2019-10-31 - Happy Halloween! We're Hiding in the Coffee Shop

Sutton is seated at a little four top, a muffin on a plate next to her, a ceramic mug of some kind of fragrant chai too. She's sipping occasionally, her latte extra foam-y. In her hand is a mobile phone, and she appears to be playing some kind of game, either Candy Crush or Farm Heroes. Though she's not on duty today, she is wearing an old Seattle FD tee, faded lettering across the back reading PARAMEDIC. The logo on the chest has faded too, probably at least six years old and washed hundreds of times. Distressed jeans, knees ripped out, complete the look along with a pair of simple leather boots.

Devlin walks into the coffeeshop, taking a moment to glace about to look about for a moment as he shakes the drizzle off his black ball cap with a CMB on the front of it. He folds it on old creases to slide in his jacket pocket as he moves to up to make his order. When he isn't moving, there is a hint of a pouch on his belt to judge by the bulge under his jacket. Only a couple of people are in front of him before he orders. Seeing someone with an FD shirt, he gives an easy smile for a moment and a nods.

Sutton glances up from her latte occasionally when someone enters the shop, and happens to do so as Devlin does. She watches him cross to the line, tracking him. Her gaze flicks up to the cap, then slowly back down over Devlin's general appearance. She doesn't say anything at first, but when he smiles, she lifts her cup to salute him casually with it. "You're welcome to join me once you've got your caffeine hit." Some might mistake that for a come-on, but there's a good chance Dev noticed her noticing the wreathed caduceus patch on his cap.

Eleanor comes out of the 'Employees Only' area with a box of decorations to put up. The shop is clearly participating in the masquerade, at least somewhat. The coffee shop owner is in jeans and a cream-colored cable-knit sweater with navy blue Keds on her feet. She flashes Devlin a smile as her barista crew handle his order, and she moves over near Sutton's table, setting the box down on another one, and pulling out some of those damage free hanger things you spend way more on than tape or thumbtacks.

"Sutton!" she greets with a smile as she begins setting out little cheap painted plastic masks from the party store. "How is your chai?"

Devlin nods to Sutton, "Thanks. Just as it's black as sin and sweet as the road going there..and warms a soul." He waits for the next person to finish with their ordering. He then puts in his request for black coffee and orders what ever is freshest at the counter to nibble on.

Sutton clinks her mug back down onto its saucer, and is just picking a hunk off of her muffin when Eleanor emerges from the back with decorations. She waves. "Hey. It's awesome, as usual. Why do you think I always come back here?" She nods to the box. "What are you hanging? Bats? Lights?" She tips in, "Oh, masks, of course." Even after the events of last night, her enthusiasm for the holiday is in no way dampened.

"The caramel streusel muffin are pretty much a requirement." She's like a pusher when it comes to sweet carbs around here. See a customer hesitate, sell them on Eleanor's goods.

Ellie begins to hang up the little masks on the largest wall of the shop. In the box there are various and sundry other inexpensive things, like cute circle garlands in various colors, and she seems to be organizing things by colors. Because that's how Eleanor Lake rolls. She starts with reds and goes through the rainbow. She chuckles at Sutton. "Well, you don't sound very enthusiastic. Not excited about the Masquerade?" she asks.

Hearing the comment, as the barista points out what is fresh, Devlin comments, "I'll give one of those caramel streusel muffins a shot." As he sides steps so another can be served, he waits for his coffee and muffin. Looking around, "Figures.. I move and miss out on the fun.." the later more to himself. He quickly pays for his order with cash and then moves with the coffee and muffin towards Sutton's table. Before he sits, "Thank you for the invite, Devlin McCloud." and it seems some sense of decorum has him standing for the moment after the greeting.

Ellie hums along with whatever is playing on the coffee shop's Adult Contemporary feed on the speakers as she hangs stuff up. She gives Devlin a smile. "Hi there. New to Gray Harbor?" she asks. "If so, welcome."

