Water You Doing? PV Closed

She had to face this. It was a skill needed to survive. Despite her twelve years on the planet, Luna had never actually learned to swim. As a result, she was absolutely terrified that she might drown. A chill went down her spine as her body shuddered just thinking about it. Desperately trying to get air as her lungs filled with water. No thank you. And yet, who knew what the future might hold? She had no clue whatsoever if she might end up in any kind of water. Thus swimming was vital. And that's how she ended up at the edge of the lake. 

She was in a simple black one-piece swimsuit, absently staring at the water. Her hair had been put into a braid, which was her favorite hairstyle after just leaving it down. But it was too warm to do so now, and she didn't want to be blinded by her own hair. Not sure if that was an actual possibility, Luna had decided it was best to play it safe. No need to take risks if one didn't have to, right?

The water was murky near the bottom, which only added to her anxiety. Maybe she should've brought someone with her? Was it really safe to learn by oneself? Besides, who knew what lived in that lake? The logical side of her reasoned the professors would have taken precautions for such things, but fear hardly pays attention to reason. Not to mention her other overwhelming fear. Wasps. They always liked water.  Plus there were plenty of trees and prey in the local area. Luna's stress increased when her mind started considering if there were magical wasps! Incendio could likely take care of them, but would she have the presence of mind to use it in that situation? She shook her head as if to toss all the negative thoughts out of her head. Getting bogged down by variables would do nothing to resolve her dilemma. If she wanted to swim she'd have to face it.

As a "Hello" was spoken Luna broke out of her trance. There was another person here! Luna squinted against the rays of the sun reflecting off the water. It was a girl waving at her. In fact, Luna actually knew who it was. The Prefect who had moderated her embarrassing loss to Max in Duelling Club. Was she at the Summer Camp as well? It made sense as a possibility, but Luna had just guessed that Prefects were well off enough to have better things to do during the summer. Then again, she knew nothing about school or the magical world in general, so she dismissed the thought as just a silly assumption. All she had was the first year here so far. 

Realizing she was getting trapped by errant thoughts again, she snapped her attention to the girl. Amanda? No, too simple. That wasn't it. Amyrillis? No, not that either. Amadea! That was it. Satisfied and confident she had the correct name, she raised her own arm and waved back. She did her best not to let her wavering confidence show.

  "Hi there. Is it ok if I swim with you? I don't want to disturb you or anything."

Amadea had been nice before, so Luna was fairly at ease and unconcerned. She doubted their were any problems but she thought it best to be sure before assuming.

Amadea produced what she hoped looked like a genuine smile as she waved toward the girl standing close to the shore. Amadea could only see a silhouette of the figure and was unable to distinguish it from any other people she might know, so she figured it was just another camper. She waded through the water, trying to get closer to the shore so she could more easily talk to whoever was standing there. 

As Amadea approached, she realized that she indeed did recognize this girl. Amadea had moderated the duel between her and the Gryffindor prefect, Max Avery. Unfortunately, Amadea was at a loss for the girl's name. It was something with an L, Amadea was sure, but exactly what it was remained a mystery. The duel had been so long ago, after all, and Amadea wasn't the best at remembering names. She could recognie a face, but putting a name to it was much more challenging for her.

"Hi," Amadea said again once she was standing only knee-deep in the water and could easily see the other girl. Wincing, Amadea tried not to let it show. Her conversational skills still weren't the best. However, they had improved greatly since the beginning of the school year when she was a shy, shuttering first year. Now she was Prefect and could walk over and say hello to someone without dying of anxiety. Amadea considered this to be a great step in her improvement of talking. 

This still wasn't helping the current conversation at hand, so Amadea stopped thinking about her progress in bettering her social skills and thought about what she could say next. "I'm really sorry, but I can't seem to remember your name," she said, a slight blush blossoming on her cheeks. "It begins with an L, right?" If it didn't, Amadea would be very embarrassed. 

"And, um, yes of course you can swim with me," Amadea added, responding to the girl's question. "It's not like I claimed the entirety of the lake," she added with a laugh. She was just trying to make conversation, but the minute the words came out of her mouth Amadea felt like taking them back. It sounded corny and stupid. Hopefully, the other girl would not think so, or would just ignore her comment completely. As Amadea stood awkwardly in the water, she wondered if she should say something else or just keep silent or start swimming again. 

She decided to do both. As she began wading out to a deeper part of the lake, she turned back to the other girl to see if she was following and asked, "Do you swim often?" It would be a wonderful talking point if she did. Amadea loved swimming and could talk about it for hours. It would be nice to find someone else who loved swimming as much as she did.

Luna gave a slight nod of her head. 

