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Surf's Up - Saturday

Billy was at the shop again. No surprise there. Especially since he was trying to get ready for a visit sometime later that day from Jon who had mentioned he might come by. While there wasn't much to do as far as getting the shop in order, Billy had an idea where the visit might lead and wanted to make sure he was as ready as he could be in case things went towards 'statement' more than just 'friendly visit' at some point.

So he had gotten to the shop earlier than usual, shooed away the Porg, and started up his usual meditation holo simulation. Once that was finished he took his spot at the counter and started writing a few things down as he waited to see if Jon would show up.

(Shop is open. Expecting one but the shop can be open before Jon shows up in the timeline)

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Jon had told Billy he might drop in to check out the shop. Maybe have a surfing lesson. Just because Billy was a friend of sorts, and he wanted him to do well.

Jon was, on occasion, still very good at lying to himself. He somehow doubted Billy believed him.

So at some point, Jon showed up, looking and feeling terrible and trying to pretend that he was interested in surfboards.

Billy was, admittedly surprised to see Jon actually show up. Glad but still surprised. He had set up a coffee pot to brew up some hot water and had some different teas ready. Partly for Jon but also because he had sort of started liking it too.

"Want some tea while we talk and you pretend to care about about surfing?" he asked, with an not at all judgmental tone. In fact, he appreciated the effort and support. But he also wasn't going to torture the man with long-winded monologues about surfboards and what not.

Jon winced. "Tea would be lovely."

He'd rather been looking forward to half-ignoring the long-winded monologue about surfboards.

Well he could always yammer on while enjoying the tea. Billy still wasn't all that great at the whole socializing thing.

"Have a preference? Or just regular?" Billy asked with a nod towards the tea and an eye on Jon. He looked rough, though that wasn't surprising seeing how long it had been.

"Um. Whatever you're having is fine," Jon said.

Billy nodded and got the bags and water ready and was hanging a mug over to Jon a few minutes later.

"So..." he started, mentally cursing how bad he was at this still. "You've looked better," he said. There was no reason to pretend otherwise. "You doing alright?"

And please, Jon say anything other than 'fine' really, anything at all!

"I'm...well enough," Jon said. Hey, it wasn't "fine"!

"But it, um." He shrugged.

Yes, something other than 'fine' was good but still...

"Well enough to manage but still getting pretty bad" Billy said, figuring that was a pretty accurate assessment. "You've been holding out for a long while now. Bit of a downward slide's to be expected."

Jon scowled, feeling like he was being chided. "I'm lasting as long as I can. It's not fair to you as it is, I'm not going to make it any worse than I have to."

Billy sighed. Why did something as simple as talking end up being such a challenge so often for him?

"You're not making anything worse. On my end at least," Billy said slowly. "For what that is worth."

Edited 2022-07-03 02:21 (UTC)

Probably because Jon was bad at people.

Jon scoffed. "So you're saying reliving your trauma every day would be just dandy."

"No. No trauma is better than trauma. But I aint lucky enough to be trauma free... by any stretch of the imagination" Billy said with a dry chuckle.

"Might not have been a daily thing, but near daily. If I'm already going through it, if it can be of some good, to someone...." Billy gave a bit of a shrug.

He wouldn't go so far to say it was a good thing but he did feel like if it all actually helped someone in some way it made it all at least somewhat less of a waste.

"Well, I'm not inflicting it on you any more than I have to," Jon said, as firmly as he could manage just then. "So I'll just...wait. For as long as I can."

So there?

Good effort there Jon, but Billy knew you too well to buy that. Sorry.

"Well, then you can enjoy this time guilt-free then because I am not going to make you wait till you are absolutely starving before you finally ask" Billy said with what was probably the closest he could get to something sounding like compassion or concern in his voice and expression. "Can't beat yourself up over a statement you didn't ask for, compel, or coerce out of someone."

Jon sighed and reluctantly nodded. "We should probably sit."

Billy nodded towards the back room.

"Got thing set up already, just in case," he said, though he had been fairly certain it would be needed before the day was out.

Billy lead the way, taking one of the seats and motioning for Jon to take the other as he started up the holo simulation. Nothing fancy or special, he knew Jon didn't like open spaces and such. Just a nice indoor setting, something a bit more comfortable than a stuff backroom or office.

After a moment or two Billy took a slow, deep breath before he started to speak, looking at Jon as he did.

"I think it's time I tell you about my encounter with the Tyrant," he said simply to get things started.

Jon sat and listened, unmoving and unblinking, drinking in the horror of that encounter as Billy detailed it. When it was done, he took a deep breath and sat back.

"Thank you."

When Billy finished he sat for a moment and then took in a slow deep breath as he reached for the pack sitting next to him. He gave a nod to Jon as he lit one up, trying to ignore the slight trembling in his hand as he did.

"Glad they still help" he said after taking a few deep drags as he felt himself start to relax a little more once again. "Need one?" he asked as casually as he could as he held the back out to Jon. "Don't worry, they're regular. I haven't been able to get the cloves for a few weeks now" he added with a dry laugh.

Jon took the cigarettes with a nod of thanks and lit his own.

"The cloves weren't bad." He took a deep breath, feeling better than he had in weeks, loving and hating it at the same time.

"Will have to Summer and see if she can get some in for me" Billy said. Trying to keep on lighter conversation topics. At least until he got the nerves back under control.

Billy looked at Jon for a moment and almost said something to the effect of Jon not needing to feel bad or guilty or something along those lines. But he thought better of it and figured Jon would prefer skipping over any real discussions about it in general.

So, instead he focused on the smoke for a few minutes before speaking up again.

"Appreciate ya coming by the shop, ya know...outside all this and everything. Good to have someone else int he shop other than the Porgs," he added with a slight laugh.

