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pandorafallz · 3 months

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Vampire AU | Lingering Memories

N’deh sucked on his teeth as he withdrew from the microscope, displeased to see little results of growth from the week of incubation. The soil was mineral level good, they had watered it well but it didn’t grow as fast, or as well. He made note of the progress nonetheless, setting the sample away then switched out the slide from what her second team had brought in.

He peered into the lens, taking a second to readjust to sharpen—then suddenly N’deh felt a cold hand suddenly come around his face and grab a hold of his chin- pulling his head right back against their shoulder within a heartbeat; a cold hand suddenly gripping into the front of his shirt under the breasts and pulled him back; keeping him locked into a solid embrace from behind.

Immediately, he tried to yelp, his hands abandoning work to claw and pull away the solid grip around him but his jaw was held tightly that muffled his shocked sounds. His nails had no bite—covered by latex gloves but he didn’t try to let that stop him. N’deh tried to grab hold of the surface for leverage, his hand catching some of his beakers but did little more than knock a few off—the sound of glass broke distantly. Yet, it was like he was weightless, feeling himself being tugged backwards off his stool that misbalanced and toppled as well as it caught the heel of his boot. He reached back blindly to go for the person’s face but his slim, pink wrist was roughly grabbed by the hand that had previously gripped his shirt.

Then he felt his assailant’s grip change on his jaw, his head forced more to the side sharply; cracking the crick out of his neck painfully. N’deh grunted out in pain but then he felt the sudden sharpness of teeth bite into his throat and skin so easily into his flesh like a hot knife in butter. A high-pitched noise didn’t last, the pain of it tempering away after a few seconds and he could feel a sluggishness filter into his body that seemed to wane the fight in his body. His head came to loll in the vice grip, his legs wavering in strength though his fingers tried to dig in to pull, a bit barely.

“That’s enough,” The voice distant, “You’re killing her. Let go.”

The grip on his arm tightened. Too hard. There was a tug then a distant hiss suddenly down his ear before. The hand on his hand increased until—

Crack!

N’deh woke with a start, sitting up sharply in his hammock with his heart hammering in his chest. He pulled his arm to himself with the lingering sensation of his bone tingling just as much as his skin crawled in the heartbeats that followed.

It wasn’t a dream. It didn’t linger for moments longer after his eyes were open nor did he feel the confusion of what had occurred. A memory. An experience of this memory was not new, but it was never pleasant whenever they resurfaced. A frayed bond should never allow for this to cross into his mind from his beloved so far and without her Dreamwalker and yet it had. Properly mated couples never had such an intense experience; sharing almost all of this through tsaheylu but never when separated. They could sense their partner and get an…idea of where their partner was and at times; to silently call for them in times of need or desire.

Never like this.

He hadn’t got to experience the notion of her or could call for her. He didn’t try in fear of causing her pain; her mind was not made for this if the aftereffects of their severed tsaheylu were any indication.

Yet he dreamed from her memories.

Sometimes pleasant but often not. He never really quite knew it was a memory when he was living through it. Only after. He felt as she did, her excitement of new discoveries; and understanding of their technology as she did in those memories. Afterwards, he had new words to his knowledge and a new understanding of sky people technology. He didn’t try to retain the knowledge if he could help it for his own sake of separating his mind from hers and avoiding more pain. To avoid losing touch with his own sense of the world. He was Na’vi. However, it made him feel so at home with the life of the Sky People. He… understood them more.

Given it was that memory…..today was not going to be a smooth day. It wasn’t the worst one but he knew he should stay close to camp.

He slipped out of his mauri as the light was barely touching the sky, grabbing a simple washcloth as he padded down towards the distant river in only his loincloth. The fishes that had been about in the shallow water vanished with swift and sharp movement and leaving him all the space to wash away the cold sweat from his body and cleanse his skin. Its sharpness was desired, redefining the sense of realness to his own body rather than the lingering tingle at his wrist.

N’deh scrubbed at his skin with the cloth, also trailing a path along his neck; the pain was not present or lingering like his wrist but he thoughtfully washed the cloth over the spot on his neck. The sensation of teeth, the pain that lasted only for a moment then… it was gone. Certainly, an interesting experience and it was one of the few things he discovered he…liked. In a different context of course.

The cool water certainly kept him from further awkwardness since his love was not here to help him out. He directed his thoughts away, sensing himself start to turn into a little more needy and focused on his arm pain for now; quashing that flame quickly as he quickly washed and headed back to his mauri to dress for the day.

He changed into a neat and dry blue woven loincloth with a few Yerik teeth decorations, fitting on his battle band around his middle then his dark burgundy choker. His least favourite but he could make a new one today since he didn’t have to be at his mother's looms today.

The mauri fabrics for Kim and Jerome’s mauri were nearly done for their expansion for their children. N’deh had been sneaky to get extra hands from the Omatikaya to come down when Kim was away; allowing them to work faster and create beautiful work without her disapproval of aid. But without aid, he and his camp would not get what they needed before she delivered. Jerome would tend to the second child until its birth as she would tend to their first; making them unable to do more and frankly N’deh hoped his dear sister would have the two stay over at Hometree for the duration of their children’s development before they were fully birthed into their world. The clan could provide for them and hopefully settle Kim’s fears about them for good.

N’deh left his mauri to start the morning meal, Kim herself coming to join him with a satisfied smile and helped clean some vegetables as he pulled the meat from the ceramic pot cooler—he liked the human’s fridge but it was too small for big amounts of meat that he didn’t want to cut down further.

“<Today, I’m gathering more flax and fibres for our weaving>” N’deh announced to Kim, “”

Kim’s yellow eyes rose from her board, pausing with the knife. “”

“<Three hours?>” He bargained. “”

Kim chewed on her lip a moment then nodded. “<Alright, but you should talk to Eytukan about getting passage to the Ikran rookery. It’s been a few years since Txon'ong passed to Eywa. An appropriate mourning time has passed.>”

N’deh paused, if for a moment as he held the meat. His heart aching for a moment of his loss but… she had a point, he had mourned and… a new Ikran at his side would be welcomed. A new Ikran would aid their camp a lot more; more freedom and distance to go for hunting and supply gathering. He could find a deep companionship that he could connect to after so long. If he ever moved on then… he had the means to leave and go far.

Txon'ong had been a mighty Ikran when he had bonded with him as a new hunter of only 15 years. He had been younger than most but as his sister had become Tsahìk at his right of passage and so it was important for the family to be impressive. He had to be impressive. However, one run-in with a Toruk had almost killed him; breaking a bone in his wing which took Txon'ong out of his prime.

Neytiri had helped heal him when she was a young girl, often with Sylwanin as a tsakarem but the damage was a lot. No longer able to carry long burdens for too long, nor fly as far. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t been able to travel too far; too many pauses to flights would not be good for Txon'ong in the long run.

N’deh had considered the Tawkami and had briefly visited in his first year away after his banishment but hadn’t stayed; their distaste of Sky people had set him aside very quickly, so he left. He had wanted to go west. His textiles skills were good and the Aranahe clans were far better suited than those in the surrounding areas of the Omatikaya He could have made it there if Txon'ong had been able to make the trip; the clan often able to open their home for people who needed it. Maybe frowned upon him but he was no danger. His skills could have improved. He could have been a well-known and desired weaver by now if he had truly left. It was a distant possibility but not lost.

But still, even if Txon'ong’s injury had not been so devastating… he wasn’t sure if he could truly leave her behind.

“” He said, pulling his knife to gently start prepping new slices of the raw meat. To gain a new bond… was something to be desired.

Eventually, the other residents of the camp stirred and came when food was handed out. N’deh set the extra portion for Jake’s avatar aside as usual, the man nodding his thanks as he wheeled away to link up.

“Jake, it’ll be another some time before the weed is officially ready for usage.”

“Oh, so yesterday was a bust?” Jake raised his eyebrow.

“I forgot all the processes you had to do to dry it and all. It wasn’t as fun as I had hoped.” Nadine pouted. “I suppose that’ll teach me for trying too early over all of you.”

“Silver lining, you still have all the time to prep that hot-box filter you talked about yesterday?” Morgan suggested. “I drew up some designs for you with a modified Exo-pack.”

“ I suppose.” Nadine said, “That said, I also found seeds in the stalks so I’ve removed them and we can expand our yield or trade those too.”

“Oh, here I thought we were gonna monopolise our trade of weed,” Morgan remarked, thoughtfully.

“We’re not the RDA, we can share the seeds,” Jake butted in swiftly in his return in his avatar. “Plus, they have herbs close to them; we can trade joints and herbs if the others grow the good stuff. Also, different soil composition could be a factor?” He accepted his set-aside breakfast to eat.

“Soil composition won’t change much regardless of where the weed when growing,” Kim said, around her bite.

“Ah.” Nadine didn’t look too pouty about that. “Either way, I’ll get the new seeds germinating. We can trade them as potted stems so it’ll be easier getting them about more securely. If we find more camps, we can expand when there’s enough to do that.”

N’deh stopped paying attention to their conversation, not overly absorbed in her interest in the herbs or wanting to be involved with what humans wanted to get a chill from. He finished his breakfast and left them to it to collect his gathering basket from the supply shelving. N’deh fixed on the harness for their Pa’li, called Neptune and was about to make headway when Jerome appeared, taking a grip on the reins before he could connect to her.

“<You okay?>” He asked in concern, “<You’ve been very quiet. More so than usual.>”

“<Poor sleep, bad dream.>” N’deh admitted, making the bond with a small shudder. “”

Jerome’s yellow eyes lingered on him for a moment. “<Alright. I’ll get you some paywll tea for when you get back>”

N’deh nodded this thanks. “<Do not wait for me if you’re busy. I’ll be back in a few hours. Kim wants the Pa’li after that.>”

“<Yes, she mentioned it. I’ll be at camp anyway. Nad’s going with Morgan to practise her sling shooting and working with a bow by the river so be cautious on your return if you return early.>”

“<She’s interested in becoming trained?>”

Jerome chuckled a little. “<As defence only, she’s worried about not knowing how to use our weapons since guns are unviable out in the forests>”

N’deh nodded. That seemed like a good development for the small warrior at the very least. He had wondered after all. She was good with her blade and clearly trained with melee weapons but ranged weapons would be important. At least now she was ready for it.

N’deh made his farewell and hurriedly made his way through the jungle from camp.

With the Pa’li, there was an immense relief to find the bloom pods far sooner. A typical journey was about an hour by foot, so the time was cut down to simply twenty minutes before the familiar sight greeted him.

There were many fibre plants that grew useable fibres from their blooms. Some were as small as their hands that they plucked from the pod or as large as tall humans. Of course, the small blooms could handle all of their blooms being removed once their pods were open as a means to release their seeds to the world. Large ones, could not. Two-thirds of the pod’s fibre could be removed per pod otherwise they’d risk killing the plant as the fibres were important for holding water without being drowned and pollinating.

The pod sites he was at were clusters of large pods between bushes and trees. It wasn’t just the blooms he’d collect. Eyaye leaf and other flaxy-like plants for more study weaves were also in range but he’d need to go further out for those.

He thanked Eywa for each plant he foraged and when both baskets were full of bloom fibres but weren’t bursting, he then took his leave to the other fibres to harvest. He settles a layer of fabric over each topping, then a small weight of a stone on top to compress the fibres down for more space.

