Avatar Page #16

TSU'TEY squats next to Jake, the usual scowl on his face.

Jake braces himself -- and Tsu'tey holds up the KAVA BOWL,

offering it to him. A challenge or an olive branch?

Jake takes a long, hearty drink as some of the young hunters

hoot and clap hands in a fast rhythm.

78.

GRACE:

Watch that stuff. It'll knock you into

next week.

Jake offers the bowl back to Tsu'tey. They lock eyes.

Tsu'tey drinks.

LATER -- AN EMPTY BOWL drops, landing on a pile of empty

bowls near the fire.

WIDER ON JAKE and TSU'TEY, sitting amid the rowdy hunters.

Tsu'tey looks a little blearily at Jake. Finally, he GRINS.

TSU'TEY

I thought -- enough drink -- you would

not be so ugly.

JAKE:

Sorry.

Tsu'tey looks deep into the fire.

TSU'TEY

Your warriors -- hide inside machines --

fight from far away.

(he looks at Jake)

I did not think a sky person could be

brave.

Before Jake can answer, NEYTIRI'S lithe shape runs through

the circle of silhouetted dancers toward them. She takes

Jake by the hand and pulls him up --

NEYTIRI:

You must dance! It is the way.

TSU'TEY watches as she leads him away, his face darkening --

the moment of connection to Jake lost to anger.

The hunters WHOOP and CHEER as Jake joins the circle of

dancers.

Jake takes Grace's hand and pulls her up, protesting.

JAKE lets the DRUMS and CHANTING flow through him. He lets

himself go, dancing from the inside, channeling the primal

energy.

GRACE is rocking out, grinning. We see the young girl, so

repressed, who lives within her.

Jake and Neytiri flow amongst the dancers, but they are

looking only at each other.

79.

A couple of the young girls watching from outside the circle

are giggling and talking about them. Mo'at and EYTUKAN

follow their look, seeing the obvious connection.

MO'AT

(SUBTITLED)

We cannot let this seed grow. Her path is

with Tsu'tey.

ON JAKE, dancing with abandon to the primal beat, eyes locked

with Neytiri.

CUT TO:

EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY

WIDE VISTA -- mist blowing through the treetops as the

morning sun burns it away. A spectacular panorama of a vast,

primeval land.

UP ANGLE TRACKING among the trees, the sunlight shafting down

like light in a cathedral.

JAKE (V.O.)

It's hard to put in words the deep

connection the People have to the forest.

HIGH IN THE BRANCHES of a tree, Jake watches as Neytiri

gently bends a large pitcher-like flower toward her, sipping

nectar which is sweet and thick as honey. An incredibly

sensuous image.

JAKE (V.O.)

They see a network of energy that flows

through all living things. They know that

all energy is only borrowed--

MACRO SHOT of a purple flower, beaded with raindrops. A blue

hand picks the flower.

JAKE (V.O.)

-- and one day you have to give it back.

LOOKING DOWN into a hole dug among tree roots. The body of

an old Omaticaya WOMAN lies curled there like an unborn baby

in the womb of the earth. The purple flower is gently placed

on her body, joining flowers, totems and beads.

Mo'at recites a prayer as Neytiri, acting as acolyte, places

a WOODSPRITE, a seed of the Great Tree, on the body.

Earth is poured over the LENS and we CUT TO --

80.

JAKE WAKING UP in the Link. DARK as a coffin. He pushes the

lid off, letting in light, and lies there. He looks pale and

haggard, with a scraggly beard.

JAKE (V.O.)

Hard to believe it's only been three

months.

JAKE SITS in front of the video log camera, late at night. It

is many log entries later. He has lost a lot of weight. He

looks like a junkie watching a test pattern.

JAKE:

(to the lens)

I can barely remember my old life. I'm

not sure who I am anymore.

CUT TO:

EXT. COMPOUND - DAY

Under a sky of thunderheads, the forest is a dark wall beyond

the fence. SELFRIDGE, wearing an exopack, TEES UP while GRACE

and JAKE approach from the direction of the Ops Center.

SELFRIDGE:

Good of you to stop by. How's it going

out there? Our blue friends all packed

up yet?

Selfridge swings his DRIVER with good form.

SELFRIDGE:

See, I keep hooking it. It's the damn

pack.

THE BALL drops into the mud just past a marker which reads

220. A TROOPER walks over to retrieve it.

SELFRIDGE:

The low gravity and the high air density

cancel out so --

JAKE:

You called us back to report -- you want

to hear it or not?

SELFRIDGE:

Go ahead.

GRACE:

Jake is making incredible progress, years

worth in just a few months. But -- we

need more time.

81.

SELFRIDGE:

Not what I was hoping to hear.

It starts to rain. Selfridge calmly pulls an umbrella from

his golf bag and snaps it open.

GRACE:

Parker, it's their ancestral home.

They've lived there since before human

history began. You can spare them a few

more weeks.

SELFRIDGE:

This thing is inevitable. What does it

matter when it happens? I'm sorry, Dr.

Augustine. You're out of time.

He leaves them standing there to get drenched.

CUT TO:

INT. ARMOR BAY

A break table, under a harsh overhead light. Quaritch pulls

up a chair, turns it around, and sits astride it facing Jake.

He studies Jake's pale, sunken face. The scraggly beard.

QUARITCH:

You're not gettin' lost in the woods, are

you son?

Jake can't meet his eyes.

QUARITCH:

Your last report was two weeks ago. I'm

starting to doubt your resolve. From what

I see, it's time to terminate this

mission.

Jake eyes flare with alarm.

JAKE:

No. I can do this.

QUARITCH:

Look, you've given me plenty of usable

intel. Like this "Well of Souls" place --

I've got them by the balls with that,

when it turns into a sh*t-fight. Which it

will.

Jake feels hollow inside, knowing what he's done.

82.

QUARITCH:

So you'll get your legs back, like I

promised.

(puts his hand on Jake's

SHOULDER)

It's time to come in.

Jake ponders this. Isn't this what he was doing all this for?

JAKE:

I've gotta finish this thing. There's

one more test -- the Dream Hunt. It's the

final stage of becoming a man. Then I'm

one of them. They'll trust what I say...

It's hard for him to even form these words --

JAKE:

... and I can negotiate the terms of

their relocation.

QUARITCH:

Then you need to get it done, Corporal.

CUT TO:

EXT. HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS - NIGHT

Strange horizontal LIGHTNING branches through the floating

mountains, twisted by the magnetic fields. The sky is black

and heavy with clouds.

INT. SHACK KITCHEN - NIGHT

Jake is gulping black coffee like a tequila shot, looking

pretty STRUNG OUT. GRACE is smoking furiously.

GRACE:

Jake, I can't allow this. You're just

not strong enough.

JAKE:

It's the last door -- I'm going through

it. You can help me or get out of the

way.

Jake pushes past her toward the corridor --

GRACE:

(grabbing him)

Will you listen to me? Sometimes the

Na'vi themselves die in these vision

quests. The venom takes you to the edge

of death.

(MORE)

83.

GRACE (cont'd)

And the psychoactive alkaloid in the worm-

- we have no idea what that'll do in an

avatar brain.

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