2022-01-20 - Who eats fish and chips with a knife and fork?

Afternoon's edging on to evening, and -- as it's wont to do in the pacific northwest -- it's raining. The boardwalk's all but abandoned this time of year, save for the outdoor seating at the fried fish shack, which boasts heat lamps and the company of the bravest of seagulls. Currently clustered around the chair of a lone patron: a bulky, dark-haired man in a battered leather jacket, jeans and scuffed work boots, distractedly munching on his dinner while he scrolls through his social media feed with his one clean hand.

Parvati Deloria is new in town- very new. So new, in fact, that she hadn't before left the motel room that is her temporary lodging while she finds a more permanent arrangement.

The first thing many notice about her is just how tall she is- an inch over six feet. Her willowy form graceful as she walks slowly down the boardwalk, umbrella in hand. The umbrella is an impossible to miss pink, the handle bejeweled with colored glass in a spiral pattern. She's wearing a dress that is, perhaps, a touch more elegant than one might expect for a walk in the rain- a red cheongsam in silk, with elements that might remind one of a sari- a flowing, diaphanous shawl of light blue linen that contrasts sharply with the silk she wears. Across both a unifying stitching of goldenrod yellows in floral patterns.

Parvati pauses quietly, head turning towards the fried fish shack. She turns, heels clipping the wet ground as she enters the heated area to find a seat. She closes her umbrella and hangs the hooked end over her chair, as she pulls a clutch style handbag out from under an arm to place on the table.

If the pink umbrella didn't catch his attention, then surely the dress did. Who wears clothes like that, in a town like this?

The cop pauses, mid-bite, dark eyes scrawled down and then back up the unfamiliar woman's form slowly. And up, and up; she's a tall one, after all. Then he finishes sinking his teeth in, and chews and swallows. A paper napkin, slightly waterlogged with rain, is used to swipe at his beard, and a couple of gulls shriek and scatter as Parvati sets up camp nearby.

Parvati basks in the heat for a long moment before someone comes to take her order- "The house special, please." she offers in the accented, clipped tones of a native Hindi speaker's English. A drop of rain comes through the coverings above, Parvati looking up after a moment. She shifts her chair, and then sits in to get comfortable. No phone is out, at least for the moment- rather, she's taking in the sights of the rainy shoreline.

Honey-brown eyes slide towards the cop and she offers a quiet smile and nod of her head as she sits with near perfect posture- shoulders back, head held high. It's almost as if a string were holding her perfectly straight from the top of her head.

"Hello, officer." Parvati offers simply, "Lovely weather, isn't it?"

His eyes slide back toward her at the greeting, though there's no smile in sight. His expression's hard to discern; he might be irritated by the rain, by the unexpected company, or by something on his social media feed. Or maybe that's just his face.

"Not an officer," he returns in a low voice. Some sort of accent of his own muddled in there. Some kind of Hispanic, probably, given the looks of him. His attention promptly returns to his phone, and he tosses a soggy fry to a seagull who gets aggressive about hopping up onto his table. "Don't think I've seen you around before."

"My mistake." Parvati replies, "I'm new in town. Mrs. Parvati Deloria." she offers by way of introduction. "It's an oddly charming town." she continues as fried fish and chips are brought before long. "Oh, lovely- could I have some malt vinegar, please?" she asks politely of the server who returns with the condiment in short order.

"Lovely." Parvati says, taking a moment to look at her food. "Such fantastic color." she remarks, before taking fork and knife and beginning to dexterously cut up both fish and french fry, a dash of vinegar and then slowly eat and enjoy her food. "I will be opening a clothing store." she states, after swallowing.

"De nada," replies the older man with a noise that could be a chuckle. The next soggy fry is bitten into, and he watches for a moment as she eats her food with a knife and fork. And prudently does not comment on it. "Javier de la Vega," he returns after a moment. No mention of rank, and there's certainly nothing about his person that announces it. "Clothing store, huh? What makes you want to do that, in a shithole town like this?"

"I find it oddly charming. I can't exactly say why." Parvati replies, before again cutting more of the fish up, adding vinegar, and taking some fries on the fork after. "I've been a great many places- but none had this.." There is a pause, a moment as she considers her word. "I can't exactly say in English what I want to say." she says with an apologetic smile.

There's another slight pause, a bit more to be eaten. "There is a something at the very edge of my senses. Something I can't put into words. A taste, almost, in the air. So.. I will stay here for some time, and see where this feeling takes me."

