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verrrry quick doodle before bed (looking forward to having more time to draw in the coming days!)

I decided to rework my Phoenix expy, Frankie, into something a little different. Meet Judith. She is Sunny's "little" sister, adopted to be his companion when he was about three years old.

The adoption coordinator told Sunny's parents that little prospective pup Judith was a husky mix with "some light wolf ancestry". Whether the coordinator genuinely didn't grasp the truth or was deliberately distorting things is unknown.....What is known is that Sunny's parents were startled when Judy started growing....and growing......and growing. She quickly surpassed Sunny in size, sprouting massive claws and fangs and developing immense physical strength that far outclassed her brother, would eventually outclass both her parents combined. Judith is a dire wolf, one of the largest canines to ever live. Her general air of menace tends to spook most herbivores, and even her adoptive family is a bit nervous around their big bad daughter.

.....That kinda hurts Jude's feelings, cuz underneath the roughhousing and snark and booming laugh, she's secretly, well.....a sweetheart. A softie. A big ol' pubby. She's a local mechanic that does many odd jobs, but also quite likes knitting, embroidery, and writing mushy love songs. Not that she'd ever have the guts to actually perform said songs, her girl band Maul Madness is hardcore punk rock/heavy metal only, because if the world is gonna fear Jude as a big scary monster, might as well lean into it for fun and profit.

In the world of Fuzzbutts, predators are often typecast as dominating, violent, and scary, and there's a curious trend of more predators being in positions of power (eg. politicians, office managers, etc) than prey animals. Prey animals are sometimes maligned as being weak, skittish, and easily misled. All citizens have likely been unfairly stereotyped at one point or another, and discrimination is a thing. Predators may resent prey animals for having an easier time acquiring food (herbivores and omnivores have a wide variety of food options, while obligate carnivores are stuck either eating protein-based fake meat or paying for expensive cuts of lab-grown meat). Prey animals may resent predators for the unfair power they wield, both socially and physically. Although society generally gets along and is fully integrated, there is often a note of mistrust and unease, and some pockets of extremist speciesism exist. 

Additionally, there's a further social divide between "wildtype" and "domestic" meat-eaters. Domesticated dogs especially are afforded an instant trust by society that wildtype predators like Jude are typically denied. Who doesn't love a dog's adorable face and cute wagging tail? Jude, having been raised among domestic dogs, naturally grew to mirror many of their behaviors, but what's cute from Sunny (barking/howling when excited, running up to greet someone, smiling wide) comes off as terrifying when Jude does it. Jude tries very hard to be nice and palatable for the world, but ends up failing most of the time anyway, so as an adult she fully embraces the "big bad wolf" thing, acting dominating and crass to cover up a good number of insecurities. Her relationship with Sunny is strained, while she does love her brother deep down, she can be a bit of a bully to him. Out of herself, Cass, and Sunny, it's very obvious who their parents' golden child is, so Jude sometimes takes out this resentment on her big bro.

if u wanna imagine Jude's voice and general vibe, basically think Miss Kitty from Fievel Goes West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxVWqSZksiw

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Dragonseeker

My furry ass: *sweats nervously*

D

Cass (to Sunny) “I brought you frankincense” Sunny: “thank you” Jude to Sunny: “and I brought you myrrh” Sunny: “Thank you” Jude: *bares teeth* “myrrh-DER!” Sunny: “JUDITH”

D

Realtalk though I LOVE HER… is she still rough around the edges and Butch like Phoenix, even when being a softie? I want to draw her in a soft little softie outfit. Like a pink hand-knit sweater with exactly one tiny kitten embroidered on the center of it

LovelyScars5264

Would sunny and Bruce have kids and how would that work?

lopoddity

She's still our same rough-around-the-edges big bad butch. :) She's gotten so used to playing a tough girl that she'd be nervous to wear something cute and girly in public, she'd feel like everyone was staring at her and judging. That's not to say she doesn't have a pair of pink kitty pajamas at home tho

Gleeman and Artist

Ahhhh I love Judith. I have a soft spot for characters who act big and tough but are secretly soft inside

lopoddity

They could opt for a surrogate, but more likely they'd adopt. :> Adoption and blended families are very common in Fuzzbutts. Seeing as how Sunny has two adoptive siblings, and how the only decent parental parent Bruce ever had wasn't related to him by blood, I imagine both Bruce and Sunny would be keen on adopting an existing child in need, rather than creating one.

Bigsmile

Hell yeah! Dire wolves are cool as shit!!! Just to get the scale right, how big is Jude compared to Cupcake? And do bigger animals also face unique issues? I imagine it's much more expensive to feed and house a family of hippos than it is for a family of mice.

Doglover502

*sees Cass is one of Sunny's sisters* *Remembers that one DA status where Cass is a seal* So I see Sunny's parents got misinformed about adopting pups twice

SmilesPerHour

Aww, I love this design! Big and feral, but with a heart of gold. I look forward to seeing more of Jude. And I also like your notes on the societal gulf between predators and prey, and how hard it is for predators to gain the trust of others. Poor dears.

Colbyr

P U B B Y !!! (Can totally see her secretly learning how to knit on her claws if she's too self-conscious to but knitting needles and then wondering if it counts as finger crochet instead.)

Scyllarus

I know obviously that Fuzzbutts is not a direct translation of your MLP stuff, but I do gotta ask...do Jude and Victoria have a relationship?

