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raayllum · 10 months

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some of the questions & answers i was most interested / validated by from this interview between The Reel James and Aaron Ehasz

INTERVIEWER: He used dark magic again, there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it?

AARON: Yeah he did. He did what he had to do, and he saved her. Like I don’t know what would’ve happened if he hadn’t made that decision when he did.

INTERVIEWER: Another wonderful moment in S5, well actually several moments, something that I and so many of the fans are asking for, which was just having more Rayllum this season. And Aaron, you delivered, sir, because I can tell you - I was putting together a compilation video and they are like five, six, seven genuine Rayllum moments. Was that something intentional? Did you always kinda knew you were gonna do that in S5?

AARON: I thought people were gonna hate us. I-I’m glad people feel that way, cause we - we were very distinctly decided let’s focus on rebuilding their actual relationship as friends and as trusting people who care about each other and not build the romantic part. So I thought people were gonna be like “No kiss, what?!” and it turns out people actually respond to the genuine connection and reconnection that happened between Callum and Rayla this season, and that makes me really happy.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I think we all got a little bit of closure too, with that scene with Amaya and Rayla in the Great Bookery. They’re having that conversation and it sounded like Amaya was gonna tear her head off, and then she ends up saying she sees “a lot of me in you” and I think that’s such a mature moment. I was wondering if you could kinda talk through that cause that ended up being one of my favourite scenes of the entire series, because it was just so much more mature than I ever expected it to be.

AARON: Yeah, I mean, it’s something we knew we were gonna have to grapple with from more than one side [...] Amaya’s also this super protective aunt who saw what happened and saw how hurt her nephew was, so it’s just great material and also they’re both such strong characters, so seeing them kind of go at it a little bit, but also each show some vulnerability was just really delightful, and it was a great opportunity. Sometimes you find those scenes that are almost [...] but yes the time between Rayla and Amaya, it was just a joy finding the drama and the humour in their conversation.

INTERVIEWER: [Rayla and Callum] have their Han Solo - Princess Leia moment where Callum looks over to Rayla and says, “Rayla, I just want to tell you--” she says “I know.” And I’m like whoa! Hold on. So I’m guessing he wanted to tell Rayla that he loves her, or he forgives her?

AARON: Some combination, but I think he’s seeing in that moment - you know, you have those moments where you’re hurt by someone and they come back, and they wanna be welcomed back or treated warmly or something, and we all understand this, and instead of... Part of you wants to be warm and normal again, but you’re a little cold, cause you’re waiting for them to do whatever they need to do to process the wrongs that you perceive that they did to you. Like we have those moments in our relationships all the time and they’re hard not to do. Part of it is you’re standing up for yourself and all this stuff it gets complicated. And I think to some degree in that moment, Callum recognizes, like, he’s kept these walls up and maybe he’s hoping she’d do the work to get through them, and in this moment he’s regretting that the walls were up, maybe. And trying to tell her, you know, that - cause he, he thinks that’s it. Like they won’t have time to process, and maybe he... So, I dunno, I agree it’s a sad, beautiful, lovely moment.

INTERVIEWER: Do you see a world where they actually have that ‘sit down and have a conversation’ about “here’s how I felt, Rayla, when you left for two years” and “here’s how I felt when you came back” and “you gave me the cold shoulder” or do you think that was enough closure? They can move forward from now?

AARON: Um, what do you think, do they have more to talk about?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I think they do.

AARON: Yeah, I agree. They have a lot more.

AARON: [About the “I hope you know--” “I know”.] He’s regretting that he’s held the walls up to protect himself and not given her a chance to make things up to him more easily, and not express to her that he missed her, that he still...

INTERVIEWER: Was Callum using dark magic in a way to darken and make it easy to be controlled by Aaravos next time? Or was it just a convenient way for Callum to get free and safe his friends on Finnegrin’s boat?

AARON: Yeah I don’t think so. I think, Callum recognizes correctly that using dark magic somehow is creating some vulnerability in him that allows Aaravos kinda more access in a way to controlling him or be inside him in some horrible way. The fact he recognized the risk and vulnerability of using it- that it poses to himself but he took that on anyway because he felt like he had to to save Rayla.

AARON: The wait for S6 will be similar to the last gap [between S4 and S5], slightly less or slightly more. We’re concurrently working on S6 and S7 right now.

#rayllum #tdp #the dragon prince #aaron ehasz #cast and crew #interviews #youtube #5x04 #5x08 #arc 2 #s5 spoilers #tdp spoilers

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m4rs-ex3 · 10 months

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✨ rayllum ✨

whaddya want from me i have to talk about it rn. aaaaaaaaaaaaa🫶🫶🫶🫶 boundaries. trust. FINGERGUNS. they. them. my pronouns are they because i'll never be them. callum is done wasting time being mad and is now devoting all of his time remembering and/or discovering HOW MUCH HE LOVES THIS GIRL UGH 💕💞💖💗💞💕💖💝💝💘💖💓 he is the sweetest fucking thing rn oml he can see now that she will always be there for him and he wants her to know and im normal. aside from the core developments of their relationship omfg we were SERVED. the banter, the softness, the absolute bestie(+) behavior. let's review:

(e1) "practical? like what ; :)" that is the flirtiest fuckin face ive ever seen

"yes. you. uh.. rayla."

"i was lookin for you! uh.. callum." HIS FACEEEE HIS WIDDLE SMILE

"i can see that. let her go." ZERO hesitation. also mad foreshadowing

"she broke into the high mage's office." "no that's crazy. she can go in there any time she wants." UGH i expected a "no that's crazy she would never do that" but he's straight up like 'whats mine is urs bbg" 😭✋

"the elf stole it." oh.. ok his face doesn't look too happy there i wonder if "shes not 'the elf.' she's rayla." OH FUCK ME THEN

"and she was hiding a weapon" "so what? she always is?" IM SCREAMING I LOVE THEM SM

it doesn't even seem that for a second he was perturbed about rayla having the murder weapon, more so that he was looking straight at the murder weapon. she's always been in the clear 🫡

"if she didn't tell me... she has a good reason." THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS-- iiis getting its own post.

"it means i trust her. unconditionally." brb dying happy

his face when she unchained herself god he loves his non-law-abiding girlfriend

"you don't have to explain or justify anything to me. you can tell me when you're ready :)" what can i even say at this point

(e2) "well i'm glad you liked it :)" kill me now

"and now... here we are," there it is he still sees them as one unit, defying all odds and persevering all circumstances oh me oh my

stargazing obvi

(e3) RAYLA IN CALLUM'S DOODLE. HE DIDN'T HAVE TO ADD HER IN THERE YET THERE SHE IS LOOKING ADORABLE

"she can't stop us." "nobody can >:)" "so we're going to lux aurea right? ; :)" "too right we are >:)>:)>:)>:)"

their chaos <3

(e4) rayllum montage my beloved THAT MUSIC

if you guys have been weird please show me normal

"rayla, we've been through a lot, and a lot has changed, ah- um, well, some things have changed, but not.. everything. uh... i would do anything for you."

i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i would do anything for you i wo

this is not fucking real what the fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

they are The standard

i've seen a lot of ships in my day way too many perhaps but no one compares

he's so patient and respectful w her 😭 the way he just gently holds out his hands

she fully emphasized that freeing them wasn't her priority and yet just ZERO hesitation callum saw his girl in distress and dropped everything no second thought required

THE HAND HOLDDDD THAT WAS SO SOFT

HE WAS SO FRICKEN EXCITED TO HELP HER

about to die and only one priority mhm

THUMB RUB THUMB RUB THUMB RUB THUMB RUB THUMB RUB THUMB RUB THUMB RUB

"i waited too long" i am so absolutely insane feral indignant

"i hope you know-" "i know."

bury me

(e5) fist bump. thats it im done im gone oh m !!!!! FIST !!! BUMP !!!!! YOU ABSOLUTE DORKS YOU <3<3<3<3<3

i am weak and the water scene is literally my favorite

he IMMEDIATELY knows shes uncomfy

AND he waits for her

"i don't think i'm comfortable pushing- hey!" "see? i pushed you first! pushing is easy!"

12:06 ish that glance downward tho 👀

the hand snatch of the century. her face. his face. that squeeze. "together." that ttm parallel.

HE HELD HER HAND THE ENTIRE TIME 😭😭😭💗

"-the entire world would be in danger-" IM SORRY BUT HE LOOKED STRAIGHT. AT HER. THAT LOOK KILL ME

"an amulet. or, uh, is it a talisman? what's the difference?" HER SWEET LIL GIGGLE (might just be the last sweet moment i have to report on)

beginning o e7 they're standing together on deck what happened all last night i need to know

her catching him when he collapsed :') and holding him up the rest of the time

"LET HIM GO!"

so e8 🙂

🙂

female rage has nothing on callum.

5 seasons. so many characters. so many losses. we have never seen this much emotion from anyone. i can hardly joke right now but he really embodied "don't you just wanna go apeshit?" i consume so much fucking media and this is new even for me. callum has never even had a temper. through all of this--getting kidnapped, abused, mentally and physically, seeing what his friends are going through--he hasn't broke. and then, seeing his biggest fear, the thing he's been plagued with for years, the thing we've seen him throw away his life to prevent, comes true, and he loses it. the scream, grunt & inhale, the speed, the aggression, the fucking expression. it's not hard to see how what happened next happened, i'm surprised he didn't do worse.

“all that talk about how love makes you stronger, but the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself.” mitski miyawaki kindly carry me out

every threat or demand finnegrin has made and callum has done nothing but scour. he has been as strong as anyone can be. and all of a sudden here he is crying out for mercy, pleading, bargaining, the lowest we've ever seen him. it hurts, but finnegrin was right.

"just... just let her go."

"NO! NO"

his defeat. we know this is because of... literally everything he has ever stood for being demolished. but his personal moral catastrophe aside, don't you find it interesting how he did all of that to keep rayla safe, and yet he never once went to her? i made another post abt this but i'm saying it again: rayla told him not to. and she believed in him. she's safe, but i don't think he thought he really saved her. he doesn't think he deserves anything she's giving him. he refuses to indulge in her, he refuses to confide in her, he refuses to seek her out. but he just saved her life. but that's not enough. not enough to resolve this within himself, and apparently not enough for the girl who's life he has saved twice now, who has stuck by him for years, who has dedicated everything to him, to be able to be okay with it. and he just kind of... accepts it. he doesn't beg for forgiveness, that being said he doesn't tell her either. this may seem like he's protecting himself, that he really just doesn't want to lose her, that he doesn't want to face this at all, but maybe it's him not wanting to disappoint her. yknow i really hate to be one of those people who ignores how basically all of callum's character surrounds his own internal conflict in favor of rayllum fan service, but fuck it's hard no to sometimes. he wants to be her hero, but he isn't; not to himself, anyway. this would always be the case. and yet... he did it all anyway. if that isn't unconditional, i'm jumping off a bridge.

no matter who he's protecting he is still being so strong for her

"yeah. yeah, i'm okay. i am." no, that obviously wasn't the truth. but for a "horrible liar," he sure appeared at least a little bit better. at the end of the day, the end of the battle, rayla's okay. and that always seems to help.

face touch 🩷

that hug man. her deep sigh. his shame melting into unavoidable comfort. him letting go despite all his better judgement. also it was cute. homicidal. but cute.

THE OTHER WATER SCENE IM STARTING TO THINK I HAVE A TYPE

the "eyes on me" thing AUUUHGHHGHGHGHGH

"i-i'm getting out" 👏ZERO👏HES👏ITATION👏 AND THE THING THAT MADE HIM BREAK WAS THE FEAR/SADNESS IN HER VOICE. LIKE AT FIRST HE WAS JUS LIKE "U GOOD?" BUT THEN HE SAW HOW UPSET SHE WAS AND WAS ALL "FUCK THE FATE OF THE WORLD IM GIVING YOU A HUG"

the squad reunion post-claudia when rayla gives callum's arm an extra little squeeze 😭

the ending handhold 🫶 thereee'ssss my little married couple

welp i would say it's been fun but it's been more so absolutely excruciating so. it has been.

if i still had feelings i would be so happy <3

#tdp spoilers #s5 spoilers #tdp s5 spoilers #rayllum #tdp s5 #tdp season 5 #tdp #the dragon prince s5 #the dragon prince

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theredhairedmonkey · 2 years

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Oh my god, here comes the big one!!

youtube

The closest thing to a Rayllum clip we’ve gotten so far, and man do I have thoughts:

The whole moment is a callback to when Viren and Harrow spoke about the threat of the Moonshadow assassins. To the point they even had the whole “Harrow/Ezran walks to the end of the balcony to speak with Viren/Harrow” so they’re really laying in to the mage-to-king parallels here pretty thick, even if who is helping whom is reversed here.

