Creature Languages, 1/12, Period 3

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

A fishbowl-sized terrarium has been placed on Dream's desk, and students who look closely may notice a small brown arachnid within it, crouched between two rocks.

"Hello.

I have decided to start the term with a discussion with a creature who many of you might be wary of, a Brown Recluse Spider. Like all spiders, brown recluses are arachnids, not insects. This means they have only two body segments instead of three; a fused head and thorax (called a cephalothorax or prosoma) and an abdomen (called the opisthosoma), supported by an exoskeleton composed mainly of chitin.

Spiders also have eight legs (insects have six), no antennae, and their eyes are single lenses rather than compound eyes. Additionally spiders have pedipalps (or just palps), at the base of which are coxae or maxillae next to their mouth that aid in masticating food; the ends of the palp are modified in adult males into elaborate and often species specific structures used for mating.

In short? Do not refer to our guest, who you may call Aunt Nancy, as a "bug."

And do not fear her. Brown recluses bite only when disturbed, and she is bold for her breed. No harm will come to you from her."

As he speaks, Dream reaches into the terrarium and draws out the small brown spider. She crouches on his palm, then waves a foreleg.

//Hey there, children.//

"She is greeting you. I will interpret for the duration of class, but I believe you will pick up on her cues soon enough."

"As always, I am in my office after class."

Comments

Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Say something to Aunt Nancy.

Re: Talk to the creature

[courier-gavin.livejournal.com]

Jake waved hello back to Aunt Nancy. "Do spiders like coffee?" he asked, curious.

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Aunt Nancy shuffles on Dream's palm.

//Dearie me, boy, I hardly ever get enough to say! But I did have a cousin who lived in the rafters at a coffee shop once. He lived off the spilled stuff and was always busy, all over the place like a bee or a gnat. Built the biggest web of anyone in our clan, too, we were all so proud.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[lovechildblair.livejournal.com]

Blair grins nervously and waves. "Hey there...Aunt Nancy...fine...um...tank you've got there."

Blair shook his head and tried again. "What do you wish you could tell people, like if you could talk to them all the time?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Aunt Nancy bounces at the boy's nervousness.

//Shucks, don't be afraid of me! Morpheus here told me I needed to be nice to you guys, and I will.

And tell your friends that, too -- don't be afraid of us brown recluses. We'll only bite if somebody scares us -- well, wouldn't you, you're so much larger than we are and there ain't much else we can do. So be careful and respect our space, and we'll respect yours.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[the4thsister.livejournal.com]

Paige looks at Aunt Nancy for a moment before deciding on her question, "Are you one of the breeds of spiders that eats their mate?" she asks, not meaning to offend her, right now she thinks it's a pretty good system.

Re: Talk to the creature

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander shuddered, given his own experiences with mate-eating insects. Spiders might not make hm nervous, but that certainly gave him the flaming heebie-jeebies.

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Aunt Nancy shoots out a little jet of web at this question.

//Do I do what? No, honey. Truth to tell, we don't see much of the boys -- they come around at mating time and then run back off to their own webs. No need to eat 'em, they're gone before we get hungry.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander tilted his head and considered the creature politely. "Any particular story behind 'Aunt Nancy'?" he asked while his mun groaned because she just got it. "Do you have a lot of little nephew and niece spiders running...er, crawling around?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

//It's just what people 'round here call me, sugar. We spiders lay lots of eggs, so it's true enough. I don't have that large a family by our standards, though, only a couple dozen kids who made it through the winter and a few hundred nieces and nephews.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[anole-x.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Aunt Nancy," Victor said, a little nervous but trying hard not to be. After all, the teacher said she was safe, right? "I had a couple of questions. First of all, are you ticklish? Or is there somewhere that you and/or other spiders like to be touched? Get your mind out of the gutter, boys and girls! Also, do you communicate with other species, or only other arachnids?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

//I'm not ticklish, exactly, but there's a spot on the top joint of my middle set of legs that's really sensitive. And of course my belly.//

//There are some exceptions -- like your teacher here -- but mostly I talk to my family. We can learn to talk to different critters, I guess, but it ain't hardly worth bothering most of the time.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[swerval_zero]

"Hello, Aunt Nancy. I understand that spiders are not 'bugs', but do you feel more offended or a sense of resignation caused by the species barrier when humans refer to spiders as bugs?" Zero, of course, speaks from some experience with the species barrier.

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

The spider rubs her front leggs together, considering this.

//Just proves they don't know nothing about us. Can't even bother to remember what we are. So, resigned, I guess that is?//

Re: Talk to the creature

[upforachase.livejournal.com]

Cordelia looks at Aunt Nancy somewhat warily. "Um...So...Where are you from?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

//I've lived a lot of places, for a spider, but for the past couple months I've had a nice little nest under the teacher's bookshelves. Surprised me when he asked me to come teach!//

Re: Talk to the creature

[stykera]

"Hello, Aunt Nancy." Stark smiled in the spider's direction.

"Does it bother you much that people are afraid of you, without even knowing you?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

The spider waves.

//'Course it does. Guess you can't change minds all the time, huh?

Me, I only bit one person in my life, and she damn near stepped on me first.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

"Uh, hello, Aunt Nancy." Vala thought for a minute; she'd never really given much consideration to what she'd ask a spider, givine the chance. "Um, what's your favorite thing to eat? And are certain things harder to catch than others?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

//Howdy! Your hair's pretty// the spider, says bouncing. //And for eatin', you can't beat a nice juicy horsefly round about August. They tend to be as big as we are, so it ain't easy to get 'em. But that's what makes it fun, right?//

//The little things're easiest to catch. Stupid things, too. Gnats'll all but jump into your web and beg to be eaten.//

Re: Talk to the creature

[strongestgirl.livejournal.com]

"Do spiders dance?"

Re: Talk to the creature

[pure-blooddraco.livejournal.com]

Draco thinks for a moment before saying. "So...is that whole spinning webs thing hard?" he asks

Re: Talk to the creature

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Good morning, Aunt Nancy." Walter looks at her in fascination. There are no poisonous spiders in England.

Re: Talk to the creature

[sakuracchyan.livejournal.com]

For a while, Sakura remains hunched up in her seat, a little perturbed at the thought of talking to a spider. Then she remembers that the entire point of this class is to work at getting over the fear of creatures most people fear, and stands up. She still stays a fair distance from Aunt Nancy, but can't help but incline her head toward the spider a little in greeting as well as curiosity. "'llo there, Aunt Nancy." she says simply, unable to think of anything to ask her. She gathers up any gall she has and takes a step closer, pondering. "...I'm a little afraid to do so, but I've always wondered if spiders are fuzzy," she adds.

Re: Talk to the creature

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly waited until everyone else had talked with the spider. She looked at Dream nervously. "I really don't have any questions that no one else has asked." She glanced at the spider briefly. "Uhh, hi, Aunt Nancy. How has your day been so far?"