Open Squid Watch

[Sigurd Rumblehorn]

Sigurd had first heard about the giant squid when he was a child. His father had told him a lot about Hogwarts, and it was now up to Sigurd to figure out how much of it had been true and how much was just dad being dad. Sigurd had always enjoyed his fathers stories, but more than that, Sigurd enjoyed separating fact from fiction, and appreciating them both for what they are.

The squid, however, Sigurd really hoped was truth, and the first opportunity he got, he made his way down to the lakefront with his golem on his shoulder. He found a spot that wasn't too close to the edge, but close enough that he didn't have to lean over too far to get a good look. And there, the boy sat, watched, waited, and wondered...

 

[Ryan Fisk]

The school grounds were massive and Ryan was already realizing it was going to take him more time to memorize and explore it all. It was exciting though, and Ryan was already eagerly picking out landmarks to help him map things out when he spotted one of his roommates lurking by the big lake. Sigurd seemed to just be staring into the lake as Ryan approached, and Ryan stood there for a few moments with him, staring quietly into the water curiously. "What are we looking for?" Ryan finally asked after a few uneventful minutes.

 

[Sigurd Rumblehorn]

Sigurd jumped when he heard a voice, which sounded familiar to Sigurd. He looked up and was pleased to see it was his dorm mate, Ryan. Sigurd's experiences so far had lead him to believe that his dorm-mates were all very interesting individuals, and he was very curious to see how things would play out in the Ravenclaw tower over the next seven years, very curious indeed.

"Oh, hey Ryan. Do you know if there's really a squid in this lake?"

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan's eyes widened at Sigurd's question and he immediately stepped closer to the lake, peering in. "Do you think it's deep enough for a squid?" He asked excitedly, brain already racing to process the potential. "Maybe there's some deep sea caverns or something that it lurks in," Ryan added, casting around and grabbing a decent length stick to check the depth with. "If there a squid we could probably find some books or something mentioning it, right? Or maybe a teacher knows?" Ryan continued, shuffling his shoes and socks off, using the stick as a counter balance. "We gotta find out." He said, beginning to roll up the cuffs of his pants.

 

[Sigurd Rumblehorn]

Sigurd wriggled excitedly, happy about Ryan's enthusiasm about the potential squid. Sigurd was always glad to share in discovering something new, and he was glad Ryan had jumped right in with questions and theories.

"I'm sure if there was something down there, people here would definitely know about it by now but I really wanted to just come straight down here and see for myself. A personal, eye-witness encounter- reliable data, and exciting."

However, Sigurd realised he'd missed a key detail from his dad's stories.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. My dad told me it's a giant squid."

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan nodded when Sigurd mentioned wanting first hand data, that was something he could behind. "Just cause people know about it doesn't mean they know everything about it," Ryan said excitedly, reaching out with his stick to poke the shallow water, testing the depth. "There's gotta be water breathing spells right? We should stage an expedition," He said, accidentally flicking them both with water as he motioned with his water-testing stick.

Taking a few steps into the shallows, Ryan paused when Sigurd mentioned the last detail, slowly turning to look at him over his shoulder. "Now we definitely have to find it. If something that big exists we've gotta be able to find some proof of it." He said, eyes shining at the thought of their potential investigation.

 

[Sigurd Rumblehorn]

Sigurd chuckled at how quickly Ryan had made his way into the water. "Well, I guess this is how we're doing this!" He allowed his golem to climb down from his shoulder, and back into his bag on the ground next to him. He kicked off his shoes as quickly as he could, tossed his socks aside and rolled up his trousers. He also made sure to take care in leaving his wand on the shore, he definitely did not want it lost or broken before classes had even begun.

Sigurd dipped his legs into the water, found a firm enough footing and stood himself up next to Ryan. He gazed across the width of the lake, and considered Ryan's suggestion of staging an expedition.

"I have read somewhere about a breathing bubble spell of some sort. I don't remember for sure." Sigurd had taken in so much information so quickly in the past few months, he found it hard to recall anything specific when he needed to. But he knew it was in there somewhere. "We definitely could find a way to do it, though. Even if there was no squid, exploring underwater and seeing what's down there would be... wow" Sig loved to explore, however he had never really pondered the possibility of exploring under water.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan poked at the ground in front him curiously as Sigurd joined him in the water, watching the water go a little murkier as the two of them moved around. It definitely wasn't anywhere near deep enough for them to find a giant squid here. "A bubble spell would work. Maybe a potion or something could help too, we should look into that," Ryan added thoughtfully. They'd have to do some research, he'd heard there was a pretty good library here and Sigurd seemed like more than a willing research partner. "Imagine what else might be down there," He said, turning to grin at Sigurd at the idea. "Merpeople cities or great caverns. Sunken ships," Ryan leaned against his stick, peering out into the lake as if he could see all the secrets below the water just by looking. "I didn't bring any togs." He said flatly, suddenly realizing as he mentally put together an exploration kit. That'd have to be first on the list.

 

[Sigurd Rumblehorn]

Sigurd was becoming more and more enthralled by the idea of the underwater expedition. "Maybe we should make a trip to the library then, I've been looking forward to checking it out and seeing how big it is, but I wanted to get outside first" Sigurd knew one he found himself in the library, he would essentially be there until somebody either asked him to leave or removed him, so he'd decided not to go first thing in the morning. There were a lot of other things he wanted to check out around the castle, but planning an underwater adventure sounded more interesting right now than anything else the boy had in mind. "What do you think, wanna go check out the library or should we keep watching for a bit longer?"

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan liked Sigurd's plan, nodding. They weren't anywhere near ready for an underwater expedition right now, but a trip to the library they could do. "Good idea, we're gonna need to do some planning," Ryan said, though he was reluctant to leave the water. It wasn't a rational thought, but Ryan couldn't help but feel like every second now he wasn't watch the lake would be the second the squid revealed itself. "I don't know much about squids.." He said, searching his brain for any facts and coming up short. He wasn't even sure what they ate. "Let's go to the library." He decided, giving the lakebed one final prod with his stick before chucking it back on shore and wading back to shore. His feet were too wet to put his shoes back on, so he just gathered them up in his arms, wiggling his toes on the lakeshore as they dried and grinning at Sigurd.