2020-03-23 - Morning on the Boardwalk

It was brisk, but the weather was turning for the better! Kip was dressed in a thin, long sleeved shirt a pair of running pants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had been jogging along the boardwalk, enjoying the sunrise and the fresh air while she thought over some things. Now though, she had grabbed a to-go cup from Espresso Yourself and was leaning up against one of the railings to look out over the water while she nursed it.

Carter is making his rounds along the boardwalk, since this is the beat that he's currently been assigned. He's in uniform, unlike at the waffle shoppe the other day, and seems to be taking a slow and easy stroll along, keeping an eye out along the shops and docks for anything that looks too out of the ordinary. It's a quiet day, though, and thus far the sum total of what he has done is check on the homeless under the boardwalk to make sure that they were okay, and helped a little girl with a flat tire on her bike.

Kip took a long sip of her coffee and sighed contently. Turning some, she spotted Carter and lifted a hand in a wave. Giving a smile as well when his path brought him closer to where she stood. "Officer Carter, it is good to see you again! It is a pretty morning, no?"

Carter smiles when he sees the familiar face and makes his way over in her direction, slipping his hands into his pockets and coming to lean back against the railing. "Miss Kapitsa," he says with a dip of his head. "It is actually not too bad out. Some signs of spring creeping in after a long soggy winter." He smiles. "How are you doing?"

"I am looking forward to seeing how the springs and summers are here. Still do not miss the weather that is going on back home." Kip mused with a soft laugh. "I am doing well though. My good friend and co-worker surprised me the other day. So she is here now too. It is nice to have someone familiar around." She shifted to view him a bit better. "How about yourself?"

"Me too," Carter admits, since he hasn't been here long enough to have seen what a spring is like. "I need to work on the yard once it warms up a bit more. One of the detectives at the office was going to help out. I should hit him up." He grins a little bit and tips his head up to look at the sky for a moment or two, as though gauging whether the weather might hold out or not, before looking back over toward her. "Oh? That's great. It's nice to have someone else with you in a new city. Makes it a little more fun. I'm pretty glad to have Claire here with me. It'd be lonely, I think, in that house by myself."

"Oh yes! It has been a little weird living in this other ladies house and I still don't know her well. My friend is taking the other room. Perhaps some time soon we can move into one of the apartments here." Kip mused. "It was lonely sometimes yes. But! I'm glad for how things are turning out. "Hopefully you are able to get your yard fixed! Is this a regular place you work?" Gesturing as if indicating the Boardwalk.

"It sounds like things are looking up for you," Carter says with a smile as he looks out across the boardwalk, continuing the conversation but also keeping an eye on things, since that's what he's out there to do, after all. "No, this isn't my usual beat, but then, sometimes folks are out, or on leave, or get promoted, and then they change and we go where we need to go." He smiles over at her, "Usually I'm in the Downtown and Addington Park area."

"Hopefully." In regards to things looking up. Kip listened with interest as Carter explained his usual beat. "I will have to keep an eye out for you when I am in that area then!" Her head tilted, thinking a moment. "Do you plan to get promoted to a different section of policing? Or do you like what you do now?"

Carter smiles at the question. Apparently he gets asked that fairly often, because the answer comes easily. "I like being out on the beat, helping people, responding to the action when it's needed. I'm really not much of an investigator. At some point I'd like to go K-9, but I need more experience before I can begin that training. I'm happy with what I'm doing now. We'll see in another year or two if I still feel that way or if I'm ready to move on to something else."

"That makes sense." Kip agreed about waiting. "Working with a dog companion could be interesting too! I don't think I could even be a police so I admire you and others in the work." She took another sip of her coffee. "My friend and I might start a new website for the weird things after some more research. For now I am happy selling the movie tickets and doing my side investigating and consulting things."

"I think working with a dog would be rewarding. I used to volunteer at shelters and I've always been good with animals, but I've never had one of my own," Carter admits. "We'll see. For now, though, I like where I'm at. It has its own rewards." He smiles a little crookedly at that and says, "I'm not sure I'd make much of a paranormal investigator. So I guess we ended up in the right professions." He smiles and then asks, "Find anything interesting in Gray Harbor yet?"

