Kaimana had delved, yet again, into the depths of adventure by the sea. It was always so vast, so mysterious. She'd come at a different time; dusk, leading to night. It looked different than night time, somehow. She'd never been in a place that could take on such different forms based only on time. Rotating in a cycle... a cycle.

She padded alongside the shore. The OCEAN could speak, she'd learned. She wondered if it would speak to her again. Deliver her more pretties, more gifts. She wouldn't mind if it didn't, however. Compensating the entire flippin' ocean was no small task. Instead, she'd try to use her own wits to find something good. She didn't have to pay herself, because then she'd only end up with what she started with! A needless cycle. She prefered something pretty, or something tasty, instead. Yes, a nightfall snack might be nice.

If only she had a fisher-dragon, or any form of company, to join her. Then marveling at this massive world might be a little less lonely for such a small cub.

@Glaive ((bloop))

Alas, simply wishing did not change the tide of fate. Life would happen simply as it would. And it appeared that this day the little cub was destined to spend alone. She wouldn't always have to be this way, and she knew that. A thought as comforting as the feeling of soft sand beneath your paws after a long, hard day. With this peace in her heart, Kaimana decided to take a stroll.

She couldn't tell you how many times she'd done this. Being beside the water, looking at the things it washed up. Hoping for something tasty or something pretty or something, really, just anything to keep her busy. She often yearned to dive in herself, to feel that water lifting up every follicle of fur on her pelt. She longed for it. But truth be told, she was kind of scared. Every time she stepped in, she'd chicken out. Maybe she just needed time... or maybe she just wanted help. It seemed to easy for Glaive, and of course, it was only natural for the OCEAN.

Today she was looking again, for something nice. Something that would put a beautiful little shell over her vulnerable little heart. It ached out in this cold, empty world. She wanted warmth. And this... this was all she could think of right now.

Finding a fractured piece of shell upon the ground didn't take much skill normally, but at this level of darkness a decent eye was needed to spot such a small oddity among billions of grains of sand. She found it, by the glance of a shimmer, bouncing light that managed to bounce into her fixated eyes. Kaimana quickly uncovered and examined it. So nice, so smooth... chipped by something; impact, accident, anything could've harmed such a fragile fragment. That didn't stop the shiny back exterior from being what it was, nor did it stop that marble-like interior from holding the sheen it did. Despite its size, despite its situation, it was still impressive.

Kaimana was enchanted enough by it to carry it in her jaws a bit while she searched. Soon, she figured, she would make a pile of all she would find. It would be a very pretty pile.

Now to find more to add to it.

The next thing Kaimana came across would be a tiny sprig of something white, something very unlike sand. Hard, too hard for a mere paw step to crunch to dust. Hard enough to cause a bit of pain when Kaimana accidentally bumped into it, half-buried under the sand.

She crouched down to marvel at it. The texture, grainy, the color, white. Like a piece of wood but very different. It had a faint smell. It was similar to what kept the structure of a fish intact, but this specimen was thicker. She wondered what structure this helped to build.

The jaguar plucked it out from the sand gingerly, with ease, and tried to carry it with her bit of black-and-white shell. She found that a difficult task. Perhaps now was the time to built a pile.

She set up shop higher up on the shore, somewhere the outstretched paws of the OCEAN would not be able to reach with ease. The tide wasn't calm, wasn't low, but then again, neither was the land. She found a spot, and placed her collections in a careful mound.

For a moment she stared at the white structural rod. She'd had a fascination with these for quite some time. They were just so intriguing to her, so strong, and so secret. Special. When every piece was put together, it revealed something about the inside of the being that couldn't be seen from the outside. Intimate. Peculiar. It showed how one truly functioned, in a very literal manner. That was important. That was... beautiful.

Feeling somewhat more invigorated by the beauty of her finds, Kaimana went back to looking.

Nothing was found. Ah. Just as she'd begun to get excited, the OCEAN had taken back what the OCEAN had given. It was prone to doing so, to moving in those cycles, like bones did. Like shells did. Like conversations, and all things, and everything did. And like Kaimana's mood did; placed right back at the first melancholy square again.

There was no use in feeling upset about it. There was only simple moonlight to guide her forward, even if her heart felt hurty. She'd just keep going... until she felt tired. Yeah.

She didn't expect to find the next little treasure; it nearly ran out from under her foot and tripped her! Well, it actually couldn't move, but that didn't stop her paws from catching it and almost making her fall over. Unfortunately, her inability to see perfectly without light caused her to step on a sand dollar, breaking it into a few bits. A tad horrified at what she'd done, the cub stepped back and crouched down to look at it.

She decided to take the bigger unbroken chunk of it and add it to her pile. She couldn't exactly go back for the little pieces, because they would probably be impossible to see.

Then, she carried on.

@Game Master Dark

There on the shore lay a gemstone, perhaps washed up in a storm. It was a large hunk, but polished smooth: rosy-pink and mottled through with creamier tones. This Serandite was a fine treasure to come across.

@Kaimana

Oh...

This treasure Kaimana stumbled upon was not like the others. A bone or a sand dollar was pretty, but not as rare. This... this was a stone, it looked like! Lapped up by the OCEAN waves, delicately chiseled to perfection, and placed at Kaimana's paws as if she'd commissioned it from some artisan. Wow... this was so incredible! She had to keep it safe.

It was rather large. Not hard to carry. She would place it in the treasure pile for now, bury it so it wasn't the first thing one spotted. What an intriguing thing. What a gift!! How would she ever repay?

Perhaps by building something the OCEAN would like to look at. Using all the things it had brought her to make something new, and cool, and beautiful. It had given her everything she'd needed, hadn't it? All the tools she could've asked for: sand, water, and decorations.

She knew what she could do.

((+1 large hunk of polished smooth Serandite; rosy-pink and mottled through with creamier tones to Inventory))

A few shell fragments and an entire shell were the next to be found. Phenomenal! They glistened in the moonlight, with such intricate shapes. Surely, she could use them in decorating what she had in mind.

There was just one more thing she needed then. As every party needed both confetti and cake, this creation would require both decoration and... a finishing touch.

Anything would do, but could she find the right thing was the question!

Evidently, she could not. A shame. But the ocean had given her such a gift; how could she make it wait any longer? Then again, if her gift in return was not as good, how could she be proud of herself; how could that be fair? Ah, the age long debate of the capitalistic world: quality or quantity? Space or time? Time or effort? You always needed both, it wasn't like a choice was absolute.

But a choice did indeed have to be made.

Kaimana went searching again. This would be her last chance!