Characters / Sticky Dilly Buns

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The character page for Sticky Dilly Buns. As with the main page, please, no NSFW links on this page!

Note that this is a page for characters who are primarily seen in Sticky Dilly Buns. See here for characters who primarily appear in the parent comic, Ménage à 3.

Dillon

"I transitioned from gay to super ultra mega gay."

The comic's primary character, Dillon O'Brien is a flamboyant gay actor with a passionate romantic streak and some problems with self-control. ("Dilly," as in the comic's title, is a casual nickname used by some of his friends.) He appears to be an exceptionally convincing actor when he tries, but is a little eccentric about it.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Towards Gary, to the extent that Gary notices his advances enough to be annoyed. Dillon's attitude to Gary is a mixture of teasing and infatuation; Gary, being clueless and straight, finds the teasing uncomfortable enough and any hints of sexual interest worse. However, Dillon's later behavior toward Ray shows more signs of a working conscience; apparently, Ruby has been good for him.
• Achilles' Heel: Anyone turning Puppy-Dog Eyes on Dillon can get him to do almost anything. He actually refers to this as his kryptonite.
• All Gays are Promiscuous: Played with in the person of Dillon (more than with other gay characters). He used to claim a rather promiscuous past in Ménage à 3, but he now mostly seems to be looking for a reliable monogamous partner, and talks about how badly a past boyfriend's cheating hurt him. On the other hand, he's a compulsive flirt, which at the very least often makes him look like a representative of this trope, and sometimes makes him seem like a flat-out hypocrite for those complaints.
• All Gays Love Theater: Being a mass of gay male cliches, Dillon manifests this trope; he's dedicated to his acting career — and at one point takes a drag role in a stage musical.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Dillon makes a disturbingly plausible tall, leggy blonde woman. His Black Canary costume was enough to fool several people. It became something of a standing joke in his time in Ménage à 3, and is lampshaded by Matt. See also Dillon as Amber-Amber.
• Breakout Character: Dillon was a moderately important secondary character in Ménage à 3; Word of God from the creators is that they, and apparently a fair number of fans, took a liking to him, while finding that most of the fans were heavily focused on the lead trio. So they gave him his own title.
• But I Would Really Enjoy It: Dillon has serious self-control problems when it comes to sex. After he breaks up with Matt, they have difficulty keeping their hands off each other when they are alone together, and they don't always succeed. It is eventually brought home to him that he's made some unwise choices, romantically, and he resolves to do better — but the betting is open on how well he'll succeed.
• Camp Gay: If you took every Camp Gay stereotype in the book and then some, squeezed them into a pink leotard and sprinkled them with glitter, Dillon would be the result. At one point, his orientation note on the Ménage à 3 Cast page read: "Gay. So gay."
• Character Development: Dillon eventually shows signs of emotional development in his own comic, especially once Ruby has had identified and pointed out some of his more obvious flaws. He resolves to be more sensible about the relationships he forms, and actually feels guilty about tricking Ray into a kiss — enough to stop doing so, even, with some prompting from Ruby. He also seems to be bringing his Drama Queen tendencies under control; when he can end up looking like the calm and reasonable one in a scene with Amber and Ruby, he is definitely making progress. The comic ends with him showing definite signs of having substantially improved, being honest with Gary about his attraction and working to suppress his jealousy regarding Jerzy.
• Chick Magnet: His good looks attract occasional unwanted female admirers, and it seems from flashbacks that this started in high school.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He has his moments.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Dillon becomes flakily jealous about Jerzy, though he's relatively harmless as the trope goes; the concert plotline centers on him trying to assess Jerzy's fidelity by spying on him in disguise. (No, you're not imagining the hypocrisy there.) As might be expected, this doesn't go well; Dillon probably ends up learning more about himself than he does about Jerzy, Ruby gets to exercise her snarky side on him, and then Dillon blows the disguise in a moment of bad temper.
• The Ditz: Dillon may be a competent actor with some social skills and an eye for fashion, but hormones or carelessness frequently put his brain into idle.
• Drag Queen: Dillon may tend this way for professional purposes. Back in Ménage à 3, his stage career received a boost when he was a hit in the (female) role of Black Canary, and in this comic he claims to have been successful in more such roles, and goes shopping for a skirt to wear in another. He does look good as a woman, but why so many cross-dressing parts come his way is unclear.
• Drama Queen: Dillon's campness often tips over into sheer excess, perhaps manipulatively, as here. Some readers suspect that he can cry Crocodile Tears, but it seems more likely that his crying is entirely genuine but can switch on or off in a moment; he's just that mercurial.
• Even the Guys Want Him:
  • See Dillon dressed up as Black Canary or Amber-Amber; he can certainly attract a certain amount of passing straight male interest when he's in drag, and male readers will usually agree that this is plausible.
  • Dillon impersonating Amber-Amber (Gary's favorite porn star) even persuades Gary to make out with him under the pretense of helping Gary learn how to do it right, albeit to no apparent lasting effect on Gary's sexuality or attitude to Dillon.
  • Dillon has claimed to have "turned" several straight guys in the past with his Swirly-Go-Round kissing technique. However, after Ruby extracts some details from him, she points out that it's much more likely that they were bisexual or gay, but either in denial or using this claim as a way to brush Dillon off.
  • When he kisses Ray (with the excuse of teaching him acting skills), Ray apparently finds the experience so hot that he starts questioning his own sexuality. This leaves open the question of Ray's actual inclinations and degree of repression; Dillon's suggestion is that Ray simply had latent bisexual tendencies, and later events bear this out.
• Everyone Has Standards: Dillon is horrified by the idea that Julian, who Dillon used to babysit when Julian was a child, might want to date him and do "grown up things". For him, their past dynamic is impossible to overlook in this case.
• Flanderization: Comparing early strips in Ménage à 3 to his later appearances leads some readers to detect this. An Archive Binge may leave one thinking "Where did Dillon go, and why is Jack from Will & Grace being called by his name?" He's arguably much more of a collection of stereotypes now than then — though other readers would say that there were hints from early on. This is perhaps lampshaded in Sticky Dilly Buns where he says he went "from gay, to super ultra mega gay."
• Gay Best Friend: Played with, in that Dillon seems to want to be every woman's gay best friend. He has more actual (gay) sex than the archetypal gay best friend, but otherwise fits the trope fairly well in relation to Amber. He's equally determined to play the part for Ruby, whether she wants him to or not; her attempts to keep him at a distance bring out her snarky side, which very occasionally leads to her calling out his faults.
• Gayngst: Dillon mostly massively averts this trope; the occasional crying jag after a relationship breaks up notwithstanding, he may be a lot of things, but angsty isn't one of them. However, a brief flashback reveals that he went through a completely standard case of the teenage version.
• Hero of Another Story: Once he becomes the star of his own comic, any appearances he makes in Ménage à 3 could count as instances of this trope from that comic's point of view.
• Hypocrite: Dillon's total lack of self-awareness sometimes advances into the realm of hypocrisy, becoming one of his major flaws:
  • In Ménage à 3, he calls Gary out on nearly cheating on Yuki and goes on a lengthy lecture about being faithful and how a person that is cheated on feels... But when he started teaching Gary the Swirly-Go-Round kissing technique, he said that he had seduced twenty-seven men away from their girlfriends with it. It was pointed out in online discussions that "I made them forget their girlfriends" can be a gay figure of speech, meaning "I made them forget that they used to be interested in girls" rather than "I made them desert their girlfriends at that time", but a later strip in his own comic suggests that Dillon was being entirely literal. Then he claims that none of the twenty-seven told him that they were in relationships beforehand — at which point, Ruby spots that his entire understanding of the situation might be flawed.
  • He certainly remembers Matt (from Ménage à 3) as his "bastard ex-boyfriend" for being unfaithful, however shaky his own grasp of fidelity may be.
  • He also becomes insecure and jealous when he starts dating Jerzy, then sets out to hit on another attractive man the very next day. Indeed, he continues flirting, sometimes physically, with every attractive man in sight, taking excuses to rub up against a swimming instructor who he knows isn't gay — despite having referred to one of Ruby's old teachers as "Dirty Professor Conried" for merely persuading Ruby to wear a short skirt and to bend over frequently while wearing it.
  • The fact that the comics seem to let Dillon off for most of this initially suggests that Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful! applies here. However, Angel eventually exploits Dillon's hypocrisy when bad-mouthing him to Jerzy; Dillon and Ruby are eavesdropping that conversation, and Ruby thoroughly enjoys watching Dillon squirm. Indeed, Ruby, the most romantically inexperienced and naive character in the setting, is able to offer him some good (if blindingly obvious) romantic advice. Part of her role in the comic seems to be to introduce him to basic self-awareness.
• Incompatible Orientation: Dillon is a bit of a magnet for this problem; see the main pages for both Sticky Dilly Buns and Ménage à 3.
• Jerkass: It may not be conscious on his part or that of the writers, but Dillon ends up in this category for some readers when his cute ditziness slips too far into self-indulgent stupidity or flagrant hypocrisy. For example, Ruby almost drowned because he couldn't stop flirting, even though he already has a boyfriend — and while she was being revived, he was taking pictures.
• Large Ham: Although Dillon appears to be a competent professional actor in the comics universe, his camp mannerisms and flamboyant emoting could be considered hammy.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: Appears to be the intention with Dillon, who, when he isn't actively pursuing Jerzy or yearning for the unattainable Gary, is using Ruby as a straight guy detector, trying to impress Richie the handsome pet store owner, rubbing up against Andy the (non-gay) swimming instructor, and generally flirting with every attractive male in sight, while being blond, cute, and ditzy. How lovable he actually is, is a matter of personal opinion, but he's certainly a sex maniac:
  Gary: [gasping over the phone] Dillon! (pant pant) Thank God! (pant) I need (pant) help!
  Dillon: Gary? Is this a reverse obscene phone call? Ya durrty boy!
  Gary: (pant) Handcuffed! (pant) Police! (pant) Been doing (pant pant) long-distance track! (pant) Japanese girl on me! (pant pant)
  Dillon: Whoa! That sounds way more fun that what I'm doing! I'll be right over!
• Method Acting: invoked Lightly satirized when Dillon claims to use this technique here. Given his flamboyant style, and the fact that the most successful role we've seen him in was as a superheroine, he may not be a perfectly reliable witness.
• The Mistress: In Ménage à 3, Dillon plays a gender-reversed version of this role to Nathan for a while.
• The Pornomancer: Dillon has claimed to have the same knack for seducing straight men that Zii of Ménage à 3 has for seducing straight women. His alleged tally so far is at least twenty-seven. However, this seems to be mostly in his past — and it eventually becomes apparent that Dillon may be deluding himself about about his accomplishments.
• Pretty Boy: His slim build, blonde hair, and soft features easily place him into this territory.
• Secret-Keeper: When Ruby has finally talked herself into a corner, Dillon agrees to keep her love of Yaoi a secret. Even before that, he seemed to respect her preference that Amber not know about her adventure as "Rudy", and eventually, he keeps her activities with the Yaoi club quiet from Amber, once he realizes that Ruby has not told Amber about this.
• Sobriquet Sex Switch: Dillon calls himself "Dinah" or "Dilla" when he cross-dresses (although the former choice is originally triggered by him playing Black Canary on stage).
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: The fact he looks so good as a woman makes things quite hard for Gary. Amusingly, he remarks (albeit clearly as a joke) that DiDi's cooking could make him go straight for her.
• Taught by Television: Parodied when it turns out that Dillon gets some of his ideas about straight men and gay sex third-hand from Oprah.
• The Tease: Towards Gary, who is more terrified than aroused (when he actually notices).
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Dillon's campness can tip over into childishness, as when he wins out over Angel during their first encounter.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: In very mild form, to both Gary and Ruby.
  • Dillon was Gary's roommate for some time before Ménage à 3 began, and the two got to know each other quite well, though "best buds" would be an exaggeration. Dillon was always inclined to tease Gary, that being his style and Gary being easy to tease; later, his feelings turned to infatuation, which mostly led to Gary getting confused.
  • Dillon is determined to become friends with Ruby, and doesn't let her resistance stop him; she eventually seems to develop a liking of a sort for him. However, he can't resist teasing her sometimes, while putting up with him causes Ruby to develop her capacity for snarkiness. Their interactions thus frequently involve bickering, at which Ruby is much better than Gary was.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Funnily enough, some of Dillon's cross-dressing fits within this trope; much of it is for purely theatrical purposes. However, he's also perfectly willing to use drag to persuade Gary to accept his kissing lessons, or to give a bisexual boyfriend extra thrills.

