Kodi: Last Sam Hain, actually. I mean, I liked my costume...even if we both got some flak from the group for it.
Val: They’re nerds...but they weren’t wrong. I feel like whoever designed this stuff was like… a six-year-old trying to imagine what emo kids wore two decades ago.
Vanna: *Blushing* Y-yes...*Chuffing sounds*…
Fangmeyer: Being called a ‘Pretty Kitty’ doesn’t get me nearly as worked up as being called a ‘bad’ one. *Snickers* Or being called ‘Mistress’ for that matter… *Chuckles again, this time with a more seductive and playfully dark lilt.*
Nick: Lingerie, yes. Bunny outfit, no...because it's redundant. *Chuckles*
Judy: Exactly. If I put on lingerie, it's a bunny outfit by default...*Chuckles* These ears are built in.
Nick: What would I do? Have her put on another set of ears? *Shakes head* I'm not like Stay Puft and Puppy, I'm not looking to roleplay a sexy night with a four-eared rabbit alien.
Judy: While I'm sure they don't appreciate being put on blast for sexual roleplay, I'm with you on that one Slick. *Snickers*
Nick: Hey, I'll make it fair...we like a little 'light restraints' in our bedroom activities...
Judy: NICK! *Blushes softly* C-C'mon now...
Nick: And sometimes even I'll wear a bit of frilly lingerie if the mood catches me right...*Chuckles* I'm not ashamed to admit it. *Flashes Judy a smug smirk* There, does that make us even?
Judy: *Head in paws* *Mumbles*
Nick: What was that, Carrots?
Judy: Y-You do look pretty good in...some frilly stuff...*Chuckles*
Nick: *Laughs loudly* Of course I do! Foxes can make anything work, regardless of sex. We're a very aesthetically pleasing-looking species. *Smirks smugly* That said, I have absolutely worn a bunny outfit for Carrots. *Winks*
Judy: *Still blushing intensely* I hope my parents don't read this...
Dawn: Hate? I happened to think the story was really good. I loved the transition between the two time periods in the book. And the sort of ‘passing of the torch’ with some of the old characters to the new ones.
Gus: She likes that, she just hates that Garrett died…
*Melanie starts sniffling* Melanie: My perfect feathery little bean...*Sniffle* And he was still sort of on the outs with Rowan when he died…
Vernon: I mean, Rowan died too...and Dolly…
Dawn: I mean, it is sad, but aside from that business with Garett and his book, most of the old hooves from the first book led happy lives. It’s probably the best you could hope for…
Broomie: Don’t forget the Warrowick Ripper…
Melly: Sweet Cervidwen’s Hooves...I’m glad the author left a good chunk of the nitty gritty details of his crimes out, but the parts he did write...*Melly shudders, rubbing her upper arms.* What a vile shoat he was…I felt so terrified and then horrified for his victims.
Dawn: I felt terrible for Rowan and Dolly too…especially Rowan, considering…
Joel: It was bad ass I’ll give it that. Rowan’s last bounty, his own firstborn son! That duel in the mine? He didn’t even let him monologue...I did not see that coming!
Talia: Creatures like Elijah are empty and cold. You cannot hesitate, not even for second. He is true predator, in the darkest sense of term. Rowan did what had to be done.
Megumi: It really ended up setting the tone for the noir-style cases in the latter half of the book. OH EM GOODNESS! Can we talk about how adorable Lucius and Elanor are!? Canon and my OTP in one shot!
Talia: Am I strange one for thinking Lucius should be with Talia?
Megumi: Pft...there’s a crack ship…
Gus: And we’ve devolved to shipping. Sweet Sawgrass, what’s the point in shipping? Lucius and Elanor marry at the end of th-
Megumi: GUS!
DAMARE BAKA! SPOILERS!
Gus: I’m just saying I don’t
see the point of shipping against established couples.
Broomie: AU’s are a thing Gus…
Kodi: Am I the only one who felt like Paul Ryder was...basically just Colt again?
Dawn: THANK YOU! *Gestures to Kodi* See, someone agrees with me!
