"Wait."
The soft call brought Bai You to an abrupt stop. She turned back in puzzlement, looking a little bewildered.
Varesa hurried over to the wooden chest and lifted its lid again. After rummaging around at the bottom for a while, she picked up a neatly folded set of soft undergarments.
She walked briskly over to Bai You and gently pressed them into her arms, the tips of her ears turning faintly pink.
"I almost forgot these. You can't just wear the dress, so take them too. They're all new and clean." She looked away, her tone deliberately casual, though a trace of shyness lingered almost imperceptibly in her final words.
She had hardly ever concerned herself with such small, private matters for another person.
Now, handing her own undergarments to a girl she had only recently met, she felt a subtle, strange sensation well up inside her.
Bai You looked down at the light, soft fabric in her arms, and her cheeks immediately grew hot. Her fingers instinctively tightened around the garments, and she froze on the spot.
In all her life, she had never worn girls' clothing, aside from what she had on now, much less someone else's undergarments.
"Go on. It's very safe behind the screen. No one will see you," Varesa said, raising a hand and nodding toward the screen before turning and stepping away.
Of her own accord, she turned and walked toward the giant shell in the cavern to blow bubbles in the water, leaving Bai You plenty of privacy.
Bai You clutched the clothes to her chest and edged behind the shell screen one step at a time.
The enormous screen completely blocked her view of the outside. It was a little dim inside, with only a faint blue glimmer reflected from the lake filtering through the gaps.
She could hear her heartbeat with piercing clarity, each beat thudding against her chest.
Bai You leaned against the cool, smooth shell wall and looked down at the clothes in her arms, which carried a faint fragrance like wildflowers by the water. Her mind was in turmoil.
She had never imagined that crossing over to Teyvat would leave her in such a bizarre state.
The set in her hands was soft and close-fitting, with the delicate details unique to girls' clothing everywhere she looked.
And it belonged to Varesa, the one she had been longing for in her rented room not long ago.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. After struggling with herself for a long time, she finally took off the white dress that had long since been soaked through by the lake water.
The cool air brushed against her skin, making her shiver involuntarily.
She picked up the undergarments with her fingertips, every movement stiff with awkwardness. The more she put on, the hotter her cheeks grew.
Shame washed over her heart in wave after wave.
I'm just putting them on, that's all. There's no other way. Maybe I'll go back to Blue Star after a night's sleep, Bai You kept telling herself.
She murmured it over and over to encourage herself, but even though she understood it all, the strange shyness in her heart still refused to fade.
The fabric felt unfamiliar and delicate against her skin. Every inch of it seemed to remind her that the clothes fit quite well...
It took Bai You quite a bit of effort to figure out how to put on the dress.
The long skirt hung beside her legs, nearly brushing the cool shell floor beneath her feet.
The rather loose skirt swayed at her sides, the fabric brushing gently against her calves with every step she took, bringing with it an unfamiliar sensation.
Bai You tugged at the neckline, then looked down at the hanging skirt, at a loss for what to do.
She turned slightly to examine herself in the blurry reflection on the shell's surface. The image was hazy, but she could still see the pale cyan dress wrapped around her figure.
Her feelings were a jumble of embarrassment, shyness, and a subtle emotion she couldn't quite explain even to herself.
When she thought of Varesa waiting outside, and of having to walk out in front of her looking like this, she wished she could find a crack in the ground and hide in it.
Time passed bit by bit, and still there was no sign of movement from inside the screen.
Varesa hurriedly swam ashore and walked up to the screen, her ears unconsciously attending to the faint sounds coming from behind it.
After hearing no sound from inside for a long while, she couldn't help quietly wondering whether Bai You was having trouble putting it on.
Or was she too shy to come out? A little anticipation and a faint curiosity arose in her heart.
After quite some time, a faint rustling of fabric finally came from behind the screen.
"I-I'm dressed..." Bai You's voice came through the shell screen, small and soft, with a trace of lingering embarrassment.
Varesa immediately turned around and looked straight toward the screen.
The shell screen was gently pulled open a crack, and Bai You emerged from behind it with her head lowered, taking tiny steps. The loose, pale cyan dress hung on the petite girl's frame.
It slipped slightly off her shoulders, and its long skirt trailed across the shell floor. She drew her arms in awkwardly, both hands clutching the skirt tightly.
Her head hung low, her bangs falling over most of her face and leaving only the reddened tip of one ear visible.
The soft, deep-blue light reflected from the lake in the cavern fell gently upon her, giving the pale cyan dress a warm, watery sheen.
Rather than making her look untidy, the oversized dress made her seem all the softer and more innocent, timid and at a loss.
Varesa was momentarily transfixed. Her pupils narrowed slightly, and it was as though something soft had bumped against her heart.
Oh my god, she's so cute!!!!!!!