fandomhigh | The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Period Two

Though it was entirely possible that future classes would be held in the Danger Shop (which had hopefully gotten... whatever it was out of its system after last semester, when it came to these two), today's class was being held in a regular classroom. Verity and Liam stood at the front, the former cradling a large mug of coffee, both looking a little more worn-down than usual, to put it kindly. But given what had gone on earlier in the week, that was probably pretty damn understandable.

"Hi," Verity said, when all the students had filed in. "So, this is The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, and I'm Verity Price. I come from a long line of cryptozoologists, I actually came to the island to study some of your native cryptids, and I promise this class will have a lot more to learn than perhaps other classes that had purported to share a topic."

"... I feel like there's a story there," Liam interjected. There absolutely was, but its origins were from before they'd been seriously dating, so he'd never actually heard it. "Hey. I'm Liam Kincaid. Or Kincaid-Price, now, actually," and even worn-down as he was, there was a goofy smile that crossed his face for just a moment as he said that. Also possibly some heart-eyes. Don't you judge, it hadn't even been two weeks since the wedding yet. "I married in to a long line of cryptozoologists, so technically there's still a lot that I'm learning too, but I've been studying the topic for a little while now."

"Since today is our first class, I figured start off with what cryptozoology actually is." Turning, Verity wrote on the board:

Cryptid, noun:

1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.

2. That thing that's getting ready to eat your head.

3. See also: "monster."

"So, cryptids," she continued. "There are lots of different versions of cryptids out there; including several cryptid species of plants. Cryptids can be sapient or not--this class is going to be focusing on cryptids of general animal intelligence, though we might also delve a little bit into some of those plants I mentioned." They may or may not have started outlining a field trip to a certain swamp in Michigan during the drive back to Fandom from New Orleans. "Cryptids are not aliens or creatures of the supernatural, though some may come from other dimensions or have things that appear to be preternatural powers. The study of cryptozoology is hardly exact, because to have exact information, you need access to large populations and the ability to carry out longterm studies. Neither of those are the case for cryptids; most populations are small, endangered, and scattered rather far from wherever their origins may have been and they all live in relative secrecy, trying to avoid notice by the normal, human world. Mostly because humans have never been kind to the inexplicable, which is also why so many cryptid populations are so small."

Someday, there might be a semester with a class about sapient cryptids, where they would go into detail about some of what happened to them and why they were so rightly afraid of humans.

"Primarily though, if cryptozoology is the study of cryptids, being a cryptozoologist is primarily about preservation: of individuals, species, habitats, and of course knowledge. It's a tough, thankless, tiring job, but there are a lot of wonders in it, too. But, that's all stuff we'll get into later. This week is for introductions." Not just because it was traditional, but also because it made for a relatively light class after a particularly trying start to the week.

"Even though at this point I'm reasonably sure we all actually know each other, we'd like to know why you're here, in this class," Liam said. "So name, why you took this course if you have an interesting reason, any experience with cryptids or magical creatures from your world if you have any. Verity and I are both from versions of this world, so the cryptids we're going to talk about are all Earth-based, but it'd be neat to know about what else is out there."

"And if you don't have anything that suits...I dunno, ask us a question about cryptids or cryptozoology. Let's see what you're interested in and how fast think on your feet," Verity added.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name, why you're here, any experience with cryptids? And/or ask a question!

Tip raised her hand. "I'm Gratuity. Aka Tip. I don't really have any experience off-island -- since you said aliens don't count -- but we had a sort of . . . cryptid invasion a few years back, and I started poking around in the library for books on them after that. It's been awhile since I looked any of them up, but when I saw this class being offered, I got pretty excited. The stuff I found was really interesting."

"Hey, Tip," Liam smiled warmly at her. It was hard not to forget the only student in his rock-climbing class who'd had a sensible approach to safety.

"I have to admit I'm not sure why aliens don't count," he said. "If 'from other dimensions' does, and their existence isn't known by the general population." Which would still disqualify Tip's aliens, of course. "But hopefully this semester we'll be able to build on some of the things you've read about."

Yeah, the aliens Tip had known had been anything but subtle. "Sounds like fun," she said, smiling back. She tilted her head. "Also: congratulations."

"Thanks!" Liam beamed at her. The whole kidnapping thing had worn a little of the shiny off the newly-married thing but clearly not all of it.

~~Also the narrative up there totally meant to say 'hard TO forget', stupid fingers tossing an extra word in there~~

~~HA! I totally didn't notice anyway XD~~

"No problem," Tip said. "You two are kind of adorable."

And she was kind of understating it.

"Nina Argentum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, when it was her turn to talk. Though, ah, it was less talking and more gushing. "And ohmygosh you two are married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did it happen???????????????? Was it the best?????????????? Congratulations, that's amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

What?

How was she supposed to introduce herself properly when there was a true validation of romance right before her eyes?!

Liam couldn't help it; he beamed at her. "We are," he confirmed. "We decided we were tired of waiting and worrying about things like seating arrangements and tablecloth linens," which was the polite way of saying they were tired of hearing Verity's family bicker about such things, but he wasn't about to get into that with Nina, of course, "and decided to just go ahead and do it. So a couple days after Christmas, we went to one of the places here in the States that's known for having a pretty quick turnaround when it comes to issuing marriage licenses, had a quick little ceremony, and now here we are." Somehow, his smile got even wider. "It was absolutely the best," he added. "And thanks." A beat. "Huh. I guess you guys here are actually the first people on the island to know."

Though he had no doubts it'd be common knowledge by tomorrow, because that's just how things worked when you had a gossipy network of squirrels reporting on everything that went on.

Edited 2020-01-09 19:15 (UTC)

"And we're honoured to be the first to know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, incredibly (and honestly) sincerely.

Sure, it didn't sound like her idea of a perfect wedding, but that wasn't the point. The point was they were glowing and they were so very happy and if Nina had the ability, she'd just be radiating little stars of joy about herself out of sheer delight for them.

"It sounds fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, just beaming back at him. "Did you wear anything special??????????? Or, was being with the one you love more than special enough for you????????????????"

If it helped, there would probably be some sort of... reception-type party, eventually, here in Fandom? Because a quickie wedding had meant they’d skipped that part.

“I just wore a tux,” he told her. “Verity’s dress, on the other hand,” and there were those heart eyes again, “was stunning.”

She sighed happily.

"Tell me about it??????????????" she said hopefully. "Do you have pictures???????????????"

"Of course I have pictures," he grinned.

A ridiculous amount of pictures, for the record. And yes, he was taking out his Global now to show them off.

Most of the pictures were of Verity, unsurprisingly, but there were a few shots of them together as well- some selfies, some clearly taken by someone else- and a couple of them with their Elvis-impersonating wedding officiant (who was also a chupacabra, not that you'd be able to tell due to the fact that he looked like a perfectly ordinary human.)

"I'm Nell Ingram and I don't think I have any actual experience with cryptids," she said. Interestingly enough, though she didn't realize it yet, there was every chance that Nell was actually a cryptid herself or at least descended from one. "I don't actually know how I ended up in the class, but now that I'm here it all sounds pretty interesting."

The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Period Two

Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]

Re: Introduce Yourself [01/08]