Swimmink, because there'll be some sinking.(Matt)

[Anthy Blacksmith]

The call hadn't lasted for too long. In fact, it took less of a time than it took Anthy to work up the nerve to put on the bathing suit that had arrived in the package earlier. It wasn't very showy, and it didn't expose much. Well, not any more than any other one piece swimsuit that didn't involve being designed like a wetsuit or something.

She still wasn't very sure about it though. Not just the suit, but the swimming that would be involved. Anthy had sank like a rock the last time she attempted to swim and even if that had been a pretty long time ago, she was still iffy. Anyways, swimming was usually a group event, right? So there had been more reason for her not to have pursued it. It was a little late to back out of it now though... She had looked at the suit for a while even before putting it on. It was a darker blue colour, and had... well, they weren't exactly frills but she wasn't sure on what else they could be called. And, it more of looked like some really short skirt than a bathing suit. It'd be alright though, right?

After having gotten it on, she pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt before stepping into a pair of shoes and making her way down to the pool where Matt was likely already waiting on her. Oh she hoped she hadn't kept him waiting for long. Maybe she should have called him after she had already gotten her suit on? But then again, that might have been making her assume too much as if she had put the suit on and he said he was busy or something, then she would have just had to change again or feel silly all day.

Anthy timidly made her way through the doors that led to the pool room and everything about her body language sent out the message of shyness. She tried to hold it in a bit though.

"Sorry I took so long." She said with an embarrassed smile when she saw that he indeed was there.

She then moved to the wall beside the door before taking her shoes off and going on to pulling off the clothes she wore over the suit.

[Matt Davis]

Matt had already bought himself a new bathing suit, as well as a nice whistle that he could put on his neck. Sure he wasn’t going to be a real life guard, but he was going to be in charge of someone’s life! And the whistle seemed to complete the entire look of a swim instructor.

It had taken Anthy some time to get there, and he was growing a little bored. She may have fallen back asleep… after all, they were meeting pretty early. However if she was going to call she probably would’ve made sure to stay awake. Still, he found himself waiting for her. When she’d show up, he’d probably take to watching her rather than swimming himself. With this in mind he decided to swim a few laps himself.

He took to one end and dove into the water starting with a freestyle stroke. Taking a breath over his right shoulder as he moved. He swam three laps before he stopped in the middle of his fourth, standing up in the pool. His eyes turned up to where he had seen the line earlier where he met the twins. He laughed to himself, recalling how he fell down from the wire and the boys followed suit. He was just about to dive in to finish the lap when he heard the door.

His eyes lit up when he saw her. She was adorable in that little dress thing, though it didn’t look like a bathing suit at first. He turned to face her and started to wade over. “Well hey there, Sweet Moonbeam! You look great! Is that really a bathing suit though?” He never knew one pieces could look so dang good. He came to the edge of the pool before pulling himself up and moving to meet her.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

It looked like he had started without her, but she was kind of glad that he had, seeing how she had made him wait. He liked swimming right? She thought so but couldn't remember for sure if he had pointed it out as one of the things he enjoyed doing or if she had just assumed it due to a conversation they had had. Maybe she should start taking actual notes? But would that be a little too strange? Yeah, she thought it might be.

Anthy blushed a little and scuffed her foot lightly on the floor, her stance become more of a shy one when Matt asked her if what she was wearing was really a bathing suit. Did it look silly? Maybe she should have gone for a more basic one? She bit her lip a little before she worked herself up to a reply though not without a shy smile.

"Yeah, it's a bathing suit... Do you think I should get another one? Is this one too... well... frilly?" She asked him.

[Matt Davis]

Matt shook his head quickly and held up his hand in protest. “What, no! You look good in it!” His eyes dipped down for a second, scanning over the dark blue frilly garment. “...Really good.” And she did. He was so used to thinking about how sexy bikini’s were, and this thing looked pretty great on her. He of course would’ve wanted to see her in a bikini, but y’know. That’d be a strange thing to say.

“So...Umm...are you all ready then?” He asked before clearing his voice. There was a bit of warmth on his cheeks, but he was hoping that’d fade away soon. He turned towards the pool. “We’ll start in the shallow end, just to get you feeling confident. You don’t have any phones or anything on you, do you?”

His hand lifted up and he fiddled some with the silver whistle that bounced between his pecs. He looked over the water, considering how he'd go about training her. While he had planned on doing a lot of research, in truth, that research sounded a lot like school and he found himself skipping the chore. He'd be winging a lot of it.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He shook his head and held up his hand when she asked him about it being too frilly. And as he almost exclaimed that she looked really good in it, she ended up smiling a bit more even if she still felt a bit shy. Well, if he thought she looked alright in it, then that was good enough for her, she thought. And she tried not to think of the chance that he might have been telling that so she wouldn't feel self-conscious.

