1994-11-02: Of New Friendships and Plimplies

Participants:

Luna_icon.gif Sorrel_icon.gif

Scene Title Of New Friendships and Plimplies
Synopsis Sorrel and Luna meet in the Ravenclaw common room. Conversation ensues.
Location The Ravenclaw Common Room
Date Nov 02, 1994
Watch For The rules of the Question Game!
Logger Loony Lovegood

Luna was in the common room, something entirely uncommon for the girl, who usually spent her free time wandering about the grounds, looking, for… well… whatever the loopy girl tended to look for. Whenever she was spotted in the common room, a copy of the Quibbler usually wasn't too far away. However, today, Luna was seated in one of the chairs about the fireplace, and there was no Quibbler in sight. She looked deep in thought, really, holding up the broken sneakscope on her necklace in front of her eyes, and staring at it.

Sorrel comes slipping down the steps from the dorms, watching Luna curiously once she catches sight of the decidedly unusual girl. There isn't much to announce her arrival other than a very quiet foot fall on each step, as she tries to figure out what Luna is up to before she makes her presence known. But as she gets closer, the questions just can't be kept in check. "What's that?" she pipes up by way of greeting, finally closing the distance between herself and the fireplace.

Luna didn't mind the question, nor the way it was asked. The voice of the other girl does cause Luna to make a thoughtful little noise, the girl canting her head to the side. "It's a part of my nargle-repelling necklace. Daddy thought adding the broken sneakoscope would help keep the nargles away, more than just butterbeer corks." Luna says, blinking twice, as if only then realizing that that question came from someone else. Turning her head towards Sorrel, a bright smile touches her lips. "Oh, I didn't hear you come in. Hello, Sorrel."

"Nargles? What're those? Are you worried about them?" Sorrel repeats, her eyebrows going up as she ventures yet nearer to peer rather forwardly at this necklace of Luna's. "Does it work?" Well, she doesn't see any Nargles around, does she. "What's the broken sneakoscope supposed to do? Or the butterbeer corks?" Question, question, question. And then she realizes her manners and offers a little grin of greeting. "Hello Luna."

"Oh, just a rather aggravating little pest. I'm beginning to think the wrackspurts and they work more closely together than people realize." Luna says, holding up the necklace for Sorrel's investigation. She does lower her tone of voice, however, leaning in a bit towards Sorrel, "They always steal my shoes, the nargles, hiding them in all sorts of strange places." she says, straightening up again. "Are you settling into Hogwarts well?" she asks, lowering her voice again as she leans in towards Sorrel, lifting both brows this time. "My first year was wretched, and I'd rather not see anyone else go through that."

"They … steal your shoes? What do they want with shoes for? Do they steal anyone else's?" Sorrel asks in her standard rat-a-tat fashion, leaning now on the arm of the chair to give the necklace a good look before she straightens back up. She might not always respect boundaries, but at least she tends to understand personal space. "Oh yeah, it's been all right. My father would like me to make more friends, but I don't see how." She isn't too troubled by it though, just shrugging her shoulders. And then, of course: "What happened in your first year?"

So many questions. Luna doesn't seem particularly bothered with them all, but she doesn't speed up to answer them all either, just picking out one or two from the crowd of them. "Oh, yes. I'd imagine they steal lots of things from everybody." she pauses a moment, brightening up a bit as Sorrel asks why, "Well, that is why I think they are in league with the wrackspurts." Another pause, and she doesn't explain further, continuing on in her serene, daydreamy voice, "Oh, daddy wanted me to make friends too - but I didn't quite find any." she says, turning her vague smile back upon Sorrel.

And on the flip-side, Sorrel doesn't seem to mind that her signal-to-noise ratio is less than perfect. She's used to having questions ignored, and some answers are better than no answers. "Wracksputs like shoes?" She tries to follow the logic of this, but ends up looking puzzled. "Aren't those the things that make your brain go fuzzy?" As Luna goes on though, Sorrel offers a smile, at least reassured to find someone else who can't find any friends. "Their loss, right? Anyway, I've got better things to do." Like stand here and ask questions of Loony Lovegood.

