The sky was shadowed, lit only by the glowing moon and the dazzling stars that decorated the night. Maui, again, had already taken to a deep slumber as Moana sat on a grassy ledge, staring across the vivid sea.

Tamatoa laid in his usual spot by the large palm tree, but couldn't seem to fall asleep. His mind was racing with conflicted thoughts, and he just couldn't figure out why. He raised his head to glance over at Moana. She had reached a hand out over the water, and a small wave suddenly rose up to greet it. The crustacean tilted his head curiously in response to this.

Moana caressed the water, the feel of it somehow relaxing to her. She jumped and let out a surprised gasp when the crab monster suddenly laid himself down beside her, but relaxed after the feeling of surprise passed. For a creature so large, he could move with impressive stealth, even despite the injured legs. She wasn't sure whether to find that fact interesting or terrifying.

"Can't sleep…?" She inquired.

"Can't sleep." He repeated. "What are you doing?"

Moana raised her eyebrows, surprised that he was actually initiating a conversation. "Oh, just… um. Letting the ocean keep me company." She answered.

"Why does it do that…?" He asked, puzzled at the water's reactions to Moana. "I wouldn't have thought that a being like the sea would become so fond of a mere human…"

"The ocean is a friend of mine." Moana responded with a smile, the water wavering slightly as she drew her hand away. "We've been through a lot together."

Tamatoa gave her a strange look before glancing back at the water. The two remained silent for a little while longer before Moana piped up again.

"I liked it, by the way." When the decapod looked at her with confusion, she clarified, "The song. You had asked if I liked the song. You actually have a nice voice. For a crab." She winked and laughed a little to make sure he knew she was just joshing him with that last part, then went on, "I would've appreciated it more if I hadn't been fearing for my life."

Tamatoa blinked, certainly not expecting her to bring that up out of the blue. "Oh. Thank you." Oh crap, he didn't mean to say that. Did he have to compliment her back now? Is that how it works? "You were a lot smarter than I gave you credit for back then." Ew. Trying to compliment people out loud felt weird. He's officially forgotten how to interact with people.

Moana laughed under her breath once more, almost as shocked as he was to hear him praise her. "Thank you." She replied, turning to the sea again. Once more they were quiet, but Moana's smile seemed to turn into a frown after a moment.

"… Why do you feel like you need to try to be beautiful all the time?" She asked suddenly.

Tamatoa scoffed, almost as if he was shocked that she would say such a stupid thing. "Babe, I AM beautiful all the time." He retorted, a sly smile appearing on his face for a second.

Moana chuckled a bit; she had wondered when she was going to see one of his normal, smug smiles again. On one hand she thought it was a good sign, but on the other, it unnerved her, bringing back memories of their fight with the crustacean a while back.

"Okay, fair," She snickered, subtly rolling her eyes. "but don't you know that there's more to a person than their appearance?"

The crab paused, thinking it over for a moment. Of course he knew that. But what good is "inner beauty"? It gets you nothing in the long run, especially in a place like Lalotai; there's no reason to pursue such a pointless trait. "… You're naïve if you think I should care about anything else but survival and appearance, babe." He answered finally.

Moana's full attention was on the crustacean right now, looking him over with a skeptical gaze. "Y'know, I've noticed that the people most concerned about how they look are often the ones most insecure about themselves."

Tamatoa's expression went blank as he looked at her. "What?" He hissed, caught off guard by the accusation.

Moana shrugged casually, turning to the water again. "Just saying."

Another stretch of silence. The crustacean was convinced that she was talking nonsense. Moana, however, knew better.

"… I'd better get Maui up so I can get some rest." She figured, giving the crab one last glance. "You want to go back to pretending to sleep or something before I do so?"

Tamatoa sighed, nodding his head slightly as he got up to return to his spot. Moana headed over towards Maui, waiting for the crab to lay down before she did anything.

"… Tamatoa?" She called.

He opened one eye to look at her in response.

"I'll get you some more treasure soon, okay?" She said. Though she didn't agree with his views on beauty, she knew that the valuables made him happy, and she still felt guilty about how he had lost so much of his own because of her.

The crab blinked, still not used to being treated so kindly.

"… Thank you." He replied quietly.