Spider Being Adopted By Tsen’tey And Ikeyni Of The Tayrangi

“Wait, you’re human?”

“Ha Ha.”

I guess the reason I hate the amount of Quaritch thirst, as someone who has many villain/”problematic” faves, is because he’s too real. There are real people out there like him, who are in power like him, and who would do and have done what he’s done.

Miles Quaritch could be a very real person we see in our world. Someone who happily watches the mass destruction and death of a people he deems inferior (people who are also clearly an allegory for real indigenous people). Someone who torches villages and destroys lives because he can. There are real people like that, and that what makes him a compelling villain. It’s also what makes me hate him, and want to see him dead (and major props to Stephen Lang for being able to make me feel that, he’s an amazing actor).

Another fanart for @mochalottie 's fanfic Our Hearts Beat in the Womb this time of chapter 5! (I didn't check whether or not I missed something from the original scene so if there is anything... let's say, I took creative liberties ;p)

Wheeee another one 👀...

Varangs

My thoughts were inspired by @detective-twinkachu's au where Norm and Max hide Spider's lineage.

I love the idea of an AU where Norm finds baby Spider and immediately realizes this child will never know peace if anyone learns who his real father is. So, like Eddard Stark, he makes a painful decision: He erases every trace of Quaritch’s connection to the boy and keeps it secret. He gives the child a new name (seriously, Miles? Way to make it obvious, Paz), forges documents, and creates a solid cover story in case anyone asks questions. He can’t bring himself to tell anyone, not even his closest friends, the truth. Quaritch has made too many enemies and caused too much destruction for anyone to overlook the boy’s lineage. There's already been enough tragedy. And this child, little Julian, is the first human ever born on Pandora.

Norm even steals the only photo of Paz and hides it away where no one will ever find it. He hates lying. Hates secrets. But Hell’s Gate is built on them, and children should never have to suffer for their parents’ mistakes. So he decides: he’ll raise Julian as his nephew. He’ll raise him to be kind, brave, and good. Maybe, just maybe, when Julian turns nineteen, he’ll sit him down and explain everything. Or maybe he won’t. Maybe Julian should never know. Norm will carry this secret to his grave… unless Eywa herself decides to produce a blowhorn and inform the entire planet. No. He'll hold this secret.

On the desk beside Julian's forged documents was a faded photo of Paz Socorro. Pregnant. Glowing. Laughing. Holding her growing belly as she smiled for the camera. Norm’s throat closed up. Guilt and anger were warring in his chest like a storm. What would Trudy say about all this?

“I’m sorry, Socorro,” he whispered. “You were… a good mother. You didn’t deserve to fall in love with a monster, you didn't deserve to die for his craziness, you didn't deserve any of this. But your baby boy? He deserves better. He deserves everything. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

He picked up the photo, stared at it, then opened up his desk drawer and hid it beneath layers of unimportant documents. Hidden in plain sight until he could find a tiny box and bury the picture so deep that maybe Eywa herself will forget about it. This was for the best.

Then, he burned everything else.

@cyren-myadd to answer your questions about this au.

Quaritch wouldn't know if the kid is his. Back in the day, he nearly beat the shit out of Phillip Shaw for messing around with one of his female soldiers. So when he sees this kid with blonde hair, exactly the same shade as Phillip's pansy ass, he jumps to the wrong conclusion, assuming Phillip is the father of this little twerp. He also mistakenly assumes that Miles Socorro must have died on Pandora, because in his mind, there's no way a human child could survive on this planet.

I don’t see the RDA being too interested in who Julian belongs to, either. They're only focused on getting information about Jake Sully’s location. I can still see Quaritch taking Julian out of there like he did in the movie, but it's a manipulative move, not paternal in any way. And even if he does find out Spider is his son, he’d keep that information to himself. That’s a lot to process. However, he does plan on telling him once the heat dies down and Jake is strung up by his feet. Quaritch needs Julian focused, and he doesn't have time for emotional conversations when he's supposed to be tracking down Jake. He DOES start being a little nicer to Julian, but is still being manipulative to keep Julian reliant on him.

As for Norm, he would fight tooth and nail to find his pseudo-nephew. He’d even go so far as to join the battle in search of Spider, which leads to a confrontation with Quaritch, who’s holding Kiri hostage on the Sea Dragon. Before Quaritch can utter a single word about Spider’s parentage, Norm body-slams him from behind. When I say he’s willing to sacrifice himself and fight to keep that secret hidden, I mean it.

Kiri is freed during the scuffle and scurries away. Then it’s an all-out brawl with Norm clawing at Quaritch like a madman, because he’ll be damned if this piece of shit spills the beans and ruins Julian's life. Norm is injured, but he wounds Quaritch badly, nearly tearing his throat open and even trying to rip out his tongue to silence him.

