Runaway to the Stars: Page 227
Posted on November 20, 2025 by Jay Eaton

Generally it's inappropriate to ask your coworkers about their bodily functions, even if you think their seasonal face bones are cool...

Transcript

Yao: Oh, the velvet came off your antlers.

Talita looks down at Yao's snap-on antlers.

Talita: …Yeah?

Yao: Was it bloody and painful?

Talita pauses vacuuming and rubs her arm awkwardly.

Talita: Er… there’s… blood… But it doesn’t hurt when the skin comes off. After the bone finishes growing, there’s not really any pain receptors left.

Adam, who is standing to her left, looks up at her resentfully.

Runaway to the Stars: Page 227
Posted on November 20, 2025 by Jay Eaton

Generally it's inappropriate to ask your coworkers about their bodily functions, even if you think their seasonal face bones are cool...

Transcript

Yao: Oh, the velvet came off your antlers.

Talita looks down at Yao's snap-on antlers.

Talita: …Yeah?

Yao: Was it bloody and painful?

Talita pauses vacuuming and rubs her arm awkwardly.

Talita: Er… there’s… blood… But it doesn’t hurt when the skin comes off. After the bone finishes growing, there’s not really any pain receptors left.

Adam, who is standing to her left, looks up at her resentfully.

95 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 227”

  1. Storm

    God what bull is Adam about to say

  2. AmbroseTV

    those buttons on talita’s shirt are pretty small… i wonder if she has a tool to help with buttoning shirts, especially when she’s complained about tiny switches and grippy medicine caps

    1. Adrienne

      Maybe they’re snaps? Because that does look tedious…

      1. Peter Jensen

        Oooh, maybe the kind with magnets? They hold in place pretty well until pulled exactly right, and fastening is just moving them near each other. I’ve seen people modify shirts like that for use by people with reduced dexterity.

  3. Eux

    the wiggly background of the AWKWARD AURA cast on this conversation is incredible.
    i love yao. xem and clinton are fave temps.

  4. Accursed Dirt Boar

    Adam’s super meter is reaching full capacity, soon he will unleash an EX Special Slur

    1. evileeyore

      Nooo…. I think he’s aiming for worse. He’s got that super terrible “I’m thinking of some way to smash your face in an ‘accident’ to break your ‘tusks’ because now that I know it won’t ‘hurt’ it won’t be ‘an issue’ and I can get my racism on” face.

      He’s still spoiling for payback, and that requires more than just saying something racist and stupid.

  5. Avalon Ranger

    OSHA Villager 9000 over here about to be The Worst I fear 🙄

  6. badabingle

    awwww poor yaos just trying to somehow relate with xer cool big boss. 😭😂

  7. godspeed

    Noooo, Yao I was rooting for you.
    I believe that Yao is genuinely interested and non judgemental about Talita in general, but this is literally the worst way and time to ask this.
    (Not saying that I am not familiar with that level of social awkwardness but yeah.)

    1. cain

      this is an incredibly awkward conversation to witness but I do really like Yao here

      1. izimb

        Xey are relateable in that “I want to bond over my interest” way. At least that is how I read it at the moment.

    2. thegriffin88

      It’s forward but I guess I’m like that and have violently given up on being subtle. Look, some questions like things about the opposite sex aren’t going to get answered without being direct. Ask me anything about the female body I’ve got one right here.

  8. Oupy

    Feel like the behavior of Yao is being commented on a bit strangely. This is like asking for intimate details on your boss’s period cycle or something, it isn’t just “autistic interest” it is completely inappropriate and not ok. It isn’t like asking about their interests because of a t-shirt

    1. Aaron

      It’s kind of hard to say since it’s all speculative fiction, but I’m surprised that this is being treated as a taboo subject now. Previously we’ve seen Tal casually peeling off her velvet in public and throwing it away in a trash can, and we’ve seen her randomly shed an antler and offer it to Idrissah just because she happened to be standing there. It seems like Yao only asked if it was “bloody and painful” because xey’re into that heavy metal vibe. But aside from that it doesn’t seem like this subject is much more intimate to Talita than asking about someone’s haircut. Which seems to me like the level of awkwardness that this could be realistically compared to, like a white person asking a black person “Is it difficult to make your hair do that?”

  9. SheTheTDE

    I think I’m starting to like this one.

