The grandmothers call out from orbit.
Transcript
Talita and Idrisah exchange a panicked look.
Cheevwut: Uh… You gonna pick it up?
Idrisah quickly taps the enter key to pick up the call. Ranni's wrinkly whiskered face appears on the video call screen, with the tubular space station interior behind her. It is cluttered with decades of memorabilia. The bulkhead doors are ringed with circular drawstring curtains, the hatch handles and hand holds are covered with crocheted cozies, and family picture frames are attached all over the floorless walls. Paul floats behind Ranni, upside-down from the camera's perspective, using a computer console surrounded by duck figurines and childrens' artwork.
Ranni: Hello Idrisah– Oh, sorry, dear, I forgot you were packing up today! Should I call Ohwitiil instead?
Idrisah tries to conceal her terror. Cheevwut peeks over her shoulder nosily. Talita crouches behind the cubicle wall, trying to hide.
Idrisah: Hi Ranni! It’s fine! Why’d you call?
45 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 249”
Jubjub bird
Oh no, it is QWERTY, my nemesis, still alive in the future…
JoB
We’ve seen QWERTY keyboards in the comic before, they do fit their history (USA -> Martian Free States -> Nexus Jovia), as do their NEMA-style wall sockets. What’s your favorite, then, AZERTY?
Dahsun
I’ve worked in open plan offices much like that. Partitions so high that some people can walk on the other side without you seeing them, some walk by and you see a top knot or some other hair, and some so tall they can look over. Those so tall they can look over have the potential to invade a lot of privacy without realising it, Talita knows Idrisah so well that peering in over the wall likely doesn’t come over as invasive the way it might from a tall sophont she doesn’t know. But if the centaurs aren’t briefed to treat the partitions as if they go to the ceiling, they are going to unintentionally piss off some of their new colleagues.
Ruby
Talita of the cubicle is watching you panic
Ellindsey
I don’t know what the Avian equivalent of popcorn is, but I know that Cheevwut takes it covered with drugs instead of butter.
holly...!
uh oh! wuh oh!
hurgaburga
love the classic sudden “E V E R Y T H I N G I S F I N E” expression trope
00Venator
Uh, up to date. I can work on my own project now.
milk4evertoasted
started to shriek real bad
Fallingfeather
I love how even from that one small shot you can see all the decorations they’ve built into the interior of the orbital platform!!
un_pogaz
“Hey Idrisah, I don’t want to bother you too much, but it seem there’s an error in the SIMS code of one of the departing ships. Could you check it out? Thanks.”
Vinemaple
Absolutely what I’m expecting.
SIGSTKFLT
ORBITAL SKYHOOK GRANDMA POLYCULE
Bug
Idrisah ily ❤️
Sammywolfgirl
Oh my god this is my third reread of this comic I love studying the details like a bug! It’s inspired me to try and do more with my own comic attemots.
But also god this page stresses me out talita I am right there with you oh my GOD
mustarjil
i realize now’s not the time, but uuuuu i’d love a closer look into the station’s interior. hell, even better, gimmie a tour! i’m greedy like that.
Quad
Oh Cheev must be having a ball. Supreme work drama imminent
Chrysalis
Next step: Convince Cheevwut that letting them get away with stealing a spaceship will cause more entertaining workplace drama than turning them in. (Probably not a big challenge.)
Also, this is the best space station interior I have ever seen, I want to visit Grandmas’ house in space with no gravity to limit the decorating
pelya
Is there a crochet rug covering the hatch door?
JoB
The transcript calls them “circular drawstring curtains”, but … Bintje, Agata, I suppose. 😉
(Call me a cold-blooded technician, but *I*’d prefer to leave at least those doors unadorned and ready to get slammed shut …)
I hope that Paul won’t have to do more than a handful strokes on that keyboard …
Vinemaple
Everything has ducks velcroed to it… the sinnet on the handholds is cool, though, it’s nice to see a mariner’s tradition carried over into space!
Flero
Well a while back I saw some Tumblr art from Jay that showed two avians on the Runaway. So I feel like Cheevwut will tell Ohwitil what they’re doing and one of them woll blackmail the trio into letting them come with.
JoB
Different pair not yet introduced, I’m afraid. :-3
cosmyc
I need that Talita looking over image as a bookmark or something- peak drawing (pun intended)
JoB
That dreadful feeling when you come to suspect that someone asking “what’s the news?” is enough to completely jinx it …
(Is there precedent for an acronym “JUBAR”?)
1d4-nadg
Jinx U By Asking R…?
Vinemaple
“J…? Up Beyond All Recognition”
Emu
Jinxed up beyond all recognition
JoB
> Jinxed up beyond all recognition
(I learned the original – more precisely, its USENET usage – as meaning “beyond all repair“, but that letter has always had several interpretations to pick from as needed :-3 )
Ox
I’m getting a kick out of imagining how this all must look to Cheevwut. They’re having a normal little time, at their normal little job, doing their normal little tasks, answering normal little questions, while two coworkers have an increasingly interesting freak out around them for no apparent reason.
HAL9000
theyre having so much fun with this and they dont even know why. i bet they love some workplace dramas lol
Lilac
is it about Bip are they about to be Revealed… to Cheevwut…..
Lilac
Also I like the drawing of Talita in the last panel a lot dhffhdjs. Hiding. Peeking
Quinn
Itty bitty Cheev in panel one is so cute
XtraStudios
Oh my god, every new page has been a mini cliffhanger bruh
kaittzie
Right? I’m so excited and impatient for more pages. The patreon is a dozen pages ahead, so I’ve been peeking at the blurred previews to temper myself xD
NotOkapi
…this comment is finally what made me break and subscribe. 10/10 great advertisement for the Patreon love looking at all the delicious secrets.
Vinemaple
I know, right? I didn’t expect spoilers would matter so much in this story, but this whole week has punished me severely for reading every dialog bubble I could make out on Twitch while Jay draws… This week could have been as exciting as the Ocean Bottom Flashback Nightmare sequence, but instead I’m just like “Crap! I’ve already read most of this page! Crap! I’ve already read most of this page, too, and there were no answers!” At least I had the good sense to stop before seeing the Centaur clan, or finding out what happens after this call.
Mot
poor Talita finding something else to stress over so she doesnt have to think about the centaurs outside
NotOkapi
I believe in her ability to worry about two things at once to maximize stress. Maybe even more. Imagine.
Vinemaple
I believe we may see some teeth chattering before too long…
Selkra
It won’t be long until she gains the ability to worry about a secret third thing.
NotOkapi
EVERYONE NEEDS TO BECOME ROOMATES REALLY FAST!!!
Dahsun
Maybe not everyone, I suspect Mel and the avians will be left behind
JoB
[shoehorns 75+polycule into a single room of the Runaway’s habitat]
“… why did we leave Shikaviil in the first place again?”