+Hurt Feelings+
Mia's P.O.V
"Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the avatar program. She wrote the book—I mean literally wrote the book on Pandoran botany," Norm went on like he had been since we left the main lab. Finding a trashcan I threw what was left of my Twix wrapper into the tin can.
"Well that's because she likes plants more than people," Max quipped from in front of us before turning to look at the red head down near the coffin looking machines. She was putting on her lab coat with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Not very lady like, but hey, she was much like myself. She sort of had that, 'I don't care what you think attitude,' like I did at times.
"Here she is. Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman, and Jake, and Mia Sully," Max spoke up turning to point us out as the red-head finally turned to look at us all. She was old, probably in her mid 40's. She had a stern look to her, with wrinkles to match the stress she had been under over the years she's been here. Definitely seemed boss material.
"Norm, I hear good things about you," Grace spoke up walking forward near Norm, "How's your Na'vi?"
As if to demonstrate his Na'vi he began speaking in it toward Grace, "May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting."
"Not bad. You sound a little formal," Grace replied as I scoffed almost as if to say, 'A little, try he over did it.' She noticed though and gave me a stink eye as he just smiled and said in Na'vi again, "I studied for five years, but there is much to learn." Right about then I wanted to say, 'I studied about three, and I got it down pat easily.' Then again I was a genius when it came to using my voice, whereas Norm was not. Norm had trained to become a translator, and a scientist. I hadn't really trained at all. I had just taken lessons in it and learned quickly, along with getting my degree in diplomacy. I was trained to be a diplomat, but at this moment it was clear I was not acting like one. It was just natural for me to be a bitch though.
"Uh Grace, this is Jake Sully, and Mia Sully," Max replied breaking her away from Norm.
"Ma'am," Jake replied nicely holding out his hand to her.
"Yeah, yeah I know who you all are and I don't need you. I need your brother. You know the PhD who trained for three years for this mission," Grace said snobbishly pissing me off in the long run. Before Jake could even spout off at her I immediately said the very words he was thinking.
"He's dead. I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone," I threw back at her with more attitude then I had meant.
"How much lab training have you had," she questioned getting a little angry now that someone had spoken up to her.
"We dissected a frog once," my brother replied sticking up for me, but very poorly. If Tommy was here he probably could have done better.
"You see? You see? I mean they're just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain," Dr. Augustine replied getting more than just angry now, "I'm going to Selfridge." That started the little argument between her and Max as she stomped out of the room. After a moment Max walked over to us and said, "Here, tomorrow, 0800. Try and use big words." With that he walked out just as frustrated.
Grace's P.O.V
I stomped into the control room where Parker was, while readying myself for a confrontation. He so was going to get it this time.
"Parker, you know I used to think it was benign neglect, but now I see that you're intentionally screwing me," I said placing my hands behind my back as I watched Parker play his own form off Put-Put golf. The man probably could never even really play real golf cause he'd get his own balls mixed up with the plastic ones when they fell off so much, when the higher authority shouted orders at him.
"Grace, you know I enjoy our little talks," he said aligning the ball to the hole, which was actually just a coffee mug lying beside my feet. Right as he hit the ball I waited till the last second to kick the mug out of the way with an innocent, and maybe not so innocent, "Oops." Forcing a smile I went on to talk again, "I need a researcher, not some jarhead drop out, and his pop-star sister."
"Well actually I thought we got lucky with them," Parker replied coming over to fix the problem I had just caused with my foot.
"Lucky?"
"Yeah," he replied that kind voice than made him sound like he had two golf balls shoved in either side of his cheeks. He reminded me a fucking chipmunk way to much. Maybe a squirrel actually.
"How is this in any way, lucky," I questioned unhappily.
"Well, lucky that your guy had a triplet brother and sister; and lucky that the brother and sister weren't some oral hygienists or something. A Marine and a diplomat we can use. She can talk the talk, while he can walk the walk. I'm assigning them to your team as a security escort, and a negotiation expert," Parker replied as he walked over to the grid to check on everything.
