06 Coconuts & Surprises [OPEN]

[chosenbytheocean]

WHO: MOANA
WHERE: INN/VILLAGE/EVERYWHERE
WHEN: APRIL 7-9th
OPEN TO: OPEN TO ALL
WARNINGS: ADORABLENESS
STATUS: CLOSED
NOTE: Moana was gone for a little over 24 Hours. Anyone at the Inn probably noticed since she lives there and is there a lot. You are welcome to run into her at any point during any post.

---

APRIL 7TH RETURNS TO THE VILLAGE – MID-DAY

Moana didn’t expect to be pulling herself from the fountain wearing the same navy blue scrubs that she had found herself in on day one. She pressed her palm against the fountain’s basin, making sure that her fingers didn’t slip on the wet stone that surrounded the familiar landmark. Moana pulled herself free of the waters grasps and tumbled forward until she was lying face up, her limbs sprawled at her sides. She watched the clouds roll by and while the ground beneath her was chilly, the air brushing over her damp skin felt nice.

She took a minute to lay there, her dark hair heavy with water and matted to her cheeks and neck. She hadn’t had the backpack this time. It was good in a practical sense but she hoped that her things were still in her room. Moana didn’t know how long she’d been gone. Her chest heaved with each unsteady breath and while remaining in her prone state she picked apart her memories of this strange village. It took her a moment for everything to catch up to her and in a rush she was on her feet, running through the town.

"I made it past the reef!"

Moana shouted happily at the top of her lungs. She’d run past people on the streets; pause and then backtrack; running over to them to share her excitement.

APRIL 7TH TALKING TO HERSELF – JUST AFTER HER RETURN

Moana’s excitement was fleeting. At her core, she wasn’t happy to be back in the small foreboding village, not after making it past the reef and then finding Maui. She had something to do, something that only she could do; the ocean had chosen her… … … … … … …

…

Moana stopped mid-step, her palm quickly pressing to her clavicle moving over her chest and then down her sides.

"I lost the heart." Her voice was high pitched and frantic. She turned on her heel and ran back to the fountain. Her hands continued to search her clothing but it wasn’t on her. Her abdomen crashed against the edge of the fountain as she peered over its edge, searching its depths for the small shimmering green stone.

"Give me back the heart!" She yelled at the water. Moana had spent days talking to the ocean, it was her friend, but the water didn’t respond to her now.

APRIL 8TH INN – MORNING

Moana woke with the sun and rolled out of bed. The morning air uncomfortably pricked at her skin as she moved about the small room. Her room was the place she slept, kept her things and a bunny. She didn’t spend a lot of time in her room that wasn’t dedicated to sleeping.

She tugged her fingers through her messy black hair and then headed towards her door, hoping that there might be something small she can eat in the kitchen. As Moana stepped from her room she tripped over a small box that had been perfectly placed to obstruct her path. A loud grunt echoed down the hall as Moana found herself upside down, her feet rather spectacularly positioned in the air and a box resting on her head. She heard the faint clamor of a squealing pig inside the box enticing her to move quickly and release the startled animal.

She hadn’t meant to trip over it.

As Moana opened the box she saw a small baby pig running in very small circles around a coconut. "Hey there. Calm down. It’s okay." She wasn’t going to let the pig out of the box until it was calm.

A half hour later Moana had sorted through the box. There hadn’t been a lot outside of the pig in it but she had gotten two coconuts and two sticks from a tree that she recognized. It was exciting to have coconuts again and given that there were a few people who’ve never eaten a coconut before, Moana set to cutting and cooking one to share with those in the Inn. She hoped that she could spot Credence since she’d told him specifically about coconuts a month or so before.

APRIL 8TH INN – EVENING

With the appearance of the box, Moana had a new project. She sat in the inn’s common room, positioned close to the fire, her feet were bare and her hair was tied in a not on the top of her head. She had the two sticks from a mulberry tree in front of her, both were a little under a foot in length, and a baby pig asleep next to her thigh. The fire had clearly been too much for it.

As carefully as she could, Moana cut a thin line down the sticks, splitting the bark. It was layered inside and with this opening she was able to pull the curled long strip of plant matter from its center. She was very careful while doing this, knowing that she wouldn’t get a second chance if she mess up.

Her dark eyes occasionally flicked to the young pork bun at her side making sure that she didn’t wake him from his sleep. It had been a tiring day for them both.

Comments

[CLOSED TO JYN]

[chosenbytheocean]

APRIL 7TH ROOM 9 – EVENING/NIGHT

She hadn’t been able to find Jyn despite how hard she searched. She knew that the other girl was trapped in a fragile state and while Moana had promised not to leave, she’d disappeared for the entirety of a day. Worry gnawed at her heart, creating an uncomfortable tension in her chest. Where hadn’t she looked? It was getting dark out and Moana knew that searching at night was probably a bad idea.

