Mane held gingerly onto Ursula's soft hand as the two of them walked onto the beach. The sand felt authentic under them, the scent of saltwater unmistakable as it was carried past their faces by an artificial breeze. The temperature was pleasantly cool, as was the distant glow of the massive lamp that served as the "sun" here. Mane took a deep breath of the incomprehensibly large chamber's air. Ursula took her off to the side towards a small building that served as a sort of changing room. The two entered. Mane clung to Ursula as hard and as long as she could get away with. This was truly uncharted territory for her. Nevertheless, she did ultimately let go and enter a small room to get changed- a phrase which here means "strip down to the swimwear she'd been wearing under her normal clothes." 

Mane stuffed her clothes, coat included, into a large duffle bag which Ursula had grabbed her on the way out of the beach supplies place. She slung it over her shoulder, removed her socks and shoes, and paused for a moment. The image of Arliss's smug fucking face flashed through her memories, just as her father's and sister's did so often. She clenched her teeth and forced herself to picture Melody and Ursula instead, to limited success. Limited success was better than nothing, though, and it proved enough to prevent any flashbacks. Mane emerged from the changing room and spotted Ursula flirting with a beautiful woman. 

The blonde's heart warmed up significantly. Ursula's ears twitched cutely as she purred and leaned dominantly against a wall with one hand, her fit body beautifully uncovered (mostly, of course, she still had a bikini on). It was then that Mane noticed something that she was flabbergasted had not jumped out at her the instant she saw Ursula shirtless. 

An impressive, pitch black tattoo in the shape of an upside down castle covered Ursula's entire abdomen from immediately beneath her chest (such that the pretty droop of her large breasts covered some of it) down almost to her belly button. It was beautiful and incredibly detailed, using negative space to represent windows in its many conically-tipped hanging towers. The castle's formation was abstract, such that both ends were towers and its overall outline was vaguely triangular (with the spires' ends reaching farther near the middle on the bottom but ending along a straight line on the top). Mane immediately recognized where the imagery was from and went silent for a second. Her brain was literally too gay to function. 

"Oh, hey cub!" Ursula trilled happily as her attention turned entirely onto Mane in an instant. She turned away, stopped, gave the other girl a loving pat on the head, and then walked over to Mane on confident strides and took her hand. "Bye!" She purred to the over girl as she fluttered her long beautiful eyelashes. They blushed heavily and waved goodbye as Mane and Ursula walked out onto the beach. 

Mane had not been on one in years. Closing in on a decade, in fact. The feeling of sand beneath her bare feet was extremely pleasant. Some starved, forgotten childlike part of her brain surged unbidden to the top like fiz erupting from a bottle of soda opened too soon after one dropped it. Mane darted a few inches forward and crushed a small clump of sand under one toe. The sensory feedback that it gave as it crumbled against her skin sparked a flash of simple joy in her brain. Immediately Mane's attention was devoted entirely to the ground as she flitted all about stepping on big pebbles of condensed sand. 

"Oh my gosh," Ursula purred. Mane didn't hear that, of course, because her brain was too laser focused on her silly little task. "She's like a kitten." Mane wasn't paying attention. She walked haphazardly all about, eyes glued to the ground and her brain only interested in playing with the sand. Ursula followed along, watching to make sure Mane didn't bump into anyone. "If I'd known this would happen I would've grabbed some buckets," she giggled to herself. Mane continued to walked around aimlessly for a while before she broke out of her stupor and turned towards Ursula with a nervous smile.

"Oops," Mane laughed almost apologetically. "How long was I doing that?"

"Not sure!" Ursula answered truthfully. "But it's fine. You were having fun, that's what matters, okay?" Mane nodded hesitantly and Ursula drew closer. This lit Mane's face up an intense crimson. Ursula reached out and stroked Mane's face with a thumb, which melted Mane in an instant. 

"Myrrrrr," she purred. 

"Good girl. Come, let's look around kay?" Ursula said with a happy little smile. Mane reciprocated the expression and took Ursula's hand, eager to be led about the beach. Ursula turned away towards the…whatever the thing in the distance would be called, that wasn't technically a horizon. Mane followed along one pace behind Ursula as she walked deeper into the massive chamber. 

—------

Aria took a seat across a table from Melody. An attractive female human floret lay in Melody's lap, wiggling with delight. Melody rested one palm lazily on the floret's head and had her eyes pointed towards Aria. Melody was smiling, but the grin formed by her lips was shallow. Aria smiled back, and hers was predictably much wider and deeper. 

