Who remembers the title of this chapter?
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Transcript
Verengt: Your mechanics team is helping us change our suits for ground work.
Talita's face lights up a little for the first time in the conversation.
Talita: Oh! That’s great!
Verengt glances around, uncertain. They turn back to Talita, eye wider, lip corner tightened, and trunk angled to speak to her more quietly.
Verengt: Talita… Are you the only member of your clan here?
The light drains from Talita's face, overtaken by dread.
Verengt: If possible I'd like to speak to your matriarch, and assure them we will treat you well...
124 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 259”
PostMortem7581
I find it interesting, the choice to render Talita atop the margins in the last panel. Perhaps it alludes to her not fitting neatly in the social box expected of her? Your compositional work continues to greatly enrich the story as it’s told to us. Masterful use of the medium’s quirks.
hessian
the look in talita’s eyes. decades of a well meaning question with a heavy and frustratingly impossible web of experiences behind it. no malice, no overt rudeness, just a gaping chasm that can only be adressed by the people who are affected by it. just a reminder that something about the life you’ve lived is not what others expect it to be. gaaauugh. blows up
Lilybug
Sorry ma’am. My biological “matriarch” likely had me out of “wedlock”, abandoned/sold me, and now I am more human than Centaur.
edenmachine5457
.verengt already seems to care so much about talita’s feelings. they notice how nervous she is (even if it’s miscommunicated body language), and try their best to try and comfort her, except the one way they tried to comfort her is one of the ways that will hurt her the most, and they had no way of knowing that because Mel did not tell them about it. AUGH. really really good interaction, verengt means so well but because information was kept from them, they end up hurting people by meaning well. jay you are so good at writing this is really really REALLY good
Istas
It’s hard to know yet how much is genuine caring, and how much is politeness/tact from a clan Matriarch. The two would look very similar from the outside when watching a skilled, experienced person in a position of power, even before the complications of cross-species/cultural interaction.
This could still go so many ways, from Verengt saying “Well you have the job so I presume you are competent; let us see your performance for ourselves”, to “I refuse to put my workers, my children, under the direction of a clanless aberration”, and so much else.
TotallySomebody
Ohh, there it is </3
maskteeth
Oh no. We see Talita’s expression in that first panel being happy, pleasantly surprised, whereas from Verengt’s perspective she’s looking batshit terrified and incredibly anxious. No wonder Verengt wants to assure her matriarch that she’ll be ok with them
T-Bird
Okay… In the interest of being completely fair, it’s conceivable that Mel did tell Verengt Talita was on her own, without going into much detail regarding her upbringing, and Verengt assumed the silly alien must not understand centaurs very well (which is fair), of COURSE there has to be a clan in the picture somehow.
That is the kindest spin I can put on the situation regarding Mel’s actions. Because, in fairness, if my new boss opened a conversation with “By the way, your future supervisor was abandoned as a baby and grew up in the foster system” I’d be out of there like a shot.
Solidago
This makes sense and I also just realized that Mel may not realize just how deep the cultural gap is. These centaurs express differently but is Mel, as a human who presumably hasn’t interacted much with centaurs aside from Talita, aware that their faces are practically unreadable to each other? Are they aware of the degree to which Talita has picked up human facial expression, and that she comes off as all kinds of negative to other centaurs? Likely not. And it /would/ be rather rude and invasive to disclose the more sensitive aspects of her history on her behalf. Considering the Adam incident, they seem inclined toward giving Talita opportunities to “take charge.” It’s just unfortunate that the resultant situation is incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, not just for Talita but for Verengt and the Gwailers too.
milk4evertoasted
NO.. TALITA. MY . MY DARLING. tear drips down my cheek. TALITA!!!!!!!!!
HAL9000
the amount of miscommucations through body languages here in one page is impressive. this sucks for everyone. veregnt is trying their best to be polite and kind and respectful and talita is trying her best to be polite and kind and respectful and they’re both getting completely different vibes.
creetur
Mel You Really Suck At Your Job Right Now
creetur
Didn’t even give the clan or Verengt a brief overview of what’s going on with Talita that’s. so shitty
Heather
Oh man… Talita’s genuine smile in panel 1 doesn’t include a trunk-smile, so it’s possible Verengt doesn’t pick up on it! I have also liked seeing the little clench-lines in her trunk these last few pages when she’s more nervous than usual; what a good and visceral detail.
purrs
Ohhhh, Talita.
