sixthiterationlogs | 06 Coconuts & Surprises [OPEN]

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06 Coconuts & Surprises [OPEN]

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.

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Jyn pads her way towards the bed, but instead of setting herself down beside it, she curls up on the floor at Moana's feet. She folds in her legs, wraps her spindly arms around them and hugs them to her chest. She's re-gained some of the weight she had lost following Cassian's disappearance, but she's still far from where she'd been beforehand.

She remembers what Moana had told her about her island, how the description of it conjured images and flashbacks of Scariff in Jyn's mind. Her brows furrow, collapsing in on one another in concern. She scoots herself forward and taps Moana's foot with her own.

"You aren't bothering me," she says firmly but warmly. "What do you mean, you 'lost the heart?'"

Moana watched as Jyn sat on the floor. she shifted and grabbed a blanket, draping it over Jyn's shoulders. The room was warmer than outside thanks to the fire but it was still a little chilly.

"Yeah. I had returned home for a short time and... a lot happened. My grandmother-" She paused and exhaled. "Passed away but right before that she gave me the heart of Ta Fiti, told me that all the legends were true. That I was to take the heart, find Maui and then cross the ocean so he could return the heart. The ocean chose me... I always thought it was a dream." She closed her eyes recounting the painful memory.

"My grandmother was the only one who really understood. The last thing she said to me wasgo." Moana paused, catching her breath and only realizing then that she'd let a tear fall down her cheek. She hadn't had time to stop and morn her grandmothers passing. Without the heart, her goal, it all felt so real.

Jyn is comfortable enough - and therefore able - to offer Moana a warm smile in gratitude for the blanket. She tugs it tighter around her frame, allowing it to drape all the way around her, bent legs included, so she ends up looking a bit like a pyramid with her head sticking out of the top.

While Moana speaks, she listens intently - brows furrowed with concentration, eyes glittering with empathy and sadness for her friend. There's little that Jyn completely understands, but loss - loss was something with which she was all too familiar. The corners of her lips tug down towards her chin as she gathers herself and the blanket up from the ground and settles in next to Moana. She extends what now looks like a blanketed wing around her friend and tugs her in towards her.

"Tell me about her," she says softly.

Moana looked over at Jyn as she shifted and settled next to her on the bed. She even leaned closer, letting the warmth of the blanket and Jyn’s arm surround her. If someone were to understand lost, it would be Jyn. Moana knew that more than most but it didn’t make it easier to talk about. She couldn’t search for her grandmother like they had Cassian. She was dead and while she had said that she’d always be with her, how was it possible that she’d find her here? In another realm.

"She always believed in me and supported me. She was the one who taught me about the ocean and how to dance with the water. She told me to listen to my heart." Moana paused inhaling a shuttering breath. "She was the wisest woman I knew."

Her voice quieted some as she lost herself to her thoughts. "She told me to go. She’d said that she’d always be with me. No matter where I go. I saw her spirit in the water but I don’t think she could follow me here."

There was another long pause. "I miss her."

"She sounds like a spectacular person, one you are rather lucky to have in your life and to have been so close to," Jyn replies softly and carefully. She doesn't want to upset her friend further, but she also thinks it might be important to offer that perspective. She remembers something Cassian had said and had done when Jyn had recounted tales of her own losses to him - using the present-tense, rather than the past - don't suggest disappearances or vaporizations from this life; let them live on in memories and stories. So even though Moana uses the past tense, Jyn makes a conscious effort not to, thinks, let's keep her alive, let's keep her grandmother with us.

"It sounds like she had a great deal to do with the person you are today, and -" she pauses for a moment, exhaling a quiet breath, "I'm grateful for that. And for her." She glances over towards her friend with a sad sort of smile. "And you."

She tugs Moana in a little tighter before deciding to also follow a rule she and Cassian had had - one of yours for one of mine.

"I think I am very much like my mother," she begins, "My father used to say I had her spirit, her thirst for adventure, her zest for life. She was stubborn, and strong-willed, and ferocious when she needed to be. She loved us both with all of her heart, sacrificed herself in the hopes that - that she could save us. She couldn't, in the end. But - even though my father tried to talk her out of it - because he wanted to keep us both alive - she wasn't going to go down with a fight." A pause. "I think I'm very much like her, right down to being stubborn and sometimes foolish. Often times foolish, actually."

