I see you

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𝔸𝕊 Arya and Jake strolled through the hallway, navigating through the flow of people, they were suddenly called out to. "Jake! Arya! You're Jake and Arya, right? Tom's brother and friend," a voice exclaimed. Arya looked at the man and nodded, while the man turned to Jake, expressing amazement, "Wow! You look just like him. Sorry, I'm Norm. Spellman."

Norm extended his hand for a shake, and after Jake finished shaking, Arya greeted him with a smile and a handshake of her own. "I went through avatar training with him. And also, should've with Arya too," Norm mentioned, looking at Arya. "Indeed, I would've liked to, but something came up," Arya replied as Norm nodded.

Norm led the two towards the bio-lab, expressing his excitement, "...into the bio-lab. We're gonna spend a lot of time up here." He continued to introduce himself to others in the area, "Hey! How are you doing? Norm, avatar driver," as he led Arya and Jake. Arya smiled and laughed a bit, "Here's the link room right here. This is where we're connecting to the avatar." However, something else caught Arya's attention.

Me, Norm and Jake are here to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. And they're grown from human DNA mixed with the DNA of the natives.

Arya observed the three massive water pods containing their avatar bodies. A welcoming voice interrupted her thoughts, "Hey. Welcome." A man with a smile approached and shook Jake's hand, extending the greeting to Arya, "Welcome to Pandora. Good to have you."

They walked to a pod that held an avatar resembling Norm. "Damn! They got big," Jake remarked with a chuckle, prompting Arya to whistle, "They are huge." Norm smiled and explained, "Yeah, they fully mature on the flight out. So the proprioceptive sims seem to work really well."

"Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. It'll take us a few hours to get them decanted, but you guys can take them out tomorrow. There's yours," the man informed Jake and Arya. They both headed to their respective pods. Arya gazed at her avatar-it was like looking into a mirror, sort of. The resemblance was unbelievable. She smiled at it, placing her hand on the glass.

"It looks like him," Jake remarked as he looked at his own avatar. Arya turned to him before responding, "Looks like you." She smiled and comfortingly placed a hand on his shoulder, appreciating the uncanny likeness in their avatars.

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"And the concept is that every driver is matched to their own avatar, so that their nervous systems are in tune, or something like that. Still can't believe that I finally get to be here after so many years and they made an avatar for me even though I didn't get to do the training with Norm and Tommy," Arya mused. She turned away from the screen to address Norm, Max, and Jake. "Is this right? I just say whatever to the video log?"

Norm looked at her and replied, "Yeah, we gotta get in the habit of documenting everything. You know, what we see, what we feel. It's all part of the science." He explained before returning to his work. Max added, "And good science is good observation."

"Plus it'll help to keep you sane for the next six years," Norm quipped. Jake chimed in, "Or insane." Arya chuckled before refocusing on the video log, adjusting the camera angle. "So, uh...here I am, doing science and welcome to Pandora," she said with a smile.

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"Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the Avatar Program. She wrote the book, I mean, literally wrote the book on Pandoran botany," Norm said excitedly as Jake looked around the lab and Arya listened to Norm, recalling she had read a little of the book before she had to leave.

"Well, that's 'cause she likes plants better than people," Max commented as he led the trio inside the lab, which was bustling with people working. 'Who could blame her,' Arya thought.

"Here she is, Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman, Arya Miller, and Jake Sully," Max introduced them to Grace, who was smoking and took her glasses off before she spoke.

"Norm. I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi?" Grace asked Norm before he replied in Na'vi, "May the All Mother... smile upon our first meeting." Grace responded in the same tongue, "Not bad. You sound a little formal." Norm smiled and chuckled a little before answering, "I studied for five years...but there is much to learn."

Jake sighed a bit, annoyed that he couldn't understand what they were saying. "Grace? This is Jake Sully," Max said, catching her attention away from Norm, as Jake extended his hand to shake hers, "Ma'am," he said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know who you are, and I don't need you. I need your brother. You know, the PhD who trained for three years for this mission?" She said to Max, but Jake and Arya took her attention once again, "He's dead," they both responded as Arya crossed her arms before Jake spoke, "I know it's a big inconvenience for everyone," he said sarcastically.

"How much lab training have you had?" She asked Jake, who replied, "I dissected a frog once." This made Arya laugh, and everyone looked at her. "Sorry, sorry," she said, stopping her laughter as she smiled. Grace, annoyed, answered, "You see? You see? I mean, they're just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge," she said as she was leaving, and Max tried to stop her, "No, Grace, I don't think that's a good idea."

"No, man, this is such bullshit!" Grace exclaimed before Arya answered in Na'vi, "Don't judge, Grace." All three looked at her, shocked and surprised. Grace looked at her before her face changed to impressed before going back to serious as she left, saying, "I'm going to kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in my department."