"Is something wrong, Mellmell?" Asked Aria with a singsong quality to her tone. Whatever was bothering Melody, she wanted to help! Aria loved helping, especially Melody! Melody just responded with a weak tired laugh that felt like it physically scraped Aria's big warm heart. Aria didn't know what was wrong but it was definitely bugging Melody and she wanted to help her girlfriend pull through it! "I love you!" 

"I know, sweetie pie," Melody answered with another laugh that didn't ring anywhere near as hollow as the first. Aria's heart bounced with renewed hope. She was helping! She could make things better! 

"I know you know but I love saying it too!" Squeaked Aria. She made a little heart with her hands as she said it. Melody's smile twitched for a moment, showing Aria a flash of a much more genuine one. "You're so sweet and good!" 

"Awwww, thanks," Melody said. Her face blushed red as her body language shifted to become more natural. Aria practically vibrated in place from the force of the good feels that hit her. She loved seeing Melody feel better. Whatever baggage weighed her down when she was like this, Aria was more than willing to help her shrug its weight off. 

"You're welcome cutie!" Aria mewled happily. She stimmed giddily by kicking her little legs under the table. "I love you! I love you! Saying it feels as natural as breathing, hehe!" Aria giggled so hard that it made her entire torso visibly undulate. That got a laugh, a genuine hearty one, out of Melody- who started petting the class-J pet snuggled up to her. Melody's smile settled down into its more natural, truthful form. Aria's soul sang happily. Two or three tables down from where the two florets were seated, Cordelia's did as well.

"Thanks, darling," Melody said. She seemed to be recovering now. Aria waved for a waitress, but didn't let her eyes stray from Melody. Not Melody's eyes though- her shoulder on the side with the other floret, because eye contact was stressful for some autistic sophonts, she knew Melody was autistic, and she'd never asked Melody if she was one of them. 

"No thanks needed!" Laughed Aria merrily. "Seeing you feel better is more than enough for me!" A waitress approached and asked the two girls what they would like that day. Aria requested soda, and Melody asked for almond milk. The waitress smiled and departed. Aria reached across the table for Melody's hand but couldn't quite reach it. Melody extended her arm and held Aria's hand. The two smiled and shared a quiet moment of mutual love and warmth together. 

A certain pink affini in the background may or may not have squealed loud enough to make them jump. The truth of the matter was unfortunately lost to history. 

—----

Mane felt like she was in heaven. The sun- or at least, the "sun"- shone nicely on her exposed skin, she was dressed sluttier than she'd ever been before and left her house, and she felt completely safe despite that. The sand beneath her was smooth, not upsettingly hot to touch with bare skin, and had plenty of the clumps she so enjoyed touching. The waves were gentle and slow, and the body of water generating them was so big that one might understandably mistake it for an actual ocean. It wasn't, of course, the size of the ship would prohibit that even if this beach took up all of the space inside, but it was a good enough simulacrum for an undiscerning beachgoer like her. Naturally, though, Mane's favorite thing about this place was the people. 

Lots of beautiful human figures in swimsuits, generally about as revealing as one might expect on the beach of a Terran world. Everyone was smiling and comfortable, many of them eye-punchingly hot. Mane felt warmth in her chest as every few seconds a new hot girl caught her attention. She was very happy and very- truly, VERY- gay. The young woman stimmed and squealed quietly to herself occasionally whenever someone especially good looking snagged her gaze, which amused Ursula endlessly. 

"You gonna go say hi to any of these girls you obviously like," snarked Ursula with a knowing grin, "or you gonna stand around fidgeting like a useless lesbian?" Ursula laughed. It was a sweet, good natured laugh, although Mane swore she could hear a bit of Ena in it. Mane waved her arms uselessly in a show of futile protest against those baseless (one hundred percent pinpoint accurate) accusations. Ursula kept giggling and reached into her bag, dropping to a crouch. "Speaking of: you don't like boys, right?" She took Mane's arm. Mane stopped her autistic flailing and blinked, caught totally off guard.

"Uh…yeah, correct, I don't. Just girls," she responded awkwardly. "Why…do you ask?"

"Click~!" Ursula purred. Some kind of bracelet locked into place around Mane's arm. It was loose enough to hang comfortable but not enough to slide off her hand. Before Mane could react, by inquiring about it or by pulling away, Ursula locked a second one onto her. "Party bangles! Consent is mandatory, after all~"

"Party, bangles…?" Mane asked, her eyes dropping to examine her arm. From it now hung two bracelets that resembled thick sturdy glowsticks. One of them was pink and the other was a bright green. "What're these? What are they for…?"

