Miqo'te RP: How do you do bodylanguage etc?

[Gegenji]

THAT SAID, sometimes I am a bad rper and forget about them during intense scenes or when I am excited about the rp.

 

I think that's just a common thing in general. When you're really into a conversation or interaction, some of the finer details just go by the wayside. I can easily recall at least two situations where Chachan was supposed to be eating or drinking something and completely blanked on it until much later. Which leads to him enjoying his "now room temperature juice" and whatnot rather often.

[SessionZero]

THAT SAID, sometimes I am a bad rper and forget about them during intense scenes or when I am excited about the rp.

 

I think that's just a common thing in general. When you're really into a conversation or interaction, some of the finer details just go by the wayside. I can easily recall at least two situations where Chachan was supposed to be eating or drinking something and completely blanked on it until much later. Which leads to him enjoying his "now room temperature juice" and whatnot rather often.

 

When that happens to me I just go with my character having been drinking/eating the whole time, so without emoting actually drinking any alcohol, they just progressively get more drunk. Ghost-drinking~

[Xenedra]

(Also I cannot take anyone who "purrs" as a miqo'te seriously. Someone did that recently in the Quicksand and I looked around for them hoping that it was just a manner of speaking and not an actual purr, nor a miqo'te using a pun of sorts, haha.... and it wasn't!)

 

THIS.

 

I know it's a personal preference thing, so I don't get my panties in a twist when I see someone do it, but it always gives me paws (see what I did there :3?). As a Miqo'te I'm even loathe to use it as a descriptive verb for fear people will take it the wrong way : P.

 

As for personal ear/tail emotes, I keep them limited, but this is because my character likes to be somewhat difficult to read. She's trained herself to keep them as still as possible when she wishes. Sometimes I'll throw in a vague ear flick so people will know there's been a muted reaction, but maybe not what precisely the action was.

 

Amongst her closer friends I emote a bit more with the ears. Her ears will perk when she's particularly interested in something, or they'll droop if she's sad, though really only 3 people tops have seen that reaction. In the company of friends, the ear flick is usually a sign of hiding her embarrassment.

 

Tail emotes are rare in all cases because, as a bit of a non-tribal snoot, she finds it uncouth. She also dislikes being referred to as "cat" or "kitten," taking the "I am NOT an animal!" stance.

 

Also I like this separate thread. I kind of wanted to post this junk in the other one, but it felt off-topic for a discussion thread just to say "this is what I do :D" and no one would care, lul. This is a nice place to blurt out personal habits and see what others do .

[Tiergan]

I tend to insert reference to ears and tail when trying to highlight Tiergan’s emotional state. If his annoyed, he might just narrow his eyes at you, but if he is REALLY testy his tail might lash back and forth in anger. If he is displeased with something, his ears might flatten out or fold back. I have made him bare fangs at people he is absolutely furious with, but not as often.

 

I tend not to RP sniffing the air or enhanced scent or hearing (outside of Tiergan swiveling his ears to pick up on certain sounds), but that is honestly only because I totally forget to and not because I don't want to. Its also sometimes hard to find a good place for scent when it comes to interactions with other players, but much easier when it comes to things like tracking down an NPC. No idea if Sun Seeker cats can see better than hyur, so I don't incorporate it.

 

I sometimes, when feeling cheeky and goofy, have Tiergan's pupil widen and round out when he is feeling a mix of extreme delight, excitement, and awe (aka this: http://i.imgur.com/hpwU7.png ) because that is exactly the actual facial expression my pet cat makes when I wave around his favorite toy in front of his face.

 

When it comes to sounds - Tiergan snarls, growls, and hisses a lot - but I almost always mean it in the context that a human person would be snarling, growling, or hissing out an angry word at someone or making an angry sound and not literal snarling the way an animal would. I don't really mind if people purr, though when Tiergan does it (which is not often at all) I usually just describe it as a low, contented rumbling noise that could be taken either as a purr or just a happy person noise depending on how people like their particular flavor of miqo'te RP. Lurial on the other hand never ever purrs. I guess I just see it as a personality quirk.

