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canonsinthehead · 9 months

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A Naruto Headcanon - The Culinary History of the Ninja World.

i'm back and not so bare with me. this headcanons is related to a story telling how chouji and karui's marriage went down. ill post it eventually.

EACH COUNTRY’S CULINARY HISTORY

Konohagakure (Country of Fire) Konohagakure aka the land of the free. Many things make up the uniqueness of the cuisine of the country of fire. First, they are the king of importation, so their diet is really diverse and touched all sectors evenly. They grow all kind of vegetables to meet the need of its residents. While there are not has much native plants from the area in their current diet contrary to other villages like Suna and Kiri.

Konoha being built on a vast forest, their main fruit consumption comes from small fruit trees and fruit trees like apples, pears, and pomegranate. Anything that grows on a tree is often easily available since it takes its roots in Konoha’s founder Hashirama Senju.

The country are the main producer and consumer of eggs and meat especially pork (which they export all over the ninja world) this where you get the whole BBQ concept and omelets. Another downfall of the cuisine from Konoha is the heavy presence of processed goods in everyday cooking preparation. The current culture is far more removed from its traditional cooking methods. Referred to as the Senju Diet is almost getting lost and seen has a flower from the past. Many (often older individuals) resist the hard change that came trough time and tries to uphold the consumption of the way ninjas ate in the past.

Lotus Root is a staple of the Senju Diet

Even Naruto can testify to this and noticed how it hard for him maintain the same diet as when he was a child (aside eating ramen), the way fast foods chains have almost came out of nowhere and took over the market deeply concerns him (especially how its taking hold of this younger generation). The deliberate effort towards modernization and proving the country is the first in everything, can reach everything, can eat everything, can win against anyone basically walking like they are the goat of the ninja world has affected negatively old traditions in subtle ways and in other more obvious ways. Like how the Konoha can keep escape the threat of famine by stealing other nations resources.

At the same time, the combination of different culinary practice gave birth to various more dishes with various diverse ingredients and interesting like Takoyaki, okonomiyaki & dango

Like mentioned before, industrialization gave birth to many processed who are a staple in those dishes. products who are often only found in the country of fire like fish cakes & narutomaki. The land of fire is the soup & noodles master, it’s like their national food for being convenient and versatile with they make the infamous ramen but other dishes like stir-frys Yes, it a generous filling cuisine to overflow your stomach

Classic/Staple Konoha Meal=Shoyu Miso/Pork Ramen with Narutomaki, Apple Salad, Dango, Sushi, Takoyaki, pickled radish, Beef BBQ

Sunagakure (Country of Wind) The cuisine from Suna is unique. Not only emerging from a desertic land, but it was also able to survive the test of time and stay true to its original roots. Based on the high temperatures and sandy soil of the land of wind, the residents have access to interesting crops who cannot be found elsewhere in the ninja world. Suna is the homeland of dates, they are the main intake of sugar in its diet. They are used in countless recipes like sweet & pastries. they are used to sweetened teas since tea drinking is a big thing. Offering tea is a tradition when receiving guests and tea was used by nomads who made long trip in the desert in order to stay hydrated.

In Sunagakure, they go hard on sweets. Especially dates since the are the only producer of them. They have countless of pastries, candies and date-bases recipes because it was once use as a method of survival in the long windy season in the desert or to have the sugar necessary to be transformed in a energy source to endure long trip in the desert. They are a national pride since most nuts in the ninja world grows in the country of wind; almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc. they also showcase delicate and unique culinary practices when it comes to pastries who set Suna apart from other nations. It is the only place to find citrus, olive & argan trees used to make oils mostly made for exportation & their lucrative citrus production industry.

Their eating style is different since it is not uncommon to eat with your hands. For a long time, families were large so the habit of having a large plate to share with many emerge from that condition

Due to frequent drought, the country of wind has specialized themselves in the production of survival crops like grains like millet, sorghum & wheat who are also a staple in the cuisine of Suna. they most of the time milled to make flour to produce various types of bread crepe and flat breads (also see as more convenient since they don’t require yeast to be cooked). Alongside that, the consumption of legumes like lentils and different kinds of beans is the main source of protein and prized as all around superfood. They are cooked in paste and stew often eaten with bread.

Staple/Classic Suna Meal=Large plate of various pastes/creamy sauces made of beans & lentils, grilled eggplant, hummus, flat bread, millet crepe, spinach, citrus tea,

Kirigakure (Country of Water) The main meal is Kiri is grilled fish.

Unfortunately, Kirigakure has the reputation of eating ANYTHING that swims, crawls, run or fly in the ocean. First and firmly base on their location and how the practice of fishing is part of so many residents lives.

Also, it comes from the lack of access to goods from importation of other nations. For very long time, Kiri and the surrounded regions were left on their own when a bad harvest happened, or if the climate hindered the quantity of fish collected. In those cases, the villager learned to make anything of every single thing they found (in the ocean). Due to their different economical system (mostly based on exchange of goods), it took a long time for Kiri to join the market of importation and exportation. Now they are the main exporter of seafood of various types and fish (a staple in their diet). The land of fire became the main consumers of seafood above the country of water itself. The never-ending high demand for sea product (including fish) has opened the door for illegal activity to create non-approved fish farms and illegal fishing. The country of wind is guilty, while having no access to water yet desiring sea products (which is recent because they try to follow after the country of fire and the whole globalization narrative).The Country of Fire being the biggest culprit due to their insatiable desire to reach all and taste all (even without permission).

Their known cultural theft has implication in the problem since a traditional dish named サメの目 (Same no Me written Samenome meaning Shark Eyes) which consist of thin layers of fish rolled and stuffed with black wild rice and bitter herbs (it is name like this since it resemble the pupils of sharks) was ‘’discovered’’ by ninja scientist from Konohagakure during early invasion of the country of water by various bigger nations for natural resources in this case being clay who was abundant along any body of water (used to make pots and tolls before the emergence of various metals) also to take control and harvest the almost infinite amount of fresh water. The devastation of natural habitat and the disruption of the ecosystem cause a destruction that couldn’t be healed instead it changed the nature of the environment. Since then, most bodies of water in the land of water turned into seawater, the once flourishing pastures of green leafy galore died and the remaining surviving plants gave birth to what we know today as bitter herbs (ex: dandelion, wormwood, chamomille, peppermint, etc) and they are a staeple in the cuisine of Kiri, for some their main intake of green plants. They are also valued for their medicinal values (you know them plants Haku was collecting in the woods)

Learn more about bitter herbs here: https://dirthappy.com/bitter-herbs/

(Going back to what we were talking about)The discovery of Samenome was then taken back to the country of fire and after being merged and modified with the local crops and different culinary practices became what we know today as sushi; the captain of Konoha’s cuisine along side with Ramen. The seaweed paper also originally comes from Kiri, they were not used as food but fertilizers for growing crops. The practice of harvesting seaweed became popular in the southern part of the country of fire after the nori seaweed was discovered in its waters. Meanwhile they still import wakame from the country of water since it’s a staple for various soups and side dishes.

In The Country of Water, they consumed more the wild varieties of different crops like wild black rice, quinoa & amaranth as a main source of carbs.

In Kiri, they seasoned everything with pepper, everything; rice, bitter herbs, fish & seafood, grains. Some regions of the country of water house the spiciest pepper you can find in the warm months of the summer and the most frost resistant cabbages during the cold months. Now, they import a lot of pepper product from The country of lightning during the most of the year. Most of the seasoning is onion-based but the access to salt from the waters allowed the spectrum of seasoning to widen but also utilize is in order to ferment or pickle foods for the winter making pickled goods a staple in the cuisine of Kiri even for pickled fish.

Staple/Classic Kiri meal= Grilled fish, Samenome, spicy pickled cabbage, amaranth crepe of fritters, bitter herbs, pepper sauce

Kumogakure (Country of Lightning) The cuisine of Kumogakure is different than typical meals you would find in other nations. Like Suna the uniqueness reveals itself in their cuisine since its most popular dishes are made of ingredients that can only be found in the country of lightning. Cuisine of Kumogakure follows various principals making their reputation.

Beef is a luxury food. Due to its location, residents of the country of lightning were consuming other animals like sheep and goat who are abundant in rocky areas. The first wild buffalos were in fact imported from neighbor countries and are domesticated for food in small quantities because most green pasture (outside of main cities) are already occupied by sheeps. Many attempts were made to grow the bovine population but failed due to competition for food and access to grass.

Meat is more regarded as side dishes since their protein source mostly come from green vegetable and beans. Like in Suna, where legumes are praised for their high nutritional value but in the country of wind they eat lentils & chickpeas, meanwhile in Kumo they are eating kidney beans, black eyes peas and their infamous black beans. Each nation has a particular legume/bean/pulse they cherish in their cuisine. The Country of fire is house to all types of sprouts like of mung bean and edamame/soy beans. Interestingly, the practice of making tofu comes from Amegakure and has spread to neighboring nations. In Kiri, they eat beans in their original form, simple steamed and sometimes raw so they prefer yardlong beans and peas of different kinds.

· The land of lightning is famous for their abundance of herbs & spice. Hence why they weren’t as enthusiast to rush into meat consumption since they can make many vegetables taste amazing by seasoning it right. Plants like ginger, turmeric, various varieties of peppers, allspice, paprika, star anise & parsley are native to the area. the exception is garlic since it can be found abundantly across the ninja world.

