EDIT: tried to fix some things that didn't seem to flow right.
I once posted on tumblr that I discovered a story about a mythological Moana who was mermaid like and even encountered one version of Maui. No I am not making this up. Its actually pretty cool and some of the coincidences are pretty interesting when you learn about them.
jhalpernkitcat: Heh, heh, that's ok. And I've kind of taken for granted that Tamatoa might be one of the biggest reasons why people would be drawn to this fic, in addition to the specific AU in mind. I loved the idea of Moana using story telling to build up to Tamatoa's eventual appearance and I thought it would be cute if she pretended to be him and interact as such with the children (it was one of the last minute additions actually :) ). Poor Pua is going to not have a whole lot of fun being unable to communicate during this fan fic. Communication with characters who can't speak is going to be a good challenge for me as a writer and trying to figure out a way to get characters who can't verbally communicate important messages to each other will be interesting.
Tamatoa's voice being used to attract prey was inspired by the very fact that his song helped in making me want to see Moana immediately after I heard it. Even in the movie itself his singing works the same way when Maui sings 'You're Welcome" by serving as a distraction before cutting right to the chase/trapping the prey (Moana wasn't expecting either of them to sing and they worked to get her distracted to varying degrees). Plus both his speaking voice and his singing voice are very enjoyable to listen to and I am a sucker for a good voice (thank you Jemaine Clements, wherever you are). I think Tamatoa himself is aware that his voice can be a lure and of course, if Tamatoa would want to attract someone with his voice, it wouldn't be fish. ;)
Trevor: Tamatoa is as charismatic as Dr. Facilier is and they both have awesome songs. I think the glow in the dark bit was meant to be a nod to 'Friends on the other side' but more neon-y. Actually Dr. Facilier was my favorite Disney antagonist until I saw Moana. *laughs* I'm a sucker for a good voice.
JayFan67: Hmm... I tried to but... uh, you'll find out the answer pretty soon. I can't make any guarantees, but I don't mind doing a little ship tease when I deem that its ok and I don't want to ruin anything that could spoil the story. I mean Moana's parents are a guaranteed pairing in this fic, but at this point I don't know who will be paired up with who.
Guest: It is pretty sad, what happened to Maui. What really is unfortunate is that what happened to him HAS actually happened in real life (even today) and most of those cases did not end well for those poor infants. It's pretty disgusting but I'm glad that its getting acknowledged so that we can try to prevent those cases from happening or even ending up with the death of a child.
Guest: I don't know if it was ever acknowledged in the film that adoration fuels one's power and I don't know if that is a thing in Polynesian mythology. Its clear in this case that he is genuinely loved and appreciated by some humans (and in the film its there, despite what he did), but everyone has their moments of doubt.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Oh boy... trust me when I say 'loosely inspired by the Little Mermaid' but when I realized what I had to do to Maui in order for this AU to work, I had to look into something important. I like the uniqueness of Maui's character design, and I admit that I didn't want to do this to him.
I tried my best to look into the history of tattoos in Polynesian culture to see if deliberately removing tattoos or burning them is considered highly offensive, a sign of bad luck, or sacreligious in any way. I still have not found out anything in regards to this, other than it is not acceptable to make your own tattoo identical to another's. As I may have said before, I want to try to respect the cultures that were represented in the original film because I am aware of how important it is to accurately depict another culture or religion without making a big mistake. Most of Maui's tattoos are a pretty big give away to his identity and while you can predict what is going to happen with this note in mind, I only want to do this with the knowledge that I am not commiting a serious offense. Please let me know and I can try to find a way to work around this if what happens is not acceptable in the Polynesian culture.
Chapter 3: A devil in all his splendor
"Well for starters I'd like to know why you decided to stalk me like an unwanted fan." Maui demanded as he tightened his grip on his fish hook.
This earned him the rather enjoyable sight of Tamatoa flinching back in shocked offense. The crab quickly recovered as he rolled his his eyes and moved forward. "Oh please, like I'd want to do that when I got other things to look into that are more important."
"If you're just here to torment me, I'll let you know that its working on a scale of how annoying it is." Maui slowly raised up the fish hook and began tapping it against the palm of his free hand. "So why don't you go back to Lalotai and leave before I'm tempted to do something we'll both regret."
