I’m headed back to my folklore roots this week and talking about creating your own myth for your worldbuilding!
Mythology explains something otherwise unexplainable, whether that be a part of the world, a structure, or a part of the human experience. They are typically reflections of society in the time they were created that echo to the present--a foundation of a certain belief or custom. This can be a really intriguing way to bring readers into the history of your world—what will your myth say about the people of that time, what were they concerned about? What kinds of stories did they tell?
Myths are just stories with a simple theme. Remember that this thing is supposed to have lasted across time—when you’re retelling a really old story, how many specific details do you actually remember? Don’t try to fool us with a story that’s too in-depth. Mythological stories are about mortality, or the nature of mankind, the afterlife, religion. A theme your myth may have is: “humans were born from the sea” or “all mankind was originally kind”.
What does your myth explain about the world? Maybe it’s where humans came from, or where a certain religion, custom, ritual, or traditional practice originated, even where a revered creature originated, or where it went. If your world can’t explain something by science, the people in it would have tried to explain it through myth. What things need explaining?
To make your myth believable (or, believable to the world it’s in) we want it to be distant in the past. Think thousands of years old, or at least, no one alive today knew anyone who lived through that time. I would say a good three or four generations old is a convincing minimum for time to have passed, but myths can be (and often are) as old as the beginning of humanity itself. As well, it may be difficult to pin down exactly what time a myth was created.
Your myth should have characters—usually they’d be gods or beings with power over the world, but this isn’t necessary. Maybe your myth is about one really influential king, or just some person who caused a great deal of waves. Nevertheless, whoever they are, think of the impact time has over someone’s reputation. The older it is, the more revered these characters may be.
Lastly, think about how your myth impacts the present. What has the past gifted? What has been lost?
Here’s a good resource: Creating a Myth: 7 Tips for Building a Richer World - TCK Publishing
Good luck! Next we're covering legend and folklore <3
Photographer Marissa Bolen and Kyle Thompson. Filtered in black and white. ⎯ 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 (2013)
“just a cool pic”??? sir you ARE a cool pic
rainy days with abby
the soft pitter patter of dense raindrops hit the window next to your shared bed. the gloom of the thunderstorm’s shadow creating a dark comforting sanctity that threatened to lull you back to sleep. large familiar hands wrapped around your waist, holding you back to her strong chest. the warmth of your bodies under the fluffy blanket felt like nirvana.
abby’s subtle snores blew gentle breaths onto your neck, until she’d awoken from your waking. she’d always been a light sleeper.
her hugging of you tightened until you descended into a long needed stretch, a groan coming from your throat as abby softly giggled and rubbed your arms.
“bigggg stretch,”
you smiled at the phrase she used every time you stretched the sleep out of your tired body. you found yourself back nestled in her arms, her chin on top of your head.
“goodmorning, lovey.”
“ ‘morning pretty lady.”
the swollen-ness of her morning face came into your view from above as she kissed your forehead, gentle fingers sliding underneath your pajama top, tracing small circles on your lower back.
“i can go make you some breakfast?” you offered.
“now you’re talkin’”
Any tips on how to eat pussy?
With your whole heart and entire face.
Endings.
I couldn’t love you more fiercely, even if I tried.
And my love, did I try.
I casted my cares to your passions.
I molded my mouth to yours.
& I did it all, while fear clung to my back-
Whispering to me, that it wasn’t enough;
Urging me for more and more.
I morphed my mind to your frequency.
I shaped my soul to your light.
I handled my heart to your beat.
All the while fear sat on my chest-
Made herself home;
Told me that it wasn’t enough,
I’d lost you forever.
My heart couldn’t break anymore than this.
Oxygen couldn’t make it through my lips
To give life to my mind.
To wonder where I went wrong;
Where did I lose you?
But all behind me was the pain of reality,
All I’d really lost was myself.
Piece by piece.
I couldn’t love you more fiercely even if I tried,
And my love, did I try.
Sacrificing myself all for you.
-alh.
here with you ; ellie williams. (4.5k.)
⤿ f!reader, college!au, drinking + kissing, fluff fluff fluff <3 lowercase is on purpose , was blasting ceilings by lizzy so excuse the title
⤿ you're invited to another one of dina's off-campus parties not long after finals, where you meet a pretty girl who miraculously knows your name. away from the hustle of the actual party, where people are plastered out of their minds and making a ruckus, you and this pretty stranger get to know each other a little and earn yourselves a place in the other's heart.
“if you want anything just let me know, okay?”
dina’s hand is warm, splayed across your lower back as she guides you away from what had to be the noisiest place at the party. it’s no surprise she attracts such diverse groups of people, given her gregarious personality and hard-to-overlook kind of beauty.
you would be lying if you said you hadn’t had a crush on her when you first met her; it’s dina, how could you not? thankfully, over maybe a year of getting to know her, you realized she wasn’t exactly your type and that she was far too head-over-heels for her on-and-off partner to even think about you. honestly, she never shut up about the guy.
