Funny thought.. Yall know those vids where couples run in opposite directions to see who their dog(s) will follow? That, but with Ìley.
Like it's not even on purpose, but So'lek and Keke are just out and about. Maybe gathering food or hunting, maybe just going on a lil date of sorts. And they both end up walking in opposite directions with the plan to meet back up after whatever respective task separated them.
And poor Ìley is there, head swinging back and forth. Does he go with his rider? His best friend in this world? Or does he go with his other favorite person? The one who sneaks him snacks when So'lek isn't looking and gives him the best belly scratches?
Imagine the surprise when a dragging shuffle is heard, but not following So'lek. No. He decides to follow Keke. And So'lek turns around at the noise, confused. Watching his best friend abandon him for his crush/lover.
And Keke? Is over the moon so to speak. Internally gloating that the ikran chose her. Trying so hard to not turn around and rub it in So'lek's face. When they're out of sight, she sneaks him another snack. Telling him what a good boy he was.
I have got to stop thinking I can do one shots from big inspiration ideas. I don't think I have it in me. There's too many words to use, too many emotions that I want to share..
That being said, ig I'm doing another So'lek x Avatar-driver!reader series cause that's my man. And we're doing childhood friends to lovers. Yay!
*The title is still a wip but I got a bit too excited as I started working on this, so here's a lil snippet. Honestly, if yall got ideas, lmk. Making titles always sucks.
___
The forest was calm, tranquil as you sat on the rooftop. Class had ended much earlier than it was supposed to so you figured you’d take advantage of the small peace here. Fingers moving with the grace of a wounded animal. Neytiri had shown you a new pattern to try, one she said would be easy. Your fingers cramp a bit as you pull another string over and through. Liar. Or maybe you were just terrible at this. Your face scrunches up in frustration as you hold up your work, confused at what you were supposed to be looking at.
Maybe if you loosed your grip it wouldn’t twist as much. Focus can be deafening at times, the brain too preoccupied with the task at hand. This was one of those times. Ears would’ve heard the soft footsteps below, would’ve heard the small grunt as someone lifted themselves up onto the roof next to you. Would’ve heard the slight creaking of boards under foot if you’d been just a little less preoccupied.
So, it’s no shock that you’re startled by the sudden interruption. “What are you doing?”
A small squeak leaves you as you jerk away from the noise, nearly sending yourself falling off of the roof. The one saving grace was the hand that grabbed at the back of your tank top, pulling you back. Helping you balance. It was a miracle that you hadn’t thrown the fibers in your hand to the other side of the moon. “Don’t do that!”
The young boy next to you just stares, eyes shifting from your eyes to your forehead. Barely focusing on the hair growing there before questioning you again. “What are you doing?”
You shift a bit away from him, debating if you should hide your creation away. Not from embarrassment.. well maybe a bit. “Weaving.”
He looks down at the mess you were holding, head tilting in confusion. “It looks terrible.”
You can feel yourself grow defensive at that. Eyes shifting to look at the little you’d managed to get done on your own. A frown pushing its way onto your face. “It doesn’t look that bad.”
The boy shifts closer to you reaching forward and tugging lightly on one of the loose strings. It’s almost comical the way you watch on in defeat as the whole thing practically unravels into a useless heap in your hands. “Terrible.”
The fibers hang limply when you raise your hands to look at them. Frustration bubbles, “I don’t get it, I did it exactly how she showed me.”
A knee knocks into yours when he sits down next to you. “You are weird.”
You feel your ears tilt down, the frown on your face deepening. Your back straightens some in defiance, “That’s not nice.”
“It is true,” he points down at your hands, specifically the extra digit on each one. “Even with extra fingers you are clumsy.” Then he smiles at you, “I can show you. I know an easy pattern.” He reaches out, wiggling your pinky. “Even your clumsy fingers would be able to do it.”
Eyes squint some as you look at him, really look at him. He was young, maybe younger than you. His eyes bright, a warm smile.. maybe he wasn’t so bad. But just because he seemed nice doesn’t mean you were going to agree after he made fun of you. “You’re making fun of me.”
His smile drops some, brow pinching in confusion. “No.” It was simple. Like it hadn’t even crossed his mind how you might’ve found his words to be rude. The realization shocks you.
Just as you’re about to say something, agree even against your light embarrassment in the whole ordeal, three knocks on the doorframe below pulls your attention away. “Cmon kiddo, we gotta get back before sun down.”
