Talita is pretty resistant to the idea of going to the homeplanet or seeking out centaurs to talk to, and at this point it's partly motivated by spite. Is that attitude beneficial? Ehhhh......
Transcript
Chaos asked: Talita, how would you feel about living in the centaur home world? Do you like centaur culture? Do you want a clan?
Talita: I don’t know... And I don't... fucking care... I’m so tired of people asking. A lot of humans seem to think all my problems would be solved by assimilating into some culture I know jack shit about on a planet I’ve never seen. You know, humans who have been to Earth, like, once? Assuming I feel isolated because I’m not surrounded by centaurs, and not because their idea of accommodating me is telling me to fuck off to a place I’ve never been? Like thanks, sure, I’ll uproot my entire life straight away sir, so you don’t have to worry about me needing the keys to the freight elevator to get to my third floor classes ever again! So glad we got that settled, sir!!
Anonymous asked: Talita, growing up primarily around non-Centaurs did you ever pursue a romantic relationship with anyone?
Talita: Um… I dated some humans in college... It didn’t work out, obviously.
38 thoughts on “RttS Reader Questions 22”
Betsumei
Wasn’t there a post once about humans working for bug ferrets suing because they didn’t get enough oxygen? I’d understood that to mean that ferrets can tolerate a lower oxygen level than humans.
Chris
Does it bother Talia that humans use the exonym of Centaur to refer to her species? Isn’t it a little degrading to be referred to by a mythological reference that doesn’t have almost any similarities to her biology, also there are human physio-types that refer to themselves as centaurs, so isn’t it even more inaccurate? It feels like there should be more of a pushback against that terminology.
Also how is Talia impacted by the gas mix used on the stations she lives on? Does it have a similar gas mix to her biological norm or is it marginal for her needs? Like I know oftentimes space suits use higher oxygen mixes at lower pressures for structural stability, so what kind of gas mix does her suit and space station use and is it significantly different from her baseline and does that have any negative impacts on her health?
Jay Eaton
In RttS’s cultural moment, “centaur” is used far more often to refer to aliens than mythology. There are English alternative words, some of which borrow from centaur languages, but they haven’t seen mass adoption. I think Talita’s self-identification preference is invisibility, and “centaur” is the hegemonic consensus, so it’s what she’s using. Human hexapods of a similar bauplan are usually called “taurs” in universe.
All of the aliens in RttS have the same gas tolerances. This is because I, the author, want all of them to be able to hang out in one room without anyone needing a space suit. It’s one of the central conceits of the setting, along with using wormhole machines to cheat at interstellar distance.
Chris
That makes sense, thanks for answering so fast.
Taren
Yeah, wanting to CONNECT and LEARN about her heritage is one thing, that doesn’t mean she wants to LIVE with them or LIKE them.
Lilith
Atleast if Talita ever went to the centaur homeworld she’d be eating way better for a bit. Could probably bring some of it back home too.
DasGanon
Sure if she could communicate with what she wanted to eat and how to pay for things, which is a lot of work over just asking the Bug Ferrets to bring you any things they find and you’ll pay no question. (Actually now that I think about it, how does intersystem currency work? Do the Avians pay in Space Ducks?)
Jack Wood
As somebody whose core motivation is spite, I get Talita here. I honestly have to make sure I deal in meta-spite sometimes: “If you just do the opposite of what people want, you’re still letting them define you, just in inverse.”
Mintaka
Talita 🙁 she deserves so much better…
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does trunk position affect the sound of talita’s voice at all?
TotallySomebody
I think I remember reading that since her trunk is usually tucked in her chin she’s mumbling a lot?
samkee00
IIRC she has kind of a ‘buzzy’ voice and certain sounds are slightly different, but I don’t remember which
creetur
Really hoping that things get better for Talita (and the whole crew in general) once she leaves Dirtball. Mel might get upset, but you can only avoid that for so long before it become inevitable.
..I do wonder how they plan on 1) Getting Bip and their ship into space without anyone realizing and 2) Getting onboard the Runaway to wherever the wormhole leads. Lots of stuff to consider.
Gar G
Honestly she’s exactly right, and I understand why she’d be so annoyed and frustrated about it
cinna
I feel like Bip and Talita can really commiserate here, in their own respective ways.
