Late Night P1 | Rough Draft | fin

Double Agent

Jake hits the ground with an uncomfortably loud thud, a cloud of dirt dissipating around him while he stands.

You and norm are both cringing at the sound as he cracks his joints to relieve some pain.

You've never seen anyone hit the ground that hard and live to tell the tale.

At least he managed to grab onto the leaves at the last minute, despite it not offering much of a cushion.

When it's your turn, you have to force yourself to jump off the edge and grab on as tightly as you can to the first leaf you find on the way down.

It's not a soft landing, but at least you were better off than mister bruised and beaten standing beside you.

Despite Neytiris way of do or die, she still shows concern when checking you over for any injuries. Nothing more than a few scratches and vine pieces in your hair.

It's not until you hear a scream that you realize Norm has taken his turn, practically hitting everything on the way down.
It was the one downside to him being a larger and thicker avatar than most others.

After you all gain your sense of balance, she relieves you all for a while of training. A fair break earned as you know Jake will surely need it.

You help both men back to hometree, and it's a surprise when Grace walks in.
Full avatar and all.

Norm walks to her, arms as outstretched as possible before claiming her with a hug.

"Grace?" You ask, rather shocked and confused.
"What are you doing here?"

She flashes a look over to Jake, who grins from ear to ear.
"I spoke to Mo'at, and she made an exception to let Grace in. I didn't want to tell anyone - so that it could be a surprise."

Before you and Jake can even walk to her — a group of children come charging towards her and making all sorts of noises.

They're so small, so cute.

You can't understand what she says to them, but by the way, they're playing with one another's hair and laughing together — it's not hard to tell that they were probably old students of hers.

Things were looking up for everyone.

Well, except for Jake.
Those injuries may just set him back a while.

You have to take your human break soon, even though you'd rather stay here.

You've grown fond of it, lately. It was your hour away from the busyness. Your time to decompress from everything, to take notes, to video log.

As you come in, you find Max sitting at the round middle desk.

Which isn't unusual, he tends to keep an eye on everyone when they're linked.

Except, this time, he's got his nose shoved into a laptop. He doesn't greet you like normal, either.

"Max? Are you alright?" You come up behind him, worried.

He has a look of regret on his face, his fingers rubbing against his temples like he's suffering from the worst migraine ever.

"I don't even know how to tell you." He says.
"I just.-"
His face is now in his hands.
"-it's-"

He's struggling.
Maybe you should get help.
"Do I need to get medical? Or norm or-"

"No, no. Please don't. I'm okay. It's just-"

"Just what, Max?"

"I didn't want to say anything until I had more evidence." He confesses.
"But I think it's fair now that I tell someone."