N’deh became aware of eyes on him as he finished up his harvesting, his head turning to see his sister stroll from the bushes with a soft expression on her face. He noted her satchel so she must be gathering herbs herself. A Pa’li was trailing behind her.

“” He greeted politely, gesturing from his forehead but returning to gently cutting the thin stems from the main body carefully to seem busy.

“” Mo’at replied, her eyes flickering down to observe his action but returned to him. “<how are you feeling? You seem….distant from your gathering?>”

N’deh sighed deeply. “<Tired. My sleep was disturbed by bad dreams. Today is a quiet day. I wish to simply weave together more clothes and threads.>”

“<Am I still welcome?>”

“<Of course. You do not visit often. It’ll be nice.<” N’deh said honestly, “” In all honesty, it was in most part…he felt weird once the novelty of his return had worn off. He was back in his childhood home but no honours returned and nor son of Omatikaya. He had…at least a once-a-week visit which satisfied his longing to see his sister and niece and… well Neytiri visited the camp frequently enough to not worry for Hometree.

“<I’ve noticed.>” Mo’at said, her head tilting curiously. “<I’ve been wondering why you’ve not been home as often.>”

N’deh sighed as he collected up his last remaining strands and added them on top of his collects and bound the top with a simple string to stop the content from coming out. “<Your home, sister, but not mine. I cannot live under that belief when it’s not true. Have you forgotten I am considered an outsider due to my revised exile agreement?>”

Mo’at tisked a little. “<That is not what I meant.>”

“<Home is where I am welcome to. An agreement is not a welcome from the heart.>”

“<Are those your words, Brother or words from Kimgreene?>”

N’deh swung up onto his Pa’li’s back, bonding with her with a heavy sigh. Mo’at too got onto the back of her pa’li and was quick to walk beside him as he led the way back towards home.

“<Both. It’s…my understanding of her words. Do not assume that I am ungrateful to be allowed at Hometree, and I am happy to see both you, Neytiri and my old friends but… I am still not welcome close to the fire when I eat with the clan. I do not have the freedom to see the Trees of Voices, or our other sacred sites. I have not bonded with Eywa for over three years.>” He voiced his frustrations, “You did allow me back but not as one of Omatikaya.”

He didn’t dare look at her, but focused on breathing in turn with Neptune’s to calm himself; allowing her peaceful heart to take heed to beat his heart as her mirror.

“” Mo’at said softly. “<His heart is set.>”

Which was not a surprise to hear. Eytukan wouldn’t change his heart on things he had a solid belief in. It didn’t change back then and wouldn’t now; toleration came with the necessity of the sky people they had welcomed into their home.

For all of five minutes, they walked at a gentle pace and listened to the sound of nature and of all other of Eywa’s children. Neither of them spoke but N’deh…reflected a little. A wonder of this morning’s dream returning.

“<What do you know on…how to fix my broken bond with my mate?>” He asked as they entered a decline, “<Or possible side effects that…are uncommon for our situation?>”

Mo’at remained in quiet contemplation for a moment. “<It can depend on the severity of the broken bond. The bond between souls is like treads of woven string that interlock. A connection to feel their presence. Their well-being and closeness. When bound by tsaheylu, the connection is pure and you feel their mind as they feel yours. Mating is an act to seal these connections with high emotional responses by your mate. Mutual desire. More strings to the bond. If a bond is broken by death, a connection with Eywa will soothe the severing of the bond and allow us to heal>”

“<But before mating could occur?>” N’deh pressed.

Mo’at eyed him for a moment, “<It’s still variable. Your symptoms are spiritual pain and discomfort, yes?”

N’deh winced but nodded. “<It has soothed over time if I keep myself from thinking or picturing her. I yearn for her still.>”

“<Then… I believe the bond had only formed a few connections and most must have been severed. A strand between which must be a cause of your continuous pain. >” Mo’at said, “”

In all honestly, he did expect such an answer; the simple solution was to claim each other and he was perfectly willing to do so. He needed her. Sooner or later. He had waited years and he could wait more for the opportunity to do so. He was enduring. No, they were enduring.

“<Is there anything you can do to stop me from dreaming of her memories?>” He asked with mild frustration as he mulled. “<It’s incredibly disorientating.>”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Mo’at before the steps of her Pa’li quickened before she strode into his path.

Neptune let out a disgruntled huff, rearing back a little and almost upset the baskets they had on her back. “<Careful!>” N’deh patted her neck, “<Calm, Neptune, Calm.>”

It took a second of soothing but the look on his sister’s face was stern and alarmed by the time he turned his attention back to her.

“<You dream her memories?>” Mo’at questioned tightly. “<You are certain>”

“<Given what I saw this morning, I am.>” He confirmed. “<You know this symptom?”

“<It shouldn’t be possible for you to gain her memory without the connection of Tsaheylu.” She stated, “<When did…these memories start? After your bond breaking?>”

N’deh shook his head. “<No. At first, I didn’t realise what it was or what I was seeing. It was… about the time I joined the Dreamwalkers that they started, Perhaps… even the day after Sylwanin’s death that…the memories started to come to me. Fragments, but…they’re more solid now. Longer. When I am experiencing them, I do not know that it’s even a dream. I live as she does, think her thoughts…know what she does. Understand their technology. Until I wake, then some of the memories fade and I can…distinguish myself from her but…>” He trailed off. “<It’s getting more vivid. I’ve started to experience her pain.>”

His hand came to his neck first, despite his perfectly fine wrist twinging a little.

Mo’at’s hand was close enough that she reached for him, touching his cheek in concern. “<Her pain?>”

“<It’s not the first time. Often it’s repeating memories, like this morning. I don’t believe she’s aware of this given the nature of the sky person’s brain. Less…connections.>” He couldn’t know for sure really.

“<Can you…tell me of what you saw last night?>”

N’deh clicked his tongue, patting her Pa’li to move but allowed her to ride next to him closely,

“<Last night… it wasn’t the worst memory I’ve experienced from her. It’s still… unpleasant.” He steadied himself to speak, his mind touching back on those moments with a heavy heart. “It’s late at night for her. Tired but she wanted to finish the last few pieces of her work before she closed in for the night. Alone in one of the labs and her back to the door so…she didn’t see anyone sneak in behind her. Too focused on the fact her plants didn’t incubate in their lab as well as she had hoped. Everything had looked good and promising but it didn’t grow well. Another note to the pile before she changed to look at what the second team brought in but then…>” N’deh paused, his heart hammering.

“<Go on.>” His sister’s voice was soft, concerned with…some caution. Her finger's brushing his arm.

N’deh took a breath, taking strength in her touch. “<She’s grabbed from behind. Silenced before she could scream. She can’t fight them no matter how hard she tries; they’re too strong. Moments later she’s…bitten.>” He traced the location along his neck distantly. “<The…vampire that attacked her isn’t alone; the other one is telling them to let go before they kill her. I used to wake at the sensation of their teeth but… last night I woke to them breaking her wrist instead.>”

“<A vampire attack?>” Mo’at’s voice was hushed, her eyes wider than usual.

“<Yes, I believe so. She recovered from the ordeal. Healed. I did…come to the conclusion it was the Cold Ones that Jake mentioned when he first mentioned it to us. It…gave context to all the attacks my mate had endured in her village. I now understand why it happened.>”

He was still…curious about it still and he had a lot of questions about the vampires but he wouldn’t worry himself too much about it; he had often experienced repeats but…he couldn’t sense any of it was too recent aside from that…hallway chase that came in fragments. She was fine and he couldn’t sense her absence from what…thread they had between them. The chances were now that she wasn’t getting fed from anymore. Which was a relief. No new hauntings.

Mo’at remains quiet for a minute before speaking. “<In the sky-people’s stories, it’s known they’re able to connect and manipulate a human’s mind. If…these attacks are…present, I must assume the cold one’s tampering with her memory must have had some connection with your frailed bond.” She did not sound confident but N’deh hadn’t considered that as a factor; Morgan had mentioned Cold ones would interfere with their prey’s mind.

“” N’deh summarised which brought some relief. “”

“<Perhaps you should keep track of these dreams? Perhaps there is a pattern to them?>” Mo’at suggested, carefully. “<It could help you adapt your days when you know when they’re coming.>”

N’deh let out a soft chuckle. “”

“” She quipped but she had a shadow of sadness behind her eyes. “<Have you mentioned these dreams to anyone else at your camp?”

“<Nothing in detail. They know my bad nights often lead to quiet days. None tend to ask more unless checking my well-being and ensuring I am fed.>” He didn’t particularly desire to share with them either. He could trust his sister to deliver wisdom to aid him rather than condolences of his experiences. “<I’m making more threads if you would like to join me.>”

It wasn’t a second before they broke through the treeline back to the clearing of their camp. By the river, two blue figures were busy with some sort of training. Nadine was tending the fire, and cleaning out their well-used clay oven while Kim was setting out hide into spare baskets with shaped wood, bones, rope and other small crafting tools. Some fruit and consumable supplies laid in the second basket ready.

Mo’at remained quiet for a moment as they trotted in and N’deh dismounted close to Kim and unpacked his baskets.

“I hope your trip will be well.” He said to the Dreamwalker.

“Thank you,” Kim said warmly as she slotted the baskets into the carrier and secured them, connecting with Neptune for a brief check-up before she mounted and was gone without a backward glance.

Mo’at slipped from her Pa’li and picked up one of his baskets to help so he took that as her answer.

From storage, he pulled out a familiar woven tarp and spread it across the grass and she set the basket down there as he retrieved his own. There was little said as they piled the flax out onto the mat to dry in the sun for now. The plant leaves also would need to dry too. The bloom fibres, not as much; they could be woven raw once they had pulled the small seeds from them.

“<What is Neytiri doing?>” Mo’at asked abruptly.

N’deh followed her gaze to the river. Jake was there but unlike before where they had bows, Jake was standing behind Neytiri as she held a long rope. He chuckled softly. “<It seems Jake is teaching her how to use the Sling.>”

Neytiri looked to be struggling a little as she loaded up the rope with a small rock and Jake clearly backed right off but clearly was still talking her through the motion as she began to wind up and then sharply released. There was a short trill, the bullet launching off but completely missed the target and disappeared off into the water.

“<I’ve seen many young hunters with these slings not but not seen them in use. I didn’t think many desired to pick it up.>” She mused.

“<Morgan assured me that the hunters are to be weary of slings as they would with any other weapon. He made sure they knew the dangers and what dangers could be to others if they do not treat the weapon with respect.>” N’deh said, omitting the fact he had a part in getting the young hunters to fully understand it rather than marvel at the novelty of this new weapon. “<Humans used them for hunting when they didn’t have bows or arrows.>”

They flinched a little as Jake’s bullet whistled sharply then struck a target.

“<Fascinating.>”

“<They have another version that… is simpler that they call a sling-shot.>” N’deh said, leaving for a moment for two baskets and a weapon. One for their cleaned fibres and one for their seeds. “<Cross between a bow and arrow with a sling.>” He held out the hand-carved weapon he had retrieved for her to see.

Mo’at gently set her handful of fibres down then took the Y frame in her hands and tested the pullback of the string and the leather pouch that could hold smaller carved bullets. She didn’t need much explanation for it as she held it out at arm’s length and pulled it back, somewhat aiming before she released the empty pouch.

