Mil'hō could feel the way the man pressed his body against his own, to ensure he would stay down since he could've tried pushing himself up with his unharmed arm. The boy could have told him, that there was no way he would risk getting his tail crushed even further, but he felt Quaritch either wouldn't believe or even listen to him at all. He clenched his teeth in pain as the man gently began pushing his arm upwards, trying to tease another noise out of him. Grinning as he did so Miles Quaritch used his right hand, which he had held himself up with, to grab Mil'hō's neck, forcing his body to go rigid immediately. His chest raised rapidly as the tall man behind him gripped his tswin at the back of his head, a sudden painful sensation shooting through his entire body. The young Na'vi forced himself to exhale slowly. The agony made his vision blur in different shades of white. "Let...g-go", his growl rather sounded like a tense sob, that he tried to suppress. He wanted to yell at him further. Shout at him to leave him alone and that his father would come for his neck if he harmed him any further. The soldier lowered himself down to the Na'vi boy again to ensure he listened and realized how close he was. "I don't know why I would do that", his whisper slithered up Mil'hō's spine, making his skin crawl in cold displeasure. His mouth snapped shut as Quaritch's grip hardened on the tswin of the already shaking Metkayina, who now even held his breath. He tried to keep all sounds to himself, though all of his instincts screamed at him to protect this very sensitive part of his body, that he couldn't live without. As a Na'vi was nothing to live for if there was no way for you to build up a Tsaheylu and connect with Eywa or the creatures living on Pandora. "I might have missed something here. But I can't recall you telling me anything about Jake Sully. The two of us have business to finish. It would be shameful if I had to let it all out on you, wouldn't it?", Mil'hō knew the military man was trying to provoke him. To reveal the man that brought this over him. He didn't even know whether Jake was actually still in Awa'atlu or if Ronal had forced the Sully family to leave them by now. But Quaritch was right somehow. He shouldn't have to have anything to do with the tension that lay between the two men. This shouldn't be his war to fight. But his father hadn't raised a traitor. He was proud to wear his name and he was proud to be a warrior of the Metkayina clan. If there was nothing else left to do, the best he could do for his clan was to die to keep these sky-people away from them. "But I only know him out of stories! I swear", he forced himself to whine a lie. At least, turned on his stomach like this, the colonel couldn't force him to look him in the eyes. He had never been a good liar. Or his father simply never believed anything he ever tried to convince him of. The soldier appeared alarmed by the way the boy had changed once he had grabbed the weird tail all Na'vi had at the back of their heads. He hadn't really figured out its use yet. He would have to learn how to fight in a way that would protect his neck if it was actually this sensitive and the boy underneath him didn't just try to make a fool out of him. Quaritch barely listened to the words the young Metkayina spoke. He had done this a thousand times over by now. Denial was always the first stage of a confession. This was nothing new. "Of course not. Now, where is he hiding?", he growled darkly, feeling the boy's body relax slightly as he took some of the pressure he had been applying on the neck of the Na'vi. Mil'hō sucked in a deep breath, using the few seconds he wasn't in unbearable pain and the kick of adrenaline to form a story in his head that would have to convince the colonel if he wouldn't kill him first. But he had told him that he wouldn't be of use if he couldn't talk anymore. Perhaps he had to keep him alive. He wouldn't risk his life depending on this "perhaps" though. "I really don't know!", he could hear his own voice whimper. He would have to get used to this first. Of course, he did hope that they would let him go before he got to adapt. He lightly shook his head, before suddenly shaking slightly, because a cool shiver worked its way down his back. It took him a few moments to realize what the colonel pressed against the space between his shoulders right now. "Then you just got very useless to me, very quickly, Boy", was he only trying to intimidate him? Mil'hō felt the way he pushed himself down onto the smooth surface of the table beneath him, the soldier right at his back, holding one of his dark weapons to his back. He didn't want to die in this uncomfortable cell, facing away from his enemy and with no one he loved, close to say goodbye to. Before he could find out if this man was really about to end his life, he could hear footsteps entering the room behind them. Only a second later the weapon Quaritch carried around his broad chest disappeared from between his shoulderblades, together with the grip on his tswin. He relaxed immediately and wiggled out from underneath the soldier to retreat to the corner furthest from all the sky-people flooding the