2020-02-12 - Meeting the Magnificent Morrigan

There aren't any students or patrons in Vivid Dreams at this time of day. Perhaps everyone has found other things to entertain themselves with or perhaps this time of the year causes some to not be in the most artistic mood. Artists and those who admire their work are fickle at best and Hera takes a break from creative endeavours to start to review reports. "Ok so, budget for wine cases is maxed for now until I get a higher margin." Boring business talk it seems, "I wonder how much I should charge for Kim's class, students that is." Hans looks over and almost perks up an ear at the mention of Kim. As if the dog could understand her she just shakes her head, "No no no, I'm not charging friends but, I have to keep you in dog food. You remember that."

Having left a message with Morrigan that he'd would be coming here; Devlin enters the gallery. "Hi Hera. So getting the gallery ready for Valentines?" a paper coffee cup is crumpled in hand as he drops it into the trash by the door. "Me.. with time off around Valentines, will wonders ever cease? How are you?" then seeing Hans, "Hey there bub.." Meanwhile the free hand tosses a cat nip toy mouse that lands about eight inches in front of the cat. "Got couple dog biscuits treats for the boy.. talked one of the K-9 guys into letting me grab a couple for Hans."

Morrigan's not been in before, but the woman winds her way around the shopping mall until she finds the right address. After parking the truck she is heading inside. She stops inside the door to brush snow off her coat and her boots before looking around for Devlin. When she spots him, she heads back that way, not wanting to interrupt conversations.

Hera rubs her forehead a bit as if to try to dismiss work. She then stands and goes over to offer Devlin a hug, "Well, nothing all that special Jessica asked me to spend the time with her. I'm really excited about it so, needless to say, things involving the gallery might have to wait for a bit. Everything is still plenty busy though. You should come by for some of the classes." Hans immediately wags his tail and wuffs. Oh yes, he knows who this is. In the meantime Queso peers over at him. Maybe the toy mouse isn't THAT interesting yet. Or, maybe the cat is reminding Devlin that he can't be that easily manipulated.

Spotting Morrigan, she offers a grin toward her and goes to extend her hand, "Welcome." She says, "Please please come in, make yourself at home, can I get either one of you anything to drink?"

Devlin returns the hug to Hera, "Sounds good." He then smirks towards the cat, "Your choice.." He then passes the two nice treats to Hera, "Hans should like these.. good stuff." He then turns to see Morrigan, "Hey there Morrigan. So your off too I hope?"

Morrigan gives a bit of a nod to Hera in greeting, "Hello." she tells her. When she offers a hand she gives it a shake, "I'm Morrigan." she offers her name. "No, no drink for me. I'm good." she states. There's a smile to Devlin, "Yeah, it was too snowy to go out and do any dives today, so not back to work until Monday. I've got an interview for a new position as well, but, we'll talk on that later." she smiles. "How are we all doing?" she asks with a smile to them both.

Hera hears the name Morrigan and her eyes go wide and she immediately smiles, "Oh!" she states, "You're the lady my cousin has been talking about. So nice to finally meet you!" If allowed, she goes in to offer a hug, one that is welcoming but not too constricting. "Doing great! I hope your interview goes well. I had no idea that such a line of work was really that...well of course it's difficult but I understand more of the challenges now."

Devlin offers Morrigan a hug, "I am doing a lot better with you here." He smiles, "Interesting.. an interview? Would love to hear about it." He then introduces, "My bad.. Morrigan, this is my cousin, Hera. The one Mom discovered through DNA testing. The wanna-be member of the K-9s over there is Hans.. and the hard to impress snotty feline over there is Quesso.. guess not in a cat nip mouse mood." He then adds, "Coffee is always good for me.. just black."

Morrigan returns the hug, but it's a little awkward, she gives a smile to Hera though, "I think that's me, yes." she chuckles to that. "The Coast Guard needs a dive instructor and it's a bit more stable than what I'm doing right now. So hopefully it all works out." she smiles to that. Then there's a look to Devlin and she gives him a hug, "It's nice to meet you, Hera, Dev talks about you a lot as well." she smiles to that. "And hey Hans." she wiggles fingers at the pup.

Hera rolls her eyes at the mention of Queso, "Yeah, he's the real boss around here and he likes one person for the most part and that's Maggi. Hans, if he's not working too hard, likes anyone really." She manages to smile again as she seems really happy to have company, "Coffee coming up and I'll cheer you on Miss, well, as much as someone who doesn't swim can cheer you on. I am sure you will do great!" Then she goes over to the typical 'Mr. Coffee' machine and goes to get the grounds brewing!

