Chapter Text
Jake sat in the grass of their clearing, letting the sun warm his skin. Yesterday it had been pouring down, but now there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Tsawkeney’s red glow was visible just to the right of tsawke, still not fully merged. The grass was pleasantly cool on his overheated skin.
Spider’s babbling from beside him made Jake relax even more. He leaned back, letting his arms take more of his weight. His shoulder only gave a weak throb at the movement. Neytiri had been spot on with her estimation of 10-15 days. ‘She’s so smart…’
He turned to look at her. She was propped up on her side on the grass beside Spider, just watching him play with his yerik toy. Her expression made Jake’s heart flutter. Such contentment. Such love.
He let his eyes wander, studying her. Her whole head was braided into small braids. Her preferred hairstyle since she was a child, she’d told him. They fell gently along her neck and passed her shoulders. A few braids ran along her collarbone, beads clinking together in the center of her chest. She’d changed the beads yesterday, going from beige beads to gray and yellow.
His eyes followed the slope of her neck next, up her shoulder and down her arm. They were thin — thinner than he remembered — but still strong. The muscles of Na’vi were deceptively small, and inhumanly compact. Jake followed along her arm, mesmerized by the patterns once again. He’d had 20 years to memorize them, and he would keep memorizing them for the rest of his life.
Hers were a lighter shade than his own. They also didn’t have the much darker outline, or the thickness his did either. No two people had the exact same patter. Families would have similar characteristics, but no one’s were the exact same. His eyes followed her arm as it to caress Spider’s curly head. All their children had mostly inherited his own pattern types. Neteyam’s had been dark and thick like Jake’s. Lo’ak’s had been a direct copy — identical in everything but shape — to Jake’s. And Tuk’s had had Jake’s dark outlines. Kiri’s had looked the most like Neytiri’s — only a little thick. It had been a point of pride for their daughter. Jake tried to ignore the sting those memories brought.
He re-focused, his eyes continuing to appreciate Neytiri.
Suddenly a thought appeared in Jake’s mind. There were two people with the exact same patterns! His eyes widened. If they-
Jake snapped up from his slouch. “Neytiri!” he almost yelled.
He felt bad immediately after, as both Neytiri and Spider jolted hard. Spider started whimpering. Neytiri glared at Jake as she sat up.
“Sorry,” Jake said. Neytiri ignored him, instead picking Spider up and starting to soothe him. Jake reached out and smoothed a hand up and down Spider’s back. “Sempu is sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” As he whispered it he was also looking at Neytiri, apologizing to her just as much with his eyes.
She let out a put-upon sigh — a sigh Jake took as her forgiving him — and concentrated back on Spider.
Only when Spider was back to wiggling happily between them did Jake try again. “Ma’Txe’lan, I just had an idea!” he said.
Jake paced around the clearing, periodically looking up into the sky or making sure Spider was still sleeping on his blanket in the shade. Neytiri had left a little while ago, and wouldn’t be back for at least two trrpxì still.
Jake sighed, there was no use just pacing around like this. But what was he supposed to do?
“Why did I think this was going to occupy me?” Jake asked himself as he looked around the spotless cabin. He brought up his mask and took a deep breath.
He’d finished assembling the re-breather yesterday during the rain. Human-breathable air had too little CO2 for Eywa’eveng beings, including avatars. Though Jake was pretty sure uniltìrantokx and Na’vi-uniltìrantokx hybrids lasted slightly longer than pure Na’vi. His children had always been more comfortable in the labs than the other children of the clan.
He let the mask rest around his neck. With this he wouldn’t have to switch back and forth every time he needed to go inside or Spider’s biological needs necessitated something inside. Now he only had to change when he, himself, was forced to “take a break” and feed his tawtutetokx.
He took another look around the small space. The dishes were drying on the rack, his and Spider’s dirty clothes were in the hamper, Spider wiggled excitedly up at him, his bed was made.
Jake’s head snapped back to Spider.
“Well, hello!” Jake cooed. Spider gurgled at him. “Are you awake already?” Jake asked as he crawled over to the baby’s nest. He gently picked Spider up. “Did you have a good nap? Hungry?”
Spider answered in loud unintelligible gibberish.
“I’ll take that as a yes to both,” Jake laughed. Tucking Spider to his chest Jake shuffled over to the kitchen. “Let’s see,” Jake mumbled as he carefully navigated the small kitchen in his uniltìrantokx.
Spider kept up a constant stream of nonsensical sounds as Jake worked. Jake listened and made agreeing sounds like they were having a conversation.
