"Grace Augustine is a legend!"Norm exclaimed excitedly to the Sully Siblings."She's the head of the Avatar Program. She wrote the book, I mean literally wrote the book on Pandora Botany."Norm explained as they walked into Lab, where the Link Units were set up.
"Well, that's 'cause she likes plants better then people."Max said, making Lia bite back a smile."Here she is, Cinderella back from the Ball."He said as they came to a stop in front of a redheaded woman, who was smoking."Grace, I would like you to meet Norm Spellman, and Jake and Lia Sully."
"Norm. I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?"Grace asked, her full attention on the only Junior Scientist of their little group.
"May the All Mother"He brought his hand up to his forehead, his fingers curled, only to open them as he rolled his arm back, flicking his fingers outward."smile upon our first meeting."He greeted Grace.
"Not bad. You sound a little formal."She stated, slightly complimenting him, and Norm chuckled weakly.
"I studied for five years... But there is much to learn."
Grace nodded, a small smile on her lips before looking directly at Lia."And what about you?"
"I would say my Na'vi is not as good as Norm's because I did not study it fully, but had Tommy teach me as much as he could when I was not studying to be a Doctor."Lia answered honestly, her voice slightly thickening as she said Tommy's name, which was something that Jake noticed and glanced up at her in worry."I would be honoured if you would continue to teach me."
Grace stared at her, looking surprised."If you ask me, I'd say your Na'vi is just fine and that you don't need any more teaching."Now it was Lia's turn to look surprised. She was sure her voice on the wobbly side and that some of her pronunciations were wrong, but to hear Grace say otherwise made her smile softly and nodded in thanks.
"Grace?"Max said, gaining the redhead's attention."This is Jake Sully."
"Ma'am."Jake greeted her politely, holding out his hand for her to shake, only she didn't, causing Lia to lose her smile and her eyes narrowed at the frown on Grace's face.
"Yeah, yeah."She said dismissively."I know who you are and I don't need you."Jake's hand dropped to his lap."I need your Brother."Lia bowed her head while Jake frowned."You know, PhD who trained for three years for this Mission."
"He's dead."Jake snapped and Lia flinched at the harshness of his voice, which everyone caught, and Jake grabbed her hand in his, rubbing circles with his thumb on the back of her hand."I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone."Grace, either because of the way Jake had snapped or because of the way Lia was looking off into the distance, didn't say anything else about Tommy.
"How much Lab Training have you had?"She asked instead, looking between the Adopted Siblings.
"I was studying to be a Doctor, so I took Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Classes throughout my High School years."Lia stated."Does that count as Lab Training?"She tried to joke to get rid of her own tension.
"But you never actually became a Doctor?"Grace stated questionably before Lia could continue speaking.
"Actually, she was in college when she was sixteen."Jake spoke up."She was in her second year of studying to get her MBChB's. She's already got her MD."
The trio stared at Lia in surprise."How old are you?"Max asked weakly, eyes wide.
"I was seventeen when I was put in cryo-sleep, so I'll be twenty-two this year."
"Looks like we've got a genius on our hands."Grace said, smiling again before looking back at Jake."And you?"
"I dissected a frog once."Jake stated and Lia winced at the look on Grace's face.
"You see? You see?"Max looked back at Grace."I mean, they're just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge."
"No, Grace."Max immediately exclaimed, eyes wide as he started to follow after the redhead."I don't think that's a good idea."
"No, man, this is such bullshit!"Grace snapped and headed to the exit."I'm gonna kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in my Department."They heard her grumble.
"Here tomorrow, 0800. Try and use big words."Max said tiredly to Jake before walking off.
"I'm gonna talk to Dr. Augustine, ok."Jake looked back at Lia, who was already walking off after the redhead.
"Lia-!"Jake called out to her but she ignored him.
"Dr. Augustine!"Lia called out to the older woman, who paused to glance back at her."Look, Jake didn't mean to make it sound insulting, but that was the only amount of Lab Training he was allowed back when he was in school."Grace crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at the brunette, listening with a serious expression on her face, but the girl could see that Grace didn't seem to believe her words."His entire class was banned from doing Science Projects because most of the kids mucked around and caused a serious accident, which sent a kid to hospital, he wasn't allowed in a Science Classroom, even if he was with a Teacher. He couldn't even take the same Science Class as our Brother because of what happened."Grace's eyes softened as she listened."Yes, he was a Marine, but he loved our Brother. So even if Jake was away from us, he loved us and we were always on his mind. So the reason why he's here, is because he's doing this for Tommy."With that said, Lia walked away from the redhead, heading back to Jake.
"Excited to test out your Avatar body?"Lia asked, practically bouncing around as they headed to the Link Units.
"Not as excited as you, Lil' Sis, but excited none the less."Jake said as they met up with Grace and Norm.