Devlin nods, "Yes. Came up from LA. Kind of getting away from a bit of a mess. Name's Devlin" He sets things down and offers a hand to shake. "Interesting town.. very interesting so far. Walked in on a meeting about the Casino stuff due to bad directions from someone in city hall.." He takes a breath, "Bureaucracy at it's finest.." the comment dripping with sarcasm

"Harry Sutton," comes the blonde's reply. She smiles, and nods to the chair. "Have a seat McCloud." Once he's put something down, hands full as he is, she offers over a hand to make the meeting official. "How fresh out are you? Got your feet under you and sent you here?" There's a slight rise in her eyebrows, just a tick up. She gets a bit of a twitch at the corner of her mouth when he notes he walked out of a mess and came here. She doesn't say it, but she's definitely having some thoughts about what it is the man's walked into.

"Oh, the opening ceremonies for the Masquerade got a little colorful last night." Colorful, she says. Sutton turns her left wrist to check her watch face. Beside it is a paracord bracelet. Whatever she sees, it puts her in no hurry.

Ellie chuckles and she sets down a mask and wipes her hand on the leg of her jeans before she shakes Devlin's. "Well, bureaucracy is pretty much crap the world over. Hopefully the rest of your time here is less, ah, confusing." Good luck with that. Her grip is businesslike and the shake is quick. At the mention of him walking out of a mess, she exchanges a look with Sutton like 'hoo boy, he has no idea just how messy this town is'. She resumes her decorating.

"I heard the 5K was downright spooky too," she comments with a soft snort. Zombies, why is it always zombies?

Devlin shakes Sutton's hand as he settles, "New to Oregon but been around the block a few times. Two tours to Iraq, two to Afghanistan and was in training to work with LAPD SWAt as a medic..."

"I heard that too, but I finished without incident. Every time I leave those cops behind to get something done, everything goes sideways." Sutton shakes her head, like it's the cops' fault they were beset by zombies. Of course all this probably sounds like seasonal pranking talk to newcomers, but the reality of Gray Harbor comes to all eventually. There's just no escaping it. She trades that look with Eleanor, and her brows go up another tick. She lifts her mug to hide the tiny smirk. Sip. Yowsa. "Those are pretty." She's looking toward the decorations.

"LAPD. Not bad. Not as exciting here, but this town has other ways." Other ways. Mhm. "We don't stage as often, but our murder and attempted murder rate's impressive enough to keep you busy."

Ellie works diligently in her decorating, perhaps eavesdropping on the conversations of her patrons as surreptitiously as possible. She is one of the town's longtime conspiracy theorists. She beams at the compliment about the decorations. "Thanks! They're pretty simple, but it has the right flavor. My mask for the boat tours is much fancier. I wish I could have been at the opening ceremonies, but I we had a lot of prep to do here for tonight. No doubt this place is going to be swamped with festival goers." Hot coffee on a cold night, damn straight.

She arches a brow at Devlin. "My boyfriend is former Army. You two should talk sometime. He owns Branch and Bole, on the outskirts of town," she adds cheerily. Boyfriend sounds weird to her still. Man friend? It's hard to call a 45 year old boy-anything.

A blur rolls clattering by in a streak of military green, denim, and orange with a pink flag where a head might be. The clattering becomes a bounce and it's around the side the skate punk comes in. Pink hair, utility coat with patches on it (Music not military). Does he smack into the door frame? Only a little but he has one hard to find uncarved pumpkin and he olds it out and waits quietly looking at Eleanor and then Devlin and then Eleanor. Does he look like trouble? Eh he looks more like lazy. Threat level: slack. "Ms. Eleanor my people and I come bearing humble offerings." Oh yeah he wants something.

