Weyland-Yutani Corporation seeks full-time human companion for <classified experimental subject>, inquire within for details
Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
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OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
She does not want to spend time with poor Yannit l, oh and Wayland – Yutani I guess we may need to watch out for xenoscavs so flexible noodle death critters
And my grandmother died today, you have provided some light in what has been a very dim world lately with your comic love your work Valsalia
I am very sorry to hear about your grandmother. And I am very happy to hear that Val’s comic has given you a bright point to a very sad day. I hope your grandmother rests peacefully.
Wellllp. Now I’m imagining some freakish, cute, but still slightly menacing yinglet-xenomorph hybrids. No doub this will fuel some very weird terror dreams in the future. *thumbsup*
That sounds cute, but I have no idea how it could actually happen.
Hmmm. Sounds like a good way to get a face fulla alien wing-wong Val.
To be fair, General Recruit Tammisman?
Given how Kass and Friends’ week has gone so far, this is probably the smartest move you’ve ever made.
Ran has determined that humans eat everything.
Now, the question is: are those splotches on Tammisman’s hand just vitiligo? Or do they hint at something more?
3rd degree+ burns do that too. Outer palm area + back of hand location lean heavily that way. I’m curious too though, as to what happened or if it is pigment related as well.
I wonder if perhaps Ran is trying to use the human extratory system to create enzymes.
Much like certain breeds of ants will extrete substances to stave wing-growth/development, and nurture their mutalism/sybiotic partner flora/fauna. Hmm….
Maybe Ran asked her to help him pour some chemicals in an attempt to turn lead into gold, and it didn’t go well.
Well, lools like the only way will we be able to learn any more is with some gratuitous nudity! For science of course. The hand scarring looks more like spatter while the neck (and possibly chest area) look due to something a bit more sharp. Like a hot blade or something. Cauterizing of a wound is common in places with fire….
… speaking of, I’m honestly surprised we don’t see many amputees. With all the recent “great battles/wars” and all.
Val! We need nudity (err… i mean disrobed character profile studies) and amputees! (Jk jk :3)
Have you not noticed that her right hand is absent from the scene? Her right arm seems very extended under that barrel and I would have thought that having the palm underneath with fingers on the side to stabilise it would be more comfortable than bending the wrist at right-angles to follow the shape of the barrel. Yet we can plainly see that the grip terminates at the wrist with the hand not visible, either bent upwards at an extreme angle, or…? And on that note, she seems to have some old scars, and this seems to be an assistant job in the innermost quarters, suited for someone who has proven their loyalty but lost some combat prowess in the process?
Looks like a football carry. Must be something extremely valuable or volatile to warrant that kind of over securement of it from impact or losd from tipping.
And there is no crest on her vest. Added to the fact that working under Ran is an undesirable post (the mad scientist who likes to observe (case and point – being asked to sooth the possibly homicidal Yannit)), it kinda kills the knoble-retiree post/assistant.
Still a good thougt though! I love conjecture myself too, obviously.
Hmm, if you look even closer, there is also a mark on her neck, it seems more clearly scar-like.
I missed that! Good eye comrade!
Well, if he is, I hope he’s good at marketing. Robots are fine with rechargeable batteries. Humans are not so keen on rechargeable poop. (Sorry… I couldn’t resist a Freefall reference.)
I am having a devil of a time replying to you, because apparently all the scientific words I use are banned apparently.
Enzymes are proteins that cause organic reactions. (I know what a freefall is, but link me to your freefall reference. (Unless it involves coprophagia, then exclude me. I don’t need the mental scarring)
This is what I get for assuming that everyone knows about the webcomic called Freefall, which has been producing three strips a week for nearly two decades (they are currently on #3080… and yes, they started at #0001.)
Here’s the link to the page that I was quoting from:
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02666.htm
Ahh, I see! And by crikey I know where they got that idea from. A japanese chap was making an ‘off brand beef’ by harvesting ‘sewer proteins.’ It looked … strange. And thankfully was twice as expensive as real beef, so impractical for substitution and for market. Bleh!
Could even be the result of a really bad sunburn. I have seen it happen to people more than once. Chemical burns are also a viabple posability, though I do not see the scaring I would associate with 3rd degree burns, but, that could just be the media
Im going to guess she is a war survivor, perhaps torture
I’m going to wager she has a bit of a story with the Indrel. Who can excrete certain types of digestive enzymes that can cause a discoloration in tissues of the food…
Val, you should update your cast page. It’s long enough between some character sightings that I’m forgetting names…
Curious about that Promotion thing.
