#neteyam part 2

[aisforarlili]

background character in atwow.. GIRL. The resemblance to Neteyam is crazy

[makoodles]

ミ the mightiest

part 1 | part 2

🍓 pairing: neteyam x human fem reader 🍓tags: nsfw, aged up neteyam (obviously), jealousy, alien cultural misunderstandings, oral sex (f receiving) vaginal sex, size kink, voyeurism, brief na'vi oc x reader, mentions of reader sleeping with other na'vi men

masterlist

reblogs are always enormously appreciated!

notes: okay i had to split this into two parts because it surpassed the tumblr word limit 🙃 here’s part 1, and I’ll post part 2 in a day or two!

adult neteyam art created by the incredibly talented @cinetrix, whose work motivated me to write for adult neteyam in the first place!!

The tsahìk’s hut is cool and dark, offering a much needed reprieve from the hot balmy air of the day outside. It’s been a quiet day for you, though you can’t complain about that; it’s a pleasant change of pace from the usual hectic rush of people that usually pass through.

It’s one of the rare days that Mo’at has left you to tend to the duties of the healing hut alone; it had taken years to reach this level of trust with her, and you find yourself almost deliriously proud to be able to help out. Na’vi medicinal practices are very different to human ones, but your training in first-aid has given you enough knowledge and experience to hold your own when it comes to helping out with the smaller day-to-day ailments that tend to pass through the healing hut.

Besides, you’re always happy to give Mo’at a break. She had claimed that she needed time to commune with Eywa, though secretly you suspect that she just likes to take some time to herself in her old age. But that’s fine – you’ve always found helping out in the healing hut soothing, and your heart swells at the fact that Mo’at trusts you enough to leave you in charge, even if it’s only for a few hours.

It also helps when your patient is a big, hunky alien warrior with more muscles than brains, who sits in front of you as you smear a herbal paste over the scratches he had gotten in training earlier that day.

Txeyto is not an easy patient; he flinches when you prod his wounds, whines when you clean them, and complains as you smear the paste on his scrapes. It’s a little irritating, but the sight of his big broad shoulders and chiselled abdomen is enough to soothe the worst of your aggravation.

“Are you nearly finished?” Txeyto complains, flinching away from your fingers once more.

You bite your tongue and force a smile. Patience has never been your strong suit, and Txeyto is certainly testing the short reserves you have left. But he’s very handsome, and very skilled at archery, and you feel that his physical attractiveness outweighs the minor personality flaws.

“Yes, just another few moments.” You murmur, keeping your voice low and soothing as though speaking to a child.

Txeyto settles a little when you use the baby voice on him, and you struggle to keep your face blank at the ridiculousness of it all. Men are such children, even the big strong Na’vi warriors that should be above such behaviour. He’s lucky he’s handsome.

“How did you get these injuries, hm?” You ask, using a light touch to dab some of Mo’at’s specially formulated healing paste onto his scrapes. You keep your fingers as gentle as possible, but Txetyo still winces dramatically.

He perks up at your question, his tails swaying low over the floor where you’re both sat cross-legged. “I have been training very hard. I am one of the best archers in the village now.”

“No doubt.” You murmur distractedly as you work.

“But it is important for a tsamsiyu to be competent in many forms of combat, so I must practice my hand-to-hand combat also,” Txetyo continues, apparently forgetting to wince now that he’s talking. “Neteyam has been helping me train.”

Ah. You can’t help the face you make at that, and you’re thankful that Txeyto’s back is facing you so that he can’t see your expression. You also can’t help the way you cast a quick glance towards the entrance to the hut, as though worried that simply speaking the name aloud will summon Toruk Makto’s eldest son.

“Is that right?” You say, keeping your tone carefully neutral. “So, he’s the one that got you all scraped up like this?”

Txetyo’s shoulders flex under your hands, and you realise without looking at his face that you’ve stung his pride.

“I scraped him up also.” He grumbles, shifting to try and peer over his shoulder. “They are wounds to be proud of, as I got them in combat.”

You don’t think that a couple of minor scratches from wrestling around in the mud with one of the village’s biggest dickheads count as combat wounds, but you don’t argue. You just hum non-committedly, paying more attention to his bruises than is entirely necessary.

“You should be careful,” You say instead, running your fingers carefully over one of the bruises discolouring the pretty blue skin of his defined bicep. “It’s a shame to see these lovely muscles all bruised up.”

There’s a long moment’s pause. It seems as though the cogs in Txetyo’s head are working slowly, because he seems to be struggling to understand your flirty tone of voice. But when it finally seems to click, he turns his head to peer at you with wide, curious eyes.

“Ah,” He says, his shoulders squaring as he seems to preen. “You like them?”

God, he really is a little dumb. But that’s okay. You don’t necessarily need a man with brains.

“Mhmm,” You hum, allowing your hand to rest on the bulge of his bicep. “I like strong men.”

That’s true, if a little bit of an oversimplification. You’ve lived as a human on Pandora your whole life, but it was only in recent years since you’ve reached adulthood that you’ve started really paying attention to the people around you. And good lord, you had some impressive specimens to look at.

You find yourself drawn to their athletic and toned bodies, their radiant blue skin, their cat-like grace and agility. Maybe it’s because you had grown up on Pandora with no humans your age other than Spider, but you find yourself especially drawn to your size. The sheer size of their hands alone are enough to fluster you, especially when your brain is flooded with images of those big hands in other contexts.

And luckily for you, there’s no shortage of Na’vi that are interested in experimenting with humans, too.

Txetyo visibly perks up, his ears twitching forward as he finally seems to notice the way your much smaller hands are lingering on his body as you patch him up.

“I am very strong.” He says, tail thumping against the ground.

You fight the urge to sigh. He’ll never make a great conversationalist, but that’s alright. He’s big and strong and handsome, and you just want to relieve some tension.

“I know.” You murmur, your lips quirking a little as you shuffle around so that you’re kneeling in front of him, your knees pressed close to his thighs. “But I could still kiss your scratches better, if you’d like.”

Kissing wounds better is definitely a human colloquialism that Txetyo doesn’t understand, judging by the furrow of his brow, but he doesn’t seem to care. He reaches out and wraps a big hand around your waist, and you feel a pulse of arousal low in your belly in response.

“You like my muscles so much that treating my wounds has aroused you?” He asks, the smugness in his voice impossible to miss.

His pompousness is a little irritating, but you can ignore that because his hands are big and warm and it’s exciting to feel his palm start to push its way under your cotton tank top. The few Na’vi men you’ve been with before had been absolutely fascinated with the soft squishiness of your human breasts, so your breath hitches in anticipation as his hand reaches up to grope at your tits over your bra.

Okay, you can probably admit that you’re a little pent up. It’s probably a terrible idea to allow Txetyo to feel you up like this in the middle of the healing hut, but you’re horny.

If you’re telling the truth, you’ve been hoping for a chance like this all week – but there’s one thing, one irritation, that has been preventing you by interrupting every damn chance you’ve gotten alone with any man.

In fact, you’ve been interrupted so often and so many times that you’re almost expecting it, even as Txetyo’s big hands squeeze at your tits. He’s a little rough with it, but he’s so much bigger than you that you suppose that’s unavoidable – besides, his strength only adds to the thrill.

Then, just like clockwork, as though there’s some kind of sensor that goes off whenever you’re about to get some, there’s a rustling sound by the entrance of the hut before the little woven drape covering the doorway is pulled back.

And then, who else would be standing there, but Neteyam. One of the few people on the whole planet that can actually ruin your whole day just by showing his stupid face.

His eyes find you, but his expression doesn’t change as he glances over your flustered expression and the hand that Txetyo still has shoved up your top. He tilts his head, and it feels as though he’s examining every damn detail all at once; the ointment smeared all over Txetyo’s bruises from training, the way you’ve shuffled so close to Txetyo that you’re practically straddling his thigh, your unsteady breathing behind your mask.

“Ah. Am I interrupting?” He asks with a hint of wry humour to his voice, as though he hasn’t interrupted every attempt at getting laid you’ve made this month.

It has to be on purpose. That, or he has some sort of nearly supernatural sense for when you’re horny, because he always seems to show up every goddamned time. Somehow it’s gotten worse in the last few weeks, too. You’ve barely been able to get a moment alone with whoever you’ve been chatting up before Neteyam has appeared, snapping at them to get back to training or duties or whatever lousy excuse he’s been able to come up with in the moment.

“What do you want?” You snap, impatient and too strung tight to waste your energy on pretending at politeness.

A very delayed reaction finally hits Txetyo, and he scrambles to remove his hand from the inside of your top. His hand alone is so large that the outline of it is painfully obvious even through your shirt, and you close your eyes with a sigh as he clumsily pushes himself away from you in a rather ungainly attempt at pretending nothing was going on.

“Neteyam!” He blurts, his ears flattening against his skull. He’s clearly mortified at being caught in such a position by Toruk Makto’s son, and he overcompensates by attempting to scoot away as though he hadn’t even been touching you.

You try not to roll your eyes – you’re used to this, after all. You’ve been with several Na’vi men, but they all seem to have the same sort of embarrassment about actually being open with the fact that they’ve hooked up with you. You can’t be all that annoyed about it, you suppose. You understand where it’s coming from. You’ve been around the Omaticaya your whole life, and while the taboo of having Sky People around has faded somewhat, that doesn’t mean that anyone is actually willing to admit that they’ve been with you.

You’re used to it. It’s fine. You’re just a little mortified that Neteyam is currently witnessing the scramble for Txetyo to get away from you.

He’s watching the other man with his head still tilted to the side, his big golden eyes dark in the cool shade of the hut. A muscle in his jaw is flexing, like he’s trying not to laugh.

“I will- I will see you later?” Txetyo whispers to you as he stands. He probably intended for his voice to be low enough that it stayed between just you and him, but the hut is quiet enough that there’s no doubt Neteyam can hear him just fine.

“Mhm. Yeah.” You murmur back, watching Txetyo’s big broad back as he steps away from you, all hasty and flustered.

Txetyo gets as far as Neteyam, who’s still standing with his arms crossed in the doorway. Neteyam doesn’t so much as shift, his eyes dragging with lazy satisfaction over the myriad of scrapes and bruises that he had left on Txetyo during their sparring earlier.

Txetyo shifts on his feet, visibly nervous in the face of his future chief’s judgement. “Ah… Will we train again tomorrow, Neteyam?”

Neteyam hums non-committedly, before finally stepping away from the doorway. He brushes past Txetyo, and you wonder if he’s always so dismissive of his fellow warriors or if he’s just being an even bigger dickhead today for some reason.

“We will see.” Neteyam says shortly, though he’s not even looking Txetyo’s way.

Taking that as the dismissal it so clearly is, Txetyo nods awkwardly before disappearing out of the hut, leaving you and Neteyam alone.

For a long moment, you do your best to avoid looking up. You’re beyond irritated right now, made so much worse by the fact that your panties are kind of wet and you’re so fucking desperate for attention right now. The little wooden bowls knock together clumsily as you try to arrange them without looking up, but it becomes difficult when Neteyam lowers himself down to sit opposite you.

“The tsahìk’s hut is a bold place for such activities.” He says, and you don’t have to look up to know that there’s a stupid smug look on his face. “What would my grandmother think?”

As he sits down, he places a woven bag by your knee. You don’t need to look at it to know what it is; he’s always bringing stuff to the healing hut for his grandmother. Herbs or medicinal plants, fibres for weaving bandages, even animal bones that he had whittled down for needles for suturing.

Even you can grudgingly admit it’s thoughtful; but he only ever seems to bring it when you’re around. It’s like he just wants to rub it in your face that he excels at everything he does – it’s extremely annoying.

You finally look up, your face already scrunched in a scowl. “What do you want?”

He raises his hairless brows at you, an expression he no doubt learned from his father. “I would like my cuts from training treated. What else would I be here for?”

And now you know that he’s just messing with you, because while Txetyo was covered in bruises and abrasions from his tough training session earlier, Neteyam doesn’t have a single visible scratch.

“What exactly am I supposed to treat?” You ask, voice tight.

Neteyam shifts, proffering you his shoulder, and you see a single scrape along his otherwise flawless striped blue skin. You purse your lips, staring at it in mild disbelief.

“You can’t be serious.” You say, deadpan.

But it’s clear that Neteyam is serious, because he’s already stretching out on the comfy woven rugs of his grandmother’s hut as if he belongs there. It’s obvious that he has no intention of moving – he must have come here just to torture you.

You blow out a frustrated breath, the inside of your respirator mask fogging up briefly before rapidly clearing. Neteyam is infuriating. He gets under your skin in a way that no one else does, as though he knows every goddamn little button to press just to aggravate you.

Maybe it’s just a by-product of having been raised as next in line to lead the Omaticaya, or of being Toruk Makto’s oldest son, but you’ve always found Neteyam closed off and distant.

Truthfully, you can’t say for certain if he’s always been this way. When you were young teenagers, you hadn’t had much contact with him; he was always busy with his own training, and then the whole Sully family had left for Awa’atlu. When they had returned, several years later, Neteyam had been more reserved, and yet somehow even cockier and more confident than ever.

“I don’t understand you. There’s no need for you to get this scrape seen to, and you know it. You just like wasting my time.”

He just watches you as you complain, his eyes hooded and dark in a way that honestly leaves you a little heated. He doesn’t deny it, which only irritates you further. You knew he was just trying to annoy you!

“It’s your job to treat wounds when you’re here, isn’t it?” He asks, and you can see the way his tail is lazily undulating behind him, skimming across the woven carpet. He’s enjoying arguing with you.

You huff out a put-upon sigh, before grabbing two of the jars. The ointment is naturally antiseptic but it goes on with quite a sting; you try not to feel satisfied about that as you coat your fingers in it before dabbing it onto the scrape on Neteyam’s shoulder. You’re not as gentle as you’d usually be either, your patience is too thin for you to be considerate with him right now.

But this is not Txetyo. This is Neteyam, and he doesn’t so much as flinch as you rub the paste over his still sluggishly bleeding scratch, even though you know it must sting. You try not to feel irked by his stoicism.

As you work, Neteyam’s head rolls back. In a move that’s almost imperceptible, his nostrils flare and he scents the air. You assume it’s the fairly astringent scent of the herbal paste you’ve just pulled out that’s bothering him, and you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Problem?”

His lips quirk, though he manages to keep his expression neutral. “No. I am simply enjoying being under your tender care.”

You narrow your eyes at him. He’s mocking you now.

The fact that he had walked in on Txetyo’s hand up your top as he groped at your tits feels like a heavy unspoken weight in between you as you dab at his minor wound. You keep waiting for him to bring it up, to laugh at you for it, but he remains stubbornly quiet as you work, his golden eyes watching you in quiet contemplation.

In fact, he’s never brought up any of the times he’s interrupted you right before you got with someone. He’s caught you in varying levels of undress, with Na’vi men over you, under you, holding you, touching you, kissing you, but somehow just before anything good actually happened. Every time the men had scrambled away from you as though you were something diseased, mortified at being caught with a tawtute by Neteyam, a man that (for some reason you can’t comprehend) they seem to have an awful lot of respect for.

In the beginning, you were inclined to come up with excuses for him; he was Jake Sully’s oldest son, and was inevitably going to keep track of his peers and where they disappeared off to when they had duties that they should be attending to. But now, you think he’s doing it to spite you specifically. It might be a bit of a self-centred thing to believe, but you’re almost certain of it.

You shift on your knees beside him, raising yourself up a little to ensure that you’ve covered all parts of his scrape. You don’t want him returning tomorrow to complain that you didn’t do a good job.

You have to bite back another sigh as you do so, your thighs rubbing together in a way that sends a sharp jolt up your spine. You’re horny and needy and so, so resentful of the fact that you’re now treating the same man that’s the direct cause of your state right now.

Neteyam’s attitude wasn’t the only thing that changed in his time away, however. You have to keep your eyes fixed carefully on his bruising shoulder, because if you didn’t you know that your gaze would wander, and that’s a dangerous game to be playing in the presence of someone as perceptive as Neteyam.

But it’s difficult not to look. Time and ocean air has been kind to him; he’s grown as tall as his father, and whatever sort of training or work he had been doing with the Metkayina has resulted in broader shoulders and a more sturdy build than is typical of the Omaticaya. It’s galling to admit, and makes you feel as though you’ve eaten something sour and unpleasant, but Neteyam is hot as hell.

He might be aggravating and smug and too cocky, but no one in their right mind could deny that he’s attractive. Not even you. Especially you, if you’re being honest with yourself, considering your penchant for enormous blue alien men that could snap you in two with a pinkie if they felt so inclined.

God, you really have to think about something else. You’re so wet that your panties are starting to get uncomfortable, so you focus determinedly on the resentment that’s still simmering over the fact that Neteyam had interrupted what was promising to be a very productive encounter with Txetyo.

Neteyam shuffles a little where he’s sitting in front of you, and your eyes track the way his muscles bunch and shift under his vibrant blue skin. Damn, but seeing Na’vi musculature up close never gets old, even if it’s Neteyam.

You’re almost finished with dabbing paste on the tiny scrape (and you hate to admit that it had taken you longer than it should have due to your distraction), when Neteyam half-turns his head towards you.

“My back is sore, also.” He murmurs, though his eyes remain downcast.

You pause, staring at him. “Okay. And?”

There’s a moment where the two of you just look expectantly at each other. When nothing comes of that, Neteyam speaks again.

“You are playing healer today, are you not?” He asks, and his left ear twitches oddly. “Or is your attention all reserved for Txetyo, hm?”

Your cheeks heat in humiliation and your jaw clenches. You knew he wouldn’t be able to help himself from making some sort of stupid comment.

“Lay down.” You snap, prickly and embarrassed.

“Yes ma’am.” Neteyam purrs, probably all satisfied that he’s gotten under your skin. He reclines, all of those lithe muscles flexing and bunching as he rolls over onto his stomach.

You grab another pot of ointment, and then take a moment to steady yourself.

You know that he’s winding you up on purpose, just like always, but you can never figure out why. He doesn’t treat you like any of the other men in the village do – they might enjoy fucking you, but they’re rarely caught dead in public with you, worried about what it might mean for their own reputations.

Neteyam is bolder, more confident; though the burden of responsibility that he carries is unmistakable, he never seems to get caught up with the petty whispering and musings of the village people. It’s just unfortunate that he seems so set on bothering you.

Your mouth goes dry as your eyes drop mindlessly over the expanse of his long, pretty back. His skin is stretched tight over lithe muscle, little luminescent white freckles glinting like little stars. He looks so smooth, though the flawlessness of his body is marred by thick pale scars that litter his skin, courtesy of the near legendary battle with the RDA that you hear happened off the coast of Awa’atlu.

You glance down, flustered. Fuck. It would be so much easier to hate him if he wasn’t physically perfect.

“Problem?” Neteyam’s voice is a little lower in register than it was before, perhaps because he’s lying on his stomach with his head pillowed under his crossed arms.

You twitch. Shit. You had gotten distracted, and had lost yourself staring at him.

“No. Shut up.” You blurt reflexively, dipping your fingers into the oily ointment used for easing sore muscles.

Neteyam huffs quietly, a sound that could be a grunt or a laugh, but doesn’t bother responding. It makes you feel as though you’ve lost a game you didn’t know you were playing.

Antsy and on edge, you lean forward and survey his strong back properly. When he's laying out in front of you like this you can see the way his back is knotted with tension and his shoulders are hiked up around his ears. It doesn't look too bad, but it can't be comfortable either.

You take one more moment to admire the musculature of his shoulders, before gathering yourself and dipping your fingers into the ointment. It's balmy against your fingers and smells a little bit like blueberries, and begins to tingle when your hand is entirely coated.

"Where does it hurt most?" You ask, your voice quiet.

In the silence, you can hear Neteyam’s throat click when he swallows.

"My neck and shoulders." When he speaks, his voice is a little deeper than expected.

The very first touch to Neteyam’s back pulls a quiet sigh out of him; it sounds like relief.

Considering his size, it takes surprisingly little to have him melting under your hands. Your fingers spread under his scapula, finding a knot in the muscle and pressing in hard. It takes a bit of finagling, but after some firm pressure you feel the muscle begin to soften beneath your touch.

Gaining confidence, you return your kneading fingers to his neck. He really is terribly tense, and shivering spasms flit up and down the muscles of his back in regular intervals as you drag the warm palms of your hands over him. As your fingers work into his tense muscles, he lets out quiet little grunts that are muffled by the cradle of his arms.

“Why were you so hard on Txetyo during training?” You ask as your fingers dig into the tense tissue of his back. Your voice is unintentionally loud in the quiet of the hut. “He looked as though he had been attacked by a thanator when he was here earlier.”

Neteyam just grunts. “Txetyo is an overconfident skxawng. He is not nearly as skilled as he thinks he is.”

You click your tongue, dissatisfied with that answer. “I could say the same about you.”

Just like all your attempts to insult him, your words seem to bounce right off him. Stupid thick-skinned bastard. His pretty mouth tilts up in a smile.

“I have the skills to back it up, paskalin.”

Your lips purse at the name, your cheeks hot. God, he’s such an asshole.

When you exert pressure as you run your fingers down his spine, Neteyam grunts softly into his arms. The sound is startling in the quiet, interrupting the steady rhythm of your quiet breathing.

"Does that hurt?" You ask. Your voice comes out a little shakier than you’d like.

"No." Neteyam’s voice comes out in a low, gravelly rumble. The sound of it almost startles you into snatching your hands away, but you manage to refrain yourself. "Keep going."

You just swallow thickly, and try to keep yourself on task. “He just wants to be better. He was excited to train with you–”

“Lower.” Neteyam groans, shifting under your hands.

You clench your teeth. Really, you should probably just walk away from him. There’s no real need for you to be doing any of this. He’s not even injured, and who knows whether he’s telling the truth about his back being tense.

But you’re stupid, and you’ve never been good at walking away, from either fighting or fucking. This strange encounter feels as though it lies somewhere in the middle of those two things. Your palms drag down to his lower back, and he flinches briefly before melting under your touch.

His body is so big that it’s difficult to get a good angle to knead properly at his tense muscles, and before you can think too hard about it you swing your leg over his hips. You settle back, perching your weight cautiously at the base of his spine.

It's a braver move than you would usually make, but you try not to second-guess yourself — like this, you have so much more leverage to rub at the rigid sinews of his back. You drag your knuckles down the length of his spine and he groans into the cradle of his arms.

You try to ignore the excited flutter in your belly. It’s just Neteyam. You’re not actually getting turned on from this; the only reason you’re so affected is because you had been horny with Txetyo. You shift where you’re sitting on his back, but you have to force yourself still almost immediately, because the friction nearly makes your lungs seize.

“Comfortable?” Neteyam murmurs, and you can hear amusement in his voice.

“Shut up.” You say reflexively, before scowling. “I can’t believe you interrupted me and Txetyo just for this. You have, like, one bruise–”

“It’s a very sore bruise.” He murmurs lazily, sounding unbothered. “Do you think squeezing your tits might help? That seemed to help Txetyo feel better.”

You pause, jaw dropping in indignation. “I– shut up!”

Neteyam makes a noise that sounds like a snicker, and you dig your fingers down the planes of his back vengefully. His waist narrows into an elegant taper, and when you reach the part of his back where his ass begins to swell, you exert firm pressure against the base of his tail.

If you had done it to a human, you know it would have hurt. But instead the tightness of the muscle unfurls under your fingers, and Neteyam gives a long, low groan. The sound is delightfully gravelly, and you take a breath as you feel molten heat ooze down into your belly and settle between your legs. It’s not a reaction you had been expecting.

