the boardwalk ; monday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Despite the problems Sam had been having with his ghosts disrupting people (or person) lately, he wasn't in too bad a mood today. That might have been because he'd gone out skateboarding for a long, long time and was just now sitting down to take a breather. He was hot and sweaty but it had felt good to channel some of his discontent and guilt into exercise. He swiped his sweaty hair out of his eyes and stretched his legs out, using his skateboard as a foot stool for the moment.

He was spending as much time away from the tents as he could and therefore, spending as much time not sleeping as possible. It might be unhealthy but there was no way he was gonna risk scaring people he didn't know with random ghost visits. It was hard enough that he was bothering Natalie with it.

So, he wasn't sleeping and he was barely around the campsite which meant he was either off skateboarding, walking, or just...doing something that kept him away and didn't put his tentmates at risk.

It was stupid, he knew, because most people here were used to weird things but Sam was stupid at the best of times.

[Open place in town, open post!]

Comments

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

George honestly didn't mind camping. So far. Give it a few days he might feel differently. He was simply a fan of wandering when he didn't have anywhere else specific to be. He was used to a lot more outside space than Fandom supplied.

He nodded a polite little greeting to Sam as he wandered. Then hesitated briefly as he was about to pass, and took a slight step back. "Is there a knack to those things?" It was possible the one Kaldar had bought him in California had been defective, but if not... George just did not have it.

[necroslacker]

Sam glanced up at the unfamiliar face, hand coming up to shade his eyes and took a second to answer.

"I think there is, yeah. No one's gonna get on one and just be able to be awesome unless they're some prodigy. Gotta at least have balance. You ride?"

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

Not really. "I have one," he offered. "And did manage not to get run over when I used it." Small miracle, really, since he and Jack had at the time only the vaguest idea of what a skateboard was actually supposed to do. His basic sense for balance had probably helped. "Prodigy, I would say not."

"Though I didn't get much practice. That's my excuse."

[necroslacker]

"How often do you ride?" Sam asked, a little pleased at finding another skateboarder on the island. "I don't think I've seen you around the boardwalk before but I always ride late at night for the most part. Practice makes perfect and all."

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

"... I've ridden it only a couple of times since my uh, uncle bought it for me," he admitted. 'Uncle' was a bit of a stretch, but for the sake of simplicity. "And never at night, though that sounds relaxing."

"Or would be if I were more used to it." One day, maybe it would come to him. "They don't really exist where I live."

[necroslacker]

"Anything in particular you're having trouble with?" Sam asked since it did seem like he was having trouble or, at least, had some trepidation about it.

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

George had probably spent too much of his life in a magical, almost historical world. "I suppose I don't really understand what you do after you've mastered standing on it and rolling from one place to another." People must get more than that from it than just transport, but the concept of tricks and jumps hadn't really entered his head.

A typical boy's boy, George was not. Unless you were the kind of boy wanted your hair done, in which case he was in his element.

[necroslacker]

"Depends on the person, I think," Sam replied. "I like using it to get around and for exercise. Some people learn how to do tricks and stuff. You can make money off that sort of thing. Some people use it for street cred. Some people just use it because it's fun."

[nottheshoes.livejournal.com]

"Which is it for you?" George wondered, tucking his fingers into his pockets.

[whenshewasnice]

After history class, Natalie was really just taking a walk, iPod on. The camping aspect wasn't her favourite, and it seemed like a good day for it, anyway.

And naturally she had no choice but to come over when she spotted Sam, plucking one of the earbuds out as she approached. "How surprising to see you here."

Not really.

[necroslacker]

He knew she was kidding but he still replied, "And what makes it so surprising? I'm a regular at this boardwalk and to this bench. They should etch my name here, actually."

[whenshewasnice]

"Or you could do it yourself," she suggested, "and add 'vandal' to your already impressive list of titles."

[necroslacker]

"I'd rather avoid a criminal record," Sam said after a moment. "I just barely missed out on one of those in Seattle. I'd like to keep a clean rap sheet, if I could."

[whenshewasnice]

"Pretty sure you wouldn't get a criminal record from a single carving," Natalie pointed out, as she moved to sit down next to him. "Not that I'm looking to date a criminal, either."

[necroslacker]

"If I were a criminal, you wouldn't date me?" Sam asked, sounding amused. "How sad."

[whenshewasnice]

"Dealbreaker," she quipped as she turned her iPod off. "I can live with a lot, but not that."

[necroslacker]

"Guess I'll have to keep on the straight and narrow then," Sam said, glancing over at her. "Keep my nose clean and my hands cleaner."

He glanced down at his hand and the healing cut on his palm. It didn't even hurt anymore.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Bored and wandering seemed to be something of a theme, and there was Toby. Bored and wandering.

"You've been busy, I see," Toby commented, his wandering having taken him to where Sam was seated.

[I was totes gonna ping hours ago but I fell asleep instead. SO I PING NOW. Because I can.]

[necroslacker]

"Extremely," Sam said and sighed lazily. "After being so busy, I'm taking a break now because I've earned it."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"How hard is it to learn to ride one of those, anyway?" Toby asked, nodding towards the board.

[necroslacker]

"Depends on how good your balance is," Sam told him, rolling the board back and forth. "Ever ridden roller skates or roller blades?"

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Toby shook his head. "I've done ice skates?" he offered. "But that's about it."

[necroslacker]

"Ice skates isn't a bad comparison," Sam said after a moment. "Basically, it's all about weight distribution, really. Center yourself on the board, give it a few kicks to get it going and then just keep it going. Not too hard."

Or he made it sound easy.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Till you hit the pavement, anyway," Toby joked, because he figured that would happen eventually, especially when first trying it out.

[necroslacker]

"If you want, I can fix you up a skateboard with training wheels, Toby," Sam joked. "Make sure you don't fall off."