RttS Reader Questions 42

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Jay Eaton

RttS is mostly about weirdo only children who have have trouble fitting into their communities finding solace in each other's company, for some reason. I need to write more about their friends off of Dirtball, though. Both Gillie and Idrisah are still in contact with Yusuf, and despite the social turmoil Gillie didn't lose contact with everyone she met in college.

Also sorry I'm late again. I don't particularly have an excuse, I'm just bad at producing comics on demand to a specific schedule, hence why I'm doing a hiatus to finish chapter 9. (Three pages left to draw! Plus the Log pages but whatever those don't count) (Telling myself lies)

Transcript

Anonymous asked: Idrisah, what branch of Islam do you practice?

Idrisah: I'm Sunni like my mum and dad, but they come from pretty different traditions. My dad's from Pakistan and his family is mostly secular, while my mum's from Egypt and her family is more devout. She was a rebellious young adult and left for Jovia seeking independence, where she met my dad, who came here for school. Neither of them put a lot of pressure on me to follow orthopraxy, but I was always very curious about spirituality, theology, and Islamic history. The Muslim community in Nexus Jovia is small and very international; the Opportunity cylinder had the biggest mosque in the Nexus and it collected all types. We had an odd mix of solidarity and sectarian grudges, secular and orthodox, practicing and non-practicing. As a kid I asked a lot of blunt questions that got me in trouble with other members of the congregation.

Tminusfiveminutes asked: Gillie, how did you learn ASL as a kid?

Gillie: (ASL) When my dads were told the risks of operating on me as a baby, they balked. But in doing so, they had a time bomb on their hands: the longer you wait to teach a kid language, the more difficult it is for them to develop basic language skills. Baby sign was suggested as a stop gap measure to my dads. They learned it, then began researching ASL, the most widely documented sign in English, and teaching it to me as I got older. We developed a bit of an insular household dialect, since they didn't actually... connect... to any groups of Jovian signers until I was old enough to enter the school system. The sign community in Jovia is quite small, with ASL and LIBRAS dialects being the common languages. Most of the community are older Terran immigrants, and the younger ones are mostly medical edge cases like me. They lived in different cylinders all over the Nexus, and when we met up, we would have to learn each other's version of sign! The Deaf kid living closest to me was Yusuf. He was about 7 years older than me, a second gen immigrant, and his family went to Idrisah's mosque. Apparently his body had rejected multiple implant attempts, even one cultured from his own cells. He was a bit of a moody loner, but I did enjoy playing video games with him on the weekends. Even though
he made me play horror games when I was 7...

Sillypuppybarks asked: Hi Gillie and Idrisah !! What's the story behind y'all's relationship? Like how y'all got married and stuff!!!!

Gillie: (ASL) In elementary school, once you started signing with me, I stuck to you like glue.

Idrisah: (ASL) I was 2 grades older, so we were never in the same classes. But we were always together after school, catching bugs, getting lost, inventing new languages.

Gillie: (ASL) Then, in high school we started to... not drift apart, but...

Idrisah: (ASL) Well, we knew college was going to separate us, and...

Gillie: (ASL) ...We started developing feelings for each other, but didn't want to admit it.

Idrisah: (ASL) Yeah... I was already out as a lesbian, which had ruffled feathers in my extended family. I was determined to at least SLIGHTLY appease them by dating a Muslim girl. But that's a minority within a minority in Jovia, so finding candidates was a tall order. I flirted with several exchange students in college, but... the few I met were either secular and confused why I cared about spirituality, or closeted girls who would never entertain the idea of a serious relationship.

Gillie: (ASL) I left for Earth looking for community. I was sick of living somewhere where hardly anyone knew my first language. Deaf college was a whirlwind, I'd never had such an easy time socializing before. I made a lot of fast friends, and started dating the ringleader of our friend group. It quickly got intensely co-dependent. When we had a big fight, I broke up with him, and most of the friend group sided with him. I graduated feeling hollow and disillusioned. Since I had majored in xenolinguistics, there was more work in Jovia anyways. I started texting you again, on the way there.

Idrisah: (ASL) We met up again in Jovia. You were more beautiful and self-assured than you'd ever been before.

Gillie: (ASL) You were so adorably nervous.

Idrisah: (ASL) I'd spent so much time feeling like an outcast, and...

Gillie: (ASL) Being with you felt like returning home.

Both: Wherever our place in the world is, we decided to look for it together.