IT WAS SAFE TO SAY when Ivy awoke she freaked out, her eyes fluttered open before squeezing them shut and she hugged something tighter, something? She was hugging something?
Her eyes snapped open, revealing the darker blue skin, she shrieked and snapped her arms back shooting up, immediately untensing realising it was Lo'ak.
"Jesus finally I was getting bored staring at the wall" Lo'ak pulled the arm and rubbed his eyes while Ivy stared down at him flabbergasted.
"I—what?" She tilted her head in confusion slowing her heart rate "why—why are you there"
"fuck Ivy you drank way too much" the boy say up groggily blinking waking himself up.
"What—what?" She was absolutely baffled "drank to much—what are you talking about" Lo'ak stood up and her head followed him.
"What's the last thing you remember?" He asked hopping out of the marui pod into the sand, as Ivy followed she searched her mind furrowing her brows.
"Um we—we we're oh!" Her eyes shielded by her hands lit up "we got the kava from the stand"
They started walking towards the marui pods, Ivy could already see the Metkayinas packing and cleaning up from yesterdays festival "it was the flower thingy right?"
"Yeah" Lo'ak nodded gazing at her quietly stepping over a rock.
"What happened after?" She narrowed her eyes trying to regain her memory, but it was completely blank, her mind was empty.
"We went to the cove, you drunk too much and I had to drag you home, you were really annoying" he informed her.
"You're annoying all the time" she snorted hopping over a rock and landing on one foot "wait, oh my god, I didn't embarrass myself did I?" She panicked halting with wide eyes.
Lo'aks hesitation freaked Ivy out even more "Lo'ak!" She screeched "answer me"
He quickly turned to her "Ivy Ivy you didn't ok?" he waved his hands frantically.
Ivy narrowed her eyes "Lo'ak Sully I swear if
you're lying—"
"I'm not—I'm not I swear—" he raised his hands.
Before he could finish the sound of the horn blew, the teenagers heads snapped towards the marui pods, Lo'aks yellowish golden eyes narrowed and Ivys wide, the girl turned back to the boy "cmon, let's go see what's happening"
They picked up their pace brainstorming on what it could be, when they heard the joyful cheers from the Metkayinas relief washed over them, at least it wasn't something bad.
"They're all going in the water" Ivy took Lo'aks hand who pulled her up onto the nets, though she kept her eyes fixated on the Metkayinas trying to figure out a logical explanation.
"Our brothers and sisters have returned!" A soft voice could be heard yelling out, which Ivy connected to Tsireya.
The pale girls ears perked up "oh! Oh Lo'ak it's the Tulkuns!" She grinned looking up at Lo'ak who was grinning trying to get a better look.
"Come on" he told her and led her forward to the Ilu station, Ivy made tsaheylu with one ushering Lo'ak to hurry up, she dived down into the coral reef which in her eyes seemed like an alternate reality.
She twirled on the ilu above and below Lo'ak letting the vibrant world wizz past her, she surfaced for a breath and gasped in awe when she finally got a good look at it.
There were many Tulkuns, large and mighty splashing happily in an out of the water, Ivy didn't want to wait and she quickly dived back down.
Underwater the view of the Tulkuns was even better, the Metkayinas on their Ilus twisted and turned throughout them against the blue abyss under the rays of sunlight, reuniting with their sisters and brothers.
Ivys grin spread and she willed her Ilu forward, she twirled throughout the Tulkuns, which where splashing in and out of the water excitedly, their thick skin was decorated with tattoos much like the Metkayinas, only across their stomachs.
Ivy dived down avoiding a Tulkuns approaching tail, she countinued till she reached the sea floor, as she disconnected from the Ilu she billowed up sand with her hands before spinning around to face the surface.
It was an almost unreal sight the light wasn't too harsh on her eyes the silhouettes of Tulkuns, Ilus and Metkayinas agaisnt the sky looked dreamy, the water was cold around Ivy skin since she was so far down, and she could make out Kiri, Tuk and Rotxo on a Tulkun.
