cyren-myadd

[cyren-myadd]

BTS of Spider

Look at his little roar! He's ferocious 😂

They're leaving Kiri behind 😭

These BTS images were shared by reddit user u/Shoddy-Magician-9470, and they're not technically new, they're from behind the scenes videos that were released ages ago, but they're new to me so I want to talk about them! These images could either be discarded stuff from Avatar 2 or stuff from Avatar 3 since the BTS images were taken when they were working on both movies.

I believe the first two images are discarded scenes from A2 because Spider doesn't have the forehead stripe or Metkayina garments we've seen him wear in BTS shots that are definitely from A3. The first one specifically reminds me of a deleted scene early in A2 where Spider, Lo'ak, and Tuk investigate a crashed Samson while exploring the jungle. Lo'ak climbs up first, so maybe this is Spider yelling at him or something. I also notice that Spider isn't wearing his Omaticaya armbands and his stripe pattern is slightly different from the movie in the first two images, so maybe those actually are from an early scene in A3 after all, but it could also be that they're just early test footage before they got his look finalized.

The last image is the most interesting to me, because this one looks like it could be from Avatar 3. It's hard to tell from the unfinished render, but Spider's waistcloth looks like the orange-brown sea grass one he wears in A3 not the dark brown cloth one he wore in A2. Lo'ak is also wearing ikran-riding leggings that we've never seen him wear before, and he's carrying a gun, which he only ever used once in A2 and that was on the Sea Dragon, not the jungle.

This reminds me of a specific BTS scene I've seen of Britain (Lo'ak), Trinity (Tuk), and the stunt doubles for Spider and Kiri running from something around jungle props while Lo'ak holds a gun. I believe this is the render of that scene, but this doesn't really give us much information. All we know is that at some point the kids will be back in the jungle together, Lo'ak will have a gun, and they're gonna be chased by something or someone. Maybe this is the scene leading up to them getting captured by Varang and/or Quaritch 🤔 The fact that Lo'ak has a gun also makes me wonder if Jake is going to teach the kids more about human weapons in A3. Maybe after hearing about how Neteyam died, Jake will wonder if Neteyam could've lived if he'd been a better shot with a gun and could've hit Wainfleet before Wainfleet had the chance to hit him.

What do you guys think?

[cyren-myadd]

Prisoner of War, Ch 11: Tsamsmar

Read chapter 11 HERE!

“It’s fine. Grandmother says it is healing well. It should finish healing around the same time as your wrist. Maybe once we’re both recovered we can take you foraging and teach you some real skills.”

“Foraging?” Spider tilted his head to the side in confusion. “You mean take me outside?”

“We can’t go foraging in a cave,” Neteyam said with a laugh.

“But I’m your dad’s prisoner. Why would you let me go outside?”

Neteyam put down the vegetable he was shucking and turned to Spider in exasperation. “You’re still thinking like a tawtute. You’re not our prisoner, you’re our tsamsmar. They’re not the same thing. Didn’t you listen to anything my dad said this morning?”

Seeing the lost look on Spider’s face, he sighed and continued. “The People do not go to war very often, but there were times generations ago when things like droughts or disease caused food and water to become scarce, which pushed different clans into fighting over resources. Our clans are small, much smaller than your human tribes, so any loss of life from war can be disastrous for us. To overcome this, the People created the tradition of tsamsmar—��assimilating surviving members of enemy clans into their own in order to replenish their numbers after battle. Tsamsmar are not slaves or second-class citizens. Once they prove their loyalty, they are treated just the same as any other clan member. Some warriors would even adopt the children of those they killed in battle and raise them as their own.”

Spider made a face. He tried to imagine getting literally adopted by Jake Sully, knowing he had killed his father. The thought was sickening.

“I know it seems strange to you, but it is our way. My People do not waste anything, not even our enemies. We are not human. We do not enslave or oppress others over past conflicts.”

[cyren-myadd]

I love this AU idea!

If I may be so humble as to add to your wonderful idea...

it's been a bit since I watched Venom, but wasn't there a scene where the scientists said the symbiotes suffocate in Earth's atmosphere? And it showed a scene of a symbiote freaking out in a lab because it didn't have anything to bond with?

Imagine this: the symbiote crash landed on Pandora and was snatched up by the RDA and taken to a lab for further research. It could breathe Pandora's air, but Earth's air inside the labs slowly kills it, and the RDA scientists allow it to bond with lab animals just enough to keep it alive, but kill its hosts before it can truly recover to keep it weak and suffering. Also, the symbiote is blue. I know venom is black and carnage is red and they can come in other colors. I don't know if the colors have any meaning, but this particular symbiote is blue just because.

Later, Spider is captured by Quaritch and brought to the lab for some reason, maybe because the scientists want to study how Spider's body was effected by growing up on Pandora. Spider sees the symbiote and even though he doesn't know what it is, he can tell it's in pain and feels bad for it. He sneaks it some food or water when the scientists aren't looking.

