Other Fish in the Sea


Welcome to today's episode, where I cry bitter tears due only having one chapter title to put a shitty joke into. Deadliest Catch, Something Fishy, What a Catch, Fish Out of Water, etc.

Also, as of this chapter we have officially surpassed the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words. Took a bit longer than one month, but I'm so excited to have gone through this journey with you all. We are officially at short novel lengths here, folks.

Anyways, Beach Episode time


After a… thoroughly enjoyable Christmas celebration, Cyrus sat down to think about what he should do next. Normally, he would go out and pick a fight so he could he progress, but he wasn't feeling like getting mauled, at least not so soon. Anyways, some of the girls were working on a set of armor made from the strange green metal of the jungle (apparently called chlorophyte) and and the great turtle shells he had gathered from the area.

Unfortunately, making armor took a while, so he decided to work on a side project: a teleporter to the beach. Judith tried explaining exactly how the teleporter worked to no avail, but eventually just told Cyrus to hook two pads up with wire and let her do the rest.

Of course, you couldn't just leave wire sitting on the ground or just lay it on top of the snow, and would optimally be underground. As the town's number one excavator, Cyrus got to work and laid miles of wire until he eventually reached a particularly nice strip of beach and set up the teleporter as best he could.

While digging through the night, Cyrus crossed the Hallow, and Cyrus had to admit there was a sort of unearthly beauty to it- the moon a fierce crescent in the sky, sending pale light onto the blue grass and swaying technicolor trees. Even at night, the Hallow kept up a bright and happy appearance- even the bugs were beautiful!

One particular critter caught his eye- a butterfly that shone with bright colors, bright pinks, blues, and yellows coming from its wings, as thin as fine lace. It was incredibly delicate, and Cyrus felt an overwhelming urge in his gut that a creature like this should protected, should be kept safe- and he carefully pulled out a jar to catch it in.

Unlike the truffle worm which darted away as soon as Cyrus moved, the butterfly seemed happy to drift idly, and didn't even panic as Cyrus caught it in a jar. After making sure there were holes for air, Cyrus carefully secured the little creature in his bag- he certainly didn't want it getting hurt. As he got back to digging, he had a strange feeling that Garrett had written something about brightly colored bugs, but he couldn't remember.


After using the mirror to go home and getting Judith to do the final checks, Cyrus started to work on some housing by the shore. He definitely liked the village, but the ocean was a nice change of pace, and he could see himself spending a lot of here, especially considering that they still had months of winter to go.

After constructing a complex that satisfied him, Cyrus went back home via the teleporter, only to find himself being led somewhere by… one of the twins. He couldn't really tell without getting a look at their eyes, and particular twin dragging him seemed completely focused on her destination.

"So, could you tell me where we're going?"

"We finished your suit of armor, and we want you to test it immediately."

Eventually they reached the workshop and pushed the door open to reveal Judith, Meredith, and the other twin, the one with vibrant green eyes- Asta, meaning that the girl who pulled him around was Tina. All three girls were working on the finishing touches of a… strange suit armor.

There were hints of the deep green cholorophyte metal in places, gleaming around the seams of the armor as well as composing the gauntlets and boots. He could see the careful adjustments made in order to fit his artificial leg, although that certainly wasn't the most distinctive part of the outfit.

A majority of the armor was made with turtle shell layered with chlorophyte, with a mostly intact shell forming the torso while the shells were divided into pieces to make up the helmet, greaves, and armor for the upper arms.

Cyrus looked at the armor for a few moments longer before turning to the girls that made it. "It's incredible. Thank you all so much."

Both Judith and Meredith smiled proudly, satisfied with yet another job well done, but the Twins flushed and started muttering about how they didn't really help that much. Cyrus rolled his eyes a little before starting to figure out how to make his wings cooperate with this new set of armor.


After managing to get his new turtle armor to fit properly, Cyrus left the workshop- only to bump into Aria, sending her sprawling. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Cyrus gave her a hand which she gladly took.

