Alexander Polawski
Location: Camp Mexico Beach: H6 Quarantine (Conference Room)
Skills: N/A
It don't mean nothin'.
It was a phrase Alexander had heard many a time over. At first it was just something he heard one of the younger, yet experienced troopers say when the young Alexander first arrived in Vietnam. It was just a phrase amongst many others; Charlie in the trees, Birds in the sky, Get your shit together, the list went on for longer than Alexander could imagine. It wasn't until after his first serious encounter with the enemy that the phrase really struck him. It don't mean nothin'. It really didn't. He was sure he wasn't getting out of that gunfight alive, prayed like a madman in his head while he fired back at Charlie and radio'ed in for air-support. But when he came out alive, the phrase still stuck. He was just glad to have come out in one piece.
I don't mean nothin'.
Alexander looked up at Manny as the baby-boomers were reunited, Manny asking him what he thought. He looked back at Ash for a moment, imagining himself with that satisfied look on his own face, then looked back up at Manny.
"I don't know." Alexander told his friend, though it was a half lie. He didn't know exactly what had happened to Ash, but…
"It could anything, really. But if you ask me, Manny, whatever it was, it looks like it was worth it." the old veteran continued, the feeling in his gut being all too familiar once again.
He wasn't paying attention to the conversation Beatrice and Thalia were having, that was none of his business after all. Just like he shouldn't, and wouldn't pry his nose into the deal with Ash, hence his half answer. And not much happened afterwards that Alexander took note of, only continuing his friendly conversation with Manny, like two ol' retirees meeting up in Miami on a hot summer day. It wasn't until some time afterwards when two new people entered the room. One a big, Middle-Eastern guy, called "Franken" by the Major. Another a woman, limping on one foot and to Alexander perhaps she was Navy…wait, Navy?
Alexander instictively rose to his one foot and prosthetic leg, eyes locked onto the woman like a Charlie sharpshooter in the jungle, mouth opened wide in equal disbelief and joy at wha the was seeing. WHO he was seeing. He didn't hear or care what came out of Wayne's mouth, nor was he in a position to follow Ash's order for attention. Alexander crossed himself, giving one quick look up in the sky and mouthing something akin to a
"Thank you, Lord.", before he looked back at the attention of the whole room.
Having someone come crawling back from the jungle wasn't unknown to the old veteran. He vividly recalled how one member of his squad, lost two days ago in a fight and presumed KIA, crawled his ass back to their FOB. The mere sight of the man alive, thought dead, dropped a few jaws at first, followed by a roaring applause from those less stunned. He had been one tough grunt, Lawrence his name was. If there had been anyone who could make it out of hell with only an Army issue combat knife, it had been him.
Now Alexander could add Thana to that list.
Now on his feet and no longer praying to God, Alexander slowly stepped forward after Manny, his eyes never parting from Thana. Checkbook or Nikki had already hugged her, followed swiftly by Thalia who added on her appearance. Yeah, she looked like shit. Like she'd been through Hell and back over a weekend, but she was here and alive. And that was what mattered. It was no longer the difference between MIA and KIA. She was present and accounted for. As usual Manny did most of the talking, but Alexander had few words to say. No tears to shed, he couldn't, not with everyone around. Not even when Thalia cried. He wouldn't ask about the scar, where she'd been or anything.
Alexander stood beside Manny and looked straight at Thana, the side of his mouth pulled into a smile as he attempted a salute for their previous leader.
"Welcome back, Navy…It's… it's good to see you."I don't mean nothin'. Thana was back.
Nigel "Hadrian" Cooper
Location: Camp Mexico Beach: Quarantine (Conference Room)
Skills: N/A
Nigel had turned back to his book for a moment when Erica came over to tap him on the shoulder. Still holding onto the book, Nigel looked up from his litterature to see who it was, giving Erica a smile once he was it was indeed her. He wouldn't normally have been so keen to put away a good book he was reading, but for a selected few he'd make an exception. Erica was one of those people.
"Besides Hank not getting an answer from Ashton?" Nigel asked back at Erica, briefly giving Hank a look more in jest than spite, before looking back at her.
"Not much, just reading." There were several conversations going on around the Conference Room, none of which Nigel had anything to do with. But it wasn't easy to ignore all the banter going on around him; People asking what happened to Ash and his bruised face, Hunter apologizing to Tatiana for what he'd done their first they there, two of the smaller groups chatting about something, and the two parents caring for their child. After a few days in Quarantine, nothing stuck out to him, except Ash's obvious damage and Hunter acting like a decent person. And then there were him and Erica, whom he thought he could indulge his perhaps eccentric interests with.
"It's a book on the collapse of Rome. Perhaps not surprising to you anymore, is it?" Nigel said jokingly to Erica, showing her the cover of the book.
"It's something to read in the very least, until we get out of this place. I mean, I like reading and all, but these walls are getting to me." He had to admit, going outside into the sun, however hot or humid it might be, was better than staying cooped up inside like some underfunded retirement home.
"What about you? How's the two girls doing?" After the interviews had been conducted and Nigel expected no more people to enter the door, he was proven obviously wrong with the entrence of two newcomers. Nigel looked away from his conversation with Erica and over at the two entering after another, giving them a good look over. He hadn't seen either of them before.
"Do you know them?" he quietly asked Erica, listening to Major calling one out by name, either their real one or codename. The other one, the lady, Checkbook clearly gave a more emotional response to, charging at her, only for her to be stopped and then let through once more.
"No way…" Nigel said out quietly at the sight. He remembered that woman, even with her military clothes and badly scarred face. This was Thana, the woman everyone had spoken off and had some connection with. Even he had, he found the pictures of her and her family after all. And here she was, alive and in the flesh. Nigel had to smile as he watched some of the survivors make their way towards her, either embracing her or simply talking to her like long lost friends.
"Amor vincit omnia, it would seem." Even Hank had joined in on the fun, though Nigel could only shake his head at the man's imprudence, though he still smiled.
"Gaudeamus igitur. Therefore, let us rejoice."
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