[Ermine]

I hadn't seen a whole lot of folks include tail movement in their commentary but it's absolutely something that stands out - in some emotes (I'm probably misremembering - one of the anger ones) the lady miqo'te's tail stands stiff and puffs out slightly - so that might be something to keep in mind as well.

 

If we're talking about one of the purring sex kittens, the tail could be brushed against their partner softly to be part of their seductive ways or what have you. Could play up frustration by smacking their tail against the ground as they pat back and forth, seething and softly hissing.

 

It's kind of cheating to watch cat body language videos, but it's also a good idea!

[Jana]

Jana's supposed to be very easy to see through emotionally, but I actually use ear/tail-specific emotes less in RP than in TERA (where she was meant to be a much harder person to read). Usually, this is because I'll emote her entire body as behaving a specific way instead of just her non-human features. Of course, I'll make exceptions at times, especially when she's either trying to mask her emotions or going through a particularly more extreme emotion.

[Naunet]

Heh I'm with the folk who think the purring is a bit... much.

 

As for the question of the OP... it's pretty much mostly been answered but I'll just throw my hat in with the, "I emote the tail/ears as an extension of my character's body, as that is what they are, and thus they'll gesture in ways appropriate to emotion/action" crowd.

[Kenthy]

Sometimes I think that I should wear a rubber band around my wrist to snap whenever I forget Kenthy's ears/tails for too long. Sometimes I get caught up in other things and they just slip my mind... I guess what I'm saying is that there's too much but there's also not enough because leaving them out entirely means that you're leaving out important indicators for others to observe.

 

I tend to focus more on her ears than her tail because her tail isn't necessarily as visible (and if you're staring at her tail, shame on you!). I also do like to give her some more feline descriptors when it comes to her voice: describing her tone as growling or hissing or things like that without actually having her growl or hiss at any one.

 

Really though, I feel like choosing to totally ignore the Miqo'te feline attributes sort of strips away a lot of their charm. After all, these are unique features that do unique things! It's a lot of fun to add in a bit of personality into them!

[Gone.]

I throw in actions with the ears, tail and other minor cat-like mannerisms (i.e. "Vetiver rubs her cheek against the woman's, not unlike a cat.") to highlight certain expressions when it feels appropriate. I don't always do it, mind you, just when I feel it adds to what's already happening. No legit reason to deny any racial charms, especially when they're so dang cute.

 

Another thing I do that most don't (at least I never see anyone doing it): Keeper eyes and complexion reflect their nocturnal tendencies and thus aren't going to take well to the sun at all. Vetiver practically begs for shade during the day, especially when in Thanalan or the more open areas in La Noscea.

 

Oh, and on the subject of purring: I don't mind it in the slightest. I have a friend that does it as a response to intimate affection and it's friggin' adorable to me.

 

Addendum (last one, promise!): Two more things -- Vetiver's ears are quite sensitive to touch and I have made at least one or two references that her uncanny ability of finding her friends is based off the enhanced sense of smell we're given by lore.

[Enla]

I just started RPing a Miqo'te and this is something I try not to forget when I RP her. In fact I often worry that I overdo it, particularly since I really can't have her turning her head towards people and addressing them properly because she's not actually able to always meet their eyes due to her blindness. (That and I honestly don't feel very comfortable tilting her head towards other people either with the game's mechanics as she tends to keep her head stationary.) So I often have her pinning her ears or flicking them towards people when they're talking, but even then I worry I annoy people with the repetition.

 

As for purring and other such things it really doesn't bother me that much, as I've seen people use the term to describe someone's tone of voice. A proper house cat like purr seems out of place, sure, but if that's how people want to roleplay I don't see any reason not to go along with it. Enla won't as she's very much the kind of person who tries not to let those sort of emotions show, always plastering a jovial smirk upon her face. :blush: