eighteen. looks of disappointment
LE'AH DIDN'T WANT TO THINK OF THE LECTURE THE THREE WERE ABOUT TO BE GIVEN AS THEIR IKRANS LANDED. The Sully girl unmounted Menari, petting the creature's head as Tuk rushed over, calling for their mom. Neytiri opened her arms, having Tuk wrap her arms around her waist, "Tuk, Tuk, Tuk," The woman chanted her youngest daughter's name.
Le'ah smiled at the interaction, watching as her little sister's head untucked from her mom's hold and moved to her bigger sister's eyes. Tuk smiled warmly, running towards Le'ah. The teenage girl crouched down to the girl's level, enveloping Tuk in her embrace, "hey, Tuk," Having it being her first time participating in a mission, she knew how worried her little sister was bound to be about losing her older sister. Le'ah was thankful that Kiri had been there, watching over the youngest.
If Le'ah was known for something, it was her love and protectiveness towards her family. It probably contributed to why the girl would get herself in a lot of trouble, inevitably because of Lo'ak most of the time as well as herself, being the older twin. Though, she and Lo'ak shared the same amount of trouble they got in—but Le'ah took a lot of the blame, not wanting to throw her younger twin under the bus. Just wanting to keep him safe from the disappointment of their father.
However, when one of them got in trouble, both of them did. Le'ah and Lo'ak were inseparable—a package deal if you will. Whatever one of them went through, the other felt the same. Whether it was their emotions or pain, their punishment: they shared it together. And, if they were honest, they wouldn't want it any other way. It made them feel like they had someone. Even when they felt the disappointment lurking from their father or being an outcast, they knew they'd always have each other.
Le'ah got up from her crouched position when her father called out for the three kids, "fall in!" She sighed deeply, preparing herself for the lecture they were about to be given. No matter how many times they had been talked to, they'd always feel ashamed. Le'ah despised it yet still continued with her foolish acts, "you're supposed to be spotters! You spot bogeys and call them in. From a distance! Does any of this sound familiar? Get here!"
The Sully girl gazed at her twin brother, who stood by the ikran until he was ordered to move in closer. Le'ah reached for the boy's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and sent a comforting gaze his way before allowing her hand to fall loosely on her side, as well as lowering her head when she felt the lingering eyes of her father staring into her.
"Jesus," The man groaned, "I let you three geniuses fly a mission. And you disobey direct orders," Le'ah felt someone grab her arm, lifting it and peer to her side. She found Kiri inspecting Neteyam's wounds whilst Tuk examined Le'ah. The girl met eyes with her younger sister, gesturing her head towards her twin. Even if Le'ah knew there were no wounds that Lo'ak sustained, she felt better with the idea of having someone check over him, "Kiri, can you go help your grandmother with the wounded, please?"
Le'ah gazed at her slightly older sister—being the same age, only varying by a couple months—as she replied, "my brother is wounded," Neteyam held his arm up, protesting that he was fine, whereas Jake ushered her off, telling Tuk to go with the girl, leaving the twins and Neteyam with their parents.
The Sully girl had her gaze settled on the floor beneath her, subtly watching her sister's feet leaving in the distance. She picked her head up at the sound of Neteyam, "dad—sir, I take full responsibility," Le'ah stared at her brother, hating that whenever they'd do something, he'd take the fall for it. But she knew there was nothing she could do and huffed a breath.
"Yeah, you do. That's right," Lo'ak and Le'ah gazed at each other worryingly before switching their glance to their brother in sync, "because you're the older brother, you gotta act like it," All three of the sibling's eyes drifted anywhere else rather than their father's.
"Ma Jake," Neytiri called out to her mate, her head tilting to the side, "your son is actually bleeding," Neteyam tried to reassure his mom that he was fine and shouldn't worry about it, but Jake sighed deeply and dismissed the boy. Neytiri grabbed her son by his arm, guiding him over to their grandmother—the Tsahik—before sending a final glance to the twins.
