long time no see :)
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as soon as the metkayina na'vi's step foot into the sully's bubble of mourns, ronal's eyes pierce through the tension; unsure of what to make of it while tonowari had a visible sympathetic expression plastered.
"jake. we will track them down and get your sons back" he sternly voices with such determination submerged within.
jake gulps as tears have yet to fall, nodding with the similar determination in his eyes.
"soon as possible." tonowari nods, reassuring the omaticaya father.
"where were you??" tsireya whispers towards her older brother with a furrow, filled with worry that had accumulated into anger.
"that's not important." was the only words he could mutter.
completely in denial of what had occurred.
with that, both groups of the metkayina's and omaticaya's have made their way into the chief's pod wordlessly, almost resembling soldiers.
while the adults try and come up with a solid plan, that leaves the children silently comprehending everything.
so many questions gone unanswered.
ao'nung assumes everything had gone south due to his own childish and recoiling behaviours towards neteyam.
he uneasily allows thoughts of eywa putting him up the test run around in mind.
from then, what ifs and regrets start to arise with the heir.
ao'nung proceeds to walk out of the pod unannounced without a spoken word as both tsireya and rotxo eyes each other in concern.
and as expected, the two metkayina follows the heir quite loudly.
"ao! where are you going?!" rotxo yells out but no use. ao'nung doesn't turn back around, too busy occupied with the over consuming thoughts.
"ao!" tsireya cries, now fastening their pace to try and catch up with the teary eyed ao'nung.
rapid thumps in the chest heighten from him trying to mentally compress everything caused by all these self sabotaging situations playing out in mind.
he just — wanted to fall asleep forever; away from reality.
away from everything.
everything that had led him up to now had changed his perspective.
alternating from determination to death.
alas, the boy arrives at the shallow waters where not many na'vi's know of.
just a peace of mind type of place.
once his legs had come in contact with the gentle tides, ao'nung collapses on his ass; starting to feel the trembling in his knees.
i cant do this anymore.
ao'nung mindlessly collides his two palms with his face, hoping to hide and forget his own cowardliness and incapability of being a decent person.
a person who didn't know how to express his emotions.
his eyes then start to dance behind him; the way he had come from to expect both tsireya and rotxo finally catching up but rather, they've vanished.
with a harsh sigh, ao'nung looks up into the bright sky with hope lingering in his mind.
even though he wanted to think and reflect on everything, no thoughts come across as words; it's all just jumbled up into unreadable messages to the point where he begins to smack the side of his head in despair.
needless to say, the boy's mind is there yet, not there and that just pisses him off even more regardless of the situation as of now.
suddenly small footsteps could be heard from behind him in which his body turns in alarm only to see tuk's worried expression, causing the boy to relax his stiffen complexion.
"ah- it's just you tuk. what're you doing here?"
he mumbles, looking back down as the little girl takes a seat beside his slumped self.
"just wanted to see if you were okay." she sighs, rocking her legs side to side in the waters without leaving her eyes off of the heir.
"why? i'm a bad na'vi. you shouldn't worry for bad people." ao'nung couldn't help but scowl at tuk's naiveness but she just giggles.
"you're not a bad na'vi."
"and how would you know that?"
"lo'ak was like this back at home, and you're not killing other na'vi's are you?"
tuk's right.
he just needs to reflect even more about his civil behaviour with her eldest brother — in general.
"i think you'll be a good mate to my brother"
she blurts our, causing ao'nung to do a double take on the girl who doesn't have an expression signalling anything cheeky — just purely the truth.
"mate? i don't think-"
"yes, mate." she rolls her eyes in playfulness before they land on the heir's eyes.
"i've seen the way you two interact. it reminded me of my parents when they're alone." she simply shrugs, chuckling at ao'nung's frozen state.
"is it.. that obvious..?" he leans in closer with a whisper and a concentrated expression as tuk just nods in response.
ao'nung mumbles under his breath, thinking back on the times where he'd take care of neteyam.
"anyway— why are you so happy? didn't your brother get taken away."
"because i know he's strong enough to take care of himself — and lo'ak."
a content smile curls up on the girl's lips before it drops at the sight of the incoming na'vi behind ao'nung.
"ao'nung! where's nete?!"
the heir reluctantly turns his head over to her before an obvious eye roll which causes tuk to giggle behind her palm.
"are you dense?"
"didn't you see what happened or were you too busy spreading your legs?"
xau'n gasps in absolute offence, scowling at the furrowing boy.
"i think that's more of a you issue. don't project that shit with me."
"and no. i was busy out in the oceans, i didn't see shit jackass." she spits, hissing at ao'nung.
"if you didn't see than sorry to break it to you but it just means eywa thinks it's better if you didn't know." tuk chimes in, allowing the annoyance for her grow in numbers.
"you!-"
"hey! leave her alone." ao'nung immediately forces himself up, blocking xau'n before she could touch an inch on tuk's hair.
"why are you touching me?!" she immediately rips away from the heir whilst her eyes prance between the two.
"can you like get lost? you're actually making me lose my mind xau'n." ao'nung groans out of frustration before tuk stands up behind him.
"freaks." xau'n murmurs before walking away with a visible frown, confusing both tuk and ao'nung from her sudden change in demeanour.
"never liked her anyway." tuk scoffs, following ao'nung who had started to walk back to the pod where everyone had been settled.
"good. no one likes her. if she tries something with you, let me know kay?" he softly voices whilst looking down at the little girl with a frown before receiving a nod from her.
"you really think teyam will be okay? don't they have guns?"
with a moment where he could actually pinpoint thoughts a little clearer than before, the boy's annoyance at himself had grown into an extreme sense of worry for neteyam.
"he'll be okay, he's got the brains. just praying to eywa that lo'ak can actually shut his mouth and stay still before stuff goes south."
tuk sighs, in remembrance of lo'ak's reckless behaviour.
with that, the two enter into the pod where they had expected to be a serious group huddle but instead, everyone's scattered around with a tense atmosphere.
jake and tonowari are talking between the two, the two other sisters of the two family's looked as though they haven't voiced a word. as for the mother's, neytiri's expression speaks volume of vengeance, worry and anger.
but for ronal, it wasn't easy to make out.
either way, the two family's had come up with a plan with how to evacuate the two boy's from the hands of the sky people.
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few days later..
todays the day.
the day where they're going into the sky people's territory.
ao'nung was ready.
ready to bring bell upon the sky people; especially after the past few days with tuk who slowly helped him into being a decant na'vi.
tuk who wanted the best for her eldest brother, the one who sees potential in the two males.
however, he had been ordered by his father to stay at the village.
by tonowari's words;
"you're the heir, you must learn to lead your people without my help. take this as a learning lesson, son."
ao'nung hates that.
he hated the fact that he couldn't be the one to see neteyam first.
hated the fact that he's being forced to stay.
but regardless, he knows his old self; without the help of tuk, he'd go bat shit crazy and force his way into their mission.
and so, he stays; along with the other three girls.
perhaps ao'nung could get to know the sully sisters and spend some time getting to know neteyam's bloodline.
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1443 wc
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ive got new posts up on tiktok by the way :))
@/ngatiqel <3