COMC: Emoto-Tronic Funky Furby

[dinosaurman.livejournal.com]

There was an unending supply of dusty, musty, unused classrooms in the Hogwarts castle, which was a good thing, really. If the room was dirty to begin with, nobody would care if you set loose a bunch of animals and students. Nobody was worried about the animals, though. Furbies were neat creatures. It was the students that were bound to mess everything up.

The cages were set up in the front of the classroom, with instructions on how students would receive their pets written on the chalkboard.

Please come and sign out your furby, then go to your assigned group table. Groups are all follows:

1
Charles Ofdensen
Billy Brennan
Drizzt Do'Urden
Ayame Sohma

2
Soichiro Yagami
Pam Beesly
Ruby
Nemo

3
Ed
Miss Bunny Swan
Pearl Fey
Petulia Gristle

4
Laura Palmer
Richard
Matilda Wormwood
Turlough

Dr. Chance Silvey was set up by the furby cages with a quill to record who got what furby and take attendance. When everyone had sat down with their furby, the lecture began.


Dr. Grant cleared his throat and started talking. "Today's class, if you haven't figured it out already, is going to cover furbies. If you were expecting some other class, well, the door's in the back, and I'm sure you can see yourself out."

He picked up one of the remaining furbies from the front and held it up as an example. "Not only are furbies popular animals because they make good pets, but they're also a wonderful example of the four possible outcomes that affect the fitness of two individuals that interact with each other. Don't be too worried about what fitness means right now. It's simply the chances that an individual will pass its genes down to the next generation." Simple, that.

"Altruism is a behavior where other individuals benefit from behavior that decreases the acting animal's fitness. For example, in the wild, a furby will sound an alarm call when it sees a predator. The rest of the furbies will hide, which increases their fitness. That one furby, though, is now more conspicuous to the predator, which decreases its fitness."

"Selfishness would be the opposite of altruism. The behavior of an individual increases its fitness at the expense of others. Take a look at the Headmistress when you get a chance, and ask yourself: Did she eat her nestmates? The answer might be yes. Furbies sometimes practice pseuicide siblicide in an effort to increase their won fitness. By killing off the competition, the biggest furby in the nest is able to command all of the resources available to it."

"Mutualism is where both individuals benefit, or, when talking about furbies, two species can benefit. Furbies can often be found with groups of heffalumps. This is an advantage for both species. The furbies' superior senses alert the heffalumps to predators that they wouldn't notice, and the size of the heffalumps gives the furbies added protection. The last behavior is spite, and it's a very rare behavior, where both individuals decrease their fitness as a result of their interaction. I don't have an example of it, sad to say. Why waste your energy on something that doesn't benefit you?"

"I've got you together in groups of four. I want you to observe their interactions and write them down. You might not see examples of the behaviors I've mentioned, but what I'm interested in are the notes you take. In fact," he said, "the ((optional, of course)) homework I want you to do is to keep a journal of your furby's behavior. I encourage you to meet outside of class to watch your furbies in a group. They are natural mimics and learners, and will pick behavior up from one another."

"Keep in mind that while selfishness and spite are behaviors common in our own experience, in evolutionary terms it's not accurate to assign emotions or motives to the behaviors you observe. Don't look at the factors behind the behavior; look at the results."

((Some resources on furbies can be found here, here and here. (Check out the last one for a furbish-to-English dictionary and some common furby behaviors.) Here are some ideas of what your furby could look like. Comment notification will be off, so if you need assistance from Dr. Grant or Dr. Silvey, please make a note in the comment line. You can pick out a Furby and head to your group under the assumption that Chance has signed out to you the Furby of your choice. Characters not on the sign-up sheet are still welcome to join.))

Comments

[wh0-kill3d-m3.livejournal.com]

Of the other names listed in her group, the only one Laura recognized was Richard the Warlock, and she didn't see him around. So she headed up to the Furby cages to sign in with Chance and meet the fuzzies.

