Summary: Unpolished, unedited, just-for-fun drabbles, with no goal in mind. A nameless girl meets Tamatoa. '"Time for a most-delicious snack for my most-delightful self," he leered, and she heard again her mother's voice: Your empathy will get you killed down here, daughter.'

She had heard the moaning for some time before she trusted herself enough to seek out the source. The shadows licked at her legs as she crept along the outside of the cave of the Great Tamatoa. Her heart thudded as she remembered all of her mother's warnings about the glittering monster, whom she had only seen from afar. She'd certainly never been this close to his home before.

Sure enough, as she leaned around the last few stones right outside the mouth of his cave, there he lay: vulnerable before the opening of a giant geyser. She'd heard the warbling moans and yelps a few days earlier but had avoided it, assuming the noises were being made by some monstrous prey of Tamatoa's. It was only after the sounds had persisted - far longer than Tamatoa himself would have been able to tolerate in a victim, if her mother's stories were true - that she had realized they were likely coming from the great crab himself.

His moaning had faded to a few dejected lines of song, and some muttered despair. She bit her lip, then stealthily swept around him to the geyser's head, giving him a wide berth. She had heard how quickly he could move, how far his reach extended. She imagined he was half-starved by now, especially due to his size, and she was not interested in becoming a meager mouthful.

"Who's that? Who's there?" he uttered sharply, craning his neck toward her as she moved quickly to the other side of the geyser. She cringed upon hearing the alarm in his voice. She thought he must be suddenly regretting all his wailing. There were many monsters down here who would love to claim they had bested the Great Tamatoa.

"Come out!" he snapped, and his claws clacked viciously. "Help me or attack me, already! I dare you!"

She bit her lip, peeking around the edge of the formation and watching him desperately trying to rock himself right-side up, but to no avail. She couldn't see his face anymore, but there was no denying the panic in his movements.

She scuttled up the geyser and then, biting her lip, hesitantly eased herself around the edge of the rockface so she could look down at him - and so he could see her.

"Hello," she said, and was proud of herself for the calmness in her voice. Her insides felt weak and uneasy. She perched in a half-sitting crouch on the rock, her hands in her lap, and tilted her head to study him.

His stared for a second, squinting. "Another human? Is this some sort of infestation?" His legs flailed for a moment. "Come to gawk, or to help? Because I know you're no threat to me, even like this," he added. She wondered how much of his claim was sheer arrogance, and how much might be bravado.

She didn't answer. Instead, she watched him, gauging his size, their surroundings. Suppose she had wanted to help? Her mother had always said, after all, that her weakness for anything seemingly-defenseless would get her into trouble down here in Lalotai. And she was well aware of the Great Tamatoa's love of all things squishy and meaty. Even if she were to help him, how would she get away? Could she force a promise from him not to eat her? What good was such a promise, anyway? Her mother had said that Tamatoa lied whenever it suited him. Could she scurry away to the undergrowth while he was still shaking off the surprise of finding himself rightside-up again?

And how would she help turn him back over, anyway? An elaborate pulley-system might work in her own little home, but she didn't trust herself to be able to create something so large, and in a timely measure, to the scale of a giant monster. She could find a large stalk that had fallen, or cut won down and haul it over here, perhaps to use as a lever -

"Hello?" Tamatoa snapped. He clicked his pincers warningly. "I know I'm gorgeous, but the silent staring has got to stop." And then, a small, mischievous little smile and a sideways glance. "Unless you want to get a closer look, babe." His smile grew wide, showing off teeth at least as large as herself. She tried to disguise her nervous swallow. She doubted he would even have to chew her.

"If I were to help you," she said slowly, "how do I know you wouldn't simply eat me when it was over?"

He looked doubtful, but then his eyes went innocently wide. "Why, I'd never, babe. Gratitude, and all that."

She felt the corner of her mouth twitch against her will in a sort of grim humor. "Liar," she said lightly.

His wide-eyed gaze faltered, then melted into a toothy and vaguely-threatening grin. "But I'm a beautiful liar."

She tilted her head consideringly and took him in: the luminous eyes, the armored abdomen, the shades of lavender and blue and rose. She had heard that his shell glittered with the strange trinkets and treasures her mother had tried to describe, but from his position she could only see the edges of the gold-dust crusting his upper legs. "Well, that's certainly true," she said after a moment, and he looked a bit startled - but only for a moment.

"How did this happen?" she asked, interrupting any comment he might have been about to make.

He shrugged as well as he could from his awkward position and grimaced. "A death-defying battle with a jealous nemesis," he boasted, and added, "You should see the other guy. Needed to be carried out of here by a child."

"A nemesis?" she repeated, searching her memories for her mother's stories. She thought she recalled…"Was it Maui?"

He blinked. "Well, yeah," he said after a moment, sounding affronted. His legs curled protectively toward his abdomen and she noticed the severed limb for the first time. She'd heard of it, but she'd never been close enough to see it. She'd only glimpsed him from a distance before – intentionally so.

His legs curled in further, and she buried her inner flinch at his embarrassment. "Well then," she soothed, "as hard as it is to imagine, you must be even more magnificent than I'd always been taught." She could see she'd piqued his interest. "To see that you fought Maui and came away from it without any injury at all today, only slightly inconvenienced by your position - " she clicked her tongue and let her face fall into an impressed expression. To be honest, it wasn't difficult.

