Runaway to the Stars: Page 256
Posted on March 24, 2026 by Jay Eaton

Talita's always so nervous to meet new people, better to just rip the band-aid off for her, right? They'll all be flocking together like birds of a feather in no time!

Runaway to the Stars is crowdfunding to become a printed book this April! Click here to be notified on launch!

Transcript

As she is walking away, Mel pops around the corner of the hallway, waving for her attention.

Mel: Talita, could you come here for a moment?

Talita shrinks against the wall, grinning nervously.

Talita: I s-should really get going, I'm–

Mel walks up to her, beaming with excitement.

Mel: Starting next week, that's your new outdoors crew! You'll be managing other centaurs‼ Isn't that exciting⁇ I've got a meeting to catch. Introduce yourself!

They walk off, back into the plant.

Talita: Mel, wait. I–

She stops, frozen in pose grasping towards Mel. The centaurs are approaching her.

Runaway to the Stars: Page 256
Posted on March 24, 2026 by Jay Eaton

Talita's always so nervous to meet new people, better to just rip the band-aid off for her, right? They'll all be flocking together like birds of a feather in no time!

Runaway to the Stars is crowdfunding to become a printed book this April! Click here to be notified on launch!

Transcript

As she is walking away, Mel pops around the corner of the hallway, waving for her attention.

Mel: Talita, could you come here for a moment?

Talita shrinks against the wall, grinning nervously.

Talita: I s-should really get going, I'm–

Mel walks up to her, beaming with excitement.

Mel: Starting next week, that's your new outdoors crew! You'll be managing other centaurs‼ Isn't that exciting⁇ I've got a meeting to catch. Introduce yourself!

They walk off, back into the plant.

Talita: Mel, wait. I–

She stops, frozen in pose grasping towards Mel. The centaurs are approaching her.

206 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 256”

  1. 40

    PRAYING to GOD that the centaurs are EXTREMELY UNDERSTANDING or im gonna FREAK OUT AND DIE

  2. Enif

    I wonder if centaurs have the same neuro wiring that creates the uncanny valley effect in humans. If so I could totally imagine poor Talita trigging that all the time in the new centaurs because she likely moves her body and face in different ways due to being raised around humans. Imagine seeing a person and at first glance everything looks normal but then you go to talk to them and they’re moving and talking all weird, their facial expressions are all wrong and they’re standing in an unusual way for an adult. You go to shake their hand and they hold up their elbow or something. You are utterly baffled by this person you apparently going to be working under for the next few months/year.

  3. MissZena

    Mel is such a good example of “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and that’s what makes them difficult to outright HATE compared to someone like Adam who is just outright awful (at least imo)
    Mel isn’t doing this out of spite or an attempt to be meanspirited like Adam did, they genuinely think this is “what’s best”, but are too caught up in making things work out like the ending of a hallmark movie that they don’t realize what they’re doing is more harmful than good
    Too caught up on the happily ever after they conjured in their brain where they can make everyone happy to focus on the reality that what they’re doing is causing discomfort and distress in the people they care about
    It’s such an interesting direction for their character and I want to gnaw on it <3

  4. Gonglariot

    Putting aside the emotional distress and lack of empathy on Mel’s part (which is still messed up), this is still INSANELY unprofessional. They didn’t give Talita any prep or warning about this, no possible training since she never grew up around other centaurs and barely interacted with them in all 3 decades of her life, and I bet you they didnt even give the other centaurs a heads up that Talita is a unique case and to at least be patient with her or anything like that, just “You all are the same species so clearly if I just throw you all into the same room it will be just happy times and kumbaya songs all around!” This is going to be a disaster and effect so many people in potentially very negative ways that I would be surprised if Mel kept their career after this let alone their job.

  5. Gar G

    Poor girl looks so flustered…

    And she can barely control these humans, you KNOW these centaurs aren’t going to respect her!

    She’s an outsider, worse than that, she’s a clanless, and the thought of their matriarch having to take orders from her?
    We’ll see how things go…

  6. NightOwl

    This is framed like a horror movie and I freaking *love it*.

  7. Rad Internet Stranger

    Oh Mel, you’re so terrible with this, well meaning but absolutely terrible..

  8. HostileSyntheticOrganism

    oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  9. Gheesfellow

    *Boss music kicks in, but you’re a centaur so it’s x4 louder*

  10. HDrer

    I feel like this whole centaur outdoors crew is going to end in the larvae getting crushed or suffocated. Which is murder, which is just not going to go unnoticed, and the clan will blame Talita, because she was supposed to do something to prevent that…
    Talita would NOT survive in prison (do they have prisons for different species? I feel like she would just go to a human prison.)

    1. hurgaburga

      i mean… they could just… not let the matriarch do outdoor work since all the grubs are on her. and at least the older kids in the clan should be able to follow instructions to you know. not DIEwq

    2. c Senaru

      I’m at least fairly sure the Matriarch isn’t going to be working alongside her workers? If she currently has larva on her right now as some commenters pointed out based on the shapes under her cloak, it’s even less likely she would be doing that. She’s their leader, you know? I would have to go back and look at the centaur page on their social behavior stuff but I feel like she’d be more of, idk, stays at the base and manages her clan? Like, unless someone grabbed one of the larva off of her (How?) there’s no situation where they’d be in danger. Other temps have brought their kids too, and they were okay as far as we know. I don’t think this Matriarch would put her babies in danger like that, it’d be really foolish and nonsensical.