(Quaritch still manages to escape, but whether or not he succumbed to the injuries Norm gave to him is unknown.)

Norm’s uncharacteristic brutality raises suspicion in Julian, who has never seen his guardian act like this. Maybe even Jake starts questioning Norm’s extreme dedication to finding Julian and fighting Quaritch like a goddamned Thanator. Norm stays tight-lipped, but I have this idea where Mo’at eventually spills the truth. She’s not stupid; she’s known for a while that Norm was hiding something, and she bullied Norm into letting her accompany him to the Metkayina's territory so that she could talk to the boy herself and do some extreme mediating. She's allowed this to go on long enough. No more.

She would have a long, serious talk with Jake and Neytiri, urging them to see Julian beyond his bloodline. I’m not sure how that will play out, but questions are answered, and Norm’s relationship with Spider is put to the test…this isn't going to end smoothly, and tensions are high, especially with Neteyam seriously injured.

But I swear this has a happy ending!

After the truth comes out, there’s tension and frayed trust. Julian pulls away from Norm, confused and upset, not just about the lie, but about having the story of his BIRTH constructed and shabbily patched together like an infected wound, and making him believe for YEARS that he was someone else's son!! This isn't just something that can be washed away with a kiss and a hug.

Julian's life was built on a lie, and even though Norm did this for his protection, it still hurts and makes him feel like an impostor.

Jake and Neytiri are stunned too, especially Neytiri, who struggles with the idea of this child, a friend and brother to her children, being connected to the man who caused her family so much pain. Jake feels betrayed, and he and Norm have a huge argument. Norm feels guilty, but is largely unrepentant and says some hurtful things when their argument gets vicious. "So what if I lied! You lied, too, Jake! You lied, and hundreds died! I wasn't going to let Julian hold your bag AND Quaritch's! Everything I did, I did for Julian!" THAT almost has the two go to blows, and Tonowari is forced to step in.

But it doesn’t stay that way.

Norm doesn’t give up. Even with his injuries, he shows up for Julian, again and again, not asking for forgiveness but simply proving, with quiet consistency, that he loves Julian. Neytiri remains distant for a time, but Mo'at and maybe even Kiri bridge that gap. Once again, Neytiri's trauma is real, and some time away from Julian AND Norm is needed for her mental health. It's going to take a year or two (maybe three) until Julian and Norm and the Sullys can look at each other without flinching. Kiri is the only one not majorly affected because she's attached to Julian and sees him as her full-blooded brother. It's the same for Lo'ak and Neteyam, but this information puts them in a really weird headspace.

I highkey want Varang to use and betray Quaritch.

I actually want her to dog walk this dude I'm not playing. I need Quaritch to be strung along like he finally found a place to belong, then be dumped like a used napkin it'll be so funny.

The Wanderer AU

I just watched Avatar: The Way of Water and came up with this bittersweet time-traveling au where Spider chooses to go his own way and practice self-care instead of staying where he is not wanted.

Imagine.

Spider’s last memory is the cold bite of Neytiri’s blade against his throat, her amber eyes filled with fury and grief. Then—nothing.

Yet, death does not claim him.

Instead, he awakens beneath the bioluminescent embrace of the Tree of Souls, his body weightless, his soul adrift. Eywa’s presence is everywhere—vast, ancient, and sorrowful. She tells him that his life was taken before its time, that he has honored her ways, and that she has always loved him. Eywa wants him to live again. To see the world beyond the forests and accept her blessings. He was meant for more.

And so, she gives him a choice: fade into the great cycle, or return.

Spider wakes gasping, his lungs—his human lungs—filling with Pandora’s air as if he had been born to breathe it. His mask is gone, yet he does not choke. Beside him, a presence stirs—an ikran, its sleek form rippling with twilight hues, its golden eyes locking onto his. It was his. Bonded. A gift, not tamed but chosen. Eywa's final gift.

Spider does not return to Hell’s Gate. He does not return to the Omatikaya. He takes to the skies, his ikran, his brother, carrying him over endless oceans and floating mountains, through mist-laden valleys and deep, untouched jungles. Spider becomes a phantom, a whisper in the trees, a shadow glimpsed soaring across the moons of Pandora, a traveling hermit always quick to spin a tale or offer advice.

Stories spread—of a lone human who flies Eywa’s skies and walks her lands without fear, a human who rides the largest ikran ever seen and calls it "brother," a human whose love for Eywa was so strong that she blessed him. Some call him a myth. Others, a ghost. The Na'vi speak of him in hushed voices, wondering if he was a sign of Eywa’s favor or her weapon against the humans who seek to corrupt her world.

Spider never sought out a home, but wherever he went, Pandora embraced him. Not as a human. Not as a stray. But as himself—the human who chose Pandora, and whom Pandora chose in return.