(08-07-2014, 04:25 PM)Enteris Wrote: For me to say you're wrong would be rather arrogant, to be honest. I simply share what seems to be a fairly logical explanation to a few things with what little we have been given to go by. And I perhaps misspoke (mistyped?). I didn't mean to say that miqo'te are indeed simply humans with ears and a tail... I was more looking at their physical appearance and more simple biological features. In other words, how they would act, barring cultural differences, would likely be very human-like... unlike the meowing, purring, etc. that I have unfortunately seen through out the random RP I've come across. Simple stuff like walking upright, using utensils to eat (messier foods), etc to more complicated things such as speech patterns and the like.Â
I very much agree that there is a level of underlying difference within the miqo'te when comparing them to hyur. Like you said, that superior olfactory sense accounts for something. Perhaps what I was touching on is how much of a difference is there? And therein lies the issue that would likely answer the question of how much control they would have in regards to their tails. Just how different are they underneath the skin? Is it just the smelling and stronger legs? Or is there actually a portion of their brain capable of consciously controlling the movement of their tails?
On the note of cat biology, I pray I didn't come off as playing the know-it-all. My "knowledge" simply comes from the amount of time I've spent owning cats in my life (currently own seven -_-) and the brief google search I did for this thread... and a little bit in the past as well because I was actually curious as to the control of a cat's tail and the meaning behind each movement. So, again, I am by no means the professor of all things cats.
As to the suppressing vs. full control thing... I suppose I'm still just hooked on the mental image of a miqo'te quite literally pointing at someone with their tail... or pointing at several people in a crowd in that "You, you, you, you..." scenario I mentioned earlier. I likely also have a deep seated aversion to anything that comes off as "cartoony"... and that mental image really seems silly and cartoony to me. I do apologize if I've misinterpreted what you meant as pointing, but I'll leave you with this little thought...
If a miqo'te is able to point as in my mental image of what you're trying to say, how far off are they, then, from simply being able to curl their tails around objects, thereby making them fully prehensile? If they're able to bend and flex their tails with a precise enough point... I can't imagine that grabbing is too far behind.
tl;dr: I don't think you're wrong or stupid. In fact, I agree with you on many points. Many of my points may have been "mistyped" as I am known to do. I get good thoughts in my head then just puke on paper/forums when trying to relay said thoughts.
Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you thought I was stupid or anything in any way -- the people I tend to argue with tend to use it in casual disagreement and with a sense of humor, not as a serious you're-not-intelligent-enough-to-argue-with implication. I didn't in any way mean to imply you were putting me down. And I don't think you're a know-it-all or acting that part -- you did some reading and you own seven cats, so as far as I'm concerned you do know more than my own rudimentary knowledge (the one cat I had with an ex was a manx with that cute little stub). It was a nod of respect for trying to bring some facts into the discussion.
The tail-curling thing is, to me, more a matter of flexibility and less a matter of fine control. To stick my arm out in any one direction is an entirely different movement from, say, a bicep curl. But I totally get the not liking it as a cartoony possibility, I just wasn't thinking in that way. I was thinking more 'if I had a tail, how would I use it? How would I want to use it? How could it be useful?' where my train of thought was that I would want to make use of it in a way that fit in with my other natural body language and gestures I make with my hands. Not in place of my hands, but -- to give an example for Zhi -- pointing under the table towards a person you want to steal from while your hands are above table. So not a super dextrous ability, but more of a general sweep of movement. (and as an aside, I reeeeally don't like cartoony either, not in rp)
