Coco Nut

Equinox blew sand from his snout as he withdrew his head from the sand. The beach had yet to yield any treasures from his persistent digging but he wasn't quite ready to give up yet.

"Find anything?" he barked down the beach to his proteges. 

"Nothing!" Drift called back, frustration clear in her voice.

"Found something, not sure what it is though!" Brook replied. Equinox perked up immediately, hurrying over to the juvenile Cryo and his digging spot under a tree. In his claws, Brook held a fleshy green fruit, a coconut that had yet to be pried into by the plethora of beachgoers.

"Ah, a coconut," he observed, trying to sound wise, "Not much good for eating but I think the water inside tastes nice."

"How do we get it open?" Drift asked, her head tilted to the side as she considered the strange fruit.

"It's hard work if you try to use brute force, which is why we're going to use our heads," Equinox informed them, putting an arm out to stop Brook from headbutting the fruit outright. "Not literally, I mean we're going to be clever about it instead of using our strength, understood?" Brook nodded sheepishly. Equinox took the coconut from him and looked around at the beach, he spotted the rocky tide pools and jerked his head in their direction. "This way."

The two Cryos followed him like hatchlings, not quite that level of naivety but still a good deal younger than him with so much less experience in life. Equinox felt some form of responsibility to the youth, knowing he himself had relied on friends to make it through his formative years. He considered this some kind of paying it forward endeavour, teaching the kids a handful of things about the world before letting them blunder through the rest. He held the coconut close to his chest as he picked his way across the sand, feeling its cool green skin against his overheated body. It was either going to be a revelation for these kids or he'll have given them weird tasting water that they didn't even like. There was no harm in finding another source of hydration, he reasoned, especially so close to the sea and its poison water. 

Nox stood on the edge of the tide pool, casting his eye over the eroded rock and trying to find a suitably sharp edge.

"What are we looking for?" Brook asked, keeping close to his side and trying to follow his gaze across the rocks. Nox hummed before he spotted a sheer pillar sticking awkwardly from the rock. It had been sharpened through years of wear, leaving a sharp edge facing the sea and blunt end facing the beach.

"Something like this," Nox exclaimed, bringing the two juveniles to the rock. "Now, one of you take this." He offered the coconut to them both and Drift was the first to seize the opportunity, "Now take it to the sharp edge and scrape the green off." Drift grimaced at being tricked into doing manual labour but she obliged, dragging the fruit over the stone and peeling a thin strip of green from its surface.

"Like that?" she asked, uncertain. 

"Just like that," he reassured her, "keep going, it'll take a little while so make sure to trade off." The idea of handing it over for her brother to take care of made Drift's resolve harden and he had to settle for looking over her shoulder as she peeled the coconut's shell away. Equinox settled onto the driest rock he could find and fought the urge to take a nap in the sunshine. Brook began to bicker with his twin about taking a turn and she was holding fast until she hit the centre of the coconut. Drift shrieked and dropped it into one of the pools, splashing Equinix and making him bolt upright. "What's up? What happened?" he asked sleepily.

"There's something jiggling in there," Drift trembled, pointing a claw at the floating coconut. Nox tried not to roll his eyes and reached into the pool to retrieve the fruit.

"You hit the centre, that's where the fluid is," he explained patiently. He took the soft centre and cut the gelatinous sac with the sharp edge of the stone. He held it upright to stop the water from spilling straight out and offered it to the twins, who sniffed it suspiciously. Brook took a drink first, not wanting to be cut off by his sister again and he smacked his lips with a startled expression.

"Oh, it's nice!" he said cheerfully, diving back in for another gulp. Drift waited her turn and took a sip too, her face scrunched in contemplation.

"It's weird, but I think I like it?" she said, unsure. 

"Try some more then!" Brook encouraged, holding the coconut out to her. She grabbed some of the wobbling flesh between her teeth instead and tore a strip off, choking it back like a freshly caught fish. This seemed to satisfy her more and she began to pick away at it while her brother carefully sipped the water between her bites. Equinox settled back down to watch them, feeling a sense of satisfaction that he had managed to teach the young Cryos something new, and that they weren't tearing each other to shreds over it like they had done with the crystals. He allowed the warmth of the sun and the whispering of the waves to soothe him into a peaceful nap, an ideal summer afternoon.