Mr B Natural asked: Talita, do you have a birthday you celebrate or have ever celebrated?

Talita: Well, nobody actually knows exactly when I was born. When I showed up at the foster care home, they estimated that I had pupated some time in the last couple weeks, which means I was probably born in July the previous year. On paperwork, my birthday is July 1st.

• larva: 23 weeks
• pupa: 2 weeks
• imago

Talita: I usually take the day off, but I’m not huge into celebrations. Though, this time Gillie and Idrisah surprised me with a gift. They got me a new windspinner, it has an otter made from a curved metal plate. I guess they noticed I like putting them in front of air vents...

Gwagwa asked: Talita, was there news coverage of you in Nexus Jovia when you ended up in the human foster care system?

Talita: It was kept pretty quiet. Thank god… I think the embassy types involved kept my situation hush hush because they suspected I was a trafficking case, and didn’t want to alarm the responsible party into fleeing or destroying evidence. They never found anything, though. I remember getting bugged a couple times when I was old enough to enter public school, but my caregivers were not very keen on speaking to the media. They wanted my privacy to be protected. As an adult I have gotten approached… more than I’d like. Especially during college, when I became locally infamous just because I stick out like a 3 meter tall sore thumb. Needless to say, I haven’t done any interviews.

Anonymous asked: Talita, what was your reaction when you grew your first antlers?

Talita: Oh. I... um. I tried to grind them off with the file I use for my teeth… And that’s how I learned mature antlers still have blood vessels in the center...

Deerthing asked: Talita, what’s your favorite airplane?

Talita: What?? Don't make me pick one! Aaaaa! I guess one of the coolest ones is the swing wing HX-8 "Luci?" Even with all the comets they've been lobbing at it, the Martian atmosphere is still super thin, so the coffin corner is razor sharp. Because stall speed and Mach are uncomfortably close, Martian planes have low cargo capacity and high aspect ratio wings, and need to go FAST to take off. But, when you hit Mach, the aerodynamics of flight change. Long wings get hit with horrible wave drag. So the Luci folds its wings back to change its shape! It's such an elegant look.  On the other end. Um. Heehee. So, there's not a ton of information available about Russo-Venusian aircraft, since they're so isolationist. But Venus has an atmosphere double the density of Earth's. In high altitudes, that means aircraft almost look Terran. But at low altitudes... they're all fat little pressure vessels with stubby wings. One of the earliest manned research crafts on Venus was the Hell Diver, which... for such a tough name, was soooo cute. When I was younger I was really into historical airplanes from Earth, like the Stipa-Caproni, the Concorde, and the Airbus. Sigh... Airplanes are so cool. I'd love to see one in person some day.

Kai asked: Idrisah, as an animal lover, what would your dream pet be? (Ignoring practicalities of food/space on Dirtball.)

Idrisah: ... A Border Leicester sheep...