Ask the BellHunters

Hello, I'm Dawn Hunter-Bellwether...er, formerly Dawn Bellwether if you didn't recognize the added surname. And before you ask, yes 'that' Dawn Bellwether. Ex-Assistant Mayor, Ex-Mayor, Ex-Criminal Mastermind (Reformed thank you very much), City Savior, Controversial Author, and Predator/Prey relationship advocate. I'm also, as you probably guess by the hyphenated last name, married, and happily so to my mate Vernon Hunter, a gray wolf. I'm also a mother to three wonderful pups, something I never thought I'd ever have the chance to be! But, lamb sakes, I've gushed enough about myself here without explaining exactly what this blog is for. You see, after the release of my book “Predator Seeking Prey”, our little family started to get a lot of public attention again, and with it came a lot of question from curious mammals and other pred/prey couples from all over Animalia. My best friend and mate Vernon thought it would be a good idea to deal with these questions directly by opening a sort of blog/forum and taking those questions about our lives directly. Since then, I'd like to say our little blog has been quite successful, with even members of our family and friend circle pitching in and taking a few questions as well. So with all that said., please feel free to Ask Away!


Oh, and also, feel free to check our old location for previous asks until we can get a better archive system in place!


The original Ask Dawn And Vern Tumblr! This blog is a continuation/reboot of the "AskDawnAndVern" tumblr, as I am permanently locked out of the Tumblr at present.

https://askdawnandvern.tumblr.com/


(Blog Author Note: This blog is based on the fanfiction “The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether” as well as it's pseudo-sequel “A Lamb Among Wolves”. If you haven't read them, it'll probably help you better understand what's going on here if you do. I'll link both stories below. Oh Also, I'm open to questions as well. Simply direct “Author” emails to “WastedTime” when composing them. And before I forget, I have a Patreon! Five dollars gets you access to in progress fics, Ask priority, and art previews of both SFW and NSFW art. Of course, even a dollar would help. Seriously, it's how I keep projects like this alive.


The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11999389/1/The-Rehabilitation-of-Dawn-Bellwether

A Lamb Among Wolves:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12364172/1/A-Lamb-Among-Wolves


Wasted Time's Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee


And Finally, Please Submit your asks to this email address!
Submit Asks Here!

If the link doesn't work for you, send those emails to "Wastedtimeee@Askthebellhunters.com"

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 4

 Trenton, Qali and Lumi; (The other Hunter family hybrid)



Initially, I think I wanted Paige to be the only hybrid, and even then Paige's creation was one I struggled with in terms of actually going through with. I think shortly after Rehab was completed, on the old blog, I asked you guys what story they wanted to see next, before pitching the ideas I had lying in the back of my brain. I remember at the time I think I discussed both Dawn and Vern taking hyphenated names, and one of the stories centering around a possible hybrid pup. Then I received a comment telling me that both the hyphenated names and the hybrid pups were a bad avenue to pursue. And while I stuck to the hyphenation regardless because I thought it would be a very Vernon thing to do to insist Dawn embrace her old name, I did bench the Paige project. It was only after the word of god (Zootopia's creators) said hybrids were definitely a thing, did I revisit the idea and find the story to be told there. Still, Paige was initially meant to be the one hybrid in the family, as reasons will be established in the last Bellhunter story as to why Dawn and Vern managed to win the pregnancy lottery so to speak, and why it would be harder for species that were genetically further apart to have pups on average, at least for some time as the methods to assist such pregnancies got better.


I'll admit, Lumi (Named by Unformed8) was created totally based on the prospect of making a very fluffy girl. That was one of the reasons Trenton and Qali were chosen to have a hybrid, the other happening to be that foxes and wolves would logically have a smaller species gap genetically speaking. It made the most sense that if Trenton and Qali made an aggressive attempt to have a hybrid child, there's a better chance of them succeeding than say, Zach and Vanna. So two years after the birth of Paige, and after a great deal of trying and taking weird fertility enhancers and taking advantage of other medical procedures, Lumi is finally born to Trenton and Qali. 


