Disclaimer: As before, this story is my idea what would have happened if one of the more popular gripes with the movie had changed: instead of Neytiri teaching Jake, it is Tsu'tey. It will involve everything the original movie did – swearing, violence, war, racism, and some mild sexuality. Please be warned! Don't own it, Cameron does. Woot!
I look up information on names and spelling ONLY.
AN: Again, sorry for taking so long! I bought the movie the day it came out at twelve thirty at night! I've been watching it at least once a day and thuuuus this story will be coming out much, much quicker.
Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. I appreciate EVERYONE who reads this and doubly so for those of you that reply. You're all lovely.
Jake kept careful watch on Tsu'tey's expression nearing the end of their little lesson. The previously emotional warrior had his face closed off in an expression Jake had only previously seen on well trained Marines (such as himself, of course). It was as if Neytiri's presence irritated the male Na'vi; he went out of his way to keep to the side and, eventually, shove the encounter to a screeching halt.
Tsu'tey maneuvered himself in front of Neytiri, their chests nearly touching. Perched on the still-skittish direhorse, Jake watched her expression shutter off. Tsu'tey said something sharp in Na'vi, earned himself a softly spoken and equally irritated reply. She looked to Jake quickly before Tsu'tey spoke again, that second time in English.
"You have nothing to do with this Dreamwalker teachings. If the Tsahik wanted you, she would have said."
A dismissal if Jake had ever heard one. Neytiri narrowed her eyes in acknowledgement, apparently having come to the same conclusion of the human. She canted her head back in unspoken challenge, lips parted. Jake kept his eyes down and eyes up on the slight twitches of change on her expression. Bitch had a temper, one that ran as hot as Tsu'tey.
At least the future clan leader had the sense enough to not back down. His muscles tightened in anticipation of an argument, shoulders straightened and hands loose by his sides. Bouncing would not be the proper word for the shallow bob of weight from one foot to the other, the shadow of the quick, crouching dance he'd seen other Na'vi do when anxious. Tsu'tey's tail, though, that stayed still.
Neytiri's didn't; her tail flicked and twitched, from one side to the other in a valiant attempt to hide her wounded pride. Jake assumed it was wounded, anyway. The princess didn't come off as the type to appreciate someone defying her. She didn't nod, didn't give any indication of bowing to Tsu'tey's not-so-hidden statement to bug off. Neytiri turned, walked off without a single swing to her hips and a twitching her tail. The direhorse she rode up on made a noise of greeting. Both men watched her in short lived silence.
"She usually like that?" Jake threw Tsu'tey's unwavering back a knowing look only to be promptly rewarded with a mocking snort.
"It must be her distaste for ignorant infants, Jakesully," Tsu'tey turned back to him. Gone was the expression of disinterest; it had been replaced by that same searing dislike he'd become accustomed to seeing on the large Na'vi's face. Tsu'tey gestured to Jake and his direhorse then to the wide expanse of land he'd been trying in vain to ride. "Again. This time, correctly."
Jake stared down at the huge beast, fingers flexing against the leathery hide - not a horseman, Jake did not like the big stupid thing at all. The problem with that was the animal was -not- stupid, she was indeed a very smart creature, albeit still a very simplistic one. There were no thoughts in her that seemed coherent and human - perhaps they made more sense to the Na'vi than to him.
His top time had risen from jack shit to six and a half seconds. For a guy who'd never even seen a normal-sized, Earth based horse before, Jake thought he was doing pretty well, bruised ass aside. The direhorse had been getting less frustrated with his efforts much to both of their surprise.
Tsu'tey put his hands on the animal's neck. Jake rolled his eyes and looked away from the badly hidden smirk on Tsu'tey's lips.
"Do not attempt to 'become one' with her, Jakesully," The mockery of Neytiri's advice rang loud and clear. Sarcasm wasn't something Jake thought the Na'vi had picked up from Grace's school. "You are not one of us. She knows this. She is a fellow creature and is allowing you to make the bond. Treat her with respect. You are not her equal."
"I have been treating her with respect. What do I do - sacrifice one of those wolves to her in worship?"
Tsu'tey sneered. "Sit properly. She is not ikran! Do not crouch," He pushed at Jakes back, a huff of a breath leaving the Avatar. A pull to his braid and his back straightened further. Tsu'tey didn't bother to criticize him again, even when Jakes ears laid back and lips pulled into something akin to dislike; a swift flick of his fingers had the direhorse bolting quicker than it had when Jake or Neytiri urged it to 'go'.
"Fu - STOP!" The direhorse didn't falter despite the shrieked verbal command. Its feet slammed steadily against packed muddy ground, heart pounding against Jake's mind and legs as Neytiri said he would, he should, and at the same time there was that particular distance between the two. Jake didn't try to force her into his way of thinking and, with that, she didn't fight him. Sort of.
Jake heard her in his head with pictures and sounds and the underlying 'go go go' of her brain, totally ignoring the 'fuck no stop shit' in his own. His voice sat too softly in her consciousness, her own desperate glee overriding whatever it was Jake wanted to say. She wanted to run, wanted to do something, and the thing on her back wasn't strong enough to keep her from doing it.
"Fuck shit STOP!" said Jake. The attempt at spoken came out as another garbled yell, followed by a grunt when she did just as told, despite the lack of any actual communication. The direhorse locked her knees, stopped dead in her tracks with feet buried firmly in the dark ground.
