Another room Talita can't stand up inside.
Transcript
Talita knocks on the door to Mel's office.
SFX: KNOCK KNOCK
Mel: Come in!
She enters the room, which is not quite tall enough to stand up inside quadrupedally, sits down on her haunches, and silently closes the door.
Mel: …Is something wrong?
Talita: Um… It's one of the temps.
Mel: Oh no, what happened?
Talita: Adam pulled on my antler.
Mel relaxes and sits back in their chair, considering her.
92 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 230”
A Box Of Fox
It must really suck when the person you are managing is a jackass and the person managing you is a dumbass. I know it wouldn’t fix much of anything but I want to give Talita a hug. Big girl needs one.
mugwot
god you cant keep getting away with it, She Cant. Stand Straight. grrrrraaaaagghhhh i rip off my shirt and there’s another shirt underneath. talita my girl i love you so.
needsmorebirds
I hope I’m wrong, but the look on Mel’s face tells me they don’t get why that would upset her.
PLEASE take her seriously for once…
barbastelle
Ohh Mel, please prove us wrong. Please show us that you are capable of at least Trying to approach an understanding of Talita and the person that she is…
I think there’s very little chance they get WHY this is such a big deal to Talita, that this is specific targeted harassment and a pattern of depersonalization she is dealing with. But I have at least a little bit of hope that Mel might at LEAST be able to recognize that, even if they don’t understand it, this has deeply affected Talita and she really needs someone in her corner who has her back here. I mean, how often in the years you’ve known her would she have come up to you about a problem like this, Mel? I reckon not very often, she’s the type to repress deeply personal matters as much as possible (and Mel has not been the most reliable or supportive figure in her life who she could trust to handle such matters…). I truly hope they pick up on how significant this is, how bad it must be in order for Talita to have thought about and followed through on bringing this matter to them.
augh poor Talita 🙁 . I don’t think this will be a very good conversation, and I really disbelieve it will be a conclusive ‘win’ for anybody, and she’ll probably have to lay it all out on the table and confess she did grab Adam and ‘berate’ him in front of his coworkers and didn’t handle that all ideally (not that I fault her at all but, you know, it is unfortunately understandable that it is probably gonna impact the end decision here unfavourably). But this is probably the only thing she could have done that could Possibly lead to ideal outcomes. In the professional sense, being transparent about the situation is (or should be…) the best move even if it involves self-reporting the earlier incident, it may not resolve this specific situation very favourably BUT it removes the ‘grabbed Adam (to keep his stubborn self from jeopardizing his life foolishly)’ thing as leverage still in play for him to use again later. If going on from here Talita fully 100% plays by the book with Adam yet he still continues this type of behaviour with her, he’s got a lot less argument that it’s Not targeted harassment and will have a harder time spinning it as ‘well she manhandled me first and has been a bad boss and then swept that under the table cuz she didn’t wanna get in trouble and so i’m just standing up for myself and won’t be pushed around and she’s got something against me and i’m actually the one being targeted’.
Okay, come in, Mel. Even if there’s some degree of punishment Talita will have to accept for ‘her part’, pleeaaase show us you recognize this as the serious matter it is. The ice under you is looking pretty thin but there is yet some hope…
(i apologize if this comment is long, it’s my first and i can’t assess very well in this text box how long it will look if posted)
holly...!
there’s no way mel’s gonna treat the situation with the respect it warrants. my money’s on talita deciding to leave dirtball sooner rather than later.
Coldest Lew
Things are coming to a head now.
creetur
Mel PLEASE take this seriously, holy shit, what an irritating asshat Adam is.
Kitty
Surprised but happy that Talita is reporting it. Less happy that I feel like Mel is going to downplay it. Though, the fact that Adam keeps calling her an “it” is much needed context, given Adam’s general behavior.
At the very least, this is something that NEEDS to be reported to the temp agency or wherever Adam is being hired from.
TeacupAngel
This feels like watching a disaster happen in slow motion, knowing well that by this point it’s far too late for anyone to do anything to stop it 🙁
Anax Imperator
Waiting for a legitimate crashout on Talita’s side. As an upper manager, I feel like indifference of higher-ups is all too common when it comes to employer discomfort. Reason being is that, in most companies, those in charge are old and only care about finishing their last few years of work or secure their status – if an employee leaves, it’s simply a matter of re-hiring to them.
In Talita’s scenario, I think the best solution would’ve been to either confront Adam right away or head directly to HR. Bosses rarely care or understand enough to execute significant change due to paper work and indifference.