Then something goes wrong. Either Spider or the symbiote try to escape and it goes badly or maybe it was just a random machine malfunction, but the system that filters the Earth air breaks and the lab quickly becomes unbreathable for humans. The scientists run for the emergency exopacks, but in the panic Spider is knocked down and accidentally breathes in and he starts suffocating on the floor. Meanwhile, the symbiote is relieved when the Pandoran air rushes in because it's the first time it could easily breathe without a host since it was captured. It escapes its cage and notices the only one of the strange, two-legged creatures that has shown him kindness is spasming on the floor, clearly suffocating. The symbiote feels bad because it has spent the last few days slowly suffocating in agony and rushes to help in the only way it can: it bonds with Spider.

Spider is dazed from almost suffocating so the symbiote takes over his body and manages to escape Bridgehead and flee into the forest, cutting down anything and anyone in its path. When Spider comes to, he's lying in a random tree a few miles away from Bridgehead, breathing perfectly fine without an exopack. He has no idea what's going on until the symbiote starts talking in his head and tries to explain. Naturally, Spider panics at having a stowaway in his own body and is convinced the hitchhiker is going to eat his brain or lay eggs in his intestines or something. Despite the symbiote's efforts to explain it's not a parasite and is actually beneficial to its hosts, Spider freaks out so much that he falls off the tree. Unfortunately, he just so happens to fall right in front of a pack of hungry viperwolves. Spider just accepts his death at that point until the symbiote lashes out and defends him from the pack. After that, Spider starts to calm down and realize maybe this whole symbiote business isn't too bad after all. The two of them become friends. Spider is thrilled to have these new awesome powers and not need an exopack anymore, and the symbiote is just happy to be free of the lab and is content to go along with whatever Spider wants to do, as long as he stays a healthy, living host.

After Ardmore saw the footage from Spider and symbiote's destructive escape, she is chomping at the bit to recapture them and explore the symbiote's potential as a living weapon, after killing it's untrustworthy host of course. She sends out a every soldier they can spare to hunt him down. Quaritch is not so thrilled with Ardmore's plan to kill Spider to force the symbiote to bond with a more loyal host, but he pretends not to care for the sake of appearances. He orders the recom squad to also search for Spider, but capture him alive and unharmed, and bring him to Quaritch instead of Ardmore.

While the RDA's losing its mind over the symbiote, Spider makes his way back to High Camp, excitedly telling the symbiote about his friends. The symbiote is less than thrilled when Spider explains he lives with more scientists, despite Spider trying to reassure it that Max and Norm are nice and not at all like the people at the RDA. It suggests killing and/or eating Norm and Max just to be on the safe side, but Spider shoots that idea down quick. To compromise, it asks Spider to keep its existence a secret from them and Spider agrees. When Spider arrives in High Camp, unharmed and breathing the atmosphere like it's nothing, naturally, everyone freaks out, but Spider honors the symbiote's wishes and doesn't tell them what really happened, he just makes up some bullshit. Norm and Max know he's lying but they're so relieved he's okay that they don't push it. The first thing Spider wants to do when he gets back is see Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuk, but Norm explains how they left for Awa'atlu. Spider is a little bit hurt they left so quickly after he was captured, but he still wants to see them. Despite Norm and Max begging him to stay, Spider starts the journey to Awa'atlu on foot. The symbiote doesn't approve of these Sullies who let his poor host end up in the hands of the bad scientists, but it's happy enough to leave Norm and Max behind for somewhere new so it agrees to leave.

Thus ensues a crazy adventure of Spider trying to navigate to Awa'atlu with nothing but the symbiote for help, all while Quaritch and the RDA are hunting him!

I’ve been watching Venom and got the idea of a symbiote landing on Pandora, instantly bonding with Spider since humans make easy hosts. However, instead of immediately going on a killing spree, the symbiote becomes captivated by the beauty of Pandora and declares Spider its tour guide. Spider, feeling lonely, confused, and terrified, agrees. What begins as a horror story soon transforms into a slow-paced, heartfelt adventure—Spider guiding this parasite through the alien planet. At the same time, the symbiote, thrilled by its new surroundings, keeps Spider safe. The pair occasionally takes out RDA soldiers because Spider refuses to harm any Na'vi, and the symbiote, disapproving of the soldiers hurting Pandora, takes great pleasure in ripping off their heads.

"Those metal-clad parasites who defile everything they touch with their sharp scents. They hate this pretty planet. I will eat them."

Spider’s chest tightened. He could hear it—the hunger beneath the symbiote’s words. A cold, calculating fury. "I won’t let you hurt the Na'vi," he said through gritted teeth, his voice steadier than he felt.

"I do not care for the blue ones. They do not harm this world like the others." The symbiote’s tone softened, almost indulgent. "You, little one, are the bridge between this world and mine."

