Fraggle Rock fic: Runt

[bazingababe24]

I wrote a similar fic about the Fraggle five "reproducing" so to speak and I remember there was a debate about whether or not Fraggles hatched from eggs - but I treated it the same way you did, as if they were mammals.

I think I read your fanfic. Is it called "Part Of Me"? I really enjoyed it.

I don't know, I guess either reproduction theory makes sense. My boyfriend argued that it would be of a greater benefit to the Fraggles to lay eggs, because they're such an active species and therefore wouldn't be weighed down with young inside their bodies. But they are also quite humanoid and are obviously covered in fur, so they could very well be live-bearers. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, just that they're both workable. Of course, "Wembley's Egg" really complicated things on that end.

 

[Slackbot]

redBoobergurl: Cool, someone actually read the whole silly thing! Glad you liked it.

Boober does deserve some love. He gets at least some in my later fics, if this is any indication. What is your story? I'd be interested in seeing how other people handled the future of the F5. I'd faint if anyone else was even close to my Heinlein-esque arrangement (as seen in "Masks" and "Trials and Tintinnabulations").

bazingababe24: I've heard of the Fraggle egg debate. My take is that they are mammals, for a number of reasons:

• In Wembley's Egg the other Fraggles did not believe that the egg was a "house for babies." They didn't seem to have any concept of eggs as a means of reproduction, which would be a very strange knowledge gap for an oviparous race. (We know that they eat eggs; Boober has a well-cared-for omelet pan.)
• Fraggles walk upright. That means they have a rigid pelvis of a certain shape, which would make it very, very difficult for them to pass an intact egg.
• In the opening sequence we see a baby Fraggle that appears to be sucking its thumb. If their infants have the sucking reflex, that points to mammalian nursing.
• If you think it would be burdensome for a mother Fraggle to carry young around inside herself, imagine how difficult it would be to get one of those frenetic creatures to sit on a nest for months on end! I bet any Fraggle would go stir crazy after a day. (Except for Boober. Egg-sitting is a nice, quiet, monotonous, and above all safe occupation.)

Why yes, I do read "National Geographic" cover to cover every month. How did you guess?

 

[redBoobergurl]

I think I read your fanfic. Is it called "Part Of Me"? I really enjoyed it.

I don't know, I guess either reproduction theory makes sense. My boyfriend argued that it would be of a greater benefit to the Fraggles to lay eggs, because they're such an active species and therefore wouldn't be weighed down with young inside their bodies. But they are also quite humanoid and are obviously covered in fur, so they could very well be live-bearers. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, just that they're both workable. Of course, "Wembley's Egg" really complicated things on that end.

Yes! Part of Me is the second Fraggle fic I wrote, Love's Long Journey was the first - in which the Fraggle five fall in love and get married.

So long ago now, but two of my favorites from back in the day!

Slackbot, I'll be sure to check out your other fics as well!

 

[Slackbot]

Cool, I'll check those out. Thanks!

 

[The Count]

So, er, is this one finished? Just asking to add it to your entries in the FLI (Fanfic Library Index) thread.
And I have to commend you on this one Kim... It struck straight at my senses with the similarities I've gone through myself.
1 Born on Dec. 20, that's the borderzone between last day of Autumn and first day of Winter.
2 The fact my eyes got a bit underdeveloped and I am now partially if not most like a blind person, though like your portrayal of Boober I still retain some small sense of sight—enough to at least look around when there's sufficient light out to move around.
3 The fact I also almost drowned as a child, giving me a caution around swimming, why I do it with some sort of floating foam board.
4 Not being that active a participant of sports, prefering to "watch" others play and just getting lost in my own self-communicative world.

Truly a great tale of Fraggledom, especially after having read the entire thing in one sitting. Thanks and hope you post more from your imagination soonish.

 

[Slackbot]

Yes, this story is finished. The premise I was considering for the fifth chapter--Sidebottom's creation--didn't pan out, as I decided there would be no one landmark event to show, but a long progression over time. He wasn't born, he developed for many years before surfacing. But I think the idea is interesting, as in my mind he started out as something very different, so the premise may turn up in another story.

You are partially sighted? Interesting. I had a roommate in college who was as well. She used a white cane most of the time, but she did get a little information from her eyes. For example, she could sign checks if the signature line was marked with a thick, black line. I learned a lot about how blind people get around from her. I even learned some braille.

Boober's eyes aren't malformed, actually. His sight is fine. The problem is his eye sockets. They stopped developing too soon, so his eyes never rose into their proper place. If you shaved his head he'd bear more than a passing resemblance to Kermit the Frog.

I'm really glad you liked this story! I'm not actively writing anything at the moment, but hopefully some ideas will hit me in the head soon. If you are adding blurbs, I suggest for this story "Why is Boober so different from other Fraggles?"

 

[The Count]

Yep... I used a white walking stick/cane during my college years, along with a signature pair of black glasses to hide my eyes.
I can sign for stuff so long as my hand's placed in the proper spot... Or I just whip out a little cardboard flap that has an open space to be positioned over where my signature needs to go.
I can read Braille, though it takes me a while... I prefer audio/talking books. And lemme tell you, Spanish Braille is far easier than English Braille. In Spanish, all you have to know are all 27 letters, the number sign so that the symbols for the letters a-j are then the digits 1-0, the five accented vowels, and the various punctuation marks. In English, you have a whole other set of symbols that present complications for shortening words into one letter or ending suffixes or beginning consonant pairings like "ar", "gh", "th", etc.
Again, great story, will add it now.

 

[Fragglemuppet]

That was sweet! Somehow I knew Matt would be the one to find Boober, and now he's right where he belongs!


By the way, I just sent you a friend request on facebook. Hope you don't mind!

 

[Slackbot]

The Count: Ahh, audio books! My roommate made great use of those. I found out from her that a 4-track audio book machine would play regular tapes backwards if you switched on the right track. "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is positively nightmarish backward.

It figures that English braille would be overcomplicated. English is a wonky language anyway. How many other languages have such inconsistent spelling that there are national contests to see if people can remember it?

Fragglemuppet: Heh, I like Matt. At first I saw him as an annoying deviation from the TV episodes, but by the end of the series I got a better understanding of his character. Now I feel a little guilty for shafting him in "Trials and Tintinnabulations." He was busting his fuzzy butt to bring in whatever supplies he could, but did he get any respect for it? Maybe I'll write a story around him...

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Well the thing about Matt, just because you have respect for him and I have..some respect for him, doesn't mean the other fraggles necessarily do. Plus, it was an emergency, and good manners and propper recognition can sometimes be put on the back burner in times of crisis, so it's okay. Just do what you're expected to do, talk as little as possible so as not to distract yourself or anyone else, and afterwards we'll all group hug and talk about what an ordeal it was.

About the braille conversation if I may chime in, (and to be honest I find it really cool that we can even have one on here), I never thought of Spanish braille as being easier for that reason, but I guess it would be. I learned and used Spanish braille for a class in high school, and found it pretty easy, but I guess it's because I learned English braille from when I was in kindergarten that I find it easy as well. For Kim's benefit I am also visually impaired, being only able to see light and shadow. Ed has a bit more vision than I do. Maybe quite a bit more...