...Yeah, this was never going to go well.
Transcript
Mel: Is that it?
Talita is taken aback.
Talita: Well he did it, like, maliciously! He was trying to hurt me!
Her face begins to bristle in frustration, and she grips her neck, back hunched to keep her head from knocking the ceiling.
Talita: And he’s– he’s been– saying really rude things “out of earshot,” misgendering me, not listening to instructions in the field–
Mel: I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow.
Talita's eyes widen.
Talita: No! Don’t– That wouldn’t help.
96 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 231”
Rose
uuuuUHGHGHGHG MEL!!! do your dang job better!! this is why Cal left!!!
(Jay your writing is so good!!! all of your characters feel so real!!!)
Napkinkat
RAHHH i want to gush about how good this is and how bad Mel is at this but everyone’s already said everything I wanted to say but in better wording lmao <3 hell yeah
I hope Talita gets to run away to the stars soon 😭 I’m afraid the foreshadowed centaur temps might be the final nail in the coffin for Talita continuing to work on dirt ball.
Also question how do we change our picture in the comments? I have no clue how lol maybe it’s just cause I read it on mobile so I don’t have the full comment formatting thing or something?
ryn
do you mean the silhouette icon you get? it’s based on the first letter of the name you input! so for example, i get a purple centaur because my name starts with R
Jay Eaton
Custom avatars are provided by Gravatar, you need an account with them.
$ilverware
this is why talita’s gonna runaway to the stars
MissZena
AUGH this is reminding me of a time where a manager I worked with went on this massive transphobic tirade at me until I felt genuinely unsafe and when I complained to the boss he pulled us all together the next day and basically outed to her and everyone else working that I had been the one to complain with a half assed “We should all just get along” speech that resulted in me getting harassed out of that job
It is so frustrating how stuff like this is so often minimized or swept under the rug because its “easier” or “not a big deal” or you get exposed as the person to raise concerns which just makes the harassment worse
Cause lets not mince words as to what this was, it was deliberate assault towards Talita due to her race, and it should be taken seriously but the fact she’s the only centaur there (combined with how iirc centaurs aren’t really as commonly seen as other races like Avians?) puts her in such an awkward spot I just want to see her get out of there 🙁
whales0ng
ugh i’m so sorry that happened to you. it’s always the worst when you want to trust and have faith in someone and they let you down, been there. wish you all the best
Gar G
Poor Talita…
(why does this feel so familiar/relatable to me…)
egg
OugHH I just noticed they’ve started doing their paperwork mid-conversation. As if Talita isn’t worth giving their full attention to. (Charitably, they could be writing down the details of the incident but I doubt it)
halley
goddammit mel
cytricacid
i love how talita explains things here, you can tell she’s still really upset and can’t describe the whole incident objectively, rather bits and pieces of the worst parts that stick out in her mind first. you’d expect someone in Mel’s place to tell her to take a deep breath and start from the beginning but they don’t seem to want to know. that communication breakdown– and Mel’s ignorance or negligence to pick up on her distress, is soooooo well depicted here.
SheTheTDE
TARS
Take All Reports Seriously.
Better to waste time being cautious than allow people to come to harm because you ignored them.
Honestly if this happened to me I’d finnish that spaceship I was building and leave.
winged monkey
I suspect you and Talita will be of the same mind…
SheTheTDE
I dunno it’s called “Runaway to the Stars” not “Ran Away to the Stars” so I assumed they’d be going through stuff like this for most of the story and it ends when they leave.
mossrabbit
mel this is why your kids dont call you back
halley
GET their ass
WoomySans
LMAOOO
petshopper
I’m exploding them with my brain, that dismissal hurt. the way Talita answered is just so accurate to how it feels to be in that situation
TeethBurglar
Talita is about to have the most justified crash out of all time. I hope she complains to Gillie and Idrisah and gets the comfort and support she actually deserves.
