Gloom looked at Shimmer with an incredulous expression, what came out of Shimmer's mouth, even if they only knew each other for about a week, was so uncharacteristic, especially given what the other Harbringers told her.
"...You want to hangout?" Gloom asked, thinking she might have heard wrong, "Y-yeah... It would be nice..." Shimmer confirmed, still shounding as shy as before, only furthering Gloom's confusion, "It's not like you at all..." Gloom pointed out, putting a hand on Shimmer's forehead to see if she was sick.
That motion prompted Shimmer to move Gloom's head off of her, "I'm fine..." Shimmer informed, "You don't sound fine." Gloom insisted with a more stern look, "Listen I'll explain, but for now I just want to relax." Shimmer explained while rubbing her arm.
Thinking about it for a moment made Gloom realize that between getting reincarnated, being made into a Harbringer and meeting who claims to be the creator of everything, Shimmer never had time to relax, "...Okay where do you wanna go?" Gloom finally relented.
Later At The Beach Near Stormbearer Cliff.
Laying on the sand was admittedly nicer than what Gloom was expecting, and it also confirmed a thought she was having about Shimmer, "So you are a Light Elemental." She told the white haired girl, "Huh?" Shimmer let out in response.
That confused noise made Gloom chuckle a bit, "I guess you wouldn't know." She rationalized, "I'm a Dark Elemental, the tentacles are because of that." She informed, extending a few tentacles from her palm to make a point, "You are completely white, like the sun and your Vision is light, obviously a Light Elemental." She added with a smirk.
"That sounds like it could be literally anyone." Shimmer retorted, "Think of Arlecchino, she has white hair." She exemplified causing Gloom to roll her eyes, "More of a silvery color, but I get your point." She said with a small huff.
A minute later, Shimmer sat up and began playing with the sand, "What are you? Five?" Gloom questioned sarcastically, "What are you? Eighty?" Shimmer retorted slyly, "Well I never!" Gloom jokingly responded as she joined.
With the added help, the two managed to make the rough shape of Zapolyarny Palace, "It came out better than I thought it would!" Shimmer commented with a smile, "It really did." Gloom agreed with a smaller smile of her own, "Say, you sound a lot better." She pointed out, noticing how Shimmer sounded lighter.
"I got unwinded, but still... I need to get some stuff off my chest." Shimmer brought up, sounding a little saddened again, "Alright, what is it?" Gloom asked, inviting Shimmer to tell her, "...Do the other Harbringers... Actually like me?" She asked, sounding really shy now.
The question really took Gloom off guard, it was even less than the last thing on her mind, "Elaborate." She requested, "I mean, do they actually think I should be among them?" Shimmer clarified, not wanting to make it sound weird, "Oh! I mean... They do, yeah, you fought most of them and almost won." Gloom pointed out with narrowed eyes.
"Not like that! On personal level!" Shimmer clarified further, "...You're asking whether they enjoy your company!" Gloom realized, her eyes widening as she did, "But why did you seem so calm until now?" She asked in confusion, "I used to be a mediator in my old world so I have a good poker face, but all of this happening kind of broke me down." Shimmer explained.
All of this made a lot of sense to Gloom, how Shimmer was so good with planning and acting natural, "It feels as if everything fell into place." She commented, but then focues on Shimmer, "Listen, you probably know none of the Harbringers like eachother." Gloom started, making Shimmer look a little dejected.
"You are an anomaly in that regard." Gloom continued, causing Shimmer to look at her, "From what they tell me, you are pretty odd, but in a good sense, they find you entertaining to be around." She finished, "R-really?" Shimmer asked, "Yeah, but even if they didn't, why do you care? You're a Harbringer! So stop worrying!" Gloom told her sternly.
Despite the harshness in Gloom's words, they actually made Shimmer feel better, but then Gloom punched her in the stomach, "THAT'S FOR MAKING ME WORRY OVER NOTHING!!" Gloom yelled angrily, "OH so that's how it is huh!?!?" Shimmer exclaimed in irritation.
