Happy 100 pages! And happy Jay because I'm currently blasting through pages for chapter 6 on Patreon after a dreadfully long stall!
Transcript
Talita stares in astonishment at Gillie and Idrisah, who are arguing in sign language too fast to understand across the hab. Idrisah walks off in a huff, leaving Gillie looking defeated. Gillie then notices Talita spying on them across the way.
Gillie: (ASL) YOU.
She points at Talita with an intense stare. Talita jumps.
Gillie: (ASL) I know you can read me from there. Meet me after work. Don’t tell Idrisah.
She heads back towards her apartment building. Talita watches her and grips her throat nervously.
86 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 100”
Darth Biomech
Congrats on 100 pages! I hope the comic release schedule isn’t outpacing your work speed ^^”
TeethBurglar
Imagine your marriage being torn apart because of Bip. Sad.
Bitty
Oh I love how Gillie goes from locked in to sad meow meow when Idrisah turns away – and the back to locked in when Talita is spotted hahaha
Lorien Inksong
Aaaaa the girls are fighting!!! D:
In all seriousness I adore Gillie’s eyes, you do such an excellent job conveying their intensity and that cat stare in just a few strokes! Also Talita’s outfit is really cute.
space_vermin_64
Rtts is my favorite webcomic! Congrats on 100 pages!
PineCat
Does Gillie have different eyesight? :0
JoB
Different from other humans’? Not that we know. (I mean, considering how she needs to use technical devices(‘ displays) to communicate with anyone other than bug ferrets and ASL-savvy humans, even to just watch a normal TV
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-53/
, I’d expect her to be even more likely to develop some short-sightedness than computer screen workers of RL today, but.)
Different from Talitas? HECK YES.
Sen
Congrats on 100 pages. Love how you depict a heated argument in sign language. Lots of hectic hand movements. Must be really hard to read for a beginner in ASL.
cuddlycuddlefish
AAahhh! I love Gillie using her knowledge of her friend like that. It’s such good character writing in terms of their personalities, their relationship with one another and how well they know each other.
QueerGeologist
Gille: 👁️👁️
c_rowles
I love the angry flurry of the sign language argument, and how Talita has a habit of holding her throat when she’s anxious. The amount of thoughtful and insightful physical acting these characters do continues to be fantastic.
Stitcher
Same
gigithebear
gillie doesn’t have her ears pinned back, i wonder if she forgot them in all the fretting she and her wifey are doing
1d4Nadg
I was wondering that too! Being in public like that, even this early, when she was so careful before??
Gar G
Uh oh, busted
“I know you can read me from there.”
“Curse my long distance vision…”
Fallingfeather
I LOVE the show-not-tell ways that Gillie is shown to be a very perceptive person- both in noticing Talita there, but also in knowing that centaurs have very good long distance vision to start with.
Rad Internet Stranger
I am scared..
SheThe TDE
How is angry sign language so scary?
JoB
It LITERALLY looks like you’re throwing hands … ?
lennyjamin
really nailed the intense stare on the YOU
Spookatherine
I think I clasped MY OWN neck when I read it.
Gatinto
I’ve just binged the whole comic, it’s been amazing so far ^w^ (now to wait for more chapters, lol)
Liza
Every day the temptation to start a “rtts-out-of-context” tumblr blog gets stronger
Eaglefairy
PLEASE drop a link here if you do, I’d follow that in a heartbeat!
hessian
PLEASE that would be so fun
WolfenReader
That would be hilarious! XD
TotallySomebody
Please do /nf
gnome_artificer
I did post a comment chain from page 95 to discuit.net ‘s trans disk without any context provided (including somebody talking about the details on Talita’s teeth scales). It got a pretty darn good reaction considering it’s a smaller social network.
Tentament
Briefly thought Gillie was breaking the fourth wall.
the Inmara
That would be such a wild thing to do this far into a comic like this one. So risky. Wonder if it could be done well.
JoB
Just make sure to keep some plausible deniability …
Gillie: “(ASL) … wow, I bet our pre-space ancestors wouldn’t know the signs for even *half* your technobabble, Talita!”
evileeyore
Out of all of them I think bip would be the first to actually break the fourth wall… but I could also see Gillie going [ASL} “Meet me on page four so we can talk privately, Idrisah is working until page 6…”
Hunter
I imagine they’re arguing about Blip.
eden
OH I’ve had to deal with the fact that people can just shut down a conversation on me so I don’t even have a say, that must fucking SUCK to just have people be able to turn away from you then you’re just literally signing to a wall.
Guestie McGuestor
Aw, shizznick! It’s my better half and me arguing of late about leaving the country (with our kid). XD
I want little cat ears (even if I was deaf).
Ico
Talita being able to see signs from far away is so cool!
Guestie McGuestor
Those owl eyes! XD
Uh
YOU 👁👁🫵
Adrienne
🦒💦
the Packbats
Oh dear – obviously we know from other canon material that it works out, but that feels like a tense argument and makes us worried for Gillie and Idrisah’s relationship…
Owo
Idk. Married couples argue all the time. Not like screaming matches, but people simply disagree on stuff occasionally. I bet if a wounded criminal landed on my neighbor’s doorstep there’d be some disagreements, too. Unless that’s not what they’re arguing about lmao
the Packbats
That’s fair – I don’t know that we’re used to healthy arguments being a thing in face-to-face relationships. I feel like you have to feel pretty safe to be able to weather a conversation that intense, and well, depressing personal details omitted.
