269

Who
Posted on August 22, 2023 by David M Willis

269 thoughts on “Who”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Lucy just a ship schemer

    …

    belatedly realised as a non-sequitur that we never saw Lucy in the free jacket, and now I gotta see it

    (not so urgently I would have to draw it myself, tho)

    1. Cattleprod

      Ah, my favorite seeker, Shipscheme.

    2. milu

      How’s your career going as a non-sequitur?

      1. Ana Chronistic

        I have read 300 books this year (on record)

    3. Doctor_Who

      Think we can specifically vote for “Lucy in free Rutech jacket” for a bonus strip on Patreon?

      1. ktbear

        Certainly worth a crack, Id vote for it.

    4. PirateTawnee

      Almost 4 months without a Carla strip, that’s too long.

      1. Mark

        For sure Carla thinks so.

  2. Corronchilejano

    Smug Lucy is all I didn’t know I needed

    1. CMasta1992

      Panel 5 Lucy got me feeling some type of way

    2. Freemage

      As someone who has largely been critical of Lucy, when I wasn’t just indifferent… j’adore! Lucy here is nothing short of awesome, and I’d love to see more of this side of her.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        Oh my indeed.
        This may be the best Lucy moment in the comic thus far, and if we see more of this Lucy, I may change my mind about the character.

    3. Puppeteer Nessus

      Turns out Ogres have Layers

    4. Wizard

      She’s revealing some hidden depths and I love it! While I never hated sweet and naive Lucy, I never previously liked her as much as do right now.

  3. Caro

    joyce: lesbian love sleuth. wait no thats in the other dorm

    1. Dante

      Lucy: bisexual rebounding bouncer (?)

  4. StClair

    and there it is.
    yeah, she’s not nearly as innocent or unaware as she sometimes presents.
    (definitely thirsty, though.)

    1. Vanessa

      Apparently not, apparently just a scheming mean girl. The over-eager puppy-dog enthusiasm is just a front. Amazing.

      1. Schpoonman

        Cope.

      2. zee

        If I rolled my eyes any harder the muscles would snap

    2. Thag Simmons

      Lucy has recognized that some people find her obnoxious and is learning how to harness that. I don’t dare imagine what she could achieve at full power

      1. True Survivor

        Lucy is scary.

      2. DailyBrad

        Yeah, I think she’s self-aware enough to know how to play it, but I think it’s also just that she knows Jennifer enough by now to push the right buttons.

      3. Needfuldoer

        Help us all, if she teaches this power to Walky.

      4. Mturtle7

        It only just now occurs to me that Lucy would make a WAY better rival/archnemesis than Dorothy for Becky, if only their social circles overlapped more. They utilize their (mostly genuine) obnoxious enthusiasm in oddly similar ways!

        I honestly can’t remember for the life if me if those two have ever interacted. Somebody help a guy out?

        1. Mturtle7

          NVM, I just broke down and went hunting through the tags myself. Seems they’ve had a number of significant interactions before, mostly as allies (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/05-as-long-as-its-free/objectively/ and https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/03-trial-and-sarah/godstrings/) and just once in a more…awkwardly-kinda-at-odds way (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/triumvirate/).
          So so far, their similarities (especially the religious ones) have been making them better friends with each other, not rivals. But if there’s ever, like, an actual social contest between them, I’m sure it would spectacular.

    3. GholaHalleck

      She has tried to Third Date Walky for daaaays. she is at spongebob levels of extreme thirst.

      1. Thomas

        SpongeBob levels of extreme thirst? He’s a sponge, right? Does that mean she’s extremely wet or extremely dry? Or both?

        1. Needfuldoer

          First one, then the other.

          (I think they’re referring to the early episode where he spends a day in the tree dome, which is filled with air, and dries out into a photo of a kitchen sponge.)

        2. Schpoonman

          I think they were going for the direct quote. https://youtu.be/ZsnMlvOhQA0

    4. Nono

      If she was that smart, you’d think she’d be better at being popular.

      1. DailyBrad

        Jennifer is someone she has time to learn how to play a bit. The issue, though, is that Lucy can’t do that with everybody or anything, but also, most people can read her eagerness to be liked and get repulsed by it, fairly or not.

    5. Ophidiophile

      Or maybe she just has her moments of insight. I do stuff I only realize later was a really smart thing to do.

  5. BBCC

    I’m impressed. She’s learning to navigate Jennifer and that is no easy task.

    1. Nono

      I mean, most of her old wing seemed to understand.

      “Lure her using alcohol.”

      1. Needfuldoer

        Now I’m picturing a trail of nip bottles leading to a comically oversized “cardboard box propped up on a stick with a piece of string tied to it” trap.

        1. Schpoonman

          “Ooh, piece of candy!”

      2. Joy

        I’m glad she’s separated from them actually.

    2. DarkoNeko

      eh, Raidah seems to do that easily too.

    3. Dante

      She’s (apparently?) doing it without the alcohol, therefore in Extra Hard Mode. Granted… They do share a very, very small room.

    4. Tesset

      To be fair, she did something similar v early on to keep Ruth & Billie together.

  6. NGPZ

    “You owe me?”

    Ironically there might have been a conspiracy after all — just not the kind Jennifer thought.

    1. True Survivor

      Very on point avatar for tonight’s comment.

    2. Angel

      He also seemed to have avoided saying ethan’s name, dunno if lucy will pry for more info, jen sorta knows him as joyce’s ex, tho if she wanted a ‘double date’ if asher does end up hanging out with ethan for a while, not sure how awkward it’d be with walky because i think last time walky talked to ethan he put his foot in his mouth lol

  7. Yumi

    If Lucy ended this relationship, *then* Asher would owe her one.

