Questions for fan favorite characters!! Please try not to get into arguments or post spoilers in the comment section.
The lack of a "galley" (or mess hall, as Adam says) makes Dirtball kind of unusual, especially as a Jovian outpost. They have more interior space than they know what to do with, so every employee gets a huge fully furnished apartment and there's complete farming operations, but there's no cook staff. They just barely have enough people to grow and distribute produce.
Transcript
Anonymous asked: Adam, why do you have difficulty finding and keeping jobs in piloting?
Adam: It's because of bureaucracy bullshit. You know how it goes, you piss off the wrong people at the wrong time and then you're fucked forever. After leaving the North American Republic, I started training to get my aircraft piloting license in the Socialist Republic of Mars. I started dating this girl in my training group... but then she got licensed before me and promoted up to a useless pseudo-manager position, and was so up her own ass about it… After we broke up, she went on a powertrip and got me in trouble for not doing one of the stupid redundant safety checks that NO ONE in the team was doing, including her!! So, the SRM booted me from the program and barred me from getting a license there. Right now I’m trying to get into the Martian Free States piloting program, because they’ll ignore my SRM record. The MFS and the SRM hate each other, haha. But the MFS is allergic to giving anything government funding, so… I have to pay for it in full.
- SRM
- MFS
Anonymous asked: Adam, what made you decide to take this job?
Adam: ...Money? Why else would anyone work in this literal dump? I guess the apartments are pretty big, too. It’s way better boarding than any other spacer temp job I’ve done. Having to cook everything myself is so annoying, though… I miss mess halls.
Image: Adam holds up a vegetable from the produce box and says "More zucchini??"
Petra asked: Mel , you've known Talita for a long while. How well do you think she's handling her management position?
Mel: Sigh… it's so frustrating that she's trying to avoid taking responsibility for her temps. If she was just more confident, she'd have no problem controlling them! But I’m trying to let her learn to do it on her own… I don’t want to coddle her just because I used to be her foster parent.
Anonymous asked: Mel, are you excited to surprise Talita?
Mel: Hee hee hee! Oh, it's gonna be great! She’s needed this for a while, but you know how she is. You'll die waiting for her to ask you for help.
121 thoughts on “RttS Reader Questions 43”
Zuorai
Adam you are voiced by Greg Cipes in my mind’s eye. Or at least an impersonator
Mel is fighting tooth and nail to be the friendgroup parent heartthrob of RttS
Renzal
Goddamn, these two are both very well-written. They’re incredibly frustrating in a very, very human and identifiable manner. Not cardboard cutout antagonists, but vexing nontheless.
Eris
Mel is such a fascinating character, there is So Much going on with them! Like, oh, I get why your other kids don’t talk to you anymore. I totally get why youre divorced and working on Dirtball. They just. Aren’t good at management. They might be good at the purely logistics side, but if an employee comes to your for help, and instead of helping you chastise them for it and tell them to grow a spine, and then YOU COMPLAIN THAT SHE NEVER ASKS FOR HELP…
YOU ARE THE PROBLEM, MEL!
The Adam answers are unsurprising but still deeply illuminating. Like, oh, yeah, I know thay guy. He failed upwards until he maxed out on his competency level, got mad that he had to actually do work to go further, and then blamed the woman who was actually good at her job for his failures. I know 10 of those guys. I’ve had to manage a couple, and all of them are just Like That any time someone they don’t respect (women, minorities, people younger or much older…) tries to set them up for success by correcting bad habits.
90f7
I love how Adam is written. If you listen to what he’s saying at face value, it makes sense. But there’s 1 thing missing from what is holding him back: Himself. He never mentions himself doing anything wrong, and barely mentions anything he’s done himself. It’s always the system, the people he trusted, things outside of his control. He thinks he’s being perfectly reasonable, and he’s thought it all out, but he’s done so without a lick of self-reflection, and the way he’s written here beautifully shows that dynamic in his personality.
melhater69
i am being silenced for my hatred of mel
Jay Eaton
no its because you’re a new commenter and I have to tell wordpress you’re not a spambot
Cugz Arui
they are being silenced!
bug
everyone better cheer and clap for Jay writing such viscerally realistic people
A Box Of Fox
Adam got zucchini’d!