Kip chuckled, "Seems like we did!" End up in the right professions. As for the weird, "Well...there are a lot of people who..." She eyes Carter closely briefly as if to confirm something or other and then breathed out in a chuckle. "...Who can do things that shouldn't be possible." She decided to go with since, even though it's not crowded or anything, there may still be people who could overhear. "And also I was in a dance battle with robots?...That was extremely weird."

Carter smiles a little bit as Kip studies him, and he regards her in return for a few moments before he nods and says, "That's something that we figured out when we fist moved here. Strange things were happening, and then we realized that it was we that were doing them." He smiles a little bit wryly at that. "You have it, too." He can see the Glimmer on her, as strong as his own. Maybe not as strong as some others he's encountered, but it's very much there. The mention of dancing with robots gets a raised brow, "Dancing with robots?"

"My first experience was shortly after I visited Pripyat." Kip nodded. "It was scary, a nervewracking....but that is why I stay here. It is very active. Therefore more to learn. " Kip nodded matter of factly. " It was all very strange." Of the dancing robots. " there were these delicious, bright shots. And then before I knew it...me and others were being challenged by strange dancing robots...we won though, ultimately. " thatbwas what mattered!

Carter chuckles a little bit at the mention of the bright shots prior to the robot dancing, "I've heard that can happen after some of the drinks at the Firefly Club. I guess the important part is that you won." He nods when she mentions Pripyat, and this place being active. "I never experienced anything like it before I came here, but once I was here.." He shakes his head just a little bit. "It was very disconcerting at first, until I realized that I could control it."

Kip laughed at that comment. "I would have thought it were just a weird drinking thing if not for the...same bright colors but with an oily consistency ruining my leggings." She mused. Relaxing against the railing, she gave a nod, "Control is important. That is another thing I want to do here. Learn to better control it. It is strange, isn't it? How people like us seem to be drawn here? Like moths to flame."

"I suppose. Our father was from here. We never knew him. We were put into the foster care system when we were very young, and it wasn't until after he'd died that they managed to find us to tell us that we'd inherited the house. If we hadn't, I don't know that we ever would have come up here at all," Carter says with a slight shake of his head. "But we needed a place to stay that was cheaper than where we were, and there were jobs available here. It just made sense. The strangeness, well, that was a surprise."

There's the creak of steps on the boardwalk. Joe's luxuriating in the relative warmth of the day, long face turned up towards the sunlight. He's only in t-shirt and jeans, for once, ink and scars on display, and holding a drink of his own. He looks sleepily contented, blinking like a cat. There are bruises on his throat, fading and new. The sound of Kip's voice has him raising his hand and waving at her, lazily.

Kip listened interestedly as Carter gave a bit more backstory on his childhood. "I wonder if he knew about the oddness and wanted to keep you away from it? Maybe...sorry. I try not to ask too many invasive questions." She laughed. "Hopefully, despite the strange goings on, things will be good here still for your both."

Catch the movement in her peripheral, Kip tilted her head and spotted Joe. Offering him a bright smile and a wave. "Dobroye utro, Joseph!" Recognizing him from the bookstore the other day. Primarily because of his Russian speaking.

"If he wanted to keep us away from it, it seems weird that he stipulated in the will that we only inherited so long as we inhabited the house for at least two years," Carter says with a shrug of his shoulders. "You'd think he'd have just told us to sell the house and stay away if he didn't want us here. Though, I couldn't tell you why he'd want us here after he was dead if he didn't while he was alive. One of life's mysteries." And to be fair, not one that he seems particularly concerned about solving. He follows Kip's look in Joe's direction and he gives the man a nod, recognizing him from seeing him around town before.

"Hey, officer," he says, affably, to Carter, and then to Kip, "Privyet," as he lifts his drink to them in lazy salute. "I'm sorry to say, I don't think I remember your name. Were we introduced?" HE was a little odd, a little out of it at the time. Now, however, he apparently intends to join the company.

"Oh. That is weird. If you ever discover the answer, let me know I would be curious to know his reasonings." Kip offered to Carter. "Until then, so long as the house doesn't try to hurt you, it is a more or less decent arrangment." Only half joking about the hurting house. She wouldn't be surprised if a house tried to eat someone here!

Her free hand was extended towards Joe. "Kapitsa." Flashing another smile. "Kip if you rather." There was a brief inspection of his scars the the russian worded tattoo. "I like your ink." Nodding towards it. Her hand would be back on her coffee with the other after their hands parted (or he left her hanging! Whichever!)

