“She’s right. Fear is the spice of life.” At least it made Seb feel like he was alive. He grinned at Lily when another student joined the lake party with a splash. Seb hadn’t noticed the newcomer’s lack of proper swimming attire and seemed mildly confused when Toru became concerned. “Hey wait, what about the mermaids?” Naturally his own self interest outweighed the needs of others, but he couldn’t help it. He was quite used to fending for himself.

Habitually Seb began to stretch his arms and twist around the middle to actually get the blood flowing. Wading back up the shoreline he produced his wand and began searching for a spot where he could draw the proper circle for his incantation. If they were going diving, he could cast a breathing water charm on whoever was brave enough to try it.

The shoreline was rocky but there were a few patches where the stones had been worn down into a more gravel like texture that should hold the proper shape. Drawing the circle just made it easier to channel the exact amount of energy required without going overboard and requiring a student to spend all day in the lake just to breathe… After a final head count and estimation of the time they would need from the expert, he would know how many inner circles to add. Looking up from his work he noticed Nefri had uncoiled from her nap on the rock and was watching intently. Still he doubted she would join them for a dive even if there were mermaids when so many pretty girls remained here above water.

Speaking of. Seb spotted their host sitting by her lonesome fussing with something in her hands back toward the tents. “Heeeyy!” He called over to Zoe and waved his arms. “You should joooiiiin us!” It was a lame attempt but he had to try. Being left out was more lame and it didn’t register to Seb that maybe Zoe was trying to be a responsible and authoritative figure, rather than a fellow trouble making classmate.

((That IS exciting news! Thanks for taking such good care of us guys n.n))

Tamara looked away from the shores to the person who had spoken to her. It was that kid with the cool hair. 'I'm fine,' she said, though her voice shook a little with shivering. It's summer, water had no right being this cold. Sure it wasn't exactly pleasant, but no way was she gonna play chicken in front of that person on the rock who was doing fine in a bikini. 'Keeps things interesting.' She'd adjust to the water, she was sure. And a little consequence never scared her.

She chanced a glance back at the person, who was now lounging catlike on the rock, and felt a jolt of nerves that had nothing to do with the cold. Crap, what to do now. She wanted to do something impressive-- but she just did and now she was out of ideas. Maybe she should just play it cool. She had gotten their attention she was pretty sure, at least, they were looking in her direction-- maybe she could just go say hello? She wasn't a strong enough swimmer to be particularly impressive in that department. She also still really wanted to go say hi to the squid but it wasn't as if the squid was going to say hi back.

At least the water wasn't feeling quite as cold as the first shock. Deciding on split second decision to play it cool she flashed a grin at coolhair mcshortypants to continue their conversation. 'Besides, a cold never hurt anybody,' she voiced the previous thought as she brushed now wet hair out of her face with a hand.

Toru opened their mouth to advise that cold in general could hurt quite a great deal, but then promptly shut their mouth. It's not like the older student would listen to them anyway. So instead Toru rolled their eyes, a nasty habit they had picked up from Blade the past few months. "Y-You have about 1 h-hour in this water b-before Hypothermia b-becomes an issue w-without any p-protection." Was all they said before wading to the shore to meet back up with Seb.

They never really understood the lengths some people went to impress someone they just met, but Toru was shy, a little antisocial, and borderline ace. "W-What's all this?" They asked genuinely intrigued at the doodle Seb had done on the stones of the lake. Most students just used a bubblehead charm for swimming in the lake, but this seemed new. Toru was always intrigued by new water-type magics.

Nefri chuckled a bit at the girl's attempts at being cool. She propped her cheek on her hand and watched her with interested brown eyes. "You should probably take the Sunbeam's advice, Princess." The Egyptian cooed down from her perch. "Perhaps you'd like to join me up here instead of turning into a cute ice cube?" Her tone was flirty and inviting.

Tamara stuck out her tongue in response to the younger student's eye roll. Spoilsport. She dove back under the water to swim a bit. The cold was bracing, really, in addition to slightly painful. She did feel slightly concerned, but not because of the cold, but the scorn. She was making non-friends already, yikes. Oh well. It was a big school. And why was it that kid's concern anyway? It's not their weird lump of meat that was in danger of freezing. And an hour was like, ages.

