Neytiri Sully - Blog Posts

Blessed Spider

Tw: Violence. references to past torture

Spider wasn't like Kiri, he wasn't born with Ewya's blessings in his hands

Despite all he finds of himself later, he was still born human. He had to prove he was hers, something he did early on

She started to show her favor while he was young, when he integrated himself into the Omaticaya with the Sully kids and her child, she would send little signs to those near

Her creatures would approach but never attack, her flora would hold him strong so he wouldn't get hurt racing across their forest, and temperatures rarely teetered where it may hurt him. They were little things but she thought her people would see

For once, they didn't

Her people wouldn't see her little human, but that was alright. She could show them - she is forgiving and she is loving

So, she guided their paths together

Kiri, her sweet child, was the first to see and with her, she brought her Grandmother

but...that was it

They could not (would not) see him

It would take years for her to finally wake her children, but it would come at a price she didn't want to pay

It isn't until after the battle of Three Brothers Rock that it becomes clear that Ewya has held Spider dear to her

It's on the ship, Neytiri's knife at his chest, when something changes

Quaritch panics, throws Kiri, and he is shoved forward. Neytiri is stalking up to Quaritch with a feral gleam in her eye but, in her anger, she pushes too hard

He falls, one hand to his bleeding chest and the other to the ground, but it's in vain

His face cracks against the debris across the floor and glass shatters into his face

There's shards pressing into the soft skin of his cheeks and forehead, his eyes clenched shut against the needles sneaking in, but fear hits him when he takes in a panic breath

Kiri screams his name and lunges forward, no longer bound to her fathers arms

Quaritch yells a loud, guttural scream of his name but Neytiri takes the opportunity to plunge her knife into his throat. He gurgles on his blood before she is at his side, eyes focusing vaguely again on his face

She curses, cups his cheek and mumbles words he doesn't catch

Jake is cursing and trying to cover his face but... he's fine

His face hurts but he takes in shuddering breaths and he's fine

He takes in another

Nothing happens

He looks up at Jake with wide eyes, shaking and unsure, but he's breathing fine

It takes the man a moment to catch up and this his movements still as he falls back onto the ground. Sitting, he stares at the little human

His Dad is dying off to the side, his sister throws herself into his arms and grins with tears in her eyes

"She has you, she Sees you, Spider, she has you!" Kiri is laughing, loud with sobs choking her between and he lets out a half barked laugh as he falls into her hold

Jake brings them both into his arms, panting and mumbling prayers with grateful pants of breath.

Neytiri doesn't move but her shoulders go lax in relief

He gasps, coughing and crying, and he's seen

Things make more sense with Ewya's blessing painted across his now-bare face

The scars of wearing the mask for so long fade as the days go by and the bloody marks from shattered glass heal

Injuries that should be months away from better start to scab and soon he's only lined in pink scars, the soreness there but his body healing like a na'vi

The sand and sun don't burn his shoulders or feet, something Norm swore would happen

The ilu let him on their backs and the fauna are suddenly that much less threatening

It's a clear sign if any that Ewya has put an end to their shit

Spider remains pale and small, still human but not as painfully so

Kiri remains on cloud nine, thriving in the knowledge that her people finally see her brother like she has

It's safer for him, no one able to dispute his place, and slowly he's blended into the family he always wanted

There's a lot of conversation that needs to be held but...he's safe

It feels like a happy ending

Problem: it's not an ending

There's still a war on the horizon and he's still a human man

His skin still tears, his lungs still burn at a na'vi child's pace, and his body still can't handle everything his siblings can

He's still almost killed by his boyfriends courting gift, a fish seasoned with a little more potent spices than what a human can handle

It's something his siblings know but the adults now find themselves confronted rather plainly with

Neytiri is still learning to accept him, still bringing him into her brood, when she has to face that falling out a 30' tree isn't a skinned knee to a human boy

He's no where near the top, something Jake tells her would have been far worse, but 8' up in search of coastal fruit will still break a humans leg

