Story Co-Authored by Omicron the IceQueen and Sinead Rivka
Love in the Light
Chapter Two:
Reason
The first indication that River was awake and unhappy about that state of being was a loud groan muffling and waning off into a pathetic whimper. Walking out of her room in an old, rather large t-shirt and worn, holey leggings, she covered her eyes with a hand and shaded the sensitive sight as best as she could while she made her way out of her bedroom and into the living... room...
And to see the dream-person sitting smack-dab in the middle of a patch of sun, gleaming. Yelping at the brightness and shoving the heels of both hands into her face to press at her eyes, River muttered, "Of course, my one hallucination has to actually not be a hallucination."
Still keeping her eyes covered, she navigated her way to the kitchen unerringly by memory, going for aspirin and a large glass of water.
"I am not a hallucination." Takanuva's voice drifted over, the tone sounding of one that was mostly in a trance like state but still agreeing. His eyes were 'closed,' thin lines of white over dark copper backdrop. The flats of his feet were pressed together in the classic Bionicle pose with hands resting on his bent knees.
"I c'n tell," she murmured between drinking down the water as fast as she could. Sighing, finding a seat in some shade, she moved to get a better look at her guest. "So... you falling out of a vortex in the sky, and finding me drunk as shit, and me bringing you home... not a dream."
"Yeah, that happens to me a lot lately, the whole falling out of vortexes thing." Takanuva added and tilted his head at the human's voice but it was like most of his attention was on the sun light, "This light tastes so good." he added in a softer tone, almost a whisper.
That got her to open her eyes just a touch, just enough to see what he was talking about. "You... can 'taste' light? And have you ever landed on someone?"
"Yes and yes." Takanuva took a deep breath and opened his eyes at last, blinking and seemingly unfazed that he had direct sunlight in his eyes.
Wincing and shaking her head, River sighed softly. "You really aren't from around here. What did you say your name was?"
"Takanuva," The Toa shifted and moves so his back was to the light and frowning at the human, "Come here a minute," he said offering his right hand, palm up and doing his best to retract his claws.
Frowning, she finished off her glass of water, then bit her lip before squinting her eyes almost shut as she ventured into the sunlight, towards her visitor. The light suddenly dimmed as Takanuva absorbed most of it for the few moments it'd take River walk closer. He was smirking though.
"You're showing off, aren't you?" she asked in a deadpan tone, finally reaching his side. He was almost as tall as she was while sitting, just about coming up to her shoulder.
"Maybe just a bit." Takanuva said as he grasped River's hand and with a deft jerk had her in his lap, "Please don't panic." the Toa added as he wrapped one hand over the human's eyes and the other over the top of her head. The same warmth from the night before seeped out his hands and into River, healing the hang over better than a pain killer could.
The moment she could think without pain, the young woman sighed in relief and felt her neck and shoulders relax completely. Leaning back against this being's chest, breathing easily, she murmured, "You just gave 'being good with his hands' a whole new and non-erotic meaning."
"Should see some of my brothers," Takanuva muttered and after a moment his hands lowered and rested them on his knees, looking down and tilting his head. A few claws twitched a little like he wanted to investigate this new person but restrained himself. "Better?"
"Much," River replied, smiling up at him just by tilting her head back and viewing him 'upside-down.' "Do you eat anything tangible? Because you look like you could ask me a million questions, and I'm now quite hungry, so..."
"I can eat most anything," Takanuva shrugged, and then thought about it, "Come to think about it I haven't had anything for the past eight day."
Blinking at him, she shook her head. "Can you have eggs? Because I'm gonna make some scrambled eggs, and you look like you need some feeding up."
"I can always try." The Toa said as he started to flex his hands, arms and legs as he truly woke up out of the trance he'd been in to recharge his elemental powers in the dawn light.
"Well, if you can't have that... what are the kinds of things that you eat?" River moved around the kitchen as if she owned it. In fact, if one took a close look around the house, it could well begin to show that there might not even be anyone else living with her at all...
"Fruit, fish." Takanuva shrugged as he focused his vision and looked over at the human. Admittedly he had poked around the night before- personally his own Suvaand the hut/cabin before as a Matoran were a total mess in comparison. But in his defense it was mostly cluttered with copped stories. "Do you not live near a Koro? Or Metru?"
"A... what?" Pulling the eggs from the fridge, she set them to one side before reaching in again and pulling out a pear and holding it out for him to take. "Here ... just to tide you over until I finish making the food. What are Koros and Metrus?"