The two quickly took out their weapons, feeling eachother's anger, "I open my heart to you and you do that! What's your deal!?" Shimmer lamented, holding the lamp shaped focus she got from her training to fight like a Cicin Mage, "My deal is that you might be a mediator, but you're clearly a child!" Gloom shot back, holding her scythe.
Gloom Vs. Shimmer.
Glaring at one another, Shimmer made the first move, using the lamp to conjure five Shine Cicins and sent them to swarm Gloom, who responded by twirling around elegantly with swings of her scythe that really resembled Arlecchino's, albeit more violent.
Each swing took out a Cicin, but during that Shimmer used Shine to create illusions around, making it look as if there were eight of her, "So you have been practicing!" Gloom noted, extending her tentacles and slamming all the Shimmer's surrounding her, but all turned out to be fakes, "Huh?" Gloom let out, but then was hit by by a lamp right in the face.
"Thought you would do that so I teleported above you!" Shimmer explained smugly, which pissed Gloom off a bit, "Alright, you've been practicing a lot." Gloom admitted, quickly extending tentacles from her legs and to the ground, giving herself a push upwards, "But let's see you counter this!" She said angrily, charging the blade of her scythe with Shade.
The charged blade sent sharp arcs of Shade with each swing, but Shimmer managed to dodge each one by teleporting, until one managed to scrape her hair, and all of a sudden she couldn't teleport anymore, "What the fuck!?" She cursed, now scampering to avoid the remaining ones, "Shade isn't a 'dark element', it's the manifestation of the absence of energy!" Gloom explained.
That information made Shimmer panic a bit, "What!? So those affected can't use their Visions for a while!?" She questioned, "Shows I need an alternative!" She realized as she jumped in the water, manging to wash of the Shade off of her hair, and then teleported in the air in front of Gloom, "Got-" Shimmer was saying, but Gloom used a mass of tentacles to move hersef along the cliff, "-cha!?" Shimmer finished.
"Alright then! I'll use something you taught me!" Shimmer announced, putting her lamp away and charged shine between her hands, "Think you can beat me with my own technique?" Gloom asked sarcastically as she charged the same attack, "Blazing White/Black Blast!" They both exclaimed as they shot a ball of their pure respective element, accidentally making them collide.
Seeing how each of their elements worked, they expected the attacks to cancel eachother out, but instead, they made a reaction, much more potent than even Burgeon, as it made an explosion so powerful that it blew both of them away and deactivated their Visions.
As they regained their senses, they looked around, seeing a lingering cloud of Shade around them, "Damn... That usually happens when I leak Shade." Gloom commented, looking around for Shimmer, "You good?" She called out and then she saw Shimmer coming closer, "Yeah I'm fine, but we should get away, this stuff won't let our Visions wo-AAH!" Shimmer yelped and covered her eyes.
That made Gloom realize two things, Shimmer was close enough for Gloom to see her clothes got burned off, and Shimmer's reaction made it clear Gloom's own clothes got burned off, and when they both realized the situation, covered themselves with their arms.
"...Going to Mondstadt isn't in the cards like this." Shimmer pointed out, "You have to say it? Now we have to wait for this stuff to fade away." Gloom informed, knowing teleporting was the only option, "Yeah..." Shimmer said in agreement.
They stood there waiting for the Shade cloud to disappear, and while doing that snuck some glances at eachother, Gloom appreceating the curve of Shimmer's hip and how her skin shined under the sun, while Shimmer felt her cheeks heating up at how Gloom's milky white complexion made her petite figure look.
An uncomfortable silence passed until Gloom spoke up, "You look... Good..." She said to try and make it less awkward, "Yeah, you- you too..." Shimmer replied, and uncovered herself along with Gloom since it made no sense at this point.
"It's chilly..." Gloom lamented, feeling the breeze now that she removed her arms, "Do you... Want to cuddle...?" Shimmer offered shyly, expecting a no, but Gloom surprisingly pulled her close, "A word of this to anyone and I'll shave you bald." She threatened, "Same to you." Shimmer replied.