xxxvix. ❝a playground for them❞
╰ au / extended storyline
( year nine and ten )

IT'S Jake who gathers his sister, her mate, and his own mate. They stand beside some mud, where Jake has drawn something with the stick he holds.

Odessa tilts her head, trying to figure out what's drawn in messy lines. She crouches, hovering her fingers above the line, trying to see if this will help her figure out what's drawn.

Neytiri and Niave both share a look, unsure as to what it is that Jake was trying to show them.

Jake huffs. "It's a playground, Des."

Odessa's eyes widen, she can see it now. It's a little weird looking, but Odessa knows that Jake has very pour art skills. "Cool, what's it for?"

"The children. A playground for them to play on just like we had." Jake tells his freind, his sister, he misses his first home and his brother, he believes that this might help.

"Thank have a playground, my Jake." Niave smiles at her mate. "The world is their playground; the vines and trees, the water ponds."

Jake frowns. His mate is right, but he wished she was wrong. He wants his kids to grow up with a playground; money bars and slides. Like the ones that he had growing up, like the ones that Tommy had taken him to when they were young.

"Dessa?" He looks to her, as if she'll tell him what he wants to hear. He wants to hear that is a good idea.

"Jake..." Odessa goes quiet, because she sides with Niave. The world they live on, it's a humongous playground, one just has to look at it through a different perspective. "You just have to look at it on a different level. Think about Tuk and Ak'tari, and all of the kids. They see the world as vines they can swing on, the trees they can climb, the water they can swim in. Brother, it goes on and on."

Jake frowns. "But a slide..."

"Jake, come." Odessa grabs her brothers hand, pulling him along with her through the trees. Both are quick on their feet, the small sticks and rocks doing them no damage.

Niave and Neytiri follow behind, unsure as to where Odessa is leading them. They trust her, which is why they don't question where they're going.

They stop at a pond of water. It's deep enough that their bodies, past their heads, would be submerged. Around it are some vines, a large rock, a fallen tree, a few lily pads. The water is a blue-ish purple and shines underneath the moonlight.

"Why did you bring us here?" Jake asks, looking around the area. He tried to figure it out himself first, but he can't. "Des?"

"This is a playground, Jake." Odessa twirls, her arms outwards as she does so. "Come."

She walks towards one of the rocks, where she grabs the vine nearby. She continues to step back until the vine tugs, telling her that it's as far as she can go. Odessa jumps, and uses her arms to pull her upwards so her feet won't touch the ground. As the vine moves, she does too. Once her body is above the water, she lets go of the vine and her blue body drops.

"My Dessa?" Neytiri calls out as she takes a step towards the water. She's seen this before, when other kids sneak away too play. She just has a feeling that something is wrong.

Odessa smiles once she emerged from the water surface. "See, a swing, Jake." She watched Jake huff from the corner of her eye as she swam towards the shore. She gripped his hand in hers, pulling him towards the fallen log. She hands him a piece of smoothed out wood, and takes one for herself. She sits on the wood and pulls her knees to her chest — then she slides down, landing in the water with a splash.

Jake hesitantly does what Odessa had done. He found it fun. He was starting to see what she meant by the world being their playground. When he splashes into the water, he's quick to swim to the shore to do it again.

🌍.

Neteyam is ten years of age. He's grown, started to show heavy interest in what his uncle does as the Olo'eyktan. He's a true warrior, Odessa and Neytiri can see it through and through.

"How tall am I?!" Neteyam squirms as he stands against one of the wooden poles in his home. It's the pole that his parents mark his and his siblings and his cousins height on. He's the tallest out of his siblings, but Kiri is catching up.

"How tall!" Spider bounced from where he stood beside Neteyam. He was extremely happy to watch the money, knowing that after of Odessa's children, Jake and Niave would mark their hight on the same pole.

Odessa digs the dagger into the wood, making a mark that's visible to whoever that looks. "He is this tall."

He was about the hight of her stomach, almost a little taller. He would be her height soon, by the time he reached sixteen or so.

"My turn! My turn!" Kiri happily steps towards the pole, pressing her back against it and attempting to be taller by standing on her tippy toes.

"Hey... off your tip toes." Odessa tilted her head and looked down at her daughter, eyes narrowed.

Kiri sighed, but she did as Odessa said. She waited — not very patiently — for her adoptive mother to finish slicing a line in the wood. "Are you almost done?"

"Done." Odessa stated and stepped back, watching as the kids gathered around to see how tall Kiri and Neteyam were.

"Yay!"

"Me next!"

"No me!"

"Me!"