Jay Eaton

Idrisah's religious attitude is a bit eccentric. Her extended family is a mix of secular and orthodox. She's a woman in conflict between her desire for the stability and connection of tradition; and her magnetic draw towards the strange, challenging, and subversive.

At least she wasn't trying to dye her tail brown.

Talita is pretty resistant to the idea of going to the homeplanet or seeking out centaurs to talk to, and at this point it's partly motivated by spite. Is that attitude beneficial? Ehhhh......

Cheevwut thinks humans are cool the same way humans think bears and sharks are cool. We are a big, physically intimidating animal. This kind of attitude can contribute to prejudicial fear of humans among avians, though.

I don't normally answer AMA questions addressed to "everyone" or about extremely broad topics, because these are supposed to be lower effort than book pages. Unfortunately this one nerdbaited me because I like color science and wanted to nail down the visual ranges of the aliens.

AI hobbies and downtime. Sorry to the people asking Bip questions that they are extremely bitchy...

I gotta catch back up with these ahhhh. Here's questions for Clayton, the only character more evasive than Bip.

"Oh. Uh, oh….." "//opens RTTS.com// Oh, that’s a petrified avian corpse" "yk i didnt think this would be the kind of comic to actually show a dead body huh" "Was not expecting to see a dead guy wow. What an awful way to go!" "Wow, that’s… Horrifying."

Readers LOVE my mummy! 🥰 www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-r...

I am sorry. I am not the one making those polls as i simply would not pit two bad bitches against each other. Amen.

Join stream to see this piteous soggy worm get a hug. www.twitch.tv/jayrockin5858

They made us create one of these out of paper and brads in my vertebrate zoology class, this one is MUCH more nicely constructed lol

Streaming: This time Idrisah's righteous anger blast attack is not directed at Bip. www.twitch.tv/jayrockin5858

Native centaur terrestrial foliage is yellowish brown like ochrophyta algae (kelp, rockweed, etc). Botanical green pigments are actually relatively rare on their planet, so the color is typically associated with minerals and wealth. Talita isn't from that culture and associates it with techy stuff.

Last week on #RunawayToTheStars: Gravity and antlers.

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Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

A print illustration with a limited green, cream, and dark blue palette. The poster is divided into six rectangular sections. The top left shows a formline design of a raven in flight. The top right shows an illustration of Hornby Island Azhdarchids. The middle left shows a cliff overlooking the ocean, with bird-like silhouettes flying above. The middle right shows a shoreline of the ocean, with bird-like tracks in the sand. The bottom left shows an illustration of a raven. The bottom right shows a formline illustration of a Hornby Island Azhdarchid in flight.

🏞️🪶 Raven Immemorial 🪶🏞️ #formline #telekitneticart
#paleoart

Talita opens the top drawer of a large chest curiously, while Bip's avatar snakes around the walls near her. Talita: Are you really getting rid of all of these… …personal possessions? Bip: Objects are meaningless without the people who valued and used them. She frowns, holding up an old, beat up manual book. Talita: I’m not sure I agree… it seems wasteful. She holds the book out arms length, squinting to try and read the text without glasses. Talita: In your position, I’d consider at least selling some of this. She reaches deeper into the drawer and touches something soft, tugging out a thick, plush fold of it with her hand. It appears to be a large blanket of tiled, fuzzy triangles. Each triangle has simple stitched designs and knots in the center, forming simple patterns and symbols. Talita pulls it closer to her face and realizes with sudden astonishment that she's touching a real organic material, not faux velvet. Talita: …Wait, is this real leather?? It must be worth a fortune!

