28-07-18 SDB-Good for something

[Giz]

New strip! http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/sdb- ... something/

[OllieOrOlly]

The dynamic between the sisters is quite refreshing - one can offer advice and be swift enough to prevent the other impulsively following it, but rather both can continue to communicate the issue to truly figure it out.

The final panel tugs at the heart strings; in spite of their numerous and often vast differences, it is a beautiful display of the emotional connection shared between Ruby and Amber.

[Spidrift]

The trouble is, that moment of connection seems to come from nowhere, so far as I can see. Amber has been trying to be nice to Ruby, on and off, sure, but I don't recall Ruby registering much that was actually positive. This latest bit of advice seems useful, sure, but the only other thing I can recall offhand is Amber's encouraging comments about Ruby's video of Ray and Dillon kissing. On the other hand, Ruby has been quick to register anything that Amber did that annoyed or inconvenienced her.

It's not like Ruby with Dillon, where Dillon did a lot to annoy her but also offered actually useful help and advice, to the point where it actually makes sense for Ruby to treat Dillon as a friend by now. I can't help reading this as Giz rushing through a process of the two sisters mending their relationship that really ought to have taken half a volume with a lot of show-don't-tell along the way.

Meanwhile, assuming that the dress here mentioned is the one from panel 3 here, I'm trying to think of any occasion when we've actually seen Amber wearing a little black dress. Actually, looking back over the art, she seems to prefer pastel shades, even when she's hanging out with Chanelle and the latter is rocking an LBD. I'm not saying that this is a mistake -- I'm sure that Amber has a good-sized wardrobe of sexy dresses -- but Ruby refers to "your dress" as though it's one that's associated with Amber by default. If she'd said "your black dress", it might have been better.

I'm also surprised that it fitted so well; I'd have thought that Amber was one or two bust sizes larger than Ruby. But I do like the way that Ruby is confident of her judgement with that dress (and rightly, going by the art); she may be naive and inexperienced, but she understands the basics of what should work.

All of which just leaves the question of what will turn out to be up with Andy. Impotence seems unlikely, given that he was fairly cheerful about offering to try and make Ruby happy, and the asexuality idea just feels implausible to me. Which does leave shy/clueless, which really fade into each other. It seems a little harsh if Ruby has to discover that her best efforts and borrowed dress still weren't good enough, but we readers have seen his colleague describing his total idiotic inability to take hints, so maybe Ruby can accept that she'll just have to smite him mightily with a clue-by-four.

(Or perhaps, given that a cock ring sized for him was large enough to be mistaken for a small bracelet, Andy is just worried that he'll make any woman seriously uncomfortable. Ruby's reaction to that admission could be interesting...)

Actually, given that Amber has now pointed out that Ruby really has insufficient data to decide what to do next, I wonder if they, or at least Ruby, are going to visit the pool to ask that colleague, who's known Andy longer than they have, if she can shed any light on the matter. There's no other obvious candidate to ask, unless Ruby has been introduced to Andy's family, and (a) they'd be new characters out of the blue, and (b) Ruby would find that a terribly awkward conversation.

[worldshaking00]

There's lots of people reading this strip, Ruby, and I for one appreciate her admitting that Amber has been good.

I agree with @Spidrift, that I did not think Ruby would have fit so well into Amber's LBD. In my mind at least, Amber seemed bustier than her sister. Comparing the two in the link he provided above though, they seem pretty close size-wise. Perhaps Ruby wears sports bras or something to help to detract from her bosom? Or maybe Amber is usually drawn with so much cleavage that there's an optical illusion?

Either way, yay for the feels... emotional ones that is.

