~ AO'NUNG X FEM!HUMAN!READER ~
human tsakarem
summary: after the battle, Parker Selfridge leaves his daughter with the humans that formed an alliance with the Na'vi. She grows up to become a scientist herself and moves to Awa'atlu to keep an eye on Kiri's health. There she meets Ao'nung who can't keep himself from being curious about her.
includes: guns, foul language, falling in love, insults, lil' dash of angst, arguments, mentions of death, rejection, courting, fluff, reader being a little brat, avatars
word count: 9.9k | SFW
A/N: OMG I've had this idea for a while now. I know some things don't make sense like being able to have a call from earth to pandora but just imagine it ok? Leave your thoughts below! Also if you see typos, blink. U didn't see anything, nuh-uh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The airship stood ready. Only a few humans were allowed to stay on Pandora and Parker Selfridge wasn't one of them. Neytiri's and Jake's eyes followed him as he stood in line, walking up to the airship with slow steps, his head hung low in shame and guilt. As he passed the couple, Jake had to hold his mate back from scratching his eyes out. It didn't stop Parker from walking up to them, barely finding the confidence to look them in the eyes.
"You know this isn't over?" he mumbled, but Jake didn't say anything. He only gestured him to board the ship. Parker swallowed heavily, turned to leave but ended up facing the tall couple again.
"Sully, I know I cannot ask this of you but... earth is no place for a child to grow up..." his voice was not much more than a whimper. Jake could see his wet eyes through his oxygen mask as he began to shake.
"She's all I have left, she's not responsible for my mistakes. I can't take her back with me, she's still too young for the cryo capsules. She will die, Jake."
For a second, the ex-marine's mask fell. He pursed his lips, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"And you want me to take care of her?" Jake asked while Norm and Max approached as well.
Parker hesitantly nodded with his teeth clenched.
"I beg you..." he whimpered as shameful tears blurred his vision and his shaking intensified.
Neytiri didn't understand much of their conversation, yet she had figured out what he wanted. A man like him had only few to none weaknesses, but his daughter was one of them, probably the only one.
"I can't take her with me..." Parker whispered as more tears filled his eyes. Jake gave his two colleagues a questioning look and they shrugged.
"We're already looking after Miles, a playmate in his age can't hurt his evolution" Norm shrugged and Max copied his expression.
Jake only sighed and even Neytiri calmed down. Even if his daughter was a human, she was innocent. She couldn't hate a baby that had done no harm.
Parker's eyes switched to Norm, his shameful frown turned into a slight smile.
"You would take care of my little girl?" he asked for clarification, and the scientists agreed. What could one more human do after all?
~~~
It's been many years since that day where your father departed. He continued to live on earth, the planet that fell apart while you grew up on pandora. The scientists took good care of you even if they sometimes had the urge to simply throw you out into the wilds without your exopack. As you got older, Norm always shook it off as going through puberty while Max insisted on it being the genes of your father. An annoying teenager with a big mouth. A brat. An absolute pain in the ass, as the doctor liked to call it.
"Hey princess~" Miles, better known as Spider, sang from across the room, mocking you with one of the many nicknames your father gave you whenever he called from earth.
You looked up from the table you sat on, dropping the papers you held in one hand.
"Look, it's the monkey boy." you mumbled back unimpressed.
After all these years you had grown up like siblings, living together for all your life, but you wouldn't call him a friend. You two were way too different. Sometimes you even fought because of all the differences between the two of you.
He approached you with a grin, hiding something behind his back.
"I got you something!" Spider exclaimed as he took a seat on the table before you.
"How about you get yourself a detangling brush first?" you lifted one of his dreads with two fingers, dropping them to hit his face while your expression twisted in disgust.
Now it was Spider's turn to roll his eyes. "Good, then I'll keep it."
You crossed your legs and leant back against your chair, holding one hand out to him.
Spider crossed his legs too and dropped something into your hand. As you retrieved your hand you took a close look at the object he had placed in the palm of your hand.
"You gifted me... a piece of wood?"
"That's an arm ring! I've spent weeks carving it, you better be thankful."
With a confused look you tried it on but it slipped up to your elbow right away.
"Bit large, is it?" you scoffed, watching the wooden accessories dangle around your arm, checking how far it went up.
"You made me a collar, dude."
He only huffed and shook his head.
"I know what I made. Just wait, you'll see. Happy birthday you ungrateful brat." While Spider got up and left, probably to see the Sullys, you took a close look at the arm ring until Norm and Max walked in with a tablet.
They were currently on a call, so you didn't bother. Only when you heard your father's voice you sprung up and sprinted over to the two scientists, snatching the device from Norms grip, much to his dislike.
"Daddy?" an excited smile spread over your entire face, "can you hear me?"
You saw his visage on the monitor, he was dressed in one of his button shirts, as usual. Had you ever even seen him in other clothes anyways?
He had a little delay, but as soon as he saw your face in the camera his expression matched yours perfectly.
"Hey, my little princess, I'm sorry I couldn't call you earlier. Happy birthday sweetheart, how is my pretty girl doing?" he asked you as you sat down on your desk, leaning the tablet against a microscope.
You ignored the discussion about your audacious behavior between Max and Norm in the background and focused on the call with your father.
"Well, it would've been better if I would've gotten the cake that I specifically asked for!" The two scientists rolled their eyes as you raised your voice towards the end of your sentence, sending death glares to the two men who still argued how long it would take for Parker to come back to Pandora to kill them if they actually locked you out of the labs without your exopack.
"I'm sorry my dear darling, there must have been a misunderstanding. You'll get your cake, I- wait, what are you wearing, princess? What is that?"