"Well if the hero of mortals isn't the same as he used to be and he's acting like he's about to turn his back on the people he adores, then of course I'd be curious!" The giant crab scoffed. "The way you were going, it's like you want to renounce your status as a demi-god and–" Tamatoa stoped at this as a thought struck him. "Wait... wait a minute..." A smile was slowly creeping up on his face. "You want to stop helping the humans–" He was trying his hardest to supress a laugh– "and go back to being one?! Is that it?!"
When Maui did not deny this in any way and took too long to do so (a big mistake in itself), the crab let out a "Pffft- HA!" and proceeded to let out a series of roaring laughs. "AH, HA, HA, HA, HA!" He was struggling to breathe and lowered himself as he tried to hold onto something but failed and ended up pounding one of his claws against the sand. Each pound sent a tremor through the ground as well as send sand flying up and Maui could barely keep his footing on the ground. Each pound felt like he was about to topple over at any moment if he couldn't keep still.
"AH, HA, HA, HA, HA! OH G- HA, HA, HA, HA! THAT HAS TO BE THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD! OH GODS, I CAN'T BREATHE!" Tamatoa was already during a dark shade of red and purple as he struggled to get his breath. "HA, HA- ah ha, ah haaaaaaaahhhh!" The last laugh was drawn out as a cross between a laugh and a wheeze. An uncomfortable Maui waited patiently for the crab to recover and once that happened, Tamatoa was still trying to get some air and he looked like he was about to cry because he had laughed that hard.
"No seriously, you actually want to go back to being like the ones you tossed you into the ocean like a rock?! The very same things that you've tried so hard to win the love of that you can't get enough of?!" He snorted. "Maybe you did hit your head on a rock."
Maui wanted to deny it and yet he couldn't after being put on the spot like this. Worse yet, Tamatoa could see what his answer was through the long silence alone and he had a way with tearing into one's insecurities that Maui was not fond of.
"You know it's words like those that caused me to lash out and take that leg off." Maui growled. "I miss the old days, but you had to keep getting into people's heads and making them feel like they were nothing!" This caused all humor to vanish from Tamatoa's features as his eyes narrowed at Maui. "At least I'm not the one who could risk going to extremes just to win everyone's approval!" The crab growled in a low voice as his head moved towards Maui and his crooked teeth were bared out. "Whose to say that the next thing you try to do for them will either end in you dying or the whole world collapsing in on itself?!"
The two stared each other down and there was no telling who would make the first strike.
Finally Tamatoa moved back as his voice raised back to its natural pitch. "Funny thing is that I do know a way to turn someone into a mortal." He casually smirked like he wasn't angry at Maui just mere seconds ago. "Of course it'll cost you, but hey, why keep up this hero act if it causes you so much emotional damage? And who knows what you'll do to try to earn proper adoration from someone who won't die in under one hundred years?" He made to turn away and head back into the sea before adding something as an after thought.
"I mean it'd probably be much easier to find what you seek as a mortal. Besides, isn't watching all those precious mortal children who adore you die off from old age getting to be a bit too much for your mental health?"
Tamatoa then turned back to the sea. "You know where to find me when you made up your mind, Maui." He almost sang as he crawled into the waters and sank into its dark depths.
Maui stared at the spot where Tamatoa had been before he sighed and sat back down.
He felt Mini Maui try to catch his attention and when he looked down he could see the tattoo was shaking his head with a worried frown on his face.
"You don't think I should take up his offer?" He asked.
The tattoo pointed to the people that were also on his skin as well as the monsters. He was trying to remind his host of his responsibilities but it wasn't working.
"Yeah, I know, but someone will have to eventually replace me, right?" He asked as he let out another sigh and held his face in his hands. "I hate to admit this, but he's right; I can't keep doing this forever. And I don't want to put the ocean in jeporady if I try to make every mortal immortal. I'd totally do it, you know." He warned. "That would be the ultimate gift I could ever give to humanity."
He weighed his options carefully; whatever he would chose would have some sort of consequence in the future. He didn't trust Tamatoa, but the selfish part of him that he tried to supress for the sake of everyone else was giving into temptation.
It took him a few hours to think things over for a bit until finally he came to a decision. Without so much as looking back, he headed to the ocean where he transformed into a shark and headed to Lalotai.