SheTheTDE
You seriously don’t see how that’s inapropriate? Lets boil it down to simple terms that even a child could understand. One person touched another person without permission.
arf
I know Mel has been portrayed as a somewhat ‘remote’ former guardian of Talita, but their expression does have a feel of “OK. This is serious” to it.
dorpy
(Grabs the side of Mel’s mustache and pulls it like Adam)
Silyon
Much as I don’t want to jump to conclusions, I don’t like the look Mel’s giving Talita here. I’ve seen it before; it looks just like a “So what?” that is being swallowed because that would be unprofessional and is therefore getting dressed up in manager-language to sound more considerate without actually committing to anything. Doesn’t help that Talita’s underselling what exactly Adam did as well, a “yank” makes it sound more like an accidental bump or jostle than the full head-snap he actually did. Further complicating the matter is Talita’s apparent history as a sub-par boss lacking in leadership skills; I more than half-expect Mel to turn the situation around on her and launch into a tone-deaf spiel about how she needs to learn how to deal with people better and actually manage her employees. Which is true but not relevant just now.
Alternatively, he could echo what Adam said and reply with an insensitive “Well, they’ll be gone in X days so there’s not really much we can do at this point.” Which, considering his prior interactions, sounds exactly like his laissez-faire approach. And is patently false, assault is assault.
EnchantressEmily
Mel’s pronouns are they/them, just a reminder.
AmbroseTV
mel take talita’s situation seriously and you will be reincarnated as a lotus flower
Lilac
I’m very scared about what will happen next
MoonyBeasty
Ohhh I just know Mel is about to say something like “Okay? That’s not that big of a deal. He was just goofing off 🙂 He’s just trying to make friendsss 🙂 You’re fiiiinnnne :)))”
Also I can see that Talita would have to crawl and probably squeeze her way through that door. On one hand that mental image amuses me, on the other it is yet another reason to feel bad for Talita and for her to feel even more embarrassed (regardless of how many times she may have had to squeeze through tiny doors).
theotherther1
Oh god I know how this feels.
jax psylla
open your eyes mel. you will notice you are tied to the chair. in front of you is a harassment case. all you need to do is take it seriously and you will be set free. if you hesitate the billions of nanobots i placed in your vicinity will begin to disassemble you one atom at a time. tick tock
dzamie
Strongly suspect that Mel’s reaction is about to push Talita from “okay maybe I’ll indulge Bip a LITTLE bit” into “the nanosecond we can get a spoofed launch permission, Bip and I are GONE and I hope my friends will come along too.”
thegriffin88
They look like they don’t know why that’s a problem. Not that the why matters if it’s a problem it’s a problem.
IRL Jackalope
Alot of people are very understandably worried about Mel’s reaction, and while I’m not gonna get my hopes up, I’m getting a more gentle read than skeptical here! I have no idea how tactful their response will actually *be*, I do have hopes they’re gonna take it seriously… Fingers crossed!! I think we’re all praying for a Talita Win here
Little Starfarer
Big agree, we can’t really know anything from just this page. Past experience tells us that Mel has been a bit dismissive, but it could go either way – continuing that behaviour, or realising that they’ve been neglectful and need to start taking things way more seriously now. We’ll just have to see.
MyUniverseinaBox
Usually stories get me emotional when a character dies, or another faces an obvious hardship. It’s usually dramatic and fantastical; but sometimes its the ‘mundane’ things. This whole thing makes me so emotional, especially as a woman who has faced sexual harassment on various occasions. Bravo.
Fallingfeather
Mel. Put that eyebrow back down, Mel.
Jackie
Eeeuuugh don’t like that face 😬 Is Mel about to rocket themselves into second place most disliked character?
Enai
Out of curiosity (not that it’s any of my business) who is that for you right now?
I have a #1 most disliked character (it’s Adam, of course), but #2 and following are empty slots right now. Maybe my #2 is Ohwitiil, for yelling at Talita and being an uptight prick? But they also are under a lot of stress, so, eh. Most characters are varying shades of neutral on the like – dislike spectrum for me until they do something profoundly horrible or wonderful. I could put them in some kind of order if pressed, but that would be too much effort. Bip defies classification entirely as of yet(so very annoying! Wants things at the worst moments! But also intriguing and entertaining!).
Jackie
Tbh I think Adam is the one and only on my personal list as of this page. There’s some I dislike for personal reasons but thats about it. Mel as of this moment is okay if a bit… I forget how Talita put it? They clearly try and have good intentions but the way they do things could really use some work. Im sure the next page(s) will be very informative of Mel’s true colors. No amount of ‘good intentions’ can save them if they handle this badly.
needsmorebirds
Well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful, maybe?