· The cuisine of Kumo could be defined as quick and simple. Hence why they are numerous meals in bites sizes like fried dough (a popular street food), samoussa, meat/bean patties, dried sweet potatoes chips (chouji’s favorite). Unfortunately, frying/pan-frying is a prominent method of cooking so to balance the diet the preparation of vegetables filled stews and soups comes in the picture and they don’t eat foods like white rice. First, because it does not grow in the region at all, instead it’s the rare place where eating brown rice is thing and meals like fermented pureed yam are often use as a substitute for rice along many sauces and stews (after white rice became popular across the ninja world.). In Suna, they sticked to basmati rice and Kiri to black rice but white rice & sweet rice (hybridized in the country of fire) has always been one of the first food to be distributed is smaller nations in food crisis and for daily consumption because of how easily it is to massively produce and for their poorer nutritional value.

(ex: meat/beans patties, sweet potatoes chips, deep fried dough (bottom pic above) called ふわふわ/Fuwa Fuwa meaning Fluffy since the yeast used to make them creates a treat light and airy/fluffy like clouds & samoussa)

· SAUCE, SAUCE, SAUCE. Again, we said people from the Cloud love when it’s simple (hence why many dishes from Konoha like Takoyaki seems like an equation of calculus to them but those who could taste it enjoyed it actually). Its ‘’we dump all in the pot and let it cook’’ cooking style. If your meal doesn’t have a sauce of any kind, its not from Kumo. Many of them contained some form of peanut butter (a national pride food). The country of lightning is the biggest producer of peanuts and use it in various dishes

(exemples: peanut soup, fermented cassava pulp, cassava leave sauce, callaloo/amaranth soup, spinach peanut butter sauce )

· Did you know that Kumo’s peanut brittle’s distant cousin is the Nougat from Suna? It’s the Raikage’s favorite snack. Like the menu of the wedding feature the country most prized, popular, and fancy meals, most of them are the raikage’s favorites.

(from left to right, Nougat (from Suna) & Peanut Brittle also called 稲妻バー/Inazuma bars meaning Lightning Bars) because when you prepare them it is tradition to punch the plate in the middle to break it into smaller portions, it looks like the food got hit by lightning.

Many exotic tropical grows outside of big cities like mangos, pineapples & papayas making fruit the main sugar intake in the Kumo diet.

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firstdivisiongirl · 9 months

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HELLOOO I JUST FOUND YOUR FICS DUDE IM IN LOOOVE WITH YOUR WRITING!!!! i recently got into op and your fics have been a really nice start for op fan content :]]

id like to make a request! short fic or scenarios is fine, whichever you prefer! im preparing for college, and im gonna be living on campus but one of the things im really scared of is losing my culture cause its difficult to go out of my way and cook or search for food that reminds me of my mexican background when at that point it's basically just trying to survive on anything yk??

if it wouldnt be much trouble, could I ask for a gn!reader x sanji, something along the lines of reader feeling homesick and sanji making them a comfort meal from their culture? (it doesn't have to be mexican you can really do whatever!!)

SORRY IF THIS IS A LOT I DONT REALLY REQ A LOT AND IM IN A MOOD TAKE YOUR TIME IF YOU DO DECIDE TO DO IT!!!!! HAVE A NCIE DAY/NIGHT !!!

Hi! Thank you for the compliments. I really loved this. I feel the same way as you. While I am not Mexican, I do try to stay close to my German and Irish roots, even though no one else in my family does. I did a good amount of research on food that are authentic l Mexican cuisine. I got a lot of new recipes to try! I remember college, the only thing was I lived at home and drove. I really hope you enjoy this fic and I also wish you luck at college.

How to Cure Homesickness

Everyone misses home sometimes. You were no exception to that rule. You recently joined the Strawhats as their cultural expert. They need that because Luffy and Zoro had a tendency to offend people. Sanji noticed you weren’t your happy self. You weren’t playing with Chopper, Luffy and Usopp. You weren’t sunbathing with Robin and Nami. You just sat there at the railing of the Sunny, watching the sea as the waves crashed into the sides. Sanji understood how you felt. He got homesick all the time. He would miss Zeff and the rest of the guys at the Baratie. When he missed them, he would make his favorite foods from the Baratie. The seafood risotto, the fruit parfait and his famous soup. Then it hit him like Nami did to Luffy when he was being dumb, make the foods that remind you of home. He walked up to Robin, who was reading on deck, “Robin darling, do you have any cookbooks in your library that I can borrow,” he asked, smiling like a fool.

A few hours later, Sanji called everyone in for dinner. He had been in the kitchen all day, reading and cooking. When you walked into the kitchen a familiar scent hit your nose. It wasn’t the usual scent of tangerines, saltwater, or even meat. It was different. It smelt like…home? You looked at the table and saw all of your favorites: carne asada, mole, huachinango a la veracruzana, arroz con leche, you name it. You looked at Sanji. He was smiling at you, “I thought you could use some cheering up dear. I know you miss home, so I thought I’d bring home to the Sunny,” he said as he took another drag of his cigarette. Everyone was so amazed by the food to notice you and Sanji. “Thank you Sanji,” you told him, giving him a quick peck on his cheek. He started to blush, before he grabbed his nose, so he didn’t bleed all over you. “Anything for you dear,” he said, “HEY LUFFY DON’T EAT ALL OF IT! THIS IS FOR Y/N NOT YOU!!!” The good news was that he made extra and saved it in the locked fridge for you. Looks like besides knowing you and your habits well, he knew his captain’s habits all too well as well.

Please do not copy, modify, translate, or repost my writing on other platforms. Comments, reblogs or likes are highly appreciated!

#one piece #trafalgar d vivi #request #one piece sanji #black leg sanji #vinsmoke sanji x y/n #vinsmoke sanji #sanji x you #sanji x reader #vinsmoke sanji x reader #black leg sanji x reader

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azuremliam · 2 months

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What is the culinary practices like in Bug-world?

Do they like to cook their foods into dishs? Being breaded and fryed, baked, dried.

Or is it very simple? Like basic honey, raw aphids, fresh fungus, etc?

@bringerofmilk They do indeed cook their foods into dishes! Bread, fried, baked dried- you name it they'll work with it, and its mostly due to fascination in old human cook books!

Though that's not to say that cooked foods float everyone's boat, many insect folk (especially the more carnivorous bunch) enjoy eating things raw!

Even more infodumping as per usual underneath the readmore!

There's insects, like Abegail (though she focuses on human medical practices), who specialize in researching and practicing human cooking methods! And its waaaaaaay more common than expected, the people of Bug World enjoy variety to their foods too heheh.

Cooking also makes more foods readily, and safer, to consume! As some species have their toxins neutralized when cooked. But it all boils down to personal preference really.

On average, there's a preference for breads, baked sweets, pastas, salads, and soups. And steaks, lots and lots of steaks when available.

The giant fruits, roots, edible plants, and vegetables are commonly used when found too! But since they're massive the take longer than usual to harvest- it takes a big team effort to make them bite sized.

Both Finn and Liam are fans of giant strawberries and Jake loves eating clovers. Scarab will eat whatever Liam offers him really without any complaint.

Oh! And when a Beast gets hunted (very rare for the massive ones but it does happen!) the meat is very valued and often gets distributed to all areas nearby.

Also, while Liam does love eating raw aphids (a guilty pleasure of their's- they just enjoy the taste a lot and they crave meat a lot too) and honey straight from the comb- they do enjoy cooked foods a lot! (Also the burger they're eating is from the young lizard beast they hunted + some pieces of wings- they taste like chips).

Finn's just chowing down on a regular ol pizza (with mushrooms harvested from a mushroom forest farm that is heheh but its safe to eat of course) And Scarab is eating an oil fried aphid.

As for foods that get made, lots of stuff is given to cooks as "spare" parts from recently deceased or (very often) over hunters or the hunted. Lots of sauces and seasonings go into cooking bug parts- gotta make them tasty or they default have a really earthy taste to them.

Most common things that get given to the cooks to well, cook, are crickets and grub! Crickets can get really brutal when battling for standard brood laying area "hunts" and the ladies can really tear each other apart when doing so.

When that happens, they basically give themselves a final meal of tasty fruits or meats, then either die and have themselves transferred to their dinner of choice or go their themselves if they have enough energy to do so!

In fact that's a standard for most dying bugs to go to a place to eat (they get spoiled with luxuries) before passing away peacefully and being sorted through their "will" afterwards. Abdomens are a common "steak" and often cooked and served as is or breaded/fried.

Carapaces (if given permission) are ground up and turned into their version of flour to make certain bread products.

As for grub, various beetle folk have A LOT of grub and not all make it (or some grub turn on each other and leave half eaten siblings behind RIP) so they often get sent over to cooking places.

Overall, lots of bugs on the menu!