Avatar reflexes or not, Jake broke free from Tsahaylu and tumbled right over the horses neck. The ground failed to soften the fall; his body hit hard and dead weight, stone to the ground and pain
"Damnit!" Jake punched at the mud as hard as he could, only to come back swearing, shaking his hand with the sudden tweak of pain. The direhorse pranced nervously ahead of him, short meaty tail twitching. "Crap!"
In a disgusting twist of déjà vu, Tsu'tey's bare feet once more came into Jakes ground level eyesight. Unlike the first time, his toes twisted into the ground and Tsu'tey leaned down. Jake twitched with the fierce clamp of fingers and the sudden sucking sensation of his stomach to the mud before he was able to scramble to his feet with the other mans assistance. His shoulder burned with the pressure; Tsu'tey appeared to be just as strong as the others of his people, if not more so.
"You stopped her."
The demanding statement received no immediate answer, Jake flicking mud from his arm."What do you mean?" he said instead of 'fuck'.
"She stopped and you had not spoken. You screamed, infant," Tsu'tey crossed his arms, sneering when Jake rolled his eyes. "How?"
"I told her loud enough. I screamed like a baby if you weren't listening," he laughed, coughed up some more dirt. Jake looked at Tsu'tey, frowning when he saw a scowl growing on Tsu'tey's face. "-Yeah?"
Tsu'tey continued to glare and flicked his hand at Jake much as he had to the direhorse. "Again."
*
The Na'vi enjoyed their little community meals. Jake hadn't bothered to count their actual numbers - Grace had told him once that they numbered between two hundred and fifty to three hundred, all depending on the season, births, deaths, and some other random science mumbo-jumbo he'd never paid much attention to. She'd also said they were big on family but the children and new mothers would go first, then the older teens and then finally all of the warriors.
Since Tsu'tey and he went to eat long after the sun had set, Jake figured he'd been grandfathered into the 'warrior' bin for associating with the other man. The second night he followed him into the clans, he managed not to step on any tails. Tsu'tey's warning and very stance stayed burned into his brain the entire night.
"Say nothing stupid," he said in short tones. Jake rolled his eyes, ears once more laid back. Ass exposed, Tsu'tey being a dick, and after being thrown from an alien donkey for hours did not put him in a good mood - the others attitude did little to put him in better mood. Somehow, the human kept himself from scowling - a simple huff sufficed. "Keep your tail close, do not step on others."
"Don't breathe, don't talk, don't move, yeah?"
"Yes," Tsu'tey growled out his response, gritted teeth and all. Jake stifled a sigh, tilted his blunt chin upwards. Tsu'tey reminded him too much of Augustine to be anything short of full out annoying. The warrior muttered something in Na'vi, something rude, rolled his shoulders for perhaps the seventh time that day. A nervous tic? Jake hoped so. "You should not be here."
Jake laughed only to watch Tsu'tey's muscles stiffen with his indignant anger. "Neytiri said the same thing."
"She is wise," said Tsu'tey, dark threat to his words. When Jake didn't rise to the challenge of his anger, they continued on to the huddled mass of Omaticaya people. Many of them sat hunched over, not unlike the apes he had seen many years ago in one of Tony's textbooks but also with a bent-knee and purposefully so, graceful. It felt wrong to think of them in the same context of the stuff in Tony's books.
They talked amongst themselves in what sounded like gossip and amusement, recounting this and that although he had no true idea of what. He heard his name, muffled, whispered between laughter, slurred with both of the names mashed together. Somewhere, what sounded like a man sang. Augustine would have a frickin' field day in the warm depths of the Omaticaya's tree.
The moment the unlikely duo stepped into the campfires crackle and glow, all fell silent. Chewing even paused, hands froze in the midst of grabbing or eating. Everyone turned towards them, silent condemnation in their eyes; even Tsu'tey received the same glares as Jake, lips pursed in heady disapproval. Both men took on the scrutiny in the same manner: straight shoulders, set eyes. Nothing said 'paranoid fighter with a knife' like a gait meant for a prisoner and a stiff tail. Even Mo'at looked on, the only one with mistrust in her gaze. Or anything, for that matter. Dragon Lady sat stone-faced.
Jake managed to keep away from the others crouched bodies, his tail held firmly in hands he sure would sweat if they could. His hands and ears were the only part of him that hadn't started to mist when upset or overworked or stressed out in this form. The moisture didn't even seem to bead up; his skin - their skin? - simply grew slick with some sort of liquid.
It should've been weird. Considering the fact he inhabited an alien body that had been made to fit his brother, Jake figured he'd seen much weirder in his time.
Tsu'tey sat near Neytiri, eyes on the campfire. Jake followed in suit, ears pressed back to the sudden shriek of his muscles. The fucking she-horse had managed to not leave a bruise on him but still left her mark. Brilliant.
People didn't look away. They continued to eat in small doses, chewing slowly. Their discontent tried to suffocate Jake, perhaps would have if Mo'at didn't speak up.
"Jakesully," she said in that same slurring of his full name, made it sound like some title rather than what it really was. "Have you reconsidered yet?"
Tsu'tey jerked his head to Jake when the Avatar grinned, warning on his face. "Not just yet, ma'am. I think the horses like me."
She watched him, eyes tight to Jakes. That smile didn't budge. "As they throw you from their backs, Jakesully?"
Neytiri smiled into her hand, Tsu'tey even managing a huff of what Jake assumed was laughter. Jake was passed a large, flat leaf filled with food; the young woman who handed it to him did not look to his face but, instead, Tsu'tey. The warrior in question had turned his attention to Neytiri, murmuring something in coherent when Mo'at smiled.
"Eat, Jakesully. You will need it."