Fate's Game | Lo'ak Sully

Part 9 - Petty

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"Fay'tari?" Neteyam rang, his tone cutting due to it's shock.

She flinched, not daring to look. She wasn't ashamed of what she was doing, knowing the boy deserved it. But Neteyam wasn't going to see it in that way, and Lo'ak would definitely leave out the part where he insulted her beyond forgiving when explaining it to him.

"Hey- Put the knife down, okay?" He soothed, stepping forward slowly and reaching out his hands to take it from her.
She didn't move, letting him take the knife out of her grasp, not able to do anything else, allowing Lo'ak to breath out in relief.

"Okay..." Neteyam continued, pulling Lo'ak out rather quickly from in front of her by his arm, watching as Fay'tari straightened her back and looked up, sighing.

The two began to walk away from her, Neteyam checking behind him every now and then. She could still hear Lo'ak as he got further away, as he wasn't exactly trying to mask his volume.

"I can't be with her, she'll actually kill me!" He tells his brother, genuine concern clear in his voice. "They're putting my life in literal danger here!"

She rolled her eyes at his dramatic nature, making her think that "brat" insult was more suited towards him. Fay'tari didn't feel remorse nor guilt, she just felt vulnerable. She knew she'd probably be made to apologise, and she didn't mind doing so if that made everyone else happy. But she needed to be sure Lo'ak knew that she didn't mean it, at all. She hadn't planned on doing what she did, but she deemed her reaction acceptable. Instead, she thought the only person who should feel anything was Lo'ak, and that feeling should be pure fear.

Exactly as she'd assumed would happen, Neteyam came rushing up to her once again, speaking before he got to her. "I tried to tell him not to tell anyone, I swear!" He pleaded.

Not wanting him to feel like it was his fault, knowing Lo'ak was a complete snitch, she gave him a weak smile before looking past him and spotting Jake standing there, waiting.

"He says he wants to speak to you-"

Fay'tari began to walk over, slightly hoping that this action would result in a rearrangement between her and his youngest son. She stopped before him, sensing his stare but not meeting it. When he started to walk somewhere, she followed him even though he hadn't asked her to. He took her away from everyone else, to a place where he could talk to her without interruptions.

"Care to tell me why you had a knife to my son's neck?" He asks calmly, however putting emphasis on the weapon.

She pondered her answer, deciding not to extremely insult his son to his face. "He deserved it." She sugarcoated her answer by a lot.

"Oh, I don't doubt that he did." Jake admitted. "But I think using violence is an extreme reaction, don't you think?"

No, I don't. She concluded.

"Yes, I do."

He sighed, slouching. "I know he's a lot to handle, but we want this pairing to work. I don't except you to get along with him right away, because I don't think that's possible for anyone, but I don't want you to rebuke the idea that the two of you could at least be friends."

Yeah, no.

"I can try." She says, not entirely lying as if you were to ask her in the context of "try not to kill him", then she indeed did want to try, not wanting murder on her hands.

"Good." He expressed his relief. "I've told him to apologize, and I except you to do the same." Jake dictates, not quite done there though. "And... If you could keep this between- Well, just don't tell Neytiri."

With that, Fay'tari was allowed to leave. She knew where Lo'ak was, as she'd passed him on the way there. He was arrogantly stood against a large rock, waiting to be apologized to, probably not expecting that she knew he also had to do the same. The girl stopped in front of him, not saying anything.

She wasn't about to apologize first, no way. But, of course, neither was he. The two stood in silence, waiting for the other to surrender. As they did, Jake creeped around into view and gave both of them a rather obvious look, meaning that they better say the words they desperately didn't want to say.

They turn back to each other, Lo'ak becoming skittish in front of her. She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms before giving up due to Jake's hard stare.

"Sorry." She mumbled loud enough so that both Jake and his son could hear her. She decided it was better to get Jake's approval of her than to let his pathetic son win a silly stand-off.

A smirk appears, before he reiterates. "Sorry." He remarks, smiling and feeling like he'd actually won something.

With that done, Fay'tari turned to walk away.

"Bitch." She murmured under her breath, her competitive nature shining through.

Lo'ak's mouth instantly flung open, his finger pointing towards the girl who'd just swore at him as he looked towards his Dad for support. All Jake did was shrug his shoulders and walk away from him, not wanting to deal with any more pettishness out of either of them.

Lo'ak was starstruck that she'd managed to get away with that move, watching her leave and deciding on something. He knew then that Fay'tari had indeed been the same girl he knew when he was younger. She was still as stubborn and as off-putting as ever.

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(I know this one's rather short, but size doesn't matter people.)