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fandomhigh2020-02-27 01:20 am
arboreal_priestess) wrote in fandomhigh2020-02-27 01:20 am
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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Per 2
Back in the Danger Shop today, where a chicken coop was sitting in a field, surrounded by boulders.
She pulled out a bunch of safety goggles and passed them around. "If you look close, you'll see the lenses on your goggles are polarized for your protection. That's because we're dealing with petrifactors today. All members of the Orphion family, a petrifactor is any type of cryptid that can turn flesh to stone. You might have heard of one of them, Medusa, a greater gorgon. We're studying two of the non-sapient petrifactors, basilisks and cockatrices. There are also stone spiders, but I don't even want to program those. Now everyone put on your goggles because turning to stone isn't fun. It won't be fatal here in the Danger Shop, but it won't be fun, either."
Anyone screwing around and catching the gaze of a petrifactor here in the Danger Shop would find themselves frozen solid for the remainder of the class period and given detention when the class was over.
Once everyone's eye gear was appropriately fastened, Liam and Verity's included, she rapped on the door of the chicken coop. Out came several chicken-sized creatures, though they had no feathers and looked a lot like mini-dinosaurs with the heads of roosters. They also sported leathery wings and serpent's tails. "These are cockatrices," Verity explained. "Ground-dwellers that travel in flocks and are roughly as smart as a wild turkey. They're non-aggressive, by which I mean they don't hunt humans for sport, but they will defend themselves and their nests if they feel threatened. And while they primarily live on mice and insects, they can and will eat larger prey if something catches their gaze." She pressed a button and a raccoon appeared in the middle of the flock. Almost immediately, the cockatrices scattered, shrieking and taking turns glaring at the raccoon. Eventually, one successfully caught its eyes and the raccoon made a shrill noise, ran a few feet, and then fell over, unable to move. "The petrification of the cockatrice works from the inside out, continuing for some time even after the creature succumbs to their organs turning to stone. Because it's a gaze-based attack, the petrifaction poison travels down the optic nerve, into the brain, and then spreads through the bloodstream. It turns the soft tissue to stone first, but moves through the body evenly, targeting the extremities at the same time it's turning the eyes, tongue, and throat to stone. Death usually comes from asphyxiation as the throat closes or a heart attack as it turns to stone. Once the creature stops struggling, the cockatrices devour the outer flesh."
Please note, she didn't say 'dead.'
Liam shooed the cockatrices away from the fallen raccoon. It had toppled over next to one of the boulders, and he bent down and firmly tapped the boulder on one of its sides. Nothing happened for a moment, and then the boulder shuddered and uncurled, revealing itself to be another creature, slightly bigger than the cockatrice and covered with white feathers, speckled with gray. They looked more like chickens than the obviously reptilian-looking cockatrices, save for the same serpent-like tail. The males had bright orange feathers on their tails and throats, and dark red combs. "And these are basilisks," Liam explained. "Currently my brother-in-law is attempting to mate a pair out in the Midwest for reasons that he assures me are very good ones. Fertile females lay about two eggs per month and fewer than a quarter of her eggs will ever hatch; the rest calcify from the inside and apparently some people are prone to giving them as gifts and souvenirs." What a delightful image, no? "They also have a tendency to hibernate, anywhere from a year to a decade and when they do so, they curl up and harden, becoming like stone in more than appearance. Which makes them hard to hunt, when you literally cannot tell your prey from a rock on the ground. Someone should have mentioned that to the big game hunters who brought them over for sport, but I'm sure they made perfectly lovely statuary." Yes, that tired refrain again. Why were people like this?
This time, it was a naked mole rat that appeared in the middle of the flock, as Liam didn't want fur getting in the way of what he was showing them. "Basilisk poison works a lot like cockatrice poison, making a strong case for them to belong to the same genus. However, unlike cockatrice poison, basilisks petrify from the outside in, so the skin turns to stone first. Death is caused most often by suffocation, as the chest becomes too heavy for the lungs to inflate. Again, once the prey stops moving, the basilisks will begin to feed, pecking through the hard outer shell to the soft meat within."
That disturbing bit of trivia shared, Liam leaned down to pick the mole rat up, too. "So, if you find something turned to stone and they're too late to help, the best thing to do is check the eyes. If they are more transformed than most of the rest of the body, you've probably got yourself a gaze-petrifier. If not, or there's too much petrification to tell, examine what you can of the body. Unlike the movies, clothing and accessories don't turn to stone, so you should be able to get a full view. Puncture wounds suggest that the venom has been injected and the size of the wounds can give you a general idea of the size of the predator. A lack of puncture wounds suggests gaze-based, but with cryptozoology, nothing is a guarantee. Fortunately, if caught soon enough - by which we mean before death and usually just a few minutes after initial contact - the effects can be halted or even reversed. If you know the recipe for the antidote."
