Pregnancy Meme: Ft Dawn and Vern

Blogger be acting up. Silly stuff. Finally, it's taken way too long to actually get to the asks that have been piling up. Between health and other responsibilities, I'm only just now getting above water. That said, this glorious return also comes with a some....disappointing news. This is the last big hurrah for the Ask Blog, at least for a while. I'll be putting the email on ice and working through what I have when I can.

The ask blog is, and was always meant to be the farthest ring out of stuff I work on. A way to promote my fics which...even the fics were taking a backseat to keeping up with the asks. In order to shift what free time I have outside of the fics and art and comms over to my actual art school tutorials, it means I gotta cut something. Sadly I can't do it all...I can barely juggle what I have even with it cut. But the blog doesn't do the job of drawing or promoting the fic series as well as it used to either.

Now...does that mean the blog is forever dead? No, not at all. It will remain up. And even when I run out of the stored up asks I'll drop something cute from time to time...May even expand onward to stuff outside of Zoot. Idk...we shall see...I don't want to just...let the blog wither and die. But eight-ish years is a pretty long lifespan for an ask blog. Perhaps I'll be better at keeping up after art school and do a full jumpstart at that point.

That said, expect some heavy content for the next week or so... I'd love to get it all done. But I've let it build up quite a lot...So it'll probably take two doses to get through it!

Thanks for the longterm love and support guys. It was a fun ride! Perhaps we'll meet again further down the road.

-WT

PS. Why would Dawn be upset Paige doesn't look enough like Vernon? Easy answer, Dawn still has misgivings about who she is as a 'Bellwether' and the Bellwether name...Hence having her daughter look more like her than Vernon makes her a little anxious. Something she'd be better at keeping to herself if she wasn't dealing with pregnancy hormones.

PSS. The 7+ month gestation rather than nine and still being considered 'overdue' was because it's a median average estimated first by finding the middle ground between wolf and sheep gestation, and then using that number and the average human gestation to find the middle of that, which turned into 6 1/2 months, which I pushed to 7 to make it well overdue but uncertain.

Ask Omari and Elizabeth; The Moment We Knew.

 Omari: Is it off-putting to say the moment we met? I mean, I know we were pups but...

Elizabeth: I don't really think so...I mean, we were...sort of coming into adulthood at that point I suppose. You were eleven, and I was ten...

Omari: Hardly adults there Dear...

Elizabeth: *Giggles* I meant we were entering puberty. 

Omari: Technically, I suppose. Still I didn't...Hmm...*Scratches chin thoughtfully for a moment* I didn't know what I felt, if that makes sense? I just felt...all warm and fluttery when I first saw you...*laughs* Well, what little you'd allow us to see at that reunion.

Elizabeth: *Snickers* I did spend eighty percent of it hiding behind one of my Dad's at all times. It was only because of Paige's persistence that I finally started playing with the other girls.

Omari: And I couldn't even properly introduce myself. *Shakes head* My brothers just stroll up and introduce themselves, and now I'm hiding behind Piper...

Elizabeth: Poorly I might add, Piper was half your size even then. *Laughs* Still, I did think it was cute...not romantically of course, not yet...but...just seeing this 'giant' hyena, at least comparatively, hiding behind this tiny otter was...well it definitely helped reassure me that my father's were right. That I really didn't have anything to worry about meeting the family. *Snickers* In fact, Malcolm said my cousins would probably be more afraid of me than I was of them.

Omari: After some...prodding by Piper, we...I mean, I slowly eased into being comfortable around Elizabeth. I still felt butterflies in my stomach sometimes, but I managed to keep my cool for the most part.

Elizabeth: We both played instruments, that helped bridge the gap of course. I played violin and Omari played the keyboard.

Omari: *Rolls eyes, snout scrunching in disgust* Poorly I might add. I can't believe I ever played that...*Shudders* 

Elizabeth: *Giggles* You were fine when you practiced with me. Believe me, my classmates back in San Francisgoat were even less gifted than you. 

Omari: I think that was when I knew though...that it was a crush...

Elizabeth: Hmm?

Omari: The first time I saw you play your violin. You played...you played divinely even then but...*Sighs warmly* It was how you looked when you played. That determination, that poise, all signified in your body language alone. All your shyness and timidity just sort of...fell away. And I felt like I could see the real you.

Elizabeth: *Blushes* Aww...Omari...

Omari: Granted, I never got to see you play in such an unabashed fashion until we were what? I was thirteen? 

