Dumbing of Age

That actually makes a lot of sense

Eh. Platonic lady friendships can get uber cuddly, regardless of heterosexuality, or lack thereof, involved.

It's that time again

At least she got the hint quickly enough.

On the one hand, Joyce should probably tell her, on the other, Becky really shouldn't push her to tell her.

So far she is not pushing, she is just asking.

So far.

Yeah, I think the alt text works best

Why did you simply expect the worst out of Becky? Her facial expression last strip made it quite clear she understood how serious it was. Today's page showed she can be sensible when the situation calls for it.

It's not so much "expecting the worst" so much as it's "Becky's impulse control has shown itself to be shaky at best".

The recent comic shows that she is pushing, but she's pushing "right". She's not going all "TELL ME DAMMIT", she's being more "I don't wanna say anything frighteningly stupid, so I kinda need to know."

The bad news is, it looks like Sara's going to tell her, and, well, Sara.

I don't see what's the problem would be with Sarah telling her. I expect she'll even have the tact to pull Becky into the bathroom for infodump without stirring trauma in Joyce.

You could've done it further away you know

Well she failed my expectations of giving Joyce enough space. Shame.

Oh, God, this strip really punched me in the emotions.

See, I was wary of Sara telling Becky because it's Sara, High Priestess of the Antisocial, and I was worried about her tone.

Clearly I should've been worried about her being such an insensitive cow that she couldn't TAKE BECKY OUT OF THE GODDAMN ROOM BEFORE TELLING HER.

Wow. Joyce needs a new roomie.

I took the squiggles for words in the speech bubbles to mean that Sarah was saying it quietly enough so Joyce couldn't hear what she was saying.

Yes, but still the horrible thing is being discussed in the presence of the victim of the horrible thing.

EXACTLY. I'm reasonably sure Ruth wouldn't have objected if she'd found them in the hall talking quietly.

......OK, you know what, it's Ruth. Objection withdrawn, I have nothing further.

Like I said, they have a bathroom available for this.

A community bathroom. This is the type of thing you talk out in private.

It's not entirely a community bath^note the showers are the whole floor, but every room pair has a smaller bathroom just for two of them. IIRC, at least., it's only two rooms. It's a lot more private than the hall, actually, given that two people gossiping in the hall would attract curiosity. In the bathroom, they can just keep an eye on the other room's door.

Hallway is out of the question. Becky can't hang around out there.

Which leaves the half-bath, maybe?

It's a just plain cramped environment. Sara might have been able to drag Becky out of earshot, but let's face it, Joyce would still have known what was being talked about; I'm not sure it would have made much difference to her emotions.

That douchecanoe will NOT take hugs away from Joyce.

I'm glad Becky finally knows about The Incident.