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#whatever im 12 years old again

forecast0ctopus · 2 months

Note

Any advice on drawing McCoy? I’m not used to drawing ancient wrinkley bastards (affectionate) and it’s surprisingly tough v-v

FOR SURE lmao i made. a diagram. just a warning that i am going to be irritating and long winded because u just hit a topic i really like sorry lmao

so first off i did some traces just to show whats there vs redraws to show my interpretation

ive said this on other asks but again jsyk, tracing isnt bad!! its a tool. theres some stuff with intellectual property and whatnot but using tracing to study shapes and forms is a really valuable practice.

also just taking some time to learn facial structures and anatomy is super useful, reading what bones and muscles are where and how they interact with one another. taking this info and staring in the mirror and moving your face around and thinking about it. just really furthers understanding of how the face works. trying to sound normal about this but i love anatomy and motion and physics and whatever

anyways im going to go through all the numbered points so there's no confusion. 1. forehead lines - self explanatory. more prominent when brows are raised 2. crows feet - at the outer corners of the eyes, more prominent when smiling or squinting 3. nasolabial folds - the folds that go from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth. more prominent when the mouth is wide, like smiling 4. brow furrow - self explanatory, most prominent when brows are furrowed. mccoy tends to have two right next to his eyebrows, kirk has one in the middle. everyones face works different lmao 5. chin crease - caused by how the chin and lower lip interact. 6. nasojugal groove - start from the inner corners of the eye and can extent over the cheeks. everyone has these and idk why people dont like them i think theyre really cool!!!! but Society. i guess. :/ 7. eye bags - caused by the skin sagging beneath the eyes. mccoy isnt even that old in tos i think hes meant to be mid 40s by the end of the 5 year mission, hes just got really prominent eye bags lmao 8. idk what the name is for these, but when the mouth is wide and pushes the skin to the sides, these folds sometimes form outside of the nasolabial folds 9. philtrum - the groove above the upper lip. i dont usually draw this but mccoy's struck me as prominent enough that i usually draw it on him 10. masseter - the muscle that moves the jaw up and down. its a pretty rugged muscle and while i wouldnt say mccoy's is especially prominent, it kind of extends that nasojugal groove from certain angles/positions 11. orbicularis oris - mouth muscle, usually easier to see when lips are pursed or frowns are pulled. mccoy's is pretty prominent from 3/4ths or side, his mouth tends to protrude in profile 12. this isnt a muscle but more of a line defining the planes of the face, but since i drew it i felt i should explain lmao

a few points:

im an animator i tend to exaggerate and emphasize certain things so i usually make him more square.

i like to combine eyebags and crows feet for brevity/flow, same with nasojugal grooves, eyebags, and masseter lines. my approach is always subject to change based on pose, expression, reference image, etc.

i take out details that i deem redundant or cluttering and keep what details i need to make things feel Right

all this info is applicable to any character of any age, its just in how you apply it and facial proportions that willl change how old a character is perceived to be

there's a lot more with drawing a Character rather than an Actor, just because the features are there doesnt necessarily mean things will feel correct? its very much in the mannerisms and poses and expressions

i only went over my approach to his likeness but not really body type or posing or anything idk if u want that i could always try to answer that later haha

_______________

anyways all that info kind of exists nebulously in my brain while i draw its not like im sitting there thinking Must Draw. Nasolabial Fold...... i jsut do what feels right with the visual info i have. also i love specificity in faces.... i dont like to be a hater but when every character is drawn the same it pisses me off a little lmao. so

also dont take my word as The Only Way to do anything i just draw how i like to draw and no one should feel like these are things that Must be done to be a good artist or anything do whatever the hell u wanna do

#anyways my apologies that was. a lot #it will happen again if asked of me.#anon #ask #everyone has this stuff going on with their face and its really cool but capitalism and the beauty industry and whatnot #have been rotting peoples brains since the moment they came to be #the more u look at and appreciate how ur skin an muscles and bones interact with one another the more fine u are with your own face #trust me #because its really cool. like mechanically and stuff #idk if its like theraputic or something but maybe it is or maybe i think about it all way too much #how i draw #ive got some other similar things under that tag i think pertaining to merlin but still similar info

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 3 months

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AMITA for lying to everyone I know about my identity’s as a queer/neurodivergent person?

I (18M) am a bisexual, transgender man who is also autistic, ADHD, and OCD. When people hear this about me, even if they know me, I feel like they build up this image of me as an awkward, “cringy” 11 year old who’s obsessed with “cringy” fandoms. And while i have a qualm with this because I know they are looking down on people who are just less masked/higher support needs, I also dislike that they do this because it’s just not who I am. Without the labels, I mostly seem like just a normal dude, if not a bit nerdy.

I also used to be extremely bullied as a kid (7-12) to the point of a suicide attempt, mostly due to homophobic, transphobic, or ablest remarks about me. Since then I’ve completely changed community’s and do not talk to anyone i knew before high school.

When authority figures (Teachers, Show Directors, Investors of the teen programs I lead) apply ablest/transphobic stereotypes or prejudices to me, they also tend to be less,,, normal? around me. Less kind compared to other kids, call me an “inspiration”, or they’ll coddle me when I’m incredibly capable. I do a lot for someone my age- and I know the connections I make now at conferences and whatnot will help me in the long run. My dad’s family is poor, and my immediate family is more comfortable but not that much. I know I’m smart, and I can weaponize that to get a better life for my family by getting good scholarships and jobs in good fields. I can’t just let people who could be very important to my goals look down on me. So i just.. don’t tell them anything about me. They might assume Im odd or “not normal”, and for the most part I let them assume whatever, but if i’m ever asked directly about anything I deny it. Especially in relation to me being transgender; I have the very privileged ability to pass without any medical intervention, and I use that to pretend to be cisgender. Living in the deep south of USAmerica, most of who I am could make my social life very uncomfortable to downright miserable.

Here’s where the problem starts happening. when my social and (what i consider to be a) “professional” life occasionally touch, I wouldn’t be able to be out everywhere socially without someone I don’t want knowing finding out. So i don’t tell any of my classmates/friends/peers about any of my identities either. I hang out with queer and straight people, never be actively homophobic/ablest, and will be very vague about the two questions i’ve ever received about any of that stuff. It’s very, very exhausting to pretend all the time, every day, especially pretending that I’m cisgender because it’s a tricky game, but I can’t really back down and I’m afraid that I might get bullied again if I was ever open about it with classmates.

A few months ago, I was dating this guy, who i’ll call Kai (17M) Kai is also a transgender man, but does not pass at all and is comfortable with it. He’ll get shit sometimes, but also has essentially no straight friends. I told him I was queer when we became good friends, and then told him I was trans after we started dating. I also told him why I lie about being cishet or neurotypical, and while he didn’t seem happy he didn’t push it at first. I told him that I understood if he didn’t want to be in a secret relationship, but because of where we live and what I want to do I wasn’t comfortable with being out again. He said he still wanted to date me, and claimed he would support me, and we had a pretty good relationship overall.

A month after that, he started bringing it up again. He told me that I was more than my identity, and if people didn’t see me for who I am instead of stereotypes, it isn’t worth talking to them at all. And while I agree with the sentiment, it’d never be possible to just not hear someone if they were harassing me, and while I truely dislike a lot of the authority figures that I engage with, they are in the professional fields I’m interested in, and I’m incredibly lucky for getting where I am so early. Kai also said that since I am well known in our very small school (only 300 kids), being out could be a positive influence on what people think about autistic people or trans people. In a particularly heated fight, he even said I was doing a disservice or betrayal to my community by not representing or being proud of being apart of them publicly.

We broke up pretty soon after, but I think about what he said a lot. I know that I wouldn’t be the only out person at my school, and that my school is actually a lot better compared to most local schools, which are a lot larger and… dramatic, but I just don’t think I could be out without going back to how I used to be mentally. And Kai was right about how I could be a good influence on some of the meaner classmates- I do think some of my peers who I ingenuinely connect with might reconsider their prejudices if they knew I was transgender.

I’m intentionally choosing not to take the opportunity to do better. It wouldn’t ruin ALL my relationships with the authority figures I consider to be important holding, since it would just be my school, It might dampen one or two of them. Plus, I’m lying to pretty much everyone who knows me. They build relationships with a false idea of me, and I feel like an asshole sometimes because I’m not honest.

TLDR: I’m a transgender, autistic guy in a very bigoted community. Everybody thinks i’m cishet and neurotypical. AMITA for not being proud of who I am because of potential social losses, and AMITA for lying to people and giving friends/peers false ideas about who I am even if they would not be friends with me if they knew?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole #suicide cw

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4pfsukuna · 2 months

Text

Awkward (N. Kento)

Theres just not enough fics of Nanami with black women outside of just smut..so here i am with smut but theres plot based on sza songs Awkward

Time passing.

Nanami still has no idea how Gojo convinced him to attend his silly little holiday party. Knowing Gojo it would be loud, eccentric and lots of alcohol involved. Plus the fact that Gojo knew everybody and it looks like he’s invited everyone Nanami was ready to leave.

But Gojo made him promise to have one drink…just one. Plus he made some know it all comments about Nanami being a workaholic who was probably just going to go home look at stuff for work and do even more overtime spending the holidays alone. He always ragged on him about extra work but the alone part cut deep this time because it reminded him of his ex girlfriend the one he almost proposed to on the night of their anniversary, ring in pocket but he ended up getting stuck with over time, losing track of time and leaving her to sit alone at the restaurant for 2 hours.

What was suppose to be a happy night was anything but and by 12:01am he was single. Bringing his cup to his lips he’s ready to take a sip but stops when he hears a laugh he’ll never forget.

The last thing Nanami kento expected to see at Gojo’s party (that he basically tricked him into going to) was his ex girl from 4 years ago in a black mini silk dress that if you just bent over a tad bit more—

“You alright man?” Gojo ask slapping his blonde hair friends back snapping him back to the reality where his cup of alcohol had been crushed completely in his hand.

He was sure of Two things in this moment. 1. His hand was wet and 2? He wasnt letting you get away again.

“Oh let me introduce you to my friend Miyoshi, shes an interior designer. Designed all my homes boring career so you two might actually have something in common since you like boring stuff” Gojo insults while placing a napkin in his friends hand basically dragging him over to the woman through the crowd.

What? This was not at all how he planned on talking to you, what was he suppose to say? Would you even acknowledge him? Your curly fro had been straightened so it was now mid back with a slight red tint and he vaguely remember you saying a girl dyes her hair red when she’s over a man and there’s no chance for him ever again. Oh god you hated him. Was the room always this hot?

You turn around finally setting your eyes on the two of them and downing whatever was left in your cup.

“Miyoshi, meet my friend Nanami kento. Kento this is Miyoshi” Gojo introduces and the air becomes thick with tension as you two awkwardly smile at another Nanami unable to keep your gaze on him.

Time passing by.

“Yosh” Nanami breaks the silence at the same time she speaks “nami”. Old habits die hard, the nicknames from another pouring from their lips shocking Gojo.

“You two know each other?” The white hair man ask which only confuses him more when you say no but he says yes.

He goes to ask the question neither of you wanted to answer but luckily is stopped by hearing the pur of his name from Geto who he waste no time following forgetting all about you two.

“Can i get you another drink? Im sorry about Gojo and bombarding you like that” Nanami ask nodding at your cup watching as you exhale glossed lips forming your usual slight pout.

You nod as he leads you by the small of your back to the bar his hand burning a imprint on your lower back and you're grateful when he moves it to toss the napkin in his other hand away.

“Strawberry Lemon drop and a whiskey on the rocks” he tells the bartender before quickly looking over at you dropping apologies.

“Sorry you probably dont even like that anymore, i shouldnt have assumed! Ill—“ he starts ranting only for you to laugh, placing a hand on his forearm sitting on the stool.

“Still as charming as ever, its still my favorite drink” you smile the nerves leaving your body but filling his to the brim. Why was he so nervous? Of course his stoic poker face never dropped once but that was how he was.

“Its nothing, just wanna make sure you’re taken care of” he speaks so easily before you could respond or even react The drinks are quickly placed in front of you.

You wanted to know what the hype was all about

“So how have you been?” He ask downing half of his drink in one gulp. You follow suit licking the sugar off the rim unaware of how his eyes watch and his grip tightens slightly on his glass.

“Are we really going to play this game kento? Fine. Ive been traveling exploring growing healing i finally quit the company and started my own business finding rich men like Gojo who have more money than they know what to do with and creating clients out of them” you shrug sipping the drink watching him smile… somewhat proud.

“Congratulations. Sorry if im prying—“ Nanami finishes his drink only for you to cut him off.

“No!” You say a bit louder than expected before clearing your throat. “No i… i just dont understand how you can sit here like everything ended— like nothing happened and were just old friends catching up” you ask confused, of course you wanted to talk to him 3 and ½ years with someone over in one night and now 4 years later here both of you are.

The nerves were back.

Then we fucked a little bit and I was out, Did not say bye

“Kento i broke up with you, fucked you one last time for my own closure and ghosted you in the middle of the night with no way of ever contacting me. Not my best moment” you finally speak on the elephant in the room another round of drink places infront of you two.

“Compliments of master satorou” the bartender nods before attending to other guest leaving no time to protest.

“I wouldve atleast like to remain friends but i understand. You left with a bang… quite literally” he jokes trying to ease the tension showing off that jokester part of him that only youve seen.

And now for the word vomit , you couldn’t even stop it if you wanted.

“Friends? Our love was different…too strong for that. It was worth it,I would do it again.I know you hurt me,This is more than a friendship” you speak running over your finger your rim collecting sugar along the sides of your fresh acrylic nails.

When you don’t hear anything from him (honestly what are you expecting? You just admitted you loved him so much youd go through the heartbreak a second time just to experience that love again) you look up watching as he loosens his tie.

Fuck. “Sorry”

“I made it awkward” which he chuckles at taking your jaw in his large hand forcing your eyes to look up at him. Your heart racing in your chest at the familiar contact

“I miss you”he finally slips the stoic façade falling all his emotions on display for you to see and suddenly the room feels 10 degrees hotter.

“I— why did you let me do it?” You ask and for a simple sentence it was so loaded. You can tell by the way the tips of his ears burn red.

“This isnt the place for that conversation” he speaks finally letting go of your chin turning back towards his drink and you exhale he was right. The awkward tension was back and you despised it.

“My home is 10 minutes away… we can really talk there if youd like” he suggest looking over his watch and i glance around at the party in full swing before back at him.

“Yeah”

When you two make it to his home you cant help the nostalgic grin. This was completely him, nothing out of place every color scheme matches because its all shades of white creme or beige. Everything looks super clean and super expensive.

“Would you like anything to drink? Or eat?” He ask heading to the kitchen after placing your coats on the rack.

“Wine… although ive probably drunk enough” you giggle taking a seat on the couch and he follows with two wine glasses and the bottle. But Nanami always had the best wine and knew the best pairings.

Downing the first cup you lick your lips until you feel his fingers brushing down hair with the rest. When you look over at him hes already stairing at you… admiring and its pure love. Everything starts to feel surreal and you really remember the last time you were with him— alone.

Can we still love on each other?

“Do you still love me?” You ask curiously before you have time to even realize what youre saying and he doesnt even look phased.

“Did you ever stop?” He questions looking at you over his wine glass setting it back on the coffee table next to the bottle looking away to hide the look in his eyes. Sighing you rest your cup next to his, lip gloss staining the glass.

Can we still touch on eachother.

Reaching up to play with his tie being unkept from him fiddling with it you only loosen it further unbuttoning the top 3 buttons just like you did when you two were still— fuck.

You freeze but that doesnt discourage him feeling the coolness of your hands through the shirt bringing his full attention to you and youve completely taken over all of his senses.

Can we still not judge each other?

You still never answered the question just focused on his tie and froze. He curses at himself.

I make it awkward.

“I…im still inlove with you kento, never stopped” you finally say looking up at him glossy eyes and thats all he needs leaning forward placing his lips on yours the taste of alcohol and cherry lip gloss makes him melt. He kisses you delicately, scared to scare you off and even if you regret it the taste of your lips one last time would get him through a lifetime of over time.

Its when you sigh and pull his bottom lip in between your teeth is when he decides he needs you and he needs your weight on him. Pulling you so youre straddling his lap his hands slowly roaming your body still scared of sudden movements scaring you and wanting to map out every curve of your body missing the way you felt. Getting so lost in your brown skin he almost looses his thought. The one thing he promised hed tell you if he ever seen you again.

I can not love everybody

And hes confessing like a sinner in church or a man on judgement day because you are everything holy and he was ready to admit.

“I could never be with anybody after you, no woman is you”

But you isn't anybody

“You took my heart with you when you left and only left a tiny piece left. And with that tiny piece all i could do is think about how much im in love with you. Want to be with you forever just us two” he breathes looking you dead in your eye so you know hes serious. Serious about you. Serious about this. Serious about yall.

