Chapter 10- “Lewa's First Date”
The next morning Lewa wakes early and moans, opening one eye and staring at the ground below as he recalls falling asleep on a branch high above Camp Cobrales' border.
Early jungle chatter of birds and jungle song peacefully carry as the sun just barely peeks over the horizon.
Lewa notices it's only around 6:30 and most the camp is rather quiet, minus the sound of even marching off in the distance somewhere. He sits up and thinks things over, “Venimbus is probably still rest-sleeping...” he thinks to himself, rubbing his eyes and wondering what he could do to help her feel better if he gets the chance.
Suddenly his stomach gurgles and he sighs, then as he rubs his belly an idea pops in his head. “That's it.” he thinks, smiling to himself, “A nice-good lunch.....something sweet perhaps, and.....flowers! Yes, she deserves flowers.”
Lewa's mind races as he thinks of what to get for Venimbus, and also hopes to find some breakfast while he's at it. He sees that he needs to move quickly while early morning is still at hand, having a hunch that he won't be seeing Venimbus till the sun is high above the horizon.
With great swiftness Lewa leaps through the branches and knows just where to get a morning meal plus possible gift; the local jungle market, and that's just where he goes, swinging through the vines and landing just outside of the area 10 minutes later.
He sticks his head out from the trees and glances around, hoping at least a few carts would be there at such an early hour, not spotting merchandise carts yet, but relieved to see breakfast carts and no sign of Venimbus at the market.
Lewa heads over to the cart that serves the best smelling food and pays a couple widgets for a large bowl of mamillt, a form of Glatorian oatmeal that has the texture of large grits, served with a side of fried sausage.
When the time nears 8:00, Lewa gets up from his finished meal and half fidgety wait, noticing the basic carts and sellers all come rolling in as the locals visit for morning produce and goods.
He scans the area, hoping to spot something good to get for Venimbus, and smiles when he sees the cart owned by the Matoran prankster Jokon, the apparent Venimbus expert who could no doubt give him some more advice, and possibly aid in helping him find the right gift for her.
Lewa grins, walking over and waving, Jokon chuckling and nodding in greeting. “Well if it isn't the Le Toa with a deep crush.” he smirks, surprised to see Lewa without a scratch or bruise on him, and still in one piece.
Lewa laughs a little, “Ee...yeah, about that, I was wondering if you could help-aid me in finding the perfect-right gift for her? Since you know so much about her, ya know.”
Jokon snorts, smiling, “Oh sure, I can help, but first, you gotta tell me how it went. Did you get her attention?” he asks with urging nosiness.
Lewa rubs the back of his neck, “Well.....you could fast-say that. I sort of had my sticky moments, but I think I have a hard-fighting chance. I just want to get her something pleasant-nice, show myself a friend-buddy, you know. Have any tips?”
Jokon rubs his chin in thought, smirking as he thinks about this, and getting the feeling that Lewa did have his troubles, judging by his body language and tone. None the less, he sees no harm in continuing the game and nods. “Well, lets see, Junti have odd taste, especially when it comes to local candies and foods of their regions. You could try to share a nice picnic of your choice, bring a little of your taste into the mixture. However, when it comes to someone like Venimbus, it's a must to offer her a candy she loves, that being candied fruit slugs.”
Lewa's face twists into a confused grimace. “Candied slugs?” he creaks, trying to understand how that's even a thing.
Jokon laughs, amused by Lewa's expected reaction. “Yes, most customers who purchase them are Junti. They're not a big favorite among Le dwellers beyond dares and pranks. Venimbus happens to be the main buyer of them, and I have them at my cart just for her usually.” He brings out a leaf decorated box with a candy slug logo, and pops off the lid to reveal what looks like large, chocolate coated slugs.
Lewa's eyebrows lift and he cocks his head, “So....she joy-likes these? Are they really that great-good?”
Jokon chuckles, “Well, personal taste really. I myself have tried them, they're not too bad. They're specially raised slugs used for different kinds of Junti dishes and sweets. See, they have farms where they raise them, and there are two main kinds, ones that are fed a type of berry, and another fed a type of citrus. They taste like what they're fed, that's why they do that.
Lewa's face twists a little more and he puckers his lips, “You mean to tell me these things are life-real slugs, not just a candy-sweet shaped like slugs?”
