173

Tongue
Posted on May 1, 2016 by David M Willis
2016-04-patreon1previewThis month's Patreon bonus strip (well, the first one out of two) is about Daisy, because of voting!

173 thoughts on “Tongue”

  1. Wheelpath

    Wait, WHAT!!!?

    1. Orion Fury

      You never lived then, I take it?

      1. SmilingNid

        This is a problem people with long hair insist on sharing with the rest of us.

        1. Orion Fury

          Not what I was talking about.

        2. nothri

          Well, tell them to stop eating their hair then.

        3. Clif

          Um.

        4. nothri

          I know. Its all so simple when I put it like that, isn’t it. I’m just that much of a genius, you see.

  2. Orion Fury

    That is the worst.

    1. Orion Fury

      But not Dina’s line. That’s the best.

      1. Clif

        Dina’s line is always the best.

        Except when it’s Mike’s.

  3. Cephalo the Pod

    Oh, cool. I was afraid of more Mary.

  4. Nono

    Carla and Ruth have so much in common besides hair colour, I guess.

    1. Idontcarenomore

      Nothing alike.

      1. Idontcarenomore

        opps darn edit. I meant to say that Carla simply doesn’t care and really doesn’t that she doesn’t care.
        Ruth is fighting way up from deep depression and is trying to care. As the face indicates, it is something she is not at all used to :).

        1. Mollevampie

          It’s more like Carla pretends not to care in order to protect herself from getting hurt, much like Ruth, but unlike Ruth she doesn’t seem to be battling depression and she isn’t ready to start the process of letting people in like Ruth is trying to with the help of Billie.

  5. gkheyf

    clearly, she is thinking of billie

    1. A5PECT

      That’s ridiculous. What could Ruth possibly be doing that would get Billies hair in her throat?

      1. Just Saying

        Ooooh myyyyyy

      2. Arianod

        What indeed.

  6. Gordon

    Forced Cheerful Ruth.

    The scariest Ruth of them all.

    1. Rukduk

      There will be no dawn for man.

    2. bobjohnsonandthediglets

      Some Ruths just want to see the world burn

      1. chris2315

        Some? I think you mean all of them.

    3. Deanatay

      dat rictus

    4. das-g

      When she’s unforced cheerful (going “Knock knock” and “Ta ta”), then it’s the interruptions of the cheerfulness which are scary.

  7. David Herbert

    Oh God, there’s a dead body in her room, isn’t there?

    1. Doctor_Who

      If it’s Mary I’ll round up the Munchkins for a round of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.

      1. Rukduk

        What about the evil soldiers? Are they free now?

        1. Doctor_Who

          The Winkies?

          Yes, without Mary, all the Winkies are free. 😉

        2. Clif

          In that case I’ll take a couple of dozen.

          Are you sure there’s no shipping charge?

        3. Needfuldoer

          A dozen of them would probably have to ship ground freight.

        4. HMRC4EVR

          Around here if there was a charge for shipping we’d all be flat damm broke.

        5. K^2

          Shipping is, indeed, free. Handling does come with a charge, though.

    2. Orion Fury

      If you ask her, she just probably say that there’s enough femurs to make up a full skeleton.

      1. Lurlock

        A skeleton made entirely out of femurs would look pretty strange… Especially the head…

    3. DarkoNeko

      …probably.

  8. Mr. Mendo

    The niceness! It burns us!

    1. kkiten

      i choke

    2. Rukduk

      It would kill us!! We swears it!! We swears it on the precious!! We swears to serve master, so long as master doesn’t make us smile!!

    3. Idontcarenomore

      Oh the most fearsome niceness of all.

  9. Tacos

    That face in the last panel terrifies me.

  10. Cephalo the Pod

    My guess is: one hour until last panel becomes someone’s gravatar.

    1. Schpoonman

      If I weren’t so enamored with my current gravatar it’d be 10 minutes.

    2. rectilinearpropagation

      I know, right?! The faces have been SO GOOD!

      1. JessWitt

        I’d buy a coffee table book of all these faces. Aptly titled “FAAAACE!!”

        1. CheredisTyping

          I would too. I need me some “FAAAACE!!”
          Willis, are you hearing this?
          Er, reading this?