“<What an odd weapon. So small.>” Mo’at turned it in her hands as she spoke. Not talking about its size like it was meant for humans. It was Na’vi sized after all.

“<But powerful. It’s capable of death if the bullets hit in close range of soft targets. I built this for fun when I saw Morgan’s basic drawings. I figured it’s a good weapon to conceal if need be or a starter-sling weapon for new and young hunters.>” He said, “<Neytiri can aim well but from what I see, she struggles to aim a moving weapon. It’s quite the learning curve.>”

Mo’at gaze returned to her daughter. “<Is Jake well adapted to the sling?>”

“<He’s near expert with it but prefers a bow and arrow. He likes the sling as a weapon if he has no other options. He took on Morgan’s training when he first got here to have the skills of a ranged weapon. I wasn’t ready to train him with a bow given how I had yet to fully trust him at the time.>”

“It’s also a good weapon if we cross paths with RDA patrols.” Nadine’s voice said, drawing both their attention as she held out a food wrap to each of them from a basket. “They don’t see us with your style of weapon and think we’ve gone our own route of non-RDA weapons.”

“You’re Na’vi has improved,” N’deh remarked in surprise at how well she had understood by overhearing their conversation.

“Morgan’s a good teacher when I’m not with the cooks or gatherers.” Nadine shrugged brightly. “Now, I’m gonna Radio in with Kendra and Wu after this snack. I heard they’re still working on the fuel refiner down in that cave and I want in. I’ve got six link-shack grabs plans so I wanna run a fuel check and all those sorts of details to go over so unless someone’s injured or dying, I’ll prefer not to be disturbed.”

“As you wish.”

N’deh took the small wraps and handed one off to Mo’at and opened it up as she clunked away with the mechanical whirls of her limbs. A simple steamed veg with some lean meat and mushrooms.

It was gone in a few bites but he felt a little better with the release of energy it gave him. He exhaled happily and got to work separating the seeds from fibres.

“<How are the human crops growing?>” Mo’at finally asked after she was done eating and eyeing the seeds in his hand.

“<Very well. The Herbs are grown but not tested on Na’vi or Dreamwalker to see if they’re safe for us.>” N’deh said, depositing the seeds into the basket. “<The plants that produce tomatoes are growing but not yet flowering. The strawberries are fruiting but far from ripe. Pumpkins and watermelons are looking…good. Apparently.>”

The pumpkins were a pleasant surprise of orange, green and white gourd-like fruits and he could smell their foreign scents but they were…pleasant as any. They were still weeks away before they were ripe to pluck. The watermelon was…something he was personally excited for; sweeter and he liked the…pattern of green stripes the fruit had.

N’deh continued to discuss the upcoming plants that they were geminating in Jake’s shack, but also looking at prepping the ground for root veg and garlic once they made their trades with their other camps for it and he immensely enjoyed the…causal work they did. For the first time in a while, just felt like… siblings, if without the hair-pulling and biting.

Jake and Neytiri also seemed to come back in from their training after some time and came to help with sorting the fibres. Neytiri ended up throwing a fistful of seeds into Jake’s face at one of his jokes.

But their peace was shattered at the sudden mechanical running as Nadine suddenly appeared, radio in hand, pink-cheeked and looking very alarmed.

“Mo’at, you need to get to Kendra’s camp. Harper’s collapsed. It’s bad.”

Neytiri yipped for Seze as soon as the news sunk in.

Jake didn’t hesitate to jump to his feet with his tail raised in alarm. “What can we do?” He said, “What’s wrong?”

“Eliza says her appendix ruptured. They’ve got surgical tools but lacking in enough drugs to keep her under and post, or enough hands to aid in surgery. They have to operate. Now.”

“We have morphine,” Jake said, thinking quickly where he had put it. “I have basic medical training.”

“Unlink and grab the kits.” Nadine ordered, “Mo’at, can you help?”

“I can get my tools from Hometree.” Mo’at agreed, “I will assist where I can.”

“Neytiri, can you take Mo’at first, you’ll be faster on Ikran.”

It was a very rapid response as they split up. Jake hurriedly threw his avatar down into a hammock and unlinked and grabbed their medical supplies and shoved them into his duffle along with the drugs they had taken from the stolen link-shacks; split evenly with Harper’s camp but now, they needed it more.

Jake wound up on N’deh’s lap as they took the Pa’li and clung to his chair to keep from dropping it and it ached his hands with the rough travel in his human form. Especially with how it knocked against his mask and dug into his stomach but he tried not to think too hard about it until they burst through the treeline to… Ruby’s lab.

Mo’at was already inside when he was pushed in on his chair, she was crouched but Eliza was like a military sergeant as she ordered her group around the make-shift theatre behind some basic screens and most had been changed into some put-together variant of scrubs. Even Mo’at was without her beaded shawl and looked to be respecting the woman’s order for serialising as she accepted the spray over her skin and her breathing mask was fixed on over her nose and mouth so she didn’t need to keep bringing it to her face. Her tswin and hair were always pinned back away from her face too.

Very smart and efficient but Jake had to remember human biology was more susceptible to infection with alien microbes about. Eliza was not taking any chances, it seemed. Not even with a Tsahìk who was no doubt getting a hands-on learning experience. This was Eliza’s medical turf that she was in given how much more experienced the surgeon was.

All in all, everyone to help was here; Ruby, Zane, Zeke and Ashely in her human body. No Ming or Kendra; no doubt at the second cave still.

“Sully, change and sterilize. Wheelchair included. Mo’at will assist since her hands are too big for our tools right now so you’ll be her hands, Sully.” Eliza said, then quickly barking off orders for Ruby to get the intubation ready. “Where’s Greene? She’s a combat medic, right?”

“We couldn’t reach her, N’deh said she went to Kung’s camp with supplies,” Zeke said. “I’ll keep trying.”

“Good. Go do that.” Eliza said. “Since we don’t have medical masks, keep yours on once you wipe them down. We have to do open surgery so we can’t be breathing into her exposed organs.”

Ruby and Zane took the given drug from Jake as he was set down so he hurried took let his chair get sprayed down and changed into new clothes that smelt weird but clean and washed his hands and slipped into clean, latex gloves and was set back into his chair; someone else pushing as he kept his hands clear from touching the wheels and risk putting dirt on his hands.

Sloan took her orders to help keep check of vitals as if she was an anaesthesiologist as Harper was on the central gurney and was now intubated, stripped into her underwear and had some covering to only really show off her stomach. Ruby and Zane got the tools ready but Ruby went to assist Sloan.

“Anyone here AB Positive?” Eliza asked, now fully kitted up.

“I am,” Zane said.

“Good, be on standby if we need to do a transfusion.”

“Will it be necessary?”

“I’d rather have back-ups.”

Jake was wheeled up on Harper’s other side, feeling very underqualified next to people with PhDs here to be allowed next to a surgical practice and Mo’at was looming over his shoulder but she had also seemed to have a collection of her own tools set aside ready; cleaned too by the smell of it and herbs also about.

Eliza looked like a surgical boss as she wiped down Harper’s skin with an alcohol wipe and picked up her first tool to start.

#avatar #avatar au #avatar james cameron #avatar the way of water #grace augustine #n'deh #nadine reza #jake sully #neytiri #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #vampire #vampire au #vampire grace

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pandorafallz · 10 months

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Grace Augustine's life had only really been between the RDA Studies of Pandoran plants and teaching the Omatikaya children about Sky people and her culture to open up their negotiations. That had been a life she was balancing and despite butting heads with the RDA a few times, things are swiftly thrown into chaos after her avatar was killed in the shooting of her school. Her soul didn't quite return to her human body afterward, leading to confused scientists, but the Omatikaya believed she had died and passed through the eye of Eywa, which made it more harder to convince them, especially Mo'at who had been present at the death of Grace's Avatar, that she survived. Her new Avatar's new, younger face and form don't help either to convince anyone.

Chapter 6 snippet

Grace chuckled softly, her eyes lingering on the Na’vi man she was with as she helped clean up the beads that had spilt across the mats. N'deh began picking up the stone ones back into the half goard with a smirk.

“<Moron>,” She remarked with an add of amused dryness to her tone, <Sylwanin helped me make those. I can’t lose all that work>”

“<You won’t but you need to lighten brighter>” N'deh scoffed, nudging her softly.

“” Grace clicked her tongue, setting the bowl of wooden beads down to help with the smaller ones. “<but you confuse your Adjectives and verbs.>” In Na’vi, the phrase didn’t translate well without some more words. N'deh had never gone to her school to learn like the children given Mo’at had wanted him to observe her interactions with the children the first few weeks. She liked his curiosity about her and what the Sky people were and had always liked to listen when she showed him her work.

“<What’s the phrase?>” N'deh’s ear flickered.

“<Lighten up. It’s…an abbreviation of a longer sentence that is on the lines of ‘Lighten up your mood’>” Grace spoke, “<English likes to shorten words but retain their meaning>”

N'deh chuckled “<Your language is far more complicated than it needs to be, Kìreysì.>”

#avatar au #avatar #avatar james cameron #avatar the way of water #grace augustine #jake sully #mo'at #neytiri #norm spellman #avatar rda #miles quaritch #parker selfridge #max patel #overseer grace #omatikaya #n'deh

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pandorafallz · 9 months

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Vampire AU | Run, Boy, Run

Fuck.

He backed away slow and steady, not looking at it in the eye but not willing to look away either. His shoe clinked against the gun; suddenly wishing he hadn’t been so stupid to drop it to hold a floating jellyfish plant but he couldn’t bend down and pick it up either. So, he kept retreating back instead.

He didn’t know what this creature was but he knew it was a predator. It was following, slowly but it hadn’t been triggered to attack so he was taking that as a good sign. He had read up on a few things, like Hammerhead Titanotheres; threat displays with no tremendous danger unless he was underfoot. Thanatores were the worst but again, you had a chance if you booked it over something they couldn’t get through but those things were feared for good reason. Survival chances were small as it was.

This was not a thanator either.

Fuck, god only knew what this was.

It was a mass of muscle, with six rippling legs, and a dark blue body with yellow and lighter blue markings like a stripe down the sides of its main body. Its face looked to be composed of hard plating and enlarged fangs at the front of its face.

“Jake,” Augustine’s voice echoed in his ear. “Jake, where are you?”

He couldn’t answer but he could hear them behind him before Augustine gasped softly which indicated that they were close by but didn’t get any closer.

“Oh…fuck.” She whispered.

“What is that?!” Norm whispered and Jake eagerly listened for what fountain of knowledge Augustine would provide to get him out of this alive.

“Slinth, fastest creature on land so you can’t outrun it. Its face opens up as a threat display and has a venom sac in lances in two of the jaw plating on either side of its face... It’s a paralytic venom so once it stings you, it will eat you alive. Happened to another avatar once; his mind never recovered.” Augustine spoke, her voice quick and sharp but he took those words in real fast because his avatar depended on them. “This looks like a juvenile. It hasn’t attacked which means it’s uncertain if you’re worthy prey, possibly waiting for erratic behaviour or to tire you out. Running will trigger i—careful, branch behind your left foot, step back carefully.”

He followed her instruction to avoid tripping and nodded slowly. Though the notion if its face opening up was a…fucking terrifying thought. He had seen that old Jurassic film with that fucking lizard dinosaur’s then its frills up a fan around its head. He had been terrified about that when he was young. He even spent the night in Tommy’s bed for two days as a result.