Vernon: Paul is fine...he feels different enough…
Cameron: At least the Ryder family still has a presence in the series...it feels weird there isn’t an Odran descendant...*holds paws up defensively* Not that I loved the character, mind you...My favorite was actually Irene and Aleksey in this book...They remind me of...well... never mind...
Melly: I think the author got my feedback on that one. *Snickers* But if I’m being serious, it was nice that this book both passed the torch while making room for new characters. It’s a little something for everyone. Plus, you can more or less pick up this book without having read the first one...which is novel.
Vernon: Gives you just enough about what happened before without totally retreadin’ it.
Dawn: It gently encourages but doesn’t demand that new readers read the first installment.
Broomie: I’m eager for the last in the trilogy. The one set in like the eighties...Love me that eighties nostalgia.
Dawn: I’m just glad he didn’t start in the eighties era, since Granger Things came out, everyone’s been doing the ‘set in the eighties’ thing...it’s getting a bit…stale.
Gus: It never gets old for me...the cradle days of B&B…
Cameron: I lived it...well some of it...I wasn’t really conscious of the era till it was more than half over. *Chuckles* But for what I was aware of, it was pretty great.
Vernon: I think we can all purty much agree Royal Blue two was a solid entry...about as good as the first one...Though I am more partial to the western settin’…
Dawn: I think it was better...now all the author needs to do is nail the last installment, and I’m sure it’ll be a classic series!
Gus: At the rate his contemporaries are working on their own trilogies, if he just puts the book out at all, he’ll win by default. *Laughs*
Vanna: Are you kidding!? Absolutely not! I wouldn’t have been caught dead at the Mystic Springs twenty years ago, let alone now. Sorry, but the only mammals I’m comfortable letting see me in nothing but my bare pelt are Zach and my Doctor...I’m not even fully comfortable looking at myself.
Melly: Huh, funny. I find I’ve only gotten more shameless with age. *Chuckles* Or I guess, I give less of a rut about who sees me nude. I think having four kids, three of them being triplets kinda does that to you. My bod’s busted, my boobs are sagging a bit, but Gus’ still loves it. *Laughs*
Vanna: I envy your self-confidence.
Elizabeth: Uncle Zach doesn’t still love your body, then?
Vanna: Oh, of course he does. *Blushes softly* He’s made that very clear...I’ve just...I’m not my sister...I’ve never been all that comfortable in my own fur...My Goofball is the only one who’s ever made me feel...pretty in the nude. *Blush intensifies*
Elizabeth and Mellie: Aww…
Elizabeth: Omari and I aren’t really...naturalist types either...Like my Aunt, my self-image is a...very personal matter. I’d prefer to keep the public visibility of my burn scars to a minimum if I can. That’s not to say we don’t do recreation and exercise, I’m not as...crippled by agoraphobia as I was when I was little. I just prefer more private, clothed massages at the Crystail Aurora massage parlor in Tundra town...unless it’s a private massage from Omi at home...*Blushes slightly.*
Melly: *Chuckles* Spicy. Granted, Gus and I aren’t without our fun...but these days, just a deep, not erotic in the slightest foot massage does more for me than any ‘foreplay’ massages. *Snickers*
Elizabeth: As for exercise, me and Omari go to our local Planet Furness about once a week. We want to go more, but it’s...scheduling is tough. Omari’s on call a lot, and the orchestra demands a great deal of practice on top of multiple shows a week.
Vanna: Like mother, like son, it seems with Omari...*Chuckles* Makes me glad I got off the ZPD when I did. I’ve been working the North Meadowlands’ for nearly twenty-five years now, and been the sheriff for sixteen, and in all that time it’s still proven to be a less demanding, less stressful job than being a beat cop in the inner city.
Melly: Plus a job like that keeps you moving and flexible.
Vanna: Well, Zach and I have had a home gym for years, so we have both our bases covered.
Melly: Same here, plus we’re both doing Yoga now...even if Gussie’s about as flexible as a plank of wood..*Snickers*
Elizabeth: *Giggles* Puppy steps...it’s a start, right?
Dawn: Here's a pretty simple one...
