2021-04-13 - Pausing A Run

In running shoes and a light jacket Isi makes her way across the park at a steady jog until she gets to the carousel. There she slows to a walk with here eyes taking in the whole thing. Aloud, and mostly to herself but clearly audible, "It seems like everything in this town is just a little weird."

While you were running, you may have observed Devlin going through some sort of Martial Art forms, both empty hand and with weapons near the carousel area. As you approach, he is putting away practice weapons in a large, well worn gym bag with the logo of Red Caped Devil with blue wings in front of a parachute that has a gold banner saying Airborne above it and a gold shield in front of the Devil that has 504 Devils. As he pulls out a couple of water bottles, he offers you one, "Yeah, I keep expecting to see Rod Serling stepping out from behind a bush at any minute here. Thirsty after your run?"

"Gods I can only hope he doesn't." Isi responds easily enough, reaching up to sweep back her hair and examine the man before her. There's also an examination of the bottles and as long as the seal isn't broken she'll take it with a brief thanks. At the logo she'll ask, "Air force?"

Seal still in tact on the bottle. "Army, Airborne. As in jumping out of perfectly good aircraft while in flight. I'm a medic," is Devlin's reply, and then he adds, "One of the first responders here in town. Day off for me." He chuckles a bit, "Me, I'd ask for his autograph then worry about why he showed." His grin is a bit shameless with that last line.

There's a POINTED SILENCE before Isi asks, "Is there that much of a call for people to jmp out of planes to rescue others in this town?" Because that ain't normal bro. She's got a half-smile to soften the words though. "Isi," giving her name, "Work in city hall."

After taking a pull from his water bottle, Devlin answers. "Not here. Granted there is a smoke jumper crew leader that comes sniffing around to buy me a few drinks here and there. I left active duty a few years back. Currently working as a paramedic in the area. I still keep a toe in, I serve in the Guard with a Med Evac unit out of Tacoma." He offers a hand, "I'm Devlin." He then half smiles back, "I sure hope if someone at City Hall is calling me there, it's to ream me out on the carpet and not because my skills are needed."

"With some of the other weird shiz people have tried to show me, I find that reassuring to an extreme that you aren't called on to jump out of plains on the regular." Isi finally does drink from her water bottle and leans against the railing of the carousel. The hand gets taken and shaken before she relaxes, letting her gaze move out over the park. "I'll fall in line with that - I hope to never see you in an official capacity. Just make sure you do your paperwork and you won't have to see me in mine." No one ever WANTS to get audited, do they?

That gets a laugh from Devlin, "If you ever want to see a CPA cry... just hang out with my Uncle during Tax season." He nods, "Hey, with the drugs that I have to carry and use on the job, kind of surprised we don't get audited more often. I'm one of the few that can administer the controlled substances with doctor's instruction over the radio." He takes another pull from his bottle, "Me, I hate paperwork.. but I get it done right the first time." He shrugs, "At least it seems I do. No one has run a scope up my fourth point of contact yet over my paperwork.. yet." The hesitation there perhaps admitting the paperwork is complex.

"Oh, I have seen quite a few cry in my few years. Usually followed by people trying to feed me a line so so I try not to catch their errors." Which Isi is going to try to do anyway. "Honestly, it's more of a passin thing for me. I'd rather be out running or something." A hand to generally gesture about the park and her activity before pausing. His bags get nodded at, "You teach?"

Devlin says, "Kung Fu and Tai Chi, no. My Sifu has not certified me to teach and I only get to see him may be eight to eleven times a year for a long weekend. I do teach a few of the Red Cross classes to city employees. And teach combat lifesaver skills to soldiers."

The wrinkle in the middle of Isi's forehead is a pretty clear sign that she doesn't understand completely all the words he's using. "So a yes, but a no? What are you doing now with all that?"

"I practice a lot, go to workshops in the region." Devlin replies. "Been a few times that I have had to use my training more than a few times to protect myself or others."

"Going to hope most of those times where in your service years and not as you pick the pieces of people up off the ground to take them to a hospital." It's said mostly in jest. "I got to ask, why in the park here? Not in a different place?"