"So how's this work? Do I pick a Furby, or does it pick me?"

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

TA or no, de-facto demotion by Hogwarts or no, Chance is in professorial mode and comports herself accordingly. She makes a tick mark by Laura's name on the attendance sheet before answering. "You can choose any one of them. It doesn't matter which one you pick, only that you inform us which one you have." Like signing out lab equipment or checking out a library book. Chance doesn't seem to have anthropomorphized or sentimentalized the Furbies at all -- even though the Headmistress is a Furby, which makes all this oddly dissonant.

[wh0-kill3d-m3.livejournal.com]

A gold furby (http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/per1etwo/h_h/furby.jpg) made eye contact with Laura, and she beckoned it forward with a finger. "This little guy, I think - um, is it a guy?"

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

(( That furby is at once disturbingly cute and disturbingly ... authoritative? I don't know, there's something stern about its face! ))

"It's hard to tell (http://www.mimitchi.com/html/ffaq4.htm#Q28)," Chance agrees, deadpan. "You can't just flip a Furby over and check for tab A or slot B. Interacting with the Furby ought to give you an idea of its gender identification, such as it is. They can be extraordinarily polymorphous in that regard."

She takes out the gold Furby, which doesn't object at all, and hands it to Laura. After the girl takes the Furby Chance will note down which Furby it is she's taken. "It'll tell you its name (http://www.mimitchi.com/html/ffaq3.htm#Q7) if you tickle it three times, then pet its back once."

[mysticpearls.livejournal.com]

Pearl listened attentively to the lecture, trying to make as much sense of it as she could. It was full of words that she couldn't spell on her best day, of course.

None of her group members were here yet - well, she only knew Petulia as the nice witch she'd met while playing in the snow - so she approached the Furby cages and peered inside, fascinated at the creatures. Unlike most children her age, though, she did not make an attempt to reach through the bars and touch them. "Excuse me, but can we ask our group members for help with the notes?" she asked. "Or get a Dictaquill? I'm not very good at spelling."

This was an understatement, really; Grant might be hard-pressed to read any of her notes. The girl managed to misspell "AMI," which was a feat in itself.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

"You can do both," Chance tells her. "I don't have a Dictaquill --" damn it, she should have thought of that kind of thing, but at UAB she'd at least expected her students to bring their own writing utensils -- "but I can send a house elf to get one. And of course it's fine to ask your groupmates for help. That's part of what having a group is meant to facilitate."

Chance has always hated groupwork, herself.

[tomatohacker.livejournal.com]

Ed was being sneaky-sneaky. Or she thought she was anyway, but anyone could see her. She stood next to the cages to watch the Furbys.

"Hello, furry-balls! Who wants to be Ed's friend?"

Most of the Furby's ignored her, but a green one (http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/timeladyfred/kah-dah.jpg) that reminded her of Spike came up to her.

"Ed has a new friend!" she squealed in delight, reaching for the Furby.

[mysticpearls.livejournal.com]

"All right, then," Pearl decided. "I can do that." Maybe she could ask Phoenix, or maybe there was a teacher who could help her with her spelling. Not right now - this wasn't the right class - but she couldn't let her bad reading and spelling get in anyone's way. (Even if it had indirectly saved Maya from disaster a couple times.)

A sound startled her, and she turned to see a a gray-and-black Furby (http://york.gumtree.com/posting_images/75/15273875__1193653692__1__1-84452a414d990af93c1dbd4a4b3ee600.__big__.jpg) had danced over towards her and was chirping curiously at her. "Oh, hello," she said, timidly reaching out to stroke its fur. "Do you want to come with me?"

The answering "Doo-dah!" sounded affirmative, so she carefully opened the cage door and picked up the Furby. In an odd way it reminded her of Shoe (http://www.court-records.net/evidence/shuu.png), who was so much nicer than his owner. It was so cute!