"So you actually came." Tamatoa smirked as he turned around. "I'm almost suprised at you Maui, but hey it's your choice and lifestyle, not mine." He looked down at the demi-god who had entered his large (and beautiful) home in Lalotai and who only momentarily eyed the treasures within. Tamatoa's possessive nature over his treasures almost took over when he saw this and was about to give out a warning before Maui glanced back at the crab.
"Let's just get this over with before I realize what I'm doing." Maui began as he walked towards the crab with his hook over his shoulder.
Tamatoa was secretly delighted; he knew that this plan would work in his favor either way, but if there was a way to get back at Maui or even humiliate him in the process, then it was even better.
"I admit that in the past that I've been a nasty," Tamatoa's voice changed as it sounded like he was about to sing. "What with insulting you and giving you some heck, but as a favor to a friend, and a hand-er-claw to lend, I can-"
"Please no singing." Maui grimaced. The last thing he needed was to turn this ordeal into some ridiculous musical number, which, no thank you, by the way.
No really, he did not want any singing involved.
Tamatoa frowned in annoyance. "And suppose there is someone out there who wants to hear me-"
"NO SINGING!" Maui yelled in frusteration as he pointed his hook at the crab. "I swear I'm going to head right back if you do!"
"WELL FINE!" Tamatoa snapped right back as he sighed, went to get what he was going to use, and began to grumble. "Stupid... ugh... doesn't like my singing..." He found the huge oyster shell and set it on the ground near Maui. The shell itself was tall enough to almost reach the demi-god's knees.
"His loss." Tamatoa scowled as he grabbed a few strange things like seaweed, some sort of bone, bright blue fragments of a rare type of coral, and a few other things that Maui did not want to recognize, before tossing them in the shell. Maui almost flinched when the giant crab started crushing them up with the end of his giant claw before reaching over to grab a rare species of eel that was alive and thrashing for its life in his grip. When Tamatoa held it over the shell, Maui closed his eyes before he could actually see the crab snapping the thing in two and did who knew what else to it before tossing that all in too.
"Ok, now here's how this will work." Tamatoa said in an almost too eager tone. Maui opened his eyes to see the crab giving him another toothy grin as he rested against the ground behind the large shell and he himself cautiously approached it as he rested his hook over his shoulder again.
"So as you are already aware, you will lose your immortality and your enhanced strength when you get turned into a mortal." Tamatoa started. "Now this dosage will be just enough to turn you into a mortal but its only going to last for about three weeks at most."
"But–" He smirked and stopped Maui before he could ask any questions "–in order for you to become fully human and make the change permanent, you have to prove that you would be welcomed as one and have a place in the world of mortals. You have to find and make a good connection with a mortal who appreciates you for who you are rather than what you are. Basically being like a hero or a Chief would mean ziltch, so status alone isn't going to make the cut. Yeah, good luck with that one." The crab quietly scoffed that last one to himself before continuing.
"Anyway this one mortal must not only have to want you as part of their life, but they have to actually say something along those lines or show a gesture that proves just as much before the sun sets on the last day. And they actually have to mean it with all their heart." He added. "It can't be some sort of on the fly thing or out of infatuation. And again, they have to appreciate you for who you are and not what you are, so that's going to be important too."
"That's not going to be difficult." Maui couldn't help but smirk. "What, it couldn't be to get someone to kiss me or find someone to get married to? It's not that hard to get someone to like me, you know."
Maui immediately regretted saying this when he saw the look on Tamatoa's face. It was the look of someone who knew something that he didn't and it was not going to be pleasant for the listener. "Well, maybe it would, but I didn't say it was going to be easy, mon ami." Tamatoa gave him another grin as he waved a claw in the air. "And this is where I'm interested in getting involved in this matter."
"What, you want something like this?" Maui smugly pulled the necklace off one of the binds that was attatched to the leaves that he wore and he held it up. The crab eyed the necklace hungrily but he shook his head with that grin still on his face.
"Oh no, payment in treasure isn't the problem but I'll gladly accept it as the entrance fee." Maui took that as the cue to just throw the necklace to the side since he no longer had any use for it.
"No, you have to give up three more things during this trial period because they also make up a part of what you are to the mortals. First," Tamatoa tapped a claw against the ground "You can't use your magical fish hook to transform, nor would you be able to use it if you tried. Second," He tapped the ground again "You have to give up almost all those tattoos that the gods gave to you."