You miss the way he slumps next to you, inwardly groaning as you shove the now unwoven pile of fibers into your pockets. A deep sigh leaving you as you stand up, brushing your shorts off. “Coming.” Ignoring the stare to your left as you jump down onto the wooden handrail beneath, hearing the wood groan under the sudden weight before dropping down to the soft dirt below.
Before you get a chance to take even two steps, he’s calling down after you. “What is your name?”
Turning around, hands resting on your hips. “Why should I tell you?”
His hand raises to rest on his chest, “I am So’lek. There, now you have to tell me yours.”
As much as it, and So’lek, frustrated you, you couldn’t help the small twitch at the corner of your mouth. “I’ll tell you next time.”
So’lek’s ears twitch at that, curiosity painted fully across his face now. “You will come back?” He smiles warmly when you nod. “Do you promise?”
One brow twitches upwards, a barely contained smile now on your lips. “You said you’d teach me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I’ll come back.” So’lek’s smile deepens in triumph at your words.
“Hey kid, we’ll be back tomorrow.” Grace’s voice cuts through behind you, finally pulling you away from the young boy still on the roof. “You can talk more tomorrow. Let’s go.”
What do I mean by retroactive shifting? Its you thinking about the past and realising that you actually shifted then.
An example of this is waking up in the morning and saying, "Woah, I was definitely in my DR last night." Because it doesn't actually matter if you felt that you were there or not. You can't prove to yourself or anyone else that you shifted but you also can't prove that you didn't. There's no way to know where your awareness went while you were asleep. So why not assume it went to the reality you've been thinking about all day? Thats the most logical place it would be in, wouldn't it?
People shift even without feeling a single thing. Why should you be any different? Besides, feelings and sensations don't tell you where you are, you do. You know where you sleep, so know that you were sleeping in your DR.
This mindset preps you for actually believing and expecting that you can wake up in your DR without even trying to because yes, you were asleep there the whole night so its only natural to wake up there, duh.
Right before fully shifting, I had primed my brain so that whenever I felt even a little bit different when I woke up, it 100% meant that I had shifted in my sleep/slept in my DR. Over time, my brain went along with it and I began to expect to wake up somewhere different or to have shifted in my sleep which led to me waking up in my WR.
The same goes for having vivid dreams or feeling symptoms during attempts.
Realising that you felt shifting symptoms because you shifted. Not because you were trying but because you were actually there.
Past attempts where you felt something? That was a shift. You never had that kind of experience before finding out about shifting. Why are you disregarding it just because its not a full shift?
I know symptoms are just your body falling asleep but sometimes I get weird ones that never happen when I am not trying to shift so instead of treating them as a sign that I am currently shifting, I think of it as me already having shifted. Because I won't feel that way if I hadn't.
Having a vivid dream about your DR? "Its because I was sleeping in my DR without even knowing it. So I dreamed about it while I was there."
When the goal is to experience (even if its the tiniest things) then everything becomes a win.
A gentle reminder for anyone who needs to hear it tonight:
You didn’t just stumble upon shifting by accident. Shifting found you. Out of billions of people in this reality, the universe tapped you on the shoulder and opened a door. It showed you the infinite multiverse because you are meant to experience it.
I know the journey can feel exhausting. I know there are nights when your DR feels too quiet and your CR feels too loud. But please don't give up. You were given this awareness for a reason. Your Desired Reality already exists, your comfort characters are waiting, and every “failed” attempt is just one step closer to waking up exactly where you belong.
You were chosen to know about this. You were always meant to shift; it is not merely a possibility, but a beautiful inevitability. You are destined to shift. Trust the process, my love.
(coming from a procrastinator that often gets bored during attempts and STILL shifts anyway)
HI SHIFTBLR! I'm back with a big post.
So, I've been on tiktok lately and i've been seeing a lot a lot a LOT of people talking about how to awake shift and it really inspired me to speak on my experience because i don't really see that many people share their awake shifting experiences in detail.
Just for context, I use my own method to awake shift. It's fairly easy. All it takes is patience and some free time, that's all.
There's this girl on tiktok named Kas who PERFECTLY encapsulated my METHOD in a video but in way better words. She defined shifting as DISCONNECTION, IDENTIFICATION, AND RECONNECTION! That is exactly it! Most people get stuck on Disconnection and give up. I often get really bored before this part but trust me that's just your ego trying to stop you! Don't ever listen! You could live your dream life rn babes why would you quit?!?
So, THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO SHIFT WHILE AWAKE:
I meditate by breathing in like 2-5 times, sometimes i do it for longer but i find that if i do it for too long, i end up falling asleep. This step is important but it shouldn't be overdone because your body isn't even needed to shift.
i immediately start on DISCONNECTION. I tell myself "I am disconnected from my current reality. I am not this body / vessel" until i start to feel a little floaty.
After feeling floaty, i'm still feeling connected to my CR but i kinda ignore it and just skip straight to connecting to my DR SELF via identity affirmations.
Usually at this point i start to visualize where i'll wake up and sometimes i get so deep in it that i dont even have to do CONNECTION because i'll start hearing stuff from my DR or feeling stuff. Like if i'm petting my cat, i'll subtly feel her fur but like in my CR if that makes sense?? It's like i can FEEL it as my DR self but my CR self is feeling the sensations. I actually hate this because it feels like a game of cat n fucking mouse. Like whats the point of that "phantom" ass feeling? Just shift and feel it for real lmaoo!!
I'm going to try to explain this as best i can: When I shift while awake, it's lik the reality fades in. Like, I'm in my CR doing affs, and then all of a sudden i'm in my DR. . . there is no distinction of travel between the two. i'm just here one moment and then the next im in my DR. I can never predict the exact moment because it just happens and im not even really paying attention when it does. I just notice that i'm there, yk?
lately i've been getting bored after the feelings stop, so i just kinda give up :/ but i still hear stuff from my DR so i count that as a partial shift, aka shifting regardless!!!
thank ya for reading and prepare to hear me talk about this again as i continue to shift later today :) feel free to hit my ask box with questions!!!!!
⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ 𓂃 you’re trying to feel your dr with your cr senses
⠀a lengthy shifting guide
why is it so hard to shift from your cr to your dr but not so much vice versa? you’ve spent the first large chunk of your life believing this reality to be the full extent and foundation of existence. even if you now logically understand this not to be the case, the years spent curating and deepening a mental, emotional, and physical anchor to this reality has warped your perception of reality and instilled in to you the subconscious idea that your cr is the default. and in treating it as the default, the end all be all, and in compromising with it, you reinforce the idea that you are attached or stuck here—that it is even a place to get stuck in in the first place. not only do you trap yourself in this reality and grant it power over you that it does not actually have, you start viewing your cr as the “starting point” too, and shifting as some form of transportation from point A to point B. accompanying this belief is an imagined distance created between your current reality and desired reality. you might’ve already recognised this in yourself; the feeling that your dr is somehow faraway, a place that needs to be travelled to.
it’s important to make and internalise the distinction between a shift in realities as an act of metaphysical travel, and a shift in realities as a shift in focus. imo the former is a much better descriptor for what shifting actually is in essence. i will go into more depth later, but a byproduct of being raised the way you were, growing up knowing nothing but your cr and rooting & centring yourself wholly (confined) within it, is the over identification you end up developing with your cr self. you are not living reality, you are watching it. but after years of the constant unbroken immersion, the two become almost impossible to distinguish. you define yourself by and take on as if they were your own the thoughts and identity and feelings of the “vessel” you are observing, and let them dictate how you experience reality. the lines begin to blur between you; your cr self, and you; your awareness/the observer.
feel your hand. don’t touch it, but notice it’s weight and temperature, or the air around it. now feel the feeler. can you feel yourself? or your body, maybe? now go a step further and feel the one feeling. you probably aren’t fully able to, but this is the observer. “the observer”, or the state of being after breaking the immersion, is you in your natural or purest state. it has also been described as pure awareness, the void state, ego death, sakshi, the self, anatta, and interpreted in different ways across a multitude of different religions and branches of spirituality & philosophy, all used as a means to an end for different things. fyi—i’m not saying you have to completely forsake your cr identity or start ignoring/dismissing your senses or thoughts to shift, just understand that those things don’t define you or your reality. the means to the end here is just getting a point across and hopefully helping improve with the approach you take to shifting. all of this to say, you’re not travelling from point A to point B. point A and B are not places you can (technically) even travel to or exist in, because you’re just watching/observing/being aware of. shifting is not the transportation of a self from one location to another. shifting is simply changing what is focused on/experienced; from one stream of experience to another. a shift in focus.
