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I don't think he is being too unthinking. Absolutely no reason why the others couldn't relay her stories.

Other than the lack of drama

Krulle wrote:I read it that way too.
She is excited to be alive, and enjoying that, despite the war.
And she prefers this dangerous environment over the "Sand".
And she definitely enjoys being the chronicle of meeting the possible template species for her own species...

She knows and understands she's at the core of a civilization changing information gathering, and enjoys this weird male, who's "well built" when compared to the "men" of her own environment.

That, or she is the Pollyana of the group.

raistlin34 wrote:For some reason, being raised in a lush world filled with deadly, yet deceptively beautiful lifeforms fits Tempo to
a T.

Awe come now, all that lovely dark hair let loose, and sultry violet eyes laying down in the lush loam to gaze up into the starry night peeking through the forest canopy above. Steamy moist jungle air and fragrances all around. Who could resist all that loveliness?

lol. Just avoid the carnivorous plants and poisonous lilies & mushrooms!

Krulle wrote:She knows and understands she's at the core of a civilization changing information gathering, and enjoys this weird male, who's "well built" when compared to the "men" of her own environment.

He's not "well built", though. He's an unusually large man, for the loroi. It's like meeting a woman with gigantism or who's built like a neanderthal and saying "wow, now there's well built woman".

Looking at this:


It's not what I would call attractive people.

The question is, when loroi see him, does he look more like Andre the giant or a male version of wonder woman.

boldilocks wrote: He's not "well built", though. He's an unusually large man, for the loroi. It's like meeting a woman with gigantism or who's built like a neanderthal and saying "wow, now there's well built woman".

Gigantism is a medical condition that results in disproportionate growth; in the case of humanity disproportionate growth is going well over 7 feet (2 meters 20 centimeters). After that height the disproportional nature of the body not only results in medical conditions but to also be considered 'ugly' and 'unnatural' to our 'lizard brains' due to the inherent unhealthiness of disproportionality.

Now taking into account the relative average heights for Loroi women (5'7" or 170cm) and men (a little less than 5 feet, lets say 4'9", 145 cm to be sure) and the average heights for Human women (5'4" or 162 cm) and men (5'7" or 170 cm) it doesn't seem that human men are too tall to be considered disproportional. Tastes may vary but from a purely human perceptive men don't consider women that are as tall as them and even a little taller than them 'uglier' or 'intimidating'. In the end human physical attractiveness always falls down to the usual signs of health and fertility for female attractiveness and health and 'dominance' (for lack of a better word) for male attractiveness.

Loroi females may find Human males 'cocky' as far as outlook goes but so far it seems like the physical attributes for signs of 'health' are the same; as far as an average man doesn't show signs of 'ill health' then he should be considered attractive to the average Loroi female.

dragoongfa wrote:Now taking into account the relative average heights for Loroi women (5'7" or 170cm) and men (a little less than 5 feet, lets say 4'9", 145 cm to be sure) and the average heights for Human women (5'4" or 162 cm) and men (5'7" or 170 cm) it doesn't seem that human men are too tall to be considered disproportional.

Careful, 5 feet is not the average height of Loroi males. They rarely grow taller than 5 feet, which could put their average at 4'5''. Depending on what counts as rare. Yet even with an average male height of 5 feet, that would mean virtually every single Loroi female would be comfortably taller than the tallest male.

That's quite the change. I'd be very careful about making assumptions about attraction between the species. Especially when we consider that Loroi are described as xenophobe and socially very conservative.

Realistically, Alex should be a freakshow.

You can hear the debriefing in Lorloi intelligence.
"Typical. We finally find a race of compatible humanoids with an abundance of males to enslave and they all turn out to be as ugly as sin."
"Maybe we could keep the lights out, or put a paper bag over their heads or something."
"Now, now, let's not be pessimistic. The males can't all be tall, broad shouldered and muscular. There must be a few properly-proportioned short, thin ones in the population. We can pick out the best for ourselves."

There's also the fact that human males will likely be bigger in other ways, which can certainly count for something. Lot more than just height and strength that human males are superior in.

Werra wrote:

dragoongfa wrote:Now taking into account the relative average heights for Loroi women (5'7" or 170cm) and men (a little less than 5 feet, lets say 4'9", 145 cm to be sure) and the average heights for Human women (5'4" or 162 cm) and men (5'7" or 170 cm) it doesn't seem that human men are too tall to be considered disproportional.

Careful, 5 feet is not the average height of Loroi males. They rarely grow taller than 5 feet, which could put their average at 4'5''. Depending on what counts as rare. Yet even with an average male height of 5 feet, that would mean virtually every single Loroi female would be comfortably taller than the tallest male.

That's quite the change. I'd be very careful about making assumptions about attraction between the species. Especially when we consider that Loroi are described as xenophobe and socially very conservative.

Realistically, Alex should be a freakshow.

The key words in my argument are 'proportional' and 'disproportional'. It all comes down to the ratios and proportionality of one's body; the 'golden mean' to put it bluntly. Human women can be 'hot' and 'attractive' on heights ranging from 'short' (a little less than 5 feet) to very 'tall' ( over 6 feet, nearly two meters) provided that their bodies and features are healthy and proportionate.

Alex is for all intents and purposes 'proportionate'.