You sit back onto his lower back, avoiding his tail. From here, you have a truly captivating view of how slick his back looks from the ointment, and how his skin glows in the dim light of the hut. His body really is perfect, and your eyes track over the taut shiny scars that litter his skin.

“Mmm. May I get up? Or do you want to sit on me a little while longer?” Neteyam’s low voice breaks you out of your stupor, and you’re horrified to find that you’ve just been sitting there with your wet panties pressed against his back beneath your thin shorts.

You scramble off him quickly, flustered and clumsy. It had been a bold move to straddle him in the first place, and now you feel very stupid about it.

“You should apologise to Txetyo.” You blurt, just to say something into the silence.

“Why are we still talking about Txetyo?” Neteyam has always been a relatively tolerant and even-keeled man, but you can hear irritation beginning to bubble up in his voice.

“Because–” You start to say, but then Neteyam rolls over so that he’s laying on his back.

Now that he's lying on his back, stretched out all long and lithe, your eyes rove over his face and then down his throat, his chest, his stomach, his hips. Your eyes catch on the protrusion between his legs and stick there, your mouth dropping open in surprise when you see that his loincloth is tented.

“Because- he… you were too–” You try valiantly to finish your sentence, but your thoughts have scattered to the wind.

He’s hard. Why the fuck is he hard? Is that just from you rubbing his back? Oh my god, what are you supposed to say? It feels like his hard-on is staring at you.

Neteyam pushes himself up into a sitting position, his hands planted on the woven rug behind him as he pushes himself up so that he’s sitting looming over you. Once he’s upright, Neteyam flexes his shoulders and groans slightly as he goes. It doesn't sound like a pained groan, thankfully.

The movement brings him closer to you than you had been expecting, and you end up freezing. Like this, you can see the way his expression has smoothed into one of relief. His shoulders are looser too, no longer held bunched up around his neck.

Neteyam doesn't seem to notice your close proximity, nor the way you have tensed at the lack of space between them. You’re not touching, but you’re so close that you swear you can physically feel the air between you.

“If Txetyo is so upset about being beaten by me in training, then he should focus on getting better instead of slinking away with his tail between his legs and trying to screw you in a corner of my grandmother’s hut.”

You gape at him like an absolute idiot, floored by the acerbity in his tone. You’ve always thought Neteyam was a bit of a dickhead, but that was mostly because of his nearly insufferable need to always be the best. Always the best warrior, the best son, the best brother, the best future Olo’eyktan. The best role model to his peers.

“So that’s what this is about.” You say, your voice coming out distinctly accusatory. “You don’t like that your friends are fucking a human, is that it?”

Neteyam doesn’t even bother answering. He just rolls his now loosened shoulders and watches you carefully. He doesn't tell you to back off, or wrinkle his nose at you, or act as though he's repulsed by you. He just stares at you across the miniscule space between you, and that only angers you further.

“Is that why you keep interrupting whenever I’m with any of the other tsamsiyu?” You demand, fists clenching. “What, you don’t like that your friends find a tawtute attractive? Is that why you keep cockblocking me?”

Neteyam huffs a quiet snort, as though he thinks you’re being stupid.

“I hear what some of the Na’vi in the village say, about how it’s shameful to be with a tawtute.” You hiss. “I just didn’t think you’d be one of them.”

And if you’re honest with yourself, it sort of hurts. Neteyam has always gotten on your nerves with his confusing mix of overconfidence and jagged insecurities, and he had really infuriated you when he had started to interrupt all of those illicit little meetups you had planned with some of the boys in the village, but you hadn’t actually thought that he had any disdain for you like some of the other Na’vi.

And then you do something so stupid that it shocks even you.

Your eyes drop back down to the tent in his tewng, eyeing it thoughtfully, before reaching out and running your fingers over the hardened outline of his cock through the fabric with purpose.

Neteyam hisses, and his hips actually lift off the floor in an attempt to follow your touch.

“God, you’re a hypocrite, aren’t you?” You breathe, fighting to keep your voice casual. “How can you judge your friends for fucking around with me when you’re this hard after just a backrub?”

“They’re not my friends.” Neteyam grunts, his jaw clenching as his head tilts back. His hips rock into your hand.

Your touch goes firmer, and then your hand slips under his loincloth. You’ve had plenty of sexual encounters with Na’vi men, but this is different.

This is Neteyam. This encounter feels like proving a point. A very sexually charged point.

His cock is silky smooth and hot to the touch, and you feel a little drunk as your fingers close around it. And damn, it feels big. All Na’vi cocks are big compared to your hands, but this… feels different. You were aroused anyway, you’ve been feeling pent up all damn week, but now that your hand is on his dick your nerves are fizzing up.

It’s a surprise when Neteyam’s big hand settles on your waist to tug you closer, and you feel your stomach swoop when he pulls you forward. You don’t release his cock even as he pulls you to settle over one of his thighs, your legs slotted in between his, and you can feel him harden even further beneath you.

You wonder absently if it's really you that's causing his very obvious arousal or if it's just a natural consequence of the massage; either way, when his hips flex up towards you, they press right in between your legs.

You shiver almost violently, the sensation of him pressing hot and hard against your core frying your nerves and wiping your thoughts clean. The part of your brain that had been screaming about what a bad idea this whole thing is has become muffled now, and your own hips jerk against his.

“You’re such an asshole,” You say, though your voice comes out reedy and breathless. “You of all people don’t have a right to talk shit about those guys just cause they’re into humans, especially when your cock is this hard, and especially considering where your dad came from–”

He lets out a soft, quiet noise as you move against him, and uses his grip on the back of your top to pull you tighter against him yet again. “Don’t talk about my father when you have my cock in your hand.”

It takes what feels like a monumental effort to wrench your hand away from him, and he lets out a wordless grunt of dissatisfaction as his hips twitch in an effort to follow your hand. It’s delightfully pathetic, and you feel your ego swell at the sheer sense of power that washes over you; it’s a rare feeling, especially when you’re faced with a big blue alien almost twice your size.

“You should apologise to Txetyo.” You sound like an out of breath idiot. “It’s not like you can judge him for being with a tawtute when you’re that hard from me just touching you.”

Neteyam just stares at you, his jaw clenching and his honey eyes dark as he takes several breaths through his nose. You’ve never seen him like this before; you’ve never seen any of the men you’ve been with like this before. It looks as though he’s holding onto a thin veneer of control, and you wonder if he’s angry with you, if you’ve perhaps pushed him too far.

“That was never the issue.” He says and fuck, his voice has gone so gravelly. “And don’t pretend that you’re not wet beneath those clothes of yours. I can smell it.”

Your thighs squeeze together as you swallow hard, struggling to maintain your aura of indifference and no doubt failing.

“That’s because of Txetyo.” You say, and it tastes like a lie on your tongue. “You interrupted us.”

Neteyam laughs quietly and humourlessly. His expression suggests that he doesn’t find anything about this conversation funny, and his hand is still splayed across your back. You’re so damn conscious of how big his palm is as it spreads across your spine. Why the hell hasn’t he let go of you yet?

“Ah, I see.” Neteyam murmurs. “You would have fucked him in my grandmother’s hut?”

Your mouth is so damn dry, and you swallow compulsively. “It’s not any of your business who I fuck.”

Neteyam’s smile is grim. “Txetyo would fuck his own shadow if he were nimble enough to catch it. You have terrible taste in men.”

You rear back. You’re surprised by how much that hurts. Living as a human on Pandora is lonely, and it’s not like you have people lining up outside the human outpost looking to spend time with you. If you want any sort of companionship or intimacy, you have to accept any attention that you can get. And sure, most of that attention comes from men that only want to get their dicks wet, or the experience of being with a tawtute, but it’s better than nothing at all.

“Well, we can’t all be the Olo’eyktan’s son.” You say, your voice stiff and cold. “We don’t all have countless suitors throwing themselves at our feet. Some of us have to accept attention from whoever’s interested.”

Neteyam’s expression shifts, an odd look appearing in his eyes, and your stomach swoops. You don’t think you could bear to see pity in his eyes, so you pull away from him, shaking his hands off.

“Your scratch is fine.” You say, your voice thin and a little thready. “You’re all treated.

“Hey–”

As you stumble to your feet, Neteyam reaches out as if to stop you. You dodge his hands, unable to look him in the eye.

Panic is starting to set in now; what had you been thinking, touching him like that just after he had chided you for flirting with Txetyo in the tsahìk’s hut? God, you feel like such an idiot. He must think you’re so pathetic.

Like a coward, you turn on your heel and flee out of the hut. You need air, you need to be out of the cool darkness of the hut, you need to be away from the overwhelming weight of Neteyam’s presence. Through the blood rushing in your ears you can distantly hear Neteyam call to you, but you’re too desperate to escape from the whole humiliating interaction to stop and listen.

You stagger out of the hut, squinting at the evening light; it seems blinding after spending all day in the dim musty air of Mo’at’s healing hut. You pat at your rumpled shirt and creased denim shorts, flustered and frenzied as you try to straighten yourself out.

“Tawtute?”

You jerk, gasping, and whirl to find that Txetyo is sitting on a log a few feet away from the hut, apparently waiting for you to finish up with Neteyam. You feel like you’re burning up from a mixture of mortification and confused arousal and you’re certain that Neteyam is about to follow you out.

“I– I have to go!” You blurt, already stepping back towards the forest.

Txetyo frowns, obviously bewildered, but he doesn’t stand. “Don’t you want to–”

You don’t wait for him to finish. You’re already fleeing, disappearing into the trees as you run the whole way home.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ

It might be a little cowardly, but you avoid the village for days after that.

You stick to the outpost, watching Norm and Max and the other scientists work. You try not to die of boredom, and you try not to overthink and overthink and overthink.

But you have too much time on your hands as you slink around the outpost, and you can’t stop feeling guilty about abandoning your attempts to help Mo’at out in her healing hut.

You also can’t stop thinking about the shift of Neteyam’s muscles in the low dim light, or the silky hot feel of his cock in your hand, or the soft breathy grunts he had let out as his hips rocked. It feels like the experience has actually rewired your brain, as though you’ll never recover from it.

Growing up on Pandora as a human has been lonely. The only other human your age is Spider, who had become the closest thing you have to a brother – and you love him even when you feel like throttling him, but sometimes you just yearn for more.

You want companionship, you want understanding, you want romance, you want sexual intimacy. You don’t think it’s too much to ask for, and if you have to turn to big nine-feet-tall Na’vi warriors who just want to say they’ve had the experience of sleeping with a tawtute, then that’s… fine. Even if it’s only temporary.

Part of you is honestly relieved when Spider finally manages to force you out of the outpost and back to the village. It’s a relief to get back into the forest, to the village, to the life you’re used to. The outpost has nothing on the vibrancy of the village life, and you feel as though you can breathe for the first time in days upon stepping back into the village, even if it’s through your respirator mask.

There’s been a big hunt today, and the village is buzzing with excitement. You pass by several willowy Na’vi covered in celebratory paint, and follow the sound of the heavy thumping of drums.

The evening after a hunt is always a joyful affair, and you gradually start to relax throughout the night. You feast on collected fruit, hum along to some of the music, and sit comfortably with Spider all evening. At some point you’re joined by Lo’ak, which you don’t mind either; Lo’ak has always been the kind of outcast that fits comfortably between the edges of you and Spider. Those edges have smoothed out as he got older, but he’s always been a cool guy to hang out with.

When he’s not joining Spider in ganging up on you, that is.

“So– so wait, wait, let me get this straight,” Lo’ak is waving his hands as though trying to settle down a group of rowdy children, even though it’s just the three of you present. “Neteyam walked in on you fucking again, but this time it was in grandmother’s hut–”

You’re sat around the large campfire in the middle of the village, tucked away from the main celebrations. Part of you is flourishing being in this environment again, but another part is withering at this damn conversation. You glance around nervously, hoping that no casual observers can hear you guys talking.

“Txetyo only had his hand up my top!” You hiss hastily. “We weren’t actually– and we would have gone somewhere else when it came down to it!”

“Txetyo is a dickhead.” Spider complains, leaning heavily on your side. He’s so frequently dwarfed by the Na’vi that it’s easy to forget that he’s over six-feet-tall and corded with muscle, and his bulk is heavy.

Irritatingly, Lo’ak leans into you the same way on the other side, though he’s more careful about leaning his full weight, and you end up crushed in between the two idiots.

“He isn’t.” You protest, pushing back against their weight. “He’s–”

“Nah, he is.” Lo’ak interrupts before you can defend him. “Total skxawng. You know he keeps telling people he’s the best archer in the clan? And yet he didn’t manage to catch anything in today’s hunt–”

You try not to wince at that. It’s impossible to miss that while Txetyo may not have been successful in the hunt today, someone else is being lauded for their skill and success.

Neteyam has been given a place of honour by the fire next to his parents, and the careful swirls of paint all over his body can’t hide the proud glow on his face. Under the smooth veneer of Neteyam’s smiles and cheer was the jagged edge of his inferiority complex, his need to always be better and to be liked. Funnily enough, his insecurity has always been your favourite part of him. It felt real in a way his cockiness didn’t.

You can’t stop yourself from glancing over. Night has already fallen and there are many couples dancing, the flickering firelight sending wild shadows across the gathering. But even in the unsteady light, you catch the intense golden stare of Neteyam watching you from across the circle.

You hastily turn your face away, pressing your lips together tight as you try to pretend like you hadn’t been looking in the first place.

“–He’s better than Art’alak, at least.” Spider says, continuing on the conversation that you had checked out of for a few moments. “That guy was awful. I mean, what did you even see in him?”

You roll your eyes, sinking further back into the stupidly heavy weight of Spider and Lo’ak in a silly attempt to hide yourself from view. It almost definitely doesn’t work, and you can still feel the weight of Neteyam’s stare on you, even as you fixedly ignore him.

“Pretty sure we don’t want the answer to that one, man.” Lo’ak says, snickering.

His eyes glance around, before flashing across the gathering as though he can also feel Neteyam’s attention. You frown as Lo’ak hastily removes his arm from around your shoulders, even leaning away from you a little.

“I’m allowed to want company.” You say loftily, though you’re certain that your voice is a little shaky.

It feels like your skin is heating up under Neteyam’s eyes, and you feel yourself getting shifty. Why won’t he just look away?

Lo’ak obviously notices his brother’s attention, because he leans a little closer so he can speak quietly in your ear.

“My brother can be unbearable,” Lo’ak murmurs, “But he’s not a bad guy.”

“Gross.” You wrinkle your nose playfully at Lo’ak’s rare display of sincerity about his brother and he hisses at you, swiping at your head.

It’s all in jest, which is obvious given how gentle his hands are with you, and you laugh and lean away.

“I just– I don’t understand him.” You sigh once your laughter has tapered off. “I mean, I get that he doesn’t approve of the whole interspecies thing, but it’s like he goes out of his way to catch me in embarrassing situations. If he finds it gross, why seek it out?”

Lo’ak purses his lips and avoids your eyes. “Uh…”

“Anytime he shows up, the guys I’m with go running.” You continue, your brows knitting into a frown. “I mean, it’s getting ridiculous. Why can’t he just mind his own business?”

Lo’ak’s eyes dart over your head, and you just know that he and Spider are sharing a look together.

“He doesn’t– I wouldn’t say he disapproves of interspecies relationships–” Lo’ak says, but he fumbles a little in his attempt to get his words out and darts another panicked glance across the fire towards where Neteyam is sitting with their father.

You just scoff, crossing your arms defensively across your chest. You feel a little vulnerable talking about this; usually, you’re content to suffer through the embarrassment of having your sex partners pretending they don’t know you in public alone, but since Neteyam had started walking in on you, now he knows that they’re doing it too.

“He scolds them like they’re children whenever he walks in on us, talking about how they’re neglecting their duties and all that,” You mutter, scowling. “But it’s obviously because he’s annoyed that his friends are messing around with a Sky Person.”

Spider shifts at your side, making an odd sound beneath his breath. You turn to look at him, but he’s staring rather fixedly at a tree branch overhead. Lo’ak clears his throat, similarly looking off to the side to avoid your eyes.

You frown. It feels as though they’re hiding something from you, and the thought is unsettling.

“What?” You demand, sitting forward and staring intently at them.

“Nothing,” Lo’ak protests, but his voice is a little too high-pitched to be believable. “Uh… It’s just… well, I really don’t think that Neteyam has a problem with interspecies relationships. Our dad came from the Sky, too!”

You think that Lo’ak probably intended for that to be reassuring, but instead you find your stomach sinking miserably.

“Oh.” You say, pursing your lips. “So it’s me that he has a problem with.”

“No!” Lo’ak protests, but then he pauses. His mouth opens and closes as he struggles to form a response under the weight of your narrowed eyes.

When no explanation comes, you end up just averting your gaze and looking towards the fire. It’s stupid, but you’re not sure what you were even expecting. Neteyam has always been perfect in his personal life, his duties, his relationships within the clan, his looks. It’s hardly a surprise that he’s developed a distaste for you – you know what Sky People represent to the Na’vi, after all.

Across the gathering, two Na’vi girls are shooting looks at Spider. You almost think they’re looking at him in disgust, but when Spider catches their eye and smiles back they both look away giggling.

You click your tongue and roll your eyes. You wonder when exactly it was that the Na’vi your age stopped seeing you as human nuisances that haunt the village, and started instead seeing you as people with possible sexual appeal.

“That is just unfair.” You intone dully. “You get Na’vi girls flirting with you from across the campfire, and I get Na’vi boys fucking me in corners and then pretending they don’t know me. And that’s only if I don’t get rudely interrupted by Lo’ak’s asshole brother.”

“Men.” Lo’ak says in a disparaging tone that sounds as though it’s meant to be sympathetic, but it falls short as he’s biting his tongue to keep from laughing. “Maybe you just have bad taste.”

Spider laughs too, though he’s still looking in the Na’vi girls’ direction. There’s a pink flush in his cheeks, and his smile looks distinctly pleased.

“Yeah,” You grumble, sinking down where you’re sitting. “I’m hearing that a lot.”

The conversation moves on then, Lo’ak nudging at Spider over your head and grinning as he recounts the highlights from the hunt earlier that day, but you’re distracted. You hardly even hear a word they say, too busy staring broodingly into the fire.

Luckily, neither Lo’ak nor Spider mind your silence. They’re perfectly content to fill the quiet themselves, chatting and babbling and joking over your head.

You’re drifting, lost in your own thoughts until you hear Lo’ak and Spider go quiet. You glance over to them, only to realise why they’ve stopped talking – Neteyam is walking your way.

You stiffen, eyes narrowing behind your respirator mask as he comes to a stop before you all. He greets his brother and Spider briefly, distractedly, before his big amber eyes settle on you.

All you can do is wait, tensed. You have no idea what he’s going to do or say, but if he says something about that day in the healing hut you might actually scream.

But Neteyam doesn’t immediately say anything. He crouches in front of you, his gaze as measured and even as ever, and proffers a wrapped utumauti leaf to you. For a moment, you just stare at it as though it’s something venomous.

“A portion of yerik meat,” Neteyam clarifies, not even blinking as he watches your face. “From the hunt earlier.”

Oh. Now you see. He’s just showing off, like he always does. He’s always doing things like this, just to show off his skills, his prowess, how strong he is. It’s irritating; everyone already knows how great he is, and he’s already practically revered throughout the village. You don’t know why he keeps trying to flaunt his greatness in front of you, other than the fact that he must love to annoy you.

Spider nudges you in the side, and you reach out to take the wrapped meat from Neteyam’s outstretched hand.

“Thank you.” You say, a little tersely.

Neteyam just nods, his tail coiling. He watches your face for another moment, and all the unspoken tension between you from the other day seems to swell to unbearable heights. His ears twitch, and then he glances over his shoulder to where his parents are sitting by the fire. They’re watching, which makes you feel itchy and embarrassed.

“I should return.” He says simply, before standing and nodding at you, then Spider and Lo’ak, before straightening up and walking back to his place by Jake, his tail swaying low.

There’s a long moment of silence, where you can feel Lo’ak and Spider staring at you.

“Don’t.” You say sharply when you see Lo’ak’s mouth open, and he closes it with a click.

This feels embarrassing, as though Neteyam is mocking you somehow. It’s not the first time he’s given you food, always making sure to let you know he caught it himself. It’s like he has a damn pathological need to show off his skills, to try and prove himself, to prove that he’s better than anyone else. It’s aggravating, even more so now that Lo’ak has made it clear that it’s you that Neteyam has a problem with.

Eventually, Spider and Lo’ak return to their conversation and you pull back, sitting silently between them. You pull your mask off for a brief moment to nibble at the meat. You’re a little irritated to admit that it’s delicious, and you sit back to lean into Spider’s side as you chew at it sullenly.

You’ve just begun to wonder if this night is a total bust altogether when you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. You raise your head, surprised to see the sight of Txetyo stepping towards you.

At your side, Spider and Lo’ak share a look before sitting up straighter.

“Tawtute,” Txetyo greets, nodding his head at you. He casts a single cautious look towards Lo’ak, before focusing on you properly.

He is keeping his voice purposely low so that no one else can hear, but you can’t bring yourself to care. This is the most public setting that any man has ever actually approached you in, and you can feel your expression brightening already.

“Hello.” You murmur, smiling sweetly at him. The last time you had seen him had been right after you had fled the tsahik’s hut, right after you had touched Neteyam– and no, you are not thinking about that right now.

“I would like to speak with you.” Txetyo murmurs, his voice low as he darts one more quick look between Lo’ak and Spider before settling on you again.

You brighten. You’re under no illusions about what Txetyo wants to ‘speak’ about, and you can safely assume that there will be little to no talking involved at all.

Yes. A distraction. This is exactly what you need.

“Sure.” You say, your lips curving up in a coy smile as you unfold yourself from where you’ve been sitting between Spider and Lo’ak.

“Uh–” Lo’ak starts to say, but you’re already beginning to step away with Txetyo, who’s beginning to lead you away from the gathering.

Maybe it’s a little impulsive, but you’re feeling reckless tonight. You can still feel Neteyam’s eyes boring into your back as you follow Txetyo towards the treeline, but you determinedly refuse to look. The celebration should be enough of a distraction to keep him busy and away from you for a while so you can finally get laid.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ

You resist the urge to check the time on your battered old wristwatch as Txetyo slides down your body and repositions himself between your legs.

It feels like such a long time since you’ve hooked up successfully with anyone, with no interruptions, which is probably why you’ve been so affected by all-things-Neteyam recently. You were hoping that this encounter with Txetyo would restore you back to normal, to get rid of all the thoughts of Neteyam’s intense golden stare and pretty face and silken hot cock that are absolutely haunting you.

Yet, so far, the night’s been less than stellar. Txetyo had led you away from the celebrations, and you had to try hard to pretend like you don’t see him looking around compulsively to make sure that no one else has seen him leave with you. You had followed him into the trees, and had brightened up when he took your hand as soon as you were out of sight of the gathering.

Before you knew it, you were on your back on the forest floor with your panties around your ankles and your dress rucked up around your waist as Txetyo loomed over you on his hands and knees.

Txetyo is handsome, and he’s big and strong and he’s not opposed to hooking up with a Sky Person, but he’s not much for conversation and it seems like he’s only really got one thing on his mind. Apparently, your list of criteria might be a little lacking, because Txetyo’s also proving to be woefully bad at sex.

He spreads your legs and buries his face there. You blink at the canopy of glowing foliage overhead, grimacing. Honestly, you’d think that anything tongue-adjacent would feel good against a clit, but that’s just not true. Txetyo seems to have an affinity for moving his tongue rapidly and aimlessly against you, resulting in nothing better than the occasional teasing — definitely by accident.