"Oh, no. The wrackspurts just like slipping into your ears, and making your… you remembered!" Luna says, her tone only lifting the slightest bit, but her expression suggests sheer delight. But only for a moment. That delight dims some, back towards her vague smile. "Oh, yes. Although I think everyone should have friends - they are delightful. What is it you have better to do?" she asks, tilting her head just so to one side.

Sorrel gives a grin, but seems surprised at Luna's delight. "Of course I remembered. You told me about them. And you showed me that weird dance." What she lacks in tact, at least she makes up for in a good memory? She gives a little shrug as Luna turns the question back on her. "I've got to learn everything about everything so I can tell father over break. He likes for me to know things." She drifts back to the neighbouring chair, perching on the arm of it instead of sitting in it properly.

"Oh, yes!" Luna begins, "And did you try that dance when your brain got a bit fuzzy? Did it work?" she asks, turning a bit in her seat to orient herself more towards Sorrel. Letting her necklace fall back down against herself, she then asks, "Did you know about the owlery? They adore carrying letters from here to other places." she says. The twice-a-week letters to her father were wearing on Luna's owl, however, not that he ever said anything about it. "Or is your dad a muggle?"

"I … might have tried it," Sorrel mutters, still feeling a bit foolish about that evening when she found herself alone in the dorm and gave it a shot. "I dunno if it did anything though." She's still not entirely convinced. "No, my father's a wizard, and we live only just over in Hogsmeade, only you can't play the Question Game properly by owl. It takes too long." What exactly this game is, she speaks as if everyone should know about it. It's possible she hasn't actually realized her father just made it up.

Luna cants her head at the odd way Sorrel admits that she tried it, her smile growing a touch bigger regardless. "If you haven't done it at all, one may think that there's a wrackspurt stuck in there very tightly. You may have to do it a few times to shake it out. I always do that dance whenever I feel the least bit fuzzy-headed, and it works wonders for me now." she says, although pauses. "Whatever is the question game?"

"Er, yeah, I'll … keep that in mind," Sorrel promises, though she's not sure she'd feel any less silly trying that dancing more than once. Then again, what lengths will she go to for research? "Oh, you don't know it? We used to play it every night at dinner," the first year explains, sitting up a little straighter (or as straight as she can, while perched on the arm of a chair). "I'm meant to learn something new every day, and then he'll ask me all sorts of questions about it. It doesn't matter what the fact is. Once I told him that my nanny's middle name was Georgina, and then he started asking me if she was named after anyone, and what language Georgina comes from, and what it means. That sort of thing. It's a bit tricky to think of everything in advance, but that's the challenge of it."

Luna brings her hand up to her mouth, to stifle a giggle after Sorrel speaks. Far from being mocking, the giggle seemed to be that of happiness, the girl dropping her hand back to her lap as she turns her knees to orient herself even further towards Sorrel's chair. "What a wonderful game! We should play it, so that you will have practice for when you get back home to your father." she says, looking up towards Sorrel's face. Luna usually had an odd way of looking at something, as if she were looking at something past whatever she was looking at. But at least her face was pointed towards Sorrel!

Sorrel finds the laugh rather contagious, joining in with a quiet chuckle of her own. She watches curiously as Luna re-situates herself, and then her eyebrows go up at the suggestion. "Really? You'd like to play it? Well, I suppose I am getting a bit rusty," she admits. "Professors only ever seem to ask you one or two questions in class." Not quite the comprehensive challenge she's used to. She does glance quickly over her shoulder, not quite sure what it is that Luna is looking at, but seeing nothing there, she turns back to the older girl instead.

"Yes." Luna begins, "I rather think I would like to - it sounds very fun." she says. Bringing up a hand to brush her hair back over her shoulder, she then asks, "Do you have the time tonight? I suppose it's getting terribly close to classtime. We could play another night, for certain!" she says, her smile growing wider at that.

"Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't do to be late," Sorrel agrees a little reluctantly, but then brightens again. "But then that means we can play it properly, with a new fact. It feels a bit like cheating to use something I've already learned. You can learn one too if you'd like, and we can take turns," she offers graciously. "I've never been on the other side of it before." Though somehow, she might just fall right into asking someone endless questions about something trivial.

