Runaway to the Stars: Page 245 and 246
Posted on February 28, 2026 by Jay Eaton

FULL SIZE IMAGE

Oh golly, so that's what Mel's surprise was!

Transcript

Walking past the edge of the sound wall, Talita sees the source of the noise. Far across the dome, near the apartments, a group of centaurs walk on the circular road. There appear to be five adults, four smaller and one larger, as well as four children half their height. All of them have half-lidded eyes and unplaceable expressions.

The four smaller adults are dressed in loose belted leather overpants on their rear four legs, with fabric undershirts that are neatly tucked into their waistbands to leave their upper torsos bare. They wear decorative fabric collars and necklaces adorned with dangling beads, strings, tufts of feathers, and pleating. In their manes they have tucked ornamental combs made from metal, bone, feathers, and beads. Three of them appear to be light in color with thin dark stripes and dark irises, and one is darker with broad stripes and light irises. All have a bar piercing through the upper portion of their trunks, and the oldest of the lighter individuals has two bars. They speak amongst themselves.

The four children wear identical dark capelets with tassels that appear to be furred tails. Three are light in color, one is darker. They look around with wider eyes, and one curls their trunk up. They stand close to the small adults, who put reassuring hands on them.

The largest adult stands in front of the group, speaking to an enthusiastically smiling Mel and politely smiling Tod. They are finely dressed in a tasseled skirt that covers their lower body and overpants, with a collared cape featuring long hanging panels with embroidery and a tasseled scallop pattern, with a brooch of a carved animal's head at their throat. A chatelaine with a six-legged turtle-like creature hangs from their belt. They are white with black stripes and dark facial markings that extend to the tip of their trunk, which has two bar piercings. The right side of their face is an eyeless crater of scar tissue, with bone missing from the crown of their head to nearly their nostril, an injury that on a human would have been instantly fatal.

The large centaur turns their single dark eye and makes eye contact across the distance with Talita, who stares back in dumbfounded horror.

Runaway to the Stars: Page 245 and 246
Posted on February 28, 2026 by Jay Eaton

FULL SIZE IMAGE

Oh golly, so that's what Mel's surprise was!

Transcript

Walking past the edge of the sound wall, Talita sees the source of the noise. Far across the dome, near the apartments, a group of centaurs walk on the circular road. There appear to be five adults, four smaller and one larger, as well as four children half their height. All of them have half-lidded eyes and unplaceable expressions.

The four smaller adults are dressed in loose belted leather overpants on their rear four legs, with fabric undershirts that are neatly tucked into their waistbands to leave their upper torsos bare. They wear decorative fabric collars and necklaces adorned with dangling beads, strings, tufts of feathers, and pleating. In their manes they have tucked ornamental combs made from metal, bone, feathers, and beads. Three of them appear to be light in color with thin dark stripes and dark irises, and one is darker with broad stripes and light irises. All have a bar piercing through the upper portion of their trunks, and the oldest of the lighter individuals has two bars. They speak amongst themselves.

The four children wear identical dark capelets with tassels that appear to be furred tails. Three are light in color, one is darker. They look around with wider eyes, and one curls their trunk up. They stand close to the small adults, who put reassuring hands on them.

The largest adult stands in front of the group, speaking to an enthusiastically smiling Mel and politely smiling Tod. They are finely dressed in a tasseled skirt that covers their lower body and overpants, with a collared cape featuring long hanging panels with embroidery and a tasseled scallop pattern, with a brooch of a carved animal's head at their throat. A chatelaine with a six-legged turtle-like creature hangs from their belt. They are white with black stripes and dark facial markings that extend to the tip of their trunk, which has two bar piercings. The right side of their face is an eyeless crater of scar tissue, with bone missing from the crown of their head to nearly their nostril, an injury that on a human would have been instantly fatal.

The large centaur turns their single dark eye and makes eye contact across the distance with Talita, who stares back in dumbfounded horror.

281 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 245 and 246”

  1. Selkra

    The plot thickens 🙂
    It’s a shame I suspect these newcomers aren’t going to make Talita’s life any easier. In my headcannon AU they all get along and sing Kumbaya.

  2. sugar-goat

    LIVE TALITA REACTION

  3. ActivityTime

    This is Talita’s NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

  4. uzhitsa

    i had to spend several minutes just admiring the breathtaking art….the outfits, the body language, the features are all SIMPLY AWE-INSPIRING

  5. halley

    did the shta adult teleport or am i picturing it wrong? it looks like they went from second-leftmost (partially obscured by the one with two bar piercings and the one with long tassels on their neckpiece) to rightmost (immediate foreground) between the last two panels. actually, the one they’re talking to (dark necklaces, eyeliner facial markings) also seems to have teleported, based on the size of their head compared to the other two

    1. pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobsissss

      Secret bug ferret technology……….

  6. Nikki

    Me when my near-feral ass meets “my people (properly socialized and societally integrated)”
    really beautiful and powerful clothing and character designs 😭

  7. oberon

    we all throwing tomatoes at mel for this one

    1. ActivityTime

      Yepyepyepyep. Mel just put her in a NIGHTMARE social situation

  8. Mango The Captain

    I finally looked it up, the darkest and furthest child is probably smug. The other children and adults are neutral, and the matriarch is talking in the first panel, and neutral in the other.

    1. halley

      lord’s work 🙏 ty!!

  9. Joei

    Does two pages last time mean no update today? I’m so eager to see more, I’ve been refreshing all morning xD

    1. Entguarde

      pages update Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays!

  10. KSClaw

    Hoooo boy, this is gonna be… fine. It’s gonna be fine. I hope.

  11. izimb

    Talita. Talita, you need to run away. Talita you need to Runaway to the Stars.

  12. S0glet

    The one lil kid smiling lol, Bro thinks it’s all sunshine and rainbows don’t they

    1. SNUFFGURLL

      they’re showing teeth! naughty kid.

    2. Dicemonger

      Are they smiling? Talita was raised among humans, learning their mannerisms. This is an alien kid.

      1. Sparky Lurkdragon

        Trunk loosely curled back like that = smile. 🙂

        I believe Jay said on the Patreon that they’re grinning at the funny-looking aliens.

  13. Genko

    The way they all curl their trunks out to speak in direct opposition to Talita’s methods, the elaborate clothes actually designed for and by their own kind, THE FACT THAT THEY’RE ARRIVING IN A GROUP. God this is a disaster. At least it’s no longer waiting to happen

  14. Tentament

    First Contact II

    1. luvbird07

      Second Contact

      1. JoB

        Second non-contact [/VoiceOfPlot] …

  15. Fallingfeather

    THE SURPRISE IS HERE!!! EVERYONE HIT THE DECKS-

  16. Hobbybobulous

    Oh dear, this will interesting to see play out!
    Perhaps this clan will treat Talita like a cultural oddity, or maybe ignore her outright like her last experiences.
    Or, more worryingly…
    They may see her worth as the brilliant engineer she is, and offer her to “Marry” into their workers pool? Thinking it a kindness without realizing how stressful that would be for her?
    I’m excited to see what will truly be the last straw for Talita.

    1. K

      Oof. I think them trying to marry her into their clan might be the worst case scenario for Talita. And if she rejects they might see it as an insult to them or a form of hostility, which also wouldn’t be good.

    2. r

      i’m not sure this clan even has a worker pool, it mostly just seems like the matriarch and her entourage (plus the kids, i don’t think they count as workers yet).

      …that actually could be a potential reason for them to want her to join, they lack adult workers.

  17. kaittzie

    I haven’t memorized the biology lore, but you guys have. why is Talita so… muppety compared to these newcomers? Main character syndrome? Different subspecies? They have such owlish eyes.

    And i adore their fashion sense. So many cozy layers, and the little details like the eyeglass on the collars. Will they be jealous of Talis glasses?

    1. Chrysolophus

      I cannot recall her exact ethnicity but it is possible she is indeed from a different group than this clan, but another reason for her muppet-ness is because she was raised around primarily humans. Neutral expressions in home world centaur aliens for example usually keeps the eyes half lidded in a relaxed position. To a human, this can look irritated or bored, and humans tend to keep our eyes fully opened unless the situation requires otherwise, so Talita does to. Same goes for her smiling with her teeth, an expression that signals aggression to homeworld centaurs. Basically, Talita is muppetlike for the same reason actual muppets are muppetlike: she is extremely expressive to convey emotions to humans using a face that is structurally very different from ours.

