this was the scene where Spider truly saw the monster his father truly was. Not the boogeyman in stories, the source of his cursed blood. But the true, physical body in action.
he goes dog. his father goes dog. feral military K-9 bred and raised and beaten into biting anything that moves. a dog that needs to be muzzled. put down. a dog that was and was brought back wrong.
while this edit works without context, I am a believer that Q, amongst several other issues overarching issues, has BPD, or something similar. and because of it he has manic/manic-like episodes. And I think for Spider, after very likely seeing months of his dad at his best (I also believe the only part of Q that isn't rotten to the core is the part of him that is a father. so in the months he's just hiking Pandora with his son, he is as close to "well" in the head that he's capable of. including the vague stability of his BPD), seeing that sudden shift into true mania, or what I call "The Colonel", a being more monster then man, driven by only his goal and a lust for blood and control, who cares little for any other being but himself and in a small way, Spider.
where eyes once warm and nearly softly towards him have gone icy cold, so cold Spider feels like prey beneath them for the first time. like he is in danger. and he has to see the absolute worst if his father. it would scare him shitless. a type of primal fear he doesn't know what to do with.
the scene in the village is when Spider sees the worst of his father after months of seeing the best. and not only is this his first time meeting that side of Q, he has to argue with it. fight it off the ledge of absolute violence and bloodshed. he has to beg it to have mercy. this is a son looking at his father and not recognizing him.
Spider knew his father was violent. knew he was evil. knew he was cruel. but knowing and getting to see it are two very different things. and that is traumatic for anyone, let alone a child. let alone the captive prisoner of the man.
big disclaimer: I do not think BPD is the only thing going on with Q, nor do I think it is his main problem. he is a monster and he also happens to have BPD, which is only making the previous factor 100x worse, but is not the cause. I do not think BPD is what makes him a terrible person. before anyone takes it that way. I just think the way he acts is reflective of the disorder and explains a lot of what makes him tick and the way in which he functions.
a lot of my inspo comes from the many convos me and @hyperfixatedfandomer have had about this freak of a man and his son. they're the one who started this whole concept in my head and I have been plagued by it (/pos) ever since. so blame them for this 💞💞💞
The recom unit kept marching the troops through the sandy wasteland of Pandora, The red sand like an endless bloody sea. While moving through the endless sea of sand, something was happening to the colonel. The few months they spent traveling and taking out the clans of this land heading to this seemingly endless deserted spirit tree, His colonel skin had started to be spotted more with gray skin spots. His eyes seemed unfocused and lost. He had heard the colonel tossed and turned or left the camp for hours on end at night before returning right before dawn. Sometimes when he walked up to him, Quaritch would turn his eyes searching for something that's not there before they would still and harden.
They all stood around eating, He noticed each time they ate Quaritch would eat less and less face scrunching up in distaste. He didn't drink as much water as the others as well and yet, he could go the longest in the blistering heat while the other recoms and troops needed planned breaks. He always seemed unsteady, restless during these breaks, spending time working on the giant military robots that needed repairs or taking walks, always moving, restless, and irritated at the breaks. Lyle sipped his drink watching Quaritch shoved his barely eaten plate, a look of irritation burned in his eyes as he snapped up grabbing his daggers.
"Where are you going colonel?" Zdog asked, looking at him confused mid bite from her ration.
Lyle watched as Quaritchs body twitched.
"ro go get some fucking fresh food." Quaritch snapped at her before storming off. The other recoms, Alexander, brown and Fitch faces scrunched up in confusion.
"Someone needs to get laid, Z why don't you do us all a favor." Brown huffed.
"Me?! Why don't you go and bend yourself over for him ya sexist. " Zdog snarled at him before heading to an aircraft to cool down.
"Fucks her problem?" Brown scoffed.
Lyles' ears twitched.
'Animals.' he thought as he turned and followed his colonel, catching up to him.
"The fuck you want Lyle?" He snarled at him,
"Let me come with you, I need a breather anyways." He told him.
Quaritch turned eyes narrowing at him, ears slicked back.
"What do you know about hunting on these lands?"
Lyle could see something, a change in the male's eyes.
"I could ask you the same." He said back challengingly, His eyes searched for anything, that remark sounded so different from others.
Quaritchs eyes widened slightly before he huffed and moved on.
"Don't slow me down." He growled to him and lyle followed him gun ready, another ear twitch.