Vernon: Amazoo, Barns and Novels, Penn and Paddocks, Word is Claw, y'know...chain book places and digital spaces. The only real outlier then was the pawful of lil' mom and pop bookstores, and o' course 'Shatterhorn's'.
Dawn: Which...in my defense, Vernon kind of pushed for...
Vernon: Hey! I was proud o' my mates' handywork! I didn't think it was a big ask! *Laughs* At least till I found out what chapters went out there...
Dawn: That's when Gus went from hesitant to thrilled with the idea of stocking my book. *Snickers*
Vernon: *Huffs* Right....Then I couldn't talk him out of it...
Dawn: Well...Gus was doing a lot of the talking...mostly to tease my poor Puppy Love...but it was really Melly who made it happen, and seemed to genuinely want to support this little project of ours.
Vernon: *Grumbles unintelligebly*
Dawn: So I made sure they had a very modest amount of books along with the rest of the distributors fairly early on...after me and my Sheepdog came to a ...compromise of sorts...
Vernon: *Whines* I mean...look I couldn't stay mad at my Honey Lamb. You know as well as I do y'all coulda worn me down just be bein' upfront with me. I'd just end up where I am now...not exactly happy about everyone knowin' how I rut with my mate in detail. I was just...more upset about bein' lied to than anything else...
Dawn: And it was wrong of me to keep it from you. And I'm still so sorry for doing that.
Vernon: The compromise was more or less an agreement not to lie about that stuff anymore...and we discuss this sorta stuff before putting it in books or talkin' about it on the podcast...
Dawn: I would have promised never to lie again, but that's probably impossible for either one of us to do. There's just a little too much time, and too much grey area to make a promise like that and not accidentally break it.
Vernon: Basically just, no big lies, and always discuss 'big' stuff that involves us 'er the pups before makin' a decision. As fer the books well...there was no real way to recall 'em...and it....really would have affected sales if we went with the 'sanitized copies'...not to mention undercut the whole...way me and my Lamb Fry feel for one another.
Dawn: That's what Gazelle liked the most about it Puppy...We didn't hold back...
Vernon: Yeah...yeah...
Dawn: *Ahem* Right so...we set up Gus and Melly with a small shipment. And then when that got cleaned out, we shipped over a slightly larger one, and then another. All of this before Yule if you can believe it. It was...pretty hectic then, but being the co-author of the book-.
Vernon: Primary author is a better term he-.
Dawn: CO-author *Dawn emphasizes* But being the author, I was always able to get Gus and Melly copies even while my publisher struggled to keep up.
Vernon: Which pulled a lot of people inta' the store that wouldn't have normally came in. Which really helped give Gus and Mmelly's store a strong start.
Dawn: Book sales would sometimes overlap with other purchases, or mammals would come for the book, see something on the community board, and get involved with a group that appealed to their interests.
Vernon: Melly used that to start her book club. *Chuckles*
Dawn: It took till January for my hard and soft covers to actually catch up with demand, and at that point, copies were showing up everywhere.
Vernon: It really just...like it just left me kinda blown away when we saw copies at the Green Meadow Market. It was purty surreal.
Dawn: I've honestly never gotten used to big grocery stores having anything more substantial than newspapers or magazines. But it's...it's just on a whole different level when you see a book you and your mate wrote on a best seller's rack. *Giggles* They were literally right across from a 'freshly harvested' fiddleheads display.
Vernon: Fer herbivores lookin' fer some light snackin' with their readin' material. Of course, iffin yer Gus you could just eat the pages as ya read.
Dawn: *Snickering, the sound of lame swatting is heard in the background.* Wolfy! That's mean...not all goats-.
Vernon: He's self-admitted! I ain't generalizin'! He knows he's eaten books before! Hel, he used to eat his own damn homework sometimes in high school just ta' get out of it!
Dawn: *Snickering* Okay, okay... I defer to your account...you've known him the longest.
Vernon: Anyhow, ta wrap this up, you can find my Honey Lamb's books just about anywhere...but Amazoo is probably the cheapest route 'iffin ya go digital....er used.