Aria gave him a shy smile as he pulled her to her feet, and after brushing a few bits of dirt and sand (that Cyrus had probably tracked in earlier, woops) off her long skirt she started patting down her pockets for a few moments before pulling out a key with a curious sun pattern on the deep orange grip. "This is just a little something I forgot to give to you. It unlocks the temple in the jungle, you know the one?"

Cyrus nodded before Aria continued. "Oh, you do? Good. I think the next enemy you'll need to face lurks somewhere with there." He took the key and pocketed it.

Before Cyrus could wander off, she suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, and Crista wanted to talk to you. You know, ice girl?" Aria gave an involuntary shiver. "I don't remember the specifics, but I think she had something to give you. Anyways, I'm going to see if I can find a nice window to sun myself."


Crista also had a gift for Cyrus, although it certainly couldn't fit in his pocket. It was a long spear, easily taller than Cyrus with a heavy head that almost reminded him of a snowflake. The spear's tip was made of incredibly cold ice, and a few experimental thrusts and strikes send blasts of freezing winter air that could splinter wood (and he managed to make more work for himself. Woops.)

It really was a massive spear though- Cyrus had trouble fitting it through some doorways, and he turned to Crista. "Say, how exactly did you get this? I mean, I can't imagine you managed to hide this in your dress."

"Magic."

"That's not a very satisfying explanation, in all honesty."

"Why ask where the spear comes from and not the random girls?"

"I mean, that's a good question as well, in all honesty."

"Do you think you'll actually get an answer?" Crista shrugged, sending shimmering patterns down the length of her icy dress.

"I can hope, right?"


As it turned out, there was a lot more to fishing than just a string, a stick, and some bait. After a few failed attempts, Cyrus decided that trying to engineer his own reel was too much work, and asked Harold to get him a decent fishing rod. It was definitely expensive, but it was better than anything Cyrus could have made by himself even if there were a few too many decorative feathers for his taste.

Cyrus decided to get the fight out of the way earlier, before everyone else came down to the beach, and he hoped the fight wouldn't wreck the beach too bad before the others got to enjoy it. Still, just about everyone in town was uncomfortable with Cyrus wandering off to fight a deadly foe on his lonesome, so someone had to accompany him on his little fishing trip.

Unusually, it was Andi who had decided to accompany him to the beach, and as they headed towards the beach teleporter Cyrus looked to her and asked a question. "So… why'd you volunteer to come along? I mean, it's not like I don't appreciate the company…"

"But fishing doesn't seem like the sort of thing I'd be interested in? I'm not interested, but any more time in the village would drive me daft."

"Couldn't you head down to the hotsprings then?"

"I could, if the others didn't insist on turning it into a 'bonding experience'. I just prefer more alone time, is that too much to ask?"

"Not really, I suppose." Cyrus shrugged and flipped the teleporter's switch, causing them both to disappear in a flash of brilliant yellow light.


The sky was gray and overcast, which certainly didn't seem like a good omen for their beach day, and the fierce wind was surprisingly cold. The uniform gray of the sky contrasted greatly with the churning sea below, white froth contrasting against water so dark blue it looked black. Andi snorted. "What shitty weather."

Cyrus nodded in agreement before pulling out his fishing rod and the bottled truffle worm out. After carefully putting the creature onto the hook, he took a leap and flew into the air, over the choppy sea. No reason to pull up whatever nightmarish sea creature he was going to fight right next to Andi, after all.

After getting suitably far from shore, Cyrus cast the rod and began to glide in circles, trying to save energy for a brutal fight. For a few moments he worried that some other, lesser fish might snap the bait up before he felt a tug on the rod that nearly pulled him out of the sky.

Looking down, Cyrus could see a monstrous fish rising from the waves, before it leapt from the water and began pursuing him using massive fin-like wings. The creature would have looked comical, like something a child would draw in crayon, if not for the fury burning in its cold black eyes and the incredible speed it flew at.

It was a bulky thing with a pig-like nose and ears, although the creature's razor sharp fangs, as long as swords, certainly proved it was no normal hog. It was a sort of aquamarine color, although its fins had deeper blue portions as well. Ripping musculature covered its body, as well as no shortage of scars, and the monster seemed more than happy to exploit its massive size, considering how it was looking to tackle him.

