Yule Ask; Omari and Elizabeth: 20 years later.

 

Omari: O-Oh, well I mean we usually get a few things for each other for Yule..but mostly the greatest Yule gift we can get each other is making sure our schedules line up so we actually can enjoy the holiday together.

Elizabeth: Yes, I...well Yule tends to be the season where the orchestra I'm a part of tends to be the busiest. Usually right up until the New Year. So I have to travel a lot with them from place to place...and Omari, well... he's usually running himself ragged at the Pediatric Hospital so it's...not exactly easy to pull himself away from that.

Omari: I guess I'm as bad as my Mom is...*shakes head* but...I can't...I can't just leave those pups at Yule...I know there are other oncologists in my wing but...you...you get close to the pups in your care. They come to see you like an extra parent...so it's hard to...tear myself away.

Elizabeth: I hate to admit I've really grown to hate the ringtone on his phone...

Omari: I've cycled it out like four times, but being on call at all times is...I mean you quickly associate the new tone with separation.

Elizabeth: I'm not much better I suppose. But we do what we can to work around those inconveniences as best as we can, and we savor the time we do get as much as possible.

Omari: Thankfully my wing has been fairly quiet this season...

Elizabeth: And I was able to manage a much-needed respite from the tour which allowed our Yule eve and Day to synch up perfectly, thank the gods...*laughs*

Omari: Yes, the only concert my love is playing tonight is for a private audience.

Elizabeth: *Quirks a brow* Now is that the Yule violin pieces I'll be playing while we unwind in the living room? Or are you perhaps describing the more 'intimate' concert I have planned for later that night?

Omari: *Blushes* I...*Coughs* I d-did mean the music yes...*Ahem* Not that I'm not...looking forward to that private...show...

Elizabeth: *Smiles sweetly, blushing* Me too Mari...

WT: Happy Belated Yule everyone! Sorry for the delay...my health is in the toilet! Oh, and happy New Year!

Ask the Ruminerds: Musical Energy P1

 Vernon: I mean...it depends I guess...sometimes at work even a real toe-tapper ain't enough to make the work feel like less of a drag...

Dawn: Is that usually when you have to prepare for a presentation...

Vernon: * Groans* yeah...I just get so worked up 'cause I know every time I ain't just sellin' a design, I'm sellin' myself. So despite doin' my best to tune things out and de-stress with music. It just...it can't cut through the anxiousness and annoyance...

Gus: I'm guessing you're talking about having to prove yourself when folks see a wolf trying to pitch them a building design? 

Vernon: Unless it's a customer I've worked with before, it's always the same song and dance..." Oh, weird choice to have a wolf present the design to us..." er' "Hey, I said I wanted to meet the real architect!" *Vernon sticks his tongue out* Bleh. A lot of 'em don't wanna hear anymore after they find out I actually am the designer.

Dawn: *Hugs Vernon's leg* Aww...wolfy...

Vernon: Sorry, I sorta drove this off track a bit...just...y'know...I get frustrated...uh...anyway...what were we talkin' about?

Gus: Music energizing you?

Vernon: Right...well outside o' work...I mean, music ain't never got me so full of energy I really want to dance it out er' go fer a run. But it'll get me feelin' extra creative when I'm designin' a buildin' er' structure...and when I'm pushin' through some chore er' what not.

Dawn: I'm the same...I'm not really a big dancer or anything like that...but I feel so infused with creative energy when I hit a really good song while writing...it just makes the words pour out of me like water out of an exploding dam.

Vernon: Y'all sure you don't dance? Cause I know I've caught that wooly butt o' yers wigglin' when doin' some o' the chores while you got them earbuds in...

Dawn: Oh I'm aware, you've certainly 'goosed' me quite a few times while I was unaware...*Chuckles*

Vernon: A wolf's gotta hunt...*Laughs* Besides, can't pass up an excuse to dance with my Honey Lamb.

Dawn: Aww....Puppy, *Gestures the wolf to bend down* C'mere you. *Grips the sides of Vern's face and gives the wolf a deep kiss* MWAH!

