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Hi, I'm Cyren (pronounced like "Siren"), and I love all things Avatar! If you have a writing prompt, art prompt, or just want theorize about Avatar, my ask box is always open.

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@jeanniebug623 thanks for the shoutout! Another mysterious message and now Spider has a weapon, but at least he got through his time with mccosker without getting interrogated or hurting anyone. This chapter has me with more questions than answers. What's going on with the messages? What did he overhear in the cafeteria and did he believe it? And most importantly, WHAT IS SPIDER GONNA DO WITH THAT KNIFE?

Is he planning to hurt someone, or is he scared someone's gonna hurt him? I can't wait to see what happens next!

🕸️🕷️ Weaving the Web 🕷️🕸️

Chatper 21: Half a Truth is Half a Lie

Shout out to @cyren-myadd for the inspiration of a little rumor mill grinding away at Spider's trust...to be expanded upon in future chapters.

TW: Mention of Self Harm

The door to McCosker’s apartment opened before Quaritch even raised his hand to knock and out came Spider. He was walking quickly and accidentally knocked into the recom’s arm as he sped past like a bat out of hell. He was looking down with the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, his shoulders hunched with his rucksack pulled high on his shoulder as if trying to hide himself from the colonel. Quaritch instinctively grabbed onto the teen’s shoulder and was shocked when Spider knocked his hand away. 

“Spide-...” Quaritch barely got his boy’s name out when he looked up with a pleading look in his eyes. 

“Can we go? Please?” Spider asked, a tremor of panic in his voice. 

“What happened?” Quaritch growled with his nose wrinkling to show his teeth and his ears pinning back, immediately thinking the worst. 

“Nothing, I just want to go.” the teen said quickly. 

“Tell me what happened.” Quaritch ordered firmly, looking the boy up and down. He looked fine, albeit shining with a thin layer of sweat from wearing the hoodie. Had Quaritch ever seen the kid wear anything heavier than a t-shirt?  

“NOTHING happened, I just want to go home.” Spider said, his voice starting to rise and crack. He growled and rolled his eyes when Quaritch dropped to one knee and pulled the hood down then practically frisked the boy looking for injuries. As reluctant as he was being manhandled, he couldn’t stop the recom from pulling the right sleeve down that he tried to keep close to his body to find scratches on his arm. 

“McCosker!” Quaritch snapped and pounded his fist on the door in a sweeping motion as he stood. 

“He’s at work.” Spider said quickly. 

“What’d he do to you, boy?” the recom snarled, fury of the situation overcoming his usual calm demeanor he’d mastered with his boy. The last thing he needed to do was add his own lack of emotional control to the mix. 

“He didn’t do anything, Koaktan, he left me alone the whole time!” Spider answered, his voice now on the level of yelling, “I did it to myself, ok?!” 

Quaritch paused at the revelation then quickly rounded back to the kid. He was sure his heart stopped when he looked at the truth written on Spider’s face. His chest was heaving with anticipation of knocking McCosker’s head off but had to temper it to deal with the crumbling expression on his son’s face. He scrubbed a hand down his face and quickly nodded in the direction of getting back to their apartment. 

Spider walked ahead of Quaritch the whole time and as soon as they got to the apartment, the teen went straight to his room. Quaritch was hot on his tail and put his hand up to stop the door before it slammed shut. 

“Hell no, boy.” Quaritch said sternly, “You must be out of your goddamn mind if you think you’re gonna drop a bomb like that then go hide in your room.” 

Spider let out an annoyed huff then dropped the bag as he held up his hands in mock surrender as he backed up. He dropped down onto the bed and wrapped his arms around his middle and looked down. Half of him wanted to be left the fuck alone but the other half desperately needed Quaritch there. Might as well just accept that the recom wasn’t going to let him wallow in misery and let the vulnerable half enjoy the company. 

“Ok, tiger.” Quaritch said as he lowered his hands slightly in a calming gesture, “Let’s try this again. You hurt yourself?” 

“I didn’t mean to.” Spider said quickly. He knew where this would go. If the risk of harm to himself or others occurred, he’d find himself back in the hospital. Or worse. Maybe it would be for the best...no. No! If he was in the hospital or prison, he would have ZERO control over his life. 