The vines on the castle just look like smeared paint. Could have been animated a bit better. Just thought I’d point that out here lol.

“Why aren’t you celebrating?” I realize that this is mostly just to catch the audience up on why Callum is so down right now, but I would have thought that emotionally intuitive Ezran would have caught on by the first anniversary as to why he’s so hurt by this particular day.

When Ez asks Callum if everything is ok, his first response is “Yea,” before he admits that it’s not. A subtle moment, but while Callum isn’t as closed off emotionally as Rayla, it does show he isn’t as willing to be open about his feelings as he used to be.

Why a “pineapple” cake? Because Callum’s favorite treat is fresh summer fruit. Great attention to detail here, kudos to the writing team!!

Callum connects his birthday to Rayla leaving him, which even two years later, seems pretty reasonable. Even if he wants to move on, this was a pretty traumatic moment, so no wonder the wound is still there.

Side note, Rayla leaving Callum on his birthday was absolutely insane. Was leaving the day after his birthday so difficult? Viren was not going anywhere.

In many ways, Rayla leaving Callum does mirror Rayla’s parents leaving her in some ways (especially since young Rayla and Callum both thought that they’d be strongest together). But that moment led to Rayla developing some rather problematic traits (reluctance to showing vulnerability, perfectionism, over-dedication to one’s craft). Does Callum develop similar traits? My guess is absolutely yes.

Notice how he doesn’t ever answer Ez’s question as to whether he still loves Rayla? Undoubtedly he still does, but it just shows how much it hurts Callum to admit this out loud.

“I don’t even know if she’s alive.” Going back to Callum being unable to move on, and this is why--he is left with no closure. He has no way of determining whether he can hold out hope or not. That’s rough, buddy.

Ezran thinks Rayla is alive. Storytelling 101, this does mean she is alive. Like, that’s basically what this means. To anyone who thought Rayla was dead, while there was an astonishingly low chance of this being the case before, it’s pretty much zero now.

“She loves you too.” This kid is just dropping truth bombs left and right, isn’t he?

Side note, there were a few people who saw the teaser and thought Ez was taller than Callum now...at twelve. Seemed a bit silly to me, I don’t know, but I guess it’s good that this scene cleared that up?

Like, I think that Ez will be taller than Callum when they’re both adults, but there’s no way that he'd just jump a foot in height in two years. Best guess, he’s 5′3″ right now.

And Callum wraps this up with a manly tear. Sorry, I know this is a somber moment (and it is), but no sobbing? Not even a wince? Wow, Callum is one cold mfer now.

The moon is a waxing gibbous right now (meaning just one phase before full). I just think that’s neat.

And that’s it for now! Just (at most) two months to go. Home stretch, folks!

#rayla #callum #rayllum #ezran #tdp #the dragon prince

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zuppizup · 2 years

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fanfic writer emoji asks!!!

🤲🏻💖⛔️

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

How about something from my time travel AU?

“What happened?! I heard screaming.”

They both look to the door, finding Ezran staring in at them.

“Your brother is sick.” Sarai speaks softly to Ezran. “Come Callum, let’s get you to bed.” She puts her arm under his back and urges him up.

Callum barely feels up to it, but resting in bed would clearly be better than lying on the hard, stone floor. Ezran moves around to help them both, depositing Bait on the floor beside Callum. The little glow toad grumbles in protest, frowning obviously at Callum. Together his mother and Ezran guide him to the bed, Callum leaning on them heavily the entire time.

He reclines back against the pillows, exhausted. The mere act of moving from the floor to the bed feels like he has climbed the entire stair of the Storm Spire. He has no idea what is going on but he knows one person who will help him feel better. More grounded. Safe. He turns to Ezran. “Where’s Rayla?”

His little brother frowns, looking at Sarai then back to Callum. “Rayla?”

Callum inhales sharply, the dread of a few minutes returning. “Yes, Rayla. Where is she?! She was just here.” Wasn’t she? He stares wide-eyed at Ezran, willing his little brother to laugh and reveal the joke.

Ezran looks at their mother, appearing lost.

“Callum, who’s Rayla?” Sarai takes his hand, her face clearly concerned.

💖 What made you start writing?

Oof, like start start? I’ve been writing fanfic since I could write. I would write fanfics in my school notebooks as a kid. (Care Bears and Gen 1 MLP. I am old). Also, fun fax

I did stop writing for years before TPD wormed it’s way into my head and wouldn’t leave me alone though. I’m not really sure what it was about this story that helped me get back into writing. The characters are so wonderful and the world is very fun to play in. I watched the show from when it first streamed on Netflix but season 3 and Rayllum obviously got a big hold on me. Fic sustained me while we awaited news on season 4 and in that time I made so many wonderful friends and had such a blast in fandom.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

Hmm, well, I never fully scrap a fic. I did have a heap of The Stride written last year and then abandoned it. As of yesterday, it’s now finished! So I hold out hope, shall we say.

I’ve plenty of mothballed fics though.

Zombie fic

A bunch of random strangers to lovers modern AUs.

Arranged marriage fic

Soulmate fic

The arranged marriage and soulmate ones were like… subversions of those tropes and I probably have abandoned those because it felt like luring people into something and then pulling the rug out from under them. Which felt kinda mean. 😅

Fanfic Ask Game

#ask games #thanks for the ask!

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tenspontaneite · 3 years

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Pigment

Callum discovers the wonders of elven pigments.

(The first of two pieces written for @falling-for-you-a-rayllum-zine, which is now having leftover sales!) ('Future' chapter; takes place post-s3, naturally not canon to TTM. Oneshot. 4k. Ao3 link)

---

The first time Callum was introduced to the concept of elvish pigment was, ostensibly, by Rayla’s skin. He’d noted the marks under her eyes in the same hurried, panicked glance that picked out the horns, the ears, the alarming points of the weapons in her hands…

He wondered about them, of course, but in the first frantic two weeks of their acquaintance, there really wasn’t a lot of time to ask about it. Not until the Storm Spire, when he sat mulling over the flight-runes on Ibis’ wings, and how they might have come to be there.

“…So, I’ve been wondering,” he said to Rayla, apropos of nothing, while she was tending to her equipment. She looked up as he began to speak, the armour momentarily forgotten. “Those…markings you have, the ones on your face—and the ones a lot of other elves seem to have—what are they?”

She blinked, and for a moment, her fingers rose to her face, as though only just remembering the marks were there. “They’re pigment?” She offered, squinting at him a little. “…Is that a trick question, or…?”

“No, really, I have no idea what they are.” He assured her. “I was never sure if they were tattoos, or…weird elf birthmarks, or something. But—pigment? Does that mean it’s like…ink? How do you get them on?” Tattoos, as he understood them, involved needles. He hoped elven pigment didn’t involve needles.

For a moment, Rayla stared at him, looking decidedly nonplussed. “You…paint them on?” She offered, still thrown. “With a brush? And then they stay there for a while. Half a year, maybe. Depends on how good your pigment is.”

“Huh.” Callum mused. For a moment, he was tempted to press further, to ask about the intricacies of various pigments and the application thereof…but he’d been asking for a reason, after all, and his attention remained there.

If they were painted on...then that boded well. That meant that it was something that he could do, if only for the presence of the pigment and a brush.

It wasn’t much later that, after a guilty rummage through Ibis’ things, Callum stood at the pinnacle of the Storm Spire and painted flight-runes onto his skin. That was his first true introduction to the pigments of elves. As an artist, he couldn’t help but marvel at it. The pigment was white, yet it entirely obscured the darker colour of his skin with only a single, easy stroke. Only one layer, and it was solidly opaque. It glowed a little—then settled utterly dry, clean, and steadfast upon his arms.

For a moment, he spared a thought to wish that his paints could be like that. He’d dabbled in every form of art medium he could get his hands on over the years, and he’d never worked with any pigment like this one. It would be gorgeous to paint with.

But then he was too distracted trying to fly to think about art any longer, and that was the last mind he paid to pigment for a while.

After the battle of the Storm Spire, he prevailed upon the use of a finer, neater brush, and filled in the edges of his flight-runes until the shape of each was perfect and immaculate. Ibis watched him with a critical eye, and nodded.

“The spell will come easier if the runes are tidy.” He said, approvingly. “You’ll need to re-apply the pigment every three months. Any longer than that and it will begin to fade—which isn’t so great an issue when the marks are merely aesthetic, but with runes…”

“I can see how you wouldn’t want these fading, no.” Callum said ruefully, and accepted the little bottle of white pigment with a murmur of gratitude. He tucked it into his things for the next time he and Rayla went travelling, and she smiled at him.

“Packing your pigment for the journey, Callum?” She remarked, a little teasing. “Think we’ll be gone that long, do you?”

He laughed, and shrugged, glancing down at one of his arms. “I guess it’s just in case, really. I shouldn’t need to touch them up again for months, but…you never know. Wouldn’t want to end up flightless for some reason.”

“I suppose you are a tad obsessed with flying, now.” She agreed, as if she wasn’t always finding excuses for him to sweep her up into the sky for another flight. She reached out, absentminded, and trailed a fingertip around the curve of one rune with the trace of a smile on her lips. “Still, if it came down to it, you could always borrow mine.”

He glanced up at her, startled. “Your pigment?” He checked, eyes settling on the marks beneath her eyes. “I didn’t know you had any with you.”

“I don’t. Need to pick some up from Ethari, when we visit.” She said, succinctly, and he supposed that was another reason for their stopping at Silvergrove on the way to Katolis. How long had it been, since she last refreshed her pigment? Did she need to do it again soon, or was she just planning for the future?

He stared at her for a moment, contemplating her, feeling his heart flutter with a familiar warmth. If her markings had faded at all since he met her, it wasn’t immediately obvious to him. They looked as clear and lovely as ever; a natural part of her face. It was strange to think of what she might look like without them.

Rayla eyed him, when he’d stared a little too long and smiled a little too softly, and huffed at him. Her cheeks pinked a little, the colour darkening her markings. “What are you looking at?” She muttered to him, a touch self-conscious. Rather than look away, he smiled at her all the wider, and captured the hand she had on his arm to plant a kiss on its fingers.

“You.” He said, very contentedly, and watched with pleasure as her face coloured and her fingers twitched beneath his touch.

“Dumb prince.” She sighed, a smile spreading unbidden and affectionate across her lips. It was beautiful, so of course he kissed that too. He felt the widening of that smile against his mouth, and lingered there for as long as she’d let him before she prodded him away to finish packing.

She gave his arms a strange look, though, when he next bared them. Appraising, almost, with a narrow-eyed sort of consideration. “…What?” He asked, when she’d been staring long enough to warrant the question.

“Your runes are…neat.” She said, tone as considering as her eyes. “Tidy.” She shook her head then. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, with all the art you do. Of course you’d be good at painting skin-pigment.” He eyed her, because there was clearly more to this observation than just surprise that he’d managed some tidy brushwork, but all she said when he asked was “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t believe her, obviously. Not with the way she kept shooting half-considering looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. But he didn’t press her, and she didn’t mention whatever was on her mind. In time, he forgot about it.

Until they were back in the Silvergrove.

Rayla asked Ethari, and within the minute he was pressing a small dark bottle and a fine brush into her hands. “I did wonder if you needed any.” He said, as she turned the glass over and the indigo liquid swirled around within. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” She agreed, pocketing the vial and the brush both. “It’ll start fading soon. So…thanks.”

He nodded at her, all warmth and familial affection. “Not a problem. Did you want me to help with that while you’re here?”

She hesitated, then, and for a moment…for a moment, her eyes slid to Callum, who’d been watching them idly over the top of his sketchbook. “…I’m good.” She settled on, eventually, and if there was anything particularly knowing about Ethari’s smile then, Callum didn’t notice it.

He kept drawing, content in that she was content, and happy to be in her home under happier circumstances than the first.

But then, later: “I wanted to ask you something.” Rayla said, abruptly, when it was just the two of them in what was ostensibly her childhood room. It had been adapted over the years for a growing teenager, but still maintained hints of the past lingering within its walls. He spotted a child’s doodle of a shadowpaw etched into the grain of the dresser, and suppressed a smile.

He turned to her, eyes crinkling a little at the thought of a tiny rambunctious Rayla who scrawled over the walls and furniture. “Yeah?” He responded, a little distracted, as he wondered if there were perhaps any baby or childhood portraits in residence somewhere. He should ask Ethari. If there were any to be found, surely he’d know.