Vernon: *Draws back and begins fanning himself with a paw*. This ewe's givin' me the vapors Gustav!

Gus: *Shakes his head, trying to stifle his smirk.* Sweet Sawgrass...you two should get a room already...and don't call me 'Gustav'...you know I hate it...

Melanie: You're only encouraging them. *Snickers*

Gus: Cervidwens Hooves, if it wasn't for the fact it was such a genetic long shot for you two to have kids in the first place, I'd wager you'd be eight litters deep by now.

Dawn and Vernon: *Laughing* 

Vernon: Alright, what about you two?

Gus: I'll admit, the right song can really get me going while writing a campaign setting. Or doing work around the store...though I'm not a dancer...like at all...

Melanie: I have to be half-way to drunk to think dancing is a good idea.

Dawn: So like at our reception them? *Dawn smirks*

Melanie: Hey! That wasn't my fault! *Laughs* I was the only not wolf drinking! Your brother-in-law didn't mix it right for someone my size! I didn't choose to be smashed!

Vernon: Hey I didn't mind, watchin' you dress Yuri down because he hadn't tied yer 'new best friend Ada' down yet was probably the funniest thang I'd seen all night...

Melanie: *Holds up a finger* While I was pretty smashed, my point still stood...That yeen is a goddess...waaay too good for him.

Vernon: Yeah, that's what my whole family says...'cept Yuri anyway *Chuckles*

Joel: Animalme soundtracks supercharge my life! 

Gus: Don't you spend most of your day in a chair making 3d models...

Joel: And playing visual novels!

Megumi: I prefer North Mammalian Rock...nothin' gets my blood charged like a wi-wicked? Wicked solo. Makes cleaning up our apartment or my store so much easier to get through. 

Broomie: I work out a lot now, but even before that music and my job were kind of inseparable, especially on the tougher days when I was really feeling wiped out. When I didn't think I could make the last few blocks worth of deliveries, or the weather just was too miserable, music always gave me the extra push I needed to power through. And it did the same during my...well entry to yoga with Talia.

Joel: Those must have been fuuuUUn...*The llama chuckles sarcastically*

Broomie: Aside from my job, I wasn't a big exerciser...and I certainly wasn't flexible in the slightest.

Vernon: To be fair, most of us ain't...fer me that's the other reason I never went into workin' police like my Pa wanted. Too much...fitness fer upkeep...

Gus: And that's why you've been doughy since high school. *Snickers*

Dawn: Hey, lay off my wolf...*Squeezes his slight gut affectionately.* I happen to be a real fan of dough...*Giggles*

Broomie: Talia didn't force me to like...keep up with her or anything. She didn't even force me into fitness...but she wanted me to be a part of her morning yoga routines and I...wanted to be a part of them too...even with that, most of my morning yoga with Tali is still low-impact...I ended up losing most of my weight for...um...*Blushes* Through other methods...

Gus: *Snickering* Broomie, you animal...

Broomie: Hey, unlike the other stuff, the bedroom was the one place I was determined to keep up! I was not letting Tali down!

Joel: So, did music help you power through or...?

Broomie: Shut up! *Laughs*

Ask the Ruminerds; Fursona and Shin Megamew Tensei

 

Gus: I think that's gonna be just Joel this time around...maybe Megumi too.

Joel: Well yeah, nobody among us is as into Animalme, and animalme styled games in this group except me...and Gus has a particular hatred of anything that takes place in a high school setting.

Gus: It's bottom-tier entertainment...I mean, if stuff set at a high school is always awful in North Mammalian movies and games, why does the same content in Japanda so praised?

Joel: Because instead of singing about how great Highschool is, they have guns and fight zombies or go to the underworld and stuff... it really doesn't compare.

Gus: I was done with High School when I graduated...and I never want to go back.

Melanie: Even if we have kids?

Gus: If we, by the grace of Hornunnus himself have kids, we are home-schooling them.

Joel: Suit yourself...hey, I like the series. it's fun, and playful.... a bit wacky too. I like that.