      1. Planetfall

        If I remember right, the foster system guessed she has sunchaser heritage based on her appearance. Sunchasers and Nightchasers are also the most commonly seen ethnicities off their homeworld, with offworlder centaurs refered to as Starchasers.

        1. Planetfall

          Or not ethnicities exactly. The terms Sunchaser and Nightchaser are more about their life style, and nomadic patern than ethnicity. But they are ethnically distinct… and sometimes the term is used to talk about ethnicites? I’m not sure what a centaur deceneded from Settlers that joined a Nomad group would be called. Or if that would happen.

    2. Teod

      She has lighter yellow eyes, these guys have darker red (different nationality, not subspecies). Also she grew up among humans and adopted our facial expressions, so she’s easy to read to us, human viewers. Other centaur faces look more alien because their expressions are.
      And on this page in particular she’s drawn in a much less realistic manner to be even more expressive.

      As for glasses – If I remember right they treat glasses, monocles and handheld lenses as fashion and status (“I’m highly educated and can read alien languages”) accessories. Talita’s glasses might be high quality, but they’re rather unadorned and drab, so it’s unlikely they will cause envy. In general, centaurs are technologically behind, but not that far. They had radio at the time of first contact and that was decades ago. They’re closer to us now than we are to humans in RttS.

    3. MutableAlias

      more specifically, typical centaurs have their eyes half-lidded as a neutral/default, and Talita has hers wide open as a neutral/default. You can see her look a bit more like a typical centaur when she’s sleepy like on page 34: https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-34/
      but also she is just more stylized in this panel. though part of it may also be that she has her mouth lips drawn back more, as she uses her mouth more expressively than typical centaurs. Like a human, the corners of her mouth differentiate between a grimace and a smile, while typical centaurs really only care about tooth exposure in expressions. (according to this chart it seems one of the children is grinning smugly: https://x.com/JayRock5858/status/1484672160215887874/photo/2)
      i think rather than be jealous of her glasses, they’d think they look alien and foreign, it seems monocles are more common/traditional (but still relatively new, iirc centaurs use monocles for sewing but they probably wouldn’t need to carry them around if not for alien writing)

    4. HAL9000

      honestly its mostly the eyes. Talita doesn’t let her eyelids hood- she holds them open delibrately wide so as to look more friendly, she also has yellow eyes, rather than brown (like how humans can have blue and brown eyes), and she has an extremely thin white ring around her eyes that isnt often drawn unlike the thicker eye ring of these nightchaser centaurs. you can see here that she isnt always muppet-y- when she doesnt have to perform humanity, she looks natural.

  18. Felixscout

    Hmmmm I wonder if this is a Matriarch with Entourage or a Matriarch with workers? Or both?
    Is this the Entourage, and the workers are elsewhere?

    1. 1d4-nadg

      They are probably both! It’s too early to speculate but I’m doing it anyway!

      -If it was only workers with the entourage elsewhere, the kids would probably be with the entourage
      -It would be weird to only bring your entourage and kids, leaving the workers behind, while meeting your new boss
      -I dont think it’s 4 entourage members since you can see 2 of them have the same distinctive diamond-and-black-trunk face pattern. Those are probably grown up kids from the matriarch, i.e. workers
      -I don’t think it’s only workers, because you can tell one of the kids has the same darker color as one of the adults, meaning there is at least one and probably 2 entourage

      1. 1d4-nadg

        Also an other of the kids have the strippy arm of the other suspected entourage, forgot to mention that

  19. meatballmenu

    there’s no way this can end *well* but I at least hope Adam runs into these guys before he leaves. the comeuppance would be legendary

  20. Tumorhead

    I love all the cultural details on the other centaurs!!! OOF poor Talita.

  21. Ruby

    Lol the contrast between the scarred but assertive(?) look of the matriarch with Talita’s wide eyed shocked face is pretty funny. Kinda alleviates the horror of Talita’s POV.

  22. arf

    Hmm, well Mel has ‘thoughtfully’ omitted to tell Talita about the surprise, has the surprise been told about Talita?

    1. Vinemaple

      “Mx. Derringer. I believe I just saw a Centaur step out of that office block… ‘She’?… You WHAT?!… ‘She’ is WHAT??!!… I cannot believe you are serious! We have been salvaging spacecraft for twenty of your years! I am filing a COMPLAINT, Mx. Derringer! Everyone, back to the habitat, and pack everything up. WE! ARE! LEAVING!”

  23. AnaxImperator

    It’d be very interesting to see Talita connect with centaur cultures – specifically ones that don’t follow a hive system or don’t these exist in this world and all of centaurkind have the same matriarchal culture, with no exception?

    1. 10Person

      From what I understand, non-hierarchical clans do exist according to the lore, specifically among Biing islanders—who these Centaurs do not appear to be due to their straight horns—though its more of a “folks take turns being matriarch and its less stratified” than human egalitarianism. Though I presume its fairly rare—something like cultures with group marriage or free-love movements amongst humans—and so its unlikely for Talita to meet any of them.

    2. 10Person

      * I was sleep deprived and didn’t see that these Centaurs’ antlers didn’t come in yet nor that they were antlers—I apologize for these errors. Though they still don’t appear to be Islander Biing due to their prominent stripes. (Replying in line due to being unable to reply to unapproved comments and wanting to correct my errors immediately.)

  24. River

    Kiddos!!! Grubs??? And that matriarch with the head injury! It’s all coming together!!!

  25. RockstarRaccoon

    Finally getting around to reading this after seeing it on Mastodon / Fediverse for months, really love it as a hard scifi with highly inhuman alien designs, especially the explorations of all the domestic stuff so far.

    I love how Talita is contrasted with the other centaurs here, down to the fact that her eyes are drawn so much more human-like than theirs, subtle nod to how she was effectively raised human and is effectively one at heart. (Eyes are the window to the soul) I also really like this matriarch with the hole in her head, reminding us that their brains are in their chests.

    I wonder why Mel hid this from her? Possibly just another example of being completely out of touch. I also wonder just how badly his plan here is going to go, having used Talita’s designs, which were likely geared for someone from a human culture adapting spaces to her body, as opposed to a centaur immersed in centaur culture. The idea that culture can be so much more defining than things like genetics seems to be a central thing here.

    1. JoB

      > I wonder why Mel hid this from her?

      Easier to ignore what people have to say about your splendid ideas when they don’t get to comment on them (beforehand) in the first place … ? :-3

    2. Vinemaple

      Mel Derringer = they/them (no judgement, welcome to the comments page!)

  26. Mintaka

    OH BOY ! TALITA TORTURE TIME ! MY FAVORITE !

  27. 40

    Dude I just did a whole yap session to my bestie because this is literally the best page in the book. I’m not fitting that all into a comment here but oh my fuck literally everything on this page perfectly ties together visually and thematically and it connects back to the entire book before it and like dude I’m freaking out you’re the goat Jay.

    1. 40

      DUDE TALITA IS DRAWN EXAGGERATED IN THE LITTLE SQUARE
      1. BECAUSE ITS FUNNY
      2. TO CONTRAST WITH THE VERY REALISTIC STYLE THAT THE OTHER CENTAURS ARE IN ON THIS PAGE
      3. TO FURTHER SHOW THE CONTRAST IN UNIVERSE BETWEEN HER AND THE OTHER CENTAURS
      4. BECAUSE HER EXPRESSIONS LOOK ODD TO THE OTHER CENTAURS
      GOD DUDE PUT THIS SHIT IN THE LOUVRE

  28. F657

    I suppose when your brain is stored in your midsection, you can withstand injuries like that.

  29. cypr

    WAIT THE MATRIARCH LOOKING AT TALITA WHILE THEY WERE TALKING TO MEL MEANS MEL’S GOING TO FOLLOW THEIR GAZE AND NOTICE HER TOO. A MESSAGE TO ALL TALITA PLEASE SURVIVE

  30. Pseuds

    Oh no

  31. the Inmara

    We’ve just noticed that Talita’s eyes are more cartoony than those of the other centaurs. Just whites and pupils, with no irises.

