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Maybe The World Will Never Understand Our Kinda Love (Patreon)

Published:
2022-08-21 16:37:15
Edited:
2023-06-08 01:30:13
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

There's something 'bout youThat makes my skies blueAnd whenever we're throughAll I can do is see color~ 

Tibbs and Perry, Perry and Tibbs. Some exploration featuring how the world perceives their relationship, vs how they themselves perceive it.

1.) As mentioned before, predator/prey relationships are stigmatized in Fuzzbutts. Society dictates that predators be noble and dominant, with big cats in particular being quite prideful and obsessed with public image. It's considered degrading for a predator to "lower themselves" by dating a prey animal, these sorts of relationships are dismissed as fetishistic (it doesn't help that the rare media depicting pred/prey relationships in FB tends to be quite Beastars-like, usually showing a lustful pred struggling to contain his animal urges around an innocent, wide-eyed prey person).

Perry's case is particularly egregious, because his prey partner is so much bigger and stronger than he is. This makes Perry look weak and undignified in the eyes of many, and at worst, he's seen as a pathetic deviant getting off on being dominated by prey- a total inversion of the "natural order". Here we can see Perry's dear aunt Meredith and Uncle Harold condemning their woefully misguided nephew. Perry's disgracing the family! And what's worse, this freakshow of a relationship is ruining the sanctity of real, honest marriages! >:O

2.) Meanwhile....

Meredith, like many, is under the impression that Tibbs doesn't give a rat's ass about Perry and that the relationship is entirely one-sided (which makes Perry look even more foolish). It's an easy mistake to make, as Tibbs does often seem stoic and even robotic in comparison to Perry's near-constant affection. 

But. Tibbs does in fact, love Perry. He's just more subtle about how he expresses this (compared to Perry's love for unprompted 3am yowling love ballads). Tibbs went through his young adult life as a giant intimidating monster boar, so he wasn't really used to making friends or being treated warmly by anyone outside his own family. Yet Perry has approached him with nothing but easy sincerity and kindness since day one, which has the effect of punching through Tibbs' stoic shell like a torpedo through a paper napkin. Tibbs shows affection largely through acts of service, like waking up early to pack Perry a nice lunch with a note inside, or noticing a warning light on in Perry's car and immediately popping open the hood to fix the problem. It's not exactly Hollywood romance, but in Perry's view Tibbs is dependable and sweet and funny in a way not enough people appreciate, and he loves him dearly for it. While Perry can definitely get annoyed that people give him so much shit for being with Tibbs, he's never been good at fitting in anyway, and isn't gonna start trying to conform now.

Uncle Harold: Perry, your aunt and I can not condone your "relationship". >:(

Perry: *gasps* Oh no!

Perry: anyway

Here we can see Perry returning home from a trip (during which Tibbs was definitely not sad and listless).

3.-5.) Perry and Tibbs engaging in one of their shared love languages- being fucking cringe

Files

Comments

gamigami

i know this is waaaaaaaaay WAAAAAAAAAY back... but are these Dom's parents?

lopoddity

Nah. They're probably just family friends that Perry was taught to treat as his aunt and uncle

mirarevias

I'm so obsessed with their dynamic. Perry's tiny dynamite energy balanced by Tibbs' stoicism, I'm also just so, so in love with big gentle dudes macking on their tiny energetic goofball lovers Also Perry being, "oh no! anyway" is honestly such a vibe. Me when I had neighbors spreading rumors about me being MTF trans to kids (I am trans, but not specifically that flavor lol). God every time you post it makes me want to get better at small scene doodles like this so I can start sharing my characters w/the world like you do. One day, perhaps! TYSM for sharing all you do, it truly gives me a lot to look forward to each month! 💕