Jokon nods, “Oh yeah, they're real. Once they're harvested they take them and dry them slowly, but these suckers are so moist they retain moisture even after they're cooked. They're naturally sugary from all the fruit they eat, so they become candied during roasting. After that it's just a dip in chocolate, then boxed for buyers.” he grins. “Here, try one.” he smirks, his tone daring Lewa to boldly step from his comfort zone as he holds out a slug to him.
Lewa squints, hesitantly taking the slug which is a combo fed one of tangy berries and citrus. He slowly brings it to his mouth, Jokon's eyes edging him on as he takes a bite, his teeth sinking past the smooth chocolate coating, then past a slightly crunchy candy shell before hitting the center which is like the texture of fresh, slimy caramel.
As he chews his tongue is hit by the flavor of raspberry and orange, the natural taste of the slug's candied shell and meat. Its center tastes like marshmallow mixed with the chocolate coating, and sticks to Lewa's teeth. He gets a half disgusted, half confused look as he opens his mouth and rolls his tongue around, a slime coating oozing from the roof of his mouth and teeth. “Ugh....it's slime-sticky...” he mutters through grimaced chewing.
Jokon laughs and claps in amusement at Lewa's reaction, seeing yet another air type dislikes slug candies. “They're slugs, of course they're slimy. You either love them or hate them. The flavor is nice, the texture is a personal preference.”
Lewa shakes his head, struggling to swallow it and not spit it out. He looks at the box of them and scrunches his nose. “Well, if they please Venimbus, I'll purchase-buy them for her.” he shrugs, pulling out 7 widgets and paying for the box of them.
Jokon nods. “Good luck, she might share them with you.” he teases, making Lewa roll his eyes.
“Well, thank you for the aid-help....I need to fast-run soon, so I'll see you later” Lewa waves, walking off and stopping at a lunch cart, seeing he spent so much time speaking with Jokon that the day already nears 10 O' clock.
Lewa buys two large sandwiches, a small box of cheese assortments, and a bottle of pink fruit ale, wanting to give it a try. He wraps the goods in a thermal cloth and places them in his travel sack, then much to his convenience and interest, a florist cart is nearby to the lunch cart and he heads over to get a nice bouquet.
The visit is short and he gets a cluster of tropical forest flowers in purple, white, golden yellow, and vibrant pink; fascinated by the odd water pod slipped over the cut ends to keep the flowers alive.
Lewa rushes himself, not wanting to miss the chance of giving Venimbus these gifts, and slips the flower ends into his travel sack, leaving the top of the bouquet to stick out. He looks up at the sky and pulls out his stinger trophy necklace, slipping it on his neck and smiling as he thinks of how Venimbus might react, then checks himself over, and flies off into the trees, swing back towards the outer gates of Camp Cobrales.
There he waits, standing on the tree branch he rested on, keeping his eyes fixed on the gate doors, knowing Venimbus has to come out sometime, she always does for a market visit, or so Jokon claims.
As Lewa waits, he daydreams of all the things Venimbus might say or do if she lets him give her gifts and tell his stories of mighty Toa-hero battles he's undergone, lived through, and learned from.
He zones out and his gaze becomes that of goofy enchantment as he imagines Venimbus's reaction to his trophy, and being lucky enough to snag her interest with his Toa-hero charms, or so he hopes.
A good half hour goes by and it starts nearing lunch, the sounds of the camp more lively now; local chatter, marching, and sparring ring through the air.
Lewa is broken from dreaming when he hears the familiar sound of Venimbus's grumbling voice, his heart beating a bit faster when he sees her stomping out the front gates, clearly irritated and offset still from whatever is making her upset.
Lewa sighs, knowing it might be a bad idea to follow her, but stays true to his hopes and bold plan, secretly following her anyway as she jumps into the trees and starts swinging off into the jungle, the sheer sight of her vine swinging making Lewa all the more enchanted as he quietly pursues and stays out of sight.
After a 20 minute travel, Lewa pauses and sees Venimbus land on the porch of a pleasant cottage styled tree house. He grins, suddenly realizing this must be her private home, now knowing she doesn't always live behind the Junti border of Cobrales as so many believe.
He swiftly climbs to a closer tree after Venimbus goes inside, and tries to get a better look, hoping it's true and yearning for a chance to talk with her.
Lewa suddenly hears her humming and grins, crawling along a branch and cautiously, yet playfully peeking in through her roof skylight, glancing at her as she sets her bag down and puts a pot of water on to boil at her little stove.