"Yes, my name is Luna." Luna didn't mind so much that her name hadn't been remembered. After all, it had taken a few moments for her to remember Amadea's name. No doubt the girl had moderated more than a few practice duels on top of managing her own friendships and education. Luna likely wouldn't have even remembered the "L" if she had been in that position. 

Amadea had turned and swam out to the deeper part of the water. Luna proceeded into the shallows of the lake, letting the cool water bite at her feet. The feeling of the water on her skin was refreshing, draining the radiating warmth off its surface.  It was a bit reassuring to know the water wasn't freezing cold. Luna continued until the water was up to her torso, stopping short of any more advancement. 

"I-. I don't. Know how to swim. I mean, I get what I'm supposed to do. I just never have. I never went to the Bay in Cardiff. I just... never had the time. I had a chance to try in Newport, but I didn't there either. So if you don't mind...it looks like you know what you're doing. Maybe you can give me some tips?" 

Luna was glancing around as she spoke. The ever-present phobia kept her on guard for the villainous wasps. Satisfied that none were nearby, she swung her attention back to Amadea. She had turned her head so fast however that he braid, which was long enough to have dipped into the water, whipped around and hit her in the face. The force and surprise of it all pushed her center of gravity backward and her feet slipped upward as she fell backward. The water met her in an encompassing rush, swallowing her body whole. Luna felt intense panic as water rushed into her nose, and she reflexively twisted her body, turning to face downward and push back up against the water. The whole ordeal only lasted a few seconds and soon she was standing back up in the water, attempting to catch her breath as she roughly coughed out the lake water from her lungs. Calmly she turned back around to face Amadea. Although fear and adrenaline were rushing through her, she did her best to hide it. 

"As you can see, I'm not that good at this." 

Luna felt heat flushing her cheeks. It would be incredibly bright against her pale porcelain skin, especially in this lighting. In turn, this would only feed even more embarrassment. She had just met a new person and then proceeded to nearly drown. What a start. She hoped this wasn't indicative of how all of Summer Camp would go.

Amadea's memory decided to function again the second after Luna had reintroduced herself. Now that Luna had said her name, Amadea remembered. She wondered how she could forget that. It was a fairly short name that Amadea found very beautiful. She debated whether or not to say this to Luna, but decided against it. It would be both weird and awkward to say that, and to receive that information, Amadea felt. 

She listened as Luna spoke about swimming. If Amadea was being completely honest, it came as a bit of a shock that Luna did not know how to swim. Amadea certainly didn't hold any judgements against the girl about the fact that she couldn't swim, but Amadea just hadn't ever met anyone that didn't know how to swim. It seemed like such a normal thing that had been a part of her life for the longest time, and imagining not knowing how to do it made her brain hurt. Swimming felt as essential as breathing in Amadea's life, and even though she knew that wasn't true, she wouldn't want to not have swimming in her life.

Amadea felt a surge of empathy for Luna as she watched the girl standing in the water, looking terrified. It took a certain kind of bravery to face fears head on like Luna was doing, and Amadea commended her for it. After all, Amadea wasn't sure she had the kind of bravery to face things like that, especially some of her worst fears, like fire. Amadea shuddered at the thought of facing that fear head on, though she wasn't exactly sure how she would do that. No one could walk through flames without burning. Maybe she should try just standing near some open flames. That would probably work.

Channeling her train of thought back to the topic at hand, Amadea watched in horror as she suddenly saw Luna slip and fall underneath the water. There was a huge wave of splashing and then thankfully Luna reappeared above the water, sputtering but alive. Amadea waded over as quickly as she could, softly patting Luna on the back as she coughed up the water she had inhaled.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. Thankfully, it appeared as though Luna was fine, despite the scare. "And you're not terrible! You've already conquered a lot that you need to learn to be able to swim, most importantly, moving your arms and legs. You just have to work on moving them in a way so you can actually propel yourself somewhere." 

Amadea wasn't exactly an expert in swimming, but she wasn't bad at it either. Her six years of swim lessons and swim team definitely helped. She had picked up a lot of tips and tricks on how to swim, and sometimes watched the older lifeguards when they taught the little kids how to swim, so Amadea knew how to proceed from here.

"First, we should work on your floating," she said. "Do you know how to float on your back?" 

Despite her calm exterior, Luna was struggling to avoid hacking up more endlessly. She may have seemed fearless, but her phobia was beginning to edge out reason, no thanks to that slip in the lake. And pushing back against that building fear was proving to be a feat within itself. Amadea made it look so effortless as if swimming were just a natural skill everyone just knew. Luna admonished herself internally. Backing down now would be the opposite of progress. So she did all she could to harden her resolve. 

