I am not a martyr, I'm a problem

unironically: yes!

428 Studious and her sister 429 Social were born to 128 Grazer in 2020. They look basically identical to each other -- so much so that many people cannot tell the two of them apart, even today. But, they had different personalities: one of them paid attention during their mother's fishing lessons, and one of them kept running off to go play with other young bears. They came to be called "Grazer's studious cub" and "Grazer's social cub", which got shortened to just "Studious" and "Social", and the names stuck!

Looking towards Seatoller

Short answer: When they're not babies anymore!

Long answer: Bears at Brooks River receive a number when they are seen as an independent bear -- ie, not with their mother -- by the bear monitor* at least 3 times in July or September of a given year. All newly monitored bears in a given year receive monitoring numbers that begin with the same digit; 2024 was the 500s, 2025 was the 600s, 2026 will be the 700s, etc. These rules apply to both newly emancipated cubs and to any new bears that happen to wander in.

The purpose of the numbers is to track the population of bears that use Brooks River regularly, and since cubs move as one unit with their mother, it is simpler and more useful to track them as a family unit (ie, 909+2, or 132+3). Additionally, many cubs that grow up in the Brooks River area leave for other places in Katmai National Park, and many other bears wander in from elsewhere too. If cubs received their own numbers, it would overwhelm the numbering system -- especially when you consider the fact that the bears can live for up to 30 years!

but i also think people on tumblr assume carol has much more control over her situation than she actually does. people act like she's a heinous rampaging bitch when in reality she's a person in an impossible situation. like, for example, the way she behaved on air force one. ABSOLUTELY she was operating on an assumption of american exceptionalism there. but she was also operating on "my wife died in front of me less than 24 hours ago" and "the entire planet is gaslihting me and these other five people." to act like carol's privilege is the only reason the others didn't listen to her is fucking insane. they didn't listen to her because they were also traumatized and grieving and holding on to the only sliver of normalcy they had left

when carol speaks to kisumayu, she is operating from a white savior mindset--but she's also reacting from her conversion therapy trauma. conversion therapy isnt like troubled teen camps where you get randomly kidnapped against your will, most of the time conversion therapy is elective. I think carol sees a younger version of herself in kisumayu: a young girl trying to please her guardians and going along with a scary process that she doesn't understand for the sake of being loved

and she's wrong!!! she's so fucking wrong about kisumayu!!! but she's a character in a tv show who's about to learn and grow

and I don't think that the grocery store scene is as much of carol throwing a fit as some people like to characterize it as. like it's undeniably not the most sustainable move and carol is delusional to think that going to a grocery store makes her independent.

This was supposed to be a little fun doodle before bed. I was supposed to go to sleep 4 hours ago. I LEARNED DAVINCI RESOLVE FOR THIS!!!!

(I fear Thaisha is a fucking badass and this scene has me in a chokehold. Aabria knocked it out of the park with this one.)

I might do some edits at some point but I am simply ✨too tired✨ to care. I hope this sparks joy in some of the Critters and may the Light shine on you☀️

Bonus of the individual frames: