So guess where I am? NEPAL! Whoohoo!
•••••
McGee was nervous. Being a Probationary Agent of NCIS he assumed he would be able to mask the emotions that were swelling up inside him. Taking the elevator down, watching the red light, illuminating the floor number, slowly go down, both wishing it sped up and stopped all together. In his right pocket, his cell phone, in his left, two premier movie tickets. In his hand, which was behind his back, a small box with a cupcake in it. He was soon standing in front of the closed metallic door for the lab, a faint bass thumping from behind it.
Knocking on the door seemed to do little to drown out the music from inside, so McGee entered on his own accord. He found Abby behind one of the computers, studying a picture of what was either a Jackson Pollock painting or some microbe.
Quickly blowing some cold air onto his, somewhat sweaty upper lip, then running his tongue back over the air to remoisten it, McGee cleared his throat, "Hey Abbs."
Spinning on her platform heels she grinned, "Timmy! How are you?"
It struck him how she genuinely meant it, and not just for him, it could be the mailman and she'd still ask with the same enthusiasm. "I'm well, I mean swell," He smiled back, "I'm just great."
Abby nodded happily, turning back to the monitor, tapping she asked, "And just what brings you to the Labby?"
McGee slid the small box next to her, where it sat, almost touching her right hand. It was only the size of a baseball, and he quickly pondered if he should've gotten the bigger one. He watched as she picked it up, opening it with both hands, her expression hid behind her.
Quicker than he imagined possible she launched herself at McGee, "Timmy! A red velvet cupcake?! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She drew away from the hug, with a raised eyebrow asked, "Since when was it 'Free Cupcake Wednesday thanks to McGee'?"
Now he couldn't contain his grin, "Because, I got two tickets, to the premier screening of Reclaiming Shadows."
"Reclaiming Shadows?! I thought it wasn't coming out for the next few weeks, that's what I read on the RS Forum at least, how did you-"
"Perks of being a writer I guess," McGee shrugged, mind already watching the two of them glued to the screen, sharing popcorn and a soda, enthralled in the film adaptation of one of their most favourite video games. "Anyway, it's this Friday, so I'll pick you up at 5," He handed Abby her ticket, "Gotta get back to it, smoothie after work?"
"By the mark of my arrow, and the strength of a thousand warriors, I shall be there," Abby solely replied, in a deep voice, a small smirk caught on her left corner of her mouth.
McGee chuckled as he left, "Till dusk, Lady Arentharg."
"Godspeed, Warrior Eirten."
NCISNCISNCISNCIS
Hasmia didn't stand out as much during PE as she thought she would, wearing the white t-shirt with the LMIS logo on the breast, and some long, black, running leggings that went to her ankles. There were a few other students that had their arms and legs covered, likely for cultural reasons, so no one said anything when she quickly went to the bathroom whilst in the changing room to get out of her grey hoodie and jeans. The majority of the other girls just got ready in the changing room. The class wasn't too big, seven girls, including Ruhka, and nine boys, although they mostly seemed a pretty close group. Their teacher was Mrs Chambers, or Chay for short. She was from Australia, had shoulder length blond hair, and had the build of a former professional cyclist, which she was, having been in the Queensland team and won a few national titles. The unit of sport was football, their aim was analysing a new skill. The majority of their lessons were mostly just playing full class games, or smaller 4x4 tournaments.
There was one girl that Rukha had told Hasmia of, Maddison Chan, half Chinese, half American. Her father was very wealthy, enough to 'buy the hump off a camel', and because of that she had been given many things in her life. As a result, she carried with her an entitled attitude that polarised people. The time in Rukha's first year at LMIS, when Maddison had said that culture was irrelevant without the money she thought was needed to spread it globally. It was Rukha's only serious detention, for fighting. There was still friction between them.
Hasmia had never played football, but she knew how to fight and run, so figured she'd just have to fight the ball, and be defensive and dodge if someone came for it. It made sense in her head, but didn't translate as easily to her feet. She resigned herself to goalie after a few games, where it didn't matter if she wasn't passed to. She was in a team of four, with two other boys, both European, and a girl from South America. The boys, Johannes and Eric, spent most of the time passing amongst themselves, or occasionally adding the other girl, Samira, into the mix, but tended to leave Hasmia alone. Her favourite game was against Ruhka's team, where her friend stood 'on post' and just talked most of the time. At one point Chay called out that they were being graded on each lesson, and lack of participation counted as a reason to loose marks. That stopped the conversations.
Ruhka was a natural athlete, on the track and field team, for high and long jump, but was yet to be graced with coordination in her footwork. When Eric messed up a pass to Samira and was intercepted by the long limbed girl, very few expected the ball to end up at the back of Maddison Chan's head. Sending her toppling over.
