[Field Class] Scaring in the Digital Age p.8 - The End!

[Seiana_ZI]

"I guess so," offered Ignatius, shrugging. It seemed like a logical conclusion, but he wasn't entirely sure who a bird would be texting exactly. Did familiars have social networks? Did they often talk to each other like that?

Familiars were fascinating in a way. Elementals got no such thing.

So was this website thing. He was pretty sure he had heard about this before, at least in passing--lightning elementals tended to be rather tech savvy for what was probably obvious reasons--but actually seeing it pulled up in front of him was definitely something else. Ignatius leaned forward curiously, reading what he could from the projected website and forgetting that they were actually supposed to be answering questions until he came out of his distraction.

Oh, what were they talking about now?

Creature that steals memories? That could be frightening. "Good one."

Smerdle

===================

Wait -- what?

He didn't know he had a sister? But--

Cearney glanced between Sayael and Marosa, trying to figure out if Sayael had actually managed to pull the wool over his eyes (unlikely, but she was a fae, so he wouldn't put it past a fellow fae) or if Marosa for some reason wasn't aware of having a sister. But that didn't make any sense, she knew him -- what?

"Because, uh," Cearney actually sounded a little lost for words for once, which was kind of unusual considering all of his tendency to snark, "that's, uh, y'sister?" He pointed her out to Marosa, just to be sure he knew that Cearney was referring to Sayael and not anyone else. "She knew ye? Her name's Sayael."

So he didn't get in trouble for talking in class, Jack forbid, he also quickly volunteered a, "Humans hate losing their wealth, kind of like we do." We meaning leprechaun, of course. "Maybe a creature that leaves people destitute?"

Kanth

===================

The website looked really cool to Ebele! She didn't want to take the time to read anything--too much staying still, that was boring anyway--but it looked like it had a lot of stuff on it and that probably made it scary. Reasonable enough conclusion to Ebele.

Lots of words could be scary!

Ebele knew how to be scary! She'd prove it right now! The moment that the professor asked them for things to volunteer, her hand shot up, she leaned forward in her seat, and she waved it around eagerly until the professor finally called on her.

"A big giant creature with a lot of eyes and claws and tails and stingers! Humans would find that very scary!!" Did she do well?  

[Myoukin]

Steve's eyes widened in awe of the image on the screen. Humans had maintained something the trick-or-treaters had created? He was definitely impressed. "It makes me want to meet the humans who would be able to come up with scary stories and enjoy scaring others like we do," he gasped in excitement.

At the teacher's request, the boil's hand shot up "Oooooh! My dad likes to impale his enemies with his scales or cut them to ribbons with his claws." Steve got quiet for a moment before continuing, "Mother though... she plays with her targets, especially when she gets angry... she'll try to lull them into false hope by allowing her scales to just barely miss while secretly cornering them. Then she'll capture them and dig her scales into them one-by-one, listening to them scream until they dissipate." The wyvern shivered in memory of the first hunting trip he'd had with his mother. He wasn't sure he could ever pull off that level of sadism.

"Your mom sounds cool! I'm able to punch things, but I would love to be able to breath fire!," Steve replied to Sidron, his tail flicking in simple joy.

Yayoi

 

[Dr Mil]

show spoilerhide spoiler

1. Yayoi
2. Viva Viola
3. Cheekiebirdiee
4. Rikku Takanashi
5. amicableAggressor
6. Sheyenne Thunderstorm
7. Ravvlet
8. leon_a_darkangel
9. Miidnight Melody
10. Meegane
11. poke mattix
12. Kanth
13. Seiana_ZI
14. Seiana_ZI
15. Myoukin

 

[Dr Mil]

show spoilerhide spoiler

1. Yayoi
2. Viva Viola
3. Cheekiebirdiee
4. Rikku Takanashi
5. amicableAggressor
6. Sheyenne Thunderstorm
7. Ravvlet
8. Miidnight Melody
9. Meegane
10. poke mattix
11. Kanth
12. Seiana_ZI
13. Seiana_ZI
14. Myoukin

 

[Dr Mil]

show spoilerhide spoiler

1. Yayoi
2. Viva Viola
3. Cheekiebirdiee
4. amicableAggressor
5. Sheyenne Thunderstorm
6. Ravvlet
7. Miidnight Melody
8. Meegane
9. poke mattix
10. Kanth
11. Seiana_ZI
12. Seiana_ZI
13. Myoukin

 

[Dr Mil]

Mil nodded in approval as each student spoke, pausing to address Indu after she replied.

