Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 24 - Belonging

"Actually, speaking of mates. I might go see if Aonung's aroun-" She joke's obviously, acting oblivious. Lo'ak's immediate reaction was to snap his head up at her and yell "hey" as if that'd do anything, reaching for her wrist before she stopped him. She gave him a look, to which he took as an indication that she wasn't telling the truth, allowing him to pull back. Kiri was trying to hold in her laughter the whole time, and truth be told, Neytiri found it rather funny too, seeing her son get worked up over an obvious joke.

By this point, the question was going too long without an answer and Jake's legs were getting tired of crouching. So, he yanked his son out of the way via his forearm, letting him face Ni'teya once again.

"Ignore what he thinks, alright? You just let me know what you want." He says, talking sweetly and gently so that she knew she could be truthful, which she was.

Ni'teya thought about it for a while. She didn't know exactly what she wanted, and she didn't know what they'd say to that however she did know a few helpful things. She knew she didn't want to leave the reef, but more importantly,

Ni'teya wanted to be part of a family. A real family.

It seems she had her answer with her the whole time. "You don't have to call me daughter, you don't have to call me sister, either. You don't have to consider me adopted, because I don't want to be. Instead, I want to be yours. I want to be called a Sully, not through my blood but through my feelings and my sense of what home is." She ends her speech, looking at Jake the whole time with an extremely direct but sincere voice as she spoke.

"If that's- alright with everyone, that is." She quietens herself, getting rather flustered due to the level of depth she went into.

"I object." A voice sounds, revealing Kiri who had her hand up in the air as if she wanted to answer a question. She walks towards Ni'teya, her arms crossed and her face serious, the atmosphere chilling. When she stops before her friend, she looks at her in her entirety before a small smirk appears. Shockingly to Ni'teya, who was growing quite worried for a second there, Kiri embraced her in a strong and warm hug.

"I want to call you my sister!" She tells her, that being the reason for her objection. Ni'teya laughs at this in both relief and because she was impressed at how well Kiri had landed that joke.

A wave of joy was passed around as Tuk ran up to Kiri and Ni'teya, joining their hug and copying her sister. "Me too, me too!" She cried, hopping up and down mid-hug. Ni'teya only continued to laugh at the ordeal, swinging her head back and smiling big. Both Jake and Neytiri felt pleased by this, standing together and watching their children dance around in happiness (Lo'ak included, sort of).

He only watched the girls swing around and jump with their arms around each other, trying not to seem like he wanted to join in, secretly wanting to. At the same time though, he didn't mind not being involved if it meant he could watch Ni'teya's expressions. He watched her laugh and smile and dance, knowing she was more than happy to be a Sully. "More than", meaning it was deeper than that. He knew that she felt relief as well as solace, cared for and cared about whilst also feeling an insane amount of obligation and worry about the situation. Her eyes had small hints of nerves inside them, her laugh sometimes hesitant, which went unnoticed to the others.

But he noticed her. He'd noticed her that day when she was watching her own family ignore her, not feeling an ounce of sadness, only disappointment. He'd noticed her struggle to agree to any sort of help for herself the day Kiri seized underwater. He'd noticed her worry about being a bother to everyone else when she got hurt.

But moreover any of that, Lo'ak had noticed how she'd continued to save him.
Again and again she would save him, even if he was being horrible towards her.
He could see who she was, what she stood for and why she stood for it. He could see how he needed her, not only now but back then, too.