The Larose Sisters

Amber

"Like, is it appropriate to compare his penis size to others' on the first date?"

Dillon's room-mate, Amber Larose is a former porn star seeking to make it as a serious actress. Back in their Ménage à 3 days, she was the prime mover in arranging the slightly dubious transaction which got her and Dillon the apartment, which is in their joint names. They love each other like brother and sister, and often work together. Amber's view of the world seems to have been somewhat distorted by years working in the porn business; despite having had sex with dozens of people, she says at one point that having a boyfriend is new to her. And although she's nice enough, she doesn't really understand other people with more inhibitions — notably her own sister.

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• Allegedly Dateless: Amber is seen in early strips complaining about her difficulty forming relationships outside of the porn industry which she's just left, and there are a lot of hints that she's yearning for the comfort of a sexual relationship. The arrival of Ruby is flagged as a further problem, because they have to share a bedroom. However, within a couple of weeks or so, comic time, she's shown to have had sex with two men and one woman, and she has no difficulty claiming the room for herself and a guy overnight. She may still have problems forming stable sexual relationships, but the suggestion that she can't find anyone is unconvincing.
• The Atoner: Ruby has forced Amber into this role, in a very small, domestic way. Amber doesn't understand Ruby's psychology, and Ruby's grudge is amplified and distorted by resentment. However, just by putting up with Ruby and caring for her, Amber is helping with the healing of Ruby's damaged psyche, thus atoning for the part she (unintentionally) played in making Ruby what she is.
• But Not Too Bi: While Amber is shown as cheerfully, actively bisexual, when she starts looking for a serious relationship, she limits the search to men. This seems to reflect her personal attitude rather than a universal rule in the comics, though.
• Colourful Theme Naming: Amber is a color (as well as a gemstone of sorts), and Amber’s sister’s name is Ruby, of which the same is true.
• Dark Secret: Amber has kept her porn career secret from her parents (and Ruby has colluded in this despite feeling incredibly bitter about the fact). However, this seems unlikely to last if Amber's acting career takes off...
• Death Glare: The normally quite mild-mannered Amber manages to generate a burning glare when sufficiently provoked by Nathan here.
• Demoted to Extra: Amber starts the comic's run sharing an apartment with the title character, and appears in most of the early strips, with a potentially complex Single Woman Seeks Good Man plot hook and some other issues attached — and she is always part of the set-up for Ruby's story. However, she finds the answer to her romantic problem at the first attempt (Ray is literally standing around the apartment when she comes home one evening), she never does address many of those other issues, and so far as Ruby is concerned, she mostly serves simply as someone to be rude to and finally reconcile with.
• Do You Want to Copulate?: While she never gets quite as blunt as the trope name implies, Amber has a relaxed, positive attitude to sex, and her porn career has perhaps left her desensitized to the sort of things that many other people discuss more delicately, even in these comics. She has real difficulty understanding the prudish (but not, realistically, insanely prudish) Ruby — and vice-versa, of course.
• Drama Queen: Mostly, Amber is fairly calm and reasonable, especially when compared to Dillon, but guilt and confusion can push her over the edge.
• Everyone Has Standards: Her strongest standards are linked to a positive attitude to sex; in her eyes, getting it by trickery or using it for financial profit may be ethically questionable, but are the sort of thing that a girl may have to do, but cruelly refusing it to a boyfriend, leaving him frustrated, when he pleasures you 24/7, is just plain wrong.
• Expy: Amber seems to be a fairly clear expy of ex-porn star Traci Lords, at least in looks and desired career path.
• Good Bad Girl: This trope is generally averted, in that the comic doesn't seem inclined to judge Amber or Chanelle for liking sex and even for making a living from it. However, Amber is in the process of settling down more, and has declared that she could be happy with one good man. Moreover, Ruby does seem inclined to judge Amber for her past behavior; from her point of view, classing Amber as a good bad girl would be an act of forgiveness.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Well, actually “Ex-Porn Star With A Heart of Gold”. Amber can be genuinely sweet, though she's sometimes selfish or self-indulgent, and (for instance) she really does attempt to help Gary when she thinks he needs assistance. However, her past behavior towards Ruby accidentally left the latter significantly emotionally damaged, and she’s slightly less help to Gary than she intends; she has a trope-subverting (but comedic) tendency to dangerous carelessness.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Amber was allegedly quite a shy teenager at first, and flashbacks seem to confirm this. However, after Zii introduced her to good sex, she clearly got rather carried away, and ended up working in porn. She's in her 20s and has just turned to straight acting when she first appears in the comics' present, and while she isn't bitterly regretful, she seems somewhat embarrassed by her porn past.
• I Call Him "Mister Happy": In her quest to get Dillon to use his Swirly-Go-Round technique on her again, Amber reveals that she's indeed named her...um...something (probably her clitoris) "Rosebud" (and terrifies poor Dillon in the process).
• The Immodest Orgasm: After tricking Gary into an... intimate Practice Kiss, her rather epic climax alerts Gary's Fridge Logic detector.("Wait. How are you talking?") The result? She breaks him.
• Lingerie Scene: Amber is periodically glimpsed in skimpy underwear or flimsy nightwear.
• The Mistress: To Nathan, until she gets what she wants from him, in writing.
• My God, You Are Serious!: Gary comes to her doorstep, telling her he's seen all her videos and apologising for having seen her as a lust object. She doesn't believe he's seen them all — until he brings out a massive box of all the pornos that she was ever in, including one that wasn't even for sale in North America.
• Nice Girl: Occasional selfishness aside, Amber is quite sweet and caring towards her friends.
• Porn Creator Going Mainstream: She is trying to become a real actress (à la Traci Lords), though she and Dillon had the misfortune of working under Jerkass producer Nathan (all too literally, as it turned out). Fortunately, (with a little help from Dillon), she was able to turn the tables and nab both a favorable contract and a free apartment out of the deal. She was known as "Amber-Amber" when working in porn, but she now tries to dissuade people from calling her that. However, she still seems prone to thinking in porn industry terms, making her character journey incomplete as yet.
• Rock Theme Naming: With her sister; she and Ruby are both named after gemstones.
• Supreme Chef: Not really emphasized, but on several occasions, Dillon references Amber's apparently great skill as a baker (mentioning both cinnamon buns and muffins at least once). As with DiDi in Ménage à 3, she's probably not professional-level, but still excellent for an amateur.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Demonstrated twice in Ménage à 3. Once when Zii tells her of Gary's rather messy relationship with Yuki, which she interprets as abusive, leading her to declare war on the spot on "Yuki" (actually DiDi). The second time occurs when she hears that Yuki is using Gary for oral sex and never reciprocates with any sort of physical affection.
  Amber: That selfish bitch! It's worse than I thought!
• Unknown Rival:
  • At one point while Yuki is dating Gary, Amber vows to break them up because of Yuki's maltreatment of him. However, because Amber accidentally issues the challenge to the wrong person, Yuki never actually knows about this, making Amber Yuki's Unknown Rival for a short time.
  • Later, Amber pursues Gary, not quite appreciating how many other women have the same goal in mind. (Frankly, any woman who takes an interest in Gary ends up as part of a network of often-unknown rivals.)
  • More subtly, Ruby seems to regard Amber as her competitor for parental affection and attention in general. Amber just doesn't understand this at all.

Ruby

“Okay, got it. So he’s a fu-dan-shi, and other girls besides me are fujoshis. Those poor, twisted freaks.”

Amber’s sister, Ruby Larose, is a recent BBA graduate who comes to Montreal to look for a job, moving into the apartment and Amber’s room during her search, which leads to her becoming Dillon and Amber’s shared PA. Ruby and Amber have ... issues. Ruby believes that she is The Unfavorite between her and Amber, though how true this is has not been established; Amber denies it, though not always very forcefully.

When she first arrives, Ruby is prudish, conventional, and one of the few introverts in the setting, and so is way out of her depth, but she is determined to get through despite everything. She is also initially very determined always to do the right thing as she sees it, which gives her sometimes surprising strength of character — though her morality becomes a little more flexible with experience (and she’s increasingly easily Distracted by the Sexy). She’s also serious about her business ambitions, and eventually demonstrates a slightly ruthless manipulative streak. 1970s/'80s television programs, especially cop shows, seem previously to have been her main form of entertainment and her guide to life, occasionally heading into Disco Dan territory; nowadays, she covers her various areas of ignorance and naivety by heavy use of Google through her smartphone.

