Authors Note: I realize my chapters are very short, around one scene long on average. I'm going to try combining 'two' chapters this time around. At the risk of sounding like a comment-whore, I'm also going to ask the readers of this humble fanfiction on whether you would prefer to wait a longer time or receive longer chapters.
As Captain Planet said, the power is YOURS!
Once again, I adore you all for even coming to look at my fic. Avatar does not belong to me. I'm borrowing it for the ideas in my brain-space.
Chapter Four
"Log four. This is day - fuck it, no one is listening, I don't care. Does anyone even listen to these things?" Jake stared into the silent machine, his eyebrows arched in challenge. When the camera didn't respond to his query, the Marine rolled his eyes heavenwards. He leaned on one arm, elbow to the table. A deep sigh left him then, continuing to speak in a low, almost bored tone. "It's the same as the last few days. Tsu'tey has banned Neytiri from even coming near me. I think Mo'at finds it funny; she always twitches a little when it's brought up.
"Today, we started tracking. Tsu'tey says that in order to be worth anything, an Omitacaya needs to be able to find his own prey. My eyes are blind and I'm useless. It's actually pretty funny," Another roll of the eyes, this time towards the screen. Jake watched his own face as he talked. "The more of this that goes on, I can't help but think about Tony. He'd be pissed as hell to see me walking around in a loincloth, swearing all around the natives. Don't think he'd care so much about dying as he would not being able to see this place - it's crazy.
"Augustine didn't even know plants lit up at night, the ones in the forest anyway. No night ops, according to Quaritch. You listening to this, Colonial? Probably not. I could start talking about old recons and no one would know the difference.
"Least she knew -we- lit up at night. Kind of freaky. I feel like I'm some walking, glowing tiger sometimes. Especially with the ears, the tail," Jake grinned, lower lip caught between his teeth ruefully. "Can't say I smell overly well. Tsu'tey, he's trying to show me that each animal has a different scent, expects me to tell him which smell like what. He swears at me when I tell him I can't smell any difference. Sounds like 'scum'? Norm just makes this noise, goddamnit, and won't translate.
"Fucker." Jake thrust his middle finger proudly upwards aimed directly towards the video. "If you see this, know you irritate me, Norm. You're jealous and I know it sucks but it's not like I -tried- to be chased by that giant black thing.
"Anyway. I'm tired and find this completely useless since nothing's changed. Tsu'tey is still trying to get rid of me, Norm is pissed, Augustine is a bitch and- fuck, I'm tired. Sully, signing off." He resisted flashing the camera a peace sign, instead just flicking the machine off. Out of the corner of his eyes, Jake saw his face flash from sight on the screen. He looked tired.
Three days straight of two lives and a grand total of fifteen hours of sleep in them all. Wake up Na'vi, put up with Tsu'tey's shit only to wake up Jake, report to the lifeless camera, report to soulless Quaritch, eat while reporting to Augustine, sleep for five hours, wake up Jake, go into coffin, and wake up Na'vi. Wash, rinse, repeat. At least when he was in the 'Cong back on Earth they were able to get more than fifteen hours of sleep in half a week.
Jesus, he never thought he would've missed being back on Earth. It held little appeal to him in general, going back home. Pandora wasn't exactly where he wanted to be but, hell, anything beat the disgusting brown anarchy that was Earth; rotating back was the last thing on Jakes mind.
Still, sleep would be damn good.
He shoved himself from the metal table, chair squeaking under the sudden shift. The entire lab smelled of chemicals and sterile Hell, of science. Jake could all but feel the bags start to form under his eyes, the lines to his face, and regardless, he grabbed hold of his wheels, turned, and began the long journey to what was affectionately called the War Room.
The amount of activity at night on the base had surprised Jake at first. Dozens of people moving with swift steps, wide awake, preppy and ready to go. Most of the women worked nights, he'd begun to notice, especially women scientists. High pony tails, makeup. They didn't bother to look at him as the former Marine rolled on by. Augustine, damn her, probably had passed out long ago.
Quaritch watched for him. The colonial looked as if he had just woken up from a long and glorious nap, his eyes bright, attentive. When Jake entered the room, he felt the immediate attention of Quaritch and to some extent Selfridge even though the corporate pig studied the digital representation of Hometree rather than Jake.
