Been a while since I uploaded, huh?

Trying to get back in the sway of things in various levels. So it may be a more current story while I'm baking some loose ties, have a new Sterling story! The insights and adventures behind a new sponsorship.

Art made by an artist I dreamed of commissioning before,  Crocdragon
Characters belonging to me, taking place in the Furry Basketball Universe

Warning for language

=
Biloxi, MS

“I just can’t believe you right now...” Gerrit shook his head at the polecat. “You could get anyone thristing for you and you STILL play the indecision game?”

“Gerrit it ain’t that easy...” Sterling scratched his head, rummaging through mail on the locker room. “Picking a sponsor brand it’s like picking your favorite kid. I mean, DUH you got one, but say out loud the wrong thing and you might be fucked...”

“Okay, don't get your broekies in a knot...” the lion nodded, getting one of his dreadlocks out of his face. “Anything goes, you get in a scandal and you’ll be out in a snap, innit?”

“HAH!” the polecat laughed. “Dunno, Barrett’s still with UA, Silvius is still with Fenix, don’t think they gonna mail me anytime fuckin soon...”

“Well, you better step the arse up. You gonna sleep the deals away. You oughta be bossie if you don’t decide quick!”

Sterling stared at the lion sort of dumbfounded. “I swear I can’t fucking get what you sayin half the damn time with your damn accent...”

“Oh cuz you now regulate language round here? Fucking ass… what you are...” Gerrit scoffed, patting the mustelid in the back. “You still up with the plans tonight? If ya get me, bra?”

“Naai with a G?” Sterling grinned at Gerrit, who did a double take. “Ya always say that and scoff when Craig nails someone you like, so just puttin’ the pieces together...”

“Haw. Good luck on the search, Sterling. Ya better step it up before they all taken...” the feline quipped before giving out an irony filled roar, going back to the weight room.

“Sure man...” Sterling waved off, returning to the papers. “Puma, FILA… Coc..Cock Sporfi… whatever…” the mustelid skimmed through the catalogs, his lip curling at seeing some of the new pastel colored designs and polos. “Why the hell do they all just sound so… copy-paste? It would be easy if I found they all didn’t look like a fucking trust fund kid’s uniform...Do they even like know me?” he rolled his eyes as he threw pamphlet after pamphlet to the trash, and saved the other half of the mail for later.

=============================

Downtown Biloxi, MS

The polecat was known to be a roamer around the city of Biloxi, never having qualms in taking pictures with fans and passerbys if he got recognized; outside the height, the polecat usually jogged with a hoodie on or with his hair tied, and with little to no Voodoo garments. Even if it was wintertime, that day was warm enough for other furs to to around in beachwear and jog as well. He decided to sit on a bench near the beach to take a breather, stretching his legs. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something odd going on.

“What the...” Sterling tried to focus on the scene: three furs filming a heavier girl as she was trying, and struggling to use facilities at an open gym at the beach, clearly mocking her behind her back. The polecat could hear the laughter and the quotes well enough to confirm the fact. Those shitheads ain’t... the polecat scowled. Wait, that’s Voodoo gear… you know what... Sterling quickly took a picture of the three guys, making sure to capture their faces well, and then going down as if to them face to face, letting his long hair loose; a dead giveaway of his presence. If it all went to plan...

“How about hashtag Lardobics?” one of the kids said out loud to the squad.

“That’s so good for this bitch, Eddie. And what abo-”

“SHUT UP JOURDAN. SHUT UUUUUUP.” the turkey borderline punched his friend’s arm, making everyone look at the figure approaching. “That’s...that’s...TH-TH-”

“Holy shit, it’s him! Sterling!” the fans sprinted towards the much taller polecat in awe, Sterling feigning a welcoming expression and a fistbump to all, all while keeping an eye on the bigger woman at a distance.

“I see ya are fans, guys, how about a picture?” Sterling asked, purposefully getting the phone they were using to film the lady, all four posing for a couple of selfies together, with big grins and eyes beaming with admiration. “Wait, gotta check which one captures our badass side...”

Swiftly, Sterling deleted all the pictures they took as well as the video file, and as soon as he returned the phone to the youngsters, the mustelid’s expression changed to one more serious and unmoving. “I ain’t dumb, I know you were filmin’ her for shits and giggles and bein assholes.” Sterling pointed at the open gym. “Video’s gone, and so should you.”

“What the hell, man? What’s wrong with some fun?” the turkey loudly cawed.

“Do I got to repeat myself? I catch you doing that shit, I got y’all’s faces on a photo of my own...” Sterling replied, patting the phone in his pocket, the teenagers stopping on their tracks. “I’m one tweet to make the whole of America hate you. Now scram...off!” the mustelid directed the teens, half sprinting away, shocked at the ordeal, Sterling kept looking at the group as they went away, then made his way across the open gym, where the tabby was attempting to make crunches.

“Can you fuck off?” the lady said, looking up to the shadow coming closer. “I told y’all to get out of my f-”

“Those guys bothering you babe?”

