Kevin & Kell by Bill Holbrook
Main Character Page | Core Family | Kindle Extended Family | Dewclaw Extended Family | Lindesfarne's Peers | Rudy's Peers | Coney's Peers | Younger Characters/Turvy's Peers | Other Characters
Characters who are friends and peers of Lindesfarne Dewclaw. As of 2015, they have largely left Beige University (or elsewhere) and entered the workforce, and begun pairing off and starting families. The children have been moved to to their own page.
Fenton Fuscus (Bat)
Fenton met Lindesfarne at their junior prom. They would begin a long, lasting relationship, eventually marrying and having daughter Turvy. He wrapped up his schooling after the Great Bird Conspiracy incident and got a job at what was then Flea-Bay, sticking on ever since, now head of technical matters at Hare-Link. He has also done some work at Beige University.- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: When Lindesfarne was initially believed to be diurnal, Fenton took a lover during the shorter nights of summer. When this was discovered... well, you'll see when you get down to Tammy's section.
- Altar the Speed: This trope has gone every which way between Fenton and Lindesfarne.
- Career-Ending Injury: While performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save his pregnant wife, his wing shattered catastrophically.
While it was repaired enough so he can still fly, it will never be as good as it once was, and he can no longer carry loads much bigger than Turvy as an infant. This became a plot point in Christmas 2022, when a surprisingly adventurous Turvy outsped him trying to fly to the North Pole.Fenton: I didn't think this would happen so soon...when Turvy would fly faster than me! - Foreshadowing: Fenton mentioned that he wouldn't mind "diapering a flying hedgehog or two" the first time he proposed to Lindesfarne. Turvy ended up being a flying hedgehog.
- Give Geeks a Chance: Has all the trappings of this trope. He even got a notorized release before asking Lindesfarne to dance at a prom when they first met.
Desdemona Fuscus (Vampire Bat)
Fenton's mother. Occasionally gets grief for her species, which she kept secret until right before Fenton and Lindesfarne's wedding, when Lindesfarne found out. She eventually became Kell's executive secretary at Herd Thinners, initially leaving with everyone else and keeping the same position at Dewclaw's Fine Meats as Kell's executive secretary. She would return to Herd Thinners as part of DFW's acquisition of a stake in Herd Thinners as an executive for their fake meat operations.- Early-Installment Weirdness: In her first appearance, Desdemona looks considerably different with her hair down. After her first few appearances, as Lindesfarne and Fenton's wedding approached, she began wearing her hair up.
- Our Vampires Are Different: She frequently gets grief for being a vampire bat. Like real-life vampire bats, she only takes small amounts of blood at a time when feeding. Early on at Herd Thinners, a vial of blood was an "admission fee" to speak to Kell.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Desdemona got a lot of focus in the lead-up to Lindesfarne and Fenton's wedding.
Mr. Fuscus (Bat)
Fenton's father, Desdemona's husband.- Empty Nest: The Fuscus family let out Fenton's room to Dip for a while
- No Name Given: Even though he's appeared frequently since Fenton and Lindesfarne's engagement and marriage, his name has never been mentioned. Not even on Lindesfarne's Fourth-Wall Mail Slot blog.
Tammy Tussock (Moth)
Introduced originally as a brief lover of Fenton's before Lindesfarne adopted her rightful nocturnal hedgehog heritage. Now married to Ray, and mother to Angstrom.- Commuting on a Bus: While she's rarely seen these days, she does still occasionally make appearances, such as at Lindesfarne and Fenton's wedding or when Lindesfarne was pregnant.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Tammy was introduced as an affair of Fenton's. When Lindesfarne found out she was really a nocturnal insectivore, she made Tammy her first target. But being a beginner predator, she made the mistake of talking to her prey, leading to a more peaceful solution to their Love Triangle (unless you're Fenton, who was certainly punished for cheating on Lindesfarne).
Ray Flambeau (Firefly)
Tammy's husband, Angstrom's father. Somewhat dim-witted, Tammy originally used him for his bright light. When she ended up temporarily blinded by him, they bonded much closer and truly fell in love. Currently operates (as) a lighthouse.- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When he temporarily became genius-level smart, he fell for Lindesfarne. Realizing that she was really in love with Fenton, he used the genius ray's reverse setting to become dumb again, knowing he'd fall back in love with Tammy.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Twice inverted. When he was hit with the GBC Imtelligence Ray, he developed feelings for Lindesfarne. After Y2K, he actually became a bit smarter naturally after genuinely falling in love with Tammy.Ray: (while flying with Tammy') Gosh... thinkin's hard. I’d better stop.
