My feet blistered from the heat of the sand and the sun blinded me with an overpowering brightness. It's times like these that make me truly hate the summer season. And the beach. Especially the beach. If it wasn't for the fact that the current month brings such harsh tides to the surrounding area, I would never have gotten even remotely close to these forsaken sands. You see, I am not what you would call particularly "wealthy." Most wouldn't even dare to say that I am "Respectable," in fact nearly everyone I come across usually prefers to use the words "Tramp," or "Vagabond," and even "Scoundrel." I personally prefer the term "Adventurer." And right now, I am "adventuring" this beach for some of the oysters that tend to wash up during this season, and then I plan on taking any pearls that they may be holding so that I can make some easy cash in the next town over. Maybe then I could finally buy some boots that still have their soles on the inside.
I cursed under my breath as I shielded my eyes with an arm and began to wonder if suffering through this heat was actually worth it. I had been walking across this beach for almost an entire ten minutes and I still found nothing. This is almost too much effort for what it's worth. If I keep this up for much longer, I will undoubtedly pass away in a most horrible fashion from all of the heat. And that's when the sun will slowly cook my cadaver, and the salt from the sea will preserve it perfectly. The aroma of my lightly salted and roasted corpse will be irresistible to the birds of the sea. It will be at that point that they will flock to the feast that is my corpse and they will sate their hunger on the most delicious meal they will ever have in their lives. Damn I'm hungry. Maybe I could turn them into a decent lunch once i'm finished searching for pearls. First I need to find those oysters.
I continued my search across the shore, finding absolutely nothing. There were no rocks, there were no shells, and there sure as hell wasn't any oysters. Really now, where are they? Where is anything? All this beach holds is sand and salt. I kicked up some dry sand in my boredom and continued walking. Then I kicked up the sand again. And again. I decided to test my luck and deliver a large sweeping kick to the sand. I watched as the sand shot into the air only to have it blind me as a breeze blew it back into my face. I sputtered and coughed as I tried to wipe the sand away from my eyes only to have it rub in deeper and grind against my skin. I spat out the last bit of sand in time for me to trip over something hard and face-plant into the sand.
"Aww geez...what the fuck was..." I trailed off as I wiped some sand off my face and looked at my feet.
An oyster. It was a fucking oyster. I scrambled up into a sitting position and dug the rest of the oyster out of the sand. I grinned hysterically as I lifted the...oddly light mollusc into the air. I turned the oyster over and inspected it further. It was then that I noticed that it was actually not an oyster I was holding, but half an oyster. Shit. I chucked the shell back towards the ocean and sighed in disappointment as it fell just short, lodging itself into the wet sand in front of the tide with a soft "crack." Wait, that can't be right. I stood up and picked the shell back up. I glanced at the sand as the tide washed over my feet and concealed the small mark that was left by the shell. I gave the oyster a quick throw back into the sand, and another "crack" met my ears. I squatted over the sand and ran it through my fingers..
"Must be some pretty Hard sand," I muttered. I decided to dig through it to see what the sound was, but a third "crack" interrupted me. That's when I realized that I was a huge idiot, and that the sound couldn't have been coming from the sand. I shielded my eyes from the sun as I cast my gaze across the beach. Whatever it was that made that sound couldn't have been that far away. I noticed that there was someone in the distance, and they made a quick movement with their hands, almost as if they were slamming something into the ground. As they finished the movement, a soft "crack" echoed through the beach. Now I don't know what that person could be slamming into the sand that's hard enough to make an audible crack, nor do I know what kind of person could be strong enough to hit something into the sand fast enough to crack anything, but I did know that this person was the first thing I found during all my time searching. I stepped out of the tide to get back in the sand and walked towards that figure in the distance to get a closer look.
