Questionable Content 14: "I Deserve A Fancy Butt Emblem."

[The Glyphstone]

At least she knows shes being awful?

[Yana]

If so... that just makes it so much worse.

I also cannot tell if Jeph is making a dig at his own plotlines when Brun is worried about causing issues since she didn't wear pants. Faye doing the same was effectively what sank Marten/Dora, but does Jeph remember that the latter two exist as characters (and not scenery) anymore?

[Fawkes]

I also cannot tell if Jeph is making a dig at his own plotlines when Brun is worried about causing issues since she didn't wear pants. Faye doing the same was effectively what sank Marten/Dora, but does Jeph remember that the latter two exist as characters (and not scenery) anymore?

I don't remember that one, but it makes about as much sense as the rest of Marten and Dora's fights.

Edit: Rereading some comics back from around the breakup. Forgot just how great Hannelore is compared to the rest of the cast.

[Shadow of the Sun]

I mean we've all done awful crap that in retrospect that we know we shouldn't have done.

[Beelzebub1111]

I mean we've all done awful crap that in retrospect that we know we shouldn't have done.

Ideally we resolve to not keep doing it. And not just go "Oh it was wrong. Everybody makes mistakes." and leave it at that.

[Kato]

I mean we've all done awful crap that in retrospect that we know we shouldn't have done.

How dare you. I'm perfect and I've never made a mistake in my life. Just like 90% of the internet.
And I better stop before I get too real/angry...

But while I don't mind René as much as others and Percival has been a jerk, I feel like she should be used to internet hookups not lasting. Though, next morning is pretty quick.

[John Cribati]

I would also like to posit the idea that Renee didn't feel up to explaining racism at the ass-crack of dawn, so came up with something else that explained Percy's behavior.

[Iruka]

But while I don't mind René as much as others and Percival has been a jerk, I feel like she should be used to internet hookups not lasting. Though, next morning is pretty quick.

I do not think she expected this to become something bigger. She is just annoyed that it ended on a bad note, when there was no need for this.

[Traab]

I do not think she expected this to become something bigger. She is just annoyed that it ended on a bad note, when there was no need for this.

Exactly, I get the feeling it was meant to be a fun night, POSSIBLY the chance of more fun nights and he turned into his true form of a humanoid bag of pencil shaped.... never mind.

[Vinyadan]

OK, compare this to when Marten had a one-morning fling. That was hilarious, I think, mostly because of the aftermath.

https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2627

[The Glyphstone]

Damn, art changes are drastic when you see them side by side.

[Keltest]

This doesn't seem fair to Brun. Its not like she's just sitting idle and not looking for jobs or anything. Unless she catches that fairy girl and forces her to grant a wish, its not like she can just magically make a solution appear.

[Traab]

This doesn't seem fair to Brun. Its not like she's just sitting idle and not looking for jobs or anything. Unless she catches that fairy girl and forces her to grant a wish, its not like she can just magically make a solution appear.

Didnt she find some sort of job? I know she cleans the bakery of doom for day old muffins and such but I thought she found something.

[Max_Killjoy]

Didnt she find some sort of job? I know she cleans the bakery of doom for day old muffins and such but I thought she found something.

"Bar back" at the place where Elliot is a bouncer, the "fancy" bar.

[dps]

Yeah, Brun has a job. Note that Renee isn't asking her to find a job and start paying rent, she's asking her to find a place of her own and move out.

[mucat]

This doesn't seem fair to Brun. Its not like she's just sitting idle and not looking for jobs or anything. Unless she catches that fairy girl and forces her to grant a wish, its not like she can just magically make a solution appear.

But she's not looking for apartments, which is what Renee is asking her to start doing. She doesn't need fairy magic; she needs the internet, a phone, and a helpful friend to keep her from freaking out potential landlords with a harpoon gun.

(EDIT: Unless the fairy girl has a place to rent, in which case the fairy-magic plan will work too.)

[Fawkes]

How is Renee affording what looks like a fairly nice one-bedroom apartment in the city on a bakery paycheck, anyway?

....

Wait, how are any of the characters able to afford their apartments?

[The Glyphstone]

How is Renee affording what looks like a fairly nice one-bedroom apartment in the city on a bakery paycheck, anyway?

....

Wait, how are any of the characters able to afford their apartments?

They live in Massachusetts, in an average-sized town IIRC.

[Traab]

They live in Massachusetts, in an average-sized town IIRC.

And in one of the lower rent areas going by how marten freaked out that his mom had rented an expensive one, only to be reminded that she is from california (presumably the city) so there is a slight disconnect between what he considers expensive and what she does.

[Willie the Duck]

Wait, how are any of the characters able to afford their apartments?

Same way that the cast of Friends (or more recent sitcom of your choosing) could--they have financial difficulties only in service to the plot.

[mythmonster2]

Mostly rent-splitting, I imagine. Marigold, Dale, and Momo split rent, Marten, Faye, Bubbles, and Claire do the same. Dora owns a business, so she's probably making more money than the rest of the cast. Renee and Brun is a bit more debatable, though.