Max sighed before going to Jake and Arya, saying, "Here tomorrow, 0800. Try and use big words," he said before he left as Arya said, "Well, that went well." Jake sighed at her comment. Jake turned to Arya, "How in the hell do you know that language?" he asked. Before she could answer, Arya replied, "I only have a basic grasp of the language. I managed to study a bit before I had to join the army. Forming complete sentences is a challenge for me; I can only express myself through short phrases."

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As the workers prepared for the avatar drive process, Grace led them to where the pods were and where the linking process would start. "So, how much link time have you logged?" Grace asked Norm as they walked. "About 520 hours," Norm replied, which pleased Grace. "That's good. You're in there. You're here, and you are here," she told the three, pointing to their pods. Grace then turned to Arya, asking, "How much have you logged?" Arya answered, "Zip. But Jake and I read a manual."

Grace turned around, looking at Arya. "Tell me you're joking," Arya looked at her and smiled before climbing onto the pod and starting to take off her prosthetic leg. Grace bent down, ready to help, but Arya stopped her. "Don't. I can do it." Grace stood up, putting her hands up in surrender, before going back to the monitor. Arya removed the leg and wrapped the end of the long grey pants given to her around the stump.

"So you just figured you'd come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, with little training of any kind, and see how it went?" Grace asked as she started the machine. "What was going through your head?" She inquired before Arya replied, "Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do and think of this as a long dream fulfilment for me."

Grace looked at Arya before laying her down. "Keep your arms in, hands in, head down. Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you," Grace said as she closed the lid. Arya smirked and winked at the woman before the lid fully closed. Arya looked around the small space, sighed, and closed her eyes, letting the link process do its work.

As Arya opened her eyes, her vision was momentarily blurry, and the voices echoed slightly. "She's in. Arya, can you hear me?" the woman asked as the man used his flashlight on her eyes. "Can you hear me, Arya?" she asked again as the man spoke up, "Pupillary reflex is good." The woman nodded before flicking her fingers to Arya's ears, and the sounds improved. "Pinna response normal. How are you feeling, Arya?" the woman asked as Arya smiled and replied, "Hey, guys." They smiled as the man spoke, "Welcome to your new body, Arya."

Arya lifted her arms, looking at her hands and moving her wrists a bit. "Yeah, we're gonna take this nice and easy, Arya," the woman advised. Arya looked to her side to see Norm's avatar sitting up and following the doctor's instructions, and Jake was sitting up, looking at his legs with a huge smile. Arya called out to Jake, "Why so blue, Jake?" She said as Jake scoffed and shook his head, "That was terrible." He said, and she chuckled before sitting up.

"Well, if you want to sit up, that's fine," the woman said as the man spoke, "Okay, good. Just take it nice and slow, Arya. Good. Okay, well, no truncal ataxia, that's good." Arya smiled as she looked at her leg, wiggling her toes, getting that feeling back. "Are you feeling lightheaded or dizzy at all?" the woman asked, but Arya was full of emotions.

"You're wiggling your toes!" the woman said with a smile as the man spoke, "Good. Good, Arya. That's great. Distal motor control is good. Good, Arya." As the woman asked her another question, Arya put her feet on the floor as if to stand up. "That's great, Arya. Hold on, now. Take it easy. Don't get ahead of yourself, okay? There's a few more sensory motor reflex tests we need to run, so take it easy."

Arya paid no attention; she stood up and caught herself from nearly falling over as the doctors and Jake and Norm urged her to sit back down. However, Arya didn't listen as she took the wires off of her and opened the door that led outside. She saw a basketball court and an obstacle course busy with other avatars as she walked across them. "Hey, guys. Hey," she said as Norm and Jake were behind her, telling her she had to come back inside. She jogged across the obstacle course, apologizing to the people she nearly bumped into before she picked up her speed and started to run.

"Arya! We're not supposed to be running!" Norm shouted from further behind as Arya came to what looked like a garden. She chuckled and dug her toes into the dirt. "Hey!" a voice caught her attention as she saw an avatar that looked like Grace. "Grace?" Arya asked with a smile on her face. "Well, who'd you expect, numbnuts?" she said before grabbing a fruit from a plant and tossed it to Arya, who caught it. "Motor control's looking good," Grace said before Arya took a bite of the fruit and laughed with glee as Grace chuckled.

As it became late, the avatars were in a cabin getting ready for bed. "Come on, everybody, quiet down! All right, gang, lights out. Come on, Louise, chop-chop," Grace announced as she walked to the door. Passing Arya, who was looking at her queue, Grace said, "Don't play with that; you'll go blind." "That's kind of freaky," Arya said before Grace closed the gate and turned off the lights. "Lights out! See you at dinner, kiddies," she said as everyone lay on their beds. Arya looked at the ceiling, listening to the creatures of Pandora before she shut her eyes and let her mind go blank.

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By: SilverMist707

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