“got it. thanks, dina.”
you definitely were not going to mention the almost completely assured possibility that you wouldn’t see her at all for the rest of the night. thing is, when you’re the host of parties like these, you tend to get thrown around a lot. though she doesn’t really seem to mind, since this is, at the very least, the fourth party you’ve been invited to since finals ended (which was around a month ago).
she hums passively at the acknowledgement, then gestures fluidly towards the rest of the room. there are a few people situated on her couch, a couple of them already putting on a show for the others while a few sit alone, sipping their drinks with reckless abandon. you’ve never gotten completely plastered at one of dina’s parties, always the type to stay back and help her clean up if she hasn’t passed out or gotten herself sick, but unsurprisingly, there are always those who’ll take any chance they can get.
“mi casa, su casa.” she sings, then she’s gone.
left alone, you can handle yourself. why the hell would you come here if you couldn’t? you head towards what you remember to be the kitchen, but right now looks like a completely unprofessional bar complete with its own bartender—who you belatedly recognize to be jesse, dina’s on-and-off partner—in search of booze.
said bartender nods at you when you catch his eye, pouring whatever’s on the table for tonight into a very typically red party cup—on the house, since you get special privilege—and sliding it over to the edge of the counter. whatever’s inside sloshes dangerously, threatening a mess which’d only add to the ugly stickiness of dina’s countertops, but you grab and take a whiff of it before it can tip over.
“what, don’t trust me?” jesse ribs over the music—he speaks of your tentative sniff—, which is, as you’ve just realized, getting progressively louder.
“if i say anything,” you mutter, which gets you his typical jesus christ, these people, kind of laugh and he leans back against the counter, right next to you.
head crooked to the side slightly, you look him over. objectively, you can see why he and dina mesh so well; they’re both unbelievably attractive and complement each other’s personalities perfectly (from what you’ve seen, at the very least). their pretty much daily arguments aside, you can tell they love each other and only want the best for one another. that said, you can only imagine what’s running through his head right now.
“she’s not going to get shit-faced drunk,” he mutters, and that’s your cue to leave. you know he’s trying to console himself more than anything.
“no, she’s not.”, you respond in kind, patting his shoulder with just as much care as one would handle a two-hundred-pound gorilla, before pushing yourself up off the edge of the counter and walking out of the kitchen. god knows he could spend an hour sitting there talking about her; you’ve had enough of that for, quite literally, the rest of your life.
the sole of your left shoe sticks to the ground a little as you walk, and you thank your past self for owning a strictly-for-parties pair of converse which were, sadly, a little too worn in for your own good. sneaking a glance into the main hall, you catch a glimpse of your best friend seated halfway up the stairs chatting with someone—maybe a senior? junior, at the very least—who’s got a guitar case slung over her shoulder and the most unruly head of short, auburn hair you’ve ever seen.
dina’s gesturing wildly at the front door, likely having gotten into an argument with said stranger (except it looks far too fond to be serious), when the two of you make eye contact. her eyes are a strikingly pale kind of green, piercing through whatever weak defenses you’d put up for the night in a very relaxed fashion. she’s got this look on her face that screams uninterested, which is quickly swapped out for a look of rapt attention at your own once she realizes you don’t actually plan on looking away.
because man, she’s hot.
it’s just then that a presumably tanked freshman crashes into you and spills the contents of whatever it is they were drinking all over you, effectively shattering whatever that was. really, you would be grateful for it—something to spare you the embarrassment of looking too interested in someone way out of your league—had there not been the undeniable presence of cool, once-iced liquor spilling down the front of your printed tee.
“oh, fuck,” you curse, nearly missing their hurried apology before they barrel out the front door.
this wouldn’t be the first time. you sigh, reluctantly slipping away from all the noise, away from the pretty stranger, to deal with your problem. usually, you’d have an extra top shoved haphazardly into dina’s closet, something you could throw on in the worst-case scenario, but laundry day was just yesterday and all of your stuff was piled on your bed back home. already you could feel the liquor causing the shirt’s fabric to stick, leaving an icky, gross feeling that was begging to be cleaned up. the humidity from everyone’s breathing was not helping.
you set your cup down on a random table (never to be seen again) as you make your way to the bathroom. you wouldn’t be surprised to find the door locked, having been an unsuspecting party crasher one too many times in your first and some of your second year, but luckily the room’s unoccupied—not for long—and you slip in and lock the door behind you after waving off a concerned glance from jesse, who’s very slowly making his way to his girlfriend. no surprise there.
“oookay, fuck.” you curse, flipping the light switch and nabbing a couple (a lot) of the mini towels out of dina’s probably way-too-expensive towel rack and pressing them to your front, hoping they’ll soak up some of the leftover moisture, at least save you from the mortification of showcasing to everyone your chest and abdomen.
it doesn’t really help.
again, not an irregular occurrence, so you’re not too worried; dina’s typical party etiquette has ensured that everyone here will leave you be and mind their own business. that doesn’t help your pride, but you concede to stepping back out and flipping the light switch off behind you as you make your way to the front.
this time, when you cross the main hall, dina’s gone and so is her friend. accompanying disappointment comes the ponderance of whether jesse found dina or not and if the pretty stranger has left, but you remind yourself you’ll find out later—probably near midnight when people start to filter out for the night and you’re tasked with cleaning up—, however frustrated that makes you, given the fact you’d lost a chance you probably never had in the first place.
