The Sealiest of Times || Tex & Skyler
The sun beat down on the fine white sand. Soft, rolling waves broke on the shore, reaching out and falling back in a natural rhythm. Skyler dug his toes into the warm sand, reveling in the warmth and taking in the wondrous view around him. Summer was going strong with bright clear skies and days so warm that heatstroke was becoming a real concern. The boy wizard loved it all. Growing up in a tiny rural town surrounded by hills which was as far from the ocean as possible, living on an island still felt like a dream. The images on the net and the scenes in movies were so unlike being there in person. It was almost a completely different concept to Skyler; he always thought he knew what oceans were all about until he actually went to one. What hit him the hardest was the smell of salt. It was in everything, in the sand, in the water, in the air. Sometimes it’s not very noticeable but it’s always there. The second was how alive the ocean was. Looking at it in movies, it seemed like a big collection of water, beautiful but lifeless. Being here, looking out at the world before him, he could see the things that were always left out of frame. The tiny crabs scuttling across the sand, the starfish wading through the shallows, the dolphins leaping and splashing on the surface. Everything was riddled with energy and life.
A loud splash tore Skyler out of his musings. Out on the horizon, he could see something emerge out of the water. Sparkling and shining under the sun, he could make out a shape that was a little too rotund to be a dolphin. He squinted as he walked toward the water. It swam just under the surface and seemed to be not too far away. Skyler shielded his eyes from the sun and saw the creature surface again. He breathed in sharply when he realised what it was.
“Seal! Seaaaal!” he exclaimed, sprinting into the shallows. Warm, salty water splashed up around him until he was wading through. He dived under an unbroken wave and swam in the direction of the seal. They weren’t an uncommon sight around here but nearly every seal Skyler met on this island were really cool. They would play tag with him, especially when the herd of young pups come to visit. Some would prefer to leisurely swim amongst the coral, and one old seal would only stick around if Skyler fed them clams. It was always a great time hanging out with the seals. They seemed more intelligent than other animals, sometimes that was. He bobbed his head up out of the water and looked around for the seal he saw.
@lookapooka