"Anyways, everyone needs fine clothing." Parvati states firmly, her tone one borne of a certain conviction."

Javier continues to watch the cutting up of fish and fries with a sort of morbid curiosity, duly distracted from his own food in the process. A gull swoops in like the opportunist it is, and is swatted away with a growl of irritated Spanish.

"Yeah. Well." He eases back in his chair, and glances toward the rainswept pier. "Don't take this the wrong way, but that's what everyone says. And then they wind up wondering where the fucking time went, a couple of years down the road." He rubs a couple of heavily-inked knuckles against the bridge of his nose. "You, uh. You seem like a nice person. For a place like this. You should leave."

Parvati sits a long moment, considering Javier's words as she continues to eat- still very much using fork and knife in her prim and proper manner. "I don't see a problem in that. It be a wonderful thing to set down roots." she states, "To have a place to call my own. I've traveled all my life- Asia, Europe, and now the United States. If this doesn't work out, South America is perhaps the best, next choice." she says with a quiet shrug, "Location isn't particularly important for my core business anyways. I already have clients who order, and I provide." she says with a simple smile.

"It's an interesting thing to hear, though. That I should leave, I mean- why do you say this?" Parvati wonders, once again continuing her motions of cutting and eating with fork and knife- her well manicured nails so obvious, looking every bit a woman of 'high culture'.

It takes him some time to reply. Possibly because he's so absorbed in watching her, or in watching the way she eats her food. Clearly someone very particular in her habits. Eventually, he huffs a breath out his nose and snags another french fry, dousing it in the dwindling supply of malt vinegar he's got in front of him before devouring it. "Because this place will ruin you," he murmurs. Softer still, his voice gone rough and uneven, "Tomará todo lo que tienes y lo quemará."

Parvati has very little to say regarding Ruiz's statement, content it seems to cut her fish and chips and eat them slowly, at her leisure. "I don't speak.. is it Spanish?" she wonders next, "Portuguese?" clearly, she's not as familiar with the language as someone native to the US would be- she grew up with an entirely different set of languages in her zeitgeist.

"How, exactly, would it ruin me?" Parvati wonders of Ruiz, head cocked slightly to the side as she pats at her lips with a napkin to clean them. Her honey-brown eyes focused on the Chief- he has her full attention.

"Spanish," confirms the cop, with a little flash of his teeth that could be a smile, but isn't; there's no mirth in it. The Portuguese suggestion gets an actual chuckle out of him, though. But no comment whatsoever. Maybe he's insulted.

As to her question, "I think if you wind up staying, Ms. Deloria, you'll find out soon enough." He holds her gaze steadily, for several seconds longer than is strictly polite. It could be seen as flirtatious, but.. there's something else entirely in his regard. "You shine," he concludes quietly, looking away eventually, and going to crumple up the brown paper that held his food.

Parvati nods slowly, eyebrows rising as she looks down at herself. "Shine?" she asks, "I'm not wearing anything gloss today." she replies with a touch of confusion. "I am unsure what you mean."

Parvati finishes her meal- all neatly done, she's left as impeccable as when he first saw her. "Lovely fish to be had here, at least." she offers, watching the man closely now. Curiously.

Javier finishes collecting his garbage, and chucks it at the nearby trashcan. And makes it by a hair. "Not talking about your clothes," he observes, digging out a pack of cloves and tapping one out. "Shine is.." He makes a bit of a face, scrunching up his nose as he looks off toward the water a moment. The pack's shoved into his jeans pocket, and his lighter comes out. "What we call it when someone's touched by the, uh." He waves his cigarette around, then lights it. "By the Veil, I guess. Fuck, I'm not the person to explain this to you. Don't fucking look at me like that."

Parvati just continues to look at the gentleman with that same look- the 'Do you have brain damage' look. "I have no idea what you're talking about." she states simply, as she places some cash on the table. This conversation took a turn for the weird.

"I think, perhaps, it is time for me to continue my walk. Thank you for your time." she begins, "I still have to find a proper location to set up shop. I do not believe the boardwalk to be appropriate." Parvati stands, taking her umbrella from the edge of her chair- that pink thing soon opened again to sit on her shoulder and protect her from the rain.

No complaints from the Chief, apparently. He settles in with his clove, and a sour look on his face. Though manages to muster up a, "Ten cuidado," for Parvati as she prepares to head off.

Parvati nods again towards the Chief, before she heads back into the rain. "A pleasure, sir." she says simply before she's off- heels clicking on the wet boardwalk as she moves onward to continue walking in the rain.