Fate's Game | Lo'ak Sully

Part 17 - Little Lo'ak

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(POV: Narrator)

Everyone had retired to their huts for the night as it was beginning to grow darker, meaning Lo'ak and Fay'tari were back inside of their cell.

Fay'tari went about her business, cleaning only her side of the room and sorting whatever needed sorting.

Lo'ak, as usual, was being disruptive. He was lent up against the hut's wall, tapping his foot repeatedly on the floor, making a loud stomping noise every single time he did so. Fay'tari tried to stay calm, not wanting to add another thing to her "bad things that have happened today" mental list.

She ignored him, continuing to bring a few boxes over to her hammock.

She probably could've predicted what happened next, as the boy crossed the line between talking and not talking. Choosing the louder and much more idiotic option.

"Enjoy today?" He suddenly spoke, making Fay'tari flinch suddenly as normally the two would never acknowledge each other's presence inside the hut. She stopped what she was doing, placing the wooden boxes on her hammock before giving him a hard stare.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fay'tari responds, shifting her body so that it was fully facing his.

"You know what it means." Lo'ak scowled at her.

Feeling playful, she made him explain himself even though she knew what he was hinting at. "No, I don't. Tell me."

"Did you enjoy staring at that fish-face all day? Or maybe I should ask if you enjoyed it when he touched you. Feel like you're ahead of me?" He went on, stepping nearer to Fay'tari as he questioned her. His teeth were gritted, though his body language made him seem calmer than he was in reality.

"I know I'm ahead of you."

The girl had a solid cover. She looked as equally assured as she did intimidating, her face seamlessly direct with a slight curve raising at the corner of her lips.

"You better start packing your bags, jerk." She taunted him further, inching closer as she stared coldly at him.

He'd lost his tongue. He knew she'd react this way however it still surprised him just how confident she was. He'd been watching the two of them all day, he'd seen him touch her stomach and back, he'd seen him go to reach for her chin before she did, too. Because of that, he knew two things. One, that Aonung doesn't understand the concept of being too touchy-feely. And two, that Fay'tari didn't enjoy it one bit.

He could see it as clear as day on her face; The second Aonung first touched her out of nowhere, she looked as if she was ready to commit serious acts of murder, then and there.

He knew she was lying, but he chose to keep that fact in the dark.

"Fine. I'll just have to work harder, then." He confessed, crossing his arms and pressing his lips together in an attempt to smile.

"You can try." Fay'tari sneered. She wanted to have the last word in this, but she wasn't alone in that mindset.

"I'll make sure to make you regret giving me that advice." He warned, attempting to scare her but miserably failing. Instead of an equally threatening response, the girl closed her mouth tight shut as she tried not to laugh in his face.

He was making the same face he'd made when he was trying to be intimidating towards his brother that day in the forest when they were younger, so it brought back a few amusing memories.

"What's so funny?" He asked, unaware that he'd just copied the exact phrase he'd said on that day too. This made Fay'tari want to laugh at least quadruple the amount she had wanted to before. She muffled her mouth with her hand swiftly, her eyes watering due to the amount of strength it took to hold it back.

He scoffed at her, deciding that there was no chance in winning the argument if the girl wasn't going to take him seriously. The second he did, Fay'tari let loose.

She hunched over in tears, her legs giving way as they'd gone weak. She struggled to balance herself, having to rest her hand against her hammock for support as she was now crouched on the floor laughing. She tried to stay quiet as best she could as she knew it was too late at night to be making that much noise, also knowing that a noise complaint would not look good for them. Unfortunately for her, she'd forgotten how impossible it was for her to not yelp out in laughing-cries when she found something this funny.

It eventually got to the point where she had to physically clutch her chest and hit it in an attempt to make herself breathe, as she was gasping for air in between her wheezes. If someone had walked passed the hut at that point, they'd definitely had thought somebody was having an asthma attack.

"Little... (gasp) Lo'ak's not... (wheeze) Very... (gasp as well as a wheeze) Happy!" She enunciated, laughing between almost every word and actually breathing very little. She almost toppled over a few times, too.

It had been a while since she'd laughed like this. It took her back to the forest, to times that were better. She remembered how Neteyam had said those words to her, making her laugh just like this.

She didn't care if Lo'ak was stood watching her or not, neither did she care if he was getting angrier every time she took a shaky breath. She couldn't see him either way, as it was difficult for her to even open her eyes at that point in time.

If she had done, she wouldn't have noticed much anyway. Lo'ak was lying on his hammock, facing her. She would've probably thought he was crying if she saw him, telling herself that he was embarrassed and didn't like being picked on.

However, he was doing something different. If he looked at her close enough, he could almost picture her a few years younger, clinging to Neteyam's shoulder as she kept herself upright. He could almost see her scar fade out from her face's surface, discarding anything she'd been through since he saw her last.

He could almost see Fay'tari as he knew her best, the girl who wished she could be the mightiest warrior of them all.

But little did she know, that if she'd looked at him a little closer that day, she'd find that the boy was trying not to smile.

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