Bip: That’s an antler velvet blanket. Talita holds up the blanket, her arms and the bottom of the artifact appearing to melt away into a series of embroidered depictions of the past crew created with the same stitches as the symbols on the real blanket. Bip: Every year, the matriarch Ngilick would help the clan carve off their loose velvet. An embroidered depiction shows two centaurs, one carving off the antler velvet with a knife. The "knife" is a pointed piece of bone with a hole on the wide end. It's punctured through the embroidery surface to go under Ngilick's hand, with the hole sewn down. The antler velvet appears to be an applique. Bip: The raw skin would be washed in salt water and stretched to dry. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick pinning pieces of velvet to dry, depicted as applique triangles held down by knots. Bip: The stiff dried skins were massaged with animal gland oil until they softened and cured. Ngilick would sew the panels into the blanket and embroider them with the year's events. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick sewing pieces of the velvet onto the blanket. They hold the sewing needle with their trunk, portrayed as a real, threaded needle puncturing the embroidery surface. Bip: Some of those panels are from Ngilick's great-grandclan. They might be over 100 years old. An embroidered depiction shows a group of centaurs proudly holding up the blanket, a rectangle of tessellating applique triangles.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip is very excited to have a new house guest, Talita hauls junk out of sideways rooms. Catch up: runawaytothestars.com Read ahead: patreon.com/jayrockin

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: A living history, written on the corpus of the people it documents, that has died along with them.

Catch up: runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: patreon.com/jayrockin

Talita opens the top drawer of a large chest curiously, while Bip's avatar snakes around the walls near her. Talita: Are you really getting rid of all of these… …personal possessions? Bip: Objects are meaningless without the people who valued and used them. She frowns, holding up an old, beat up manual book. Talita: I’m not sure I agree… it seems wasteful. She holds the book out arms length, squinting to try and read the text without glasses. Talita: In your position, I’d consider at least selling some of this. She reaches deeper into the drawer and touches something soft, tugging out a thick, plush fold of it with her hand. It appears to be a large blanket of tiled, fuzzy triangles. Each triangle has simple stitched designs and knots in the center, forming simple patterns and symbols. Talita pulls it closer to her face and realizes with sudden astonishment that she's touching a real organic material, not faux velvet. Talita: …Wait, is this real leather?? It must be worth a fortune!

Bip: That’s an antler velvet blanket. Talita holds up the blanket, her arms and the bottom of the artifact appearing to melt away into a series of embroidered depictions of the past crew created with the same stitches as the symbols on the real blanket. Bip: Every year, the matriarch Ngilick would help the clan carve off their loose velvet. An embroidered depiction shows two centaurs, one carving off the antler velvet with a knife. The "knife" is a pointed piece of bone with a hole on the wide end. It's punctured through the embroidery surface to go under Ngilick's hand, with the hole sewn down. The antler velvet appears to be an applique. Bip: The raw skin would be washed in salt water and stretched to dry. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick pinning pieces of velvet to dry, depicted as applique triangles held down by knots. Bip: The stiff dried skins were massaged with animal gland oil until they softened and cured. Ngilick would sew the panels into the blanket and embroider them with the year's events. An embroidered depiction shows Ngilick sewing pieces of the velvet onto the blanket. They hold the sewing needle with their trunk, portrayed as a real, threaded needle puncturing the embroidery surface. Bip: Some of those panels are from Ngilick's great-grandclan. They might be over 100 years old. An embroidered depiction shows a group of centaurs proudly holding up the blanket, a rectangle of tessellating applique triangles.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip is very excited to have a new house guest, Talita hauls junk out of sideways rooms. Catch up: runawaytothestars.com Read ahead: patreon.com/jayrockin

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: A living history, written on the corpus of the people it documents, that has died along with them.

Catch up: runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: patreon.com/jayrockin

