Sensibility

Pain.

Self-pity.

Chastisement.

Joanna's ears throbbed painfully as if drums were beating their violent song into her skin's pain receptors as her fingertips rubbed the start of her ears gingerly, hoping the movement on the cartilage would help soothe her aching pain. Of course, it did absolutely nothing. There was no ice on Pandora so all she could do was handle the pain of piercing her ears since it was her choice alone to undergo it. Still, she didn't know why she listened to the women about piercing them and chastised her impulsive inner child.

That's the last time I try to fit in, she thought miserably as a jolt of pain shot down the nape of her neck and she dropped her knitting needles to massage the aching skin. The fact that Pandora lacked mirrors soured her mood since she couldn't see her appearance to evaluate the handiwork done on her ears (she didn't want to have one be higher than the other) or to see whether they'd become infected. I guess it's just a waiting game now.

Footsteps broke her train of thoughts as she cuddled into her warm blanket, snuggled in the delicious warmth of the fabric despite the lack of a breeze in the ethereal blue of night. Joanna was certain she was the only one with a blanket during this warm season but she liked being wrapped up in her cocoon as she knitted herself a pair of socks. They weren't going to be perfect, if anything, the one being knitted was already near the middle of her leg while its partner stopped at the ankle bone. Still, she liked keeping her feet warm at night so it wasn't like anybody would see her comical socks. Sometimes, Joanna wondered if she'd ever learn the skill of knitting because her sewn creations always came out either too large or too small.

Her line of sight aimed towards the left as Tsu'tey entered her private sleeping area, a smile hitching at her lips in remembrance to the morning meal when she splattered his face full of porridge for mocking her throbbing ears. She hadn't liked being made fun about her pain as she sought solace in his presence as his loyal friend and didn't appreciate being snubbed aside. His footsteps were silent as he hopped onto the branch leading toward her hammock to scope out the area and she watched his nimble flexibility trying to spot her from outside as he used his feet for perfect balance- he almost reminded her of old style surfers with his stance.

"I'm over here, you skxawng" she called out dryly from where she sat, cleverly concealed in the reflected shadows of her alcove as her willowy form resembled the lump of the yellow blanket she had draped around herself. He turned swiftly with lightning speed to her amused voice, narrowing his golden eyes as he believed he'd been purposely tricked the whole time and she shook her head to scold him, "Don't you glare at me, I have a right to be wherever I want and you're intruding my living area. Now, be a good boy and wipe your feet before you come inside."

His face creased with confusion to her illogical words, almost contemplating the idea of doing so to appease her strange tastes since he was indeed in her personal alcove. Joanna, however, decided to forgo Earth manners and sighed to give him the freebie on the joke, "It's an Earth thing."

His response, of course, was a distasteful 'keh' of a snort to dismiss anything Earth related.

He walked up to her cozy alcove, studying the contents of her private area as he saw the natural wooden shelves housing trinkets that were most likely gifts from the children. Wooden statues. Necklaces with mismatched stones of various sizes. Painted rocks with glued pieces of wood and leather. Other trinkets lay on wooden slabs on the floor that were lined with a few of his gifts (a carved wooden pa'li and a violet shawl) and others from Cheryl when they swapped female items. He'd never seen that kind of an eyesore in alcove storage (his own consisted of much neater and useful items- mostly hunting related) but kept his mouth shut in order to prevent a fight since she loved the children dearly. Despite his own opinion on children, he appreciated Joanna's constant care over them as she tended to them like a second parent and it had earned their clan's respect for her.

"If you're here to complain about the morning-" she began to explain her quick tempered action that brought embarrassment to him in front of dozens but he cut her off with a wave of the hand and a subdued hiss in his throat. He was still iffy about it but she counted herself lucky he hadn't exploded already to reprimand her since she'd made a hasty retreat to prevent that in the morning. Placing her knitting needles to the side, she hid her uneven socks inside her blanket to hide them from him and spoke up calmly, "Just allow me to say my words were driven by my pain and I didn't mean to cause a scene."

"Actually, I came to offer an apology" he spoke up slowly with an uneasy furrow of his brow and sat down next to her, awkwardly eyeing her large blanket as it covered her form comically but said nothing as she directed a cold stare at him. He'd already gotten in trouble once so he wasn't daring her wrath again . . . even if she looked like a wrapped newborn. Instead, he leaned over to tuck together any open pockets to prevent air drafts from seeping inside and was satisfied by the small smile of care on her face.

Her cheeks tinted lightly to the sincere gesture as his daily presence brought happiness with a little stomach flutter every time they met. True, his grumpy self sometimes put her in a bind with his prideful personality when they clashed minds but even so, there was something about him that warmed her heart whenever he was near. It was almost like an addiction being next to him; she was deliriously elated with him close and miserably lonely when he was gone.

