closed RP: Stephen Maturin and Remus Lupin: In vino veritas

[conriocht]

After finishing up his grindylow study, a sodden Lupin shuffled off to his private quarters for a hot shower and a change of clothes. He was starting to nurse a perverse fondness for Stephen's hideous coat - it was comfortable and smelled rather nice, and certainly was no more appalling than some of the clothing he'd worn in the 1970's. (That

Comments

[estebanmd]

Since River was off somewhere doing something (it had better not be with that emperor fellow!), Stephen was able to wash off the lake in a fairly timely manner, having deposited Nemo safely back at his dorm. He dashed off a preliminary sketch of the hatching grindylow. Hm. Something wrong in the horns. Notebook under his arm, he went to find Lupin. He resisted the temptation to bring along his treatise against the grog ration. Knocking at Lupin's office door, he reassured himself that after a long and cold morning devoted to the service of science, a pair of researchers could perfectly well consider themselves to have earned a good stiff drink.

[conriocht]

"Come in!" Lupin called. "I see you've recovered from our watery adventure. Do sit down... I've just been looking over my notes." He peered at his notebook, which was filled with extremely untidy handwriting and uncharacteristic useage of multiple punctuation marks. ("Grindylow hatching!!! Grindylow neonates engage in cannibalism?? Oh, the carnage!!") All the excitement of seeing the hatching and using the gillyweed must've gone to his head. Or perhaps it was just due to insufficient oxygen.

"You'll notice I've been making good use of your magnificent birthday present." He indicated the desk, which Stephen had given him to replace the one he had accidentally destroyed during their Transfiguration lessons. "And do help yourself to the rum... it's good stuff. A bit unusual, but good." He took an eye-watering swallow of his own rum, feeling the warmth penetrate into his still-chilly bones.

[estebanmd]

(( "Oh, the carnage!!" hee! ))

Stephen closed the door behind him and, sitting, poured himself a tot of pirate rum. He was not opposed to alcohol in general, really, only to the effects of overindulgence in it, particularly on hapless sailors. This rum was ... odd, especially strong. He decided it would be impolite to comment on his host's choice of liquor, and anyhow the stuff was not unpleasant. In fact, it had a certain je ne sais quoi.

"I am afraid my own notes may not be of much use," he admitted, giving Lupin the notebook to look over. Most of the notes had more to do with general observations of the lake's flora and fauna, not so much to do with the grindylow, and he was still unsatisfied with his preliminary sketch of the hatchlings.

[conriocht]

Lupin wasn't as interested in the flora and fauna as he was in the grindylow, but he had to admit that Stephen took meticulous notes. "That drawing's very nice. I didn't know you could draw." He examined the sketch. "See, they've got those very powerful hind legs to move about with, and their tails. The horns are used for courtship displays - I saw them fighting when I did my previous study. And they've got the big eyes to see better down there. They're very well-adapted to their environment."

He took another drink of rum and pushed The Origin of Species across the desk to Stephen. "This book explains how species become more suited to their habitats over time, and it explains why the grindylow lay so many eggs. It's so the babies can compete and pass their survival traits on to the next generation. I really recommend you read it. It's one of the most important scientific texts of all time. It changed everything. It was published in 1859, so I suppose it postdates you a bit... when were you born, anyway?"