The monsters had spread out even more now. Toriel and Asgore were still together, but a little way along the beach now; sat on the water's edge with their feet being lapped at by the waves. They both waved when they saw Frisk looking over; they grinned and waved back.
The dog monsters were all together now; Lesser Dog and Greater Dog were sprawled in the sun, and Doggo was talking with the married pair. The Dogamy had chosen to stay at home, wary of the bright sun and sand.
Sans was lying on a blanket, idly watching Papyrus desperately trying to make some sort of sand sculpture. As used to snow as he was, he was getting rather frustrated with the sand shifting and flowing and refusing to be shaped.
Alphys greeted them as they reached the shore. "Frisk- you gotta tell me, did you see-?"
Frisk grinned. "Mum and Dad? Yeah, I did!"
"Do- do you think...?"
They shrugged. "I dunno- we'll see!"

That was all the conversation they had time for; Undyne bent and grabbed Alphy's hand, dragging her off for ice cream. Frisk grinned and went in the opposite direction, over to the skeleton brothers.
Sans was the first to notice their approach. "Heyy, Frisk, pull up a bit of blanket. Enjoy your swim?" he asked, not raising himself from his position with his hands tucked behind his head.
"It was less swimming and more splashing," Frisk said; but before they could continue, Papyrus bounced to his feet.
"Frisk! You have to help me! It keeps falling apart!"
They fought back their giggles. "I see." It was easy to see, in fact; a vague pile of sand that shifted even as Frisk watched. Papyrus held out his bucket imploringly.
"This sand stuff makes no sense! It's not like snow at all!"
"That's because it's not snow," Sans remarked.
"You are not helping!" Papyrus stamped one foot, causing a cascade of sand to run down his mound.
"It's okay, Papyrus," Frisk placated him. They took the bucket. "Wait here!"

They ran over to the water's edge and scooped up a bucket full of wet sand, before heading back. "Here!" They held it out.
Papyrus scooped out a handful of wet hand. There was a pause while he looked at it; then he squeezed, water and clumps of sand running from between his bony fingers. When he opened his hands, it stayed a vague ball, the imprints of his fingers clear.
"Nyeh heh heh! Yes! This is perfect!" He snatched the bucket of wet sand. "I need more water!"
"Oh- um." Frisk bit their lip. "You only have one bucket, though! And- and it'll take ages to go back and forth to get enough water..."
"That is true." Papyrus frowned, staring between his forlorn heap of sand and the sea. "What if... We dug a tunnel type... thing from the sea?"
"What if you just dug down?" Sans commented, finally sitting up.
"Sans! You're still not helping!" But Frisk was beaming, waving the bucket at Papyrus.
"That just might work! It makes sense! I don't know how far you'd have to go... But you should be able to get to wet sand!" They thrust the bucket at Papyrus. "Here- you start, I'll go and get you another bucket!"
Sans got to his feet. "Well, guess I'd better keep the kid out of trouble and make sure they don't spend all their money on you, bro."

Papyrus didn't reply- not directly. He was already furiously digging, the bucket of wet sand wedged into the top of what had been his attempt at building, "nyeh heh heh" escaping from him as he worked.
"Oh..." Frisk turned to Sans as he started walking. "My bag's with my parents, I should go and get some money."
"Nah, it's cool, I've got it."
"Well, um. I should... get my t-shirt, at least." They crossed their arms over their chest, feeling awkward again. They'd all but forgotten about being shirtless; but the idea of going away from the beach and into a shop made them remember to be self-conscious.
Sans shrugged. "If you're that bothered. Don't think it matters, though."
Frisk looked at him; he glanced over, catching their eye. He knew exactly what was wrong- as ever. They rubbed their arms and looked away, only stopping and turning to him when they felt his hand touch their shoulder.
"Frisk. Come on. Anyone looks at us, they're gonna be too distracted by the skeleton to pay too much attention to ya."
"I... suppose that's true." They resumed walking, arms still crossed; there was a pause as they passed Alphys and Undyne quietly talking and watching Lesser Dog attempting to make his own sculpture at the water's edge. Sans finally pointed out the path winding up towards the top of the cliffs; as they went up the stairs and away from the beach, they pointed out hills and downs, and the paths that were visible, and speculated over the views. His attempts at distracting them had worked.

When they returned to Papyrus they were laden down with overpriced sandcastle-making equipment and eating a nice cream each. Papyrus had been... very enthusiastic about digging a hole; Greater Dog and Lesser Dog were helping. Sans held his lolly between his teeth and levitated his blanket, shaking off the sand that careless digging had scattered over it, while Frisk went to look down into the hole.
"Wow- good work! This should make it a lot easier!" The hole was more of a pit, with sloping sides and plenty of access to water and wet sand. Frisk decided not to jump in.
"Okay... We should, um, start a little at a time? And maybe make the base wet..." They stuck the rest of the nice cream in their mouth and started to clear away some of the piled sand next to the hole while Papyrus sorted through the items Frisk and Sans had put down next to him and pulled out the new, bigger bucket. He filled it and his older one with water and marvelled aloud at how the water just filled back up.
"Okay!" Frisk pulled the wooden stick from their mouth, the nice cream gone. "Let's-" Frisk didn't get to finish before Papyrus sloshed the water over the patch they'd cleared- and over them as well. They yelped and brushed a strand of sodden hair out of their face, before picking the stick up.
"O-kay! I think that's enough water- wet sand! Wait wait wait-" Papyrus was throwing handfuls in front of Frisk as fast as he could- and more than a little of it was hitting them. "Maybe you should, uh- pack it down first! Like when you squeezed it- make it nice and solid and put on a little at a time?"
"That is a good thing to try! Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus sprang out of the hole and started battering the pile of wet sand with his fists, so overcome with enthusiasm he barely gave Frisk a chance to recoil before he did so.

