@cyren-myadd To Answer Your Questions About This Au.

I want to read a fic where Spider keeps regressing to a previous timeline and is forced to relive the same cycle of pain and death repeatedly. Each time, he fights, he struggles—only to meet another brutal end. The constant deaths, the endless resets, accepting the blame for his father's crimes—it wears him down until he’s nothing but a shell of himself, frayed at the edges and utterly exhausted.

At some point, Spider stops and asks himself, "What the hell am I doing?"

He’s exhausted—sick of dying, sick of fighting, sick of throwing himself into a battle just to be acknowledged. Every reset is another wasted chance at something more, something better. And for what? To keep sacrificing himself for people who will never truly see him? To waste his youth chasing validation that will never come?

No. Not anymore.

So, this time, he decides he’s done. No more fighting. No more clinging to a place that never truly wanted him. Instead of wasting his youth bleeding for people who barely acknowledge him, he packs up what little he has and takes off on an indefinite vacation. No grand mission, no desperate attempts to belong—just him, traveling wherever his feet take him, reclaiming the childhood he never got to have.

A crack-treated-seriously kind of fic—equal parts humorous and heartfelt—about healing, finding freedom, and learning that family isn’t about blood. It’s about the people who love you, not the ones who neglect you.

Bonds That Bleed AU

I have some thoughts about an au where Neytiri decides to adopt Spider, but with a twist. Neytiri starts off with a cold, calculated plan to mold Spider into her weapon against the demon who destroyed her family, only to genuinely bond with Spider over time and see him as her own.

-) From the moment Neytiri laid eyes on the squirming, pink-skinned demon, she felt the fire of hatred coil around her heart. He has his father’s face. The same features, the same blood in his veins—Quaritch’s legacy, staring back at her with wide, unknowing eyes and a gummy smile. Instinct screamed at her to cast him away, to have him banished to her mate's former planet, to spare her home from the cruelty of yet another sky demon. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

-) Instead, Neytiri shoved her hatred into the deepest, coldest part of herself and made a choice. She would raise him. Not out of kindness. Not out of pity. Certainly not out of any foolish maternal instinct. No, she would raise him as a weapon. An instrument of vengeance.

-) Quaritch had stolen everything from her—her father, her sister, her brother, her home, countless lives of her people. And now, she would take everything from him. She would mold his son into something unrecognizable, shape him into the very antithesis of the man who sired him. Spider would walk like the Na’vi, speak their tongue, fight with their weapons, and live by their beliefs. He would forsake the demon blood in his veins until nothing of Quaritch remained. And when the time came, she would watch the fear dawn in the demon's eyes as his own flesh and blood struck him down.

-) There are times when Jake watches her with wary eyes when she helps Spider take his first steps, when she shushes his pitiful bleatings, and when she cradles him in her arms and holds his little hand in hers. There is an unease in Jake’s stare, as if he sees the shape of her plan but does not know how to stop it—or perhaps, deep down, does not want to. It does not matter.

-) Neytiri is resolute. She has a path, and she will walk it to the end. She will strip away every trace of Quaritch’s legacy, reshape him, teach him to hate the sky people, to despise the blood in his veins. He will not be human. He will not be Omatikaya. He will be a blade—her blade. He will be hers. And one day, when the time is right, he will drive that blade into his father’s heart.

-) But like all well-laid plans, this one did not go as intended.

-) Neytiri had expected wariness. She had expected grudging respect, perhaps even a smidgen of pride that he was picking up her lessons with eagerness. What she had not expected was love. Spider is eager, desperate to prove himself. As he grows, he stumbles, falls, bleeds—but always gets back up. He grins at her when she corrects his stance, laughs when she gently tugs at his hair in reprimand, glows under her approval.

-) It should not matter. He is a means to an end. And yet, somewhere along the way, the pretending stops. She began to see him. To feel warmth towards him.

-) Not the reluctant duty of a mentor or the cold satisfaction of a hunter circling its prey, but the aching, unbidden love of a mother.

