As I continued my walk around High Camp, my mind was still clouded with thoughts of Spider and the RDA. It had been a constant struggle to keep myself from dwelling on these heavy emotions ever since letting him be taken away. I knew that I needed to focus on something else, something that would help me take my mind off of the fact I blamed myself for everything.
I decided to head towards the communal cooking area, hoping to find some human edible food to quiet the growling in my stomach, having last eaten before leaving for the regrettable trip. As I entered the area, I noticed a group of teenagers around my age huddled around a fire, cooking what looked like some kind of meat, maybe Yerik but I was too far away to know and quite frankly didn't care enough to risk being insulted for absolutely no reason. I'm sure the smell was nice, but sadly I wasn't able to know due to my exopack filtering smells out.
I scratched my dread-covered scalp, looking around, searching for any signs of food the scientists stored. This alone was enough to show that I rarely visited communal dinners, most people didn't want me there anyways so why enlarge the grudge by inviting me to a round of glares everything my breather pack compressed to hold onto my face? Catching myself monologuing in my head I began my search for something nice.
As I made my way around the site with no further complications, I noticed one of the scientists sitting alone by herself, staring off into space. Why she was out and about sitting around here was a mystery to me. She looked lost in thought, and for some reason, I felt that she knew exactly how to fix my problem, hence I walked toward her and sat down to start up a conversation.
"Hey." I said, trying to get her attention, which seemed to work as she flinched for a moment before realizing someone wanted something from her. Surprise was the emotion written across her face, obviously not expecting me to randomly sit next to her.
"Can I do something for you?" She said whilst unconsciously putting her hair behind her ear. I let my eyes wander for a moment. Maybe this short pause would make me seem mysterious, but I mostly just did it to think of how to ask for food.
"Do you know where I can find some food?" She blinked, the gears processing the unusual question in her brown-haired head. She closed her mouth for a second before closing it again.
"The cafeteria?" She answered unsure of herself. That makes sense, maybe passing out so much has finally started having its effect on my memory. "Where else?" was the follow-up question directed at me. Now it was my turn to process her words. Was that a rhetorical question? I obviously didn't know where else, that's why I had asked in the first place... Oh well.
"I don't know..." I said still a little confused by the older woman in front of me. I snorted at the situation. The female scientist now turned her head in her own confusion, still looking into my eyes.
"Are you okay? You are acting a little bit strange." I leaned back in fake shock.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. Anyways-" I stood up in an instant. My dreaded hair fell over my exopack, obscuring the view, before being shoved out of the way by my hand. "Thanks for the advice." I looked back at her, only to see her eyes still locked on my face. A mix of confusion and a loss for words described her expression the best. In the next few seconds, she seemed to try and say something but held back and just shook her head sighing to herself.
"You're welcome, Firin." I nodded with a small smile and made my way back to the laboratory to quench my hunger, which was slowly getting my attention by cramping up my stomach now. With a mental command for it to stop not working I hurried my steps toward my target. Unfortunately, fate did have other plans for the moment as an unpleasant voice I had almost forgotten made its way into my ears.
"(Look who we have here.)" I stopped and took a deep breath to calm myself for the conversation to come. I looked over my shoulder before turning around, enabling me to see the full extent of skxawngs who liked to make my life even more annoying than it already was.
"(What do you want, blue boy?)" He grinned, like one of those typical bullies in the movies backed up on the computers inside the laboratory, looking around himself, getting a view of his equally stupid friends. The over 8'2" tall teenager raised his arms as if to signal he meant no harm.
"(Oh nothing.)" One of the other na'vi teenagers laughed for a second before I addressed him personally. He seemed to be a few years younger than even myself.
"(And you, lanky junior? What's got you laughing?)" He stopped. "(You want to tell me the joke to my face?)" If there were traces of happiness on my face before they arrived, it had now completely vanished with the younger boy almost looking frozen. Before I could verbally push him again the main problem child pulled my attention to himself.
"(Leave him alone, freak.)" I scoffed and slightly shook my head, not believing the audacity to call me, the one who beat him on several occasions, a freak. "(He didn't come here to be insulted by a tiny human.)"
"(Is that the best you can up with?)" I turned around to continue my way. "(If, then don't waste my time.)" For a few moments, I was actually able to do so, just before sudden footsteps in my direction made me turn around.
CRACK
I stumbled to the side, barely being able to hold my footing. "(Maybe that will teach you, demon!)" I shakily raised a hand to my glass visor, as cracks made their way over the whole screen. I heard laughter and the sound of footsteps starting to fade. No. No, he didn't. I staggered forward in the direction I assumed they went.
"(Look!)" One of them said.