Devlin nods, "everything was going great till I discovered they have a political triage system that no one told me about." His eyes roll a little. He then takes a breath, "Just so long as they are not Keystone Cops." He chuckles over his coffee, "I spent 12 years with the first of the Oh-Four at Bragg. Currently getting a slot over with a guard unit in Tacoma.. an officer I worked with in the past asked me to come up and then suggesting this place.. recommended my app to someone over in the city government. I was supposed to talk with someone and of course.. misdirected and then got an email saying that the meeting got moved to next week."

There's a glance from Sutton to Eleanor that the coffee shop's owner might catch. It's subtle, but it's there. One that suggests it's perhaps good she missed out on the festivities. "There was some squishy weird crap on the crackers, so ... you know. Not all the food was safe." It was fine, she just hates smeary toppings she mistakes for cheese. "Lots of wine though." She reaches up to run her fingers over the back of her neck, rubbing it briefly. Wearing heels and a corset all night left her with some weird aches. "I'm gonna miss out on the boat tour. I have to witness some certifications later and—" She pauses in whatever she was going to say, watching a pink-haired skater roll in with a pumpkin. There are worse gifts.

Sutton smiles at Eleanor's mention of her boyfriend. She doesn't comment, except to say, "Every time I hear someone say Branch and Bole, I want to ask if it's another dispensary." Her gaze slides to Devlin at the mention of Keystone cops. She smiles a little wider. "Sounds like Gray Harbor. What is it you're here to do?" She has some idea, but it's rude to assume.

Eleanor looks at Grant a long moment, but the offered pumpkin has her giving him a broad smile and a chuckle as she reaches out to take it from him. "Why thank you. And who are your people?" she asks the skater.

Sutton gets a nose wrinkle about the squishy toppings. She figures that's code for "stupid Gray Harbor shit went down" and grins at her comment about August's business. "Right? But he's doing good business out there at least."

Devlin answers, "I'm a Sixty-Eight Whiskey.. or in lay terms, a Combat Medic. I'm applying for one of the EMS slots pending state certifications. A few folks at the state agency are a little skiddish over the crap that asshole of a state senator raised over his son..." He takes a breath and lets it out slowly. He then looks over toward Grant, "Must be some interesting people.."

Grant may be one of those people that has no idea when something is not a compliment, or trusts, literally, everyone. "Awww, thanks man." With a hand splayed to his chest he gestures outside, "The benevolent order of the Gray Harbor Order of Stree-Artists, Tradesmen, and Skaters... GHOSTS I guess." And here's where i's easy to see he loves his job looking to Sutton and Devlin briefly before telling the owner, palms together waggling them at her, "I bring you the rare opportunity to trade Yours truly a cup of Hazelnutt coffee for me drawing on your walk to be like festive and get more people in here." Adorable. Let's see if this at all works.

Sutton glances back to Devlin. "... Oh, fun. You'll be answering to me for a while." That may or may not be true, but it's a small town, and everybody knows how bossy paramedics can be. Maybe this firehouse is into hazing. Still, Army can take it. Surely. "Gray Harbor generally doesn't give a fuck. Gray Harbor takes care of its own." She follows Devlin's gaze back to Grant. "Yeah, but it's the rich, vanilla looking types you should watch out for."

Sutton is nothing, nothing, if not a person who sees an opportunity when it presents itself. Sit sits back and waits for Eleanor to conclude her potential business with Grant, but she does tip in with a comment. "If your street art services are offered on commission, we should talk when you've concluded this dealing."

Eleanor ponders Grant's offer for a moment, tapping her chin with the hand not holding the pumpkin. Then she declares, "Deal!" cheerfully. "Russ! Get this gentleman a hazelnut coffee on me!" she calls to the young man at the counter. He yells back, "Coming up!" and goes about making the drink.