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• Accidental Public Confession: Ruby suffers an unfortunate outburst while in conversation with Angel in the pet shop. Trying to be polite while both confused by and curious about Angel's complex sexuality proves too much for her.
• Age-Inappropriate Dress: Ruby demonstrates this twice over in her early scenes. When first seen, in public, she's wearing a very short skirt (indeed, her very first appearance involves an accidental panty flash, albeit more visible to other characters than to the readers), despite her aggressive disinterest in anything sexual — for reasons that she later explains, but also perhaps as a symbol of the fact that she's emotionally still a young girl. Later, to sleep, she changes into a long nightdress that would look prudish on your great-grandmother. The fact that she is soon persuaded to get rid of the skirt, and the nightdress just disappears in favor of T-shirt style nightwear in later night-time scenes, is symbolic of her Character Development.
• Angrish: Ruby is normally fairly controlled and distinctly cerebral, but her burning rage at Amber renders her incoherent at least once.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: What happens when you leave a kid sister at home from whom you’ve become rather distant since you hit your teens, and you see little of her for several years — but you ask her to keep your porn career secret from your parents for most of that time? You get Ruby showing up on your doorstep. She may look a bit old to be an annoying kid sister, but she's going to try anyway.
• Bad Liar: Possibly Ruby's key trait. Seemingly any serious attempt to deceive anyone else makes her blush and blather furiously until she blurts out the truth anyway. She actually says herself at one point that she doesn't like to lie — albeit sarcastically when refusing to flatter Dillon. Her attempts to deceive herself over her interest in sex cause her a lot of stress and confusion; her denials verge on the ridiculous. It's not clear how she was able to deceive her parents about Amber's occupation for several years, but her persistent abrasiveness with Amber may largely be caused by the fact that Amber made her do so — or the stress from that may be the reason why she's such an awful liar. This is sometimes a significant virtue, though; she's effective at playing The Conscience to Dillon because, unlike all his other friends, she doesn't enable his idiocies, but calls him on them.
• Becoming the Mask:
  • Ruby invokes this, perhaps simply as an excuse, when she shows Dillon her tougher, cynical side while in masculine disguise. Then she uses that tougher side to help Dillon out (at a little risk to herself, even).
  • She is also Becoming the Mask in a larger and subtler sense. When she first arrives in volume 1 of the comic, she is attempting to present herself as a nascent businesswoman, but despite her business degree and Power Hair, she is clearly just a mixture of an Annoying Younger Sibling and The Ingenue. In volume 2, however, she actually develops to match that presentation, coming up with moneymaking ideas and manipulating other people into assisting with them.
• Berserk Button: Ruby seems to be permanently angry around Amber, but is fairly reasonable to Dillon and other people. However, when Dillon tells her that working as his PA will also mean working for Amber, she explodes in his face. It seems that Amber is Ruby's very own berserk button.
• Blank White Eyes: Glimpsed on Ruby (in a variant form defined by her glasses) in the last panel here, when she's blushing overwhelmingly at the collapse of one of her weak attempts at deception. She is subsequently occasionally shown with her reflective glasses again obscuring her eyes. Eventually, when she's thinking about Yaoi, that word is shown on her lenses.
• Booksmart: Being book smart (but otherwise inexperienced) is very central to Ruby’s characterisation. She’s modern enough to extend this to being “Google smart”; whenever she runs into something she doesn’t understand, she pulls out her mobile phone and hits the internet — a habit which serves her well, even if some of what she learns causes her the occasional Heroic BSoD.
• Boyfriend Bluff: Ruby actually pulls this off, to protect Dillon, while in her "Rudy" disguise — which must take some nerve.
• Brainy Brunette: Her intelligence may sometimes seem like an Informed Attribute (at least in volume 1), but she has the university education, and she's stuck with being the book-smart, occasionally snarky contrast to her blonde sister Amber. So she lives this trope, complete with glasses.
• Broken Bird: Ruby is a minor textbook example of someone broken by emotional trauma. She's been suffering for a while, too; Word of God is that the Wild Teen Party during which she was traumatised took place when she was about 14, and she's still not recovered in the comic, which is set after she has graduated from university. However, the cause of her bitterness, a minor Freudian Excuse, is revealed during her first appearance, rather than being saved up for some big scene later. Furthermore, her broken emotional state is frequently Played for Laughs in this comedy comic, making her simply a comedy prude or Butt-Monkey in many strips.
• Brutal Honesty: Ruby is often short-tempered while being habitually truthful, which can make for harsh honesty. She isn't excessively brutal, except to Amber (who triggers her seething rage); she's perfectly willing to apologize (even to Amber) when she realizes that she's gone too far or spoken carelessly. However, she feels obliged to, for example, tell Dillon the truth about his claims of past sexual success — which is good for him in the long run.
• Bully Magnet: One strip implies that Ruby was something of a bully magnet in her schooldays, leading her to cut herself off from much human interaction.
• Butt-Monkey: Ruby is repressed and easily confused, which causes her multiple problems:
  • In her first appearance, she accidentally panty-flashes Dillon and Jerzy; later, she stumbles on a collection of porn her sister has starred in, is disgusted to find two of her sister's sex toys just lying around, and then ends up hiding in a wardrobe, watching and then listening while Jerzy and Dillon have sex (which she doesn't enjoy). Oh, and that was only the first day.
  • The next day she has it pointed out to her that her favorite tutor at university was an exploitative pervert, and her long-standing wardrobe choice is therefore deeply embarrassing.
  • The day after that, there's the trip to the swimming pool where she nearly drowns and then experiences what feels to her like a minor Humiliation Conga. At which point, she notices again just how life is treating her.
  • And that's never mind her past experience of discovering that her sister was a porn star — by being exposed to one of Amber's films at a teenage party — when she was 14.
  • She gets a little more hardened as the story continues, of necessity, but the emotional traumas don't stop. She tells Dillon that hanging around with him and Amber "is like tuning my TV to the 'Uncomfortable Realizations Channel,' 24-7".
  • Andy's (apparent) suggestion that they have sex also causes her trauma. However, she gets over that with help from her new friends. She's becoming less vulnerable, and hence less of a butt monkey.
  • Still, even though her relationship with Andy eventually works out okay, it still turns out that he's a borderline asexual who has to be pushed into explaining himself, so getting there involves a certain amount more embarrassment and stress for her.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Ruby's conscience seems to be so hyperactive that she honestly thinks this applies to her, even for actions which most people wouldn't think were wrong — and she does suffer a bit in this respect.
  • For example, two years ago, she took a selfie in which she flashed some leg; now, she believes that anyone might somehow know about this.
  • It doesn't help that she's a Bad Liar with some genuine bad luck; for example, she's just told Zii that she'd never been in the comics shop before but she might be prepared to investigate yaoi as a new experience, when Jung walks past and reveals that she was in the day before, buying multiple volumes of yaoi.
  • However, her luck turns as she learns to take more chances. When she photographs and videos Ray kissing Dillon, she maybe convinces herself that they won't mind, but logically, Ray might well have objected. Instead, and apparently to her surprise, on being told by others that he looks good in these pictures, he thanks Ruby and asks her to help him build an image portfolio for use when chasing acting jobs.
• Celibate Heroine: Ruby initially declares that she's uninterested in romance, she just wants to find a good job. Her motives seem to be a desire to differentiate herself from her sister, and a determination to be taken seriously, rather than any high-minded morality. (She’s almost trying to project the image of a Chaste Hero, but she’s not actually that clueless.) However, the trope is averted in time; that determination takes a battering from the ham-fisted manipulations of Dillon and Amber, and she fairly soon has to admit to twinges of interest in sex. She starts treating Andy as a boyfriend, and when the prospect arises of first having sex with him, she reacts with nervousness rather than hostility, and looks quite interested when she is reassured that this needn't be horrible — and things go on from there.
• Character Development: Ruby is forced into some fairly rapid character development, first to keep her sanity in the unfamiliar environment of the apartment, and then to come to terms with some new emotions and interests.
  • Her initial reactions to anything involving sex or nudity is paralyzed fear and a wish to stop it (see, for example strip #36, May 13, 2013, marginally NSFW), but she soon becomes hardened enough to respond with mere annoyance. Her curiosity about unconventional sexuality also soon becomes impossible for her to restrain.
  • She's also caught between the fact that she herself is obviously prone to sexual feelings, and her prudish distaste for the whole idea. She initially reacts with denial, occasionally letting slip contradictory statements like "I have every right to look at men," but once she gets into Dillon's yaoi collection, that denial becomes increasingly implausible. Eventually, Dillon forces her to acknowledge her interest in yaoi, pushing her into acceptance. She goes from calling fujoshi (female yaoi fans) “twisted freaks” to using the word of herself.
  • After a day that was meant to be spent job-hunting, but which involves meetings with Zii and Angel in the shops where they respectively work, and mind-expanding conversations with each of them about sexual matters, Ruby relaxes enough to admit more openly to her own desires — and to sneak candid photographs of Dillon and Ray kissing. This marks a tipping point in her development.
  • Unfortunately, that development turns into a minor Face–Heel Turn, as she starts trying to manipulate Dillon and others into living out her Yaoi Fangirl fantasies. Still, she never goes too far over the line, and Dillon never finds cause to object to the way she treats him.
  • By the time of the comic’s return in 2018, her primary motivation in her story is the desire to get Andy into bed. She succeeds, despite some complications, and in the process shows both an intelligent approach to problems and increased self-awareness. She then admits that her problem with Amber involved a fair amount of jealousy, and now she has a sex life of her own, their relationship can hopefully improve a lot.
• Colourful Theme Naming: “Ruby” is a color (as well as a gemstone), and Ruby’s sister’s name is Amber, of which the same is true.
• The Conscience:
  • Ruby plays this role for Dillon when the latter is concealing his homosexuality from Ray, and at other times. As she has quite a strong moral sense, and Dillon is more used to doing whatever he feels like, she seems set to repeat this in future — except that her Character Development compromises that moral sense. She talks to him more about his romantic issues as their friendship develops, and though this is partly out of a voyeuristic interest in hearing about his sex life, there's a sense that even just having her around helps Dillon's own Character Development.
  • When she tries to play a similar role toward Amber, though, her attitude ends up looking much more prudish and sanctimonious. That relationship is a bit of a mess.
  • She also delivers a polite nudge to Zii at one one point.
• Cool Shades: When Ruby disguises herself as the gangbanger-style street punk "Rudy", she switches her round-lensed Nerd Glasses for similarly shaped shades. Although the lenses are too large for these to work as proper Round Hippie Shades, the disguise seems to do a lot for her confidence.
• Covert Pervert: Despite her initial prudishness, Ruby soon slips into this pattern, and then gradually slips partly out again, in that she becomes somewhat less covert about her interests. Being a Bad Liar, she's repeatedly caught out, so the secrecy couldn't last.
  • She soon finds herself easily distracted by the gay male activity that keeps happening around her, and tends to think about men in homosexual scenarios and then deny to herself that she's interested, or mentally change the subject. And when she glimpses Matt's penis in a male restroom (it's a long story), she finds herself looking for longer than is polite.
  • Her rationalizations for her behavior are painfully thin, and Dillon hears her talking in her sleep and is subject to some of her Freudian Slips, so he can see that she's repressed (and stressed).
  • She also develops a taste for Yaoi; see the Yaoi Fangirl entry below. Although she initially attempts to hide this, Dillon spots her interest and forces her to admit the truth; she swears him to secrecy, but Zii also sees through her, leading to her becoming much more open about that interest.
  • Having admitted the truth to herself, she's openly curious about Angel's sex life, and sneaks photos of Ray practicing kissing techniques with Dillon. (Fortunately, Ray doesn't mind this, and is even grateful when told that the photos show him to be a good actor.) Soon, she's maneuvering a number of men into posing for a pin-up calendar — although she continues to insist that anything she does is "respectable".
  • She is also still worried that Andy will detect her interests and think badly of her. Unfortunately for her, she's still a very Bad Liar.
  • By late in the comic's run, it's clear that Dillon is fully aware of her voyeuristic interest, but doesn't mind playing along.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Seen when Ruby finally gets irritated enough with Dillon to yell at him.
• Dark Secret: Ruby desperately tries to keep anything even faintly embarrassing or just slightly unconventional about herself, such as her brief (and quite creditable) adventure in male disguise, or, initially, her liking for yaoi, secret from Amber. Apparently, her self-image as the serious, respectable one in their relationship is vitally important to her, or she assumes for some reason that Amber would taunt her mercilessly given half a chance.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: When she first appears, Ruby could be classed as The Ingenue; she's younger than most of the rest of the main cast, woefully naive (and at least one older figure has taken advantage of this in the past), virginal, and if not immune to sexual innuendo, certainly very bad at handling it. However, she's also petulant, arrogant, and insecure, and her "purity" is treated as both a symptom and a cause of emotional damage. She's also determined to succeed on her own terms, and would probably be angry if anyone tried to play Prince Charming for her. Character Development eventually abrades away most of her naivety and some of her petulance, and she eventually takes charge of disposing of her virginity for herself.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: There are, inevitably, hints of this with Ruby, although she's more immature and irritable than a typical chilly ice queen. In fact, her cold façade seems to be a thin protective screen; it collapses quickly at the sight of a cute kitten or Dillon being hammily emotional. Nor is the defrosting that slow a process; even on her first date (of sorts), with Andy, her interactions with him show that she's perfectly capable of being polite and even quite sweet, and she can turn downright Moe in her sleep. She soon forms friendships with Zii, Angel, and others, and contemplates sex with Andy fairly readily. Her attitude to Amber, though, remains ice cold.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Ruby is prone to this, as she's frequently depicted as naive, nervous, in paper-thin denial about her own nature, and way out of her social depth — and she's prone to gabbling under stress. This is a particularly uncomfortable example for her, trying to pass in male disguise having (literally) taken her places she doesn't want to be.
• Distracted by the Sexy: As her libido only begins digging itself out from under a layer of repression, Ruby not only keeps noticing attractive men, she sometimes finds them seriously distracting; see here, for example, where she forgets the important resolution she's just made. Her feelings about this are a sort of heterosexual Stupid Sexy Flanders effect.
• Does Not Like Men: Ruby seems to feel this way in her early appearances, but it turns out that her real issue is that she's nervous about sex, and also regards relationships as too much trouble. Men — potentially any men — represent sex to her, and she seems to think that most or all of them are sex-obsessed. She assumes before she meets him that Dillon will be "pervy" (though that may be because he's a friend of Amber's), and she's nervously curious when she finds herself alone in a man's bedroom, and surprised that it's not more sordid. This phobia is backed by her minor Freudian Excuse, and she looks like she's being set up to learn better. (Those who find her attitude grating may call this a Heel–Face Turn).
  
