The paradox of avoidant anxiety is that the more you care about getting it done, the harder it is to do.
Transcript
Idrisah: I studied avian xenolingiustics in college… and I’m fluent in Tiiliitian! A bitonal language I can’t speak without a keyboard!
Inset panel: The silhouette of an avian with their respiratory track in white is shown saying "Tiiliitwau" using their syrinx. Idrisah is shown using a recording keyboard to layer the tones of her natural speech to produce the same word.
Idrisah: But studying Arabic and Urdu makes me feel so… fake? Like an outsider to my own family.
Inset panel: Idrisah stares at a book looking anxious as basic Arabic phrases for tourists float in the background: "How much is this?" "Do you have any recommendations?" "Where is the airport?" "Do you speak English?"
Idrisah: And I already stand out way too much in my family… I’m the 183 cm tall agnostic lesbian from Jupiter.
Idrisah rests her cheek against her fist and rolls her eyes.
Panel background: Little cartoon spaceships float by in front of Jupiter, including Idrisah in a spacesuit with alien antennae. She says a speech bubble full of cosmic gibberish.
Talita: Does it make reunions stressful?
Idrisah: They’re mostly lovely– I like the in-person stuff! But I didn’t go to the last one. So mom and dad have really been putting the pressure on when I call…
68 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 156”
Vinemaple
I honestly did not expect impostor syndrome to be a problem Idrisah has. But I can absolutely understand anxiety making it impossible to study something that should be within one’s skillset.
Teod
It’s not even about HER learning those languages. If her parents learned each other’s native ones, this problem would’ve been solved before Idrisah was even born.
eden
yeah!! they screwed her over and expect her to pick up the slack
AnaKaye
I’m guessing her parents do have *some* fluency in each other’s languages, but opted just to use English because they were living in a place where English was the local language and they were both fluent in that. My family was kind of like this, in that Dad’s side were all fluent in Swedish but my mother was not (we’re American but my great-grandparents and maternal grandmother were immigrants and Dad’s family passed the language down while Mom’s didn’t). Dad’s family would all speak Swedish among themselves and Mom felt left out, so I wasn’t allowed to grow up bilingual. So we used English for everything and I didn’t really learn more than a tiny bit of Swedish.
Apollo235
Do Humans in RTTS still get shit for being homosexual? I thought the bigots would have moved on to more advanced pursuits.
Like giving shit for being exophillic
40
People are still sexist today and sexism has been around for… a good while.
0xabad1dea
I don’t get the impression that her extended family is cruel to her about it – more that it’s like being the goth in a family of preps.
Egg
Yeah, from the way she talks about it and from the fact that we know from extra material gillie sometimes comes with during family gatherings as idrisha’s spouse, being a lesbian is just as weird as being 183cm tall. A tad weird but not enough for people to be mean about it, it’s more so something that makes idrisha stand out rather than something that ostracizises her.
Jay Eaton
Homophobia still exists, religiously motivated homophobia still exists. Some people in Idrisah’s extended family disapprove of her marrying a woman, but those that do disapprove even more of her marrying outside the faith. Usually their motivation to not cause a scene at family gatherings is higher than their motivation to argue with her and her parents about it.
Origamigryphon
Damn, I didn’t know Idrisah was six feet tall!
creetur
Suppose everyone looks tiny compared to Talita, girl is big
Sen
Mom’s can apply enough social pressure to create diamonds.
Pink Tiefling
the itty bity avian in the UFO… my heart..
ryn
tbh this whole time i assumed idrisah’s height wasn’t anything remarkable
humans have gradually been getting taller over the past couple centuries, so i assumed it was just a result of that trend continuing
malmo
I hadn’t noticed she was particularly tall, probably because of Talita. Is this a Belter situation where she grew up in lower gravity or is it just genetics/chance?
Vinemaple
This also means that Gillie is not particularly short.
