#Lime Crime Venus | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pearlsinmyhair · 1 year ago

Text

༄ breath of venus ༄

chapter zero • prologue

synopsis: a girl is born from nothing, and her whole life she’s spent trying to become everything her family and clan need her to be. what happens when she’s abducted by long dead soldiers and old ghosts?

summary: a goddess is born from sea foam, and the world crumbles around her. the dominoes are in place, now all they have to do is start to topple.

warnings: death. abortion mentions. crimes against nature. hippa violations. get your war crime bingo cards ready.

a.n.: welcome to the first part of breath of venus! this note is actually written much later (august fifth). i hope you enjoy.

word count: 1.4k

birth

Grace Augustine was royally pissed.

Such was not an uncommon occurrence. RDA corporate had a talent for getting on her nerves. But this time it was her own department that had set her off.

She marched through the halls, ignoring the curious stares of soldiers and scientists alike. She walked into the Avatar Growth Bay with very little ceremony.

This morning she had stumbled upon a document that had shocked her to her core. An… experiment that had not been cleared by her. One that violated more health codes and human rights than she could count.

She pulled on the exomask with ease, her muscle memory taking over. She opened the doors to the incubation room, and she watched as the scientists and doctors around the artificial womb machine turn to her in surprise.

“Out!” she yelled, glaring at them all. “Get the hell out of my sight before I put you on a ship back to Earth.” The people in the room hurried out, leaving Grace with the sound of filtered Pandoran air and the thrum of machines.

She approached the machine slowly. It was built like a shell, with room for an embryo to grow to a baby. It was how they created avatars. But this baby was different.

The document was vague on the details of the specimen. That there was an aborted human fetus that they had decided to use to create a na’vi hybrid. They had picked apart DNA, blending and synthesizing for months before they were satisfied.

They had created life. Without the explicit consent of either parents and their superiors.

‘Graduate students’, thought Grace bitterly as she looked down into the opening.

And there she was. She was small, for a na’vi baby. Her soft blue skin was lighter than normal, but only slightly. Genetics, maybe. Unlike avatars, her queue grew from the top of her head as natural na’vi kurus did. Only the slight rise and fall of the baby’s chest alerted Grace that she was alive.

That is, until they began to cry.

Grace had never been the maternal type. But something in her jolted, and she rushed to put on gloves. She carefully lifted the baby, checking over her for any post-emergence injuries or stresses.

During her evaluation, she realized the baby was a healthy girl. She also realized that the girl’s discomfort was from hunger. The baby grabbed at her face (four fingers and one thumb, like humans) opening her eyes to reveal lime green irises.

‘What to call you?’ Grace thought to herself, cradling the baby to her chest. She was the size of a human toddler already, but Grace ignored the weight. She had already checked the baby’s file, scanning for any designator or title. There was none. She regarded the baby calmly.

An idea popped into her head as she glanced at the shell-like incubation machine. The image of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus rose in her mind. A woman being carried on a shell, magically born from sea foam.

“Venus” she whispered to the baby, and for a moment the little girl quieted, watching Grace curiously. “Venus” she repeated, and the girl blinked at her.

“Let’s get you some food.” she said, wrapping the child in a sterile blanket to transport her. She was going to have to travel to a private area so that no alarm was raised. She’d rather not have corporate know that they had a very alive and very sentient na’vi child on their hands.

She stepped out into the hall with Venus tucked against her, hurrying around corners. She had squirmed when she had to strap a breath assister to her face. Thankfully, it seemed like everyone had gone to bed or private spaces. All she had to do was avoid any personal and get to her office-

She slammed right into the chest of a marine, letting out a gasp of surprise.

“Easy there, Doc. Where’re you running to?” came a cocky voice.

She glared up to meet the eyes of Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, who raised an eyebrow at her. His eyes widened when Venus began to cry.

“What do you have, Augustine?” he asked with a curious expression. He knew that it was a baby, but he didn’t know everything.

Grace groaned, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him away. “You’re coming with me, marine.” she said, in her typical no-nonsense tone.

When they arrived at her office, she gestured for Lyle to sit. “Open your arms.” she ordered. Lyle obeyed, more out of curiosity than obedience. When she placed Venus in the cradle of his arms, his expression dropped.

“Augustine.” he breathed, eyes wide as he looked down at the baby. “Are you baby snatching now?”

“No, she’s…” Grace trailed off, debating telling him what Venus was. Or rather, who she was. She decided that it’d be better to leave the marine in the dark for the most part. “You will tell no one about her.” she explained, turning back to Wainfleet after preparing some formula that would feed the baby. “Not your superiors. Not your friends. And not your colonel.”

Especially not his colonel.

Lyle watched her. For all of his cockiness and jokes, he was a thoughtful person. She could tell that he was hesitant, and for a moment her confidence in the decision of letting him here wavered. But then he looked down at Venus, and she saw how his shoulders relaxed.