Cyrus pivoted out of the way and drew his spear, and struck the creature with a glancing blow before diving towards the frothy sea. He heard a bellow of pain from behind him but the creature didn't see to pursue, and Cyrus turned to send another gout of cold wind at him only to see it spew… bubbles?

Immediately, he could tell that whatever those bubbles were, they were bad news, and Cyrus began to weave around them, only to nearly get hit by the monster, and his dodge sent him flying into one of the bubbles, which exploded, sending him flying towards the beast's tail, which struck him with incredible force and sent him falling towards the ocean.


Cyrus opened his eyes and realized he was falling. As he struggled to recover from what could easily be a fatal dive, he realized that one blow from the creature's tail had been enough to knock him unconscious. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have damaged his armor much, although he could feel a bit of delay from artificial leg. Luckily, he had gotten used to fighting without a leg, so it was basically like business as usual.

Of course, all this musing distracted him from the fact that he was falling towards the ocean at a breakneck pace, and Cyrus suddenly realized he wouldn't be able to pull up in time. Looking behind, he could see the massive… fish dragon creature- Fishron? Fishron on his tail. (Cyrus was going to think of it as the Fishron, because he certainly hoped there weren't more of these things)

Fighting Fishron on its own home turf underwater was a pretty stupid idea, but Cyrus had two options: turn his fall into a graceful dive, or turn himself into a human sized skipping stone that bounced across the ocean's surface before finally sinking into the sea. Cyrus certainly didn't feel like reliving the experience of a belly flop any time soon, so he bit the bullet and dove.

After piercing the churning surface of the sea, there was a strange sense of serenity, as fish flitted by and the seagrass swayed gently, uncaring of the gales above the sea. Surprisingly, the massive form of Fishron seemed to fit in rather well- as Cyrus dodged a furious charge, he could see gills on the creature's side, and it moved with surprising grace despite its bulk.

Using his wings in water was exhausting, but it was necessary to even keep up with an aquatic creature. Even some of the normal fish struggled to keep out of the way of this strange monster- one of its saber like teeth nicked a passing fish, dyeing the water with red blood and orange roe.

Moving a spear was harder underwater, although the projectiles it launched seemed completely unaffected, although Cyrus noticed that the spear started to cool with frequent use, until it felt like his hands were freezing, and he could see ice crystals starting to form on the spear's body. Cyrus landed another strike on Fishron before the burning in his lungs became unbearable and he surfaced, pulling in a deep breath of the salty air before diving back under. Before going back under, Cyrus could see the bad weather had turned downright dangerous- churning flumes of water danced on the ocean's surface and the sky looked black, so thick were the clouds.

Cyrus played a delicate game of cat and mouse with the creature, darting out of the way of its wild lunges and explosive bubbles. It was slow to turn, so Cyrus found success in couching his spear into the sea floor and letting Fishron charge into his waiting spear point. Just as Cyrus was starting to get a hang on this whole situation, he saw dozens of sleek forms dive into the water from above, sleek sharks with pig like ears- Cyrus somehow knew these were the monster's spawn, and they swarmed him.

Cyrus' spear was very long, and because of this it was very practically useless at close range, unless he wanted to lightly tap the raging sharks with the staff of his spear. They seemed to be bothered by the intense cold of the spear, but not enough to stop from pursuing him. Fortunately, his armor seemed tough enough to resist their fangs, even if Cyrus would probably have nightmares about the gnashing teeth entering his visor and even managing to nick his nose.

Suddenly, his gut screamed at him to dodge, to move, and Cyrus dug the end of the spear into the sand before using it to basically pole vault and lift himself above the mass of sharks- just as Fishron itself swept by, its bulk and razor sharp fangs turning its own spawn into a mess of blood in the ocean water.

As Fishron reeled up for another charge, Cyrus send more gusts of freezing air which cut into the creature's flesh and tore at its gills. Hopefully, damaging the creature's gills could make it a little less… vivacious, but if Cyrus had learned anything from his life so far, doing more damage would only make it angrier and cause it to pull out all the stops. Of course, the moment he started that the creature might have some tricks hidden up its non-existent sleeves, it started moving erratically.

