Mane splashed about happily in the perfect temperature waters of the Crest's artificial beach. She wasn't quite far enough out that the water was at a depth she could actually swim in, and for now that was okay. She liked splashing around too. There was a simple joy to it, and she was still getting used to the falsies. Would they stay on her if she went out into the water? She had to assume so, if they were being given out at a station that specialized in beach supplies. Still, she was unable to recall anything which stated that they would, and the uncertainty was enough to make her play it safe for a little while. She giggled quietly to herself and slapped at the water playfully with her feet. It was cool and pleasant, and the waves that lazily jumped out over it every twenty seconds or so hit with the same satisfying little impact as the ones she remembered. The strange sensation of the sand receding, except that which was directly underfoot, invoked nostalgia of its own. 

It was kind of like holding an ice cube under the faucet to feel it change shape as it melted. Mane liked to do that as well, she thought to herself- she'd never made the connection before. She considered trying it out at the hab, but then remembered why she'd never tried it during that one uneventful stretch where she consumed a tenth of the library: she was scared the behavior could be construed as self destructive. She shook the thought out of her head and stood as another wave whacked her shins. The water retreated and pulled sand away with it. 

Ursula was standing off back at sand, peoplewatching. Every so often Mane trained her eyes back on the other girl, to stop herself from panicking needlessly. This preventative measure, for what could be one of a few possible reasons, worked well enough. Mane had some distant wriggling brainworms still, anxious about the possibility of separation from her (kind of) ride and thus left stranded. She managed them with these occasional glances. As long as she kept Ursula's location engrained in her mind they failed to get their teeth into her. 

Heh. Worms. Teeth. What a strange turn of phrase. Worms didn't have teeth. 

Mane decided after some deliberation to go deeper. She waded farther out on slow and deliberate steps. Her bare feet felt only smooth and edgeless debris mixed in with the sand beneath them. Mane wasn't surprised by that. The affini insisted on making everything fit their ideas of perfection, why wouldn't that apply to their beach? She could almost hear her father going on a comical rant about "those damn weeds thinking they can do better than God!" Which, assuming intelligent design, they demonstrably could. Were she to put her attachment to the human body- flaws and all- aside, Mane had no problem acknowledging that many of the cybernetics and such offered by the affini promised a straight upgrade over whatever part they replaced or supplanted (heh. Sup*plant*ed). 

She wandered farther out into the bright blue water- a few steps at a time. The water rose gradually to her knees. Once it was at about navel depth, she figured, she could comfortably start swimming. She paused to let herself adapt to having it up to her knees. Her bare skin welcomed the water as it had not gotten to do in so long. She took a deep breath and shivered as her spine reacted involuntarily to the shift in temperature. Farther out the water was a bit colder. She doubted it would be hazardously cold at any point- not at any distance a sophont which wasn't an affini could plausibly get to, anyway. She trudged farther out, her body's buoyancy starting to interfere with her steps at that point. The water's depth increased faster the farther she was from its edge. That was more or less how it worked at terrestrial beaches too, if her memory was correct. 

Mane stepped out past a cliff of some kind and her foot plummeted into a cavernous void. She sank like a rock but only about a foot before the water lifted her back up to float. Well, she supposed as the shock filtered quickly out of her system, that simplified things a little bit. Mane leaned forward and, eyes screwed tightly shut, placed her face under water. She hadn't swam in years but her body remembered how to do it. Stabbed the water in front of her with both arms. Pulled them apart, swung them behind her and propelled herself forward. Legs kicked out behind her. It felt strange with boobs (even these fake ones) and long hair, but it wasn't altogether unpleasant. 

She wiggled around in the water, swimming back and forth, for a while. Her body slowly but steadily recalled how to swim properly, and even more slowly (but equally steadily) changed its motions to match. She dropped, bounced, and heaved about along the surface of the water just like she used to as a kid and as a young teenager. Every so often she came to a stop to tread water and open her eyes. Each time she'd stay in place a moment, paddle closer to the land's edge, and make sure she could still make out Ursula. Each time, she could. 