THE RUNAWAY'S HABITAT MODULE A cutaway shot shows Talita following the worms, exiting the docking ring and walking carefully through the lower storage room that connects the habitat module to the rest of the vessel. Bip's avatar follows, appearing to walk along the doors of the cabinets, the vector lines of their body interrupted by seams and handles as if they were a painting behind them. Bip: Sorry about the bumpy terrain, "gravity" in here isn't supposed to go sideways. First Floor: Kitchen and Commons The habitat module resembles a four story building lying on its side. Each floor's main space is a ring around the central spine and elevator shaft. The first floor contains a living space with a screen, seating areas, food preparation and storage areas, all clean and empty. It's the area that had a hole in it that Talita peered through on first her look inside the Runaway, but the spotless interior and large wall patch makes it almost unrecognizable. Talita leans over the considerable drop to the far wall of the kitchen to poke her head into the living room. Talita: Wow, you really cleaned this place up. Bip's avatar slides around the 90 degree bend between floor and wall, elongating, appearing larger than Talita. Bip: I did what I could with the electrician worms and onboard actuators. Second Floor: Crew Dormitory Talita walks through the spine, surrounded by open doors to rooms with a much messier interior. Furniture has been knocked loose and tumbled around these rooms, settling to the lowest walls were gravity has pushed it. Strangely shaped chairs, beds, handmade chests, tables, desks, and things smashed beyond recognition fill these otherwise barren rooms. Bip goes with Talita, elongating further and winding their avatar's body around the curve of the spine through multiple room floors. Bip: A lot of the heavier objects still need to be secured or removed, though. Third Floor: Passenger Dormitory Talita leans through one of the open room doors and smirks at Bip's giant avatar displayed on the wall. Talita: Are ALL of the walls in here electrowetting displays? Bip's avatar and two nearby worms strike a pose. Bip: Much classier than a tablet screen with wheels, don't you think? Talita: The tablet with wheels would be more useful for moving furniture... Fourth Floor: Bip's Servers Furthest up the spine and shielded by the thickest walls on the vessel is a command room. The thing Bip essentially is, the animator casting shadow puppets inside the walls of their own body, is a ring of 40 server boxes fixed to the upper corners of the room.

Transcript A montage of panels shows Talita removing furniture from the interior of the Runaway. Bracing against a door, face contorted with effort, she pulls on the moving straps to lift a cabinet that has fallen against the exterior wall of a cabin room next to a smashed and dented desk. Inside the room, the electrician worms help lift and guide the furniture so it doesn't swing and scrape against anything. The walls and floors of the wedge shaped cabins show ghostly lines of where furniture used to be attached, and people used to walk. On the floor of the interior room (which with current gravity, is a wall) Bip's avatar waves at her nervously and appears to watch her progress. Talita adds the cabinet to her pile of removed furniture in the interior room. She carries a piece of furniture under her arm, stepping over the bulkhead dividers between the floors of the habitat module. Then she places the cabinet down carefully into the four sided docking ring room, where a pile of removed furniture is slowly growing in size.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip is very excited to have a new house guest, Talita hauls junk out of sideways rooms.

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

Talita walks down off the elevator ramp in the pit that the Runaway ship is being stored in. A front loader is there to greet her, with two electrician worms perched on the steering wheel. She has a new nose piece on her helmet that's longer and more rectangular to accommodate her antlers. Bip: Wow! Why the long face? She scowls. Talita: Ha ha ha. You’re so funny. Bip: Sorry. She walks alongside the frontloader as it drives towards the the ship. Talita: What did you need again? I don’t normally come out here on weekends. Bip: Furniture removal! The worms strike a silly pose. Her nose wrinkles in annoyance. Talita: Do I look like a moving service? Bip: It’s a bit below your paygrade, I know. But none of my equipment that fits through the airlock can lift more than 20 kilos.

Talita: Lucky you. I can lift significantly more than that. She hops up the ladder on the side of the support jack rail and begins climbing the long extendable staircase connected to the airlock door of the Runaway. Bip: Oh yeah, you're really into lifting weights, aren't you? Talita: Well, it's handy in my line of work. ...And it's kinda fun, seeing what I can push myself to do. Though I'm really better at rowing than lifting. Bip: So how much can you row? The outer hatch of the airlock opens and Talita walks into the the dim glow of the tube-shaped chamber's illumination bars. A posse of electrician worms is waiting the greet her inside. Talita: In 1g it's a little over twice my body weight, with all six legs. Bip: What's your body weight? Her cheeks bristle up bashfully. Talita: Oh… er… I can row 1800 kilos. Bip: Not shabby! Talita: Um, thanks. The exterior hatch shuts behind her. SFX: SHUNK Talita looks down, startled, as gas starts coming out of the airlock chamber's repressurization vents. SFX: pssssssssshhh