1d4-nadg
Zucchini for Adam. Zucchini for Adam for a thousand years.
Lezzlebit
This is a way funnier punishment than violence can we pretty please make this happen to him
JoB
Rasheed, you keep passing nothing but zucchini to him.
Gillie, you scan his mail/parcels and confiscate anything edible. Well, unless it’s more zucchini, of course …
Bip, special delivery of a TV schedule replete with top-tier cooking shows, if you please.
Peter Jensen
This, but Zucchini instead of Brussels Sprouts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0cFIFzV7LQ
no1melanti
i seriously hate mel so much
MagicHats
Adam is so fascinating!
Like sure, he’s just a par for the course jerk, but knowing he’s a bit of an unreliable narrator it’s so fascinating to hear a bit about his background. I wonder how much of it is necessarily legitimate and he’s just carrying that chip on his shoulders forward (that he dated someone who got promoted above him, it got to her head, and after the ugly breakup she made sure he wasn’t going to be a pilot with the SFM regardless of if either of them were actually following protocols correctly or not and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy to be hostile towards all bosses thereafter), or how much of it is genuinely just being exaggerated (that he was in fact not following protocols correctly and becoming a danger to those around him for disregarding important safety checks, and this is what got him barred from getting a license and not a vendetta from when he dated a superior).
It’s very human in a way that is also uniquely frustrating (I feel like a lot of people have met an Adam somewhere or another, be it someone who never takes personal accountability or someone who got into a messy relationship with a manager and got burned bad by it)
Appleeatinggoat
mel when I FUCKING GET YOU
zofifi
Well huh, considering Adam’s behaviour we saw, it sounds a lot like he could not take that his ex-girlfried got promoted to be his superior, he refuzed to follow her orders and generally was being difficult so she got him expelled. Regarless if thet safety check was something everybody skipped, I have reasons to think he gave her other reasons to get rid of him. With attitude like this he should not be a space pilot. He LOVES ignoring safety measures.
Thisfox
He does like mucking around. To the point where I’m a little concerned at this point that Adam will act the arse one too many times, and find the Runaway on his last day or something, and that won’t go well for Talita…
JoB
You mean, physically stumble onto it? Bip has a small army of frontloaders and electrician worms at their disposal, as well as an absolutely escape-proof (conveniently already re-pressurized) detention area. Just fabricate an opportunity how he could have left the planet and sneak his suit, once you peeled him out of it, to wherever it needs to be found to support the story, and everyone’ll go “looks like he walked out before he could get fired for a change”. With how strapped for cash he is (according to himself), I can’t imagine his apartment containing much that’d make people go “would he really want to leave that behind?”.
Yell
As many have said
I know a guy exactly like it. He kept complaining about the job from the very start, but would refuse to leave. Until he did a thing so bad that he was instantly kicked out.
Funnily, the same day he lost the job, we were told about our bonus/raise.
Cugz Arui
heh heheheheheh
Hunter
I’m starting to get why you’re divorced and your kids never contact you, Mel.
Rad_Internet_Stranger
“Avoid responsibility” BI- (inhales) ohhh my god I could eat Mel for breakfast with all I could say but I won’t, they’re a very well written character, extremely real feeling. They’re meant to be the kind of person that genuinely means well but doesn’t understand your struggles. Also, Mel’s lack of understanding serves the story well. That being said, if I were in this world I’d definitely get fired with what I’d say XD
Enai
Yes, yes, yes!!! That is exactly my read of them, too. Very delicious, very frustrating. Also, I feel somewhat sorry for them – while Mel only has themself to blame for their obliviousness/ignorance, I’m not sure how they could get out of it. Like, they cannot see what they’re doing wrong, you know? So, they cannot change themself with any sort of directed intent either, can they?
