We tell the stories of our elders in the never ending chain.
In an earlier version of the story, Moana came face to face with her ancestors one by one, going back for generations. The idea behind these characters were that because older generations were voyaging through the pacific, expanding their reach on the world around them, their costumes are more eclectic and expansive. Over time voyagers all but stopped exploring, so their costumes became simpler and more limited.
Copyright Walt Disney Animation Studios
So, are Maui and Moana the type that goes from platonic friendship to friends-with-benefit friendship to eventually Maui or Mo snapping at each other how much they are actually in love with each other? I can imagine Maui realizing this when Moana's parents suddenly have the idea to arrange a marriage for her and the demigod goes all "NO, SHE IS MINE" and just deadly threads everybody off (Moana secretly is very into this side of him? Maybe? Te Fiti laughs in the distance at her handy work)
i think it’s moana who proposes a friends-with-benefits situation. maui’s attractive, she knows she isn’t ugly, she ~trusts~ him- and, most importantly, she doesn’t think a demigod would actually go for a romantic relationship with a mortal
probably it’s been a few years, they’ve had fun exciting adventures together, found new islands, beat up monsters, etc. and moana has gotten her first “you know you’re going to have to get married some day, right?” talk and she realizes that the last thing she wants it for her ~first time~ to be with some stranger that she’s probably only marrying for political reasons
so they’re alone on one of their tiny islands and she’s like, “hey. wanna have sex?” trying to be really chill about it as if she does this all the time
maui freezes, thinks he misheard her. “try that again?”
“you know,” she says, “fool around. could be fun, right?”
he’s sort of- ‘well yes duh take me now’ but also ‘this is a bad idea i’m already in too deep’. what he actually says is “yeah okay”
so they start sleeping together sometimes while they’re off adventuring. it’s fun, they giggle and make weird faces and have contests to see who can be the loudest, who can come the most times, who can find the weirdest place to do it
both of them are pining like mad because if there’s anything i love in this world it is mutual pining. thinking the other really is only in it for the hell of it, trying desperately to hold back in the tender emotional lovemaking bullshit, the longing glances when the other isn’t looking, etc etc. all the glorious pining cliches
maui develops a habit of touching her tattoo when he’s having Emotions, moana doodles fishhooks when she’s daydreaming
and then, the marriage talks pick up. “you’re not getting any younger, moana” “motunui needs an heir, moana” “that boy from [other island] is nice, isn’t he, moana?”
she doesn’t want to tell maui because what, it’s not like he’s going to care except to say they probably should stop sleeping together if she’s gonna be married soon. cue her being unable to hold back from slow emotional goodbye sex that confuses him deeply because why this all of a sudden?
and he goes spying and finds out that moana’s picking through suitors and he just. he knew she didn’t feel for him like he does for her but oh, he can be jealous and possessive; he thinks about some unworthy human boy- they’re not even men they’re just boys, upstarts who wouldn’t know how to treat someone like moana if you gave them a hundred years to practice- he thinks about them touching her and just sees red
NOW, here’s a weird twist you didn’t specify but that seems like a great idea because i haven’t slept: maui’s a shapeshifter, right? and he’s a squishy bundle of self-esteem issues buried under a cocky exterior. so he makes himself look like some random dude and he joins the hordes who are looking to court her. and he knows her, knows her so much better than all these others, so he gets her attention pretty quick
and moana is so conflicted because she hasn’t seen maui in weeks did he figure out her Feelings and is disgusted by them? has he decided that she’s settling down and not worth taking on adventures anymore? did he just forget about her for a while? and she doesn’t want to like any of the suitors because she’s in love with maui but maui-in-disguise reminds her of maui in all the right ways and he gets her and she could see herself marrying him, if she really has to marry someone
i feel like something semi-dramatic happens- random monster attack that he has to help her with, te fiti & the ocean teaming up to disband the magic of his transformation, whatever- and it’s revealed that maui’s been that suitor all along and he knows she’s going to hate him for it but he had to, doesn’t she see? he couldn’t stand the thought of her being with someone who isn’t him but clearly he wasn’t what she wanted when he was being himself
and moana slaps him because he’s such an idiot how dare he and then kisses him because she loves him idiotic ideas and all and then they get married
Um. yes please.
a fic where maui literally gives moana the moon. plucks it right out of the sky and hands it to her.
she’s torn between “thanks” and “what the hell do i do with this” but appreciates the thought, anyway. it is rather pretty to see up close
but then the problems start, because the moon is actually pretty important to like, tides and navigating and shit (also werewolves). it’s the te fiti’s heart debacle all over again
and turns out putting it back isn’t nearly so easy, and so there’s a whole adventure quest thing to deal with, and humans aren’t really meant to go up into the sky for things like this but try telling moana she has to stay behind. just try.
In which Maui doesn’t know how to be subtle with his gestures/is used to going above and beyond to please mortals but has no idea how to deal with Moana who doesn’t care about extravagance. Awkward confused Maui who is trying to grasp the idea that someone likes and wants to be around him without any kind of condition and not knowing how to express that yeah I like you too without having to give the LITERAL MOON to that person. How.
The Ocean is pretty pissed tho because TIDES. Also it was nice to have longer days but everyone doesn’t want the days to last FOREVER.
okay but why hasn’t anyone written Accidental Baby Acquisition with maui yet
i mean, come on. it’s too perfect.
he finds an abandoned baby somewhere and you know he’s not going to leave it there, so he takes it with him and probably tells himself that he’s going to find someone else to take care of it but by the time he finds someone to be a wet-nurse he’s in too deep. he’s too attached. that baby is his and he’s not giving it up for anything
………actually can i skip the awkwardness of needing someone to nurse the baby by making it a bit older. maybe it got sick and that’s why the parents abandoned it, so it’s like ~8months, old enough to be eating food but still in the baby category
and maui doesn’t go to motunui is the thing. he ends up on another island and settles in to raise this kid, because he doesn’t want to slow down moana as she does her chiefly wayfinder thing. but moana gets kind of worried because she hasn’t see him in a while, so she tracks him down, and finds him on a little island with a little baby in his arms being all domestic and she just does not know how to handle that
“hey mo. kinda taking a break for a bit”
“yeah. i can see that. …is… are they yours?”
“they are now”
“okay. um. wow. so you have a baby now. that’s… good for you?”
and clearly once the surprise wears off she handles it by offering to help, and after she’s brought them back to motunui (“honestly maui what were you thinking”) she starts as like, an involved aunt but it’s not long before her level of attachment ratchets up to “this baby is also mine”
so really it’s co-parenting is what they’re doing, and probably it just doesn’t make sense not to share a house b/c of how much easier it is, and this turns into sharing a bed b/c it’s less work to maintain just one, and next thing you know their platonic co-parenting turns into “don’t be ridiculous i’m not just staying with you for the baby” and smooching
anyway the important part is this giant mountain of a man who was thrown into the ocean as a baby holding a teeny abandoned baby that is now his. he makes silly faces and sillier noises and tickles their tummy and does all the dorky stuff people do around babies, probably
please just soak in that image for a while
*bisexual panic engaged*
SHUT THE FUCK UP THAT'S ADORABLE
Moana process video
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This just came to mind
Moana by Carlos Ruiz
What can I say except you're welcome?
Anyway I'm several years late to this party and have put way too much work into it but the plot is gonna be beautiful so just trust me
Moana for Mermay
Moana make way make way
Our Perfect Stormy Day
I’ve made a couple of these dolls from @chiacrafts before and they all come out so cute! This one might be my favorite so far 🥰