Megumi: Eh, I'm not big on series...ironically for similar reason to Gus...I'm just...tired of high school stuff...it bore me. I much prefer...fantasy stuff...or stuff that's in a not-so-common setting. So like Cowboy bebop, Full metal Alambist, the classic that is Dragon Maul and Dragon maul Z, that sorta stuff. So a game set in high school based animalme, regardless of supernatural elements just doesn't really appeal.

Joel: Paca plus is set in a high school! *Snorts*

Megumi: YES! I know that! But...it just hit me at right time! There are exception to rule sometime!

Joel: Pft...just sounds like hypocrisy to me...

Megumi: Someone is trying very hard to ensure they won't have warm red panda cuddles tonight...It's all going into my Haida pillow...none for Joel-kun.

Joel: Okay, you know as well as I do that's a total bluff...You want to snuggle as much as I do...you know my neck fluff is better than any Daki on the planet!

Megumi: *Glares at him fiercely before letting out a harsh sigh* Damnit, you see through it every time...you jerk!

Joel: Love you two my little Dakko kuma.

Ask the Ruminerds; Beastars

Joel: Look at this shameless self-promoter...I guess someone's looking for the Ruminerd's blessings...*chuckles*

Gus: More than likely looking for insight from the published author among us as to the quality of his work...

Dawn: I mean...I haven't read a fanfic since...probably college?

Vernon: *Flashes Dawn a dubious gaze* Lamb Fry?

Dawn: *Squirms in her seat* Well...maybe I've read a few here and there in the last few years...

Vernon: Floofs... *Says in a knowing tone*

Dawn: *An awkward bleat escapes her muzzle* A-and maybe wrote a few...back in college...

Vernon: C'mon now Honey Lamb...

Dawn: Okay, okay I was writing fanfics up until the whole Last Night incident...*crosses arms and pouts while throwing a glare Vernon's way.* Happy now?

Vernon: *Chuckles* Least yer bein' honest...

Melanie: Oooh...gossip gal! What kinda fics did you write? What media? *Melanie grins mischievously.* Were they steamy?

Dawn: I mean...yes...*Blushes* A-and I suppose...if you must know, they were largely uh...Fluffy the vampire slayer stuff, some Charmed...and maybe Supernatural in my college years...

Melanie: *Squeals in delight* Oh you gotta let me read them, those shows were my jam!

Dawn: *Cringes* Well I don't like...I mean that stuff is long gone...at least the stuff before college...It was too cringy...b-but I'm willing to share the other stuff so long as you don't tell a soul about.

Melanie: *Makes a cross on her chest with her hoof* Cross my heart and hope to die Dawn. I'll take them to the grave. *Chuckles*

Broomie: Eh...all writers gotta start somewhere...you should have been there to experience some of Gus' writing from his early games back in High School...phew...talk about cringe...

Gus: I'm right here you know...

Dawn: What were we supposed to be talking about anyway?

Joel: Beastars.

Vernon: That that Purrean soap opera? The one with the wolf and the rabbit?

Joel: Soap Opera? Ehhh...Purrean? No. It's a japandese mammanga adaptation.

Broomie: The one with the really pretty wolf girl?

Gus: *Squints at Broomie* And here I thought your attraction to wolves was limited to Talia. *Chuckles*

Broomie: *Sputters* I mean...I...

Vernon: *Chuckles* Ya opened a door that's purty hard to close huh?

Broomie: A-Anyway...er...me and Talia watch it...we like it...but she hates the rabbit...

Joel: Haru?

Broomie: Yeah, she says she's never felt the urge to maul a prey mammal before, but Haru awakens predatory instincts in her she almost forgot she had.

Dawn: I wasn't super interested in the series...

Vernon: Yeah, the guy...Leogshi, playin' the dumb wolf stereotype got old real fast...Fella seems too dumb to function at times.

Megumi: Oh yeah, he's a real moron. And he never develops as a character...he's just a baseline moron throughout.