It began to swim in a massive loop, and Cyrus swam to the surface to grab another quick breath before diving back down- only to get hit by a fusillade of bubbles that nearly blew him out of the water. They dazed Cyrus, and he had only moments to recover before it charged him again, its eyes burning a terrible shade of yellow, and Cyrus darted out of the way as it flew from the water, shifting from swimming to flying with incredible grace. It moved through the harsh rains and fierce gales as easily as it swam through the water, and dove towards Cyrus once more.

Fortunately, Cyrus' attacks seemed more effective now, as if the creature had let down its guard, but any extra damage he did was counteracted by a massive increase in speed- as thick banks of ink black fog rolled in on the surface, Fishron became a blur, and he practically lost it entirely whenever it surfaced, with his only warning of a coming attack being a burning pair of eyes.

Occasionally, the creature would manage to land a glancing blow on Cyrus, usually catching his spear and sending him spinning through the water like a top and nearly tearing his weapon from his hands. Cyrus could feel aches and pain across his body where Fishron managed to make contact, and he knew they would develop into some truly fierce bruises once this was over and done with.

His spear was already covered in a gleaming coat of ice, making even the plainest parts of the weapon gleam and shine in the pale gray light that leaked through the dense banks of clouds. The growths of ice hadn't seemed to dull the effectiveness of the spear, but it was bitterly cold in his hands now, so much so that he was worried the cold would make his gauntlets freeze up.

Fishron let out a bellow of unadulterated fury and seemed to vanish into thin air, the only remainder of its presence a pair of malevolent eyes, burning with the fury of the stars. Whenever it dove into the water, it left great clouds of white bubbles, which contrasted against the uniform blackness of the sky. Cyrus certainly hope that Andi was okay- he couldn't imagine this weather was too good for anyone staying on shore.

Suddenly, he felt a disturbance in the water behind him and turned to see a pair of bright yellow lights rushing at him with tremendous speed. He was sure that the creature had somehow teleported- but that wasn't important right now. Looking at the glowering pair of eyes, Cyrus guessed where the creature's mouth would be and pointed his spear-

And suddenly there was a tremendous cloud of bubbles, and Cyrus felt two things crash into him- not sharp fangs, but a soft bag made of some waterproof substance, and a girl. She was very similar to her previous form- hair a beautiful shade of aquamarine that matched the color of a pair of wings, although they were almost fin like, smooth and filmy instead of being composed of feathers. Cyrus supposed that her choice of garb was rather fortunate considering they were underwater: it was a relatively modest one piece swimsuit in aquamarine, paired with a shark tooth necklace and a beautiful bracelet inlaid with sea green jade.

Cyrus grabbed onto the girl and the bag before swimming to the surface as quickly as he could. When he broke the surface, he saw that the sky had cleared and the seas had calmed. At the very least, their beach day hadn't been ruined, although Cyrus wasn't sure he would feel up for any swimming later today- he had managed to move pretty far away from the shore while fighting Fishron. At least it wasn't quite noon yet, so there was still a fair amount of daylight left.


Andi was waiting by the shoreline, and her clothes were soaked. "You're back, and you fished up another one."

"You could have stayed inside or something…"

"And get everyone pissed at me when you managed to get yourself mauled? No thanks. Find a beach chair to dump her in, I guess."

"Well today wasn't too bad, actua-"

"Take off that armor and I'll grab some disinfectant."

After shrugging off his turtle armor, Cyrus did have to admit he probably should take the rest of the day pretty easy- he could already see welts starting to form and trickles of blood from many small cuts- both from shark bites and bits of shrapnel sent flying by exploding bubbles. His artificial leg wasn't looking too hot either- it was choked with seabed sediment, and he imagined the salt air wouldn't be doing his leg many favors.

Andi come out, a bottle of some antiseptic smelling liquid that she started applying to cuts, and Cyrus gave out a hiss. "Do you really need to do this?"

"Do you want whatever nasty ocean shit you were swimming through in your wounds?"

Cyrus gulped and let her continue. After a few moments she stopped and looked up at him. "Take off your shirt."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to start cooing over you just because you took off your shirt, you know. Now do you want your wounds to get infected or not?"