to summarise, you as in your ego, the you in this cr as you know it, your body, your brain, your thoughts, your identity, don’t actually go or shift anywhere. you, your awareness, in favour of perceiving you, your cr self, the one sat at your computer or phone or whatever reading this right now, starts perceiving a different you/ego/self—one that could have the exact same personality, memories, and thoughts, just in another realty, or one that is a different person entirely. there is only a change or “shift” for the observer, not the cr self or ego. so stop trying to feel your dr with your cr senses. you’re not going to. you’re so immersed in your cr and cr self that you automatically rely on this reality’s bodies’ senses to gauge your success when you try to shift, waiting for your cr self to get a cue that it’s never going to get. the surroundings your cr self feels aren’t going to go anywhere. nor are your senses going to shut off. your cr body will continue to receive sensory information, because that’s what bodies do. so don’t lie there expecting your bedsheets to disappear or magically warp into your dr surroundings or something and feel like you’ve failed when they don’t. shifting is not about somehow willing your surroundings to change or lying in your room forcefully convincing yourself that your senses are feeling something else, it’s about acknowledging what’s beyond those senses. feeling and connecting to what your dr self feels.
if you can still feel your cr, it’s not you feeling it, it’s your cr self. and you are not your cr self.
you can apply this to your thoughts too. your thoughts are no less your cr self’s than your senses are. if you start getting doubts mid attempt or can’t let go of the thought or feeling that you’re not in your dr, remind yourself that you are not your feelings or thoughts or doubts. you are simply observing them. of course your cr self will think that they’re still in their cr, they are. just ignore them and shift your attention elsewhere. your focus and awareness are what dictate what you experience, if you relinquish your focus from your cr and direct it to your dr instead, that’s where you’ll “be”.
obviously there’s no one set way to shift, so if you want you can stop reading here and apply this information to your shifting journey in whatever way suits you. if you’re interested in my method though, here’s the compilation of all this info into practical steps you can actually take to shift.
get comfortable somewhere you won’t be disturbed. close your eyes and focus on what you can see. the light behind your eyelids, shapes, colours, whatever. but instead of automatically interpreting these sensations as belonging to your cr, allow them to become sensory input from your dr. light? that’s coming from the lamp by the xyz in your dr bedroom. or maybe your in a field if that’s a fitting setting for your dr, and it’s the sun shining down on you. shapes? that’s because you’ve been lying down with your eyes closed for a while now, you’re tired after your classes or job or whatever you do in your dr. even if it’s nothing at all, let it be your drs nothing. just feel it. do this for about a minute.
then move onto your body. whether it’s sinking, lightness, tingling, focus on it. and do the exact same as you did for the previous step, interpret it as input coming from your dr. don’t worry if you can still feel your body lying in your bed, because your surroundings aren’t going to change—at least not physically. again, those sensations belong to your cr self, and they don’t prevent awareness from directing itself elsewhere. the goal here is to shift your focus away from them and onto something else, so hyperfocusing on your cr and worrying about your surroundings is counterintuitive. just gently guide your attention back to your dr, really try feel your dr surroundings and what your dr body is currently feeling. if you can’t fully avert your focus away from your cr, that’s fine, at the very least just try receive/tap into the input coming from your dr alongside your cr.
finally focus on what you can hear. if you’ve already managed to make a connection with your dr through your sight and physical senses just build up on what you’ve already got. feel grass tickling your skin? deepen the connection there by focusing on the sound now too, the wind blowing through it. see light behind your eyes? focus on the hum of the lights.
repeat these exercises over and over, deepening the connection with each cycle. if you don’t manage to get anything the first cycle just keep going until you do. it might take some practice. like i mentioned before, after spending so much time here and being in constant attunement with your cr self, the sense that your cr is the default starts to take root and it can be difficult to shake the feeling that you’re just indefinitely “here”. it’s normal for it to take some time to learn how to question this feeling and push past it. since you've never (technically?) been aware of anything outside of this reality, learning how to do so can be a bit like learning how to use a muscle you've never used before.
this method operates on the idea that reality is something that is tuned into through focus & narrowed awareness and not something metaphysically travelled across, so for the most success with it, i’d recommend starting to make a conscious effort to see your dr less like a place and more like a wavelength or channel, a perspective already existing beyond your current focus. shifting to your dr then becomes an effort to notice and receive input from this channel/wavelength, input that already exists out there and that simply needs to be acknowledged. you’re just picking up on what’s already there, feeling something that a version of you already feels.
persist in the belief that reality is observed and flexible. you’re not "stuck" anywhere unless you believe you are.