“Keep going back, there’s a herd of Titanotheres behind you in the clearing that you can use you can use as a distraction. They hate each other. They won’t focus on you once the Slinth shows up but their behaviour will attract the Slinth’s attention. Once it’s off you, run like hell and try to head towards the school, North ease of the sun.”

Jake nodded again.

He counted the distance well aware he was one trip away from death as the plates of the creature’s face twitched, the nostrils flaring beside its collar bones. Yet somehow, he made it through a treeline before the angry roars echoed.

Then the motherfucker’s face opened up like a flower with the inside skin bright yellow with a butterfly-like pattern as it roared angrily to the animals behind him and Jake just turned and ran towards the huge hammer-headed things which in normal cases, very unproductive but he gave little fucks if he survived.

He did.

Jake felt the adrenaline finally hit before he pelted on and past the group, the Hammerheads still roaring but he didn’t hear a pursuit aside from the running giants, not going his way but close enough in his direction to keep him going.

Fuck.

Fuck

Fuck.

Jake didn’t stop for a while, weaving through trees and over a ravine until he felt any sense of safe to pause and breathe. His lungs heaved for breath, his body too new to fully be ready for that much exercise; shaking as he sat down. Oh, he needed to get this body’s muscles worked and hardened for this world.

“Big baby.” He breathed softly at his avatar. A truer statement if any in a literal sense; it was a week old. He had a lot of work to do.

He shakily unclipped his bag, pulled out his stolen water canteen and drank heavily from it, before he dug for a snack, tossing the wrapper back into the bag then pulled out his tablet for his coordinates.

He was off track but he could see he was somewhat in the right direction, the compass on the tablet turned when he did so it was little effort to correct. Without death behind him, Jake swung his bag on and carried on more casually now.

Unknown to Jake, the Na’vi woman had watched, with a raised bow and notched arrow… the white sacred seed bobbing away from her arrow head as she unnotched it and watched the Dreamwalker for a moment then slipped away into the treeline again to follow at a distance.

It took about three hours before he found the shack.

Abandoned, it was one module tucked away from plain site. If this wasn’t already a known location, then he’d have thought it was perfect. Nature had already started to crawl up its metal surface and moss coated a lot. His heart beat faster with excitement, not hesitating to head up to it and open the door.

It was powerless, but that didn’t matter too much just yet; it must have a manual operation. Inside was cramped and…surprisingly clean. No broken windows so the air was sterile but the pandorian toxic air took away what had been sealed away for the last nine months if the notes on this shack were correct. He had heard this had been used by a group of two other scientists and a driver but had been abandoned in a rush.

Inside, there was a single link unit at the far end. There was a lab space near the opposite end with tools and equipment still there but there was also a small compartment door which turned out to be a cramped toilet space and shower room—he was too big to properly fit more than his head and shoulders but it looked spacious enough for his wheelchair to fit in. There were three beds, two fashioned as bunk beds but the third bunk bed frame was shared; the top being the bed but underneath were storage boxes or empty spaces for shit.

There were lots of fridges; all off so the food inside was certainly spoiled. He checked to make sure though he kept the dried shit that didn’t need to be refrigerated since they had a few weeks left—RDA’s dried rations did keep a while—he’d need to have a few backup options.

Jake took his time, setting his bag down to get the shack prepped. He used some of the scanners he had or found to sweep the shack for trackers; one that had been tied into the power so he was glad he hadn’t turned it on—he didn’t need to ping the RDA of it.

He collected the spoiled crap into a rubbish bag and he added the lone tracker into the rubbish for the RDA to collect once they realise what he had taken along with equipment he didn’t need to bring. Some of the glass beakers and science crap would serve some use, so he kept some of those. A few changes were clothes were there, though he was partially excited about the two other tablets and a few hand-comm and data banks they had there.

He dug out a solar panel and let that sit in the sun for the battery systems that could have been depleted then removed the yellow railing. Not that it was overly visible but he wasn’t going to take chances there. The shack support legs were also yellow but he couldn’t remove those so he slapped some mud over them.

A last check as night was falling to do a final sweep outside for anything, coming back with a few fruits for the morning and set that on the floor, using his shoe to keep the airlock from sealing shut and suffocating him in his sleep, Jake unlinked.

Again, unknown to Jake, two tall males hovered at a distance, waiting until all was quiet before he made his way towards the shack carefully, climbing up silently until he peeked through the window.

“<Another Dreamwalker>” the first spoke, “<alone.>” He turned to the second.

“<Let’s make camp.>” the second spoke, “<either he’s lost, or he’s not. We should at least see that he survives the night…and the morning by that fruit he had.>” A poisonous fruit. “He’s put care in this shack… I do not believe he’s lost.>”

The first looked to him, though his tail lashed. “<He escaped the human village?>” He didn’t look thrilled, “<you would invite him?>”

The second looked to the first then nodded, “”

With an acknowledging look, N’deh nodded and resolved to sit upon a decaying log towards the shack as the other scampered off into the forest silently.

Also unknown to these two guy now, the Na’vi woman also kept her distance from them too.

Jake groaned, in part the first thing he saw was the bright fucking light in his face then the contact-covered eyed looking down at him and far too close for comfort and her hands felt far icier on his face than before.

“Come on back, kid, that’s It.” her touch pulled away from his face, setting onto his shoulder

“Wha --? Oh.” Jake looks around, blinking. Reality crashing in now to see the rest of the lab, the recycled air and the people.

Augustine seemed to be relieved, “Damn, you were dug in like a tick.” Though with a helping hand from Norm, he felt himself being pulled to sit up. Not nearly a few seconds later did the question change; not asking about him but simply…“Is the avatar safe?”

Jake nodded, his hand coming to rub at his face. Long fucking day. His body felt stiff. “Yeah, Doc. found a good hiding spot to put it in. That tree sap to keep the wildlife out.”

Augustine winced, “At least you’ve got out. We didn’t stick around but we tried to stay in the air as long as possible to look for you. Can you make it to the school tomorrow? Maybe light a fire on a hill and we can get a sweep done.”

Jake shrugged, “Not sure…I can try.” He didn’t try to sound confident but he reached for his chair. “When’s debrief with Quaritch?”

“Tomorrow morning, you need downtime to recover. You weren’t ready for such a long link time.” Augustine stepped back, waving Norm and Max to give them space.

Jake nodded, already feeling that. Norm didn’t look bothered but he suppose the guy did get five hundred and twenty hours to be mentally prepared for it as opposed of his five hours every day for the last week. Thirty-five hours was barely scratching the surface.

“I’ve already submitted my after-action report,” Augustine spoke, her attention turning away, “I can stay up and start running trajectory models on potential locations if he’s lost—“ her sentence paused, her head turning sharply towards the wall as if called by someone before sighing in annoyance. “I’ve…got to go.” She didn’t wait before she stalked off.

“What was that about?” Norm asked, watching after her. Max just shrugged, seeing this as normal for her and went his own way.

Jake shrugged, but who cared about what she heard? “I’m going to my quarters.” He slipped back into his chair, though he knew tonight was their best chance to leave…providing he wasn’t stopped before he could bail by the dead folk.

His stuff hadn’t been unpacked a lot, so it was easy to repack his stuff into the duffle, staring down at Tommy’s box for a moment before he opened up his RDA tablet for his final log to explain his…well bullshit escape and set it on his desk and leant it against the wall, mulling for a moment on how he was to proceed before he could hit record.

A ping on his tablet before he opened it up.

[Ready when you are]

He let out a breath, relaxing.

His hand touched over the box again, pulling this as the firm reminder of why he was here before he touched the record.

“Okay, so this is…personal log nine. My bunk, time’s… twenty-one, thirty-seven…” he listed as usual, “my last log, I should say. I know there are a lot of ears that can hear me make this call and that doesn’t bother me. I know their secrets and will out them if I have to, so don’t try to follow me. You know who you are. But, to get to business… I will get straight to the point. I am not here to be a meat puppet. I am not here to be a tool to be used and discarded when I’m not considered useful. I bought that once and it cost me my friends and my legs.” He gave the camera a solid look.

“Not again. I’m only here because my brother died. I wasn’t given a condolence or anything from the RDA, they gave me his contract before he was burned to ash.” Jake picked up the box, holding it out to be seen. “I may not have been as close to him…been the brother he needed to be when he was alive but…I couldn’t just leave him behind. He wanted to be here so I brought him. But…no one here cared that he had died; only seeing me as his replacement. I have his face… identical genes and now…his avatar. They didn’t want to waste an investment. He wasn’t a person to them. Just a number and person to be used and discarded after use. Just like me. When did humans become disposable? How are we supposed to survive with that mindset?”

Jake took a heavy breath to calm himself before he could get over himself, stroking the box with fondness.

“The RDA is a war waiting to happen. Killing the natives, trying to force the relocation of the native people who have been here for generations and scorching the dirt for minerals that don’t even belong to us… Sound familiar, Parker. People like you are the ones that will turn this planet into the dead one like Earth. You’ll step over the bodies of your own people to see that your…profits are up to standard. How many people have died in the last thirty years? What shortcuts were made for making things cheaper for yourself?” he questioned, not for Selfridge but to anyone who could or would be listening.

“You can find other mining locations that aren’t the home of children. You can’t bulldoze your way through everything. Negotiations won’t lead to relocation. It’s their home; everything they know and… I can’t be the only one who sees this ending poorly. Who here is willing to die for the RDA? For Selfridge? For Metal? How many of you will be forced into new areas when the shit hits the fan? I know I won’t.”

He scoffed at the camera again. “I know my reasons for leaving. Maybe some of you will see, some of you will not. Maybe none of you have had the idea or strength of will to act on it. I mean… Quaritch is a tough man; strong resolve but…intimidating. Manipulative of course; he has to keep people in line and Selfridge is a man with no loyalty to you. Only what you bring him. Money in his pocket. Augustine… all I see is a woman with a cold, dead heart and… I don’t want to be near that.” He phrased it carefully; hinting at what she was mostly; she’d know but it also worked in the metaphor as well; how she treated the rest of the science groups was not unknown information. People in SciOps would get it.

“So, yeah. I’m going. I’m taking what I need to survive and I’m out. I’ve got my avatar and…an opportunity in front of me and I won’t let that go for the RDA and all of their bullshit. This is Jake Sully, signing the fuck off.” With that, and his middle finger extended, he stop the record and bathed in the lingering seconds then chuckled, saving it onto the database then exited the RDA programs altogether and set it to go through its restorative functions for future use without a follow-up risk.

They’d figure it out later.

He wheeled nervously through Hell’s Gate and did his best to avoid the possibility of vampires and skeleton crew—a part of him wondered if the absence of the latter was because of the former— though he felt a swell of relief to see Reza standing casually by a wall panel next to the airlock out to the airfield, a little out of sight until he got closer. She stepped out though he handed over the thumb drive and let her stick it into the panel beside another she had installed.

Silently, she nodded him along and they both took the mask—and the rest from the airlock into his duffle for spares and the batteries, making this an exit the others couldn’t get out without bringing their own from another section. Plus, they’d need these good-grade masks for the long term.

Once out, Reza began to speak.

