It took some doing, but we finally figured out the names of all seven members of the new Wild Parliamentary Monarchy delegation. I am particularly proud of us given that three of said members are felines and two of them also have titles.
Some of these names are old news, of course, i.e.,
- The capybara is named Pedro, which is a reference to The Twenty-fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
- The lynx is named Sir Theophilus Pearl, Bart., commonly called Sir Theo; the surname is a reference to the almost pearlescent quality of his fur.
- The ermine is, yes, named Angel Joe. It came to me in a dream. I don't know why.
- The goat is named Nicodemus, probably because his nouveau riche parents were trying too hard. My cousins had a black cat named Nicodemus, so it seemed like a good name for a white goat. [This is not a complete reconstruction of my thought process, but it's kind of very close.]
- The owl is named Hrothgar Q. Hornbeam, Viscount Twilby. Since he's a viscount, he'll typically be called Twilby, although Sir Theo addresses him as Hrothgar because they're old friends. He has graciously given his permission to me to address him thus myself, which makes me very happy because I am uncommonly fond of the name Hrothgar, but I'll probably end up using both names.
- The serval is named Lady Faraday Pebble-Stone; the "lady" is due to her status as an earl's daughter. Her surname is a reference to the markings on her coat, which look rather a lot like pebbles; we agreed that plain Pebble felt a bit too Flintstonian, and surely one of these guys would have a double-barrelled name.
- The panther is named Ruthven Jet Shadewater, Earl of Ebonwood, although his intimates (including Sir Tristan and Lady Faraday) call him Magick. Coming up with a surname for him that was a) a reference to nature and b) a reference to black things and c) not a totally obvious reference to black things and d) vaguely plausible as English pseudo-aristocratic was remarkably hard. I'm rather proud of both his title (by which most of the Wild Republic will be required to address him) and his nickname, which is a very indirect reference to blackness.
Everyone has a name now, which is a relief. Tomorrow we're going to introduce the new delegation to the Wild Republic, who so far have met only Sir Theo, who has been in AJD's room to confer with Alfredo. This promises to be memorable and we fully intend there to be photographic evidence.
Also at some point I really ought to tell everyone the story behind the Sir Tristan-Lady Faraday-Magick relationship, now that I've learned it.
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