Angsty Ram

👀 I love all of this so much, how is it your one off characters like his aunt and uncle are such eye candy??? I adore Tibbs and Perry, they are possibly my favourite Fuzzbutt couple just below Penny and Cupcake. I hope you are doing well in general. Keep it up dude ✨

lopoddity

AHJDHDHDS thank you so much! That means the world for me to read! <3

FloweryFruitFangs

AAaaaa what a pleasant surprise to open up my phone during a lunch break and see this drop. Your expressions are getting more energetic and exaggerated and in the best way; they are still so genuine and well executed!! It can be hard to get animal characters to emote well, especially in art styles more grounded in realistic anatomy, but you pull it off wonderfully. And oh my GOsH Perry and Tibbs have such an earnest and wholesome relationship, they make me smile so hard. It reminds me a lot of my fiance and I, maybe that's why I'm so drawn to it haha. But yeah I love their dynamic and the way they show affection to each other.

lopoddity

I'm doing well, thank you. :) Just tired with my massive workload. Hopefully it'll lighten up eventually. I'm so glad you enjoy Tibbs and Perry! (And the aunt and uncle character, because no lie i slapped together their designs in like two minutes)

pookaWOODS

These two ate so emotionally healing. They are my favorite out of all your pairings 😭💖⚘️

Emma Breslauer

It's interesting that Perry's aunt and uncle are different species of big cat though! I'm really curious about how this society views relationships between two animals that are different species but still "close enough" (ie Harold and Meredith are both big cats, but mountain lions and snow leopards are pretty vastly different from each other) as opposed to relationships between predators and prey animals which is very explicitly condemned by society. We see that Sunny's parents would prefer he date another golden retriever or a yellow lab over Skye, is that considered to be an unusually conservative stance? It's interesting that Harold and Meredith come down pretty hard on Perry's relationship when they might have faced opposition to their own marriage (maybe in the same way a Jewish person and a Catholic person getting married would see push back unless one of them converted? And it's even more interesting that Perry is a lynx, which implies that their family tree must be pretty mixed all the way down) Not that people need a reason to be bigots of course, since it's pretty inherently irrational in the first place!

Must Love Frogs

Snow Leopards and wild hogs don't mix. Just the facts.

lopoddity

I'm glad you noticed that. :) I was gonna include some notes on the aunt and uncle, but I felt I'd rambled enough. Yup, they're big ol' hypocrites! >:O Fuzzbutts is a bit analogous to our own world, particularly America. Historically speaking, it's always been expected for a person to find a partner of their own species. However, as society progressed and the industrial age began, travel became easier and more accessible, and animals everywhere were no longer confined to their insular native habitats. Cities with looming skyscrapers were born, and as animals gravitated to sprawling metropolises for work and opportunity, society steadily grew much, MUCH more integrated. And when you are a tree frog living in a city of billions of members of the animal kingdom, it, uh, can be kinda hard to find a froggy partner of your exact same species. And so social standards around dating relaxed, and it became acceptable to date/marry species loosely approximate or adjacent to one's own species. It's not unusual for a dog to date a wolf, or a lion to date a puma, or a crocodile to date an alligator. There's still pressure to date within your species (Buddy and Biscuit are especially conservative about it), but there's also largely a feeling of "eh, take the closest you can get i guess". BUT. As with any sort of culture shift, this change didn't occur overnight, and there was a LOT of pushback from traditionalists. The topic of mixed-species marriage became a hot button during the 60s, with the hippie movement coming forth in support of it. Harold and Meredith dated in secret behind their parents' backs, and when they were discovered and kicked out, they eloped. They know what it's like to face intolerance over who they fell in love with, yet they both seem to have forgotten their "free love" hippie days and yanked the ladder up behind them. In their eyes, THEIR marriage is a perfectly romantic, reasonable exception to the norm, while Perry's marriage should be shamed or pitied. It's interesting, because the cries of "it's unnatural" and "just a novelty/fetish" were the EXACT words their own parents levied against their relationship. Bigotry seems to be incapable of self-reflection, and in my own life, I've noticed quite a few people who've survived oppression- and then, in a stunning lack of empathy- turned right around and stomped their boot on the neck of a different marginalized group. It's a curious trend, and I wanted to show it with dear dear Harold and Meredith.

lopoddity

haha, when I finished coloring leopard aunt I was like "hmm, why does she look so familiar....?"

