[hr][center][h1][b]Henry Olin[/b] & [color=blue]Cora Dubois[/color][/h1][/center][hr]

Henry raised an eye ridge at her body language. Her animalistic urges were seemingly stronger than hers. She made mention that she had only moved after her mom and dad had [i]finished[/i], whatever the hell that meant. But it didn't seem like something that she would be willing to talk about. Or appropriate to discuss in this setting. But he'd find that out later. Maybe work up a file for her name. Case studies were something he'd always enjoyed. Something about the subject's unawareness always got his blood rushing.

Huh. Maybe they had something in common, instinct wise. Although, she still seemed to have some issues when it came to suppression. He understood that. He understood that probably too well.

"I'm... well.. I'm definitely not in the modeling occupation." Henry replied, giving a shit eating grin. "But thank you," He said, trying his best not to make it anymore awkward than she probably felt. He coughed. "It's not often I get complimented on my features. Often for... other qualities."

Cora raised her glass to take a sip and saw the faint scratches her nails had made. She looked at Henry and noticed the raised ridge. She blushed, something she rarely did, and quickly put her glass down before she could damage it further. Dammit why couldn't she get a handle on herself, it wasn't like she hadn't had plenty of practice. 

Stuck in her parents lab for days on end , with nothing to do, had at least seen to that. Hours spent practicing and she still screwed up when it mattered most. [i]God, he must think I'm an idiot.[/i] Cora thought in frustration. The first possible metahuman person she meets who could be a friend and she was making a fool of herself. Since he had already noticed her slip she decided humour was her best response. 

"So yeah, back to breaking things." She said pointing to the glass. "Do ya think they'll notice?"

She realised he had been talking and quickly thought back to what he had said. At least her short term memory could be relied upon if nothing else. 

"I don't photograph professional models. I used to do mainly natural art, animals in their own environment, that sorta thing." Talking about her work always made Cora feel more in control and she could feel herself relaxing. "But more recently I've been doing a project on the more...unusual Metahumans like me. I thought it would help humans see us as... more acceptable maybe. You probably think it's silly but it's my way of helping us out." 

"It's different. I'll give it that," Henry commented, tilting his head momentarily and then moving it back to it's original spot. His eyes scanned her over again. She'd probably notice it. He know he does all the time. It's usually very subtle and hard to see- but people like them? Well, he at least, was very good at it.

He flicked his tongue.

"Although I wouldn't say it's a bad different." He briefly wondered who or what was funding her, or causing her to take these photos. Was he the first person she was approaching on this? He knew most of the animal meta humans in Verthaven- and unless this woman lived in a very bad part of town or near the edge of the city he doubted she would've met them all.

Sonya would be giving him so much shit if she could read minds right now. He probably sounded extactly the opposite of what he should sound like- thought wise. This was the bad part about being all work and no play. [i]Everything[/i] became work.

"And what would you have me do, Cora?" He questioned, her name bouncing around in his mouth for a minute before rolling off his tongue as all unfamiliar words tended to do. His jaw structure made new words hard sometimes. Cora was no exception. It probably sounded like he said 'Coral'.No,

"Would you have me pose as a saltwater crocodile at the beach? Put someone's head in my jaws? Place me at a viewing perch in a zoo for irony's sake?" He questioned, wiggling his eyes ridges. "You had my attention. Now you have my curiousity."

Cora tensed as she noticed his eyes scanning her over again, having little experience with other animal meta humans outside of her work environment, she was unsure how to respond. Was he checking to see if she was a threat? Or because he liked what he saw? Or was that just what he did? She wished she had a better understanding of social interactions, at least those outside that of the various Feline species, those she understood all too well. Though she didn't think he would appreciate a typical feline response to this situation. 

Instead she looked him over in return, making it obvious she had noticed. She smiled slightly hoping to convey her sense of humour and indicate that she was not offended. 

