08-04-13 My perfect big sister

[Hurbster]

Could be either, more likely the bum as opposed to the British, South African, Australian, New Zealand, and Irish definition.

Honestly, if you think about it, Ruby has probably seen BOTH meanings of the word fanny in relation to her sister.

Amber must have done a porny version of this.

[Spidrift]

Unless she lets something slip in the course of talking about something else. Because while she's avoiding that subject, she's doing so by going on the attack against Amber and her past. Now that she's given up on her attempt at polite restraint, she seems all too willing to discuss that. Which is why I think this conversation may last at least another strip or two. That last panel may hint at some kind of flashback upcoming, though it's possible that, say, a scene of a 13-year-old girl being exposed to porn, featuring her big sister, would be a bit traumatic and heavy for this comic.

Thinking about this a bit more, I remember that (a) I tend to guess wrong about how these comics will go, and (b) the writers are fond of their title character. Which probably means no flashback on Friday, because we'll cut to the interior of that truck, and we'll actually have to wait weeks for any details about the history of the Amber/Ruby emotional clusterfunk.

Hey ho.

[Stonefoot]

I have a feeling that, if Amber is ever going to get things straightened out with Ruby, she'll have to tell her parents about doing porn. Not anytime soon, since she'll try anything else she can think of first, but eventually. It would be interesting if it turned out her parents had known for a long time, but kept quiet about it around Ruby, thinking that she didn't know. Then Amber would have to go back and tell Ruby. Now that woulld be an interessting conversation.

[Spidrift]

Well, yes - I think it's been clear that Amber knows that she's going to have to tell her parents sometime, ever since the day she called Zii over to her apartment to help with Gary. She's also been chickening out all that time. Which was a lousy way to behave, really, if she knew that the secret was such a load on Ruby's mind.

It crossed my mind that the parents may already know, too - but the snag with that is that it would kill Ruby if she found that out. She's been getting twisted up and angry over keeping this secret for years; telling her that the secret wasn't a secret, but her own beloved parents let her go through that torture, for no good reason ... would probably be crueller than the comic could stand

I certainly still wouldn't be surprised if those parents are less starry-eyed about Amber than Ruby thinks, though, and maybe they sent Ruby to stay with Amber as a way of getting their boomerang offspring off their plates and out into reality. It must have been quite wearing for them having Ruby still around the house. Which would mean that they are imposing on Amber rather heavily, mind.

[Stonefoot]

It crossed my mind that the parents may already know, too - but the snag with that is that it would kill Ruby if she found that out. She's been getting twisted up and angry over keeping this secret for years; telling her that the secret wasn't a secret, but her own beloved parents let her go through that torture, for no good reason ... would probably be crueller than the comic could stand.

You're right. At least I can't think of a way to do that scenario that would fit the tone of the comic.

I guess I left that in because I know that that kind of lying and secret keeping can do real damage in the real world. I know of a case in my own family (my grandparents generation - everyone involved would be over 120 by now) which was not only worse than that, but was done deliberately.

[Odd Man Out]

More and more, I want to see their parents. Granted, I'm also a bit curious about Dillion's family and old friends but from what we see there most of his awkwardness is entirely self-inflicted.

[Spidrift]

Dillon? Awkward? A bit weird, sure, but he's quite painfully self-confident.

I'd like to see several of the Ma3/SDB characters' family and old friends, personally, but that's not been a plot device that the writers seem very inclined to employ. Ruby represents a bit of a break with their past approach, actually; she makes Amber's early life kind of visible. The comics also seem inclined to assume that older characters are often a bit hopeless or weird; we get people like Eulice or Nathan as representatives of the older generation. (Though Gary's boss seems quite sweet.) And whenever I try to work out anything about the main characters' upbringings, I come to the conclusion that their parents have a lot to answer for....

[themacnut]

It comes down to screwed-up people being "better" for comedic or dramatic purposes than well-adjusted people, unless the well-adjusted person in expected to be the one sane man/woman among a mostly loony cast. So of course most of the cast of Ma3/SDB will have parents who really had no business having kids...

[Spidrift]

True up to a point, but it somehow feels like anybody over the age of 30 in Ma3 or SDB sounds like they're a bit messed up at best, actively horrible at worst. (We rarely actually see them to check the point, but aside from the comedy monster Eulice and the strangely likeable Colette, the ones we do see are usually engaging in adultery.) I guess I've been spoiled by Scary-Go-Round/Bad Machinery, where the young cast usually turn out to have parents who are amiably flaky through to downright cool.

[Tenjen]

i keep coming back to see that expression in the last panel XD

[Ophelianime]

Unless she lets something slip in the course of talking about something else. Because while she's avoiding that subject, she's doing so by going on the attack against Amber and her past. Now that she's given up on her attempt at polite restraint, she seems all too willing to discuss that. Which is why I think this conversation may last at least another strip or two. That last panel may hint at some kind of flashback upcoming, though it's possible that, say, a scene of a 13-year-old girl being exposed to porn, featuring her big sister, would be a bit traumatic and heavy for this comic.

Thinking about this a bit more, I remember that (a) I tend to guess wrong about how these comics will go, and (b) the writers are fond of their title character. Which probably means no flashback on Friday, because we'll cut to the interior of that truck, and we'll actually have to wait weeks for any details about the history of the Amber/Ruby emotional clusterfunk.

Hey ho.

On the note of trauma being heavy for this comic, I disagree to a certain extent. From what I've seen in these comics, the writers seem to be quite fond of traumatizing their characters, but in a way that makes light of the damage.
Remember Yuki glimpsing her father's tentacle porn manga as a little girl? That trauma became her freudian excuse for being the crotch kicking maniac we all love or hate (depending on your opinion).
Also, think of DiDi, who has been having sex for years without once experiencing orgasm, which can actually be pretty damaging if you think about it. But again, it's used for comedic effect as her freudian exuse for becoming a serial dater.
So I really don't think that we can rule out the possibility of a flashback of ruby being young and exposed to porn. And if they do, you can bet that it will be spinned to comedic effect, rather than dramatic.

[Spidrift]

I rather hope we do get that flashback, or something similar, actually. For one thing, it'd cement Ruby solidly as a dramatic character in her own right, not just a prudish brat who exists to annoy Amber. And for another, it'd be interesting to see how Amber handles guilt for more-than-hypothetical consequences of her choices.