Quad
Ohhhh there it is. The amount that Talita’s relaxed before The Question kills me, she’s even smiling!!!! I’m liking Verengt more and more, they seem at the least very polite. I think they might be mirroring some of Talita’s mannerisms?
halley
is it just me or does it kinda look like verengt is mirroring talita’s mannerisms a little? they’ve lowered their head to look at her disc-first instead of trunk-first, and their eyes are pretty wide now for someone who otherwise seems calm. maybe they’re trying to put her more at ease by recognizing that these are perhaps ??xenoexpressions?? and using them to connect…? possibly i am thinking about it too hard
Jay Eaton
When in doubt assume Verengt is making automatic normal centaur expressions that have their own meaning to other centaurs and have nothing to do with human expressions
halley
i am indeed thinking about it too hard 🫡 you got it boss
notableanonymity
It is interesting to see that Verengt is willing to accept that Talita is currently alone. Like her clan loaning out workers to several companies and could leave individuals is something that is a little strange but possible and acceptable for Skychasers. I hope that the Gwailer are still polite after learning of Talita’s circumstances and that she leaves to avoid pity and dealing with Mel and not a new possibly worse discrimination.
notableanonymity
*leave individuals alone
Forgot a word in there
SOLARIS
MEL……. MELLLL OH MY GOD
Jason Myers
WAIT DID MEL NOT EVEN TELL THE ARRIVING CENTAURS THAT TALITA IS THE ONLY CENTAUR ON DIRTBALL??? OMG………
Recurve
I’m pretty sure that’s the full extent of what they said about her. Verengt knows she’s alone here, but wasn’t told she has no clan at all.
Jason Myers
Sighs. There it is.
Jackie
Im guessing there’s some reason Verengt would assume Talitas is a worker rather the a matriarch herself but that seems kinda rude to just assume. Like the tone immediately shifted to Talita being talked down to rather then an equal with that. The framing of these panels is excellent btw. The hope to immediate dread/isolation.
halley
i don’t think they’re being rude at all, because i don’t think their perception of talita has changed from matriarch to worker. first off i imagine that what she does on dirtball is not smth a matriarch would likely be doing, but second there’s also this: https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/762258928935567360
JAY: Talita is sooooo worker-coded. She is strong, hardworking, mechanically intelligent, loyal, submissive, avoidant of conflict, and hates being in charge. Even if she had been born on the centaur homeplanet her personality would have excluded her from matriarchal rivalry drama by default.
so i think it’s likely verengt has always assumed she’s a worker and simply respected her position of relative authority in her workplace
Jay Eaton
From Verengt’s perspective Talita is extremely obviously worker-coded. She’s female but submissive, is muscular enough to obviously be doing some kind of hard manual labor, appears to be working unaccompanied at a trade job, is plainly and informally dressed, has no larvae and does not seem to be in estrus, and probably doesn’t have even enough body fat to successfully nurse larvae.
So far in this conversation, Verengt has mostly been formally acknowledging the sovereignty of her clan and of Talita’s clan. With this gesture they are trying to assure a visibly anxious lone worker that the Gwailer clan are approaching her as collaborators, and are not going to try and take over her life, abduct her, or cause conflict by challenging the authority of her matriarch. It is polite, but it does assume that Talita has a matriarchal authority in her life that she defers to for protection, which does not really translate to the abstract and non-familial human administrative power structures that Talita ACTUALLY defers to.
Mr. Skeleton
I predict a lot of invasive questions about Talitas upbringing in the near future.
Solidago
Oh okay my expectations of Mel were too high
P2Mc28
I went from wondering if Verengt was going to be a horrible person and belittle Talita for existing to seeing Verengt as a potentially genuinely caring person and offering Talita clanship and to teach her centaur things. What a ride.
Duke 1337-o
I’m not sure how understanding and open-minded these incredibly insular and socially stratified people are gonna be about Talita being a clanless orphan. I don’t even know if they have a word for what she is…
HAL9000
according to worldbuilding, lone centaurs exist, but are usually assumed to have… something up with them. mostly considered to be mentally ill, unstable, and so forth. outlooks on loners range between disgust, mistrust, or pity.
creetur
I’m hoping Talita gets the chance to explain herself, but… the outlook isn’t good
It’s not easy to say you were raised by a totally different species and culture
A Ninny Mouse
my heart aches for talita, mel couldnt even be bothered to break the news that she’s clanless on her behalf… i really hope verengt continues to be kind when they find out 🙁
ronan
i had been hoping at the very least that mel would’ve told verengt about talita’s situation but evidently not 😬 talita’s dread in the last panel is so sad :[
cypr
they mean so well by wanting to reassure her matriarch that they’ll be kind to her… augh… i cry every day of my life
HowDoIComment
It’s such a heartbreaking page from talitas perspective like you can see her starting to relax a little bit, smiling nervously, maybe thinking this can all work out, before boom verengt asks the question she was propably dreading the most….
