Things to Come - Part 12 - Perched upon a bust of Pallas

Arvico had not seen her brother for many moons.  Her mother refused to speak of Loganoh.  Many lemmings in the herdlet refused to admit that he had ever existed.  This did not prevent Arvico from reminding them all on numerous occasions.

One day her mother relented.  She explained that Loganoh had been banished.  Arvico couldn't understand why this made her mother so sad.  Loganoh was now allowed to be alone as much as he wanted.  "That sort of thing would make Loganoh happy." she thought.

Since then Arvico ventured out regularly to search for Loganoh.  Just because he wanted to be alone didn't mean he wouldn't want some company, she reasoned.  Today was the first time she had found anyone. 

"Hello." said Arvico to the gull.  "I thought that was you."

The gull recognized Arvico and walked away.

"Who was that lemming I saw you with?" she asked, hurrying to the gull's side.

The gull froze in mid-step, balancing on one foot.

"Am... Am talking with no lemmings but you."

"Yes you were.  I saw you just now."  Arvico walked around the gull and examined his single-legged stance.  "That's why I came over here.  I saw you talking with a lemming and I thought it might be my brother.  But then I started to think it wasn't you, because you don't seem to like lemmings.  So why would you be talking to one?  That's what I wondered.  But then I caught your smell on the wind and I said 'That's him all right'.  That's when I asked myself why you were talking to my brother?  But I'm pretty sure it wasn't him, because he walked away and my brother doesn't walk away from me until after he's talked to me.  How can you do that for so long?"

"Am doing something?" asked the gull, relieved that the subject had changed.

"That!  Stand on one leg!  I've seen birds do it before but never from up close like this."  Arvico defied the gull's smell and made a closer examination.  "I could try all day and I would never be able to do that."

The gull resumed walking.  "Rat, being you finding your brother and being you leaving me."

"I'm not a rat.  You can call me Arvico.  That's my name.  What's yours?" she asked.

The gull stopped in his tracks once again, but he paid close attention to stand on both feet.  He tilted his head and squarely fixed his left eye on Arvico.

"Am never asked this before...  Being lemmings named?" he asked.

"Of course.  Isn't everyone?"

The gull became very irritated.  "Am no!  Am gull.  Am not named!  Being no gull named."

Gulls have a very individualistic society.  They are solitary creatures.  The only thing that will make gulls flock together is the presence of food.  But even then there is no sense of community.  The only words spoken between gulls are claims of ownership over food.  Gulls never formed a system of names because there is never any need to address another gull. 

"That's strange.  How do you call your friends?"

The gull was clearly agitated now.

"Being gulls no friends!  Being named...  Bah.  Being named useless!  Am "me".  Being all others "you".  Being only "me".  Being no "us".  Being no friends.  Being all gulls greedy.  Being all gulls selfish.  Being all gulls together but being all gulls alone.  Am always alone.  Am having no friends."

The gull started to walk away.  He unfurled his wings in preparation for flight.

"Why are you so mad?" Arvico asked.

"Am leaving.  Am wanting alone." huffed the gull.

"No you don't." said Arvico firmly.  "I know what wanting to be alone looks like.  My brother does it all the time.  And you don't like him at all.  I don't think you want to be alone."

"Feh!" chocked the gull.  "Being you leaving, little ra...  Am leaving, little lemming."

The gull broke into a run and flapped his wings.  He rose into the air.

"Wait!  Do you want a name?  I could make one for you!"

Not far off, an old female lemming watched as the gull left Arvico.  "She saw me, but not well enough to know me." she thought.  She knew Arvico though.  Loganoh's sister has come looking for him.  She wondered how this might affect her plans for the banished lemming. 


 

Metropolis - Chapter 14

Hello

Thank you for visiting this fiction-blog.

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Have a good day.

Joao

Metropolis - Chapter 13

I put a lot of extra work into this one.  I'm still getting the hang of working on the ipad.  I created this issue with Sketchbook Pro and Comic Life (both for ipad).

I wanted to start making better backgrounds.  Thirteen, as you can see, has far more elaborate backgrounds than 12 did.

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Things to Come – Part 11 – The Punishment for Herd Crime

Fransoh and Woundwoh were Knoghts with E Company.  No one knew what the "E" originally represented.  The founder of the band, and anyone he trusted with the information, had died long ago.  Woundwoh believed the E stood for Excellent.  As in: 1) E Company is an excellent company and 2) being in E Company means you are in excellent company.  That is what he told anyone who asked.

