I swear the next scene will be something not actively making things worse for Talita.
Transcript
Talita: I don't think me being his boss is working out. Could you transfer him to internal mechanics?
Mel puts a hand on their hip and thinks, expression doubtful.
Mel: Well… it’s only about a week until his contract expires. Could you possibly stand waiting that long? We wouldn’t really have the time to retrain him, and your team is already short a member.
Talita leans her face against a hand and looks away, dread and exhaustion closing in on her like the ceiling pressing against the back of her head.
Talita: I… I guess.
Mel: And if you'd rather I have a chat with him, let me know!
The connecting tail of their speech bubble passes over Talita's face, as oblivious to her distress as Mel.
94 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 232”
Nikki
if adam had done to a human or avian what he did to talita he would have been fired immediately.
arf
Ah, difficult people: who hasn’t encountered a few of them in their workplace? (I once had a manager more interested in setting his underlings up to look bad than getting the work done. Not the problem here, but it shows how variable the situation can be)
Talita’s feelings aside, my main concern here is the potential for a serious accident to occur.
Taking everything into consideration (time left, work schedule, lack of options), I agree with Mel that Talita should try and put up with the situation for a week.
However, Mel should at least try to work out with Talita how best to handle Adam going forward, and seek updates on how it’s going. (Talita needs some training. Being a skilled engineer does not automatically translate to managing people. This is a misconception that is still clearly cropping up in the whatever century this is)
Oh well, We shall see what transpires…
Mr. Son
The not-meant-to-be-ironic poster in the background is really salting the wound, huh?
Stray Cat
I mentioned a while ago, I’d ask a former manager I knew how they’d handle this situation. This is what I got:
– Talita had kept saying everything was fine, up to this point; they’d want to know why she didn’t mention what was actually going on, as if they’d known, they could have dealt with Adam sooner. (They stressed that given the circumstances, Talita wouldn’t get in trouble; nothing more than a “please be more transparent with me from now on”.)
– Since Adam’s contract expires in a week, pull some strings to ensure he doesn’t interact with Talita for that week (which would more likely be allowing Talita some time away from her regular duties) – and warn other employers not to hire him. Also, perhaps, do a background check on Adam.
– If possible, help Talita get therapy and a support group. Sure, Talita is the only human-raised centaur we know of, but surely she’s hardly unique in being a victim of harassment from other species.
– Or, failing these solutions: get Talita in contact with a lawyer; help Talita find a new job; ask to have all of Mel’s decisions in writing.
Nikki
in other words “boo hoo everyone has to deal with stuff. look at me for instance, i have to do paperwork and talk to whiny employees! just put up with it so we dont boof productivity.”
Nikki
im starting to have misgivings about the orphan-to-wageslave program 🙁
PostMortem7581
Once again, masterful use of composition and framing. The way Mel’s speech bubble literally cuts through Talita… Beautiful. Haven’t seen a comic use its medium like this in ages.
The Opossum Witch
Couldn’t have said it better myself! The way the camera zooms in on Talita thus squeezing more and more of her out of frame while Mel *takes up* more of the frame is genius
godspeed
What really horrified me is, that she is told that somebody grabbed a person and Mel goes, oof what’s the big deal. If I told somebody that I was grabbed, especially in a facial area, like hair or ears, they would be shocked, unless a toddler/baby/pet or close friend they know of is involved.
Can you stand being harassed a little longer? Sure, it’s humiliating but I am used to it now 🙂
Mel really /does/ see other people as trophy projects, do they.
BravoLimaPoppa
Good Lord.
I’d love to see this as a letter from Talita to Ask A Manager.
Stray Cat
Runaway to the Stars and Ask A Manager was not the crossover I expected – or knew I wanted.
mossrabbit
knowing mel only fostered talita from when she was 18, and seeing how much this conversation took a downturn so fast, it just makes me ache for mel’s kids. imagine being raised by somebody who thinks you can just negotiate and wait-and-see all your problems away. coming home from a long day of school after getting bullied, trying to explain to your parent what happened, only to get brushed off with “ill talk to them about it, okay?” with no real action promised, over and over.
i don’t think mel was exactly a BAD parent, but as i said before, their kids don’t call them back for a reason. their intentions may be good, they may be a kind person and do their best to be thoughtful, but in practice they are too dismissive of the damage that being nonconfrontational causes, too keen to maintain the status quo and avoid rocking the boat, and too idealistic of other people’s behaviours. in an isolated situation, this would’ve just made them annoying but reasonable. in this managerial and parental position, however, it casts a shadow of ‘one day youre going to wait-and-see your way into a major lawsuit’ over them.