“Bullshit.” Quaritch quipped before he could stop himself. The look of betrayal the kid gave him made him feel immediately guilty. Spider needed his support, not his opposition. He pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Spider, I was wrong to say that. I’m sorry, ok?” 

Spider chewed the inside of his cheek, despite that it was already raw from this regular habit recently, and nodded, “...I know.” 

“Please tell me what happened.” Quaritch said as he crouched down to Spider’s eye level and softened his gaze. “Do you remember?” 

Spider shrugged then shook his head while saying, “I didn’t notice...” 

“Ok.” Quaritch said with a reassuring tone, “When did you notice?” 

“Last night...” Spider said as he dropped his gaze, shame tinting his cheeks pink. 

“Hey now, none of that.” Quaritch said, gently lifting Spider’s chin back up so they would maintain eye contact, “There’s nothin’ you could say or do to make me think any less of you. I just need to understand, ok? And if you’re protecting that son of a bitch, I need to know so I can put a stop to this shared custody bullshit.” 

Spider shook his head and said quietly with complete honesty, “I wouldn’t protect him...” 

Quaritch appraised the boy and moved his hand from his chin to cupping the side of face, “And you wouldn’t lie about it either.” 

The boy’s brown eyes dropped again; Quaritch was right. Nash McCosker was a fucking prick, but Spider wouldn’t make any false accusations of abuse. But his honesty was limited...and it wasn’t telling a lie that was the issue. Spider’s shame was coming from what he WASN’T saying... 

The scratches on Spider’s arm were superficial and would heal in a few days, but it didn’t stop Quaritch busting out the first aid to clean the cuts. Spider told Quaritch all about the five days he was gone. McCosker did, in fact, leave him alone. And he did spend most of his time in his room. On the third day, he and McCosker wordlessly went to the mess for dinner. 

They sat at separate tables. McCosker with his fellow scientists and Spider sat alone. He kept glancing around the room, waiting for McCosker to be finished since he needed an escort to get back to the apartment. In his daze of taking only a few bites of veggie stir fry and spending the rest of the hour moving it around on his plate, the buzz of chatter turned to white noise. 

Until Spider heard his name...or at least the name he most heard mumbled when he walked by people in the hall... 

“...that feral psycho kid is...” 

“...the colonel straight up...” 

“...too dangerous to...” 

“...this is the colonel we’re talking about, it’s only a matter of time...” 

Spider let out a slow breath, counting to five before inhaling again for the same amount of time. Counting, always fucking counting. Counting breaths, counting pills, counting the hours for missed time. His life was never this structured before. 

“...the colonel will put him down...” 

His counting was interrupted by this whisper and he literally started choking on air. It was certainly not a good way to stay under the radar. Spider pounded his fist on his chest and went to reach for his glass of water. 

“Breathe through your nose, if you can.” 

Spider continued to cough as he looked around for the familiar voice. Turned around in a seat at another table diagonal from him was Devin, the guy who did his regular blood draws and officially met in the gym. Despite the advice, Spider just coughed harder the more anxious he became from more eyes turning to see what the commotion was. 

“I know it’s tough, man, just try.” Devin said as he got up, walked over, and sat down across from him. No doubt the guy could see Spider was starting to panic and this only made him more embarrassed. “Ok, now try water. Small sips.” 

Spider followed Devin’s advice but it didn’t do anything to lessen his embarrassment. He got control of the cough but hid his face by leaning it into his hand and letting his locs slide over his face. 

“You ok?” Devin asked politely. 

“Yea...” Spider mumbled, “...thanks.” 

Devin nodded then waited, taping his fingers a few times before asking, “You ok otherwise?” 

Spider looked up to the man, unsure of why he cared about anything other than collecting his blood and how fast he could run. He answered Devin’s question with one of his own, “Yea, why?” 

“Just with the colonel gone and all.” Devin said sheepishly, realizing his olive branch might have caught fire. 

“Yea...I’m fine...” Spider said quietly, letting his eyes wander over the table instead of connecting with Devin’s again. 

“Dev, we’re gonna leave without you!” called one of Devin’s fellow Blue Diamond friends as they all got up from the table. 

“Go ahead then!” Devin called back with a smile and a nod. 

