I asked my patrons which animals they felt PB and Jam Sandwich would be, and "otters" kept popping up. I find that really interesting, since otters have so much variety across their taxonomic subfamily. For example, there's the adorable, fluffy sea otter, which eat their meals on their tummies, use their body as a raft to keep their babies warm and dry, and hold paws with other otters to keep from floating away.

And then there's the South American giant river otter.

(cw for fish gore)

This thing. This thing. Six feet long and highly territorial, river otters run in packs that routinely mob caiman (imagine a smaller alligator), biting them to exhaustion and eating them alive. Groups of them are also known to drive off jaguars. And take on anacondas. And attack the occasional human, because fuck it, why not.

And like.....y'all know I live for contrast like that. I'm really digging the idea that PB and Jam (new names pending) are not actually related by blood, they met as pups at the orphanage and decided they were siblings because they're both otters. It didn't matter that they were both different species of otter. They latched onto each other hard, and came as a package deal when it was time to be adopted. They were of course adopted by the same pair that adopted Cupcake, the Sweets:

So this is all just loose concept art, I'm not locked into any ideas yet. With Option 1, you get big scary Jammie as a chaotic, unapologetic giant carnivore (and most certainly a career criminal), looking out for her adoptive "baby" twin brother, who is soft and innocent and not at all secretly troubled.


As proposed by dear : I'm honestly torn, I really like both concepts! But I guess personally I kind of like their appearances to somewhat match their personalities for the simple fact I just love Jam being unapologetically a force of chaos and LOOKS IT. People are vaguely or outright uncomfortable around her (except family and friends) because of her looks and attitude. I guess I like that contrast to her having a HUGE soft side for her fam and twin especially. You don't expect that from her.

With Option 2, you instead get PB as a horrible murder noodle, perpetually stumbling over himself to look small and harmless and palatable so he doesn't spook people with his secret love of bloody fish. Jam, meanwhile, is teeny and fluffy and full of anarchy.


As suggested by another darling patron:


Honestly I think option 2 really fits their personalities. Jammie as a sea otter would quickly learn from a young age how to leverage her cuteness for her own nefarious purposes. At the same time, I could imagine over time it being a kind of rebellion against how the world perceives her. Perhaps sea otters would face a degree of something similar to infantilizaton? All others see is the "cute widdle otter" and overlooking the fact that Jam is still just as much of a fellow predator as PB is (and she has the sharp chompers to prove it.)


Meanwhile, baby PB just wants to make friends so badly. He's taller than some of the other kids sure, and kinda lanky. He trips over his own tail a lot ever since his last growth spurt. He wanders over to a group of children playing ball and shyly asks if he can play too, and they say yes! PB gets so excited as they let him join in, passing the ball back and forth just like they tell him to and they start joking back and forth. Well PB finds one of those jokes funny enough that he cracks up - and suddenly, one of the kids is screaming. He startles, and his stomach drops seconds later when he realizes it's *him* they're screaming at. Poor little PB covers his mouth and stutters out an apology before running away, tears welling up.


I could see PB and Jam once they find each other sticking together at first for the mutual benefit. Jammie recruiting the quiet dorky kid no one really talks to because he's strong and kinda scary looking and tall enough to help her reach the cookies that the home keeps out of reach of most of the other kids, including herself. He'll do basically anything she says and makes for a fantastic minion in her opinion. PB happy that she isn't afraid of him and that as they spend more and more time together, the less the other kids seem to be too. When Jam is by his side they'll ask her to do things and every time, without fail, she says that PB has to be included too or she doesn't want to participate. Soon it's well known the two are a package deal and he and Jam hang out pretty much every waking moment, pulling schemes or doodling or playing dress-up with the old hand-me-down clothes in the chest the orphanage has. One day someone on the staff jokingly refers to them as "the twins" and it just sort of...sticks.


I don't know, I just have a lot of feelings about the idea of tiny punk sea otter swindling you out of your inheritance and Cupcake threatening to break you in half if you even look at her sweet, clumsy dork of a river otter sibling wrong.

What do y'all think? Which option do you prefer? I'll probably keep fiddling around til I get something that feels right.

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