Sensitive hearing can be quite a curse at times.
Transcript
Napkinkat asked: Talita, what's the most annoying thing about human-designed architecture and devices for you to deal with besides size?
Talita: Oh god, don't make me choose. Recessed handles that are too small for my fingers and knurled grips that assume your fingertips are tiny and squishy? Ceiling light reflectors that are positioned at the perfect height to glare directly in my face? Multistory buildings with no freight elevator and unrated, tightly winding stairs? I guess those are technically size things... How about the flicker rate of most LED screens giving me a headache? Competing with human taurs, bikes, and luggage for safe and comfortable train seats? Premade equipment never, ever being the correct shape for my body? Wait, maybe the worst is, actually... Electronics and pipes that make noise but nobody else can hear it, so I get to choose between slowly going insane or deafening myself by wearing earbuds everywhere...
Anonymous asked: Talita, what's your favorite color?
Talita: I like green!
Image background: A green circuit board.
93 thoughts on “RttS Reader Questions 26”
harley
ouu Talita I FEEL u with the noises no one else can hear, as a schizospec autistic person, both those things can make your hearing MILES more sensitive than an allistics/neurotypicals. I can always hear my fridge and the pipes in my house :/
cole
Oh as a wheelchair user I reallllyyy feel the train and elevator thing. And LED flicker screens give me headaches too
evileeyore
“Ceiling light reflectors that are positioned at the perfect height to glare directly in my face?”
Oh grrrrl, as a 6 foot tall being I feel you. All these 5 foot tall beings love to put personal lighting right at my eye level. And doorways? I have three foot wide shoulders! How do you fit through “too small” human doors? I have to duck sideways, you have to have it so much worse!
Every time I forget and snag my shoulders on a slightly too small doorway in some poorly designed home or office space I feel like an idiot, but for poor Talita…
JoB
> I have three foot wide shoulders!
… did some swordsman cleave you into a Y shape? Mine are 50 cm / 1.64 ft and *I* am considered armoire-shaped … 8-o
evileeyore
I am† built like a “brick sh*thouse”. Like a solid rectangle. I exaggerate slightly with the “three foot” shoulders, I think they’re like 32 inches (81cm) measured properly, but then I have delts and I don’t skimp on my deltoid exercises… so I have a tendency to catch on doorways that are less than 36 inches across. Unless I angle myself slightly sideways. Every house I’ve lived in the last 40 years I’ve had to enter the bathrooms sideways because of narrow 30 inch doorways. Why do they make bathroom doorways so narrow in the Southern USA? It’s like nice wide hallways, nice doorways everywhere else… little tiny narrow bathroom doors.
† I used to be. I’m still a bit built, I mean I’m still 6 foot (183cm), still 3 foot (91.44cm) wide at the shoulder…. but I’m no longer in my 220lbs (100kg) fighting shape of my youth (being over 50 is partly to blame). Bum left leg and blown out right knee and now I can barely walk more than 20-30 feet without needing to sit down and give my leg a rest, so I’ve gained serious weight. I still lift to keep my arms and chest and torso in as good a shape as can, and move my legs as much as possible when I can, but I don’t really walk much and bicycling and leg day are right out. I need to buy a treadmill so I can push myslef on walking more… but… well… current politics.
P
I was just talking about this yesterday! Even completely able-bodied humans with large hands will have to ask someone else for help untying knots or opening packaging and such.. I can’t imagine what it’s like for Talita!
Mitta
So… how strong is a centaur’s trunk? I know its primarily a speech organ but we’ve seen a few examples of Talita using it to touch her tablet screen or Ngilick carefully sewing the antler skins so theres a good deal of fine muscle control there. Would she be able to open some forms of bottles or packaging with her trunk or is it too weak/small?
Thisfox
I get the idea it’s not a strength but a sensitivity issue: The skin is more sensitive than the tough skin of a human hand?
IncompleteMachine
imagine trying to open every bottle or draw with your lips.
Waitwot
Is there any depictions of human taurs? I wonder if Talita has some amount of relatability with them in terms of physical body maneuverability.
jdeltia
yes! page 51
JoB
Some, certainly. But there are centaur-only issues as well, see, e.g., AMA 3.
