174

Reeling
Posted on April 9, 2018 by David M Willis

174 thoughts on “Reeling”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “we don’t have hours in the day to make up overly long ‘get drunk’ euphemisms, that’s time better spent ACTUALLY getting drunk”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      what? not “Dumbing of Age Book 8: That’s an Unnecessarily-Long Euphemism for Getting Drunk”???

      1. MM

        Or “All This Second-Hand Embarrassment”?

      2. Nono

        Dumbing of Age Book 8: Okay

        1. Tacos

          Strange. I don’t think Saitama will be showing up anytime soon.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Or Bobby Hill, either.

      3. Marsh Maryrose

        I was going with “I’m Going To Yell Angrily At My Medication.”

      4. Pablo360

        Dumbing of Age Book 8: Just from a Strictly Practical Standpoint We Don’t Have the Hours in the Day

        1. Lingo

          Dumbing of Age Book 8: Just from a Strictly Practical Standpoint We Don’t Have the Space on This Cover for This Title

        2. Minotaur

          Use a smaller font

        3. NelC

          Dumbing of Age Book 8: Use a Smaller Font

          That works for me.

      5. Roborat

        Dumbing of Age book: (insert your own title here)

        1. Ana Chronistic

          STRETCH GOAL: Custom Subtitle!

    2. Deanatay

      Ye-ep, still shipping JaceLess.

    3. HeySo

      As lovely as “And then I ignored that”, “We don’t have the hours in the day”, “Reeling you in and pushing you away”, “Ahh, memories” are, and the previously mentioned options are, we all know what the clear winner here is:

      Dumbing of Age Book 8: Love is Dumb

      1. Pablo360

        The title text clearly agrees

  2. Arawn

    Love is Dumbing…

    1. Arawn

      For one glorious moment I saw there were no comments and I blinked. Then I wrote the most profound thing that came into my brain at the time.

      I’m glad Ana is as reliable as always and beat me to it. I’d have hated for this to be the first comment.

    2. Chris Phoenix

      Given this strip, I think you mean “Love is dumping.”

      1. HeySo

        Remember when we said every comic was a lead-in to a Slipshine?
        I really, really hope the Slipshine for this one is more “Love is pumping” than “Love is dumping”. That’s just a really shitty direction to go in.

  3. Jabberwocky

    Ah, sucks.

    Oh well, Joyce/Wally time ^_^

    1. timemonkey

      Tell me more of this Wally, is he cute?

      1. DrunkenNordmann

        No idea, never found him.

        1. Clif

          Where was this?

  4. TrueVCU

    Walky about to get Danny’d

    1. DailyBrad

      Nah, she’s being honest with him instead of wussing out until the last second. He’s getting it better than she gave Danny.

    2. Doctor_Who

      Side effects of getting dumped by Dorothy may include bad hats, taking up the ukulele, and discovering new things about one’s sexuality.

      1. TrueVCU

        Bisexual Walky is the instrument of our liberation or our destruction. There can be no middle ground

        1. Doctor_Who

          Now I’m picturing that scene from Black Books done with DoA characters.

          Danny: “I thought you were actually. Gay, I mean.”

          Walky: “So did I for a bit. Until I found out about the prohibitive standards of hygeine. And all that dancing!”

        2. timemonkey

          Can we all stop and contemplate Walky trying to flirt with a guy?

      2. cbwroses

        Don’t forget dating Amazi-girl. He’s already thrown a toy at her, so he’s halfway there.

      3. Clif

        Wow. Good thing she hasn’t dumped him. ((yet))

      4. Lieutenant Dan

        Talk to your doctor to find out if getting dumped by Dorothy is right for you.

        1. Roborat

          Watch out for those side effects.

  5. threePwny

    Walky’s got a really solid point there. I’m plagiarizing the fuck outta that.

    1. jimbotherisenclown

      Okay.

  6. Achallenger

    It’s always feels-o-clock somewhere

    1. Stephen Bierce

      Thank you. Saves me the trouble. Here, have a shaker of salt.

      1. Achallenger

        Perfect for rubbing into those open wounds

      2. Needfuldoer

        “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and “Margaritaville”?

        I would have gone with ‘It’s Over’ by Boz Scaggs, if Dorothy was more direct.

        1. Remmington Steele

          Roy Orbison, or if you want to tear the house down Jacque Brel’s Ne quitte pas.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zgNye6HTE

        2. Remmington Steele

          Ne me quitte pas …

        3. Schol-R-LEA

          Which reminds me of an old <a href="http://brunostrip.com/wp/?p=699""Bruno&quot; strip (sweet lady Eris, was that really 20 years ago?):

          “Living the starving artist life… has that certain [i]je ne c’est quoi[/i].”

          “More like ‘[i]je ne c’est quoi[/i] I’m going to eat this week’, or ‘[i]je ne c’est quoi[/i] pay the rent with’.”

        4. Schol-R-LEA

          Gaah, epic markup fail! Sorry.

        5. PB

          (sniffle) I love this song… (Seriously Jacques Brel is my hero)

    2. Keulen

      Walky’s face in the last panel made me think of this song.

    3. Amazi-Stool

      It’s always feels-o-clock somewhere.