—-----

Ursula stood in place and rolled her shoulders to stretch them. Her ears twitched in response to the light salt and touch of cold carried by a slight breeze. She watched Mane out on the water, happy to see her swimming around. Sadly, she was too accustomed to the blonde girl's emotional fits to feel truly convinced that Mane was going to be genuinely okay after this. She always shoved shit down and tried to move on faster than was really merciful to herself. Still…she'd earned a few hours of blissfully willful ignorance, as a treat. 

"Hey there!" Said a feminine-sounding voice from a few feet away. Ursula turned her head so she could see the speaker without Mane leaving her peripheral vision. They were a rather attractive femme with curly black hair and a smattering of cute freckles under their eyes. Ursula smiled, always eager to meet new people. 

"Oh hi there, new person," she trilled with a coy smile on her face. They blushed, which she found endearing. It wasn't exactly an unusual response to her- she was a tall, fairly visually fit woman with beautiful hair and a chest, after all, the unusual trans femme-rich population of floret heavy ships had gotten her used to flustering cute sophonts. Not that she didn't love getting the reaction still, of course. 

"Hii," they squeaked. Ursula noticed they wore the same assortment of glow stick bangles as she and Mane were, except they also had a smaller one around their wrist- that one was a checkerboard pattern but with pink replacing the white. She wasn't sure what that meant. 

"Hello!" Ursula said again. She wasn't not a fan of playing this game, where you kept bouncing hellos back and forth and saw how long it took the other party to either break the combo or get so flustered you did it for them out of pity (She would drop it the instant someone seemed to feel uncomfortable or upset of course). She called it "salutennis." 

"Heeeeeyllo," the other sophont said in return, blushing lightly. Ursula giggled and stretched her arms over her head. She pretended not to notice their eyes darting involuntarily across her body as their brown skin shifted slightly redder in the artificial sun's radiant glow. This was less out of indignation or self preservation like it would've been on Gisk, and more because it was simply more fun to pretend she didn't know. That change in her attitude had been a major breakthrough, and she smiled every time she was made to think of it. 

"Hi!" Ursula said with a bright smile, her pearly white teeth on full display. "May I ask your name and pronouns, dear?" 

"Oh, um, absolutely!" They squealed. "I'm Ellina, uh, she/they but please don't call me a girl." Ursula resisted the urge to ask why she seemed fearful- almost preemptively upset- when gender was inexplicably the one part of human sociology the affini overlords bothered to actually respect (sometimes). This was likely an independent, or new, or someone who wasn't fully adapted to living as their currently chosen gender. In any case, she was happy to see her happy. They deserved it. 

"Well met Ellina!" Ursula purred. "My name's Ursula." She gave her pronouns back and the two struck up a chat. Ellina seemed to very slowly grow in confidence as the two exchanged words. She complimented Ursula's hair, and then they said that Ursula seemed really sweet when she interacted with Mane. Ursula laughed, her face making it plainly visible that this pleased her to hear. Ellina seemed to be emboldened by that. 

"Yeah, uh, my floret friend has been saying we live on the same ship as the first murderer," Ellina said awkwardly, having picked up on where Ursula kept glancing. "I didn't expect to see them- actually, just double checking- she?" Ursula nodded. Her face had sharpened like a beast unsure whether a creature was friendly or a threat. "Yeah, she- I didn't expect to see her out and about without an affini to look over her. No cuffs either. N-not that I'm objecting!" They threw their hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I just- how the hell did you get away with that!?" Ursula laughed merrily. The anger left her. The tension between them receded. 

"Connections, darling," Ursula joked with a playful wink. "Although I really don't like calling her a murderer. I suggest you stop." Ellina gulped and nodded. Ursula giggled. "Good Ellina! Anyway, she's very dear to me and some jackass affini was very cruel to her today so I got permission to take her on a vacation." 

"A date?"

"Hahaha!" Ursula laughed. "No." 

"W-well, maybe we could go on one then, sometime?" Ellina asked hopefully. Ursula giggled mirthfully. The question was intensely endearing. 

"I'm taken at the moment, dear, and polyamory…didn't work so well, for me," she answered, "but I'd love to trade contacts with you!" 

—---

Mane pulled herself back onto land, tired but nowhere close to fully exhausted. She took a moment to pause and pant with her hands on her knees. Her whole body was, quite predictably, soaking wet. She noticed almost immediately that this somehow did not mean the sand stuck to her feet, something she had no choice but to be grateful for.