Eventually, everyone else came pouring through the teleporter, bags full of sundries and changes for the beach. Cyrus had brought his own change earlier: a simple pair of trunks which Lacrima had made for him.

Cyrus went into one of the houses he made and changed into his swimsuit, and when he came out Visca nearly choked. "Cyrus, you've got all those bruises! Are you okay?"

Cyrus nodded. "I'm fine, thanks. How about you? I know a beach trip probably wouldn't be the most fun for you…"

Visca laughed a little. "Oh no, I'm fine. It's just a shame that Lacrima went to all the trouble of making me and Regina swimsuits without knowing we dissolve in water."

Cyrus froze, before rushing back to the village to grab something, and he came back with a few handfuls of deep blue potions. "What are those, exactly?"

"They're a potion I used to get Abigail to brew sometimes when I wanted to go exploring. It lets you walk on water by basically repelling it from the body. So, if you drank some…"

Visca gave him a broad smile. "I could go swimming?"

"Well we've have to give it a test, but it's possible." He gave her a bottle and she gulped it down before rushing off to grab a glass of water. She dipped her finger in, like she did at the hot springs, but it didn't dissolve.

"That's sooo weird. Is this what water feels like? Gosh, you'll have to teach me how to swim! I need to tell Regina!" As she ran off, Cyrus couldn't help but grin. Now that he defeated Fishron, this day was already looking wonderful.


Cyrus found himself sitting in the beach chair next to the unconscious girl who had come from Fishron. The bag he got from the boss itself was thrown casually under her chair, as Cyrus figured it could belong to her and it would a little rude to rifle through her stuff. It was certainly unfortunate that she was missing a beach day, but who knew when she would wake up? It usually didn't take too long, so if she was lucky she might get to catch the latter portion of the day.

"Another one, huh? Her outfit's certainly beach ready." Cyrus turned and saw Abigail standing next to him, wearing a one piece swimsuit. She had dropped the nurse hat and wore her hair down instead of in a ponytail, letting it cascade down to her shoulders.

After a few seconds of gawking, she rolled her eyes and sat down in another beach chair. "Save it for your girlfriends, Cyrus. I guess I'll keep on eye on our new addition here in addition to playing lifeguard."

"I'm sure I could help…" Abigail chuckled and gave him a knowing smile before refusing.

After a few minutes of the girls changing, he heard a voice calling out to him. "Hey Cyrus!" Cyrus turned to see Cthylla, who was wearing a one piece swimsuit that reminded him of her original outfit- mostly white, but with red accenting near the bottom.

"Wow. You look wonderful." She flushed a little and gave a proud grin.

"Thank you! I worked with Lacrima to get the design right, and I think it turned out well." Cyrus suddenly realized how well her sapphire eyes matched the color of the sea, both a beautiful rich blue.

After a few moments of staring at her eyes, Cthylla started to grow red. "Hey, what are you staring at?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your eyes are just so beautiful that I couldn't help but stare." Cyrus didn't think her face could get any redder, but it did.

Before Cthylla could stutter out a reponse, Cyrus felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso, and heard Annelida's voice from right behind him, so close he could feel her warm breath on his neck. "Ahh come on Cyrus, complement me too!"

"You're very beau-" As Cyrus turned to look at her, he was stunned. Apparently, she had decided to go for a two piece bikini, all black, although the bottom was more of a skirt, considering her tail. Still, Cyrus could see she was very fit, and he couldn't help but stare.

Annelida grinned. "I'll take your silence as approval, then?" Cyrus nodded a little as she chuckled.

After a few moments, Cyrus got a curious look on his face and turned to Annelida. "Say, can you swim? I mean, with the tail?"

"Oh, ye of little faith! Watch this." She slithered over the shore, and Cyrus followed, worrying that he might have to rescue her, but when her tail entered the water, she basically slithered through it. It was certainly a little weird looking, but it worked.

"Well that was surprising."

"It's how snakes swim! I think. Not particularly important, honestly."

