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whatsthethinking · 9 months

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Beauty and the Beast (2)

Jake Sully x Fem!Reader

All Jake wants is a chance to prove that he’s good enough.

↦ Word count: 3.5k

↦ Warning: Nothing that I caught but let me know if there is,, ooc Tsu'tey

↦ Note: Bold italics = speaking Na’vi.

↦ Part 2 of ?

[Part 1] ⟡ [Part 3]

The move from Hell’s Gate to Site 26 was as hectic as Jake expected. Especially with Grace watching his every move. As Norm and Trudy were loading the rotorcraft and Grace had her back turned, Jake was pulled to the side by Quaritch who asked, demanded, that Jake continue to keep giving updates on the Na’vi along with hinting that he will be watching any vlogs he records. Jake halfheartedly agreed as he felt eyes lingering on him.

“So, where we going?” Jake questioned, removing his bag.

“There’s a mobile link up at Site 26, way up in the mountains,” Grace replied, not looking up from whatever was on the desk.

“The Hallelujah Mountains?” Norm’s voice cut through the air, laced with curiosity and wonder.

“That’s right.”

“Seriously? Are you serious?”

Yeah,” Grace confirmed.

Jake looked at Norm, confusion on his face as he waited for an explanation.

“The legendary mountains of Pandora?” Jake continued to look blankly which seemed to upset Norm further. “Useless. Maybe you should stay here.” With that, Norm walked off with Jace close behind, rolling his eyes.

The skies of Pandora were clear, with barely any clouds. Looking down, Jake was fascinated by how the landscape changed. From the grey grounds and smoke fumes surrounding Hell’s Gate to the luscious green forests. Seeing the change, an unusual feeling settled in his chest, one that he would liken to guilt. The guilt of what he became a part of.

Suddenly, Trudy jerked the aircraft to the side slightly. Grace looked out of the side. The wind tousled her hair. She nodded her head toward a group of purple flying creatures passing by. “The Na’vi call them Fkio, it’s rare to see them flying this far from the wetlands. They must be migrating.”

Norm looked ecstatic hearing this information, Trudy did too. Jake hummed in interest as he looked out beside him.

“We’re getting close,” Grace announced.

“Yeah,” Trudy agreed, with a chuckle, “look at my instruments.”

Suddenly, it was as though all the clouds appeared at once. Trudy announced that the aircraft had to fly blind which caused the look of excitement to vanish from Norm’s face as it paled. As Trudy broke through the clouds, the sun hit Jake’s face and he was presented with a sight he doubted he would have thought of on a good day.

“Oh, my, god,” Norm managed to articulate as Trudy flew between two enormous mountains. Trudy had made a comment that went unnoticed as everyone drank in the sight.

“If you behave, I’m sure y/n will give you a tour.” Jake scoffed at Norm’s mumbling, shaking his head and continued to watch the mountains as they passed by.

–

As Jake got out of the aircraft and into his wheelchair. He paused to take a look around. The sheer scale of everything around him was breathtaking yet intimidating. There was no feeling like it.

Being exposed to Pandora without his avatar was a daunting experience for Jake. He felt exposed, vulnerable. As much as he was enjoying the sites, Jake was glad to be getting inside.

“Catch up, Jake.” Trudy shouted ahead of him, “You have an important date!”. Jake’s lip quirked up at the side as he slowly rolled himself forward. The terrain proved to not be that wheelchair friendly but with a lot of upper body strength, Jake managed to get himself into the lab and was greeted to the site of Grace marching around checking all the equipment.

“Your beds over there, put your stuff down and come eat,” Grace instructed, not giving him a second look.

Jake followed her orders and threw his bag onto an empty bed and rolled his way in between Grace and Trudy. The group sat and ate in silence, listening to nature just outside of the window. A complete change to sitting in Hell’s Gate, listening to the mines drilling away, the consistent scratching of the speakers overhead.

“So…” Jake started, dragging out the vowel, “How do I get y/n to like me?” Jake spooned what he thinks is soup into his mouth, and when he didn’t get a response, he looked up to see Grace, Norm and Trudy looking at him with unrecognisable expressions, “What?”

“Why do you wanna know that?” Norm questioned, his voice having a certain edge to it.

“I don’t wanna piss her off and get dropped again.” Jake shrugged, “I could use all the help I can get.”

“I’m not telling you how to butter her up.” Grace started, “You need to get her to like her on your own.”

“One little hint won’t hurt though, will it?”

Grace sighed and put down her spoon, her face growing serious. Jake was sure he was about to be scolded again. “Just act like you want to be there, listen to her. The rest will come naturally. Y/n’s a good girl, she’ll make sure you’ll learn something.” Grace paused to look at her watch, “Right, you’ve got 20 minutes until you need to be in your avatar. Finish eating.”

