[center][h2]Henry Olin[/h2][/center]
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[i]"Last time I heard you were stationed in Black Fall. What? Did they send you here to catch Florida-Man?"[/i]

Henry gave Adam a large, warm smile and lightly tapped the boy's fist with his own meteor sized hand. In so many other cases, with so many different people, he was treated in some way that wasn't himself. At the Charity Beach FAMA barracks, he was saluted and treated with respect, but he never enjoyed the way that people snapped to attention whenever they saw [i]or heard[/i] him coming. As if he was a superior rather than an equal. Granted, several years ago he had operated as a very high ranking official and he maintained that ranking even now- so he couldn't exactly fault those around base. It just made things difficult for him in that it was hard to make friends with anyone because of that bittersweet deference that trailed around them and stuck like some stench. It made them closed off, and worse: It made him unapproachable. More than his appearance already made him.

"Kiddo, c'mon. Are you seeing me? I [i]am[/i] Florida man."

A child sped past the docks, paying little mind to the rest of the world until her eyes feel on him. Henry, in that moment realized that it wasn't a child, but a girl. She lackadaisically dropped her jaw and shouted... [i]something[/i] that he couldn't understand, but for all his many years of experience was likely an insult. Some quip designed to hurt him, or to get him to some emotional rise- to prove that she was better than him because she was human. Perhaps she thought herself untouchable, or was just plain ol' stupid, or both, to think that provoking people was a good idea. He didn't know or care much. His lips curled up for a moment, revealing the tips of his foremost set of teeth, but then he took a deep breath as the offender disappeared into the crowd. He released the breath in a mighty sigh, deep and rumbling- likely even tangible to Drake, who was close enough to feel the sound.

[i]"And I got transferred here for a little while after a mission gone bad.... We always had that bastard Abel and he fucking changes the game."[/i]

Henry gave Drake a somber smile for his benefit, [i]gently[/i] patting the young man on the back in an attempt at friendly or even fatherly comfort. He came in contact with a lot of bodies, and handshakes, and smiles, and laughter, and friendly moments. But a friend is something different. Drake and his family had certainly [i]earned[/i] his respect, but much like his father- Drake was a friend. People who saw him as a person first rather than an agent, or an official, or a superior, or least of all a beast were hard to come by. He couldn't even recall the last time someone had been happy to see him until this conversation. Henry's face contorted into a deep frown at that thought, but elected to deal with his sense of suppressed depression later. Right now, Drake deserved his full attention.

"Sometimes you can't win 'em all. Think of it as a vacation you're being paid for. You'll get him. Not a doubt in my mind."

He considered offering to invite him back to his table with the little old lady when his attention was stolen away by a far more demanding source. The sound of an acute and powerful pressure differential, the whiplash crack of red hot metal, the sound of thunder. Gunshots, and something else- equally unnatural but distinctly alien. They were soft and distant, barely discernible from the sounds of talking people and the waves of the ocean. He doubted anyone else in the area had even heard it- but his senses were preternaturally powerful. Henry cast a look down to his friend, who likely recognized the look on his face. They had served together in Black Fall- Drake probably had some semblance of an idea of what was coming. They were facing the water now, so they were facing East. The shots were behind him. 

[i]West- no, Northwest. [/i]

"Gunshots- and something more." Henry stated, as if Drake would take it as obvious. Given their relationship, that probably wasn't too far from the case. "Northwest of here. Wanna come with?"

Drake, unlike Henry, wasn't in uniform. But what would that matter among friends? It's the invitation, the thought, that counts. Plus, the white giant would love to have Agent Dragon along. For old time's sake.
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