~+ Outcasts +~+ Lo'ak x fem reader +~

Chapter 6 ~ {Lo'ak's PoV}

Soon after our family meeting finishes, mom and dad are arguing, Tuk is crying, Kiri is being all sulky and Neteyam is attempting to be the peacekeeper. Of course. It's almost like at home. 

I slip out unnoticed. On top of everything else, I'm not sure how I can deal with my family's chaos. 

It's dark now as I make my way onto the beach. I walk along the sandy shore until it abruptly ends, a tangle of foliage cutting off my path. It's either go through the plants or go back. I don't think I can deal being back at the Mauri pod, so I take my chances and make my way through the dense plants. 

The plants start to thin out and a beach with a cove comes into view. It's beautiful and has a very intense presence. No. The presence is something else. I notice a Na'vi lying on the beach, staring up at the sky. As I move closer, I can see it's Atala.  

On one hand, I can turn back now and not let her see me. On the other, I think I want her to see me? If she sees me, it's bound to raise questions which will lead to a conversation. I kick out my leg, causing the plants surrounding me to swish. As I assumed, Atala's on her feet in a flash, her body tensing up. We lock eyes and I wave.

"What are you doing here?" She questions. Her stare is piercing and I raise my hands in innocence. "Why did you follow me?"

I start walking forward, but stop when she defensively raises her hand."I could say the same to you. What are you doing here?"

She scoffs and tosses her head a little. "I actually have lived here for more than a few hours, and I've been coming to this beach for years. Unlike you, forest boy" She crosses her arms and leans forward. "But you didn't still didn't answer my questions."

I think I like it when she calls me that. I can feel my face warming, my lips curling into a smirk. I quickly wipe my face of any sort of smile and catch her eye. "My family," I say. I open my mouth to say they were fighting, being insane and overly dramatic. 

She cuts me off and holds out her hand.. "No need to say more." She smiles. "I totally get needing to be away from your ad- family."

Ad family? What's that? Metkayina thing? My brow furrows. "My what family?" 

She looks down sheepishly. "I was going to say adopted family." She releases a breathless laugh, even though nothing's funny. "I'm kind of..conditioned to that."

I pause. That must be incredibly difficult, having to refer to your family as adopted, as though you're not fully accepted. Sure, I didn't feel accepted most of the time, but I've never had to deal  with not actually having a biological family to turn to. My parents always worked so hard to make sure Kiri, who's adopted, always fit in. My mind wanders from the matter, back to what's in front of me. Atala. She's beautiful. Thick hair, impeccable skin, the green eyes. Unlike anything I've ever seen. She's unlike anything I've seen, different from anyone else. "You look..different from everyone else here, and everyone back home." I catch her eye, shiny as it reflects the bright moonlight. The colour is so unlike anything I've seen before. It's almost like you mixed two colours, colours that I swear I recognize. 

"Why?" She questions, smiling. It looks like she's mostly smiling to herself, as though she knows something I don't. "You really haven't figured it out yet, have you, forest boy?" That title again. I really like it when she calls me that.

She closes the distance between us, grabbing my hand. It's like electricity up my arm and down to my toes. She sits down and pulls me down with her. "I'll piece it together for you," Atala says. "I partly look Omaticaya and partly Metkayina, I live here and yet I love climbing-"

Boom. My brain connects the pieces together, now so glaringly obvious that I can't believe that I had missed it before. "Ohhhhhh. You're..half Omaticaya and half Metkayina!" 

She catches my eye and smirks at me. "You got it, forest boy." She turns her gaze onto the sky and I continue to admire her out of the corner of my eye. She suddenly disrupts the silence. "You want to do something fun?" She asks.

Her voice makes me jump. "I-yeah, let's do something fun." I stand up and offer her my hand. As she takes it and as she gets up, she grabs my other, turning me to face her. We're close together now and I just want to close the distance between us. She flashes a smile at me, almost mischievous. "You saw the giant roots that are over the village when you flew in, yes?"

I nod, still focused on how close and yet so far apart we are. 

"Good. We're going to climb on those. Maybe it'll ease the homesickness." She says.

I grin. Atala may have a tough exterior but I keep seeing glints and peeks of kindness. "That sounds..really fun." 

Atala grins at this and tugs on my arms, leading me to the village. The short journey there is filled with smiles and hushed scoldings to be more quiet. We reach the towering roots and start climbing.

I can almost instantly feel the homesickness easing off of my chest. Once the rain starts I really feel at home back in the jungle. I can see Atala struggling, her steps being less sure. I make my way towards her hurrying over incase she slips. But I'm not fast enough. I can see the look of fear in her eyes as she looses her footing over a rocky part of the reef. Shit. This won't be good.