#quaritch is totally chill too once he's over the shock of it

[naavispider]

Hi what do you think about au with transgender spider? I don't know why but he gives me transgender vibes. It seems to me that from such a version Spider would reveal himself very young. What do you think the reaction of the Sullys, the scientists, the clan in general, and Quaritch and his squad in particular, would be when they first met and on their missions?

I love this idea! Spider is so strong and brave and true to himself already that I completely agree with you that he would come out very early on. He doesn't give a shit that he's the only one amongst the humans who is half naked and wearing blue stripes, so why would he care that he has the wrong the body parts to be a boy? He knows he can be whatever he wants, although it's of course deeper than that. He is Na'vi, so he shows it. He is a boy, so he's confident expressing that too.

As this is set so far in the future I would love to believe that the humans who stayed at Hell's Gate and helped raise him wouldn't bat an eyelid. And if anyone was surprised or unsure of Spider's decision, it wasn't exactly something that would get Spider down or convince him to stop. By the time he's 9 he's spending most of his time in the forest anyway. The science guys barely see him and let's be honest, they probably forget he exists most of the time (apart from Norm, Max and maybe one or two others).

The Na'vi definitely don't give a shit, you know most of them don't want their kids to play with Spider on the count that he's human, let alone that he is a different gender to what his body parts suggest. It's the least of any of their worries. Neytiri doesn't really get it, but also doesn't care anyway, and Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk are all delighted because they've called Spider a boy ever since they've known him. In their eyes, Spider has gotten all nervous to tell them something they already knew.

"What do you mean? We already call you him and his!"

Kiri is the only one who looks at him differently - but it's in a positive way. She sees the bravery Spider shows everyday, expressing his true self more than anybody else she knew, staying true to his spirit. If that didn't make him one of Eywa's children, she didn't know what would.

Neteyam is slightly slower to keep remembering pronouns etc because (being the oldest) he knew Spider before he fully came out. However, if an odd pronoun does slip out, it is quickly corrected and apologised over (Spider teases him about it) and within a few weeks that's that. It's just natural. Jake has a similar reaction to Neteyam, having known Spider for several years before he transitioned, and he had a hard time explaining it once to Neytiri. After the kids had finally all settled down to sleep, she asked Jake what Spider was doing, changing the way he wanted people to talk to him. Jake had his work cut out trying to explain that it was much more than just that, that Spider really was a boy inside, he had just been lumped with the wrong body parts to prove it. Neytiri (being completely oblivious) asked if it was a sickness that made his body be born wrong. She tried to imagine having the same problem as Spider, and realised the kid had it tough. Still, he was human, and the demon Quaritch's son at that - he would only bring them ill-fortune eventually.

Now, when Quaritch finds Spider in the forest with Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk, things go differently. Quaritch asks him his name and the boy gives it. Quaritch frowned, the name 'Socorro' bringing hope to his chest, but he couldn't piece the jigsaw together. He remembered holding his daughter in his arms, cradling her as she slept, watching her as Paz recovered from the birth. His child wasn't called Spider. His child was a girl. She was named after his mother. He knew for a fact that Paz hadn't had any other kids.

"[dead female name of your choice]?"

"Nobody calls me that."

"I figured they sent you back to Earth..."

"You can't put babies in cryo, dipshit."

Well, shit. It really was... her. His frown deepened. He signalled to Prager to take hold of Spider again. "Take her over there..."

Spider hissed. "It's him, dickwad!"

Quaritch turned as the kid was wrestled away to wait for extraction. He needed to call this in, but as he did so he watched the struggling child, spitting curses in Na'vi and conversing with Sully's kids.

He'd been gone 16 years. He knew the world had changed and moved on since the real Miles Quaritch died, but he didn't realise just how much of his past life he had lost, and just how much he was about to gain back.