Alex is proportionate for a human. A Loroi male of his size does not exist. You can't just compare him to tall women. You'd have to compare him to a fantastic creature, such as a giant or troll, height wise.

Loroi males don't suffer from dwarfism, their legs, arms, torsos and heads are proportionate to their bodies as if they were humans of similar height. Taking one of their males and proportionally making him as tall as Alex wouldn't automatically make them freaks of natures as humans with Gigantism.

Loroi have stronger sexual dimorphism than humans. Imagine a human woman of impossible tallness. She'd be a freak of nature, no matter how well proportioned she was.

Werra wrote:Loroi have stronger sexual dimorphism than humans. Imagine a human woman of impossible tallness. She'd be a freak of nature, no matter how well proportioned she was.

The analogue in terms of height would be about 190cm to 200cm. A quick google search produces results that are quite pleasing to the eye:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Tall+wo ... KSaqLoJIWM

Alex is almost a foot taller than a typical Loroi male. The average height for a human female is just a touch over 5 feet; while a six foot human woman is unusual, she is hardly a grotesque freak. Some of the most successful supermodels were 6' (looking at you, Elle MacPherson). It might be socially awkward to have a girlfriend who is taller than you, but it doesn't follow that her size makes her unattractive.

Now, it's not a perfect analogy, and nobody's going to be asking Alex to become a model, but people with gigantism or dwarfism aren't unattractive because of their size; it's because of the deformities caused by their disorder. Also, the contrast would be much more extreme if Alex was over 6' and more ruggedly built.

In terms of size, humans have roughly similar sexual dimorphism to Loroi. Loroi have a greater average difference in height (about 8", as opposed to about 6" in humans), but humans differ much more widely in weight; Loroi males are built similarly to females, whereas human males are much more heavily built.

Arioch wrote:Alex is almost a foot taller than a typical Loroi male. The average height for a human female is just a touch over 5 feet; while a six foot human woman is unusual, she is hardly a grotesque freak. Some of the most successful supermodels were 6' (looking at you, Elle MacPherson). It might be socially awkward to have a girlfriend who is taller than you, but it doesn't follow that her size makes her unattractive.

Now, it's not a perfect analogy, and nobody's going to be asking Alex to become a model, but people with gigantism or dwarfism aren't unattractive because of their size; it's because of the deformities caused by their disorder. Also, the contrast would be much more extreme if Alex was over 6' and more ruggedly built.

In terms of size, humans have roughly similar sexual dimorphism to Loroi. Loroi have a greater average difference in height (about 8", as opposed to about 6" in humans), but humans differ much more widely in weight; Loroi males are built similarly to females, whereas human males are much more heavily built.

So, it would be more odd if he were to be built say like Conan the Barbarian is traditionally depicted.

Size wise, it doesn't sound too extreme of a difference. If it was something closer to Peter Dinklage and Gwendoline Christie it sounds like Alex might be even more of a curiosity. ANd yes, this has happened before in fiction (the Guardians in Green Lantern).

gaerzi wrote:Beryl watched human movies, looking for an appropriate pickup line.

SpoilerShow

XDXD

I was going to make this edit when I woke up today, I guess you beat me to the punch.

gaerzi wrote:Beryl watched human movies, looking for an appropriate pickup line.

Growing up on a desert planet understandably has made her thirsty.

Arioch wrote:Alex is almost a foot taller than a typical Loroi male. The average height for a human female is just a touch over 5 feet; while a six foot human woman is unusual, she is hardly a grotesque freak. Some of the most successful supermodels were 6' (looking at you, Elle MacPherson). It might be socially awkward to have a girlfriend who is taller than you, but it doesn't follow that her size makes her unattractive.

In a nutshell,

• his height may be a bit unsettling to Loroi who are accustomed to their males being shorter, but he's not freakishly tall, just at the upper end of the curve.
• he is a bit more muscular and solidly built than his Loroi counterpart.
• the ratios of head/limbs/torso size (which are skewed in cases of gigantism/dwarfism) are well within Loroi norms, as those are pretty similar to human norms.

So I'd say that his height and bulk may be a bit off-putting to the Loroi on the slim/small/waifish side (Cloud, for example, or most of the civilian Loroi, I presume, lacking combat and physical training), but I think it might even actually counting in his favor towards equally tall and buff Loroi. Those Loroi who would otherwise have to fear to break their males in two when things get going. Yes, Fireblade might actually serve as an example for that.

I think the biggest turnoff for Loroi is when they discover humans males grow hair on their faces (and chest, abd legs, and...)

sunphoenix wrote:
And YES, Beryl IS making a pass... NO, I don't think Alex was thinking about what the construct told him, but YES, Alex is Also making a 'pass' {at a safe distance} at Fireblade!

He is specifically ignoring the fact that he's been told the Teidar view speech as a preamble to a challenge he is IN-FACT doing that on purpose it IS a challenge to her.. not the physical kind of challenge to violence but a social one.. he IS in fact poking the bear cause..well he likes her and wants her attention.

Thus Alex IS making a pass at her ~ flirting, its clear in his expression!

"Was sich liebt, das neckt sich."

There's no literal translation, but
"Those who like each other banter" is about as close as I can get...

Seems to fit what you're trying to describe...