When she really thought about it, Luna realized that most people possess all the traits of each of the houses to some degree. She herself had some stubbornness like the brave lions of Gryffindor. The driving ambition of the sneks Slytherin was there as well. Not to mention the undying loyalty found in Hufflepuff house, as long as you were the right person to her. But what set her in Ravenclaw was her logic and knowledge. And the logic prevailed even now, telling her that this skill was vital to survival. Nothing more or less to it. Fear didn't matter. Fear was simply an old outdated survival instinct and she had to adapt to new ones. 

"I don't. I just need to lie back to start though right?"

Luna wasn't sure on how to approach, or even really how to set her body. The water was cooling but left her feeling a bit helpless. She realized her movement was slowed by the water. She'd have to take note of that. It took more energy to move through the murky liquid. She let her muscles relax and released control of herself to the water. And proceeded to sink like a stone. But she was ready this time. Before the water could envelop her she took back control and sprang to her feet. This would take more time than she had anticipated. Usually, she caught on to concepts quickly. After all, she could pick a lock, jump across buildings, and all other manner of things. But this, this proved to be different. She let out a sigh, preparing for her next try.

Amadea watched as Luna attempted to float backward in the water. Amadea commended the girl yet again. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to trust the water when you don't know how to swim in it. Luna was doing exceptionally well for never having swum before and having a teacher such as Amadea, who wasn't exactly an expert at teaching. 

However, it seemed as though Luna didn't need much coaching. She had already tipped herself backward into the water before Amadea could give any pointers. Just as soon as she had touched the water, Luna began sinking. Amadea was prepared, putting out her hands in case the girl fell under the water again, but it seemed as though Luna was also prepared, kicking her feet out and planting them solidly on the ground. 

"Good catch," Amadea commented. "You basically have the right idea," Amadea said, trying to think of some helpful tips that would be helpful to Luna. It would be so much easier if they were in an actual pool, not a lake. Amadea could tell Luna to hold the side of the wall and practice her kick and do other exercises. But alas, they were not. 

"Try to make your body as parallel to the water as possible," Amadea said. "Also, make sure your head is tilted back enough. You'll have to put your ears in the water, which may feel uncomfortable, but if your head is tilted too far forward, your middle will start to sink." 

Amadea thought about what else might be helpful. "Also, to keep your stomach from sinking, arch your back and your chest up as much as you can," she said. "It's kind of an ab workout," she added with a laugh. "While floating seems easy, it takes a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be fine. And then once you float on your back, we can work on floating on your stomach." 

Amadea wondered if she should demonstrate floating, but it seemed pretty self explanatory, so she just waved her arms in what she hoped looked like an okay-now-your-turn gesture and stepped back, giving Luna enough space to try again when she was ready. 

Luna went right back to her attempts to float. As she continued trying, failure seemed to be the rule of the day. This only cemented her willpower. She would succeed one way or another. She did her best to apply the tips Amadea had given to her, trusting that just a little effort in combination would provide the results she sought. 

Then finally she obtained her first goal. Simple floating on her back. It had been a good 20 minutes of failure, repeated attempts, whispered frustrations, etc. On the successful attempt, she had laid back, keeping her body level with the water. She had internalized Amadea's tips. Her head leaned back, her torso upward. And she simply didn't sink. This all dawned on the young girl, followed by the swelling joy of another task completed. She had done it! With help of course, but it had all come down to her! 

She floated for about 30 seconds before returning upright. She turned to face her instructor, a small smile on Luna's face. 

"I- I think I have it. Floating that is. Your tips were perfect. I can't thank you enough for them. So, what comes next?" Now that the girl had started to accomplish anything, her drive to absorb information had kicked in. She would do as much as she could with what time she had.  

Amadea had to give it to her. Luna was really trying. Amadea admired her grit and determination to conquer this, despite being so afraid. She wasn't sure that she had that kind of determination. She wished she did. 

Focusing back on Luna's floating instead of her wishes for more determination, Amadea watched as Luna continued to try to float, slowly sunk, and tried again. Amadea tried to think of anything else that could possibly be useful to say to Luna to help her, but wracking her brain didn't help and she came up with nothing. As she watched, however, it appeared as though Luna needed no more advice. As the girl tipped back into the water, Amadea waited for the inevitable sink and then she would try again. But this time, Luna didn't sink. Instead, she stayed afloat on top of the water.

Amadea jumped up and down in the water, careful not to splash Luna. "Yes!" she exclaimed when Luna turned upright to stand in the water again. "Good job!" While Luna was still far from being an Olympic swimmer, she was making huge improvements in her progress for being able to swim. 

"Next thing you should try is floating, but this time on your stomach," Amadea said. "Just let your legs and arms dangle beneath you. It might be scary because you have to put your face in the water, but just hold your breath. When you feel as though you can't hold your breath, come up for air, but try to breathe to the side instead of in front of you. Got it?"