05-07-13 Walking like a duck

[Spidrift]

Yep, Ruby would be fresh meat for any player-type who found her prickliness a fun challenge (notice how I didn't mention gender there), while running off nicer folks who found the prickliness a lot less fun. Lucky thing for her that Dillon's flaming, flamboyantly gay and has mostly good intentions. Or maybe not so lucky, since I can see her developing a crush on Dillon, which of course would have no chance of being returned.

My impression from things like her reaction to Amber's misplaced question is that Ruby is either straight, or at the very least thinks of herself as "normal" and assumes that heterosexuality is so much the norm that she'd be quite strongly resistant to having any gay impulses drawn out. I'm not saying that no determined gay woman could ever seduce her, but I think it would be one hell of a long, hard job, if it was possible at all.

And I really don't see Matt as overly likely to try it on with her. He may be an unfaithful bastard, but all his partners have been pretty enthusiastically willing, mostly more or less throwing themselves at him after being subjected to a little basic charm. He probably doesn't feel any need to go round chasing difficult targets when his looks and casual charm get him so many easy successes. He might not even have much idea how. And I'd guess that he'd regard acting the crappy manipulative player towards vulnerable virgins as beneath him. (Now, if someone like Ruby said "I need to learn", he'd volunteer like a shot.) I could be wrong, but I think he has some standards.

As to the crush problem... It could happen, I guess, long term, but I think that Ruby is getting more of a crash course in friendship here, that being something else that she doesn't seem to know much about. Her feelings towards Dillon are more likely to become sisterly, I guess. More sisterly that her view of Amber, in fact.

Just because someone is gay, doesn't mean they can't go bi. And opposite is just as true.

Maybe, but Dillon really is very, very gay, and his one historical experiment with heterosexuality, with two willing and interested girls, was a total bust. I'd not bet on him turning any time this century.

Of course in the context of the comic anybody can very well be bisexual but in real life, by the time you reach Dillon and Ruby's age, you are very likely to have made up your mind about what you like (some people's fluid sexualities notwithstanding).

The complication with Ruby is that she's determinedly avoided even thinking about the subject, let alone making up her mind. However, her Freudian slip regarding Jerzy's chest suggests at least a basic heterosexual impulse.

['J']

it'd take nothing short of the full Ludovico Technique de-gay dillon.

[zaprzapb]

Poor Ruby is so confused. I can just see her form a huge crush on Dillon and then he'll know what its like to be on the receiving end of Incompatible Orientation.

[MonCappy]

I'm beginning to think that Ruby may actually be right when she says that Amber is their parents' favourite. Anyone as bright and attractive as her, who's still as clumsy as this at taking simple praise, can't have received enough approval.

I suspect you might be right. What makes matters worse is that her parents likely used Amber as a measuring stick to compare and contrast all of Ruby's achievements against. It makes me feel bad about the poor girl as she's likely getting the shaft.

Lucky thing for her that Dillon's flaming, flamboyantly gay and has mostly good intentions. Or maybe not so lucky, since I can see her developing a crush on Dillon, which of course would have no chance of being returned.

Just because someone is gay, doesn't mean they can't go bi. And opposite is just as true.

Actually, yes it does mean that. If you're gay it is impossible to turn bisexual as your sexual orientation is as immutable as your race. If Dillon were to develop a sexual attraction to Ruby, then that would mean he was never gay, but actually bisexual and simply never knew it.

[themacnut]

Yep, Ruby would be fresh meat for any player-type who found her prickliness a fun challenge (notice how I didn't mention gender there), while running off nicer folks who found the prickliness a lot less fun. Lucky thing for her that Dillon's flaming, flamboyantly gay and has mostly good intentions. Or maybe not so lucky, since I can see her developing a crush on Dillon, which of course would have no chance of being returned.

My impression from things like her reaction to Amber's misplaced question is that Ruby is either straight, or at the very least thinks of herself as "normal" and assumes that heterosexuality is so much the norm that she'd be quite strongly resistant to having any gay impulses drawn out. I'm not saying that no determined gay woman could ever seduce her, but I think it would be one hell of a long, hard job, if it was possible at all.

And I really don't see Matt as overly likely to try it on with her. He may be an unfaithful bastard, but all his partners have been pretty enthusiastically willing, mostly more or less throwing themselves at him after being subjected to a little basic charm. He probably doesn't feel any need to go round chasing difficult targets when his looks and casual charm get him so many easy successes.

Wasn't really talking about Zii or Matt. Zii would likely find Ruby too annoying, and Matt would probably also find her too difficult. I'm talking about someone new with real charm and suave player skills, who'd consider it a challenge to charm the prickly Ruby out of her panties. And then dump her like yesterday's news since he got what he wanted from her.