Illy
I want to believe that Mel will take this seriously, and respond in a helpful way, but from what we’ve learned about them so far … I think one out of two is the best they’ll be able to do. But please, Mel, prove me wrong?
cptnqusr
Incoming “boys will be boys”
ttt
we’re about to find out why mel’s kids are low-to-no contact.
spunce
i wish i could like comments or something because this made me snort really hard
Hunter
If Mel talks down to her I really hope that Talita has some kind of crash-out. Because between shit like this, the apartments, and that university story, SOMETHING is going to give.
Vinemaple
She needs Idrisah to go on the warpath for her.
Ruby
Oh dear. This day is not getting any better, is it?
cookiecoffee
God, yeah, this is a horribly real situation. It’s terrifying to be harassed as a visible minority and then have to think of a way to explain it to someone else who might not take you seriously, and it doesn’t look like Mel is going to listen…
Filiya
Oh man, I know that look on Mel. It’s like when I go to my mom or grandma and try to complain about how hard things are for me that are simple for them. And they look at me with such bewilderment, like, “Child, you’re over 30 already, when are you going to stop being so helpless?” And often they don’t see the problem at all or see it completely differently. And they respond in the spirit of, “Well of course it’s hard, what did you expect? But just be simpler, be braver, don’t overthink it, don’t be so sensitive, don’t be so slow, etc.”
everestseal
“But hey, good news! The next set of temps is gonna be all centaurs, so surely none of this ‘being othered by your peers’ stuff will be a problem going forward!”
*cue infrasonic groaning*
DeerGod
Mel. Mel you are going to be taking Talita seriously here right, after she has been treated so harshly by her temps? that eyebrow raised in the last panel makes me worry…
Nickalart
I do not have high hopes that Mel will handle this correctly! And looks like I am not the only one thinking that. Their facial expression in that last panel says it all honestly.
Plasmatic Shrimp
knowing what i’ve heard and seen of mel in the comic so far, yeah it ain’t gonna end well i think. my first thought is “it’s mel, they’re going to fuck it up, that’s just how the cookie crumbles”
Vinemaple
I’m gonna have to push back a bit on some of the comments about Talita leading with “Adam pulled on my antler.”
Talita doesn’t want to do what she’s doing. She doesn’t have any great expectations of Mel, or this professional culture that… seems pretty recognizable to a 21st-century USAmerican. She’s just been through something extremely upsetting, a physical assault, which also ties into all her personal insecurities. And she practically has a phobia where confrontation is concerned. So, she’s way, way outside her comfort zone here. It’s unfair to expect her to have her complaint all planned out. She’s winging it because she’s forcing herself to do it NOW, because she knows she won’t be able to do it later. I’ve dealt with this sort of thing most of my life, and I’m not even a visible minority.
What I mean about Ixion’s professional culture, well, it’s just an impression I get, but in the industries I’ve worked in, if you make a complaint about a coworker harassing you, you’re (1) a troublemaker who can’t take a joke or a little harmless teasing between “friends,” (2) not a “real man” but somebody “weak” who has to “run to Mama” when somebody “hurts your feelies,” or, if not masc, then “the chick who didn’t have what it takes to work here,” and (3) potentially The Guy/Gal Who Got Someone Fired For Nothing.
You will be treated as radioactive for the remainder of your career, if you even have one. The fact that retaliation is illegal doesn’t stop it from happening, especially if it’s all plausibly-deniable retaliation, and if you document it and present it to the authorities, it just looks like a Wall Of Crazy to them.
TL; DR: When the authorities are primed to see every harassment or discrimination complaint as overreaction and a sign of mental instability, it’s extremely difficult to even try to make a complaint, especially if the only way you can find the courage is to force yourself to just go and do it, in the moment.
Sabella
Yep. Somehow, when a woman’s just been physically assaulted, the first thing on her mind isn’t all the little things that lead up to that moment. It’s the physical assault.
forthebit
Yeah, I’m in an industry that’s exactly like that sometimes. And in many ways it can be worse at smaller/independent organizations, where everyone’s expected to be “in it for the team” or whatever.
Velocira
Something about the perspective of panel 5 is really great to me. Most of the comic has been framed at an angle where we are eye-level with Talita, or even above her. Now, we are seeing how she looks to others. She looks huge, her head casting a shadow on the ceiling as it nearly touches, and having to look DOWN at Mel. It makes her appear even more out of place and far too big to be vulnerable to such tiny humans.
un_pogaz
Please Mel, please, don’t fuck up this. I know that the rule of the story plot are playing, but please I swear to God don’t fuck up this. Talita realy need help here. More than help, she needs comfort and support, and it bleding my heart to see her like this.
