Namakata Births

First posted 2-13 March, 1998 on alt.devilbunnies under multiple titles. Aldin and Ash's first litter of squirrel kits is born. The majority is encrypted wide/tightbeams for Aldin did not want the buns to know about the births at this time. Special thanks to Anne "Sarah Martel" Forbes for allowing the appearence of her character and help with the name for one of the kits and suggesting the third post Baby Pictures. It had been my intention to name that third kit 'Clouddrifter' unless a better name was suggested. Of the names I received IC and on IRC one night, I liked Anne's best. Also thanks to "Baikunin" and Remus for their suggestions for names and to Kayko Drieger for her permission to use her characters name in the future. Finally, thanks to those who helped review the segment dealing with Rabbit's recorded message to Aldin. I appologize for not naming you by name, but I lost track of all those who I sent that segment to for review.

© 1998 by Scott Bernier
First HTML-ized 31 March, 1998

*****BUNNYSTUMPER™ ENCRYPTED WIDEBEAM*****

Date: March 2, 1998
To: All Fudds and Fudd Allies
From: Aldin Busheytail, Head of Research, Namakata Labs

It is a most joyous occasion for my mate, Ash, and myself. Ash gave birth to our first litter between 2:20pm and 3pm this afternoon: 2 males and one female. All three are healthy, and very hungry. (gigglechitter) It will be several days before their fur grows-in and they open their eyes.

By tradition they shall not be named until then. Also by tradition here at Namakata, the first litter is named after the litter's grandparents. So our daughter will most likely be named Hazel and one of our sons, most likely the first born male, will be named Puffcheeks, in honor of Ash's parents.

(alasflick) As many of you know about my background, I was orphaned at a very young age as a wild squirrel and taken in by the devilbunny, Rabbit Mentat. Rabbit gave me sentience and was the only father-figure I ever knew. I wish I could honor him by naming our other son after him, but 'Rabbit' as you have probably figured-out, isn't a good name for a squirrel. Checkers, Rabbit's first name, could be just as cruel.

After discussing this at some length with Ash, we've decided to turn to you, our comrades-in-arms. Do you know of a male squirrel, living or deceased who has greatly contributed to the liberation of our comrades, who we could honor by naming our other son after him? We will also consider a Fudd hero if his human name would fit a squirrel.

Please tightbeam me your responses. Thank you.

Fellow squirrels, may the Spirit watch over you.
Fudds, Elmer be with you and protect you from the Evil that Fluffs™

Aldin Busheytail, Squirrel Mentat, head of research, Namakata Labs
*****END WIDEBEAM AND ENCRYPTION*****

Aldin sat back wearily in his office. He had been kept extremely busy for the past few days tending to the needs of Ash and their newborn kits. It had been a joyful occasion at first. He had gotten back in time from the latest round of errands to see their kits open their eyes for the first time. All normal and healthy. Aldin had been very excited to get back to the infirmary in time to witness the event. It had been the first time in 24 hours in which he had any reasonable length of time to spend with his family.

This gave Aldin time to look over his children more closely. Their fur had finally started to grow-in, but was still rather thin, so their healthy, pink skin could been seen through the fur. It was the fur on the younger male, the one they needed a name for, which surprised Aldin. White, like an albino, but the eyes were normal, not red as one would expect in an albino. And his skin was as healthy a shade of pink as his two siblings. It was unheard of. Ash didn't seem to think much of it and didn't see any reason to worry. Aldin, on the other paw, spent much of his free time the rest of the day searching Namakata's archives to see if there had been any other incidents in the past. So far Aldin had turned-up nothing in his search. He would continue to search in his spare time while tending to the needs of his mate and their kits.

*****BUNNYSTUMPER™ DELUXE WIDEBEAM ACTIVATED*****

(Greetingsflick) again, comrades and fellow Fudds. Ash and I have decided it's time to provide you with the first "baby" pictures of our litter. I warn all the Fudds out there, that they may want to activate their cuton filters now.

(pause)

Here we go....

[livetime video: view shakes a little at first, then shows Ash on her side with the litter having dinner. Aldin comes into view.]