“Trackers are all out, disabled RDA’s access to autopilots and the black box will detach once we’re up. It’s glued to the tarmac. The boxes auto signal when the last wire is cut or snapped, the force up will break the line.”

“Noted.”

He accepted her help onto the Samson and then let her get to it in getting going. Noting her bags already secured as he tied his chair into a seat with spare kits also tucked about, the vent covers already removed before the engine began to kick into life. He crawled into the sealed-off area and strapped in though in good time as someone noticed in the airfield and shots were fired but no alarm was raised as they went.

Yet.

A metallic twang echoed though Jake only saw a glimpse of the black box on the concrete before they were gone.

Jake gave her the coordinates to where to head off though the sight of Hell’s gate getting smaller and smaller was a growing relief until it was gone altogether.

He let out a breath of relief, waiting until the air was cycled out before removing it.

The sudden departure of a Samson had kicked the command centre into life. Quaritch had sent men to the airlock out but the cameras didn’t look like to have caught anything despite the witnesses and gunshots which stung of help but his personal searching hadn’t seen any signs of Manuel tampering. The feed showed a Samson there then in one frame, it was gone.

This was twenty minutes ago now.

“Sir, we found something,” Wainfleet called through his radio.

Quaritch plucked his from his belt. “Go on.”

“Two thumb drives into the system by the airlock. Looks suspicious. Possibly a virus or something.”

“Get that to cyber geeks to crack open and give me something.” A virus would explain the cameras but it’d take a lot to get past security for long…. But it spoke at lengths at whoever fucked off that this was planned well in advance.

“Get me everything that was stolen. I want an inventory report done now!” Selfridge snapped as he finally exited his office to his assistant though looked very peeved off for being woken at night.

Quaritch didn’t bat an eye, though this time began to look further back to the quarters to see who was about. He almost rolled his eyes at the sight of Augustine being welcomed into someone else bunk—though he hadn’t anticipated she had any sexual interest in…anyone. Clearly, he was wrong. Again, he couldn’t care less. He moved on to a different camera.

A certain new guy on wheels, duffle bag and all pulled his attention so, he began to track him before Quaritch felt the scowl grow on his face as the feed cut off as he pause at the airlock.

“It’s Sully.” Quaritch barked to Selfridge.

“What? Why?!” Selfridge came straight over, “Fucking…. He’s your guy!”

Quaritch gave the man a solid look. “Go search his personal logs,” he ordered to the tech woman who was looking through them with him, her hands leapt into action to pull up Sully’s file; there weren’t many.

“Where’s Augustine? It’s her guy too.”

“Occupied.” Quaritch gruffed out, arms folding over his chest.

“I’m right here.” Augustine’s voice was smooth though he jumped at her sudden presence behind him, even Parker gave a slight, pathetic squeak. He gave her a look, glad to see her decent, aside from her shirt being a little more open and showing off a little more cleave than usual. The scowl on her face though was not missed.

“Sully’s jumped ship. Did you know?” Selfridge rounded on her like a grumpy child.

Augustine’s eyebrow rose. “No.” Her voice was smooth as she spoke before her scowl deepened before she seemed to realise something. “Fucking ass…. He didn’t even try to get his avatar to the rally point.”

“What?”

“Sully got his avatar lost following a run in with a Slinth.” Quaritch spoke, having already read that report, “You know, the thing that ate Hegner’s avatar four years back. I read the reports. He must have taken it as an opportunity to get the avatar away, possibly to a known location with a link shack and left it there until he could meet up. He must have a pilot with him.”

Selfridge’s face turned pink the more he spoke, fuming at both of them as if they had walked Sully up with party poopers and a personal lunch bag handed over to the guy.

“There are a shit ton of link shacks,” Augustine noted calmly before she moved to a monitor and started to tap at it. “And all the coordinates from Site One through Forty-seven are gone. Including Blue Lagoon.”

Quaritch’s head spun to face her. “What?” He moved around though the list of Sci-Ops sites was there, the dots on the map were gone.

Augustine though typed in a few coordinates that lit up five of the spots again. Site twenty-six, thirty-two, thirty-seven, forty-seven, sixteen, seventeen and seven.

“You just…casually know these coordinates, Grace?” Quaritch had to ask, mildly impressed as she input the last number and another dot finalised on the map.

“I got bored one night.” Augustine shrugged as if it was the answer to everything. “I’ll try and dig up the rest but these are what I know off the top of my head.”

Quaritch’s eyes lingered on her for a moment then snorted. “Let’s start checking out these camps when the day breaks.” Impulsively, he wanted to start off and go but… the night was far too dangerous. He had to wait. He’d not risk his men to the wildlife. Maybe Sully wouldn’t be lucky.

“Cross off Site twenty-six and thirty-two, they’re mountain bases and none he could reach without a banshee or a Samson. Forty-seven is eight hours away in the Metkayina territory.” Augustine added, “Thirty-seven, sixteen, seventeen and seven are your best options.”

“Alright.” Quaritch could take that. The simple factor of elimination based on availability Sully could get in a day on foot after getting chased through the jungle. Shacks also had trackers as well so they still had leads.

“Got something.” The woman spoke, pulling three of their attention away.

“Let’s see what this guy has to say for himself.” Selfridge took the prime spot, leaning over the woman’s shoulder for a good view. “play.”

“Okay, so this is…personal log nine. My bunk. Time’s… twenty-one, thirty-seven. My last log, I should say. I know there are a lot of ears that can hear me make this call and that doesn’t bother me. I know their secrets and will out them if I have to, so don’t try to follow me. You know who you are. But…”

Augustine scowled with a narrow gaze but Quaritch just glowered at the screen as it went.

“Well, ain’t he pulling heartstrings,” Quaritch remarked when it was done. The image of Sully’s middle finger extended was…kinda funny in a different mood. Right now, he was just annoyed. Calling out a lot of the RDA, though he didn’t seem to mention anyone else being dragged into this mess. Unlikely the pilot would return. He’d get a headcount when people showed up and find out who it was; someone had messed up on landing pads as well which Wainfleet had found.

Selfridge was very red in the face but Augustine’s demeanour was mildly annoyed yet very calm which was a jarring contrast given Sully had essentially called her a cold-hearted bitch.

“Fuck!” Selfridge fumed, finally speaking. “Get his ass! I want him back, I want him court-martialled and I want that chair taken away from him so he can’t wheel himself the fuck off again before he can get on a shuttle back to Earth!”

“Take a breath, Parker.” Augustine called, “First, you gotta find him. I’ll get a notice handed out to the rest of my people and get them to keep an eye on when we’re taking samples.”

“Alright.” Quaritch agreed.

“How are you so calm?!” Selfridge glared at her, “he’s your guy.”

“Clearly not.” Augustine met his look, “clearly he’s been looking for a reason to bounce and found it. He may never have been loyal to start with. Stuck around to learn what he needed to in terms of driving an avatar. He wasn’t a scientist; he bared no weight in my department. Not much of a loss in the grand scheme of things in that regard” She gave him a look, “You wanted a mole on my team and he bailed. Maybe you were also part of the problem there.” Augustine didn’t wait before she walked off.

“I can still cut your department, Augustine!” Selfridge called.

Augustine paused, though turning to face with a nasty smile that went straight down Quaritch’s spine. The hairs on the back of his arms stood up more and he hated how that felt. “I’d like to see you try.” Then it was gone with her.

How did one small woman get…him on edge like that? Quaritch pondered for a moment but returned his attention back to the more important thing.

Sully.

“Jake.” Reza’s voice echoed.

“Hm?” Jake turned his attention from the forest tops around to his friend.

“You were alone when you unlinked right…”

The cryptic tone of her voice made him anxiously immediately, leaning forwards to see…a campfire outside the shack with figures. The Samson lowered into a hover now.

“Oh no…” Someone had found him. Fuck.

“No weapons are raised but we have their attention.” Reza clarified. “Want me to land?”

Jake swallowed thickly but…he could see little choice given he needed to get into that shack and link up to get the module rigged up to lift. “If they’re native, maybe they’re checking in if they saw me? Land, let’s see.”

Reza eyed him uncertainly but complied to slowly descent, the turbines kicking up loose leaves and ash from the area before she cut the engines and they both put their masks on. He carefully pulled himself out and into the body of the Samson though peeking around the edge to see…two Na’vi standing, massive now in his human body but he prayed that they didn’t find a good reason to shoot him.

“Hi…please tell me someone speaks English. I don’t know…the na’vi’s langue yet.” He called tugging down his chair.

The two men looked at each other, the tallest nodded to the shorter, lankier one and both approached them. Jake was cautious, the na’vi’s glowing freckles the most prominent feature in the dark, the backdrop of glowing plants hardly helping show too much.

“I know English.” The short one spoke, surprisingly fluently. “ We mean no harm to you or your friend. Tho I assume that you…left the human village?”

Jake’s eyebrows pulled in. “How’d you guess?”

The short one chuckled. “It is a long and familiar story but…I assume you’re to take this link shack to a designated location?” His head tilted towards the shack as he said this. “We...don’t live with a Na’vi clan. Like yourself, we are…distanced from them and sky people, even though we live with a human who was…abandoned by the RDA.” The Na’vi explained.

Jake’s head cocked to the side. Augustine had mentioned a human had been missing, no body recovered. “What are you saying?” there was a clear impression these two were trying to make, if a little awkwardly which meant they didn’t interact with a lot of humans well, even if they lived with one.

“We have a place that can hide your shelter. We would like you to join us. We can teach you how to hunt and travel…be productive if you so wish.” The man clarified. “There is only my mate with the human at our home.”

“And…if I’m not interested?” Jake tested.

“Then we will leave you two alone and let you do as you please.” The Na’vi didn’t look overly concerned, “but I will point out that you have picked out poisonous fruit beside your avatar; it will kill it if you consume it.”

Jake frowned though his stomach sank a little at that but was glad that he had held back on eating… if it was true. It was a very tempting offer; two Na’vi who didn’t hate humans and…knew a human… but he’d have to see how well this human friend was.

“What’s your name?” Reza asked, finally leaving the cockpit with a torch. Both of the two blinked back, the shorter man’s hand coming to block the sharp light from his eyes but Jake’s hand caught sight of his hand to see…. The guy had five fingers.

“You’re an avatar.” He stated, the weary tension in his gut releasing after a moment. “You deserted.” That was a relief, in a way. There had been others that could adapt.

The avatar blinked though seemed to laugh. “My name is Jerome Epstein, this is a friend, N’deh.” Gesturing to the clear Na’vi who didn’t like the flashlight.

“Wait, an avatar that…isn’t part of Augustine’s group?” Reza questioned.

“No, two avatar drivers went missing a few years back and a human. Two fragments of human remains were brought back…” Jake’s tone turned questioning as he looked back to the avatar. “Were those yours?” did this guy and the other one rip out a rib and jaw to make a point here?

Jerome winced, “Yes. We…survived by becoming one with our avatar body with the aid of Tsahìk. Our human bodies died of injury so we gave elements of our human bodies that would indicate our death unquestionably. No one to look for us if they don’t think we’re alive.”

“Weird…but smart.” Reza whistled, though her head turned to her watch “How about…we get moving and then we can talk properly? We can drop off at your place, sleep then carry on in the light? The RDA will be on our ass as soon as it’s light enough, even if I did wipe out some of their shack locations. They might have hard copies of locations about.”