She resurfaced closer to the person on the shore, hair plastered to one side of her face again but smear of eye makeup washed a little more away. And then they actually spoke to her. She blushed and attempted a charming grin that probably just looked shy and nervous. Princess? Wow. 'How can I say no?' She waded back up to the shore and hoisted herself up onto the large rock, feet dangling off the edge. There was enough room for them to sit a reasonable conversation distance from each other. The warm summer air was honestly a relief after the lake.

And then it hit her that she was now in proximity of a very pretty not very dressed probably-girl and her face went mortifyingly pink. Think of something to say, Tam, quick! Everything she could think of was extraordinarily lame, like asking if they went to Hogwarts or talking about the weather. 'Nice view from up here,' is what escaped her lips before she realised how that sounded and went redder and looked at the lake to make it clear what she had meant. 'There's like, a squid and everything.'

Okay, kill her now. She pushed her wet hair back from her face running it against her scalp instead.

((not sure how long we're gonna be going for exactly but it sounds like a while so i thought i'd bring phlox in, as she just got approved))

Phlox approached the camp holding the handle of her overnight bag by both handles. She would have much preferred to arrive on time when she could have blended in with the rest of the kids, but Alice had had an appointment and hadn't been able to escort her until the afternoon. Really, this entire camping trip spake of a bad idea, but Alice and Beth had both insisted it would be good for her to get out of the orphanage and meet other children. She privately disagreed; she would be meeting plenty of students in a much less awkward and much less dirty fashion come the start of the school year. But if there was one thing Phlox was good at doing, it was what she was told.

She stopped at the edge of the campsite and looked around. Most people seemed to be swimming, or else doing hanging out by the edge of the lake on the rocks. She hadn't anticipated swimming -- she hadn't brought a swimsuit, and in fact, didn't own one, but everyone seemed to be wearing wetsuits instead, except for one of the girls by the water's edge. So maybe that would be okay, or perhaps she could get away with not swimming at all.

She kept looking and saw many activity tables set up, which was much more her speed. A young woman was standing by one of them knitting, and seemed to be the oldest person present, which would point to her being in charge, so Phlox headed over to her. 'Hello,' she said. She had a soft voice, not yet broken by age, which she always practiced keeping light and polite. 'Are you the camp counsellor? I'm sorry I'm late; my guardian had an appointment.'

Lily blushed a little at Seb’s grin. Does he like me? No, don’t think that, silly. You’re too young and he’s much older. But hey, I can dream right. He has pretty eyes. And if he’s a video game hero he could rescue me anytime. Breaking from her inner monologue she realised Seb wasn’t really focused on her. He wanted to go exploring the deep. He was now back on the land doing something. Oh right, he and Toru were going diving. But then he beckoned Zoe over. Lily sighed softly and was glad tears weren’t noticeable. Mini-Sora didn’t really seem to be giving her the time of day. If that wasn’t bad enough she wanted to be able to go with the others and explore. The camping trip barely started. Would she be left out so much? She looked down at the gloomy looking water wishing she could go and explore as well.

Zoe looked up over at Seb. She really wanted to join, but she also wasn’t a student anymore and wasn’t sure if she was allowed to join in the activities with the students. She’d have to ask. “Thank ye, but I’m gonna knit right now.” She gave an assuring smile.

Toru went to speak with the daring soul who jumped in the lake fully clothed but also looked perturbed and then retreated to the shore with Seb. Looks like the diving was still on. Lily didn’t want to make Flora have to miss out on the exploring, so she was thinking of leaving. Treading water, she glanced over at Flora. What should she do?

Zoe smiled kindly to the young girl. "Hello, ye must be Phlox. I'm nee really a camp counsellor though. But I am overseeing the activities. There's a few professors about. Anyway, do nee worry about being late. We're pretty laid back for this. Ye'll want to pick a tent to either share with a few girls or a non magical tent to stay in. Ye can stay by yerself in a tent but that's nee as much fun. There's three students ye may like a lot in the lake right now." She pointed to Lily, Flora and Toru. "Potential friends. Anyway, just let me know if ye are in need of anything and I'll do my best to help ye. Any questions?"

Phlox listened attentively and nodded in the appropriate places. Right. Tents. Making friends. Maybe she could just take a non-magical tent. It couldn't be that bad... but then she received a specific friend recommendation, which it would doubtlessly be taken as churlish to ignore. Guess she was going in the lake. She suppressed a shudder.

'Yes, what should I call you? And, are those wetsuits available to borrow for swimming?'

"Ye can call me Zoe. Aye, anyone can use the wet suits. Hope ye have fun." She truly did hope the girl had fun.

'Okay, thank you.' Phlox would have rather hung around by the activity tables but she knew instructions when she heard them. She went over to the stack of wetsuits and rifled through for a small one, preferably one with stripes that wouldn't clash with her hair, and found one after a bit. It was yellow, but there were worse colours on her. She then looked around for a place to change. She wasn't quite ready to pick a tent, so maybe she could just pop into a free one for a moment.

She picked one at random, went inside, and changed, folding her clothes neatly before putting them in her overnight bag. She wasn't sure where to put the bag while she was swimming-- probably just somewhere out of the way on the shore where she could keep an eye on it. She scoped out a likely place after emerging and decided to just tuck it under the wetsuit table; it was close enough to the lake for her to keep an eye. After stashing it as safely as she could she walked to the dock, took a breath to steel herself, and then sat down and hopped into the water.

It was cold even with the wetsuit, but not too bad, and she didn't have to get her hair wet if she didn't want to, bobbing on the surface. It was a bit of an odd sensation, to have an insulating layer between her and the water. Kind of like wearing gloves to do the dishes. She moved over to the pair of girls who had been indicated to her, finding swimming to come fairly naturally. She was glad; she hadn't been swimming in several years, and she didn't want to make a big fuss splashing about.

And now she was supposed to... make friends she guessed. 'Hello,' she said, feeling a lump of nerves forming in her throat but ignoring it. 'My name's Phlox, what's yours?'

Flora laughed at Toru’s reaction. “It was too good to pass up,” she grinned. At the threat/mention of a splash war, the girl sent another quick wave of water toward the others. “I’m up for the challenge,” she declared, her eyes dancing as she looked at Seb. He was so cool looking and that smile…she held back a sigh though as he quickly lost interest in her when the talk turned to diving and Flora glanced at Lily as the older boy headed away.

“Come on, Lily. I thought we were going to swim swim,” she commented. “And we can always play with the squid since everyone else is deserting the poor dear.”

Drew stopped as the thestral backed up. Was he right and things weren’t what they appeared or was this simply a younger member of the Hogwarts herd who hadn’t ventured out of the forest much? Either way the uncertainty in the creature’s actions was clear. While he knew that the thetral wasn’t truly threatening, Drew knew it would be foolish to push things. Best just to assume it was a ‘regular’ thestral for now and not spook the animal more. Speaking softly he said, “Easy…I won’t harm you…in any way. Sorry I don’t have a nice rabbit for you as a peace offering, but I wasn’t expecting to see any thestrals here today with everyone around. Maybe you’d like to meet my friend Zephyr hmm? And we could all fly together…get away for a little while.”

Shrugging his shoulders at Zoe’s disappointing reply Seb decided to let her be. There would be plenty of time for flirting later on. Glancing down at the circle and back up at Toru, Seb grinned widely. “Helps with the incantation. Er, for water breathing. I can cast it on a number of people, who else is coming?” Looking around he realized the others seemed to be pretty occupied. It would have been fun to dive with a group but if the mermaids were territorial perhaps it was better the group was actually only a pair.

Still, Seb would make it a point to be more social once the excursion was completed. Hopefully someone would at least share a blanket with him beside a fire. That was, if he didn’t fall madly in love with a mermaid and want to live underwater forever… It was unlikely as Selkies were said to be comparatively attractive, but Seb had been looking forward to the day he would see any variation of mermaid for so long it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “About how long do you think we will be out? The more hours, the more circles.”