you pass a group of what look like sophomores playing beer pong against seniors—or maybe even graduates?—on your way out, and silently curse the growing pool of booze dripping on the floor right next to the table on your way outside.
the door is wide open, so being engulfed in cold air on your way outside is no surprise. luckily, the weather is calming down a little after a gruelling winter, so there’re only a couple of piles of leftover snow and the breeze doesn’t serve as an immediate freezer. however, your damp tee is anything but a savior and causes an eruption of a ton of goosebumps across the pane of your chest, stretching as far as your shoulders, which are only covered by the loose fabric of your top.
you’re not sure what you expect to see when you turn the corner to dina’s garage, but seeing her and her boyfriend sucking face is absolutely not it. dina’s got him pressed right up against the garage door, and you’re pretty sure that if jesse weren’t sober out of his mind he’d be giving into every single one of her wordless demands.
you slip past easily, far away enough to go by soundlessly and completely bypass the two’s freaky-ass sixth sense. the back gate is just as well-managed as the rest of the house and opens quietly, in no contrast to the backyard itself, which is empty and well-kempt. you know only you and a select few people are actually allowed into dina and her parents’ pretty backyard, so peace is expected and welcomed. the breeze is also blocked by the house, which is nice.
there are a couple of flowers blooming already, and their scent wafts through the air, bringing a natural sort of calm. the yard is illuminated by the house—light dances in beautiful patterns against the greens and greys that make up the garden—, but so is the relaxed silhouette of the same pretty stranger you saw less than ten minutes ago. this time, she’s hunched over in one of dina’s ugly bright-green lawn chairs with a guitar seated in her lap.
you consider her privacy and the fact that maybe she doesn’t want company right now or that she’s too busy with her music as you make your way over—aside from those ugly lawn chairs, really, there’s nowhere else to sit—but then banish your hesitancy with the acknowledgement that this is just as much a space for you as it is for her.
the chair scrapes against the patio as you pull it out, just far away enough from the brunette to make yourself seem open and friendly, but respectful of her space. you worry the cheap plastic is going to snap beneath your weight as you sit down, but it holds well and serves as a final, much-needed resting spot for your already sore feet. once your rustling stops, you hear the gentle strum of a guitar and realize the girl hasn’t stopped playing.
you relax further into your seat.
closer up now, you have the chance to really look at her. her hair’s pulled back now, half-up half-down, a lot less dishevelled than she’d been when you’d last seen her.
looking lower, she’s wearing a low-cut short-sleeve and an unbuttoned flannel long-sleeve. skin-tight, ripped jeans line what look like toned thighs and spread legs, stained black and white converse completing the look. her fingers move deftly between frets, over strings, and you just barely catch the edges of a black and white tattoo peeking out from beneath her sleeve. she’s got really nice hands, you think, just as pretty as her face.
“i can feel you fuckin’ staring.”
her tone is accusing, but not necessarily malicious or irritated; she doesn’t even look up at you when she says it, adjusting her guitar in her lap as she works at whatever she’s trying to play. her voice suits her, too, you think, and shift a little where you sit at the thought.
“sorry. you’re really good at guitar.” you mutter, earning an amused chortle from the girl across from you. it’s a pathetic excuse—you’re well aware of your own unsubtlety—but there was something there, something between you two, not long ago, and you’re not just going to let it slip away. the alcohol’s got you pleasantly buzzed, and you’re sure that if you were a little soberer, you’d be embarrassed.
“you think so?”
she looks up now, a brow raised. you catch the slit in her right eyebrow, cocked slightly as her gaze rakes over you. she’s got this lilt to her voice that feels like it means trouble, however, it does nothing but pique your interest a little more.
your response of “mhm. you play real nice.” earns you another glance over.
“i’ve seen you around a couple times. you’re a friend of dina’s, right?” she questions, looking between you and her instrument as she tunes what she seems to think is an out-of-tune string. her leg—the one which has the least contact with her guitar—bounces gently against the patio floor, and it takes you a second to realize she’s seen you around before and remembers you.
“yeah. best friend? i think? she likes to call it that.”, you joke, shoulders trembling slightly at the very unwelcome entrance of another breeze, carrying in the temperature from the front into the back. the sound of the stranger’s laugh is already addicting, especially when it feels genuine. that’s sometimes hard to come across, and you’re already starved for it even though you’ve been speaking to this girl for like, a minute.
“i’ll tell her you said that. shouldn’t she have an extra top for you or something?”
“she does, usually. kinda forgot to leave a couple here.” you hum, pointedly ignoring the third glance over the girl’s given you since she’d first laid her eyes on you. her lips are pursed slightly, gaze trained wholly on your face whenever you speak yet it wanders when silence stretches between you two. her eyes are locked on something behind your head when she speaks again.
“are you two a..?”
“thing? no, have you met jesse?”
“dina’s got a ton of other people that aren’t jesse, babe.”
your cheeks warm at the pet name, and you realize she’s right. dina’s had a couple of other flings outside of jesse; every time the two of them break up, she runs off to someone else before realizing she doesn’t want anyone but him. then, suddenly, without your permission, your mind wanders at the idea of someone wanting you the same way those two want each other.
