MOMENTS LIKE THESE WERE THE ONES Ivy cherished, where she could be away from the war, and any mention of it, where she could just be a dumb kid.
Ivy jumped across the vines, glancing every now and then at the mountains floating around her and the greenery hundreds if not thousands of feet below her.
She grinned with each step while the others cheered, she jumped forward in front of Lo'ak and behind Spider, her feet connecting with the vines like they'd done what felt like millions of times before.
She saw Ikrans gliding around them peacefully and gusts of winds blew her loose hairs out of her face, she gracefully did a cartwheel as Kiri cheered Spider and her on.
She wanted to live in this moment forever, each time she went out she never wanted to come back, so what if one day she just... left? Would she be able to live like this all the time? Would it be lonely, she was the kind of girl that preferred being alone after all,
This was when she truly felt at peace, she usually preferred going by herself in times like these, smiling to herself, but she didn't mind the company, except Lo'aks of course.
"Guys!" Tuk called out from behind them, her small legs struggling to keep up "wait up!"
Ivy managed to leap infront of Spider "speed up monkey boy!" She teased as she now lead the group with her arms outstretched and eyes wide with joy.
Finally her feet touched the ground, Lo'ak nearly accidentally landed on top of her, narrowly missing her and she scoffed "real graceful Lo'ak" he had landed in a crouch, he stood up and brushed his toned torso sticking out his tounge at her while Kiri, Spider and Tuk landed.
"This way!" Spider called, Ivy lightly felt Lo'aks hand on her back pushing her forward, the Na'vi girl hopped up onto a log, resisting the urge to gidly grin at the soft grass beneath her feet, she failed.
Lo'ak stopped to take her hand helping her off the log, she took it as an advantage to speed ahead of him.
"Oh we're racing are we now?" He called out.
She yelled not turning her to keep her speed up "keep up"
Lo'ak managed to get infront, Ivy looked around for a advantage, she spotted hanging vines, with one foot she propelled herself off, clasping onto the hanging greens, using her feet to run along the trunk and launch herself far ahead of Lo'ak.
She rolled onto the grass and looked back at him putting her middle finger up as he yelled "Thats not fair!"
"Suck it dickhead!" She retorted and the boy stopped for a breath before they continued.
"Tuk keep up!" Ivy heard Lo'ak from beside her and turned around to see Tuk playing with a plant with a bright grin on her face.
"Ok ok!" Tuk called back and skipping up to countinue.
"Bro why'd you bring her anyway?" Spider spoke up receiving a punch on the arm from Ivy.
"She's such a crybaby!" Lo'ak agreed slowing down to turn back to the group, Ivy from beside spun around to and rolled her eyes, Lo'ak continued in a mocking accent "I'm telling, you're not supposed to go to the battle field! I'll tell mum if you don't let me come"
"Grow up Lo'ak" Ivy rolled her eyes from besides him, ducking just in time to avoid her hair being pulled.
"Don't pick on her" Kiri scolded her brother while an unbothered Tuk stuck her tounge out condescendingly.
"Would you stop it let's go!" Ivy called out to them all flinging around to keep running.
Lo'ak sprinted infront of her, and Ivy sprinted to overtake him in another race "get back here!" Lo'ak called while Ivy ignored him and continued.
This was it, this was the feeling she wanted to feel her whole life, becasue right now she was happy, truly happy, right now no weight was crushing down on her shoulders, right now her chest didn't feel unbearably tight, right now she wasn't worrying about the sky people.
This was where she was meant to be.
The forest was where she was meant to be.
"Here one's here!" Tuk called halting Ivy and Lo'ak in there tracks, Lo,ak hit her back nearly causing her to tumble forward, thankfully millisecond after he caught her, wrapping his hands around she'd waist and bringing her up.
Her eyes trailed up to where Tuk was pointing, a hovercraft, looming over them, tangled up in vines, old and rusted, frozen in time.
Suddenly a wave of anger washed over her and her face visibly darkened, that didn't belong here, that metal didn't belong here in Ivys perfect paradise, in the lush and ethereal forest, it stuck out, like evil in good.
Ivy swerved around face to face with the boy.
Silence.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yeah yeah I'm good" she quickly cleared her throat and shoved him off "I won the race just letting you know"
"You cheated!"