"WHAT?!" Maui dropped his hook as his eyes widdened in shock at this requirement. He felt almost every inch of his body crawling and sqwirming as all the tattoos protested against this. He couldn't even dare bring himself to look down and see how offended or betrayed they would be at this news.
"Those precious tattoos make up a part of your current identity, Maui." Tamatoa merely shrugged. "Someone would immediately figure you out if those stayed on you. This will help you out with that, but I can't guarantee its going to be as comfortable as when you got them in the first place."
Maui was very concerned about that part. "You don't think the gods would take offense to that, do you?" He asked nervously. "I wouldn't just be throwing their gifts away like an unsatisified kid who didn't get what he wanted."
"Well you didn't have much control over which ones you got, did you Maui?" Tamatoa countered. "Including the one on your back that you always try to hide? The one of 'dear ol' mum' tossing you into the ocean?"
That struck a nerve in Maui; that was the one tattoo he would be willing to get rid of, but was he willing to go even further with this? What could be worse than losing the tattoos? "Ok, fair enough." Maui admitted with a nonchalant shrug as he tried to hide his discomfort. "Now what's the final thing I got to give up?" And please don't say something like my hair. He mentally added.
"Oh, nothing much, just one simple thing." Tamatoa waved his claw in the air as if this wasn't a big deal. "You have to give up your voice."
That made Maui hesitate. Did he hear Tamatoa correctly? "Wait a minute, what was that again?"
"You, give me, your voice."
"Ok, first off," Maui held his hands up in protest "That's going to make things way too difficult for me! How the heck can I make a connection with a mortal if I can't talk to them?! Second- why do you need my voice?! What, are you finally getting tired of listening to your own?!"
Tamatoa's eyes started twitching as he fought the urge to just kill Maui. "My voice is far superior to many other voices in the world, thank you very much!" He hissed. "And I'll give it back if by some miracle you manage to succeed since I don't have a use for it!"
"Besides, it's not as beautiful as mine, of course." He added in a vain tone as he relaxed somewhat. "Plus I'm sure you won't need it too much. You got other ways to impress someone, right? Or have you been so dependant on all those things to make them your entire identity? Are you really Maui if you don't have your hook on you?"
Now caught up by the challenge and because he himself was not one to turn down said challenge, Maui pointed at the crab and snapped "I bet I could, crab cakes! I'll brefriend someone, get my voice back from you, prove you wrong, and I'll laugh about it for days when its all over!"
Tamatoa chuckled. "You're really that confident about this, Maui?" He turned around to look at his treasures before finding something and picked it up with his claw. "Ok, then I'll add something to counter your funny little bet. If you win, you get your voice back and maybe more depending on how things go. If I win," Tamatoa held up what looked like a necklace made with abolone shell fragments, pearls, and a dark purple sea shell at the very end that had flecks of gold embedded onto its surface "I get to take something of yours that you hold dear." He warned in that sinister tone of voice that he took on when the mood suited him and for one moment it sounded as if he sang those exact words. "And I will be thinking about it the whole time you are up there doing who knows what."
As Maui stood there in silence, Tamatoa noticed that the concotion in the shell was starting to smoke. "Oh, look at that!" His voice took on an abrupt cheerful tone as if he didn't sound like he was threatening Maui to begin with. "Looks like you'd better drink it before it goes sour!"
Maui shut his eyes as he felt his tattoos try one last time to plead to him to not do this. It was now or never and there would probably never be another chance to try this out again. Except he would need to win the challenge if Tamatoa was going to steal any part of him that could be a danger if used incorrectly. Could he be able to do this if he was robbed of most of his identity? His voice?
"Go ahead, make your choice." Oh gods, was Tamatoa singing? He didn't care anymore.
Don't do this! He could almost hear the tattoos plead. Who will protect the humans if you can't?
"I'm a pretty busy person and I haven't got all day!"
His mind flashed back to that little girl who had been afraid of going blind but was still able to function with a smile despite the terror she had to go through. She was able to deal with the kakamora without her sight for a brief time and met him without knowing it before she got her sight back, so perhaps he could be the same as her.
"If you want to cross a bridge my friend, you got to pay the toll!"
Only without a voice.
