History Fanfic / NatureStudies

One of the works of ''Creator/AAPessimal''.

* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Practically every animal species represented at the Animal Management Unit, as the arachnophobic Emmanuelle-Marie Lapoignard Les Deux-Epées discovers, much to her discomfort. Assassins hold these animals in high regard for other reasons.
* WhipItGood: Johanna's rescue of Sam Vimes which has long-reaching consequences.

* ShoutOut: Too many for this page. Listed '''[[ShoutOut/NatureStudies here]]'''.

* TranquiliserDart: The Assassin-zoologist who coordinates the recapture uses Assassin blowpipes and modified poison darts to tranquilize the larger and more dangerous animals.

* EscapedAnimalRampage: The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fanfic ''Nature Studies'' looks at various animal escapes in Ankh-Morpork. It starts in canon with the escalating problem with the Royal Mail and its mailboxes. (as described in Pratchett's novel ''Discworld/MakingMoney''). Snails were eating the mail. Frogs and toads were inserted to eat the snails. The frogs bred. Snakes were inserted to eat the frogs. Then mongeese needed to go into the boxes to deal with the snakes - one of whom turns out to be a Howondalandian Spitting Mamba and not a harmless Lancre Grass Snake. This difficulty is dealt with by experienced hands. And then CMOT Dibbler takes it on himself to bring the joys of exotic wildlife to the city in the form of a Safari Park. A Dibbler disaster ensues and Howondaland's native animals escape...

The Guild of Assassins in Ankh-Morpork breeds and studies animals for its own specialised uses. ''Interesting'' animals, such as venomous snakes, scorpions, poisonous spiders, boa constrictors, Bombardier Beetles, the Venomous Chaffinch of the Genuan Delta, the Impatient Vulture of the Central Howondalandian Plain (which likes to hurry things along a little) and so on. What it doesn't yet have are large carnivorous hunting animals, like [[PantheraAwesome lions, tigers, panthers]], et c. The Animal Management Unit's founder and director, Howondalandian Assassin Johanna Smith-Rhodes (who teaches Nature Studies and elementary biology at the Guild school) is keen to get some but has had her request turned down on cost and practicality reasons.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Johanna normally dresses for comfort and practicality and at the end of the day tends to smell of zoo animals. Her more stylish friends at the Guild of Assassins conspire to get her looking more ladylike and presentable for her young wizard. In subsequent continuation fics, Johanna seeks to upgrade Ponder's dress sense and get ''him'' looking a little less nerdy. He cleans up nicely too.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: at least with the Great Apes. Johanna is Howondalandian. she has studied chimpanzees and gorillas in the wild. It wasn't a great stretch for her to learn Orang-Utan. Nor for the librarian to communicate with his ape cousins.

* UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking: Johanna begins her presentation to assorted City dignitaries, the morning after the roundup, by modestly denying she is a politician or a diplomat. But half an hour later, she has given everyone present something of worth, suggested a fsace-saving solution that politicians and diplomats are happy with, and secured her City Zoo with full funding.

* SuckOutThePoison: Brian Smeghleigh-Prepousse, a careless student Assassin, gets overconfident with a cobra and learns the hard way about right and wrong methods of handling snakes. His teacher, who ''does'' know the right way, lambasts him for his over-confidence (the primal Assassin failing) and wishes a friendly Vampire was nearby to suck out the blood. [[note]]Vampires are welcome immigrants to places like Rimwards Howondaland and Fourecks, where their blood-sucking abilities make them first line of defence against snakebites. Indeed, vampires are immune to the poison, and consider venom gives blood a nice interesting new flavour.[[/note]] Instead, she opens the wound with a knife, gets Matron Igorina to apply an injected antidote, and packs him off to the Lady Sybil.

* PostKissCatatonia: Johanna kisses Ponder for the first time on the threshold of Vetinari's office. She has to kick him on the ankle to shock him out of an "ngggh" moment where his faculties temporarily go sky-diving in ecstacy.
* SheCleansupNicely: Johanna normally dresses for comfort and practicality and at the end of the day tends to smell of zoo animals. Her more stylish friends at the Guild of Assassins conspire to get her looking more ladylike and presentable for her young wizard. In subsequent continuation fics, Johanna seeks to upgrade Ponder's dress sense and get ''him'' looking a little less nerdy. He cleans up nicely too.

* EscapedAnimalRampage: The Literature/{{Discworld}} fanfic ''Nature Studies'' looks at various animal escapes in Ankh-Morpork. It starts in canon with the escalating problem with the Royal Mail and its mailboxes. (as described in Pratchett's novel MakingMoney). Snails were eating the mail. Frogs and toads were inserted to eat the snails. The frogs bred. Snakes were inserted to eat the frogs. Then mongeese needed to go into the boxes to deal with the snakes - one of whom turns out to be a Howondalandian Spitting Mamba and not a harmless Lancre Grass Snake. This difficulty is dealt with by experienced hands. And then CMOT Dibbler takes it on himself to bring the joys of exotic wildlife to the city in the form of a Safari Park. A Dibbler disaster ensues and Howondaland's native animals escape...