"And fucking leave that noisy thing!" Quaritch snarled.
'He's going mad.' Lyle thought as they chased after a herd of horse-like creatures. They kept spooking them off or spotted and each time Quaritch would get more and more furious. He watched as Quaritch paced before staring at him before making a noise. Quaritch then ripped off his jacket, yanking his tank top and sliced a hole into it before sliding back on his jacket.
"Put this over your head." Quaritch snapped at him. Lyle looked at the sliced shirt in the other hand, a frown forming.
"I am not putting your sweat coated shirt over my hea-d"
Whack..
Lyle blinked, shock shot through his body….did…..did Quaritch just?
But he was soon with stormy green eyes.
"Stop acting like a fucking child and listen. You're too noticeable. And your standing up too fucking high and they seeing you before i can even get close to them. " Quaritch snapped at.
"Put the fucking shirt on and listen."
Lyle felt a shock run through his body and he found himself listening and following Quaritchs order.
He noticed that Quaritch would press pressure onto his eyes. A habit he's been doing more and more since they came to this red sand desert. When he moved his hand away Quaritch faced him.
"Right now you are going to go around them to their right side. You are to stay there and stay low and l i s t e n to when i signal you. Then you are going to run into them, and look for a weak adult." He told him.
He didn't see how that would work.
"Signal? What is it?" He wanted to know what he needed to listen for. He saw a twitch of annoyance form on Quaritch's face.
"Fucking baby." The man muttered to himself.
"Just listen for something other than an animal! Now get on with it." Quaritch stormed off in one way before hunching lower to the red sands, it was strange, because even though lyle could see him, it felt as if his eyes were playing tricks on him as if he wasn't truly there….
'This isn't marine training….You've learned this from her, haven't you colonel?'
Lyle moved into position and he waited for the noises of the animals and calls of warning. There was no way this would work….A call, one that was different..Lyle heard the horse like creatures getting alarmed and he pushed from his feet into the heard. A snarl from somewhere caused the animals to cry and rushed away from it. The animals were in a frenzy splitting and colliding into each other as they ran. Lyles' eyes caught onto a weak old thing and ran towards it. The animal wailed with fear as it moved away from him running away from the crowd but still much quicker than himself.
'This shit just isnt working' Lyle thought, there was no fucking way they were going to catch one of these things.
But then a flash of gray and blue came from his left and collided into the animal, a flash of silver and then red splattered from the blade as it quickly sliced through the creature's neck. Colonel's body moved forwards as he landed on top of the animal's side. And Lyles eyes widened,
The look of his eyes threw lyle off, they practically glowed a bright emerald green, The way his ears flexed, the snarl of a hiss leaving him, a flash of larger prolonged fangs, and he slid into the sand turning and looking at the animal, a mixture of a small battle in his eyes, a jerk of his body as if it wanted to go by muscle memory. The way Quaritchs chest heaved before throwing his head back a grin breaking out on his face.
"Fuck yes!" The man cheered.
Quaritch looked over at lyle, A smirk wide on his face.
"Atta boy lys, Now help me drag this son of a bitch back to camp."
And those bright glowing emerald eyes were back to murky green.
When back at camp the other recoms came and looked at the hunt, they whalloped for bbq, but Quaritch had rolled his eyes moving the animal to the table.
"soo…anyone knows out to cut it open?" Brown asked
"Hell if i know, you think i know how to open up pandora's animals" Fitch asked sarcasm laced his voice
"Man go fuck your self!" Brown hissed.
"Both of you go fuck each already!" Zdog snarled and soon all three were hissing and growling at each other.
W h a c k
Lyle jumped back from a flying hand, his eyes shooting up to Quaritch whose ears slicked back nose flaring as he glared at them.
He watched a jerk move through the bickering recom soldiers, as they stared up at him wide eyed.
"All of you shut the fuck up and sit down!" Quaritch ordered them, hissing He stormed back to the table where the animal dangled from he snatched his dagger up and twirled it before stabbing into the creature's, His hands moving as if he's done this hundreds of times.
"Fucking squabbling like fucking babys, Need yalls fucking diapers changed too?" Colonel snarled at them, Lyle watched how fitch, brown, and zdog moved to sit down a look of surprise filled them but they watched alongside of him and Alexander as Quaritch started to peel the animals hide back before moving the blade skillfully through joints and bones. A twist there and the animals mighty legs were released, Hands moving, expertly knowing this animal, He noticed how Quaritchs eyes shimmered with emerald as he began slicing the meat dropping it into a metal bowl, he must've grabbed it when he was focused on the other threes bickering. He watched as Quaritch popped open a bottle of season before dumping it into the bowl before mixing the meat up with it. Lyle felt his stomach twitch as well as his tail as he could smell the fragrant meat.
