sufficiently provoked Amber might just go berserk and beat the absolute shit out of her opponent. We’ll see ow it goes.
thejeff
Amusing typo in that last line.
It may indeed go “ow”.
Eldritch Gentleman
Heh, I’m hoping for some stronger effect than just ow XD
Deanatay
I think that qualifies as a ‘Freudian slip’.
Ducky
That’s how Amber thinks, anyways. To herself, Amber has “anger issues” that need to be compartmentalized. She does that by channeling them into a sort of righteous anger, expressed by Amazi-Girl. But since Amazi-Girl has principles that have to be followed (whereas Amber is only human), Amazi-Girl can’t stab a dude in self-defense. Amber could kill him, 100%.
Fart Captor
We’ve seen her – multiple times – be Amber with the mask on, and Amazi-Girl without it.
Kippu
Knives are different from guns. You can get inside a gun’s effective range. Not so easy to do with a knife.
Eldritch Gentleman
My point is more about experience. Ryan is just some creep with a knife he probably doesn’t even know how to use properly while Amber has considerable experience in beating people up.
Roborat
Yes, but it is relatively easy to get outside the effective range of a knife.
Oruncrest
The problem is that it’s not, ‘some cowardly little shit with a knife’, it’s that it’s ‘some cowardly little shit… with a knife‘.
Some of our fellow readers are worried that Amber might become paralyzed due to a similar incident in her past. Me? I see the exact opposite happening, only Amber will have a knife available, and we don’t know if Dorothy is strong enough to pull Amber off Ryan’s soon-to-be-shanked ass.
Yesterday I joked to myself about Dorothy having to pull off Amber after she stabbed Ryan in the balls, multiple times, incidentally traumatizing Joe (who had been stalking Dorothy himself waiting for Ryan to make his move) who’d wrestled Ryan to the ground while Ambers trigger was switching itself ‘on’. But that was when we had the possibility that it wasn’t a knife, and Ryan’s background wasn’t red…
Mind you, I’m not concerned at all for Ryan. He’s an attempted Rapist who’s currently menacing two women (and wants to raise the stakes to Assault With A Deadly Weapon, if not Attempted Murder and beyond). everything that happens to him is something he brought on himself. I’m more concerned for Amber, who might have to walk past a bloodstain on the steps to her dorm everyday for the rest of the comic, knowing she was the one who put it there. And Dorothy, who might blame herself for not watching her own back and leading Ryan there. Hell, might as well add Joyce, who now has confimation that Ryan could’ve been anywhere on campus, stalking her, and could get to her at any time. Each of these three has had a bad day (two of them in the past 30 minutes), and don’t need to have any reminders of Ryan to ruin the rest of their days here in IU.
Eldritch Gentleman
Yeah this worries me a bit too. If she gets pissed enough she might go berserk and stab him how she stabbed Sal in the past. Pre-Sal Amber would freeze, but this Amber might just lose it and try to stab Ryan with his own knife…
Scoops
Maybe knives are her kryptonite.
Knuf Wons
“I don’t need friends! I’ve got knives!
porthos9438
Wait!! Is that the stag-horn handle?
TrueVCU
THERE HAD BETTER BE A TRIUMPHANT FIGHT SCENE ABOUT TO HAPPEN GOD HELP YOU WILLIS
GOD HELP YOU WILLIS
Reltzik
Tomorrow: Shots of people in bed, including a nice one of Dina/Becky cuddling.
End of chapter.
Galuna
HE WOULD DO THIS
Reltzik
Sunday: Cut to Jason angsting about how to be a better TA.
Sensei Le Roof
With announcement over speakers of a student (no names named) being treated for a wound and some bleeding.
ANeM
and by “people” you mean “knife” and by “bed” you mean “Amber’s ribcage”
tim gueguen
Nah. One punch KO by Marcia.
Mr. Random
Oh please, I sincerely doubt Willis is the kind of writer to kill of two or even one of his characters like this.
If he was, Amber would probably have died back when she was car surfing.
Ari
I checked the preview panels, and one of them seemed to have dorothy in it. So she should be okay-ish at least.
Ari
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/159723201407/july-6-2017#notes
Link, if anyone was wondering
Justin Time
Spoil-sport
Reltzik
Spoiler-sport.
McBogue
FYI, that building in the background is the IU Health Center, so someone’s going to be needing medical attention.
emusam
Artie?
Cephalo the Pod
Oh.
So much for my “Dorothy gets kidnapped” theory.
Felgraf
Willis has said he has no intention of killing any character in DOA, because given the extended time frames, the rest of the characters would be in mourning *For the next several real-time years*.
AeromechanicalAce
Really hope he makes an exception for “Ryan” here.
Nobody would mourn him.
Woobie
His mom?
Maybe not his dad.
HeySo
Pretty sure a lot of readers are breathing sighs of relief in recalling that fact, considering the situation.
Then again, “not dying” isn’t exactly an especially restrictive condition. :S
Lone Wolf
I’m reminded of the second Aladdin movie. “You’d be surprised what you can live through.”
TimeLoss
It would be difficult to kill a major character with the way Dumbing of Age handles time. Grief is all consuming and unless there was a massive time skip (which could theoretically happen) it would just be unending weeks of sadness.