He proceeded to go up to the shell (against the protests of the tattoos), knelt beside it, and quickly scooped up his hands into the liquid within. Even though it was burning his hands, Maui didn't stop as he quickly brought the liquid to his mouth and took a big drink of the foul tasting stuff. He continued to try to drink as much of the concoction as he could against the protests within and outside of his body until finally it was like something was thrashing inside his stomach.
Then it felt like something was trying to force it's way out of his innards by stabing him repeatedly from within.
He let out a strangled sound and he grabbed his mouth with one hand as he crawled away from the shell. Something was steadily rising up inside him and then began to attack his throat; he almost wanted to cry as he felt himself choking on whatever was inside his throat but he dared not until he finally let out a scream that died out before it could even come when he heaved and vomited up a small, pale green orb that shone like a pearl.
As Maui panted to try to catch his breath and try to clear his head while his stomach still felt like it was being attacked, the orb was carefully scooped up into the opened shell of the necklace in a delighted Tamatoa's grasp. "Huh, I guess that made you the oyster then." Tamatoa couldn't help but comment. "Got to love the symbolism going on here."
"Oh, and the transaction is almost complete." Tamatoa hissed and his grin widdened as he carefully closed up the shell with one claw while the other carefully held onto the necklace so that nothing would break. After carefully putting the necklace on his shell, he grabbed the shell on the ground and procceded to splash the rest of it's contents over Maui before setting it back down.
Maui's panting became louder as he looked up at Tamatoa with pained eyes as parts of his flesh began to feel itchy from the neck down. He opened his mouth in an attempt to give the creature a few choice words before he felt as if he was begining to burn up as the heat inside him went up. Then the sensation got so intense that it felt as if he had been tossed into the heart of the fire that he once stole for the sake of men and it changed from his skin itching to outright burning in agony. It was so unbearable that he collapsed to the ground and couldn't help but writhe on the ground as he let out screams that never came out.
He felt himself already regretting the choice he had made. He had no clue what was happening to him right now, but he couldn't think straight. He even began to tear his own fingernails through his flesh in protest against the fire that wasn't there and yet felt as if it was there to begin with. Certain parts of his body were being spared from this unbearable illusion but even that wasn't a relief as he felt a weariness take over and drain him of his strength as well as his will power.
There were very few times where he wished he could just die and this was one of those times. He was almost convinced that he got his wish as his eyes gazed at the top of the lair and the hole where the water was right above them all and his world darkened to sweet oblivion. His last thought was a prayer to be tossed into the water and for this invisible fire to stop hurting him.
That... that was not a sight he wanted to see ever again. Yes, he could have a sadistic side now and then, but what he just saw happened to his former friend was not as enjoyable as he initially thought it would be.
Maui–the legendary hero in all of the southern seas– was laying face up in the sands of his home and was now trapped in the body of a mortal man. A body that was missing almost all the original tattoos except for some that had been altered to the point of being unrecognizeable. Some were on part of the left side of his chest and most of his left shoulder and upper arm. There were some noticeable tattoos on his legs that also appeared to have been changed as well, but not to the extent as the ones that were left on his upper body. The rest of the body, however, had quite a few nasty looking scars or patches of red, irratated flesh, as if he had been burnt on the places where some of the tattoos used to be.
No, it was more like most of those tattoos had been burned away. It even looked like that was what had happened when Tamatoa was watching the change and it was not a pleasant sight to behold.
Perhaps that was the punishment that Maui worried about. In removing the tattoos given to him by the gods, they were replaced with scars that served as proof of what he had done. It was probably going to be another hinderance in his attempt to stay mortal since it didn't make him look that attractive to the eye.
Oh well, his loss.
"You poor unfortunate soul."
Tamatoa picked up Maui and he could feel just how mortal he really was. One strong squeeze would be all that he would need to just kill him, but there was no fun in that.
"You're going to regret what you did, old friend." Tamatoa smirked at the still asleep demi-god who was now currently a mortal. "You are lucky I don't want to kill you right now."
Before he knew it, he felt something come splashing down upon his face. He flinched back with a startled cry and let go of Maui before backing away as far as he could and shook his head. "What the–?!" He looked up in time to see a pillar of water come out of the hole in his home. It came down upon Maui and sucked him up right into it before taking him out of the cave and up into the ocean above. Tamatoa was transfixed by the sight until the water rose back up and completely vanished from the cave.