"We're gonna eat well tonight!" Quirped Alexander and Excitement seemed to move through the other recoms at the thoughts of fire roasted meat bbq.
They watched as colonel finished slicing all the meat from the animal and filling three large metal bowls. Taking his knife he wiped it off the side of his pants before stabbing into a piece of meat. Lyle held back his chuckle as he recognized His friends' southern roots coming through him.
Though he froze and judging from the disgusted and yet intrigued faces of the other recoms he was not alone.
All five recoms watched in mixed disgust, horror and intrigued faces as Quaritch brought the raw meat to his mouth and began to chew it. They all watched as his eyes closed, a look of contempt satisfaction forming on the olders face, how his shoulder rolled into a relaxed form and his tail swayed. A soft groan of enjoyment left him before his eyes opened, a soft bright green emerald shine in them as he took another few bites, enjoying each one as he did with the first.
Then he began to walk with the bowl in front of zdog holding it out to her.
"Eat." He commanded and the recoms watched Zdog's face widen and then scrunched up leaning back.
"Hell no colonel, you lost your damn mind! I don't eat raw animals!" she hissed in disgust.
Quaritchs eyes narrowed and his tail lashed through the air, a loud cracking sound echoed as he stood up moving the bowl from her.
"Then you don't get any if your gonna be an ungrateful fucking brat." He snarled at her.
Zdog's eyes widened, her ears drooping back before she quickly reached for the bowl.
"wait! wait!...i'll try it…i'll try it." She said hesitantly before taking a piece of the fragrant meat. She hesitantly looked at the other recoms and they looked at her in intrigue, the disgust leaving them as curiosity filled them. Zdog took a breath before biting into the meat, the blood melted on her tongue with the tang of spices, the tender meat soft and practical melted between her teeth like butter.
The recoms watched, eyes widening as she did, Zdog's ears perked up and she shoved the rest of the bite down, tail swaying as she grabbed more from the bowl in Quaritchs hand.
"Holly fuck! That's not bad, that's not bad at all, it's actually fuckimg delicious." She swore as she grabbed more to eat.
Quaritch chuckled, rolling his eyes before moving away with the bowl going to each one only saying "Eat".
Once the colonel made his way over to him, commanding him to eat Lyles interest was peaked. He took a piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, He groaned as he chewed, tail swaying and ears perking up, he's never had something so fresh, so good not a hint of preserved artificial bs at all in this slab of meat. Just fresh and it was slightly sweet and tangy with the spices.
"Fuck…" Was all he could say as he was rendered speechless.
Quaritch snickered before heading back to the table with the other two bowls portioning the seasoned meat onto plates.
"Come eat." He simply said and the recoms quickly made their ways over to eat the animals. Quaritch gave the last bowl to the human troops simply walking away not caring how they ate them, a hint of irritation at them on his face as he quickly made it back to the recoms sitting down and eating the meal.
Everyone ate their fill on the tender succulent meat and relaxed into chatter amongst themselves. Lyle stared at Quaritch, and he cleared his throat, catching His attention and the recoms.
"Lys what is it?" Colonel Quaritch asked and Lyle moved his hand out of his pocket,
'After all this, You must remember something! You never acted like this in all the time I've known you.'
setting down the song cord.
He watched as Quaritchs eyes landed on the stand of hair with the tied bead.
Eyes widening,
Ears drooping back.
The storm in his eyes seemed to fade as bright green glowed, like a plant finally getting hit by the sun's sunlight.
"Tell me Colonel, You really don't remember anything from your first recoms body?"
Quaritch stared at the hair strand with a bead, He looked up but he didn't see the recoms, He felt his balance fail him, he was falling backwards.
Bright amber eyes glared at him as sharp prolonged fangs hissed at him.
"'YOU ARE LIKE AN UNGRATEFUL BABY!"' she hissed at him.
he suddenly was in a land of bright golden sands that shimmered with the sun's reflection. He was trying to throw his daggers. Smaller grayer hands hit him into position moving his arms correctly.
"'Now throw."'