Stray Cat
The sad part is, Talita actually has good reason to worry that Adam might try to retaliate – between Mel’s track record of handling this sort of thing (namely, the teenagers who DID react by retaliating back when Talita was in college), and Adam’s behaviour. So just as well we already know the plot leads to Talita leaving Dirtball. It’s a dysfunctional place to work.
(Mel, of course, is not helping.)
LizardWizard
I mean yeah, I think in the first chapter (the first time we got to see the stations interior) her AI friend basically told her as such and that she ought to get outta here. I sense this is probably just her making her way up there.
Ruby
*sigh* And then Mel goes “Then I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” And Talita will say something like “I dunno, prevent this from happening with future temps??” And then Mel will say “Weeeeell, I wanted this to be a surprise buuuut. Ta-da! We’re hiring centaur temps! Surely they won’t be as insensitive and they’ll be more prone to listen to a fellow centaur!” And thus Talita is going to have full blown crisis.
jax psylla
making a serious comment for once to say that i had to write a report about unwanted touching in the workplace once and i cannot believe they are brushing this off. the touch doesnt have to be harmful or inappropriate. it doesnt even matter if every other person in the workplace is allowed to touch you. you learn in 5th grade to keep your damn hands to yourself and touching people without their consent – in ANY way, whether you meant it maliciously or not – is a one way ticket to getting kicked to the curb. talita girl get a new job im so serious GET OUT OF THERE!!!!
mocha
im a 5’2” woman and once at hd a coworker, who was like 6’11” army vet picked me up without asking on the work floor, and when i told HR about it i was told i had to talk to him about it myself alone or nothing would be done about it because he obviously “ment well” . so
jax psylla
yes because im sure confronting someone twice your size about that will definitely go well 👍
blythe
mel this is why your kids dont FUCKING love you /ref
Jason Myers
This is the kind of HR that whether they realise it or not, shows that they don’t care to actually fix the issue and only care about maintaining the status quo. What happens if somebody like Adam shows their true colours while visiting young Centaurs from their homeworld arrive? Is their first experience with a human/mixed species station going to be this kind of xenophobia? And would Mel take it more or less seriously, since it’s not Talita? All of these are serious questions that need answering before we can trust that Mel can manage a situation like that.
Talita is not communicating clearly- but Mel’s job as her boss is to ask the questions. “Is That All?” Is a conversation ending statement, not a real question.
Enai
Yes, this looks like Mel wanted to say “It’s late in the day and I want to go home. Leave me alone with temp nonsense” but doesn’t, because that’s unprofessional and wrong. So, they go with a softer dismissal. I really hope they pull it together for a better reaction, but it doesn’t seem like Mel has learned from the incident of the destroyed dorm room.
jade stormcloud
Darn it. 🙁 I was afraid of that.
Even if Mel is trying to play the impartial boss here, they still really aren’t being a great listener (and not a great manager either). They seem to be trying to jump to the end of the conversation and come up with a “fix” without even bothering to get all the information on the problem they’re addressing. -What exactly happened with the antler? What specific things have been said? What issues have there been in the field?- All of that needs to be addressed to understand the scope of the issue and to document the behavior for the records. If they jump the gun like that any time a work problem comes up, I’m surprised things haven’t fallen completely apart before now.
I hope Tailta gets some sympathetic friend time STAT.
Mr. Son
“Is that it?”
I mean the most charitable reading of that sentence is “is that the only thing, or is there more?”, but that’s giving Mel MASSIVE benefit of the doubt when we already know Mel… isn’t great with handling interpersonal disputes or people mistreating Talita.
So ignoring that, it’s like. Mel. MEL. Someone /grabbed part of Talita’s FACE/. It wouldn’t be cool if a coworker yanked on your beard or ear, would it? How about we get Adam in here to say snide things about you and yank your beard and see how you feel about that?
petra
love the perspectives in all these panels accentuating talita’s size and thus visually representing how she ‘doesn’t fit’ in her environment, both socially and physically.. also i dunno why but i cant get over that wall shelf. the angles of it make it feel like a real background object that belongs there, and not something that was just drawn in to fill space. (if that makes sense???)