Joel: It's so much worse in the Mammanga, you have no idea...it's like a train that goes off the rails, and for a while, you think it's going to be okay cause it's still sorta gliding next to the track slowly and no one's been hurt yet. Then it just dumps off the side of a steep cliff into a school bus, and they both tumble into a fireworks factory...all spectacle, no substance, and Juno gets the worst ending possible...Louis just completely walks back the entire series worth of character development and abandons her.

Broomie: FOR REAL!? AWWW...T-that! I don't know if I should be mad because you spoiled it, or mad because it's awful!

Gus: The second one, definitely.

Vernon: Eh...Louis is the deer right? Maybe it's them bein' afraid of goin' full hog with the predator/prey romance in a live-action type deal?

Gus: Sweet Sawgrass, Haru demands to see legoshi's penis at one point...I don't think that was the problem.

Melanie: I also...like...the sexual undertones are really weird too...like I mean first off...this is a fictional world where Predators eating prey is still absurdly common, and then there's like this weird...like they try to equate a predator's hunger to sexual desire...it gets really...rapey?

Dawn: Ew...yeah, glad we didn't get that far...

Vernon: That's real nice...sounds like the author has a fetish...

Gus: Or an agenda.

Joel: Look, if you want the seasoned Animalme veteran's take on it, Beastars was a promising-looking series with interesting, well-written characters that couldn't stick the landing with the plot which only unraveled more and more wildly as the series went on. It's a terrible shame...a real tragedy cause you don't see a lot of interspecies romance Mammanga's make it to the mainstream and get adapted into Animalme's or live-action shows in Japanda. Especially with a pred-prey coupling front and center.

Megumi: It true, it still sort of...shunned in my homeland. A lot of stodgy old tradition that we've weirdly come to take a personal point of pride in as hallmark of our 'unique culture' despite how miserable it make us. My Dad was...he actually passed away at just barely forty-one year old because he work way too hard as paper pusher in some dingy office job and the stress broke him.

Joel: Ah, he was a Karoshi?

Megumi: *Nods* He gave his life to that company. Slave away making himself miserable to support me and my mom, who were also miserable because we never got to see him. *Chuckles darkly* And at his funeral, his ex-boss had the audacity to describe him fondly as 'real company mammal'. *Gags* 

Vernon: Sweet Sawgrass that...that sounds real rough...

Megumi: *Chuckles* Let's just say I do not regret giving his face a good claw massage shortly after his speech. It was well worth the night in the police station.

Ask Dawn and Vern; Workin' Music

 

Dawn: Well Suri Nicks of course! She's my go-to when it comes to writing! *Giggles* That Llama speaks to my soul...But otherwise, when I'm not leaning on Suri for inspiration I tend to kind of...okay, I don't do this all the time, but sometimes when I'm aiming to sort of, put myself in the proper mindset to write a chapter with a specific mood, I'll pull up a playlist of 'mood music'.

Vernon: So like emotional songs fer emotional scenes and like, rock songs fer fight scenes?

Dawn: Right, I'll also sometimes pull up playlists that are vaguely time period specific. For instance, I've recently started writing a supernatural crime drama set in...well at least starting around the 1920s deco period. So I'll pull up a bunch of oldies by the Peltspots or Ella Fitzgergrowled. Maybe a whole playlist of swing and Jazz, although I've recently taken a real liking to...I think it's called electro-swing, though I couldn't mention any specific artists aside from I think...maybe Caravan Pawlace? Most of the other songs are just electro remixes of old songs.

Vernon: Ohh, yeah I like them electro swing song y'all put on...love that sound. Surprised the pups seem to go for it too...Aside from Alli anyway.

Dawn: So she says, but you know Alli...it's all about not being seen liking what she likes...*Giggles* She's at that age where she's concerned about maintaining an image...

Vernon: *Chuckles* True, I was like that...I mean don't get me wrong, I love rock and metal stuff like The Killers, Cheetah's Palace, Gorillaz, Metaillica, Pound Garden, Pink Bovoid, Queen...I could go on, but I also had a weakness fer ol' video game chiptune music which I was real self-conscious about fer years.