“Well Augustine, I guess we have a miracle baby to raise.”

two years

It was no easy task keeping a curious baby safe and contained.

Grace and Lyle not only had to deal with the usual trials and tribulations of raising a baby, but they also had to deal with the fact that Venus was a large alien baby. She required monitoring and mental stimulation, activity and attention. So Augustine and Wainfleet took shifts.

Venus loved Lyle, grabbing at his nose and patting his bald head (much to Lyle’s dismay and Grace’s amusement). But she loved Grace, to her core. Her ears perked when she spoke to her, and they dropped back when she scolded her.

One of the hardest battles they had to fight was making sure no one knew of her existence. If someone saw a na’vi child running around, not only would they be screwed and court marshaled, but Venus would be in danger. And neither human would let that happen.

They both kept video logs and notes about Venus. In a way, they both mutually understood that they weren’t always going to be able to protect Venus, so they had to prepare for the worst case scenario.

To Grace’s surprise, Lyle kept Venus a secret. He revealed nothing, no matter how his fellow jarheads pushed at him.

“They’re convinced I have some girl.” he told Grace one day as he bounced Venus on his knee. “But they have no idea that you’re the only girl i’m with.” he said to Venus, sticking his tongue out at her. Venus giggled, mirroring his action.

For a few years, all was peaceful. Stressful and exhausting, but peaceful.

But tides change, quick and rough, without mercy.

two years and ten months

“You alright, Grace?” asked Jake from his bunk, watching Augustine fiddle with the makeshift song cord in her hand.

She had wanted to make Venus a song cord for a long time, but never got the hang of it. Now that they were back with the Omatikaya, Grace was able to learn a few things from the talented weavers of the clan.

That did not mean that she wasn’t ready to throw the goddamn thing out the window.

“Yeah Yeah, Marine, i’m good.” she answered Jake, pulling the song cord up to her forehead. A small plastic shell dangled from the end, shiny and artificial. It was a symbol for Venus’s namesake. Now, the tackiness of the trinket annoyed her.

She could feel Jake’s curious stare at her back, but she would not explain herself. She had been away from Venus far to long, and she was growing restless.

Is she alright? Is she hurt? Does she miss me?

All questions that she asked Lyle on a regular basis. While her and the marine had grown apart since the military took a more active role with the na’vi, Venus bound them together. Lyle answered most positively, the only negative answer being that she missed Grace dearly.

She sighed.

“Get some rest, Jake. We need you in top shape.”

Everyday she felt the violence growing closer. And there was nothing she could do.

She pressed her skin against the knots of the song cord hard enough to leave marks, sending a silent prayer of protection for her little baby.

three years

Grace had had a lot of time to herself as she lay dying.

Her mind was oddly calm, like waves on a shore. Her body ached, but she didn’t mind. She knew what was coming.

It wasn’t until Jake brought her to the Spirit Tree that she remembered everything she was fighting for.

Venus.

As she lay there, feeling the forest around her, she allowed the invisible neural tendrils to reach into her thoughts.

Protect her.

Jake looked down at her. “Protect who, Grace?” he asked, eyes wide in panic. So she had said that out loud.

This time, another voice answered her.

I WILL TRY MY BEST, GRACE.

She allowed her mind to slip away, Venus’s name on the tip of her tongue as her vision slipped into light.

after the battle

Jake searched Hellsgate, double checking that there were no more RDA staff in the building. He and his team would take any supplies that were of use.

Neytiri stood beside him, and for a moment they sat in silence. The victory had flown over them. Now they were tired. Ready to start a new life.

The sound of a chair falling over made then both jump.

Neytiri was the one to step forward, swatting at his hand when he reached to grab her arm. She rounded a corner, bending down to peer under a desk. She backed up swiftly, a surprised look on her face.

Jake approached as she reached down under the desk. He halted when she lifted a small na’vi girl into her arms.

Protect her.

Oh.

He gently reached forward, stroking the girls cheek. She wore a necklace of sloppy knots, a plastic shell dangling from the end.

Oh, Grace.

A usb was attached to the song cord, one word written in Augustine’s barely legible doctors handwriting. “Venus.”

Neytiri rested her chin on top of the girls head, looking at Jake.

He nodded, pulling his mate close, sandwiching the girl between their bodies.

I’ll keep her safe, Grace. I promise.

masterlist | next

And so it begins! This will be part one of the prologue, and then we’ll get into the meat of the story. I wonder if some of you will figure out Venus’s origins before I actually tell you all. I’ve been developing this story for months, and i’m so excited to finally share it with you all! This is my first ever fic so this will be an experience.

all my love,

pearl.

~tag list

@lisedanie @avatar4eva

#avatar the way of water #the way of water #recom lyle wainfleet #recom mansk #avatar recoms #recombinant #recom quaritch #jake sully #neytiri #atwow loak #neteyam #avatar x oc #oc #avatar #breath of venus #venus sully

60 notes · View notes