Lumi is sweet and excitable but is also capable of keeping a pretty cool head thanks to her father's genetics, which is a good skill to have when it comes to being picked on by Piper or other mammals at school for being hybrid. On top of that, Lumi's genetics make her early years and adolescence rather awkward in terms of appearance. She's got her mother's extra sleek build but quickly develops her father's height as she grows making her a bit a beanpole...or string bean as her father affectionately calls her. Piper likes to mock her by calling her stickly or stretch, and tends to be especially vicious to her and Paige for being hybrids. She also has poor eyesight, which just adds another aspect for Piper and others to tease about. While Lumi tends to be very cool and calm in the face of teasing, she'll confide in Paige, and especially in her parents when something really gets under her pelt.


Lumi is a Daddy's girl, and even though he sterner than Qali is, Lumi pretty much has her Dad wrapped around her fingers from the day she was born. She's also very much a cuddle bug, and loves hugging and curling up with her parents at every opportunity.


As an adult, Lumi's genetics seem to finally come together in a truly spectacular fashion. With the height of a wolf and the sleekness of a fox she becomes a true beauty, so much so that she becomes a fashion model and designer, as she had always had a bit of a passion for creating outfits and clothes during her pre-teen and teenage years. Her industry name is 'the Kitsune', as her features seem very reminiscent of the ancient legend of 'Kitsune spirits' in Japanda, and she subsequently names her fashion line 'Kitsune'. As an adult, she's considerably more confident and cool, and is even better at dealing with the occasional ribbing from Piper, as well as dishing out clap backs. 


Paige and Lumi; BFF's;


With Lumi and Paige both being hybrids, they have an immediate connection that's stronger than the ones they share with their other cousins. They have much of the same struggles and uncertainties to deal with, and their personalities sort of complement one another with Paige being the more of the fighter and Lumi being more of the negotiator. If Paige is going to get into a fistfight with Piper, you can bet Lumi will be the one to pull her off the little otter if the parents aren't close enough to break things up. Also, both sets of parents are more prone to setting up playdates for the pair over the other local cousins due to them both being hybrids and logically, at least to the parents, could do with the solidarity.


The tight friendship maintains into adulthood, although they don't get to see each other as often as they'd like. Lumi's career keeps her extremely busy, and on the move. But that said, every time they manage to reunite in Zootopia, the pair probably revel in each other's company more so than any of the other cousins. One could argue the pair were actually sisters were it not for their drastically different appearances. But considering the menagerie of different species making up the respective Hunter broods, that might not be too much of a stretch for most.


Okay, one more sheet to go. 


-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 3

 A new day, a new sheet, this time covering Xavier and Ulric's family units. Yes, even Ulric gets to be a Dad, although who's raising who is questionable. Thankfully Honey's there to keep him wrangled. Anyway...

Xavier, Malcolm and Elizabeth;

So we've already seen Elizabeth Hunter (Maiden name Meypole) in the 20 years later ask set. As an adult she is an accomplished violinist, and plays in a big orchestra. Which one? I haven't figured that bit out yet. Naturally, her love of the violin was something she carried with her as a kit, the instrument acting as sort of...Well, the rawest way she can express her emotions and speak from the soul.

Xavier and Malcolm first come into contact with her when she's about seven years old, as Xavier takes on a family court case involving Elizabeth's mother. In a similar fashion to what the 'emergency trio' suffered through, Elizabeth's mother was also a damaged individual. Though whereas the hyena pups birth mom was crippled by her cultural beliefs, Elizabeth's Mom had deep mental issues that always kept her on the verge of being institutionalized. Elizabeth was also with her birth mother a lot longer than Yuri's boys, which subjected her to abuse for several years. The abuse running the gamut from mental to physical. This abuse would eventually culminate with Elizabeth's Mom trying to burn down the house with Elizabeth locked inside, which became the catalyst for the court case. The fire leaves Elizabeth with severe burns on her face, the left-hand side of her torso, and arm down to her paw. (Might be hard to make them out on the sketch as everything is...well sketchy.)