And yeah, if Gille is considering working with Bip, I imagine that would make Idrisah pretty unhappy right now.
evileeyore
“Considering”? We all saw her face light up at “commit crimes”. Gillie is an all in kinda feral catgirl and Idrisah is a big worry wart tryin to keep her family and friends safe from the conniving little (massive ship) con-artist.
the Packbats
@evileeyore Looking at https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-65/ and surrounding, the vibe we got was less “light up at ‘commit crimes'” and more “laugh in Bip’s face”. It’s a little mean to mock someone’s helplessness to their face, but (a) Bip was giving as good as they got and (b) why the hell would you commit crimes for someone you literally met five minutes ago?
No, I think if Gille is considering it, it’s because she went home and thought about it later.
(And maybe got contacted by Bip separately, seeing as they hacked the computers over the weekend.)
Tumorhead
I love Gillie!! Get her girl haha
evileeyore
MFW the half tonne carnivorous apex predator is bullied by the tiny feral catgirl.
Squid
This is the natural order of things.
JoB
Later in the “Gillie and Idrisah have an argument” subplot: Talita and Idrisah arrive at the apartment *simultaneously*, more fussing between the humans ensues, eventually, the “natural sub” gets to do a Double Vulcan Scruff Lift™. 😉
The Hollymonster
You ever see one of those videos of cats chasing off whole ass bears? Same energy. XD
LupusAstartis
It’s like the tiny feral kitten bullying all the big dogs and humans in the house.
Shjsjs
HAPPY 100 PAGES!
Guestie McGuestor
She’s my spirit animal—granted my hearing works in the opposite way, but sort of has similar results at time (loves me some earplugs).
creetur
YOU.
JoB
https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/148214205148/bip
feesh
Ye Olde Bippe…
Ruby
Shrek!
ParadoxicalFrog
Congratulations on 100 pages! Longtime reader/tumblr follower, first time commenter. Just want to say that I love this world you’ve created and the characters who live in it. Your creativity and attention to detail are incredible. I’ll continue to follow this comic obsessively.
Paroxysmall
Same here, I also want to say thank you Jay not only for making this comic public, but for working on an entire website to go along with it and the rest of your work. I don’t read webcomics overall as much as I used to, but they still hold a special place in my heart, and I love the art form and appreciate how much work it requires. Even though I’m looking forward to owning physical copies, I like having one-page updates every few days, because I feel like every page deserves that amount of time to process the details and effort put into it, and it gives me something to look forward to and mark the progress of time. Happy 100 pages! srry for long compliment lol
JoB
“I know you can read me from there.”
Lucky coincidence that *your* eyesight doesn’t allow her to *reply* to your friendly invitation in any way, eh, Gillie … ?
Also: Don’t you and Idrisah live in the *same* apartment?
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-39-and-40/
Assuming that “end of Talitas workday” equals “end of Idrisahs workday”, and seeing that you want to keep the latter out of the loop, how about telling Talita (some)*where* (else) to meet you? (Or talking to her *right now*, for that matter.)
Mothman
(Apologies in advance for nitpicking your comment, I am also very interested to see how this plays out!)
Gillie might not be able to see Talita too well from where she’s standing, but Talita also cannot sign at this point, so they would need to get within speaking range. It seems that Idrisah does not like whatever is happening, so thats off the table. I agree that Gillie could give a location, but maybe she’ll be waiting for Talita after work, who knows. As for talking right now instead, well, they probably shouldn’t both be late for their jobs!
JoB
> Talita also cannot sign at this point
Nor can I, but I think I could nonetheless get a plain “NO!” across if I’d feel the need to object, maybe even a “wait a moment!” …
> they would need to get within speaking range. It seems that Idrisah does not like whatever is happening, so thats off the table.
Is it? Talita needs to get from her home to the airlock on the opposite side of the habitat to get to work, and the non-vehicle half of its “ring road” passes by the building Gillies and Idrisahs apartment is in. Unless Talita goes after Gillie at ‘pede speed, thus drawing Idrisahs attention from half a mile away, she can walk by there after Idrisah has entered *her* workplace (building).
> they probably shouldn’t both be late for their jobs!
After seeing Talitas commute of the morning before, I’m not sure that anyone would *notice* her being “late” (for prep work before *any* other member of her team shows up). And Gillie is either late already (not having tucked the ears away yet), or going to work from home for a start …
Nerdanel
It took me a second to register this, but Gillie has her ears out in public! I wonder what that means. Did she follow Idrisah out the door to continue the argument and not have time to hide them? Do they just pop up on their own if she gets too agitated?
evileeyore
I’m betting she had to follow Idrisah out as Idrisah on her way to work… a… kinda shitty passive-aggressive technique of “winning” (or at least putting off) arguments is to be too busy to “have this argument right now” and leave in the middle of it. I’m sure Idrisah isn’t meaning it that way, but… but we can see how hurt Gillie is by Idrisah turning her back on her.
Calcifer
Two centaurs being able to sign to each other from a football field away should be considered a super power.
JoB
Telepatpatpathy.
(… yeah, maybe thinking about the *bug ferret* sign languages a bit too much there.)
evileeyore
I bet they could semaphore from around a couple of miles away… imagine signal towers, but instead of suing bonfires, it’s praying mantis-horses with flags…
JoB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore#/media/File:Flag-semaphores.gif
Random Clod
Between that and infrasonic speech centaurs really take the cake with long-distance communication.
Verc
Gillie said 👁👁🫵
(Happy 100 pages!!!)
Lilac
I know it’s supposed to be like they’re arguing and talking super fast but I first interpreted it as they were just saying question marks to eachother lol
Greenjoe
Another benefit of centaur eyesight. Being able to see long range signing.
Teod