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Xanthophyceae was feeling particularly troubled. He'd been trying to taste some seaweed and see which drying methods worked best. However, the problem was that he couldn't swim and seaweed was not the most common thing on the beach--that would be sand. Everywhere sand.

It was a particular difficulty for him not to be able to get more seaweed from the source. How could he just use estimation in his scientific inquiries? He had no idea how long since any of the seaweed on land had washed up or how long it had floated before it reached there. Did this add water to the seaweed? Did it dry it out quicker?

However was he going to do this when he couldn't swim?

Xanthophyceae was looking into the water trying to figure out a way to get seaweed off the bottom when he saw the small stallion walking down the beach snacking on seaweed. He did not believe in luck, but this was certainly a good occurrence. It was obvious, to say the least, that the little stallion liked seaweed. Perhaps, he could also swim. It would be highly difficult for him to acquire a sustainable food source if he couldn't swim.

"Excuse me," he spoke courteously. "Did you get that seaweed from the beach or did you dive for it? I'm very interested in learning about seaweed." But perhaps, the other usidia wasn't knowledgeable. He hoped he was, it would make this whole situation easier.

"I'm Xanthophyceaa," he added as an afterthought.

"Oh! Good," he nodded emphatically. "Yes, Xan or Xanth. I answer to most things," his mind began to wander to the phrasing of his questions. How long did it take seaweed to make it to land from the bottom of the ocean. No, well, he couldn't ask that--not of this stallion, he'd have to have a mer who'd be willing to watch or grow fins himself...

"Sorry, pleased to meet you," he smiled as he forced his thoughts back into line. "Onigiri, isn't that...rice? Rice ball, or something like that?" It was quite an unusual name. "Were they planning to eat you? Is that why they--" he stopped himself short. "I'm sorry, that was..." He searched in vain for what the word was.

"I'm not very good with social interactions," he blushed crimson. "I didn't mean to imply that your parents wanted to eat you or even think you might taste good, not at all." He took a deep breath, "You see, I want to know about seaweed. How does it dry best? How long does it take? If seaweed is floating for days on the water, it would naturally be rehydrating and drying over and over. Does this change the flavour? Does it make it better or worse? Does it aid in storing it or does it not effect anything? Is it better to gather from the bottom of the ocean directly? How long does each process take in terms of drying? Are there certain spices you can use to flavour them? How long do they keep? Are there any poisonous ones?"

He paused for a breath and realized that his whole scientific spiel might be more than a little overwhelming. He apologized again, "I'm sorry. Maybe this is all a bit much. I know it's...I'm just very interested though I don't know how to swim. I should learn if I can ever find someone to teach me or figure it out myself. The mechanics of it should be quite...simple, I should think."

But he had learned before that practice and theory were vastly different. One could in theory charm bees, but in practicality one would likely get stung. He had learned that one the very hard way. It still made him itch to think of bees, or honey. Honey, never did taste right sense then...

He would have to experiment at some point if the receptors in the body decided to dislike a flavour as a defense mechanism or if it was all in one's head? That would be interesting experiment to make, but then how would one make it? Who would even want to participate in it? And how could he objectively figure out which it was?