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Description
Like so many drawings, this looked a lot better in my imagination. The shading is too uniform, especially since the smudging used to make the feathers look soft also darkened them substantially. The anatomy is inconsistent, error-ridden, and generally poorly-defined. The shadows aren't quite facing the same way. Finally, many small details (particularly in the segmentation of the thumbs*) are not clear due to the broad width of the medium (charcoal sticks).

With that out of the way, I'll explain what's going on in this picture. Pardon my wordiness.

Two circaens (Viscerapoda pennatus), a male (left) and a female (right) are engaging in pair-bond-strengthening behavior by entwining their eyes (the circaen equivalent of french kissing). A circaen's eyelids are thick and very sensitive to touch, and this sensitivity makes them a potential erogenous zone. A circaen's eyes are attached to flexible stalks that can extend far out of the eye socket. Inserting one's own eyes into a partner's eye sockets is the most common method of eyelid stimulation, but some circaens will also experiment by using their thumbs, tentacles, or tongues.

Two other physical displays of intimacy are present: thumb entwining (analogous to holding hands) and the circaen equivalent of groping. In the case of the latter, the male has inserted its hand into the body cavity of the female to feel her internal organs (not necessarily reproductive structures, mind you). Like all viscerapods, circaens have a suture, running down the middle of their body, that can split open to reveal the body cavity, which contains not only vital organs but also four tentacles used for communication and object manipulation. One of the female's tentacles can be seen wrapping around the male's arm.

If this all sounds very bizarre and esoteric, that's because it is. Circaens are intelligent and socially-sophisticated, but they are also aliens. I had fun thinking up circaen analogs to human sensuality and sexuality that are so strange that the average human (myself included) would not find them the least bit erotic.

*Circaen hands consist of four radially-arranged, fully-opposable, many-segmented "thumbs." Furthemore, the wrist is attached to a thin, fleshy cuff that can fold inward or outward. A more detailed description of circaen hand anatomy and function, however, is something for a future picture.

Description
Like so many drawings, this looked a lot better in my imagination. The shading is too uniform, especially since the smudging used to make the feathers look soft also darkened them substantially. The anatomy is inconsistent, error-ridden, and generally poorly-defined. The shadows aren't quite facing the same way. Finally, many small details (particularly in the segmentation of the thumbs*) are not clear due to the broad width of the medium (charcoal sticks).

With that out of the way, I'll explain what's going on in this picture. Pardon my wordiness.

Two circaens (Viscerapoda pennatus), a male (left) and a female (right) are engaging in pair-bond-strengthening behavior by entwining their eyes (the circaen equivalent of french kissing). A circaen's eyelids are thick and very sensitive to touch, and this sensitivity makes them a potential erogenous zone. A circaen's eyes are attached to flexible stalks that can extend far out of the eye socket. Inserting one's own eyes into a partner's eye sockets is the most common method of eyelid stimulation, but some circaens will also experiment by using their thumbs, tentacles, or tongues.

Two other physical displays of intimacy are present: thumb entwining (analogous to holding hands) and the circaen equivalent of groping. In the case of the latter, the male has inserted its hand into the body cavity of the female to feel her internal organs (not necessarily reproductive structures, mind you). Like all viscerapods, circaens have a suture, running down the middle of their body, that can split open to reveal the body cavity, which contains not only vital organs but also four tentacles used for communication and object manipulation. One of the female's tentacles can be seen wrapping around the male's arm.

If this all sounds very bizarre and esoteric, that's because it is. Circaens are intelligent and socially-sophisticated, but they are also aliens. I had fun thinking up circaen analogs to human sensuality and sexuality that are so strange that the average human (myself included) would not find them the least bit erotic.

*Circaen hands consist of four radially-arranged, fully-opposable, many-segmented "thumbs." Furthemore, the wrist is attached to a thin, fleshy cuff that can fold inward or outward. A more detailed description of circaen hand anatomy and function, however, is something for a future picture.