“no, we’re not,” you shake your head as she looks back at you. briefly, so momentarily, you question whether she actually likes girls or not—and if it seems like you do—so add a quick and easy-sounding, “think i liked her a year or so back, though.”
the stranger nods, and you’re suddenly hit with the fact that you don’t know her name.
caught in your own head, you don’t register her leaning back in her seat, guitar following her movements, pressed right up against her abdomen. you do though, notice her shrugging her long sleeve off and balling it up in her free hand before it's carelessly thrown your way. your rapt attention towards her movement is pretty much the only reason you were able to catch it; it’s warm from her own body heat in your cold hands. it’s pretty obvious what she wants you to do with it, but you wouldn’t want to impose so you just stare at it.
“put on the damn sweater. it’s cold.”, she mutters, and you can’t help but bite back a smile at her tone; what was likely intended to come across as gruff and demanding sounds pleading and mildly concerned. you unravel the garment and pull your arms through the sleeves, a clean, earthy scent enveloping your once-shivering form.
“thanks, uh..”
“ellie. williams. ellie williams.” she stutters out, which is pretty cute.
“ellie. thank you.”
that only gets you a grumble of acknowledgement before she’s back to her guitar. strands of her hair are slowly slipping out of her half-updo, and it only makes her that much more alluring. you’re well aware of the fact that you’re staring again, but she doesn’t seem to mind all that much as she starts up another tune. this one sounds far too smooth, too practiced to be something she even needs to go over, and belatedly you wonder if she’s trying to impress you.
you two sit together quietly for god knows how long, accustoming yourselves to the other’s presence with ellie’s music writing over any awkward silence, and you drown in the admission that you could sit like this forever. the party inside is dying down, with a good chunk of attendees deciding to turn in early while the rest are either still on adrenaline highs or settling down for a couple of drinking games.
“where’d you learn how to play?”
you find yourself speaking before you can even think about it, and she doesn’t give you room to regret the interruption with the soft, loving little smile that breaks out on her face when she considers your question.
“old guy. his name’s joel.”
you can’t help but smile at that; whatever harsh exterior she’s going for really isn’t working for her right now. almost every time she’s spoken to you, it’s either been with a smile, a laugh, or some poorly-concealed interest. joel, you think, taking that name and storing it for later, if there ever is a later with this girl. ellie.
“his guitar, then.” you hum, because it can’t be that much of a secret if a signature that deeply resembles his name is etched into a spot just above the pickguard. “you mind teaching me someday?”, you add, because there won’t ever be a moment where you don’t want to be talking to ellie; what you aren’t expecting is for her to look up at you with the same fond look that she’d looked at her guitar with just moments before, and nod. christ, you think, she’s so..
“we can start today, if you wanna.” she offers, and you try your very best not to seem too eager when you say yeah, for sure, but realize you’ve failed and that the pretty stranger–pretty girl sitting across from you doesn’t really care. she’s taking her guitar off her lap and making her way over to you before you can even second-guess yourself, crouching in front of you and raising an inquisitive eyebrow on her undeniably attractive, stupid fucking face.
you kind of want to kiss her.
you’re already imagining a future where you and ellie are, at the very least, friends—if not more, but you don’t want to get your hopes up—and are out like this every day, hanging out, being comfortable in each other’s presence because there’s no way this feeling of security is normal with someone you’ve just met unless you’re soulmates of some kind.
ellie makes a gesture, lifts her arms as a means of telling you to lift your own, and you swear its the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen. you lift yours and her hand snakes its way forward, pressing against your right shoulder so you’ll lean back a little. she’s strong, you can tell that much—as if the muscle lining every inch of her visible skin wasn’t enough—, and her touch is searing hot, leaving fire in its wake.
she sets the guitar in your lap, spreads your legs gently by the knees, and waits expectantly with her hands out for you to offer up your own. you find yourself staring as she takes your hands, lithe, strong fingers beneath your own, lips parted slightly in both concentration and excitement as she positions your left hand under the neck, fingers splayed just slightly against the frets. she realizes you already have your other arm around the body, but reaches over to ghost her fingertips against the skin of your elbow anyways.
she smiles. “try it. use your thumb. don’t break my guitar.”
the look you give her prompts another huff of laughter, but she seems to have enough faith in you to believe you won’t. it doesn’t seem like she plans on moving, though, since she’s still crouched in front of you and when you mutter a retributive “it’s joel’s,”, the pretty girl in front of you leans forward and rests her open palms on your knees, effectively cutting off any sly remarks.
you’re probably never going to forget the way her eyes light up when you strum it the first time, and use your very limited guitar-playing knowledge to press against a couple of the frets in succession and play what sounds like a semi-well-practiced harmony.
“holy shit,” she breathes, and you find yourself feeling bashful regardless of the fact you were only, like, thirty percent sure you could pull that off again. however, you manage to contain any sighs of relief and only exhale a chuckle in response.
her eyes are still on you, you know, and you start absentmindedly fidgeting with the neck and its frets; her attention is everything you could’ve ever wanted, but her gaze is weighed and it’s making you feel a little self-conscious. you’re not starved for it by any means but it has been a while since someone has stared at you like this, awestruck out of their mind. it’s funny because for some reason ellie’s making this seem like such a huge deal when she’d spent the past, what—you’ve lost track of time—thirty minutes? an hour? playing a bunch of fucking songs on this old guy’s guitar, and—
“i had no idea you could play guitar..”
her voice tears you out of your own head, and suddenly she’s closer to you than she has been all night. you lock eyes when she mutters your name, alarmed at the fact she knows it—you reason that she knows dina and you must’ve been mentioned in passing at least a couple of times—, and feel chills go down your spine, butterflies erupting in your stomach. i definitely want to kiss her.
