chapter 16

Nan. . .hsi. . ung. . .chely. . id." He said, said spelling it slowly. Rias took out her phone to see if there was a pronunciation, only for her phone to be snatched.

"No phones in class. Since this is your first demerit this week, you only get a warning." George said, his tone sounding like a mildly stern professor. He put her phone in his back pocket, being polite enough to not go and look at any private information on it. Rias sighs. "I want to hear you both try and pronounce it. If you can't do it, that's ok since your professor can't either." He asked politely, not asking them to do much. Then they decided to try pronouncing it themselves. He listens. Raynare bit her tongue,

"OW!" She squeaked. She looks at her tongue using a mirror she brought. She groans.

"Any blood?" George asked, concerned for his student. Raynare looked closely and didn't see any.

"Not that I see." "Hold on, I'll be right back. Good thing I brought my med-kit." He left and came back with a cylinder-shaped ice-pack.

"Here just suck on this for a bit. If that doesn't work, I can always bring the grape-flavored ice pops." He said, tone switching to a caring one. She took the ice-pack,

"Thanks." She puts it in her mouth and sucked on it. Thankfully, she was able to hold it in her mouth with one hand and take notes with the other.

"Alright next turtle is Cedrobaena, the Cedar Point Turtle. Cedar Point is a location in many parts of the North American continent, with at least two in the following states: Indiana, North Carolina, and New York. Regardless, this turtle is adapted for crushing the shells of mussels." George explained. They wrote their notes down, Raynare making sure to not drop the ice pack onto her notes.

George coughed a bit, "Sorry my throat is dry; been talking a lot." He pulled out an ice cold water bottle and sipped from it. Once he was done and cleared his throat, he was good to go. "Ok you ladies can take a 15 minute break. There's a cooler with the grape-flavored ice pops in the locker room." He said, giving them a break. They nod and got up and walked around for a few minutes, trying to stretch their legs and wings. They also found the locker room with cooler in it. They drank a few cups of water and also ate a few grape ice pops. Rias sighed,

"You know this is actually rather nice: learning about extinct animals in a way that is both educational and fun.

"I wouldn't know really." Raynare replied, "I never went to school. Though it is odd that we aren't at each other's throats. Probably because George would do something that could scare us." She added. Rias nods,

"True." They also think about George for a bit. Rias sees George as a very smart young man with a very caring personality and despite having Aspeger's, he doesn't really show it, though she also sees how broken he really is inside and he uses his vast knowledge to help mask the pain.

Raynare sees him as someone with a short temper as she witnessed first hand, though her experience here has shown he is intelligent, funny, and caring. 15 minutes later, they head back, ready to continue.

George was reading from one of his various books when he heard Raynare's boots clack against the floor. "Ah you're back, excellent. You ladies are welcome for the break," He said. They smiled,

"Thank you, George." Rias said, sweetly. "We needed that."

"Yes thank you." Raynare added.

"The next few are small in number; in fact there's only one Choristoderan." He pulled out the box and showed them what it looked like: it looked like a crocodile with the thin snout and body armor, but the limbs weren't as developed and back of the head a different shape.

"Why are they small in number?" Rias asked.

"Because there's only one of this, two crocodilains, and one pterosaur." He said simply. "Now since there's only one here, I'll let you take it, Rias." He hands it to her. She took it with pride. She gave him a light peck on the cheek before she took off. George looks at her, "That's not gonna get you extra points!" She pouts. 'Worth a try.' She placed it in the right place and came back. George looks. He smiled,

"Well since this is the only one and you did place it in the right spot, your score shoots up to 28. Not as high as Raynare but you are catching up." He gave her a thumbs up. She clapped,

"Yes!" Raynare sighed before both took their seats.

"This animal is called Champsosarus, the name is interesting since the first half Champs is the Egyptian word for Crocodile, according to an Ancient Greek source." George explained the name origin. They made sure to write this down.

"But it's not a crocodile despite looking like one?" Raynare wondered.

"Nope. It is part of an extinct group of reptiles called Choristodera which are all semi-aquatic reptiles that are only convergently related to crocodiles. Convergently means that you have two animals that are found on different continents and/or times yet they look very much the same to each other. For example, there's the evolution of saber-toothed animals. There are the Permian Gorgonopsids which are mammal-like reptiles that have saber teeth but poor way of processing meat. Then there's the ice age predator Smilodon, which also has saber teeth but does have teeth to help it process meat better, but still is at risk of breaking a tooth." George explained convergent evolution. They kept writing the information down.

"Champsosaurus lived like a Gharial, a crocodile that has a very thin snout that eats fish. However, Champsosaurus has a much stronger bite due to powerful jaw muscles behind the , they also have a crippling specialization which comes to gender. Females are able to haul themselves out of water to lay eggs, but males have weak limbs and hips, preventing them from leaving the water." George explained it's anatomy. They smirked at the female part.