"All methods were experimental at one time or another. And some that were once fruitful have faded with time. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's dangerous to try new approaches to gathering fear, since to fail at gathering simply means we gain nothing from that single attempt. But you're right, we shouldn't rely on such methods as our sole means of survival until they are proven."

Once the last suggestion had been made, Mil remained silent for half a minute more, listening to the restless squeaks, quiet chatter, and swiping thumbs of her students as she waited to make sure no one had anything else to say. She ran her fingers over the desk in front of her, tapping it lightly as if she was choosing items on a touchscreen list.

"Very good. Many scary options. Picking several at random, let's say we have... a pyrokinetic entity that resides in the mountains. It can call on a teeming mass of creatures that resemble smaller, faster versions of itself, creatures that help it to lure humans away from their traveling companions and corner them in darkened caverns, each tiny copy stripping thin ribbons of flesh from the human's body, searing it, and eating it while the human watches. Death is optional." She nodded, clearly pleased with their collective progress.

"So. Keeping a creature such as this in mind, how would you describe it? Physically. Think of it piece by piece rather than as a whole and tell me about a single piece. What does its face look like? Its head? Its body? Arms? Legs? What would unsettle a human?"

Quote:

It is time for Part Two!

Same as last time! Volunteer, get called on, reply.

If your student chooses to answer, please only have them give a description of one of these three parts:

- the head
- the body
- the limbs (can be arms/legs, tails, wings, etc.)

Post the part of your reply that answers Mil in bold red. They can be as horrific (following Gaia TOS, of course) or as comedic as you like, as this is from the perspective of your student! You may disagree with others and talk about a completely different version of the same part someone else has already described. ("I think it should have taffy arms!" "No, striped popcorn tentacles! And each tentacle should hold a teacup!")

If you still haven't entered the class, please feel free to!

Class will continue approximately twenty hours from this post.

 

[Dr Mil]

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Yayoi

Viva Viola

Miidnight Melody

Carhop Cavalier

Nio Love

a pet dino

Myoukin

amicableAggressor

Seiana_ZI

leon_a_darkangel

Xaki

Kanth

phantompanther13

poke mattix

Cheekiebirdiee

Rikku Takanashi

Sheyenne Thunderstorm

Ravvlet

Meegane

Baneful

 

[Nio Love]

Describing a horrific creature - now this was a task Gabby could sink his fangs into.

He clicked his phone off for a moment and rose his hand, waiting until he was called to answer. "Really big eyes, and really big teeth. Humans hate things that aren't correctly proportional to themselves. They have those tiny little beady eyes and square, useless teeth like herbivores. It's pretty ridiculous. Show them a nice set of fangs, and glare at them with eyes that are almost the size of the head they're affixed to, and they'll die of fright in no time."

Now he kind of wanted to try it. He could, at least, get the fang part right. As for eyes, he could probably find fake ones if he really wanted to go for the full look. But as soon as he started to think about the work it would take to find said eyes, the temporary excitement fled him and he returned to his phone, tapping away at some monotonous app or another. He was sure just the fangs would be enough, if they were his monstrous fangs.

He thought about how brightly they gleamed, and how well groomed they were, when they weren't covered in blood. He took great care of his teeth (and every other part of him.)  

[Carhop Cavalier]

Aww...fiddlesticks. Distracted by his game and other things, Dirge had completely missed the first question. What was it again? Something about a terrifying something or other? Ways to scare? All he knew was that there was a website, and now the professor was describing this terrible thing the class had created.

Or, they were supposed to describe it.

"Uh, I guess it'd need to be... I dunno, somethin' incorporeal? To draw the humans away, at least. They're pretty curious, and, y'know - solid. So they'd follow something that's not like them, but non-threatenin'?"

Right, back to Critter. More selfies needed taken.  

[leon_a_darkangel]

Kamakura listened thoughtfully to the instructor, an amused look on the teens face. The nature of the question was a fun one, and something he could really get behind. He could be tired and grumpy all he wanted, even he had to admit the randomizer helped just a tiny bit. The demon looked thoughtful as he considered his answer while answered began to be voiced.

After a bit of ho-humming, the demon leaned in over his desk once he'd been called on. "Well. They'd Clearly need something of the sharp claw-like nature in order to rip their victim to pieces and to make quick work of them I'd suppose." He agreed before leaning back in his seat, satisfied with his answer for the now.  

[a pet dino]

"Devoss, it's a pleasure to meet you." the familiar answered, clearly pleased that he too had been acknowledged.