“i can’t,” you huff, desperate to ease out the tension, “you outplay me by—”
“can i kiss you?”
her cut-off is abrupt and unexpected, and you swear your heart has never stopped like this. it’s such an innocent question, a plea of consent laced with insecurity, something the girl you’d seen in the main hall earlier into the night hadn’t even seemed like she possessed, but it’s so inherently ellie you don’t know what to do with yourself. so you nod. a quick tilt to your chin, up and down; you can’t trust your voice to work well enough for a yes.
but ellie needs to hear it.
“say yes. i gotta hear you say it.”
you stare at her, and she stares back. the need to actually kiss her is growing unbearable now that you know she wants it too, but the mortification of knowing this pretty girl could hear the desperation in your voice—you haven’t even tuned into the fact that she sounds just as desperate as you—, the hitch of your breathing if you were to say yes, makes it hard to voice what you want.
so you don’t. she’s close enough, hands having slid upwards, her sweaty palms against your thighs in a subconsciously innocent gesture; any stray hair’s been tucked messily behind her ear, her lips are a little chapped and you see her throat constrict in a swallow when you reach forward with your right hand and thread your fingertips through the hair at the base of her neck.
and when you lean forward—as much as you can, with the guitar situated between the two of you—, ellie meets you halfway, semi-pulled in by your touch and mostly leaned in of her own accord.
it’s a kiss. just that, a gentle press of the lips, but the glorification fiction has given it hasn’t been for nothing. maybe it’s just because it wasn’t with the right person, but you’re far from unfamiliar with it and it’s never felt like this. ellie kisses like she never wants to stop and you’re not complaining. you feel her grip tighten around your thighs, and you’re already running out of air even though you’ve only been doing this for a couple seconds. when you part, it’s with an unspoken promise of more.
“i’ve seen you around,” ellie starts, whispering against your lips. it sounds like a confession, something she needs to get off her chest, so you urge her to continue with your silence and the gentle circling of your thumb against her scalp. “with dina. or jesse. on campus. during those stupid presentations. or the social events. and i’ve always wanted to talk to you, you know? especially that one time, when you,” she inhales, smoothing her hands out against your legs. “when you corrected jesse on a fucking dinosaur name at the group’s museum outing.”
you stare at her, shuffling through images of every event you’ve ever gone to for dina’s sake when it hits you. a couple months back, before finals, probably when dina and jesse had gotten back together after a huge blowup, she’d found some stupid exhibit at a museum close to campus and presented it to you. she’d asked if you thought it was a good deal, especially because her friend, ellie, liked dinosaurs, and fuck, what is wrong with you?
“shit, you remember that?”
her silence is enough of an answer, gaze flitting between your eyes and lips nervously.
“oh my god,” you exhale, keeping her still with the hand you have around her neck as you press your foreheads together. to think, if you’d been a little less ignorant at the time, you could’ve already known ellie. the two of you could have been friends, possibly more—which now, doesn’t seem all that ridiculous—, had you tuned in a little more to what dina was saying, had paid more attention to the rest of dina’s group when you’d gone out with her, had asked simply, back then, who’s ellie?
“is that weird? tell me that’s not weird. i kinda feel like a creep now, fuck. i swear i wasn’t, like, stalking you or anything,” ellie starts rambling, something you doubt you’ll ever get tired of.
“you said you’ve seen me around a couple times. are you a creep?”, you tease.
“no! i mean, no. i just kinda, i only heard about you and saw you that time, and, shit–”
you smile at her, let her go on as you lean further over the guitar, left hand reaching out to tuck a couple strands of her unruly hair behind her right ear, effectively cutting her off without saying a word. this awestruck look on her face is something you really, really want to get used to, and the feeling of her breath ghosting over your lips is far more welcome than anything else will ever be.
“god, i wanna kiss you again.”
“do it.” you hum, and then ellie’s lips are on yours again and you swear this pretty stranger with the auburn hair is going to be the death of you.
Patroclus: If I died how much would you miss me?
Achilles: It’s cute that you think dying will get you out of this relationship.
obsessed with these works by fracisco romero zafra
aged!Neteyam Sully x human!warrior!reader
In which the cruel ways of the RDA to save humanity come to light and a movement against the killing of Pandora begins. With young people receiving training in the resistance army to become warriors and protect the indigenous. You get put into cryosleep and sent to Pandora as one of the finest warriors. Here, you come face-to-face with the future Olo'eyktan. What if the two of you butt heads? And something forbidden blooms?
warning: english isn't my first language, based on my series 'You're dead to me' so also recycled parts for this introduction (not everything, I added different details so you better read👹), mentions of historic events.
