It's Brittany, Bitch | Ερις (eristic) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-06-21 09:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | eris, maui |
your songs remind me of swimming
Who: BB [Eris] & Kal [Maui].
What: Two trickster deities play around.
Where: Hawaiian islands.
When: Neverwhere.
The sky was huge overhead, reflecting back the aqua of the ocean depths that moved in currents around the islands set within their jeweled tones. Waves lapped gently up and down golden and black volcanic rock beaches, adjusting stones to an arbitrary liking, and then upsetting them again. A wind blew over palm branches, softly brushing through them; altogether, a tone of calm settled over the seascape, giving no hint that anything was to suddenly arise.
Then, in the distance, a large form breached the water, pulling it apart to allow a large, blue form to cut between the horizon and the sea. A blowhole expended water, sucking in air, before the form rolled entirely, a large flipper moving out of the liquid and into the air.
Maui was resting on his boat. It was small but quick over the water when he opened its sail, except for now. He had it tied down, leaving the boat to drift, and lay flat on his back to stare at the sky. The whale had gathered his attention though and he smiled as a large wave moved towards him from the breached whale, sending his boat tipping up and then back down. Waves were by far the best part of being in a boat on water.
Getting to his feet, he stood and looked toward where the whale was, watching it roll in the water before disappearing again, and without a second thought jumped from the boat, bringing his legs close to his chest and wrapping his meaty arms around them to hit the water with a large impact. Granted, it wasn’t as large as the whales, but it made due.
The whale had not wandered too far off; it circled back, moving languid and slow, curious about the thing that had pin-pricked the ocean's surface with its jump. A large eye moved close to the man, inspecting, giving truth to its size. Then it rolled again, a flipper narrowly missing Maui, the great beast turning until its eye was level once more with the thing it was inviting to play.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllll heeellllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooo," it offered, its voice stretched and deep, moving at decibels far slower than what the other deity might be used to. And then, it changed; not in size, but in shape and color. The blue bled away to black, fins became less rigid and pointed out for speed, and white blossomed over its belly and face. What was once a blue whale was now an orca, and it was grinning hello.
Maui resurfaced and spit out salty water. A hand pushed back his hair from his face as he tread water and looked below him into the ocean. Taking in a deep breath, he plunged under water again and looked at the once-a-whale, still-a-whale creature. “I can’t speak under water,” he tried, throwing his voice with the breath in his lungs, “Not for long,” and up he went to the surface again. How fun and interesting. He had come across creatures that spoke before but this was something new.
The whale seemed to understand what he was getting at, and followed him up to the surface. As it did so, breaking the surface to the cool breeze above, it turned pink.
"Whooooooooooooo arreee yoooooooooouuuuuuuu?" It asked in a long drawl, floating on the ocean's waves, paddling every now and again to keep itself steady as it moved in a loose circle around Maui.
“Maui!” He exclaimed, turning to swim towards his boat and pulling himself onto it. He got to his feet, dripping salt water over the wood base, and placed his hands on his hips as he looked down at the pink whale, now all the better to see it by looking into the water rather than being in the water. “This is my land, my ocean. Well, I share it with my brothers but it’s really mine. Who are you?”
The vividly pink orca turned on its side, bringing Maui closer to one of its eyes.
"Errrriiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssss," it replied, though whether it was merely making a sound or actually offering a name was debatable. "Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssss
Unseen by Maui, the thing reshaped itself into a prawn, found its way to his boat, boarded it as most small, unseen things do, and crawled up one arm to settle on his shoulder.
"How does one little man come to own all of this? Even Zeus needed his brothers' help to defeat my parents, the Titans," it whispered in his ear.
Maui jumped and glared down at his shoulder. “I come to own it because I chose. I pulled the land from the ocean and I think the ocean allowed me, it’s always been a welcoming sort. More than annoying brothers.” He lifted his fingers and flicked the prawn off his bare shoulder.
It flew a short few feet, landing in the water and coming back the pink orca that it had shaped itself into before. Eris headbutted one end of Maui's boat, sending him flying in the opposite direction.