    3. halley

      i don’t think they would consider that murder. if i’m remembering correctly, centaurs don’t consider larvae to be people until after they pupate. they’d be pissed, sure, but it wouldn’t be murder to them i think

  11. 10Person

    For some reason I can’t help but imagine the new centaur temps looking at Mel and questioning whether this is actually the guy in charge of the whole thing or if they’re the local fool screwing with them for comedic purposes.

    Like how smiling too much is associated with foolishness in Russian culture IRL.

  12. Egg

    God this is such a horrible situation for everyone except Mel who gets to just leave. I hope the new centaur workers will be able to tell that talita isn’t trying to offend them by being so avoidant but also I would not blame them if they assume the worst considering they situation they got dropped into and the likely misinfo Mel gave them about Talita

    1. aster

      not to mention how they’ll likely completely misread her facial expressions and mannerisms creating more confusion and miscommunication 🙁

  13. 00Venator

    Uh oh

  14. milk4evertoasted

    OHH SHIIII… I SAW THIS BEING DRAWN ON STREAM!!

  15. furiousfran

    …well on the bright side, at least the centaur kids aren’t there to ask her the sort of awkward questions kids love to ask

    1. Jubjub bird

      Maybe centaur children are different…
      (they definitely aren’t)

    2. AceiestArtist

      …Do the centaur children even speak English yet?

  16. cypr

    gorgeous perspective on this page! talita is going to have a panic attack .

  17. cptnqusr

    “it’s me, santa claus! your present this year is additional social anxiety ok bye!”

  18. Calcifer

    I will repeat that Mel should NOT look so endearing when they’re being such a fool. Look at that damn face.
    This just makes me think about when Talita leaves (to the stars, perhaps?) Mel is gonna have NO CLUE what happened. As much as we clown on them, they legit believe what they’re doing is in Talita’s best interests, and that kinda breaks my heart. To be clear, they’ve let her down so SO many times, both as a guardian and as a boss, but just imagining how lost and confused they’ll be when Talita peaces out is kinda sad, lmao. Their dense ass is gonna have no idea.

    1. halley

      nothing worse than someone you trust hurting you so badly without even noticing </3

    2. Ruby

      The fatal recipe of obliviousness and power imbalance.

  19. TeethBurglar

    Mel after this will be posting on the AmITheAsshole Megaform like
    “Am I (65HN) the asshole for hiring centaurs so my foster kid (33CF) can better learn about her culture and be respected in the work place without telling her?”

    1. Alternate

      Wow you really put it in the perfect tone/wording of ‘I genuinely thought this was a good idea, I had such good intentions’. But it’s inevitably like ‘oh MAN Mel you REALLY were THE asshole, you did NOT consider this hard enough’

    2. milk4evertoasted

      wish i could like this comment lol

    3. halley

      oh you nailed the “i’m obviously right, why are you mad at me” tone

  20. Lettuce Vervain

    literally the only thing i can possibly say is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

  21. Jackie

    Ooough
    Really hoping these centaurs are at least nice

  22. omittedharpy

    These last few pages have unfortunately been a huge boon to my collection of Talita Faces, i’m so so sorry my girl

  23. hessian

    girl who is clearly so excited

  24. RareBird

    I deeply love the framing of the last panel, and the feeling of the other centaur(s) approaching making Talita feel so small.

  25. 10Person

    I swear Jay how do you keep up with this update schedule? Like this updates more often than many comics with much more stylized art styles despite bring closer to the realistic end of comics than the stylized one.

    1. DerangedTriangle

      They’ve got a massive backlog I think

    2. HAL9000

      iirc they have predrawn most of the pages before uploading here, as in the comic was half done before it ever got shown

    3. Muse

      they only started posting them when the comic was half drawn, and when they were unable to draw, they slowed down/stopped posting pages so that way they wouldn’t chew through their buffer!

  26. halley

    huge bummer that mel pulls this shit w nothing but love in their heart

    1. bug

      yea real honestly

  27. jasper

    Ohh this is going to be heartbreaking. Way to make Talita feel like an outsider among her own species AND outside of it. My heart hurts for her.

  28. mustarjil

    [cheevwut’s voice] haw haw.

    1. the Inmara

      This

    2. foca

      exactly how i’m feeling

  29. Storm

    Ooohh noooo poor Talita but also yay I’m excited to meet the centaurs lol

  30. Imp!

    Mel looks so cute in panel 4 but unfortunately I Hate Them

  31. Bravo

    Mel, you have decent intentions but I’d put you in an airlock without a suit over this.
    Jesus, the far future equivalent of Ask A Manager would be having a stroke and the commentariat would be up in arms.