Just as she selected her own Furby, Ed bounced up to the cages. "Hi! Are you Ed?" she asked. "I'm Pearl! I'm in your group!"

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. An Orange Furby. (http://www.jeffbots.com/furby.jpg)

The small boy's eyes grew wide. A pet that looked like HIM! (Within reason, of course. And for Nemo, parallels needn't be perfect. And can even also be partly hot pink.)

He walked over to the smiling lady by the cages and looked up at her.

"Can I have that one?" he asked, pointing.

(Naturally, Domino the house elf was following close behind, tugging the sled which held Nemo's tank and tribble cage. Orca the cat was asleep on a folded blue blanket just behind the tank.)

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

Chance hasn't met the small orange boy yet. By now she's acclimated enough to Hogwarts that as long as he's not Homsar, she won't bat an eye. (She does, however, have to repress the urge to ask him whether he knows anything about a magical liopleurodon; that's her research and not to be conducted on COMC class time.) "Sure, you can have that one." She carefully removes the orange furby and holds it (her? him? Furbies don't exactly have visible secondary sexual characteristics) out, unsure whether the small boy or the house elf is to take it.

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

Nemo grabs the Furby and pets it. It chirps "E-day koh-koh!" Charmed, Nemo pets it some more.

"Thank you!" he says to Chance, his eyes shining.

Then he skips to the nearest desk and sits down, torn between the joy of petting his new friend and the fascination of watching the others blink and chirp to each other from their cages.

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

Nemo has gotten over some of his "New pet! New pet!" excitement, enough to take notice of the others. He hears Laura introduce her Furby to Matilda, picks up his Furby and walks back over to Dr. Silvey.

"Does mine have a name?" he asks. "My name is Nemo."

[dinosaurman.livejournal.com]

Grant, who had been getting furbies out of the cages, picked up the question for Chance. "If you tickle it three times and then pet its back, it will tell you," he said. "Or if you talk to it for a while, it'll tell you, too."

[misswellread.livejournal.com]

It was with some trepidation that Matilda approached the cage, having to stand on her tippy-toes to be tall enough. She watched the fuzzy little things curiously. They were cute. She hadn't had a pet before. (The parrot that she had borrowed merely to frighten her family that one time didn't really count since it hadn't been hers.) She had gone to the library after signing up for the class, but hadn't found much on furbies. Granted, Matilda had been distracted by the very thick volumes on spells, and found them so interesting that furby investigation seemed... not so interesting.

Now the five-year old watched solemnly, and then asked out loud, "So, can I pick whichever I like?" There was some awe in her voice.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

Chance wonders if Emmie was like this -- inquisitive, charmingly curious -- at that age. Emmie's nine, or thereabouts, and Chance only just got to meet (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1521437.html?thread=77025309#t77025309) her the other day.

"That depends whether your groupmates have already chosen one," she tells the little girl. "What's your name?" She has the attendance sheet ready, with its lists of groupmates.

[misswellread.livejournal.com]

"Matilda Wormwood," said Matilda. "I am in group four." She had studied the list of groupmates as intensely as she studied everything readable that crossed her path, and thus knew it by heart.

[charlesofdensen.livejournal.com]

Ofdensen raised an eyebrow at the one (http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/timeladyfred/May-Lah-Kah.jpg) who came over and plunked himself down near the manager.

"Listen. If you want to be my pet, I will expect you to be able to assist me in some form or fashion. I do not want a useless pet, and I came here only because it's important to learn. Now, why should you be my pet?"

In response, the Furby responded "Me May-Lah Kah! (http://www.mimitchi.com/html/ffaq3.htm#Q9)"

Oh, this is off to a good start.

[twoswordpsycho.livejournal.com]

Drizzt gave Ofdensen a mischievous smile.

"How can you be useful to your pet?" he muttered, not in a mocking way but more of a light jab considering the circumstances.