"The last thing I need is another trigger-happy moron, and amateur diplomat/translator out there," I said unhappily, even though I knew the girl was probably way smarter than an amateur, but still I was pissed off. Parker always did this. He was always screwing me over, and I was just getting sick of it.
"Look, look, you're supposed to be winning the hearts and the minds of the natives. Isn't that the whole point of your little puppet show? You look like them, and you talk like them and they'll start trusting us. We build them a school and we teach them English, but after what? How many years? Relations with the indigenous are only getting worse," Parker said getting angry now as well.
"Yeah that tends to happen when you use machine guns on them," I spouted back just as heatedly.
"Right, come here," he said as he moved away from the grid now and headed down to his office. Reluctantly I followed after him. Going over to his desk while muttering something to himself, he picked up a piece of floating gray rock and held it up to my face as I entered.
"This is why we're here: 'unobtainium.' Because this little gray rock sells for $20 million a kilo. That's the only reason. It's what pays for the whole party. It's what pays for your science. Comprendo?," he said as he sat the rock back on top of the disk to float while he continued on with his own ranting now, "Now those savages are threatening our whole operation. We're on the brink of war, and you're supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution, so use what you've got, and get me some results." With one finally glare at his little tirade I walked out not even waiting to hear his little words of pleasure of the fact that he thought he had me wrapped around his little finger.
Mia's P.O.V
Eating dinner that night I found that Norm had quickly formed a group for Jake and me to sit with. We were only sitting at our part of the table alone for about a minute or two before Norm came over and took a seat beside us along with Max, and some woman named Trudy who flew the planes outside on the landing pads. Then at some point Grace Augustine took a seat with us as well, more than likely because Max was her closest friend in this building, or her only. She didn't really speak to us, but she didn't really ignore us much either. She actually did try to listen to us as people asked about our pasts. Jake was the one who did the most talking. I wasn't a talker, and I guess you could call me a bitch, but I just really didn't like people all that much like I used to. Overall it just took me a while to get used to someone.
When it came time to head back to our rooms I was literally thanking the Lord. I was tired, even for a person who had just come out of a Cryogenic state. Sadly though I shared a room with my brother. It was sectioned off mostly by the wall, but there was one opening where a curtain hung to separate us. It didn't really bother me, nor him. We honestly didn't care as long as we had some sort of bed. Throwing on a pair of shorts and a tank-top I slid into my cot. It didn't really take long for sleep to take over, but when it did the nightmares returned. Nightmares, which only a Cryogenic state had been able to keep away. They were worse since my brother died, and tonight they seemed to be their worst.
I was alone. I don't know where I was, but I knew I was alone. The darkness clouded my mind and my senses, and I could hear a noise. Sort of like a broken faucet.
Drip, Drip, Drip
The sound got louder, and now there were voices, growls, almost all around me. The noises were so loud it felt as if my ear drums would burst. I tried to run, but I tripped over something. Looking down it seemed as if the light suddenly was just turned on and I was standing in the alley with Tommy. He stood in front of me just looking with zombie like eyes, muttering something under his breath.
"TomTom," I whispered walking up to him as he stood still. It was then that I noticed where the dripping sound had been coming from. He had a hole where he was heart was, and the blood was pouring freely from it and dripping onto the ground below creating a large sea it seemed.
"Tom, Tom," I whispered again placing my hand on his shoulder. His insane mutterings were getting louder, and louder, and suddenly I understood them. "You kill us, you kill us, you kill us, you kill us," I backed away shaking my head. "I didn't. No it wasn't my fault," I cried as suddenly my mother and father stood next to him along with Sage, Grandma, Grandpa, Alice, and Jonathan, and other faces I had never seen before in my life. They were all in a circle around me chanting the same words as Tommy as they closed in on me. I covered my ears as they kept muttering, "You kill us, you kill us, you kill us."