Elizabeth: *Nods* That was right around the time we all had to relocate to Zootopia after the 'Big One'. Before that, we largely had to wait until reunions to see one another. Well, at least those of us living far out from the city.

Omari: When did you know you had caught feelings for me?

Elizabeth: *Scrunches her muzzle, blushing softly* This is...super embarrassing...

Omari: C'mon. it can't be that bad can it?

Elizabeth: *Lolls head warily* Weeelll....It's just it makes me look both....petty and shallow I think.

Omari: *Flicks a dull glance Elizabeth's way* The river incident?

Elizabeth: *Nods briskly* Yeeees...Where Piper was making fun of me, so you dunked her in the river, and then we both ran away from her giggling like idiots...

Omari: We hid by that tree, and after the coast was clear from my pint-sized pressure cooker of a sister, I took my shirt off to ring out the river water...

Elizabeth: And I...*blushes* noticed your muscles were developing. *Giggling, placing her head in her paws as her blush intensifies* Oh gods, I'm so ashamed of myself.

Omari: *Snickers, shaking his head* We were teens...it's natural. Besides, I'm not so humble I won't take a compliment...

Elizabeth: After that...I started looking at you differently...It was like a door opened, you know? The way you were studying so aggressively to follow in your Mom's footpads even then, the passion you had for medicine, and wanting to help other pups it...I suppose it snared me the same way my music snared you. That passion...

Omari: *Nuzzles Elizabeth's snout with his own affectionately* As for when we...confessed our feelings...it was a whole different sort of mess entirely. 

Elizabeth: Yes...it seems we weren't the only members of the pack forming 'romantic attachments'. And while I was at a sleepover with the other Hunter girls when I was fourteen I...I was pressured into admitting I had a crush on one of my cousins... I wouldn't say who, but unfortunately...Lumi, who was struggling with some very confusing feelings of her own took it to mean it was...well...her...*Sighs* Granted, she still had to work up the courage to confess her feelings for me during a big family barbeque a year later.

Omari: The same one I was aggressively goaded into admitting my own feelings for Elizabeth thanks to Piper's meddling...which she still swears was just so she could tease me for wanting to 'rut my cousin'. But I know her heart was actually in the right place.

Elizabeth: *Rolls eyes* There was a whole 'secret admirer' thing floating around the Barbeque. I was told someone 'liked me' like I liked them by Paige, who was busy trying to set things up for Lumi. I agreed to meet my admirer in the barn at a certain time, which Piper overheard.

Omari: Piper had been entirely ignorant of Lumi's feelings, but she already knew how I felt about Elizabeth, and assumed I was in on the whole thing. And through a murky and confusing exchange, I came to believe that Elizabeth wanted to meet me in the barn to confess her own feelings I hoped she'd held for me. 

Elizabeth: We confessed to each other there, sharing our first...non-familial hug. It should have been a happy moment for us... albeit a bit embarrassing...instead...*Elizabeth winces*

Omari: *Rubs the back of his neck in clear discomfort* Lumi overheard us, and ran off crying. *Sigh* Long story short, the family got treated to finding out Elizabeth and I had a crush on one another, and that Lumi was a lesbian the same day. It was...awkward...

Elizabeth: Despite everything being fine between myself and Lumi now...I still feel bad about it looking back. I just...I couldn't see that Lumi had those kind of feelings for me because I just...I didn't even fathom it. *Chuckles* Imagine that, me, the adopted daughter with two gay fathers and I just wrote off the way she treated me as just...being a nice cousin and friend.

Omari: We were teens, we were all still figuring ourselves out. *Shakes Head*

Elizabeth: Anyway...I don't think our parents, or really the whole family took our little relationship seriously. Not until your Dad caught us getting...um...frisky during a 'date'.

Omari: *Chuckles* After that it was "Doors open at all times, curfew enacted, Piper is my informant." *Rolls wrist* Etcetera, etcetera. Suddenly Mom and Dad were all business. There was a serious discussion as to whether to let this 'go on' because we were cousins...

Elizabeth: It was my parents who managed to calm Uncle Yuri down, making sure to point out again and again that we weren't blood cousins even with his reservations about 'wolf inbreeding stereotypes'. 

Omari: Also, we aren't wolves...*Chuckles* In spirit maybe. 

Elizabeth: *Giggles* I think by that point they all still were assuming we'd break it off...*Extends a paw, flipping it palm side out to reveal a half-moon tattoo.*

Omari: *Shows off his own matching mark* If they were disappointed, they hid it pretty well at our tithing ceremony.