  32. Immersia

    I’m torn between being annoyed at Mel and my curiosity about the new temps…

  33. Oberon

    1 week in ye stocks + rotten tomatoes for mel

    1. JoB

      … can we substitute five zucchini for every tomato? Bit of an issue with local availabilities, y’know …

      1. Oberon

        Right, right, of course..
        1 week in ye stocks + mushy zucchini for mel

        1. JoB

          If I may make another suggestion …

  34. Cobbington

    surely this can only go well, right y’all

  35. 1d4-nadg

    Mel, may you algae bread never rise, your shoes never quite fit, and your best employee give in her two week notice and calmly leave for other stars

    1. tyrone

      Mel…So completely ignorant of everything amiss around them that’s otherwise blatantly obvious. A true middle-management type, we have all met.

      To add insult to injury they only fall up the corporate ladder while the overlooked just keeps on like a drone with dead eyes or they quit fast.

    2. zims

      Somehow I doubt the 2-week notice is going to happen, and her leaving for the stars will probably be a panic-fest.

      1. 1d4-nadg

        Yeah it’s not called “politely inform everyone of your departure before walking away to the stars”

  36. beth

    Dang Mel, you really don’t know Tal at all.

  37. F657

    You are now at comic #11111111 in binary

    1. F657

      My bad, #100000000,
      The above is 255

  38. Half Phased

    I do have to wonder, did Calcery see this coming? Even if Cal didn’t have access to Mel’s files and see that a centaur temp crew was Mel’s solution, I have to wonder if they saw Mel doing something like this to Talita and that’s why they tried to convince Talita to leave. Before something like this happened.

    1. Vinemaple

      Calcery’s the one who said “I’m not sure Mel is EVER listening.” Jay says Calcery’s beef with Mel will remain unexplored, but it’s a fair assumption that Cal at very least experienced similar treatment.

  39. Silent Lurker

    “I’ve got a meeting to catch.” WITH THESE HANDS MEL >:( >:( >:(

  40. Jason Myers

    AND THEN THEY JUST LEAVE HER THERE. TO INTRODUCE HERSELF. ZOOMS AWAY AND DOESN’T EVEN ASK HER IF SHE’S OKAY WITH THIS. I’m telling the ‘talita rude’ crowd now, bugger off omfg, Mel is committing microaggressions.

    1. fluffy

      At this point they’ve expanded quite a bit beyond “micro.”

      1. Jason Myers

        You’re so right, I’m not being aggressive enough about this. FUCK MEL, and the spaceship they rode in on, GET THEM FIRED!!!

    2. A Ninny Mouse

      REAL!!! its mind boggling to me that people are blaming talita for reacting badly to this and even saying/implying she’s as bad as the humans who mistreated her when MEL made the racist assumption she’d get along with complete strangers because they’re all the same species.

      and considering the fact talita mentioned chatting with other centaurs before, im 100% sure shes only reacting this badly because mel deliberately kept her in the dark. had she been informed, even if she would still be uncomfortable it wouldn’t be this bad.

    3. Muse

      talita is being a LITTLE rude, in the sense that the new centaurs definitely see her just being all weird and flighty around them and giving them weird looks for no discernible reason, but mel being a LOTTLE rude is definitely more pressing in this situation lmao, like if it weren’t for them, talita wouldn’t be being unintentionally rude to the centaurs. definitely can’t blame her for not perfectly accommodating a situation she was forced into, and people who insist she should are definitely a bit off the mark.

  41. purrs

    Oh, Talita. You have got to quit your job, Talita.

  42. Wesmikeline

    Painfully real.

  43. Vinemaple

    Recalling Mel to Nexus Jovia IMMEDIATELY and enrolling them in MANDATORY remedial sensitivity, ethics, and crew-resource-management classes.

    1. Vinemaple

      I am coping by imagining Mel stuck in Nexus Jovia going through weeks and weeks of sensitivity training: bored, humiliated, and confused, FAILING the evaluation on a stars-damned sensitivity-training test, and having to take the class AGAIN, still not understanding why, until finally after failing both the sensitivity again, AND the crew resource management trainings, they have to go to a psychological evaluation… all the while with the prospect of demotion or firing over their head. And maybe, one day, there’s a breakthrough, and Mel realizes what they’ve been doing to people for decades, and maybe THAT will be worse for them than any physical pain we can imagine, but at the same time, there’s hope for them as well, a light at the end of the tunnel for them and everyone they’ve hurt. Not “fixing” all of it, but maybe closure, and the opportunity to start healing.

      1. Jason Myers

        I think you hit the core of what I wanna feed into people with an iv drip: people like Mel (and worse people ofc) need to be humiliated- but only so that they can accept their own humility and genuinely grow from the experience. What you’re describing is the exact path to growth I want a character like Mel to go through!!

        1. Vinemaple

          Thank you! I’m so relieved someone agrees!

  44. Quad

    AND I almost forgot, if this clan is gonna be working OUTDOORS (which I doubt they’ve done before), they’re going to need their own exosuits, and Talita would prolly have to make them! Nerve-wracking in so many ways!

    1. Daedalus

      Space faring centaurs might have their own suits already. Talita had to make her own because there aren’t many centaurs in human space, but centaurs from the homeworld could probably just buy their own.