They were on an out-ward patrol and the herd rim was no longer in sight.  That’s why Fransoh was shocked, and a little delighted, to see a lone lemming heading herd-ward.  It was Loganoh.

“Here’s a rare sight.  A stray ready for bite!”

“At ease, Fransoh!” ordered Woundwoh.  “Don’t you know who that is?”  Woundwoh searched his memory.  “I can’t remember his name, but he’s the one that’s been banished.  He can roam out-ward when he likes.”

“Banished?  What did he do?”

“Herd Crime.”

“What’s that?”

“Right.  I keep forgetting how green you are?  Herd Crime is... a crime against the herd.”

Fransoh had never heard of Herd Crime, and the explanation failed to enlighten, but he did not push the point to avoid further accusations of being green.

“Hey you!” yelled Fransoh.  “Did you see any predators out there?”

Woundwoh sighed heavily.

“What?”

“If he had seen a predator, he wouldn't be here to ask about it.” explained Woundwoh

They continued out-ward.  Loganoh passed in silence.

“Woundwoh… sir?”

“What is it?”

“I’m curious about a question...”

“Ask it, but keep your eyes open.  We’re out here for a reason.”

“What does banishment mean exactly?” asked Fransoh.

“It means that the lemming is no longer allowed anywhere herd-ward passed the rim.  But they don’t have to stay at the rim.  They can wander out-ward as much or as often as they like.”

“Wow.” exclaimed Fransoh.  “That’s bad.  What happens if his herdlet goes herd-ward?”

Woundwoh shook his head.  “The banished are not allowed near their herdlet.  Even if the herdlet is on herd rim, they have to move along so that they are never with their herdlet again.”  Woundwoh suddenly thought of a good example to cite: “Just like us.”

Fransoh stopped in his tracks.  Confusion showed plainly on his face.

“What are you chewing on now?”

Fransoh never considered himself very bright.  He grappled with his thoughts a moment, then attempted to convey them. 

“So the banished can’t venture herd-ward.  They can only stay at the rim.”

“Yes.”

“And they can’t join their herdlet anymore either, even if the herdlet is on the rim.”

“Right again.”

“And no lemming can leave the herd, unless they are banished.  Then they can leave for as long as they like?”

“Plainly stated.” Woundwoh confirmed.

“Well, then I don’t understand?”  Fransoh was completely exasperated.

“What?  It sounds to me you understand banishment perfectly.”

“But how is banishment any different from being a Knoght?”

Woundwoh was flummoxed.  How could anyone confuse the two concepts?  “Explain yourself.”

“The day we became Knoghts was the last day we saw our herdlets.  We’re not even allowed to visit them.  We guard the rim.  Except for the few in the herd core that guard the Parliament of Mamas, Knoghts never go herd-ward.  And our patrols take us out-ward on a regular schedule!”

Woundwoh often thought that the younger generation of Knoghts lacked discipline.  It takes a steady, clear mind to be a good Knoght.  But you couldn't teach that to a young Knoght with a bite on the haunches.

“Knoghts protect the herd.  The banished are criminals.  The difference seems plain enough to me.” retorted Woundwoh confidently.

Fransoh stopped and turned to his officer.  “I still don’t understand.  We do exactly the same things as the banished.  The only difference I see is in the name.”

“No.  That’s not right.  They…  You don’t…  It’s nothing like that!  It’s not the same.”
Words failed Woundwoh.  He bit Fransoh on the haunches.  Fransoh yelped in shock.

“Do you know how long I’ve been a Knoght!  Longer than you and longer than most!  I thought you had a lot of promise young Fransoh, but now I’m not so sure.”

“I’m sorry, sir.  I made a mistake.”

“I’ve never heard such insubordination.” growled Woundwoh.

“It won’t happen again, sir.”

“See it doesn’t!”

They finished the patrol in silence.  Fransoh would never mention the subject again, though he would continue to think about it often: “The Knoghts and the banished don’t seem very different at all.”

Loganoh would reach the same conclusion later that same day.

Metropolis - Chapter 12

Hello everyone

I'm happy to say that I'm back with a new chapter.  It took far too long.  But I'm able to get to more writing and drawing thanks to an ipad that I won.  Really, I won an ipad.

By the way, my son Max is now 5 months old and doing very well.  He's one of the reasons I'm so happy to get back to the comic book.

If you've lost track of what's going on, just read the Yearbook I made last year.

Enjoy.


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