Elizabeth: And Lumi was my maid of honor, in case you were curious. *Giggles*

Ask Elizabeth; Tail Brushing

 

Elizabeth: Oh...well...I don't know if all skunks do it but...

Lumi: Probably not the boys...I know boy foxes tend to ignore their tails aside from worrying about how big they are! *Giggles*

Elizabeth: Well, even so...I do take a... a little bit of pride in my tail. So I do brush it regularly, or sometimes one of my fathers will brush it out for me.

Lumi: Then there are the sleepovers where we brush each other's tails!

Elizabeth: *Giggles* Oh yes, that's so much fun...I do love doing the whole sleepover spa ritual. It's so much fun!

Paige: Makes me wish I had a tail as long and luxurious as you guys do...all I've got is a half stubby little fur wool matted mess...

Lumi: Hey, I like a challenge! Besides, you have that amazing mop of head wool I can't keep my paws out of when you come over! *Giggles* It's so fluffy!

Piper: Jeeze, like mudder like daughter. I sure hopes yas at least asked halfsie over there before gettin' ya dirty paws all up in her head wool.

Paige: *Scoffs* She did, and honestly Lumi works wonders with those magic paws of hers, between her pro styling skills and her dressmaking she's probably going to end up a big stylist someday.

Lumi: *Blushes* Aww, hush cuz! *Giggles*

Piper: Eh...as much as I'm loathed to give a compliment, credit where it's due, Lumi does good woik. *Cackles* Even wit me, and I got barely any fur to woik wit

Ask Dawn And Vern; Paige's Birthday and Sam Hain

Dawn: Oh, well Vernon and I came to an agreement that it's not...really all that fair to make Paige share her birthday with the holiday, both for her or the lambs. The festivities sort of 'take away' the importance of her birthday, and we don't exactly want to force the other lambs to skip Sam Hain trick-or-treating for their little sister's birthday party. Something like that could create resentment or a feeling of favoritism there, and that's the last thing I want to do.

Vernon: I mean, it's not like Sam Hain is Yule 'er nothin'...but it's still one of them big seminal holidays fer pups as they grow up. Lot's a' fun memories made to look back on and such...*Chuckles* I know I got quite a few.

Dawn: So generally we usually celebrate our little miracle's special day either the weekend before, or the weekend after Sam Hain proper.

Vernon: Give's her birthday a lil' breathin' room...and while she can't really appreciate it right now, it kinda turns her birthday into a birth week in terms of presents arrivin' from the rest of the family. O'course, it's the same fer' our other pups, so again it ain't like we're given Paige special treatment...'er rather more special treatment than Alli 'er Eddie.

Dawn: Don't forget about multiple parties...*Giggles* The benefits of being part of such a large flock...er, pack, is that the rest of the family pulls us into attending little birthday parties of their own for our little lambs, so like Vernon said...birthdays really turn into birth weeks.

Vernon: Speakin' of, Paige's birth week this year had us traipsin' up and down Zootopia fer days. *Laughs*

Dawn: Lamb Shanks, our family certainly kept us and the pups busy. Friday visiting Trenton and Qali in Foxes Glenn where they had a modest little cake for Paige, then we all went back to the Ranch for Saturday and Sunday where Audrey and Dorian held this massive barbeque...

Vernon: Wade and Giselle met us up there, as well as Yuri, Ada, Ulric and Honey. Sadly Malcolm and Xave were too bogged down back in San Francisgoat to make it this time around, but they sent their gifts with Yuri and Ada.

Dawn: Which Yuri tried to claim as being all from him if I recall. *Laughs*

Vernon: *Donning a Yuri impression* "They didn't deliver 'em themselves, far as I'm concerned them gifts is forfeit." 

Dawn: *Giggling* Oh it was a wonderful weekend, but so tiring...

Vernon: And Monday didn't give us much of a break either with Cam and Clover throwin' a lil' party for Paige as well.

Dawn: *Giggles* Well, it was at least a mild respite. It was a much more quiet affair with just the five of us, my Mother and my stepfather. Small cake, relaxing atmosphere...plenty of spaces throughout the day for the both of us to steal away and catch some shuteye in my mother's guest room.

Vernon: We were too tired to even try and fool around a lil'...

Dawn: Puppy! *Snickers* You hound you! You know I'd never do that in my mother's house!

Vernon: Hey, we fooled around at my Ma's house...it's only fair!