"Sully," Quaritch managed to sound welcoming only in the way ex-military men could. He smiled, cocky and somewhat malicious, his head angling towards the large image of the tree on the vid-table. "What've you got? It better be useful.'
Jake hissed out a smile, expression not quite reaching his eyes. The mission, simple, it required the same thing Augustine did but with a different angle. She wanted culture, how the Avatar managed to this and that, what Tsu'tey or Mo'at or the children did or said or pissed or whatever it was she looked for when she looked. Quaritch (and Selfridge, by extension) wanted to know what the insides of the place looked like, the weapons, the fighting style.
Some dark place in Jakes mind whispered traitorous thanks that he didn't know enough on how they fought or hunted to report to Quaritch on any of the warrior life. Soon but until Tsu'tey trusted him enough to give him a knife or bow, Jake would not have to sell that particular part of his soul.
"Inside structure. You're missing a whole vat of it," Jake ignored Selfridge and the favor was returned. For all of his claims of Jake being 'lucky', the mouse-faced man preferred to stay away from any and all doings of both a scientific and military standpoint. He stopped at the table, leaning over to study the display. "It's not just a regular tree. They actually live in there. It's hollowed out, sort of."
Quaritch leaned down, fists on the table and entire upper body inclined towards the display. No greed showed in his gaze but something dangerous. Jake didn't concentrate on that too familiar expression, one elbow canted on the table. Selfridge cast him a glare but other than him, Quaritch, Jake and a few techs, no one was there to get upset at the Marine becoming impudent with his position.
"They have to get up and down through spirals, they go all around the inside," Jake gestured to the image and ignored the niggling bit of guilt in the depths of his throat. Stupid. Under cover was never what he did; Jake was muscle, not the brains. H was never meant to be stealth. Secrecy was his brothers' thing. "It's how they get up and down the way they do so quickly. They aren't leaping from branch to branch - those are too big anyway."
Another wave of his hand and Jake continued. His mouth kept moving, voice and words coming out, and his mind managed to shut itself off completely from the on goings. Quaritch laughed, said something derogatory about the Na'vi and their native status, Jake looked at him while he talked in what could have been considered a stoic Marine's approval. The older man probably took it as such, leaned against the edge of the war-room table as the picture began to move to Jake's specifications. The lab tech entered things into the computer to create the spirals Jake spoke of, adjusted the length and width of some of the branches necessary to the movement of the Omitacaya.
It all came to his ears as muffled white noise, even his own voice. Jake didn't know what he said about the structure of the tree or how they used hammocks strung from this branch or those leaves, where they kept the food or the fire. Yes, he assured Selfridge for the tenth time before Quaritch lost his temper, they knew all about fire and it's affects on the world around him.
Jake didn't allow himself the pleasure of actually thinking; that act seemed blatantly disrespectful.
For all his bitching about lack of sleep, Jake couldn't keep his eyes shut that night.
Tsu'teys bow snapped out from behind his back, wrist twisting out. The hard wood landed on Jakes arm with a fierce noise, a ruler smacking the unsuspecting ass of a schoolboy from a nun. Despite the intense training from his years as a Marine, the man flinched, arm jerking from its previously outstretched position.
"What the hell?" Tsu'tey sniffed from in front of the Avatar, his long body half-turned with a scowl Jake had become all too accustomed with. "I wasn't doing anything."
The full upper lip curled to bear Tsu'teys sharp teeth. It made him look like an animal, the asshole. Tsu'tey didn't talk much and when he did, it usually came out insulting or in tangents akin to some dictator. Neither of them liked the other more than they initially had. Regardless, Mo'at had been right: Tsu'tey was possibly the best teacher Jake could ask for. He didn't take shit, didn't gently push Jake along as he figured Neytiri probably would have.
After the military, having someone be in control and ordering him around somehow lessened the intense near-hatred he held for the Omitacaya man. Contempt was there, sure, but at least he could respect a tough, angry warrior. Hell, he'd been surrounded by them back on Earth. If it weren't for Tsu'teys own bigotry and superiority complex, Quaritch would've probably liked him.
Asshole.
"You must touch everything. You are not child," said Tsu'tey, not for the first time. It wasn't even the fifth or sixth time and had quickly become his most used phrase in reference to Jake. "Be happy I do not take you to a poisonous tree. No one would care if you had bubbles under your skin."