Dawn: Aww...Puppy, but why? I mean you were part of your BnB club in high school...you know Gus and the others wouldn't have cared...

Vernon: It wasn't about savin' face in front o' them, heck it was one of the few places I could enjoy chip music cause Gus was real into it too. Well, that and black metal like Rammstein...

Dawn: Really? Rammstein?

Vernon: I mean, he grew up with Gil fer a brother...o'course that was gonna bleed over...

Dawn: Ah, right...

Vernon: Nah, the real reason I was self-conscious was cause I lived with Yuri. A bully that had access to his victim purty much 24-7. Last thang I wanted to do was give him more salvo to pick on me with... By Oldwyn's great grey muzzle he never, ever let Xavier live it down when he caught him listenin' to the Backstreet Baah's....*Shakes head* Er' Britney Spears...N'Mink and the Mice Girls too...

Dawn: *Giggling*Lamb Shanks...I...Xavier was into pop bands? *Tries to stifle a smirk* I-I would have never guessed.

Vernon: Yeah, the signs were really all there weren't they. To be fair, Xavier ain't a fan now...he regrets what he dubbed his previously 'terrible taste'.

Ask the Wolves; Moonlight Love Making

 

Vernon: I mean...it ain't like I'm...keepin' track of exactly when the full moon is to get some...'private time' with my Honey Lamb. Like we ain't goin' out of our way to 'schedule' er nothin'...that ain't how we...operate fer the most part...

Dawn: I mean...I'd like to think most couples are....well I mean they don't 'limit' themselves to specific nights of the week, or monthly events. With us, the only thing we have to worry about scheduling around is where the lambs are, if they will hear us, or if we know they'll be staying with their grandparents, aunts, and uncles for a weekend. *Giggles*

Vernon: Hoo boy, yeah...when we know we got a whole weekend to ourselves we tend to go whole hog...er' in this case whole lamb... *Chuckles*

Dawn: *Blushes* Puppy, hush! *Giggles*

Yuri: Ugh...sounds like a nightmare to me...

Ada: Oh c'mon...it ain't like wes don't gotta pull some creative time management of our own to work out some alone toim in between our jobs.

Yuri: Exactly mah point! Now imagine tryin' to juggle our demandin' jobs and raisin' pups at the same time...we'd never have time fer ourselves with all that chaos goin' on around us...

Vernon: *Ahem* With all that said though, I mean, makin' love under a full moon...there is somethin' real comfortin' about it...it definitely adds to the atmosphere.

Wade: Makes the blood hotter...makes everything feel a bit more...primal?

Zach: Savage even? *Laughs before catching himself* O-oh, sorry Dawn...

Dawn: No worries Zach, I'm fine. The word doesn't make me flinch.

Vernon: I mean, in terms of the ol' wolf belief systems, both Norwulff er Native, the full moon is a representative of the wolf mother Lupa. Her watchful and protective gaze looking over her pups all across Animalia and offerin' them her blessin'. Only time she ain't supposed to be able to see us is durin' the new moon when she 'blinks'. So there's been a er...long time cultural element ingrained in all wolves regardin' the moon. It's where the stereotypes come from...

Trenton: In Volkism, or Norwulffish beliefs, whichever you want to call them, making love under a full moon is encouraged as it's sort of...it's like Vern said, it's a blessin'. A communion if ya will. Lupa is considered the mother of all wolves. She's a fertile goddess, and so she'd want nothin' more than to have her descendants... 'be fruitful and multiply'.

Xavier: So Consummation of a relationship on the night of a full moon is well, it's seen as seeking Lupa's approval on such a union. Granted that's also part of the point of a tithing ceremony, which is why tithing ceremonies are largely held during full moon nights. And since generally, a couple will... consummate on the same night, it is sort of one big plea for Lupa to bless the couple's union, and the offspring it will produce.

Malcolm: I mean, iffin' I recall even long-term tithed couples will usually aim to try fer a pregnancy on full moon night because of that belief in the blessin' thang...