During the trial, Xavier gets to know the sweet, shy, and polite skunk girl, and grows close to her, each night returning home and blathering on and on to Malcolm about the poor girl whose plight really moved him. Despite having never met her personally, Malcolm is the first to suggest they make the move to adopt her once the trial ends, and keep the poor girl out of the system. And after a lengthy discussion, the pair agree to take the dive and become parents. Naturally, Elizabeth is thrilled when Xavier and Malcolm ask her to be their daughter, and the adoption goes off without a hitch.

Already shy, Elizabeth has issues with self-confidence which were only worsened by her burn scars. Early on in her time being adopted into the San Fransisgoat Hunter Pack she dresses rather frumpy, and with heavy coverage even in the summer. Her outfit of choice usually includes an oversized hoodie and fingerless gloves to cover as much of her burns as possible when going to school or being forced to be outside. She only feels...sort of comfortable being exposed among her adoptive parents, and even then she still reflexively tries to cover her face on occasion, usually when caught by surprise or off-guard.

Even before being adopted, she loved classical music, specifically pieces featuring the violin. And so, noting that, Xavier and Malcolm buy Elizabeth a violin of her own for her first birthday with them, as well as payout for private lessons in order for her to learn how to play. This is something not only Elizabeth delights in, but takes to with gusto. Mastering the instrument by her teenage years and going so far as to compose a myriad of her own deeply personal violin pieces. With encouragement from Malc and Xav, she's able to overcome her shyness and self-confidence issues and go on to play in school recitals, plays, and eventually concert halls.

Regarding Elizabeth and Omari;

Despite Piper being a pain in the ass, and picking on her as she does with most of the other cousins, Elizabeth really bonds with the emergency trio, and specifically Omari. The similar circumstances involving their abusive birth mothers, and how that affected them saw them become closer than they were to some of their other cousins. But more than anyone else out of the trio, it was Omari who'd spend most of the time talking to her. He would talk about his interests, his growing appreciation for science and medicine, and his insecurities. And Elizabeth would share her own insecurities, her love of music, and even a few of her private violin concertos just for him. This closeness led to the two cousins catching feelings for each other going into their teenage years, which would eventually bloom into full-on love in their early adulthoods. While Yuri protested the two getting together due to being cousins, despite not being blood-related, Xavier and Malcolm were as always very supportive and encouraging.


Ulric, Honey and Arturo;

Initially, I had planned against giving Ully and Honey any pups, as Ully was too irresponsible, and Honey wasn't really one for 'traditional family structure'. I hadn't even planned for the pair to get tithed or married, but rather simply be monogamous partners with at most a couple's contract or whatever I called it in LAW where the two are recognized as legally sharing resources. And while I intended to keep that the case, the idea of them raising a pup kept coming back to me...tickling the back of my skull until Arturo began to form.

Arturo is a pudgy, sensitive kid who's generally very open to weird ideas. He looks up to his adopted Mom and Dad with a sort of awe and wonder, much in the same way Wyatt looks up to Vanna and Zach. No one is cooler than his parents, and that's especially true when it comes to his oddball father. In terms of Ully and Arturo's relationship, I imagined it to be very similar to Dale Gribble and Joseph from King of the Hill. (You can guess who's who in that connection) With young Arturo looking up to his Dad despite his obvious craziness and wild and baseless theories. That said, with Ully being...well Ully, he's not exactly A-grade father material when it comes to safety and setting boundaries. Naturally, this puts Honey in a weird position where she's almost raising two kits rather than one. That said, despite Honey acting as the 'buzzkill' and authoritarian in the family unit, Arturo doesn't love his mom any less than his crazy Dad.

