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Jyuushimatsu counts his swings, which he claims he always does. “See, most people stay still while they ground themselves, but I just have to move!” The others seemed more actively witchy by night, but Jyuushimatsu always did his thing in broad daylight.
May as well ask. “Jyuushi?”
“Hm?” He keeps swinging, but he looks over with a smile. “What's up?”
“Why do you do your magic during the day? I thought the moon was important.”
“It is! But I think about it this way.” He lets this swing turn into a spin, and plops his tush down into the sand. “The moon reflects the sun, right? And we rotate around it. There are no cycles to follow, just an arc from east to west every day. It's bright, it's warm, it helps plants grow, so I think it suits me better! It's a big huge miasma of plasma that helps life live!” He holds his arms out wide. “Air, light, and the sea! It's kinda my jam.”
Jyuushimatsu's hands start running over the sand, and his eyes go wide. He pulls back a sleeve, fingers pressing into the grains, until he pulls up a large shell. “This is perfect! It's all whole, no chips! You know what this means, right?”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that I can make a protective charm out of this! I haven't been this excited since I found all that sea glass in one day! Come on, let's see what else we can find!” All you need to do is point out what you see, and he's there on the double to grab it. Shells, feathers, stones, nothing escapes your combined sight!
The instant you two arrive home, he's getting out tools to carve sigils into the shells, wire to coil around it, strings to bind his will to it.
“See, something happened at my seashore spot a while ago. Someone nearly made a big mistake, and the ocean kinda overpowered me. Guess it was the sea's will or something! Since then, I have been super into protective stuff! And since we're friends now,” he lets out a goofy little giggle as his cheeks go pink, “I want you to be super safe too! So this one is made extra special, just for you.”
He holds it out, waiting until you take it before he pulls his sleeves back down. “You can put it on a necklace, stick it in a bag or a pocket, leave it on your dresser, do whatever with it! Just, um. Just keep it and keep it safe, ok?” He folds your hands over it, keeping his sleeves around your fingers for a moment. “You're important, so you deserve to be safe. This one's gonna perk you up too, if I made it right!”
Honestly, just having him around felt like enough, but you wouldn't turn down something made with such kindness. “I already feel fantastic. Thank you so much!”
He holds his arms out wide with a smile. “Bring it in! Hug time, come on.”
After all that time in the sun, he's still warm.