-) Somewhere between teaching him to string a bow and scolding him for climbing too high, between pressing healing paste to his scraped knees and watching him giggle as Lo’ak and Neyteyam drag him into trouble with Kiri chasing after them and Tuk toddling along, something in her heart shifts. She no longer sees Quaritch in his face and instead sees Miles—a boy as unpredictable and beautiful as the forest, as fierce as any warrior, as stubborn as herself. A child who saw her as a mother.

-) And when the day finally came that she looked at him and realized she could not bear to lose him, Neytiri understood the cruelest twist of fate:

In trying to make him her weapon, she had made him her son.

I highkey want Varang to use and betray Quaritch.

I actually want her to dog walk this dude I'm not playing. I need Quaritch to be strung along like he finally found a place to belong, then be dumped like a used napkin it'll be so funny.

“Son of Adam… your heart is mine!”

Here she is, it’s a bit in your face but hey I feel like that’s the energy for Varang. Maneater vibes 😇

I'm hoping that the Avatar 3 trailer just drops randomly. It could drop when we least expect it, and that would make it all the more exciting. You come home from a long day of work, crawl into your pajamas after a hot shower, and curl up on the couch to doom scroll with some snacks when all of a sudden you get a YouTube notification on your phone and boom...there it is.

Your Song Cradles Me Close

Fandom: James Cameron Avatar.

A/N: Spider decides to go into a self-imposed exile not out of bitterness but as an act of self-preservation and peace. He removes himself from the cycles of pain and resentment that have plagued him since his birth, choosing instead to live in harmony with Eywa, and in turn, Eywa embraces him as her own. Here is a small collection of vignettes capturing moments of Spider’s peaceful solitude in the wilds of Pandora.

Based on this.

Morning Light

The first rays of sunlight filter through the thick canopy, painting Spider’s skin in soft golds and greens. He stirs in his hammock, the woven fibers swaying gently, rocked by the breeze. His eyes flutter open, adjusting to the soft glow of bioluminescent moss that still clings to the bark of his home. A deep inhale—earth, wood, the smell of peace. He stretches, his body loose and free of tension for the first time in years.

Today, he will forage and give thanks to Eywa.

2. The Hidden Spring

Spider moves through the dense underbrush with practiced ease, silent as a shadow. The whisper of water calls him forward, and soon he stumbles upon something new—a spring, untouched by human or na’vi. The water is so clear he can see his reflection staring back at him, but he does not linger on the cursed image. Instead, he knelt, cupping the cool liquid in his hands before drinking deeply. A gift, he thinks, pressing his palm to the damp earth in thanks to Eywa.

3. A Visitor

“I brought you something,” Kiri announced, stepping into his sanctuary as if she belonged there. And in a way, she does. Spider watches as she pulls several books from her satchel, their covers worn and faded. She settles beside him, their shoulders brushing as she flips through the pages, her fingers smudged with ink and dirt.

Kiri was all that was left of a home that rejected him.

“It’s about old myths from Earth,” she says. “I thought you’d like it.”

He does. He really does.

4. The Storm

The first rumble of thunder rolls through the sky, but Spider is unafraid. He has lived in the forest long enough to understand its rhythms. The wind picks up, mighty branches swaying, the scent of rain thick in the air. He curls up in the hammock inside his tree as the downpour begins, water cascading down in sheets.

But his home remains dry and standing.

A coincidence, he thinks. Then again, maybe not.

5. The Glow

Night falls, and the forest comes alive in a way it never does during the day. Soft glows flicker around him—the tiny insects drifting lazily through the air. Spider reaches out, palm open, and one settles upon his fingers. The blue light pulses, a tiny heartbeat in the darkness. He exhaled slowly, watching the creature lift off, joining the others in their silent dance.

Alone, but never lonely.

6. Footsteps Erased

He hears them before he sees them—the distant sound of feet sinking in the earth, the murmur of voices. Searchers. Omatikaya. Humans. It doesn’t matter. He stays perfectly still, breath shallow as he listens. But then, something strange happens. The wind picks up, the dirt beneath him shifts, and the trail leading to his home vanishes as if it was never there. His footprints, once clear in the damp soil, have also vanished as if they were never there.

The intruders pass by, none the wiser. Spider exhaled softly.

The Great Mother is always watching.