The tragedy here is that of course this question was unavoidable, but also bc it’s NOT asked with malice. verengt is being very polite and wants to assure talita and her nonexistent matriarch that they respect Talia and want to treat her well…. I’m optimistic abt the matriarchs themself reaction to talitas clanless status since they seem so far to at least be trying to be understanding and accommodating, but if anything I’m worried more abt the other clan members… Even if a star chaser clan can be potentially already a bit more of an unconventional social structure than home world clans, I don’t doubt there could be a lot of cultural friction between Talia and the workers she’s meant to supervise…
Really the true villain of the story turns out to be Mel once again ffs. Their gross negligence of both talitas emotional and psychological needs, as well as their disregard of how she’ll socially mesh with clan centaurs, is so frustrating to watch like with every new page we gage a new way Mel fucked up. Horrible. That being said I am absolutely in love w these new pages! The amount of personality and detail on display in both talitas n the clans behavior is such a joy to see. I’m really happy and fascinated w the clans portray so far, I’m rly glad for the direction this seems to be going! I’m very eager to see the workers, and maybe get a peek of the babies again sometime soon, and check up on what’s going on w bip! Idrisah and gillies move is also something I’m looking forward to seeing, love those two<3
Martin
Here it comes!!!!
Talita I think you might need to… runaw—
Zidane
love the framing on the last panel, not only is Talita literally being boxed in by the bg but she’s the only one being separated from the comic panels themselves, really makes her feel isolated
Hemocyanin
With Talita’s constant wide-eyed look, I imagine Verengt is thinking “She looks so scared. If she’s out here all alone with a bunch of aliens no wonder she’s anxious.” And they’re trying their best to reassure Talita and make sure she’s okay. It just breaks my heart 🙁
hurgaburga
oh no… you’re right… ahhhhhhhghghgh…
Thisfox
Thing is, she IS out here all alone with a bunch of aliens. The only thing is, the aliens are the well-meaning Verengt and her entourage. Sigh.
Lillian
In Mel’s defense, I can’t imagine there’s an HR-approved, non-privacy-infringing way to tell the new contractors incredibly personal details about their supervisor’s childhood and cultural estrangement. Against Mel’s defense… [gestures at the rest of the situation].
creetur
Still, it would’ve been helpful to tell the clan that Talita was raised among humans. I don’t think that would be too personal (I think?), and it could’ve given them some context as to why her expressions and clothing are different
E
Talita is genuinely pleased and smiling in the first panel, but to Verengt it probably looks like their questions are making her even more nervous (tensed lips)! I would guess that’s why they’re asking for her matriarch; to them she is just terrified and not really calming down, even though we the (human) readers can tell she’s feeling a bit better. I keep trying to imagine what sort of expression the other centaurs are perceiving Talita as having.
G
Would clans send out lone workers to jobs like this? I can’t tell with Veregnt’s phrasing if they’re asking if Talita is totally alone or if they can call her matriarch on Space-Zoom if Talita’s clan isn’t “here.”
It’s so sad how it seems like Veregnt is trying to figure out why Talita is acting so skittish and to reassure her, but asked just the harshest question for Talita to answer.
JustAnAnon
So, question:
Can we ask questions here about this story, or anything about Eaton’s other work here? I don’t know if this is an appropriate place to ask this as a have a question about this story for Eaton and about something else unrelated to it, so I want to make sure.
halley
jay (i think they are cool w being called jay btw) has replied to comments here in the past. im not sure abt other projects, maybe try tumblr if you don’t want to ask here? @jayrockin or @the-overthinktank
Ruby
This would be an awkward moment to mention that Mel is pretty much Talita’s only family (in Dirtball anyway).
Would they conclude that Mel is Talita’s matriarch? That wouldn’t be helpful, but the alternative is explaining that she’s clanless. Which is still awkward. This whole thing is awkward.
Archieve
Incredibly so, if I’m remembering right clanless staus is roughly the equivalent to being homeless and mentally ill. Even if they found it odd that Mel claimed staus as Talitas Matriarch figure it might atleast soften the stigma a bit, maybe to the equivalent of “technically homeless but staying with close friend for now”
Archieve
Since Clanless status is the human equivalent to being homeless andcmebtally Ill. having an Alien Mayrach figure might atleast upgrade Talitas situation in the clans eyes to something like ” technically homeless but staying with close friend” doubt Mel will ever volunteer that level of connection though even if its just to help employee relations since their already failing by human standards.