Dawn: You can also pick up 'Predator Seeking Prey; The Gazelle Story' in the same general places, and I'm currently working on 'Predator Seeking Prey; The Crosser Diaries', which unlike the former which is entirely devoted to Gazelle and her mate Finnick, is made up of several different interspecies pred and prey couples accounts explaining what their lives are like.
Vernon: I trust Clover and Cameron 'er gonna be in that one?
Dawn: *Voice sounds shaky and hesitant.* Well...I erm...I don't think they've technically been a couple long enough to...and...um-
Vernon: I see someone don't want to take even the slightest chance of gettin' inta talkin' about their mother ruttin' do they? *Chuckles*
I was always a very...adventurous kitten. I often jumped into risky stuff without even thinking...looking back at it now, I guess it was because I felt like if I waited to think about it, I wouldn't do it, ya know? BMX, Touch Grid Iron, Football, Skateboarding...If there wasn't a risk involved, it wasn't worth it, y'know? I suppose my lil' Sis got a touch of that bug too...it just expressed itself in a different way. Sufficed to say, I racked up a mess of broken bones as a kid...and I think I spent more summers with a limb strapped up in a cast than out of them. *Chuckles* Thankfully, Cowlifornia summers are long as heck.
My puberty kinda perfectly coincided with the dawn of the internet. Specifically around the time Nipster was a thing. Basically, whatever curiosities I had that...I didn't feel all that comfortable talking to my parents about, could be indulged safely online. I was...going through a lot of confusing feelings at the time, stuff I wasn't sure about myself, let alone ready to bring my parents into for their advice. I had feelings for girls, for guys...and I couldn't really understand them. And while I figured my parents would be okay with that, and even reluctantly supportive...I just knew it would be an uncomfortable conversation. One where they would spend more time talking about risk and cautioning me about stuff I already knew about, than talking about it being okay. I had seen 'To Scratch a Predator.' I knew the risks that came with online stuff...But I wasn't making contact with anyone outside of my school friends at the time. The only strangers I got in touch with were possible employers when I was closing in on my 18th birthday.
I just used the internet to...explore myself...privately. Y'know? Not something I'd advise now, but then it-it's weird...the internet was both safer and dangerous. Like, because it was still semi-niche, it wasn't as overflowing with content that would damage a kid's brain development without even being explicit, and the sexual predators were more obvious and fewer in number. At least that's how it felt... In like a weird way...Granted, anti-viruses and ad blockers were barely a thing at the time, so I got myself caught a few times over getting the family PC infected. *Chuckles* Eventually that awkward conversation was inevitable, I guess...
I looked at a lot of porn. A LOT. *Laughs* Even then, there was like...a cornucopia of the stuff out there. So many species combos, so many 'types' to consume. It was a playground, and I kinda... overindulged. I mean, what puberty-plagued kitten isn't hypersexual? I just...stayed hypersexual after my hormones cooled off. But it made puberty sort of unbearable. It wasn't long before I was fooling around with girls on my football team, or conversely, flirting with the guys on my gridiron team. In retrospect, there's...stuff there I'm not proud of...I may have caused some sexual awakenings in my teammates that might not have happened otherwise, and caused headaches for their families. The jury is out on whether you can 'convert' someone to being bi or lesbian or if it's a from-birth thing...But I kinda feel like I may have...converted some vulnerable girls...*Winces*
Anyway...I'm getting off track, I guess. I didn't really know you could 'become' a porn star till I was 16. It was something that genuinely blew my mind. I just figured it was something everyone did for fun. But to know it was a job, to know you could become like a 'pro' porn actress. Pssht. It was decided right then and there. I was going to be a top-tier porn actress, and I spent months researching the best way to get in as a total unknown.
Thankfully by the time I was up to bat so to speak, the porn industry had been cleaned up for about a decade. Like, cleaned up in terms of the sleaze required to get in. It wasn't perfect, mind you, but in the early nineties, it was still exploitation on all sides. Howlywood already forced mammals on the casting couch, and that was a 'legit' industry. Porn was always sketchy and underground by comparison. You had to know people, rut for favors and preferential treatment, and you know there was trafficking going on...not to mention rampant drug use. Now, it was more about generating buzz or...well, still knowing the right people. Some things never change. So since I didn't have the latter, I needed to heavily lean on the former.
