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fandomhigh2018-04-11 10:47 am
arboreal_priestess) wrote in fandomhigh2018-04-11 10:47 am
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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Wednesday, Per 1
"So, as we've learned all semester, the cryptozoologist's main job is conservation and understanding, not violence. Even those cryptids that are dangerous, like lindworms and swamp bromeliads, serve an important ecological role and killing them all would be unwise as well as immoral. And while things like border imps do need to be fought to keep away from innocents, they attack us when we enter into their realm, not the other way around. We are the interlopers--not that that makes us fight any less when there's a train full of people to protect, but it's worth keeping in mind. However, there is one species of cryptid that carries an immediate 'kill on sight' order. The Apraxis wasp."
A wasp the size of an older kitten appeared next to Verity, its red, black, and yellow coloring giving it the same general appearance as a Japanese giant hornet. Except even those were diminutive compared to the monstrosity blinking at the students with many-faceted eyes.
"This isn't enlarged for ease of seeing," Verity said. "This is an adult male Apraxis wasp. Females might get a little bigger. Physics says that these wasps should collapse under their own weight. Apraxis wasps laugh at physics on the regular and are even able to fly, as big as they are. They have rudimentary lungs, which help them breath and also mimic human speech. Furthermore, their brains are proportional to their size, which means they have near-human intelligence." Which was certainly a thing that giant wasps needed: the ability to come up with tactics.
"Apraxis wasps did not originate from this plane of existence, we're pretty sure. We don't know how they got here, or when, or why, but we're fairly certain they're not terrestrial in origin," Verity continued. "But they are invaders or, potentially, would-be colonizers. Still, it's possible that some accord could be reached, but Apraxis wasps are not interested in coming to terms. They see mammals, particularly humans, as incubators for their young. You see, Apraxis wasps reproduce by implanting eggs into living flesh, preferably mammalian. The eggs will hatch in under a week in a living host, maturing into nymphs. After the last of the nymphs has hatched, they will begin to secrete a paralytic sedative, forcing their host into a near-comatose state. Eggs will take longer to hatch in a deceased host, but will still mature; more than one supposedly destroyed hive has been resurrected when not all the bodies of the fallen were checked for infestation."
Images of preserved wasp nymphs also appeared in the air in front of them. "These nymphs were extracted from the body of Alice Price-Healy, following the death of her father, Jonathan Healy," Verity said calmly. "Fortunately for the continuation of my family, my grandmother survived the process. You see, the reason that Apraxis wasps prefer human and mammalian-cryptid as hosts is because they are low-level acquisitionial telepaths. Nymphs which mature in the flesh of a sapient being will emerge with the knowledge and memories of their host, allowing them to refine their hunting behaviors whenever they enter a new territory. This telepathy is also what allows them to function within their own hives, which do not have a queen, but instead, they practice a form of communal government which places the survival of the hive ahead of the survival of any given individual. Often times, this leads to adult Apraxis sacrificing their own lives to implant their eggs in a host viewed as 'useful.'"
"So, to summarize: giant invasive telepathic wasps that want to lay eggs in your body. Any questions about why we kill first, burn the remains with fire, and only then get around to asking questions?"
A wasp the size of an older kitten appeared next to Verity, its red, black, and yellow coloring giving it the same general appearance as a Japanese giant hornet. Except even those were diminutive compared to the monstrosity blinking at the students with many-faceted eyes.
"This isn't enlarged for ease of seeing," Verity said. "This is an adult male Apraxis wasp. Females might get a little bigger. Physics says that these wasps should collapse under their own weight. Apraxis wasps laugh at physics on the regular and are even able to fly, as big as they are. They have rudimentary lungs, which help them breath and also mimic human speech. Furthermore, their brains are proportional to their size, which means they have near-human intelligence." Which was certainly a thing that giant wasps needed: the ability to come up with tactics.
"Apraxis wasps did not originate from this plane of existence, we're pretty sure. We don't know how they got here, or when, or why, but we're fairly certain they're not terrestrial in origin," Verity continued. "But they are invaders or, potentially, would-be colonizers. Still, it's possible that some accord could be reached, but Apraxis wasps are not interested in coming to terms. They see mammals, particularly humans, as incubators for their young. You see, Apraxis wasps reproduce by implanting eggs into living flesh, preferably mammalian. The eggs will hatch in under a week in a living host, maturing into nymphs. After the last of the nymphs has hatched, they will begin to secrete a paralytic sedative, forcing their host into a near-comatose state. Eggs will take longer to hatch in a deceased host, but will still mature; more than one supposedly destroyed hive has been resurrected when not all the bodies of the fallen were checked for infestation."
Images of preserved wasp nymphs also appeared in the air in front of them. "These nymphs were extracted from the body of Alice Price-Healy, following the death of her father, Jonathan Healy," Verity said calmly. "Fortunately for the continuation of my family, my grandmother survived the process. You see, the reason that Apraxis wasps prefer human and mammalian-cryptid as hosts is because they are low-level acquisitionial telepaths. Nymphs which mature in the flesh of a sapient being will emerge with the knowledge and memories of their host, allowing them to refine their hunting behaviors whenever they enter a new territory. This telepathy is also what allows them to function within their own hives, which do not have a queen, but instead, they practice a form of communal government which places the survival of the hive ahead of the survival of any given individual. Often times, this leads to adult Apraxis sacrificing their own lives to implant their eggs in a host viewed as 'useful.'"
"So, to summarize: giant invasive telepathic wasps that want to lay eggs in your body. Any questions about why we kill first, burn the remains with fire, and only then get around to asking questions?"
OOC
I do.