  11. GenericScreenName101

    Is it human hair or animal hair though?

    1. DarkoNeko

      It’s Billie’s

      1. Orion Fury

        [Insert Crass Joke Here]

      2. de Combys

        Ha!!

        1. Jason

          That response with that gravatar ….

  12. caesaria82

    ….. did someone accidentally release the Kraken?

  13. DarkoNeko

    Be more happy, the Leafs actually won something !

    1. Lamia M

      Aww low blow man 😛

      1. Aaron

        Appropriate gravatar is appropriate 🙂

    2. hof1991

      For non-hockey fans, the first week of the season is all that Leafs fans have to look forward to. After that it is all downhill. They last won a post-season series in 2003 and last won the Cup in 1967.

      1. HMRC4EVR

        I have no love for sports-hell I’d rather watch reruns of Bill Dance fishing than any give sporting event.

        That said I’ll start rooting for the Leafs. Maybe som weird inverse, reverse good luck will befall them if a sports-mehing American pulls for them.

        Go Leafs!

  14. Peny

    This is as creepy/unusual as Joyce saying “hell”.

  15. Tan

    I’m sure going back and reading this and the previous and following strips consecutively, this jump will be appreciated.

    But today in this moment all I want is Jocelyne.

    1. John

      I want Jocelyne too, mostly for the hope that with Jos come wacky Mission Impossible shenanigans and more Joyce faces.

    2. Tacos

      I also want more Jocelyne B&E shenanigans.

    3. hueloovoo

      I wait patiently, not frothing or twitching or scratching at my skin, to see where that thread goes next.

  16. Plasma Mongoose

    Silly Ruth, Joyce is the one who’s supposed to make the epic reaction faces, not you.

    1. inqntrol

      She’s not in the campus, so somebody else has to do her job.

  17. newllend(henryvolt)

    I like that if you focus on Ruth’s eyes you can still see dark rings there,I’m serious nice touch Willis.

    1. Idontcarenomore

      I agree, Willis attention to details and facial expression is just damn good.

  18. de Combys

    I wonder what’s gotten into her.

    1. DarkoNeko

      She’s trying to do her job. Apparently it her mind that includes being cheerful.

    2. JessWitt

      Must have been those cookies.

    3. Jason

      Seems like she’s trying to overcompensate for her depression?

    4. Roborat

      You mean, besides Billie?

  19. JessWitt

    It’s as if any character tries to stray from their default personalities, Willis pushes a button that activates a buzz shock on them.

  20. Oysteinthenoisy

    Panel 5 is what my cat does right before he horks up a hair ball.

  21. Jason

    Dina just won’t leave Sarah alone, huh? I don’t remember Sarah inviting her to stick around.

    1. Orion Fury

      I think their last interaction shown showed Sarah saying something she regretted, and is letting Dina tag along for comfort.

      1. Clif

        You can say that again.

  22. Orion Fury

    I think their last interaction shown showed Sarah saying something she regretted, and is letting Dina tag along for comfort.

  23. John

    Damn, that last-panel tongue. No wonder Billie’s hooked on her.

    1. EvilMidnightLurker

      Almost as awesome as mine.

  24. kkiten

    ew socializing. Help. Chokes.

  25. Rukduk

    Well think about it this way, at least you now know fake cheerfulness doesn’t give you hives.

  26. Some1

    Is anyone else hoping that Sarah eventually takes over as R.A?

    1. John

      She might be good at it, but she’d hate it.

      It occurs to me that Joyce would both be good at it and enjoy it.

      1. Some1

        Eh Dorothy would be better. I chose Sarah because I doubt freshmen can become R.As

      2. Rukduk

        Given that she could have applied as a freshman to become an RA as a sophomore, I think you’re right about Sarah hating it. She probably would have otherwise. I mean think about the biggest perk: no roommate to distract her.

      3. Emily

        People who enjoy being in positions of power are exceedingly rarely the people you want in them.

        1. Rutee

          …It’s RA-hood. It’s like being a hall monitor for more aggressively terrible people.

    2. Idontcarenomore

      I think that Ruth is trying. She may end up being a decent RA after all.

    3. Rutee

      No, I wouldn’t wish that on Sarah.

