"So, tell me again why we need to take a picture of a Hydro Slime when we already have a photo of a Cryo one?"

"Well Paimon, that Cryo Slime gave us a dark blue shade, and now we need a light blue one. We could use another Cryo Slime, but it needs to be a lighter blue anyhow. It's all in the rules."

The trio had made their way across Mondstadt and were now at Falcon Coast just past Windrise. The small beach that they found themselves at wasn't anything impressive, but it was distinctly Mondstadt. The journey hadn't taken too long, having only run into some wild boars on the road up by Springfield. Taking a photo of one had allowed them to knock another photo off the list, the colour brown. After some other minor antics, they made their way down the valley and passed the Statue of the Seven. Following the short stream, they arrived at a small campsite on the seaside.

Sitting down and taking a break by a small outcrop of rocks on the shoreline, Barbara scanned the entire beach. "Hmm, it's not every day we get to come to the beach. But, I don't see any Hydro Slimes anywhere though…."

"Well, let's make the most of it then shall we?" Aether smiled at Barbara. "Let's just walk down the beach, a Hydro Slime is bound to pop up sooner or later." Aether got up from the rock he was sitting on and brushed himself off. He then offered his hand to Barbara. "Deaconess?"

Blushing at Aether's actions, Barbara accepted Aether's hand and allowed him to pull her up onto her feet. Aether began to lead Barbara down the beach, not letting go of her hand. Realizing this, Barbara somehow managed to blush even deeper and let herself be dragged down the beach linked by Aether's hands.

"Oh, it's on mister! Paimon's not gonna let you get away with that!"

"Ha, catch me if you can Paimon!"

Barbara looked on as Aether and Paimon got into their splashing fight in the water. By the looks of it, Aether was winning, though she wasn't too sure how well Paimon would do in the first place anyway. Of course, Barbara herself could have joined in, but with her Hydro Vision, she would have an unfair advantage.

Still, right at that moment, it didn't stop Aether from splashing her anyway.

"Hey, Aether! That isn't funny! You know how long it's going to take for my dress to dry off?!" Barbara looked down at her now-soaked dress, courtesy of Aether. In response, Aether stuck his tongue out at her while making a smug face.

Smirking to herself, Barbara brushed herself off and summoned her grimoire to her side all while giving Aether the same smug look that he had just given her. "Oh, it's on now Traveler!"

Splash

Splash

Splash

Splash

"Ahhh-Don't splash Paimon too! What did Paimon ever do to deserve thhiiiss…"

The trio had spent the full day at the beach enjoying themselves. What started off as a small water fight between Paimon and Aether had escalated to include Barbara using her Hydro Vision, which had quickly turned the tides to her favor.

"Phew, Paimon's all tired from that fun we just had. Who would have thought that Barbara using her Hydro Vision would make things so much harder for the two of us?"

Aether shook his head and chuckled at Paimon's comment. Maybe Paimon didn't see it, but having a Hydro Vision was clearly gonna give you an advantage in a water fight no matter what. Noting that he was still wet from the fight, Aether looked over at Barbara who was fiddling around with the helm of her dress. With her dress being white and soaked wet from their fight, it was quite a sight to look at.

"...You know, if we were planning to make a stop at the beach, I would have brought my swimsuit and some other outfits along. I wouldn't mind you seeing it, and at the very least it was designed to get all wet, unlike my Deaconess Dress." As Barbara continued to fiddle around with the helm of her wet dress, Aether watched on a bit mesmerized and slowly digested what Barbara exactly meant by that comment.

Was she okay with him seeing her in more skimpy clothes?

"Heyy Aether! Watch out! Behind you!"

As Aether was busy admiring Barbara, he didn't notice the Cryo Slime that had just popped out of nowhere behind him. Realizing what Barbara just said, he turned to see that the slime was right behind him. It was too late.

Bop

Aether was now frozen.

"Aether!" Both Paimon and Barbara yelled out and rushed towards him. The frozen Aether was unresponsive as the Cyro Slime continued to attack him. "Paimon will distract the slime! Barbara, you get Aether unfrozen!" Paimon yelled as she flew towards the slime. Doing multiple loops over the slime and making many loud Paimon sounds, the slime's attention changed from the frozen Aether to Paimon. Paimon began to lead the slime away as Barbara approached and tried to get Aether unfrozen.

In a panic, Barbara began by breaking off large chunks of the ice by hand, but she was getting nowhere. Using her Hydro Vision, she began to try and warm up the ice and water to melt her way to Aether. Realizing the limits of her Vision, and that her current method would take ages, she began to look around to see what else she could do. All around them was the small Mondstadt sandy beach, and there was nothing really around except for…

The small campsite we passed.

With strength that even she didn't know she had, Barbara lifted the frozen Aether onto her back and began to make her way to the small camping spot that they had passed on their way here. If she remembered correctly, it had a small campfire that she could light to thaw out Aether.

The weight on her back suddenly shifted and became slightly lighter. Just as she was about to put Aether down, Paimon called out to her.