You look at me different

You couldnt help but to see a different side of him. And not just the jokester side you seen earlier but a more mature Nanami Kento, a more considerate and loving Nanami kento. His lover boy era perhaps?! The heat pools inbetween your legs more than it had been all night as you two keep eye contact.

So I let you see my body

Pulling your dress over your head revealing the black lace matching panties and bra set he adjust in the seat.

“Proove it”

Body, body, body

“Youre going to be the absolute death of me, im sure of it” he admits his lips going to your neck trailing down the valley of your breast hands groping and squeezing them. His tongue licks over your cloth covered nipple pinching the other one causing a slight moan. Grabbing your hands to place on his shirt the signal to keep unbuttoning his hands go to your cheeks cupping as he begins kissing you harder tongue infiltrating your mouth.

And now we don't speak at all Now I regret it all

4 years without this? How could you? You were still absolutely positively madly in love with him. Missing him so much your lips dont disconnect at all even when he stands to walk toward his bedroom your fingers running through his hair at the nape of his neck pulling a soft moan from him. You don’t register the movement until your back is being layed in the softness of his bed.

Still, it was worth it

I would do it again

His lips trail down the valley of your breast again making sure to savor the taste of your brown skin before his tongue swirls over your brown nipple listening to your soft pants. He switches over to the other one, your lace bra being unhooked in the front by his mouth… he always did have a talented mouth.

His lips continue their assault until they reach your panties kissing your lips through the lace earning a shiver before his teeth are pulling your underwear off and damn what a sight.

You can feel him breathing over your core making you nervous wanting to close your legs unaware of the way hes using his photographic memory to remember how gorgeous you look right now.

“Ken— mmph” his tongue glides against your folds with ease and your sure hes thought about this often because the way his tongue is delicated over every spot that makes you tingle is driving you insane.

“Missed the way you taste sweetheart” he indulges using his first two fingers to open up your slick folds giving him access to what he really wants. His tongue swirls around once, twice, three times before fully latching onto your clit pulling a loud whine from you.

Music to his ears he wants to make you do it again, show you hes sorry, beg for another chance fuck he was on his knees face burried into your dripping cunt and nothing outside of the two of you mattered right now. Using those two fingers he presses into your core moaning as you squeeze your legs around his head the need to cum building up when he twist his fingers with a delicious curl.

“K-kento i… im fuck” you begin writhing under his mouth hands gripping at the sheets as he keeps a slow sensual pace making sure you feel the apology. But hes a selfish man, he thinks, because the minute you cum hes lapping up every drop yet still wont give you a second to recover. You deserved it.

His tongue replaces his fingers, fucking you as his thumb swirls around your clit watching every face of exstacy you make, the way the lights from the city shine through the room bouncing off the soft brown of your skin.

He just wants one more only one and when your hands tangle in his blonde hair holding him in place forcing him to watch you fall apart on his tongue his dick twitches in his boxers precum spilling from the tip.

“NANAMI” you shout the highest pitch hes ever heard your voice before orgasming on his lips his movements never stopping as he pushes you into your third one of the night, he needed your taste engraved in his brain… and tongue. The sounds of your heavy breaths grabs his attention and he grins watching the heat of the room make your hair curl back up with a slight friz. Just the way he loved it.

Though hes shocked when you lurch forward pulling him by his cheeks to place an open mouth his tongue swirling around his mouth tasting yourself and a hint of alcohol.

Hes nervous when you pull back, afraid you may regret it and be ready to walk out until your trembling fingers push his unbuttoned shirt off over the planes of his muscles taking your time feeling them even when his shirt falls to the floor.

Next is his belt buckle and he feels like hes shaking from anticipation watching you do this. He cant help himself and leans back in for another kiss your lipgloss long gone. Sliding everything off in one push your eyes widen at his length thats dripping precum in a way youve never seen before that makes you lick your lips wanting to get every drop but he leans forward pulling your chin up to him.

“Maybe later love,” and the nickname hurts. He always called you that after being away on a long business trip or extremely long nights at work when he strolled in after midnight.

He grabs his thick length pumping a few times before lining it up with your core and the air is thick again. With anticipation…

Longing…

Need…

Unspoken apologies…

I know you hurt me, but

But this is deeper than friendship now

Nodding giving him the okay he slides in making you gasp and he captures your lips in a groan the burn of him stretching you out as his dick slides in is welcomed. Its like your walls were made just for him. Though you dont expect the string of apologies he begins letting out and tears prick your eyes as you pull him close one hand on his spine the other tangled in his hair.

Let's keep it awkward

He doesnt move for a second and you understand the hesitation. You knew what this meant. He just needed a little motivation.

I think we're ready for it, yeah, mmh

Squeezing you core he groans sending a sharp thrust into you burrying his face in your shoulder. He slowly pulls back just to the tip sliding back in with the same sharp thrust releasing a grunt before picking up your thigh pressing it against your chest. The gasp leaves your mouth as you struggle to think straight nails digging into his back pulling him closer. It seems your claws in his back does nothing but turn him on more.

His lips begin kissing down your neck sucking and leaving a trail of hickeys because even if he couldnt have you past tonight he would leave his mark and let it be known you were his until they stop on your breast. His tongue laps at your perky nipples sucking until he pulls a delicious moan from you and your hands find his hair again. He loved when you pulled it and kept it long enough for you to get a grip but short enough so it wasnt always in his eyes.

“K-kento” you stutter breathlessly your legs shaking as the first orgasm from his dick rips through you yet he shows no signs of stopping or slowing down. Just keeps fucking you through it.

Well this was a different level of deepness.

“Fuck i love you” he grunts again with slow powerful strokes making sure his pelvis hits yours every time as his hands trace the outline of your body squeezing whereever he can. His lips meet yours once more in a sloppy kiss as he drops more weight on you to keep you in place. The only sounds are a combination of your moans and the wet slapping sounds. A particular thrust of his hips makes you feel like he’s digging you out and your back arches off the bed only for his body to press into you.

“Fuck, tell me how good it feels sweetheart” he practically begs but youre still trying to catch your breath from the first orgasm making him release your nipple and come back to your shoulder peppering it with kisses. “Tell me how much you missed this…us” he adds before snaking a arm down between the both of you and finding your clit.

“N-nan… shit… nami” your words are broken and you cant even keep your eyes focused on one spot and he grins into your neck at his name rolling off your tongue acknowledging where the nickname from earlier came from. His thumb goes at a sensualy slow place but the pressure hes applying has your legs locking up behind his back and he delivers the final blow.

Pulling your chin down to find your eyes and he smiles wholesomely with a wicked glint in his eyes making you give him complete eye contact unable to move.

“Cum with me” he begs and demands all at once his thrust a bit sporadic and loosing rhythym as the speed on your clit pics up as well the coil building in you before finally snapping and your gushing all over him as ropes of his load shoot into you consequences be damned. He collapses next to you pulling your body ontop of his chest rapidly rising and falling. You two are silent, a comfortable one before he extends his arm rumaging in the drawer next to his bed and you close your eyes fighting the sleep.

You open your eyes once more when you feel him wrapping a scarf around your hair that had completely curled back up due to the heat and sweat from your bodies. Your only response is to smile and place a kiss on his chest which he chuckles at and places a kiss on your forehead tracing his fingers up and down your spine

Let's keep it awkward

Waking up to the sound of the keyboard you yawn rubbing your eyes to see a glass of water and 2 tylenol on the night stand infront of you. The realization dawns on you of where your at but how could you forget you knew that scent of detergent, the cozyness of the sheets and the fact that this was your side of the bed because the vent was next to it meaning youd be getting all the heat first… this was your ex boyfriend Nanami kentos bedroom and you were completely naked except for the pale blue sheet covering your lower half.

It may seem silly but the sound of the keyboard brought tears to your eyes, all the hard work you did on healing. No amount of sza, jhene aiko nor beyonces lemonade album would get you through this one because you knew what it was and allowed it. Nanami was a workaholic— the exact reason for your split. Dates postponed with no exact date, romantic evenings cut short, sleeping alone for several nights as the computer held his attention… What hurt the most was being stood up on your anniversary.

Slowly rising up you rub your eyes and begin looking for you clothes ready to make your great escape.

“Good morning sweetheart howd you sleep?” He ask the audacity to even call you sweetheart as if everything was back to when you two were still in a relationship makes your heart clench with pain. When you don’t respond the sound of the keyboard stops and you feel the bed shift flinching before he can touch you.

“No i know that look youre going to run, just like last time” he speaks in such a timbre that steals your breath knowing your causing him pain. “If all you wanted was a quick fuck you—“ he begins to say and you scoff finally looking at him eyes set ablaze.

“How fucking dare you?! Thats all i was to you Kento! A quick fuck to burn through your stress and then right back to your silly little papers and projects and work. You were always drowning yourself in work so deep that i had to convince myself you actually didnt hate me! All you do is work and when youre not working youre picking up overtime. You placed your job over me countless times! The only time you thought about me was to reschedule what we had planned…. 14 date nights and a anniversary kento! FOURTEEN!” You finally yell feeling a weight lift off your shoulders at the speach you rehearsed 3 dozen times in the mirror.

His shoulder slump as his lips form a line looking for the right words to say. What could he say he was over the moon waking up next to you in bed and now he felt disgusted with himself. Nothing was worse than the regret on your face.

You begin looking for your clothes again and that sets him into action he shuffles off the bed pulling you into his arms your head against his chest his heartbeat racing.

“Im sorry” released the flood gate of tears youd been holding back as if he knew he holds you tighter and sighs.

“Im sorry for neglecting you, im sorry for not putting you on the pedestal you deserve to be on, im sorry for anytime ive ever made you question my love for you, im sorry for all the dissapointments and most of all im sorry for waiting this long. Im an idiot and every day without you was hell i thought what i would do differently if i had the chance once more and i—“ he stops sitting down on the bed so he could pull your eyes to his covered by his thick framed glasses.

“Karma is beating my ass with cursed energy because for every day we werent together all i could think about was every time i canceled and how i wish i could just have 1 night, id make it all right” he confesses with wide eyes wiping your tears away with his thumbs.

Your eyes flicker to his laptop and he follows before showing me the screen and there’s about 6 tabs open. His email, flights, hotels, car rentals and clothing stores.

I know I'm ready for it, you feel me?

“I was telling my boss im taking the next month off 14 dates is alot of time sweetheart… 14 too many and i know. We always talking about escaping to malaysia, trying all the foods, shopping breakfast on the beach and dancing under the moonlight until 2am. Everything’s booked and i know youd need time to pack and get your hair done i already messaged your hairstylist who can see you in 4 hours hopefully after we’ve had breakfast and agreed to the trip” he pleads with hopeful eyes revealing his hand to show you, not just tell you how apologetic he was but to show you.

Your heart begins racing, palms sweaty and damn did this man have you weak in the knees! He was doing everything right, saying everything right and he looked so fine the way his boxers hugged his muscular frame and okay maybe a man with a plan turned you on anybody could say words but to put action behind it… And like this? Oh baby he really thought about it, kinda like you factory reset him.

“Heres my card pay for whatever you need and a key… to my place” you never really heard him stumble over his words before until now and his nervousness is showing in a boyish way youd never seen before who wouldve thought stone wall one expression Nanami kento here stumbling over you? “So what do you say?”

Can we still love on each other?

Can we still touch on each other?

Can we still not judge each other?

So… what do you say?

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torukmaktoskxawng · 7 months

Text

tsamsiyu ta'em - nothing is lost

Masterlist - part twelve

Summary: The Sky People make their move. The Metkayina rise up against the threat of their home.

Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character

Tag: #tsamsiyu ta'em fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 14k+

Warnings: canon-compliant, mature language, slow burn, polyamory, found family, cool aunt agenda, rushed, time skips, fluff, angst, major character death, child endangerment, etc.

Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @motheroffae @undeniableadrenaline @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @sucker4angstt @inolaphoenix @ilovechickenwings @tojisleftarm @andyfromku @ivysully

A/N: Thank you for your patience! At the very least, I'm not George R.R. Martin, who is 12 years late on the new book 🤣

This... is a very long chapter. Strap in. You guys deserve a treat for waiting for me 💕

The village was eerily quiet. Yes, it was raining and gloomy again, but something smelled off in the air when Kayla took a deep breath, her avatar nose smelling more than her human one could even dream of. It was an odd hour of the day for the Metkayina to be completely absent as she walked down the slippery pathways, her dog tags cold from the weather and clicking softly from where they dangled around her neck, the safari jacket she had thrown on that morning soaking through to her skin as the rain pressed on. Kayla scoffed to herself and wanted nothing more than to peel the useless piece of clothing off since it was now uncomfortable, but the rifle in her arms kept her from doing so. She intended to walk to the Sully marui that morning to ask Jake to borrow his cleaning supplies for his weapons, wishing to run maintenance on her own AK, but upon walking into her brother's home, she is surprised and confused to find all her nieces and nephews keeping warm inside but neither Jake nor Neytiri was around.

Tuk got up to greet her aunt with a hug around her waist, and as Kayla pat her back, Neteyam helpfully took the gun out of Kayla's arms while the older woman looked around, squinting her eyes, "Neteyam, where's your parents?"

"The tulkun returned again and they were afraid of something," the teenage boy lowered his head, ears drooping and voice laced with concern, "Mom and Dad went out with the clan leaders and a party to see what was wrong."

Kayla's eyes widen while looking around, now easily seeing the concern on all of the children's faces. Instinctively, she didn't want to assume any danger and immediately sought out to comfort her nieces and nephews, "Alright, well, maybe we should get some food going for when they get back. I'm sure it's nothing."

No one spoke as they got to work strengthening the embers of the hearth and preparing a meal. Kayla sat down with the teenagers while gathering Tuk in her lap, watching Kiri prepare some fish over the fire. Something hung heavy in the air. Perhaps it was the moisture or the thunder off in the distance, but no one bothered to speak up and question it. The mood was sour as the Sullys patiently waited for the patriarch and matriarch of the family to return. Kayla noticed that Lo'ak was the only one unable to look his aunt in the eyes as they all sat around, worried about whatever might be waiting for the party of Na'vi warriors, but she decided not to ask about it. She had a feeling that since this situation was tulkun-related, her youngest nephew was likely glum about yesterday's events involving Payakan.

Unaware of how much time had passed, all Sullys perked their heads up at the sound of crows and yips, indicating the Na'vi conversing with one another from a distance. The village began to stir with life once more, and before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Tsireya had run into the Sully marui, out of breath and hair drenched from the rain.

She looked frightened, appearing far younger than a thirteen-year-old girl, "The party has returned-- Your sa'sem are alright," she's quick to reassure Lo'ak and his siblings before her eyes darted back to Kayla, "But my father has just declared war on the Sky People!"

"What?" Kayla hastily stood up, dumping Tuk into Neteyam's lap when he wasn't as quick to stand. Kayla's heart had plummeted into her stomach, dread beginning to rise the little hairs running up and down her back, neck, and arms.

"They are gathering for a meeting right now!"

"Show me," Kayla ordered lowly, voice full of authority and determination setting in her gaze. Tsireya nods and runs back out of the pod. Kayla doesn't hesitate to follow.

Neteyam set his baby sister down in front of the fire as he and his other siblings stood to follow their aunt, "Tuk, stay here until someone comes back and gets you."

"But--"

"Stay here!"

Kayla could hear her older niece and nephews run out of the marui to join her, but her feet didn't slow as she walked with a destination in mind, unwilling to stop for anything. She followed Tsireya through the village. As they got closer to the communal canopy, more and more Metkayina emerged from their homes, and a growing crowd formed. It quickly became dense, the area full of Na'vi as Tsireya and Kayla drew closer, lightly scooting past other men and women to get to the center. Kayla spots something in the crowd and reaches out to grab Tsireya's shoulder, stopping both of them in their tracks. Kayla's eyes had narrowed in on the sight of Neytiri and Jake, standing at the front of the crowd and looking as though they had both seen ghosts. By the time Neteyam and his siblings joined Kayla, she already had a goal for them in mind.

"Get to your parents," she sternly told the teenagers, nodding in Jake and Neytiri's direction, "Tsireya, let's see if we can get closer. Break."

The small group scatters, going separate ways and weaving through the crowd. Tsireya and Kayla stick together until they find themselves standing at the very front of the gathering, apart from Rotxo and Ao'nung, who stand in front of them. The two young warriors didn't look very happy and while Kayla looked around, she finally spotted Tonowari and Ronal. They stood at the center of the crowd, standing over the rest. The tsahik appeared distraught and torn, streaks of rain and tears mixing while a hidden rage swam in her eyes. The olo'eyktan stood beside her, enraged, barely keeping in his anger while furiously gripping the spear in his hand. Jake has moved into Kayla's line of sight, right in front of Ronal. When the avatar woman looked around for the rest of her family, she spotted Kiri silently comforting Neytiri, the Na'vi woman looking distressed and welcoming her daughter's hand. Neteyam was off to the side of them, holding onto a device that drove Kayla's blood to freeze. She recognized the design of humans from anywhere, a long and large spear-like contraption with red, metal encasings to shield the mechanics inside from saltwater. A tracking device.

