Virtual Quill

Dad’s first experience with the Rabbit Council proved to be loaded with cynicism. The other members fed him false defensive strategies, assuming that Kell would immediately obtain them. They were genuinely perplexed when that didn’t happen.
Of course, Kell has never relied of deviousness and subterfuge of that sort. With canines, it’s generally “What you see is what you get.” Speaking of Kell, she just saw another side of Gran; the side that enabled Gran to see all 36 offspring to adulthood. Gran is an unusual rabbit, which made her frustrating lifelong quest for status within the rabbit community all the more sad. She’d probably have been happier embracing an outsider identity the way the Dad did. Come to think of it, though, she did eventually run off into the Wild for a while.
Fenton and I are getting ready to head back to Beige University for fall semester. As before, I’ll room with Rachel and Fenton will room with Bob Shrike.
Lastly, I’ve been reading the messages posted here during the week in my absence, including the ones mentioning other dimensional portals. I won’t comment directly on them, except to say that I possess a map showing the location of the various portals around the world. Normally I would keep that fact absolutely secret, except that that map apparently appeared in a book collection of the webcomic that features the doings of my family. It was a human (Hi, Ki!) who alerted me to this; otherwise I couldn’t have known about it. The book in question is titled “Oh, the Humanity” and no, none of the portals are near Antarctica.

Apparently the human world is getting reports on my family in real time via the medium of a webcomic, and I can’t even imagine how to approach that occurrence on a scientific basis. At any rate, I suppose you now know that Dad has been appointed to the Rabbit Council. Very big deal. It’s the absolute highest honor a rabbit can have.
For you humans who might not be aware of our political structure, here in the United States of America we have a federal form of government. (We’re now in the middle of a Presidential election.) Beneath that are fifty state governments and under those are numerous counties and municipalities. Existing separately from those but still under their laws are the groups that have jurisdiction for each species. The Rabbit Council that Dad has been appointed to is responsible for all rabbit-related issues in the five-state region. They meet twice a month to rule on various matters.
Appointment to this group is a mysterious process, but in Dad’s case it came about because Rudy posted on YouTube the video of Coney saving Gran last week. Their demand that Dad bring Coney to every meeting shows that they mainly want Coney there to protect them, and not for any input Dad might have toward the decision-making process. Nevertheless, Gran is inordinately proud. Because status is so important to her, it’s a dream come true.
BTW, there was a hedgehog group but they never meet anymore. Too many quills were used in anger.
In other news, we’re having a big worldwide athletic competition. It’s in China this time, but a few years ago it was held right here.

It was with unmitigated delight that I read the response from Ki Oshiro to last week’s blog. I’ll admit that part of the impetus for constructing this receiver into the human world was to possibly make contact with the two friends that Fenton and I had made from that side. (From the reactions of others, it appears that our meeting was depicted in the webcomic that everyone keeps mentioning.)
One of the things Ki said before she and Nick left was to watch for the code name ‘pookel.’ That would identity any message as positively being from her. I’m not sure about the significance of the word, but she mentioned it after I told her that Dad and Kell had met online without knowing their identities.
So, Ki! (Sorry about addressing you in a public forum but so far I’m not able to conduct private communications through the portals.) You refer to Nick as your husband, so you’re married! Congratulations! Sorry to hear about the wedding not going smoothly; I guess every wedding has its own drama. The important thing is the end result.
There’s drama aplently here. Coney’s protective instincts have come to be quite powerful, to the point of saving her distracted grandmother from a deadly predator. Gran professes having had a change of heart about Coney’s omnivorous diet, but I know from experience we’ll have to see about that. Gran is very set in her ways. Still, her best friend now is the wolf Elanor, so she can change. (Of course, Gran probably doesn’t admit to herself that they’re friends.)
We just returned from the big anime convention, where we had a blast. We went in costume: I was Kiki the witch from “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and Fenton was her cat Jiji. Fenton was able to make it appear that our broom was doing the actual flying, Do you have that movie over there?

My brain is still swimming from making actual contact with the human world; even more so at the revelation that the adventures of my family make for entertainment on that side. (About ten years ago there was a movie out called “The Truman Show.” Did the human world have something like that?) I guess I should be relieved that our doings are regarded by most as fictional.
I’m looking forward to chatting with everyone on Sundays. I’ll have to limit myself to one day per week owing to potential instinct loss from human contact. Last Sunday I felt myself losing my insectivore appetite as the time went on, but I felt better after good day’s sleep and had a big plate of glubs for breakfast. Instinct loss seems to be a mental condition rather then one produced by physical transmissions between the portals, but I’m just speculating here.
I was worried when Coney suddenly began protecting defenseless creatures; I wondered if this portal contact had affected her instincts. Fortunately no, it turned out to be caused by her friendship with baby Francis. Regardless, this is sure to have wide-ranging effects. Coney is an amazing little predator and now that her talents are directed towards protecting others she may seek a career in law enforcement...or superheroism! (Do you humans have “Batman” movies over there?) Of course, Gran will probably think she’s becoming a herbivore.
I wish I could respond personally to all the comments that came in during the week! One person asked about time passage in our world. The best that I could say is that it’s the same as yours; One year=12 months=365 1/4 days. Also, if any of you happen to see Nick and Ki, say hello to them for me!
One final thing; it seems that even a few people from my side of the portal were able to access my blog all this time...despite all of my safeguards! I just hope I didn’t say anything that caused trouble; I’m thinking of the arrest of Mr. Squirrel recently. Yes, it was the press coverage from rescuing the kitten that led to his unmasking, but I shouldn’t have been so careless. I also hope Fenton’s parents haven’t read what I’ve said here!
So, the floor is open! Any comments?

