Memento

“I really thought you’d be more into this sorta thing,” Worldling commented. “You used to love to collect rocks and shit from off the ground.”

“No idea why you’d think I have any interest in shells– it’s always only been obsidian.”

Worldling dropped his haul beside Abettance’s beach chair, then plopped down on the sand. Abettance didn’t even turn her head, continuing to bask in the rays delivered from the crystals above. Both of them loved the heat, so they were both delighted to be outside, and out of the water.

Worldling spread the significant pile of shells he’d amassed out in front of him. He liked to take souvenirs from the places he’d visited– and he was just about to begin his mission of choosing the perfect memento from the Forneus Sea. Well, this side of the Forneus Sea. He’d been to other parts, but had never been to the part most accessible from Burrowgatory.

Abettance, on the other hand, was just looking forward to a relaxing day with nothing to worry about and nothing to do. It had been a long time since she was able to just do nothing. With Worldling home, though, she felt it was appropriate to take time away from the tavern to spend time with him– even if all he wanted to do was look at stupid shells. She turned on her side to watch him carefully start to sort his piles.

“What’s your, like, criteria?” she asked.

“I just want a good one.” It was really hard to tell whether he was being vague on purpose to annoy her.

“That one’s pretty cool.” She pointed at a small cone. “I like the shape.”

Worldling picked up the shell he thought she was pointing at. “You have shit taste in shells.”

“Not that one, idiot.” She reached down and picked up the actual shell that caught her eye. “This one.”

“Hm…” Worldling took it in his hand, and passed it over the rest of the pile. “No, this one sucks, too. It’s better than I thought, though. I was worried I’d have to disown you for a second.” He turned to her with a grin.

“Didn’t you pick out all of these yourself, though?”

“Shut up.”

She laughed, and turned away. “Fine. Clearly, you don’t need my help.”

“Is that what that was? Yeah, I’m good without.”

“Fine.”

Worldling continued sifting in silence. He was coming up with a system– sorting into two piles to start: one for shells he knew he didn’t want (the broken ones, the ones with duller colours, the ones with uncompelling shapes), and one for anything that wasn’t a definitive no. When that was finished, he’d throw the discards back out towards the shore; and he would repeat the process.

In the middle of this, something came into his peripheral vision. He ignored it for a moment, but wound up flicking his eyes over. Abettance was hovering a finger just beside his face. He sighed, then turned his attention back to the task at hand.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You just sighed.”

“Oh. Huh. How about that?” Worldling did not look up. “What’s up with you?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just…”

Worldling sighed again, anticipating the end of the sentence.

“...I’m not touching you.”

“How old are you? That’s a stupid joke.”

“It’s not stupid if it bothers you.”

“It’s a good thing it doesn’t bother me.”

“Sure is.” Abettance’s smirk was audible in the sentence.

There was silence for a solid two seconds, before Worldling spoke up, again:

“Don’t you have something better to do than that?”

“Oh, absolutely I don’t.” Abettace laughed. “I forgot to charge my e-reader, so this is what’s happening.”

“Alright, then. I hope you enjoy wasting your time. I’m an adult, so this doesn’t bother me.”

“Whatever you say.”

Worldling tried to get back to work, but no matter what he did, he could see Abettance’s finger in his peripheral vision. And it wasn’t bothering him. The thing that was bothering him, though, was her intention. He could feel the anticipation radiating from her in waves, and it pissed him off. He couldn’t articulate it any better than that– in fact, he articulated it worse when he snapped,

“Okay, cut that out!”

Abettance laughed, poked him in the cheek, and pulled her arm away.

“Oh, yeah, big smart adult. Definitely not bothered by a little finger.”

“Shut up! I want to get this done before you get bored and want to leave.”

“Get sortin’ then. I wasn’t kidding– my book is dead.”

“Invest in paper.”

“Mind your business!”

Worldling went back to his self-imposed chore, and the pair bickered back and forth until they both forgot what he was doing. The pseudo-siblings set away from the shore, stranding their shells safely in the sand.