It scares her in a way she was unprepared for

She carries him back home with Kiri at her hip mocking her and her charge relentlessly, Spider flushed red and indigent at his siblings banter

It's when she lays him down and begins to wrap the injury when she see's the next little sign of his blessing

The little sign to tell her that he's hers

The freckles along his thigh, tiny and dark next to her own, resemble the bioluminescence that cover her body

Really though, it's the little pattern that looks so much like her sisters that makes her pause

Na'vi spots and stripes are a matter of pride, something they pass down to their children and a little visual symbol of their family connection

Her children often would paint their families stripes across his skin in something that always enraged her, but this is small, an organic addition she never noticed

She feels ridiculous crying over freckles to her mate later, but for now she just leans her head down to Spider's and brushes her lips across his forehead

"Ohe see ngenga, my tìrol"

What do you think the sullys family reaction to spiders torture would, be I honestly don’t think they’re going to address it in avatar three but I wanted to hear your opinion on it? (make it as dark as you want👹)

Hey!!

I do love a good dark angst 😈 but I def read this wrong and wrote the wrong headcanons lmao so sorry for the wait

I’m doing this in headcanon format for simplicity, N$FW/darker content below the cut.

TW: (All implied, nothing explicit) underage, violence, torture, S harassment/possible implied SA (depends on how you read it, tag is to be safe), humiliation, blood, starvation, isolation, emotional manipulation, abuse 

—— 

Spider didn't meant to tell them, he fully intended on taking it all to the grave unless something might help them in the war. But that was it - he wanted to move on

When he gets back, Jake and Neytiri scare him

He tries not to let them but he keeps thinking that Quaritch is back and he didn't get home whenever they come up behind him. Out of the corner of his eye they don't look like the people he wanted to be his parents. They don't even look like friends

They're kinder though, Jake especially, and slowly he feels himself being brought in

He won't ruin it with some stupid trauma response

He flinches away from them and can't sleep near them but sometimes Jake rubs his head or Neytiri will run her fingers over his shoulders when she passes. He swallows down the anxious nausea and relishes in it.

He. Can't. Ruin. it

He wears a shirt now and loose shorts that offer more coverage than his loincloth. He keeps a knife on a beaded belt over the shorts in an awkward combination of fashions and keeps his hair loose so it can't be grabbed so easy. The dreads are gone and so are his stripes but he thinks it's okay, he's just growing up. No one needs to worry.

He thinks he's done well at hiding it but it seems he underestimated the couple drastically.

Kiri ends up being the one to approach him

The family whispers about what to do, how to help, or if they can. They spent the first couple months mourning their own losses and caring for Neteyam but Spider hasn't gotten better. Tired of the indecision, Kiri slips out of their marui and stalks after her best friend

He's with Rotxo on the beach, drooping and tired but relaxed with the other boy. They've been spending more time together and he seems more comfortable around the Metkayina lately.

They don't look like his Dad, like the recoms that claimed him, and Rotxo would never hurt him. None of them would, they're safe.

He snaps awake when Kiri lands a gentle hand on his shoulder. He jerks closer to Rotxo who supports him but urges him closer to his sister.

"Sorry, sorry..can we talk?" Rotxo gives him a look and Kiri holds out her hand so...yeah. Spider stands and she leads him to the treeline

She sits him down with their feet in the sand and leans her head on his shoulder. She's playing mean and she knows it, knows she's his weakness and always has been. His stomach twists and he knows she's going to get what she wants.

"What happened?"

He bites his lip, brows pinched, and tries not to give anything away. "Was tired, it was a long day. Ro helped me with his ilu."

"You know that's not what I meant." He shrivels and leans his head into her hair. She smells salty and sand clings to her messy waves but she's always been his person.

"I...they're monsters, Kiri. Monsters. I...They hurt me." His voice cracks and his head is in her hands, dipping their foreheads to meet. "I just want this to stop..." He was fine. He was.

But she holds him and he finally breaks.

