#oeh

Tapik have 3 different types of pigments, the gold/brown one that colors their fur, the blue one that colors their skin/eyes (and parts of their fur), and the red one that colors their teeth. These three kinds of pigments are deposited in completely different ways and by different genes, so there's a lot of individual variation!

For instance Machete is an example of an individual who completely lacks the gold/brown pigment, but retains the others... sort of.

The gold/brown pigment is pretty much exclusively controlled by genetics. Environmental factors can effect how it looks (for instance, a good amount of oils in the diet can make the fur appear more vibrant and shiny, wheras malnutrition can make it appear dull and less saturated), but genetics predominantly control the placement of this pigment. Machete has a genetic mutation that inhibits the production and placement of this pigment, so he is purely white. Judas does not have albanism (as you can see with his spots), he just has a really light coloration.

The red pigment is acquired from the diet, as in flamingoes or cardinals, and so usually just reflects someone's diet. Genetics affects it a little bit - for instance, some individuals may have orange teeth no matter how much red pigment they eat, and some individuals may have red teeth even if they only eat a little bit of red pigment. Even so, the general trend is that it's mostly environmental. This is why Machete has such vibrant teeth, despite otherwise having little color! Suncat's teeth are very light partially because she's the host for a supernatural parasite and is kind of malnourished, but also partially because she's just young. Tapik are born with white teeth that gradually get darker as they come into adulthood, and though Suncat is an adult, she's still a young adult. (By this logic my sona's teeth should be a bit lighter than they are, but who cares I do whatever I want. Forever, in fact.)

LASTLY the blue pigment is the same pigment that makes their blood blue (copper, I guess? Idk I haven't thought too hard about exactly what compound it is). It isn't blood - which is why it can still have a lot of variation - but it's made of the same stuff. When a Tapik is anemic (like Machete is), chronically malnourished, stressed or otherwise unwell, their body will retain as much of this within the blood as possible, and their skin, eyes, and fur will be dull - usually silvery or gray. The skin will always retain some color though, because hopefully there's still some blood under there. This is why Machete's colors are so light, and also why Suncat's blue is somewhat dull.

Although I gotta be honest I'm not sure tattoos like the ones Machete has would work on Tapik, but who cares he deserves them.

If you want to learn more about their body language/expressions, you can see some of that in this post (though it might be a bit outdated at this point). The basics are though:

Judas is neutral/confident

Seiura and Suncat are friendly/happy (or at least, Suncat's pretending to be)

Machete is reserved and closed-off, almost aggressive (sort of a don't-talk-to-me expression)