Word count: 3,6k
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A century ago, the planet earth changed for the worst. More oil was extracted from beneath the ground, and the oil production was more massive than ever. The air worsened by the second to the point that humanity needed breathing masks to walk through overpopulated cities. Climate change also took its toll, as the icebergs from Antarctica completely melted as well as the permafrost and bacteria from billion years ago started spreading over the planet. The RDA took action on this and people were thankful for the fact that they took their chance to save humanity. Yet no one knew what they were actually doing behind the scenes. Humanity held their breaths waiting for all these years of great sorrow, thanks to the greed of the rich, to end. Nothing is what it seems, and the hopes of a minority was soon stripped away from them, as the secrets of the RDA came to light. Sending trained marines and scientists to this other planet in our galaxy: Pandora. A planet so far away that resembled our planet Earth. Their living circumstances natural, like the age of the hunters and collectors. No electricity, no mass production and no capitalism, just spiritual beings living in the name of their god. Yet, their peaceful lives soon came to an end, because the humans came to Pandora in greed. A planet not corrupted with technology or the rich, meant a healthy planet. A planet with lots of green. A planet where climate change doesn't play a role. A planet not destroyed. A planet able to inhabit. Coming in peace was never an option for humans, as taking something what is not theirs is their habit. Columbus and America, Europeans and Asia. Slavery. The occupations during all the world wars. They feed onto power. Pandora wasn't any different, as they planned to extrude the natives, forcefully take Pandora's sacred resources and inhabit the planet. While many humans didn't mind this, their focus laying on the fact they'll soon be saved from the dangers they caused, there was a minority in the billions of people that decided to set their foot down. The resistance, starting as a demonstrating group on the streets soon turned into a professional organization to protect Pandora of their own species. Gathering people who actively wanted to prevent Pandora into going extinct, protecting the natives from the monster one calls humanity.
You, (Y/N) (L/N), belonged to said minority. You despised your species. The way they could think they could get anything they wanted. So greedy, so narcissistic. When the news came out about the RDA, you were beyond furious. 'The past is the past. Let it go' they said when they spoke about history— slavery. Yet look at this, the past just repeats itself in different scenarios. 'The government wouldn't do that' some didn't believe it, no one could be that cruel in their eyes. Living in their fantasy world and not being realistic. The government would do it, definitely. Anything for getting their greedy hands on any form of money. Being around ignorant people isn't your cup of tea. 'It doesn't affect me', say the same people that found apologizing about slavery bullshit. The same people that didn't care about climate change and global warming. You didn't deem yourself fit, but you wanted to do something to help the innocent natives. They didn't do anything to deserve that kind of treatment, so you went against the greedy hands. You got questioned, interviewed and monitored for at least a year until you were allowed into the organization. You were beyond enthralled to know you could finally be useful.
You soon started training at the organization with a few others that got accepted for their loyalty and perseverance, but it was no usual military training. You all learned about life on Pandora, you and the others that had potential in them learned to live like the people of Pandora: the bow and arrow, spears, but also hand-to-hand combat if anything were to go wrong. The training honestly went great, you didn't regret taking this step for one bit. You felt fit and worthy, and most importantly you found people around you that had the same mindset as you about this whole ordeal. You had friends that went through this entire process with you, telling each other about their lives and how they ended up here. While they were almost like warriors following orders, every night the group would sneak away to be like teenagers again, kids having fun and playing games. For a long time, it was the same routine. Wake up, eat, and train for almost the entire day, do homework, have dinner, sneak out, and sleep. The homework might have been one of your favorite parts of this training. It was to learn the language of the people, Na'vi. It took some time to master it, as you weren't very familiar with pronounciation. "Oel nati kamy?", your voice sounded unsure as you tried to say the formal way of greeting someone in Na'vi, but you earned a slap against your forehead in return from one of your friends. "No, it's Oel Ngati Kameie, skxwang!"
Years of training together ended up being so worth it, because when all of you reached the end of your teenage years, it got announced that you were finally ready to head to Pandora. You 'graduated' as one of the finest warriors of your class. You felt so delighted to know that all of your hard work paid off in the end. The day that you would finally get shot into space and sent to Pandora to fulfill your duty, you felt the adrenaline travel through your body as you felt incredibly nervous. You were about to leave everyone you have ever known behind on planet Earth to fight for your norms and values. What will feel like only a few years to you, will be a decade for your friends and family. Saying goodbye, definitely was hard. The resistance thought that it was best to not say goodbye on the day you were to leave, but a few days before that. They reasoned it would have been harder to leave your loved ones behind and you actually second that. A lot of tears were shed, but everyone was proud of you for standing behind you thought was correct. This was only a temporary duty, as you would get sent back to earth once you fulfilled your duties, but what if you wanted to stay? In the books, you read and learned that Pandora was like something unrealistic, out of a fairy tale. What if you would want to stay instead and guard said fairy tale til your last breath? You all follow your superiors' suit to the air travel that will sent all of you to your final destination, putting your stuff where they tell you to. With no seconds left to spare, they immediately tell you to follow them to your tubes, you were getting put into cryosleep. You still couldn't believe it. They were going to put you to sleep for six years and you're gonna wake up looking the same, but temporarily living in a dream world you trained your entire teen years for. You lay down in your tube, ready to get put to sleep. The nerves were truly getting to you. "See you on the other side!", you jokingly said to lift up the mood, and your friends started joking around, telling one another goodbyes and what they should do if one of them doesn't wake up. You just lay there quietly, closing your eyes as you waited to get put to sleep.