You shift a little, try to angle your hips so that Txetyo’s mouth is over your clit, but he doesn’t seem to pick up on what you’re attempting to do at all. He just moves his mouth away, jabbing his tongue sort of aimlessly at your left labia.

“Could you– a bit higher–” You say, trying to shift again.

Txetyo’s mouth is rather sloppy against your pussy, but you’re not actually sure what he’s doing down there. He seems to be missing every possible nerve ending that might feel good, which is actually a little bit impressive.

You sigh, and just resign yourself to getting bad head. You let your head thunk back against the mossy forest floor, your legs hanging off of Txetyo’s big shoulders as he hunches between your thighs.

It’s almost imperceptible, but the quiet ‘crack’ of a twig breaking underfoot has your head snapping around in a panic.

Though night has fallen, it’s never truly dark on Pandora. The moss beneath you glows faintly, illuminating the outline of your body as you lay there with Txetyo getting busy between your legs. The trees and foliage around you are similarly phosphorescent, your surroundings all lit up in luminous vibrance.

Pandora’s bioluminescence is beautiful; it also means that you can see Neteyam’s figure all dimly lit up as he leans against the trunk of a tree about fifteen feet away.

Neteyam’s head is cocked to the side as he very obviously takes in the scene before him, his head turning to scan up and down your body. His little luminous freckles are lit up and glowing, and it’s impossible to miss the fact that his golden eyes are fixed on you, so intense that it’s almost breathtaking.

You almost scream. You mean to, but instead you moan, completely by accident, and Txetyo groans between your legs.

You don’t know what to do. You’re gaping at Neteyam, who seems all too content to just watch you, meanwhile Txetyo is totally oblivious. He’s still doing nothing right, but something deep inside you pulses.

Moments later, much to your horror, Neteyam takes a small, tentative step forward. He stands only a few feet away, behind Txetyo and in plain view of you.

Go away! You mouth, staring at him in disbelief.

Neteyam scratches his head, feigning confusion, and then he takes another step forward.

He doesn’t say anything. Why isn’t he saying anything? It’s not the first time he’s walked in on you in a situation like this, but usually by this point he’s started making snarky comments, which in turn makes the men you’re with scramble away from you like you’re diseased.

Your dress is pushed up clumsily around your stomach, exposing your pussy. There’s a man between your legs. You’re in the process of getting fucked and Neteyam is watching, goddammit.

It definitely, absolutely is not hot. And yet… your hips twitch, and your breath hitches.

“That feel good?” Txetyo asks, peering up to grin at you. Your attention is dragged back to him and you blink, dazed.

“Yeah,” You lie. “So good.”

“Mm,” Txetyo hums in satisfaction, slipping two fingers into you. “Good.”

You grunt at the stretch of his thick fingers, breathing deep. His mouth returns, his fingers jabbing kind of aimlessly, but it hardly matters. Your attention is locked on Neteyam, and it’s somehow making Txetyo’s useless attempts feel somewhat invigorating.

“Oh god,” You gasp. You’re so confused. Part of you is still waiting for Neteyam to speak up, to make a sound or to clear his throat. Something. But he just watches on, his pretty eyes dark.

“Mm, so pretty,” Txetyo murmurs from between your legs, still blissfully unaware of your onlooker. “Can I fuck you now, tawtute?”

Despite yourself, you find your eyes darting over to Neteyam. The stupid fucker is still looking, and when he sees that you’ve looked at him his lips quirk. Your whole body flushes deep with heat, and you try to pretend like you aren’t taking direction from him; usually, his appearance would have stopped this entire encounter dead in its tracks. But you’re continuing, and the fact is, you feel as though you need his permission or something.

“Y-yes.” You say.

Neteyam purses his lips, and raises his non-existent brows. Fuck, what does that mean?

“How would you like me to–”

“Just like this.” You blurt. It feels, for some reason, as though you can’t risk Txetyo noticing Neteyam. This is the only way you can see Neteyam without Txetyo noticing him, anyway.

Txetyo shuffles up your body, his bulk dwarfing you. There’s a moment’s struggle as he’s lining himself up against your pussy, groaning low as he pushes into you. The stretch is intense, and a little painful, as always; you never quite get used to the bone-deep satisfaction of that achey biting stretch in your cunt.

The stretch is satisfying, like it always is, but it’s not necessarily special. Txetyo is not as evenly proportioned as he looks, and his cock is smaller than other Na’vi you’ve been with. That is, mostly, a good thing; it means he can fuck you without lube, which you usually have to use to accommodate the shocking stretch of taking a Na’vi cock. It also means that you adjust to having him inside you a little quicker, your muscles easing gradually around the intrusion of his dick.

What is special (or at least unusual) is the fact that Neteyam is still watching. You stare back, maintaining a bewilderingly intense sort of eye contact. Txetyo groans as your cunt clenches down on him, and he lowers his face to bury it in your shoulder; like this, your view of Neteyam is completely unimpeded.

“Ah! You’re so tight,” Txetyo hisses. “This is okay?”

“Yes,” You gasp. “You can move.”

And by God, does Txetyo move. He jerks in and out of you with a complete lack of coordination. You bounce and flop against the luminescent bed of moss beneath you, occasionally throwing a hand over your head to try and anchor yourself to a tree root behind you, just to stay put for a second or two.

Neteyam is undoubtedly amused. He has a hand pressed to his mouth, and the skin around his eyes is scrunched up with mirth. At one point, when Txetyo starts humping into you so desperately that you grunt, wincing, Neteyam doubles over himself completely, laughing silently.

“Oh, oh,” Txetyo groans. “Tawtute, I am going to– you are so tight, so hot inside–"

You smack one of Txetyo’s hands away from where he’d been rubbing determinedly at the side of your vulva. You rub at your clit instead in fast, harsh circles, staring at Neteyam desperately. You don’t actually know what you’re looking for, or what you want him to do… but you want him to do something.

Neteyam reaches down to palm the bulge at the front of his tewng that you hadn’t even noticed until now, and you moan. You rub yourself even faster, attempting to angle your hips in any way that could increase your pleasure from Txetyo. It seems impossible, but you manage to catch one or two good strokes.

“Please, please—!” You gasp, eyes wide as you maintain eye contact with Neteyam over the wide bulk of Txetyo’s shoulders.

Neyeyam moans. It’s low, barely noticeable under Txetyo’s own strangled sounds, but you hear it clearly. Your body seizes up and then you’re coming, gasping high and quick as you drink Neteyam in with your eyes, frozen under Neteyam’s gaze in turn.

“Unnng,” Txetyo grunts as he comes too, thrusting into you through the last shocks of his orgasm.

You barely even blink, your eyes fixed wide open as you tremble, your breaths shaky. Neteyam doesn’t break eye contact either, watching you so damn closely that it feels bizarrely as though he’s watching a show you’re putting on, as though all of this is for him. The worst part is you feel as though you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t.

Neteyam silently turns and slips away through the foliage, and Txetyo flops onto the mossy ground beside you moments later, breathing heavily.

“That was good.” Txetyo sighs, his voice thick with satisfaction.

You don’t reply, still staring at the place Neteyam had disappeared into the trees. You’re partly unable to believe what just happened and partly turned on beyond belief, just knowing it did.

What the fuck?

[aurora-starwars]

Betrayal Is An Inherent Part Of Love

Pairing: Sully Family, Metkayina Clan, Ao’nung x fem!Sully!reader

Summary: Reader finds her place in the Metkayina clan, as well as something more

Word Count: 10k

Warnings: angst, swearing? brief mentions of mating

A/n: The awaited part 2! Thanks for waiting as well as all of the support on the first one! Also, I didn’t proof read it, might do that later. Anyway I put a lot of time an effort into this! Enjoy! <333

Part 1: Betrayal Is The Only Truth That Sticks

Masterlist

[Name] tried to rid all thoughts from her head as she took a sharp turn around a coral covered rock. If she wanted to win this race, she would have to stay focused. She signalled her Ilu to take another sharp turn to avoid one of the other racers. Manoeuvring out of the way, she watched as the Metkayina girl beside her caught up. Making a quick move, her Ilu crossed directly in front of the other girl, cutting her off. The girl’s Ilu was spooked, causing the girl to slow down leaving [Name] to get ahead.

The races had started pretty soon after [Name] was accepted in to the group, and since then have only become more competitive. The first few races were just for fun, another thing to do in spare time. But as the months went on, the races had become more of a proof of skill. A way to prove that you were better than others and to show who was best rider in the reef.

[Name] knew the path like the back of her hand and every precise turn reflected that. Her movements were quick but smooth, helping her move through the path with speed. [Name] would pass other riders and rocks swiftly, not fearing when she was only inches away from obstacles.

As she looked over to her left, she found Ao’nung’s quick movements matching her own. Now just barely a head, his Ilu blocked her vision as the path narrowed. She had to move by memory, her sharp turns were reliant on the movement of his body and her memory alone. As she struggled to match his movements, her mind flickered to the feeling of the water.

Even when rushing in her face, [Name] found herself at home within the sea. The warm waters of the Metkayina have brought her great happiness over the past few months. Only a few months less than a year ago, she was still tormented by the separation she felt from her family. It had only been when the kids of the Metkayina took her in that she finally learned what family felt like.

Over the last few months, she had finally felt free from the prison in her mind. A prison she was backed into when she was just a young child begging for love she would not receive. She had become best friends with many of the Metkayina kids, choosing to spend time with them instead of her family. And when that caused tension in the Sully family, her friends were there to save her, welcoming her into their homes.

Although [Name] never need to stay in other’s houses, for the day that [Name] finally turned her back on the family that had neglected her, was the same day that Ao’nung’s parents, Ronal and Tonowari, let her in their family.

[Name] was never alone from that point, never left to tame the demons in her mind on her own. No, from that point on, the entirety of the clan had given their attention and love to [Name]. Even just from the Metkayina kids telling their parents, majority of the clan had known of the crimes of the Sully family. Although they tried not to show their feelings towards the Sully family, the stares always seemed to slip out when a Sully member was in [Name]’s general vicinity.

The protective nature of the Metkayina clan over [Name] made her heart warm, like a warm dish on a cold night. Although [Name] appreciated the Metkayina clan as a collective, she enjoyed individuals of the Metkayina clan even more.

[Name]’s friends had loved her from the start, even before they met when she was just beginning to learn their ways. [Name]’s genuine interest and quick skill was intriguing to them. But as the time went on, it was really her personality and kindness that kept them coming back for more.

Ao’nung made a sharp turn into an open area, catching [Name] off guard. It only took a short beat before [Name] realized that this open area was the last stretch of the race. In a quick jerk, [Name] moved her Ilu beside Ao’nung’s, her mind focusing on the finish line. The line was really just two rocks that the Ilu’s would swim between, but it meant so much more as their friends not in the race floated around the rocks, waiting to see who was the winner.

The race was close, Ao’nung and [Name] swimming side-by-side. [Name]’s Ilu creeping in front of Ao’nung’s was enough for determination to flood Ao’nung’s face. He broke into a grin and as they approached the finish line, Ao’nung’s Ilu darted forward, taking the place of [Name]’s between the rocks. Only when Ao’nung’s Ilu started to slow in front of her, did [Name] realize that they had passed the finish line.

Fists pumped in the water and the muffled sound of cheers bubbled from around them. The feeling of adrenaline started to wane as [Name] looked around her. Ao’nung was looking at her with a very familiar look to [Name], a grin plastered on his face.

Ao’nung had won.

As the group made it to the surface, the cheering only got louder, and the shouting of Ao’nung’s name became clear. Even as they were applauding his name, Ao’nung’s eyes stayed firmly placed on [Name], his smirk not wavering as [Name] stare right back at him. Other’s started to pop their heads out of the water as other racers completed the race. A few of the Na’vi not racing, began clapping the racer’s backs, telling them how well they did. A few close to Ao’nung did that to him as well, but his eyes stayed locked on [Name]’s.

[Name] rolled her eyes before smirking. Ao’nung, as stubborn as always, never gave up, did he? The water rippled around them, evidence that there were still people around them and not just the two of them in their own world. As Ao’nung’s amused expression remained, [Name] let out a light hearted huff, shaking her head.

“Good game. You beat me,” [Name] said, trying to keep some level of maturity as she felt her competitive nature creep up.

She never was able to be competitive as a kid, never able to compete really. If there was a competition for her parent’s affection and attention, she lost the moment her siblings were born. Out of the running, benched as she would watch her family grow from the sidelines. But ever since being accepted as a member of the Metkayina clan, she had been learning new things about herself that she was never able to explore before.

“You’re right. I did beat you. Again,” Ao’nung was practically beaming, his face smug from the prospect of beating one of the clan’s best racers.

“Ugh, just barley, if that girl hadn’t cut me off, I would have won,” [Name] stated as matter of fact, chin tilting up in defiance. No way was she going to let this go to Ao’nung’s head.

“And I have been the one winning the past few races, so I don’t know what you’re on about,” [Name] added.

“Sure, but I won the last race and I have won again,” Ao’nung smirked at her for what felt like the hundredth time.

[Name] punched Ao’nung’s arm half-heartedly as she rolled her eyes, “Yes, whatever. You have won this time, but know that I will win the next,” [Name] smirked, eyebrows furrowing into as serious look as she pointed at Ao’nung.

Ao’nung only put his arms in the air, a look of smug disbelief painted across his face, “You will try, but I think second place suits you just fine.”

The sun beating down on them was warm and the water, calm. The ripples that were previously cause by the people around, were calmer and there was less splashing. One quick look around told [Name] that most of the riders were retreating back to the village after a long day.

“I guess you will have The Spear of Yora’tu (winners) for the next week,” [Name] smirked, already knowing Ao’nung’s reaction as she has seen it before.

Ao’nung’s eyes light up, puffing out his chest slightly as he smiled at the reminder.

The Spear of Yora’tu (Spear of Winners) was something the racers came up with a few months into the races. Racing had never been an official thing and so there was no official prize. That was until Ao’nung fought off an Akula, a ferocious and sharp toothed predator that swan just outside of the reef, with the spear. Since then, many in the tribe, including [Name], were able to fight off a predator with it.

Spear was then named for it’s incredible luck and they deemed that the Spear could only be earned by winning an Ilu race. So, since then they have been competing for the spear, which in itself would be enough of a prize, even if it didn’t come with bragging rights.

Ao’nung was known for holding the Spear the longest, though [Name] was always giving him a run for his money. And once again Ao’nung had won it, meaning that he would not let her live it down for the next few days.

“Ah, yes. Proof that I am a winner and better than you,” Ao’nung teased.

[Name] couldn’t help but laugh at that. It hadn’t taken much to get [Name] to laugh at Ao’nung’s jokes lately, however stupid.

Warm wind blew softly by them, blowing their wet hair so gentle it seemed Eywa was caressing them herself. [Name] took a deep breath, eyes closing as she experienced the warm wind around her. Ao’nung was left to watch her, his smirk fading into a small smile as he watched the beautiful girl in front of him.

Ao’nung found it almost a shame that [Name] was never taught in the ways of the Tsahik. Even though she should have been taught simply because of her heritance, the way she experienced the world around her felt as if Eywa flowed right through her. As she breathed in the air, [Name] looked as if she was breathing in the life of the world and had never felt more at peace because of it.

The soft look on Ao’nung’s face was almost a perfect refection of his thoughts.

A thought crossed his mind and Ao’nung decided to voice it, “Do you wanna explore the reef some more tomorrow? Maybe end at the beach?”

[Name] looked at his soft expression with confusion, although she didn’t show it. It wasn’t often that Ao’nung showed his soft side, in fact, [Name] was quite sure she was one of few who had. Tsireya, his sister, had, having been comforted after she got her queue caught on some coral. It was a touching moment that [Name] felt she should not have seen but seeing Ao’nung wrapped his arms around his sister as tears fell from her face, made [Name] feel soft and warm inside. A feeling she could describe as comforting.

But besides his sister, [Name] had hardly seen that expression on Ao’nung, as usually choose to grin or glare. The first time she had ever seen that face was when she had won her first Ilu race. Ao’nung wouldn’t stop telling everyone about how the forest girl won against even the best, for weeks. She didn’t understand it, but she did welcome the feeling she got every time Ao’nung started boasting about her to the other members of the clan.

“That sounds fun! Who’s all coming?” [Name] smiled, ignoring the soft look on his face, or how he was staring in her eyes like she was the only one he has ever seen.

“Oh, it was just going to be us,” Ao’nung explained, his soft look dropped only to be replaced by another smirk.

After a moment of thought, [Name] smiled, “Well, I am in. How could I turn down quality time with you?” [Name] smirked, her teasing hanging in the air, waiting for someone to make a move.

“You just can’t get enough of me, who wouldn’t want to hang out with me?” Ao’nung laughed. [Name] rolled her eyes again, holding in her own laugh, as they made their way back to the village.

Only a few hours later, [Name] found herself in a circle with some of her friends, girls of the Metkayina clan. She carefully guided them through the process of weaving flower crowns, just like she taught Tuk all those years ago. The goal was for them to make them for their families as gifts, as many of the girls had fathers, brothers and mates who were out all day hunting and protecting the seawall and wished to convey their appreciation.

This wasn’t the first day [Name] had taught them, only a few weeks prior she had been trying to teach them when Ao’nung challenged a boy to a race again, and [Name] and many of the girls could not miss that.

Since that day though, the girls had been practicing their skills, impressing [Name], who was more than proud to hear of this. The girls in the circle now were refining their skills, using them to make personal crowns for the ones they loved. [Name] thought the way the personalized them were brilliant. She had never thought to weave shells and pretty beads into the crowns using beading techniques, and she was excited to experiment.

“All I am saying, is that if he really cared he would approach you about it,” One of the girls told the girl beside her as she added a blue flower to her crown.

Mumbles of agreement sounded from around the circle, all seemingly deciding that that was the end of that argument. It was silent for a moment, only the sounds being of hands hard at work weaving and waves crashing next to them.

Then one girl piped up, looking at [Name], “I think I know the answer, [Name], but has anything gotten better with your family?”

All of the girls seemed become somber at that thought. They had seen [Name] around and they knew that things had not gotten better, in fact, the might have become worse. The Sully family was leaving their marui less and less, and they knew that [Name] blamed herself, as much as she didn’t want to think about it.

“No, no it hasn’t,” [Name] sighed, she had thought about this a lot. Even after separating herself from them and creating a new life for herself that she loved, she still felt guilty and responsible for the family she grew up with.

The girls around her muttered words of comfort, and the girls beside her held her hands and shoulders.

“They don’t deserve you, you deserve better.”

“Yeah, you’re with us now.”

“And we love having you around!”

“Of course, look what you have taught us,” One girls said, holding up her crown. “We thought we were just going to teach you.”

The girls nodded eagerly at each of the statements as if they believed them whole heartedly. [Name] smiled, looking at all of the faces that loved her very much. After a moment of comforting from the girls, they began to weave their crowns again and one of the girls made a move to change the subject.

“How are you and Ao’nung?” She questioned, [Name] would have said innocently, but as the girl started to smirk, she thought otherwise.

“What about me and Ao’nung?” [Name] hesitantly, wondering if this was going the way she thought it was going.

“How has courting each other been?”

Giggles sounded around the circle, smirks finding their way on many of the girl’s faces.

“What do you mean? We are not courting each other,” [Name] questioned, her eyes wide in alarm, blood rushing to her cheeks, did they think that they were courting eachother?

Choruses of gasps of shock and mumbles of ‘what?’ erupted from around her. [Name] was met with the prospect that others thought there was something going on between her and Ao’nung. Why did others see this but not her? Honestly, [Name] though they were going to ask if [Name] had a crush on Ao’nung, and was surprised that it seemed they had skipped that step.

“You mean to tell us that all this dancing around you have done, is unintentional?” Another of the girls asked, visibly perplexed.

“I mean, I thought we were just good friends…” [Name] muttered to herself, but the girls heard.

The thought did cross [Name]’s mind, that maybe she didn’t really know the difference between friends and something more, Ao’nung being her first friend and all. What if the comfort [Name] found in Ao’nung was mutual?

“Why did you think we were courting each other?” [Name] just had to ask, had to be sure.

“Are you kidding? We see how you two act around each other, like you can’t get enough of each other,” A girl started.

“Like you two are the only ones in the ocean,” One of the girls finished.

“Really?” [Name] felt that familiar warm feeling in her stomach. “I would have thought there was a better, Metkayina girl for him.”

The girls erupted in a laugh again. A good feeling, hearty laugh from the stomach at the idea of Ao’nung having anyone else ‘better’ for him.

As one of the girls started to come down from her laughter, she put her hand on [Name]’s shoulder, “Look, I love all of the girls of the Metkayina clan, except for Tseiie, can’t stand her,” The other girls giggled at that, knowing of her discontent for that girl. “But everybody knows that there is nobody better for Ao’nung than you.”

Another wave of nodding occurred, as well as mumbles of agreement.

“I don’t know about everyone…" [Name] reasoned, not believing that the entirety of the clan believed that [Name] was best for the leader’s son.

“No, it is everyone. Every girl and their mother knows that you are the best for him.”

“We have seen you two, he is so much nicer to everyone when you’re around.”

“Not to mention how nice he is to you.”

“When you first became friends, he actually started to be nicer. Like, not bullying people!”

“Yeah, that was nice.”

“And to think that is all because of you.” One of the girls threw the back of her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint.

[Name] sat there looking at all the girls confirming the situation with Ao’nung as truth, her face hot and flushed. [Name] hardly knew what to think, everyone thought Ao’nung and [Name] should be together? Her best friend, the one who took her in when her family failed, the man who had unknowingly carried her heart so gently for months. They were best for each other? [Name] found herself smiling at the thought, after coming second in the race, who knew that this day could get better?

“Even the Tsahik, interrupter of Eywa, his mother, thinks that nobody is better for her son than you,” One of the girls whispered, making the whole circle smile like madmen.

“Their whole family thinks you are perfect for one another.”

[Name]’s flushed a deep red at that. It was one thing for the clan to think they should get together, but his parents? The Tsahik? The implications of that were on an whole other level. [Name] had begun to think about how maybe they could court each other. Being the son of the leaders, and [Name] being the daughter of outsiders, she didn’t think it could ever happen. Never allowed to be. But after hearing about the clan as well as the leaders hoping for them to be, [Name] couldn’t help but hope for mutual feelings from Ao’nung.

Ao’nung’s parents had been nothing but loving since the day her family cornered [Name]. After finally leaving her family, Ao’nung brought [Name] back to his family’s marui, where he explained to his parents what had happened. His parents were more than happy to let [Name] into their home. That night was spent sharing shed tears and comforting on another. From that day on, [Name] stayed with Ao’nung’s family and they loved her like one of their own.

Ronal’s love really solidified when [Name] offered to help her and Tsireya with their tasks and chores. At first, Ronal was unsure but as she watched [Name] help her daughter, staying kind and caring even when things got stressful, Ronal found herself wondering how anyone could forget about [Name].

[Name] smiled at the thought of finally having a family who loved her. After a moment of the circle of weaving flower crowns, [Name] decided to share her plans for the next day.

“Ao’nung asked me to explore the reef with him tomorrow,” [Name] smirked knowing the girls would eager to know more. “And he made sure I knew that we would be alone.”

“What? No way!”

“Oooooo, somebody has a date~” One girl sung.

“You have to tell us everything!” The girls giggled.

[Name] smirked to herself as the girls leaned in to hear her next words.

“He said we would end at the beach just before eclipse.” [Name] whispered, leaning in herself.