  In fact, as she keeps being distracted by the sight of attractive men, it becomes clear that her dislike is not as complete as she wants to suggest; she finds the prospect of her first date more confusing than repulsive, and once she's been dragged out, her behavior towards her date, Andy, is perfectly polite and even pleasant, and she finds the prospect of kissing him scary but not disgusting. It seems that, so long as she isn't feeling threatened or provoked, she has no real sense of hostility towards men in general.
• Doing Research: Ruby loves using Google on her smartphone. (“I couldn’t help but google...”) She may be naive and innocent to begin with, but on the frequent occasions when she encounters something that she doesn’t understand, she will be seen looking it up. Which explains how she adapts so well to her situation, and starts spouting fluent yaoi fan terminology so soon after discovering the genre.
• Drama Queen: Although she tries to be serious, Ruby is so tightly wound that she reacts to minor provocations by yelling. (Admittedly she regards Dillon and Amber as inflicting a lot of serious provocations on her.) Hence, she often increases the drama level, albeit unintentionally.
• Eating the Eye Candy: After Ruby has her libido kick-started by the persistent proximity of assorted attractive men, she frequently ends up looking at them longer and harder than she'd want to admit, sometimes being Distracted by the Sexy — especially when various gay guys keep making out in front of her. At first, she's outraged and tells herself they should be stopped, but she just can't keep herself from looking.
• Erotic Dream: When Ruby attempts to repress her growing sexual feelings, they tend to surface in her dreams.
  • She first experiences a dream involving Andy, expressed in her usual rather formal terms ("Let's kiss in altogether inappropriate ways"). Her growing (if much-denied) interest in Yaoi is reflected when she transforms into Dillon during the dream, but it's also a sad comment on her self-image that she not only takes herself out of the erotic scene, but dismisses herself as "boring" in the dream dialogue.
  • A little later, in a bonus story created following a successful Kickstarter campaign, she dreams of directing most of the comic's male cast in a yaoi movie. However, this turns into a frustration dream because she lacks the visual references she needs to make the dream complete.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Judging by the number of coughing sounds she makes when trying to play the sketchy street punk/gangbanger Rudy, Ruby thinks in these terms — and some people do buy the act.
• First Kiss: When she first appears, Ruby has never been kissed. She claims to regard romance with disdain, but it soon becomes clear that she's not entirely sure of her feelings on this; she initially assumes that the CPR she received from Andy should count as her first kiss, which leaves her very confused. Amber reassures her on that point, and she goes on to have a genuine first kiss with Andy — which actually turns out to be less dramatic or significant than the trope has taught her to expect, because she's thinking about something else at the time. (Their second kiss is actually a bit more passionate, despite being largely accidental.)
• Fish out of Water: Ruby is a bit of a Country Mouse, but more "ordinary small town" than "country", and not matching the specific norms of that subtype. Mostly, her problem is trying to be asexual in a fairly highly sexualised webcomic — and she does learn how to fit in over time.
• Five Stages of Grief: Ruby's Character Development arc Actually reflects the Five Stages process, albeit without any grief or death involved. When she first appears, she tries to Deny to Amber and Dillon that she has any problems or needs their help with anything, and she becomes Angry with Amber over her past behavior and with Dillon over his attempts to get close to her. However, things like her interest in yaoi oblige her to admit that she wants to change her life a little, and she tries to Bargain her way through this, buying the occasional manga and treating this as a business opportunity. Her relationship with Andy makes things confusing, however, and she has a somewhat Depressed phase as she tries to understand his behavior and come to terms with her own sexuality; she ends up desperately asking her cat for advice. Fortunately, she gets through this, Accepts her own nature as a sexual being, and ends up quite satisfied with her life.
• Flat "What": Demonstrated by Ruby here, when the extent of Dillon’s stupidity over his own sexual history starts to become clear to her.
• Freudian Slip: The first clear evidence that Ruby may be kidding herself about her interest in men takes this form, and it's not the only time she demonstrates the problem.
• Friendless Background: Ruby has suffered previously from a geeky difficulty in forming strong friendships. She thus has trouble processing the casual friendliness of other cast members, although she greatly appreciates it. Her lack of social connections sometimes threatens to make her look like a freakish loner.
  • A flashback shows her as an isolated "straight A" student at school, where a couple of bullying contemporaries more or less deliberately separated her from the one friend she had made.
  • The only recent social relationships she's mentioned have been with family (and she's comically bad at "bonding with her sister"), and a favorite teacher (who, it's rapidly pointed out, seems to have been abusing her trust).
  • Her spiky attitude and suspicion of men wouldn't have helped her make friends, and she seems genuinely surprised when Dillon offers to do her a favor; he slowly introduces her to The Power of Friendship, but she has some understandable suspicions about his style of friendliness.
  • Similarly, Zii sees her as an old acquaintance from home who's grown into an attractive young woman and who turns out to share Zii's taste for yaoi, and is happy to call her a friend after a short chat — which triggers Ruby's gratitude and the above flashback.
  • Even so, and even after both Zii and Dillon have explicitly called themselves her friends, she tells Andy that she has very few friends, if any.
• Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't: Pretty well every other cast member quickly manages to get through her spiky, defensive shell and takes a liking to her, while she soon learns to appreciate their friendship; her story is largely about her movement from a Friendless Background to a healthy social life. Unfortunately, though, almost every time she has to deal with Amber, her long-standing bitterness comes to the surface, and Ruby turns brutally sarcastic and hostile.
• Geek: Ruby actually grows into geekiness as the comic progresses. When she first appears, she has no detectable real hobbies and tries to be socially highly conventional. However, once she discovers yaoi, her nerdish love of detail kicks in, and she rapidly acquires a geek-level knowledge of its jargon and technicalities. She even sets up a yaoi-oriented fan club — though being Ruby, she runs it as a profit-making enterprise, and insists that it's all entirely "respectable".
• Good Is Not Nice: Ruby usually tries to do what's right, but she has never really learned how to be polite about it.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Early on, there are at least hints that Ruby's frequent state of anger at Amber (which Amber notices but can't understand at all) is at least partly driven by envy of Amber's ability to attract attention and jealousy of how their parents seem to Ruby to favor Amber. (However, she has other reasons for feeling angry at Amber, especially the latter's having caused her to lie to their parents for years.) Eventually, she admits to having been jealous of Amber's extrovert attractiveness (which hadn't really been hinted at as such before).
  Ruby: She's been "the sexy one" since we were kids. It made me jealous for so long.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: In less subtle strips, Ruby can fly off the handle at minor provocations such as being called "uptight".
  • Most of her biggest flare-ups are directed at Amber; she generally reins in her anger even when sorely provoked by Dillon. Amber may think that Ruby is generally short-tempered, but the evidence suggests that Ruby only usually allows herself to be on such a hair trigger with her sister.
  • However, she does flare up just as badly at Andy when she’s nervous at the prospect of having sex for the first time and he chooses his words badly. To give her credit, she promptly apologizes.
• Heroic BSoD: Hero or not, Ruby seems to be prone to these. Sometimes, she just blanks for a moment, as when Amber asks if she is a lesbian. ^note (Apparently unable to process the idea, she semi-comically misses the point, and assumes that Amber is confessing. Ironically, Amber is actually actively bisexual, but Ruby doesn't discover this until later.) However, greater stress can cause her full-on blue screens:
  • She suffers a pop art-styled mental crash effect after Andy accidentally hits her with something that should be an insult but which actually penetrates some totally pointless mental armour she has erected.
  • Seconds later, she suffers a more serious BSOD, which lasts for some time and multiple strips — simply because of the prospect of her First Kiss.
• Honest Advisor: Ruby is forced into this role in relation to Dillon. She's a Bad Liar who starts with no special liking for him, so she tells him the truth as she sees it when most of his friends just enable his bad habits and Cloud Cuckoo Lander tendencies. She knows that she's no expert on matters of love, and is downright annoyed to think that she might understand gay relationships better than a gay man, but a little intelligence and common sense, along with her dislike of seeing anyone suffer, mean that she delivers some useful advice. However, her Yaoi Fangirl tendencies may occasionally compromise the reliability of her advice.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Ruby evidently averted the trope in her actual teen years, somewhat consciously on her part after her bad experience involving her sister's work. Her hormones seem to be kicking in quite strongly now, in her twenties, though, and she may end up living out the trope a few years late.
• Hot Librarian: Pretty well from the moment she walked through the door — certainly as soon as her initial personality was established — readers were assuming that Ruby was going to embody this trope. She can manage both the prim and prudish attitude and the glasses, she's cute enough, and she's going to have to unwind a little eventually if she isn't going to snap under the strain; in fact, she all but lampshades the trope just by existing. Whether she'll ever actually let her hair down ^note (Metaphorically — she actually wears it in a short bob. However, she does look quite sexy when it gets tousled.) remains to be seen; she'll have to learn how to act sexy before she can exploit her attractiveness. She might just consider that undignified even once she's relaxed a little, and so continually avert the trope.
• Idea Bulb: Played straight (with added Wingding Eyes), albeit in a rather small image, when Ruby's business sense (previously an Informed Ability) finally kicks in.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Ruby is a borderline case for both, contrasting types. The ease with which she finds good friends in Dillon, Andy, and Zii verges on Type A — but this is despite a previously Friendless Background that makes her pathetically grateful for friendships, which puts her in some danger of ending up as Type B.
• Informed Ability: Demonstrated but then averted. The intelligence that earned Ruby a BBA is kept off-stage in the comic's first volume; she's definitely a bookish type, and Amber implies that Ruby makes her feel stupid, but she shows little sign of being more cerebral than the rest of the cast, and she's sometimes painfully gullible. However, as she adapts to her situation, she manages flashes of smarts, and the trope begins to fade out early in volume 2 when she finds that she may understand more about gay sexuality than Dillon does (to her own annoyance). She remains terribly naive for a while, and she's sometimes just given the Idiot Ball, but she turns into a competent PA for Dillon and Amber, and when she comes up with a business idea, she successfully manipulates several other cast members into assisting with it.
• The Ingenue: In the first volume, Ruby fits the trope in many ways; she's younger than most of the rest of the main cast, woefully naive (and at least one older figure has taken advantage of this in the past), virginal, and if not immune to sexual innuendo, certainly very bad at handling it. However, see Deconstructed Character Archetype above.
• I Read It for the Articles: Ruby has been known to claim that she reads yaoi for the stories. This isn't terribly convincing (though she clearly does pay attention to the plots and characterization), and she becomes a bit more honest with herself as her Character Development progresses.
• It's Not Porn, It's Art: Ruby repeatedly insists that the yaoi she has come to love is “respectable”, and that she’s not just reading it for the erotic content. A Print Bonus strip that appeared after the end of the comic’s run shows her recognising that her tastes (and new sideline in calendar publishing) take her very close to porn, but she comes to terms with this.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Ruby and Dillon overhear a conversation in which Angel runs Dillon down to Jerzy, Ruby is (forgivably) happy to point out to Dillon that Angel isn't lying. She previously also criticized Amber for lying to their parents for years. To the extent that Ruby is flawed as a person, this trope frequently tends to fit her.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Ruby develops this trait fairly early on, possibly in an attempt by the writers to soften her initially abrasive image.
• Leg Focus: As even Ruby herself is faintly aware, she's not bad looking — and the comic occasionally emphasizes that her legs are her best feature. Both the miniskirts she wears on occasion and the designer jeans that Dillon buys her work just fine, and she's found herself flashing some leg when taking a selfie at least once, just because the results are so good (a totally private act over which she feels insanely guilty).
• Little Black Dress: Ruby isn't a fancy dresser, but she understands the principles well enough; her attempts to drop (by her standards quite brazen) hints to Andy culminate in an LBD that really ought to have done the job (and which was apparently actually borrowed from Amber’s wardrobe, despite the fact that Amber has never been depicted in an LBD).
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: It's a relatively mild version, but aside from Dillon's clearly conscious attempts to activate the Gay Best Friend and Manic Pixie Dream Girl tropes, Zii talks Ruby out of some of her repression, Angel expands her horizons a little, and Ramona reassures her that sex needn't be terrifying.
• Luminescent Blush: Ruby is capable of inflicting these on herself by dint of her over-active imagination, as here and here. This may occasionally be a Crush Blush when she's thinking about Andy, but even then it seems to be more the sexualised thoughts that she associates with him than her feelings for Andy himself which trigger it.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: Early on, Ruby sometimes falls into this pattern of thinking, because her rejection of Amber's sexualized lifestyle makes her swing wildly in the other direction. However, she only really applies the idea to herself and Amber; she's not excessively judgmental about other people's sex lives — and she eventually becomes more flexible.
• The Matchmaker: Ruby becomes something of a Parody of a matchmaker regarding Dillon, though she's mostly more of a serial Shipper on Deck.
• Meaningful Appearance: Ruby’s choice of dress when she first appears, featuring a short, puffed-out skirt, is clearly unwise for someone seeking a serious business career. She’s naive and has been manipulated by people she trusted. Dillon points out the problem, and she switches to something more practical. Then, in a subtle twist, Ruby switches back to a short skirt when she starts working as Dillon and Amber's PA — but then it's in a tighter, more businesslike style, symbolizing her growing self-confidence, verging on arrogance, and greater comfort with her own sexuality.
• Neat Freak: Ruby suffers from compulsive neatness, though only as a minor aspect of her personality; it doesn’t actually get mentioned much, beyond her general tidy-mindedness, after her first evening in the apartment.
• Nerd Glasses: Ruby goes for the classic "unflatteringly large" version — though she can make them look a little bit cute.
• Only Sane Woman: Ruby isn't really that sane, being jumpy, naive, and voyeuristic, but faced with Dillon's total disconnection from reality, she does what she can — sometimes with an audible sigh.
• Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Ruby is prone to this problem, early on, although she's so deep in denial she isn't always paralyzed. Then, after she's seen a few sexual scenes, her imagination starts running out of control at every opportunity (she clearly finds guy on guy very hot), and she keeps talking herself into looking more, despite her disapproval — as here and here. Eventually, she works through the issue, coming to see the possibility of sex with Andy as tolerable if worrying. She still doesn’t want anyone to think she’s too eager, but she does eventually admit to the impulse.
• Parrot Exposition: Ruby engages in this here, and as a result ends up asking Andy out by accident, to Dillon's delight. She's a bit prone to this speech pattern, perhaps because she's so often out of her depth, socially.
• Power Hair: One might guess that Ruby has ambitions in this direction.
• Quaking with Fear: The trope is sort-of-inverted here, when Ruby's knees shake due to lust rather than fear.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: A role occasionally imposed on Ruby, in fairly mild forms (i.e. stopping well short of public nudity), by other people. When she first appears, she's wearing an unwise miniskirt, thanks to some bad advice; later, Dillon buys her a pair of designer jeans, which do suit her very well, but which also allow him to use her as a straight guy detector. Dillon and Amber have also been known to walk in on her in the shower, so the readers get to see a little more than Ruby would consider respectable.
• The Resenter: Ruby resents Amber (although Amber isn't technically the hero of the story). This may have started out as simple Sibling Rivalry, but things have become messier than that, and now Amber notes that Ruby frequently seems angry at her. For one thing, Ruby has apparently worked hard through school and university, without much of a private life, whereas Amber has a job and a nice apartment after leaving home to go into the sex industry — and Ruby has become massively stressed by years concealing this from their parents. Amber seems to understand this just enough to feel a little guilty. Ruby also believes that Amber benefits from Parental Favoritism, although Amber denies this, and there are hints that Ruby resents the way that Amber generally attracts attention and gets given things that Ruby may want. Amber doesn't seem to grasp this, and it's likely that Ruby's perceptions are distorted by her resentment.
• Rightly Self-Righteous: Ruby can be priggish and judgmental, but her comments on other people are often quite justifiable — and although she's often confused, she mostly tries to live by her own moral code.
  • She criticizes Amber for her years of lying to their parents, which not only caused Ruby herself some emotional problems, but has simply stored up trouble for Amber.
  • She's prepared to call Dillon out for his hypocrisy in, for example, being possessive about his boyfriends while flirting with every cute guy in sight, when his more typical friends just enable him.
  • It may be a sign of Character Development that when she calls Zii out for sneaking pictures of attractive men without their consent, she does so subtly and politely, leaving it to Zii's conscience to make the criticism sting.
• Rock Theme Naming: With her sister; she and Amber are both named after gemstones.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: When Ruby's manipulative abilities and business ambitions begin to surface, she is depicted with shiny glasses to slightly unnerving effect.
• Secret-Keeper: Ruby has known about Amber's career as a porn star for years, without telling their parents. Interestingly, she appears to have done so voluntarily, despite disliking the necessity and despising Amber for the fact; personal loyalty matters to her, and she presumably doesn't want to upset their parents. She eventually admits that she actually envies Amber for having some sexy secrets to keep; once she acquires one or two of her own, she can be a lot more relaxed about their relationship.
• Selective Obliviousness: Ruby initially tries to deny that she has any interest in sex, or at least claims that she can repress any interest in the subject, but it soon becomes clear that she has a full set of (actually quite vanilla-heterosexual) sexual inclinations. Her denial is Played for Laughs, and her justifications for things like acquiring a stack of Yaoi manga become increasingly baroque and transparent.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Hinted at by Amber's comments when she gets Ruby into an "elegant" dress. However, intentionally or not, the effect was ambiguous at best for some readers, who felt that Ruby looked just fine in her normal clothing, and that Amber and Dillon's efforts verged on an Unnecessary Makeover.
• Shipper on Deck: As her taste for Yaoi develops, Ruby becomes very interested in Dillon's love life, treating it as live-action yaoi.
  • She is clearly disappointed when he acknowledges that he shouldn't be trying to seduce Ray (despite her having played The Conscience to him there), and encourages their kissing lessons so she can watch.
  • Then, when Julian shows up, she starts trying to push him and Dillon toward each other, despite Dillon's strong resistance.
  • Eventually, she switches to dreaming about Dillon’s never-viable interest in Gary, as supporting his actual relationship with Jerzy has moral problems in her eyes.
  • She’s also one of several people who actively hope that Julian’s date with Jordan leads to something, because they’re both hunks.
• Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: More or less Ruby's attitude at the start of her personal story in the comic. Her opinions do then evolve a little, though.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Ruby is the only glasses-wearer in the comic's primary cast. She's also the only character whose college-level education is significant to her characterization.
• Sobriquet Sex Switch: When Ruby disguises herself as a man, she uses the pseudonym "Rudy".
• Sour Prude: Ruby initially takes this role, moderated by her youth, nervousness, and Broken Bird status. Hence, she's just a mild case, only really applying her prudishness to herself and Amber; she ends up advising Dillon on his love life, without judging him for having sex with multiple men (unless this involves infidelity). She might merely be classed as The Comically Serious. Also, as her own interest in sex develops, she does try to avoid hypocrisy.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Ruby sometimes seems set to steal the spotlight single-handed. The comic initially seems set up to give Dillon a lead role, with Amber as his previously established room-mate and the odd guest appearance from other Ménage à 3 regulars. Then Ruby shows up as a brand new character, and turns out to have complex problems of her own. By volume 2, she is not only helping Dillon deal with his problems, she's taking the lead position for long stretches while experiencing significant Character Development.
• Stereotypical Nerd: Played with. Ruby is a slightly unusual female nerd. She's not actually unattractive, her social ineptitude takes the form of abrasiveness rather than bumbling, she doesn't seem very interested in science or computers (her degree is in Business Administration), and we have no evidence about her physical fitness beyond her claim that she can swim quite well. However, the glasses, the opinionated attitude, and the privileging of intellect over social relationships, make her classic nerd. She also has a nerdish tendency to use the Internet to fill in the gaps in her knowledge of the world, through her smartphone; she seems to be a big fan of Google. She just starts out as the sort of nerd who geeks despise. And in her case, nerds are definitely virgins, at least until the end of the comic’s run.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: The heterosexual Ruby actually suffers this trope's effect at the sight of attractive men. She's initially determined to deny that she's interested in sex, so the basically unremarkable effects that sexy guys have on her confuse and annoy her. The fact that the men in question are often gay complicates things a little.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Being reasonably rational about most things aside from her own emotions, and naively cynical about sex, Ruby sometimes seems to feel that Dillon and Amber have her surrounded with idiocy. This comes to a head when she has to explain the realities of gay sexual relationships -- to a gay man.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Ruby disguises herself as "Rudy" for one evening, at Dillon's suggestion, to support him while he spies on Jerzy and Angel. He, meanwhile, drags up as a woman. She probably opts for male disguise because the alternative would be to pretend to be "Dilla's" girlfriend, and she doesn't want to be taken for a lesbian, or because she's carried away by the idea of playing detectives; she does throw herself into the game with more enthusiasm than might have been expected, and also claims that some of Rudy rubs off on herself. It's not perhaps the most convincing disguise ever, but Ruby does manage to fool her own sister from a moderate distance.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Dillon tells her that she talks in her sleep. And then tells her what she said while doing so.
• Thinking Out Loud: As a cerebral introvert in a comic strip, Ruby is prone to this habit. The presence of Minew saves her from looking too crazy when she's at home in the apartment on her own; she addresses her speeches to him. When she's out in public places, though, it can be a mistake — as here.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Ruby is a lot more authentically cheerful by the end of volume 2 than she was on her first appearance in volume 1. Achieving success on her own terms, coming to terms with her sexual feelings, and beginning to repair her relationship with Amber, all understandably make her more comfortable in her skin. Still, she only reaches her most cheerful state in a post-volume 2 Print Bonus strip.
• Too Much Information: Ruby has difficulty with information about sex. At first, she just finds virtually any information about sexuality to be Too Much, being overwhelmed and horrified by the sight of two men having sex and changing seats in Jerzy's truck when she finds out what he and Dillon did on that spot. She is also briefly but badly affected when she realizes what Amber got up to with Zii. ("Hanging around you two is like tuning my TV to the 'Uncomfortable Realizations Channel,' 24-7".) However, she also becomes increasingly fascinated by the subject, and specifically gay male sex, leading her to ask Angel flat out how she can have gay sex with a man when identifying as male. The problem is, Angel's answer is still Too Much for her.
• Virginity Makes You Stupid: Ruby is inexperienced, but she's a university graduate who is perfectly aware that sex exists, having a sister who is an ex-porn star. Nonetheless, she finds anything to do with relationships confusing, believed one of her teachers who told her that a short skirt made her look "professional and distinguished," is totally nonplussed the first time she sees two gay men kissing (strip #36, May 13, 2013, marginally NSFW), and has trouble understanding the difference between mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and a kiss. Even her speech patterns shift from "educated sarcastic" to "naive pre-teen" when she has to deal with matters of love or sex. This is largely Selective Obliviousness, but it can make her look rather stupid.
  