"I didn't cheat I used tactics"
She refused to look at him again and ignroing Kiri's raised brows, she crawled up the roots towards the hovercraft, bearing her mothers curiosity, Lo'ak follows close behind and called for Spider to come forward "oh sick" Spider breathed out gazing at the monstrosity over them.
"That's one word for it" Ivy whispered while her Lo'ak peered into the ship from either side of the door.
Ivy moved forward, place a foot onto the cold metal floor "are there any dead bodies up there!" She heard Tuk.
"Ivy be careful!" Lo'ak hissed as she moved in, lightly coughing at the dust as she waved it away.
"Don't worry Lo'ak if I fall to my ineveitable death I'll make sure to pull you down as well" She sent a sarcastic sickly sweet smile towards him.
"On second thought don't be careful"
She heard Lo'ak step in and look around, out of the corner of her eye she saw a skull and her head snapped to it with a wide mouth, it was small, maybe a little bigger than her hand "idiot" Lo'aks head snapped up knowing she was referring to him "look"
From behind her she saw Spider lean into the entrance to take a look around.
Creak.
"Shit" Lo'ak exclaimed as they felt the hovercraft shift downwards "let's go" he snatched up Ivys (who had nearly slid down but stabilised herself with a handle in time) hand and pulled her out.
"You three are always running into danger" Kiri scoffed as she stood with Tuk below "you're gonna get killed"
"Yeah yeah" Spider nodded used to the conversation and Kiri's take on their risky behaviour.
Ivy looked to see her and Lo'aks hand still intertwined and immediantly snatched it back, grateful Kiri didn't see because she would never let it go.
Ivy felt Lo'aks piercing eyes glance to her as she had pulled her hand back while Spider and Tuk argued, he spoke up "Cmon let's go"
"Hope you fall" Ivy told the boy as she slid down the root landing besides Kiri and Tuk.
They explored for a while longer, before stopping at a river to swim, Ivy let herself float in the crystal cold water, she loved the feeling of floating, it felt like flying, without her Ikran.
She dived down and watched as a large fish, purple and glistening in the sun slided past her, she looked up to see Tuk cannonball into the water and Kiri following beside her.
She left herself rise up to the surface, when she broke through Lo'ak splashed in right beside her "hey!" She yelled, splashing water onto his face, before she knew it Lo'ak pulled her down smiling "Spider help he's drowning me!" She squealed out dramatically before she was fully submerged.
She wiggle her ankle out of his grip and kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could, though there wasn't much force and it barely did anything (it's hard to move in water alright?)
Lo'ak laughed at the pathetic attempt to hurt him and she opened her mouth letting air bubbles out looking down at the boy in a starfish position down at the bottom to mouth "drown"
She swam up to the rocks to search through the rock pools while the rest splashed around, she watched as Lo'ak threw a giggling Tuk up in the air and Spider teased Kiri for not being able to breath underwater.
She listened to the sound of the water running through the rocks and the creatures of the forest chirping while she squeezed the water out of her semi dreaded pale hair.
Ivy helped a small reddish creature across a little drop in the rocks and smiled, a small glittering item caught her eye, and she turned about to pick it up.
But before she could grab it another deeper blue hand snatched it up, her head snapped up to see Lo'ak inspecting the glittery crystal.
"Lo'ak!" Ivy snapped angrily hopping to the same rock he was standing on, slightly wobbling since it was small "that's mine give it!"
"Hey I found it" he protested.
"No I found it!" She shot at him holding her hand out gesturing him to put it in.
"I picked it up!"
"But I saw it first"
Lo'ak laughed rolling the crystal through his fingers "what are you gonna do try slice my throat again?"
Ivy tilted her head in confusion "what the fuck are you talking about?" She had never tried slicing his throat.
She watched as his smile faltered and he pointed up to his neck, where Ivy could just make out a faint scar she'd never noticed before "I didn't do that?"
Now Lo'ak was no longer smiling "what are you talking about?"
Ivy snorted and smiled humourlessly while squeezing water out of her hair "trust me Lo'ak I think I would remember trying to slice your throat, it would of been a good memory"
"W-wait" the boy looked down at her, any evidence of a grin had vanished "you don't remember?"
What the fuck was this boy going on about?