She listens while he chokes on the tears, telling her how his back hurts with the healing injuries she didn't know were there. He cries over the wrong feeling of fabric clothes but he doesn't feel safe without them. She wraps him up in her arms and they lay there. The stars are out now but they don't move and he doesn't realize that, suspiciously, no one comes looking. No one ever does.

When they finally stand, they don't go home. She leads him to the med tents still set up from the battle and sits him on the bed. Silently, she removes his shirt and gingerly applies salve to the stripes reaching around his body. Her tears land on his shoulders and his own on his thighs but he's not humiliated like he was before.

"..are there more?" He shifts, nods, and she does the same process to his thighs. Those aren't as bad, mostly from rough handling and straps but she continues her quiet ministrations none the less. Finally, she finishes, and they go home

He hasn't slept well in weeks, tossing and turning and afraid but she nudges him into the pile of her brothers and drapes herself on top. Lo'ak blinks wearily at him but Neteyam just wraps an arm around his clothed chest and pulls him tight. Lo'ak and Kiri have a silent conversation and soon he's the center of a very cozy pile of limbs and heat

His brothers flank him on either side, Tuk joining between himself and Lo'ak halfway through the night, and Kiri curled at his head with her head cushioned on Neteyams chest

It's the first good sleep he has since he got home

The peace is ruined come morning though

He's the last one to wake, Tuk mysteriously is missing, and the family is sitting around bowls of food. Kiri looks at him, shaky, and gestures him to her.

They sit there, Spider holding a bowl of his favorite stew, and no once speaks. He curses himself internally, not wanting to break.

Jake breaks the silence, "Spider, kid, I, ah, think we need to talk about what happened. Kiri said you're hurt and you haven't been acting right. I know, I do, that the humans are cruel. I know we didn't come but Sullys stick together. You're family now..." He swallows, guilty and nervous, " please talk to us."

He denies it, tries to stop it, but Neytiri steps in. Her voice is low and calm, like she uses on Tuk, but there's an anger in her eyes when she scans his shoulders.

"Ma Spider, tell us what they did. Your brothers and sister may leave if you wish, but you are safe. Tell me what I avenge."

He grips Lo'aks hand and Kiri's, head low, and breaks.

He tells them about the whipping, the starvation. He tells them about the machine that splayed him open and how he didn't give them up. He talks about choking on his blood and watching his memories, about Quaritch saying he sees him. How traveling with him was so much better than base until it wasn't. He tells them about walking to the shower with eyes on him, about being gawked at and hungry eyes. How he was left alone for a week and a half with his songcord and fear. What happened when they found it. Quaritch humming his song and making him bleed.

When he's done, Jake reaches for him and he flinches back harshly into Lo'ak. His brother, to his credit, just bundles him up and holds him tight with his ears drawn back in warning. Kiri has a hand on his back and Neteyam slips between them and the adults. He doesn't give them details, just the gist, but he feels lighter.

His family does not.

Jake spends the next days with Tonowari and Norm. Rage is filling every inch of him but he sits at the table and plans

He uses the information given to try and figure out how to fix it. It won't happen again, he'll destroy them, but he doesn't know how he'll get his son back to the way he was

He blames himself and brews. He feels weak and raw and can't process how badly he's failed. Norm, of all people, tries to tell him its not his fault but he doesn't think he'll ever not hate himself for leaving a child to be tortured

Spider wasn't his yet and his kids weren't safe. He knows that, but he knows no one came for him and Tommy either

He never thought he would be that person - he thought he would be better

He hates that his kids know

He hates that they were there and know what happened. That they know how he failed their best friend

He's afraid to interact with Spider, he's scared to scare him ultimately. But he also needs Spider to trust him. He and Neytiri are trying to figure out how to ask him if they can adopt him through a claiming ceremony, but right now he still jumps if they touch him

Toruk Makto knows he did the right thing. Jake Sully will never forgive himself or humanity for the lines they cross.

Neytiri is an active threat to humanity

She never trusted Spider, never felt safe with him, but she couldn't hate him

She left him and she'll always carry that, but children are precious and a Na'vi warrior would never hurt an enemy child

Na'vi don't hurt their children. They don't leave them or starve them or beat them. She already hated Quaritch but she hates him more now

But its the forced Tsaheylu that haunts her

Spider would never have that bond. That's what she thought, but the one time he does he is mocked and hurt.