He threw the dagger and it landed into the cactus like plant.
"'tch, now again, better."'
"'Fine! Since you know so much you lead us to the next oasis!"'
"'I will!"' He snapped at the woman with the firey amber eyes, she stepped the side motioning him to take lead, to let him fuck around and find out, And he found out as her in circles wasting an entire day that couldve gotten them to the next oasis. He sat down on a pile of rocks glowering at the side muttering swears. He felt her smaller hand move from his shoulder to his upper chest, her chest pressing against his back as her face came close to his ear.
"'Do you want to listen now or do you still want to be a baby?"' She asked, do you want solutions, or do you want to keep on with your tantrums?"
He sighed letting his shoulders relax.
"'To listen."' he replied. He felt her other back trailed up his back soothing him, washing away his anger before grabbing his hair pulling his hair back causing a startled noise to leave him.
"'When lost, look at the night sky, look for Eliana, she is the daughter of the sun,, She leads you through the Apxa of the srane sands, which is our home, You'll know because our home sands are golden like the sun. The four stars around her are her children. They tell you which way you are going."' She spoked.
"Why named the daughter of the sun?" He asked,
"Once the Apxa of the Srane sands, was covered in darkness, the sun had dyed in the sky, our people could not see and where dying from thirst and hunger for they could not find food or water, Eliana was blessed with eyes of the sun, she lead our people through the darkness to food and water, until a new sun grew, She raised her children to bring light in ones darkness and to take away light from those who only bring darkness, when she died her and her children were blessed to be amongst eywa and help guide eywa's children of the barren lands.."' She told him before moving her hand to his left.
"'There is Lytta, Daughter of rage, The three that are with her are her children, She will guide you through Nga whenua onepu toto. You will know her land because the sand there is bloody. "'She whispered her wisdom to him.
"'And why daughter of rage?'" He was mesmerized in his learning eyes at the stars constellations.
"'Her home lands used to be golden,but long time ago Banished na'vi came onto our lands, they did not know our way of living and they tried to take the sands that were close to their banished homes, after losing her second born child, and mate, she lost herself from eywa and stained the lands sand with the blood of the banished, protecting eywas children of the barren lands, She had lost all three of her children and her mate to the banished na'vi but our people where protected. Now banished na'vi do not last long on our lands if they come into our home with ill intentions to our people. "'
He had hummed as he stared at the consultation and the three bright stars around her.
"'Then there is Tama whakaae, Accepted son, He will guide your through Whenua one puru, land of blue sands, there are his two children"' She told him.
"'Accepted son?"' He questioned turning to look at her. Her amber eyes gleamed as she nodded with a soft smile.
"'He was a banished na'vi, He came to our home seeking shelter, He passed Lyttas tests and was allowed through Eliana's lands, She guided him through her lands, to sands that were dull of life where no one could find him, He then planted a seed from his home lands and tended to it every day until it grew the spiked spirit tree, connecting our home and people to great mother eywa. To praise him, she blessed his sands to be as blue as his skin, so that he and his children may never be seen from the sands, He and his children protected and moved the tree so now the spiked tree moves on its own, He and his children will guide you to the tree, if they deem you worthy to Lytta and Eliana lands."' She taught him how to use Eywas barren lands protectors to navigate through the desert's sandy lands.
"'Can i use them to find you?"' He asked and her bright sunny eyes met his, a breath catching in his throat.
"'They will lead me to find you if lost on this land."' She said. His tail swayed.
"'Do you see your parents sometimes?"' He asked as they ate stew he cooked.
"'My momma returned back to eywa and so did my father a while ago."' you told him munching on your food. "'My momma now sees her mothers mother Eliana and my Father now sees his mothers mother Lytta. And they both stay with each other in mother eywas arms. " You told him,
"'oh, I'm sorry.'" he said to you, your eyes met his with a soft smile.
"Maybe i will see you after you see Tama Whakaae,In mother eywas arms when our time comes."' You whispered to him. He felt his heart race and his tail twitched.
"'You really believe ill be accepted by eywa?"' He asked, he waited for rejection.