  27. Some1

    I can’t tell if I like Ruth or not

    I can enjoy her within the context of the story as a fictional character, however if the situation was real, and I was a part of it, we would most defiantly be enemies. However I would be willing to put our differences aside to stop Mary.

    1. Rukduk

      From that description I’d diagnose a case of either a frenemy or anime protagonist rival type relationship.

      1. Some1

        it would probably end up with us frequently teaming up and fighting on the side. Welp Blain showed up again, time to team up with Ruth.

    2. Kernanator

      Honestly, a lot of my favorite characters are objectively terrible people whom I would never want to hang out with in real life.

      1. Some1

        It would be kinda hilarious if after Mary was defeated, and Ruth thinks she’s won…some random extra reports her for the threats and assault.

        1. Kernanator

          That is a terrible idea.

          I love it.

        2. Some1

          “and you know what the worst part is? Your constant bullying of that poor girl, Billie!”

      2. Kernanator

        Exhibit A, of course, being Billie.

    3. trlkly

      I think a huge part of it is the hyperrealism of fiction. Ruth’s horribleness was played up very strongly in the early comments. Now we see her more realistically, and that’s why it’s much easier to sympathize with her.

      As far as I’m concerned, Willis just kinda retconned her. This version just could not have been as big a monster as she was before. I just have to see it as more comic hyperrealism or exaggeration.

      If I think of her more realistically, I guess I probably wouldn’t be her friend, but I wouldn’t really be her enemy. And, if I found out about her depression and her softer side, I think I could sympathize and try to help, in the hopes that she could become someone I could be friends with.

      1. Spencer

        That’s pretty much how I feel about Ruth, and it’s why I still have huge difficulty sympathizing with her.

        Like, that sequence from a while back, where we see her get up, shower, and tie her hair into her ponytail? That hit me where it hurt so goddamn much. I remember when it was a huge struggle for me to get up in the morning, and it makes me connect to Ruth on a level that I can’t with the other characters, most if not all I like a helluva lot more than Ruth.

        So when we get a sequence like this, just coming off of a part where my two favourite characters collapsed because Amber is being abuse to Danny and it’s at a point where much as I loved them together I don’t want them to be unless there’s some significant strides to fix Amber’s problems, and here’s the other abusive jerk in the cast who we forgave for being an abusive asshole for years on end because she has a sad backstory, and now she’s this sad woobie being unfairly victimized by a bigot when said bigot actually has legit, not horrible garbage reasons to think Ruth is a shitfucker, but they’re getting ignored in-comic (though Willis’ mention of how “Ruth is being blackmailed for being a shithead” makes me hope it’ll be more complex than my initial reading).

        And, I dunno, I guess it is kinda unfair to hold a fictional character to her earliest actions for the entire run of the series, but I’ve also seen way too many stories about abuse being vindicated due to a sad backstory, especially in cases between Queer ladies where it just kind of comes off as really fetishized, because abuse and drama is sexy as long as it’s Queer*. So now we’re at a point where I’m supposed to root for Billie and Ruth to work their shit out and get back together, and in the back of my head I’m screaming “You know Ruth straight up sexually assaulted her, right? Why would you want them together?”

        *To be perfectly clear on this, I don’t think this is because David Willis is writing Ruth under the idea of “abuse is sexy and forgivable as long as it’s done by Queer ladies”, but more that I’ve seen so many stories with that exact thought process that the surface similarities in Ruth’s story kind of automatically squick me out, the same way that Ethan should have came off as a really obnoxious and boring character because he’s the Sad Gay Dude who frets over his Sad Gay Angst all the time, but then it ended up being a really good story with a strong character focus (though I would like to see more Ethan because he’s been too far in the background in the comic).

        1. Cerberus

          I have complex feelings for Ruth and Amber for pretty much all of what you said. It’s so messed up and common how abusive people who are sympathetic have their abuse minimized and overly forgiven… but it also does trigger my sympathy for better or for worse and I understand what drives their abuse and how it stems from their issues. And I have complex feelings on whether that matters or not.