Ronal confirmed Kayla's suspicions while crying out in anger so that the entire village could hear, "My Spirit Sister and her baby have been murdered by the Sky People!"

A small sob can be heard off to the side of Kayla and when she looked down, she was quick to throw her arm around Tsireya while the girl wept for her mother's tulkun. Meanwhile, cries of anguish and rage emerged from the crowd, snarling and cursing the humans at the top of their lungs so they could be heard over the rain.

Tonowari exclaims angrily over their cries, "This war has come to us. We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people. But it was over the horizon, far away. Now it is here!"

They all respond to their chief with cries of war, snarling menacingly while baring their fangs and displaying their tongues as he did.

The crowd continues to rile themselves up for battle while Jake is desperate to calm them down, "No, you don't-- You gotta understand how the Sky People think! They don't care about the Great Balance!"

"We do not answer to Sky People!" One warrior shouted menacingly to Jake from the back of the crowd, and an encore of agreeing, snarling Metkayina responded in kind. Kayla flinched, ears lowering as the familiar whispers, snarls, and stares suddenly overwhelmed her. Jake's eyes flick drastically over the head of Na'vi and quickly lock onto hers, to which she silently says what she had been saying all along by gritting her teeth behind a closed mouth and narrowing her eyes at him.

'I told you so. Demon Siblings.'

Neteyam was desperate to control the crowd in his father's favor, waving the large, red tracking device in his hand while pleading, "Listen! Listen to him!"

"The Sky People are not gonna stop. This is only the beginning," Jake continues to try negotiating, directing his attention back to the clan leaders standing before him, "You gotta tell your tulkun to leave! You gotta tell them to go far away!"

"Leave?" Ronal echoed the word with a resounding scoff of sorrow and disbelief, "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"

"We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" Another warrior behind her exclaims and the Metkayina begin another wave of snarls and hisses.

"No, no, no, no... If you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you!" Jake shouts over the crowd, "They will destroy everything that you love!" His voice cracks in desperation, angrily motioning to Ronal's baby bump while looking her dead in the eye. The tsahik instinctively placed a gentle hand on her stomach as all of her people began shouting angrily to Jake, all the while he kept trying to talk over them.

"We will fight!"

"No! You hear my words!"

"We will fight!"

"Hear my words!"

"Stay calm. Stay calm!" Neteyam pleads to those who stood closest to him. Meanwhile, over his shoulder, his mother remained eerily quiet. She glances around at all the angry Metkayina, all of them anxious for a fight, anxious to protect their home. It was all too familiar to Neytiri, overwhelmed with that familiar dread and grief for her Hometree. Her older son continues to try and negotiate alongside her husband, drowning out her thoughts as he shouts, "Listen to my father!"

"Damn it!" Jake was frantic when nothing he said appeared to slow the Na'vi down, desperate for leverage until his eyes zeroed in on the large tracking device in Neteyam's hands. Quickly, he dives forward.

"He speaks the truth!" Neteyam is unable to say more as his father snatches the device out of his hands, the fast movement driving Kayla to straighten in alarm as her brother races to the center of the crowd, stepping up over everyone and raising the device in the air, silencing the entire village with his act and grabbing their attention. The clambering died down and Kayla couldn't help but notice Ronal reach for Tonowari in the heavy silence, holding onto his arm out of fright until he opened his hand without looking back at his wife. Wordlessly, Ronal slips her hand in his, a perfect fit, their conjoined knuckles brushing against her baby bump as they stare at the device in Jake's hand with caution.

"You tell the tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death. And call for me or my sister, we'll silence it."

Eyes look between Jake and Kayla, and it took a lot of willpower for the sister not to curl in her shoulders and try to hide. It helped that Tsireya looked up at Kayla with hope in her eyes as if the avatar woman was capable of grabbing the stars. Kayla faintly smiles down at the girl but it disappears just as fast while Jake continues, "Saving their lives, that's all that matters. Right? Saving your family."

Tonowari peers around at all his people, cautious, his anger beginning to fade as he's left with begrudging acceptance. Looking down at Ronal last, his mate briefly flicks her eyes up to him before they close and she gives a brief nod, clutching his hand tightly for a moment to silently share her opinion.

Finally, the great olo'eyktan steps up to Jake, overlooking the crowd and raising his spear, speaking softer but with more weight in his words, "Tell the tulkun."

Ronal briefly lets go of his hand and turns to her people, "Go. Go!"

Shouts echo off one another as the chosen warriors leave the gathering and journey out into the reef, calling their respective ilu and tsurak. Tsireya turns to see where she had last seen Lo'ak in the crowd, only to find him already walking away. Neteyam also sees his brother exit and an all-knowing gaze washes over before he moves to stomp after Lo'ak. Tsireya had left Kayla's side amidst the chaos of people upon watching both Sully brothers disappear before she could get to them, sensing what was about to happen.

Kayla looks around as the crowd begins to disperse, and already her family has left her alone, moving in separate directions. Her head turns to each one, wondering which way to go first, and who to follow. Kiri had run off to get Tuk while Jake brought Neytiri away to talk privately. Her hesitance to choose where to go causes her to stall and she's suddenly aware of Tonowari and Ronal stepping down onto the pathway, beelining toward her.

Tonowari's solemn gaze keeps Kayla still in her tracks, unable to move. He stared down at her with purpose, voice low so that only they could hear, "Now it is our war."

Dread takes over Kayla once more, adding to the cold of the rain on her skin. Ears lowered under the chief's scrutiny, her eyes briefly turned to Ronal. The tsahik was still clearly devastated by the loss of her Spirit Sister, ears drooping and frown trembling. Kayla opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find the right words to say, the only thing ever coming out in a hushed whisper, "I'm so sorry..."

She regrettably pulls away, knowing that she would not be good company while Ronal mourns. Kayla isn't able to look away from the clan leaders until she's forced to watch where she's going, turning to look ahead and find her brother. Jake and Neytiri were outside the communal canopy, off to the side to avoid any traffic going in and out. When Kayla approached them, Jake held out the tracking device to her.

"You can disarm these things, right?"

Kayla grabbed the tracker and inspected it, going back into marine mode, "Looks simple enough if we run into more. What happened out there?"

"Bad things. I'll tell you later," Jake shook his head, defeated, "RDA is definitely closing in. I need you to either break your link tonight or radio Norm. Let him know what's going on."

"You got it."

He looks around, "Where are the kids?"

Both Kayla and Neytiri look around while the former answers, "I saw them leave. I know at least one of them went to check on Tuk. We left her at home."

Neytiri didn't appear convinced when she turned her head back to Kayla, "They left without saying anything?"

"I assumed you knew where they were going. Tsireya seemed to know. She went after them."

All three adults fall into silence before they agree to go and find the children. They stick together while looking throughout the village, asking around. At first, no one seemed willing to help them, and the small glances at Jake and Kayla were the only indicator as to why, much to Jake's annoyance and Kayla's inner smugness toward proving her brother right. Neytiri hissed at those who were openly unhelpful and went her own way, down to the ilu pens. Jake and Kayla are quick to follow her, staying behind her so as to not get in her way as they search for the kids.

Eventually, they found a boy who occasionally hangs out with Ao'nung. Neytiri doesn't hesitate to question him, "Have you seen my children?"

The teenage boy looks up and his eyes widen at the sight that was Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite. He's quick to answer her, stumbling over his words, "I saw Ao'nung and Rotxo with them just a minute ago. They took off."

"Dad, I-- I mean Devil Dog. Do you read me?"

Kayla and Jake quickly pick up the sound of Lo'ak's voice coming from their respective earpieces and quickly grow concerned as to why he would call them. Neytiri is unaware of their sudden alertness as she continues to interrogate Ao'nung's friend, "Did you see where they went?"

"-- It's Eagle Eye, do you copy?"

"They went outside the reef." The boy responds, only to be ignored by Neytiri when Jake taps her arm to get her attention, still focused on his son's voice while reaching up to his throat mic to respond.

"Yeah, Lo'ak?"

"Dad!" Neytiri is quick to understand what's happening and pulls her own listening device back in her ear to hear the conversation. Lo'ak's voice was frantic and scared, "We're with a tulkun that's under attack. Killer ship's inbound. It's about two klicks out."

"Shit," Kayla muttered while Neytiri grabs Jake's arms, eyes widening in terror.

Jake's voice is laced with that same terror, "Who's with you?"

"It's all of us! Ao'nung and Tsireya, too." Neytiri gasps silently, visibly wincing at the idea of all of her children in danger, "We're at Three Brothers Rocks."

Neytiri's hand covers her mouth while Jake spouts instructions, "You get to cover, and you do not engage. All right? You hear me? Do not engage, we're comin'."

"Yes, sir."

Jake sprints back into the center of the village, his wife and his sister hot on his heels. Other warriors run with them when they sense their fear and alarm, all racing to get to the olo'eyktan's marui. They yip and call out to Tonowari as they draw closer, the chief looking up from where he sat inspecting a fishing net at the lip of the pod. He's instantly alert to see Toruk Makto racing to him, Ronal soon appears at the entrance to see what the commotion is about.

"The kids are under attack!" The chief immediately rises to his feet as Jake explains, "The kids are under attack. They were defending a tulkun. It's your kids, too."

The weight of the news causes Ronal to spin back around and immediately grab her weapons from within the marui. Tonowari tilts his head to Jake for clarification, "The demon ship?"

"Yes! We gotta go!" Jake yells back as he, Neytiri, and Kayla race off toward their own home.

"Weapons. Sound the alarm!"

The Metkayina warriors yip and runoff, spreading the news as they went, drawing more and more Na'vi to start yipping in unison, growing louder and louder in number. As they draw closer to the Sully marui, Neytiri and Kayla mimic bird sounds to call their respective ikran, seeing the familiar distant sight of wings flying toward them from the forest. They then follow Jake into the pod, gathering as many weapons as they can carry. Jake hands Kayla's rifle to her before grabbing his tomahawk and slipping it into the sheath on his back. He then grabs his arsenal vest and flings it over his shoulder, kneeling down and helping Kayla divide all the ammunition they have on them.

Neytiri grabs her father's bow and holds it to her, breathing in deeply and willing for Eywa to protect her children through her. She then grabs her sheath of arrows and turns around, briefly pausing as Jake catches her eye. The parents share a knowing look and a nod before sprinting back outside with Kayla closely following them. The rest of the village is alive with alarm, dozens and dozens of Metkayina with spears diving into the water below, summoning their tsurak and following their clan leaders out beyond the reef. Jake follows them into the water to grab his own tsurak while two ikran land on the pathways for Neytiri and Kayla to mount. Gracefully, both women take to the air as the banshees squawk, holding onto their reins with one hand and clutching their weapons in the other. They quickly swoop down to fly just above the army of tsurak as the skimwing slowly rise out of the water and fan out their gliding wings, one by one. Neytiri raises her bow up and gives her best war cry to which Jake echos back from below. Ronal looks up and sees Neytiri and Kayla astride their banshees and ululates, adjusting the spear in her hand to which her whole village responds behind her as their army takes off, ready to defend their children and their home.

"Kayla, Neytiri," both women focus on the voice in the earpiece. Jake gives them instructions when he has their attention, "I need you up top, using the clouds for cover. Be my eyes from above and wait for my signal."

"Copy that," Kayla presses her throat mic and then pulls up on her handlebar, making a demand in her head while Thena simply follows it. The ikran squawks and further rises into the sky, breaking away from the army of tsurak and Metkayina. Neytiri yips and pulls her ikran to follow them, the two women disappearing into the clouds until Jake is unable to see them.

They flew through the clouds for a while until they made it to their destination. Neither of them could see Three Brothers Rocks from this height, but they knew their whereabouts. Kayla had Thena slowly descend, just ever so slightly beneath the clouds so she could get a visual, looking through the scope of her rifle to look down toward the ocean with a bird's eye view. She saw the three large peaks of rocks sprouting out of the ocean that Lo'ak had described and once she got her bearings, she proceeded to look for anything else in the surrounding area.

It wasn't hard to spot the hunting ship, large enough for even larger prey, like whales, floating not too far away from where Lo'ak had pinged his location. Several speed boats armed to the teeth with harpoons and sound cannons lined up around the front of the ship, likely as the first line of defense, and it was hard to miss the submersibles diving down into the water, forming large splashes and ripples around the ship. Kayla recognized the two gunships sitting silently on the hunting ship's platform, and she silently thanked God that for now, the rotors didn't appear to be moving. What actually worried her, however, was the half a dozen ikran idly flying around or sitting idle on the ship, sporting modern-looking saddles and pouches. In her experience knowing the behavior behind these animals, they don't appear alert or battle-hungry for the time being. They were more or less bored looking and basking in the sun while waiting for their riders.

She leaned away from her scope to press her fingers into her throat mic, "Devil Dog, do you read me?"

Jake's voice soon answered her, "Go ahead, Desert Fox."

"I got eyes on the target. One WIGE ship, and several boats lined up in front. They have idle subs and SeaWasps on board. Can't get a headcount of personnel. There's about five or six banshees decked out in military gear, riderless."

"Copy that. Stay hidden with Clever Arrow for the time being."

"Lima Charlie."

"We're just approaching Eagle Eye's last location. Stand by."

Kayla doesn't respond, taking a deep breath instead and using the strap on her rifle to prop the weapon behind her back, letting it dangle. She looked over to Neytiri as the Na'vi woman and her ikran glided close beside her, "We stay up here."

"And what about my children?" Neytiri snapped, though Kayla didn't take it to heart, knowing the anger wasn't directed at her. She could only imagine what her sister-in-law was going through, stressed and worried sick for her babies.

Before she could answer or provide Neytiri with a form of comfort, a strange voice, much different from any voice Kayla knew, came in through her earpiece, addressing her brother, "Jake, tell your friends to stand down."

Kayla quickly held up one hand to let Neytiri know she was getting something, then cupped her other hand over her earpiece, trying to pinpoint the strange southern drawl that had intercepted their radio chatter, "You want your kids back, you come out alone. You know better than to test my resolve."

Kayla's blood began to freeze, her heart hammering in her chest to keep it all pumping. The voice had to have been Quaritch to address Jake as if they knew each other, and even if it wasn't the colonel, whoever it was had Kayla's nieces and nephews. Whoever it was had Lo'ak captured at the very least, considering he was the only one out of the Sully children to have a mic and earpiece. The suspected Quaritch continued to speak, "I took you under my wing, Jake. You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men. Good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."

"Just wait one!" Jake finally responded, his voice deeply disturbed and desperate.

Silence fell over the radio chatter, and Kayla could only wait with bated breath. Neytiri and her ikran were visibly growing distressed and irritated, flying in short, unpredictable turns from left to right as if trying to burn off their pent-up energy. Kayla gave the other woman a wider berth while trying not to appear anxious herself, her quiet pants and rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears, along with the wind.

"Offer's fixin' to expire. What's it gonna be?" Quaritch asked after a short minute.

"Check your fire. I'm comin' out."

"Fuck," Kayla muttered, turning to Neytiri, "We should drop lower. Jake is approaching alone."

Neytiri barely gives Kayla enough time to finish her sentence as she leans forward and internally orders her banshee to dive. Kayla orders Thena to do the same, and together they lower through the clouds, trying to remain hidden while moving in for a closer look.

They lower a significant amount, flying out from behind a small mountain peak sticking out of the water, soft gray clouds drifting apart to reveal the battlefield site below. From this distance, it appears everything is at a standstill, and there weren't any indicators to suggest otherwise. Neytiri quickly presses into her throat mic, "Ma Jake, what is happening? Ma Jake?"

Kayla shifts her feet in the footholds of her ikran, Thena jerking her head to share the tension she felt in their bond. Jake didn't answer Neytiri, which worried both women further, unsure of how to proceed. Both looked at one another, thinking the same thing. Do they stay or attack? Does Jake have a plan?

The wait felt like ages, but eventually, movement could be seen down below, and it was so large that Neytiri and Makayla could clearly see what was happening. A large form erupted from below the waters, rising up and leaping over the hull of the WIGE ship, slamming down with a large bellow and jostling the entire ship along with its passengers. A tulkun bull, young and smaller than ones Kayla has seen, but still large enough to give those idle gunships a run for their money. As the tulkun wiggled around on deck, flailing his fins and tail around to knock over or crush any Sky People or Recom, Kayla finally managed to spot a missing fin among the chaos. From listening to Lo'ak and Neteyam's stories, she was able to identify who this fearsome creature was. Payakan.

