Mahina & Jumba

Mahina & Pops

The reconstruction of the Pelekai house went a lot faster than people expected. Mahina wrote that off as aliens helping it along. She herself had done what she could, which mostly ended up with her painting a lot of the finished up parts of the house.

It had been a week after the Grand Councilwoman. No time had been wasted, as far as reconstructing. Bubbles had received permission from HQ to provide aid, especially when he brought up the whole thing with aliens.

Mahina was surprised they didn't have Men In Black dropping down to clean up. Then again, she was overly paranoid sometimes. Maybe she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth!

At one point in all of this, Mahina realized she needed a change of clothes. She'd been borrowing Lilo's old ones, which thankfully few among them had noticed. She'd left her clothes at her Box so she needed to leave the construction site.

Nani had brought Lilo and Mahina to hula practice. Though Mahina didn't take the classes, it was still a kind of supervision while they rebuilt. It had caused somewhat of a stir when Mahina began walking away from the building.

Nani only noticed because she was headed back to her rented car (after Stitch crashed the last one into Jumba's face). "Hey! Where are you going?" Nani asked.

Mahina blinked, tilting her head in confusion. "To get new clothes?"

"What? We can get you some at the store." Nani dismissed. "Go back inside."

"But...I already have clothes?" Mahina explained, only more confused. "Why would we need more when I have plenty?"

Nani huffed. She had spent the past week around Mahina, so she knew how Mahina was in a lot of ways just a kindred spirit to Lilo. "Alright. Let's get you those clothes." She tucked her rented keys into her pocket, following Mahina.

Mahina gawked. She hadn't wanted an adult to see her house. House was a generous term, yes. Mahina was embarrassed by it- despite her refusal to acknowledge the emotion. She knew if she saw any kid living like she was, she'd sweep them away without a thought. It was harder on this side. Harder to keep adults from taking away the one safe space Mahina had crafted for herself.

She still wasn't unconvinced that once the damage was fixed, Bubbles would take her away. She knew she could escape him, find a way to hide long enough for him to have to give up.

Mahina only wanted to help.

She wouldn't be able to in whatever new home Bubbles sent her.

She smiled as an idea came to her. "Okay. Sure." Mahina continued on her walk, pausing long enough for Nani to catch up. "But you have to catch me."

Then, like a horse at the Kentucky Derby, Mahina ran.

"Hey!" Nani called out. She gave chase after the small girl.

==M&J==

Nani caught up with her. Eventually. She chalked it up to nothing short of a stroke of luck.

Mahina was indeed quite good at evading adults. Her short size, partnered with the fact that there was an adult mind in her head, made her a fearsome opponent.

Still. It was a tiny island.

And the alleyways made a small sort of echo when someone spoke into them.

That's how Nani found Mahina, talking to herself as she grabbed items for a lone box propped up against a wall in an alleyway.

"-except I don't know exactly how they're washing machine works yet. Those buttons keep changing- I swear. I thought I set it to wash for 20 minutes. Turns out I just set it to spin at 20x speed. How messed up is that?" Mahina groaned to herself- or the box, it was hard to tell.