Moana nodded her head, feeling a slow smile spread over her lips. "I am. Even now, she's with me." Saying it allowed didn't make it any more believable but Moana wanted to believe. She wanted to think that her grandmother could travel through realms and be with her now. It was lonely to think that she wasn't.

Her head turned towards Jyn her expression softening to a warm smile.

"She sounds amazing and just like you. My mom says I'm more like my father." Moana crinkled her nose at that. "I'm glad too. For you being like your mother. Thank you Jyn." She knew how hard it was for Jyn to talk about her past. While they haven't explicitly spoken about it, Moana remembered how tense Jyn had been when they first met, how quiet and withdrawn.

It meant a lot that she'd share a bit of herself with Moana.

Jyn has never been quite sure of whether or not she believes in the afterlife or in the idea of spirits. Her mother would so often talk about The Force as an invisible energy that bound all living things together, flowing through and around everything. She wonders if, when someone dies, they are returned to The Force, if they go back to being the energy that comprises it. She isn't sure - but she understands why Moana would believe in the idea that her grandmother is still with her.

If Jyn were a more hopeful sort of person, she'd believe the same about her own parents.

"I look more like my father, but I got more of my mother's personality. That's what they used to say, anyway." Her gaze lingers somewhere by her feet. "What was your father like?"

Moana knew that her grandmother was with her. It was one of those things that had given her the strength to go pass the reef. She'd see her spirit light up the sea as her mortal life ended. Not everyone believed it, Moana knew that, but she'd seen it happen. Her grandmother called to her.

"My father?" She question caught Moana off guard. She back straightens and her inflection changes slightly. "Proud, stubborn and..." She exhaled falling into a normal tone with her shoulders hunched forward. "I'm constantly disappointing him."

Dark brown eyes looked over at Moana. "He's the village chief. Everyone looks to him, the council looks to him and he wants me to take his place but I never seem to do well enough."

Jyn notes the tension and change in demeanor and voice as Moana speaks of her father. She recognizes it immediately because it's the same shift she'd experience speaking of her own, back before she'd cradled his withered, dying body in her lap back in the rains of Eadu. She'd mourned him in private, in the cargo hold of their stolen ship, on their way back to Yavin - dreamt of him and woke with a startling sob, buried her face into her sleeve to mute the grieving wails that wracked her body down to the microscopic level.

Part of her is grateful to see that Moana still has a bit of that edge in her voice as she describes him; it means she has yet to lose him (or, at the very least, lose hope of seeing him again).

She falls silent for what feels like years, shifting the arm still draped around Moana's shoulders.

"I'd thought the same about my father," she admits, "For a very long time. I - I hated him, for most of my life. I hated him for leaving me, for choosing his work and the Empire over me." It's strange to give voice to this admission, but she finds opening up to Moana easier than mostly everyone else. "But in the end, he still loved me. He felt like he had disappointed me." She turns her head, looks at her friend. "I think you'd make an excellent village chief."

Moana's expression softened. "I don't have my father." She felt an odd warmth gather in her chest. "You know, you remind me a bit of my grandmother. You're so wise and you say things that help me realize parts of myself." She smiled at Jyn. It was like her grandmother was still with her and Jyn was keeping her spirit safe while she was here. She didn't know if Jyn would understand but it was a comfort.

"My father didn't like that I liked the ocean. He was worried about me. I left anyway. I know he'll be happy to see me at all. He loves me but I wish I could also be the person he wants me to be."

She shook her head. "My grandmother was always trying to tell me to be the village chief that I wanted to be. Not the same as my father. It's just hard, to find that balance. I'm still looking for it."

"That's - That's quite a compliment, Moana," Jyn says softly but warmly. She knows how much Moana cares for, loves, admires her grandmother; to be put in one half of a comparison with the woman feels wholly undeserved on Jyn's part, but she'll graciously accept the kindness all the same. "I don't think I'd ever had the word 'wise' used to describe me before, but thank you."

Jyn hums a little note of confirmation, nodding her head.