Jay Eaton
Afaik that trend is largely due to more humans gaining access to proper nutrition while growing, so more people are reaching their potential full height. I haven’t looked deeply into it, though. Idrisah would still be considered unusually tall for a woman, and Gillie is average-ish (five foot six)
Gar G
I love the detail of the Avian in the flying saucer
eden
well that answers my question if avian crests are hollow! can a bright survive if their crest gets damaged? if so, *how much would one be able to take before they can’t go on? what would a reconstruction look like? how would it affect their voice/honk?
sorry morbid I know
OccidentalAvian
Her parents are but her expended family is from Earth. And since they’re arranging the family reunion I imagine that they’re also on Earth right now.
eden
I think you replied to the wrong person
samkee00
I know carnalists carve notches out of their crests so it is survivable, but I don’t know the other effects
JoB
If those notches go deep enough and are properly placed, they ought to be able to use them like the fingerholes on a recorder …
Jay Eaton
I don’t think I’ve even drawn that. I know I’ve drawn them with sections removed from their ear cartilage, though.
Light_In_The_Fog
Is Idrisah’s family not also Jovian? I had it in my mind that they were
Jay Eaton
Her parents both immigrated there from Earth, most of her extended family lives on Earth.
40
So crests are just hollow and a bit of structural bone/cartilage/wtv on the outside? That and the Concealists on the website got me wondering, could avians get “top surgery” and get rid of the crest?
Jay Eaton
Recovery from a surgery like that would be problematic since it involves cutting and rearranging bone in the skull. Avians are less hardy when it comes to injury recovery than humans.
40
So the technology isn’t really there… yet
AnormalADN
There’s a typo in the first panel at “xenolinguistics”
Jay Eaton
Fixed it.
Teod
Looks still misspelled to me.
Enai
Looks correct to me. Try refreshing the page or emptying the browser cache?
Trees
Is that some kind of lung or air sack in the avian’s crest? Does that mean brights can produce different sounds than duns if they have a whole extra… er… head… space?
Sid
From the Avian Physiology section, for your and other readers convenience!
“The crest of bright avians is mostly hollow but contains a long loop that they can use to make a loud honking sound. The intensity of this honk varies between species and tends to correlate with how intensely avian brights compete with each other and “display” while seeking the attention of duns. Flightless avians have by far the loudest display honk, and polar avians and divers have the quietest.”
TotallySomebody
From the Avian Biology page: “The crest of bright avians is mostly hollow but contains a long loop that they can use to make a loud honking sound. The intensity of this honk varies between species and tends to correlate with how intensely avian brights compete with each other and “display” while seeking the attention of duns.”
Trees
Thank you both.
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I’m very looking forward to diving into the lore codex when I’m far enough into the comic to avoid spoilers.
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How do humans ever attract a mate? We can’t even honk!
Vinemaple
I’ve been through the lore codex, you should be fine. Just stay on this website.
Trees
Cool
Chrysalis
We might not be able to honk, but we can make a wide variety of other highly attractive loud noises! Just look at rock stars.
Trees
Ooh.. I hadn’t even considered the all the wild new musical genres that must exist in RttS because of alien cultural influences…
Mixed species bands, humans incorporating alien instruments and styles, otherwise niche genres that become inexplicably popular among certain aliens cultures etc (perhaps flightless avians love Gregorian chanting or … ska?).
Endless possibilities!
Enai
Skill issue. Git gud or just purchase a horn.
evileeyore
Money. Humans use money to attract mates.
(Oooh, I’m being extra cynical today, just ignore me. Though, to be honest, we humans have a large and varied method of attracting mates, power/status/money just happens to be one of the simpler “shallower” methods.)
Trees
But a crest of money would just result in… inflation!!!
… because avian crests are full of air!!!! Get it!? Ha ha! ..ha..
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Sorry.
JoB
> But a crest of money would just result in… inflation!!!
> … because avian crests are full of air!!!! Get it!?
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“Blowing one’s money for fun”, redefined. 😉
Septemberdale
In my experience? YouTube comments section.
Lilac
I understand completely, that awkward disconnect from like all your extended family and the pressure from your main family for bring normal around them. I remember when I graduated from high school my family had a big party with a bunch of family members and I was just so uncomfortable and miserable the entire time, I felt awful. Because I didn’t really *know* any of these people and I felt pressured to try act “normal”, which i can’t really do. And it felt like I was being ‘shown off’ the entire time if that makes sense. So though idrisah’s circumstances are a bit different, I still understand and relate so much.
It’s all a tough thing to deal with and it makes total sense that it would still continue to exist in this crazy future universe, just in some different ways.
