𝓢𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓻𝓮 ( 𝘢𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘹 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘺𝘢𝘮 )

𝟸

  𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓶
...

hot sunlight beamed down on the village of awa'atlu. even when stationed underneath the shading of trees or maybe under the precisely, hand-woven visors found around the village, the blazing sun still managed to seep through the tiny crevices.

three of the sully kids sat in a semi circle under one of the many woven visors, they sat away from the other metkayina. although, even when sat at the very edge of the camp, they still had an impeccable view of the ocean shore ahead.

neteyam, who was working hard on making an absolutely perfect woven basket, had peered up from his master piece. he observed his slightly younger siblings: kiri, then followed by lo'ak, who were also busy in their work.

the only sully kid missing was tuk, short for tuktirey; she was only seven. the only reason she wasn't sat amongst them and clinging to either kiri or his side was the fact that she didn't have the skill, or patience, to do such a perfectionist activity. neteyam came to the conclusion she was probably out with one of his parents—jake or neytiri—collecting shells or getting extra swimming lessons.

his ears twitched, listening in on the sounds around him: on coming footsteps, four pairs. the omatikaya immediately bent his head down and went back to work, he didn't want any metkayina getting the impression he, nor his siblings, weren't working hard on fitting in. when, in fact, they were all struggling to match the ways of the metkayina.

his hands remained busy whilst he shot his gaze up a bit, watching four pairs of legs walk past. they were chatting, but didn't make an effort to lower their voices about what, or rather who, they were talking about.

' ' they are such perfectionists. ' '

one spoke, but neteyam knew exactly who the owner of that voice was—none other than ao'nung. although the omatikaya didn't want to admit it at that very moment: he could pin point that skxawng's voice out of any bunch. what he would admit, though, was that he was very offended at the comment made.

whilst it was true—that the omatikaya were indeed perfectionists—he didn't appreciate the tone in the metkayina's voice as he said it: there was arrogance in it. it didn't bother neteyam as much though, because he was confident he'd be able to beat any metkayina in a weaving competition. however; what did set him off was the the next comment made by another metkayina which he was unfamiliar with.

' ' and that one girl.. uh, with the messy hair- ' '

he motioned his hands around his hair, prompting the important detail of her messy hair.

' ' she thinks she has this deep connection with eywa, or whatever that means. ' '

neteyam watched with anger pierced eyes as the unfamiliar metkayina rolled his own blue orbs, he noted how much duller they were compared to ao'nung's—which shone brightly at any time of day. the omatikaya didn't mind when the group talked about him, but when it came to his siblings: now, that was dangerous territory.

he had always heard the group nitpicking kiri, whether it was verbally or physically. neteyam's blood boiled: he was tired of the group not having learn there lesson, no one could pick on his siblings and not get away with it.

it wasn't just kiri either, all they did was call out anything "wrong" about the sully kids, even if it wasn't something they could change: like their tails, for example.

the furious na'vi watched the group walk a few steps away. he abruptly set his half woven project down and stormed towards the group—he definitely wasn't one to cause fights, usually that was lo'ak's job and he'd just tag along, but this would be different.

he could feel his sibling's confused gaze locked on his back as he marched towards the group and hopping off the small, woven platform, now kicking up a few pebbles of sand—making it closer he was focused on the bodies of the metkayina, confirming there were indeed four. neteyam quickly calculated his odds—yeah, he could probably take on two.. but four? he mentally winced, no backing out now.

grabbing onto the shoulder off one of them, he turned their body towards his; only to meet the surprised eyes of ao'nung, who quickly put on a snarky smirk.

the omatikaya brought his fist straight to the metkayina's face hard, it all happened so fast, and now: ao'nung was sat on the ground, his smirk gone.

' ' don't talk about my sister, bitch! ' '

neteyam spat, slightly amused at how much he sounded like lo'ak at that moment. but, ao'nung looked pissed—he felt humiliated.

before the omatikaya could walk off, the metkayina lunged forward from where he sat and tackled neteyam to the ground: throwing punches at his face and torso, earning oohs from his friends. lo'ak sprung up to his brother's defense: pushing the angered metkayina off as the rest of his fish-legged friends joined in.

' ' guys! stop, this is senseless! ' '

kiri shouted, but her voice was only muffled by the sound of the boys shouting and hitting each other. she knew intervening would be stupid on her part, as she'd probably be pushed away or hurt. she stood awkwardly, occasionally glancing around. kiri laughed at the boys snarky comments—they looked like toddlers.

' ' stop! ' '

an angry voice shouted from behind kiri, making her jump and abruptly turn, stepping out of the way: tonowari, the olo'eyktan—or chief—of the metkayina clan, stormed towards them, jake sully not too far behind.

the fight cluster immediately dispersed as the chief marched closer, both him and jake wearing a hard scowl.

' ' ao'nung! get up. ' '

tonowari demanded, his tone scared neteyam. he watched as ao'nung scurried to his feet and quickly walk towards his father, ears flattened.

the bulky olo'eyktan pushed his son on the back of his neck, urging him away—towards his presumed marui pod, which the metkayina lived: he must've used too much force because ao'nung fell to the ground, but quickly pushed himself back up, his body movements filled humiliation and embarrassment as he slumped away.

neteyam winced back when tonowari swung his head around: pointing at the other three remaining metkayina boys.

' ' go home. i will speak with you about your punishments later. ' '

the omatikaya's slim tail flicked nervously as he looked towards his fathers angry gaze, his face stung as the adrenaline wore off.

yeah, bad idea.

' ' the marui. now. ' '

his father seethed, neteyam could practically see the steam coming out of his ears as he directed his arm towards their marui.

he sulked behind his brother, head hung low and tail dragging just above the ground. he knew the consequences, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt like there could've been other ways to resolve the situation.

his body was now sweating even more as the sun blazed over head, not lightening the sour mood at all. neteyam gingerly wiped blood from his nose... this was going to be a long day.
                                              ...

1185 words! a bit of a longer one!
sorry if there's any mistakes! xoxo