Chapter Text
“So who do you think knocked her up?” A smug voice questioned. The monitor flashed Dr Grace Augustine's face as she was memorised by the forest life samples she has collected.
The lab bay room housed the avatar bodies and the transformation equipment required as well. Wires were strewn across every surface and monitors and holographic screens were impossible to avoid in a room like this. There were massive 10 foot water tanks in which the bodies were residing in the middle of the room, wires and cables were hooked onto massive machines which hooked onto the water pods.
It was an understatement to say that the eight feet, blue alien teenagers stick out like a sore thumb.
“Pretty sure it was Norm.” Lo’ak grinned, the youngest son to the Suli family.
A duplicate of Toruk Makto himself, same stubbornness, same backchat and the same strong heart. He was fully convinced his theory was correct. That earnt a snicker from Spider. The human na’vi. His identity is one of mystery. No matter how many people try to drill it into him that he will never belong, he knows this is where his heart resides.
But this sly comment also earnt an eye roll from the eldest daughter, Kiri, followed with over exaggerated whining noises mimicking the nail on a chalk board sounds coming out of her brother whilst taunting him with silly hand movements.
They were in a constant tussle with each other for the title of 'the most annoying sibling', they were tying currently.
“Totally!” Spider added his two cents.
The eldest Suli, Neteyam, raised an eyebrow. He had his arms folded against his chest whilst his tail back and fourth, a tell tale sign he was agitated. Out of all his siblings, he was one of the least open about how integrated he and his family is with human metal, his mother being first of course.
He tagged along, partially because he didn't know how long he could deal with Tuk dressing him up into looking like a pretty ikran, but also he was curious to what they do around here.
He was wishing he was looking like an ikran as of right now. “You don’t deserve to live–”
Kiri hissed.
“Oh kids! Didn’t hear you come in!” Norm beamed as he walked into the main lab lobby.
Norm was someone all the kids have warmed up to and their first exposure to an avatar who returns to their original body. He has the pleasure of being close to Jake’s kids and being referred to as ‘Uncle Norman’ in front of Jake, Norm's far more relaxed with the formalities when Jake's not around. “Norm!”
They all smiled in unison, all giving their waves and cheers to greet him. “Hey guys! You watchin’ Grace’s videos again?” He asked as he walked close to the holographic screen, watching himself and Grace scribble notes about the sample they took, he sighed contently at the memory of the great scientist, Doctor Augustine. Nostalgia was overriding his senses before he shook his head.
Kiri nodded, glancing over her shoulder to look at Grace’s avatar in the tank, floating aimlessly and acting as a preserved artifact in a museum. She brushed past the boys to climb onto the tank with ease. This has became a routine to greet her mother. Kiri's birth was puzzling but Jake has always reassured her that she was a gift given from Ewya herself.
“Hi mom!” She whispered into the glass.
Her face was just touching the glass and she could see her breath fogs the glass. The avatar sometimes twitches, involuntary, she had to learn the hard way yet she has always considered those small movements her mother communicating back. She was barely tuning into the conversation but a question snapped her out of her trance.
“Y'know, I always wonder, why do you only watch Grace’s?” Norm asked casually as he wandered around the lab. His tooth brush in his mouth was bobbing up and down as he spoke as he grabbed basic necessities littered around the area. He doesn't even register the silence that follows after the question.
“What do you mean?” Neteyam asked slowly, making sure he and everyone else heard what Norm could possibly be insinuating. “Grace’s videos? You’re always watching hers, just curious as to why that is,”
Norm shrugged insouciantly, his voice muffled by the soap foam in his mouth. He was blissfully oblivious to the colossal size bomb he dropped onto the teens.
“You’re saying there are other video logs?” Lo’ak dared to ask. “Yeah? Mine and Jakes-” Norm began to recall. He couldn’t even finish his sentence as the Suli kids swarmed the monitor like a stampede of Angstiks.
Jake's human history was considered a myth, a legend even in the Suli treehold. Jake refused to even utter a word, Neytiri was just as cryptic, constantly avoiding their questions. Everything the children know have been spread through word of mouth and this wasn't good enough for them.
Far from it.
Kiri climbed down the town landing with a soft thud as she found a sweet spot of the monitor from her position at the back. Neteyam and Lo'ak were too busy arguing at what file contained what video whilst shoving each other to be closer. Spider was squished at the bottom and moving the cursor, all the other kids were too hesitant to even attempt to touch the metal. “Right there, see?” Norm pointed to a tab on the holographic screen, pressed it to show columns and columns of files tightly packed together before clicking one labelled ‘Jake Sully.01’ right at the top of the screen. How did they miss this?
After a second, a holographic image appeared on the screen of a pink skinned man. He had tired eyes, probably due to the prominent eye bags underneath his eyes. There's something lost in his eyes too. His brunette buzz cut was over growing and there was pollution caked onto his face. His clothes were worn wrinkled, with a small hole near his collar of his printed t-shirt.
In any form, the teens recognise their father immediately. That is Jake Sully through and through. Their tails swayed in curiosity and they smacked each other but neither of them were bothered, they were too preoccupied with gawking at the human version of their father. His appearance was enough to silence them as they all leaned in anticipation as the video begins to play.