Light_In_The_Fog
yesss theyre so good!! Especially in the second panel where u can see the pipes in the ceiling and with mel looking up at talita, it gives such a ‘walls closing in’ feeling thats really cool
Light_In_The_Fog
Mellllllllll 🙁
I feel so bad for Talita in the way I interpreted the tone on the part about misgendering. I know from personal experience that that is such a hard thing to correct people on without support, and Talita really must feel like that support is being pulled away 🙁
Mitta
The humiliation of having to run to your boss to report an assault, a boss who was also legally your parent for much of your teenhood, and being treated like you just told them that a kid at the playground wouldn’t let you on the slide. One of the main themes I have taken from this comic is the way corporations and society treats marginalized individuals and takes advantage of them. And this arrangement with Talita working for Mel feels ethically questionable at best, almost like Mel is still letting their parent-dependent relationship overshadow the severity of the situation. Looking at Talita like “Thats not a big deal Talita, be the bigger person, run along now sweetie”
PostMortem7571
This is probably going to be the kick in the pants Talita needs to leave. It’ll be good in the long run, but I’m certain it will get much more uncomfortable first. People are about to hurt each other’s feelings much more badly, I’m sure. Mostly Mel’s fault, I predict. I know they mean well, but they seem to be the kind of person who simply hasn’t endured enough bullying to understand how bad it is or how best to handle the situation.
Jackie
It occured to me that even if we ignored the nonconsensual grabbing, Adam could have very well caused Talita to accidentally injure him by doing it. We all know she’s nonviolent but imagine how easily she could have accidentally scratched him or even poked out an eye if she happened to jerk in surprise when he grabbed her. I bet Mel would not be so dismissive if that happened instead (Adam probably would be the biggest whining baby if it did and not shut up about it either).
Sabella
Remember all the way back on page 18? Where Talita asks Calcery, “Was the fight with Mel really that bad?” And he responds, “As attentive as they act, I’m not sure Mel is ever actually listening.”?
Well here we are at Mel minimizing Talita coming forward that she was just physically assaulted by one of her direct reports. Showing no concern for her wellbeing or curiosity about what lead up to this moment. Here we are at them “meaning well” as the only thing they say in response is that they’ll “talk to him”, which Talita is right to be concerned will escalate the situation in a way that doesn’t protect her.
Mel lacks empathy in way that makes them perfect for a middle manager position. Those who have worked in a corporate environment and endured Mel’s style of performative kindness understand what Talita is dealing with right now.
Talita deserves better. A lot better.
Heather
What I find particularly interesting about this is that on page 13, Mel explicitly tells Talita to come to them if there are problems with the temps. But the reason they expect problems is, in their words, “people sometimes make weird presumptions about centaurs.” It’s as if Mel’s entire concept of the bigotry Talita experiences is that sometimes humans are unnecessarily skittish around big hypercarnivores. Which is… really not even close to an accurate or nuanced enough way to describe Talita’s struggles in this setting. And then when Talita experiences targeted physical harassment that DOESN’T fit the specific pattern Mel has in mind, they dismiss it.
The extra wild thing is, Mel has now known Talita (as her guardian and later her manager) for, what, over 10 years? If anyone should have an accurate view of her experiences, it should be them. This REALLY backs up Calcery’s observation about Mel not listening. Performative kindness is right!!
Scolopendra
So. Mel is responsible for a crew that repeatedly does hazardous work out in hard vacuum. They’ve just been told, by a subordinate directly responsible for critical safety operations (because Hazardous Work and Hard Vacuum), that she’s being physically harassed and treated dismissively by one of _her_ subordinates, one of the people whose safety she is responsible for. Again, because HAZARDOUS WORK and HARD VACUUM.
For the love of all that is good and holy, even if Mel wants to discount physical harassment and insubordination as minor (and they are very much not, nor ever, but _especially_ in space operations), they should at least realize that on a job site like this it’s a SAFETY issue. We already knew Mel wasn’t really good at their job, but this indicates that they are actively DANGEROUS at it.