Septemberdale
It’s always nice to see Talita smile!
Sen
I really feel the last panel with the high pitched sounds no one else can hear. I can hear many of those too. Some neighbors and cars have really high pitched sounds to deter animals. They also deter me <.<
There is a scale in the lab, where the power connector squeals as long as it is plugged in. But If I unplug it, calibrating the scale takes forever so I have to keep it plugged while working.
Same with the humming of neon tubes. Luckily those are rare now, thanks to LEDs.
Of course for a different lifeform with different hearing range altogether, the problem must be way stronger.
kulupu laso
GREEN LOVERS REJOICE! !!
Thisfox
TEAM GREEN REPRESENT!!
Greebus
This makes me wonder if Mel and the avians are even building that centaur apartment building in a way that’s nice for centaurs to live in.
malmo
I think they did ask Talita for schematics earlier
JoB
… yeah, OK, but those don’t cover favorite/favored color(scheme)s, general aesthetics, desirable intensity of illumination, where and how fast the ventilation can blow fresh air so as not to make the flat “drafty”, whether a (not-quite-)portable fountain counts as soothing or a noise-making nuisance, etc., do they? I’m not sure that I trust “schematics” to even address the “stairs need large landings to turn on” bit, after all, Talitas current corrugated molehill doesn’t even have stairs …
Vinemaple
“As attentive as they act, I don’t think Mel is *ever* actually listening.” –Calcery on why they are no longer on speaking terms with Mel and are quitting the job they were budded off to do.
JoB
Are you suggesting that Mel themself pored over the “schematics” and drew the blueprints for the building’s makeover from there? If so, we probably should expect the centaur temps-to-be to meet an untimely demise. Structural calculations, like all math, are a bit uncourtly towards those who “don’t ever listen” to them …
IncompleteMachine
Probably not unless they have centaur architecture consultants.
Gar G
As someone with autism I’m sure anyone with autism can relate to that last one…
(nice to see a happy Talita at the end tho 💚)
spinachwrap
I told Publix staff member that one of the lights by the registers was emitting a HORRIBLE noise and the next time I went the noise was gone, so I think they actually fixed it!? Amazing!!!
(I told them it was like being stabbed in the brain with a screwdriver, and if any autistic kids started screaming near that area the horrible high pitched sound was probably why.)
un_pogaz
Hmm, centaurs acoustic standards must be particularly stringent. Or at least, those for electronic devices will be.
S0glet
Talitas such a nerd, I would shove her in a locker if I was strong enough to 🩷
S0glet
And also if the locker was big enough.
TeacupAngel
It’s hilarious that she’s a candidate for being the buffest being in the entire known universe, and also such a nerd. She really has it all!
40
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
JoB
Relax. Chances are that Talita will tear the door off the hinges, neatly fold it into a flyswatter shape, and step out of the locker with a “Well? Do you feel fast today!?” look on her face.
Mitta
“Hope you practiced your cardio cause i did.”
HAL9000
excellent avatar comment combo. would only be funnier if it was an avian, just imagining a tiny four legged chicken trying to shove a giant gatorhorse into a locker is delightful
McFrugal
I’ve got sensitive hearing and yeah, I feel Talita’s pain. Though it’s usually low frequency noises that give me problems.
jdeltia
question (that i totally should’ve put on the ama but just came up with so whatever): when and why did talita decide to learn sign? gillie mentioned she’s the only one on dirtball that knows ASL, and she seems to be very proficient in reading it, so i’m assuming she didn’t learn it on the spot to talk to gillie
Greebus
My theory is Talita became friends with Idrisah first because they work in the same building, and then because she was hanging out with Idrisah, she wanted to hang out with Gillie as well and understand her, so she started learning future-ASL.
Thisfox
Gillie sought Talita out, there is a picture somewhere of Gillie holding a sign saying “I like your humming, can I come in?” or something. They evidently communicated by writing, when they first met. So Talita learned signing post-Gillie, by the looks of that.