[John Cribati]

At least this say Renee is framing it so it's about Brun's comfort rather than her being an inconvenience (which it doesn't seem like she is anyway, unless "Renee's random hookup meets Brun in her underwear" is a thing that's happened offscreen before).

[Traab]

Mostly rent-splitting, I imagine. Marigold, Dale, and Momo split rent, Marten, Faye, Bubbles, and Claire do the same. Dora owns a business, so she's probably making more money than the rest of the cast. Renee and Brun is a bit more debatable, though.

I was going to ask what happened before everyone grouped up, then remembered angus and marigold were room mates. But what about marten? If I remember his backstory right, he ran off to this place chasing his girl, they broke up, then he and pintsize had an apartment with a second bedroom. His job was office flunky, maybe it paid well enough to afford a decent 2 bedroom rental? Speaking of, who is this and when did faye murder and replace her? *EDIT* Found it, he makes barely 20k a year and has student loans to pay off. Looks like hardwick is the cheapest, with average rent gross at $617 a month. So not impossible to find one cheaper than that, but still pretty razors edge going it solo. Letting faye move in gave him a solid cushion if she covered half. the extra 300 a month would be handy.

[Vinyadan]

How is someone being stranded in your apartment not an inconvenience, if you used to live alone?

https://pbfcomics.com/comics/by-myself/

[John Cribati]

How is someone being stranded in your apartment not an inconvenience, if you used to live alone?

https://pbfcomics.com/comics/by-myself/

I mean, I'd personally find worrying about my autistic friend being homeless more stressful than paying a little more for food and utilities to have them around in their underwear around my random internet hookups.

[Ibrinar]

I mean, I'd personally find worrying about my autistic friend being homeless more stressful than paying a little more for food and utilities to have them around in their underwear around my random internet hookups.

Well she didn't say she would throw her out if she isn't successful fast enough. You can prefer for someone to leave while being willing to let them live there while they need it. She is asking her to start looking so that Brun can leave without becoming homeless.

[Willie the Duck]

I mean, I'd personally find worrying about my autistic friend being homeless more stressful than paying a little more for food and utilities to have them around in their underwear around my random internet hookups.

Who said anyone was going to be homeless? Renee wants Brun to find a place of her own to live. That's the exact opposite of homeless. That's home-full (home-more?, anyways, having a home.). If this were about 'paying a little more for food and utilities,' Jeph would have had no trouble saying so. autistic or not, Brun is a grown adult who proven that she is capable of living on her own, and had done so up until her place burned down. Now she's living on her friend's couch, showing few if any signs of looking to change the situation, and generally showing that she needs a gentle push towards moving forward. Faye had almost literally the same situation occur about a decade ago, when she too was living on a couch, and buying things other than a bed of her own (will link when I have time for an archive trawl) and received a less diplomatic gentle shove at the time. The worst case (plausible) scenario is not that Brun will become homeless, it will be that she will become dependent upon Renee.

[Kish]

I mean, I'd personally find worrying about my autistic friend being homeless more stressful than paying a little more for food and utilities to have them around in their underwear around my random internet hookups.

Seriously? The only two options are that her hanging around on Renee's couch isn't an inconvenience, and that Renee doesn't care if she's homeless?

[Mechalich]

Northampton is in Western Mass, which is distinctively less developed than the Eastern half of the state - to the point that you can easily observe the difference on Google Maps. In many of the large towns/small cities in the area the population is lower or only slightly larger than it was decades ago due to the very long term industrial mill collapse. This has been alluded to in the comic: Coffee of Doom is located in a "hundred-year old building" for exactly this reason. As a result, the in-town rent is not especially high compared to the nationally quite high Massachusetts minimum wage (which also inflates earnings of the low-wage but not quite minimum wage jobs many of the cast members have), though it is a college town so certain nicer, newer apartments and those in immediate proximity to Smif (Smith) College will likely be substantially overpriced. Main Street, where Veronica purchased a place, is both close to Smif and in the heart of downtown, such as it is (this is like a three block stretch).

As far as rent and finances for much of the core cast goes, it has been fairly strongly implied throughout much of the comic's run that the various cast members are barely scraping by and are completely failing to accumulate any substantial savings. Most of them are presumably living paycheck-to-paycheck and only have a few hundred dollars in the bank. It may be quite difficult for any of them to scrape together the cash to move, especially on short notice. The almost certainly includes Brun, who incurred extra expenses having to replace various household items following the fire (and would need to acquire more if she had her own place, like towels and pots), and who works part-time as a bar-back, presumably making maybe a few dollars above minimum wage.

I suspect the next plotline will involve Brun needing to find a roommate in order to move off Renee's couch.

[Fawkes]

Yeah, as much as I dislike Renee, there's nothing wrong with asking someone who you're letting crash on your couch to look for a more permanent living situation.