For a moment, the Sky People and Recom avatars were distracted by the whale-like animal that had quite literally flopped up on deck, making the mistake of disengaging from the Na'vi as they turned their boats and guns around on the tulkun outcast. Rapid gunshots could be heard from all the way up in the sky, and Kayla and Neytiri could only look on in amazement. Payakan bellows again, louder, echoing in Kayla's ears even from this distance, startling the Recoms' idle ikran as they all spread their wings and took flight out of fear.

As the humans were too busy trying to defend themselves and deal with Payakan, Jake was finally pinpointed in the chaos. Kayla had only managed to see him when he drove his tsurak forward and the skimwing took flight, spreading its wide, orange gliders, charging for battle by his lonesome across a dark blue ocean. Suddenly, several other tsuraks took flight, spreading their wings out one by one until the battlefield below Kayla and Neytiri looked like flying ants charging toward a toy boat in the bathtub. Amidst the charge, Payakan was seen diving back into the water, using his fins as leverage to push his weight off the ship. With the tulkun out of sight, the Sky People had turned back around and found themselves fumbling to meet up against the Na'vi as the Metkayina came up behind them using the element of surprise. Rapid gunfire sounded out, now aimed at the army of skimwings, who responded by folding their wings back up and diving down into the water to escape the bullets.

With both sides now engaged in battle, Kayla turned to Neytiri and gestured with her arm, "Let's go!"

Neytiri screeches out a war cry and together they dive down to join the fight, their ikran crowing in response. The banshees fold in their wings to dive faster, the wind whipping wildly in Kayla's face and ears while she held on tight to Thena with one hand and gripped her AK in the other, primed and ready.

Two primary targets took to the sky around the same time Neytiri and Kayla reached the battle. The Recoms had mounted their ikran and were flying up to greet the enemy, with the gunships now following their example. Neytiri broke off from Kayla and flew to the gunship as it was shooting down into the water to get to the Metkayina, approaching fast on her target from above. She raised her bow and aimed, expertly shooting an arrow into the cockpit, shattering the glass while the arrow lodged into the pilot's chest. The gunship crashed into nearby rocks and blew up in a cloud of fire and smoke, Neytiri celebrating her small victory with chants of ululating as she flew by.

By now, the Metkayina have finally begun their assault, their tsurak springing out of the water and leaping above the smaller boats, the Na'vi riders spearing any Sky People on board before dragging them down into the depths of the ocean below. The skimwings themselves have attacked alongside their riders, opening their rows of teeth to any unsuspecting humans when they lept out of the water. Jake flew around and opened fire, emptying rounds of ammunition into a patrol boat until it burst into flames before swiftly turning his tsurak away from the explosion.

It was like the Sky People had finally woken up and begun to wreak havoc themselves, emptying bullets into any nearby Metkayina or tsurak and letting their bodies sink back into the waters. Rocket projectiles, machine guns, grenades, harpoons, and depth charges were used against spears and arrows, proven effective by the growing body count of Na'vi. It began to become an obstacle course for the tsurak as large plums of water sprang up all around them like erupting geysers, forcing the Na'vi to dodge and weave to avoid injury or worse. Jake managed to dodge the grenade launcher that formed these waves of geysers and took aim, shooting the driver of the patrol boat that the launcher was stationed on. With the driver dead, the boat sped into rocks and sent the rest of its crew flying before exploding. Jake took a minute to breathe and reload, grunting tiredly in his old age.

He was caught in a moment of weakness as a Recom dived down with their ikran from above, aiming their sights on his head, before a screech could be heard and the Recom avatar only managed to turn his head just in time to see Thena with her armed jaws spread wide before everything turned to black. Kayla grunts when her ikran makes an impact with the Recom's beast, holding tight as both banshees struggle and flap their wings against each other in the air. Kayla only heard the resounding crunch of the Recom's skull before Thena finally pushed away from the enemy ikran and disengaged. Jake had looked up just in time to see the Recom's headless body slide off its ikran's back and Kayla flew away above hers, a small smirk taking form on the proud brother's face. He looked away and brought his focus back into the fight, taking his tsurak and diving back down into the water.

Another gunship was about to take off from the platform of the hunting ship before Neytiri spotted it, swiftly taking it down and causing it to explode using only a single arrow. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees an enemy ikran pursuing her and she quickly turns her own banshee away. The Recom rider that followed her was none other than Quaritch, and like he had a score to settle, he began to open fire. Neytiri learned from past experience to have her ikran dodge and weave the bullets, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She knew she couldn't serpentine forever, and flashbacks of the last time she was shot out of the sky haunted the back of her mind, so she called out in short bursts of yips, yelping for assistance.

The backup came in the form of her husband, answering her distressed calls. Jake and his tsurak leap out of the water, flying right behind Quaritch, and roared as he began to open fire on the colonel. Quaritch takes evasive maneuvers, Neytiri forgotten, while he tries to avoid getting shot. He was only given a window of opportunity when Jake ran out of ammo and quickly had to stop and reload. Jake threw his empty clip over his shoulder and pats around his vest for more, only to come up empty aside from the dread now looming in his chest, "Oh, shit."

Meanwhile, Neytiri had flown back to aid Kayla in taking down the other Recoms flying around, the Forest woman using her ikran to make a large loop upside down as she aimed and fired an arrow into an enemy avatar. Kayla responded in kind by shooting down another Recom that was ready to go after Neytiri for killing his friend. Kayla looked around for more targets and saw another Recom shooting down into the water, presumable at a Metkayina and their tsurak. Kayla flew down to their aid, raining a hellfire of bullets into both the Recom and their ikran. The bodies of both banshee and avatar crashed into the water, and the Metkayina briefly turned around to glance at her pursuer's corpse.

It was Ronal, her spear missing and her heart skipping in her chest to see the demon that was trying to shoot her while she was helpless was now dead. Peering up through the ocean's surface, the tsahik could make out an image of Kayla and her ikran flying away with the enemy dead, distorted by the movement of water and unaware of Ronal's gratitude.

Kayla now turned to a particularly large shape forming in the water, deciding to finish off any survivors from the damage Payakan left in his wake. With the flick of his tail, he had sent a whole patrol boat into the propellor of the hunting ship, killing everyone on board the smaller boat as it burst into flames. Weirdly enough, the propellor fans began to kick into high gear, the flames of the explosion getting pulled through until the whole fan exploded as a result. Suddenly, the very large WIGE ship is pushed forward, going at high speed toward a scattering of rocks peeking out of the water as if the ship had been sabotaged from the inside. The vessel crashes, being thrown into the air while the rocks scrape along the underbelly, causing irreparable damage. The ship momentarily flies in the air before slowly crashing back down into the sea, worse for wear as it slows to a stop. Kayla noticed a surface boat with a harpoon holder welded into the bow of the vessel quickly picking up speed to avoid getting crushed by the large ship and decided to set her sights on its crewmembers. She leans forward as Thena picks up speed, flying toward the vessel at the same time Payakan appears to have noticed the small boat as well.

Elsewhere, Jake had to dive back into the water to avoid getting shot by Quaritch now that the colonel had the upper hand. When The Recom leader managed to lose sight of his target, Jake took the moment of opportunity to leap his tsurak out of the water and have the skimwing latch its razor-sharp teeth into the neck of Quaritch's ikran. Quaritch yells out, surprised and enraged as both tsurak and ikran struggle together, entangled while their riders shout out grunts and war cries, pushing and pulling to gain the upper hand with all their stubborn might. Quaritch is flung from his banshee, crashing into the water while Jake's tsurak drags the ikran into the depths before finally unlatching its teeth and letting go. The ikran swims then fly away upon surfacing, abandoning its master as Quaritch swims to the surface, gasping for air with his rifle in hand.

The harpoon vessel had begun to follow Payakan upon sighting him, and the tulkun swam alongside it until the harpoon was let loose. Payakan dove and shifted in the water, narrowly avoiding the harpoon before using the tusk-like structure on the bow of his head to spin and tangle the strong cable attached to the harpoon around him before further clamping his jaws around the cable for extra measure. He swims fast, faster than normal until he's dragging the whole boat behind him like an excited dog dragging his owner by the leash. The tulkun pulls the boat along for the ride until they get to another cluster of rocks poking out of the water, then swims around it until the boat is helplessly skimming toward its doom. The boat crashes and briefly floats in the air along with any crew member on board who had quickly grabbed a hold of something, before diving back into the water. The boat is miraculously still afloat, bobbing up and down in waves as the chaos subsides for now. The vessel looked as though it was floating dead in the water, with no engine or noise coming from its hull. The harpoon launcher was reloaded as they waited, looking around for any sight of the tulkun.

Payakan repeated his maneuver and breached the water, cable still in his mouth, as he lept over the small boat. The cable now wrapped securely around the boat, Payakan gave a quick tug until the cable dug into the metal of the boat and then began to sink deeper and deeper. The crew scrambles to duck down just as the cable comes crashing through, cutting everything in its path until it catches onto the harpoon launcher, a crewmate's arm caught right in between them.

