(DISCONTINUED)Emrey- Survive || Avatar: The Way of Water

006 || Now or Never Colonel

There was something about being in an Avatar that unnerved Lyle, the height for one, was the most challenging thing for him to adjust to. Then there was that damn tail that wouldn't keep still, always with the flicking and swishing and knocking into things, and believe him when he says that it hurts like a bitch. Not to mention that he was fucking blue now. Even talking when inside an Avatar was such a drag. If he had a dollar for every time that he bit his tongue or the inside of his cheek, he would have enough to retire and never have to look at that damned planet again.

He was almost jealous of the fact that everyone else was adjusting faster to all this bullshit than he is. Hell, even fucking Lopez was doing better than him and that idiot can't even find his own ass if he had a map and a couple of helping hands. How he got through basic was a mystery to everyone.

And don't get him started on all the shit the lab techs had them do. It was a pain in his ass and something he hoped never to do again. With all the 'what happens when I do this?' and 'how does this make you feel?', Lyle was getting tired of it.

So far it was only Fike, Zhang and Mansk without Avatars, the rest of the team has had theirs for the past few months already. And even when everyone got their big blue cat bodies they'd still have to wait for the Colonel. The techs said that his one would take longer since they were implanting his consciousness into the Avatar, something they don't really know how to do, but they had their fingers crossed.

But he's a marine, he's expected to adapt to whatever gets thrown at him. But god-fucking-damnit was he sick of it all.

He's sick of having spent years on that fucking ship while the lab techs worked on the teams' Avatars. He didn't know why the government even paid for them, didn't understand why they were to go after that traitor Sully, why they had to go back to that absolute hellscape. But he didn't question it, simply because it wasn't his job. He's a very 'do what you're told and don't ask questions' kind of man and he wouldn't have it any other way, because he knew that when he started to question things, he wouldn't like what he'd find.

And what he hated the most was getting his tattoos on his Avatar body. Why couldn't they just do it while he wasn't in the fucking thing so he doesn't have to sit for fucking hours on a chair that was too small and have someone stab him in the arm repeatedly? But nooo, they can't risk the Avatar being damaged and only being aware of it hours later when Lyle gets into it again.

It was honestly just a waste of his time, which he could have spent doing more productive things, like beating Mansk at poker, messing around with Lopez with Warren and Prager (that was his favourite pass time) or training.

But here he was, sitting on a cold steel table in a paper poncho-looking-ass thing that was held together by a few flimsy strings. This meant that the back wasn't fully closed so now his ass cheeks were directly on the cold table, god forbid he relaxes his clenched thighs so his balls touch the cold surface.

One of the techs was poking around in his mouth for whatever goddamn reason and another was poking at that long-ass braid he now had. They had told him why they wanted him here, but if he was being honest, he wasn't even listening. Anything after the words "come to the labs" is lost to him. Walker has told him so many times that he should listen to them, but Lyle wasn't even listening to her so what was the point even?

But Lyle knew that he needs to break this habit once the Colonel was back because he knows that Quaritch would have his balls if he finds out that Lyle was slacking off in the slightest, even if it was simply just listening to people.

Zoning out was something Lyle had become an expert at, he does it a lot these days. He needs to break that habit too, can't have the Colonel catching him staring off into space when he's supposed to be working.