"Consent, silly~" teased Ursula. Ena seized control of their body and blew a kiss, making sure to squish her bikini-top-clad chest together for Mane's enjoyment. Between the two gestures Mane physically stumbled backwards grappling with the overpowering urge to swoon. It was all she could do not to yowl with glee and collapse so she could bury her face in the sand. "Pink means ya like girls," Ursula explained without missing a beat, back in control of their body, "green means flirting is welcome- don't worry, you can still tell people to go away or what have you if you withdraw consent or someone bugs you. You want one that marks you as welcome for nonbinary peeps too?" Mane nodded weakly. Ursula retrieved another bracelet from her bag- this one black and white, sporting an aesthetically pleasing chessboard pattern- and clicked it around Mane's arm as well. 

"Where'd you get these?" Mane asked, her confused little mind trying to reach back far enough to see when Ursula could have fetched them. She failed to gather much, as basically all that her brain could gather was "Ursula hot." Ursula giggled, clicking a matching set of bracelets into place worn on her own arm. 

"At the entrance, silly cub," Ursula giggled happily. "Most spaces where a lot of flirting might happen- beaches, nightclubs, bars and the like- have these. They're opt in but I like using them because…y'know. You get more flirts when everyone knows you're open to them. And flirting is fun~" she chirped, popping up to her feet and winking as she finished. It was likely no coincidence that her boobs jiggled as she landed, flustering Mane yet again. 

"Mewww!" Mane whined, waggling her entire body and hoisting up her duffle bag trying to hide her face behind it. Ursula laughed. 

"Well~? You don't have your old petting zoo of hypnosubs anymore, aren't you gonna go try and find a new pet to love on and learn about, cub~?" 

The question impacted Mane like a hammer. Her eyes shot wide open and dilated like a cat spotting her favorite toy. She was…free to just…do that. She could flirt with pretty girls, learn about them, make friends, take some as play partners for a night if they wanted…

"Though, no promises that any cis girls you meet here won't leave you for Space Catholicism after a week," Ursula teased. "Since that's somehow happened to you twice." 

"Only onceeee!" Mane objected. "The second time lasted a year! And it was Catholic Jesus, not Space Jesus!" 

"Damn, that bad, huh?" Ursula grinned a grin that would glint like knives if she pointed it at anybody else. "That's rough, cub." 

"Heck you!" Mane mewled. She turned around and exaggeratedly stepped away with her arms crossed. Almost immediately she lost her resolve and came back. "I guess, uh, we should like set up our towel and stuff." 

"That's not a bad plan, yeah," Ursula said merrily. "Come, come. I want a spot near the water so I can watch you swim." 

"Because you wanna see me in the water or cause you don't trust me to stay safe?" Mane shot back with zero actual hurt in her voice. A beat. "Hey wait a second, where are the lifeguards?" 

"The birds."

"Huh?"

Ursula pointed at vague V shapes in the air over the water. "Robot birds. There are nanomachines in the water that surround your face if you're having trouble and circulate oxygen through your system, and those robot birds help spot when someone needs help before it comes to that. For that there are amphibious life guards.

"You…know all that?" Mane asked. 

"You'd be amazed at the things you learn teaching independents how to function on an affini ship." Ursula smiled. "That's my unofficial job, after all. Bright smiles consensual restoration, my boss calls it. That's Erias, if you hadn't like…picked up on that part quite yet." 

"Neat!" 

The two approached the water. The sound of the waves brought Mane back to some of the only happy memories she had of her family. Those early vacations to the beach when she was seven or eight weren't really formative at all, but they were nice at least. Not many were. She recalled her sister fetching her from underwater after a wave knocked her down, swimming out farther than she safely could, nights spent on the boardwalk, playing carnival games she was too young and naive to see were obviously rigged. Bumper cars, oddly. Strange thing to come to mind at the sound of waves, but chains of association did that sometimes. 

"Do they have a boardwalk?" She asked almost automatically. 

"No? Maybe?" Asked Ursula, audibly stumped by Mane's question. "I dunno, I've never looked. It's possible that they might?" 

"If they do, I wanna walk along it later," Mane said, forgetting that Ursula had a hab to go home to- forgetting, even, the set of circumstances that she herself was currently entrenched jaw-deep in. Ursula smiled at her on a bit of a delay.

"Okay. We'll see, cub. And I'll think of something to do together if they don't, okay?" She reached out and rubbed the top of Mane's head. Mane purred and melted.

She was happy.