Dawn: You instigated! *Cackles*

Vernon: Tell that to a judge! *Laughs* One look at my little Honey Lamb and he'll agree with me that y'all went and bewitched me with yer...capridian wilds.

Dawn: *Swats at Vernon Playfully* Stt-aaaaHHp!

Vernon: Alright, alright...*Snickers* I'll dial it back...

Dawn: Down boy...Giggling* 

Vernon: Steerin' thangs back on track, Tuesday, officially Sam Hain and Paige's real birthday was the first time in days we didn't have to so much as look at a birthday cake, o'course that was made up in spades with all the candy and other treats they had at that Sam Hain Street Fair they had in the South Meadowlands. 

Dawn: We went as a family, and started out trick or treating together...but as it grew a little later in the day, we let Allison take Eddie around to do a little more intense and aggressive trick or treating while we hung back and took a more casual pace with Paige.

Vernon: Allison sold him on hittin' so many houses he'd have more candy than he could carry...and well...despite our reluctance we...we wanted to let them off the parental leash a lil' bit...give Eddie a lil' bit more...independence...*whines*

Dawn: Puppy...

Vernon: I'm fine, I'm fine...*Sniffles* Little pup's growin' up every day...

Dawn: Once Allison told Eddie she guaranteed if they went treating on their own to cover more ground, he'd end the night with more candy than he could carry...well, it was impossible to say no to those adorable pleading green eyes of his when he pleaded with us to go.

Vernon: *Sniffles*  Puffin' up his little chest and tryin' to assure us he could handle it...That he was a b-big ram...

Dawn: It was Allison's assurance that she wouldn't let him out of her sight for a moment that sold us on the idea. I know I can trust Alli to keep her word...but what I hadn't anticipated was...well Edison really bringing back more candy than he could carry.

Vernon: Yeah, last year Wade was monitorin' them while me and Dawn were at the hospital, and so he was makin' sure Edi wasn't eatin' candy a'fore he could get it back to us to check it and limit how much he ate...

Dawn: And Allison wasn't really...paying attention to that...

Vernon: Needless to say, by the time the two met back up with us on main street in the early evenin' Edi was twitchin' like he was about to go sava-...er...wild...but I suppose every pup's gotta learn one way 'er another about their 'sugar limit'...and suffer the candy hangover the next day as payment. *Chuckles*

Dawn: I'm just glad we got him to sit still long enough to get that photo taken at that really cool Granger things stall, the one with that Vecmaw prop?

Vernon: I remember it Darlin'...

Dawn: They had lots of different horror displays down the main street, along with some fantastic food stalls, but I never expected to see a Granger Things Stall. It was like, the perfect coincidence since I had spent the last week trying to coordinate the entire family dressing as Characters from Granger Things for Sam Hain. 

Vernon: We was aimin' to do a whole family from the shows bit, Hopper and Eleven, and Joyce and Will, with Paige playin' the role of a lil' Demigorgan. *Chuckles*

Dawn: I honestly thought I was going to have the most trouble getting Allison on board, but after some discussion, she agreed to be Eleven on the condition that she could be Jason next year...with excessive gore effects...*sigh* I'll be honest I'm not thrilled about it, but a deal is a deal...

Vernon: All that work and then Edi didn't wanna be Will cause he liked Dustin more.

Dawn: And there was no talking him out of it. *Chuckles* Still the photo turned out great...well aside from Edi gobbling up more chocolate like a little feral gremlin while my attention was on the camera.

Vernon: Yeah, it's pretty stellar, o'course that Vecmaw prop in the background really brought it all together...

Dawn: It was so lifelike I was actually afraid it would scare Paige, but she couldn't stop giggling at it...

Vernon: *Snickers* Our pup is a strange one...

Dawn: *Pauses* Puppy? Was...was that Vecmaw prop always...winking? I don't remember it being posed like that...

Vernon: Can't really remember to be honest...couldn't stare at that ugly mug fer too long myself...

WT: Happy Belated Halloween everyone! Sorry for the delay. I have a sinus infection and the antibiotics knocked me for a loop! I'll have a more substantial update later today...at least to fill in folks on whats happened. Until then, seeya...

Ask Special Collection; The Hunter Pack; the next generation Pt 5

 The final round-up. The last page of this collection is sort of a retread of characters we've all seen a lot of at this point. Allison, Edison, and Paige are all pretty fleshed out by now, as well as how they get on with their parents...at least in terms of what I wish to divulge at this time.

