#meanwhile tahu gets flustered multiple times and the hordika enjoy a big ass nap

[randomwriteronline]

Prompt: Your delightful plot bunny of the Turaga Metru transforming back to Toa Hordika on Spherus Magna. If you want, please write something about the moment Tahu goes to check on Mata Nui and finds him surrounded by six dozing Toa Hordika. His bafflement is fueled partly by jealousy and sadness.

Of whom, exactly? He doesn't know.

The hut was halfway between a Matoran and an Agori home: very small, very compact, with a tiny window near the top facing south, so that there would always be enough light but never too much. He was surprised how well Pouks had fused the two styles together.

He stopped his hand as it was almost already wrapped around the heavy cloth covering the entrance, with a sudden awareness that it would have been awfully impolite to just barge into some other being's private residence unannounced - especially if said being was a god; limb retracted hastily, he stood for a little as though not knowing what to do and finally decided to hit the wall with his open palm, hoping it would make enough noise to catch the attention of anybody inside.

There was a little sound from inside, as though someone had suddenly stirred back to their senses.

"Mata Nui?" he called cautiously.

"Tahu!" a weak creaky voice replied, sounding rather glad. "Oh, are you here? How nice to hear you. Please do not come in."

The Toa immediately tensed: "Is something wrong?"

"I have never been doing as fantastically as I am right now," the Great Spirit reassured him despite sounding like he'd just been put through some kind of woodchipper: "I only fear that a sudden entrance might frighten them again."

Them?

Again?

Forgetting his better judgement and the clear instructions he'd just been given, Tahu lifted the cloth and peeked his head in.

Mata Nui was laying down on a stone bed with tired eyes turned to see him, as comfortable as he could be; all over him, curled up or splayed across his body without concern nor modesty, laid six sleeping Toa Hordika with not a care in the world, effectively pinning him down in a manner so complete that he could not have moved a muscle if he tried.

The Ta-Toa's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.

He pointed at the six werebeasts with some barely contained not yet identified emotion, alternating between staring incredulous at them and his god.

"How?!" he demanded to know beneath his breath.

Mata Nui wheezed the beginning of a laugh.

"Don't you 'hh-hh-hh' me, we've been trying to get them out of their hideaway for days!" Tahu hissed, so beyond flabbergasted that he didn't even think of checking his tone or choice of words. "How did you do this?!"

The other being's breath whistled out of him much like a kettle again to convey his amusement: "I believe my presence piqued their interest," he explained, still chuckling at the Toa's outrage.

He tried to move an arm as carefully as he could, to slip it out from beneath Whenua so that he could beckon Tahu closer, but very quickly changed his plans once the feeling of a thousand invisible ants burrowing into the limb took hold.

"Oh, this has fallen asleep." he mumbled. "And the other three as well. I should have expected that."

"You sound awful," the Toa noted, noticeably in a tone much more concerned about his condition than the Great Spirit himself appeared to be.

"It is nothing to be worried about," the other soothed him. He craned his neck back, squinting at the window roughly above his bed: "I am certain it is only a matter of hydration. I have not moved much today, so it must have passed my mind. Allow me to - it has been... Oh cosmos. Seventeen hours since I last had any water."

Tahu disappeared from the doorframe.

At most a minute later, he reemerged holding a slightly wet cup (he must have dipped it in the reserves Gaaki had so kindly left the Great Spirit with before she and her Stone brother had left him to his own devices roughly a day before) in both hands with an invincible grip, as though there was nothing in the world he would have feared more than dropping it; trying his hardest to make as little noise as possible he slid into the hut all the way to Mata Nui's side, all while glaring in concentration at the recipient in his palms.

He was startled back to reality from his grumbling thoughts only when dull golden fingers wrapped around his own to take the object from him.

"Still you must rescue me from myself, it seems," the Great Spirit mused with a tired, kind, apologetic smile.

His hands were tepid; their heat melted into the Ta-Toa's like sugar.

He slipped the cup away from Tahu's grip in the gentle way with which a spider plucks the dew from its web, murmuring his thanks before taking a long sip.

The Toa watched him for a second, berating himself halfheartedly for just standing in place like that. His eyes fell on the Hordika snuggled up against him, and some kind of flustering feeling got the best of him: "I'll get some for them too," he mumbled, stumbling and almost tripping on his own feet as he tried to make his escape.