That distraction fled the instant she spoke. “Will you paint my pigment for me?” She asked, directly, and his eyes shot to her at once. At his expression, she added, “You don’t have to. But it needs doing soon, or it’ll start fading faster.” She paused, looking a little more tentative as she said, “If you don’t want to, Ethari can—”

“No,” he blurted, clumsy, then scrambled to say “I mean, yes, I mean—I mean I’d like that. To help. To, er. Paint your pigment on.” He felt his face heat, in part from how he’d stumbled over the words, and in part because…well. He might not know a lot about elven pigment and elven markings, but he was fairly sure that they were…personal. That painting someone’s markings for them was personal.

His reply settled her, and she huffed, lips twitching with familiar fondness. “…Good.” She said, in the end, and surprised him by leaving the room without further word. He blinked after her, uncertain whether he was supposed to follow, but then she returned a bare few moments later with a towel and a wet cloth that she was already wiping her face with.

“Er,” he offered, perplexed, as she dried her face off and set the towel and cloth both down. He didn’t understand until she plucked the bottle of pigment from her dresser and pressed it into his fingers. “Now?” His voice was something of a squeak, and she rolled her eyes.

“When else?” She asked, procuring a brush and giving him that too. “We’re setting off tomorrow. Now’s best.” She paused. “…That okay?”

Her voice had gone tentative again, and his chin jerked up, fingers tightening around brush and bottle as if worried she’d take them away. “No, yeah, it’s okay,” he assured her, and then laughed, a little nervously. “I just…wasn’t expecting it.” He cleared his throat, and took a closer look at the brush. It was like the one he’d filled his own runes in with, fine and delicate and short enough that it didn’t seem liable to flick off in weird directions. “…So I just…paint this onto your face?” He asked, after a moment, feeling his cheeks heat for reasons he couldn’t quite put to words. It felt special, in a way that was hard to describe.

“That is how it works.” Rayla answered, dryly, and then tugged him by the rune-adorned arm until they were both sitting on the floor, towel and cloth at close remove. He supposed those were there in case of spillages, though considering how quickly elvish pigment took hold, he wasn’t sure how much good a towel would do. He wondered if there was some sort of solvent, magical or otherwise, that was up to the task of dissolving pigment like this.

“What happens if I make a mistake when I’m putting your pigment on?” He wondered aloud, only half directing it at her. “Do you just have to walk around with it on your face for months?”

She snorted, and shook her head. “Nah. There’s pigment-remover for that.”

A little tension eased from his shoulders. “Oh, good,” he sighed, relieved. “That’s much less pressure, then.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Just paint my face, Callum.”

He chuckled at her, a little nervously, and uncapped the bottle. The liquid inside was so much darker than the pigment he used, and bizarrely true in its colour. Usually, inks tended to look much darker than their actual colour when they were in the bottle. It was only when you painted them onto a page that you could see how light and bright they were. This, though…it was just solid, liquid indigo, as if someone had distilled the concept of the colour of Rayla’s markings and spilled it into a bottle. “This would be amazing to paint with.” He murmured, somewhat distractedly, watching the pigment shimmer in the low light.

Rayla didn’t answer that, which was unusual enough that his eyes darted to hers, and found her looking strangely thoughtful. She shook her head, though, as if to dispel some thought, and started giving the pigment bottle and the brush some very meaningful looks. He laughed, softly, and obeyed the unspoken command; he dipped the brush in, drained off the excess, and then lifted it. It was dyed the same solid, true indigo—a colour that he was about to put onto her skin.

It hit him then, or at least started to; he looked between the brush and her face and felt his breath catch at—at something. It felt a little like panic, a little like wonder, a little like the breathless infatuation she always managed to inspire in him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do with it, and just…stared at her, heart beating wildly at—at the trust, and the honour, that he couldn’t help but feel she’d given him.

She was looking impatient by the time he finally moved, and likely would have spoken if not for how he shuffled closer, until their knees were touching. Her mouth closed, watching him, eyes settling on his own as he reached towards her. His fingers brushed the edge of her jaw, feather-light, as tentative as he always was when he remembered that someone as amazing as her had deigned to be with someone like him. His breath caught in his throat as he lifted his hand, thumb tracing tenderly along a cheek that warmed beneath his touch.

He cupped her face in his hand, then, unable to resist the impulse, and she leaned into it without even thinking. Her eyes fell half-lidded for a moment, the smallest smile twitching at the edges of her lips, and he wanted to kiss her. That wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing, but—but he wanted to, and she was smiling at him, and her eyes were soft and warm in the quiet and low light of the room—

So, he kissed her, and she huffed an amused breath against his lips, lifting a hand to trail affectionate fingers along the side of his neck. “This doesn’t feel like face-painting to me.” She murmured to him, fond and teasing at once, and he wouldn’t have been surprised for a moment if his heart stopped beating for the strength of how much he loved her. “Weren’t you supposed to be doing something?”

He laughed, a little breathless, and the warmth of it spilled between them. “Yeah.” He agreed, helplessly, drawing back with her fingers still warm on his neck and his hand still cupped to her cheek, and paused for a moment to treasure the sight of her looking at him like that. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was that she loved him. He didn’t think he’d ever believe it. “I’ll just…get on that.”

She withdrew her hand, and watched him. Waiting.

His fingers shifted on Rayla’s face, moving to press his thumb gently to the side of the marking under her left eye. Pulling at the skin, ever-so-slightly, to allow for painting it more evenly. Another urge struck him, but this time he suppressed it. He could kiss her cheek-markings later. For now, he was supposed to be painting them. And so…

With an almost reverent care, he lifted the tip of the brush to her face, hovering just above her skin with a heady mixture of breathless wonder and breathless trepidation. He exhaled, softly, and felt her eyes upon him. Watching, warm and fond and expectant.

Finally, with the utmost care, he touched the brush to her skin.

She flinched a little at the touch so close beneath her eye, but he’d expected that. He held the brush steady and traced a slow, perfect line down her cheek, along the edge of the extant marking, like a dark border to the fading colour. And it was fading; he could see that now. It wasn’t noticeable on its own, but with the contrast of the fresh pigment beside it, it was fully obvious that the old colour had begun waning.

With the brush to her skin, Callum’s hushed awe fell in step with the breadth of his skill and practice. He’d never put brush to someone else’s skin before, but that did nothing to diminish his skill. He knew brushwork, and he knew the delicacy needed for fine detail, and…and, in the end, this was easy. Just tracing around an existing marking, and filling it in. There could be nothing easier.

He drew the pigment across her skin in smooth, effortless lines. He traced the borders of her marking and then filled it in, up until when the brush began to run empty, and he had to go for the bottle again. The colour settled fast, immediate, and perfect upon her face, with that gorgeous fidelity he’d never seen in any other pigment or paint or ink in all his life. It was a pleasure to use it, and all the more that he was using it for this.

Callum fell half into an artist’s trance for the remaining minutes it took to finish. He filled the left marking in, stark and perfect, then shifted his fingers tenderly to her other cheek, and repeated the process. When he was done, there was nothing but perfect lines and perfect colour upon a face that he loved.

He smiled, small and satisfied, and set the brush aside. “Done.” He murmured, and leaned forward to press his forehead to hers, cradling her face in both hands. It felt strange, to risk touching her skin when he’d only just painted it. But that was the wonder of elvish pigment; it dried the moment it was applied, and permitted no possibility of smearing whatsoever. He stroked his thumbs beneath her eyes and felt more happy, more tender, more loving than he’d ever known. “Perfect.” He murmured, reverential, the words meant for more than the pigment.

Her eyes blinked across from his own, and he loved them. Loved her. She brought her arms up and drew him closer, one hand splayed on the back of his neck. “Maybe I’ll have you do me some new markings, someday.” She murmured to him, in the end, a small and secret smile at the edges of her lips. He stared at her, spellbound, for the three beats of his heart that lingered between her smile and her movement. She leaned in and closed the meagre distance between them, the kiss soft and sweet and all the more perfect for how dearly he adored her.

He imagined, for a second, drawing that ink-brush again along her skin. Imagined it between her fingers, along her arms, casting indigo whorls about her shoulders. He thought of new pigment, new markings, and the sheer delight of being the one who got to put them there. His heart fluttered. “I’d like that.” He said, against her lips, and she kissed him again.

“Good.” When she drew back, the markings were still stark and beautiful beneath her eyes, where he’d painted them. The sight of them left him a little breathless, even now, unable to shake the sense that he’d been afforded an enormous privilege, a gift of worth beyond measure.

Someday, he hoped, she’d afford him that gift again.

Callum saw the fruits of Rayla’s thoughtful consideration and furtive glances a while later, when July came around and he was startled from thinking about her birthday by the arrival of his own. She cornered him with palpable satisfaction, and gave him a parcel that she very clearly expected him to be delighted with.

She wasn’t wrong.

He unveiled an array of small bottles; thirty-six hues of true and perfect elvish pigment, distilled for the purpose of painting. He beheld them all with a nearly breathless joy, finding the little parcel of pigment-brushes, the bottle of solvent, the masking-fluid….

“You like it?” Rayla asked, with a broad and decidedly smug smile on her face. She clearly already knew the answer.

“I love it.” He pronounced, and set at once to trying them out.

The very first thing he painted was her. She watched him, and huffed as she saw the familiar lines of her own face taking form on the page, pleased and exasperated all at once. She never did seem to understand why he drew her so often, but that was okay. And, with these pigments…

The colours were spectacular, brighter and more intensely pigmented than anything he’d ever seen. He found himself utterly swept away in the delight of using them, and hours later, emerged from his artist’s trance to the completed work: Rayla in the early evening of the Silvergrove, her hair and eyes gleaming softly with the gentle illumination of the lights and moon-moths around her. It was one of the finest works he’d ever produced, and at the sight of it, he concluded the process of falling helplessly in love with Elvish pigment.

Rayla, for all her embarrassment at being painted, seemed to approve of it too. “You picked that up quickly.” She noted, handling the edges of the thick paper with the delicate care it deserved.

“These pigments are my new favourite thing.” He declared, arranging the bottles a little more tidily beside him. His eyes rested, a little consideringly, over another wide sheet of paper. He stared at it for a long while, growing quiet and solemn, and eventually reached out to take it.

He had his birthday traditions to observe, after all.

The second thing he painted with the elven pigments was his family portrait, atrophied and truncated by tragedy. There was no Sarai there, and hadn’t been for years. No Harrow, and that was a new pain. He felt the ghosts of their absence in the lines he didn’t draw, in the colours that never fell upon the page, in the voids of grief that they left in his life.

But there were new faces now, too.

With quiet, exquisite care, he drew himself. He drew Ezran, older now, wearing a mantle that had come for him too soon. He drew Bait in his brother’s arms. He drew Aunt Amaya. And, tenderly: he drew Azymondias and Rayla. The outlines took form, and as the hours passed, elvish pigment filled them in.

In the end, he had his family portrait again. Changed, and echoing with its empty spaces, but…

Quiet, from her place beside him, Rayla slipped her hand into his own.

“Come on,” She said, with the small but tender smile that he loved. “Zym has a present for you too. He’ll be disappointed if he can’t give it to you today.”

Callum exhaled, and let her fingers tighten around his, pulling him up to his feet beside her. His own smile slipped onto his lips. “Then we’d better go find him.” He said, casting a last glance at the portrait on the table. He didn’t resist it when she tugged on his fingers, pulling him away.

With a strange, quiet serenity, he followed her out into the light.

---

end.

This is word-for-word what was published in the Rayllum zine 'Falling For You'; I have made no changes. It’s the shorter and less impressive of my two pieces, but I hope you liked it anyway.

I’ll potentially be making some minor edits to the second piece before posting, given I intend to continue it - in fact, I’ve already got like three extra chapters of it written, though small ones. I’m considerably more excited about that one, so stay tuned!

#rayllum #rayllumzine #tdp fic #tdp callum #tdp rayla #seriously though the soulmate au piece is good times #looking forward to everyone being able to read it #had to do word count negotiations to get a piece that long into the zine lol #the mods kindly granted me a couple extra ks #and then I decided to reduce my word limit for this first piece by 1k so I could shift that to the more exciting piece too #it deserved every word I could give it #this one is nice don't get me wrong #i'm just not made for short decisive pieces #and the soulmate AU's ending is VERY MUCH open-ended #and inviting follow-up #which I then wrote and shared with my closest cohorts #awaiting the day it could be published #looking forward to seeing the comments on my baby

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blutopaz15 · 3 years

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You're so good at writing romance! Was catching up on some of your recent uploads, and they are a gift. How do you balance creating a believable feel and dynamic between the characters while also having a satisfying, indulgent and spicy encounter?

