2019-11-21 - Fish And Studies

Morrigan was off for a few days and well, she was in need of food that was deep fried and might cause her to have a coronary if she ate too much of it. So the woman had found herself at Fried Fish. She'd headed that way and was currently waiting for the two people that were clearing out to move on. It was warm, so no reason not to sit and watch the rain fall and enjoy some food while doing it.

Looking as if he escaped, Devlin heads for the boardwalk and glances over his shoulder. He sighs in relief as he then sees the fish shack. As he draws closer and sees Morrigan, he gives a wave, "Hi Morrigan." another quick glance over his shoulder is made before he returns his attention to you. "Heard the food was good here. Julia says she cuts responders a deal here."

Morrigan gives a smile to Devlin and returns the wave, "Hey, come on over and have a seat. Two just headed off." she tells him as she pats the seat next to her. "And yeah, it's pretty good food here. Nice to have something that's not health food." she grins to that. "How goes your studying? Getting to the point where you want to bang your head on a wall?" she asks him.

Devlin settles next to you, "Thank you. Actually worse.. they had me teaching Red Cross classes today." He takes a breath, "Would have rather been studying honestly. My biggest stumbling block is those differences in what I can and can not do here in Washington State that I could do on a battlefield.. that make sense?"

"Oh, that doesn't sound fun." Morrigan states with a soft frown. "You're going to do fine when you get to the exams. They always sneak up on me like that. I will stress so much and then once I see things I'm like 'oh shit I got this.'" she chuckles. "And yeah, sometimes you can do more in the field when you are military than you can as a civilian. I totally get that." she admits. "I almost went Coast Guard when I first started out, but I was talked out of it." she tells him.

Hearing a female voice in the distance call out, Devlin cringes. "Oh, I like teaching first aide. Problem was this one woman with that Army wife cheats on deployed husband vibe started hitting on me.." He takes a breath, "Hopefully she doesn't come this way.. " He reaches into his leather coat to swap his black hat for a green hat with the Serenity Logo from Firefly it. And then turns the collar under on the jacket. "SEAR school.. useful even as a civilian.." He smiles.

Morrigan turns to see if she can see who might be stalking poor Devlin, but she doesn't catch a glimpse yet. She then looks back to him, "Ah, well...hopefully she'll not come this way. If so, I can cover for you." she chuckles to that. "I like that you have hats that you can change out. Did they teach you that in SEAR school?" she grins to that.

Devlin says, "Improvising.. hat is a gift from my nephews. Long story why there." He smiles, "Not something they teach but if your in a civilian area sometimes you need to change a few visual ques to get them looking elsewhere." He glances, "Good.. she's headed for the pond. Didn't look my way, but why take chances." He hmms as he looks at the board, "Lots of heart stopping goodness. I need to clog an artery or three.""

Morrigan grins to that, "Maybe I need to carry around different hats so that when unwanted guys follow me I can switch them out." she chuckles to that. "Oh good. Maybe a pond shark will get her." she teases him softly. "So she'll leave you alone." she adds. "And yes, some good old fashion calories sound delightful right about now." she smiles.

Devlin grins a little, "I think you would need to do more than I.. bit more distinctive than me. And attractive." He hmms, "Pond sharks.. I can only hope. It is a nice place in the mornings to meditate and practice forms though. So, please tell me you are having a great day.."

Morrigan shakes her head, "Now don't go making me get all full of myself because you called me attractive." she teases him. "And it's probably the hair that gives me away. My dive instructor used to make me tuck it into my suit." she muses. "So what do you practice? Tai Chi?" she asks. Then there's a smile, "The day has gotten much better. Taught intro to diving this morning." she admits.

"You do have nice hair." He teases back, "A shame to have to tuck it in for diving. But very practical." Devlin answers your question, "I have a black sash in both Shaolin Kung Fu and Chang style Tai Chi Chuan. Not qualified to teach though. Diving lessons.. I'll avoid those deep puns.." He then hmms, "Basics look good to me, fish n chips with an ice tea.. unsweetened.."

