O'Flaherty's Pub

[Burke 13]

Located in North Fort Shannon by the river, this small pub has a traditional Irish theme, live local music and is the home of the O'Flaherty Ale, the pubs signature brew.

[J. Noel]

*Sitting in the pub, I'm halfway into the first beer, half watching TV, and half chatting with the bartender. I check my phone and see it's been about 35 minutes since Hawke said she was coming. Wondering how much longer she'll be. It then dawns on me, we've worked together, but I have no real idea what she looks like out of uniform, and she doesn't really know me out of uniform either.*

'Hey, just at the bar now, I'm over by the TVs.'

*Vague enough that it isn't like I'm sending directions, while at the same time I'm not just relying on her picking me out from a distance.*

[E. Hawke]

*Roughly fifty minutes after leaving my house I arrive at the Pub.  As I enter the building I see that Noel sent me another text telling me she's near the TVs.  As I near that area I look around for anyone that looks like a female firefighter.  The butch one, that looks like her.  As I pass by the bartender on my way closer to Noel I turn to him to order myself a drink.*

'Corona please'

*Turning my attention back to Noel as I walk up even closer.*

'Jenn, right?'

[J. Noel]

*As a redhead, obviously Evelyn comes up and orders a beer, I turn my attention slightly to her.*

'Jenn, right?'

'No, I'm sorry. I think you've got the wrong person. Wait. Are you that cop that saved Shiloh? Like the medal of honor girl?' *As the bartender comes over with the beer, I reach into my pocket and pull out a $5 bill.* 'Hey, I'm buying for her, she's some kind of hero!'

*Obviously this makes her a little uncomfortable, and I can't tell if it's the bragging about her, or the fact that she thinks I'm not the right person.*

'Hey, hey, I'm just messing around with ya. Yeah, I'm Jenn. Hardly recognized you!'

[E. Hawke]

*Of course I'd get teased there.  Not entirely thrilled that she mentioned my Medal of Honor but that cat is out of the bag now.  Taking a seat next to her I get handed my Corona.*

'Messing around is one thing.  Bringing up the medal is another.  Came out to get out my house, not to get drunk.  Now every patriotic redneck in this bar is going to be buying me drinks.'

[J. Noel]

'Well, shit, if I knew it was that easy. Mind lending me the medal? I think people will be fine. Listen, half of them are deaf, and the other half will scurry the second they find out you're a cop.'

*Shit, that did not go as intended. I look around and see a total of zero people looking at us.*

[E. Hawke]

*Well since she letting those thing slip from her mouth.*

'Fraid your gonna have to earn one yourself.  Firefighter.'

*Taking a sip of my beer.*

'Well not that I would know how a firefighter earns such an honor.'

*As a bartender passes by I catch there attention.*

'Can you bring us a basket of wings.'

*Turning attention back to Jen.*

'So how would a firefighter earn themselves a Medal of Honer?'

[J. Noel]

'Probably involve working more than a couple hours a day, and I mean, you know us fire fighters, the thought of an 8 hour day is terrifying, let alone twelve. We'd miss our recliners too much.'

*I debated challenging her on it, but she doesn't seem the flirtatious play type, so I figure I'll back down. Kitty has shown her claws, and I'm not one to take it rough.*

[E. Hawke]

'Well that was a serious and honest question but ok.'

*Well calling her a firefighter three times was in fact a bit of retaliation for her mentioning the medal again.  As well as already bringing up that I'm a cop.  However I genuinely wanted to know what type of fire call a hose jockey would need to respond to in order to earn one.  As well as what actions they would have to make.  A basket of wings is placed before me.*

'Well that was quicker than expected.'

*Picking out a wing I take a bite.*

[J. Noel]

'I'm telling you, you really can't beat the service here. And the food isn't half bad either.'

*I let her take her first taste of the wing before I continue.*

'Honestly, the only way one of us would end up with a Medal of Honor like that, short of LODD, is probably some kind of crazy unsafe act, like pulling an entire preschool out by yourself when the building is collapsing or saving the chief or something like that. Never put much thought to it. To be honest, when I look around, the only firefighters I see with anything on their chest are usually purple hearts, or service bars, nothing else really.'

[E. Hawke]

'Well, I guess that's good.'

*Taking a sip of my beer.*

'Those hard earned medals maybe worth earning but they come with a lot of mind fucks caused from the actions taken to earn them.'

*Taking another bite of chicken.*

'Maybe they're not worth earning after all.'

[J. Noel]

'I get that. Never earned one in Chicago, but the PTSD that came with almost every medal I saw, it was real. It's tough, but it's important to have a way to cope, and some people to help you.'

*Shit, I was hoping to get a little friendly, instead, is this therapy? I take a sip of my drink just in case.*

[E. Hawke]

'True that and enough of this Dr. Phil talk.'

*Pounding down my beer I order another one and have another wing.*

'What brings you here from Chicago?'

[J. Noel]

'Honestly, Chicago has better food, but the people suck. And employment prospects weren't the greatest either. I was with the department for a few years floating as part time call in, and when I saw the full time job here, I signed it. The job was full time which was an improvement, but the people aren't too bad either.'

*I take one of Evelyn's wings, take a bite, contemplate the sauce for a second, and then make the decision that this is definitely not bad.*

'And, well the food, it's starting to grow on me.'

[E. Hawke]

'Hmmmmm'

*Listening to Jen's reply I munch on my wing until she's done talking.*

'Well, if you ask me, food and people are the same wherever you go.'

[J. Noel]

'You clearly haven't spent much time in Chicago. Different accents, less pizza, and most importantly less assholes. There's a lot of them there. Got an ex back there that's all kinds of psycho.'

*Well, if she didn't know I like girls, she's about to find out.*

[E. Hawke]

'Of course not, I'm just a simple gal from small town Maine.  What would I ever being doing in a big rough place like Chicago?'

*Taking a sip of my beer.*

'Regardless, people are assholes everywhere so you'll find them everywhere you go.  You'll also find good people mixed with in those assholes too.  You just gotta know where to look.  Likewise, with food, you just gotta know where to look to find the good stuff.'