Spider blinked, confused. "Wait… what?"

"You will be my tour guide," it purred, its voice filling his head with an odd sense of calm. "You are the one who will show me the beauty, wonders, and life of this planet and teach me about this Eywa."

Spider’s mind spun. "Tour guide?" He could barely keep up. "What are you talking about?"

"You were born here on this planet. Now, you are my guide."

[cyren-myadd]

tftgs trio shirt ideas

jack gets the first one and jerry and rosa get the second one

[cyren-myadd]

quarjake fam shenanigans at the mall

[cyren-myadd]

thank you so much I love the art!! The lighting is gorgeous and you captured the mood perfectly 💙

This is a scene from chapter 9, you can read it on Ao3 HERE!

Quick cinematic fanwork of @cyren-myadd ‘s new fanfic — “Prisoner of War”. They just finished writing the first act of the series so I suggest you check that out! The concept it explores is very interesting and I enjoyed characterizations for everyone so far.

[cyren-myadd]

Prisoner of War, Ch 10: You're Going Down With Me

Without saying a word, Neytiri showed Norm the dog tags. Her hands shook as she displayed them, but Spider couldn’t tell if it was from anger or fear.

“Oh,” Norm’s ears drooped down in horror as he read the name on the tags. He looked at the tags, then at the picture of Paz Socorro, then finally, back at Spider. His eyes went big. “Oh no.”

Kiri started towards Spider, concern written all over her face, but she had hardly taken a step before Neytiri shouted, “do not go near him!”

“But, Mom, he—”

“Come!” She ordered, holding out her arms and Kiri reluctantly obeyed. Neytiri ushered her behind her back to join a bewildered Lo’ak and Neteyam, standing between Spider and her children protectively. She leveled Spider with a look that was downright murderous and hissed, “I do not know who you are, but you will stay away from my children!”

“Lady, it’s kinda hard to do that when they kidnapped me!” Spider snapped back before his common sense could stop his mouth.

“Vrrteptsyip!” She snarled.

Read Chapter 10 on AO3 HERE!

[cyren-myadd]

I hope the Artbook for Avatar 3 will include a section on Spider's visual development

I got The Art of Avatar The Way of Water last year and I absolutely love the book, I've read it cover-to-cover multiple times, but one thing slightly disappointed me about it: I wish it had a section on Spider!

There's sections for how they developed the looks for the Sully family, the recoms, and the Metkayina, but nothing on Spider. He appears in a few concept arts, but there's no breakdown of how they created his look. I wasn't expecting anything as extensive as the section on Kiri (she had the longest section of any single character because it took the design team a long time to nail down her final look), but I'd hoped there would at least be a paragraph or two on him. They have sections for the development of uniforms and props used by the live-action human RDA characters after all. I just want to know how they settled on the painted Tarzan look. Somebody had to sit down and design the dreadlocks, the Omaticaya accessories, and of course, the signature blue paint.

Spider's character design is one of my favorites because it tells you so much about him from just one look. I vividly remember sitting in the theater in 2022 to see the Dr. Strange movie when the A2 teaser came on. I hadn't seen Avatar since I was a young kid and I hardly knew anything about the lore, but the minute I saw Spider onscreen I was like "oh, he's obviously a human guy who's trying to live like these aliens who are twice as big and strong as he is, that sounds like a really cool character!" and my curiosity over the character led to me giving Avatar another chance and falling in love with the story.

There is actually a big chance I never would've gotten into Avatar in the first place if Spider hadn't been in the teaser, cause he was one of the main things that piqued my curiosity about the movie. I used to believe in the stupid rhetoric that Avatar is all eye candy with no substance, so even though I was blown away by the spectacular underwater scenes in the teaser, they probably wouldn't have been enough to draw me in by themselves.

So anyways, I'm hoping if they make an artbook for Avatar 3 (I can't imagine they wouldn't), that there will be at least a few paragraphs on how they settled on Spider's final look. I hope this doesn't sound whiny or critical, I just genuinely want to know more about the character design that got me into the Avatar world in the first place.

[cyren-myadd]

That's a great theory on where all this confusion about Spider's status came from! I always thought that scene they referenced was the "miracle" but it could actually be an adoption, whether informal or not. Plus it lines up with the old, non-canon concept art where Spider is on their songcords. Maybe he was "unofficially" adopted when they created his character but had to change it during the Water/FireAsh split to make his relationship with Quaritch make sense.

Also, @nilnether corrected me on something. Turns out the people who make teasers and trailers are usually not the same people who made the movie. So it kind of makes my whole point about the teaser emphasizing Spider and Jake when talking about family moot 😓. I still like to think if the marketing team was wayyyy off the mark with using Spider in that scene that someone would've corrected them, but who knows.