Kayla was flying around Payakan's whereabouts and winced just as the cable cut through the man's arm and harpoon launcher, sending both flying and then crashing into the ocean below along with the severed arm. Kayla then dives down to finish off the survivors, aiming then firing at any humans that pose a threat. She spares one man among the wreckage, however, as he clearly appears to be a scientist, not a soldier. She could afford to spare one man to go crawling back to Ardmore and relay his horrific stories... but she wouldn't feel the loss if another Na'vi decided to finish him off instead.

~~~~~~~~~

The sky slowly turned dark as eclipse rolled around, the fires from prior explosives the only thing lighting up the war zone that transpired, turning everything red and orange in its wake. It was like a waking nightmare, a sky full of smoke and pollution, taken out of a dystopian novel. The eery silence was only filled by flickering fire, with no signs of Na'vi or man in sight. Both had mysteriously disappeared.

Kayla had looped around the battlefield several times already, trying to pinpoint any danger or sign of a familiar face. There were a lot of floating bodies and debris, empty boats with blood dripping down. It looked unnerving as they began to float away, with no sign of life on board.

There's a distance splash and Kayla reflectively turned in the direction she heard it. There's an outline of a Na'vi jumping off the back of his tsurak and walking along a face of rocks, soft waves of water lapping over the surface and giving off the illusion that he was walking on water. Thena lowered from the sky until Kayla managed to depict certain characteristics and instantly recognized the Na'vi man, "Jake!"

Jake looked up at the sound of his name and noticed an ikran land on the rocks, huffing from exhaustion as its rider disengaged, running toward him. A small wave of relief encompasses Toruk Makto at the sight of his sister, "Kayla! Hey--"

"'You alright?" She immediately asked upon reaching him, her eyes briefly looking for any injuries.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

There's a distant splash resembling a breach in the water, causing the older Sully siblings to turn at the noise. Immediately, Kayla's stomach falls at the sight. It was like a waking nightmare for Jake, watching a small group of teenagers come rolling onto the shore of the rock face he and Kayla had landed on. Quickly, he noticed something was wrong, running over as Lo'ak waved him down.

"Dad! Dad, help! It's Neteyam!"

Tsireya briefly closes her eyes as a harsh wave smacks her in the face, ears drooping when listening to the sounds of Neteyam's rugged coughs. He was weak, and short of breath even though he had been an excellent student in her lessons on how to take large gulps of air for deep diving. It scared her, "Hurry!"

Lo'ak peers back at his brother before sinking into the water, dismounting his ilu and handing his brother to Tsireya, "Here, take him!"

Jake and Kayla proceed to rush over, eyes widening at the sight of the teens holding Neteyam above water as he sputters and coughs, one of which was not like the others and was the very same teenage boy Kayla had spent a long time searching for. The gasp she let out at the sight of a human boy among the Na'vi teens was from pure shock, "Spider?"

"Oh, no," Jake gasped as he took in the horrific sight of the half-drowned kids trying to pull his wounded firstborn to shore, blood pouring from his chest like the water he was floating in.

Lo'ak keeps repeating the same words through his fear, "It's Neteyam! He's hurt!"

Spider reaches out for Toruk Makto's arm as he grasps Neteyam's body, "Jake, come on! Come on!"

"Hurry, please!" Lo'ak begs.

Jake finally snaps out of his daze and grabs Spider's arm, trying to help drag all the connected teenagers to shore, "Pull!"

Kayla shakes herself from her shock and steps up to help, also grabbing onto Spider's arm and assisting her brother in pulling them all up out of the water.

"Bro, watch his head, watch his head!" Lo'ak instructs Spider, panic beginning to set in as he watches Neteyam's eyes begin to roll back, the older boy still coughing and otherwise unaware of his surroundings.

"Pull! Come on!" Jake grunts, finally getting all the kids out of the water. He grabs Neteyam's torso, lifting him in the air while Lo'ak and Spider have his sides and Tsireya has his legs, Kayla's hands hovering around the wounded boy's neck in case it rolls. Jake has them bring Neteyam to more solid ground before lowering him, "Just watch his head. Okay--"

Neteyam shallowly breathes as he feels the cold and wet rock surface underneath him, unable to suck in more air as Lo'ak grasps one of his hands, squeezing hard in comfort, "It's okay, bro. We got you."

Jake pushes Neteyam onto his side, immediately clocking the exit wound bleeding profusely with the help of Spider's flashlight, "Oh, no," looking around, frantic, he instead grabs Lo'ak's hands and presses it harshly against Neteyam's bleeding chest, "Put pressure-- put pressure on it!"

Neteyam stifles a grunt at the pressure against his chest, trying to get a word out, "Dad, I--"

"It's okay, I'm here!"

Kayla thinks quickly and rationally, stripping off her jacket, "Jake, the exit--"

"I know, I know!"

Without another word, Kayla has Lo'ak help her lift Neteyam until she has her rolled-up jacket pressed up against the exit wound behind him then lays him back down, helping Lo'ak continue putting pressure on the profusely bleeding hole in the older boy's chest. But she couldn't know how long Neteyam had been bleeding out. It was impossible to determine and her attempt to save him might be in vain. Kayla remains hovering over him, trying her best to conjure up a smile, "Hey, kiddo... it's alright, just take it easy. Remember to breathe..."

Neytiri lands her ikran when she spotted a few members of her family, barely pulling her braid from her mount before running over to the scene, muttering in fear and denial, "No, no, no, no, no!"

Kayla moves out of the way the moment Neteyam's mother arrives, surrendering her spot next to Lo'ak for Neytiri, and backs up, hovering over her brother's family and unable to look away.

"It's okay. It's okay, son, I gotcha." Jake comforted.

Lo'ak tries the same, "It's okay..."

Neteyam's eyes wildly looked around, unfocused and frightened, even when directed at Jake. It was like his son couldn't hear him, the shock setting Neteyam into panic mode as Jake tried to firmly reassure him.

Neteyam briefly looked relieved before tears started to gather in his eyes. Just this once, he allows himself to be a little boy again, tearful and sad, "I want to go home..." he grunts out his small plea before gasping rapidly, the words exhausting him.

Jake's voice quivers, holding his son's shoulder, "I know. I know. It's okay, we're goin' home. We're goin' home."

He softens his voice, pushing the desperation away to try and calm his son, as if he was still an infant he was soothing to sleep, "We're going home. It's okay, it's okay."

Neteyam gulps and tries to force the words out of his mouth, "Dad, I..."

His words are abruptly cut off, fading into the wind. The boy's eyes begin to unfocus and his body goes unnaturally stiff, rid of all muscle movement and heartbeat. Silence lingers over the Sully family as they wait for their son and brother to catch his breath, Neytiri gripping his hand tighter to get him to focus, "Neteyam..."

But there was no response. No breath, no words... nothing. Complete silence while Neteyam's eyes are permanently stuck watching the sky, unblinking and unfocused. Jake's heart plummets to his stomach, his breath escaping his lungs as he bows his head in distress. Neytiri's eyes flicker over her firstborn's face, over and over, frantic as she begins to rant, "No. No, no, no, Neteyam!"

She begins to scream in anguish and denial, her voice shattering everyone's ears and hearts. Tsireya couldn't bear to look at her friend's body anymore and had to look away to cry, flinching at the sound of Neytiri's screams. Jake shushes his wife softly, reaching out to her but his touch goes unnoticed, as the mother desperately clings to any part of her dead son's body, trying to shake him awake. A single tear slips down Spider's face, collecting at the bottom of his mask, while Lo'ak begins to quietly sob, staring down at his hands, covered in his brother's blood.

"Neteyam!" Neytiri sobs while leaning over her boy, holding his head close to hers as she wails, "Oh, Great Mother. No, Great Mother! Please! Oh, my son! My son... No!"

Jake had gone completely numb, leaning back with his hands in his lap, eyes drifting off to somewhere distant while unable to comprehend the sight in front of him. Neytiri continues to sob and plead to anyone who will listen, her voice growing hoarse over time, "My son! No! No!"

Kayla silently stood over the Sully family, tears running down her face, but otherwise quiet to the world. Initially, she wanted to clench her hands into fists but immediately unfurled them again when she felt the squish and stick of her nephew's blood, to which she refused to look down and see for herself. She didn't want to see the color, nor what it represented... a young life taken from his family far too soon.

"Can you hear me, Corporal?" Kayla's ears perk up to the southern drawl in her earpiece, and when her eyes flick to Jake, she notices his ears move to attention as well. Both Sully siblings felt cold as the voice dragged on, "Yeah, yeah, I think you can. I got your daughters. Same deal as before. You for them."

At the mention of the girls, Jake appears to wake out of his trance, turning his head to the direction of the hunting ship, then realization begins to creep in. His head slowly turns back to Lo'ak, his voice quiet as terror begins to settle in his chest, "Where are your sisters?"

His remaining son slowly peers up at him, eyes rimmed pink from crying, and his silence only angered Jake as he snapped his demands, "Your sisters. Where are they?"

"I don't know," Lo'ak whispered.

"Where are they?!" Jake shouts.

"They're on the ship," Tsireya sobs quietly, her bottom lip quivering as Toruk Makto turns to her, "They are tied up on the ship."

"They're-- They're at the moon pool," whether it was out of grief, shock, or fear of Jake, Spider continued to stutter while the older man turned to him, holding onto the boy's arm as he spoke, "At-- A-At the well deck. Midships."

"What?" Jake asked, unable to make sense of the human boy's rambling.

Spider sighs in defeat and then rises to his feet, grabbing onto Jake's arm and helping him stand up, "Come on. I'll show you. Come on. I'll show you."

Jake stumbled initially, the shock and adrenaline still coursing through him as Quaritch continued to speak through the radio, "Talk to me, Corporal. I need somethin', Jake or there's gonna be consequences."

"Yeah, I hear you," Jake responded as he pressed into the throat, sounding a little out of breath. He stumbles over to Kayla, ignoring the blood on her hands and gripping both of her arms as he speaks to her, his voice like gravel scrapping together, "Fly up ahead. Don't engage until I get into position. Lure the hostiles away while I grab the girls. Wait for my signal."

Kayla forced herself to nod, swallowing whatever broken cry threatened to come out as she whispered, "All right."

She forces herself to break out of Jake's hold, forcing herself to turn and walk away from the others, Neytiri's cries following her as she went. There's a small pool of water that collects on the rock surface and Kayla briefly kneels down to clean herself up, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again when she finally sees all the blood. She quickly stands back up, forming tsaheylu with Thena while hopping up onto her back, barely glancing back at what she assumes is the top of Neteyam's head of braids before rising into the sky and flying away.

Even though she could no longer hear Neytiri's cries from this distance, Kayla could still hear the horrific sounds in her head, following her as she rose higher into the sky. She uses the clouds and smoke for cover as she silently looms over what she knows is the location of the WIGE ship, using the scope of her rifle again to look down below to see what she is dealing with. The ship was slowly but surely beginning to sink, slightly tilted in the water, but the remaining Recoms and human soldiers on board were trying to balance out the weight but positioning themselves on one end, gathering their weapons and anxiously waiting for Jake's arrival.

As she's waiting above, alone in her grieving silence, she's suddenly startled out of her daze when the earpiece kicks on again, and Quaritch's voice seeps through, "Talk to me, Corporal. This ship's going down and your girls with it... Your boy didn't have to die. You brought that on yourself. You thought you could keep your family safe, but you can't. Only one way to keep them safe. So let's get this over with before you lose another kid."

Thena mewls quietly when feeling the blood-boiling rage through her bond with Kayla, the avatar's grip tightening on the reins of her ikran. Flashes of the many ways she could kill Quaritch play in Kayla's head like a movie, deep and dark thoughts she would never voice out loud unless she'd risk scaring the people she loved around her. Back on Earth, she would've immediately been sent to a shrink or a psychiatric hospital for voicing her murderous thoughts and she didn't want to risk finding out what would happen if she did so here on Pandora.

Her thoughts are abruptly cut off, however, by the loud sound of an explosion going off on the upper decks of the WIGE ship. While Kayla was waiting in her dark mind, Jake was below, sneaking onto the ship along with Spider. As Quaritch was monologuing, Jake had taken a grenade and lodged it into a gunship that Neytiri had shot down earlier, the wreckage now resting on the top of the WIGE ship. Jake quickly ran back to Spider and shouted for him to take cover, right before the gunship exploded into fire and debris.

Kayla watched the explosion bloom into smoke before she finally flew down, knowing that was the signal. She uses that smoke as cover, flying down through it to remain unseen to the RDA goons. The fires were blinding the humans, scrambling away from the flames or diving in to save anyone who survived the initial explosion. At the moment, everyone was distracted, and it was this perfect distraction that the Sully adults used to their advantage, striking the Sky People while they were down. Jake leaped in and immediately took out a human and a Recom by impaling them with a Metkayina spear. He wasn't able to take the weapon with him as it lodged completely through the body of the Recom, so Jake quickly took his AK out and began firing at nearby soldiers once they began to notice his presence.

At the sound of gunfire, Kayla and Neytiri swoop into action, flying down from opposite ends of the ship, and surrounding the Sky People. Neytiri lands in a front-ward roll before skilfully aiming and firing her bow and arrow, immediately lodging said arrow into the leg of a female Recom. While the enemy avatar is distracted, Neytiri picks off the two humans who were covering the Recom's six. Neytiri raises the last human male up and shoots an arrow through his body and into the female Recom's skull before she can further react. Neytiri scrambles to retrieve her arrows once all immediate enemies are dead just as Jake approaches with his gun in his arms, keeping an eye out while his wife collects her ammunition.

"Clear," he announces to her, expertly looking around to spot more enemies.

Meanwhile, Kayla has landed on a different end of the ship, and Thena flies away. One Recom, bald and sporting tattoos with a patch on his vest that read L. WAINFLEET, immediately noticed her and shouted to the top of his lungs while aiming his gun in her direction, "We got another avatar!"

He and other humans begin to open fire, while Kayla immediately ducks for cover. Jake had climbed up onto the upper levels of the ship as this began to transpire and used the distraction to attack the RDA soldiers who were firing down at his sister from their high ground. He killed and flung their bodies down from the catwalk, the height surely killing their small and frail bodies. Wainfleet noticed the sky was raining bodies and briefly stopped firing to look up before his eyes widened and he immediately moved his gun sights onto Jake, "Eyes up!"

The human soldiers follow his order and begin to raise and fire up at Jake. Kayla uses this distraction to come back out of hiding and, with their backs turned, she immediately begins to open fire on the Sky People, expertly shooting most of them in the back of the head or top of the spine.

Neytiri throws herself into the fray, leaping down the flight of stairs leading down to the lower deck of the ship. She dives for cover as Quaritch and other Sky People take notice of her and open fire. Wainfleet and any Sky People that managed to escape Kayla's cascade of bullets try to surround Neytiri, moving up slowly to her hiding place as she continues through her murder spree. She manages to get above and behind the humans trying to get around and corner her, jumping down behind Wainfleet before disarming him and knocking him out when she swings her bow into his face. Out of arrows, Neytiri readies her bow to swing again and hides, waiting for the remaining soldiers to come find her.

Jake continued to be her eyes from above, shooting down at the soldiers below once they got too close to Neytiri's hiding spot. She comes out of hiding once her husband kills her remaining pursuers and rushes to grab any nearby stray arrows. Meanwhile, Kayla is pushing the remaining soldiers forward, shooting her AK into the fray and drawing them back. Little did the humans realize that Kayla had pushed them toward Jake and Neytiri in their rush to fall back away from Kayla's barrage of attacks. Jake jumps down once Kayla has their prey clustered close together and begins picking them off one by one. He lifts humans into the air and throws them into Recoms. He chucks empty rifles into RDA masks, causing the masks to shatter and the humans to suffocate while he moves forward with his tomahawk in hand. Kayla appears on the other side of the surrounded Sky People, completely cornering them into the blood bath. Once her section was cleared of hostiles, she moved further up to the highest point of the ship to provide support for Jake and Neytiri from above.

Neytiri shoots arrows at those who manage to break off and run away from Jake. Once out of arrows once more, she dives for one that was lodged into a dead body nearby, struggling with it as it got stuck. Meanwhile, Wainfleet had woken up behind her, face bleeding as he scrambled to reload his rifle. Neytiri had managed to get her arrow loose of the body and was about to aim and finish the Recom off before Jake appeared out of nowhere, attacking Wainfleet head-on and obstructing a clear shot for Neytiri to take.

"Ma Jake!"

While the two male avatars fight in close combat, more soldiers try to get around them. With her husband preoccupied, Neytiri covers him and fires her already-loaded arrow into one of the soldiers, killing him instantly. Behind the body was a clear view of Kiri and Tuk, cuffed to the center railing of the ship, just like what Spider had said.

With their daughters close at hand, Jake and Neytiri move in, now acting like a frantic couple of animals as the threat of their young is further imminent. Kayla provides backup support, knowing better to stay out of the parents' way, and empties her AK onto anyone below who is trying to subdue Jake and Neytiri, but through the smoke and flashes of gunfire, Kayla quickly loses sight of Na'vi pair, and the ground level grows eerily silent once there are no more soldiers to kill. Deciding to get closer to Kiri and Tuk's position, Kayla slowly and quietly makes her way back down, not wanting to make her presence known. She climbs down onto some gunship wreckage, not yet on the ground level once she spots the back of Jake's head. Getting a closer look, she realized Jake was weaponless, hands open in defeat.

Little Tuk was standing behind her father, shivering in fear, while in front of them stood Quaritch, his knife pressed tightly against Kiri's throat. At least, Kayla could only assume it was Quaritch, faintly seeing his name on the patch of his vest. They were all at a standstill, and when Kayla immediately jumped down to help, Jake threw his arm out for her to stay back, "Don't move!" He begged.

Quaritch keeps Kiri in front of him, using the teenager as a shield as he bares his fangs at Kayla upon her arrival, "Weapons down, now!"

"Do what he says." Jake sternly tells his sister. Kayla hesitates, eyes flicking between him and Kiri, then at Quaritch's knife that had already made small red cuts into her older niece's neck. Slowly, the female avatar sets down her gun and kicks it away, tossing her remaining ammunition over her shoulder before raising her arms up where the colonel can see them.

Satisfied, Quaritch quickly digs into his vest pocket and pulls out orange slap cuffs, tossing them onto the ground at Jake's feet as he snarls, "Cuff yourself."

"No!" A voice from behind Quaritch begged just as Jake was kneeling down to grab the cuffs. Everyone looked up to notice that the voice belonged to Spider, the human teen running around to get into Quaritch's line of sight, "No, don't hurt her, okay? Don't--"

"Stand there!" Quaritch roared, pointing a threatening finger at the boy while he kept Kiri in place with the knife against her neck.

"Spider, stay back!" Kayla yells out of fear, surprising even herself when her voice sounds stern.

Tuk softly cried while leaning back into her aunt's legs when Kayla drew close to the child, Jake firmly keeping his sister and his youngest child behind him, "Don't..."

"Don't. Move. Not a step," Quaritch threatens Spider before turning back to Jake, "Cuffs. On. Now!"

"You son of a bitch." Jake forces out through his anger and fear, slapping one side of the cuffs onto his wrist.

"Please, don't hurt her." Spider continues to beg.

Out of nowhere, Neytiri creeps up behind the human boy and retrieves her knife, grabbing hold of Spider and pressing her knife against his own neck with a snarl. Quaritch is startled at the sight, proceeding to hold Kiri tighter while looking between the boy and Neytiri.

