Auratail Mermay 2022

"I gotta lotta shells! I gotta lotta shells~" Tegwyn sings as she piles her new collection into a bucket. "I can't wait to show Vaughn! He'll be so happy with my lotta lotta shells~" she giggles and puts her favorite, a big shiny conch, right on top. 

She stands up and dusts some of the sand off her legs. She glares as this seems to do very little aside from moving the sand from one side of her leg to the other. She dusts some more to no avail and lets out a huff. 

Attempting to pick the sand off was a fruitless task, she knew that already from her attempts earlier in the day. There were also no towels to be seen, as she had left the ones she and her brother brought back at their little set up where Vaughn was resting. 

She doesn't want to get sand everywhere and it's starting to dry and get itchy and she wants it off!! 

She grumps and grumbles to herself as she grabs her bucket of shells and starts trying to figure out a way to get the sand off before going to her brother for a towel. 

She waddles on, almost dropping her precious cargo a few times but always getting back it all balanced again. 

The longer she wandered the more she wanted the sand to be off and away from her. The beach was starting to become less and less fun and she could feel the tears starting to sting her eyes. 

It wasn't fair. She just wanted to play at the beach! Not get covered in sand. And that's when she remembered! 

There was a super easy way to get the sand off her and that was the ocean! She sets the bucket down and almost runs right into the lapping waves but stops short. Vaughn had told her not to go into the water unless he was watching her or if they were together. That it could be really scary sometimes and he had to be there to protect her. He was really good at protecting her. But she didn't want him to see her all messy like she is. She's torn and getting more and more upset. 

She sits down next to her bucket of beach treasure only getting covered in more sand. Her lip comes out and the tears well up. A shadow covers her from the sun and she looks up. It was a lifeguard! 

"Hey there darling, you okay? Where's your mommy or daddy?" All Tegwyn can do is shake her head and let out a little sob. The lifeguard sighs and reaches down to her. "Can you point me to them sweetie? I'll take you back, ok? You're out quite aways from everyone else. I bet they're worried about you." 

Between sniffles and tears Tegwyn shakes her head again, "I don't got a mommy or daddy." then starts crying harder. 

The lifeguard looks the little girl over with concern, "Okay," they say slowly, "well who did you come to the beach with? I can take you to them." Tegwyn nods and stands back up grabbing her bucket. "Want to hold my hand?" The lifeguard offers it to her and she takes it, almost losing hold of her cargo again. The lifeguard shakes their head and holds out their other hand for it. Tegwyn hesitantly hands the bucket to her savior and they head back towards the rest of the beach goers. 

Vaughn is running around frantically when he notices them and rushes over picking up his little sister. "Where were you! I thought you were lost!" 

The little girl is so overwhelmed with being tired, scaring herself, and everything that happened that day that she starts crying into his shoulder and the lifeguard hands him her bucket of shells. 

"I found her over the dunes a little ways, she is probably ready for home I think." 

He thanks the guard and agrees. It was getting late and they had been there pretty much all day. As they walked back to their things, Tegwyn starts apologizing for everything, wandering off, being covered in sand, almost going into the ocean without him, ruining the day. 

He calms her and tells her that since she's okay, everything is fine and he's just happy she's safe but not to do anything like that again. 

She nods then yawns it had been a very long day. 

He sets her down and packs up all their stuff being real careful with her shells like she told him. When he's done he sees that she's holding up her arms to him and he snorts, she was such a baby some times, but he picks her up nonetheless and situates her in his shoulders. She hugs his head and lays hers against his, making sure she was situated between his horns. He grabs their things and tells her to hold on as they make their way home.