Le'ah sighed. She felt guilty for Neteyam's wounds, and her father's words didn't help at all, "you two do understand that you almost got your brother killed," The pair gazed at each other, nodding their heads and chorused together a 'yes sir'. Le'ah met eyes with her dad, seeing the disappointment and anger deep within them, "you both are grounded. No flying for a month. Now see to the ikran. All of them. And get that crap off your faces."
Jake walked off, not having much else to say, and left the twins alone. Le'ah exhaled sharply, grasping her twin's hand and guiding him over to the ikran, which they were ordered to attend to. It took them until nightfall for them to complete the task and get the war paint off their face, making their way to their tent where Neteyam's wounds were being cared for by Mo'at. Neteyam let out a series of 'ows', and it took everything for Le'ah to hold in her laugh.
Though, when Spider sarcastically commented, Le'ah couldn't help but burst into chuckles, "aww, little kiss on the boo boo?" Lo'ak as well snickered at the comment, watching his brother intently.
Kiri handed a bowl to Tuk, telling the girl to give it to Neteyam, and announced to their grandmother, "I would use yalnabark," Mo'at raised her brows, reminding Kiri who the Tsahik was. Kiri stood from her crouched position on the side, "you are—move," She said, pushing Lo'ak out of the way. From the action, Lo'ak bumped into Le'ah and stepped on the girl's foot, causing her to hiss at the boy and was told off by their grandmother.
Gazing at where Lo'ak moved out of the way, he playfully stuck his tongue out towards her. The girl rolled her eyes, muttering something in Spider's ear. The boy chuckled at the comment the girl made, and Lo'ak noticed Spider's gaze locked in on him. He frowned, and Le'ah knew he was questioning what it was that she told Spider. It wasn't much but calling him a dumbass.
"You are, grandmother. But yalnabark is better," Neteyam again hissed at the pain from his grandmother's work causing Kiri to state, "it stings less," Le'ah inhaled and crouched in front of her brother, feeling the guilt of getting him in this position the first place. She grasped the older boy's hand, giving it a squeeze. Neteyam briefly smiled at his younger sister, remembering back to a time when she was younger and got hurt by one of the many fights that she and Lo'ak participated in when he did the same thing.
She inaudible mouthed 'I'm sorry', but the boy shrugged her off, claiming it wasn't her fault reassuringly. Meanwhile, outside the camp, Neytiri peered at her children and gazed back at her mate, who was loading up one of the many guns he owned. Jake noticed the tension in his wife and asked what was wrong. Neytiri kept her eyes on her kids before glancing back at Jake, "Neteyam and Lo'ak try to live up to you," The woman paused before mentioning her daughter, "and Le'ah tries to live up to Juniper. It is very hard for them."
Jake halted his actions with the gun, before taking a breath, "I know," Neytiri noticed Jake's tense form, crouching down to where he was and kept an eye on the man, stating how he was very hard on them. Jake tore his eyes from the weapon he held and at his mate, "I'm the father. That's my job."
"This is not a squad," Neytiri said, "this is a family," Almost as if she were reminding the man. Jake's head lowered from her eyes, and over to the floor. His heart ached against his chest, feeling a bile build in his throat.
Neytiri could sense the sadness radiating off the man, softening her gaze as he glanced up, making eye contact, "I thought we lost them," He paused, slightly sniffling as his eyes watered, "like we lost June," Neytiri stared sympathetically at the man, rubbing his arm in comfort. Neytiri despised seeing the person she loved like this—so full of heartache. But she understood why, as she suffered the same thing from the death of Juniper Vespera.
"The blue stripes don't make you any bigger, bro," Le'ah snorted at Lo'ak's remark to Spider. The twins and Kiri were the closest with the human boy, seeing nothing wrong with him. Spider had grown up with the Na'vi and was one of them as much as they were. Lo'ak opened the door to the shack, moving out of the way so his siblings and Spider could walk through first.