    We’re curious if this is purely a stylistic choice to mark her as the main character and make it easier for readers to see and read her expressions. Or, is this a depiction of a mutation of her eyes in some way? Does she have particularly light irises, or something?

    1. the Inmara

      OK, quick read through the supplemental material and looking at the color portraits, we see her eyes are just light yellow, whereas the other centaurs have varying darker shades. All within natural range. Neat!

      But, also, this may answer a question of whether or not Talita could be related to this group in some way. It’s still possible, we imagine, but less likely with such different eye colors.

      1. S0glet

        I think it’s probably highly unlikely due to the fact Talita is a nomadic sun chaser and most of these centaurs seem to be settlers. (Specifically the monarch looks to be daewirgh, and the other adults being shta, shess and mabyee nightchaser? Wich is odd given they are nomadic. But idk it could also be Auolut. They look sorta similar so I can’t tell much.)

        1. Fallingfeather

          Could always just be a tall/short variant of any particular given race too. Sometimes a guy is just short, haha.

        2. SNUFFGURLL.

          they’re Nightchasers, one of the entourage members is Shta. The Nomadic centaur ethnicities are the most common types to find off planet, as well.

  32. Soglet

    I’m hoping they aren’t mean to eachother. (I don’t feel like Talita would be mean but I have a feeling that homeworld/“”normal”” centaurs can and might chew her up and spit her out yk)

    Also they look so cool I love centaur clothing/design hehheee

  33. cinna

    ohhhh i hadn’t even considered that the incoming centaurs would have kids with them, and i feel weird about the idea of bringing a bunch of kids to live in a place like this, even within the care of the clan

    1. OhGollieItsOllie

      Oh thank goodness, I’m not the only one who thought having the equivilent of 8-year olds running around what is basically a manufacturing (de-manufactiring?) plant enclosed in a bubble on a rock in space is a REALLY ill-advised idea.

      1. OhGollieItsOllie

        And I hope this doesn’t come off as anti-kid but a lot of time is spent talking about how dangerous this place can be and how remote it is. They only have so much grass to run around on and touch.

        1. cinna

          yes!!! exactly! are these children gonna have room to satisfy their instincts to run around and play?? even with supervision, all it takes is one little misunderstanding or fluke accident, y’know? i just can’t feel confident they’re safe here, given that we’ve seen grown adults with training flagrantly disobeying critical safety precautions 😭

        2. JoB

          > They only have so much grass to run around on and touch.

          About 75000 m², actually (the strip of “park land” between the housing blocks and the outer edge of the cupola) … of course, it’s not centaur homeworld flora.

          There also seems to be a number of doors between the cupola and the actual industrial and/or near-vacuum zones, if chapter 1 is an indication. OK, doesn’t mean that there are childproof locks installed in them …

        3. RockstarRaccoon

          The area outside, where they work with heavy machinery and volatile chemicals in a vaccuum, is extremely dangerous… But this is the domestic habitat, where they seem to have thuroughly isolated themselves from all the dangerous things. Those kids are likely going to be in a far more appropriate environment for children to have a safe and formative upbringing in than a cramped ship like the Runaway.

      2. Mango The Captain

        One of the previous human employees had children, so I think it couldn’t be all that bad (mentioned in an ama)

        1. cinna

          oh yeah, the living quarters are the main draw of living here, and they’re not gonna have kids operating heavy machinery in vacuum or anything lol. it’s just the way this was all treated, like. it’s bad enough that this was all a “surprise” for someone who mel should know damn well wouldn’t take it well, bringing several kids into that is just wild. if a problem came up with the centaurs and mel threw another non-solution at it, it’d suck to be a kid stuck in the middle of that, especially in a place like this where there’s not really anywhere else safe to be.

        2. JoB

          > it’d suck to be a kid stuck in the middle of that

          On the flip side, if Mel messes up in a way that affects the kids directly, they likely have all day to [ahem] address the matter in personal conversation.

          “We’re faster than you!”

    2. cinna

      i mean, it’s an abandoned mining operation-turned-recycling plant everyone calls Dirtball, where we’ve seen bad management and careless temp workers, and fed-up tenured employees leaving one after the other. this feels like bringing a family with kids to live in an industrial warehouse complex, AND it’s on a planet with no atmosphere?! that’s such a scary thought to me!

      not to mention that there’s like, one qualified doctor for at least 8 or 9 people now, barely any centaur infrastructure, and has the stuff they’ve just built been properly tested and safety checked??

      this all just makes it even worse that it was a big surprise. like, MAYBE if Mel had actually discussed this with Talita well in advance, and she’d had time to process the prospect, she could’ve helped? maybe she’d have even preferred that as a job role than managing Adams and whatever. at the very least, they could’ve gotten her insight on the biggest challenges for her body type and biology living here?? this just makes me feel angrier with Mel, i can’t trust that they’d truly consider the reality of the needs of all these people, with such a track record of not really listening to anyone. very stressful lol, great story.

      1. OhGollieItsOllie

        The existing infrastructure is the original Avian-built stuff with human-centric infrastructure built on top of it, both sophonts so MUCH tinier than centaurs. Maybe it can handle the weight of one centaur, but multiple centaur workers? That all have to hand make their own PPE like Talita did, and can’t fit in the vehicles?

        This is bad for so many reasons outside of Talita!

      2. Light_In_The_Fog

        If these are starchaser nomads it doesn’t feel that presumptuous to think the kids have experience living in a spaceship so they know how to be safe around airlocks

      3. Vinemaple

        I would theorize, or headcanon, that this Centaur clan, like the Human temps, are in a position where Dirtball seems like a pretty good deal. In fact, it’s possible that Starchasers might feel like the kids need to feel natural gravity under them and have more space than they could get on their ship, and it might be preferable to raise larvae planetside. Not to mention a domed habitat with a whole crew running a whole set of infrastructure might be refreshing after years of carefully working to keep yourselves alive in space.

    3. Redacted

      Dr. Henriques mentioned in one of the Q&As that one of the past temps brought her kids with her, so it’s not completely unprecedented.

    4. The Hollymonster

      Here’s some predictions:
      – if anyone is gonna say something especially rude to Talita, I think it’s gonna be the kids. They wouldn’t even have to be mean on purpose, kids just don’t have a filter.
      – (not quite a prediction, but I hope those kids get a chance to torment Adam a bit before he leaves. He actually deserves it, especially bc I suspect he’d be mean to the kids thinking they’re pushovers like Talita.)
      – I recall an old lore comic where a random Centaur thought Talita was poorly flirting with them bc of her humanlike expressions… Hope that doesn’t become an issue before Talita makes like the name of the comic. D:
      – the centaur clan ends up being more understanding about Talita eventually dipping than Mel is, at least in some aspects.

  34. MutableAlias

    very excited for this page! due to dumb reasons i can’t access the patreon properly so i couldn’t leave a comment at the time, but tbh i didn’t suspect Mel was going to hire centaur workers, partly because there were so many comments about it, but when it sank in that, yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that Mel would actually do, everything else seemed to line up- the housing plans, the building and Talita’s assumption about it, the agriculture, the vaccinations, man everyone else’s cooperation and attitude about it kinda hurts knowing how much Talita actually REALLY wouldn’t want this. like even though she’s no stranger to her coworkers, even people who aren’t Mel don’t realize the depth of how complicated this is… but maybe it’s for the better that they didn’t step in, we’ll see lol

    also obviously this page is phenomenal visually; the shape of the matriarch’s empty eye socket amidst the missing crown, the pretty little clips/combs on the entourage members, the kids all looking at each other and their parents and that one with the smug grin, all of their clothing in general like the layers and folds and textures and how it contours their bodies and the collars indenting their feathers, and the personalization and ritual behind it all (i had to look up a chatelaine), again just a very exciting page setting up things to come

    1. MutableAlias

      also that marble-in-a-tube necklace reminds me of a fashion statement i saw somewhere where it was like hamster tubes with a hamster in it as a giant necklace

    2. HAL9000

      yeah honestly everyone’s dragging on Mel here but it doesnt change the fact MULTIPLE coworkers knew about it and didn’t tell Talita… this whole workplace has betrayed her

      1. TheSovereignGrave

        Eh, I feel like most of them would probably assume that, given their history, Mel would know Talita well enough to know if this is something she’d actively want.

