bywiseguidance | OLD: first [video]

[The video feed snaps on after a bit of experimentation, showing a woman sitting with her back firmly to the wall of one of the New Bark houses. She looks exhausted, worn, her hair a tangled mess--not injured, though the way she's looking around warily gives the impression that she definitely wasn't expecting that. Her clothing is torn and stained, but actually clean--she wasn't expecting that either. When she speaks, it's with an accent: Middle Eastern sounding, almost, and she sounds as tired as she looks.]

If this is some kind of trick...

[She may be tired, but there is a bit of bite to her voice--as if she can make good on the implied threat if pressed to.]

I do not take well to deception. Or to being moved without my knowledge to an unknown location.

[There's been enough of that lately, though she's not going to go further into it--and honestly, this is a lot better than where she was. But she's too practiced in keeping all information to herself that may give the upper hand (or show weakness) in any situation.]

That woman is not my mother. If she has told so many that, it would seem that at least we have so much in common.

[Her eyes slip closed for a moment, gathering thoughts and wondering how much she can afford to give away.]

Abby...if you are truly here...I would like to speak with you, please.

[She's unsure of how that will go over--since she stayed in Israel without so much as a goodbye.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's not actually a trick. At least, not for the foreseeable future.

What is your name, and where do you hail from?

My name is Ziva David. I am from Israel.

[To the point--Ziva can appreciate that. She'll go along with it for now.]

How do you know Abby?

She is a friend. I also worked with her while I was in America.

What was the nature of this work? Were you colleagues?

[Ask a blunt question, you're going to get a blunt answer.]

I was formerly the Mossad liaison officer to NCIS.

You are incredibly forthcoming with that delicate information. Are you really from Mossad?

And what about Abby? What is her role, regarding the NCIS?

It hardly matters here, now does it. It was never a secret to begin with.

[She also wants you to know exactly how hard she can kick your ass if you annoy her, which you're starting to--and she hasn't said what she did in Mossad, so.]

You could ask that of her yourself.

It's just that she has a lot of dog pokemon...

[It's the first declarative sentence he's spoken so far in their conversation.]

I was simply under the impression that most intelligence positions were on a need-to-know basis.

For safety, you know.

I never told you what, precisely, my position was.

"The Mossad liaison officer to NCIS" sounds precise enough to draw inferences from, at the very least. I could be mistaken, though, as my work is far from such a field.

In that capacity, I was simply assisting in investigations. It was not an intelligence position.

[Any other officer probably would have treated it as such, but.]

In that capacity, you were assisting in investigations. The way I see it, that does fall under the blanket term "intelligence", especially if you were working for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad. Do you follow my reasoning? Technicalities, loopholes and semantics are wonderful, but I do appreciate brevity initially, and details and accuracy as "touch-ups" after the skeletal structure of a concept has been established. It's really more efficient that way.

[She's too tired for this shit.]

Mossad does not normally concern itself with standard criminal investigations, as NCIS does. Israel has a police force for that.

You'd be surprised. A lot of "standard" criminal investigations only start out that way, and do require specialists and experts before anything conclusive is accomplished.

[Not specialists and experts in her field, generally...unless you want your suspect dead...]

Instead of attempting to educate me on what my own people do, maybe you could introduce yourself as I have.

[She thought her social skills were lacking...]

[...right.]

Rue Ryuzaki. I'm a law student at Toh-Oh University in Japan.

OLD: first [video]

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