Young Arturo's summers growing up are filled with all sorts of wacky escapades involving his Pa, including annual Catsquatch hunts, ghost hunting in spooky locations, and weird and irresponsible science experiments, but as an adult, those become treasured memories. And despite all that would have been working against him, Arturo grows up to be a kind, intelligent and well-adjusted male who ends up becoming a popular Animalian and Zootopian history teacher at the Zootopian University. While he has largely grown out and away from taking everything his father taught him as gospel, the lessons instilled in him by Ully and Honey fueled a thirst for history and seeking truth. And while his lesson don't cover topics like 'Catsquatch' or 'ancient aliens', he's always open to hearing folks talk about such topics. And he also makes sure to allocate some vacation time to go 'catsquatch' hunting with his parents every summer.

Onward to page four!

-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 2

 Moving on to sheet number two, or as I like to call it the 'Hunter-Dabu' pack sheet, as I ended up using the whole sheet to cover all Yuri and Ada's pups.

Yuri, Ada, Omari, Dakarai, Jabari and Piper Hunter;


The emergency trio, as dubbed by my Patreon backer Unformed8. The triplets Omari, Dakarai and Jabari are the first to be adopted by Yuri and Ada under limited griping and most part from Yuri. We've already seen them as adults in a previous ask, so here I get to show them off at around the age they were adopted, which is around 4.


These boys have a complicated and nearly tragic story that saw them being taken by the state and put up for adoption. As I've discussed in previous posts about Hyenas in my AU, and their cultural background, the root of their species is highly entrenched in a matriarchy with males considered second-class citizens. These beliefs run deep and are impossible to shake with some, especially the old mates tales surrounding the birth of multiple sons at once. Twins, triplets, and beyond that are made up of all males are seen generally as an omen, a curse if you will. And unless the parents kill them off, they will be stricken with bad luck for the rest of their existence. In the case of these three little ones, their birth mother was a fierce believer in that tale, and decided to bundle them together in a weighted burlap bag and toss them into a river to be rid of them shortly after they were born. Thankfully, she was caught before throwing the bag over the bridge and the boys were saved.


Ada of course, doesn't believe in such things, and finds treating males as anything other than equals appalling. So naturally, when her and Yuri go looking to adopt, and she sees these boys, knowing how hard they would have it, and then what led them there, she refuses to leave without all three of them, much to Yuri's chagrin. They had agreed to one pup after all, just one. but there was no arguing with his mate. By this point they were tithed, and there was no other way out. Although Yuri's misgivings were short-lived, as though he continues to gripe and complain over the next few years after adopting the boys, he takes to fathering them with gusto.


The name 'emergency trio' should give you some idea that these boys tend to get into trouble more often than not, though usually, they aren't trying to, they just seem to have a natural talent for making messes. Generally, most of these 'incidents' are led by Dakarai, (At least when Piper's not involved.) the unofficial leader of the bunch, as he tends to be the idea guy despite his other brothers being more of the brains of the operation.


Omari is probably the softest of the trio. Kind, sweet-natured and soft-spoken, even as a cub. He spends a lot of time in his own head, thinking a lot as well as asking his parents tons of questions. He's also the Mama's cub of the group, and just likes being hugged and snuggled by Ada. As an adult, he is inspired to follow in his mother's pawpads into the medical field and eventually becomes a pediatric cancer doctor. he also develops a childhood crush on Malcolm and Xavier's daughter Elizabeth, though it takes him until quite late into his teenage years to confess his feelings. Elizabeth surprises him by returning his feelings in kind...but it still takes a few more years for them to get together in an official capacity as Yuri actively fights it due to his discomfort with the loose familial relations and what he thinks will give more ammo to outsiders about wolf families being backward hicks. But eventually, he relents and gives his blessing.


Jabari starts out as the more sporty brother. Into organized basketball, and football (soccer). But when it comes to computers and technology he proves to be exceptionally proficient at it at a young age. By age nine he becomes the household password bank and computer expert, as his mind is like a steel trap when it comes to remembering them, and if he can't he's very good at finding his way around them. His teenage years are spent building bigger and better pc set ups, and running an on again off again pc repair shop from his bedroom, and as an adult he goes on to become a tech support genius. He still plays sports from time to time, but generally, he reserves that for home visits so he can play against his brothers and Dad. Otherwise he's become more of a desktop jockey, doing the minimal amount of physical fitness to keep healthy and in shape during his down time.