“Thats when the sky is the prettiest!��

“You are so lucky, you know? Ao’nung a year ago was the worst.” More giggling sounded from around the circle.

“That is so cute! Do you think he will ask to–”

“They can’t until she has competed Iknimaya.”

[Name] knew what they were talking about. Iknimaya was the rite-of-passages that lead to becoming an adult in the Metkayina clan. [Name] had completed many of them over the last few months with her soul sister, the Tulkun she bonded with, but she hadn’t complete the last one.

Taming a skimwing.

[Name] knew that Ao’nung had already completed this last rite-of-passage and had become an adult in the eyes of the clan. Ao’nung was already eligible for a mate, unfortunately [Name] would not be in the selection if she did not become an adult herself in the eyes of the clan.

“Oh, she will be able to complete it soon. Won’t you [Name]?”

[Name] smiled, focusing back on her flower crown. She planned to complete that very soon.

Kiri hesitantly enters the marui where her family resides. She can see so clearly on their faces the regret and broken hearts. Ever since the day that she, Lo’ak, and Neteyam sought out answers from [Name], they had been a broken family. Kiri wasn’t sure how they were able to miss so much of [Name]’s torment, or how they missed how they were the cause of it. Years of neglect had lead [Name] to find family in the Metkayina rather than her own. Kiri understood now just how much that neglect affected her oldest sister.

It was a shame, Kiri could hardly remember her youth with [Name], and she knew Lo’ak and Neteyam felt the same. Looking through their memories of [Name], one would think that [Name] wasn’t even related, at best a distant cousin. [Name] was a blur in their minds, and after a while of not seeing [Name] around, they began to forget what she looked like. Although one would think that someone could recognized their sibling in a crowd, the only tell that [Name] was their sibling was that she was the only formerly-Omatikaya body in a crowd of Metkayina.

Kiri’s heart hurt every time she watched the familiar blue body of her older sister leave the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik’s marui in the mornings. It wasn’t often that any of the Sully family saw [Name] anymore and because of that, Kiri woke up at the same time every morning to watch [Name] swim off with her friends.

Almost every time she saw [Name], she was reminded of the night [Name] finally severed herself from the family she grew up with. Walking back to their marui had proven difficult as the prospect of telling Tuk of what had happened was enough to break their hearts. Their oldest sister was everything to their youngest sister. It was hard to imagine why they were so close, being that Kiri and her brothers never actually saw Tuk and [Name] hangout, they just knew that they did.

The walk back was slow, their footsteps the whole way heavy, a thousand thoughts wrapping around their heads like a hurricane.

She’s gone. How is she gone? Where did we go wrong? What just happened? How could we forget about her.

Kiri will never forget the look on their parent’s faces when they heard about [Name]. Neytiri dropped to her knees, eyes blown is shock. Jake just stared, still in his place. The three had just walked into the marui, hearing Tuk, Jake, and Neytiri laughing. Laughing that stopped abruptly when they saw the looks on their sibling’s and children’s faces. Expressions that could rival losing a loved one, which, one might suppose they did.

After the initial shock, they all watched as Neytiri brought Tuk close as tears started to stream from her eyes. Between Tuk and Neytiri, there was enough tears to be labeled as a waterfall. Jake didn’t move, stuck in his mind, only coming back to when his two sons came to his side, hugging him tight.

It was difficult to describe the pain that went to their hearts that day. Both from losing [Name], but also from their own personal inadequacies. How in the entirety of Pandora could they forget their oldest daughter. Their daughter who they know was always there for them, even if they didn’t let her. She was always by their side, helping them with whatever they needed. There was a point where [Name] was left to take care of her siblings every time her parents went on dates. [Name] had always had their backs and they stabbed [Name] in hers.

[Name] was the reason Jake and Neytiri wanted more kids. Even from the beginning, [Name] never made a fuss. She was the sweetest child they could hope for, always giggling and smiling at them. As Neytiri was pregnant, they would tell [Name] of how she was to become a sister, and even as a baby, [Name] seemed overjoyed to be an older sibling. Then Neteyam was born and it was like a switch flipped and [Name] no longer was the centre of attention. Sure, she still had some attention, being a baby in all. But as she was nearly a year older than Neteyam, when Neteyam and Kiri turned one, [Name] became an afterthought. Only really being cared for after Neteyam and Kiri.

Jake and Neytiri never meant to overlook their oldest child, but as the years flew by and they gave attentive care to [Name]’s siblings, it became unforgivable. There is a certain point where the neglect becomes intentional. A point when one is no longer able to ignore the fact that it would have been difficult to actively ignore someone you see every day for the first half of their life. If this was accidental, it happened out of a lack of care.

Lo’ak was gutted, not only because of [Name]’s separation from the family, but also because Tsireya stopped talking to him. [Name] had always been there for him, this much he knew. But over the years her face started to fade in his memories, only seeming to have actually hung out with her while they were young. Lo’ak knew that [Name] cared for him, but he couldn’t remember why he knew that. What actions in their past made him believe this about her.

He tried to look back, remember what his older sister was like when they were young. He was born not long after Kiri, and he remembered [Name] being around a lot, taking care of him and giving him her care and attention. [Name] was young as well at the time, but that never stopped her from offering a small hand to Lo’ak when he fell. As the years flew by, Lo’ak remembered less and less of his oldest sister, being as he started to push her away. A truth Lo’ak was finding hard to accept as of late.

Neteyam remembered more than most of his siblings, having been there with [Name] the longest. He remembers learning to hunt and shoot with her, running off in the forest away from Jake who was pretending to be a monster with her. He remembers [Name] fixing his small cuts from falling and placing leaves on his blisters caused by their bows. But much like Lo’ak, his memories of his sister faded as she became a background character in their important lives. Yes, [Name] was always still there, but she felt like a ghost. Only reminder that she was there was her soft movements that would usually head in the direction of the forest.

The two boys were not only upset at her leaving, but at their parents neglect to their oldest sister. They were upset at Ao’nung for taking [Name] from them. And they were upset at themselves for letting their sister become distant and separated from their lives practically their entire lives.

Although everyone took this news to heart, the one that took it the hardest was Tuk. Tuk had always loved [Name], and from the moment she was born [Name] had loved Tuk. Tuk was the first to have experienced [Name]’s matured and more motherly love. Even though [Name] was still young, she was in no way considered a baby, and thus was more than capable to take care of Tuk.

And take care of Tuk she did. Tuk was by far the most loved child, not only because she was the youngest, but because she had [Name]. [Name] was always there to care for her, being pretty much the only other one to hold Tuk when she was young, other than their parents. While Tuk was a baby, [Name] could often be found trying to make her baby sister laugh, entertaining her for hours.

As they grew, the two only grew closer. [Name] taught Tuk everything she knew, and although she knew Tuk was to get a lot more attention than she did, she made sure that Tuk knew she was enough just on her own. Tuk learned about beading, flower crown weaving and the basics of healing from [Name], all things she couldn’t quite do with her tiny hands but enjoyed learning none the less.

Tuk began to hang out with her other siblings more as she grew older, but still always found time to enjoy [Name]’s company. [Name] couldn’t blame her youngest sister for wanting to hang out with her other siblings more, for she wanted that just as much. But [Name] knew that she had tried and there was no reason to continue to bug her siblings further. So she let Tuk run off with Kiri and Spider, and get into trouble with Lo’ak. Lo’ak always the one getting in trouble, even if it was Tuk’s doing.

Tuk remembers the most of her siblings, even more than Neteyam, so when she heard of [Name] not going to be in their lives anymore, Tuk felt as if her heart was pulled out. Tuk, being as young as she was, couldn’t even find a way to communicate her sadness over the loss of her sister. Tears seemed to only stop flowing from her eyes when there were no more tears left to cry. The Sully’s had to make sure she was drinking lots of water being as she almost never stopped crying. They were worried for their youngest, who didn’t stop crying even in her sleep. Tuk’s experience with [Name] was so positive that if Tuk didn’t already have a mother who loved her immensely, she would ask for [Name]’s love as a replacement.

Tuk never wanted to leave the marui, only really doing so to see Ilus. Her family’s attempt at making her feel better, and while it did a little, it only really confirmed just how much damage their neglect had on [Name].

Tuk only really stopped crying when one day Tsireya came by and offered to take Tuk out for the day. Kiri remembers how grateful her family was that Tsireya was giving Tuk an opportunity to get some fresh air and enjoy life again. What Kiri didn’t know, was that Tsireya planned to meet up with [Name].

When Tuk caught sight of [Name], she ran to her with no hesitation. Tuk spent the rest of the day held in [Name]’s arms. The walked on the beach, explored more of the reef and played on Ilus, all while Tuk was firmly wrapped in [Name]’s warm embrace. She didn’t leave her arms for hours, only letting go once it was past eclipse and Tuk knew she should be getting home if she didn’t want to get into trouble.

When Tuk got home, the entire family notice just how much happier Tuk was. The girl finally wasn’t crying every moment.

From then on, it became a regular thing for Tuk hang out with [Name] and her friends for the day, and everyday Tuk would come back home with a smile. Even if someone would ask what has gotten her smiling, she would smile and shrug, not giving any more information.

One day, Tuk came home with a pretty flower crown on her head and her parents along with her siblings were in awe. Kiri remembers one of them asking if Tuk had made the pretty crown that sat comfortably on her head. Tuk only shook her head, stating simply that it was [Name]’s handy work and skipped over to where dinner had been prepared.

Their stomachs dropped, Tuk had been hanging out with [Name]? [Name] let her do that? And when did [Name] become so good at weaving flower crowns? The wondered if Tuk taught her, knowing that Tuk had made them all flower crowns when they were young. Desperate to have their questions answers, they asked Tuk.

“Who taught [Name] to weave? Did you, Tuk?” Neytiri asked, watching her youngest closely as to not miss a sliver of information about their oldest.

“What? No silly. She taught me. [Name] has always been the best weaver in the clan, this clan and the last.” Tuk stated simply, smiling to herself as she thought about all of the beautiful projects [Name] was able to make.

“She taught you? When did she teach you? And when was she taught?” Jake asked, the last part more to himself but everyone else in the marui caught it.

“Of course she taught me! Who else? She taught me a long time ago, remember when we gave you those flowers crowns a while ago? Yeah those were hand made by [Name], I was only able to make two of them. It’s hard with my tiny hands.” Tuk finished, taking a bite of her dinner.

“She made those? We thought you did…” Kiri muttered.

“You think I did? I was like 5.”

“Who taught [Name] then?” Lo’ak asked, eyes furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t think anyone did. I think she has learned a lot of things from watching people. You know, because nobody will teach her,” Tuk explained, taking another big bite of her dinner, of which she seemed to enjoy.

They weren’t sure if Tuk realized it or not, but her statement was a silent dig at their parenting. Parenting that for [Name], didn’t include much teachings. Besides being taught to hunt and use a bow, [Name] was not taught about much else, leaving her to figure it out on her own. If watching people was how she learned, then that really reflected how poorly Jake and Neytiri had been at teaching her.

That night ended cold and sad for the Sully family. The thought of not realizing yet another part of [Name]’s brilliance weighed on them.

It was a bright day in the reefs, the water was warm and the breeze gentle as [Name] and Ao’nung explored the colourful corals and wildlife that the Metkayina clan had to offer. Rounding the corner of a particularly colourful piece of coral, [Name] found herself face to face with a grinning Ao’nung looking at her.

“What?” [Name] signed, slightly worried at his all too happy expression.

“What? I can’t smile?" Ao’nung teased, signing back.

“Not when your smiling like you have something planned,” [Name] signed.

“Why is it that you always think I am up to something?” Ao’nung signed, lifting his brow playfully.

“If you saw your expression right now, you would understand why,” [Name] giggled, watching Ao’nung rolled his eyes playfully.

Only a few hours later, [Name] and Ao’nung found themselves walking on the beach side-by-side. The sun was low, teetering on eclipse, making the bioluminescence of the water and the wildlife glow a marvellous, ethereal light that [Name] was never able to get enough of. Their walk was slow and silent, but brought great comfort to both of them.

Their hands hung by their sides, brushing one another from time to time but neither had the heart to move away or take the chance and grab the other’s hand. [Name] sighed, her mind on the day she left the Sully family.

“I just want to thank you for helping me that day, you know, bringing me into your friend group and all. I have never forgotten that day, and not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate what you have done for me,” [Name] confessed, slowing down to as stop in order to get her message across.

“It’s alright [Name],” Ao’nung begun, stopping next to [Name] before turning to face her.

[Name] cut Ao’nung off before he could continue, “Really. I have no idea where I would be if you and your friends didn’t come to make fun of me that day.”

Ao’nung grimaced at that. Making fun of the girl before him was not something he like to remember.

“It’s really okay, I am glad we are friends.” Ao’nung said in attempts to comfort the girl in front of him. He grabbed her hand gently and guided her to sit next to him on the beach as she continued.

“And everything you have done for me since! You really are the best, thank you so much for all you have done for me,” [Name] spoke earnestly, looking directly in Ao’nung’s eyes, something that caught Ao’nung off guard.

“[Name], I would do it all again a million times if it meant becoming friends with you,” Ao’nung spoke truthfully, that familiar tease in his voice none existent as he gazed into [Name]’s eyes. “I would do it all again in a heartbeat.”

[Name] smiled at his words, watching Ao’nung’s face once again. There was that look again. That look of softness that was oh so rare, sitting perfectly on Ao’nung’s smooth face. A moment went by, the two of them just looking in each other’s eyes. But then [Name]’s mind went back to what she was thankful for, Ao’nung could practically see the shift on her face.

“Thank you so much for all that your family has done as well. Letting me into your home must not have been easy but I am so grateful for all that you and your family have done to make me feel at home.” [Name] began again, she spoke as if this had been weighing on her for a while, and it probably had.

Ao’nung let out an amused huff, shaking his head affectionately, “[Name], please don’t worry about it. We love having you around. Honestly, I think my mother likes you more than me at this point.”

“She does not,” [Name] smiled, shaking her head.

“I’m not even kidding, she will push me aside when you walk in,” Ao’nung joked, but somewhere in [Name]’s gut knew that it was not as much of a joke as Ao’nung was letting on.

“Thank you,” Ao’nung started, catching [Name] completely off guard. “Thank you for coming into our lives and making them better.”

Ao’nung paused for a moment, hesitating on whether or not to continue.

“Thank you for making my life better,” Ao’nung smiled softly, holding both of [Name]’s hands.

[Name] smiled as if she had never been told such beautiful words, and rested her forehead against Ao’nung’s. The sun set behind them, the beauty of pandora finally glowing once again, but [Name] and Ao’nung could only find bliss in each other in this moment.

Less than a week later, [Name] and Ao’nung along with some of their friends, were hanging out in the shallow waters next to a more secluded beach not far from the village. It wasn’t at all private, in fact many of the Metkayina kids favoured hanging out here in their free time. The beach was beautiful, long billowing overhanging trees acting as a sort of cover from the sun and the rare rain, and beautiful naturally growing flowers surrounded the beach.

It had been a long day mostly consisting of chores and teaching [Name] to successfully tame a skimwing. They were readying up for the day she would complete her last iknimaya, which would take place in just over a week. [Name] was excited to become an adult in the eyes of the clan and Eywa but at the same time she was beyond nervous about the whole ordeal. [Name] would manage though, after all she had all of her friends who were more than eager to help her in anyway. Ao’nung even offered to give her a ride on the skimwing he tamed, but [Name] declined as she didn’t want her experience to be different than any other kid in the Metkayina clan.

Regardless, they were taking the night to relax. [Name], Ao’nung and their friends were laughing and joking around all evening, finding humour in even the smallest of things. Even their own laughter was enough to keep them laughing. Some of their friends facing the beach’s laughter died down all of a sudden. Following in suit, [Name] and the others facing their backs to the beach, turned in order to see what was the cause of this sudden seriousness.

But when they turned around they found Lo’ak, Neteyam, and Tuk walking past. There was a moment of silence and that was when the three Sullys noticed the group watching them. The group grabbed [Name]’s shoulders, pulling her close and most importantly, away from her brothers, and sent nasty glares in their direction. Neteyam and Lo’ak’s heads lowered in shame when the noticed the darker blue body among the group. As they walked past, [Name] noticed Tuk looking at her, a familiar longing on Tuk’s face. So as they walked by, almost out of view, [Name] nodded at Tuk for her to join them.

Tuk’s light up, her smile as bright as the sun. She gave Neteyam a small tap that alerted him of her departure and run off to join [Name] and her friends. Tuk ran into the water and splash over until she crashed into [Name], who was more than happy to reciprocate Tuk’s affection. The day ended in smiles and contagious laughter, another good day in the Metkayina clan.

[Name] felt as if she was born ready. Born ready to finally tame a skimwing and become an adult. She had been waiting for this day ever since she started learning the ways of the Metkayina people. Her commitment, dedication, and passion kept her learning, growing, and building her skills. And it had all lead up to this day.

The task was rather simple, get on the skimwing, bond with it, and stay on the skimwing. And that was all she thought about as she moved to tackle the skimwing before her.

As she grabbed on, the skimwing darted forward and [Name] was reminded of Ilu racing. This couldn’t be much different, could it? Her question was quickly answered when she was promptly thrown to the side, [Name] swallowing a gulp of water as she hits the surface. [Name] had no other choice but get back up and try again. A lot was riding on this. If she completed this, if she managed to tame the skimwing, she would be an adult and they would hold a ceremony for her. They had already begun preparing it, already so sure of her awaited success.

[Name] made another quick movement, jumping back on the skimwing. This time she locked her legs around the slippery animal and grabbed both the queues, connecting them. All of a sudden everything became clear. The skimwing settled down, his heartbeat matching with [Name]’s as she felt everything in her body as well as his. With a firm hand on the handle, [Name] commanded the skimwing to move.

She was instantly jutted forward as the skimwing dove into the water. [Name] didn’t think she would be able to hold on, it quickly becoming a struggle. But after a few seconds, she started getting used to the feeling of water rushing at her. Readjusting her grip, [Name] told the skimwing to jump out of the water into the air, and the skimwing did.

Jumping out of the water, [Name] was left to see the whole clan watching her success and cheering her on. Bright smiles and enthusiastic clapping was heard from all around the village as [Name] and her skimwing made their rounds.

When the ceremony finally came, [Name] was practically bouncing in her seat. Her excitement could hardly be contained as she watched Ronal and Tonowari approach her with proud smiles, beads and necklace in hand.

“[Name], you have done much in the last year. Learning faster than most of our ways and you are more than eligible to become an adult in the eyes of Eywa,” Tonowari started, Ronal nodding proudly from beside him.

“These beads are to add to your songcord, as a way to commemorate your progression into adulthood,” Tonowari handed [Name] three small beads, one made of a small shell, one a pretty green bead and the last a small chunk from a tooth of a skimwing.

“And this,” Ronal began, laying the beautiful pearl and beaded necklace around [Name]’s neck. “Is a necklace that my daughter, Tsireya beaded for you for this special day.”

[Name] smiled at them, looking up at the leaders as if they were her parents, real parents that loved her. She smiled at Tsireya as well, who was standing just behind her parents.

“Now that you are an adult, you may get your first tattoo. The tattoo of your soul sister.” Tonowari smiled. “But all in due time, for now, we feast!”

The clan erupted in applause and cheers, another child growing into an adult of the Metkayina clan. A time to celebrate and enjoy.

Ao’nung took no time in approaching [Name] after she thanked Tsireya dearly for the wonderful necklace. [Name] was still fiddling with the necklace with a smile when Ao’nung appeared in front of her.

“You know, I helped her make that.” Ao’nung smirked, watching the disbelieving look creep onto [Name]’s face.

“Really?” [Name] deadpanned.

“Really," Ao’nung stayed smirking but there was no hint of deception on his face nor in his voice. “I mean, it was just a few beads and I told her your real size when she got it wrong, but I still helped.”

[Name] smiled, touched by the fact Ao’nung help make something so beautiful just for her.

“Thank you, Ao’nung,” [Name] smiled, moving to lay a quick peck on Ao’nung’s cheek. “I really appreciate it.”

Only two days later, [Name] and Ao’nung found theirselves walking down a beach again. The walk was silent but comfortable. The two were more than happy to enjoy the beauty of the world around them in silence as they walked hand in hand. They had just gotten back from a meal spent with Ao’nung’s family, as usual, when Ao’nung asked for [Name] to walk with him. When [Name] agreed, Ao’nung grasped her hand and tugged her in the direction of the shore.

The plant life was glowing around them once again, the darkness of the night only accentuating the already apparent beauty of pandora. Ao’nung noticed how beautiful the glowing speckles on [Name]’s face were as he snuck glances at her from the corner of his eye.

Ao’nung slows to a stop, his and [Name]’s attached hands brings her to a stop as well. Ao’nung turns to face [Name], and it met with her soft gaze. Ao’nung has always found [Name] beautiful, but in this moment, with the light from the flowers around her reflecting off the water and on to her soft face, Ao’nung thought she was the most beautiful entity in all of pandora. Maybe even the universe.

“[Name], I am so glad to have met you. You are every star in the sky, every thought I think, ever breath I take,” Ao’nung stares in [Name]’s eyes as if they were the gateway to her soul, a soul he has fallen in love with. He watches as [Name]’s smile starts to widen, her eyes starting to water.

“I wish to never leave your side, to be there for you forever,” Ao’nung’s smile begin to widen as [Name]’s hand cupped his face.

“I want to be with you forever, [Name],” His smile was soft, a reflection of [Name]’s soft smile as she put her other hand on Ao’nung’s cheek.

[Name] had been dreaming of this moment, and by the look on Ao’nung’s face, it was evident he had too.

“I see you, Ao’nung,” [Name] whispered so softly it was as if she thought she might scare Ao’nung away.

“I see you, [Name]," Ao’nung beamed, holding her neck and jaw in his evidently much bigger hands.

A small, happy tear fell from [Name]’s face. She wasn’t sure if it was Ao’nung’s attentiveness or the thought of finally finding someone who wanted to spend the rest of their life with her. Either way, [Name] was happy.

Ao’nung pulled her into an intimate kiss, their bodies stayed close as they moved in unison. The kiss was like a promise, filled with untold secrets and unspoken words. The kiss was first of many that night, and many for the rest of their lives, as they mated under Eywa. The two becoming one in a single, long awaited day.

The very next day, they told Ronal and Tonowari. At first they were worried that Ao’nung’s parents would be mad, but as the news came out, the two leaders were instantly beaming. Ronal brought [Name] into a tight hug, whispering in her ear at just how happy she was that [Name] was now her daughter under Eywa. Tonowari clapped his son’s back, telling him just how amazing a mate was going to be and how proud of him he was for choosing [Name].

Tsireya was just as happy, jumping around in circles with [Name]’s hands in hers when she heard the news. She told [Name] that she was happy to have a sister and about how much fun they were going to have.

In the next few days, [Name] got her tattoo, and started to learn the ways of the Tsahik. Ronal insisted [Name] learn the ways of the Tsahik if she was going to be the future leader of the clan. Tsireya, although she believed what her mother said, she also thought that it was just another excuse for her to hang out with [Name].

[Name] was beaming when she learned she would be taught the ways of the Tsahik, as she was not previously allowed to by her birth parents. [Name] although in line for the Tsahik, was never in the running, so as she was being taught, [Name] couldn’t help but be excited about every new thing she learned.

It had only been a few weeks since she mated with Ao’nung, when the Sully family came knocking at their marui. It was a surprise to all to see them, the Sullys were known to stick to themselves, never seen talking to anyone other than each other. [Name] was enjoying her dinner with her family when she saw them in the opening of the leader’s marui. Ronal and Tonowari stood up immediately, looking at the Sully parents with clear discontent.

