fandomhigh | 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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"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.

Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

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