Star Trek: Starbase 777

The lake was massive, stretching in a vaguely oval shape between stretches of land in a deep, clear shade of blue, the simulated sky reflected in every quiet ripple of the fish swimming underneath in different shapes and sizes. The lake wasn't too deep, maybe only 450cm/15 or so feet at its very center. Some spots had sand, and some didn't, a good chunk of the water interacting with forest directly -- there were even a few rope swings tied up to strong branches, and a dock to jump or fish off of.

"Do you want to go ahead and swim, or play for a little bit first?" Vovvi fixed the little life vest, ensuring it was secure around Ivissa. She was still learning how to swim, after all.

She bounced up and down on her toes, impatient. "Um.. I'll play, I wanna make a castle," she said, looking around and taking a handful of sticks and leaves to make a proper flagpole.

Vovvi nodded, heading off to join her. Not that she didn't like everyone present, just...safety precautions. Bad habits die hard, she supposed.

Eventually, Luna headed over to the lake. Not one to get her clothes covered in sand, she had gotten changed into her swimsuit and was now walking along the beach, considering going for a quick swim in the water. She did like being in the water. It was so....freeing. Because of the way her swimsuit was made, the black tally marks on her upper left arm were now visible. A tattoo. A reminder of the things she did. The good things she did. But she wasn't here to relive those memories. She was here to relax and meet new people, whether she liked it or not. Speaking of, she saw two people on the beach too, a woman and her child. How cute. Luna softly smiled as she watched the child play on the beach. Luna sat down next to the dock, still deciding whether she wanted to go in the lake or not.

She set to the task of building a castle, using a little pail and shovel she'd brought along. Given the slight slope of the beach towards the lake, her bucket started rolling down towards the water the instant it was emptied..!! "Ah, oh no!" Ivissa stood up to run after it, scrambling over her own two feet.

Luna, being close to where it was rolling, leapt up and grabbed the bucket for Ivissa. She closed the distance between the two of them and held the bucket back out to her. "Here you go, dear. You should be a bit more careful next time." She spoke softly and kindly, with a soft smile. She didn't want Ivissa to feel like Luna was scolding her. Just some friendly advice. Luna's experience with children was limited.

Ivissa blinked, glancing up (and up... and up... being only five she was very small) at Luna. "T -- Thank you!" she squeaked, squeezing it tight. "I'm no good at making sand castles without it, they just turn into lumpy sand blobs."

"Well, I'm sure they aren't too bad. Me and my twin brother used to make the best sandcastles when we were your age." Luna said. Ivissa was so adorable, Luna could hardly stand it. Her hand automatically reached up to her tally marks, a gentle reminder of every child she had saved. Not now, not here Luna. "But its not about the sandcastles being very good, its about having fun, isn't that right m'dear?"

Ivissa offered a sheepish smile, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Mama and I don't really go to the beach much, but she's not very good at them either, so I think it's okay! Um..! If you want to, could you please show me how you make perfect sandcastles!?" Oh no, not the manipulative little puppy dog eyes...!

2

Luna originally was going to have that be the end of their conversation, but as soon as Ivissa oh so sweetly asked for Luna's help, how could she say no? "Of course I can. I haven't done it in a good while though, so I can't promise I'll be very good at it either. I haven't done it since me and Asher were....ooh, 7 or 8." Luna brushes down her swimsuit and prepares to follow Ivissa over to her sandcastle grounds, looking along the beach for pretty stones and shells.

Vovvi, who'd been eyeing the whole interaction like a hawk, every muscle tense, nodded politely to Luna as Ivissa happily lead her over. She stayed quiet and observant, her legs crossed and hands in her lap.

Ivissa set to work trying to fashion a flag out of a spruce needle, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. "I wanna make a moat, but I dunno how without knocking anything down.."

Luna knelt down beside Ivissa, and gently felt the sand around her castle. Trying to feel where the dry sand was and the wet sand was. Where they could start with a moat. "Hm, yeah, Asher always struggled with moats too." The blonde noticed Vovvi's polite nod, and nodded politely back, as if to say 'don't worry mama bear, I won't hurt her.'. She knew that some parents made assumptions, or were just a little protective of their kids, and were sometimes completely right to be.

Ivissa hummed, brows furrowing a little. Her castle wasn't very structurally sound, not much wet sand. No wonder it was falling apart... "Maybe two more towers over here," she said, pointing to either side.

"Oh, I know why your castles keep falling apart. You need more wet sand. You use a lot of this dry sand, you know, the soft stuff." she picks up a handful of darker, wetter sand. "You need some more wet sand, like this." Luna was in her element now. Something she knew a lot about was sandcastles. If you got her talking about something she knew, she was a proper extrovert. Talking nonstop. "Yeah, more towers seems cool. This will be the best sandcastle in the galaxy."

"Oh, no wonder it was falling over..." Vovvi was never good at building sandcastles— no one had ever really bothered to show her. She leant forward a little, quietly intrigued. Honestly, how could she be so silly?

"In the whole galaxy? D' you really think so?" Ivissa got to work reinforcing the structure of the castle, slapping plenty of wetter sand on there. "Maybe I'll put some more needles on the sides, too..."

"Aha, yeah...the wet sand is stickier...so it...has more like..integrity." Luna explained. She didn't want it to seem like she felt smarter than Vovvi, or that Vovvi was stupid for not knowing, so she actually ended up seeming a little submissive. But then Ivissa spoke and she turned back. "Uh, yeah, of course I do. We've got the two best sandcastle architects here don't we?"

"Maybe if you put some indents in the sand with your fingers, it'll look a little bit like stones," Vovvi offered tentatively, fashioning some more decorations so Ivissa could focus on building. She was genuinely curious and intrigued, not really feeling patronized at all. It was kind of Luna to step up and offer to help.

"Oh, yeah!" Ivissa beamed. Playing in the sand was awesome, their castle was really getting huge now! Bigger than any she'd ever made... "I'll be a super sand castler when I grow up! Are we ready for the moat now?"

The sand castle was magnificent when it was finished, and Ivissa jumped, clapping enthusiastically. Vovvi was pleasantly surprised, smiling a little to herself. "Thank you," she told Luna sincerely, happy as ever at the sight of the sparkle in her daughter's eye. Oh, it always took her out. "I think we've done well for ourselves, haven't we?"

She giggled, bouncing up and down on her heels. "Yeah, yeah!" she chirped, planting a tiny flag she'd brought on a tower of the castle triumphantly. "I claim this castle in the name of Zh'irovath!" ...Ah. Her stomach was growling. She glanced up at her mom sheepishly, who nodded. "Okay, we're gonna go eat... Thank you so much!" Ivissa beamed up at Luna, wrapping her towel around her shoulders once Vovvi had taken off her life vest, grabbing her mom by the hand and practically dragging her off back to the campsite.