Jake nodded and focused on eating, taking in Grace’s advice.

–

Y/n sat patiently at the base of Home Tree waiting for Jake to wake up, she had gone to check on his avatar body not too long ago but she got no response. For the first time in a long time, y/n felt nervous. She had felt it during the night which kept her awake and the feeling had carried over into the next day.

Y/n felt as though she was suddenly under pressure to make sure Jake learnt enough so that he could be accepted by her people. She felt like not only was she doing this for Jake but for Grace too.

Y/n sighed, crouching beside the skull of Toruk, she wasn't sure how long she had been waiting but boredom was starting to set in. She watched the different clan members go about their day, some asking if she would play with them which she softly declined stating that she was busy, “You don’t look very busy.”

“Not right now, but I will be.”

“Please y/n.” The children pleaded in unison, y/n was about to agree since she wasn’t sure when Jake would turn up but she was stopped by the sound of someone stumbling down the stairs to her right.

“Hi. Sorry, I'm late.” Jake apologised, coming to y/n’s side, “it won’t happen again.”

Standing up gracefully, y/n nodded, dismissing his apology, “No need to worry. Shall we go?”

“But y/n.” One of the children voiced, standing between her and Jake. Y/n reassured them that they could all play together when she got back and with some convincing the children agreed.

–

As they left Home Tree, Jake caught Neytiri’s eye and looked down sheepishly, feeling the disapproval of him rolling off of her in waves.

Y/n and Jake walked in silence, side by side. Jake noticed that wherever they were heading was becoming less and less populated.

“Where are we heading?” Jake asked nervously, “Shouldn’t we be heading to where all the training is done?”

“We will get there,” y/n started, brushing away a large leaf that was in their path, “but we should get to know each other first, shouldn’t we?”

“Uh, yeah. We should.” Jake agreed awkwardly.

It was silent before y/n started telling Jake what she enjoyed, “there is so much to, so many people to meet. I love the forest, it is home but there is so much to explore.”, the passion was evident in y/n’s voice as she explained this to Jake. It was clear that y/n had a thirst for life, something Jake was yet to feel.

“What do you like to do?”

This stumped Jake, what did he like to do? If he really thought about it, he didn’t really like anything. He wasn’t good at anything. So in response, all Jake could do was shrug.

“What does that mean?” Y/n voice was laced with curiosity as she mimicked his action, “You must like to do something? You work with ma sa’nok, so you must like flowers?”

“Ma who?” Jake questioned but was met with a shrug from y/n, a small smile on her face. “But no. I don’t really like flowers.” Jake admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh… So why are you here? Working with people who like flowers if you don’t?”

Jake hesitated before he answered, “My brother died? And they needed someone to take his place and since we’re identical twins, I was their first option.”

“What is a idenical twin?”

“Identical,” Jake corrected, “it is when two children are born at the same time.”

“Hm, we don’t have that here. Do you have that a lot on Earth?”

“I think so. My dad was a twin and so was his dad. I guess if I ever have kids, they might be twins too.”

“Would you like that? To have children? Twins?”

“I think so, I don’t think I’d be the best dad though. What about you? Do you want kids?”

“I would like to travel more before I find my mate and have children. I would like to show my children this world…” Jake watched as a smile danced onto y/n’s face which made him smile also, but he wondered why he was discussing the idea of having children with a stranger from another planet but it felt right.

“So, what has Neytiri taught you?” Y/n questioned.

“Shooting and climbing? Both I’m bad at.” Jake admitted with a chuckle. “I also tried riding a direhorse but I landed face-first in the mud every time.”

Y/n looked to the ground and watched Jake’s feet as he spoke, she noticed that he slightly dragged his feet. So she stopped, allowing him to walk ahead slightly. Once Jake noticed, he turned around, an eyebrow raised, “are we stopping?”

“No, no. I am just watching. I think we should work on pon.”

“Pon? I don’t know what you mean?”

“This,” y/n stretched her arms out and took a few steps forward until they were an arm’s length away from one another, “like this.”

“Balance?”

“You walk as though you’ve only just gotten your legs. I hear you before I see you.”

“You’re partially correct,” Jake mumbled.

Jake stood awkwardly as y/n circled him. She stood behind him and put one of her hands on his shoulder and one on his lower back, “stand straighter and when you walk, do not drag your feet, it is noisy.” Jake took in the correction and the two set off again.