like adam, they’re shockingly realistic. adam might be the more obvious antagonist, but mel also serves the narrative as a foil to adam (i think thats the right word for it). their harm to the characters in the story is more subtle. i mean the story literally opens up with calcery moving away, and we later learn theyre moving away because of mel. mel is the one whose secretly bringing some kind of surprise to talita, that she knows for certain she will hate. mel is the one who wont do anything about the temps. adam is an asshole but mel’s the driving force behind the story with their inaction and unwillingness to listen to criticism.
the questioner
Where is it mentioned they’re moving because of Mel?
mossrabbit
chapter 1, page 18, panels 2 and 3. not DIRECTLY stated but the implication is very transparent that cal doesn’t want to be around mel anymore.
wingedhorror
Transcription (chapt 1, page 18)
Calcery: Aw, that’s sweet. I’ll miss you too, Talita. Working with you made this fly-in-fly-out hellhole a much nicer place.
Talita: Haha, well, you too.
Calcery: Say bye to Idrisah and Gillie for me. Spend time with them outside work!
Talita: Yeah, of course!
Talita pauses.
Talita: …Was the fight with Mel really that bad?
Calcery: As attentive as they act, I’m not sure Mel is ever actually listening. But no manager could make staying on Dirtball WORTH it, you know?
Talita: Yeah, I’m honestly surprised Ixion kept you this long.
Calcery: When are you going to leave?
Talita: Me?? I don’t know. It’s fine here.
Calcery: No, it isn’t.
Don
Well said!
DasGanon
Well put.
I bet 1000:1 that Bip sort of already knows all of this (I mean, it’s got all of the public facing data, and has had conversations with Talita, Irdisah, and Gillie, and can get the vibes of the place) and is offering not because it needs it (I mean it’ll help, but it can take as long as it wants) but because they need it too. (Although that might be reading a little to into the obvious “And then they all got on the ship and lived happily ever after!” thing that we’re inevitably heading towards)
FuzzySpiderPawz
God this is why in school I was so non confrontational and still am “erm actually it would be really inconvenient for me to deal with this problem do you think you could stand just suffering? Great thanks and if things get worse I’ll just do the absolute bare minimum that won’t actually fix the problem and end up making it worse”
40
real asf. never in my life has it been easier to report a problem than to just deal with it
Appleeatinggoat
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rad Internet Stranger
MEL ARE YOU BLIND!? CAN YOU NOT SEE HOW BADLY TALITA IS HURTING!?! IM GONNA JUMP INTO THIS COMIC, BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA ADAM, SLAP SOME SENSE INTO MEL AND HUG TALITA FOR AS LONG AS SHE NEEDS IM CRYING
Yareztli
Talita’s subtle expression of despair and defeat in the last few panels is everything to me.
Rose
auuuuuuuugh Talita getting further and further boxed in by the tiny room and scrunching up on the ceiling is soooooooo goooooooooooooood!!!! absolutely agonizing. you’re a genius, Jay
Trees
No, do transfer Adam!
Tod is the internal chief engineer, right?
Tod strikes me as the kind of man who could set Adam straight, and if not Todd can use his secret airbending powers to blast Adam across the room and everyone would no doubt find that very cathartic.
Madame Thunderbone
What does Internal Mechanics do?
glitterboy2098
presumably, repairs to systems wholly inside the habitats of the base. instead of stuff that has be be done outside in vacuum suits.
TeethBurglar
You know with this page reminding us the new, probably centaur, temps are coming in next week I have to wonder the emotional fallout that’s going eventually happen between Talita and Mel. My theory being Mel will pull the whole “it’s a surprise gift for you! Why are you mad at me?” card and Talita once again being forced to justify her feelings and final put much needed space between herself and Mel. Either that or the more dramatic Talita leaving unannounced because they can’t muster talking to Mel who refuses to listen. Maybe, again it’s too early to say but I imagine that’s where this is going.
MyUniverseinaBox
Love the poster in the back about being a team. This is so real LMAO. Workplaces love to yap on about this crap but we all know it’s all bullshit. Mel is honestly a moron, how horrible. This indecent should be written up, reported, Adam fired, what-have-you.