Okay, my receiver is live and open to any replies that might come through the portal from the human world. This, of course, is all theoretical on my part and I’m not expecting anything but inter-dimensional static, but if someone’s out there let me know.
As a matter of introduction my name is Lindesfarne Dewclaw and I’m a college student at Beige University. I also work for my father’s ISP handling tech duties with my finance, Fenton Fuscus. I’m twenty years old, and I’m a hedgehog who loves flight.
Anyone?

Rudy was understandably furious about having to attend summer school on account of the school’s error in teaching. He’s gone to summer school before, so going back when it wasn’t even his fault was particularly galling.
For Fiona and some of the other top predators in the school system who had never imagined being in class in July, the situation had its own sting. Having a novice like Edgar pass the test through blind luck was the final straw for many. Luckily for Edgar, no one directed their anger toward him personally.
It was yet another unintended consequence of standardized testing. I’m glad I’m in college now; it was hard enough switching from a herbivore to an insectivore diet without constantly filling in bubbles about it.
Speaking of tests, next week I test my portal receiver. I’m not expecting any actual replies from humans, but it’s fun to daydream about the possibility.

Fenton and I accompanied Dad and Kell to this month’s gathering of the Interspecies Support Group last night. While there’s no real stigma to our union (unlike with most of the member’s relationships), we definitely qualify since we’re a creature of the land and a creature of the sky. We do share the same insectivore eating habits, though, which makes our situation easier than so many of the others who find themselves divided by diet.
We enjoy attending, and not just because the parties are at night. We spend 95% of our time immersed in a culture that judges and categorizes us, so the ISG is one of the few places that sees us as individuals.
There are workshops and panels, and seminars on how to maintain togetherness under challenging circumstances. There’s always a speaker, usually someone who can offer a unique perspective on non-traditional families. Last night we had the sister of a certain Presidential candidate.
As I ready my attempt at communication with the Human dimension, it fascinates me to imagine a world in which everyone is a single species. They must find it much easier to live in harmony without anything substantive to divide them!

As Aby researches alternative fuels, I haven’t been neglecting my own research into cross-dimensional communication. Using Hare-Link equipment (with Dad’s permission!) I can now direct a signal directly into the portal that connects to the world populated by humans...the world I came from. (Of course, I wonder if my blogs have been getting into that world all along...In that case this is just overkill. But...oh, well.)
The device is more than a transmitter, though. It’s a receiver. That part will take me a few more weeks to activate. I have no idea what frequency to look for! Now I wish that during the short trip that Fenton and I made into that world I had done more investigating communications technology. However, we needed to get back home quickly, as Fenton really never got the hang of walking on human feet.
The power required for reception would be considerable. I wouldn't be able to connect for more an a few minutes a week. Even that, however, would be amazing.
Assuming I am able to contact the human world, I’ll have to be more circumspect with what I write here. OTOH, a dialog would open up a whole new range of subject matter. I have a lot of questions!
Finally, we just saw a movie depicting a future in which humans completely trash their planet and take off into space, leaving some technology behind. I felt this weird sense of deja vu.

Aby Eyeshine has long made a hobby of developing an alternative fuel to power automobiles, and with the raising price of gas it has a new urgency. In short, it’s attracted the attention of R.L. (Never a good thing.)
He attempted to buy her shop to gain control of anything she created, and he was summarily rebuffed. Apparently he thought you could power cars with the Herd Thinners main product: dead herbivores. I guess to him, prey provides everything else in life; why not that, too? Kell patiently explained to him why that wouldn’t be efficient.
Synthetic fuels aren’t my area of expertise, but I E-mailed Aby that if she developed anything I could be her gateway into the research community. (I’ve gotten awfully good at writing grant applications.)
In other news, June came and went without Fenton’s parents pushing me into a wedding before I was ready. I wonder if you can develop fuel by harnessing the friction from future in-laws.