For the next hour or so, the pair spent just walking directionless. Y/n would often correct his posture and point out different plants or animals they came across. It was refreshing. Jake found it comforting that they hadn’t started with anything extreme and that if he asked to take a break, y/n would stop without any questions.

Jake became lost in thought, thinking about what he was going to tell Quaritch when he demanded an update and hadn’t noticed that y/n was no longer by his side until he reached a body of water surrounded by twisted vines and branches. Jake spun on the spot but could not see y/n anywhere. A part of him felt concerned, had something happened and he didn’t notice? Another part of him knew that if something did happen, y/n would be able to defend herself. But overall, Jake was lost. Had y/n abandoned him? Did he do something wrong?

As Jake was about to leave, and retrace his steps, he heard rustling behind him.

“Come on Jake, catch up!”

Jake watched as y/n emerged on the other side of the lake, a smile decorating her face.

“Across this?” Jake pointed to the narrow tree trunk beside him, it stretched the whole way across but did not look like it would be strong enough to support his weight.

“Yes, come on!”

Jake hesitated, but stepped up to it, walking across. He held his arms out to the sides for balance but kept his eyes down, making sure he didn't fall off the edge.

“Eyes up!”

Jake followed the instruction but as soon as he did, he lost his footing and toppled off of the side, straight into the water. As he resurfaced, wiping his eyes, he could hear the sound of laughter. He looked up to see y/n covering her mouth. Jake chuckled standing to his full height, the water settling just below his waist. Jake slowly waded through the water to the shore where y/n was still laughing quietly.

“Where did you go?” He questioned, brushing away the wet hair falling into his face. “How did you get over here so fast?”

“I’m sorry, Jake.” y/n began with a giggle, “You were doing so well with your walking, I didn't want to interrupt. And I walked. Up there.” Y/n pointed above their heads where a large winding tree trunk stretched across. “I was watching you, I won’t let anything eat you before your lessons are over.”

“How lovely of you,” Jake responded sarcastically, y/n nodded along, ignoring his comment. Jake wondered if she even knew what sarcasm was.

“Shall we try again?” Y/n asked enthusiastically, reaching forward to brush wet leaves and grass off Jake’s arm. “I won’t leave you this time.”

“What happened to just walking?” Jake’s hand followed the path that y/n’s had taken, “that was more than walking.”

“We can do more walking later, I want to see more of your, uh, balance. You will need it later.”

So Jake tried again, he walked along the tree, hands out to his side, and once again as soon as he looked ahead and not down at his feet. He landed in the water with y/n laughing above him.

–

Norm shuffled around at his new desk, trying to push down the ever-growing feeling of envy that would bubble to the surface every time he thought about Jake being taught the ways of the Omatikaya. To him, it wasn’t fair. Norm had spent years upon years studying and learning about the Na’vi and put everything on hold to come all the way to Pandora but it was Jake who was given the experience. Norm knew that Jake didn’t come to Pandora for research and science and yet he is the one getting the best benefits.

Lost in his jealous thoughts, Norm had knocked a stack of Grace’s notebooks to the floor. He quickly dropped down and began to gather them before Grace came back inside to see the mess he had caused. As he reached for the final spiral notebook, a handmade envelope fell out. Norm stared at it before picking it up cautiously. He turned it over to read ‘y/n’s Iknimaya, first try ✓, June 13th, 2144’. Now he was curious.

Standing to his full height and quickly looking over his shoulder to check if anyone was approaching when he spotted Grace speaking animatedly with Trudy, he took his chance and opened the envelope. Sitting neatly inside was a card that held 4 photographs, all showcasing y/n different other Na’vi from the clan.

The first and second photos showed y/n standing with who Norm assumed was Tsu’tey and another girl he did not recognise. He turned it over and saw Grace’s writing in the middle, ‘y/n, Tsu’tey, Sylwanin :)”

The third photograph was of y/n and an older Na’vi man, comparing the faces, Norm assumes that this was y/n’s father. The proud look on his face helped him conclude this.

The last photograph showed y/n and Grace in her avatar. Y/n was on Grace’s back with a large smile on her face, Grace had one to match. There was a certain look on Grace’s face, it matched the man in the previous photo.

“What are you doing?” Norm was started by the voice behind him and almost dropped the envelope again.

“Nothing, nothing.” Norm cleared his throat, placing the envelope on the desk, “it fell and uh.”

Grace nodded, walking forward and putting the gifted shell in the corner. She then picked up the envelope, took out the card and opened it for Norm to see.

“Thank for beliving in my.” Written somewhat messily in pencil.

“Y/n made me this card the day after she passed her iknimaya, she was so happy when she tamed her ikran, she couldn't wait to take to the sky and explore. She was so young, one of the youngest.”