      Only if it’s not possessed o’clock!

  7. Deathjavu

    “Eh, so we’re dumb. Haven’t you read the title, Dorothy?”

  8. MM

    Oh dear, he’s going glassy-eyed. Ruth, Jason, one of you might want to stick around to catch him when he goes catatonic.

  9. chromacandi

    I love you both, pls don’t leave me

    1. Needfuldoer

      But Ruth and Jason don’t need any more sads right now…

  10. Goki

    Man, people really do over complicate their own lives…..

  11. Kyrik Michalowski

    Well Walky, at least it’s not on the steps? Relatedly this is not going to be healthy for either one of them but as Walky said it best, “Love is dumb.” And this comic demonstrates that better than most.

  12. DailyBrad

    I’m glad Dorothy’s not taking Walky for granted, something she’s probably kinda guilty of at some junctures in the past. Still, this is a downer.

  13. Passchendaele

    Relationship whiplash

    1. NelC

      This ride’s not over yet, I confidently predict. More whiplash!

  14. C.T Phipps

    YES! BURN THE RELATIONSHIP! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!

    1. JetstreamGW

      Why are you so into them breaking up anyway?

      1. Some1

        I think he desperately wants Walky and Jason to fuck. I mean there would be the exact same issues that Jason had with Sal, but so long as they’re gay it’s somehow okay!

        1. Yumi

          I mean, if Jason really is out of a job, it doesn’t end up being the exact same issues.

      2. Jabberwocky

        Bluntly, this isn’t the best relationship for either of them to be in. They have fundamentally different priorities and needs, and this was bound to happen eventually.

        1. C.T Phipps

          While I (half)Jokingly think Jason and Walky would be interesting, obviously that’s never going to happen. However, mostly, I think it’s an interesting dramatic swerve to have Dorothy have to deal with the fact her “plan” is causing her emotional pain while Walky has to deal with the fact his layabout personality has cost him something severe.

          In other words, DRAMA.

        2. cbwroses

          But Walky’s personality has little to do with her not being able to handle her school work.
          Math is the only class he struggles in that we know of.
          But even if he didn’t have a problem with math, she still wouldn’t have time to be with him like they both want because she can’t balance her workload.
          It’s not that she could find balance if she didn’t help him study. She can’t find balance period.
          Not that Walky couldn’t stand to grow some, but that’s a separate issue from whatever is happening here.

        3. thejeff

          And she clearly states here that she’s not talking about the homework or Walky’s struggling. Her reeling him in and pushing him away goes back well before either of them were struggling. She’s talking about her own problems: her inability to stick to the boundaries she thinks she needs to set.

          That’s certainly something she needs to work on, but setting a bigger more dramatic boundary – “So we need to really break up” – isn’t the solution. She wouldn’t stick to that either. Because she actually has emotional needs, not just a work schedule.

        4. Eyebrow

          I agree with both of you. She’s clearly upset at herself, not at Walky, and yet the only solution she can see seems to be punishing both of them, without really helping either.

        5. Meagan

          Wow, amazing analysis

        6. JetstreamGW

          But Walky’s personality has nothing to do with this. It’s just Dorothy not being able to time manage.

    2. TrueVCU

      CLEANSING FIRE

    3. Starboi

      pls no

    4. edrhodes

      With the lemons ??

  15. BBCC

    Love is dumb is an apt title, Willis.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Dumb, dumb, our love is dumb,
      Dumb is our love — that’s what it’s become.
      Dopes, dopes, we are both dopes,
      Dopes such as we — it’s time to say, “nopes.”

      1. 3oranges

        You are the best.

      2. JoeCovenant

        Of all the people to have songs ‘filked’ in here…
        I never thought Marty Robbins would ever be one!
        Kudos!

  16. mrj

    I sorta wonder what a conversation between Ruth and Jason would be like, given their common status as young adults who 1) have been placed into authority positions which they don’t want and aren’t equipped to handle, 2) have had inappropriate relations with students, and 3) deal with / have dealt with their problems using alcohol.

    On the other hand I can only see such a conversation having over alcohol, and that’s not a situation I want to see Ruth in.

    1. BBCC

      How about over coffee?

  17. Nicster216

    Lemme guess they “breakup” and like on the same night they make up cause they miss each other

    1. javer80

      As much as I’d like for this exact thing, that’s already happened. Dorothy is determined not to do it again.

      1. Tacos

        I think we’ve already seen how well being determined has worked out so…

      2. Stellar

        Or Dorothy is declaring the end of the pause and they are back in a relationship

        1. thejeff

          I think that’s actually more likely.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      “You think you’re gonna break up,
      Then she says she wants to make up”

      The things we do for love!

  18. JessWitt

    If this is it for Walky and Dorothy, I can think of a few possible co-eds Walky might date in the future.

  19. Sporky

    I think this strip offers a better book 8 title in “I’m Going to Go Yell At My Medication”

  20. DarkoNeko

    the public is diappointed

  21. Rognik

    This storyline is sure offering a lot of book titles, isn’t it?

  22. Brian K. Pittman

    DAAAAAAAAAAAAMMNNNNN YOOOOOUUUUUUU, WIIILLLLLIIIIISSSSSS!!!