- Put on a Bus: Ever since his son Angstrom came into the picture, he's basically been written out of the story, living at and maintaining the lighthouse. He's only had two appearances in the comic in the last twenty years, the most recent of which was in 2012.
- Too Dumb to Live: He doesn't realize that insectivore mammals eat bugs like him. Only his enormous size has saved him from being eaten thus far.
Rhonda Rabelai (Tigress)
A member of the Caliban Academy hunting team, later Lindesfarne's roommate in college. Now works at Dewclaw's Fine Meats, where she is currently their Top Predator. She was in a relationship with Edgar, but dumped him after he wanted her to hunt for him one too many times. Married to Quinn.- Big Beautiful Woman: She's sensitive about her size, but she's had her share of beaus. She was even voted prom queen!
- Gentle Giant: While she punches Rudy when they first meet, it's because he unintentionally insulted her, and she apologizes to him afterwards. Overall, she's very nice and good-natured.
- Relationship Upgrade: Professional version. Rhonda was promoted to Top Predator at Dewclaw's Fine Meats in July 2022. She would later hire her uncle as her personal assistant, replacing Dip, who Kell promoted to replace Desdemona.
Quinn Rabelai (Porcupine)
Originally betrothed to Lindesfarne in an arranged marriage. Like Lindesfarne, he was adopted by rabbits. Lindesfarne was saved from it when it was revealed he was in an online relationship with Rhonda. He and Rhonda married to break the betrothal. Rhonda and Quinn rapidly bonded for real, rendering a planned annulment unnecessary.- Strangled by the Red String: In-universe example. While Lindesfarne didn't know that Angelique had set up a betrothal for her until after she was engaged with Fenton, Quinn's parents arranged their—and his—entire lives around Lindesfarne eventually being his wife. For them, it was essentially a racket for Quinn, Lindesfarne, their eventual children—and eventually, even Lindesfarne's stepmother, Kell—to protect them. By the time they finally met, Quinn was sick to death of it, and wanted just as much to break the betrothal as she did.
Rachel Einhorn (Rhinoceros)
Introduced as a potential threat to Bruno and Corrie's relationship. She backed away from Bruno when she found out Bruno was a he. Rachel is a lesbian, and since she had bad eyesight, the scent of Bruno's sheepskin (made from Corrie's wool) made her think he was female, too. Was Lindesfarne's roommate in college after Rhonda got married. Now teaches at the Happy Little Offspring herbivore/carnivore school. Currently married to Joan Hoof, a horse.- Everyone Is Related: By proxy. She and Joan moved into a tree that is an offspring of the Tree that Lindesfarne, Fenton, and Turvy live in.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: She was briefly attracted to Bruno, but that was because she had bad eyesight, and he was wearing Corrie's wool. So she was identifying him only by scent and thought he was an ewe instead of a ram.Bruno: When did you realize I was male?
Rachel: (sheepishly) Just this minute, actually. - Reasonable Authority Figure: Became this for her students when she started working at the Happy Little Forager Preschool (and later the Happy Little Offspring School). She treats all her students fairly (such as asking for video evidence of any troublemaking), but can be stern when it comes to shutting down bullying from one of them.
Dip Chien (Ram)
Rhonda's diploma, given to her by R.L. at her graduation in an attempt to court her over to Herd Thinners. He was actually a spy planted by Herd Thinners, but very swiftly did a Heel–Face Turn, leading to him being targeted by them. Today works for Dewclaw's Fine Meats, initially as Rhonda's personal assistant, now as Kell's executive secretary. Fell in love with, and eventually married, Caniche Chien. Prior to marrying, he lived with the Fuscus family, boarded by Fenton's parents.- Bodyguard Crush: Dip and Caniche's relationship began because Caniche, a security expert at Dewclaw's Fine Meats, was tasked with protecting him from Herd Thinners' headhunters.
- Chekhov's Skill: Dip can herd people if needed. He told Caniche he took lessons from his flock's border collie.
