Trine Larsen
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« on: December 09, 2014, 11:05:25 pm » |
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Airports. This one in particular seemed to be a massive maze of a structure and it seemed that despite all of the brushed steel signs with bold black lettering, and the inset monitors glowing a deep blue with flight numbers, times, and gates in clear, white, pixelated type, most of the people scattered through the domed hallways were either rushing or wandering about confused.
It felt like being in a hive, surrounded by activity and everyone with a purpose or a destination in mind. The illuminated signs of food chains, stop-in spas, coffee shops, and a couple of kiosks here and there casted a soft light onto the plain white tile that ran between the patterned rug of the terminal waiting areas on either side.
Blue eyes stared up in wonderment at the decorative, expanse of the white vaulted ceilings. A small kiosk that read “Pie Face” sat comfortably in the middle of the wide hallway with tiny little pie on display. The small, plastic, wheels of her carry-on clicked as it rolled along the tiles behind her and for the first time since she'd heard about the trip to Australia Trine could feel the first little flutters of excitement begin to stir in her chest.
"This is actually pretty cool...."
She looked down at the ticket in her hand, the small shake rolling through the stiff paper stub giving away the nerves she had continued to fight off. Terminal 3. Gate 1B. The sign hanging just above her resounded the same "Gate: 1B", but upon further inspection the terminal was empty. Not a soul in the bench leather seats except for a grumpy looking teenager huddling near a wall outlet on her phone.
At first Trine sat by the window overlooking the runway. A plane or two would take off followed by the busy goings on of luggage trolleys and airport security carts. The blonde moved further away after noticing the alarming amount of shaking that took place as each of the planes lifted from the tarmac.
The rest seemed to just blur by, only snippets here and there poking through the almost constant panicked ramblings that went on in the back of her mind. She'd been one of the first to board, found her seat, and the plane had made it into the air. All good things.
She watched as the clouds drifted slowly below the plane as it got further into the air, turning into a rolling sea of white and dark gray beneath them. The earbuds she put in shortly after taking off hummed away, acknowledged only in the back of her mind. A strange sort of detached calm seemed the cast over Trine, her lungs stretching with the first deep breath she must have taken since the trip started a week ago.
Stress wasn't an emotion she handled gracefully, joking around was an awful coping mechanism, but it had always been her fall back reaction when things seemed to get overwhelming. Finals, mid-terms, or a job interview those sort of things went by easier when she laughed her way through, but it cost a match this time. One that, despite all of her intentions to take it seriously, ended up serving as an outlet for the stress of facing two, while a little silly, very real fears.
Trine groaned, pressing her forehead to the glass of the small airplane window, her blue eyes watching as the wings of the airplane sliced effortlessly through the clouds. The most disappointing part was that it had been for a team title, so not only did she mess it up for herself, but there was no doubt her partner would be just as upset.
"That freaking sucks." She grumbled to herself, but couldn't manage to hold on to the anger as her eyes slowly started to close, finally giving in after a long and exhausting start to their time in Australia.
- Brent, Trine's eldest brother, had decided to make the trip out to Sydney- mentioning something on the phone about finally having an excuse to go. There was always crashing on a cot in Trine's hotel room to save money on staying at a hotel and going to Australia by himself another time would have been incredibly boring.
She wasn't about to argue against it, they hadn't spent much time together since she'd started at the WWG, trading in her boxing sessions for long days spent training at "The Temple of Pain" with her trainer Jace. And to be honest she was already a little homesick.
They'd stayed up late the night he'd flown in, mostly catching up, and going to eat at whatever local restaurant they ran into first. Then, as was typical of the two, the next morning was spent at nearby gym that allowed drop ins.
"So, this was a nice surprise." He grinned, sidestepping a swing from his little sister.
"I think I just needed to switch things up, I just bullshited a whole week because I was too busy crapping my pants to just do what needed to get done." Trine grimaced, throwing a second punch, this time much harder as the frustration worked it's way into her movements.
"Well, you were always kind of an emotionally stunted class clown."
"What the hell does that mean?" She laughed, and managed to duck a quick, left hook.
"It's like you get angry, but you just laugh it off. Or you get bummed out, but laugh it off," a second attempt at a hook had him pausing mid-sentence, "its probably not healthy to be so **** happy ALL the time. Or just automatically skip to micky mouse club mode because you don't like how it feels to be angry, or upset, or....whatever."
"I think you're making me sound a lot deeper than I actually am, Dr. Phil. I mean," she ducked, countered, and managed to land a hit this time, "I feel the feels. I'm not like a stoic ****."
"Yeah, you feel them, but you don't deal with them."