She was about to tell the boil that she hoped it wouldn't be difficult when the teacher spoke up. All of a sudden everyone was talking and she was so engrossed in their answers that she didn't answer the question. She wanted to answer, but soon the teacher was talking again and she didn't get a chance. She had to be quicker if she wanted to have her voice heard.

"I think they should have a human face." she said with a smile. It worked for her, so why wouldn't it work for them? "It's especially horrific for a human to see a human face with a monstrous body, especially if the face is smiling at them while harming them." she was pretty sure that others wouldn't agree with her so much, but in her mind that was as good as any of a response. After all she had a human looking face and she could be very scary.

Miidnight Melody

Hey! Sorry it took so long.

 

[Kanth]

Any other time, Marosa would have been tickled pink to see Cearney in such distress at his behalf, but the gancanagh was also too perplexed for words.

"Cearney," He began as she was pointed out, his gaze staring at her with confusion, "Oi've never seen her before."

At hearing the teacher call out other questions, Marosa raised his hands and put forth his own answer, his mind being torn in two different directions. He put forward the first answer that came to mind, his inner self reeling at the memory.

"Tentacles. Hard ones, that hit like a brick."

Marosa's golden gaze slid back to Cearney, brows furrowing. From his look, and the one called Sayael, it looked like neither of them were lying.

The sugar faerie stared at him, slowly sinking in her seat. This was not how things were supposed to go!

Seiana_ZI

Etzer raised his hand as well, clearing his throat before speaking.

"Books with terrible puns in them to make them groan. And possibly make their brains turn into mush." Grinning halfheartedly, the frost demon was rather proud of his answer yet still felt hollow inside after the whole breakup thing. Maybe it would be better to put on a front than to actually show what he was really feeling - after all, that's what creeple were used to, wasn't it?

His grin didn't falter, only widened.

Dr Mil

 

[phantompanther13]

Puns? Carlos loved puns. but more importantly.

"It should have a loooong neck so it can swivel it's head to look at you. Like a bandersnatch." Carlos giggled with glee when he was called. He wasn't being particularly helpful. Only carlos cared about a long neck.  

[Cheekiebirdiee]

Puns? Tentacles? Bandersnatch...

Spinar mentally groaned as each suggestion was worse than the next in the demons opinion. Humans were already dumb and unless those tentacles had something like acid seeping from them how scary was that? Maybe they could be used for suffocation then again. After a moment to debate the others answer to himself a chilly hand lifted to be called on and offered in near boredom , " the legs..should have bone showing or perhaps bend the wrong way, humans have tender stomachs they do not like when things poke from places they ought not or bend in ways they shouldn't." He had the same stomach though, remembering Rosy's brothers eye.

Sick.

Zombies were disgusting.  

[Meegane]

AJ began to like the instructor, for her informative teaching and logical mindset. The example of creature she listed was interesting, same as what it was capable of. The last part sounded like what his Shishou told him about her kind and reminded him of the examination for first year student with Prof. Selene. Marosa and him were tested on their knowledge and technique in scaring humans, it was a set-up with a bot to imitate a human scareling and calculate the amount generated from the scaring. He passed with flying colors.

There came her second question, they were asked to imagine the creature she described. When he was asked, he didn't answer it at once. He spent a few minutes pondering while analysed what had been said by other students. "First of all, let's exclude the creature has the ability to shapeshift as pre-requisite or else most creeple had said won't stand. I would focus on the body to make my opinion below." He paused to take a breathe.

"Based on the students I make contact with, to lure humans, there're mainly two factors: curiosity and attractiveness. Thus I had two approaches, the first one is it would have a body that piqued human's interest but not scaring them away immediately, subtle bizarre traits would be nice. On the other head, beautiful appealing appearance that fits general human taste like kelpies' or beautiful flowers."

AJ had another break before he continued, "Another point was it resides in mountains and could corner humans easily, so its body should in harmony with its nimble limbs. In conclusion, when humans are lured, a part of them would go against the desire naturally. That's their animal instincts to sense danger, however small and defeated, they still exist and I believe that the contradicting emotions would unsettle the human. Sorry if it's too vague and far from what you expect, Doctor." After he finished, he waited for feedback from her while chatting with neighbours.

"Oh hello ladies, how are you?" He greeted Taika and Camilla. "How's your campus life going? Everything nice and smooth?" He first smiled at Taika and asked if she blended into the school well. Then he turned to the dormouse, "Not seeing you around since the prom, you're doing good?"

Quote:

AJ, Y3 Amphisbaena

Dr Mil

Super sorry for the bright red paragraph...

Rikku Takanashi

Sheyenne Thunderstorm