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notallwonder · 1 year

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Criminal Minds Evolution 16x05 "Oedipus Wrecks". Here. We. Go!!

Spoilers and play-by-play under the cut.

I LOVE ADS /sarcasm

Opening with "At Last"! Exactly how I feel when I see Emily Prentiss on screen lmao

I wish he said "will you accept this rose?" Is that phrase trademarked do you think?

This situation is mysterious "is this her house?" Is she a ceramicist? Who tf they talking about

Weird family portrait

I hate when I fall asleep on a strange rich person's couch

Ew gross

Title card!

At the doctor with Will & JJ - shockingly, Will has known about his problematic test results for months. I guess the C word was his cue to bring JJ in. Surprising no one, she wants to beat his ass for not telling her earlier. Lmao the threat to call his momma.

I'll be honest. I am enjoying when CM veers into comedy land. The peppy music, Penelope being dramatic and emphatic. The way I see it...CM mostly stopped doing creepy/scary well a while ago, though it still has moments. CM stopped trying to do realistic years and years ago. Why not lean further into the ridiculousness of it all. Idk

PG: "I'm not a problem, I'm a delight! A little dramatic, but wonderful..."

Ew bad guy's a biter

Poor Noodle, he's gettin' profiled babey

Omg Emily's eye makeup looks so pretty in this scene

This is the second time I've heard of Raya (first was on White Lotus) lol I'm so out of the loop on exclusive dating apps u guys

YES PRENTISS USE THAT LEVERAGE

girl knows how to politick

THE SMILE 😍🥰😍

speaking of smile... Every time Luke so much as thinks in Garcia's direction, much less talks about her. Beautiful.

Tara's "sounds like you miss it buddy" is the closest we've come so far to Tara or the team commenting on the Garvez sitch. A crumb!

oh my Garcia's a bit over the top this ep, but I like it. "How's my lady brain gonna process it?"

Ew! You're telling me federal prison hands out (dirty) orange CROCS????????????? No. What. LMAO

"Do you know how this town works?" So politicking is a bit of a theme for this ep

If this is about the unsubs fixation on his mother, who had white/gray hair - I think all y'all speculating about Prentiss tryna seduce the unsub in interrogation are right. They brought up the consequences of that tactic for her ever so briefly in 5x08 "Outfoxed" but didn't fully explore it, and glossed over it completely in the Doyle arc. I wonder if we'll get any sense of her feelings on it here, or what.

LMAO the biter unsub scene, followed immediately by a Dove commercial about dry scaly skin. Uck

Emily in the field! *sigh* she pretty

Ok so...Will is "fine". "Just an inflamed thyroid". Treatable, not life threatening... I'm suspicious. I don't trust a TV writer as far as I can throw 'em and I'm not that strong so. But this is an understandable thing to work on in their marriage - not keeping things from each other (about potentially dangerous situations). But like...is it just me or does it make sense they should have had this conversation after 9x14 "200". Y'know "No more secrets". Maybe they've been having variations on this argument for a while, though that is not how this conversation seemed to me. I can kind of see JJ being very black and white in her thinking, but justifying not telling Will about dangerous situations at work (until after) as not so much keeping a secret (which she was doing about her time in Afghanistan) but as waiting to share info. Anyway. I'm still worried about them/Will. This is not over yet.

Y'know what's adorable? Emily shares case discoveries with a bit of a smile, with enthusiasm (even with Noodle Bailey!). She delights in the hunt, in the solving of the puzzle. She takes pride in her work.

God I love Emily Prentiss. Sorry not sorry for being a broken record about it. The way she's trying to manage up - to school Noodle Bailey in (her brand of) how to lead. "You can either protect the people you serve, or protect your ass, but you can't do both."

We'll see where this goes but I appreciate that Bailey seems to be developing a respect for Prentiss.

OH MY GOD. IT'S SABRINA'S AUNT ZELDA (Beth Broderick) as the Senator! Hi lady!

This is interesting. She's saying her son needs to get back out on the fundraising circuit to rehab his (her) image. Remind us of anyone's backstory? Maybe.......the Ambassador Prentiss connection? I wonder if the writers will remember that about Emily and use it explicitly or not.

YOIKES. CREEPY. "and you will not bark argue" 👀 I had to turn on closed captioning because I really thought she said bark

WTF is up with these guys

haha remember when I said like three sentences ago that CM doesn't do creepy well?

"I'm gonna have to thread the needle just right to get a confession"... Here we go baby! Eeeeeep. (never over her hair)

She a boss ass bitch this season and I'm not mad about it

what if............this makes me feel things

omg what if by the end of these 10 eps she fucks Bailey. Of course she could do better (and gayer), but...get it girl, if you want it. that noodle should be so lucky.

............ Y'all...........I'm feeling things...........

🥵🥵🥵

Finally an actual statement about her hair. And what a statement.🔥🔥🔥I had assumed it would pretty much go uncommented, unless somebody else (like Morgan) brought it up. Very happy to be proven wrong.

oh, the politically connected...

the brief but charged face off betw Prentiss & the Senator. be still my beating heart.

Y'all. I'm.......I got it bad.

A KITTEN!!!!?!!! But how will Old Man Sergio feel?

ZELDA V. PRENTISS cage match! I literally just shouted "OH HO HO HO!" in my quiet apartment like a nut. Slide that on over to Bailey, here's your chance to become a man Mr. Noodle!

oh the betrayal. If she does fuck him, it's gonna be a hate fuck (she's not gonna fuck him).

WHOA! DID NOT EXPECT. HE'S MR. 20K. DAYUM.

lol "you don't need them. she's your mom. " *teeth chomps*. The nonchalance. This is way scarier than him pathetically cleaning up blood with his daddy hallucination

christ she's so hot

I'm struggling over here

Y'all i started this episode like 2 hours ago it's taken me so long to get through because I keep pausing to write (& rewatch certain scenes)

I gotta take a friend to the airport in like 10 minutes

JJ you gotta call your husband! Boy you are not super great at this thing you pinky promised to do.

I feel waiting for backup is not the worst idea....

Are they gonna get stuck in there

Oh no

NO NO NO OH NO

F U C K

those fucking rat bastards, leaving me on this cliffs edge....(so i really enjoyed that ep so much!!)

#cm spoilers #cme spoilers #criminal minds spoilers #criminal minds evolution spoilers

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mistymorningdewdr0p · 3 years

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The Little Things You Keep Hidden From Me

~~~(this is a long one so bear with me! using she/they pronouns for namaari btw!)~~~

namaari likes things—she really really does! she just, well, never really knows where to put their stuff, just shoving it into a basket to get it out of sight...they had never really thought of it as a problem, just something that was obvious since she was so busy with all of her royal duties, but the longer she’s around raya the more they realize something might be up.

when raya and her start dating, they naturally begin to spend more time at each other’s homes, more specifically in each other’s rooms. the third time raya spends the night in fang since they’ve become official, she finally asks namaari just why her room is so incredibly bare, claiming it looks more like a spare room in a random inn rather than a living space. namaari is actually stumped by this question, answering that “she’s just too busy to put any posters up or little figurines out.” raya doesnt believe it though, she can tell there’s something else by the quirk in namaari’s brow that the fang princess does often without even realizing. nevertheless, raya let’s it go and cuddles deeper into her girlfriends neck, taking a mental note to bring it up when they’re both more awake.

the next time raya brings it up, however, is when the girls are sparring together to blow off some steam. namaari had already been slightly agitated from an argument with her mother so it probably wasn’t the best for raya to bring up right then. despite that, the princess of heart had tried to play it off in a joking manner, snickering a bit as she told the other princess that they should travel to talon sometime to pick up decorations so namaari can stop having such a “bare ass room”. the kick to the gut raya received immediately notified her that it was definitely a bad time, especially as she moaned on the ground in pain as namaari stormed off. despite it only taking them two days to reconcile after that, raya promised she wouldn’t bring it up again, even though namaari still hadn’t told her why the question bothered them so bad.

even though raya had said she wouldn’t bring up the issue again, she began to rethink after a short talk with sisu about the matter. the dragon had brought up a very good point: “why not just add things here and there and see how namaari reacts? that way nothing is permanent and namaari wouldn’t have to try and put her feelings into words, just remove what they didn’t want.”raya didn’t have the best feeling about this but she sensed that this issue was more than it seemed and that it needed to be explored so she took sisu up on her offer and put the plan into effect on her following trips to fang. she’d place a poster by namaari’s bed or a small dragon carved of trees from spine on the desk one day and place a plant or a book by the door the next. the first two items disappeared within the hour of them being up and the second two held out for a day. raya tried this again two more times and the same pattern followed. she was now missing a poster, the wood carving, the book, a throw pillow, a small teddy bear, and a plant—this only concerned her more as namaari hadn’t brought any of it up. just as raya was starting to give up on this experiment, a breakthrough moment happened.

it had been a exhaustingly long day of meetings and diplomatic hearings and all the two princesses wanted to do was sleep. they hung out on namaari’s bed, cuddling as they chatted with sisu who was perched on the windowsill before namaari decided she was going to shower. sisu said goodbye and raya started gathering her own belongings from her bag for bed. normally she’d join her girlfriend in the shower but they were both feeling much too sluggish for that kind of shower at the moment.

as raya was taking off her jewelry, one of her arm bands rolled off the edge of the bed and under the closet door on the other side of the room. she sighed in exasperation but got up to retrieve it nonetheless. when she opened the closet door and reached in to grab her jewelry, she was surprised to see a large basket placed in the middle of the chamber among her girlfriend’s clothes. she knew she should probably ask namaari if it was ok to open it but something in her gut was screaming at her to peak inside, so she looked behind her to make sure no one had entered the room without her knowing and moved to open the basket, face contorting in confusion when she saw what was in it.

in front of her sat all of the objects that she had placed in the room, all situated in such a way so that nothing was broken or squashed. raya also noticed some other objects like books and pages of artwork hidden under the materials she had lost. it took her only a moment to sigh sadly and put the lid back onto the basket. she made her way back to the bed and sat on it, head in her hands as she waited for namaari to return.

“i can’t believe how much dirt can stick to you when you sweat, it’s absolutely disgust-“ namaari said as she walked back into the room, now in her night clothes.

“raya? what’s wrong, why do you look so sad?” The fang princess said, closing the door behind them with a worried expression.

raya was silent for a moment before exhaling and standing up from the bed, walking over to her girlfriend and taking both of their hands in her own.

“when i was getting my stuff together for my shower, one of my arm bands fell off the bed and rolled under the closet door. i saw the basket, maari.” raya said, looking down at their conjoined hands.

“you didn’t open it, did you?” namaari said, voice clearly wavering as her eyebrows creased together.

“you know i had to. it didn’t feel right...” raya replied sadly.

“well it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a stupid basket.” namaari huffed, pulling her hands away from raya and walking away from her and towards the window, back to their girlfriend.

“that’s not true namaari. you and i both know what that basket is for.” raya could tell namaari was getting upset, their shoulders were tensing and her fists were squeezed into balls.

“i said it was nothing. drop it raya.” namaari warned, chest heaving as she started to get worked up.

“i will not drop it! why didn’t you tell me that you don’t keep any of your personal items out because you’re afraid you’ll have to flee fang one day and don’t want to risk leaving them behind?!” raya shouted, temper fully exploding.

to anyone else, that may seem like a ridiculous stretch, but raya knew better. she knew this is what namaari had done because she had done the same thing all her years of searching for sisu. since she had no time to gather her belongings the day the dragon gem broke, the only mementos from home she had left were the clothes and accessories on her body, tuktuk, and her father’s sword. for years as she traveled she never once took them out of her bag, in fear that she’d be ambushed and would have to outrun bandits or druun. she longed to be able to take out her clothes she was wearing that day and hold them close to her chest, focusing on how beautiful that morning had been with her father still in her life, but she was more terrified of losing them in the event she had to run for her life.

the basket was large but also made out of a very light material that was abundant in fang. the handles were designed to not pinch or strain the hands and the bottom was weaved in such a way that running with it would not be too much of a hinderance. raya immediately knew that this basket was bought for a specific purpose and the person who bought it hadn’t even realized how heartbreaking the situation was.

“so what?! i just want to be prepared, get off my case about it!” namaari shouted back, turning to face raya with a deep scowl on her face.

“namaari, being prepared is packing a bag with the essentials for survival! maybe even some extra clothes that mean a lot to you, this is not prepared! this is paranoid!” raya shouted, gesturing around the bare room with flailing arms.

“i am not fucking paranoid! who knows what could happen tomorrow?! who knows who i could lose at any moment in my life! just because i want to keep my things at the ready does not mean i am paranoid, it means i’m smart, don’t be jealous because you were too dumb to think of it!” namaari all but roared at their girlfriend.

they both froze for a moment, just looking at each other in a huff as they took in namaari’s words.

“i’m smart enough to know when someone is going through something and i’m smart enough to know that i need to step in to help. but yeah, guess i’m the fucking idiot for trying to check on you, my own girlfriend. my bad, though, i’ll try to be less dumb next time, yeah?” raya said, face stone cold as she grabbed her coat and left the room, leaving namaari with tears streaming down her face behind her.

~~~

namaari absolutely hates crying. not because they feel like they don’t have the right to do it, but because once she starts, she can rarely ever stop. she bottles up so much and when that bottle explodes every negative emotion she’s had just comes gushing out. they cried and cried, head feeling like it was going to split as she sobbed into her hands. they hadn’t meant to hurt raya’s feelings, they were just so incredibly ashamed their fears had gotten to them so badly. it took her an hour for the tears to stop falling from her eyes and one hour after that to fully compose herself enough to stand up from where she had sunk to the ground. they walked over on shaky legs to their closet and opened it, pulling out the basket and dumping the contents out onto the bed. she looked over the objects, finally understanding it had been raya who had placed them all in her room out of care and not her mother to spite her, the thought only making her want to cry again. she shoved it down and kept looking, eyes finally landing on the bear plushy that had rolled farther down her bed. she picked it up and sighed, holding it close to her chest as she bit back more tears.

“i hate it when you two fight.” sisu said solemly from the windowsill, voice soft but still startling namaari on accident.

“you and me both.” namaari responded, voice weak from their sobbing.

“she’s ready for you, you know.” the dragon said, making her way into the room to stand beside the fang princess.

“i know. it just, continues to shock me just how much she trusts i’ll always come back to her. i don’t think anyone but my mother has fought for me that hard.” namaari said, toying with the plush in her hands.

“i don’t think she’s ever wanted to fight for anyone as much as she fights for you, other than her father.” sisu replied, placing a hand on the human’s shoulder.

“i really messed up, sisu. i feel awful.” namaari said, leaning into the touch.

“nows your chance to make it right then, come on, she’s waiting.” sisu said, waiting for the princess’ consent before grabbing her by the waist and flying them out the window.

~~~

raya absolutely hated being angry. the feeling burned like thousands of fire ants under her skin that were crawling through her nerves and stinging at her body to get out. she just wanted to help namaari! that’s all. she had been exactly where the fang princesses had and it was eating her alive that she felt like namaari wasn’t trusting her.

after leaving namaari’s room she had managed to make it to the water front uninterrupted in an angry haze before sisu stopped her.

“woah, woah, woah, hold it right there, grumpy!” sisu said, stopping right in front of the heart princess.

“what’s with the frown?! did namaari kick you out again because you snore?” sisu said, completely oblivious to the fact raya was deeply upset by this.

“no sisu and i don’t want to fucking talk about it right now, move.” raya said harshly, pushing passed the dragon and continuing her stomping.

sisu was back in front of her in seconds, face now contorted in a scowl as she towered over the princess from heart. they had talked about how much sisu hated when people cursed at her, even if it was all light hearted, and it seemed like raya had forgotten and needed to be reminded.

“don’t talk to me like that. it’s disrespectful, princess.” the dragon all but spat at the human.

rayas eyes went wide, weak inhale filling her lungs as she understood what the dragon was saying. after a moment of them staring at each other, raya sighed, hands pressing onto her eyes as she started to tear up.

“you’re right. i’m sorry. i just—god i’m just so angry!” raya said, tears falling freely from her eyes at this point as she sunk to the ground. they were at the water front now, sitting on the edge of where the boats would dock.

“what happened?” sisu asked, gently wrapping her arms around her friend.

“namaari and i got into a fight about all of the missing stuff. i don’t know why i hadn’t put two and two together but she was hiding it in a basket in her closet because they were afraid they’d have to run from fang.” raya said, leaning into the dragon’s touch.

“why would they still be afraid? the druun are gone now.” sisu asked, face pulled into a worried expression.

“i would’ve asked them but they got defensive when i told them about the basket and you know when she gets defensive she starts acting like a jerk.” raya said, wiping her tears as they fell.

“sounds like someone else i know...”sisu said, smile clearly present in her voice.

raya laughed softly, sisu’s comment cheering her up slightly. she sighed and pulled away from the dragon, pushing her hair out of her face.

“i don’t want her to be afraid that they’ll come back. we’ve only talked about them a little bit i know she also has nightmares about it and it keeps her awake when i’m not with her. i just didn’t expect them to be so fearful that they refuse to keep anything permanent up in their room because they don’t think they’ll be able to take their belongings with them in case they have to flee.” raya said, now looking down at her hands.

“i know you just want to help but getting over stuff like that isn’t always easy, especially when you think you’re moving forward and it seems like ten things push you back. i know i’m not the best at relationship advice but maybe try letting her talk at you rather than with you.” sisu said.

“like how?” raya asked.

“let her get everything out: the nightmares, the objects and what they mean to them, all that stuff. no arguing and little to no commentary. just free talk. through that you might understand the underlying cause of all of this paranoia. which i’m also guessing you made her feel bad for so you should apologize for that asap.” sisu replied.

“you’re right, i know you are, it’s just—hard. i’ve never felt like this before, so in love with someone who has their own stuff to work through too, and i don’t want to mess it up because she deserves happiness.” raya said, looking up from her hands and at the dragon by her side, who she was surprised to see was wearing an expression of absolute surprise at what she had said.

“what? why are you so surprised? was it something i said?” Raya began—in that very moment realizing it was something she said. she covered her mouth with both hands and matched sisu’s wide eyes.

“raya, you said the L word.” sisu whispered.

“oh my god i said the L word.” raya echoed.

“sisu—i...” raya tried to speak but the words were caught in her throat. she had really said it out loud that she was in love with namaari, like fully and deeply in love with her and it was so overwhelming she began to cry again.

“i’m so proud of you, girl! admitting your in love is a big step. i’m so happy for you.” sisu said, pulling raya into a hug that was beating the edge of way too tight for a human and not tight enough for raya.

“thank you, sisu, you’re an incredible friend.” raya smiled.

“yeah, i know. i rock!” sisu chuckled, pulling away and getting up from where she had been sitting.

“now, i’m going to go get that other grumpy princess and you two are going to talk some things out, ok?” sisu said.

“ok, tell her i’m ready for her.” raya said, smiling as sisu sprang into the sky and glided to the palace.

~~~

even though it would seem like namaari would be afraid of heights, it was actually quite the opposite. they loved being in high places and looking out at the world around them. soaring through the air with a dragon, let alone the sisudatu, was not something she ever thought she’d do in her life—now? they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“this is your stop, your majesty. oh! and be on your best behavior or i’ll drop you in the ocean when i come back.” Sisu said, placing namaari on the ground next to raya.

“and that goes for both of you! best. behavior.” sisu added before flying off and leaving them alone.

both princesses sat in silence for a moment, both not entirely sure where to start.

“look, maari, i’m—“ raya began.

“No!” namaari countered, effectively cutting Raya off.

“you always take the first step. i don’t want you to think that i won’t meet you there. if it’s ok, i’d like to go first.” namaari said, sitting down next to the heart princess.

“ok, go for it, i’m here to listen.” raya replied.

“i’m really sorry for how i reacted. I didnt mean to hurt your feelings or imply you’re not intelligent. I was so ashamed that i let my fears get the best of me that i started acting like a...” Namaari began.

“A jerk?” Raya asked, mouth slightly quirked up at the corner

“A bitch.” Namaari smiled softly.

“I should’ve listened to what you were trying to tell me. I was being paranoid when i should’ve just toughened up.” Namaari finished.

Raya sighed and took her girlfriend’s hand that wasn’t holding onto the little bear.

“Don’t say that. You are not a bad person for being paranoid and it’s not so easy to just “toughen up” when it comes to trauma. I’m so sorry I made you feel that way, i was so wrong for that, maari. And i’m also sorry for opening the basket without your permission.” Raya confessed, making good on her agreement with sisu to apologize for making Namaari feel less than because of her fear.

“thank you, that means a lot to me, raya. I just dont want to start thinking that the druun will never return only to be proven wrong if they do, it makes me feel stupid and like i should’ve known better than to expect better. the nightmares and the second guessing and the stress of being alone on a lot of open land with no water source...it’s all so hard to deal with sometimes. but i think i’m realizing the more i push it down the worse it gets.” Namaari confessed.

“as much as i wish i knew what i could do to make it hurt you less, I don’t think i’ll ever fully understand how you’re feeling, even if our situations used to be similar—so i’m gonna work really hard to prove to you that you can always come to me and get comfort, even if i don’t always know what it’s like. i guess i was just feeding my own fear that you didn’t trust me instead of realizing you were so afraid because you do trust me.” raya explained, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand tighter.

“i dont want to lose you, not like i did before.” namaari said, unshed tears making their eyes gloss over as they squeezed raya’s hand tightly.

they both knew they were talking about when raya turned to stone, since namaari was uncertain if putting the pieces back together was going to work at all—if they hadn’t that would mean raya would be gone forever.

“i promise you i’m not going anywhere. i love you far too much to not fight for you.” the heart princess said, placing her hand softly on namaari’s cheek to use her thumb and brush away a stray tear.

“please never stop loving me.” namaari pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks now.

“i wouldnt dream of it, dep la.” raya said, pulling the fang princess in for a long overdue make up kiss. she firmly pressed her lips to namaari’s as she pulled the princess’s face towards her, love confession making her needy. though she wanted to savor namaari (thanks to her newfound energy of course), she knew that this kiss was all they needed right now.

“if you want, we can start taking one thing out from the basket at a time,” Raya said as she broke the kiss, “i think we should start with the plant since it hasn’t had water since i got it and is probably dead.”

namaari chucked at this, “of course you’d get me a thirsty, half-dead plant to slip into my room. you’re a menace.”

“maybe,” raya began, breaking her sentence up by pressing another kiss to namaari’s soft lips with a smile, “but i’m your menace so you can’t get mad.”