To add to the drama Dillon and Amber could see what the "player" was doing, and try to block him, but Ruby's growing attraction to the guy leads her to defy them and sneak around them in creative ways, ways I'll bet she never used around her parents because no boys back home could touch her.

[Spidrift]

What makes matters worse is that her parents likely used Amber as a measuring stick to compare and contrast all of Ruby's achievements against. It makes me feel bad about the poor girl as she's likely getting the shaft.

It doesn't quite end there. Ruby would have known that the person with whom she was being unfavourably compared was actually a skeevy porn actress - but she couldn't say anything without destroying her parents, the very people whose approval she wanted. She was screwed both ways.

(Except that she wasn't. Because, from her point of view, Amber took that option away from her too.)

Honestly, if you take the character set-ups in this comic half seriously, and if all this is even half true on those terms, you end up concluding that Ruby has been put through hell for the last seven years or so. It makes her anger at Amber look not just understandable, but quite mild.

[zaprzapb]

What is with the character's parents in Ma3? Were the parents of the Oyama and LaRose families competing for the 'Worst Parents Ever' award or something?

[SiliconDream]

If you're gay it is impossible to turn bisexual as your sexual orientation is as immutable as your race. If Dillon were to develop a sexual attraction to Ruby, then that would mean he was never gay, but actually bisexual and simply never knew it.

That's not true; under any standard definition of sexual orientation, it's far from immutable. As measured by self-identity, romantic attraction and sexual behavior, people move between gay, bisexual and straight all the time. Switching between gay and bisexual is less common than switching between straight and bisexual--in other words, the level of attraction to the opposite sex seems to be stabler over our lifetimes than the level of attraction to the same sex--but it does happen.

(Which is not to say that you can necessarily control how your own orientation evolves over your lifetime.)

[SilentChaos87]

You gotta give Dillon credit. He's doing his damnedest to coax Ruby out of her shell.

[Radbaron]

What is with the character's parents in Ma3? Were the parents of the Oyama and LaRose families competing for the 'Worst Parents Ever' award or something?

Just remember this about the parents.

You're all making stuff up and basing assumptions off of very little to NO information about fictional characters.

In other words, a lot of people are writing fanfics on the forums.

[vampire hunter D]

If you're gay it is impossible to turn bisexual as your sexual orientation is as immutable as your race. If Dillon were to develop a sexual attraction to Ruby, then that would mean he was never gay, but actually bisexual and simply never knew it.

That's not true; under any standard definition of sexual orientation, it's far from immutable. As measured by self-identity, romantic attraction and sexual behavior, people move between gay, bisexual and straight all the time. Switching between gay and bisexual is less common than switching between straight and bisexual--in other words, the level of attraction to the opposite sex seems to be stabler over our lifetimes than the level of attraction to the same sex--but it does happen.

Not quite what I've read.' From the studies I've read'up on, while women tend to shift orientations some, men seem much more fixed. The reason is that for men orientation is linked to physical arousal, while for women it's much more about emotional feelings and attachment.

[Artemisia]

What is with the character's parents in Ma3? Were the parents of the Oyama and LaRose families competing for the 'Worst Parents Ever' award or something?

Just remember this about the parents.

You're all making stuff up and basing assumptions off of very little to NO information about fictional characters.

In other words, a lot of people are writing fanfics on the forums.

For all we know, they could be like Hazel's mom from GWS.

[Spidrift]

You're all making stuff up and basing assumptions off of very little to NO information about fictional characters.

In other words, a lot of people are writing fanfics on the forums.

The trouble is, we keep seeing stuff that's consistent with characters' parents being idiots. We get very little stuff that suggests that they're competent. If there's fanfic, at least it's fanfic that's consistent with canon.

And other webcomics with comparable lead casts manage to include parent-figures who are smart, or cool, or funny, or just possesssed of a clue. Not especially saintly, just treated on a par with the younger characters. It's a peculiarity of Ma3 and its spin-offs that we don't get anything like that here.

It doesn't seem to be a limitation of the writers; EC and MC feature a couple of very cool, smart mothers. I guess that the Ma3 universe stories are just more about characters who've broken away from home and who recognise that their parents have flaws, so such flaws tend to be emphasised. But it's an odd and visible pattern.

[Odd Man Out]

I generally attribute a lot of the long term relationship hang ups to crap parenting because most of them seem to have originated before the character left their parents' home. If the parents didn't actually inflict the damage (which Oyama did, if only through repeated boneheaded carelessness) then they still gave crap guidance or monitoring of their kids to let these particular ruts set in. Granted, this is assuming that most of these behaviors aren't a chemical imbalance at base, but that seems unlikely for the stories told.

That smile as she's enjoying the chocolate and letting the reins slacken a little looks good on Ruby. Her sequence of expressions is wonderful here. Dillion continues to effectively make his points by carefully maintaining a ratio of compliment to criticism.

[Tenjen]

this is hilarious