It might surprise you to learn it wasn't as easy as you'd think it might be to break into the industry, at least not in the late 2000s compared to today. You have to be fit, not just for your look, but because you need the stamina to keep up with the demands of shooting a rut professionally. You might be mating on and off for up to twelve hours during a shoot. You also have to work on being able to... separate sex from romantic attachment. Some mammals can really struggle with that. Sex is a key element to pair bonding, to put it in blunt science terms. Romantic types have the worst time with that...but if you're like me, and cocky when you start...*Chuckles* You might risk frying that pair bonding instinct altogether because sex isn't something you treat with the weight it deserves in a serious relationship. Of course, dating is already pretty impossible when you're in the porn industry unless it is with other actors but still, I've broken a lot of hearts... *Myra frowns, looking somewhat wistful for a moment.* A lot...
*Ahem* Right...along with all of those pre-reqs you need to generate buzz, as I said. Which means you need to put out amateur content. Especially if, like I did, you didn't know anyone in the industry. These days, it's a lot easier to do that with sites like Onlyfurs, which lets you curate and manage your own content, than it was when I was doing releases on whatever sites I could. I had to recruit a few guy friends, and even fewer girl friends, to *cough* act in videos. I even had to pick up video editing myself to take some of the burden off my guy friend Russ, who remains my goto camera goat when it comes to actually filming this stuff. And even with the other 'actors' consent, I still blurred their faces so they could maintain their privacy since I was the only one in my friend group trying to go pro. (Though of course, I cut them in on whatever money I made in the process. Which wasn't much at first.) It's the internet after all, which was another reason I blurred their faces. Even then, things got around, and pay-walling always leaked. I was prepared for that because I was aiming higher in the long run. I was prepared for the consequences...well, at least I thought I was...
I'd been very careful up to that point not to expose my parents to what was going on. I filmed exclusively at Rus' place, and I was putting up with going to college for film production at the time as both a 'cover' for my actual goal, and to get even better at working the technical side of things, should it take longer to get noticed than I wanted. My big plan 'B' was to make my own studio if no one would have me, so knowing as much as possible about editing, and maybe picking up a minor in business, would keep me from telling my parents for...well, admittedly longer than I should have. For someone with almost zero inhibition or shame, I...really didn't want to talk about this with my parents.
My Dad found out from a work colleague. He emailed him the...pretty sizeable collection I'd created by then. I'd been at it for like three years by then, so I had built up like sixty or so clips, I think...Back then I didn't have my stage name 'Pussy Galore". (Cliche, I know, but I love an old throwback.) Back then, the most of a name I had was 'Busty tigress seduces naive...'insert species name here'. But friends and family could easily tell who was in the videos, and this led to a very awkward, uncomfortable conversation with my parents. One, I wish I hadn't put off for long enough that they had to find out that way. They tried to be...well, they put on as supportive a face as they could muster. At least, once they found out how serious I was about it. But Dad always sort of assumed I'd be a famous athlete, and my Mom thought if I didn't stick with school, I'd be a model. Still, even if it was obvious to everyone they weren't happy about my career choice, they rooted for me.
I was twenty-one when I finally got a call back for casting in a real studio production. One of those step-dad step-daughter deals. Not exactly my kink, but at that point, I was willing to take almost anything to get my foot in the door. A casting couch, and several really awkward line deliveries with me calling a buff sibearian tiger 'Daddy' later, and the rest was history. *Laughs*
Hey, I hope that wasn't too long a trip down memory lane for your little show...you can probably just cut it down to soundbites yeah?
*Recording Cuts*
Dawn: -So remember, use promo code 'BellHunterTrial' for a free month of 'Awoo'dable.
Vernon: And hey, why not pick up a copy of 'Predator Seekin' Prey' while yer at it. Now in audiobook form.
Dawn: Narrated by yours truly, as well as my mate Vernon...at least for the chapter I could get him to agree to read...*Snickers*
Vernon: Heh...yeah...It took me long enough to get comfortable with the fact that our bedroom laundry was out there ta' begin with....so askin' me ta' narrate it...*audibly shudders*
Dawn: Gazelle was willing to read to more...explicit passages for the book. Thanks again Gazelle!
