Chapter 11- “When Cultures Collide”
A week later after daily life, on off dreaming, and the fighting urge to see Venimbus again, Lewa finally makes up his mind to go visit her once more, hoping she'd be at her tree house as she said.
Lewa slings his travel satchel over his shoulder after some pacing around the house, and swings off through the forest, slightly edgy, hoping no Matoran is following him as he nears Venimbus's quaint little home.
He grins as he lands on the porch and sees the sun is bright, and the day is calm, a perfect time for adventure, and he takes in a confident breath as he knocks on her door.
Venimbus peeks out her window at him and squints, her scythe in hand and her face of suspicion turning into a smile as she opens the door and puts her scythe back. “Hello Lewa...I wondered when you would be knocking on my door again.” she smirks, squinting playfully.
Lewa grins, chuckling a bit. “Got my heart thud-racing there for a moment, peek-staring at me with that scythe of yours from the window.”
Venimbus snickers, “Well, you never know when some green monkey is going to land on your porch, so I'm always on edge”.
Lewa laughs and shakes his head, “Hey! Are implying something?” Venimbus shakes her head, “Implying? Implying what?” she says in a sly tone, nodding for him to come in.
Lewa smirks and steps inside, leaning against the wall and fighting the urge to stare at her. “So uh...how has the week been for you?”
Venimbus pauses, “Oh, you know....a few things come up here and there, I come home for my peace, make tea, read a good book or play a game of cards”.
Lewa nods, thinking for a moment. “Sounds kind of bog-boring....and lonesome. Ever try explore-seeking?”
Venimbus puffs, “Well, I do collect fruit and climb the trees every now and then, but I don't normally go too far beyond the market region or occasional arena viewing”.
Lewa grins, getting an idea. “Well, would you like to go out? I mean....I know of this great-good place in the central city we can have lunch at if you'd like.” he says in a hopeful tone.
Venimbus folds her arms and looks at the floor for a minute, smiling. “I've....never been to the city, but it does sound interesting...” she nods, grinning when she sees Lewa's eyes get bright.
“Great!” Lewa states enthusiastically. “We can vine-swing till we reach the path-road; from there we can take a bus or....wind-fly?”
Venimbus chuckles. “I can't fly, but a walk sounds nice.”
Lewa goes to say something and then nods half ashamed. “Oh...yeah, forgot you can't wind-fly. Then stride-walk we will.” he smiles.
Venimbus nods and secures her scythe, grabbing her bag and stepping outside with Lewa on her heels, the two grabbing a vine for themselves and nodding.
“Ready?” Lewa says in a care free spirit. Venimbus nods, trying not to giggle at his goofiness and the two swing off into the forest, challenging each other in a fun game of tag.
Eventually they reach the main road which leads from the jungle towards the city, a sign pointing the way.
Venimbus smiles, her sense of curiosity piqued, but her sense of caution still remaining as she walks along the side of the road, Lewa leading and secretly wishing he could just fly them both there, while all at once enjoying her company regardless of whether they're on the ground or in the air.
“Nice day for a stroll-walk I guess, this road goes on for awhile, but we should be there soon.” Lewa grins.
Venimbus nods. “I don't mind the long walk, as long as we're not seen by someone who knows me.” she smirks.
Lewa nods slowly, his face half curious to her statement, but he refrains from asking why she's so cautious, not wanting to offend.
Eventually when they reach the city and near Flame's Coffee place, Venimbus gets all twitchy, her eyes wide. A man at a nearby newspaper cart startles her suddenly when he taps her shoulder, “Hey lady, would you like today's headlines from Spherus Corp?”; before he can react Venimbus has her scythe drawn and held threateningly close to his neck. The man tenses and looks at a panicked Lewa who comes over and gasps, gently pulling Venimbus away.
“No no no Venimbus, it's okay, he's not a threat, just selling the paper....” he gulps, letting out a relieved and apologetic breath when Venimbus lowers her scythe and bows in apology, stepping away and looking around curiously at the hovercraft in the sky and holding up her scythe again when vehicles zoom by on the road; her startled nature causing people to flinch, panic, yelp, and run away.
Lewa looks over and sputters when he sees this, having to cut his apology short with the newsstand owner and run after her. “Venimbus, please put the scythe away...!” he cringes, putting his hand on the pole of the weapon and gently pushing it down.
Venimbus squints, “What were those big, roaring rahi machines?” she asks in distrust.
Lewa sighs, “They were road-vehicles, just speed-passing through, not rahi.” he shakes his head, smirking nervously and changing the subject quickly. “Flame's Coffee place is just over there.” he points. “Close-follow; it's safe there, no need to pull your weapon out.”
Venimbus glances and calms, putting her weapon away and nodding, following Lewa as he walks to the door of Flame's and goes in.
Venimbus smiles when she sees the place, warmed by the pleasant setup, cheery lighting, and welcoming scents.
