Virtual Quill

It’s dawn, and we’ve just returned from the Fuscus household where Desdemona came clean about her true species. We’re tolerant of Vampire-Americans, but unfortunately word is spreading all over town to the less enlightened citizenry due to the gossipy flea network.
Looking back, I now see how Desdemona’s success in keeping her diet hidden from even her own offspring actually undermined her relationship with Fenton. The elaborate subterfuge resulted in her becoming emotionally distant, and with Fenton actually establishing an alternate maternal bond with Tree. There’s a lesson there, I suppose.
I’m going to sleep until about 4:00 in the afternoon, and then the countdown will begin for the wedding beginning at midnight. I had hoped to text regularly, but with this new factor I doubt I’ll be able to post anything new, or reply to comments. Thanks in advance for your understanding!
Last week someone asked about my wedding cake. It’s an insectivore cake, filled with crunchy weevils and maggots. The catering firm also has desserts ready for other diets at the reception.
If you’ve received an invitation, please come! Vampire bats aren’t at all what you think.

With my wedding only 24 hours away I discovered that Fenton’s mother Desdemona is actually a vampire bat, and not the insectivore she’d claimed.
It all started at my bachelorette party, when it was suggested that I do a genetic workup on Fenton. I went up to my room, and used the fur that he’d shed on me.
As expected, I found the DNA consistent with that of Eptesicus fuscus, but with some anomalies. I went through the templates of other bat species to match these sequences, and to my shock I found one, and only one: Desmodus rotundus, the vampire bat.
These are recessive genes in Fenton, whose physiology, behavior and diet are 100% that of the brown bat. Still, they raised enormous questions that demanded immediate answers. One answer I knew right away: This was why his mother had been so pushy about getting me to the altar...before I found out. She was afraid of me dumping Fenton once I did.
It’s hard to overstate how reviled vampire bats are. In a society where scavengers, parasites and even disease-carrying microbes are treated with a certain amount of respect, vampire bats are considered the ultimate scourge. It’s not rational, but all sorts of insane myths have developed around them: That they’re actually undead, they can shapeshift, they can’t be seen in mirrors, fear garlic, etc. It’s as if that species, which is actually just a normal non-magical mammal that happens to be sanguineous, got all those superstitions dumped on it.
I can see why she kept it a secret, but I have to know the full truth now. Dad, Kell and I are on our way over to confront her. I'll try to keep posting, but I won't have time for any replies until after the wedding.

Fenton and I are dividing our time between Domain and Beige U. as the wedding date nears. In Domain we stay with our respective parents while at Beige we co-habitate within Tree. And no, as I’ve said before we haven’t consummated anything. We’re like a married couple in pretty much every other respect, though, which bodes well for our future together.
I’m continually checking off items on the wedding preparation list, which always seems to get longer instead of shorter somehow. With everything going on I haven’t followed the tragedy taking place in the Gulf as much as I should.
Those of us on land live separately from aquatic creatures, with a few exceptions. (Sharks, of course, are our lawyers.) This means that the oil, meant to fuel our lifestyle, is now destroying the habitats of undersea creatures who never saw any benefits from it. Because of that I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing from those sharks in the form of massive lawsuits.
The main spill is still out at sea but it won’t stay there forever, and may even follow the currents out of the Gulf and up the Eastern seaboard where it would affect Tammy and Ray at their lighthouse. As a geneticist I try to think of ways that I could help, but there are already microbes that devour spilled petroleum.
I can’t even contribute any shed fur, since mine are in the form of quills which aren’t very absorbent. Other species are doing their part in that respect, and the fur is having an impact in sopping up the mess.
Still, things currently look bleak and perhaps won’t be fixed for months until a relief well is drilled. I know that there’s a similar spill on the human side of the portal. How is it being handled there?

I write this as an official graduate of Beige University. It’s in the middle of the night, and everyone but me is asleep except for Fenton who is monitoring Hare-Link’s systems. That’s usually my job, but he said it’s my Special Day. In a month, of course, we’ll have Our Special Day.
Speaking of specialness, who put graduation the day before Mother’s Day? I’ll give Kell a card when she wakes up, and we’ll all go out to dinner/breakfast before everyone drives back to Domain.
Graduation went flawlessly. The weather was nice, all of the family that I care about came, and R.L. (the commencement speaker) didn’t devour anybody.
After receiving my diploma I rushed into Fenton’s arms. I think Dad was expecting me to rush into his arms first...why? oh, maybe because he adopted me, raised me practically single-handedly, employed Fenton and I, put me through college and saved Tree from certain doom. Little things like that. He got my next hug seconds later, but I could tell I’d inadvertently sent a message.
I feel a little guilty, but more about the manner of the message than the message itself. It is true. Fenton is the most important man in my life right now, and he will be for the rest of my life. I do give Dad props for handling that adjustment gracefully, (It makes me wonder how Kell really views Fiona...but that’s years and years away.)
Now, with graduation out of the way, the wedding has my full and complete attention.
My question; how do humans handle the graduation ceremony?

My bridal shower was yesterday, held just before my graduation. Could this month get any crazier? And it’ll only get worse as the big day approaches.
When everyone asked what I needed most, my answer elicited a wide range of responses. (Astonishment, disgust, surprise, etc.) However, it’s true. Tree is my home, and the tree surgeon monitoring her progress in adapting to her transplanting says she requires an immediate spreading of fertilizer around her base. It’s not a crisis situation; but more to prevent a future crisis. The amount of fertilizer required is expensive, though, so that’s what I asked everyone to give me.
I rented an empty hauling vehicle exclusively used for such cargo from a farm equipment company and headed up the Domain. The shower took place at the Fennec boarding house, which has a large number of occupants. Most of the...contributions...came from that source.
Fenton stayed back at Beige, and Kevin, Rudy, George Fennec, Uncle Ralph and Francis hid out in the family treehouse watching the muddy Kentucky Derby. The shower itself was a concentrated dose of estrogen; more than I’m comfortable with, actually. But of course I was polite and smiled a lot. This was in my honor, after all. I enjoyed catching up with Kindle relatives I hadn’t seen in years since Dad and I left the rabbit warren.
I departed with a full load and drove back home. (Yes, I said Tree is home now.) She’d created her own shower...of pine cones. I thanked her profusely, and later called Douglas Squirrel to come and get them. By the time he and Gran arrived at mid-evening, Fenton and I had unloaded the fertilizer.
I’ve now been up for 24 hours straight. These daytime events are really messing with my circadian rhythms. And now I’ve got a graduation to attend... I'm going to sleep now; in the meantime, what kind of bridal shower gifts do human brides get?