  10. Ruby

    I like how the background in the 2nd and 3rd panels shows the awkwardness o the conversation lol

  11. Julienne

    Thank you for the birthday gift of Update (it’s my birthday and we got an update EEEEEEEE)

  12. Redacted

    “Oh my God Yao you can’t just ask people if it’s bloody and painful”

  13. Napkinkat

    Yao the noticer

    I love xem <3 xey’re so goofy but also xey need to learn how to not weird their cross-species foster boss out. I hope Talita isn't too bothered by xeir questions lol
    Are Yao’s antlers real like lab grown antlers/antlers off of a real animal or plastic/some other material? I am very curious. I assume real animal antler would be very expensive in space like wood!

    1. Sparky Lurkdragon

      Yo, heads up that “X the noticer”/”Noticing” is an antisemetic dogwhistle.

      As for Yao, I’m fond of xem, too. Xer the kind of awkward I tend to be unless I’m actively trying not to be. Good question about xer horn and antler collection! Adam calls them “jewelry” earlier, which, there is cheap jewelry, but I wonder if that might point to being real animal? Not sure we kind find out outside of AMA/Word of Jay, though.

      1. Tim M

        Had to look this up… gonna rate this one a “nah” out of 10. Looks like something that originally came out of 4chan and was originally used for 4channish things, but then escaped containment and became very generic and anodyne. I think your intent is good here but I don’t think that everything that came out of 4chan is automatically an antisemitic dogwhistle. (And they don’t get to keep words just because they licked them.)

        1. freak on a leash

          It really actually is. I think concept clues make it obvious that thats not what this person is saying about Yao but Elon Musk and his cult are doing #noticing shit all the time, it’s maybe 2% more common to spell it as “nooticing” in that context but this is a real phenomenon & dogwhistle

        2. bryn

          Yao maybe couldve picked a better time instead of after the high stress altercation with adam talita just went through lmao 😭🥺

        3. bryn

          oops that was supposed to be its own comment ;;; also thank you for sharing about the antisemitic dogwhistle!!! ew!!!!

        4. Anna Hladíková

          Seconding the “assholes don’t get to keep words/symbols/etc. just because they licked them”.

          I live in the Czech Republic. We are a free democratic nation, and there is no longer support for communism, but we have the same flag still as communist Czechoslovakia (an authoritarian regime with a history of sentencing political dissidents to unpaid labor in uranium mines) had, because it is a perfectly serviceable flag, and as you said, you can’t just throw away everything just because someone evil touched it.

          If an entire communist government cannot ruin a flag, then dickheads on the internet can’t ruin an ordinary word that’s not an insult.

      2. Napkinkat

        ITS A WHAT
        OH MY GOD I GENUINELY DID NOT KNOW THANKS FOR NOTIFYING ME
        I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY BECAUSE XEY NOTICE STUFF 😭
        God I hate how mundane dogwhistles can be to the point of people accidentally using them. I am very much NOT antisemitic

        1. Napkinkat

          For context when I was typing it I originally worded it as ‘Yao the observer’ but I thought it sounded weird so I changed it 😭

        2. Napkinkat

          Makes sense that I didn’t know tho cause I’ve never stepped foot on 4chan and I don’t use Twitter and I genuinely hate Elon. Apologies if anyone mistook this as me legit using a dog whistle when that was NOT the intention. I find yao relatable cause when I was a little neurodivergent kid I would pull this same stuff when I took notice of something the average person wouldn’t think much about or think to comment on. Which was what the phrase was meant to be about. Oof
          APOLOGIES JAY FOR DERAILING THE COMMENTS A BIT

        3. JoB

          > I originally worded it as ‘Yao the observer’

          Considering the actual Nazis’ favorite newspaper, I would’ve considered that the worse option … if the question of right extremist subtexts had come up there as well. 😐

        4. 1d4-nadg

          It’s ok, nobody thought you were antisemitic. Like, look at the comic we are reading here, it’s not the kind of stuff most bigots would enjoy

  14. Vinemaple

    Is what I think is about to happen SERIOUSLY going to happen, this way, on the very next page?

    1. bryn

      LOL

      previous pages *makes observation/prediction* monkey paw *finger curls menacingly*

  15. Mango The Captain

    Oh, I bet I know exactly what adam’s going to say…

  16. Sabella

    Yeah this is more the kind of weird neurodivergent question I was expecting Yao to ask. Metal while still being empathetic to pain.