Ivy thought she saw pity flash across his eyes for a split second, before he dropped the crystal in her hand "it's fine, keep it"
He hopped back over the rocks towards Spider leaving Ivy more confused than she thought she'd ever been.
How could she of forgotten trying to slice his throat? She was sure Neytiri would absolutely hate her if she had ever tried to kill her son.
Maybe Lo'ak was messing with her? But Lo'ak wasn't a good liar like her, he didn't seem to be joking.
She brought the crystal up to her face, before realising it wasn't anything special, only amber, she clutched it in her hand in deep thought before a voice snapped her out of it "Ivy!" Kiri called "let's go!"
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Kiri had wondered off somewhere and Spider had gone to find her, Ivy watched as Lo'ak helped Tuk fix a braid in her short dark hair.
Ivys eyes trailed up to the sky and her lips parted "Damit" she muttered they must of lost track of time, she looked down to see Lo'aks questioning eyes "it's almost eclipse"
The brother and sister looked up to the sky and Lo'ak spoke "Cmon let's get Spider and Kiri"
Ivy nodded and helped Tuk up, the young girl started trotting to where she last saw Spider go off too and the teens followed her.
"Kiri!" Lo'ak called as he moved a leaf back, revealing Spider and Kiri conversing in a patch of soft grass.
"We have to get back" Tuk let them know and Spider started to help Kiri up.
"Let's go" Ivy led the way out through the thick jungle, using her knife to cut through some parts to thick.
The made it through to reveal a long fallen trunk, covered in slippery green moss spreading over it like an infection, Lo'ak strided forward "this way" he spoke and helped Ivy up before pulling Tuk up.
She skipped forward, happy with how the day had turned out, suddenly Lo'ak took another turn, the tree was split and Ivy halted in her tracks as Kiri asked "what is it?"
Ivy jumped over the split and down to the mud where Lo'ak and Spider were inspecting something, she crouched down beside the taller one and her lips parted.
It was a footprint, one of a shoe, that only the humans wore, it was sunken into the mud and looked reasonably new, but it most definitely wasn't the foot of a human.
"We're always supposed to be home by eclipse!" Tuk called out while Lo'ak leaned forward to inspect it more closely.
Ivy and Lo'ak shared a solemn look before turning back to see the footsteps continuing "it way to big for a human" he commented voicing Ivys thoughts.
"Avatars?" Spider suggested as Kiri and Tuk hopped down to come see what the fuss was all about.
"Maybe" Lo'ak answered "they're for sure not ours"
"What Avatar would be out here at this time though?" Ivy pursed her lips thinking had and they all started to rise "it's nearly eclipse"
The trio cautiously edged forward, following the trail careful to preserve it.
"What are you doing?" Kiri called from behind them.
Lo'ak quietly shushed her while Ivy was wracking her brain for an Avatar that could be out here, perhaps Norm or someone was sent to look for them? Ivy didn't want to think about who else it could possibly be.
"Isn't this the way to the old shack?" Kiri whispered holding Tuk close to her as they countinued.
"We'll be careful Kiri" Ivy reassured unfocused on her and more on the tracking.
"You said that last time and you ended up stuck upside down on a tree" Kiri reminded her of when she had tried to jump of the tree onto her Ikran, thankfully Neteyam was there instead of Lo'ak, because the younger brother would of just cracked up laughing intstead of helping.
"Shut up" Ivy hissed putting her finger to her lips as they all proceeded, they came up to some ferns, Ivy used Lo'aks shoulder to stabilise herself as she looked over.
They were deadly silent now as they realised it was most certainly a group of Avatars at the old shack "we are never supposed to come here" Kiri whispered to her brother who tried to brush it off "dad is going to ground you"
"Shhh, stop"
"For life!"
"We have go to go check this out" Ivy looked to each of her sides at Lo'ak and Spider who nodded.
Lo'ak nodded "let's go"
Ivy stealthily, stood up, careful not to make a sound, it reminded her of when she tried to sneak up onto her dad, she'd be as quiet as na'vily possible, yet her dad would still hear her, he could hear everything.
Ivy gently pushed Lo'aks bow out of the way as it nearly stabbed her and she kept a light hand on her knife strapped to her hip, just incase.
"Here" Lo'ak spoke ever so quietly pointing towards a gap in the ferns where they could better see the Avatars.