    1. Vanessa

      Right! Lucy is working against Asher’s real long term happiness here.

      1. DailyBrad

        Not that this is wrong, but Asher’s got agency in this.

    2. Schpoonman

      Lucy definitely owes Asher for prolonging his relationship with Jennifer. It’s like the opening to Kung Pow, where after the Chosen One rolls to a stop in the middle of a hill, a kind lady picks him up and then sets him rolling further down.

    3. nicoleandmaggie

      Word.

    4. Mturtle7

      I’d like to think she’s just giving him a chance to finally end it on his own terms. Especially since she’s just put the notion of having a relationship with someone who’s “nice” and “loves you for who you are” into his head! Hopefully, EVENTUALLY, it will occur to him that neither of those descriptors matches Jennifer, and that this is a Very Bad Thing.

  8. Time Sage

    *clap clap* Color me impressed

  9. Thag Simmons

    Lucy leveled up!

    Lucy learned a new ability!

  10. C.T. Phipps

    Jennifer self-sabotages any happiness she has.

    Shock of shocks.

  11. Leorale

    She wasn’t a creep after all, it was all a fiendish plot! I am surprised and pleased.

    1. MM

      It can be two things.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Yeah it’s really the classic Xanatos. Neither outcome is a loss for Lucy

      2. Vanessa

        Lucy is manipulative and creepy, lol.

        1. clif

          Lucy is manipulative and cute.

          Fixed that for you.

        2. Taffy

          She’s friggin’ adorable.

    2. Sirksome

      Or y’know one can stay out of people’s relationships. Much like when Becky pulled the same thing for the opposite result it’s pretty arrogant to manipulate people’s relationships because you think you know better.

      1. Thag Simmons

        have you considered that schemes are fun and entertaining

        1. Sirksome

          Entertaining to watch, sure. For for who though? Fun for us readers is one thing, but fun for Lucy kind of makes her a jerk.

        2. Taffy

          I’m not telling you how to read the comic, putting that out front. Only that “fun for us readers” is what ultimately matters. Not that it has to be to everyone’s taste 24/7 (as if I have to say that explicitly lol), of course.

        3. Sirksome

          I actually just legitimately didn’t know the context for what Thag Simmons is referring to.

        4. Taffy

          Oh, it was an either/or question? Apologies, I’m a little compromised and it’s affecting my thoughts processes. Hopefully I’m not coming off as combative.

        5. Thag Simmons

          For the record it was both

        6. Sirksome

          Nah, not combative at all. I just try to add context when I can because conveying tone through text can get tricky. So many jokes just never land for instance.

        7. BarerMender

          Kinda? Makes her? Lucy has always been a jerk.

        8. Joy

          NGL I think stoking that drama on purpose kind of led to Jennifer getting a concussion. I’m honestly not sure that Becky would care, though? I would hope that she would but she seems to have firmly sided with Ruth, moreso than Ruth has sided with Ruth. :/

        9. Joy

          And TBH it seems like she was regularly getting whiplash concussions from Ruth’s behavior from before they even got together, and that’s after being a cheerleader, which is a sport pretty well known for giving people mild concussions. Like, is she okay?????

    3. smolgrlboi

      everyone calling her manipulative and I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out what she even did here. did she distract billie with her questions or something? what was the fiendish plot? my coffee hasn’t hit yet 🙁

      1. Joy

        Asher wasn’t trying to make Jennifer jealous about Asher but Lucy made Jennifer jealous about Asher, which made Jennifer realize that she still wanted a relationship with Asher, and jennifer wasn’t sure before this.

        1. smolgrlboi

          Thank you! I was fairly confused, you and Mturtle7’s comments helped.

      2. Mturtle7

        To put it another way: in the previous strip, Jennifer was still acting like she might be broken up with Asher, responding with a vague “we’ll see” to the question of how serious they were, and insisting she wouldn’t care how many dudes he kisses right now because he’s clearly not serious about that. Then, Lucy suddenly burst in to make Asher and Mystery Boy’s ‘relationship’ sound super serious and romantic, which provoked Jennifer into not only showing she definitely wants Asher to stop kissing boys ASAP, but also ask (or, well, demand, but that’s basically the same thing for her) him out to lunch. And now Lucy implies this was All Part of the Plan. I hope that’s clear enough for you!

        1. smolgrlboi

          Thank you! It really did clear things up!

  12. june gloom

    On the one hand, Jennifer just got masterfully played. On the other — Asher could do so much better.

    1. Angel

      if ethan is ever get past the mourning process and manage his depression, he probably wouldn’t be a bad boyfriend, even if he originally came on to asher for something casual

    2. C.T. Phipps

      Asher and Ethan will be better.

      So would Asher and Lucy.

  13. audkitten

    Oh that was clever!

  14. Doopyboop

    Man Lucy is two for two with coming in clutch to save Jennifer’s relationships.

    1. Zero

      Too bad for Asher.

      1. Doopyboop

        Here’s hoping the next strip is Asher saying “you know what, if I can only keep my girlfriend by making her jelly, I’m done-zo.”

        1. RassilonTDavros

          “It’s four o’clock in the morning, why on Earth are you making jelly?”

        2. Mym

          Because I’ve lost control of my life

        3. milu

          Wait what time do you make jelly

        4. clif

          It all depends.

          Is making jelly a euphemism?

        5. NGPZ

          mmmmm Jennifer Jelly

          Jellyfer ??

        6. Proxiehunter

          It Must Be Jelly (‘Cause Jam Don’t Shake Like That).