    Also damn Adam is looking like he REALLY wants to have an HR moment.

    1. Napkinkat

      I wonder if Human Resources would have its name changed? I assume it would be the same department dealing with multiple sophont species or maybe there would be separate departments for each sophont that work together. SR (Sophont ressources)

      1. Sabella

        Honestly yeah probably. I just went for the idiom people would immediately understand.

        But yeah, SR moment incoming.

        1. JoB

          We’ve discussed retconning the acronym to “Hired Resources” previously … 😉

    2. eden

      and she knew to call them antlers too! next time ask to ask though yao lol

      1. Sabella

        It’s the nice thing to do, please and thank you Yao.

      2. eden

        *xe, my bad!

  17. forest @ swifty's hq

    adam seems like he is about to be a kind and gentle soul

  18. veltzeh

    Adam you better not be thinking about grabbing Talita’s antler. 🙁

    1. Adrienne

      It would be bad but he’d be super fired. Or one hopes… Adam is going to do something shitty either way so may there be repercussions for him 🙏

  19. thegriffin88

    Adam, it looks like you have something stupid to say.

    1. Chase Wanderstar

      I suspect he often does.

      1. Sabella

        Must be a day that ends in Y.

  20. Lilybug

    I really don’t have a good feeling with Yao. I’d love to give xem the benefit of the doubt… but idk man. Xer vibe is off. If I was Talita, I’d be skedaddling the hell out of there.

    1. Phasma Felis

      I feel like Yao’s vibe is mostly just autism. The kind where you ask inappropriate questions so people decide you’re the Devil.

      1. cain

        🤝

      2. Enai

        Yeah, Yao gives off the vibe of “actually internally vibrating because of all the socializing xey’d do if xey hadn’t been rejected like, soo much as a child for being weird or offputting, but without bad intentions”. Or, for short, some flavour of neurodivergent and awkward.

        1. whirly

          i agree that Yao seems to mean well and is probably just autistic, but Talita’s experiences here are very racialized. constantly staring at her and only speaking to her to ask a TMI question in front of everyone else is still a microaggression even if xey don’t realize xey’re being racist.

        2. Enai

          If we’re being pedantic, anti-centaur racism requires a systemic power structure that discriminates against centaurs. Merely insensitive behaviour or even prejudice is not enough, else the whole “red haired people have no souls” nonsense would be racism.

          Also: how is Talitas experience racialized? I’d think the experience of disabled people, especially users of electric wheelchairs (can’t fit through doorways, environments may not even be sturdy enough for your weight) is a much closer analogue.

  21. PostMortem7581

    I love Yao’s big round eyes.

  22. Tentament

    Moments before disaster…

  23. petra

    yao’s comment is a good example of someone who maybe is a lil’ weird, a lil’ neurodivergent, and has special interests that forgo “normal” social courtesy… as a kid i used to ask hikers about if they found any cool animal bones because i wanted to see/collect them but people take that awkwardly because no one really wants to come face to face with any form of flesh-based death and decay even if signs and the possibility of it is greatly heightened in the woods.

    1. TotallySomebody

      I would have been so excited to encounter you on a hike. I also collect bones. I have many I have found myself, and many I have bought.

    2. Sabella

      Yao’s my kind of weird and I love xem.

  24. Fallingfeather

    Ohh… I wouldn’t be surprised if Yao is curious/even envious about Talita’s antlers, given xeir own love/desire for antlers. Xe’s wearing them right now!

    Also, Adam. I don’t like that look, Adam.

  25. Zack

    Ooh, OSHA Violation’s about to say something racist

    1. Napkinkat

      I News you to know that this caught me off guard and caused me to choke on the water I was drinking 😭 perfect nickname for Adam spot on

      1. Adrienne

        “Adam” more like “a DAMN walking OSHA violation”

    2. Scolopendra

      Oh good, he’s earned a callsign.

      1. Chase Wanderstar

        Wonderful…

      2. Enai

        Yeah, he deserves that one. Or maybe Safety Hazard, as in “Call me Safety, Hazard is my last name”.

  26. Tye

    dangit yao, you were so close to not being too weird about it.

  27. MutableAlias

    totally random but. anyone feel like listing 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste

  28. Teod

    Love the spider shirt design.

  29. Corbin

    Adam is, unfortunately, written so well that when I see or read about him I get the same gut feeling I get for when I saw my Horrible Roommate that I had for a while.