        2. Spencer

          I think it’s the kind of situation where you really can’t apply a blanket rule to what makes an abuser sympathetic, because abuse is never okay regardless of circumstances. Ruth spending years harassing Billie doesn’t become okay because she has dead parents or occasionally was nice to her. Amber was so traumatized by Sal that seeing her caused her to immediately switch to the alter that she uses to protect herself, and that still doesn’t excuse her not just lashing out at Danny, but to browbeat him in a way specific to issues about being a good romantic partner that she knows he has, without giving him anything that could possibly help explain her position, whereas something like her extremely brief freakout after he kissed her or telling him to go away while she was having a PTSD breakdown in the hallway I’m more willing to overlook because of those extraneous circumstances.

          I guess when it comes to Ruth, I do the thing trlkly does and just kind of pretend that the abusive jerk from the earlier days of the strip doesn’t really apply to her character anymore, and now what really matters when reading about Ruth is her depression, alcoholism and suicidal ideation. On one hand that’s kind of necessary because otherwise Ruth would need to deal with the same actions from the first two years of the comic for the rest of the series, but on the other hand it does, on occasion, make me feel like Ruth is ultimately being rewarded. I’m a big superhero nut so occasionally trying to forget that certain characters turn evil and start killing by the hundreds before having it hastily brushed under the rug is a thing I’m used to.

          As for Amber, that I’m now in a point where I have complex feelings about her is sad, because my feelings about her character used to be pretty straightforward; she was a victim of abuse who tried so hard not to become her father that she ended up creating this whole new slew of problems while simultaneously overly punishing herself for ever expressing anger, and that just kind of got tossed out the window for “yep she’s her dad. She was totally right to be scared of herself. Mike was right to tear her down for seeking partners she was safe with, because she was totally just looking for patsies.”

          And I think I should stop harping on that second point, because it’s been all of one day since that arc ended and it’s probably going to get some significant development later on, since I am pretty sure David Willis’ intent with Amber isn’t “this abuse victim is definitely the horrible asshole she knew she was” so I’m really thinking we’re gonna see her start to pick herself up soon, and this was a very deliberate low point for Amber on his part to start moving things towards the endgame.

        3. synar

          A few days, not years. It’s a BIG difference.

        4. pjeseb

          Days in-universe, years in our time.

        5. Clif

          Spencer, Amber was a victim of abuse who tried so hard not to become her father that she ended up creating this whole new slew of problems while simultaneously overly punishing herself for ever expressing anger – is pretty much where I am. I’m just not seeing her as really her father. In the recent arc, she and Danny didn’t have the conversation they needed to have because of the well meaning interference of another person. And of course that’s a thing that never happens in real life. And they parted upset with each other because of the lack of communication to let each other know where they are coming from, which is of course another thing that never happens with real people.

          But what I don’t understand is what, in the comic, led you to the conclusion that Amber is an abusive asshole???

        6. Spencer

          If Amber just told him to fuck off then that’d be one thing, but she constantly browbeat him for standing up to her and treated him like a weakling who failed to support her, all because he was standing next to Sal and that is an ultimate betrayal. I was pretty stringent in my belief that Amber would never actually perform abusive behaviours, but that’s what happened. She ain’t her dad, but she guilted Danny over failing her as a partner when she knows Danny has major issues about being supportive.

          Like I said, I’m pretty sure this is just a combo of Amber hitting a low I never though she’d reach, plus it being the last thing we’ve seen her do where we know she’s pretty implicitly wrong but constantly doubling down on her harmful behaviours. I’m pretty sure this is an intended reaction on David Willis’ part, and that soon Amber will be picking herself up, but for right now that’s how she came off to me this past week. I dislike it now, sure, for a lot of reasons, but that can easily change in a handful of strips.

    4. Rutee

      It sounds like you like her as a fictional character, which is all you really need as an audience member.

  28. metaceryn

    Hello, new Gravatar.

    1. pyrpyr

      Didn’t take that long after all 😀

    2. justsayingxxx

      lol Agreed. This is my very first gravatar change!

      1. ChrisHerself

        It was mine too </3 Clearly we must duel or something

        1. ChrisHerself

          I just noticed that all three of our crop ratios are a slow zoom in and I can NOT stop laughing

        2. metaceryn

          ….now I can’t either

          damn it I had shit to do today

        3. de Combys

          Hahahaha it IS pretty funny

    3. EvilMidnightLurker

      The Fellowship of the Tongue has a new member!

