First Years Convo (10) Biology vers
It was one of those lunches where the conversation had started with homework, somehow detoured into whether Grim counted as a cat, and then stalled for a solid thirty seconds.
Yuu, who had been quietly scrolling through something on her phone while eating, suddenly looked up.
“…Okay, but the beastfolk are born as animal form, right?”
Jack nodded once. “For species that naturally have animal forms, yeah.”
Yuu hummed.
“I am just thinking… if a human gets pregnant by one of them, maybe the gestation period is the same as the animals as well.”
Ace looked over immediately.
“…What.”
“Like lions and hyenas both have gestation periods around a hundred days.”
She spoke with the same tone someone would use to comment on the weather.
“If the cubs are smaller, maybe there isn’t much tummy to show off.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Deuce slowly lowered the carton of milk he’d been drinking.
“…How.”
“…did you.”
“…get here.”
“I’m curious.”
“No, I understand you’re curious,” Ace said. “I’m asking how your brain got here.”
“It makes sense,” Yuu replied. “If beastfolk biology differs from humans, there’d probably be differences.”
Epel blinked.
“…Huh.”
Jack sighed.
“I don’t know.”
Everyone turned to him.
He frowned.
“What?”
Ace pointed dramatically.
“You’re the beastman!”
“I am a wolf,” Jack said flatly. “Not an obstetrician.”
“Fair.”
Yuu nodded thoughtfully.
“So there are things you just… don’t know.”
“Yes.”
“Would your parents know?”
Jack nearly choked on his water.
“I’m not asking my parents that!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d have to explain why I’m asking!”
Epel laughed so hard he had to set his spoon down.
“Oh my god.”
Deuce looked genuinely invested now.
“I mean…”
He hesitated.
“…there’s probably magical medicine for that.”
“There has to be,” Jack agreed.
“Because otherwise doctors would have a nightmare figuring out due dates.”
Yuu pointed at Deuce.
“Exactly.”
Ace threw both hands into the air.
“WHY ARE YOU TWO TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY?”
“Because it’s an interesting biology question,” Deuce defended.
“It is!”
“It is not lunchtime conversation!”
Sebek, who had remained blissfully uninvolved until now, looked up from his meal.
“…What precisely are we discussing?”
“No,” Ace said immediately.
“We’re not.”
Yuu answered anyway.
“I’m wondering whether beastfolk pregnancies follow human gestation or the corresponding animal’s.”
Sebek froze.
“…”
“…”
“I regret asking.”
“You didn’t ask,” Epel pointed out.
“I regret hearing.”
Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“I doubt there’s one answer.”
Everyone looked at him again.
He shrugged.
“There are dozens of beastfolk species.”
“Oh.”
“Different mammals already have different pregnancies.”
“So it’d probably depend on the species.”
Yuu nodded slowly.
“That makes the most sense.”
Ace stared between them.
“I hate that this has become educational.”
Deuce looked at Jack.
“So wolves would probably be different from lions.”
“I’d assume so.”
“And rabbits.”
“And rabbits.”
“And squirrels.”
“And squirrels.”
Epel grinned.
“So somewhere there’s a textbook covering all this.”
“There almost definitely is,” Jack admitted.
Yuu looked delighted.
“I want to read it.”
“You absolutely do not.”
“I absolutely do.”
“I am begging you,” Ace said, “never become friends with the school nurse.”
“I’m already friends with the librarian.”
“…That’s somehow worse.”
Grim hopped onto the bench, balancing a plate piled suspiciously high with fish.
“What’re you guys talkin’ about?”
Ace didn’t even look at him.
“Prenatal beastfolk biology.”
Grim took one bite.
“…Huh.”
Another bite.
“I figured it’d be ghosts again.”
He continued eating.
Nobody corrected him.
Honestly, it was easier that way.
TAGLIST: FIRST YEAR CONVOS:
@chloemari-e
@thewisperwitch
@abadonkori
@cloudiepuffs
@mikachuchan
@ballads-for-kuni
@casspen-starlight
@qualityrabbitsoup