    Sorry, I had to.

  23. Bagge

    When you put it that way, Dorothy…. and Walky still has no idea of if you are going to push or pull this time.

  24. stoodmuffin

    A few strips, panels, later. “I CAN’T QUIT YOU WALKY”

    ” I knu. It’s the cheezy snacks, pajamas, and cartoons”

  25. cbwroses

    Break up to make up.
    That’s all we do.
    But I love you. And I hate you.
    It’s a game for fools.

  26. comic.phile

    Its so frustrating… Why can’t Dorothy realize relationships have moments where one person has to take some time for themselves? You don’t have to break up just because you need to take some time to focus. When she does something, its like it has to have her full attention or none of it.

    1. Nono

      She’s feeling ‘selfish’ because she’s choosing all the rules that their relationship is being run by. She chose the pause, and she chose to break the pause.

      Walky’s fine with it, but that just adds to her self-guilt.

    2. thejeff

      Well, she thought she did realize that. It was after all the rational thing to do. That’s what the whole pause thing was supposed to be.

      What she didn’t realize is that she doesn’t actually want that. That it’s bad for her to cut herself off and that she’d break down the very next time she saw him. This is the exact problem she describes – her emotions overriding her well thought out plans. “It’s just a fun relationship” -> “I love you”. The pause gets broken the next day.

  27. Nono

    Depends where you live, but it is well within your rights to report her for underage drinking, not to mention the roofing and the rape. If you have the time to get a drug test, you can at least have that as evidence, as well as any photographic evidence of her age or if you can prove that she had the drugs in her possession.

  28. Yumi

    I know this isn’t the point of your question–though I’m not entirely sure what the point of your question IS– but what type of ID is this? The only ID I had that gave my age when I was 15 was my passport, which didn’t go in my wallet. Is it like a driving permit?

    1. BBCC

      Learner’s permit maybe?

      1. Yumi

        Yeah, that’s what I meant by driving permit– learner’s permit. Forgot the actual words.

    2. Mr D

      Dunno the US, but in my country, all IDs have to have your birth date by law.

      As for the point, I wanted to wait for a few answers before I get to it, tho some people have gone on to it.

      1. Yumi

        The most common ID for 15 year olds to have, in my experience, are school IDs, which don’t list age. Do school IDs list age where you live? Or is there another type of ID that’s common to have?

        1. Mr D

          Thing is, here you can get your legal ID at any point. It is a simple card with your birthdate, citizen number (Funny enough, your citizen number is completely unique and it is static through your life. MY grandpa is around the 4 millions, I’m on the late 17 millions, my lil sister is in the early 18 millions, my baby brother is in teh 22 million.s personal theory is that it is your number from when they started passing these out, like, my grandfather was the (random number here) 4.765.234th to be born since they started numbering people) and full name.

  29. Keulen

    DAMN YOU WILLIS!

    1. Clif

      No, no. Premature, but keep it ready. You will be able to use it eventually.

  30. cbwroses

    I get information, the basic who, what, when, where, and how, then expand from there.
    I try not to freak out or jump to conclusions.
    And I may try to get some kind of blood work done as well as retrace my steps as needed.

  31. BBCC

    My first suggestion is to go to the hospital. You might be okay, but drugs like that can fuck your system up if you don’t know the dosage they slipped you. Plus things like hitherto unknown allergies and potential badness.

    Next, call the police. Just because the person doing the raping is a minor and the victim is not does not mean that they cannot commit rape, especially with rookies involved. Even if the police don’t take the rape seriously (and that is a possibility – police SUCK at rape), they might listen to ‘this girl has access to illegal/heavily restricted drugs and is slipping them to people at parties’.

  32. Mr D

    Point of the Scenario: 2 points
    Point A) This is an interesting scenario to talk about and see how different people react to it.
    Point B) Secondary question; In your opinion, if the police does listen to this, what do you think is most likely to happen? There are a lot of prejudices involved in this kind of scenarios, and especially I don’t know how US law reacts in this case, as you’d have to challenge statuory rape against actual rape. You just KNOW there are people who would argue that an unwilling man cannot be raped, that the drug just let out his inner desires, that regardless of being drugged, he still had sex with a minor.

    1. anonymsly

      Some states have extra rules regarding statutory in the US, iirc. In this scenario with no more than a four-year age difference, statutory might not matter. Certainly it should matter less than the active rape.

  33. Yumi

    I feel like a lot of these answers are “what should you do” rather than “what would you do,” which is how I’m going to answer. My first concern would be getting my pants and getting the hell out of there. Then I’d call a crisis hotline, probably, while I debate whether I’m actually going to go to the hospital. I’d probably end up going to the hospital because of medical concerns about being roofied. I think I’d decline to speak to the police, at least right away.
    Assuming I’ve gone to the hospital, I’ve probably been given some area resources for survivors. I’d probably try to contact one of them, feel relief when it goes to voicemail, not leave a message, then curse to myself if they end up calling me back anyway. (Note that I’m basing this more on if-i-were-in-college, a time when I did not have a (good) therapist. If I were seeing my current therapist and this happened, calling her would be somewhere in there.)