Morrigan gives a blush at that, "Thank you. And well, we were doing rescue training and had some debris it could have gotten tangled on. So I understand the why of it. I really don't want to drown due to my hair being over zealous." she muses. Then there's a nod, "Very cool." she states. "I just know a little karate, that's about it." she admits. "So what brought you to Gray Harbor?" she asks him.

A slight pause there on his part before answering. "Short version, a powerful politician could not accept the death of his son so took it out on me. So as I was looking for places to go, an officer I served with before asked me to come up to Tacoma to fill a slot on his dustoff teams. From there, a Master Sergeant suggested I should come over here as he knew that Seattle and Tacoma were not going to touch me with a ten foot pole." Devlin then offers, "What do you want for lunch? I'll put in the orders."

Morrigan gives a bit of a look to him and then there's a shake of her head, "It's amazing what those assholes will do to decent people." she grumbles out. "And I'm glad you found things here, you shouldn't have any trouble." she tells him hopefully. "Oh, food, yes! Umm, fish and chips sounds great. And a coke. It's a cheat day." she chuckles.

Devlin says, "Yeah.." there is a bit of a sigh in that simple word that speaks volumes. Devlin puts in the order and returns with the drinks, setting your coke before you. "Cheat day? huh?" he teases a bit. "I have my doubts about how much chair shining you do, Miss Diver..." He settles back in his seat, "So what brings you to Gray Harbor?"

Morrigan gives a bit of a friendly shoulder bump to him, "Keep your head up." she tells him with a soft smile. "And yeah. I have a diet to maintain. Keeps me strong enough to lift people and then swim if needed." she tells him. "And no, I rarely get time to sit, so this is a luxury right here." she tells him. "Oh, I was born and raised here. Never really left." she admits. "Learned some of my hardest diving right off the beach here." she adds.

Devlin nods a bit, "Well, doubt this town will need a swat medic.. so may need to look at other things. Been told smoke jumping pays good but doubt the town would be thrilled with me running off for how ever long a wild fire is. But may be learning how to support water rescue might be something they would be happier with. I've already got rappelling down cold.. I Aussie off Black Hawks." He grins, "Scares the hell out of my commanders.."

"You never know with this town. We had a rash of horrific murders and everything else. We tend to go from bright and sunny to everyone is dying pretty quick sometimes." she shakes her head. "And I'd feel good to have a back up like you." she admits. "Though I still get all weird when we have to do dives off the helicopter. I don't think I'll never not feel cold." she frowns. "So what do you like to do when you aren't studying and practicing?" she asks him.

Devlin says, "Well, dug out my PS4. Had to replace the controller and headset.. both of them seeing some pretty hard wear from deployments. But I do spend about two to three hours where I warm up then practice my forms, all the way from basics some days to the advanced ones. If I feel like challenging myself, I will mirror image the form. Not doing a whole lot though, I am still looking for a place that is nicer. Just not alot of time for it. The two realitors when I mentioned space for a studio to practice martial arts started showing me small studio apartments.." He rolls his eyes, "The idea of a studio being a spare room did not cross their minds."

"Some realtors can be morons, don't worry on it." Morrigan tells him with a chuckle. "You'll find the right place for yourself. Just need to keep at it." she nods to that. She takes a sip of her coke and then looks to him, "Do you like to swim?" she asks him.

"Have not done a lot of that in a long time to be honest, Morrigan." Devlin smiles, "You offering lessons?" He then comes back, "Could help with that fear of jumping, if you would like. I did get into skydiving in Cali, so have a rig. If you can static line jump or skydive.. jumping to the water won't be a problem.

"I am always willing to teach and it would be nice to have a swim partner really." Morrigan admits. "And no, this is not a ploy just to see you in swim trunks." she points out. "And I would love to get over the nervousness of jumps. Maybe we could trade training." she grins to that.

Devlin teases back, "No, you just want to watch an ego shrink in the water. Tell you what, I have an afternoon class to teach and when I am done.. if you want to chill or something, I am available." And the sneak he is, did pay for the lunch. "And yeah.. sounds good on the training."