SDB 22-11-18 You attracted to me

[KittyHat]

Actually, I find it kind of heartwarming how Ruby has bulldozed through her own issues and basically now feels okay with her own desires and the odd survivable embarrassment. Andy is pathetic, sure, but he gets no more sympathy from me than early-model Gary. Much less, actually, given that he’s probably about to be energetically helped by Ruby.

Even early-model Garybot would have understood what Ruby was talking about here, and Garybot was not even a character.

[Spidrift]

Yeah - is Andy a character? He's generated some jokes and embarrassed Ruby by accident once or twice, but a leaky pen could do that. Apart perhaps from his display of dim-witted confusion in the restaurant toilets, I don't recall him doing much that really pins him down as a person. I mean, even Gary had his little moment of claiming that his problems were due to a religious upbringing, even if the writers did immediately forget that; we have no such half-baked excuse for Andy's inanity.

[sparky]

Ruby needs to ask herself that if this relationship works out, does she really want him to spread his genes to the next generation? That level of dumbness needs to end with him.

[brasca]

You know, if Andy has to be written as this dim-seeming, I have to hope that he actually is just amazingly ignorant. (Weird parents, presumably.) That way, when Ruby has finished repairing his ignorance (with illustrations), he could make it worth her effort. Whereas if he’s just this dumb, he’s beyond hope.

But more likely he’s just been hit by the idiot ball for the sake of a (weak) punchline, and he’ll miraculously turn less stupid on Tuesday.

Or maybe he's not as dense as we think and just thought he'd try to deescalate the tension with a joke. He has the wherewithal to know that Ruby discussing a sexual arrangement would be embarrassing so he's not completely incapable of reading people and if he was disgusted with sex he never would've gone out with Ruby who he thought was a porn star in the first place. He doesn't seem to be a traditionalist since he was willing to sleep with Ruby after she pressed the issue first time.

It's still difficult to make any kind of determination based on what we know. Andy may be asexual, but doesn't know it and no one ever took the time to discuss it with him. He's certainly attractive and probably hasn't had any difficulty finding a woman forward enough to ask him out and possibly go to bed with him, however, they might've tired of his inability to take non verbal cues and dumped him after getting what they wanted. Andy may be someone who likes having a girlfriend, but is neither interested nor opposed to sexual relations.

As for Ruby she'd have no trouble losing her virginity, but I think she wants something more than a one night stand. A friends with benefits arrangement would be most ideal for her, but she doesn't want to consider that because it's something Amber would do.

[TheFoolishOne]

Skinny Dipping?

[brasca]

Skinny Dipping?

I'm up for that ;) , but that could cost Andy his job.

[Spidrift]

Or maybe he's not as dense as we think and just thought he'd try to deescalate the tension with a joke.

Except that he’s never shown that much sensitivity before, and his colleague Gina not only reckoned that he was totally clueless, and observed that he’d missed any number of hints from women and men, but was able to take advantage of it herself to get to grope his junk for shit and giggles.

Sorry, but Ma3 comics are and always have been WYSIWYG. If Andy looks hopelessly clueless, then Andy very likely is totally clueless. The only question is whether the authorial rationalisation for that is ignorance, stupidity, or “it’s funny”.

He has the wherewithal to know that Ruby discussing a sexual arrangement would be embarrassing...

He knows that “sex = embarrassment”, especially for Ruby who proved very touchy on the subject only a few days ago. And if he’s ultra-naive about sex, it might be that his parents are excruciatingly incapable of discussing the subject because of their own embarrassment, which could have transmitted to him. But that seems to be the limit of his sensitivity.

He's certainly attractive and probably hasn't had any difficulty finding a woman forward enough to ask him out and possibly go to bed with him, however, they might've tired of his inability to take non verbal cues and dumped him after getting what they wanted.

From what Gina said on his first appearance, plenty of women have tried being forward, but just bounced off. He subsequently told Dillon and Jerzy that he hadn’t had a date since his senior prom, and that was with a family member.

We’ve been repeatedly pounded with a clue stick that says “Andy is a clueless virgin”. I’m amazed that anyone is trying to finesse around this. This strip merely raises the known fact to an insane level for the sake of a laugh.

A friends with benefits arrangement would be most ideal for her, but she doesn't want to consider that because it's something Amber would do.

Actually, that seems to be pretty much what she’s after. She might not call it that, but she’s explicitly looking to get her rocks off with someone she trusts but doesn’t appear to love. FWB; it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

Skinny Dipping?

I'm up for that ;) , but that could cost Andy his job.

In the Ma3 universe?

[worldshaking00]

Yeah. Not likely to lose his job over it. Exploiting Andy (or Ruby even) so that Andy could keep his job? Maybe. Heck, it's more likely that any onlookers would like to join in!

[brasca]

I said could. But its wishful thinking. It would have to be drawn a certain way on account of the nipple ban, but maybe with the strip coming to an end they’ll throw caution to the wind.

[samtheman]

Andy being this dense isn't funny it's annoying.

[Dragon Paladin]

I think Andy is channeling Mark from The Room.

[JoybuzzerX]

Thinking on it, Andy could be messing with her right now.

[Spidrift]

Evidence that Andy is capable of or inclined to any such behaviour?

(Okay, this might, just possibly, be a deflection joke, though I doubt it. But even if it is, that just shows Andy as being weird about sex in a different way.)

As to these two going off skinny-dipping — it doesn’t strike me as very in character for either of them, and it’d just be a few strips of distraction, leaving the big question open until they were done. And a swimming pool changing room strikes me as even less comfortable a place for nookie than the room they’re in just now.

[xetalon]

Why anybody is considering the fact that Andy could only wait for Ruby to ask sex from him without trying to be indirect ? (because yes, even at that point, even if she "sounds" very obvious it's still not the case. I personally don't believe that Andy could be asexual, because he knows about Amber too well, but in the same he maybe doesn't want to be mistaken as an only sex driven guy.

[worldshaking00]

I don't think Andy knew Amber that well. He couldn't remember her name... only that is was color-related. Amber and Ruby don't look much alike, so he (most likely) hasn't seen one of her porn videos. I'm guessing he was brought up with very strict thoughts on sex, without too much religious indoctrination as he hasn't expressed any. As in, he was taught that it is an act that is meant to be very special and not to be squandered. And considering that his prom date was a cousin of his, I am assuming that he came from a sheltered background too due to his parents' teachings. His 'denseness' could be a horrific amalgamation of these, combined with him also being a little clueless due to inexperience. He's been nothing but kind to everyone, to the point of being too trusting of the motives of those who would try to take advantage of him (his female coworker and Dillon, for instance). And he hasn't blushed once, which I find remarkable. That makes me think he 'knows' what to do in its basics but also isn't shy about the birds & the bees.

Or he is dead, or undead.