Suddenly her heart stopped, and her grin abruptly dropped, how didn't she realise it, what was she doing next to Lo'ak? Why had they been hugging when she'd woke up?
How had she been so ignorant? How hadn't she even thought of it? Ivy had felt so comfortable she hadn't even noticed.
The Ilu she had been riding had gone, so she kicked herself up off the ocean floor and propelled her self up cutting through the icy water she stopped halfway through in a patch of lifeless water, the creatures were in every direction around her.
She wanted to stay down there, but she was running out of breath and quickly, so she swiftly glided up and emerged into the air once more.
Kiri came on her Ilu "Kiri!" Ivy laughed excitedly "are you feeling better?" She questioned paddling over to her friends.
"Yes very" Kiri smiled pulling the girl up onto her Ilu before resubmerging, ready to spend the entire day with the Tulkuns.
🐚🌿
As time passed by Ivy became more and more distant, at first she'd disappear for a couple hours, like normal, then she started not showing up to meals, then classes, until she dissapeared from the crack of dawn to last light.
It wasn't unusual for girl to be missing for days at a time, so nobody really went looking for her, except for one boy.
Lo'ak would occasionally find her wandering around the forest and drag her out to see Payakan, she was throughly annoyed with him in the way there but she always em had fun and enjoyed it when they got to their Tulkun friend.
She spent her days in the jungle, which was similar to the forest in some ways, but completely different in others, but it was as close as she could get to home, and that was enough for her.
She bathed in lakes and combed through her hair under small waterfalls, she explored caves and braided leaves together and through her hair when she was bored.
On a less bright day Ivy decided to visit Kiri, which was the only reason apart from Payakan that she left the trees, it was breakfast time and Metkayina sat with their friends and family chatting quietly.
Kiri was pressed up against a root eating some kind of white meat wrapped in soft bright green seaweed, she was up early, her and Neteyam always were.
Kiris face lit up at the sight of Ivy "I haven't seen you in a while" she commented shuffling to let the girl slide down the trunk of the root beside her, Ivy snatched up some of her food.
"I've gotten you some plant samples, they're really cool, liek nothing I've ever seen" Ivy informed her chewing on the salty seaweed, Kiris eyes widened happily at this new information, like mother like daughter, Kiri was a botanist at heart.
"So where have you been?" Kiri questioned tilting her head, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little bit concerned "out with your little crush"
Ivy growled and curled up into a ball "I do not have a crush on Lo'ak!" She quickly whisper-yelled before diving her head back down into her knees embarrassed.
Kiri giggled for a second before she softly spoke "I didn't say Lo'ak"
Ivys head snapped up and her lips slightly parted "I—well—"
Kiri restarted to laughing hysterically while Ivy desperately tried to shut her up glancing around at the straying eyes "Kiri, Kiri!" She hissed slamming her hand over the girls mouth.
"Sorry sorry" she shut her mouth though her eyes were still laughing.
Ivy decided to play it off cool and try to distract Kiri "so anyways about the plants—"
"I'm not forgetting—" Kiri deadpanned.
"—And I'm off" Ivy quickly scurried off weaving through the trees making Kiri chortle again, Ivy tilted her eyes lightly.
Kiri had teased her about Lo'ak before, so it was right for her to assume that's who she was talking about, it didn't mean Ivy had a crush on him, because she didn't.
They'd always been rivals, sending eachother nasty insults, nonstop avoiding eachother, pissing the other off every chance they got.
Why had that changed, maybe they'd just matured, perhaps they'd just grown up—
"Ivy!" A voice snapped her out of her daze, she found herself on the nets of the marui pods, her body had been taking her on autopilot, she looked to see Lo'ak striding forward who placed his hand on her head.
She hissed and whacked him away "what is it?" She questioned tilting her head and moving forward.