As he asked her if she was ready, Anthy nodded. She did catch that slight redness in his cheeks though. Maybe he was shy about being a swimming instructor? He might have had an easier time teaching guitar than he did water sports. When Matt asked her if she had any phones on her, she giggled a little and shook her head.

"No, not this time. No pockets, so there's that to help me not forget." She told him before walking over to the pool's edge.

Taking a seat at first, she dipped her legs into the water before letting herself drop in enough so her feet were on the bottom of the pool. The water was a bit cool, but that didn't bother her too much, seeing how she was the same person who walked around in shorts during the winter.

"So... how do we start this?" She asked him.

It was kind of strange. If they had been someplace else, him being in just a pair of shorts might have made her look away a little or something, or if he had gotten down to shorts in front of her. But in a situation like this she was just fine. It had been kind of the same with Lucas too. When he had taken his shirt off that time they met, she had felt the urge to look away or something, but when she had come across him shirtless the second time it had been alright for some reason.

[Matt Davis]

“Smart move! I’ve had a couple of phones broken from jumpin’ into the pool. I don’t even really know th’reason for pockets in swim suits. Don’ do nothin’ but make you wet things y’don’t wanna.”

Unlike Anthy, after spending so much time in the water and acclimating to it rather quickly, he was finding the chill outside of the water to be far worse than the liquidy-good embrace of the pool. He followed after her and slipped into the water, moving towards her.

“How do we do this...Yeah, how do we…” He said to himself while looking around the pool. “Well! First, dip y’head in an’ try and acclimate y’self. Then we can move on from there… I wanted to read up some, but...were goin’ by original Davis teachin’ techniques here… Oh! Do y’know how t’tread water?”

He pushed off of where he was beside of her and fell back so that he could float in the water rather than stand. He had to kick his legs up pretty high to keep them from touching the floor of the pool. 

[Anthy Blacksmith]

As he brought up the pockets in swim suits thing, she did have to wonder about it.

"Maybe it's for people who are worried about losing their keys or something? But, that's not really helpful seeing how there's a bigger chance of losing them while swimming, isn't there?" She thought out loud.

It wasn't like people stayed upright while they were swimming after all. Some even went upside down and such. As Matt began speaking again though, she went to paying attention to him.

"I don't even know how to tread water, actually." She told him with an embarrassed look.

She let herself drop down under the water while holding her breath She was up again soon enough though, covering her nose with both hands.


"Ooh... ooh ooh...." She squeaked out softly.

"I thought holding your breath kept the water out?" She asked with an "ow" kind of laugh.

She'd be holding her nose the next time she tried that, that was for sure. Anthy ran her hands upward over her face and smoothed her hair back out of the way in the same motion. Then, shaking her head a little she looked back to Matt again.

"So, original Davis teaching techniques?"

[Matt Davis]

“Yeah, I thought that too...The only thing I could imagine would be keeping a locker key there, but...again, it’d fall out. There aint nothin’ you can keep in there that won’t fall out. Now I’ve seen some zipper pockets, but them are pretty new.”

When she admitted that she didn’t get how to tread water he smiled brightly. It was an adorable and shy smile. He smirked some and considered it. That was probably the best thing to start with. Judging by how quickly she entered the water she didn’t seem to be afraid of it, or anything like that. It was a good sign.

He watched her take her breath and dive down with wide eyes. She followed every one of her instructions to a T it looked like. She was putting a heck of a lot of faith in him. More faith than he had… hell he hoped he didn’t mess up.

He let out a laugh when she came out sputtering and talking about holding her breath not working. “Oh, no...No that just keeps’ya from fillin’ your lungs up with the stuff. You’re goin’ in with some room, so th’water’s gonna fill it. Make sure you hold your nose, and more helpful, learn how t’deal with it. Or get some nose clips. Might help.”


“Yes...Original Davis techniques… I’m Davis, by the way. If I never said… Matt Davis… First we’re gonna see how well you react to the water, and then we’ll work on treading.” He swam slowly back away from her, out towards the deeper water. He stopped when he reached an area where he could only reach on the balls of his feet. “...Alrigh’. Swim out here too me.”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He laughed when she commented about the fact holding her breath hadn't kept the burning water from her nose. Strange how water could feel like it was burning when it went in the wrong place. It still burned some now, she just was trying to be a grown up about it rather then flailing around and shrieking like a little girl. When Matt told her that holding her nose or using a nose plug or even learning how to deal with it were the things to do, she wondered why no one had ever told her, even if she gave an embarrassed smile.