7. Contentment

Lying in his hammock, Spider watches the sky. The stars are unfamiliar yet familiar, tiny pinpricks of light stretching far beyond what he can reach. He is at peace. No whispered insults, no wary glances, no weight of expectations or unspoken resentment pressing against his ribs.

He is no longer the stray.

He is no longer the son of a demon.

He simply is.

8. Promise

One evening, as Kiri reapplied the fading blue stripes to his skin, she murmured, “Everyone is still searching for you. Dad is running himself ragged trying to track you down, and not even Eywa herself will give grandmother a sign. Our siblings grieve, and mom...is quiet."

Ah.

Spider hummed, sliding off his mask and taking a deep breath. Another gift from Eywa. “They can keep looking. I'm not going back."

Kiri studied him for a long moment, then nodded, a small smile on her lips. “I will not tell anyone. I am happy that you are happy.”

Her long arms envelope him in a warm embrace, and Spider closes his eyes.

Happy.

Yes.

He was.

End.

Still gnawing at the bars of my enclosure about my Wanderer au for Spider.

Spider taking his life by the reins and living for himself and choosing not to go back.

Not to the Omatikaya. Not to the Sullys. Not to a place where he was always caught between love and rejection, between being theirs and being nothing.

He leaves with his ikran and travels.

Spider soars over vast oceans, over floating mountains wreathed in mist, over uncharted lands where even the Na’vi and the RDA have never stepped foot in. He learns from wandering clans, from nomads who do not ask where he came from or who he used to be. He listens to the hum of Eywa in the trees, in the waters, in the very air he now breathes.

And for the first time in his life, he is free.

The Sullys search for him. He knows this. He hears whispers of their desperate attempts to track him, to follow the ghostly traces of a human who needs no mask, who rides an ikran like he was born to.

They never find him.

Because this time, his life is his own.

It took me 2 weeks to complete this Avatar 3 concept art. I called it "The Chosen One". I hope you like it! 😊

James Cameron has written Neytiri and Spider's relationship before...

Recently I went on a kick of rewatching old sci-fi movies, including the James Cameron ones of course, and I noticed an interesting little pattern in JC's storytelling:

In Terminator 2 we have our protagonist Sarah Connor. In the first movie she was almost killed by the first terminator, so in the second movie, when she meets the new terminator, she's understandably distrustful of it even though her son, John, trusts it. However, the new terminator proves itself to be loyal to John, so she realizes she doesn't have to be distrustful and even comes to rely on it in the end.

Then in Alien 2 we have Ellen Ripley. In the first movie, Ripley was almost killed because of the android Rook, so in the second movie, when she meets a new android, Bishop, she's understandably distrustful of him even though the other human characters trust him. Just like the new terminator, Bishop proves himself to be loyal, and Ripley realizes she can trust him and they become friends by the end (and stay friends for the rest of their lives because I like to pretend Alien 3 didn't happen 😭)

Now we have the Avatar sequels and Neytiri. In the first Avatar, Neytiri was almost killed by Quaritch, so in the second movie, when she's around his son, she's extremely distrustful even though her family members trust Spider... hmm I wonder how James Cameron is going to resolve that conflict? 🤔

Obviously, Neytiri/Spider's relationship is more complicated and ugly than Ripley/Bishop and Sarah Connor/the second Terminator, but the story beats are still lining up the same. We don't know the conclusion to Neytiri and Spider's relationship conflict just yet, but looking at James Cameron's other works, I think he may be setting up to follow the same pattern as Alien 2 and Terminator 2.

Having a main protagonist realize she was wrong about someone and change her views on them is a story beat James Cameron seems to enjoy writing, and it's one that works really well. Giving a character flaws and having them grow and change is what creates compelling character arcs!

Avatar co-writer Amanda Silver even commented on the narrative purpose of Neytiri disliking Spider in an interview: "Neytiri is a fully fleshed-out character. She’s got flaws. So it’s okay to let her have flaws, we think. And that’s where Jim was coming from."

All this is to say that no, we are not going to see Neytiri murder Spider in Avatar 3 like many young fans hope, that would be a horribly depressing conclusion for her character arc; to never be challenged on her biases and never have to reflect on her views and grow. I for one am really excited to see how James Cameron and co resolve their conflict since their relationship has a lot more bad blood than the other two examples did!