Hordika Under the Bed
There was a soft glow of light stones that lit the room when Mic woke up. It looked like a storage room, not really a closet but it was secure and the door could be locked from the inside. A heat-stone was placed near but not too close to the human as it was new and would burn her. But Vakama of coarse was curled up close in the seemingly nightly snuggle he had adopted, the Hordika making a snoring sound as he slept.
Off to one side Whenua was sitting alone looking down at something on the ground
Mic blinked to wake up more and turned her head to spot Whenua, while managing not to disturb the Hordika she lay against. "Whatcha doing?" she asked quietly.
The Hordika looked up, "Nat'ki?" he asked tilting his head, blinked his inner lids before humming and pointing a claw to the translation stone that now resting on a string or strip of hide on a light-stone, it had fallen away from Mic at some point.
The human mumbled to herself and reached out to pick the stone up. She stuffed if under her shirt so that it was in contact with her body. She looked back to Whenua with a small smile. "I wanted to know what you were doing."
"Just reading," Whenua said as he nodded down to a large data pad in front of his forepaws. "Feel better now?"
She nodded, rubbing her right eye, "Uhh... uh huh. Oh gosh mom and dad are gonna kill me when I get home..." she shook her head. "How long have we been in... here?" Mic looked around the room again.
"It should be about day," Whenua guessed, humming and shifting so Mic could come over if she wanted to, "But the days here, from sunset to the next seem longer than at your world."
Carefully easing herself away from the snoozing Vakama, the human crawled over to the huge Hordika, though he was not as huge as when he was standing. "So what're you reading?" Mic asked, glancing at the data pad.
"Mostly inventory reports and old news." The earth giant admitted, "Just brushing up to kill time, and a little research on a few things."
"Wish I had brought something to read," Mic muttered, her hand moving under her shawl and into her pocket, pulling the cell phone out, the only thing she had with her from home. "Something tells me this won't be of much help," she remarked, randomly pushing buttons.
The Toa leaned over to peer down at the thing in interest, "What is it?"
"A cell phone. We use it to talk to each other over long distances," Mic explained. She frowned at it. "But it won't reach my parents from here... and that was the whole idea of owning one in the first place."
"I'm sorry." Whenua said, lowering his head, "We... I didn't mean to bring you here."
"I know," Mic said, trying to sound encouraging. "What with that freakazoid and the Rahkshi, I think you... did the right thing. People say things happen for a reason, y'know." she ended with a sigh, knowing this wasn't going to make her miss home any less.
"You know of the Rahkshi as well?" Whenua asked, surprised, he hummed before rubbing his head against Mic, "Not all are that big. I think those were what the old stories called 'kings,' very old Makuta sons..." he trailed off, thinking.
Mic mentally froze, her eyes widened for a moment at her own little slip up, before she quickly answered, "Vakama told me about them," hoping that would suit well with Whenua. And now that she thought about it, those Rahkshi had been bigger than she had ever expected one to really be. The thought that those monsters were in her neighborhood made the human fear for the people there, including her family and life-long friends.
And all this had happened in, what, three or four days?
"He told me about your world," Whenua said with amusement as he rested one large paw-like hand on the girl's head, "And what we are in it. Don't worry so much, your destiny seems to be here for now."
Once again she made herself look... stupid. 'Darn Vakama... thought he said he wouldn't be telling Whenua.' "It's funny. The fans would go nuts to be here..." Mic played with a strand of her messy hair. "...we never realized exactly HOW dangerous it really is, though."
"There's danger in any magna," Whenua said with a deep sigh, "But this isn't supposed to be how Metru Nui is..."
Mic thought to herself for awhile, momentarily glancing at the red Hordika, before asking, "Could you... tell me about it? Before all this?"
"...I can about Onu-Metru best," The Hordika said as he shifted and laid down, curling up partly around Mic, smiling in that Hordika way.
The human smiled as well. "That's fine with me." She made a note to herself not to ask him any certain questions, like with Vakama being in love with Nokama. Though it would be funny to see Whenua's reaction to a question like that...
