Project tiftanglen || Neteyam

3

He looks up slowly, irises reduced to tiny pins and ears so low they're practically lost in his nest of thick hair that's so full of random trinkets and beads it clatters as he tilts his head up.

As his eyes finally meet the caster of the shadow he faces a huge ikran. Purple body and all its markings taking on light hues of purples and magentas,. Looking closer at its body he notices its left secondary, smaller wing is torn slightly, damaged, like him, he though. The ikran is hissing at him. Suddenly filled with a newfound feeling he springs up into an aggressive stance, hissing back at it. He searches his body for anything he can use but is left bare of anything useful against an aggressive ikran. He smirks for the first time in forever, his tail whipping around him as they both circle each other waiting for the others next move. The ikran growls and suddenly Tarian cocks his head back and mutters "Come on sugar" and he jumps forward at the ikran, trying to clamber onto its neck. The ikran violently swings its head, its jaw not tied and teeth bared. Tarian grabs the downwards protruding chin and swings it up, putting the ikran into a freaky looking choke hold. With his legs wrapped around its neck he doesn't know what to do, its a dance of power, a wrestle between a person and a beast, if he lets go of the chin he's definitely losing his last remaining- oh, oh.

He unclenches his right arm from the beast's chin and grabs its maw clenching both the upper and lower jaw together, then he locks the prosthetic in place. To do that he has to press a specific button on the lower half of his thumb so he risks it and releases his left hand to quickly press the button. The ikran slams ts head up even further with newfound un restricted movement but its jaw is locked and with his left arm he takes his que, not even worrying for a second whether it's gonna be all for nothing, with his right stub he sort of nudged the ikrans que closer and he forced them together. The ikran's pupils widen and so do Tarians. It worked, it worked! Fly! He thought, the ikran growled

it didnt work? no, they were right, they were right he was damaged, he couldnt bond with an ikran- what had he thought? ofcourse it didnt work.

wait, his arm-

"What?" he chuckled, an airy confused chuckle, he reached over to his- the ikran snarled, her jaw and unlocked the prosthetic, connecting it to the socket in his arm, the ikran finally bounded off of the ledge and into the sky. Tarian laughed, not a hysterical laugh, when he's in so much pain he tries to ignore it, not the forced laugh he emits when the scientists try to crack him up, a genuine childish laugh. They flew faster then any samson could imitate, Tarian up close to her, they did tricks in the air, suddenly a two big mountains stretched out of the ground,

"Bend!" he yelled, even though he knew she could understand him perfectly well if he just though it. The ikran which he has yet to name sharply bent and curled up, hurling itself up, barely making it through the tight squeeze, mostly protecting Tarian, who even as a durable navi was far less durable than the creature of the sky. Once they made it out Tarian yelled
"Wooooo!!!! Fuck yeah!" he smiled, eyes tearing up slightly, that led him to stuttering a bit, the ikran following and stumbling in the air, growling at him lightly
"Sorry, sorry-" he furiously wiped at his eyes, focusing his energy at steering the ikran.

The wind whipping at him, he lets out animalistic yips, the ikran, who he has named kreyp, the navi alphabet version of grape, makes similar noises of celebration, they really are similar. Tarian smiles, a real genuine ecstasy filled smile, Kreyp starts lowering down to the ground, she lets out a rumble that roughly translated means "itchy neck".And Tarian smiled, a common sight now it seems, he reaches over and scritches her leathery neck
"You big baby" Kreyp lets out oddly sarcastic sounding grumbles. They finally reached the ground, Kreyp digging into the roots dirt and stumbling only slightly, he looks around at the expansive forest, forgetting all the coding they forced into his brain, not feeling the pair of eyes on him, then it hits him. They're probably looking for him already, they noticed he isnt there- they- they- he starts getting warm, Kreyp sending out grumbles of warning and alarm. Suddenly the pain in his que is back, Kreyp seemingly feels it and yanks her queue away from his, bending her head back to look at him she finally sees his queue, it looks so mangled, Tarian is shaking and gasping for air, shaking, dry heaving, his hands clawing at his neck and his tail whipping behind him in hectic movements.

She sets him down on the ground, worriedly moving her head and trying to comfort him. Suddenly a choked sob leaves his throat, Kreyp's eyes darting to his pained face. Tarian stretches an arm towards her and she lays down onto him, not too much as to not crush him, but enough that they share warmth, as she comforts him till the dam is empty and the dull throbs subside. He looks at her, his ikran, he did it, his que isn't completely fucked, he thinks, and smiles, eyes lighting up so much that all the previous smiles are put to shame, then he goes limp. Kreyp looks at him kindly, she lost one child, she's going to protect this one. She licks his forehead, making happy chirps and falling asleep herself.

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Kinda hate this chapter not gonna lie, i have to clue how to write well lols, spoilers, we're gonna meet the omaticaya soon!

-EB