"So, how much Link Time have you logged?"Grace asked them.
"Uh, about five hundred and twenty hours."Norm answered, pleasing Grace.
"That's good."She gestured to one of the capsules."Norm, you're in there."She glanced back at Jake."You're there, and Lia, you're there."She gestured to the two other unoccupied capsules that were next to each other."How much have you two logged?"
"Zip. But I read a manual."Jake answered and Grace, who went to start up the link, paused and looked back at him with a dead look in her eyes.
"Tell me you're joking?"
"He is."Lia spoke up and Grace looked at her."I helped him log for nearly a hundred hours."
"And what about yourself?"
"About five hundred and twenty-seven hours."
"Good."Grace said, pleased that Lia was getting Jake to do something other than act like he knew nothing of what he was doing."Max, take over for me, I'll set up Lia's Link."Max nodded and they switched places, getting the Link's up and running before the redhead turned to the brunette."Can you make sure your Brother doesn't do anything stupid?"Grace asked Lia, who had lied down.
"He won't, as long as he knows I'm in his line of sight and that I'm safe. That's all he cares about."
"Then lets keep it that way."
With that said, Grace closed the lip and Lia allowed her mind to go blank and relaxed, succumbing to the darkness. But that didn't last long, as blinding colors raced behind her eyes, followed by the darkness once more. Lia's eyes fluttered open to see a female and male Doctor standing over her, calling her name.
"Lia, can you hear me?"The female Doctor asked while the other Doctor flashed a medical torch in her eyes.
"Loud and clear."Lia said, although she felt a bit drowsy.
"Pupillary is looking good."The male doctor commented, followed by the female Doctor saying;"Pinna response normal."after clicking her fingers next to Lia's ears.
"How are you feeling, Lia?"She asked and Lia smiled slightly.
"Ok, I think."
"Welcome to your new body, Lia."
"Thanks."Lia started to slowly sit up, reminding herself to be careful due to the tail she had.
She didn't want to accidentally send someone flying into a wall with her tail."Good, ok, you can sit up if you feel up to it."
As soon as she was sitting up, they started asking her if she was light headed or dizzy, followed by asking her to do some hands and feet exercises, such as wriggling her toes and touching her thumbs to her fingers, followed by curling her hands into fists.
Lia was brought out of doing the exercises when she heard things getting knocked over and she turned her attention to see Jake ignoring the Doctors and Max's instructions, and got out of the examination room.
Groaning in annoyance, Lia stood up, taking the cables, that were attached to her, off and raced out of the room after Jake, and Norm, who Lia easily passed. As she dodged and ducked around everyone with ease, Lia realised that she could see everything much more clearly then when she had the mask on, however, Lia quickly turned her attention back to the task at hand.
Getting Jake's attention."Jake!"Lia called out to him, ignoring the pain in the soles of her feet and he skidded to a stop in front of her and turned to catch her just before she could tackle him.
"Isn't this amazing?"He asked, laughing breathlessly as he hugged Lia, all the while digging his feet into the ground.
"Yeah, you're taller than me again."Lia answered, chuckling before they pulled away.
"Hey, Marine!"The duo turned their attention a beautiful Na'vi woman walking towards them with a smile on her face.
"Grace?"They asked in unison.
"Well, who'd you expect Numbnuts? Firecracker?"She asked as she grabbed two of Pandora's fruits and threw them at the duo."Think fast."The duo caught them with ease."Motor control is looking good."Glancing at one another, they took a bite of the fruit, moaning at the delicious taste that assaulted their tastebuds and Grace chuckled.
"Come on everybody, quiet down!"Grace said as she walked down the aisle of beds."Alright gang, lights out."She said, trying to usher everyone to bed."Don't play with that, you'll go blind."She warned Jake as she walked passed him with the Humans in front of her.
"That's kind of freaky."Lia, who was redoing her hair, rolled her eyes at Jake but didn't say anything because even she had to agree that it was kind of freaky.
"Lights out!"Grace repeated, turning off the main lights."See you at dinner, kiddies."The Siblings lied down on their beds and before they left their Avatar Bodies, they listened to the sounds of the jungle.
~~~Preview~~~
~~~The Titanothere & The Thanator~~~
"Can you be a little more careful with your Avatar? We don't need you chopping your own head off."Lia said sarcastically."Dr. Augustine would throw a fit."She added, glancing back at Grace, who had told Trudy to power down and that they would be staying a while before telling Norm to get his pack.
"Hey, I know what I'm doing."Jake said reassuringly.
"Not in that body, you do."Lia retorted."You're like a child, too loud. Remember when you were a Marine?"Jake frowned at her."You were so quiet, you used to scare me all the time when you were home."
"I still can."Jake said in a challenging voice.
"Sure you can."Lia said, nodding as if she actually believed him.