Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 18: Distrust

                          .   •  .°  • *. •. .

If the waters had been choppier, if the sound of the waves crashing into one another would've been a slight bit louder then Lo'ak might have been unaware of the company that was following him. On the other hand, if they'd have been a little bit more aware of their own volume then they might have had a better chance at being sneaky.

Alas, neither Kiri nor Ao'nung could shut their mouths.

"Says you! You're the one that followed me out here!" Whispered Kiri, who had just been called a 'copycat', though her whisper wasn't so silent.

"No! You followed me!" He argued, not trying to be discreet by even a little it seemed.

"No, you're both following me." Lo'ak joined in, making the two others realize he'd been peering at them for a while, wondering how much of their conversation he'd heard apart from the final few comments.

Once everyone had been quiet for a few seconds, both Lo'ak's mood as well as tone changed drastically.

"Why are you here?! Why did you follow me?! Go back!" He started to yell at them, to bring his ilu towards them in order to shoo them off.

They both looked at each other in unison, perhaps to agree on something for once.

"No." Ao'nung spoke first.

"It's not up for debate, I'm telling you—"

"No!" Kiri interrupted her brother, making sure her voice was louder than his as to try and shut him up. It worked. "We're here now, okay?! Eywa, you're so stubborn! Believe me, if I could've chosen, I'd have come with you alone, he definitely was not my first choice of someone to accompany me. But this is how it's going to be. We are helping you whether you like it or not because frankly Lo'ak, I don't trust you to do it yourself! So, if you're going to keep up this 'oh, I can do this all by my little ol' self' attitude, I'll personally make sure Ni'teya gets home safe, while you stay out here; Only then will you truly be all by your little ol' self!" Kiri ends her sentence with a deep sigh, finally finishing her piece.

It sounded like, to Lo'ak especially, that she'd been holding that back for quite a while. He thought for a moment, switching between his sister and Ao'nung (who still was a little shaken after hearing Kiri's speech as well as aggression) before finally deciding he simply had no time left to argue.

"Fine, fine, jeez." Lo'ak sighed, adopting some of his father's slang and not speaking further to either of them. He turned his ilu around began yet again on his journey to the sight he'd been before, the site Ni'teya had been taken near. Guessing they were allowed to, Ao'nung and Kiri gave one another one last look of certainty before following after Lo'ak eagerly.

.

The three of them approached what looked like some kind of rock at first to Kiri and Ao'nung but Lo'ak knew better than that. He'd seen it before. All that was visible from the angle of the ship was a long stretch of empty space that led up to an entrance; The same stretch of empty space that Lo'ak had been pushed off of. The same stretch of empty space on which Ni'teya had come close to untimely death.

Lo'ak went first. He clambered off of his ilu and started swimming towards the ship, Kiri and Ao'nung beginning to follow him from behind without hesitation. As they climbed atop the empty stretch of metal space, a small figure emerged from the only doorway in front of them.