Well, He needs to work on his people skills.
The one person you DON’T want to blindly accept a promotion from…
Substances, huh? I’m smelling a Chekhov’s gun here. Someone is going to get a dose of those poisons eventually. But who?
Also: New page! And before the month is over, no less! God, this is the good shit!
And will they work as intended on whoever ingests them?
You know, now that I think about it, I’m taking back my hypothesis about someone necessarily *ingesting* the poison as it now occurs to me that simply the discovery of these poisons is enough to cause some irreparable damage between Ran and the Out-of-Placers – especially if these poisons turn out to be specifically designed to kill indrels.
Whatever happens, the Chekhov’s gun is loaded. They don’t know it yet, but the good relations between the Out-of-Placers and House Ivenmoth are hanging by a thread.
Actualy, its not something that can really be considered uncommon. Poison can often be a far kinder way to kill someone, than a physical attack, also, to be blunt, I am pretty sure Ran would want an intact body after the fact, so he can study it. Ran is taking some very serious risks by having Yannit there, and he knows it, as evadently isolated indrals tend to go nuts after a little time. I expect its more social related than anything else, aka, thay need a social group to maintain mental stability, and Kass and co are providing that, without even understanding that thay are doing so. I expect when thay do find out, thay will realize thay found a major method for improving indral relations with others. But back to poison, again, think about the social structure thay live in, I would have to say that Ran is actualy being rather kind, in an offhanded way, after all, he could have figured the indral was too dangerious and had her killed.
In the words of Socrates: “I drank what?”
I am inclined to believe that mental pain is worse than physical. Given that it doesn’t actually need to be endured, I am somewhat dismissive of physical pain during a death. The prospect of knowing that death is moments away and that nothing can be done to prevent it, or even impede it, is somewhat horrifying. Some people might find peace in such a circumstance, but that feels uncommon… At least with violent death, there is an overt situation that can be fought against, and injury of some sort that can be the subject of mortal outrage, but with poison, it is inside, and thus impossible to see, it simply exists and dooms with no tangibility…
Poisons tend to distort and degrade biology. It is rather a terrible way to kill something if you are interested in its chemistry. Biochemistry may not be very advanced in their world, but I would expect Ran to be curious about some things, such as P.H. levels, Brain colouration, blood shading… which could all be ruined by poison. A needle through the heart or neat decapitation would likely be extremely preferable.
My conclusion is that poison is just extremely effective. A poisoned arrow, appeasement food with poison in. Even in a crazed state she is likely to eat. Fighting an indrel is not a nice prospect, and fighting anything insane is especially hazardous. Poisons are just more dangerous than anything else for their size and exposure and have the added bonus of acting autonomously.
What amazes me is how he knows what is deadly to indrel. They are a drastically different species and notoriously isolated. Something known to be extremely toxic to humans may have no effect, meanwhile there are things which humans can eat which are toxic to other animals. The only other known indrel to study presumably died to violence so it is difficult to see where he got his list of “substances” from. Maybe he harvested it from known predators of indrel? Are there giant spiders out there? Can they talk? Are they cute? Can they work a bow-tie and tuxedo?
Really it depends on the poison, there are plenty out there that just puts you to sleep, and you never wake up, and other things. Personaly I tend to shudder at the idea of beheading, a rather disturbing number of people survive and are aware for several minutes after the head is removed from the body. Considering the shown level of tech so far, I expect also that detailed internal esxamination, even of a corpse is not something they are exactly used to.
I also expect that most of the poison that would kill a human would kill an indral, thay basicly eat the same food and stuff. Unlike the yinglets, wich seem to eat a lot of things that can be considered toxic to anyone else. *chuckles* Another reason not to grill Lopin, he would not be eadable, less you wanted to die.
a needle through the heart requires knowing where the heart is and so far we have dreadfully little information on how the bodys are put togeather. Even of the yinglets. Poison on the other hand can be quite simple, even easy to get. I could walk into my kitchen right now and pull out quite a few diferent poisons.
I also really should not post when I am tired, but, you know what, gonna do it anyways, cause I am a jerk.
I kind of want a side comic which is just SoL of the guards and staff of Invermoth just trying to go about their days as the general weirdness of the main series happens around/to them.
