fandomhigh | Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

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Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

Jon was doing his best to be extremely pressed and proper for the first day of classes, to match his extremely Oxford accent. Look, there were people he didn't recognize here, and he wanted to make a professional impression.

"Welcome," he said when everyone had arrived. "I am Jonathan Sims, your professor for Cryptozoology. Over my time living here in Fandom, I've come to realize that things which are pure fantasy in one world are likely to exist in another, and furthermore that the rules for things that do exist in different worlds - such as vampires, for example - may be vastly different from world to world. Therefore, this class is going to attempt to focus on things that have never been proven to exist in any world I'm aware of. If you do have proof of them, congratulations, you can present it to the class. Otherwise, we'll be hypothesizing about what might cause their stories, what is known about them, and if we think they do exist and why."

He shrugged. "This first class is easier, though, as we'll be focusing on things that - outside of philosophy class - definitely exist. Namely, ourselves. Introduce yourself. Name, where and or when you're from, and why you're in this class, please. I, as I said, am Jonathan Sims. I am from early twenty-first century Earth, specifically England and more specifically Bournemouth by way of London. I thought a class about imaginary things would be interesting and relatively safe." He nodded at the nearest student. "Next."

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Introductions! Name, place and/or time of origin, and why you're in this class.

"I am Miss Lydia Bennet," Lydia said, "and I come from Hertfordshire, England, in what is now the year 1811. I just thought this class sounded fun!" she lied, like a liar. "What a lark, learning about silly imaginary animals." She laughed merrily. It was a very convincing performance.

"Er...right." Look, Jon might be a shit liar himself, but he was also an avatar of the Eye.

Fortunately for Lydia, he also believed in not calling people out on things.

"Well, I hope you enjoy it, then. And, um. Feel free to see me if you have any questions."

Edited 2025-09-01 16:35 (UTC)

"My name," said Luma, when it was her turn and lifting her chin importantly, after giving Lydia quite the side-eye at that 'imaginary animals' comment, "is Luma Zarrin, and as some of you may already know, I am a werewolf."

And she gave the class a bright, sharp, woflish smile full of the teeth to prove it.

"So me taking this class is a bit like a cultural anthropology class, isn't it? I'm excited to learn more about other creatures like myself, and find out how they might be different in other places, too."

"That's so cool," Charlie said cheerfully. "I never met an actual werewolf before. Wow!"

As someone who had been told her whole life that people would, if they knew what she was, would likely be nothing but terrified and try to destroy her, reactions like that always threw Luma. Of course, she knew nothing like that would happen here, that was the whole reason she'd come here, but she still expected most people to regard her with caution and distance with the knowledge.

But to think it was cool? Well, Luma didn't know quite how to respond to that, so she just sort of stared at Charlie for the briefest of moment.

But then a grin curled her lip, and she gave her hair a toss over her shoulder.

"Well," she said, "now it looks like you have. And usually when most people meet one, it's already much too late for them to get to enjoy it."

Charlie tilted her head to consider what Luma had said and parse through it. Then she got it. So she threw back her head and laughed. "I get it, yes! Too late, oh that's perfect!"

It wouldn't be too late for Charlie, but then they weren't talking about that were they.

"I can imagine it would come as quite a shock for those people! Briefly."

Jon frowned. "Well, as I said, we'll be mostly dealing with creatures that don't exist. Or at least that haven't been proven to exist yet. But I hope it helps regardless. Although if...if you'd like, I could design a class on werewolves specifically, and you could correct misconceptions."

"I have a feeling," said Luma, lightly, casually, but there was the sharp glint of a challenge in her eyes, "that there might be a lot of misconceptions. After all, most people where I' m from wouldn't believe I exist, either, and yet," she opened her arms out to indicate herself, "here I am. So maybe it is best to stick to the ones that haven't been proven to exist yet after all."

Jon looked decidedly relieved. "Unproven it is. I honestly have only literature to go on for werewolves myself; so far as I'm aware, they don't actually exist in my world, although a...a friend of mine is...well, she was probably the closest to one. Still, unproven beings are a less fraught topic."

Look, he didn't want to go offending his students. If it happened, it was going to be entirely due to his own horrible interpersonal skills.

Lydia didn't understand why Luma was giving her the side eye. She didn't believe she'd suggested werewolves were imaginary whilst she was pretending that of course she'd known this course was going to be about things that probably weren't real all along.