    1. BBCC

      Disclosure time – I initially missed the ‘this is fictional’ disclaimer when I wrote my post. I only noticed before I hit send. I thought this actually happened to the OP and that they were asking for advice, which is why mine probably read more like ‘what should you do’.

      1. Yumi

        Yeah, I can see missing it. I could also see catching that line and still wondering, “…But is it?” except for being familiar with OP’s commenting history.

        1. Mr D

          My comment history must look bananas from an outside perspective.

  34. Peter

    Dorothy is treating a relationship as if it were a project with deadlines and final grades. Walky’s attitude is much healthier.

    1. Danni

      is that she treated her relationship with danny?

      1. Needfuldoer

        Re-reading the strips from when they broke up, it sure seems like Dorothy became uncomfortable with the power imbalance in their relationship too. (His thinking her ambitions could be ‘just a phase’ was the last straw.)

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/kindness/

  35. ZerglingOne

    Oh Dorothy… you just got exactly everything you needed and it looks like you’re going to throw it out the window.

    Protip: Never, EVER do something heavily taxing on your emotional status in times of extreme stress unless it is the thing causing the stress and doing it will make the stress go away.

    If she breaks up with him right now, her deadlines are still in place, she’s still not done, and it’s going to be infinitely harder to do everything you need to do with a broken heart on top of it.

  36. Jess

    noooooo

  37. BenRG

    Dorothy, I think that you’re making less sense than usual. Admittedly, considering how disoriented she looks, that isn’t entirely surprising but it really isn’t clear where that non-sequitur is going. I’m guessing that it’s a sort of lengthy way of saying: “This isn’t you, it’s me.”

    1. thejeff

      I think she’s making perfect sense. She’s recognized a pattern in how she’s been treating Walky. That’s an important step.
      Now where she’s going with it is less clear. If she does try to dump him, I hope he pushes back against it.
      Normally I wouldn’t advise it, but when someone claims to be breaking up with you for your own good, that’s a time when it’s reasonable to argue that you don’t think it’ll be good for you at all.

      1. Nono

        Given that Danny has been a doormat for their relationship and Walky has mostly been overriden by the rule of pretty, some resistance might actually be a good thing for Dorothy. We haven’t exactly seen her to respond that well when things don’t go her way.

  38. Victor Riley

    Well, she says it’s unfair to reel him in, and push him away… but she’s about to do one of those one more time. She basically has a choice between those two.

    It does seem clear that she’s about to push him away… because that’s what most of us are used to in the same situations. But maybe once… it could be a “reel in”, and pledge to give it a decent shot.

    Yeah, I know… not bloody likely.

    1. BenRG

      I’m pretty sure that Dorothy is going to spend the rest of this day severing all her emotional and social bonds at IU (because they’re ‘holding her back’). It’s the start of a journey for her that will climax when she realises that those Ivy League colleges aren’t beating down her door and that she’s miserable and alone for no net benefit to her. That may be a realisation that will take her a long time to reach, of course.

      1. thejeff

        Doesn’t really work narratively. That realization can’t really come for months of comic time at least (I can’t remember if she was planning one year or two at IU before trying to transfer.), which means she’d be in that push every one away stage for essentially the rest of the strip’s life.
        The arc has to resolve somehow – and I’m also pretty sure it’s not going to resolve as “ambitious girl realizes her ambitions were bad”.

        If anything, I expect the pattern to continue, since such patterns are hard to break. She tries to break all those emotional and social bonds, but keeps failing and reaching back out because she actually needs them. Resolution eventually with her reaching a better work/life balance and stops setting boundaries she can’t keep.

  39. NoOneLikesRobin

    Make sure you keep your eyes on the prize Dorothy. The goals that you set for yourself when you knew so little about life you didn’t even know you could enjoy someone like Walky will *surely* lead to everlasting happiness and fulfillment, and will turn out to be exactly what you think they’ll be.

    Never, ever change your plans based on what life throws at you, rather grapple with it like an enemy dead set on barring your way. Surely down that path lies happiness.

    People like Dorothy make me sad.

    1. Zaxares

      As much as I agree with you, I’m afraid that based on my experiences with people like Dorothy, if they DO decide to settle and go with someone like Walky, they will FOREVER have that unanswered “what if?” in their mind. Never mind the fact that, by sheer statistics alone, chances are that they will end up failing miserably at whatever grand goal they set out to achieve and wind up bitter and angry that their dreams never materialized, they will sometimes use the “I’m like this because I gave it all up for you!” excuse to throw at their partner in an argument.

      I admire people who have the courage and drive to seek out their dreams and do their darndest in all their power to get it done. I really do. But at the same time, I’ve never met one of these people who had the grace and humility to accept failure without becoming embittered by it, at least a little.

      1. ischemgeek

        My mother settled, and it turned her into a bitter person who blamed her kids for her never being able to achieve her dreams.

        I’m 100% all for Dorothy, knowing that what she wants above all else is to become the first woman president, to prioritize what she thinks will get her there.

        Now is her approach great? No. She needs to learn how to find a better work-life balance or she’ll burn out.