"Koro is a village and Metru is a part of a city. Or a city." Takanuva said and rose to go take the pear and peered at it from different angles by turning it in his hands.
"There's a town a few miles away, and if I really want to get to a shopping center, I'd go just a bit farther." Turning back to the stove, she replied, "That's a pear. It's a sweet fruit."
Despite the mask and oddness of his mouth, Takanuva took a bite. He finished the pear whole in three bites, "Not bad, but the Le-Wahi stuff better- no offence."
"Well, I have more fruits if you want them." River smiled and indicated the fridge. "Never hurts to try anything."
The Toa rose up and stretched out, his parts shifting and making little sounds before he walked closer, "Thank you, for letting me stay here last night. It helped a lot." More so the last few hours of relaxing and, more importantly: basking. It had been a long time since he had the chance to do so without worrying about either Takanuva's own personal safety or others.
Turning to smile at him, she replied, "It's my pleasure, and thank you for finding me last night." She smiled up at him, then turned back to the stove, starting to scramble some eggs. "It's been a long while since someone has looked out for me."
"You have no Toa in this world?" Takanuva paused in poking the workings of the fridge, and two deft movements re-did what he just investigated.
"No, no Toa." She sighed and looked to the otherworldly being. "And those who wish to protect others are few and far between. Even among parents."
Takanuva stared for a moment and then he seemed to stand taller as he extended his senses out as far as he could. "Who protects your people from the Shadows and evils?" The protective side of all Toa was triggered and raising up, more so in him being a Toa of light that just found out there's was possibly no defenses from the 'shadows.' Namely the Makuta.
Still not looking up from what she was cooking, River murmured, "Not many. Individuals, sometimes a community. There isn't much defense against evil or shadows here. Most live in a constant state of fear because of that. There really isn't much that those of us can do, Taka."
The living elemental was glowing again and eyeing the nearest window as if he were about to march outside and personally eradicating all the 'Shadows' himself. A growl vibrated out of his chest, deep and a throw back to Takanuva's Hordika ancestors.
Removing the now-scrambled eggs from the heat, River looked up at the Toa, reaching a hand out to rest it upon his arm, smiling, even if the smile itself was pained. "Life is what it is here. We do our best, and most of the time, that's just fine."
Takanuva turned and wrapped his larger hand around the woman's, his copper and white eyes staring straight into River's. "As long as it takes the Mask of Paths to recharge, no darkness will hurt you. You have my heartpromise as a Toa." He said, half swiping his brother Lewa's line, putting his free left hand over his heart light. It was still visible between his fingers, pulsing in the try-pulse beat of the Bionicle.
Protective this Toa was.
That got a sweet smile from River, and she nodded an affirmative. "Thank you. Now," the young woman nodded towards the eggs, "those are about to go cold, and you don't want to have cold eggs." She smiled up at him, though. It had been so long since she had been feeling this safe.
The Toa peered over her head and eyed the yellow stuff, remembering something the Turaga made and thus was instantly wary of it, "Uh..."
"Only a taste to see if you like it," Spearing a fluffy piece with a fork, she held it up for him to take. "Just try it."
After a moment Takanuva took the fork, clearly being careful not to damage it, or poke River with his claws. He tried the bite, making an interesting face but didn't gag or keel over in shock so Takanuva personally thought he was lucky.
"It's...different." he admitted at last.
"Different as in you want more, or different as in you're going to enjoy more fruit?" River was grinning at his face. It was like watching a child being given new food that they weren't sure of, but could begin to like, or just plain dislike.
"I don't think I can be that picky," Takanuva flashed a grin, in the slightly odd Bionicle way that River would get used to, and was the near trade mark grin of Takua/Takanuva, the troublemaker at heart.
"That's not an answer. Yes or no, do you want more?" She gently poked his chest with a finger, careful not to hurt herself with the action.
Takanuva twitch was barely visible, the poke came close to his heart-light. "Yes?"
"All right, then." Blinking at his reaction, the smile faded. "You shifted." One thing was for certain, River had sharp eyes and a keen sense for knowing when something was wrong.
"Maybe a little." Takanuva nodded, lifting a hand to cover the white glow in the middle of his chest and lowered the hand again. "Sometimes Toa are hyper aware of things near the heart light." He explained.
Spooning eggs onto a plate and pulling toast out of the toaster, she buttered it, handed him the plate, and started to pull together her own plate. "What is a heart light?"