But it also felt weird to just...leave them out. Having shown them a bunch of times, and as they are as adults a few times, I decided to take a stab at the in-between years. With Paige now around 10 years old, about when her older brother and sister were adopted, and both Edi and Alli are in College and technical schools respectively.

Basically showing off how the family dynamic has developed between the three of them even though Alli and Edi aren't always home anymore.

Paige and Edison's relationship;

Paige and Edison are close, though maybe not as close as her's and Allison's relationship. And while it's undeniable that a great deal of Paige's nerdier traits were inherited from her parents, there's no doubt that it was Edison who shaped her taste in games, probably by and large due to the fact that Paige was more likely to stand in as Edi's player two than Allison was. Edison's love of scientific pursuits also rubbed off a little on Paige, as despite her tomboyish nature she is rather fascinated by space and similar intellectual studies that Edi hooked her onto, especially when he talks about it. Not enough to seek a career in such a field as Edison has, but enough to cheer her brother on from the sidelines.

The past ten years have seen Edison suffer a bit of turmoil, as well as a deep pre-teen-years depression that lasted for a while. This is because Edison began suffering from fainting episodes that led to the discovery of him having a goat ancestor who passed on the fainting gene to him. This condition basically made him ineligible from ever becoming an astronaut and essentially crushed his lifelong dreams. It took a long while for Edi to work through that with the help of his Ma, Pa, and Uncle Gus, but eventually he was able to pull himself back up by his haunches and make the decision that if he couldn't be an astronaut, he'd get a job working as close as he safely could with them and aim for a job at mission control. At 21, Edison is in college working on his engineering degree, as well as studying methods to get a better handle on controlling his emotions to minimize his chances of fainting even more.

Allison and Paige;

Allison is essentially the sibling Paige looks up to most, and connects with the strongest. With both being tomboys, Allison was always able to provide her sister with outlets to channel her more aggressive and wild tendencies. While Dawn and Vern would teach Paige how to ride a bike, Allison would teach her all the cool and risky tricks. If Dawn and Vern would teach Paige to swim, You can bet it'd be Allison teaching her how to do flips off the diving board. That was and is their relationship, sister and mentor to sister and pupil. 

As an adult, and tackling technical classes on the side while working at Val and Amelia's garage, Allison is at home more than her brother, as Edi opted to live on campus even if it was just downtown. This allows for her to spend more bonding time with her little sis, which is something she wouldn't necessarily admit she loves, but that's mostly because she still tried to maintain that air of imperviousness to her in terms of emotions, at least around Paige. In truth, much of Allison's decision not to stay with Val and Kodi while going to her technical school was largely in part because she was reluctant to strain that bond with her little sister, at least more so than Edi.

When left to keep an eye on Paige, there's usually always an 'incident' that occurs while the parents are away. Something gets blown up, or electronically fried, or possibly even lit on fire, which can be a headache for both the Hunter parents and Allison despite her usually being the one to encourage it. But with Paige, she knows she'd be doing her a disservice if she wasn't letting the pup take risks and express herself in her own, weird way. Even if that means they might break a window or two in the old family home with a potato canon, it's worth it to hear that giggle from Paige.

The Overall Dynamic;

Naturally, the three pups have a very tight bond. Regardless of blood relation or not, they are siblings to one another, for better or worse. Alli still teases Edi, and criticizes his taste in films and other media as being dorky, but by now it's become their back and forth. Allison the greasehound and Edi the flopper, siblings that would die to protect one another, and of course little Paige. By this age both Alli and Edi are slowly developing a weird hybrid relationship with Paige that's somewhere between parent and sibling. They indulge her interests and play alongside her, but they also watch over her and are keenly concerned with how she's getting along in life and school when they aren't around. It'd be hard to find a closer set of pups than this trio, despite the age gap. 

Alright, so that's all and I am officially lore dump vomit exhausted. On Patreon, I'll be releasing some speed drawing recordings of some of these sessions with a little commentary probably sometime tomorrow. So those interested who aren't in the patreon, I'll link it below.

For patreons I'll also be dropping some more art and speed commentaries for some more recent works I did, so keep an eye out.

Thanks for reading, I hope you guys liked this...I know it was probably a lot, and it was a little sloppy as it was written on the fly based on the nuggets of information I cultivated and reviewed repeatedly inside my head before putting them to these posts. Still, I hope it was anenjoyable aside from the usual content...