#asks #bug world au #scarab #the scarab #liam #jake the bug #bug world finn

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soup-is-nice-sometimes · 3 months

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intro!!!

hi i saw my friend (thanks peter) do this and it reminded me that i probably should too oops

hi you can call me soup or lib! if/when i reblog my irls stuff/they comment on my things theyll call me lib but its up 2 you! soup is more of an online name (after my username which, despite being "soup is nice sometimes" i love soup all the time and there is never a bad time for soup!!), oh and also im non binary so they/them pronouns please :3 and i am (as most emo/mcr fans are) queer as well (aroaspec yippee)

i love mcr and fall out boy and ryan!panic at the disco and i also appreciate dallon weekes and the rest of panic - however as far as im concerned doab was the last panic album and i dont particularly like brendon urie :skull:

i also like paramore and bring me the horizon, pierce the veil, sleeping with sirens etc and im always on the lookout for more music of that typa genre so if you think i might like smth PLEASE PLEASE SEND IT TO ME in an ask or in my dms i dont mind!!

dni's are basic criteria and im also firmly on palestines side so if you disagree w that then my blog is NOT!!! for u

ermm fun facts abt me

i dyed my roots teal over the summer like gerard's teal roots but unfortunately had to bleach it back to blonde due to my schools hair rules UPDATE ON THAT its all black/brown now :(((

i like banana candy whether its the squishy ones or fruit bursts or runts and i also rlly like liquorice!

i type kinda fast and dont always spellcheck on my laptop so uh ignore typos unless theyre fatal in which case tell me

i saw mcr when they performed the 1 (one) show in our country on march 11 2023 and thats what got me fully into them - i was a casual listener for a couple of years and my best friend offered me a spare ticket she had and away we went (we were on stage left so rays side)

i am learning french through school and get to go to france this year!!!

i have such a sweet tooth its so bad but im usually good at limiting my treats (unfortunately)

i play inline hockey which is basically ice hockey on rollerblades

i play genshin on the eu server if anyone wants to be my friend :3

also feel free to send me asks n stuff i love yapping

#intro post #mcr fan #emo #teal roots #fun facts about myself #fob fan #nonbinary #queer #asexual #inline hockey #get to know me

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symphorine · 1 month

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sometimes to pass the time i daydream about opening my own little chill restaurant and what id serve there and how itd work. bc i would want to be the cook but like, id need to make it fit my energy reserves and stuff. id serve mostly different things in rotation (maybe over a week or two) depending on supplies and mood with a few constant staples. id have a couple ppl to do service, and id have to learn good alcohol pairings, and and and

its not realistic id need to have so much money before i could do this but its nice to think about

anyway some dishes: blanquette with baked rosemary diced potatoes, lemon baked fish with those potatoes also and a side of fresh tomato salad or creamy spinach, japanese curry with rice (u could add meat if u want; id make the roux myself to make sure its gluten free), mac n cheese (actually fucking cheesy, and i could basically just assemble it on demand, but i usually add in bacon spinach and mushrooms) (also easy to make gf), pasta with spinach pesto, pine nuts and sun-dried tomatoes (tomatoes optional), roasted garlic and potato soup (my sibling found the recipe, its soooo tasty and the texture is wonderful), my moms bacon wrapped and goat cheese stuffed filet mignon (SO good) w potatoes and garlic-fried broccoli, chicken apple curry on rice (could make lactose free), pasta with a simple mushroom sauce (mushrooms, dijon mustard, white wine, cream - can add extra veggies or meat, and can use lactose free cream), roasted lamb with couscous and veggies cooked with mediterranean spices, salad with cantaloupe, cherry tomatoes, crispy bacon or parma ham, crumbly fresh goats cheese, served in the cantaloupe (and fine lettuce i guess - roquette would work well i think), quiche lorraine, fried salmon fillet with baked herby carrots, potatoes and parsnips

desserts could have cheesecake, fresh doughnuts, miso brownies (kep found the recipe, it is. so good), toffee cake (made recently for a party, it was fun to make!), fruit salad (depending in the season), lava cake (actually benefit from being made in advance and sitting in the fridge!) with ice cream and/or raspberry coulis, tarte tatin (upside down apple pie with caramelized top)

mainly i just daydream about getting to cook nice food at my own pace and sharing it with people and adapting it when i can so ppl with diet restrictions can enjoy it too

#personal #im not a chef idk anything about restaurant management im disabled and i am not a customer person #so this will likely remain a daydream forever #but it's nice to think about

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lumine-no-hikari · 4 months

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Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #45

So I got my weeks confused! It is not soup at the place this weekend - it is potluck! Next week will be soup week! And I'm glad someone told me, because I would have felt very silly if I had brought soup!

I am always getting my days and weeks mixed up. Being AuDHD leaves me with a very shaky grasp of time and its passing. The fact that I must experience it in a linear fashion is occasionally very confusing to me. It just seems so arbitrarily limiting and just plain silly; you can bet that I'll be talking to tech support about it once I'm out of my meat-mech!! Bahahahaha! 🤣 🤪 😁

I can't help but wonder if you, from your position at the Edge of Creation, experience time differently than we do. I know you can't answer me, but… what's it like, the way things are over there? How does time and space flow? How do you flow within it? Are all your needs being met? Are you warm enough? Are you doing okay over there? I gotta wonder.

In any case! I am not, in fact, making soup this week! Instead, I am going to see about making a moussaka for the potluck! But I didn't have the ingredients on hand, so I went to the grocery, and as promised, I will write about my adventures and share pictures!

Curious: have you ever been to a grocery store? Does your world even have grocery stores, in the way that they exist in mine? In the media that we have of your world, all I ever see are little shops, so I had imagined that in most towns, there might be separate shops for things like dairy, a separate shop for meat, one for fish, and one for fruits and veggies, and so on. But maybe they have a grocery store in Midgar somewhere? Or maybe even in Junon? They seem like big places that likely act as relatively important trade hubs, so it wouldn't be too out-of-the-ordinary to see a grocery store in those places, right? I don't live over there (obviously), so I wouldn't know.

There is a grocery place nearby that I like to go to, and it takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes for me to get there. It's got a little bit of everything, so it's easy to gather whatever you need to make a meal. In this case, I went for moussaka supplies and some other odds and ends that were written on a list on a whiteboard in the hallway near the front door of my house.

(if you're wondering if I adhered strictly to this list... my brain is always generating tasty snack ideas a mile a minute, I'm utterly captivated by anything that looks new or interesting, and my impulse control in general is poor, so... the answer to such questions is almost always a resounding "NO!" 😜🤣)

Oh! It occurs to me! Maybe you don't know what moussaka is, because it is a Greek dish, and your world doesn't have a place called Greece in it. But then again, your world has pasta dishes, and pasta dishes are Italian dishes, and your world doesn't have a place called Italy. Hm. Well, I'll explain it anyways, because even in my world, not a lot of people know what moussaka is!

It's a baked dish that consists of a thick, tomato-based sauce made with spiced ground lamb in between layers of roasted eggplant slices. The top layer is a bechamel sauce - it's basically what happens when you whisk together butter, flour, milk, egg yolks, and cheese. It's absolutely delectable, and the leftovers are even better, because the flavors will have had time to mingle!

But it's a lot of work, especially if you're dyspraxic like me. It's gonna take me a bunch of hours to put it all together (which is why I usually need a compelling excuse to make it - like a potluck!), and with the stupid rib injury, I'm probably gonna have an even harder time trying to put it together than usual. But that's okay!! The results are always amazing, so it'll be worth it!

But first always comes the part where you get the ingredients. You start with some eggplants (you need 3, but I got a fourth because I know I'll wanna eat some slices as I'm roasting them, hahaha!), a couple of red onions, some garlic, and a lemon. I already have garlic, but I got everything else:

It's important to select a very pale lemon; you don't have to worry about ripening with citrus fruits, so the paler the lemon, the fresher it is, and the more juice it will have.

Since I was in the produce section, I also happened to notice that they had starfruit! It's one of my favorites, so I snatched up the best-looking one. For these, it's the opposite - you'll want darker fruits, because, unlike citrus, these ones are shipped not-quite-ripe. Darker means more ripe in this case, and therefore more juicy and sweet.

I ended up needing to take the rest of the pictures after the fact at home, sadly; I would have liked to show you the general pattern and structure of the grocery store that is familiar to me, but for some reason, it got really crowded all of a sudden, and I didn't want to be in anybody's way, trying to snap pictures for reasons that they couldn't possibly understand, which I'm not too terribly keen on trying to explain anyway, especially to someone who is rushing around and likely already cranky and irritable. Yeesh. 😬

In any case! Here are the rest of the ingredients that I got for the moussaka. These are used to make the meat sauce and the bechamel sauce:

We have here some tomato puree in a glass jar and some tomato paste in a tube; this is very convenient, because these normally come in cans, even though we're not going to need all of it. Cans are not resealable, but jars and tubes are! I will use the entirety of the cans of crushed and diced tomatoes, so we don't have to worry about that! We also have some ground lamb, a couple of different kinds of hard Greek cheeses (feta and halloumi) that I will grate for the purpose of incorporating into the bechamel. And we also have a VERY curious kitty named Hunter who wants to investigate my epic grocery store loot!! We'll pretend like his investigations are for quality control purposes, why not? Hahaha! 😄

Speaking of epic grocery store loot, I found a bunch of things that were definitely not on the list, but they seemed really neat, and I wanted to try them! Here's a photo:

Bison is kind of like a cow, but not really. Bison, cows, and buffalo are all in the Bovinae subfamily, in the Bovini tribe, as far as taxonomy on my planet goes; I wondered how it tastes, as compared to regular beef, so I thought to do a small science in order to find out. And venison is what we call deer after it's processed into something edible. I already know what deer tastes like because my father used to hunt, but you don't normally find it in grocery stores. I guess farming deer is becoming more popular. How interesting! It's good stuff, and I've missed the flavor, so I'm excited to use it in something yummy!

I also found a new kind of tea! This one looked potentially like it could taste nice, and it'll give me something warm to sip on at night that doesn't contain caffeine, which is always a plus!

Remember - don't drink caffeine too close to bed! It's bad for your sleep! It impairs the nightly brain-cleaning cycle, and disruptions to that cycle can do very strange things to a person's body and mind! Better to save the caffeine for morning or afternoon use only! Otherwise, things can get really weird!

I also found some of THESE:

So... I know that I said these were really good, but the truth is, I've never actually had them. I've only had the cookie butter that is made from them (yes, that is a thing!), and that cookie butter is REALLY GOOD, oh my stars! Here's a picture:

I assumed that these taste like the cookie butter, and I was a bit disappointed by the biscuit tea, and I also heard of a French tiramisu recipe that uses these instead of ladyfingers, and by all these reasons combined, I wanted to give them a try!