The idea that humanity could hurt anyone with such a sacred thing, let alone a child of their own species, brings her to enough rage to burn down all of Bridgehead, innocents be damned

She hated humanity but now she has a human she loves. Spider is hers now, Jake brought him in after the battle and claimed him as theirs. He's hers

They'll burn for touching him

He's hurt in ways warriors rarely ever reach and so she snaps

She's already a merciless fighter but it's tenfold now. She will leave no survivors when sky-people come and she will see their blood pay the debt they owe

But for now, for now she takes care of her little ones. She helps Neteyam heal his arm. She teaches Lo'ak how to fight, helps Tuk get faster so she will survive, and helps Kiri become a healer to rival her mother. Spider is still learning to relax with the adults but she's his silent protector and soon he lets her heal his back.

She wraps his injuries and holds him when he's weak. He's small in her arms and she curses anyone who would lay a hand on things so precious

Rage fills her but she spends the time waiting to strike with her children and helping them heal like she never did

Neteyam won't let this happen again

He spends his time with Ao'nung and Rotxo

They're the next generation and he won't let things get so bad when its their turn

A part of him will always resent his parents for what they did. He loves and respects them more than words offer but he almost died saving his little brothers and they're still hurt so damn bad

He gave them everything he had and it wasn't enough

So he plans

He combines Omaticaya and Metkayina fighting styles. He compares defense, strategies, and discusses how they'll work together

He, Ao'nung, and Rotxo spend hours fighting and wrestling, training themselves to be strong

They'll be leaders one day and they won't be loosing their friends again

Part of him is haunted by the cruelty though

He idolizes his dad and can't imagine how the people he came from could be so cruel and make him

But he understands his mothers hatred now

And he thinks he knows it too. They took her sister and now his brother.

He's never hated someone before but he thinks he hates Miles Quaritch.

His mother just might have to fight him to deliver the killing blow

Lo'ak is protective

Anyone looks at Spider the wrong way and he's ready with a fist to the nose

He was the one that went back for Spider

He was the one that ran into the ship

Spider is his brother and best friend, his family is stepping in now but it's his job to be there

Older or not, Spider isn't as strong as them. His skin rips and his body exhausts so much easier than theirs does. He wasn't there before but he has to be now

Anyone who thinks about messing with Spider needs to go through him

His body itches with energy, with the need to do something but there's nothing for a 14 year old to do

So he just stays nearby

He distracts Spider, surrounds him with the friends they've made, and keeps him safe

He takes him on ilu rides and to visit Payakan. He introduces him to the plants around the coast and shows him the reefs with Tsireya.

He honestly becomes a menace, it's cute but Spider has to try and dodge him to get alone time

But he's a little brother and he does what little brothers do

He pesters. It annoys Spider to no end but, honestly, he doesn't think he would stop him if he could

Kiri tries to heal him.

She can't fix things but she resolves to be by his side

She spends the evenings with him just talking and laughing, he tells her things no one else gets to know and things feel a little bit normal in a twisted sort of way

They lean on each other through the healing and hurt. They coach each other through the feelings as best they can. They're best friends and always have been

She won't let that change

She wraps his wounds and learns how to ease the pain from her mother

She spends hours with Ronal and Tsireya to learn how the ocean fixes hurts and shares how the forest does the same

Its her self proclaimed job to make sure his injuries heal but so does his mind

Tsaheylu is sacred and so she talks to him about Ewya, his father, and the fear he still has

It is on him to get through it in the end but she staples herself to his side to make sure he doesn't do it alone

She makes Neteyam help too but honestly her brothers are stupid so its on her to be the support

Overtime, she and Tsireya gather together a collection to make Spider more Na'vi-esque clothes that offer him the coverage he wants

They try to make him feel like Spider again, braiding his hair, covering the bruises and scars, and painting his arms in new stripes to look more akin to their own.