      1. CianM1301

        Fellowship of the Tongue sounds like an Adult Parody of Lord of the Rings…

    4. ChrisHerself

      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    5. Tenn

      Dropped in just to see how many people changed their avatar. Was not disappointed.

  29. Haven

    I feel bad because Ruth’s one of my favorite characters but it’s been long enough I’ve completely forgotten what’s going on with her. But that’s the drawback of online serialization, I guess.

  30. Romanticide

    It confuses me why Ruth is trying to be nice and make small talk… O.o

  31. Griffin

    Ruth is trying so hard to live up to Canadian stereotypes, eh.

  32. Idontcarenomore

    I think Ruth hit bottom: drinking, being blackmailed, wrong decisions, and finally loosing Billie.
    A few strips back, she got cookies from Billie and put them on her other bed pillow. Rolled over in the morning and looked at them. Then she got out of bed, took a shower, did her hair in the ponytail (like Billie did it for it) and put on the shirt Billie got her.
    Then she went out into the world to attempt to interact with people. Without removing their femurs.
    I think she is climbing out of her depression and maybe trying to win Billie back. [They don’t have to live together to be SO’s.]

  33. Kensie Skye

    Is this the first time Ruth has said ‘eh?’ Canadian af

    1. Catapostrophe

      There was this time when she said nothing but “Eh”!

      (I realize it wasn’t meant to be the Canadian sense of the word, but it amuses me greatly that one could interpret the strip as Ruth asserting her Canadian-ness with increasing frustration for no clear reason.)

  34. Black

    I’d say something about what should happen to someone if being kind/polite causes them pain, but I’d probably just be called an asshole…

  35. Cerberus

    Ruth is trying to fake it until she makes it…

    It’s going about as well as could be expected.

    1. ChrisHerself

      Augh I cringe being given that advice, people mean the very best when they say it but….gyehhhhhhhh

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, I have some loathing for the term as well. The intention when it is shared as advice is good, but as a concept it’s got problems.

        1. Clif

          As a strategy, it can sometimes be surprisingly effective. Othertimes not so much. I’d be careful with it as advise. Particularly if what the person needs is either reassurance or actual help.

  36. BenRG

    It looks like Sarah is ready to run screaming down the corridor, yelling: “Pod person! Pod person!”

  37. Vonniesaur

    Eh?

  38. maxyai

    Gene Simmons IN THE HOUSE!!!

  39. Opus the Poet

    That’s because you’re exposing too much gum Ruth, it causes the back of the throat to dry out. Smile smaller.

    1. Needfuldoer

      She needs to learn the secret of the triangle smile from Joyce.

  40. Jason M. Bryant

    So now we get the making of an excuse. For the rest of her life, Ruth can say that she tried being nice, but it didn’t work. In reality, people mainly just wanted the threats and the violence to stop, not a parody of niceness.

  41. Bagge

    Awwwwww, Ruth and Sarah Can be friends

    1. DarkoNeko

      …doubtful.

  42. Captain Whoever on the Planet of Things

    Well now this is just silly – as every Canadian who doesn’t like hockey could tell you, it’s always hockey season.

  43. Trolldrool

    Sweet merciful Satan, that fifth panel looks like something out of Cow & Chicken.

    1. Orion Fury

      *ahem* Expulsar ese cabello desde el espalda tu garganta, mal siendo.

  44. skdk

    i love hot guys-i mean hockey! i love hockey >.>

  45. CianM1301

    How long until those last two panels are someone’s avatars?

    1. Orion Fury

      Approximately five hours before you posted the comment. Honestly, I had expected it a bit faster than that.

  46. JBento

    To those wondering, I believe Ruth’s sudden bout of nice-itis is due to the fact that she’s afraid Mary will report her, and she believes that being nice to people will help should that be the case. There are, of course, two mistakes in that line of reasoning:

    1) That being fake-nice now will make up for all the crap and abuse she put the floor through since the start; and

    2) That anyone would side with Mary against even pre-nice Ruth.

    1. Cerberus

      I think that’s spot on. She’s trying to perform the role of engaged RA in case her bosses come sniffing around due to Mary following through on her threat.