    2. Thisfox

      I find it incredibly hard to believe that a space-faring race (who have definitely been confirmed spacefaring both by Word Of God and by the centaur-made-and-owned ship that Bip flew in on) have no suits and training of their own. I’m surprised everyone keeps saying Talita will have to (do the space equivalent of) hand-sew them spacesuits. It seems to me, they would have some space experience already of some sort or another, they’re not herdbeasts kidnapped from a steppe on their homeplanet, and it’s somewhat racist to think that they are.

      1. Comito

        Isn’t the Runaway a human-made ship, just modified for centaurs?

      2. Archieve

        My personal fear that Talita is expected to make and repair Centaur customized items on request for everyone (not necessarily just suits) comes from Dirtball management being sooo cheap. Talita had to research and design all her own things with no outside help, (the bug farm, suit, exercise equipment, etc) and that I worry will be the biggest guilt trip to make it hard for Talita to resign, “you can’t leave, your new temps are depending on you! nobody else can take your place!” especially if her in house skills were used as a selling point for the Centaur clan.

        1. Archieve

          To clarify, the clan might be knowledgeable of space travel but Talita is an engineer with specialized knowledge that Mel likely promised to them as part of their employment accommodations.

      3. austroraptor

        thank you for saying this oh my goddd. just because spacefaring centaurs are rare (largely due to lack of dietary support systems) doesn’t mean the ones who ARE are all clueless and stupid and exploited. just because there aren’t any widely-available centaur gear on the market doesn’t mean that two different centaurs… could independently develop spacesuits… because they both live and work in space… they’re clearly FULLY capable of retrofitting other ships to suit them (ex. the runaway) so I really don’t see why so many people are expecting them to be Literally Clueless with no idea what they’re even doing here. also there’s some people who seem to think they’re going to be?? full on violent?? or OKAY with potential fatalities because “well they kill their larvae sometimes so if someone dies due to fucking around on the job they’ll think it’s fine because clearly they were a liability.” like I’m sorry but saying you hope adam gets gored by one of the new centaur temps is not the woke take you think it is. they’re not animals.

        1. HAL9000

          yeah like Talita making her own spacesuit doesn’t mean centaurs don’t have spacesuits, it means Talita doesn’t know how to even begin approaching Centaur culture to see if they do. she doesn’t speak any centaur languages, she doesn’t read any, only a few are net-documented so she cant use translators, and hell, maybe centaurs upload their schematics to niche centaur-exclusive webforums or something. i wouldnt know how to even begin, say, making a woven blanket using methods from a small asian mountain tribe who speak a minority language, not because the tribe doesnt have blankets, but because i can’t access that information.
          this is a seemingly successful clan. they presumably know how to read, speak english, etc to get this far, they have also likely interacted with previous jobs for humans and other aliens and know how limited their accomodations can be, they know what they signed up for, so presumably they have already forseen issues like “do we have exosuits” and solved that themselves

        2. Vinemaple

          I think an experienced clan of Centaur salvagers is the best possible scenario here, people who know what they’re doing, and therefore have enough value to retain agency under Mel, and to figure things out for themselves. A clan, maybe, who has worked as temps for non-Centaurs before…

        3. Archieve

          I personally dont expect the clan to be clueless but I do at this point expect that Mel made them promises that depend on Talita the engineer remaining on dirtball. Imagine a scenario with human temps taking a job that advertises a five star chef only to come and realize the worker who was previously trained as a chef never agreed to cook for everyone else, that’s the sort of situation it seems Mel has likely put Talita in. Worry is not with the clans incompetence, its with Mels.

        4. Skadoosh

          A centaur clan wouldn’t even need to design their own spacesuits, they could just hire someone.
          I personally hope Adam gets sued by the clan, because it would be appropriate consequences for his actions and the exact opposite of what he would expect from centaurs, making it even more hilarious.

      4. guest

        fr a lot of the discussion about the new temps seems to expect them to be unequipped and clueless about navigating any part of interstellar life and to be dumb animals who will become furious at Talita if she makes a humanlike expression at them

      5. Skadoosh

        The question is, does whatever EVA gear they have fit the safety regulations this specific company presumably has to protect them from lawsuits in case someone gets injured? (Color, material, radiation shielding, how many minutes of oxygen the tank holds, battery charge, damage resistance, harness attachment, how easy it would be to remove or put on in an emergency, compatibility with the refueling vehicles.) Though maybe they just need TÜV stickers and we’re all worrying about nothing.

        1. JoB

          > maybe they just need TÜV stickers

          “Eh, CE oughta do as well.” [/Ixion]

    3. eden

      yeah, and it’s not that I expect centuars to have NEVER developed their own suits over the last eighty years, i’m just saying if the actual availability for things like food is so scarce to the point most centuars who travel outworld have to eat exclusively printer meat and all their ships are customized avian and human ships, and centuars are commonly exploited for their labor in space, then I doubt those centuar suits would be readily available or financially accessible either.

