two. ignorant sky people
JUNIPER WAS IN DISBELIEF AT THE SIMILARITY THE FIGURE HAD TO TOM SULLY. Every instinct that Juniper had told her to pounce and attack the man, yet Neytiri pulled her along as they continued following him. The woman Na'vi kept her bow in her grasp—at one stage when having a clear shot, she readied her stance. Yet, she was cut off by a seed of the sacred tree landing on her bow.
Neytiri took it as a sign to not shoot the man and continued to trail after him, though Juniper felt rage boil her blood. She wanted to watch the man's life fade from his eyes and make him feel the pain she endured because of him—that's if it were Tom Sully like Juniper thought. But he was a sky person nonetheless.
Night had fallen, the moon lighting up the forests and highlighting the luminescence plants of the place. It was beautiful. If circumstances were different, Juniper would stand and take in the environment around her and have a smile on her face. However, her face was stern as she kept a glare, eyeing the man as he created a fire on a stick.
Growls echoed throughout the forest, and Juniper raised her brows at the Viperwolves surrounding the man. The way he acted and was unknown to the forest made it clear that this wasn't Tom, but Juniper still had anger running through her blood. The mere thought of a sky person brought Juniper on edge.
The unknown Na'vi wavered the stick flamed in front of the creatures as they growled, eyes hungrily staring at their prey. Juniper stayed on the man's tail as he walked, separating herself from Neytiri. Juniper crawled through the thick branches of the trees, managing out of sight. Though she was his last worry seeming as if the Viperwolves were catching up.
He was cornered. The stick on fire was the only thing the man had to defend himself, swaying it around frantically. As Juniper observed the man's movements, it wasn't Na'vi but yelled out sky person, "I don't have all goddamn night," He called to the Viperwolves, and Juniper tilted her head at the language he used: English, "come on! Come on!"
As if on cue, from behind the man, a wolf pounced. The man quickly brought his stick forward, colliding it into the Viperwolf. It whimpered from the hit, quickly getting up from where it dropped. Hitting one on the tree above him, the man lost his stick and unravelled a knife he kept stored in his waist holster.
Juniper couldn't lie but say that she was slightly impressed by how the man carried himself, manoeuvring himself off the floor from where he was tackled. A sadness crept on Juniper, hearing the whimpers and cries of the poor beasts. Juniper didn't blame the animals for following their instincts but instead the man—not knowing how to work around the forest.
Every time he fell to the floor, the man got up, but as he lay on the floor with a grip on one of the wolves trying their best to attack him, he couldn't. Juniper scoffed, thinking she was about to watch his end until, from behind him, Neytiri jumped out as she shot her bow. The arrow landed on the Viperwolf the man held, allowing him to put the creature down and grasp his knife.
Juniper scolded Neytiri in her head, popping out from the shadows herself. She held her knife firmly against her chest with the blade pointed out, wishing she had brought her bow instead as she was more skilled in archery. Neytiri yelled as she swiped her bow, knocking the Viperwolves back.
Juniper hissed her canines at the wolves coming close, swinging her knife forward. It wasn't close enough to make contact but necessarily close for the creatures to back away in fear. If there was one thing about Juniper, she didn't have the heart to kill the animals of the forest. But it was completely different when it came to people.
The young girl didn't have any of the Viperwolves on her anymore as they ran, and Juniper glanced over to Neytiri, seeing her staring off in the distance to where the pack ran off. The Vespera girl waltzed to Neytiri's side, grasping her shoulder as an act of solace. The man inspected the two as the woman almost immediately stood upright, checking the girl for any injuries to which she remained unharmed.
When Neytiri was sure that Juniper wasn't injured, she gripped the stick remaining on fire from the ground where it had been abandoned, throwing it in the water nearby and ignoring the protests from the man. He scoffed, throwing his arms up at the woman as she examined the area.
He made eye contact with Juniper, who scowled at the man, seething her teeth. The man held his hands up, a gesture of surrender and a smug grin on his face, until only Juniper rolled her beaming, yellow eyes. The Vespera girl's line of sight fell upon Neytiri, an expression of sorrow crossing her face as she saw the woman do the honorary death—chanting in Na'vi.
"Look, I know you probably don't understand this," The man spoke, and Juniper intently listened, not sparing a gaze over towards him. Her brows puckered while her ears perked up, and she realised he sounded nothing like what Tom did, "but thank you. Thank you. That was pretty impressive. I would have been screwed if you hadn't come along. It was ..." As he noticed the two leaving, he stood and called after them.
Juniper bundled her hands in a fist, annoyance taking over as she heard the man behind them. Neytiri made sure the girl stayed in front of her and the unknown Avatar. Juniper wanted to glance back at the man and allow herself to lunge at him, but she chose otherwise as she already could imagine Neytiri's reaction and the lecture she'd get.
"Look, wait up. I just wanted to thank you for killing those things—" When the man reached for Neytiri's arm, she spun around and whacked her bow into his face. Juniper turned at the commotion and chuckled from seeing the man, grunting in pain, on the floor, "damn," He exclaimed, glancing back at the women—mainly over at Neytiri.
She warningly aimed the end of her bow at him, sneering, "you don't thank. You don't thank for this. This is sad. Very sad only."
"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry," Juniper felt conflicted at this point. The man wasn't who she believed he was but instead different. He was still an idiot ... but he was no Tommy Sully, "whatever I did, I am sorry."
"All of this is your fault. They did not need to die."
The man questioned, confusion leaking on his face, "my fault? They attacked me. How am I the bad guy?" Juniper rolled her eyes at the man's ignorance. A trait that all sky people seemed to share. It was annoying, really.
Neytiri thrust her weapon closer, glowering at the man and snarled, "your fault! Your fault! You're like a baby. Making noise, don't know what to do," Neytiri moved her bow out the way as the man stood up, still keeping his arms out reached to not oppose as a threat.
He pointed to where the fight occurred, "if you love your little forest friends, why not let them just kill my ass?" In Juniper's case, she was happy to allow the Viperowolves to take him down—it'd make her day—but seeing Neytiri jumping out and fighting, the Vespera girl couldn't stand by in the shadows, "what's the thinking?"
Neytiri eyed the man, muttering to herself, "why save you?"
The unknown man nodded, repeating Neytiri, "Yeah. Yeah, why save me?" Juniper was interested in the answer herself, keeping her gaze locked on Neytiri and was not expecting the reason that the two–Juniper and the man—were given.
"You have a strong heart. No fear," Juniper furrowed her brows at Neytiri, watching her take a step towards him and scolded, "but stupid! Ignorant like a child," The man scoffed at her words, a smile raising on his face as she turned and walked away.
Juniper stood there for a bit, watching her until she switched her gaze to the man. As they made eye contact, he shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards her, "and what about you, huh? Can you at least understand me ... o—or speak English?"
"I don't speak English with idiots," The man raised his brows at the girl's retort, noticing how much younger she was compared to the woman and himself. Jake thought she had to be at least more than five years younger. A teenager at the best. Juniper didn't wait for another second, staring into the man before hurryingly following Neytiri. And to Juniper's dismay, she was followed by the man.