No matter what happens, we still have the late Jon Landau's direct quote: "Jake took him in, but Neytiri always saw him as one of the invaders." (I'm paraphrasing 'cause I can't find the exact quote at the moment). He didn't say Jake adopted Spider, but he said he took him in. That means something at least. No matter what happens, I just want the non-genocidal adults in Spider's life to care about him and try to protect him when he's in danger. No more getting left behind to be tortured please 🙏🙏🙏

Sometimes I go back and rewatch the Avatar 2 teaser 'cause it had such a big impact on me the first time I watched it, it converted me into the huge Avatar fan I am today.

This scene is something I've noticed before, but I decided to finally post about it with the confusion over recent articles still calling Spider Jake's son even though the movie didn't confirm it. I wanted to talk about how when Jake's monologue says "this family," the camera very purposefully zooms in on him hugging Spider. There's so many other scenes they could've picked for that section of the monologue, many, many scenes where it's just the biological Sullies and Kiri, like these:

But they didn't. For some reason, they chose the scene where most of the family isn't even included. They decided it was more important to show Jake embracing Spider than any other scene of him with his wife and kids. All the stuff with the articles describing Spider as the adopted son could be explained away by miscommunication (I've already talked ad nauseum how the whole thing came from a misunderstood quote from the late Jon Landau) but the actual teaser? The teaser that was put together by Avatar's creative team and approved by James Cameron? There's no way this isn't intentional.

I don't really think they're ever going to have a "proper" adoption for Spider like they did with Kiri, but I do believe Spider will become a part of their family, even if it's not quite official. There's just no way they would frame the scenes in the teaser this way if Spider was going to end up on his own or with Quaritch or living with other people.

My only hope is that they do Spider justice if he's going to be part of the family, like have Jake actually do something when Spider is in danger instead of leaving him behind like he did in A2. I'm really gonna hate it if it's like they say "okay, you're family now!" and then they don't actually do anything to show they value Spider like a member of the family.

The recent Empire article mentioned an extremely emotional scene between Jake and Spider that will "rip our hearts out," so hopefully that references a scene where Jake shows care for Spider.

[cyren-myadd]

And here is yet another article from the May 2025 issue of Empire UK about Avatar: Fire and Ash. Source

The screenwriters talk about their writing process and which characters each of them relate to. (And James Cameron had them watch Pocahontas, lol.)

And looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Varang in the trailers, so I can't wait to actually see her in action, rather than just on stills (and she's pretty menacing even on those). And I really hope our girl Neytiri is also going to have a lot of screentime in this movie, she got sidelined too much in the last one.

[cyren-myadd]

Sometimes I go back and rewatch the Avatar 2 teaser 'cause it had such a big impact on me the first time I watched it, it converted me into the huge Avatar fan I am today.

This scene is something I've noticed before, but I decided to finally post about it with the confusion over recent articles still calling Spider Jake's son even though the movie didn't confirm it. I wanted to talk about how when Jake's monologue says "this family," the camera very purposefully zooms in on him hugging Spider. There's so many other scenes they could've picked for that section of the monologue, many, many scenes where it's just the biological Sullies and Kiri, like these:

But they didn't. For some reason, they chose the scene where most of the family isn't even included. They decided it was more important to show Jake embracing Spider than any other scene of him with his wife and kids. All the stuff with the articles describing Spider as the adopted son could be explained away by miscommunication (I've already talked ad nauseum how the whole thing came from a misunderstood quote from the late Jon Landau) but the actual teaser? The teaser that was put together by Avatar's creative team and approved by James Cameron? There's no way this isn't intentional.

I don't really think they're ever going to have a "proper" adoption for Spider like they did with Kiri, but I do believe Spider will become a part of their family, even if it's not quite official. There's just no way they would frame the scenes in the teaser this way if Spider was going to end up on his own or with Quaritch or living with other people.

My only hope is that they do Spider justice if he's going to be part of the family, like have Jake actually do something when Spider is in danger instead of leaving him behind like he did in A2. I'm really gonna hate it if it's like they say "okay, you're family now!" and then they don't actually do anything to show they value Spider like a member of the family.

The recent Empire article mentioned an extremely emotional scene between Jake and Spider that will "rip our hearts out," so hopefully that references a scene where Jake shows care for Spider.

[cyren-myadd]

Hey this is a what if question for Prisoner of War that’s been on my mind since the last chapter and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. What if Spider’s secret was found out by the higher ups of the R.D.A but instead of sending him back they make him their poster boy. Because it really would be a huge p.r win for them. The son of Miles Quaritch, who’s not even legally old enough to fight, sneaking his way into their army to avenge his parents and finish what his father started. The R.D.A could make a deal with Spider where they let him stay on Pandora long term, he gets an apartment to himself, a top notch education, and military training. In return Spider gives them promo material. I imagine it like that montage in Captain America: First Avenger. They’re putting Spider on posters alongside his father, filming him against a green screen, even staging scenes like taking Spider back to Quaritch’s body so they can recreate the moment Spider found his dad’s dog tags. 

