Paimon's woe

19: Paimon's sea routine

It has been a while since the last time they set their foot on land. About three to four weeks, perhaps? They couldn't calculate the exact duration since they didn't count the days ever since they started the journey, or they didn't bring the device to count the hours and a record.

Either way, today is another normal day. Aether woke up with the smell of a floral scent, a hint of violetgrass, which he quickly recognized as Keqing's scent. He looked at her bed and saw her lying down, still sleeping soundly, like a cat. At one point, the scent was too stimulating for him, quite normal as he is physically a young and healthy boy. But as time goes on, he has become quite accustomed to it. It seems to have a calming effect on him.

Though, that's not the only scent that he can detect from his nose. There's another smell that made his stomach rumble. Something is being grilled, perhaps?

He stood up from the bed and opened the door. He looked forward and saw the Crux members cooking a row of fishes. The sheer sight of it made his mouth water.

There're quite a bunch of them. Different types of them can be seen by the colour of the fishes. Most of them he didn't recognize. The only one that he remembers is the golden bass, which coincidentally his favourite.

"G'morning! Come here, breakfast is ready!" One of them greeted him.

He gave a smile and walked towards the team. After he sat with them, he looked through all of the choices.

He could choose his favourite fish, but the others looked good as well. Without much thought, he tried the other ones. Purely because he likes to try out all of the dishes and be adventurous when it comes to food.

He took a bite of it. And damn, he didn't regret his choice.

The crisp on the outside feels just addicting in his mouth, and the seasoning is just right. Surprising, since he lowered his expectation when he heard Beidou complain about the food. Certainly, it's not on par with Chef Mao and Xiangling's cooking, but it's special just the way it is.

"Mhm! Paimon smells something nice!"

Looks like Paimon wake up as she digests(?) the scent, closing her eyes enjoying every bit of it.

"Yo, kiddo! Take a bite!"

"Paimon's not a kiddo! Oh, but don't mind if I do."

It baffles him how quickly Paimon calmed her wrath when it comes to delicious food.

She took a different type of fish from him, which he unfortunately can't differentiate between them. As she flew towards him and ate the fish with him, she let out a satisfied sound.

"This is better than Paimon expected!"

Huh, great mind thinks alike.

Or in this case, tongue.

Both of them continue their feast when they heard the door open again.

"Mhm, what smells so good here?"

Keqing came out, eyes half opened as she still feels a bit sleepy. Lately, they were feeling so comfortable inside their room. It just feels right to laze around on their beds, though they still have to keep their body in shape as a preparation before they reached the island. They still do sword training on the ship, but one way or another, their body have become like a sloth.

Then again, the stiff beds that they use are probably the other reason why they can't have a good night sleep.

Though, no matter how sleepy she gets, her outfit is still so beautiful and clean, much to his awe.