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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Period Two

Surprise surprise, class was in the Danger Shop yet again! Because while they might eventually trust you guys with real cryptids… it was still the first month of classes. Nobody was going out into the field until Verity and Liam could be sure that no-one was going to do something excessively foolhardy.

"A great deal of cryptozoology is about conservatism," Verity explained once the class had all arrived. "This unfortunately means trying to preserve the lives of a lot of cryptids that don't
have the same reservations about you. For example, we have the lindworm, which we're pretty sure Mother Nature invented while hung over, projecting all of her hatred and aggression at the world into one eighteen-foot-long, armor-plated, cold-blooded, reptilian, obligate carnivore."

With a wave of her hand, a lindworm appeared, frozen in place. It looked like a skink, only its length was measured in yards instead of inches and a series of sharp spines that started right between the eyes and followed the spine all the way down to the tip of its tail. Its belly and tail were bright, electric blue because lindworm were the apex predator in their habitats.

Liam, who rather looked as if he'd prefer to be anywhere but here (sorry, guys, it wasn't personal), picked up the lesson from there. "This," he gestured with one glove-clad hand, "is a male lindworm. Females are usually a few feet bigger and their hind legs are a little more formed, because they use them to dig out a den that the mated pair will hibernate in during the winter. That means that female lindworm might also use their hind legs to kick, which is one more thing to worry about, in case the claws, teeth, and size weren't enough for you. Lindworm eat their prey whole, including bones, hide, offal, and hair, as well as clothing, camping gear, firearms, and mining equipment. Their eyesight and sense of smell are both exceptionally keen, and they're also just plain nasty: aggressive, territorial, and mean. And to make matters worse- for you-" he smiled grimly, "lindworm hunt very close to their pair-bonded mate. You may only see one lindworm, but if it starts to make noises of pain or distress, its mate will come quickly to investigate, giving you not one but two lindworm to fight."

Which very rarely turned out well for the person fighting the lindworm. Though Verity was discovering that it was a handy tactic for humans, too.

"Their habitats range all over the world, from the desert to the sub-arctic, though many regions haven't had a lindworm sighting in centuries," Verity continued. "Any time a lindworm comes in contact with sapient species, there is almost immediately some kind of conflict, because more sapients take it poorly when their dogs, livestock, and small children start to go missing. This becomes more difficult when taking the lindworm's natural defenses and hardiness into account." She was careful not to say humans, though she wasn't running off to tell the class about sapient cryptids just yet. "Their armor is highly resistant to bullets and bladed weapons. Even prying some of the armor off, the lindworm's muscles and tissue are dense, requiring several bullets into vital points to take effect. The only guaranteed methods of death are decapitation or total destruction of the body, and there are reports of some lindworm surviving several days without a head, which is comforting to no one at all."

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Heavily armored.

Prince Sidon

Gratuity Tucci

Nina Argentum

Nell Ingram

Take notes, hope your world doesn't have anything like the lindworm lurking about...

Liam definitely would've preferred a class along the line of last week's, where they'd lectured and then let the students loose to do their thing. Which was precisely why Verity had pushed so hard for this class, which involved actual discussion instead.

"Last week we met lesser griffins and garrina. Sharp teeth and claws aside, they were adorable, and clever, and it's easy to see why we'd want to protect species like those," Liam said. "A more difficult question is: why do we care about creatures like the lindworm? What might happen if we had a 'kill on sight' policy?"

"Like, being totally honest, so long as they don't attack me, then I won't attack them," Nina admitted, since that was the general rule in her world.

Of course, her world's wildlife was also incredibly vicious.

"But, like, maaaaaaaaaaaybe something something ecosystem?????????????????"

"For the most part, that's a decent rule and close to the one most cryptozoologists have," Verity said, nodding. "Animals are animals and they deserve the chance to live their lives. But let's go a little further. What's your best guess for the 'something something ecosystem'?"

Because she wasn't wrong, actually.

"This, like, is not something my world really has as a thing in general," Nina admitted, so she'd been sort of hoping that 'something something ecosystem' would be good enough, alas. "But, like, if you got rid of all the lindworms then whatever they eat would multiply in response, right??????????????? Or whatever eats them would have to go looking for a new source of food……………"

No such luck there, Nina, sorry. "Exactly correct," Verity said. "Lindworms are apex predators, so there's nothing that eats them, but they keep a lot of other things down the chain in acceptable numbers. Everything has a place in nature. As a caretaker of the environment, it becomes your duty to maintain the balance therein. Losing an individual lindworm won't be bad - in fact, sometimes it's necessary. But killing all of them off? Creates a hole in the ecosystem and results in chaos until that hole is filled. If the hole is big enough, then nature becomes unbalanced and that's when things get bad."

"What happens if the hole gets too big??????????????" she asked, considering the thing. "Especially, like, if there's really nothing to hunt them, then there's either a lot of them or…….."

Nina frowned a little. "No, like, that doesn't make sense…………… they've got to have a slow breeding cycle, right??????????????? Because otherwise there'd be too many of them and it'd be off-balance in a different way…………… right????????????????"

"Lindworms give birth to live young, with a litter size of four or fewer," Verity said. "And they usually give birth while the mother is still hibernating, in an attempt to give the babies a fighting chance. If either parent catch their spawn in the den, they'll eat them, same as any other critter they spot."

Lindworms were just generally awful, yes.

