Lena nodded in agreement, "I saw Drew coming from there with a bucket," indicating the other side of a changing tent. "Let's see what we can find."

Her feet sinking slightly with each step through the warm sand, Lena sighed enjoying the beginning of this wonderful day at the beach. "Do you and your family visit the beach much? I'm just wondering what kind of expert sand craftswoman I am working with today."

The way Callista spoke was a bit off-putting, but he couldn't totally tell why. It was too formal? Too polite? He quirked his brows, not sure how to feel about it. But one thing was clear, she was trying to be nice and friendly. And Jona had already acted like a selfish turd once today. Cringing inside from the reflection of his actions earlier today, Jona smiled a big toothy grin at Callista and said, "Millie's fine. I'm a little jealous, though. She;s really getting to be one with nature!" He laughed at his joke then beamed with pride as he said, "And yeah, Zoe's my best friend! Was my only friend till I met Toru." He nudged Toru with his shoulder, keeping his movements slower than normal as he was aware of the stingray. "Seems like you've known Toru longer than I have, though. Where'd you guys meet?"

In response to Toru's question, Jona began "Well, yeah, but, I mean - woah!" Upon first glance, Jona didn't think much of the caped creature, but now that he was really looking he definitely found it cool. He tried to get lower without spooking the stingray so that he could look underneath it, too. Successful in his glance, Jona looked up at Callista and Toru and giggled, making the air bubble around his head gently quake.

"His mouth is on his belly!" Obviously, this was Jona's first time seeing a stingray. "Back home - er, I mean, back in the States, my mom used to take me and my brother out to the coast some weekends. The water was always really cold, so we didn't go very far out. And most of the time we were barely there for an hour before we had to head back." Jona stretched out his fingertips and let the stingray glide gently against them. "I think my brother would've liked this," he whispered, almost to himself.

Walking along with Lena, Flora smiled and tossed back her hair as a slight sea breeze blew across them. “It’s been just me, Mum, and Da for years now…until Aunt Laurel, Uncle Rich, Drew, and Bridget moved back…and we only went on vacation when Da was free from work. Mostly we just went to my grandfather’s castle but the lake was too cold to swim in,” she told Lena. “I’ve been to the beach a few times, but I’m not an expert or anything. But I can promise that I can make more than a single tower or two,” she grinned.

Zoe looked for Jona but he was gone. She felt a pang. He hadn’t even said anything this time. Hadn’t she asked to have some time with him? Deciding that maybe she was just holding him back and was in the way, she started swimming away from everyone and headed towards the beach.

Blade dived down and came back with a conch. He extended his hand offering it to Niamh. “Would you like it?” he asked blushing a little feeling like too many people were watching him being nice.

Smiling down at Flora, as they reached the beach wares, Lena began sifting through the various shapes and sizes of buckets, funnels and cups. Stacking them small inside large. "Experts or not, between the two of us we should at least be able to make a good sized something." The teen chortled briefly. She understood not having someone to play with. "It was only me and my parents for a long time too. Then my little sister came when I was seven. She wasn't much fun at the beginning but when she got bigger she and I had more fun."

Adding a few things to the growing collection of sandcastle building things, Flora smiled and said, “I bet we’ll have a nice looking castle by the time we’re done…or ready for lunch…whichever comes first.” She laughed. At the older girl’s comment about a sister, Flora said, “You have a sister? What’s her name? I’m still an only but with Drew and Bridg nearby I feel sort of like I have an older brother and younger sister now. Drew sure acts the part at times.” She rolled her eyes. “Though Aunt Laurel says that even younger brothers act bossy and protective at times,” she grinned thinking about her father and aunt and their relationship.

Lena laughed at Flora's excited response to the mention of her sister, "Her name is Isobel. She's nine years old. She works hard at being underfoot a lot, but that's okay. I miss her when I'm at school."