So I’ve been staring at this ask for like two three four days trying to figure out how to answer 😅

First of all, THANK YOU friend! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying my fics! Truly, they’re a pleasure to write and it always makes me so happy to hear that other people like reading about all my silly little headcanons and daydreams! <3

And now here’s the hard part that I don’t really know if I know how to answer, but I’ll try!

I’m going to focus on that first part of what you’re asking about (believability) because I think being able to keep them (somewhat/as much as possible) in character is (maybe?) the part that requires more conscious effort, for me at least.

(The “encounters” (both spicy and otherwise) are the part of my brain that won’t shut up—my imagination running wild. 😉)

I guess the main question I ask myself to help myself keep that balance while I’m writing is: how does this relate to canon?

I think there are two main things I use to make sure that how I’m writing DOES fit in/fall in line with canon (or at least the my interpretation of canon or the parts of canon that I’m focusing on).

allusions to specific moments/scenes

allusions to recurring patterns/themes

Overall, I rely way more on alluding to specific moments when writing lighter fare (flirting and spiciness and teasing), probably because those pieces tend to be less introspective and more based in whatever one-off situation my brain has decided to plonk rayllum into. (Also, let’s be honest: these are usually the fics/chapters where they’re either pining or horny—more in the moment “conflict” than anything, ha.)

For example, for this fic (rated T, rayllum awkward fluffy spice at the moon Nexus mid-TTM), canon gave us a nice little euphemism for all of Callum’s awkwardness (“weird”) about putting his arm around Rayla in the desert, which made sense to weave into his internal monologue when writing about him feeling awkward again about some new touchy-feely territory.

(specific lines/actions are also one of my FAVORITE sources of ficspiration, especially for missing moment fics!)

On the flip side, heavier stuff (hurt/comfort-y stuff, big feelings time, and what little angst I write) dips WAY more into introspective territory, which means that I’m thinking more about how I can allude to canon with their patterns of behavior.

I’ve been working on angsty adult rayllum reunion this month (current chapters rated T, will get up into M/E range…) and JEEZ it’s been tough, because there’s just so much to consider and factor into Rayla making the decisions she does.

Of course, specific allusions make their way into heavier stuff. In Clean Slate (rated T, multichap, post-S3), I have Rayla circling back to Callum’s “I’m here with you” from 3x05, like…constantly. Likewise, lighter stuff certainly DOES have recurring patterns of behavior from both of them: uh, HELLO to Callum being a giant DORK, for ONE example. (Can’t even narrow down fics to link bc that mess is PERVASIVE, bless him)

Another way I think about it: I can keep dialogue/actions in check (“yes, this is a thing they would do/say”) with specific allusions to canon and actions/plot in check (“yes, this is how they would react given this situation”) with broader allusions.

One more thing:

I do think that the fact that it’s *rayllum* that I’m writing makes my task easy as far as being able to write sweet but spicy fluff/smut. I just think they’re Like That—flirty & tease-y (which is fun for fluff but ESPECIALLY fun for spice ;D) and sweet & supportive (which makes my heart flutter for fluff and is NECESSARY for the spice I like).

ANYWAY, I don’t know if this was even remotely the answer you were looking for, but it was fun to think about my own writing and I’m flattered, truly, that you asked!! I can certainly explain anything that’s missing/unclear too! :)

#thanks for asking! :)#writing stuff #fanfic #I don’t know if this makes a lick of sense 🙈

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numptypylon · 2 years

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For the fanfic end of the year asks- #3 and #18? 😄

3, favorite line/section

Hmm, I really liked the section I wrote for chapter 2 of Reunion and Intersection, where Callum and Rayla are talking 'past' each other, neither hearing the other. It's difficult to quote a SHORT section here, because it's all in the build-up, but here's a bit from towards the end that I liked:

“You aren’t… him, are you?” she asked, and… she was right but… he couldn’t hear it, this time-

“Yes, Rayla!” he blubbered, a desperate, half-choked shout. “I am! You just can’t see me, but I’m here! I’m here and I love you, and I have words for you about what you seem to think of me and… a lot of other things, but… the first words… are that I love you!”

But she wasn’t hearing him, wasn’t reacting to his outburst, still looking sadly at that same spot behind him.

“Yeah, I know,” she sniffed. “You aren’t him. You’re just… a dream.” Her face twisted. “A beautiful dream. I’m sorry you’re here. I can’t seem to let go of you, even when I know you’re not real.”

“Rayla, snap out of it!” Callum yelled, but she wasn’t hearing it.

“Callum was always way too kind to me. That’s how I know you weren’t real, you know. You’re meaner. You’re… mean-dream-Callum.”

“Rayla… Rayla I’m here… And I’m not too kind to you. You’re not kind enough. You never were. You never…”

“I want the real Callum,” she sobbed. “You kinda suck, you know. You’re not allowed to call me pathetic, even when I think I am, Callum says so-”

“Hell to the no, he isn’t!” What kind of asshole was dream-Callum, even?

But he knew.

He was Rayla.

18, current number of wips

OOF, why you gotta come for me like that?! XD I actually did finish some long wips from 2019 in 2020, like Upside Downtime and Mess of Things, and finished most of the stories I started. But still... a lot.

Lemme see, posting ongoing: Down to Earth, Homeward Bound (2)

Posting ongoing, not regularly working on it, but planning to get back to finish it: Purity, Drawn Out (2)

Unposted, but partly written: Sarai refugee au, Home Free sequel, Soren and Callum oneshot, cottage cuddles christmas special, simultaneously drunk post-kiddos adult Rayllum 'Hangover' parody where they have to retrace their steps (5)

Idea/outline/smattering of dialogue stage: Nyx the worst Mary Poppins to Rayllum babies crack fic, Lujanne and Callum research Rayla's moon powers academia parody, 90s middle school rayllum + Ez watch The Land Before Time 2, babysitter au oneshot where 15-year-old Rayla is hired to babysit 14-year-old Callum by overprotective Harrow and she sasses him all night until it ends in very predictable way (4)

So 9, or 13 if you include idea stage stuff that may not actually happen

#ask #thanks for asking <3 #reunion and intersection

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zimtlein · 3 years

Text

20 questions: writer’s edition

Thank you for tagging me, @botherkupo!

How many works do you have on AO3?

63.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

722,714.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I have written for 30 fandoms in total, but most of my (older) fics aren’t published. My top 5 in terms of length are MLB, Pokémon, BtVS, Kimi ga shine, and TLoZ.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

1: home is where your wi-fi connects automatically (MLB)

2: spark (MLB)

3: two and two (MLB)

4: twists and turns (MLB)

5: soupçon (MLB)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to always respond to every comment I get, even if it’s just a small “thank you”! I appreciate comments, and by responding to my readers, I try to show them just a tiny bit of my appreciation. I really enjoy interacting with people this way.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Phew. I love angsty endings, and I think I tend to end many of my one-shots on a bittersweet note. That being said, solace (Kimi ga shine) and and it all becomes silence (MLB), imo, have the angstiest endings. debts (Pokémon genVIII) is very bittersweet, but somehow hopeful; sanctity (Kimi ga shine) also ends in a very bitter way. treat it like a dance (Pokémon genVIII) also has a very bitter ending ... Yeah.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Hm. Many of my MLB fics are rather happy, for example spark.

Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

I usually really, really don’t, but a friend of mine got me to write a MLB/Danganronpa crossover, and it was very fun! It’s called deadlier than despair and borrows Danganronpa elements.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. When the Kimi ga shine fandom was still growing, it attracted a lot of antis for a particular ship I wrote smut for. They weren’t happy with me, but I think I only received one or two comments which I deleted right away.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes! I enjoy writing smut. I mostly enjoy the emotional connection that can be expressed by physical means, and how that translates depending on the ship I write about and their circumstances. I also enjoy writing as realistically as possible - I used to feel so insecure as a very young adult because I read about all those impossible sex acts which I knew nothing about, and getting a bit of realism into my smut can be really fun for this reason alone.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know, no.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I’ve had a fic translated into German and one into Russian, but it has been some time. I also translated some of my own German fics into English, but nowadays, I almost exclusively write English fics.

Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes! With my MLB bestie Marlyn: tell me what you want

It was so much fun. And we might want to write a sequel. Hehe.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Oh my god. Smitten idiot / badass girl is always great.

The love square (MLB) is pretty much on top right now, along with some other ships from the fandom. I will die for Spuffy and Cangel (BtVS). Angel/Cordelia has such a special place in my heart. Clerith (FFVII) was one of the first ships I fell completely in love with, head over heels. Zelink and Zelda/Ganondorf (TLoZ) are also great. I adore the hell out of Rayllum (The Dragon Prince), and Keisara is just chef’s kiss (Kimi ga shine). Kataang (Avatar) was my whole childhood.

I have way too many ships. Yay!

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don’t upload stories before I’ve finished them, so every multi-chapter I uploaded, I already finished. That being said, my list of abandoned fics is embarrassingly large ... But now that I’m getting older, I’m getting better at concentrating on projects and finishing them.

What’s your writing strengths?

I think my strengths are awkwardness (I adore awkwardness!), dialogues, and getting into characters’ heads. I enjoy analyzing them from the standpoint of a writer and exploring their mindset and actions. Humans in general fascinate me, after all.

What’s your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes. Definitely. I’m almost scared of writing them, lol. And the English language in general - there are some phrases I tend to misuse, and sometimes it’s hard to find the right words for a certain situation since it’s not my mother language.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I usually don’t do it and don’t like it too much if it has little to do with the plot.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Pokémon! I was 8 when I was concinved I could write my own Pokémon story, because I wasn’t satisfied with what we got in the main games. Sadly, I don’t have that file anymore.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Hm. I would go with these shards we picked up on the way (MLB). It didn’t get too much attention, but a lot of my own emotions and experiences went into this and mixed with my exploration of Chloé’s character.

I’m tagging @lovelycrinkle and everyone else who wants to do this!

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earthblooded · 3 years

Text

Just a drink - Rayllum Modern AU

Rayllum - Modern AU

Rating: M

Warning: Suggestions to adult-themed content, but nothing explicit.

Synopsis: Rayla's roommate, Nyx, convinces her to take a break from work for a night out, leading to a fun night, but eventual regret.

This is a fic that's been in my head for way longer than any other fic I've written for TDP but I never really had the time or energy to write it. I still technically don't have the time to write it, but I sure did find the energy tonight.

It'll probably turn into a multi-chap fic at some point, but I'll hold off uploading to ao3 until I intend to do so

“C’mon Rayla, you work yourself to death.”

Rayla sighed, leaning away from her laptop. She wasn’t a workaholic as many people pegged her to be, she just liked to keep herself busy. Getting any work done was becoming more and more challenging with her roommate breathing down her neck. This was the fourth time she had asked her to go out drinking.

“I can’t Nyx, it’s a Sunday and I need to be up early for work tomorrow.” Rayla chewed on her lip, glancing at the time – 8 pm – she still had time to get some reports finished before an early night.

“Well, everyone says Sunday is the new Friday, so maybe you should just come out.”

She stopped typing to raise her eyebrow, casting a skeptical look at her friend. “Who says that?”

“People.” Nyx answered, before waving her hand dismissively, “and anyway, you need the time to chill out. You’ve clearly been stressed because you keep snapping at me about dumb stuff.”

Rayla considered this, wincing when she recalled several occasions on that same day she had been short with Nyx about housekeeping, turning off music, her poor habits... “Fine, I’ll come out, but you can’t pester me about this again for another month.”

“Deal.”

Rayla gave her a week to break that deal.

____________________________________________________

“I thought we we’re just going for drinks.” Rayla said, as they queued to get into a club.

“I think they do drinks here.” Nyx nodded, pointing to a poster for drink deals on the wall. “Look, 2 for 1 on shots.”

“You know what I mean – like beer in the local, not clubbing.” Rayla watched a group of young women staggered out, giggling. “Nyx, you know I hate this, please can we go somewhere else?”

“No was Jose. You’re going to let loose tonight and tomorrow you will thank me.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

_____________________________________________________

Heaviness was the only word she could use to describe how she felt waking up the next day, her ringtone blaring in her ear. She wasn’t hungover, she barely drank anything, but she was tired – having arrived home at ridiculous-o-clock.

Home... no not quite, she realised, as she opened her eyes. Her bedroom didn’t have stacks of canvases and paint pots on every available surface. She sat up suddenly as her eyes scanned the room, trying to identify anything familiar to give her a clue as to where she was. Her clothing was scattered about the floor, her purse and contents among them. Light cast in through floor-to-ceiling windows, adorned with vine plants wrapping around the curtain poles. Sheer white curtains hung from them.