        1. MutableAlias

          very true, it’s not like they would know her complicated feelings on a topic she probably wouldn’t ever bring up outside of close friends, and her relationship with Mel isn’t blatantly awful or else she wouldn’t be here all these years. I wonder how most of Ixion personally views Mel, probably mostly positive/neutral

  35. sadlyglyphtaken

    yeah this is by far the most awkward moment of the comic so far, at least that i remember. what are you even supposed to do but run and hide.

    hm i am trying to think what advice i have for talita, having survived this situation before. talita, just as you are a poseur to claim you understand their backgrounds, they are poseurs to claim that they understand your background. you will probably do a better job at not saying stupid things about them, than they will do about not saying stupid things about you. it is completely circumstantial, and completely unfair, that you are being placed under much more scrutiny than they are. you are doing *really well* at being someone worth being and it’s not your fault that neither mel nor the guests will recognise that.

    1. Vinemaple

      Damn, this is rewiring my brain, thank you so much!!

  36. Igelfullmetal

    Disregarding everything else going on, I love that dark-haired kiddo in the back. They’re just happy to be here 🙂

  37. gigithebear

    things your socially awkward foster child would definitely want: to be thrown into working with an established family unit and be expected to be friends with them right off the bat. great thinking, mel.

  38. DeadGators

    I love the detail of one tucking their hands into the top of their outfit like a hoodie pocket.

  39. Teod

    I wonder how long it will take Mel to see that they messed up. It could be a sudden realization immediately upon seeing how centaurs and Talita interact, but more likely it’s going to be bitter denial until the end.

    1. Lezzlebit

      Ohhggg yeah, dear god… My guess is that Mel’s first reaction to Talita’s horror will be “just give it a chance, this will be great for you in the long run! Why don’t you understand how good this will be for you?”

      1. Vinemaple

        Yep. Speaking of an utterly alien creature from the bottom of the sea, that’s what Mel is to me!

    2. Felgraf

      Feeling optimistic, are we? =D

      (That is to say: I’m not really sure they *will* realize they messed up. Like. They still don’t get why their kids don’t call!)

  40. Gar G

    Whoa O_O

    (and oh I remember them!)

    (was a bit surprised seeing that head injury at first but then I remembered that Centaur brains are inside their chest, so they can survive massive head injuries like that)

    1. Planetfall

      Wait… I just thought of something… that Centaur is probebly mute due to her injury, given the upper part of their head is their vocal cavity. They might know the same sign language! (I cant rmemeber which sign language the main cast use. Is it ASL?).

      1. Planetfall

        Or she I should say. She’s the matriarch I’m pretty sure.

        1. Planetfall

          If I’m remembering the lore post right.

        2. 1d4-nadg

          They are indeed the matriarch, and is able to bear youngs (look, larvae under their coat), but “woman (she/her)” is a human cultural concept that doesn’t apply to centaurs. Talita identify with this human concept but *gestures widly at the difference between Talita and the others centaurs*

      2. NotOkapi

        In the first appearance of the “matriarch with the broken crown” on tumblr it was specified that she’s missing one speech sinus, so she can still speak but it’s quieter and raspier then the average centaur.

      3. Jest A. Reader

        it is ASL but unfortunately centaurs don’t have the right amount of digits to use it properly right off the bat (gillie helped talita develop a way she could use asl as a centaur). if centaurs have a form of sign lanuage of their own it probably wouldn’t be compatible with the asl talita knows sadly 🙁

  41. Hunter

    MAN I hope that before she leaves Talita’s just going to have this huge crashout at Mel because of all their stupid bullshit. Especially if she has to tell Mel that she’s leaving and he has the gall to get all offended like “And after I did all this for you!”

  42. Rad Internet Stranger

    You know what… I think the Matriarch might just have some babies under the hood. Look at the way their clothing sticks up around their back. Totally got some larva clinging on under there!!

  43. DC4U

    I want so bad to get a live Clan reaction to them finding out how yoked Talita is lol

  44. The Opossum Witch

    and they looked at me, and I looked at them, and they looked at ME, and I looked at THEM

  45. Hash_cold

    If I where a centaur i would totally be wearing one of those half tops with the arms out, they look so cool.

  46. Thinking too deep

    I’m hoping that the matriarch quickly realizes that this poor creature (talita) has been effectively isolated from both her own kind AND the Species that ‘took her in’ and decides that she is in need of EDUCATION (look it’s a her pride won’t let this state of affairs continue thing) and honestly I can see broken crown being the sort of domineering personality that would be the sort that takes offense at this situation
    Mostly because I find it funny if talita has a centaur long distancing mentoring and checking on her to her deep discomfort but also maybe appreciation? bc how she’s been raised is just such a big issue for the centaur in question personally, that they just can’t leave this lost girl alone to struggle like this even if they initially think oh a loner they might quickly become convinced that she’s not Just a loner she’s practically the equivalent of a feral child (well to them at least a human would disagree) … I kinda hope this triggers a gradual change in how orphans get treated at least by space borne centaurs (or maybe a humans should not raise centaur children attitude because they WILL MESS THEM UP look at how that poor girl ended up!)
    Or maybe they will decide to use her as a sort of test case for interacting with humans to see what issues they might encounter

    I’m just hoping it’s not a hostile encounter for talita negative probably just because of the surprise of it but not hostile at least

    1. JoB

      I actually wonder whether it’ll become a plot point that Talita’s going to meet this particular matriarch, as they may have certain common experiences:

      Talita has complained that so far, centaurs she met kept up with the conversation only until they realized that she’s never been with a clan. She doesn’t say it out loud, but I’m under the impression that she has taken that as “why should I keep talking to you, you ought to be dead”. (For the records, I don’t think that that’s what those centaurs were thinking, nor that Talita winding up on an orphanage’s doorstep was an outright attempt at culling.)

      As for Broken Crown – humans carry their brains in the head. (Note the transcript saying outright that theirs is “an injury that on a human would have been instantly fatal.”) I can easily imagine that every five-finger they’re talking to is inwardly going “am I talking to a revenant here??” at some point …

      1. Thinking too deep

        I’m just hoping that the entire clan just decides that Mel? Mel is a real piece of work for doing this without telling either party what he was going to do and deciding on just making sure this so very lost centaur at least understands the Basics of what she should have been taught
        I want Mel to be hecken told exactly how much of an idiot he is, I want to see an offended on both parties behalf centaur just give him the fifth degree over this.

        1. buam

          Mel uses they/them pronouns

  47. buam

    Oh I love the little details. The way home world centaur clothing and fashion is so clearly designed by/for centaurs and the way their body works really emphasizes that Talita is wearing human clothing (including glasses!) adapted for a centaur body. And the subtle differences in body language, especially facial expressions, and how even Talita’s antlers are out of sync…

    Absolutely kills me that Mel is going to expect thanks for this trauma/betrayal. I know their communication skills are awful with everyone (Calcery, their kids) but there’s an extra layer of speciesism to assuming Talita and a random herd will get along because they’re all centaurs. (And they’ll get along so well that it isn’t worth asking Talita her opinion or giving her the slightest heads up aaaaa. Plus all the new apartments are based on Talita’s makeshift apartment with no input from this new clan and their needs…)

    1. JoB

      > all the new apartments are based on Talita’s makeshift apartment

      … are they really? What Mel asked Talita for were the schematics she used (page 14), presumably focused on putting her “home” on a separate septic system. Looking at RQ 26, how many of those issues does Mel even know about / remember, much less avoided making these same mistakes all over again?

      1. Thisfox

        I’m curious about the kitchen provided with the unit, myself.

