Between hiccups and sobs, Jona whimpered, "Zoe, I'm sorry. I'm- I'm sucha bad friend." This was all he managed to say before another sob wracked his little body. And now knowing how Zoe felt, he cried for both of them. Using the backs if his hands, he tried to wipe away the tears, but every time he thought he was done the tears returned with full force. "I'm gonna do better from now on. I'll try my best!" He smiled then, through the tears and snot that streaked his face.

"Ye are not," Zoe said firmly. "And I love ye." She hugged him. "That's why I thought we were gonna swim together, so we could make the most of it. But Let's try forget the end of the year, it's not till before next summer and have fun. And we'll see if we can add to ye're friends okay? i'll do my best for ye."

Kiara swam over to were Toru was, and watched the sea anemone they were talking about. "I thought they all stung like jellyfish, so I've never touched them before," she admitted. "I also stepped on a sea urchin once; not fun." She reached out and touched the sea anemone very gently. "How do you know so much about the ocean, Toru?"

Toru watched Jona swim after Zoe and then heard Callista talk about how she'd upset the blue-haired girl. "Mmm... I-I don't think it's t-that..." They could tell that Jona was struggling with it being Zoe's last year, and knew (well in theory) these things take time. Toru never really had friends growing up, much less a best friend, but could imagine it would be like losing a member of your family when you're that close. They doubted they could fill Zoe's shoes when she left, but they would try to help Jona with their grief.

The girl that introduced them on the beach swam up. Toru was glad she decided to join them. "T-They do all sting. S-some species' venom is so d-dull y-you'd have to t-touch them for a long time b-before you felt it." Kiara asked how they knew so much about fish and the ocean and their face went bright red, even disappearing into their wet suit. "M-My grandfather t-taught me." It was an honest answer but hoped they didn't pry too much further.

(Take your time)

Suddenly Blade dived, and Niamh wondered what had caught his eye. She certainly wasn't expecting him to return with a conch shell. "Thank you," she replied with a surprisingly large grin as she took the shell, "I used to collect a shell from each beach I'd been to when I was little, but none of them looked as good as this one." She had a strange urge to give Blade a hug as a thank you, but resisted as she wasn't too sure how he'd react to that.

(I meant to reply to this earlier, but kept getting sidetracked 😊)

"Nice!" Kaira said. "My grandfather isn't a very nice person," she wrinkled her nose as his commanding voice echoed through her brain. "He has a lot of... expectations. I get along with my grandma though! And both my grandparents on the other side of my family are cool but they're always traveling so I don't see them that much." Kiara didn't usually ramble like this, but she could tell that Toru felt uncomfortable, so she was trying to distract away from that. She peered around for something else to ask them about. "Ooh look at that one!" she said, pointing towards a seahorse with what looked like... algae? hanging off of it? "What's that one called?

and anyone else I've missed

Toru listened quietly glad she didn't pry further about their grandpa. They glanced in the direction she was pointing and smiled brightly. They loved seahorses, they were probably their favorite water animal of all time. "T-That's a Leafy S-Seadragon. The plant-like p-protrusions are actually p-part of their bodies. T-They serve a-as camouflage against p-predators!"

Outfit Not Found

Callista, too, was grateful to be distracted from drama she wasn't sure she ought to be part of.

"Hey, aren't you the girl who was playing with my cat?" She grinned. "Sabrina's a handful sometimes but I thought she would enjoy being out here today."

"That's so cool!" Kiara said, swimming closer but not so close as to startle the seahorse. "And so strange... " she reached out a finger very slowly, wondering what it felt like, but the seahorse shot away. "Oh well, I don't like strangers touching me either," she said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah I am," she said with a grin to Callista. "She's nice! And super cool. My cat is a little turd. I love him though. His name is Squirrel."

