Meet Karooey (he/it)! He is a mischievous crux, and not even he himself is quite sure what he's up to until the right moment strikes. Some folks claim there are multiple of him, seemingly hidden in every shadow, while others claim it is not a real creature, but instead a harmless fursuit... or catsuit? or plushsuit? Nobody can agree on who this crux is, but the friends of those who have met him swear that an encounter with Karooey can leave you uncharacteristically energetic and erratic in the days to follow.

The crux is a species that has been dear to me for over a decade, even though I haven't made a crux of my own until now. I credit all the crux artwork I devoured in the past, especially that of  dombrus, with steering me toward kangaroos and other kangaroo-like critters.

I also credit  recurrent and their husband for helping give me the idea to make Karooey, even though they didn't mean to! After Las Vegas Fur Con happened earlier in the year, they let me carpool with them back to their home and stay a night at their place before I headed home the next day. That evening, I had been set up on an air mattress in their living room, not too long after they let me try some of that California-strength weed for the first time. The four cats they had at the time were in their bedroom, and the newly-born rescue kitties (one mother and seven children) were in the guest bedroom. Meanwhile, in the living room, I was surrounded by several reptile enclosures and some tanks for fish and shrimp. One of those tanks was not topped off with water, and its filter kept bubbling. And bubbling. And bubbling. It just wouldn't stop. As the high set in, this noise rooted into my brain, wrapping itself around every thought. It was pervasive and unignorable. It amplified every step of a paw, every flick of a fin. There were so many creatures, and so much bubbling, that my high brain was getting a little overwhelmed. But then, I wondered: is this how a crux feels? Why a crux is crazy? This noise, this feeling, this thing, everywhere all the time, never there yet always there, pushing you toward acting before thinking, thinking before realizing, realizing grand discoveries that are just nonsense. For the sane mind to win, you must fight the urge of a crux day after day, second after second, but it only has to win once for you to become a good, crazy, deliciously insane crux~

In the months following that experience, I refined my ideas for a crux character, and I'm glad that Shiro was willing to take on a refsheet commission for him. He also came up with the chest spiral design! :3

Artist:  catmonkshiro
Finished: 2024-10-04
Original: pending