Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cass was stretched out on blanket soaking up the ray's of this world's sun. She'd brought her young charge back to the place he'd come from so he could have a bit of fun and perhaps encounter those he had known before. Not that Xander had had much of a life before she'd stumbled through a door to the dream hatchery and adopted him. Despite looking like he'd just entered his teens he'd hatched only a few short weeks before she'd met him.

To be honest Cass still wasn't quite sure why she'd been selected to be the guardian of Xander. He was unique certainly and she'd always been more interested in those that strayed from the norm. But the seal spirit boy was an awkward fit on her ship in a lot of situations. That and despite the fact that he was approaching the age of maturation a pirate vessel was no place for a child.

It was nice then that the woman could find doorways back to this place and allow Xander a chance to actually be his age. Not that she minded the chance to be on land all that much either. While Cass loved the sea she came from world that was mostly ocean and her chances to stand on solid ground were few and far between.

~~

Xander had no idea what sort of things Cass was thinking. He was far to busy trying to build the greatest sand castle known to man to care either. The imaginarium complex held no interest for him but the nearby beach did. Here the manifest boy could bask on the seashore and entertain himself without being underfoot. He liked the crew of his guardian's ship but he hated that he was often in their way or unable to help with most tasks that needed someone with legs and not fins and flippers.

Xander eyed the horse boy thing that had collapsed next to his castle, he really hoped the other male didn't get up only to fall again and squish his hard work. The phoca spiritus was working hard to recreate one of the castles that he had seen on his travel's with Cass and her crew. It had been an impressive building and he was trying to do it justice.

"Thanks," he replied, shooting a pleased grin at the girl who had complimented his work. "Is he sick," he inquired nodding towards the tired looking taur boy. Xander didn't want to get sick himself, it had never happened but he had heard it was a terrible thing.

"I'm Xander, did you get cursed?" he asked Auden. Personally Xander thought he'd father die than get cursed to be a horse person. Most four legged things didn't swim very gracefully from what he had seen. Xander himself was pretty ridiculous looking on land, flopping and dragging himself about but he was perfectly at home once he'd slipped into some water.

When Alison had pointed to the castle he'd shaken his head. She didn't know what it looked like after all and besides it would be less special if he didn't finish it himself.. wouldn't it?

Ahh, so the other boy had used some sort of shapeshifting magic and it had backfired. It made Xander sort of glad that as of yet he showed no magical inclination. Someday he might like to use the sorts of powers he saw others have but for now there was so much else he had to worry about.

" Do you miss being able to swim properly then?"

Oh! well now that was impressive and while Xander felt his own body was superior for movement in water Auden's was clearly suited for it now.

" Swimming would be nice, we could race or look for things on the bottom of you guys can dive well." Having internal ears helped Xander with avoiding the sorta of pain and pressure some people experience when diving deep.

Xander had nodded when Auden asked about diving. You could go deep into the cold dark waters if you held your breath long enough. Xander himself couldn't breath underwater but he had been hatched with the ability to hold his breath with no consequences for quite some time.

"We can still have fun while being careful," Xander agreed. Maybe not as much fun but enough to be worth stopping his sand crafting for now.

The moment it was agreed upon, Xander abandoned his castle for the time being and raced for the water's edge. Bouncing and draging his body the seal boy made his way forward until the wet sand beneath him let him slide down into the water where he was quick to paddle into deeper waters that offered more freedom.

It was within the water that Xander truly felt at home and where he was most agile. As soon as his companions joined him in the water Xander was darting about, trying to circle them and round them up like some sort of underwater herding dog. He did this with fish and sea creatures sometimes but it was much more interesting with people.