“I have to go too...” Spider said quickly. He had never been happier to see McCosker walking towards him at the same time to take him back to the apartment. He didn’t even return Devin’s goodbye and followed his former foster father. He went right back into his room and didn’t come back out until McCosker knocked on his door to tell him he was leaving to meetup with colleagues after hours. 

Spider didn’t leave his bedroom until he heard the front door close and lock after McCosker left. No doubt he’d be alone for the rest of the night, which is what he wanted. He took a long shower to relax. Just sitting on the tiled floor with the water raining down on him. He could almost pretend it was a hot summer storm during monsoon season. After almost two hours, he turned off the water and bent over to wring out his hair. When he flipped his head back...he looked at the mirror and read... 

‘I WARNED YOU.’ 

Spider was like a tomb for the rest of the night. After the second ominous message on the mirror, he’d staggered back against the wall and slid down it as he traced his stripes. He didn’t know how long he sat there, shivering from the cooling water on his skin and hair as he gradually traced deeper and deeper until his skin was raw and his fingers weren’t even going along the stripes anymore. He told Quaritch it was just another panic attack...which was only part of the story. 

McCosker had come home at some point in the early hours of the morning. Spider heard him mumbling to himself, so the teen crawled over to the bathroom door and pressed his ear against it. It was in this motion he finally recognized the damage done to his arm. He ignored it as he tried to listen to what McCosker was saying but he couldn’t make anything out... 

Quaritch left the kid alone after that but was glad when Spider came out of his room to join him for dinner. His boy didn’t eat much, but that was a concern for another time. He told the boy about his uneventful mission and that there were currently no other missions lined up. This made Spider look up from his plate for the first time during the meal with a weak smile on his face. 

While Spider was relieved that Quaritch was going to be on base for at least a little while, it didn’t stop him from secretly spitting out his sleeping pill and sitting in his room across from Quaritch’s throughout the night... 

...with a pilfered butter knife from McCosker’s apartment that he had sharpened into a dangerously fine point... 

I'm screeching, this is the best worst use of this meme omgg 😭😭😭

I would pay money to see Spider and Zuko react to this

My best work

Spider is 100% going to bite him once he gets close enough lmao.

but on a more serious note, this artwork just has me thinking about this BTS image again:

It looks like Quaritch is speaking to Varang while Spider and Lo'ak are restrained in the background. While it's unclear if Quaritch worked with Varang to capture the kids, or if she did it independently and now Q is trying to negotiate with her, either way, it looks like Spider is going to be forced to be around Quaritch again.

I can't help but wonder how their first reunion is going to go, because their last meeting was so emotionally charged. They saved each other's lives, but Quaritch went too far and destroyed the relationship he'd built with Spider for revenge. It ended with Spider making it clear he never wanted to see Quaritch again, while Quaritch actually acknowledged Spider as his son and pleaded for him to come with him (remember the pitiful look on his face? that was the look of a man who realized he just hurt the only person he truly loved in his life and its too late to fix it). Their reunion is gonna have so many ugly feelings, Spider will probably still hate Q, but I feel like Q is gonna take a gentler approach and try to win Spider over again, maybe even offer him some homecooked Na'vi food lol. If Quaritch really joins up with the Ash People like the BTS images imply, that might be the one thing that could change Spider's mind just a teeny bit, but good luck with that after everything he did to him.

uhhg I can't wait a year and a half, I gotta know what's gonna happen to them!

– eat it.

I wonder if the treatment of Sully's kids and Spider will be different during captivity. I can just see Quaritch trying to make Spider as comfortable as possible, trying to feed him the "homemade" food from the previous post while Lo'ak and Kiri are in the most uncomfortable position on the ground and getting some leftovers or nothing at all 💀

Spider squirmed uncomfortably against the thick rope binding his wrists together— and then immediately felt guilty for it. Across from him, Kiri and Lo'ak were bound with their wrists and ankles twisted awkwardly behind their backs, sharp rocks digging into their knees. Tight gags bound their mouths shut, so their communication was limited to terrified looks whenever they made eye contact. Half-dried blood oozed from cuts they’d gotten during their capture. Spider didn't have a right to complain about his wrists, not when his friends were hogtied like yerik carcasses ready for the cookfire. He wasn't even sitting on the rocky ground; a soft, woven mat beneath his knees protected him from the cold floor of the cave they were kept in. A part of Spider wondered why their captors would treat a full-blooded demon more gently than two half-breeds, but that question was ignored in favor of trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