"Lindworms are territorial as hell, too," she added. "So even if the babies do make it from the den all right, they have to find new territory, away from their parents and their siblings, or they'll fight and eat each other. They keep their numbers down in an individual area. Good question."

.................

"But, like, killing them all off is the worse option??????????" she said doubtfully.

"Yep," Verity said with a rueful smile. "I know it doesn't sound like it's true, but it is. They help prevent the spread of diseases and mass starvation in their ecosystems."

Nina made a face.

"Ugh!!!!!!!!!! I guess it had to be useful someway but, like, I can't even complain about that one!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stopping diseases is good!!!!!!!!!"

"If you found a lindworm out in the wild, how would you handle it? Would you fight it? How? Looking at the lindworm, how do you think it fights back? Can you think of any non-violent methods of dealing with a lindworm?"

"Is it resistant to magic??????????????" Nina wondered. "Because if not and, like, if a sleep spell could work on it, that would be a non-violent way to get around it…………….."

"That's, unfortunately, not something we have enough data on," Liam admitted. "But it's a good idea for a non-violent solution. Do you have a backup plan if you try that sleep spell and it doesn't work?"

"I mean, like, if I hit it with a sleep spell and it doesn't work then……….. if it gets mad at me my next step is probably fire?????????????????" Nina admitted, because she wasn't super invested in the whole save the monsters thing.

And liked living.

"And if that doesn't work, like, more fire while I run away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Fire's probably a valid choice, honestly," Liam had to agree. "Conservation is important, as is not engaging something that's just trying to go about its life, but if you're threatened, there's nothing wrong with defending yourself." And sometimes, defending yourself meant the other person or creature ended up dead. That was just facts.

"Lindworms..." Liam trailed off, head cocked as if he were listening to something, before he shook his head and re-focused on the task at hand. "Lindworms can be found in a variety of habitats, including urban ones. How do you think they hunt in a city? How do you think they remain unseen? How would you handle an urban lindworm- does its proximity to people change how you think it should be dealt with?"

Edited 2020-01-23 06:20 (UTC)

"In an urban situation, like, I'd probably just kill it," Nina admitted. "On my own, I don't have the ability," or the want, "to rehome it somewhere wild???????????????? I mean, okay, I haven't figured out how to kill it quite yet, but that would be my gut reaction…………"

She was assuming this was… maybe not one that the teachers would appreciate but, like, it was honest?

"In fairness, I agree with you," Verity said. "Most creatures are better to catch and release? But trying to get a lindworm out of its hole without you dying or it eating someone? Harder than it sounds."

And urban cryptids didn't need the competition.

"Especially if it can survive without it's head," Nina grumbled, thinking about that, then perked up. "But, like, if you trapped it in it's hole, would it be possible to starve it to death????????????"

One of whom looks ready to bolt as soon as the class ends, but both were available to listen should anyone want to talk.

Nina didn't really know either Liam or Verity all that well but she really liked what she did know of both of them and was in love with their romance and beyond that, like, they were her teachers.

"Um, like," she said, addressing the space between the two of them so they could decide who was going to answer. Or both could. Or, like, whatever. "I know it's not my business what's wrong," though she desperately wanted to know, "but is it something that can be, or should be healed?????????????"

She shifted a little.

"Because, like, I can do that, if it is……….."

Nina was a perceptive kid, Liam would give her that. Perceptive enough that he dismissed the idea of just saying 'nothing's wrong', because that seemed... condescending, even if she was right, it wasn't her business.

"I appreciate the offer," he said instead. "But that won't be necessary."

And, really, she'd expected that answer, though it still hurt, deep down, where it wouldn't show on her face.

"Okay," she said, like it didn't bother her at all. "I mean, like, if you change your mind, let me know………."

Since, well, the offer was still open.

She smiled brightly. "And I hope you're okay again soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Well, also, physical healing wouldn't do any good. Not when the problem wasn't an injury, as such.

"Thanks," he said, smiling just a bit, because honestly, the fact that she'd offered to help at all, when she really didn't know him outside of a couple of classes he'd taught, was kind of touching.

Nina shrugged a little, her smile softening slightly.

"I mean, like, anytime??????????????" she said simply. "If I can help, I want to."

She knew what it was like to have no one around to help out. It was why she'd picked up healing magic in the first place.

"But, like, in this case I'll settle for Miss Verity making sure you're okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Miss Verity sounds so much better than Mrs. Verity," Verity noted. "Just putting that out there."

She slanted Liam a smirk before turning back to Nina. "Are you a healer then? With..." She waggled her fingers to specify magic.

You know, professionally.

"The librarian back home, Miss Emilia, says that all ladies should be 'Miss' because being treated like we're young and beautiful is always delightful," Nina said primly.

Then she beamed.

"Yes, with magic!!!!!!!!!!" she said, showing the palm of her right hand to them. On it, was the water rune, a droplet in vibrant blue that was embedded in her skin. "This rune allows me to do things like heal people or injuries or poisons and negate other magic use!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Huh," Verity said thoughtfully. "...How squeamish are you?"

Asking for reasons.

"I'll whine about my clothes and my hair," she admitted, since she would, "but, like, I'm really not.............."

She wrestled briefly with her curiosity and lost.

"Why???????????????"

Edited 2020-01-24 14:55 (UTC)

All I want is some cookies, plz.

Edited 2020-01-23 06:29 (UTC)

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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Period Two

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