"It is how snakes swim, actually." Cyrus turned to see Medulla, who was wearing a pastel pink swimsuit, which was nominally a one piece, but was cut in a such a sway to show a lot of stomach.

"You look wonderful too."

She gave him a smile before rushing off to grab something, and she returned with a bottle. "Just because it's winter doesn't mean we should worry about sunburn. In fact, I brought some sunscreen, and I'd like you to apply to it my back, Cyrus." He could feel his cheeks start to burn, but he certainly wasn't going to miss out on this.


After applying sunscreen, he turned to see another one of the girls had finished changing, and Bea was clad in a simple yellow bikini. Or should he say bee-kini? Whatever. Visca was accompanying her as well, wearing a royal blue one piece of a similar design to Medulla's, the sort where calling it one piece didn't feel quite right considering how much was cut.

Visca's normally blue slime was now colored a deep purple in embarrassment. "Well, how do I look?"

"You look amazing."

She blushed darker, and couldn't quite look him in the eye. "Say, do you want to show me how to swim now? I think I need to cool down."

Cyrus nodded, and after double checking that the water walking potion still held up (and made sure she had enough to last for the rest of the day and then some) they waded into the water. "Being immersed in water like this is definitely a novel experience. If I may ask, how did you learn to swim, Cyrus?"

Cyrus stopped for a moment and stroked his chin in contemplation. "I… don't actually know. I remember the motions, I know how to dive and how to get out of a pool, but I don't remember any pool that I could have learned in. It's frustrating. I'm left with all these promising things: skills, concepts, terms, but I can't remember context."

"I'm sorry, Cyrus. I forget sometimes."

Cyrus shrugged. "It was the lot I was dealt, so I should handle it with grace, I figure. No use complaining."

Visca smiled him, and he started to explain the basics of swimming. "Now I want you to try floating on your back. I'll help you with it, alright?"


As Cyrus started to teach Visca the intricacies of swimming freestyle, someone swam over to them. Lacrima's bikini was gunmetal grey, and since she discarded the gloves for this trip her ghostly arms were visible. Cyrus smiled at her. "You look great. I was told all the swimsuits were your work? They're all spectacular."

Lacrima flushed. "Thank you very much Cyrus. I worked hard on them."

"Was there a reason you swam over?"

"Yeah, some of the girls were starting a game of volleyball and they wanted to know if you'd like to join."

"Sounds great. Hey Visca, want to try swimming back to the shore? It isn't too far."


After returning to the shore, Cyrus found himself participating in a game of 3v3 volleyball (Cyrus wasn't going to question how they got a net up so fast), with Cthylla, Asta, and Tina playing against Lacrima, Francisca, and Cyrus himself. With Cthylla and the Twins all in one place, Cyrus was reminded of how similar they looked, with the only real difference being the eyes. The twins had chosen different swimsuits though, and were wearing bikinis that matched their eyes- Tina in red and Asta in vibrant green.

Francisca held the volleyball in one of her arms, head tilted to the side in apparent confusion. "What am I supposed to do with this… volleyball?" Francisca wore a sleek, sporty looking one piece in pale gray, with vertical red racing stripes going up the side.

As Lacrima sighed and explained the rules to her again, Cyrus did a little stretching, only to look over and see the Twins and Cthylla staring, and wait, was that a trickle of blood from Cthylla's nose?

"Uhh, Cthylla, are you okay? You've got a nosebleed."

She flushed and hastily wiped it away. "It's nothing! Carry on!"

At that moment, Lacrima finally seemed satisfied with Francisca's understanding of the rules of volleyball (or she had just given up completely), and she served the ball, sending it flying over the net.

Cyrus thought the teams might have been a little stacked- Francisca had two pairs of arms, and he was definitely one of the more physical people in the village (even if he needed wings to counteract his bad leg), but one issue detracted from his skill: the girls.

Volleyball was a sport that required a fair amount of running around and jumping, which did… interesting things when paired with swimsuits. The volleyball certainly wasn't the only thing that was bouncing, and Cyrus was distracted, to say the least.

Despite this setback, Cyrus was very physically fit and Francisca's four arms more than made up for her lack of skill. Her spikes could knock the other girls off their feet, which was definitely a little concerning, but at least she hadn't brought out of the multitools yet. They managed to scrape a victory, and Cyrus decided to take a rest.