Talita looks around the airlock chamber, bewildered, as the interior hatch opens. Talita: Is this gas mix breathable? Bip: Yep! I pinched some O₂ from the electrolysis plant. Talita starts to walk out of the chamber, but the swarm of worms frantically rears up, grabbing her feet. Bip: HEY HEY HEY! Suit off! I don’t want you tracking regolith in here! Talita rolls her eyes and unclips the oxygen lines off her helmet so she can remove it. Talita: Sigh… this better not kill me. Bip: Trust me, I have no interest in dragging more bodies out of here with the worms. Talita finishes pulling her helmet and pauses in stunned horror, considering the implications. Slowly her shock condenses into sadness as she takes off the rest of her suit, leaving it in the airlock chamber. She steps out of the interior airlock door into the large, cross-shaped docking module room. Talita: You... could have asked for my help. Bip: Furniture removal is one thing, but I felt undertaker services was a bit too far. Talita: But doing it alone seems so— She looks at the overhead surface of the room and stops, staring. Bip's avatar climbs around the edge of the opening between the docking module and the habitat like a moving painting on the wall. The worms crawl through the opening and the avatar points for her to follow them, where lights are turning on and hatches are opening in sequence down the long elevator shaft of the spine. Bip: This way. Watch your step! Talita: ...Alright.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Bip makes a bad joke to a grouchy Talita, asks how much she weighs, and makes her take her shoes off.

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Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

A heem heem. Whimper

Idrisah’s phone chimes in her pocket. SFX: RING bzzzzz She takes it out and looks at the screen. It's a new voice message from her mother. She looks at it trepidatiously. Gillie sidles up to her and grimaces. Gillie: (ASL) …You have to. Idrisah waves at Gillie and Talita to enter the apartment without her as she walks off towards the side of the road for more privacy. Idrisah: (ASL) Be right back! Talita looks back curiously anyways, her acute hearing picking up the audio of Idrisah's phone. SFX: clk Idrisah's mom: Ya habibti… if you can't go, that’s fine. There will be another family reunion. But this is the first thing you say to us? In two weeks? I was worried sick! I thought something had happened to you! It’s difficult enough, having to wait 6 minutes for your voice to reach me. But being ignored? Throwing my questions into space everyday, with no response? Do you have any idea how much it hurts me?

Idrisah's mom: We just want to see you. It doesn't have to be at the reunion. I only have so many years left in this world. I want to spend more of that time with my daughter. Idrisah turns downward, crushed by guilt and regret. She has sunk down into a squatting posture on the side of the road. Idrisah's mom: I know your work is important to you, but if it won't even give you time for that... I miss you so much. Please visit soon. The message ends and the options for delete, replay, and record pop up. Idrisah immediately presses record. Idrisah: I'm sorry, mom. I miss you too. She ends the recording and holds her face in her hands. Gillie walks up and looks down at her, hands on her hips.

Gillie crouches down next to Idrisah, concerned. Gillie: (ASL) You ok? Idrisah looks up at Gillie, tears welling in her eyes and hand over her mouth. She curls into Gillie’s shoulder and sobs. Gillie takes her in her arms and consoles her, then hesitantly broaches the subject she knows is on Idrisah's mind. Gillie: (ASL) I know you like how living here lets you work with more Tiiliitians in person… But we knew when we came here that it couldn't be forever. Maybe it's time to move back to Nexus Jovia, and look for something new. Idrisah: (ASL) Yeah… Talita, who was peeking over her shoulder at the conversation, feels her heart quietly sink.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Happy 200 pages! Idrisah ghosted her mom for two weeks while she was trying to plan a large family gathering!

