Fic: From the Pen of Inky Quill: G

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Title: From the Pen of Inky Quill
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Content Notes: Anthropomorphism. Also for the May prompt: a journey from A to 221(B).
Summary: Inky’s inaugural column in the Marylebone Monthly Illustrated.
Ocelot’s Note: We are delighted to welcome the latest contributor to our publication.  As a non-native to our shores we look forward to sharing his thoughts on our life and times.

Greetings, readers of the Marylebone Monthly Illustrated!

I, Inky Quill, have had the great honour of being invited to contribute to this distinguished publication.

My aim is to amuse you with my observations on life as—borrowing from my countryman Mark Twain—a Connecticut porcupine in King Arthur’s Court. Clever phrasing, but imprecise, as my current residence is not a court, but rather Regent’s Park.

But here I am putting the end at the beginning, and that will not do.

My tale begins, as all good tales do, with poetry.

It was an ordinary day in an ordinary American forest and I, an ordinary porcupine, was going about the ordinary task of deciding if, for the purposes of my sonnet, the light upon the dew-damp leaves was, in fact, ‘gentle’ or perhaps ‘tender’ when a net settled on me in a manner most antithetical to both those words. I was transported to the city and put on a vessel with a menagerie of fellow captives.

As is so often the case in life, many things only make sense in hindsight. At the time, I did not know that of the words printed on crates about me—JAMRACH ~ LONDON—only the latter was a destination. I did not know that a violent storm such as besieged my floating prison was, in fact, quite common. It pains me to report that all life perished in the waves, save that of this lowly rodent.

With my only rations the eleven sprigs of clover and a half-piece of bark hidden amongst my spines, my raft—which I named the JAMRACH ~ LONDON for its stencilling—drifted from sea to river, carrying me into the heart of a metropolis the likes of which I had never before seen.

Strolling down the avenue, agog at my new surroundings, I heard a tiny voice.

“Hello, sir! Are you lost?”

Beneath the numbers ‘221’ sat a small, but perfectly formed, mouse.

Being of the same order of Rodentia, we naturally fell into conversation, and her whiskers trembled as I recounted my misfortunes. She hospitably offered me lodging at 221, but I declined. A fellow accustomed to forest life will find himself ill at ease surrounded by walls. She quite understood and guided me toward greener pastures.

And that is how I became an interim resident of Her Majesty’s Zoological Garden.

Interim because there is a carefully concealed egress by which I may exit the Garden and go about visiting the city and beyond. And the humans, those who maintain the Garden and those who visit it, do not seem to mind—or indeed, even, note—when my friends, an anteater and a hedgehog, understudy for me on stage, so to speak.

Mouselet and I became fast friends, and I came to know many of her associates, including the editor of this fine journal. And so ends my journey from America to 221 to your breakfast table reading. Until next month, I remain,

Your humble servant,

Inky Quill

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

What a nice opening column. Inky is an excellent writer, and sounds a most pleasant gentlepine. So much to praise: Mouselet's whiskers trembling, and ...the humans, those who maintain the Garden and those who visit it, do not seem to mind—or indeed, even, note—when my friends, an anteater and a hedgehog, understudy for me.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Such a delightful opening column - Inky Quill you are very welcome here.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love the word 'gentlepine' and may appropriate that at some point. Yes, I like the idea that exotic animals like Inky are so exotic that humans don't really notice when it's a different one. 'They all look alike' sort of thing.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I changed my icon. I'm not used to having more than one, but I think it's fun.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

OH DEAR GOD, THIS IS PERFECT.

Thank you so much to Inky Quill. (Is that a pen name? ^_^) It's like spot the reference bingo: JAMRACH ~ LONDON; a small, but perfectly formed, mouse; a violent storm such as besieged my floating prison was, in fact, quite common (always bad luck to get on a ship in an ACD fic).

Inky has a wonderful way with words. I especially liked:

It was an ordinary day in an ordinary American forest and I, an ordinary porcupine, was going about the ordinary task of deciding if, for the purposes of my sonnet, the light upon the dew-damp leaves was, in fact, ‘gentle’ or perhaps ‘tender’ when a net settled on me in a manner most antithetical to both those words.

What a vocabulary ^^" And of course I was most taken with Inky's understudies ^_^ I look forward to many more adventures!

[debriswoman]

Welcome:-)
Such a nice introduction:-)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee. Thank you. It is a pen name (his and mine, I suppose). There was even another in-reference that had to be cut because of length. The lodgings that Mouselet offers are, of course, a portion of unused lumber room...the one with Holmes' ear collection. And the clover and bark in his spines corresponds to Watson's veterans allowance. And Inky actually drains into London on his raft.

Yeah, I like the idea he was so absorbed in his metre and rhyme that he didn't notice the poachers in the forest.

And there's many possibilities going forward. Jamrach might end up being a kind of (gentle) archenemy of Inky's. Mouselet might commission Inky to write a poem about a certain inspector. I don't know what else. He'll probably ride a train at some point.

Yeah, the anteater and hedgehog look sort of like a porcupine. Enough that the Victorians don't seem to notice when Inky slips out to go on his adventures.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!