"Must not have asked very nicely, with the way you treat guests."
Maui lost his footing and fell off his boat, splashing into the water and coming up with his hair in his face. But he laughed, finding merriment in it all. “I knew you would not have much of a hard time saving yourself. How is it that you change shape and size so easily? You don’t know of this area it seems, where do you hail from? What ocean?”
One flipper extended itself, becoming closer to a human hand; it grabbed one end of Maui's boat, examining it.
"No ocean," it replied. "Not one of water, anyway. I come from up there," the hand loosed itself from toying with Maui's vehicle and pointed upward, toward the sky. "There, and not. Here, and not. Something like it, but not quite. Stars, lots of stars. Do you know what a star is?" Now both fins had turned into hands, and were twirling the boat around and around in the water, spinning it like a toy.
Maui frowned. “Please don’t break my boat,” he murmured. “If you can change shape, you can change into something that can go on the boat. We can sit there together and discuss things further. I keep running into people who aren’t from here, or I’m not from there. Also. Yes. I know what a star is, it’s like the sun.” He pointed up into the sky. “I caught the sun once, you know.”
The orca stopped its spinning, though not out of concern for Maui's feelings; instead, it gaped at the other deity, eyes wide before narrowing in suspicion.
"I think you're one for tall tales, Maui," it replied, suddenly refashioning itself into a woman, her hair looked more like seaweed blown about in a current, who sat on the boat, her feet trailing in the water. Her form itself was waterlogged; not just one who had dipped into the ocean but perhaps been caught beneath it for some time. Upon closer inspection, her skin was dotted with barnacles, and a few mussels to boot. The boat still swung a little, but its circles were shrinking. "A very good tall tale teller, but one who lies, all the same." She grinned, her mouth pouring forth water when it opened to speak garbled words, patting the spot on the boat next to her as though he needed an invite to climb aboard his own vessel.
Maui swam forward and pushed himself up onto his boat, tipping it heavily in his direction but not flipping the woman off. Instead, he twisted on his arms and sat down on the edge of the boat beside the woman, his longer legs extending fully into the water. Looking at the woman, not at all surprised by the change of her form, he raised an eyebrow. “Shall I pull up an island? Would that be enough for you to believe I am not just a giver of tales?”
Eris kicked one leg out, her laugh following the motion; droplets flew through the air. "It would indeed! By all means, please, show me this feat of wonder!" Her leg sank back into the water, but one hand swept wide, indicating that surely he, the bringer of isles, had all he needed to perform this feat that he so claimed.
Smirking, Maui pulled his feet out of the water and onto his boat. Crossing the expanse of wood that made up the flooring of the hokulea, he came to the most narrow point and retrieved manaiakalani from where it was tied at his waist.
Ensuring that an incredibly long length of rope was secure to the hook, Maui raised it over his head and began to spin it, making it go in faster and faster circles before he let it out, casting it off into the great blue ocean where it quickly sank.
And then he waited, allowing the length of rope to gently pull through his loosened grip as the hook sank down deeper and deeper, and he smiled over his shoulder at Eris. “It may be a moment.”
Eris' head tilted back, her mouth open in an 'ah' motion. "Good things come to those who wait, don't they? Or so it is said. Hopefully this is the only delay," she replied, uncrossing and recrossing her legs as the water around the boat tilted and dipped with the motion of Maui's movements.
When enough time went by and Maui pulled the rope tight, he began to back up on the canoe, his hands still on the rope, until he was in the center of it. “Brace yourself,” he said with a grin as he gave the first mighty pull of the rope, causing the canoe’s furthest end to lift off the water briefly. He paused and brushed his hair from his face before pulling again. He would pull with one hand, then replace it with another, a grip and a pull on repeat as he dragged up the rope from the depths of the ocean. All the while, the boat would lift with each pull, the rope burning along the edge of the boat’s wooden edge.
