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fandomhigh2020-04-16 01:03 am
arboreal_priestess) wrote in fandomhigh2020-04-16 01:03 am
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The Cryptozoologist's Field Guide, Thursday, Per 2
Good news, everyone! Today involved yet another field exercise, as the note pinned to the entrance of the Danger Shop informed the students to meet their teachers by the causeway, where they'd be stepping through a portal that would deposit them on the shores of the Owyhee Reservoir, somewhere in the wilds of Oregon near the Idaho border.
...An hour or so before the sun was scheduled to rise. The sky hadn't even begun to lighten, leaving them in the literal dark of night. "Today," Verity said, pulling out her phone and indicating everyone else should, too. Look, the reservoir was far from artificial lights and it got dark in the hinterlands. "We're going to talk about the dangers of messing with the ecosystem. One of the omnipresent dangers of importing animals to a new ecosystem is that they will escape and, due to a lack of natural predators, begin to breed uncontrollably."
"And with that population boom, they start pushing other animals out of their normal ecological niche. The native animals starve and die out and the invasive population thrives." If anyone didn't have a phone on them to use as a flashlight, Liam absolutely had a miniature flashlight or two tucked in the pockets of his leather duster. Because he was prepared like that. He took his Global and pointed it out towards the water, the beam of light from the flashlight revealing two to three dozen pairs of eyes glowing in the darkness, all of them focused on the cluster of figures on the shore.
“Yup,” Verity agreed, continuing to shine her phone across the water. Eyes, eyes, eyes. Everywhere eyes. They were surrounded. And also? Vastly outnumbered. "Now, if you're really lucky, nature will adapt and, after a period of adjustment, the new species will slot into that niche. That's how you get some species - like the tailypo or the bromeliads - who were once invasive becoming critical to the ecosystem because they have replaced the previous creatures. Other times, you're not so lucky. Maybe they're poisonous to predators or they breed too quickly or they eat something too fast. Then you have a boom followed by a mass die-out. And the problem with die-outs is that it never just affects the one group. It's called the food chain for a reason."
There was the sound of splashing as some of the eyes began swimming. And rustling in the underbrush as they began moving in.
"And that," Verity said cheerfully, "brings us to manticores."
...An hour or so before the sun was scheduled to rise. The sky hadn't even begun to lighten, leaving them in the literal dark of night. "Today," Verity said, pulling out her phone and indicating everyone else should, too. Look, the reservoir was far from artificial lights and it got dark in the hinterlands. "We're going to talk about the dangers of messing with the ecosystem. One of the omnipresent dangers of importing animals to a new ecosystem is that they will escape and, due to a lack of natural predators, begin to breed uncontrollably."
"And with that population boom, they start pushing other animals out of their normal ecological niche. The native animals starve and die out and the invasive population thrives." If anyone didn't have a phone on them to use as a flashlight, Liam absolutely had a miniature flashlight or two tucked in the pockets of his leather duster. Because he was prepared like that. He took his Global and pointed it out towards the water, the beam of light from the flashlight revealing two to three dozen pairs of eyes glowing in the darkness, all of them focused on the cluster of figures on the shore.
“Yup,” Verity agreed, continuing to shine her phone across the water. Eyes, eyes, eyes. Everywhere eyes. They were surrounded. And also? Vastly outnumbered. "Now, if you're really lucky, nature will adapt and, after a period of adjustment, the new species will slot into that niche. That's how you get some species - like the tailypo or the bromeliads - who were once invasive becoming critical to the ecosystem because they have replaced the previous creatures. Other times, you're not so lucky. Maybe they're poisonous to predators or they breed too quickly or they eat something too fast. Then you have a boom followed by a mass die-out. And the problem with die-outs is that it never just affects the one group. It's called the food chain for a reason."
There was the sound of splashing as some of the eyes began swimming. And rustling in the underbrush as they began moving in.
"And that," Verity said cheerfully, "brings us to manticores."
...Oh
"That is a dinosaur," said Liam. "I...I admit, I was not expecting a dinosaur."
"Technically it's not a dinosaur, it's a plesiosaur," Verity said, as there was always time for pedantry. "I think. Probably. I don't feel like getting closer so I can find out, do you?"
Maybe they were being hasty. Liam cleared his throat, pasted on his most reasonable-looking smile, and called, "Hello, the plesiosaur! Would you like to have a nice chat about what you’re doing in this reservoir?"
The plesiosaur cocked its head, looking for all the world like an enormous iguana. For a moment, it looked like everything was going to work out for the best. The plesiosaur would reveal a heretofore unsuspected intelligence, and explain in small, pleasant words how it had wound up in the Owyhee reservoir, and how they could get it out before the authorities noticed.
Then the plesiosaur opened its mouth, made a horrifying keening noise, and darted toward them, moving fast enough to constitute a clear and present danger. Verity yelped, jumping out of the way. Liam was a dark blur against the bushes as he raced for safety, making sure that the students were out of harm's reach as well. The plesiosaur's jaws snapped shut where they'd been standing only a moment before.
"Not friendly!" Verity said, in case Liam had somehow managed to miss the memo.
"Oh really? Whatever gave you that idea?"
"There's no need for sarcasm," Verity called, ignoring Liam's snort. (He felt that, like pedantry, there was always time for sarcasm.) "Okay, class! Unexpected practical. We're going to split into two teams. Team A, with me. We're on defense. Do not get hurt. And do not gravely harm the plesiosaur! It's just an innocent prehistoric reptile, doing what comes naturally for innocent prehistoric reptiles!"
The head snapped forward again. Verity jumped backward this time, using her momentum to turn the motion into a handspring. It was showy and pointless, but a girl had to stay in practice somehow, and besides, it wasn't like they were in a lot of danger as long as they didn't hold still. The plesiosaur was cranky and snappy, but it couldn't leave the water.
Well. Verity didn’t think it could leave the water.
It probably couldn't leave the water.
"Team B, is anyone who doesn't want to fight the plesiosaur! Stick with Liam and, uhh, figure out how to remove a giant prehistoric reptile from Malheur County's reservoir!"
Team A
Re: Team A
It wasn't unexpected but really, Miss Verity?!
The first thing Nina did was back up, out of range, and pull out a notebook. Luckily, this didn't take her much time since this was a spell she'd worked out ages ago and it just needed to be activated and, yes, there:
Nina slammed her hand down in the middle of the page, pale green magic flaring around her hand to sink into the page and illuminate the intricate loops and whorls of her spell.
Brightly glowing paper-butterflies began peeling themselves off of the page, one after another, over and over, lighting up the area and eliminating the need to keep phones out. Because there were so many of them--over a dozen and still more peeling themselves off the page as she settled her book back on a rock, out of reach of the water and the dinosaur--they wouldn't last much longer than class but...
It was something.
Ignoring the drain on her magic, Nina shook out her bookbelt and flung herself into the fray. There was no way she was going to be able to break this monster's neck very easily but at the very least she could disorient it!
Re: Team A
Team B