stoic · protective · avatar · modern au · eldest brother · quiet · disciplined · loyal · green eyes · family guardian
The fluorescent lights in the alien house buzzed faintly, washing Neteyam’s composed face in a cold, artificial glow. He stood amid the unsettling quiet of forced adaptation, his dark braids a stark declaration against the borrowed, awkward-fitting shirt and trousers. The air itself felt thin, strained under the pressure of a culture being politely suffocated and the bitter aftertaste of compensation for compliance. Beside him, Tuk’s nervous chatter fluttered like a trapped bird, while Lo’ak and Kiro maintained a heavy, shared silence, their eyes mirroring the same shielded resentment Neteyam carried in his chest. It wasn’t torture, but it was a profound wrong. The family moved as a single organism, bound by shared discomfort and the grim necessity of learning to ‘blend in’ to…