  45. Claire

    “I have a meeting to catch” MEL WHY IS THIS NOT YOUR MEETING TO CACH AAAAAA

  46. bramble

    Talita needs to get off-planet like yesterday… although since she only seems to have confided in Idrisah and Gillie about Mel’s bullshit and THEY’RE leaving too, I’m concerned that whatever internal investigation follows Talita going AWOL with a ship that wasn’t supposed to be functional won’t be able to find anyone who can testify to how extremely hard Mel’s mismanagement fucked the operation over. Maybe if someone thinks to call Cal?

    1. Archieve

      Given how lax everyone on Dirtball is and that the vessel has already been approved and acknowledged, if there are any questions it will hopefully be on management to explain where their vessel came from and be their fault when they cant give clear answers.

  47. Ruby

    Nit the JoJo panel!

  48. Quad

    OH…. TALITA…. D:
    Mel’s behavior here makes me ache. They KNOW how Talita expresses and is getting every signal that she’s not comfortable right now, and still they just bulldoze over her because they’re SO SURE Talita will be as stoked about this as Mel thinks she will. I suspect they might be getting a rude awakening soon…
    I am so so excited to see the centaurs talking though!!! I wonder if they might try to use some homeplanet languages with her.

  49. Mr. Skeleton

    I assume the first thing that’s gonna happen is the new hire is going to speak to Talita in their own language assuming she knows it and Talita will have to explain they she doesn’t speak it.

    1. Claire

      Im so, so hoping that they say something like, “This is very clearly not what we signed up for. Why dont you tell us whats REALLY going on.”

    2. JoB

      Considering that meeting language barriers should be a somewhat frequent thing for centaurs (because meetings between nomadic and settled clans on their home planet), that’d be a rather daring assumption …

      1. Jason Myers

        I mean, Talita has multiple times stated (in q&a and in canon) that when Centaurs /can/ speak English, they ask her about her Clan status, etc, implying that, well,,,, yeah, Centaurs are assuming she can speak their language on a fairly regular basis. They probably assume at minimum she speaks the language from their planet, and multi-lingual individuals may even try multiple dialects and languages before realising, oh, wait, /this Centaur speaks alien only???/. Like imagine meeting a human and the only languages they know ARE Tiiliitian, or the signing of Bugferrets, and cannot easily emote in a way that’s familiar to us- hell, Americans get weird about people from other cultures smiling less in the first place.

      2. Enai

        Yeah. I mean, some countries on earth have like 150 languages spoken (India, for instance) so Id ‘hazard the guess that the centaur home planet probably has more than one (1) language. Also probably several dialects that may or may not be intelligibile to speakers of other dialects of the same language. I’m German. Speak to me in a Hessian dialect and I’ll just stand there, thinking “those sure are some words. what do they mean?” Heck, speak to me in the local dialect where I f’ing grew up, and I’ll not understand a word, because my parents only taught me Hochdeutsch, the German equivalent of Received Pronounciation.
        .
        Also, Talita’s clothing alone gives away that she’s from a different culture than any centaur who grew up in a clan. They do _not_ wear stuff that looks like horse athleisure.

        1. halley

          horse athleisure <3

      3. halley

        i mean she’s ethnically a sunchaser, right? or, sunchaser-passing, or something. so if they speak the sunchaser language they might assume she does too and try it on her. otherwise yeah you’re right

  50. cain

    Mel has no right to look that cute while they’re acting like such a shithead.

    Jay, I’m angry and stressed and on the edge of my seat, which means you’re doing an awesome job. Talita I love youuuuuu

  51. Hunter

    And of course they immediately just LEAVE instead of smoothing things over AGH.

    But oh boy, what’re the newcomers going to say?

    1. Vinemaple

      I have hopes that Mel is rushing out of there because Verengt is already asking difficult questions, Mel is realizing that themself has screwed up, and is GTFO and using Talita as a sophont shield instead of taking responsibility, or even acknowledging it to themself.

  52. ilvos01

    I’ve decided I dislike Mel.

  53. ronan

    WHAT mel’s not even gonna stay with talita to help introduce her??? this would be a nightmare scenario for me and my situation isn’t anything like talita’s!! she looks so nervous and mel doesn’t even seem to notice :[

    1. bug

      ya!!

  54. AnormalADN

    The Talita plinko… Mel, what do you want her to tell them, “hi I was not informed you were coming so I apologize if anything is not ready yet”? that doesn’t look good on anyone lol (also scared of the possibility of a “oh the human crew was giving you racism problems, surely a centaur crew would never, right :)” from Mel)

    1. Jason Myers

      That’S WHAT I’M SAYINGGGG Talita has in the comic stated that Centaurs have been not great to her due to her clan-less status- just because they’re Centaurs too does NOT mean that Talita isn’t about to face a million hyper-specific microaggressions

  55. Redacted

    Why’s Mel pulling the Oingo Boingo Only A Lad pose in the last panel? Are they, perhaps, a little bit confused?

  56. Alternate

    ‘Comment moderation’ whats bein’ moderated for cause it feels like none of my comments are ever posted RIP. Is it cause I swear? I’ve seen swears…

    1. Jay Eaton

      I have to manually approve commenters with a new email+username combos, otherwise the comments would mostly be casino, cannabis, and porn ads. I don’t give a fuck about swearing, lol. Your comments from this email+username should post automatically now

      1. hurgaburga

        thank god for your diligence jay, otherwise i would have never scrolled past the transcript.