Around them, strange Na'vi with pale blue skin and black war paint moved around the cave, preparing weapons and other supplies. If Spider had to guess, he'd say this was a war party from an unknown tribe, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough information to guess what they were doing so close to home, and more importantly, why. Normally, the sight of a Na'vi war party, even an unknown one, would've been good news, but the fact that these people had kidnapped him and his friends gave him the sneaking suspicion that these warriors weren't here to help Jake fight the RDA. Even more worryingly, Spider spotted human-made guns and grenades amongst the supplies the warriors were moving around, meaning someone had taught these people how to use Sky People weapons.

The sound of voices made the three of them look up. On the opposite side of the cave, two new Na'vi entered the war camp, and the way the other warriors gathered around to greet them respectfully told Spider they must be important. One was a female Na'vi with the same pale blue skin as the others. Even from across the cave, Spider could make out the ornate red headdress and intricate paint patterns she wore, marking her as high status; a tsahik or olo'eykte. Her companion was dressed in much plainer clothing by comparison; the same loincloth and simple paint design all the others wore. However, no amount of unfamiliar paint and regalia could hide the familiar blue stripes of a forest Na'vi. Spider exchanged a confused look with Kiri and Lo'ak. What was a forest Na'vi doing with these strange warriors?

The female leader addressed her warriors calmly while the forest Na'vi stood rigidly at her side, his tail lashing in clear agitation. Then, one of the warriors pointed towards the spot where Spider and his friends were tied up. Before the warrior even finished raising his hand, the forest Na'vi made a beeline right towards them.

Spider hissed through his teeth. There was something eerily familiar about the way the Na'vi stormed in a straight line towards his destination without caring if he got in the way of others. Slowly, Spider shook his head. The human weapons, taking Kiri and Lo'ak hostage while treating Spider with kid gloves... In his gut, he already knew who it was, but his mind wasn't ready to accept the ugly truth yet.

"Spider!" It wasn't until the Na'vi— no, the recom, yelled his name that he was forced to face the truth. There was no mistaking that low drawl.

"Quaritch," he didn't whisper it so much as soundlessly mouth it when the man skidded to a stop in front of them. The confrontation he'd been dreading for months was finally here, and he had no one to blame but himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see matching expressions of horror on Kiri and Lo’ak’s faces. The monster from their nightmares was standing right in front of them, and they had no idea it was Spider’s fault. Lo’ak tried to say something, but it was muffled through his gag. He strained against his bonds, tail lashing furiously, and Kiri pressed her shoulder against him in a weak attempt to soothe him. Thankfully, Quaritch ignored them, and instead knelt before Spider.

Spider tried to shrink away from him, but there was nowhere to go. Quaritch took him by the shoulders and gently turned him this way and that, eyes and fingers roving over his body and his exopack for any sign of damage.

"You good, kid?" He asked, lightly tugging Spider's arm so he could get a better look at a nasty scratch he'd acquired when the strange warriors had abducted them. Once Quaritch determined the scratch wasn't life threatening, his ears sagged in relief and he clapped Spider on the shoulders.

"Yeah, you're good, you're good," he answered his own question in a low mutter, more to himself than to Spider. A low, relieved chuckle escaped his lips, and then he smiled. Spider could count on one hand how many times he'd seen Quaritch smile, and most of the time it was more of a cruel grimace than a smile. This look was different— it was genuine. He smiled down at Spider like this was the best day of his life. No one other than Kiri had ever looked at him like that, and it made him want to burst into tears and attack him and bury his head in his chest all at once. Instead, Spider did nothing but return his look with a baleful stare.

Quaritch tentatively reached out like he was going to cup Spider's face in his hand, but Spider bared his teeth and jerked his head away. To his relief, Quaritch let him go. His smile turned slightly sad, but also unsurprised at the aggressive reaction.