“i love you, dep la.” namaari said, leaning over with the bear still clutched in their hands to rest their head on raya’s shoulder.

“and i love you, princess.” raya echoed, placing an arm around her girlfriend to pull her closer as they looked out at the water as the moonlight glistened on it.

#angst angst angst #but angst with a happy ending #raya and the last dragon #ratld #raya #raya spoilers #kumandra #namaari #namaari disney #raymaari #rayaari #namaari x raya

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thedragonnerd · 3 years

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my soul may be damned, but my heart is still yours

(Concept Art AU 1/2)

Raya meets Namaari when she is seven years old, at her first Council of the Five meeting. Her Ma has recently passed, and Ba is reluctant to let her out of his sight, so he decides last-minute that she will accompany him to Fang on their diplomatic mission.

‘The lands of Kumandra may have been divided for 500 years,’ he tells her as they set out for their neighbour’s land, a large group of Royal soldiers surrounding them. ‘But the Council of the Five has ensured for centuries that trade and diplomatic discussions are still carried out, so that our lands do not fall into war and our people are protected. You are Heart’s Princess, and one day, these meetings will be yours to attend.’

To her disgust, Raya is provided a bodyguard for protection; this may be a mission of peace, but clearly Ba does not trust those no-good binturis in Fang even so. She resigns herself to an incredibly boring three days, where her father will talk with other adults for endless hours, and she is sat alone in a corner…But then, when they arrive in Fang and are greeted by the host delegation, she spies another small girl around her own age, peering out from around Chief Virana’s legs.

‘I’m Raya,’ she says, as soon as the adults are distracted. The girl gives her a small wave.

‘Namaari, Princess of Fang,’ she introduces herself. Around her neck lies a pendant in the shape of a dragon – Sisu, to be precise. Raya decides in that instant that her and Namaari will be best friends.

Indeed, they spend the first hours of the day in deep discussion. Namaari has been attending these Council meetings since she was five years old, and she’s a useful source of information, such as when the best food is brought out, or when the adults are too busy to notice small children sneaking away. At dinner later that evening, Raya slips handfuls of sweet desserts into her pockets, and grabs Namaari’s hand, ducking through the legs of everyone around them in order to lose her bodyguard. They sit in a dark corner and eat their stolen treats, laughing over silly jokes and their combined love of Sisu and all things dragons.

Being the Princess of the land, Namaari also knows amazing places to visit, and even better places to hide from the adults. Instead of three dull days, Raya spends them all with her new friend, talking, playing with serlot kittens, or getting into all sorts of mischief.

She can’t help but feel upset when it is time to return home.

‘See you next year in Heart?’ Namaari asks shyly, when Raya’s delegation is about to leave. Raya beams at her, scooping her into a hug before running after Ba.

They don’t speak in the interim year. Although Raya feels like Fang is now the land of new friends rather than binturis, the political situation is far more complicated than two young girls wanting to talk.

Raya thinks about Namaari often though, and when the first Council parties begin to arrive at Heart’s palace, she half leans out the window to see if she can catch sight of the other girl. Her frustration mounts as Spine and Talon are greeted by Ba, and then she sees in the distance the shining white of Fang’s uniforms, and almost falls out the window in her haste to go down to meet them.

She’s worried that Namaari might not remember her, or that their brief friendship didn’t mean the same thing. But as soon as she enters the courtyard, Namaari is already waving her over to say hello.

Later on, they are sat in Raya’s bedroom, talking non-stop until their voices start to crack, when Namaari pulls a small package out of a pocket, and thrusts it towards Raya.

‘A gift for the Heart Princess,’ she says, a light dusting of red across her cheeks. Raya takes it reverentially, and opens it to find a golden dragon pendant, with a shining blue stone in its center.

‘I love it,’ she clutches it in her hand for a moment, and then eagerly hangs it around her neck.

‘It’s so we can be matching forever,’ Namaari reminds her, holding up her own pendant.

Raya wears the pendant always. After the last Council meeting, her Ba and Chief Virana had agreed to allow letters to be passed back and forth between their daughters, and so Raya writes diligently to Namaari at least once a week, telling her of her lessons and training, of tasty food she’s enjoyed, of silly things Ba has said or done. It’s difficult to make friends as Princess, and the other children are wary of her when she wants to join their games, too concerned about causing offence by mistake. It seems to be similar for Namaari, from what Raya can glean from her own letters, and so they share their thoughts with each other instead, pouring out their young hearts in their correspondence.

Their meetings in Spine, Talon and Tail are similar as before. Raya is annoyed to see that Namaari is growing at a much faster pace, but besides that, it is wonderful to be able to hug her friend and hear her voice. And in the months between the Council meetings, they continue their letter writing, sharing their thoughts, their fears, and their hopes for the future.

‘I hope Kumandra can be reunited again,’ Raya writes when she is eleven, and frustrated with the amount of time left before she can see Namaari again.

‘When we are both leaders of our land, we will be the first to take that step, dep la,’ Namaari promises in her reply.

When Raya is twelve years old, the Council meeting should be hosted in Fang once more. But a week before the gathering, Raya finds Ba rushing around, throwing out orders to everyone in his vicinity.

‘Is there a problem, Ba?’ she asks, surprised at how stressed he seems.

‘Fang can no longer host the Council of the Five this year, so we are instead,’ he replies, before rushing away to organize more details.

‘Food is scarce, this season,’ Namaari had written in her last letter, and Raya re-reads it with more understanding this time.

She resolves to ask her friend more details when the Fang delegation arrives, but when she first catches sight of Namaari, there are no smiles sent her way. Namaari instead stands staring straight ahead, adorned in more formal clothing than Raya is used to seeing. As soon as the diplomatic greetings are held, the parties start to walk back to the palace together, and Raya deliberately falls back so she can walk with Namaari.

‘Alright?’ she asks her friend. She sees Virana grip her daughter’s shoulder tightly, and then Namaari is sending a fake smile in her direction.

‘All is well,’ she tells Raya, but her eyes say differently. Raya wants to question her there and then, but first comes the large feast where everyone must attend. At her age, she knows Ba will notice if she misses it, but she is almost tempted to forgo manners and drag Namaari away.

‘I must speak to you,’ Namaari whispers at her when they are finally sat with their food. ‘But in private.’

The meal feels the longest Raya has ever had to sit through, so when the food ends and people start to split off into groups for discussions, she gestures to Namaari and they run out the side door.

‘Let me take you somewhere private,’ Raya says, hooking her arm with Namaari’s and pulling her up the pathway. ‘I’ve been waiting to show you this place for ages anyway.’

It is forbidden to take outsiders to see the Dragon Gem, and as its newly-appointed Guardian, Raya knows she should act in a more sensible way. But this is Namaari, her dragon-nerd-in-arms, and she’s been wanting to share this special place with her for several years now.

When they cross the threshold and enter into the glowing chamber, Raya can see her friend’s eyes growing wide at the Dragon Gem shining brightly before her.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Namaari breathes, and then her expression turns serious. ‘Raya, this is what I needed to talk to you about. I need to warn you…I think Ma has something planned in regards to the Gem – I heard her speaking to-’

She stops speaking abruptly. The hairs on the back of Raya’s neck prickle, and she knows before she turns what she will see. The sounds of weapons being drawn confirms her fears.

‘Leave her alone!’ Namaari calls out to the Fang warriors, trying to step in front of Raya. But Raya is a Guardian of the Dragon Gem, and she steps into fighting stance, determined to protect both the Gem and her home.

She is only a child, however, and no match for a group of seasoned Fang warriors. She takes one strong hit, and falls to the ground winded, struggling to stand again. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Namaari pull out a flare and shoot it into the sky, and in what feels like the next instant, Ba is beside her, followed by a large crowd of Fang, Spine, Talon and Tail delegates.

Yelling ensues, and then there is nothing but chaos. The only thing Raya can focus on is the fight for her life.

‘The Gem!’ she hears someone cry suddenly, and time seems to slow down as she watches the Dragon Gem topple to the ground. The crash echoes through the chamber, and everyone pauses in their fighting.

‘It’s alright, it’s alright,’ Ba is saying, on his knees and with his hands hovering over the Gem. For a split second, Raya believes him; then there is a *crack* and a small fracture starts to run up the side of the Gem. The room’s glow turns from a serene blue to a sickly shade of green, and people start to scream and run away as the ground begins to tremor.

The Gem is now alit with green flames, which grow larger and wilder as something tears open the ground beneath their feet, and Raya sees a large mechanical arm reaching out of the darkness, attached to a monstrous body. The movement dislodges the Gem, and it rolls towards her, a flaming ball of now corrupted magic. Raya tries to scramble away, but the ground is still trembling and she falls backwards, watching in horror as it comes closer.

‘Raya!’ Ba cries in the distance, and she closes her eyes.

Then there is a warm weight on top of her, and a terrible, terrible sound fills her ears. Raya drags herself forward with her hands, her fingers getting scratched and bleeding in the dirt, and she pulls her legs out from under whatever is pinning her down. Twisting around, she finds Namaari lying on the ground next to her, screaming in pain. Namaari’s left hand is clutching the Dragon Gem, and Raya watches as the green flames dance across her fingers, a green glow emanating from her veins.

‘Raya, we have to go!’ Ba says, just as she is reaching out to help Namaari. He scoops her up by her waist, and starts to run in the opposite direction.

‘’Maari!’ Raya screams, trying to fight him off and get back to her friend. Ba’s grip is too tight however, and she watches helplessly as she’s carried away.

The last thing she sees before being dragged from the chamber is Namaari, writhing on the ground in pain as several mechanical Druuns crawl closer to her prone form.

Her Ba does not make it that night either. Instead, she watches as he is touched by one of the cursed Druun, a green light flaring in his eyes before he is turned to stone, frozen in his last moment of pain and terror.

It takes Raya two years before she can bring herself to return home. The Druun have moved on, searching for more populated areas, but she can’t shake the trauma witnessed that night. She wouldn’t go back at all, but her supplies are running low, and of all the places she knows that should be filled still with well-preserved food, it will be the kitchens at the palace.

She aims for a quick in-and-out mission, but once she has collected the food and packed her bags back onto Tuk Tuk’s saddle, she can’t help but hesitate and glance over her shoulder.

‘I’ll just be a moment,’ she tells Tuk Tuk, patting his nose when he grunts at her in concern.

Her first visit is to her father, still suspended in time leaning over the bridge’s wall, his face contorted into one final call of her name, and his arms reaching out. She still remembers seeing his face as she fell into the water, and she hopes she was the last thing on his mind also in those final moments, rather than the fear of the Druun.

After she sits with him for a while, she takes a deep breath, and turns to go to the very location where it all started. Her feet drag as she nears the entrance of the chamber, but she steels her nerves, and ventures inside.

The image before her is even worse than she recalls. Debris is littered across the floor, tossed aside when the Druun emerged back into the world, whilst every corner of the room is full of stone people – all those who were too slow to escape, or too stubborn to back down from a fight.

And there, in the middle of the room, on her knees with one arm reaching out, she finds Virana. The fear etched onto the Fang Chief’s face sends a shiver down Raya’s spine, but when she turns to follow Virana’s eyeline, she sees nothing. Namaari isn’t there.

‘I didn’t expect to find you here, dep la,’ comes a voice from behind her.

Raya whirls around, her hand flying to her father’s sword. There is a subtle movement from within the shadows, and then a figure steps out into the open.

‘Namaari?’ Raya whispers, shocked at the sight in front of her. ‘I thought…When did you…How did you..?’

She can’t even finish a question, and Namaari chuckles bitterly at her surprise.

‘How did I avoid turning to stone?’ she asks, her gaze drifting from Raya and towards her mother instead. ‘It would have been better if I had done so.’

And then Raya sees it – her left arm, no longer human but metal and shining with the same sickly green of the Druun’s magic.

‘What happened to you, ‘Maari?’ Raya asks, taking a step forward and holding out her hands. She pauses when Namaari backs away, shaking her head.

‘Don’t come any closer, Raya,’ she warns. ‘I’m not safe to be around. I’ve…I’ve been cursed.’

‘The Druun cursed you?’ Raya demands, confusion in her voice. ‘Why would they do that? HOW did they do that?’

‘Not the Druun – the Dragons,’ Namaari thrusts up her left arm, and shakes it twice towards Raya. ‘This is what I get for touching the Dragon Gem. I guess being a traitor from Fang would do that…even the Dragons didn’t like us.’

‘I don’t believe that,’ Raya says softly, and she inches forward slowly. Namaari’s eyes are unfocused as she stares into the distance, and so she doesn’t notice Raya until their fingers brush. She flinches away.

‘You saved me,’ Raya continues, ignoring her reaction. ‘That shouldn’t mean you’re cursed for it…the Dragons wouldn’t have judged you so.’

‘Well, there’s no longer any dragon magic to place judgement anyway,’ Namaari informs her, and their eyes meet for the first time in years. ‘It’s inside me, Raya…I can feel the power of the Gem burning. And they’re in here too.’

‘The dragons?’

‘The Druun…I can hear them calling. They’re looking for me.’

At this, Namaari suddenly grabs Raya’s shoulder with her human hand, opening her mouth to say another warning, and Raya can see the moment she is distracted by something.

‘You kept it?’ she asks instead, and her hand goes to cover the pendant around Raya’s neck.

‘We said forever,’ Raya jokes feebly, fingers rising to hold Namaari’s wrist in support. ‘Namaari, let me help you, please. You saved me once, let me save you now.’

They pause for a moment, staring at each other, and then an unearthly shriek pierces the air.

‘They’re here,’ Namaari breathes instead. ‘Run.’

Namaari disappears into the shadows in a split second, almost as if she were a ghost. And for the second time in her life, Raya finds herself fleeing from Heart’s palace without Namaari beside her.

PART TWO tomorrow...

OK, so this was meant to merely be a Concept Art headcanon list as suggested by an anon, but it kinda ran away with me, and I found myself writing endless 'childhood friends' points to build up to the moment Namaari even got cursed, let alone to the point that everyone wants to actually read where they have a showdown later on. Woopsie. It then went from ficlet to...sorta fic, so I will have to post the rest tomorrow since it is late in my timezone. I know lots of other people have been doing amazing fics, headcanons and art for this concept, so this is just my lil contribution.

#rayaari #raya and namaari #raya and the last dragon #ratld #raya #namaari #rayaari fic #concept art au #once i started writing i couldn't stoooop #also i want to give proper attention to the cursed years #so part two tomorrow i'm afraid #i have work i have to wake up for #woe #no beta we suffer like the druun versus the dragon gem

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sapphic-yearning-lesbian · 3 years

Link

Lots of banter, a shared kiss, and the promise of a future.

The last chapter? Maybe... (Chapter one & two & three)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3,237

Resuming from previous chapter

Once Trinh left after delivering the tray of food, Namaari and Raya sat on the opposite ends of the couch, the tray of food laid between them. Raya's prescribed diet was liquids, so that's what Namaari ordered for both of them as she wasn't going to eat solid food in front of her, trying to be accommodating.

After surgery, a patient is placed on several diets as they recover: Starting with clear liquids and ending with their regular diet.

Raya looked down at the tray and chuckled as she looked back at Namaari, who was grinning at her. "We had very few options." Namaari snickered, raising an eyebrow, making Raya roll her eyes.

"I had very few options! You didn't." Raya said as she pouted her bottom lip, causing Namaari to nibble ever so slightly on her bottom lip.

"We had very few options," Namaari stated, emphasizing on we. She hadn't noticed what she had said until she saw the initial shook on Raya's face before a grin replaced it.

"Well, we should eat," Raya purred as she looked down at her options; on the tray were two soups, two juices, and two smoothies, but she had no idea what any of them were. She must have looked perplexed as Namaari quickly started pointing and describing the options.

"The soup choices are between tomato basil or chicken broth. For juices, I ordered orange and apple juice. Finally, either a mixed berry or tropical smoothie," Namaari chuckled, presenting the tray with her right hand. "The full liquid diet was very limited. I know its not much of a breakfast, but I tried my best--"

"It's perfect, Namaari. Thank you!" Raya beamed as she reached for the broth, placing it on her side of the tray before pushing the tomato soup towards Namaari. She then looked briefly at the other as she tilted her head towards the tray. "Have your pick!" She beamed as Namaari quickly grabbed the apple juice, moving the orange juice towards Raya.

They then looked up at each other and, in unison, "Want to share the smoothies?"

Namaari was quickly flustered and cupped her hand, brushing her hair behind her ear. Meanwhile, Raya wore a smug look.

"I'll love to share smoothies, Namaari! Great idea," Raya stated smugly as she watched a blush creep onto the cheeks and the tip of Namaari's ears. Raya then found herself wondering: Was Namaari embarrassed, or does she have a praise kink? It's definitely a kink, she thought. "I appreciate it...I appreciate you," she said, testing out her theory, slightly biting her bottom lips as Namaari's brush grew darker. Praise kink. Raya made sure to make a mental note of that.

"It was a mutual idea," Namaari said as her eyes focused on everything but Raya's eyes.

"Why do you do that?" Raya said somewhat aggressively; anytime she tries to thank Namari: Namaari just wholly shoots her down and doesn't allow her to feel thankful.

"Do what?" Namaari asked, confused.

Did she say something she shouldn't have?

Did she order the wrong food?

"Anytime I thank you, you give credit to anything or anyone that isn't you. Stop that!" Raya announced with a pout, eyebrows frowned and arms crossing on her chest.

Namaari chuckled at Raya before sighing, "I don' mean to! It's an old habit; my mother raised me never to be self-absorbed and to include others in the big picture."

Raya raised her eyebrows, and a small frown formed on her lips, "Accepting my gratitude doesn't make you self-absorbed...And trust me, I see the big picture; I know you didn't save my life by yourself, but god damm it, Namaari; YOU still aided in it so please just take the compliment!" She declared.

"In that case. You're welcome," Namaari said in an exaggerated tone while wiggling her eyebrows, trying to mock the pouting girl in front of her. "It was a pleasure saving your life." She winked, and she ducked her head slightly while swaying her left arm motioned as if she was bowing. To this, she just received a slight hit on the back of her head. "what was that for" She said, regaining her posture, laughing.

"Mock me again!" Raya said, raising an eyebrow, " I can take you," she declared as she wore a proud grin. Namaari just rolled her eyes.

"Not right now!" Namaari chuckled as she lightly threw her head back.

Raya was only watching in awe as she noticed the smizing of Namaari's chocolate brown eyes, the slight scrunch of her nose, and her two little fang teeth making an appearance in her wide smile. At this point, Raya felt a rush of confidence, and she just wanted her.

Right then and there.

The next thing Namaari hears is clatter as Raya just tossed the tray of food off the couch. Her chuckle dying as she focused on all the liquid puddles on the floor, feeling quite confused.

Raya watched as Namaari's face portrayed her confusion as she looked down at the mess. The frown between her eyebrows making Raya's heartbeat that much faster.

What are you doing, Raya?

Raya took a deep breath closing her eyes for a second. "Fuck it," She exhaled as she opened her eyes. Namaari finally bringing her gaze back to her as a small smile attempted to appear. Raya just bites her bottom lip as she pushed off the left leg. Within a second, she was an inch from Namaari face. Her left knee retaining all her body weight, her hands found themselves resting on the other's shoulders, stopping her from actually slamming into Namaari.

The sudden movements resulted in a painful sting in Raya's chest, causing her nose to scrunch as she winced in pain. Namaari felt her face enlight as she thought about their close proximity, but before she could comment on the sudden outburst, Raya placed a gentle peck on her lips.

Namaari sat still, even more confused, as Raya began to worry she went too far.

Raya was pulling away when Namaari's arms rest on her waist, gently squeezing them, causing Raya to giggle in response. "You could have said you wanted me to kiss you; truly, you didn't need to make a mess of our food." Namaari proclaimed as she licked her bottom lip all so subtly.

"Stop talking," Raya groaned as she ran her hands up Namaari's neck, gently pulling on it to close the gap.

"Gladly," Namaari whispered as she pressed her lips onto Raya's.

The kiss was gentle and soft as if they both were making sure the other wanted this. Raya's lips were incredibly soft, while Namaari's were exordinally plump against Raya's. And as much as Namaari wanted to introduce tongue, she reframed from it as Raya's medical staff has a habit of interrupting them.

Raya was taking the kiss at Namaar's pace, not deepening it until the other was ready. Even so, the kiss still caused Raya to feel this rising heat within her, somewhat overwhelming but very much a good sensation.

As Raya moved on her hands to scratch at the back of Namaari's head, Namaari moved one hand to the couch, as the other steadily held Raya's waist. Namaari craved more of Raya, so she ran her tongue across Raya's bottom lip, forgetting anyone could walk in at any second.

Raya happily let Namaari deepen the kiss, exchanging salvia and gently fighting each other's tongues to show dominance. But Raya quickly found herself losing as Namaari gently guided her back towards to couch.

Namaari gently laid Raya against the couch as not to further injure her. She knew she was in control when Raya moaned against her lips as they pulled away for a quick breath before continuing their passionate kissing.

Namaari knew this current situation was so dangerous and wrong because she's WEARING scrubs. Someone could walk in and think Raya is her patient, yet she was choosing to ignore it.

Because Raya is amazing!

She even tastes fantastic!

How was she ever supposed to stop?

She questioned herself as time seemed to stand still as she hooved over Raya, finally separating their lips to whisper, "You're trouble." to which Raya chuckled too before gasping for air. Her sudden deep breathe presenting a slight slur. Namaari's eyebrows frowning. "You're in pain! Raya Fuck...you're punctured lung," Namaari blurts as she gently pulls away, causing Raya to let go of her neck, laughing.

"Worth it!" Raya whimpered as the pressure in her chest was beginning to ease with each breath she took. "More please," She says as she perks her lips towards Namaari, who wears a stern look on her face and is now sitting in her old position. Raya soon realizes Namaari will not kiss her again, at least not as passionately TODAY. So with a big sigh, she starts to shift into a sitting position. "Technically, it's no longer punctured: I had surgery to fix that, Dep La."

Namaari just rolled her eyes as she crossed her hands over her chest. The warm sensations still lingering in her body. "Technically, you shouldn't be straining your breathing while recovering," She stated as she stared at Rayas swollen lips; having noticed this, Raya runs her tongue across her bottom lip, trying to be a temptation to the Namaari.

"You aren't my nurse soo.." Raya says as she sits up properly, leaning her face closer to Namaari.

"DEWDROP," Namaari hears as she turns her head, spotting a man pulling the curtain open. He's wearing a blue and green military uniform with several pendants and badges. She can only assume this man is Raya's father. She watches as his eyebrows knot in confusion, seeing the mess on the floor and seeing how closely she's sitting to his daughter.