Idk what to say fhdhfhs just like. Yeah….. I Get It…………
Lilac
*BEING not bring i think I could have worded that better but I hope my ideas still come across lol
0xabad1dea
honestly “bringing normal” sounds like something the kids should be saying. “Yeah my mom told me to bring normal to dinner with grandma tonight…”
Lilac
That’s so true actually. People should stop saying “it’s giving” and start saying “it’s bringing”
eden
yeah! like trying to live up to the lies your parents tell your family…
Egg
Man, this is one of the reasons I’m scared of forgetting how to speak Arabic, I dont think I could ever relearn it.
Also, something I have to ask, from where is the name Idrisah derived? I at first wondered if it was an Arabic name, so I asked some family if they were familiar with it, but then no one recognised it, though my mom said that it sounds like the name Idris, and apparently according to Google Idrisiah (just one letter difference) is maybe an urdu name? I dunno I’ve just been curious as to the name’s orgin
Jay Eaton
It’s a mutation of Idris. For characters in RttS I usually try to give them either unusual modern names or a mutation of a modern name, to reflect that it’s 300 years in “the future.”
Egg
Ah OK I suspected that, since gillie sounded like a mutation of the name millie but I wasn’t quite sure (didn’t want to assume that just because I never heard of it before that it wasn’t a real name)
But that’s cool! Really adds to the setting
evileeyore
Gillie is a Gaelic word for “servant”, but it also sounds like it could be short for Gillian.
Eldermage1
You know Idrisah, if you were to perhaps join a legally dubious AI in their journey across the cosmos, you’d be able to make the family meet and greets more regularly…
evileeyore
Or even less regularly, but alos have a really good excuse for it.
“Sorry Ummi, we’re gating out to the other side of known space to deliver black market qPhones, I can’t make the reunion this year…”
Mr. Skeleton
Oh to be an avian flying around in a little beep beep spaceship.
Teod
The lil avian in a UFO is so unbearably cute.
Trees
That could just be what avian ships really look like.
All other sapient species: Hard sci-fi, Expanse-ass, drive-cone having, external fuel tank, reaction control thruster bedecked flying gantries.
Avians: cartoon UFO.
Here’s hoping!
Paroxysmall
https://www.tumblr.com/jayrockin/163809492663/sketches-of-various-types-of-ships-and-space
this is from 2017 but it’s various ships and space stations between the sophonts
Trees
Cool, thank you.
Of course the bug-ferret ships are ‘covered in stickers’ like the one toy a kid puts all their banana stickers on.
JoB
> Of course the bug-ferret ships are ‘covered in stickers’
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“Commander, the approaching human ship is hailing us.”
“On the screen, then.”
[screen turns on and shows the ship’s captain]
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[three seconds of light speed lag later, the captain sees the answer as well and starts talking]
“Space station [flails arms wildly for five seconds], this is Jovian passenger ferry Hermes’ Shoemaker. We’re bringing relief for the staff of our trade post on your station. Requesting permission to dock.”
“Roger that, Hermes’ Shoemaker. Where would you like to dock?”
“Uh … bay 4711 would be closest, but … it looks inaccessible now??”
“Correct, that airlock has sprung a leak half a year ago, I’m afraid. Your second preference … ?”
“The bays on neighboring cylinder gamma-4 seem unoccupied … ?”
“Negative again, that cylinder’s coupling to your post’s is too old to survive the torque of a ship docking there …”
“I had no idea that bug ferrets would allow their stations to fall into disrepair like that!?”
“What, you thought all those stickers on the hull are for decoration … ?!”
JoB
> Avians: cartoon UFO.
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“… why does your UFO have twelve landing struts??”
“Huh? That’s my set of golf clubs …”
Zidane
idrisah’s situation feels embarrassingly relatable, good reminder for to pick up learning my family’s language again LOL. on another note (ha), the avian diagram is really neat, is the symbol in the background of the panel the one that represents the Tiiliit?
DasGanon
I was going to say “maybe?” but I just checked on the Avian lore pages, and it looks like a more complex version of the one on the Avian Planet page. I wonder what a Tiiliit banner looks like, surely they have flags. (No flag no country)
That also said it looks like the Avian Culture page got a huge rework! It’s gorgeous and amazing now.
Jay Eaton
Avians use national symbols, not flags. Flags are a human thing. The symbol may be put on a banner but the color and shape of the banner are not subject to strict vexillological rules. It’s like a logo.
DasGanon
I am now imaging Avians in trucker hats with flags that look like the “Seal on a Bedsheet” midwest US flags (but with their national symbol/logo/seal instead obviously)