She wasn't surprised when he preened, in spite of his awkward position, though she did have to bite her lip to keep from chuckling. Her mother had spoken at length of the Great Tamatoa's vanity, and the ego that seemed even larger than he himself. Still - belly-up and exposed - she couldn't help but feel empathy for him. How often had she been vulnerable, afraid, and alone?

And as usual, in spite of her mother's warnings, empathy bred affection within her.

It was foolish, she knew, even as she acknowledged that she couldn't leave him here - not like this. Still, if she had it her way, she'd remain alive at the end.

"I am impressive," Tamatoa was telling her. "It's only a shame - for you - that you can't see me on my feet. I am - a sight to behold." And he grinned toothily again - almost flirtatiously. She held in her laughter: thought it was far from meanspirited, she wasn't sure he would understand that.

"If I were to help you up," she said instead, "Where would you go?" She gestured to the mouth of his cave. "I'm sure your home is lovely, but you can't stay here now - not if Maui knows this is where you are."

"He won't come looking for me again," the monster sniffed disdainfully, though he was watching her from lowered eyelids to gauge her reaction. "Not after I showed him up." And then, begrudgingly, "Besides, he has his precious hook back."

"Still..." she said consideringly, looking around. "It seems like there could be a better place for you to live - just in case. If he comes back - if - and is looking for you here...well, surely you'll have a better chance of knowing he's coming beforehand. Not," she added quickly, "that you would need such foresight. Just - it might give you more of an advantage than you already have."

He slitted his eyes at her. "Are you trying to stroke my ego?"

Her mouth parted but for a moment, no sound came out.

"I mean, continue regardless," he ordered enthusiastically, waving a claw. "Though I'd prefer to be upright while I listen."

She licked her lips. "I know a place - "

He grimaced. "Not about the cave. About me!"

"You," she cut him off sharply, "are the largest, most powerful, and most-gorgeous thing down here. I would like for it to stay that way."

His lip pursed and he twitched violently, rocking back and forth on his shell. She scrambled back, as he was clearly trying to right himself - and would most likely eat her before she could so much as beg for her life.

Or maybe not, she reasoned, ducking behind the geyser formation. Mother said he liked to gloat, to hear his prey pleading..

Not that this would do her any good if she was dangling from the great crab's claws.

Or his teeth.

She heard him continuing to rock and gauged the distance between herself and some particularly thick monster-foliage, wondering if she could get through without being trapped in the plant's digestive fluid.

But then the rocking stopped and he uttered out an anguished sigh of frustration and defeat, and she peeked around quickly to find him still belly-up in the sand.

"I know a place," she said softly, cursing herself as she did so. She could almost hear her mother ordering her to leave the giant monster, to never ever look back, to hide in case he ever got himself upright and hunted her down. "I think you'd like it."

"This is where all my treasure is," he snapped. "It's the only place that matches me, in all my glory." He paused. "Also, it opens to the sea above, which means I can grab a snack any time."

"This grotto has an opening up top as well," she urged softly, quietly. She tried to make her voice as gentle as possible. "If you wanted, I could help you carry your treasure - " Seeing his narrowed eyes, she hastily backtracked. " - Only, of course, if you wanted me to." She hesitated. "The sea used to sweep in there, before Lalotai was formed," she offered slowly. "It left the walls crusted in salt and crystals, and clamshells dressed in abalone."

He blinked. She thought perhaps she had him.

"Of course," she placated, breathless with her nervousness, "it could be nowhere near as beautiful as you or all your treasures, but oh - Great Tamatoa - it shines."

He blinked again - first at her deference, she thought, but then with the realization of what she was describing.

"I still haven't seen you upright," she said quietly, "but I can't even imagine how brilliantly you'd sparkle in a place like that."

He was silent for a moment, and she let the quiet carry on for a few beats.

"It's my favorite place in all of Lalotai," she said at last, quietly, "but I would like it to be yours."

His eyes flew to hers and she couldn't tell if she'd said something wrong. They were narrowed and for a moment, she was sure he was angry - sure he would lunge up and pluck her from the geyser where she was perched.

"What do you think you're getting from all of this, babe?" he asked after a moment, his low voice thrumming with misgivings.

She ignored the strange title and spread her hands, palms up. "I'll have to take you there."

His eyes flicked from side to side and he muttered under his breath, "Well, yes, what does - ah, I see, it means I can't - at least not right away - clever - " and he paused, his thoughts still flittering across his face.

She waited patiently.

"Yes, well, okay, I see then," he muttered, and his gaze shot back to hers with so much force she nearly toppled off the geyser. "I want to see this grotto," he said firmly, and then lifted his chin imperiously. "To see if it really is a match for my glamorous self, and if it can fit all my treasure."

She felt her lungs deflate and realized she'd been holding her breath.

"And," he added after a moment, slanting his eyes at her slyly, "I won't even eat you afterward."

She startled, though she'd known he caught on, and the sly expression widened into a grin that was entirely too predatory for her tastes. "Well, thank you," she said after a moment, and meant it. She supposed you couldn't offer anything to a giant monster and expect them not to eat you at the end of the day. She didn't trust him, but was sure this would buy her the time to think of new reasons why he shouldn't eat her.

And if worse came to worse, she knew the areas around the grotto far better than he did. She could hide easily - she just had to be quick enough.