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It had been a good idea, she was certain. At least at first; certainly swimming was an essential skill to survival in certain situations and Davyne aimed to be as versatile in her skills as possible. Skills that would hopefully soon include swimming.

It was just, well - neither of her parents had ever been interested in the activity, and the closest she'd ever gotten was wading around the shallow waters of their local pond. The water hadn't even touched her chest then, and she'd been six years old; not exactly the kind of pond one could learn to swim in.

So Davyne had never learned. It was no big, since she'd never actually had an actual use for the skill. But now, well... it was logical, surely, to expand one's skills upon joining a school as established as this one. Even if swimming wasn't exactly on the curriculum, there could be a need for it in the future, and so it was deemed practical to learn how to swim.

And this was why the Reaper had been flailing about the Amityville lake for the past hour. Imagine this: a stoic-faced blonde wading out as far as she could go and still touch the bottom before looking faintly resigned, proceed to awkwardly paddle her way towards the deeper waters by flailing all limbs at once and utterly failing at anything that resembled actual swimming techniques. It usually ended in a flurry of jerky, panicked movements when she felt she'd gone too far out to be safe and Davyne paddling her way back to where she could reach the bottom again. At the very least she had floating thing down pat, but everything else seemed to be eluding her and slight strains of frustration were beginning to show in her face and movements. What was she doing wrong? Maybe she should have found a book on the subject before coming down here, but swimming had seemed like an easy thing to do. Alas, it would appear she had misjudged the difficulty by quite a bit.

Davyne hadn't actually been aware that she had an audience, so when the other ghoul emerged from her hiding spot, she'd blinked rapidly and tamped down a burst of surprise, stopping her swimming attempts to stare at the newcomer. "I see." She contemplated the other ghoul's words for a few seconds before nodding - before, she had been all but certain that she was doing something wrong, but now she had definite confirmation.

"That sounds like a pertinent plan." Momentarily resuming her flailing the Reaper slowly managed to move into the shallower waters, from where she could walk closer to the other ghoul. "Is there any leg movement in particular that would be beneficial?"

Davyne stared at the other ghoul's fingers with intense concentration. The explanation sounded deceptively easy when she had just spent an hour splashing around to no success. Could it be that simple? Could she have over-thought things so much? The little she'd seen of creeple swimming had always seemed like a flurry of sudden, random movement to her untrained eyes. But it did make sense that there was actually reason to the seeming madness, and gauging from her instructor's confident words, the other ghoul knew what she was talking about. "Understood." Davyne was more than willing to accept that.

The blonde hesitated for a moment - this was where courtesy demanded that she make a few small politenesses, perhaps a bit of small-talk, but she'd never really held with all that frilly nonsense. There was no reason to filter one's words; but it wouldn't do to scare off the only one in the vicinity that actually had a clue how as to swim. And it wasn't like she was ungrateful for the help - it had arrived most opportunely and it was, dare she say it, nice of the other ghoul to lend her assistance and ask for nothing in return. So Davyne compromised; "I thank you for your aid - it is greatly appreciated, indeed. My name is Davyne; might I inquire as to your name?"

One side of her mouth quirking up in what could nearly be called a half-smile, Davyne inclined her head slightly, "indeed. In hindsight, it is quite apparent that I should have sought some sort of instruction before braving the lake." She took a second to consider the flying comparison; "perhaps that is so, although I suppose it would depend on how exactly you would go about it. There are spells that could help you fly with some ease. For a time, of course. Un-assisted by magic however, I see your point."

Selkie. Ah, one could not have asked for a more proficient teacher for this art, then. "Sorceress," she replied in kind. "Although not quite skilled enough to help you with that flying problem, yet." The half-smile was still there.

"Very well." That sounded like a good plan of action. Davyne moved out towards the deeper end, where the water went higher than just to her waist. "How far out do you reckon we will have to go?" There was a touch of trepidation in the way she eyed the deeper end of the lake - she had mastered floating, yes, but couldn't quite silence the instinct that said that going out too far would be a bad idea. With Marzena at her side however, the danger was greatly diminished, even she knew that.