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She chuckled at Aphi's joke about the sand dollar. It wasn't a fake giggle like the ones she humored annoying customers with, but a genuine, from the belly and soul, chuckle. Natsuki was a sheer fool for a great pun or lame joke, probably because she had a similar sense of humor. Sand and salt water clinged to her body, as the waves broke upon the shore, spraying them with mist. She started pushing wet sand into a large, flat plateau.

"The best thing about making sand castles, is that you can use your imagination," Natsuki said, as Isi positioned himself beside the plot. She hoped that she could make up for her previous faux pas by enjoying building with Isi. "How about we first work on building up the castle, and then we can search for shells after? We can also add more after we find some awesome accents for our work."

The seabreeze was so refreshing. Though Natsuki enjoyed her time alone on the beach, spending time with Aphismet and company was equally rejuvenating. She was tempted to invite Rivener to join them, but she decided it might be best to let sleeping scorpions lie.

Isi positioned himself in a way that he didn't cut off the circulation from his legs. If he sat like that it would mean more trouble for him if he wanted to stand or get up. The downside of sitting with his legs out like this was that their weakness was obvious. It didn't look like they had much muscle at all and they seemed very thin, as if they could break at any moment. They contrasted strongly against his arms, which were strong with clear defined muscles coursing underneath his skin as he reached out to dig his fingers into the wet sand.

"Um..." Isi muttered aloud, "A castle with turrets and windmills and lighthouses. A fortress of dreams against nightmares washed up on the shore from the ocean-like mind that trembles and breathes like the human it belongs to." Isi looked up then from where he was digging out the moat in front of the castle's base and grinned widely, "Courtesy of Isi's creative brain."

Bobbing out again in the waves, Eiry finally sunk himself underneath the waves for the first time. It took some effort, because he kept popping back up to the surface, but after a couple tries he finally managed to sink himself below the waves. When he did, his fox-fire wings extinguished, but Eiry didn't care. There was an entire other WORLD underneath the water! Eiry thought that water was only for watering plants and for the two-legs to take baths and showers. But underneath here there was more sand but it floated and shifted with the sea. And there were rocks and the shells that Eiry was looking for. Reaching down to sift his hands through the sand below, he made sure he kept his head near the surface of the water because if he went too far down he's choke on some water that came down through the tube that he breathed through. Every time that happened he would pop up, choke aloud, spit out the water, and duck back down into the waves to collect the shells. Once he found one, he would come up and announce his discovery.

"It's shell! I found a shell! And it's white with bumps and it's pretty and smooth!" A splash as he went down underneath the surface again and another as he resurfaced, "An this one's weird! It's not shaped like any of the others. It's color is like a rose."

Aphi knew it was probably best to defer to Natsuki in this whole castle-building business; she must have made thousands throughout her life. It was hard not to agree to Isi's grand scheme, though. He smiled apologetically at the younger boy.

"We'll definately try, but you'll juts have to tell me what to do as we go along. I already forgot most of what you said, and it sounded very ambitious indeed! But, let's also listen to Natsuki's advice, she must be a castle-making expert." He turned his smile to Natsuki as she came back with a mesh bag for Eiry.

Every time Eiry came out of the waves bearing a new treasure, Aphi looked over and Ooooohed and Aaaaaaahed appropriately. He found it funny how amazed the young Frei could be, how amused he got just by floating around collecting shells. Then again, he supposed when he was Eiry's age he probably did the same.

Rivener, on the other hand, reacted very differently. Every time Eiry popped out of the water with a splash and a sudden outcry, he'd flinch and look up, reflexively looking for danger around his little brother. Every time, it was just Eiry being an over-energetic youth. Frowning, Riv finally sat up and called out in a slightly annoyed tone: "Eiry, stop yelling! I keep thinking something's wrong and I can't sleep!" He plopped himself down on his stomach and Harrrrumphed.