“There we go,” Jake said as he finished preparing the bottle. He sat down and situated Spider more comfortably. The baby latched onto the bottle and immediately started gulping down the milk. “Don’t drink too fast, now. We don’t want a stomach ache.” Jake shuffled so Spider was sitting more than lying down.
Spider whined.
“Yeah, I know, but any results of your upset stomach I have to deal with,” Jake explained.
“Bath time!” Jake cheered with fake enthusiasm. Spider shrieked back in reply, non the wiser to the evil ploys of his father. Jake crawled into the tiny bathroom. Maybe he was too big, but no way was Jake going through the hassle of changing bodies just to give himself back pain leaning over the tub’s edge. If it was up to him he’d never change to his tawtutetokx.
It was only as Jake was lowering Spider into the shallow water that the baby realized what was going on. At least, that was when the baby began voicing his complaints. “Yes, yes. I know you don’t like bath time. I’ll be quick,” Jake consoled.
Jake washed the wiggling baby as quickly as he could, not wanting to drag this out. He switched Spider’s head over to his other hand, intending to wash his hair next when something brushed against his fingers.
“The fuck?!” he exclaimed. He snatched Spider out of the tub before he could even think, heart in his throat.
There was nothing in the water. Jake blinked down at the clear, if soapy, water.
Again, something brushed against Jake’s fingers. A shiver ran up Jake’s spine. For how long he’d lived in the wilderness, skittering bugs would forever give him the creeps. He slowly turned Spider, scared of what he’d find.
Tendrils. Tiny, thin, pinkish tendrils were wrapped around his fingers. Jake slowly moved his hand away. The tendrils gently swayed and curled in a non-existent wind.
Jake stared. The tendrils were coming out of Spider’s nape…
…
“At least it’s not a bug?”
Out in the clearing Spider was once again trying to eat his yerik toy. Jake let out a exasperated laugh. “Parultsyìp, how long until you realize that’s not going to work?” Was Jake ignoring what he’d found? Yes. Yes, he was. He did not have the mental fortitudes to deal with this alone.
Jake looked over to the sun dial in the middle of the clearing. The branch’s shadow was between two of the spirals’ ends. “Due south-west,” Jake observed. “Meaning approximately krrpxì mevosìng.” After 20 years, the Na’vi clock had become like second nature to Jake. It had taken a while though… He’d still messed up sometimes when Lo’ak had been learning.
Jake looked away from the sun dial. Neytiri had been gone for a little over 2 trrpxì now. She should be right around the corner.
Spider had rolled onto his back and was, with the utmost concentration, studying his toy. His little face was scrunched and he was slowly moving the toy around. Jake laid down beside his son, propping his head up to look down at the baby.
“Spaita, you like your toy?” he asked, tickling Spider under his feet through his footed pants. Spider shrieked with laughter, kicking and waving his arms wildly.
A now very familiar ikran shriek signaled that Neytiri was finally back.
“Hear that, Spaita! Mama is back,” Jake said as he got up, picking the baby up with him. Jake looked up to see Seze clear the branches at the edge of the clearing.
As she sped towards the ground Jake heard a piercing scream and maniacal laughter.
Jake looked down at Spider. “Your sa’nu is evil,” he told his baby very seriously.
Seze landed with a loud thud, kicking up grass and dirt. Neytiri was still laughing. Jake watched as Tommy shakingly slid off Seze and onto the ground. Then down onto all four, hands clutching at the grass. Neytiri jumped down beside him, still giggling slightly.
Jake clamped his mouth tightly shut at the scene, but didn’t manage it fast enough. A choked-off snort left him.
Tommy’s head snapped up and he glared at Jake. His hair was pointing in every direction. “Don’t you dare laugh! I almost died!”
“Relax, I had everything under control,” Neytiri dismissed. Her accent made shivers run down Jake’s spine.
“Then why did we keep fluctuating in latitude the whole way?” Tommy asked in tears.
“Cuz it’s fun,” Neytiri shrugged with a smile.
Tommy turned to Jake, a look of pure devastation on his face. “There’s two of you now…”
Jake froze. “’Tiri,” he bit out. He held Spider out to her. Her face broke into a smile and she hurried over and took Spider.
Hands free, Jake finally cracked. “Your face!” He started laughing, doubling over with the force of it and gasping for breath. Tommy’s expression morphing into one of deep indignation just prolonged Jake’s hysteric laughter.
It felt like multiple minutes before Jake’s laughter slowed. He breathed heavily, calming down.
“Ass.”
Jake grinned at his brother. “Happy to see you too.”
Tommy huffed, mollified.