He opened his satchel to fetch an item he'd brought for her as a gift of forgiveness because he knew his behavior in the morning was rude due to the obvious pain she was enduring. After everything he'd put her through, he wanted her content at his side- never distressed- and knew the problem had to be mended by his hand alone. His enclosed hands rose to her eye level and her brow raised with intrigue to what was contained inside, golden eyes lighting up with a glimmer of surprise when he opened them.

Earrings.

Her lips formed an 'o' of astonishment to the beautiful handcrafted item of light cream-colored wood, round crystalline gemstones of emerald color, and a gorgeous blue-violet feather on the left earring. She didn't want to believe he was going to hand her such an exquisite item so freely and gazed at him in question, her lips ready to ask away to soothe the skepticism on her mind but he beat her to it by presenting with a warm smile, "This is for you. Seeing as you are still wearing the temporary earrings, I wanted to give you a more fashionable pair . . . your first, I believe, unless somebody else beat me to it?"

She chuckled to his playful tone, running her fingertips over the soft and delicate blue feather as she remained in awe to his generous gift. How could he do such thing for her? The gesture touched her heart and she refrained from running her fingers over his cheek as well to show her appreciation. The craftsmanship was intricately unique with each crafted bead and wooden imprints, and knew this kind of gift took a decent amount of time to make as well the items required for such jewelry. Nobody had ever given her such a luxurious present, neither on Earth or Pandora, prompting her to shake her head in polite reluctance to accept and weakly whispered, "Tsu'tey, I can't accept this. A gift this beautiful-"

"Deserves to be yours" he intervened with a nonnegotiable tone that she found touching as he deposited the earrings into her hands, enveloping her smaller ones with his as she closed her fingers around it. He smiled gently with fondness as he watched the blanket fall around her waist to pool around her legs, revealing her petite form and the ridiculous but adorable socks she tried to hide from his eye. Only Joanna could wedge herself into his heart with her humorous quirks and settle in with strong support beams. She held his gift in her hands with disbelief and adoration as the sentimental act warranted him easy forgiveness and she struggled to keep herself from becoming overly emotional. He wasn't a big talker on emotions, a stark difference from her, and his actions always spoke louder than anything his lips would utter. A prime example was his matter-of-factly response to her doubtful face as he smirked proudly, "Besides, I had these specially made for you the entire afternoon so you cannot return them."

"Tsu'tey" she reprimanded his cocky undertone but his trademark smirk remained plastered on to his solid arguments and Joanna fully understood that she could not return them even if she wanted to. Her fingers curled over the earrings, happy to the pleasant surprise as she could finally have pair of jewelry to call her own and would treasure them forever. Despite the painful throbbing in her ears, she couldn't wait to wear them soon to show off his private gift and smiled tenderly to whisper, "Thank you, my dear friend."

His ears perked to cheering up his student and his hands grabbed the blanket to drape it over her petite shoulders, smiling with satisfaction as he watched her study the earrings with a soft glance. The fingers of her free hand brushed against his as he knotted two ends of the blanket at her chest and met his sincere gaze as all pretenses were dropped and Joanna realized that as she stared at him, nothing else mattered. She could be stranded with him on an island and never grow bored of the man, only further endeared to his appealing traits. Unfortunately, he was also her close friend and teacher which made the new budding affection the same as walking on thin ice. The future was unwritten in her view since she didn't have shaman abilities like a matriarch and although it embarrassed her to think of it, she hoped Tsu'tey wouldn't catch onto her hidden revelation but if so, he would reciprocate. She'd had many cases of unrequited affection but only time would tell as she studied the unique stripe patterns on his handsome face.

I've always seen him as the friend that he is, not the man, she thought affectionately as her eyes trailed the stripe extending from the edge of his nose towards his right ear. And what we share, I don't want to see him have that with anybody else because he matters so dearly to me. It sounds selfish and vain but I want to be the one who hears him nag and rejoice, to comfort his uncertainties and support his choices, to be the one he looks forward to seeing even if we do live in the same tree.

"Engenga lu txoa" she whispered sweetly with a faint voice he barely picked up with his hearing and watched her place the earrings on a small white cloth to keep them safe. He'd actually wanted her to wear them immediately but knew removing the temporary ones in her ears would cause more pain until he found a salve to help seal the pinprick holes. Joanna, as always, managed to lighten the mood considerably when she held out her uneven socks with a shy smile but enthusiastically piped up, "Can I sew you a pair of socks?"

Tsu'tey, a proud man that spoke his mind freely without fear, found himself submitting to his friend's awful knitting to increase her confidence with the skill and seeing her exuberant smile was worth wearing the strange attire just to see her happy.

A/N: So, I decided to do a small series of one-shots in between the main story due to the large chapters I post and I think these small pieces can keep you readers entertained as the core chapters are being written simultaneously. All take place in the Omaticaya clan before the upcoming chapter so I won't be throwing anything new at you guys, just another glimpse at clan life and character development.