He goes through stripes of each of his friends families, mimicking their patterns in little ways for them to lay their claim

She isn't the most affectionate person but for him, she finds herself making it happen

She loves him so for now, being there will have to be enough

Tuk is just a kid, she doesn't know what's happening

Spider is. . .different and she's smart enough to know it's bad

But her family won't tell her what happened or what's wrong

Spider just looks sad and her family are acting weird, but he's getting better

It's slow, but she's gonna help and it'll be faster

So she brings him toys and climbs on him, drags him deeper into the sleep pile each night and offers him the treats she steals from the cookfire

While her siblings get breathing lessons, she brings him to the tidepools and makes him weave shells into her hair

She does all the little things that her family do for her to make her feel better and thinks, quite proudly, she's making him better

Everyone gets sick sometimes, sometimes it's just in someone's head. Besides, Spider always is sicker than her brothers and sister - she just has to be persistent

He'll get better. She's sure of it.

Home

Home

Spider was never meant to find Home 

He knows that. No matter what Kiri whispers to him, what Lo’ak insists when the young warriors of the Omatikaya attempt to chase him off, or what Neteyam mumbles when Neytiri whips around with venom on her lips - he knows it, because if it were wrong, it would mean that everything that’s happened was for no reason. He can’t go that route, and so Home is just a concept he’ll never know 

His siblings tempt to sway him many times over the years - they feel so much like Home it hurts, but he’s not so selfish to risk it for them when he knows he already took it from their mother 

He’s seen his father in the photos the scientists don’t know he has, video logs that show a man that’s only been a horror story his whole life 

But what scares him is he sees himself 

He sees his eyes, the scowl when he’s angry, the cinch in his brow. He scowls at the image and sees his own face stare back. 

So yeah. He doesn’t have a home. He has siblings though, and that’s more than he deserves. So Spider is okay. Really, he is.

But then his Dad shows up 

—- 

Quaritch is everything he thought he’d be and…not. 

He’s angry. The man is full of hate and a need for revenge. He destroys the ground beneath his feet and spits on the life that’s surround them. He doesn’t know Ewya but he hates her none the less. 

But he’s protective. Possessive of what’s his (and yet another damn thing he got from his father) and it seems Spider is included in that

He hates it but a part of him feels protected - it’s safe in the that’s holding a poison blade is. He’s one slip up from hell 

But hell was bridgehead. It was the feeling of his deepest parts being pried out and displayed like the pages of a storybook 

No one cared as they saw some of his best and his darkest days. 

No one cared when the whips came out. When he bled so much he worried it was fatal 

No one cared when he starved, when the distant sound of wildlife made his stomach twist with need. 

Except Quaritch. 

Quaritch snuck him food, bandaged his back, and pulled him down. 

His hands may have delivered some of the blows or his lips produced the words to trigger nightmares but he cared. 

Love is complicated, but he knows his Dad loved him

He thinks he may have too 

Quaritch saw him. 

He didn’t know. He thought he did but he didn’t but he wanted to he knows he did - 

Then Neteyam almost dies. No one came for him. They left him, gave him up, except his brothers didn’t 

Neteyam and Lo’ak fought for him. 

They risked their lives when they had the chance to get away

Spider pieces his home together after that

Home finds him in the nights after when he rests with Kiri on his shoulder and Lo’ak’s hand loose in his grip. Tuk is curled into her mothers chest and Jake stands a silent guard at the door. Neteyam is flat on the bed of one of Ronal’s medical tents. His brother has been asleep for a few hours now with Norms assistance, but his family is too afraid to leave his side

He’s been awake the whole time. He hurts in ways he didn’t know he could until his capture but the warmth of his closest friends is too precious to loose right now. Still, he can’t sleep. Adrenaline is running under his skin and anxiety is inching up his throat. Jake is outside, safe and strong, but his tracker could lead the rest of the sky people here again, never mind Norms tempering, or his memories could have a clue, they had to be recorded, or - 

Jake lays a large hand on his shoulder. 