The two local FBI agents (whom we now know on a first-name basis owing to our previous adventures) arrested Douglas Squirrel as the airline hijacker “D.B. Cooper.” He immediately pled guilty and seemed quite relieved in doing so. Spending over thirty five years on the run was exhausting, I’m sure.
The Daily Domain had front page articles about him every day, since it was their reporter who tracked him down. With no trial he was quickly sentenced and sent to the nearby minimum security prison where his cellmate turned out to be...Grandpa.
Elanor has been getting updates via her existing online relationship with Grandpa, and the two cellmates seem to be getting along. They’re the same age, both herbivores, and they have the inexhaustible topic of Gran to talk about.
Speaking of Gran, she’s made good on her promise to shop Mr. Squirrel’s memoirs to literary agents in New York. She’s settled on one who has agreed to edit the manuscript into shape before submitting it to what is sure to be a heavy bidding war.

It’s not easy learning how to speak the bat language, but if I’m going to be married to one for the rest of my life I figure I’d better be able to. While I don’t have the hearing range for echolocation I am able to communicate with the elements that depend on wing flapping. (Fenton teases me for having an accent.)
Meanwhile, we got home from the beach to find that Douglas Squirrel had rescued the same kitten from our tree that Kell had rescued weeks earlier. (What is it with that kid???) There was a big write-up in the Daily Domain, and the paper is even planning a follow-up article on the unusual occurrence of a herbivore saving a carnivore.
I’m actually uneasy about this, and I sense that Gran is, too. We know about Mr. Squirrel’s past, and while it happened a long time ago media attention still probably isn’t a good idea.
Hang on. Police sirens are within my hearing range, and I think I just heard one.

There I was, minding my own business on the beach in such a way that my quills wouldn’t hurt anybody, and some dumb myopic avian tries to make me his lunch. He misjudges the distance, and the next thing I know I’ve got a dead shore bird impaled on my quills.
Rudy got it off without hurting himself, which showed a deftness that impressed me. A few hours later it was rotating on a spit, and it provided dinner for Kell, Rudy and Coney. (Dad had his usual salad, and I had shrimp scampi. To me, shrimp are indistinguishable from the insects I normally eat.)
Dad and Kell went swimming together, and I volunteered to babysit Coney. Being a toddler she requires constant entertainment, and I complied by rolling myself into a ball, and then various other shapes. It wasn’t easy.
Other than that, the vacation has been relaxing. I miss Fenton, of course, and we text each other constantly. I can see the day when we’ll be bringing our own family here.

We’re getting ready for our annual beach vacation, and as much as I’ll miss Fenton I’m relieved to be getting away from his parents.
Each year the five of us load up the old minivan and head to the coast for some relaxation. I enjoy it, although it carries extra emotional baggage for me since I’m reminded of what lies offshore: the portal leading back to the human world from which I came. While Ray and Tammy’s lighthouse is about two hundred miles north of where we’ll be, I can’t help but be put in mind of that night when I almost left this dimension forever...and what a mistake that would have been.
Speaking of which, I’ve done preliminary analysis of the interdimensional radiation and without going into the details (which I’m saving for a patent!) I’m developing a device that I think would theoretically be capable of receiving signals. That means I would be able to receive communications from the other side, if any existed! I’ll construct it when I return home, and hopefully finish it by the end of June.
Time to start packing for the trip. As usual I won’t be bringing anything inflatable.

Being home from college for the summer, I'm spending a good part of my time at Fenton's Tree rather than at my family's place. Part of that is because about eight hours a day already finds me in the basement working on Hare-Link tech, so going to Fenton's is like a commute. I guess that, unlike Dad, I'm not cut out for the work-at-home life.
(BTW, I'm not sleeping at Fenton's, so don't get any ideas!)
I'm starting to contrast Mrs. Fuscus with Tree, as Fenton has sort of a maternal relationship with both. I don't, however, see it as potentially having two mothers-in-law. What I've noticed is that while Tree does control the actual living systems (A/C, heat, electricity, plumbing, data, etc.), she's not as controlling as Fenton's actual mom, at least in terms of wedding plans that I'm not ready to make yet.
Hmmm...I think I just chose where we'll have the wedding. Yes, I think we could all fit inside Tree.

The “ghost whisperer” just left, declaring that the spirit of Kell’s first husband had just “crossed over.” I’m skeptical, of course; all I saw was Kell having a conversation with the collie and some unseen other individual. It was like weird piece of performance art. Still, Kell seems happier afterwards, and since no money changed hands it couldn’t have been some sort of scam. So, who knows?
Rudy had always claimed to feel the presence of his late father, but he didn’t seem affected by the departure of the spirit. It seems he’d already made his peace with the situation.
I did notice, though, that all of the people who claim to be able to communicate with the dead (Kell, Rudy, Elanor, this “ghost whisperer” collie...) are all canines.
Anyway, on to more pressing matters. Fenton’s parents are still meddling with my life. I think I liked them better when they were ignoring him (and me) but the engagement changed all that. I was able to cancel the plans they were making without my input, but to forestall further moves on their part I’m going to have have some choices.
...Like china patterns. sigh