InsaneJournal

Who: Tas and Liv
When: Before the body swap
What: Surf lessons
Where: The Beach
Rating/Warning: None
Status: Complete

Liv had a day off, it was time to do some exploring. Ever since dreaming about Holly’s death she realized just how boring her life was. She didn’t take any risks, her whole life had been school, studying, and now just work. Sure she had moved but that was probably the most exciting thing she had done. She wasn’t ready yo try skydiving or anything to that extent but she was definitely going to do some exploring.

Considering this place was full off beaches Liv decided learning to surf would be a good start so she went to the beach and signed up for a day of surf lessons. They started off practicing how to pop up on the sand. It didn’t seem so difficult, Liv could do this. It would be fun. However when she got in the water and attempted to pop up she wiped out majorly falling into the water her board flipping over on top of her. Okay, maybe it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Tas’ feet were beginning to get itchy. It felt as though it had been years since the last time the OC did something interesting like gremlin attacks or blood rain or giving him a full head of long, luxurious hair. The weird going ons of the Orange County had managed to keep Tas’ feet planted firmly on California soil for the last six months, an extraordinary amount of time for Tas to go without wandering off anywhere, but if things were going to start to get ordinary then Tas wasn’t sure what was keeping him around.

Other than his dreams, of course. Those remained interesting. Part of him wondered if he wandered off to South America for a while if the dreams would continue, but he shook off the thought. What if he left and something immediately interesting happened, like dinosaurs rampaging through the streets or an alien invasion? Tas wasn’t sure if he could risk it.

Which meant he just needed to find more normal things to occupy his time with. Surfing had always seemed like a lot of fun, so Tas had “borrowed” some money from Raistlin and signed up for classes. He picked it up pretty easily. He’d always had excellent balance, agility, and dexterity, and his dreams had only managed to increase that. So after a bad start or two, Tas was already managing to ride the waves and was having a blast with it.

He was having so much fun that he stopped paying attention to where he was going and he nearly didn’t catch sight of the loan board just floating in the water. Not being able to manage precise maneuvers, he dived off board in an attempt to avert a crash. His board knocked gently, and harmlessly, into the lone board floating in the ocean. And then Tas noticed the board wasn’t lonely at all, and there was a girl floating right next to it. It was a wonder he had missed her.

“You really shouldn’t just let your board float willy nilly in the ocean without standing on it,” Tas chided lightly, giving her a friendly smile. “You might cause an accident, you know.”

Liv gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry,” she told the guy climbing back on top of her board. Or well attempting to. She fell off… twice before finally making it back on. Kind of embarrassing but whatever. This was what happened when you took risks she supposed.

“It’s my first day,” she said when she was finally back on the board, sitting. She wasn’t about to attempt to stand just yet. “You know, in case that wasn’t obvious,” she added with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“It’s my first day too!” Tas said excitedly, and after her first failed attempt at getting back on her surfboard he decided to help her by holding down one side so it didn’t flip over as she tried to climb onto it. Then he easily pulled himself onto his own board, a leg hanging off either side of the board as he sat and enjoyed the feeling of the ocean underneath him. “That’s so exciting! Were you in that same class that I was? I thought you looked familiar, though now you’re all wet so it was harder to tell! Are you liking it so far? Isn’t surfing just the greatest?”

“Thanks,” Liv said when he helped her up. She decided to just sit on the board for a bit it was probably safer and she was still getting some sway from the waves. Wow, this guy had a lot of excitement. It almost made her laugh. “I think so,” she replied smile on her face. “You’re doing so good for your first day… or I’m just very uncoordinated.” Both scenarios were equally likely. She had never really tested out her athletic ability before instead using all her time to study or work.

“I just have really good balance! I’ve always had really good balance, but it’s gotten even better since I started fighting the Dragonarmies!” Tas said cheerfully. “I think you’re doing fine. Almost everyone else is in the water too!” Tas said, gesturing to one guy from their class, right as the guy went flying face first off his board and into the ocean. Tas couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the sight.

Dragonarmies? Liv had a feeling this guy was a dreamer. Or had a very vivid imagination, but given everything she knew about this place dreaming seemed like a valid option. “Are you on Valarnet?” she asked since that seemed to be the common thread. At least from the little she knew about dreams given she was still fairly new.

“Thanks,” she said again to his reassurance. She looked around noticing that he was right, almost everyone else was in the water. That also made her feel a little bit better about her fail. She saw the guy fly into the ocean as well and let out a small laugh along with Tas. “I hope I didn’t look that ridiculous,” she commented.

“I am!” Tas said, grinning ear to ear. “Are you on it too? Isn’t it great?” Valarnet was pretty much the greatest thing that had ever happened to Tas. “I got my top knot from my dreams!” he said, pulling the wet topknot over his shoulder as if she couldn’t see it otherwise.

“I didn’t see you fall, but I bet it was very graceful,” Tas said kindly, though he thought that everyone kind of looked equally hilarious when they fell off their boards. He was sure he was equally as entertaining when he couldn’t keep his footing anymore. “I’m Tasslehoff Burrfoot, by the way! My friends call me Tas!” he said, leaning to the side so that he could offer her his hand for a handshake.

Her guess had been correct. “Interesting is a better word for it.” She had no idea if being on the network was the reason she had dreams or if people likely to get dreams were all drawn to that network. It was all strange and confusing. “Your hair hasn’t always been that long?”

She doubted it was graceful but appreciated the sentiment all the same. “Olivia Moore, but everyone calls me Liv.” It was always nice meeting someone else who went by a nickname. “It’s nice to meet you Tas,” she said leaning over to shake his hand.