I imagine Spider would hate it. I can imagine him either running away and then getting to discover Pandora on his own terms or sticking it out, biding his time until he turns 18 and can properly enlist. But then recom Quaritch enters the chat. Their handlers don’t tell either of them about the other's existence so they can ambush them with a “happy family reunion.” The cameras are rolling when Spider and Quaritch enter the room from opposite sides. They’re both stunned to say the least. I could go on but I want to hear your thoughts. Take your time though. I know you're working hard on Prisoner of War and don’t want to take you away from that. 💙

omg I love this idea so much! I can totally picture the RDA higher-ups looking at this tall, blond, good-looking teenage boy with a sad backstory and seeing nothing but dollar signs 💲💲💲

Like, maybe in this au of my au, Maverick ended up spilling the beans and Spider gets called to the higher ups office and he's completely panicking, desperately trying to come up with what he could say to avoid getting sent back to earth, but to his surprise, the higher ups are all excited to meet him and they tell him the deal: be their poster boy and he gets to stay. Spider hates the idea, but he doesn't have much choice so he agrees.

You brought up Captain America, but this also makes me think of Katniss in the Mockingjay, where they're trying to push her to be this figurehead but it always falls flat because traumatized teenagers aren't great actors. They have him film scenes where he pretends to fight na'vi while yelling about fighting for humanity or whatever, but they're not very convincing. The film crew tries a bunch of different things with him, and eventually they figure out that Spider's propaganda is most authentic and believable when Spider is actually feeling it himself. They have a sit down interview where they just ask Spider to describe how he enlisted in the RDA and wants to make his dad proud, and the raw emotion on his face as he talks is a million times better than any staged scene of him fighting a fake na'vi. They circulate the video around the RDA and send it back to earth and it quickly becomes very popular.

Then they take it a step further and bring Spider back to the site where his dad's body lays and have Spider just speak his mind about how he wants to make sure his parents' sacrifice wasn't in vain. Spider is no shakespeare, but he's completely genuine with everything he says, and that makes a greater impact on audiences than the best-written script ever could. This video gets even more popular than the first, and RDA enlistment rates even increase by a few percents. Spider hates having his personal feelings broadcast to the world like that, but Maverick tells him to suck it up because he's getting paid so well and gets to stay in Bridgehead with a nice apartment.

The RDA higher ups get very excited when they notice Spider's candid video with his dad's body seemingly inspires more people to enlist, and that's when they cook up the idea for an even better candid video: Spider reuniting with his dad in the flesh. They wait for Quaritch to decant and reorient himself, and then they bring Quaritch to the room where they do the interviews and tell him he's about to make an enlistment video. Quaritch thinks making videos is a waste of time when Sully is still out there, but he reluctantly goes along with it. Same thing with Spider, his film crew fetches him and tells him they have a new video planned, and they just have him walk into the room where Quaritch is sitting and start rolling the cameras.

Quaritch sees the cameras start rolling when this blond teen walks in and he immediately knows something is wrong, but Spider doesn't pick up on anything. He's used to ignoring the cameras, and he doesn't recognize Quaritch, he thinks he's an avatar so he starts talking to him like "oh, hey, man, are you gonna film the new video with me? It's nice to meet you, I'm Miles. Miles Socorro."

Quaritch had his suspicions, but when Spider introduces himself as Miles, it still comes as a shock. His jaw just drops and Spider tries to act polite but he's really weirded out by this random avatar staring at him like that. Quaritch looks at Spider, looks at the camera, then looks back at the admin guy who brought him here who's already got a box of tissues ready and he figures out this is some kind of weird stunt. The realization does not make him happy.

He immediately starts hollering at the film crew to shut off the cameras and get out. Quaritch was scary enough as a human, but now as a recom he's twice as terrifying, so the other humans scramble to get away from him. Spider is also freaked out, but Quaritch is too overwhelmed by the shock of meeting his son to realize he's scaring him. Quaritch gets down on his knees and grabs Spider by the shoulders to better look at him and yells, "boy, you better not be lying to me- is your name really Miles Socorro?"

"Yes! What the hell, get off me!" Spider yells and tries to squirm away, but Quaritch is too strong.

Quaritch does that thing parents do where their kids scare them and they don't want to show they're scared so they act angry instead. He grabs Spider even more tightly and yells, "what the hell are you doing here, boy? You're supposed to be back on earth! Safe!" (he doesn't know how bad earth got in the past several years) and then he turns and starts yelling at the film crew and admin guys who haven't made themselves scarce yet, "why is he here? Did you people bring him here?"

