Me and the Devil | lo'ak sully

chapter 9: why bother

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It was dark already, a subtle breeze flowing through the jungle making the leaves ruffle. Na'veya could barely keep her eyes open, she was exhausted. She figured she wasn't going to see Lo'ak anytime soon since he had to sleep with his family.

It was anything but lonely. She had her ikran, a new addition to her new little friend group, to keep her company. And on the plus side, it was way less humid here compared to the forest.

Na'veya made herself a comfortable bed out of large leaves since she didn't have anything else to do. When she lay down on the home-made bed, a sound echoed through the trees. She flung up, her ears moving around to hear where it came from.

She heard gentle footsteps coming from beside her. Suddenly, she heard voices coming from the same direction.

'Why did you do that, skxawng? The whole clan could wake up.'

'No they wouldn't, it wasn't even that hard! I don't want to scare her, she knows we're coming now.'

'You're so weird.'

'Stop it, you're weird.'

'Says the guy who literally took a random girl to his new home miles away.'

'She has a name, bro.'

Ah, Lo'ak and Neteyam were on their way here. Quite subtly— not.

Once they finally made it to the girl, Lo'ak slowly checked if she wasn't asleep.

'My eyes are open, Lo'ak.' Na'veya said, looking at him with a weird expression on her face.

'So she does talk!' Neteyam yelled as he jumped back, a little too loud.

Lo'ak hit Neteyam on his shoulder before he rubbed the sore spot. 'Sorry, it's quite dark.' Lo'ak ignored Neteyam.

Lo'ak was right, it is pretty dark. Even the bioluminescence couldn't light up her face as much as the forest does. 'What are you doing here?' Na'veya asked the two boys.

'I didn't want you to sleep here alone. And Neteyam insisted on coming so there's that.' Lo'ak rolled his eyes, glaring over at his brother.

'You do know that I've slept alone my whole life.' Na'veya coldly told him.

'Yeah but I felt bad. I'll rest much better knowing you're okay. Plus I kind of sleep better next to you rather than when I'm on my own.' He confessed, his cheeks turning a little purple in the process.

'Wait a minute, how do you know that exactly?' Neteyam asked as he slowly turned his head to look at his brother.

Lo'ak blankly stared at him, not showing any emotion.

'Right,' Neteyam pursed his lips together.

Na'veya frowned, her eyes switching between the two brothers. Lo'ak had an okay reason to be here but Neteyam? He didn't have any reason to join his brother.

'Neteyam just wanted to come because he didn't want me to get into trouble.' Lo'ak explained, already figuring that she was questioning him about that part.

She raised an eyebrow at him while Neteyam inspected her new sleeping area.

'You know what I'm missing?' Neteyam asked as he lifted a leaf from the bed.

'A braincell?' Lo'ak answered him.

Neteyam scoffed. 'You know what? I don't even want to say it anymore.'

'Bro, don't be such a wuss.' Lo'ak rolled his eyes. 'Just say it.'

'Fine,' Neteyam spat out at Lo'ak before he turned back to Na'veya's sleeping area. 'Comfort.' He blatantly said.

Na'veya looked offended. She thought she did a pretty good job and it wasn't terribly uncomfortable.

'Bro, what the hell?' Lo'ak looked at him with disbelief in his eyes. Why would he even say something so fucking random? He's so weird.

Neteyam rolled his eyes at his brother. 'Come on, Na'veya. You can't tell me that's comfortable to sleep on.'

'It—' Na'veya couldn't even finish her sentence before Lo'ak stepped in.

'You are so weird, man.' Lo'ak looked at Neteyam as a laugh escaped his mouth.

'Here,' He gently moved Na'veya off the deformed bed. He slid her over to Lo'ak who was now holding her shoulders as Neteyam pushed her in his arms. Lo'ak looked at Neteyam in a way that asked him what the hell he was doing and carefully glanced down at Na'veya, his arms still steadily on the sides of her shoulders. Na'veya was utterly confused, looking at Neteyam with a large frown on her face as he started to rip the whole thing apart and rebuild it again. But this time, with more "comfort".

'Great, now it's comfortable and we all fit.' Neteyam dusted his hands off before putting them in his sides, proudly looking down at his masterpiece.

'You didn't even change anything.' Lo'ak commented, narrowing his eyes at him.

Neteyam grunted. 'Yes I did! You see I changed this leaf with this leaf and then— why do I even bother explaining.' He sighed while he looked over at his younger brother, already too distracted to even listen to him.

'Sorry, did you say something?' Lo'ak turned his head around to his brother.

'No. Just lay down.' He said, rolling his eyes yet again and sitting down on the new "comfortable" makeshift bed.

Lo'ak lowered himself onto it as Na'veya did the same. She made a pleased sound. Neteyam was right, it was a lot more comfortable. But she wasn't going to admit that to him. She was petty like that.

'Do you know what mother told me before we left?' Neteyam asked as he looked at Lo'ak who only looked up at the night sky. Lo'ak hummed, letting Neteyam explain it further. 'She said there was a— wait, let me think, a "murderous Na'vi killing traitor" in the forest.' He quoted her.

Lo'ak shifted his head to look at his brother now. 'She told me the exact same thing. What was her name again— Aungia!'

Na'veya felt her heart drop. She quietly gulped, not meeting eyes with either of them.

'I'm happy we made it out of there before she got to us.' Lo'ak looked down at Na'veya, laughing slightly.

She just nodded, still looking away. Na'veya yawned, pretending she was tired.

'Right, you must be tired.' Lo'ak told Na'veya before he looked back at Neteyam. 'You should go back to mom and dad.' Neteyam could stay, their parents would probably not care if he stayed. But Lo'ak did and he didn't want him anywhere near Na'veya. Besides, she was a lot less talkative when he was around.

Neteyam sighed before standing up. 'Fine, I'm going. Don't to anything I wouldn't do.' He said, looking at his brother. 'I mean it, Lo'ak.'

'Yeah yeah.' He said, rolling his eyes as he waved him off. When Lo'ak turned back around to the girl beside him, she was already asleep.

Well, she wasn't. But she was pretending to be asleep.

What he couldn't see was her worried face.