And suddenly there was a miniature chemistry table behind them, causing several of the cryptids to squawk and poke at the dirt elsewhere. "Guess what you're learning today."
She pulled out a bunch of safety goggles and passed them around. "If you look close, you'll see the lenses on your goggles are polarized for your protection. That's because we're dealing with petrifactors today. All members of the Orphion family, a petrifactor is any type of cryptid that can turn flesh to stone. You might have heard of one of them, Medusa, a greater gorgon. We're studying two of the non-sapient petrifactors, basilisks and cockatrices. There are also stone spiders, but I don't even want to program those. Now everyone put on your goggles because turning to stone isn't fun. It won't be fatal here in the Danger Shop, but it won't be fun, either."
Anyone screwing around and catching the gaze of a petrifactor here in the Danger Shop would find themselves frozen solid for the remainder of the class period and given detention when the class was over.
Once everyone's eye gear was appropriately fastened, Liam and Verity's included, she rapped on the door of the chicken coop. Out came several chicken-sized creatures, though they had no feathers and looked a lot like mini-dinosaurs with the heads of roosters. They also sported leathery wings and serpent's tails. "These are cockatrices," Verity explained. "Ground-dwellers that travel in flocks and are roughly as smart as a wild turkey. They're non-aggressive, by which I mean they don't hunt humans for sport, but they will defend themselves and their nests if they feel threatened. And while they primarily live on mice and insects, they can and will eat larger prey if something catches their gaze." She pressed a button and a raccoon appeared in the middle of the flock. Almost immediately, the cockatrices scattered, shrieking and taking turns glaring at the raccoon. Eventually, one successfully caught its eyes and the raccoon made a shrill noise, ran a few feet, and then fell over, unable to move. "The petrification of the cockatrice works from the inside out, continuing for some time even after the creature succumbs to their organs turning to stone. Because it's a gaze-based attack, the petrifaction poison travels down the optic nerve, into the brain, and then spreads through the bloodstream. It turns the soft tissue to stone first, but moves through the body evenly, targeting the extremities at the same time it's turning the eyes, tongue, and throat to stone. Death usually comes from asphyxiation as the throat closes or a heart attack as it turns to stone. Once the creature stops struggling, the cockatrices devour the outer flesh."
Please note, she didn't say 'dead.'
Liam shooed the cockatrices away from the fallen raccoon. It had toppled over next to one of the boulders, and he bent down and firmly tapped the boulder on one of its sides. Nothing happened for a moment, and then the boulder shuddered and uncurled, revealing itself to be another creature, slightly bigger than the cockatrice and covered with white feathers, speckled with gray. They looked more like chickens than the obviously reptilian-looking cockatrices, save for the same serpent-like tail. The males had bright orange feathers on their tails and throats, and dark red combs. "And these are basilisks," Liam explained. "Currently my brother-in-law is attempting to mate a pair out in the Midwest for reasons that he assures me are very good ones. Fertile females lay about two eggs per month and fewer than a quarter of her eggs will ever hatch; the rest calcify from the inside and apparently some people are prone to giving them as gifts and souvenirs." What a delightful image, no? "They also have a tendency to hibernate, anywhere from a year to a decade and when they do so, they curl up and harden, becoming like stone in more than appearance. Which makes them hard to hunt, when you literally cannot tell your prey from a rock on the ground. Someone should have mentioned that to the big game hunters who brought them over for sport, but I'm sure they made perfectly lovely statuary." Yes, that tired refrain again. Why were people like this?
This time, it was a naked mole rat that appeared in the middle of the flock, as Liam didn't want fur getting in the way of what he was showing them. "Basilisk poison works a lot like cockatrice poison, making a strong case for them to belong to the same genus. However, unlike cockatrice poison, basilisks petrify from the outside in, so the skin turns to stone first. Death is caused most often by suffocation, as the chest becomes too heavy for the lungs to inflate. Again, once the prey stops moving, the basilisks will begin to feed, pecking through the hard outer shell to the soft meat within."
That disturbing bit of trivia shared, Liam leaned down to pick the mole rat up, too. "So, if you find something turned to stone and they're too late to help, the best thing to do is check the eyes. If they are more transformed than most of the rest of the body, you've probably got yourself a gaze-petrifier. If not, or there's too much petrification to tell, examine what you can of the body. Unlike the movies, clothing and accessories don't turn to stone, so you should be able to get a full view. Puncture wounds suggest that the venom has been injected and the size of the wounds can give you a general idea of the size of the predator. A lack of puncture wounds suggests gaze-based, but with cryptozoology, nothing is a guarantee. Fortunately, if caught soon enough - by which we mean before death and usually just a few minutes after initial contact - the effects can be halted or even reversed. If you know the recipe for the antidote."
And suddenly there was a miniature chemistry table behind them, causing several of the cryptids to squawk and poke at the dirt elsewhere. "Guess what you're learning today."
Listen to the (Very Long) Lecture
There would have been anatomy.