Even if these guys are forklift certified, that's a human forklift, and I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have your ass hanging out and two people driving it at the same time... someone call space OSHA.
Transcript
Two bug ferrets sit in a forklift and awkwardly operate the human-designed controls. They begin to lift one of the server rigs. Ferrets swarm around Talita's legs, tapping her.Ferret 1: Noove.
Ferret 2: Go.
Ferret 3: You’re in the way.
Ferret 4: You have to noove.
Talita: (panicked) I’m going!
Talita exits and grabs the cart again. She watches the forklift heading out with a Calcery unit at the far freight door. She looks wistful as she walks deeper into the facility. People speak indistinctly in the distance.
36 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 20”
not OSHA
are they forklift certified???
c_rowles
I LOVE how you transcribe the bug ferrets’ accents– it’s extremely endearing. I’ve been reading the dialogue out loud to my cat as I finally read this gorgeous comic, and it’s fun to try to do a “bug ferret voice”. It’s tricky to speak a human language without using your lips!
Also, as a general comment: so many things about this comic are so well-done. The page layout and pacing, the different character introductions (I didn’t know the twist about Cal and the reveal that he was an AI was delightful!), the characters’ body language– especially Talita, with her mix of centaur instinctual mannerisms and human cultural expressions and gestures–and the details in the scenery… even if I hadn’t been following the development of this world and story on tumblr, it would be plain to see how much depth and care you’ve put into everything. I’m so excited to read more.
Internet Stranger
Noove!!
dokki
…giggling because talita looks like the sad ant with a bindle meme in the last panel.
Blu (they/them)
I love this comic. A little thing I love; I added this page to my homescreen and the little logo is the ship, I squealed! Most comics I read in-browser just end up having a boring little letter icon so this is a nice lil treat! ^w^
Zidane
im so enamored by the 2nd panel, talita’s pose is giving very strong “horse startled by small animal” energy
Maia
Wow those little guys are forklift certified.
trashsidhe
I love the details on the ferret feet the shot shows off several accessory and shoe styles I love it
Ron
I really appreciate the care you put into the layouts of the pages, the placement of Talita and the bug ferrets’ feet on this page is very creative and displays the crowdedness and havoc in the scene really clearly. Also, I like the new comment section design, great job with the css.
evileeyore
Not in front of my OSHA manuals!
/covers the front of the manual
Look away, look away…
Trees
AaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAa!!!!
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Apologies. That was a reflexive reaction.
As both an industrial grade introvert and a forklift operator I think I would have to take the day off if the bug ferrets ever came to my work.
Please, little guys! At least reverse into the blind pedestrian corridor!
Guest
Oh my god someone is going to die in this terrible OSHAbsent hell one day
tminusfiveminutes
“Look, I’ve been driving forklifts all around the galaxy, okay? Whatever it is, I’ll understand.”
Steering wheel
“There’s nothing about this I understand”
Stal
Cursed front-facing Talita
Birdie
I love all the details in the little signs and logos and stickers through throughout so far.
What is the state of spOSHA (space OSHA)? Do regulations vary wildly between different reigions of space?
Quillpaw
For some reason I had not considered bug ferret shoes until this moment, and I find the concept delightful. Also now realizing what a sanitation nightmare bug ferrets could potentially be, touching the floor and then touching everyone and everything else. Wash your weird little grabbers!!
Mr. Son
Right?! As a germophobe, it’s been irking me this whole time. Having your hands be your feet is a sanitation nightmare for me.
GreekCeltic
I love the way bug ferrets are all over each other and everything else. They look like soft little hot dog weenies and I love that too.
West
Are they tapping on her with the assumption she understands, or just to include her/themselves?
Jay Eaton
They’re just kinda doing it habitually. Like if you were trying to talk to someone in a language you aren’t fluent in, and you sprinkle some first language words into your knowledge gaps and exclamations and etc.
Septemberdale
You, you one who I cannot in truth call friend, have done me here now an unusual favor. You have explained why I am having such a slow time learning the language of my new home, because I do not naturally do that. Perhaps I hold back out of some misplaced sense of respect? In any case I think I would be going faster if I could.
Frustration in Excelsis
The ferrets are big believers in the maxim that if something is worth saying, then it’s worth saying five to seven times in rapid succession.
Guestie McGuestor
Hahaha! I’ve had to push horses out of the way like that.
Khgyr
Talita looks so mindful of her body on this page, especially on the panel with feet.
Jay Eaton
She’s used to treading lightly around smaller sophonts. If she stepped on a foot, it wouldn’t take much of her body weight to start breaking bones.
Robin
Talita’s body language is so dejected in that last panel 🙁
Kilroy
Yeah that is DEFINITELY not OSHA compliant! Nor is it OSHA compliant to be running a forklift in high traffic areas like that second to last panel 😛 But do what you have to with the tools you’re given I suppose!
Jay Eaton
(bug ferret voice) whats a low traffic area
Yell
I don’t even wanna imagine what real traffic looks like for them.
Viashino_wizard
the average Bug Ferret family has around 30 members and lives in a house with doors directly connected to their neighbors’
Fallingfeather
*scrolls down to mention that that fork lift doesn’t really look like it’s for non-human use*
*reads the author comment*
oh yep
Thylacereal
I think about the “you have to noove” a lot. Sometimes I say it to my cat.
Jay Eaton
I hope you are also gently but obnoxiously tapping the cat as you say it.
Cam
Safe travels, Cal! (Seriously, with those bug ferrets driving.) Also I love how the tiny Ixion logo on the forklift incorporates Dirtball’s launch loop.
Joysweeper
Ferret sandals and centaur toe shoes! and anklets. Stylish!
Ferrets are a bit of a force of nature. Hopefully none of them walked off with a phone!
Ashran
The OSHA complience of these buggers is rather suspect Im realising