TheTabbyBadger

I never would have guessed! I too was like, wow I love these side characters even if we never see them again! (Obviously design-wise, they seem very rude to poor Perry and Tibbs)

TheTabbyBadger

I love these two so much, I’m always excited when I see them 😭

lopoddity

Thanks! Harold is really the rude one, sweet Meredith will bake you cookies and quietly judge you behind your back. :) Fun fact: I originally conceived Perry as a mountain lion (big enough to be an actual potential threat to Tibbs and thus explore the "he's gonna eat you!" aspect of pred/prey social stigma), but I later settled on a lynx. Some of Perry's original design got recycled into Harold here. :3

Bigsmile

The Hypocrisy of the old free love hippy generation never ceases to amaze me. Are nations in Fuzzbutt drawn a lot via species lines with Fuzzmerica being a big Ole meltingpot or are most nations pretty mixed regarding species?

lopoddity

Most modern nations, especially cities, are extremely integrated. This is less the case in rural locations, where the animals that live there tend to be the ones best physically suited to comfortably live there (eg. lots of reptiles in the deserts, tons of white thick-furred animals in frosty tundras, loads of amphibians in swamp territories, etc). There are also some communities that deliberately resist diversification, typically for questionable reasons, such as Lune and Victoria's mountainside all-deer cult community, Rangale. But for the most part locations generally welcome new species, because more people coming in typically means more money for the community. Immigration is an easy process and critters are often encouraged to relocate as desired.

Gleeman and Artist

I love the cartoony expression you've been giving your characters recently. These two continue to by my favorite. They're so sweet.

Angsty Ram

Now all I can see is Harold doing that horrific mountain lion scream if he got his tail trapped and that is really funny to me

lopoddity

Harold: 🎶 Now when I wake up in the morning I step outside, and I take a deep breath and get real high, and I scream at the top of my lungs.....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ren

Are Dom and Perry still cousins in your universe? I remember you fiddling around with the idea. I would love to see Perry help Dom with her relationship with Tibbs and dealing with his feelings and the stigma around a relationship between them. It would also be lovely to see Perry have some family support in his corner.

lopoddity

Yup, Dom and Perry are cousins. :) Though as they're both only children, their bond growing up was more like brothers. Unfortunately Dom had zero reason to question their family's values and probably mocked Perry relentlessly about his relationship with Tibbs. Lots of mean-spirited teasing to undermine Perry's ferocity and strength, plus lots of invasive questions about the intimate details of their partnership. Perry tries to laugh it off, right up until he can't, and that's the day Tibbs bodily hurls Dom out their front door. From then on, the relationship between Dom and Perry is strained to nonexistent. Riiiight up until Dom finds himself with feelings for his prey roommate, and with nobody else to go to for advice....

Ren

I love your story telling and I’m a sucker for some karma of this kind. I can imagine Perry being kind as he is to accept and help him, but not as a brother. Dom is gonna have to work hard to earn that back. I can see Perry if he did let Dom back into his life in an capacity be clear that he’d support him because that’s what he would have needed but he would not have the relationship with him that he once did. I’m so excited to see you explore this, one of my favorite things about your writing and art is how you write relationships, of all kinds and different beliefs and morals and how interconnected all your characters are and how they effect each other and the world around them. You are an incredible story teller and I can’t wait to see how you continue exploring these relationships 💜

Robo87

I have sooooo much I wanna comment but I am currently tripping balls on cold medicine so please just know these bois bring my dead soul so much joy and love 💜💜💜 Hopefully I'll feel better soon and gst some coherent thoughts together on one of my favorite otps

lopoddity

AGH, thank you so much! That's such a wonderful compliment! <3

lopoddity

I'm so sorry to hear you're under the weather. :( Please feel better soon!