Archieve
opps looks like I double posted reply here.
cvv
here it comes
Junebug
Wuh oh!!!
blythe
honestly Verengt is being very sweet here. sure maybe its just common courtesy but given that workers are usually matriarchs children ofc theyd want to tell Talitas nonexistent mother that she’ll be taken care of. i can definitely imagine the entourage and older workers being like gossiping aunties about it though.
Archieve
Its so sad because Mel IS the closest thing Talita has to a Matriach here but they insist on keeping a “human”(conveniently deteached) working relationship while bringing new Centaurs onboard who clearly do not share those same boundaries between worker and family and expect Talita to be like them in that regard. The more I think of it the worse it seems, Mel if you want Talita to mesh with other clans YOU acknowledging her as family could smooth things over atleast a little bit!!!
cain
The problem is that Mel DOESN’T seem to see Talita as family, they see her as a project.
Enai
Oh. Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. Mel only ever saw Talita as a project, didn’t they? Assuming the dream showed their first meeting mostly accurately, that explains the foreboding atmosphere and “intense pressure” metaphors. After all, Mel would wanted their project to succeed, and would’ve been very disappointed if she didn’t…
Archieve
That’s probably the best way to describe Mels relationship to her. Talita sees Mel as a former parental figure but Mel insists she was just their sponsor who was old enough to look after herself. Really Mel didn’t do a whole lot for Talita besides cover a poryoon of her expenses, she probably could have gotten a scholarship and first job on her own.
EricaMZDM
Honestly, this (and last page’s “they are my children” bit) reads very much like a standarized social script for cross-clan colaberation.
Which doesn’ mean Verengt *isn’t* being sweet, but I think more specifically they’re confused/worried that Talita doesn’t seem to be able to follow the (alien) script, and is trying to nudge her back on track.
MonstieMunchies
her smile and optimism….gone…
Duke 1337-o
BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!!
Ellindsey
Ooooh nooo.
Veregnt’s last phrase there really makes me think that they expect Talita to join their clan. Which if so would mean that Mel essentially set Talita up in an arranged marriage, as a fun surprise.
MoonyBeasty
Oh that would make things SO much worse than they already are.
Dotcom
Whew—Talita *won’t* be responsible for the exo-suits. I really like how Verengt is illustrated tilting her head as she talks—both for the sake of having one eye and also to draw away attention to her disfigurement.
I have a feeling they are not going to propose to Talita. They seem so settled they don’t strike me as a group that’d do that without knowing an individual very well and making sure it was consensual. It’ll probably be awkward but not horrific.
Archieve
Atleast Cheevut made sure to not make make unreasonable promises based on Talitas expertise when recruiting. With all the avoidable problems that come with Mels management, I’m inclined to credit anything that does go well to be completely unrelated to their involvement.
Missqueak
Oh lord mel did not tell them.
un_pogaz
And here we go.
Verengt’s first question could have been dismissed as a clumsy way of phrasing “Are you realy the only Centaur here?/You have no clan?”, which raises some issues but that left the possibility of a genuinely curious. However, the following statement makes it clear that Mel did not properly explain the situation regarding Talita to them. Damn it Mel.
Or maybe Mel has tried, but Talita’s situation is so unorthodoxe to the Centaurs that Verengt hasn’t quite grasped it yet… but that would give way too much credit to them. Mel has amply demonstrated they systemic inability to ever do the right thing for the well-being of others.
On the other hand, I have to admit that Verengt’s request is focused on Talita’s well-being, it just unfortunately inappropriate. Waiting to see if and how this misunderstanding can be cleared up.
Archieve
Verengnt seems knowledgeable so im guessing Mel just didn’t say anything even though it would have been easy enough to mention during the tour ‘Talita was fostered by humans and never had to opportunity to socialize with other Centaurs, she’ll be so excited to meet you all!”
un_pogaz
Also,
“Mel, you have ONE job?!”
Arcstone
AAAaaaand there it is.
TeethBurglar
MEL! Omg how could you not tell them that Talita is clanless. Like you have enough foresight to make new apartments, have a bunch of new ag architecture, and give the mechanics a heads up to update the centaurs’ suit but NOT tell the clan that Talita is clanless! Mel when i get to you…
I’m just kidding of course and kudos to Jay for making such juicy character drama. I found myself genuinely getting mad at a collection of lines.