        That said, I think her keeping her priorities is better long term – both for her and for everyone around her – than the alternative. Cuz I experienced the alternative. The alternative was that I’ve spent my entire life knowing with absolute certainty that my mother blames me for her life failures, and that she resents my very existence (I won’t go into details but that’s barely scratching the surface). I don’t want that for any kids, even fictional ones. Unless you grew up in that sort of a household, you have no idea what it does to you head – and I’m glad you don’t. But trust me when I say I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

        1. C.T Phipps

          Don’t settle. Don’t EVER settle.

          CHANGE YOUR DREAM.

          But don’t ever settle.

          🙂

        2. Zaxares

          The trouble is that for many of these great achiever-types, changing your dream IS settling. :/ It’s basically an admission of failure that you cannot get what you want, and I guess the point of my post was that I’ve seen far too many of these types get bitter and resentful about how they were denied “their due”, and sometimes erroneously shift the blame onto people who had absolutely nothing to do with it.

    2. ischemgeek

      Continuing from my comment in reply to Zaxares: Since about 14 I wanted to be a lab manager. That was genuinely what I wanted to do with my life. In uni, I did actually cut off a relationship with a guy because he was planning to move somewhere that I’d have zero opportunity for my career plans.

      And. I. Have. No. Regrets.

      For a couple reasons:
      1, he and I were really incompatible in our priorities, in retrospect. He was treating my ambitions as an afterthought to his – and to be perfectly fair, I was guilty of the same, as well. Neither of us prioritized the other in our future planning, which meant neither of us really held the other as an important part of our lives. The relationship wasn’t going anywhere, we both knew it, and neither really wanted to pull the trigger on it because of the Nerd Social Fallacies.
      2, We never really had all that much in common to begin with. If I’d gone with him, I would have abandoned my studies and career to wind up stranded in the middle of fuck-off nowhere in Manitoba (not actually Flin-Flon, but one of the small villages near it and basically what Canadians mean when they say “In the middle of Flin-Flon Manitoba”) when the relationship failed on its own in a few months because we had literally nothing in common except “I am friends with some of your friends and we are similarly socially awkward so our friends thought it’d be cute for us to go out.” Dotty and Walky have more in common than he and I did.
      3, Frankly, I now have a rule: If I find myself looking for excuses not to spend time with an SO, it’s time to seriously examine whether the relationship is worth saving. And, frankly, it’s better to pull the trigger earlier than later, so you don’t waste both parties’ time.

      Not saying that Dotty and Walky breaking up is a good thing here – frankly I think Dotty’s situation would be better sorted by her dropping one of her extra-curriculars and staying with him to de-stress because work-life balance is a thing – but rather saying that valuing what’s important to you in life, and prioritizing it, is not a bad thing. Looking out for what you need out of a relationship, or out of life in general, is a good thing. Making sure you know you’re going to get what you mentally need isn’t selfish, it’s responsible self-care. It’s what keeps people from getting trapped in soul-sucking relationships, getting stuck in a place they hate, with a spouse they hate, in a house they hate, with 2.5 kids they also hate, and just hating life in general and punching the clock until it’s their turn to check out (why yes my worst fear in life is becoming my parents, can you tell?).

      Dorothy mentally needs to chase her ambitions. You might not understand it, and that’s ok. Most people don’t understand highly ambitious perfectionists (being one, I understand her fine, but that’s me). It’s ok to not understand what makes a person tick. What’s not ok is pressuring them to give up what they emotionally need out of life in favor of a more typical life trajectory. Which is what Dorothy faces from almost all sides, except Walky.

      Which, ultimately, is why I think the breakup would be a mistake. Not because she’s being selfish (frankly I think women in general aren’t selfish enough because they’re socialized to put their own needs last which is a recipe for unhappiness – and a big part of why Dorothy gets blowback because she’s a woman who dares to prioritize her needs), but because she’s cutting out the one and only person in her life who wholly, unreservedly, completely believes in her and wants to support her. Even Joyce doesn’t support her like Walky does. What Walky needs, weirdly, is someone who can inspire him to be his better self. He gets that in Dorothy. What Dorothy needs, desperately, is someone to help her destress and to believe in her. She gets that in Walky. They are emotionally compatible, share the same interests, and have compatible priorities for now. Their relationship makes sense.

      That’s why the breakup is a mistake – because overall the relationship is a net positive for her, and because where they have differences, the differences are not insurmountable and don’t threaten each others’ needs. Metaphorically speaking here, she’s being penny wise and pound foolish, prioritizing the minutes she loses on homework time over the hours of productivity she gains by having a lower stress level and better state of mind. She’s in a tailspin every bit as much as Walky was when they were on pause, it’s just her tailspin isn’t as likely to raise red flags.

      When someone sleeps all day, eats nothing but junk food, refuses to go to class, avoids all responsibility and is generally miserable, it’s pretty easy to say, “he’s depressed! Something is wrong here, this kid needs help.” When someone is meeting all their deadlines, showing up to everything, and taking on too much, it’s much harder to spot a mental health issue – even though that kind of over-zealous perfectionism can be a sign of anxiety issues or other mental health stuff (and yeah I do think Dorothy is in danger of a mental health meltdown right now). Some people (Dorothy and I have this in common) can outwardly compensate until they can’t, and once they can’t they’re totally off the rails.

      Short version: I agree with your conclusion, but not with your reasoning.