        7. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

          Making jelly is a euphemism for making chocolate pudding

        8. Taffy

          Which is a euphemism for making jelly.

        9. Mark

          When Becky said she was jelly, I took it as a shortened/humorous form of “jealous.”

        10. Joy

          It’s possible that he doesn’t see paramours as objects and loves Jennifer for who she is, even when it isn’t easy?

  15. UrsulaDavina

    I don’t see this going well.

    1. clif

      Hey, Lucy is batting two for two on wacky schemes. She’s on a roll.

  16. Sirksome

    I think I kind a get why Jen is so horrible to Asher. It makes more sense when you consider Ruth initiated the break up. She’d likely rather end it with Asher on her own terms than be in that situation again.

    1. DailyBrad

      That is a lot of it, yeah. I also suspect it’s also kind of a rebound that lasted longer than it should have, and that Jennifer’s not just upset about the Walky-isms, that it’s moreso that she’s seeing more aspects of Asher and that it’s making this *real* and not just fun. We know there’s a lot of pain in her about Ruth still, so this being real introduces a lot of vulnerability, and thus this is kind of a crossroads whether Jennifer recognizes that or not.

      She can go further with Asher or she can end it, but she can’t keep it where it was when he was new and exciting because he’s not new, and he’s getting “domestic” and losing the exciting edge. Jealousy is a short term solution for the excitement part, but this is definitely not a fix.

      1. J. Spider

        Jennifer seems to need alot of growth before she could really be in any relationship. I feel like all of her recent developments have been for the negative and she’s struggled to really take time to define herself.

      2. Leorale

        Bonus: Jennifer really wants to fight. It turns her on, she thinks it’s romantic, it makes her feel alive.

        When Asher tries to just give Jennifer what she wants, that isn’t what she wants anymore, because what she really wants is for him to take the bait and fight with her.

        It’s… not a good relationship quality for peace and harmony.

        1. Mark

          I think a number of couples who know how to do it without going too far, have made it work. Peace and harmony are wasted on some folk.

          [spins “After the Storm”]

          However, I suspect that Asher is not one of those people.

        2. Joy

          Oh, BDSM time, ok.

        3. NGPZ

          ?☺️

  17. milu

    I ask only one thing in return: please don’t take my man, even though you can

  18. cbwroses

    Like I said before, Lucy has good intentions, but her thought processes definitely tend toward managing/manipulating people.

    She’s kind of a Raidah x Joyce hybrid.

    1. Dante

      … People tend to forget Becky does the same thing

      1. CMasta1992

        Why would you say something so controversial and yet so brave

      2. cbwroses

        My comment has nothing to do with Becky, but since you brought her up, what I’m saying is not simply that Lucy manages and manipulates people (also, to be clear, managing and manipulating people is not inherently negative).
        I’m saying that managing and manipulating people (to fit an idealized situation of her own opinion) is her default and it isn’t noticed (nor viewed negatively when it is noticed) because she’s so nice and her intentions are good.

        Becky’s default is to be a mood maker in the form of a goofball.
        Managing and manipulating people is not her default response and when she does do it, the majority of the time it’s simply to keep the mood from being heavy.
        She does openly manage Joyce, but that’s based off years of shared history.
        And, to be fair, all of Joyce’s closest friends try to manage her, so that seems to be something Joyce brings out of others rather than that just being Becky’s nature.
        The one situation where she was doing it secretly to achieve an idealized situation was the Jennifer x Ruth deal, but that’s the exception, not the norm.

        1. Wereg

          Not a huge fan of the “Joyce brings that out in others” read of things. I don’t think “victim blaming” is necessarily the correct term here, but it’s giving me those same vibes.

        2. cbwroses

          Since there’s nothing negative about it on either side, victim blaming is definitely not the correct term.
          You wouldn’t use that term if I said “all of X’s friends feel calm around her, so maybe she just brings that out in others.”
          Replace it with any positive term and it wouldn’t cross your mind to use the phrase victim blaming.
          So the issue is you view the idea of people wanting to manage Joyce as inherently negative, which it isn’t.
          Managing someone can be done in a negative way, and often is, so I get that.
          But the job Manager exists, and the job is not negative in and of itself.
          And when it comes to Joyce, Becky, Sarah, and Dorothy really just want her to be comfortable as well as grow.
          They just don’t always handle it the best way, but the feeling is not a negative one.

        3. Falcon

          Just wanted to comment that I respect the sort of perspective you’re providing here. “This is how something appears to work” instead of rushing to draw inherent moral lines in the sand.

        4. cbwroses

          Thank you.

        5. anonymsly

          Honestly, managing/manipulating people is 100% the skill set for customer service of all kinds. I’ve received actual training in how to do it, and I spent 15 years in a call center, I’ve gotten a lot of practice managing and manipulating people out of their own way and out of tantrums in order to get actual solutions in place.

        6. Joy

          Nothing makes my skin crawl more than customer service managing. It pisses me off but I have to stay polite since I don’t want to be raging at the customer service people, but that is a lot of fucking emotional labor for me, and honestly you gotta realize that most people aren’t going to bother. The manipulating people is part of why customer service people get raged at in the first place. Your training is toxic.

