Otto was a family man. Always had been, and always will be. There was nothing in the world more important to him than family, no bond he deemed stronger, nothing he thought more worth dying for than that.He would, and does, gladly devote his entire life to his family –– unfortunately, though, Otto had two of such.
Two families most important to him, two bonds of the strongest kind, two reasons to die for.
Of course; he was not the only one. Out of all the men in the unit serving alongside him, there ought to be a percentage that had a wife, maybe even kids.But there was a reason many didn’t.There was a reason many of those who didn’t now used to have one, but they lost it.
The ones who didn’t have to choose between the two families yet were merely the especially lucky ones. And Otto, despite his wife having divorced him a few years ago, still considered himself as such a lucky man.He chose his job, his brothers, his duty –– but he was still on good terms with his ex-wife; he still loved her, she probably still loved him.His two daughters still loved him, he paid for them to go to college, he visited them as often as he could.Maybe one day, when he was too old for the job, and his wife hadn’t found a man she deemed better, he would go back and try to mend things.
It was what he hoped for.And unbeknownst to him, it was what everyone else hoped for him, too.
Right now, though, none of that mattered in the slightest –– considering he couldn’t be further from home, gaze wandering over the large glass facade of the hotel’s lobby, brightly lit even in the middle of the night.It was the address he’d been given to meet up in, honestly, it hadn’t been planned for him to come here as well. But circumstances tended to change quickly, so he’d been ordered over –– even if only to help with wrapping everything up.
Walking to the main entrance, the large man stopped in front of the sharply dressed but rather young-looking guard outside. The two of them almost appeared as opposites, both in shape and color, yet Otto only gave him a small smile to show his good intent –– giving the shorter man his passport before he was even asked for it.“Good evening –– you’re Delico, right?” Naturally, he would know about every face he was going to meet.Raphael had ran into them by accident at first, but Otto did not.“I didn’t bring any weapons, but you’re free to check.”
He wasn’t going to keep the kid from doing his job, he wasn’t looking for any sort of trouble. The soldier was merely here to pick up a member of his family, which was just as peaceful an endeavor as it sounded –– and very much his right to do.Taking his papers back, he’d let the guard search him before following him inside; already the gentle smile had been replaced with a more business-oriented expression –– both of it looked so natural on him, it was hard to say which one was closer to his true self.
Upon meeting the group at the small hotel bar, he shook the hands of those who were up for it, although the greeting was just as short as his stay was going to be. Knowing Tristan was the one in charge, he was the one to turn though, although even that exchange was court in its nature.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to keep you guys up any longer. I’m just here to pick up our pup, then you’ll be rid of us.”There was an inexpressive look of his shot towards Raphael, who, in kind, returned with a more than vague gesture of his hand –– what it meant, or if it meant anything at all, was up for anyone to guess; as their exchange was over with that, and Otto turned back to the group of guards.
“Alright then; Will, move your ass. Everyone else, I’ll once again thank you for your cooperation and apologize for any inconvenience caused.”Raphael had already gotten up from his place, walking over to the other’s side –– Otto had seemed tall before, but now that they stood next to each other it almost looked like he was even the tiniest bit taller than the brunette. Who, once stopped, threw another glance back at the men he’d spent the last two weeks with, but didn’t speak a word of goodbye –– out of his team, he was usually the last one to talk. As long as someone else was there, the social interaction was left to those who did less damage with it.
“We’ll be in town for two more days, so if anything comes up that you feel the need to discuss, I believe you know how to reach him.And with that, we’ll bid you farewell for now –– and a good night to all of you. I’m sure you’ve earned some well deserved rest by now.”Only now did he give them another one of the warm smiles he’d showed to Delico before, turning around a moment later to walk out of the hotel, Raphael following him without a single sound.
It was pretty clear now that it hadn’t just been the one man –– just like with the colorful group of guards; wherever these soldiers had come from everyone seemed to be quite the personality, too.