Lastly Dakarai, the extrovert and loudmouth of the pack. He's got snark in spades like his adopted Mom, and is constantly getting himself scrapped and chewed up doing all sorts of dangerous things for his age. He's into more non-organized sports activities, such as skateboarding, mountain biking, snowboarding, etc...and the more organized sports he tends to favor are the brutal ones, like hockey, which he and his Pa bond massively over. He's also the one to drag his brothers into dumb and dangerous situations on the basis that they'll be 'pretty cool'. Of course, his Pa being a police officer is really inspiring to him, and he lives to hear stories about his Dad working the mean streets of Seaotter. But as he gets older, while his loud mouth and boisterous personality remain intact, his ideas about following directly in his paws pawpads begin to skew in favor of forging his own path.


Despite his outward bombacity, and seemingly wild nature, deep down he's a caring and thoughtful guy, and the prospect of actually hurting anyone, even a criminal rubs him the wrong way, which is what eventually pushes him into fire-fighting. Naturally, Yuri isn't happy about his son's ultimate choice in career, mostly because he knows he's going to get razzed by not only his brothers, but his fellow officers at the precinct over it till the end of time. But Yuri learned enough from his Pa, and his brother's own experience with breaking away from 'the family business' to know no vocation is worth cutting ties with the ones you love.


The problem with Piper


Initially, the troublesome trio was all Yuri and Ada were meant to get, making him tied to Dawn and Vernon in terms of the number of cubs they were raising. However, again...I felt that strange pang, that weird sense that Yuri and Ada's household needed another pup. An even four making him the biggest Hunter family of the seven. So what to do, what to do? I started rolling through the species in my head. Should it be another wolf? Something small and meek that Yuri can't figure out how to raise right? It didn't take too long before the answer hit me like a ton of bricks.


I've long established both in asks, and my two-part 'Queen of the Dead' fic where Yuri first meets and charms Ada into dating him that he absolutely hates otters. He's 100 percent speciest to otters, and isn't shy about saying it. So naturally, I had to drop an otter pup in his lap.


Enter Piper, a maybe six or seven-year-old otter whose family was involved with one of the city's biggest crime families, albeit at a low level. I imagined them as not being directly involved with any plots, but more suppliers of stuff to those in the actual gang in order to get by and raise their daughter while trying to keep the nature of tier jobs hidden from her. Of course things go south when the mafia decides it needs to end their former partnership with Piper's parents abruptly and brutally, leaving Piper as the only survivor and witness to her parent's murder. Unfortunately for Yuri, he and his partner Lance are the ones to take the case, and summarily Piper is dumped into his lap as he is charged with being the pup's bodyguard until the court case.


Naturally Yuri gripes and moans and complains, but the longer he's forced to act as a surrogate parent to young Piper, the more attached he grows, until eventually, at the conclusion of the case and the subsequent collapse of the city's biggest organized crime outfit, Yuri goes out of his way to get Xavier's help to make sure him and Ada could secure adopting Piper. Much like Ada had been with adopting the boys, Yuri was adamant about adopting Piper, and wouldn't take no for an answer. Though, unlike Yuri, Ada didn't argue or put up a fight, and happily adopted Piper into their pack. 


Despite appearances in the sketches, as you can imagine from the ask featuring her as an adult and mentions here and there that Piper is a spitfire and a troublemaker. The kind to insult and egg on adults and larger mammals without a shred of fear or anxiety. That spitfiery nature of hers is what would end up endearing her to her adopted father the most, as he saw a lot of himself in her. Being older than the troublesome trio upon being adopted, as well as her personality has her leading the boys around by the nose a lot of the time, at least when they were little. And if the boys were to live up to their namesake as the 'emergency trio', there was a guarantee that at least half of the situations they got into growing up had been the result of Piper leading them there and then bailing when it looked like things were about to go south, leaving her 'dumb brothers holding the bag.