  How she got through university with this world-view is unclear; blame early trauma for her impenetrable ignorance, and also the fact that her role in the comedy is to be shocked by everyone else. However, sharing an apartment with Dillon gives her a crash course in human relationships; her facial expressions show her coming to understand him all too well. On the other hand, once she becomes a Yaoi Fangirl as an outlet for her repressed sexuality, anything to do with gay male sex can cause her IQ to plummet once again.
• When She Smiles: Ruby is slim, with good legs and an expressive face — but she goes through a lot of the comic in a state of anger or stress, and her face expresses that all too well. Hence, her occasional sincere smiles are interesting. But they do need to be sincere; hysterical laughter or forced grins don't work so well on her, and her reactions to cute kittens are arguably too extreme to be attractive. She may actually be at her best, or at least most Moe-ish, in her sleep.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Ruby denies it fervently at the time, but Angel's suggestion that she has fujoshi tendencies is clearly accurate, and she soon succumbs to temptation, sublimating her awakening libido in yaoi. She initially finds her own reactions excruciatingly embarrassing, swearing Dillon to silence when he discovers them; then, on a visit to a comics shop, she encounters Zii of Ménage à 3, another fujoshi, who reassures her a little, which may explain how she comes to accept the idea enough that she can set up a yaoi fan club (as a commercial venture). See also the notes on Covert Pervert above.