      2. Alternate

        Oh bless! Also heh. I always comb the comments for a Jay Original Comment. I got one woo! Even if it’s just tellin’ me the business. Love your work and thank you for lettin’ me know.

  57. Eux

    holy shit lmao. mel. MELLLLLLLLLLLLL. you CANT DO THIS SHIT MEL Oh god. i really suspect cheevwut is going to be like “haw haw i saw that coming” when talita GTFOs. what a rough time. i hope the centaur clan is able to….idk…at least see that Talita’s Having A Bad Time, and NOT Make It Worse

    1. Vinemaple

      I keep imagining Cheevwut posting regular updates about all of this, on the Tiiliitan version of “the Community Drama section of Megaforum.”

      1. Archieve

        Maybe Cheevut will get to see the likely blowup between managers as they have to deal with the sudden resignation of their only engineer who can make Centaur customized items. These temps were only possible to hire after Talita did all the inital designs to better survive herself, I doubt Mel would have hired a whole clan if they didn’t take Talitas free labour for granted.

        1. Vinemaple

          Oh, the idea of Ohwitiil going full blast on the verbal abuse at Mel, over something like that, is… intriguing.

  58. HAL9000

    mel what the fuck. how in any hell did you end up as a manager.

    1. JoB

      Never had any issues in doing an absolutely stellar job there.
      Just read their quarterly reports (that they never had to ask for anyone’s feedback for).

    2. Vinemaple

      What JoB said (as Mel’s boss), alternately, why do you think Mel is manager of a place like Dirtball, instead of Ixion’s flagship industrial space station?

    3. HAL9000

      yeah actually on reflection ive had enough shit managers to know full well how they got the job. still. what the hell.

      1. Vinemaple

        As Gandalf once said, “This shit is incredibly stupid, though.”

  59. Undercooked Mothman

    Another person reducing her to her species, just like all the temps, except *this* one has the power to do something with it.

  60. Redacted

    Why would Mel do this? Are they stupid?

    1. T-Bird

      …a bit?

    2. Undercooked Mothman

      They have a lot of bad assumptions about both how people and how centaurs specifically work, which are combining to make a very bad decision here.

    3. Redacted

      Shoulda clarified, this is a reference to that one meme format that spawned from r/batmanarkham

      1. Lezzlebit

        Why did Fatman hit his head.is he stupid?

    4. Chase Wanderstar

      Yes.

  61. Lezzlebit

    I previously had said that “Talita could be handling this better, even if it’s a tough situation” and honestly I kinda disagree with that now LOL
    I guess it doesn’t help to AVOID them, but holy moly, she is not at all responsible for this mess and I don’t think it’s her responsibility to “handle it better” or to “stop being rude”. She’s just been thrown into this situation without any real care for her at all!! Bip, please fulfil the previous AI’s wishes and drive a frontloader through the admin wing..

    I honestly don’t even know what I’d do in this situation other than, well, Run Away… Where, you might ask? That’s a good question………..

    1. Archieve

      Mel is seriously setting Everyone up for failure here.

  62. Mica

    Oh Mel, not even an *introduction?*

    1. Eux

      ough yeah that’s a good point. what…kind of boss doesn’t do that lmao

      1. JoB

        Umh. Mine?

        Seriously, if I had a dime for every time I hear “now, how about everyone gives a short introduction for themselves?” … admittedly mainly for one-off meetings, but if I were the supervisor-to-be, I’d sorta expect to be invited to the first meeting with the applicant …

        1. halley

          they’re not even staying to facilitate that, though. they don’t have to literally say centaurs, this is talita, talita, this is centaurs. the issue (to me) is that they’re just dipping immediately

        2. Vinemaple

          I have a nasty feeling this is that bit at the end of that one Fawlty Towers episode, where Basil, having pissed off every single guest in the hotel, tells them, “You all deserve an explanation, and MY WIFE, OVER THERE, will give it to you,” then climbing into an outgoing laundry basket as the guests mob Sibyl.

  63. T-Bird

    I just hope the other centaurs will be kind to Talita. Surely they must realize how freaked out she is.

    And yes, I’m aware this is also a scary situation for the new outdoors crew, but at least they have each other.

    1. P2Mc28

      I don’t think what bits we’ve gathered from centaur culture are likely to veer towards kindness.

      I kinda suspect it’s going to be more of a “this is why we cull the unwanted.”

      1. blythe

        i would THINK the new temps arent going to implicitly tell their boss she shouldve died

      2. halley

        i don’t know if that’s a fair assessment. centaurs don’t have a taboo on infanticide and they don’t emote in a way that’s visually instinctively understandable to humans but that doesn’t mean they’re cold or discompassionate

  64. cvv

    is this talita’s combination nightmare and dream come true?

    1. Jason Myers

      Nightmare. Absolute nightmare horror *ree ree ree ree* the knife coming through the curtain scenario.

      1. JoB

        Then the knife starts to speak and says, “meet my friend, the space-ship-rending circular saw, sorry if it’s a tad pissed today!”

  65. ETG.Dinosaur

    I know Mel is being the worst her but look at panel 4!