“What are you doing here?” Tonowari asked, his voice commanding but restrained as he tried to remain civil.

“You have no place standing there, what is it you want?” Ronal demanded, not as patient as her mate.

Jake and Neytiri put their hands up as if to show they mean no harm. Still the two leaders of the clan stepped forward as to block [Name] from view, shielding her from whats to come.

“We just came to talk to [Name], if we could have a moment,” Jake asked calmly.

“No. Whatever you can say to [Name], you can say to us,” Ronal stated clearly.

“Okay…” Jake started hesitantly, seeing the hostile looks on each of the faces in the room. Particularly Ao’nung.

“We just wanted to say,” Jake looked around at his family for conformation, and when he got it, he continued. “That we are so sorry for what we did. And what we continued to do your whole life. I am sorry we neglected you and weren’t really there. We promise we care and love you.”

“We are hoping you will come back?” Neytiri tried, the her children nodding from behind her.

“Come back? After what you did to her, or really, all that you didn’t do for her?” Ronal roared.

Ronal was beyond pissed at this point, fed up with all of the neglect [Name] faced at the hands of her so called parents. It baffled her how they could treat such a sweet and amazing child like [Name], so horribly.

“You are out of your minds if you think that she would come back to you after all you have done.” Tonowari’s jaw was clenched and his fists tight, an almost identical expression on Ao’nung. “What do you even know about [Name]?”

Jake and Neytiri were frozen and at a loss for words. What did they know about [Name]?

“She makes flower crowns?” Neytiri offered, an already troubled by the lack of information she had about her oldest.

“Do you know her favourite thing to do is?” Ronal asked, immensely curious as to if she was going to get an answer.

Ronal’s question was met with silence and awkward shuffling from the Sully family.

“Did you know that [Name] has become the top Ilu racer?” Tsireya asked, peaking from behind her father.

Silence.

“Did you know that she had complete that last rite-of-passage and is now an adult of the Metkayina clan?” Tonowari asked.

More Silence.

“Did you know that she is mated to Ao’nung?” Ronal questioned, getting more upset by the second at the Sully’s silence.

More Silence.

“Did you know she is training to be the next Tsahik?” Ao’nung asked, becoming incredibly frustrated at his mate’s former family.

Once again, they were met with silence.

“Do you even know when is [Name]’s birthday?” Tsireya asked, mortified by the silence, tears already swelling in her eyes.

When the Sullys made no move to say anything, that’s when [Name] finally broke.

“It’s today. My birthday is today. You didn’t know that?” [Name] asked softly, her voice coming out as a broken whisper.

Tears were now streaming freely down [Name]’s face, right in view of the Sullys as Ronal and Tonowari stepped to the side.

It was then that Jake, Neytiri, Lo’ak, Neteyam, and Kiri all realized just how little they knew about their sister and daughter. [Name] had never really left, she was always within distance. At any point they could have ask someone, or [Name] herself, how she was doing. But they didn’t, instead they moped and let themselves feel bad for themselves as if [Name] had done something to them.

“Even Tuk knew, and she wished [Name] a happy birthday.” Tsireya added.

“Why didn’t you tell us Tuk?” Neytiri asked, turning to her youngest.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t know your first born’s birthday, can’t do your parenting for you.” Tuk stated simply before running up to [Name] and embracing her in a warm hug.

“You are terrible parents. Even after learning of your own inadequacies, for months you refused to learn and grow. You don’t deserve [Name], she deserves better.” Ronal informs them firmly, not shying away from the rudeness in her tone.

[Name] shook her head as she looked at her old family, “I can’t believe even after all of these years, you still have no idea what you have done to me. What I have lost because of you! I never knew what true happiness was like until we came here and I met some of my favourite people,” [Name] spoke, looking around at her real family with a small smile. “I am Metkayina now, I have found a family who loves me and actually shows they care for me!”

Ao’nung wraps his arm around [Name]’s shoulder and Ronal and Tonowari rest their hands on [Name]’s back, Tuk’s arms still firmly wrapped around [Name]’s. Her new family smiles at her, showing her the love and attention she has always wanted.

“I am daughter of Ronal and Tonowari now. Sister of Tsireya and mate of Ao’nung. This is my life and I love it more than anything. So please stop taking good things away from me!” [Name] finished, glaring at her former family.

The Sullys had tears in their eyes, Neytiri’s were streaming down her face, but they remained silent.

“You heard my daughter, we are her family now. Now leave, before I change my mind about let your family stay in our clan," Ronal’s threat hung in the air as the Sullys rushed to leave.

Each Sully left that marui more broken than before, knives plunged deeply into their chests. They knew they had been terrible to [Name], but as they just witnessed, it was clearly only a fraction of the damage they had done. Each of their hearts were heavy with the fact they had no idea anything about [Name]. How had they missed her rite-of-passage? Or her being mated under Eywa with the son of the leaders?

How had they not know that it was [Name]’s birthday?

The words said would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Lo’ak couldn’t believe he’d missed [Name] becoming an adult, when had that happened? Neteyam was shocked to learn that [Name] had a mate. Kiri was conflicted when she heard [Name] was learning the ways of the Tsahik, shouldn’t [Name] have been the one getting taught the ways of the Tsahik with Kiri, all those years ago?

Jake and Neytiri were beside themselves, their minds messes. They truly were terrible parents, weren’t they?

Tonowari and Ronal were left to comfort their oldest daughter when the Sullys finally left. [Name] was crying, Tuk still in her arms, as Tsireya and Ao’nung already begun comforting the girl.

“[Name], you know you will always have us,” Tonowari spoke, his voice soft, a stark contrast to how he spoke to the Sully family.

“Yes and you are loved and cared for here,” Ronal added, smiling down at the teary eyed girl before her.

[Name] couldn’t help but smile. Because after all, she knew that this family would never betray her.

A/n: Thank you so much for reading! And thank you to everyone who gave me all that support on the first part! I love you guys so much! This is what I did with the soul I found! I sold it to the devil again! I hoped you enjoyed and let me know what you thought! <33333

Master-list

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[nattikay]

[hbfengxi]

concept: aonung and neteyam wearing each other’s armbands in the same (but definitely more obvious) way human soldiers wear each other’s dog tags.

imagine them being war leaders in the fight against the sky people and a hot topic for entertainment in every war camp they stay in is the ongoing betting pool on whether or not they’re together.

the armbands are only the start. they keep accidentally switching knives because of how often they hunt together. aonung suddenly has wooden beads braided into his hair. sometimes, the warpaint on neteyam’s chest will be in the distinct metkayina style and aonung will glare at any warrior that stares at it for too long.

neteyam comes out of aonung’s tent one morning and for the rest of the week every metkayina and omatikayan na’vi is asking both chief’s sons if he’s perhaps courting someone. or is he mated already? is there anything you want to announce? should we keep an eye on somebody for you, in battle?

tonowari sporting the most smug grin on his face when he goes to ask aonung why neteyam spent the night and jake laughing so hard he wakes up half the camp because it turns out neteyam just came in before dawn to discuss battle strategies and came back out to get breakfast, father, truly!

their mothers (and families) trying to speed up the process. lo’ak and tsireya conspiring to get them to confess because they’ve heard the “one-sided” pining for too long damn it.

just. the idea of the two eldest children being so clumsy when it comes to pursuing happiness that might belong to only themselves. it would be so cute.

[lloyd-007]

Summary:

Spider Socorro gets shot instead of Neteyam. But he lives, part 1. @ele-sme from what we were talking about. Also sorry for any miss spelling or grammar.

Spider didn't remember jumping into the sea, one second he was at the bay escaping with Neteyam and Lo'ak when one of the avatars failed his gun towards them, Spider remembers the adrenaline kicking in at the moment when he saw Lyles egg-headed ass firing at his bro- friends his friends. Spider forgot everything in that split second, everything happened so quickly yet so slowly. Spider still feels how his heart tightened when Lyle shot at the with no mercy in his eyes. During the months Spider spent with them in the forest Spider thought that he managed to at least get to know him, the others and his clone dad but now he can see it was all a sick evil lie.

He'd never gotten to know the true them, they had lied to him, just like everyone else. A horrified expression appeared on his face, Spider's eyes widened his mouth shot open as he yelled at them to get out. Then... nothing. Nothing comes to his mind.

Spider was now all alone. Or so he thought.

His mind was very vague but every few minutes he'll catch something, like a glimpse of someone or hear voices- no. Crying. Yes crying. Slowly his mind focused on his surroundings, he was laying down on something hard. It was cold, very cold. Spider swore it felt like spikes. His breathing clenched while his senses came back for just a second. His eyes open a bit. His face instantly became distorted from it.

"SPIDER! Hold on oh shit shit-" he knows that voice, suddenly a massive hand, bigger than his face cradles his head. Spider hissed back in pain due to the action.

"Fuck! They used one of their big guns! NO' Oh fuck-"

More scenes came back at that moment. Someone else was there- no a few more people were there.

" Dad, please tell me he's gonna make it! Oh great Mother oh no". Kiri. That was kiri. Spider looked up at her, his vision clears up enough to see her eyes all teary and scrunched up, her mouth was trembling. Her hand was over his wound trying to stop the bleeding, while another one, Neteyam was there his hands were trembling. His face was nothing like he's ever seen before, his once brother was frantic just like kiri. He was numbing little "nos" to himself while fat tears fell from his eyes which were full of regret. Spider didn't manage to hear much of what he was saying but he did her one thing.

" oh please great mother, I'm sorry I'm sorry for being a bad brother just please don't take him".

"LET ME GO- MAMA LET ME GO!".

He didn't need to look up to see who was yelling he recognises that voice anywhere.

"Lo'ak please-"

"NO, THEY NEED TO PAY LET ME GO- I"

Spider couldn't focus on what he was saying next. His breathing suddenly became faster, more raspy. His eyes shot open, Kiri sprung into action her face leaning down while her hands tried to cover his wound. Neteyam jumped in as well. His hands stroked his left hand. He didn't realise it before but Jake was talking to him. Spider didn't notice him before, he didn't even notice he was right in Infront of him. It was his hand on his cheek, gently stroking it, whispering to him.

"Hay! Look at me! Okay?! Your gonna be alright ! Everything is fine, we're gonna call norm and he'll have you all better in no time and..".

Spider knew he was lying. He watched as Jake struggled to say anything. Jake looked away for a moment, guilt covering his face. Spider felt his breathing tighten at that moment, his eyes were beginning to close them. Spider squeezed Neteyams hands and he squeezed them back.

" I want to go home" was all he could say. Jake looked back at him. His eyes were teary.

"yeah, yeah of course kid. We'll take you home."

Spider didn't remember what happened next when his vision became blurred, his head was spinning, everyone around him became fuzzy, and his world began to turn black. Spider didn't want to go, he didn't want to leave, unfortunately, now he has no choice. As his world slowly crumbles into the dark endless void he looked up past Jakes alert eyes into the sky his ears vaguely picking up what they were saying.

“ Spider!-“

His eyes closed.

me after traumatising Spider again^^

[stubz]

Tuk didn't like this. She didn't like having to carry the tank and mask, didn't like being on the ship, and certainly didn't like this coal-ition.

But they could help Mom and Dad get rid of the RDA and they were healing Neteyam so she was trying not to whine. Well not too much.

It made her feel a little better that Loak and Kiri didn't like this place either. Spider was still deciding.

Right now they on a tour of the ship, their guide looked like a fluffy Prolemuris, or as Dad called them, a monkey. It was boring.

Only the others found it cool and that's cause Spider can breathe and all the new creatures they saw and the science thingy's.

So when Tuk heard the sound of kids laughing around the corner she followed it.

Down a large hallway she saw a giant door with a huge sign that said something care something. She wasn't really paying attention when Dad and uncle Norm tried teaching her how to read.

Looking back and seeing that the others were too busy to stop her she walked in.

Inside was a giant room filled with kids, tables, stuff, more stuff and toys.

"Hi, are you new here?" she looked down and saw another creature that looked like their guide, a tiny fluffy monkey thing.

"Uhh yeah. What is this place?"

"This is the youngling centre. It's where we stay until our parents can take us home. I'm Marl."

"Tuk."

"...what are you?"

"Huh?"

"What are you? I've never seen anyone so tall, or blue."

"Uh a Na'vi. ..what are you?"

"I'm a Ursa." for a moment they stared at each other. As most children do when seeing something/someone new.

"Put your foot in for freeze tag!"

"Ooo freeze tag! Come on lets go play!"

"What's freeze tag?"

"It's a new game we just learned. Its easy." The little Ursa grabbed Tuk's tail using it as a leash to pull her along.

.

Freeze tag was Tuk's new favorite game. She loved running and there was lots of running and even if she got caught she could get out if someone unfreezed her.

The books were also fun. Marl read to her and let her hold the book. She liked the one's by Robert Munch, she also liked his funny name.

There were lots of other things to do too. There was a climbing area with fake tree tops and lots of ropes to swing on. In the back there was a shallow pool to swim in, it was fun but she didn't like having to dry off with the scratchy towels.

There were was blocks that stuck together which made building easier. Tons of markers, crayons, and paint that was hard to get back at home. They even got lunch.

"Okay kids you know the rules, grab a plate a drink and find a spot to sit."

"Teacher Max we need a chair for Tuk!"

"One chair coming right up...wait who?"

"Tuk. She's new."

It was at this moment Tuk realized she hadn't noticed the two adults in charge here. And it was at this moment that said adults realized they had one more child than usual.

"Oh hey, nice to meet you. Tuk was it," she nodded. "I'm Max and that's Kim. We're the teachers here."

Of all the new creatures and beings Tuk's seen so far it was only now that she was nervous. Humans had that effect on her. Not all humans, Spider definitely never made her nervous, but new ones did.

She knew her Dad used to be one, loved and liked uncle Norm and all the human scientists her family knew. But ever since what happened to Neteyam and their home, both the old one and new one, she was a little nervous.

"Do you like it here so far?" Luckily for her Max had noticed her nerves and knelt down to give her the advantage of height and to look her in the eyes.

She nodded.

"Well that's good. What do you like so far?"

"...the games...and drawing stuff and the food, it's good." he laughed.

"Well thank you, it's a family recipe. And I'm sure Kim will be happy to hear that you like the games she's taught the kids."

With that he gave her a chair and left her to finish her meal with Marl.

..

"Hi Tuk, I'm Kim."

"...hi."

"I noticed that your really tall. How old are you? 20?"

"No? I'm only 7." she smiled.

"What?? No way. You're almost as tall as me!"

"Actually Teacher, I think she's taller than you."

"No!"

"Tuk Tuk, stand up! Let's see!"

She got up and true enough she was taller than the adult by 2 inches.

"Holy...I didn't actually think you'd be taller than me." Kim had seen tall kids before but never had she met a kid taller than her this young.

The children laughed cheering that finally someone was taller than their shortest teacher. Tuk couldn't help but join in, standing on her tippy toes to make her even taller.

"Okay, okay that's enough. Calm down. Now, Tuk, since your so tall do you think you could help me with something?" Tuk hesitated but nodded.

Kim lead her to a tall bookshelf that had a doll stuck ontop of it.

"This has been stuck there for the whole day and we can't get it since the bookshelf can't be climbed and the ladder is broken. So what I'm thinking is you get on my shoulders and grab it. Sound good?"

"I get on your shoulders?"

"You don't have to if your scared of heights, I can ask one of the other kids or just wait."

"I'm not scared of heights," she pouted. "I just don't think you can carry me. I'm big and your small."

"Oh really?" and before Tuk could say anything she was tossed over Kim's shoulder.

"Still think I'm too small!" the blue child shrieked with laughter until she was put down and together the two got the doll down.

...

"What do you think the emergency is about?"

"Maybe Smelv burnt dinner again."

"Nah I don't think so. Captain look a little too tense for a simple fire alarm."

"So I called all of you here because we have a missing child. She was last seen on a tour of the ship with her siblings. Her name is Tuk and she is a Na'vi; tall, tail, blue, bi-pedal." he brings up a hologram of her from the security footage.

"...JAMES CAMERON WAS RIGHT?!"

"...shit I knew we weren't expecting another kid."

....

"Dad! Dad! Can I go to school here?"

"Your grounded. As are all of you." he added looking at his older kids. Plus Spider.

"Aww, Kim, Max, can I go to school here?"

"...uh Tuk, I think that's a question for another day..." preferably when your mom isn't about to bite my head off thought Kim.

"Yeah definitely. Definitely not the best time right now." Max was sweating bullets trying not make eye-contact with the Captain who was very not subtlety growling at him.

'We fucked up.' they both thought.

[afro-hispwriter]

“Hmm you fuck tsireya without telling me? How would you feel if I fucked her right now in front of you?” His pushed his hips flush against your ass, tip hitting your cervix painfully. You whimpered at his words and shook your head.

“No please don’t.” You clawed at the floor and reached around you to grab at him. He chuckled darkly and pushed your head down to the floor, cheek smushed facing Lo’ak and Tsireya. She was currently on Lo’aks lap, riding and grinding on Lo’aks thigh, moaning beautifully.

“Maybe me and Lo’ak should switch women?” He kissed your back. Lo’ak glared at his brother and grabbed Tsireyas hips tighter.

“N-No you’re mine.” You gasped and tears started flowing down your cheeks. Neteyam shook his head then grabbed your hair and tugged it back rough, making you arch your back.

“Yeah thats right im yours and you’re mine.”

[milequaritchsslut]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Tall and tan and young and lovely

✧˚ · . She/her - Mixed - Twenty! - Lesbian

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[shu-box-puns]

Shell-Shocked

(Neteyam x Reader)

Previous Chapter <- Part 2 -> Next Chapter

If you prefer to read on Ao3, you can find the fic here!

Summary: When you try to clear up a misunderstanding but things are getting worse before they’re getting better.

Word Count: 11,719

Metkayina Reader uses they/them pronouns.

The Cove of the Ancestors was always prettiest at night. 

Honestly, it was gorgeous at all times of day. With its arching stone limbs framing the sun and the ethereal glowing fan-like leaves of the Spirit Tree underfoot. Without the sun to dim its splendour, the Tree shone brighter than even the closest star, rivalling the soft glow of the colossal moon that sat lazily upon its throne of curved rock overshadowing the cove.

And at the centre of it all, was Ronal, the bridge between Eywa and Her children. 

Backlit by the moon, the Tsahik sat tall upon her tsurak, oozing power despite her silence as she commanded the small procession of young hunters with but a wave of her hand. 

She was draped in a flowing cloak of blue sea grass, whilst shells that represented every symbol of her people were weaved between the locks of her hair. You recognised the bright pink conch of her courting gift from Tonowari, to the bright white of blooming friendship no doubt collected after a successful alliance with another sea clan. Your gaze absently caught on the jade of a smaller shell which represented the camaraderie of warriors, before catching on a fist sized black shell set at the centre of the tapestry of her intricate hairstyle. As death was the path in which every na’vi returned to Eywa, and Eywa was at the centre of everything a Tsahik did for their people, it was only common sense that this was the symbol Ronal had chosen to place most obviously within her hair. Ominous but beautiful in the most morbid of ways. 

You had a vague memory of the morning that particular black shell had washed ashore upon the beaches of Awa’altu. The way Ronal had paled and reached for it with shaking hands as an unsettled murmur had started up from the onlooking villagers. How Tonowari’s expression had grown pinched and distant, his grasp on his spear turning unforgiving. The new stars had appeared in the sky that night. Spearing across the inky heavens like lost fragments of stars. Falling towards Eywa’eveng at frightening speeds. Scouts carrying the news that the Sky People had returned reached the sea clans within the following few days.

The elegant turn of Ronal’s tsurak in the water, drew your attention back to the present. Despite its impressive size, the powerful mount barely stirred the waves with its movements as its rider looked upon the four young hunters that she had led from the village at the beginning of eclipse. Her gaze briefly flickered over you and the two others brought along to supervise the visit whilst Ronal oversaw the ceremony itself.

With the season of the tsurak migration on the horizon, Ronal had gathered a select handful for an unprompted communion with Eywa. Whilst the others had no doubt been hand selected by Ronal for the journey, she had all but stormed into your hut with little to no warning and ordered you help her escort the less experienced hunters. She had demanded you cease your stupid pitying and be useful, to which you could do little besides grabbing your hunting spear and call your ilu.

Her judgemental gaze had glared daggers into the side of your head throughout the entire journey to the cove. Having ridden side by side, Ronal had had no shortage of opportunities to shoot probing questions your way, swiftly followed up with annoyed um’s and ah’s when your answers were clipped and short.

You hadn’t breathed a word of what had happened a couple days ago. The embarrassment would have killed you if you had had to look Ronal in the eye and tell her honestly what had gotten under your thick skin. Like Aonung, her response would be unpredictable and you would much rather avoid addressing anything. 

Naturally, you doubted that she was unaware of what had happened. She was Tsahik afterall, and there had been plenty of eyes and ears around to witness the entire mortifying situation.

But for now, you were spared by Ronal’s duty to recite her greetings to Eywa. You joined the others in bowing your heads in respect, before taking up a post near the rear of the small group. Spear in hand, you set your mind to surveying the waters as Ronal called each young hunter forward one by one. You heard the deep inhales and the lap of unsettled waves as she guided each beneath the surface to connect to the Spirit Tree. 

On the off chance you would glance back when they resurfaced, the young hunter would always be smiling with some new sense of determination. Their resolve to pass their iknimaya refreshed by whichever lost loved one had appeared to them through Eywa. 

Soon, you would be among them.

But not yet. Clearly, you were nowhere near ready. 

Neteyam’s betrayal still sat heavy above your ribs, sometimes growing unbearably suffocating. You would be continuing with your duties, only for the action of another clan mate to bring him fluttering into your mind. Something as simple as teens messing around in the surf by the beach, made you recall all those times Neteyam had tried to trip or drag you down into the waves with him after some quick retort you’d fired at him. Even now, looking at the young hunters, you could see a watery reflection of his joy at a successful dive rippling across their beaming faces. 

You could practically see the cute scrunch of his nose. Could imagine the disarray of his braids, how a couple would get stuck on his ears even after he tried to brush them back. You could practically feel the neat links between your fingers as you fixed them for him-

A flash of pink in your peripheral abruptly soured the fond memory. 

Gaze narrowed, you glared down your spear shaft to the obnoxiously bright shell currently clinging to the blade like a limpet. It felt like an act of defiance as you pulled the weapon in and mercilessly scrapped the offending object off with your thumb. Certain that no one else had seen it, you wound back your hand and pointedly threw the blasted thing as far away as you could. Your ilu straightened at the sudden motion, but watched with you as the pink landed with a plop and was swiftly swallowed by the calm silver of the dancing moonlight on the waves.

An authoritative tut had your spine instinctively straightening. 

Even without turning, you knew Ronal was behind you, and she was greatly displeased.

<”Never so rudely discard a gift from Eywa.”> She said coldly, with the authority of her station, even as she tread water at a level that forced you to look down to meet her gaze. <”It’s fine.”> You found yourself blurting out stupidly, despite the fact you’d grown up alongside this woman’s children and knew your excuses would fall on deaf ears. <”She’ll just send me more. Bet I’ll find another before we even get back to the village.”> 

Ronal was already shaking her head in displeasure, the shells woven into her hair gently clicking together. <”You do not think clearly.”> She finally stated, as sharply and quickly as a slap on the wrist. <”Now come. It is your turn to go see Her.”>

Your nose scrunched at the order, eyes briefly glancing to the young hunters, who were now mucking around in the waves whilst Ronal’s back was turned. Even the escorts were glistening in the light of the moon, their hair sticking to their scalps, having clearly already descended to the Tree for a reunion with Eywa.