      1. BBCC

        That comment about how its harder to notice something is wrong when they’re outwardly performing well reminds me of a book I was reading a while ago about personality disorders and how the ones that keep people more or less outwardly functional are much less likely to be diagnosed and treated (I believe it was Compulsive Personality Disorder but don’t quote me, it might have been something else).

        1. ischemgeek

          Yeah. In my teen years I was self injuring and suicidal cuz I was the smiley over productive one, not the stereotype of teen angst.

      2. Zaxares

        I more or less would agree entirely with your assessment, except that I’m not sure that Dorothy and Walky would ultimately be happy together. Dorothy is someone who desires greatness, and she has the talent and drive to make it happen. She needs someone who can be her pillar, her support, her cheerleader, and in all honesty, I don’t think that’s Walky. Yes, he’s willing to take a backseat in the relationship and let her put her ambitions first, which is good. But I don’t think he would ultimately find such a relationship fulfilling. Walky strikes me more as the sort of person who’s looking for a “Player 2”, someone who will be a friend and companion through life as they pursue things that make them happy together. As Dorothy’s stature rises, she’s only going to have less and less time for Walky, and the only way a relationship can survive in such a scenario is if the supporting partner is someone who finds meaning and purpose in helping their partner achieve success. Again, I don’t think that’s Walky. It takes a very special kind of person who’s willing to give up all their own hobbies, time and energy into making sure their partner’s dream succeeds.

        And on the flip side, would Dorothy ultimately be happy with someone who’s basically a stay-at-home husband? Remember that she hooked up with Walky originally because she thought he was also a super-smart achiever, someone who was her equal in not just intellect, but also drive and potential. While Walky is certainly smart, he just doesn’t have the same kind of ambition that Dorothy does, and Dorothy may eventually reach a point where she feels kinda ashamed about being in a relationship with him. How would it look if the President of the United States had a partner who basically did nothing but lounge at home in sweatpants and watched cartoons all day? Sure, he’s happy, she’s happy, and they fulfill each other’s needs in downtime, but as someone in the public eye, that’s still a distraction she may not be able to afford.

        So yes, I agree that Dorothy is wrong to think she needs a break-up, but I think that her and Walky, as much as they do care for each other, are not what the other truly needs.

        1. ischemgeek

          I don’t think they will be a forever couple, more that Dorothy is right for Walky where he is now and vice versa.

        2. cbwroses

          I’m not sure how much I agree with you here, but one thing I definitely disagree with is the idea Dorothy got with Walky partly because she thought he was driven like she was. Walky has never given the impression he was driven. If that were the case, she would never have thought he was stupid in the first place.
          He told her he was smart, but he admits that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing at college, that he’s there more for his mom, so how does that equal achiever?
          Whether or not Dorothy will regret dating the type of guy Walky is may never be known, but she definitely knew what kind of guy he was when they started dating.

  40. Chris Phoenix

    1) Don’t assume she is the one who drugged you. For example, maybe someone drugged her too, and included you to obscure their trail.
    2) Might there be any security footage, either in the club or where you woke up, that would help you figure out what happened?
    3) Could there have been a non-sexual reason for you to be roofied? (Theft?) 4) Was there evidence that you, or she, or both, had sex?
    5) Get a lawyer before admitting ANYTHING to the police.

    1. Mr D

      Oh in this case it is totally what it looks like, the 15 year old girl roofied the dude and had her way with him.
      But part of the scenario is to see the answers each person gives to that, so as to your questions: It is too soon to look for security footage, you both are naked in bed (due to the way this is presented, the narrative is in second person), you don’t feel like examining the girl but this bed was totally used for sex last night.

  41. WonderRabbit

    Let me answer your question with another question; why am I rummaging through this girl’s wallet? Just because it’s there?

    I need to understand Hypothetical Me’s motivation before I can make a judgment on next steps.

    1. Mr D

      because you woke up at a stranger’s house without pants in a bed that smells of sex after getting, y’know, roofied.

  42. Djaevlenselv

    Book 8, chapter 3: Love is Dumb, Faz is Great.

  43. thejeff

    Maybe it’s just me, but this feels like some kind of crappy set up for an MRA style attack on rape laws or something.

    It’s a straight up gender and age reversal, which is rarely actually helpful in understanding anything. While it’s a big country and theoretically it could have happened somewhere: underage girls drugging and raping older strange men isn’t actually a thing.

    But taking it seriously for a moment:
    Step 1: She’s 15? I’m in her room? Try to sneak out of the house without waking her parents, because even if I’ve got a solid legal defense, they’re less likely to buy into it.
    Also: Know the local age of consent laws. In some states, you’re screwed because if you can’t convince the jury you were actually raped, you’re likely to face statutory charges. In others, it would be perfectly legal to sleep with her, so the rape case would be more straightforward.

    1. Mr D

      Nah, it’s just me, I got a history of asking questions that are weird and awkward but I like the answers I get as most of the people answering have better understandin of these things than me.

      And yes, this IS a gender reversal case, not something that is as likely to happen in the real world as the opposite, and thus I find it more interesting to explore than the other one. There is also a lot of prejudice in this case towards minors always being blameless, and men being incapable of being raped, so I’m trying to put forward a case as straightforward as possible. Hell, one of the original questions I was gonna ask was “Without bias, which side do you think courts would focus on? Drugging and raping a male? or statuory rape of the minor?”