Nickalart
At the end of the day, if Talita had been able to bring more objective things to the table (Adam doing things that could get himself or others killed), Mel would have a lot more to act on as an HR representative. At the same time, physically pulling on another person IS assault and I feel like Mel minimizes that because Talita is so much bigger and stronger than the human temps. It’s a super nuanced and complicated situation and the thought that went into this whole scene is superb.
eden
exactly, pulling on someone’s body part IS assault, and if mel had actually been paying attention and not trying to push talita along because they don’t want to do the extra paperwork, then talita’s statement would have absolutely been enough to look deeper into it, giving talita the opportunity to actually explain the intricacies of the situation. unfortunately mel wouldn’t have cared even if talita had a perfect speech prepared
ryn
“I swear the next scene will be something not actively making things worse for Talita”
bip and/or gillie and idrisah to the rescue PLEASE
JoB
Next page, Calcery, somewhere in the next galactic arm: “Uhhh did someone just step over my grave … ??”
bryn
mel did you just roll your eyes??
petra
i interpreted it as that kind of stress/concerned thinking gesture, like kinda looking off to the side and upwards which is sort of a reflex when ur having big thinks.. their head is also facing the direction their eyes are looking
Chase Wanderstar
Mel is a dumbass. Adam is not just irritating, he is dangerous! He works outside! On a shitty space rock! And yet, he climbs things he shouldn’t and gets in playfights with real sharp objects, and when quite reasonably corrected about either, he causes trouble and decides to be a dickwad and on top of being a generic dickwad also whatever the equivalent of racist is against aliens (aliens aren’t a race, they *have* races (at least if one takes “race” to mean “a classification of sophont populations between ethnicity and subspecies in breadth” rather than “what color human is that”, obviously a nonhuman cannot be a specific color of human, that is nonsensical), but aliens is not a race.).
AmbroseTV
the word you’re looking for is xenophobic! but yes, he is a liability to everyone’s safety
Septemberdale
Pretty sure xenophobic is what my jerk of a mother is towards my husband (who is a different ethnicity from me (but within the same race, so it’s not racism)) and has nothing to do with aliens.
Perhaps whatever the one about aliens is called does not have a word yet! But maybe it does, there’s been quite a lot of sci-fi with aliens in it.
Alex
Xenophobia in the real world means bigotry or prejudice against foreigners, but it’s pretty commonly used in science fiction to mean bigotry/prejudice against other species.
TotallySomebody
The poster back there is so ironic
theotherther1
The primary emotion I remember from elementary school was bloodlust. People bullied me and teachers did the same ineffectual things Mel did here. They are VERY lucky that Talita has the restraint not to want to do that. And Adam is putting not only Talita but everyone else working with him at serious risk.
Lilac
What The Hell Mel (It Rhymes) (but also I recognize how this situation is in many ways extremely nuanced and Mel’s words are not necessarily out of maliciousness) (but still What The Hell This Sucks Poor Talita)
whirly
the “we are a team” poster behind mel here is a nice touch
EveryZig314
Despite being Talita’s mentor and manager for decades, they really don’t seem to know Talita on a more than surface level. They should know that for Talita complaining to a higher-up *at all* is a sign of a serious problem.
Eux
poor talita… gosh…… :(( i hope someday mel uhhh. understands where they have fucked up. maybe many years down the line with distance from all this they can. establish a better relationship with talita.
Eyes5
Hello! I come here in defense of Mel, who I think is being unfairly maligned. I think they’re doing what they can and they’ve got a good heart. I see their generosity in fostering Talita, and I see their compassion when they are immediately sympathetic when Talita walks into their office with an obvious issue. They’re not dismissive of Talita’s problems—they were actively trying to sniff out centaur-phobic issues with temps earlier in the comic (page 13 and 92). But it’s not really fair to expect Mel to immediately fire/punish Adam based on a single low-stakes incident. Discipline is a thing that should escalate with the severity and number of incidents. Talking to Adam, giving him a warning or counseling him on etiquette/safety, is a good first step, and standard procedure in HR policies. But Talita doesn’t want that, given her past experiences with xenophobic abuse and her own avoidant personality. Which is such a shame. Talking to people can often be effective in changing their behavior for the better, but Talita has given up on even trying. It sounds like Mel would’ve been more open to transferring Adam if not for the unfortunately inconvenient timing. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask if Talita can handle another week with him, after all, it’s only a week. Talita could’ve pushed the issue. But she caves immediately, again because of her avoidant personality and desire to not be seen as a problem.
