Project tiftanglen || Neteyam

7

The rest of dinner was uneventful, a younger boy named Lo'ak had joined them, he looked mesmerized by the differences the metal armed boy had to them. To start he had 4 fingers, unlike them [apart from neteyam and tuk] which as he said was

"Weird, cause you're more skypeople than us" Tarian chuckled at that.

The end of dinner wasn't very eventful either apart from the looks he got, some whe're nasty, the looks of people who definitely had gotten hurt by the sky people, then where others, looks from girls he never thought he would get.

Tarian knew he was... average in the looks department, but what the hell, he was the only one of his age group back at base, all the women were either old, or way out of his league, not that such a thing existed, the rare in age person who was here with some programe was either not into navi or just not allowed to know he exists, so all these weird stares he got from girls that were seemingly his age we're creeping him out.

...

Dinner was wrapping up finally, they were walking back to their hut, their hut meaning the hut they've lived in for years, further away from everyones, higher up, better. For Tarian it was just a weird place where he was to sleep for the foreseeable future

"Wait, what did your room look like?" came a question from Lo'ak

"It was simple"
"You gotta give us more than that!"

"I had a few pictures up, there was a bed, a desk and a dresser, thats it"

Then came an awkward pause, bringing a stop to the easy going and talking atmosphere.

"Soooo...." Kiri drew out

"So?"

"What made you wanna leave?"

"I had a lapse in judgement." They looked at Tarian weirdly, cautiously

"I was chosen by an ikran, in my head all that i was thinking was, don't die. When i landed i realised i couldn't come back for...reasons" There was so much more than that, Tarian wished he could fall to his knees and let out his entire sob story, muck and all, sitting there for hours, curled up with people comforting him. He barely knew them, he didn't know what betrayal they could hold over his clouded head, what pain they could bring him without even lifting his finger, all soldiers have fragile little children deep beneath the coding, and sadly Tarians had sharp nails, each day it would tear him from the inside, its nail favouring his eyes, which it would grasp with its bloodied nails till they where red and bloodshot.

"And that's when i found you?" Neteyam cut in, his voice restraining the bloodied child which was reaching for his eyes once again.
"Yeah." Tarian looked down at him, he was taller then him by a slight difference, he was lab grown, inorganic, he was 8 '10 standing over most of the people in the family.

The hut had grown closer, climbing through the rocky terrain of the cave they finally reached the woven home, it looked fancier then all the other huts they passed, Jake was the olo'eyktan after all.

...

Night had finally settled, or well eclipse as the correct terms named it.

Different snores and sleeping sounds echoed through the woven sully family home.

The thin walls giving way for the distant echoes of ikran and various fauna spread through the forests below and up above, it was peaceful, for the most part.

In the middle of the cacophony of different cots laid Tarian, metallic hand thrown onto the ground near him, the bone of his right arm aching and hurting like someone was burning it. His flesh hand was cupped over his mouth as he was curled up into a tight ball, whimpering.