Of all the words in the world, there were only three that Nuju felt were the vilest of abominations when strung together in a sentence. And predictably, those three evils fell out of Matau's mouth while he and the other Toa Metru sat there on the airhead's living room floor, trying to find something that could make the get-together more exciting.

"Truth or Dare?"

Nuju went rigid when he heard those three words, though his next reaction came quick as lightning. Shooting his Brother a glare that could melt protosteel, the Toa of Ice snapped. "That has to be one of the worst ideas ev-"

"Sounds amusing!" Onewa commented loudly, throwing a smirk in Nuju's direction and showing blatantly that most of why he'd said yes was just to watch Nuju squirm.

"Does anyone even remember what happened the last time we played that?" Vakama asked with unease, glancing around at his friends as he spoke. "I still think that spoon is stuck in the ceiling back home, and we never did find my hairbrush…"

"What's the matter, Vakama?" Matau teased. "Afraid of a little play-game? It'll be fun!"

Vakama grimaced with uncertainty before glancing at Whenua. The Toa of Earth shrugged. "History has been known to repeat itself, but I really doubt we'll have any weird things happen, especially after the pineapple issue."

Onewa notably cringed. "Why did you have to mention THAT? I thought we agreed to never bring up the forbidden fruit!"

Nuju gave a faint smirk. After all, he had been the one who dared Onewa to try and crush the dreaded pineapple with his hands, or any other part of him that would work. Of course, the Toa of Ice had conveniently 'forgotten' to mention that the inside of the fruit was frozen solid, and as such Onewa ended up with split knuckles, a headache, and – only Mata Nui knows how – a black eye. "You never did crush that pineapple." Nuju mused with traces of a small grin on his pale face.

Onewa glared at him. "Someday I'll figure out why the darned thing didn't squish, mark my words!" He then looked at the others. "So are we playing or not? I'm getting bored."

Nokama giggled quietly. "Yes, we're going to play, but for the sake of our sanity as well as the Turaga's, let's keep it less crazy than last time. And please, let's not get hyped on soda. It was a miracle nothing important got broken before."

And with that word of caution, the game began. Nuju was, though generally bothered, thankful for one thing about it all; mostly the others left him alone. Unfortunately though, everything took a turn for the worse when Whenua dared Matau to eat a raw egg. Soon Nuju found himself being included in the completion of more dares, and though he thought Onewa crying when he accepted a dare to get a layer of ice put on his back for a full minute was entertaining, the humor ended when the Ice Toa chose to take a truth question from Matau, who eagerly blurted. "Who've you got a crush on?"

Nuju faultered at this question before frowning. "None of your business."

Matau feigned a pout. "That's not a real answer. Tell me the truth!"

"I gave you a truthful answer." Nuju replied crossly. "Stop whining."

And thus the game continued, the Toa of Ice growing more and more annoyed as time ticked on. The dares and questions were getting to be utterly ridiculous by now, and the latest dare - presented by Vakama - left Whenua struggling in vain to lick his own elbow. While the Earth Toa fought pointlessly against the laws of nature, Nuju looked at Nokama, his eyes fully expressing his opinion on the present situation. Unfortunately, she merely smiled at him with mild amusement before informing Whenua that it was physically impossible to lick one's own elbow, and that he should give up before he hurt himself.

By the time Vakama was dared to drink a bottle of lemon juice in two minutes, Nuju was getting desperate for relief. He'd already commented on the psychosis levels of the game and his comrades, but all they did was laugh and tell him to enjoy the show for what it was worth. At least they were merciful enough to just let him spectate for now; perhaps he could actually get some decent thinking done…

A quiet wail from Vakama as he finished the lemon juice, however, told a different story. "M-Matau th-that was cruel!" The Fire Toa moaned, his eyes watering and his face as red as his hair. "I won't be able to taste anything for a week!"

Nuju tried tuning the others out around this time, and actually wasn't doing too badly, up until…

"You have her name tattooed WHERE?!"

The Toa of Ice blinked and looked over in time to see Onewa's face flush. "Do I have to say it again?" The brunette whined.

Nuju decided that now was probably a good time to leave, and as such he hastily retreated for the door, considering the possibility of finding a Vahki and getting it to break up the party before anyone got severely hurt. Not even stopping to explain what he was doing, the Toa of Ice promptly left the house, situating himself on the street and deciding he would go back in after a few minutes and hope the game was over. Little did Nuju suspect that a few minutes later found him speaking with Turaga Dume. "Toa Nuju, what are you doing here?"

The Toa blinked and looked over. "I am escaping my team's latest bout of stupidity." He replied.

The Turaga didn't seem to like this response at all. His brow furrowed, his eyes narrowed, and his tone became agitated. "What sort of stupidity?"

Nuju saw no reason to lie. "Truth or Dare." He answered, his tone betraying his poorly hidden disgust. "It was Matau's idea, and I was the only one smart enough to know it was a bad plan."

Dume's agitation melted into anger. "Why didn't you stop them!? You remember what happened the last time you all played that; you nearly blew up Vakama's forge!"

The Toa of Ice frowned. "They were going to try and keep it toned down this time."

Unfortunately, that was when a resounding bang echoed from in the house, followed by a quiet shriek from who Nuju guessed to be Nokama. Turning and heading for the front door, Nuju didn't really find himself surprised when he saw what appeared to be wisps of pale smoke through the window. Pushing the door open and coughing loudly as what smelled like burnt hair accosted his nostrils, the Toa of Ice proceeded into the living room – Turaga Dume hot on his heels – and scowled as he beheld the scene.

There was no way to describe the utter destruction that beset the room's furniture. Four of the five Toa involved were pressed against the walls, Vakama and Nokama holding onto each other as they tried to get over the shock of what happened. Whenua just coughed and shook his head. Onewa blinked before laughing. As for Matau, he was sitting in the center of the disaster area, his skin and clothes covered in what appeared to be soot, his hair smoking a bit, and his expression one of shock, surprise, and bewilderment.

Nuju merely watched as Dume's face turned scarlet, anger evident in his eyes, and as the Turaga opened his mouth to start ranting, the Toa of Ice quietly left once again, smiling to himself as he considered the day's events. Was Truth or Dare really so bad if it left Matau looking like a bomb went off in his face?

"Hm…" Nuju murmured after some time to consider, the faintest of chuckles escaping his lips. "I wonder what will happen next time…"