Talita's not used to having overnight guests.
Also to the numerous people who have asked how Talita uses her touchscreen with hooves: she doesn't. She uses her face tentacle.
Runaway to the Stars: Page 74
Transcript
Talita unites the string holding up the top of her dress and begins to disrobe, then suddenly stops dead. She looks to her right at the boxes of phones with their tiny cameras staring up at the ceiling. Bristling and annoyed, she throws a blanket over the boxes before she finishes undressing. Her dress and all four of her fancy sandals removed, she reclines in bed, operating her tablet screen with her trunk.Runaway to the Stars: Page 74
Talita's not used to having overnight guests.
Also to the numerous people who have asked how Talita uses her touchscreen with hooves: she doesn't. She uses her face tentacle.
45 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 74”
zofifi
Touch screen like an elephant. Good thinking!
Zany Selkra
Imagine playing Fruit Ninja with your nose.
Anglure
“Dear Strong Bad, how do you use a touchscreen with boxing gloves on your trunk?”
plum grumble
i wish i could upvote
Hunter
I like how you can convey that she’s blushing in frustration by the way her face-fur bristles XD
Death
Talita’s puffed-out face feather blush gives me life
Tyrone the Miner
“Sleep no more! Bip does murder sleep”
What a day….A looong day…
Ruby
While I don’t think that Bip is interested in Talita’s nudity, she’s right to cover them up. They are a busybody.
the namely namester
nooo talita don’t use a phone in bed it’s bad for your sleep heeeealth
the namely namester
i dont actually know how it is for centaurs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Archie
Assuming this information is still accurate, her sleep schedule is kind of inherently ruined by virtue of following a human one.
Peter Jensen
In the worldbuilding notes it’s stated that centaurs naturally have a 50/50 average sleep/wake period with time of sleep varying with local situations. And Talita is definitely not getting enough sleep as it is, with the schedule she’s keeping, so phone in bed isn’t helping things.
Ana
Unless their sleep regulation isn’t light-oriented. In humans, screen time (or other light) before sleep disrupts melatonin production (although filtering out blue light can help) but it may be entirely different for other species.
Liza
I was reading on my phone earlier and I couldn’t get panel 6 (I think?) to resolve in my brain for a while before realizing it was shoes. Seeing it again on desktop it’s definitely shoes. I really should wait to get on desktop before checking the update, mobile doesn’t do the art justice and it’s so beautiful.
Apollo235
I know that our earthly presumptions about flexibility don’t really work for non-tetrapods, but wow, I’m really surprised that position is comfy for Talita. Centaurs really do have noodle spines don’t they?
Chakat Firepaw
There have been a few stabs at designing functional centauroid skeletal systems. The forward hips tend to end up surprisingly flexible, (even before you run into higher flexibility base animals like cats or otters).
Gleditsia
I think it helps that the centaur head is much less massive than a human head also. The human neck has to be stiff enough to hold a huge brain upright. The centaur primary brain is in the chest. The inside of the skull is mostly air-filled speech sinus. The neck is also attached to the skull at an angle like a quadruped rather than the neck supporting the skull from beneath as in humans. So the centaur neck is probably able to have a greater range of motion because it doesn’t need to be as sturdy and rigid.
Elaterid
Maybe she’s on her back with her hind and midlimbs tucked in? Something like a cat or dog?
Ana
My question has always been how does Talita (or any centaur, I suppose) do things like tie/untie strings or other things that one would expect to need fine tactile feedback to do? She ties and unties the strings of her dress behind her neck, for example, and I keep wondering how she does that with hooves that probably don’t have a great sense of touch or feeling.
Jay Eaton
Homeworld centaurs will often use their trunk to do fine motor tasks like sewing, but the hooves aren’t like, numb. If you’ve ever had long nails, it’s a similar sensation. You can tell a lot about a surface that you’re only touching with your nails through the pressure or pull on the nailbed. Talita’s dress tie here is in a fashionable location but it’s a bit frustrating to work with because it would be easier to untie with her trunk.
J
Now I’m really interested in seeing how centaurs sew. Like I get theyre trunks are nimble, like our fingers but how would they push the needle through? Especially through thick fabric or even leather, humans use thimble, or failing that, our nails. Do centaurs insert the needle with their trunk and then push it through with their hooded fingies? I’m intrigued.
J
*Hoofed fingers
Gar G
No peeping toms XD
Doesn’t matter if they don’t care, a girl needs her privacy
40
Obsessed with centaur shoes 👁️ 👁️
oh6
Looking at those shoes (dress shoes, I guess?), thinking that Talita probably made them herself. makes me realize again how comprehensively self-sufficient she’s had to become.
Mr. Skeleton
I always thought Talita had a trunk
Jay Eaton
A tentacle is an elongated flexible unsegmented organ used for feeling, grasping, or locomotion. A trunk is a face tentacle :^D
Ruby
Learning that our tongues are tentacles was quite the experience.
Trees
The exacting, symmetrical tidiness with which Talita covered up those phones pleases me.
Blanket pattern: Aligned
Edges: Neat
Skew-whiffness: 0%
Jay Eaton
She also arranged the boxes just so, lmao
TotallySomebody
I’ll probably ask this again someday, but… What does a centaur skeleton look like. I’ve been thinking about it since she put her glasses on.
whirly
as far as i know, theres no publicly available skeleton drawing yet, but there is this on the author’s blog: (https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/748970039194107904/im-a-little-curious-how-much-of-talitas-or)
talita’s glasses sit on a little divot under her skull!
theres also the page on centaur biology on the author’s site. (https://jayeaton.site/RunawayToTheStars/Sophonts/Centaurs/Biology)
no spoilers on that page but beware of spoilers if you want to browse other pages!
hal9000
rare glimpse of Talita pulling a homeplanet centuar expression
Hi
She’s a late night scroller!! What is she perusing this time????
Fia
You couldn’t pay me to sleep in that situation😅
Apollo235
Wait then what do Avians use? If they have a touchscreen that works with claws then shouldn’t it work the same with hooves?
Green Heron
I think with Avians they’d be able to use their fingers because there’s still a fleshy pad for the touchscreen to pick up on. Like how people with long artificial nails can still use phones. Maybe they use styluses if they need them, but the fact that their claws don’t fully cover their finger like a hoof means that they can probably use touchscreens without much difficulty.
Synthaphone
“How do you use the touch screen with your hooves?” is Talita’s “Dear Strong Bad, how do you type with boxing gloves on?”
hessian
i was wondering if centaurs used their trunks as manipulators!! not sure if its normal in centaur cultures but its cool to see anyway
Pathfinder
Given how dirty phones get throughout a normal day, it probably would be dangerous for health.
Joysweeper
Not necessarily. If she’s not using her hands (which for a centaur also sometimes double as feet!) on the screen it’s not gonna be as dirty as a phone that’s regularly touched by hands, since she’s not using her trunk for a lot of other manipulation.
1d4Nadg
Plus she doesn’t eat with her trunk, or even really breathe, it’s just for manipulation and speaking.
Arcstone
I mean, Ive on occation used my nose if Im doing something with my other hand.
tickfleato
every time i use my phone screen with my nose i think about her…
paperboyo
she’s so real for that