FULL SIZE IMAGE
Mist showers are standard for a lot of spacer cultures because they reduce water recycling loads. Also the giant rat is still here.
Transcript
It's 09:30. Gillie rips the blankets off Idrisah.Idrisah: EEEK!
Idrisah: (ASL) You’re already dressed to go out??
Gillie: (ASL) I’m hungry. Let’s go!
Gillie packs their belongings while Idrisah gets dressed. Idrisah taps Gillie's shoulder.
Idrisah: (ASL) Can you carry the gift?
Gillie: (ASL) Yep.
Meanwhile, Talita takes a mist shower, blow dries her head feathers, puts on her dress, and uses her tablet front facing camera as a mirror to tie the string of the dress top behind her neck.
It's 10:00. Mel calls Ohwitiil. Both of them are cooking breakfast in their own apartments.
Mel: Sorry to call you on a day off, Ohwitiil— I was just thinking about the next round of temps—
Ohwitiil: If you can convince Jovia it’s worth the tax money, I doubt the Dominion of Tiiliit will care.
Mel: We’d need another water filtration loop, more invertebrate agriculture units, remodeling…
Ohwitiil: Sourcing them in the first place will be harder. Staffing is Cheevwut’s area, not mine. But that brat is probably still asleep.
Cheevwut is indeed, still asleep. They are curled up naked in a round bed with random clutter beside it; like food wrappers, their phones, a cup, and a bowl full of discarded bug heads (the bodies presumably eaten).
54 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 41 and 42”
Eris
Uh oh. Getting a sinking feeling that Mel is going to try and hire of a bunch of centaurs to make Talita feel “less alone” or not as “alien” on Dirtball, despite Talita’s… whole deal. It’s a little spoiler-y so I won’t get into it, but I see what Calcery means about not really listening
Tully The Miner
That cute little Bird thingy sleeping in his Dinghy.
(kinda looks like it)
“”It can’t be said I’m an early bird , It’s ten o’clock before I say a word”
Hozier – Too sweet
Momo
Highly anticipated return of shredded Talita
Sylvie
I still can’t spot the Giant Rat. Is it a shape in the environment..?
TotallySomebody
He’s an object
Jay Eaton
Check inside the habitat dome!
ToothedMammal
Wow Talita is freaking JACKED!
I also thought she was using a power drill to clean her ears for a split second before I realized it was just a blow dryer lol
Quillpaw
oh my gosh….avians have TOE BEANS!!
Mr. Son
Is Talita using her webcam to make sure she’s tying her clothing up right?
Greenjoe
Yup, the transcript says as such
Mr. Son
Ah, I didn’t think to check the transcript. I don’t have issues reading the comic directly so it didn’t occur to me. Especially not that it might have extra information.
Peter Jensen
I love the way transcripts are done here, they not only have the text, but also sometimes highlight non-verbal stuff the author thinks is important on the page. If you haven’t yet, consider going back through the comic and compare pages and transcripts. I wish more web comics did it this way.
zofifi
“wake up im hungry” True cat behviour there.
SIGSTKFLT
look at her smug cat face
PineCat
I hope the Rat becomes a reoccurring character uwu
Chiyana
!!! Naked Cheevwut neck! S C A N D A L O U S
Guest
This is practically pornography
Nicolaila
The boxes of phones glow ominously in the background of Talita’s tablet camera image. Surely this means that they’re still operational and the space dust didn’t break them. nothing foreboding here. Right?
Curona
Must be tricky to keep water from entering the respiratory outlet “nostrils” on her sides. If water does get in, does she just snort it out again? Or does she sneeze?
With their ability to use infrasound, and their enormous lungs, a centaur’s sneeze probably sounds like artillery fire.
Peter Jensen
The airways are largely unidirectional, so even if some water gets in, it won’t be snorted deeper inside. Having those nostrils underwater doesn’t seem to be an issue (as long as some jerk doesn’t poke reeds in them):
https://jayeaton.site/Art/RttS/Comics/TalitaMiddleFinger
Redacted
I love how Cheevwut’s water bottle looks like a watering can, I guess ’cause of the whole inflexible lips thing. I noticed that Talita has one of those plastic water jugs in her apartment too.
