Neteyam felt his eyes widen. "Oh, he's doing it, Tey, look!" Kiri shouted, pointing. As if she had to. As if Neteyam could look at anything else. Ao'nung pushed himself up on his fists, sliding into a crouching position. His legs shifted as the board moved underneath him. Ao'nung's hair was tied back in a knot. He was wearing the wetsuit he had complained about earlier. Ao'nung shifted his body weight between his feet and knees, wobbling in a calculated way. His arms swiveled as he balanced, getting to his feet. "Cmon," Rotxo whispered, slapping his hand on the sand. "What's that? What's he doing?" Kiri asked, voice breathy. "That's called clidro," Tsireya explained. "See how he's going up and down?" "Uh huh," she murmured. The wave began to crest over Ao'nung's head. He threw his head to the sky quickly, before bending at the knees slightly. Ao'nung slipped through the end of the wave, quickly dropping to kneel on his board. His hair had come undone somewhere under the wave. Ao'nung tossed his head back, wiping his curls from his brow. Rotxo shouted in celebration, whooping excitedly. Ao'nung clapped once before dropping to his stomach and paddling to shore.
"That was insane, cuz!" Lo'ak screamed, running over to him. Tsireya chased after Lo'ak, kicking up sand. Neteyam watched as Reya and Ao'nung high fived loudly. Ao'nung was grinning widely, speaking intently to Rotxo and Lo'ak. He pointed out to the water, talking with his hands. Ao'nung absentmindedly unzipped the top portion of his suit, tying the sleeves around his waist. Rotxo waved them over. Kiri went eagerly, halting to a stop at Rotxo's side with her hands clasped behind her back. Neteyam noticed that Ao'nung's necklace was still on, in addition to beaded leather bracelets on both wrists and ankles. Knowing Ao'nung, they probably had some sort of significance. "Hey! Neteyam!" He blinked, looking over at the group. "Cmon, bro!" Lo'ak shouted, beckoning him in. Ao'nung seemed to realize he was there for the first time. He grinned, blue eyes squinted, and waved him over.
Neteyam slowly got to his feet and walked over, trying to mesh as naturally to the conversation as he could. He wanted to ask Ao'nung about surfing - how he started, how he managed not to fall, how he had learned to anticipate the path of the wave. But, he didn't. He listened to Rotxo and Ao'nung speak excitedly in a lingo so strange it might as well have been a foreign language. "That shit was choka, dude. The double overhead was insane," Ao'nung breathed, eyes glowing with adrenaline. "That shit was what? The what was insane?" Neteyam asked, confused. Ao'nung paused, glancing over at him. "Choka. You know, bitchin. Awesome." "...Oh." Ao'nung snorted. "Oh, and double overhead is kinda self explanatory," Rotxo added. Neteyam nodded, not fully sure if it was, in fact, self explanatory, but not wanting to ruin Ao'nung's good mood.
One thing Neteyam noticed was how large Ao'nung's board was. He knew Ao'nung himself was tall, but this thing must be at least 9 feet tall. Ao'nung carried it tucked under his arm with ease, holding it as gently as if it were a child. He set it on the sand and wrapped his beach towel around his shoulders, shivering slightly. Absentmindedly, Neteyam passed him a water bottle, handing one to Lo'ak as well. "Don't you guys just love how Neteyam mothers his friends?" Kiri asked jokingly. Lo'ak snorted. "I do not- do you want the water or not?" he demanded, holding a bottle out to her just out of arm's length. Ao'nung exhaled sharply through his nose. He had the towel around his hair now. "You look like my sister when she gets out of the shower," Lo'ak commented, pointing to Ao'nung. "So what? Damp hair gets cold," Ao'nung answered, leaning back onto his elbows. Neteyam blinked and turned away, face flushed, and opened his eyes directly into Tsireya's. She was across the circle from him, but her eyes were trained on Neteyam's face. She tilted her head to the side inquisitively, looking at him with innocent eyes. He stared at her for a moment before averting his gaze to the sand.