She pulled the duvet around her shoulders, feeling exposed despite still wearing underwear. She had a fairly good inkling as to what happened but there was one thing missing...

“Oh, you’re awake!”

Ahh. This is what happened.

She was greeted by a man in the doorway of the room, his brown hair ruffled, pupils blown wide as he regarded her and his t-shirt neckline was askew revealing the pink mark she had left him on his collarbone. This along with the state of the room, painted a fairly clear image of what had happened, even to those not involved.

In his hands, he held a tray with a small French-press, a couple of mugs and a plate of some sort of pastry. He crossed the room, setting down the tray on the bedside table as he sat opposite her.

“Coffee?” He offered, pouring a mug.

“Hmm,” she smiled, accepting it. As their fingers brushed, her mind flashed to the night before – his breath in her ear, lips on her skin, hands and body tending to her needs – she shifted uncomfortably as she felt that same heat rise up in her again. “Is this how you treat all the girls you bring home?” She asked, her eyebrow raised.

“I’ve never really had a one-night stand, so no... but maybe I’ll start.”

“Oh, just the one night we’re having, is it?” Rayla said, feigning offence. She’d never felt so bold before, but with this guy, she felt comfortable.

“Not if I can help it.” he replied, his eyes landing on her lips as he leaned forward.

Rayla’s ringtone blared again and the man’s head dropped into the crook of her neck as he groaned. She laughed, consoling him by smoothing down his shaggy hair as she picked up her phone.

Nyx was calling... holy shit 6 missed calls.

Her eyes flicked to the clock in the corner of the screen – 8am.

“Shit!” Rayla sprang free from his embrace and his lips on her neck. She bundled her clothing in her arms and hurried to the door. “I’m sorry, I have to go - I need to go home and change before work.”

“Wait, what about your coffee?”

“Sorry... you drink mine. You’ll need it after the night we had.” Really not the time to flirt right now, Rayla she chastised herself, lingering by the door as she watched him rise to protest further.

“What about breakfast? My aunt always said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.” He raised an eyebrow, in an attempt to tempt her... and it almost worked.

“I don’t have time. I’m sorry – we'll do this another time and we’ll have breakfast, okay?” He sighed, but nodded in agreement. “Great, where’s your bathroom?”

Rayla came out a few moments later, having dressed and made herself semi-presentable for the commute back to the apartment. She found the man in the hallway, a brown bag in his hand held out to her.

“What’s this?”

“You should never miss breakfast.” He smiled, placing the bag into her waiting hand. “Here’s yours, to go.”

___________________________________________________

It was almost 10am and Rayla was sat in her office, staring at the reports she had yet to finish. The ones she should have finished last night if Nyx hadn’t have dragged her away.

Nyx. Rayla had just enough time to change and freshen up when she got back before heading to the office, but hadn’t caught up with Nyx yet.

The dial tone rang twice before she picked up.

“Oh, my gods, Rayla?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t have time to call you back and you weren’t home when I got in.”

“I went to work early. Are you okay?” She asked, but gave little time for Rayla to answer before she continued. “When you didn’t answer for the fourth time last night, I assumed you’d been kidnapped. Police said I had to wait 24 hours before reporting you missing.” She grumbled the last part and Rayla shook her head in amusement. Rayla felt lucky to have someone who cared so much for her, even if she was a bit ridiculous sometimes.

“Sorry for worrying you. I was with a...” she grimaced, knowing full well how Nyx would react “guy.”

Nyx squealed on the other end, but Rayla knew to hold the phone away from her ear and had prepared in time. “Tell me everything! Who is he?”

“Some guy from the club.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know”

“Okay... great.” She said sarcastically. “Well, I know you never ever put out on the first night, so what happened? Were you drunk?”

“No, Nyx, I had that one tequila shot you forced me to drink and that it.” Rayla heard a knock at the door, and glanced up to see Soren wave at her through the window. She raised a finger, indicating she just needed a minute. “Look, I promise I’ll tell you everything later. I need to get back to work.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Nyx said before hanging up.

Rayla sighed – telling Nyx was definitely a mistake she’d live to regret.

“Hey Soren, come in.”

“Happy Monday, boss.” Soren said, striding in, as chipper as he always was. He was her second-in-command in their team. His up-beat attitude meant that she delegated a lot of the more hands-on work to him, while she worked on the nitty-gritty in the background. “New guy is here; you want me to send him in?”

Recruitment wasn’t something that she usually delegated to Soren – she had little faith in his judgement based on his previous hires – however, she was called away to other meetings on the day of interviews and so the responsibility fell to Soren, begrudgingly.

Rayla picked up the neat stack of documents on her desk, ready for the new recruit to sign his life away. “Yes, please – Callum, is it?” She read from the contract at the top of the pile.

Soren nodded, beckoning the new starter in. From her peripheral, she saw Callum walk into the room and she raised her head to greet him.

“Callum, sorry I missed the...” she trailed off as familiar forest-green eyes met hers. He was a lot more put together than he was a mere two hours ago – his hair smoothed tidily, the shirt and jacket concealed any marks of passion. His expression stayed neutral but Rayla saw the recognition flash in his eyes as they swept over her.

She fought back a shudder as the heat rose in her again but before her mind ran wild with memories, she realised how wrong it all was. She was in trouble.

#rayllum #tdp #okay next priority is gtte #i promise!#it's gone midnight over here though so right now imma sleep #the dragon prince #my fic #tomorrow I will work on gtte some more #just needed to get this out there bc it was driving me crazy

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iwillhaveamoonbase · 3 years

Text

Flowers

My lone submission for the Rayllum Valentine’s event. Warning: this fic contains mentions of post-partum depression. Canon-verse, but does involve Rayla still being ghosted

-------------------

Rayla growled in frustration as she threw the letter in the fire. “Ray-” Callum murmured from the side, holding their week-old daughter. Aisling was the most beautiful thing Rayla had ever seen, with her father’s green eyes and brown hair with ten fingers and ten toes. The most elven thing about her was the little horn stubs on the top of her head.

“Don’t, Callum. Please.”

“We’ll make them understand.”

“How?! You freed Runaan, Lain, Tiadrin, and many others from those coins. We saved Zym and reunited him with Zubeia. We defeated Aaravos and it’s STILL NOT ENOUGH. They will never unghost me and let me go back home.” Rayla felt the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes and tried to hold them back, but they poured out. “And now I’m getting hormonal and just…UGH.”

She didn’t resist when she felt Callum come up behind her and wrap his arm around her waist. “I’m sorry, Ray. I don’t know why they are being so stubborn. You don’t deserve this, but no matter what, you have me and Aisling, and Ezran and Soren. You ARE home.”

“You don’t get it.”

Sighing, he moved away from her. “What don’t I get? Didn’t we agree that this is your home now? Didn’t we say that, no matter what, we are each other’s home?”

“And I stand by that. But you cannot possibly understand what I am going through. You still have your home. You haven’t been banished and you can come and go as you please. I need weeks of planning to not only go see my parents, but if I want to see my childhood homes, nobody can see me. My culture, my language, everything, is basically lost to me. You don’t get it.”

Callum was quiet for a while, perhaps minding their daughter. Rayla winced as she continued looking at the fire. Wrapping her arms around herself, she felt even more terrible. She didn’t feel like she had taken to being a parent nearly as well as Callum had. Maybe she wasn’t meant to be a parent. She loved Aisling with everything she had, had carried the halfling in her belly for nine and a half months and delivered the child for hours, but she was also crying more, angered quicker, and didn’t stop Callum from getting out of bed at night to tend to the baby. If anything, she hoped he would so she didn’t have to.

Callum finally came back to her and wrapped both his arms around her. “You’re right, Ray, I don’t get it. I cannot understand your pain and frustration. And now that we have a child, I’m sure your feelings have only grown stronger because you want to share all of those things with her. But I have to believe that we can make them welcome you back because I’ll hate them if I don’t. We’re trying to forge peace and hate doesn’t belong anywhere near that.”

“I haven’t even thought about how it would affect Aisling. Gods, I’m a terrible mother.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am. I gave her a Xadian name and she can’t spend time in Moonshadow territory? She’s cut off from half of herself and I’m sitting here thinking about how it affects me.” Rayla felt the panic rising in her chest. “Callum, what if she hates me? All I do is fuck up with her. I’m not bonding with her like I should. She already adores you more and I’m just there.”

“Look at me. Please.” Slowly turning, Rayla raised her eyes to meet his, shocked at the tears in them. “You aren’t fucking up. You’re having a hard time, but that’s not that weird. You heard Sabah and Amaya. Most new mothers feel like this, and if it lasts longer, we’ll get you help. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad mother or something is wrong with you. What did the mid-wife say?”

“That birth is traumatic for some and it takes longer to heal the mind than the body.”

“What else?”

“That, because I don’t have a support system from my home and my culture, I’m more at risk.”

“I’m so sorry that this is happening and I wish I could fix it for you. I would fly into Silvergrove now and make them take you back if I thought it would work. But you are not screwing up with Aisling. She’s not cut off from half of herself because she has you. If you want to only speak to her in High Elven, I will support that. If you want to teach her to read it, I will find books every time we go to Xadia and ask Janai for some. I’ll order ingredients from Xadia so she can have Xadian food. I promise, I will do what I can to give you both a connection to your home because, even though we are each other’s home, you do still need a connection your culture. Aisling does, too.” Wrapping her arms around him tight, Rayla’s shoulders shook as she silently sobbed in his arms. Callum kissed the top of her head and held her close, rocking her side to side as he so easily did their baby.

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Rayla rolled her eyes as she stared at the curtains Callum had pulled over part of their bedroom. He said there were changes coming to the garden and it was a surprise so she wasn’t allowed to look. It had been several months since the Council’s latest rejection of her return to Silvergrove and she was slowly starting accept that she would always be rejected. All four of her parents had visited Aisling and had adored their grandchild, promising to visit as often as possible and give her a connection to her culture. Lain and Tiadrin were even considering permanently moving to Katolis so they could be more active in Rayla’s life and make up for lost time.

Stroking Aisling’s cheek with the back of her fingers, Rayla held her bairn close. Sabah had been a big help in the journey into motherhood, visiting often and letting Rayla freely voice her concerns and fears. Months ago, Rayla had feared the judgmental eyes of others for not being close enough to her child, but she was slowly learning that it really was different for everyone. Tiadrin had shyly admitted she had had a hard time post-partum with Rayla as well; lying in bed for days on end and Runaan and Ethari and Lain having to check in on her. She still felt like a failure some days, but her child was healthy and growing with a flush on her cheeks. “I love you, even if you do wake me and your father up. We need to get you sleeping through the night, wee one.”

A knock of the door interrupted her gentle scolding, causing her to look up. “Princess Rayla?”

“Aye?”

“Prince Callum requests you and Princess Aisling join him in the garden.”

“We’ll be there.” Standing up, she held Aisling close and left her bed chambers. The trip to the gardens was a short one, but Callum had covered all the windows so Rayla couldn’t accidently get a peak at what he was doing. “We’re finally going to see what your father has been up to. I’ll bet you five whole jelly tarts he built a pond just to practice ocean magic.”

“I would take that bet.” She turned to the side to see Callum waiting for her. “Ready to see the surprise?”

“I’ve been ready.” She turned to the glass doors leading to the garden and waited for Callum to open them. He smiled at her and turned the handles. As the doors opened, Rayla was hit with the smell of moonlilies. She hadn’t smelled that scent outside of soap in years and her eyes watered in nostalgia and happiness. Callum had planted a whole field of them as well as having built a gazebo. “How did you do this?”

“Well,” running a hand through his hair, he gave her a sheepish smile, “it certainly wasn’t easy. The Council is being so stubborn with unghosting you, but I managed to convince them with a letter a day to let me have enough moonlilies to do this. I told them that it was the least they could do for the mage who had decoined several of their citizens. I know it’s not the same thing, but, at least, you can now have a piece of home right here in Katolis. Let me show you the gazebo.”

He led them over, hand on the small of her back, and Rayla marveled at all the flowers before her. Moonlilies only bloomed at night, but their scent was still unmistakable. The gazebo was wrought iron and featured multiple Moonshadow knots and symbols. There were cushions and benches for sitting on. “I could spend all day here.”

“I’m glad.”

“Thank you. This is the sweetest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“I love you, Ray. This is our home, and, I hope, I made it feel a bit more like home for you.”

“You did. I love you, too.”