Good call on that.

"You're welcome." Jon nodded. "I, um. Well, surfing's not really my thing, but it looks nice."

"Well, there is more than just surfing that can be done in a similar way" Billy offered. "There's paddle boarding, body surfing, windsurfing..." then Billy realized these were probably not striking much of an interest with Jon and gave a small smirk. "And of course good ole swimming and snorkeling is always fun too. Especially with the holosuite safety features and all."

Edited 2022-07-04 01:13 (UTC)

"I don't mind swimming," Jon said. "I didn't bring trunks, but I imagine you sell them."

"Yep, got some basic trunks on the rack in the front of the shop" Billy said and then gave a slight smirk. "And I'll give ya a discount. The "first customer of the season discount."

"That sounds..." like business was terrible "...nice. Thank you."

Jon made his way up front and found a simple pair of blue and green trunks that weren't too gaudy.

Well when you ended up with a surf shop handed to you in winter time, that doesn't leave much room for growth and customer interaction does it?

Billy gave a small nod as he rang Jon up and then nodded towards the changing room. "I'll get everything set up if you want to get ready" Billy said as he walked to the door of the shop and hung up up the small "Do No Disturb, Class in Session" sign on the door.

"Simple calm waters, minimal to no waves" he said as he looked back to Jon. "Snorkeling or just swimming?"

"I, um. Waves are okay. Good, actually," Jon said. "As long as they're not the sort to drown you."

He felt a bit awkward in swim trunks in a building, even if there was supposed to be a beach in there. "Just...just swimming, please." He wasn't sure how well he'd do with restricted breathing.

Moving between the Vast and the Buried was a bit of a dance.

Billy nodded and finished punching a few buttons and then nodded toward the door. Walking over he opened it up, revealing not an empty room but a full view of a rather picturesque beach setting.

"After you," he said stepping aside for Jon to go on, watching him closely, hoping he had done alright with programming the spot.

Jon went in and breathed out a sigh of relief at both the warmth (the shop was chilly in just trunks) and the limited view. He'd been rather afraid of facing an entire open ocean.

Billy watched and relaxed a little seeing Jon relax. He wasn't going to make a big deal of it, but he had really tried to remember some of the things Jon had ~~handwavely~~ brought up during their conversations about the Entities and how they affected him- the fear of heights, and open spaces, and such.

"Got a little of everything- shallow to deeper water, plenty of sand, some waves, and even a waterfall -small as it might be," Billy said with a slight grin. "And if anything needs to be tweak or added or removed, just takes a few button presses."

"It's very nice," Jon said. "Thank you."

He carefully went over to the water and stood just in the edge.

Billy nodded and followed Jon's lead, walking a bit farther out before stopping. "We're programmed for high tide so no worry about anything getting deeper or getting stranded anywhere if you go out to the rocks or anything."

Billy turned back to face the beach and gave a nod. "Got a fire pit set up if we last that long. And there's a few boards over there too if you feel like just floating or paddling around."

"Thank you." Jon was actually really touched by it all. "I think I'll stay on my feet, but thank you."

He sat where he was, running his fingers through the sand and enjoying the small waves and salt smell.

"No problem" Billy said, a smile on his face. "Glad you like." A moment later Billy made his way out into the water and started swimming out to one of the small craggy rocks poking out of the water nearby. After a few minutes he was climbing up on the rock and looking out over the waters.

Jon wasn't sure he was quite ready to swim, but just sitting here enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean was nice. The sun was warm, and the rocks and plants broke up the Vastness of the sea and sky. He almost felt he could relax here.

At some point, Billy turned back to check on Jon and flashed him a quick thumbs up to see how he was doing. He also made a mental note to ask at some point how Jon felt about whales or dolphins or such. But that could be for another time down the road. Right now, he wanted to make sure Jon was good and maybe, even relaxing a bit for a change.

Jon nodded back. (For the record, the answer was "I'm fine with any reasonably sized sea creatures that leave me alone".)

After a while, he let himself slide further into the water, enough that he could half-swim, half-walk, the water relaxing and warm.

Billy gave a stretch and then dove into the water, eventually coming up and started swimming towards the shore. He probably should have mentioned to Jon that he was quite good at holding his breath. But then again... the Eye might clue him in on something like that.

A couple moments later he was swimming up to where Jon was.

"Random question. How are you with sea critters? No aversion to star fish or anything like that?"

"Er...not really," Jon said. "I'm fine with anything that will leave me alone." The only creatures he had an aversion to, really, were worms, so as long as they stayed away from that, it was good.

Edited 2022-07-06 01:26 (UTC)

Billy nodded slowly. "Good. Just wanted to make sure before I showed you the beauty I found down by the rocks."

As he spoke, Billy stood and held out his hand, bringing it up out of the water to show a bright red starfish.

He had figured starfish would be fine, but still, better safe than sorry.

Jon smiled at it. "That is really quite pretty," he agreed.

He wasn't going to try to touch it.

"I know it's not your thing, but if you ever wanted to give the snorkeling gear a try, this is the best place for it. Kinda hard to drown in virtual water" Billy said with a slight smirk. "And there's multiple safety features built into the simulation as well."

Billy had survived a war, a death row sentence, a zombie apocalypse, drugs and gangs, and a host of other things in his life. He was not about to go down because of drowning in a simulation!

"It's...I appreciate the thought, but no," Jon said. "It's a bit too much like being buried."

"Understandable" Billy said with a nod. "Well, this place is pre-programed and ready to go and can always set a new place whenever we need. So...will be easy enough to set up something whenever you want, to whatever specifications you want."

Billy wouldn't push it, too much at least, but he did hope Jon at least considered the offer. The dude looked more relaxed right now than Billy had ever seen him so, there was still hope.

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Surf's Up - Saturday

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