A lukewarm touch reached his knuckles again, and his thoughts fell apart like crumbling biscuits: "There is no need to stir them yet," Mata Nui reassured him. "I believe they are quite enjoying this chance to safely rest all together."

"But when - when they, if, they-"

"Your Turaga are quite indipendent, I can assure you they will be able to provide for themselves just fine once they do awaken to tend to their needs."

"I should- be, off, then," Tahu tried again, "So they won't - I don't, scare them, in case--"

"Their senses have grown rather keen in this form," the Great Spirit insisted with a gentle smile. His fingers curled lightly around the Toa's to keep him there, next to the seven of them: "I am fairly certain they are already well aware of your presence. Their continued sleep is a good sign - it means they do not deem you a threat! My concern was that they might have been spooked if you had appeared without warning, but you have been so courteous, I sincerely doubt they feel as though you might herald any danger."

Courteous...

Had he really used that word? For him?

Tahu dumbly stood still like some kind of brainless automaton, mind drawing blanks upon blanks, flustered beyond words.

He must have looked awfully stupid like that, but what could he do? Mata Nui was still Mata Nui, and he was bound to have that sort of effect on someone who'd always only ever known him as a god.

The light fingers were still around his wrist; they tugged gently.

He blinked, noticing he was staring, and lowered his head with haste while trying to lay his gaze anywhere but on the six sleeping forms: "Are you sure? That it's..."

"I speak from experience, do not worry. They were very quick to rouse and hiss at Kiina and Ackar when they visited me," the other being laughed softly. "There should be a stool, should it not? I believe Pouks saw fit to make one... Have a seat, if it would please you to stay. I would quite like your company."

The Toa hurled himself at said stool like he'd been shot out of a cannon and sat down.

He was so stiff, bending even slightly would have cracked him in half.

"You can come a little closer," Mata Nui smiled.

Tahu lowered his gaze to quickly take note of the distance between the two of them: he was, bio more or bio less, exactly on the other side of the hut.

Steam hissed from his armor in cloudy strings out of embarrassment as he miserably dragged himself and his seat to the side of the bed, thinking it would have been oh so very relieving and pleasant for the earth beneath his dejected feet to open up and plunge him into the nearest stream of lava available.

He could feel the Great Spirit's eyes on him, looking at his Hau with a kind of fond amusement that reminded him of Onua.

It wasn't unpleasant, or mocking - just strange.

A groan caught their attention. Nokama Hordika, in her blissful unawareness of the awkward air around her, rolled her powerful shoulders with a grumble and decided she did not want to sleep in her current position anymore; so she punted her legs steadily, arched her back until it had completely pushed Mata Nui's chin far enough back that his neck almost strained, curled a little tighter around herself, and exhaled a whistful purr as she settled comfortably once more, head near her brothers as they replied to her pleased noises with their own chirps.

Tahu furrowed his brows without animosity as he looked at them: "Seriously, how did you get them to come out?" he mumbled.

"I did not do much, in truth. They came here on their own accord."

"How?"

"An unfortunate stroke of luck," Mata Nui replied enigmatically. "I must admit, in terms of my physical well-being, this day has been a wretched one. But as you can see," and the momentary pain in his expression softened with a smile that brightened his face, "My current condition does not allow me much autonomy or strength, which makes rather harmless. This realization must have given them enough courage to inspect me more closely."

Of course, that made sense. Perfect sense. They should have accounted for the Rahi instincts they were bound to develop all over again - and no Rahi would have ever trusted a Toa hunting it down.

A thumb brushed across the vents on his Hau's cheeks, gently yanking him out of his thoughts with the gentlest pull he'd ever felt: "Do not make it a fault of your own," the Great Spirit spoke, "You had no say on your design."

Did you?, Tahu almost asked; instead, before he could possibly commit some kind of sacrilegious act or let a terrifying amount of barely comprehensible emotions make his body grow scalding enough to burn the hand cupping his mask to a crisp, he blurted out: "Are they alright?"

Mata Nui nodded unperturbed (emotionally, that is, because with a Ga-Toa Hordika squashing his neck under her spine any movements around the head area were indeed very much perturbed): "Your Turaga are doing much better than I am, that is for certain. They do not have any injuries, nor seemed hungry... We managed to speak a while, about woes these forms brought them, and other such things. I hope to have been of some help, at least."