"BAA?" Raya expressed in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"Tong told me he would be visiting you in the hospital today, which was a surprise to me! So, of course, I make my way here immediately," He states as Namaari awkwardly smiles and waves. Not necessarily intimated but feeling guilty for almost being caught.

"I didn't tell you so that you wouldn't worry. I'm fine! I promise," Raya says happily as she looks over to Namaari whose busy looking her father. "This is Namaari, my soon-to-be girlfriend" That statement caused Namaari to look at her smiling as the tips of her ears redden.

"Dewdrop...this is unethical," Benja replied as he stepped closer to his daughter, noticing the eye roll of his daughter and the sudden shift in Namaari, where she chuckled and lightly pumped out her chest.

"I know how it looks, but I'm not a member of her healthcare team. Yes, I work in this hospital, but I didn't pursue Raya the brief moment she was my patient. I waited a few days, " Namaari confidently stated because honestly, she didn't do anything wrong.

Benja chuckled as he stopped walking inches away from the puddles of drinks; before extending his hand out to Namaari while narrowing his eyes towards Raya, "Do I want to know?" He asks as Namaari reaches over and shakes his hand firmly before smiling.

"I can't disclose that even if I want to," Namaari looks over at Raya. "But she can, and hopefully with time, she will." Benja tightens his grip on Namaari's hand, causing her to shift her attention back to him; when she does, he smiles.

"Raya is quite the character, so I wish you luck!" Benja states as he begins to belly laugh, as he loosens his grip. Namaari herself begins to chuckle as she's only known this girl for a few hours, and she can see that!

"The gesture is appreciated, general Benja." Namaari manages to say between her laughter.

"Benja is adequate," Raya's father says as he nods at Namaari, finally recovering from his laugher.

"What just happened?" Raya questions. When her father returned from war when she was 18, he became very protective. He claimed he wanted Raya to be happy but was cold towards anyone she pursued. Most of the time, he just acknowledged their existence but didn't quite engage in conversations. "Everyone's call's you general; everyone besides me!? Even Sisu does," Raya blurted as her eyebrows went up in confusion.

Benja just stared at Namaari without breaking eye contact, both unwilling to blink or look away first. After a few seconds of that, Benja laughed, "Because she can hold her own; meaning if one day I'm not there to protect you... She will" Namaari looked quite puzzled with the answer. "She's the only person I've ever met that doesn't allow me to intimate them. So I know she's a keeper," He says smugly as he looks over at Raya, winking at her.

Namaari smiles, thanking her mother at that moment. She was raised not to show weakness or let anyone make her feel as she was less of them. Besides, she could see right through Benja; he wasn't mean. He was relatively gentle, but he must feel obligated to hide that part of him with his general title. Yet Namaari, within seconds of seeing him, was able to read him as a non-threat. "My mother is a sergeant, so I was raised to know of authority but never to feel repressed by it." She stated warmly, watching serval emotions wash over his face until he found an answer in his head.

"Namaari as the daughter of sergeant Virana," Benja asked, completely taking Namaari by surprise. She just found herself nodding. "She's excellent at recruiting, breaking soldiers during training, and then rebuilding them into powerful and loyal soldiers!"

"WAIT, VIRANA FANG! ?" Raya screams excitably, surprised by how small the world of Kumandra is. "Your mom was my trainer!"

Namaari sits and thinks for a second, and it suddenly hits her. "YOU'RE THE DRAGON SOLDIER!" Everyone bursts out in laughter. "She's described you as a strong, bold, confident, but a somewhat dense soldier who she adopted as her military daughter." She quickly tucked some hair behind her ear as she remembered her mom was actively trying to set them up, and Namaari always came up with the lamest excuses.

Guess destiny has a way of catching up on you!

"Well, that's one way to describe me! But yes, I was the only dragon nerd in our military branch. Sad really," Raya confidently stated while she winked at Namaari. Raya was about to speak again when she heard Ba clear his throat.

"Dewdrop, sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk," Benja commands while he fixes his posture out of a relaxed state and more of a power stance.

Namaari can feel the tension in the air. It's not directed to her; that much, she is sure. She can see the worry, pain, and disappointment in his gaze towards his daughter. Namaari realizes she's not wanted, so she turns to Raya.

Raya notices Namaari reading the air before turning to look at her pulling out her phone. She swipes and types for a few seconds before passing her phone to Raya. Raya cannot help but smile when she realizes Namaari is asking for her number. Raya types in her number without hesitation, saving it and then sending a quick message to her own phone. As she turns off the phone and hands it back to Namaari, she hears her phone ding, and she smiles.

Namarri likes her!

Why else would she want her number?

Raya really likes Namaari and feels disappointed her Ba suddenly showed up. She wanted more time with her; no, she needed more time. The truth is, she's liked other people, even loved others but Namaari. She can't explain the difference. It's scary; she knows she can get lost in the feeling and possibly come out broken-hearted in the end. But Namaari is worth it. Raya knows she still has so much to learn about the other, but that makes her excited. Because with time, she will learn everything about Namaari, uncovering all the hidden secrets within her if she is given the opportunity. And so far, it seems they both are on the same path.

"Cheif Benja, it has been a pleasure to meet you; thank you for your service," Namaari states as she quickly bows her head towards Raya's father, who chuckles at her. She then turns her gaze to Raya. "As its Noon, I feel comfortable leaving with your Ba. I'm sure you have a lot to talk about before your friend arrives at 2." Namaari softy says while finding herself lost in Raya's brown eyes. They are so memorizing--but she quickly shakes herself out of it and, by instinct, leans over to Raya placing a quick peck on her lips. When she pulls away, she realizes how dangerous Raya truly is for her. She wasn't just a conquest to Namaari because that peck felt so natural and right, almost as she had been doing it for years and could keep doing it for the rest of her life. It felt easy to speak to Raya, and when they did encounter silence, it wasn't uncomfortable.

Was she smitten?

Was she falling in love?

No, not love... just smitten, right?

Well, whatever Namaari feels, it's just so RIGHT! And honestly, she was tired of fighting her mind on this; she was taking the jump! She's throwing herself into this new feeling. "Can I call you later today? I...umm...just want to continue learning about you?"

Raya was taken aback for a brief second by Namaari but nodded as a broad smile plasters onto her lips, "I'll love that! Thank you for today, Namaari. Get home safe, please."

Namaari lets out a happy "mph" as she nods yes and begins to stand up, only realizing the mess on the floor. Lucky she missed it by an inch. "I'll send someone in to clean this!" She giggles slightly as she remembers what lead to the mess before recognizing the other presence in the room and correcting herself to be in a more serious tone. "I'll send in housekeeping to clean up the mess and have Boun order you some food!" She states as she maneuvers through the spill.

"It's been interesting, but a pleasure to meet you," Benja commented as he raised an eyebrow at Namaari maneuvering through the mess. Once she is clear, she's next to him and smiling before walking towards the door.

As Namaari is about to exit the room, Raya screams, "Goodbye, beautiful! I'll be waiting for your call!" She then watches as Namaari stops at the door and can barely see the tint appearing on the tips of her ears.

"Goodbye, gorgeous," Namaari whispers back, hoping Raya didn't hear her; however, she hears Raya purr in response as she steps out of the room. She couldn't help but smirk as she left the room.

She did it.

She chose to listen to her heart and take a chance on her past patient.

Now she's going to anxiously and excitedly wait till nightfall to call Raya.

She is confident that this is only the start of their story and much more is to come.

Namaari knows deep in her soul that she doesn't need to fear this feeling because Raya will catch her, and Namaari will catch Raya.

Ohh, how excited she is for their future.

Maddening and intoxicating love...

And lots of sin; once Raya fully recovers...

I kinda wanna add a SMUT chapter... I think I’m going too 🤔😏

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shy-peacock · 3 years

Text

October 5th- Best Friend

Day 5/31 of RATLD-OCTOBER!

Raya had been avoiding her.

Sisu couldn’t determine why, but she definitely was as of late. In fact, everyone in their original gang had done the same as if they noticed Raya doing so and decided to copy her. For whenever Sisu sought them out, hoping to spend some quality time with her peers, they always formulated some sort of excuse to ditch her.

Boun had said his family were cleaning out their boat and he had to stay to help.

Tong had said his wife was out on a hunt and he needed to care for his young child.

Noi babbled and cooed some sort of excuse, her Mother then taking the reins and saying Noi was due for a nap.

And when she, finally, managed to spot Raya, the Princess of Heart dodged her invitation faster than she did a punch in battle. Throwing out some half-baked response of being too busy with “Princess duties”. Whatever that meant, considering Sisu always hung around Raya during such times. The two of them having a kick out of the ridiculously formal and often boring tasks she was meant to accomplish.

Sisu may have been fine with everyone’s busy days. I mean-..even Sisu had times where she was off with her own siblings, needing that bonding time or a quiet space all on her own to relax. However, just as Sisu was going to dismiss these worries, she spotted the very friends who had been ‘too busy’ for her earlier that morning. All hanging out, in the gardens of Heart, talking and relaxing and laughing amongst one another. None the wiser that the Dragon they had hastily left behind was near, her heart broken at the sight of all of her friends hanging out without her.

She slowly flew away, eyes glossy as they threatened to spill over with tears, knowing her friends no longer wanted her around. What hurt the most was Raya herself, who she always considered to be her best friend, was the clear ringleader as they all stood around listening to her speak the most.

Now, hours later, she laid herself down on the floor; sighing loudly as she stayed in her misery.

“Ughhhhhh….” Sisu whined, her body breathing in a deeply before she let out another, “uuuuuughhhhh.”

“Um...Sisu?” Namaari finally commented, “you okay?”

Sisu had come to Fang to try and coax Namaari out of her ever busy schedule to entertain her. However, no sooner had she arrived, Sisu found the woman doing paperwork and, not ideally in the mood anymore, she silently deposited herself on the floor. Pouting, body splayed out dramatically, her mood too soured now from their friends' clear betrayal to do much else than that.

“Is anyone ever really...okay?” Sisu asked, “especially after being stabbed in the back?”

Namaari paused, clearly confused.

“Someone stabbed you?”

“FIGURATIVELY” Sisu cried, startling Namaari enough to drop one of the papers she was holding. “Raya..all of our friends..they hate me.”

Namaari chuckled then, “well that’s not true..Raya loves you.”

Sisu’s head lifted, eyes intrigued.

“Really?!” she excitedly asked and then, forcing her joy back, she added, “I don’t believe it..”

“She does, we talk about it all the time after we’ve-” she paused, face flushing as she cleared her throat, “ah..gone on a walk..”

“Gone on a walk?” Sisu questioned, noting the odd transition.

“Yup..” Namaari quickly said, “anyways-...what makes you think Raya or any of the other’s hate you?”

“They’ve been completely ditching me!” Sisu whined, “they all said they were busy and that they couldn’t hang out with me!”

Namaari shrugged, trying to shoot her a sympathetic smile.

“Well..Sisu... human’s, especially in our roles, can be busy?”

“But can they also break a dragon’s heart!?”

“Ah...yes..um..maybe?”

“They weren’t actually busy!” Sisu explained, “I saw them all together, right after I asked them to hang out!”

“Oh..” Namaari said then, fully understanding the situation then, “well did you...tell them how you were feeling?”

Sisu sighed, dramatically.

“Oh, Namaari..I forget that since you are perfect in every way that you don’t understand normal people problems...or dragon problems.”

“Uh...thanks?”

“I couldn’t just ask them!” Sisu then blurted out, “ they should know how much they hurt my feelings!”

Namaari gave her a strange look.

“So you want them to understand you...without telling them what’s wrong?” she asked, “or..am I missing something here?”

“No, that’s exactly it.” Sisu chirped.

“Well, that’s..not gonna work, c’mon-” she laughed, rising to her feet, “let’s just go ask them now?”

She had just barely made it to the door, hand reached out to tug it open, when Sisu lurched for the door. Blocking it with her massive body, nearly knocking Namaari over in the process. The Fang Princess stumbling backwards anyways in her surprise.

“What the-?” she managed to get out before Sisu spoke.

“No!” she cried, “I can’t face them after what they’ve done!”

Namaari sighed, “Sisu, don’t be dramatic..how are we gonna solve-”

“I don’t wanna solve anything!” she whined, “ I’ll just die alone, with no friends or anyone that loves me!”

“Okay first off, I’m literally right here..” Namari pointed out, “and second, didn’t you literally convince Raya that all of Kumandra should..I don’t know.. talk out their differences?”

“That was the end of the world, it’s different!”

“Come on Sisu, move!”

“NO!”

Namaari scrambled for the door, trying to get past the mighty dragon. Somehow her strength being far more impressive than Sisu gave her credit for. The two wrestling, Namaari trying to get to the door while Sisu kept yanking her back from it. The entire mess making a loud ruckus that was half grunts and bangs and curses, followed by a victory cry by Namaari as she got the door open and ran. Resulting in Sisu tackling her, knocking her to the ground.

“Sisu!” Namaari grunted as the dragon held her down with her single paw, “seriously?”

“Yes, seriously?!” Sisu yelled back, “I don’t want to talk to-”

“What are you two doing?” a voice called then, familiar and amused.

Both Sisu and Namaari looked up to see the very person the two had been fighting over. Raya, coming down the hallway towards them, Chief Virana at her side as she was clearly taking Raya directly to her daughter at the same moment Sisu and her were wrestling in the hall. Raya clearly humored by their exchange while Virana looked at Namaari with a hint of annoyance. Her eyes basically telling both the dragon and the princess that their behavior was quite rude.

“Well..here you are Princess Raya,” Virana sighed as she motioned towards Namaari specifically, “excuse my daughter’s behavior..I see she’s become a bit distracted from her work.”

Namaari quickly got to her feet, fixing her hair as she tried to not seem embarrassed.

“Sorry...Sisu came by to visit because-” Namaari began, once again cut short by Sisu.

“I wanted to spend time with a friend who cares about me.” she huffed, throwing her head to the side. Refusing to look at any of them, pouting with her arms crossed.

Raya arched an eyebrow up at her before turning her attention back to Namaari.

“Well..ah..this is perfect, I’m glad you're both here,” Raya said, “saves me the trouble of tracking you both down, I need you guys to come back with me to Heart.”. She stepped towards Namaari, “But can I talk with you first..?”

“Oh, I see..off to enjoy another one of your walks?” Sisu grumbled out, “off to talk about me some more?”

“Wha-?” Raya managed to get out before Namaari quickly tugged her away.

“Nothing!” Namaari quickly said, “we’ll be back, okay Sisu?”

Then they were gone, leaving Virana and Sisu in the hallway together. Sisu too grumpy to offer the woman much conversation asides...well, actually she told her everything that was on her mind and more. The woman sheepishly offering the same advice Namaari told her (like Mother like Daughter!) before politely excusing herself. Sisu waited no more than a few minutes after this before Raya and Namaari returned. Raya utterly excited while Namaari looked as if she was no longer able to speak. Her lips pressed tightly together, eyes glancing all around the room. Avoiding Sisu’s eyes and dodging her questions when the three finally did get moving. The fact causing Sisu to truly feel awful then as it seemed whatever Raya had said to her was now making Namaari want to avoid her too.

Sisu flew them to Heart, just cause it was faster, while Tuk Tuk rolled along below them. The entire flight she allowed her sad mood to sit and fester, growing more and more upset until she was practically itching for someone to ask her what was wrong so she could just explode.

She plopped them down just outside of Heart, Raya quickly making her way inside, urging both Namaari and Sisu to hurry along. Namaari did, however Sisu took her time. Tail dragging, head low, until she could no longer take it.

She had to say something.

“Raya..do you not like me anyone?” she asked, just as they were outside the doors of their gathering room. “Are we no longer..besties?” she asked.

“Sisu, why would you think that?” Raya asked, her voice light as if she thought Sisu’s words were hilarious, “look, Namaari told me everything-”

“Well, then you know I’m being serious.” Sisu whined, “You’ve been ditching me for awhile now.”

Raya smiled at her, placing her hand on the Dragon’s head.

“Sisu, come inside..and we can talk okay?” she offered, “trust me, it’ll all make sense soon.”

Sisu huffed, not understanding what could possibly change by the two of them talking here or inside the walls of Heart. However she obeyed, walking past the doors as both Namaari and Raya opened them for her. Her eyes going wide at the sight within.

Everyone was there, all her friends and family, gathered together in celebration. There was food, decorations, and happy faces all around the second Sisu walked in. Cheers, arms-waving, and even music playing loudly too. All of it, she quickly saw, was for her as a large banner waved above it all with her name. A party, held just for her.

“Surprise!” everyone cheered, and truly Sisu was.

“W-whats...what’s going on?” Sisu spluttered out, utterly confused.

“We threw a party!” Raya announced, “for you!”

“For me..?” she asked, “why?”

“Cause you’re my best friend!” Raya laughed, “and I love you..and I wanted to throw a sort of thank you and your-so-special-to-me party and so..here you go!”

“But you’ve been-..you didn’t want to hang out with me?!”

“That’s cause we’ve been trying to plan this as a surprise!” Raya laughed, “we couldn’t let you know about your own surprise party!”

“But..Namaari didn’t know-”

“That’s cause Namaari can’t keep a secret.”

“Hey-!” Namaari called then, irritated, “yes I can?”

“Well, she’s too obvious when she’s hiding something, so I told her back at Fang before we brought you here.” Raya explained, waving Namaari off as she gave her a grumpy look. “and...also..I’m sorry you felt ignored..you really are my best friend Sisu, I was trying to do something special for you and I guess I did a better job at hiding it from you than I thought.”

Sisu felt her eyes well up with tears.

She practically lunged at Raya then, picking her up as she hugged her tightly.

“I’M SORRY AND I LOVE YOU TOO BESTIE!!!” she cried, “I SHOULD HAVE NEVER DOUBTED YOU!”

The party was a hit.

