Dearan took a moment to think of an adequate reply, “You’re good,” he said. Mentally wincing, he decided he had failed that objective.

**

They walked towards town. There wasn’t much to see, but for some reason, Dearan couldn’t remember when he was last happier. The smell of the ocean washed over him as he had to let out a laugh, spinning around once, the beauty of pure nature washing over him.

He ran his hand lightly over the tall yellow grass that was right off the road. The town seemed to be as unobtrusive to nature as possible, with no excessive paving or unneeded infrastructure. The closer they got to the middle of town the less nature merged with the bare minimums there were, and the more new style buildings there were. It seemed to be a town halfway between new and old, a battle of development that new was winning.

As they continued walking, they passed by both a hotel that looked as though it hadn’t changed since the ’80s, not a block later they passed Soulful weed dispensary, which displayed flashing neon lights. To say the least, Dearan was confused by the town.

The town seemed very small but somehow they never ran out of places to explore. Stephan loved watching Dearan’s reactions. Something about this town had him beyond joyful, Stephan wished he could understand why, but he was content to just observe for now.

**

They ended up on a bluff above the ocean. It wasn’t the classic California walk on sandy beach, but one with a steep rocky wall before it got eased to a beach made of small rocks. Stephan led them down a slightly gentler path to the soft water beaten rocks.

They found two of the bigger flattish rocks and lazed around, sitting on them. Stephan told him more about the town, Dearan wished he had known about this place before, it seemed so wonderful he couldn’t help but joyful. Even when he tried to be annoyed that Stephan had explained more about the general store’s roots in the gold rush, when people thought that north California would have as much gold as the south side, with more words than he needed to use. He liked people being direct and efficient except when trying to paint a picture with their words.

Once Stephan felt like he had covered the important information he finally gave in to his second deepest desires, “You want to go swim?”

Dearan felt like he hadn’t fully enjoyed the beach yet so he didn’t want to leave, “I don’t really want to go back to your house yet… if that is okay?”

Stephan stood up, walking towards the seemingly ever-expanding body of water, “Silly, I meant swim in the ocean.”

Dearan blushed but followed. He wasn’t the strongest swimmer but he really wanted to go into the water. Something about the soft waves made him want to float there, feeling the tide on his body.

Stephan saw his hesitation and tried to ease his worries a bit. “Don’t worry. I am a lifeguard, you will be safe.”

Dearan chuckled to himself. He could easily use his powers to manipulate the water around him to make himself safer than Stephan ever could, but it was comforting that Stephan was there for him regardless. It was somehow cute that Stephan was talking like he would ride in like a knight in shining spandex.