        7. cbwroses

          Naw.
          You’re assuming and generalizing the training, probably due to some bad or at least unwanted experiences.
          The last time I worked at a call center, I was trained that people tend to communicate with one or four different styles and to respond accordingly once I realized what style they were using to make the experience the most comfortable for them.
          And you know what? It usually worked.
          But that was a lot of emotional labor for me, trying to figure out how someone was communicating and then try to adjust my style in response, especially when what was required was against my nature.
          But there’s nothing inherently toxic about making someone feel comfortable and satisfied with an experience.
          I’ve been using the word inherently a lot today, because I do understand that what I’ve been talking about CAN be toxic and negative, but I want to be clear that it’s not always the case, nor is it even the norm.
          It’s just that negative experiences get more attention.
          Hell, if people are managed very well, no one would notice it in the first place (but again, well doesn’t equal positively).

        8. zee

          It’s always worse for the person getting paid minimum wage to deal with you than it is for you. Always

    2. Grimey

      That..Doesn’t mean anything good for the future I think.

    3. RassilonTDavros

      I was scrolling through comments and the first phrase of your comment I actually saw was “Joyce x Raidah” and boy, wouldn’t that be the one thing that could make Sarah deem Joe acceptable by comparison…

    4. Dara

      So many people are thinking Lucy is suddenly A 5D MASTERMIND when I think she thinks she’s just doing Asher a solid. You don’t need a big plan to drop this in, you just need to catch on to what’s happening quickly and, well, there y’are.

      1. cbwroses

        There’s nothing sudden about it for me.

        I’ve thought this ever since she said something along the lines that Joyce was more formidable than she thought because she skipped class to hang with Liz on the day of the comic strip interview.

        In my experience, MOST 18 year olds don’t think in those terms.

        And that’s not the only time, just the first time I started looking at her in that way.

        When Jennifer took her shine after moving in, and all of her friends suddenly thought it wasn’t worth it to watch the movie with her anymore, she went to Jennifer’s old dorm the very next day to try to figure out how to use Jennifer’s popularity to get her dorm mates to her movie party.

        The day of the comic strip interview, she dressed Walky not only to make him look nice, but to throw Joyce off her game.

        The reason she hemmed up Danny for his 3rd-date-denial was because it affected her plans to lose her virginity to Walky, and she was so focused on making the plan work that she didn’t see the simple solution until Danny pointed it out.

        She was also just as invested in the fake girlfriend idea as Walky.

        Her being goal oriented towards idealized situations and trying to achieve those goals via managing and manipulating people is a trait of hers.

        It’s not bad, but it does seem unusual for her age, at least to me.

        And to be clear, I wasn’t saying she planned ahead of time for the events in today’s strip.

        I’m fully aware she just reacted quickly in the moment, just like she did when she first met Ruth, but how quickly and easily she does it is further support for the idea that she naturally thinks along these lines.

        1. Joy

          A lot of anime protagonists are low key super manipulative. It’s actually why I dislike most anime, even though I enjoy anime as a concept along with specific anime. (even Sakamoto ‘s wacky higyinks have some kind of greater plan to it, even if it’s just being altruistic or getting out of a date (the whole school wants him, but its heavily implied that he’s aroace.) Sakamoto desu ga is fun go watch it)

      2. Joy

        Especially since she was doing the “tsundere managing,” thing, she probably learned how to do that by watching anime.

  19. Nono

    Difference between Lucy and Becky was that Becky’s feigned interest in love was to keep Jennifer broken up from a terrible relationship, not to keep drowning in it.

  20. Chaucer59

    Look at the big brain on Lucy!

    1. Mark

      Yowza!

  21. EmTaya

    That’sa good expression

  22. milu

    Ok, she didn’t actually take back that billion dudes thing

    1. Yotomoe

      She’ll make him kiss a billion dudes during lunch.

      1. milu

        His punishment for having been a very naughty boy.

      2. Nono

        Kissing the billion dudes will be his lunch.

  23. Jo_cubstar

    Yeah, I really don’t like Lucy

    1. shrub

      She’s really gone downhill

    2. True Survivor

      As in you dislike the character, and/or you think she is not of benefit to the plot?

      (In case that was as confusing for you to read as it was for me to right, behold a clarifying example! No one should think Darth Vader is a good guy, but he make Star Wars a lot cooler)

      1. shrub

        For me it’s both

        1. Schpoonman

          I’m not convinced any character attached to Walky doesn’t automatically get put on your shitlist.

  24. Taffy

    I can’t get behind the exhausting “[Character] is a creepy scheming manipulator” bullshit. What I can get behind is Lucy and Billie making out as a form of cartoon hijinks.

    1. Yotomoe

      Yes. Hijinks…Indeed.

    2. True Survivor

      That is a wicked cool new Avatar. It is a zombie Joyce, right?

      1. Taffy

        It’s an older one I don’t being out much. I think last time I did, somebody said something about not wanting to see Joyce in that sort of state, even if it’s that stylised.

    3. milu

      And then Asher goes to Ethan and says, “listen sorry man, you’re insanely sexy but–” and he stops and a smile curls on his lips cuz he’s just seen Lucy’s message which is a winking selfie of her and Billie making out with the message “now you owe me two”

      1. Taffy

        It’s really the most likely outcome, and anyone predicting/assuming anything else is delusional.

        1. milu

          I mean if it wasn’t extremely likely, then explain this

        2. Taffy

          Check and mate. Maybe some of these shrimp-brains can take the L for once.
          (I really like that art.)

        3. milu

          Thanks! Heh!

    4. NGPZ

      Me neither honestly. I mean I’m not even sure how many levels of irony they’re on, either way it’s exhausting and not even that funny on the (first) layer ?

      1. NGPZ

        *(first?) layer

        yuuuuuuuuuuup

      2. zee

        They just love overreacting to everything Lucy does bc they think she’s annoying. And fuck it she’s just black Joyce without the trauma and I’m tempted to dive into the potential subconscious racism at play just because im annoyed and it would piss people off

        1. NGPZ

          Subconscious racism…. yeah ngl that’s probably the only real conspiracy going on here ?