Vernon: So...we done with the sponsors? *Vernon whines softly, clearly uncomfortable.*
Dawn: *Dawn giggles* That's all of this month's sponsors, so now we move on to everyone's favorite segment on the Predator Seeking Prey podcast, the 'Ask the BellHunters' segment.
Vernon: Fer ya' new listeners out there, that's the part where we answer emails submitted by the audience. That said, as much as we love actual hoofwritten letters, our business PO box will thank y'all for sending your questions and concerns digitally...*Chuckles*
Dawn: Seriously, before we left the old apartment and started remodeling the house, half of our shared office was filled with mail...*Laughs*
Vernon: Then it turned inta' the corner of the living room with Alli and Edi...
Dawn: Anyway, let's get to our first question...
Dawn: It seems someone, or someone close to them, is keeping up with my dream analysis blog...
Vernon: Didn't even know y'all had a 'dream' blog. Not that I'd wanna pry 'er 'nothin...
Dawn: Nothing really to pry into, I never meant for it to be a private thing, and I already share my dreams with you first and foremost. Good or bad. My therapist, Dr. Gnu advised it. Well, he advised just getting a dream journal at first. But with the nature of my dreams, he thought doing a public blog might be worthwhile. Both for interspecies pred-prey couples out there, as well as just those mammals out there struggling with feelings of deep guilt or shame over past mistakes. I called it 'Counting Sins'. I do hope the pun title is apparent to most of our viewers.
Vernon: It's cute...sad, but cute.
Dawn: Naturally, I try to withhold anything deeply personal from my recounted dreams when it comes to the public blog...
Vernon: Savin' that 'fer the books huh? *Snickers*
Dawn: Well, my publisher often says 'save the juiciest cuts of meat for the barby', which I assume is a predator expression.
Vernon: Not just pred, sounds Austailian. Which makes sense since that gal's a Tasmaneian Devil...
Dawn: Anyway, the 'reptile' dream was one of my...more absurd shares. Vernon and I were at a book signing, and everything seemed normal...except...
Vernon: Except?
Dawn: Well, every so often, a lizard or snake... even a gator at one point would show up and ask for a signature. As if they were just like any other mammal. And neither one of us blinked. Like it was just normal.
Vernon: Well, a lot o' mammals do treat their pets like thier sentient already...mighta taken a literal lean in yer dream.
Dawn: In retrospect, it just reminds me of all those lamb movies with talking birds and reptiles from when we were little.
Vernon: I mean, maybe I'm just biased...but I feel like the ninties saw an oversaturation' o' talking lizard and bird movies. Always goin' off on big adventures and lookin' fer thier owners...er playin' gridiron.
Dawn: I don't think there's a lamb from our generation who doesn't remember 'Monitor Linebacker'. Granted, that one didn't talk...
Vernon: *Doing a bostonian accent to the best of his ability.* "There's nothing in the rulebook that says a Monitor Lizard can't play grid iron."
Dawn: Pft. *Let's out a giggling snort* Oh no! Cut that in post! Please...I can't let anyone hear my snort laugh...
Vernon: Notin' it down, 45:58...*Scribbling is heard* cut adorkable snort.
Dawn: *Ahem* Anyway, it was the casual factor that made it...so strange...The gator even mentioned he was from the Canal District, but even though the environment would be perfect for gators, they're very highly regulated there to make sure most of the canals remain safe for swimming.
Vernon: Right. Otherwise, otter and beaver folk would go missin' constantly...gators are notoriously hard ta' train.
Dawn: It was a silly dream...I guess I wanted to share it to offset the dreams with a more serious tone...so the blog wasn't all gloom and doom nightmares.
Vernon: Like yer' "I'm still a criminal and want revenge dreams'?
