๑ third encounter / sixth step ♚

[polarization]

—hand's cold. [ Plane, say hello. Today there are two people appearing at once, one possibly a bit familiar, while the other possibly a bit... tinier. Chivy has the smaller, younger boy's hand. The child, about eight or so, has a white, stuffed rabbit (with a blue lace ribbon around its neck) clutched between his other arm and chest. However, he cuts off when he sees the surrounding area, eyes going almost ridiculously wide. ]

Wh-whu—?

I told you it was cool. It's called the Plane.

[ Kid kind of drops to his knees, using his occupied arm to reach down and feel at the 'floor'. His expression and voice is half-scared-out-of-his-wits and half-awe. ] But we're not in a plane...

[Chivy bends so that they're not in a completely awkward position.] No, it's— That's just what it's called. There's people here, too.

Space people?

Not really. Well, I mean, maybe some of them. [It's tough to answer questions you don't actually know the answer to.] You can ask if we see anybody?

[ Standard boyo disclaimer applies, now with child experiment addendum! ]

Comments

[polarization]

[ Sefton watches, almost uncertain. He continues simply shoveling bits of sand into his own bucket, but it seems like that's more of an automatic action while he tries to figure out what Oliver plans to do. ]

[oliverplus]

[when he has enough wet sand, he tips over the bucket, removing it to reveal what is either the beginning of a thick wall (going by Sefton's size standards) or a tower]

[polarization]

Oh! [ And Sefton begins to copy what was just done, carefully. He's biting at his lower lip while he does so, as if even a slight misstep could ruin the whole process. ]

[oliverplus]

There you go! Looks like we've got a great start. [starts gathering some more sand in his bucket, planning to mix it with water so he can get a wall going between the towers]

[polarization]

Yeah! [ He grins and just repeats what he did a moment ago, while Oliver works on that. ] Our fortress is gonna be awesome.

[oliverplus]

[grins] Yeah! 'Course it will be! [gets a wall started]

[polarization]

[ Watches for a moment. ] Can I help with that? [ Of course, he's already reaching out to try, but at least he asked at all? ]

[oliverplus]

[smiles] Sure, just push the sand up like this. [demonstrates] See?

[polarization]

Uh-huh. [ Nods to himself and begins mimicking. ] Like this?

[oliverplus]

[encouragingly] Yep, just like that! Looks great.

[polarization]

[ He looks very pleased at this. ] What else do we gotta do?

[oliverplus]

Uh... Well, we gotta make places for lookouts on the towers, right? Think you can shape them?

[polarization]

Lookouts? You mean like those really tall parts on ships where people go "Land ho!" all the time?

[oliverplus]

[laughs] Yeah, except I meant...uh...you know, how the tops of towers are shaped so you have little spaces to look between? Those.

[polarization]

So... make windows?

[oliverplus]

Sure! Or just ridges on top. Like this. [pushes a finger into the top of a tower, near the edge of it, then begins to form it into a square jutting straight up]

[polarization]

Oh! [ Nodnod. ] Okay. I can do that!

[oliverplus]

Great! I'll keep working on the wall.

[polarization]

Good. [ Continues working on the towers, humming something tuneless to himself while he does. ]

[oliverplus]

[smiles to himself and continues his work as well. when he gets one wall into a rather formidable state, he sets up another tower and then begins building another wall]

[polarization]

[ Gets to work on the new tower~ ] Have you done this before, Oliver?

[oliverplus]

'Course I have! [raises an eyebrow, glancing at him] Haven't you?

[polarization]

Not... really.

[oliverplus]

What? Why not!? They've got sand pits in America, haven't they?

[polarization]

They do... but I don't really play in 'em.