Piper is a bit of a bully like her Dad, always ready with a put-down or mean spirited remark when it comes to her brothers, and especially her cousins Grace, Paige or Lumi (Trenton and Qali's daughter). Naturally, that attitude, especially in her teenage years, sees her getting into a lot of scraps and scuffles, some of which those 'same dumb brothers' of hers had to bail her out of, but she never backed down. She never let anyone see her cry if she could help it. Of course, a lot of that is fueled by having seen her parents murdered, and the mental scars it left her with.


As an adult she mellows out a bit more, still with an edge similar to her adoptive Dad, while having fully adopted her adoptive mother's accent, but she's closer to her cousins and brothers for the most part. Piper's nature and knack for getting in way over her head sees her pursue a career in hard journalism, covering wars, corrupt political dealings, and all sorts of scandalous exposes that see her get more hate mail than even her aunt Dawn. But while it's a dirty job, someone's got to do it, and Piper just so happens to revel in it.


Okay, I've got about...three sheets left...and it's late, so we'll pick this up tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed these looks into my thought process and character conceptualization, and I hope you like what you've seen so far. Until tomorrow...


-Wasty

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 1

 Okay, so we're actually doing something a little different this week, mostly cause I got on a bit of a tear with a lot of sketch work. I guess I needed to get it out, or mend my soul a bit with some art therapy, but I ended up finalizing and doing some sketches of all the different Hunter pups interacting with their families and siblings. That's pretty much where most of my work this week went when I wasn't knackered, well that and some sketches of a Loch Ness Monster girl I was working on. So let's have a little showcase of warm and fluffy family moments and discussion on the Hunter family pups collection, as well as a more in-depth look at how my character crafting works I guess.

Wade, Giselle and 'Grace Hunter';


Initially, way back I had said that I wasn't sure I was going to keep Wade and Giselle together. At the time, I guess I was thinking that it seemed odd that all the hunter boys all seemed to be in successful long-term relationships without someone splitting during the course of the fics...but upon reflection, one could argue there are a few gals you didn't see date the various Hunter boys that didn't stick around. It's not like they all matched with their first crush or sweetheart and that was it. There was indeed trial and error. Even in Vernon's case, he had two semi-serious mates before Dawn rocked his world. So saying Wade had previous failed relationships before Giselle, and she just happens to be the right one puts it all in a more reasonable suspension of disbelief perspective. Grounding my characters and the world they live in has always been paramount to me...although I have caved to some...'small world-isms' now and again.


Concerning Grace; Grace was a design not wholly conceived by me. In fact the groundwork for her was actually established by a discussion between me and Elite Shade, the author of 'Found'.


(Check it out here! He does a great job of writing my characters, and I'm sure if you love the Bellhunterverse, you'll love this even though it's an AU.)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13128859/1/Found


Basically, they pitched the concept of Wade and Giselle adopting a megafauna calf, and suggested a rhino. I liked the idea and from there my brain began to work on 'Grace' and how she would fit into Giselle and Wade's life. From my mind came this shy little Rhino calf, maybe no more than five or six when she comes into Wade and Giselle's life. Wade, like his brothers, was mildly skeptical of the idea of adopting outside his or Giselle's species. But upon meeting her, again much like his brothers in the same situation, he immediately falls in love with her. 


Grace is dainty, feminine, and loves to be held and snuggled, a task much easier for Giselle than Wade, as even at five she was already pushing his weight lift limit despite his insistence at trying to carry her. I imagine her finding ballet beautiful, and wanting desperately to be a ballet dancer. Naturally, that's a difficult, if not impossible career path for a mammal of her size, who also tends to be a bit on the clumsy side like her adoptive mom. Needless to say she gets picked on for that, both at school, and of course by Yuri's spitfire of an adopted pup, Piper, who next to Lumi (Trent and Qali's daughter) and Paige, is her favorite punching bag.


As an adult, I can see her managing to achieve her dreams despite her mass, and becoming a surprisingly swift and light on her hooves mammal that dominates any stage she dances across, and eventually opening a school dedicated to teaching ballet to 'unconventional dancers'.