Hazelskyes

I'm not sure if you've encountered the "Zistopia" fancomic before but it also explores the dynamics of predator/prey relationships as you've done here - it's such an interesting concept! I'm interested to see more of it in your world 😊

Corinne Stephenson

Now I'm dying to see how Tibbs' dear momma sees their relationship. I can picture her practically crushing Perry's spine in a killer hug immediately upon seeing him.

TheTabbyBadger

I’ve been thinking on this more since this piece. Are predator/prey platonic friendships also seen as a taboo? Like if Dom and Tadeo as roommates became best friends and called each other that would everyone be supportive right up until they said, ‘just kidding we’re in love’? Love the worldbuilding and how much it makes you think!

lopoddity

Thank you! :D And good question! I wish it had a simple answer. XD Predator/prey platonic friendships don't have anywhere near the same negative stigma as pred/prey romances, but that doesn't mean these friendships are universally accepted. Social attitudes vary by location and species. In rural pockets, where populations tend to be insular and homogenous, a pair of pred/prey buddies are bound to turn heads. Folks will probably ask nosy questions and grow stilted and awkward (and usually extremely curious) around a sort of friendship they've never seen before. Prey animals in particular tend to have a protective herding instinct, they might try to pull the prey friend aside and ask if he's okay, is he being manipulated, does he need help to get away? Whereas predators tend to regard prey as witless and clingy, and would wonder why any self-confident pred would ever mingle with food. The case is much different in metropolitan areas. As species integration has become the norm in cities, so too have mixed-species friendships. Generally this is hailed as a good thing, except for angry old diehard traditionalists, but we don't talk about them. Younger people especially are more inclined to engage in pred/prey friendships, owed in part by their tendencies toward diverse spaces like colleges. Dom and Tadeo are both young dudes (late twenties) who live near and attend Critter City Zooniversity. Their friendship doesn't warrant a second glance in this space- Dom's pretty much the only one who gets weird about it, since he was raised by giant status-obsessed felines who view all social relationships as transactional and especially look down on befriending prey for the sake of befriending prey. Sure, some of Dom's old frat buddies might tease him over the odd friendship, but even here the frat bros are much more curious and amused than judgmental. Tadeo's friends, comparatively, are wary of Dom's smarmy arrogance and feline strength, but relax seeing what a dork he becomes around Tadeo. Basically, pred/prey friendships get a pass because they're friendships. "Just" friendships. Romantic relationships between preds and prey come with much more inherent issues- how will they cohabitate? What will mealtimes look like?? Is a herbivorous partner willing to cook meat for their carnivore spouse? Can a solitary-minded predator fit into their prey partner's close-knit family herd? How will the partners reconcile their differing health and material needs? How will intimacy between them work? Will it be dangerous? What will the children look like??? What will their families think??? Are they prepared to deal with gossip? Nosy questions? Discrimination? Are they prepared to deal with choosing between hiding the relationship, or getting rude stares? .....How can they REALLY ever know it's true love, and not just a weird kink? Of course, pred/prey friendships are not immune from many of the above issues, but friendships are just not seen as being as "important" as romantic relationships, so people generally don't scrutinize platonic bonds as closely as romantic ones. Tadeo and Dom being friends is just fine. Tadeo and Dom being best friends is kiiiinda weird, but mostly acceptable. Tadeo and Dom being boyfriends? Opens up a whoooole new can of worms. :/

TheTabbyBadger

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the in-depth answer :D I’m glad friendships at least are a little more accepting (even if it’s sad they’re seen as ‘less’ than romance, but totally realistic).

feathermaws

I have always wondered about this dynamic in FB Cause there are plenty of herbivores that could absolutely wreck some carnivore shit