Every person on the salvage crew is wearing a thin space suit and running around with hull cutters. They are all eggshells with hammers relying on the other eggshells to be cognizant of their safety. It doesn’t take much for someone to slip up and badly injure if not straight up kill someone else, and that’s just from accidents due to them being distracted–what if someone lashes out? I don’t mean Talita specifically; if the culture permits harassment _anyone_ might blow a fuse and even if it isn’t as much as a cold-blooded act or a hot-blooded swipe it may be as simple as deciding not to do a suit integrity check as diligently as one should because, hey, screw that guy.
Yeah, Talita needs to get off Dirtball not only for all the obvious reasons but because it’s an actively dangerous worksite just asking to become a Space USCSB video.
topaz
Yes! That’s the thing that’s been bugging me for the last few pages. Talita experienced (as far as we can assume) verbal harassment in college and Mel’s talk escalated to damaging her and the college’s property. What does a talk to someone who has already been physical escalation look like? Talita’s suit isn’t even locked in a locker. Even if Talita hasn’t thought about this specific workplace harassment implications. She already has a Mel’s talking/scolding = dangerous.
k-bonx
ooooh oh god I hadn’t even thought about Adam potentially doing something to her suit…. oh god I feel ill, I know Talita is diligent and actually understands safety precautions so she might be able to catch any changes to the suit, but Adam certainly doesn’t understand safety and might think messing with her suit would just be a way of getting back at her and not understand it could just completely kill her, fuck
I know she’s the main character of this series and she’s not going to die any time soon, but just the concept of her suit being out in the open and someone angry and reactive doing something stupid….. oouuughghh
Tye
“Is that it?” Gut wrenching. Mel must think Talita can handle it because she’s bigger. But she shouldn’t have to! I can’t stand Adam but I think I dislike Mel way more now. We know Adam is an ass but Mel is a polite ass, which is worse.
Light_In_The_Fog
The way that people who are perceived as threatening are always given responsibility in this sort of situation is so harmful! Cause you know if the roles get reversed then the neutrality everyone seems to have might just disappear. As a tall clocky trans woman i relate to Talita here a lot
🫵
I’m so glad Mel isn’t a mandatory reporter. Could you imagine?
bryn
“is that it?” MEL WTF..
Claire
The largest mistakes that Mel is making (in tandem with dismissing Talita’s concern) is that they didn’t ask her for a full story (He pulled on your antler? How did this happen? It’s important you tell me the details, etc.) nor did they ask her how she actually wants this handled. Instead, all they say serves to dismiss Talita and her concerns. Caught up in what they *think* Talita wants instead of asking her, right there. Assuming what she needs, rather than talking her through it.
…And none of this precludes my prior prediction of them going nuclear on Adam! Yayyyyyy…
NotOkapi
God yeah… Mel following Talita’s request here to not talk to Adam about this is probably the best outcome, it means there is some record of Adam’s past abuses when the situation gets even worse but Mel also doesn’t make the situation worse by aggravating Adam through their refusal to peruse proper disciplinary action, so of course Mel isn’t going to listen…
Vinemaple
I wish this wasn’t my prediction, but… I expect Mel to dismiss Talita’s “that wouldn’t help” next page, and steamroll forward with another bad management decision that escalates the problem.
dzamie
“is that it” as though physically assaulting a coworker isn’t usually an immediate trip to HR if not the unemployment office
Mel, what the fuck.
Septemberdale
Adam is a dickwad, but Mel is an idiot.
whales0ng
dangerous combination of people 🙁
cinna
Ahh… I was wondering why she isn’t mentioning how much of a safety liability Adam keeps proving to be. Now it’s evident that Talita was hoping to speak with Parental Figure Mel, but is getting Boss Mel instead.
cinna
Although, I suppose she was getting there with “not listening to instructions.” Mel just isn’t inviting her to elaborate.
Heather
Mel what the fuck. If a human came to you with a complaint that someone had yanked on their hair, would you say “is that it?”????
