25-02-13 That was uncalled for

[Odd Man Out]

I still say it may not be a perspective, just her way of getting in more jabs at her sister via her sister's associates.

[Spidrift]

Or, to put a slightly kinder spin on it, simply her automatic assumption about Amber's associates, not especially intended as a jab at Amber herself.

Which would reflect rather better on Ruby, in my opinion. Assuming that men in and around the sex industry are pervs with wandering hands is a bit less misanthropic than assuming that all men are pervs with wandering hands.

But even if it's the latter - well, learned, taught, self-taught, who knows? There's clearly a bit of history here, with some botched parenting, and probably some messy adolescent stuff between sexy irresponsible big sister and quiet geeky little sister. Hopefully we'll find out more about this; if it's soon, we can look for some explanations from Amber to Dillon or Chanelle.

Aaaaand once again I find myself wishing that the boring title character of this comic would go away, so we could see more of the interesting supporting cast.

By the way, looking at other Web comics... the latest scene in Automic Laundromat felt weirdly relevant here. Rocket Girl is how I find myself imagining the teen Ruby, all gawky awkwardness and unsophistication, while Angela is definitely Ruby after she's got her act together and her arse in gear, all ruthless business under a thin layer of politeness and freckles.

Double post merged. The DAMNed

[Artemisia]

Well, I have to say that Ruby probably doesn't have to worry about Dillon's wandering hands...but she may have to worry about Chanelle's

[Don Alexander]

Not to mention wandering tongues!

[Spidrift]

Uh, right.

Of course, if anyone manages to reinforce Ruby's prejudices, that'll be just great for her relationship with Amber, won't it?

Additional possibility; Amber did pick up a reputation for ... friendliness ... in their home town at some point. And some of the local boys naturally assumed that her sister would be just the same. It'd explain Ruby's cynicism about men, and her snarkiness about Amber's lifestyle and Amber's friends.

[David Johnston]

I think I may be the only one who has a dislike for Ruby.

I don't find her cute, funny, or remotely likeable. She has done nothing but snub and judge her sister since she arrived on her threshold and bullied her way into moving in (which I'm only assuming Amber is allowing because she fears if she doesn't, Ruby will blab about Amber's porn past to their parents - which makes Ruby that much more despicable).

Ooh you've already your CDS goggles on. Amber isn't worried at all about Ruby ratting her out. There's no tension there. My guess despite her official disclaimer she's aware that she really is the favoured child, the "pretty and nice" one, and Ruby would end up looking worse than she did if that happened. Ruby's early mention of it is just "As you know, Bob" exposition. Amber is putting up with Ruby's intrusion because the word "no" just doesn't seem to be part of her vocabulary. She's the "nice" one after all and this is probably part of a pattern established in childhood where she was expected to help her little sister out with everything. Ruby gets what she wants and Amber gets the petting and praise.

[Spidrift]

Possible, though maybe a bit subtle for a theory about the Ma3 universe. Also has the snag that it would make Ruby the spoiled one - but in fact, she's the one who's completed a university degree, rather than coasting on family support.

In any case, even if it had some truth, that situation might still leave Ruby and Amber each thinking of the other as the family favourite. Amber could see Ruby as the favourite because their parents were always telling Amber to look after her; Ruby could see Amber as the favourite because their parents were always telling Ruby that Amber was so good for taking so much care of her.

Who knows?

[David Johnston]

Possible, though maybe a bit subtle for a theory about the Ma3 universe. Also has the snag that it would make Ruby the spoiled one - but in fact, she's the one who's completed a university degree, rather than coasting on family support.

She's being unapologetically demanding without even giving any forewarning. So yeah. A bit. But at the same time she appears to have defined her own sense of identity as being the smart and hard-working one, as opposed to her sister's pretty and nice one.

In any case, even if it had some truth, that situation might still leave Ruby and Amber each thinking of the other as the family favourite. Amber could see Ruby as the favourite because their parents were always telling Amber to look after her; Ruby could see Amber as the favourite because their parents were always telling Ruby that Amber was so good for taking so much care of her.

Possibly, but "Don't say that" doesn't actually say "That's not true". I think maybe they framed it more as Amber helping them than Amber helping Ruby.

[Spidrift]

By Ruby's own account, the demand and the lack of forewarning were both down to their mother. Unless that's a flat lie, really, it's no evidence for Ruby having a learned sense of entitlement. A tendency to go along with what mummy tells her, sure, but that I'm putting down to a rather desperate desire for parental approval.

If Ruby always got what she wanted, due to Amber being accustomed to looking after her, then I just don't see her building that smart, hard-working self-image. As I said before, kids who always get what they want are spoiled. Spoiled kids aren't the ones who go off to uni and get BBAs. For that matter, obliging older sisters with parents and younger sisters to look after don't seem very likely to go off, reduce communications to a minimum, and become porn stars.

No, I just don't see Amber as habitually obliging. She survived the porn industry with her health and sanity intact, and is still capable of manipulating Nathan or Gary on a selfish whim. I think that she's going along with her family's demands now because of family loyalty, guilt over deceiving them about her career, and maybe some gratitude to Ruby for not blowing her cover with their parents despite the friction between them. I think that Ruby genuinely believes that Amber is the favourite, and probably goes along with her mother's half-baked ideas out of a desire for approval. The idea that each got praised to the other, but never to their own faces, is just a guess, but one based on a pretty commonplace parenting balls-up.

The idea that Amber knows she is some kind of favourite, while still accepting the perpetual role of servant to Ruby, while Ruby is spoiled but also the smart one, strikes me as internally inconsistent and wildly over-subtle.

[David Johnston]

I wasn't actually intending to suggest that Ruby gets everything she wants. Just that she got what their parents figured she needed.

[Spidrift]

But that's not what you said.

Whatever. It's certainly likely that there's been some botched parenting here, and we may never get the full gory details - certainly not from any reliable narrators, as there are unlikely to be any in this case.

And someone needs to update TV Tropes with this textbook example. (Warning, TV Tropes link.)