He looked into the cage, observing the curious creatures inside. He had seen and befriended many creatures in the Surface lands and Underdark of Toril and every time he saw a new creature it completely awed him These furbies reminded him of some breeds of homunculi wizards had or the friendly mushroom people in the Underdark.

He gently put an ebony finger in the cage, one yellow and blue creature (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Furby.JPG) shuffling over to him. He carefully reached forward and tickled the creature on the stomach, which caused it to lean even closer. It was almost purring, causing Drizzt's smile to widen.

"Me Noo-Loo (http://www.mimitchi.com/html/ffaq3.htm)," it said.

Drizzt held out his hand and let Noo-Loo walk on his palm.

"Lets start this little party," Drizzt said to Ofdensen.

((reposted for html))

[charlesofdensen.livejournal.com]

Eyebrow raise. "Considering that I will be the one to feed and take care of the Furby, I think right now my usefulness is not in question."

[bone-not-rock.livejournal.com]

As a scientist, Billy was used to finding patterns, examining them, and drawing conclusions from his observations. When he walked into the COMC room and found Chance sitting at a table, taking down names and acting as the TA, he compared this information to patterns he had already observed, and jumped to a conclusion.

He leaned down over the table and whispered so that only Chance could hear him. "I think you're making a really big mistake." it was with the best intentions, but Billy's best intentions were usually hazardous to life and limb.

[chance-silvey.livejournal.com]

"Like devoting the past few months of my life to searching for the Loch Ness Monster wasn't a big mistake?" Chance whispers back. "At least this pays. A little."

[bone-not-rock.livejournal.com]

"No, but..." Dammit. He was going to make a complete idiot of himself if he kept talking to her up here. "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

He stood up and sighed, looking frustrated. "Can I get that (http://www.toyfortunes.com/images/hot-toys-2005/furby-charcoal-1.jpg) one," he said, pointing to the closest furby. At second look he saw that it was a really odd looking furby, but by now he just wanted to go find his group.

[forpony.livejournal.com]

((Will tag to my group in a second, just wanted to have Richard pick out a Furby and annoy Grant before he did.))

Richard was running a bit late; but in the aftermath of fulfilling a Sorting bribe (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1527071.html?thread=77286431#t77286431), he was more than a bit damp. After dislodging the house elf that was clinging to his robes like a leech (which was the only reason he hadn't let it drown. Really. Honest.) and getting it to dry him off magically, he slunk into the class a bit late.

He eyed the creatures in the cages thoughtfully. They were... fuzzy. Then again, as he had been reminded at his Sorting, cute and fuzzy did not always mean harmless. Most of them backed away from them except a black one (http://www.bunlimited.com/furby/images/furby-cow.jpg), which danced up to him and chirped almost insolently (as much as a Furby could get).

Another one waddled over to it and was summarily head-butted - which, from a Furby, looked like a balloon punching bag with a weighted bottom wobbling at high speed. It was effective, though, enough to knock the other one over. Richard chuckled. "I like the way that one thinks."

[dinosaurman.livejournal.com]

Grant hadn't been to Richard's sorting, and had no idea that this was the person willing to take his least favorite animals off his hands. He did notice Richard's reaction to the furby head-butting, though. "They do that sometimes," he said. "Normally they're very social animals, but sometimes they just need some space." The furby glowered at him. "Or they could just be mean."

[forpony.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Maybe a Furby flambe wasn't going to be necessary. Maybe. Richard stuck a pointed finger at the black Furby, which attempted to nip at it savagely (and failed since undead warlock did not taste all that good). "I'm assuming no one's claimed this one," Richard said, reaching in and snatching the Furby out. It babbled and glowered, but didn't struggle.

"Still trying to get rid of the carnivorous pegasii, or was I outbid?" he asked. Not like that was hard, given that he hadn't offered any payment yet, but he'd no idea there was a market for those around here. Go figure.