Trine paused, an almost dumbfounded look on her face as she stared back at Brent, who took the golden chance to punch her square in the chest. She back peddled, and shot a white hot glare up at him as she crossed her arms tight over her chest.
"You punched me in the boob, AGAIN!!"
And with that she all but charged him, gloved fists trying to find purchase on any part of him they could reach, and Brent just laughed and stepped back with each swing.
"See! You're pissed! So just be pissed!"
Trine's right fist connected solidly with Brent's solar plexus, effectively wiping the smug look off of his face.
"Man, if I just did everything I felt without talking myself out of it; I would have been in jail a looong time ago."
The brunette winced, gingerly pressing his hand to where his sister had managed to land a decent punch.
"Within reason you crackhead," he groaned, taking off his gloves, "just listen to me for once will you? You've got a match with some wacked out Icelandic dude, right? Just go at him like he punched you in the tit, and just pull that **** on him. Or I don't know. Imagine the guy kicks puppies, whatever really gets you pissed- and instead of laughing just...be angry."
Trine rolled her eyes, pulling the tape off from around her wrists as she listened.
"Fine. I'll practice. But you can't get mad if I end up in jail because I just act on one of the ridiculous ideas that pop into my head," she smirked, blue meeting the deep green of her brother's eyes, "and I assure you, I will end up in jail for something insane and then blame it on you."
"Sure, whatever you say. But if it helps and you win this match, you're going to owe me- big time."
"Well, the guy was kind of an **** at that interview thing..."
"So, be an **** back, but you know- less couch flipping and more ass kicking." Brent smiled, ducking out of the ring, and waiting for Trine to follow suit.
She laughed, hopping down from the lip, and shrugging her shoulders.
"Alright, besides, I can't imagine mom would ever forgive me for losing to someone from Iceland." She raised her fist dramatically in the air and shook it, "Alt for Norge!"
Brent laughed and just shook his head, following her out the door.
"I forgot how spastic you are. Maybe that advice was a bad idea."
Trine looked over her shoulder, waggling her eyebrows.
"Too late now, brotha. You have unleashed the beast."
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The rest of Trine's afternoon was spent carefully deciding which emotion she'd just run with when the time came and most of them just seemed to end badly.
Stuck in traffic? I'll just off road it. Nope. Go to jail.
This guy can't merge correctly? Go grand theft auto on his ass. Nope. Go to jail.
Thus, most of the ride back to the hotel was spent with Trine thinking up the most ridiculous 'what if I did this' scenarios and her older brother laughing from the passenger seat, before quickly adding: "Don't do that. You jackass."
It wasn't until the siblings were on the short trip up to the hotel room that they were sharing when they finally fell silent and stared silently at the digital numbers that flickered across the black monitor.
Trine took a step forward pressing the round, sleek, elevator button for the floor just before theirs. Brent just sighed, running his fingers through the mop of messy brown hair atop his head.
"Should probably apologize to Lucky." She explained, shrugging off the strange look Brent gave her.
"Whatever you got to do."
The elevator came to a slow stop, but the door hesitated a moment before finally sliding open, revealing the typical sort of hotel hallway. Simply decorated with a wall mirror, a small table, and a vast expanse of patterned wallpaper and sturdy carpet.
Trine stepped out waving to Brent as she started her way down the left side of the hallway.
"See you in a bit."
But the only reply she got was the half silent hiss of the elevator door as it slid shut, and started on it's way to the next floor up.
The blonde walked silently down the hallway, checking the gold plated numbers to the right of each uniform, wood finished, door until she saw 221 flashing in the dim, yellow light of the hallway wall fixtures. She silently wondered if apologetic counted for Brent's psychobabble, emotional homework as she knocked. In which case she'd be doing an awesome job and could move on from this bizarre big brother bear lesson he decided she needed to learn.
Leif opened the door and the muffled sounds of the TV playing in the background could be heard. He wore a surprised expression on his face, as though he hadn’t been expecting Trine to come by today.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Trine had opened her mouth to get the apology over with, but as she looked up at Leif from her spot in the hallway an entirely different feeling seemed to wash over her leaving Trine to look just as surprised as her teammate.
"Umm....." she stalled, trying to get her thoughts straightened out, as she felt an almost smouldering sort of heat settle itself low in her stomach. There was a pull in her chest as if some sort of string had been wrapped around her very core and had been pulled taught, pulling forward from her chest.
So, instead of ignoring it, or making a joke Trine just took a step forward. Then a second. By the third small hands had balled themselves into the fabric of Leif's shirt as she pushed him back, up against the wall of the small entryway in the hotel room, their bodies flush against each other as she kissed him.
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