Smooti
I think one of the reasons people feel so intensely about Adam and Mel is how *real* they both feel. I’ve met people exactly like both of them! It’s frustrating dealing with them! And so it honestly raises my hackles more than if either of them were mustache twirling villains. It is really cool to see things from their perspectives and how fleshed out they both feel.
Buggy
Argh! Mel!!! If they wanted Talita to ask for their help more often, they should try actually listening to her the few times that she does! I am both eagerly anticipating and absolutely dreading the inevitable fallout between Mel and Talita, I just know it’s gonna be rough!
EveryZig314
Its morbidly funny to me how Adam is saving up money to move to Hypercapitalist Hellzone where he will most likely get himself killed when his carelessness intersects with their implied lack of regulatory standards.
Vinemaple
Oh, my word. I’m afraid to read the comments on this one. Please don’t wish violence on people. Wish for change and redemption.
OhGollieIt'sOllie
I agree on the don’t wish violence part, but dang, Mel has had their husband, kids, and employees leave them and they’re STILL not getting it. Like, maybe Talita can be what finally breaks through to them, but I don’t have much hope for that.
Critter
if it helps you feel better, these are fictional characters. not actual people. there is nothing wrong with having strong feelings about antagonistic fictional characters and people don’t necessarily need to feel the Morally Righteous way about them
40
Maybe I’m stupid, but, why are there pilots? Autopilot on planes is already like perfect today, I can’t imagine anything 300 years from now needs a manual pilot.
Madame Thunderbone
Same reason there’s pilots today. In case something goes wrong.
Common Handle
Yeah. There’s always the chance of some hyper-obscure edge case that even the most foolproof autopilot won’t be able to handle, or the chance of equipment/system malfunctions. Having a human (or really just sapient) operator to make sure everything is working fine and react accordingly when it isn’t is probably a failsafe just about anyone would want!
JoB
We do have an idea of what an RttS-verse “autopilot” is like, how much effort it takes to get one, and why even they don’t like to brave deep space with zero expert wetware at hand …
Charlie
Gods, I hate Adam. I understand him, but he pisses me off. And Mel’s just being mean about his (?) relationship with Talita, honestly. How can he just abandon her??? He took care of her for so long that it’s hard to believe Gillie and Idrisah can read her emotions better than him.
k8
mel uses they/them pronouns
Charlie
thank you!! 🙂
guest
if youre ever unsure about it, you can always check pronouns on the characters page at the top of the site! ^w^
Ave Zancuda
If this wasn’t a fictitious story, Adam is that kind of guy that you know would definitively grift his way up to success with the SRM and MFS situation
HoldsTalitaGently
Mel. Mel what do you mean you *used* to be her foster parent. I may just be projecting here but a parental figure using that kind of terminology would make me curl right back into my shell and never come back out. Rejecting a parental relationship with your foster kid once they become an adult and replacing it with more of a “professional work friends” dynamic probably feels extremely isolating when you’re already an abandoned foster kid who’s struggled to fit in, trust others and feel comfortable in your own body your whole life. I don’t think it’s something they would say to her outright, but actions and demeanor unfortunately tend to speak much louder unfortunately 🙁 either way their and Talita’s dynamic hits close to home and I’m always amazed by how well written and realistically portrayed the dynamics and relationships between all the characters in the comic are.
blythe
tbf its not just foster parents, a lot of parents seem to have the idea that parenthood ends at kids turning 18
Claire
Jay, I gotta say these flags are really good flags! The MFS holds up very well vexillologically, whereas the SRM has a very… realistic flag. Overly intricate center, and what I assume is writing around it. Very… common, unfortunately. But great design for a story!! Love to see it.
Jay Eaton
The squiggle is actually a strand of arthrospira bacteria, a dietary staple.