Carter studies Joseph as he approaches and his gaze can't help but move from the ink and the scars toward the bruises at the man's throat. He lifts a finger and gestures toward his own. "You alright there?" he asks. Though he doesn't ask until after the introductions should Kip answer his question. He leans comfortably back against the railing, hands in his pockets. Every so often he scans the boardwalk, letting his gaze drift up and down again, taking in the people, the storefronts, and then returning to the conversation. Then he chuckles at Kip and says, "I doubt I'll ever know his reasons unless they're buried somewhere in his things in the attic or the basement. But no, the house hasn't tried to do anything. It's just a house. Though the old box fan tried to eat Claire a number of times, or at least trip her, until we got it into the garage and out of the way."

"Joe Cavanaugh." He doesn't ask her patronymic - apparently she's used to dealing with Americans and their naming conventions now. "A pleasure," He takes her hand, shakes it firmly - his own is worn and callused from rope and wheel. A glance at the ink, and he grins, brightly. "I got it because I lost a bet," he confides. "I don't know why I ever thought I could drink a Russian under the table." The scars on his arms are old enough to have mostly faded into pale silvery white.

That question makes him favor Carter with a grin that's almost sly. "I'm all right, thanks," he says. Presumably those particular bruises were taken willingly, one way or another. Listening to the conversation about the house, bright-eyed, but not adding anything there.

Kip smirked towards Joe at that. "I don't know why you did either. But at least it looks good." The scars and bruises go unasked about because, frankly, it's none of her business. Plus, the officer in the group asks anyway. "It is good to see you again. I apologize for last time at the bookstore? If my talk shook you." About Pripyat and all that. "How is your friend doing? He had hurt his leg right?"

Kip looks to Carter with wide eyes. "...How does a box fan eat a person?" Not disbelieving, more just curious. "I am glad she did not get hurt or eaten. And that the fan is out of the way."

He can't help it. It's part of his job to observe things like unusual injuries. But when Joe gives him that almost sly smile, he nods his head once, apparently taking the man's answer at face value, and leaving it at that. "Carter Reid," he introduces himself, which lines up with the C. Reid on his uniform easily enough. He then laughs at Kip and says, "It doesn't. It was just big and broken and in the way and she kept tripping over it. The house was pretty full of stuff when we moved in, but not hoarder scary -- just old and filled with the stuff one collects over time, and some things that looked like they were on the verge of being thrown out and just never quite got there."

Joe bobs his head, amused. "One of my more foolish moments. In my defense, a lot of it was the booze I'd already had talking." He waves away the apology. "No. It...it's not you. I'm impressed, honestly. I can't imagine spending a night in that part of the world. And Itzhak - he's doing better. Went out of town for a bit, he's back today."

"Inherited?" he wonders of Carter, turning that bright gaze in the cop's direction.

"I am still sorry." Kip mused. "But, yes...it was...extremely unsettling. No sleep was actually had, but lots of data collected." There's a bit of a chuckle before she smiled again. "I am glad to hear he's doing better."

Then nodded towards Carter. "Oh, okay. Well good that it didn't actually try to eat her then!" Kip grinned. "Sounds like there might be some interesting things if it was full of old papers and such."

Carter nods his head to Kip and then says, "There are some but there hasn't been time to go through it all yet. Mostly we've just been moving into the space, doing some minor renovations, and making it ours. Time for shuffling through all the paperwork and things later now that we've actually got the walls painted." He smiles and then nods to Joseph, "Our dad's old place out on Spruce."

Joe's contemplating Kip thoughtfully. "I'd be interested in knowin'.....how'd you get permission to do that? Or did you? And what exactly line of work are you in?" And what he doesn't ask is what kind of insanity had her even wanting to do that.

"'d you grow up here?" he wonders of the cop, looking back to him. He's propped himself lazily against the boardwalk railing, glancing out to where his boat rocks gently at her moorings.

"I am a paranormal investigator." Kip offers up easily enough. "My team and I were consulting with another team that has a TV show. They were the ones that secured the permission." And presumably there was an episode of some ghost hunting TV show out there somewhere which had a Kip at least briefly shown on screen. "I have been to some other places too, not near as dangerous or haunting feeling at Pripya but still cause neck hairs to stand."