Your father's look was struck with concern as he noticed your cropped tight shirt.
"Oh yeah, I cut it off. It's cool, right?"
You got up and spun around, but Parker only sunk his face into his hands.
"They let you run around like this? And your pants, what's this?"
"These are cargo shorts, dad. Calm down."
"Yeah shorts! They're too short! My princess, please put on some more clothing, will you?"
With a frown you looked down on yourself, not seeing an issue with your outfit.
"Good thing you're gonna have to change soon anyways."
You didn't understand why, until Norm and Max finally walked up to you after calming themselves.
"You know that you haven't been allowed to go to the med station, right? And now I can finally tell you why, my dear. Daddy organized for you to get your own avatar, isn't that cool? You get to connect with it and then you can go out and play!"
"Selfridge, we talked about that. It's dangerous out there, this is no playground." Max interfered, but Parker just shrugged while you squealed and cheered in excitement, clapping your hands while hopping on your chair.
"When do I get to try it out?! Can we go now? I can't wait to get outside without this annoying mask!" you asked Norm and he led the way.
"It's all ready and waiting for you."
~~~
You quickly got used to your avatar. The scientists weren't fine with the fact that you went outside in it alone, so you mostly snuck out without their knowledge getting scolded as soon as you returned, also by your father. He wanted you to live a happy and safe life on pandora. Sometimes you went out with Spider or the Sully kids, learning how to hunt and survive, but the Na'vi half breeds didn't take you in like they did with Spider. In the lab, you learned a lot about science. The older scientists taught you everything about all kinds of biological and medical knowledge. Even if you had a big mouth, they could at least work with you, and that made it a lot more bearable for them.
As the Sully's had to flee from their home and Spider was also missing, things changed for everyone. You still stayed in the lab until one day, your godfathers stormed in, telling you to pack up and get everything into the helicopter as soon as possible. He explained on the way to Awa'atlu what had happened and that Kiri needed medical help.
You were in your human body as you landed, jumped out of the helicopter and grabbed your med bag.
Many metkayina had gathered at the shore as the Samson landed. They were visibly terrified of the helicopter and, even more than that, afraid of Max and you since you both were humans.
Jake told his oldest son to keep everyone away while Lo'ak hurried over to you as well.
"Where is she?" you called out loudly, your voice fighting against the noises of the rotors. Lo'ak quickly lead the way, passing through the villagers which gave you all terrified or angry looks. They had been told that you were here to help but that didn't keep them from being frightened and yet curious.
You followed Lo'ak, making your way through the teal skinned giants as quickly as possible. Close to the marui that Kiri layed in someone blocked your path, gazing at you in curiosity. You looked up to the young metkayina man and clicked your tongue.
"Get your blue ass out of my way!" you snarled in perfect Na'vi, much to the boy's surprise. His blue eyes widened as he stared at you completely dumbfounded, jaw dropping as you pushed him away fiercly, leading him to stumble backwards.
His breath hitched at your touch. It was the first time in his life he had ever been in physical contact with a demon. There was something boiling up deep inside of him. No matter how much he wanted to murder those sky people, he was curious about your fierceness. He wanted to know more about you somehow. You were only a tiny little creature from another star and you still didn't seem to be scared of him the slightest. He blinked a few times, being completely perplexed by the fact that you just pushed him off and walked past him, the future olo'eyktan without the slightest bit of respect.
While Neytiri freaked out about her daughter you listened to Lo'ak who explained what had exactly happened to Kiri, so you got everything ready to run a few checks on the unconscious girl.
Soon, Norm in his avatar and Max rushed over too.
"Why did you bring this little missy anyways?! As if she's of any help!"
You heard Jake hiss, his fangs flashing.
"She has learned a lot, Jake. We taught y/n and believe it or not, she knows what she's doing." Norm answered, getting the equipment ready with you and the other scientist.
"Call me missy again and I'll sedate you, Sully." you growled while getting out more utensils from your back.
Jake watched you closely as you measured Kiri's blood pressure.
"Don't forget who I am. Without my father you'd still sit in that silly wheelchair. He payed your blue legs, remember that." you added, your eyes meeting his ones for a moment and he internally swore he'd kill you if you wouldn't be helping his daughter right now.
"Your father might be rich but that's not gonna help you here, so drop that attitude and do your thing!"
You simply rolled your eyes before refocusing on the unconscious Na'vi.
The three of you tried your best until Neytiri finally took matters into her own hands and Ronal, the metkayina tsahik worked her magic.
During that time, you decided to have a talk with Jake and your godfathers.
The problem was that they wanted someone to run test on Kiri regularly now, but they were both needed in the Hallelujah mountains. All eyes landed on you.
"Oh, and how exactly do you plan on doing this, smart heads?" you scoffed, crossing your arms in front of your chest. Max brought up the idea of bringing one of the link shacks over here, together with your avatar so you could take care of Kiri. The decision was made quickly and Jake went to ask Tonowari for green light, dragging you with him.
He led you through the village, the metkayina still stared at you in curiosity and angst. As you stood before the olo'eyktan you greeted him traditionally and in fluent Na'vi.
The tall man eyed you with curiosity as well, but spoke to you soon.
"You're a human tsakarem?" he asked, supporting himself on his staff.
"More or less. I'm a-" you thought about a way to translate it to him in Na'vi, "an explorer, a student. I learned about plants and animals, Na'vi too. I can heal people to a certain point too, yes."
He understood and nodded in silence while he mustered you closely. Next to him, two younger Na'vi appeared, also glancing at you, up and down.
One of them you had seen before, it was the guy that stood in your way earlier. His eyes especially drilled into your body.