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

Idrisah’s phone chimes in her pocket. SFX: RING bzzzzz She takes it out and looks at the screen. It's a new voice message from her mother. She looks at it trepidatiously. Gillie sidles up to her and grimaces. Gillie: (ASL) …You have to. Idrisah waves at Gillie and Talita to enter the apartment without her as she walks off towards the side of the road for more privacy. Idrisah: (ASL) Be right back! Talita looks back curiously anyways, her acute hearing picking up the audio of Idrisah's phone. SFX: clk Idrisah's mom: Ya habibti… if you can't go, that’s fine. There will be another family reunion. But this is the first thing you say to us? In two weeks? I was worried sick! I thought something had happened to you! It’s difficult enough, having to wait 6 minutes for your voice to reach me. But being ignored? Throwing my questions into space everyday, with no response? Do you have any idea how much it hurts me?

Idrisah's mom: We just want to see you. It doesn't have to be at the reunion. I only have so many years left in this world. I want to spend more of that time with my daughter. Idrisah turns downward, crushed by guilt and regret. She has sunk down into a squatting posture on the side of the road. Idrisah's mom: I know your work is important to you, but if it won't even give you time for that... I miss you so much. Please visit soon. The message ends and the options for delete, replay, and record pop up. Idrisah immediately presses record. Idrisah: I'm sorry, mom. I miss you too. She ends the recording and holds her face in her hands. Gillie walks up and looks down at her, hands on her hips.

Gillie crouches down next to Idrisah, concerned. Gillie: (ASL) You ok? Idrisah looks up at Gillie, tears welling in her eyes and hand over her mouth. She curls into Gillie’s shoulder and sobs. Gillie takes her in her arms and consoles her, then hesitantly broaches the subject she knows is on Idrisah's mind. Gillie: (ASL) I know you like how living here lets you work with more Tiiliitians in person… But we knew when we came here that it couldn't be forever. Maybe it's time to move back to Nexus Jovia, and look for something new. Idrisah: (ASL) Yeah… Talita, who was peeking over her shoulder at the conversation, feels her heart quietly sink.

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Happy 200 pages! Idrisah ghosted her mom for two weeks while she was trying to plan a large family gathering!

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Idrisah prays, Talita rips her face skin off, and the trio discuss the philosophy of holidays.

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

some commissioned art of various original characters

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Idrisah prays, Talita rips her face skin off, and the trio discuss the philosophy of holidays.

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

I am hoping to get in next year :)

Yep, facial morphemes can also change the meaning of hand signs.

Talita frowns and shakes her head. Talita: (ASL) I don’t have eyebrows. Gillie: (ASL) You’ve got those… uh… white eyelids? Talita: (English) My nictitating membranes?  She squints the two white inner "eyelids" that lie underneath her outer feathered eyelids. Talita: (English) I do use them to imitate human expressions. I picked it up as a kid. It's kind of a reflex now. Gillie: (ASL) Try mimicking the eyebrow signals with them. Talita grasps her neck nervously and stares off into the distance, considering this. Talita: (English) Oh… I… I don’t know… It wouldn’t really… look similar… Gillie looks at the transcription on her phone, unimpressed. She puts it down and flutters a hand to distract Talita from her anxious spiral. Gillie: (ASL) Hey hey hey hey! Stop over-thinking. Copy me.

Gillie launches into a series of demonstration sentences. STATEMENT Gillie: (ASL) Nice to meet you! Gillie has an open smile and neutral eyes. Talita copies her, albeit looking considerably more panicked. Talita: (ASL) Nice to meet you! "WH" QUESTION: LOWERED EYEBROWS Gillie: (ASL) What’s your name? Gillie furrows her eyebrows to make a neutral questioning face. Talita, face starting to bristle, slightly squints her outer eyelids and lowers her upper nictitating membranes. Talita: (ASL) What’s your name? YES/NO QUESTION: RAISED EYEBROWS Gillie: (ASL) Are you copying me? Gillie raises her eyebrows to make a questioning face, and exaggerates it into an expression of feigned indignation. Talita, mane fluffing out and cheeks bristling and about to combust from embarrassment, copies her by widening her eyes and raising her lower nictitating membranes. Talita: (ASL) Are you copying me?