No cycles of washing it off in the ocean over and over only to be forcefully reminded what put it there in the first place. That part of going to the beach, she definitely did not miss in the slightest. She found Ursula with her eyes- the two weren't very far from each other- and made her way to her. Ursula welcomed her approach with a smile and a big hearty wave. 

"Tired of the water," Ursula asked with a patient smile on her face that glowed with warm care, "or just tired?" 

"Neither really," Mane answered, "just…got worried I'd lose track of you if I stayed out on the water for too long." She smiled at Ursula, whose face lit up with an emotion Mane couldn't more accurately call by any name but "good." 

"Awwwww, that's so precious! Good cub!" Ursula delighted out loud and hugged the blonde. The two squeezed each other for a while and then reluctantly let go. 

"Th-thank you," Mane replied and stimmed by wildly flapping her hands. Ursula laughed happily and reached out, petting Mane's head. Mane shook with joy, which made her hair wig out. The mass and solidity her…well, mane…had when drenched took her by surprise. "Damn, it's like having tentacles in the back of my head."

"Don't say that around any affini," Ursula said coyly, "you don't wanna go giving them any funny ideas." 

"O-oh, uh," Mane nodded along, unsure how much Ursula was being serious. "Yeah I guess that's not a bad idea." Ursula laughed again. 

"You wanna see if there's any food stands or anything around here?" Ursula inquired. "I know we already had lunch but beach snacks are fun." Mane blinked for a moment, lost in thought, before she gave an answer. 

"That sounds fun! Yeah, I could go for some noms." 

"Noms," Ursula laughed. "Gods cub, you're so cute."

"Heyyyy, no fair!" Mane futilely stamped at the sand and flailed with her arms. Her faux outrage was immediately cut short, though, when she suddenly froze. Her face bent into shock and her eyes went wide. Ursula straightened her body, her eyes sharp with worry. The girl with the bear ears took a step closer, one arm outstretched halfway and heavy with the weight of uncertainty.

"C-cub…?" She asked. "Cub, is everything-"

"My boobs are bouncy," Mane whispered as if this was an earth shattering revelation only the greatest of scientific minds could have unearthed in the fit of a vision from God. She cackled with manic delight and bounced tippy-tappy from one foot to the other like an especially excited dog. Sure enough, her chest wiggled with her as she moved. Ursula dropped her arm like a sack of bricks and sputtered out a laugh of stunned disbelief at the apparent actual cause of what had concerned her. 

"Pfff, cub-" she laughed again, her body language relaxing rapidly. "Don't heckin worry me like that! I thought you were having a flashback or something!" 

"Sorryexcitedveryexcited so excited heck heckheck!" Mane sputtered out like her mouth was a motor going at a speed slightly greater than its intended maximum. She jumped, not very high, just a few inches into the air. When she landed on the balls of her feet, her body bobbed vivaciously and her chest jiggled in kind. She was grinning wider than Ursula had ever seen her smile before.

Of course this was what did the trick. 

"Simple little lady," Ursula laughed quietly to herself. Mane didn't hear that, of course, because she was too busy playing with her newfound awareness of unimaginably powerful cosmic secrets. 

"Wheee!" Mane giggled to herself, planting one foot in the sand and twisting it sideways. She threw her hips in a circle and fired her leg in a complete horizontal arc around her entire body, tracing it elegantly across the sand back to its starting point. Ursula backed away, less to protect herself and more to get a better view. Mane pivoted to point her hips forward, threw her back knee ruthlessly upwards, and used that momentum to launch herself into the air. In a split second she yanked it back and launched the other up in its place, delivering an impressive snapping kick before she landed on both feet with her fists passively raised.

"Oh…oh holy shit," Mane whispered absently to herself. "This is awesome…I have boobs!" She turned to Ursula with her smile having somehow grown even bigger than it was last time. "I have boobs!" 

"You doooo," Ursula giggled. "Not the reaction I expected you to have to this information, but it was delightfully you." 

"Oh." Mane's whole-ass face turned a violent crimson. "I guess that was a bit weird wasn't it." 

"I mean yeah but, it was cool!" Ursula giggled. "I keep forgetting that you're like, a black belt or something."

"Yeah," Mane laughed awkwardly. "You'd think it would come up more often."