Here is what they look like, and yes, I can confirm that the flavor is practically identical to the cookie butter that I'm familiar with!

...I can already tell that I'm going to have to be really careful with myself around these, holy moly! Ahahahaha~!! I know you can't answer me, but do you have foods like that, I wonder? If there are foods that are irresistible to you, besides the pastas that we know about, what are they? Curious!

I also got some of these:

These are palm-sized balls of mozzarella cheese, filled with thick mixture of cream and very soft shredded mozzarella cheese. These are delightful in ways that I can't even begin to describe to you! If you don't hate soft cheeses (some people do; it's a texture thing and I can respect that), you should definitely give these a try if you ever find them somehow!

Finally, I got some of these to share with everyone in my house and in the various places I go:

I'm already familiar with the dark chocolate ones - they're my favorite kind. But the strawberries and cream ones were new, and they fascinated me as a concept, so I got them! They're a bit too sweet for me, but I know several others who will like them! I wonder if you might like either of these? Hm.

The rest of the things are just ordinary things, but sometimes I get struck by the simple beauty of them. Maybe it's a little weird, haha. But here, I tried to take some good pictures; maybe you'll understand, if only just a little:

I liked to look at the vibrant purple skin of these. Did you know that eggplants in the old days used to be very small and white? That's why they're called eggplants in the first place. I'm not sure why they ended up big and purple as time went on. In any case, I can't wait to slice and roast these; they're going to be delicious!

I know it's just a broccoli. But I thought it was a very good-looking broccoli. The green was a lot more vibrant than what I could capture with the camera, but the shape is good, and its weight is pretty hefty. This is a very good broccoli! I am pleased that I found such a prize; they're not normally this nice!

This is just mixed greens, but I liked the way the colors looked in the sunlight, and I liked the way all the colors blend together. The purple leaves really pop out! This one is especially nice, because usually boxes of mixed greens have a little bit of rot on the bottom, but I got really lucky this time!

These are just tomatoes. But I thought they looked like very good tomatoes. I loved the way the vibrant red of the fruit contrasted with the green of the vine as the sunlight splashed on them! And they smell really good, too!

I like these because I think they taste good (though my husband likes to tease me because he thinks they taste like stomach acid, but then he'll insist on trying whichever one I am sipping from, so I'm not really sure what to make of that, haha)! And they also are just generally pretty liquids that come in very pretty bottles! But you shouldn't drink more than one of these in a day if you don't want a tummyache. Or at least I get a tummyache if I have more than one of these in a span of 24 hours. I wonder if that's normal? Hm.

...Look. I know that maybe all these pictures don't seem to most folks like they're much of anything. Maybe it seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things; I know that life can be very ugly sometimes. You've seen it. I've seen it.

But you know? Life can also be very beautiful if you know where to look, if you're deliberate about which spaces you choose to be in, and if you can learn to find joy in simple and ordinary things. I'd even argue, given how absolutely fucked-up the world can be, that it's essential to find the magic in everyday things. Maybe some grouchy person might try to tell you that grown-ass adults like us shouldn't still have a sense of wonder about things as though we're still new to this place, but... well... they're allowed to be wrong. People are wrong about things all the damn time:

Yes, the fuck I can!! 🤩 To be both is the birthright of any human being; the capacity to have these things in balance is part of what makes us amazing! So I'll be over here trying to be a kaleidoscopic rainbow of bright and awesome and joyful things while also being in touch with the various horrors of this world, no matter what anyone says. Because even if it was the case that I'm wrong for thinking and being this way (I'm not), I'm still happier and more balanced than any grouch-almighty who somehow doesn't have anything better to do with themselves than to try to make me feel small.

Hey!! If I can be doomy/gloomy and sparkly/rainbowy at the same time, then so can you! Heck, you'd probably do a better job of pulling it off than I do, given that epic, awesome brain of yours!

Take good care of yourself, okay? Remember you are loved! And stay safe! Try to find the delight in ordinary things. Treat yourself nice, and make good, kind, and loving choices.

I'm gonna make moussaka tomorrow! I'll take pictures to share with you along the way!! You will receive a moussaka-flavored letter!!! Look forward to it!!!!

Your friend, Lumine

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sailormanrahh · 4 months

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plant called reedwater

it can grow basically anywhere but it prefers iron rich soils and a somewhat humid/rainy climate. it requires to be in or near a body of water as it requires a shit ton of water to keep its core wet. if you have ever had sugar cane, the core's texture is similar to that. the average reedwater plant is around 8-15 ft tall, but in its preferred environment it can get to 20ish ft. its been domesticated and is grown and harvested by traditional devils to be used as a food source, medicine, wood for weaving and dye along with other uses such as just decoration or to be smoked. it also cannot burn into ashes, instead the grain of the bark and husk expands and blackens. while its most often used to make medicine, the flesh of the fruit is bitter, soft and sour and its sometimes consumed raw or pitted and thrown into foods as a garnish or side. its also sometimes pickled and eaten like an olive. theyre often called swampberries. the root is very large and equally as soaked in water as the core. basically like an oversized turnip but juicy like a watermelon. its usually just eaten raw as a snack or with food. its sometimes chopped and cooked into soups. when cooked, its slimey like an okra and soft. the core is smoked in a pipe made out of the reedwater bark with a filter made out of the husk. its usually used in ceremonies, but is sometimes used recreationally. its not addictive and it has no effects on the mind, and the "smoke" is actually just the water from the core evaporating in the heat. its usually also used to strengthen the lungs of devils not used to the smog created from cremation. leaves are ground up and used as dye. pretty self explanatory. you could also uproot one and wack people across the head with it. the root makes for a good hammer head.

pretty cool i think

#art #artists on tumblr #my art #original art #doodle #sketch #digital art #traditional art #sketchbook #loredumping hour

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tastesoftamriel · 2 years

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You've mentioned food enjoyed by young children, so let's go the opposite route; what are some foods from across Tamriel that are infamous for being Old People Food?

Ah, of course. There's always that food that inexplicably only old people like. I'm never here to knock anyone's favourite foods though, so here's a showcase of some of Tamriel's dishes most beloved by its aged population.

Altmer

Heron liver pâté is, in my opinion, the least palatable Altmeri food there is. Mushy yet inexplicably chewy, this pâté has a distinctly muddy smell and texture that old Mer seem to love. If you've still got teeth, it's common to dip grissini and crudités into the pâté, but if not, the pet food texture is fine to eat with a spoon.

Argonians

Older Argonians love their papaya! It's good for the health, and...bowels, especially? This mighty fruit is often pounded into a pulp with fresh turmeric root and scuttlebloom nectar, a bit like a very thick juice, and the mixture is happily inhaled by the geriatrics throughout Black Marsh. I love papaya, but not so much when it's served this way.

Bosmer

Timber mammoth milk soup is very much an old Mer dish in Valenwood. Simply put, it's just a bunch of meaty ingredients boiled until they fall apart in a soup base made from salty timber mammoth milk. The dish is definitely an acquired taste, from the slightly slimy yet frothy texture to the practically liquid meat bits.

Bretons

Master confectioners in High Rock are always in the business of pumping out sweets that almost nobody eats, bar the older population. Whether it's violet sweets, liquorice drops, musk sticks, or butter mints, for some reason, every Breton over the age of 60 develops an inexplicable craving for these sweets. I think I'll stick to lemon sherbets, personally.

Dunmer

I know that I talk about saltrice porridge a lot, but saltrice congee infused with ginseng and gingko nuts are right up there in terms of ancient Dunmer food. Add some pulled trama root (boiled until soft), pickled comberries, and ash-cured kwama egg, and you have a strongly herbal-scented meal with the texture of snot.

Imperials

While not as old people-y as most other dishes on this list, classic dishes, like my Emperor's Venison Fricassee, are hardly considered to be exciting food on the Cyrodiilic gastronomy scene. The humble fricassee is a palatable, if slightly boring dish with a stew-like texture, but doesn't contain any particularly strong flavours. Said to be the ultimate old-person dish in Cyrodiil.

Khajiit

Age isn't going to stop any Khajiit from imbibing moon sugar, but the way it's served is slightly different. Peanut soup, which is literally just a hot slurry made from boiled peanuts, is a nutritious dish often served for dessert. However, the taste is, at best, horrifically boring, and the only way to fix that is with lots of moon sugar. The end result is something akin to eating runny peanut butter, to which I can only politely say 'no thanks, Clan Mother'.

Nords

Just because we honour the older members of our communities in Skyrim doesn't mean that we're above making jokes about what they eat. If you think pickled fish is bad, try the trout that's been fermented in a barrel for a few months, then cut into slices and served atop flatbread with beets and sour cream. It sounds worse than it is, but this is the sort of food that makes me flash back to Granny Matilda's cottage when I was a child.

Orcs

The fact of the matter is that many Orcs don't live to see old age as an adversary, but those who do develop some curious dietary habits. Steamed potato pudding with wrathberry raisins is definitely one of them- a pungent dessert that's absolutely nobody's favourite besides probably the stronghold elders. It's basically a regular steamed pudding made from potato flour and densely studded with wrathberry raisins, something like a New Life pudding. Very filling, kind of bland, and perfect for the geriatric Orsimer in your life.

Redguards

A mild Alik'r curry made with snake eggs and okra would be my pick when it comes to describing the favoured food of elderly Redguards. Whole boiled snake eggs and slices of okra float in a thin goat's milk-based curry, which is served with a side of cous cous or rice. It's simple food, but so bland and boring you'd hardly recognise it as Redguard cuisine.