Chay ran over, helping Maddison up, who was rubbing the spot of impact tenderly, wincing.
Rukha's hands were near her mouth, "I'm so sorry Madds, it hit my toe and bounced up,"
"Shut it, Rukky, I know you did it on purpose," She bitterly snapped.
Hasmia watched from the back ground, as Rukha's soft features changed, her usual round face earning sharp lines of a clenched jaw, brown eyes glowing black, muscle lines evident everywhere on her body. Even her tight, thick, long braids seemed shimmering with anger.
"Don't. Call. Me. That." She edged out. By now most of the class had gathered, bar three boys who were now taking open shots of goal at the other end of the court.
Their teacher smiled awkwardly, "Now c'mon team, these things happen all the time in sport," She added a small chuckle, "No need to take them personally."
"Yeah, I have always struggled to pronounce your name, it's just so," Maddison paused, any glimmer of pain gone from her expression, "Foreign."
"Right let's get back to it, last 15 minutes before the bell," Chay smoothed, as everyone returned to their places.
Hasmia awkwardly sat, perched on the bench in the middle of the changing room. In front of her were lockers, which the students put their stuff in whilst they were using the gym facilities. To her left were showers, taps, and toilet, behind her was an open space for getting dressed, the exit around the corner to her right. Most of the girls were partway through changing their clothes, some using the showers, others in the toilet. She was waiting for the toilet to be free so she could get dressed, not comfortable with the idea of copying her classmates and getting out of their PE uniform in front of everyone. One of the girls approached her, it was Yuki Saito, who Mia remembered being very good at art.
"Have you lost something?" She spoke quickly and rigidly, the words not joining together.
The Israeli shook her head in response, "Waiting for the toilet," Motioning in the direction of the closed stall.
Yuki finished buttoning up her shirt, "Oh. You might want to hurry up, next period starts in five minutes," With that she tucked her straight hair behind her ears, grabbed her bag, and left with four of the girls from the class, leaving Mia alone, bar Rukha, in the toilet.
She sighed, figuring if she was quick she'd be able to change without her coming out, or noticing she was still there. A product of her upbringing, she stood about five inches shorter than most people in her year she'd met. Slipping off her top, and pulling on a plain t-shirt, then her grey hoodie took only moments. Mia sat on the bench to take off her shoes, before quickly standing and pulling off the tight fitting black leggings. She had just gotten her jeans over her knees when the toilet door unlocked, Rukha walking out. She was still washing her hands while Mia quickly finished getting changed.
Not noticing the agitated look in her friend's eyes, Rukha grabbed her bag, exhaling, still with an air of frustration, as she asked, "We good curls?" She gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Hasmia nodded, smiling inwardly, adding 'curls' to the multitude of nicknames she had been given in the space of her first week.
NCISNCISNCISNCIS
Hasmia casually wandered through the Blue Rock Reserve, Nettie, her dog, bouncing about the long grass on the edge of the path. The Reserve sat about a fifteen minute bike ride from Ziva and Tony's place, and it was where she went most afternoons for at least an hours. It was normally empty, with a small gravel trail winding through tall trees, a stream, thick bushes, ending on a large, dark grey boulder. Nettie loved it, and would eagerly run, zig-zagging, through the shrubs, never straying far from her owner. The dog was still young, roughly a little over one year old, floppy ears, a shaggy, biscuit coloured coat, deep eyes, and long limbs, with a curled tail. The two were inseparable.
She didn't bother teaching Nettie any tricks, instead just to come when called and to stay, she didn't see the point in other ones. They followed the path until they hit the Reserve's namesake, easily clambering to the top, sitting to look over the bush, till it hit the road a few hundred metres away. Hasmia smiled inwardly as Nettie leant against her right shoulder. She pondered briefly about if she had homework. It was the end of her first week at school, and she was still trying to figure it out properly. Rukha had helped immensely, showing her around the campus during her first lunch, taking her to all her classes in that break, so if they weren't together Hasmia would know the way.
She was still unsure as to what to do when approached by the other students. In her maths class a boy called Caleb sat next to her and tried to start up a conversation, but she didn't know what to say to keep the chat going, he didn't sit with her the next day. The honeymoon phase of being the 'new kid' was wearing off, and people weren't approaching her if she looked lost anymore, so now it was more alone time during the day. One of the other girls in her chemistry class was quite nice, talking a little and sometimes sitting with Hasmia. During lunchtimes she often found herself in the school library. She knew Ruhka would hang with her during these breaks, but she was often busy, be it sports training, or some other activity, she was often fully booked during the day, sneaking bites of food from under the desk in class.