"That sounds very fun." Luna says, a bit more subdued sounding this time. Although when it is mentioned that she should learn one too, she asks, "I should just learn everything I can about something?" Folding her hands in her lap, she sits up upon her chair, looking up towards the face of the younger girl.

"Yeah, that's right," Sorrel confirms with a nod, seeming quite pleased to have someone else playing along. "It can be about anything you like. I can ask you anything about it that I can think of. And if you don't know it, then you have to look it up. But the trick is to not have to look anything up. Don't worry though, it can take a little while to really get the hang of it, so I'll go easy."

Luna likewise seemed pleased to have another activity in her day. "And then maybe we could go try to catch a Grimious Underscurrier afterward sometime. Or fish up gulping plimplies from the pond." Luna says, her vague smile only growing as she looks towards Sorrel.

Sorrel scrunches up her nose a little as she considers this suggestions, but then she nods. "Yeah, all right. Only you'll have to show me what one looks like first, because I don't think I've ever heard of them." Still, it's something else to learn about, right? "Still, it, I don't know, it could be fun."

"Well." Luna says, "No one has ever found a Grimious Underscurrier before, so I can't quite tell you what ~those~ look like." Luna says, before continuing on, lifting her brows a bit, "But! Gulping Plimplies look a lot like regular Plimplies, but you can tell the difference easily enough."

"Oh. I … guess it'd be quite a challenge to catch one then," Sorrel decides with a grin, starting to get the hang of Luna, at least a little. Though she still isn't sure quite how serious to take the older girl, and there are the occasional peering looks when she thinks it might be teasing. "Let me guess: they gulp?" It would make sense with their name, anyway.

"Yes. But all Plimplies gulp when out of water - they have to breathe underwater, you know." Luna says, settling back into her chair. "It's the ones that always gulp ~under~ the water that are Gulping Plimplies. Daddy says they are very different." she says, "So I'd like to find one sometime."

"Maybe they're gulping underwater because they need to breathe air," Sorrel suggests, not altogether seriously. "What's so different about them? Do they have some magical properties that are useful?" That certainly seems to be why most people find various creatures remarkable around here anyway.

"Well, daddy and I haven't found one yet. Daddy thinks, though, that they are repelled by gurdyroots. I think that they are like a pest, but maybe for other plimplies and merpeople. Perhaps they are gulping so much because they are trying to sing, and the sound hurts the ears of the other things under the water…" Luna says, sounding as though she was falling into thought at that. "Oh… oh!" she says, turning back towards Sorrel, "I suppose you are learning a lot of things for your question game, here at Hogwarts." she says, grinning. "You remember very well - I bet your father will have trouble stumping you next year."

"Yeah, maybe," Sorrel agrees, not quite sure she's convinced about the idea of these singing sea creatures. But then, there's probably stranger things to be found here at Hogwarts, so it does lower one's natural cynicism, and the first year didn't have that much to begin with. "I guess if you find one, then you'll know for sure, right?" She looks into the fire for a moment, and then looks back at Luna with a pleased grin. "Thanks. I sure hope so. I'd love to see the look on his face when he can't come up with anything I don't know," she admits with a little laugh.

See, all the wonderful things here at Hogswarts only tended to bolster Luna's imagination. Returning that little grin Sorrel gives her with a bright one of her own, and a fervent nod of her head towards the question, her eyes turn to look into the fire herself, shortly afterwards. Bringing a hand up to the side of her neck, she scratches there a bit, the smile fading into the vague one she generally wears.

And as Luna returns to, well, whatever it is Luna does, Sorrel just sits there for a moment. But she isn't so good with just sitting quietly, so after the space of a few minutes, she slips down off the arm of the chair. "I ought to go get my things ready for class," she announces, in case the older girl was wondering. With that, she starts heading off towards the dorms again.

"Oh?" comes the questioning sound from Luna, the smile brightening as she looks towards Sorrel again. Bringing up her hand, she wiggles her fingers in a little wave of farewell to the other girl, speaking up to say, "It was lovely to talk to you again, Sorrel. Bye now!" she calls after her.


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