“We can help.” Jerome offered. “We’ve uprooted some of the plants at the leg supports so it’ll be easier to allow them to reroot in a new location. No point wasting Eywa’s work in covering such bright metals.”

Jake stared, feeling many questions rise but…he saw sense to get them moving first. They live inside their avatars? No need for a link bed… how that was possible?

Jake got out of the Samson, though begrudgingly accepted the aid to get out and into the shack and power it up, keeping the oxygen systems off but enough to power the link bed for now. The system ran a little off but he recalibrated it with Jerome's help before it was ready and he woke up blue. Jake collected up the loose solar panels, both the other two helping with getting the cables connected to each corner as Reza took to the skies again with the last chain. Jerome scaled up the chain to the ship to give directions as the shack was released from the ground.

Finally, on their way.

#avatar #avatar au #avatar james cameron #avatar the way of water #grace augustine #jake sully #avatar rda #n'deh #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #vampire #vampire au #vampire grace #miles quaritch #parker selfridge

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pandorafallz · 6 months

Text

Vampire AU | Start of recoveries

Mo’at contemplated the tablet that had been given back to her. New information was added in with a large variety of medical texts that were hard to read. The text was small but she knew how to make it bigger by motioning across the surface. It wasn’t just the text size that was the problem but the language was far vaster than she was used to, even with the text about the Vampires. Perhaps it had been part of the device but a wonderful discovery to see that it had an explanation-of-word function built into it by holding a finger into the word for the options of explanation appeared, a dictionary was what it was called. It made it easier by getting bite-sized explanations without having to find a human to reiterate for her understanding. But it was a bit of a tangent and time-consuming when trying to focus on the main topic of mental sickness.

Nonetheless, Mo’at had understood enough of what was given to her to propose a treatment for Nadinereza mostly. She would make observations on the other two humans, Jake and Morgan but the woman seemed to be most affected by the weight of her trauma. Unbecoming of a Tsahìk to miss the signs of a toiled soul presented directly to her so she would not make that mistake again, even if it was a human soul.

Neytiri waited quietly with her, helping her craft together basic remedies for irritant skin. Less potent but safe for human skin. It had numbing quantities that would be similar to the one that she had given Jakesully to apply for the severed leg of Nadinereza but this would last longer. She wanted two pots to be made to apply for the woman’s…shoulder, or at least what was left of it as well. The scars around the metal didn’t look smooth and no doubt the nerves remaining weren’t so content with the foreign objects so she expected the woman had pain there unmentioned.

“<When we are done, I would like you to send Maru down to meet Me. I require her help in this matter.>” Mo’at asked, breaking the silence.

“<Mother?>” Neytiri cocked her head in confusion.

Mo’at gently poured a fraction of the warm oil into the ground-up herbs. “<As Tsakarem, you are learning the ways of being a Tsahìk and it carries its own burdens. However, the duty of what your father has asked of you also must be accounted for. I don’t doubt your abilities to work with multiple tasks but… I do believe in this instance that I had another aid in regard to this more specific matter.>” She could see the rise of indignant in her daughter’s face at being put aside so she further explained herself to soothe those nerves. “<Jakesully had requested more education in our language, animals and other areas he had yet to explore. It had been far too relaxed as we found our footing with these new people. That will need to change to forge stronger bonds. You were tasked to oversee them and you have done so wonderfully. Adding catering to a tired soul will exhaust you far more emotionally than the rest of those tasks.>”

Neytiri didn’t look so soothed but she understood at least. “<What…has Maru proven to be chosen for this task from the others?>”

<She is a warrior with a keen sense of observation of those around her and is attentive to their emotions and what to say to them. However, she is not as familiar with sky people as you are. I must ask you to allow her to learn from you in your interactions with them.>”

Neytiri bowed her head but nodded with a lingering disappointed tilt to her ears.

Mo’at prepped her medicinal bag with her supplies but got as far as the Pa’li pen before she felt her mate close by.

“<Must you go now?>” Eytukan asked, his worry evident in his tone, his knuckle coming to brush her cheek.

“<It would be wise to. From what I understand from the medical texts and from…contexts of what I have seen so far, the sky people’s culture around their aliments is often… looked down upon by the healthy, especially with tired souls. Those afflicted by now tend to hide their conditions and try to carry on that they’re fine when they are not. To avoid judgment and awkwardness of revealing such…personal blights to unfeeling hearts. It is…unhealthy and they believe it is normal to do that. If I do not act swiftly, they’ll retain that belief and tending to their illnesses will be harder. They need to see that there is care.>” Mo’at explained. “”

Eytukan still looked uneasy. “<Cloud is upon the horizon, if it rains more than a light patter, you may not be able to get back to Hometree in time for the evening meal or even bed.>”

Mo’at considered his words, sparing a look past Hometree’s root support to see he was correct on such a matter. “<I will leave Neytiri here, should I become unavailable then the clan has someone to aid them. If I become stranded then I am not left on my own. One night is not a huge consequence should I be forced to stay in the sanity of their home. They have food, fire and shelter. I will be cared for, husband.>”

Eytukan let out a disapproving. “”

“<Eytukan, rest your unease. If there is something unsaid, then I am sure it has a reason. Trust that goes deep must go both ways.>” She touched his cheek fondly. “”

On the back of the Pa’li, the journey was swift despite its distance before she caught sight of a camp. Not the footsteps but small signs of recent pickings; fruits mostly, fibrous plants or simply plants used for herbs looked to be finely removed from the main plants. Most would assume animals but as a Tsahìk, she could recognise the common area that saw more activity them passing species.

So she found herself through to what was a mother loom set up into a tree. Blinking in surprise to see such a… ornamental piece to…exist out in the open, shielded simply by a stretch of woven tarp. It looked to be holding a barely half-developed piece of work within, with some errors made into its work but marginal to its purpose. Along the floor were smaller mats, possibly test pieces.

The Pa’li skirted around the edges to keep it undisturbed then the actual camp came into view.

Protected by the trees around, there was an odd beauty to see what looked like Mauis crafted into the trees and one holding entire metal home as well, as it was one of them. She had…heard much from Neytiri and Eytukan but seeing it was…surprising. The loom she had seen made more sense now; to craft such work so quickly for their home. How they…acquired it brought up wonder, and how they knew how to work it; she didn’t remember either Dreamwalker being too into weaving to know and see how such work is created.

The…weave pattern looks very familiar.

“Mo’at?” Her attention turned down from the pods towards the treeline and metal shack that resides in the shadows and looked to see most of the residents were busy with menial work about the forest floor of the immediate area. The Dreamwalkers looked to be spindling and dying some thread, Morganlangley was prepping some meat by the fire and Jakesully was making some sort of basket in his Dreamwalker. Nadinereza was sitting quietly by the fire in Jakesully’s wheelchair with her faux leg off and appeared to be carving something wooden with a small metal knife. The wooden shavings seemed to be going directly into the fire when she cleaned her lap with a swish of her arm though there was no mistake in the mess the remaining shaving were leaving on the chair either which looked like Jakesully was ignoring.

Jakesully was the one who had noticed her as she entered, though she slipped off the back of the Pa’li to join them at the fire.

“” Kimgreene said, gesturing politely from her pot of dye, narrowing avoiding straining her forehead with finger-marks.

This was echoed by the woman’s mate and Morgan. Nadinereza barely looked up, though it seemed that she hadn’t realised the change in before Jake reached over and prodded the human woman in the shoulder to gain her attention.

Nadinereza reached up, pulling something out of her ear in annoyance. “What?”

“We’ve got company.”

Nadine twisted about before her eyes widened a little at the sight of her before her gaze dropped from any eye contact, tiling her masked face away a little. “Hi…Mo’at. I’m fine.”

Jake shook his head in disagreement before the human tisked at him.

“I will be the judge of that.” Mo’at didn’t take the woman’s word for a second, even without Jakesully’s non-verbal input. “As Tsahìk, it is my duty to cater to my clan’s needs and for those who sought Uturu. Sanctuary. Be it physical injury or a weighed soul.”

Nadinereza’s eyes slid straight to Jake, her lips pursing tightly. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine in a few days. Just need to rest up and I’ll be good to go?”

Mo’at spared a glance at the woman’s knee and the…remaining of her leg. “How is the leg pain?”

“Fine.”

“Nad,” Morganlangley moved forward, setting down his fish onto his cutting board to crouch next to her. “Look, I get you’re not wanting to talk about this and you’re probably feeling a little on the spot but…Mo’at wants to help. She can help and can help in a way that is comfortable for you. You don’t have to talk about your feelings right now but…she looks like she’s got something to help with your nerve pains. Can she at least start with that?”

“Plus, you are on my wheels, she can literally push you around,” Jake added.

Nadinereza flashed up her middle finger up of her metallic hand to Jake without a glance too him but after a moment of staring at her leg then at the pot lids sticking out from her medical bag then back again that she huffed out glumly and nodded. “I want a blanket and space from all you freaks.”

Morganlangley saluted with two fingers then vanished very quickly up into his suspended shack, only a handful of minutes later did he return with a blanket of soft material. “Here, you can open it up and sit on it. It’ll spare cleaning your pants another day.” He held this out to Moat so she took it.

“The riverside seems like a good spot.” Mo’at nodded out past the treeline to the riverside, tucking the blanket in the cook of her elbow

“Wheel me, Corporal,” Nadinereza added once again to Morganlangley who took a hold of the back of the wheelchair, despite not having any handles to move and began to push.

It wasn’t a comfortable ride, by the looks of it but Mo’at set the blanket down and opened it up. With a thanks to her campmate, the woman slipped out of the chair and onto the blanket and just lay there for a moment, begrudgingly sitting up.

“Your leg, please?” Mo’at sat as well, crossing her legs though shifted the bag from her shoulder with ease and set it down beside her.

Nadinereza sighed but complied and then completely wiggled out of her pants entirely, after that the sock and exposing now the stump far more to her as she stretched the limb across the blanket.

The limb looked…treated. There was a metallic rod sticking out of the stump, possibly from the bone itself which looked…like it was part of the fake leg in a way; a permanent part to keep such a tool in place when it was on. She had seen the rod already though it was…uneasy to see metal being used in this manner; to be graphed into a body. Two scars lined from the bottom out to the sides of the rod; there looked to be something to seal the skin to the rod’s rib. However, it did look a little flushed. Like irritated skin. scratch marks also seemed to lace around the top of the stump but not further down. Too sensitive, no doubt for even that.

“Is the rod removable?” Mo’at asked curiously.

“No. It’s…sorted and graphed to the bone. The procedure is called Osseointegration. The titanium rod is put into the bone and the bone grows around and secures it. Fused. It means I can have an integrated prosthesis than some that just slips over the stump. It had its pros and cons but this type means I can have more advanced prostheses that are more stable. My shoulder joints run with the same theme.”

“It looks irritated, may I?” Mo’at pulled out the first pot and plucked off the wooden lid.

Nadinereza looked at the pot for a moment then nodded. “Okay.”

The stump was warm to touch, though the stark difference in the size of her hand in comparison to her knee was a forceful reminder of how delicate human bodies were; so small. Bones are so much more fragile in durability. The scarring looked...good for what happened.

“For a limb that was removed in less than…ideal circumstances, it looks like it healed fairly well,” Mo’at said as she gently began to apply the soothing balm across the scars first. “Your care after must have been good.”

