Idrisah is using a keyboard-mic to speak the bitonal vowels of Tiiliitian. It listens to the user's voice and when a key is pressed, it plays their current vowel with a tone alteration, creating a chord. This setup tends to be more popular than vocal implants for humans interpreting avian languages, even though the latter allows faster speech, as the implant has a steep learning curve and the surgery is fairly invasive. Human cybernetic implants are not as refined as bug ferrets'.
Transcript
Talita: Idrisah?She peers into Ixion Recycling Plant's Admin Wing. Inside is a large open office space with humans and avians working at cubicles. Idrisah stands in the center aisle of the room, speaking to two avian workers in their language, Tiiliitian, with the assistance of a keyboard and microphone pinned to her sweater. She is a tall, friendly-looking woman in her thirties with a long face and nose, medium brown skin, and a turban style hijab. The avians she is speaking to are feathered, bird-like aliens half her height with black bare-skinned faces, hooked beaks, six small beady eyes, and large bat-like ears. They stand on their winged forelimbs and use their computers with the two-fingered hands on their hindlimbs. One is smaller with a colorful striped head crest and flashy elaborate dress, and the other is larger with drab clothing that covers the crest-less top of their head.
Talita waves frantically from the entrance.
Talita: Idrisah!
Idrisah continues her conversation, oblivious.
46 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 21”
Green Heron
I suddenly have the urge to try and see if I can figure out what Idrisah and the borbs are saying using one of the alphabet sheets Jay posted to Tumblr.
Tyrone
I like the empty one on the xtreme left.
That was mine, I left. Flipping burgers now at Interspace nexuspoint HU¤66 at Omicron Persei Eight
Meat smells weird though…kinda sweet. Anyway back to the hotplate.
Ace
I saw this being drawn on stream! I suggested the Cetaser “mermaid” in the far right cubicle.
feesh
obsessed with that one cubicle worker with an ultrawide monitor, drink cans on the floor, and plushies, figurines and movie (?) posters on her wall. living her best life
Harumin
Hey sometimes it’s hard to write a long and eloquent comment but I love all the details you put in. I’m just gonna list particular bits that I noticed and liked. There’s so much amazing effort in every panel!
– the unique decorations of each cubicle, including the empty one being used for junk
-the one tiny poster with a bit of bare ass
-seal plushie in a bag!
-chair designs of avians! How did you come up with the shape for a biped that walks on forelegs?
– everyone has a unique screen setup
-ergonomic chair for shark lady
– awesome greyscal shading
-so many details on the Bright’s outfit
-is Idrisah’s translator pad something with like button sounds to help make the audible words? How does it work?
– what’s the inspiration for the characters in the written avian language?
-talita waving at someone who doesn’t notice is a mood
SIGSTKFLT
New headcannnon: The chair *bases* are interchangeable between Avians and Humans
Internet Stranger
EEEEEEEEE IDRISAAAHHHHHHHHH
Omg Talita’s frantic waving tho!! I’m crying she’s the most adorable giant alien I’ve ever seeeeeeen
40
AVIANS! MY BELOVED!
Septemberdale
Now I am wondering how the various aliens tell time. Same as we do, with clocks, I’m sure, but, the systems of numbers *on* those clocks are the mystery.
Jay Eaton
Avians divide their (21 Earth hour) day into 168 “hours” a day. An Avian hour is about 7.5 Earth minutes long. For digital clocks, the time is simply written as the number of “hours” after midnight. A star/sun icon is added to the end, sort of like a currency sign, to indicate the number is is a time.
Dirtball has a 23 Earth hour/184 Avian hour day, which is a weird compromise between the human majority workers and the avian staff. The time here is “112⊹”. Tiiliitian reads left to right, but Avian numbers are written with the smallest unit first, so to us it’s 211. But also, it’s base eight, so converted to decimal the time is 137. This is roughly equivalent to 17:11.
40
This is an obnoxious amount of effort. I love you.
Septemberdale
That’s ludicrously overcomplicated to the point of absurdity. I suspect how humans tell time seems equally strange to the Avians.
Duke 1337-o
Huh. I think I work there, actually
Talita Fangirl :)
Is the word Tiiliitian pronounce “tee lee tee un” or “tee lee shun”?
Jay Eaton
I pronounce it as the former. It’s “Tiiliit” plus the -ian suffix. This is an Anglicized version of the language word, it’s Tiiliitwau in the language itself.
arf
Avian has killer stilettos.
… only without stilletos!
Jay Eaton
Being digitigrade is very fashionable.
silverware
I love Talita’s goggly eyes (8>-
notanocelot
Wohoo more alien conlangs! I love how we’ve been shown that sophots have trouble speaking other species’ languages without assistance, it adds a lot to the feeling of alien-ness.
R
IDRISAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joysweeper
hee. is that a figurine with a sword in the cubicle of the big-haired human?
Peter Jensen
Also, I want to believe that’s a poster of Hatsune Miku on the cubicle wall.
Random Clod
Haha I love the idea that Hatsune Mike is still relevant in the year 2333.
EveryZig314
I love classical music.
Gar G
Must be a nightmare for people to have to get so many different chairs to accommodate different physiologies
Also, Talita right now xD
Trees
Who knows, perhaps in the far-flung future you can just go to the office printer on your first day and have it print whatever kind of chair you need.
To hell with practicality, print a massive victorian wingback!
aron
is that a nametag on Idrisah’s waist for the shorter species to read? nice detail
zofifi
Idrisah enteres! *trumpets*
Amanda/OwlBear
Eeeee! Idrisah
Zuorai
Also is that Cheevwut. I love Cheevwut
Jay Eaton
Not yet, soon. These two are some other random avian coworkers.
Zuorai
(deep inhale) IDRIIIISAAAAHHHHHH
Rubicon Art
Man, I love all the little details, it’s just awesome seeing all the stuff I’ve never seen before. I love Talita waves and all the emotion you get into them! Also the subtle things like the lighting on Idrisah’s headscarf (apologies if my terminology is incorrect here], as someone who struggles with shading in monochrome it’s awesome levels of skill to me
clem
*points* OHWITIIL
Jay Eaton
Not yet! You’ll know the old bastard when you see them
tminusfiveminute
If I want to roll my office chair around as a human, I push on the ground with my legs. Do avians have to flap their wings to traverse their cubicles?
Jay Eaton
They roll it around with their wings/forelimbs. Some chairs don’t have the wingrests, but they are nice to fold the wings into while reclining. Think of them as the hybrid child of an armrest and footrest.
trashsidhe
Also evileeyore they have a conservative culture around clothing and cover up because of that not because of being cold
Idrisah works well with them because being Muslim the culture around clothing is vaguely similar
All this info is in the extra art tabs on the site it’s really interesting
Septemberdale
I bet they do get cold easily though, they come from islands with mild coastal winters, do they not? I come from a much warmer place and have moved to Central Europe fairly recently ago and I find that I get cold quite easily here.
trashsidhe
Actually trees that whale one is a human
Guest
YASSSSS IDRISAH
Trees
A whale alien! A whalien!
FyreNWater
If I’m not mistaken, that’s a GMO human.
Trees
Very unfortunate. That’s much harder to turn into an elegant portmanteau.
GMOcean… person… ?
No.
Zidane
Love that there are avian specific chair designs too, the amount of thought put into designing interspecies spaces in this comic is already amazing (also those chairs look very comfy, i wish i was an avian and could sit in one)
evileeyore
I like how their bundled up suggesting they get chilled easily, and also they’re wearing radically different outfits. Very nice touches! And thought put into the communications of the different species overall has been great!