Redacted
I also love Ohwitiil’s short kitchen.
Redacted
Me who took 2 years of ASL in high school and forgot most of it seeing Gillie signing yes like “I know this one!!! 😃😃😃”
Ruby
Hey, don’t stare at Talita while she’s dressing up!
audible_smiles
Mel you’re gonna give Talita an anxiety attack with this
arf
Does the rat have the necessary qualifications to be a ‘temp’?
Jay Eaton
Probably
Liza
The rat was harder to find this time but I found it! Gave me images of it leaving giant rat poops all over the [spoiler]! I’m guessing this is Saturday or the local equivalent since everyone would be at work by now (unless in the enlightened future we’ve done away with the 40 hour work week, that’d be nice) and Mel mentions it’s Owitiil’s day off. Apologies if I spelled their name wrong.
B
Ohhh mel wants to hire more centaurs probably thinking ”for talita”
Mel no, bad idea
TeethBurglar
I wish I had as good sleep as Cheevwut 🙁
They look so cozy!
Tumorhead
Man having full body fur or feathers seems like a real pain to take care of! So much brushing or preening!
Eden
the rat moved!!
TotallySomebody
I found the rat again >:D also is Talita brushing herself with a horse brush?
Storel
I would love to know where you’re seeing a giant rat on these last two pages, because I’m sure not seeing it!
Storel
Never mind, found it.
arf
“If you can keep your head
while those around you are losing theirs…
you’re probably missing something.”
(Kipling misattribution courtesy of SF author Michael Coney. ‘Syzygy’, I think)
Jay Eaton
It’s something very horse-brush-like, though you’d have a hard time time finding an actual horse off Earth
whirly
omg wait is mel talking about hiring more centaurs ? and thats why they wanted talitas apartment schematics ? thats such a hilariously terrible idea.
Zidane
omg i didn’t even think about that, so that’s why ohwitill mentions sourcing them would be difficult, i just assumed its because nobody wants to work on dirtball lol. Great catch if that turns out to be true
dokki
oh god. I hadn’t considered that. Oh noooooo Mel oh no….
40
avian sleepy pit 🥺😭
40
they are their own blankets 😭😭😭
Greenjoe
What is that P shaped thing connected to Cheevwut’s phone?
rubedometa
Likely a whistle or decorative charm
Redacted
Could an Avian even use a whistle? They don’t seem to have very flexible lips.
hal9000
Cheevut sleeping like a bird-kitty is oddly cute
hal9000
also, Mel’s comments about a seperate water loop, remodelling and invertebrate culture…. Avians and humans already have water loops set up on Dirtball and I don’t think bug ferrets are so big as to need extensive remodelling… what new aliens are they planning to hire? I think I’ve got a good idea
Maia
Bug ferrets are big. They’re like roughly human sized actually. They just loos small when compared to Talita.
Septemberdale
Probably even more humans? It was originally set up for avians only, so maybe most things there need to be rebuilt for larger beings to whom cobalt is toxic to live there?
Fallingfeather
I’m thinking centaurs. Mel already asked Talita to send her the schematics for her apartment, plus the mentions here of being “difficult to source” and requiring a whole extra filtration loop/additions to the invertebrate agriculture (aka they Need More MEAT).
Maia
Mist showers make a lot of sense. Leisurely while conservative. I spent time on a submarine with similar water use issues, though the bottleneck wasn’t water production but waste offloading. You minimize use of the full shower by doing a quick rinse, pausing to lather and scrub, and rinse off. This looks downright comfortable in comparison, though I’m sure you have spacers really cutting down on things as well.
Also wow Talita is pretty.
Septemberdale
Some European cultures do not leave the water on through the whole shower even on dry land!
Skrymer
“Some”? I thought everyone did that? 😮
cola
i definitely leave my water on the full shower, ive never heard of people turning it off in the middle.. i might start doing it though once i have a shower where getting the right temperature isnt a full 30 minute battle