HullScrap
Don’t like that face Mel. To be fair Talita probably shoulda led with: disregarding safety procedures, “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of that stripey sock puppet just ’cause it eats meat”, harrassing and attempting to steal Yao’s horns, and just generally undermining Talita’s job as manager. Well atleast on the bright side, however this blows over it will certainly push Talita to runaway (harhar) with Bip. I’m just wondering what will be the deciding factor for Gillie and Idrasah.
hold bird like hamburger
i am sure mel is going to react to this appropriately and in a professional and helpful manner
blythe
whats with the sudden weird disappearance of expression mel???
actually i think when she said “one of the temps” they were expecting it was about a temp getting harmed, not doing the harming
Septemberdale
Yeah, I think Mel was expecting that this had to do with Adam and/or Clayton getting hurt horsing around with sharp objects because they are both the kind of dipshit who ignores safety procedures (but also is actually willing to work on a remote, desolate rock, so was available for hire), not one of aforementioned idiots straight-up grabbing their supervisor’s face, and doesn’t know what to say or think.
Flori
Clayton’s the professional one, not the one who was throwing things around. That was Dominic and Adam.
Septemberdale
Ah. Knew I should’ve checked back to that page before I wrote that.
jade stormcloud
I really hope the next words out of Mel’s mouth are “Tell me everything” and not something like “And?”
Enai
Fingers crossed. Maybe they’ve improved after the dorm room incident.
Dread
I have a really terrible feeling Mel’s gonna unleash their microaggression blast
HAL9000
i did not know talitas knees could bend that way. her anatomy is so interesting! (<-from a creature design standpoint)
also uh. way to bury the lede, talita… i know its because shes very anxious and nonconfrontational but girl you were physically assaulted by a coworker then verbally deingrated & misgendered, also said coworker has repeatedly breached safety procedures. mel just hears "adam pulled on my antleeerrrr :(" like a whiny kid complaining about playground bullying- which also reflects their weird sort-of parent role in talita's life that makes it difficult for them to be objective about this. that face is not giving much hope
HAL9000
actually wonder if a scenario like this is why Calcery left? he got in a major argument with Mel, and seemed to have more of a backbone then Talita currently does… well, at least we know she’s soon going to be able to run away (to the stars)
Mitta
If interpreting things correctly, I think that bend in the midleg is analogous to our own wrist bones. Her walking legs seem to be modeled after ungulates or horses but with the extra digits for her “paws”. Like the early horse ancestors who had extra digits with hooves
Mitta
If I’m*
aaaaa
mel. mel. what’s with that face. mel. you’re going to handle this appropriately right? Mel????? hey??? Mel?? Mel look at me. mel. look at me in the eyes. mel.
Rubicon Art
And this is where the boss/family issue comes into play. If Talita was just an employee, that reads as, I was physically assaulted by another member of the team. To a parental/family figure? This screams playground, rather than the very big, very important thing it is. Adding in the fact that unfortunately, Talita isn’t very good at standing up for herself; this isn’t her fault, obvs not victim blaming, but it takes time to learn how to talk about this as a worker; I was assaulted and belittled by member of my team, who has also been reckless with safety whilst on the job reads very differently to how Talita is showing it here. But it sucks. Because it can be so hard to talk about this stuff when your own brain is telling you it’s nothing/is normal/you’re overreacting. Which is what I’m reading off Talita here and is what my own brain does :c
Vinemaple
What’s really frustrating, though, is that foster parent or not, Mel didn’t even meet Talita until she was 18.
EricaMZDM
Like everyone else reading the expressions here, I do fear that Mel isn’t going to correctly parse/react to “the temp pulled on my *face*”, because the specific face-component isn’t human standard.
NotOkapi
God I hadn’t even been thinking about it like that but… yeah. Other comments have pointed out that saying something more active like “yanked” might have gotten the problem across more clearly to Mel, but of course if it where any part of a human’s face or even jewelry saying you got pulled by that would be enough to explain why it’s so bad but because it’s her antler it’s… abstracted.
Lettuce Vervain
oh i dont like that blank stare. this isnt gonna go well is it.
Sabella
Mel I swear to the gods you’d better LISTEN for once in your life…
Adrienne
Talita: One of my coworkers physically assaulted me
Mel: *face like they ate a slightly sour candy*
Adrienne
Though she should still be taken seriously no matter what, Talita underselling thar moment 🙁 Adam grabbed her head with enough force to turn it around – and I imagine that took much more force than it would to tug Yao’s antlers
Adrienne
Always spellcheck your comments kids 🤦♀️
Sabella
The fact that Mel’s face shifted from concerned to… this… And what we know of why Calcery dumped them and left Dirtball… Nope. Nope nope nope. Don’t like this one bit.
evileeyore
Oh no… Mel isn’t HR are they? Oh no… oh no… no no no no no. Talita needs someone who is not in her family to handle this.