Ah... you again...
Transcript
Gillie sits down at her desk in the corner of the living room and Talita walks up behind her on all sixes. It's a cluttered messy space obviously decorated by Gillie rather than Idrisah, with bug ferret posters, cups full of pens, stacks of paper, flags, character figurines, a stolen sign for "S 69th St," a plate and fork on the floor next to the chair, and an overflowing wastepaper basket. Two scroll monitors are attached to a support bar positioned diagonally over the corner desk. Gillie reaches up and pulls down on their draw cords to reveal the monitor screens. Bip's avatar on one of them, reclining with an eyebrow raised.
Talita: Ah. How long have you two been conspiring?
Bip begins transcribing her speech on the screen.
Gillie: (ASL) Since Eid. But hear us out.
Bip: It’s about paperwork. I'm assuming you looked up the Runaway's SIMS ID?
Talita sits down in a loaf position and folds her arms over her chest, unamused.
Talita: Yes. Amazingly, you don't have a record. …In the Jovian database, at least.
Gillie: (ASL) Yeah, but did you see? The vessel is listed as inactive!
69 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 114”
Mar
I love that she’s got a 69 st road sign. Gillie rules.
MyUniverseinaBox
Your anatomy is so good tho can I just say. And the consistency with how characters look. GOD i love this comic SO MUCH. I’m so buying a physical copy when it comes out lol
dokki
Gasp! BUG FERRET MEDIA POSTERS!!! I love gillies desk design so much.
Alahida
I love gillie so much she’s shaped just like me fr
lennyjamin
I really appreciate how thoroughly you account for Gillie’s communication. I’m never left wondering how she’s navigating a given situation, but it also doesn’t feel over explained or disruptive to the story. Really excellent work.
HAL9000
scifi scroll down monitors… much cooler than scifi holograms, probably just as inefficient. moving parts always cause more problems.
also how are any of you seeing whats on her desktop background? I thought it was just Miscellaneous Grey Texture lmao
atriflemiffed
I’m assuming the technology here is a descendant of modern flexible OLED displays, in which case just giving them a dark backing material wouldn’t be difficult at all. Or an electrochromic material if you want to get fancy.
DasGanon
I was going to say “wait, Talita isn’t signing, how does Gillie know what she’s saying?” before I caught that Bip was helpfully transcribing everything, which anything Bip says Gillie would have to read anyways.
(Also why do I feel like this is leading down the “Talita! It turns out this ship was from a long lost uncle and the Centaur Authorities have been trying to reach you about your surprise inheritance!” route, ignoring all of the obvious issues with that statement like “Wait Centaurs are Matriarchs” and “Centaurs are barely on the level of city states with all of the Clan Politics, what do you mean Centaur Authorities?”)
Hanroz
I got the schedule for these pages mixed up, so for me it’s like I got a bonus page! Not that I’m complaining of course!
Ruby
I love that these two have been plotting together. If there’s anyone that would think that Bip is cool that would be Gillie.
feesh
WAIIIIT is that one of those 3d printer boats on gillie’s desk?? does that mean talita gave her one as a present? if so that’s so cute
feesh
or not so formal as a “present” necessarily, but you know
Synthaphone
oh my GOD i didnt notice that; thats adorable…
DasGanon
Benchy!
I’d be unsurprised if there wasn’t a Bug Ferret Benchy that looked sort of like a space ship.
feesh
i love so much that idrisah decorates the full living area because she’s the one with taste, but can’t do anything about gillie’s workspace so its just this one square of chaos that i bet idrisah is constantly trying to ignore lmao
Rubicon Art
Loaf! Loaf! Loaf! Loaf! Loaf! Loaf! Loaf!
Ya
TRANS flag spotted! I’m guessing the other ones are Jovia and GMH(?) because of the double helix
the Inmara
Think that might be the lesbian flag, not the trans flag. The outer stripes being darker than the second ones in, and slightly different shades, fits the pattern of the lesbian flag better. It also matches what we know of her character from the text better.
Either way, super cool
zaratustra
Gillie is trans. https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/668064201637543936/gillie-why-do-you-hate-your-whiskers-and-pull-them#notes
the Inmara
Oh! Fantastic! Thank you!
So much the better.
veltzeh
Plate and fork on the floor! PLATE AND FORK ON THE FLOOR!! Alert! XD
JoB
Also, a no-shoes household (not even slippers)! LEGO dance imminent! 8-*
(Can’t say that Gillies heels look particularly narrow here, though …
https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/163657389233/hewalks-bought-a-coffee-for-jay-eaton
)
TotallySomebody
I found the page where you can see that and it’s true! I adore the amount of detail put into this story
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-76/
Lilac
Ohh, I bet that’s why her and idrisah were arguing….. she saw her and bip talking or something……..
notanocelot
Everyone is talking about the beans but not the tiled sparkle on Jerma background on Gillie’s first monitor.
ryn
holy shit i never would have noticed that without this comment, i thought it was just More Beans
TotallySomebody
Oh my god HAAAHAHA
bug ferret irl
the fact this is ~2200 too, like imagine being so much of a specimen that 200 years in the future youre still a meme
Jay Eaton
I regret using sparkle on jerma because everyone’s taking it literally. I had him as a stand in for a hypothetical future meme of similar vibes, and the background is an Easter egg for people who zoom in on comic panels. He is not diegetically there, any more than the giant rat in the habitat dome from the beginning of Chapter 2. Canonically none of these characters know what jerma is.
