[LOOK AT ME] Nᴇᴛᴇʏᴀᴍ.S ˣ ᵐᵃˡᵉ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

[Two sides - same story]

"What happened?"

" Nothing you need to know the details of, sister." You assure her, planning to take care of the two trouble makers.

"From what I heard, these two-" You point towards Rotxo and Ao'nung who walked in front of you, "-Started it by messing with Kiri and Neteyam's brother took it personally."

"Oh..." Tsireya didn't know how to answer, but she was pleasantly surprised at how formally you addressed the oldest Sully kid. You also didn't bother mentioningLo'ak's name on top of that.

"Thank your boy for Ao'nung's face." You sarcastically remarkednot pleased with the physical reminder of what had happened.

Your parents would kill you alive - whichwas kind of the whole point.

Fortunately, you were by no means a model brother. You weren't willing to take the fall for some stupid mistakes a bunch of kids made.

You told Tsireya not to inform the chief or his wife. They would find out eventually anyway. Just one look at their son's face would be enough.

You also allowed her to leave if she wanted to.

She decided to stay and lecture Ao'nung and his friend, wanting to hear their side of the story as well.

"Stop- Both of you." Tsireya commands softly, trying to make sense of the situation.

Now that the four were far enough out of earshot they stopped their brief walk. You are not returning home anytime soon...

The four of you needed to sort some things out if that wasn't obvious.

"We were just having fun." Ao'nung was the first to speak up, facing his siblings. "Come on." He tried to make it seem harmless.

You know your brother. His 'fun' was anything but harmless.

"Don't lie to me." You try not to shout, your patience up till here.

Nobody does anything unprovoked. Well unless you were a complete shithole.

"Ao'nung..." Tsireya pleaded not wanting her brother to get into any more trouble. "Tell us what happened."

This was going nowhere...

It was already latein the day and you wanted nothing more than to go to bed.

Jake would likely force his kids to apologize anyway. You just hope he doesn't let them do so now.

"You both messed with Kiri,-" You started casually,"-Then I'm guessing her brothers showed up and by the looks of it..." Your voice trails off as you take a good look at your little brother's face, "Lo'ak got the first hit-"

"We were just playing around, nothing serious." Ao'nung stressed this detail for a second time.

"Did I say you could interrupt me?"

Both Ao'nung and Rotxo fell silent.

You step towards them and shove them on their shoulders in a taunting manner. You were so fed up at this point.

You wanted- no needed a full explanation from Neteyam. You didn't know why your thoughts shifted back to him.

You also had no idea when or why you trusted the boy's judgement.

But you had a feeling that if Neteyam told a completely different story, you would believe it.

*****