Smiling to themself, they headed to the water's edge to rinse off the sand he'd flung over them in his excitement, gasping at how cold the water felt once again. As they returned, they saw Toriel and Asgore heading over.
"Are you having a good time, Frisk?" Toriel asked. Frisk beamed and nodded. "That is good! We were thinking that we should go and eat- you should come as well, dear one. You have barely eaten at all today."
Frisk's stomach loudly backed her words up and they glanced at the skeletons. Sans was sprawled back on his blanket, but at the words he sat up. "Sounds like a plan to me, bucko."
"Papyrus- would you like to join us?" Asgore peered around to try and work out what Papyrus was trying to do.
"That is very kind of you! But I have a duty- to build the best sand... thing this beach has seen! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"
Asgore glanced at Frisk, mystified; but they only giggled and shrugged.

Toriel gave Frisk their sandals; they rinsed their feet off at the water's edge and put them on. They weren't really designed for walking on sand- or walking far at all- but they were cool and easy to put on and take off, and more likely to be acceptable than going barefoot in human society. They pulled on their t-shirt next, ignoring their damp skin.
"Would you like me to put that on the bus?" Asgore pointed to the bag; Frisk nodded and Toriel handed it over, along with her own bag. They walked together towards the steps, Greater Dog deciding to join them and padded along at Frisk's side. On the way they passed Alphys- who was blushing deeply- and Undyne, drying in the sun from another deep in the sea. They came along as well, avoiding all questions on what they had been up to.

They went to the restaurant of the largest hotel to eat, a casual place designed to feel right at home overlooking the sea. Toriel had called ahead and they were expected; the entire place was open to the monsters, and they had no trouble getting a table outside in the shade. The staff even brought Greater Dog a bowl of water, which he lapped eagerly at, and cooed over him until Asgore rejoined them- Frisk didn't bother to tell them he wasn't actually a dog, as he seemed only too happy to get the attention. Once they were left alone with the menu he sat with his head on Frisk's knee; they idly scratched behind his ears while everyone talked over the menu.
Monsters didn't tend to eat much human food; when prepared without magic it didn't agree with them if they overdid it, so Undyne and Alphys decided to share a dish; as did Asgore and Toriel, sitting opposite each other. Frisk tried to hide their smile, but Alphys- sat opposite them- caught it and had to stifle her own giggle.
Frisk's parents, however, wanted to see them eat more than usual as they had basically skipped breakfast; so they decided to share with Sans and get something just for themself as well. He ordered fries and "a boat load of ketchup"; Frisk went with a "Superfood Salad", with a side of potato skins. Alphys and Undyne chose the same salad; Toriel and Asgore figured that fish would be the closest thing to snails, and ordered a seafood salad. Frisk didn't correct them and just wrinkled their nose at the idea, ordering a steak- rare- for Greater Dog. Their waiter was clearly trying to act as though they were any other customers, aside from a couple of questions about their home; but was thrown by them ordering a meal for their dog, before he offered to switch out the vegetables and potatoes for more meat- an enthusiastic bark from Greater Dog answered the question, and Frisk suspected planted the idea that perhaps he wasn't just a dog.

While waiting for the food to arrive, they chatted about their day; the ocean, the sand, the fantastic scenery. Undyne couldn't say enough about how much she loved the sea, except to complain that nobody except Frisk had joined her in it; Toriel bemoaned the fact that she had fewer photos than she would like, and decided to take a couple of everyone at the table before the food arrived, even getting their waiter to help when he brought their drinks; Frisk expressed an interest in the cliffs and downs.
"Make sure you do not go alone, Frisk," Toriel said sternly. "Perhaps Sans should go with you- not that I do not want to come with you", she added hurriedly, "but I do need to stay and keep an eye on everyone."
"I can manage, if you would like to go, Tori," Asgore said. He was sat next to Undyne and Alphys and Frisk could see from his face that he didn't love the idea of Toriel leaving the beach- and him- for the rest of the day. Luckily for him, though, she stood her ground.
"No- I should stay so that I can help watch everyone." He beamed. "Plus, I trust Sans to keep Frisk safe. Perhaps, my dear, you would like to take my camera to get some nice photographs while you walk?"
Frisk smiled at her over Sans' head. "I can give it a go! I don't think I'll take my bag, though. I'll leave my sandals in the bus and just go barefoot." Their feet were toughened by running barefoot through the forest and climbing trees.

When their food arrived, the monsters ate leisurely; but Frisk ate their main like they hadn't eaten for a week. The potato skins were hot enough to force them to slow down; and by the time they were helping themself to Sans' fries, the ache of hunger- which they had barely noticed before entering the restaurant- had gone. They were able to relax, to enjoy the companionship of their family and friends; to enjoy the sound of monsters celebrating and gulls crying overhead.

And dessert- they were definitely going to enjoy dessert.


I made a point of replacing the word "chips" with "fries". If you speak American English, I hope that saved you some confusion.
I don't have any memories of building sand castles as a child- I actually had to do research. I researched how to build sand castles in order to write Undertale fanfiction.
Sometimes I look at my life and feel like somewhere it took some odd turns without my noticing...

Anyway, did you see my comment a couple of chapters ago on the locations that inspired this day's events? Just a reminder- do an image search for the Jurassic Coast, Lulworth Cove, and/or Durdle Door if you want to see what I had in mind. This isn't set there, just inspired by it- but it might give you an idea of the beautiful natural environments that sparked Frisk's interest!

-Ren