#staticchargedmoth

[emobugterrarium]

HI HELLO. I saw your comic about the roommate and I thought it would be funny to have a miscellaneous roommate walk in on average Spooky and Blurry activities.

(I used one of your drawings for the miscellaneous roommate because that stance was too funny)

GIGGLING.... im so delighted hello hello theyre SO stupid look at them aww the idiots awwwww aww awwwww . how are either of them still alive <3

good lird though theyre so stackable

[emobugterrarium]

HELLO I HAVE SNAILIEN STUFF QUESTION :D

About Spooky’s color changing fins, would it be an instantaneous shift, or more gradual? And you said black takes a conscious effort, would Spooky be able to concentrate on doing other colors as well?

thank you i heart speculative biology 💖

hes able to change it rapidly though not exactly instantly , with faster responses closer to the base of his fins and towards his head! :D the same way you can override emotional responses with time and effort, he can theoretically change colors on purpose ^_^ <- hes not really there . just black!

i did approach the underlying science of it in a deeply unrealistic manner please forgive me <3

(george bell (left) & richard a cloney+ ernst florey (right)/nature.com)

spookys fins coloration takes heavyyyy inspiration from cephalopods :) they have sacs of pigments in their skin that are surrounded by muscles that expand or contract, causing the pigments to take up more or less surface area (these organs are called "chromatophores") (im so tired right now im reading chromatophores as rhyming with tomatoes)

(slippens/wikipedia)

i think of spookys coloration as operating similarly to half tone printing, where he is increasing the surface area of overlapping cyan/magenta/yellow cells, which make him look like a different color (& that his DPI is so high you wouldnt be able to see individual cells without putting him under a microscope

as a little bonus for you , heres me losing my mind realizing that HIS BONES ARE REALLY REALLY WEIRD .

[emobugterrarium]

Hello! I love all the Spooky speculative biology. Can we get a chart of all the colors he can display? Because so far I’ve put together:

Red/ black: at rest

Magenta: curious

Yellow: surprise

Blue: sad

Light pink: shy (?)

And what was Blurry’s reaction to seeing Spooky fully open his mouth for the first time?

i made a chart over on my other account! ^_^ youre pretty spot onnnn

send help i accidentally taught my alien that sticking your finger in someones mouth is a human bonding activity . and every human he does this to thinks its an alien bonding activity

i was gonna say i dont think spooky has much reason to use his cheek teeth . but i was flash banged with what if he has to wear down his cheek teeth . like cat claws proper .

nail file to teeth ... euwwwwwww