Dawn: *Is quiet, but is presumed to have nodded.* Exactly...*Let's out a shuddering trill* Every once and a while I have these...awful nightmares where I'm still in Alpine Crag, just stewing in hatred and self-loathing and plotting some elaborate revenge plot for the original...Night Howler business...As if I've learned nothing, spent no time reflecting on myself, and I just...*whimpers softly.* What's worse is usually I'm not in my own body in these dreams...I'm just...watching myself. Trying to call out to myself, to appeal to my reason...like I'm my own conscience.
Vernon: Aw....Darlin'...
Dawn: Gazellenapping Gazelle is one that frequently comes up. Some sort of overarching scheme to get back at her, the city, and Nick and Judy all in one big operation...
Vernon: Is that the one where ya dyed yer wool purple and had purple zebra stripes dyed on yer arms and legs?
Dawn: YES! Which is crazy...first off...I may not be a big fashionista, but even I could tell you that's a fashion disaster!
*Vernon snickers*
Dawn: I may not have much of one, but I do have fashion sense, and that look offends my sense of style...I don't even think there was a zebra gang at Alpine Crag, and even if there was, why would they let me into it?
Vernon: And purple stripes? What are ya, that Zebra gum mascot?
Dawn: *Snickers* But still...every dream where I'm forced to watch myself try and get some...petty maligned revenge just...it makes me sick to my stomach. And I always wake up in tears...
Vernon: I know Honey Lamb...I know...*Whines* I'm glad I can be there when ya wake up from most of 'em...though it makes them tour trips I can't follow along with all the more painful 'iffin I know I can't be there when ya wake up from one o' them dreams...
Dawn: I know Puppy Love...I know...*A scuffling noise is heard, followed by what sounds like soft, competing grunts from both Dawn and Vern, indicating they're hugging.* Thank you for being there...
Vernon: Hey, fer' life remember...half moons and rings and the whole nine...*Chuckles*
Dawn: *Giggles* Yes, I remember the tithe. *Sighs warmly* Y'know...I-hmm...It's only sort of related, but there's another dream I used to have a lot too in prison and after being released. One that lies between absurd and distressing...
Vernon: The Tundratown one?
Dawn: Yes! It's the one where I've either escaped from jail...or I'm just...in Tundratown for some reason. I'm on the side of this...endless stretch of icy highway...and I have to run across, dodging cars and hopping over ice flows. The whole time I'm not really getting anywhere, because there's just more highway ahead of me, but I keep running, all the while growing more hopeless and discouraged...and so cold...
Vernon: Ya' don't have it anymore?
Dawn: Well...after we met, and made our little family I-...I see you now. You and the lambs are in a helicopter just ahead of me. Reaching out to meet me as I run...Sometimes I reach you all, sometimes I don't quite make it before waking up first...but the hopelessness is gone. Because I have a goal I'm reaching for, something worth running a seemingly endless marathon for.
Vernon: Honey Lamb...*Audible thumping is heard briefly before coming to an abrupt stop.*
Dawn: No amount of padding can keep that monster tail off the mic when it starts wagging can it? *Giggles*
Vernon: Seriously, the audio reading went from zero ta' ten, even with them throw pillows strapped to it...Hold on...*Scribbling* 47:04, remove 'enthusiastic' waggin'...
*Dawn snickers*
WT: Long answer...I dunno, I have a lot to say here and I have to organize my thoughts.
In terms of writing, no, there's no way I'm adapting 2 lore either retroactively or in an AU. I'm far too deep in my carefully crafted little corner of Zootopia to now try to make room for every retcon the official series makes...especially when Z+ already played fast and loose with that lore. Granted, part of that is the fact that Zootopia took nearly a decade to produce a sequel.
From my standpoint as a writer, I feel like Zootopia itself needs some semblance of an outer animal kingdom. Look at something like Beastars, where nearly all life is sapient. Are predators only supposed to eat bugs? Is there nothing in the forests and wilds, no ecosystem save for plants and 'some' fish? What purpose does pest control via night Howler serve farming communities if that's the case? Is it just for bugs? If not, it seems like a war crime waiting to happen. It's nice to have some established... 'limitations' in world crafting, especially if it's something you didn't touch on at all early on and might have to work into the story by hook or by crook. The more you have to retcon large swaths of your world's foundations, the less invested people become. If anything can be changed at any point to facilitate a specific story, what's the point of getting engaged with the world at all? Having controls makes a world feel more real, more grounded, and thus easier to stay invested in.