Whenua stretched across him, pushing Nuju's snout into Matau's in the process. The two gurgled at each other, convinced in their sleepy state they'd each been the true source of trouble instead of their Earth brother, and tried to lazily nip at their chins to teach one another a lesson.

Both ceased when kind fingers scratched their noses slowly, distracting them with a pleasant feeling; grievances forgotten, they readjusted themselves to snuggle closer and dozed off once more.

They were so inscrutable. Even more in this state.

"They are very beautiful in this form," the Great Spirit mused.

Tahu looked at them - their gangly limbs, their elongated heads, their poking ribs and weird tools melded so thoroughly into their limbs, even moreso than the Mata's first own had been... His expression twisted, not disgusted but still puzzled: "They're strange," he replied, a little lamely.

"Yes, of course. But there is a certain grace to them - at least in my eyes," the other explained. He sighed sadly. "I wish it was not a source of such discomfort for them."

The Toa watched him caress the warped bodies with absentminded fondness, prompting them to lean closer.

"Nokama was convinced I would have found them abhorrent," the Great Spirit muttered, "If not even sacrilegious by mere virtue of being forced to exist in this shape. She was afraid I would have been so repulsed by their sight that I would have forsaken them, despite everything they have done for my sake and that of the Matoran."

Vakama had said she'd been anxious about entering the Great Temple, too, Tahu remembered. And here she was, sleeping soundly on her god's chest. "You convinced her otherwise."

"So it would seem, fortunately."

"It looks like it helped. Talking with you, I mean - about... This."

"Hm. We veered onto other subjects, too. Especially when - oh!" Mata Nui cut himself off, bright eyes widening for a moment.

With a discrete amount of difficulty and a long series of murmured apologies he wriggled his arms out of the comfortably heavy pile of bodies draped over him a little better, even managing to push the Ga-Toa a little down from his neck, so that he could enjoy a slightly wider range of motion than he would have had otherwise, though it still wasn't exactly much; he craned his neck as far to the side as he could and began searching blindly for something with his hands.

Deeply puzzled and clearly not getting any explanation from the source, who was too captivated in whatever he was currently to achieve to share his train of thought, Tahu followed the general direction of his gaze.

His eyes fell on a cluster of tablets and papers and parchments by the side of the bed, some stacked in a more orderly manner, some strewn about in a somewhat disorganized fashion. A good number sported some variation or other of the Agori script, while others were written in much more familiar matoric alphabet.

"My dear friends," the Great Spirit started talking again all of a sudden, "They had brought me my work, to keep me occupied. It is a record of my research across the cosmos..."

"Ah... So planets? Stars?"

"Yes, among a variety of other things - flora, fauna, civilizations, terraformation, solar system formation, galaxy composition, nebulae concentration -- ah, apologies," he laughed in a terribly sheepish tone as he stilled his entire body, like he'd been petrified: "I am afraid I have acquired a tendency to get lost in my own words. If I begin to itemize things in a list, please, stop me immediately."

"It's fine."

"Oh, it really is not. I would continue ad nauseam."

"Well, Takanuva does that too if you give him the chance."

Mata Nui gave a quiet laugh: "I still doubt your brother has roughly ninety-nine millenia worth of knowledge readily available for him to loudly catalogue at length."

Tahu tilted his head with a grimace: "Yeah," he agreed, "That's probably for the better."

His god's chest jumped with a few more warm cackles, somewhat bothering the Hordika strewn on top of him for a second or two. His lack of caution earned a few protests in the form of forcefully nuzzled snouts, mild grumbles and even a brief disgruntled raspberry.

"Did you write all of this?" the Toa asked.

"Only the material in very small matoric script," the Great Spirit replied as he went back to his search: "The rest is for my studies, both the Matoran and Agori documents are for my studies. I wished to be more involved with the inhabitsnts of my own body, at least when it comes to their culture - and my knowledge of Spherus Magna customs and history is severely lacking, so I am trying to fix that though many sources are fragmentary or lost... Oh cosmos. Forgive me, I think I need your assistance once more. There is a volume I wanted to share with you, but I cannot see much like this."

"Oh, uh, of course," Tahu nodded. His eyes bounced across the mess without focusing on anything. "How's it look like?"

"Square shape, bound in petrol green talon snake skin and string, waxed parchment sheets in bundles of six pages, a few sticking through, maroon ink for main text, bloodstone ink for titles."