"This is Puffcheeks..." Aldin gently picks-up one of the squirrel kits, who immediately fusses over missing-out on dinner, struggling feebly in his father's paws. "...named after Ash's father, who had been one of my best friends in the old days." Aldin places him gently back down.

He picks the next one up. "This is our daughter Hazel." She looks twice as cute and helpless as Puffcheeks, as she starts to cry. Aldin puts her back.

(sighflick) "Maybe I should have done this earlier in the day." He picks-up the third, who looks different from the others. While the other two have grey fur, this one has white fur. "And this little guy here....well, we haven't come-up with a name yet. We're thinking over the few suggestions we've had so far." The young male, blinks at the camera with his beady, typical rodent, black eyes, but doesn't put-up a protest over being denied dinner for a couple minutes. He wraps his tiny tail around his father's left forepaw. "We hope that by providing this live video that perhaps a few more name suggestions would come forth."

[Aldin's unnamed son, immediately throws-up on him and the camera and the video feed is lost, but not before the viewers catch a (embarrassedflick) from Aldin.]

*****END TRANSMISSION*****

Aldin wrote:

>*****BUNNYSTUMPER™ DELUXE WIDEBEAM ACTIVATED*****

[s]

[Sarah Martel viewed the adorable baby squirrels while on the evening watch as...]

>[Aldin's unnamed son, immediately throws-up on him and the camera and
>the video feed is lost, but not before the viewers catch a (embarrassedflick)
>from Aldin.]
>
>*****END TRANSMISSION*****

Sarah found it hard to not to laugh at 'Papa' Aldin and his newborn offspring. The white squirrel piqued her interest. She had kept silent before when Aldin had sent out his first request for names. Since that time, she had been kept busy with her college classes and studying strategies from previous Fudd/Bunny battles as part of her continuing Fudd training. She had just finished going over the two part Battle of NoCO from 1995 and a few other smaller battles of that time period. Didn't she see something from Namakata?

Sarah called-up the records on the terminal and found it. There had been high casualties on both sides. Yes, there it was, and a potential name.

*****Tightbeam to Aldin Busheytail*****

Aldin,

Have you considered looking at your own history for a name? According to the records we have over here in Northfield, there was a battle at Namakata in '95 with many casualties. One of the leaders on the Fudd side was a Micmac by the name of John Clouddrifter.

Why not call your son 'Clouddrifter' in his honor. He did give his life to help liberate Namakata.

--Pvt. Sarah Martel

P.S.-- Congratulations, Daddy! ;)
*****End Tightbeam*****

Aldin discussed with Ash all the suggestions that had come in for a name for their white-pelted son. They both tentatively agreed upon Clouddrifter, but decided they'd wait a couple more days in case other suggestions came in. Aldin was ashamed when he received the message from Sarah. He should have remembered his and Eugene's long time teacher in the ways of the Micmac.

At the same time, Aldin had been forced to ignore some of his normal duties, but Mustard seemed to be holding-out in the lab on his own. Aldin decided it was probably time to make a long overdue journal entry and made his way to his office.

"Rabbit, begin personal journal..."

"Beginning."

"The last few days have been very taxing, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. (wearysighflick) After several days with only a few suggestions, Ash and I have finally come-up with a tentative name for our youngest son. He shall be named in honor of..."

"Journal entry terminated...."

Aldin stared at the screen (dumbfoundflick). "Excuse me?"

"You have activated a program left by Rabbit Mentat, dated January 14, 1983," the computer voice stated. "Running..."

Before Aldin could issue a command to abort, Rabbit Mentat's muzzle appeared on screen. He smiled.

"My son, you have triggered this message by mentioning the birth of the first litter of kits you have sired in your personal journal." (congratulationsfluff). "I wish I could be there to see them." The program paused a moment. "Most likely, you have been very busy tending to the needs of your mate and kits these past few days and you haven't had much time to contemplate names for the newborns.

"I hope the tradition started in my days has continued on--naming the first litter after their grandparents, something the rabbits of my home warren had done and the squirrels here readily adopted." Another pause. (alasfluff) "I know this must leave you in a bind, since you were orphaned and your parents were wild squirrels. You may have contemplated naming one after me as I was the only parental figure you ever knew." (pleadfluff) "Don't do this. I would be honored to be remembered in such a way, but it would be cruel to call a squirrel 'Checkers'...."