Or they could be incorporated into this comic as arcs!
I already had to move OOPs from my monthly checks to my weekly reads folder. With updates being so frequent now, it may still be too early for a spinoff… wait …
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15534212
Is already doing a spinoff right now, if you haven’t seen it yet.
By the by, you ever eatten at crowburger, crowbar? (Hurray for tool name comrades!)
http://www.drugsandwires.fail/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.jpg
Totally agree. Though perhaps it could be an arc as opposed to a stand alone/alongside (unless it becomes a patron buy in?)
If you are wanting more though, go onto fur affinity website and look up “shard of confusion.”
He does kind of a splinter comic of this one called “chasing bolide”
Its pretty good.
Btw, you ever been to the crow bar or ate at crow burger?
http://www.drugsandwires.fail/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/page0017colour.jpg
Tool name comrades!
The one who will be paired to Yannit will be named Kane Nostromo.
Are those two moons I see? And is moon #2 in a polar orbit? If so, that would be consistent with my previous theory regarding the “wandering moon”.
If they have comparable mass, their combined effects would cause some very complex tides, although, due to its proximity to the planet, the inner moon would cause much stronger tides, unless it’s mass was less than 1/10th that of moon #2. They’d also likely need to be in some sort of orbital resonance to maintain long-term stability.
By the way, how much staff does Ran have at his disposal? It looks like he gets quite generous funding to research whatever strikes his fancy—lucky guy!
Are those two moons I see? And is moon #2 in a polar orbit? If so, that would be consistent with my previous theory regarding the “wandering moon”.
If they have comparable mass, their combined effects would cause some very complex tides, although, due to its proximity to the planet, the inner moon would cause much stronger tides, unless it’s mass was less than 1/10th that of moon #2. They’d also likely need to be in some sort of orbital resonance to maintain long-term stability.
By the way, how much staff does Ran have at his disposal? It looks like he gets quite generous funding to research whatever strikes his fancy—lucky guy!
Are those two moons I see? And is moon #2 in a polar orbit? If so, that would be consistent with my previous theory regarding the “wandering moon”.
If they have comparable mass, their combined effects would cause some very complex tides, although, due to its proximity to the planet, the inner moon would cause much stronger tides, unless it’s mass was less than 1/10th that of moon #2. They’d also likely need to be in some sort of orbital resonance to maintain long-term stability.
By the way, how much staff does Ran have at his disposal? It looks like he gets quite generous funding to research whatever strikes his fancy—lucky guy!
Oh hey, I somehow completely overlooked that orbital diagram. That’s definitely two moons with nearly perpendicular orbits. I don’t know enough about astrophysics to get anything more out of it unfortunately.
From what I understand, Ran is practically the only scientist in the world, and works for a very wealthy trade state. Trademaster Viracriox has coin to spare and greatly values pretty much all knowledge. Since Ran has basically zero competition for funding he gets it all. I expect he has the authority to command pretty much everyone in the Ivenmoth trade house, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their other duties.
He also provides a higher education to the children of nobles and other trademasters. They’re probably paying a quite a lot for that education so that probably also funds his research. Almost like a professor at a real university.
So far though his research doesn’t actually seem very costly. He mostly seems to just require writing supplies and the occasional fruit for demonstrations. Only recently he’s needed some extra amenities for his new “research assistants.”
What’s interesting is that Ran doesn’t wear the tradehouse colors. This suggests he’s not actually part of the Ivenmoth tradehouse but rather a contractor or freelance researcher/teacher. He might even be part of a rival tradehouse. I’m curious how that arrangement works.
I also thought it was curious that Ran doesn’t wear a uniform. Perhaps he is considered a civilian. I doubt he could be a member of a rival tradehouse, though. I don’t think Viracroix would stand for that.
Also, his research probably isn’t that cheap. His astronomical measurements would at least require a sextant like the kind Tycho Brahe used. I’m not sure if the humans in this setting discovered the telescope yet, but if they did, Ran would definitely have to have one too.
When it comes to where Ran stands in the tradehouse, Page 32 Panel 5 of prologue seems to hold the answer: Ran is one of the Trademaster’s three closest advisors and thus one of the highest ranking members in the entire tradehouse.
It also seems like every advisor wears robes with a feathered hat, so perhaps it *is* the uniform of the advisor. Nevertheless, they all seem to agree to wear it, which I guess makes it a uniform anyway.
