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Fuzzbutts: Prissy's Parents
🕑 Added 2021-09-19 21:26:17 +0000 UTCPriscilla's parents, Shari and Calvin Sinclaire. They're a bit of an odd couple.
Firstly, large predators generally don't date smaller animals. It's partly an ego thing, big carnivores are meant to be tough and dominating, thus it's seen as undignified to "lower oneself" by accommodating a small partner (eg. squatting to be at their eye level, eating off their tiny plates and cups, etc). There's also the very real danger of a large carnivore hurting a smaller partner by accident....so most animals aim for love somewhere within their size range....and often, preferably within their own species.
Welp, Shari was out with the girls at a bachelorette party one night when they noticed a teeny sphynx kitty entirely out of place in the large carnivore section, sipping a whiskey and shooting Shari nervous glances when he thinks she's not looking. Giggling to themselves, the lionesses dare Shari to go talk to him.....if she isn't too chicken, of course. Shari hmphs and says something like "I'm gonna snap that twink like a toothpick". And you know what? She did. And they lived happily ever after.
(Calvin tells the story differently....He recalls being approached by a gorgeous golden mountain of a woman probably hoping to intimidate him into bolting and earning a laugh from her friends....upon which he flipped the script, asked her to dance, then dipped that pretty pretty 300 pound predator, right there on the dance floor. Who's the flustered one now?)
Calvin is hopelessly smitten with his giant wife and writes her sonnets to this day. Shari adores her teeny husband and is happy to carry him around when he tires of keeping up with her longer strides (or is just lazy), and dote on him and give all the kissies to his handsome wrinkly face. Shari brings home the (metaphorical) bacon, while Calvin works from home as a novelist. He was also an enthusiastic stay-at-home dad when their sole, much beloved kitten Priscilla was born.
(The general rule of reproduction in Fuzzbutts is that any two sapient animals can have children, so long as the size difference is not too extreme (eg. a mouse and a moose can't reproduce). The child will always be the same species as one of the parents, not both. A lion/housecat couple has a 50/50 chance of producing either a kitten or a lion cub. Hybrids are very rare, and cannot occur unless two species are genetically similar enough for hybridization to be possible in our world (eg. a horse and a donkey can produce a mule offspring).
Comments
Bigsmile
I'll admit I have no idea why my mind went to such a depressingly dark place with this cute picture and story 😅.
Lopoddity
Yep, that falls into the “size difference cannot be too extreme” caveat I mentioned. A male tiger would likely just be too large to safely mate with a small female housecat. Bodies have limits. Even if by some miracle they made it work and managed to conceive, the pregnancy would be nonviable and the fetus would quickly die in utero. Throughout history there have been a couple accounts of “miracle” large babies that were successfully born/removed from small mothers, but these stories are largely unverified. What mostly happens is the pregnancy fails before it really begins, or an abortion is performed to protect the health of the mother. There are a million ways a regular human pregnancy can go wrong, the risk would be astronomical for a cat carrying a tiger cub. Far better for the couple to adopt, or implement a surrogate or donor.
Bigsmile
I really dig this portrait style you got for these two, and these characters are pretty rad too! But all I can think about is what if the species was reversed and the smaller female got knocked up with a tiger cub? I can only imagine the heartache of that scenario ☹
Lopoddity
Oh of course, it's in your username. Doy. I'm dumb. XD The overall effect is that Priscilla's pretty impossible to scare. While it's not her favorite genre, she does enjoy her dad's work, and she grew up in his spooky studio. Bruce brought over a bloodbath horror movie (something like the Saw movies) one night and was pretty stunned at Priscilla yawning through scenes that had him feeling sick and spooked. She just picked apart the plot and said the bloody payoff lacked punch without proper setup. Where's the atmosphere? The suspense? Horror these days is all jump scares and gore, hmph. There's simply no artistry anymore! Her house was indeed the spookiest on the block every year. :D Calvin was willing to compromise on scares tho if Priscilla wanted to dress up as something cute. So Shari has treasured photos of Calvin in an elaborate blood-splattered axe murderer costume....happily holding up baby Priscilla, who's dressed up as a banana
Calvin Sewell
Calvin! =D had it picked out since I was eight! That sounds fantastic, Junji Ito's creeping, atmospheric horror is a pinnacle of the genre and we all need more of it! Would love to know how that influenced Priscilla growing up, is she into it? Terrified? Was her house the scariest on fuzzbutt Halloween?