The Na'vi woman's voice sounded so unlike her, hoarse and breathless, "Release. Or I cut."

Quaritch paused before trying to play off the threat, shaking his head, "What, you think I care about some kid? He's not mine. We're not even the same species."

"Just please don't-- don't hurt her," Spider continues to beg, ignoring his own life in exchange for Kiri's as he continues to plead to the man who holds the memories of his father, "Just please let her go."

"Don't!" Tuk continues to cry quietly, while Kayla holds the little girl's head against her. Both hers and Jake's ears and eyes flicked to whoever talked during the whole hostage situation, unable to move and feeling helpless.

"Please!"

"Don't kill him--" Kiri had begun to beg as well.

"Listen to me! Let her go. Don't hurt her."

"Mom, don't kill him."

"A son for a son." Neytiri shakily growls, tilting her head in Quaritch's direction as if studying him. She looked completely unhinged, sweat and human blood scattered all around her face and body, shrunken yellow eyes staring only at Quaritch.

"Neytiri, don't!" Kayla begs, holding Tuk close for protection and comfort, "Please!"

"Please don't hurt her," Spider continues to ramble until Neytiri takes her knife and slices the blade tightly over his chest, drawing small beads of blood, "Ah!"

"I cut," Neytiri hissed, flashing the blood on her knife to let Quaritch know she meant business.

Spider huffs in pain and grits his teeth, but he goes right back to begging, "Please just let her go, okay? Just let her go."

Quaritch and Neytiri stare down at one another, unblinking until Neytiri screams in rage and raises her knife up to cut down Spider. Barely anyone had time to react, apart from Quaritch, as he quickly pulled his knife away from Kiri, "NO!"

Kiri gasped only to realize that she wasn't in any more danger, calming her heartbeat as the relieved tears began to well up. A scream that threatened to climb out of Kayla's throat suddenly subsided, and she held her breath while waiting for Neytiri's reaction. The air is thick and tense, both knives raised in the air either to destroy or spare. Neytiri slowly looks back at Quaritch, breathing heavily as she waits, keeping her knife posed and her grip on Spider. Quaritch grunts in defeat, pushing Kiri away and stepping back. Kiri immediately gets to her feet as Jake, Kayla, and Tuk inch closer to her, the younger girl whispering reassurances for herself and her sister, "Kiri... Kiri. Kiri."

Neytiri watches her family reunite with one another before slowly lowering the knife back down, then pointedly shoves Spider behind her, away from Quaritch.

"Spider!" Kiri exclaims as she, Tuk, and Kayla run to him.

Jake slowly approaches Neytiri while they're occupied, taking the knife out of his wife's hand and keeping an eye on Quaritch, "Spider, get 'em outta here."

Without hesitation, Spider began to tug on Kiri's arm, pulling her toward the ocean that was slowly creeping onto the tilting ship, "Come on. Guys-- Tuk."

"I owe you a death," Quaritch points directly at Neytiri, who snarls ferociously back at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

"Mom," Kiri calls out, while Tuk begins to tug on her mother's arm.

"Mama."

"Come."

"Come on. Please, Mama."

Neytiri finally relents with her daughters' pleading, slowly backing up, inching toward the water. Jake keeps himself between Quaritch and his family, Kayla standing dutifully at his side while the children and Neytiri sink into the water. Quaritch keeps his knife in front of him, at the ready, acting like a cornered tiger while trying to bait Jake into staying, "You're not leaving, are you, Jake?"

"It's okay--" Kiri reassures Tuk as she and Neytiri draw closer.

"Knowin' I'm out there?" Quaritch continues.

"Kayla, back up," Jake muttered warningly, and his sister slowly sank into the water to join the others behind him.

"Knowin' that I'll never stop?" Quaritch seethed, his voice lowering now that it was only him and Jake still standing on the sinking deck of the ship, "I'm comin' for you. And when I do, I'll kill your whole family."

The water laps at Kiri's face as she sinks into the water, worry in her eyes while watching Jake stand still, no longer moving to join them, "Dad..."

Jake's body stiffens as if his mind had been made up about something, eyes focused only on Quaritch as he stands up straighter, "Then let's get it done."

"Jake, no!" Kayla yells just as Jake leaps for a nearby medkit at the same time Quaritch dives toward him. Jake swings the medkit and hits the Recom with it, momentarily stunning the colonel as he goes in for another attack, this time with the knife he took from Neytiri. He swings at Quaritch several times, closely missing his neck before finally getting a slice at his vest. As the ship continues to tilt and sink, crates and other debris slide down toward the fighting pair and both Jake and Quaritch have to move out of the way to avoid getting hit before moving back in for the kill. They grapple and wrestle for each other's knives, trying to shove the sharp tip into each other's skulls.

"Jake!" Neytiri calls out to her mate just as a burst of flame begins to spread over the water where coolant and oil had spilled into the ocean. The wall of flame grows and begins to inch closer toward the Na'vi and the human boy floating just above the water's surface.

"It's coming!" Tuk cries.

"Back. Back!" Spider orders to the girls, beginning to tread water back the way they came, "Get back to the ship! Go!"

"Tuk, swim. Swim!" Kiri instructs hurriedly.

Kayla, who was the last to get into the water, was now the first one out, grabbing onto the others one by one and pulling them back up onto the deck, starting with Tuk and ending with Spider as he made sure the others made it on first. Kayla continued to push the whole group ahead of her, occasionally looking around to see if Jake and Quaritch were still nearby, but she had lost sight of them.

And she wasn't the only one. Neytiri was also frantically looking around, fear in her eyes while clinging on tightly to Tuk's hand, "Jake--"

"I'll get him, go!" Kayla exclaims in a last-second decision, backing away from the group and breaking off while shouting at Neytiri from over her shoulder, "Get the kids outta here, we'll come find ya!"

Kayla then turns to look ahead of her as she runs, determination setting in as she goes over to where she last saw her brother. She hears grunts and growls in the distance and doesn't hesitate to sprint over just in time to see Quaritch kick Jake in the gut to disengage from their knife wrestle. Jake doesn't have time to react as a motor or a generator of some sort comes sliding down toward him and shoves him into the water.

Quaritch stalks over to the place Jake disappeared, knife glinting off of the flames of destruction around him. The Recom's muscles flex as he pants heavily with adrenaline, and with his back turned to Kayla, she makes a split and reckless decision. Unarmed, she leaps over sliding debris and then uses that momentum to jump up onto Quaritch's back with a small war cry, the both of them grunting at the impact while Kayla doesn't waste time to reach for and grapple for the knife in the colonel's hand. Quaritch growls and pitches Kayla forward off of his back, only for his grip to loosen around his knife and fall right into her hand. The female avatar stands up straight, quickly repositioning the blade more securely in her grip before charging forward, swinging in the air in front of Quaritch as he continuously dodges and leans away from the knife.

Eventually, he sidesteps and grabs her swinging arm, stopping the blade in its tracks before twisting her arm into an uncomfortable position. She cries out, forced to drop the blade before taking her other arm and elbowing Quaritch in the face. He staggers back with a pained grunt, then reaches for her arm again. He slams her against the rigging, driving her to take a gasp of air and regain her footing. A feat that was proven useless when Quaritch quickly grabbed the knife on the ground and reached forward, grabbing Kayla's kuru braid at the very base, connected to her skull. He yanked, hard, driving Kayla to scream in pain, the action rendering her immobile. He keeps her braid tight in one hand while the other retrieves his knife and is sure to let her know he means business when he presses the sharp blade to her throat. Kayla reduced her struggle to a minimum as she felt a small trickle of blood run down her long neck along with her sweat.

Quaritch grits his teeth and through the struggle, manages a small, gritted smile, "You're a newer model. You must be the little missing guinea pig the General was talking about."

She hissed, baring her fangs to the best of her ability, making the intimidating sound from the back of her throat, only cutting the sound off when Quaritch tugged painfully against her braid. Kayla gulped back air and frantically reached back for her queue at the base, trying to relieve his grip on such a sensitive part, following the motion to be sure the kuru wasn't torn from her skull. The movement brings Quaritch's attention to a certain item dangling from her neck.

Her RDA military tags, clinked softly together, proudly bearing her rank and station. Quaritch sees the name, so familiar that causes both dread and rage to eat him up from the inside out. He snarls, the fangs forming a cold, threatening smile, "Well I'll be damned... betrayal must run in the family."

Kayla nearly lunged at him before she felt a twitch in the knife and her body immediately stiffened, the cold blade digging further into her skin. She could see the male avatar's whole form tightening, preparing to use his strength to give the killing the blow. Quaritch's grip on her braid and his knife tighten and he's ready to just end her with the flick of his wrist.

"NO!" Is the only gutwrenching warning Jake gives either of them before he tackles Quaritch, shoving his whole body into the colonel's torso like a football player. The impact drives the older man to grunt in pain and also let go of Kayla, but the force of the tackle sends her falling backward, stumbling over the railing. Kayla is thrown overboard and sent falling into the ocean, where her screams forming her brother's name are drowned out by the water consuming her.

Unable to take a breath in before she hit the water, Kayla struggled to get air. She quickly swims up to the surface and manages to gulp out a breath or two when she breaches, but the moment is cut short when she realizes that the tipping ship was throwing debris off the side of the hull down into the ocean and onto her. Kayla instinctively holds her breath, properly this time, and dives back down into the water in an attempt to avoid the collision. Heavy machinery and other objects from the ship are falling quickly through the water around her like a knife through butter, too heavy to stay afloat. She narrowly misses as much debris as possible, trying to swim away as fast as she can, but she gets caught but a large piece of shipwreck that had broken off from the initial boat. It's heavy enough to drag her down, deep into the dark depths until the bioluminescent lights of the coral reef below light her surroundings, the glow of the fire and eclipse above the ocean's surface faintly disappearing the deeper she got dragged down. Her arms burned in exhaustion as she tried her best to pull and swim herself out from under the debris, but it was too heavy and sinking too fast, and her foot and gotten caught in a shredded hole wedged inside the metal.

Against all that she had learned, Kayla began to panic, her heart racing while she frantically looked around to the best of her ability. Because of this, the need for air came quicker, and her lungs began to burn and try to constrict. Pressure began to build in her skull and chest, and dark spots started to form in the corners of her vision. The creaking of metal fills her ears as Kayla's arms finally stop fighting, too tired and weak to continue to try. With her mind now foggy and devoid of logic due to lack of oxygen, Kayla opened her mouth and took in a breath.

Just as the water rushed through her mouth and entered her lungs, a sharp tug on her foot had wrenched her free. Whatever was wrapped around her ankle now rose to wrap around her waist, and distantly, Kayla felt herself being pulled against a solid form as they swam through the water. Barely gaining the strength to look up, she faintly realized she was quickly rising to the surface.

The moment her face is free from the water, she takes big gulps of air, coughing seaspray from her lungs as she's pulled up onto a tsurak without much of a struggle, laying across its strong back and part of its head as she catches her breath. The strong arm secure around her torso was heavily tattooed and clearly Metkayina, the limb letting her go once she remembered to hold herself up out of the water. Between breaths, she takes a moment to glance up and lets her body relax at the sight of Tonowari, sitting calmly on the saddle of the skimwing.

The olo'eyktan appeared grim at the sight of her, silently urging her to cough up the water with a hand gently placed on the back of her neck. Kayla winced when the initial touch was sore from where her queue braid had been tugged, and so Tonowari drew his hand away, instead tilting her chin up to inspect the cut on her neck, small trickles of blood flowing down her skin.

"Are you injured?"

"I'm fine." Kayla managed to spit out as she pulled her chin from his grasp, ignoring the sharp pain in her foot. She began wildly looking around and immediately spotted Ronal and her tsurak floating beside them. Closely watching Kayla, the tsahik's big eyes briefly glanced down at the neck wound her mate was inspecting on the avatar.

Satisfied by the answer, Tonowari instructs Kayla to lean against him so he can reach the handlebar of his tsurak, adjusting her until she's properly straddling the back of the powerful lungfish. Still a little dazed and recovering, Kayla doesn't fight being puppeteered as the tsurak begins to move in the direction its rider wanted to go. Kayla tiredly looked around, freezing in fear when she noticed the WIGE ship was barely peeking out of the water now, and she could do nothing but watch as it slowly disappeared, into the ocean, leaving nothing behind but large bubbles and ripples along with the groaning of metal.

It was only when Kayla realized that she was being led away from the location of the sunken ship did she begin to struggle, startling the skimwing and irritating the chieftain. Tonowari grips the handle of the tsurak with one hand but makes a point to restrain Kayla with the other, wrapping his whole arm around her torso again as she starts to protest loudly, "No! NO! My family's still in there! They're still down there, stop!"

"You will do them no good if you drown before you can get to them!" Tonowari snapped.

Ronal blocked the path of her husband's tsurak with her own, looking dead in Kayla's eyes with ferocious determination and fear, not willing to look away, "My daughter-- where is she?!"

Briefly stunned with the adrenaline slowly wearing off, Kayla sputtered for a moment, catching her breath while stuttering out, "On... On that rock face over there."

She points in the general direction where the dreading idea of Neteyam's body now lay, but neither Ronal nor Tonowari notice the look of defeat and grief on her face. Looking back at the ship, she couldn't help the tears falling down her face as she quietly whispered, "I'll take you to her."

They idly swam in silence, and it felt as though the world was ending. They swam past floating bodies and debris, empty boats, and life jackets. The sky was still red along with the scattering ocean of flames and smoke. The smell was almost unbearable. It was the longest silence in Kayla's life, her only thoughts on the whereabouts of her brother and his family. Had they gotten off the ship? Are they safe? Where was Quaritch?

Tsireya had spotted them in the water before the three Na'vi adults spotted her, crying and waving them over to the stranded rock fixture she stood on, her knees covered in blood, but not her own, "Sa'nok! Sempul!"

Kayla was immediately forgotten as both Ronal and Tonowari hopped off their skimwings and scrambled up onto the rock fixture, rushing toward their daughter. Ronal instantly gathered the crying girl in her arms, a little difficult with her rounded belly, but she had managed while whispering into her hair with relief in her voice, "Tsireya... Thank you, Great Mother, thank you."

Tonowari joins the embrace, wrapping his long arms around his wife and child. A soft yip in the wind draws the olo'eyktan's attention away, and upon looking around, he catches sight of two reef boys astride ilu. The boys call out again before jumping up onto the rock face. It was Ao'nung and Rotxo, both unharmed and a little frazzled. Ao'nung raced to his family and his father pulled him into their group embrace, relief now fully flooding the family's veins.

Rotxo stood just outside of the family, his eyes only set on one thing lying on the ground, dread seeping into his skin as his breath was taken from him, "Neteyam...?"

Tsireya only cried harder at the sound of his name, and when her parents and brother turned to what Rotxo was looking at, they came across a horrific sight. Their joy and relief were shortly outlived and exchanged for sorrow as they observed Neteyam's corpse, unmoving and now cradled in Kayla's arms. She was kneeling before her nephew's body, holding his torso up on her lap with her arms wrapped protectively around his head. She was crying silently to herself, sobbing so softly that none of the Metkayina standing before her could hear it over the wind and waves. Kayla was short of breath for an entirely different reason, her body shaking as the shock wore off and the realization sunk in.

Her nephew was dead, and for all she knew, so was the rest of her family.

The sunlight finally reemerged beyond the eclipse, the fires no longer setting a dreadful horizon. Kayla didn't care for the sunlight, her stomach turning when Neteyam's blood only became more noticeable. She was cold, wet, and exhausted, the adrenaline turned to full-body shakes up and down her spine. She didn't want to move, keeping her eyes shut so she could pretend that she was simply hugging Neteyam, but it was hard to do so when Neteyam felt so cold and stiff.

A large bellow is heard from the water as something big swims up to the rock fixture. Kayla remembers Payakan and looks up, tear tracks marking down both of her cheeks. Another wave of emotions took over her when she noticed that the rest of the Sullys were all hanging onto Payakan's fin, climbing tiredly up the rock fixture once they got close enough.

"Auntie!" Tuk cried when she first spotted Kayla, rushing over to her aunt. Kayla immediately set Neteyam down and tried her best to shield the girl from such a sight as she gathered the child up in her arms.

Kayla cried loudly, out of relief, holding onto Tuk tightly as if there was no tomorrow. Taking deep breaths through her sobs, she quickly looks around to take a headcount, quickly finding the remaining of the Sullys standing around her. Jake, Neytiri, Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk. All safe, all unharmed. Kiri runs up to join the group hug while Tsireya breaks away from her family to run into Lo'ak's arms. Jake and Neytiri pay no mind to anyone else, tired and distant both physically and emotionally. Neytiri simply walked back over to Neteyam, kneeling down and pulling her child into her arms as fresh tears began to cut down her face. Kayla finally lets her nieces go and gently leads them over to Neteyam, stepping away so the girls have their own time to grieve. After a while, Jake takes out a knife and goes around cutting away any remnants of orange slap cuffs still hanging off of anyone's arms and wrists. He cuts them off of himself, then Lo'ak, then Tsireya, and begins to cut the cuffs off both of Kiri's wrists. He doesn't want to take Tuk away from her big brother just yet, as the little girl cries into Neteyam's hand, holding the limb to her chest for just a little bit of comfort.

Another figure approaches, seemingly out of thin air, but only because he had just swam up to them. Kiri is the first to spot him, a relieved smile spreading over her face, "Monkey Boy!"

For the most part, everyone looks up to notice Spider, walking up to them unharmed apart from the long, thin cut across his chest. Jake stands up and puts his knife away, while Kayla watches the boy closely, looking for any signs of distress. But Spider was breathing perfectly through the mask, tired but otherwise intact.

Lo'ak gently breaks away from Tsireya to further observe his friend, likely also trying to see if he was injured, "Spider."

Ronal and Tonowari catch the name and glance at one another. So this was the sky demon boy affiliated with the Sullys. Kiri reached up to him from where she was sitting once he got close enough, placing her hand over Spider's heart. He looked down at her, equally solemn and relieved, reaching up to gently hold her hand. They smile faintly at one another before Jake interrupts to inspect the boy himself, placing his hands on Spider's shoulders.

"You all right?"

"Yeah."

Jake believes him and brings the human boy close in an embrace, looking around and then over to Lo'ak, seeing his son standing alone and looking ashamed. Immediately, Jake reaches an arm out and pulls Lo'ak into their group embrace, "Come here."

For the most part, Jake looked the worst out of all of them, bruised and slowly bleeding through small cuts and scrapes. They all stand or sit around, quietly taking in each other's presence and everything that just happened. Kayla finally felt as though she could sit down, slowly sinking to the ground until she was leaning back on her hands, properly regaining her breath, and trying to elevate her injured foot. Sighing now that pressure had been taken off her ankle, she looked around at everyone, the threat of danger still in the back of her mind, all the horror they had dealt with today now fully being comprehended in her mind. Looking over at Spider, she knows that she and Jake will have to question the boy and have him tell them everything that happened to him and how RDA had managed to find the Sullys. At the same time, they'll have to explain why they never went looking for him and offer their sincerest apologies. But for now, it'll have to wait. For now...