Ran is obviously no military leader, though. If we look back at the panel, we can interpret that this job likely falls to the five helmeted figures we see standing at parade rest below the advisors. Presumably these are captains of some kind. They are the ones who command the officers, which are represented by the countless spearmen standing at ease below them.
So, that ended up being more an analysis of Ivenmoth hierarchy in general, but there’s the answer for where Ran stands: He’s one of the top dogs of the tradehouse, and is certainly no outsider. And if advisors even have a uniform, it seems to be exactly what Ran is wearing.
Idk, lotta jobs I worked, the more skilled you were the less they cared what you wore. Unless you were a “business face” type employee, then its suit and tie nonsense. But where as Ran is a “behind the scenes” type (excluding his classes), I think he could run around in long johns and a beret, and the boss wouldn’t care as long as he remained dependable.
My previous job as a field technician for Dell officially required you to wear slacks. In practice, as long as word didn’t get back to HQ, you could wear shorts if you wanted to, and since I live in Texas, in summer we usually did.
In my job before that one, since I never interacted with the public and only occasionally with other employees, the rule was “wear jeans or slacks, and look presentable.” So I’d show up at work wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, or whatever else was comfortable (and clean… I am notorious for procrastinating when it comes time to wash clothes.)
In general, that’s been the trend in the U.S. and U.K. for a long time now… moving away from the suit and tie (“business formal”), except for managerial positions, and moving towards “business casual”. Which is fine by me… I hate ties. Mostly because I suck at tying them.
Heh heh and now we know why Kassie was so flubberghgasted about that question.
Too late, recruit, YOUR FATE AS YANNIT COMPANION HAS BEEN SEALED! :V
All hail the Yannipanion
ALL HAIL!
The treating of an intelligent being’s living quarters as a habitat is not a good sign for his thoughts of being fair to non-humans, although we as a race have a similar history with people of our own species, so judgement is difficult.
Honestly I suspect he thinks of humans in much the same manner. To Ran everything and everyone is to be studied.
So he’s one of those logical mad scientist types, huh? Those are the kind of people who use entire societies as Petri dishes. Not a good sign…
Oh cool, it’s Ran. I was just thinking he hasn’t popped up in a while.
“Quick termination.” Huzzah! A fellow studious lighthearted individual with a latent ruthless streak! I mean, uh, oh dear, how starkly pragmatic.
Considering the last time they had a solo Indrel in the area, it kind of went mad and berserk and became a major threat to everything and every one and was a lot of trouble for them to take down.
I understand why he has the “substances” prepared (I’m more of a honking polehammer type myself, but get through that chitin however you have to). The reason I read it as ruthless is that his facial expression seems more resigned than worried about what he might have to do, or particularly remorseful. Yannit comes from a potentially dangerous species, sure, but she’s still a sapient being with a name and a personality. Very few people, scientist or otherwise, could speak with relative coolness about killing her. At least, not after they’ve accepted the “named sapient with a personality bit.”
Xenophobes or people just reacting to their idea of an Indrel based on the previous encounter wouldn’t have the same inhibitions, obviously.
The speed with which he redirects leaves a lot of room for interpretation, though, since that can EITHER be detachment or suppressed discomfort. I haven’t seen quite enough of Ran yet to try committing one way or the other on that.
We already know the head researcher is fairly twisted, he did force a group of staving yinglets to have sex in front of him for a bucket of clams.
You say “force” but for all we know the yinglets had a great time.
I bet they got Kass a real girly child’s bed for him/her to get annoyed about.
The bed doesn’t look very gender-specific in any way. We’ve seen it a couple times now. It’s just a box with an Ivenmoth red pad in it, and the box is lowered for a good bit in the middle of one side to ease entry and exit.
We saw it? Agh, I really need to start paying attention to the details. I have a problem with that when reading comics. Too much focus on dialog.
Aww… But Yannit is a good friend to have!
I’m curious now if great grandpa Eidelbern ingested certain “substances” before his early retirement.
Good instinct, Tammisman. If the local mad scientist starts asking you something, nope out of there as politely as possible unless you’re prepared to deal with shenanigans.
Umm, this may be coming a little late to things, but, does it seem to anyone else that the trademaster seems to be wearing ‘The reed of beconing’ or is it just me?