Keeping an eye on Nerfi across the lake, it seemed she was making friends. Seb would dive more confidently if he knew she was also enjoying herself. It was mostly his incessant whining that got her to agree to travel here this summer with him in the first place, it would be lame if she weren’t having at least a little fun. So far so good. Seb was very ready to get the underwater party started. He even zipped his wet suit up the rest of the way for good measure.

"Yes, I t-think it's just y-you and I f-for this t-trip. Lily and F-Flora mentioned t-they were o-only going to s-swim near t-the surface." Toru said absently. They had noticed Lily had a service dog and assumed she had some sort of illness that kept her from being able to dive. It seemed like the most likely answer anyway.

"U-Um..." The smaller student pursed their lips and thought. It would probably take 15-30 minutes to where they planned on going, depending on pressure, they could spend about an hour or two interacting their cousins, and maybe an hour to resurface so they didn't get the Bends. They wouldn't be deep, deep diving, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Not that the nurse couldn't fix them right up, it was an illness Toru never wanted to experience. "M-Maybe 3 hours t-total?" They said holding up three fingers to confirm.

"I'd like to think you were talking about me instead of the squid, but I won't be narcissistic." That was Seba's forte after all. The Egyptian girl propped herself up a bit and glanced at her new guest with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm Nefri Sheba, from Alexandria Academy of the Arcane Arts." She added wink for flare of her introduction. "And what would your name be, Princess?"

The punkish girl was nearly as red as her bikini she was wearing, It was absolutely adorable and endearing. Nefri was curious if she could push the envelope a bit more and get her a shade darker.

Oh that sounded like they absolutely wanted to be flirted with. That made things easier. Maybe. 'Well, yes.' She grinned sheepishly. 'But I didn't want to be rude. Tamara Darkhorse. Tam or Mar is fine. And I go to Hogwarts now.' She blushed even deeper at being called princess again, a small smile escaping her. Nefri sounded like, actually interested in her. Wow. She should probably stop acting like a complete dingbat and have an actual conversation.

'I, uh, just moved here from America,' she explained, mainly to have something more to say. 'So I don't actually know much about Hogwarts yet. It seems pretty cool though. Big ol castle.' Was she babbling? Did that classify as babbling? She blushed and pressed on. 'How are you liking it?'

((I can’t seem to brain as they say, so er lol very short reply))

Oh yes… swimming,” Lily said sounding distracted. She was grateful for Flora’s solidarity. “Sounds fun.”

Then another girl arrived. “Hi,” she said to Phlox. “I’m Lily.” She gave her best smile and tried to ignore the others on the shore preparing for the dive. Punk girl was now looking soggy sitting near Nefri.

Blade was rather thankful Drew didn’t have a rabbit for him. He didn’t fancy the idea of eating raw meat. He made little nicker and inched a little closer. He liked the idea of flying with them so he gave the boy a slight bump with his head. His cat did it all the time to him. It seemed natural, right? He added a stamp of his foot like as if he was saying “come on already.”

“That’s fair, murky depths aren’t everyone's idea of a fun dive. I get it.” Seb crouched and dug three more circles in that overlapped on another inside the original design with the hilt of his wand. Not the most gentle thing to do with ones wand, but the dark wood didn’t seem much worse for the wear. Standing back up he appeared satisfied with his work. “OK, so are you ready? When you are, if you want. We stand in the circle, I say the incantation, we get in the water. It doesn’t happen.” He snapped his fingers. “Like that, but pretty quickly. Good idea to just go under.” He held up his hand, and indicated one of the golden rings. “This is my timer, important for, well timing.” He held out his hand to them. “It’s a breathing water spell by the way. You don’t have to hold my hand. I just thought it would be campy.” Seb laughed and waited to see if Toru would take his hand. Fully prepared to be un-offended if declined, they seemed pretty shy and Seb was kind of a lot.

Toru and Seb's dive didn't go...well. At least Toru didn't think it could have gone as well as it should have gone. Toru had planned of alerting their cousins in the lake they were there for a visit with a song, It was a common way for merfolk to signal and call each other with music. Toru had requested Sebakhin to cover his ears for a few moments, just in case their voice had an affect on him. Their request had been more of guidelines to the guest. By the time nightfall would have rolled around vocal song would have completely worn off Seb, but Toru was a little moody that someone had found out their family secret.