"This," Takanuva tapped just below his living crystal, in water drop shape on in his chest, "It represents the three energies of a Bionicle. Those on Toa are larger and stronger since we are living elementals. But is also shows one's health, both of body and spirit."
"Interesting. That makes things a lot simpler. So it's not really a good thing to be trying to touch that, huh?" Leaning against the counter, she grabbed the ketchup and squeezed a liberal amount onto her plate to dunk the eggs and buttered toast into.
"It's not good or bad, it doesn't hurt." Takanuva added, "Sometimes it's unexpected to feel something near it," he had failed in the attempt of the fork and flicked out a tool from sub-space that played a role like it and was easier for his larger hand to work.
Hiding a grin behind a cup of water, River held her plate out, indicating the ketchup. "Try some eggs with this."
Takanuva, leery, leaned way from the red stuff and eyed it as he seemed to sniff as if trying to smell the scent. The Toa had not long ago been a Hordika and there were still some things that were clinging in his actions.
She didn't mind his actions, since most of them were similar to a human's actions. "It's salty, and tastes like tomatoes, which doesn't tell you anything useful..."
"Not really..." Takanuva improvised by swiping a bite from River's plate instead of risk a thing that could be bad and the bit vanished in his mouth. The guy was quick for a being with so much mental.
Laughing at his actions and moving to sit upon the counter, the young woman watched him. "You're really human-like for someone who isn't from around here."
"I am Bionicle." Takanuva smiled back, "And I act as I always do."
"But it's odd that I find you to be so much like our kind ...but more pure." She shrugged.
The Toa finished off the plate, having spent the short time applying himself to wolfing it down as only a former Ta- and Po- and Le-Matoran could. "Pure? I'm a light elemental...?"
"Well, that goes without saying, then." Smiling at him, she shrugged. "Did you want to see my property in daylight after I grab a shower?"
"Yes please River." Takanuva said as he politely carried the plate back to the human, since he wasn't fully sure what to do with it, this wasn't like his own Suvaafter all.
She smiled, taking it and rinsing it off before putting it into the dishwasher. "Do you know how to read in my language as well as you speak it?"
"Er, no?" Takanuva hedged just a little, hadn't he been speaking Matoran this whole time? "I don't think so." He said, this time really listening to the words. Yep he was speaking Matoran. Wishing for Matoro, his friend and one of the best language masters he knew, Takanuva added "I think the Mask of Paths is translating."
"Hm. I was going to point you towards my books. Well, I'll point you that way anyway." She grinned, took his hand, and brought him to a craft-room and study all rolled together in one. Sewing projects stood to one side, books lined two of the four walls, and windows took up the other two walls towards the front and rear of the house.
The Toa drifted to the window after poking around and looked outside, spotting some long grass, like the reeds back in Ga-Koro. A memory popped up of an 8-day in Ga-Koro he spent learning how to weave, a half plot to spend more time with the female Matoran. "How long will you be?"
"Half an hour... not too long. Just long enough so that I'm clean and feel alive again." She half-grinned, "Is that too long?"
"No, no I was just wondering." Takanuva assured, and then found a book of maps and was instantly interested, "Where are we on these first if you don't mind?"
Walking over, River pointed out the location ofColorado, then, in another book, a more detailed one of the state itself and where they were located upon that map. She looked up at him, wondering if that was all.
"Interesting maps," Takanuva said spreading his claws out on the book and was scanning it intently and committing the near universal map language to memory before starting to look at other maps. He was now distracted.
Seeing that he was reading the maps deeply, River slipped away so that she may be able to feel human again. It just struck her as odd that he hadn't asked why her family wasn't living in the same house as she was. Then again, maybe they did things very differently from where he's from.
In the short amount of time it took the human to return, Takanuva had plowed his way through many books, drawing on a Kanohi Rau he'd forgotten he had, the Toa managed to learn a lot. Takanuva stayed mostly with books that had to do with maps, flora and fauna though.
Having quizzed him on what he had learned, River walked along a stream with him. Something about the water had soothed him when they had chanced upon it, and she suggested that they follow it upstream. She was going to surprise him with what was there.
"I miss the Koros," Takanuva murmured to himself as he looked around, the Toa had pulled out his staff a bit ago out of habit and a comfort to have a weapon in hand, "Are we going someplace, or anywhere?" He asked loader smiling in humor.
