ten_fwd | [OTA]

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After Alemar III, Philip is understandably a little apprehensive about another shore leave. But reading the information on Risa in the Enterprise's database helps to ease that. To think that there's an entire planet just for vacations! He'd never imagined such a thing before.

So once he's down there, he's going to try just about everything there is to do. Hiking; visiting those underground gardens with the glowing plants; sunbathing; and of course, eating. Alien food is so wonderful, after all.

Aside from Shotaro, he doesn't make much of an effort to stick close to anybody else from the Enterprise. He's just too giddy about trying all these new things. But if he should happen to run into anyone he recognizes, you can bet he's going to greet them.

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"You don't have to use my full name every time," Billy laughs, but hey: it draws a smile from him. Talking to Philip is certainly never a bore.

He closes his notebook for the moment. "I have! On Earth I would've assumed a flower like this was radioactive, or a sign of a coming monster attack, but as far as I can tell there's absolutely nothing sinister going on here. It's nice."

At least he hopes it stays that way. He'll happily look at the pretty flowers for a while.

He reaches out to lightly brush a hand over the petals. It feels just like an ordinary flower, too.

"The biological variation from world to world is absolutely fascinating," Philip says. Billy is right; it's very nice. "Perhaps we would be allowed to take some seeds back with us. What do you think?"

Billy quietly agrees, admiring it in silence for a bit. It's satisfying to see something so special.

"If it's not an endangered species or likely to cause contamination problems I'd like one." He really would. He smiles at it. "Do you usually grow plants?"

"No, not usually." There was that one time a few weeks after he'd first gone to live at the Narumi Detective Agency... but Shotaro had yelled at him and they'd spent days cleaning up the mess. "I've already read everything I need to know about Earth plants. But these are so different. I can't simply look them up-- it's frustrating, but intriguing!"

Billy can't resist cupping one of the plants. It's most likely not dangerous, but if it is...well, he can deal with that. Fortunately it seems to be safe, so he carries on admiring the light.

"Have you seen a library here? I can't imagine it being near tourist areas, but maybe we could read?"

Which is pretty much the opposite of a traditional vacation, but his brain never shuts off.

It's just so tempting to pluck a flower right out of the ground, but he manages to refrain. Instead he steps over to Billy to take a peek at his sketches.

"I haven't seen one, but I would be surprised if a so-called 'pleasure planet' didn't have one." Philip, no, that's just you. And Billy. "I'll ask around. How has your vacation been so far, by the way?"

Billy almost shies away from showing those pages, but it can't hurt, right? It's more of the idea than the artistic value that's important. He's drawn three different flower shapes, with little ink prints to represent light.

A little smile appears as he talks. "Then we'll have to find it. I've been enjoying this time to myself so far. It's nice to observe everyone in the quiet. Have you been busy, Philip?"

Satisfied with what he sees on the paper, he steps away to look at more plants.

"Extremely so! There's so much to do on this planet. I must have spent all of yesterday hiking and rock climbing. The day before that, Shotaro and I went out to eat and spent some time shopping."

Billy likes that answer. He makes a mental note to try some of this rock climbing himself, then proceeds to the next logical topic. "You and Shotaro are never too far apart, huh? Did you buy anything you're particularly proud of?"

Philip grins. "I'm rather fond of the new outfit I picked out for him. We'll be meeting up later tonight for dinner. He is my closest friend this far from home, after all, so..." Or back home, even, but the competition is slightly steeper there. "Ah, yes, speaking of which -- how is your friend doing? What was his name, Adam?"

"Sounds like he trusts your fashion sense..." Billy smiles, reminding himself of a similar incident with Adam. Well...that's a sore spot he doesn't want to reopen, so he searches his brain for something else, only to be foiled.

His jaw tightens, and he clenches his fist. "Actually, Adam's no longer with us. I can only hope he's safe at home...but the universe is too full of possibility for me to be certain."

"I wouldn't say that..."

Philip's smile vanishes. He can only imagine the pain that Adam's disappearance would be causing Billy. If it were Shotaro... "I see. Q has stated that he possesses the ability to return us all home unharmed, so..."

Billy tries to replace it with a smile of his own. "True, that's still the most likely explanation. I hope you're right, but I won't stop fighting to go home too."

With his luck, of course, Adam wouldn't remember what had happened. Billy would just pretend he never felt anything more for him and things would go back to normal, surely. But that was later. For now...

"So I've been taking time to myself, to focus on my studies. You should go back to Shotaro---you don't know how much more time you'll have with him, right? Don't let yourself live with regrets."

A bit of a wistful look crosses Philip's face. He knows that all too well already.

"I suspect that's exactly the reason Shotaro has been so reluctant to leave my side, Billy. We were already forced to leave one another's sides once before. But quite the contrary, that's exactly why I'm not worried at all. We'll always find each other again. And if you and Adam are truly friends, then I'm sure that you will, too." They were from the same world, after all. It would only be a matter of time.

"Yeah. We're true friends," Billy says, a bit of resignation in that tone. And never more, but that's how it has to be.

He reluctantly pats a flower. Oh, how he wishes he had a book to hide behind right now! "So I gather Q intended to keep things as chaotic as possible around here. Naturally, this is a hazard of getting too close to someone---you risk drawing his attention."

Could that be it? He frowns.

The same idea strikes Philip at about the same time. He strokes his chin thoughtfully. Could that be the key to getting sent home? Making friends? What a cleverly cruel way of going about things.

"I'm sorry," he adds. "And I hope that you get to see one another again soon."

Billy nods quietly, rubbing his arm. "Yeah. It might be a little awkward, though..." he trails off.

"But I should really stop dwelling. This is a pleasure planet, not a brooding planet." And so he stands. "Any other activities you recommend?"

"Ah, there's an amusement park nearby," Philip says. "Many of the rides are similar to those I've encountered on Earth, but many others are new. You must see for yourself!"

Billy's right; brooding doesn't help. Philip knows that all too well.

"New rides? Wow, with the technology on this planet, I bet they're totally immersive," Billy imagined, sounding excited already. "You took Shotaro on all of them, didn't you?"

Philip's grin is a bit dangerous. "He was reluctant, but I did manage."

That prompted laughter from Billy, finally. He could just picture them now.

"I hoped to do something similar...but the library suits me more for the moment, I think. And I was a master at building sandcastles once..."

He tilts his head. "Sand... castles?"

Now that was a surprise. Billy watched for signs of deception, but this was apparently no joke.

"You've never seen a sandcastle? At the beach, it's common to build intricate sculptures out of sand, with a castle as one example. I...I could show you, if you wanted?"

"I've never really spent time at the beach," Philip admits. An image flashes through his mind, too quick to really hold on to -- himself as a young boy with his sisters and parents walking along a beach -- but he mentally waves it away. "Sculptures made out of sand? And they don't just fall over? How fascinating! Yes, you must show me!"

"Not if you wet the sand first and compress it properly," Billy corrected, already heading out of the cavern. "There might even be existing sculptures to look at, if you need inspiration?"

All that sun and surf might help his mood, Billy thinks.

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