…Actually, maybe you would. Oh no.
forest @ swifty's hq!
and if someone yanked on your moustache it wouldn’t be harassment right… -_-
un_pogaz
Honestly, the “No! Don’t—That wouldn’t help” sends a contradictory message to Mel, but knowing teir track record in negotiation, it’s legitimate on Talita’s part. Especially since the lightheartedness with which they takes this is really not encouraging. At least, Mel don’t try to minimise it, they just dumply understimate the seriousness of the events.
Also, I think the first panel is the moment when Talita understands what Calcery meant about Mel by “As attentive as they act, I’m not sure Mel is ever actually listening.”
un_pogaz
PS: Is regrettable that Mel’s reaction was expected, and it problematic, but I had feared mush worse on their part.
buam
If Mel tells Adam any variation of “Talita said…”, especially if they don’t fire him and escort him off Dirtball, the situation will escalate ten fold. Like he’s already assaulted her, can you imagine what he’ll do if he finds out Talita reported him AND upper management doesn’t have her back?
cain
mel. mel he yanked on part of her face. mel–
ciel
do…do they not realize that someone pulling on Talita’s antlers is the equivalent of someone grabbing a person’s neck or pulling hair? It’s invasive and very traumatizing physical bodily harassment, this is not a ‘talk’ to have with Adam, this is a ‘warning’ to have with Adam and fire his ass and put him on the nearest ship back to Earth.
J
That, and SHE’S HIS BOSS. What the heck mel!
Kitty
Yeah I think the comparison to grabbing someone’s hair is very apt… In particular, if Adam had grabbed a fist full of a black person’s natural hair while making a stupid comment about it, or something else where there is an additional level of obvious cultural baggage coloring the action. Especially disappointed that Mel isn’t even interested in the misgendering enough to ask follow up questions. Talita isn’t expressing herself super clearly, but Mel should be more capable of helping her along.
Vinemaple
Hey, that IS a good analogy! I wish we’d thought of it pages ago, heh…
Tentament
Everyone here hates Adam, but honestly I think Mel is so much worse.
EveryZig314
“You’re so nice. You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just *nice*.” -Into The Woods
Enai
Unfortunately, yeah. Talita would’ve been better off talking to Idrisah and Gillie. Or Tod, even.
Coatl
Bip. Talk to Bip about it, I’m certain nothing would go wrong.
Bravo
For Adam? Not a thing. Nuh-uh. He just happened to fall asleep and wind up duct taped naked to the ceiling.
rain
my disappointment in imesurable and my day is ruined.
Mel how would you feel if a human woman was getting called “it” and having her hair pulled by a subordinate? i’m somehow sure it would be rather different.
TotallySomebody
I knew that was going to be Mel’s response…. Augh
v
oh talita, sweetpea… i know it’s probably just from being stressed and not having the language to talk about it, but she’s not being misgendered by adam, she’s being DEGENDERED, called ‘it’ like she’s not even a person. but without the framework to talk about her experiences accurately, the only more commonly used word i can think of that would portray those experiences adequately is ‘dehumanizing’, which isn’t a word that works well in multi sophont spaces, especially for someone like talita with such a complicated relationship to her own identity to start with…
it’s on mel to react appropriately to talita’s concerns (they are not) but it definitely doesn’t help that talita tending to downplay her own struggles is putting her on the back foot here, she’s trying to portray the gravity of what happened to her but how do you even begin to portray that to someone who’s never lived in a world that’s not designed for them… starting with adam yanking on her head centers the core of the problem (him using her species against her and disrespecting her for it) while also being the thing that mel can least relate to; harsh whispers, misgendering, and insubordination are all more general grievances that read, out of context, as less racialized, but while adam does have an attitude problem, the real issue is him being bigoted to talita, and it’s the one thing she can’t portray properly to mel
Hubert
Lmao does no one normal work at this shithole? This is like when your first relationship is god awful so you don’t know it’s not supposed to be this hard.
tyrone
And….There is the workplace-relationship fracture. I think everyone can see where this is going now.