"What was–?" He tried to comprehend what just happened until he realized something he didn't consider. "Oh." He gulped as a feeling of dread came over him; the ocean was said to be alive, which meant that if it was not aware what had just transpired, then someone else had to have known about it. If one of the gods knew what happened, he was probably going to get in as much hot water as Maui would, if not worse.
"Then again, they can't really do anything about it since its already too late." He shook the concern off as he turned the abandoned fish hook. "I'm not trying to do anything that'll cause harm to the world and besides," He picked up the fish hook in one claw and he grabbed the purple shelled necklace that contained Maui's voice off his back with his other claw "I'd like to see if Maui thinks he can get away with pretending to be a mortal before something happens to him." His grin was so horrific that it would give one nightmares. "There's no telling what could happen." He added as he examined both objects.
And anyway, even if Maui didn't have to worry about the consequences of his actions or the enemies he had made as a demi-god, then who in all of the southern seas could even come close to tolerating him as he was now?
"You seem distracted."
"Huh?" Moana looked up from weaving the basket to look at her mother who was giving her a patient smile as she also worked on a basket alongside a few women and girls. "The pattern doesn't look that well bounded together." She pointed to the basket Moana was working on. Moana looked down and saw that at some point her weaving became quite uneven and there were a few holes that were too big to make the appearance of the basket look visually appealing or even passable as a proper basket.
"Oh," Moana sighed in disapointment as she stopped and examined the basket. "I suppose I did."
"Perhaps you need to clear your mind for a bit." Sina suggested. "It's possible to get too lost in thought during a task."
"Maybe I shouldn't." Moana frowned as she examined her mother's own basket. Sina started the basket at the beggining of the day and already everyone else was about to finish their own, while her's was about half way done. Sina also looked a little worn out for some strange reason, as if she did not get enough sleep the night before. "I don't want to abandon you when I'm not even done yet."
"It's fine, Moana." Sina shook her head. "You'll be very busy soon, so take a moment to enjoy some time off."
"You won't be able to finish before the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. Are you sure you don't–?"
"I appreciate your concern, but please go and have some time to yourself." Sina politely declined before looking up at the sky. "And please behave yourself!" She reminded the glowing orb up in the sky as she pointed a finger at it. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?!"
Moana laughed as she set her basket aside and walked away. Pua noticed that she was leaving and, believing that she was done, he followed her.
Moana hummed a song as she walked away from the village and checked her surroundings while Pua trotted beside her. She picked up a stick and pretended that the kakamora (she learned what sort of creatures they were from Grandma Tala) were about ready to tackle her but she swated them away as swiftly as she could. True, she still needed to work on her accuracy, but she was convinced that she was getting better.
When she had gotten so far away from the village that no one would have seen her, Mona realized something when she looked at her surroundings.
"I'm alone!" She grinned.
No one had known exactly where she had gone off to and now she could head towards the ocean. She quickly picked up Pua and hurried off towards one of the many shorelines, where she dared not make a sound until she knew that she was completely alone. With a delighted laugh, she set Pua on the ground and began to sing as she ran ankle deep through the water to her heart's content when she got close enough. Fulfilling the urge to enjoy this forbidden delight felt more satisfying than anything she could imagine. She bent over to place her hands in the water and felt it surge between her fingers as she also ran through it. She was proud to be next in line as the Cheif of her people, and she adored her village and its people, but if Moana would be able to have the ocean in her life, then she was sure that her life could be completely content.
When she saw an abandoned fishing canoe that was not so far away, she let out a delighted gasp and hurried towards it. "Oh my gosh!" She knelt beside it and ran her hands across it's surface and enjoyed the slightly worn down texture of the wood against her fingertips. She pressed her nose against it and she could smell the salty sea infused within the wood.
"I am going to ride something like you one of these days!" Moana told the boat. It wasn't as marvelous as the other boat she had once found some time ago, but this one was still a good looking boat. "Or maybe I'll take you out today?" Moana grinned mischievously.
As she thought about this, Pua noticed that Heihei had somehow gotten this far away from the village as well. In fact, the rooster was pecking at something on top of a small cliff in the distance before walking forward and falling right off it with a loud cry.
He let out a snort; the bird creeped him out sometimes, but his stupidness balanced it out in a weird way. Still he had to make sure that Heihei didn't finally snap his neck in half so he headed on over as fast as he could while his human friend admired the boat.