        I’ve heard Talitas diet described as “eating like a college student” and although I had a pot, a stove and a kettle when I was in Uni, I still know plenty of students who eat (shudder) microwave food, packet soup, and nothing else. It’s possible that provisions haven’t been made for people who eat like a modern centaur, used to all the mod cons, and home-cooked meals with the family. They’ve got the same raw ingredients growing, they’ll no doubt be happy to eat the same ingredients, but they might not be interested in eating in the manner that Talita does.

  48. everentropy

    You know that comic that is a dog and a wolf looking at each other? This kind of feels like that, in the sense that even though they are theoretically the same they have been so changed by their environments that they are also nothing alike.

  49. Illumiphos

    Why is the last panel so is that the bite of 87 ah

  50. B

    I love the clothing and accessories of these guys it’s so cool looking! This is one page that id love to see the colors of, just for the clothing! It’s also neat just how diverse they look, with what looks like trunk length differences and stripes and markings (that one with stripey arms!!). A full clan, or is this just the matriarch and her entourage/children I wonder? If I remember right the trunk piercings are status markers in Nightchaser culture, and stripey arms has the same number as the matriarch here

  51. Zii

    IT’S THE MATRIARCH WITH THE BROKEN CROWN!!! OMMGGG!!!!
    I did not expect to see her in this comic but it’s such a welcome surprise!

    1. Zii

      Also I love how alien the centaurs feel here. We’re introduced to all the other sophonts pretty early on so we get used to how they operate pretty quickly. But the only centaur we’ve seen here is Talita and these centaurs may be the same species but the difference between them all is so palpable

  52. VVildbach

    Gosh your inks, and values are pretty.

    1. Vinemaple

      You should see Jay’s color inks. And their nail art.

  53. OfAllTrades

    “do u have any ibuprofen? i got a headache”

  54. May

    I know the comic is building up to Talita running away (to the stars), but seeing the other centaurs is making me crave a comic of “Talita onboard the new hires”. Kind of sad we will only get a chapter or two of interaction at best.

  55. FuzzySpiderPawz

    Aww the baby centaurs are so cute but also HOLY FUUUUCK TALITA RUN AWAYYYYYYYY

    1. FuzzySpiderPawz

      AUUUUUUGGGH HOW DO I DELETE A COMMENT IN HERE I didn’t think my original comment got through so I reposted it ugh

  56. FuzzySpiderPawz

    The centaur kids are so cute also HOLY FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKK TALITA RUNAWAYYYYYYYY

  57. Light_In_The_Fog

    By the way the NEW button on much older pages is linking to a few pages ago instead of this one, and the page they link to links to the one after it instead of this one

    1. Storm

      Oh No but also they look so cool!!

    2. 1d4-nadg

      Yeah, it needs a few days to update the cache properly for some reason

      1. Jay Eaton

        Hard refresh your browser

    3. Jay Eaton

      Hard refresh your browser

  58. Lolo

    Mel somehow managed to hire the most beautifully intimidating Matriarch possible, impressive!
    On a brighter note, the Doc’s big box of stickers is going to come in handy for all them little ones

    1. Vinemaple

      The kids will need to borrow magnifying glasses to see those dinky Jovian stickers, lol

  59. MissZena

    these designs are so good but oh god I can feel the dread from that long-distance eye contact
    Talita get out of there girl RUN

  60. Quad

    Ooooh, I think I remember you posting a portrait of this matriarch fella!!! The broken crown is so cool…. It looooks like her ethnicity’s changed, too. If I’m reading all your notes right, it looks like most of them are Nightchasers, save for the two darker colored fellas who are Shta. Poor Talita.

    Have these centaurs used face paint of some kind? I can see the matriarch’s trunk is black, and I don’t know what markings are typical (though, now that I look, I can see some of their kids have it too…)

  61. FunkyTrashCan

    live talita reaction

  62. MyUniverseinaBox

    Granted, I’m going through some personal things in my life that are probably making me more susceptible to being emotional, but this page made me cry a little bit. I feel for Talita.

  63. pooooooooboooearts

    Dammit Mel. LMAO At least that one kid centaur seems like they’re happy to be here

  64. HAL9000

    BROKEN CROWN?!! sorry talita that sucks for you however OH MY GOD BROKEN CROWN?! these are Delightful centaur designs, i love seeing the diversity in patterns and appearances.

    also i imagine a matriarch would not be particularly happy with taking orders from a random non-matriarch centaur… aliens, whatever, they’re not Your culture so its not a huge issue. but another centaur?

    1. HAL9000

      also the smily excited kid… awww

    2. MagicHats

      Yeah it sounds like a great idea on paper to introduce Talita to other Centaurs on Paper, but in practice the combination of Talita not being Centaur socialized (and given what we know about all of this through the supplemental stuff that’s floating around RE: can’t we just give Baby Talita to a Centaur Clan?) and then the fact that the culture clash of a more traditional (if spacefaring) clan and Talita being a lone Clanless Centaur who’s Human socialized, would likely lead to the Centaur Clan deferring to the Matriarch and it being really on the Matriarch whether or not They (and ergo the other clan members that would be working with Talita) would Listen to Talita.

      The other thing that I don’t think Mel’s considered with this is the range of Centaur Perception, and that This Matriarch and Talita have definitely noticed each other by now if they haven’t already (assuming that the shot of the matriarch is in-universe the matriarch hearing and then making full eye contact with Talita from that great a distance; not entirely improbable given the earlier parts of the webcomic until now that’s made a point of Talita’s excellent hearing). Potentially really rough introduction without any of the humans realizing it.

  65. MyUniverseinaBox

    Oh hm.. Why is it that Talita has her tusks in and they don’t?

    1. Duke 1337-o

      She’s on a different circadian cycle than the rest of them. It’s like how a husky in Perth will be in its winter coat when its brother that lives in Flagstaff has its summer coat.

      1. MyUniverseinaBox

        Ohh I see yeah. Thanks for explaining!

      2. HeadWood

        Also her cycle is just outright fucked for reasons I do not remember so she goes trough antlers thrice as fast.

    2. Light_In_The_Fog

      Like others said she’s never been a part of whatever seasonal influences make this clan all synced up, but also comparing what Talita said to her doctor about how often her antlers have been growing in with the centaur biology page, I think Talita’s growth cycles are pretty messed up due to factors like poor diet and sleep as well. (Might be misunderstanding smth there tho)

      1. MyUniverseinaBox

        Yeah I figured that might have something to do with it too..

  66. MyUniverseinaBox

    Oh wow oh wow oh wow oh goddddd I’m at a loss for words

  67. blythe

    little ones :]]]] do they get stickers too?

    1. Madame Thunderbone

      They should, they’re delightful!

  68. holly...!

    now i understand why you reblogged talita plinko again

  69. cypr

    ah. a message to all talita: please survive

  70. Gheesfellow

    Slowly drifting through the vaccum of deep space on a pirate ship sounds mighty appealing all of a sudden.

  71. Eris

    Larva! Little bugs! Geeze that might be extra weird for Talita on top of the culture shock, considering how little care she received culturally as an orphan even AFTER pupation

    1. Light_In_The_Fog

      Do one of the adults have pupae on them? I’m not seeing them?

      1. bug

        I think the Matriarch with the broken crown does? three little bulges on the side of their clothing — though I might be mistaken. trust your eyes

        1. Light_In_The_Fog

          I see them now! I was trying to find pupae on the other adults even though they wouldn’t have those lol

  72. Ellie

    *Sucks air through teeth*
    This doesn’t necessarily HAVE to be a bad move on Mel’s part, but … only if you’ve actually spoken about it to the person it’s meant to be a ‘surprise’ for. This is like being gifted a suddenly opened pandora’s box of halfway-processed thoughts, worries, fears, and insecurities. Even if you were PREPARED for it it’d be a huge thing, and to just get it dropped in your lap… Yeah. Not gonna be surprised if this is what ends up being the final push for Talita to leave Dirtball, and good riddance.

    1. NotOkapi

      Tbh I don’t know if this could ever have been a good thing given how exploited centaur labor is. You’re taking a whole clan of people with children desperate enough to fling themselves into the void even temporarily to the middle of nowhere with limited support (such as a SINGLE doctor and a SINGLE species of crop animal) to perform a dangerous job with limited protection. Mel isn’t just ignoring Talita’s feelings here, they’re participating in an incredibly harmful system.

