*Mel's pronouns are she/he, as he's bigender. However, he isn't out (and doesn't really know that herself quite yet), so for the time being he'll be mostly referred to as she/her.
cw: brief mention of drugs (catnip)
Meet Mel Tallear, a black serval from the Savanna Square. She's one of those success stories you'll hear about whenever someone mentions the big city – a top student, best of her class, who earned a full scholarship and went on to study law, to now become a rising star of a lawyer in the Zootopia city center. Coming from rather humble beginnings, her parents always had high hopes for their special daughter, and sacrificed a lot to give her the opportunity to have a good life.
Mel worked hard all her life, spending her youth doing little else but study every day. Now, she's one of the youngest graduates of the city's most prestigous academy, and even known in her field as one of the very best.
Her secret? She hates it. She's never wanted to practice law, or do any other prestigous job. It's always been her parents dream for her, not her own, and she can't bear to disappoint them, but the truth is, she's unhappy. But she's stuck in her fancy job, and there isn't much she can do about it – is there?
So what does Mel want to do? She doesn't know for the longest time, until the answer presents itself in the form of Pawbert, or rather, his hideout.
See, Mel managed to be successful enough to even gain the attention of the Lynxleys, and receive an invite to one of their events, where she met Pawbert. She liked him right away – he didn't seem like the others, and she didn't feel like she had to pretend to be a version of herself that she was not. He didn't need her to be stuck-up and proper, as was expected of her by everyone else, and Mel in turn liked him better as himself too. As they formed a friendship, Pawbert eventually showed her his hideout, where an idea finally formed.
A getaway place, not just for him, but for them all. A place where cats can be cats. And thus came the plans for the Cat Café, a cat-themed hangout spot filled with all the good cat stuff, from scratching posts to cardboard boxes, cat toys to treats. Where cats could go to let loose for a bit, be themselves without having to keep up their proper behavior to be accepted in a multi-animal society. Loaf down, relax, have a cup of catnip tea or climb the pathways of the walls.
It's all just a silly dream though, of course. Mel's parents worked too hard to give her the life they wanted her to have, she couldn't just throw it away. And it's not like Pawbert could ever break away from his family either.
The Cat Café shall live one day. Sure, Pawbert's in jail, but hey – at least he's got a good lawyer. Once he convinces Mel to do it, because bro what the fuck were you thinking? She's got half a mind to leave him in there. But we all want a happy ending, right?
Extra Notes
Mel's family consists of "regular" servals, she's the only melanistic one. She's born special!
While she knows how to act all proper to fit into high society, she's actually a huge dork. She's a silly kitty. Her and Pawbert get along so well.
The main problem is that she can't stand the cold, and Pawbert suffers in the heat. Rip.
The Cat Café does technically allow non-cats to enter, it just isn't set up to accomodate them. They might not have a good time. But they can come in if they want to.
Mel and Pawbert go hide in that tent of his to partake in catnip and you can't convince me otherwise. Tell me that man can't use some nip time. You know he has access to the good stuff too.
Some more doodles of her, I'll have to practice her some more. Her ears get bigger every time I draw her lmao. Also, my scanner murdered the image quality and I can't fix it, rip 😔🙏
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I finally managed to finish designing Mel's friends! My cat did not want me to work on this lmao. These are Pem and Whinnie, two girls she met at law school and remains best friends with after graduation!
This scene is intended to take place during their law school days, so a few years before the second movie's plot.
Info on Mel can be found here!
Pem is a tufted deer, she's a bit of a nerd, incredibly smart, and can be shy in certain situations. But make no mistake, she will demolish you in the courtroom. She knows her stuff! All of it, by heart, in fact. You'll never need to check any rulebooks with Pem around. Her memory is incredible!
I noticed after drawing this that tufted deers are about the same size, if not a bit bigger, than servals. Originally she was going to be a smaller species, and I forgot to properly adjust it, but honestly I prefer it this way, so maybe she's just short. Some people are simply short. I also didn't realize until after the fact that only male tufted deers have the fangs and antlers, so 🏳️⚧️ trans rights! Good for her.
Pem is a lesbian, and her pronouns are she/they. She came out during law school, and it was definitely a bit of a hassle logistics wise, but her friends fully supported her. It's Zootopia after all; anyone can be anything!
Whinnie is a small pony, no specific breed, although she does have some shetland pony in her. Her name is short for Whinnifred (how could I not make it a horse pun). She's your typical girlie girl, she loves fashion, magazines, boys, gossip, and the color pink, and she's always her friends' biggest cheerleader! She's definitely brought Pem out of their shell a lot ever since meeting her.
She may not seem like it when you see her getting her hooves done for the third time this month, but this pony is not afraid of a challenge! If you tell her she can't do something? She will do it out of spite. Whinnie met Pem in the library of their university, and quickly realized that Pem is an invaluable study partner to have. With Pem and Mel already being acquainted by that point, the three of them quickly became an inseparable trio. Whinnie is very much the glue that holds them together, as she was the one always insisting they hang out after classes when the other two were more focused on their studies than on making friends.
Fun fact: Whinnie used to have a huge crush on Brian Winddancer! She had posters of him that she got from magazines on her wall back in her dorm and all that. Mel and Pem tease her about it a lot, with him being the mayor now. It was very much just a celebrity crush, nothing more, and she's really not that into him anymore (though she still thinks he's handsome, you can't argue with facts).
Whinnie is straight and cis, but very much an ally. She's the type to go to pride parades to support her friends (with or without said friends being present) and end up being the one having the absolute best time out of everyone there.
-> Neither Pem nor Whinnie have surnames yet, because I haven't been able to think of any. I'm also still struggling to name the Zootopia law school they all went to. I do want it to basically be their equivalent of Harvard, but I can't come up with a good animal pun version of that. Maybe Harevard? I am very much open to suggestions.
-> Also, I'm sure Mel has more than two friends, but honestly they just aren't relevant lol. There's not really any point in creating characters only to then never use them. Just assume she has more friends somewhere.
Hello, I'm interested in your Pawbert x oc pairing, any interesting facts about them? I could also share some with my oc (who's also in a Pawbert couple), but she still a bit under development
Hell yeah, I absolutely want to hear it all!! GIVE ME your oc *grabby hands* I must know everything
My oc Mel is also very much still a wip, I don't have a lot more than i wrote in that post yet – i've only seen the movie a bit over a week ago so everything is still under construction, but it WILL come!
So far, all I really have is that Mel and Pawbert met at one of his family's events (not the one that displayed the journal though, it was a bit before that so they already know each other by the time the movie takes place), hit it off and became friends! The romance part only comes in later, though they've both had crushes on each other before too. I imagine Pawbert is a bit awkward in the romance department, so it'd take him a bit to work up the courage to ask her out (and he'd hardly expect her or anyone else to like him back,, his family definitely did a number on him).
A "constant issue" that's going to plague them for the rest of their lives is that he's from Tundratown, and she's from Savannah Square, so they have VERY different temperature preferences. Rip to both of them.
Also, i love the kinda parallel I ended up with, where Pawbert has always craved his family's approval, but could never get it no matter how hard he tried – whereas Mel's done everything right, and her family is so proud of her, but in order for her to be happy, she would need to disappoint them. They're both stuck on opposite ends of a similar issue, if that makes sense. I imagine they're also both jealous of each other (Pawbert of Mel's bond with her family, and Mel of Pawbert's "freedom", as he could do whatever he wants without ruining any relationships. Since he does not have those in the first place. Yeah, it'd be kinda fucked of her to say that to his face ngl)