The Hufflepuff had shower and changed back into regular clothes and grumpily sat down by the fire. It would be foriegn for students who knew Toru to see them in this type of mood. Normally they were calm or shy, but never really upset or grumpy. Blade might have seen them grumpy, but they were together almost all the time being in the same House both at Hogwarts and at home.

Nefri had a wonderful afternoon. She got to see a massive squid for several hours and not to mention had found a cute girl to flirt with (and one that actually flirted back!) for the trip. She had changed back into regular clothes, though her top still showed lots of her dark tanned flesh. The Egyptian had also changed her hair with a spell to alter the colors of her highlights to a pretty pastel rainbow... just to make it completely clear to Tamara her flirting was more than being friendly.

Sure Toru had asked Seb to cover his ears, and he had, for maybe a minute. But the temptation was too strong and after hearing the symphonic sounds radiating from the small person he had absolutely no regrets that he had lifted his hands. How could he have been so blind? There were merpeople at the bottom of the lake yeah, but there had been a real life merperson entertaining his company this entire time.

Even hours after the effects of the song had lifted, Seb still couldn’t help but stare in wonderment. He remembered stories about people falling in love with aquatic race and either drowning or transforming themselves into a fish to commit to a life underwater. But he hadn’t ever heard of a merperson able to walk on land. It was incredible and in Seb’s mind Toru had transformed from a nervous kid into someone who commanded the utmost respect and adoration. Once the magical infatuation had worn off Seb found it too passe to outright ask Toru how it was they had legs. But perhaps if they ever stopped being mad at him he would get a chance.

Seb could tell Toru was bothered, and for good reason. They had a secret, and now that secret was out in the hands of a practical stranger. But Seb wasn’t in the business of spreading rumors. When the others asked about the mermaids, Seb only stared at Toru when offering his opinion. “They were incredible, beautiful, even better than expected. I’m beyond honored to have met them.”

After a shower and a change of clothes Seb plopped into a spot beside the fire, soaked in the warmth, and produced a small pouch that he emptied into his hand. It was an assortment of small stones, different colors and sparkling. “I picked these up, a little something for everyone. I hope I counted right.” He grinned and held them out for others to choose from. Seb was by nature a collector and even under the spell of a mermaids seductive song, still managed to scavenge these shiny items from the lake bed before they had resurfaced.

Blade came out of the tent stretching. He'd been reading after his own adventure. But he was starving so he figured he had to be somewhat social if he wanted to eat. Plus he'd promised to hang with Toru and he was a man of his word. He filled his bowl with something called chilli according to the little sign beside it. He also picked up plate of foods he knew what they were and made his way over to Toru. He saw the mood right away. "What's got your knickers in a twist?" he asked so delicately.

He gave Seb a glance. He wasn't sure what Seb's game was. Offering stones? Seriously? Then Blade began to piece a little together when Seb had mentioned mermaids. But Toru wasn't that stupid to take strangers down to the mermaids were they. He looked at the perturbed sibling and in a curt voice said, "Toru, tent--NOW."

Magnus had been distracted with art and hadn't paid attention to anyone. He was finally drawn to the group with the smell of food and made his way towards the smell. He piled a bit of everything on his plate and sat down to begin eating.

(will bring Lily over soon-ish))

Toru had their hand propped in their hand a bit watching the fire and doing everything in their power to completely ignore Seb. Perhaps they would draw just to give more of a 'don't talk to me' aura, but Blade sat beside them and their mood perked every so faintly. At least until the redhead turned to them with a tone that implied there was little room for argument about meeting in the tent. They slowly got up and brushed off their jeans before following Blade back to their tent.

At least they could get their sketchbook whenever Blade finished 'talking' to them.

Seba's best friend merely arched her eyebrows at the scene that folded out before her. She delicately plucked a pretty yellowish stone from his hand and tapped it to her lips curiously as the Sunbeam retreated with their red-headed sibling. She leaned close to Seba and whispered. "What happened exactly?" Toru and Seba had both been acting odd since their return from diving, and naturally she was incredibly curious.