Genshin Impact: Soul System

Chapter 14: Barbara's Dayoff [1/3]

After strolling around the cathedral for a few minutes, Ether decided to enter the cathedral as Albert wasn't spotted in the vicinity of the place. Upon entering the cathedral, Ether noticed that Barbara was waving at him with a warm smile on her face.

In the blink of an eye, Ether appeared before Barbara, lifting her chin so her eyes met his.

Barbara's face flushed out from both shock and embarrassment. She quickly turned around and placed her hands to cover her face.

Ether backed off, surprised by her reaction before bursting into laughter. "Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Ether laughed as Barbara straightened herself up.

*Cough cough* Barbara looked Ether in the eye. "What are you looking for?" She asked. "It's not a normal thing for you to visit the cathedral without a purpose in mind."

"Hmm... I was wondering if you need any help!" Ether replied. "So what will it be?"

"Is that so?" Barbara responded, "Then we'll need to go pick some woof-hooks in Wolvendom then."

"Then I'll meet you there later!" Ether said, walking to the entrance of the cathedral, "I'll be waiting there!"

...

In Wolvendom...

Ether walks around back and forth as he waited for Barbara to arrive. 'What's taking her so long?' He has been waiting for the last 10 or so minutes, it shouldn't take that long to get here, right?

*Rustle rustle* Upon hearing the sound of the bush rustling, Ether quickly crouched down and hid behind a tree from where the sound had come. "Ouch ouch ouch. My head." A voice said.

The voice came out of the bush that was rustling, revealing a figure with short light brown hair, and purple eyes, wearing a light green shirt with darker green pants. Ether's eyes opened up widely at the sight of the man, Albert. 'Well, this is a surprise, I didn't expect my guy to be here this early...' Ether thought to himself as he continued to observe Albert, 'Maybe he has to do with Barbara being so late.'

"Achoo!" Albert sneezed, robbing his nose. "Did I catch a cold? I wonder when Barbara-Sam's will get here?"

Ether tilted his head, 'How did he know that Barbara was coming? Even the hangout didn't mention that! What a stalker, honestly.' He continued to observe Albert as he picked up the red wolf hooks around.

"I wonder how Barbara-Sama would feel when I gift her these red wolf hooks that she loves," Ehter heard Albert muttering. 'So that's what he is doing, huh?' Ether thought to himself, 'Just like how the hangout goes but... how the heck does he know that Barbara likes these? There's no other way, he has to be stalking her in some way.'

Ether watches from behind the tree as Albert continues to gather the red wolf hooks until a voice was heard. "Ether? Ether, are you here?" Albert and Ether both reacted to the voice, the voice that it belongs to was Barbara!

Albert began to scan his surrounding like an eagle on the look for its prey, it wasn't long until he began to call out for Barbara as he walked through the silent forest, "Barbara-sama, Barbara-sama, where are you?"

Ether continued to follow Albert and observed him, holding back his giggles. The time searching for Barbara-sama went from seconds to minutes.

" "Ah!" " Ether stumbled into someone else, who fell to the ground. "Sorry, you ok?" Ether lends his hand out, offering to help the person up. "Ah, what took you so long?"

Barbara patted the dirt off her clothes and took Ether's hand before responding to him. "I was, met with a lot of people," Barbara said after she stood back up and patted the dirt off her clothes.

"Oh, is that so?" Ether said with a surprised look on his face, "Also, why do you need the wolf hooks? If you don't mind answering me."

"Ummm..." Barbara hesitated, "it's because..."

"BARBARA-SAMA! ARE YOU THERE???" The loud voice surprised the two of them, and both of them jumped in response, losing their balance in the process.

*Thump* The two faced centimeters away from each other's face. "S-sorry, are you ok?" Ether says, surprised at the awkwardness between them.

"Y-yes, but if you would please stand back up so I can stand back up," Barbara said, avoiding eye contact with Ether.

Ether backed away from Barbara and stood back up, patting the dust off of his clothes. "Who's there?!" Albert shouted in the distance, "Is that you, Barbara-sama?"

Ether winked at Barbara, gesturing toward Albert. 'It seems like Barbara would like to avoid a confrontation with Albert.' He thought as he put his finger in front of his lip, pointed at her, and then back down.
<Meaning: Quiet, you, stay here.>

He tends to point at himself and back in the direction where Albert is coming from.
<Meaning: I will go deal with him>
"BARBARA-SAMA, you there?" Albert continues to shout.

"Owowow, what's with all the ruckus you are causing, Albert?" Ether walked out of his bush, scratching his hair in response.

"O-oh, so that wasn't Barbara-sama?" Albert said, with a clear expression of disappointment on his face. "Hi, Ether."

"What? Not happy to see me?" Ether says with his eyes wide open in surprise. "Also, what and why are you even looking for Barbara?"

"I heard that she collects these red wolf hooks so I wanted to help her out!" Albert responded with enthusiasm.

"So you're that excited to see Barbara, huh?" Ether sighed in disappointment, "Why does she even need these, but the best question is how the heck do you know that Barbara might be here today?"

"Uhhhh..." Albert turned around, hesitating, "I have my ways... no need worry about it."

Ether's eyebrow twitched upwards, "Does that include stalking???"

"..." Albert stood there in silence at the mention of stalking, "N-no, I would never"

"Unless it's for the Barbara fan club." Albert silently muttered.

"What was that at the end there? I didn't quite catch that, ya know?" Ether said.

A/N: Slow updates as I'm running out of ideas. Enjoy! Also, comment, please!

Note: Happy Valentine's!