Jake somehow kept his face semi-stoic, that same blank stare he would give Quaritch when the scarred man talked about his past wars, the current war on Earth, or the future war with the natives. Tsu'tey sneered, that same upwardly curling movement the human wanted to slam his face into. Jake grinned, something that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"You wouldn't ruin this pretty face. I make you look good," He grinned, somehow unsurprised at Tsu'teys derisive snort. Jake shrugged, his thumbs tucking into the damned thin strings of the native loincloth. "Besides, how else am I going to learn what sort of stuff is going to make my eyes boil?"
Tsu'tey stared. Jake didn't think the Omitacaya would've ever heard that particular saying before, took a sort of delight in the rare times he was able to outwit the warrior. Tsu'tey was full of muscle and smarts (along with a healthy dose of skepticism) but every so often Jake managed to get a one up on him.
"I - Do not talk anymore," Tsu'tey waved his bow-arm at Jake in some manner of a dismissal. Tsu'teys eyes rolled as did his head, looking off into the distance of the forest. "You follow and keep silent. Hunting does not require your language."
"Fantastic," the mutter went ignored by the native, slender body already having begun to walk away from Jake and civilization. The human sighed, eyes heavenwards, and jogged after his teacher. "If you're all spiritually connected, why do the People even -hunt- animals? Aren't they supposed to be brothers or sisters?"
That time, Jake didn't miss Tsu'teys sneer or the flash of bright white teeth. "Do not listen to Neytiri," Tsu'tey said, his tone acidic. "We spoke of this. She is of the otherworldly nature, that is not your concern."
"Doesn't answer my question."
The expected violent hit to his head or back never came. Tsu'teys mouth remained in a tight sneer until they ducked into the first surrounding foliage of the village. When he spoke, the words came quieter, like a child telling a secret. "We must eat to live as all animals do. It is what life is - eat or starve. Connections do not - they cannot stop that fact."
Jake looked at him from the corner of his eyes. Tsu'teys ear laid flat back, muscles clenched tight under the decorative outfitting and striped skin. He did not look back at Jake even though his jaw twitching gave way to the fact he knew he was being studied.
"What's Neytiri being all otherworldly have to do with that? You don't believe in the whole living beings are connected bit?"
"Of course I do!" -Then- the blow came. Jake first heard the whip of Tsu'teys tail and the whistle of his hand. He dropped to the ground in a crouch, bent back, and one hand pressed flat to the ground for balance. Tsu'tey glared down at him and thrust the bow down between Jake's legs - then grinned in rough triumph when Jake let out an instinctive hiss.
The bow hadn't hit skin or anywhere near to it. A good foot from Jake's nether regions and directly between his knees, the tip of the long wooden staff buried itself in the ground. It had never been a danger to him or his manly bits. The sigh of relief that left him also made Jake lose his balance; he wobbled on the still new muscles of his arms and legs before falling directly onto his back.
Tsu'tey laughed, thumped the bow once more onto the ground just to catch Jake's glare once more. His lips twisted into amusement, ugly look on his sharp face. "Too jumpy, Jakesully. You will never be a warrior if you cry out like a child. The ikran will eat you!"
Jake growled and used his arms to shove himself back, then to his feet. He brushed himself off with what little dignity he had left, batting his braid free of any access dirt. It itched when he let it get messy. "Not unless I eat them first."
"Don't you remember your lessons with Neytiri, Dreamwalker? You are connected and cannot hunt their flesh."
The human paused. Tsu'tey - joking? No. Couldn't be. He responded anyway, snide, "She is otherworldly so that just means I can hunt and eat anything I want."
He could have sworn a smile tried to fight itself onto Tsu'teys face. The warrior snorted but it came out less than irritated and instead of hitting at Jake again with his arm or bow, Tsu'tey tucked it back into place once more. "You must learn to not walk like a stunted infant before facing down hungry beasts. I will hit you at each stumble. Maybe then you will learn."
Jake laughed. "Yeah, yeah. The being beaten across the face is directly affected by just how in tune I am with nature. Nothing here will want to inter-connect with my ass if you hit me stupid. I'll become some viperwolves meal."
"Would be a very sad thing," said Tsu'tey, snorting. "At least then you will learn how we are all connected, Jakesully. Meal for a meal - we eat what we eat to survive in order to feed creatures like you to the animals."
"Eywa says so?"
"One can only hope," Tsu'tey started back to the thick of the forest, ducking under a large leaf. Jake paused, frowned, and followed.