A couple of the guys start timidly trying to explain what happened, but Quaritch is too mad to really listen and he just starts chewing them out, not caring to hear that Spider came here of his own volition. The whole time he keeps one hand on Spider, like he's scared he'll disappear if he lets go, and Spider is progressively getting more and more scared of this unstable seeming avatar who just started yelling for no reason. In the back of his mind, Spider recognizes Quaritch's voice, but he's still too confused by everything to make the connection.

"Sir, you're scaring him!" Finally, one of the film crew gets through to Quaritch and he realizes he's holding onto Spider's arm really tightly and lets him go.

Spider backs away and rubs his sore arm, glaring the whole time. "What's wrong with you, are you crazy?"

Quaritch is just at a loss for words because he's still processing everything. One of the admins sees an opportunity to recover the situation and maybe get a heartfelt moment on camera so he discreetly gestures to the film crew to start filming again and steps between Quaritch and Spider.

"Miles," he says, grabbing Spider's hand and trying unsuccessfully to pull him closer to Quaritch, "this is your father, Miles Quaritch."

Spider just stares at Quaritch, studying him. Now that he's over the shock, he recognizes the voice and the face and the tattoos, but he can't reconcile the fantasy of his dead dad he's had in his head for all his life with this big angry freak standing in front of him.

The admin guy starts explaining project phoenix and keeps trying to pull Spider closer to Quaritch for the cameras, but Spider won't budge. He doesn't even hear what the guy is telling him, he can't do anything other than stare at the alien wearing his father's face. Quaritch has finally calmed down enough to think about someone other than himself and realizes this must be a huge shock for Spider as well. He squats back down to try and seem more approachable and reaches out a hand for Spider while the guy keeps talking, but that finally snaps Spider out of his surprise. Spider recoils from his hands.

"No," he shakes his head in disbelief. "No way, my dad's dead. You're not my dad."

Quaritch's ears flick downward and he pulls his hand back, but his face remains stoic.

"That's what I was trying to explain," the admin guy says, "project phoenix. Before he passed, your father uploaded his souldrive, which was implanted into this new body. His personality, memories, feelings, it's all right here. For all intents and purposes, this is your dad, Miles." The guy tries one more time to pull Spider towards Quaritch, but Spider is at the end of the rope.

He pushes the guy away and walks out of the room. "What? No way, no fucking way! That is so fucked! That is some-- some THING you cooked up in a lab, don't try to tell me it's my dad!"

Quaritch tries to call after him, "Miles-"

"Just stay the hell away from me!" Spider yells and he storms out of the room.

Everyone goes quiet after he leaves. Quaritch stays kneeling on the floor, a carefully blank look on his face.

"Maybe we should've talked to them before we introduced them to each other..." One of the film crew whispers. Quaritch's sharp ears hear it and he roars at them to get the hell out and they all run, leaving him alone. Later, the higher ups try to apologize to Quaritch for springing that on them without warning, but Q is having none of it. The higher ups walk out of there feeling grateful Q didn't throw any of them through a window.

Quaritch gives it a day before he tries to approach Spider. He goes back to the admin guys who started the whole fiasco and asks them where Spider is and they direct him to his apartment without a fight, eager to avoid getting chewed out again.

When Spider opens the door and sees Quaritch standing there he just closes it again before he can say anything. Quaritch's patience is wearing thin and he politely calls through the door that he knows Spider was startled yesterday but he would really like to talk to him. Nothing. He tries again, saying that Spider can't avoid him forever and they need to talk this out. Nothing again. His patience snaps and he starts yelling at Spider to open the damn door. Finally, he tells Spider he'll sit out there as long as he has to because Spider will have to come out for food at some point.

Spider must've heard him because soon Quaritch is interrupted by Maverick trying to bring Spider some food from the cafeteria. Maverick wondered why Spider asked him to bring food to his apartment, but once he sees Quaritch, he knows why. Quaritch sees Maverick and the food and realizes Spider is still trying to avoid him, and it just pisses him off even more. Maverick tries to awkwardly introduce himself, but Quaritch just snatches the food from his hand and pounds on Spider's door again and yells "dinner's here, boy, come 'n get it!"

"Fuck off!" Spider yells back.

Maverick just watches the whole display feeling really uncomfortable. His tablet gets a message and he looks at it.

"Was that Miles? What did he say?" Quaritch asks.

Maverick looks at the very rude message Spider typed about Quaritch and tries to be diplomatic. "He politely asked if you could leave and let him have his dinner."

Quaritch scoffs because he knows Maverick lied about the polite part. "Who are you anyway?"

Maverick introduces himself as Spider's friend and explains how he's the one who discovered Spider's identity and turned him in because Spider refused to stop going out into the field. Quaritch thanks Maverick for looking out for Spider and says he's a good guy.

"Listen, sir, do I have permission to speak honestly?" Maverick asks.

"Go ahead."

"I get you want to talk to Miles, seriously, I can't imagine having a kid and then missing the first fifteen years of his life-- but has it occurred to you that you might be, um, freaking him out with the way you're acting?"