Devlin sips an arm about Morrigan, "It appears I will be off on Valentine's day.. perhaps we could go enjoy an evening?" He grins, "I am open to ideas and suggestions.. not used to doing things like this on Valentines." He then nods to Hera, "Thanks. So how is business?"

Morrigan gives a smile to Hera, "Thank you. It's appreciated." the woman states as she looks to her. "And I think it'll go well." she tells them. Then she looks to Devlin and there's a smile, "I think spending the evening celebrating might be a good idea." she admits to that. "Could give you the present I got you and all that fun stuff. Do you want to go out for dinner or I can cook at the house?" she offers.

Hera smiles again as she looks at the two and she offers up a cup of coffee to Devlin. "Nothing special, though a lot of people love the coffee here. I'm not sure why, it's really the cheap stuff. Business is going well. Students keep coming in and that's what keeps the bills paid. I'm actually thinking of doing something a bit more charitable soon. That would be a good marketing move. Fortunately someone has been keeping his ass off my windows lately."

She'd requested the time off leading up to the Valentine's Day she'd originally had off in the first place, and while the hospital kept her under observation for a couple of days, Stephanie was finally released that morning. The brunette wasn't one to do time off very well, but she needed it.

Oddly enough, her first act of freedom is to check in with everyone at the gallery. She isn't sure why, probably because she expects Hera and Kim to be there. She steps into the gallery and the first thing she does is greet Hans, giving him love and pets.

Devlin smooches Morrigan's cheek, "Dinner at your place sounds like a great idea." He comments, "Cheap coffee brewed right in a clean pot will always taste good, Hera." He smiles, "Plus you take care with filtered water and a few other tricks. You may have tripped over how to make it work is all." He then pauses as he sees the door open, "Oh Hi Stephanie."

Morrigan's brow go up when she talks on someone putting their ass on the window, "Tase them in the ass next time they do that and I'll bet that they stop." she gives a bit of a grin. Then there's a smile to Devlin, "My place then for Valentine's Day." she nods to that as she stands next to him. The appearance of another in the shop gets her attention for a moment, but she doesn't know the woman. When Devlin says that it's Stephanie there's a bit of a look to her and a nod of greeting.

Queso could care less if anyone entered. Finally the toy mousey catches his attention and he decides to bat at it. Then, there's a big sniff and he rolls around on the ground. The rolling continues to where his hair begins to stand on end because it's static cling! Catnip, making static cats since the dawn of time. However, Hans does go to greet Stephanie. "Hi!" Hera says and she goes over to offer a hug to the brunette, "Are you feeling any better? Sometimes I think the doctors at the hospital are helpful, sometimes, not so much."

When Hera approaches her, Stephanie smiles and hugs her back. "I'm feeling much better. They kept me under observation for a couple of days just to make sure nothing went wrong with my recovery and that there were no adverse effects. The doctor said it took 8 hours to get my core temperature back to normal." She then walked towards Morrigan and Devlin to greet them as well. "Hey, you two," she says casually, before addressing Morrigan, "Stephanie, I'm Devlin's partner. You must be Morrigan. I've heard nothing but nice things about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She extends her hand out for a handshake.

Devlin says, "Doing better now? What happened that you got you a trip into the hospital over core temp?" Then again, look who's talking.. Mr looks like he is more dressed for fall than winter. He grins a little, "Yeah.. nothing like cat nip.." He chuckles a little. "I think Quesso will be having some fun and mellow out." He then finally reaches to Hans to give the big boy a scritch. "Kind of surprised to see so much snow near the ocean like this. Would have figured that we'd have milder conditions.""

Morrigan's gaze is on Devlin for a moment and there's a bit of a smile and a whisper to him. When Stephanie approaches there's a nod of her head to her, "Nice to meet you, Stephanie. I've only heard a few things about you, so you have me at a disadvantage." she states as she shakes her hand in introduction.

Hera looks over at the 'poof' that is now Queso. Yes, crazy things happen under the influence. Hopefully the kitty isn't knocking over too many pieces of poetry here and there. At the question she doesn't even offer to answer it but she does note Devlin's 'un' winter clothing, "I don't know how you do it cousin. I have like four coats for this time of year, if not more. Would you like some coffee Stephanie? Nothing fancy but, it seems to be popular."