The three of them spent all day in the gardens, having lunch and dinner in the gazebo and later joined by Ezran and Soren. Sabah, Marcos, and their child joined them as well, Sabah’s heavily pregnant belly leading the way. Rayla and Sabah chatted in their mixed High Elvens while Callum made his attempts and the little one in their group hung on every word. It still hurt Rayla that she couldn’t go home freely, but she did feel a bit more at home now. Maybe one day, she would get to show Aisling and any other children she and Callum had Silvergrove and other Moonshadow territories. Until then, the gardens would do quite nicely.

------------------------

This fic is something of an ode to my mother who had post-partum depression and had no real support system (family more than a 1000 miles away) besides my father and an ode to my grandmother who had her last child in a country and a culture that were not her own and who regrets not teaching her children more about her language and culture or about my grandfather's (English was the common language between them, so that's what they spoke in the house). I tried to convey their thoughts and feelings to the best of my abilities and to bring in the realties of raising a child in a multicultural, international relationship.

#rayllumvalentines #rayllum #rayllum fanfic #moonbase fanfics

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raayllum · 4 months

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I honestly can't imagine Rayla not dooming the world for Callum if the situation required it. She literally called going to dark places an "act of love."

I mean, there's a few things:

The opinions of anyone working on the show (cast, crew, etc.) are not gospel and not the default, nor do they need to be treated as the be all end all. You can disagree and that's more than gouda

People will give misleading answers and/or answers that are true in the moment (i.e. would S5 Rayla doom the world for him? Maybe not. Would S6 Rayla after some development? If the answer's yes, that's gotta stay under wraps) to avoid potential spoilers

I was actually honestly pretty surprised 1) someone asked such a direct question and 2) even more surprised that it got directly answered, since it feels like it could skirt into spoilery territory potentially for next season given the possession plot line. (I was personally gunning for a "what do you think Rayla and Claudia would think of Callum's S5 dark magic use, if they knew?")

I will admit Paula's response was, admittedly, what I've leaned to for Rayla as a whole in terms of that World vs Loved One binary. One of the things that makes Ezran and Rayla interesting to me was the uncertainty of "would they risk [insert thing here] for their immediate circle of loved ones" routinely being a "I don't know." Not that they necessarily 100% wouldn't, but just that I was genuinely 50-50 split on whether they would, or leaned towards No or Yes but could see the other way being plausible too. That uncertainty paired with the certainty I had that Callum would, and that contrast, has always been one of my favourite things about the Trio as a unit and Rayllum as a duo. It's one of the reasons that Heart vs Duty conflict for Rayla as a character has always been so compelling to me and why 4x07's introduction of the "You have to kill me" conflict was so (and is) exciting!!

But I digress.

I don't think that Rayla's letter is the best example of what I think you're trying to illustrate (I'll raise something I think that is perhaps more indicative in a moment) purely because the whole reason Rayla ultimately left was to protect the world. I've talked about this before in my "Priorities in Through the Moon" meta from ages ago, but Rayla does not go into the portal because she's primarily concerned about finding her parents. Callum researches the portal and helps recreate it and his whole side of things because he wants to help her with her parents, even being the one who brings them up when they resolve to go ahead. Rayla's concerned primarily with Viren, stating her reason for going into the portal even after finding out it requires facing water:

"Listen, Callum. Soren was worried about Viren too. Worried that we never found his body. We need to know what happened to Viren. He's a threat to the whole world! This might be the only way to be sure he's actually gone."

This is in line with how Rayla operates and references her parents in her letter to Callum, given her goodbye exchange for her parents:

Rayla: Surprised you even noticed, considering you've got more important things to do. Lain: Nothing is more important than our favourite child. Rayla: I'm your only child, and you're still leaving me behind for the Dragonguard. Tiadrin: We have to leave, Rayla. For you and for all the other Moonshadow children as well [...] This is our duty that we're doing for Xadia. For you. Someday, I hope you see that.

Just as trust and love are not necessarily synonyms to her, duty and love are not necessarily exclusives. Her parents left out of love for her and for the world, even if that meant prioritizing the world over her in the immediacy of their choice. Rayla leaves to go kill Viren out of a similar mutual desire to protect Callum, yes, but that's mostly there in the fact she left alone and didn't want him to stop her. Not necessarily that she went to hunt down Viren in and of itself, but that she went by herself ("I was trying to protect him. I knew I had to be strong alone"). Protecting the world - and a Viren-less world being one Callum would be safer in by proxy - was worth blowing up her relationships to her.

Going to dark places wasn't what she was doing just to protect Callum - that played a part, too, but her primary goal was to hunt down Viren (going to said dark place) alone and by leaving Callum behind, hence the "Stay safe, and stay in the light. Don't look for me, and don't follow me" - a sacrifice she was making on her own so that Callum wouldn't have to, but still for a collective cause that she deemed meaningful: "I have to make sure Viren never hurts anyone ever again." (Which is also why she goes after Viren again in 4x09, tbh)

That doesn't mean leaving in TTM wasn't also an errorful, self-destructive choice to leave (see like every other TTM meta I've written) but that the goals she could conceptualize was to protect the world, full stop. Anything else along the way (getting closure with her parents, protecting Callum) were extra stops and bonuses to help her have the courage to go through with it, maybe.

This is also in line with how we see Rayla treat other scenarios where it's a choice between individuals / individual relationships vs the potential to help or harm the greater good

Prioritizing the world / new mission of stopping the assassination mission > her relationship with Runaan ("This is a miracle, a chance for peace!") in 1x03

Being willing to and convincing Callum to let Ezran search for the egg under the ice in 1x06

"Then it's time to go. War's coming like the world's never seen, unless we get the wee dragon home to his mom" (2x01)

"Callum, I know you trust them, but by the time we know the truth, it'll be too late. Do you understand? We'll lose everything" (2x03)

"So please, allow him to pass into Xadia and help bring the Dragon Prince home. Because I don't think I can do it without him" (3x01)

Do I even need to specify 3x09? Or TTM?

"I hate it too, but we have to keep moving [...] We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. I'm leaving, and you better be right behind me" (4x05)

"If I threw the coins in the lava, would it release their spirits? Or would they just be trapped in some of eternal burning agony? Let's trade. You let him go, and I'll give you the coins." "I'm not making a deal with you!" (4x09)

"I love you, and I haven't forgotten about you. But I can't help you yet. Because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need. There's a great evil trying to return to Xadia, and we have to stop it, at any cost" (5x01)

"It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But I know our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused" (5x04)

This is, arguably, the strongest core trait she has in common with Viren, just for the record, especially in arc 1. He's very greater good centric as well, just with the push of his own ego and thirst for power + he only considers humanity's concerns, whereas Rayla has minimal pride and arguably not enough ego, and she wants to improve situations for everybody on a collective scale post-1x02 onwards.

The exceptions to this consistent behaviour is largely 2x07 and 3x08, which I've talked about more in my Dragon Quartet meta (from Dec 2019 good god??). These are arguably two of the times, in addition to TTM in some ways, where Rayla is operating the most out of her emotional core ("My allegiance is to my heart" —Tales of Xadia) and what feels 'right' on that level. For better or for worse.

"That dragon was defenceless, and I just left there." / "So I have to stay, and defend the Dragon Queen."

I say Rayla is at her most emotional largely because in each scenario she's abandoning the mission of keeping Zym safe (and thereby her own identified "world's best hope" for peace) in favour of protecting a different individual dragon. This seems to go completely against the "mission first" if indeed, like in 1x03, Rayla can abandon one mission she's devoted herself to in favour of another one just like that [snaps fingers]. If she cares about the world first, why prioritize these individuals, neither of whom she particularly knows or personally cares about? BH also spells this out for us, since it's likewise a mirror to her offering to go up into the tower with Callum to defend Harrow even though the egg should technically be her first priority:

But to Runaan and those like your parents, love is rooted in all families, all creatures. Souls like that feel called to protect everyone as fiercely as those they hold close.

In 2x07, Rayla is at her best, if least logical, whereas in 3x08 she is at worst (until arguably S4) and likewise her least logical ("I know you feel guilty, but you're not thinking straight"). In each scenario the boys stand a Much better chance of survival and of accomplishing their mission with her from just an objective point of view (they don't know Xadia's terrain at that point and circa 2x07, neither could really be combatants in a fight since Callum didn't have a weapon or primal magic). We could slap an easy "you're being a dumbass and dooming the world" label on it and be done with it. But not only does Rayla think the boys are fully capable of completing their mission without her ("I believe in you") but 'the world' as a stake never enters her mind.

Instead, Rayla looks at each as an individual last stand where the only neck on the chopping block is ('rightfully') hers. Whether she's right or not to do so regardless of how she frames it is debatable (I personally view it as understandable, admirable, but more than a little short sighted or guilt ridden considering The Stakes), but that very much seems to be the thought process.

She's not risking the world, in her mind. All she's risking is herself.

And that's perfectly acceptable to her as a trade off. It always has been. It's one of the perfect kind of microcosms of the cognitive dissonance she lives under, where why should she care about herself when there's bigger fish to fry ("Don't worry about my hand; the egg is all that matters now") ignoring the fact that 1) she can & arguably should let herself care about two things at once and 2) she's going to be much less effective as a team member / dual wielder if she's recovering from a messy at best recent amputation.

This path of "Rayla works to save Callum because she doesn't care about what happens to herself" is admittedly probably the option I leaned towards most when it comes to Rayla in S6, even if I do wonder how it might be streamlined time / arc wise cause it does elongate her arc further. Either way, this is the route that lets her not kill Callum, working free him instead while also being able to justify trying to free him to herself, because she's not conceptualizing the Big Picture. She's narrowing it down to him and her and deciding if one of them has to get hurt in order for him to be freed, it's gonna be her.

It's not the Character Development route as I call it, but it sure is consistent.

TLDR; While I still lean towards Rayla having an ultimately positive impact (i.e. breaking Callum free from potential brainwashing) in s6, it would not surprise me at all if from her perspective it is framed as a self-sacrificial move on her end > a big picture risk to the world, even if that's how Callum may see it.

More thoughts on Rayla + the possession plotline in S6 here, here, and here.

#thanks for asking #anonymous #tdp rayla #i need you to kill me #my heart for xadia #analysis series #analysis #christ this got long #it's like. rayla's act of love is also filtered through callum's request to murder him as well #whereas viren lost sight of his love for the individual or the collective #and callum prioritizes the collective until it's his two ppl on the line #none of them are perfect avenues (altho viren's is defs the worst) but c&r are all coming from Valid Places

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shiramoonshadow · 3 years

Text

I just finished writing the first vip panel with Rhona Rees, Paula Burrows, Jack De Sena and Omari Newton. My old post was erased (but I posted it again), I don't know what's wrong with my computer or this app, but if I try to minimize the page it erases everything I had written, so sorry for the double post. This is only the first part.

I've written the questions like the moderator asked them:

Rhona, who did you have a chance to work with in the booth and be next to and then we’ll go Omari and then Paula.

Rhona: I think most of the core cast were there when I got a chance to join in..Um..Paula, Racquel, Jesse, Omari you were in the booth for one of my episodes I believe. Jason, Sasha, yeah and first time I’d met Jack as well so, I mean, this was pre-pandemic, these days we’re all recording separately and it has made a real difference..Um.. recording cartoons is one the most joyful things you can do and I know that I don’t know how you guys have felt recording separately but it’s not the same, I miss the magic of being able to bounce off each other’s energy.

Omari: It’s sad. I would agree with you, like most of the main cast was there when I went in, you know? And I think we had a day where we overlapped but I’m trying to think now..Had this show been cast in this covid times? I don’t know if it would have had the same magic it does, if we did not all get to know each other and riff off each other... It is so much of the show, especially a show that relies on kind of humor and heart, relies on the connection with other people so yeah, I really miss it too.

Rhona: Yeah, and that connection, you know, between Paula and Jack’s characters, how do you build that when you’re not recording together and you’re not even hearing the delivery of the other people, like I think it’s great that you guys already have that established, so that if we move forward and things still aren’t ensemble, you’ve already established that connection and you know you can probably predict maybe how things are gonna go

Paula: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we’re being so lucky on this show like I don’t know, we usually record in a big U, so we’re all sort of shoulder to shoulder, I have Jack on one side and Jason on the other, so Callum and Viren, but across from me is Sasha and Omari are usually across from me as well, so you’re your scenes with people..Um..I don’t know, this is a new world going forward. I haven’t done any animation recording only solo records, throughout the pandemic I’ve only done commercial so I haven’t really experienced it yet, but in terms of recording The Dragon Prince, the only people I didn’t get to record with were the sunfire elves and Aaravos.

Are there other ships besides Rayllum..Um.. What is that ship with their aunt that’s deaf and…

Paula and Jack: Amaya?

Yeah! that's a ship, right?

Paula: they’re a thing

Jack: I think that’s certainly shippable if it’s not canonically a ship.

