#khalja.hcs

Hxhchchchc Friend made me consider what Khalja's teeth n tongue are like.

His teeth are very sharp, his canines and incisors are exaggerated compared to those of humans and he has other sharper teeth similar to a cat in the front.

His tongue is long and prehensile with small, flexible ridges along the center in 2 rows. His tongue is the width and thickness of a human tongue, is forked at the tip with the end of his tongue being a little thinner than the tip of a human tongue.

His gums, palette, roof of his mouth and tongue are all black.

Upon finally being accepted into dragoon training, Khalja halted the use of his vibrant face paints in an effort to be better accepted in the city - completely misunderstanding why people kept their distance from him in the first place. Even as the removal of the paints caused no change he got into the habit of leaving them behind, especially as he began to involve himself in battles for Ishgard where the changing of paints took too much time.

Upon the discovery of his long-slaughtered tribe he gave up on the tradition for the most part, finding that in instances where he remembered to apply it he would only feel pain and despair to such a point that he couldn't find the strength to keep going. By no longer putting it on he fell back into habits of his time in Ishgard, pretending all was fine when it made no sense if only to continue the life he was permitted to keep. However, there are still occasions where he will paint his face - and always in a pattern identical to that of his mother's facepaint.

Before battles, especially that of the Nadaam, Khalja will paint his face with bright red facepaint depicting his rage and reminding those he battles (particularly the Dotharl) that the Hotgo still yet live. In times of mourning, often the anniversary of his tribe's death, he wears bright blue paint to signify his sorrow and revisits the remains of their tents to pay his respects.