Lewa goes to a table away from the windows and pulls out a chair for her, nodding for her to sit, and she nods in appreciation, sitting gracefully and chuckling at Lewa who speedily grabs for a few menus then sits down.
“Flame makes great-good coffee and food, I like coming here for breakfast now and then, and sometimes lunch.” he smirks.
Venimbus nods, looking at the menu which hides her face for a minute, and Lewa leans back in his chair, already knowing what he'll order for himself.
Venimbus eventually puts the menu down. “I'll have a fried egg sandwich with green tea.”
Lewa nods and puts the menu to the side. “Sounds good, I'm getting the fried rahi-pig sandwich with Mata Nui cheddar and a mint espresso.”
Venimbus smirks, “Sounds kind of good, though mint and rahi-pig sound a bit odd together.” she chuckles.
Lewa shakes his head, smiling and going to the counter to make the order; there he's greeted by Flame.
“Lewa, good to see you back for lunch....but you're making a double order. You brought a friend?” Flame grins
Lewa clears his throat and semi awkwardly glances around at Venimbus, “Eh.....yeah, you could say that.”
Flame glances in the direction Lewa does and his eyes go wide, his grin getting bigger. “Mata Nui you did it...” he says in a surprised, half breath taken tone. “Dang, I had my doubts....that means I lost my bet to a buddy and now owe him an espresso.”
Lewa chuckles light heartedly, “You've been bet-placing against my Toa-hero charms?” he squints playfully.
Flame smirks, “Yeah, good thing the buddy I bet against is you” he snorts, patting Lewa's arm and giving him the espresso free.
Lewa laughs, “Thank you kindly Flame.” he nods, going back to the table with the drinks while Flame makes the food.
Flame brings their lunch over when it's finished, seeing he has room to chat since most the lunch rush hour is over. “Here you are, rahi-pig and fried egg sandwiches.” he smirks.
Venimbus cocks her head and nods in thanks while Lewa does the same. “Thanks Flame...” He looks at Venimbus, who seems to be curious about who Lewa knows and Lewa pauses, “Ah, Venimbus, this is Flame...a great-wonderful friend-buddy of mine and owner of the shop.”
Venimbus bows her head, chuckling when Flame playfully bows back. “Pleasure to meet you Venimbus, and welcome to the city of Makrava.”
Venimbus smirks, “This city is very....odd, but it's nice to meet you too.” she nods.
Lewa bites into his sandwich, “Eh, not just the city that's strange-odd...so is the name, then again Aquabosphera is a strange-odd name in itself, and that's what most call this planet now...but I've never great-understood it.”
Venimbus squints, “Hm...even I am rusty on that subject....”
Flame chuckles, sitting down and seeing he's welcome to explain some history to them, noticing they're both curious. “Let me tell you, I know quite a bit about it and get to hear plenty of chatter on subjects like these pass through here daily. As you know, this planet use to be barren and split apart. Back in those days we called this place Bara Magna, with our two luscious moons Aqua Magna and Bota Magna. When our planet was finally made whole again, people wanted to forget about how depressing and barren this place really was, so they made a new name for it. Once long before this world was shattered then pieced back together, we called it Spherus Magna, but then later after the moons were reunited with our shattered world, we came to see that water and plants are what all of us truly value, because they are the things of life. So we took the first part from the name of our water moon, used the Matoran prefix for jungle, bo, and ended it with sphera, a shortened version of spherus, thus getting Aquabosphera. This name now respects the names of our once luscious moons that were the key to beauty and life on this world once reunited with it, while still keeping part of our old name to remind us of our past and reflect that this world is whole again.”
Lewa grins, “Oh....so that's why it's called that!” he says while face palming.
Venimbus snickers at him and sips her tea. “I never got to hear the full story to the new name, that was an interesting history lesson.” she smiles.
Flame nods and rolls his eyes as Lewa pats his shoulder and says, “Yeah, Flame has always been a great-good help when it comes to weird-strange mysteries of know-nothingness.” he jokes.
Venimbus starts to eat and get more curious. “So...how long have you been friends? How did you meet?”
Lewa pauses, rubbing the back of his neck and clearing his throat, a sign that the story is an awkward subject for him.
Flame chuckles, loving this chance to tell the story. “Allow me to tell the story, Lewa and I still laugh about it now and then. Long time ago, a little over fifty some years back in the day the planet had only just been reformed, I was a tradesman making my daily visit to a local jungle tribe, selling things like fire flowers and volcanic heat stones. During my time there I stepped over to a bramble gate and noticed a big green figure stuck inside an old rahi cage. You know who that was..” he smirks, glancing at Lewa. “I had been trading for a long time, and by that time I understood both the Glatorian and Matoran language; always have been quick to pick up on languages since I traded all over the place. So I got curious, and I came up to the cage, Lewa instantly noticing me and he says immediately, 'Hey, can you help me? Do you understand what I'm saying?'.
