It looks like it might be starting to resolve. I'm guessing it'll be related to how Dorothy fills a type of friendship that Becky is seemingly incapable of managing. Becky can be fun and impulsive and lead to a lot of memorable shenanigans, but Dorothy is the friend you can rely on to really help in a crisis. And I think Becky probably feels incredibly insecure about that, especially since impulsive fun is really not helpful when someone is having a crisis of faith.

Why do you have to be so understanding?

... You know, I've been on Dorothy's side of being the reasonable person when someone else just wants to be mad for a while. It's incredibly satisfying to be perfectly reasonable, but sometimes, I do feel like it may kind of hit a level of gaslighting where you're discounting the other person's valid feelings by disarming them of their attacks.

I don't know... it's in a weird position where if someone is attacking you, it's good to defend yourself, but if you're casually slapping their punches away while smiling as if to congratulate them on their puny efforts, you're the bad guy? Because they have valid beefs with the world, and just because they don't really apply to you, it feels like making them seem ineffectual is by proxy indicating that their beef, and thereby their feelings, are invalid.

On the other hand, it's a bad idea to let someone hit you cause you're the only convenient, nearby target.

{nods} It's a tough situation to be in when the person attacking you is relatively ineffectual. E.g., current society, a guy is expected to largely ignore a girl hitting him, sometimes to the point where she is actually inflicting damage, but on the flipside, you get the "I'd totally hit a girl" crowd where they'll take the ineffectual slaps to their shoulders and return a right hook to the jaw.

Kind of parallel, in martial arts in general, when more experienced, you don't smash the newbie attacking you, but you need to provide some snapback so that they don't think that they can attack without consequence.

Comparing it to gaslighting goes too far, though.

Oh yay, I’m right. Love being right.

Yeah, I guess gaslighting usually involves an intentional attempt to deceive and manipulate, but there is that foggy area where you make someone feel ineffectual by basically making molehills out of their mountains. It can be a bunch of microagressions that are not intended. If you're having trouble opening a jar and someone walks in and just pops it open, them saying "Oh, was that so hard?" or an insincere "You loosened it for me" is a more intentional dig at the other person for their weakness, but walking in, opening it, and just handing it to them is a perfectly reasonable "I fixed your problem for you" but as a continuing pattern, reinforces the other person feeling their weakness.

Well that puts things in a different perspective

...I said that puts things in a different perspe-

...sigh. Lesson successfuly dodged. Yaaaaaaay.

The lesson is getting Joyce into glasses, not dispelling the imaginary feud.

Also thought: What's guaranteeing Joyce will even wear the glasses once she gets them? This isn't Dr. Stone where the girl getting glasses for the first time is this amazing mindblow of a moment for the kid. Joyce is on record as against clarity of vision (metaphorically, which she is making literal)

Could also have worked as a lesson on how the pointless imaginary feud was stopping Becky from focusing on helping her friend. But whatever.

Joyce *probably* doesn't have glaucoma

Oh, I hate that test so much. You end up struggling to hold your eye open until you’re starting to tear up, and then bam. Now there’s air in it.

Am I the only one who read the Alt Text and thought of Superfudge the children's book?

Things continue to be unfun for Joyce

In fairness to Joyce, that thing SUUUUUUCKS. Or blows as the case may be. Either way, I've had that exact conversation before, I'm pretty sure.

Really? I’ve never found those gadgets a big deal. But then again, I’m permanently on eye drops to keep the pressure in one of my eyeballs under control and prevent nerve damage (I hope), so my general feeling is that Joyce can cut out the damn babyish whining.

Well then you're probably inured. The rest of us haven't had the "blessing" of being as toughened up as you.

Yeah, I’ve worn glasses since I was about 8 years old or so, and I’ve never gotten used to the air puff test. It always fucks with me and leaves me with my eyes watering really badly.

I've gotten eye tests every few years most of my life and I don't think I've ever been subjected to the air puff.

It's used to test intraocular pressure, primarily for glaucoma. At one point, it was considered to be a "premium" test, so it was often not done at locations like Wal-Mart, particularly if you didn't have any other symptoms of glaucoma, it might be skipped until you're older. Me, I'm "lucky enough" to have deep optic nerve cupping, which is considered to be high risk for glaucoma. My eye doctor has also switched to the applanation tonometry test, which does not involve an eye puff, but does involve drops to dilate the eyes.

That's a sweet moment

Even Becky is calling Joyce out for being a baby...

They'll probably just find out later anyway