Quaritch knows Maverick is right but he's too proud to admit it. "Miles has nothing to be scared of. He would know that if he would just open the damn door!" He adds raising his voice for Spider to hear.

"Yeah, but maybe he just needs a little time? Maybe let him approach you when he's ready? I mean, this is a big shock for him..."

"Oh, he's shocked? Try waking up blue!" Quaritch scoffs. then his expression darkens and his ears flatten back. He says in softer voice. "Look, Maverick, I'm trying not to make a scene here, but you didn't see the way the kid looked at me. He thinks I'm a monster. So I don't care if I have to sit out here all night, I need to have a proper conversation with him whether he's ready or not, so he'll see there's nothing wrong with me."

Maverick sits with his back to the wall next to Quaritch. "Miles doesn't think you're a monster."

"And how do you figure that?"

"'cause he told me. Last night, after that whole fiasco, he came and talked to me about it. I've never seen the kid so upset. He told me what he said to you, but he says he didn't really mean it-- honestly, I think he feels kinda bad about what he said."

"He doesn't think I'm a monster?" Quaritch's ears perk up in relief. "Then what's he hiding for?"

Maverick shrugs. "I asked him if he wanted to talk to you and he said no. I tried to get him to tell me why, but he wouldn't answer. To be honest, I don't think even he knows why he doesn't want to talk to you."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do then? I don't want to corner the kid, but he's not giving me much of a choice!" Quaritch throws his hands up in frustration. "I am me! I'm Miles Quaritch! How else am I supposed to prove that to him if he won't talk to me?"

"You know what... that might actually be the problem..."

"What?"

"That you're you- that you're Miles Quaritch."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Maverick hesitates. "God, I don't even know if I should be telling you this... but Spider's told me about his childhood and it was pretty rough, growing up as an orphan on Earth and all that. No one ever really stepped up to fill the hole you left in his life-- the role of a dad, you know?"

Quaritch shifts guiltily, but doesn't interrupt.

"And I think Spider grew up, seeing things on tv or seeing other kids with their dads, and he got this idea in his head about what a dad is like. He used to talk about you all the time, like all the things he would do with you if you were still around, and it always gave me the sense that he has this, um, sort of, idealized version of you in his head. Listen, sir, I don't know you personally, but what I did know about you didn't match up with the stuff Spider talked about. I never had the heart to correct him, 'cause I figured it wasn't doing any harm. I could be completely wrong here, but this is what I think happened: Spider's got this fantasy of you in his head where you're this perfect dad or whatever, and then you show up in person out of nowhere and you're... uh..." Maverick stops himself from saying something and nervously gestures at Quaritch.

"I'm a little rough around the edges." Quaritch admits.

"Yeah, something like that."

Quaritch crosses his arms and huffs, "so the kid's mad that I don't want to play catch in the backyard and make pancakes on Saturdays? Tough shit. If he thinks I'm bad he shoulda met his grandpa."

"I don't know, sir, I told you, I'm just guessing. I just wanted you to know Spider doesn't think you're a monster... and maybe giving him a little space would help." Maverick prompts.

Quaritch still looks frustrated but he relents. "Alright fine." He knocks on Spider's door and says "alright, kid, you win. I'm gonna give you space. I won't come back here. When you're ready to talk to me, I'll be in the recom barracks." and he walks away.

Once he's gone, Maverick grabs the food and Spider opens the door to ask "wait did he actually leave?" Before Maverick can properly answer, Spider is running after Quaritch. It doesn't take him long to catch up, but he's out of breath from following in Quaritch's bigger footsteps. He finds him in a thankfully empty area outdoors, close to the recom barracks, but far enough away that the other recoms won't hear them talking.

Quaritch is surprised but happy to see Spider willingly chasing after him, until Spider opens his mouth: "What the hell are you doing? Are you just gonna walk away from me? Again?"

The added "again" stings, and Quaritch immediately gets as pissed as Spider. "I thought you wanted me to leave you alone, you little shit!"

"No!"

"Then what the hell was all that? One minute, you're telling me to fuck off and locking me out, and the next you're pissed at me for giving you space? Make up your damn mind and tell me what you want!"

But Spider doesn't know what he wants. Quaritch freaks him out and he doesn't want to talk to him, but at the same time, when Quaritch finally left his door it made Spider feel sick to his stomach, as if he was being abandoned again, like he'd been abandoned by so many adults in his childhood in the foster system, and his instincts told him to follow after Quaritch, but once he got to him, seeing him freaked him out again. Spider scuffs his foot on the ground, trying to think of what to say.

Quaritch doesn't have the patience or the emotional intelligence to deal with this, so he snaps "Well, what is it then? Stay or go?"

"Don't go," Spider says in a small voice.

Even as irritated as Quaritch is, hearing Spider sound so pitiful makes him feel a little bad, so he sits down on the sparse patch of grass outside the barracks, the only green thing in sight. He doesn't say anything, he just watches Spider.