Before you could unstick your tongue from the roof of your mouth, Ronal was taking your spear from your lax grasp and tossing it to the nearest escort with barely a word of warning. Luckily, he caught it easily and rested it across his knees. 

With that, Ronal sharply dragged you off your ilu and urged you to follow her under. You went easily enough, ducking under the waves to find yourself briefly soothed by the sudden silence that came with the embrace of the water and the underlying humm of life that always inhabited the space between the waving limbs of the Spirit Tree.

Ronal swam down in front of you, the lilac light reflecting off the shells in her hair as she led the way. You kept pace easily, eyes adjusting to the dim lighting as Ronal approached a certain branch with purpose and urged you to forge the connection.

Stopping at her elbow, you pulled your kuru forward over your shoulder. The braid was a familiar weight in your hand as you reached forward, the tendrils at the end eagerly emerging to fuse to the Spirit Tree’s offered limb. 

You expected to be greeted by a distant relative, maybe some faceless Goddess, but instead, you opened your eyes to a beach. To sand between your toes and the lull of the waves at your side. The smell of meat cooking over fires and the sounds of the village accompanied the calm crash of the waves. 

There was someone standing beside you, drawing your attention from your surroundings with a soft touch to your shoulder. You tore your gaze from the village to find Neteyam at your side. He stood tall, the vision of confidence, but you could tell from the anxious sway of his tail that nerves were threatening to overwhelm him. The smile that pulled at his lips looked strained. A thought which made your stomach twist uncomfortably.

Why him? Why had Eywa sent him to greet you? 

Before your eyes, this phantom version of Neteyam seemed to pull himself together. You watched an odd expression seep into his gaze. And although it was different, you could somehow tell it was the echoes of something soft hidden within the depths of his eyes. 

If you were still a lovesick fool, you might have mistaken it for affection.

But you knew better now. You knew that Eywa had made a mistake. You knew that Neteyam did not want you. That he did not even wish to be your friend.

You had reminded yourself of this in the days that had followed the fight on the walkway. The truth had turned you bitter. Prompting Ronal to drag you from your hut with some half-assed excuse of being a scout for her visit. 

You knew and yet this version of Neteyam looked at you as if you’d hung the stars. What was even more unsettling, was that he wore your courting necklace. The bright pinks of the shells gorgeously contrasted his complexion as they cruelly supplied you with the image of what he would have looked like wearing them. If he had given you a chance to prove yourself.

<”What are you looking at?”> He asked you now, a bright laugh lacing its way between his words. He shifted, appearing suddenly at ease. 

In contrast, you felt yourself subconsciously stiffening. 

<”Nothing.”> You said simply, and he hummed. 

Unexpectedly, one of his hands strayed from his side to reach for your hand. His fingers were long and warm as they easily wrapped around your wrist, as if to anchor you in place. Holding you in place with a gentleness that was foreign to you. <”You’re a bad liar.”> He said, his words barely registering in your mind as the warmth of his hand pressed into your skin. 

He pulled away suddenly, and you immediately cursed yourself for feeling disappointed by his withdrawal. You’d think you were used to it by now. 

Neteyam didn’t notice. His expression had brightened as he spotted something at your feet. Quicker than your eyes could follow, he stooped to pluck something from the sand. 

His fingers closed around the object, his grin bright as he carefully opened his hands and showed you what he was holding. It was a shell. A very large and very, VERY pink one at that. 

You knew your tail was wagging at an unnatural pace, but couldn’t find it in yourself to be embarrassed. Or stop for that matter. Your heart was pounding and doing happy flips at the sheer size of the shell presented to you now. You were grinning despite yourself. Eagerly reaching for the beautiful shell under Neteyam’s bright eyed watch, your heart swelling in your chest with the amount of affection you harboured for this sweet boy and his cute smile. 

Alarmed shouts sounded from the village, stilling your hand. The smell of the cooking fires turned acidic, like the burning of metal. You glanced away from Neteyam for half a second to find that the beach was suddenly awash with screaming na’vi. Hunters were grabbing their spears and skimwings were being called, whilst Metkayina villagers ran for the sea. Some were on fire, screaming the whole way. Whilst others shepherd children out of the pods, and friends dragged each other across the sand. The drums for war were sounding, thunderous and ominous in their volume, making your heart race and your happiness evaporate.

In contrast, when you turned back to him, Neteyam was the vision of calm. <”Y/n?”> He asked lightly, acting as if you had been rendered speechless by the shell, when you could in reality see the burning of your home reflecting in his eyes. 

You managed to unstick your tongue from the roof of your mouth, hands coming up to grip his bicep, ready to haul him towards the sea, only for your actions to freeze. Your eyes bugged at the sight of his necklace. At the shells that once resembled the forest, and now shone black in the burning light of the out of control fires. 

He was still smiling. Still grinning without a care in the world like a love-drunk fool. Comically, he tipped his head towards the shell caught between your outstretched hands. 

Again, you followed his unspoken prompt, breath stuttering at the once pink shell that had crumbled to a black husk between his hands. Everywhere his skin touched it, it shone a dirty black, whilst the part that your fingers brushed had softened into a milky white. It was a sickeningly beautiful contrast. Riddled with signs and messages that only a Tsahik could successfully interpret. 

<”Do you not like it?”>

You looked up at him once more. Heart clenching painfully as you realised that his freckles were no longer glowing, despite the darkness and the illuminated dots adorning your own skin. You didn’t need a Tsahik to know what that meant. <”No, it is beautiful.”> You promised him, and he laughed with such ignorance that you knew in your gut that he couldn’t possibly know the meaning. 

The snap of woven fibres breaking apart startled your gaze from him. Your gaze darted to the village, your home, currently being consumed by hungry tongues of flame. Pods were collapsing in on themselves as the fire spread. Their strong structures weakened as the ribs of the trees they were secured against began to blacken and buckle. A few collapsed under their own weight, tipping the People running along them into the raging waves.

Neteyam was unnaturally still at your back, the flames dancing in the gold of his eyes as he stared blankly at the ruins of your home. He did not appear surprised by the destruction, as if he had seen it all before.

The world shifted on its axes, and you stumbled back a step, only for your foot to hit something lukewarm and solid as the unsettled waves sucked at your heels. 

Unsteady, your gaze lowered to the object, only for the breath to still in your throat at the site of a body in the water. Eyes frozen in death, the na’vi stared blankly at the ruined village, his throat slit.

More bodies littered the sand. Turning the white beaches into a bloodbath of gore and red.

Your breathing picked up, even as you realised that these were not the bodies of sea na’vi. Their clothes were alien. Their features were wrong. Their noses were too sharp and strips of hair hugged their brow bones. They were forest na’vi, but not.

Not that it seemed to matter much, because someone had taken the time to kill them all. Bloody gashes stained the sand and tainted the waves. Ugly, unclean swipes of a blade that did not reflect the ways of the People. These were not clean kills.

A hand grasped your shoulder.

You lurched, hand swinging up to smack the person away. 

Neteyam was still there. Still wearing that foolish necklace. Still watching the destruction of the village. He caught your wrist easily, eyes not once moving from where they were fixed. And not a moment too soon, as you realised you were clutching your bloodied blade in that hand.

Red was smeared from the knife to your forearm, covering the ripples of your aqua stripes. Tainting the fine leather of your blade. It was only now, you could feel the stickiness of the substance splattered across your torso. Along your arms, dripping from your chin. You could feel something stuck between your teeth, and you feared it wasn’t fish judging by the sizable bite marks carved into some of the dead na’vi’s bodies.

Your disconnection from the Spirit Tree with a lurch, as if Eywa had severed your connection personally and shoved you backwards and out of her realm. It was disorienting to go from the screaming destruction of the village, to the muffled silence beneath the waves. For a few heart pounding seconds, you couldn’t tell up from down. 

A light touch to your shoulder made you jump. Your body wanted to fight, but you managed to keep from reaching for your knife long enough to recognise Ronal’s concerned expression at your elbow. 

/Who did She show you?/ The Tsahik signed, her expression pinched.

Your mind was spinning too fast to answer. You could still taste the copper on your tongue and feel the stickiness of the blood splattered across your skin. Your lungs burned as if you’d inhaled acidic smoke, and you desperately wanted to breathe it all out. You needed to surface. To inhale the seaweed and salt of the cove and allow the watery moonlight to wash away the harsh orange of the fire. Anything to get the taste of ash off your tongue and the feeling of flesh between your teeth to dissipate.

You noticed the underbellies of the other’s ilus mucking around on the surface without Ronal’s guidance. The lazy circles of the warriors helped to orient you, to give you a direction. 

Panic was still clawing up the back of your throat. Shaking your hands as that black shell flashed in the back of your mind once again, making your ears instinctively pin back. The inky blackness of their colour. The crumbling edges.

You were kicking for the surface before you realised you’d never given Ronal an answer. Your burning need for the sound of the waves tugged you higher and higher as you clumsily moved away from the Spirit Tree. With powerful kicks of your legs and the rhythmic sway of your tail, you started rising to the surface. In your haste, everything you’d learnt about swimming since infancy went out the window. Your tail worked out of sync with your legs, as your hands clawed uselessly at the water despite knowing that having your fingers apart would only slow your ascent. 

In contrast, Ronal was a calming presence at your back, easily keeping pace before she seemed to lose patience and swept you up into her arms. Despite the addition of your weight, she ascended smoothly to the surface, pressing you into her side, mindful of her swollen belly as she gracefully left the Spirit Tree behind. 

You broke the surface with a gasp, something you had NEVER done before. Coming up for breath was normally a calm procedure. Now, you greedily sucked down lungfuls of air. 

<”Suvio, guide the young hunters back to the village.”> Ronal’s voice was calm and clear as she broke the surface with the same elegance as usual. Her grip was firm around your waist as you struggled to calm yourself.

The hunter Ronal had addressed dutifully nodded as the young hunters immediately scrambled to fall back into the formation. She yipped to them before leading the way out of the cove, the other scout bringing up the rear. 

Ronal watched them go until the soft glow of their freckles disappeared against the stars of the night, offering you some desperately needed privacy. Your cheeks were warm from the torrent of your frightened tears, more obvious now that the ocean didn’t whisk them away the moment they slipped from between your eyelids. 

<”What did you see?”> Ronal asked, her voice startlingly loud against the stillness of the cove.

You sucked in a sharp breath, as you struggled to set the events of the vision into order. Ronal soothed you with a firm hand running up and down your back, easing the tension from your shoulders as she waited. 

Instead of looking at her narrowed gaze, you focused on the pool of her hair floating around her shoulders. The shells woven within the strands glowed softly, their contrasting shades of bioluminescence standing out against the raven black strands.

It was hard to speak, but you pushed yourself to anyway. Your hands were too busy clinging tightly to Ronal to be any use in signing to her. <”She, she sent me an omen.”> 

Ronal stilled. <”More shells?”> She pressed, her tone probing. There was no amusement in her question, her demeanour completely typical of the Tsahik instead of a concerned parent. 

<”A warning.”> You confirmed, voice wobbly. <”A Black shell.”> You continued, <”big enough to fill both my palms. It was ancient. Crumbling.”>

Ronal’s ears flattened. And then after a moment of contemplation, she yipped for her tsurak. <”We must return to the village.”> You grabbed her arm before she could pull away, feeling uncomfortably raw for the blatant vulnerable action, but needing to ask anyway. <”What does it mean?”> 

<”You know what it means.”> Ronal replied simply, and you did.

You recalled that morning on the beach, eavesdropping on Ronal and Tonowari as they hastily discussed the meaning of the black shell that had just washed up. <”Someone is going to die.”> Ronal had said then, and Tonowari had been powerless to shake his head at her accusation. She had been right, afterall.

>_<

Neteyam looked down at his freshly woven token. 

He was sat in his hammock, swarmed by the copious amount of pink shells that somehow managed to invade his sleeping quarters regardless of how many times he cleared them out, and trapped deep in thought. 

Absently, he ran a thumb over his weaving, gaze critical as he compared the pattern to a necklace Tsireya had gifted him to take inspiration from the day before. He was so used to weaving the Omaticaya way, that it had taken an embarrassing amount of time to learn the Metkayina way of knot working, but he thought the necklace was just about ready now.

Forcing himself not to spiral or think too hard about it, Neteyam glanced at the contents of his hammock in search of the perfect pair of shells to attach to the centre of the piece. Ideally, he wanted two halves of the same shell, so he could accent them to sit above each collar bone instead of hanging too heavy in the centre of the throat. A design choice he’d stolen from one of his mother’s old necklaces where two jade river stones took the place of the shells.

Whilst he busied himself, Neteyam tried to put together an action plan. 

He had no idea where Y/n was right now. They hadn’t shown up to lessons for the last few days, nor had he stumbled across them in the village. None of his siblings had in fact. Even Tuk hadn’t been able to track them down. 

<”What’s with the long face?”> His Dad asked from the doorway of the pod, still dripping from hauling himself out of the water only moments before.

Neteyam felt his cheeks heat, the courting necklace at his throat suddenly too tight. He hadn’t talked about mates or courting with his Dad before, certainly not since the Sky People had returned. It was simply not something they’d ever discussed. 

But his Dad was more relaxed now. A thought Neteyam confirmed with himself as his Father crossed the pod, a net full of fish in hand. He sat himself down beside the cooking pot, focused on his catch so he wouldn’t pressure Neteyam into talking before he was ready. Which he appreciated.

Talking it out would be nice though. Especially to someone who wasn’t part of the entire mess.

“It’s complicated.” Neteyam finally replied with, responding in English to help himself say it. It felt safer somehow. His Dad gummed quietly, somehow knowing there was more, and that Neteyam would give it up eventually. 

”How did you know Mum was the one for you?” Neteyam found himself asking, eyes glued to his token instead of his Dad who had ceased his rustling to look at him. There was a mement of stillness in which Neteyam knew he was being assessed. Luckily, Dad let it drop, responding in English. ”She tried to kill me.” Neteyam could hear the amusement in his tone, could picture the adoration glinting in his Father’s eyes like it always did when he thought of Mum. Honestly, it was sickening sometimes how infatuated they still were with each other. ”What’s this about?”

Neteyam swallowed, still hiding behind his braids. “The Metkayina have a concept of their mates being chosen by Eywa.” “Ah. Mo’at told me something similar. Something to do with shells if I’m not mistaken.” Dad confirmed, the hiss of his knife leaving its sheath indicating he was continuing with his task. “I take it from that look that someone’s taken a fancy to you.”

“Dad!” He hissed through his teeth, ears burning. 

His Dad barked a laugh. “What can I say? Sully men got game-”

”DAD!”

”Fine! Fine. I’ll stop.” He was grinning, so Neteyam feared he wouldn’t. But to his relief, or horror, Dad swung the conversation back on track. ”So, who is this mysterious soulmate?” “It doesn’t matter.” Neteyam hurriedly dismissed. “They won’t even look at me anymore.”

”Come on, you’re kids. It can’t be that serious.”

”You can’t compare every situation, to you betraying the clan for the demons.” ”I said no such thing.” ”You ALWAYS imply it.”

“There you go.” Dad mused, to which Neteyam suddenly realised he’d finally come out of hiding during the heat of the conversation and was now glaring down at his Father on the floor. Seemingly satisfied, his Dad continued to speak, his attention drifting down to the fish he was gutting. ”It’s Y/n, right? Friend of Tonowari’s kids?” Dad pried, glancing up long enough to confirm his suspicion with a weak nod from Neteyam. He chuckled in amusement. “Tough cookie that one. Very serious.”

“You don’t say.” Neteyam replied dryly. “I’m worried I’ve messed it up before it could even begin.” “Well.” Dad began, “you’re a smart kid. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” “That’s it? You’re not going to give me any real advice?” “I doubt you want advice from me.” Dad reassured him, “Even in my old age, I don’t have the best head on my shoulders.” “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

His Dad laughed. “Fine, if you want my advice, I’d recommend-”

The curtain across the mouth of the pod was promptly swept aside before Dad would offer up anything decent to help Neteyam along. “Do not give our son any of your stupid ideas.” His mother ordered, striding into the pod with her visor sat low on her brow bone. “You will get him a black eye.” 

“What can I do?” Dad mused, “he insisted.”

Mum scoffed at him, playfully swatting his cheek with her tail as she passed. She did not take off her visor, nor did she stride for her own hammock.

In a matter of seconds, Neteyam found himself sat in his hammock with his Mother’s shadow casting over him. “Do you wish to court this na’vi?” She asked him bluntly. 

Neteyam spluttered. 

His mother smiled knowingly, but did not wait for his excuse as she ploughed on. “You do.” She told him. “And I will tell you what I told Lo’ak. You are going to grab them by the ear and make them notice you. You are going to present them with the best woven token and refuse to leave until you get a straight answer. And afterwards, you will stop this moping. You are a Sully. We do not mope, we thrive.” “Yes Mother!” Neteyam replied quickly, feeling both encouraged and chastised.

His Dad chuckled again from the floor. “You’ll be surprised how effective your mother’s methods are.” Miraculously, he did not want to know what he meant by that.

>_<

Upon returning to the village, Ronal had ordered you to return to your pod, to which you had been too exhausted to argue.

There had been a flurry of movement beyond your woven walls as the message of your vision had spread and the adults had begun preparing. You had focused on cooking yourself something to eat.

Tonowari had turned up at your door not long after you’d finished descaling your fish, having apparently been banned from his own pod because Ronal and Tsireya needed complete concentration to look further into the issue using their herbs or whatever methods Tsahik’s favoured when searching for answers. Which led to now, sitting beside Tonowari in companionable silence. The Olo’eyktan had propped his spear up against the wall and immediately sat on the opposite side of the cooking pot. For a long while, he was quiet as he assisted you in cooking, and in return, you were sure to make enough for him to take back to his family for their own dinner. 

Your time spent with the Olo’eyktan was always calm like this. A gentle silence that was both soothing and comforting. Unlike your time spent with Ronal, which often left you feeling chastised or tired, her mate was a pleasant opposite. Not that you disliked spending time with the Tsahik, it was merely because she could be rather intense at times.

Of course, Tonowari was the gossip of the two, so he often had his moments.

<”I was surprised by your decision to stop teaching the Sully kids.”> He said casually, eyes never straying from the simmer of the cooking pot. You, in contrast, felt yourself wind tight with tension. Your gaze flickered up to his tattooed face, only to find him pretending to be the picture of ease as he focused on his task. He had taken up the stirring stick and had begun to mix the pot with slow, calculated strokes.

And then, just when you thought he was done and you could get away with not responding, he continued. <“Little Tuk looked awfully upset this morning when Tsireya told her you were attending to other duties.”>

The sneaky bastard. 

You forced your shoulders to loosen before you responded. <“Aonung needs to start pulling his weight. You cannot baby him forever.”> <“We both know this is not about Aonung.”> Tonowari returned calmly, and promptly steered the conversation back to where it was. <“So tell me, what is wrong?”>

You bit your lip to keep yourself from responding. So Aonung hadn’t been lying when he said Tonowari had noticed. 

When you did not respond, Tonowari took it as an invitation to continue to pry. 

<“You have ceased teaching a class that you were otherwise eager to help out with.”> He pointed out plainly. <”Tsireya tells me that you rarely go out anymore unless it is to complete your duties. Whereas your pod is now completely devoid of shells, when only last week you were tracking them all over the place. Ronal was tearing her hair out with how many she kept finding around the village.”> He chuckled softly to himself at the fond memory, probably having gotten a kick out of seeing his otherwise composed mate losing her composure because of something so small.

<”The other hunters and I have never seen so many of the same kind. Not since my grandfather’s time as Olo’eyktan, which very few of the older clan members recall.”> He continued almost nostalgically, <”so whoever this person is, Eywa must be incredibly insistent on this match.”> 

You tucked your chin to your chest to avoid looking at his cocky expression and to ensure you didn’t give anything away. 

<”Aonung told me of a disagreement that occurred on the walkways a few nights back.”> Tonowari probed, <”he spoke of a misunderstanding that is yet to be resolved-”>

<“Can we talk about something else?”> You interjected before startling as you realised you’d just cut him off. Your ears flattened as you glanced sheepishly at the Olo’eyktan who simply smiled back. There was a note of victory glittering in his eye, and you knew you’d just unintentionally revealed your hand. And like an akula with fresh prey in its jaws, there would be little chance of distracting Tonowari with a subject change. 

<”Please.”> You found yourself trying anyway, even if it would be a useless attempt. <”Anything but bloody shells and signs from Eywa?”>

That seemed to unsteady Tonowari for a heartbeat. <”Shells are part of our People.”> Tonowari lectured, the same story you’d heard since before you could walk. Since you’d shown interest in the pretty coloured shells that the People wore or adorned their homes with. <”They speak of good and bad times. Foretell our relationships and our losses, you will do well not to disregard them.”> <”I know.”> You implore him, and it’s true. You do know. You might even know better than anyone. The statement slips from between your lips like a forgotten prayer. Quiet and small like the words of the child you’re always pretending you’ve grown out of being. <”I’m sorry. It’s been a difficult few days.”>

He nodded. <”Care to share?”>

You swallow. <”Eywa made a mistake with the shells.”> You told him bluntly. 

Tonowari chuckled softly to himself, making your stomach twist. <”Eywa does not make mistakes on such a matter.”>

<”But she has!”> You insist more passionately than you’ve been this entire conversation. <”He-”> you swallowed loudly. <”He can’t be my fated, Olo’eyktan-”> <”Tonowari.”> Tonowari quickly corrected, helping to lighten the mood.

You scowl playfully at him and continue to address him with his title just because you know it makes him feel old. <”Clearly, Eywa has made a mistake, Olo’eyktan, because he’s terrified of me. Your mate is not supposed to be scared of you!”>

Tonowari hummed thoughtfully over this statement for a moment or two before an amused smile tugged at the right corner of his lips. <”You know, I was fearful of Ronal.”>

Your eyes widened at the blatant admission. <”Really? But you’re so comfortable around one another.”> <”Oh, we are now.”> Tonowari said simply. <”But before I knew her, and before we received any pink shells for one another, she scared me worse than any akula. I’d avoid her in the village and if she ever struck up a conversation with me, I’d desperately think up the first ridiculous excuse I could to get away.”>

He smiled fondly at the memory, not a hint of embarrassment on his expression. You watched his tail sway lazily, the picture of a doting mate thinking about the woman he had taken as his Tsahik. 

<”And, how did that change?”>

<”My brother, Totxa, tricked me into going on a two day hunting trip with her.”> Tonowari mused, grinning now. <”The ass only told me when I was packed and astride my tsurak that he was planning to woo his own fated and sent me on my way. Ronal had already saddled up and ordered me to follow so I was essentially trapped.”> 

He chuckled, nostalgic of a time long past. <”It was on that trip that Eywa sent the pink shells, and Ronal of course figured it out first. And she confronted me about it. Demanded to know why I was so spineless. Of course, calling me a coward immediately hurt my pride and she was rather amused by my sudden courage. We started courting on our return to the village.”> Somehow, you could see it. Tonowari and Ronal, much younger than you know them now, lost in the sea and the islands beyond the village, navigating the way and each other. You knew that the pair must have bounced off of each other well once they began to see eye to eye. And judging by the strong mated pair that watched over the village now, you knew that Eywa had not been mistaken in her decision for this match.