Devlin says, "Because the real world is not a nice wooden floor or padded. I do have a studio area I set up in my apartment that I use during what I think of as rough weather." He smiles a bit, "Actually there was this one time when I was in the SWAT Medic training program down in LA that I had to use my training. My patient had made some enemies. One of them showed up and put a gun to my head." He takes another pull of water, "He really should of stood back and no one harms my patients if I have a say in the matter. I took the gun away and tied the uninvited spectator up. The PD was rather amused." He sighs, "And of course, I got lectured about taking unwarranted risks." He shrugs, "My partner wasn't about to leave the rig till the cops showed up. Patient was bleeding out. So I did.""

"Gods!" Isi blinks in shock at the story told. "You've led an adventuresome life." She shakes herself out of the imagining of the story he lays back. "Any other stories?"

Devlin says, "Just two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Plenty of war stories, some not very suitable for the average audience. Nice thing about Gray Harbor, not so adventuresome as LA. Gangs in LA are quite aggressive. Gray Harbor is reasonably quite place. Nice people and they appreciate that I don't scare easy."

"I met this guy named Ravn, and.... ah man," Isi digs for the name of the woman but doesn't quite manage to dig up the name. "a woman, at that new community center place, and he showed me some weird... stuff. So if that's at all normal for this place then I can see your stories fitting right in." She's got the voice of the ultimate skeptic.

"Ravn is something else but a good guy. As to weird.. " Devlin half-smiles, "it's a matter of perceptive. Remember for me at one point in my life, I was jumping out of perfectly good aircraft in the dead of night with nearly eighty pounds of gear and weapons with the intent to treat wounded soldiers in a combat situation. So," he smiles, "my normal may be a couple of steps from your weird." A bit of a chuckle there, "So, what did Ravn show you?"

"Point to you," Isi replies with a laugh about what he considers as sthe standard for weird. "He made this lighter thing like, float? But I couldn't figure out how he did it. Then he and... FERN," that name is said a little bit too loudly as she recalls the name, "seemed to say that this town was full of that kind of thing and I should be wary."

Devlin nods, "There are strange things in this town, yes. Sometimes you turn a corner and find yourself.. in a strange place." His tone is sincere, "You may not believe me now.. but later, you might. Just keep a clear head and don't panic. Odds are someone else will be there too. Follow their lead, that is what I do mostly. If my greatgrandmother was here.. she'd call this a place of spirits and spirit happenings." He then rubs his chin, "May be I should see if there is a reservation near by.. may be some legends one should listen too as I think about it."

"Spirits and spirit revelations." Isi says that with a small shake of her head. "Sounds like my parents. As for a reservation - I don't think there are any in town limits. At least not by federal declaration."

Devlin says, "Army brat.. so first thing that came to mind. Sadly, I had some Ancestors that were involved in those wars.." He takes a breath, "Different times. One of the best grunts I worked with was Big Kay.. Cheyenne,.. never mind, I digress. Just thinking with the odd happenings around here, have to be some local old legends within the local tribes about the strangeness. Never thought about that angle before. As my Black Hat and Sifu both love to say, never stop learning.. go learn things."

"Man, I came to get away from the reservation. Getting sucked back in?" Isi shakes her head slowly and straightens up. Another long pull gets taken on the waterbottle and she holds it up slightly. "Thanks for the water."

Devlin nods, "I get it, same with Big Kay. And your welcome. Never hurts to visit. Mom and Dad took us kids back to see Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.. places our ancestors came from. Just saying." He half smiles again. "If you want to see the paperwork in action at the station house, just come by. I'll show you want we go through to keep the DEA and a few other agencies to include the city-county happy."

"Now THAT is a way to ask a girl on a date." Isi says, her tone teasing before stepping away. "You might work on that pick-up line, more like, "Hey, let's get a drink" or "Let me show you this place." She winks, then tacks on, "I'm just teasing. Maybe I'll drop by somet ime."

Devlin chuckles, "I walked right into that one." He smiles warmly, "Looking forward to the visit. And feel free to show up to one Red Cross classes when I am teaching."

"I'll do that." Isi looks for a bit before dumping the water bottle into a bin. Then she starts picking up and slowly only for a moment to wave back at him before picking up her jog and getting back up to a reasonable heart rate.