"In the previous shots I have done, I have found it best to go with what works for them. A canine meta human I worked with wanted to be photographed in an open field, whereas another feline meta human wanted to take a more ironic approach. She had hers taken with a ball of wool." She grinned at the memory. 

"I wasn't sure about that one at first as I didn't want her to be mocked but she insisted and people seemed to take it in good humour."

She cocked her head staring at him her mind running through different possibilities. He was naturally quite menacing and intimidating and she didn't want to lose that. 

"You don't strike me as the calm beach or peaceful meadow kind of guy." She said slowly. "And I certainly wouldn't want someone's head in those jaws, no way I could get insurance for that! Honestly, I'm not really sure. But inspiration would hit me eventually."

"I would never put you in a zoo." Her eyes darkened again in memory. "No one should be caged like that." 

Well, she was right on the whole 'not the calm beach or peaceful meadow' type. He was a soldier and a person who literally had a license to kill of need be. Peace was something he wasn't as well acquainted with as most people. Or maybe he was better acquainted with it due to knowing just what it's like to not have it. He didn't know. Or care much.

"No, I think you misinterpreted what I meant-" Henry said. He alig his tumbs and index fingers together and closed one eye, and put his huge arms out, looking through the small box he made with his fingers. "Me, dressed up like a tourist, leaning against the guardrail feeding peanuts to the elephants or something." He explained.

Henry was kinda glad that she hadn't pressed for his occupation yet.

"Oh." She grinned. "I like that. Though I'm not sure what the Elephants would think! Seriously though, sometimes I do them where people work. You know, to show us in a 'normal' environment so to speak. Maybe I could do that, though I guess it depends on what you do?"

"I'm sure they'd just be happy to ge free food. It's the zoo keepers you have to worry about."

Henry took a drink of his wine, drinking his fourth (Or fifth?) glass in one go. Then he just about choked as soon as she asked about doing it where he worked. This was going so well too.

"Uh, well, you see..."

Shit.

"Uh, you probably wouldn't want to do that."

Seeing him suddenly hesitate piqued her curiosity, and if there was one thing Cora was, it was curious. Too curious for her own good. Now she just had to know.

"Why not? Do you work in Morgue or something? Because I guess that wouldn't be so good. Though we'd get points for horror value."

"Uh," Henry said, his eyes shifting to Lihua. He'd get shit for this later. He knew it.

"I'm Special Agent Olin." Henry finally said. "Of NEST. I'm here to make sure nothing goes down that shouldn't go down."

He wouldn't tell her about the sniper on the ceiling. That wouldn't go down well. It really wouldn't go down well that he was working directly with that sniper on a daily basis.

Cora frowned, looking at him it was obvious he was built for combat and she was irritated that she hadn't figured it out before now. She wondered if he was one of the good guys, or one of the not so good guys, she hoped he was the former. She liked him and wanted to trust him but she had been burned before and knew it was always best to err on the side of caution. 

But he had told her when she had asked and so far, other than his size, he hadn't done anything but talk to her. 

"NEST huh? Well Im guessing you've had your hands full recently. Hopefully you won't have to deal with too much tonight." 

She hesitated then said "I suppose I'm supposed to hate you guys but you're not all bad right? Besides I've never had a problem with NEST so unless that changes I still believe in what you're doing." 

Well, at least she had some faith in him. Faith that would be long gone if she knew what he did on a regular basis, but faith never the less.

"I... I'd like to think that we're not all bad." A lie. Every NEST agent was probably a bad person from some standpoint. Him, because he was a killer. "I'm here in case something happens. We've been busy and..." He said, fumbling around with the words.

"Well, we really want this to go on smoothly. We want the city to trust us again. It was the higher ups that were the bad apples- we're just... trying to clean up after them."

In the end they were all janitors. Cleaning up after someone or something. Loose ends, a missing witness. Whatever it was, NEST was just a glorified garbage disposal unit with a different job description and heavy training.