      Now, I know how this looks, which is why I stepped away from that question. I don’t want to look like I’m attacking rape laws, but I do want to examine if there is any prejudice in this kind of cases. We know that, sadly, there is a lot of prejudice against women while talking about rape, and that is just horrible. As I don’t likve in the US, my best option to understand these things is presenting a scenario to people who are willing to talk about this kind od things.

      1. thejeff

        The point is that gender reversal cases might be more “interesting” to explore since they’re less common, but the reversals don’t work because the case isn’t actually the same when reversed.

        I did know someone years ago who was nearly date-raped by a younger boy. Luckily, she was able to get out before it get that bad, but she was 18 and he was 16 and under those state laws sex with him would have been a clear case of statutory rape. (No Romeo & Juliet exemptions there.) No way would she have gone to the police because she’d have been more likely to end up in legal trouble.
        Still a pretty rare outlier, but much more possible.

  44. Asmogard

    That pain in your gut when you dread the next few words…

  45. FacelessDeviant

    The roofy thing. It is pretty hard to decide that you have indeed been drugged.
    Until tested, it is a suspiscion, not quite a fact.

    So what I would do would be to go to a hospital ASAP to find out if indeed I was drugged. This is important also for when a police report is filed.

  46. geno

    Kinda sad Ruth and Jason didn’t get a chance to hang. That would have been fun

  47. Deanatay

    Panel 5: The creeping realization that the ‘talk’ you’re having is actually your SO’s way of working up the nerve to break up with you for good.

  48. CJ

    I agree with thejeff, it sounds like a thought experiment to take down statutory rape laws or build up a story to cover your ass.
    First of all: you wake up in a strange room with a strange girl the room smells of sex, can’t remember how you got there and the first thing you do is check her ID?
    Yeah, sure.

    Disregarding the age thing: get your trousers on, get out of the house, make a note of where you were, got to hospital and get a checkup.
    If it turns out you were roofied and had sex, secure the evidence and get in contact with a rape crises center.

    An underage girl roofying older guys to rape the is about as likely as a female mass shooter. You might get one once in a blue moon, but the daily perps are male.

    1. Mr D

      That’s….Kind of the point? It rarely ever happens, thus it is a more interesting thought experiment.

      1. Mr D

        Also, re-reading your comment, I would really appreciate if you didn’t imply I’m some kind of monster looking for “Stories to cover my ass”?

  49. SlothfulCobra

    Man, Walky’s gonna end up dead in a ditch at the end of this. He takes horribly to not having a girlfriend to impress

  50. Yumi

    Oh, did we find the limit for random, awkward questions? Cool.

    1. David M Willis

      this is not the forum to workshop your fictional rape scenarios, no

      1. Mr D

        Huh. Question answered.

      2. Yumi

        Yeah, that seems like a fair limit to have.

      3. Mr D

        Willis, if I may, I suppose you have seen my random awkward questions before, and they tend to be, as the name says, awkward, as they are supposed to be question on the nature of sexuality from the point of view from someone who has A) a limited udnerstanding of his own and B) Literally no experience.

        That, combined with the fact that I’m slightly within the autism spectrum, means I will end up being offensive sometimes.

        Thus, (I assume you get the emails of your discuss commenters?) I would appreciate some guidelines to what would be out of place to chat about?

        1. David M Willis

          Talk about the comic strip.

          This is a comment section for a comic strip.

          Talk about the comic strip.

        2. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

          Your self-description reminds me of myself, so I wanted to address you personally. I only know you through this comment you left I’m responding to, so I could be way off by drawing comparisons, but I know I myself am prone to taking offense where none is meant when I’m upset, so I wanted to make this clear to you. Willis is not being a jerk by shutting you down here. The questions you ask are entirely valid concerns to have, but this is not the proper forum for discussing them.

          I know that there are often comments here addressing LGBTQ+ issues, but they are usually at least somewhat related to the comic in question or the comment they’re responding to. Don’t try to squeeze in comments that aren’t even tangentially related. Instead, look for another place where you can talk about these kinds of things, a place where the topic is more related. I have some suggestions.

          Personally, I like to talk on Telegram, (and believe me, you can find Telegram groups to discuss basically any sort of interest, especially regarding sexuality or fetishism) but I know that’s mostly a furry thing, so maybe you’d prefer somewhere like Discord? I don’t know for sure, but I believe that’s a similar place to Telegram, where people just chat about different topics, and there are probably places there where you could discuss the things that concern you. Even on Twitter, you can pretty easily find people who have similar interests, but you might want to have such discussions privately, over direct messaging.

          If you feel comfortable discussing things offline, you can almost certainly find LGBTQ+ groups in real life, or (and this may be the furry fetishist in me talking, so disregard if it’s not pertinent) even kink groups if you want to talk about that sort of thing. But if you can’t do something like that, (I couldn’t do that myself, both due to my being more comfortable online and due to personal situation making it complicated) definitely check out some sort of messaging site/app that might have chatrooms of interest, where you can meet people who have the same kinds of interests or concerns as you.