PrincessMuffinArt

She is beautiful. Don’t let people put you down, Judith! We love you!

lopoddity

Jude is about a head shorter than Cupcake and much leaner and lighter. Larger animals do indeed face a whole host of challenges. For one, society is designed with medium sized animals in mind, so it can be a struggle finding a proper sized seat out in public, or finding large clothes in stock at a standard shop. Most big animals live a semi-segregated life away from smaller critters, there are spaces where they simply cannot fit. A moose is probably never going to visit that one rodent bakery everyone is raving about, it’s unlikely there'll be enough (if any at all) jumbo seating to accommodate them, and the portion sizes are too small anyway. Large and small animals tend to shop in separate grocery stores (it’s just easier for a mouse to pick up a few things from Mini-Market than it is for them to exhaustedly scurry around Mammoth-Mart trying not to get crushed underfoot), but food prices vary across the board. It is generally cheaper for a mouse to eat than a hippo, though I imagine most large-animal stores would operate much like Costco. Make citizens pay a membership fee to shop there, which then allows the store to offer bulk goods at cheap prices. Most large citizens are able to feed themselves and their families without breaking the bank. :3

lopoddity

I did think it’d be funny if Sunny’s parents got bamboozled into adopting “pups” twice, but more likely what happened is that they’d be put off from adopting after things went so wrong with Jude. Buuuut Sunny’s mom is a pediatric nurse that finds sick infant Cass in the baby dropoff box (most hospitals have a “safe surrender” program for parents to hand over unwanted newborns). Cass’s chubby pup face triggers Mama Dog’s “must nurture pubbie” instinct, aaaaand she ends up convincing Sunny’s dad to adopt their third child. Alternatively, Cass is not actually adopted, but rather a low-income student that Sunny’s parents took in as a transient youth and decided to sponsor through college. Idk, still figuring out how Cass fits into the familyyy

lopoddity

Eventually, probably. :> But not for a long time, I’ll be focusing largely on how they develop their friendship instead. Their relationship is not a direct analogue of Vogue/Phoenix, what with the belligerent sexual tension and rocky romance and whatnot- they’re likely going to be more functional, with their dynamic shaped more by how society treats predators/prey than by their own clashing personalities. I’m still figuring things out, but basically, Victoria starts out TERRIFIED of Jude. Jude is hired to fix the crummy plumbing in the Deer siblings' boarding room, and Victoria opens the door one night to see a massive wolf looming in the dark hallway, all yellow eyes and wide, awkward, fang-filled smile. Before Jude can say so much as “hiya”, Victoria keels over in a dead faint. Victoria is frightened of carnivores. She knows it’s awful and judgemental of her, but something about them triggers her “freeze” reflex- her hands shake, her heart rate spikes, and she can hardly stammer out a sentence. It stems from her sheltered upbringing, full of constant, nightmarish sermons on how carnivores are all sinful flesh-eaters that would devour a fawn alive if they thought they could get away with it. Lune, hailing from the same background, has similar discomfort around predators, but he’s a stag, an animal that is more-or less a roided-up frat guy with knives taped to its head. He’s reasonably certain he could defend himself if things came to violence- but what about Victoria? What can a doe do against a wolf the size of a bear? Victoria does eventually learn that Jude is not a monster, but a surprisingly friendly (if a little rough-around-the-edges) handywoman. Embarrassed at her initial fear, Victoria resolves to befriend Jude. As they interact more, while Victoria doesn’t lose her unease around Jude’s strength and claws, she becomes quietly fascinated the more she learns about her. Jude is everything Victoria wishes she could be- strong, rebellious, unapologetic, unashamed to say what’s on her mind. The punk rock wolf is just plain exciting to be around, unlike anyone Vi has ever met. Jude, meanwhile…..doesn’t know how to feel about this little doe, soft and sweet and effortlessly demure in a way that has always eluded Jude. She can hear how Victoria’s heart hammers around her, she can smell her fear, yet is puzzled at why the weird deer insists on being around her anyway, bringing her cupcakes in those trembling hands. At first she’s suspicious, wondering if Victoria just has something to prove. A lot of prey animals “befriend” large predators for social clout, using carnivores as accessories to look brave or especially progressive. And….yeah, Victoria kinda IS using Jude as a prop to confront her fear of predators. Jude can see this and longs to confront Victoria about it. Their friendship is shallow and fake-nice for a while, but eventually they do relax a bit and learn to see each other as fully realized people. I really want to explore them coming to build a true friendship. If they do date, they get to open up the whole new can of worms that is pred/prey romantic relationships. Idk, we’ll seeeee

lopoddity

Ye, i had that exact meme in mind

MEllegoo

Aww! Poor Jude! I’m getting a Beastars world type feel in the Fuzzbutts AU and a Legoshi character feel from Jude. This approach an excellent way to tackle modern societal issues!! Can’t wait to see more!

Bigsmile

..... Damn it, you just reminded me that I should get a Costco membership

Coraline T

question: although i know sunny is dating the skyla replacement (i forgot her name i'm sorry), but is there going to be some other ships that are going to be the "same" as the pandeverse if that makes sense? mostly asking bc im curious about jude and victoria/if they'll be romantic interests here too. i miss my girls sm

Luke

This is a really cool idea. Poor Jude.

PrairieGhosted

I hope I'm not missing something obvious, but is there any official art / design for Cass ? 😅 I just want to see all the sibs!!

Scyllarus

Gdi patreon, can you not alert me to replies. I love the idea of Victoria insisting on hanging out with Jude! I like to imagine her managing to convince Judith to show her one of those punk-rock songs - and by the end of it, Vi is shaking but manages a "whoo!" And it's real enthusiasm, even if she's admittedly scared out of her wits after the snarling, loud music. On a completely different track: I kind of love the idea of Skye and Jude being friends (possibly girlfriends? Skye having no fear of Jude's big scary face and insisting on getting nails done together when Judith hesitantly comments on how cute Skye's manicure is...) Sunny hates it c: