Posted by TallyHallJoe 7 months ago Report

I wonder if that rabbit gets eaten too.

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

I appreciate the interest, but remember that there are a lot of different users on Aryion that follow me for different reasons, so I try to keep talk about fatal vore to a minimum on pieces that I upload with safe preds, these pieces are meant to be safe for both prey and for floofs that don't want to think about fatal vore. But there are a lot of other pieces in my gallery that feature fatal preds if that's what you're interested in <3

If you mean as a safe pred, Swallow typically goes after mice when he's compulsively swallowing anypony (don't worry, he always releases them unharmed afterwards). Pebble would scratch him up pretty bad if ever tried something like that with her X3

Posted by TallyHallJoe 7 months ago Report

Alright but humans in vore is my thing.

Posted by Loomfox 7 months ago Report

I really love Swollows derpy attitude about the awhole thing, being so nervous to the point of being absolutely silent is so cute!

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

"I don't know what I'm doing right, but I'm going to sit completely motionless and hope that it continues" <3

Posted by Loomfox 7 months ago Report

Although I would like to know is that as a safe pred does he choose to not eat prey? Given that foxes are omnivores I can imagine thst swallow perhaps chooses to only eat fruits and vegetables instead of other animals?

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

Mostly. I've had a few questions in this direction on different pieces and it's a good reminder to me that I should either make a FAQ for the Forest or come up with a comic that explains more of it. But I don't mind elaborating in the meantime ;3

So, long answer incoming:

I cheat a little bit with vore in the Forest in multiple ways - the mechanics of how it works, the fact that vore is soft vore. I also cheat a little bit with nutrition, so animals like foxes are still omnivores, but I bend the rules ever-so-slightly to make their nutrition easier than it would be in the real world.

Swallow is mostly vegetables, some grasses and nuts, and some fruits - particularly carb-heavy vegetables like roots. This is not enough for a fox to live on in the Forest, so he also gets eggs and occasionally milk or insects (although he's not fond of eating them). Some safe preds also eat fish (fish and insects are widely considered non-sentient), but Swallow abstains from fish as well and in the instances where he does eat insects or fish, he refuses to kill it himself.

Typically safe preds still rely on prey for food (just not for meat :3). Prey like bunnies (and in particular rodents) like having safe preds around because it makes the area safer - so they'll often help with gathering food and when possible providing things like eggs, milk, insects, etc.. by coordinating with other prey species. Otherwise it would be very difficult for safe preds to get enough calories and nutrients. Animals being sapient in the Forest also helps with this - there are preparation techniques that some animals have figured out to make foods more digestible for safe preds (soaking grain or vegetables in milk for example). Animals in the Forest are still feral and they can't really use tools, but they are capable of being imaginative about things.

So the TLDR on that is that safe preds are more reliant on prey than it might seem - and it's not just altruism that makes them stick around prey, keeping a safe pred healthy requires a little bit of community effort X3

Which gets back to Swallow, who is not popular among bunnies or rodents or birds, and who definitely does not have a prey-based support network. He does a lot of foraging himself, but the biggest reason he's not starving to death is because he's friends with Sam. Sam is very popular with prey animals, so they have no trouble getting basically any food they want, and Sam gives some of that food to Swallow to fill in the gaps Swallow has with foraging.

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

Some of this is still details I'm ironing out, so this is slightly subject to change in the future, but it's the head-canon that I've been working with so far.

Other fun note, preds in the forest use vegetarian/vegan differently than humans do IRL. A "vegetaraian" pred is a pred that doesn't kill (sentient) prey but doesn't always ask pawmission from sentient prey to get resources. A "vegan" pred is a pred that always gets permission (regardless of whether they occasionally eat meat).

This leads to some weird inversions: Swallow is way more averse to killing than Sam is - Sam doesn't have a problem occasionally killing fish or insects, they don't consider them to be sentient. Meanwhile Swallow avoids eating fish/insects as much as he possibly can (especially fish), and in the instances where he does it's always somepony else that's done the catching/killing before-hand. Swallow doesn't just have an aversion to eating food that can talk to him, he doesn't like killing in general.

But, importantly, Sam always gets permission before they do things like dig up a bunch of roots next to a prey's burrow, or eat an entire berry bush, or eat a stash of unfertilized bird eggs. Swallow doesn't, because he can't get permission; none of the prey animals will talk to him. So by the Forest's standards, Sam is vegan even though they eat fish, and Swallow is vegetarian even though he practically never kills anything and is far more plant-based than most other safe preds. But he does steal potatoes, and that's the Forest's standard X3

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

None of the foxes would be vegan by IRL standards, they're all eating some animal products even if it's just eggs/dairy. They have less nutritional complications than IRL foxes would in that situation, but it's still not really an option for them to do only plants.

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

I haven't introduced any safe obligate carnivores, but they would work the same way, just with much less ability to forage for things. A safe feral cat for example would be very, very reliant on having a support network of prey that are interested in keeping them alive - whether that's through buns or larger mammals letting them nurse or donating milk, or rodents being very clever and helping with food prep to make some plant-based calories more digestible.

There's a lot of different ways that arrangement could play out depending on the pred, I just haven't really dug into any of them yet.

Posted by Loomfox 6 months ago Report

Late reply but thats so very interesting and I don't mind the long answers I really enjoy diving into the lore of your work

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

<3

Posted by c4nn1bunny 3 months ago Report

Oh that's such interesting worldbuilding! The question of how preds and prey may live in peace is very much a current fascination of mine, and I really like your approach. Prey nursing preds in exchange for protection is quite the thought! :3

Also makes me wonder how many animals (with internal fertilization) actually lay unfertilized eggs if they haven't mated. Guess I should research that. :D

Posted by foxyoreos 3 months ago Report

<3 Yep, the strategy that most safe preds in the Forest are trying to use is "make myself useful enough that keeping me alive becomes the prey's problem, not mine." X3

Unless you're Swallow, in which case the strategy is "be miserable and hungry until Sam helps you out."

Posted by c4nn1bunny 3 months ago Report

Ah, the beauty of cooperation! :3

And, aw, poor Swallow, he really needs a hug! <3

Posted by The Saint of Ravens 7 months ago Report

Oh no~ poor anxiety fops~ i hope he can unfreeze before dawn~

Posted by foxyoreos 7 months ago Report

<3

Posted by FurryTastyTreat 7 months ago Report

This is so gorgeous! I'd love foxy cuddles.

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

Thanks! You're a good bun, you deserve all the fox cuddles <3

I do think it would be a really comfy way to sleep - get a big fox to cuddle and you don't have to be nervous about other preds sneaking up on you :3

That's the biggest part that Pebble is attracted to, they've spent a really long time needing to purposefully sleep light - so not needing to worry means that they can just snuggle up and bury themselves in the fur and zone out.

Posted by FurryTastyTreat 6 months ago Report

That's a massive compliment! Thank you!

Posted by DamnedFox 6 months ago Report

Awwww poor foxie.... Seems they need someone to help them sleep too c:

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

Swallow is in heavy need of a bun to adopt him :3

Normally Swallow getting close to bunnies ends with him in pain, so this is kind of out of nowhere for him and he doesn't really know how to react. But assuming he doesn't fuck things up with Pebble, getting to cuddle a bunny every night would be beyond his wildest dreams.

Posted by uhohfellas 6 months ago Report

That rabbit is so rude

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

Valid take, although I could say a few things in Pebble's defense. It's something I'll touch on lightly in the followup comic - but Pebble is sticking their neck out for Swallow more than it might seem at first.

Pebble is absolutely being rude, but they're not treating Swallow like a threat or like somepony that should be avoided. Part of the reason Swallow is freaked out right now is because a bunny choosing to come up to him and cuddle with him is not something he's used to.

I'll also say, I like Swallow a lot, he's my favorite safe pred in the Forest. So pretty much every comic I draw of him is going to portray him sympathetically :3 But like Sam hinted at in the last comic, Swallow is genuinely a nuisance. He's not just derpy; he regularly scares prey animals, he won't leave them alone, he has no sense of personal space - and for a lot of bunnies being around Swallow is genuinely really stressful because he's constantly triggering their prey fight/flight instinct. They're not disliking him because he's derpy, they're disliking him because he's constantly stressing them out. And part of Pebble's rudeness here is also coming from Pebble's stress at being in a fox den next to a fox who only a few days ago they thought was a fatal pred.

Posted by selomon 6 months ago Report

the stress is real! XD
Lovely vomic! ^^

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

Thanks! <3

Posted by Thagrahn 6 months ago Report

Swallow is halfway between "I like this." and "What just happened?"

Posted by foxyoreos 6 months ago Report

<3 That is very much his mood right now X3

Posted by c4nn1bunny 3 months ago Report

Aaw! <3

Pebble grabbing his paw was so sweet. I hope he's really enjoying it despite all the nervousness. :3

Posted by foxyoreos 3 months ago Report

<3 He'll get over his fear eventually, this is a dream come true for Swallow. All he has to do is not in the eventual sequel horribly fuck everything up in a comical way that ruins everything X3




(but yes, Pebble will be a recurring character with Swallow, he's pretty long over-due to have a win <3)