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Maybe The World Will Never Understand Our Kinda Love
🕑 Added 2022-08-21 16:37:15 +0000 UTCTibbs and Perry, Perry and Tibbs. Some exploration featuring how the world perceives their relationship, vs how they themselves perceive it.
1.) As mentioned before, predator/prey relationships are stigmatized in Fuzzbutts. Society dictates that predators be noble and dominant, with big cats in particular being quite prideful and obsessed with public image. It's considered degrading for a predator to "lower themselves" by dating a prey animal, these sorts of relationships are dismissed as fetishistic (it doesn't help that the rare media depicting pred/prey relationships in FB tends to be quite Beastars-like, usually showing a lustful pred struggling to contain his animal urges around an innocent, wide-eyed prey person).
Perry's case is particularly egregious, because his prey partner is so much bigger and stronger than he is. This makes Perry look weak and undignified in the eyes of many, and at worst, he's seen as a pathetic deviant getting off on being dominated by prey- a total inversion of the "natural order". Here we can see Perry's dear aunt Meredith and Uncle Harold condemning their woefully misguided nephew. Perry's disgracing the family! And what's worse, this freakshow of a relationship is ruining the sanctity of real, honest marriages! >:O
2.) Meanwhile....
Meredith, like many, is under the impression that Tibbs doesn't give a rat's ass about Perry and that the relationship is entirely one-sided (which makes Perry look even more foolish). It's an easy mistake to make, as Tibbs does often seem stoic and even robotic in comparison to Perry's near-constant affection.
But. Tibbs does in fact, love Perry. He's just more subtle about how he expresses this (compared to Perry's love for unprompted 3am yowling love ballads). Tibbs went through his young adult life as a giant intimidating monster boar, so he wasn't really used to making friends or being treated warmly by anyone outside his own family. Yet Perry has approached him with nothing but easy sincerity and kindness since day one, which has the effect of punching through Tibbs' stoic shell like a torpedo through a paper napkin. Tibbs shows affection largely through acts of service, like waking up early to pack Perry a nice lunch with a note inside, or noticing a warning light on in Perry's car and immediately popping open the hood to fix the problem. It's not exactly Hollywood romance, but in Perry's view Tibbs is dependable and sweet and funny in a way not enough people appreciate, and he loves him dearly for it. While Perry can definitely get annoyed that people give him so much shit for being with Tibbs, he's never been good at fitting in anyway, and isn't gonna start trying to conform now.
Uncle Harold: Perry, your aunt and I can not condone your "relationship". >:(
Perry: *gasps* Oh no!
Perry: anyway
Here we can see Perry returning home from a trip (during which Tibbs was definitely not sad and listless).
3.-5.) Perry and Tibbs engaging in one of their shared love languages- being fucking cringe
Comments
Lopoddity
Nah. They're probably just family friends that Perry was taught to treat as his aunt and uncle
gamigami
i know this is waaaaaaaaay WAAAAAAAAAY back... but are these Dom's parents?
feathermaws
I have always wondered about this dynamic in FB Cause there are plenty of herbivores that could absolutely wreck some carnivore shit
TheTabbyBadger
That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the in-depth answer :D I’m glad friendships at least are a little more accepting (even if it’s sad they’re seen as ‘less’ than romance, but totally realistic).
Lopoddity
Thank you! :D And good question! I wish it had a simple answer. XD Predator/prey platonic friendships don't have anywhere near the same negative stigma as pred/prey romances, but that doesn't mean these friendships are universally accepted. Social attitudes vary by location and species. In rural pockets, where populations tend to be insular and homogenous, a pair of pred/prey buddies are bound to turn heads. Folks will probably ask nosy questions and grow stilted and awkward (and usually extremely curious) around a sort of friendship they've never seen before. Prey animals in particular tend to have a protective herding instinct, they might try to pull the prey friend aside and ask if he's okay, is he being manipulated, does he need help to get away? Whereas predators tend to regard prey as witless and clingy, and would wonder why any self-confident pred would ever mingle with food. The case is much different in metropolitan areas. As species integration has become the norm in cities, so too have mixed-species friendships. Generally this is hailed as a good thing, except for angry old diehard traditionalists, but we don't talk about them. Younger people especially are more inclined to engage in pred/prey friendships, owed in part by their tendencies toward diverse spaces like colleges. Dom and Tadeo are both young dudes (late twenties) who live near and attend Critter City Zooniversity. Their friendship doesn't warrant a second glance in this space- Dom's pretty much the only one who gets weird about it, since he was raised by giant status-obsessed felines who view all social relationships as transactional and especially look down on befriending prey for the sake of befriending prey. Sure, some of Dom's old frat buddies might tease him over the odd friendship, but even here the frat bros are much more curious and amused than judgmental. Tadeo's friends, comparatively, are wary of Dom's smarmy arrogance and feline strength, but relax seeing what a dork he becomes around Tadeo. Basically, pred/prey friendships get a pass because they're friendships. "Just" friendships. Romantic relationships between preds and prey come with much more inherent issues- how will they cohabitate? What will mealtimes look like?? Is a herbivorous partner willing to cook meat for their carnivore spouse? Can a solitary-minded predator fit into their prey partner's close-knit family herd? How will the partners reconcile their differing health and material needs? How will intimacy between them work? Will it be dangerous? What will the children look like??? What will their families think??? Are they prepared to deal with gossip? Nosy questions? Discrimination? Are they prepared to deal with choosing between hiding the relationship, or getting rude stares? .....How can they REALLY ever know it's true love, and not just a weird kink? Of course, pred/prey friendships are not immune from many of the above issues, but friendships are just not seen as being as "important" as romantic relationships, so people generally don't scrutinize platonic bonds as closely as romantic ones. Tadeo and Dom being friends is just fine. Tadeo and Dom being best friends is kiiiinda weird, but mostly acceptable. Tadeo and Dom being boyfriends? Opens up a whoooole new can of worms. :/
TheTabbyBadger
I’ve been thinking on this more since this piece. Are predator/prey platonic friendships also seen as a taboo? Like if Dom and Tadeo as roommates became best friends and called each other that would everyone be supportive right up until they said, ‘just kidding we’re in love’? Love the worldbuilding and how much it makes you think!