I looked at him in surprise and said, 'Yes, of course I understand you, why are in a cage?'. Lewa here sighed in extreme relief and he put his nose to the bars and said, 'Thank Mata Nui, I've been trapped here for a little over two weeks now and no one understands me. I mean no harm, I just wanted to know where I was and when I pointed at the place I came from I found myself threatened, then tossed into a cage, these jungle beings around here watching me like a rahi and chattering stuff while they stare at me...'
I knew the situation was a bit serious, but I couldn't help but laugh and I said, 'What's your name?' Lewa replies, 'I am Toa Lewa, spirit of air'. And yes, he did have that witty way of saying it even when caged like an animal.”
Venimbus chuckles and Lewa mutters, pouting slightly from Flame's teasing as Flame continues.
“So anyway, I said to him, 'Ah a Toa...I hear you guys are pretty decent. The jungle Agori don't mean any harm I'm sure, they just misunderstood...a bit superstitious around these parts you might say. Hang on and I'll see if I can get you out'. That's when I turned around and went to the Agori chief of that village, explaining to him that Lewa meant to harm, and that he was a newcomer who just needed some guidance and a friend. Lucky for me the chief understood, and had Lewa released. It's from that day onward that we became friends, and Lewa managed to pick up on the basics of everything after that, settling down and helping his villagers get settled in too.” he smirks.
Venimbus smiles, “Oh, now it makes sense, rather thoughtful of you to help him, the poor ape.” she jokes
Lewa squints and scrunches his nose at her in playful irritation to her teasing, scoffing and folding his arms.
Venimbus snickers and shakes her head. “Well, thank you for the history lesson and story share, Flame.”
Flame nods, “My pleasure madam” he bows, being silly. “I best get back to the counter, you two have a nice lunch”. He smiles, getting back to work and leaving them to their own conversations.
Venimbus turns her attention back to Lewa, chuckling at Flame's silliness and feeling more curious now that she's been a bit more exposed to the outside lands she seldom sees. “So Lewa....what do you do for a living? What's it like where you live?” she questions, her tone eager to learn more.
Lewa smiles, “Oh, Nu-Le Koro is very nice, we all live high-tree, sing-song, vine swing, and chatter-talk all day. Before....back in the day of Mata Nui, our land worked off the same principles, our village joy-happy and embracing music to honor-respect the forest. To this day we hold most strong to our song.” he grins, his tone proud and happy as he thinks of home.
Venimbus chuckles, “Sounds like a wonderful place...maybe someday I can drop by. Do you play music? Or what do you do in your village?”
Lewa pauses, “Well, I sort of can tap-play drums, but my job.....when not doing Toa-hero rescue work is actually quite fun-silly. See, I aid-help the Le Koro guard now days, rahi trainer and tamer for the gukko force I am. It's more of a hobby if anything; since I have a most-strong fondness for rahi, and the gukko bird is high-valued in our guard, I aid-help in taming them and training them for others to wind-ride. I do other things in the Le guard as well, like repair-fix nets and look out posts set high-tree.” he shrugs.
Venimbus nods, leaning her chin on her hands. “So you're a military aid, but also love rahi...Very interesting, and kind of cute” she smirks.
Lewa blushes slightly and grins, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh....yeah.” he nods, glancing at the time.
Venimbus looks at the time herself and her smile slowly drops when she sees it's nearing four, knowing she needs to get back home.
Lewa clears his throat and smiles slightly, “Guess it's time to quick-speed back to the jungle-forest...”
Venimbus nods, getting up. “Thanks for lunch and bringing me here...it's been interesting and new”.
Lewa smiles and looks at Flame, waving good bye and holding the door open for Venimbus who bows in thanks and steps out, Flame winking and giving Lewa a thumbs up before he turns to step out too. Lewa rolls his eyes and flops his hand at Flame, starting the walk back and swinging through the trees playfully till finally he and Venimbus reach her tree home porch.
Venimbus smiles and nods at Lewa. “Thank you again. Maybe we can do this another time later....” she shrugs, her tone now more hopeful and looking forward to the possibility.
Lewa grins, “Oh definitely, I'll be sure to friend-visit again and we can do what you like.”
Venimbus nods, “Sounds good. Maybe soon.” she shrugs.
Lewa nods and they both bow. “See you later then Venimbus.” he smiles.
Venimbus waves good bye, “Same to you, wind spirit”.
Lewa smirks and sighs happily as he swings away, Venimbus watching him move and getting that warm feeling again, smirking in thought as she considers all the cultural things she now wants to share and expose Lewa to, enjoying his witty remarks and silly faces at practically everything. LoL Chapter 10- Lewa's First Date <<previous chapter/next chapter>> LoL Chapter 12- Flight of the Seasons
No comments:
Post a Comment