"You'll see," she replied, ducking under a branch and over a fallen log at the same time. "What do the Koros look like?"
"It depends on where they were." Takanuva back tracked and used his staff to basically poll-volt over the obstacle. "Ta-Koro, where I used to live, was at the base of one of the Volcanoes on Mata Nui and on a lake of lava for added protection."
She continued to walk by the stream, waiting for the signs showing that they were close to her goal.
Takanuva halted and inhaled sharply as he felt with a pang in the back, where his sub space pocket was over. "Aaaand the Mask of Paths is recharged... ow..." He reached back with his free hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Do you have to leave just now?" River asked as she paused beside a curtain of foliage.
"I can, but that doesn't mean I will." Takanuva said looking back after giving himself a shake, "I'm here for a reason, I'd like to know why before I leap off into space and time again."
Grinning, River pushed aside the foliage, revealing what could only be called a swimming-hole, fed by a not-quite-vertical stepped waterfall. "Then why not enjoy the scenery just for a little longer?" It was so nice to be able to have contact with something sentient.
Hocking his staff between two large rocks Takanuva held the middle with one hand as he leaned forward with a foot hocked on the staff and looking around at this different angle, and into the pool, just because he could. "It's almost like Ga-Wahi!"
"This is my favorite spot on my property." Walking forward and sitting on a sun-warmed rock, River took her socks off and rested them in the water after the hike.
Takanuva stood and hocked his foot the other way on the staff and 'kicked' it up into his waiting hand and flipping it around before sliding it onto his back. The Toa waded into the water with a smile that came from a happy memory. "I can see why- hey! Fish!"
After spending time in a Hordika form, Takanuva had a great interest in fish-y like things.
Grinning, River shook her head. "They've been left in peace for far too long. If you want to grab a couple for dinner tonight, I can grill or fry them pretty well."
"I can't do that. They're laying eggs!" The Toa said as he tried to come back out without disturbing the fish...much.
"...they're... Taka, it's fall. They're not laying eggs, and if they are, then we have plenty of fish on this world. Nobody takes them from my property that I know of, and if they did, then you wouldn't see so many fish here." River silently wondered if he understood what she had been telling him. Survival of the fittest. "Most freshwater fish don't really raise their babies. They lay the eggs and then leave."
"How would you like it if someone interrupted you when making a little one?" Takanuva grinned as he shook himself off, "Besides, my light staff doesn't spear fish well. At least this kind."
She just stared at him for one long moment. "They're... animals. Not sentient."
"So?" The Toa shrugged, "Gali told me never to interrupt something doing what I wouldn't want to be interrupted doing and I don't."
"Who is Gali?" River wondered as she pulled her feet out of the water and let them dry in the sun.
"One of my sisters of water," Takanuva came over and knelt down, before sitting near River, pressing the flats of his feet together in the classic and most conferrable sitting pose for the Bionicle body. "She was one of the great Toa Guardians that watched over my people before I became a Toa as well."
"So... can anyone become a Toa, then?" The young woman stretched her arms above her head and watched the sunlight streaming through the leaves and playing on the water.
"Only those who are destined for it." The light elemental explained, "In theory any Matoran can become a Toa, but only a few do, like me. Or Toa are made as Toa."
"Huh. Interesting."
Takanuva reached behind his shoulder, not reaching for his staff but pulled out the shimmering, slightly rusty and copper colored Mask of Paths, "I wonder why this brought me here."
"Your guess would be better than mine. You've been to more worlds, I assume?" Looking at Takanuva, River smiled at him.
"Several worlds," Takanuva nodded, "Alternate realities and the like as well as different times. This thing is taking me all over." He waved the mask, only to pause and held it out at River, to the side, at her again and did that a few times.
No, he wasn't mistaken, the copper shine showed more clearly when it over lapped the human. "Hmmm..."
She put her shoes back on, frowning. "What're you doing?" And her stomach, at that ever-so-timely fashion, decided to growl. Wonderful.
"Huh, you're the reason I'm here." Takanuva lowered the mask and tilted his head at River.
"I... I am?" She sat back, then blinked. "But I'm not important enough for anyone to be concerned with me."
"No one is 'not important' River." The Toa said shifting and rising to his knees and placed the Mask he was holding on the stone beside River and in front of him before folding his arms on the stone this put them more at eye level, "The Mask of Paths takes the user to where they need to be before taking the user where they want to go."
