"Easy travels, short stuff. Don't wanna ruin the goods before your big day."
Moana all but rolled her eyes as she pushed her canoe off the sand. "If only a scar would do the trick."
"That's not the way these kinds of things work - well, they can. There was one lady who pricked her finger on a seashell and the blood drop made a baby. Weird times. Don't try that, the kid turned into a behemoth in the ocean and ate the island." Maui shifted on his feet. "That lady made some shady deals."
Picking up her skirt, she wadded through the shallow water and hopped up onto the bow. "Interesting... Very interesting. Definitely won't try something like that." Moana had a very telling smile: maybe she would.
"Just letting you know. Could already see those ideas starting to float around, had to do something." With one hand he grabbed the edge of the boat, holding it tight and smiling warmly at her. "Be sure to invite me to the ceremony, alright? If I'm not on the list then I revoke your Maui fanclub card."
With that, he gave it a heaving push.
The young chief gave a dejected wave goodbye. "If I can FIND you-!" she managed to call. The ocean did the rest and deafened anything else she might have had to say. With the sail raised, she quickly became a dot on the horizon, autographed ore sinking behind the waves.
He let his hand linger in the air, no longer waving but still stuck there. On Maui's chest, dark ink began to stir. With it's minimal features, it almost looked as though the tattoo of himself were glaring at him. Finally he looked down at the miniature replica of himself and gave a snort. "What."
It held out it's hands at where Moana had left, exasperated. Wasn't it obvious?!
"What am I supposed to do about it?!"
The tattoo slapped his palm to his forehead.
"Oh, yeah, like you have the better idea! Well, guess what? Already thought of, already rejected." He leaned in to glare right back at his image. "That's certain death, hooking herself to me like I'm the answer. Human girl goes with human boy. It's called compatibility."
Mini Maui pointed up at the tattoo of said human girl, who suddenly didn't look so ordinary against ancient monsters of the deep. The image of Moana stirred as if her name had been called. Her shoulders sagged and she stretched her legs listlessly.
"What, you too now?! Give me a break," Maui sighed, watching both the figures now try their best to guilt trip him.
Moana stood and stepped off her boat, falling through the oceans waves and reappearing where Maui lifted the sky. Maui opened his arms, but just as the girl was about to fall into them, he turned his back on her. She gave an exaggerated tumble.
Maui's eyes squinted at that, watching both of them start to act out the scene that'd just happened. "Come ON, I was NOT that mean! I wasn't mean at all! You're making it look like I left her on an island to - Okay, bad example. Still! This isn't really up for discussion."
Moana drug herself back up onto her feet without a helping hand, walking with a sorry hunch to his right pectoral. Her counterpart made a show of checking behind himself to see her go, turning back and nodding in affirmation. A dark figured, detailless but obviously a taller, wider man, morphed out of another tattoo. He took an unwilling Moana's hand. She hung her head.
"Wow, really put thought into this all, didn't you."
Then she offed herself, writhing and clawing at the sky, as Maui pulled at his hair in worry.
Just when he thought the show was finished, Moana kicked again.
"Are you done."
A smaller kick.
With a roll of his eyes, he pinched that same foot, picking her up and placing her back in her boat. "Look, I appreciate you two looking out for her but there's a time and place. I'm looking out for her too. It's...true that she likes being untethered, likes adventuring like me, and would probably die of boredom if stuck with her people for too long-" That only made the two of them grin up at him, and he took in a breath of frustration. "BUT-yes! There was a but! She would be better of with that type. For one, I don't age. For another, I seek out trouble all the time. And lastly, that trouble is something I can handle, but a clever mind doesn't mean she has the body to compensate."
Moana tapped her foot, stumped by the obvious point that had now been brought up twice. Smacking Mini Maui with her oar like he was offering for her to do would seem childish at best. She threw up her hands and paced, but - AH! Her finger rose with a smirk. Again, a dark figure filled in, this time taking her by the waist. She pushed and shoved against his chest, leaning as far back as she could, but still he persisted. A pinky separated the two and the assailant broke into pieces. Moana stomped, taking the oar and smacking Maui instead for ruining her scene.
Mini Maui shook his head.
"Yeah, like MOANA would let that happen, let alone her entire village. Methinks you are a dramaqueen. Enough." With one firm poke to her chest, he pushed her off the boat and she went flopping into the dark inked waves below, creating quite the artistic splash.
Mini Maui balked in shock and he grinned at him. "What?"
He turned his head and snuffed him.
"Yeah, yeah, go sulk."
The tattoo returned to it's usual position, raising his arms and hoisting the sky in a high arch before stiffening. Moana chose to stay under the water.
Maui stared, checking for bubbles.
Instead, the waves stilled.
"Really? You're dead? So now on top of rejecting you I've murdered you."
She broke character to hold up two fingers and remind him that he'd done that twice now.
He rolled his eyes, checking the horizon once more to see if he could even spot her anymore. No. She was gone. And he was starting to have some doubts on whether or not it was the right thing in the first place.