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Runaway to the Stars: Page 294 (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-15 06:34:57
Imported:
2026-11
Tags:

Content

Humans look like they're chewing the air when they talk. It's kinda gross.

Files

Comments

Unicorngirl 3008

everytime I think of the centaurs mistaking Talita for threatening them, I think of the human Talita art where she’s clenching her teeth with balled fists and realize damn. I’d be scared too bro sorry verengt

Sophie

Aw, that last expression on Talia is so good. She’s smiling automatically but making sure not to show her teeth and lifting her trunk to imitate the curl instead …. ur mind …. Bc like. It’s not innate emoting for her so she’s gotta make the effort

Echo DSN

makes one wonder how a centaur-socialized human might emote. what an interesting discussion…

Mot

these pages are so cathartic, ahhh thank you jay. youve written such a wonderful story

Sophie

I mean it is innate emoting for her on some level I’m sure, but I meant more like in her socialization obvi

Scout

I thought at first that it’s interesting that they would not know at least the basics of human facial expression if they’ve worked in cross-species environments before, but I’ve just realized I might have been assuming that. We know that Verengt’s clan has worked jobs like this before, and almost certainly those sites were cross-species considering the rarity of spacer centaurs— but not necessarily with humans. Verengt’s wide eyes in panel three… man. I’m reading it as them really considering the reality of Talita’s upbringing.

Catherine DeJohn

If they only have their body to work with they might hold one hand up to cover their teeth and the other hand to imitate trunk signals?

Tzevoah Seraphina

...they'd probably mumble a lot, at least by the standards of other humans. Showing teeth is aggressive after all, and centaurs have amazing hearing so you're still plenty audible.

Michelle G

I love how Talita immediately responded with the trunk curl when Verengt explained it. How sweet! Communication :)

Cyllarus

And of course, humans don't have trunks, so it's hard to see how they might interpret such body language...

Solanuma

i don't like it but curling up your tongue could kind of read as a trunk smile....

Genevieve Fitzsimmons

I mean, I think the text here is that they've worked with humans enoigh to be *aware* that 'randomly baring their teeth' is a thing we do, but probably hadn't put a great deal of thought into what it means, beyond 'it's not a sign of imminent agression'. And obviously never considered what those expressions would look like on a centaur face!

Voligne

On today's episode of Mr. Roger's neighborhood. . .

Bamboozled

Maybe, but I would lean towards either using their hands or maybe tilting their head? Centaurs probably move their trunk while they talk, which is kind of hard to do with your tongue

Stormy ⚡️

This feels like a parallel to the uncomfortable questions Yao was asking.

wildazebra

talita’s trunk curling up in the 5th panel… SOBS

EdenArtFactory

I knew it!!! humans look aggressive to centuars!!

BakedBananners

Not only is this a good convo to have for Talita’s sake, but also considering Verengt and co. will be working with humans more they should know how to interpret them to avoid other miscommunications. It also shows that Verengt is very pragmatic about social issues regarding their clan :)

Alex AK

Going back and rereading Verengt’s intro with the context about the trunk curl gives it new levels. Verengt spends the whole interaction up until the end putting on their friendliest face, and Talita spends the whole time with her trunk curled inward. It’s something you’d totally miss til you get this info— I love it.

lycanthroprince

something i love that i don't think anyone else has pointed out yet - talita's lip is very relaxed!! that's so cute, i don't think we see her do that very often

Devoted Archon

Noticing again the contrast between Talita’s down-angled face and very wide eyes VS Verengt’s more horizontal hear angle and natural eye shape :)

JAN Sandwich

I love them, your honor. No joke, I think I would happily devour an entire book of these two talking about their distinctly different ways of expressing themselves. This "oh shit, we're DIFFERENT... That's amazing and I am learning things" moment is probably my favorite part of any culture shock/fish-out-of-water type narrative. <3

Moss Bailey

Right, it's one thing to see an alien face do strange expressions that have a different meaning to them. It's another to see a familiar face use those expressions the way the alien might. There's a subconscious factor of never having met any other of your species that DOESN'T use expressions the way the majority of your homeworld species understands them. I imagine in this cospecies setting, the split-second "threat" reaction I'd have would be far stronger if a human came up to me with angry eyes and flailing appendages and a loud voice than a similarly-sized alien whom I know uses a totally different body language. Maybe that's just me though.