Spider digs the toe of his boot into the grass and avoids eye contact for a few minutes. Finally, he says, "so this is really you? You're my... dad?"

"Technically not. You understand what a recombinant is, right? Your father, my genetic donor, is dead, but I have his soul drive-- same memories, same personality, same thoughts and feelings and all that shit."

"Yeah, I understand that my real dad is still dead, but you-- you're like a perfect copy of him, just bluer? So the way you act is the way he would've acted? This is how he was like?"

"Yes."

"Oh..."

Quaritch can tell Spider is disappointed and it hurts him, but he tries not to let it show. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend I was ever gonna be the perfect father. I was never gonna read you bedtime stories and help you with your homework and all that. In fact, I never wanted to be a father in the first place..." he sighs heavily, "but we're here now. You seem like a halfway decent kid, and I think I'd like to get to know you. And I'm an asshole, but if you decide you want to get to know me..." he shrugs, gets to his feet and starts walking towards the barracks.

Spider doesn't follow, but he doesn't have that awful feeling of abandonment anymore. he returns to his apartment and eats dinner by himself. Eventually, he works up the courage to visit Quaritch. And then he visits him again. And again. Until Spider is regularly spending time with him. They're not exactly a father son duo, there's an awkward space that persists between them no matter how much time they spend together, but Spider's not unhappy with it, and neither is Quaritch.

[cyren-myadd]

Beating a dead horse at this point but I think it’s sweet, in a very tragic, bitter sense that both Spider and Miles ruined their lives for each other. Remember that it wasn’t just Spider who put his position with the Na��vi in danger by saving his father; Quaritch, realistically, will face a fate far worse than death if his bosses ever find out that he, one, got his entire squad and most of the ship staff killed because he couldn’t wrangle a single boy, and two, proceeded to give up his final chance at getting the intended target to save said boy’s life instead.

Court-marshalling? Miles can forget that. Fuck-ups that big don’t earn you the mercy of a lay-off. RDA is a textbook cyberpunk mega-corp, and mega-corps don’t forgive.

And Miles knew that. He had to, in the back of his head, as he was inching closer to letting Kiri go. He was given a good minute to weight his options, but in the end, the life of his child out-weighted the agony awaiting him back at RDA. Similarity, Spider got a short moment to weight his choices as well, and the need to have the first adult to ever care for him alive out-weighted the horrible consequences he’d bear if anyone were to find out.

It’s during reflections like these that I’m truly reminded of how deep their bond seems to run, in spite of the abhorrent lack of screentime we as viewers received.

[cyren-myadd]

De filio delecto

or "About the beloved son"

on AO3 🖤

[cyren-myadd]

Prisoner of War, ch 9: Captured

“So I decided to keep him here until after the attack is over. Then I’ll leave him in the woods where I found him. What happens to him after that is between him and Eywa.” Lo’ak concluded his story with a big sigh.

The other three hybrids stared at Lo’ak and Spider in silence after the conclusion of the wild story. Neteyam had gone from furious to disappointed, Tuk looked like she was expecting Spider to jump at her at any moment, and Kiri still seemed oddly pleased by the whole situation.

Eventually, Neteyam broke the silence. He put his head in his hand and groaned, “Lo’ak… you skxawng… you know we can’t let him go now, right?”

The dead-seriousness in his statement made Spider’s heart start racing again. “What do you mean?” He asked anxiously.

Read Chapter 9 on ao3 HERE!

[cyren-myadd]

The four of them 🤩

Photo from the new Empire Magazine special

💙🩵💙🩵💙

The best quartet

[cyren-myadd]

I read this and at first got really excited about the adoptive son part but then I saw the brackets...

You are not getting me again. This isn't what the writers called him. Just because an editor put it there doesn't mean I will treat it as official confirmation. You got me once. I will not believe it again just because it's in the press. I need here it from the source.

But the "ripped hearts out" part is official. It came out of Cameron's mouth. And I can't wait for it

SPOILER speculation

And since it's something that comes out of all that happened before I think it will be related to the fact that Spider has been constantly abandoned so far. Neytiri excluded him in more obvious way but Jake did it also. It was exclusion of "not my problem" kind. Whenever it became inconvenient, he would leave Spider to RDA - from the comics to not even considering rescuing him when recoms took him to the islands - but I hope this time he won't.

Jack metioned in interview Spider getting everything he wanted and Spider always wished he could belong with the Sullies. He always idolized Jake and wanted to be more like him. Jake finally sticking around for him when he is in danger would be proof that Jake really cares.

But, of course, a lot has happened in between. I wonder if there will be some resentment too. And then there is Quaritch and the fact that he is alive. He already declared Spider his son and it's clearly complicated for Spider.

I can't wait to see how it all will turn out 😱💀💙