Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 03: A Sitting Duck

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Neteyam awoke to his mother gently shaking him, telling him it was time to get up. The young boy groaned in pain as his injuries had only recently begun to heal. Rubbing the sleep off his eyes, Neteyam sat up and stretched out his arms.

"Can you wake up your brother? I'll wake Tuk and Kiri." Neytiri asked, yawning, not fully awake herself. Neteyam nodded and made his way over to his brother, who was on his bed softly snoring.

Lo'ak looked peaceful.

"Lo'ak," Neyetam said, in a quiet voice, softly nudging his brother. Lo'ak didn't move or make a sound, causing the oldest to groan. Although, he would much rather have a hard time waking Lo'ak up than being the one to wake Tuk up.

The youngest child was a holy terror in the morning. Anytime Neteyam thinks back to what happened the last time he had to wake Tuk up, he shivers in fear. Tuk had their mother's temper, and she was not a morning person. Put those two things together, and you have Tuk jumping on the boy's back, pulling his hair for waking her up before she was ready.

"Lo'ak!" He said, raising his voice. This time, pushing his brother with more force, hoping to receive a reaction. The only thing Neteyam received was an annoyed groan, and Lo'ak turned over onto his side.

"Let me wake Lo'ak up, Teyam!" Tuk said eagerly.

That was all the motivation Lo'ak needed to open his eyes, proclaiming that he was up and ready to start his day. Neteyam softly laughed when he saw the pout appear on Tuk's face as she was disappointed that Lo'ak woke up before she could jump on him.

Neteyam, Lo'ak, and Tuk made their way over to the rest of the family, who were already sitting down, awaiting their arrival. Neteyam sat down between Neytiri and Kiri, with Lo'ak and Tuk across from him. His father, of course, was right beside his mate. The morning was going quite smoothly until his father started talking.

"Neteyam, there's a mission that you are going to be attending with your mother and me in a couple of weeks," Jake said, glancing up at his son before looking back down at his food.

"Yes, sir," Neteyam nodded, not even curious as to what the mission was about.

"Lo'ak, you'll stay here with your sisters. No leaving camp without telling someone where you're going, and be back before eclipse. Got it?" Jake said firmly, giving his youngest son a pointed look to prevent him from protesting.

"Yes, sir," Lo'ak said, his ears falling in disappointment. Neteyam felt bad for his brother, sure he made a stupid mistake, and surely he would make plenty more in the future, but that didn't mean he deserved to be excluded from missions.

Everyone sat in silence, occasionally making conversation here and there to break the quietness. The young boy looked at his siblings, noticing that Tuk seemed to be thinking about something. He'd barely heard his little sister speak all morning, and Tuk was usually a chatterbox.

"Mama?" Tuk says, looking at her mother hopeful.

"What is it, baby?" Neytiri softly says, looking at her youngest with curious eyes.

"Can we invite Marali over? So that you could braid her hair? They were really messy yesterday, and I know how she feels about looking messy." Tuk says, giving Neytiri the biggest puppy eyes anyone had ever seen.

Kiri and Lo'ak nodded in agreement while Neteyam sat there unbothered. He didn't want Marali to come over, the mornings were dedicated to family time, and she wasn't family. The boy didn't even consider her a friend.