Chapter Text
Jake had just returned from hunting with Tonowari. Exhaustion was pulling at all the muscles in his body. He enjoyed his time with Tonowari but Ewya was he sore. Jake collapsed on a mat in the marui, already saturated with the scent of the herbs Neytiri was using to season the meat he brought back. His eyes grew heavy and his mind was already growing foggy with sleep. A vibration on his neck abruptly shook.
His comms.
Panic immediately took over his body. Was it the kids? Where’s Lo’ak? The RDA.
He shot up with a startle all sleep forgotten when he heard a familiar grating voice.
“This better be fucking good Norm” Jake groaned into his comms running a hands through his loose braids. All adrenaline had drained from his body only leaving irritation in its wake. Neytiri briefly glanced at Jake over the fire she was cooking on, a questioning look in her eyes. He briefly apologized before hauling himself up, nearly stomping on his way out.
The cool sea breeze immediately drained most of his irritation as he took a second to watch the wave roll out. “Hope I didn't wake you!” Norm said in a voice too cheerful for this time of night and just like that his irritation was back full swing. He felt a low growl build in his throat when Norm abruptly cut him off in a placating tone.
“Alright alright I know you're mad but I have something for you.” Norm continued, ”I just need help getting it to you without being shot down by that crazy tsahik”
“..........What?”
✽
“Uncle Norm is here!!”
Tuk immediately jumped out of her father’s arms and ran towards the fake na’vi. Norm picked her up with a strong arm and held her close, all his teeth showing in a bright smile.
“You're getting big kid” he made an exaggerated grunt. “Dad said I'll be as big as Kiri one day” Tuk smiled back. “Well that I believe” he put her back down as Jake walked up to him, Neytiri trailing behind.
“Norm this better be good” Jake sighed, “ It was a task and a half trying to convince Ronal to let you here. Thought I would have to beg on all fours”. A slight grin was plastered on Norm's face. “ Oh no you're gonna wanna see this. I found-”
“Norm” Neytiri greeted with all the pleasantry of a bitter lemon. “Ah Neytiri” Norm greeted quickly, placing his fingers on his forehead and drawing them forward, grin never faltering. “Anyways as I was saying” Norm said, reaching into the suspicious satchel he had brought with him, “ I found a package under your name in the RDA.”
Jake’s curiosity peaked.
“A package? For me?”
“Yep”, still rummaging in the satchel, “Remember that one program they had that allowed people from earth to send packages to Hell's Gate?” Norm questioned, “Holy shit I forgot about that. What about it?” he responded “Well apparently they've had this for a while. Must've gotten delivered about when you defected so it never got to you. This bad boy's been in storage for years.”
“Does it say who it's from?” Jake leaned in further. “Nope. All I know is that it's probably a bunch of videos and pictures” Norm shrugged.
“Vido?” Tuk questioned from her new place in her mother's arms. “Remember that picture we took together babygirl? A video is like that but a bunch of pictures put together to make them seem like they're moving” Jake said as he ruffled her braids. “Moving pictures” she said excitedly, wonder filling her large eyes, “Can I see?” Tuk pleaded. Even Neytiri seemed intrigued. “Soon Tuk,” Jake smiled.
“Anyway Jake, where's the rest of your entourage?” Norm asks, looking around to spot them.
“They went out early this morning to get some practice diving a bit further out with some of the reef kids, they should be back by sun down.” Neytiri helpfully supplied.
“Uncle Norm!”
Lo'ak half sprinted to greet his pseudo-uncle, Neteyam and Kiri setting an easy pace behind. “Speak of the devil” Jake mumbled under his breath. Norm quickly spun around watching the kids approach him with a small smile.
The kids adored Norm. Not just for all he had done for the family, though that played a large part in their admiration for him, but he was fun, usually letting them do the stuff their father would strangle them for even asking. He even had two kids with a Na'vi woman Tuk loved to play with.
They quickly exchanged greetings, Neteyam asking about his kids in a quiet voice. The few seconds were peaceful. Peaceful, until Lo'ak spotted the worn, brown satchel. “So my wife had these-” “Is that for us?” Lo'ak interrupted. “You shxawng” Neteyam hissed. Kiri simply rolled her eyes to the side, irritation evident.
“Uh” Norm hesitated at the sudden interruption, “Sorta?” Lo'ak's ears perked up. “What is it?” Lo'ak could no longer contain himself, interest shining in his eyes.
“It's a package for your dad” Norm replied somewhat awkwardly “A package?” questioned Neteyam “For dad!?” Loak and kiri responded at the same time though Kiri was much calmer than her brother.
“Yeah” Norm continued briefly glancing to Jake. After a quick nod of consent was given as Norm’s body visibly relaxed. They all knew Jake had a strong distaste for anything human, sometimes even rivalling Neytiri. He wasn't sure how Jake would react to the kids knowing about the ‘human’ package.
“A long time ago, when your father was still working under the RDA, they allowed humans from earth to send packages to Hell’s Gate. Your father’s package arrived at around the time he ‘defected’” Norm said with a wince. ”But anyhow, after some digging and cataloguing, I dug up this bad boy from deep in storage. I thought I should bring it as soon as possible.”
“Holy shit”
“Language Lo’ak” Jake said with a low grunt.