Even now, the pair wore tokens of their bond upon their person like ever fated couple. Ronal usually had a pink shell woven into her skirts, whilst in the low light of the fire, you could see the shine of Tonowari’s courting shell woven into the braided hide of his hunters band. The shell was located near the top of the special garment, above his heart. 

<"Where are you going with this?"> 

Tonowari studied you for a moment, head tilted in understanding. <”You are uncertain.”> He told you simply, <”you believe Eywa has made a mistake and you’re unsettled. But from where I stand, it seeming you’re truly the one scared, not whoever your fated is.”> He stated with wisdom that was usually bestowed by Ronal. <”Give it time. A village is not built in a day.”>

It was then that the curtain across the entrance of your pod was abruptly swept back and a figure stormed in.

Tonowari’s head snapped up from the cooking pot, as you turned sharply to find Neteyam stood awkwardly in the doorway of your home. His expression swiftly melted from that familiar determined scowl, to an ear lowered face of surprise and regret. 

You hadn’t seen him in days, having taken the time to purposefully avoid him whenever you could, and despite yourself, you found something in you soothed to see him back in your home like he had been so many times before. Looking all bashful as he seemed to shrink in the doorway.

<”Olo’eyktan.”> He greeted smoothly, touching his hand to his forehead.

Tonowari reflexively returned the gesture but made no move to stand from his spot by the fire. <”Neteyam.”> He greeted pleasantly, <”I assume you’re here to take Y/n off my hands?”> Neteyam spluttered, going unnaturally still as he stared unblinkingly down at the older man whilst you glared at him yourself. Tonowari, always the picture of control and calm, simply raised his gaze to meet the younger man. His voice was unfaltering in his next statement. 

<“They’ve been awfully upset as of late.”> He continued to your mortification. <“Very prickly. You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you Neteyam? They’re more secretive than the Great Mother sometimes.”> He chuckled to himself as if the joke was hilarious. 

You could feel your face burning as you continued to glare daggers into the side of Tonowari’s face.

Neteyam didn’t seem much better as he struggled to string together enough words for a response.

Not that you were paying attention now, as the world seemed to still when your gaze fell upon the necklace at his throat. Your mouth went dry, as if you’d eaten handfuls of sand, as your gaze locked on the sloppy knotwork and pink shells of your courting necklace. The very same necklace that should have been swept away from the current and lost to the depths of the sea. <“Where did you get that?”> You blurted accusingly, finding yourself rising to your feet with your teeth bared. The thrash of your tail and the scowl on your face could have rivalled Ronal’s fury. To his credit, Neteyam did not shrink away from you. If anything, he seemed to grow more confident in the face of your rage. 

<”We need to talk.”> He told you, but you brushed his demand aside to step closer, to draw yourself up and glare with all your might. <”Where. Did you get it?”> You repeated, slowly. Threateningly. 

His chin rose in defiance, Tonowari completely forgotten as his attention turned solely to you. <“My ilu returned it to me.”>

You scoffed at his choice of words. <“Returned?”> You repeated. <“You don’t-”>

Your words faltered as Neteyam broke eye contact and briefly returned his gaze to Tonowari. You followed his attention, catching sight of Tonowari nodding before you were startled by hands grabbing your knees and the wind getting knocked out of you as you were swung up and over Neteyam’s shoulder. Stunned by his forwardness, you stared dumbly down Neteyam’s back as he gave Tonowari a polite goodbye and began carrying you out of the pod.

Tonowari, the bastard, smiled encouragingly at you and waved. You stared back at him, jaw slack in shock.

It was only when Neteyam didn’t put you down and started carrying you down the walkways that your senses returned to you.

<”Put me down.”> You snarled.

He ignored you. 

So you began wiggling. Neteyam simply held you tighter, quiet and focused on his task. You made sure to complain the entire time, tugging at his braids, obscuring his view with your tail and trying to kick him in the stomach. All of which he either ignored or simply grabbed to make you stop wiggling. 

Deciding to conserve your energy for a master escape attempt once he let his guard down, you pretended to accept your fate as he approached the outer rim of the village that attached everything to the island. You could feel the amused gazes of the People on you as Neteyam confidently paraded you in front of their homes. It was when a hunter whistled at you that you found yourself losing your cool all over again, and you instead occupied your time in captivity by spitting every curse under the sun at anyone who looked at you funny. 

Eventually, the bounce of the walkway ceased to give way to the crunch of sand underfoot, but Neteyam did not pause once he reached the beach. He did not so much as glance around as he strode for the treeline. You could do nothing but watch Awa’atlu grow smaller and more obscured by leaves as the man carried you into the forest and out of sight.

Perhaps he’d find somewhere secluded and murder you to get out of having to be your mate. Or maybe he was finally going to blow up at you and make it official that he didn’t want anything to do with you. It would be a rather dramatic touch if he suddenly ripped off the courting necklace and threw it at you. Even you would respect the time and planning that would have been put into such an act. 

Before long, you began to recognise where he was taking you. You could hear the babble of a brook and knew that he was approaching the pond that sat at the centre of your secret place. You recognised the orange glow of the flowers that had begun to bloom along the banks and noticed the arched limbs of the tree Neteyam tried to teach you to climb up once. It had left you with a limp for several days when you had inevitably fallen out of it. 

Neteyam was gentle as he paused by the pond and carefully lowered you down to your feet. You tore away the moment your toes touched dirt. Expression venomous as you glared at him.

<”If you ever humiliate me like that in front of my people again, I will-”> <”Of course.”> Neteyam cut in, hands raised in a calming gesture. Your gaze caught on the bob of his throat making the necklace jump before his words drew your attention back up to his face. <”I understand, but hear me out first. There has been a huge misunderstanding.”>

You were both impressed by his sudden backbone and annoyed by his pleading look. In the soft glow of the plants, his glowing freckles looked more intricate than any galaxies you knew. They drew your attention from the determined line of his mouth, up the sweeping arches of his nose to his eyes, which were open and honest as he waited for your response.

He did not smile at you. And you did not scowl at him in return.

Instead, you struggled to inhale a much needed breath in an attempt to dissipate some of your annoyance. You had wanted to talk, and now you were being given a chance for an explanation. 

<”Speak.”> You instructed simply, turning briefly to find your usual rock that overlooked the small pond. Glowing insects swirled along the surface of the shallow water, weaving between the stems of plants and dancing along arching leaves. Despite their presence, the spot was quiet in a way the village was not. Willing to offer the illusion of privacy.

You sat on the rock with your attention still on Neteyam. He remained standing, fiddling with his hands as his tail swayed in his attempt to gather his words.

It seemed he was fumbling to continue. Perhaps having believed he wouldn’t make it this far. Which you found privately reassuring, in that he wasn’t aware of how easily you would bend to him. How willing you were to listen to his every word. How desperate you were for his attention. Even now, it was pathetic how utterly gone you were for him. 

With a deep breath, Neteyam spoke. <“I don’t want to be friends.”> He said plainly, and you found you would have preferred a punch to the gut instead. He paused, eyes expectant, and you realised he wanted your input. 

<”You don’t want to be friends?”> Your parroted back, expression twisting in confusion when he eyes blew comically wide in alarm. 

<”NO!”> He practically yelled at you, taking half a step closer, only to freeze when you jerked at the sudden outburst. He apologised before continuing. <”That’s not what I meant.”>

<”So you do want to be friends?”> <”No! Yes! Wait!”> In his growing panic, he was tripping over himself and cursing in his father’s tongue. If your heart wasn’t pounding so painfully, you would have found his struggle amusing. Finally, he sighed and muttered to himself, <”Eywa why is this so bloody hard!”>

You tried to prod him along. Your meal would be finished soon, and if you were away too long, Aonung was bound to eat your portion behind Tonowari’s back. <”So you find it difficult to be open with me?”> <”No!”> He declared for the third confusing time. <”That is not at all what I’m saying. What I’m trying to get at is-”> He faltered before, slumping in defeat. He dragged a tired hand down the side of his face, before closing the distance between you and dropping heavily down onto the rock beside you - his usual spot. Curling in on himself, he ground the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, as he groaned to himself. <”How have I already managed to royally fuck this up so quickly?”>

You didn’t bother responding, knowing that he was berating himself instead of looking for a proper explanation. 

With a deep breath, he pulled his hands away and turned to you with refound resolve. <”That is not at all how I intended for that to come out. I meant I don’t want us to be just friends. I want to be more than friends. Like we were. Before everything went to shit.”> You blinked, having not expected that response. 

<”What are you saying?”> <”I’m saying-”>

He paused, eyes catching on something. You went still as his hand slowly rose from his lap, ghosting over your ear and pulling something from your hair. It was so familiar of a gesture, that you couldn’t help but be soothed by the familiarity in which he did it. His ears were fanned out now, curious. You expected him to offer the shell to you. You expected the pink to be bright and glowing with newfound love and understanding.

Instead, Neteyam held out a black shell. 

You felt the colour drain from your face.

<”What does this one mean?”> 

Someone is going to die.

Ronal’s words from that distant day on the beach rang in your ears as you stared blankly down at the aged shell in Neteyam’s hands. There was no doubt it was the same one from your vision. Staring down at it now, you could see the similarities of the situation. From Neteyam’s confused question, to the courting necklace at his throat. 

You swallowed dryly. <”We must return to the village.”> You told him quickly, rising from your feet and grabbing at his wrists to drag him up after you. His curiosity morphed into confusion. 

<”What? But we just got here? We’ve barely said anything.”> <”It must wait. This shell, its appearance does not foretell something good. It is a bad omen. A warning. We must go!”>

<”Wait. Wait. Slow down, you’re not making any sense.”>

<”There is not time!”>

His brows furrowed as he pulled back on your arms, trying to keep you in place, but you were stronger. Just barely, and managed to drag him forward a step or two. Neteyam’s tail snapped, his confusion morphing into frustration, but you didn’t care. You had to get him somewhere safe. You had to warn Ronal. Something wasn’t right. 

As if on cue, something rustled in the bushes on the opposite side of the pond. Neteyam went still in your grasp, which was the opposite of what you needed him to do. Both of your ears pricked as you heard panicked footsteps charging through the undergrowth, headed straight for you. 

Neteyam was still clutching that blasted shell in his hands. 

The footsteps were drawing closer. Small and fast. You felt your heartbeat picking up and drew your knife at the same time that Neteyam reached for his. 

The bushes were shaking harder now as someone or something pushed through, before stumbling to a halt before the riverbank. It did not glow like the rest of Eywa’s children, which immediately turned your instincts alert and defensive. It was breathing hard, shiny from sweat and smelt of smoke and salt. 

Neteyam drew in close to your side, stiff as the pair of you stared down the unnaturally small creature. Even at a distance, you knew it would only come up to your bicep, whereas it was dirty and skinny, with a shock of dead grass coloured dreads matted at its scalp. You caught sight of faded blue stripes against unnaturally pale skin, but knew this was not any kind of forest na’vi.

With that part of your vision not matching up, you found yourself calming slightly. Across the pond, the creature spotted you with wide, brown ears. Its face was sealed away behind some sort of see-through contraption, not that you had time to focus on it for long, because Neteyam seemed to recognise it.

He called out to the little creature, using that odd language that all of his family spoke. He even went as far as to wave it over. You grabbed his hand again, growling lowly to quiet him from encouraging it, but Neteyam paid you no mind.

Across the pond, the creature had stiffened at the use of that odd language. It took an unsteady step closer, and you found yourself snarling a warning, which startled it back a step or two. 

Neteyam touched your shoulder, drawing your attention away from it. <”Be calm.”> He soothed, with the voice he used to his ilu. You scowled back, feeling anything but calm. <”He is my brother.”>

Your face scrunched in confusion as you allowed your knife hand to drop a little. Studying the hesitant creature again, you found no similarities between Neteyam and it. <”He is your brother?”> <”I am?”> The creature questioned, sounding just as confused as you. Your attention snapped back to it, mildly distracted by its fluent na’vi.

Neteyam huffed. <”Of course you are. Where the hell have you been? You’re supposed to be kidnapped.”> <”I escaped.”> The creature returned, finally finding the courage to round the pond and approach. It kept a wary eye on you, and walked closer to Neteyam than your scowling form. <”Did a hell of a lot of running and swimming to get here. Quaritch was investigating one of the nearby sea clans and I made a break for it when the bastard had his back turned.”> It looked quite pleased for itself for a moment before a realisation crept into its expression and its eyes widened comically as it remembered something. <”But Quaritch is after me! We have to go!”>

Neteyam’s posture immediately changed. <”You led him to us?”> <”There’s a tracker in my mask.”> The boy pleaded. <”I didn’t have a spare.”>

As if on cue, more thunderous footsteps disturbed the undergrowth. Your ears pricked, picking up on the heaviness of the tread and the snap of twigs underfoot. There was a metallic click from deeper in the trees. Your eyes narrowed, as the moonlight glinted off of something unnaturally shiny. The reflection was long and narrow, whilst the plant life of Pandora usually omitted a gentle and rounded glow. The shine shifted, and a face appeared near the back of it. You stiffened as you recognised the unnatural features of a forest na’vi.

The first bang startled the birds from the trees.

By the second, Neteyam had tackled you from the side and sent you sprawling into the dirt. The air was punched from you as you landed hard on your back, only managing to suck in a breath when Neteyam lifted off you to grab the creature by the wrist and drag him down with you. 

<”Hide!”> The little thing hissed, rising onto its knees to crawl through the undergrowth away from where the sound had come from. Rattled by the loud noise, you numbly followed. Neteyam lurked close to your side, a hand on your back to keep you low, whilst he clutched his knife tightly in the other. You don’t know when he dropped the shell, but you were thankful it was gone anyway.

“What is it Mansk?” An alien voice hissed from the shadows.

“Thought I saw a couple of na’vi with the kid.” 

There was a thoughtful hum in response.

The three of you kept crawling, making sure to keep to the thicker cover and to disturb as little undergrowth as was possible. You found yourself leading the way. You’d grown up foraging these woods, you knew of the cave system tucked away on the east side, should your pursuers get between you and the village. 

“Tracker says he’s this way.”

A moment of stillness. 

“Got ‘em.”

The forest was lit up by the orange of a fire before a second bang made your ears ring. You dart to the left, biting down hard on your knife handle so that you had both hands free. 

Neteyam and Spider disappeared briefly between the leaves. 

You heard your pursuers approaching loudly and pressed your back into a tree. Sliding up the bark so you were back on your feet, you slowly rounded the tree, ears keeping track of where exactly each were. 

“There he is.” You were behind the pair of them now, knife back in hand as you took in the weird armour of the na’vi in your vision. The unnatural weapons and the arrogance of a race that had been the apex predator of their ecosystem. These people had clearly not grown up alongside the rules of Eywa. You noted the line of destruction in their wake. How the grass they had trampled no longer glowed with life and how they had bent branches and bushes out of place to force their way forward instead of finding natural breaks and openings. 

<”We have to go!”> Neteyam’s brother yelled from somewhere in the darkness, and the pair of alien’s snapped to attention. Both raising their destructive weapons that harnessed fire. 

<”This way.”> Neteyam replied, and you saw the grass wave as someone passed through it. 

The aliens saw it too, tensing as they aimed, so you did something Ronal would punish you for later. You allowed your foot to drop on a twig, feeling the bark crunch and snap under your weight. Both soldiers went unnaturally still. You twirled your knife into a more secure grip before charging. 

The duo spun, one firing as he turned. Whilst the other let out a scream as you descended upon him. He backpedalled desperately at your swift approach, clearly terrified that something of your stature could move so quickly on dry land. His companion kept firing. Landing hits to your abdomen. Leaving wounds in your legs. Your arms. Trying and failing to slow you down as you tackled the first demon.

<”GO FOR THE NECK!”> Neteyam’s brother yelled from the bushes, guiding your hands as you slammed the demon down flat on its back so that its head connected with the earth hard. Its weapon slipped from its grasp, disappearing between the glowing trees as the visor protecting its eyes from you slipped down its nose. Too small, terrified, golden eyes stared up at your snarling face as you brought your knife down hard. 

Its neck split open easily on your sharpened blade, allowing red to stick to your fingers. It gargled, choking on its lifeforce before it let out a last wet sound and promptly died. 

Its companion barely gave you a moment to rise from the body before it was slamming the butt of its weapon into your temple. The weapon crumbled in on itself from the force as a weak pain shot through the side of your head. Slowly, menacingly, you turned to glare up into the face of another demon, who stared frozen down at its ruined weapon. A weapon which had been no match for the reinforced bone of your skull.

You heard the demon audibly swallow and felt its fear stroke your ego as you effortlessly shifted your weight from your knees to the balls of your toes so that you were crouched over the fresh corpse. And with a precise swipe of your blade, you forced the soldier to deflect your knife with its battered gun. Reeling from the force it took to keep your weapon from slicing into its abdomen, you pushed down hard on the weapon to force them back a step before snatching the knife back. The demon struggled to keep its footing, arms windmilling, which gave you just large enough of an opening to dart forward and sink your knife up through its ribs. 

The breath was punched from the alien as you hit a lung. 

Yanking your knife free, you rose to your feet as the body collapsed with a wet thump. The glowing freckles dotted across its cheeks flickered as the demon tried sucking in another breath before going still. The light produced by the body followed suit as it died and went dark. 

Adrenaline kept your guilt at bay. It had not been a clean kill. A clean kill would have been an instant death without the wasted spilling of blood which could be used. 

“Holy shit.” 

Your head snapped up to find Neteyam’s brother emerging from between the leaves, staring down at the corpses with mild awe. <”How did you make that look easy?”> He demanded with a pinched smile. There was something unknown plaguing his face when you looked down at him, something that made your stomach pinch uncomfortably.

Not that Neteyam gave you any time to analyse the boy, because he came charging out of the undergrowth with little to no warning. His eyes flickered from the bodies to your bleeding form, knuckles tight on his knife. 

<”Are you both okay?”> You found yourself asking, although you couldn’t see blood on either of them.

<”Us?”> Neteyam bit back, sounding more hysterical than furious. “What the hell was that? Do you know how dangerous they are? You almost gave me a heart attack! They could’ve killed you at least twice!” That alien language was back now, making his brother smile as Neteyam grabbed your head between his hands and shook you.

<”I don’t understand.”> You asked uncertainly.

<”Never do that again!”> He yelled at you, and somehow you knew the simple sentence didn’t match up to the abundance of words that had just split out of him. <”Eywa, you scared me.”>

His hands slid back into your hair, grabbing at the back of your head and pulling your head down into his chest where he held you for a moment. You found yourself soothed by the frantic pace of his heart, and how he was willing to touch you despite the blood that was no doubt being transferred to his skin.

“As cute as this is Neteyam, and as much as I want the full story, there’s still recoms after us.” 

“Right.” Neteyam replied before switching back to na’vi. <”We need to go.”>

<”You should have gone earlier. What were you still doing lurking in the bushes?”> You argued as you pulled back far enough to shoot him a displeased look. <”I wasn’t going to leave you!”>

<”You should’ve gotten Tonowari!”>

<”It doesn’t matter now. We’ll go together.”> He made quick work of his suggestion, grabbing your hand in his and encouraging his brother to stick close. 

It didn’t take long to clear the forest. The three of you emerge onto the beach out of sight of the village due to the curve of the island. But if you remained hugging the treeline, you’d reach it within no time. 

No one spoke. The brother had taken to picking up rocks as he walked, which you assumed he’d use if you came across anything else lurking in the undergrowth. Whilst Neteyam kept a firm hold on your hand as he walked closest to the treeline. 

<"How are your injuries?"> He asked quietly, gaze still flickering between his brother and the trees. You were warmed by how protective of the boy he seemed to be. Clearly, there was a complex history here. 

<"I can’t feel them yet."> You said honestly, even though you knew that the minute you stopped to breathe, you’d be able to do nothing BUT feel them.

Neteyam squeezed your hand knowingly. <"Once we get you looked at by the Tsahik, why don’t we go for an ilu ride? I’ve missed it.">

You glanced up at him, caught off guard by the sweet comment. He was already looking at you, all bright eyed and open faced, warm despite the situation. 

A genuine smile emerged onto your face at the suggestion as something in you loosened. <"I would like tha-">

A bang had all three of you instinctively flinching.

You pulled at Neteyam’s hand, trying to drag him to cover, only for him to grunt and trip over his own feet. A pained wheeze escaping his lungs as if all the breath had been knocked out of him. His brother let out a wounded sound, and despite the danger, raced back to his side as Neteyam didn’t move. His grip remained strong on your hand for a heartbeat before he abruptly crumbled.

Between you, you managed to keep him from splitting his head open on some concealed rock hidden beneath the sand. 

Within heartbeats, there was blood everywhere. Slipping out of the gaping wound in his shoulder, spilling down his chest and over his stomach, running over his shoulder and wetting the sand. His brother was quick to press his little hands down against the entry wound, but there was so much blood. It dirtied the courting necklace at his throat which jumped and shivered at each desperate, sharp breath he dragged into his weak lungs. 

<"Neteyam?"> His brother begged, but the sound was distant, as if you were back underwater suppressing a panic attack. Neteyam was grabbing at him weakly, trying to find words, but struggling to breathe more. <”Oh no. Neytiri is going to kill me!”>

Another click of that stupid weapon from the undergrowth.

Your head snapped up.

There was something white hot and writhing collecting in your belly. Something deranged and unnerving. It clouded your vision and coaxed you into pulling back your lips and barring your fangs into a ferocious hiss at the alien hiding between the trees. Neteyam was grabbing weakly for your arm, trying to keep you close, but you only had eyes for the threat.

You knew you were thinking clearly as you rose to your feet. You knew that the stress and fear had finally made you snap. You also knew that you wanted them to suffer. You wanted to see them bleed. You wanted them dead.

Neteyam was still grabbing at your arms. His eyes wide and panicked, his every breath punched out of him with a painful, twisting wheeze. You couldn’t leave him like this. 

<”We need to go!”> Neteyam’s brother insisted, and you found yourself nodding. The instinctual fog that had fallen over you made it hard to form words, so you followed his instructions instead.

With your bloody knife clutched tightly between your teeth, you stooped to grab at Neteyam’s armpits. He squirmed and screamed in pain as you hoisted him up. His voice hitching up in octaves, his pained wails chasing after the waves as you began frantically dragging him away from the trees, towards the village. 

His brother kept pace. Speaking hurriedly in his alien language. Frantically glancing from Neteyam to the trees and back again. You could feel yourself growing more frantic, your pupils narrowing into slits at the smear of red Neteyam’s limp body dragged down the white sand beaches.

It was because you were staring blankly at the bloodstain that you noticed the token slipping out of Neteyam’s belt and flopping uselessly to the sand. The pink shells were streaked with red, which the sand quickly clung to. 

Neteyam started squirming anew. Struggling against you and making aborted reaches for it. <”S-st-op.”> He begged, his syllables slurring together. 

<”Don’t worry Neteyam.”> Spider assured him, darting back up the beach to retrieve it. You kept dragging, and Spider ran to catch up with you. <”I’ve got it.”> He promised, showing Neteyam the bloodied necklace. The body in your arms lost some of its tension at the sight of it. 

<”Th-ank yo-u.”> He whispered repeatedly, soft as a prayer. <”Tha-ank yo-ou. Thank y-ou.”>

Movement from the trees drew your attention from the pair. Your head snapped up, to find yet another demon stepping out into the moonlight. A companion was seconds behind, its weapon already raised and aimed. 

<”Go away.”> You snarled around your knife hilt, panic making you pull Neteyam along harder. His brother went rigid, a single stone clutched in his tiny hand which he tightened around it. Preparing to hurl it. 