Reptiles weren't even hinted at in Zootopia, not even a stray background lizard. Now I'm meant to believe they have reptiles right in the Canal District? Where were the seals in Tundra Town? None of them came out of the water at all? And why add any of them now? There were probably a million stories you could tell in the already-established setting as is, even restricting the characters to just Nick and Judy. But the first sequel and we're already adding an entirely different swath in the animal kingdom? Tell a story about hybrids, a story with a pred villian, some other crazy vast conspiracy for Nick and Judy to solve. At the very least if you want reptiles in, have Nick and Judy be forced to venture far out from Zoot to a nearly reptile-exclusive city to better excuse the lack of them in the first film.
But I'm nitpicking a 'children's film' here, so it's all invalid I'm sure. Cause kids are dumb, and don't deserve quality world-building or storytelling...even though Zoot's target audience is now adults or near adults because the sequel took so long to produce. While there were shortcomings in the first film, clearly, a lot of love went into the world-crafting. My art book shows that off in spades. Z+ didn't show the same level of care...and while one of the two guys who are essentially the fathers of the series is back in Z2, I don't see that world crafting improving all that much. Wreck-It Ralph 2 was like the Disney Emoji movie, and that had Byron on both too.
That's not even mentioning the steep decline in the quality of Disney films across the board since 2016. A dark cloud has descended on that studio, one that traded in skill and talent to fill quotas. One that prioritized emphasizing 'the message' over good storytelling. And the company hasn't backed away from that sentiment, it's only doubled down more aggressively each time, all the way up to the shareholders. So I don't expect a solid sequel to somehow crawl its way out from under being 'crafted for a modern audience'.
Lastly, and this is just a me thing, having been in the furry community this long, but Gary is going to (already has) caused a surge in awful fetish material. Between bondage and hypnosis, I'm gonna be blacklisting a lot of new content. That's what happens when you model a snake character after Sir Hiss or Kaa. I imagine it was purely meant as an homage, but man I'm not looking forward to the fallout. My poor eyes will never recover.
I do wonder how mammals and animals that have no comparable method of mobility compared to their four-limbed counterparts would even have evolved to a level of sapience when they can't operate most anything made for four limbers...let alone the lack of thumbs. The best I've seen that handled is Mr. Snake in the bad guys. Still, that was another reason I kept seals, manatees, and dolphins out of the 'technical mammals' pool. Just how 'accessible' can you make a city with that much of a difference not just in sizes, but levels of dexterity without bankrupting it? It's why I made Derrick Colton a 'handicapped' horse in the Vulpes fic. It was largely to explain away a horse photographer who is present at Judy's press conference that has solid traditional horse hooves for hands. As well as other aberrant mammals that may crop up.
Lastly, while I've slowed in terms of getting out my fics, (I intended to complete everything and move on before the sequel dropped.) The Val fic, and the Bellwether Legacy are meant to be the last fics in my series. (Aside from one-off revisits, and the scrapped Finnzelle story.) I didn't want to stay locked into Zootopia fic writing forever. I'd really like to make some of my own stuff. Original work I can maybe do more with than being limited by the restrictions writing a fanwork entails.
At the end of the day, Dawn Bellwether is the lynchpin to my little slice of Zootopia, and I don't own the rights to her. Never will, unless a series of wildly absurd events drop the rights to Zoot in my lap. I can recycle many of the characters around her you've grown to love, and perhaps even a pale reflection of Dawn herself with the right story to go along with her. But...I guess I don't want 'Wrote a killer villain redemption fanfic once' to be the total sum of my work.
God...that was a rant. I did warn about the 'long-version' didn't I? I'm sorry...just a lot to cover. I....overthink things way too much. Still, you go on and try to enjoy Z2. Maybe it'll be great...I've just always been a glass-half-empty kinda guy. Me, I'm probably not gonna see it. Even if Dawn gets a cameo. Lord knows they'll probably go for a 'silence of the lambs' restraints joke if she shows up.
-WT