The gang all had a great time celebrating their beloved friend Sisu, who was beyond happy the entire evening. The Dragon was glad that she could call all of them her friends, knowing now more than ever that they would be her dearest friends for life.

~~~~~~~~~~

~BONUS SCENE~

Sisu was exhausted, the hour was late, but she had to find Raya that evening before she went to bed. She wanted to thank her, again, for throwing the party in her honor. To apologize for doubting her, and truly talk with her like she should have all along. Namaari was right, humans do get busy and she should have just approached Raya to begin with. This fact she would reiterate to her bestie tonight, along with her appreciation for her being a true friend.

She walked the steps to Raya’s bedroom, turning the corner just in time to see Namaari. The Princess of Fang, having just closed the door, turned carefully down the hall as if she were creeping away from something. Only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw Sisu, their eyes locked on one another. Sisu did not miss the panic in the woman’s eyes.

“Namaari?” she questioned, “what are you still doing here?”

“Ah…” Namaari mumbled out, looking at the walls instead of at Sisu, “I was-..”

“Were you hanging with Raya?”

“Uh..yeah, we were on a walk.”

“In her bedroom?”

“Yes..”

Dead silence.

Sisu narrowed her eyes, trying to make connections to things, Namaari quickly stepping to the side and wandering away from her.

“Well ah- goodnight Sisu!”

“Good..night?” Sisu managed to say, shaking her head at the woman. “What a weird time to take a walk…”

#rayamaari #raymaari #sisu the dragon #ratld october #ratldoctober #ratld #raya and the last dragon #princess namaari #princess raya #ratld prompt #I WAS SO BUSY WITH WORK I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST

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zankivich · 4 years

Text

An Unexpected Romance: Chris Evans x Black! Female Reader Part 1

a/n: *sticks head out* omg hi. It’s been a while. A long while. Somehow I am back writing for another white man, a different one this time. We can only hope he does not disappoint as drastically as the last one does. I genuinely have no idea if this is good? I think it’s kinda cute, and I’ve been feeling very traumatized in regards to blackness lately so I really needed some black and brown women having a good time and being happy. We deserve that tbh. There could obvi be another part to this. Let me know if anyone even cares enough for that lol. Okay bye now.

Part 2 Part 3

There’s an unspoken rule amongst you and your friends. Like a secret code, if you will. If a man hits on you at the bar and you’re not interested, and friends always know when you’re not interested, swarm and diffuse the situation. But? If a man hits on you at the bar and you are interested? Then that is a different story entirely.

It was a Thursday night out with the girls. You were at your favorite bar. It was quiet and quaint but still modern enough to attract a younger crowd. Sometimes there’s nothing better than getting dressed up and sipping on drinks with your girls. No dancing or club hopping or excessive uber rides. Just one bar, shit talk, and a lot of bacardi.

You were all sat directly at the bar in high standing chairs, Your back was turned to the entrance as you listened intently to your friend Tanya complain about her latest Hinge hook up.

“Can you believe I took my fine ass self all the way over to that nigga’s house in satin shorts? Satin! And he had a pizza box on his bedside table and the second he laid me down my back hit a bong. Make it make sense Jesus.”

Tanya was a beautiful Black woman. She was taller than all of you at six feet, and she strutted every step. Her skin was deep espresso and she was almost always rocking a vibrant colored wig that matched a vibrant colored outfit. Tonight’s color was lavender.

“I don’t know how many times we have to tell ya ass to stay away from them white boys.” You snorted, sticking your tongue out in search of your straw.

Your friends, Tanya, Raya, and Jesse all did a collective eye roll in your direction that did not go unnoticed.

“Yes ladies?” You asked with a straightened spine and arched brow.

Jesse was one of them girls you would have hated in high school. Skinny waist, slim thick thighs, and skin so clear that her Puertio Rican skin was only left to dazzle and shine. She had long, tight curls that hung all the way down to her belly button, and she always kept them gelled down and tied back. She, like all of your friends, did not hold back when it came to the group. You were honest, thick as thieves, and frankly a little brutal.

“You don’t even count. Your refusal to go near a white man is excessive and weird.” She cackled. “You're just as bad as Tanya, just on the other end of the spectrum sis.”

“Excuse me? Now Tanya dates boys...I date men. You see the difference? And if I am gone lie in some ivory sheets there’s gonna have to be some extra special attention being paid to me. And trust, there always is.”

You stuck your tongue out lewdly and laughed sending the whole table into a fit of giggles. You all clinked your glasses together and revelled in the atmosphere of melanin, acceptance, and tomfoolery. What a group.

“You tellin’ me that if a fine ass man walked in here right now and checked every box: his own money, his own car, intelligent, funny, etcetera, and he just happened to be of the vanilla variety you wouldn’t bite?” Raya asked.

Raya was the thickest of the group, voluptuous in every sense of the word and also the only one happily married. She just put up with y’all honestly.

You rolled your eyes through with the conversation already.

“I’m saying...he’d have to be pretty fucking special and pretty fucking dedicated. Men are a headache as it is. I don’t need the added layer of some man pulling at my weave like I’m Lilly Ane from his hometown, or asking me to do race play in the bedroom. Now I’m going to the bathroom and when I come back I’d like for us to talk about literally anything else? Okay? Okay.”

You slid out of your seat and headed for the bathroom with the grace and power of a woman in her thirties who had managed the insecurities of her younger self and had decided to only live her life revelling in her own excellence.

If Tayna was the darkest of the group you weren't at all far behind. If she was expresso, you were simply an americano with a dash of cream. And you rocked it with a full head of curls that ranged from nappy to bursting with life and moisture depending on both the day and temperature. It was all set upon the shoulders of a woman with curves and hips and chest. It was your body and you loved it endlessly, a matter quite evident in the way you walked.

That night you were wearing a coral pink jumpsuit with a long, flowy kimono and heels to match. Your kimono billowed behind you and made you feel fierce, even on the walk to the bathroom, which is perhaps why you weren’t paying that much attention. One second you’re strutting in the heels that you only wore when there wouldn’t be too much standing, and the next you’re slipping on some liquid that must have been spilt on the floor. Your whole life flashed before your eyes. The wind flew out of your lungs. This was the end…

And then you were caught by the waist. Not caught, more like gripped. Firmly. And perhaps not the waist so much as the hips. You expected to be lying straight on the floor staring up at the ceiling, and instead you were staring at a chest. A firm chest. No not firm. Chiseled might be a better description. So chiseled that your hands began to wander amongst the suit clad flesh before your mind had caught up with you. Heafer.

“Oh my god. Thank you so much. I’m so sorry I can’t believe I--”

You peered up into deep blue eyes and let’s not forget that your fingers were still wandering along that chest. Had a chest ever been so broad? No. Not unless you count Captain America apparently.

“Please, I always like to pull a rescue mission before dinner. Makes me feel like I earned my meal.” He grinned down at you.

Chris Evans. What are even the statistical chances? You wouldn’t know, you were too busy drooling.

His hands were still on your hips. Yours still on his chest. And now you were just plain staring at him. Good look.

A waiter with a towel to clean up the mess broke up the moment by clearing their throat and alerting the two of you that you were way too close to one another still.

“Oh--Oh.” You mumbled idiotically. “You’re…”

He nodded. “Chris. And you are?”

“I’m...I’m…”

The waiter snickered under their breath and you realized just how much you were ruining this moment. You straightened your spine and tried to act like you had some sort of sense.

“I’m y/n. Thank you again for the save. I was actually just on my way to the bathroom so I’ll uh let you get back to your night and try not to fall on you again.” You smiled.

“Yea, we definitely wouldn’t want that would we?” He asked.

But the way his face was looking told you maybe he might not mind it after all. Sheesh.

“Okay well uh you have a nice night, Chris.”

You tapped at his hands on your hips and he quickly stumbled back with an apology. It was the first time he looked even the slightest bit flustered in your interaction with him. You found that you liked it.

“You have a nice night too, y/n.”

You smiled at him one final time before walking to the bathroom as you had intended. But he didn't leave your mind the entire time you were there. And not just because it was Chris Evans, it didn’t feel fair to call it star struck. That was too simple, too miniscule. Instead it was the way his hands had felt on your hips. You had the tendency to lean away from men, didn’t feel comfortable with them when you didn't know who they were. And yet there you had stood, completely at ease in his hold. You couldn’t explain it even to yourself. He had just felt right.

“Of course he felt right, he’s practically a figment of your imagination.” You mumbled to yourself at the sinks.

That was it. He didn’t even count. The only time you ever saw him was on your netflix account, so surely your perception was warped. The reality was that Chris Evans was just another white man who looked good in a sweater. The end.

That’s what you convinced yourself as you walked back to your friend, but not without taking extra precautions against the floor. By the time you arrived back at your table you had done the mental gymnastics needed to completely eliminate him from your system. Good girl.

“Now, I trust you all found something better to talk about while I was away.” You grinned as you slid back into the table.

All of your friends were snickering behind their hands and they wasted no time at all laughing at you.

“Oh did we!” Jesse laughed. “You see we had just moved on to a new topic when a little someone got a drink delivered to the table.”

Your eyes widened as Jesse pushed a glass of what looked like processo closer your way. She then pointed over by the bar leading the entire table to turn that way. Seated by his seat with his arms leaning against the bar, shoulders even broader against the wood, was none other than Chris Evans himself. As if on a Hollywood cue he turned to look at you with a smile that was both innocent and filthy at the same time. He lifted a drink of his own in the air and tilted it in your direction in silent cheers. If you had been ten shades lighter you’da blushed like a schoolgirl. It was ridiculous.

“Now...What was that you were saying about white boys sis?” Tanya asked.

You groaned to yourself softly and plopped your head down in your hands in embarrassment. This was only to notice that your sparkling glass of prosecco was perched upon a napkin with his phone number written upon it. Home boy was slick and he was bold. A man confident enough to come put himself out there, and respectful enough to do it in a way that wasn’t disruptive or rude to your friends nor yourself. It was the sort of thing that made you take notice for sure, which explained why your girlfriends were looking at you like cats that had just discovered the canary.

“What? What?! What?” You gasped at the table, clearly annoyed.

Jesse grinned. “What’chu mean ‘what’, mija! You gone get your mans or what?”

They all giggled and looked clearly in his direction, only embarrassing you further.

“Stop it!” You hissed. “He is not ‘my mans’ by any stretch of the imagination. He probably just feels bad for me slipping. I fell and he caught me. Clearly he’s a gentleman, which is nice but that don’t mean nothin.”

“Girl please! This man done sent you prosecco and a phone number. That’s like a rich modern version of a love letter. You better go talk to that man.” Raya snorted.

Women who hype up other women are the world’s greatest treasure. You loved your friends with everything in you, and you valued all of their intellects greatly. However, this was not a regular-degular man. This was literally a superhero. You had confidence for days, but this was simply a different stratosphere. You were just about to silence your friends again when a ghost must have descended because everyone else began to gasp.

“Girl he movin’. Captain America is comin in for the landing.” Raya stage-whispered.

“Oooo you know what? Suddenly I have to pee.” Tanya mumbled.

“Oh me too!” Jesse nodded.

And just like that….your table was empty. The audacity!

“Wow. I sure can clear a room huh?” He chuckled, stepping up beside you. “I hope I don’t offend too much.”

You sighed turning to face him head on.

“You certainly do not offend. In fact, I think my friends are around some corner cackling like the witches they are. They just wanted to give you space to shoot your shot.”

He smiled with a raised eyebrow. “My shot, huh? I better not fuck it up them.”

You shrugged, eyes raking gently over him. Beyond the obvious attraction, it was important for you to search for any warning signs. His body language was good. He had one hand draped over the back of your chair, but he stood two steps back from the table so that he wasn’t over-crowding your space. He seemed to be aware of himself physically, an important marker in your estimation. He was playful enough, but also clearly interested if he’d decided to come up to the table after all that. This did not bode well for you at all. The man was kinda nice.

“I just wanted to see if you were enjoying your drink is all.”

Your fingers flitted with the glass before pulling it to your lips for a sip. The way his eyes seemed to follow the motion had a heat pooling in your gut.

“I do enjoy a good prosecco.” You nodded. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure. I didn’t want to be too forward but uh--I think you’re stunning and I was wondering if I could take you out sometime.” He murmured.

Your legs were crossed in your seat, and you bobbed your leg a little, anxiety coursing through you.

“Were you afraid the number on the napkin was too subtle?”

He chuckled softly, eyes falling to the ground in an almost...embarrassed fashion? Lord, please.

“Sorry, I tend to second guess myself. I never know how people are gonna take me with my line of work. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to set up a one night stand or something. Wanted to show you I’m genuinely interested.”

Well that was unnervingly wholesome. Where they get this man from?

You let a small grin form across your mouth, a metaphorical step forward closer to his very inviting energy.

“Well, I do like the sound of stunning.”

“Yea? I think I could say some other stuff you’d like too if you give me a chance. What do you say?”

He licked the edge of his lip and it really was so miniscule but it had your thighs tightening in a way that was unholy. Rude.

You couldn’t say yes just off principle. Ten minutes ago you had just shamed all your friends for their white proclivities and the first one that walks off the street and bats his eyelashes at you causes you to cave? The hypocrisy! But...he was fine. Like capital “F” fine. Fwine with a “w”, fine. And it’s not like he was going to take you home to pizza boxes and lost bongs and then hit you up for gas money later. He was more set in his life than you were. Him being rich wasn’t even for you to utilize; it just felt good to know that he was accomplished and secure for himself. Again you dated men...not boys. And yet still you found yourself in such a conundrum.

“You look hesitant.” He noted, eyes locking onto yours.

You nodded. “I am...Excuse my bluntness but I had just gotten done explaining to my friends that dating white men often comes with more hassle than good. It can be difficult to connect cross-culturally. And quite frankly y’all are usually racist and/or fetishists. I’m not looking to upset your mama, nor am I looking to play slave master in the bedroom.”

Honestly the little speech was usually enough to send weaker men running. You say the r-word to a white man when you’re a black woman and he either calls you the n-word or gets upset and walks away. That had been your experience thus far. Not always, but enough to set precedence. The fact that he bothered to stay at the table further already separates himself from the pack.

“I can understand where you’re coming from.” He nodded, and a crease formed subtly between his eyebrows. “Not that I could ever really understand, just that I understand your hesitancy towards me. And I understand that it’s more complicated for you than it is for me. I really wish it wasn’t that way, but obviously that isn’t exactly something you and I can fix together in this very moment.”

You steadied for yourself for his next words, sure that he was about to leave you with, “have a nice life, I’ve got a spandex fitting in the morning.” There was a feeling in your tummy that felt out of place. You noted absently that it was a flutter of disappointment. And then he kept speaking.

“I don’t want to change your opinions on all white guys. I’d be willing to wager that most of us suck, and you probably should definitely steer clear.”

This caused you to snicker a little bit, a smile coming back to your face. He practically beamed in response, teeth coming together in a megawatt smile.

“However, I’d truly hate to never see that smile again.” He groaned and layed a firm hand against his own chest. “I don’t wanna change your mind about all of us...but maybe I can change your mind about me. I don’t want to feshitize you, I don’t want some weird power play between us. I don’t wanna do anything that would hurt you or make you uncomfortable. I just wanna take a really beautiful woman out if I could, if you’ll have me? Please? And if not, I take no as my answer and I walk away a little wounded, and you’ll still be here, stunning as always.”

Ooof. Boy was good. Real good.

You twisted your lips together and eyed him another time as if you were seeing each other for the very first time. Seemingly good guy. Persistent, not demanding. Willing to have conversations about race? Biceps the size of your head. Damn it was like the devil had crafted him especially for you.

“You know I think my friends have been spying long enough. I should probably meet up with them.” You mumbled.

You reached for the check in front of you adding your tip to your total and squaring out your tab. The way his eyes raked over you did not go unnoticed, unfelt. With the check closed and on the table you reached for one of the cocktail napkins on the table, pen still in hand, and wrote a note of your own. Sliding from your seat, you reached for the prosecco and downed the fizzy beverage before pressing the napkin to his chest with your nail. There was confusion, and perhaps a bit of hurt, in his baby blue eyes. This was gonna be some real trouble for you.

His palm came to rest over yours, trapping your fingers against his chest. There was a warmth there that seemed to leave your fingertips tingling. Definitely trouble.

“You have a nice night Chris.” You grinned.

His hand fell away from yours at the slightest movement on your part. He stood there, seemingly shell shocked, as you reached for your purse and his cocktail napkin. You almost thought he was going to let you get away as you went to step around him, only for his palm to grab gently at your hip.

“Good night y/n.” He whispered and reached to kiss chastly at your cheek.

The warmth of him was more intoxicating up close. He radiated heat like he radiated pheromones. And the smell of him was absolutely ridiculous as well. Was that gucci? Dior maybe?

It was a miracle you made it around the corner.

As to be expected, your awful ass group of friends were all standing by the hostess booth peaking around at you like a couple of dumbasses. They were lucky you loved em. You had an exit to execute though, and for that at least, they were useful.

You resumed your power walk, matched with clicking heels and a teasing pop of your hips, towards them.

“Is he watching?” You asked quietly.

They all nodded in various levels of incredulousness.

“Good. Let’s go.”

And then you walked your ass out that bar only to collapse the first second you cleared the doors. Your girls descended the way only women do, like fucking superheros of their own, and helped you float back to the car.

“Girl if you don’t start spilling A-S-A-P I swear fo’ God!” Raya gasped hands shaking on the steering wheel.

“What happened what happened what happened?!” Jesse screeched.

Your head nestled against the headrest of the car, your breathing having gone unsteady by the little game you’d just played.

“I think I just told him he can take my black ass on a date.” You mumbled in shock.

The tension in the car hit an all time high as everyone went silent...And then they all bursted out laughing as if you’d mentioned the funniest joke in the damn world.

“I KNEW IT BITCH!” Tayna screamed. “OOOOOOO BITCH I KNEW IT!”

“She finna be down with the swirl tonight, y’all!” Raya cackled.

“In the category of white boys y/n will fuck with, this one has a networth of millions and the highest grossing movie of all time.” Jesse spoke in her best game host voice.

“I’ll take Captain America for six hundred, Alex!” Tayna snickered.

And they all continued to laugh.

“I gotta get some new friends.”

TBC?

#Chris Evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fandom #chris evans fluff #chris evans fic #chris evans fanfic #chris evans x reader #chris evans x black reader #chris evans x black ofc #chris evans x black woman #chris evans one shot #chris evans blurb #chris evans and reader #chris evans imagine #chris evans writing #chris evans story #chris evans series #alex writes again #maybe

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a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual · 3 years

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So I rewatched Raya.

And I was really trying to watch it without a skeptical lens. I wanted to be able to act like the oblivious kids in that theater and just enjoy the movie. But I just couldn't. I've mentioned it before it's a gorgeous movie but there are so many things wrong with it that just bug me. And I’ve mentioned before the changes that could be made to fix it and the main one being just completely scrapping the movie and starting from scratch with a tv show. And because I’m on spring break and I have nothing to do (also I’m a perfectionist and I tend to hyper-fixate on things that I know have easy solutions) I broke down how I would make it better in two different categories. The first one being kind of baseline stuff like animation and character designs and other stuff I had small problems with and the second being plot.

Section One:

Okay so I know we all hate Sisu’s design. As someone who grew up with Naga carvings and paintings all around my house seeing this Elsa fursona was like a slap to the face. Like I know I really shouldn’t expect more from Disney but I did. I mentioned in this post that I would have loved to see a longer series even if it meant the animation quality went down. And I feel like Neeith_ on TikTok did a great job of drawing what Sisu could have looked like which only disappointed me more. Caldatelier on Twitter also pointed out the many flaws with Raya’s outfit design which fully proved to me that Disney did little to no research and chose style points over historical accuracy. I also felt like the designs of the main characters were very unremarkable and before you’re like “that the whole point it’s supposed to be normal people saving the world” I don't mean that I mean it feels like they took previous designs and just made them Asian. Like my sister and I were talking about it and she said the baby just reminded her of the boss baby and Tong reminded her of one of the twins from rapunzel with a little more depth. This is also kind of a small thing but it kind of bugged me that they were all the same skin tone if not lighter. SEA is incredibly diverse and if they weren’t going to represent all of the cultures in full then they could at least shown their features. I feel like the food should have been more important. I know I mentioned it in my last post but food is an incredibly important part of our culture. It’s not a placeholder or a set-piece to make a scene look more aesthetically pleasing. It’s a way for us to bond and show each other we care it’s a way we show genuine love and appreciation. And when you have a main character who is emotionally stunted it felt like food was a perfect way for her to show her love and they blew it. Like can you imagine Raya and her dad getting into huge fights and then bringing each other food as an apology sitting in front of that window not needing to say a word because they simply get each other? Can you imagine Raya visiting Namaari and stocking up on foods that she knows Namaari loves but also hasn’t been able to eat for a while? We could have had genuinely heartwarming scenes centered around food but instead, we got set pieces and props. And one more thing that stuck with me was the voice acting this movie should have been a change for SEA voice actors to really put their names out there and be a part of a really big Disney project but as always out voiced were overshadowed by someone lighter.

Section Two:

(I’m going to warn you this is gonna be really long because I’m essentially rewriting the entire plot because as I said before I’m a perfectionist)

I feel like the first ep should be dedicated to the backstory and the lore

How were the Druuns made how where they defeated

I feel like it would have been interesting to see them fighting over the gem

But I think it would have been really interesting to see from the get-go how Sisu wasn’t the one who made the gem

So instead of having this big reveal alongside Raya, we would know that her hope of finding this all powerful Naga is hopeless because the story was a lie

Another thing I think another person who should have had more screentime was Raya’s dad

I think it would have been interesting to know his backstory and get some questions answered like “why does he have so much faith in the other rulers to help him on his journey to make Kumandra a thing?” “When did he become the protector of the gem?” “And how many attempts of stealing the gem has he thwarted”

Also as much as I love him I feel like his personality incredibly unrealistic because all SEA men I’ve met have been really emotionally stunted

Idk it’s just a small thing that made me go “eh he talks to his daughter. What kind of magic world is this?”

I would have liked to see Raya’s various attempts at becoming a protector of the gem

I think it would have been a really good way to show how resilient she is from a very young age

And when she finally succeeds the audience could have celebrated with her like a small “yes she finally got it and all her hard work finally paid off” moment

I feel like we should have gotten more Raya and Namaari moments right from the start

Like how they meet is basically the same but Raya doesn’t trust her with the gem’s location an hour after meeting her

It's a trust that both of them fought for in their own way

Like you get to see them bond over their mutual understanding of “well the worlds fucked”

So when Namaari finally stabs Raya in the back when she betrays her for the first time it hurts when she says the throwaway line about them being friends in another world in burns Raya

Because she thought they were friends and she genuinely trusted Namaari