    1. Lettuce Vervain

      mel IS the worst but they also use they/them!

      1. ETG.Dinosaur

        It was a misspelling of here, sorry

  66. Arcstone

    “if I harness my latent jedi powers and will the ceiling to collapse on us right this second, I might just get out of this.”

    1. HAL9000

      this is where we find out that this whole time this was just a really convulted star wars fancomic

      1. halley

        we have no proof to the contrary

    2. halley

      one of these days i’ll manifest psychic abilities to get out of bad conversations im sure of it. i just have to keep trying

      1. Vinemaple

        I’m tempted to try and turn that comment into a meme. I feel that so much.

        1. halley

          i’m honored…

  67. bryn

    F E A R

  68. Quinn

    Ohhhh my godddd MEL!!!!! They don’t even stick around to provide a bridge for Talita how are they doing even worse than I imagined!!! Good lord I can see why none of their kids talk to them 💀 godspeed Talita….

  69. Zuorai

    Can we bring the energy from Adam onto Mel. Obviously don’t spam Jay but I’m just saying

    1. JoB

      … energy? You mean, Adam falls off the ladder outside but Mel, calmly sitting in their meeting, hits the floor in his stead? :-3

      1. cain

        this is the best karma suggestion i’ve ever seen

  70. edenmachine5457

    .**FUUUUCK**

  71. Archieve

    I bet this Centaur clan was convinced to take this job in part because they were told there was another Centaur there who would be so happy to see them, gets along with everybody, and will personally see to any individual accommodation requests.

    1. blythe

      oh god youre right…this clan would probably feel more comfortable talking to talita vs anyone else in dirtball

      talita joining the unreachable management club /j

      also im assuming they must have their own exosuits?? from the companys view id think custom ppe might be a liability???

      1. Archieve

        Mel had no problem with Talita making all her own equipment and suit. Maybe this clan has theit own stuff but I won’t be surprised if they dont because Mel expects Talita to do it all since Dirtball doesn’t spend money unless it has to.

      2. Redacted

        “Wow, after being surrounded by aliens it sure is nice to work with another centaur-oh wait, she’s weird and off putting and obviously doesn’t like us for reasons we can’t possibly fathom. Great.” (I’m still choosing to giving the centaurs the benefit of the doubt, they couldn’t have possibly known what they were getting into)

        1. Archieve

          This is the workplace equivalent of a blind date where the matchmaker runs off after informing the unsuspecting party once their at the table.

  72. JoB

    Panel one Mel grew some extra inches of neck to pull off that “no hiding behind a corner for you!” scene.

    > better to just rip the band-aid off

    I’m tempted to apply that suggestion to a certain ‘stache – no, not mine – if those sparkles in panel four did not give me hope that the fuse is already lit and Mel will explode with sheer excitement …

    Heh. Mel, look back for a second. There’s a Chekhov’s “PERSONNEL EXIT” (stage way up, I guess) sign in panel one … 😉

    And still no indication whether the new temps even came with matching vacuum suits …

    1. Vinemaple

      All along we just thought Mel was just enby, now we find out they’ve modded themself into Professor Impossible… Got some real Professor Impossible vibes from the situation in that panel, too…

  73. Smooti

    It is astounding how, after years of a basically parental relationship followed by a supervisory one, that Mel knows so little about Talita and what she needs. Meanwhile Idrisah has known her for far less time and immediately clocked that Talita was freaked out about this development and why.

    I get why Mel’s kids don’t call

    1. Zuorai

      GOD YEAH THEY’RE SO DIVORCED

  74. un_pogaz

    And they just abandone her, alone, without any support and nor even trying to know if she was okay with that.
    Great. Wondefull.

    Of course Mel don’t see a problem here, since they live in their fantasy. What could be go wrong when you decide that the world is pink, and that everyone is holding hands and singing nursery rhymes.

    I feel like killing someone. Seriously, Mel is beyond redemption.

    1. Archieve

      Easy to live in fantasy land full time when you are in a space bubble were most people who have a problem with coworkers just grind their teeth until their contact is up I suppose.

  75. rain

    congratulations Mel! you made the last shoe drop for Talita to get the heck outta Dirtball. but don’t worry Mel, i’m sure you think you did everything you think Talita needed and that’s going to console you.
    *muffled screaming*

    1. Archieve

      As much as I want Talita leaving to be a wakeup call for Mel I’m sure they will just think of it as her being a flaky employee after almost a decade of good work history.

      1. Mica

        It’s possible we’ll get one of those delicious “Talita’s last nerve snaps” scenes we sometimes see in character AMAs, where she loses her cool and speaks truth to power in no uncertain terms…

        …But only time will tell! It would surely be satisfying, though.

        1. Vinemaple

          >ZOOM< "No, Mel, you're doing this WITH me. Don't you want to enjoy how fucking SURPRISED I am?"

        2. JoB

          > >ZOOM< "No, Mel, you're doing this WITH me."

