Cozy Shell Hunt

Lian hummed softly to themselves as they meandered along the shore, pausing every now and then to pick through the sand at their feet. They’d spent a bit too long staring longingly out the office window at the pristine summer days crawling by, and their assistant manager finally got fed up and told them to use some of their vacation days. It had been totally worth it, of course; it always was, she just usually needed a little push to actually get a vacation in motion.

A few yards ahead of where she’d paused to dig out another shell, her uniqor Amalthea darted in and out of the surf spray, kicking its dainty hooves in excitement every time the water hit more forcefully than usual. Above, Francesca the chirop did loops in the sky before swooping back down to settle on top of Lian’s head. She hadn’t been able to bring all of her imps out to the beach, since they’d be far too much to keep track of, but these two were the most outdoorsy ones anyway. Amalthea was prissy to begin with and always got especially testy whenever it had to spend too long cooped up inside.

Not being overly outdoorsy themselves, Lian didn’t spend much time basking in the bright blue light of the day or doing more than a dip in the sea (their apartment complex pool was perfectly serviceable, and they could see the bottom there). Instead, their favorite thing was collecting the shells that washed up on the sand.

Where did they come from? What kind of creature had they belonged to? Nobody knew, and it was a delicious mystery. As far as Lian had always heard, nobody had found anything across the Forneous Sea, and nothing lived in Burrowgatory except buns and imps. Maybe, someday, they’d be able to explore beneath the water’s surface. Maybe they’d find something incredible.

Nobody could say, but Lian liked to imagine.

“What do you think this could have been?” She asked Francesca, carefully prying a large, mostly-intact scalloped shell out of the sand and brushing it off. She held it up for the imp to examine; Francesca chirped and hopped from the top of Lian’s head onto her arm to poke at the shell with its foot. She giggled as it grasped the edge of the shell and flapped its wings, trying to take the shell from her hand. She relinquished it after a small tug-of-war to prevent the shell getting damaged further, but as expected, it quickly proved too heavy for the chirop to carry off, and Francesca let it drop back into Lian’s hand. They carefully placed the seashell in their tote bag, alongside a few others that they had already collected, and continued down the shoreline.

A little further down the beach, they paused again as Amalthea came trotting up and pranced around in a circle to get their attention, signaling for them to follow it. They did so, and it proudly led them to a pristine sand dollar that it had found half-buried with the surf washing over it. Lian smiled and patted Amalthea on the head, earning a pleased wiggle from the uniqor, and then knelt to pick the sand dollar out from where it was lodged, brushing it clean of sand before placing it in their bag just like the shell before it.

They never had any particular goal when hunting for shells, nor any specific plan for them. They just liked collecting pretty and interesting things. They kept a box on a shelf in their apartment, with all of the shells they’d collected every summer nestled inside, and sometimes they took things out to take pictures for their blog or just admire, but beyond that the shells were just nice to have. It was a simple pleasure, and, importantly, it was free; vacation could get expensive.

Maybe she would do a little photoshoot for her blog with these new shells right when she got home. She hadn’t uploaded as many pictures of her imps as she’d have liked to either, since it was hard to get them all to sit still long enough to get good pictures, but maybe Francesca and Amalthea at least would be worn out enough after their frolicking to be well-behaved for pictures.

Yeah, a cute little photo set of the shells and imps, then she could spring for a nice dinner and relax with a new book afterwards. That sounded like the perfect vacation evening. Humming again, Lian continued meandering down the beach in search of more shells to suit their plans. Summer really was the best season.