The two of you tried to explain to the metkayina why they needed you here and how you had imagined it to work.
After careful consideration he allowed it and granted you to do as planned. It was the first time that their clan collaborated with a human, but if it was needed to ensure Kiri's safety he saw no other option.
During the entire negotiation, Ao'nung had circled you like a predator his prey but you weren't surprised. Bothered? Maybe.
~~~
Norm, Max and you went back home only to pack your things, prepare a link shack and bring it over within 24 hours. The three of you set everything up as quickly as you could.
Tonowari and Ronal watched the entire scene. Their daughter Tsireya had helped you carrying a few things into an empty marui where your avatar could rest properly.
Meanwhile their son Ao'nung was rather spooked by you which didn't keep him from annoying you. He stood next to his father but came closer to touch the link share for not much more than a second.
You watched him in confusion. 'As if my link shack is gonna kill him..' you thought and shook your head.
Lo'ak and Neteyam came to help you as well. As the younger brother passed you held him by his arm.
"Don't tell me that's the future olo'eyktan?"
Lo'ak huffed and nodded.
"Already beat him up with Neteyam some weeks ago. He's really a pain in the ass. Almost like you~" he teased.
"Like me?" you repeated in disbelief, raising your eyebrows at his words.
"You're both some offspring of men with influence, have a big mouth and you both have a problem with your attitude."
"One brat is already too much. Please don't befriend him, I can't even take one of you at a time." Neteyam chimed in before Tonowari called you, gesturing you to come closer and you did.
He had chosen his two children to help you get to know these lands better and shared that information with you, much to Ao'nungs disliking while Tsireya hoped to learn from you.
You turned on your heel, an unamused frown showing on your face before you called out to the brothers in english.
"You really had to jinx it, huh?!"
As your eyes wandered over to Tonowari's son, his gaze met yours. He was not happy about his father's decision but the knew that there was no point in arguing to he swallowed his protest and simply clicked his tongue.
Tsireya made her way over to you and kneeled so she was on eye level with you.
"How does this... thing work?" she asked, "what does it do?"
You mustered Tsireya from top to bottom. Even if she was still careful, Lo'ak seemed to be cool with you, and she trusted him.
"Come, come." With one hand you gestured her to follow you in, walking up the bright yellow metal stairs. The noise they made left Tsireyas ears twitching, but that didn't keep her from getting up, touching the iron stairs with her hand first before she followed with feather light steps. You held the door out for her and closed it as soon as she was in the airlock.
She didn't understand what you were doing as she crouched and observed how you pressed a few buttons.
"Don't get scared." you warned her with a monotonous voice. Before she could ask, a weird sound, too loud for her taste, filled the airlock and she could feel a windy breeze all around her body as she covered her ears.
You however took off your mask in relief and shook your hair a few times, taking in a very deep breath.
"Ahhh, this is so much better!" you cheered, running a hand through your hair.
The metkayina girl watched how you dropped yourself in your office chair, legs crossed.
"Look around, but don't touch anything."
The Na'vi did as you told and scanned the entire shack link. It was indeed rather small in here, but that explained why you were in your human body.
As you watched the ocean in the distance you took another deep breath. This was your new working place now. Far away from Max and Norm. From the forest, from everything you had known.
~~~
Tsireya was eager to learn from you to share her knowledge with her mother while Ao'nung circled you in silence. He often watched you through the window while you were working and he eventually grew more and more curious about all these devices. And about you too.
You got yourself a petri dish and marked it with a sharpie. Tsireya had brought you some local plants as samples so you could examine them closer. With one hand you adjusted your headphones that you wore during work. The cap of the sharpie was held by your teeth until you put it back onto the marker so it wouldn't dry out.
Once you placed the petri dish onto the table you turned to get yourself another petri dish as you looked up to a teal wall. Ao'nung towered you, blocking your way as he leaned over your shoulder to see what you where doing.
In panic you dropped the sharpie and raised your hands to rip off your headphones, shrieking loudly.
"How the fuck did you get in, idiot?! What are you doing here?!"
Ao'nungs eyes narrowed before he gestured towards the door. Sitting in your chair you were absolutely tiny next to his tall figure. You gulped as he came even closer but only to look past you and onto the table.
"I watched how you always get in. I'm supposed to be looking after you, remember?" he mumbled coldly before he straightened his back, hitting his head on the ceiling, causing the lamps to dangle around.
He hissed before he held his head and his empty gaze turned into a frown.
You clicked your tongue and facepalmed at his clumsiness, but it didn't stop there. As Ao'nung turned around he wiped half of your table with his thick tail, including the petri dish. The sound of glass shattering had you both flinching.
"Hey, careful!" you shouted at the man before he continued to check out the link shack. Your scent filled his airways and his pupils dilated. The sweet smell was everywhere, but apart from your desk it was strongest on your bunk bed and the link unit. With two fingers he poked into the silicone-like bedding of the link unit, slightly disgusted by the feeling. He got closer to the monitor next to it and accidentally turned the machine on with a few touches and presses as he tried to get a feeling for the material.
As soon as you were done cleaning the glass shards off of the floor and sorted the papers, books and other stuff from the desk back to where they belonged you charged after him.
"Stop fucking touching everything, god damn!" you hurried over to the link unit, squeezed yourself past Ao'nung and slammed the big red button to stop the machine from loading.
The boy only grunted and looked around some more, fumbling some objects in curiosity. You took a deep breath before exhaling with a loud frustrated yell, yet you silenced yourself as you heard your tablet ringing.
Too bad that Ao'nung stood closer to the device and grabbed it at the wierd noises it made. The screen showed something he couldn't read and two big circles.