Secondary Characters

Andy

"Andy, girls, and guys like Dillon, make passes at you daily. You never reciprocate, no matter how shameless—"

A good-looking, heterosexual (or at least hetero-romantic), and amazingly oblivious young lifeguard at the local swimming pool, who keeps getting dates with Ruby despite her best efforts.

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• Clueless Chick-Magnet: According to his colleague, girls (and guys) make passes at Andy every day, but he either never notices or maybe willfully ignores any hints that do get through.
• The Ditz: Andy seems completely incapable of picking up social cues or noticing when he's being exploited, and takes the dumbest advice from whoever offers it, to the point of treating Dillon as an oracular source of heterosexual dating advice. If it wasn't for his apparent competence in his job as a lifeguard, and his previous lack of a romantic life, his looks would make him a Brainless Beauty. However, there may be an element of Obfuscating Stupidity in this; Andy eventually admits that he's been blocking Ruby's hints because he's nervous about sex.
• Expy: Andy — gawky, socially clumsy, bow-tie-wearing — appears to be at least a visual expy for Archie Andrews. (Archie comics are a known influence on the art style here.) He even ends up trapped between a blond and a brunette in one sequence of strips, in classic Archie style.
• Hidden Depths: For most of the comic’s run, Andy appears to be an amiable but amazingly oblivious ditz — ridiculously so, perhaps, but as he’s a minor character in a comedy strip, nothing too far off the scale. However, when Ruby gets stressed out enough to actually talk to him about the situation, his obliviousness is given an explanation of sorts; he’s simply incapable of responding to, or even perhaps noticing, most conventional sexual cues, which makes him nervous about the whole subject. However, he’s quite willing to essay a sexual relationship with Ruby, which seems to work out quite well. (Technically, he might be classified as “demisexual” or perhaps a flexible heteroromantic asexual.) This all makes him a more complex (and slightly less annoying) character, but was never detectably foreshadowed before — so even if Giz had his character planned this way all along, it looks a bit like a rushed late characterisation fix.
• Ignore the Fanservice: Andy has a startling ability to ignore women (and men) coming on to him — including, for example, Ruby working hard to be flirtatious in a Little Black Dress. For a long time, it seems he’s just too oblivious to live, and then there’s a suggestion that he might be asexual — but as it turns out, he’s a bit nervous, but also he’s just not wired to respond to visual cues.
• Nice Guy: Andy mostly seems to be persistently nice in a slightly dim-witted way. He's always eager to please Ruby.
• Oblivious to Love: Andy apparently gets flirted with constantly, but is completely immune to it.
  Gina: ...no matter how shameless WE are.
  • This even appears to extend to broad hints from Ruby, even though they've recently agreed to discuss the possibility of getting physical. When Ruby and Amber discuss the matter, Ruby has difficulty believing that anyone could be that clueless, given how heavy her hints were — and she has a point. Eventually, Andy admits that he's been willfully ignoring at least some of Ruby's hints because he's nervous about sex; he also turns out not to be terribly responsive to purely visual stimulation.
  • His apparent obliviousness is taken to the extreme to provide a punchline for this strip.
    Ruby: Do you want to take my clothes off, Andy?!
    Andy: Like, now?
    Ruby: Like, now.
    Andy: ...Okay.
    Ruby: Let's do this.
    Andy: So we're going swimming?
• Virginity Makes You Stupid: If Andy isn't a virgin when he first appears, his sexual experience is so rusty that he might as well be. He seemingly totally fails to notice all the men and women hitting on him, or his female colleague using a skimpy excuse to get her hands on his junk, he asks gay men for dating advice, and in general, he comes across as a likable male ditz at best. It turns out that his sexuality is wired a little oddly, though he could surely try a bit harder to notice hints.