- Contrived Coincidence: When his flock was taken, Dip took refuge in what just happened to be the tree of the Fuscus family until he was kidnapped by Herd Thinners to become a diploma. This led to Fenton's parents boarding him in adulthood.
- He grazed on their lawn as a form of covert rent.
- Growing Up Sucks: Dip was a late bloomer. His horns came in at age 22, foiling attempts to hide him from Herd Thinners by disguising him as a dog. Instead, Caniche disguised herself as a sheep.
- Irony: At the time Dip was taken in by the Fuscus family, he was living in the Fennec boarding house. When he married Caniche, he moved back into the boarding house.
- Never Given a Name: Being a livestock animal, he never had a formal name before he was given to Rhonda as a diploma. It was from that intended purpose that he chose a name for himself:Dip: Call me "Dip".
Rhonda: Only when you don't complete your assignments. - Took the Wife's Name: When he married Caniche, Dip took her last name. Justified, as he didn't have one as per Never Given a Name; he never thought to set a familial name when he named himself.
Vin Vulpen (Fox)
Originally the product of an extramarital affair; as a result, is the half-brother of Rudy. Although Lindesfarne's age, he tried to steal Fiona from Rudy on multiple occasions. Originally, damage from steroids scrapped his dreams of a hunting scholarship in college. He also ran afoul of Lindesfarne by stealing her genetic research. He was an intern at Herd Thinners, but was summarily fired. He framed R.L. and Angelique for corporate corruption as revenge, but was overtaken by a cloud of bacteria in an attempt to infect people. He faked his death, made peace with Rudy and Fiona, and escaped to The Wild.- Attack the Tail: Vin's tail was cut off by a teppanyaki chef during a Herd Thinners business lunch with Corrie.
- Bastard Bastard: Born out of wedlock, then his mother later died, so he was raised by a stepfather. How his upbringing went is never detailed, but it couldn't have been good, as he was almost always up to no good. He didn't really begin to show redeeming qualities until it was too late.
- Disappeared Dad/Missing Mom: Vin's family situation was never discussed before he lost his tail in 2002. At that point, Rudy mentioned his mother, later named Gladys Burrows, died when he was young, though he was being raised by his stepfather. It was at this point Lindesfarne discovered that he was the result of an extramarital affair of Rudy's dead father, Randy Foxglove.
- Drugs Are Bad: The original point of Vin's storylines was to showcase the issue of performance enhancers, particularly among prep athletes. Steroids eventually caused damage to Vin that rendered him infertile with a slight teaser that Fiona may have had a hand in it.note
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Escaping to The Wild showed him much happier, as seen in a frame a year later. He even took a mate, adopting her kits.
- Faking the Dead: After trying to frame Angelique and R.L. as revenge for getting fired from Herd Thinners, and being hijacked by sentient bacteria that wanted to use him as a de facto living bioweapon, he asked Rudy and Fiona to help him fake his death so he could escape to The Wild.
- Riches to Rags: He got some compensation from the Great Bird Conspiracy, but lost it all when he was fired from Herd Thinners. Why? Because he caused a lab accident due to Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! picked up because of the tail transplant from Rudy. Angelique forced him to pay to repair her ears as a result. Though he initially returned to Caliban despite graduating early, that went up in smoke when he chose to try to exact revenge on Angelique, setting in motion the events that would lead to him escaping to The Wild.
- The Rival: Relationship-wise to Rudy, intellectually to Lindesfarne.
- Stalker with a Crush: When Corrie joined Herd Thinners, Vin became this to her. He would still make attempts to steal her from Bruno after she was exposed as a sheep, but never put in as much effort as he originally did with Fiona. Probably because the last shown effort was the incident where his tail was cut off.
The Dewclaw-Fuscus Tree (Aspen)
A tree that was made self-aware by the Great Bird Conspiracy's intelligence ray, inadvertently when Nigel Aura shot Ray with it. It was bought by Fenton when it was threatened for logging. Fenton and Lindesfarne now live there. It also hosts Hare-Link's server farm. It identifies as female and even has a boyfriend in the maple tree across the street.- Ambiguous Gender: Tree recognizes as female. As a tree, it carries both sexes. And this has occasionally been lampshaded.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: She has trouble always grasping the rules and concepts that make up the animal world, but she does try. Then again, she also takes pleasure in preventing plants under her shadow from growing.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: A rare plant version. She had some rotten branches and roots that were poisoning her thinking. When she gets them purged, she has a My God, What Have I Done? moment, crying sap at how she treated her friends.