She nods in agreement with Carter. "Oh yes, getting settled first is definitely more important."

Carter shakes his head to Joseph and says, "No. I grew up in San Francisco. I'd never been here until we moved up." He smiles when Kip is asked about her trip and he glances over toward her, perhaps curious himself. He's heard a little about what she does, though, so he doesn't look surprised when she explains. "What about that place with all the dolls hanging in trees? Now that would freak me out." He gives a little shudder. Dolls. With their eyes.

Which admission has Joe's eyebrows raising. "What's the strangest thing you've ever seen?" he asks her, bluntly. "You gotta have some crazy stories. D'you write about it? Keep a blog, or somethin'? What's the name of the show?" All questions now....but then, what does he have to do to pass the time other than pester his fellow townsfolk?

Then he grins at Carter. "That's a neat city, though I imagine it's changed nearly all out of recognition over the past few decades."

"That island....isn't it near Japan?"

Kip is quiet for a moment at all the questions being tossed her way. Her English is good but, still rapid fire is a bit difficult. She proccesses and then nods to herself like Okay, I've got this. "There waa a youtube channel but...some things happened and I got pushed out. So I am going to be trying to start something new with my friend who has just come over." She also will rattle off a tv show name and what season and episode it was because really, who forgets that kinda stuff?"

"I have seen many strange things but...as I was telling Carter here, the strangest would be the break dancing robot things at Firefly Club the other night...in the more scary sense?" Kip rolls through her mental file. "It's really hard to pick just one honestly. There have been a few fairly scary moments over the years."

As for dolls, "Island of the Dolls? I haven't gotten to see it yet but it is just off the coast of Mexico. I have seen videos from others who have been there. It is very unsettling looking."

Carter nods to Joseph and says, "I think so? Somewhere in that general direction, maybe." He's really not sure. He just remembers seeing pictures of it and noping right on out of that. "Creepy," he grins. Then he nods and says, "San Francisco's a great place. It's just really expensive, and Claire and I really didn't have a lot of money. The cost of living and a place we could own wasn't an offer we could turn down." Though when Kip mentions that the dolls are off the coast of Mexico, he laughs a little bit. "Or not at all where I thought they were. Okay. Either way, I don't plan on going there anytime soon."

"This place is definitely the strangest I've ever been, and I've lived in some haunted cities," Joe says, after a sip of his drink. He sets it down on the railing to write down some of the info that she just mentioned.

Then he's glancing up again. "Huh. I musta sailed right past it," he muses. A wry curl of his lips at Carter's explanation. "I bet. West Coast housing...." He shakes his head. "Even here..."

Kip looks curious as Joe mentions sailing. "Oh? Where were you sailing from?" Is inevitably asked. A laugh at Carter's words. "It is on my list. But a ways off I think. " she mused. "Do either of you know much about the apartments? The broadleaf ones?"

Carter shakes his head when Kip asks about the apartments, "Other than that they opened up not too long ago and that there was something going on with the building beforehand, I don't really recall." There's such a high murder rate in this tiny town, trying to recall a place where people /haven't/ died is kind of difficult. Then he nods over toward Joe and says "Ain't that the truth?"

"I left Savannah, Georgia, about....twenty months ago?" he says, clearly having to pause to reckon the time. "Sailed down around Florida, 'round the curve of the Gulf, through the Canal, and up the west coast of Mexico and America to here." Then he's lifting a hand to point at a little sailboat, a single-hull white with blue trim. "That's her, the Surprise. Though there's a bigger catamaran over there with the same name." A sweep of his hand to indicate Isabella's home.

"Nah. I live in Bayside, when I'm on shore. I didn't look far, to be honest. I wanted that pool access, and it's the only one that's got it." A sympathetic nod for Carter.

"Very cool!" Kip looked interested in the traveling notion. "Once things are going again for me I would like to travel again. Maybe to mix some pleasure in with the working. Go to fun places too, not just haunted." She laughed, turning to look out at the ships he motioned to. Then back to the boys as she finished off her coffee.

"Hm, I will have to stop by and get a pamphlet or something...if it has a history, extra interesting on my list!" Of course it was. Kip flashed them smiles again. "I should get going though, but it was nice seeing you both! I am sure I will see you around."