Pua slowed his pace when he made it to the cliffside and walked around to find a spot of sand and stones and Heihei, who had miraculously survived. In fact he was already pecking at a head with dark hair that was so wild looking that would put many other heads to shame.
Wait a minute. A head of dark hair?
Pua looked again and realized that Heihei was pecking at the head of a man who was laying on his stomache in the sand. A large bodied man (bigger than any human Pua had ever seen) who looked unconcious but was clearly breathing.
He quickly shot off and let out a loud series of squeals to alert Moana.
Moana herself had managed to get the boat into the water, get on it, and just as she was about to grab the oar, she heard Pua squealing. She turned around to see him call to her and she could sense that something was wrong by the way he was frantically running around in circles.
Alarmed by this, Moana jumped off the boat and was almost knee deep in water, but she ignored how wet her skirt got from this as she ran towards Pua, who lead her towards the small cliffside. "Pua?! Pua what's wrong?!" She called.
Unknown to her, the ocean itself was carefully watching what she was doing. It had watched many people before the young child, including her own grandmother who loved to dance in it. It had been watching this girl for as long as she first swam in it and due to certain circumstances it had been watching her ever since. Watching her try so desperately to go back to it, talk to it, and forced to sacrifice her chances to go to it, whether it be for a family reason or out of compassion for others.
The ocean was able to do one thing for the girl this time, even though it would come at a serious risk for her and her people. No matter how much either of them changed over the years (quite drastically in one case), it was time for Moana to finally see the face of the one who had saved her life those many years ago.
I'm a jerk and so is Tamatoa.
It's fun to be a sadistic jerk through characters like Tamatoa, isn't it? :D No seriously, its fun to write someone who can be really mean once in awhile. That's one of the things that makes writing enjoyable. I thought he could be just antagonistic instead of outright evil, but we will see how things go and if that can even be possible.
I was nervous about the removal of the tattoos, since- well, you proably saw my note at the beginning, didn't you? Granted, I don't think all of them would come off or leave scars behind. What was left behind was drastically altered on purpose because I heard that you can't copy another's tattoo in the Polynesian culture for your own (and I admit I was a little inspired by Dwayne Johnson's tattoos, but its not going to be exactly like his for that same reason). I also did it because... well, if you look at the Art of Moana book and see how many tattoos are actually on Maui's legs, you also see how far they extend upward...
Uh, yeah let's just leave it at that. I think I did Maui a big favor by not getting rid of those tattoos.
"But will this be permanent?" you ask in concern? Uh... I can't spoil anything right now.
I gave Maui three weeks to be fair instead of three days. (Three days just to get someone to kiss you through true love, Disney? Yeah, THAT'S the kind of message you want to send to kids *sarcasm*.) And as you can tell, I made it so that it is possible to make it so that a platonic relationship can be used to make the spell permanent (IF it happens, of course) instead of 'Oh just kiss her/get him to marry you.'
Oh... uh, about the Poor Unfortunate Soul bit not working out... I couldn't think up any decent lyrics beyond what I gave you and it was hard to come up with good rhymes for it. That's why I had to cut it short and-
"YOU WHAT?!"
The writer looked up from her laptop to see one large and very angry (and very sparkly) crusteacean in front of her.
"Wh-?" The writer's jaw dropped. "What–?! WHAT?!" She threw her hands out at the crab. "HOW?! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!"
"I DEMAND YOU GO BACK AND FIX THAT!" Tamatoa yelled almost right in her face.
"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M HOWARD ASHMAN OR LIN MANUEL MIRANDA TO YOU?!" The writer yelled back. "AND HOW IN THE HECK DID YOU BREAK THE FOURTH WALL?! I THOUGHT I LEFT THAT GAG BEHIND IN MY ZELDA FAN FICS!"
"Watch it, sweetheart." Tamatoa growled. "I've heard that some pretty nasty things had happened to you whenever you made cameos in your own stories. You really want to tempt that?"
The writer went silent for a moment.
"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me!" She pressed a button on her laptop. One of the pirate ships from the Peter Pan ride at Disney Land appeared and she quickly got on it (with laptop in hand). "LATERS!" She yelled as the ship sped off.
"GET BACK HERE!"
"NOT WHEN YOU'RE THREATENING TO KILL ME, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
Anyway, see you next time! :)