She sighed and shook her head. "No, you really don't understand. I'm really not worth all the care you've been showing. I'm... I'm not worth anything."
Takanuva rose and reached out, pulling the young woman over to him before lightly pressing his mask to her forehead in what was the Bionicle equivalent of a kiss. "Every life is priceless, and you my friendRiver, are worth more than you think."
He pulled back a little and his copper and white eyes watched her for a moment before noticing the mask.
Something clicked.
"Come with me." He said.
"Go... go with you?" she blurted with a frown. "To where? Why?"
"Why not?" Takanuva asked back as he stood, holding the Mask of Paths in one hand, wiggling it side to side and holding his free hand palm up to River, "And to wherever it is that you need to go."
She looked up at him doubtfully before saying, "Can... If I go with you, can we just go back to my house before we go?"
"I see no reason not to." The Toa slipped the mask into his subspace pocket, "Want a ride?"
It would be faster... and she could decide upon the way what she wanted to do. Takanuva tilted his head, hand still out stretched and waiting. Though he twitched his clawed fingers in a 'Coming?' sort of way. Nodding hesitantly, she took his hand and used the leverage to stand up.
He pulled his staff off his back and lifted River up and over onto his back with surprising ease, "Hang on, I've been waiting to run for a while."
"You... running... through this?" River stuttered. She knew her woods... they were kept clean, but there was a lot of overgrowth.
"Only partly!" Takanuva waiting to be sure the human was holding on before leaping into a lope from a standstill and than he was running, weaving around trees and sometimes jumping to clear something or to get on the side of a trunk and jump off. The Bionicle body was faster and stronger than a human body, and few plant life effected a Toa's armor.
Excluding the Morbuzakh, but we shall not get into that nightmare.
It felt like she was flying... only so low to the ground, around the tree trunks. Grinning, she couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up from her toes, even though River still felt like she didn't deserve any of his attention. The spirit of light hopped, stretched out his legs and he found himself on that road from the first time. Shrugging he eased back into an easy lope, "Almost there!"
"I can tell!" she replied, holding on tight. "You run damn fast, Taka!"
"This is nothing!" Takanuva laughed, and it was one of those nice laughs to hear, "You should see Pohatu and his mask of speed!"
"I don't think that I want to! This is fast enough for me!" she replied, enjoying the wind whipping her shoulder-length hair back from her face.
"He's not bad," The Toa said as he slowed down and stopped in front of the house, scanning around before kneeling down to let Rive slide off. "Here you go."
"Thank you." She walked up to the house, walking in without having to unlock the door, then began to double-lock windows as she passed them, thinking. "Where... where would we be going?"
"Honestly it's a bit hit and miss but I've been popping out in the Matoran universe... get something to keep you warm in case we end up in a Ko- Metru or Wahi."
Nodding, she opened a closet and pulled out a woolen knee-length pea coat, setting it aside before moving on to pull all the shades. "But... why should I go with you?" It's not like she really had anything holding her here ...no job, living off of a trust fund... guilt money still being deposited into her bank accounts.
After a few minutes Takanuva's head peered around the door frame, "Did you say something?"
"Why should I go with you?" she repeated, grabbing a walking staff and placing it beside the coat.
Takanuva grasped the top edge of the doorframe and leaned into the room without really stepping in, "Why are you packing so fast?" he asked back, tilting his head in that way of his.
Pausing, turning to look at him, River sat on her floor. "I asked you first... and I'll answer your question after you answer mine."
Takanuva let go and came over to kneel down in front of the human, reaching out to grasp her smaller hands in his large silver ones. "You're heart is broken," The Toa said softly, "I can see, hear and smell it. Fire itself would cry if your spirit broke as well."
"I... I need to find myself," she replied softly as she tried her hardest not to cry, her hands gripping his and feeling the living metal. "And whatever bit of truth is still in my heart knows that if I go with you... I'll find what I've lost."
"Sometimes the best way to see yourself is to go away from your Koro." Takanuva said with understanding of someone who had gone through a lot (to say the least) to know the truth of his own words.
Nodding and looking at her hands that were within his, River murmured, "I have to finish setting the house up."
"I can wait outside if you'd like," Takanuva reached over and pulled River a little closer to press his mask to her head again.
The action was comforting, even if she didn't know what it was supposed to signify. Closing her eyes, she released a deep breath. "No... please stay."
The Toa rumbled softly in his chest before the sound smoothed into a clear purr. "It's alright, I'll be right here."