He jumps and a scared gasp escapes his throat before he processes the subtle differences. The thinner fingers, callouses Quaritch hasn’t had time to form yet, the gentleness. 

“You need to sleep, Kiddo.”

Spider shudders and bows his head. “I will, just…can’t. I’ll go lay down in a few hours. When they’re okay.”

He can practically hear Jake roll his eyes. “I’m here. You’re safe, they’re safe. You need to sleep, Son.” 

They both freeze, blood cold and eyes wide, as the silence envelops them.

Then, of course, Lo’ak snores and the moments gone. Jake laughs softly and suddenly exhaustion is pulling at his eyelids. A cushion slides behind him and a hand gently lowers him down. 

“Sleep.” 

The pieces come faster after that.

He cries with Kiri for hours. Laments his father, spills everything he felt. She’s the first one he tells the truth too. She knows more than he thinks anyone else ever will 

He tells her Quaritch is alive. He tells her its all his fault.

She cries, yells, and then they just lay there. She tells him how scared she was of her mother. How lost she felt without him there. 

He looks at her as she cries and another puzzle piece slides into place

Lo’ak and Neteyam came together when they came back for him, but it doesn’t feel settled until later. 

They’re on their ilu with Spider behind Lo’ak as they race out to meet Payakan. He’s giant and beautiful and damn terrifying, but Lo’ak describes him as his soul brother. An extension of himself and a badass of a friend. They tell him how Payakan saved them. How he helped get Spider home

He’s scared and excited and now sure what to make of the beast, but then Lo’ak is leaving him on the ilu and falling into the water 

He rises on a fin the size of a small marui with a loud whoop that can’t help but make Spider laugh in astonished awe 

“Paya, meet my other brother, Spider.” Then a wave of water is splashing over him as Lo’ak laughs in a way he hasn’t heard since the forest 

His breath leaves his lungs as he laughs and laughs, happy for more reasons than one. Neteyam meets his gaze from across the surf and smiles then one quick nod. He holds his gaze and feels the warmth spread in his chest. 

“Team up?”

“Team up.”

Tuk has been his little sister since he held her in his arms for the first time. Neteyam snuck him over when they were barely into puberty and put a baby the size of his torso into his arms 

He remembers her being the most terrifying thing in the world. He was so sure she would be terrified of him, that he would make her cry as soon as she was in his arms and the other kids would realize he’s a monster 

But Tuk has always been Tuk and she just grinned and pulled his hair. Her Tswin fluttered with her affections and he knew he would do anything for her 

He had never seen her angry, truly angry, until she stumbled into him cleaning the cuts along his hips and back. The cloths on the floor are bloody and his skin is angry and mottled but he had been decent at hiding the level of it until now. Behind her, Neytiri stops in her tracks as she takes in his scars 

Tuk’s eyes fill with tears and then he has a bundle of 5’7” child in his arms 

Her eyes flash and she looks like her mother when she growls out; “What happened? They hurt you?” 

He stutters, not knowing what to say when Neytiri kneels down in front of him. She takes the ointment and the bandages in front of him, moves his arm from his side, and begins to apply. Her hands are shaking and he realizes he’s never seen her frazzled 

“You’re a child.” 

He looks up, Tuk now angrily crying in his arms while she cleans and gently bandages the wounds. “I..I know…look, I’m sorry Tuk saw, I-I didn’t think anyone was coming back for a while..” 

“You’re a child. Children are precious. I-I didn’t realize they…that…” She scowls down at the drying blood and puts the wrap down. She pulls him forward so he rests against her with Tuk snug between them. “I’m sorry, Spider. This will not happen again.” 

His face is red and words don’t seem to work but he manages a scared nod. “O-Okay?” 

She nods, decisive, and resumes her work. Then, lifts a dirty dread with a disgruntled finger. “These next. My children will not be seen looking uncared for.” 

And that’s that. He has a family, a home, and it’s all he ever wanted. 

He doesn’t think it could get better. 

Part two coming cause holy shit it's 2000 words