𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇, simon riley

trois

THE MORNING IS COLD, and as they descend the stairs, Gaz peppers Mari with questions, she does her best to answer every one of them.

"If it doesn't make me look like too much of an asshole," Gaz remarks, "can I ask about the scar on your neck?" Mari gives up a small smile, and runs her fingers over the jagged line. "Got knifed. Barely missed the carotid."

"You patch yourself up?"

She nods.

"Nice." Gaz claps her on the shoulder, and immediately silences. It's almost funny to her how quickly he can go from sparking an entire conversation to complete quiet. But, he's been nothing but welcoming, and she can't be more grateful for it.

Gaz looks at her out of the corner of his eye. "You ready?"

Mari nods. "Probably." This isn't the whole truth. She's heard about John Price's training days, nearly mythical to new recruits in basic training. Naturally, she's nervous.

The fact that Shepherd believes that Mari's lacking in skill only feeds the feeling, but she tries to shove it off, deciding she won't have him getting into her head.

She pushes open the mess hall door, allowing the others to walk in first. Soap makes a bad joke about her being a "gentleman"  from inside, and Mari laughs, following him into the hall.

She stops short when someone steps directly into her path, completely blocking her. Mari's never been a short girl, but as she looks up at the mask, she can't help but feel like Ghost completely dwarfs her.

An annoyingly prolonged side-step ensues, each trying to move out of the way for the other. Eventually, Mari puts a hand on his arm to still his movement and step past him.

With his sleeves rolled up, Mari can feel the muscles in his arm tense when it comes in contact with her fingertips, and she instinctively pulls her hand away.

The taller man avoids her gaze quite obviously, simply brushing past her, shoulder knocking hers on the way out.

She can feel Gaz's eyes on her, shifting from her to a retreating Ghost, and back. She ignores it, and simply joins the others in gathering in a small cluster in front of Price, who clears his throat.

"Alright, listen up fuckers!"

He clasps his hands together and then tucks them behind his back. "Its been a little over a month since you've all been deployed..." his eyes meet Mari's, and he adjusts his sentence. "Most of us, have been deployed."

Mari's stomach drops. What she's positive is a harmless comment doesn't fail to make her insides twist into one gigantic knot.

In the past two weeks, Mari's noticed this annoying occurrence where every single mundane thing reminds her of Gabriel. She can't walk two steps without being reminded of her brother, and it hurts.

For a combat medic who's known for her ability to save, she'd miraculously fucked it up this time.

She turns her eyes downward, as Price carries on. "Big boss wants me to give you a refresher. You know what that means, training camp."

Nobody reacts, and Price grins. "Thought you lot'd be more excited. You'll work in teams, separate into groups. In favor of getting this done faster, you'll all find yourselves paired up with another. Names are on that sheet over there, including your first activity. Four days of this, so get ready."

Resounding groans from the majority of the soldiers in the room, but Price just dismisses them. Before Mari can even get a look at the paper, Soap points at her from a few meters away. "Vie! You, me. Escape and evasion."

Mari sighs. Not that she minds being partnered up with Soap, but whatever escape and evasion exercise Price's got planned is sure to be the most the tiring thing on that list, and she's barely slept in weeks.

Regardless, she puts on a smile, moving towards the Sergeant. "Alright. Allez." Soap raises an eyebrow, confused. "Sorry?"

She shakes her head, biting back a laugh. "Means 'let's go'." Her partner nods, straightening his back. "Nice. Allez, Vie."

note:
i can imagine soap absolutely butchering french so clearly HELP
anyways i am aware this chapter is short and that is because i do not like it xx
gonna call this a filler chapter so i can move on now!