The first thing I noticed was that this person who was sitting in the sand was an odd shade of light blue. Huh. Furthermore, they seemed as if they were oddly transparent as well, and they appeared to be wearing a dress. Before I got the chance to inspect this strange figure even more, I discovered that there was a dozen or so shells laying in disarray at the person's feet, and a sturdy-looking rock was nestled in the sand in front of them. The person made another quick move, slamming a brown object against the rock's edge, issuing forth a solid "crack." They then pulled the object in two and inspected one of the halves. A girlish giggle left the person's throat as they daintily pulled a small, shiny orb out of the object, holding it between their forefinger and thumb as they looked it over.
"What a pretty pearl! What are the chances that I would find another one? If this keeps up, I can make a nice little necklace before I head back. Here, rest with all the others in the pile there," The figure finished their sentence by plopping the pearl into the sand behind her. Did she just say pearl and pile? The peculiar girl then picked up another brown object that, now that I have a closer look, is obviously an oyster.
"Woah woah woah! Wait!" I cried out, running towards the sitting girl; I couldn't just let her take all the pearls for herself!
"Hmm? Now who are you?" Her light voice greeted my ears and she placed the oyster down and turned to face me. Then it hit me that this person was not exactly human. You would think that the fact that she was an outlandish color would have tipped me off, but I'm not exactly the sharpest pea in the pod. Now that I can see this girl's face, or more accurately, see through her face, I could finally inspect her features accurately.
The girl's body was made of an inhuman color, as I mentioned earlier. Her feminine, pleasant face, her pupiless, carefree eyes, her shoulder-length hair and even the dress she was wearing. All of it was the color of the sea. Her figure was also oddly transparent, as if it was some clear ocean water. And about that dress: it seemed to clothe her loosely, with elaborate designs gracing the fringes of her sleeves and skirt. She was even wearing a veil with similar designs. Now that I think about it, the dress she was wearing looked a lot like a wedding dress. The strange transparency of her body and the cerulean shade reminded me a lot of clear water. And the strange way in which her body shimmered and lightly jiggled as it moved reminded me of Jelly. That might just be my hunger speaking. Now all of this is fine and dandy, but i'm a simple man with simple priorities, and right now my priority is wondering why this girl was wearing transparent clothes and was still able to hide her modest breasts all the while revealing the entirety of her thighs and...
The girl giggled again, snapping my attention back to her and away from her nether regions.
"Well? Do you like my dress?" She questioned, standing out of the sand, brushing the grains off of her knees.
"I always thought it was quite beautiful, It could always swim through the waves with such ease." A short twirl served the dual purposes of showing off her dress and figure.
"Wait, hold on a moment," I interrupted, causing her to face me once more with a small smile on her face. "I can see through you, your skin is blue, and you said something about your dress helping you swim. I don't know what you are exactly, so i'm pretty sure that you aren't human." The girl took a few steps towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Her touch felt oddly soft, as if it was some sort of gel.
"You're right, I'm not human," she traced a finger down my chest. "But you are," she leaned in close to my ear and whispered "And I think your people are just the cutest things."
I jumped back and placed my hands on her shoulders to hold her still. Her skin was soft and damp, and it felt as if my hands sunk into her shoulders ever so slightly. "Hang on a moment! Let's take a few steps back real quick." I took my hands off of the girl and continued. "I think you have the wrong idea here. All I want is to get my hands on some pearls, and I can't help but notice that you took them all for yourself." I motioned to the quite sizable pile of pearls that was resting in the sand.
"Oh, is that all you want?" The maiden took another step towards me. "Just some of my pretty little pearls? I have grown quite fond of them, and I would hate to just lose them. Maybe we could make a little trade. I'll let you have everything I found, and in exchange," She wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Maybe you could do me a favor?"
Now i'm not the most intelligent man, but I knew that she wasn't talking about anything particularly innocent. And if the fact that the girl was pressing her body against mine was any indication, neither was she. "What-uhh, what is it you want exactly?" I managed to stutter out; I had to make sure that she was actually thinking about the same thing I was. She hummed sweetly into my ear, sending vibrations from her breast into mine.
"I want to be your little pearl. I want you to want me," she emphasized this with a light peck on my cheek and smiled sweetly at me.