"No, Ao'nung, you give me that right now! I swear if you press the green button-"
Before you could end the sentence he had done exactly what you told him not to do, just to see what would happen. There must have been a reason for your pale face as soon as the tablet made these alarming noises.
"Hey my pretty- y/n? Y/n?! Who is this, where is my daughter?!"
Ao'nung watched the tiny human that showed up on the display closely, baring his teeth at his foreign language and his aggressive tone.
"Dad, don't worry, I can hear you, I'm all good."
"Who is this savage!? What is he doing in your link shack, princess!?" Ao'nungs tail whipped angrily as your father got louder.
"He's a mess, daddy, that's what he is. Can you hang up and I call you back later?" you groaned as the metkayina boy growled, his fangs peeking out from between his lips more. Parker was completely confused what this indigenous boy did in your link shack and why he could only hear you but not see you.
"Are you alright? My sweetheart, please don't tell me you found yourself one of these indigenous monkeys!?"
Instantly you felt your face heating up at his words.
"Dad, no- what? No, he's supposed to be teaching me but right now he's just turning my shack upside down- I'll call you later, it's a long story. Can you please hang up? I can't reach my tablet cause this dumbass took it!"
The metkayina only growled louder and puffed his chest, tapping around on the screen wildly and ended the call accidentally. It probably was better anyway.
"Who is this demon?!He's not one of your people, is he?" he barked and dropped the device, you caught it in the last second before it could fall onto the ground.
As soon as you put the tablet away you grabbed the end of Ao'nungs queue and dragged him towards the airlock with all your force. He hissed in pain but gave in. Once you had gotten him into the airlock you sprinted back in and barricaded the metal door as quickly as you could. With one arm you supported yourself against your desk, panting quietly.
"Get out right now! You've messed up enough, idiot!" Ao'nung sent a deadly gaze through the window, still growling in fury. His ears tilted flat against his head and he turned on his heel and left in frustration. You held your forehead with one hand and sunk your face into your palm.
'Great... How do I explain this to my dad.."
~~~
Ao'nung wasn't allowed to get into your shack ever since. Tsireya on the other hand came around often, sometimes even for hours. You learned from each other, about the local plants and animals. Both of you were fascinated with the knowledge of each other and you took notes about everything, sometimes with Norm on the line to exchange some informations directly. You checked on Kiri every now and then, taking her blood tests and scans as Max had taught you.
Sometimes your father called too, to see how you were doing.
"You're telling me that Spellman and Dr. Patel took your link shack and avatar to an island far away to study there and take care of Augustine's daughter?!" Everytime you remembered his words, you pursed your lips and facepalmed yourself mentally. At least all of this left you with more freedom since you could come and go home whenever you wanted and work until the early morning without the scientists scolding you.
You walked through the village with a few leafs you had collected for research, passing your avatar's marui in the village. For a second you froze as you heard a familiar voice from inside.
"What is this?" you heard Ao'nung mumble, so you decided to take a peek in. He crouched next to your avatar and examined it closely. He held your arm up to check your hand closely. "Four fingers and a thumb, like the Sullys..."he mumbled to himself and compared your hand to his own. With crossed arms you watched him mustering your body curiously, fumbling with your tail.
"Baby tail..." he huffed, shaking his head with a grin that was hidden to you since you faced his back.
This was your chance.
Silently stepping backwards until you were out of range you turned around and sprinted to your link shack.
He lifted one of your avatar's lids. Yellow irises, like he had expected. As he let go, he noticed that your eye stayed open. "Oh, shit!" he whispered in panic, carefully trying to lower your lid. Both of his hands were held up and he prayed that he didn't break anything. A cold shower ran down his back, hoping that your eye stayed close.
He was about to run off quickly but you were quicker and ripped both eyes open, grabbing his wrists tight.
Ao'nung screamed, eyes wide open himself. As he tried to pull his arms away he lost his balance and fell onto his back. Once you let go of him he crawled as far away as possible until his back met the wall of your marui.
He felt a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead while his chest was heaving, jaw to the floor.
You sat up, unable to hold your laugh at his ridiculous look.
"You-" some more laughs escaped yoir lips, "you should see yourself!"
Ao'nung wasn't amused at all. He tried to calm and collect himself, returning to his usual cold gaze before he simply got up and left. Still laughing out loudly until your belly ached you followed him to the shore.
"Very funny, y/n." his eyes rolled at his own words.
"Why didn't you just tell me you wanted to see me in my avatar?" you giggled, holding one hand on your belly, but Ao'nung didn't even look at you.
"How could I? You locked me out of your demon box."
"Demon box?" you repeated in amusement, "more like 'your rage room'"
He had never heard that before but it was pretty self explanatory, even to him. With a loud call he had an ilu coming his way and he signalled you to get closer.
"My turn to have fun. Get on."
You huffed as the ilu rose it's head out of water, greeting you with a few fin slaps on the surface.
The look on his face told you that he wasn't joking around.
"I've never done this-"
"I know. But you are here to learn, so get on."
As the lesson ended, Ao'nung was indeed the one to laugh, much to your dislike. Yet it had fascinated you to learn about Awa'atlu. The animals, the ocean, the metkayina culture and also about Ao'nung. There was something about him that worked like a magnet on you.
~~~
As the weeks and months went by in no time, you found yourself spending a lot of time with him as well. He thought that, in your human form at least, he was always five steps ahead of you, but your big mouth and attitude easily kept up with his despite being half his size.
Like every day you sat on your desk, examining more plants. Ao'nung had gathered them at the bottom of the reef for you since he could hold his breath longer than you.