Which would have really justified her distrust in the world

And again I feel like we should have seen that 6 year period of Raya trying to find Sisu

We would get to experience the frustration of building up the hope of finally finding her just to have it knocked down when she’s not there

It could also do two more things

Raya making genuine connections with people

And Raya and Namaari’s strange alliance forming

Now for the first one, I feel like it would have been really cool for Raya to be introduced to the different lands

And yeah sure I feel like it would make her feel like kind of a tourist but I feel like it would be really interesting to see her go through culture shock

Because she really thought she knew these places but boom they’re completely different from what she was told

And while she’s making her way around she learns about the different lands and the people inhabiting them and also their culture

We could have seen Raya make genuine connections outside of the main cast

And if you’re feeling a little masochistic we could see her lose those people because of the druune or simply because they died

But the main point is we would be able to see her become less and less selfish

Now back to Raya and Namaari’s alliance/romance later on

I mentioned in my other post that when Raya trusted Namaari to put the gem back together it felt very flat very fake

So I feel like it would be cool for the series to be split into two parts the first part being from Raya’s perspective and the second part being Namaari’s

I also feel like Namaari would have to be a constant in Raya’s journey

And what I mean by that is like she’s there every other episode either trying to stop Raya or she’s trying to save her from life or death situations

And later on down the line, we find out the main reason why she kept helping Raya (in her own way) was that she didn’t want to see her get seriously hurt

But anyway that’s mostly backstory and now we’re in the present tense

And like I said before we know that Sisu wasn’t the one who made the gem so we know that Raya’s quest is pointless

But because we’ve seen her various attempts at becoming the protector of the gem and the six years of looking for Sisu we know she’s too stubborn to give up just yet

So she and Sisu head out to find the other gem pieces

Now with context, her and Namaari’s standoff has more tension because for the first time in years Namaari doesn’t know the motives behind Raya’s actions

I don’t really have many ideas for Sisu other than she starts to trust people less and less

Like she’s still really innocent for the most part but there’s a small part of her a really small part that’s kind of lost faith in humanity

And after this, we meet Boun

I feel like we should have known more about Boun considering the fact he’s the first side characters we met

But it’s very clear they gave no thought to his character I’m sure they just wrote down “funny kid who lost his family”

This is such a shame because he could have been so much more than just “Raya’s funny younger brother”

Like he could have been this selfless kid who hands out food to the orphans around and offering his ship to homeless people during the night

Next with the baby and the monkeys, there’s really not much you can do with them unless you seriously age them up

Like at the very least have Noi be a grade-schooler who can express more emotions than mad and hungry

Like she can still be the baby of the group while taking care of herself and expressing her emotions a great example of this is Polly from amphibia (which is a great show with a SEA main character you should check it out)

With Tong, I have two words: Survivors Guilt which is something Raya would be able to relate to in fact they all would

I feel like Tong’s entire character arc would be him realizing that he can’t save everyone

Which yeah sure would seem pretty contradictory with the ending being them literally saving everybody but I have a fix for that too

And finally, we get to Namaari who is selfless to a fault

Giving me very much typical Disney princess she gives up food to kids who seem particularly hungry

She’s usually the one who tells the stories to the kids but her mom was taking over that day

She helps her people in any way she can and honestly, she’s wearing herself a little thin

Because while she’s doing all that she’s also saving Raya & co from their own mistakes

Giving me very much burning the candle at both ends

So you see all these characters bonding over the course of at least a year

Making and losing more allies along the way

And because Namaari has been helping them they trust her… for the most part

But there have been times when she trips them up and makes their end goal all the more difficult

And because they haven’t known her as long as Raya has each character has at least one moment when they look up at the sky and scream in frustration “What is this binturi’s deal!”

But anyway they finally get to fang and Raya is more open to the idea of just talking to Namaari because she trusts her not because Sisu told her to but because she’s seen Namaari do good

And Namaari is even more reluctant to take the gem pieces by force because she has a decent relationship with Raya like yeah sure they’re not best friends but they’re in a good place

And shocker shocker she’s maybe just maybe head over heels in love with the princess of heart

But her mother gives her an ultimatum and that is “either you take it from her or I will”

Because here’s the thing, Queen Virana isn't a moron the exact opposite in fact and she knows her daughter has been going easy on Raya these past six years

She also knows that she could squash Raya under her shoe if she damn well pleased and Namaari knows this too

So when Namaari gets her necklace back she doesn’t even hesitate to take her crossbow when she leaves

The meet up goes basically the same except its more Raya talking Namaari down than Sisu

And while they’re having their little heart to heart Sisu notices Namaari’s finger twitch and she goes to jump in front of Raya

And Namaari was shaken by the sudden movement and fires and kills Sisu

I feel like this would make Raya furious for two reasons one she killed her best friend and two she deep down trusted Namaari to do the right thing

So when the fight goes down instead of the whole “I don't care if you trust me because Sisu did” it would be “I trusted you and you murdered her”

And when the dust settles Raya realizes that this battle doesn’t matter because fighting Namaari isn’t going to bring Sisu and she’s also sick and tired of hurting the people she loves

And she decides to help people instead not because Sisu would want her to but because its the right thing to do

Which is cliche sure but its better than the scene they gave us which really wasn’t faithful to her character arc of not caring for people who aren't close to her

And I feel like Namaari joining her makes more sense with my context if anything else

And here’s how I would fix this scene even with them fighting the Druune off to the best of their abilities there are still falling buildings and the gem can’t really save people from that

So they lose some people not because of the Druune but because death happens even when the heroes are fighting their hardest

And because I feel like this would just affirm Tong’s character arc because there are people dying under these buildings he knows it’ll take too long to save them and its not time they have

So he leaves them behind prioritizing the people he knows he can save

Anyway, after a long battle scene, they finally end up underground

And it goes basically the same except it doesn’t take Raya as long to convince them

And instead of Raya’s reasoning of “Sisu told us to” it's more “all this fighting isn't going to bring Sisu back” and “I know she’s done something terrible and you can be mad at her after this but for now trust her”

So when they all make their sacrifices it’s less “I’m doing this for Raya” and more “I’m doing this because deep down I know you’ll do the right thing”

And Namaari does do the right thing obviously

Sisu comes back and it's all “yay we saved the world!” but it doesn’t really end there

Because I hate the “lifetime” ending of “even though we all went through incredibly traumatic events we’re all fine months later” no they’re running around for months and years fixing their mess

And while this is happening Raya and Namaari is mending their relationship they’ve apologized for all the terrible things they’ve done to each other

And when they’re fixing their world they’re helping each other become the best versions of themselves

That’s when they really fall in love

Like don't get me wrong they loved each other when all the bad shit was going down but there was too much bad blood them to really process it and talk it out

But that’s exactly what they do when it’s all over they talk it out for hours

In fact, they both said its the most they’ve heard the other speak

They both agree they’re in the best place to start a relationship and so they do

#disney raya #raya #namaari #rayaari #raya and the last dragon #did I just basically write the rough draft for a tv show in the span of 4 hours #yes yes I did

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reversecreek · 3 years

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struts onto the dash carrying this deliriously wriggling little elf in my arms like a swaddled bebe......... they’re genuinely my oldest muse of all time i think i created them when i was like. 13 possibly. n i haven’t written them in Years but. i’m literally so excited to jst vibrating w muse. smiles at u all demurely..... they have risen. u can find their pinterest here n their playlist here.

* alana champion, nonbinary + they/them | you know nyla palmer, right? they’re twenty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, eight months? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to 6669 (i don’t know if you know) by neon indian like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole a two headed doll of a prairie girl with stitched on rabbit ears and butterfly wings, befriending shadow puppets & finding god with your eyes open underwater in a public pool you broke into thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is march 2nd, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nai, 24, gmt she/her )

HISTORY:

was born in georgiaaaa georgiaaaa (phoebe bridgers voice holds my bang...) to a vry honest hard working man named george (omgggg he’s called GEORGE and he’s from GEORGIA? ahaaaaa fuckk ur jestinggg) nd a woman who did her best named pamela..... george worked on a construction site n pamela was a pharmacist..... their house was this small rickety white thing with a wrap around porch n a very rabid overgrown garden tht kind of looked like the earth ws trying to reclaim it bc nobody ever hd the time or motivation to mow the lawn.... there ws literally a piece of fold out furniture just entirely submerged by weeds n foliage

nyla ws always closest w their dad george..... he hd this way of looking at the world tht was seeing the best in all of it.... he took them on long walks where he talked abt how u have to respect the trees bc they’re breathing fr us n we’re breathing fr them..... he hd a strange whimsical sense of humour n a gnome alter ego called grundlebolt who always tickled them..... in a way this closeness created a distance between nyla n their mother but not so much that it ws rly a problem. just enough tht nyla sometimes waited until their mother ws out of eye n ear shot to tell their dad they loved him bc they didn’t wna make her sad >_>

(mental health, death & grief tw) pamela always struggled w her mental health but george ws great n understanding n knew how to help her thru this... nyla didn’t get it too greatly at a very young age bt they knew their mum got “the sads” sometimes (how their dad wld explain tht she needed to lay down in the quiet for a while or why she’d stood at the stove n let the dinner burn until the smoke detector went off without doing anything abt it). when nyla was 14 they got home one day to a police car in the driveway n came prancing in exuberantly as they always did. immediately hugged the legs of an officer bc this is hw they wld greet everyone they ever met. they only realised something was wrong when they let go n saw their mum sat at the table crying. essentially there ws an accident at the construction site george worked at n :/ yeah.

(jst mental health & grief tw now) this rly had an intense ripple effect on everyone tbh. pamela’s mental health deteriorated quite a lot without george there as her rock n nyla sort of had to step in as best they cld but it was....... hard. some days she ws better bt some days nyla had to sit her in the bath n stroke a wet sponge over her back bc they didn’t know how else to calm her down. nyla always had a very overactive imagination which george encouraged bt it ws like. losing him rly opened a window in nyla’s head n all rationality went floating out of it. their dreams seemed more real than being awake. fantasy wasn’t jst the way they coped bt it was the way they thought n the way they saw. everything on earth was alive. the trees n the clouds n the wall with a brick missing at the bottom of her road n especially their dad. their dad was alive in everything in nyla’s head. the sun shining extra bright in the morning was george. ponds were a veil they could dunk her head under and find george waiting on the other side. reality rly just pulled the plug n said bye tbh n they were ok w that <3

(abuse implied tw) their mum remarried too fast to a man named stephen n it was jst not a good arrangement. he was Not a nice man. i won’t go into this but home wasn’t a nice place for nyla any more n after a couple of yrs stephen wound up asking them to leave n their mum said nothing to contradict tht. there’s more to this bt long story short nyla left <3

(drugs tw) they couch surfed fr a while before settling living w their best friend. they got up to like... all sorts of trouble n grew up far too fast. nyla’s lack of sense n realism hd a habit of getting them into some sticky situations n these few yrs were a rollercoaster where they got by on the skin of their teeth. when they think of high skl they think of gravel and skinned knees and sucking sherbet dunkers to ignore the taste of pennies in ur mouth and getting lost in the woods a lot bc they’d take FAR too many drugs n be lead astray having conversations with kind trees whose branches held their hands

(drug mention) got by on odd jobs like making candles n selling them at market stalls. leaf blowing at cemeteries. face painting fr children’s parties (where they were blatantly high). random stuff. all over the place. in this time them n their best friend also hd a sugar daddy named tony who always wore very impressive colour block suits n mink stoles n jewelled fedoras n hd a swanky apartment w marble floors. rly just. surreal. lots of strange stories frm this time.

things kind of blew up in their friendship group n they fell out w their best friend raya bc she slept w this guy aj who nyla hd been madly in love w for yrs.... he was a Stinker n honestly so ws their best friend so good riddance i say bt obviously it felt like having their entire world flipped upside dwn fr nyla.... they split after this came out bc they just did Not want to b around these ppl any more n they decided to leave w this guy frm a band they barely knew tht much save fr a one night stand to tour w them..... this ws another whirlwind. jst chock full of them. it ws similar to being on a teacup ride at a carnival n spinning round n round n only knowing u were surrounded by lots of lights. tht’s how they’d best describe their time on tour.

SO in terms of them coming to irving 8 months ago they came w the band.... they honestly did pretty well on tour n wound up renting a big beach house on dorado as a kind of “retreat” sort of place fr them to shack up in while they worked on writing and recording their first big studio album (they gt signed w a label so it’s all vry exciting stuff). nyla among like 3 others were allowed to stay w them too bc they hd a lot of fun on tour. literally jst. taken on as professional groupies essentially. nyla loved it bc they’d never seen the ocean n when they first got there they jst threw off all their clothes n ran straight into the water. it was 3pm on a tuesday afternoon. they got arrested fr public indecency n didn’t get why bc they were like but i just wanted to hug the ocean u silly little oinker? i picture the beach house as like. the loudest one on dorado.... comes alive like a jungle at night..... they r probably bad neighbours. anyway. onto personality puts hand on hip.

PERSONALITY:

sets out patio furniture on someone else’s lawn n jst takes a seat n leans back like ahhhhh vat a nice day to be alive ya! (swedish accent suddenly bc they think it’s fun). they come out n start yelling n they’re jst so confused they’re like hey wat’s the big idea hey wat’s go on here why u angies why this happen?

likes drawing imaginary veins over their arms in all different colour blue pens in a sudden fit of hyperfixation n then forgets all abt it n goes out like tht n scares several townsfolk bt they’re oblivious they’re jst in her own world loving life already onto the next fixation. has many many different fads like this. one day will jst start snipping up a bunch of magazines bc they’re like EYES ARE COOL N THEY SEE EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P n they’ll stick a bunch of them over their wall n then forget they was doing that n leap onto the next. quite a pattern. bt they love the vein thing a lot it makes them feel like a walking planetarium like they have their own constellations

sometimes jst doesn’t make sense. they’re honestly kind of strange. pops up in places like they suddenly materialised there n it’s like how did u get there where have u been when were u last seen are u ok. has the energy of an ancient deity frm deep in a mountain cave n an ambiguous forest sprite all at once..... talks shit honestly. abt anything n everything. sometimes outrageous. sometimes plain incoherent. like what are u talking about? i dnt kno. even i dnt kno sometimes.

luvs stick n pokes will let anyone tattoo whatever they want on them for the price of a gummy bear kindly placed onto their tongue n swallowed whole

has this obsession w being underwater w their eyes open luvs it. calls it their tadpole time. runs baths just to lie there blinking looking around n drifting her arms. best friends w the bottom of any local swimming pool n hs probably given it a quick kiss so it knows they’re bff’s n then got sick bc there’s sm germs in a public pool. says the kgb probably poisoned their oatmeal n r finally here to deliver on their promise n THAT’S why they got sick unrelated to the pool incident. what promise? noone knows.

unclear if they believe what they say or if they jst has a very expanded sense of humour where they nvr let on if they’re joking.... lines r blurred a lot.....

loves excitedly shouting things. sometimes just screams at the sky bc they say it’s good to let the creatures in ur belly fly out every once in a while otherwise their wings get sore.

(drugs tw) still does an excessive amt of hallucinogens n it kind of shows. very bad fr their brain bt we’re going to ignore it.

dresses fun n strange n eccentric n careless. loves to experiment. does nt care abt what’s considered to be societally appropriate. living in their own world.

sleeps around a lot... jst doesn’t rly see sex as a big deal.... very free w themselves in that way..... sometimes greets their friends w a kiss on the lips they’re like awww :) kisses <3 when they run into them in the middle of the cereal aisle n then pulls away n suddenly breaks into a box tht has a free toy in it bc it’s a banana with googly eyes n that’s the best thing they’ve ever heard in their LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n isn’t he so HANDSOME????? enchante indeed my good sir ;)... gives the toy a kiss too.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

other groupies of the band: self explanatory a little.... i dnt have a name for the band yet bt all can b worked out..... i picture them as kind of. not that nice but like. there for a good time........ rock genre.... bit chaotic...... to say the least........ they dnt have to have come there w the band like nyla n the others they cld have been adopted in their time there.... whoever wld b wild n down fr a good time <3

chaotic trash goblin friends: idk what this title rly means it just came to me in a vision....... jst ppl tht r rly kind of off the rails n don’t care abt anything...... they r who nyla tends to mesh very well w......... they rly r living in their own world n by their own rules n they like ppl who do this too <3 inevitably they get up to no good n party far too much...... cld be angst to this if they enable each other’s bad habits...... world’s our oyster. opens my office door. let’s talk abt it.

nyla set up camp on their front lawn: maybe jst w a fold out chair. maybe w a literal pop up tent w someone else too. genuinely so bizarre of them bt that’s what we’re dealing with. they poke their head into the tent n nyla’s lying down crunching on a cracker crumbs over their tits n they just hold it out to them nt even fully consumed n are like hey polly want a cracker? :)

they responded to her craigslist ad: they posted one saying they cld cleanse their house of demonic energy bc they’re an all seeing eye in touch w the spirits. this is a lie. they came n waved sage around n did a little dance as they did it w bird sounds playing on a special cd they brought fr the occasion (had weird indistinct doodles over the case it ws brought in) n then ws like OOH! scary.... n jumped at something in the hall. they go in thinking maybe they’ve seen a ghost bt they just were startled by their own reflection in a mirror n is like. scary mirror placement...... might wna reconsider that........ they charge them merely 10 dollars fr their time n is like this was so fun we shd do it again some time :) also i think u have mould on ur bathroom tile! vanishes. they dnt recall them ever going to the bathroom.

came knocking asking for items for a garage sale: yes. u heard that right. they’re asking for ur muses things to set up their own garage sale. selling items that do not belong to them. they think this is a genius business strategy n don’t understand why ppl think this is so strange or why they cant just ask ppl to donate them things to sell bc hey they’re an entrepreneur? they even had a pencil behind their ear when they knocked on the door so why aren’t ppl taking their business seriously? probably got distracted several times trying to explain their pitch n chattered abt random other things instead.

honestly anything... fwbs... flings... good influence... someone who cnt stand the fact they’re barely coherent.... someone they stopped on the street one day n asked for their opinion on water beds.... we cn do literally anything. fling ur chara my way n we can talk.

#irvingintro #mental health tw #death tw #grief tw #drugs tw #abuse tw

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moon-spirit-yue · 3 years

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Camp Choas

(See the description if you’re confused I put it under the Camp Chaos tag)

Part 2/5

‘Maybe if I simply don’t leave my covers, Ba will forget that I even exist and I will be able to stay home,’ Raya thought as her alarm blared in her ears. “Dewdrop ignoring your alarm won’t magically make it disappear!” Benja exclaimed. ‘Well a girl can dream’ Raya thought as she rolled out of bed.

Time moved slowly for Raya as she got into her car with her Ba. She just wanted to crawl back into bed. Why is that such an impossible request? Why can’t a girl just have what she wants? Raya definitely got to camp way too soon.

Sisu bounced over to Raya the second she saw her in excitement. “Morning, Raya! How’s my bestest friend in the world doing?” Sisu asked enthusiastically. Raya gave her a deadpan stare. “How does it look like I’m doing Sisu?” Raya asked blankly. Sisu just laughed and swung an arm around Raya’s shoulder. “Aw c’mon! It’s gonna be a great day! I even got you coffee!”

Raya’s eyes sparkled at the caffeinated beverage presented to her. “Sisu have I told you how much I love you recently?” Raya asked her. “I mean it wouldn’t hurt if you said it more often,” Sisu spoke with a grin. “We should head down now, campers are coming!” Raya sighed before following Sisu down to the great amphitheater.

Just when Raya thought she was going to be mentally okay, Namaari just had to open her mouth. “Great spirits, Raya, you’re looking a little rough this morning. Those kids wear you out already?” the little binturi asked. Honestly, Raya needed to vent a little before her campers came filing in, so she just nodded at the taller girl.

“You have no idea. A small group of little girls that want something are a truly terrifying source,” Raya sighed. Namaaari chuckled. “The boys wore me out too, I can’t even deny it. Who knew a stick could cause a whole rebellion against me?” Raya had to laugh. “Not to brag or anything, but my uprising was caused by a wooden spoon,” she replied. Namaari raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Ah yes, what better creation is there in all of Kumandra than a wooden spoon?” Raya was surprised to find that she was enjoying talking to Namaari. (well, not really that surprised but we don’t have time to unpack ALL of that)

Soon enough all of the campers rolled in and the day was kicked off. During crafts was when Raya’s irritation really kicked off. A random LIT transferred into her group and the girl was literally useless! The only time she even talked was when Raya introduced herself! Other than that, total silence. She would be complaining to Sisu about this later.

Thankfully, Sisu was with Raya in the pool today with no Namaari in sight. Raya refused to acknowledge her disappointment. Cause it wasn’t there. Obviously. ANYWAYS. Raya began to casually talk smack with Sisu. “And THEN the little brat threw the bubble solution at her! I mean what! They’re just a bunch of orbys, it's not that deep girl. Ugh how did a couple of six year olds already get into beef on the second day of a one week camp” Raya groaned. Sisu cackled as Raya finished telling her about an argument the tired girl had to break up.

“Well kids find certain things to be very important. Like, life or death important. It makes things interesting,” Sisu told her. “Well these damned kids are interesting if anything,” Raya sighed as the whistle blew signalling for the kids to get out of the pool. Thankfully, there were no other mishaps during the day and the campers were sent home once more.

Unfortunately for Raya, Sisu couldn’t drive her home because she needed to pick up her little sister Amba from soccer practice. Considering the fact that her ba was the director, he had to wait and make sure everyone had left before he could head home. Raya flopped on one of the steps of the amphitheater as she waited for the last few stragglers to get picked up.

Namaari, being one of the stragglers previously mentioned, stood right above her. “You want some candy? I’m heading up and thought I should ask you as well,” she explained. ‘Were her ears a little pink?’ Raya thought. She decided not to dwell on it. “Uh yeah actually. Can you check and see if there’s any Kit Kats left?” She asked. Namaari nodded and walked back up to the office.

A couple of minutes later Namaari walked backed down, tossing the other few JCs and counselors their candy. She simply sat down next to Raya and dropped three Kit Kats on her stomach. “Did you also want this mini Hershey’s bar? I can’t figure out who wanted it,” Namaari asked Raya. The shorter girl shrugged and held out her hand saying, “Sure why not? It’s been a very long day.” Namaari hummed in agreement and handed her the bar.

After eating the mini Hershey’s bar in one bite, Raya quickly moved on to the Kit Kat bars. Since Raya isn’t a monster, she naturally breaks the KIt Kat into two pieces. The chocolate is already melted and sticks to her fingers but Raya can’t find it within herself to care. The candy was just so good that she couldn’t help but release a happy moan when the chocolate hit her taste buds.