I was tempted last night with visions as I surrounded myself with fluffy words..
Visions of na'vi lovers/mates being super cute with their avatar-driver! lovers/mates.
Fingers tracing the hair on their brows. Following the human-like features present in their face. Playing with the extra finger on their hand. Kissing along those human features, really loving on them for their differences.
The movies or game, doesn't matter. Once they accept you, all of you, they love the differences even more. A faint picture of who you were before and who you are now.
If it isn't clear by now, x avatar-driver!reader is my bread and butter. The need for more of it fills me with inspiration.
What if the Trr'ong had formed a relationship with Grace like the Omatikaya did? Following their lead of trust in Grace. Allowed their children to learn from her, go to her school, trusted her?
Queue So'lek attending said school and meeting Grace's protege avatar-driver!reader. Maybe they're the same age, maybe reader is just a few years older.
At first the relationship would be tense, awkward. Neither knowing really how to interact with the other. But slowly, they do start to get closer. Interacting the most during the school hours, agreeing to meet along the Trr'ong territory border to hang out. Maybe alone, maybe with the other children of the clans.
They get closer and closer, feelings start to form. He would teach her customs from his clan. Reader would teach him different things from earth they grew up with. Songs shared back and forth.
Then the schoolhouse attack happens. The clans pull back, refusing their children and other clan members to have any contact with the RDA in any way. Including Grace and reader.
Cut to them meeting again during Jake's call for battle. They probably weren't even supposed to know the other was there. Maybe reader would be helping the healers and was passing by the Trr'ong camp at the Tree of Souls to gather more supplies. Maybe So'lek just happened ot be in the right spot at the right time and turned around. And they see each other again for the first time in a few years.
Feelings that were shoved down, mourned, start to rise again as their eyes meet. Maybe, when the fighting was done and they both survived.. Maybe So'lek and reader would rekindle what was destroyed in that schoolhouse years ago. Learn how to live side by side again, forever this time.
for my shifters who are wanting out of here ASAP, i want you guys to focus your energy and attention on how relieving it’ll feel to be in your dr instead of focusing so heavily on wanting to escape.
it’s a slight difference but you may be surprised by the result.
one energy is aligned with desire, connection and harmony while the other is aligned with fear, hopelessness and pressure. but you have no reason to be afraid because you are limitless. this world may seem huge and overwhelming when you think of yourself as just one little thing but you are everything. you are everywhere. your energy is imbued in everything you touch and you can harvest it any time. you can call back your power at any time. you don’t have to feel like you’re begging to be let out. you are already free.
You know, whenever I think of Neytiri’s hate/former hate for humans i always think of how I feel whenever I play through tap con-1 again
I get filled with this anger towards Mercer,Alma and Harding. Like you killed so many innocent na’vi for your ambition and own interests. Shot our mother down as she was SPRINTING to get to her child while everything she knew and cared for was being stolen-all she could hope was that her children would okay. When Alma is begging the Na’vi not to run you can see Kataru get shot and fall.
Mercer killed a child out of anger. A tantrum. He couldn’t stand the slight of a child talking back because she wasn’t a child to him, the Sarentu were his property. Their acting out was a personal attack to his ego and power.
Those soldiers who watched it all happen, strip children of their clothes and belongings, strap them down with restraints and drag them. They did nothing.
Harding who sees them as nothing more than over grown bugs that need to be squashed down to size. Hell she’d probably taxidermy a na’vi and sell them if she could. Choke out children and teenagers with air that was poison to them, na’vi take longer to die in oxygen than humans in Pandora’s air. For minutes and minutes on end all the Sarentu could feel was air get heavier and heavier, like lead being piled on their chests.
Alma who wanted to be a saviour. She wanted so bad to be what Grace Augustine was. But she wasn’t. So badly she wanted the believe the na’vi were just savages who didn’t know any better but if they just listen then they could ‘save’ their little ones-Alma who lied by emission by not telling Jake-Toruk Makto about TAP and let herself stay on paradise for years all while leaving the Sarentu to rot in their cold coffins. Even if she thought they were dead she didn’t even try to retrieve their bodies and let them be laid to rest in the Great Mothers arms
I think of it all and I commend Neytiri for being able to let go. For being able to heal and move forward because she can’t loose herself to this venom.
She is so much stronger than me because I would have absolutely ended up like Nor, I would’ve been drowned in my own hatred