It was a pretty wholesome gesture. It felt like getting a bouquet of flowers. Many times you had woken up to some new samples in the airlock of your shack, but he was too proud to tell you that he had brought them. His sister on the other hand had shared this information with you.
A loud knock made you straighten your back and look to the door. Ao'nungs face was showing through the window next to the airlock, so you raised your hands and shoulders as to ask what he wanted. He pointed at a fish he held, so you decided to roll your chair back and grabbed your exopack to meet him outside.
Being the impatient brat he was, he opened the outer door and stepped into the airlock.
"You're not getting in here ever again!" you called out and gestured him to get back out, but he didn't listen. He pressed a button to his right which filled the small cabin with oxygen and opened the inner door.
"What did I tell you about my shack?!" you barked and blocked his way with the door and your petite body.
"Let me in."
You leaned against the door as he tried to push it open, but it didn't help much, you had no chance against him.
"I'm not touching anything."
"You better not, moron."
With that you closed the door behind him and walked over to your medical equipment, loading a tranquilizer gun, just in case. You quickly wrapped the belt with the gun holster around your waist, closing the buckle on the side.
Ao'nung placed the fish on a metal table on a corner as you turned back to him.
"My sister, uhm... she told me to bring you this." he muttered, scratching his neck with one hand, looking around to ensure he wasn't touching anything again.
"Your sister?" your brows furrowed with a sceptical look on your visage. "I didn't know she goes hunting too?"
"She doesn't but... i think she said she got it from one of the hunters."
Lying wasn't his stronghold.
You leaned against your desk and looked back to the bright colored fish before the corners of your lips curled up and your eyes softened.
"Then tell this random hunter that I am forever thankful for this rare, exquisite sample."
Ao'nungs eyes were gleaming in happiness, no matter how hard he tried to play it cool. His wagging tail betrayed him.
"Noted."
"This is the first time i get to see this species with my own eyes. Whoever caught it must me a mighty hunter. Well, too bad it wasn't you." you grinned, then crossed your arms.
Ao'nungs ears turned to you with his mouth agape before his eyes narrowed again.
"As if I care that much about you."
Awkward silence fell upon the two of you as you observed each other closely. In order to change the subject the young man cleared his throat, looking around your shack.
"What were you doing there?"
He pointed at the microscope and leaned in a bit, supporting himself on his knees. As you looked down to the desk you decided to take a seat, then waved him over to you. Ao'nung came closer and looked at the microscope as you leaned against the lenses, correcting the settings so the blurry image became clear.
You retreated and leant back into the chair, pulling the tranquilizer gun from it's holster.
"Look through here. But don't touch anything or I'll shoot a dart into your blue ass that will put you to sleep within seconds, you get that into your smooth brain?"
Ao'nungs eyes widened as you held the gun up to him, so he lifted his hands to his shoulders as if he would surrender.
He did as you told him to, examined the piece of tissue with an open mouth.
"What is that?" he mumbled, observing the structure of the cells he could see for the first time in his life.
"We call it microscope. Anything looks thousands of times bigger under there. I'm sure I could almost see your brain with that thing." you huffed, lowering the gun a bit as you noticed Ao'nung holding still and completely losing himself in the complex cell pattern.
He stared for quite a while before you got another sample from the fridge and switched the glass slides.
"These are the corals that someone got me two days ago."
He carefully supported his hands on the desk and you could see him smile at your words. Over the next thirty minutes you showed him some of the rarest and most unique samples you had collected over the last months. Neither of you would've thought that this actually interested him. Or was he just interested in what you were doing? Ao'nung himself couldn't tell.
"These look incredible..." he mumbled as you showed him the tissue he had gathered from an akula. How had he even done this? Nobody but him knew.
"The rich and wealthy demon brat actually has something interesting to show, huh?" he mocked and moved away from the microscope to which you only smirked and held the gun up to his neck for a second before lowering it again with a quiet laugh.
Your mind wandered off for a moment, forehead creasing at your thoughts.
"Why did you feel the need to disobey my orders and come in here?"
You asked, to which his expression softened for a second.
"I can't take you seriously with that weird mask. Looks stupid on you."
You couldn't help but frown, before he added something that actually caught you offguard.
"I prefer to see your full face like this."
A lump was stuck in your throat. It was the first time the na'vi actually made you an honest compliment.
"Ao'nung..." you mumbled in mental absence, your eyes fell on his lips for a second and he noticed, his ears tilted and his tail whipped around once. Luckily it only hit the underside of the table, which ripped you out of your trance for a moment.
"Wow, who could've guessed you can actually be nice, Ao'nung."
He didn't know what to say or do in this situation since his words surprised himself. Never had he thought he would grow fond of a human, not to talk about a human that aimed a tranquilizer gun at him.
You noticed how his chest was already starting to heave. All this time in here he had only breathed oxygen. Of course his lungs were well trained but he still started to struggle due to the adrenaline rushing through him. You too felt your heart pounding in your chest, up to your throat.
"Actually, no. You still look ridiculous, even without the mask." With that his usual expression returned. He'd rather tease you than to be in this weird situation and admit that you were on his mind constantly.
You stood up from the chair and tried to make yourself as tall as possible before him, gun in hand.
"pretty brave words for a fish face, now get out of my lab before I send you to earth."
~~~
Ao'nung held his promise and came by the next day, and the next, and it repeated itself every day for months. He had gotten you more fishes, grasses, shells, crustaceans and flowers. You didn't even know where to put them, but it had turned in some kind of ritual. Anything he found he brought to you, and now that he was even allowed in your shack again you often found a bunch of collected goods from all around, also his mother's ointments at your desk.