Angel

"I'm so emo right now, I could write my next two albums."

Jerzy's old friend and sometime lover, who is determined to get Jerzy back and hang onto him, by any means necessary. Angel is also a professional musician, a bitter enemy/rival to Zii in Ménage à 3, and something of a mystery in certain respects to some other characters — a mystery that is reduced for the readers when Angel is determined to be gender fluid.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Anatomically female, but... In fact, Angel may be consciously aiming for an Ambiguous Gender Identity much of the time, and very successfully.
  • In early strips at least, most characters encountering Angel for the first time assume that this is simply a Camp Gay man. Readers too tended to make the same assumption, and then the point became distinctly ambiguous for some time.
  • Although the ambiguity has now been removed for readers and for at least some of the other characters, Angel may continue to present ambiguously when first meeting new people.
  • In a 2018 strip, Dillon has “dug up” the gender-neutral pronoun “zie” because he can no longer keep up with Angel's gender identification changes.
• Ambiguous Gender Identity: Angel identifies as "gender fluid" (but has not, so far as is known, had any surgery or hormone treatment), leading to a certain amount of in-setting confusion and keeping things ambiguous for the readership until the big reveal which apparently happens here, albeit with some latent ambiguity, slightly more definitely here, and more or less definitively here.
• Ambiguously Bi: The full range of Angel's sexual interests is unclear. In Sticky Dilly Buns, Angel implies to Ruby that she identifies as a straight woman when in female guise and as a gay man when male, and has a sometimes-sexual relationship with Jerzy and some kind of interest in Richie. However, a flashback in Ménage à 3 shows that Zii at least believed that Angel slept with women, and later in that comic's run, when Sonya turns on the sex appeal when pitching for the role of bassist in Angel's band, Angel appears to respond (though that could simply be Angel's reaction to the chance to recruit a competent bassist who'll look good on stage and annoy Zii).
• Bifauxnen: Angel is a western manifestation of this trope, although that "gender fluid" self-identification goes beyond the standard bifauxnen androgynous look. Angel's Ambiguously Bi presentation (see above) confuses the issue further.
• Camp Gay: When Angel presents as a gay man, he dresses to this trope much more than the sartorially quite restrained Dillon.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: When presenting as male, Angel is perhaps more subtle about "his" jealousy regarding Jerzy than Dillon is, but that's not saying much — and Angel is also perhaps more vicious about it, needling Dillon at every opportunity and gloating when Dillon makes a fool of himself. Hence, this trope fits Angel all too well.
• Digging Yourself Deeper/Shutting Up Now: Angel puts on a classic demonstration of these twinned tropes while on what's supposed to be a platonic date with Richie. Evidently, she finds him more attractive than she feels she should.
• Drama Queen: Angel insists on bearing a persistent grudge over Zii's past seduction of Jerzy, despite Jerzy denying being Angel's boyfriend and Zii not even knowing that Angel was into men at the time; won't even let Jerzy mention Zii's name; and throws an epic sulk when Zii's band proves popular with an audience.
• Emo: Although the Pretty Boyz' primary stylistic reference is Glam Rock, Angel periodically claims to be feeling emo, certainly has some emo moments, and goes in for moody sulking when sufficiently provoked.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Angel invokes the trope (in a Ménage à 3 strip) in a typical moment of emo megalomania and unintended comic irony. Having just invoked Julius Caesar as an example of world-conquering glory, Angel is outraged when Sonya quits the band to go off to Europe, Yuki declares a willingness to rejoin Zii’s band, and Terry says some uncomplimentary things about Angel. (The facts that Sonya is a known flake who mostly joined Angel’s band to annoy Zii, Yuki is perfectly willing to continue also playing with Angel, and Angel previously treated Terry very badly are apparently not relevant.) So now, Angel feels like Caesar betrayed.
• Evil Former Friend/Rival Turned Evil: Zii sees Angel this way (they used to work together, and Angel turns what could still be a fairly amicable musical rivalry into actual enmity), although Angel may or may not be considered to be truly evil — this could just be seen as someone with an understandable grudge, or a tragic obsession. (Zii did have sex with Jerzy, who Angel claimed as a boyfriend of the time, though Zii claims that she didn't know this.) Angel sees Zii the same way, and shows much more contempt about it.
• Glam Rock: The primary stylistic reference for Angel's band, "Pretty Boyz with Electric Toyz" (later "Angel and Their Electric Toyz").
• Hair-Trigger Temper: When Angel discovered Zii having sex with Jerzy (in the comic's past), it instantly led to a violent feud between them, at least as far as Angel was concerned. Angel is also shown reacting with obvious anger to any encounter with Zii or love rival Dillon. And later, when Angel unexpectedly comes face to face with Zii and Dillon, a brawl breaks out — and it is apparently Angel who starts the violence. Even when the fighting stops, Angel repeatedly flares up verbally at Zii and Dillon for looking at Ramona like a freak — and also at Ramona, for her choice of words for her own condition, despite the fact that Angel is highly protective of Ramona. It's not surprising that Ruby suggests anger management therapy, and Ramona, who returns Angel's affection, nonetheless says that Angel needs to control that temper.
• Hypocrite:
  • Angel's description of Dillon as "creepy and obsessive" is hypocrisy of a high order, even if Angel is completely correct.
  • Angel subsequently sabotages Dillon's relationship with Jerzy, partly by telling Jerzy how Dillon "unfaithfully" flirted with Richie — then catches Jerzy on the rebound. Then, a couple of days later, while still in that restarted relationship with Jerzy, Angel offers to go on a date with Richie — although Angel does say that the date "can't get too serious".
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Angel attempts to undermine Dillon's relationship with Jerzy ... mostly by telling Jerzy the truth about Dillon. His later description of Dillon as "creepy and obsessive" may be hypocrisy of a high order, but it's also, well, true.
  • Angel also does things like angrily correct Dillon when he's being an ass about Angel's gender. Neither of them like each other, and Angel is often a jerkass, but many people would say that Dillon was just plain wrong there.
  • And in Ménage à 3, Angel is happy to poach Sonya and Yuki from Zii’s band — but when Zii comes round to complain, Angel quietly points out that Zii alienated both of them by her behavior, so that Angel didn’t have to do anything to achieve this.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Angel is anatomically female with a lot of talent for passing as male.
• Little Black Dress: Angel has a taste for this general style of dress when presenting as female (and does look good in it).
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Angel definitely has long hair, and often presents as a (pretty) boy — but see above.
• Ostentatious Secret: The question of Angel's actual gender falls into this category at a meta-level for much of the first volume; see the notes on Ambiguous Gender. The writers are careful to avoid pronouns, substantives, or adjectives that would give away the secret, and things remain very unclear until some way into the second volume.
• Rejection Affection: After sleeping with Jerzy once, Angel pursues him very persistently, despite repeated (but perhaps insufficiently forceful) rejections, until Jerzy succumbs after a few too many drinks.
• Removing the Rival: Angel improvises one or two schemes to remove Dillon as a rival for Jerzy's affections. Mostly, though, Dillon is the source of his own problems, so Angel doesn't have to try too hard.
• Sarashi: What Angel wears when choosing to present as a male.

Chanelle

"Now either make him your man or give me his number! Or both. I'm not picky."

Amber's former colleague from her porn days, friend, and occasional drinking buddy. Chanelle also makes a brief appearance in Pixie Trix Comix when Roxie is making a video and needs a couple of actresses who look more like Barbie dolls than wrestlers.

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• Coitus Uninterruptus: Chanelle is clearly a mistress of this. (See strip #10, February 8 2013, marginally NSFW.)
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Okay, actually “Porn Star with a Heart of Gold”: It's a weird sort of niceness, but Chanelle always seems more than happy to help Amber out in various ways. They do tend to involve sex or nudity, admittedly.
• Punny Name: The surname she uses, "Numberfine," is surely a Porn Name rather than her birth name, but it's also a pun ("Chanel No.5", geddit).
• What the Hell, Hero?: In one Ménage à 3 appearance, Chanelle dryly points out Amber's mistake in letting Gary go over a point of principle that clearly wasn't that important.

Jerzy

"I know what will put back a smile on your face. A great big Jerzy hug!"

An occupant of the apartment next to Dillon's. Being both quite hunky and gay (or maybe bi), he is naturally of great interest to Dillon. Unfortunately, he comes with some baggage attached.

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• Bear Hug: Jerzy's "Jerzy Hug" is very much in character for him.
• If It's You, It's Okay: Jerzy claims to be exclusively gay these days, then decides to make one exception for the anatomically female Angel. However, given that he's had other relationships with women in the past, and that he initially strongly denies having any interest in Angel, he may not be a reliable witness regarding his own inclinations.
• Manly Gay: And he knows it.
• Nice Guy: Jerzy seemingly tries to be nice to everyone, at least to their faces. He may occasionally overdo this, as when he keeps trying to cheer Angel up when it might be more helpful simply to tell Angel to snap out of a ridiculous moody sulk.
• No Bisexuals: Jerzy directly invokes the trope when he says "Bi today, gay tomorrow." He really should know better.
• Older Than They Look: Only a little, but... Readers probably all assumed that Jerzy, like most of the cast, was somewhere in his 20s. However, late in the comic’s run, the adult Jaxon showed up and turned out to be Jerzy’s godson. The writer has admitted that she didn’t think about this much, but that it logically places Jerzy well into his 30s.
• Only Sane Man: Jerzy finds himself in this position, explaining to Andy that asking gay men for dating advice regarding Ruby is probably a bad idea while also giving Dillon a small dose of reality. Unfortunately, his sanity isn't reliable; his relationship with Angel shows far less rational judgement.
• Straight Gay: Certainly by contrast with Dillon. Jerzy is open about his sexuality, but shows few camp mannerisms (as well as working in construction and driving a pickup truck).