Now closer up Ivy could make out more details, they were definitely not theirs, she recognised none of them guns strapped to their chest, sunglasses on and various tattoos inked onto their skin.
Who were these people? And why where they here of all places?
She saw the old shack, she knew it a place where Grace and Jake filmed their video logs, it was decaying, moss and vines spreaded over it as nature claimed it, just as the hovercrafts.
"Bro" Spider spoke softly looking across Ivy to Lo'ak "that's where your dad and my dad..." he swallowed "fought"
"That's your dads actual suit..." Lo'ak murmered with wide eyes.
"Woah" Ivy breathed.
The Avatars were speaking amongst themselves, she couldn't tell if Lo'ak and Spider could hear it, as she had inherited pretty good hearing from her dad.
"Better call this in" Lo'ak looked at Ivy with a hand on her shoulder.
"No bro we're gonna get in trouble!" Spider whisper-shouted as Lo'ak stood up pulling Ivy up with him.
"Let's go" Ivy told them leading them back to Kiri and Tuk who were hugging eachother curled up by a bush.
"You guys ok?" Ivy asks as Tuk crawled up to give her a hug, Ivy gratefully accepted it and stroked her hair calmingly before letting her go, she noticed Tuk slightly shaking and a wave of guilt hit her, she shouldn't of let Tuk come "we won't let anything happen to you Tuk it's ok" she told her reassuringly.
The group crouched by the ferns while Lo'ak spoke into his radio necklace "Devil dog, this is Eagle Eye over"
"Eagle Eye, send your traffic" she heard Jakes voice through her ear phone which she gently raised her hand too.
"I've got eyes on some guys" Lo'ak answered while the rest watched the Avatars intensely "they look like Avatars" he observed tilting his head "but they're in full camo and carrying ARs, ther are six of them, over" he finished.
"What's your pos, over"
Lo'ak hesitantly answered sharing a solemn look with Ivy "we're at the old shack"
"Whos we?"
"Ivy, me, Spider, Kiri..." he answered before glancing at Tuk realising just how much trouble he was probably going to be in "and Tuk"
Jake paused before answering "son, you listen to me very carefully, pull back right now, do not make a sound, get the hell out of there. Move, copy?" Jake ordered in a ton much more serious than his normal one, if that was possible.
Lo'ak mouthed let's go to everybody before answering his father "yes sir, moving out"
Ivy helped Kiri and Tuk up making sure they were infront before getting up herself "come on Ivy quick" Lo'ak stopped letting the others infront to pull her up while Kiri whispered to Tuk to stay silent.
Ivy remained alert,
"You're going to be in so much trouble" Kiri looked past Ivy to Lo'ak.
"Kiri stop" her brother told her annoyed as the three teen Na'vi climbed over a log.
"It's almost eclipse come on!" Tuk turned around to try and get them to hurry up.
Too late was when Ivy heard it, the rustling in the bushes too late.
"TUK STOP!" Ivy screamed at the top of her lungs launching forward to try pull the girl back, less than a millisecond later an Avatar launched out of the bushes and snatching Tuk up.
Like clockwork Ivy pulled her knife out, ready to attack, beside her she saw the two boys raise their bows and she watched as more Avatars poured out of the bushes, lethal weapons raised yelling at the kids to lower their weapons.
Ivy was overwhelmed by the yelling, loud noises were one hundred percent at the top of the list of things she hated.
"Ivy Ivy" She heard Lo'ak whisper from her right "put it down"
Ivy knew he was right, they were overpowered, with one last violent hiss she threw the knife aggressively to the ground, death staring everybody she caught eyes with panting heavily.
She recentered herself, there one no use screaming or hissing now, she needed to think, she needed to think of a plan, her survival skills almost instantly kicked in and her mind went wild with possibilities of escape, and the numbers were low.
"Down Spider" Ivy told him in Na'vi along with Lo'ak, Spiders bow was still raised, the Avatars were still screaming at them.
"Ivy" Lo'ak started to talk to her before she felt her queue yanked back and let out gutwrenching scream of pain at the aggressiveness, she'd never felt anything that painful, physically.
Her knee was kicked down as she breathed deeply and harshly observing her surrounding , with only one thing running through her mind.