[Error of Logic]

Ahhh... progress. ^_^
Good to see, isn't it... Minew? ;)

[Mandy]

The trouble is, that moment of connection seems to come from nowhere, so far as I can see. Amber has been trying to be nice to Ruby, on and off, sure, but I don't recall Ruby registering much that was actually positive. This latest bit of advice seems useful, sure, but the only other thing I can recall offhand is Amber's encouraging comments about Ruby's video of Ray and Dillon kissing. On the other hand, Ruby has been quick to register anything that Amber did that annoyed or inconvenienced her.

Maybe the reasoning is similar to when Gary was giving credit to Zii for helping him lose his virginity. Amber being friends with Zii and Dillon gave her opportunities at friendships with them. Those friendships, in turn, helped Ruby become a happier, less rigid person. Amber being half of her paycheck allows her to fund things like her calendar. Etc etc

It's not as satisfying as when credit is given for someone intentionally and knowingly helping but eh *shrugs*

It is a total 180 for Ruby to admit that Amber tangentially helped. Maybe Ruby thought it to herself but didn't want to admit it aloud because she's still mad at Amber.

[Spidrift]

I agree with @Spidrift, that I did not think Ruby would have fit so well into Amber's LBD. In my mind at least, Amber seemed bustier than her sister. Comparing the two in the link he provided above though, they seem pretty close size-wise.

But that’s Ruby in a dress that’s (well) designed to, well, flaunt it. Whereas Amber looks at least that busty most of the time, and when she goes for a plunging neckline, it gets fairly spectacular.

It’s not a Kiley vs. DiDi situation. Like I said, I’d only guess they were a size or two apart. But the idea of Ruby fitting that neatly into a dress of Amber’s that’s clearly intended to fit closely seems, well, a bit too convenient.

Maybe the reasoning is similar to when Gary was giving credit to Zii for helping him lose his virginity. Amber being friends with Zii and Dillon gave her opportunities at friendships with them. Those friendships, in turn, helped Ruby become a happier, less rigid person. Amber being half of her paycheck allows her to fund things like her calendar. Etc etc

Something like that, maybe. Or maybe Ruby is giving Amber due credit for the help she’s been in this scene — which would be fair enough. But Ruby says “you’ve been good for more than you think”, which seems to contradict that; Amber knows full well that she’s just now helped Ruby.

Perhaps the idea is that Ruby doesn’t think that Amber understands quite how important this current scene has been for her. On one level, Amber is just helping Ruby sort out her sex life, which is nice enough if kind of routine by Amber’s standards. But the explanations she’s offered also shift the cause of the problem from Ruby to Andy. Ruby is only human; she doesn’t like to feel a failure, or stupid, or unattractive — but the idea that she couldn’t get a man into bed (when Everybody Knows That Men Only Want One Thing, after all) pushed her that way. She was so desperate that she was talking to her cat. But now, she’s got an explanation that makes sense and that she can work with. Amber hasn’t only (hopefully) saved her sex life; she’s saved her world-view.

It is a total 180 for Ruby to admit that Amber tangentially helped. Maybe Ruby thought it to herself but didn't want to admit it aloud because she's still mad at Amber.

I’m not surprised, if that’s genuinely what she thinks. Ruby’s honesty really is pretty consistent. Right back when she first appeared, she was quick to apologise to Amber when one of her digs (“Direct to video?”) went over the line.

[Error of Logic]

Not to mention, Ruby's been allowed to crash at Amber's place rent-free in spite of how this has impacted her sister's private life. She's not stupid; she knows Amber is giving her a lot of leeway and has refrained from pushing her to leave. Having a safety-net that doesn't require Ruby to return to her parents with her tail between her legs is worthy of acknowledgment.

[Spidrift]

But whether Ruby acknowledges that as a debt, or considers it payment of Amber’s debt to her, or just reckons it’s what’s correct for family — it’s stuff that Amber already knows about. The oddity is Ruby’s line about Amber being good for more than she thinks. What has Amber done for her that Amber wouldn’t even be aware of?

And incidentally — Ruby has used a metaphor about blindness and obviousness before. But she was wrong then, and she may well be wrong now. She overrates other people’s ability to perceive the obvious.

