Many Moonys Ago...

I think that, deep down, Neytiri loved Spider. However, for a long time, that love was made impossible by her resentment toward the Sky People. I think that without the return of the RDA, and given a little time, Neytiri might have eventually let her guard down around him.

In fact, the comic The High Ground clearly show how Neytiri initially tried to keep Spider away from her children, only to gradually resign herself to his presence—even if she didn't fully accept him. At one point, during a confrontation where Spider insists he had no hand in the war on Pandora, Neytiri lets slip: "Not you... your people." These few words clearly indicate that, despite the tension between them, a part of her acknowledges that Spider is right. In The Gap Year ( (i haven't read The Gap Year but this scenes are important for this post), she continues to exclude Spider from family activities, but eventually comes to entrust him with the responsibility of looking after Tuk and the children when she has to go into battle.Even though she warns Spider that she holds me responsible for the children's safety, with his very life (Spider himself promises her as much), I see this as proof that a part of her wants to trust him. Although she had several opportunities to see that Spider could act responsibly, it was not until the moment in Avatar 3 when Spider used his body to shield Jake from RDA agents at Bridgehead that Neytiri realized he was not only genuinely concerned for their fate but also willing to risk his life to protect others—just as a true Na'vi would.

In Avatar: The Way of Water, when she raised her blade against Spider, I saw shock in her eyes beneath the anger.

During Spider’s first crisis in Avatar 3, Neytiri held back, yet her breathing grew anxious and does not fully look away. In Omaticaya, when she suggested killing him, it was clear from her eyes that she was shocked by her own words; but she was blinded by pain, fear and anger.

Now I'm sure that if Neytiri had been in Jake’s shoes during the sacrifice scene, she wouldn't have gone through with it either; she would have hit a mental block, broken down, and realized that her words didn't reflect her true feelings.

This actually confirms the moment in The High Ground where Kiri tells Spider that Neytiri loves him. She just needed to open her eyes. And this draws an indirect parallel to her relationship with Jake. In Avatar, Neytiri learned to love as partner a human in a Na'vi body, where as in Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, she learned to love a Na'vi in a human body with a mother's love.

Or, Spider finds a big scary kitty cat (palulukan) and it learns to like him through the power of Spider being a stubborn bastard.

But no, that bitch was sneaky and snuck out

now this is moment i wanted to capture most of all because neytiri is letting spider sleep on her??

It took me far too long to realise that the reason Quaritch kidnapped Spider before confronting Jake and placed him in Bridgehead, is because Spider is his weakness and he knows it.

Miles’s A3 storyline focuses on the consequences of his reckless actions in A2, and you can feel the collar tightening around his neck. He has lost status and is in the worst position we have seen him so far; a dog on a tight leash, being threatened to get put down if it bites the hand that feeds again.

Quaritch is careful about outwardly showing it, but he is not in denial about his feelings towards Spider. He loves him and, despite Socorro’s burning hatred for his father, deep down, that love is mutual (canon info taken from Pandora exploration book). Miles also knows that Spider can and will be used against him if he confronts Jake in the open — it happened before, and time and time again the mission got compromised because of his parental duty.

So Quaritch did the logical thing and removed Spider from the playing board. He had to ensure he wouldn’t get in the way or be dangled in front of him like a carrot, but because Miles pushed the air mutation angle to get RDA to agree to pursue him, he is thereby forced to place him in a scy-ops facility.

I hated him for that and to be clear, I still do, but at that point in the story, it wasn’t something Quaritch had any control over. He ran himself into a corner and the only way he could keep Spider was on RDA’s terms. He had no say on his conditions or his destiny at that point, but he took the risk because having Socorro contained and nearby meant that he wasn’t going to compromise Miles again by twisting the knife buried deep in his rotten heart.

Recombinant Quaritch is a horrible person for this, but not as horrible as some people say when they assume he deliberately chose to place him into a scientific research facility, as opposed to just being a short-sighted idiot who doomed his son to a dangerous fate.

Basically — Quaritch kidnapped his son because he cares for him deeply and knew the danger that bond posed to him. He knows he loses control over his thoughts and emotions whenever his son is in danger or on the opposing side, so he had him taken to Bridgehead where he could be close, but not threatening to Miles.

100 to 1k NottPott Challenge

Prompt: smoke

The new prompt is live! For the next two weeks, let your inspiration burn and share with us your microfics, drabbles, and shorts about Harry and Theo! Anything between 100 and 1,000 words can be submitted to the challenge.

All are welcome to submit, you do not need to be part of our discord, but we'd love to have you if you want to join! Just submit an ask to the Wild About NottPott blog and you will receive the link 💞