Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 02: Night Skies

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

Bold - sign language 

Both Lo'ak and Neteyam immediately went over to where their father was because they knew what was about to happen. They knew that their Dad was not even remotely happy with them.

Ja'lia also went towards Jake as she stood beside Lo'ak to help offer him some comfort for when he got scolded by his Dad.

"You're supposed to be spotters!" Jake seethed as he glanced at Lo'ak, who looked down at the ground. "You spot bogies, and you call them in. From a distance! Does any of this sound familiar?" He scolded as he continued to look at Lo'ak accusingly.

Ja'lia glanced at Lo'ak, confused, as she wasn't sure why Jake kept looking at him the way he was.

Of course, it wasn't hard for Lo'ak to make Jake mad, however, the teen boy had promised Ja'lia that he wouldn't do anything stupid. She had hoped that he would keep his promise.

"Jesus, I let you two geniuses go on a mission, and you disobey direct orders," Jake spit, ignoring the fact that he was talking to his two sons in such a manner. Ja'lia moved her hand to hold Lo'ak's as she gave his hand a tight squeeze.

Tuk continued to look over her older brother, while Kiri did the same for Neteyam as she examined his back.

"Kiri, go help your grandmother with the wounded. Ja'lia, you too. Please, take Tuk with you," Jake pleaded as he didn't want the three girls to listen to the scolding his boys were about to receive.

"My brother is wounded," Kiri retorted, and Jake gave her a look that meant not to argue with him, so Kiri grabbed her little sisters' hand, and headed towards the Tsahik's tent. Jake was about to speak again before he noticed that Ja'lia had still been there. "Ja'lia, I told you to go help Mo'at with the wounded," Jake said.

"Tsahik will be fine if I'm not there for a few minutes," Ja'lia informed, and Jake hissed at her disobedience. "Ja'lia," Jake warned, and the teen girl still didn't move.

"Ja'lia, go," Lo'ak insisted, and she saw the expression on his face. He didn't want her to see him get yelled at.

Reluctantly, the girl released Lo'ak's hand as she went to go help the Tsahik with the wounded. Ja'lia had originally planned to go help Kiri and Mo'at, but she didn't want Lo'ak to be alone after Jake was done with him, so she hid behind a nearby tent. She had to strain her neck to be able to listen to what was being said.

"Sir, I take full responsibility," Neteyam said, and Ja'lia released a soft sigh as Neteyam once again tried to take the blame for everything.

"Yeah! You do! Because you're the older brother. You gotta act like it," Jake scolded. Whatever happened out there most likely wasn't Neteyam's fault. Lo'ak probably had an idea to do something stupid, and Neteyam followed him wherever he went because Neteyam would always protect his younger siblings.

However, that didn't mean Lo'ak deserved whatever Jake was about to give him.

"Ma Jake, your son is actually bleeding," Neytiri said, interjecting into the conversation before it went too far. Neytiri was always protective of all of her children, but she often never heard the way Jake spoke to Lo'ak because she had three other kids to worry about.

Lo'ak almost always fell through the cracks, which is why Ja'lia needed to be there to catch him when he fell. "It's fine," Neteyam said, and Ja'lia peeked around the tent to see him waving his mother's words off.