Pyrite

While Quaritch is helping Spider by training him to fight Na’vi sized opponents, his fighting style will never be anything like a Na’vi’s. Na’vi don’t punch people, unless they’re Lo’ak.

ending with a reference to the fic title boooo corny cliche

I couldn’t find more than a few words canonically confirmed in the Na’vi sign language, so all the signs here are made up, based loosely on what we know

how writers feel including a nonbinary oc who literally has one line of dialogue:

all medical shit is completely made up do NOT listen to a word I am saying thanks

this fic is just spider interacting with literally every character because I’m obsessed w character dynamics

physically cannot hold myself back from putting half-alive references in this fic

fighting for my life to make Ronal’s speech give the same vibes of tsireya’s w/o plagiarizing word-for-word

this chapter is literally just a bunch of description and introspection with like two lines of dialogue sprinkled in

If I remember correctly, Kiri skips an Omatikayan ceremony to sit with Spider in the comics. They are so sweet I love them

I don’t think Tsireya and Rotxo are actually horrible climbers, but their lack of skill is exaggerated in Spider’s perspective because of his Omatikayan upbringing. Everyone climbs in the forest, so he’s unused to unskilled climbers.

learning to dive is no joke I picked that shit up late in life

STRUGGLING to characterize tsireya forgive

there are exo-pack battery changes I’m just not writing all of them

had so much fun writing Jake’s White Dad dialogue for this chap

Every character I touch I make painfully awkward it’s like I’m cursed or something I physically cannot stop it

Apparently Spider shouldn’t be able to swim in Pandora’s oceans for extended periods of time due to the water’s high alkalinity? But it’s too late for me to write that in so I’m taking creative liberties. Look the other way.

Hometree songs are actually a thing for the Na’vi with lore behind them, it’s pretty cool

I want everyone to know that “spider dips w kiri fr” is a statement I wrote in my outline for this chapter

I feel like it’s weird to get burnt on ur hands but it’s happened to me so many times it’s not even funny. To be fair, I am very white.

let Neteyam be a kid 2170

While this fic was originally meant to be pretty canon-divergent, it ended up almost canon-compliant (apart from events such as Ro'a surviving and Quaritch's death..) and from this chapter on follows a plot mainly inspired by Half Alive. This project started out with no real outline apart from the prompt of Spider escaping earlier, and at times during the writing process I was frustrated with the plot, but in the end, it was an interesting experience to explore Spider's relationship with the Metkayina and Sullies. I hope none of you are disappointed by the path this story takes!

Am I overusing the motif of dead ilu be honest 💜

It’d probably be good for the narrative if I’d killed off Nalutsa but like. Why would I do that.

Spider was originally going to meet tsireya here but I could not pass up the comedic opportunity of ao’nung wandering out at like 6 am to find Spider communing w the ilu and judging him immensely for it

You cannot convince me Spider got enough socialization in his early developmental years to not be awkward around strangers his age. *points to “guys, sometimes it’s not so great to know who your father is”*

Gonna be honest I have no idea where the humans are currently living in canon. I know it used to be Hell’s Gate, but the RDA recaptured that and.. moved to Bridgehead? What happened to Hell’s Gate, anyway? Regardless, it seems like the humans all live in High Camp now. No clue what happened to Spider’s foster parents.

Na’vi don’t have eyebrows but I can still use “brow” to describe that general part of the forehead right?

Not sure if it’s clear but this chapter takes place a whole day after the battle. Like the battle ended late at night and then a day passed and then we have this chapter, there’s a bit of a timeskip

If there’s a word for whale vocalizations I don’t know it. You can only use the phrase “deep noise” so many times istg

Believe it or not, I wrote this entire chapter before reading the fic “Teenagehood” in AlexiHollis’ “Spider Sully” series, where Aonung also teaches Spider to dive. I cannot believe this coincidence.