What actually took six years didn't feel like that to you at all. One moment you closed your eyes as you were put into cryosleep and after what felt like one second passed, you got woken up from your deep slumber. The claustrophobic space you are in makes something inside of you itch. Good thing you were into cryosleep, you couldn't have survived sleeping in this tube every night for six years in a row. Once your tube was pulled out of the wall, you immediately feel yourself floating. So this is what space felt like.
"Drink and eat lots, since you will feel very weak!", a loud voice echoes through the room as one by one everyone left their cryosleep. You float through the room with a smile on your face as you hold onto handles, lockers, anything to keep your balance. An excited scream could be heard from behind you, it was your friend Siria. "You are not dead I see," she jokes as she floats towards you, her arms wide open to invite you in a hug, "this is honestly insane, I can't believe that we are actually doing this!" You wrap your arms around you as you share her excitement, "I know right? We worked so hard for this, I can't believe this is happening." You met Siria on your first day being at the resistance base. She shared her passion for nature with pride and you always admired her for this. A cough is heard behind your back and Siria looks over your shoulder to see who it was, "Kai!" she squeals as she carefully gets out of your hug, floating towards their other friend to engulf him in a hug. You watch as Siria and Kai share their excitement with each other. They really didn't age at all while being in cryosleep, such an interestingly concept it was. You float towards them, holding onto Kai's shoulder to keep your balance and not pass out, because damn they were right. You feel so tired and weak. If you weren't in space right now you probably would have fallen to the floor. Your limbs felt like cooked noodles, you really needed to eat. "The trio is back at it again to cause havoc!!" Kai ruffles your head, your hair tangling in between his fingers as he did so. The three of you were the inseparable trio. While you had a group of friends you hung out with, you three always just stuck together like glue. It may have been the fact you bonded over being reckless warriors, thriving on the thrill and action, or the fact all three of you were top students, but that doesn't matter. Siria and Kai are your partners in crime til death do you all part. The two are engaged in a deep conversation, but you didn't bother to listen or chime in. You wanted to explore, and see what you worked your entire teenagehood for. Grabbing onto the handle against the walls, you made your way towards the huge window, were also most of the crew was floating around. You had to see this for yourself, you had to believe it with your own eyes. What if you were still dreaming?
"Excuse me, Pardon me!", still not used to not having any gravity, you keep bumping into other warriors. A 'watch where you're going!' was screamed your way, but you paid no mind to it as you had more important things to do. Floating past the last person that kept you from seeing outside, your eyes immediately widen at the beauty that lay in front of you. A planet, looking exactly like earth, right in front of you. It was beautiful, the true meaning behind mother nature. You bring your hand towards your cheek to pinch yourself, was this real? Were you truly experiencing this? When you pinched yourself so hard, leaving a red mark on your skin, and you didn't wake up you knew this was real. You were knocked out of your senses pretty quickly, as everyone was told to dress up, eat and get together in the common area. Where that was? No idea, but what you knew is that you were excited as hell. You basically swam through the air towards the lockers, where your supposed gear would be. The sight was probably incredibly silly, you thought, you probably looked like a swimming frog. Yet you didn't care about the stares that were given you. The only thing on your mind was to see Pandora with your own eyes- not out of books, notes you had to read, or drawings. You left without telling Kai or Siria, but you would probably find them, considering you're going to the same destination and those two definitely weren't to miss.
You float past all the lockers with nameplates, looking for your name. You proceed to float, using the lockers to pull yourself up and speed up towards the lockers that start with your last initial. Upon floating in front of the locker that had your last name written on top of it, you slam the locker open in excitement. Clothes sealed in recycled plastic, a pair of shoes, and an oxygen mask. Fortunately, it wasn't those old aquarium-like masks. When you learned about those you thought they were ugly as hell: a head in an aquarium. Those were designed like gas masks. Was that the best way to explain them? They only covered the mouth and nose part to breathe properly, it didn't cover the entire face anymore. You flash a skeptical expression towards the clothes in your arms. They were dark colors, dark colors in a hot amazon-like forest? If it were up to you, you wouldn't have chosen a little more, bare, clothes. For the sweat to at least dry up and not soak in the clothes. "Weird choice of clothes, right?", Siria appeared next to you, out of the blue, making you flinch. You quickly managed to cover it up and compose yourself, "I'm gonna end up looking like a crab while fighting a villain, kind of embarrassing." she laughs at your reply and grabs a hold of your forearm, "come on let's go change. Kai already went to change!" And with that, your friend pulls you with her. Changing your clothes was kind of awkward. The room was a big space where all women changed next to one another. It gave PE class vibes. You felt sticky and disgusting as you changed out of the clothes you wore for six years. Wearing fresh, clean clothes is always better than nothing. The material feels nice against your skin, and very cooling. As you look in the mirror, fixing every detail to look as neat as possible. You roll your sleeves up just a tad bit and tried to loosen the corset-like clothing piece around your upper body. It doesn't look exactly like a corset, but it's one of those clothing pieces that have a corset built into it. The mask is hanging against your hip, ready to be used 24/7 once you stepped foot on Pandora. The pants were a little wide thankfully, enough space to move into.