Yeah, lots of comments accuse Mel of not being sympathetic. But how can they be, if Talita isn’t sharing the severity of her issues.
Lilith
the problem is that this is a complicated, nuanced situation. nuance simply does not exist on the internet
eden
everything everyone else is saying about how mel is messing up, AND it’s apparent from mel just admitting it that mel doesn’t want to deal with addam because he’s about to leave anyway. and frankly the whole point of mel as a character in this story IS that having “good intentions” simply isn’t enough and you can cause active harm from not addressing your internal biases and not listening. you and eyes5 need to remember that it’s the person in power here mel has the ability to genuinely help talita. I’m sure if a manager handled you reporting being assaulted you’d have a different opinion as well. and frankly to me saying mel is just doing their best demonstrates a lack of nuance when this story is working very hard to depict this form of corporate abuse.
EveryZig314
Mel’s mistake here is not asking followup questions to get more information, *especially* as someone who has been in charge of Talita for a decade and should know by now how hesitant she is to talk about problems at all.
jade stormcloud
Except it’s not just “a single low-stakes incident.” Talita was attempting to list off the other, much more serious, issues, but Mel cut her off. They didn’t even seem interested in hearing the work-safety issues that Talita started to bring up. Someone not following instructions in a high-danger job like this is a HUGE problem, and Mel’s refusal to listen is continuing to endanger everyone who works with Adam.
Dotcom
Oh, I see this as Mel lacking the ability to see how this could end for them or the company. They are trading the convenience of having a shitty dangerous temp worker for one more week versus keeping a competent permanent worker. On top of that? They seem to be willing to risk their relationship with their foster kid. This is someone who cannot see past themselves very well to understand far-reaching consequences. There are a number of reasons someone can fall into this trap—including health problems, outside family stress, and beyond clouding their perception. However? Based on all we’ve seen and heard of Mel (particularly how they talk of their relationship with their biological children) it seems they are someone who has perception issues and can be checked out from others’ needs.
OhGollieItsOllie
The only times we the audience hear about Mel is usually in the context of some sort of bungled relationship, starting with Cal at the beginning of the comic (saying if they spent another day there they were gonna drive a front loader through the admin wing after their fight with Mel!), and then their kids and their ex. The whole narrative has been alluding to this.
OhGollieItsOllie
*Cal is he/him whoops
Adrienne
I can’t help but feel these are the words of someone who has not been expected to put up with an active bully for over a week. Which I’m glad for on your behalf but yeah. It sucks fyi
Lezzlebit
I understand Mel’s perspective *to some extent*… this is a very tricky situation, and Talita could’ve communicated better. Yeah, I think people are sort of turning Mel into a villain here… they’re just a flawed person. But they aren’t really helping Talita much here. They could be a lot more empathetic and I hope they realize that, as a result of their (in)actions, Adam’s gonna get away with no real consequences.
pitviperofdoom
People are pointing out that this “low stakes incident” is part of an escalation of bullying behavior but I want to point out putting your hands on a coworker without their consent is not a low stakes incident. That’s battery. If I went up to my boss, yanked her hair, and laughed in her face when she told me not to, that would absolutely be grounds for firing me on the spot. Not everything requires a PIP.
MyUniverseinaBox
lmao assault is not a low stakes incident.
Eyes5
In response to some of the comments to my comment: “Mel’s mistake here is not asking followup questions to get more information” They’ve asked plenty of questions already, in the past and now, and they aren’t about to put Talita in a metaphorical headlock trying to pry out more information. That would be even more disrespectful. Talita is an adult; she volunteers the information she feels is appropriate. That she isn’t forthcoming with enough information to Mel is an unfortunate symptom of her past and personality. (Although, look at how well metaphorical headlocks work on Talita! Gillie did it, and now they understand each other great! But it took quite an explosion of emotion and circumstance to get to that point.)
“This is not a single low stakes incident.” Given the information that Mel has, it is an isolated incident that warrants verbal discipline, which they are willing to do. More severe punishment is reasonable only if incidents keep happening, and only after investigation. We as readers know that Talita is suffering greatly and Adam ought to be thrown into orbit, but Mel needs to be an impartial manager and work with the information they have. They can’t just express favoritism for their former foster child and unilaterally take extreme action based off one testimony.