    5. zee

      Finally, a cultured comment

      1. Taffy

        This comic used to be about orgies and elaborate hentai scenarios. I just want it to go back to normal.

  25. Yotomoe

    Pick you up? You expect him to carry you all the way there?

    1. cbwroses

      He looks pretty fit.
      Even with Jennifer being thiccc, carrying her piggyback shouldn’t be too big of an issue.
      Princess carry, tho, would be a bit too much.

      1. Francoinblanco

        Make way for Princess Jenny
        Say hey, it’s Princess Jenny

        1. Sirksome

          Hey, there. Clear the way, in the forest quad
          Hey, you! Coming through, look at her hot bod
          Oh, come be the first in the hall to be her pal.

          Make way, here she comes!
          Ring bells, bang the drums!
          Cause you’re gonna love this, gal!

          Princess Jenny,
          Fabulous she
          Jenny Billingsworth!

        2. cbwroses

          +1

      2. Mano308gts

        Being an actually fit dude on the bigger side of life (not ripped, but I spent years rock climbing), and having dated relatively physically small girls…

        Piggy-back style is far harder to maintain for extended periods than people realize.

        I carried my (now ex) girlfriend around 1/4 mile piggy-back once, just to prove it can be done… And that was HARD. She was also only about 120 lbs, while (at the time) I was around 180.

        1. Yotomoe

          Are there better girl carrying positons than piggyback or is carrying a person just a futile effort?

        2. cbwroses

          A wheelbarrow?
          Fireman’s carry?
          A palanquin with several eunuchs carrying your queen (so as not make the king wear a green hat)?
          That thing you lay injured people on and drag them behind you that they use in survival stories (is that just a stretcher or is it a different name when there aren’t two people to carry it)?

        3. NickG

          A travois?

        4. cbwroses

          Yes, that.
          Thank you.

        5. Taffy

          Can you elaborate on that “green hat” thing? Is that just a specific detail you made up to make fun of weird arbitrary clothing etiquette?

        6. cbwroses

          It’s the Chinese (or maybe Japanese, not sure as I read a lot of fiction stories from both cultures) equivalent of being a cuckhold.

          I don’t know the original source, but apparently women who cheat on their husband (or one particular woman that made the story famous) place a green hat on their significant others head (similar to cuckholds supposedly wearing stag horns).

          It’s why you’ll read about or see Asian characters get mad or sad if they receive a green hat.

          Wikipedia says “ In Chinese usage, the cuckold (or wittol) is said to be “戴綠帽子” dài lǜmàozi, translated into English as ‘wearing the green hat’. The term is an allusion to the sumptuary laws used from the 13th to the 18th centuries that required males in households with prostitutes to wrap their heads in a green scarf (or later a hat).”

        7. Pergola

          Check out Finnish wife carrying.

    2. Taffy

      If he can, that’s honestly icing on the cake.

    3. Sirksome

      I mean I’d do it if it meant I got to keep dating Jennifer.

  26. RassilonTDavros

    The “he’s not” response from Jennifer is very revealing. Not revealing anything new, of course, Jennifer’s belief that bisexuality doesn’t exist is pretty well documented at this point, but it’s definitely revealing. Believing that Asher being with a guy would invalidate her entire relationship history with him (because that would make him gay) says a lot about how much she desperately wants to believe she never really loved Ruth.

    1. Nono

      Or that she’s saying he’s not gonna kiss a dude because he’s dating her? It doesn’t have to be complicated.

      1. Doopyboop

        It’s Jennifer. It’s always gotta be complicated or else it isn’t fun for her.

        1. Needfuldoer

          She mainlines messy drama.

  27. thakoru

    Wow, Lucy kinda just pulled a Becky.

  28. Dante

    In hindsight, putting Lucy in close quarters with Jennifer could only mean Lucy would do her utmost to learn how to play the Jennifer.

    She’s cute IMHO. Helpful! Friendly! Def picking a couple of bad habits from her roomie! I shall forgive that her Shipper On Deck tendencies this time steered Asher away from this much deserved breakup. Dude’s trying his best for a relationship wherein “his best” means “no excitement” therefore “boring, we’re done.”

    1. clif

      It’s hard to put one over on Jennifer. I mean she was the only one who realized that Sal was Amazigirl

  29. DailyBrad

    I do like that Lucy can get one over on Jennifer from time to time. Lucy’s a lot of things, like certainly naive at times, but she isn’t stupid, and she also seems to be more aware than people in-universe give her credit for sometimes, like acknowledging the arbitrary nature of her arrangement with Walky to wait for sex to a certain time. Like, she is more savvy than people may think.

  30. Animedingo

    Asher can do better

    1. Bash

      I’m a little surprised that he’s unwilling to consider initiating a breakup.

  31. Dante

    PS: ALT-TEXT. I SEE YOU, ALT-TEXT. EVERYONE KNOWS WALKY YEARNS FOR THE SWEET SWEET TOUCH OF THIS DUDE.

    1. tbf

      I laughed harder at the alt-text than the punchline.

  32. HueSatLight

    credit where credit’s due, while she still has a lot of blinders on, she knows how to play Jennifer. Long term though, Asher and Jen want different kinds of relationships, and third parties can’t step in to do Jennifer’s games all the time.

    1. Mark

      But Lucy can keep the drama hurricane out of her living quarters.

  33. DarkoNeko

    oh you little sneaky one you XD
    But maybe this is a disservice.