#Asks #Food #Elderly #old people #Tes #the elder scrolls #cooking #food #World building #Worldbuilding

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iphijaania · 1 year

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i saw the tags you put on the mongolian tea video and i'm mega intrigued (i love hearing about food from other cultures!!): googling rondijzhu yields no results, and laghman comes up as a type of noodle dish? would you mind talking a bit abt the breakfast from chitral? :D

@albertinesimonet I'm so, so, so sorry for how long it's taken me to answer this 😭 University's been hell, I really want to give this answer the detail it deserves, so I hope you can forgive the fact that it's, like, a month late.

Anyway! I'm so happy someone on Tumblr's taken interest in my tiny river-valley hometown! This entire answer is going to function as me gushing about it now lol. Some context on what I'm about to say is that while Chitral is in Pakistan, it's in the far, far north of it, bordering the Tajik-majority area of Afghanistan and very, very close to Tajikistan. So while Chitral is, through borders, considered part of South Asia, its culture and cuisine is much more similar to more Central Asian ones.

(There's Chitral on a map of Pakistan!)

Another thing worth mentioning is that 'Chitral' itself is a bit of a catch-all term for the general part of Pakistan that speaks a language called 'Khowar' and its dialects, not taking into account the fact that the cultures within the Chitral district vary wildly based on where exactly in the mountains you are. Just saying that so you know to take what I say with a grain of salt, and just know that it's applicable to a specific part in this specific region of the district (think somewhere in the green portion on the map below).

With that said, breakfast in Chitral can be anything, as long as it's hearty! People generally don't have a solid 'lunch', as midday is the best time to get outdoor work done, so big breakfasts are the norm. In summer, it's butter tea (tea with butter and salt boiled into the milk) with dried fruits (I'm a fan of apricots, but dried grapes, peaches and assorted berries are common too) and Chitrali bread (which is very, very thick; I think some people call it tikki but we've just always called it 'Chitrali bread' lol), usually with cottage cheese. You can stuff the Chitrali bread with minced meat (goat or lamb, mostly), cottage cheese or milk curds too!

Winter, though, is where breakfast becomes key, and which is where the foods you asked about come in– in summer, at least, the weather is better so you do have time to eat in the afternoon, but in winter? No chance. In Chitral, winter breakfasts are massive, warm and hearty as hell. Salty butter tea is still a must, coupled with Chitrali bread which, in winter, is usually stuffed. A lot of people choose to add milk curds into the tea, but I never liked doing that, so. Rip.

Other people add dried rondijzhu (which is a very, very rough Anglicisation of a Khowar word so I'm not surprised nothing came up when you Googled it!) to their tea too. Rondijzhu, which is also served generally at breakfast in the winters, is basically just portions of spit-roasted lamb or goat that are really, really heavily salted (Chitral isn't the place to go if you have cholesterol issues) to make sure they last. A lot of people take aside parts of the freshly spit-roasted meat to slice it up into little chunks and dry it seperately to the rest of the rondijzhu, so they can use it as stuffing, in tea, in mantu (steamed dumplings– pretty similar to Chinese bao!), et cetera.

Another use for rondijzhu, and a way to heat it up for breakfast, is by boiling it with khalli, or laghman (they're both the same thing– we call it laghman but I know people in the vicinity of Chitral city call it khalli). It is indeed a type of noodle dish! It's basically just soft wheat noodle soup cooked with usually either minced meat or chunks of mutton or beef and a shitton of herbs. It's more on the brothy side, and so is super warming, especially when served alongside Chitrali bread. Something people (or, at least, we) tend to do is, when boiling the wheat noodles that were cut the night before for the morning laghman, adding rondijzhu to the noodles. This both warms up the rondijzhu and acts kind-of like stock for the laghman broth. You can take the rondijzhu out and eat is seperately, or keep it in the laghman, your choice (I personally prefer having it seperately, but I'm a picky eater by mountain village standards).

That said, laghman isn't strictly a breakfast food. Hell, none of these are. Chitrali bread is eaten with salty butter tea in the afternoon, laghman and rondijzhu are eaten for dinner too, and a lot of other Chitrali food that I haven't mentioned (like harisa, which we stole from the Armenians, or pilau or any variation of taaw meat– meat cooked on a gridle– et cetera) can also work as 'breakfast' food. As long as it fills you up, keeps you warm, and allows you to not die of various vitamin deficiencies, it's perfect as Chitrali breakfast or dinner.

tl;dr: breakfast is a social construct and, in Chitral, food is food no matter what time of the day it is 💖

#again i'm sooooooo sorry that this is late 😭#this ask has been haunting me for a month #that said i hope you enjoy my inane blabber about chitral and its cuisine!!#gosh hardly anyone on tumblr knows about pakistan let alone my tiny corner of it so it was great being able to infodump abt it #thank you so much for the ask!!!!#lettos says #asks #pakistan #chitral #food #currymunching

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pandorafallz · 9 months

Text

Vampire AU | Telling the Na'vi

Jake spent a good portion of his morning helping with the camp but in his avatar. Jerome looked to be less in the dog house and helped Nadine choose a good place in the patch for the seeds; his xenobiotics side really coming out as he was excited and wondering how the Earth seeds would respond to Pandoran soil and was easily excited to see if the fruits would remain ‘human sized’ or would grow to Na’vi sized fruit. Jake listened in mostly to keep his mind occupied as he helped go through the weaving practises he had learned on making rope.

N’deh had gone out to hunt with Kim for a bigger game and so, Jake was mostly good sitting and working. Morgan was by the lake, Target practising with his newly remade sling. The guy had apparently taken up the sling for both a hobby and for hunting last year and…Jake was impressed at the man’s skill and accuracy with the weapon.

The new bullets he made were mildly terrifying. He had cut holes into some of the rocks or added groves to some sides so that when they were launched, the bullets would…whistle. A high-pitched sound that ended with a crack when it hit its target. Poor pelican case. Jake had also noticed the guy had also carved up a basic wooden Y- Slingshot, sitting unfinished as well but he wasn’t gonna question it.

It just made him pause at each crack or whistle.

Though Jake paused as a tall figure seemed to emerge from the trees, his hand pausing a little in consideration.

“Neytiri?” He frowned, “I thought it was every other day we were going down to Hometree?”

Neytiri looked his way, though nodded. “It remains unchanged. I came of my own accord. I…am curious. Human camps are…different to what I expected.”

Jake nodded, though offered her a gesture to the camp to welcome her “If you’ve got questions, feel free to ask.”

Neytiri’s presence had pulled the attention of Nadine and Jerome. The scientist waved but didn’t do anything else than get back to it to discuss support for the plants.

“Are they planting crops?” Neytiri asked. “for ease of travel?”

“Actually, yes.” Jake brightened up a little. “I… My brother spent years and a lot of money collecting seeds from Earth plants. Fruits and veg mostly, but there are flowers and…herbs. Some spices…” He listed, his heart panging but…he was actually a little excited to explain this to her.

“Earth seeds?” Neytiri cocked her head.

Jake nodded, “We’re only planting five at the moment. One herb, four varying fruits. Right now, they’re rehydrating and germinating given they’ve been preserved to survive the trip here but they’re sorting out a good spot for them to grow.”

Neytiri eyed the two working with more curiosity. “What are these fruits?”

“Well, one is called a Watermelon. They’re… big in human terms. Sweet, elongated and slightly round in shape, it has a stripy green shell and on the inside is a red flesh with black and white seeds. I’ve never had a fresh one before so I’m…really looking forward to that if they grow. The next is a pumpkin. Can be sweet but often is savoury. Makes a good soup. People used to grow pumpkins to the size of humans in competitions. Oh, and we use pumpkins on a tradition on Earth, you’d hollow out a pumpkin and put a scary face on and put a candle on the inside which shines in the dark so only the faces made could be seen.”

“Scary face?” Neytiri looked amused at the concept. “For a tradition?”

“Well… it’s…a long story. I guess Grace didn’t get to that at school. Every year on the same date, the 31st of October, it was known as All Hallow’s Eve. Or, Halloween. More commonly. It…fuck I think it’s been going on for over two thousand years? Maybe longer. It’s changed in form many times over the centuries but it…started off when it was believed spirits of the dead would come back and walk the earth on that night. Humans feared spirits and thought they needed to…ward them away. Pumpkin faces were supposed to help with that.” Jake explained.

Neytiri looked more intrigued. “The carving of fruit still remains important?”

“Well, sorta. When we had bigger houses and more freedom, there was a tradition with children, I…don’t quite know how to explain ‘Trick or treating’ without it sounding weird, plus that tradition was dropped about…twenty years ago. The Pumpkin became important to know which houses were okay with being disturbed by the tradition than those who wanted a peaceful night. People still use them now as means of keeping the event alive.”

“Ooh, tell her about the weed!”

“No.” Jake blew a raspberry in Nadine’s direction then turned back to Neytiri. “So, we also have Tomato’s and strawberries. The first is a savoury berry. Very good pureed and on a flatbread or as a soup. Strawberry is a red berry as well. Very sweet and delicious.” He clarified. “The herb is known more commonly as Weed but that’s…probably not safe for Na’vi yet given its… unknown side effects on alien bodies”

“Oh, so you are telling her about weed.” Nadine called towards them, “Weed is a drug; humans use it to…chill out by smoking it or baking it into food. It causes a very strong relaxant effect and in my case, it’ll help with my limb pain.” She gestured to her prostheses with a pose. “You, my tall blue friend,” she walked overly, solely to prod Jake in the thigh, “will be a Guinea pig on how it affects’ Na’vi and avatars. Jerome wants to know if it’ll work with him.”

Jake sighed dryly out. “Sounds like he wants to live in the dog’s house.”