Lewa feels tickled inside and thinks of how to get her attention without getting beat up in the process, climbing a few more branches and peeking his head around the corner, glancing through the front window and getting caught in a daze as he observes her home from the outside.
Suddenly Venimbus looks over and spots him in her window, flinching slightly and grabbing for her scythe, his expression making her almost smirk, but her reaction is more annoyed than laughing and she rolls her eyes, sighing and heading for the door.
Lewa goes wide eyed, half panicked, and quickly jumps to another tree, grinning awkwardly as Venimbus opens the door and grouchily stares at him with a blank, half annoyed expression.
Lewa clears his throat, pushing himself to talk with her and says hello in Junti. As he clumsily climbs through the trees to get closer, Venimbus snorts and starts to close the door.
Lewa scrambles in a panic, going wide eyed again and swiftly landing on her porch, skipping straight to speaking normally in attempt to get her to hear him out. “No no no no....please, wait...I didn't mean to bug-annoy you, just uh....”. He puts his hand on the door, attempting to keep it open and looking at Venimbus with pleading eyes.
Venimbus sighs, her shoulders drooping and she stops resisting, opening the door again as Lewa holds up his hands, humbling himself. “I...I just wanted to say I feel sorry-bad for whatever it is that's making you stress-tense.” He looks at the ground, “I couldn't help but sharp-hear your tear-sobbing as I past-skimmed the gates last night, and I....I thought maybe we could speak-talk and....” he quickly looks up and reaches into his travel sack, pulling out the flowers and grinning as he holds them up and they waft in Venimbus's face, then blushing for a moment and boldly spouting , “I brought you some flowers”.
Venimbus scrunches her face and pushes the flowers back a bit, snorting from the pollen and looking at the now partially wilted, shedding, and travel worn bouquet Lewa holds to her with an awkward smile that starts to sink when he sees he should have been more careful with the flowers during travel.
Venimbus looks at him, then back at the flowers, and suddenly chuckles, her eyes getting softer and less threatening as her chuckling turns to gentle laughter and she shakes her head, patting Lewa's arm.
Lewa swallows down his shakiness and his grin gets wide, seeing he might not have failed after all. “I also brought lunch....some sandwiches, cheese, pink fruit ale” he smiles, pulling out the drink and showing her.Venimbus nods, toying with him a bit and speaks in Junti, telling him to come in, stepping to the side and nodding at her table.
Lewa lets out a breath, his eyes showing excitement, enchantment, and hope as he cautiously steps inside and pulls out the food, placing it on her table and asking in rough Junti, “Would you like me to cut the cheese?”
Venimbus snickers at his question, and shakes her head, then in perfect base language says, “No, let me, I have a nice sharp knife for it.” she smirks, sitting down at the table across from Lewa and placing the knife down, keeping her hand on it for a moment. “Sit down, it's okay.” she says while nodding at the chair.
Lewa squints, but does, being cautious and cocking his head with half surprise, half amusement when he realizes she can speak his language, and puff laughs. “So....you can speak-talk my language and have understood every word I've been speak-saying?” he smirks.
Venimbus nods, slightly smiling herself and leans forward. “Yes, the game was fun while it lasted, but now I see you're pretty serious about talking with me. I'll admit, I am impressed at your persistence, no one has managed to go so far as to follow me to my private home without being noticed. However, there's a reason this place is private, and now that you know where it is, you must swear to me that you will keep its location secret. If you reveal this place to others, I will make sure you regret it.” she threatens.
Lewa puts his hands up. “I won't spill-drop where you live, heart-promise. But....why do you live in the deep-wood alone? I thought you dwell-lived behind the gate.”
Venimbus sighs, pulling out some glasses and pouring the pink ale. “I'm suppose to live in Camp Cobrales, but I don't want to because I feel pressured, pampered, and watched. It irritates me, especially because it's obvious I can defend myself just fine, I don't need to be watched constantly, and I like the peace of the forest over a noisy camp any day.
Last night I had an argument with the general; he and I are.....” she hesitates and continues, “friends. But we have different views, and he tends to be more serious than he needs to be; that's why I was upset last night, because he doesn't like the fact I don't want to stay in camp.” she shrugs, sipping her drink and slicing the cheese assortment.