Looking over their little pile, Lena tilted her head to the side, "What do you think. I think we are all set to start construction." Gathering a few of the stacks, Lena waited for Flora's decision.

“Bridg is nine too,” Flora smiled. “But that’s not that much younger than me. She’s fun to play with. We both like to ride horses, though nothing like Drew, and walk and play in the gardens at the castle and manor house. I haven’t really had time to miss her yet because I’ve been so busy with lessons, but she misses me. I’ve already gotten an owl from her. I’ll have to write and tell her all about this trip once we get back.”

Taking note of their selection, Flora nodded. “This will be enough,” she said, taking some herself. Together the two girls started walking to a likely looking spot.

Outfit Not Found

Callista smiled with a lot of relief. "I'm glad she's all right--Millie, you said?" she asked Jona. "The stingray is really cool. I like animals. He's surprisingly friendly, too."

She glanced back down at the stingray, who was taking all this human attention extremely well.

"I haven't actually known Toru that long, but we bonded fast. I helped them with a difficult spell in the old Transfig prof's last lesson, which really wasn't geared for people much under fourth year, and then they found out that I speak Japanese. If we ever annoy you like that you can tell us to knock it off, though." She laughed.

"Now Toru's helping me. They're teaching me how to have fun in the ocean, and I really appreciate it. My sisters are hard to have fun with on the beach. One of them just wants people to look at her and the other one is too strong a swimmer for me to keep up with."

Walking back toward the water, Lena pointed at a spot just at the edge of the moist sand, and set down her load. "Issy likes to explore. It doesn't matter where or even that we have been there ten times already. Neither of us has ever ridden a horse though. Maybe you can show me how someday."

Surveying the area around them, Lena grabbed a flat disc and started smoothing out the sand. "I'll start this if you can grab us a few buckets of water." It would have been pretty simple to clear the sand and get water using magic but her papa always thought that was cheating, so she was going to at least start out the building by hand.

Kiara rolled her eyes at Magus again, but got distracted from replying by other conversations.

She looked up to see the stingray floating overhead, then looked back down to see a starfish by her hand. She ran a finger along one of it's arms, and it changed color to blend in with the rocks better. She peered under another rock, and found a crab. She pulled back rather fast from that one; she didn't want to get pinched.

((OOC: Sorry for disappearing! Life threw me a curve ball and I'm just now getting to the things I've missed. I can't say what the next few days will be so I'll have to just keep Lenore and Wayland out for now. I'm so sorry!))

Toru blushed dark remember that awful teal hair that they managed to cast on themselves. Jona probably would have laughed if he saw. "Callista-Senpai h-helped me b-big time." They gave Jona a small smile as he admired the big gentle creature. "W-We should p-probably let them get back to s-swimming..." There were plenty of other new fishy friends that they could meet and was glad that they had someone else who would join them. With a gentle pat on it's spine, Toru gently pushed the stingray off to meet others. The young Hufflepuff paused for a minute to feel the push and pull of the water and began swimming slowly toward a brilliant reef that they thought their friends could manage the tide. They moved down to show them some brilliant looking flower-like plants swaying in the water. "T-These are Sea Anemone... T-They are actually c-creatures similar to j-jellyfish. M-Most cause a minor s-sting that won't hurt, b-but steer clear of any b-black or p-purple ones..." They gently ran their finger over a pale peach one and the little swaying tendrils curled inside of itself.

(OOC: No worries, my dude... Real life comes first! Hope everything smooths out for you soon.)

"Yeah! I'd love to join you guys. Let just go grab- oh!" Jona searched around frantically but didn't see what he was looking for. He began getting increasingly worried as he continued to look around. "Sorry, I don't see Zoe anywhere. I'm gonna go look for her," he told Toru and Callista and then he was off.

Jona swam up next to Millie to briefly ask if she saw where Zoe went. Then he caught a glimpse of blue backtracking the way they'd come, so he bolted on ahead while shouting Zoe's name. Was she okay?? He swam faster.

