[ from the world of skate matcha ]

the ocean is deep and deadly, but this place of winking sunshine and frothing sea foam is soft like a dream. choose a souvenir:

• coral fragment (x1) blushing pink like the sky at sunrise, and chipped off a spine of limestone. the merfolk that left this place to ruin are long gone, but the bones of the reef are as alive as they've ever been. you cradle this piece of life in your palm, and the blooms of sea grass pulse and drift in time with the waves, as if waving hello
• jade vase, cracked (x1) sealed shut and polished to a shine, cool and blue like a river wreathed in mist. despite its age, the vase is still mostly whole. there are thin cracks slivered over the surface, like clouds marbling over water. you're not sure what's inside; when you hold the vase up to your ear and shake it (gently, gently), the only sound you can make out is the faint howl of the wind, the crash of the tide against the shore. you don't know if you should smash it open
• giant pearls (x3) monstrously large, yet treasured by the merfolk who once inhabited this place. when the skies are violet with twilight and the sun is tiptoeing below the horizon, they shimmer like dewdrops, or miniature moons. when the light passes over them in softly glowing prisms, they take on the hue of quartz and roses. even when the sea is dark, they seem to flicker and flash with some kind of inner flame
• crystal flask (x1) a flask of cut glass, glimmering with sea-shine. the flask appears to hold nothing but water and gushing streams of bubbles; puffs of air beating against the glass like the wings of trapped butterflies. you can't tell where the bubbles are coming from, though the bottom of the flask feels warm to the touch, like a smooth river stone left out underneath the summer sun
• seashell, flowering (x2) the stone fountain surrounded by a ring of crumbling columns no longer holds any water, but the shells crowning the structure are as vibrant as ever. ripples of sun-gleam float in through the gossamer-blue veil of seawater, and the shells glisten like sapphires. the ribs and whorls of the seashells are folded over each other like flower petals