-Wasty

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; Thermodynamics Refuted; With Professor Valerie Vulpes

 

A little late with this, but it required some extra elbow grease...and I lost a day due to being sick. This comic idea was prompted and funded directly by a Patreon backer, (Unformed8), and was a good enough idea I feel to feature as an ask special on the blog. This little strip features Val being a stellar Aunt and older sister by teaching Paige and her new little sister Cassie the art of mischief. (Cassie is still in the prototype design phase...not entirely sure this will be her permanent look. She's Cameron and Clover's eventual adopted daughter.) Luckily, when it comes to mischief, the laws of thermodynamics don't apply to Valerie Vulpes. Special note of Vernon being a stellar Dad here by the way, not coming down on Val teaching his pup how to light things on fire, but arguing over technique. A+ parenting there Puppy!

Before I go, I wanted to ask you guys something. Over time these ask comics have gotten more elaborate, from simple line art, to partial color, to full color with shaded backdrops. Of course, with increased polish comes increased time consumption and less content output per week. My question for the audience is, do you prefer these more colorful, high quality ask responses? Or would you rather go back to line art only or partial color in order to possibly facilitate more content per post. Maybe something in between? Lemme know either by commenting here or I guess emailing if you can't. Just head the email as not being an ask. Thanks everyone!

-Wasty

Happy (Belated) Father's Day!

 

Ugh, always running late with my posts, but this one needed a little extra love. After all, this was my first time drawing the BellHunter Family Townhouse in the South Meadowlands. I want it to look properly lived in. Poor Vern is a tuckered Papa in this pic. Usually, it's Vernon who does the grocery shopping after work while on his way home, unless it's the weekend. This time around, I imagine he got an extra day off after a particularly busy week, and being the 'super dad' that he is, offered to watch the pups while Dawn went to the store this time. However, the ol' wolf was more tuckered from work and keeping non-nocternal mammal hours than her thought, and slipped into a midday nap despite himself. Luckily the pups don't seem to mind, especially Edison who seems to be using his Pa as a beanbag while focused on his Scritch games. Thankfully Allison seems to be more than willing to pick up the slack keeping an eye on Paige to let her Dad get some much needed shut eye.

Next week we'll be back to more standard kinda ask comic stuff. Until then, I hope this pic was worth it. Thanks guys!

-Wasty

Happy Mother's Day; From AskTheBellHunters!

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the American families out there, as Europe has their Mother's Day a whole month earlier. Be sure to call your Mom and tell her how much she means to you, you never know how much time you have. 

-Wasty

Happy Yule 2021~!

 

And an advanced 'good riddance!' to 2021 as a whole! I'd like to thank you all for sticking around through the mess that was 2021 guys. Hopefully, I'll be able to hit the asks twice as hard to make up for it next year. Happy Yule to you all! This blog will be back in January!

-Wasty

Dawn's Preganancy (A Visual Guide)

 

Wanted to do some sketches of Dawn at different stages of her pregnancy with Paige, from conception to just days before having the c-section. It was something I sorta wanted to do for a little while and was prompted by Patreon backers to go ahead and do it while I'm still stuck in this...' traditional mode' I guess. It was good for some pose and character practice, and dare I say some of the sketches are cute. 

Just a note before I get questions on this...the full term of Dawn's pregnancy (7 months) was figured out by taking wolf, sheep and human gestation times, finding out the median numbers of both when compared to human gestation overall, and favoring the larger number. If I recall the average wolf gestation was super quick, like 2 months. Sheep were about 5 by comparison. So that came out to a 5 month median for wolves, and a 7 month median for sheep. The reason I went with the sheep total instead of trying to split it between a wolf/sheep median was that it was both longer, which seemed more feasible for a sentient species than the shorter one, and by virtue of that, it made it feel more organic that Dawn could reach the point of looking like she's ready to burst and unable to get around by herself come c-section day.

Anyway, hope you guys think the art is cute. Much Love,

-Wasty

Ask Dawn And Vern; Morning Routine

 

Ask the HunterBellwethers/Ruminerds; Favorite Dismurinae Characters

 

Vernon: Think it's best we limit this to the pups, and our immeadiate pack, as er...this whole back and forth would be a bit too long to handle.

Dawn: Should we start with the pups?

Vernon: I think that's fair, although I will say I don't think Paige is 'too young' to have a favorite, considerin' how she watched Floatzen to the point where the Bluray broke.

Dawn: *Giggles* She does light up every time Princess Elsa is on screen.

Vernon: And she gets so excited she's practically vibratin' like Qali on coffee whenever 'let it go' starts playin...*Laughs*

Edison: Wagg-E is my favorite! Both the movie and the cool robot!