"You don't have to do that. You're more than enough friend for me!" He smiled and shrugged, the tears finally drying. "Plus, I'm a Hufflepuff. I'm told that means I'm great at making friends - I just gotta, ya know, not offend them all the time." He swung his arms around in the water, making circles web out into ripples. "Sooooo....he wanna keep swimming or do something else?"

"So if you get a squirrel will you name it Dog?" Callista laughed in spite of herself, and then frowned briefly when she too scared some of the pretty seahorses. "I like seahorses. I also approve of the part where the boys have to carry the babies."

She smiled at Kiara. "I'm Callista Zabini. You should introduce me to your cat now you've met mine. I'm glad you like her."

Toru giggled a little at their conversation, even though it was about cats. "Squirrel is a-a cute n-name." They admitted and began lazily swimming to show them more discoveries. Toru was a little unsure at what they would be interested in, but found a giant clam that was pretty interesting looking.

(sorry I couldn't think of more. lol I been at the yearly scrapbook expo and am kinda dead))

Blade liked that. “I have a collection myself. Glad you like it.”

“Aww,” Zoe said. He was calmer so she didn’t push it but she worried about him. “Very well. Nope, ye decide. Ye wanna hang with everyone?”

"I mean, if I tamed a squirrel, I'm pretty sure I'd have to. Just for consistency," Kiara said with a grin. "Nice to meet you! And you can definitely meet my cat, but he only shows up when he wants to, so it's kind of up to chance. That's why his name is squirrel. Because he squirrel's away somewhere and I don't know where he's gotten to."

She swam over to the clam Toru was looking at. "Do they all make pearls?" she asked, "Or only certain types?"

Callista looked at the clam. "I thought it was oysters that made pearls but...I also thought it was their way of dealing with irritating things that got into their shells. Is that right, Toru?"

"Welllll....." Jona thought for a moment. He looked at Zoe in her swimsuit and noticed a new development. "Ah! We never pit sunscreen on! You're getting all red!" And with that, he started heading to the shore to find some sunblock, noticing that his own skin had become just a tad darker.

((and everyone.))

Zoe frowned since she burnt so easily. She dried herself with magic. "Alright, we'll put it on, then go browse the shop till it soaks in then, yeah?"

Toru shook their head at the questions. "A-All clams and oysters make p-pearls. T-The world's largest p-pearl was made by a g-giant clam actually! It i-is about 34 Kg (75 pounds)." They nodded at Callista's observations though. "I-It is to help remove irritation, l-like sand, that g-gets into their shell. S-Some giant clams can live to b-be over 100 years old!" Toru was very excited that the other girls were showing interest in their favorite subject. Of course Callista was going to be dressing them up later for tea parties so perhaps this was a trade of interests?

Jona ran over and poured a generous amount of sunblock into his hands, running them together and then waving at Zoe with two pasty white hands. He waited for her to move her hair out of the way before running the lotion into her should and back then offered what was left on his hands for her to use on her front. At one point, he recalled Magnus's question about his relationship with Zoe, causing him to tense at her shoulders, but he shook it off. He'd never thought of her that way and now because of Magnus he kept getting hung up on it. Should he feel that way? But...he liked their friendship as it was. Besides there was such an age gap, there was no way Zoe saw him in that way. Feeling more resolute, he asked, "There're shops here?" Jona swung his head around to look; he didn't notice at first. In doing so, Jona noticed the girls from before and waved sheepishly at them, aware that his actions were a little rude before. Maybe he'd make it up to them by buying something at the gift shop.

Callista grinned at Toru. "I really love pearls," she said quietly. "A lot. I've replaced nearly all of the fake pearls on my brand with real ones--detachable, of course, for cleaning--and my great grandmother Melina has a necklace of pearls almost as long as she is tall, with silver spacers so they don't all have to be restrung at the same time--that was originally given to Ercole Zabini's second wife, who was shorter than she is. I have a long one too, but not that long. Cousin Blaise gave it to me for doing well on my OWLs."