Nadine snorted though quickly returned back.

“I can still hear you!” Jerome called, his tone laced with exasperation.

Crack!

The sound of Morgan’s sling ammo striking the case echoed.

Neytiri jumped with a hiss, her ears alarmed before she realised it was far and coming from the second human of the camp. “What…what is that sound?!”

Jake gave her a relaxed expression. “Morgan’s got a thing called a sling. It’s a projectile weapon that Earth used to have a few thousand years ago but fell out of use when throwing spears, guns and bows and arrows were made. Watch.”

Morgan picked up another carved rock, settling it into the woven band then began to wind but it only took a few winds before he let go; keeping a hold of the sling end but let one half go and the rock flew through the air with a shrill form it’s whistling then clunked hard against the case, pinging off into the grass.

“Hey, Morgan!” Jake called, waving him over.

Morgan did, though eyed the Na’vi woman for a moment, “Are we in trouble?”

“No.” Neytiri frowned, “Why do you ask?”

“You’re here.” Morgan spoke, “Why else would you be here?”

“She’s just curious about the camp.” Jake allowed, though he already suspected why Morgan was a little tense about this impromptu visit. He wasn’t thick by, aside from N’deh, they had little to hide.

“Right.” There was an edge of scepticism to Morgan’s voice though he remained friendly. “So, what’d you want? I’m busy.”

“Your sling” He held his hand out for it.

Morgan rolled his eyes but handed it over without complaint. “I finally sorted it out. I forgot how I made it the first time since it lasted so long and this new weave is very durable and flexible.”

Jake turned the sling over in his hand; small of course for human hands though it was a simple two-woven belt connected to both ends of the cords than the leather pouch he was more accustomed to seeing on more modern slingshots. He couldn’t remember what type of make this was.

Neytiri eyed it curiously, “You…use this instead of a bow?” Her fingers touched over the small weaves, almost surprised by the simplicity of it. Probably never realised humans had such basic weapons when so used to their automatic rifles.

“Well, sort of. It depends. Bows pack more power, puncture through and much quieter. Slings can go further than an arrow and cause more damage through blunt-force trauma. Penetrative if I use sharpened rocks at my target.” From his pouch, he held up a selection of rocks. Varying in size and shape, from round to elongated to pointed but he had clearly crafted the rocks to his liking. “That said, both have their merits and disadvantages.”

Neytiri knelt down, examining the rocks before plucking out one with a hole drilled through. “Why is it like this?”

“So it sings when it flies. We call them whistling bullets.” Morgan spoke, dropping the rest into his pouch. “Helps me distinguish what I’ve crafted to not and… well so no one around walks into a silent path. These can be lethal.”

“I see.” Neytiri handed the bullet back. “I always thought humans used guns or other explosive weapons. I… this is new.”

“Well, this isn’t common knowledge any more. I doubt even Dr. Augustine would have taught this in her school.”

“She did not. Languages were the most important to learn. Grace taught us a lot but…not everything. She kept things light and fun.” Neytiri said, “We asked about some of the other topics that we had noticed about the sky people's culture but she said with the younger children, it was unsafe.”

Jake hummed, “Well, to be fair teaching young kids about our primitive but easy-to-make weapons isn’t exactly…safe. If they saw a picture and made a sling and started to throw rocks at things…I’m sure you’ll agree it might be unwise.” He wasn’t sure he’d want to be responsible for that mess. Kids were curious by nature. “I knew a kid in school who made a crossbow in class using four pencils, a rubber band, a clip binder and a ball-point pen. Almost shot the teacher’s eye out when he misfired.”

“Was that kid you?” Morgan asked cheekily.

Jake snorted, “No.” He paused, “It was Tommy.”

Morgan’s smile faded a little though he patted his arm. “Sounds like he had fun.”

“Yep.” Jake had remembered taking the heat for that. Seated next to each other in math; as the resident class clown, the assumption had gone straight onto him. He had found it hilarious, more so than being annoyed for getting the blame. Now it was…a fond memory despite the lingering echo of loss.

Morgan made an excuse to leave though Jake watched him clamber up to his shack up in the trees before he turned his attention back to Neytiri.

“So, this is where I’m living.” He gestured to his shack, leading her inwards to the metal box. “We’re working on covering it better but the canopy here is dense and the leaf coverage is good.” He spoke. “Plus the shack was already being slowly reclaimed so I mainly needed to just slap some moss on it and let it blend. Morgan wants to make it look like a na’vi tent but that’ll take some time to create.” Once he had also learned how to work a loom. He had seen the Mother loom in Hometree and suffice to say, looks a little out of his area but…

Neytiri peered in curiously, taking note of the link bed. “You are in that machine?”

“Yep, my human body is resting. I’m just…figuring out the balance. Two bodies to care for and…well I’m just…trying to figure out how to balance. The last week, I used to spend half-days in and out. With work with you and your clan, my avatar’s dormant for much longer.” He explained, “Still. I’ll make things work.”

Neytiri nodded softly though staring at the machine longer. “I have never seen a Dreamwalker and its sky-person at once. I’ve seen Grace mostly in her Dreamwalker… yet not like this.”

Jake chuckled, “It’s a little surreal. It’s odd to me to see myself lying there. From another set of eyes.”

Neytiri nodded softly. “You are small.”

Jake folded his arms with a light smile. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

He took the time to show her more in-depth the camp. Climbing up to show where his avatar would be kept when not in use. His mauri was the spare storage tent which had been converted just for his avatar now. It was mostly just his hammock and his biomonitor he had clipped on. His little insect repellent jar was still going which gave his mauri a more sharp scent but he hadn’t fully decided on how to decorate it; his avatar didn’t have a lot of its size and the other two weren’t wearing human clothes.

Sure, the two wore Na’vi clothing to blend in and pass but…Jake wasn’t for that just yet; he liked his shirt and his shorts.

“What do you hunt here? Yerik?” She asked, eyeing the bones drying in the sun.

“That’s the current main form of meat aside from fish. Kim’s out hunting for one.” Jake answered, leading her down. “She’s very good with a bow.” Better than Jerome but he was better at fishing; better patience to wait than she did.

“That reminds me, tomorrow my mother wants to see her. If she doesn’t come to Hometree, she will come here.” Neytiri spoke, “She didn’t visit yesterday.”

Jake clicked his tongue a little. “You know why.”

Neytiri looked back at him with pursed lips. “I am aware. The Tsahìk was…more understanding but…the child’s development is important and Eywa blessed the couple for a reason.”

“And suddenly caring after two years of absence is very jarring and doesn’t look like you care for them. Only the baby.” Jake remarked, heading off. “It doesn’t feel good, Neytiri.”

Neytiri sighed deeply. “Is there anything we can do to soothe those feelings of hurt?”

“An apology. Not from you, you’re not the ones who banished them.” Jake offered, though he felt relief at her willingness to help in this regard. “Your father needs to be aware that… humans respond well to those; to know that there is an understanding and acknowledgement of wrong made. It may take longer for them to forgive but… they will eventually once they see there is an understanding and that the apology is genuine and not shallow means of closure. They fear it will happen again.” He fixed her with a look, leaning back against his shack, his tail swishing across the surface.

Neytiri’s expression was thoughtful. “Trust needs to be rebuilt.”

“Exactly. They do not trust because it’s happened once, it can happen again.” Jake said, “I know that feeling. I bought into the Marines under stories and adventure. I lost my legs. My brother died and… they gave me the same story and words of an adventure. Again. But��unlike last time, I knew what the story was and how they’d try and convince me.”

The Na’vi gave a soft sigh. “I understand. It’s…a hard concept.”

“I know. But… It’s part of human culture that’s carried on here. Humans will need time and guidance to undo generations of trauma, capitalist gaslighting and guilt. Most humans aren’t bad by nature, they’re misguided.”

“I will talk to the Olo'eyktan.”

“Thank you.” Jake pushed off his shack. “Oh, about tomorrow, Morgan’s gonna bring a few weapons to talk to him and Tsu’tey about. Knowing is one thing given you’ve spent thirty or so years seeing them but he thinks giving them a tactile understanding will aid on how to properly handle them.”

Kim was a grump as they rode the Pa’li to Hometree the next day. Jake rode on the front with her, another warrior was with Morgan who was happily talking though he knew it was best to talk to her before they reached their destination.

“You okay?”

“Yep.” Her answer was short and curt.

“I get you have hurt feelings, Kim, but… there’s a lot that needs to be properly settled between the camp and the Omatikaya clan. They know you’re upset about it but… please be civil.”

Kim tutted a little. “I can be civil. They abandoned us. We’re not the bad guys here.”

He pinched her knee, earning a light slap on the shoulder. “It’s not a bad-guy good-guy situation. They’re not human; they don’t think of it like that. Yes, there are some racial issues but going in hostile will always set you aside. You’re not here to forgive and forget straight off but you’re here to make sure your baby is healthy and has a good future. Give them a last chance?”

Kim seemed to churn on it a little but took a cleansing breath, her hand coming to her belly, though he felt a brief touch of her knuckle at his spine that vanished below his injury. “It will be nice to see old friends. The first time around, I was training to become an Ikran Makto, maybe I’ll get the chance to tame one after they’re born. Pa’li are nice but…they’re not fast.” Kim wondered. “Pregnant women aren’t allowed to tame an Ikran given they have to fight to the death to do it.”

“Fair.” Hunting for food was very different from challenging an overgrown death bat to earn their ride.

Once at Hometree, they dismounted and went their separate ways, almost.