Allison: Of course it is. All a movie has to do is be set in space, and it's instantly your favorite movie ever...

Edison: That's not true! I...liked Dinotauria too...

Allison: Yeah, but you didn't go on and on about it like Wagg-E....or Gods, Star Wolves. I wish Pa-er...Dad had never shown you those movies!

Vernon: Sorry Darlin', but yer brother really wanted to see the new ones, and Broomie would kilt me if I didn't show Edi the originals first. So he kinda got....a real big dose of it in a real short amount o' time.

Gus: *Mumbles* Star Trot is better...

Vernon: *Whispers* He ain't old enough to really absorb Star Trot....

Dawn: What about you sweetie, who's your favorite Dismurinea Character?

Allison: I don't watch movies for Pups...

Edison: Then why do you have that 'Scritch' doll in your room?

Allison: I-I don't know what your talking about!

Edison: Yes you do! It didn't just get under your bed by itself!

Allison: YOU WERE IN MY ROOM!? YOU LITTLE WORM!

Dawn: Lambs, Lambs please! Don't make me put you in the cool-down corner!

Allison: BUT HE WAS IN MY R-!

Dawn: Alli, we will discuss it later sweetie, okay? I promise.

Allison: *Huffs* Fine...

Edison: S-Sorry Mom...

Joel: I can't believe someone didn't bring up Kuzco? Empurror's New Groove?

Gus: Can you really one of Dismurnea's religious movies? Like the Lion King series? I mean...he's a llama god before he was a Dismurinae character...

Joel: True, but it technically counts, and it was a pretty fun retelling of the old tale.

Broomie: Does Roger Rabbit count?

Joel: That depends, is that you avoiding saying your favorite character was actually Jessica Rabbit because of her huge t-.

Vernon: JOEL! *Whispers* Not infront of my pups Mam'.

Broomie: Moreso Roger Rabbit is sort of a joint Dismurinae and Woolner Bros video. It's like...is he technically 'half' a Dismurinae character?

Vernon: I'd say it counts. Dern good movie too.

Edison: That movie is really funny! *Glares at Alli* And see, it doesn't have space in it!

Allison: *Rolls Eyes*

Edison: *Sticks tongue out at Allison.*

Dawn: Edi, you are two seconds away from the cool-down corner. Do not test me young lamb.

Edison: *Puffs up cheeks in annoyance and crosses arms*

Vernon: What about you Gus?

Gus: Oh me? Well I've always like Olifur and Company. *Chuckles* I thought dodger was pretty cool.

Joel: more wolf envy from Gus, what a surprise...*Chuckles*

Gus: And what's that supposed to mean?

Joel: Best friend is a wolf, favorite character from Dismurinae is a wolf...honestly, I'm surprised you aren't pulling a Broomie and mating with one.

Gus: I guess I've just always like strong characters, and wolves are generally depicted as being strong in media. *Laughs* I'm gimped and hobbled over here, is it so hard to believe I'd look to strong mammals for inspiration and motivation?

Joel: Well, when you put it like that...

Melanie: C'mon, not love for Cetacia, the lost empire? Kida?

Joel: That movie was boring....

Melanie: It was different! And kinda mature for a Dismurinae movie! And underrated classic!

Gus: It is, like the Iram Giant...

Broomie: C'mon, Iram Giant can't compare to Cetacia, no offense Mellie.

Melanie: No...even I'll admit Iram Giant is like, another class in terms of cult classics...

Joel: I still tear up at that ending mam'....hearing “Supermam'...” for that last time...*Sniffle* I'm getting teary just thinking about it...

Ask Dawn and Vern; Paige's First Words

 

Ask Vanna; Paige the Tigress Tamer

 

Ask The BellHunters; Hybrid Climate Complications

 

Dawn: Well, to be honest we don't really know yet.

Vernon: Paige is sorta the first...well, first in a long time in terms of really dramatic cross-species hybrids. And considerin' she's just a little over a year old, we're kinda...learnin's stuff as we go.

Dawn: While the door is sort of open now for hybrid lambs and pups and what have you, it's still quite hard to achieve depending on the genetic gap between the parent species. Granted, Paige being born has led to an...*ahem* uptick in mammals trying the old fashioned way more aggressively...at least, if some of the fan slash advice mail is anything to go on. But medical science has just really gotten started figuring things out in terms of hybrids, and I imagine it will take some time for them to create and offer medical procedures that can help with cross-species fertility and viability. I kind of imagine this is the kind of question we'll have more concrete answers for thirty to fifty years from now, when we actually have a number of examples to go by.