A son for a son.

A/N: Kinda not sorry. I love angst... no matter how much it hurts to write it. I definitely cried while writing this, but I really needed it cuz I haven't had a good cry in a while.

THERE'S GONNA BE MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE FIC. I have future chapters already written out so keep an eye out for an update! I intend to stretch this fic out until the next film, but let's see how it goes lol. Lemme know if you want a request or want to be added to the taglist!

Rip Matthew Perry

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queenie-blackthorn · 7 months

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tips for writing muslim characters

except im a muslim, born and raised

dont mix it up with arab characters, yes a muslim can be arab and muslim but theres a difference. the link to my post abt writing arabs is here

first and foremost, not all muslims are arabs, and not all arabs are muslims. yes, most terminology and the holy book is in arabic, but that doesnt mean its exclusively arabs

indonesia (not an arab country) has the highest population of muslims worldwide

the arab country with the most christians is egypt, but the arab country with the highest population of christians is lebanon

not all practicing muslim women wear hijab (some extremely religious women might not wear a hijab)

five prayers a day: fajr (before sunrise), zuhr (midday), asr (afternoon), maghreb/maghrib (sunset), ishaa (nighttime)

call to prayer is known as 'azan', you can listen to it on youtube

muslims use the lunar calendar (known as the hijri calendar), which also has 12 months but its around two weeks shorter than the gregorian calendar. most people only remember the ninth month: ramadan

fasting consists of not eating/drinking from fajr until maghrib. you stop as soon as the azan for fajr sounds, and you can start again as soon as the azan for maghrib sounds. you fast for the entire month of ramadan, but its also encouraged to fast on mondays, thursdays, and the 14th/15th/16th days of each month of the hijri calendar

allah isnt the name of god. allah is the arabic word for 'god'

women dont have to cover up completely until puberty, athough some girls cover up before then and other women dont cover up at all

women can be religious and not cover up

the word 'hijab' doesnt show up in the quran, its 'khimar'. hijab is to cover up completely, not just hair. you cant wear a headscarf with a short sleeved shirt

men have to cover up too. from their navel to their knees absolutely has to be covered up, and (in most islamic cultures, not necessarily exactly religious) they cover up their chests as well

also men are told to avert their gazes from women more than women are told to cover up. youd find a lot of men in muslim countries not looking up from the floor when walking, especially in areas w a lot of women

kids by the age of eight can usually recite at least four chapters from the quran (the first one and the last three, mostly. it doesnt matter if theyre not arab)

if you want to use verses from the quran for whatever reason, i recommend quran.com

theres only one version of the quran. the same copy thats existed for 1400 years and millions of people have memorized it

on that note, people who memorize the quran are called hafiz, and there isnt a particular age. theres a three year old hafiz and a woman who didnt memorize it until age eighty three

there are two different sources for islamic law: the quran (holy book), and hadith (quotes of the prophet). dua' is completely different, its a prayer used to ask help from god, but unlike the five prayers, it doesnt really require a specific ritual. you just sit, face the direction of mecca, and say the dua'

superstitions are haram, but muslims do believe in black magic (its sihr in arabic and its one of the biggest sins) and djinn (there are djinn muslims but theyre widely regarded somewhat like monsters who encourage/help you to do black magic)

allahu akbar means "god is greater" or "god is the greatest". it isnt used as a signal to blow people up, and it isnt a term used purely by islam extremists

assalamu aleikum / waaleikum assalam mean, respectively, "peace be upon you" and "and peace be upon you too" basically just our way of just saying "hi" along with the reply

subhanallah means "glory be to god" usually when witnessing a miracle or when amazed

mashaallah - there arent any exact english equivalents but it means "what god wills". usually for compliments or to protect someone from evil eye

insha'allah - simply "god willing" but we use this when talking about the future (like "will you come to school?" "insha'allah" or "we'll get the gift, right?" "insha'allah"). can be replaced by the lesser used "bi'ithn illah"

alhamdu lillah - "praise be to god" or "thanks be to god. used in the way you might imagine, but also as a way to express that youre doing fine. "how are you doing today, sister?" "alhamdu lillah" (also when finishing a meal / finishing drinking water)

astaghfir ullah - "i seek forgiveness from god" whenever we see someone do something haram or when we ourselves do something haram and wish to repent

bismillah - "in the name of god" we use this whenever we begin something. a lot of arab literature starts with this. every chapter im the quran starts with this. every meal starts with saying this before eating

you can submit asks if you have any questions, but try to be a lil specific !!

feel free to rb with more info :)

#writing tips #muslim #writing muslims #writer sources #writing help #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing advice

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cider-est · 3 months

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The full lineup is almost done!! (just needs some touch ups and a Chunsik design👍) FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APRECIATED!!

Design process under here (whole lot of yapping)

General thoughts: Ive given them in my previous design sheet (you can find it in my blog)(tldr: designs match characters but still childish, 8-12 years old). Only thing different here, is that these eggs were eggs who I had less of a clear idea of what I wanted to do with them (though I still really liked where I ended up!!)

Empanada: Didnt want to go for the full sweet lolita route, mostly because I thought it'd take away the "little kidness" of it all, but something that still resembles the aesthetic. She's wearing "carneirinhos" (idk the name in english) which is very cute little girl to me, and shes also a demon! Her tail resembles a frying pan!! Though I might change her fringe (it was supposed to be baby hairs but now that I think about it, her type of hair probably wouldnt have them) and put some argyle pattern in her sweater vest. I just forgor💀 to do that...I also wish I had made her shorter, but unfortunetely I drew this before the eggs did the height check (YES ITS BEEN THAT LONG).

Sunny: My beautiful baby girl. She means the world to me. I love this minecraft egg with all my heart. Shes wearing Light up sketchers and some fairy wings like Pomme, and shes actually wearing a swimsuit, she just put a tutu over it. The diamonds they're always holding are rings, they have a "terere" in their hair (idk name in english😭😭) and the beads were inspired by an artist on twt (@\BLUETOMATOSODA). Also if you are wondering why her hair looks like tentacles, its because I had originally made it puffy, but changed my mind after doing the lineart, so i had to get creative with me covering it up. Just pretend she has a fan, shes a star after all!

Pepito: Basically, he is very smoll. Chiquito even. He has strawberry hair and MASSIVE glasses that take up his entire face. Hes wearing a swimsuit aswell (dont ask how it works idk either), and has floaties since he cant swim. Hes got crocs, since flip flops hurt his toes, with a spider man charm on them! Also hes got a sunhat, mostly cause I wanted some other accessorie but didnt want to go with gas mask since it'd kinda kill the whole swimming vibe (since his model is wearing a swimsuit). sorry if its not too accurate to his character. Side note: Him, Em and Sunny all have freckles! Him and Sunny all over their bodies while Em just has on her cheeks.

Leo: Cute sporty vibe, love her shorty spiky hair. Wanted to try to make her face spiky aswell, for the whole shark dad thing. Shes got a necklace with a shark tooth (I guess she got it from Foolish??). He changes tshirts randomly, and opens and closes his attack on titan hoodie depending on the tshirt's expression (basically my version of Leo changing her player heads constantly). His trainers have dragon wings and also: whealies!!

Dapper: Im gonna be honest: did not expect to like his design THIS much. The colouring really elevated, with the long blue hair (the same colour as the ghosties!). Wanted to make them, y'know, dapper, so I had to sacrifice some of the "little kid vibes" unfortunetely, but I think it fits her still. The hat has part of the helmet that they used to wear a lot, demon horn to match Pomme, and a suit that is VERY inspired by Death the Kid from Soul Eater (very fitting for a reaper in training imo). Might be my favourite design!

Ramon: Jesus fuck you'd think designing your fav egg would be easy BUT NO. I struggled long and hard. Again, he doesnt have that much "little kid" vibe whatever man😭😭 Im just happy that I even managed to make SOMETHING. Hes got Create googles, his meathead is a massive hat that completely hides his hair. Very simple, very Ramon, though I will probably end up making a version with an ugly sweater just like he likes instead😔. I still like it but. man...

ANYWAYS IF YOU READ ALL THAT MWAH, YOURE A REAL ONE, THANKS FOR ENTERTAINING MY THOUGHTS🫶🫶🫶

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cressthebest · 26 days

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Crimson Rivers thoughts pt. 13

chapter 24:

1. sirius 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼 james being codependent af

2. ooo reg you’re so close babes. think about that just a little more. he realizes he cares about how james treats him and feels about him. reg just almost gets it

3. “He thinks the arena makes everyone a bad person while they're here. The only exception to the rule is James. He's the only person who could drag himself through all of this filth and cruelty and still hold onto his shine.”

4. ☺️ this “without hesitation” line is gonna bite us in the ass, isn’t it?

5. they’re talking about what their life without tragedy would have looked like. and damn. i’m not okay. their life would have been so beautiful

6. “"In that life, I do," Regulus whispers. "I let you do whatever you want, and when you want to dance, we dance."”

i’m NASTY sobbing over this line. like, snot coming out of my nose sobbing

7. “Regulus said James was his first love, didn't he? James would give anything to be his last.” 😀😀😀 holy shit that hurts

8. that nightmare was VILE

9. god, reg was practically sobbing to hold james’ hand. why is the world cruel to them??

10. 😐 i am unamused. another fucking spider

11. “"Have a go at me. Don't thank me or anything. It's always you're so stupid, James; it's never you looked so sexy and heroic while saving everyone from the murderous spider, James."” PFFFFFTTTT

12. it hurts to read it, but i also have always known that if reg wasn’t called into the hunger games, james would have died for someone else. like he said, either peter or vanity

13. god, peter’s story line and character fucking hurts. his family was mathias, irene, vanity, james, and even reg. this hurts like hell

14. NOOO PETER!!!!!

15. THEY MADE IT!!! THEY SURVIVED! THE GAMES ARE OVER!! THANK GOD!!

16. 😀😧 the rule change is REVOKED??? IM ABOUT TO LOSE MY FUCKING SHIT!! IF I WAS IN THIS UNIVERSE, ID PERSONALLY BE THROWING HANDS WITH SLUGHORN!! I BET SIRIUS HAS TO BE PHYSICALLY RESTRAINED!!

17. “"You're hesitating, love," James says softly.”

SCREEEEEEEEEEECHH

18. “"Axus got me on their way into the water. At least it was your dagger, I suppose," James says with a weary chuckle, his throat bobbing on a harsh swallow. His mouth quirks up a bit at the corner, gentle and lovely. "Maybe this makes me insane, but if I'm honest, I wish it had been you."”

oh no, make no mistake james. this very much does make you insane

19. and james is compared to the fucking sun going down again. i- i’m not okay

20. i need therapy for my trust issues. i trusted my ex best freind who outed me. i trusted my old roommate who i recently found out had a notes app list of everything she didn’t like about me this year. and most importantly, i trusted zar. i trusted that this fic wouldn’t do this to me.

#marauders #regulus black #james potter #fanfic #jegulus #sunseeker #starchaser #crimson rivers

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crushedsweets · 6 months

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Any Jeff hcs?? (Your art is absolutely amazing)

i make him evil. ok jk but also im serious. im mostly just gonna cover his backstory in my au, rather than his current part in it.

cw for brief mentions of animal abuse, bullying, the usual. AGAIN THIS IS FOR MY AU !! also tysm :3..

liu is about 4-6 years older than jeff. they lived somewhere in the midwest until jeff was about 10.

they were both raised by incredibly good parents and had a very strong support system, always visiting their grandparents, big christmas every year, parents always go to open house/parent-teacher conferences, etc. tried getting their kids into sports, would go to every game, literally just the stereotypical great parent. not even a secret "ooo behind closed doors they r actually abusive...!" thing theyre literally just good.

jeff was always a bit more on the aggressive side, something they especially noticed when he was 5 and could not be left alone with a single fucking pet. he'd yank at and shake anything small enough to pick up, and punch and kick anything too big to pick up. every family pet was scared of him.

even at school, he was a bully - it started as typical grade school shit, putting gum in girls hairs, stealing peoples belongings, pushing kids off the play structures. he targeted girls especially. he's been warned, suspended, expelled - but his dad got a job offer in the east coast that they couldnt really ignore

he was 12 when he started harassing a girl, following her around the playground, calling her a slut, yanking her hair, spitting on her, etc - and eventually, her brother and his friends stepped in.

thiiis is where i wanted to put randy and his friends in. theyre older kids, around 14 and still more on the mean side, but they didn't just randomly target jeff for fun bc he's "the new kid". just like jeff harassed that girl, they began harassing him - but of course with the strength of 3 teenage boys, rather than an 12 yr old. liu would interfere when he could, but he was still a student and began working his first job by this point.

jeff got into physical fights with them for weeks, but he was quick to turn it into something bloody and brought a pocket knife. this time the fight occurred in front of jeffs house, when his parents were at work, and liu ended up running out to make them cut it out. he tried to grab the knife out of jeffs hands, he tried to stop his brother, but jeff was serious about what he wanted - and he wanted to fucking stab randy

so he did, right in the stomach. it was nothing fatal.

liu took the fall, being 16 and terrified of what could happen to jeff if he landed himself in juvenile hall - the other 3 boys were content with this, knowing it meant jeff really didn't have anyone to defend him by this point. thinking it would fuck with jeff even more . . BUT JEFFS A LITTLE SHIT he doesnt fucking careee . something about "i never asked him to take the blame that shits on him" or whatnot.

but obv once randy recovered fully it got worse. it went from schoolyard level harassment to borderline stalking, robbing him, holding him down so randy could fucking stomp on him, so on and so forth.

and eventually the bleach happened, and the fire happened, and it didn't really have anything special or involve a birthday party or whatever . it was just another insane fucking attack on jeff, although randy and them didn't exactly expect the fire to spread so fucking quickly - they just splashed some gas at his feet, threw a match, though it would scare him and maybe fuck up his pants. really did NOT think that shit through

jeff recovered in the hospital, and the trio decided to leave him alone. they were little shits who took it too far, but they werent trying to do all that. jeff didnt snitch, he didnt want them to get put away . he wanted to keep going, obviously

things settled down for a while. jeff was waiting and waiting and waiting. his parents were mortified, they rarely spoke to him now. required family dinners at the dining table turned to just his parents eating together, liu in juvie and jeff in his room. jeff began getting violent towards his parents as well, especially his mom - he started spiraling after the fire, especially since the trio weren't bothering him anymore and it was driving him nuts. he would do freaky shit, showing up at their houses now, shattering their windows, killing their pets. they'd come and beat his ass, and he'd do it again. nobody wanted to get their parents involved by this point, they all did too much shit - but jeff was getting UNBEARABLE

jeff eventually was around 15 or so, liu was out of juvie and 19 and in community college bc he couldnt get into any of the universities he was dreaming about.

liu wasnt nice to jeff anymore. he wasn't "hardened" by his experience in juvie or anything, but whatever he saw in jeff was NOT his little brother anymore - if jeff spoke to him, he'd ignore him. if jeff got too close, he'd shove him off. if jeff slapped their mother, liu would punch him.

liu thinks it was bound to happen. he misses his little brother, even when he was a mean little kid - but he always knew there was something realy, really fucking wrong with jeff, and when he woke up to jeff on top of him, stabbing into him , he knew it was inevitable.

liu survived, the only one in his family to do so. he wondered what he could've done to stop it, especially as other kids began showing up in the news. he wonders if he shouldve just let jeff go to juvie. he's kinda shocked at the fucked up ass police sketches that pop up, he didn't really remember seeing that damn smile when jeff was on him

jeff continues fucking shit up and is a piece of shit all around

this is already pretty long so if anyone wants a less "backstory" version of headcanons and more current stuff just lmk ;3

#creeped #hcs #jeff the killer #homicidal liu #creepypasta #creepypasta hcs #jeff the killer hcs

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mortalfollies · 1 month

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9 Favourite Albums - Choose 9 & then tag 9 people! Or you can do nine singles or EPs, whatever lol.

Tagging @cactus-bag @catsafari25 @labyrinthal @sleeeepy-demon @retourne-toi-eurydice @belladonnafey @scorpius-rising @cry4judas @atuans @nicey-sandokan @evyes no obligations feel free 2 ignore

Albums listed (and me rambling) under the cut

TIME - ELO: my mum's favourite album that i first Properly listened to when i was 13. it's just the best sci-fi concept album ever....i love you jeff!!

13 Tales of Love & Revenge - The Pierces: sexy indie duo, most known for the song Secret, which isn't even in the top 5 of the best songs of the album. a treasure from when i was 11, and just figuring out i like girls.

Greatest Hits - The Eagles: again, my mum's interests becoming my own. it was really hard to pick between this and Long Road Out of Eden, but ultimately the greatest hits r that for a reason.

Laurel Hell - Mitski: my fave mitski album, heat lightning is underappreciated!!! and yeah just. its about solitude. recognition but not in the way you wanted or expected. emotional rollercoaster. im not eloquent enough to describe it and mitski does it better in under 2 minutes anyway.

Strange Trails - Lord Huron: again another hard toss between this and long lost but st wins out purely bc the transitions rule, and meet me in the woods + the yawning grave make me crazyyyy. so happy i got to hear those live in jan. lord huron is like what if a cowboy was also a ghost. thats the only way i can describe it.

Electra Heart - Marina and the Diamonds: i am not immune to music i heard at 12 years old. shame she's never made anything as good as this again.

Are We Having Fun Yet? - Black/Colin Vearncombe: another one of mum's. She found this guy when someone at Sanity was playing the album over the store speakers. loved it ever since, and introduced it to me. wistful ballads, jazzy touches, a little bit sexy.

Coyote Stories - The Crane Wives: this was a 2016-18 discovery maybe? i just know i was in school. im into folk indie i cant help it.

Wasteland, Baby! - Hozier: shout out to afro-elf for posting about movement n the whole ep, which is what spurred me to actually try this dude's music. and now i love him. but wasteland baby is immaculate: no skips, he roars in some songs and is as gentle as drizzle in others.

#i just thought this might be fun #Um also i thought i would tag ppl i don’t usually tag. hi. feel free to ignore this whole thing xx #u can just send me a thumbs down emoji or smth to opt out of me ever tagging u in anything again i wont be offended #i personally picked no-skip albums #ones that just missed the cut: ungodly hour - chloe x halle transcendental youth - tmg travelling wilbury's vol 1 purple rain - prince and #and the very best of the bee gees roy orbison tom petty fleetwood mac etc. oh and 1 fob album lol.#but these albums. these ARE me. essential #If you've read this far...you've unlocked a key 🔑#key to my heart!! lmao ok bye

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glitterinmyveinss · 6 months

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// fuck it i love you //

