RP: Shake your mermaids blues
Characters: Luna Lovegood (um, any Weasleys likely to be nearby can visit too).
Location: Ottery St Catchpole
Date: 6th February 2000
Status: Public
Summary: Luna's first step in studying Merpeople
Completion: Complete
She had informed Wilhelmina of the angle she wanted to take in her studies and, just like that, the subject matter of her lessons was changed. She was going to take this as a hint that maybe she’d made a good choice and decided that maybe thanking Charlie would also be a good idea. Studying Merpeople had been his suggestion, she just ran with it the moment it snagged her interest. Which it had. Completely.
There were a few ‘however’s that came with this new direction, though. Firstly, she had to be absolutely certain she didn’t mind spending longer periods of time underwater than could ever be considered normal - or even sane - for a land mammal. Secondly, she needed to know if she could maybe cope with the idea of having gills and webbed digits, since Madam Grubbly-Plank didn’t seem to trust Bubble-Head Charms enough. Thirdly, she had to be a strong swimmer. And all of this was before Wilhelmina would even consider helping her find someone to teach her Mermish.
To answer the conditions in the order they seemed to present themselves in her mind, she had always been a strong swimmer and generally preferred spending time in the stream at the bottom of her father’s garden than in the actual garden itself. She knew she wouldn’t mind spending such a long time underwater as long as she could breathe. And the gills, well, she would just have to get used to that part, she supposed. With that, Madam Grubbly-Plank had handed her a rather large jar of Gillyweed plus instructions of about how much she’d need for any given amount of time, given her a set of Muggle diving goggles (‘They’re for your eyes… No, that part goes over your nose… Yes, that’s right. Very Scuba-chic!’ - she didn’t ask what a Scoober was.) and sent her off to acclimatise.
Dressed in a swimming costume and a rather strong warming charm, and armed with her jar of Gillyweed, Luna sat on a rock at the edge of the small lake that was the ending point of the stream in the garden with the goggles worn on her forehead for the time-being. After pulling out enough enough Gillyweed to last her for an hour or so, she pulled the goggles down over her eyes, tucked her wand into the strap that held them on and swallowed the rather bizarre plant before she could think twice about it.
Having been advised to take a deep breath the moment she’d eaten the Gillyweed, she sucked in as much air as possible, but that didn’t really prepare her for the feeling that came with her respiratory system rearranging itself to accommodate the things growing on her neck, and she fell off the rock and into the water.
A few moments of panic later, Luna opened her eyes, greeted by startled plimpies that were coming to investigate the large intruder.
“That hurt,” she informed them, her words coming out in a long string of bubbles that she watched disappear at they found the surface. She was referring to the fall rather than the growing of gills and webs - that she was now examining with fascination - but the combination hadn’t been particularly pleasant.
She hoped there weren’t any grindylows down here. She didn’t want to have to hurt any if they decided she might be edible.
“I’m not a mermaid,” Luna tried to reassure plimpies that had started to retreat again, “I won’t tie your legs together, I promise.”
Location: Ottery St Catchpole
Date: 6th February 2000
Status: Public
Summary: Luna's first step in studying Merpeople
Completion: Complete
She had informed Wilhelmina of the angle she wanted to take in her studies and, just like that, the subject matter of her lessons was changed. She was going to take this as a hint that maybe she’d made a good choice and decided that maybe thanking Charlie would also be a good idea. Studying Merpeople had been his suggestion, she just ran with it the moment it snagged her interest. Which it had. Completely.
There were a few ‘however’s that came with this new direction, though. Firstly, she had to be absolutely certain she didn’t mind spending longer periods of time underwater than could ever be considered normal - or even sane - for a land mammal. Secondly, she needed to know if she could maybe cope with the idea of having gills and webbed digits, since Madam Grubbly-Plank didn’t seem to trust Bubble-Head Charms enough. Thirdly, she had to be a strong swimmer. And all of this was before Wilhelmina would even consider helping her find someone to teach her Mermish.
To answer the conditions in the order they seemed to present themselves in her mind, she had always been a strong swimmer and generally preferred spending time in the stream at the bottom of her father’s garden than in the actual garden itself. She knew she wouldn’t mind spending such a long time underwater as long as she could breathe. And the gills, well, she would just have to get used to that part, she supposed. With that, Madam Grubbly-Plank had handed her a rather large jar of Gillyweed plus instructions of about how much she’d need for any given amount of time, given her a set of Muggle diving goggles (‘They’re for your eyes… No, that part goes over your nose… Yes, that’s right. Very Scuba-chic!’ - she didn’t ask what a Scoober was.) and sent her off to acclimatise.
Dressed in a swimming costume and a rather strong warming charm, and armed with her jar of Gillyweed, Luna sat on a rock at the edge of the small lake that was the ending point of the stream in the garden with the goggles worn on her forehead for the time-being. After pulling out enough enough Gillyweed to last her for an hour or so, she pulled the goggles down over her eyes, tucked her wand into the strap that held them on and swallowed the rather bizarre plant before she could think twice about it.
Having been advised to take a deep breath the moment she’d eaten the Gillyweed, she sucked in as much air as possible, but that didn’t really prepare her for the feeling that came with her respiratory system rearranging itself to accommodate the things growing on her neck, and she fell off the rock and into the water.
A few moments of panic later, Luna opened her eyes, greeted by startled plimpies that were coming to investigate the large intruder.
“That hurt,” she informed them, her words coming out in a long string of bubbles that she watched disappear at they found the surface. She was referring to the fall rather than the growing of gills and webs - that she was now examining with fascination - but the combination hadn’t been particularly pleasant.
She hoped there weren’t any grindylows down here. She didn’t want to have to hurt any if they decided she might be edible.
“I’m not a mermaid,” Luna tried to reassure plimpies that had started to retreat again, “I won’t tie your legs together, I promise.”