"I DIDN'T KILL YOU," I yelled angrily, as their voices rose to screeches, "YOU KILL US, YOU KILL US, YOU KILL US, YOU KILL US."
"NO," I screamed infuriated as I crumbled to the ground. They only caved in on me all the while still chanting loudly. "No, no, no," I cried before I felt my body falling and falling, and then…
"Hey, hey, everything's okay now," came Jake's voice as my eyes opened and my ramblings stopped. I looked up at him not seeing Jake, but Tommy. The tears began to flow freely as leaned off the bed and into the lap of my brother as I clung to his neck and just cried. Mom, had been the first death I had cried for, the rest I had been numb to until Tommy. Now I couldn't stop the tears, inside and out. I lost the closet thing I had to a friend. I had no friends. Living the kind of life I had you didn't make many real friends. The only friends you got were people who just wanted to use you. I wanted my brother back. I wanted my friend.
"I want Tommy," I wailed into my brothers ear, as he just patted my back, "Shhh, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. Shhh."
Jake's P.O.V
I heard Mia's bed creak as she slid on in. Then within only a few minutes her breathing evened out and I could hear slight little snores every now and again. Lying in my own bed I was looking up at the ceiling thinking things from long ago. From when I was just a child as well as Mia, back when nothing matter, and back when the only expression Mia knew was a smile.
It was true I had never gotten along with Mia. Tommy and I cared for each other, and we did brotherly things, but I was never really that close to my siblings. They had been the shining stars of the family while I stood in the background watching. I let them to. I had been jealous of them at times, but because they were my family I tried not to let it get to me, but even when I thought it wasn't it was.
I craved to have a relationship with my brother and sister, but after a while of my coldness they gave up on me all together, and eventually I did them as well. We went our separate ways, and only saw each other when it was some special occasion. I tried making up everything though with my sister. I introduced her to my friend Sage. He was a marine and in the same unit as me. They hit it off pretty well. He even asked her to marry him, but when it came time for me to protect him I failed, just like I always had, even when I tried my hardest. It made her resent me too. She wouldn't even speak to me until after Tommy died, and that was only to explain to me what this mission was all about, and that I should accept the offer. She said it would help me cope, and it would help her cope. Secretly I think that was her way of saying, I don't hate you, and I hope you don't hate me. Secretly I had a feeling she was hoping that I could replace Tommy, but I wasn't Tommy. I never would be, but I could try to be there for her like him. I could be someone better as long as she gave me the chance.
Looking at the clock beside my bed I realized I had been lying here for a least three hours just thinking. How that happened I had no idea, maybe because I was in and out of it every few minutes. Closing my eyes again I came close to deep sleep when I heard a moan from the room beside me. It was a moan of sadness, and then words slipped through the curtains like ice.
"No, no, I didn't kill you. No TOMMY," I sat up in my bed immediately pulling my wheelchair over to me. I slid out of the bed carefully and into it. Then getting situated the best I could I rolled into the room beside mine. She was there twisting and turning in the bed with tears falling across her cheeks. She was in a dream fit again. I remember Tommy telling me how she had been having them for a while. She didn't dream of nice things like flying, or some faceless lover. She never had good dreams, just nightmares, and this had been going on for…well…eight years now.
Rolling my wheelchair over to her, I shook her awake, and she quickly awoke with a jolt. Her eyes snapped open to see my face as I was saying, "Hey, hey, everything's okay now." Then slowly the tears fell even heavier than before as I knew what she was thinking crossed her mind. I saw it easily through her eyes. With heart wrenching sobs she leaned off the bed and into my lap. Wrapping her arms around me she placed her head in the crook of my neck and just cried.
"I want Tommy," she wailed into my ear, as I just patted her back and rubbed it tenderly like any brother who woke up his crying sister would. I knew I wasn't helping, and just those words she just cried made my own heart tear in two, but I grinded my teeth and pushed back everything like I had been doing, for her. Quietly I whispered, "Shhh, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. Shhh." Those words, I felt like I whispering more to myself than her now.
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