Word must have gotten around that she was back, maybe Jyn heard too?

Moana chewed on the inside of her cheek while feeding the bunny that she had in a small pen in the corner of her room. She had treated the bunny to some extra roots and apologized for her absence in a soft soothing voice.

Once that was done Moana turned and head towards the door, she didn’t care if it was dark. She was going to find her friend.

[kestreldawn]

To say that Jyn was panicked when she awoke that morning to find Moana missing would be an epic understatement. She'd practically ripped apart the room, trying to find - even illogically, even without reason - any trace of the woman, of her friend. It still seemed so ludicrous a title that she hesitated to apply to it Moana, but that's what she was - she was a friend, a friend who'd dropped everything the moment she'd seen the frenzied, emptied look in Jyn's gaze when she'd realized Cassian had gone missing. The friend who'd been patient and kind when she tried to teach her how to dance. The friend who embraced her, hugged her, helped her find a modicum of security in the traumatic wake of everything that had taken place the last few weeks.

For a while, Jyn had simply sat on the ground in the middle of the room and sobbed. Violently. Perhaps even loudly (she wasn't sure of her volume, nor did she think to tamp the sound for the sake of the others in the Inn). She curled in on herself and muttered pleas and cries to whatever might be listening that Moana come back -

Please, she breathed as the hot tears streamed down her face, Please, I can't lose someone else. I won't survive.

She stayed there for an hour or two, maybe more, before pulling herself together as best she could and undertaking a manhunt - similar to the one she'd done for Cassian, but she didn't enlist anyone else's help this time. She couldn't wrangle anyone else into her pathetic fear of abandonment. She'd set out and explored the entire village from north to south and east to west, twice, before deciding to return to the Inn.

She drags her feet up the stairs, down the hall, finds the door labeled "9." As she reaches for the handle, she hears the familiar click of latch and knob, glances up -

Sees first the dark hair, then the worry in her eyes -

"MOANA!" she all but shouts, practically leaping forward to fling her arms around the woman's shoulders.

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana knew the pain she must have caused Jyn which was why she was determined to find the woman before she let herself rest or relax back into life in the small village. It was luck that brought them to the door at the same time or maybe fate; Moana didn't care because Jyn was there. She warmly greeted the woman's hug, holding her tight as if Jyn might slip from her hold.

"JYN!" She exhaled the name loudly. "I was going to go looking for you. I'm so sorry. I promised I would never leave and then I did. I didn't mean too. I'm here now. I'll always find you." She realized that she couldn't promise for it to be immediate but Moana would never give up on those she loved: her family, her island and Jyn.

The door to her room was open and the little bunny in the corner was watching the pair with a twitchy nose.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Moana didn't know how long she'd been gone.

[kestreldawn]

Jyn manages to squeak out a few dismissive sounds, trying to shrug off and make light of the panic she'd felt surging throughout her body. She tries to mask the worry and terror she knows swirls in her eyes, tries to pretend she isn't nearly as attached to Moana as she truly is. It's still a weakness to her, deep down - attachments, other people, connections.

But what a lonely life she'd led, keeping everyone away.

She doesn't want it - not again.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insists, giving a parting squeeze before letting her hands drop to her sides. "You - you were just - gone. For a full day, I think." It felt like longer, she wants to say. "I woke up, and you weren't there."

inn - morning;

[repressings]

Credence's routine is simple, and this is no exception - it's a later than his usual 5AM wake up, sure, but he's poking around the inn, wondering if some kind soul has left tea or coffee so he can take it back to Mr. Graves. It's no luck, sadly, and he's about to quietly exit the door to start his day when he sees her.

"Miss Moana?" He blinks, surprised. That sure is a shuffling--

"Is that a pig?"

inn - morning;

[chosenbytheocean]

Moan's chin tilted up when the familiar voice reached her ear. She flashed Credence a small, awkward, smile and waved him over. She remained seated on the floor, her legs straddling the box that had the frantic little pig in it. "Yeah. This box showed up in front of my room. There is a coconut with the pig."

She paused and then looked back down at it frowning. "I hadn't met to run into it." Poor little piglet.

Her dark eyes looked back up at Credence when she continued.

"Want to try it? The coconut. I can make it for you."

inn - morning;

[repressings]

"A coconut?" He echoes, and while he probably shouldn't sound surprised, he still does. Moana gets a pig and something from home that's actually good, and Credence gets a harsh reminder about the world he left.

At least the pig is cute. Moana's nice to share, too, and he eyes the coconut now that he sees it, trying to hide his curiousity. It doesn't work too well.