"I'll try to learn how to get used to it then. It's not really as horrible as I thought it was when it first happened. Actually, I've had worse flashes." She commented with a small giggle.

When Matt went to telling her he was Matt Davis she smiled.

"And I'm Anthy Blacksmith." She replied to that part.

Though, she wasn't smiling as much when he swam back some and into the deeper water before telling her to swim out to him. A more uncertain look came to her instead and she shifted slightly even if he might not have been able to see her feet right then.

"S-swim? Just like that? You're a little far, aren't you?" She asked him somewhat timidly and with a slight blush on her cheeks from feeling a little embarrassed about how hesitant she was right then.

[Matt Davis]

“Nope, and it gets better as time goes by.” He added to her explanation that it wasn’t as bad as she had thought. He couldn’t remember the first time he had gotten a nostril full of the stuff, but he did know that the whole thing was pretty unpleasant. When he offered her name his eyes opened a little wide.

“Anthy Blacksmith?... Well damn, that’s one of the coolest names I think I’ve eva heard!” He laughed to himself and considered it. Anthy Blacksmith… now if that wasn’t the name of some sort of super hero he didn’t know what could be. The only way it could be any better was if her name was Betty. Betty Blacksmith. Though if she met someone named Charles and married him, she could be Anthy Blacksmith-Charles… which would be ABC… there were ways to do that.

As soon as she spoke he could hear the hesitance in his voice. It was pretty severe. The first time she had stuttered around him in...well, some time! He took a deep breath and cocked his head to the side.

“Yup. I’ve got faith in you...Swim out t’me. Ifin y’can’t do it, I’ll grab ya an’ make sure y’head stays up, alright? Just know that whatever happens I’ve gotchya, so y’ve nothin’ to fear or worry about. Worst case y’go under for a few seconds an’ I pop you up… So come over. If y’get nervous go ahead an’ grab onto me. I can keep afloat pretty well as long as y’don’t freak out on me.”

He smiled confidently to her and motioned her over with his hands. Now he just really hoped to show off as much confidence as he said he had. He shifted forward some so that he had a firm grasp with his foot on the floor of the pool.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

When Matt went to commenting about her name being the coolest he had heard, Anthy laughed in place of her usual giggle, the sound echoing a little due to how empty the pool room was seeing how they were the only ones there.

"I don't know. Matt Davis sounds like a pretty cool name." She replied with a bright smile.

Well, it did. And it fit him, if that made any sense. But then again, maybe she thought everyone's names fit well?

As Matt told her he had faith in her and told her that if she couldn't do it, he'd make sure her head would stay above the water, she offered a little smile. Then, he was telling her about how the worst that would happen would be that she would be under for a couple of seconds before he got her up again, which actually helped more as he was covering that area of "in case" for her. After biting her lip for a moment, she decided to make her attempt and did so after nodding a little.

And, as soon as her feet were kicked off of the floor of the pool, she was going forward towards him. But, only for a second before she sank like a rock. Anthy was blushing so hard that she was causing a bit of a light show on the surface of the water from her glowing.

[Matt Davis]

Matt Davis was a pretty common name, he figured. There were a lot of Matts he guessed, and probably a lot of Davis’ too. He actually knew a lot back home, but that was because the family lived pretty close and he had gone to school with a bunch of his kin. Matt shrugged at the thought of him having a pretty cool name. It was still nice to hear. His attention turned to her as she pushed off.

She did it? Pushed off like that? Man was that faith, he considered. He wouldn’t do that with his dad a long time ago when his dad told him to swim out and he was learning. True, his dad would’ve let him sit at the bottom for a while. Hell even if he was staring a gator in the face his dad would’ve probably made him wait or figure it out himself. But there Anthy was, as if Matt could do anything to save her. And he would.

And apparently… he had to. His eyes went wide after a few kicks when she sank down to the bottom. He quickly walked along the bottom of the pool towards her. His pace slowed a step, however, when he saw the reflection of a non-existent sun shifting against the pool’s wripples.

He winced while looking down at her, finding his movements hindered by doubt, but he’d persist either way. When he was beside of her, and knew where he was, he closed his eyes and shifted some. He wasn’t sure how bright she was going to be when she’d break the surface. He took a breath and dipped down. His arms wrapped around her, though he was reaching from the side and going blind.

