The woman's insults were predictable, flimsy and unimaginative. Garrick felt a slight twinge of regret as she left. Something about her seemed...inflated, gaudy. Like she was a sweet soul inside but something had crushed that innocent spirit out of her and in its place she had erected bravado's steely walls.<br/>It was, discomforting to say the least. Too close to home, one might say.<br/><br/>Yet as he was reflecting on this, he suddenly felt a dead-space of sound reverberations in the air.<br/>"She's back for more..." Garrick thought as he turned to face the disturbance.<br/>Yet before he could even utter the first word, Garrick found himself caught up in a giant, whiskey-scented hug and nearly took him off his feet.<br/>"If it ain't ol' Joseph's boy! All grown up 'n shit. How have you been lad?" the man laughed as he released Garrick from his death grip.<br/>The grease covered, smiling, buck tooth, grey haired man that stood before him was none other than Edward Delacroix. Or "Coot" as he had become to most of the men he served with. He was almost always disheveled looking, covered in engine lubricant and often smelled of some form of liquor, but when it came to weapon systems, there was no finer engineer in the Empire.<br/>If you gave him a trashcan, refrigerator magnet and duct tape he could make into a functioning MAC gun in less than an hour. He was a genius, but an eccentric one at that.<br/><br/>"I'm fine, Coot." Garrick smiled genuinely. "How's life been treating you?"<br/><br/>Coot slapped Garrick on the back hearthily. "Damn good, boy. Great in fact. I mean lookit this 'ere." He said with his thick Jovian drawl.<br/>"I never thought I'd see the day when we could build somethin' like this. Let alone fly it!" he chuckled hearthily.<br/>"Have you seen the titties on her? They are<i>massive</i>and I get to play with em!" the old man cackled. Drawing a bit of attention their way.<br/>Garrick smiled awkwardly and nodded to the few onlookers with discomfort, as if apologizing for his behavior.<br/><br/><br/>Coot noticed Garrick's disease and grinned mischievously.<br/>"Oh and afore I forget. I got someone that wants to see yah."<br/><br/>Before Garrick could say a word, Coot stepped aside with no little pomp, allowing Garrick to see who had been standing not far behind him.<br/>Garrick suddenly felt his jaw go slack...<br/>"Oh my..."<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>