Rocking with the boat, Eris showed no fear at what was happening; instead, she kept her legs in the water, dipping further and further with each lurch of the water-bound vehicle. Her eyes were wide plates, her mouth agape as she watched Maui work his magic. Of course gods were capable of such feats as he was now performing, but it was one thing to listen to such boasts. It was quite another to see it with her own eyes, and the nurse of war had seen much over her long lifespan.
"Oooh, make it diamond shaped!" She twisted around to sitting on her knees, her hands wrapped around the edge of the canoe as it continued to writhe like a snake battered by the ocean's waves.
“It’s whatever shape it wants to be, but I can hope for a diamond,” Maui yelled over his effort, pulling the rope further and further, the ocean waves rioting further from the boat and gulls gathered overhead to circle the area. “Almost there,” Maui yelled, a laugh escaping his mouth as he pulled the rope even more and the first sight of rocks spitting forth from the water appeared and then disappeared as they fell back into the waves with giant splashes.
"I'm sure you get that a lot from the ladies," Eris commented with a chuckle, though she did not tear her eyes away from the rock formation being pulled up from the ocean depths. Water sprayed everywhere, white foam flecking the air as dark, black rocks were expelled, pulled up by Maui's hook. Eris knew well the strength and ability of unseeming objects, and her respect for Maui's ability was clear on her face. "On second thought, I think I'd like it more if it were star shaped..."
“Can’t change your mind now!” He yelled as he gave a final tug, the island pulling fully above the water and plopping down, sending a large wave that nearly flipped his boat over. Whipping at the rope, manaiakalani was freed. He pulled it back to the boat and turned to Eris. “The island. Would you like to go investigate it? We can see what shape it is.”
The answer to that was simple. "Up!" She stood, knees bent as she crouched to maintain her balance on the still rocking boat. Her arms flapped, the first motion looking bizarre as her human arms did little to lift her into the air. The second time, however, a large, elongated bird took flight, leaping from the boat over the seas; its oversized head and long beak seemed to outweigh the rest of its body, but a long, white wingspan gave it enough lift to start rising up above over the top of the newly-formed island.
Maui remained on the boat, lifting a hand to shade his eyes as he watched the bird take off and fly in the direction of the island. Quickly, he unfurled the sail and sent the canoe moving toward the island with quick speed. The waves were already hitting the shoreline, a beach taking shape, and greenery was beginning to grow in quickened time. “What’s the shape?” He yelled up to the bird as the canoe came to the shoreline and slid up onto the beach. Maui closed the sail and hopped off the boat, his bare feet hitting the warm water and even warmer sand beneath.
The pelican swirled in loose, lazy circles high above. In response to Maui's question, it merely cawed in return, apparently no longer capable of the power of human speech. It remained high overhead, peering down every now and again before, just as it hovered over the placement of the boat, it changed and dropped like a stone next to the blue next to the watercraft. Bubbles trailed in its wake, showing its descent further and further into the water, until, suddenly, the pink orca exploded once more through the surface.
"It's a blotch!" Eris cried excitedly, as though such an outcome could never have been conceived. "How did you do it?? What is that marvelous hook, and is it only good for island pulling??"
“It’s manaiakalani, my personal fishing hook, but it understands me and I it more than others.” Maui gave the hook a gentle pat and smiled at the orca. “It’s how I’ve given the ocean its islands and have dragged the sun closer to the sea. Are you pleased with the party trick?”
The orca swam forward, leaning onto the watercraft eagerly. If it were possible for such creatures to smile, Eris was certainly doing so now.
"Indeed," she said, curiosity lacing her reply. "Tell me, about moving the sun!"
Maui moved back to his canoe and climbed aboard it, walking sure-footed across the top and taking a seat before the orca. “Well, you know how quickly the sun moves. It created a problem for us and I felt it was time to teach the sun to slow down.” He stretched out his legs and leaned back on an elbow, his other hand raising to the sky as he began to tell one of his favorite stories about himself. “So I waited until one morning and declared I would slow it down, but everyone believed the heat and flames would burn me up…”