#fuzzpocalypse

[defiantinsect]

wanted to draw a snarl so mammal callie it is

[defiantinsect]

the zombie sparkledog is here...

au lore stuff below cut

the mammalian retrovirus interacts oddly with sanitized individuals in that the fur they grow isnt a "naturalized" color, and is distributed strangely across their bodies so that one half usually remains baby smooth; theyre also a lot more sickly than other mammalians and are the most animalistic/feral behaviorally.

the timing of the virus' emergence means that acht isnt as screwed up as they couldve been (post side order) but they have their moments. they have the temperament of a horse/deer and are more likely to kill you by trampling you out of panic than anything premeditated. they werent exactly a talker before but now its extremely rare they say anything at all - if they do its in fragmented sentences. and when they do speak its to complain about headaches and muscle/bone pain. eight keeps them sane since she talks to them a lot when they have some downtime

they do like to bite though. just in general. and the strain theyre infected with is mostly thylacine so they can do the horrible mouth thing thylacines did

[defiantinsect]

ok i lied this is my last sloppost of 2024. mammalians do have hunting impulses but none of them are actually like. good at it because theyve lived most of their non-mammalian lives just getting food from stores premade. callie (begrudgingly) subsists on pity cheeseburgers three gives her

[defiantinsect]

thinking about the awkward in between stages of infection...

some misc stuff + a sloppy style comic too

and one where shes nearly a full mammal

[defiantinsect]

a mammal? oh nvm its just callie

ive been wanting to revamp some of my mammalian designs for the fuzzpocalypse au for a while now. i figured i should start with the one thats patient zero for the mammalian retrovirus

i mostly wanted to make the ferret genes much more obvious, since the squid sisters end up being ursid/mustelid mixes (her fuzzy tentacles have been chopped short by three, so the fur on her head is easier to care for)

[defiantinsect]

cure/treatment related stuff for my fuzzpocalypse au. explanation for images below the cut ^_^

i mentioned before that something is figured out eventually, even though part of the problem with the mammalian retrovirus is the whole "having a skeleton + true muscles" thing. the solution is to...work around that the best they can, and focus on the things that are treatable. salmonid antibodies are the foundation for the experimental formula - marie had started the research after callie got infected but marina was the one to finish it, and used it on herself first before daring to try it on anyone else. turns out its great for slowing ongoing infections and it did reverse some of her bodys changes, though it remains unclear if its effective in fully stopping mammalization...

callie is the first one to undergo the treatment plan marina formulated (she was the first to turn, so its fitting), and its more succesful than she expects - but theres some pretty permanent losses that cant be undone. namely the fuzzy tentacles + loss of swim form, but teeth and claws and bad posture usually stay, too. some weird animalistic impulses stay as well, like grooming themselves even when they dont have a coat to manage, or panting like a dog, or trying to hunt, and brain fog too, but these are dependent on what the individual was like as a mammalian. what the formula cant undo is removed through extensive surgeries, like the coats the infected develop, facial structure changes, and "correcting" bone structure if its too wacky for the recovering individual. scarring is inevitable (and callie is a lot more scarred underneath her outfit) and medical trauma from the whole process is...pretty likely too.

mammalians are also provided physical therapy to help them relearn motor control for things they couldnt do while quadruped, like walking upright, writing, drawing and using tools. its not perfect, but it does spark hope among people that the world isnt doomed to a hairy breakdown of society

blindness or partial blindness in one or both eyes happens a lot. callies other eye is fine

she was also offered tail removal but shes too attached to it. its a part of her now

[defiantinsect]

fuzzpocalypse au doodle. not sure about mammal threes colors quite yet, but more importantly.

get scruffed idiot

[defiantinsect]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HOHOHO!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[defiantinsect]

Question about the fuzzy au curing stuff- since the mammal forms are bigger, do the cured individuals remain bigger and taller than they used to be or is that fixed in surgery?

they shrink a little, but yea theyre always bigger than what they were pre-infection. at most they might lose some height through corrective bone surgery

[defiantinsect]

Are mammalians “based on” a certain animal? For example, a character having traits similar to a cat or dog. Or is it just “general mammal-adjacent creature”

theres a bunch of strains that have different genes from different families, so they are based on certain animals. the squid sisters are some mix of mustelid + ursidae but others can get things like rat + pig (pearl) or stranger things like thylacine + opossum (acht). theres also super strains that are essentially gene soups where theres a whole bunch of families involved and these mammalians are usually a lot bigger and less visibly "were once humanoid at one point". marina gets infected with one of these strains :)

[defiantinsect]

How widespread does the virus become? How long does it take to become widespread?

(Also do you have a way to view the old posts in one place? I want to catch up on the lore)

widespread to the point that most of the major cast is infected by the time some kind of cure is developed (its absolutely not a perfect solution, extensive surgery and care is needed for the stuff you cant get rid of like the fuzz and the body shape changes. other stuff is permanent even if they return to something similar to their old physical self, like having a skeleton and never being able to go into swim form again. i want to make a post about this eventually...). marina in this au is kind of the last cephalopod standing when things get to this point but even she isnt completely unscathed.

however since the infection takes a long time to turn someone into a mammalian, that point where a lot of people are infected is like, years out from patient zero. id say nearly a decade

you can check the fuzzpocalypse tag to see all the older posts! id like to get a neat official post with everything on it eventually though

[defiantinsect]

Is a way to test for the virus ever developed?

yeah; the big thing that distinguishes it from a regular cold is elevated calcium levels, so it becomes commonplace for a sick person to be tested for that once its discovered

[defiantinsect]

What happens if somebody already infected with the virus touches the fuzzy ooze?

they (kind of) cancel each other out. a patch of (brown ooze) fuzz will show up on the site of contact and thats about it, and its eventually overtaken by the virus' fuzz (influenced by individuals ink color) anyway

[defiantinsect]

For fuzzed plauge AU… are the survivors/uninfected? How do they protect themselves?

depends entirely on what theyre dealing with. the worst type to deal with isnt a mammalian but someone whos halfway through turning into one; they have the highest tendency to attack at this stage, and the virus spreads fastest/easiest through bites and scratches. the ooze mammalians drool and cry can be problematic if you like to get real close to them or if theyre still coughing or sneezing.

generally keeping your distance and wearing a mask of some kind goes far for traveling, though there is an accepted risk youll contract the virus if someone you know or love becomes a mammalian, simply due to prolonged exposure to their ooze (and the countless times your skin comes into contact with it on accident). masks can only do so much when you have to comfort your friend after they lose the ability to speak or walk upright

[defiantinsect]

how do marie and callie interact as fuzzies?

theyre like velcroed to each other lol. its pretty rare to see them separated once theyre reunited (thanks to four finding marie eating her moms crops); only reason they would be is because its one of the agents' turns to take care of their coat for the day. callie ends up "teaching" marie to chill out because when she first comes back shes very anxious and irritable and interprets everything as a threat of some kind. despite her being the smaller one she tries to protect callie from anything she doesnt recognize—the only other person that could approach marie without problem was four herself for a good while

if one of them is taken out to check for stragglers/the state of the outside world the other one inevitably has to come, too, they throw fits and whine and howl if they cant

(this happens anytime someone new shows up)

sleeping is no exception

[defiantinsect]

these are pretty messy and disorganized and acht doesnt get infected until way later in this au, but i wanted to get an idea going for their mammalian form

i think in a more formal drawing theyd get more stripes...theyre also the only one to keep their primary unnatural colors (thanks to being sanitized) so theyre the mammal with blue fur and pronouns