Soldiers of Fortune
"School's in Session"
The man that the camera saw wasn't anything spectacular. He looked almost forgettable, just like very other caucasian male on the planet. Except for his tanned skin tone and a few strong facial features which betrayed part of his heritage which he never spoke about. His hair was high and tight like very man that went through the military.
Leon looked into the camera and began to tap the lens with his finger.
"Is this thing work?" he asked Dr. Ben Tanochi behind him.
"Don't do that!" he yelled running forward adjusting the camera. "Its working. You don't have to be so brutish with my equipment. Its delicate."
"How do you know its working?" asked Leon staring into the camera again.
"Its record right now," said Ben looking into the camera as well before turning away. He was obviously camera shy and walked away. "See that little red light. When that comes on its recording."
"Oh," said Leon getting himself ready before turning back around. "What do I say again?"
"Anything," said Grace who was off camera. "This is your video log. Its a requirement for all our avatar drivers and other science personnel."
"But I'm neither of those things," said Leon who felt stupid taking to a camera.
"You may be under the SecOps payroll but you've had a help in naming an animal and a location and you are helping with this school. That means you're mine," said Grace.
Leon stared into the camera and looked to the monitor next to the camera. He thought for a moment.
"Well today's breakfast was unusual. Had some weird chicken fruit. Couldn't shave today because my razor is dull..." began Leon.
"About the school," said Grace.
"You said anything," said Leon turning to look at her off camera.
"Anything about the school," said Grace. "We don't need another video log about why the fruit here tastes like chicken."
"Okay then," said Leon clearing his throat. "Well today I learned that Grace should be most specific next time." Grace leaned back in her chair so that she could be seen shaking her head to who ever would review this log. "And I don't know. The first day of the school was… interesting. As you may have noticed my shirt is covered in paint." Leon spinning around in his chair to show the camera the paint on his back which had four fingered hand prints and simple figure drawings on it. "It was my favorite shirt too. But I guess the slave driver wants me to explain how it got that way."
*
"Hey comeback here you brats!" yelled Leon who was stumbling after three Na'vi children who were only a few inches shorter than he was. The reason why he was stumbling was because they had covered his mask with paint and he could barely see through it. They merely laughed and tried to keep away from him.
When Leon did manage to catch up to one of the girls he wrapped his arms around her and began to tickle her. Na'vi children were just like human children. All they wanted to do was to laugh and play. The other two children doubled back and tried to free their friend from Leon but she was laughing too hard to escape. So they gang tackled on top of Leon nearly crushing him. One of the Na'vi boys managed to remove his boot which Leon used to his advantage. He began to put his foot into the closest Na'vi child's face who began to laugh and try and fend off his foot. They ended up as a big paint covered pile on the floor.
"Alright that's enough," said Grace clapping her hands. "Nìtam! Nìtam!" (*Enough! Enough!)
The three children reluctantly untangled themselves from Leon who was exhausted and laying on the floor. He heard them being ushered back into the building to finish their finger paintings. Grace rubbed some of the paint from his mask to be able to see his face clearly. He blinked up at the large blue avatar.
"Good, you're still alive," said Grace. "On you're feet soldier. I didn't know you were good with kids."
"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me," said Leon getting to his feet. "And what's that suppose to mean any way?"
"Nothing," said Grace looking down at him. "You just don't really come off as the type that would be."
"Oh so you're saying that I'm the type that's not good with kids? That's a bad father?" said Leon getting defensive.
"I didn't say that," said Grace. "You just… Surprised me, that's all."
Leon stood there as Grace followed the children back into the school. Leon dusted himself off before reluctantly following her as well. Inside the three children were back to their finger painting. All three began to laugh as soon as Leon came in.
"Maybe you shouldn't help me with the teaching," said Grace.
"Well what do you want me to do?" asked Leon rubbing his hands on his shirt.
"In my bag is a camera," said Grace motioning to an beat up large olive drab bag by the door. "Why don't you go take some pictures."
"That thing must be huge," said Leon figuring out that the size of the avatar's hand compared to his own.
"Oh for pete's sake," said Grace opening up the bag and extracting a human sized camera.
"Oh," said Leon giving it a once over. He took a couple test shots of the ground to check that it worked before climbing onto the table. "Okay smile!"
"Lrrtok!" said Alice behind Leon. The two boys, that Leon was focusing on, smiled at him and held up paint covered hands. They were taunting him with their hands, threatening covering his mask with paint again.
Leon stuck out his tongue at them after he took the picture to which the two boys stuck their own tongues out at him and laughed. Leon sat down and began to take pictures of everything. He got some great pictures of Grace teaching some of the older Na'vi. And some of the other avatars helping out as well. This was really peaceful sitting here and seeing two species interacting with each other peaceably.
The Na'vi girl had finished painting with paper and decided that she wanted to upgrade to canvas. She began to paint on Leon's shirt. He wanted to ask what she was drawing but he remained still and let her continue her painting.
Grace came by and leaned over her should to see what she was doing. She began to talk in their language.
"What is," began the girl. "name?"
Grace began to encourage her. Apparently this was one of her favorite students.
"Leon," I answered the Na'vi.
"Leon," repeated the girl.
"What is your name?" Leon asked her back.
"N-."
*
"How do you say it again?" asked Leon to Grace who was still off camera.
"Neytiri," said Grace. "Nay-tee-ree."
"Right," said Leon looking back into the camera. "Neytiri. So yeah that's pretty much how my day went."
"You should explain what she painted on your shirt," suggested Grace.
"I thought this was my video log," said Leon.
"Well I'm only suggesting since you showed the back of your shirt earlier," said Grace.
Leon rolled his eyes at the camera.
"What did you say?" asked Grace.
"Nothing," said Leon turning around to show the camera a full view of his back. Leon had to pull a contortionist act to point out everything on his shirt. "This is the sun. These are trees. That is some Na'vi. And that right there is me. Falling from the trees. Yeah."
Leon pressed the button on top of the camera shutting it off.
A/N: Dan Hartwell is the other Avatar that found Leon with Grace back in chapter 5.