The sentence went almost unheard, curiosity now rolling off Lo’ak in waves. “What’s in it?” he quickly inquired. “All I know is that it’s a bunch of videos-” “Videos?” “Moving pictures” Norm quickly continued, “and pictures”
“Jake Suli”
The group quickly turned to see Tonowari walking up to them, Ronal by his side. The tsahik not even attempting to hide her disdain for the dreamwalker. A shiver ran through Jake’s spine as he remembered just how hard it had been to convince her Norm was one of the “good ones” and even longer to convince her to let him visit.
“I see you, Ronal te Natsira Tan'ite, tsahik of the Metkayina” Norm quickly greeted. She did not even bother returning the greeting, head held high. “Ah” Norm awkwardly turned to Tonowari “I see you,Tonowari te Tsika'u Arvak'itan,olo'eyktan of the Metkayina” Tonowari greeted each of them with a warm smile, eyes lingering a bit longer on Jake.
“What brings you to the Metkayina friend of the great Toruk Makto” Jake’s ears immediately flatted in distaste. “Oh!, Uh, I brought something for him. Something the humans left for him” he finished with a wince, knowing his choice of words might not have been the best. “You brought human devices to our clan?” Ronal immediately hissed.
Yep, there it was.
“No no it’s nothing like that” Norm quickly tried to explain, “It’s just some harmless pictures and videos” “What do you speak of dreamwalker?” Ronal’s voice was getting dangerous. Tuk further leaned into her mother’s arms, not used to the tone of voice. Tonowari put out his arm, blocking his wife from Norm or Norm from her, who knows.
The motion worked slightly, Ronal somewhat reeling it back. “Jake Suli, do you know what he speaks of?” Tonowari leaned slightly to him. “Uh no clue” Jake said awkwardly, feeling caught between a fight “I know what pictures and videos are but not who would want to send them all the way out here” he said shrugging. “And what do you plan on doing with these moving pictures?” Tonowari further inquired. “Not sure” Jake said, tail swaying with slight unease behind him,” Go through it I suppose?”
✽
Norm ended up staying for the night. Tonowari, as Olo'eyktan found it disrespectful to send away a visitor without food making him stay for the night banquet. Ronal was as pleased as a dead ikran. Ewya save Norm from her hatred.
The small, flat box containing Jake’s suspicious package was kept in the marui, unopened.
“You know”, Norm said in between bites, “I never knew there were so many ways to cook seafood” he gestured to the wide stretch of local catch, hands as messy as Tuk’s. The Sully’s , Norm included, had chosen the spot furthest away from Ronal(at Norm’s insistence). Tuk sat on Jake’s lap as he was feeding her the small pieces of fish he cut, Neytiri sat close and Kiri next to her. Lo’ak and Neteyam were probably with Tsireya and Ao’noung.
“So,” Neytiri started, slight hostility apparent in her voice, “Moving pictures?” Norm quickly raised his head from his mess of a bowl, messily sucking his fingers clean much to the disgust of the others around. “Well quite honestly I’m not too sure about that part” “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jake quickly fixed Norm with a pointed look, always cautious about unknown packages. A special type of reserve that came with being in the military for as long as he had. “Uh so about that” “Norm!” Jake hissed.
“Ok ok before you get your panties” Norm paused and quickly glanced down “Loin cloth? That’s besides the point, in a bunch, there are flash drives and a projector in the box and I figured, like a normal person, that if a box contains a projector and flash drives then obviously the flash drives are something that needs projecting?” He ended his sentence with a slight tilt in his voice making it sound like a question.
“And before you say anything I had to say they were just pictures and videos because no way was Ronal going to let me in had I said they were suspicious unchecked flash drives”
At this point Norm had his hands up in surrender as the others locked him with freezing glares, each more intense than the other. Tuk was still cradled in her father’s arms.
“And why do you think that is Norm?” Jake’s rage was building “We are currently being hunted by the RDA and you bring a package with unknown contents that you got from the RDA?” he said, voice only inches away from being considered yelling. The only thing holding him back was probably Tuk who sat with her wide-eyed stare quickly drifting between the two men.
“Well when you put it that way-” Understanding was starting to creep into Norm’s face. Neytiri was quick to cut him off with a hiss. “Mother” Kiri spoke up for the first time this evening “ I understand your reason for concern but the Great Mother has not sent any warnings so that must mean it is safe”
“The great mother does not warn of every tragedy to come,” Neytiri hissed, “It would be much too convenient if she did.” She grumbled under her breath. “Okay but we can't doubt every package that turns up. That would be much too counter productive.” Jake quietly disagreed but did not voice his complaints.
Norm cleared his throat, immediately dragging everyone’s attention back to him “Well in any case it's your dad’s to do with as he sees fit. Whether that be throwing it away or not it's entirely up to him.” Tuk perked up at this “We should keep it daddy, I wanna see what a vido is!” “Its video Tuk” Jake gently corrected “ v i d e o?” Tuk practiced slowly. “We’ll work on it,” Jake said with a smile. “So does that mean we can keep it?” Tuk exclaimed, hope shining in her eyes. Jake immediately looked away “Well-” a quick glance to Neytiri as she just rolled her eyes. Everyone sitting there knew he did not know the word ‘no’ when it came to Tuk. A resigned sigh left his lips “We’ll go through it tomorrow”
“Yay!”