"What is it with the corset though? Who wears a corset while fighting?"
"Maybe it's bulletproof or something?"
After this whole ordeal in the dressing room with some people whining about the clothes being too hot, while others were second guessing if the outfit was nice to fight in, you finally made your way towards this common area. There everyone was awkwardly sitting, what one could call sitting in space. Everyone was given a granola bar to snack on and a sealed bag with a sweet drink in it. You leaned against Kai, as you were too tired to use your strength to hold onto anything. Eating the bar and sipping from the overly-sweetened drink, you listened to the peptalk your superiors were giving you all. They were mainly talking about how the RDA is sending more backup and technology, so it will be very tough to defeat them. There was also something about dead marines in Avatar bodies that really got your interest. The resistance's insider got this information the moment your air travel left to Pandora. Shit really is about to go down soon, so there is no time to dwell and laze around.
What almost felt like a decade to you, actually took just a few hours before you finally landed on Pandora. During the landing all, maybe twenty of you in total, were seated as you braced for impact. It wasn't too bad, it was like a plane landing. Before the doors opened, the duffel bags you took with you were placed on your laps. You were allowed to take your most important stuffs and put it in this bag. So what did you take? Your phone and Polaroid camera. I mean, you were barely twenty and missed a lot of your childhood, a little living and enjoying Pandora's scenery couldn't be too bad? You put your mask against your face, pressing it down and securing it as you breathe in the oxygen from the earth. Red lights flash through the area you're in with the others as the secured door lowers to the Pandorean ground, revealing the beauty of mother nature. You rise from your seat as your seat belt was already unclasped. Without waiting any longer, you rushed to the outside world in a heartbeat. Watching your surroundings, it seems like you landed on the resistance base. Unlike the RDA base, which you saw during your learning process, this one was more integrated with mother nature rather than destroying it to make space. It was so organic, so natural. A team was already waiting for your arrival, all standing in a row as you lock gazes with a Na'vi. Unlike the things you were taught about Na'vi clothing, this one was wearing human clothes. This was an avatar, the ones the RDA founded. If this already got you excited, imagine what will happen if you met a Na'vi.
You all greeted them in the formal Na'vi way. The sun was burning your skin as you listened to your superiors talk, but the fresh wind blowing through the air made you feel at home. "All of you here, thank you so much for being here and help the Na'vi." One of the people spoke. You learned that she was of importance to the resistance. "Over the past six years, while all of you where in cryosleep, we have decided where all of you will settle and with whom. RDA's focus is on the forest, so that is where we will place you at. We will divide you over the different forest clans, who are aware of your arrival and help." The warriors in front of you held a file, as they all opened it up and divided you all into teams. You waited patiently with your arms behind your back. You were pretty confident about where you would be placed at. Surely it would be a clan where you would come of great use, right?
"And last, for the Omatikaya clan. The top three warriors of the class: warrior (Y/N), warrior Kai and warrior Siria. Ending on top of the class in both theories and physical, they will get placed into the clan in the most danger: the clan with RDA traitor Jake Sully. You will be taken with Norm, who is of importance to the Omatikaya clan." So Norm was his name. A pretty goofy one if you had to be honest. The avatar named Norm stood at least 10 feet tall as he looked down at all of you, literally. You just reached around his crotch area, which is kinda embarrassing because imagining running into his front. Hopefully, he likes to travel in his human body more. "Then that's settled, Oel Ngati Kameie." His hand rested against his forehead, slowly bringing it down to his chest as he watched the three of you proudly, who were standing at front confidently. You flashed him a kind smile in return, ready for whatever adventure you will come across, "Oel Ngati Kameie."
Before you knew it, you were on your way to high camp, the base of the Omatikaya clan. Since the doors of the helicopters were slid open, you could peek out of the helicopter and admire the beauty of Pandora. Your eyes lit up as you saw mother nature herself and the animals that lived within it. It was something so magical, something unbelievable. A group of birds flew past you and you looked back at them in awe. It was a species you never saw before, a species that doesn't exist on planet Earth. "Are those the hallelujah mountains?!?" Kai almost fell out of his seat at the sight, heading over to your body that was basically sitting at the edge of the helicopter. He took a seat next to you as he threw his arm around your shoulders, "they're floating, like literally!" You reached for your bag, taking your Polaroid camera out and snapping a pretty picture of the sight. The Polaroid left the bottom of the camera and you ripped it off, shaking it to make the picture appear, "this is going to be in my travel journal." You announced proudly as you stared at the way the ink slowly faded in. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this, I might throw up and pass out!" Siria leaned back as her head tolled back as well, as if accepting it all if she died right now. Norm watched the three youngsters with proud smiles on his face. He remembered being this excited himself when he first got to Pandora and saw the beauty for himself, "we are almost there kids, brace yourself. You will be staying at high camp to integrate with the Omatikaya." A squeal left Siria's lips as you could only watch the horizon,
excited for what's about to come.
A/N: hii!! Thank you sm for reading! This was an introduction type of part, so it's similar to the introduction of "You're dead to me". Do not worry, this is a Neteyam x reader so he's coming in the next part. Stay tuned and let me know what you thought. <3
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