[ WP ] Humans have - by a very large margin - the longest lifespans of all intelligent life in the universe . You are a human student at a multi- species college , and you / your friends are just realizing that compared to them , you are an ancient being .

`` How long!?'' 
 
 I shifted uncomfortably under the combined gaze of my study group friends. The Drû who posed the question, either Klrdt or Bill ( I could never tell the two apart ) quirked one eye-stalk in a way that my new student orientation class told me was disbelief. 
 
 `` Errm, three years, I think? I do n't really know.'' 
 
 My affirmation sent them all into paroxysms of... something. Maybe laughter? The Drû waggled their eye-stalks jovially at least.'Mike' clacked his mandibles in what I hoped was n't a menacing way. That Sh'gopy flashed a kaleidoscope of colors, while Froln remained as impassive as ever. 
 
 `` Well,'' I say defensively, `` what's it like right after *you're* born or hatched or whatever?'' 
 
 `` We usually have breakfast and then a nap.'' Mike somehow managed to clatter out. `` It *is* tiring work, chewing out of your own cocoon. But luckily, breakfast is right there. Do you not eat your birthing sack?'' 
 
 `` Well, humans give live birth so...'' I trailed off, but suddenly realized that I needed to be a little more explicit. After all, Sh'goppites *do* devour their mothers. `` No, we ca n't eat solid foods for about a year.'' 
 
 The Sh'gopy's translation device chirped in high pitch English, `` how long does your larval stage last, then?'' 
 
 I shrugged, avoiding it's gaze. Something about those giant multifaceted eyes just freaked me the hell out. 
 
 `` It's, err, not really a larval stage, per se,'' I began. `` We just develop really really slowly. Heck, a human child ca n't even lift it's own head for the first six months or so.'' 
 
 `` Ridiculous, `` said Froln. The massive, tentacular hair ball wiggled a little further away. `` Mike set out for this University the moment he awoke from his nap. Drû reach sexual maturity in hours. Sh'gopittes join their herds the moment they can stand. I myself still have remnants of my Birthgiver upon my coat.'' 
 
 I gaped at them all. I knew that the longest lived, the Drû, has a max life span of about eight years, but I never considered what that ment for their development. 
 
 `` We do n't reach sexual maturity for a decade and a half'' I mutter, more to myself than to my study mates. `` And we are n't considered adults until we're eighteen.'' 
 
'Mike' clacked his mandibles at that. `` And all this time we thought your kind had, I do n't know,'the wisdom of the ancients.''' 
 
 `` So that's it then... All that wasted time.'''Bill' pulled his eye-stalks closer to his head, the equivalent of a human shaking his head. `` I ca n't believe it took you three years to learn to shit in a bucket.'' 
 
 
 Edit: spelling