"I think - I'd done sort of the same thing. I think I tried to be what I thought other people wanted me to be. My father, or Saw." She pauses, realizing Moana won't know who or what Saw is. "Saw raised me, after I lost my parents. But he was the leader of an insurgent cadre; he trained me to be a soldier, to be a fighter. He was the closest thing to a father I had for many years. So I tried to be what I thought he wanted. And I was - I was the best fighter he had. It still wasn't enough." She shakes her head slightly. "I've realized I can't be anything for anyone but myself. When you become the village chief, you'll do it the way you think you should. You'll take guidance from your father and those who came before you, but you're who you are." She gives Moana a little nudge with her hip. "You somehow convinced me to be your friend, and convinced me to let you be mine. No one's done that before. Who you are is good enough, and I think you'll make an excellent chief someday."

Moana looked over at Jyn with an affectionate gaze. "Thank you. I hope so." She exhaled and began to play with the hem of the blanket. "I really love my island and everyone there is like my family. I grew up with them, everyone together. That's why... I thought that people here should look out for each other. The way that they do on my island. We're all different but everyone here is amazing too."

Her cheeks blushed a bit. "What I'm trying to say is I'm happy that I got to meet you and everyone. Even if this place is too cold." She shook her head and scrunched up her nose before breaking into a soft fit of laughter.

"I probably shouldn't tell people that I'm happy about that. I think my parents would have love to meet you though. If you came to my island." If that was possible.

Moana wondered if this was what it felt like to have a sister, someone to talk to about whatever crossed her mind.

"The world could do with a bit more of people like you," Jyn says, and though her voice is light, there's a gravity behind it - like a wispy cloud hiding the intensity of the sun. "I'd think there'd be more peace if there were." For all of the people Jyn's ever known, Moana has been, by far, the kindest - the most pure. There's a childlike innocence about her, and though she sometimes worries about what that could lead to, Jyn's mostly in awe of it. That Moana could still maintain such a positive, optimistic outlook on the world and her life, despite everything, is inspiring.

"I'm rather happy I got to meet you, too." She pauses, then adds on with a quiet chirp of laughter, "I'm also rather happy I didn't die when I was supposed to, and ended up here instead." Maybe that sort of thing is too macabre to mention, but it's how Jyn feels, more and more every day. "You think so? Hm. I don't think I've met many parents who were fond of me."

Moana nodded her head. "Yes. They'd love you. My mother would probably come up with a nickname for you when she was happy with you she'd call you that and dad would give you a look whenever you did something you weren't supposed to." She laughed a bit. She was very happy that Jyn wasn't dead which was also why she wished that she could take her to her island. It had to be possible.

"My mom used to call me her little minnow." It was a cute nickname.

"A nickname?" What a strange concept. She's only had one, and no one's used it since she was a child. She'd had her slew of aliases as she shed old identities, old lives and versions of herself, the closer the authorities drew to her. She'd flitted through almost half of her life as other people that the thought of a nickname - one based of who she really is - is mystifying. "It sounds very much like my own parents, though my father was the only one to come up with a nickname."

She tilts her head with curiosity, withdrawing her arm from Moana's shoulder. It isn't due to feeling uncomfortable, like she expected, but rather the stiffness in her muscle.

"What's a minnow?"

Moana smiled when she heard this about Jyn's father. He sounded like someone that Moana wished she could have met. "A minnow is a small fish." She looked up at Jyn as she moved her arm and wiggled a finger to show off a fishes movement. "They fit in the palm of you hand most of the time."

Trouble was left behind in her world and it left a worrying mark in her chest but when she was talking to Jyn, she was happy.

"I don't think I've seen one here but if I do I'll catch it and show you. They're usually to small to eat but you can use them as bait sometimes." Not that she was bait, it was just a cute nickname.

Jyn lets out a quiet giggle at the movement of Moana's finger. She wonders at what it is about her that would've made her mother liken her to something like that: a small fish, quick, used as bait. She pictures Moana as a child, imagines her flitting about at top speeds with a harried mother trailing after her. She knows Moana's mentioned quite a bit about the sea, believing it had been her friend, being called by it. She figures that must've had something to do with the aquatic nickname.

"My father called me Stardust," she reveals, her voice falling to a whisper. She isn't sure she's ever told this to anyone, not even to Cassian. On Scarif, while they were looking for the plans for the Death Star, she'd found the one labeled "Stardust," had known it was the right one, had explained to Cassian, 'because it's me.' But she'd never told him why it was her. "He called me that because he said - he said that's what was in my eyes, when he saw me again when I was six months old." Her voice grows somber, sad at memories of her father - but there is no doubt of the love she feels for him underneath the weight of his loss.