          Matriarch: "Ah, I see that you are familiar with our culture’s ‘we’re faster than you!’ motto …”

  76. hurgaburga

    oh my god mel DID leave talita alone with all of them so she can “get to know them” me and archieve called it (two pages back) dear lord this is probably not gonna end well

    1. hurgaburga

      also ooh man jay the caption feels stupidly accurate to what mel’s thought process was when they did this. i can DEFINITELY understand now why their kids dont talk to them anymore.

    2. Archieve

      I hate being so right about this, Mel really is the worst here.

      1. Claire

        Sucks to be right. Gjob, i guess?

  77. Lilac

    I loovvvve the perspective on the last panel with the character obscured by the panel this comic comics so good ohhhhhh I love comics

  78. CameoAppearance

    Ohhhhhhh nooooooo

  79. Captain Confusion

    i am clinging to the naive hope that maybe the matriarch (or someone from the clan) will at least be nice and/or understanding

    1. Vinemaple

      Yeah, or at least go after Mel instead of Talita.

  80. pitviperofdoom

    HOLY SHIT THEY DON’T EVEN STAY TO SUPPORT HER. THEY JUST LEAVE.
    God, Mel has failed Talita in every possible way. I’m so angry.

    1. Alternate

      ‘introduce yourself’ did they even give the temps the lowdown of who Talita is or was THAT a surprise too…. Oughh,,, Mel you are nobodies favorite character (I mean maybe, some people love a person who fucks up).

    2. Archieve

      Mel managed to be worse then I expected here, they didn’t even stick around for Talita to “thank them”. It does fit the narrative that the Centaur Ttemps are there more for the good of the company then being a suprise for Talita though, this seems coded for work environments where upper managment spends big money on mandatory employee engagement workshops (that cut into lunch break) when all employees want is reasonable wages and competent managers.

      1. Redacted

        Idk about it necessarily being for the good of the company, they had to go way out of their way to upgrade the housing and add water loops and expand the centaur ag. It would have taken much less money and effort to just hire humans or avians again. Which makes it even worse than if it was impersonal imo, ‘cause at least then there’d be no baggage of all this being FOR Talita.

        1. Archieve

          Mel probably thinks Centaurs are a great investment because Talita is so easygoing, so all Centaurs must be along too with being stronger, so in Mels mind the inital structure costs will be worth it because the other Centaurs will “obviously” be greatful long term employees with fewer wages to pay and Talita will “ofcourse” design any and all nonstandard personal accommodations free of extra charge.

    3. JoB

      > Mel has failed Talita in every possible way.

      Dunno … there’s still no mention that they upgraded the contracts from “temp” to “permanent full-time”.

      1. HAL9000

        there’s been a LOT of money and time spent on this project though, so i imagine future plans are to keep exploiting centaur workers, whether on a permanently rotating temp scenario or hosting more permanent workers, who knows? no company would clear this even with mel’s hassling unless it had apparent long-term value (whether it actually would… ehhh…). centaurs are new on the space scene, and workplaces who can hire them are still relatively few and far between it seems, so to become one of those few looks good on paper and nets you a whole new worker pool

  81. K

    Oh lord this is like the worst case scenario. MEL you can’t just throw someone into the deep end like that. MEL!

  82. Evil Brynn

    Hopefully they’ll be friendly and won’t get freaked out by her 🙏🏻

  83. Chrysalis

    The PERSPECTIVE on this page. It manages to somehow make Talita look boxed in and terribly exposed at the same time. Like the very buildings and road markings are hunting her down. (But not fast enough to save her from this conversation)

    1. Vinemaple

      Peak Jay Eaton.

  84. creetur

    This is going to be painful for all involved, oh dear…

  85. Hubert

    That menacing last panel, I feel kind of bad for laughing.

  86. Tentament

    Grade A Talita expression in the second panel

  87. Liz

    I am so scared for Talita, I really hope that Mel gets a damn wakeup call and realize what they did.

    I’m also hoping that the centaurs will be understanding and friendly to Talita.

    1. Archieve

      I wouldnt be too hopeful. Mel has two bio kids who never call first, in an in character question, said it was Talitas fault she was having trouble as manager for not being more confident and clearly resents the last AI for quitting. Strong indicators Mel cannot handle being in the wrong. Ever.

  88. Accursed Dirt Boar

    Mel is gonna win the “does not not get it” award at this rate, like dog read the room

    1. DasGanon

      They’ve won that award for the past few years and it seems like they’re a shoe in for this year.

      1. hurgaburga

        likely innacurate. mel mentioned that their kids dont talk to them anymore and i think i can understand why if they consistently do stuff like this

    2. JoB

      > Mel is gonna win the “does not not get it” award

      I was going to joke “he’ll win the trophy but, of course, never get it”, but then I noticed the double negative … 😀

      Announcer: “And the winner is … my, surprise, same guy as last year. No, wait, the cue card pronounces them next year’s winner …”
      Competitors whispering amongst themselves: “Say, what’s their life expectancy again … ?”

      1. Undercooked Mothman

        Mel is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns

  89. Alternate

    OOOHHHH BOOOYYY. Damn did Mel come on stronger than I expected. Did they just RUN over there… Talita run, Talita also run. Idgaf who finds it rude. Get outta there! EE (Even tho I really wanna meet the temp crew too).

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