[KittyHat]

Amber's response is hardly surprising, but it's a bit jarring and unexpected to see Ruby acting like a decent, mature person suddenly and out of nowhere. Still, I guess characterization marches on ... even if it does it in massive jumps at times.

[samtheman]

It's nice to see that Ruby is accepting some of her sister's help. Now to find out how clueless Andy really is. And Minew is going to give me diabetes.

[Patton]

Exorsisters might be the best reason in a while for me to visit my local comic book store.

[brasca]

The trouble is, that moment of connection seems to come from nowhere, so far as I can see. Amber has been trying to be nice to Ruby, on and off, sure, but I don't recall Ruby registering much that was actually positive. This latest bit of advice seems useful, sure, but the only other thing I can recall offhand is Amber's encouraging comments about Ruby's video of Ray and Dillon kissing. On the other hand, Ruby has been quick to register anything that Amber did that annoyed or inconvenienced her.

It's not like Ruby with Dillon, where Dillon did a lot to annoy her but also offered actually useful help and advice, to the point where it actually makes sense for Ruby to treat Dillon as a friend by now. I can't help reading this as Giz rushing through a process of the two sisters mending their relationship that really ought to have taken half a volume with a lot of show-don't-tell along the way.

If this all seems rushed it's just coincidental to the knowledge we have of this strip wrapping up. Ruby is one the few characters that isn't clueless just willfully ignorant and stubborn at times. Amber is helping her and Ruby is reciprocating with some kind words of gratitude. There's still some unresolved issues like lying on her behalf which I'm hoping will get addressed again, but this is a really nice sisterly moment and doesn't feel rushed at all.

If I had to guess as to what Andy's problem might be I consider asexuality a strong possibility and why not? We've been introduced to a lot of people on the spectrum over the years and maybe he doesn't know he's asexual. He's probably gone through his life as a man who has no problem attracting women, but since he doesn't feel any desire he's never asked any woman out and typically that part is expected of the man. Consequently, he's probably had a few women take charge, ask him out, and end up in bed, but it's just like Gary's trick. It's not enough to make a relationship work. He's attractive and possibly good under the covers, but if the woman he's with doesn't feel desired she probably gets bored and leaves. Aside from using Andy for her calendars she wouldn't want to keep him around for sexual favors, but if he's interested in maintaining a relationship because he likes being with Ruby and doesn't mind reciprocating maybe this could all work out.

[Spidrift]

Ruby is one the few characters that isn't clueless just willfully ignorant and stubborn at times.

Ignorant I’ll freely grant you, but “willfully”?? The single biggest running joke with Ruby is the way that she googles anything and everything new. She clearly hates feeling ignorant. It’s her biggest nerdy virtue.

“Naive” might be a better word for her.

If I had to guess as to what Andy's problem might be I consider asexuality a strong possibility and why not? We've been introduced to a lot of people on the spectrum over the years and maybe he doesn't know he's asexual. He's probably gone through his life as a man who has no problem attracting women, but since he doesn't feel any desire he's never asked any woman out and typically that part is expected of the man. Consequently, he's probably had a few women take charge, ask him out, and end up in bed, but it's just like Gary's trick.

Before he met Ruby, he hadn’t had a date since his prom night (and an older relative took him to that). He clearly wants to do the right thing on a date, and yet he hasn’t a clue how. It seems that this utter cluelessness has been an invulnerable shield up until Ruby — which is obviously highly implausible, but hey, comedy.

(And I assume that he’s a virgin. Given her tendency to careful preparation, I imagine that Ruby will end up teaching him a lot.)

Aside from using Andy for her calendars she wouldn't want to keep him around for sexual favors, but if he's interested in maintaining a relationship because he likes being with Ruby and doesn't mind reciprocating maybe this could all work out.