*You knew me quite well, Father,* Aldin thought to himself as the prerecorded message droned on.

"...even if he should show the tell-tale signs of a checkerboard pattern in his pelt..."

"WHAT?!" Aldin exclaimed as the program paused momentarily, almost like Rabbit had expected the outburst when he originally recorded the message.

(droopears) "I have a confession to make to you. I should have done this muzzle-to-muzzle rather then record it for some future date. It has to do with the nanite process I used to give you true sentience." Another, longer pause. "The process was still in the experimental stage and I used my own DNA as a partial template to enhance your intelligence. After you, we perfected a better, safer method without the need for bunny DNA, which was then used on the other squirrels....

"So, technically, you can call me Dad, since there maybe a tiny amount of my DNA mixed-in with your own. This could explain why you grasped the sciences so much more rapidly then your peers as I had done at an early age in addition to my military career.

"I'm sorry to say I have no idea how this may affect you or your children. Most likely, if it does anything at all, it will be something minor, like unusual fur coloration. If it helps any, my mother, Downyfluff, had a non-albino white pelt, while my father, Pepperpaw, like his namesake, had a pelt with peppery grey around the paws mixed with beige over the rest of his body. So, if an unusual pelt color comes-up in your kits, you can blame me."

(appologeticfluff) "I should have told you about this long ago, in person. At the same time, I was afraid if I had done so, you might never have looked for a mate and spent the rest of your life in isolation as I had done. I cared too deeply for you and didn't want to see that happen.

"May your kits provide you with many happy years to come and may you sire many more litters, son."

The terminal went blank as Aldin sat back in numbed shock. An hour past before he moved and got back to helping-out his mate with the new family. For now, he kept the information to himself as he still had a hard time believing it.

*****BUNNYSTUMPER™ DELUXE WIDEBEAM*****

(greetingsflick) "Greetings one last time from Namakata Labs. The kits have started to learn how to talk already and are growing larger and stronger every day.

"Ash and I have considered the suggested names for our son and have come to a decision.

(appologeticflick) "My apologies, Baikunin, but there is no way we could name him after Drieger. Though Kayko may have been a noble warrior in battle, Wanderer policy includes killing kits. There is no way we could name our son after a possible child killer, even if it's bunny kits we're talking about. However, there are several other pregnant squirrels here who may not have such a strong view in this matter as we do, and the name, Drieger, may be used by one of them.

"Remus, you may have had good intentions by suggesting Simon and Theodore. Unfortunately, we can't use either of these names as the buns used them some time ago for two out of a trio of famous cartoon chipmunks. The buns give squirrels little respect as it is.

Aldin holds-up the white-pelted squirrel kit. Ash is out-of-focus in the background.

"We've decided to go with Sarah Martel's suggestion. We shall name him Clouddrifter after a Micmac warrior who died, aiding us to defeat the devilbunny, FlopEar, here at Namakata nearly three years ago. Without this warrior's help, there may not have been any squirrels left here today."

The little squirrel wigwagged his tail and looked at his father. "C..cclouD(chitter)".

There's a smile on Aldin's muzzle as he corrects his son. "C-l-o-u-d-dddd-rrrr-iiii-ffff-tttt-eeeerrrrr." He pronounced slowly for Clouddrifter and then repeated at normal speed, "Clouddrifter."

Clouddrifter replied with enthusiasm, "Cloud(chitter)!" (happyflick) "Cloud(chitter)!"

"No, not Cloud(chitter). CloudDRIFTER."

"Cloud(chitter)! Cloud(chitter)! Cloud(chitter)!" (excitedflick) "Cloud(chitter)!" Clouddrifter bounces in Aldin's arms. Some viewing the message might get nauseated by the cuteness unleashed.

Ash comes into view of the camera. Aldin looks to her for help. She simply nods.

(fineflick) "Very well, son, your name is Cloudchitter."

Young Cloudchitter hugs both his parents before the transmission is terminated.

*****END TRANSMISSION AND ENCRYPTION*****

Special thanks to Sarah Martel and all the others for their help!
(thankfulflick)--Aldin Busheytail, squirrelmentat, head of Namakata Research Division.