She was pulled out of her chocolate bliss by Namaari’s mocking laughter. “I never knew you were such a messy eater, Raya. You’re getting chocolate everywhere,” Namaari grinned. Raya sighed internally. Of course this binturi would ruin her vibes. “Well I apologise for my eating habits, dep la, maybe if it wasn't already melted we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Raya snarked back. She proceeded to throw away the candy wrappers, but was still left with the matter of her sticky chocolate fingers.

Namaari noticed her dilemma and smiled a rather vicious smile. It unnerved Raya greatly. “If you need help with cleaning up, all you need to do ask,” Namaari told her. Raya was confused as Namaari brought her hand close to her face. Nothing would have prepared Raya for what Namaari did.

The taller, muscular woman brought Raya’s hand to her mouth and licked the chocolate right off.

Raya’s face was an explosion of red. ‘SHE JUST LICKED MY HAND WHAT DO I DO SOMEONE HELP ME DOESN’T ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS MADNESS!’ she cried in her head. Namaari, clearly satisfied with Raya’s reaction, grabbed her bag and walk towards her mom’s car.

“My rides here, so I’ll be seeing you tomorrow sweetness,” Namaari practically purred as she waltzed right into her Ma’s car and drove off.

“Alright dewdrop, we’re all set! I even brought you some-,” her ba noticed the look on Raya’s face. “Is everything alright, dewdrop?” he asked. Raya gulped in some much needed air.

All Raya could say was, “I wish the ground would swallow me whole.” Benja chuckled. “The kids couldn’t have been that bad,” he told her.

Oh, if only he knew it wasn’t the kids Raya was worried about

Taglist: @isitbussinjanelle

#raya and the last dragon #ratld #rayaari #raymaari #rayamaari #ratld namaari #ratld raya #raya of heart #raya disney #disney raya #raya namaari #namaari x raya #namaari of fang #raya and namaari #namaari #raya x namaari #Camp Chaos

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omgjasminesimone · 4 years

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Juvenile Delinquents Part 5

Logan x MC

Previous Part: Part 4

Word Count: 3,800

LA rarely gets thunder and lightning. Logan watches the bright flashes through the thin curtains of his new studio apartment, blinking sleepily. It’s 3 AM, but he can’t sleep. He’s had trouble sleeping lately. Ever since he found out about Ellie’s pregnancy.

The pregnancy has changed both their lives in many ways. Ellie’s dad kicked her out of the house when she told him. That was the final straw for Detective Wheeler. Kaneko had told Logan she couldn’t stay in the loft with him, insisting the garage was no place for a pregnant woman, or a child.

That’s when Logan realized Kaneko didn’t care about him. That he had simply been using him, and was done with him now. Logan is still in the crew, for now. But he’s not going to be in a gang forever. He wants to prove to Ellie that he’s father material, now that they find themselves in this situation.

Looking back, he definitely should have been the one taking care of birth control. It’s not like Ellie was exhibiting responsible behavior, so why would he think she was capable of taking her birth control regularly and properly? But he can’t go back and change it. And truthfully, he probably wouldn’t change it even if he could.

He rests his hand on her baby bump. She just started showing a few weeks ago. The physical proof made the pregnancy more real to him, and it’s led to many fights between them. Ellie’s due in July, and her plan is to place their baby for adoption and then go off to college like nothing happened. Logan, on the other hand, wants to get married, wants to raise their baby together. There’s no happy middle ground.

Ellie stirs a little when the thunder rumbles loudly, but she doesn’t wake. She burrows deeper into his shoulder, letting out a happy little sigh as his fingers run through her hair. He presses a light kiss to her forehead, and pulls her closer. “I love you.” He whispers to her, and their baby. And finally, he manages to drift off to sleep.

...

“My dad wants to meet you. Officially.” Ellie tells him over breakfast in the Spring. She’s 5 months pregnant now, and she’s too big to hide her pregnancy under a baggy sweatshirt when she goes to Mar Vista Prep. He suspects the bullying she faces as an unwed pregnant teen at the snooty high school is worse than she lets on, but she doesn’t open up to him about it.

Logan quirks a brow. “You guys are talking again?”

Ellie swallows the cereal in her mouth before replying. “He sent me a text message. Asked what we plan to do with the baby. He thinks adoption is a great idea.”

Logan’s hand clenches on the spoon. This again. “Not all kids get adopted. Some get stuck in the foster care system.”

“Older kids get stuck in foster care. Not babies. They’re in high demand. I’ve been looking into some profiles from prospective parents.” Ellie continues.

“Why are you looking into prospective parents when our kid has a biological parent willing to raise them? Go to college if that’s what you want. I’ll raise the baby. I’m not going to abandon our kid.” Logan insists.

Ellie lets out a frustrated sigh, rubbing her temples. “We’ve been over this.”

“Yeah, and we’ve never come to an agreement.” Logan fires back.

“I want to give this child the best start. A family with resources who will make sure he or she is well cared for.” They don’t know the gender. Ellie doesn’t want to find out, she doesn’t want to do anything that makes the baby feel more real. She doesn’t want to think about potential names, or decorating a nursery. She just wants to put this whole thing behind them.

“How could the best start not be being with their father who loves them?!” Logan argues, raising his voice now.

Ellie stands from the table, her chair scraping behind her as she moves so quickly. “I’m not having this fight with you again. I’m placing the baby for adoption. Maybe my dad can make you realize this is the right decision when we go over there for lunch.”

Logan’s eyes narrow as she storms off to the couch. “Unlikely.” He mutters under his breath.

...

Detective Wheeler can barely look at either of them. When he looks at Ellie, the disappointment in his eyes is almost palpable. When he looks at Logan, his eyes express his desire to strangle the teenager for knocking up his precious baby girl. Logan even noticed him reach toward his gun when he first opened the door, before Detective Wheeler was able to mentally talk himself down and invite the expectant pair inside.

“So, what can you tell me about the prospective parents?” Detective Wheeler asks once they’ve eaten. He made Ellie’s favorite, but since she’s been pregnant a lot of her favorite foods have repulsed her. She ended up just eating some bread.

“Well, me and Logan haven’t agreed on the best parents yet.” Ellie replies.

“I don’t agree this baby should be adopted at all.” Logan interjects, and both Ellie and Detective Wheeler glare at him.

“You can’t possibly think you two are in any position to raise a child. With no education? With no real jobs? Do you know how expensive it is to raise a child?” Detective Wheeler counters.

“I don’t care how expensive it is. I’ll get the money.” Logan insists.

Detective Wheeler scoffs. “What, from being in a gang? What happens when you get locked up? I’m not raising this baby for you, and Ellie is going to school, getting her life back on track.”

Logan clenches his jaw, trying to keep himself from saying anything disrespectful to his child’s only grandparent.

“Logan hasn’t gotten on board yet, but he will.” Ellie insists to her father, cutting Logan a look that tells him she thinks he has no choice. “Besides, I think it’s partly because he’s refused to look through the prospective parents’ information with me. So I actually thought that was something we could all do today.” Ellie adds.

“I don’t want to.” Logan immediately replies.

“That’s too bad. You helped make this baby, and now you need to be part of the adoption process.” Detective Wheeler insists.

“I have rights. I want my kid.” Logan fires back.

“You’re not married. If Ellie doesn’t put you on the birth certificate, you have no rights.” Detective Wheeler argues, very smugly in Logan’s opinion.

“Then I’ll get a DNA test to establish paternity. And I’ll go through the courts if I have to.” Logan retorts.

Detective Wheeler laughs this time. “Yeah, good luck with that. I’m sure a reasonable judge would turn the kid over to you, a juvenile delinquent in a gang with no family support, over whatever loving family Ellie chooses to give your child a good life.”

Logan glares, hating when people underestimate and look down on him. “Fuck you.” He spits out.

“Logan, just stop!” Ellie yells, getting between the two men so their confrontation will cease.

“I don’t have to listen to this or be here.” Logan decides, standing from the kitchen table.

Detective Wheeler pulls his gun, cocking it and aiming at Logan. “Like hell you’re leaving.”

“Daddy, stop!” Ellie cries, moving to stand in front of Logan. Logan gently pushes her away, staring Detective Wheeler and his gun down.

“Sit your ass on the couch. We’re all going to look at prospective parents.” Detective Wheeler orders. Logan glares for several tense moments, before reluctantly complying.

Detective Wheeler sits in his arm chair, gun still pointed at Logan. He gestures to his laptop on the coffee table. “Go ahead sweetie. Why don’t you cast the materials to the TV?” Detective Wheeler says to Ellie, his sweet tone quite a contrast to the way he’s got a gun pointed at her boyfriend.

Knowing this is likely the only way she’ll ever get Logan to look at the prospective parents, and she does want his input because it’s his baby too, Ellie pulls up the families she’s interested in.

“Okay.” Ellie clears her throat, she’s nervous. “First, I really like Chet and Frank. They’ve been married for 3 years. Chet is a lawyer. And Frank is a doctor. This would be their first baby. They almost adopted a baby before, but the birth mother changed her mind after giving birth.” Ellie flips through photos of the loving couple. They look happy, and their house looks nice. One of the pictures shows the two men playing tennis. They’re obviously rich. “I think they’re my favorite.” Ellie admits.

She flips to the next couple. “This is Dominick and Tanya. They’ve been married for ten years. They have a daughter who’s 9, and since then they’ve been trying to have another baby, but they haven’t been able to get pregnant.” Ellie explains. This couple looks nice too. Many of the pictures include their daughter, and she seems happy and well adjusted.

“And then the third person I’m seriously considering is Raya. She’s single, but she really wants a baby and she can’t biologically have children. She’s a elementary school teacher, which shows she’s good with kids.” Ellie gives the last spiel. Raya looks nice too. She looks sad in a lot of her pictures though. Logan wonders if a baby will actually make her happy, or if she just thinks it will.

Detective Wheeler nods. “What are your thoughts Logan?”

“Does it matter? Doesn’t seem like you guys really care what I think.” Logan retorts moodily.

Ellie sighs, turning to him and taking his hand. “Logan, please. I do care. I love you. This baby was conceived with love, but we can’t raise a baby. I know you think you can, but you’re not going to be able to give this baby the life one of these couples will provide. Even if I didn’t go to college, and we got married, it still wouldn’t be the life they deserve. Don’t you wish your mother had placed you for adoption instead of foster care? Don’t you think adopted parents would have been a better situation for you? We can’t be selfish. Please, please support me in this.” Ellie begs.

Logan sighs, raising his hand to wipe a tear from her face. “Please don’t cry.” He pleads, resting his forehead against her’s.

Detective Wheeler finally lowers his gun. “I feel like you guys need to discuss this between just yourselves back home. But my vote? Dominick and Tanya.” Detective Wheeler reveals.

...

Logan hesitates before ringing the doorbell. Ellie hip bumps him. “Are you nervous?” She asks.

“A little.” Logan admits.

Ellie grips his t-shirt, pulling him down into a sweet kiss. “Don’t be. I’m sure Chet and Frank are a lot more nervous to meet us.” She insists. “Oh! The baby just kicked. I think they like the energy here.” Ellie announces.

Logan places a hand to her belly, feeling their child give another kick. He drops to his knees, pressing a kiss to her belly. “I’m only entertaining the idea of this for you.” He murmurs softly against her skin.

Ellie runs a hand through his hair. “This is the right thing Logan. You’ll see.” Ellie insists. She waits for him to get back to his feet. “Ready?” He nods, so she rings the doorbell.

Moments later, Chet and Frank open the door, arms wrapped around each other. “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you guys in person!” Chet greets, hugging them both. “And ooh look at your belly? Do you mind if we touch?” He asks.

Ellie laughs, stepping forward. “Have at it.” She offers.

Chet and Frank both place their hands. Frank lets out a gasp. “I felt a kick!” Tears well in his eyes, and he and Chet exchange a quick kiss.

“I think the baby likes you.” Ellie insists, gripping Logan’s hand since he looks a little uncomfortable. This is harder than he thought it would be. Logan still wants his baby. But Ellie begged him to join her for her Skype meeting with the couple, and then for an in person meeting a month later a their home in Santa Monica.

“Well, come in, come in!” Chet exclaims, ushering them into the beautiful home.

“Wow, this is really nice.” Ellie notes.

“Do you want to see the nursery? We set it up...you know...before.” Frank finishes sadly. Logan can see how much it must have hurt the couple to have the birth mother change her mind at the last possible moment.

“We’d love to.” Ellie answers, squeezing Logan’s hand again. He’s been wanting to get some basic baby stuff for the studio, just in case. Ellie refuses to even entertain that.

Ellie gasps at the nursery, a cheery room painted candy apple green. “This is so cute! Look at that giant teddy bear! It’s a room fit for a little prince or princess!” Ellie wanders the room, touching random things.

Logan looks around too. The walls are painted with the alphabet, and numbers, and there are countless children’s books around. They’re clearly well prepared for a baby, they clearly really wanted the child they set this nursery up for.

They tour the entire house before setting up in the living room. Chet and Frank hold hands while sitting in two side by side armchairs, while Logan wraps an arm around Ellie on the couch.

“Do you guys have any questions for us? Any concerns you would need addressed before feeling comfortable deciding on us to be the parents of your birth child?” Chet asks.

“I have a concern.” Logan admits. “Kids can be mean. How would you handle it if someone bullies the kid because you guys are gay?” Logan asks.

“That’s a fair question. Kids can be cruel.” Frank acknowledges. “I guess the way I see it, kids will find a reason to bully you, no matter what. But I think the important thing is how the child is taught to respond to bullies. I would want the child to educate the bully. Maybe they don’t understand anything different than the family that’s a mother, and a father, and 2.5 kids. But the world is becoming more accepting. Twenty years ago, you’d never see a gay couple on TV. So, I feel like that gives the child some reference point to give the bullies. It’s not so....weird anymore...for lack of a better word. I don’t know, I feel like I’m rambling. Does that answer your question?” Frank concludes.

Logan offers a reassuring smile. “It does. Thanks.”

The couples spend another hour talking, Ellie and Logan getting out all their questions, Frank and Chet patiently answering each one.

“Logan, Ellie let us know that you’ve been resistant to this whole adoption process. And we get it. Nobody wants to give up their child. But....after today....do you think you could at least consider us as parents?” Chet asks.

“You know, coming in here, I thought I was going to leave here just as resistant as I came in. But honestly, I think you guys would be amazing parents. So I’m definitely more open to it than I was before.” Logan answers.

Ellie smiles at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

After exchanging goodbyes and a car ride home spent largely in contemplative silence, Ellie rounds on Logan as soon as they get back to their studio apartment. “So? What do you honestly think?” Ellie asks.

“I love you Ellie.” He rests a hand on her very pregnant belly. “And I love this baby. And I want the best for both of you. I....I think you’re right. Chet and Frank can give this baby the kind of life that I was super envious of when I was a kid. I mean, they have a pool! That they’d promised us they’d fence off as soon as the kid is walking.”

Ellie laughs, resting her head on his chest. “They’re very prepared.”

“They are. So...I’m ready to commit to the adoption.” Logan concludes.

Ellie turns her head to look up at him, tears in her eyes. “Really Logan? You don’t think you’ll change your mind once you see the baby?”

He leans down to press a lingering kiss to her lips, tangling his fingers in her hair. “I know it’s going to be hard, especially after holding our baby, but I want what’s best for them. And that’s not us right now.”

“Thank you. I love you so much.” Ellie breathes out, relief evident in her tone.

“I love you more troublemaker.”

....

“AAHHH! Ellie screams, sweat pouring down her face as she struggles through labor. She collapses back against Logan’s chest, crying. “I can’t. I can’t.” She’s been at this for hours.

“You can mama. You’re so close.” The doctor insists from between Ellie’s legs.

Logan wipes her forehead with a cloth, kissing the back of her ear. “You’re doing amazing Ellie.” He praises.

“This hurts so much. And after all this we’re not even going home with a baby. It’s like I’m going through all this pain for nothing.” Ellie complains.

“It’s not for nothing. You’re bringing our child into the world. You have to keep pushing.” Logan comforts.

Ellie squeezes his hand as she pushes again, letting out another scream.

2 long hours later, Ellie brings their daughter into the world. The baby has a good set of lungs on her, letting out a loud cry as the nurse whisks her away to be cleaned up.

Logan turns Ellie’s head so he can place a lingering kiss on her lips, pulling away a moment later to kiss her forehead. “You were incredible trouble.” He compliments.

She smiles weakly at him, looking completely exhausted from her long labor. She perks up when they bring the baby back in.

“Do you want to hold her?” The nurse asks. With adoptions, sometimes the birth parents don’t want to hold the baby, but Ellie nods eagerly, so the baby girl is placed in her arms.

Ellie lets out a sob. “She’s so beautiful. Look at that full head of hair!” The baby opens her blurry eyes, looking like she’s trying to focus on her mother.

Logan raises a finger to stroke his daughter’s soft cheek. “She looks just like you.” Logan insists.

“She has your eyes.” Ellie replies. She turns towards him. “Do you want to hold her?”

Logan nods, unable to find the words. Ellie carefully passes their daughter over. The baby blinks at him, and tears well in Logan’s eyes. “Hi. You are so loved.” He says softly, pressing a kiss to the baby’s forehead.

Tears are falling steadily down Ellie’s face too. “This is going to be so hard. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anything, and Chet and Frank are still in the waiting room.” Ellie informs him.

Logan sighs, cradling his daughter. “She deserves the life they can give her, and you’re leaving for Langston in a month. You’ve been dreaming about Langston forever Ellie. You worked so hard for this.” He reminds her, even though he really wants to lean in to her indecision and convince her to let them keep their baby. But he knows although that would make him happy, Ellie and his daughter would be giving up a lot for his happiness. Plus, Chet and Frank don’t deserve to have the rug ripped out from underneath them, again. “Let’s get them in here, so they can meet their daughter.” Logan manages to force himself to say.

Chet and Frank cry when they hold the baby, their love for her really coming through. It makes Logan feel better about their decision, knowing how much their daughter is going to be loved, but leaving that hospital without his daughter is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.

Ellie is sobbing as he wheels her out to his car. And once he gets her home, she stays in bed for a week, in a state of what is most likely postpartum depression.

Logan is patient as Ellie deals with her grief, while shoving down his own. Ellie needs him right now.

Eventually, Ellie starts to come out of it. She starts looking into what classes she wants to take at Langston. And eventually, she buys train tickets to get out to the East Coast. She thinks the long train ride across the country will be a good time to reflect on the past year.

...

Logan parks his car in the parking lot of the Amtrak station. He sighs, not feeling at all ready for this. Ellie reaches over to squeeze his hand. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll be back home for Christmas, and we can Skype all the time.” She insists.

He interlaces their fingers, staring down at their joined hands. “I want to believe that, but there’s going to be a time difference. And you’re going to be busy with school. And I might be leaving LA once I leave Kaneko’s crew, so who knows if I’ll be here for Christmas.”

“Then I’ll go where you are. I love you Logan. Distance isn’t going to change that.”

He wants to believe that so badly. But long distance is hard. And who’s to say she’s not going to meet some trust fund baby with a bright future at Langston? The kind of guy with a bright future, and no criminal record. Who’s to say she’s not going to want to move on from a guy that will always remind her of the child she had to give up, because he wasn’t in a position to take care of them?

He doesn’t say any of that though. He’ll just let her pretend everything is going to be fine if that’s what she needs to get on that train and follow her dreams.

“I love you too.” Logan replies, leaning forward to kiss her. After a few moments, he forces himself to pull away. “I’ll wait with you until your train gets here.” Logan offers, moving to get her luggage from the trunk.

She grips his hand as they walk over, and she takes a seat in his lap when he sits down on a bench on the platform.

They don’t talk much as they wait, both lost in their own thoughts. They do exchange several heated kisses though, both clearly wanting to communicate the depths of their feelings.

Ellie starts crying when the train pulls up. Logan wipes away her tears before engulfing her in a hug. “I love you.” He vows again before letting her go.

“I love you too. See you at Christmas, wherever you are.” Ellie promises.

She turns and waves before she gets on the train, and once everyone has boarded it pulls out of the station.

Logan stays rooted to the platform several minutes after she’s left. He’s knocked out of his stunned state by a text message.

Kaneko: Where are you? I need your help down at the Pavilion.

Logan replies. ‘on my way’, pocketing his phone and making his way out to his car.

A/N: The End! Thanks to the anon that pushed me to finish this up.

Taglist: @choicesarehard @brightpinkpeppercorn @regina-and-happiness @drakexnadira @flyawayboo @fairydustandsarcasm @alesana45 @maxwellsquidsuit @god-save-the-keen @mrsmckenziesworld @paisleylovergirl @iplaydrake @sinclaire-made-me-sin @choicesgremlin @lovehugsandcandy @desireepow-1986 @blades-of-light-and-shadow @justdani14 @emceesynonymroll @emichelle @badchoicesposts @client-327 @riverrune @liamzigmichael4ever @princessstellaris @mskaneko @anxious-arliah @zaffrenotes @iam-ankita @ohsnapitzlovehacker

#logan x mc #logan rod #ride or die #choices fanfiction #logan rod x mc #adoption

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior Is Back!!! Raya and the Last Dragon, Chaos Walking and More

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior!

This is probably going to be a little different from any of my previous columns, because New York City theaters reopen on Friday, and I swore that once they do, I would be writing about box office again. But this will also essentially be a previous column, so it will include reviews, it will include festivals and repertory series, and basically, whatever the hell I want to write about.

But let’s be realistic here. While there are a lot of movie theaters in New York City, not all of them will open, and they’ll all still have a capacity ceiling at 25% or 50 people in the larger theaters. Many of the larger multiplexes like AMC will be able to show films on two, three or more screenings to be able to make up for the limited capacity, but smaller theaters and those who have been doing well with the virtual cinema may remain closed. I know that the Angelika will be reopening to show some of the indies that haven’t had a theatrical release in NYC yet like Minari, and the IFC Center is reopening but with insanely strict protocols. (Don’t you DARE take off your mask even if you’re watching a three-hour movie! The good news is that they’re showing a lot of great movies on reopening including a comedy series that includes a number of Lynn Shelton movies.)

There’s also the issue of New Yorkers who are still petrified of being out in public, even those who have already been vaccinated and are possibly spending time in congregate settings that are just as likely to cause COVID spread than movie theaters. (I’m not gonna go on a rant about the egotistical and elitist film critics and journalists who have been ranting about movie theaters reopening for the past six months – for some reason, they think they’re as important as essential workers. Guess what, NAME REDACTED, you’re not.)

The big release of the weekend is the Disney animated movie RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, which will hit probably around 2,400 theaters on Friday as well as be available for a premium on Disney+. I honestly don’t know a ton about this premium streaming release, but this is the second one after last year’s Mulan, which came out (better sit down for this) six months ago!

This magical fantasy adventure centers around Raya (a teen girl voiced by Kelly Marie Tran), who is trying to save her world that has been relegated to dust by the destruction of a valuable magical gem that contains destructive spirits imprisoned there by the legendary dragons. When Raya finds the last dragon, Sihsu (voiced by Awkwafina), the two of them must travel across the land collecting the separated pieces of the gem to reassemble them and restore their world. Raya is thwarted along the way by her arch-nemesis Namaari (Gemma Chan) who wants to reunite the gem pieces to help her own city of Fang.

(Raya is preceded by the animated short Us Again, which is a nice wordless short about a cranky old man who reflects back on his younger days dancing with his wife. It’s okay, nothing particularly memorable.)

Raya and the Last Dragon, on the other hand, is pretty wonderful, a mix of action, adventure, magic and humor, directed by Don Hall (Big Hero Six) and Carlos Lopez Estrada (Blindspotting) in a way that blends those disparate elements in fun ways. I’ll freely admit that I was a little worried that Akwafina’s schtick was going to annoy me, but after a while her wise-cracking dragon grows on you. In fact there are actually so many other funny characters to add to the laughs that the more brought in the mix on Raya and Sihsu’s journey, the more enjoyable the film gets.

One of the reasons the film works as well as it does is that unlike last year’s Onward, it wasn’t just the two characters and what they had to offer but how their situation changes as it goes along and they visit different cities. I was pretty surprised by how well the film keeps you entertained and invested in the journey.

