Runaway to the Stars: Page 216
Added 2025-07-03 16:00:05 +0000 UTCHuh. Anyone else getting a sinking feeling
Comments
that first panel looks amazingggg bird's eye angles are so tough imo but you nailed it, it looks so good!!!!
Aloysius
2025-07-04 15:53:36 +0000 UTCI'll admit that it's a bit odd to read the comment section for this one, since Otília isn’t acting too strangely and Mel hasn’t actually done or said anything malicious. Mel has some questions and asks them when under the impression that this is a moment of privacy, I don’t think that's unseasonable of them, though I do wish Doug informed both them and Otília that Talita could *definitely* hear them. As for Otília's ignorance of Talita's sensory range, she's only had the kid for a few short years, and runs an entire foster care facility. I imagine it'd be hard to know every child too in-depth, and Talita would have been unlikely to point out the disparities between herself and the standard human. Otíla acts pretty much how one would expect the caregiver of a bunch of teens would when aware that they're being intentionally avoided, though I do wish she was more patient given that Talita's going through a majour life change. I do anticipate Mel viewing Talita with a sort of naive exoticism, but that is yet to be seen. The main criticism I can posit of Mel from what we've seen and heard of them in the book this far is that they don’t pay mind to boundaries (calling Birdie Person early morning on a day off), are bad at diffusing situations (Talita's college dorm), and are implied to take criticism poorly. That last one is what would sell them as being a person Talita ought to escape from, I'm curious if it'll go that route. If she ditches Dirtball without talking with Mel first, when she's talked about how she avoids telling them when something's wrong or that she's upset, it would have interesting implications as to her character. That said, there were the scraped lines where the previous ai and Mel had a fiery argument prior to leaving Dirtball, that could imply something interesting about who Mel is under the pretense. Maybe that's being saved for later, though hopefully not as a sudden reveal (quietly glances at Terrestraunats— I love that comic and will buy it on release but definitely feel that which sibling is being unreasonable is inverted.. maybe if the flashback scene happened a lot earlier). Am I rambling? I love getting to gnaw at a story, it's fun. Kudos on giving me something with multiple plausible explanations and routed. If Talita ditches without telling Mel, with Mel having been a mostly okay foster-boss, that would be in line with Talita's maladaptive avoidance and would cause a moral dilemma she'd have to deal with for life; if Mel is shown to be intentionally ignorant, hostile beneath the niceties, and/or views Talita as a exotic thing moreso than a person, then Talita is justified for quietly going no-contact (as many people do once no longer dependent on their toxic, abusive, or overbearing parents). Okay, it's out of my system. I'm done for now.
Alight
2025-07-04 02:53:31 +0000 UTC
