SWIMMINGGEDDON.

[wwistful]

WHO: Murdoc Donoghue and YOU
TONE: Fun, WHIMSICAL, horrifying
RATING: PG-13 and onward
WHEN: September 7th
WHERE:  The Lake.
WHAT:  After this Murdoc realised the children (and staff) of Hogwarts were in dire need of swimming lessons.
STATUS: Ongoing

[GATHER AROUND CHILDREN it's a warm summer day and the lake is perfect for diving into your sudden but inevitable deaths. You should all be dressed in your swimming trunks (which you clearly have don't even lie) because Murdoc sure is. He's determined to conduct this in the best manner he can, though he wasn't quite expecting the turn out to be so large. People who can swim are welcome to become his assistants because he could probably use the help.]

Comments

[arachnoble]

[She smiles, a small, barely noticeable quirk of her lips.] You have a point there.

[Scoff! Who do you think she is?] Of course.

[wwistful]

[He tugs again, urging her deeper into the water impatiently. Somehow, he manages to turn into the needy little brat he was twenty years ago whenever he's around her.]

Then hurry up.

[arachnoble]

[She pulls her wand from where she tucked it into the band of her swim bottoms (she is always prepared), and with a quick flick she's cast the spell.]

What do you want to show me?

[wwistful]

You'll see.

[Now he's just walking faster, dragging her behind him hastily until they're pretty much submerged in the water. Despite it being a little awkward, he's still holding her hand as he tries to start swimming forward.]

[arachnoble]

That's not very reassuring.

[Sybille frees her hand from him, sighing at him. Now that they're under water, she motions with her arms. She can't speak, but she can at least sign for him to show her whatever it is he's excited about.]

[wwistful]

[Nope, not yet. He turns to face her taking both of her hands in his and letting them both drift a little deeper. He's trying not to be obvious about it, but he's clearly excited by the look on his face. He's keeping eye contact with Sybille the entire time, waiting for the right moment.]

[arachnoble]

[She's getting more and more curious as time passes. Treading water is second nature by now, and she's used the breathing spell more times than she could bother to count, so any fear or instinctual panic is easy to ignore. It leaves her to wonder what Murdoc is up to, and what he's desperate to show her.

She squeezes his hands, pulling him closer to her.]

[wwistful]

[When she pulls him closer he hesitates a little, leaning in as close as he can manage while keeping eye contact. He's trying to keep his eyes on hers anyway, but he wants to look at her lips. He wants to kiss her lips, actually. But he knows it could never be just one little underwater kiss. It would be the start of a huge mess.

He beams at her and lets her hands go, propelling himself backward and holding a hand up as if telling her to stay where she is. Then, with nothing more than a slight wiggle, he changes forms.]

[arachnoble]

[She's expecting a kiss. After all, that's what's supposed to happen, isn't it? And while she does want to just...pull him in and never let him go and kiss him until the spell wears off, it shouldn't happen. It would make things worse than they already are.

So she let's him go, and she stays and watches him.




She was not expecting him to turn into a shark.


An actual, real shark.


Holy shit.

When did he become an animagus?]

[wwistful]

[And once he's changed, he makes a funny little wiggling motion. As if he's showing off, really.

He swims back toward her and circles around her before nudging his head under one of her hands.]

[arachnoble]

[She laughs, because a wiggling shark is all sorts of amusements. Not to mention it's excited. Murdoc had mentioned, before, that he wanted to be an animagus. And now he was.

She strokes him gently, tracing the scars on his head.]

[wwistful]

[He's pretty damn proud of himself now, but he kind of wishes he could say something instead of just nudging at her side. He's pretty sure she gets what he's trying to say though.

Hey. Sybille. Hey. I'm a shark. Look. Look. I'm a shark. Isn't this cool.

He's going to nuzzle against the hand because damn that feels good. Then he's going to headbutt her because he had other plans and she's distracting him.]

[arachnoble]

[No. They are going to stay there and she will pet him. She swats at him when he headbutts her, but rubs the spot she hit right afterwards.

Is this how you're supposed to treat an animagus? We just don't know.]

[wwistful]

[God damn, woman. You have no idea how good that feels. He stays still for a moment, appreciating the petting but he has plans and he's going to go through with them.

He circles her again, but this time he's going to be entirely uncreepy and pop up between her legs so she's sitting on his back.]

[arachnoble]

[She tries.


And she wasn't really expecting that, so it takes a long moment for her to get comfortable. She leans down, holding onto him and hoping she doesn't go sliding off once he starts to move.]

[wwistful]

[And he waits a while for her to adjust, but it's kind of hard to judge. It's not like he can turn around and look at her.

He wiggles again, deciding she must be ready before shooting off to swim into the lake. A small part of him kind of wishes he could be human so he could truly appreciate the fact that a very attractive woman is on his back.]

[arachnoble]

[If she knew what he was thinking, she'd punch him in the snout. But she's blissfully unaware, and is just going to enjoy the ride. It's...absurdly nice.]

[wwistful]

[He starts off pretty slow so she can enjoy the scenery, but eventually he begins to pick up the pace. He sweeps lower down into the lake, gaining more speed in the motion.

He's enjoying this so much, finally being able to impress her like he'd never been capable of before. It's funny, he thinks, he seems so much more impressive when he shuts his mouth.]

[arachnoble]

[She's doing pretty well at holding on, and she runs a hand down his head. Essentially, she's stroking him.

She never would have expected this from Murdoc. She can remember being younger, and all the excitement she got from sneaking out or playing around. It's odd, she thinks, now that she's thinking of the last time she was in the lake with Murdoc, now that she's remembering, that all of her happiest memories are with him.]

[wwistful]

[He really doesn't think she has any idea how good this feels, he slows to a lazy pace, skimming about the strange underwaterworld.

In a similar sense, Murdoc has begun to realise that he's only himself around Sybille. Even when he's a shark. He feels so free right now, as if social constructs and manners are of no importance anymore. Nothing so trivial matters in their little word.]

[arachnoble]

[She keeps stroking him absentmindedly, taking in her surroundings. She had gone into the lake before, but not after she had learned the breathing spell. Nowhere else she's been could compare to the lake, and she knew that was more than nostalgia talking.

She wants to do this again. And again, and again. It feels as if all the years separating were merely months, like coming back after summer holidays and the time apart was just a mere inconvenience and nothing that had driven them apart.]

[wwistful]

[Murdoc begins to trail back toward the surface, ghosting toward the top of the lake and just barely allowing Sybille to break the surface. He nudges her upward, indicating that he's about to change back.
Afterall, the charm can only last so long, even if she's particularly skilled.

Part of him never wants it to end, but the longer he lingers, the less likely it is that he'll ever want to go back.]

[arachnoble]

[She slips off of him when he nudges her, and it's really right on time. She can feel the charm getting weaker, and she takes one more moment to rubs his snout before swimming towards the surface.

She hopes he comes after her, so she stays in the lake, alternating between treading water and swimming in lazy circles.]

[wwistful]

[He swims forward, changing forms in the motion before rising to the surface of the lake. He takes a gulp of air, despite not being short of it, just to readjust to his lack of gills.

He has nothing clever to say, so he's just going to smile like a goof at her.]

[arachnoble]

[She smiles back at him, not bothering to try to hide just how...happy she feels.]

Well that wasn't quite how I expected this lesson to go.