- Fantastic Racism: She absolutely hates flowers and takes every opportunity to destroy them.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Tree doesn't seem to give much heed to her children. She only began to remotely care when one of Lindesfarne's friends moved into a tree that turned out to be one of her offspring, and was tasked with helping it recover from a beetle infestation. She didn't care that the other trees surrounding it were clear-cut (regardless of whether they were all her children or not), and seemed only mildly impressed that one of her children that wasn't literally under her shadow grew to be as big as her.Lindesfarne: Please tell me you're proud.
- My Beloved Smother: Due to some rotten branches that poisoned her thinking, she turned into an overbearing mother figure for Fenton.
- Super Drowning Skills:
- Downplayed during the flood in early 2010. When the water table rose and overwhelmed her root system, she was paralyzed and unable to communicate. The only real danger to her, however, was the soil around her roots being loosened by the flood waters. Once she was moved to more stable ground near Beige University and her system drained, she slowly regained her speech. This was later justified when Lindesfarne and Fenton figured out that the roots served as Tree's central nervous system.
- Completely averted when George Gopher's fugitive family tried to bury Tree to get at Rudy. She was buried for a few hours before the rabbit warren came and dug her out, and was none the worse for wear save for topsoil damage around her.
- Downplayed during the flood in early 2010. When the water table rose and overwhelmed her root system, she was paralyzed
Colina (Armadillo)
One of Lindesfarne's friends at Caliban Academy, but hadn't been seen since the prom that Lindesfarne met Fenton at. Was finally shown again in 2012.- Literal Metaphor: She rolls up in a ball for her kids (at least three) to play with her. She was, however, shown in a 2017 flashback.Lindesfarne: My friend Colina the armadillo is now a soccer mom...
Cara Pace (Tortoise)
One of Lindesfarne's friends at Caliban Academy, but hadn't been seen since the prom that Lindesfarne met Fenton at. Was socially awkward to the point of always hiding in her shell.- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Her disappearance from the plot was lampshaded in a 2012 arc where Lindesfarne tried to catch up with her friends from Caliban.Lindesfarne: It's as if she doesn't want to be found!
Lindesfarne's Lab Mice (Mice)
From the beginning, Lindesfarne kept a pair of lab mice in a cage for various research projects. They eventually became her assistants.- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome / What Happened to the Mouse?: Literally, in the case of the latter. The mice haven't been an active part of the story since 2004, when Lindesfarne tried (unsuccessfully) to send them through the Portal in her and Danielle's stead. They've only appeared twice since then: once as guests at her and Fenton's wedding, and in a 2015 art piece honoring American Graffiti.
- Furry Confusion: Unlike many anthro rodents in the comic (like Mark), they are the size of normal mice, though still sentient (and considering their increasing involvement in Lindesfarne's research as more than test subjects, implied to be quite smart).
- Relationship Upgrade: In 2002, Lindesfarne promoted them from lab subjects to lab assistants to assist in her ever-more-complex research projects.
Mother Goose and Father Goose
Honk is a goose that was once disoriented over Domain in a Herd Thinners hunting attempt. He was carrying his egg, which hatched into Onk while being protected by Bentley. Honk got a girlfriend in late 2021, and she laid an egg for him at the beginning of 2022; Ack, their daughter and Onk's half-sister, hatched about a month later."Onk" and "Ack" are on the Younger Characters subpage.
- Ambiguous Gender: Canadian Geese are revealed not to use gendered pronouns since they don't have sexual dimorphism. However, Onk was revealed at hatching to be male. Honk was revealed to be male in a later storyline involving them. These days, this is largely downplayed.
- No Name Given: Technically, we don't know Honk's name; while it was a nickname used early on, the comic never officially used it, and fans have moved away from using it. His new mate also has an unknown name. Recently, Lindesfarne's Fourth-Wall Mail Slot has begun referring to them as "Father Goose" and "Mother Goose".
- Take This Job and Shove It: When they realized courier geese were being deliberately overworked, they quit and founded a school to get goslings away from the business.