      1. Ellie

        It could be the best option this clan has, considering that Dirtball at least has SOME experience with Centaur healthcare and dietary needs, right?
        For clarity’s sake: I was only really considering this from the angle of Mel doing something ‘nice’ for Talita by inviting a group of her species to (presumably) bond with and connect to. I didn’t stop to consider Centaur’s being exploited for cheap labour, yikes

  73. JoB

    Well. Unless Mel surprises me with unexpected talents, or holds that tablet wrong, they’ve got at least one thing right: It seems that this clan does speak English. Saying that “Talita can translate for them when I’m not around with a machine translator” (in all their glorious ignorance of those pesky ‘facts’ others are always so preoccupied with) would have been a pretty pumpkin-sized cherry on top.

    1. HAL9000

      there’s been a few other english-speaking centaurs- Tadder and Rak (? i cant remember their names, apologies) from the First Contact comic spoke it pretty well, although one was more fluent then his brother. knowing the workplace language at least enough to get by is important for a job, i dont think even Mel would be daft enough to employ people nobody can effectively communicate with for a role where effective communication can be the difference between life and death

      1. Light_In_The_Fog

        Given that those two were ambassadors, I kinda wouldn’t be too surprised if the only english-speakers here was the matriarch and maybe the kids (assuming centaurs have similar reduction in language learning ability with age as humans do)

      2. Vinemaple

        Relaghuul… my beloved Leshek fashionista ambassadors!

      3. Falconette

        Relaghul, I think.

  74. Dahsun

    One adult and one child look Shta, are the rest Sunchasers, and is Talita as well? I wonder how normal multi ethnic clans are among Centaurs, and whether this spacefaring clan differs from centaur norms.
    Could Talita be related to this lot biologically?

    1. glazeliights

      talita is most likely of sunchaser origin, but the other centaurs look more like nightchasers to me, considering their higher-contrast stripes (plus, trunk piercings are more of a nightchaser cultural thing)

      1. Light_In_The_Fog

        I agree, especially since most Starchasers are nomads

  75. Bug

    *Sickos meme intensifies*. Also OUGH the outfits <3

  76. Chase Wanderstar

    I wonder what the furs on the children’s capes came from. Something from Earth, I think, I seem to recall reading that nothing on the Centaur homeworld has a tail as we know it, nor fur as we know it either.

    1. Boom

      Could be feathers, or ears

      1. bug

        ^ this. likely nothing from Earth, and instead feather-like integument from the Centaur Homeplanet. could be organic, could be decorative — we can only guess, i guess

  77. Vinemaple

    Oh my word, they’re here, I love them, it’s Broken Crown, the outfits, the magnifying glasses, the existence of decorative mane combs, the trunk piercings, the outfits, the kids, the kids, the kids, the kids…

    It is gonna kill me when we see the last of them, I really hope there will be some positive surprises with their dynamic with Talita, but obviously we’re not gonna get to know them that well. Because Talita is gonna run away. To the stars. Away from this ultimate betrayal from Mel.

    Talita, if you tell Mel, “This is what Calcery was talking about: you never actually listen to anyone,” I will personally find those mystery dumplings you loved, and send them to you, along with all the information about how to import them and how to find them again, when the importer changes what they call them.

    1. Vinemaple

      Oh, and a friendly reminder to everyone: non-Talita Centaurs are all they/them. We don’t project our Human gender concepts onto alien sophonts unless they ask us to.

      1. Jordan Aster

        I actually appreciate this comment because I accidentally equate the matriarch with human femininity, so in my mind this new centaur uses she/her. I should know better because I have a sophont species with clans that have a matriarch, and that matriarch can be any sex and use any pronouns.

  78. Eux

    oh they all look so GORGEOUS i cannot get over their outfits. i fondly remember your illustration of a rancher centaur with a gun, but wow!!!!!!! the detail! and that fucking wound is so impressive!!!!!!!! talita…… :D…..oh babygirl im sorry about mel doing this.

  79. WoomySans

    It might be too early to theorize, but I think that two of the adult centaurs might be workers (the matriarchs offspring) because they both have a diamond shape above their trunks like her. Of course it could also just be a common pattern from whatever region they came from since their trunks don’t have dark coloring like the children do.

    1. WoomySans

      Also I hope that Mel is present when the inevitable hostility the homeworld centaurs are going to give Talita so they can realize how badly they fucked up.

    2. Ellindsey

      I am sure that a native centaur could look at these and tell instantly which ones were workers and which were consorts, just from minor details about their clothing, markings, body language and such. Talita will have no idea, which will probably lead to even more awkwardness between all of them.

  80. AJ

    How disconcerting would it be for Talita to hear a group of hooved quadrupeds after 10 or so years of being the only one on Dirtball? Like that sounds like your own footsteps but you’re not moving?
    Also Centaur earrings! Are those also piercings or move like Xao’s interchangeable horn jewelry?

    1. Septemberdale

      They seem to be combs hooked into the mane-feathers, based on the description and the appearance.

  81. dzamie

    Oh man, speaking of differences between centaur-raised centaurs and Talita, their trunks point towards the person they’re speaking to, in contrast to Talita’s habit of talking into her neck.

  82. Ellindsey

    The worst part of it is that Mel is probably expecting Talita to onboard and train the new centaurs. Which will go badly. It’s bad enough that Talita is conflict-adverse and minion-coded, plus the face that the clan matriarch isn’t likely to react well to a clanless loner who doesn’t speak the language and whose body language is all wrong telling their clan what to do.

    1. NotOkapi

      Worse, Talita made her own PPE. This poor clan will also need to be instructed by her on building *the only thing that will keep them alive* in vacuum (if that’s the work Mel hired them for). She’s entirely in charge of and to blame for this entire clan’s safety and ensuring their children (INCLUDING GRUBS WHO WILL STARVE WITHOUT THEIR MOTHER AND LIKELY BE CULLED UNLESS TAKEN IN THE WAY TALITA WAS AND THEREFORE DOOMED TO LIVE HER LUFE OVER AGAIN)

      1. Undercooked Mothman

        I kind of doubt that there would be a situation in which these new hires have an arts and crafts day to make their own spacesuits. That seems…. extremely poorly planned. Either there have been suits made for them already, or they arent getting jobs working the slag fields. Considering Idrisah is being replaced tomorrow, the centaurs may be working in admin.

        1. 1d4-nadg

          Also, hopefully by living in space they already have suitable equipement if they need to go outside?

        2. Septemberdale

          Does Admin even have centaur furniture to accommodate them, or will they have to make do with chairs for Cetasers?

        3. JoB

          > will they have to make do with chairs for Cetasers?

          Can’t say we’ve been shown outright blueprints of centaur furniture, but at least the seatings on page page 205 ff. didn’t look too far from human sofas, chaiselongues, and beds. (Likely considerably sized up WRT to our models, but that’s something they should have at hand for GMHs already.)

  83. anon

    ITS HER!!! THE MATRIARCH WITH THE BROKEN CROWN

  84. Sunstorm

    TALITA. Don’t make that face at them!

    1. NotOkapi

      Ironically so far she hasn’t made a face that’s all that weird to centaurs- I double checked the expression sheet, this is basically textbook “shock” which is fair even to a stranger as soon as they get context.

      1. Aleris

        I’m worried her expression of shock will be interpreted as a slight against Broken Crown and not as, y’know, the actual reason Talita’s shocked to see other centaurs

        1. Falconette

          Hooooo, yeah, “How’d THAT happen?!” as opposed to “Why are there other Centaurs here?”.

  85. pitviperofdoom

    Obviously Talita’s going to feel alienated by this wildly unfamiliar culture that’s “supposed to be” hers but isn’t, compounding the alienation she already feels among humans…
    But one extra fucked up layer that Mel obviously hasn’t considered is that maybe one of the reasons Talita doesn’t want to be around other centaurs is that these are the people who would rather have killed her than raised her, who told her caretakers to kill her rather than bothering to tell them anything about caring for her. And yeah they’re a different culture with different views on morality, but Talita is human-raised and human-socialized with human morality, and these people would have killed her. And the fact that Mel (A FOSTER CARE WORKER) didn’t consider this just really puts their thoughtlessness on full display.

