not beaten down just yet

Haleth smiled at his easy acceptance, pleased with how simply he seemed to take her words. At the very least, she was happy to have not caused any offense. He seemed like an interesting fellow and was certainly fun to talk with.

She wasn't sure what he intended when he stood, but at his invitation, she blushed, embarrassment flooding her.

"I, uh... I actually was just going to enjoy the sun," she admitted, sitting up. This new topic made her feel timid and she bent her knees so she could place her arms around them (her breasts were giant balloons caught between her torso and legs). She ducked her head before looking up at him, red staining her cheeks.

"I don't know how to swim," she managed to squeak out. She carefully coughed into her fist to clear her throat before continuing her speech. "I, uh... I figured it would be a little better to come here since I can at least wade a bit if I want to..."

She mentally shook herself a bit before smiling up at him. "Don't keep yourself from scaring the fish on my account," she said cheerfully. "Just try not to land on me when you come back out this time."

"Bwuh?!" Haleth was startled by his quick change in posture and words. Before she had a chance to react, he'd pulled her up, dragging her up with enough strength that she fell against his hard chest, feeling the breathe being forced from her lungs yet again. At least this time, she wasn't getting full on squashed.

And then she was up and in the air and the ground was far away from her. And, uh. She was looking down. Down at the ground. Looking at a tail and a butt and lots of leg and yeah. Haleth was being carried.

"Wh-whaaaaaaa, wuh, waaaait!" she cried out, her words all a jumble. She flailed at his back in general, squirming on his shoulder. Her weight was easy enough (perhaps because of that dimensional pocket), but this couldn't possibly be easy for him either.

"Um, let me prepare myseeeeelf," Haleth panicked. "I'm not mentally prepared at all!"

And of course, were she being honest, it would probably be quite a while before she was. She hadn't really tried to swim beyond the general awareness that she didn't know how. It was strange that there was so much about herself she didn't yet know, but stranger still when she came across things that she did know.

In a way, though, she was grateful - this, at least, was something she'd be able to learn herself. It was something she would be able to remember - a memory for herself to keep.

Haleth squirmed a bit more, but the further away from dry ground they got, the more she seemed to settle. Well. The more resigned she would become to her fate. Water wasn't too bad, though. It was... just wet. Wet was okay. She could handle getting wet.

And besides, Lelei had stopped at water that was level with his waist - that meant that she'd be able to stand in it, too. That was okay then. Standing. She could stand. This was a bit further out than when she liked to get her feet wet, but it wasn't terrible.

The lake was still water, too, so it wasn't as though she had to worry about waves either.

Okay. This, this was do-able. She could manage this much.

"Okay, I can do this..." she agreed, holding onto him where she could reach as he lowered her into the water. Of course, when she made contact with it, she flinched a bit. The water was cold, man. Cold. It wasn't as though she'd been thinking about it before she was dragged over here by this shark-man.

He lowered her into the water and she shivered, goosebumps immediately making their way along her arms as the chill slipped into her. She'd get used to it, no doubt, but for now? Brrrrrr.

Haleth shivered as she slid into the water. It was so cold. Still, it had been gradual enough that she wasn't freezing... And the sun would no doubt start to warm the surface of the water soon.

She closed her eyes and simply breathed, allowing her body to acclimate to the temperature. It was... pleasant. It was still cool, but it wasn't so cold as to cause her dismay whenever she so much as moved now.

"Tell me how this is going to work?" she asked, bending her knees a bit to submerge herself to the neck. Her hair flowed out with the water, held loosely in the gravity of the fluid. If only to distract her from the coldness of the water on her still warm skin, she let the color of her eyes bleed into her hair, turning it red.

"Is there anything specific I need to do after I grab your hands?" she asked, chewing on her lower lip, clearly nervous.

"Okay..." Haleth said, chewing nervously on her lower lip. She was rather clearly nervous, but she tried to do as he said anyways, gripping his held out arms to stabilize herself as she tried to kick with her legs.

The keyword there was 'kick.' Which she was doing, of course, but... She'd yet to straighten out necessarily, and most of what she seemed to be doing was just stirring up the water.

She frowned, aware that it was wrong - it felt wrong. She pressed forward, surrendering more of her weight to both the water and Lelei as she leaned on him. Her legs straightened, buoyancy lifting them up so she was a bit more horizontal.

A thought occurred to her then: "Am I supposed to bend my knees or keep them straight?" she asked her impromptu instructor. She'd seen people swim both ways, but she wasn't sure if it was because it didn't matter or if there were different forms or something like that. Swimming, after all, seemed complicated.