Warm hands shoved themselves right in the thick of the less orderly pile, rummaging with an intense focus for a brief amount of time, maybe a few seconds. They reemerged with their trophy grasped tightly, a triumphant 'hah!', and enough force to send a few tablets flying around.

Onewa growled at him in his sleep. Whenua shut him up by weakly smacking his jaw just with a paw.

Mata Nui clapped softly: "Exactly that! Marvelous, thank you."

"Wasn't too hard, with a description of that precision," Tahu replied as he handed it over to the other.

"A phtographic memory is one of my only talents, if one can consider being made to contain as much information as possible such a thing..." his god mused. Before the Toa could dwell on those words he had moved on, shifting through the pages: "Your Turaga and I read through part of this volume earlier, after my dear friedns visited. It is the first in a series dedicated to collecting and comparing legends of the various Agori tribes in this area, with each entry pertaining to a certain theme - it was produced before the Core War, so good part of it is yet to be recovered. But this, being the first book, focuses on creation myths and the like... Ah, there it is."

He stopped roughly halfway through, on a page that featured a strange drawing of what seemed to be a reptile dripping poison - vaguely reminiscent of a flattened Lerahk in truth. The thought made Tahu almost snicker.

"This is of the Tapyri, the Fire Tribe," Mata Nui explained. "It is a tale of how they were born from an immense volcanic bonfire, coming to life from charred green wood as it churned within the lava. Similar legends I have read in Ta-Matoran works from all over my body, as well, and a few of your birth."

"Mine?"

"Of course. You are often believed to have emerged from the bowels of a volcano yourself."

An apt alternative to the forges of Artakha, the Toa could admit - though it didn't really work for the rest of his siblings' elements... He shrugged a little, unsure what to do with that information: "It's not right, but it comes close, I guess."

"It come close," his god repeated with a sort of amused tone, like he knew something Tahu didn't; one of his hands laid gently on the Toa of Fire's and a spark of hushed excitement lit up his eyes: "But is it not so interesting, that people so distant and unlike each other still share such similar tales for the same concept, using the same imagery, indipendent of one another?"

His touch was tepid.

It had a sort of strange texture.

Tahu felt a little lightheaded, but in a pleasant manner.

He agreed quietly, mumbling in much the same embarrassed way a kid does before a very beautiful person.

Mata Nui smiled a little wider, eyes thinning a little: "Besides, there is some truth to it, you know," he added. "To the idea of life having originated from volcanic activity."

"Really?"

"Very much so. Several planets have multilayered molten cores, the upper levels of which often break through their solid crust creating volcanoes or pools of lava. Their heat allows certain microscopic organisms to thrive, causing them to evolve into more complex forms of life across the span of hundreds of millions of years until they develop complex enough brains to gain proper sentience and in some cases sapience - so, your observation is very spot on: these myths might not be quite right, but they do come close."

"So it comes from Fire, then," Tahu muttered, amazed - he'd often lamented to himself his element's ability to only cause harm, and now he found out otherwise. "I would've bet on Water. It sounds like a more obvious choice."

"It does come from water as well," Mata Nui replied: "As it offers protection from external radiations and a safe environment in which substances can spread and interact with one another."

"But it evaporates if the temperature's too hot."

"A good argument! It is hard for planets to be plentiful of water by themselves, especially when they are taking shape. The element can however form in space and be contained in other smaller astral bodies, such as meteorites, which then can collide into a planet if pulled into their gravitational orbit - although space is far too cold for water to be in a liquid state, so what they actually hold is ice."

"So Ice also brings life?"

"Yes, doubly so."

"Why's that?"

"Frozen microorganisms can be safely transported through space across otherwise unsustainable amounts of time. When the ice melts or evaporates they can thaw and restart their vital functions, free to duplicate and inhabit their new home."

"And Water makes Air when it evaporates, which they need to live."

"If they consume oxygen or evolve to have lungs, which they might in case the environment above water becomes inhabitable, yes."

"So then it's only Stone and Earth that don't matter!"

His god smiled very wide, very amused: "If that were the case, we would right now be living on a large pool of lava which would not allow any water upon it. Would you consider such a habitat suitable for the proliferation of life?"

Tahu hushed, reflected long and hard on the riddle posed to him, and sheepishly sank his head in his shoulders.

"I take that back," he said in a very tiny voice.