Sometimes you even woke up to him kneeling in front of the microscope, inspecting your samples or watching and listening to your video logs, even if he didn't understand your mother language. Who could've thought he'd get so obsessed with your work?
By now he had gotten familiar with your devices ans spent so much time around that he had to wear a mask as well for a few deep breaths here and there, that was all he needed.
As you got out of your bed and walked over to the young man he was already crouching in front of the desk, looking through the microscope.
"Don't you have to complete your iknimaya, smooth brain?" you asked mockingly while fixing your hair.
Aonung looked over to you with a cocky grin.
"Right, other than you I don't inherit my wealth, I work for it."
"Says the clan leader's son." you huffed with rolling eyes.
Ao'nung copied your expression before looking back to through the lenses.
"Ao'nung, can we talk?"
He didn't like the sound of your voice. His stomach turned at what you had just said, ears flat against his head.
As he looked up to you with narrowed eyes he could feel his heart rate quicken.
With one hand you flipped a switch on the microscope and turned it off before you took a deep breath.
"See, I'm happy you're helping me. Without you I would've never gotten all these informations, but it's getting... out of hand. It's too much. I have no storage space for all the samples you're bringing me. I appreciate it but please, tone that down."
Something about him visibly changed. His look turned all serious, a hint of disappointment reflected in his blue eyes.
"I understand..." he mumbled in a cracking voice once the big lump was gulped down, after which he got up and left your lab without another word. His head hung low as he dragged himself out and away, not looking back once.
You had expected it to be an unpleasant conversation, but Ao'nung acted as if you had just filed for divorce.
You quickly got into your avatar and went out to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. As Tsireya and Lo'ak saw you searching for her brother they walked up to you, asking if you needed help and you quickly explained the situation.
Lo'ak earned a smack against his stomach as he huffed while you didn't understand what was happening.
She lead you into the marui she shared with her family as they where all gone. Lo'ak followed you and sat down with the two of you.
Tsireya didn't know how to say it or even where to start to Lo'ak took it into his own hands.
"You said you told him that you didn't want his gifts?"
You sighed and shook your head.
"I told him it's... too much. I don't know where to put all these things."
The girl took a deep breath and took your nervous hands into her own ones.
"You're not really that much acquainted with... courting rituals, are you?"
Her question had you blush slightly, cheeks tinted in a violet veil. A few blinks later you stammered a needlessly long version of a no, so she shifted her position a bit, trying to find the right words.
"So, if a male Na'vi is interested in a female, he goes hunting for her and brings her food. Now, since you're mostly in your human body and most things are inedible for your kind, i think he brought you some other rare things you value."
Speechless as you where you only continued to blink in silence, nervously biting onto your lower lip.
"He's trying to court you and rejecting his gifts, it's pretty bad. Ao'nung got himself into a lot of trouble for all the things he brought you, even father has argued with him already. But he took your words as a rejection, which in our culture translates to 'I don't value your life'. It's almost as bad as mating with someone else."
Now it all made sense.
You couldn't say anything for what felt like an eternity.
The inner corners of your eyes began to burn and soon, your vision blurred.
"Hey, you couldn't know, it's alright." Loak mumbled, placing a hand on your shoulder. Neither you nor him knew that you could be so weak and it was the first time that you felt this stinging pain in your chest. It hurt, but you were sure that Ao'nung was feeling much worse.
"We need to find him." Tsireya mumbled and got up, gathering a few friends to look for her brother before anything could happen to him.
~~~
It was already past eclipse and Ao'nung still wasn't back. Slowly but surely you got seriously worried about him. His friends had lead the party of you all to a few spots he liked to hang out at, but he was nowhere to be found.
Even his father helped searching eventually. As you paired up with him you apologized to the olo'eyktan for causing this trouble, but he wasn't mad at you the slightest. He knew that his son had never shown interest in anyone. He had rejected many pretty young women in the clan before, but you where the first one to -accidentally- reject him. In fact, he was happy to see him spending time with you after all. Ao'nung seemed to warm up a bit since he visited you on a daily basis and he eargerly talked about the things that he had learned from a human tsakarem. That was what they referred to you, as the clan leader had told you.
As you came back to the village empty handed you apologized to Tonowari once again for causing all this trouble. Your heart still ached in regret. Why hadn't you thought about these cultural differences before?
Your attention quickly got drawn to a few calls and cheers from the villagers and you quickly sprinted over to the gathered people. Making your way through them, your eyes landed on Ao'nung. His head was hanging low, his eyes were puffy and reddened.
You called out for him in relief, but he didn't look at you. He couldn't. His heart was still aching terribly. He was utterly disappointed and devastated.
Instead of looking at you he quickly turned away and walked home.
"I'll talk to him." Tonowari offered with a hopeful smile that settled the storm inside of you at least to a certain point.
~~~
The following day you did not wake up to any samples. No gifts and no Ao'nung.
It felt like something was missing.
You couldn't help but feel empty. All the money and the power you had always relied on had lost all it's worth. You remembered the day Spider had gifted you the carved arm ring he had made for your avatar.
"Happy birthday you ungrateful brat." you remembered his words exactly. He was right. You had been ungrateful, until you met Ao'nung. He had literally gifted you grass, rocks, leaves and it always made you smile from ear to ear.
Without him, work wasn't half as much fun.
He wasn't even watching you through the window anymore but instead tried to distract himself with hunting and preparing for his iknimaya.
You had told Max and Norm about it as well and they could tell that something about you, no, a lot about you had changed. You trained to become a real scientist and on top of that, you slowly became an adult. It was the right decision they had sent you here, even though these lonely days turned into weeks and by now, you couldn't even tell how long it was, but a long time passed in which you and Ao'nung did not speak one word.