The demons did not do as you warned.

Your fury was resurfacing. Faster and faster. Higher and higher. Hotter and hotter until you could hardly contain it. 

Slowing your pace, you spat your knife into your hand as you began lowering Neteyam’s wounded body to the sand. <”Stay with him.”> You hissed at Neteyam's brother, who’s breath faltered. He met your gaze, and you found that he looked terrified. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. 

The demons were jogging towards you now. Yelling in a language you did not speak. And advancing with microexpressions that screamed aggression. That practically invited you to lose your shit.

<”Go away!”> You repeated, a hiss slipping into the words.

They kept coming closer.

You made to pull away from the pair, but Neteyam grabbed at you. His grip was weak but his expression screamed panic. He was hurting badly. But he still clung to you. Making sad, frantic sounds. His brother helped you pry his fingers off, just in time for you to deflect the first strike of one of the demons. 

From there, pure, unfiltered instinct took over. You bit and clawed like a na’vi possessed. Every blow you struck was fueled by all your pent up stress and frustration of the past few days. You moved with precision. Whilst the strikes of the demons flowed into one another, your only beat was the pounding of your own hear. Where the demons struck with finesse and practice, you moved like a restless tempest. Relentless and unforgiving.

It was over before it truly began. 

The demons were dead at your feet. Their blood staining the sand, and your skin. There was skin stuck between your teeth and sticky blood beneath your nails. But you did not care.

As the last one lay dying, you turned back to your friend. To his brother, who had thrown himself over his much larger sibling in some pathetic attempt to protect him. 

Blood dripped from your chin as you approached, weaving scarlet rivers down your chest towards your feet. What a sight you must have made. 

And yet, somehow, Neteyam was bloodier. His body collapsed at an uncomfortable angle against the sand, a hand clenched around his bloodied token. His face was pale, but his eyes still saw you. Still looked into you with more knowledge than anyone had the right to.

He did not look afraid, despite the state of him. Despite witnessing what you had just done with only a knife and your teeth. In fact, he almost looked proud. But that was clearly just wishful thinking on your part.

<”Don’t just stand there!”> His brother abruptly screamed, tearing you out of your head. You blinked back the fog, struggling to find autonomy over your limbs again as you realised that the kid had tears streaming down his face behind his mask. <”Help him! He’s dying!”>

Previous Chapter <- Part 2 -> Next Chapter

[zatrinaxxx]

FRIENDS DON'T LOOK AT THEIR FRIENDS THAT WAY.

Loak x fem! Reader[na'vi]

♡[ Your friendship with Loak is so strong that when the Sully's are forced to leave the clan and Loak asks you to accompany him, you don't hesitate for a second to do so, he thinks that you are a friend who values his friendship very much, but you are not only value his friendship if not that you love him]♡

Warnings: none, pure fluff, mere friends to lovers,Jake comforts the reader, slight jealousy on the part of Loak (unwritten)

☆[ kind reminder, english is not my native language if you see any grammatical errors don't hesitate to say so. As long as they're nice]☆

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

After months of learning the culture of the Metkayina you could say that the new clan is not bad at all. You met the avitants and loved the fauna and flora that surround them, but you didn't love the way you slowly drifted away from Loak.

Because unlike Sully's kids, the sea terrifies you. You come from a place where you can touch the bottom of rivers with your toes, but the further you go into the ocean the deeper the ground is, so every time there is a new swimming lesson you decline the invitation. courteous mind and you sit under a palm tree watching others enjoy.

But your gaze is always focused on Loak, your best friend and love of your life (although he didn't know he was the love of your life) romping and smiling with the youngest daughter of the clan chief. You're not jealous, you could never feel bad about something that had to do with Loak or his feelings.

And you don't hate T'sireya either, because she's not to blame for not being able to express the feelings you have towards your best friend. A small sigh escapes from you when you see how T'sireya touches Loak's chest, seeing the small smile that settles on his lips causes your chest to ache.- Why are you alone?- a manly voice behind you startled, you turn to see Mr. Sully, you give him a small smile and look straight ahead again.

‐I don't like the ocean‐ you murmur slightly.You feel it move next to you and you step aside, giving it a space under the shade.

‐But they are not in the sea - and it is true, the boys were sitting on the big rock which you did not know the name of yet - what happens? Has Loak done something to you?-

- No, everything is fine sir- you turn to look at him with a nod- Everything is fine‐

‐ I have known you since you were a child, I know there is something wrong precious - you direct your finger to the sand drawing small shapes in it ‐ I know that love is not easy, believe me, Neitiry tried to kill me - a laugh escapes from your mouth and covers your face while you laugh- you see, that's what I wanted to hear - Mr. Sully laughs.

‐I'm not in love,‐you mutter the little lie with your eyes on the sand ‐Loak and I are just friends.‐

‐ I never talked about Loak ‐ you frown realizing that you had screwed up and you sigh defeated, you feel the tears sting the corners of your eyes and you turn to look at him.

‐Are they obvious?- Mr. Sully puts his arm around your shoulders and nods.

‐ Even Tuk realizes the looks that‐ shake their heads at his words.

‐You mean the looks I give him? Loak only sees me as his friend, I dare say he only wants me as a sister-

‐ My son is stupid, quite stupid - he speaks looking towards Loak who is staring at you two, Jake smiles when he realizes this - But - his gaze returns to you - I'm sure friends don't look at their friends the way he looks at you‐

‐I'm afraid Lord, I'm afraid to tell him how I feel and our friendship will be ruined- you cover your face with your hands and Jake pulls you towards him.

- oh honey, I'm sure that won't happen- you cry quietly lying on your chest from Mr. Sully who caresses your hair with brotherly affection- That's it- he murmurs - Come on, you will accompany me to sharpen the weapons- you nod away from him, the older Sully stands up and offers you a hand helping you get up to get away from there.

But what you didn't notice was Loak's gaze on you, wondering what you and his father could be talking about.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Part 2👆

[undercoverpan]

Weeks have passed since he saw Spider do….that. Weeks since he cradled his dying body, crying and screaming. He doesn't know if that's a good thing.

Everyone was worried about him. He couldn't sleep or eat, he wandered their marui like a restless spirit and Eywa, wasn't that ironic. He wouldn't tell anyone this, but he was afraid. Afraid that in his dreams, he would see Spider, and he would see him die again. The thought kept his appetite at bay. These thoughts kept him awake at night, so he was fully aware when he overheard the hushed whispers of his parents.

"That demon haunts my son." His mother hissed, her voice carrying the same hardness it always did whenever she talked about Spider. "Ma Neytiri, please, Spider's miles away from here. It's been years. Neteyam probably just misses him." He could feel his mom's incredulous stare from here. "All of my children miss that--that boy, but none have screamed and cried his name as though they saw him die." She said, and she really 'hit the nail on the head' with that one. "I--well, maybe he's just realizing…..what might've happened to Spider." His father's voice was unusually hushed. "What do you mean?" Asked his mother, and Neteyam held his breath. "Humans don't keep prisoners for that long, and when they do…..they're, ah….treated very bad." Neteyam felt like his father wasn't being transparent on what might've happened. What does 'treated very bad' mean, exactly?

"What do you mean? He is of their people, he is a child, they would not hurt him." Neytiri argued, sounding so very sure of herself, "His father would protect him." A thick silence fell over the marui. "Ma Jake?" She whispered, but still, his father said nothing. "Ma Jake, they wouldn't hurt him." She sounded less sure of herself, starting to sound a bit frantic in her search for confirmation. "......Humans aren't like the People, Neytiri. They're not as merciful."

Neteyam does not sleep that night.

But his mother was restless. Ronal, the tsahik, had given him something to help with sleep. Mom had made him take it, carefully watching over him as his eyes fluttered shut. He dreamt of a forest, bright and green and alive, all around him. He leapt from the trees, carefree. He is with his family, his friends. He is safe. Sometimes he does dream of Spider. In his dreams, they are sitting together at the top of the tallest tree in the forest. Their skin grazes lightly, each featherlight touch sending his heart racing. The sky is bright and endless above them, but Spider turned to him with his doe eyes, and asked if he could have the sky. So for him, Neteyam reaches up, and takes the sky, and holds the sun and clouds and moon and stars in his two hands.

He wakes up, and wishes he could dream forever.

But right now, he is awake and the sun is high. Tsireya had come around on her ilu, sharing the news of the Tulkun's arrival. They all went out to greet the friendly giants. In time, he's truly come to like the tulkun, although he's never fully connected to one and called them his brother. He had snuck off to see payakan (read: He was on babysitting duty) with Lo'ak, Kiri, Aonung and Tsireya when it happened.

He swam beneath the waters, gliding through very easily. Swimming had become second nature to him, it had to. Kiri was among the small fish, lost in their beauty. Lo'ak was probably flirting with Tsireya, and both Aonung and Neteyam didn't feel like watching that. Their relationship had grown from hopeless crushing to official courting, how was Neteyam to tease about that?

As he swam deeper, lost in thought, something called his attention. His eyes flicked around him, seeing nothing unordinary. He was going to write it off as his imagination when he heard it. A melody, small and lonely, resounding in his ears. He recognized the haunting notes immediately. Following the noise, he saw a small, pink figure deep in the water. He swam towards it curiously. The blurry shape came into better view. Blue stripes painted over the skin, blonde locs drifting in the water, more ethereal than he imagined. Spider, he thought desperately, Spider. Swimming down, invigorated, he reached towards the boy.

He seemed so small in these watery depths. He stood out strikingly, pink and blue and gold contrasting against the ocean dark. He reached towards him, but he was too far.

He kept on swimming downwards, the sun's light growing dim. The waters were as dark as the night sky here, without the light of Centauri Alpha to light the sky. No, the waters were dark and cold, heavy against his skin. The only light came from his tanhi, barely any creatures with bioluminescence present. Through the dark, through the cold, he could only see Spider, like a glowing star in the watery dark. He was the only light guiding him, deeper, deeper, deeper.

He reached towards him. It seemed like every time he tried, Spider would just drift farther away. He could feel his limbs growing weaker, having to push himself harder to keep moving. The water was beginning to feel heavier, like the entire ocean was slowly weighing down on him. But for Spider, he'd lift up the ocean and then some.

As his limbs grew weaker, his air lessened. He was really beginning to struggle now, his body and mind growing tired. It was too cold, too heavy, he was barely breathing. In his ears, he heard the sad melody of Spiders songchord. He was among the few he sang it to. It was little and a bit sad, if he was quite honest. Spider had no proper beginning, being an unclaimed orphan. His song began with Kiri, his first friend, and continued with Lo'ak, him and Tuk. He remembered that he was very secretive about a certain bead on his songchord, one prettier and better carved than the one Spider makes himself. No one ever knew what it meant, just that it sounded happier compared to the others.

They were the only 2 who knew what it meant. A first, gentle kiss between them. Their--their love, because there was simply no other word for it, was hushed. It held the stillness of an early morning, and the obscurity of a nantang lurking in tall grass. It was brief touches and longing looks, it was wanting and hesitance, it was everything even when it was nothing. Even now, while his body grows tired, beneath the ocean, where the dark consumed all, it was everything.

His vision was growing dark, black dots appearing at the edge of his sight. His lungs were crushing in on themselves, trying to make the most of the air left in them. He felt himself nearing his limit, his vision starting to darken and blur, but he was so close. He could reach out towards him, he could grab him, he could bring him to the surface. 

With the last of his strength, he stretched himself forward, reaching, reaching, reaching. Distantly, he thought Spider looked quite sad to see, disappointed, even.

"I thought you were more sensible." His voice echoed.

With a mighty swipe of his arm, he grabbed Spider–, but his arm went through him. The other dissipated like seafoam, like an illusion, like he was never there. Still, his voice rang out to Neteyam. It carried the depth of the ocean and the warmth of the sun.

"Oh Neteyam."

And suddenly he could breathe, his lungs reinflating. It felt like he was taking his very first breaths. Then, just as he was about to black out, he felt strong arms grabbing him and pulling him upwards.

_______

He awoke with the sun glaring down on him. He could feel hands grasping him, warm and rough from gathering. Kiri. He opened his eyes, the world coming into view. All around him, his friends' expressions held varying degrees of worry. 

"What were you thinking?!" Asked Aonung angrily, but Neteyam didn't take it to heart. He knew that the other doesn't express his emotions properly.

"Were you trying to drown yourself, skxawng!?" Lo'ak wasn't much better. His eyebrows furrowed, he let out a frustrated hiss at Neteyam. For the first time ever, he couldn't meet his brother's gaze. He looked around him. Tsireya looked concerned, but that was understandable. Kiri, she looked at him curiously.

"Well?" She asked, looking for an explanation. He swallowed hard, looking away. "I--I saw Spider. I heard his song, he was singing to me." Lo'ak breathed sharply, Tsireya placing a hand on his shoulder. "Bro…."

He looked away. He didn't want to hear anything, it didn't matter. Well, maybe Tsireya saying that he didn't swallow any water was important, but still. He knew they'd be telling their parents, but frankly, he didn't care. He wanted to return to the depths, he wanted to hear his song again. It seemed Lo'ak picked up on his mood.

"I mean, basically swimming to the bottom of the ocean is cool. I thought only the tulkun could–"

"Let's just go home."

And if Kiri and Lo'ak shared a worried glance when he kept looking 

[dirtytransmasc]

Spider is Phoebe Bridger's coded and it makes me feel ill.

[liesioe]

Both Jake and Neteyam have beads representing Spider’s “unofficial adoption,” proven by none other than the head costume designer, Deb Scott.

[aurora-starwars]

Betrayal

Just want a head count, because it has been a good long while (my bad), who still wants like the Betrayal series, either part 3 or snippets, or both? <3333333

[oddella37]

Uprooted and Adjusted (Part 2)

Summary: After being taken captive by the Sky Demons, Y/n tries to make acquaintances with the human boy named Spider. Eventually he helps her escape the deadly hands of the Sky Demons.

part 1 // Part 3

I was held at the top of the Demons’ ship. My hands were still bound, as I stood beside the human boy who I had come to learn his name is Spider.

He was not bound, but he explained to me that he couldn’t leave, how they would track him through his mask. He tried talking to me to take my mind off of the events happening out on the water. He told me stories about his friends, Toruk Makto’s children from the oldest to the youngest. The oldest, Neteyam, followed by Kiri, who is adopted, then Lo’ak who is Spider’s best friend, and Tuk who is the youngest. He told me how the Sully’s helped to raise him and teach him the Na’vi ways. They taught him how to hunt and speak Na’vi.

He continued telling me stories until we eventually felt the ship stop. We both turned out heads to the large windows to see Demon Na’vi flying on what Spider told me were ikran. Something the forest Na’vi rode to fly around. They held large net and landed on the deck of the ship. Spider gasped from beside me and whispered, “That’s Lo’ak.”

Before I had time to process his words, Spider took off running down the hall, fighting any of the men in his path.

With my bound wrists I knew I wouldn’t make it as far as he would, especially with the guard who already had an arm around me.

I watched out the window as I saw Spider approach the Na’vi on the deck. Two of them were a vibrant blue color while there was one who looked like me. She was Metkayina.

I studied them. If I had to guess, which I sort of do, the older boy must’ve been Lo’ak while the young one of the group must’ve been Tuk.

It wasn’t long before Spider was dragged back away from his friends and back up the stairs where we were both now being held in place to ensure no other escapes.

Spider and I watched closely as tsuraks came into view from a distance. They stopped a good ways away from the ship, stuck in a stand still.

It was a while before any movement was made. I watched carefully when a Forest Na’vi began to come forward, away from the army that was behind him. I could only guess him to be the one and only Jake Sully.

Everything was moving in slow motion as something broke free of the water, a massive Tulkun leaped onto the ship, shaking everything and everyone inside. I gasped and held onto Spider to keep the both of us steady. I gazed at the tulkun and recognized the creature with the missing fin.

“Payakan,” I spoke aloud. Spider looked at me with confusion, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the change, for once I could teach him something. “Payakan, he is an outcast Tulkun. All Tulkun stay together, but he is a killer of Na’vi so he is outcast,” I paused, watching as the massive Tulkun dove back into the water. “And here he is, saving us,” I laughed as I felt tears trying to drip from my eyes.

Spider smiled and looked up at the captains of the ship while they tried to do damage control. “Well we can’t let him be the only one,” Spider said when he suddenly grabbed a red metal object and hit the captain with it before smashing at the control panel. I grinned at him and followed his lead, grabbing the gun from the surprised demon beside me and hit him over the head with it and began smashing at the controls as well.

The ship began moving forward rapidly as Spider and I were grabbed. The Demons tried to get control of the ship back, but we were running into rocks and ramping over them before they could stop anything. Everyone was momentarily thrown into the air before we landed back into the water. I hit the ground roughly and dropped the weapons from my hand.

I heard the captains talking back and forth frantically, seeming panicked when suddenly everyone began to leave, Spider and I being dragged with them. I gave my newfound friend a panicked look and he gave me a sly grin. “We’re evacuating. This ship is going down,” He said triumphantly.

A grin spread across my face as we both were guided down the stairs to get what the demons were calling ‘lifeboats’.

I simply followed along, knowing when we got to the water, I would be able to escape. The men kept seemingly nagging at Spider who kept pushing them the same as they pushed us. I silently wished I could react that way without a weapon being pointed at me.

We walked for what felt like ages and I felt so lost from all the twists and turns. The ship abruptly began to shake which made me stumble. One of the demons grabbed my braid to keep me from getting far to which I hissed at, bearing my fangs.

At that moment, the man was suddenly on the ground. A blur of vibrant blue being my only warning before I was pulled by my wrists away from the demons.

I realized what was happening and quickly reached down to grab a knife off of the demon on the ground. I was yanked away and behind a wall where we took cover from the deadly bullets.

A swift cut of the blade I had freed my wrist and suddenly I felt like a feral animal again. I could once again fight and defend myself. I took a second to recognize the two Forest Na’vi. I was not sure who was who, but I knew they were Neteyam and Lo’ak.

The younger of the two boys used a gun he had snagged to shoot at the demons who were now trying to kill us. He was younger so I had to guess he was Neteyam? Or was it Lo’ak who was the younger one? There was so much information to remember.

“Lo’ak,” The older boy scolded, pulling him into safety. Ah, so I had it backwards.

Neteyam Pointed towards the pool in the deck which we could easily swim away through. Which would be the sane idea.

I so badly craved the blood of these monsters, but I couldn’t do it with other lives at risk. I pushed Spider and Lo’ak towards the pool as they took off running for it and looked back at Neteyam who was trying to ward away the demons. I pulled at his arm towards  our escape and only when the bullets began flying and his gun was empty did he duck back behind the wall.

“Come, we must go,” I insisted as he nodded and made his way to the water. I took the gun from him and threw it with all my might at the closest demon. I hit it square in the head and cheered in triumph as I saw it fall to the ground.

My triumph was short-lived when I was pulled into the water by a strong arm. Bullets whizzed into the water with us and I felt a painful burn in my shoulder and looked down to see blood mixing into the water.

Neteyam grabbed me and we both began to swim away to safety after Spider and Lo’ak.

When we surfaced, Lo’ak and Spider were cheering and celebrating their escape. I looked over at Neteyam whose face was scrunched in pain. I dipped my head under the water to see his hand held against his abdomen where blood was spreading into the water. I lifted my head just in time to hear the words from Neteyam as he grabbed my arm. He looked worried, and spoke to his brother words I didn’t understand.

Lo’ak swam over and I looked from him to Neteyam, “You are hit,” I said, reaching for his arm that held his wound. He tried to maneuver away from my touch, but I was able to grab him and feel for the wound. I was able to quickly realize how deep it was and he was unable to hide his pain when I began to put pressure on it.

A Metkayina woman joined us, she rode on an ilu as Lo’ak and she began to work together getting Neteyam onto the ilu. Lo’ak offered to help me up, but I simply took hold of the ilu’s fin with my uninjured arm and rode along while we got to land.

Once we made it to a decent sized rock everyone worked together to help Neteyam up to rest. “Guys I am fine, please.” he tried to calm everyone, only wincing at his own words. Once onto land I began to look and care for my shoulder. I couldn’t stop the guild that crept from my stomach to my chest as I remembered my betrayal. I hurt this family in front of me by leading the demons to them, I almost got one of them killed because I was weak.

The Metkayina woman began to work at his wound, trying to help ease his pain. I could tell by the way she worked that she had worked with a Tsahik before and was doing well at helping him. An Older forest Na’vi man joined them and helped, keeping Neteyam’s attention away from the pain that I could only experience from his cries.

I watched closely as they fished the bullet out of him before patching up his wound. Neteyam’s cries slowly died down as all that was left was his heavy breathing.

“He will be okay, but he must get away from battle,” The girl explained to the older man that I guessed to be Jake Sully.

One of the ikrans appeared out of nowhere as a woman leaped off of it, “Neteyam!” She cried, leaning down beside who I could only assume to be her son. She kneeled behind him and I heard her mutter soft prayers to the great mother, thanking Eywa for his life being intact.

The Metkayina girl stood and approached me. She seemed to watch me like I was a feral animal that would attack at any moment. She kneeled beside me and inspected my shoulder while the family discussed the recent events and how this all happened. She put pressure on it, triggering a hiss from me.

“I am Tsireya. What is your name?” She tried to ask, attempting to take my mind off of the pain she was causing me.

“Y/n,” I told her before letting out a cry of pain as I felt her dig into my shoulder, trying to pull the bullet out. I felt dramatic when I noticed the family looking over at me. I quickly looked away, trying to keep from making eye contact.

“She’s from one of the clans,” I heard Spider tell them, “They took her captive so she’d guide them to you.”

Jake Sully stood and walked over to me, kneeling beside me. Without another thought, I bowed in front of him, wincing in pain when Tsireya’s hand slipped due to my movement. He began speaking to me in the demon language and I looked at him with no understanding.

“She only speaks Na’vi, Jake.” Spider laughed at the older man’s attempts.

Jake shook his head at himself and looked at me, “You do not have to bow to me, kid,” He told me. I gave him a wary look, “But you are Toruk Makto,” I told him. “I betrayed you and hurt your family by telling the demons your location. I am very sorry,” I could not help the cracks in my voice as my words fell.

A hand fell on my head. It was oddly soothing, “And how many of your family died to protect mine?” He asked me. He didn’t need an answer. He already knew. “Thank you.” He told me, bowing his own head.

The moment was short lived when Tsireya ripped the bullet from my shoulder, a scream coming with it. Jake quickly applied pressure to my wound while Tsireya disposed of the bullet and began to wrap it to stop the bleeding.

Jake’s kind demeanor changed suddenly as he turned to his sons. “Where are your sisters?” He demanded. They both looked at each other, looking lost.

“She’s at the moon pool, they have her,” Tsireya responded to him, “We didn’t have time to turn back for them.”

Jake looked at his mate, they had a silent conversation with one another as they both stood. “You kids stay here. We’re going to get your sisters,” He paused, looking at Spider, “I need you to show me where this moonpool is.”

Spider nodded, “Yes, sir,” he responded while they all split off.

Not long after they took off, Lo’ak stood up, “You guys stay here. I’m going to help my dad.”

Tsireya tried to stop him, but it was no use. We watched as he swam off to help. I looked a Tsireya, who looked at me obviously worried. I looked over at Neteyam who was still inhaling deep breaths, I moved over towards him. His eyes were half lidded and I bowed my head at him. “Thank you for saving my life,” I told him and he laughed weakly.

“It is no problem. I am used to it by now,” He breathed out. I smiled and looked over at the massive ship as it began to sink, praying to Eywa that everything would end okay.