Ruggie is a self-described expert in animal linguistics. Thanks to the various part-time jobs he has worked he also says that he “can say hello and goodbye and haggle prices in like ten different languages.”
In a vignette he offers to help his roommate with an animal linguistics assignment in exchange for his roommate’s help with an ancient incantations translation.
Ruggie says that animal linguistics is his best subject in school he has never undergone any special training.
He explains, “Round my house there were all sorts of cats and dogs, and mice of course. So I just kinda picked it up via osmosis. The boss at my part time job had a dog I used to walk, and I used to take care of people’s cats too. That probably helped.”
Ruggie says he wants to become good at animal linguistics as it is a practical skill he can use at jobs such as pet sitting, giving an example of a time he was taking care of a cat who had grown bored of its food and would not eat.
After speaking with the cat Ruggie encourages its owner to mix up the cat’s food, earning him their gratitude.
Ruggie says that he excels in his animal linguistics courses because it “is a practical skill for the workforce, but knowledge of the past ain’t all that useful”, which is why he performs comparatively poorly in history of magic lessons.
Trein teaches both courses and, when he insists that Ruggie improve his performance in history of magic, Ruggie does so by utilizing his animal linguistics skills: he bribes Lucius into avoiding Trein long enough to make Trein worry, then returns Lucius to Trein himself, pretending to have found him.
Ruggie claims that he was studying history of magic in the library when he went to Lucius’ aid, and Trein rewards him with information about the upcoming history of magic exam.
In the same vignette Trein again goes to Ruggie for help, asking Ruggie to retrieve escaped rats that are needed for his animal linguistics classes. Ruggie is reluctant to assist without compensation for his efforts, and Trein offers to nominate him for a prestigious Animal Linguistics Speech Contest. Ruggie agrees, saying, “Just having competed in that could totally help me get a good job after I graduate.”
Ruggie struggles to retrieve the rats, at first, and resigns himself to having to chase each rat down individually. Leona recommends that he tries viewing the situation “from a pack leader’s perspective” instead of trying to do everything alone, giving Ruggie the idea to once again employ Lucius (and all of Lucius’ ‘kitty friends’) into rounding up the rats on his behalf in exchange for tuna.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 