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Description

An expression chart for the Astutocentaurini, with a Shovelperson acting as the model.

Astutocentaurini are surprisingly easy to read by Human standards. Like primates and carnivorans, they frequently use their eyes, eyebrows, auripods ("ears"), and lips to convey emotions non-verbally, and different combinations of ear and facial positions are used to signify a wide variety of emotions. The way they express happiness, sadness, and anger is actually fairly familiar, with a slightly open mouth "happy" face with raised auripods that is reminiscent of a smile, a "sad face" with auripods lowered and brows arched at the center, and a recognizable "angry" face in which the auripods fold and shake and the brows and nose furrow. Confusion and contemplation is often expressed with a squint and tucked auripods, with the positioning of the brows remaining neutral unless there is a specific emotional context to the line of thought. Even the way they express disgust is fairly relatable, crinkling their noses in a slight squint if they taste or smell something unsavory.

Some of their other expressions, however, are less Humanesque. Under particularly intense emotional states, their auripods angle forward and splay their pinnae, erecting a fringe of stiffened hairs similar to the display filaments of Maratus. In the case of fearfulness or shock, the ear display is accompanied by widened eyes, raised eyebrows, and a grimacing lip, loosely resembling a chimpanzee's "fearful" expression. In the case of aggression, however, it is instead accompanied by a terrifying mug of pure animalistic fury; the brows furrow with eyes widened and pupils shrunk, their skin flushes beet red with blood, and they expose the entirety of their sharp beak with a gelada-like lip flip. If boundaries are not respected and the aggression is pushed further, violent intent is expressed by splaying the jaws and drawing their nictitating membranes over their eyes in preparation for an attack. Such an expression is thankfully rare in most cases. Still, it can be especially frightening for a Human to see since the internalized mandibles and dental pads used for chewing bear an eerie resemblance to human teeth.

Description

An expression chart for the Astutocentaurini, with a Shovelperson acting as the model.

Astutocentaurini are surprisingly easy to read by Human standards. Like primates and carnivorans, they frequently use their eyes, eyebrows, auripods ("ears"), and lips to convey emotions non-verbally, and different combinations of ear and facial positions are used to signify a wide variety of emotions. The way they express happiness, sadness, and anger is actually fairly familiar, with a slightly open mouth "happy" face with raised auripods that is reminiscent of a smile, a "sad face" with auripods lowered and brows arched at the center, and a recognizable "angry" face in which the auripods fold and shake and the brows and nose furrow. Confusion and contemplation is often expressed with a squint and tucked auripods, with the positioning of the brows remaining neutral unless there is a specific emotional context to the line of thought. Even the way they express disgust is fairly relatable, crinkling their noses in a slight squint if they taste or smell something unsavory.

Some of their other expressions, however, are less Humanesque. Under particularly intense emotional states, their auripods angle forward and splay their pinnae, erecting a fringe of stiffened hairs similar to the display filaments of Maratus. In the case of fearfulness or shock, the ear display is accompanied by widened eyes, raised eyebrows, and a grimacing lip, loosely resembling a chimpanzee's "fearful" expression. In the case of aggression, however, it is instead accompanied by a terrifying mug of pure animalistic fury; the brows furrow with eyes widened and pupils shrunk, their skin flushes beet red with blood, and they expose the entirety of their sharp beak with a gelada-like lip flip. If boundaries are not respected and the aggression is pushed further, violent intent is expressed by splaying the jaws and drawing their nictitating membranes over their eyes in preparation for an attack. Such an expression is thankfully rare in most cases. Still, it can be especially frightening for a Human to see since the internalized mandibles and dental pads used for chewing bear an eerie resemblance to human teeth.