John
Honestly I find it really charming even if you take it literally. It’d be like if someone had a picture of Timothy Dexter on their desktop. An obscure historical figure but funny if you know who it is.
Hanroz
You should know better, we take everything seriously, lol! Your word is gospel here
bitty
I’m going to imagine it as a similar meme with like a modern bug ferret streamer or something- but the idea of using a jerma bg without any knowledge of jerma is like a current day person using a silly old timey photograph of some dude as their bg without knowing any context except they thought it was neat and funny
Hi
Is that a legally obtained street sign
JoB
A distant memory for it, but yes. 😛
Jay Eaton
No
Chrysalis
I saw the sign and just added ‘refined sense of humor’ to my mental list of Gillie’s good qualities. Then I read the transcript, where it says “STOLEN sign,” and now I have so many additional questions.
bug ferret irl
MIKU(?) FIGURE SPOTTED!!!!
Jorpus
Is that a projector, or cool sci-fi foldable screen?
Gillie’s room is vervy cool
Carcass
A quick scan of the transcript and, yeah! Monitors you can literally scroll! Once again, the future has one-upped the present
JJA
…And the AI has proceeded to hack the organic intelligences.
Darth Biomech
I’ve never thought about a rollout computer screens before, but the more I think about it the more I realize I want those!
…I wanna say, I love your transcripts, and not just because they’re pointing out the details I would have completely missed otherwise. ^^”
Do you write them for every page, or they’re snips from the comic’s script?
JoB
> the more I think about it the more I realize I want those!
Soooooooon …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll-away_computer
Jay Eaton
I have an extremely barebores script of only dialog that I made entirely for the benefit of editors. I’m copying from it but I have to add image descriptions to parts that wouldn’t make sense without visual context.
bramble
I’m glad someone’s been taking to Bip while Talita was giving them the cold shoulder. I don’t know how AIs handle social isolation but given their bugferret origins I would assume “not super well.”
JoB
[imagines Talita waking up every morning to a couple dozen quantum phones sync-dropping on her from the ceiling so as to BFL-tactile-sign “RISE AND SHINE!!” at her]
zaratustra
second panel: “aaaaayyyyyyyyyy”
ToothedMammal
Does SIMS stand for anything? My best guess is “Starship Information & Manufacture Serial”
Peter Jensen
“Ship Identification and Management System”, according to Jay’s comment here: https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-75/#comment-2947
gnome_artificer
Question for Jay. I’m active on a smaller reddit-like content aggregate site called discuit.net . Would you be alright if I start making linked posts to the comic? My intent would be to upload 1 per day to the webcomics subdisc until I catch up to the new page. I can add a delay between your initial upload and posting if you prefer. And I completely understand if you’d prefer if I didn’t post it at all.
Jay Eaton
I don’t use that site so I don’t particularly mind as long as you’re linking back to the source.
blythe
ooh new alternate social media to explore!
Trees
Bip likes to make an entrance all cool and nonchalant but don’t believe it! A few seconds ago they had to fight Clippy for that screen-space and just got done shoving him into Gillie’s dump folder like a bully shoving a nerd into a locker.
bitty
💀 thank you for that mental image
JoB
Next page: Bip vs. Vigor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigor_(software)
JoB
> The vessel is listed as inactive!
And also as not currently having an owner, not even Ixion.
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-76/
But what’s so remarkable about “inactive”? Should a ship sent to get scrapped have a different classification, like “inoperational”, “scheduled for dismantling” or somesuch?
That “webcam”(?) changes its shape a *lot*, including total absence in panel 3 …
Seems like Gillie uses what we’d call a “compact” keyboard (no cursor-movement or numeric keypads). Somewhat surprising, given that she’s the resident expert for bug ferret I/O devices. 😉
… and that’s a *multi-functional* printer (MFP a.k.a. AIO) on the floor, isn’t it? (Seeing that it seems to have a multi-level “lid” on top.) I guess that “The Paperless Office™” is still sci-fi in the 24th century! X-D
JoB
… no, wait, there *is* a numpad in panel 4. (Perspective in panel 5 fooled me.) And a corded two-button mouse, apparently …
wingedhorror
Totally guessing here, but I’m assuming that it’s distinct from “decommissioned,” or even “stolen.” Meaning, it’s still registered as a space-worthy ship, but just that its current status is “unowned” and/or “not in use.” The implication being it can easily be updated to “active” without raising the kinds of questions you would if it was listed as stolen or inoperable (or having outstanding warrants, maybe).
AnormalADN
Love how Talita barely reacts to Bip popping up anymore
Apollo235
Ooohh those scroll monitors are really cool! do they use a hidden projector or are they flexible OLED sheets?
Ray_Lumen
Tye thing in-between the 2 “screens” might be a projector
Jay Eaton
It’s not a projector.
evileeyore
Cameras? One aimed for her face, one aimed for her hands?
Guestie McGuestor
Hey! Gillie decorates like me! I admit, however, I’m intrigued by Glub Glub fish now.
Gheesfellow
You thought it would’ve just been a desktop BUT IT WAS ME, BIP!
Truther
Hehe, sixty nine
Trees
Noice!
eden
my backround wallpaper is also mixed beans!! high five!!
Jay Eaton
So is mine :^)
Assorted
Are those projections or flexible screens?