Morgan went ahead to the spiral with his bag of toys to the Olo'eyktan and Tsu’tey

Kim was almost ploughed down by an excited child, the weaving group pulling her aside where he watched a few come and greet her happily; a few cooing over her belly with clear warmth. It was the first time she probably seemed to smile and relax.

Eytukan only watched briefly, Jake noted but didn’t speak but Jake hoped at some point the chief would speak to her.

Soon enough, Jake was pushed into being taught how to make arrowheads and shafts. The normal shafts were bigger than his own body so he had been tasked with children’s training arrows instead which was a good starting point.

Jake found the carving aspect to be most enjoyable. Much like how the weaving was methodical, but to see his results go from poor to…adequate as the hours passed was rewarding. Though his teacher spoke with broken English, Jake was glad to see the older man relax enough to correct him a good few times.

He should probably start to learn Na’vi. If he was to work with Na’vi, he needed to speak like them. He still had Augustine’s book she had sent him; it’d be useful as well if the others were willing to teach as well. Morgan was fluent and so… he didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb by not knowing. Nadine probably would need to learn as well. The people shouldn’t have to learn English on the account of two new humans. Most of the teenagers and children knew English but that was by Augustine’s teachings and them sharing it. He was sure a few adults learned but weren’t making it known to him.

When he was dismissed from arrows, he rolled his way along the bumpy pathway to the bead makers but paused to see Kim descending down from the spiral from her visit to the Tsa’hik.

“All good?” He asked.

“So far.” Kim sighed deeply though her face was somewhat strained “I’ve got to up my minerals a little and drink more. Otherwise healthy.”

He sensed a tone. “But?”

Kim sucked on her teeth a moment, “So… turns out its twins. That’s why I’m showing a lot for three months.”

“Oh.” Jake lit up. “Congratulations!”

“Yeah…it surprised Mo’at as well. Twins…aren’t common, if at all for Na’vi. Their bodies aren’t built for more than one given they have different pregnancies to humans.”

“Wait, the avatar pregnancy is different?” he was aware of a few details given how…different his own avatar genitals were to his human. Internal, until needed which…was somewhat of a relief; getting kicked in the nuts hurt far less (but not painless; it was a high-value area still)

“It’s closer to human than Na’vi. Na’vi don’t have placentas.”

“How come they have belly buttons then?” Surely they couldn’t have one without it? He may have dipped out of Bio classes but that was a no-brainer.

Kim pondered the question “They—think of a yolk sac. Human embryos use a yolk sac until a placenta is established in the two months. They use the yolk sac continually which has only some small cord to keep the sac situated with oxygen. In labour, the child absorbs the remaining fluids and sac but the cord remains similar to an umbilical that drops off after birth. The internal cord withers away and is reabsorbed.”

“Woah.” Still, a more human-like pregnancy meant a human-like birth. He doubted the Tsahìk knew a lot about that. He was sure he could look through his collection or what his shack database had on human births that could translate. “Wait, don’t you have scanners at home? Couldn’t you have found out earlier?”

“I did. The second one hid.” Kim chuckled, “Plus, we wanted to things a little more natural and see how it went.” Though now, he could see she’d get a scanner set up to properly check on the babies once they were back home. “Mo’at wants to see you.” She finished, gesturing a thumb over the shoulder to the spiral.

Jake turned to it then back up to the blue giant. “Mind giving me a lift?” he was sure he could crawl up, it looked mostly smooth but… it was a long drop. Unless he strapped his chair to his back, he’d probably have to leave it.

Kim nodded, allowing him to slip out of the chair first before he was deposited back in it outside what looked like a woven mauri but it looked large and adjustable; to expend when needed. Inside, as he wheeled in, was a selection of mats. All but one was propped up out of the way. A small burning pile of fire sat in a dish that lit the small space up but it also didn’t smell like normal fire, perhaps incense of sorts. The was a selection of ceramic cups that were laid out across the floor in some type of organisation, dry and fresh herbs and plants also were tied upon a hanging string above their heads. Other tools were about though Jake’s eyes were drawn to the Tsahìk who sat gently mashing something into a mortar and pestle.

She looked up when he rolled in, her eyes following his wheels for a moment but she set aside her tools beside her after a moment.

“Please, take a seat.”

Jake nodded, sliding again from his chair and onto the mat, his foot catching on the rim of the mat but he sorted that out as he settled.

Her eyes were sharp in her examination, taking him in from head to toe before she seemed content about something.

“My mate assures me your words have merit. They’ve since some mild damage to one of the sky-people’s dozers which seems to have halted the metal beast. Our watchers have seen no evidence of being spotted.” She said, “This does…make me curious. You’re very at ease at betraying your people.”

Jake tilted his head. “My people as humans or…my people as those of the RDA?”

“I don’t see much of a difference.”

“Would you put Grace Augustine in the same ideals of a human with a gun?” He proposed. If he had any other names that this woman knew, he would have used it but…Augustine was well-known for a reason.

“No. She is not a warrior.” Mo’at said. “She is a scientist. A teacher.”

Jake nodded. “She’s one comparative example, but I’m not surprised you…don’t see much of a difference given… the humans on this planet are either scientists, miners or soldiers. You’ve not seen artists, musicians or our creators of stories. Humanity is more than what you see here because to come here requires specific qualities. No random person can just…come here and just sightseeing. Most people here are soldiers. Warriors to protect the sky-people village and their technology. If you’ve ever really seen soldiers and scientists, then you don’t know what else humans are beyond that.”

Mo’at hummed in soft consideration. “I recall you mentioning that the other night.”

“Humans are complex. I know what our struggles are and…what we’re capable of if we try hard to let go of the nooses of our beliefs and understanding a little more which is why… I won’t betray humanity as a whole, just the RDA here for what they’re doing…because there are better ways than what we’re doing.” Jake admitted.

The Tsahìk remained quiet for a moment of consideration. “I have known the scientists and the Dreamwalkers for a while. I know that they are as curious as children and seek to understand yet they do nothing while our nothing to stop the clearing and discourage our attempts of defence. You mentioned they would be harmed if they stood against the ones who strip. Are they really of no help to us?”

“They can be, if it came down to it. If their sky-person bodies were protected from the warriors and weren’t forced to rely on their technology. Most scientists are here for the science. Like…Grace. She loved your people and your planet and certainly disagrees with what’s happening. Her position as Head of SciOps give her more power than most in her department but…she still isn’t height enough to stop. I read in a report that if she or any of the SciOps attempts to warn you or finds means of stopping the clearings, they’ll cut the entire department off like it’s an infected limb. Kill the avatars and send them all back to earth.”

Mo’at’s eyes widened a fraction. “Kill the Dreamwalkers?”

“They’re redundant if not used. It’ll stop the drivers from escaping and blending in with you. Hell, if someone runs off to warn you, they’ll get shot. Me and Nadine were shot at when we were trying to leave. The RDA literally were the cause of Jerome and Kim human’s death.” Jake laughed bitterly, “Not all of them are even aware of their cage around them.”

Mo’at’s eyes drifted to the den’s opening for a moment. Silence stayed between them for a good few minutes before her eyes returned to him. “What other reasons pushed for you to escape, Jakesully?”

“I told you my reasons.” He said, his heart sinking a little.

“Not all of them, I sense there is more and...how the female reacted to certain areas of your explanation… You both have more reasons. Not mentioned.”

Jake felt a little stuck on how to answer; his hands clenching a little but he found his tongue. “Look, I was going to tell you but…I can’t tell you if Kim or any of my other camp crew are about. They won’t believe me but…What I have to say is important. Your mate and successors will need to know as well.”

Mo’at considered his words. “Simply, we will return Kim back to your camp early. I’m sure she’d be eager to return. In the meantime, your hands will aid with making some basic pain remedies for you to learn our herbs. Safe for Na’vi, humans and Dreamwalkers.”

Jake nodded, glad a little to be out of interrogation by her and to be useful.

For the next three hours, Jake was busy both learning but also talking more about the RDA. It’s structure as an organisation; anything he had learned in terms of their other projects about their world; that wasn’t a lot but he was sure he could check through the data he had taken from Selfridge’s tablet and check. He hadn’t really gone through all the files; just the ones about the Omatikaya.

Kim did leave, popping up to give him a brief goodbye though she looked far chipper than she had before he felt the bubble of…emotion rise as Eytukan, Neytiri and Tsu’tey joined them at Mo’at’s request. Jake wasn’t sure if it was anxiety or…the fact he was telling something that could get him laughed at when he needed them to believe him.

“Why must we be here?” Tsu’tey asked, crouching down following Mo’at’s invitation to do so with the two. “My hunters want to leave.”

“Then they will learn patience,” Eytukan spoke, crouching beside Mo’at.

“Jakesully wished to further explain his reasons for leaving the sky people, he believes it may be of importance for you to be aware,” Mo’at spoke. “He did not wish to tell in the presence of his companions.”

“Why must this be private? I believed you were very open with your companions” Neytiri asked curiously.

Jake hummed, in somewhat of an agreement there. “I am but… It’s kinda hard to explain without…ridicule from them. Right now, they won’t believe what I have to say because…for us, it was believed to be fiction or...something not real. Something silly and nothing to fear. I have no way to prove what I have to say is true to any of my scientist group but…I have to tell you this.”

Neytiri looked to her parents though Eytukan remained quiet for a moment then said, “Then speak.”

Jake nodded, fidgeting a little as he decided how to speak. “Right. So… some of this you may understand, some you might not but I’ll explain the best I can. In your world, you have your apex predators; Thanator and Toruk. They don’t have a species that hunts them as prey. On Earth, humans aren’t apex predators but, nothing hunted us for a good few hundred years. At least, we didn’t think so. There’s a species that…we have in our mythology. Across all cultures, there are variants of this species. Where I’m from, we call this species Vampires. They are a predator species that prey on humans.” Jake explained, his stomach churning a little as he spoke. “Specifically, they feed on human blood than flesh but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took more than that.”