Nadinereza wrinkled her nose. “The amputation was mid-calf on the field, at least that was what I was told. The bone was already broken which was easiest to cut through on the field. While the bone below that was...crushed, it was also trapped under the rubble. After medical Evac, they had to amputate more when they found an infection. Muddy tools aren’t the best.”

Mo’at made a note of understanding. “I see. That’s some assurance. Has the lingering pain been too much over the last couple of days?”

“It just itches. It’s…annoying.”

The Tsahìk nodded, though continued with gentle conversation as she worked about what treatments she had been through in terms of her physical body.

Jake watched the two from a distance in relief, though too early and Nadine was too on guard for now, he was glad Mo’at was here on the same day as he had talked to Neytiri about this...mess. Hopefully, Mo’at would be able to wear Nadine down a little off her guard to open up a little. There was much he could have said to explain Nadine’s history but… that wasn’t his story to tell. He had to…respect what Nadine had shared with him was...between them. Their history, their trust… she didn’t have that yet with the Na’vi.

It was odd to know and properly realise that Nadine’s mobility was never more hampered until she had moments of discomfort with her own prostheses. He didn’t mind sharing his wheelchair when he had his other body to use and he understood she was having difficulties with her leg right now. Much like his back pain above the damage, it took a lot out of them. It hadn’t sunk in until he had seen her struggle this morning that he realised they had no spare. No other method of her handling the bad days with ease if he wanted to be human for most of the day.

They’d need to come up with a solution eventually. Just not right now.

“Jerome,” Morgan called, deboning the fish carefully, “Do you want the bones or want me to bury them?”

“Yeah, thanks. Keep as many whole as possible. They’ll make good needle picks or decoration for some jewellery.” The face he was suggesting it seemed like he had a plan in mind for them anyway. Jake was amazed sometimes at how creative people could be with animal bones… and guts.

N’deh had made it clear when he had first given Jake the task of aiding him in butchering that they had to be respectful; to use all that they could or return it to the ground. Make the animal’s death a worthy sacrifice and be gracious of what it would provide them all for the next week. N’deh spoke with reverence and while Jake didn’t…get it quite like N’deh, he could respect the man’s wishes. That said, he hadn’t been allowed to hunt himself game like the other just yet. Just fish. It was annoying but he supposed until he ‘got it’ he was kept to more basic food to hunt.

Jake finished up his basket heading over and dropping it off to Kim who nodded her thanks and began to despot the new thread into it.

“Need any more baskets or something?”

“No, but you can help me spindle. I want to use this threading to make cheesecloth.”

“You wanna make cheese? I do have powdered milk?” Jake offered.

Kim’s ears lifted for a moment, “As much as I love cheese…Na’vi are lactose intolerant. Once they’re out of weaning when they're babies, they can’t drink milk. I want to use the fabric as a strainer.”

“How sad.” Jake paused, “Are you sure avatars have the same tolerances or does the human part have a factor in?”

“I was intolerant before my avatar so I’m the wrong person to ask,” Kim chuckled.

“I can give it a try.” Jerome put in interestedly. “I do miss cheese…. And cream…and milk. And chocolatey eclairs. Fuck, now I want pastries.” He looked a little put down into his bowl of red dye that was staining the man’s hand purple with the clash of colours. “Chocolate chips.”

“We can’t eat chocolate either.” Kim’s ears drooped at that. “Which does suck. I do miss the taste of a Mars bar. Up until I was seven, my guardian used to sneak them to me at the colony whenever we got a British supply run. Extras would be sneaked on for the lower-class workers as a treat.”

“Wait, what?!” Jake looked at her sharply. “No chocolate? Are Na’vi like dogs in that regard?”

“It doesn’t do well with the Na’vi gut. Caused…drunkenness behaviour and a dry mouth.” Kim saved off, “Also…while not poisonous, too much can lead to… liquid exists.”

“Must you be vivid, I’m cutting out the guts of fish here, man,” Morgan complained with a disgusted whine. “Don’t ruin dinner before it’s made.”

Jerome blew a raspberry. Morgan shot back a middle finger.

Jake kept an eye as the clouds began to seep more and more across the sky with a tinge in the air of rain, though not dark yet; it was getting there. Jake wound up helping with dinner by prepping the vegetables into a broth, a kin to a fish strew. He never had the proper stuff to compare it to on earth but he liked it. It was a more common meal thank yerik but they tried different sauces and marinades on the fish in to bring out the unique flavours. Despite that, turns out fish on Pandora taste just like fish on Earth, according to Morgan.

“We should make noodles.” Kim mused, prepping together a selection of ceramic bowls made from storage, “Now we have a recipe. We should really recreate more earth-based meals from what we have. Might work, might not.”

Jake perked up a little, “That’ll be great.”

“Ah fuck!”

All four of their heads turned to see the sudden, impending rain suddenly start to downpour on Nadine and Mo’at. Morgan jumped up first, Jake a second though he was surprised at how wet he got and how quickly the sky became as the clouds seemed to spread fast and over them all.

“Can I pick you up?” Jake asked.

“Yes!!” Nadine wasn’t complaining so Jake bent down, picked her up and carried her small frame back to the cover of trees that was taking the brunt. Morgan grabbed his chair and Mo’at took the blankets. Jerome had quickly pulled a tarp cover of Jake’s and quickly set it with Kim overhead to the nearby trees and a support pole was shoved into the ground as they would with the other Mauri or cover.

They converged under the cover and around the fire. Jake sat Nadine into one of the smaller logs. Mo’at looked especially displeased, soaking wet as Jake took the blankets from her and folded them up but left them beside the log.

“They can dry out tomorrow.” He assured her. “We’ll get a drying line up.” Though he frowned as he remembered a small but important detail….because Mo’at was Tsahìk and not with her clan. In the middle of a fucking forest with Dreamwalkers and humans. Eytukan was gonna throw a fit. “Do you think the rain will last long? You’ll need to go back to Hometree soon, right?”

Mo’at turned, reaching out to examine the build-up of rain dropping into her palm from the sky before she dropped it with a disappointed sigh. “The rain had reached us first, it will strike Hometree soon. It’s unsafe at this speed and build-up. I expected a light drizzle to return home with, not this.”

Which meant she had to stay the night. Still, Jake knew she was better company than her husband or Tsu’tey.

“If it stops before dark, I can return.” Mo’at spoke, “Until then…”

“Does Eytukan know you’re here?” Jerome asked, making final adjustments to the pole to rest the tarp at an angle so the flow would roll onward rather than build up.

“He does,” Mo’at confirmed, adjusting her shawl though it seemed its beaded nature made it easier to not hold onto water. “Neytiri’s can fill in for me should anyone need aid. I am confident in her abilities.”

“Okay.” Jerome nodded, “Dinners about done. Might as well partake?”

Mo’at considered the offer, then looked to the heated bowl of strew, before she nodded. “Thank you.”

Jake set a bowl aside for his human body, keeping it close to the fire to remain warm as they ate. Nadine wearing her cannula to eat, not wanting to go inside to eat though this forced her to remain quieter as they conversed. Morgan juggled his mask with good practice. Kim remained only mild stiff with the presence of the Tsahìk at their fire but Mo’at didn’t try to seem intrusive to their conversation that had turned from discussing if vampirism was another form of Necromancy to the RDA’s recruitment plans.

“How’d they get you?” Jake asked Jerome, “Like…I get it you’re a scientist but surely you were part of a pasty nerd crowd?”

“Pure luck.” Jerome whistled, his ears rising, “So, I’m the middle child with an older and a younger sister. Older sister; pure black soul. Don’t miss her one bit.” He waved that off a little, “So, in my area of town, we hit a new wave of inflation on properties so…I couldn’t move out of my parent’s house…or away with from my sisters so. Instead of trying to live in a brick and struggle to eat, I had to git my teeth and bare it as long as I could by saving up all the money to get myself the education to get into science. I almost didn’t get into the avatar program to home here but the guy who would have…sorta…didn’t exist.”

Jake snorted into his bowl, giving the guy an incredulous look, “What?”

“Turns out… a thirteen-year-old girl was using a fake name and had been posing as a twenty-three-year-old man to get into the program.”

“Seriously? A child?”

Jerome nodded variously, “They only found out after they realised they had never sent in tissue samples to see if they were compatible for an avatar.”

“Woah, I’m amazed she even got that far.”

“The girl has a 195 IQ. I heard she used a voice modulator, AI and green screens to alter her appearance on video logs. I think the RDA probably are waiting until she’s 16 to get her started in their work with parental permission. I bet she’s… in her mid-twenties now?” Jerome pondered.

“IQ?” Mo’at asked, “What is that?”

“Oh, it’s how humans can measure intelligence from human to human. IQ means Intelligence quotient. The larger the number, the more intelligent the human is. An Average human will be about…eight-five to a hundred and fifteen IQ. Under seventy is either a developing brain or, in an adult, an impaired or below average IQ.” Jerome said, “Soldiers and Miners will be Average. Most scientists will be about a hundred and twenty or higher. In some cases, children will develop a faster IQ based on genetics or environmental factors. However, that doesn’t mean Emotional Quotient, EQ is any better. Being smart but prone to tantrums or succumbing to frustrations of the dumb ones.”

“Is…does sound odd to judge others upon that scale, more so when it cannot be helped.”

“Perhaps, but it’s just…our way of things. This girl did impress the RDA, so she didn’t get in trouble; she just wasn’t physically or emotionally ready for the RDA’s jobs so they had to open up another space in the meantime. I made the list.” Jerome shrugged, taking a heavy sip of the broth, with a sigh.

“That does sound more fun than me and how I wound up here. The Martian colony was freaking busy with the terraformation projects, I had to sit and learn all the shit I needed on my own or by bothering the nurses to let me watch and learn from them. I watched a lot of TV shows.” Kim pouted a little into her bowl.

Nadine almost choked on the air. Jake just stared at the pregnant woman for a moment. Of all the things to bring up... that was not one of them. Even Jerome looked at her in surprise.

“Did you say…Martian colony?” Morgan asked, turning to face her properly. “Like. Mars’s colony? In Utopia Planitia or Arcadia Planitia?”

Kim looked at them, wide-eyed and ears pinned up in surprise. “I thought I told you I was born on Mars, not Earth?”

The silence remained between them, aside from the rain around them and the fire between them.

“Nerd.” Jake broke the science.

Morgan snorted first before he flat out began to snigger and struggled to remain seated as he laughed. Even Nadine looked downright amused.

Jerome stared, “We’ve been mated for two years, we’ve known each other for at least fifteen years and now you tell me you’re not from Earth?!” He didn’t sound offended, only completely surprised.

“No one asked!” Kim defended, setting her bowl down, “I couldn’t help the fact I was born on another planet, Jer. My mom had shit birth control and no Plan B was allowed. People stuck in terraformation on a barren planet get bored. Accidents happen. It’s not uncommon. Kids are born on Earth’s luna-freaking-moon all the time.”

“The moon is a short trip away from Earth. Mars is not….”

Mo’at leant Jake's way as the two continued to talk. “What is happening? I thought all sky people were born in their own world. Have your people conquered many planets before our own?”

Jake blinked blankly for a moment then let out a breath. “No…well… Mars is a planet in our Solar system. Did…Grace ever tell you about our native star system?”