23 Vast Eyes
Talita looks like she’s ready for a photoshoot with a photographer who hasnt been in the buisness since the 70s or early 80s. Bout to get that Brown gradient background and her own face super imposed lightly over it, looking wistfully at the sky or something. Its the outfit i think.
Athelind Llewellyn Long
It’s the sweater-vest.
Jackie
Unfortunately for Talita her fans crave the knowledge.
creetur
If she only knew how many people really like her.. poor girlie would probably be flattered and embarrassed.
BravoLimaPoppa
That last image of Talita in the first panel – um, she looks angry. Teeth revealed and nose removed from danger
zaratustra
Probably another thing that bothers her – she can’t demonstrate anger on her face without looking like a hungry leopard
Ave Zancuda
Even by the hypothetical of a short-term vacation with her friends, I can suspect it’ll feel so stressful.
To meet alien Sophonts is a rather normal thing to expect now, the new alien then remains oneself not fitting in with the others!. Like the only nice thing of such a travel would be Talita dining like never before!
Greebus
I just want to say Talita looks very stylish.
normienorman
Agreed!
Vinemaple
Interesting, but not entirely surprising, that Talita gets asked this as much in-universe as the question goes around the fanbase… I do enjoy Jay’s version of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” It just feels realistic, I like the questions it asks, and it makes Talita’s world a more interesting and complicated place.
Also, shout out to the transition from mimicked Human facial expressions to full-on Centaur frustration and pique. I get asked some very different “Why don’t you just…” questions, but the result is the same.
creetur
Can only imagine the frustration that results in.. never had it happen to me personally, but it sounds irritating and insensitive!
Somewhat off topic. but one thing I do enjoy is seeing how the characters’ struggles work, as odd as that might sound. It makes them feel like a person I can actually interact and conversate with.
Arcstone
I remember that last one came up in a twitter thread.
I think most of those relation ships could be summarized as either “I just want to fuck something weird” relationships and/or talita being treated as some sort of dirty secret they needed to make sure their parents didn’t find out about, neither of which being anything resembling an even slightly healthy or a particularly good position to be in.
Vinemaple
Yeah, I remember that the same way, I think I saw it in a pre-release character AMA.
creetur
AMA 3 if I remember correctly, most of the people she dated were looking for novelty, not really a lasting relationship.
Nani
Talita is basically culturally a human. Uprooting all she knows would definitely be really difficult, just to be around people that look like her…. Doesn’t seem fair.
TotallySomebody
Talita 👍
Tentament
Talita 👍
SOLARIS
the fact she says “obviously” as if there was never a CHANCE of it working out ohhhh talita my heart breaks for youuu
jaggedjottings
I took that more as an “obviously” because she’s single at present.
SOLARIS
oh, i hadnt even considered that! very good point lol
Egg
Yeah, I get that. My parents are from the middle-east but I was raised in northen Europe, and whenever I visited my parents’ home country I always felt alianted in a way my parents didn’t understand, because I grew up in a small white town where I was constantly miserable, so obviously visiting my parents home country where I was surrounded by people like me would make me feel better right? Yeah no.
I’m European as much as I am middle-eastern, and it’s only by moving into a place where there were a wider mix of cultures (similairly to how I am as a person a mix of cultures) that I felt comfortable.
Hopefully I am wording this right.
HAL9000
i feel you. mixed and born in one country, raised in another. i no longer speak my first language and know nothing about the culture, yet there is a continual push that because it’s where i was born and my blood flows from i should be just as comfortable there. but i’m not because i don’t look right and i don’t even speak the language anymore. and just like you, even in my current country, the town i grew up in was small and very few immigrants lived there, so i stood out. theres a strange feeling of isolation when you don’t fit into either culture…
poor talita. we get you girl, we get you
Vinemaple
I remember I took a multicultural studies course in college, the instructor pointed out how problematic this kind of reasoning was. He told the story about his wife asking an Asian-American couple when was the last time they’d been to China, and he couldn’t resist nudging her and asking her, “When was the last time you went to Africa?” Of course, none of them had ever been.
Related for humans IRL is “Where are you really from?” I tried to find the YouTube skit I remembered, but it looks like there are plenty now.
Less funny is the fact that people who don’t live in their native country or their ancestral country often have a very, very good reason.