You were lucky, Tamatoa thought. Had he not been already searching for the shiny creature that he had heard about from the rumors spreading around Lalotai, you would have been plant food.

He had pegged you to be smarter than that, though. A new, shiny creature had fallen into the land of monsters, and quickly made a name for itself by cutting down any beast in its path without a second thought. It was like you were made for the beast-eat-beast world down here, but he found you being shot down by one of those pesky vines, and you barely had any fight in you.

He had rescued you, of course. Because you were still just as bright as the rumors said. Even if you were not the warrior type like he had heard, you would be a beautiful addition to his collection.

He had set you on top of one of his golden piles, and he stared to take you all in. You looked human shaped, but he had never seen a human like you. You were far darker than the other humans he had seen, and your hair was corded, not simply wavy.

Some of the gold on your skin came off on his claws, but the golden art on your arms and back seemed to be an actual part of your skin. He thought that Maui could learn a thing or two about tattoos from you.

Your ears held large shiny stones literally inside of the lobes. He was tempted to try to remove them, but wasn't sure if they were earrings or actually a part of you. Hurting you, his new treasure, was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead he watched you from afar as your body worked through its paralysis, and he waited for you to wake up.


Your eyes opened, finally, several hours later. You blinked slowly as you took in the brightness of his cave, and he was taken with your eyes. They were blue, like his own, and he had never seen a human with eyes that weren't brown.

"Who are you?" He asked, and your head whipped around to see him.

Instead of responding, you slowly stood and began a series of movements that caused the tattoos on your arms to shine as you crept off of the pile he had set you on. He recognized those movements; they were similar to the hypnotic show many of the monsters here put on to distract prey. He chuckled and blocked the exit of his cave with one of his claws, and you stopped altogether.

"I asked you a question. I'm not stupid, like the little guys out there."

You stared at him, looking him up and down, then a smirk slowly slid onto your face and you rested a hand on your hip.

"No, I suppose you aren't."

"So, little shiny, what are you?" Tamatoa asked again, this time leaning down to get closer to you.

"I am a master artisan from the west. Are you saying you haven't heard of me? Kings have been groveling for my work for the past seven years."

"Then you must be valuable, yeah?"

"I am worth every ounce a king has, but I am humble enough to only take a little of his wealth." You said, placing a hand over your heart.

"You'll fit in perfectly with my collection, then."

"Collection?"

"You didn't notice what you were standing on?" He moved to the side, and watched your eyes light up at the sight of the piles of golden treasure.

"Oh, the things I could do with all of this." You whispered, and Tamatoa paused.

"What do you mean?"

"I could melt this all down and build the greatest golden statue ever known!" You said, still taking in the riches.

Tamatoa looked, and felt, affronted.

"You will do no such thing!" He shouted, and you just laughed.

"Of course I won't. It's not like I have a forge or my supplies with me here. The best I could maybe do right is some engraving."

"Are you implying that you and other humans made all of this?"

You frowned and looked across the hills of golden wares.

"Yeah... what, did you think gold came out of the ground already in the shape of a plate or crown?" You picked up the nearest object - a small disk intricately engraved with words from another language and what may have been a face, if it hadn't been worn down with age. It may have been a coin from some land you've never been.

"Well it's not like I've seen it any other way, you know."

"Of course. Big crab under the sea. Not the best place to find gold."

"I am far more than just some big crab, human. I am the glamorous Tamatoa!"

You gave him a bored glance before looking back at your nails. There was dirt trapped under your thumb and you scraped it out using one of your other nails.

"Sorry, who?"

"Oh come on, all you humans gotta know me, I fought your precious Maui!"

"I have no idea who that is."

Tamatoa looked shocked, then a slow smirk found its way onto his face. He crept up close to you as he chucked. He smelled like rotting fish when he stood so close to you.

"No idea you say? He'd be heartbroken to hear that. Poor little demigod, forgotten to everyone worth something."

"None of my gods are named Maui, Demi or otherwise. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"And pray tell, what are your gods like?"

You grinned and looked up at him again.

"Isis is the most cunning and brilliant of the gods. Anubis is depicted with the head of a jackal. It's all very interesting if you sit down and learn all about it. But that is a very long conversation and you already seem bored."

Indeed, as you talked, Tamatoa's gaze had slid over to his piles of gold and was not so discreetly fawning over his collection. You watched him for a moment, a hint of jealousy eating at you. You were supposed to be the one to be fawned over, not these piles of junk made by other artists.

You turned to leave.

"If that's all, I'm going back to my base. I could use some food and proper rest. You seem preoccupied."

Your exit was once again blocked by a giant claw and you turned to stare inquisitively at your captor. He was glowering at you.

"You aren't going anywhere, sweetheart. Like I said, you're a part of my collection now." He growled, and you quirked an eyebrow at him as you laid a hand on your hip.

"Oh really?"

"I'm not about to let something as shiny and valuable as you walk out of here. You're something precious."

"Yeah?" You replied, "then maybe you should start acting like I am. I don't exactly like being ignored for a lousy dish. No matter what kind of metal work it's got on it."

Tamatoa seemed taken aback, as he stood straighter and stared down at you with an odd look. He looked to be mulling something over.

You continued to stare at him, even as he averted his gaze awkwardly, and he finally reached out to pluck you up from the ground gently with one of his large claws.

He brought you close to his face, and you scrunched your nose at the smell that came off of him at such close proximity.

"You're seriously demanding my attention? You got something wrong with you? Cause nobody has ever wanted my attention without some other devious reason."

You leaned forward in his claw, elbows resting against it as you rested your chin in your hand. With your free hand, you gently tapped a slow rhythm into his claw as you focused on one of his eyes to get some semblance of eye contact.

"I just really like being the center of attention, babe. Living on my own is not my ideal way of life, and you're the first thing that hasn't actively tried to kill me in weeks, so I'll take what I can get."

Tamatoa chuckled and placed you on top of another mound of gold. You picked up a goblet set with stones of varying colors and sizes to keep your hands busy. Tamatoa turned to dig through another pile behind him, and you watched curiously.

He pulled something from the pile and turned, holding it out to you. You leaned forward to get a look and found a bejeweled circlet nestled in his giant claw. It looked tiny and fragile compared to him. You glanced at him and he just held it closer to you, so you took it and set it on your head with a smile.

You sat back on your hands and flicked your hair over your shoulder. You didn't miss the way Tamatoa's gaze lingered on your gauges.

"That's more like it. Now, what do you have for entertainment around here?"