“I’m pretty sure that ‘interesting’ and ‘great’ are synonymous,” Tas chided, a little pleased about being able to use synonymous in a sentence. It was a pretty great word. He shook his head at her question. “Oh no, I travel around a lot so I always thought that having long hair would be a bit of a pain so I haven’t had long hair since I just a little kid. But now I know how wrong I was! It’s pretty much the best thing ever!”

It took a fair amount of straining in order for Tas to grab onto Liv’s hand, and once he managed to close his fingers around hers, his surfboard flipped over, sending him flying into the ocean, not quite having the sense to let go of Liv’s hand.

Liv was about to argue that they weren’t at all synonymous but he seemed so happy with his revelation and she knew enough to know everyone had a different prospective of the dreams. Clearly he wasn’t doomed to eat brains in his, she didn’t think anyone would think that was great. But before she could say anything else the handshake went terribly wrong and she toppled off her board into the water once again. Thanks to Tas dragging her down.

“Maybe I wasn’t meant to surf,” Liv said once she resurfaced.

Tas… would probably think that was great. Or at least, he wouldn’t be too put out by a lifetime of eating brains. Tas broke through the surface of the water, giggling. “Sorry!” he giggled behind his hand. “I didn’t realize it would just flop over like that! I don’t think you’re not meant to surf though! It’s only your first day, and you’ve got to break a few eggs to make an omelette! Besides, falling is kind of fun too! It’s like diving! If your diving board was moving and right on top of the water!”

“It reminds me more of a canoe tipping over,” Liv commented as she attempted to climb back on top of her board. Not that she had ever been canoeing but that was low down like a surf board. “But don’t worry about it,” she added for the whole pulling her under thing. “You helped me up earlier so I guess it evened out,” plus she was expecting to fall in the water a few times today anyway. It was kind of a given for your first time surfing right? So it wasn’t like she could complain.

“That is what it’s like!” Tas exclaimed. He’d actually gone canoeing before, and he was surprised he hadn’t made the connection. Though when he really thought about it, it was really more like getting tipped on a kayak. Both of which were really fun and also tended to scare people if it happened on whitewater rapids. “Maybe I can watch you for a little bit!” Tas said. “And then I could tell you what I’d do to make my balance better!”

Kayaking was a good idea for adventure too. If Liv ever thought of it she would probably try it out. But for now she needed to focus on surfing. She managed to get back on her board by herself sitting on it like she had before when Tas mentioned watching her. “Sure,” it didn’t sound like the worst idea ever and Liv could use all the practice she could get. “As long as you try not too laugh too much,” she added before laying down on the board on her stomach and paddling out to the surf, not that they were far from the waves but still. When a wave came she tried to pop up like she had done on the sand only it was a lot more difficult on the water and she was too slow causing her to fall over once again.

“I’ll only laugh if it’s really funny,” Tas swore solemnly. He climbed back onto his board to watch Liv, lying down on his stomach, head leaning on his fist with his elbow propped on the board. Once Liv popped up from the water again, Tas cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted “You’re starting a little on the right! You want to get more in the middle!” Which didn’t really help much with the slowness, but Tas had the feeling that yelling ‘pop faster!’ wouldn’t do anyone any good, and it might help her keep her feet under her until she could stand all the way up.

Liv gave a thumbs up to his instruction, climbed back onto the board and tried again. This time she was able to get up faster and made an effort not be so much to the right. Of course she overcompensated and went too far to the left falling back in the water again.

Ugh.

But Liv was not a quitter. Back on the board she waited for the next wave. This time when she popped up she got in the middle and finally caught the wave, it only lasted a few seconds before she wiped out again, but hey, she did it.

When Liv managed to stay on her feet, even if it was only for a couple of seconds, Tas let out a very loud cheer and then paddled over to her. “That was great!” Tas said happily, even though it wasn’t particularly great. Actually, it had been kind of awful, but it was definitely an improvement over disastrous so Liv deserved the praise. “See! You’ll be a great surfer in no time flat!”

Liv wasn’t so sure about that. It may have been an improvement but she was well aware of the fact that it was far from great. Still she appreciated the sentiment. “Maybe if I practice everyday, but unfortunately I don’t have that kind of time.” That didn’t mean she’d never try again though, just not as often as she’d like to. “Your turn,” she said nodding back towards the waves. She hadn’t actually seen Tas surf yet.

Tas beamed, more than a little excited to get to show off his stuff. He paddled out a ways from Liv, and once the wave he had been eyeing came his way, he popped up onto his board and managed to ride it for a bit, looking almost like he’d been practicing for weeks. Of course, it was a little boring just riding the wave, so Tas attempted a little fancy footwork. It would have been fancy, at least, if it hadn’t resulted in Tas falling onto his board and then into the waves below.

Liv watched as Tas caught a wave. He seemed to be doing pretty well but then he fell. Liv paddled over to him laughing under her breath. “Now you look like it’s your first day,” she commented.

Tas came up from the water, shooting a stream of water from his mouth like a fountain (though, not at Liv. Spitting water at people was rude). Then he laughed. “It is my first day!” Tas said cheerfully. “So that’s good, I think! I’d hate for everyone to think that I’d been doing this for forever!”

“You’re still doing better than me,” she replied smile on her face. “I think I’m about done for the day though.” She tried the whole risk taking thing for long enough for the day. And yes, she’d try again but for now she wanted to get some food and curl up in her apartment. Binge some trashy TV. Surf lessons were super early in the morning after all. “You want to join me for lunch?”

“I would love to join you for lunch!” Tas exclaimed cheerfully. This was shaping up to be one of the best days ever. He got to learn how to surf, he got to help a new friend with their surfing, and now he was going to get to spend even more time with her during lunch! He slipped onto his surfboard and began to paddle back to shore, and regaled Liv with some of his favourite stories from his dreams.