wes borland x fem! reader

summary: you and wes have had feelings for eachother since the sandbox days, but neither of you have ever admitted it, until alcohol and jealousy gets in the way.

chapter 2

❥༄ me and wes have known eachother ever since i was 10 and he was 12. that's when him and fred started hanging out, and with fred being my brother and us living in the same house and all, meant that me and wes saw each other basically everyday after school. most of the time him and fred would be in the garage playing their instruments or skating. but sometimes they would bug me. although it was really only fred who would do the bugging, wes was always kind to me and never even teased me.

❥༄ i was on the couch watching the simpsons, when fred and wes came in and took up the whole couch, fred stole the remote from my hands. "i'm watching something!" i tried to grab the remote back, but of course he was stronger. "so?" he chuckled. "hey wes what should we watch?" i could see wes out the corner of my eye. he had a hesitant look on his face that was mixed with, sympathy? "i'm fine with the simpsons, i've never seen that episode anyway" i turned my head fully to make eye contact with him, when he noticed he gave me a shy smile, i returned it, feeling butterflies in my tummy. fred looked at both of us with disgust "you guys suck!"

❥༄ that was a long while ago, now im in my junior year of highschool while fred and wes have been graduates for a year. they began taking their music seriously, and formed a band. i had to admit, they sounded pretty good. i knew they would make a name for themselves somehow. it was the end of the school day and i was waiting for fred to pick me up since my car was in the shop and none of my friends could give me a ride. after about 10 mins of waiting, fred pulls up with wes in the passenger seat. i gulped as i began to feel those butterflies i've been feeling for 6 years start their swarming again. i hopped in the back. "hey how was school?" fred asked. i shrugged and took my backpack off "it was whatever." he nodded and began driving away from the school "you hungry?" he asked. you were actually starving considering the lunch today was horrible. "yeah could we get taco bell?" i pleaded. Wes jumped up from his slouching position at this, "oh yeah i've been craving tb all day" he turned to give me a thumbs up and a wink. i gave him a sheepish smile and returned the thumbs up. fred groaned "fine but only cause i just got payed" he turned up his music and began driving to taco bell. yay! suddenly wes spoke up "hey who's gonna be at the party tonight?" party? you weren't invited! but then again, when were you ever invited to one? fred began listing some names when you suddenly interrupted him. "can i go?" fred started bursting out laughing. "yeah like i'm gonna bring my kid sister to a keg party." "i'm only 2 years younger asshole! come on please?" fred kept laughing "no way y/n. forget it" i let out a huff of air and opened my mouth to protest, but then wes spoke up. "come on dude let her go. i mean, what's the deal?" i felt my face get hot and i immediately shushed up. why was wes helping me out? did he want me there? ugh he made it so easy to like him. Fred looked at him, gob smacked "seriously? she's like 5 compared to us and everyone else there, she's never even been to a highschool party yet." you slapped the back of his neck, earning a groan from him. yeah it was the truth, but he just totally humiliated you in front of wes! "dude she's old enough to take care of herself. and wouldn't it be better if she went to her first party with us instead of some guys we don't even know? at least we'd keep an eye out for her." wes explained. Fred stayed quiet for a moment. i was in the backseat freaking out. why was wes helping me out so much? i mean of course i appreciated it but i was basically star struck. my brothers hot friend wanted me at a party? score! finally after about a minute of silence, fred spoke up. "fine" he grunted. "yay!" i gave him a hug from behind the seat. "but i don't want you talking to any guys besides me or wes ok? and stay where i can see you!" i wasn't really paying attention. i was just excited for my first party. "ok ok i promise!" he rolled his eyes as he pulled into the tb drive thru

❥༄ it was about 6 hours later and i was ready to go. i put my best makeup and outfit on along with the perfect hairstyle. i went downstairs once i was done, where i saw fred and wes waiting for me. fred jumped up from the couch, keys in hand. "finally!" i rolled my eyes and began following them out of the door, wes and i were trailing behind fred, when wes suddenly bent down to my level. "you look really nice tonight" when i looked up at him, he had a shy smile on his face, his cheeks a slight red, along with his ears. my face turned the same strawberry color as his as i looked down with the same smile as well. "thanks wes. so do you" he opened the backseat door for me, as usual, then hopped in the front with fred. my head was already spinning and i haven't even had any alcohol yet. ugh!

❥༄ we arrived to the party, and as soon as we entered the home it was being thrown at, you noticed a group of 4 waiting at the front door. 2 girls and 2 boys. one of the girls had skunk hair like christina aguilara with makeup like hers too. beside her was the other girl who had black hair with purple streaks. she had heavy dark makeup along with many facial and ear piercings. the two boys were dressed in the same style as fred and wes, basically matching. i suddenly understood what fred meant. i did feel 5 compared to these people. especially the girls. we began making our way towards them, fred and wes greeting the boys first, then the girls. fred began introducing me to everyone. "this is my sister y/n. y/n this is harmony, zayra, jay, and sean.” everyone said hi and waved, except harmony, she was just...staring at me. like i had something on my face. she was the one with the purple streaks. Zayra began to attack me with her compliments. "omg i love your outfit! where are your jeans from?" "oh they're miss mes. i got them at the mall a while ago." i said shyly. she put her arm around my shoulder, "another girl with taste! i like you already! let's go drink!" i obeyed her as she began dragging me to a counter that was littered with various liquor bottles and beer cans. empty and full. "so you're freds kid sister right?" she asked while handing me a shot of something. i was debating on drinking it or not. then i thought, fuck it. i downed it while making a face then answered. "yeah but i'm only younger by two years!" she let out a loud chuckle at my reaction. "you're so cute! you're my girl for the night, harmonys being weird." she said while rolling her eyes, then taking a shot for herself. i didn't wanna pry and ask why, i knew it'd be rude. so instead, i began copying zayra and downing shots like my life depended on it. zayra patted my back in response. "that's the spirit y/n!"

❥༄ it was a while later and the liquor was defiantly kicking in. me and zayra were dancing like crazy together when i suddenly spotted wes and harmony out the corner of my eye. it looked like they were arguing. wes kept looking away while harmony was forcing her hands on his face. i think wes felt me staring because he suddenly locked eyes with me, then me and harmony locked eyes. she grabbed wes's face and slammed their lips together. i looked away, feeling so crushed. how stupid could i be? why would wes want someone like me when he has someone like harmony in his life. she's so much older and cooler. she didn't have to beg her mom to add more minutes on her phone, or be forced to take algebra again. she was grown like wes. i knew i'd have to get over this school girl crush sooner or later, but i didn't think it'd go like this. i stooped dancing and leaned towards zayra's ear, "im gonna go get some fresh air." she nodded and continued dancing.

❥༄ i made my way through the crowd of bodies towards the backyard. whoever's house this was, is blessed. there was a huge pool, a hot tub, and a wooden porch swing. i decided to sit on the swing and pull out a cig from my back pocket. i groaned in frustration as i realized i didn't have a lighter. just then a shadow casted over me, and a voice spoke up. "need a light?" it was wes with his dark blue lighter. "yeah...thanks." i wasn't really looking at him as i spoke. he held the lighter to my lips, i positioned the lighter in a way where the embers would catch the fire being emerged from the metal object. i locked eyes with his big brown ones while doing so, it was like i was stargazing. i also didn't know if it was him or the liquor that was making me feel like i had to puke. he took the space next to me and began making the swing rock back and forth. i decided i needed to pop the question now or it would eat me alive. "so you and harmony?" he whipped his head towards me and began fidgeting with his ear. he only did that when nervous. "what about me and harmony?" he spoke. thanks to all those random shots me and zayra were pounding, i had an insane amount of liquid courage. "oh come on wes! i saw you two basically sucking each others faces. i mean why would you compliment me tonight if you dint like me?" he was staring at me for a while, then he began to speak up but i cut him off. "do you even know how long i've liked you? how much i like you?" things went quiet and he was just staring at me. after a minute he spoke up with a stern voice "do you mean what you say?" i looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. how clueless could he be? "yes! and i know you just see me as some stupid little girl, but i've liked you for years." i began to walk away. until he grabbed my arm, forcing me to turn around. "wow when did i ever say that?" he had a worried expression. "you don't have to! i can tell that's what you and harmony were thinking!" he shook his head before speaking. "y/n harmony's just some jealous ex who won't leave me alone." i looked up at him with my brows furrowed "really?" "yeah!" he said while nodding profusely. we stayed staring at eachother, awkwardly, until i decided to break the silence. "why did you guys break up?" he chuckled a little before he spoke up, he began playing with his ear again too. "when i realized i started liking someone else way more than i liked her." wow. i swore i heard my heart shatter for the second time that night. "who?" i asked, the question making my throat burn and eyes water. then he did something totally unexpected, he grabbed my face with both of his hands, cupping my cheeks with a soft smile, then he connected our lips. i felt like there were a million fireworks exploding all over my body, my hands were shaky and my heart was daring to jump out of my chest. the alcohol was definitely adding fuel to the fire as well. my head felt like it was spinning at 100 mph. the kiss lasted for a minute until i broke away. "does that answer your question?" he said in a dorky voice with a smirk. i giggled while swatting his chest. "yeah it did weirdo." he laughed again. he had this far away look in his eye, just staring at me before he began dragging me back to the party. "what are you doing?" i slightly yelped. "come on! i wanna dance!" he proclaimed with a huge smile. i happily obliged and began following him back into the house.

❥༄ i felt eyes on me as soon as we started dancing, i turned to see harmony, staring at me with daggers in her eyes. sober me would've ignored her, but drunk me had balls. i grabbed wes and kissed him, while keeping eye contact with harmony, just returning the favor! she stomped out the house through the front door. when i pulled away from wes, he looked at me with a huge smile and twinkling eyes. "what was that for?" he said with a chuckle. "i just...felt like it." i said with a giggle. he returned the laugh and we continued dancing. the night ended with me wearing wes's hoodie, and drifting off in the back of fred's car, forever grateful for this night.

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sweethibiscus · 1 year

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Old Flames 2

omg before i start this second part thank you guys sm for all the support on the first part i love you guys sm and i tried my best to get this out asap!!

contains: !meanellie x !shy/scaredreader, angst, some fluff, some smut, sexual thoughts, alcohol, weed, and i think thats it! lmk if i forgot anything and as always 18+ !!

enjoy lovelys <3

You and ellie barely spoke since saturday. After confessing and hugging for a while you mutually decided to let eachother think in silence.

ellie couldnt stop thinking back to all the times you guys had hung out. what signs did she miss? could she have done something differently? maybe if she told you she was attracted to you maybe you would be together.

You were having similar thoughts, facing the opposite direction as ellie but you decided to text dina.

Dina

12:34 am

y:guess whos my fucking roommate

d:who?

y:ellie.

y:and thats not even the worst part

d: uh oh

d: please dont tell me you did something stupid

y: yeah about that…

y:i kinda told her i used to be inlove with her and thats why i ghosted her.

d: WHAT????

y: I KNOW I KNOW IDK WHAT I WAS THINKING EITHER BUT SHE WAS SURPRISINGLY NICE ABOUT IT LIKE WE HUGGED FOR A WHILE

d: omfg

d: ok whatever just come to my dorm tomorrow morning and we can talk about it while we get ready for the party which you agreed to go to by the way

y: ughhh i forgot about that do i have to go??

d: you promised!!

y: fine ill come over at like 7

d: thank youu and gl with the whole ellie thing.

y: thanks

(end of conversation)

You sighed and put your phone on the charger before deciding you should get some sleep before going to dinas.

you woke up and looked at the flashing red numbers on your alarm clock that read 6:18 AM

you got up and put some sweatpants on along with a hoodie before putting your laptop charger phone and a dress to change into for the party that night into your tote bag. you grabbed your shoes and began tying then when you heard shuffling on the other side of the room

shit you thought to yourself. you really didn’t wanna have to face ellie this morning but she was your roomate after all.

“where are you going this early” she said rubbing her eyes. her voice sounded so raspy, you felt the same butterflies you tried so hard to get rid of senior year but now they were back.

“shit sorry did i wake you up?” you said standing up to look at her ignoring her previous question.

“yea kinda but you didn’t answer my question, where are you going?” she said a little harsher now. “just dinas, ill be back pretty late too so dont wait up” you replied. “oh? and where are you going thats keeping you out so late” ellie replied standing up crossing her arms. she was just wearing a tanktop and sweats, her muscular arms on full display. trying to divert your attention so you wouldnt stare you tried to reply. “just some stupid frat party”.

“oh? well im going to a frat party myself tonight so i guess well both be back late” she said smirking slightly. you rolled your eyes. “yeah ok” you replied turning around and walking to the front door. you opened it but before you closed it again you heard ellie say “you cant pretend nothing happened, y/n” after you heard that you quickly shut the door and started on your way to dinas dorm.

“you need to have an actual conversation with her y/n” dina said. you had spent the last hour and a half talking about your situation with ellie.

“but how i cant even say hi to her without feeling like im going to throw up from how nervous i am” you whined. you could tell dina was tired of listening to you but you didn’t really have anyone else that would put up with it.

“well its gonna happen weather you like it or not, but for now lets focus on your outfit for the party” you knew dina was trying to be helpful by changing the subject but you weren’t completely ready to stop talking about the situation between you and ellie but you complied with dinas request.

“ugh fine, hold on let me get my new dress i bought like two days ago” you showed her the dress. it was black with some glitter and off the shoulder sleeves.

“oh my god it looks amazing! you have to try it on for me” you rolled your eyes before going into the bathroom to change. when you walked out to show dina she opened her mouth slightly with a shocked expression across her face.

“holy shit y/n you look fucking amazing.”

you walked into the party with your hair and makeup done by dina. you made a beeline to the drink table dragging dina with you terrified to see ellie sober. you poured some alcohol from a bottle of straight vodka into a small shot glass sized solo cup.

“jeez slow down” dina said with a slightly concerned look as you downed the first shot and started pouring your second one.

“she said she was going to be here and i cannot be sober when i see her” you said after drinking your second shot.

“well how about you come dance for a bit before you get to wasted” dina spoke as she grabbed your wrist and dragged you into a crowd of sweaty bodies all dancing with the music. after a couple of minutes of pure uncomfort you told dina you were getting another drink. you walked over to the table and poured yourself a cup of vodka and punch and decided to go outside to the patio to get some fresh air.

you stepped outside closing the sliding glass door behind you. it was completely empty which was good. it made it easier for you to think. you sat against the wall and closed your eyes taking a sip of your concoction every once and a while listening to the slight beat of the music coming from inside. you thought about a lot of things, college, classes, but mostly ellie. you knew you couldnt avoid the subject forever, but you wished things could just go back to normal. you both being on speaking terms with no romantic feelings for eachother, but it was a little late for that now, and you couldnt keep pushing ellie away, she was your roomate now but you also missed what you used to have. maybe talking to her would be able to do that, but you still wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

you were deep in your thoughts when you heard the sliding sound of the glass door open. you thought it was dina looking for you so you just said, “yeah yeah i know dina just give me like five minutes and ill go back in” however the voice that you thought belonged to your best friend sounded nothing like her, instead it was ellie. “well im not dina but you should probably go back inside” she spoke.

you were pulled out of your thoughts at the sound of her voice looking over at her as she made her way to sit down next to you.

you already being somewhat drunk you responded to her with a little attitude “what do you want, did dina tell you i was going to be out here or something” “well for one i wasnt looking for you, i didnt even know you were going to be out here, i just came outside to smoke, but it’s probably a good thing i found you, we need to talk” she says pulling out a joint from the back pocket of her jeans. she was wearing acid washed dark blue jeans and a maroon tshirt with a sage green flannel over it. she had her hair in a half up half down bun style and of course, her black converse.

you watched intently as she placed the joint between her lips and lit it, the smell hitting your nose as she inhaled and exhaled the substance.

“you shouldve said something, senior year, i might’ve even felt the same”. she started to speak again. “but what if you didnt?”. “then thats it, atleast we wouldve gotten it out of the way”. you wished that what she was saying was true but you knew better. “dont act like it wouldnt have been a big deal ellie, you and i both know that it would change our entire friendship, plus what about cat?”

there was a moment of silence before ellie spoke again “me and cat broke up after a few months but we werent even dating when you cut me off. we couldve tried it out. we couldve gone on dates and shit. We couldve made it work, even if we decided to just be friends.”

after another moment of silence you decided to say something. “what if we tried just being friends again, we cant really avoid eachother anymore you know since were roomates and shit” you proposed. you didn’t want to be just freinds but after months of not talking you couldnt just ask her to date you. Ellie however wanted you to ask her to be more.

“so just friends? nothing more?” ellie said as she turned to look at you. occasionally glancing at your lips.

“well i mean i just thought-“ you were cut off by ellie. “you thought i wouldnt say yes if you asked me to be more?”. you felt heat rise up to your face as ellie moved slightly closer but enough to the point where your shoulders were touching. “i mean, i-i guess?” you were able to stutter out.

“well what if i told you i wouldve said yes?” as she spoke she moved her face closer to yours to the point where you could slightly feel her breath against you.

“i-i dont” before you could finish you were cut off by her lips lightly pressing against yours. you were shocked for a moment but eventually gave in and kissed her back as she flicked her joint elsewhere. the kiss became more lustful when she slightly bit on your bottom lip and entering her tounge in your mouth when you gasped. you put your hands on the sides of her face to pull her in even more. she pulled you onto her lap and her knee pressed slightly onto your core making you gasp and pull away from the kiss for a moment. you felt your arousal growing as your underwear slowly became wet. you wanted so badly for it to go further but you knew you couldnt do it on the patio of a frat party.

ellie tried kissing you again but you held her shoulders to stop her. “ this is amazing but i think we should go back inside, dinas probably worried by now”

“hmm ok but remember we’re roommates”

—————————————————-——————

A/N

Im so sorry this took me so long to publish but here it is!!! it might be a bit of a longer wait for part three because of school but i will keep you guys updated!! again thank you all so much for the support on the first part im so happy you guys like this series as much as i like writing it!!

#ellie williams x reader #tlou2 #ellie williams smut #ellie williams fic #the last of us #ellie x fem reader #ellie x y/n

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