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Transcript
Chapter 8: Heavy Water
A closeup of a coffee table fades out of blackness, showing three different people's hands. A hotpad sits in the middle of the table with three normal sized mugs around it. On the far side of the table, next to an empty seat on the couch, is a four cup glass measuring jug full of water. The jug has stickers on the outside of a helicopter, an airplane, a flower, and a cartoon quailicorn; along with rectangular labels reading "TALITA ONLY."
Otília: Tea, Mx. Derringer?
Mel: Thank you, Otília.
Otília pours tea from a teapot into a mug held in Mel's hands. The other seated person rests their hand on the table. It is an older hand, with scars on the fingers.
Other person: Shouldn’t Talita be here for this?
39 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 213”
Mitta
Seeing that baby cat horse scar is making me wonder about if centaur teeth shed scales into the thing that they’re biting down on. Was he having to pick out tiny bone fragments out of his fingers when he got bit? Actually I dont want to think about that
betsumei
Even centuries in the future, we’re still stuck using cups and quarts, eh?
Jay Eaton
Jovia actually uses the metric system for the vast majority of things. Except cooking and food products, which still generally use imperial volumetric measurements like gallons/pints/quarts/cups/spoons. Why? Just a relic of USAmerican customary units that stuck around through written recipe measurements.
JoB
> gallons/pints/quarts/cups/spoons. Why? Just
> a relic of USAmerican customary units
Funny thing, these are actually made in the USA (says the Canadian online shop). 😀
(I was wondering about it having a l, ml, and dl scale, so I searched the web for photos a bit. Mine, here in European SI-land, has l and ml, on opposite sides, flanked by scales giving the equivalent of grams for/of sugar, rice, flour, etc..)
Gar G
Oh dear, what might be happening here?
(Also i love the detal with Talita’s cup <3)
Vinemaple
Yeah, I was thinking about this last night. What dark secrets about Talita’s educational mentoring are we about to be shown? What kind of horrible better-of-two-evils bargain has Doug been living with, for the last +/- 10 years?
Or is this just introducing Doug in the book? I guess Doug hasn’t been IN RttS yet, has he?
exameter
im not gonna lie, I thought the hot plate in the middle was some sorta sci-fi tarot-adjacent thing then I actually put together that “oh, it’s not being metaphorical it’s just telling you not to burn yourself”
meow
ah yeah, i guess gripping a cup comfortably would be pretty difficult for talita…
MutableAlias
i only just realized that Gizmod the green quailicorn is Talita’s favorite, as well as being her favorite color
kaittzie
Talita SHOULD be here for this, because we love her and want to see her more
Hydrurgus
Ohhh that’s what they use for Talita’s cup
Eux
the most ominous page of tea service ever. <3
HAL9000
either a flashback, or talita is even more sentimental then she’ll admit (dont worry girl as a grown ass man i also decorate my shit with stickers. really cuts down on theft in the worksite when you’re the only one with dinosaur stickers on your tools ;P )
Raydfil
OHHHHH WE’RE SO BACK IM SO HYPED ABOUT THIS YAY YAY YAY MY FAVORITE WEBCOMIC
hi doug !!!!! please speak up for talita she deserves to know whats about to happen.
Fallingfeather
The quailicorn sticker on the cup! :3
Lilac
Theres a talita only pitcher but they’re asking *if* talita should be here not *why* talita isn’t here is there another centaur there…..
JoB
The other two might plan on Talita joining them later, and have pitcher + seat set up for that. (I don’t think that this is Talitas home of way-back-when and her stuff “just is around”, because then it should rather be Doug serving.)
However, I note that the handle of the third mug isn’t pointing towards Doug. Is there a fourth human at the table … ?
Skrymer
This has to be a flashback: the small “cup” for Talita (with stickers!), and the unnamed third person would NOT visit Dirtball without telling Talita.
Teod
How do you actually pronounce “Mx”?
Frankie
most commonly, I hear it pronounced “mix”!
jasper
I use mx! The other commenter is right, it’s pronounced like “mix” 🙂
Tye
Hey, not sure if this is intended, but on my side of the site as a viewer, the “prev” button goes back to the RTTS Reader Questions, but that page doesn’t link back to this one. So if you navigate backwards you can’t get to this newest page without going to the main site page. I hope I’m explaining that correctly. Very intriguing page..
Light_In_The_Fog
I’m experiencing this too! There isn’t a NEXT or NEW button on the previous page
OccidentalAvian
The page’s cache just needs to be updated, it’ll fix itself within a day.
Tye
Oh, thanks for the heads-up. I didn’t know that’s how it worked.
Harumin
I’D KNOW THOSE BITE SCARS ANYWHERE
Good Doug to actually, ya know, address the fact that major changes ostensibly for Talita are being done without Talita’s involvement. I’m so excited to see this push her to finally join the Runaway crew
edenmachine5457
.OH MY GOD I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE THE BITE SCARS… good eye! so excited to see doug take up a role in the comic 😀
Adrienne
Just ventured down to the comments to say the same thing 🙂
Vinemaple
One of my favorite things about this community is longtimers like you, who share your deep observation and knowledge with us. I for some reason have an extra hard time scanning a comic page for this level of detail and implication.
Also I’m really impressed with how Jay puts these little details in here, so the reader community doesn’t have to spend 48 hours scratching their heads over a panel like this.
Makes me wonder what kind of heavy foreshadowing we don’t yet know we’re getting…
Crow
i got so excited when i noticed the scars
Famout
And if Talita isn’t there, why is her glass there…..
Also even being a “large mug” (measuring glass) it still feels small for Centaur size…
edenmachine5457
.im guessing either this is talita’s house or one of the new centaur dirtball crew is visiting (because we all know who’s coming soon by now)
JoB
Or this is actually a flashback; after all, Talita has known both Mel and Doug since before she came to Dirtball. (“Otília” is an unknown to me.)
Marcie
It’s her equivalent of a cute tiny teacup
batlychee
i’d guess it’s also meant to be symbolic of her being excluded from this meeting and the decisions being made. everyone else here can drink tea in standard human cups, but she has to drink pure water from a repurposed measuring cup. it’s a poor attempt at inclusion, much like whatever mel is up to.
The Defenestrator
Not an expert, but I probably wouldn’t make tea with heavy water
JoB
That’d be prudent, though D2O is safe enough to be ingested in medical checkups. (Matter of fact, even one-time exposures to tritiated water are a rather minor health concern.) Avoid all that stuff during (and some time before) pregnancy, though.
Trees
Not even if I’m really in the mood for some heavy tea?
Vinemaple
Perhaps heavy things are to be discussed…