He grabbed her and hoisted up. He thought he found a good hold, under her armpit, and held on to the turn of her side while pressing up and lifting her so she’d break the water’s surface. When he heard the tell-tale sign of her swallowing air again, Matt pulled her closer to his chest and walked with her towards the shallower area.

“That was good at first! Y’sink though! We’ll have t’figure that out!” He said while still keeping his eyes closed and walking her towards the shallow end. All the while unaware of his true handhold. He was holding a firm grip on her back with his right hand, while his left was nicely secured under her breast rather than her armpit. Pushing up and most likely not helping with the nervous light bulb in his hands.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Had she been a cartoon, she might have bubbled out an "I told you". But, she wasn't. And she kind of knew to hold her breath seeing how she was definitely getting deeper under water. In fact, she was to the bottom before long, though the bottom hadn't been very far to begin with so there was that. Her embarrassment was more than visible, the light coming off of her. The water did some interesting things to it against the surface but she didn't really thing to much about that right then.

It wasn't as warm as it usually got. That, she did think on. Even as Matt came down for her, she thought about how th water seemed to be keeping her decently cool. She had noticed it in the past but she hadn't ever been this deep in water before. Not even that time she had fallen in the lake.

Her thoughts about that instantly cut short when Matt got to her and her eyes widened while some air escaped as she gave a sound of surprise when she felt his hands and where they were. It made it harder to hold the rest of the air she had, and she ended up needing to gasp for air when he pushed her up past the surface of the water.

A blush overtook her face, and with it existing the same time as the glowing, it caused the glow to come off a light red, maybe a pink to some people, in that area. The pinkness spread down her neck and over her shoulders even while Matt was telling her that it had been a good first attempt and that they needed to figure out the sinking thing.


"Um... I.... um....."

She didn't know how to say it.

"I think I've got... footing now." She told him, gently moving her hand to his to show him it was alright to let go.

[Matt Davis]

Matt was looking off to the side, though by now he had opened his eyes. While he was able to grab a hold of, hug, and hold Anthy as she glowed, it still triggered something in him. Something hard to push past. He of course didn’t want to make her worry about scaring her, or do anything that would bring her to tears again. When she said that she had her footing Matt stopped the little trek, though he still held onto her. Just because she thought she had her footing didn’t mean she was stable. Of course he knew this through his intensive training for being a lifeguard, which consisted of buying some red swim trunks and an awesome whistle.

When her hand reached up to touch his own he smiled some to himself. Her touch was always soft and sweet. He laughed some and gave her an affectionate squeeze before he seemed a little confused, trying to picture how her hand would get under her armpit like that… she must be contorted?

He finally decided to look at her, thinking that the touch may have been a signal of worry that he was still looking away. Her worrying was one of the last things he would want! He looked over to her, first noting the strange hue of her glow. Before it had been white, or off yellow, but he hadn’t seen her glow pink before? When his eye finally trailed to where he was holding her, realizing that she wasn’t in the posture he thought she’d be in, his eyes flung open wide. In a split second it all hit him. Her hand wasn’t contorted, his was in an unsavory spot! The pink was some sort fo blush, and she must have felt so awkward! He practically threw himself off of her then, slipping his hand from between her hand and...breast-al area before slipping and falling on his rump in the water.

“I-I woah!” He said when he climbed back up to his feet. “I’m so sorry, Anthy… Ah didn’ mean to, or nothin’!” He truly didn’t and his own face was a brighter red than she may have expected. The red only darkened when he considered where his hand had been, how awkward it must’ve been, how upset she must be with him, and most embarrassingly...how good it kind of felt looking back, and cool it was that he did that. He chastised himself quietly.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He opened his eyes and looked to her when she touched his hand and then his eyes widened a moment after before he snatched his hands away and quickly moved back. So quickly that he fell. Which caused her to blush even more and feel even more embarrassed with how big of a deal it seemed to really be.

She sank down some in the water as she felt and saw the glowing brighten and bit her lip wile resisting the urge to cover her face or just submerge completely. He was apologizing, pretty quickly too as he got back to his feet, his face almost as red as his swim trunks even while he spoke.

"Y-you didn't mean it... I... I don't blame you, Matt, don't worry." She replied, trying to get her blush under control.

It was nearly impossible to do it though. Even if she was somehow managing to get a hold of the light. The last thing she needed was to blind him. Especially with the water reflecting everything and all. She managed to get it down to a dull glow. The glow calmed down some too until she looked at him. Then it all came back for some reason. The blushing, not the intensity of the light.

"Thank you for saving me." She told him, trying to offer a smile through her shyness.