Claire
Oh!! Thats so cool!! That is such a wonderful representation to have on a flag
Chase Wanderstar
I am not sure that the standards of vexillology actually hold up and need to be so rigid that well in a world where flags are usually no longer battlefield symbols.
The complexity of humanity and all the things its various subsets may want or need to represent can’t always be shown with simple geometric shapes alone.
That said, we can agree that small annoying writing does not belong on a flag.
deriko11d
Yeah Brazil Would Have A Top Tier Flag Design If It Wasn’t For The Microscopic Text
Claire
Fair point! Still dont like text on a flag. Is cool to know from Word Of Jay that its not text
the Inmara
We do imagine that some people refer to the MFS flag as “the farting star” even if people correct them that it’s supposed to be like a rocket.
A Box Of Fox
Don’t you mean a pooting star?
zaratustra
huh, you’d think someone would have made a taco stand by now.
TTT
a taco stand with nothing but zucchini fillings. 🫠
JoB
… why would you refuse to serve non-human clientele? >;->
(Yes, I realize that the lack of a canteen on Dirtball is likely due to the complex having been built that way by the avians way-back-when. I can vividly imagine what a couple hundred human mine workers would have to say when someone’d suggest they all self-Bocuse after their shift!)
AmbroseTV
you can do this. make a rtts self insert who has a taco stand on dirtball. live freely
Felixscout
The thought that Adam was able to start a relationship means he can be somewhat charming, if he puts his mind to it.
Right?
Chase Wanderstar
Sure, but the problem there is how damn rarely he puts his mind to it.
Felixscout
Seriously.
Adannor
Oh I can see it, he could be fun to hang with while they’re both trainees screwing around and then immediately becomes an insufferable pain in the ass the moment she starts taking things seriously.
Varyon
It is now my head canon that citizens of the Martian Free States are known as MF-ers, and I refuse to be convinced otherwise. It sounds like they’re of a libertarian bent, considering their name and their distaste for government spending. Is that correct?
felixscout
Or just small government conservatives which often bends small L libertarian.
deriko11d
Some Other Commenter Said That The Flag Would Be Known As “farting star” And That Is Funny
edenmachine5457
.MEL NO
A Box Of Fox
I am aware that this adds very little to the discussion, but the Martian Free States have a really great flag.
Anon
I know this doesn’t really matter, but I just wanted to say I love reading these comments. I’m too autistic to fully understand many of the social interactions in the comic, and reading people’s takes on them helps me a lot to pice together what’s going on under the surface. So, thanks everyone, for commenting!
Eux
i’d say it matters, and is exactly why art can be so cool! the creator reaches out and people reach back and across in their understanding of the art. 😀 glad it helps you understand things
Mr. Skeleton
Damn Adam, even when YOU tell the story you sound like a jackass.
Dahsun
Hi Bip, aside from the three ladies you are already talking to, which other squishies do you think you need to recruit or would you want to recruit from that base? And are there any who you don’t think would fit in with you or the three ladies?
Jay Eaton
Submit questions over here: https://forms.gle/KJ234FZLM5c2FhBp8
needsmorebirds
Mel! MEL!!! She DID just ask you for help!!! augghhghhg
TTT
y”know, it’s gonna be a REAL wakeup call for both of these characters when non-human-culture-socialized centaurs show up and don’t take ANY bullshit.
adam gets assaulted right back/not rescued from a safety error. mel is directly confronted and reported for managerial incompetence. i wonder if the particular clan’s centaur culture would view leaving adam to his own workplace injuries as the equivalent of culling–normalized and sometimes necessary.
r
fortunately i don’t think adam is gonna be around at the same time as the centaurs, they’re cycling out this group of temp workers
Theoneandonlyvoid
The human temps will most likely be gone by the time the centaurs come. They will leave on the ship that the new temps arrived on.
kc
Oh mannnn these guys suck, but in such a realistic and human way. Like, I can hear snippets of Adam’s dialogue in my shitty coworker’s voice. Excellent writing all around, but especially here.