“Ze Reed of Carnal Beckoning” was blue.
The one in the trademasters hat was blue too. Oh you think I ment Ren’s hat cause I posted it here. Sorry, no its from way earlyer in the comic, but I just really considered it recently, and, to be fair, no one is really looking back to check comments on a comic from 6 months ago. Ren is wearing something more like a beret, and I think thats a feather, tanish yellowish in colour.
http://www.valsalia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/036-05.png
Yeah it looks like a less pelted version of it. But its more of a white/cream colour no?
Looks even more like the reed in later parts where the trademaster is, like when hes talking to the one fellow about finding a girl.
Give a link or I aint lookin
Aka
“Pics or it didnt happen”
I know that image of the human figure surrounded by animals, indicating man’s top predator nature but I just can’t remember where I’ve seen it.
There was something very similar in an episode of The Simpsons, with a class “educational” movie explaining the “food chain”. It was when Lisa decided to become a vegetarian, IIRC.
(Two days later) That was it!
One of the quick termination substances, looks a bit like the bang/suicide-bags from Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress!
FUN FACT!
I’m reading “Day of the Klesh” by M.A. Foster, and one of the alien species in that book, the Spsomi, are very similar to the Yinglets- being small, stout bodied, long limbed, and racoon-like, with distorted English speech due to their mouth-shapes. It’s a very interesting similarity, and I’m curious if Valsalia ever read that book.
Ooh, I haven’t read that M.A Foster book. I’ll seek it out.
id be friends with yannit, all she wants is company and to learn about humans, she’s nice and i think we can all appreciate the way she embraces new things, but can feel confused by them as well.
also, yindrel have arms on their backs, that is a feature enjoyed by all :3
I just noticed on Tammisman’s hand, does she have vitiligo? That’s a nice touch. 🙂
You can see a sliver on her neck, too. A VERY nice touch.
The bit on her neck looks more like a strand of her ponytail than vitiligo. (In other words, a colorist error.)
I don’t think so. I think it’s another spot of vitiligo. Or a scar… Hey, Val, how about an in-depth backstory for this person?
I was referring to panel 3, which is definitely a colorist error… it’s part of her ponytail that was colored the brown of her skin, instead of black like the rest of her hair.
However, I think I see what you mean. Panel 6… but I’m not sure if that’s a scar, or a bit of the chalkboard we’re seeing in the gap between her neck and her shirt collar.
I’m seeing the same thing in panel 3 and 6. And, now that I look REALLY close, I can see it in Panel 1 as well, barely more than a pixel in size.
I have to agree that its a mark on the skin of the person, not a colourist error, or background showing through. Its too persistant to be anything other than deliberate.
On second glance, I have to concede you could be right. Though I think it’s a scar or burn, not vitiligo (since it doesn’t have the lighter color associated with vitiligo).
Thinking back on “The Best One” who united the yinglet tribes, I can’t help but think of a Dynasty Warriors style game starring yinglets, but with all the damage numbers replaced with variations of “smek”. And it just makes me smile. A lot.
another idea: a game where entire ‘fight hordes of foes’ system is reversed and you have to command many many yinglets against one enemy! or one ‘creature larger than themselves’ which is a looooong list.
Honestly there’d be a fair bit of both. Smeking down hordes of yinglets when conquering another tribe, mixed with the intermittent boss battles against the damn-near-everything that could kill the females. It’d be a trick getting both playstyles to mesh in the same game, but I’d play the hell out of it if it was even marginally passable.
Dammit, I’m all caught up now. I’ve been completely and totally addicted to your comic since I discovered it a few days ago. Looking forward to more!
I would like to volunteer for the “companion job” that’s recently been opened up.
Skills include: psychoanalysis, extensive xenophilosophy studies, grooming, anatomical knowledge of over 500 species including Indrels, negotiation, “discreet disposal”, and party planning. (For full list, please notify Sir Koren at the Val Salia Worker’s Employment Union.)
The archive only goes up to 64 and not to 66.
Ya know. This scene sort of reminds me of the generic titles used in monster hunter, but it still makes for a fun character.
Hey Guildmarm!
I WOULD love to see a general recruit who hears that they can get a promotion by joining some experiment who DOES and ends up following our favorite bug around acting as a strait man to the many unorthedox things that happen to our group. Might be good to have an on staff strait man too….or strait girl if he case may be.