“Not in depth. I was never interested in learning more than what wasn’t relevant. It is…very far away and posed no reason to be known, at least that was what I believed.”

Jake ran a blue hand down his face for a moment. “Humans…come from a solar system that has eight to nine planets in. A star; the Sun then the planets follow as, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. There’s a dwarf planet called Pluto as well but there’s an ongoing debate if it should be counted. Mercy and Venus are close to the sun and cannot support life. Too hot and poisonous. Earth is…where we’re from and sits within an area of the sun’s orbit where the water is…water. Viable for life. Not as a gas when it’s too hot or ice when it’s too cold. Mars is also in an area that’s habitable but it never formed life as it’s too small to form a…special protective field to form an atmosphere or to hold in water. After Mars, the other plants are not rocky, they’re gaseous like… Naranawm” Jake nodded up towards the clouded sky to the…gas giant Pandora was a moon of. He had heard N’deh call it that then the human word for it; Polyphemus. It made more sense to us the native name for it. Not the alien one.

“Humans have ventured across our own system to explore our other planets. Mars became a good place for terraform; to try and give it life. I don’t know how but they’ve been working on it for about a hundred years or so. Children are rarely born on Mars or off world. They’ve also been trying to gather resources from our other moons, planets or asteroid belt to aid in human welfare as well and opens up job opportunities for those with the skill sets or desperate enough to leave Earth for it.”

Mo’at looked fascinated as he spoke, “I didn’t realise there could be many more worlds around a star than the number of our own.”

“Oh, there are many different versions of planet systems the scientists have seen. Some with more, some with less and not necessarily identical. Our planet system, the Sol system, as some could call it—“ he thanked his glimpse into Star Trek for that name—“is considered large. The science people might explain it better and have pictures.”

“That…will not be necessary.” Mo’at said politely, “but thank you.”

“…it explains a fucking lot,” Nadine spoke, directing her word to the main topic than what Jake was explaining. “Were you left alone a lot? Forced to rely on yourself for your meals and entertainment A deadbeat mom? Absent father.”

Kim stared at Nadine for a moment, ears drooping a little which gave the woman’s answer as a positive.

Nadine winced a little. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on?” Jake leant in, “missed most of what you were sayin’,”

“I was saying that Kim’s upbringing is why she’s got issues with abandonment and trust.” Nadine downed her bowl, switching her cannula for her full mask and exhaled out deeply. “Why she’s suspicious that the Omatikaya will find some reason to abandon her and all again. Sooner or later.”

Kim clicked her tongue at Nadine’s phrasing. “I wouldn’t quite put it like that, Nad.”

Nadine shrugged, yawning. “How would you phase it?”

Kim didn’t answer but stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of fish.

“Let’s change the topic, shall we?” Jerome patted his wife’s back. “the seeds have so far sprouted and looking good in the ground from what the scanners are showing. They’re not rooted properly but…well it seems Ewya has deemed our seed worthy of growing.”

“Oh yes,” Mo’at leant into this conversation, “I heard from both Eytukan and Neytiri you were planting Earth seeds.”

“We’re being careful, of course since they’re foreign and non-native seeds. We don’t wanna flood Pandora with anything that might cause damage. There’s always the potential for plants to become invasive if not kept in check.” Jake said, scratching his chin. “But, my brother spent most of his money when not on essentials collecting weird crap or seeds. On earth, they’re really hard to come by now. Most earths are unsuitable and most greens are grown in vertical labs in controlled conditions. Really expensive. Everyone waits until they’re in less good quality to get them cheaper.” He hadn’t been a part of those squabbles. “But, I figured since my brother put so much effort into getting them, I might as well bring them into fruition here. Pun absolutely intended.”

A few snorts of the camp echoed.

“The Great Mother maintains the balance of life, be it plants or animals. She would swiftly handle anything that looked out of control in her eyes. Kill the roots, and animals will consume the fruits.” Mo’at set her empty bowl down beside her, her eyes turning out towards the forest. “The rain has not let up.”

Jake exchanged a look to the other two avatars, Kim just gave him a very flat look, shaking her head. He didn’t give Mogan a look because he couldn’t give up his own space; wrong air and was too small, Same with his own link shack.

“Why don’t you use my ham—”

Quite suddenly, another blue body suddenly dropped into the clearing beside them, a bow dropping just shy of hitting N’deh on the head and landing next to him. Soaked to the bone and froze up as Mo’at jumped to her feet.

“N’deh?!”

Jake’s stomach sank to the floor.

Fuck.

N’deh knew he had messed up. His heart hammered in his chest but he had sought to try and climb into his mauri unnoticed; the saddled Pa’li sitting under shelter had given away an outsider’s presence.

He hadn’t expected to slip.

The contact with the ground was hard, and would certainly bruise but of all people to be seated under the sky-people’s made shelter and sharing a meal, he didn’t expect to see his older sister to be there. Tsahìk who was not at Hometree.

There was no hiding him now as her eyes set upon him and she was on her feet. His name echoed from her lips.

His heart thundered in his chest, but bolting now would not hide his presence. Nor be safe if he tried; the rain was too thick and the soil was too slippery. He was not a fool to try despite the urge to. He had been hiding for too long now. He could not ruin his new home by revealing himself but…

“N’deh, get under the shelter.” Jakesully moved first, jumping over the log then quietly literally pulled him from the muddy ground and closer to the warmth of the fire.

N’deh blinked, breaking contact with his sister’s heavy gaze to rest close to the flames; its warmth a mercy on his cold skin.

“Eat this, this will warm you up” Kimgreene spoke, pouring what looked like a bowl of stew and then pressing it into his hands. N’deh gladly took a glug of the hot liquid to fill his stomach first. Enjoying the taste this meal brought offering a quiet prayer for their work.

“I’m going to bed, Morgan. Help me.” Nadinereza spoke, looking like she didn’t want to be part of this.

There was no hesitation as the man jumped up, scooped the woman up into his arms and pattered through the less intense drizzle of rain and into the airlock of her and Jakesully’s shack.

Mo’at’s gaze remained on him, watching as he ate. Jakesully and the mated Dreamwalkers remained, uncertain but neither abandoned him to face his sister alone. Their tails were high, waiting though he dreaded to hear her first words to him in three years, almost four years now.

“<Have…you been here all this time, brother?>” Mo’at’s soft tone surprised him. No hard accusation in her tone but… kinder. She moved around but didn’t get more than a few feet to couch close by. Uncertain.

“<Not entirely.>” N’deh looked into the bowl, fishing out a few pieces of veg. “<Wandered for a while.>”

“<You should not be here.>”

N’deh’s head rose, giving her a sour look. “<You sound just like your mate, sister. That does not look good on you.>” He couldn’t help the edge of bitterness. “”

Mo’at took a shallow breath. “”

“<Then how did you mean it?>” N’deh shook his head, “< Did Eytukan tell you why I was banished In the first place.”

His sister remained quiet for a moment, “”

N’deh scowled. “” He spoke dryly. “”

Mo’at’s breath paused with genuine sorrow on her face. “”

“<He said I had gone too far, that this woman would not provide for the clan in either work or childbearing and posed a danger to us with this union. She could not be one of the people. Foreign. Alien.>” N’deh sneered, his heart aching. “<I feel the pain of that every day. She cannot. I may not even be as present in her waking mind with our distance and time apart, but yet I cannot choose another woman. I would go to her but I cannot. I cannot cross that deep into your forest. She remains behind cold walls.>”

Mo’at’s ears pinned back but her hand came to his shoulder. “<I’m sorry, my brother.>”

N’deh looked away, “<. I couldn’t be there for you after Sylwanin’s death, or be there to send her off to Eywa. I was alone. I…came across the Dreamwalkers. They opened their new home to me. I found an abandoned human, left to die by their own kind. I never wanted to leave you. I just wanted to be happy. I wanted to be with my family. If I couldn’t be at your side for you or Neytiri, then at a distance would have to do. I asked these people to keep my presence quiet from the Omatikaya. Do not allow Eytukan to punish them for my request.>” He knew without a doubt, that Mo’at would tell Eytukan. As his mate, she would. As Tsahìk, it was her duty. He respected that now but he wasn’t going to allow hurt to spread to those whom he lived with.

“<Do not worry, N’deh.” Kimgreene’s voice spoke, “<if Eytukan wants you off their land, you won’t be going alone.>”

Jerome gave his mate a concerned look, but he didn’t look too shocked to hear those words. Jakesully just looked a little lost in his non-understanding of their language.

N’deh’s gut sank a little, his eyes darting to her sadly, “<You cannot think that is what’s suitable. I am the one in trouble.>”

“<We have human souls, N’deh. We’ll defend you as a human family would. You are part of our family and if one member of our family is targeted then we move as one. Defend as one. If you have to leave, I will gladly leave and be assured that my scepticism is valid.>”

“<That is not a fair>ultimatum.” N’deh spoke, using the human word for it; there was no transition for it in Na’vi. “<Eytukan has apologised to you, did he not?>”

“<I’ve lost everyone from my old life, everyone that’s not part of my camp here has turned their back on me. Eytukan shunned you, the Tsahìk’s brother because you wanted a woman you couldn’t have and called it dangerous. He has his opinion of sky people and thinks the worst of them and would jump to the worst conclusion when he thinks he has proof of it. Why should I forgive him when he continues to make the same decisions and pain for other people in my family?>” Kimgreene rose to her feet, her hand coming to her pregnant belly. “<Actions speak louder than words. Good night.>”

With that, she was gone. Jerome half-heartily followed her up the netting and into their Mauri.

Jake too rose to his feet, reaching for the remaining bowl of strew set aside “I…kinda gotta go. I need…to feed my human body.”

N’deh nodded. “Of course, go.”

The two were finally alone though N’deh gave his sister a tired look. “<I’m sorry. I don’t want this to escalate. Kimgreene has a lot of passion. Her pregnancy only heightens her protectiveness, as you know.>”

“<Why did you not come to me first? I could have helped.>” Mo’at asked, not removing her hand from his shoulder. “<You said nothing when you packed. You were just gone, brother.>”

“<It was asked of me. I didn’t want to make it a public spectacle. I would…be humiliated if people found out about my mating desire and heard their remarks on my failure to bond with her. Many do not like Dreamwalkers but bonding failure would last far longer. No one would have wanted me>” It was a nasty shadow to have over one’s head was the belief they were ‘incapable’ or ‘poor’ at bonding with a mate. Undesirable. Unwanted. “<The girl’s wouldn’t have understood. I didn’t want to confuse them>”

Mo’at let out a heavy breath. “<Brother…>”

N’deh swallowed thickly, “<I’ll leave if I have to.>”

Her fingertips dug into his shoulder. “”

N’deh nodded softly. “<Why… why don’t we go to my mauri? You can… you can use my Hammock tonight.>” He gingerly sat up, vividly aware of the flicker of pain through his side as he moved. He could feel more words needed to be spoken but…he wanted her to think and mull before she was bound to return to Eytukan. To tell and change their path. He hoped Kim would not be so passionate and move with him; she had a life to build back with the clan. Her own children would need that as well; a clan and support. Why were humans so…tricky to get rid of for their own benefit?

Masterlist

#avatar #avatar au #avatar james cameron #grace augustine #avatar the way of water #jake sully #mo'at #neytiri #avatar rda #eytukan #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #vampire au #vampire #vampire grace #nadine reza #n'deh

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