    1. Vinemaple

      Mel isn’t a foster care worker. They volunteered to foster Talita when she aged out of the system. But you’re absolutely right about Mel’s lack of consideration, and the possible connotations it might have for Talita.

      In fact, I’m wondering if Talita has even been able to conceive of Mel hiring Centaur workers. I think this is going to feel like the ultimate betrayal, and come as a complete surprise, as she seems to have been thinking Mel was only building her a new apartment.

    2. 1d4-nadg

      Teeechnically Mel isn’t a foster care worker, they just accepted to be sort of a parent for Talita specifically, to pay for her studies and everything.
      Which you could argue makes it worse.

    3. HAL9000

      its slightly worse by the fact the matriarch here (broken crown one) has both larvae on their back and young children in tow… she’s going to see a centaur mother when she never had one herself. that’s gotta hurt

  86. rossoll

    lowkey love that talita’s expression here also tracks with how other centaurs would perceive what she’s feeling. like Yes she is Shook

  87. Anonymous

    WAIT This is the surprise!! It wasn’t just Talita they were building housing for =0 So exciting to see some other centaurs, though I imagine Talita’s going to have some complex feelings about this (and I wonder what Bip will think about seeing new centaurs again too!)

    I am looking forward to Mel’s explanation about this, I have got to know what good intentions led to whatever future wreck this is going to turn into.

    Also I love Talita’s reaction shown right next to the other centaurs. Not only is it a silly face, but it also goes to show just how much she’s anthropomorphized (and in-universe, how much she’s been influenced by growing up with humans) compared to them.

    1. Vinemaple

      I think Talita might be genuinely terrified, this time.

    2. JoB

      > I wonder what Bip will think about seeing new centaurs again

      That may depend strongly on what random starchaser clans think about a) pirates, and b) ship AIs that failed to keep their former centaur crew alive …

      (At least Bip should be rather well prepared to guesstimate what their reaction would be.)

  88. Jason Myers

    HOLY SHIIIIIT LIKE!!!! Okay one thing I wanna comment on composition-wise, I feel like this page is LOVELY in taking advantage of the user’s scrolling? Because of the perspective we have of the Centaurs from the side, we see the damage as ‘oh, look, an eye missing?’ But it’s much more UNCANNY when you see them /turn/, and how much of their actual face is really missing. It’s jarring! It’s shocking! It’s half about what I’d expect to happen in something like Junji Ito doing his ‘whole page turn reveal’ thing! It absolutely puts you into the same position as Talita, cuz no matter what we were expecting, I doubt anyone was expecting to see such jarring facial scarring, especially some with very little proper analogy to human brain anatomy.
    That is, to say, holy /shit/, Jay, this is one hell of a page!

  89. Egg

    Well. At least she is far away enough that she can escape this situation

    1. Egg

      Mell I swear to fuck if you try to beckon her over I will get you

      1. Vinemaple

        Thank the stars, Mel probably can’t make Talita out. We’re seeing this with Talitavision.

        1. Light_In_The_Fog

          It seems like that matriarch might be seeing her tho, and they’ll prolly mention her to Mel

  90. Imp!

    Live Talita Reaction

  91. bug

    jay your 3d enviroments are insane

  92. WombatDog

    Can litters of centaurs have multiple sires?

    1. Redacted

      Yes actually! Guess you can tell who sired one of the kids haha

    2. Sparky Lurkdragon

      Sure can, just like cats!

      1. Em

        WHAT? CATS CAN WHAT?

        1. Jason Myers

          Cats can have litters where the kittens all have different fathers.

        2. edenmachine5457

          .like Jason said, any given litter can have multiple sires! however, each kitten themself has only one genetic father. so technically a kitten can be littermates with a bunch of kittens that are only their half siblings. this is likely normal in stray and feral populations where breeding is uncontrolled

  93. WombatDog

    Ah I love that the one on the far left has their lil hands tucked into their garment what a cute detail

  94. Heather

    Oh my gosh I LOVE the details in how the other centaurs are dressed. What amazing jewelry and patterns. I also love the detail that the three kids are dressed identically; it hints at a specific social structure or tradition. Man sorry Talita but I can’t wait to learn more about these people!!!!

    1. Vinemaple

      The mane combs. The MANE COMBS. I don’t think we’ve EVER seen mane combs on the website or in social media. This is as big a surprise as the matriarch being Broken Crown, a character Jay introduced to us with high-quality art years and years ago. I have to admit I zoomed in on the second panel to devour the outfits before even looking at the last panel!

      Also, did you notice? Everyone’s magnifying glass is PERSONALIZED. It’s the phones all over again!

      1. NotOkapi

        A much simpler and human pair are seen on Talita’s winter outfit I think?

        1. Light_In_The_Fog

          where is that? Has Talita ever been anywhere wintery? Or with seasons at all?

        2. NotOkapi

          Can’t respond directly to you because the chain is too long but they’re on her reference sheet if you go to the world site then onto her page. She’s never been anywhere “wintery” but it makes some sense in space that if you’re gonna have a “sundress” you want to have a dress for an opposite vibe.

      2. Heather

        THE MANE COOOOOMBS!!! I wonder how much everyone’s outfit and jewelry style varies from day to day. Were these centaurs doing their own jewelry sorting when they packed to come here.

        Good eye about the magnifying glasses! I imagine Broken Crown also has one, but she probably keeps it on her left side!

        1. JoB

          > Were these centaurs doing their own jewelry
          > sorting when they packed to come here

          … that’s a good question, actually.

          If these starchasers came with the same vessel the other replacements are were on, they of course would have had to pack everything they wanted to bring here. But Ohwitiil doesn’t exactly strike me as someone who’d tell Idrisah to clean out until tomorrow if the new guy were already on site …

          On the other hand, if this clan has arrived on a ship of their own, they could be a) present ahead of everyone else and b) move their belongings whenever (later) they see fit. But why would a starchaser clan with a working ship want to give that up for a job on Dirtball?

          … are we, perchance, witnessing an event where a starchaser clan, outgrowing its ship, splits in two?

  95. BravoLimaPoppa

    Mel, you god-damned idiot.

  96. Adrienne

    Just like a broken clock is right twice a day, Talita’s facial markings become eyebrows in very rare scenarios and it’s specifically when she’s shocked out of her gourd

  97. hessian

    the kids tho …so cutes.

    1. Anonymous

      Their little cloaks…<3

  98. Lilac

    AND THEY HAVE CHILDREN WITH THEM?

    1. Lilac

      While this is unfortunately terrible for talita From my outside entirely unaffected position as a neutral observer I must say they seem very cool hopefully theu are at least like nice or mean well or something (sorry talita)

      1. Lilac

        *they

  99. Entguarde

    THEY’RE HERE!!!
    Are these guys Nightchasers?

    1. Jason Myers

      I think just due to them being in space they’d be regarded as Starchasers, which have a mix of Day and Nightchasers?

      1. Mitta

        Im from the Patreon but i love coming here to read the written descriptions of the pages. I hadn’t noticed this clan does sick bar piercings as a family tradition

        1. Mitta

          oh whoops. i meant to comment individually

        2. MutableAlias

          the bar piercings are a traditional nightchaser thing: https://jayeaton.site/RunawayToTheStars/Sophonts/Centaurs/Culture#Clothing

    2. Apple-eating-goat

      Probably. Either that or Auolut, because their dorsal stripe can be seen from a side view. The one darker-coloured centaur is Shta. (an ethnic map is on the rtts website under sophonts > centaurs > planet)

    3. Apple-eating-goat

      *correction: the matriarch looks more Auolut, the entourage is quite clearly nightchaser

  100. jade stormcloud

    OMG! they’re so amazing! The little ones! And all the detail in the clothing! I wish I could see them close up in real life.