JoB
That one happened with them sleeping in adjacent rooms, and thus IMHO aboard the Runaway and way into the future, though. If it hasn’t been stricken from canon in favor of Talita learning ASL while still on Dirtball, as shown in the webcomic, that is.
JoB
> i’m assuming [Talita] didn’t learn it on the spot to talk to gillie
We’ve seen her watch an ASL instruction video on page 34, so I’d say that yes, Gillie is the reason she started in earnest.
jdeltia
huh, i didn’t catch that, cool! i think i just glossed over it as being a news video or something lol
cellar_whales
I assumed that was because she mentioned needing to brush up on it on page 25.
Napkinkat
:0!! I have been chosen! Oh god all of those sound like a sensory nightmare. I relate to Talita I cant go into Walmart because I can hear noises in the walls and ceiling that seemingly nobody else can hear and the fluorescent lights give me a migrane. Very overstimulating. I imagine Talita would hate my house as everything is made for short people, I think she’s taller than my actual ceiling height. One of my aunts exes head was like an inch from hitting the ceiling and he had to duck to walk through our doorways. Must be like when you go into a kids playhouse to hang out with your nephew and feel horribly cramped. The only thing in my house not built for short people is the cabinets my uncle put in in 2012, he’s 6’3” and the cabinets he put in are the perfect height to not reach at my height without a step stool and the perfect height to smack the back of my head off of when I forget I opened it and lean over to do something on the counter.
Napkinkat
Also when I can’t get stuff open with my fingers I usually try to use my teeth, which is not good for an organism who will only ever get 2 sets of teeth and is on the second set. I chipped a tooth cause of this once. I imagine doing this is less tooth-damaging for talita though because her teeth are much different. The sensation of filing your teeth down looks like it would feel horrible though.
JoB
> when I can’t get stuff open with my fingers I usually try to use my teeth
Please don’t try that with drawers like those shown above …
[my personal thought when seeing that: “bolt/staple a pullstring to the front!”]
Napkinkat
Don’t worry! I usually (now, as an adult) only bite open the really annoying tiny divot on condiment bottles that hurt my fingers to try and catch because I bite my nails so I can’t use them to pry it open also water bottles sometimes I get the primal urge to bite a hole in the water bottle and drink it that way instead of removing the cap. 10/10 way to drink water feels great. Though as a child I would chew off the lids on childproof medication containers because I liked how melatonin and those amazing chalky flinstone vitamins tasted. I ate like half a bottle of melatonin once on a car ride as a child which resulted in my parents calling poison control because when you eat that much melatonin you fall asleep for a bit then wake up screaming from night terrors and then immediately fall back asleep. (I was fine) the tooth chipping incident was me trying to get the metal bar in the middle of some clippers that prevent it from to moving cause it wasn’t budging and I wanted to use them. Chipped my bottom left front tooth.
Peter Jensen
> The sensation of filing your teeth down looks like it would feel horrible though.
Author note on page 80:
“Talita files her teeth instead of brushing them, since they grow continuously. It feels nice to her but makes humans cringe.”
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-80/
Eux
i like green! weeps….so cute. im sorry talita has to deal with so much
Peter Jensen
Reminds me of this Freefall strip:
“Humans are very good at designing equipment that’s quiet in your hearing range”
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01086.htm
Greebus
Freefall is a classic! To anyone reading this, if you like RttS I get the feeling you’d like Freefall as well (another slice-of-life sci-fi comic featuring nonhumans in human spaces)
Solidago
I get the sense that Jay walks around buildings thinking “what if I were Talita” ^_^
Redacted
This has nothing to say with the page but I’ve started hearing Talita’s voice in my head as Lizzie Freeman
tyrone
I like green too but always in the shape of folded over and in my pocket 😉
S. Y. O.
Sorry im stupid what do you mean, money?
JoB
Specifically, the kind nicknamed “greenbacks”, I guess. Keeping the other U.S. greenery on you at all times may be getting ever more important these days, but you shouldn’t fold a plastic card. (And the thirdmost-prominent possibility actually isn’t green anymore.)
Thisfox
Ah, right, that weird old-fashioned money yanks use. Our money is somewhat more colourful, and less likely to make a sad useless lint ball if it goes through the wash. But I think Talitas world has money more of the electronic kind.