Escape, escape, escape.
She calmed herself down glaring daggers at the Avatars, Lo'ak had the same idea as her, he too remained as calm as possible, there was no use fighting.
Spider, Kiri and Tuk on the other hand were freaking out, yelling and hissing "Kiri!" Tuk desperately called for her sister absolutely shattering Ivys heart.
"Calm, calm" Kiri who had started to settle realising it was hopeless told her in Na'vi.
"Shut up" an angry man ordered "don't move!"
Ivy felt her queue was lifted, a knife was pressed to it threatinging to cut it off, getting you're queue served was fatal, and one of the most painful things known to Na'vi, this wasn't the way she wanted to go.
"What have we here?" A man with a deep voice strided calmly through them.
In her peripheral vision she saw Lo'ak giving the man the most venomous glare she'd ever seen just like her.
A bald Avatar snatched Kiri's hand up, Lo'ak yelled in protest but was ignored, spreading her fingers out to show the man "look, colonel, four fingers, we've got a half breed"
"Fuck" Ivy muttered under her breath.
The bald Avatar pulled her up and on her queue and the young girl let out a yelp of pain as she gazed up to the strange man in fear.
The man, or the Colonel turned to Lo'ak who remained glaring angrily at him "show me your fingers"
Without hesitating Lo'ak raised his hands, forming two middle fingers directing it towards the Colonel as a witty sign.
If the situation wasn't so serious Ivy would've burst out laughing.
The Colonel chuckled humourlessly looking dow at Lo'ak "you're his, aren't you?"
Lo'ak responded with violent hiss up in the direction of the man, confirmed what the Colonel already knew "you're his alright" he had a satisfied, and evil looking smirk.
The Colonel moved his hand foward, grabbing his queue making Lo'ak hiss out in pain.
Before Ivy knew it her mouth was opened in a scream, all attention directed to her, and her unfamiliar qualities "STOP IT" she screeched.
Dammit, she scolded herself, that was dumb.
The Colonel turned around, taking a knife out from his side pocket, causing the other kids to yell pleadingly though Ivy showed no fear, instead she looked daggers up at the man, enough poison in her look to kill a grown thanator.
The Colonel shoved Lo'ak down and strided towards the pale girl "Charlotte Kola" he spoke, Ivy momentarily dropped her guard, how did he know that was his mother? How did he know her? "Was your mum right?"
She remained silent and he continued eyes trailing to her hands "four fingers" he nodded "you're hers"
"Five fingers" she muttered under her breath letting her gaze momentarily drop before looking back up.
"I-I'm sorry?" The Colonel stuttered confused she spoke up.
"Why don't you guys count the thumb?" She asked sassily, while Lo'ak wondered how stupid she could be to play with her life right now "why does nobody count the thumb"
"The thumb-the thumb isn't a finger"
"Says who?"
"Says me"
"Who are you to say that?"
"I—what?"
"Shut it" the man behind her table her queue making her yelp in pain while the Colonel shook his head flabbergasted by the comfortabilty of the girl and regained himself.
Ivy hissed but he countinued forward stopping infront of her as he countinued "we've been looking for you kid, I've got someone you'd like to meet" he smiled down at her.
What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
The Colonel raised his hand to his walkie "Harriet, get down here" he smiled evilly down at the girl "I've got someone you'd like to meet"
Ivys world stilled, Harriet? As in Harriet Kola? As in her auntie Harriet Kola? Could it really be?
Her heart was palpitating and her mind was racing with possibilitys.
Suddenly she heard someone walking, footsteps, loud ones, her eyes flickered up the a bush of ferns, and a couple seconds later the others heard it as well and an Avatar pushed their way through the leaves.
That was when Ivys heart dropped further than it ever hd before, at the same time her stomach lurched, her throat felt like it had closed up and she could barely breath feeling like there were weights in her lungs.
Her mother, only different now, her body was now littered with tattoos, and a whole side of her head was shaved.
Put Ivy was smart, she could quickly put two and two together, this wasn't her mother, or rather her mothers body.
The Avatar clutched her gun and smiled, revealing gold synthetic fangs "I bet your real confused right now kid"
"No not really" Ivy laughed, as humourlessly as the other laughs today "you're my auntie Harriet Myriam Kola, born January the seventh at 5:43 EST, my mothers avatar survived and since your DNA matched you were invited, they could tell Charlotte had a kid and you set out on a hunt to find your niece" Ivy deadpanned.