"Ma Kwarit." Spider looked up as the leader of the warriors approached them. It took him a moment to realize "Kwarit" was her attempt at pronouncing Quaritch's alien name. The woman stared down at him with an unreadable look on her face. Her eyes were somehow both hot and cold; bright orange-gold like a fire, but there was no warmth behind them. Spider glared back at her with the fiercest look he could muster, and clenched his hands to stop them from shaking.

"Varang, I apology for running." Quaritch greeted her in broken Na'vi.

The woman, Varang, waved away his apology dismissively. "These children, they are the ones you sent my warriors to look for?"

"Yes. My son," Quaritch patted Spider on the shoulder with one hand before gesturing at Lo'ak and Kiri with the other, "and children Toruk Makto. Your warriors is good."

"They are the best," Varang agreed. She didn't sound boastful when she said it, as if she were simply stating an immutable fact. Her fiery cold eyes roamed over Lo'ak and Kiri, taking in their half-breed features, before coming to a stop on Spider. It was a challenge to hold her gaze without flinching, but he did his best to meet her eyes with a steady glare.

After a long moment of analyzing Spider's face, she said, "I do not see you in the face of your son, but I see your fire in his eyes."

To Spider’s mortification, Quaritch chuckled at that and ruffled his hair. “Yes, he gets from me.”

Spider hissed at him and jerked away as hard as he could. He ended up accidentally scraping his injured arm against the rock wall and his angry hiss turned into a grunt of pain.

“And when he becomes angry, he is so determined to get his way that he will hurt himself in doing so. That is something else he has in common with you,” Varang observed, the barest hint of a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

This time, when Quaritch laughed it was slightly more forced. “He need medicine. Call healer. And food.”

“My healers have never helped a Sky Person before. They could harm him as easily as heal him. The same can be said of our food.”

“Son is smart. He know what help and what hurt Sky People. He know what to eat.”

“Wait—” Spider interrupted, and he found himself pinned under Varang’s intense hot-cold gaze once more and it almost made him lose his nerve. “I see you, Varang.” He greeted her as best he could with his hands tied. “My friends also need food and medicine. Please.”

Varang’s hairless brow raised a fraction of a centimeter. “He speaks better than you do, ma Kwarit.”

“That’s because I taught him to speak. And I can tell he hasn’t been practicing.” Spider added.

Varang exhaled heavily through her nose, which was probably the closest thing to a laugh he’d get from her. That was a good sign. Something Spider had learned during his captivity was that it was always better to get on the good side of those who had power over you. It had worked with Quaritch— maybe a little bit too well considering how things turned out.

“Please?” Spider asked Varang again hopefully.

Varang turned to Quaritch, and to his dismay, he realized she was leaving the decision up to him. 

Quaritch eyed Lo’ak and Kiri’s many scratches and bruises apathetically before he shrugged. “They look fine to me.”

Varang nodded to one of her warriors. “Bring a bowl of food and a healer for the Sky Child. Leave the other two alone.”

“No!” Spider protested, but Varang was already walking away, taking her entourage of warriors with her. Lo’ak caught his eye and shrugged weakly as if to say, well, at least you tried.

“Dammit,” Spider curled in on himself and kept his eyes trained on his bound hands. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Kiri and Lo’ak. Silently, he prayed Quaritch would leave with the others, but unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered. Quaritch stayed right where he was. Mercifully, he didn’t try to touch him again, but he kept taking deep breaths like he was about to start speaking but always stopped himself.

“What?” Spider snapped after what felt like the hundredth aborted attempt at speaking.

Quaritch’s ears flicked back in surprise at the sudden word. “I was just— Spider, listen— I want to— we need to have—“ he interrupted his own stammering with a frustrated hiss and ran his hands through his hair. “Jesus, I sound like an idiot.”

Spider exchanged a bewildered glance with Kiri and Lo’ak. None of them, not even Spider, had ever seen Quaritch look nervous before. It wasn’t an emotion they thought he was capable of. Spider looked up at Quaritch warily, wondering what the hell he was trying to say. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Quaritch was trying to apologize to him.

After an unbearably awkward silence, Quaritch reached into a small pouch attached to his belt and pulled out a spartan fruit. He passed it to Spider while avoiding eye contact, almost shyly. “Here.”

