habits | avatar

01

Aponi awoke from cryogenic sleep with a grimace on her face, feeling the phantom pains of the growth spurts she had experienced while being asleep for six years. Her eyes seemed to hurt from finally opening after so long, following the scientist in front of as he checked her vitals with a serene expression on his face.  "We're here?" She asked, her words accented despite not being able to talk for six years. The scientist nodded before floating away, leaving her unclipped from her bed as she took in the lack of gravity with slight fascination.

Sooner or later she got to her locker, taking the two bags that had her entire life on Earth in it, checking to make sure everything was there. A man floated next to her, and gave her a nod as they locked eyes. "Hi. My name's Aponi." She introduced herself while nodding back at him, saluting at him with two fingers. The man smiled, and she found herself smiling back unconsciously.

"Valentine, but just call me Val. It's nice to meet a friendly face after being stuck in a blue box for six years." He deadpanned, and Aponi snorted in response, nodding. The man shut the locker before turning himself fully towards her, and Aponi took in his features with curious interest.

"Yeah, definitely takes some getting used to. I think we're about to land, c'mon," She pointed towards the seats, and Valentine followed her. They clipped themselves into their seats, seeing the people around them do the same thing before sitting in silence as the gravity slowly came back to them. Aponi watched the scenery from the window of the ship, eyes calculating and sharp. Pandora was not what she expected, but it was a pleasant surprise. Something she'd definitely get used to after some time, and hopefully some exploring.

The two of them took their things and followed after the captain-slash-military-personnel as he barked at the group to put their exo-packs on, with Aponi gripping her bags close to her and checking that the mask was properly on. They were ushered into the cafeteria of the RDA base, sitting close to each other as Miles Quaritch, the commander of the Security Operations on the base talked about the planet and the 'ruthless natives'. Aponi didn't pay much attention to the debriefing, instead focusing on the fauna she could see through the windows that the cafeteria had, admiring it with a stoic expression.

When the group of people were dismissed, Aponi stood up and felt Valentine grab her arm, motioning towards the Avatar Program wing that they'd both would be staying in, and she followed after him with a slight quirk of her lips.

"Ah, hello! I'm Max- Max Patel. I oversee the Avatar program and make sure everything's in working order- you two must be Valentine Cooper and Ap-oh-ni Creek!" Max said with a nervous smile, shaking Valentine's hand and holding his hand out for Aponi.

"It's Aponi." She muttered, looking at Max's hand with disinterest as he lowers it with a small, shaky laugh. Valentine converses with the scientist as Aponi looks around, taking slight interest in the brain scans of the current Avatar drivers. She turns around as Valentine taps on her shoulder, gesturing to Grace Augustine, who had just gotten out of her link with a cigarette in her hand.

"I assume you two are Valentine and Aponi, correct?" Grace asked with a nonchalant disposition, blowing the smoke from her cigarette away from the two soon-to-be drivers. Valentine and Aponi nodded, the former smiling ecstatically. "I've heard great things about you, Aponi. Would you two be interested in going ahead and linking up for the first time so that we can start you two out in the field as soon as possible?" She asked, though it sounded more like an order.

"That sounds awesome, actually! We'd love to." Valentine said, smiling brightly down at Aponi. The woman nodded her head silently, following Grace to the two pods her and Val would be at for their link. "I have around 600 hours in the simulation, so this should be a breeze," The man reassured Grace, who nodded approvingly.

"What about you, Creek? How many hours?" Grace asked, walking over to where the woman was laying down in the pod. Aponi shuffled in her spot for a moment, moving her long hair out of the way.

"None. I left a few weeks after they asked me to come here." Aponi stated, looking up at Grace's incredulous expression with an amused look. Grace shook her head with a snort, muttering something under her breath as she closed the pod door and walked away. Aponi closed her eyes, trying her best to clear her mind of thoughts and relaxed in her spot. After a few moments, it felt as though everything around her was swirling around harshly.

Bright. That was Aponi's first thought as she opened her eyes, squinting them as the lights temporarily blinded her. She let out an annoyed hum as she began to hear snapping close to her ears, unaware at the fact her ears were twitching around as the doctors tested her motor functions. She sat up after a few moments, startled as she saw the dark blue limbs that were coming from her body. "Holy shit." She said aloud, jumping as she heard Valentine's laugh.

She turned to see Valentine, smiling and running her tongue along her teeth, feeling the sharpness of her canines. "Badass," She mumbled, finally deciding to pay attention to what the doctors were asking her to do. She lifted herself up after given the okay, stretching her limbs and letting out a groan of satisfaction at the way her bones cracked, being startled once again as she saw how large she was compared to the humans around her.

After changing and clumsily following Valentine outside, she took in her surroundings with visible awe. The world around her couldn't compare to how she saw it as a human, the Avatar body somehow seeing colors so much more vibrantly and clearer. She didn't notice Grace walk up to the two of them, too enraptured at the way the clouds looked in the sky and the sun and- she felt a stir in her stomach, her face evening out again as she began to feel homesick. Her eyes trailed to Grace and she raised her eyebrows with slight surprise, not expecting the woman's Avatar to look so much like her.

"Nice to see you both enjoying the sights, but we'll have all day tomorrow to do that." Grace said, leading them both towards a building that housed sleeping Avatars. Aponi hadn't even realized that she'd spent so long out there just... staring at the scenery around her. As she laid down, she turned to the side, looking at Valentine, who had picked the bed right next to her. He smiled toothily at her before closing his eyes, leaving the link and his Avatar. Aponi shifted before doing the same thing, waking up inside the link.

Later that night, after dinner with her new friend, Aponi sat alone in her room while clasping a photo of her family. She missed her grandmother horribly, not doubting that the woman had passed in the six years she'd been gone. The thought left an ache in her chest that wouldn't go away, no matter how much she rubbed at her chest and stomach to ease the nauseating feeling eating away at her. Abruptly, she laid down, deciding to just sleep the feeling off, not wanting to dwell on it any longer.

Sleep came to her easily, and she dreamed of Pandora and her grandmother telling her stories about their ancestors.