Moana leaned against Jyn's shoulder, a smile tugging warmly across her lips. "I think it's a perfect nickname for you." She replied in a warm voice. Her eyes closed and she realized then how late it was. She didn't know how long that they'd been talking but darkness had fallen before she even met Jyn.

Stifling a yawn Moana curled up at Jyn's side. "Are you staying here tonight? We can push the beds together and keep talking if you want." Moana's never had a sleep over but that was more or less what she was implying. She didn't want Jyn to leave and sitting here cuddled at the woman's side was comfortable. It made Moana feel like she was at home again.

She's always loved the story of how her father gave her her nickname. She didn't love the context or circumstances, but the story itself was one she held fondly in her memory. She turns, hearing the sleep in Moana's voice. She realizes, then, that she's overstayed her welcome - and the exhaustion of such an emotional couple of hours hits her like an open palm to the cheek.

"If you don't mind me staying," Jyn replies softly, smiling warmly at the offer. Although she had a cabin to technically go "home" to, there was nothing about the empty structure that felt anything like what its name implied. Here, with Moana, did.

Moana shook her head. "I don't. It's nice to have the company." She pushed herself up from her seat on the bed and walked towards the second bed in the room. It was rarely used, except maybe by Jyn, but Moana kept it neat in case she ever got a roommate. She walked around it's edge and then pushed it closer to where Jyn was sitting.

"Pick up your feet." Moana spoke as the bed scrapped, rather loudly, across the floor. It was probably a good thing that no one was in a room below hers.

Jyn nods, doing as instructed. She lifts her feet off of the ground and hugs her knees to her chest before thinking better of it, hopping off of the bed. She walks around to the side Moana is on to help her push the furniture the rest of the way, glancing behind her to see if it's left any marks on the floor behind them. Luckily, it hasn't.

"Thank you," she murmurs quietly, "For .. being so kind to me since I arrived."

Moana face plants into the bed when it finally stops moving. She pushes her hair up and behind her before looking up at Jyn with a bright smile. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be nice to you." Jyn had always been nice to Moana.

Moana pushed herself up right and then grabbed the cloak that Thorfinn had given her the day she arrived. She then spread it out so that it'd span over the two beds. After that was in place she crawled into one of the beds, leaving the other for Jyn.

"You remember when we first met? Something hit me and you had carried me back to the inn. The only part I really remember was you asking me to wiggle my toes." Moana laughed softly, despite the fact that being struck by lightning had been awful.

"I .. Um." Jyn's face inexplicably flushes a shade of pink, a quiet laugh escaping her at Moana falling onto the bed. "It .. hasn't been all that common, throughout my life." She doesn't really feel like ripping open those old wounds, so she leaves Moana to come to her own conclusions. Perhaps someday, eventually, Jyn will share more about it. For now, she's happy to focus on the idea of sharing a room with someone who considers her a fried.

She slips herself into the vacant bed carefully, turning herself on her side with her hand under her face so she could look over at Moana.

"I do remember. You were struck by lightning," she says softly. Jyn easily echoes Moana's laugh as she shrugs her one shoulder a little. "I had to make sure you didn't have nerve damage. I'm surprised you even remember that much, with how well it hit you." She pauses. "I'm glad you're okay."

Moana curled her knees to her chest moving the blanket so that it conformed to her frame. Her smile was unmistakably sleepy but for the moment, she was still awake. "I didn't remember more than that. I'm glad too and it wasn't fun but I'm happy you were there." Out of everyone else who could have been there, Jyn helped her.

"See. You're really nice and it makes people want to be nice to you back." In Moana's experiance, that was how it worked. The world was simple when you boiled it down to it's parts.

"Good night Jyn." She yawned and blinked slowly as if rethinking keeping her eyes open.

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06 Coconuts & Surprises [OPEN]

APRIL 7TH RETURNS TO THE VILLAGE – MID-DAY

APRIL 7TH TALKING TO HERSELF – JUST AFTER HER RETURN

APRIL 8TH INN – MORNING

APRIL 8TH INN – EVENING

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HAHAHA i love this tag XD

<3