room now. "We know that you might only want him for your personal reasons. However, we require him alive and breathing for our studies. No lethal weapons in his cell", Mil'hō could not make out a single syllable of whatever they were discussing, but Quaritch's lip twitched annoyedly, revealing his sharp fangs at the people dressed in white coats. The tall Avatar raised the metal thing Mil'hō had seen him carry before and pointed towards a button he had apparently pressed before. "Only would've sent him to sleep. I'm not an idiot, you Assholes", he snorted back. Though the Na'vi boy couldn't understand the words he was speaking, he had a feeling, that they were talking about the damage the weapon would have inflicted on him, if the Colonel had pulled the trigger. From their relaxing facial expressions, he took that he probably would have survived. He shook his head in silent disbelief and carefully moved his arm to touch the root of his tail, where it emerged from his lower back. Instantly pulling back when he felt the pain, he let his gaze wander over the small gathering before him, considering mentioning his injury to them. His shoulder felt somewhat out of place as well, he could still move it, however, so it wasn't as important as his tail was at the moment. The entire group of scientists went quiet, once they realized he was trying to communicate with them. "I... my tail", he attempted in Na'vi, pointing at his back, to show them what he was talking about. Apparently, his efforts to keep it simple were rather useless since they just shoved forward a small, rather skinny man, that looked just like one of the rodents the Sully-children had described to live beneath the trees - across the ocean. Mil'hō's face nearly twisted to a grin at this thought, however, the pain - combined with Colonel Quaritch glaring over at him from the doorway - kept his amusement at bay. The man spoke with an accent, but he did seem rather fluent in Na'vi. At least more fluent than Miles, since he didn't have to pause before forming a sentence that made some kind of sense to a native speaker. "We know. We were watching you over the cameras. We will care for you, but we will have to examine you as well. Our team is seeking to develop a new and advanced understanding of your.. race. However, we are also trying to track down Jake Sully, who is causing us a great deal of trouble ever since he ran away. Colonel Quaritch over there is leading the mission that is supposed to detect him, he-", the brown-haired man stopped himself from revealing even more about their mission, ran his fingers through his greasy hair nervously, and cleared his throat since he had noticed the judging looks of the people in coats around us. Mil'hō saw that Quaritch had clearly attempted to eavesdrop, though he didn't seem to understand Na'vi as well as he would have to, to find Jake and his family. "I just want to go back home. I don't know about Jake and I need our Tsahìk to treat my tail!", he spoke with a certainty he certainly did not feel. His father had taught him to always appear like he had the high ground. Like he was the one in control. He could hear the Colonel snort from across the room and pinned his ears back in a defensive manner. "The boy is lying", he just replied in Na'vi, before turning around to grab one of the scientists by his coat. He tried making it look like a comfortable gesture you would do to one of your friends, but it just looked like he was about to snap the poor man's neck. "Whatever he tries to get you to do, he will not leave this base without my approval. Actually, he won't leave here without me at all. Understood?", Quaritch made sure Mil'hō could understand what he was commanding them to do, speaking in Na'vi and having the Interpreter translate his message. His yellow eyes were fixed on Mil'hō's bright blue ones the entire time, sending a dangerous warning across the room filled with thoughtful murmuring. "Yes, Colonel", the man replied in the sky-people language, but Mil'hō did not need the rodent man this time. He just knew from the smirk look on Quaritch's face that they waited for him to repeat this short answer. He held his hand up in a dirty insult in the Metkayina sign language and smiled at the tall man. Now, with a room full of people, that wanted to examine him alive, he did feel a lot less intimidated by the Colonel, who probably would still just shoot him, if he was aggravated too much. Mil'hō kept his mouth shut, holding his hands up a few seconds more, before finally being grabbed by his shoulder, which immediately began throbbing in pain again. He let out a rasping hiss, while his ears folded back against his head even further, showing his uneasiness. He raised his head to look at the soldier he assumed in the door. Quaritch however was nowhere to be seen. Mil'hō's disobedience must have pissed him off quite badly. Even though he could clearly feel his tail hanging down loosely and his shoulder that still ached from the touch before, a slight grin crept over his untattooed face. He hadn't deserved his tattoos yet. They didn't just make a man a warrior, instead, they represented the connection the Na'vi felt with Eywa. Without