SQUONK - An integral songfic
This is probably my most experimental fanfic yet - A songfic based on the song "Squonk" by Genesis, but rather than to insert the lines from the song into separate passages of the story, I've inserted them into the story itself.
Please keep in mind that the whole setting of this story makes more sense if you've read my origin fanfic for Iris.
Iris walks around on her own a lot. On the island sanctuary of Haven, where she lives with her parents and the rest of the cyclops community, there are many dangerous places – Small reservations set aside for fierce creatures like manticores, chimera and bunyips. But this forest is a safe spot, she knows, and her parents don't mind if she explores it, as long as she is back home in time for supper. This is the forest reservation of small, cryptozoological critters. They are typically shy and prefer to be left alone, but Iris has managed to gain the trust of most of them. One afternoon, as she wanders through the reservation with a jackalope friend, she hears a secluded, sobbing noise
"Say, Benny..."
The young jackalope Nephew Benny (obviously, he's not her nephew; it's just a nickname) turns to her.
"Yes?"
"What's that sound?"
"What sound?" Nephew Benny asks her. He can hear many sounds. Jackalopes have good ears.
"Like someone crying."
"That would be the Squonk", Nephew Benny replies without hesitating.
Iris gasps excitedly. "A Squonk? Ohmygosh, I've never seen a real Squonk before. I didn't even know there was any on this island! How come I've never seen one before?"
"The Squonk, not a Squonk" Nephew Benny corrects her. "There is only one at a time."
"What do you mean, at the time?"
"They reproduce like phoenixes...sort of. I'm not sure about the details, but when an old Squonk dies, it dissolves, and a new pup is born from the remains of the old one."
"Gross! But gross in a cool way!", she exclaims.
"Like father like son. Not flesh nor fish nor bone."
"Can we go and see it? Huh? Can we? Can we?" Excitedly, Iris jumps up and down.
"Only if you calm down a little." Nephew Benny says patiently. "We must approach the Squonk quitely and with stealth, or it'll run away. He's a sly one, he's a shy one."
"Oh." Iris says, and she stops jumping.
"In fact, if we upset it too much, it'll turn itself into a pool of bubbles and tears." Nephew Benny whispers.
Iris nods. "I've heard about that.", she whispers back.
"The pressure on, the bubble will burst before our eyes. Now follow me!"
It's true what she's heard about the Squonk. It's not pretty. It has a sickly dark yellow fur which is covered in warts, uneven eyes, a large, bendy snout and droopy ears. And it cries incessantly. A red rag hangs from an open mouth. Alive at both ends but a little dead in the middle. All the while in perfect time, his tears are falling on the ground.
"He looks so sad", Iris whispers.
"Wouldn't you be too." Nephew Benny replies.
"I bet he's scared to be left all on his own."
"But he's always alone."
"But suppose he doesn't want to be left alone? Hasn't a friend to play with, the ugly duckling. Doesn't anyone ever try to talk to him?"
"Very rarely. He startles easily."
Iris gets a determined look on her face.
"Well, here goes nothing." She rises from the bushes and says in a loud voice: "Hey, Mr. Squonk, sir!"
The result is predictable. The Squnks jumps up, and runs. A-tumbling and a-bumbling he will go, with Iris right behind. He is remarkably fast, so fast that even the athletic Iris has difficulty keeping up with him. After a few minutes, he's out of sight. Iris looks around, bewildered. But then she notices. Tears, of course! The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night. Go a little faster now, you might get there in time, she thinks to herself.
She follows the trail of tears to a cave.
"Please come out!" she shouts into the cave.
No response. But she can hear the Squonk's sobbing from inside the cave.
"Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now! I am a friend, I'd really like to play with you."
"I've heard that before." The squonk mutters bitterly form inside the cave.
Iris looks down. Yes, she's knows J.P. Wentling's old hunting story…
***
In one hand bread, the other a stone, the Hunter enters the forest. All are not huntsmen who can blow the huntsman's horn. By the look of this one you've not got much to fear.
Here I am, I'm very fierce and frightening, come to match my skill to yours.
"Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now I am a friend, I'd really like to play with you."
Making noises my little furry friend would make I'll trick him, then I'll kick him into my sack.
You better watch out ... You better watch out…
I've got you, I've got you, you'll never get away.
Walking home that night, the sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder.
When suddenly it stopped, I opened up the sack, all that I had: A pool of bubbles and tears - Just a pool of tears!
***
"You can't always hide from everyone!" Iris shouts. "If you don't stand up, you don't stand a chance!"
No response. But the Squonk stops sobbing. Iris takes that as a good sign.
"There are no hunters here!" she adds, and tries to lighten up the mood with a joke:
"Besides, squonks are out of season!"
Inside the cave, everything remains silent for a moment more. The the Sqonk comments: "In season, out of season…What's the difference when you don't know the reason?"
Iris is unsure what he means by that, but is happy to see that the Squonk decides to come out and talk to her face to face after all.
He doesn't want to play. But he wants to talk. So they talk. About the island and its multifaceted inhabitants. About Iris and her family, and her friends. About the humans who are behind this sanctuary, but usually leave the daily maintenance to the inhabitants, particularly to the Cyclopes. About world outside of Haven. Iris has never been there, but she knows a lot about it from films and books, and she talks a lot about this. They talk about everything but the Squonk itself, and its background. But when Iris asks him to visit her village, he stubbornly refuses.
"It's too risky."
"Don't you ever get tired of acting so vulnerable?" Iris responds, unable to hide her disappointment.
"I'm not much more vulnerable than your kind."
"We're not vulnerable!"
"Tell me, Iris, how many of you Cyclopes are there left in this world?"
"Uh… about nine hundred."
"And you're all living on this island, which is supervised by humans?"
"Pretty much."
"So all in all you are a very dying race, placing trust upon a cruel world. You never had the things you thought you should have had, and you'll not get them now."
"What do you mean? We've got everything we need here!"
"You haven't got freedom."
Iris doesn't know what to say in response to that. The Squonk continues:
"You talk a lot about the outside world, Iris. I have no desire to go there, but you have. I can tell that much. "
"But what can I do? It's not like I can just leave this place…can I?"
"Maybe you should listen to your own advice, Iris" the Squonk says reflectively.
"What do you mean?"
"If you don't stand up you don't stand a chance."
Again, she is silent.
Then, out of nowhere, the Squonk asks:
"Will I see you again?"
She smiles. "Yeah, if you want me to."
"I do." The Squonk says meekly. "Tomorrow, or any other day when it suits you." He pauses "But now I must ask you to leave. You can never stay too long, or I'll miss you too much. And then I'm going to cry too much."
"But you're going to cry, anyway, aren't you?"
"Yes, but for a moment there, when I was with you, I didn't cry. Thank you, Iris."
"Your…you're welcome."
Iris gets on her feet, and prepares to leave. She's feeling both happy and sad about her new friend.
"His heart was broken long before he ever came to you." Nephew Benny whispers to her as she passes him by.
And so she walks down to her village, leaving the Squonk alone again. All the King's horses and all the King's men could never put a smile on that face. But she stopped his tears from falling, if only for a little while.
And all the while in perfect time, his tears are falling on the ground.
The End