She stopped at the sight of the figure, flustered it was the FBA athlete. “I’m uh… I’m good, Mr. Ben-B-”

“Just Sterling’s cool. What’s your name?”

“Oh, um… I-I’m Selita...pleasure to meet you...” she said, then realised her current attire and shape and attempted to shy away. “Sorry like, I ain’t like...”

“Babe, it’s cool...” Sterling reassured. “Ain’t nothing wrong with exercise, whatever the shape. Those bitches won’t bother you again, got my word.” the polecat grinned, while Selita sighed, looking down.

“I’m not… yeah. I know I’m a gross fatass, but come on, I’m trying! I...my parents had heart issues and all that jazz, with a bad scare last week and I just want to…change! I wanna try to change, but man, everyone is judgemental of the fat new girl…I know I’m gross, but can all shut up?”

Sterling flattened his ears, looking at the scenario. “Yeah. being obese is gross... But, to take control of your life and say ‘fuck it I wanna change’ and start? That’s pretty fucking metal though. Keep at it, babe. It’s gonna suck at first, but you’ll love the end result.”

The feline gave a slight smile.

“Carry on, make sure you aim to get a body so banging, those guys bullying you will be sending you dick pics in a few months, and then you can block em!” Sterling jested, getting a laugh out of the girl, who returned to her situps. Sterling noticed her sweatpants, the logo looking familiar. “Apeman?”

“Yeah, they’re amazing.” she said. “They got all these stories of really cool people and like, it’s just so motivating, but they got good clothes and all. Heard of them?”

Sterling reminisced. He for sure wore their items once or twice before, even betting he had sweatpants like those, but… he knew he saw it somewhere in its mail log. “Ja… I did. Some good shit, right?”

=============================

The polecat directed the executive, a tiger in a tight gym shirt, but with jeans and well kept sneakers. The guest didn’t waste time in showing his material; examples and prototypes were sprawled on the table, the polecat looking at the detailed sketches, vigitantly going through every single word about the brand.

“I take you have used our brand, yes?”

“Sometimes before yeah… good clothes, ja...” Sterling nodded. “So you have not proposed this to anyone yet, Johnson?”

“You’re the first one in all the FBA, Sterls.” the executive raised his paws. “Here at Apeman Strong pride ourselves in furs who have found their strength and… well… tell it how it is!”

“Rawdogging it?” The mustelid raised a brow.

“Haha! In a way”, the feline replied. “So this new line will be us dedicating ourselves entirely to you, with the new line inspired in the colors of the Voodoo… We are a small brand, so approaching someone from the FBA at first is sort of huge…”

“Damn good design team you got there...” Sterling grinned, checking over the black and neon green designs, some others in burgundy and off white. “So what does it entail?”

“Well, you’ll get brand new training gear releases; this is a line mostly for the gym instead of the court, so the approach would be different from other sport gears. Tops, pants, gym shakers, all stuff you use.”

“Yeah… I’m into the idea, and any case more sponsors come, even if they get court, you’ll get your time in. This is sounding nice, Johnson...” Sterling grinned.

“You’ll also get to tell your story and launch a new meaning.” the tiger pointed to the pages where a set of manifestos where, all motivating lines and sentences. At every read, the polecat found better than the other; this was what he was looking for.

“So we can wait for you a few days until you get to write and decide your new meani-”

Sterling raised his paw. “You know… I got it. I got your next meaning if you got ten minutes to spare. Let’s do this...”

-
HALF OF STERLING BENGTZING’S BODY WAS COVERED IN THIRD DEGREE BURNS, GOES ON TO BECOME AN AWARD-WINNING FBA STARTER

…Imagine being told one day, “after what you went through, you shouldn’t be alive”...

…At age three, a drunk driver in an SUV lost control of his car, and hit my mom and I. She got out of the car, but I was pretty much trapped as the wreck started to catch fire...

…They did manage to free me, but the entire middle section of my body was pretty much burnt to the 3rd degree, about 55% of my body, and no one knowing if there was gonna be a tomorrow…

...But dad did tell me “You were always too busy to die anyway”...

...After years of hiding my scars and thinking of them as a flaw, I finally could tell the world about them some years ago and that’s when I learned that... I can actually rock this. I can rock my scars and I have been doing so ever since….

...A champion is not just defined by their successes; those are easy to be taken away if you lose track, but rather by their whole trajectory. A head held high is worth more than a crown; that’s what I want to say to anyone on their own path. And to the world? I wanna say that I am HERE. And that’s precisely the new Apeman Strong campaign: HERE:


"HERE: It should never be about pleasing others. My path, my legacy, it has never been about how I look to the world while doing it. This is a quest for a result, for a desired outcome. To win when it matters. To take it. Take it even if it annoys others, because my goal is my goal and no one else’s. I have not the time for the show and dance that everyone else endlessly displays day after day. And I have not the worry of what others think of me. I see now the need for individuality and disregard anyone’s expectations of me. I will sweat and battle and enter new challenges with the strength of a bull, not being invisible or weak. Because in the end, everyone should know that I am HERE to stay."