Devlin says, "Oh.. you got a new guy running around?" Devlin asks, "I was checking out some apartments this morning when I saw this rig go back and forth a few times like he was lost. He must have seen one of the bumper stickers on the back of my Rubicon.. He asked me if I had seen a car wash..the road he mentioned is not on the map.." Delvin sips his coffee as a slight smirk hits his lips.. it gives that feeling of Evil (TM) to the man. "Smells so Cherry.. that guy.. so I pulled out a folded map.. pointed out Chicken Road.. told him if he finds that he'll find that road.." He then nibbles on the muffin, "I swear he didn't notice it was an old map from Bragg.. Don't they teach these kids how to read a map? Or do a map recon of an area." the smirk grows to a smile.

He looks over to Ellie, "Nice deal.. so do you get to call the shots on the subject of the art besides nice?" And to the young man, a slight nod."

Grant points both fingers at Eleanor and then makes heart hands backing up. "You're the best, Miss E." His eyebrow goes up looking at Sutton and business concluded he parks his ass in a chair balancing the board to rest against his leg. On the matter of calling the shots his hand flaps, "Nah, the baristas put those in there." Looking up to Dante his head tilts, "Military? Well.. your service is appreciated and no. That's what google's for. Unless you're looking for buried treasure does one need a map?"

When Devlin mentions the rig seeming a little... misdirected, Sutton's mouth twitches. "We do, yes." She does a valiant job of keeping it off her face, but if Dev is watching closely, he's going to see it. She definitely had something to do with that. When the tale progresses to a further misdirect, she laughs. Complicit behavior! "You'll get on just fine here, McCloud." That poor FNG has been trying to find the car wash that doesn't exist. Twice now, other people have played along and still he hasn't figured it out. Poor soul will adjust or flame out. She smiles when Eleanor agrees to support the arts.

She looks to Grant as he takes a seat. "I'll give you twenty bucks to chalk kitty paw prints from the street all the way up to the entrance of the PD/FD building."

Eleanor hrmphs at Devlin's words and looks to Grant. "Nothing too scary or naughty please. I get a lot of families with kids in here, ok?" she requests, before she starts stringing little garlands of paper circles between the various masks in a diamond pattern on the wall. She finishes up quickly. "Ok well, I need to go get ready for the boat tours. But all of you enjoy your drinks and pastries!" She grabs the empty box and heads back into the employee area.

Devlin smiles over his coffee, nothing like NCO senses to catch such. "Oh, don't be surprised if he asks about where the brake light fluid is stored.." Nothing like playing with a FNG or Cherry.. "I hope that I do. At least I am not up in a helo while some guy is trying to add AC as I am fighting to keep a causality stable during the flight to the surgeons." He winks to Grant, "Got a surprise for you.. Google doesn't have everything. Try looking for.. <he names a village in Afghanistan> It's to the northwest of Bagram. Not to mention, paper maps do not need batteries.. if I have a match.. I can read it at night."

Grant unfolds his hand with a flourish; showy but not disingenuous. "Awww easy peasy. Consider it done. You need an actual cat to go with that lemme know. I know where I can get you a kitty." One eyebrow arches and his hand waves "naw naw naw, nothing like that. Some leaves, maybe some pumpkins, gourds, cute scarecrows. Couple crows. Harvesty stuff. Like Scooby Doo not scary." Grabbing his coffee he looks to Devlin, "We could do a big ol map and turn the sidewalk into a big big boardgame. Not a bad idea man." Presumably off he goes to decorate the outside of two buildings with his backpack of gear and newly acquired coffee.

Sutton rises from the table after another check at her watch, which comes not long after the last. "Shit. Sorry, Mc." She pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "Got a hot date tonight, and I kind of... forgot to take care of the details." That awkward moment when your sweet tooth, conversation, and pranking plot almost derail the rest of your night. "Come by the firehouse and say hello. No reason not to start settling in before the paperwork finishes. You wanna do a ride-along before you're official, we can do that too." She fishes some cash out of her pocket, and passes on a twenty to Grant on her way out. She has faith in the street artists of Gray Harbor. Faith and more projects where that little one came from.