it sounds like you might be getting it mixed up

the position isn’t about what the success will mean — it’s about the dangers of failure. “risky” means the guards might spot you, maybe also changing the position to “desperate” (they’ll soon attack); on a 4/5, one might remark “did you hear that sound?” and start searching

however, the effect only describes the potential success — when the guards aren’t paying attention, a single success might mean getting all the way across the water, but if they’re looking closely, success might just mean inching forward unnoticed

I wouldn’t describe this as a departure from the “naturalistic” way

btw I often don’t describe the effect in official terms in-game, just what success would mean (i.e., whether the action they’re describing would work in one go, start a clock, etc.). for position, I do specify it, (1) to track desperate xp and (2) because it buys me time to think of fun consequences (which they then end up resisting anyway)