JoB
> Ah, right, that weird old-fashioned money yanks use.
Used to use. While the nickname persisted, the current banknotes look a lot more rainbow-ish. (Nobody tell the POTUS, please …)
Madame Thunderbone
Lights directly at eye height are the bane of my existence, the kitchen in my flat has a built-in LED strip at *exactly* my eye height. Thankfully, my husband and I will be moving next spring. Hopefully the height of kitchen backsplashes is not standardized.
Talita fan
The more I learn about Talita, the more grateful I am that human characters with disabilities like Gillie (and eventually Shyam in a later book) are in this story alongside her. A lot of what Talita goes through is relatable to disabled people, because Talita kind of has a conditional disability just by having a body that no-one else even considered to accommodate. Having human characters with real-world disabilities like autism or deafness is a good touch because it’s like a grounding anchor for Talita’s story. It’s one of the many things that show how much thought was put into this comic.
Napkinkat
YES THIS EXACTLY.
I think that’s why I relate to Talita with a lot of her issues. I’m physically strong but I’m physically disabled so being strong is actually harming me and causing joint pain also scoliosis apparently (loose ligaments + hyperdense bones + scoliosis + asthma + my brain sticks out of my skull which is chiari malformation) and growing up most of these things weren’t diagnosed yet so people wouldn’t accommodate so I find Talita very relatable. Especially because most of it isn’t visible. I doubt most people would immediately think of the challenges Talita faces in adapting to use technology not meant for her.
40
Dude my grandma’s house has ceiling lights that flicker and I genuinely can’t stand it. You can’t tell when looking AT the lights, but if anything moves you can see it in like discrete positions instead of a blur.
forthebit
Stop-motion grandma!
JoB
Disco gran 😛
deriko11d
so that is why some going trough THAT corridor felt like that
Thisfox
It might be possible to buy her LED globes (that don’t flicker) for Christmas and install them for her. They’re made in all the shapes and sizes that flourescent lights come in, and they will save her a lot of money. It’s a good Christmas present, and a quality of life improvement for her, and it will make you more likely to visit her. If you’re noticing it, it’s likely her other guests are too.
I did it for my parents, no regrets.
Vinemaple
Ah, another relatable reason Talita is an anxiety horse! I haven’t been to enough rock concerts or auto races to lose my high-frequency hearing, so now I have to deal with surge protectors randomly squealing, ultrasonic anti-bird devices giving me headaches, the ambient soundscape in Kerbal Space Program making my ears ring… and normal-ass smoke detectors make me curl up in a fetal position.
Paul
Fun(?) fact: When I was younger (up to the teens, maybe twenties?) I could hear the echo-location calls made by the bats where I lived.
Now I can’t even hear mosquitoes. :/
Avardent
Heh I can still hear bats… I should take better care of my hearing because it’s not something you can get back after losing it
Napkinkat
It sucks that humans loose super sensitive hearing as they get older like why do little kids get more sensitive hearing and tastebuds??? It’s cool that some hearing people can learn to echolocate with sounds in the human range of hearing though. Ik some blind people use it to help themselves navigate.
Vinemaple
True… I can hear bats, that’s an excellent plus. I can also smell things my elderly parents can’t smell, but I think that’s a them problem.
Thisfox
I can hear the bats but not the mosquitos. Hearing loss is weird.
Enai
Fun (?) fact:
Horses also can hear the noises electricity makes. Having your local person with hyperacute hearing check the stables for horrible noises can significantly calm down your lorge anxiety beasties 🙂
I suspect the same is true for cats and dogs, but they’re less prone to spooking and bolting clean through the closed barn door.
evileeyore
I can still hear the songs of electrons, thankfully modern electronics aren’t as “loud” as the old school cathode-ray tube tvs… those beasts roared when they came to life. I’ve also got pretty ‘bad’ tinnitus most days, but I’m never quite sure if ti’s the over head high power wires for the city’s grid or my tinnitus… since it’s basically ever present when I’m home and I’m so rarely away-from-home it’s hard to track the quiet moments.