"Let's see what we can find first, before we spend our galleons" Mallowsweet said to Magnus. "Hunting for them sounds like fun, and maybe we can all build a big sand castle together later." Happily she followed Drew's lead, looking where he pointed and placing her hooves carefully to avoid crushing a fragile shell. soon they were awarded with a array of small but brightly colored shells and other flotsam. (OOC forgive the time displacement... I have trouble keeping up. Just pretend this is happening before Magnus went swimming)

(( its all good robin hood ;) ))

Magnus giggled at the eye roll.

"Okay, but if you don't find shells or want more, lemme know," Magnus said.

When Zoe finally heard Jona, she turned at stopped. When he caught up to her, she said, "it's okay, Jona, I got the message. I'm nee upset but ye'd rather be with others so I'm just gonna go and let ye hang out with them. Do nee worry about me." She smiled to show she harboured no ill will on him.

Outfit Not Found

Callista looked over at Jona and Zoe, puzzled. "I thought Zoe liked me," she told Toru, sighing. "Did I really upset her that much? I was trying to help. I thought she was at least a little relieved when I told her she could at least rule out the things she knows she doesn't want to do."

She shrugged. "Be glad you don't have to make those kinds of decisions yet, Toru. Enjoy second year! I wish I'd spent more time having fun in my first couple years here."

((Ooc - hey guys. I’m house sitting for a friend this weekend and haven’t been able to find her WiFi password, so I can’t log on via my laptop. Trying to type out a whole post on my phone is a little difficult. I’ll try to find the password and log on when I can. Just wanted to let you all know, so you didn’t think I was ignoring you all.))

Jona was totally confused and felt like he'd done something terribly wrong. He grabbed Zoe's elbow and floated up to the surface where they could talk outside of the water and their bubbles.

"No, no, no, no, no! I don't want to hang out with other people. I mean, yeah, I do. But, I want to hang out with other people with you. I just had this realization recently that you're kind of the only person I can call a friend at Hogwarts. I'm friendly with a lot of people. But right now I feel like you'r my only real friend. And this is like your last year at Hogwarts so I'm kind of freaking out that you're going to leave and then I'm going to be left alone and I don't mean to drag you into my emotional chaos and I don't want to make you feel bad I'm just tired of being alone and all I want are some friends because I haven't heard from my mom and brother in two years and none of the kids in Glasglow like me - they hate me! - and I'm afraid that I'm just a burden on my uncles and one day they're going to realize that and then I really will have no one and I-I-I-" The flood of words and truth came all at once and with them came tears. The only reason Jona stopped when he did was because he started getting the hiccups. And there he and Zoe stood, shoulder deep in the water, as Jona poured all of his emotions into the sea surrounding them. He knew Zoe loved him and all, but he was so afraid of how she'd react to this.

((no worries))

Zoe was unaware that Callista was worried she didn't like her, which she did. Instead she felt she was holding Jona back and he really wanted to make other friends.

"Ye ditched me twice, Jona. Once without saying a word," Zoe said. "So I thought it was obvious I was in ye're way." Her heart was breaking in two with his words. "I know its my last year and it hurts. I worry about ye and myself too. Ye're my only close friend. I'll be all alone once I leave Hogwarts and ye'll move on and so will everyone else. I'll be forgotten again, with no idea what to do with my life or how to support my family. Ye know I've never even had a date? I'll probably wind up single with 40 cats." She frowned. "I do nee want ye alone Jona, but I do nee want ye separating from me before I even leave. I really do nee want to lose my best friend, my quirky adorable little brother just yet. I'm sorry ye are struggling, i really am... I wish I could help ye. I'm barely functioning right now." She gave another frown but was holding back tears with all she was worth. "But know I will be there for ye, if ye want me. I can entertain ye during the holidays..." She wanted him to want to be with her once she was gone but really didn't believe it would last. Everyone forgot about her after all.