  101. Heep

    Man, I got a bad feeling they’re gonna treat her exactly like the human temps

  102. MisterMuse

    one’s got their arms tucked into their overpants! looks comfy :]

  103. Zuorai

    Waitwaitwaitwaitwait ITS HERRRRRRRRRRRRRR

  104. un_pogaz

    Kid detected. Nurturing instinct activated: “I will die for their cute baby face.” *load shotgun* “Don’t dare try me.”
    Really, it’s crazy how you give them realy such handsome face. And the adults a quite impressive.
    Else, it’s a shame that I suspect this will end badly. Talita will never be fully “Centaur”, but it would be so nice to see her talks with her peers and make “peace” with who she is, and even become affirmative and proud of that. Today could be a great opportunity, but it’s still too soon, and definitely not like this.

  105. Claire

    :Y

  106. tyrone

    Oh no..Its even worse than “just a few” Its a entire freaking clan………
    Also she is already getting the , singular, stink eye….
    Impressive wound by the way, must just have scraped of the outer layer of the skull….

    Soon they will all point and look at her derisively trough their monocle while whispering….
    Its like my 1 day at school all over again ( minus monocles.)

    1. Redacted

      Well centaurs all have rbf to humans, maybe it’s not as bad as at looks. Not that Talita would know.

    2. Teod

      It’s probably not a stink eye, centaur facial expressions are different from human (and from Talita’s).

      That wound is not as bad as it looks – centaur brains are in the torso. Sill pretty bad though, that could have hurt respiration and speech.

      The monocles are for reading, at long distance centaurs have pretty good natural vision.

  107. Matt

    We know that Talita’s tusks are out-of-season (due to stress, it seemed) and far too frequent, I wonder what this looks like for the clan centaurs! Maybe like seeing somebody who has stress-induced grey streaks in their hair, or heavy eyebags?

  108. Ash

    BABY CENTAURS THEYRE SO LITTLE

  109. oodle

    GOD i love their beautiful little monocles.

  110. Martin

    Man poor Talita. Not only are there other centaurs here without any warning but they all have wayyyyy cooler outfits than her.

    1. HAL9000

      getting outcunted and outmogged immensely im afraid 😔

  111. EnchantressEmily

    This page really emphasizes for me just how much Talita’s humanized clothing and mannerisms make her look “less alien” to us-the-readers. After 8+ chapters of seeing Talita all the time I thought I was used to what centaurs look like, but this clan still made me go “oh wow, those really are a Different Kind of Creature.”

  112. Jumpus

    Oh I adore how you’ve given each of them a little intricate looking glass so they can read smaller text that’s so awesomes

    1. Momo

      such nice details!! even the handle looks perfectly built for a lovely little hoof grip

  113. Famout

    I was NOT prepared for the “battle damage.”

    That said, on this page, one centaur really stands out, as if they where raised in a while other culture…

    Surely dressing and acting very human won’t cause any trouble when interacting with a very exclusive culture.

  114. Redacted

    OMG IT’S HER!!! Aside from the horrible surprise this is for Talita I’m loving all the details on their outfits! Three of the entourage are wearing magnifying glasses for reading like the centaurs she met in First Contact, and the matriarch is wearing two charms that look like centaur homeplanet animals. None of the adults have their antlers in while Talita does, they’re probably synced on a different cycle.
    Also my gut is telling that that Chekhov’s gun of Talita’s problems with the temps is gonna fire hard, if she can’t get a bunch of humans to listen to her, there’s no way a clan of stranger centaurs would respect a meek, clanless, human-socialized outsider over their matriarch. Hell of a surprise. Why would Mel do this? Are they stupid?

    1. Skadoosh

      Hopefully the matriarch has the good sense to tell the workers to listen to Talita when it comes to work safety. Talita may be (in the eyes of more traditionalist centaurs) a lunatic space hermit who dresses and acts as though she was a human, but she is the expert in the field, and sometimes you just have to put up with some “eccentricities” to learn something.

      1. Redacted

        Yeah maybe I’m being too hard on them lol. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming they mean as well as any random stranger. Still sucks for Talita tho, she’s already bad at being in charge and now she has to be in charge of people that exacerbate her every insecurity. Not their fault they got caught up in the middle Mel’s “surprises” they just needed a job

      2. Topaz

        I mean she has said on page 158 that if they speak English they ask about her clan first so they probably won’t immediately assume crazy hermit. Plus she said, she says she never had a clan. So I’d assume their logic would be culling gone wrong: weird reactions or kidnapped/trafficked: also awkward and possibly too much sympathy (for Talita to handle).

  115. foca

    Also, i am SO FUCKING SCARED about what will happen. i have no idea what they will think about Talita, however i imagine it’s not gonna go well since (spoilers) jay said there will be centaur crying this episode. gosh, i’m so excited and terrified!

  116. foca

    GAAAAAAHHHHHH…!!!!!! THEYRE FINALLY HERE!!! these are such beautiful designs, i’m in awe with all the intricate detailing on their clothes, i could stare at these for hours. the kids are so cutewith their little capes… and like others have commented, it’s so cool to see the ‘matriarch with a broken crown’ concept be used here!!!! wahhhh

    1. Montydragon

      the teens look so teen. a little nervous to be in a new place with their parents but also excited. gahhhh how does jay fit so many mundane sweet details into these drawings

      1. Jay Eaton

        Those kids are about 8 years old, actually. Teens would be taller

        1. Antarctopelta

          Sorry, eight years chronologically or they’re more comparable to human eight year olds?

        2. NotOkapi

          Can’t respond directly because the comment was too late but centaurs have similar(ish) lifespans to humans at an average of 80 years. Presumably with advances in health care they might even reach parody with human lifespans. So centaur 8 is roughly human 8.

  117. BlueJay

    Awww baby centaurs!!

    But very valid reaction from Talita yikes

  118. ronan

    man i am SO nervous for how the clan and talita will interact 😬 i wonder how much mel has told them about talita and what they will think of her…
    but they do look SO cool, i love the little diamond markings on their faces, and the matriarch’s dark trunk! and if i remember centaur expressions correctly, one of the kids looks like they’re smiling which is cute ;]

  119. jellex

    The difference in style between the other centaurs and Talita in that final panel is: 1) very good comic-ing 2) unfortunately very very funny due to how starkly they are being juxtaposed right next to each other (sorry Talita

  120. Sol

    OMG so the surprise was not a new big apartment upgrade?? That will make it easier for Talita to leave.

    1. Redacted

      Well I’d expect that Mel was planning on part of the surprise being to move Talita out of dry storage and into a bigger apartment. Where she’ll have to be neighbors with a bunch of stranger centaurs. Yay.

  121. Mr. Skeleton

    No one is prepared for anything that’s about to happen!

    1. Mechie

      Least of all Talita, I think

  122. Skadoosh

    I so wish this page was in color. I want to see all the little accessories and the diversity in “plumage” between them.

  123. Momo

    oohhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    aw so cute how you can tell the kids are all siblings from the matriarch with those cute trunk spots

  124. AnormalADN

    oh golly indeed
    (But also gosh they look very pretty in their getup, and the young ones are very cute)

  125. 40

    HOLY SHIT ITS HER

  126. Mimi-Fox

    Are these young centaurs?! They’re so cute!
    This seems like a very tense moment for Talita! I hope she will be okay after this meeting.

  127. rory

    i am having Emotions

  128. K

    ITS THE MATRIARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/655550323873742848?source=share)
    Also it looks like she has larva under that jacket that’s draped over her!

    1. Momo

      oh yeah i didnt notice, youre right they might be grubnant… (grub pregnant)

      1. edenmachine5457

        Am I /gregnant?/ (reference)

        1. Ruby

          PREGANANANT??

  129. hurgaburga

    one one hand: talita’s mixed feelings at BEST about mel’s surprise
    on another: OOOH COOL CENTAUR DESGNS ALSO ONE REFRENCING THAT ONE POST YOU MADE ON TUMLR EEEEEEEEEE (this one: https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/655550323873742848/matriarch-with-a-broken-crown-i-get-asked-a-lot)

    1. Chrysalis

      YES. A terrible thing to spring on Talita unprepared (or possibly at all), but they all look SO COOL. I want to find out their names and their family dynamics and their history and their skills and the significance of their clothes and accessories and

  130. rory

    talita. good luck girl.

  131. robug

    UH OH!

  132. edenmachine5457

    .AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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