#regse

I wondered if the robot version of hanging by a silk thread would just be his butt hatch opening up to hang on by a rope contraption like this.

And then we just have him as a discord kitten (don't even know what possessed me to make it). That and Sindeer and her mom, Nawi, getting excited about someone getting executed for adultery

Brainstorming Regse and figuring out my least favorite part about character design: clothes. I at least got down a particularity about zebrapeople's clothes - the fronts are usually kept open. Since they keep their arms in a mantis posture, there's not much pressure to cover your chest most of the time.

I figured it out eventually though, and actually remembered to make their(?) facial structure the way it's supposed to be, that and I figured out some of the facial particularities of the other two:

This is Regse, Pua, and Mauli, they're 3 zebraelf mailmen and they keep getting into dumb situations, be it with their own species or when they're off in the wilderness. Zebraelf genders are just their jobs - the reproductive caste is usually two genders for the drones and queens, but are sometimes wholly one gender whether you're either, and the workers are seen as the "in-between" third gender. Masculinity and femininity within workers are usually determined by your job description: Work in nurseries, obstetrics or as parents are typically seen as feminine because of their resemblance to/working alongside the egglaying queen, and most jobs with a lot of travelling or work in hospitality/entertainment is seen as masculine due to its resemblance to drones and their travelling fraternities. With the very drone-like travelling of being mailmen, these are zebraelf butches!

Regse is Pua and Mauli's grumpy boss, but they're all best friends. Pua is a nervous wreck who is unfortunately also an accidental agent of chaos and keeps making mistaken mischief. Mauli is a lot more laid back, and while she outwardly appears as a goody-two shoes, they purposefully cause mischief. Regse sees through her facade though, and chews them both out for whatever dumb shit they did this time

More of the secret music man AU.

Instead of domesticating wolves, the Music Men's best friend is birds. "Cloes," specifically. Many of them are insectivores because they're an alliance over their crops (music men get their crops free of pests, cloes get snacking) but they do have "raptors" that help them locate and catch prey and game that I should also design.

The Debu have domesticated the Homo Mousike equivalent of bats. Nocturnal, communal, cavedwelling cloes that even sleep upside-down! Though that last part isn't special, most cloes sleep/roost upside-down - have slight prongs on the ends of their muscular tails to help them hook on to a branch they're hanging on.

Originally they were the pests but now they keep pests out, not just bugs but any small animal. They're also communal much like most domesticated cloes, and by mimicking their calls you can command an entire flock, which is an especially potent ability when the only thing stopping these guys from going after bigger prey is numbers.

The gap between their front and back teeth are especially large so they can have a gap for Grip. They use their long middle finger to stab insects.

The Zebraelves have their insectivores, but they actually have clohe mounts! Diving, powerful flyers the size of our storks that they ride. They're not as communal as most domesticated clohes, and they sleep/roost on the ground, unlike most cloes. They actually can use their tail like a fish's, and swim like one beneath the water.

They're almost a bit too water friendly, and oftentimes, if you fly over water with them, there's a half chance they'll dive for a snack... It's best to keep them extra-fed but there's no cure for impulsivity.

Behold... the cloe equivalent to a crusty white dog. This one is a basic clohe domesticated for the purpose of keeping pests off your garden but the wealthy have begun breeding fancier cloes from the already curly-furred, cute, insectivores in nature.

Wouldn't be a true "dog" without the unethical breeding for cuteness

They have a version of fetch (aka some game universally played with cloes) where they toss them up in the air and let them glide/fly down into their hands. Once they industrialize/modernize I imagine cloe movies will have someone reluctantly adopt a cloe after literally tossing it away and having it fly right back over and over.

That one picture of the zebraelf holding her laughter in inspired me to make these 3 characters - these 2 mailmen who ride their cloes to far-out cities and deliver things and their kinda uptight boss who always catches them on stupid tomfoolery. Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson dynamic.

They actually do know Sindeer, Rinkalla, and Lepit, but the first one (fanny pack, "Mauli") is seen as a treat to have in the house and the 2nd one (mohawk, "Pua") is seen as a PEST by specifically Sindeer because she caught her stealing from her farm Only Once

Also, Rinkalla's petroglyphs.

The first one is set mostly in the past. shows the nigh-falling out between Sindeer and Lepit that led them searching for someone new, Lepit making his seperate burrow now that Rinkalla is there to sleep beside Sindeer, something she made to comfort Sindeer on her infertility woes, and Rinkalla offering Lepit a razor to shave off his back fur, alongside making fur extensions from them. Surprise! i forgot to mention that in their introduction post but Rinkalla and Lepit are trans and they have a sick trade deal

This one is mainly set in the now with just very domestic scenes for the most part of Rinkalla offering Sindeer handmade blades, Lepit caring for her when she got stupid sick, but that one gruesome, blood-covered scene was how this series of skirmishes with a group of Zebraelves ended, where a group of exiled, unwillingly nomadic raiders were attempting to drive the 3 out from their homes so they could take it. The first time Lepit got stabbed badly when they came, they got away and stole a big chunk of their food, but the 2nd time, Sindeer literally picked up one of them, chucked them into the air, and called their cloes to feast on the fucker midair.

That ended that issue very quickly! It was the scariest thing Rinkalla had ever seen and she commemorated it

He didn't just get pampered, he just straight up got adopted.

When I had made the initial comic I kind of had in mind that the zebraman was in exile and that was why he was all alone in the middle of the night, shirtless and willing to go up to the 10-ton tree stone-crushing giant that has been known to kill and eat zebramen on sight. Not sure what crime he committed, but as a very human-like organism, he's useless without anyone else and he's forced to go to someone for help. Thankfully 2 of the Debu found him cute (mostly because he was alone) and have just continuously fed him since he just kept following them around (to the 3rd's dismay).

They even made a little vest with a rope at the back so they could scoop him up.

Though, I think eventually they'd figure out that he's as smart as them, even with the language barrier (debu cannot physically speak most zebrapeople languages, and vice versa). Especially when he learned a lot of basic survival from them, and is replicating it...

Small detail, but Zebraman expressions! Zebramen actually have 2 toned gums instead of lips for expression purposes - When you're always smiling, you can flash your bottom and top gum to actually add nuance to your expressions (But WHY are they always smiling?.... i need to figure that out). The top gum is lighter because it makes a bigger contrast with the strip between their nose and lip, they kind of have a cow thing going on there.

What's funny though, is that a Zebraperson smile is a Debu's look of disgust. The raised top lip is to show the lighter gum in zebrapeople, but the raised top lip in Debu is to make the appearance that they're trying to cover their nose with their lip.

Also, Zebraelves.

Octapodal walking is less fast as hexapodal walking, but it's more stable, and while usually utilized for tree-climbing, you will sometimes see sick zebraelves walk like this on the ground to help with any dizziness.

Mailmen zebraelves! I think I'm finally gonna give them the names Mauli(left) and Pua(right, with mohawk)

I was going to focus on them today, but I... didn't, obviously. Lol

Mauli is outwardly a goody-six-shoes, and that repuation has allowed her to get away with stuff when she actually did do something bad. Pua is very outwardly rebellious and her boss doesn't like her all that much, but Pua is just if Mauli wasn't seen as completely harmless. Their boss(Regse) sees through Mauli and indescriminately chews them both out, though

Regse doesn't hate either of them though. She has a weird motherly, older sister vibe for the two of them

Bonus comet