Fate's Game | Lo'ak Sully

Part 14 - Ready... Go!

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The first night was a restless one. Fay'tari and Lo'ak had pushed their beds as far away as they could from the other, making sure to sleep with their backs facing each other for the maximum amount of ignoring to take place. The whole night they were coming up with their own game plans, thinking of ways they were going to secure their victory.

However, one would think they'd be coming up with ways to win their new hopeful pairs over. In this case, that would be wrong. Instead, they concentrated completely on how they were going to set the other up for failure.

They didn't speak at all after the deal had been made, deciding there was no point wasting any time with trivial conversation that would most likely end up in some sort of disagreement.

The more Fay'tari thought about the game, the more she thought about what she had to do exactly to win it. Due to that, the more she thought about what she had to to win, the more anxious she felt.

It seemed she'd gotten too confident, or rather, too competitive. They both had.

But beating Lo'ak meant much more to her than protecting her own feelings.

So she ignored those very feelings of fright that were bubbling up inside her as she slept, making up her mind that she'd do anything in her power to win.

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With barely any sleep in their systems, morning came. The sun had barely broken out from the horizon when Jake yelled what he typically yelled every morning.

"Kids!"

Fay'tari knew what that meant as he'd been doing it since she first came to the Omaticaya clan. It meant food was ready and that if not everyone was up and about by the time the fish was fully fried, there'd be consequences.

Neither Lo'ak nor Fay'tari wasted any time upon hearing him. Synchronized, they leapt out of bed and raced to get there first, only sneaking a glance at each other once they'd reached Jake's hut to check if the other looked out of breath or not. When they showed up instantly, Jake took a moment to watch both of them where they stood to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, as Lo'ak would normally show up last.

"I'm guessing you've heard about what you're doing today, then." Jake supposed, thinking that was the only logical conclusion as to why they were both so eager and not the fact that they wanted to get out of their prison cell that could also come to be known as their shared hut, which anyone else would've guessed promptly. He turned away to finish up the bowls of food, hearing a few more footsteps enter the hut.

When he looked again, he found Neteyam and Kiri stood either side of Lo'ak and Fay'tari, who had muddled complexions.

"No?" Lo'ak swayed forward, reaching to take the bowl his Father had for him. Jake shot his youngest son an even more confused look, before continuing to pass around the remaining bowls of food.

"You're supposed to be meeting Tonowari's kids after you eat, ring any bells?" He asked both Lo'ak and Fay'tari, both of them shaking their heads in response. "To begin your training?" He furthers his inquiry, stopping this time, blinking hard in disbelief.

When Lo'ak wouldn't say anything and both Neteyam and Kiri looked as if they knew what Jake was talking about, Fay'tari took it upon herself to save her own ass.

"Oh! Right! Yeah, I remember." She lied, folding her arms, acting casual and adding a chuckle here and there to seem at ease.

Expecting Lo'ak to cling onto her scheme and copy her, she turned to look at him but what she was met was wasn't the same casual look she had spread across her face, which apparently was rather believable. Lo'ak was still as clueless as ever, looking around for some sort of assistance, not aware that he'd just been given some.

"Lo'ak, this was discussed when we arrived yesterday, you were literally stood directly behind me, are you-" Jake stopped himself, realizing who he was talking to. "Why do I bother. Just eat." He sighs, walking away in defeat due to how done he was with his youngest son.

With that, everyone sat down to eat. Neteyam sat with Fay'tari, questioning why she was eating so fast to which he only received several shrugs. She was too deep in thought to be thinking about her eating speed; With this new development, it meant both Fay'tari and Lo'ak's plans that they'd spent all night coming up with had been tarnished. Nevertheless, she quickly got over herself due to fact she knew Lo'ak would beat himself up if he saw how composed and prepared she was, thinking she'd thought of a plan for everything.

Once everyone had finished, they all set off down to where they were supposed to be meeting Tsireya and Aonung, the two competitors getting there first.

Tsireya was prompt to greet them. "Welcome!" She bellowed, smiling with her wide and bright smile. Tuk greeted her in the same way, waving with extreme energy, which made Tsireya laugh cutely, showing her dimples.

"Okay. We've already set up the groups, so if you and you could come with-" Her brother rudely interrupted the interaction, taking charge and pointing towards Neteyam and Lo'ak, making it clear that the groups were going to be split into boys and girls.

In a panic, Lo'ak rushed forwards and yelled, "I want to switch groups!", his eyes wide and his hand up in the air. Neteyam looked almost offended, making him realize how out of place that statement sounded. Thankfully though, Fay'tari soon joined in.

"Me too!" She looked towards Tsireya for permission, as did Lo'ak. With the four begging eyes beaming at her, they left the girl no choice but to allow the switch.

So, with that settled, Fay'tari slugged off towards Aonung, who was already waiting knee-deep in the water with Neteyam next to him. Both of their faces read very differently; Aonung's was rather smug as he didn't expect the girl who was so unamused with him the day before to want to be in his group. Neteyam's however, was clearly quizzical.

His two brows lowered slightly, his eyes narrowing with them. This didn't go unnoticed to Fay'tari, as she spotted his perplexed expression as soon as she'd raised her hand to swap groups. As she got nearer, she shot him an innocent glance, attempting to avoid the confrontation she knew would arrive if she continued to act out of place.

She simply strode passed him, feeling his odd stare as she did, heading towards Aonung to greet him.

Fay'tari was aware that Neteyam was suspicious of her. She could tell that he knew something was off, even if he didn't know the specifics.

Though he wasn't one to pry, Neteyam didn't want to let that thought of suspicion escape him, as he knew it would most probably show itself again.

He'd understand if Fay'tari wanted to be in a group with him because she simply wanted to be with her friend, however remembering back to only mere hours ago, he'd never imagine her willingly being tied to the guy who she'd been so disapproving of without even so much as greeting him.

Something was definitely off with both his brother and Fay'tari, and Neteyam knew that for certain.

What he didn't know was the sheer depth of it, or how he'd just busted Lo'ak and Fay'tari's mission before it had even properly begun.

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