The library was a very large space, with study desks, areas for hanging out, computers, and language sections. Particularly one section was international books, each broken up into different languages, German, French, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, others Hasmia didn't even recognise. There were five books however, in Hebrew. Two were novels, a general science textbook, a children's book, and finally; a poetry book. The poetry book was what grabbed her attention the most. It was a heavy book, with a thick faded navy cover, gold inscription. Even though Hasmia couldn't understand what some of it meant, even though it was in Hebrew, she loved the way they sounded. She'd pour over the pages slowly, saying each word quietly to herself, feeling them flow. It was one of the most beautiful books she'd ever seen. Immediately she hired it from the library, where the student who issued it to her casually stated to return it in two weeks. The night she sat up in her room reading, able to faintly hear Ziva and Tony arguing over something, it had to do with a lake or a mountain, she hadn't paid much attention to it when they were eating dinner. The poems were all very different, she thought. The one she was reading now was about four and a half pages long, and more of a story than anything else. It detailed how the ocean had fallen in love with the sun, but couldn't get the sun to notice it. The style it was written in, made Hasmia able to see the light glistening off the water, in a way she hadn't experienced before. There was one word she didn't recognise, and she wrote it on a scrap of paper to ask Ziva later. Someone was calling her name, so she left the book on her bed, gliding down the stairs.
It was Tony, "Tell your aunt that fish fresh from a lake taste better than from the store, please," He seemed serious, but had a joking gleam in his eyes.
"Tony, I told you there are no lakes in Central Tel Aviv with good fish, that Hasmia would've tried!" Ziva huffed, before turning back to Hasmia, who hadn't said anything. "We are thinking about going away for the weekend soon, and can't decide on where to go."
Hasmia stiffened, she'd been with them for months and already they wanted a break from her, "Oh," Was all she mumbled.
DiNozzo noticed first the change in posture, "Ah Mia, you're invited. You, Nettie, heck you could even bring a friend from school if you want. It's nearly your first break of the year, so we might even wait till then." He then dramatically jerked his head in Ziva's direction. "And SHE thinks it's better to go to some mountain, than it would be to go to the DiNozzo family lake house!"
Hasmia breathed slowly, the only person coming to mind being Rukha, but she was always busy.
Ziva spoke before she her niece could, "No, I said we could go and look at camping in the nearby mountains!" She folded her arms.
That was when Mia realised they were only joke arguing, not seriously. She relaxed immediately, smirking almost at Tony's fake injured expression. She slinked back upstairs, knowing they weren't really needing her advice, just annoying with each other. She lay on her back, on her bed, trying to think, to imagine, how she would ask Rukha if she wanted to go away for the weekend. Maybe during the holidays she would be free a bit more. Her friend was so confident, quick with her words, the exact opposite of Hasmia. It frustrated her, that she couldn't just throw sayings out there and hope they made sense, but maybe being around her would help her own English progress faster. Her book forgotten, she opened her window and climbed out, sitting on the angled roof, which was still warm from the day's sun. There were stars out and she watched them silently, musing over everything.
NCISNCISNCISNCIS
McGee knew how to tie a tie. He did it everyday for work. But tonight it just wouldn't sit right. It was either crooked, the tail hanging out, or too crimpled. Eventually he just left it, a grey shirt with dress pants would be fine, it was just a movie he reasoned. It was twenty minutes before he said he'd pick up Abby, and he flicked through his phone, making the perfect playlist for the car trip. He wanted one that was fun and at ease for the way there, and a more mellow one for the way back. It felt good to focus on the simple task. Even if he was just stalling.
At 1658 he knocked on the door of Abby's apartment. There was a pause, then a thud.
"Abby? You good in there?" McGee yelled out, hand reaching for the handle.
"Don't come in! I'm nearly ready!" She cried out, voice tight, obviously in the middle of something.
A few more moments passed before there was again silence.
McGee was getting nervous, ""Do you need help?"
"Just come in Tim, the door's open!"
'Of course it is' McGee thought to himself, he had tried to convince her to lock it, but she always either forgot or never intended to. He let himself in, looking around. Abby wasn't in the kitchen, nor the living room, it was a small apartment, she had to be somewhere. Turned out she was behind him. Her original intent was obviously to give him a fright, but instead she gave herself away with a loud sigh.
"You didn't dress up?"
McGee inwardly kicked himself, of course she would dress up. Her hair was in a messy braid, which was pulled over her left shoulder. She had silver armour on, with a breast plate, shoulder guard, and a dark green cape that fell to her knees. Her arms were covered with light tan sleeves, and she was wearing small leather boots. Around her neck was a gold pendant, and on her hip; a sword in it's sheath. She was the spitting image of her character from the game.
"Uh, um, I didn't even," He tried, flustered.