"'I believe you proved yourself as one of the people of the barren lands."
he was out on open water, the ocean, the ship below him trembled and quaked, he felt fear as he threw a boy over the railing of the ship. He turned to her, the woman he loved, the woman who taught him the ways of her people. He saw an ikran with sully's wife arrow flying and he moved to protect her, his love, his sunshine in his dark life. He felt pain as the arrow ripped through him. The sun's light bright in his sunshines eyes, had he only had more time with her, he would hold her everyday and swear to keep her safe…Her tender lips on his and his soul weeped for he knew he could never be hers and she could never be his. But in that moment his lips on hers and hers on his, they were each other
Her falling frame of heart broken eyes as she crashed into the ocean's surface, he was filled with happiness of protecting her, his sunshine, A daughter of the sun falling safely away from the darkness that surrounded him, and he was happy.
Quaritch felt tears leave him as the recoms surrounded him panicked in their eyes.
"Colonel, are you alright?!" Zdog asked
"Shit man you were having a seizure!" Brown panicked as human medics came with their equipment.
Fitch leading them over to him panicked in their eyes.
Alexander held his head keeping it still, "Just breathe Colonel"
Lyle stayed by his side with a worried look and yet a hopeful one in his eyes.
Miles took a sharp breath, he could feel the pulse of the sand beneath him, he could smell the lands of his home so far and yet so close to him.
"'y/n"' He muttered, pushing himself up, freaking out his unit that surrounded him. His tail swaying as his eyes set on the lowering sunset, He was close to you, his sunshine.
The medics couldn't find anything wrong and his recom unit still freaked out yelling at them to check again.
Miles sat on a bench watching them, slight amusement in his eyes at them.
'Babbling babies' He thought as he waited for the stars to appear.
Lyle sat down beside him.
"Planning on running Colonel?" He asked with a knowing look in his eyes.
Miles looked at him,
"Would you stop me lyle?" He asked him.
Lyle looked at him and turned to the sunset
"I never heard your tent unzip, just like i never heard it before." Lyle told him.
Miles looked back at the sunset.
"You're gonna ask your question or you're just gonna stay silent." Miles asked his best friend. He felt the sway of Lyles' tail.
"Can I still follow you Quaritch?" He said "Can we all still follow you?"
Miles looked at him, the other recoms rushing back to make sure he was okay.
"Would you turn your back on humanity?" He hummed, but he could see lyles loyalty without a doubt his eyes moved to the other recoms knowing they had heard them. "All of you?" He asked.
"Well…I sure the hell did not sign up to be RDAs lab rats, besides all is kinda getting way too much…..Maybe those savages were on to something …." Brown huffed, crossing his arm.
"You fed me too much food, you're stuck with me colonel." Zdog said, blowing her gum hands on her waist. "Plus i've seen reports on how our termination goee..when the RDA is done with us.""
The unit grew very quiet, Miles looked at them, he wasn't shocked, The RDA stood for eradicating ALL na'vi, why would their expensive pets be any different?
"Come on Quaritch you know you'd miss me!" Fitch said with a grin as he plopped down on the bench, Miles could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. He appreciated that.
"I don't have any other family, Even if I did i wouldnt get to be with them anyways, so I guess I'm stuck with you assholes." Alexander muttered moving over to the group.
Miles shook his head.
"You know it won't be easy, they'll come for us all." Miles told them.
"Then it looks like you better make some amends to the first traitor who was smart enough to take off, huh?" Lyle spoke to him.
"Ouuu let them kick your ass a little, that should fix things." Brown snickered.
Miles let out a sigh as he looked at his unit,
"Pack knives, jackets and water, we leave at two am." He told them and turned to them "And there will not be any rest breaks for more than 10 minutes."
The unit groaned but moved to get ready to turn their backs on humanity and followed their Colonel.
Miles looked up at the stars, his eyes finding Lytta and her children.
"'I know I've done many wrongs, I've killed your land people and I know you will be very angry with me. I accept your tests and I will show you my worth. I am no longer Colonel Miles quaritch of humanity, I will show you that I am Miles quaritch son of no one, and I will make it into Eliana's lands to my sunshine y/n l/n daughter of Aryina. "' He told the stars.
While the human troops slept miles dismantled their armory robots, snapping wires and removing starters and spark plugs keeping them in his pants pockets.
When he moved back to his tent his unit waited for him.
He nodded at them and began to lead the way, eyes glancing up at Lytta and her kids for guidance.
"'Come"' Her ordered the recoms as he took lead through the bloody sands.
Their faces turned up in confusion, Like babies, He would have to teach them like you had teached him. He rolled his eyes, You had a rough time with just him, he was going to have a hell of a ride with five.
