absolutely ridonculous

"I mean, town prides itself on being Magick-friendly, right? But maybe sometimes that makes us a bit blind to the reality... like... she obviously felt that there was a real-enough danger of someone coming to ... to hunt her-" The words stuck in his throat a little. "That she couldn't stay. People were blasting it all over social media, like... you never know who might see something."

He swished his hands through the water. "I'm sorry, that's not exactly a fun topic."

@gottabolt

TJ was speaking his language, exactly. Pip had always known his calling. He always knew he was meant for something greater than this dinky town. He deserved a bigger stage. And if saying that shit out loud made him sound big-headed, then fine, he was big-headed! Better than being self-deprecating, tbh. He couldn't really stand humble people sometimes.

"If you know you want to do it, then do it! Don't let anyone ever talk you out of it," Pip went on. "And like, you do have the talent for it. And the looks."

"Let's see," They tapped their finger against their chin, making a show of giving it a proper think. After a few moments. Not too long that TJ might get bored, they snapped.

"Juan," Camilo guessed pointing their snapped finger at him.

What? He could have a little Latino in him. After all, they came in all shapes and sizes and colours and accents.

He took a sip of his drink. "Are you sure you don't want a hint? I'll have to dock points for it, though." TJ wasn't even sure what he meant by that, but sure, it sounded good in his head.

It was strange to think about that, about how suddenly her life had got turned upside down. Jeremy paused in silence for a moment, feeling sad.

"I have seen dolphins though," he changed the topic back to something a little less depressing. "They are special, I just remember this like, wave of calm when I saw them," he sighed.

"But best was when I went snorkelling off some reefs in Australia, that was amazing-"

He was going to be able to work on so many cool projects here! Now all he needed to do was -

The phone ringing made him jump. Basically no one called him. They texted, or they'd message, or they'd snapchat. But that wasn't calling. Well, Milo called him but that was different they'd been messaging before that basically every time so he knew the call was coming.

Catching sight of TJ's name on the display, Luca hesitantly raised the phone. "Hey TJ. What's up?"

But that didn't matter now, because Luca had picked up. "Uhhh, I'm in the woods, and I'm kind of... lost. Any chance you could help me out? I sort of wrecked my scooter too..."

It was a little embarrassing, but TJ knew that if the roles were reversed, he would do the same for Luca! That's what friends were for!"

It had taken Pip a long time to accept this very fact. He was raised to believe that uni was the answer, that he needed that degree, despite the fact that no one in his immediate family (see: Maggie, Amy) had degrees. He was going to be different. He was going to do everything right.

But there was no one size fits all solution to life. If Pip wanted to make NYC happen, then he'd do it his own way. No Tisch School of the Arts necessary.

"Oh my god, yeah-- I mean, you already have a career and connections," Pip pointed out. "Why go to college?! Honestly, I don't understand why Penny is but-- whatever. To each their own, I guess."

God, it felt good to get this off his chest.

"That must have been, like, so cool. I've never seen a merperson in real life, well... Not in the water at least." He guessed it turned out he had, he'd been in a dorm with Gabriella long enough just... never knew.

@gottabolt

That was more rare than one might think. See, the thing about dating and love and all that was that it was supposed to be fun. At least, that was what Camilo thought. It should be fun and silly and not that serious. Ugh. Everyone took dating so seriously.

But this--this was fun!

"Well, I am very good at guessing names, I will have you know," Camilo said, giving TJ the up-down. "Let's see.....well, middle name is easy: probably one of the Classics™️like John, James...close?"

It didn't matter, anyway. TJ wasn't that competitive. He just liked being flirted with.

"Nope. What makes you think I'm easy?" TJ teased, enjoying this. "John was the closest you got. Let me know if you need another clue."

"Not here exactly," he explained, pushing his hair back from his forehead and beginning to tread water a little (even though his feet could still touch the bottom, he just wanted to fully embrace that feeling of the water). "We used to come on holidays to like, Devon quite a lot, so a bit further west? But I always loved the beach, you know? You a big beach guy?"

@gottabolt

He really didn't mean to end up in this situation. How was he supposed to know his scooter, which worked so well on the paved paths around LA, would crash and burn (okay, not literally, but the thing was kind of wrecked) the second it came into contact with a tree root? And he'd thought it would be pretty simple to turn around and leave the way he came, but now he'd been wandering quite a while...

He could ask Penny, but TJ was reaaaally trying not to bug her lately. Getting into these kinds of situations probably didn't help his case as to why he thought she should reconsider the reboot.

So he looked up another contact in his phone, someone who had promised to bail him out in an emergency! And this wasn't life-or-death, but he could really use some help.

"Hey, Luca?" TJ said when his new friend picked up.

@lucathedreamer

"Camilo Madrigal. Same as in the dream. Nicknames are fine, however creative you want to be with them, though most just go with Cami if they like." Names, like everything else, meant very little to Camilo. When you could change every part of yourself, your name also felt like something you could just take on and put off at will.

"TJ stand for anything in particular? Or is it a secret? It's okay if it is." They tilted their head, smiling over their glass. "I like secrets."

The way Camilo said it, though, they made it sound all mysterious. And TJ had taken improv classes before. He knew how to run with a bit.

"Hmmm, that's second-date information," TJ teased, enjoying the attention. "But you're welcome to guess if you want to."

He made it around part of the way up to his hips before he dove forwards, submerging himself completely before emerging, gasping for breath a few feet further out.

"Hoooo! Bet they don't have that in Malibu," he cheered, shaking some of the water out of his hair. "That is pure North Atlantic baby!"

(Well, English Channel, really, but still, it wasn't warm).

@gottabolt

He dove under too and resurfaced. "Man, that feels good," TJ said, catching his breath. "You come here a lot?"

Well, that was one mystery solved; even though she had a hard time wrapping her head around the whole magic thing. She knew magic could be powerful if used by the right user, however, she never thought about magic so powerful, that it affected texting.

This place was rather odd, although she was far from complaining. It was nice to be in a place as odd as her; it was comforting to say the least. She could get use to this.

Transitioning back to #flirting mode, activate!