Abby laughed, taking her sword off from around her waist, "It's ok, here," She smiled, attaching it to McGee's waist, it sat, just above his hips. It didn't match what he was wearing at all, but made her happy so he went along with it. They both smiled and began walking to the car.
The whole trip they talked theories, if Lord Ghandruk would try to overthrow the Kingdom of Ulleri, and compared the game's earlier graphics to other works of the animator's. They ordered a large popcorn and drink combo to share, Abby insisting they also get a bag of chocolate lollies. McGee was confused when she poured them in with the popcorn, mixing them through. But he supposed if it was, 'The absolute best flavour combination after red and velvet and cupcake,' then it was good enough for him. The wait to go in wasn't that long, mostly filled with men, with greasy hair, graphic tee-shirts, in varying shades of awkward. A few were dressed up, but none to the extent Abby was. Most of the other viewers appeared to be writers, itching to be the first one to publish their review on the various forums. They still had another ten minutes before entry, and were happily waiting near the start of the line.
McGee glanced and saw the toilet sign. Knowing he always needed to go during the films he motioned in their direction, "I'm just gonna quickly go, this drink could spell death otherwise," Abby grinned as she picked up popcorn with her tongue, "I'll be right back."
"I shall wait with vigilance Warrior Eirten!" She called out.
Even though it embarrassed him, McGee replied, equally loud, "My loyalty to you, Lady Arentharg, knows no bounds!" He turned the corner to see a young teenage boy looking at him, judgment set in his deadpan expression. He awkwardly nodded and stepped past him.
Returning a few minutes later McGee saw that Abby was surrounded by at least three of the graphic tee-shirt guys, all acting very excited. As he approached closer, she turned and grinned enthusiastically.
"Ah Abby who are these guys?" He quietly asked.
"McGee! This is the Clan of Phewa Tal," She gestured at the first man, who grinned with crooked teeth and an extremely lanky posture, yet he was the shortest of them all, "This is Elfeld," She then moved onto the middle man, who had large ears, complimenting his rounded shape, "This would be Edgar," She ended on the same teenager from the bathroom, who, McGee noted, had a lip piercing, and rather long hair, "Last of all, Edwy!" The NCIS agent noted that they were all very close, and very interested in the both of them.
"Well ah, I assume you've met, Ab- I mean Lady Arentharg," His voice sounded as sweaty as his palms, something about these men made him feel uncomfortable, probably their own lack of boundaries.
"Oh of course we have! The only player to achieve what we all thought was impossible!" Elfeld beamed, he didn't move the rest of him when he spoke.
Edgar followed on from him, "Defeat both the Trolls of Rangi and the King of Derval in the same campaign!"
Abby grinned, happily accepting their compliments. Edwy didn't say anything, just wiped his fringe from his eyes. The line began moving and McGee thankfully guided her away from them, unable to not feel jealous. He hadn't heard of that campaign. They didn't really share glories with each other, although recently had begun to do joint battles together. Their seats were in the middle, up the back. Before the lights dimmed a man stood up the front, introducing himself, although they all recognised him. He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, short black hair, and glasses.
"Hello everyone, welcome to this exclusive premier of Reclaiming Shadows, the film adaptation." There was a brief pause filled with a light pattering of applause, "My name is Ethan Goldberg, and I am one of the creative directors and head animators for RS." More applause, "You are all leading writers, fans, and prominent figures in the various forums, message boards, and game platforms, and I hope you enjoy this next hour and half, as much as I enjoyed being part of creating it. Thank you." He sat down, near the front, with cheers, whistles, a particularly loud one coming from Abby, and clapping. The lights dimmed. McGee unclipped the sword from his waist, sitting it on the ground next to his feet. He grabbed a handful of popcorn, surprised with it was joined with a smooth chocolate flavour.
He whispered to Abby, "Ok, you've converted me on this whole snack thing."
"My cousin Darby taught me when I went to his home in Kentucky over summer one year," She whispered back.
They both eased into their seats, as the loud music started.
•••••
Again, not the longest of chapters, but I'm slowly working on getting the muse back for this story, in amongst my travel! I've still got another month in Nepal, before flying back to Hong Kong, where I may have to live in a tent for 9 days, before work there opens up the flats for us! BUT, that's the joy of being an outdoor instructor and I wouldn't change it for anything! If you have any storyline ideas, or things you want to see at school/work/McAbby let me know in a review, I've got a small list of subplots or scenes, and slowly working on incorporating them, so let me know!
My love to you all, reviews are love 3
Have a great day :D
ALSO, if I do not post before Feb 14th, aka Valentines Day, remember that you are beautiful, special, valued and loved, and that you are made of star dust and de-pressured diamonds. 3