    1. Angel

      it’s probably revenge for jen cockblocking (clam jamming?) her and walky before lol

  34. Sirksome

    I feel that there’s a bit of irony here that Lucy got pissed for Sarah giving unsolicited input into her relationship with Walky but she’s totally fine manipulating someone else’s even if it’s framed as a favor. Interesting development here.

    1. MM

      Sarah wasn’t trying to help the relationship, though. I suspect that makes a difference for her.

    2. Bash

      If Sarah had interfered to do something useful instead of just gripe, she might have felt differently.

      1. HueSatLight

        Sarah gave Lucy genuinely good advice. Lucy is antagonistic to Sarah because the popular people told her to be.

        1. Shogeton

          If your advice is ‘The guy you are very much in love with is not worth the heartache’, then that is an advice that is going to generally be received with hostility even if given delicately. And Sarah was all but delicate. Raidah might have put a bit of poison in the well, but Sarah, while operating with the best of intentions, completely mishandled that situation.

          Besides, the only one who can decide whether Walky is worth the trouble dealing with his parents is Lucy herself.

        2. zee

          Look I love Sarah in all her grumpiness but she was being nothing but a dick in that scene and I hate when people use this word but it devolved into straight up bullying by the end

        3. BBCC

          Yeah, I don’t think Sarah was trying to help. I think Lucy hit a sore spot (a more sorer one than she knows) and she went for the jugular in response.

    3. Reaver

      Sarah wasn’t trying to help, Sarah wanted to be mean

    4. Schpoonman

      Sarah said “You’re just here to fuck one of our number, then you’ll be gone.” She’s about as useful as Mike ever was right now. Lucy misses the ball a lot but she never puts someone’s leg in the way and then blames them when she fractures a bone in their foot.

      1. Taffy

        Didn’t she say it with a big ol’ grin on her face, too?

        1. Schpoonman

          The big ol’ grin didn’t come out until after Lucy’s expression broke with an “I’m just joking” justification.

        2. Schpoonman

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/04-but-dont-give-yourself-away/treat/

          I’m not as die-hard as that “The woman of color should live the rest of her life in poverty” character, but goddamn the slow timescale makes Sarah hard to read sometime.

    5. Shogeton

      I think that a key difference here is that Lucy sees someone trying to deal with a problem in a relationship, and decides to assist them in the thing they’re trying to do.

      Sarah saw Lucy deal with a problem in a relationship, and encouraged Lucy to just stop trying and break it off.

      Sarah offered that advice with genuine helpfulness, even if she dressed it in snark and disdain for Walky. But it’s not the same thing.

    6. zee

      Sarah was just taking unprompted pot shots. It’s not comparable

      1. Sirksome

        I think it’s important to understand the order of operations a bit. Sarah wasn’t intentionally bullying at the start. For lack of a better term she was being Sarah. Lucy has decided before the interaction that Sarah is mean to her friends. She quoted Raidah at her after Sarah’s unprompted advice had upset her and again proven Raidah’s words in her mind.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/04-but-dont-give-yourself-away/incrediblystupid/

        Everything after this is cruel bullying from Sarah, but it’s unclear at least to me that she was intentionally trying to hurt Lucy from the start. That’s the hypocrisy to me. We can argue intention, or if the delivery of it makes Sarah worse, but to me both these interactions, Sarah “advising” Lucy’s relationship and Lucy manipulating Jennifer’s relationship are nearly the same. It’s interesting to me that Lucy is fine with herself doing this because she thinks she’s saved Asher here and done something nice, but she’ll retaliate against Sarah for similar actions.

        Like what’s the difference? Because Sarah wasn’t nice or subtle about it? Because Jennifer is a cruel and more selfish and demanding partner than Walky who will break up with a good partner on a whim and thus deserves to be manipulated for her own good? Or is it just because it’s not Lucy’s relationship?

        1. Reaver

          Probably because *Lucy has to live with Jennifer and her bullshit*

  35. J. Spider

    I just don’t think I can stand to see Jennifer in ANY relationship.

    I think Ethan highlights himself as a bad choice as well but Jennifer really has alot of resentments to come to terms with before she can be emotionally available for anyone. I feel like at present the idea of her with anyone kinda grosses me out.

  36. MArillius

    Wow, hypocrisy out of Lucy, how surprising. Her friend is being an ass to her boyfriend but instead of some ‘real talk’ about how mean and ridiculous she’s being, Lucy goes full manipulator. Almost like she understands that Jennifer is not someone you can just give a truth to and that trying to pull her aside and directly state things probably wouldn’t work her… Like, by being her friend, she understands there is nuance to Jennifer and interactions with Jennifer, and so is willing to overlook that absolutely cruel way she is treating her boyfriend to see that there is more meaning to it than just cruelty.

    Its too bad she can only see as far as the people she likes when it comes nuance and understanding.

    Cute moment and great characterization otherwise, though. And I’m not being sarcastic here. She’s a great character and just as messed up as some of the others were when they got introduced. Hopefully she gets the chance to work through her issues.

    1. Angel

      she might’ve seen it as playful teasing, can’t rly tell yet asher’s expression from his back/angle but hopefully he wouldn’t interpret it as her making the situation worse.

  37. Switchchris

    Some of you seem to forget what this Comic is really about lol.
    95% of the people in this comic are not what I would call Good and/or Fully Functioning humans. If this was D&D I would put most of them in the Neutral category at best, some of them are in the Evil category. Those that are Good are in the Chaotic Good side.

    That being said they are very much still growing people. They make MANY mistakes, learn Many Lessons (for those that arnt refusing to learn a lesson), and are slowly becoming a fully functioning adult.

