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Alexander had dealt with many types of people while running his business. Some of them nice, some of them he'd rather have nothing to do with. It was one of the things he'd just picked up. Too bad running a better business wasn't one of the many skills he'd learned.

He smiled as he walked back across the room, to get his coat, "I used to go fishing on occasion. Living in Long Beach meant you got to do a lot of ocean-side stuff. It was always a nice way to relax. There used to be this nice island not too far from Manila I'd fly out too. I'd drop anchor, grab my gear, and sit out on the wing of the plane. It was a welcome break from work when the bills would start showing up and the cargo wasn't running..."

He sighed a bit, as he pulled out the glasses, to slide them back on, holding the door open for Alys so they could go see about fishing. "And... as for the fishing gear... I think I'd rather risk looking for it myself, than to deal with the lab techs or the doctor for now."

The pilot watched Alys a bit as she walked out the door, wondering why anyone would feel it necessary to turn someone into an octopus or something, but that question probably wasn't one that would be easily answered, so he just pushed the thought aside as he walked out after her, closing the door to the entertainment center. He looked up at the sky some, the clouds, then back to Alys.

"Thats probably true, but still, I've probably pestered them more than enough the last few days. I think I went over their motorpool for twice, just to give me something to do the last week." He didn't like to admit he didn't have anything to do. He'd been working so much and now, now he didn't really have to do anything. Maybe he was just trying to find some way to feel useful. Or maybe he just wanted to be distracted from stuff.

He shook his head a bit and then looked over from behind his mirrored shades, towards Alys. "So, do I want to know if growing those were painful?", he asked, not sure he'd like the answer he'd get. It wasn't like he was walking anywhere in particular. If anything, it was a good excuse to walk around the village, and maybe see some of the local sights, get familiar with the terrain so to speak.

"Alex is fine. I just use Alexander when dealing with business anyways. It sounded more formal on the business cards." He chuckled softly as he looked around at some of the scenery, then back. "As for the mountains and caves, I guess I never thought of taking a look at them. Might be fun to climb up partway on that mountain at some point, to get a real good aerial view of the place. Probably the closest I'd get to seeing the island from the air, since I got dropped off by the copter."

He smiled some as he walked, listening to Alys. "Uh, yeah, I guess that makes sense though", he said softly, commenting on her changes. Walking down the path towards the lake seemed to be the logical choice for now, even if they hadn't found any fishing rods so far. There was always another day, plus, he had company to converse with, so maybe just walking down to the lake wasn't a bad idea. It was further than any other area he'd be to on the island, to date.

He just walked along quietly, as he pondered what to say next. This had probably been the most conversation he'd had in the last week or so that wasn't related to him pulling apart a piece of a jeep to replace it, or to ask for tools to do the work he'd done earlier at the motorpool.

Maybe I should just see what she'd like to talk about instead, since it seems like I've been doing most of the rambling, he thought to himself. He nodded a bit to himself, deciding that maybe he had been rambling.

Staring over the lake was pretty calming for him. It reminded him of sitting off the beach of many an island in the Phillipines, to fish at, the water ripping slightly from the movement of wind across the surface. He took a long slow breath, enjoying the moment. His glasses flickering with some of the reflected glare of the water, making it easier to his eyes, before he looked back over to Alys.

"Fishing isn't boring. Its more of a waiting game. You sit back, and wait for the fish to come to you. Its not like you can hurry them to your line, because if you do, you'll just scare them away." The pilot dropped his coat onto the dry white sand before he hopped out into the water onto a large rounded rock peaking out from the top of the water's surface, using it to keep himself from getting more than his shoes a bit damp. He squatted down to look down in the water, running his fingers through the liquid, "The water, the waves, the sun, the tranquility... its relaxing. And then you get the occasional spike of excitement as you try to reel in the big fish..."

He watched Alys from the rock he was perched on, smiling, "Well it is true. I know some octopus hide in the sand and wait for fish to swim by, so maybe at some point, you won't need a fishing pole." It took him a second that telling someone that they were becoming a fish that could catch its own food might not be comforting to ponder.

He ran his fingers through the water, feeling the soft resistance against his skin, then back up as Alys started to swim around. He smiled a bit. He really didn't want to say anything, since she did seem to be enjoying swimming around, and the last thing he wanted to do was say something that would make her feel worst. Plus, the lake was pretty calm, serene in its own way.

Alex actually hadn't known about the fact that there was an octopus that could eat sharks, although he did know about stories of squid that attacked whales. "Uh, a bit perhaps, although I don't think the book took into fact that there might be large 'people sized' ones out there that might be able to do the same." He figured he might as well comment about it, since she seemed fine with what she was becoming. He knew if it had been him, he'd probably be a mess.

The question about his family though was a bit of a suprise. Maybe he just didn't expect anyone to ask him what his folks were like back home. "Oh, well, lets see. My mom and dad are still in Long Beach the last I heard. I went and visited them last Christmas, or a week afterwards anyways. Cargo runs usually kept me busy up until the holidays, then it usually slacked off some."

He thought some more, even as he stayed on the rock, rubbing his fingers through his hair as he thought some more. "My little brother, he should be out of college by now. I think he said he wanted to be a marine biologist, or maybe it was chemist. Oh I don't remember really." It was sort of sad that he and his brother had such divergent interests. He loved planes, his brother loved learning. He sighed a bit as he thought a bit more.

"Never got married though. After my classes at the aviation mechanic school, I started up my own business. Never really had time I guess. I had other things to take care of, like my PBY Catalina." He sighed softly at the memory of his plane. To him, it was probably the closest thing to family he'd ever had in Manila. He'd worked on fixing the plane so much, repaired the engines when they broke down, spent plenty of good times flying around in it. And now it was gone.

"I think I have some photos of it in my wallet. Let me go get my coat." He stood up on the rock and started to move to hop back to short, only to have a small wave slick the surface of the rock. "Uh?", was about the only word that he could utter as his shoe slipped up off the rock, causing him to tilt back to what will probably be a good dunking in the lake.

*KER-SPLASH!*

It was a few short seconds later, that the pilot's head peaked back up over the surface of the water. At least he had some assistance getting righted from the fall by with the help of the tentacle aon his arm. He hadn't lost his glasses in the fall but they were at an interesting angle on his face. He coughed a bit and spit out some lake water, "Yeah. I'm fine..." He stood up and slowly made his way out of the water.

Well, his hair lay matte against his head, and he was pretty much soaked from head to toe. Even so, he couldn't help but chuckle as he moved to sit down on a dry rock, and take off his wet shoes, pouring water out of them almost comedically. "That could have gone better. And I'll be ok. Its not the first time I've done that. These shoes just are losing their tread. I was going to get some new ones but then I got this 'job' and ended up here."

He reached up, to try and push his wet hair back up, into something of how it looked before his spill, still laughing some. "Let me get dried off here first and then I'll get those photos." You know, it might not have been a great place to wind up, but at least he could enjoy the humor of what had happened.

He continued with draining his shoes of their lake water cargo, and then shook his head at the comment. "I'm sure the Ukrainian judge thinks I did ok though." He smirked and then started to peel his wet shirt off his back, ringing it out.

He looked back out towards her as she swam towards the center of the lake, and then back some. "You know, you're taking to that lake like a fish to water", he said teasingly. Hey, it was only fair to make the joke after that nine-point-five joke.

It was her comment about being adopted that caught his attention though. "You were adopted?", he asked, although once he thought about it, usually stuff like that isn't something one would usually bring up in casual conversation.