The next time that I opened my eyes I was on a beach. Green-ish blue water crashed against the shore with every wave as the sun shone above the water. Sea turtles were climbing out of their sandy nests and into the ocean some distance away while hermit crabs roamed around in search of food. Seagulls flew around against the wind with the same idea as the hermit crabs. The heat from the sun made me realize that I should probably take my coat and shoes off. Doing so, I realized how hot the sand was underfoot but I felt a sense of relief. For the moment I had nothing to do. No reason to fight anyone or learn more about my enemy. All that I had to do was enjoy myself. At least, that’s what I thought.

“Where the hell are we?” I heard Compton ask before appearing out of the pendant. Following behind him were Elysif and Lily who were both happy and confused from the sight.

“We’re at the beach. I asked Tim to bring us here so that we could take a break.” I replied.

“Okay, is that why there’s a little girl in an oversized hat standing next to a small tower of strange things behind you?” Compton asked as he pointed behind me.

Following his finger, I turned to see Tim dressed in a white sundress, flip flops, and wearing a straw sunhat that was around the size of her body. Unlike every other time I had seen her, she had her hair tied up so that it wasn’t touching the ground. Like Compton had pointed out there was a tower around two meters tall of random stuff beside her. Elysif gave Tim confused looks as she had seen Tim before when Medea used that ritual and they didn’t look the same.

“Tim, what is all this?” I asked as I approached her.

“... Beach stuff, Like you asked.” she said with a tired expression.

“Okay, why is it in a huge pile?” I asked.

“You have to set it up.” she replied with the same expression.

“I see. Well, thanks for bringing it.” I said before starting to unpack it all.

“Compton, Elysif, mind giving me a hand?” I asked as I started pulling things I recognized out of the pile. As we dug through the pile I began throwing beach chairs out of the pile. Lily and Tim set a few of them up for themselves without even thinking about helping us, much to our displeasure. However, I really didn’t care. I just wanted everyone to have some fun for a bit.

After an hour or so we had set everything up. Tim had brought a giant twelve-person tent, a grill with charcoal, coolers with drinks and enough food for a few days, towels, beach chairs, bodyboards, and some beach balls. The only other thing that she brought was a basket full of swimwear, which Elysif was shocked at the sight of. Despite her complaints, she ended up putting on the bikini. Compton and I were both given swim shorts and Lily was given a child’s frilly one piece.

Once we had our swimsuits on, Elysif, Compton, and Lily all ran off to play in the water. I, on the other hand, had a question for Tim who was just sitting in a beach chair and watching the ocean. I didn’t see any swimsuit for her among the others. We each had one but there was none for her. I figured that she would want to go in the water at least once.

“So where’s your swimsuit?” I asked as I sat down beside her and opened up a canned margarita.

“I am the ruler of time. If I want to go in the water then I will just go in. there is no need for me to have a swimsuit.” she said.

“So you don’t plan on getting in the water?” I asked.

“Were you not listening? If I plan to then why should I need clothes? That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to.” she said before standing up and reaching down to the edge of her sundress. Before she could lift it up I grabbed her hand to stop her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked in the same nonchalant emotionless tone that she usually spoke in.

“You need a swimsuit. I don’t care if you are the ruler of time. You can’t just go skinny dipping.” I replied with an almost threatening tone.

“... fine then. Give me a moment.” she said before disappearing and reappearing a second later. The shock of what she wore sent a feeling of moral disdain resonating through my entire body. She had what looked to be a swimsuit made of three small pieces of cloth and more string than there was cloth. Before there was any chance of anyone seeing her I threw my towel over her much to her surprise.

“What are you-” she started to ask.

“Go put something else on! Something like what you gave Lily perhaps, but anything would be better than that.” I said adamantly.

“I don’t see why you care so much. However, I can see that you are disturbed by it so I will oblige you. However...” Tim said before snapping her finger. The force of which sent me flying backward across the sand. As I got up with some pain from being strung across the coarse sand she disappeared once again, leaving behind the towel and reappearing a second later. This time she had a grey and blue one-piece.

Setting her sun hat down and undoing the tie in her hair Tim ran off into the ocean. Though, she stopped the moment she got ankle-deep in the water. She had a face of pure shock which I had yet to see on her. She began shivering much to my amusement.

“What? Too cold for you?” I asked from the beach.