"Come see Payakan with me, we haven't gone in ages" he told her while she swerved out the way of a Metkayina fisherwomen, he hadn't seen
"It's been two days Lo'ak" Ivy deadpanned halting and turning around to him and leaning against the net.
"Yeah but I'm going and I know you'll be pissed if I go without you" he told her, it was true.
"Fine" she pushed herself off the woven home "come on" they started towards to the Ilu docking bay.
"Tsireyas been looking for you, I don't think she's very impressed about you skipping classes, neither is Tonowari, or my dad, or Kiri, or Tuk or—"
"Ok ok I get it I'll come next lesson" she scoffed lightly a man walked passed holding a basket of green fruit, the path was small and Ivy retracted into Lo'ak the two nearly tumbling off as the man rudely barged through "jesus" Ivy muttered quickly snatching her body back from Lo'aks arms.
"Good, because I think Ronal was about to come looking for you" Lo'ak countinued pulling her up and over a net.
Ivy almost shivered, they'd arrived at a docking bag and Lo'ak quickly called two Ilu while Ivy picked up a harness "ok I'm definitely coming next lesson I'm scared of her"
Lo'ak snorted picking a harness up as well while Ivy greeted the Ilu laughing when it's slippery fave snuggled against her palm "dude hurry up" Ivy commented while Lo'ak placed the harness on the creatures neck and it slid down.
"I'm coming I'm coming" Lo'ak muttered rubbing the Ilus cheek.
Ivy cannonballed into the water and re-emerged with a loss of vision as her hair was now sprawled all over her face she coughed unable to inhale and quickly resubmerged to get it off, when she rebooked the surface she was met with the boy laughing "oh shut up, remember that one time you were talking about that guy and didn't know he spoke Na'vi—"
Before she could finish Lo'ak dived into the water and she giggled before he reappeared "race?" He asked, he didn't have to say it twice.
🌿🐚
Ivy had won the race by a literal millisecond and she quickly willed her Ilu up "haha loser" she shot him a sickly sweet smile which he replied to with an eye roll.
She turned around to see Payakan had already appeared, splashing up out of the water greeting them, Ivy slid off the Ilu and Lo'ak mirrored her, he pulled himself up onto Payakan fin as usual and Ivy paddled infront of him, placing an arm on the fin so she didn't have to constantly kick her legs and hiding from the bright light in the boys shadow.
"We trust you" Lo'ak signed while Ivy rubbed the Tulkuns skin soothingly "you can trust us, tell us, why are you outcast?"
The Tulkun hummed quietly and dived down, Ivy and Lo'ak shared a look before plunging down with him.
They were amidst a sea of kelp, the variety of shades of green sticking out agaisnt the monotone blue, the plants towered over them and the sea floor.
Payakan floated almost motionlessly in the water and Icy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she caught Lo'ak who was gesturing her to come forward, she did so paddling down to him and around the Tulkuns body, till she was bobbing besides Lo'ak infront of Payakans mouth and crown like head structure.
Ivy looked to Lo'ak who shrugged his shoulders at Payakan in confusion.
All of a sudden Payakan rumbled and his mouth opened—or split open forming a large and wide tunnel, Ivy swallowwed nervously but grit her fists, sharing one last look with Lo'ak before they started swimming forward.
It was almost like an underwater cave, like a gloomy cavern Payakans thick flesh reached the inside as well and Ivy looked around in awe.
Snap!
Their source of light dissapeared and they were consumed in a vacuum of darkness, Ivys heart rate spiked and she squinted her eyes, in less than a second before the bioluminescence even had time to start to glow Ivy could see perfectly, an advantage of the eyes she'd inherited from her father.
She turned to Lo'ak who was blinking his eyes and rubbing them and glided over to him placing a hand around his forearm.
She looked up, the roof of Payakans mouth was covered in thousands of tiny twinkling little white specks that reminded Ivy of the night sky.
When she looked back down Lo'ak was observing them as well, she let her hand fall from his arm and looked around, at the back of Payakans mouth was a structure, Ivy couldn't quite make out what it was, a gradient purple glow poured out of it and the stars—or white specks clustered closer together around it.