“Wow, did you watch?”

“I did, she begged me to be there. But I would've gone regardless.”

“What was it like? To watch?”

“It was,” Grace paused as she thought back to the rite of passage, “I was worried for her, scared even. She had worked so hard towards it, preparing almost every waking moment but she was so young. Just about to turn 12. But watching her complete it, tame her ikran and fly for the first time without her father, it was breathtaking to see.” The fondness in Grace’s voice was easily detected. “I’m so proud of her.”

Norm couldn’t hold his tongue, looking over in the direction of Jake’s linkpod, “will Jake get to do his iknimaya?”

“With y/n as his teacher, I’m sure she will consider preparing him for it.”

“Oh.” Norm’s shoulders deflated at the thought of Jake gaining another experience from his time on Pandora, Grace must’ve seen his face fall because she placed a gentle arm, “Don’t feel too discouraged at this, Jake’s a fool and somehow got lucky. I’m sure your time will come.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. Y/n will most likely come here soon, you can ask her to show you around.”

“Really?” Norm’s face seemed to brighten.

“Y/n is a sweet girl and she loves to make friends so I’m sure she would be happy to.”

Norm opened his mouth to ask a question about Grace’s relationship with the Na’vi but he didn't think it would be appropriate just yet since they did not know each other very well. Instead, he nodded with a smile before going back to organising his desk.

—

After a long afternoon of walking and falling into the water, Jake and y/n had moved to y/n testing his balance while running, well jogging. Jake had found this much harder, tripping over his feet any time the terrain changed which y/n may’ve tried to hide her laugher at.

Overall, Jake would say that this had been the best day he’s had in the Pandora forest this far but of course, good things must come to an end.

“We can meet tomorrow? Get you running higher off of the ground?”

“Ugh. So much fitness.” Jake joked, bringing a smile to y/n’s face, “My feet hurt.”

“Stop whining, you sound like a baby.” Y/n poked Jake’s arm as they went their separate ways.

“See you tomorrow, y/n.”

“Bye bye, Jake.” And with that, y/n was gone, disappearing into the crowd. Jake manoeuvred his way around the edges, being stopped by a clan elder as they placed a wrapped leaf package into his hand, assuming its food.

Jake made his way back to his hammock, sitting on the branch overhead and ate the food in the leaf, not questioning what it was.

“Jake Sully,” Neytiri appeared almost out of nowhere, “y/n came back in a good mood, you did not disappoint her.”

“I’m glad, y/n’s great,” Jake commented.

Neytiri did not say anything in reply, she just nodded and walked away. Shrugging his shoulders, Jake finished his food and settled into the hammock and closed his eyes.

–

“How was your day with Jake Sully?” Tsu’tey asked as he sat beside y/n, facing the fire.

“It was good, I like him. He is good company.”

“You like him?” Tsu’tey scoffed, “Of course you would.”

“Do not be this way, Tsu’tey. It is not a good look for you.” Y/n joked, elbowing him softly, “He has shown me today that he has some willingness to learn, he deserves a chance.”

“Hmm, if you say so.”

“I do say so.”

Tsu’tey huffed, taking some food off of y/n’s food but y/n returned the favour, taking the whole leaf from Tsu’tey and walking off.

“Y/n!” Tsu’tey jogged after her, “Come back! Skxawng!”

“No! You’re a thief!”

“Me?! You stole my food!”

“You stole mine first!”

The pair continued to argue until they got to y/n’s family tent. Y/n walked in and Tsu’tey stormed in behind her.

“Sit down, dear cousin of mine.”

Tsu’tey sat down opposite y/n, snatching his food back.

“Be nicer to him, for me.”

Tsu’tey stopped chewing and looked at y/n who was staring at him.

“No.”

–

Jake sighed as he settled into his bed, getting himself comfortable.

“How was it today?”

Jake opened his eyes slightly to see Norm standing in the doorway.

“Good.” Jake closed his eyes again but didn’t hear Norm leave so he opened his eyes again, “Did you want something?”

“Don’t mess this up, for Grace.”

Jake looked at Norm blankly before rolling onto his side, “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on it.”

Translations:

Pon - balance

Iknimaya - treacherous but fundamental rite of passage in which a young Na'vi hunter must select, capture, and successfully bond with one of the ikran who nest in the Hallelujah Mountains.