Vernon: That said, Paige seems fine...o' course both me and Dawn come from species that basically...share similar climates. Now iffin' Giselle and Wade somehow manage to have a pup...er' cow, er' whatever y'alld call it, maybe there'd be something to worry about.

Dawn: Goodness, can you imagine a ...Girolf? Waffe? It would be so tall...!

Vernon: Or, it'd be real short for somethin' that looked like a giraffe... *Chuckles*

Happy Sam Hain Scare!

 

Ask Dawn and Vern; Paige's birthday and Ulric

 

Vernon: We ain't to worried. I don't know iffin' we've mentioned this before, but Sam Hain has sorta...the opposite affect on Ully one would expect.

Dawn: You mean he's normal for one night? *Giggles*

Vernon: Naw, just crazy in a different way. Y'see Ully takes Sam Hain very seriously, at least in terms of the old folklore. I suppose most of y'all know this by now, but most of the cultures and religions that made Sam Hain a thang celebrated it purty differently than how we do now.

Dawn: In the caprid religions, Sam hain represented the time in which the veil between the land of the dead and the land of the living was at it's thinnest. The costumes and treats were a way to confuse and appease the spirits that crossed over to torment the living.

Vernon: The costumes made it so that the bad souls from the other side couldn't tell live mammals and their own kind apart, which kept 'em from bein' stolen away to the other side of the veil.

Dawn: And the treats were sort of an offering to appease those mischievous spirits, and keep them from tormenting the living.

Vernon: Naturally...Ully takes that all very seriously. And while he's usually the type to be real interested in ghost huntin' he...well...how he put it when he said it to me was, 'I'm a marked mammal when dealin' with spirits. Goin' out on Sam Hain for me would be as stupid as taking on the entirety of Zootopia's Reserve Army alone, completely naked with nothing but a spoon to defend yourself.”

Dawn: Pft...*Snickers* That doesn't sound like a stretch for Ulric I think. At least the naked part.

Vernon: Honey's been tryin' to lure him out since she took up datin' him, tryin' to assure that idjit that' it's just a pup's holiday, and it'll be fine, but so far it hasn't worked.

Dawn: I just don't get why he can't at least hand out candy for the lambs.

Vernon: To him, that's riskin' invitin' a demon into yer home. *Chuckles* Nope, it's just gonna be a good twenty fer hours of him locked in his home, with all the lights off, hidin' under that ol' security blanket of his...

Dawn: S-Security blanket? *Snickers* Really?

Vernon: Some ol' habits die hard. *Chuckles*

Ask Dawn And Vern; The Paige Hunters

 

Dawn: Unfortunately yes...

Vernon: It's mostly from religious folks, granted we already got our fair share of hate mail from them about havin' an 'unholy union' and what not, but there has been an uptick in the letters since Paige was born.

Dawn: Yes, some of them are....really reprehensible. The..names especially hurt. I mean down get me wrong, Vernon and I...we're sort of....insulated to most of it by now.

Vernon: We've heard it all before, and we kinda expect it. We had gotten to the point where we we're pretty much just laughin' at 'em.

Dawn: But what some have said about Paige, about our adopted pups as well...it's so...it was impossible not to let it get to us in some way.

Vernon: 'Abomination', 'monster', 'creature'...Readin' words like that...I mean, it's like a punch in the gut, y'know. And makes us that much more worried fer Paige as she grows up...

Dawn: We have also had to...well...we do have security now. I mean...more than before.

Vernon: Sback at the ol' apartment we got by with a simple lock and baseball bat, although no one ever really tried anythin' as far as we could tell. Once we relocated to the South Meadowlands fer the sake of the pups, we had a proper security system installed with cameras and motion detectors and such.

Dawn; So far we've only really had issues with a few of the, more daring paparazzi and journalist types trying to get clear photos of Paige and the other pups, but the ZPD has been pretty on top of that.

Vernon: They weren't lookin' fer proof she existed. Most of society I think came to terms with it after the the pawful of pictures we consented to went to print. But y'know, she's a growin' pup so...every picture they can get has value.

Dawn: I can't think of a single mammal, at least that I've heard about, who legitimately believed we made up Paige's existence. Usually I'd want to say Ulric but...

Vernon: He believed it from the start. *Chuckles* Once again, the broken clock is right twice a day.