Gillie opens her palms towards Talita and wiggles her hands in the air, Deaf applause. Talita smiles, flustered but proud. Gillie: (ASL) It's not the same, but I can totally tell you're making question faces! Talita: (English) That’s a relief. She rubs her face, noticing the velvet on her antler is itching. She asks Gillie a "WH" question with her approximation of furrowed eyebrows. Talita: (ASL) Where’s the trash can? Gillie: (ASL) Yeah, like that! Talita: (ASL) No, actual question. Gillie: (ASL) Oh! Over there. Gillie points off to her side. In the distance beyond both of them, Idrisah can be seen praying on a rug.

Last week on #RunawaytotheStars: Talita's second set of eyelids, ASL facial grammar, and imminent bone peeling.

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin

I am playing Uma Musume on a tablet. on the training screen, instead of a kemonomimi horse girl, a "centaur" alien, the main character from the webcomic "Runaway to the Stars", stands in a school uniform. In my dream, it was normal that she was there and she worked like every other career mode character. and was very fast.

Guys I literally had the stupidest dream #umamusume #runawaytothestars

Chapter 7: Antlers A closeup of Talita's antler shows the thin, soft coating of brown integument on the velvet skin. The bone underneath is about 30 centimeters long now. Her mouth is tight with a suppressed grimace and she is gripping her neck in discomfort. Dr. Henriques: They grew in again, huh? Talita: Yeah, third time this year. A wider shot shows Talita is sitting up on a tall, multi-segmented hydraulic operation table in a white tiled room with medical posters on the walls. She is in casual clothes, and the doctor is injecting a syringe into the muscles of her mid-shoulder. She already has a patch on her fore-shoulder from a previous injection. Talita looks like she'd rather be anywhere else. Dr. Henriques: Have you been sleeping at least 12 hours a day? Talita: ...Mostly… Dr. Henriques: And limiting your activity during the winter light cycle? Talita: I walk so much for work, I don't think it matters whether or not I do weights…

The doctor turns away from Talita to do something at the sink counter, and Talita begins to slide her legs off the operation table. Dr. Henriques: Well, if you want your cycle to be more regular– Talita: I know, I know. The doctor turns around the points at Talita, who freezes. Dr. Henriques: Hold still. One more. Talita: Another?? Dr. Henriques: We’re finally getting you up to date. She smiles and hold up another needle. Talita grimaces and grips her arm as the doctor administers another injection. Talita: It's not like there's anyone here I could swap germs with… Dr. Henriques: Orders from the top, Miss Dospaço. The doctor covers the last injection site with a wad of gauze and tapes it down, tearing off the piece of tape with her thumb. SFX: Riiip Talita walks out of the pan-sophont operation room, gripping the injection sites on her right side while ducking under the rolling garage door. Talita: Ow. I’m gonna be limping all day.

The doctor holds up a large round sticker with a rocketship on it and smiles. Dr. Henriques: Would a sticker make you feel better? Talita looks back over her shoulder at the sticker with wide, plaintive eyes. Later, Talita is sitting in the park on a picnic blanket behind the human apartments, in conversation with Gillie. She is wearing the sticker on her tank top.  Gillie: (ASL) Ask me questions in sign! Talita nods and holds up her hands.

Talita signs “Did anything interesting happen at work today?” in ASL. Each sign is drawn in the accompanying ASL translation. ASL TRANSLATION: TODAY YOUR WORK ANYTHING INTERESTING HAPPEN ? Gilie: (ASL) Good! But... She imitates Talita's question mark sign, a wiggling index finger. Gilie: I probably wouldn't use "?", I'd just sign the sentence with raised eyebrows. She demonstrates, signing a truncated version of the sentence: "Did anything interesting happen?" ASL TRANSLATION: ANYTHING INTERESTING HAPPEN (raised eyebrows indicating "?")

This week on #RunawayToTheStars: Talita gets her shots, a consolation sticker, and ASL language practice with Gillie.

Catch up: https://runawaytothestars.com
Read ahead: https://patreon.com/jayrockin