Harriet's smug smile dropped "I—how—"
"I'm not a fucking idiot" Ivy spat, Ivy had known her auntie for a total of twenty seconds, and she already fucking despised her, she'd graffitied her sweet mothers body, she'd ruined it, and she was apart of this group of evil people, that was enough for her to get the general idea of her auntie.
Harriet scowled "I could scalp you kid" she kneeled down infront of Ivy "you know that right?"
Ivy spat directly in her face, there was a thin line between bravery and stupidly and Ivy had crossed it, Harriet fell backwards in disgust wiping the spot off her face and the man holding her yanked her queue harder than ever making the others yell pleadingly again as she screamed bloodcurdlingly in pain.
Harriet recovered, and looked down at her niece with the same amount of hate Ivy held in her eyes, she stood up and brushed herself off looking up at the Colonel "let me take her now"
"Not yet" The Colonel waved her off "still got to draw her dad out, made a lot of people angry up at HQ when he blew the supplies"
Ivy caught eyes with Lo'ak his eyes filled with terror for her, she shook her head and they had a mutual understanding, as long as they thought her father was alive, she would be kept alive.
Harriet loved to stand beside Ivy as the Colonel moved towards Spider.
Ivy was feeling a lot of emotions right now, anger, hate, bitter dissapointment.
Her last hope, her last hope at finding family had been crushed, absolutely pulverised.
She no longer counted Harriet as family, they were nothing to eachother now, Harriet was nothing to her.
"What's your name kid?" The Colonel nodded at the boy.
Spider looked the man up and down before answering "Spider...Socorro"
For a brief moment Ivy could of sworn she saw the Colonels eyes soften, but know they had widened with realisation, he waved the man holding a gun to Spider back and leaned down on his knee to become level with him as Ivy and Kiri shared a confused look "Miles?" The Colonel asked.
Spider silenced for a second at the name, which was unfamiliar to Ivy "no body calls me that"
"I'll be damned" The Colonel spoke softer than he had with any other kid "I figured they sent you back to Earth"
Who was this guy to Spider? Who was Spider to this guy?
Spider stared to him solemnly "cant put babies in cryo dipshit" he insulted the man, Ivy realised how dangerous it was to be fighting back and maybe she pushed it to far, she was just glad she didn't break whatever limit they had.
The Colonel waved his hand and an Avatar held him at gunpoint once more "what do we do boss?" He asked.
He raised his hand to his walkie, keeping his eyes on Spider for a couple seconds "iron sky blue on actual"
What the fuck did that mean?
"Blue on iron sky send your traffic" a voice poured through the speaker.
"We are standing by on extract, over" The Colonel answered, this quickened Ivys heart rate, she no longer had hope they could escape in time, her plans were decreasing by the minute.
The man holding Ivy pulled her up and the others mimicked the action pulling the Na'vi children up ignoring their yelps and hissed "be advised we're bringing in high value prisoners" the Colonel countinued.
"Let us go!" Kiri blurted out desperately, still in pain from her queue being tugged.
"Shut up!" An avatar scolded her.
They moved the kids forward to a new area, dragging them through the greenness, Harriet remained behind Ivy the whole time, making her feel uneasy, more uneasy than she already felt, If that was even possible.
She was shoved down next to Lo'ak and she struggled helplessly like the rest of them.
"We'll be ok" Lo'ak spoke to her in Na'vi though he didn't believe it himself, and he knew Ivy didn't either, he held his hand out and Ivy tried to reach for it only to be snatched away before she could make contact with his skin.
"Nuh uh" the man laughed with Lo'aks captor as Ivy panted in pain, she really wished they would just let go of her queue for eywas sake.
"It's ok I'm right here" Lo'ak spoke quietly to Tuk and Ivy, who had the most rageful look plastered on her face that Lo'ak had ever seen and he was reminded once again the headstrong girl didn't need his reassurance, if anything he needed hers.
Kiri on the other hand had watery eyes, she was the type to get sad, not Ivy, Ivy was the type to get angry, oh and she was furious.
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My cat just attacked my ankle and I'm eating some rly good pasta