Also Amber has way too much shit to still work through to die now, and Dorothy dying with some variation of “she was too good to survive in this world” would be some seriously hacky writing.
Durandal_1707
Dorothy was a Beautiful Cinnamon Roll, Too Good For This World, Too Pure.
HeySo
Aaaaand now I want a cinnamon roll.
Way to go, you jerk. :’|
ValdVin
Wait, you ever not want a cinnamon roll?
Sensei Le Roof
After filling up on cinnamon rolls?
Justin Time
They’re not implying they die, they’re implying we skip straight to the aftermath and find out what happened through people discovering it instead of watching it happen.
Don’t ‘oh, please’ people.
Godfather
WILLS WILL PAY
no.
RYAN WILL PAY
TrueVCU
IT CAN BE BOTH THEY WILL BOTH PAY THERE IS ENOUGH PAY FOR ALL
zoelogical
SOMEBODY GIVE ME A JOB
*sob*
desolation0
Have a résumé/CV handy?
zoelogical
honestly i have a job i just need to get my ass in gear and start building a portfolio so i can get the job i want
le sigh
TheAnonymousGuy
Okay, i’m a bit lost now, there’s almost nothing to pin him with, why would he fuck himself over like that?
Meta
this kind of stalking/revenge behavior is unusual, but far from unprecedented for sexual predators. He’s probably not trying to stop the news from getting out. May be a little at odds with his “my dad’s gonna see that” line, but plausible.
dn3s
or he’s resigned that his dad will see it, and thus he’s got nothing left to lose?
JetstreamGW
Because he’s an idiot?
HeySo
Male dominance mentality, perhaps? He made it pretty evident he doesn’t put thought into women past his own gratification, so having a woman “dare to speak out against him” could make for a very stimulating trigger.
That said, consider what he’s actually saying, and recall the fact that his dad is a minister (and consider also that such a position is one which is known to be taken up by extremely social-conscious individuals). It doesn’t matter how valid or provable the claims are, the stigma of having such claims made against one’s son could be devastating toward a socially conscious individual- or for a less critical interpretation, even just to an individual who relies on social perception to help others.
That said, considering how Ryan turned out (and nevermind how ‘bad parenting’ seems to be a reoccuring theme in DoA) it’s not unreasonable to assume that his father will probably be very harsh in dealing with the matter (which of course is also in line with behavior associated with socially-conscious parents).
So, in sum, he’s probably doing it due to a combination of ‘I’m fucked, my abusive father is going to punish me’, and ‘you’re just a stupid woman, how dare you’.
Or, y’know, maybe he’s just doing it ’cause individuals with such mentalities generally aren’t the most rational thinkers to begin with.
Arioch
I have a similar thought. It is most likely not the first time he has done something like this. But, I wonder if he did this previously and got away with it because there was absolutely no proof – not even a grainy picture. He got away with it because his pastor dad gave him the benefit of the doubt when he said he didn’t do it. (Notice, I didn’t say he believed him, and I didn’t say he said he was innocent) Now, there’s a picture, and a name that matches his son’s middle name, and his son has a new scar…. His dad is gonna see that. He’s gonna get in trouble this time. He might actually get in trouble for all the times now, all the accusations…
Yeah, this is about where guys like him lose their shit, if that is what is happening.
Fart Captor
I think Cerberus’ comment below about it probably nails it
The same over-inflated sense of pride and entitlement that lead him to feel women owe him sex also means that there is nothing that enrages him more than a woman inconveniencing him in any way.
We already saw how fast he got pissed off and violent simply because Joyce didn’t want to go into that grody bathroom where he could attacker her.
Now she’s not only escaped him, but she’s conspired with other women to try and inflict Consequences For His Actions on him?? Even if there were none, I imagine just learning of the attempt would make him irrationally angry.
Felgraf
*MOTORCYCLED*
lejwocky
*crosses fingers*
jeffepp
It will end with Sal and Amber triumphantly kissing over the mangled body of whatever his name use to be. How better to express their love, than by curb stomping someone, together.
Delicious Taffy
Just like in Mass Effect 3, if you romance Jack.
HMH
I have the weirdest boner right now.
Raen
…there are no other “Ryans”?
boop
The directory maybe has faces, and the Ryan’s didn’t look like him?
coolestpyro
The directory gives names, which you can crossreference with google and/or social media. It’s a pretty solid way to find someone if you’re not looking for specific information about them.
HeySo
Depends if it’s the internal directory or some sort of public listing- an internal directory typically also stores student ID photos (for the purpose of reprinting Student IDs if they’re lost or damaged). That said, it’s a digital age and at least some of the individuals involved are familiar with journalism concepts (such as, y’know, researching information)- google-cross-checking would hardly be a non-intuitive consideration.
Sam
They likely checked the Ryans and his face wasn’t there. He’s just said it is his middle name so it likely wouldn’t show up in a dictionary or most student resources as anything past an initial if it is included at all.
MatthewTheLucky
Oh dear. Now he has to die.
TimeLoss
That phone’s antenna looks suspiciously like a knife blade
CoffeeBurps