Taglist: @dorck26 @tangles711

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lesbian-kyoru · 1 year

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tbh now that i've finished watching stars, i think people very much lie to themselves about how much seiya "disrespected" usagi's boundaries & "ignored her feelings"—because they don't like how it makes them feel to recognize that usagi wasn't forced into anything against her will.

i kept waiting for seiya to be this pushy, abusive person, and make endless unwanted advances toward usagi. however, 99% of the time seiya was simply flirting & usagi was... not only wholeheartedly receptive to it, but actively flirting back. aside from random oneliners where usagi is like "huh i don't get it? 😳" (which always struck me as very dissonant, because usagi seems to be aware of seiya’s feelings depending on the episode so it’s weird when she conveniently forgets as a punchline LMAOOO but anyways)—seiya and usagi both seem incredibly aware of the romantic tension between them, and they still choose to flirt back and forth with each other. it's not seiya strong-arming usagi into these situations she's uncomfortable in, it just makes people feel better to over-exaggerate seiya as this manipulative person & ignore usagi's total agency in the whole situation.

and tbh the longer i think about it, i'm really bothered by this implication that it was seiya's responsibility to idk... not "tempt" usagi to stray from her boyfriend, as opposed to acknowledging that usagi made her own choices & wasn't unknowingly coerced by a "predatory" lesbian LMFAO. as an aside that comes back to my main argument— something i really love about seiusa as a ship is i don't think either of them fully realize how deeply they feel about each other until pretty far in. usagi obviously wrestles with being attracted to seiya & feeling like she shouldn't be up until the last episode, but seiya also doesn't seem to realize he's in love with usagi, beyond flirting with her & hanging out, until they find kakyuu & seiya realizes he still can't stop thinking about usagi. as much as usagi is confused about her feelings, seiya also has multiple moments where he thinks “what's the matter with me?” and struggles to understand how deep his initially more casual feelings for usagi have gotten.

imo, people just ignore this & use it to interpret everything seiya does as inherently predatory from their first interactions. however, often times in their early scenes, it's usagi who is assuming seiya is making moves on her & subsequently freaking out about it (she also spends a LOT of time thinking about him making a move—like, to the point where it’s clear she isn’t just panicking about it but is actively kind of waiting for it to happen—but that's another conversation LOL). but then in reality, seiya is. not doing anything. it’s just usagi projecting this overtly forward intent on his objectively not-super-provocative actions (which imo further drives home the point of, if usagi is so very much not interested in seiya, then how come she thinks constantly about him making a move..... and what does that tell us about her attraction/potential feelings for him.... but again, a different conversation).

for me, the date episode & the sleepover episode comes to mind. like, seiya invites usagi to go out, & usagi chooses to go. seiya offers to stay over when usagi is home alone, & she gets super excited & says yes (and immediately invites him up to her room skdlhfsdkhfls anyways). and people would argue, seiya knew she had a boyfriend, therefore he shouldn't have made these invitations or offered in the first place.... as though usagi isn't capable of making her own choices & turning down a friend if she was so uncomfortable with the way he was treating her.

i think the problem is that people just find it easier to blame seiya & act like he was this manipulative lesbian preying on a vulnerable girl with a boyfriend vs grapple with how usagi had control of her own actions and had the agency to do things that make fans uncomfortable. these boundaries that people always are so mad about seiya not respecting were only “not respected” because... as time went on, they just did not exist, and that simply falls on both of them, not just seiya. for the few times that usagi would remind seiya she already had a boyfriend, she still tears those boundaries down on her own—by developing really intense feelings for seiya, by choosing to spend time with him again and again, by not turning him down from the start (which she could've done if she was truly uninterested and uncomfortable, like so many people decided she is).

tl;dr it’s not that deep, but i'm just baffled by these “seiya is an abuser & creep” allegations that have been thrown around for decades—when usagi has such obvious feelings for him & it went both ways. because of their preconceived notions of usagi's feelings & actions, people have built up this self-fulfilling idea of seiya as this manipulative abuser who takes advantage of the poor fragile girl, but that’s just blatantly ignoring the complexity of literally everything that happened onscreen. it also robs usagi of the agency she has in all of her choices and her relationships, including with seiya. usagi wasn't naive or unaware or coerced, you just don't like how she felt and what she did. like yeah it's easier to scapegoat seiya as the predatory butch lesbian who’s being creepy to the pure pretty girl, but in reality usagi pretty clearly fell in love with or at the very least developed more-than-platonic feelings for someone else & it's messy! sorry i have eyes.

#sailor moon #seiusa #seiya kou #usagi tsukino #also this post is abt the 90s anime so manga seiya arguments are kinda irrelevant bc theyre two different stories tbh 😭#sailor moon meta on your dash in 2022.......what has my year become #usam*mo people maybe dni because i don't really care that u hate seiya and this isnt a hate post toward ur mans #zoe.txt

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