Vernon: *Chuckles* The night we figure we conceived Paige based on how things all lined up was probably durin' the full moon that March. So...I mean...it probably didn't 'help' make that happen' er' nothin'...but...I mean who can say?

Dawn: It is an interesting 'coincidence'...*giggles*

Ulric: I've done a pretty intensive study on old Norwulff religion stuff...mostly in preparation for the trip me and Honey took to Norwulff to visit the family crypts.

Yuri: Y'all mean the trip that got our pack banned from ever visitin' two countries, and made us the center of an international scandal?

Ulric: Yeah?

Yuri: The one that Dawn had to bust her ass to get lifted so at least Ma and Pa could visit Norwulff fer their anniversary, and see it before they died someday? And they absolutely refused to lift the one in Scottram altogether so Dawn and her Ma have no chance to visit their homeland in their lifetimes?

Ulric: Your point is?

Yuri: *Shakes his head and mutters* unbelievable...

Honey: *Sheepishly* Eh....still sorry about that guys...

Ulric: Anyway, supposedly it pleases Lupa to watch her pups consummate their love. To become 'one' under her watchful gaze, and express the highest form of love one can with their partner. It gets...really mushy and sentimental. Not my kind of thing...

Zach: Kinda saccharine iffin' I'm rememberin' the part yer talkin' about. "Two mammals, united as one, pledgin' their souls to one another un undying adoration and love" er...somethin' along them lines.

Ada: Jeez...Lupa's kinda a perv huh? *Cackles*

Vanna: I mean...so are most other gods if one is to consider the whole 'omniscience' thing that most of them supposedly have. So Lupa isn't exactly unique.

Qali: I mean, I feel it...and I'm not a wolf. A full moon night definitely adds to the atmosphere...like Vernon said...it just makes it more...romantic.

Dawn: Especially if you are outside...*giggles*

Ada: In a cornfield I takes it? *Laughs*

Vernon: Well...I mean...not factorin' in the whole...gettin' caught risk...er' the howlin' thang...I gotta say that night in the cornfield at Ma and Pa's was...I mean...it felt right...*Blushes*

Dawn: I mean...it felt wrong too...

Ada: But fun wrong?

Dawn: *Blushes* I mean...I'd be lying if I said no...*Snickering* I only wish the heat hadn't made it a somewhat painful affair before we uh...reached climax. Then again, had it not been for my remnant estrus being so bad in the first place, it wouldn't have happened...and as bad as I feel about the fact that I sort of...forced Vernon's paw and broke Audrey's trust, as well as alerting everyone in the district to what we were up to...looking back it was...*Cooes softly* it was really something...

Qali: Me and Trenny have made love dozens of times in the tree field...thankfully he's not much of a rut howler, so we never really had to worry about my Dad or Sisters catching us...but those nights, under the stars...*sighs wistfully*

Trenton: Sometimes in the snow even...

Qali: *Giggles* Yes, even in the snow...it...it almost felt magical at times.

Ada: What is you nuts?! Ruttin' in da open snow? 

Wade: Yeah, I mean...I've never done that...

Giselle: Well once...*Giggles* But that was in a hot tub...

Wade: Yeah, but that's my point. It was snowing on us, but we weren't really 'out in the cold'...

Giselle: Speak for yourself! We were in a bloody large mammal hot tub, perfect for you but tiny for me! *Laughs* Seriously I think about everythin' above my knees and hips was above the water line! Luckily I happen to be pretty cold resilient unlike the rest of my family...well that, and we found...other ways to keep warm...*Giggles*

Ada: Still, Trent ain't no arctic wolf despite how much he looks like one...how could yous stand that?

Trenton: We had a blanket...and one of those space heater thangs...

Qali: And a really long extension cord. *Giggles*

Honey: Makin' love under the moonlight for my first time with Ully was pretty hot for me...even if it was in a Norwulffish prison cell...*Chuckles* In fact, that may have added to it.

Ulric: It was not romantic! It was...I was trying to make you feel better! I-It's important to...it was for moral an-!

Honey: Sure it wasn't my little prisoner of love...*Snickers*