Grace's name was actually posed by one of my Patreon backers, 'DuskyLycanroc' or 'Batduskylycanroc'. A lovely, simple, and ironic name for the young calf as she struggles to find her way in Zootopia. But luckily, she has parents who love her to death, and back her 100 percent of the way.


Thanks to EliteShade for the Concept, and Dusky for the name.


Zach, Vanna, Wyatt and Claudette;


Zach and Vanna are another couple that I think would go into the adoption game looking for a wolf pup or tiger cub out of fear they wouldn't be able to connect with an outsider species and properly rear them. Basically afraid those pups would have a lot of questions they couldn't answer and problems they couldn't deal with. But naturally, especially when it came to the Hunter sons, their soft-hearted nature quickly threw aside any sort of concerns once they met the pups that they would go on to adopt.


Wyatt was the first I came up with probably almost a year ago or more. Basically a pint-sized, excitable little gremlin who was super optimistic and a bit of a pawful. I think the main jumping-off point was taking Vanna's self-confidence issues, and placing her in a situation where's she terrified she's going to scare any little pup they look at, and the prospect mortifies her. Then this little, tiny guy meets her, and he just thinks she's the bee's knees. Wyatt has no fear, scrambling up Vanna without hesitation to get in close and inspect her with quiet wonder. It's a connection that only deepens when he's adopted, and he just thinks she's the coolest mom anyone's ever had. Granted, that fact makes Zach...just a little jealous sometimes.


Wyatt is very in touch with his raccoon impulses, despite not having any other raccoon figures in his life. He's a natural tinkerer, and loves to take stuff apart...which can be a bit of a headache for Zach and Vanna, at least until he gets old enough to actually know how to put things back together on his own. As a preteen and teen, he spends a lot of his free time scrounging at the North Meadowlands junkyard to find parts for his various doodads and inventions. As an adult I imagine him ending up to be an engineer, or something in a similar vein, and probably sees himself as a Mythbusters type of mammal with his weird and sometimes destructive side projects.


Louise "Claudette" Hunter I came up with in the last few months, as some...unknown deep and visceral feeling in me told me that Zach and Vanna would adopt two pups rather than one, similar to Dawn and Vern. They just didn't feel like a one-pup family unit. This time around I knew I wanted something closer to either Zach or Vanna's species and eventually settled on a lynx. I also knew I wanted to go in a gothish, emo direction as I didn't have a single character like that and I've always had a soft spot for them.


Claudette is older, around eleven or twelve when she gets adopted...although the sketches here are closer to fourteen I'd imagine. Basically, she's around the same age as Allison, and with the pair sharing a similar interest and demeanor, they become bffs. Louise is a poetic type, all about deep and visceral feelings in her work but trying to put up a wall around those same feelings when the prospect of expressing them comes to close family and friends. She loves her Mom and Dad dearly, but getting the words 'I love you' out of her can be like pulling teeth sometimes. She's a glass-half-empty kind of gal, keen to bring up everything that's wrong with the world when given a platform. But deep down shes' as delicate as a flower, and just as easily prone to wilting when wronged by someone she truly cares about.


Thankfully, her Pa's there to make the foolish pups who break her heart pay in spades for hurting his daughter, and while she will give him guff about finding it embarrassing later, deep down she really appreciates it. As an adult, I can see her perhaps going into writing short-form horror stories, working as a particularly acerbic and dark-humored barista as she tries to get her works published on the side. Thankfully she's got an aunt who might be able to get her some connections in the industry.


The 'Clawdette' part of her name is actually not her middle name, but her last name from birth. Like Allison, she kept it when coming into the family out of a degree of uncertainty, and Hunter was later added to allow her to keep both names.


Phew, that's all for this sheet. Next sheet coming up shortly. And for Patreons, I haven't any of the speed drawing vids for these yet, but this one won't have one, as I forgot to start recording with this file. I'll upload those vids separately during the weekend.


-Wasty