Sitting down in a chair relatively close to Abigail and the unconscious girl, Cyrus suddenly realized he was tremendously thirsty. All the physical activity, both fighting the boss and the volleyball, made him desperate for something cool to drink, but before he could sit up to grab one he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Thirsty? Here." Cyrus turned to see Crista, clad in a rather modest light blue swimsuit, a drink of some kind in her hand. He took it and drank immediately, not even looking to see what it was. It was sweet, fruity, and extremely cold.

"Did you cool the drink by yourself?"

She gave him a small smile. "Yep. It certainly isn't a snowstorm or even a minor squall, but it's something. It's nice to be helpful." She took a seat in the shade.

"Does the heat bother you?"

She smiled and fanned herself with her hand. "I'll survive the heat, sure, but the shade is a bit more comfortable. I assure you, I'm enjoying myself, just not as much as Aria probably is." Cyrus looked to where Crista was gesturing, and saw Aria lounging in the sun, seemingly trying to soak in as much sun as possible, and Cyrus quickly looked away once he saw how much skin her swimsuit exposed.

Cyrus decided to change the subject. "Thank you for the spear, Crista. It really helped with the fight earlier today."

She smiled again. "I'm glad to hear it." She leaned over to get a closer look at him. "Good grief, how hard did that thing hit you? You're going to bruise!"

"Isn't the worst I've faced."

She sighed and stepped over to Cyrus before lightly tapping his welts and injuries. Before he could ask what exactly that was supposed to do, he felt a cool sensation spreading across his body from where ever her fingers made contact. "Wow. That's wonderful."

"I try."


Everyone had managed to burn themselves out by the time the sun began to set (Cyrus wasn't sure how a girl could exhaust herself after spending nearly an entire day just posing and preening, but Nicola managed) and they sat down for a big fire and dinner. The night would get cold pretty quick (it was still winter), but everyone was still in a jovial mood.

Just before dinner, the mysterious new girl's eyes opened, revealing a pair of eyes the color of amber. Cyrus was the first to notice her awakening. "Hey there. It's good to see you're up. I'm Cyrus."

She smiled, revealing a pair of unusually sharp canines, before introducing herself. "I'm Aqua."


Dramatis Personae:

Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist

Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus

Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes, in relationship with Cyrus

Bea: ex-Queen Bee

Lacrima: ex-Skeletron, clothier replacement, in relationship with Cyrus

Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh

Asta: ex-Spazmatism

Tina: ex-Retinazer

Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime

Regina: ex-Queen Slime

Ditra- ex-Destroyer

Aria: ex-Plantera

Picea: ex-Everscream

Nicola: ex-Santa-NK1

Crista: ex-Ice Queen

Aqua: ex-Duke Fishron

Nissa: the Dryad

Veronica: the Zoologist

Meredith: the Mechanic

Abigail: the Nurse

Judith: the Steampunker

Roxanne: the Stylist


FISH GIRL FISH GIRL

Ahem. Anyways, it felt a little weird referring to it as just Fishron and not Duke Fishron, but I can't reasonably explain Cyrus coming the conclusion it was a Duke. I will have to admit that I borrowed a lot of her design from an artist named PinkFreshPics on Reddit. Their Duchess Fishron is very cute, go check em out.

I was considering including the classic harem trope "walk in on a suggestive situation" when Andi was disinfecting Cyrus' wounds… but eh.

Aqua's namesake is very obvious, I'd think. At the moment I'm imagining her as the uber affectionate clingy sort- lots of skinship and all that.

The way it's looking, I might take a breather to work on a few side projects after this, which means it might be a bit until the next chapter (or maybe inspiration will strike, who knows). I'm thinking there are 3 options: Golem, Empress, or Pumpkin Moon. Leave a review asking for whichever one you want first, and I'll do my best to consider it. I'll cover them all eventually, but I'd like to ask if y'all have a order preference.

I hoped you enjoyed the beach episode. It was interesting to write, even if I felt like I was gawking a little when I wrote, if that makes sense?