“Sky people have predators?” Tsu’tey seemed almost amused at the concept. “Yet they think of them as…stories? Nonsense.”

Jake gave Tsu’tey a dry look. “It’s how they’ve hidden, Tsu’tey. They are known across cultures because they were found out but they’ve used the notion of myths and stories to hide. You wouldn’t know a human from a vampire until one ripped your throat out.” He shook his head. “Do you not understand how terrifying it is? Vampires look like Sky people. Humans. Because they used to be humans.” He took a breath but carried on with what made sense. “They…commonly reproduce by biting and converting a human into a vampire. I…don’t know if they do it via venom or if they do it through blood exchange—the science is lost on me—but they reproduce via conversion. They are sentient as you or I but they’ve been this successful in their hunting by…blending in with humans. There are a few tells that set them aside if you know what you’re looking for. It makes them perfect hunters if you don’t know you’re surrounded by predators.”

The unease was not unmissed.

“I can see how that is…uncomfortable,” Neytiri spoke, “Not knowing a friend from an enemy…”

“I know and… I wish I knew how a vampire changes from what they used to be like as a human. If they…the same person or if they change entirely.” Jake didn’t know but he was sure he had a good footing now, even as his heart pounded still. “As I said, Humans even now don’t believe and if I was to go and tell the others, they’d think I’m crazy to believe such a thing. Which is why I can’t tell the other just yet.” Jake ran his hand through his hair, “But they are real…I found out the hard way. My brother was killed by one.” He swallowed uneasily. “And they’re… they like to live in areas of high-mortality rate. They can kill and cover that with natural deaths happening all around them. Battlefields…was when I first came across them. We… Me and Nadine were part of a war on Earth. It was bad. There was a second unit, another group of warriors who had taken shelter in… a run-down, underground place while we waited for our leaders to pull us out of the area. One radio between us… We kept the radio on so we could keep morale up.” He paused, taking a second to clear his throat. “They had twenty… armed, gear-protected warriors with them at the time. One vampire. Four seconds. All dead.”

His breath shook though he was relieved to see the alarming tilt in both Eytukan and Tsu’tey’s ears.

“We heard all of it. Investigated it. A massacre.” Jake shook his head. “Vampires aren’t like humans. They’ve evolved to…be more. They have…abilities that are unheard of here. You can’t keep them out or keep them locked in. They have…impossible strength. That vampire that killed that squad of warriors clawed and bit their way through tens of feet of solid stone, concrete and metal. Humans built cars and…ships to go faster but vampires picked up a running speed to be faster than we can blink, or…they found a way to fly themselves. Hell, they might be able to shapeshift—change their form to look like an animal to hide out during the day…hell, may even be able to trick the mind.” He shook his head with a disbelieving laugh “They’re terrifying because they are unstoppable. You know humans are tough. I know you call us demons but our demons are worse than us.” He gave that look to Tsu’tey as he said that, watching as the man shivered a little, though he looked worried. Thank god.

Neytiri reached forward, her hand massive on his shoulder. “Then do not worry, Jake. This is not earth. You’re safe here.”

Jake looked at her wide-eyed. “No. They made it to Pandora, Neytiri. They’re here. In Hell’s Gate. Right now.”

That turned the den a little colder, eyes turning to Eytukan swiftly then back to him, Tsu’tey rose to his feet, his hand gripping his bow.

“They…are here?” Eytukan’s eyes narrowed though the alarm was not unmissed. “How?”

“I don’t know, but… if I had to guess, they’re still maintaining secrecy over the humans that are there so they can hunt inconspicuously on the population. It’s a much smaller population and chances are easier for news to spread. If humans found out, there’d be a riot. My…current confirmed count is four vampires, but the fact they’ve got control over Hell’s Gate to some extent shows me they have a few vampires in necessary areas. The warrior stations; to know the human orders and their combat routines, security monitors; to delete incriminating footage, or to add false ones to keep the image up and…one is the head of a department; a lot of control is established at a high level”

“That is…highly efficient. Which means it’s more than four.” Tsu’tey remarked.

“Four I met are in one department. The avatar program. I have to…assume there are at least four in every section to maintain coverage. But, while they’re not yet a threat to the Na’vi….the humans will find out eventually. I…don’t know what will happen when it does. Vampires…can’t leave your world like humans. Their….biology won’t work the same. They probably came to this world from an infected, converting human that… remained frozen that halted the transformation, for the travel but once they were out of cryo the conversion continued to completion.”

“These creatures, what do they look like? Are they indistinguishable from Sky-people or are there signs we can note and be wary of?”

“There are tell-tale signs if you know what you’re looking for. They…have a pale appearance as if they’re ill or very tired. They are cold to touch. They have red irises but the ones I’ve seen use a type of plastic called contact lenses, that’s coloured covering to look like their human eye colour that’s placed across the irises. When feeding or provoked, their human-like teeth sharpen into fangs, typically the canines of their teeth.” He pulled out his tablet he kept tucked into his chair; ready for this, pulling out a few pictures to show them the mythical drawings. “They don’t…or can’t eat actual food. They’re… able to live without their masks since they’re not… oxygen-dependent like us. They wear them to blend in with the humans.”

“How are they killed?”

“Well, they’re already dead. The conversion…turns their biology enough to remove redundant things. Like, it stops the heart. No heartbeat. It’s why they’re cold and….pale. They’re immortal in a way; they can’t age or grow old. Frozen at the age they’re turned.”

“Already dead?” Mo’at spoke, “I have…never heard of such a thing!” but she wasn’t denying its possibility.

“I know, but there’s a few ways to kill them fully but… some I’ve had to eliminate from our mythology based on evidence I’ve seen. Sunlight was once believed to kill them but I’ve seen them prance through those light beams without trouble. A wooden stake through the heart might be on the table, decapitation…maybe silver… I’m not sure you’d like that since it’s a type of metal. Possibly fire. They have…heightened senses. Amazing senses which means they can be overwhelmed. There’s garlic, but…we don’t have any of that here. It’s an earth vegetable or…herb. Believed to be acidic to their flesh. The religious belief stuff and running water’s just nonsense.” He pondered thoughtfully, taking away religious stuff as a possibility given it was put into the mythos by vampires to make humans think they had a chance. “I can check my brother’s seed collection to see if there’s a clove to grow from or see if you have a plant with identical properties to garlic.”

“What risks would these creatures pose? To us?” Eytukan asked.

“Once the humans find out, the chances are they’ll escape Hell’s Gate. Then they’re your problem as well. They might decide humans aren’t worth it. Na’vi has iron-based blood, like a human. They probably haven’t yet considered Na’vi as prey.” Jake watched as Eytukan nodded tensely. “They can outlive you here. Some vampires on Earth may be centuries old or even thousands of years old. The ones here will not be older than however long sky-people have lived on this world.”

“Which is why we’re to know as well,” Neytiri spoke, her tail swishing with unease.

“How come they have not been found out earlier; They feed off humans at the village. Someone would have noticed?” Eytukan realised

“Because…I believe they have power over the human mind. Telepathy is what we call it. We have no mental defences. Think of it like…bonding your queue with someone and controlling their actions through that with your desires, their…mind and memories. Make you walk into a quiet area, forget about them biting…” Jake felt a little queasy speaking about it.

“There’s a shit ton of mythologies of vampires. I’ll leave this tablet with you to read upon them. Some are true, some are not. But…I don’t know the full scope of their capabilities aside. I wasn’t about to sit down and start a Q and A when I wanted out. They would have stopped me.”

Mo’at took the tablet with more interest, though he quickly showed her how it worked but she looked understand quickly the basis. It wasn’t as painful as trying to teach his grandmother how to work the latest update for the computer.

“I just…one question.” Jake turned his attention around, “When…was the last time any of you saw Grace Augustine in her sky-person form.”

Neytiri looked at him sharply, her eyes widened and became horrified. “No!” connecting the question to the topic quickly. Tsu’tey’s ears flattened back.

Both Tsahìk and Olo'eyktan looked up from the tablet and then at each other.

“The…day of the shooting. I spoke to her to dismiss her from her lands.” Eytukan spoke, his tone turning weary. “She was pink-cheeked and sweaty as most sky-people in our world.”

Jake suspected as much. Something more recent. “Then…somewhere from the day of the shooting to…last week, she was killed and converted into a vampire.”

Neytiri’s head shook desperately “No!”

“I’m sorry.” Jake apologised, offering a hand to her. “But she’s cold. Believe me, I’ve felt her touch.”

Neytiri’s eyes welled before she dashed off and out of the den.

“Neytiri!” Tsu’tey followed after her.

Jake took a steady breath, though he looked back to the Tsahìk who looked a little paler with this truth, looking down at the tablet. “I know you were friends with her. I…couldn’t let you go to or across her without knowing. She’s the vampire in a high position as Head of SciOps of the RDA.”

Eytukan hummed in consideration. “I see why we needed to know.”

Jake nodded. “I’ll leave you to…this. I think I should go home now.” He didn’t like how it made Neytiri cry but…he supposed it was hard to hear. To know someone she cared for had been…killed and turned into a monster…it was hard.

He took the help of the warrior Eytukan called to get him back to camp, though he felt a swell of relief.

The Na’vi knew their monsters now.

I do post this on a03 if you're interested.

#avatar #avatar james cameron #avatar au #grace augustine #avatar the way of water #mo'at #jake sully #neytiri #avatar rda #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #tsu'tey #eytukan #vampire #vampire au #vampire grace

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