She felt Lo'aks hand on her shoulder gesturing her to go forward, she did so not taking her eyes off the thing.
The structure split apart into two revealing an orangey light, Ivy blinked and slightly flinched back with Lo'ak when the orange started approaching them rapidly, but she recognised the stringy organ, it must of been Payakans queue, though he had many compared to the Na'vis one.
She caught eyes with Lo'ak and shrugged, reaching behind for her pale queue and in her peripheral vision saw Lo'ak doing the same.
She moved her queue forward like Lo'ak, though all of a sudden a strand of hers and the boys reached and wrapped around eachother, she jabbed it back and snapped her head to Lo'aks who was too busy admiring the ceiling of Payakans mouth.
If she could she would've exhaled a sign of relief right then and there, that was a close one, it could of gone wrong.
She brought herself back to reality and saw Lo'ak attaching his queue, she quickly did the same.
The strange feeling washed over her, only much stronger this time, presumably because Payakan was much larger and smarter than an Ikran, her head fell back and her pupils dilated, she nearly took a gasp of air before remembering she was literally underwater in a Tulkuns mouth.
Then the vision started, she was sucked into the perspective of Payakan, she could feel her body and his at the same time.
She was in a memory, hazy and in Payakans eyes, she didn't have time to notice or take in her surroundings because a wave of panic rushed over her.
She could quickly take note of three things, sky people, Tulkuns and the ocean.
Her head—or Payakans bobbed down as the sickeningly loud sound of a harpoon cutting through the air boomed, landing straight into the stomach of another Tulkun, who had been shot twice previously and one in the neck.
Ivy immediately felt the connection with this Tulkun, she couldn't explain it she just knew that was Payakans mother.
Billows of red puffed into the sea and the attention turned to sort of mini submarines gliding around the Tulkun, it got extremely hazy from then, more horrifying pained screams could be heard and the ripping of flesh.
It switched to another perspective, her she could see Metkayinas on their Ilus desperately trying to escape with their sisters and brothers, but another bomb was let out straight on a Tulkun sending giant clouds of red which thankfully masked the Tulkuns massacred body.
The pressure from the bomb blew everybody back, more were let out, the sky people were relentless.
More and more, screams, bangs, blood, cries until an explosive launched straight at Payakan, the next thing Ivy knew she was start at her bloody fin, which had been torn of leaving lumpy and twisted flesh.
Lastly was the aftermath, death, everybody was dead, all Ivy could see was the Ilus, Metkayinas and Tulkuns sinking down to their final resting place, back to Eywa once more.
Ivy snatched her queue back unable to see anymore and was snatched back to reality, she saw Lo'ak slowly doing the same, she caught his eyes and she quickly snatched hers away.
Payakans mouth reopened and the two quickly swam up.
When Ivy broke the surface she gasped for air, she saw Lo'ak do the same only he recovered quicker and crawled up to his fin, Ivy panted for a couple of seconds before returning to her friend as well.
She placed a hand besides Lo'aks who's hand was rested soothingly besides Payakans eyes "Payakan" Ivy whispered slowly.
She felt for him, she really did, because she experienced the exact same thing, her mother brutally murdered by the sky people's actions right infront of her, she had just felt that all again and was struggling to not fall apart.
But Ivy never fell apart, at least she wasn't supposed to, she hadn't forgotten that day with Lo'ak when he nearly drowned.
"I'm sorry, so sorry" Lo'ak told him, Ivy simply swallowed while Lo'ak moved forward to hug his friend, his hand overlapped Ivys, but she didn't have time to feel flustered, she just wanted to be their for Payakan, because nobody was ever really there for her, but she guessed that had changed now.
She pulled her hand from under Lo'aks and submerged herself, she wanted to get the hair out of her face and her thoughts together, but she was met with a different sight.
She quickly shot back up breathing heavily "Lo'ak we're in trouble"