Your head rose quickly as you heard heavy footsteps coming up the metal stairs. You couldn't believe your eyes as you saw Ao'nung coming through the airlock without a word. The look on his face concerned you, no matter how happy you were that he had returned to you.
"I knew you'd come back, all men do." you grinned in order to get him to tease you back like he always did, but he only grunted and sat down in a corner, in silence.
He just came back here after all this time and acted so weird all of a sudden. First he was spooked by you, then he liked you, tried to court you, ignored you and now he just came here without saying a word?
Confurion grew inside of you as he didn't respond to your teasing but only dropped himself into a corner, back hitting against the wall with his head back.
The your face relaxed a bit as you mustered him. He only closed his eyes and supported his hands on his shaking knees.
"Ao'nung? Are you okay?"
Still, he didn't respond.
His expression twisted at your voice as if his head was aching, and it did.
You swallowed before you walked over to him.
"Want me to sit with you?" This time your voice was a bit more quiet. The metkayina exhaled heavily and patted the floor next to him so you decided you sit next to him, legs crossed.
A good while passed like this. Just sitting next to each other in silence.
As you turned your head up to him he didn't react either.
"Ao'nung, what I did, I didn't mean-"
"Don't." he interrupted, raising a hand to signal you to stop talking.
"I don't want to hear a word about this stupid topic."
His voice was not much more than a breath and it seemed that these words weren't rolling off his tongue that easily.
"Your father..." he started after a long time, "he is... some kind of leader, right?"
As an answer you nodded slowly, so he asked another question.
"Does he have high expectations from you?"
A hard question.
"Well, in some kind. He doesn't like that I live amongst your race. He'd rather see me working for RDA. Wear fancy clothes and sit neatly at my desk, filling out confusing papers with overpriced pens, being the face of a huge company, ordering people around."
Ao'nung huffed, a slight smile crawled up on his face.
"Maybe we have more in common than you think..." he murmured under his breath, but in this silence his voice was still pretty audible.
"Did you have a fight with your father again?"
"Why do you think im here, the only place he never visits?"
You couldn't help but fake a mad expression.
"So my lab is only some hiding place for you, huh?"
As soon as your sentence had ended, he carefully poked his elbow into your arm and the smile on his face widened.
Again, silence fell upon you two.
After some deep breaths, the young man's voice disturbed this silence once more.
"I like being here. It's...calm."
"Yeah, if you don't run around like a wild thanator."
His ears turned at you remark and soon you felt his hand smacking your knee, causing a synched huff from both of you.
"You're not attempting to walk the path your father wants you to take, do you?" Ao'nung asked.
"Of course not. I think everybody should do whatever makes them happy. Fuck the 'rules', there are none. Only one self can decide what they want to do. That counts you in, smooth brain."
A warm smile appeared on his face, his eyes glistened with something you had never seen before. In your words he had found new hope. He was more motivated than ever to follow his heart, no matter what his parents said. He allowed himself to dream for a moment, to imagine what gteat things the future could hold for him and you.
~~~
Instead of spending most time in the shack you went to the village more often, adapting to the other na'vi and also the sea creatures. By now, Ao'nung had properly taught you how to ride an ilu and even introduced you to his spirit brother tulkun. You learned more about the sign language, about swimming and hunting, about their sacred rituals and everything these people had to offer.
During the day the young man rarely left your side. While hunting he always looked out for you. You enjoyed your life, and you wouldn't trade it against anything. Yet you had to return to your cabin every night. It was exhausting to switch between the two bodies, so you made a decision.
"I want you to transfer my soul into my avatar."
Ronal couldn't believe her ears. Ao'nung dropped his bowl of food instantly and stared at you with huge eyes. Tsireya was looking for words, and even Tonowari was completely speechless.
"Say that again." the tsahik whispered in disbelief, so you repeated "I want you to transfer my soul into my avatar. My conciousness, my spirit, however you might call it."
The tsahik looked towards her husband, shaking her head slowly.
"You can't be serious?!" Ao'nung blurted out while Tsireya still tried to process what you had just exclaimed while having dinner with them.
"Sully managed so I can do it too." Your voice was all calm since you had pondered this idea for some time already. Then you wouldn't have to run around with your exopack anymore and you could live amongst the metkayina. Become one of them. Finally have a place where you belonged to and the freedom to find a man.
The son stormed over to you and shook your shoulders as if he was trying to wake you up from a fever dream.
"This is dangerous! You might die!"
"Guess what smooth brain, i'm a scientist, I know."
Tonowari tapped the tips of his fingers together slowly, repeating your words in your head.
"Why would you want this?!" Ao'nungs face was on the thin line between angst and fury.
"What about your work, your lab, your father?!"
"It is what I want. I alone have the right to make this choice. It's stressful to switch and my human body is just not suited for this world. And since i don't intend to return to earth, I might as well become one of you."
Ao'nung pulled you up to your feet and dragged your avatar out of his family's marui in order to talk to you alone.
As soon as there was enough distance he faced you, grabbing your head with both hands. You whined at his unpleasant touch, but he couldn't help himself. His blue eyes darted straight into your golden ones, lips trembling, his entire body shaking in frustration.
"Why the hell do you want to do this?! What if you die?!" He spat with wild eyes.
"Then you better make sure to bring the prettiest flowers to my grave or I might haunt you. And visit me at the spirit tree-"
"You think this is funny?!"
You had never seen him in this state of fury but you had expected such reaction.
"Ao'nung, it's my life and my choice. You can't stop me."
He couldn't believe how by eywa you could stay so calm. His chest was heaving, blood ferociously rushing through his veins.