"Hey, I'm Charlie Gale," she said with a grin. "I'm from Canada - not too far from Toronto - and from a time close enough to this one as to make no difference. I'm here because it will be cool to learn more about all the crazy awesome beings that are out there!"

Jon nodded to her. "Well, as I said, we'll mostly be covering beings that may or may not be out there. But I hope you enjoy it anyway."

"I bet there's a lot more out there than you can imagine," she said with a grin. Honestly, there were an awful lot.

"Er...well, possibly," Jon admitted. "But I can imagine...a lot, unfortunately." He grimaced. "I'm not claiming that the things we cover don't exist, but I've tried to cover existing beings before, and there's simply too much information for it to be practical."

"Oh sure, I can see that," Charlie said. "And some of them get really ticked off if they think you're spreading lies about them."

"I can understand that," Jon agreed. "Hopefully we won't encounter that in this class." He didn't think anybody here was a Yeti or Mothman.

"My name is Eleanor Zarrin," Eleanor offered, with a faintly awkward smile and a lift of her hand and a nod toward Luma. "Luma's sister. Not a werewolf, though. I, uh, take after our mother's side...but I am also interested in learning more about people like us, or different myths and legends about similar things..."

Mostly, she had been hoping to find out more about what she might be, but she wasn't about to admit to that. Unlike some people in this class, Eleanor wasn't quite so cavalier about her own monstrosity.

"Right." Jon nodded. He hesitated. "I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask what your mother's side is, so I can focus on or ignore that sort of being, as you prefer."

The fact that Eleanor's initial response was to just sort of stared at Jon, turning pale with a mottled green sort of blush around the edges, before she blinked, might have suggested that wondering if it would be rude to ask felt a little rude in and of itself. A small part of her really wanted to know why he just assumed their mother would be anything but human, but, well, it did also seem fair in the context of everything. Plus, the combatative energy Luma was giving off made Eleanor want to temper it by swinging harder toward the conciliatory.

Now she hesitated, not sure how to answer, before just giving a soft, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Maybe...maybe she'd feel out how the class was going, and bring it to Jon privately, but it definitely wasn't anything she'd like broadcasted to the entire class, that was for sure.

Jon blinked himself at that, then nodded emphatically. "Right. You can...um. You can let me know if anything isn't. Or if I can help in any way."

Anything pale-and-green was immediately getting struck off the syllabus for now.

“Wilhelmina ‘Billie’ S. Logan!” Billie said, when it was her turn. “I’m from San Dimas, California, modern era,” a wink at Charlie for providing guidance on being able to say ‘basically now’. “And I am in this class because while I have an extensive knowledge of human history as relates to music — and also theories about time travel — I am woefully ignorant of many other areas. Which is bogus because there are some righteous songs written about things like werewolves and demons and homonculi!” She paused, then hurriedly added. “Oh! But I have been to Hell. So I can say that demons in my universe? Not so torturous as has been previously reported.”

Again, the narrative felt the need to point out that she really was only in Hell for like ten minutes.

What was wrong with 'early twenty-first century'? Jon had thought he was doing well with that!

"Oh. Right. Well, um. Welcome, Billie. I am definitely glad to hear that." A student without trauma was always good. "I hope you'll learn a few things this term."

You had to love a fandom where “been to Hell” and “no trauma” are both canon.

“Excellent!” Billie responded. And gave him a brief — audible — riff on air guitar.

Jon looked utterly bewildered at that. She didn't seem to be Slaughter-touched, but that was what eldritch music usually meant!

Poor Jon. Hopefully exposure to Billie would help him remember that sometimes weird was used for good.

Billie bobbed her head to music only she could hear and looked to see who was next.

"Illyana Rasputina," Yana said flatly, not really looking at anyone. "I am a sorcerer who was born in Russia, raised in a hell plane, and most recently a resident of New York City."

"For me, many of these things are likely to be real, but I am interested in how they are perceived by people outside the magical community."

Two students who had been to Hell, but this one seemed...well, less un-traumatized.

"If they are real, I encourage you to tell us about them," Jon said. "Though I'm not planning on covering Hellish things. Or New York-ish."

Possibly New Jersey-ish.

"I'm Belle," Belle said. "From the kingdom of Misthaven in another realm entirely from this one. We've got much more magic and very little in the way of 'modern conveniences' there. I signed up for this because it sounded interesting, studying creatures that may not exist, learning about legends and such things."

"Good to see you, Belle." And at least one student who didn't expect anything useful out of this class. "I hope you enjoy it."

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Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

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