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fandomhigh2017-09-27 12:53 am
livingartifact) wrote in fandomhigh2017-09-27 12:53 am
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Introduction to Earth Zoology, Wednesday, period 1
"Dragons," Jenkins said without preamble as class was set to begin. They were back in the standard classroom again, with the giant table and the shelves upon shelves of books, with all its accomodations for the varying sizes of the students. "Attempting to do a single class on dragons is a bit like trying to conduct a single class on primates — which of course some of you have no reason to be any more familiar with than our actual topic of the day. Suffice to say that the category of 'dragon' covers a wide variety of creatures, with relatively few similarities, and that nearly every version of Earth I have yet studied appears to have evolved at least a few dragon species all its own. Why, there was a remarkable set of books I happened up on in my preparations for this week's class about the early zoological study of the creatures a few worlds over — it seemed that dragons in that realm not only varied in size from but a few inches in length to the size of this entire school building, but their very bones were a remarkably strong, lightweight material that, were the local human population to learn to harness properly, could prove more useful than steel — and lead to the nigh immediate endangerment of all their dragon species worldwide. . . . I am digressing, aren't I." Jenkins smirked briefly and sighed. "Where was I? Almost infinite variety, very little crossover between worlds. . . Ah, yes. A very basic summary of the traits that combined lead to 'dragon': they are primarily reptilian, generally posses long, muscular tails, and display some sort of magical talent or skill. For instance, a great many dragons are known to fly, with or without the aid of wings, and not a few are able to breathe fire. A skill I know I have coveted on more than one occasion."
He'd had to learn to make do with burning people with his words instead, alas.
"On my own version of Earth, the dragons have divided themselves into two factions: the Western dragons, who extraordinarily large and spend most of their time sleeping in underground caverns — and by 'most of the time', I mean hundreds to thousands of years — many of them under major western cities. Western dragons are known for their love of gold and precious trinkets, and frequently amass tremendous hoards of goods. I personally tend to know them by their outright refusal to get around to learning modern languages, so if you ever find yourself in an encounter with one — and running isn't an option — I suggest being sure to know ancient Latin. And then there are the Eastern dragons, who were venerated as spiritual or holy in many cultures and as such have the egos to match. Eastern dragons are usually more serpent-like than their western counterparts, and may show an affinity for controlling weather conditions, or granting wishes. They have a tendency to shapeshift into human form as well, and then showing up demanding a whole council of magical creatures in your Library Annex where all you've wanted for the last thousand years is just some peace and quiet in which to conduct your experiments."
Jenkins gave a long suffering sigh.
"Members of both these factions are as like to murder you as look at you, and convincing one to take a form fit to enter the building and use a language enough of you would understand is simply outside my paygrade. I have, however, with the assistance of the very fine individuals working at the Portalocity office, managed to secure a dragon specimen from a world with more, ah, agreeable varieties."
He set a large, ornate woven basket on the table and lifted off the lid, allowing a handful of songbird-sized, pearlescent animals to take flight. The fluttered about over the students' heads, investigating bookshelves, lamps, and anything that had a sufficiently lovely smell — if anyone used fruity or floral shampoo, for instance, they might find one alighting on their head. Jenkins watched them fly with a small smile.
"May I present to you," he said, "the Japanese butterfly lizard. They're entirely harmless, though a bit shy and quite delicate, so take care if they happen to land on you. Their skin secretes an oil known to have marvelous healing properties, though in such small quantities as to make attempts to harvest said oil largely futile. They're attracted primarily to blossoming fruit trees, and as such are quite a common sight in their world's Japan. If you'd like a closer look, you may try singing; they are quite fond of a lovely melody."
He set the basket lid to one side and leaned down to pull a set of butterfly nets out from under the table. "Of course, it wouldn't do at all for these critters to get out of this room — invasive species are nothing to sneeze out, no matter how lovely they may appear to be. So before I can allow anyone to leave today, you will have to round them all back up."
He'd had to learn to make do with burning people with his words instead, alas.
"On my own version of Earth, the dragons have divided themselves into two factions: the Western dragons, who extraordinarily large and spend most of their time sleeping in underground caverns — and by 'most of the time', I mean hundreds to thousands of years — many of them under major western cities. Western dragons are known for their love of gold and precious trinkets, and frequently amass tremendous hoards of goods. I personally tend to know them by their outright refusal to get around to learning modern languages, so if you ever find yourself in an encounter with one — and running isn't an option — I suggest being sure to know ancient Latin. And then there are the Eastern dragons, who were venerated as spiritual or holy in many cultures and as such have the egos to match. Eastern dragons are usually more serpent-like than their western counterparts, and may show an affinity for controlling weather conditions, or granting wishes. They have a tendency to shapeshift into human form as well, and then showing up demanding a whole council of magical creatures in your Library Annex where all you've wanted for the last thousand years is just some peace and quiet in which to conduct your experiments."
Jenkins gave a long suffering sigh.
"Members of both these factions are as like to murder you as look at you, and convincing one to take a form fit to enter the building and use a language enough of you would understand is simply outside my paygrade. I have, however, with the assistance of the very fine individuals working at the Portalocity office, managed to secure a dragon specimen from a world with more, ah, agreeable varieties."
He set a large, ornate woven basket on the table and lifted off the lid, allowing a handful of songbird-sized, pearlescent animals to take flight. The fluttered about over the students' heads, investigating bookshelves, lamps, and anything that had a sufficiently lovely smell — if anyone used fruity or floral shampoo, for instance, they might find one alighting on their head. Jenkins watched them fly with a small smile.
"May I present to you," he said, "the Japanese butterfly lizard. They're entirely harmless, though a bit shy and quite delicate, so take care if they happen to land on you. Their skin secretes an oil known to have marvelous healing properties, though in such small quantities as to make attempts to harvest said oil largely futile. They're attracted primarily to blossoming fruit trees, and as such are quite a common sight in their world's Japan. If you'd like a closer look, you may try singing; they are quite fond of a lovely melody."
He set the basket lid to one side and leaned down to pull a set of butterfly nets out from under the table. "Of course, it wouldn't do at all for these critters to get out of this room — invasive species are nothing to sneeze out, no matter how lovely they may appear to be. So before I can allow anyone to leave today, you will have to round them all back up."
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... And some fairly serpentine fusions, perhaps...
Neither of which were anything that Peridot wanted to think about too hard, so she was going to have her phone out so that she could take notes about dragons, instead.
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Not that she'd be able to reach if she tried, granted.
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Look, her name was literally 'little sun dragon.' For a REASON.
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