[hr][hr][center][h1][color=662d91]Alexander Polawski[/color][/h1]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/2hnL0Mb/ezgif-1-5e8563c9310f.gif[/img]
[/center]
[hr][center][b][color=662d91]Location:[/color][/b] Camp Mexico Beach: L11 (Beach)
[color=662d91][b]Skills:[/b][/color] N/A[/center][hr][hr]

It wasn't hard to take notice of the kids flocking around Tesla with the sound of their excitement for some simple sparklers. It was another sound that for some reason brought back a sense of normality to ol' Alexander, who let his gaze leave Shears and Manny for a moment to follow them. Alexander watched them as Telsa led them down the beach and they had the time of their lives with those sparklers. A smile formed on the old man's lips, feeling something gently pull the back of his brain. A memory, or many? 

Clearly Shears had taken notice of the kids as well after giving Alexander a less-than elaborative answer, only telling him to try it out himself. [color=662d91]"Funny? I'll see what happens, perhaps sometime later."[/color] Alexander said back to Shears, watching him waddle away as the pulling continued. Something about those kids running around, laughing, and the music being played on-stage…Something was luring ol' Mugsy back to the past. Which past it was Alexander couldn't tell, only that it took over his vision…

[hider=Alexander, not a Simple Man anymore]

[center][hider][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC5bSk2h_08[/youtube][/hider]

[img]https://i.ibb.co/RC7NtQh/ezgif-com-resize.jpg[/img]

[i]South Vietnam 
Sometime early 1970's[/i][/center]

They had been out on patrol for a good solid couple of hours already that morning, and nothing had happened. The only thing they had heard all day was the sound of marching army boots, the occational banter back and forth the line, and the jungle; it told them it was very much alive, butnot out to get them. Not that day at least. Somewhere in the back of the line, Specialist Polawski was casually chatting with the guy in front of him. Mason, their medic and resident L.A. surfer boy. They were talking about they were doing back home before they ended up in 'Nam. 

"Hold up a sec. So you're telling me that you've never seen the ocean? What, don't you have those huge lakes up north in Chicago?" Mason asked Polawski in disbelief, resting the M60 'Pig' in his arms while giving their radio man an amused look. Alexander Polawski shook his head back at Mason as he understood that his ignorance was not understood up front. [color=662d91]"The Great Lakes, and no I haven't. I'm a simple man, never really left the area. So what's it like?"[/color]

"First of all, fucking cold even when the sun is out. Second, amazing to surf in. When we get home from this shithole, I'll take you surfing with my buddies and girl." Mason continued as the squad marched down a dirt road in the middle of rice paddies. In front of them lay their next destination for their patrol - a small village that had reported Viet Cong activity earlier that week. While sergeant Jackson got someone to translate for him to the village elder, Alexander and Mason took their positions. Again the whole squad got the feeling that today was not going to be one of Those days, so the tension was quite low. 

Alexander had continued asking Mason about L.A., California and the West Coast in general, when a crowd of kids appeared from around a building. At first both the kids and the two G.I.'s were reluctant to accknowledge each other, but slowly Alexander left his M16 rest in his left hand. Meanwhile his left hand reached down into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small pack. Gum. Alexander held it out for the kids to take, but only one dared approach the surely menacing-looking white men in full combat gear. When the pack of gum had been given and distributed amongst the Vietamese kids, the kids looked as happy as a bunch of American kids running around with sparklers. Even as the squad was ordered to move out in search of the Viet Cong in the area, Alexander had a smile plastered on his face after the little meeting of humanity. It was nice, a good change of pace. A simple act of kidness was enough to make the kids' day, and Alexander too. 

It was only the following week that Alexander learned that the village had been raided by the Viet Cong as retribution for their cooperation with them, the American enemy. 

Why was life never as simple as a pack of gum?
[/hider]

Alexander came back to his senses standing at the beach, staring out at the black emptiness in front of him. The ocean. He had no idea how much time had passed and what he had done in the meantime, but clearly he had wandered towards the smell of the sea. He was torn between two very different emotions at that moment; was he supposed to feel afraid that he had blacked out again and just walked away, or embrace the comfort of the big passion he standing in front of? 

The weather was still fine, a comfortable 70 degrees or something still keeping the humid air warm. Before the outbreak this would have been as comfortable as old Alexander could get. No, he would try. He had to try. Alexander turned his head to see the kids still playing with the sparklers, while the rest of the adults were doing their own things. He let out a long and heavy sigh, reeling in his sense of the present and trying to remain in the real world. His world, the new world with a fresh start. 

He would try to once again become a simple man. Like he had used to be. Like Judith wished him to be. 



[hr][hr][center][h1][color=#B8860B]Nigel "Hadrian" Cooper[/color][/h1]
[img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/a1cc83e9b2978d2fdac2dbf75331a3c0/tumblr_o0v5arjK7b1rt41dxo1_400.gif[/img][/center]
[hr][center][b][color=#B8860B]Location:[/color][/b] Camp Mexico Beach: L11 (Beach, Bar)
[color=#B8860B][b]Skills:[/b][/color] N/A [/center][hr][hr]

Nigel "Hadrian" had not expected the bar to be as busy as it was, something he really shouldn't have been surprised over. There was a party tonight, a massive one that out-classed anything in all of Florida quite possibly. In quick succession there was a steady stream of known and unknown faces through the bar; the aforementioned Hunter and Nikki or Checkbook, followed by the barber who'd taken all of Nigel's hair earlier that week. Right, he had nearly forgotten about that whole event with him turning bald as a Greek statue. As he joined the legion of drinkers, Nigel raised his beer at him as a greeting. [color=#B8860B]"Shears. Thansk for the haircut again, Tonsor."[/color] Nigel "Hadrian" attempted at conversation with the man he'd barely spoken with, before he waddled away to do what only the gods could know. 

What caught Nigel's attention more than anything else, besides him feeling like a fish out of water in the present company, was the verbal skirmishing between Adelaide and Nikki. He'd seen this type of jabbering before, all to common in high schools he thought, though he couldn't pinpoint who was the the insticating force of the two. Sarcasm and pointed insults put aside, Nigel was more surprised that Adelaide actually handed her a beer. The woman called Lisa put it quite fittingly; [color=#B8860B]"Bundle of energy indeed, not the type to sit patiently in class."[/color] He commented on the ordeal, before looking up at Adelaide answering his plea for wine. [color=#B8860B]"Oh, really? I mean I don't want to make a big deal out of it or anything, but that would be…great, next time. Not sure a communion is right for me now. But thanks."[/color]

Before Nigel "Hadrian" could question Adelaide about the origins of these mystical wine of Greek legends, he was talked to again. This time it was the one-armed Amazon of Thalia, speaking at first in what he could only presume was Spanish. He raised his brows at her following observation in English. Nigel "Hadrian" nodded, he was indeed a man proficient in the ways of fighting with a sword and shield, something few people could those days. [color=#B8860B]"Sparring? Yeah sure, why not? If they'll allow me to hammer out some practice swords or something, I'm game, Cum gladiis et fustibus."[/color] Nigel replied to Thalia, raising his beer to her and drinking a good sip of it. It went down, though not without a good cough from him. The taste and bubbles was something he hadn't tasted for years, so it was more a surprise than unpleasent. Eventually he drank another sip and put the bottle on the counter, adressing Thalia first [color=#B8860B]"Any experience with a sword before?"[/color] and then Adelaide [color=#B8860B]"How come you've got wine here? Stored up after all these years?"[/color]