At the offer of coffee, Stephanie immediately says, "Yes please. Black is good for me." Looking to Devlin, she answers his question. "Would you believe it if I said I drowned in a Dream and woke up in a snow bank?" she says casually, "Lucky for me I landed in Gray Harbor Pond, and I managed to walk over to the hospital before the shivering stopped and the symptoms got too severe." Turning to Morrigan, she explains, "Don't worry, I've only heard a few things about you too. But they're nothing but nice things. I'm used to Mr. Man of Few Words over there."

A slight flush on Devlin's part, "First boy scout and now this.." He sighs a little with a shrug. "May be I try to speak louder in my actions.." He then grins a little to Hera, "It's all in the layers and how much you move. You'll notice when I am outside, I am rarely still." He then plants another quick smooch on Morrigan's cheek followed by a whisper. After a moment, "Good things about both of you really. I do try to avoid some gossip. Besides.. it drives our resident cherry in the firehouse crazy." He chuckles a bit. "He's still wondering how his boxers all get replaced with cherry prints boxers.." And there is that patented Devlin being evil grin.

Morrigan gives a bit of a look to Stephanie when she says she drown in a dream, but she doesn't say anything on it. Then there's a bit of a nod to her, "Well, that's nice of him." she chuckles. "There's a lot of people around here that are the quiet sort, not anything that's out of the ordinary." she chuckles. Then there's a warm smile to the whisper and she gives one back in turn before she quiets to listen to Devlin.

Hera gets a cup of coffee and heads over in Stephanie's direction. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better now. The cold out there, it's nothing to play with. I actually rigged up a bit of a sprinkler system for the windows, set to go off if Everette puts his ass there again. So, since I tried to do that, he hasn't molested my windows anymore but, onto other things." She does start to speak what is on her mind and says, "I'll be going away for Valentine's Day I'm wondering, what will I get Jessica? We haven't been dating long I want to, really leave a good impression, but I don't want to be so overboard that I scare her off."

Between Morrigan and Devlin's whispered exchange and Hera asking what to get her girlfriend, Stephanie feels painfully single and she hates it. She truly wants to be happy for two of her favourite friends. Trying to mask her truly feelings behind a playful voice, she replies to Hera, "I don't know, I've never had anyone to shop for on Valentine's Day. Maybe you should give her your undying love and a puppy?" She turns to Devlin and she says, "At least you didn't straight up just hide his underwear. I've done that to rookies before. It's fun."

Devlin smirks, "Well, his hair has finally grown out to the point of being able to get a decent hair cut. Took him a week to replace his helmet band.." One can almost see the < dumb ass > remark in his eyes on that one. He then nods to Morrigan. "Still work is interesting.. the usual SSDD runs and then you get the weird ones.. and worse yet, the people all but demanding that Darwin collects them. Like the college kids that thought wind surfing using a snow board down Spruce street was a great idea.. may be great with enough alcohol to fuel it."

Morrigan smiles at the interaction between the three, but she seems content to just let them talk amongst themselves. "I'm not good at guessing gifts really. Flowers, her favorite candy if you can finagle that out of her without her getting suspicious." she offers. Then there's a shake of her head, "Wind Surfing on the street?" she laughs. "The job is always interesting." she admits.

Hera takes a deep breath and says, "I thought about telling her that I love her, but I don't want to scare her off either. I know she likes bright colors, I guess that would give me some ideas. Kim sort of, was a bit of an inspiration." she tries not to blush but she says, "I think she has found love too. But, still, the notion of giving it all time is important. Who knows? Speaking of love, has anyone heard from Thewlis and Jade lately? I might need to check on them soon. Been a while since I heard from them."

Stephanie says, "I was kidding, Hera." Stephanie shrugs. "I don't really know them that well, so I don't know." Steph rolls her eyes at the Wind Surfing incident. "Yeah, well boredom often leads to stupidity in this town. Not that I would know but I've been friends with those types in high school." "

Devlin nods, "Yeah.. two broken legs, one impalement to start." He shakes his head.. "Add in the exposure issues and a couple of concussions. Made for a entertaining run to say the least. Sadly, I am missing good old fashion GSWs... and concussive blast effects.." He smirks.. "Not!.." He takes his coffee and sips from it, "Create something nice for her is what I would suggest, Hera" He then looks to Stephanie, "You missed a fun night with that one."

Morrigan gives a bit of a wince, "Ouch, definitely not trying that." she tells the group. Then there's a bit of a look to Devlin and there's a smile, "I've got a few errands to run, but if you want to stop by after things just shoot my a text and I'll grab coffee and dessert on the way home." she offers as she leans over and kisses his cheek. Then she gives a smile to Hera and Stephanie, "It was nice to meet you ladies." she tells them.