Minew

"Minew!"

Ruby's pet kitten, sold to her by Richie. Ruby doesn't always feel able to talk to the other human characters, and Minew seems to be a good listener. With Ruby often carrying him around with her, Minew heads into Animal Companion territory.

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• Bilingual Bonus: Amber suggests the name "Minew". "Minou" (pronounced "Me new") is a French Canadian term that means "kitty." It also seems to match the noise that Minew most often makes.
• Cute Kitten: Minew's cuteness is originally mostly an Informed Attribute — he just sits there — but he does eventually display considerable amounts. And even before then, the chance to pet him can instantly suppress Ruby's short temper.
• Pokémon Speak: Minew's vocalizations are always rendered as just "minew". As this isn't a talking-animal comic, he's obviously simply making small cat noises — but Ruby often treats him as having said something coherent. She's using him as a sounding-board, of course.

Ray

"I want to look into someone's eyes and instill powerful emotions."

An old school friend of Dillon's who is retiring from professional sports and looking to become an actor. Ray turns up in Montreal to ask Dillon for tips and lessons and to chase work. (He seems to share some of the widespread and peculiar tendency to hero-worship Dillon.) He was actually Dillon's first big crush at school, but on his first appearance, he identifies as entirely straight, and has never realized that Dillon is gay.

At that point, he's relaxed enough about his sexual identity to act gay for a moment when he has cause, but feels the need for a drink before he kisses Dillon in the course of an acting lesson; discovering that Dillon is gay, and that he himself may have some ambiguous feelings, is naturally confusing for him. Later, he becomes more relaxed about his bisexuality, in a very confused way. He also starts dating Amber, who thinks that this may be a serious relationship.

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• All Gays Love Theater: When he first appears, Ray appears to be straight (and in fact a jock). Then he declares the intention to becomes an actor. Shortly afterward, he turns out to be a latent bisexual. The two things aren't explicitly linked...
• Ambiguously Bi: For a while, at least. Ray self-identifies as straight until a passionate kiss from Dillon gives him confusing feelings. He initially worries that he may somehow suddenly have become gay, but Dillon reassures him that he isn't, though he may have bisexual tendencies. Later, he comes to accept this side of himself, in a way — though he still thinks of himself as "straight", putting himself in more of a Transparent Closet.
• Boyfriend Bluff: Ray plays the gay boyfriend for a moment on his first present-day appearance in the comic, to help Dillon get away from a girl who's trying to flirt with him, because he can see that Dillon isn't interested. This is somewhat confusing for Dillon.
• Career-Ending Injury: Ray is quitting his career in "hockey" (probably ice hockey, this being Canada) due to a knee injury. He doesn't seem to be suffering much Angst over this; either he's had time to get used to the idea, or he's been bitten hard by the acting bug.
• The Ditz: Ray doesn't look like a Dumb Jock, and sometimes seems quite alert, but he never notices that Dillon is gay until Dillon tells him, is totally unaware of his own bisexual tendencies until Dillon kisses him, and even once he knows that Dillon is gay, apparently fails to guess that Dillon is using acting lessons as an excuse to kiss him again, or to notice that Ruby is sneaking pictures. Nor does he ask why "acting lessons" have to feature extensive tongue-work. Then he falls for Nathan's dubious and obvious seduction tactics, to an extent that makes him look dumb as a rock.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Ray initially believes that Dillon is straight, and is rather easily accidentally convinced that he's a successful ladies' man. Dillon goes to some effort to Maintain the Lie until his conscience, reinforced by Ruby's comments, begins to trouble him.
• Lovable Jock: Ray has a career in sports and a lot of the mannerisms of a jock, but he's pleasant enough as a person (and Dillon is quite infatuated with him). He also handles the discovery that Dillon is gay better than a typical Jerk Jock would.
• Old Friend: Ray and Dillon were evidently fairly close at school, though not close enough for Ray to have realized that Dillon was gay. (Dillon does seem to have been quite slow to accept the fact himself.)
• Transparent Closet: Ray turns out to be quite willing to have gay sex — provided that he and the other guy both identify as straight, so he can label it "being on the down low".

Minor Characters, Crossover Guest Stars, and Characters With a Larger Role Elsewhere

Felicia

"YES! YES! YES!"

Jerzy's sister, who shares his apartment (next door to Dillon and Amber's). The other cast members all seem to like her.

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• The Ghost: She's periodically mentioned, and heard at least once, but the readers are never allowed to see her.

Helena

"Not the first time, probably not the last."

Nathan's secretary or PA.

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• Beleaguered Assistant: Helena is used to being called out late at night to deliver a stack of documents to Nathan's apartment, and on occasion, has to keep talking over the sound of her boss exploiting the Casting Couch.

Jacob

"Someone wants, like, a gadjillion crickets!"

Richie's kid stepbrother, who Richie employs in his pet shop. On his first appearance, Jacob inveigles Dillon into doing his job for him, and temporarily loses that job as a result.

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Jacob is loud, sometimes obnoxious, and manipulative, and tries to avoid some of his duties in the shop. However, Richie is stuck with him, as he runs to his mother (Richie's stepmother) when Richie tries to fire him, and she orders Richie to take Jacob back. Richie is apparently too spineless to stand up to her.
• Creepy Child: His repeated compliments towards Dillon (which he uses to manipulate Dillon into doing his job) are rather creepy. At other times, he merely displays a childish lack of social graces, for example talking loudly about Richie "loving Angel."
• George Jetson Job Security: So far, Jacob has been fired for blatant incompetence, reinstated, fired again for being childishly annoying, and instantly reinstated again. Apparently, his mother won't let Richie get rid of Jacob from the shop.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Used by this cute (if rather creepy) kid here.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Present in an obnoxious and limited form.
  • Jacob not only manipulates Dillon through cuteness and flattery, but seems to recognise Dillon's attraction to Richie well enough to exploit it — although he seems to think of it in terms of manly comradeship rather than sexual attraction, as he assumes that Ruby is Dillon's girl and doesn't understand when Dillon talks about "hitting on" Richie.
  • Later, he guesses correctly and remarkably quickly that Richie's blushes are caused by Richie fancying Angel — although he doesn't understand Angel's gender fluidity, and isn't wise enough to keep quiet about what he's guessed.

Jaxon

"I was asking Jerzy to be best man for my wedding..."

Jerzy's godson, who shows up to facilitate a plot point late in the comic's run.

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• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Before Dillon knows who he is, just seeing him talking to Jerzy triggers Dillon's jealousy — and perhaps some twinges of sexual attraction.

Nathan

"Don't be silly! I'm not gay! That's why I have you wear the wig!"

Nathan Horn is a lecherous producer who is first seen in Ménage à 3, trying to exploit Amber and Dillon; he ends up giving them an apartment. He's definitely at least bisexual, whatever he says. He subsequently shows up in Sticky Dilly Buns, as he has a business connection to the productions in which Dillon and Amber are working, and he also still has a personal interest in Dillon. He then switches his primary interest to Ray.

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• Carpet of Virility: A fairly minor case, but Nathan is one of the few guys in the comic with significant chest hair.
• Casting Couch: His seduction method of choice, it seems. The effectiveness of this strategy is sometimes undermined by his desperation.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He wouldn't actually want to traumatize real twin sisters by getting them to enact his Twincest fantasy — so he goes to some lengths to get Amber and Dillon to fake it.
• Hanlon's Razor: It's hard to tell if Nathan is evil, moronic, or simply insane, but he is perhaps the most romantically toxic character to grace the setting.^note Yvan in Ménage à 3 might challenge him, but Yvan is sexually unsuccessful whereas Nathan gets laid. Case in point: his "explanation" for cheating on Dillon and Amber and his wife all at the same time, to say nothing about his "explanation" about how he's not gay or bisexual, despite starting each day out by having anal sex with one of his male subordinates.
• Jerkass: His appearances tend to involve a string of minor but slimy acts of exploitation and self-deceit.
• Meaningful Name: A sleazy, lecherous producer named Horn? Rather appropriate, wouldn't you say?
• Sugar Daddy: Exactly what Amber refers to Nathan as having been to her in their initial relationship. How much she extracted from him apart from acting jobs and eventually the apartment is unclear.
• Transparent Closet: He has Dillon dress in drag before they have sex, therefore it's totally not gay, honest. Also, he claims that "straight married men have secret gay sex all the time. It's called 'being on the down low'. Saw it on Oprah." Dillon is actually convinced by this, believing if it was on Oprah then it must be true.

Richie

"I can't cover for you every day, Jacob!"

The manager at the pet store where Jacob (his kid stepbrother) and later Angel work. A good-looking guy (making him the subject of at least casual passing interest from both Dillon and Angel), and a enough of a salesman to convince Ruby to buy Minew despite Ruby's restricted finances. Other times, he's less self-assured.

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• Extreme Doormat: It may only be in one respect, but anyway — although he's a grown man, Richie is apparently incapable of standing up to his stepmother over her demands that he employ Jacob in the shop.
• Luminescent Blush: The combination of his confusion over his attraction to the gender-fluid Angel with Jacob's blundering oblivious comments causes Richie to blush quite a lot at times.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Richie suffers from a slightly unusual case regarding Angel. He's evidently heterosexual, and he knows that Angel is anatomically female. However, when he first gets to know her, she presents a masculine aspect, and he has no problem with her. Then she comes in for work in a dress, presenting as an attractive woman, and he suddenly responds to this — and is flustered and confused by the fact. They eventually start dating (with Angel presenting as female when they’re out together), so Richie evidently gets over his issues.

For Erik, Gary, Jordan, Jung, Matt, and Zii, see the characters page for Ménage à 3.

For Julian and Ramona, see the characters page for Pixie Trix Comix.

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