Spider stared down at the fruit in his lap, confused. Spartan fruit didn’t grow in this part of the forest, and judging by the fruit’s slightly battered appearance, Quaritch must’ve been carrying it around with him for a while. Slowly, Spider raised his gaze from the spartan fruit to squint up at Quaritch.

“It’s a spartan fruit.” Quaritch told him, as if Spider wasn’t the one who had taught him that. “You told me it was your favorite.”

Spider said nothing.

The longer he remained silent, the more fidgety Quaritch got. His tail swished behind him and he struggled to meet Spider’s eyes for more than a few seconds at a time.

“I just— I just thought you might want it.” Quaritch scratched at the back of neck while avoiding eye contact again.

They lapsed into another silence that was so awkward it was almost painful. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lo’ak scrunch up his face at him as if to say, what the hell is happening? All Spider could do was shrug.

Finally, Spider cleared his throat, moreso to interrupt the horrible silence than because he wanted to say anything. “Um… thank you.”

Reluctantly, he took the fruit, telegraphing his movements so Quaritch could see what he was doing. When he saw Spider had accepted his gift, he smiled another genuine, not-evil smile.

With his fruit in hand, Spider slowly got to a crouch and started shuffling away from him. Quaritch frowned. He let Spider move away without a fight, but kept a narrowed eye on him, ready to grab him if he looked like he was going to bolt— not that there was anywhere to bolt to in this cavern full of enemies.

Spider made a big show of moving slowly so Quaritch wouldn’t get any bad ideas about his intentions, and came to a stop next to Lo’ak. Then, before Quaritch could realize what he was doing, he pulled down Lo’ak’s gag and raised the fruit to his lips. Lo’ak started scarfing it down like it was his last meal.

“Dammit, Spider, that was supposed to be for you!” Quaritch seized the strap of Spider’s exopack and hauled him back before Lo’ak could take another bite.

“I don’t want your damn fruit, I want to make sure my friends are okay!” Spider snapped.

Quaritch yanked the half-eaten fruit out of his hands. “Your little friends will be just fine without food for a day or two. As long as their daddy cooperates, they’ll be back home before they know it.”

“My dad’s gonna kill your ass again!” Lo’ak yelled now that his gag was off. He strained against his bonds like he wanted to throw himself at Quaritch.

“Shut up.” Quaritch said irritably.

“Fuck you!”

Quaritch brandished his knife threateningly at Lo’ak. “You keep your mouth shut or I’ll make that hand look like a real Na’vi, boy!”

Despite the threat, Lo’ak looked like he wanted to snap back at Quaritch anyway. Kiri tried to say something through her gag and pressed herself against Lo’ak’s side. Behind Quaritch’s arm, Spider desperately shook his head, praying Lo’ak would listen to reason. Thankfully, he did, though he let out one last angry hiss before settling back next to Kiri in defeat.

His surrender sent an ugly smirk shooting over Quaritch’s face. “Well, would you look at that. A Sully can learn to follow orders. Ha!”

Quaritch’s mean-spirited laugh was interrupted by the arrival of a young woman carrying a medicine bag in one hand and a bowl filled with different kinds of food in the other. Clearly, whoever made the bowl had no idea what was safe for humans, so they’d compensated by putting in a little bit of everything.

“Here we are! You, girl, heal up now please my son.” Quaritch ordered in Na’vi so bad that even Spider had trouble deciphering it.

The poor healer stared at Quaritch in confusion. “I do not understand your speaking.”

“He told you to treat their wounds first, then me.” Spider “translated,” nodding urgently at Kiri and Lo’ak.

The healer turned towards Kiri with her bag at the ready only for Quaritch to grab her by the hand and pull her back.

“No, no, no. Not them. Him. Him only. Do not listen what he say. He lie.” Quaritch said very slowly.

The healer still looked confused, but she opened her bag and knelt next to Spider. She hissed softly through her teeth as she examined the nasty cut on his arm. “I do not know what to do. His flesh is not of Eywa. I am afraid I may hurt him.”

“Listen him. He will say you what safe use.”

“You want me to listen to him?” The woman’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But you just told me not to. You said he lies.”