EdenArtFactory

god that last panel is just so much verengt and the point of their character in one image. so alien but the content of their thoughts and empathy personalizes them and adds a contrast to how other people just don't offer that same grace

EdenArtFactory

and the turning of their neck and trunk, the composition, those only black stripes and the crown of feathers showing off her scar, just incredible. varengt probably has red eyes too so they come off as the most* intimidating to anyone anyway

DMGAB

Talita's neck is a bit ruffled in the panel when she curls her trunk after Verengt mentioned it. A nice detail with everything else, giving away how she's a bit flustered. She is also clearly controlling her urge to smile and adjusting her trunk gesture to communicate better with them.

Bastiaan

I really appreciate (though not surprised, of course) that the main character is the type of person to sincerely answer such a blunt question. A lesser writer would have defaulted to someone who would say something along the lines of, "Well yeah, obviously it's a smile. Do you not smile?"

Dylan Sherwood

Which art are you referring to? I haven’t seen it and that sounds dope to have an art with a human Talita making a (approximate) same expression that she is making to the centaurs!!

Shane Morris

Had Verengt figured this out earlier, Talita might not have quit. At the very least, however, Talita might not feel so alien anymore.

Charley Marlowe

Human shoulders, clavicles, and upper backs are significantly more flexible-by-default than a centaur's when it comes to bending and twisting. I could see a centaur-socialized human using their lips like a centaur does; relaxed but not showing teeth is positive or neutral, stiff but not showing teeth is stilted or anxious, and showing teeth is aggressive, or smug if paired with pursed lips and otherwise relaxed body language. For replacing non-interactive trunk-emoting, I think a human would use their eyebrows and noses in combination, like we tend to do by instinct already. Centaurs also seem to use head movement a bit more than humans usually do in their body language, so a human might exaggerate their head movements to be understood more clearly.

Montydragon

Talita still using her nictating membranes to emote even when she's consciously smiling like a centaur... She's such a jumble of different signals I love her

Calcifer

Talita immediately mirroring Verengt's trunk curl. What a sweetheart. Funny to think centaurs view humans the exact way humans view them. How unfortunate for two species to have similar enough faces while making seemingly the exact opposite expressions.

RareBirdAlert

I really like Verengt. I'm glad that Talita gets to have this conversation with them.

Nethervane

I'm gonna cryyyyy I'm so glad that both Talita and Verengt get to have this conversation and get closure for that misunderstanding ;_; I hope they stay in touch!!

LieutenantV

is getting access to the Discord something exclusive now? i can't seem to find any info on if it's closed or still available for patrons to join in some way D:

EdenArtFactory

...noooo everything else that talita has been dealing with is why she quit. remember how all throughout the story talita keeps saying that a big root of her problems with mel come down to a: they don't back her up when she asks for help and b: they don't ask her what she wants. that whole situation could have been worked out if mel had just managed the introduction, but no. also when was* verengt supposed to seek her out?

AmePeryton

I somehow didn’t consider that human neutral / happy expression also appears angry to centaurs, similar to how their neutral eyelid position looks angry / annoyed to us

AmePeryton

specifically that we have inflexible downward pointed noses and “chew” while we talk

Scout

Absolutely makes sense and I agree 100% with you and moss bailey! People who hang out in co-species spaces a lot without forming any specific close relationships probably just learn to "disregard" all facial expressions when interacting with other species...

ArgenteaMoon

Man I was just reading some of the comments on the public versions of the "Talita crashout at Mel" pages, and some of them were expressing disappointment at how Talita would be having a less shit time in that scene if the other centaurs had been more understanding. And I thought about this page and thought, oh ye of little faith! Jay would have to be a much worse writer (and the story would need to be very different) for *this* scene not to be basically inevitable, I think...

Unicorngirl 3008

I know it’s available for all paying patrons, not sure about free subscribers! In terms of actually getting to it it was super weird for me to join, I had to move to desktop to figure it out 😭

AriPuppy

Decided to go back to Verengt's introduction page, and.... yea, Verengt is doing the equivalent of positively BEAMING at Talita, huh? Man, I wonder if not for that massive social faux-pas right out the gate, in a different universe, those two could eventually have been friends.

Shire L.A

It's honestly kinda funny, we're both savannah endurance predators too

SwiggSwootBoot

Coming back to this, this does make me wonder, how did Verengt expect humans to be able to curl their trunks when they don’t have trunks to curl lol