"It's okay, don't worry Barbara, Paimon is here!" Paimon yelled while catching her breath. "Just keep going, Aether needs your help!" Realizing that Paimon was helping her support some of Aether's weight, Barbara pushed on towards the campsite.

Arriving at the campsite, Barbara placed the frozen Aether next to the small campfire and set about lighting it. She was grateful that she had some basic survival training during her time at the church. While she was also quite rusty, she had gotten some pointers during her last trip with Aether to Dragonspire, and she was putting them to good use. After striking some iron against a small rock a few times, she was able to get the small campfire going. Using her Vision, she worked on getting some warm water ready for when Aether would thaw out.

After several agonizing minutes of Paimon and Barbara watching Aether, most of the ice had melted away from Aether's body, but he was still frozen solid. Unsure of what else she could do, Barbara just looked on hoping that she was fast enough with her campfire. Paimon looked over to Barbara and saw the look on her face. She knew what exactly was going on in her head.

Oh no, Barbara thinks she wasn't fast enough, and now she thinks that it's all her fault.

Shaking her little head, Paimon flew closer to Barbara and waved her hand in front of her to get her attention. It took a few seconds, but Paimon managed to get Barbara's attention off of Aether.

"You know, there is one thing that you can do to speed up the melting of the ice on Aether…"

Barbara looked at Paimon ecstatic. "Really? What is it? Why didn't you tell me sooner?! We could have unfrozen Aether by now!"

Man, she must have it bad, Paimon thought. Shaking the thought from her head, Paimon continued.

"One of the best ways to warm someone up is to share body heat! Remember what happened on Dragonspire?"

Now, Barbara did not need to be reminded of that. She fully knew what happened to her and what Aether did to help her warm-up. Quite frankly, the experience was one of the best things that had happened to her. After all, it only solidified to herself that she had a big crush on the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt. Blushing and looking away, she realized that she needed to respond to Paimon.

"O-of course I remember! B-but I-don't think it would be appropriate for me to do…..that…."

Paimon looked on amused at Barbara's reaction. Yep, they definitely liked each other. She decided to give Barbara that little push she needed, as clearly she was not brave enough to hug Aether on her own accord.

"You just have to hug him! Go for it! Plus, it's not like he can stop you~…." Paimon paused, for dramatic effect. "...And when it's all over I'm sure he won't mind…"

Paimon let her words sink in. Meanwhile, Barbara's mind and heart were going a mile a minute. After a few silent and tense moments, Barbara got up from her spot across from Aether and began to make her way over.

With a smug look on her face, Paimon watched as the clearly nervous Deaconess slowly made her way over. Sitting down next to him, it was clear to Paimon that Barbara didn't know what to do next. Just as Paimon was gonna say something, Barbara acted on her instincts.

WOMP

Barbara took Aether into what can only be described as a bear hug as if she was hugging him as her life depended on it. Once she got over her initial nervousness and relaxed, she loosened her grip on the Frozen Aether. Funny enough, Aether's skin wasn't frosty to the touch, just mildly cold, like he had just come back from swimming. The fire had done wonders for unfreezing Aether, and now Barbara's hug was speeding up the process.

Click

"A-ahhh Paimon! What are you doing!? Don't take pictures of us doing this!" While she was busy hugging Aether, Paimon had gone through Aether's bag and taken out the Kamera.

"Hey! Don't worry! Paimon is just taking a picture of the Cryo Slime from earlier. Remember? I led it over there to that tree….and look, now he has a friend!"

Click

Indeed, while Barbara was taking care of Aether, Paimon had led the Cryo Slime over to a nearby tree, where it was now distracted by some butterflies and a new Hydro Slime that appeared. With the sun setting in the background, it made for a picturesque scene.

"Ah...ummm...right." Quickly summoning her grimoire to her side, she waved her hand in Paimon's direction, causing a splash of Hydro to appear in front of Paimon and the Kamera, still keeping her hug around Aether.

Click

Splash

"You know Barbara and Paimon, the sunset is really pretty here…"

"Ahhhh!" "Ahhhh!"

Barbara and Paimon both jumped at Aether's voice. Realizing that Aether was now fully unfrozen, Barbara made an embarrassed face and began to release her grip and arms from around Aether. She was pleasantly surprised when Aether stopped her arms with his.

"Umm, I'm still very cold from being frozen...w-would it be alright if we stayed like this a little longer?"

Looking Aether in the eye, Barbara could only nod in shock at Aether's request. She allowed herself to re-tighten her grip on Aether. Soon enough, Aether returned the favor and put his arms around her. In return, Barbara rested her head on Aether's chest.

The duo looked out over the sea to where the sun was now setting, both enjoying each other's company and the sounds of the sea. Both not wanting to break the silence. Later on in the night, the two would find themselves scolding Paimon over the campfire, who just happened to take many, many photos of the two of them together in each other's arms.

AN/

And that's my attempt at a beach 'episode'. A bit messy but I think it worked out okayish.

Till next time.