"(Coming back for mo-)" Was the last thing hitting my ears as my vision turned dark and the voice stilled before finishing its sentence. Was I passing out again? No. This was different. Wait... I knew this. That voice, did it come back to mock me again? To give me more advice? As a few seconds passed only coldness met me instead of a voice I probably only imagined in the first place. Nothing moved, not that there was anything that could, as complete darkness surrounded me. I felt none of my limbs respond to anything I tried, they stayed out of my vision and control. Wait... what was that noise? "..." It was muffled, so much in fact, that I was not even able to pick up a single syllable of the sentence or word. "...:::..." Again. "...firin..." My name, why did it say my name? "...Firin..." That wasn't the normal voice, not that it was normal, but you know what I mean. "Firin!" Faster than expected did my vision snap back to my body, along with the warm feeling of the air, the sound of chaos in the air, and the control over my limbs. Wait, what was that last-second part?
"(Firin stop!)" My eyes focused on the blur of grey, blue, and red in front of my eyes. I flinched and scrambled back when a bloodied face was the first thing in my view. I was not able to process what was going on as two pairs of hands pulled me even further away from the messed up na'vi.
"(W-What happened?)" I croaked. I was probably close to hyperventilating according to the speeds my chest rose and fell. Another blue face appeared before my eyes. Kiri?
"(What the hell did you do?!)" She yelled at me with shock written over her face, her whole body shaking and tears coming out of her green eyes. "(Why do I find you repeatedly punching away at him?!)" She hiccupped before being able to continue her complaints. I didn't understand. What happened? I get punched and the next thing I know I see a close-up of somebody's bloody face.
"(That is enough Kiri, leave him be for a second.)" Was that Dad? Oh fuck, I was so screwed. He was the last one I wanted here right now. "(Hey! Get him to the Tsahìk!)" My vision blurred again, so I was only able to pick up on outlines of people picking up a body, presumably of that skxawng I supposedly beat up. I tried sitting up, only to be pushed down by Kiri.
"(No. Y-You stay here.)" She sniffled, sitting down on me. I nodded only to an extent, despite my best efforts. My main focus was still on catching my shaky breath to slow down my heartbeat. With how fast I could feel it beating it was likely at around 180 beats per minute. A good minute passed with Kiri's tail sometimes swaying against my legs before Jake joined the two of us. Kiri stood up and left me laying on the ground staring into the ceiling of the floating cave system that made up High Camp.
"(There we are.)" We? I got up on my elbows and looked up confused by the statement, only to immediately lose all the color in my face again.
"(I will not comment on this, my Jake.)" Neytiri had her arms crossed and looked at her mate with a stern expression. "(You brought this trouble to us.)" Jake looked uncomfortable with her picking up the old debate on my adoption again. She looked away from the whole scene. Jake pulled her face back with his hand in a sensual motion.
"(Neytiri, don't be like that.)" I turned to Kiri who must have decided to also look in my direction as she glanced over too with her still wet eyes from crying moments ago, before grabbing the not broken exopack from my belt. I had completely forgotten about that. My eyes tried showing her my confusion, which she ignored.
"(Hold your breath for a second.)" I did as told and took in a sharp breath before letting it stay in my lungs, waiting for the na'vi girl's next action, for which I, fortunately, didn't have to wait, as Kiri unclipped the straps of the broken visor from the back of my head and took it off, throwing it to the side. We had still held eye contact until now, but she started putting the spare exopack over my face and making sure it wouldn't fall off, drawing her vision to her task at hand. Her ears flicked when she realized I hadn't taken my eyes away from her green ones, after glancing back from the newly attached breather back to my eyes. She only smiled before calling me her favorite word. "(Skxawng.)" I smiled at our old antics, after which she continued. "(Stop scaring me all the time with your idiocy.)"
"(I am sorry to disappoint, but I can't say that could promise that.)" She shook her head, but her tail still swayed like long grass in the wind. She scanned the area, where her eyes landed on our parents, who still seemed to be in their own little world. I sat up and crossed my legs, now waiting for our stepparents to finish arguing. Seeing the two older na'vi going at each other like that sparked another sentence in my head. "(Besides, I won't take the blame for this.)" My sister's head turned in confusion.
"(And why is that?)" I smiled smugly.
"(Because I only came to myself when you dragged me away with dad.)" She snorted. Now it was my turn to look at her questioningly. "(What? It's true!)" She had raised her eyebrows and slightly opened her mouth, a sign of her obviously believing me.
"(Did you eat na'vi food, or why are you talking nonsense?)" I flicked my fingers against her forehead, which she didn't expect, and in response now jerked back. After being hit. "(Ow.)"
"(It's true.)" I repeated myself. "(The last thing I remember before the bloodied face is that jerk almost punching in my visor. Speaking of which.)" I picked up the old and broken one to get it fixed by someone in the laboratory. This wasn't the first time I walked home with a broken exopack in hand. Having it fixed on my belt mere seconds later I glanced back over to Kiri, who still had a doubtful glint in her eyes.
