fandomhigh | Creature Languages, 1/12, Period 3

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Too bad this is Creature Languages and not Philosophy or Sociology. Then we could talk about what defines normal."

He leaned forward conspiratorially. "My favorite thing about this place so far is that everyone's so abnormal that everyone's normal."

Blair nodded and grinned. "Totally, man. I got beaned in the face by the banana-carrying librarian yesterday and before the end of the day someone was telling me that he wasn't the strangest faculty member here." Blair frowned. "Although they didn't tell me who that was or anything..."

Walter looked over at Dream where he was continuing the translation for Aunt Nancy. "I think that anthropomorphic personifications count as a bit strange, although one of them is a student."

Blair followed Walter's glance and studied the spider. "Aunt Nancy is nice, but I'm hoping we can learn to talk to something...less...spidery.

What about you? Anything in particular you're looking to get out of this class?"

Walter shrugged. "I have a friend who likes to turn into a hellhound. Telepathy gives me a headache, so I thought it would be useful to be able to talk to him without getting a headache."

Blair blinked and yanked out his notebook. "Hellhound? That's not anything like a puppy, is it?"

"Not unless you know any puppies the size of a small pony with eight glowing red eyes."

Blair gulped. "Nope. Nothing like a puppy then."

Walter laughed and clapped Blair on the shoulder. "No, nothing like a puppy."

Watching Victor make his exit, Walter gathered his books together and gave Blair a grin. "I'm going to go brave the Chef's cooking. See you later."

[OOC: How does he know this about Dream? Not that Dream is especially secretive, but he hasn't had this conversation with his students.]

[OOC: 'Sokay. I'd love to see the link if you can find it, though -- not in an OMGTROUBLE way, but just 'cause I'm curious like that.]

[OOC: Nah, if he knows, he knows -- Dream wouldn't care. Don't worry about it, seriously.]

Creature Languages, 1/12, Period 3

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