So yeah, I maintain my position that Mel is doing their best. They can certainly do better, but only if Talita opens up.
eden
okay but mel *still cut talita off midsentence when she was explaining the more serious stuff. the fact talita doubled down, saying no I don’t want adam to work with me in a dangerous environment, mel STILL doubled down on brushing adam off. they might be asking basic questions but they just aren’t listening
eden
“mel asked follow up questions” one followup question and immediately cut her off when she was getting to the other serious things. it was still assault at the end of the day and mel clearly doesn’t care enough because they don’t want to deal with the extra work. they admitted it in this page.
eden
if I left an extra comment my bad internet is slow and I don’t know what’s loading
Adrienne
“Mel is doing their best” and “Mel is not doing enough” can both be true
Antarctopelta
When you’re a manager and your worker is reporting to you that they were assaulted, the kind of question you usually ask is “can you tell me exactly what happened, when, what led up to it and who else was there?” Not fucking, “is that all?” That isn’t a follow up question. That is an invitation for the conversation to be over
Heather
I think a major issue here is that Mel seems more concerned with APPEARING to be kind and helpful than with actually helping. Could Talita have handled this whole situation better and earlier, or been more assertive here? Of course. But it’s also clear that a major reason she didn’t come forward sooner was because of Mel’s ineffective style of intervention (pages 92-93). And here we are, exactly as Talita predicted, with Mel only offering either to lecture Adam or to ignore the problem. Neither of these are helpful solutions, and both of them have a significant chance of escalating the danger Adam poses to Talita and her other temps. It’s true that Mel can’t know things Talita doesn’t tell them. But if their “solutions” consistently worsen problems because they don’t listen to what people actually need, they are effectively punishing their employees for bringing up problems at all. That’s actively creating a toxic workplace culture, no matter how good their intentions might be.
1d4-nadg
Wait, does that mean the foreshadowed next round of temps arrives… NEXT WEEK???
TeethBurglar
AND THEY STILL HAVEN’T TOLD HER THEY ARE CENTAURS???? Jesus Mel…
Dotcom
This feels like three different horrific incidents will be happening to Talita to push her to Blip and onto the Run Away. This is the first, Adam is likely to do something even worse now, and then the addition of the Centaurs will likely be the breaking point.
Entguarde
god once again the paneling and use of speech bubbles is perfect! everything closing in around and over her, god talita i feel for her.
sort of an unrelated question, but what brush do you use for background details like for the ceiling/distant shading?
1d4-nadg
You’ll have to get a confirmation from Jay, but I’m 90% sure this is a stock texture with a perspective effect and transparency mask applied.
If the streams are in your time zone and you don’t mind spoiler, you can look at the process there!
Gheesfellow
“You can always come to me if there are…issues. I know people sometimes make weird presumptions about centaurs..()… It’s my concern either way!” Mel, Chapter 1, p.13
Well gee Mel, thanks for nothing. Guess Cal was right about you not actually listening.
Koumori
To be honest, Mel’s choices are very close to how I likely would have handled the situation, were I in his position; having a stern discussion with the offending employee feels like an appropriate first step, and transferring someone to a new department requiring new training when they’re leaving in a week anyway would be terribly inefficient. I would not, however, have said “Is that all?” Deliberate non-consensual physical contact is a serious matter, and even with my autism I can tell that it’s a vaguely condescending thing to say when someone comes to you with concerns.
Anyway, judging by the other comments, it’s probably for the best that I’m not employed in a managerial role.
Light_In_The_Fog
Mel’s pronouns are they/them btw!
Koumori
Oh yeah, that totally slipped my mind. Thanks!
Varyon
Yeah, a stern talking-to is likely the appropriate thing to do. The issue IIRC is that Talita has already established that Mel doesn’t actually give stern talking-to’s. I’m assuming they’re basically just like “So-and-so said you were being a meany-face, could you stop that? K thx.” Which just makes things worse since there’s no punishment involved, just letting the offender know who blabbed (or maybe Mel doesn’t state who it was that informed them, but it’s still relatively obvious from context who it likely was). I think the most appropriate course of action would have been to get the full story from Talita, possibly gone to some of the more reliable temps for confirmation, and then confronted Adam with an ultimatum – something like “Cut that out and apologize to those you’ve wronged, and you can finish out your term without a black mark on your record. Keep it up or escalate, and you will be immediately terminated, confined to your room (or a jail if Dirtball has one) until it’s time to ship you off, and fined if not formally charged with assault.” Or whatever is in Mel’s power/influence to realistically threaten.