"(Skxawng.)" I shook my head. I could never win against her. The same probably went for Jake with Neytiri, who always had to give in in the end. The two of them seemed to be near the end of their conversation and finally turned toward the two of us and walked closer, sitting down when reaching us. Jake spoke up, as nobody else seemed to want to.
"(So, Firin.)" He started. "(What is your excuse today?)" I sighed and wanted to speak up, but Kiri stepped in.
"(He blacked out after he was punched and only came to himself when we dragged him away.)" I looked at her with surprise written all over my face. Why would she cover for me after not believing me? The others didn't see me making the face though as the Olo'eyktan only raised his eyebrows.
"(And why can't he tell me this lie himself?)"
"(I am not lying. It's the truth.)" Heads turned in my direction before Jake continued.
"(So, you are trying to tell me that you didn't assault the young warrior in broad daylight?)" I sighed in annoyance, clearly not getting far. This was going to take a while. As the argument continued, I couldn't help but feel like I was stuck in a never-ending loop. No matter how much I tried to explain myself, they just wouldn't believe me. I was getting frustrated, but I tried my best to keep my cool.
"(I swear I didn't do it, Jake!)" I pleaded with him, hoping that he would finally listen to me. My mother scoffed for the umpteenth time.
But he just shook his head, looking more disappointed than angry the longer we talked back and forth. "(Firin, I believe that you would do something like this. Let's think back to where you threatened to cut off his kuru.)" I immediately yelled back, finally losing my temper.
"(But he attacked me there first too!)" Jake didn't even bother answering and simply exhaled through his nose as a sign of annoyance. "(I'm done with this shit.)" I said suddenly rising to my feet and stomping away to get to the laboratory.
"(Firin te Suli Tsyeyk'itan.)" I stopped. He rarely used my full name. "(I would advise you to come here and sit back down.)" I let the idea go through my head for a few seconds, which was enough time for Kiri to call my name in an attempt to get me to sit back down. Yeah, not happening. I turned around, which brought relief over the face of my sister, but it was immediately wiped off with my next action. I took a step back. Then another. Jake was already glaring at me, just like Neytiri had been doing for pretty much the whole argument. To the top of my stunt, I raised both my hands next to my face, showing them all the middle fingers.
"(Fuck yourself.)" With this, I turned back and walked.
"(Firin, come back please!)" Kiri yelled in a last-ditch effort to bring me back. This obviously didn't work as I continued my way to finally eat something in my room.
The door to the laboratory gave off its signature swoosh to signal the air changing to human standards. A few heads turned in my direction but soon went back to where they were before. I had taken off my exopack and was now unenthusiastically walking to where I expected Max to be. I still had to give him the broken breathing pack. After a short while my suspicions proved right, finding him in his office sifting through tremendous amounts of data I assumed the gathered on a recent mission. I knocked on his open glass door with an uninterested look on my face. He raised his head and smiled for a second when he saw me.
"Firin, what brings you here?" I tossed him the cracked visor, which he barely caught. "W-What happened?" I twisted my head and smiled sweetly.
"Oh nothing, don't worry. See ya." I wanted to walk away many times today but was interrupted once again.
"What happened, Firin?" Doctor Patel asked in a more serious tone. I sighed, not being able to just walk away. Max didn't deserve to be treated this way. He had done me no harm. Turning around I gave him the answer he asked for.
"Some doofus thought it was a good idea to punch it." His eyes went wide and I knew I quickly had to say something else or that fucker wouldn't survive the next day. "Look, I am fine, okay? Seriously, don't worry about me, I handled it." This rewarded me with a glance over his glasses and a snappy response.
"How badly was he hurt?" I scratched the back of my head.
"Oh... uhm, just, uh, a... little... bit." He sighed and waved me out, not wanting to go into detail. I quickly left and made my way into the cafeteria to grab some food. Okay, 'some' was an understatement. I probably had enough on my tray to last three meals if I wasn't in this position of hunger. I quickly sat down at one of the tables and started devouring. Another tray was dropped across from me a little bit later, breaking me from my thoughts. Looking up I saw Norm Spellman looking at me with raised eyebrows.
"And you expect to finish all of that?" I glanced around, perplexed by his question, before looking back at him and nodding.
"I have not eaten in two days or so, I have lost track of time at this point." Norm's eyes widened.
"Two days?!" He stuttered, trying to find words that were appropriate for the situation. He gulped, before continuing. "Two days? How did you achieve that?" I really didn't want to talk about Spider right now if I was honest.
"Let's just say it's a long story." Norm hummed and we continued eating in silence. He only broke it when we both had finished.
"So you were able to finish that." I snorted.
"Of course."
I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written. I hope you like it, if you do, vote or let me know in the comments. I love reading them. Anyways, have a good morning, day or night, depending on the time you are reading this, and don't stress yourself with life. It will get better, whatever you are in.