    Y’all are quick to jump down Lucy’s throat, when what she has done here isn’t even as bad as half the rest of the cast’s actions lol.
    Walky talked shit about a guy’s dead best friend/lover during the mourning period.
    Joyce attempted to cause a breakup out of jealousy.
    Becky nearly got a morally corrupt yes-woman elected.
    Amber is a Vigilante who, thanks to trauma, assaults people for fun.
    Hell a good 3rd of the main cast has either been involved with Actual Crimes or Instigates toxic behavior far worse then what Lucy has done here.

    The only truly Good/complete person I have seen in this comic is Dina, and even she is ready to commit crimes if it means her girlfriend is safe.

    1. Angel

      it certainly isn’t morality of age

      and be gay do crimes as the kids say 8D;

    2. Reaver

      People will go out of their way to justify Sarah’s shitty behavior because they like her. But Lucy doesn’t get that grace because she’s not as liked

      1. Joy

        I like both of them!

    3. Pergola

      Dina: is Hompk! a joke to you?

    4. MArillius

      Dina was a sour, critical and cruel individual to Joyce when Joyce discovered she was autistic, and continued to be mean until Joyce reached an arbitrary level of ‘acceptable conversation’ with Dina without much instruction from the dino girl.

      Like I said in my comment, I don’t dislike Lucy as a character and think she’ll be great if she can be properly explored and hopefully given a chance to grow. The only issue I have is people trying to go ‘OOOOHHH Sarah finally got called out!’ When, in scenes prior, when Lucy said in front of the others that Sarah was being mean to Joyce, Sarah went out of her way to ask and Joyce just went to teasing right back herself.

      Lucy is hypocritical. I hope she can outgrow that in this comic. I’m interested in reading her character if she does realize this and tries. However, the people in the comments? Are just not paying attention. And it is to them much of my commentary goes.

      That said, Jennifer is dumb, knows what she’s doing, and deserves no sympathy. I’m getting bored of her character because she saw a chance to grow and is refusing to accept it, so now she is stagnant and annoying.

      1. Schpoonman

        Hilariously wrong.

      2. Doopyboop

        That is… certainly a take regarding Dina. It ignores a lot of backstory between Joyce and Dina, as well as the very real struggle for women to be diagnosed neurodivergent, let alone a WOC as Dina herself pointed out, and ignores the fact that Dina ‘stopped being mean’ because both Dina and Joyce reached a conversation point where they both related to each other and basically promised to give each other some grace in future conversations due to their commonalities and new respect for each other.

  38. Angel

    Rare cunning(?) Lucy moment lol. Let’s see how she’ll act at dinner.

  39. GUIGUI

    Clever girl.

    1. Zaxares

      Clever girl, indeed. I honestly didn’t think she had the savvy to make a play like this. 🙂

  40. Bobcat

    Well played, Lucy. Well played.

  41. Romanticide

    Well played Lucy, 10 out of 10.

  42. Judas Peckerwood

    Every time I underestimate Lucy I get a well-deserved kick in the arse.

  43. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

    “Does he love you for who you are?” hits me hard because I’m pretty sure the answer to, “Does Jennifer love Asher for who he is?” is “No.” I hope Asher thinks about if he actually wants to date Jennifer.

  44. Heather

    Lucy been hanging with Becky outside of church and swapping shipping scheme plots?

    1. MM

      I’m here for that. It’s like the bizarro version of Sal and Marcie’s hangouts.

  45. Imogen

    I recant my mean comments on Lucy doing the “het girl shipping gay boys” Amber shtick the day before. Not only did it turn out not to be that, this is the sort of manipulation that isn’t actually that bad. She recognized Jennifer wasn’t really being honest, and these questions prompted Jennifer to actually clarify what she wanted. A little. Sort of. Well, it was a good effort.

    Still a little nosy, but that’s always been one of Lucy’s flaws. Lucy’s sort of like a less self-destructive, more empathetic Jennifer–she likes being popular and in control of things, but is better at considering the impact she’s having in scope.

  46. Acher4

    oooohhh that was a play.
    Lycy the playaaaar.

    Clever Lucy.

  47. Reaver

    I find the people calling Lucy manipulative a bit much, that’s right up there with ” How dare she call Sarah out for being an asshole when she tries to be friends with Jennifer” on my scale of ” That’s a bit much” Also ofcourse she’s trying to be friends/cordial with Jennifer.. she lives with her.

    1. NGPZ

      Yee it can be a bit much. Imma lighten the mood with a joke ’cause why not?

      Why didn’t the Chardizard go to college? They already achieved over 1000 degrees!

      1. Reaver

        BOOooOooOo!

        1. NGPZ

          I tried ?

        2. Joy

          I thought it was funny!

    2. Da Boy

      Yeah she didn’t manipulate Jennifer into anything. She just made her consider a scenario where someone steals Asher away and made Jennifer ask herself “Do I actually want that?”

    3. MM

      I think it can be manipulative without being unforgivable, or even malicious. I’m not even sure why it’s such a surprise. This is the same Lucy who just agreed to an overly convoluted scheme to get her boyfriend’s parents marginally more okay with the idea of him dating her.

    4. zee

      Yeah it’s mad cringe

  48. AGV

    Now, is this for the better long term? Mayhaps

  49. Needfuldoer

    How to short-circuit Jennifer: take her word at face value, and lean into what she says she wants, not what she actually wants.

    1. Taffy

      Giving a contrarian exactly what they asked for, no tricks, is one of the funniest ways to upset us.