"This is madness, y/n!"
"I am a human in an incubated na'vi halfbreed body on a planet somewhere far away from earth where people and animals can literally connect their nerves to each other and you're telling me this is madness?"
He didn't know it was even possible but he got even more frustrated and enraged.
"For what reason y/n, what's it worth to put yourself through this?!"
Your face softened, lips forming a sweet smile as you stared into his bitter eyes.
"You."
Ao'nung swallowed hardly and his tilted ears stood up for a second. All his anger had dissolved, but only for a brief moment before he turned bitter again.
"Y/N... you can't be serious."
"Of course I am. Tsireya told be that you had some arguments with your parents about me. That you can't choose me as a woman. Don't you want to be with me? You must've thought about it as w-"
"Shut up." He growled.
His hands let go of you abruptly. He couldn't look you in the eyes for much longer, it pained him to see you as his thoughts formed into words.
"Of course I did. I dreamed about this for so long, but that's all it will ever be. A dream."
His words tore your heart into pieces, shattering all the pictures you had already painted out. Your breath hitched and you pulled both hands up to your chest.
"You know that this is not true. We can find a way-" you whispered into the air before he interrupted.
"Your 'way' is not an option. Which means there is no way."
Ao'nung took a deep breath and walked a few steps, only to come back to you.
"I'm not discussing my choice with you. I will talk about this with the tsahik." You mumbled quietly.
"If the great mother would've wanted you to be one of us she would have made you one of us!" his words were so loud that the distance between you and his family's marui didn't matter anymore. The entire village had probably hears him screaming into the night.
You slowly shook your head as he was done yelling.
"If the great mother doesn't want me to be one of you, she will let me feel that. You are not tsahik."
"Right, I'm the future oloeyktan! You should obey to what I say!"
He tried to calm himself but failed miserably. His fangs were bared, ears flicking angrily and his tail whipped around in fury.
"I thought you wanted to be more than a status..."
Here you ended the conversation and parted ways with him for today.
~~~
History repeated itself. Some days of not talking to each other at all followed, as well as him showing up to your shack.
He didn't apologize for his words, he simply walked in and sat down the same spot as always. Nothing in this village happened without his knowledge so he was already aware that you had talked to his mother and after a long consideration and deep talks with her husband she had agreed to your request. The ceremony was supposed to happen tonight so you had cleaned out your lab as you wouldn't be using it as much anymore.
You had called your father so he could see you one last time. He did everything but approve.
"Don't you dare! I will not allow this, are you mad?! What weird stuff did you smoke out there? These freaks clouded you brain! Don't tell me you're doing this for this boy?"
His words meant nothing to you. Either he accepted or not, but it didn't change your mind one bit.
"You really want to do this?" Ao'nung mumbled while you leaned against your desk, arms crossed.
"I will do this."
"You're pretty dumb for being such a smart girl, you know that?"
You only huffed and relaxed your arms before Ao'nung got up onto his feet again and made his way over to you. Both of his hands gripped around your waist and lifted you up to sit on the desk.
Your breath hitched at his actions and you couldn't help but blush madly. Not just your face but your entire body heated up as the metkayina came dangerously close to you, cupping your face with gentle hands unlike last time.
His blue eyes stared right into your soul before they fell onto your soft lips.
"Once the ritual starts, there is no return. Either your soul will transfer or..."
"Ao'nung, I will make it. Then I am one of your people." you flashed a wide smile at him.
"You are not just going to be one of us, y/n. You will also be mine."
He decided to waste no more time talking and let his actions speak, crashing his lips on top of yours. Instantly melting into the kiss you threw your arms around his neck, feeling your stomach toss and turn while he closed the gap between himself and your petite body completely, holding you close to his bare torso.
Both of you had longed for this for what felt like an eternity. In you he had found someone so different and yet so similar. No matter what you did, you fascinated him in every way. You actually managed to handle his ego and his rough personality, but he could also be vulnerable around you.
~~~
Ao'nung himself had carried your human body towards the cove of ancestors on his ilu where the ritual was taking place. He was praying to eywa that you would return from the eye of the great mother. Max and Norm had also shown up to the ritual, the Sully's too as well as the metkayina. Ronal and Tonowari stood next to each other, their daughter Tsireya right by their side as the ceremony was prepared.
The young man placed a last kiss onto your head before he had to let go of you and leave to the depths of the water as the spirit tree grasped out to you with it's strings, pulling you below the water surface until they were wrapped all around your body and your entire vision went black. All sounds were silenced.
No words were able to describe what you went through. What felt like an eternity probably went by in the shortest time before you were able to open your eyes again. A familiar face was right in front of you, holding your cheeks carefully. As soon as you detached from the spirit tree, you felt a pair of strong arms help you back up to the surface where you coughed out some swallowed water.
Before looking down on your own body your golden eyes searched for your human form which was completely covered from all these watchful eyes, deep below the surface. People cheered as your arms fell around the metkayina boy in front of you who pressed your dripping body against his shaking self. Some hysterical laughs escaped from both of you as you realized that the ritual had worked. Your chest was heaving in the tight embrace with the boy. His hands wrapped around your body as if he never wanted to let go of you again.
He pressed his relieved smile into your shoulder, still breathing out a few huffs in disbelief. As he felt your strong heartbeat, his own heart was pounding in excitement. Both your hands reached around his head only to pull him away from your shoulder gently to take a look at his visage. You got lost in each other's eyes, surrounded by luminous freckles all over your faces.
His thumbs traced over your blushed violet cheeks before you pressed your forehead to his.
"I see you, ma y/n." he whispered quietly and full of love.
"I see you, mao'nung."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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