"It's yours, I wouldn't want to take away something from your home."

inn - morning;

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana shook her head. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't ready to share." Her smile grew a bit as she leaned backwards and tied up her hair. With that out of the way she picked up a coconut and passed it over to Credence.

"It looks like I got two sticks too." She'd look at it better later. "Can you hold this... I'm going to keep the pig in my room until it calms down."

Moana paused and looked up at him. "Pigs and bunny's get along don't they?" She didn't know a lot about bunnies.

April 7 - Slightly after Return?

[oncewasroman]

Rory was usually busy working in the hospital, but after everything that had been going on he decidedly needed a break. He'd spent most of his morning with Amy, but with the weather getting nicer he actually wanted to be outside for once. It was funny, he used to not be much of an outdoors kind of fellow. But when you were stuck working inside, being with your wife (also inside, thanks weather) or without electronic entertainment, you started to take any change of scenery you could get.

Which was why Rory was just taking a leisurely stroll through the village and happened to hear a familiar voice yelling. Instinctively he ran, not really thinking about the words or what they could mean. He stumbled into the clearing around the fountain, practically falling over one of the benches that was nearby in his rush.

"What's wrong? What is it your heart---your," he caught his breath as the scene sank in. Moana was fine. Wet, but fine. Well, except for the fact that she was yelling at the water. "You're uh fine...that is," his brows furrowed. "Moana, are you all right?"

April 7 - Slightly after Return

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana turned her head in time to see Rory's almost collision with the park bench. In any other situation she might have laughed but now she was dismayed. Her tongue felt like it was tied in knots as worry and panic hummed against her senses.

"The heart of Te Fiti. I just had it with me but it's gone." Just like the first time she'd arrived, everything was gone.

Her dark eyes turned back towards the fountain, peering into the watery darkness below. "I need to return the heart." Her island was dying; her mom, her dad, her people, her island... "The ocean choose me..." Her voice sounded more dismayed as Maui's voice echoed in her head.

The ocean is cookieduks

Whatever else has changed. The ocean couldn't hear her here. She really was in a different world.

[oncewasroman]

Rory's first thought was 'Oh good. She doesn't have some kind of heart problem'
and this was soon followed by 'What is the heart of Te Fiti?' He decided to voice the second thought aloud and inquired, "What is that? I mean...obviously it's a heart but...what does it look like. Not an actual heart I hope."

He had been through so much he honestly didn't want to make assumptions anymore.

He hasn't seen her this worked up before -- not in a way that worried him. He moved closer, "Moana. Slow down. What do you mean the ocean choose you? When? There isn't even an ocean here."

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana groaned and pushed herself to a seated position in front of the fountain. She pulled her wet hair over her right shoulder and rang out the water on the sidewalk. There was a moment where it seemed like she wasn't going to speak.

"It looks like a stone." She didn't know what an actual heart looked like. "It has a swirl on it." She specified while forgetting to mention that it glowed and was green. She groaned against, leaning the back of her head against the fountain.

"I know there isn't an ocean here." She sounded tired. "The ocean chose me to return the heart. I was sailing there when I ended up back here."

slightly after her return

[ethnobotany]

It was the high and frantic sounding voice that distracted Beverly from her walk around the tiny little village. She'd been going in the opposite direction and far enough away that she hadn't seen or heard Moana's re-arrival. But she sure does hear those cries. Turning back, she sees someone leaning over the edge of the fountain and she can't help but move back towards the fountain, concern in the depths of her blue eyes.

"I don't think it's possible to swim to the bottom," she says sadly, though she doesn't stop until she's close enough to save her new companion from falling in if she needs to.

slightly after her return

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana wasn't about to jump back into the fountain. She knew that she wouldn't be able to reach its bottom, despite, the fact that she was a skilled swimmer. She really doubted that the fountain had a bottom.

No, she was hoping that somehow, the ocean would hear her and return the heart to her. It wasn't ideal while she was here but at least she could keep it safe.

Moana sagged against the edge of the fountain, biting her lower lip in order to transfer the frustration that wanted to turn to tears. She pushed herself up and sat back on her heels, feeling her wet hair matte to her shoulders and neck. After another moment of collecting herself she turned to look at Beverly, feeling very small in light of all that's happened.

"I was talking to the ocean." She sounded sad when she spoke. "But it can't hear me here."

[ethnobotany]

Talking to the ocean is a new one, but as much as Beverly isn't sure about the concept of "magic," she does understand special abilities. She has met too many alien species not to accept strange and wondrous abilities, especially when they have a basis in DNA and science. Most things do. So she automatically assumes that this talking to the ocean thing is one of those.

"I don't think a lot of things can hear us here," she says sadly. "And I'm not even sure that this fountain, or the river itself, is fed by an ocean."