Omari: Someone sent a video of Corvus and Soren like they edited it and put it on youtube and I was like “Oh!”

Jack: I’m sure with Callum, I’m sure people, you know, there’s a Claudia thing as well but I always felt like-

Paula: Excuse me?

Jack (laughs): There was, but then they go on a date at the moon nexus.

Do they?

Jack: Yeah, kind of, and then she tells them his dad died so it’s not like a great date, it doesn’t go super well.

Paula: Was that a date or like a kidnapping?

Jack: I think Callum thought it was maybe a date

Rhona: I feel like a lot of my dates go “is this a date or a kidnapping?”

Omari: The fine line, right Rhona?

I think this is my favorite (Janaya’s picture), whether or not it felt like it and I loved Gren’s smile in the background.

Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paula: I have never looked so happy.

Right? So are there any others, like shipping Callum with different people seems really...It’s very clear that Rayla and Callum are a thing.

Jack: Yeah.

Rhona: I mean, when I was recording, me and Jesse were joking that Nyx and Soren would be a fun ship because they both kind of had this kind of slightly…(sorry, I couldn't hear what she said because someone talked at the same time and her audio wasn’t the best…) They never interact yet in the show but like let’s just throw it out into the universe and see what comes back.

Paula: I would like to see Bait fall in love.

Jack: Aww…

Rhona: With jelly tarts?

Jack: (laughs) Yeah, he has already.

Any other ships? No?

Jack: I mean, do people ship in sort of like a backstory way? Do people ship Harrow and Viren? Because I definitely have that mentioned.

Paula: right?

Jack: I think it’s a very textured friendship thing but I think there’s plenty to read the other way if you-

With Viren I could see but do you honestly think that-

Jack: I think that’s maybe more what I think...yeah I think it’s more.

Paula: There’s something that can be perceived as very saucy between the two of them.

Jack: There’s a vibe.

What is your favorite moment in the show? Rhona, and then Omari, and then Paula and then Jack.

Rhona: I think the moment when Rayla is meeting her... like ancestors by the pool, I don’t know how to describe..do you know that scene I’m talking about?

Jack: It’s the moon nexus, right? She’s like through the memories.

Rhona:Yeah, that was beautiful. I think that or when you guys have all those little fuzzy. What are those little fuzzy..?

Jack: Adoraburrs? Is that what they’re called?

Paula: They are adorable.

Rhona:Yes! I think those... That was like such a sweet moment and then, yeah, I really remember that. I really remember that moon nexus scene as being so emotional and beautiful and mature. (I think they may be talking about the Silvergrove scene?)

#the dragon prince #cast and crew #rayllum #Rhona Rees #paula burrows #jack de sena #omari newton #janaya #soren x nyx #virrow

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creampuffqueen · 3 years

Text

Just Like This | Chapter One

Summary: Rayla and Callum have been best friends since elementary school. Now, years later, Rayla is discovering new feelings for her best friend. The only problem: she's about 99% sure he doesn't think of her in the same way. Not willing to risk their friendship, Rayla continues to hide her feelings for Callum. How long until the truth comes out?

a/n: Hey everyone! Here it is, the greatly anticipated Rayllum high school au! Please please please reblog this, because Tumblr won't show this post in the main tags due to an affiliate link! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 3372

Warnings: Language

Read on Ao3

~~~~

Sunday, September 30th, 2020

Katolis Supermarket, 5:31 PM

“Who wrote this list?” Rayla complained loudly, stalking behind Callum at the grocery store, shaking the piece of paper in his face. Her fellow sophomore was pushing a cart around, eternally focused on the task ahead.

“Well, Claudia suggested it, but everyone else added on,” Callum replied, not even looking at her. Stopping in the middle of the isle, he grabbed a 12-pack of soda and loaded it in the cart. “What’s next?”

Looking over the extensive list again, Rayla frowned. “Uh, it says… ‘those little animal cookie things with sprinkles, you know the ones’.”

Callum finally turned to look at her, a wide grin on his face as they both said “Soren,” in unison.

“Jinx,” Rayla giggled, “You owe me a soda.”

“Okay… just take one from the pack when we get home?”

Both teenagers continued through the store, Rayla getting bored of walking and hanging off the front of the cart, laughing as Callum made a big deal of struggling to push them around.

She supposed they should be hurrying. Evening was approaching quickly, and soon all their friends would be over at Callum’s place to study. Callum had dragged her off to the grocery store to get snacks for their cram session, considering she lived only a street over and had a car.

“We’re all going to be sick by the end of the night,” Rayla sighed, loading more snacks into the cart.

“Well, at least we’ll be awake,” Callum, ever cheerful, turned his head around to grin at her.

At his smile, Rayla felt her heart give a small wayward flutter, though she squished it down quickly. Tonight was important; she needed to pass this test to keep her grade up, and it wouldn’t help if she spent the entire night mulling over how cute her best friend’s smile looked.

“Yeah,” She chuckled, trying to pull herself back to the present. Keep it together, Rayla.

They got their unhealthy amount of junk food, collectively winced at the price, bought it anyway, and set about loading it in the backseat of Rayla’s car.

In no time at all Rayla was driving, Callum reclining in the passenger seat. With the radio cranked up, neither felt the need to talk, content to sit in the comfortable silence.

It was hard to believe that they’d been friends for eight years now. Rayla could still remember the first time they met like it was yesterday.

She was eight years old, in second grade, having just moved to a new school after her parents left on a military tour and she went to live with her uncles. Her first day of school had gone off without a hitch.

That is, until she met Callum at recess.

Content to play by herself, Rayla had been making use of the free time by pretending to build a fort under the slide. While pretending to hammer in nails, she noticed a small group of kids nearby. Two boys and a girl.

While she couldn’t make out all the words, the body language she saw was more than enough. The bigger boy, a head of blond hair, was pointing at the smaller, brown-haired boy, and laughing. The girl, black hair tied in two pigtail braids, was looking between them, unsure of what to do.

Curious eight-year-old Rayla snuck up, for she’d always been good at sneaking, and listened in on the conversation.

“Soren, shut up, he’s going to cry!” The girl said.

“Oh, so little Callum’s a crybaby now?” The boy, Soren, taunted.

“I’m not a crybaby, Soren!” The other boy shouted, though he couldn’t hide the sniffle at the end of his sentence.

“Oooh, Callum’s crying! Who’s gonna help him, his dad? Oh wait-”

Soren didn’t get to finish his sentence.

Well, she thought as she sat in the principal’s office twenty minutes later, Runaan will be happy to know that I’m learning something in my karate class.

All four kids were in the office, sitting in chairs in front of the desk. Callum and the other girl, Claudia, were both still sniffling from residual tears. Soren, fresh from the nurse’s office, was holding an ice pack over a rapidly blackening eye.

The door opened, and in came the principal, shaking her head with a sigh.

“You three again?”

“We didn’t do anything!” Soren shouted, voice whistling through the new gap in his teeth. Oh yeah, she’d knocked a tooth out as well. “She started it!”

“Well you were being really mean to that other kid!” Rayla protested. She and Soren glared at each other from their respective chairs, accusatory fingers pointed straight out.

“I wasn’t being mean, I was just joking!” Soren explained, “Callum’s my friend!”

“Well Soren, what you said was really mean-” Claudia interjected, but the boy, who Rayla had learned was her brother, interrupted.

“Callum, you know I was joking, right?”

“Well…” Soren’s face fell as Callum dropped his gaze to his lap. “It did kind of hurt my feelings, Soren…”

“Wait, you’re friends?” Rayla exclaimed, glancing curiously between both boys. “I thought he was bullying you! And my parents and uncles always said you have to stand up to bullies and-”

“I’m not a bully!” Soren shouted. Voices began to rise between them again, and the principal was forced to interject.

“All of you, quiet down. I’m going to talk with you each individually, and we’ll see what happens then. Callum, come with me. The rest of you: play nice.”

In the end, Rayla got suspended for two days for fighting, and Soren got one day for bullying. Despite the massive lecture Runaan and Ethari subjected her to, Rayla couldn’t help but feel like she’d done the right thing in the end.

When she returned to school, she was surprised to find Callum approach her at recess, a little paper bag clutched shyly in his hands.

“Sorry my friends and I got you in trouble,” He said, passing the bag to her. Opening it, Rayla’s face split into a huge grin at the sight of two tart-things waiting for her, filled with jelly.

“Soren’s usually pretty nice,” Callum continued, “But he doesn’t know when to stop talking. If you hadn’t stepped in, he would have said something mean without thinking, I’m sure. So you kind of helped both of us, in a way.”

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome, I guess. And thanks for the tarts.”

She was about to turn away and enjoy her spoils, but then Callum kept talking.

“Do you want to come play with us? Me and Claudia are pretending to do magic, and Soren’s a knight. You can do magic with us, if you want.”

Well, this game was certainly right up her alley. “I’ll play,” Rayla conceded, “But only if I get to be an elf.”

Callum grinned broadly, pointing to where the two siblings were playing. “Of course.”

~~~~

“The snacks are here!” Rayla called into the house, arms laden with shopping bags. Callum shut the door behind them, similarly burdened with the case of soda.

The pounding of feet sounded overhead, and several heads poked over the stairwell to glimpse the pair in the kitchen. “Finally!” Soren cheered, racing downstairs to try and rifle through the bags Rayla was carrying.

“Not yet, you lump,” Rayla scolded, pushing past the senior boy, “We’ve got to get upstairs at least.”

“Thanks for going to get snacks,” Claudia called, and her thanks was echoed by the other kids there. Callum and Rayla both shrugged, and made their way upstairs to the game room, where they’d all be studying.

Sitting on the various bean bag chairs and couches, the rest of the study group cheered when the food and drinks arrived. Andromeda, Callisto, Ram, Skor, and Marcos all leapt up to snatch the snacks they wanted. When everyone was sitting again, food in hand, Callum gave a dramatic clearing of his throat, turning all the heads in the room towards him.

“So, uh, thanks for coming over. Hopefully we can all actually get some studying done, since, you know, that’s what we’re here for.” He fixed a firm glance on the two couples in the room. “Ground rules: no making out in my house, don’t be super messy, and also please actually study. Soren, no idea what you’re doing here since you’ve already taken this history class, but okay.”

The older boy shrugged, taking a big gulp of his soda. “Moral support. A welcome distraction.”

Callum clapped his hands together once. “Okay then. I actually made a schedule for this, and if we follow it, we can cover all of the sections by… midnight, I think. 11 pm if we work really fast.”

“You made a schedule for studying?” Callisto asked in disbelief. Andromeda laughed, throwing an arm over her partner’s shoulder.

“Yes, I made a schedule for studying, I think it’s going to be very helpful!” Callum defended, crossing his arms over his chest. Even talking with the other two people, his green eyes somehow still managed to find Rayla’s.

She met his gaze, just for a second, heart pounding, before she looked away again. “Well, guys, if Callum wants to make a study schedule, good for him. Let’s just get started; I really need to pass this test.”

“Since when have you been worried about grades, Rayla?” Skor snorted, reclining in a beanbag chair, dumping spicy chips into his mouth.

“Since I’m in four extracurriculars and if I don’t pass, I don’t play.”

“Try-hard,” Soren coughed from his seat. Rayla just flashed him her middle finger, eliciting wild laughter from the rest of the room.

“Guys,” Callum whined, “I’m trying to be productive-”

“Okay, let’s start,” Claudia said, placing a gentle hand on Callum’s arm. It took everything Rayla had not to glare at the other girl, biting back the unwarranted flash of jealousy.

That’s all in the past. We figured it out.

Usually, she could forget just how close Callum was with Soren and Claudia. But then, something like this would happen, and she’d be reminded that before he met her, it was the siblings who were his best friends.

Having known them his whole life, it was no surprise that he’d developed a massive crush on Claudia in middle school. And he never shut up about it.

His confession at the end of seventh grade had very nearly torn their friend group to shreds. He wanted to ask her to the end of year dance, and when Claudia accepted he was ecstatic. Rayla had been happy for him, and just hoped that when they started dating, they wouldn’t be weird about it and make her and Soren uncomfortable.

But as it turned out, Claudia only thought of Callum as a friend. When she told him, Callum was crushed.

Rayla could still remember opening up her front door to see her best friend standing there, tears streaking down his face.

“Rayla, I just- I can’t believe how stupid I am-”

She pulled him into a fierce hug, and didn’t relinquish her grip on him until his mother came to pick him up. At school the next day, nobody could stop her wrath as she stalked up to Claudia and demanded answers.

“How could you?! You know how Callum feels about you, and you led him on anyway!” Rayla shouted.

