admiration | neteyam & lo'ak x oc

? twenty

but neteyam held her back by the arm, shaking his head at her. "don't, tal." she huffed as she tried to get free of his grip but failed.

lo'ak stood at her other side, also glaring at ixana. he knew she couldn't fight her in front of this many people, especially with his family watching, so he figured he'd take care of the situation himself later.

"talia has returned! she is okay, everyone is dismissed." jake announced to the clan that had surrounded the returning avatar, curiosity getting the better of them. but they all obeyed and dispersed quickly.

jake and neytiri were next to walk up to talia, "what happened?" jake asked, "are you okay?" neytiri asked next.

with a swift nod, she replied, "i'm fine," she glanced at ixana who stood nearby with her friends watching her converse with the olo'ektan, "just got lost i guess."

lo'ak was confused as to why she would lie for the girls that left her as part of their bullying and hazing. and neteyam had no idea what really happened as of yet, hoping to speak with her afterwards to find out.

"alright, just don't go out alone again." jake sent a nod, having been worried himself, before walking back with neytiri.

talia turned around to see neteyam and lo'ak staring back at her with worry lines. the younger spoke first, "why didn't you tell my dad the truth?"

neteyam pinched his brows together in confusion, looking between the two. "wait, what truth?"

she sighed, "i just want to forget about it and not deal with her." at the mention of another girl, neteyam seemed to be putting the pieces together. he asked, "what did ixana do, talia?"

she bit her lip, reluctant to tell them. as she prepared to speak up and explain, their attention was shifted to the new person who joined them.

"hey guys! oh, talia- heard you got lost in the forest earlier. such a shame you're so ditzy otherwise it wouldn't have happened!" ixana laughed, but was the only one to do so. her smile faltered only for a second before speaking up again with a smirk, "anyway, i just wanted to thank lo'ak for earlier. glad we got to spend some time together."

talia glanced to lo'ak who looked to his feet, a sullen expression written on his face. "what is she talking about, lo?"

but ixana interrupted, "lo bear didn't tell you? he said he wants to be with me, not you."

neteyam's jaw dropped at the information, just as blindsided as talia was. he knew his brother didn't have feeling for the other girl so his mind was buzzing with questions.

and talia felt her heart drop into her stomach— was this another trick? but lo'ak couldn't look in her eye, a tell tale sign of guilt. she continued staring at him in hopes of him to look in her eyes and say it was all a lie, but it never happened.

"it's not what you think, tal.." he whispered back, sadness lacing his voice. but this just confirmed to the avatar girl what ixana said, something was going on between them.

"is she telling the truth?" talia hesitantly asked, bile rising up to her throat in preparation for his answer.

ixana smirked as she watched everything unfold, the way talia was on the verge of tears and lo'ak falling right into her selfish trap. "go on, baby, tell her that we're together."

talia stared at him with bated breath, hoping and praying that he would just admit this was all a sick joke and that ixana was lying.

"i'm sorry, tal.. i can explain-" he finally looked to her and tried to reach a hand out to her, but talia took a step back away from him.