          I hope this was helpful.

        3. ischemgeek

          There is a difference between awkward and predatory. Your approach is not awkward, it is predatory with a smokescreen of awkward. As I stated below, awkward or autism or whatever excuse you want does not make you incapable of taking no for an answer. That is all you. Quit looking for loopholes to consent and people will stop being pissed wih you.

          I am an autistic dude. I manage to avoid convincing everyone I am a sexual predator. It is pretty easy. Give actual thought and consideration to the concept of consent instead of treating it like a tabletop game you can rules lawyer your way around.

          You do not get a pass on basic human decency for being autistic. That you seem to want one – and try to paint wanting one as a consequence of being autistic like me – is something I find deeply insulting.

        4. ischemgeek

          Sorry for digging this open again Willis. My bad.

          Just, as an autistic person, I already deal with groups like Autism Speaks painting me as less than fully human and autism paaarents likening autistic people to mass murderers and trying to act like being autistic either renders me a permachild too incompetent to know what I want or manage my own affairs or a dangerous animal in need of euthanasia. Seeing this guy parrot the stereotype hit a nerve.

          Mr. D, don’t let them give you a passon basic human decency. You are capable of it. Hold yourself to a standard even if nobody else will. Cuz the alternative is hurting people wherever you go because you never bothered to learn to ask permission and respect a no.

    2. Mr D

      Hrm. Not gonna continue the argument but I gotta wonder if it was because somebody gotupset (and in that case I really apologize) or because the last person to answer was implying I was a wannabe sexual harasser.

      1. ischemgeek

        Generally speaking, playing what-if with ever-more-specific situations to find scenarios where others consider ignoring boundaries acceptable will create that impression. Social boundaries are called that for a reason.

        They were not “upset” with you, they were angry. Because how you behave and approach romantic situations in terms of attitude is literally how sexual harassers do. Stop looking at boundaries as obstacles to be circumvented and start looking at them as social closed gates. A closed gate implies “keep out” and “no tresspassing” not “climb over me!”

        And from one autistic to another: it is fine to be awkward ant do have trouble reading social cues. What is not fine is to use that as an excuse to not be considerate and respectful of others. Autism doesn’t make you incapable of taking no for an answer, that’s all you.

        People were pissed at you because if you keep going like this, sooner or later you are going to really hurt someone. I am talking traumatized for life level shit. Because you refuse to take no for an answer where sex and romance are concerned. That’s not the attitude of someone who is just clueless, it is the attitude of a predator. So learn to accept no for an answer.

  51. abysswatcher1993

    This is going to be painful. Be consistent, Dorothy!

  52. ValdVin

    It could well be a result of running out of space, but I like how we just see the back of the heads of both Ruth and Jason in panel six.

    We’re zooming into Dorothy, also especially Walky’s eyes; the transition they make across this strip are full of feels. Good stuff, Willis.

  53. C.T Phipps

    For me, Dorothy needs to break up with Walky and then hit the wall of whatever her limitations are before she can start thinking about what her actual goals are. Mind you, I do hope for a flash forward to reveal Dorothy didn’t become President BUT LOST TO SENATOR BECKY.

    🙂

    1. Schpoonman

      Senator Becky, still covertly running Robin’s campaign team.

    2. King Daniel

      So instead of the US getting its first atheist straight woman president (President Keener), there’s the first Christian lesbian woman president (President McIntyre-Saruyama)? Seems a fair enough trade. 😛

      1. C.T Phipps

        There’s definitely also the irony that Dorothy talks a lot about being President but not what she’d want to do. Becky, however, is making it! 🙂

  54. PB

    Noooooooooooooooooooo…

    This isn’t good for either of them. Dorothy is right that she’s making it hard for both of them but that’s because she’s overcomplicating things. And Walky should learn to deal with his own shit but this won’t help.

  55. Wright

    Well, if this is the end, at least they went out with a bang.

    *ba-dum TSS*

    1. AeroQC

      That feels like the sort of pun that Sans from Undertale would say just off-panel to them.

  56. C.T Phipps

    Dorothy, the problem isn’t Walky distracting you, the problem is you wanted to run for hall monitor and no one voted for you….not even Joyce.

    1. cbwroses

      I thought both Joyce and Billie voted for her.

  57. Classic Appa

    As a purely cerebral concept a casual relationship is exactly what Dorothy wants. Companionship when she needs it with little to no maintenance. Given her goals and the fact she got out of a whatever year long relationship with Danny it makes sense she’d want to try something more casual. Of course that wasn’t what happened what with feelings being an utter bastard. So we reach this crosswords where they have to decide to either invest in the relationship or stop. Walky was going one direction, looks like Dorothy is going in the other. It’s sucky, but then so is much of life.

  58. Aggrax

    Me, several months ago with a monkeys paw: “I wish Dorothy and Walky would break up.”

    Me, now: “Okay, so some mistakes were made.”

  59. AeroQC

    *Sans shouts at Walky off-panel*
    “Geeettttttt dumped on!!!”

  60. BKC

    Between Walky and Joe, Willis is doing overtime on The (Extra) Shiny Eyes of Dudes Who Have Just Become Emotionally Overwhelmed. Loving it.

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