Spider scoffed at Lo'ak's comment, "I can still kick your ass," As the Na'vi continued to bully the boy, they walked into the main part of the shack, where Spider was free to take off his mask, "yeah, haha. Real hysterical, guys. You know what really sucks though? Is that you guys can breathe Earth's air for hours. And I can only breathe in your air for like ten seconds."
Le'ah grabbed one of the masks made for the Na'vi, passing one over to Lo'ak and Kiri, taking her time to grab it out of the girl's grip as her eyes were on Spider. A smug smirk on her face as she tilted her head teasingly, "yeah, monkey boy. That really sucks ... for you," Kiri leaned in, her hands hitting the boy. As Kiri turned to place the mask over her face, Spider pulled on Kiri's tail.
The girl spun around, hissing at the boy as Spider did the same towards Kiri. Kiri waved to one of the scientists that the kids learned to grow fond of, "hey, Max," The twins followed Spider over to the sky people–Norm and Max.
Le'ah smiled over to Norm, "hey, Norm. What's up?" The man greeted the girl and had a short conversation before they scurried off to where Kiri was watching old videos of her mom. Despite Kiri being adopted from Grace's Avatar, nobody in the Sully family saw her differently. She was one of them and forever would be. It didn't matter that she didn't have the same parents as them—if they even knew who the father was.
Knocking Le'ah out of her thoughts as she sat on the incubator of Grace's Avatar was situated in, Lo'ak spoke up as his gaze was on the video of the woman, "so, who do you think knocked her up? Pretty sure it was Norm," Le'ah snickered at Lo'ak's question, taking a breath through the mask she had wrapped around her neck.
Spider agreed with Lo'ak's comment, switching his gaze between the twins. When they were younger, he'd always get the two mixed up, which allowed the Na'vi to pull as many pranks on him as they could. But, as they grew older and spent more time together, Spider saw the differences between the two clearly, always being able to point out which one of them they were.
Kiri inched up from where she leaned against the glass of the incubator, gazing at Spider and Lo'ak incredulously, "you do not deserve to live."
Le'ah shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips, adding herself to the conversation, "well, think about it. Norm was out in the lab with her all the time. I mean, he's in every video with her."
Kiri slapped her hand against Le'ah's shoulder as she was within reach. The older twin grasped where she hit, flaying her arms around as Kiri spoke, "I would kill myself. I would drink acid," Le'ah bit her bottom lip, containing the smirk that so badly wanted to plaster on her face playfully.
Spider gazed at the screen, pointing to Norm in the video behind Grace, "bro, you're right! He's in like every shot. Look, he's giving her the looks."
Spider chuckled as Kiri called out to the boy. Le'ah jumped off the incubator, waltzing to her twin brother's side, "see, I'm thinking their two Avatars together out in the woods ..." Lo'ak placed a hand on his chest, above his heart, "all alone."
Le'ah nodded her head, adding to what her brother said, "mom and dad must've done the same thing. It's how we came to be, right?" The room was enveloped in silence, and Le'ah saw the grimaces contorted on Lo'ak's and Kiri's faces. Kiri stepped forward, pushing the girl, and said how gross that was.
Le'ah gazed to Lo'ak for some help, but the boy could only shrug, "yeah, you took it too far," The siblings continued to stare at each other before bursting out into a fit of giggles with each other, not noticing the solemn expression on Spider's face.
Yet, the boy seemed to hide it behind a fake smile as he called out for his friends, causing them to halt pushing each other and laugh, "guys, I mean, sometimes it's not so great to know who your father is," The twins and Kiri peered to Spider, seeing him become nervous under their stare and shrugged the topic off, "whatever. I don't even remember him."
Le'ah's ears were perked down as the siblings gazed at each other. The twins stepped forward, calling out the boy's name at the same time, their voices mixing with each other. Kiri wrapped her arms around the boy from behind, soothingly saying, "you are not him."