“Listen to him!” Quaritch repeated. He banged his hand against the floor in frustration, making the poor healer squeak in surprise. “Go on, Spider, tell her what to use.”

“Hmm…” Spider made a big show of peering into her bag. His sharp eyes instantly identified which plants were safe and unsafe for him to use, but he feigned confusion with a shrug. “Huh, that’s funny. I can’t seem to remember what’s safe for me. Oh well…”

“Spider…” Quaritch bared his teeth in a wolfish smile— now this was the smile Spider was used to seeing from Quaritch, the same one he had whenever he got a lead on Jake or threatened an RDA grunt into submission. “Tell the nice lady what to use on you. Now.”

The borderline demonic smile sent a chill through Spider, but he held his ground. Remembering how pathetic Quaritch sounded when he asked Neytiri to let him go gave him strength. As much as Quaritch liked to threaten him with “old school ass whippings” Spider was confident Quaritch wouldn’t actually hurt him— at least, not physically.

Spider bared his teeth in a smaller, less-pointy version of Quaritch’s evil smile. “Maybe if she helps my friends first, it’ll jog my memory.”

An ugly, forced chuckle escaped Quaritch’s teeth. “Oh, so that’s how you want to play it, huh? Fine! Nobody gets medical attention now.”

Spider forced his expression to stay calm. He folded his arms behind his head and laid back against the damp stone. “That’s fine with me. I guess I’ll just lay here in this cold, dark cave with my open cuts. Sure would be a shame if I got an infection. Did I ever tell you that humans are way more likely to die from infections than Na’vi? Our bodies just don’t fight off bacteria the same way.”

Quaritch stared him down, teeth bared and tail swishing. For a moment, Spider thought he was really going to risk it just to spite Jake’s children, but then the moment passed and Quaritch snarled in frustration. “When did you get so manipulative? Has Sully been teaching you this shit? Fine. You, girl, heal children Toruk Makto first. Then my son.”

Spider smirked as he watched the exasperated healer finally get to work on Kiri and Lo’ak’s injuries. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

With an irritated grumble, Quaritch got to his feet and fidgeted with his loincloth. Clearly, he wasn’t used to wearing it yet. “Alright, I gotta leave you alone now, but don’t go getting any big ideas, ‘cause I’ll be back soon. If your ass has moved an inch from this spot when I get back, you won’t need that paint to look blue anymore, you read me?”

“Lima charlie, sir.” Spider replied with as much sarcasm as he dared.

Quaritch narrowed his eyes at the disrespectful tone, but must’ve decided it wasn’t worth it to say anything. He turned to leave, but hesitated, his back to Spider.

“Spider… son… when I get back, we’re gonna have a talk, alright? We just— we need to talk.” He said without looking at Spider.

“Okay,” Spider said, more to get rid of Quaritch than anything.

Quaritch hesitated a moment longer like he wanted to say something, but instead he left without saying another word. As soon as he was out of sight, Spider scooped up the bowl of food and scrambled over to his friends. He yanked off Kiri’s gag and started feeding her and Lo’ak while the healer patched them up.

“Are you guys okay?” Spider asked.

“We’re fucking fantastic, bro.” Lo’ak answered, and Spider instantly felt stupid for asking such a question.

“We’ll live,” Kiri replied before turning to the healer and switching to Na’vi. “You should mix yalna bark with the fireflower root— it will stop the bleeding faster and clean the wound better.”

The healer’s eyes widened as she realized the wisdom to Kiri’s words and did as she instructed.

“I can’t believe Quaritch is going after Dad again. That asshole just doesn’t quit!” Lo’ak said frustratedly.

“I know.” Kiri agreed. “And he was acting so strange… Spider, what do you think he wants to talk to you about?”

Spider shifted uncomfortably as Lo’ak and Kiri watched him. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter, cause we’re not sticking around to find out. C’mon, this lady doesn’t understand English. Let’s come up with a plan to get out of here.”

💙I hope you enjoyed! Please comment or reblog to let me know what you think, or send me a writing prompt if you want to see more💙

Art trade I did with @anxiousdreamcore

They challenged me to draw Spider giving Quaritch a Na'vi makeover, I challenged them to draw Kiri introducing Spider to an ilu. Click for better ✨quality✨