ever even having ridden a Skimwing there was no way the young Na'vi could wear the same tattoos as his father yet. The scientist now got hold of his other, intact shoulder and began moving him towards the door. The base appeared to stretch out into both directions for at least fifty feet, other hallways appearing left and right, creating a huge maze in which Mil'hō found himself trapped and lost just after two minutes of navigating through the high, brightly lit hallways. All of them looked the same. His face twitched in slight disgust. No inch of the ocean even looked similar on a different day. How could they even live here without going entirely mad? "It's horrible, isn't it?", he gave no verbal answer to the small Interpreter. Instead, he just pulled the corners of his mouth downwards and shared a quiet growl, which made the scientists turn towards him nervously. "Tell them I won't harm them. I just want to get out here and get back to my family", he ordered the rodent man and tried to imitate the way Quaritch communicated with them to raise some sense of superiority in their minds. The man mumbled something in their language, which only seemed to confuse the men and women in their strange coats even more. Mil'hō shook his head silently and raised his head, as they entered a vast room, packed with strange devices and equipment, sometimes glowing or blinking in various shades of white and blue. He couldn't keep his feet still and began strolling around the room, to take a closer look, as he would do in a new area of the sea he hadn't seen so far. Unlike down there in the peaceful dark of the ocean, he got disturbed pretty much immediately. He felt the huge hands grab him before he even noticed the soldier sneaking closer. Quaritch hadn't been born as a Na'vi, but he moved just as silently as the best of their warriors. How was Jake even supposed to face a monster like this, when he had to beg another clan to take his family in and hide them from this man's people? His heart sank a little, while he roughly brushed off the hand, that had gotten hold of nearly his entire upper body. Mil'hō towered over the sky-people by nearly three feet, this man, however, was as tall as his father. Probably even a little larger. His physique was more similar to Jake Sully's and the other forest Na'vi's, making him appear less broad than Na'vi like Tonowari and Takyùn. His shoulders looked just as muscular though. Mil'hō bit his tongue and moved a few inches away from the Colonel. "I wasn't doing anything. Your people are still.... prepping", he gestured towards the sky-people, who had left the boy in the Colonel's hands to start pressing loads and loads of buttons on the tables in front of them. "'I don't work together with those science-assholes' mh? Your little rat-man down there said something else entirely", Mil'hō added, raising his eyebrows provocatively. He just wanted Quaritch to admit he had been lying. From the corner of his eye, he could make out the way the small sky-man raised his head like he was listening to them and had obviously just heard the way Mil'hō had insulted him. That was more than the Na'vi needed to shut up entirely now. What ever he said to Quaritch, he wanted it to stay between the two of them. He did have a whole list of things, now that he was rather sure he would stay alive for a while. In preference of answering to the young Metkayina, the tall Colonel waited for the signal he would receive once the scientists were finished setting up. They were supposed to calm the boy for a while. Just long enough to get him into the machine that would read the neurological activity in his little Na'vi brain, telling them exactly where Jake Sully was hiding from them. It took him nearly no effort to raise the young Na'vi from the ground by his neck, who immediately went into that rigid stage, but forced out an audible insult Quaritch recognized from their first conversation in the cell just a few minutes ago, simply without the strange movement this time. "Shut it... Or don't. This'll hurt a lot more than it has to if you want to keep resisting, though", he almost gently patted the boy's head, right between his small ears, after more or less dropping him into the machine the scientists wanted to use and using well-positioned leather straps to hold him in place. "Breathe a few times and just... think about him for me, Boy", the tall man whispered right into the Na'vi's ear, staying out of his fangs reach, which he could see bared at his throat. "My name is Mil'hō, Asshole", he clearly had picked up that word from the Colonel already and tried to relax now, breathing in deeply through his nose a few times, before his ears perked forward since the machine he was strapped onto was set in motion with a deep, whirring noise that began hurting in his ears after just a few seconds.
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I'll be nice... (Colonel Quaritch X M! OC)
FanfictionAs I haven't seen a single mlm Story about Quaritch I have decided to take this burden onto myself ----------------------- It's been over a decade since the sky people attempted to invade Pandora, but were forced to retreat by the tribes of the for...