I also absolutely loved the score by Thomas Newton Howard, which may be even better than his score for News of the World, which I honestly think he’ll get another Oscar nomination for. This is a film that explores all sorts of emotions as well as its Southeast Asian myths, so I feel that I was always going to be a complete and total patsy for this movie since it combines a lot of things I like such as fantasy and Asian mythology. In that sense, Raya is also a nice companion to the recent Mulan, which made my Top 10 last year, but sadly never even got a nominal theatrical release.

So let’s talk about box office, something I haven’t done in almost a year. Last weekend, Warner Bros’ Tom and Jerry had a fairly spectacular opening of $13.7 million. Raya is the first new wide release Disney movie since Pixar’s Onward literally a year ago. That ended up opening to $39 million in 4,310 theaters but only grossed $61.5 million domestic after its legs were cut short by COVID one week later. Raya will likely open in about 2,500 theaters by comparison and that’s with limited capacity for safety, but it should fare decently against the second weekend of Tom & Jerry, and I could easily see it bringing in $15 million or even as much as $18 million, but again, we’re in the baby steps part of the reopening, and things are going to start slowly and keep building as the vaccine continues rolling out.

Being released theatrically by Lionsgate this Friday is CHAOS WALKING, the adaptation of Patrick Ness’ future-set young adult novel The Knife of Never Letting Go, which stars Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. Holland plays Todd Hewitt, a young man living in a world with no women where men’s thoughts can be perceived by everyone around them. One day, he discovers a mysterious girl named Viola (Ridley), when she crash lands on this planet but her very presence puts Viola’s life in danger, so Todd agrees to accompany her to find her own people.

Yeah, where do I even begin with the latest film from director Doug Liman that was probably filmed two or three years ago and was being delayed even before COVID came along? That’s already a bad sign, but when see how “The Noise,” the way that we hear all of characters’ thinking emerges, it immediately feels like it’s gonna be a problem. Sure enough, it’s such an awkward plot device to watch smoke billowing from the heads of the various characters as we hear their thoughts that it takes most of the movie to get used to it, and yet, it’s still so comically inept a concept that you can’t help but laugh when Holland continually rants, “My Name is Todd Hewitt,” over and over to keep Ridley’s Viola to hear his pubescent teen boy thoughts on experiencing his first girl.

The thing is that the scenes with just Holland and Ridley aren’t bad, but when you have a movie with actors like Mads Mikkelsen, David Oyelowo, Demian Bechir and Cynthia Erivo, it’s disappointing that they can’t elevate the movie above anything other than the most obvious sci-fi (and Western) pastiches. Mikkelsen is the town mayor who is so obviously another bad guy, that he doesn’t bother to put too much into his performance cause we’ve seen him do it so many times before.

Liman is more than a competent filmmaker but he clearly is unaware of how watching clouds pool around the heads of characters as we hear and see their thoughts become material, and even the introduction of the particularly silly-looking aliens – called, get this, the “Spackle” -- makes you forget that this is a sci-fi film from the director of Edge of Tomorrow (or whatever it ended up being called). It’s not even particularly surprising when we find out what really happened to the women in Todd’s community.

I have a feeling that the problems within Chaos Walking come straight from the Patrick Ness source material and the fact that he decided to adapt it himself may have made him tone-deaf to how hard it is to make the film’s central premise work without eliciting guffaws even from the most dedicated or devout fans.

This is also opening in IMAX theaters this weekend, and when it comes to New York, that might be the ideal way to see it (if you so choose) since it’s generally bigger theaters with a maximum of fifty people. Honestly, I don’t think Chaos Walking will make more than $5 million this weekend even in what should be over 2,000 theaters and with the presumed star power of Holland and Ripley from their franchise work. This could be seen as counter-programming from the animated movie, although any teens ready to go back to the movies might stick with Raya as well. Honestly, how this didn’t end up getting dumped to streaming compared to some of this weekend’s better movies is beyond me.

Offering a bit of indie counterprogramming for the two (relatively) big studio movies is Eddie Huang’s BOOGIE, the directorial debut of the Fresh Off the Boat producer, being released by Focus Features into who knows how many theaters? (1,000 or less, I’d Imagine.) It’s a coming-of-age movie starring Taylor Takahashi as Alfred “Boogie” Chin, a Queens high school basketball ace who dreams of one day playing in the NBA but whose temper gets him in trouble with the scouts for college where he’s hoping to get a scholarship.

I was kind of looking forward to this one, because I generally enjoy Fresh Off the Boat, and I’m interested in what stories Huang has to offer as a filmmaker. The film has its merits but it’s not necessarily Takahashi, who isn’t strong enough to really keep the viewer’s interest.

On the other hand, Huang was wise to cast the amazing Taylour Paige (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as Boogie’s love interest and even better than both is Pamelyn Chee as Boogie’s “Tiger Mom” mother who is sugary sweet when it comes to wooing possible recruiters but also is a complete nightmare to his ex-con father (Perry Yung).

Thinking back on the movie, I definitely didn’t hate it as there were character relations and dynamics I enjoyed, but not all of it clicked with me, and it’s hard to imagine this one connecting with audiences as well as some of the other movies out this week, unless you’re into college hoops, which I am not.

As far as box office, I’m not sure this will be in more than 1,250 theaters (if even that) and even if it plays in New York City (where it would normally find its biggest audience), I just don’t think there’s much awareness for the movie out there. In fact, I see it only playing in one movie theaters in NYC, and that’s way up in Harlem, presumably hoping to get the street ball fans, but I’m not so sure too many up there will be interested in an Asian-American story, so honestly, I don’t think this will make more than $500,000 or $600,000 tops.

Besides the reopening of movie theaters, the other big excitement this week is the launch of Paramount+, the relaunch, spin-off, rebranding of CBS All Access that I had also been considering checking out. It will launch on Thursday, March 4, with the animated family movie THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN, which was supposed to be released by Paramount Pictures last year and did get a bit of a theatrical release in Canada while theaters were open there last year. This one involves SpongeBob and his buddy Patrick trying to retrieve SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail Gary, who has gone missing.

I generally enjoyed the first to SpongeBob movies, even though I never watched the show, and the regular creators and voice actors always seem to step up their game in terms of the wackiness whenever they’re given a chance to bring the lunacy to the big screen. In this case, it comes in the form of some of the guests including Snoop Dog and Danny Trejo in an odd Western section complete with musical number or Keanu Reeves introduced in the same section as a tumbleweed named Sage. (Oddly, this also features Awkwafina providing the voice of a robot, and I kind of liked her in more of a subdued role like this.) Although SpongeBob and his friends are CG animated, the movie doesn’t try too hard to integrate the live action in as fluid a way as last week’s Tom and Jerry – live actors just kind of show up – but it’s still pretty darn entertaining to watch another movie in which everyone involved, including director Tim Hill (who shockingly directed last year’s awful The War with Grandpa!), just going about making the movie as crazy and wacky as possible, something that should appeal to kids and… THC-laced adults (preferably not those watching with kids) … to get an overall enjoyable experience. Maybe it’s no surprise that I was particularly tickled with SpongeBob and Patrick’s adventures in Las Vegas.

Along with that, the streamer will have a new animated series called KAMP KORAL: SPONGEBOB’S UNDER YEARS, which is a CG-animated series that focuses on SpongeBob and friends when they were younger, which actually is one of the funnier bits in the movie as well.

There’s a lot of great stuff coming to Paramount+ that should make it a real player in the streaming world, and that includes all of the Paramount movies that will be streaming on it, both those that are getting a theatrical release this year and the studio’s absolutely vast library over the past 100 or so years.

And that’s not all! This weekend also sees the release of the sequel thirty years in the making, COMING 2 AMERICA, which will launch on Amazon Prime Video on Friday (after being sold to the streamer by Paramount, oddly), so yeah, there’s plenty of options to keep people home this weekend even with theaters reopening.

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall are back as Prince (now King) Akeem of Zamunda and his trusty aide Semmi, and in fact, almost every character and actor from the movie has returned, as the duo return to America to find Akeem’s illegitimate son Lavelle (Jermayne Fowler) in queens, hoping to teach him the Zamundan way so he can take over as King after him. Unfortunately, Lavelle is joined in Zamunda with his family which includes mother Leslie Jones and uncle Tracy Jordan.

Unfortunately, reviews are embargoed until Thursday, so I’m not sure I’ll get to review this one, but I did like the movie, more than I thought because my rewatch of the original 1989 movie led me to believe there was a good reason I hadn’t watched it in over thirty years. The sequel offers a lot of originality and humor in the forms of Leslie Jones and Tracy Jordan, but that’s all I’ll say about it for now.

Incidentally, you can check out an interview I did with director Craig Brewer over at Below the Line AND I also talked to the film’s make-up team, and after you see the movie, you’ll understand why I’m holding it until after people have seen the movie.

Another movie that would probably have gotten a theatrical release but now will be seen on Hulu is the Joe Carnahan-directed BOSS LEVEL, reteaming him with long-time collaborator Frank Grillo as a man who cannot die, because he’s living in a single day that’s being repeated over and over as he takes on a series of assassins sent to kill him.

This as a really fun action-comedy that never lets down in terms of either half of that genre, and it’s kinda groovy to see Mel Gibson playing a fairly key role since he became the master of that action genre with the Lethal Weapon movies. But this really is Frank Grillo’s show as a leading man, and while I can understand some thinking him not having enough charisma for that sort of thing, I respectfully disagree.

We get into this high-concept premise pretty quickly as we watch his character, Roy Pulver, take on a string of assassins for his over 100th attempt to do so, and as per the title, it is a lot like a video game where Roy has to defeat all of the assassins on his way to the big boss, Gibson’s The Colonel. Apparently, Roy’s wife Gemma (Naomi Watts) has been killed by the Colonel or his thug (Will Sasso) so Roy is now on a quest for revenge. But first he has to survive the onslaught of killers, all of whom he’s given cute nicknames.

Easily my favorite of the killers is Selina Lo’s Guan Yin, a feisty swordswoman who proves to be the most formidable opponent for Roy. I won’t say how he bests her, but it does involve Michelle Yeoh, who has such a strange nothing appearance in one section of the movie, you wonder what she’s doing there. In fact, the movie does hit a slight lull after the initial concept is introduced, but it

Listen, I’ve long been a fan of Carnahan’s dark sense of humor and to some, it might seem mini-spirited, to me it harks back to one of my favorite movies he directed, Smokin’ Aces, a similar movie with a crazy ensemble cast, though maybe a slightly smaller budget. Still, Carnahan is a terrific action director, which makes this one of the stronger action movies in a while, and he finds a way to take a fairly simple premise and make it bigger in that Roy’s dilemma turns into something where he has to save the world, but also something more emotional and personal as he tries to bond with his son before said world ends. I guess in many ways, it’s hard to put into words what makes Boss Level so special, but I can only hope that Ryan Reynold’s Free Guy is as good as this after being delayed so many times, because this will be a tough act to follow for sure.

Over at the Metrograph, still closed physically unfortunately, they’re doing a series this week called “David Fincher/Kirk Baxter” which looks at the relationship between the director and his frequent editor, showing a series of movies over the course of the week: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network

The Metrograph has a lot of movies as part of its digital membership (just $5 a month) including Chloé Zhao’s very first film, Songs My Brother Taught Me, which was available to members through Wednesday night. (Sorry, I tweeted about it multiple times if you missed it.)

This week also launches the 26th annual “Rendezvous with French Cinema” up at Film at Lincoln Center, which was actually one of the LAST events to happen up there LAST year. This year, they’re keeping things safe by holding it virtually. It runs from March 4 through March 14, kicking off on Thursday with Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl, which will be released by Music Box Films in the Fall. There’s a lot of fairly recent French films with an all-access pass available to rent all 18 films for $165. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen anything, so can’t really recommend anything but I’ll probably be checking out the free talk “How Music Makes the Film” on Monday, March 8.

Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood) and Sigourney Weaver star in Philippe Falardeau’s MY SALINGER YEAR (IFC Films), based on Joanna Rakoff’s book. Set in New York of the ‘90s, Qualley plays Joanna, a grad school student who dreams of becoming a writer who gets hired as an assistant to literary agent Margaret (Weaver), whose biggest client is J.D. Salinger. Although Joanna’s role is more of a glorified secretary, she gets to go through Salinger’s fan mail from around the world, and she decides to start answering some of the letters to the author, an experience that helps her find her writers’ voice.

I wasn’t sure if this movie would be for me, but I find Qualley to be quite delightful, and this was a light film with a comedic tone from the Canadian filmmaker of the boxing movie, Chuck, and the Oscar-nominated Monsieur Lazhar. I enjoyed its look at the New York literary world of the 1990s, and it kept me quite invested even if I’m not particularly invested in Salinger’s work or an obsessive with The Catcher in the Rye as many are. Weaver is also fantastic as Joanna’s boss – think of a lighter version of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada – and also enjoyed the tentative relationship between Joanna and her writer boyfriend Don, played by Douglas Booth.

Basically, Falardeau has created another generally wonderful and crowd-pleasing movie that sadly missed its opportunity at a festival run to build an audience after debuting at the Berlinale almost exactly a year ago. Presumably, this will open at the reopened IFC Center this weekend. (In fact, IFC Center released its reopening schedule and it’s a pretty cool mix of IFC Films movies from the past as well as some of the Netflix movies that weren’t released in NYC previously.)

Okay, let’s get to some other releases from the week, beginning with Ivan Kavanagh’s SON (RLJEfilms/Shudder), the latest film from the Irish director of The Canal, a fantastic horror film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival about seven years back. In this one, Andi Matichak from Halloween plays a single mother whose son David (Luke David Blumm) suffers from all sorts of maladies but when she starts getting closer to a local detective (Emile Hirsch), he discovers that there’s a lot more to her past and to her son’s ailments.

Honestly, I do not want to say too much about the plot, because there are so many shocking surprises in the movie once you think you know where it’s going, although I will say that it has connections to films like The Lodge and shows like Servant, but it also does a good job fucking with the viewer’s head, so you never know what’s really happening and what might be in the characters’ heads.

I will say that the movie is very dark and quite disturbing with lots of gruesome gory sequences, but if you’re a fan of smart horror, you’ll want to check out Son. (I’ll have an interview with Kavanagh over at Below the Line next week.)

Sony Classics is finally releasing Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s doc THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS (Sony Classics), which has been playing on the virtual festival circuit all the way back to Sundance last year, so we’ll see how many people are left to see it. It’s set in the forests of Piedmont, Italy where a handful of 70-to-80-year-old men are on the hunt for the rare white Alba truffle, which has resisted all modern science to be cultivated.

For whatever reason, I procrastinated on watching this movie for most of last year, maybe because I’m not that big a fan of cinema verité docs, but this is infinitely entertaining between the various men featured – including a lot of real characters in there – and how the movie shows their close bond with their truffle-sniffing dogs. This is a genuinely enjoyable movie that I feel can appeal to a wide range of viewers, although be aware that is in Italian, so maybe one should consider that even with the cute dogs, this should probably be watched by teen or older rather than small kids. (I don’t remember anything particularly racy, but the movie is Rated PG-13.)

Staying in the dog realm, Magnolia Pictures is releasing Elizabeth Lo’s documentary STRAY on Friday, which documents the life of Zeytin, a stray dog living on the streets of Istanbul, and some of his dog frenemies. Actually, this was a pretty wonderful film that I quite enjoyed, although there were a few dog fight sequences that disturbed me a little bit. But it’s a great look at Turkey through the eyes of some of the canines on the street, how they interact with the humans around them. Essentially, Stray is the dog version of Kedi, but I’ve seen other similar docs like this including Los Reyes – this one is just as strong as either of those movies, the images of all the beautiful dogs accompanied by gorgeous string music by Ali Helnwein that helps you understand the dogs’ complex emotions. Seriously, if you like dogs, you can definitely do worse than the previous two movies mentioned. Stray is available via Virtual Cinema, including that of the Film Forum.

Filmmaker and EDM artist Quentin Dupieux (Rubber) is back with his latest, KEEP AN EYE OUT (Dekanalog), starring Belgian comedian Benoît Poelvoorde as police officer, Commissaire Buran, investigating a guy (Grégoire Ludig) who has discovered a dead body in a puddle of blood outside his apartment building. The prime suspect is then left alone with a one-eyed rookie, and if you’ve seen any of Dupieux’s other films, you’ll probably know to expect the unexpected as things get crazier and crazier. (I seem to remember seeing this last year at some festival, maybe FantasticFest, but I’ll have to watch again before remembering if this was one of Dupieux’s movies that I liked.) This will be available in select theaters and also in virtual cinema this Friday. (Oddly Dupieux’s last movie, Deerskin, debuted at last year’s “Rendezvous with French Cinema” right before theaters shut down for a year, and I don’t want to be superstitious, but yeah, I’m worried.)

Barnaby Thompson’s Ireland-set crime thriller PIXIE (Saban/Paramount) stars Olivia Cooke (Sound of Metal) and Alec Baldwin with Cooke playing Pixie Hardy, a young woman who wants to avenge her mother’s death by pulling off a heist that will allow her to leave her small town. The crime goes wrong, and she’s forced to team up with a group of misfits including Baldwin’s Father McGrath.

Bradley Parker’s action-thriller THE DEVIL BELOW (Vertical) deals with a team of researchers who are investigating a series of underground coal mines in Appalachian country that have been on fire for decades where they discover a mystery. It’s getting a combined theatrical, VOD and digital release Friday.

Phil Sheerin’s directorial debut THE WINTER LAKE stars Emma Mackey (Sex Education) as Holly, a young woman with a secret that’s uncovered by her unstable neighbor Tom (Anson Boon from Blackbird) and the two of them are pulled into a confrontation with her father, who wants to keep the family secret buried. This will be in select theaters on Friday, On Demand on Tuesday, March 9 and then on DVD March 23.

Dylan McCormick’s SOMETIME OTHER THAN NOW (Gravitas Ventures) stars Donal Logue and Kate Walsh, Logue playing Sam who is stranded in a small New England town after his motorcycle crashes into the ocean seeking refuge at a run-down motel run by Walsh’s Kate, a similarly run-down and lost soul. When Sam learns that his estranged daughter Audrey, who he hasn’t seen in 25 years, lives in the town, he starts to learn more about why he ended up there.

Jacob Johnston’s DREAMCATCHER (Samuel Goldwyn) stars Travis Burns as Dylan aka DJ Dreamcatcher who meets up with two estranged sisters at the underground music film festival, Cataclysm, where they become entrenched in 48 hours of violence and mayhem after a drug-fueled event. Sounds delightful.

Some of the other VOD stuff hitting the ‘net this week include: 400 Bullets (Shout! Studios), Sophie Jones(Oscilloscope), Dementer (Dark Star PIctures), Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know (Giant Pictures)

That’s it for this week. Next week, theaters hopefully will remain open, and we’ll have some new movies to write about.

#TheWeekendWarrior #Movies #Reviews #RayaAndTheLastDragon #ChaosWalking #SpongeBobMovie #BossLevel

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sapphicsylvari · 4 years

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The Rise of the Dread Fleet Pt. 5 - Rage

ON AO3

I’m participating in Camp NaNo this month!

@tyrias-library Also tagging my readers: @skrittilicious, @omnivoroustree thank you guys for supporting me <3

The room is quiet when Vaixx enters. Heads turn to face him as he strides to the opposite end of the space and takes his seat. He's assembled his new fleet in one of the high-end taverns Quincy owns, and reserved for him. The scent of alcohol and seawater hangs in the air and Vaixx lets his gaze sweep the room. Sylvari. Charr. Norn. Humans. All much bigger, stronger than him, yet he keeps his head held high, steps onto the bar and crosses his arms.

“I have promised you great success, greater than you could ever hope to achieve on your own.” he opens, his voice dominating the silent room. “Today, I make good on my words.” He pauses, to observe the glint in his audience's eyes, then smiles, baring his teeth at them.

“I have received word on an Inquest supply fleet's course, from Rata Sum to their outposts near Mount Maelstrom.” he continues. “We can expect heavy resistance from them, but you all know the kind of cargo they carry.”

“Slaves.” answers the Sylvari closest to him. “They carry test subjects. Do you imply we become traffickers?” “No.” Vaixx hurries to counter. “We will liberate any live cargo they may have. I'm talking about their machinery, and fuel for machinery at their outposts. Expensive, powerful items to barter away, or perhaps... utilize.” “I don't want no magic garbage.” the Norn next to the Sylvari says. “I want... I dunno. Guns.” “Oh, they will have guns, Captain Frostbite.” Vaixx assures her. “Magical guns, even. You'll get your fill, that I can promise.”

Raxxi rolls her eyes. “Look, mates. We can speculate the yield to death if you want to, but the point is: Inquest rich. Us poor. Let's get to the specifics.” “Thanks, Raxxi.” Vaixx says. “I want you all ready to sail by sunrise next morning. They will have three cargo ships, with two smaller escort vessels each. The cargo vessels do not have any weaponry, if we disable the escorts, they will be defenseless.” “And then it's just a matter of squishing a few, tiny little bugs.” growls Captain Frostbite. “Leave that to us, Admiral.” “Excellent. Get some rest and prepare your crews. Until we take out the escorts, this will no be easy.”

–

Raya has been circling the stolen ship ever since it embarked from Lion's Arch, scouting ahead and warning Asha of dangers on her way. In doing so, she had been moving quite far from her, utilizing all of her speed underwater. This isn't anything special for Raya, nor is it in need of thanks or praise. Although only two members of this crew know of her existence, they are her new swarm. And Swarmmates look out for one another.

A disturbance in the tides draws Raya's attention. She loops in on herself to check if Asha's ship had caught up with her, but her keel is far out of sight. Focusing, Raya pinpoints the source ahead of her and dives down, further into the depths to conceal herself as she approaches.

While the waters of the ocean may become black at a certain depth for land-dwelling creatures, Raya's eyes pierce this darkness effortlessly, allowing her to lurk like a predator on those that dare leave dry land and enter her domain.

Ships. Seven of them, and large ones at that. Raya has spent enough time preying on sailors to gauge the level of danger they pose to her. They're moving fast, riding the waves with the wind in their favor, clearly with a destination in mind and Raya listens for their voices, muffled by the water, carefully rising back up, following the slowest of them.

“...Little shit got a point, you know?” she heard a masculine voice speak. “They might be tiny, but they got all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. We really shouldn't take this lightly, Captain Frostbite.” Another voice joins in, feminine, but no less rough. “I hate to admit that Vaixx's right, but he is.” the woman says. “Fine. Double lookout shifts. I wanna know what they got before we reach 'em.”

Vaixx. Raya's fingers curl into claws. She remembers that name. He is the murderer, the villain that attempted to murder Asha. The scum that threw a helpless little girl into the unforgiving, ice-cold depths on the sea. The look of panic on the girl's face flashes before Raya's eyes, and the scars on her wrists burn with a familiar phantom pain, of coarse rope biting into her skin that isn't there anymore.

The burn in her lungs. The rage she felt when the waters swallowed her up, powerful enough to create the creature she is now. Raya knows, at her core, she is just that – a vengeful spirit. But now, it is no longer herself she is avenging, oh no. Her rage has a brand new target.

Her tail whips, propelling her upward further, until her face breaks the surface. She slams her claws into the side of the ship and lets it drag her along, her glare trained upward.

The female Captain has moved away, and Raya heard her issuing order from afar, only the man that had spoken to her before remains, glancing into the distance with a woeful expression on his face. He's large and hairy, his braided beard reaching down to his navel, over his exposed chest, winding markings adorning his body. Raya has seen his kind before. Bigger and stronger than humans, but that does not deter her.