Mata Nui wheezed a laugh, caressing his cheek: "Oh, please do not be so embarrassed! You are far from the first to reach this conclusion in a haste - your Turaga had quite the argument on this same topic when we discussed it."

Now assailed with second-hand embarrassment at that mental image, the Toa hid his mask in his hands: "Please tell me they didn't start biting each other," he groaned.

"No, no, my presence kept them from it - but Whenua and Onewa almost did!" his god replied, obviously having a much better time. "They were dreadfully offended. They insisted I produce my own research so they could prove their siblings wrong, and when they discovered I had not yet written it down they tried to chase all four of their fellow Hordika off of me so that I could get to it immediately. Oh, Tahu-" he cackled again as the other's renewed despair at the news had him try to disappear inside his own palms, "-Please, do not be like that! I managed to divert their attention onto another topic, and I can assure you they behaved splendidly afterwards. I would not have been able to write anything, either way."

"Why not? Do your arms hurt?"

"Thankfully not, but their current state has made them rather invasive in their pursuit of knowledge. On my first attempt they were all over both my tools and my arms - not exactly making for the best writing conditions."

It was at least a humorous thought... And somewhat in line with the Turaga's tales about themselves...

A sudden weight distracted Tahu from his musings. He dared look down: Onewa Hordika had shifted his large snout onto his thighs, nestling on them with a sort of low chirp, and Vakama had followed suit by curling against his Stone brother, pressing the top of his head under his chin.

They seemed to have made themselves plenty comfortable.

He straightened his back with a startle.

All at once, he realized where he was, what he was doing, who he was talking to. When had the two Turaga laid on him? When had he moved so close to the bed? When had he started to lean so close to Mata Nui, until his head had almost leaned down on him?

He was no Hordika, he was not allowed these lapses! He could not be allowed these lapses. The Turaga could - they were supposed to, they were expected to, in these conditions, in this state, but not him! Not him. He was a different deal. He wasn't - he shouldn't have - he was acting wrong. He had to be acting wrong.

He had breached some kind of protocol, he must have.

He wasn't supposed to behave like this.

He wasn't supposed to act like this.

Not in front of his god.

Not - not... Not...

A palm laid on the top of his head, bringing his thoughts to a halt.

"Is something wrong?" Mata Nui asked.

His hand was warm and his voice laden with concern.

Nobody had ever treated him like that, as if he'd been a Matoran.

Tahu stared at him in silence for a little: "No?" he answered finally, equally as unsure.

He felt like his head was swimming.

The gentle pressure shifted onto his cheek: "You seemed to remember something very suddenly - do not let me keep you, if you have more pressing matters to attend to-"

"No, no! It's alright, I..." the Toa fumbled a little, mind still made hazy by the kind contact. He lowered his eyes once he realized he was once again looking directly into the god's, gaze falling onto the still sleeping Hordika curled on his lap: "The Turaga just... Caught me off guard," he settled on, because it was the truth - or a part of it, at the very least.

He did not dare look up, but he felt dusty fingertips move again in a feathery caress: "You are very warm," Mata Nui noted with a smile in his voice. "You must feel wonderfully pleasant to them."

Tahu felt himself heat up.

"You do not need to stay," he was reassured.

"I want to!" ah - that was too forceful, too eager. "I mean - I mean, it wouldn't... I'd... It doesn't bother me, staying here."

"Are you certain?"

"Of - of course. It's my duty, to protect you."

"You are not bound to me by duty anymore. I do not wish you to be."

"It's what we were made to do."

"You have outgrown that purpose by now. I am not yet autonomous and perhaps never will be again, if I ever once was, but I am not your burden to carry either," the Great Spirit told him. His solemn tone softened as he cupped the Toa's chin in his hand, gently raising it so that their eyes could meet properly. "However, if you do wish to stay and keep us company on your own accord, I would be very glad."

He sustained the eye contact for three, four, maybe five seconds; then Tahu had to duck his head down again before his heartlight risked a shortcircuit.

How could a being be so easy to talk to one moment and so completely overwhelming the other?

Vakama purred quietly in his lap.

Onewa curled a little around his brother; one of his feet pushed lightly against Nuju's hip, who stirred closer to Nokama and stretched his arms over the other Hordika.

Whenua mumbled in his sleep at the shifting happening all around him, but hushed when Matau nuzzled his back.

They seemed so calm.

"Would it be alright?" he muttered as if asking for a permission.

Mata Nui smiled, very sweetly: "Of course."