"I've had my share of calls like that though, I've been a paramedic for nearly a decade." She pauses, recalling something. "Oh Devlin, remind me to pass along some information I got about the Broadleaf Apartments call last month, I had a detective friend poke around for me." She pauses to hear Morrigan excuse herself to run errands. "Pleasure's all mine, Morrigan. Hopefully we'll have more opportunities to hang out and get to know each other."

Hera frowns a something and just shakes her head for a bit. When Morrigan begins to head off, she smiles and waves, "Thank you for coming by. Stop in anytime. I hope everything with the interview goes well." She then goes over to turn the coffee pot off, refraining from pouring a cup herself.

Devlin nods to Morrigan, "Will do. And good luck on the interview." He sips his coffee, "One other thing, Soldiers are easier to treat.. you can order them." He chuckles with a smile.. "Civilians.. especially college kids.. talk about willful and stupid.. they call for help and then do not listen." He shakes his head, "And the world turns round and round still."

"With all the weird stuff that happens in this town, combined with the regular stuff, death and near death moments happen a lot," Stephanie's voice grows a bit somber. "No one's immune to that. I've learned that life's too short to spend it being afraid, especially in Gray Harbor."

Hera goes to stand near Hans and moves to scratch him behind the ears, "That is true, quite true. We do need to take the time and cherish what we have. I guess you two deal with death more than I do. You have to be prepared to handle things, if worse comes to worse."

"Between the three of us, something I've always struggled with and something I struggle with even more now after being in the hospital myself, is the idea of whether or not to use my abilities. So many more people could be saved if I used my abilities on them. I don't ever feel like my life is worth more than the lives of those I could save so I started helping people cheat death. I always said figured, whatever bad thing comes my way, I'll either deal with it or die trying. Then I almost died...is it bad that I still feel the same way even after being so close to death?"

Devlin says, "I have seen death in many ways. He plays a mean game of cards, beat him in one hand. He beats you in another. If not today, tomorrow. Me, just trying to get to understand what I can do better. And learn about the risk.. it is foolish to call fire on one's position when your out in the open without cover." He takes a breath.. "So.. I learn for now.. and try to be careful in what I do.""

Hera folds her arms over her chest and says, "There's something worse than death, it's being someone's slave. Seems that if you show your 'shine' too much, the so called masters will come running. I've told to be careful too. Still, it's hard. If we have such abilities, we should use them for good but, such is the quandry. I'm trying to learn what I can, and go from there."

"It still upsets me that I had the opportunity to stop some creature from harming innocent people and it got away, and I wonder, what if it got someone to who couldn't defend themselves?" Stephanie admits quietly.

Devlin says, "You can not stop them all. I know from experience. War is not fair.. never has been."

Normally there's a warning: the parting of people, the rapping on windows, a flash of long brunette hair. ... the squeak of buttocks on window panes.

The front door is swung open, and ducking inside, wet and wearing a light slop of snow on his black leather clad shoulders, Everett enters the gallery and stops at the doorway. Holding his jacket open to shield something underneath it, he spends a moment to look around and drip at the doorway. Then brightens when he sees a familiar face, "There she is!" His jacket is pulled back. A gun? A bomb? A new declaration of independence?

Everett thrusts out a dozen red roses with a broad smile across the gallery to Hera, "Happy You Know What!"

"He used the front door, I'm almost impressed," Stephanie mumbles, irritated by the interruption.

Hera adds to a bit of the somber conversation, "It's a hard lesson, and it hurts like hell, but you truly can't save everyone. It's a horrible world we live in, but many suffer and die. Unfortunately, we help where we can then, we have to let the chips fall where they may. Hey it sucks but helping people, now that's a rewarding feeling. Sadly, a rose bed has so many thorns." Speaking of which she groans. "Come here, let me prick your finger and" she tries to yell loud enough where the 'butt man' can hear, "I thought you knew I liked poetry!"

A bemused expression on Devlin's face seeing Everett with Roses.. "Now that is a sight I did not expect to see." A chuckle by Devlin.. "Poetry? Really.. good thing I don't need that.. in my case." He smirks a bit. "so.. how is that foot?"

"What's that?" the overgrown man says, cocking his head. His left brow rises, while the left side of his mouth twerks into a soft smile. With a soft shake that Hans couldn't approve of, Everett dries off lightly before he approaches just like he was beckoned, pulling long stems from the bouquet with his long stride. Four, it's a miracle he can count that high, steams are laid on a flat surface near where Hera's standing while he offers, "Roses are red," and then looks around. "Uh. His eyes aren't blue," with an upnod to Devlin. Attention is returned to Hera, "In verse I've said my apologies, and these day old flowers too!".