She opens her mouth and produces that dreadful melody in her throat, a wordless hum, only audible to her target, caressing his very soul and drawing his attention to her. His gaze flickers from the horizon to the waters down below. Pupils widen when he sees Raya, this frail, delicate girl clinging to his ship, her skin as white as porcelain, making her look just as fragile. He lifts one hand from the railing, not once breaking eye contact with her, mouth hanging open, entranced by her spell, as Raya reaches upward, toward him.

He cannot reach her hand that she offers to him so invitingly, so he leans in further and further, struggling to close the distance, but Raya makes no efforts to meet him halfway, instead, her song reaches its crescendo, as the Norn inches closer, getting on his toes, forgetting balance, safety, logic. Everything he sees is that pleading hand, reaching for his.

Without halting her deadly song, Raya finally jolts upward to meet the Norn's hand, her claws digging into his palm, but the pain does not phase him, as his blood drips down on that pretty face, painting crimson on her porcelain skin. Then, Raya lets herself fall, pulling the man down into the depths with her.

Once submerged, her song stops, and the Norn comes to, eyes now wide in panic as he realizes the situation he's in, flails and kicks at her, pulling uselessly against her grip, but now he's in Raya's domain.

Raya moves her grip to his shoulders and pushes him further down, making sure the flaming hatred in her eyes in the last thing he sees, before she lunges at him and buries her teeth in his throat.

Blood spills from the wound and Raya's jaw locks on her prey, the pair is clouded in red, descending deeper into the darkness. As he drowns and bleeds out in Raya's arms, the Norn's desperate attempts to free himself die down, his life force flowing into the Siren's being.

As his last heartbeat sounds, Raya lets go and watches his body sink until even she can't see him anymore.

He will be lucky if his corpse washes ashore, as Raya knows that the Sea does not release those her depth has claimed.

A life taken, Raya's rage as simmered down to a small flame, just enough to keep her warm. She decides to follow the fleet.

#my post #gw2 fanfiction #pirate saga #My writing #the rise of the dread fleet

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grimmbrookhq · 4 years

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GRIMMBROOK SEASON 1 EPISODE 2 “CATACLYSM”

Grimmbrook tries to return to normal after receiving a disturbing video of Madison and learning that no one is able to leave town. What better way to find distractions than with the annual Spring Festival? Festivities come to an abrupt end with an earthquake and those trapped inside the mines see something they can’t explain.

ABIGAIL MYERS

After seeing a few apartments, Abigail finds a nice little loft that’ll be perfect for her to start over in. [x] Flashback of Caleb telling Abigail he has just gotten engaged. She’s not a huge fan of the idea. [x] Abigail goes back to Caleb’s to apologize to him about the things she said at the wake. He seems a little off, but generally supportive of her decision to get herself a place. [x] Guy, a former client of Abigail’s from her hooker days, approaches Abigail in the street. She is quick to tell him she doesn’t do that shit anymore, but he is actually trying to apologize for his behavior. She doesn’t get why. [x] Flashback of Abigail going to Danielle’s house after Caleb throws her out of the house. Danielle offers her a drink and somewhere to stay in for however long she needs it. [x] Abigail goes to the Rose Petal boutique during a fashion crisis: she wants a new wardrobe to fit her new life. There she buys a gorgeous pair of boots for Danielle and a cool leather jacket for herself. [x] A stranger breaks into Abigail’s home and attacks her. She fights hard but ultimately fails to get away from him. [x] Caleb picks up Abigail when she calls him for help after the break-in. She makes him promise he will kill the guy who hurt her, and he does. [x] Abigail is home during the earthquake and other than feeling the shake, doesn’t go through any major stress. A few days after her attack, Abigail goes to the Red Apple restaurant where she meets Rosie, a cute, cheerful waitress. She is pretty proud of herself for getting her number. [x]

AURORA MYERS

Aurora received a text message signed little red. [ x ] Caleb taught her a lesson after he found a gift from one of her clients hidden in her drawer. [ x ] He made her breakfast the next morning. [ x ] She met Ella at the coffee shop. [ x ] She received another gift and gave it to Abigail while the two talked and shared a drink. [ x ] She gave the necklace that got her in trouble to sirene when she caught her going through her jewelry box. [ x ] At the spring festival, Brandon tried to get her to talk about her marriage. [ x ] She was with her childhood friend robin when the earthquake hit. [ x ] Speaking of the past, her twin sister Quinn showed up at the candy house unexpectedly. [ x ]

ARCHIBALD CROCK

Archie has had some trouble lately connecting with his ‘boss’ Brandon, and is doing whatever he can to be involved with the Madison case (x). He enjoys meeting the people of Grimmbrook, but he still has trouble connecting to them, but it’s easier when they’re as nice as Winifred (x). He only got so far before being put on security detail for the Spring Festival, when tragedy struck. Chad (x) and Raya (x) helped him set up a triage center until the emergency services could arrive, wherein Jack (x) jumped into the fray to help out. While searching for people in need of help, he ran into Tyler (x) whom he helped out of a large group of fallen trees.

BRANDON WOLFE

Brandon sends Ella a gift to placate her wrath after he revealed he had a sexual relationship with Madison at her wake. [x] Feeling uncomfortable, Danielle joins Brandon at his table while he eats. He asks her out on a whim, then claims it was a joke to begin with, making the blonde leave the diner fuming. [x] Brandon’s lunch is interrupted by the one and only Winifred Snow, who sets up a meeting with him to talk about their unlawful private matters. [x] Brandon has a day off and it’s the spring festival. After running into Aurora, Brandon tries to get something out of the girl about her enigmatic husband. He ends up talking too much about himself, and not getting a lot to go off in return. [x] Brandon knows Lena will have a stall at the festival and stops by to check up on her. She decides to make him a flower crown and explain the relevance of pastel colors. He still doesn’t understand it. [x] Luke is keeping Brandon company as he looks around the many stalls at the flea market area. They find a game-changing item for the breakfast table. [x] Catching a glimpse of Isabel at the festival, Brandon decides to end their two weeks of radio silence and approaches the woman, but nothing has changed between them. She has made it very clear that she can’t forgive or forget that he tried to kiss her in a vulnerable moment, and he respects her decision. [x] Brandon didn’t plan on running into Danielle at the festival, but once he does, he decides to question her hostility towards him. After talking things out, he asks her out on a real date and she says yes. [x] Brandon is feeling better about himself when he runs into Harriet, who decides to confront him about the investigation into her niece’s gruesome murder yet again. Insults are thrown around yet again, and the redhead only leaves upon the revelation that he did have a sexual relationship with her niece. [x] The last person Brandon expects to meet in the drink station’s line is Ella, but there she is, ready to start another argument with him. They bring up jealousy issues and their failed marriage, but their first honest conversation in years is interrupted by an earthquake. After making sure Ella is safe, Brandon leaves to try and see if anyone needs help. [x]

CALEB MYERS

Ten years ago Caleb met a girl named Kate Lawson and their date ended badly. [x] Knowing that his sister is currently staying with Danielle, he visits her at work and has a nice chat with her instead of getting a lapdance. [x] Abigail comes to visit one morning and apologizes for her behavior and to pick up the last of her things. [x] After finding a necklace in Aurora’s room Caleb decides to punish her for her disobedience, [x] and buttered her up the next morning. [x] At his weekly dinner at The Red Apple, Winifred hits at Caleb’s allegiances. [x] In a flashback Caleb meets with Carrie who offered him a business deal. [x] While driving home from work he sees someone who catches his eye. A ghost from his past. [x] Fed up with this situation with Abigail Caleb decides to take matters into his own hands. [x] Abigail calls him after her attack and he picks her up, brings her home, and nurses her back to health. [x] Caleb asks Liam to seduce Aurora out of pure boredom but he doesn’t seem too happy with this particular job. [x]

CARRIE POPE

A simple stroll on the market turns into an unfortunate mess when she meets Winnifred (x). Just when she believes she has an upper hand, the young girl drags her on a stage to tell a crowd of pathetic children that her mansion is being turned into some form of charity case. Tough luck. Thankfully, her pet is around to curb her attention onto more enjoyable pass times in the form of Declan's head between her thighs (x). While not normally the sort to join the festivities amongst the town peasants, she decides that a change of scenery is in order. It all begins badly in the form of Hunter, whom leaves her with a well deserved black eye (x). Just as she’s about to leave, she stumbles upon a familiar blond-haired male who ends their meeting by saving her from nearby crates (x). The next morning, she decides to check in with Rosie and begrudgingly decides to host a night for them to get together (x). Lord, give her the patience. But not before she plots hunter’s death with her right-hand man, Kai. (x)

DANIELLE MASON

Danielle had a run-in with an old friend, bringing the past back into the present as Winifred offered her a job at The Red Apple. [ x ] Then she took on a baking adventure with Ella, where they both learned a valuable lesson that neither one of them was meant to be bakers. [ x ] It was the local festival where Danielle had several encounters over the course of the day from a conversation that turned into an invitation to dinner with the local Sheriff, [ x ] was on a tour where she inevitably took a swing and hit Joseph for his part in her going to jail [ x ], and ended up making plenty of cash through pickpocketing [ x ] and ambulance-chasing. [ x ]

ELLA GERTRUDE

After Ella Gertrude spent time with Ida getting paint swatches to make home feel more like home [x], she enlisted Dani’s help to bake for Ida for a change – however, she’d forgotten how terrible she was at baking and almost burned the house down [x]. Later in the week as she was out and about, Ella meets Isabel in the bookstore and spoke with her about favorite tales [x]. After an accidental drink swap at the cafe, Ella met Aurora Myers and spent time chatting with her [x]. At the spring festival, an attempt to do something nice for a stranger went awry when the next person in line was her ex-husband, although their conversation was cut short by an earthquake [x]. Ella also felt the impact of the earthquake later, while working with Madelaine to ensure an injured woman got necessary medical attention [x]. After the festival, determined to turn over a new leaf, Ella went to the Rose Petal for a wardrobe makeover – and who better to get advice from than Wendy Miu [x]?

GIO PANICUCCI

After being coerced into attending the Spring Festival, Gio and Luke got trapped underground. Sadly they were not the only beings there it seemed. [x]

HARRIET REDDING

A few days before the festival, Harriet stumbled upon Madison’s old friend, Danielle (x) in a cafe. The sudden appearance of the blonde brought back a lot of good memories which was the reason why she’d taken it upon herself to sit. After their chat, they decided that Danielle could potentially come help Harriet clean up Madison’s room. Despite not being in the mood for a festival, she ended up going anyways. The presence of Brandon Wolfe with a beer in his hand was a reminder of exactly why she shouldn’t have went (x). They shared a few words and Harriet left in an angry frenzy as always. Just when she contemplated leaving, she was lucky enough to stumble upon Archie (x) who was kind enough to buy her a funnel cake. A dessert she’s sure to never consume again. Their meeting was rather quick as he returned to work and she decided to make good on her decision to leave. Luckily enough for her, she avoided the earthquake and the traumatic events that followed. After a few days of not seeing Chad, or receiving any follow-up texts from him, she decided to make her way to his apartment with a pizza (x).

IDA LAWSON

In a flashback, Ida’s arrival in Grimmbrook is detailed. ( x ) Back in the present, Ida meets a mysterious stranger at work. ( x ) She and Ella also go shopping for paint to make the house feel more like a space Ella can call home. ( x ) At Grimmbrook’s annual Spring festival, Ida chooses to solo the beer tent - an especially poor choice when she’s the only one to serve Declan Vasquez. ( x ) A flasback recalls the fateful evening she and Declan crossed paths. ( discord ) Later at the festival, Ida serves a familiar face, and the two band together in the wake of the freak earthquake that hits the town of Grimmbrook. ( x )

ISABEL DUMAS

Isabel visits her father Maurice in the hospital following his scuffle with Casper du Pont. (x) At the shop, she finds herself determined to help a customer, not knowing who she is. (x) Later, getting lost in the comfort of the bookstore, she runs into the girl from the shop, and the two formally introduce themselves. (x) Isabel attends the annual Spring festival alone, where she runs into Brandon, and the two leave things on shaky ground (no pun intended, considering what’s to come). (x)

JOSEPH MADDOX

Joseph went to the Spring Festival to get some fresh air. He saw Winnie and she helped him find flowers to decorate the White Stallion (x). He ran into Luke and decided to apologize and try to make amends (x). Later, Carrie texted him. While he wanted to stay strong because she had been ignoring him, he caved in and promised to meet her later (x). Joseph went on a tour of the woods and saw Danielle. He tried to apologize to her too but it didn’t go as well as he hoped and she hit him (x).

LIAM PHOENIX

Another bit of dirty business on behalf of Caleb leads to even dirtier business on the horizon for Liam [ x ] Caleb also sends him on a ‘find and retrieve’ task for aurora [ x ] Meanwhile luke is still making himself comfortable as a somewhat intermittent houseguest [ x ] The festival is interrupted by a chance encounter with Carrie, though the earthquake put paid to much in the way of festivities and Liam offers to take her home [ x ] A slight but persistent injury acquired during the earthquake sees Liam visiting the local ER and his wound is patched up by Cordelia [ x ]

LUKE MASON

Luke stayed under the radar after his run-in with Casper, and subsequent tentative reconciliation with his siblings, but it wasn’t until the Spring Festival that things kicked off. He ran into Joseph, and hashed out his feelings with the man’s betrayal, coming to a tenuous truce for the time being (x). He had a somewhat awkward conversation with his sister (x) and his brother (x) but things seem to be heading in a positive direction. Afterward, he went on the mine tours and met a few different people, but the main event was with Gio, his reclusive friend who he’d only wanted a fun night out with. Instead they were in the mines when an earthquake hit, cutting them off from the rest of the tour group. That should’ve been it, but instead, there were things in the mine with them that chased them till they barely managed to escape (x).

MADELAINE SLOAN

Madelaine decided to break out of her comfort zone by going to the Spring Festival, her first pit stop being the place making her the most uncomfortable: the mines. She met Luke Mason there and they chatted about childhood weirdness and Madison Redding’s murder. ( x ) She then ran into Winifred Snow and a casual conversation ended with Madelaine handing over her business card, making a first attempt at securing her own alliances. ( x ) Later on, when a woman suddenly got sick and fainted, she and Danielle Mason decided to go to the hospital and return the woman her lost purse. She rewarded them with 100 dollars each. ( x ) Back at the festival after some shopping, the earthquake struck after she and Ella Gertrude tried to help another woman with an allergic reaction. Verging a panic attack, Madelaine fled. ( x )

PAUL TRUJILLO

Paul Trujillo’s time was spent at the spring festival. He struck up a conversation with Dani when he noticed her pickpocketing and tried to warn her to be more careful, but their conversation veered more towards yoga and pilates [x]. During his wanderings, he also spent time with Archie Crock [x] . During a mine tour, he got lost with Luke, who helped him out of the mine before an earthquake hit, a favor that Paul feels he needs to return [x]. And when getting drinks from Ida at the Midnight Pub’s booth, he led her to a safe spot to ride out the earthquake together – a pretty interesting conversation topic for their first time speaking [x].

ROBIN LOCKSLEY

Robin returned to Grimmbrook after some time spent traveling abroad and his first pit stop was at the Spring Fair, where he caused quite the ruckus. He walked up to his brother, Guy, and taunted him until he lost his temper and made a fool of himself. He then put his Gucci sunglasses on and went to enjoy the fair. ( x ) At the Cove, he ran into childhood friend Alex Falwell ( now Aurora Myers ) and an amicable chat was interrupted by the earthquake. He helped Aurora get home and then stayed behind to help the victims. ( x )

ROSIE FLANAGAN

Rosie and Danielle continue their accidental friends with benefits relationship. Will this be the last time? [x] Carrie invites Rosie over for some wine. Rosie is still completely oblivious to her ill intension. [x] Rosie and Winnie have a conversation at the stand which Rosie is working at. [x] Bored out of her mind, she calls Archibald over to offer him gelato and way too much of her company. [x] Rosie comes home from the festival and speaks with Marigold. During which the Earthquake event takes place. [x] Abigail and Rosie meet at the Red Apple, where Rosie awkwardly attempts to remember how to be a waitress. [x]

WINIFRED SNOW

Winifred fixes a mess at work and runs into Caleb ( x ), getting a read on his loyalties. This is a few days before she goes to the local farmers market and runs into her friend’s sister, Danielle ( x ) who she used to be childhood friends with. After running into Danielle, she has the misfortune of encountering her step-mother monster, Carrie ( x ) and over some verbal sparring, she ends up telling a large crowd that Carrie’s agreed to add space to Snow Manor to accommodate some local charities/kids groups. A few days later she seeks out Brandon ( x ) to plan to meet and discuss his ongoing investigation and her suspicions as to who is behind it. At the Spring Festival, she runs into Danielle ( x ) again and spontaneously offers her a job at the red apple. Then she encounters Madelaine ( x ) for the first time, despite knowing her father, and later, she runs into Joseph ( x ) and they have a light conversation despite usually only talking business.

#horror rp #lsrp #town rp #grimm.previously #grimm.extras

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sapphic-yearning-lesbian · 3 years

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So I remember reading an ask on someone’s tumblr. I don’t exactly remember from who or when. But they wanted an insight on Raya’s struggle with reading and writing. I wrote a one-shot inspired by that question. And of course it finishes with some fluff because I couldn't help myself.

Word Count: 1451

Weeks after Kumandra was reunited.

Raya was looking down at the piles of papers spread across a table. Her Ba was sitting across from her, quickly reading an article and signing it. Raya, on the other hand, was struggling. She was 12 when she stopped reading and writing.

It's not a survival skill to read and write; it's a luxury. And she was just coming to terms with it.

"Trade…ne-go-ti-a-tions," Raya sounded out to herself. T

Raya tackled reading by sounding out each difficult word before attempting to puzzle together what it could actually mean; by reading and comparing all the terms within a document, she usually finds out what a specific word means.

Complicated words, surrounded by descriptive words, can make them uncomplicated.

She smiled as she realized Fang was requesting more rice in exchange for more chiles and thyme.

A negotiation was finding a medium to a situation that benefits both parties.

However, if worse comes to worst and she really couldn't figure out the meaning of a word, she would ask her Ba, who was always happy to help.

Raya yawned as she signed the document. Placing it on a pile in front of her Ba so he could double-check her work.

Lucky after doing this for months, she has never messed up a trade. Or at least that her Ba has told her about.

Raya frowned as she grabbed another document, most mornings from 5 to 6. They sit in this office and do paperwork before breakfast.

And she hates it. She could be sleeping or eating, but she's stuck in a room needing to read and sign documents.

—

It's been a year now.

"AHHHH, I still hate this," Raya stated. Things are different now. She doesn't find reading and writing that hard anymore but annoying.

It's still a daily chore she must complete, but now she does it before bed, from 9 to 10.

Namaari was sitting on her bed reading a book. She wanted to be with her, talking, flirting, sparring, anything but reading and signing documents.

Raya looked down at the piles of paper; she now has more complex paperwork, including math. Mostly decimals and fractions. The documents are filled with numbers based on the outflow of goods and the inflow of goods.

So her chore requires more thought and patience.

She had just gotten comfortable reading propositions on trades. Now she needs to do math with her English.

She was so overwhelmed by her own thoughts and hatred for this chore she didn't realize Namaari was behind her. "That's weird…" she said, taking a paper from Raya's desk. She was standing beside Raya, her hands leaning on the desk as her eyes skimmed the paper.

Raya tried to read her eyes. She noticed Namaari looked generally confused until her eyes filled with an understanding, and a smirk covered her face before saying. "The negotiations look legit, but these," she chuckled as she lifted a paper with math on it. "We deal with numbers, but this is not that." She threw her head back as she exploded in laughter, "I think your Ba hired someone to create homework for you. I'm assuming it's him trying to secretly help you improve your educational skills."

Raya felt her cheeks redden. It now makes sense. Usually, on Fridays, she has a mandatory meeting with her Ba, where she explains what was easy and difficult about her chores. She had never put the pieces together.

Truthfully she wasn't mad at him. How could she be! Whatever he was doing was working. She was getting better and more confident in her skills. "Well then, at least I can stop stressing that if I mess up, all our trades will be off."

Namaari stopped laughing and turned her head to look at me. I confidently held my gaze on her, her chocolate eyes shimmering in the candlelight illuminating my desk. "Give yourself more credit! You've been doing good," She chuckled, nibbling on her bottom lip. "I always double-check any Fang trade negations with Heart...just in case."

They both burst out laughing as Raya's face turned a bright red. "I'm really trying, but I get so mad sometimes." She lifted up a paper with math problems on it. "This should be a second nature to me, and I struggle." She sighed deeply before breaking her eye contact with Namaari and looking at her wall. The clock said 10; at least she was done with that for today.

"Hey! It's normal to feel discouraged while doing things that push what we know. It doesn't make your process any less valid!" Namaari said in a stern voice to get her point across to the other. However, Raya seemed lost in her thoughts. She had her lips pressed together, and she was staring intensely at the pile of documents in front of her.

"It's easy for you to say that, Maari. You're great at everything." Raya responded in almost a whisper as she heard the other girl chuckle.

"I'm actually quite terrible at math. That was never a subject I excelled at. I did the minimum, if I'm honest." Namaari said as Raya chuckled and rolled her eyes. "The truth is, Raya, you can't be great at everything!" Namaari licked her lips as Raya turned to her locking their eyes together once again. "There will be things you struggle with while you excel in others. But no matter what, remember you are doing your best! That's what matters." Raya's coffee eyes shimmered with tears starting to pool in her eyes as a smile plastered onto her lips.

"You look so rough on the exterior but are so soft in your interior, Maari," Raya answered, smirking and raising her left eyebrow. Namaari's cheeks went red as she cupped her hand, brushing her hair behind her ear. This made Raya's heart almost combust within her chest. "Thank you; for listening to me rant and consoling me...It's hard for me to admit, but this has been difficult, learning by myself, only because I'm too proud to ask for help." Raya admitted as she read Namaari's eyes and found herself almost gasping for air when she realized the love hidden behind the other princess's following words.

"From now on, when we're together, we'll spend an hour together doing our paperwork so I can help you without you needing to ask me." Nammari excitedly answered. She hated paperwork as much as Raya did, but if paperwork included her, it couldn't be as bad. "If I notice you're struggling, I'll help you!" She unintentionally scrunched up her nose before finishing. "Plus, you won't need to thank me."

Raya watched Namaari with so much fondness and love. She couldn't believe that this fang warrior was excited to help HER; So she searched the girl's face for any sense of hesitation or an ounce of dishonesty, but all she found was affection and love. Namaari was looking at her just as her Ba used to look at her Ma.

Namaari waited for Raya to say anything about her proposition, but she didn't. Instead, she hummed and placed her right hand on Namaari's right cheek. Her coffee eyes filled with so much happiness and desire. Namaari could feel her heartbeat accelerate as Raya's eyes found their way to her lips.

"I won't say thank you then, but I'll do this," Raya managed to say before gently rubbing her own nose against Namaari's, trying to get consent from the other before she processed. Maari soon after brought her hands up to Raya's cheeks. Raya took this as her consent and pressed her lips against the others.

The kiss was gentle at first, their lips getting familiar with each other. That lasted for a few seconds before Namaari ran her tongue against Raya's bottom lip. Which Raya didn't hesitate to part as the other's tongue quickly explored her mouth. The once warm and gentle kiss was now heated and passionate.

Raya tasted like her peach chapstick, which made Namaari smile against her lips. She must admit that her freshly brushed teeth made the taste of their shared oral liquids taste quite odd, but nevertheless, she was kissing RAYA.

The princesses snuck a couple breathes between kisses but had to part for air. They both opened their eyes and rested their foreheads together.

Both their lips were swollen from all the kissing, but that was irrelevant. Raya finally got to kiss the girl she had been dreaming about kissing for years, and she kissed her back. "I could get used to that," Namaari stuttered as she was catching her breath.

Raya smiled before answering, "I already have," following up with a wink.

#namaari #raya #Disney Namaari #disney raya #raya x namaari #Namaari x Raya #raya namaari #namaari of fang #rayaari #ratld namaari #raya and the last dragon #ratld raya #ratld #ratld incorrect quotes #raya incorrect quotes

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