I’m sure that asexuals are nice people (not “chained to a lunatic” and all that), but setting Ruby up with one feels like a bit of a plot-killer. I mean, Ruby has just said that she’d be willing to see if they could work through the issue (Nerd virtue #2: Enthusiasm for new projects), but that’d be a bit boring to watch.

And no, they couldn’t just settle down into a happy, sexless relationship. When Amber and Dillon both basically said that she needs to get laid to relieve some of the stress that generates the less likeable parts of her behaviour, they were pretty clearly expressing a fact of characterisation. I’m not personally overboard about the “A woman is incomplete without the healing power of a man’s magic penis” plot, (even if, in the Ma3 universe, a woman’s magic tongue can often substitute), but that’s how it is. And looking at it from a different angle, Ruby has just discovered that she has a rather vanilla but quite powerful libido, and I’d not deny her the simple pleasures of getting her rocks off occasionally.

[brasca]

Ruby is one the few characters that isn't clueless just willfully ignorant and stubborn at times.

Ignorant I’ll freely grant you, but “willfully”?? The single biggest running joke with Ruby is the way that she googles anything and everything new. She clearly hates feeling ignorant. It’s her biggest nerdy virtue.

“Naive” might be a better word for her.

I'm referring to her relationship with Amber. Her animosity towards her was willful ignorance. Ruby chooses to think she's depraved, but I think she knows better. Yes, Amber has a bit more of sexual appetite than the average person, but Ruby realizes now that there's nothing wrong with wanting sex.

If I had to guess as to what Andy's problem might be I consider asexuality a strong possibility and why not? We've been introduced to a lot of people on the spectrum over the years and maybe he doesn't know he's asexual. He's probably gone through his life as a man who has no problem attracting women, but since he doesn't feel any desire he's never asked any woman out and typically that part is expected of the man. Consequently, he's probably had a few women take charge, ask him out, and end up in bed, but it's just like Gary's trick.

Before he met Ruby, he hadn’t had a date since his prom night (and an older relative took him to that). He clearly wants to do the right thing on a date, and yet he hasn’t a clue how. It seems that this utter cluelessness has been an invulnerable shield up until Ruby — which is obviously highly implausible, but hey, comedy.

(And I assume that he’s a virgin. Given her tendency to careful preparation, I imagine that Ruby will end up teaching him a lot.)

Okay so he's had even less action than I imagined... and yet he's not complaining about it. It's even more compelling evidence that he's asexual since he doesn't seem to mind that he's only been on one date and it was his cousin. Gary on the other hand was clueless about his lack of success with women and wanted to do something about it.

Aside from using Andy for her calendars she wouldn't want to keep him around for sexual favors, but if he's interested in maintaining a relationship because he likes being with Ruby and doesn't mind reciprocating maybe this could all work out.

I’m sure that asexuals are nice people (not “chained to a lunatic” and all that), but setting Ruby up with one feels like a bit of a plot-killer. I mean, Ruby has just said that she’d be willing to see if they could work through the issue (Nerd virtue #2: Enthusiasm for new projects), but that’d be a bit boring to watch.

And no, they couldn’t just settle down into a happy, sexless relationship. When Amber and Dillon both basically said that she needs to get laid to relieve some of the stress that generates the less likeable parts of her behaviour, they were pretty clearly expressing a fact of characterisation. I’m not personally overboard about the “A woman is incomplete without the healing power of a man’s magic penis” plot, (even if, in the Ma3 universe, a woman’s magic tongue can often substitute), but that’s how it is. And looking at it from a different angle, Ruby has just discovered that she has a rather vanilla but quite powerful libido, and I’d not deny her the simple pleasures of getting her rocks off occasionally.

I never said it would be sexless. Ruby wouldn't want to use Andy for sex unless he was willing. He may not have any desire for it, but as long as he's willing to oblige as part of the relationship there's nothing wrong with it. And while I don't think a woman needs a man to be complete she definitely wants to scratch this itch.