    2. Da Boy

      Ah yes, Tsundere handling, Lucy is very wise.

      1. Francoinblanco

        I see many tsun but where is dere comrade?

        1. Da Boy

          Maybe it’s like that manga with an unreasonable numbers of tsuns in the title? We’ll have to wait for the dere.

        2. Schpoonman

          The difference between Jennifer and Tachibana-san is that there’s only a thin veneer of tsun over Tachibana compared to Jennifer’s tiny core of dere underneath aaall her baggage.

          She’s like the world’s most disappointing ice cream cake. Yoto’s still gonna eat his fill, but there could have been more ice cream.

  50. Adam Black

    Does he love you for who you are ?
    (What does that have to do with a random kiss?

    Oh. Dig at Billie)

    1. HueSatLight

      And maybe a hint of what she’s been pondering over with Walky.

  51. Adam Black

    Lucy manipulaing Billie fog her supposed benefit and interfering in other Ppls relationship is par for Lucy course.

    She does for an icky reason, she’s a social climber and to make others dependent on her skills.

    My only question was whether Lucy manipulated Billie into dumping Asher, so she could toxicly pay peacemaker.

    It seems wholesome except for the attempt to socially be the master of others peoples friends.

    1. Taffy

      Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?

  52. Maggie

    Lucy is craftier than I gave her credit for.

  53. Schpoonman

    I am in awe at this comment section’s ability to defend the shittiest characters and turn around and harpoon the ones who are trying to make friends or at least not deal with abuse-disguised-as-tough-love.

    1. Chubsius

      Oh, perhaps I see now. The comment section and Lucy are too similar to get along. Lucy is all the nice, misreading, judgey, and horny parts of the comment section personified.

      1. MM

        You might be on to something there.

  54. Joy

    Classic Lucy.

  55. smolgrlboi

    look I ain’t the biggest fan of Lucy but MANIPULATIVE?? I’m sorry but do any of y’all have like real hobbies outside of reading this webcomic? Maybe go do that for a little bit.

    1. Yeet

      eh, this is, technically, manipulative
      the good kind where you make someone confront an emotion that’s right in front of them though

  56. HueSatLight

    To get away from the “your favorite characters are the worst people who could possibly exist” chatter, I found a major continuity issue.

    Lucy+Jennifer’s door opening on the right. https://www.dumbingofage.com/seventh/

    Same door opening on the left.
    https://www.dumbingofage.com/logic/
    https://www.dumbingofage.com/who-3/

    immersion broken.

    1. Yeet

      you know jennifer’s history with doors, undoubtedly she kicked it off at some point and they put back on arseways

    2. Heavensrun

      It *was* a different semester, they may have been moved to a different room.

      1. NGPZ

        I mean pretty much all of them got new rooms? Yeah that tracks.

    3. nicoleandmaggie

      Oh man I love this and I hope it gets retconned! My money is on Yeet’s explanation.

  57. Adept

    Well played Lucy. I approve.

  58. Thomas

    The armor piercing question here is “Does he love you for who you are?” which can be equally applied to Jennifer, who in fact does not love every aspect of him. Asher realizes this, hence the dejected look in panel 5.

  59. Needfuldoer

    Asher, is this what you want?

    What you really, really want?

    1. Shogeton

      Is this what you want?

      What you really want?

      You wanna, you wanna, you wanna, you wanna…

      1. timemonkey

        Do you really, really, really, wanna zigazig ah?

  60. Steve

    Why am I rooting for Asher in this situation? Correct me if I’m wrong, but was he not employed by the same gangsters that employed Amber’s dad and therefore indirectly caused Mike’s death? And nobody has yet been made aware of this fact?

    Maybe it’s because Jennifer is just that terrible of a girlfriend?

    1. zee

      Hes not employed he’s just blood. He’s as much of an employee as XÆa-12 is an employee of Twitter and space x

      1. HueSatLight

        He got mobbed up cops to kill a potential snitch for him, and they might have killed Mike after that, and they were trying to ID Amazi-girl. He’s not a little child who just happens to be related.

        1. Taffy

          [citation needed]

        2. zee

          I mean, he’s still not employed

        3. zee

          The child with the ungodly name is also going to benefit directly and indirectly from being born to a tech billionaire with unethical gains. I see Asher’s involvement as just that, benefitting from his family’s unethical gains. Also IF the cops killed Mike, a massive fucking if, Asher wouldn’t have been involved with it. He had nothing to do with the mike stuff

        4. Joy

          He was injured badly enough that it doesn’t need any explanation besides that he did succumb to his wounds. His brain was bleeding, ongoingly.

  61. Taffy

    All human interaction is inherently manipulative
    All manipulation is wrong and immoral
    All human interaction is wrong and immoral

    1. Sam

      And this is why you should never visit, never call me and never make me suffer the fate of being known.

      Stay in your home and only send me pictures of cats from now on.

    2. Schpoonman

      Fucking PREACH.

  62. Zobot257

    … Lucy being clever and cunning here is kinda great tbh. She recognized how Billie works and played her like a fiddle.

    Billie still remains her own greatest foe tho

    1. Taffy

      Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand your comment. A female character has exhibited intelligence and an understanding of the people around her, but you’re… not painting that as a negative thing?

      1. Zobot257

        I know I know, it’s confusing to me too, but… maybe it’s not always a negative thing?

        1. Taffy

          This could revolutionise the industry.

  63. Suet

    Later we’ll have some █████ lunch
    And we’ll do some caroling

    If Amber’s slashfics and Lucy’s enthusiasm collide…

  64. FacelessDeviant

    Asher, dont.

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