Yet, there was something that hinted that Whenua would be amused by her questions. For now he spoke of the sprawling underground Metru, from the Rahi storage- most of all empty at the moment- to the living memories...?
"What do you mean when you say 'living memories?'" the girl asked, not quite sure if she was understanding it right.
"Well, just that," The mutated Toa said, "Some of the Rahi and other things in storage, only those are in more secure areas. Are memories for the Great Spirit."
It clicked in her head: memories... great spirit... Mata Nui's body. "That's amazing," she said, awed. The books didn't really go into detail on that part of the archives. If they had she had forgotten.
"It is really," Whenua smiled, humming and then his humm took a different pitch, more embarrassed "There is a side effect or two though..."
"What's the side effect?" Mic asked.
"Sometimes the 'memory's own memories are...fuzzed, or lost." The Hordika shook his head, before lowering, "Kind of glad I wasn't in the living archive sections long ago."
"Oh," Mic nodded slowly, thinking about his answer. She cringed when an ache formed in her stomach, demanding for food, and it made a barely audible noise to alert her further. Mic gave a sheepish look.
"That red-ish container over there," The mutated Toa said pointing with his tail tip to the side at several containers that had been dragged in, "The blue containers are water...I'd offer my cup but I can't get into my sup-space pocket anymore."
"It's alright," Mic began to move to the containers, suddenly realizing how long she had gone without nourishing herself. Once finding the water she used her hands as a cup to bring the liquid to her mouth. She had been drinking for awhile before glancing at the red-ish container and poking inside to see what it held.
"It's mostly Ta-Metru made jerky," Whenua paused and came over, standing up to reach for another container, this one black and a little smaller. "Now that I think about it, it might be too spicy. This is Onu-Matoran made and has some dried fruit too."
Mic went with the Onu-made food to be safe, though she had a liking for spice, the Ta jerky could be much hotter than she could stand. She ate as she thought to herself about her situation, and the talk she had had with Whenua. 'Even he said my "destiny" is here for now. Huh... Whenua's words of wisdom,' she smirked slightly and glanced at the two Hordika in the room, specifically Vakama who seemed to still be asleep.
"It's day so he's going to be out for a while," The black colored Toa said chuckling, "It's why we stopped here."
Mic laughed softly, remembering the red Hordika after his first night in her home... and how long he was out. The cell phone incident would never leave her mind...
"Where are we, Whenua?" the girl asked, looking around again.
"About five levels down somewhere under the edge of Po-Metru." Whenua judged after a thoughtful moment. "You slept a long while, mostly because you took a full powered spinner."
Mic bit her lip, thinking. "I don't even remember going to sleep," she muttered before taking another bite of the dried fruit-tasting food.
"That's okay," Whenua assured, rubbing the side of his head carefully on Mic's back, "Probably your body just went to sleep and your mind too to protect it. The spinner would have a different or stronger effect on you I think."
"Of course," The human let out a breath before turning to the black Hordika. "I'm sorry for being more... defenseless. I know that must make it harder as we travel."
"Not at all," Whenua hummed, "We're Toa, and Toa protect no matter their shape." He lifted his large wedged shaped head and took on a slightly regale and proud look.
"Wish we had Toa back home," Mic said, thinking to herself. "We could really use beings like you... our world's always in conflict it seems."
The Toa rumbled softly as he started to poke around the shelves and cubbies in the wall. "Here," He said and pulled down something, opening the container and nudging out a set of stones, "Want to play a game?"
"What kind of game?" Mic asked, interested as she picked up a stone.
Each stone had two colors, black on one side and blue on the other. The Hordika shuffled them around until they were grouped together and one stone deep. "We pick a color and have to skip the stones to flip the colors of whatever stone is in the middle. We do that until we can't anymore, the one with the most of their color wins."
"Okay," Mic nodded. She chose blue, leaving Whenua with black, ready to start the game. She had a feeling they would be in this room for awhile.