armistice

They had packed up their things, and had gotten all ready for the beach. He had packed a couple extra snacks, just in case they managed to run out. He figured that half the weight they carried was built up of snacks and food products, but he didn't care. There was always the possibility. The scent of brine and salt hit him and he wrinkled up his nose. Thankfully, his sunglasses protected his eyes from the salty ocean breeze. The seagulls whirled around in the sky, looking for their next meal.

The heat soaked deep into his skin, and he squinted. He preferred the cool chill of winter, but the warmth of summer wasn't too bad. If you were dressed well, of course. "It's hot." About as big a compliment as a sunny day would ever get, Ty trudged on, his feet dragging a little more as they hit the sand. This adventure was his idea, and he was starting to regret not taking his roommate somewhere else. Like indoors. Dropping his bag on a spot a short distance away from the shore, he stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the ocean crashing relentlessly against the shore. Stooping, he shook out two towels, laying them neatly out on the sand. The grains were burning by now, and it probably wouldn't feel too good to step on the ground barefoot. There were nearby beach umbrellas set out for patrons, and he uprooted one, carrying it back to their little campsite. Burrowing it down into the sand, Ty nodded in satisfaction at his temporary spot. "Well. There's the ocean. Have fun, I suppose."

Settling himself down on one towel, he wriggled himself around, trying to create a small hollow in the sand that he could fit himself comfortably into. "Yes, very big." It covered over half the world, of course it was big. Jaded to wonders like the sea, Ty felt indifferent to the whole thing. He supposed it was pretty, but not pretty enough to capture his attention for more than a couple seconds. Hadn't Levi seen the ocean before from afar?

"Go touch it. See if you can find any shells, here." Standing back up, he relinquished the comfort of his hollow, suddenly interested in finding a good shell to take home. Hands in his pockets, he made his way out to the shoreline, standing in the wet sand as the water swirled around his ankles. He could feel it trying to tug him back into the depths, and he stooped to hunt around in the sand. The sand that was deeper under the water was more prickly with broken shells and other debris, and he rummaged carefully until he latched onto a small, glittering piece of what looked like a pearl. It was a shell, of course, but it was dark grey, with a rippling overcoat of varying colours that changed with each movement. "Here. Look, it's a shell. I think its a mussel shell. Isn't it pretty?"

Ty's hand was siezed and drawn closer to Levi's face, and he watched with mild amusement. He hadn't thought it was quite that incredible of a find, but it was almost cute to watch Levi bounce around. Just as he was about to add something, Levi darted away, apparently to go find one of his own. He was about to call out to be careful, but stopped himself in time. It wasn't like he really cared, after all, right?

Dropping the old mussel shell in his pocket, he watched as Levi chased his prize and rescued it back from the ocean. Stepping close to Levi, he carefully took hold of the boy's wrist, examining the little whitish pancake. "It's a sand dollar. Mermaid money. Find enough and you can dry them out in the sun and string them up, you can make wind chimes out of them. This one is a very nice one, good job." It wasn't incredible, but he had definitely seen worse.
If there was one sand dollar around, there would probably be a couple more. "Maybe we can even find a horseshoe crab. Those are fun to spot. They look like armoured little pancakes with tails."

Ty didn't know whether horseshoe crabs had claws like regular ones, but he supposed it would be interesting to investigate. The closest he had been to one was looking at a very old petrified one in a museum. "Normal crabs do. I don't think horseshoe crabs do." Really, the only thing he remembered about them is they looked like massive bugs once they were flipped upside down.

Levi was staring at him again, and Ty stared back, his eyes narrowing, wondering what he was staring at. Tattoo. His hand immediately slapped over his shoulder, trying to hide the majority of his tattoo. His hand was fixed over the head, his fingers covering up the exposed fangs. He couldn't do much about the body, but he supposed this was good enough coverage for now. He had a tendacy to forget that he even had it — it was always hidden beneath his clothes, and once you were used to something like that being on your body, you tended to not think about it after a while. "It's nothing." Shrugging it off, Ty folded his arms, avoiding Levi as he stepped back into the water. Shuffling around further into the ocean, he nudged over a little rock, uncovering a tiny little starfish underneath. It looked paler than the live ones, and felt hard, too. Figuring it must be dead, he grasped the handful of sand that it was on, picking the uninteresting rocks away and washing the lingering sand off. "Here. Isn't it pretty?"

Allowing Levi to grab at his hand, Ty opened his fingers up a little more, displaying the little starfish more fully. "Dead ones are usually hard and pale. The live ones have more colour, and can flex their little arms and legs. " It was the same principle for people, really. When people died they lost their colour and mobility of limbs as well. He didn't think that starfish or fish really slept; when he had a fish tank, the fishes never stopped swimming around. They seemed to just be tireless animals, even though he knew that they somehow had to sleep.

"Yes. Though it doesn't look very happy about being abducted from it's home." That had to be the first live creature they had found in the water today, and from the way the crab was waving around, it didn't look too pleased about this development. "Be careful of the pincers, it'll get you if you're not careful." He bet Levi would have fun with a tiny fishtank in their dorm. It would be something to change the scenery, anyway. Maybe he could ... Look into finding the boy a present.