[u]Henry Olin[/u]

Henry, as he predicted was stopped by Adam not long after he gave his speech. He was thankful for all the clapping, and for the words that resonated from the students in the crowd. He growled a little bit at Adam caught up to him, but otherwise remained composed. He listened intently to Adam's thoughts, ignoring that Adam addressing him as 'Mr.' instead of 'Dr.', even if it was somewhat disrespectful for what followed out of Adam's mouth. He couldn't help but laugh at Adam as he spoke. "Y-you? Know anything at all about loss?" He said, laughing a little bit. "Adam, I hate to be the one to tell you this but you haven't lost a single family member, and I doubt you've cared enough for any of the students that have died to be as affected by the loss as those who really knew them." Henry stated. "You've said yourself that great strength leads to arrogance, look at what it's made you into." He said, gesturing to Adam's whole body for a moment. He the leaned close to Adam's face, his his jaws mere inches from his nose. "You tell me you know what loss is when you loose your grandparents, and some of your best friends, or when you're dubbed as a monster right off the bat when you're first seen for something you cant change. You tell me what loss is when you find a friend of yours butchered and stuffed into the corner of a dark room with her calves cut off her legs, her neck nearly cut in half, and her jaw nearly disconnected from her face. Once your arrogance to claim you understand what I or any of us are going through fades and is replaced by real understanding..." He hissed, before he retracted his body. "Then we'll talk about loss."

"I know full well what I said. And I knew full well you'd disagree with how I said it." He said, crossing his huge arms across his barrel chest. "But look at it this way," he stated. "Headmaster Dellamorte fucked it up." He said simply. "The students wouldn't be satisfied with that. Friends of Vera would lead their own investigations, other would join them." He said. "They don't trust the Headmaster. Frankly, I don't trust him not to sweep this under the rug myself." he said. "We [i]both[/i] know the students would be doing it anyway, regardless of what either of us said." Henry stated. "I can smell remnants of rusted metal and the sea on a few of the students, who I think are involved with the collapse of the ship that occurred on Tuesday." Henry said. "The only difference is that now they have a member to back them up if something goes wrong. They can feel safe in asking someone for help." He said. "It's not the best choice of action, but the best choice of action is unrealistic because doing nothing at all isn't how most of the student body operates." He said letting his arms fall to his sides. "It's the lesser of two evils. And the one that will keep more lives safe. You've seen that I will happily throw myself in harms way for the students. I did it in the ship wreck, I did it on Tuesday with the Valos child, and I'll do it again." Henry said, his yellow eyes scanning over Adam. His tail swished back and forth in an almost agitated manor. "Mr. Blackmore, you've taught me for over a decade. You have seen me grow into what I am today and you've shaped me as a father figure and as a person. I have the utmost respect for you because of it." Henry said. "So I'm going to ask you to help me in doing this. If you truly care about the students, then be someone they can come to if they need help. Neither of us can control all of them, all we can do is help them do what they're going to do anyways, and make sure they do it as safely as possible."

---

[u]Ben and Claire Voss[/u]

They were unimpressed.

Claire was fairly certain at least one bone in her hand was broken by now. The whole time, since Ben had put his book down and paid attention to the Headmaster, he had been squeezing her hand. It was constant, and it was painful, and damnit all if she was in his position she would probably be doing the same thing. She was seething at the Headmaster. Why had they come here? If they were hurt or worse, killed, would they be so thoughtlessly removed and forgotten? When the speech ended, and the Headmaster left, she was about to storm out and demand to speak to the headmaster. However, she was stopped when Ben grabbed her arm again.

She looked onto the stage, the reptilian man from that dreadful Tuesday night was on stage, and he was speaking. There was passion behind his words. There was love, and thought and emotion in his speech. He defined Vera as a hero who had saved lives. He said that the academy would never be the same without her. Claire remained standing throughout the speech, her eyes trained on Henry as the reptilian man showed he was just as human as any of them were. When he told them that he would be heading his own investigation. That was ballsy. Claire and Ben respected that. When Dr. Olin finished his speech, they both stood up and clapped, along with many of the other student's. Henry left the room soon afterward, Mr. Blackmore following not long after him, like the teacher had predicted. Things died down after that, and Ben told her that he wanted to speak with Deborah. She probably had a plan cooked up for getting to the bottom of this, especially now that she had a teacher's support. They walked at a brisk pace over to where Deborah and Shannon sat, just as she invited Nicholas along with them, wherever they were going. "I hope you dont mind us tagging along too!" Claire said for Ben and herself. Despite the brashness Dr. Olin had displayed when they first met, his speech had shown them his other side. They wanted to help with whatever Henry, or Deborah were doing. Ben, in the mean time, was offering some cotton to Shannon, like he always did when they met. "Ben says it was the seeing off that any person deserves." Claire said, trying to answer Deborah's question for him. "Lead the way, oh captain my captain."