      The irony is that before her depression got really bad, she actually was a relatively engaged RA at times without having to fake it, even though she was out and out abusive to certain students:
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/pie/

      1. JBento

        I believe the true irony in that strip is that one of the people she is SPECIFICALLY nice to is Mary.

      2. Charles Phipps

        Given Ruth didn’t talk about the GUN on campus and verbally abused her students, she’s the worst RA who ever lived. It’s not Ruth’s depression that made her a horrible person, though, it’s her past abuse. She’s a less severe version of AMber.

  47. Arianod

    *Insert obligatory “I tried X once. It was awful” joke*

  48. Lordess of madness

    Holy crap! Ruth is half demon! That smile, and that in the last panel confirms it!

  49. Emily

    Ruth it is not that hard to not be a terrible person stop being melodramatic.

    1. Spencer

      Ruth is actually the result of a sinister Canadian experiment to transport all the negative feelings of our country’s populace into one person, whereupon we insert her into our rival countries to destroy them from within while maintaining our reputation as relentlessly polite.

      1. Adam Black

        And you are happy about this …because youve always wanted to travel?

        1. Clif

          Insert joke about US political candidate born in Canada here.

      2. Orion Fury

        We can make her negative, we have the technology.

      3. CianM1301

        I thought that was Justin Bieber?

        1. Emily

          Actually it’s Ted Cruz.

    2. Rutee

      It is really hard to be social if you aren’t a social person though.

      1. Emily

        Yeah, but the response of a non-social person after having to engage socially isn’t whatever the hell Ruth is doing it’s a beleaguered sigh accompanied by slumping shoulders. Ruth is acting more like she’s allergic to not being a raging asshole.

        1. Rutee

          The response to being social when you fundamentally don’t want to be social, perhaps shockingly, varies by person to person, because people are different and aren’t a unified whole.

          Good lord.

        2. Clif

          Gasp!

  50. WubLub

    I don’t think Ruth realizes that there actually is a space between “Horrifying Evil Tyrant” and “Horrifyingly Cheerful Freak”. She doesn’t have to try to be one or the other.

  51. Willoughby Chase

    Ah Dina. Such a geek and I love you for it.

    Are you sure you don’t want to work on microcode? Lots of lovely detail to endu^H^H^like.

  52. Oniq

    Why is Ruth an RA if she doesn’t like dealing people? I don’t like people so I don’t force myself into a job where it is REQUIRED to deal with people, because I know I will end up not liking it and not doing a good job. When is Ruth going to realize this?

    1. pjeseb

      The job and getting admitted into the university was probably offered as a package deal. I get the impression that Ruth’s grandfather refused to help her financially, so her choices were probably between this, finding a job near her and working there until she could afford to go to college, or just going to college and frantically searching for a different job before the first bill came due.

  53. Bicycle Bill

    Panel six — and the noises Ruthless is making — reminds me that Friday, April 29th, was “National Hairball Awareness Day”.  Realizing that (because of the buffer) Willis drew this sometime around the end of January, while he had his hands full with two new babies, I am impressed that he only missed it by 48 hours.

  54. Mindlink

    Anyone else having trouble with Patreon ?
    For some reason I can’t see any bonus strips anymore. I can see tomorrows strip just fine, just not the bonus strip.
    It also tells me there are more posts available if I only raise my pledge, then it gives me a link to that page, where it still says that you get BOTH the bonus strip and the day-early strip, for the same amount, $5, which I have.
    It’s not the only Patreon strip that is giving me problems, I also have a pledge for Goblins, but there I can’t see ANY posts anymore, and it shows me the same message about raising the pledge.

    1. skdk

      you should ask willis himself, he’ll probably answer

  55. Vinny

    Actually, that nasty feeling that Ruth is having is related to her previous comment, “one week until hockey season begins” – because she knows that the Leafs are going to have yet another terrible season. Most Leafs fans know the feeling.

  56. Falling Star

    OH GOD THAT’S THE BEST FACE

  57. Scar Man!!!

    Is that really long tongue in the last panel canon in slipshine? Cause I think Billy would appreciate it a lot :3

    1. Jess

      oh my GOD

  58. Dylan

    Is this a case of good harms evil?

  59. Commodore Biggles

    I want a tiki mug with the face in panel 5 on it…

  60. Keulan

    Ruth’s forced smile is creepy as hell.

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