Lewa unwraps the sandwiches, nodding and getting a face of pity and understanding. “Well, he shouldn't get ever angry-mad at you for wanting to live in the peace-calm of the jungle-forest....I can understand why you joy-like it out here.” he smiles. Venimbus looks at Lewa's eyes, his tone and smile making her feel so calm, and she smiles back, opening up, starting to like him in some odd way, and glancing at his details, noticing the necklace of Gorast's stingers.
Lewa pauses and looks at his trophy, grinning and taking it off to show her. “Haha, being a Toa-hero has it's days. Got this trophy just yesterday while protecting the Le Matoran in Nu-Le-Koro. There I was with Tahu, my Toa brother, hard-fighting Gorast, a mutated Makuta most evil-bad. She swooped down like the bug-pest she is and almost got me while I was tangle-caught in a vine mess. But then Tahu distracted her and I got the jump on her from high-tree. After I landed she sharp-shot these stingers at us before Tahu set her wings on blaze-fire and I swift-threw her sky-high with a wind-twister.” he grins, his story told with lots of expression and body language.
Venimbus chuckles, nodding and seeing Lewa was trying to impress her with battle tales, but that's not why she found herself falling for him. The more he spoke, his care free spirit, his expression, and the sheer fact he was making her laugh more than she normally does was tugging on her heart strings. Battle stories and trophies were all old to her, but laughter, and the warmth she felt from the very presence of the spirit of air was something she had yearned for all her life, though she didn't quite know it yet, just had the strange feeling within that they were meant to cross paths.
Lewa puts his trophy back on his neck after telling the story, then pauses, suddenly remember the candies and reaches into his bag. “Oh, here, I also brought these” he grins, sliding her the box of candied slugs. Venimbus's eyes get bright and she rubs her hands together, clearly excited over the candied slugs and pops the lid off the box, taking a big bite of one. Lewa fights grimacing as he watches her happily eat the candy and tries not to stare at her mouth when she opens it for another bite.
Venimbus holds one out to him, “You want one?” Lewa quickly refuses, but politely refuses, shaking his head. Venimbus taps her fingers and looks at him, “How did you know I liked these?” she squints, “Have you been talking to Jokon?” Lewa tenses and glances around awkwardly, his body language a clear give away to that question. Venimbus smirks, “So he's the one who has been spilling details, should have known....that turd” she mutters near the end.
Lewa chuckles half nervously, “Yeah....” he shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck.
Venimbus shakes her head, clearly not that irritated about it. “Not the first time he's told people about me. He's nice, but also a local prankster. He's been known to have a habit of daring and playfully teasing, especially when it comes to pursuers who think about following me.” she says with a hinting tone and getting a small smile as she glances at him.
Lewa blushes and gets more awkward feeling, but when Venimbus starts to laugh and show she's not mad about the situation he relaxes again and the two continue on.
Lewa's smile hardly fades off his face as he has lunch with Venimbus, the two sharing small details about adventures they've had in their lives, and what struggles they've faced; a story shared, a story learned. Eventually the hours pass away well after lunch and near the early evening, about four. Venimbus glances at the time and sighs, breaking from conversation and forcing herself to pull away from storytelling.
Lewa pauses, looking at the time and rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, sorry if I've overstayed my welcome.” he mutters, feeling he may have talked too long.
Venimbus shakes her head. “It's not you, it's....” she looks out the window towards camp. “I need to go, I have to go back to camp....that's how it is every evening, but....”.
Lewa stands up and walks out onto Venimbus's porch where she meets him. “But.....?” Lewa questions, wondering what she had to say.
Venimbus smirks, “I come here at around lunch each day, and return to camp before dinner. If you want to.....talk again sometime, we can. Either here, or a planned place away from Camp Cobrales. You need to stay away from the border so you don't get in trouble again. Oh and, sorry I had to humiliate you at camp.” she sighs.
Lewa smiles, suddenly realizing he could meet her again, and be a friend. “Oh don't worry about it....my back is great-fine thanks to you. I...I'll see you again then.” he grins, his eyes glowing bright at the thought.
Venimbus nods, smiling and looking at her feet. “Have a nice wind-flight, spirit of air” she teases.
Lewa gets all warm inside and does his best not to go googly eyed. “And you have a nice-pleasant evening....Venimbus” he smiles.
Venimbus nods, secretly warmed by the way he says her name, then she swings off into the forest, going back to camp.
Lewa lets out a relaxed sigh and then flies home, keeping this little meeting of his secret, and looking forward to his chance to meet her again.
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