    1. Corbin

      In short, Fictional Character Adam gives me a Fucking Stress Response

      1. Enai

        Fictional Character Adam is unfortunately Very Realistic and real Adam-like people are Extremely Stressful to be around.
        Except if you’re a Real-Life Dominic, of course.

        1. Sabella

          We just need more Real-Life Claytons.

  30. Smooti

    I love this because Yao is clearly trying to bond with Talita here, being curious about a part of her biology xe thinks is cool, but in doing so is just pointing out Talita’s otherness. Even when you’re trying to be positive about it you can trigger someone’s dysphoria.

    1. mossrabbit

      what i find interesting is yao knows the growths on her face are antlers and not tusks! xe definitely has at least researched centaur biology, maybe even in response to meeting talita. i wonder if maybe xe has identified talita as ‘a fellow weirdo’ and wants to be her friend, not realizing that talita wants to be seen as anything BUT a weirdo. conflicting neurodivergencies are at hand here

      1. Smooti

        Exactly! I always find that kind of dynamic so interesting. So close and yet so far from truly connecting in a way that’s no one’s real fault here.

      2. eden

        it’s also possible xe just has a special interest in various types of horns/spiky appendages and recognized them as antlers from the velvet. I can see her skull collection now….

  31. Duke 1337-o

    With coworkers like these, I’d probably flee to space too

    1. Jay Cea

      Yes, I really like how Jay is showing how despite all being different, each one of these temps have traits that grate against Talita. Adam is of course the most obvious, but Yao’s prodding (even if xey don’t mean it or xey don’t realise) points out her otherness and make her feel dysphoric – Dominic’s newness & inability (while again, not her fault and not something to blame her for) means Talita has to constantly give instruction, something she’s been shown not to really enjoy. Aside from Adam, none of these examples are intentional or malicious – but they don’t make Talita feel any better. If I was in her position, I’d definitely flee to space..

  32. NotOkapi

    YAO HOW DO YOU HAVE ANTLERS AND KNOW WHAT VELVET IS AND NOT KNOW THERES NO NERVES LEFT AT THE END YAO NO YOU WHERE THE CHOSEN ONE-

    1. BobisOnlyBob

      Probably more familiar with terran terrestrial biology than xenobiology.

      1. NotOkapi

        Oh that’s actually fair, understanding that the skin that covers centaur’s antlers would be called velvet but not just assuming that it’s similarly painless makes sense as a position (especially for someone who’s clearly pretty blunt).

    2. HAL9000

      xey dont have actual antlers iirc its just fashion

      1. NotOkapi

        Ended up arguing about this on a different thread but i felt bad not responding to you so i will say its funny you’re the only person who got a centaur profile pic in this whole thread.

        1. HAL9000

          oh yeah lmao. now i’m picturing a few humans sitting around discussing this and a singular scud chiming in on the antler talk (which none of them possess) while a centaur (only one there with antlers) just wanders by like lol wonder what theyre talking about

        2. Skadoosh

          It’s rtts, one of the humans could be a gmh or biomodder with actual antlers.

    3. Smooti

      To be fair to Yao, xer antlers are clip on

      1. NotOkapi

        Xer antlers are clip on but they KNOW what velvet is, which implies above average knowledge of antlers.

        1. Smooti

          True, but I’d say a lay person wouldn’t necessarily know how painful or painless the velvet shedding process is! A lot of people see the bloody aspect of it and assume it must be. That and because Talita’s look more similar to Earth tusks than our antler wearing critters, perhaps Yao thought it might be more like a new tooth coming in?

        2. Nerdanel

          I know that velvet is, but I had never really considered how many nerve endings in it are still active at time of removal. I guess I assume that the sensation of needing to get the velvet off would mostly be really itchy.

        3. Enai

          To be fair, unless we ask, we’ll never know if shedding antler velvet hurts. Unfortunately, no deer has spoken about it yet, so asking Talita is the only way to find out.

  33. Lettuce Vervain

    i dont like the way adam is looking at her. you mind your business, safety hazard

    1. J

      “Mind ur business, safety hazard” is such a great line,
      imma use it

      1. Enai

        Would be great printed on a safety vest or hard hat 😅

        1. JoB

          Let’s upgrade Adam to a “Wait, you’re an employee here … don’t mind your business, either” cuirass, then.

  34. guest

    Talita don’t look now but there’s some kind of rat behind you

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