With a flourish, Everett bends the knee to Hera, bowing his head, clutching the remaining roses to his chest.

Hera grunts a bit and says, "You might want to put them in water, I think there's plenty in the toilet, likely with the right fertilizer too." But, giving flowers, he isn't being THAT crazy this time. Hans doesn't quite know what to due about Mr. Muscle but Queso, yup, the static electricity cat is high on cat weed. Suddenly, the little toy mousey that Devlin brought ZIPS high in the air and looks like it's about to land on Everett's head. Assaulted by a fake mouse, stranger things have happened.

Wow... Devlin finally speaks after a moment, "Now I know where the Israelis go the idea for the Iron Dome." He chuckles a bit, "Interesting play there Everette.. I'll give it a 7.8." He sips his coffee, "Life sure can be interesting.. indeed."

Stephanie remains quietly observing what's going on; she never quite knows how to reach to Everett when he shows up.

Being all right with being hit in the head with a cat toy, the bowing giant didn't even see where it came from. May have even been the cat itself. Lifting his head, Everett looks around curiously at the light donk, and then shrugs it off, literally. A massive right shoulder lifts and falls while Everett gets to his feet, "I'm just the delivery man, Light Bright. Whatchoo wanna do with the gift," then he points to the four flowers, "and who they go to, that's up to you." He winks at Hera and turns to head back the way he came.

Stopping at the other man, he pauses, "It's just Everett, but thanks." And then his green eyes fall on Stephanie. Who's been nothing but frosty to him. With slow steps he shortens the distance and when he gets to Stephanie, Everett reaches into the bouquet, and pulls out one of the red roses, smells it, and then silently offers it to her.

Giving Hera a questioning look, only ever knowing Everett as someone Hera complained about all the time, she does relax a little and takes the flower. "Thank you," she says in a quiet, neutral tone.

Saluting with the coffee, Devlin then drains it. "thought it sounded better with the accent.. got to work on that one. Well, I should be off.. I have to go work out and then seek out a Morrigan."

"Have fun, Dev. You and I have to find time to just...chill soon. We've been meaning for over a month now." Steph reminds him.

With a nod to Stephanie, whatever has Everett(e) in a good mood, the secret goes out with him when he checks the weather outside, shields his flowers once more with his open jacket, and braves the sloppy mess, holding the door open for Devlin. Right before Grace gets here. Because that's the way it is!

Hera watches him leave and just shakes his head, "Steroids, they've not as helpful as some people think." Then she peers over at Stephanie and says, "If you like him, be careful with that one. He's, different....."

"What? No. I don't. I...have no idea how to react to him. All you ever do is complain about him." Stephanie looks confused. "No, he's not the one I've been interested in."

Hera goes over to sweep the floor, should any day old rose petals have made it to the floor. "Oh? Who have you been interested in, if you don't mind me asking?"

Stephanie blushes as Hera asks who she's interested in. "It doesn't matter now. There's no one really." She stumbles over her words, flustered.

Hera doesn't push the issue but she just continues to sweep things and tidy up a bit. "Well, if it's meant to be, you will know one way or another."

"It's more like just a stupid crush. I don't know that there's anyone out there for me," Steph says with a shrug.

Hera shrugs and says, "Well, do you want someone to date? If so you should mingle, get to know people and what not. You never know. This time of the year well, the idea of romance, it's everywhere."

Steph sighs. "It just feels like everyone's already got someone, you know?" she says, "All the good ones are taken."

Hera shrugs and says, "That may not be true. Did you want me to ask around, see if you would like to start meeting people? I'm sure there's someone out there for you. You might need to give it time but, surely there is."

"The only way my luck's going to change is if some handsome stranger shows up tomorrow. The downside of being from this town is that I know a lot of the locals, so it narrows the pool down, not much choice." Steph shrugs. "If you think asking around will help.

Hera says, "well, try not to worry about it. The holiday will pass one way or another. I will ask around though."

"Thanks, I appreciate your offer, it'll be nice to put myself out there and at least meet people, I suppose," Steph replies with a smile.

Hera nods as she tries to get a bit more information, "So, I assume you are straight? Meaning, you wouldn't consider dating a woman or something like that?"

Hera gets a nod. "Yeah, I only date men. But really, don't go out of your way. If you happen to know someone, let me know but...if it happens, it happens."

Hera nods and says, "Fair enough. I think I'll need to get these two furry ones ready for bed and all. So, until then. Try to take care of yourself."