Humans in this setting have lots of non-invasive options for immunization treatments, not so much for centaurs. Stabby stabby.
Transcript
The doctor turns away from Talita to do something at the sink counter, and Talita begins to slide her legs off the operation table.
Dr. Henriques: Well, if you want your cycle to be more regular–
Talita: I know, I know.
The doctor turns around the points at Talita, who freezes.
Dr. Henriques: Hold still. One more.
Talita: Another??
Dr. Henriques: We’re finally getting you up to date.
She smiles and hold up another needle. Talita grimaces and grips her arm as the doctor administers another injection.
Talita: It's not like there's anyone here I could swap germs with…
Dr. Henriques: Orders from the top, Miss Dospaço.
The doctor covers the last injection site with a wad of gauze and tapes it down, tearing off the piece of tape with her thumb.
SFX: Riiip
Talita walks out of the pan-sophont operation room, gripping the injection sites on her right side while ducking under the rolling garage door.
Talita: Ow. I’m gonna be limping all day.
44 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 190”
eden
her fucking doctors office is in the goddamn garage
Jay Eaton
Well, it’s in the medical facility. But I suppose it is a garage for the medical forklift, which they need to lift her if she’s unconscious.
edenmachine5457
.oh my god i LOVE the perspective on the first panel!!!! it makes talita seem even bigger than she is, and highlights her total awkwardness as a 8-or-so foot tall hexapodal alien in a place with mostly people shaped like humans and birds. she’s bigger than anyone else at this place (minus bip, i guess?) and this panel really shows how she probably feels like she’s living in a dollhouse!
Joysweeper
I wonder if the centaurs we’re all sure are being brought in are gonna be expected to keep to something like Talita’s schedule and their workday isn’t designed around needing twelve hours of sleep.
Adrienne
Or worse (at least in Talita’s mind) she will now be required to work fewer hours 😱
Joysweeper
At least that would make planning to escape easier…
atriflemiffed
Ahh, Pan-Sophont Operations, also known as a lightly converted garage (with some vehicles still present). I love how scrunkly all of the industry on Dirtball is.
(Also, guest starring Talita’s arms to make large chunks of the audience swoon again)
Enai
So those fabulous gaucho pants are a skirt, hmm? Very nice. And I got my wish to see her outfit while she’s standing 🙂
JoB
(Doc’s skimping on the adhesive tape, that length wouldn’t keep the wad on me for long, and I’m not covered in feathers … or do they use a sci-fi 0.1c tape?)
Later, after Talita limped into the bar:
“Yeah, I never would’ve thought that those Space Pirates™ would ever come down to the surface to scour our slag field, but there I was …”
40
Jay you are an obnoxiously talented artist 😭. Drawing like an entire creature who is fully y’know not real but fully like plausible, drawing that consistently every single time; and then now drawing her at a funny angle with strong perspective very carefully getting off a weirdly shaped chair IS NUTS DUDE.
Sam
IKR!!! it’s why I love that this isn’t a daily upload, every time i want more i get to go admire how amazing the art is
kaittzie
I wonder how fast centaur antler grows? What kind of time skip can we measure from the assumed growth between last chapters length and this one? :3c
Imp!
I love how the *Riiip* is written, truly embodies the sound.
ilvos01
“Orders from the top” more like orders from Bip the superhacker.
Adrienne
More likely orders from Mel 😬
JoB
… with the help of a certain inbound workers’ union grilling him about a proper work environment, I suspect …
Lettuce Vervain
my guess is orders from mel! we’ve been watching the changes roll in, presumably for a new round of centaur temps.
Greebus
There could be a giant banner that says “Welcome New Centaurs!” and be Talita would be like, “welcome? But I’ve been here for ten years!”
HAL9000
at this point they could actually show up and Talita would be like “Huh, I’ve never seen this strain of GMH before!”
Vinemaple
Has anyone noticed how impressively long Talita’s antlers are getting? It must be at least a week later… and that climber’s chalk certainly seems effective!
TBH, I did not expect her antlers to get this long.
Apollo235
from this post it looks like they go from 0 to 100 in like 2 weeks, no stated numbers though, just an estimate, and an estimate for a normal yearly cycle at that
Apollo235
Wow i know how to comment
https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/667962256720527360/is-it-just-me-or-do-we-only-see-talita-with-fully?source=share
this is what i was referring to
Enai
Have you seen red deer? Their antlers are much, much bigger in relation to their body size and they grow in very fast. Apparently the grows works like in a tumour?
Enai
*growth, even. Never thought I coukd get a lisp in writing…
Peter Jensen
I was looking up how fast antlers grow on terrestrial wildlife, and it’s some truly impressive numbers. Elk antlers may grow up to an inch a day, and moose can add a whole pound of antler per day. Of course the biology isn’t necessarily comparable in any meaningful way, but for a creature of Talita’s size (in the range of a moose) it seems very reasonable to be able to grow the comparatively small antlers out in a matter of weeks.
Jay Eaton
Yeah, antlers are basically a tamed bone cancer. They grow in incredibly fast.
Fallingfeather
Oh man I didn’t even THINK of that as being another piece of evidence on the pile that they’re bringing centaurs in until I read the comments section. You are all so right.
Paroxysmall
drawing Talita from that angle in the first panel is really impressive, but if you block out her right hind leg she kinda looks like Pipimi
Ellindsey
Is that a forklift in the medical office?
I suppose they might need it if they have to get an unconscious centaur onto the table.
Septemberdale
Or an unconscious cetaecer. I don’t think it’d be easy for a doctor to lift one of those, and I think I remember from the office scene that a few work at Ixion.
Hunter
Her “cycle” as in Talita’s tusk-growth, I imagine.
But hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
Teod
Tusks != Antlers != Horns
Tusks are teeth.
Horns are permanent skull outgrowths..
Antlers grow and shed.
Teod
Wow, they have a loader in there. They really are prepared for everything. Nice to see, I guess.
Oodl
Forklift certified in case my giant patient faints while getting a shot : )
Stray Cat
…you know, now I’m glad I only get jabs in each arm whenever I get my shots.
Since the hints are piling on, I’m thinking that it’s only a matter of time before Talita – or someone else who isn’t already in the know about the “surprise” – begins to figure it out. She’s already figured out that something is up, but not quite the nature of that something, yet. To quote an old videogame, “two coincidences make a pattern”, and now we’ve had a lot more than two.
Smooti
“Not anyone here I could swap germs with”
“Orders from the top”
Oh yeah. They’re bringing a bunch of centaurs here.
kiwitruck
As a Brazilian Portuguese speaker, I think it could be approximated as dough-spa-so
It is “Do Espaço” mashed together, Wich literally means “from space”!
kiwitruck
sent it twice by accident, sorry 🙂
Vinemaple
Yes, it is. It’s in the short comic “Growth Chart.” It was given to her at the orphanage.
Claire
How is her surname pronounced phonetically? Is that dohs-pahh-so?
Elle
I think it’s Dohs-spoch-oh
kiwitruck
As a Brazilian Portuguese speaker, I think it could be approximated as dough-spa-so
It is “Do Espaço” mashed together, Wich literally means “from space”!
Claire
Oh, its brazilian portuguese? What a wonderful bit of context! Thank you!
Peter Jensen
Name origin lore:
https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/665992295229865984/does-talita-have-a-last-name