It would have to be, in theory. Either that or to an ocean, fed by a mountain stream. But either way, she doesn't think anyone has been able to actually check. The canyon, from what she's seen so far, isn't very inviting.

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana knew that all the water in the world found it's way back to the ocean. It was connected, that's what the ocean was. She signed, pressing her cheek against the cold stone of the fountain.

It's really gone.

"I know..." She felt the tug in her chest but this water was different. "I just... really wished it could hear me." To give her back the heart. Did she even deserve to have it after losing it? "The ocean chose me for a reason." Moana had no idea what that reason was.

"I can't lose it now."

Moana's Return - 7 April

[beallmysins]

"Whoa, kid. There's no reef here."

Jax has no idea what she's talking about but, then again, half of what Moana talks about Jax has no idea. He knows she comes from some kind of tropical island and that's enough for him; must be nice to grow up on Hawaii or Fiji or some shit. But a reef? There's no reef here because there's no ocean. There's just a river and that's it.

"What are you talking about?"

Moana's Return - 7 April

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana knew that Jax lacked context. She'd told him a little bit of her home but nothing about her first attempt to leave the island. Her toe bounced as she came to a stop in front of him. She didn't care if he didn't understand. It was the sort of giddy excitement that she wanted to share with those around her and she'd fill in the blanks if it meant that she could.

"I sailed past the reef."

She paused, trying to contain her excitement long enough to finish explaining.

"The reef around my island. I returned home." She didn't know how that worked but she knew that she'd been there. "I sailed across the reef!" Moana had momentarily forgotten why she sailed past the reef.

Re: Moana's Return - 7 April

[beallmysins]

"You got to go home and then you ended up back here? That's some unfair shit, Moana," Jax says. He's jealous, because she's had a chance to return back to her island and see people she cares about but he pushes that down. She's his kid sister's age, after all, and he's a grown man. He can be happy for her in this and is, actually. He's just also jealous; they're not mutually exclusive.

"What's out beyond the reef, though?"

just after her return

[yorkist]

Ere the shouting stirs the village, Elizabeth notes one thing: this young woman's hair is as curly as her own. A fact which would ordinarily render it quite easy for her to smile. Yet she cannot, for the girl seems most vexed by something. Approaching her slowly from the side, Elizabeth looks down at the fountain with a chill of dread that races down her spine.

"Mistress," She calls softly, to get the girl's attention. "Whose heart do you refer to? Please, breathe and explain—and if I can, I will help you seek out what you have lost."

just after her return

[chosenbytheocean]

It took Moana a moment to realize that someone was trying to talk to her. She turned her head, her dark wet hair stuck to her cheeks and neck. breathe. Breathing was a good idea and with the gentle words Moana inhaled a deep breath.

"The heart of Ta Fiti. I was supposed to return it but I've lost it. It was with me a moment ago." She was feeling a weird sense of whiplash between leaving the village and returning to it.

"I can't lose it." breathe. "Who are you?"

Re: just after her return

[yorkist]

For a moment, she silently takes stock of the facts. One, someone has apparently lost their heart. Two, she most certainly knows no soul here or in England named Te Fiti and three: only one of those things matter, because it is causing this young woman great distress.

"With you where? In your hand, pockets—let us retrace your steps. Perhaps it lies somewhere hidden in the grass."

She does not just want to give up without trying to assuage her.

"What does it look like, mistress?" Ah. "My name is Elizabeth."

Return

[king_in_the_north]

Drawn up short on the edge of the road, Robb watched her race by, a shouting streak of brown and dark blue that launched his heart immediately into his throat. Was she ill? Was she being chased? He glanced quickly the way she'd come, only to find Moana panting and joyous in front of him when he looked back again.

Faltering, he took in the sight of her, wet from head to toe but buoyant. Nothing immediately wrong then, although his brow remained drawn with confusion.

"What's a reef?"

Return

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana couldn't contain her excitement. Her smile was bright and there was a bounce in her step, even while she was standing perfectly still.

"The reef is what separates the gulf and the ocean. There is a barrier under the water and it affects the currents around the island." The reef made it harder for to leave the gulf; fish would be trapped within the reef and later be caught by the islanders nets.

"I..." She paused, her thoughts racing frantically: her grandmother, the heart, Maui. "My necklace?" Her hand when to her throat but there was nothing there.

[king_in_the_north]

While her enthusiasm hadn't ebbed, it wasn't the speed of what Moana was saying but rather the content that continued to stoke Robb's confusion. Twice he opened his mouth to question her and twice he let it fall closed again without saying a thing; he hardly knew where to begin. Had she somehow left the village? There was no sound of the ocean here, but who was to say that beyond the canyon walls, they weren't on an island?

But no. It made very little sense, and he was honestly glad to be distracted by the frantic clutching at her throat.

"You've lost a necklace?"