Kiri Sully:
(Kiri) are you ok? you're very quiet
Yep
(Kiri) damn ok we'll discuss this later then ???
Neteyam shut off his phone and glared at his sister. Rotxo noticed his glance and looked around nervously. "I have an idea," he said suddenly, getting to his feet. "Who wants to swim?" Ao'nung jumped up, unzipping his wetsuit the rest of the way. Neteyam felt his throat constrict for a moment before realizing that he was wearing swim trunks underneath. He kicked his wetsuit away, nearly tripping over it. Kiri laughed at him. "Thank god, it's too muggy for just sitting," he called, grinning. Rotxo pulled his shirt off over his head and threw it into the sand, racing Ao'nung into the water. Lo'ak looked to Neteyam for approval. After a moment's consideration, he nodded. Lo'ak's face brightened and he scrambled up, leaving the shirt he had borrowed from Neteyam in a pile on the ground.
Kiri looked at Tsireya nervously. "I didn't bring a bathing suit," she whispered. "I didn't either. We can just swim in our clothes, if you'd like. You can take my towel afterwards, to keep Neteyam's seats dry." Neteyam sent her an appreciative smile. Kiri grinned. "Race you," she said, tapping Tsireya on the shoulder. The girls took off towards the waves, sending sand flying. Neteyam sighed, looking around at the empty beach. He watched Lo'ak splash water in Ao'nung's face. In response, Ao'nung grabbed Lo'ak under the arms and shoved him into the waves. He could hear Rotxo's laughter from where he sat. Grinning, Neteyam gingerly took off his tank top and set it on top of Tsireya's hammock, careful not to get it sandy. He jogged towards the water. "TEYAM!" Lo'ak shouted, running at him full speed and knocking him into the waves. Neteyam shoved his brother off, wiping the salt water from his eyes. "Come on, baby bro," Neteyam grinned, grabbing his brother around the knees and throwing him over his shoulder. Lo'ak laughed loudly, nearly kicking Neteyam in the face several times. After a few steps, Neteyam tossed Lo'ak into the sea. Rotxo was gasping for air in the background. Lo'ak got to his feet, coughing. "Neteyam!" he hissed, blinking the salt from his eyes. "Oh come on, you started it," Neteyam retorted, laughing. "Actually, I started it," Ao'nung added. "Well, I started the whole throwing Lo'ak like he's a sack of potatoes thing." Lo'ak's face screwed up in embarrassment. "I'm not listening to anyone who looks like they snuck onto Earth," he snapped. "Alien eyes lookin mf." Neteyam heard Ao'nung gasp dramatically. He turned, seeing the tall boy clutching his chest. "Oh no! This lanky ass child thinks I am ugly. My heart is just shattering, Rotxo, shattering!!!" Neteyam grinned back at him before turning back to face his brother. Lo'ak's flushed face made Neteyam feel guilty. He sighed, knowing what he had to do. "Hey man, only I get to verbally attack my brother," he grinned, advancing on Ao'nung. The corners of Ao'nung's lips twitched. "Really?" He looked Neteyam up and down in mock judgement. "Yeah, really." Neteyam knew Ao'nung could easily beat the shit out of him. He was relying on it. He wanted to embarrass himself so bad that Lo'ak was forgotten. Neteyam grinned as he jumped on Ao'nung, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him backwards into the waves. Ao'nung fell hard, completely dousing Rotxo. "Leave me outta... whatever you two are doing," he complained, shoving his now soaked hair out of his face. Ao'nung shot up out of the water, grabbing Neteyam by the arms and throwing him onto Rotxo. The boy yelped as they both got mouthfuls of salt water, resurfacing, coughing and sputtering. Kiri laughed and pointed, getting Tsireya's attention. Neteyam grinned at the relief on Lo'ak's face
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