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings!” Claudia insisted, “And I do know how he feels and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea-”

“No, I know what flirting looks like, and you led him on! He believed that you felt the same way!”

Claudia looked on the verge of tears, and some sick part of Rayla was glad for it. Let her feel bad for her actions, let her feel the same way Callum was feeling.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I just… I don’t see Callum in that way.”

“Then why’d you keep flirting with him?” Rayla’s voice was dangerously low. Their shouting match had attracted a small audience in the school cafeteria.

“I…” She was at a loss for words.

“You know what?” Rayla snapped, “Save it for someone who cares. Explain yourself to Callum, not me. It’s him who needs the apology.”

The next few weeks were tense. Hardly any of them spoke to each other. Even though Soren was in high school and had nothing to do with the drama, he still sided with his sister, like Rayla knew he would.

Things worked out. Slowly, but surely, they worked out. But not without a lot of tears from everyone involved, a lot of yelling, a lot of accusations. Things worked out.

But even after Claudia and Callum were on speaking terms again, he decided to ditch the dance. Rayla, who never was going in the first place, was more than happy to offer up her couch for a night of movie watching and junk food eating. And sure, Claudia’s Instagram photos were cute, but for Rayla, nothing could beat the fun she was having with her best friend, right here.

Rayla was pretty sure that was when she’d started to fall in love with him. Or, more accurately, when she realized that she already had fallen in love with him.

However, confessing your love to your best friend after a recent heartbreak seemed like a bad idea. So she kept it to herself.

Which, she supposed, was how she found herself here, three years later, still madly in love with her best friend who was none the wiser, getting jealous over a relationship she both knew was purely innocent and also she had no claim over anyway.

Cool, Rayla, very cool.

Shoving down her stupid feelings, Rayla listened as Callum went over his plan for the evening. Review through chapter 2, take a 15 minute break, review through chapter 4, continue pattern until they got through all the chapters they needed.

The plan was met with a loud groan of complaint from Soren’s end. “Callum, why are you even doing this? You literally have a photographic memory.”

“Well, you guys don’t, so really I’m helping all of you!”

“I mean…” Rayla snorted, “Soren does have a point. Why are you so worried about studying, Callum?”

The teenage boy scratched at his neck awkwardly. “Well, uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, but… I’ve only skimmed for answers this entire time. I need to actually read the passages to remember it.”

Rayla just rolled her eyes. “Callum. Everyone on earth just skims for answers. We know you’re all goody two-shoes, teacher’s pet, but chill. You’re going to be fine.”

“How are you so chill, Rayla?” Callum demanded, “Weren’t you just freaking out, like, two seconds ago? Hello, Miss I’m-in-every-sport-imaginable?”

“Changing the subject!” Rayla declared loudly, “Open up the textbook, Callum!”

~~~~

“Time check,” Ram moaned from where his face was pressed into one of the beanbag chairs, “How much longer?”

“We’re at-” Callum attempted to respond, but was cut off by a yawn.

“Chapter six?” Rayla asked, though she wasn’t too sure herself. All the words were beginning to jumble together on the pages. At some point her notecards had gotten mixed up, and random dates and events were scattered all over the room.

“No, the time,” Ram complained. The other boy sat up, brushing his shaggy white hair from his eyes. “What time is it? My curfew is 11:30.”

Callisto grabbed their phone and took a glance. “11:15.”

“Ok, let’s review,” Callum suggested. However, the entire room gave a loud groan of complaint.

“My brain is melting!” Soren cried, dramatically tossing his head into Marcos’s lap. His boyfriend rolled his eyes at his antics, though he threaded his fingers through the other boy’s blond hair.

“Soren, you don’t have to take this test tomorrow!” Claudia snapped, “Don’t start whining!” The girl looked almost ready to start pulling her hair out.

“Alright,” Andromeda sighed, “My mom’s calling; she’s probably here to pick me up. Thanks for this, Callum. If I find a quizlet I’ll send it in the groupchat, okay?”

“Yes!” Skor cheered, “Quizlet is my lifesaver!”

“Pass me some Doritos, Rayla,” Callum muttered in quiet defeat. Rayla hummed in agreement, grabbing the chip bag from the pile of snacks nearby. Her friend was so tired that he didn’t even complain when she took a couple for herself.

One by one, the room began to empty. Callisto’s dad came to pick them up, Ram agreed to drive Skor home, and Claudia, Soren, and Marcos piled into Soren’s little car to drive off into the night.

That just left Rayla. And Callum. Alone.

“Place is a mess,” Callum sighed, taking in all the damage. Although they’d started out pretty clean, as the night wore on everyone got lazier and started just piling the trash where they were sitting. Crumbs spilled over the carpet, and empty soda cans rolled about.

“Let me help clean,” Rayla offered, “I mean, some of the mess is mine.” She gestured to the notecards spilled everywhere. Her mind was a bit fuzzy from exhaustion, but she was pretty sure she and Soren had started throwing them at each other at one point.

“No, it’s fine-” Callum sputtered, but Rayla just rolled her eyes.

“Let me help. Then we can both go to bed and you won’t get in trouble for the mess.” She left no room for argument, and started gathering up all the garbage and stuffing it in the empty grocery bags.

They worked in companionable silence, just tidying up the room. Rayla knew his house well enough to know where everything went, and tossed out all the garbage and swept up the lingering crumbs. Soon enough, the room looked nearly spotless again.

“See, fast!” Rayla chuckled. She glanced at her phone. “Just in time, too. Runaan’s asking where I am.”

Callum surprised her with a sudden hug, catching her off guard for a moment before she returned it, trying to calm her fluttering heart.

It’s just a hug. Friends hug all the time, don’t get all excited.

“Thanks for coming,” Callum said, a tiny bit breathlessly, “I know you were worried about the test and I wanted to help, sorry it got kind of out of hand.”

“You… organized this all… for me?” Rayla hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Well, yeah,” He laughed, “Even though you probably didn’t need it. You know all the material really well.”

“Only thanks to you, and you know that,” Giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder, Rayla couldn’t contain her grin. “I do feel better prepared, though. I’ll pass. If my brain doesn’t turn to mush first.”

“You’ll ace it,” Callum assured her, “I’m sure of it.”

His green eyes were so bright. And his smile so genuine. Rayla returned it, albeit with less enthusiasm. “Thanks.” Her voice sounded stupidly high-pitched, even to her.

He held her gaze for another long moment before glancing down, at the buzzing phone in her hand that she hadn’t even noticed, too caught up in staring. “You should go. Get some sleep for the test tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rayla breathed, “You too. I’ll see in English tomorrow.”

It was an effort to leave the room. To walk down the stairs, quietly so she wouldn’t wake his parents, and out the front door. To open up her door and get in the car, turn the key in the ignition.

The entire street was silent. That’s how it always was, she supposed. The first to arrive and the last to leave. A glance up told her Callum was staring out his bedroom window at her, watching her leave.

With a heavy sigh, Rayla put the car in reverse. Pulled out of the driveway.

She wasn’t naive. Callum had always been big on physical contact, and it had never meant anything more than he cared. She wasn’t willing to put her heart on the line like that, not when she was sure he didn’t like her that way.

Rayla was a risk taker. Always had been. But this? To risk the relationship she already had with her best friend? That was one risk she would never be willing to take.

~~~~

a/n: Poor Rayla! I would like to apologize to everyone in advance; the pining is not going to get better for a LONG TIME

Tag List: (comment to be added or removed)

@hipster-rapunzel

#the dragon prince #tdp #mal writes stuff #rayllum #rayla x callum

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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years

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Uncoupling

I love comparing and contrasting the Three Dads in TDP: Viren, Harrow, and Runaan. On top of these being the parents of the main characters in the show, influencing their earliest habits and beliefs, anything that has more than two sides is super interesting to me, thematically and creatively. So here’s a fun thing I realized last week. And by fun, I mean angsty and sad.

Viren, Harrow, and Runaan--presumably in that order--make complicated choices that separate them from their spouses on essentially a permanent basis. That separation is always physical, but not always emotional. But each decision can be simplified down to one basic theme:

They let someone into their lives, trusted them for all that they could bring to their marriage, and then, one day, they stopped listening to them.

In each case, the men thought they were choosing something hard but correct. But in each case, they were wrong.

Viren and his wife divorced, and she left the kingdom and her children behind in order to find happiness again. We don’t know the whole story there yet, but we do know Viren pretty well. He’s a genius who puts his feelings toward saving as much of his world as he can, and he doesn’t always make the right call on how to do that. In fact, he’s been making a series of really bad calls for a while now, and he’s been losing the things he’s trying to protect along the way.

That started with his wife. His strongest supporter and his partner. Without her, he threw himself into dark magic even further, for the sake of Harrow and the kingdom, because that’s what he had left to protect. But without her guidance, he came up with plans that involved wild notions like invading Xadia and killing a snoozing Magma Titan who was just trying to live his life, and risking notice by Avizandum.

Harrow followed that plan because he didn’t listen to Sarai. She literally fought with him over it, and she couldn’t convince him to let it go (that’s gonna sound familiar in a second). Harrow only saw the Narrative of Strength and took the easy route of believing Viren when he said this was the only way. Sarai, unlike Viren’s wife, stuck with her man, because these specific circumstances lent themselves to her skills: she’s a warrior queen. So she went out to support her husband, lend her hand to the task, and help her people. And she died for it, and Harrow lost her anyway. Permanently.

Runaan insisted on allowing Rayla on his assassin mission despite her youth, even though Ethari tried his best to convince him that she wasn’t the right sort of person for that job. Just like Sarai, Ethari fought with Runaan--though probably not literally--but he couldn’t convince him to let it go, either. Just like Harrow, Runaan couldn’t see past what he thought needed to happen to give balance back to his world: I take my loved one and kill someone with her on the other side, and then everything will be fine. And though Ethari didn’t accompany him like Sarai did Harrow, he did make Rayla her own swords and let her go on the mission.

And then Rayla did fail Runaan, and he was captured and presumed dead, and Ethari’s heart broke. They’re currently separated, and we have no idea if they’ll make it back together again, and what it’ll be like if they do. Runaan’s hard heart might have irreparably damaged their relationship, especially if he’s not sorry.

I’m saying there’s an established pattern that ends in spousal loss every time. Even if Runaan is freed, he may retreat even further into the Narrative of Strength, like Viren and Harrow, and Ethari won’t be able to reach him there.

But listen. Listen. This story isn’t over. Sarai has died. But Viren’s wife is actually still alive, and so is Ethari. That’s two out of three. So maybe, maybe, that’s an avenue for redemption for two of these dads. For the two who are still alive.

Ethari definitely still loves Runaan, and he’s been trying to save him since the moment they met. That may just take a different form than either of them expected. Physical saving, yes, yay, but Runaan needs his soul saved here. He needs to choose the other narrative. And so does Viren. And the people they let closest to them are the ones who have the best chance at helping them do that. To understand that it’s actually necessary.

I’m saying I want Viren’s wife to come back and kick his ass into a redemption arc. Y’all know I already want that for Runaan, and Ethari can absolutely kick Runaan’s ass there. Boot these guys, shake them up, help them remember that they can change their narrative. That their destinies are books they write themselves.

Harrow died because he didn’t listen to Sarai, his trusted partner and beloved ally in life. He turned his back on her advice, and he kept his back turned for nine years. And it got him killed, too.

But Viren’s still kicking, and so is Runaan. Aaravos isn’t going to have Viren’s best interests at heart, but Viren’s ex still might, for the sake of what they had, or for their kids. Ethari definitely still wants what’s best for Runaan. Viren’s ex might not be willing to pay enough. Ethari will probably want to pay whatever it takes. There are some issues there. But like Ezran said, there is hope.

All three dads were wrong because they were each following the Narrative of Strength instead of the Narrative of Love. You can have the purest motives in the world--and they all did--but the actions you take choose your narrative.

The two spouses we’ve seen definitely live in the Narrative of Love, so Viren’s ex probably does, too. All of these pairings are Strength/Love. And Strength is winning, at the cost of its Love. Strength is winning because it thinks that’s how it should go. Someone needs to win. But Love doesn’t want a winner. Love wants a partnership, a balance, peace and understanding.

In this story, in these three marriages, the Narrative of Strength is tearing couples apart. And from those breaks come so much of the tragedy we’ve seen. It hurts the Love partner, it hurts the Strength wielder, it hurts their families, and it hurts their world.

So I’m looking at Rayla and Callum and begging them to both stay in the Narrative of Love. Especially Rayla. Please don’t harden up, or Callum will get hurt, because he’s the Soft One. Don’t follow Runaan down that road, follow Ethari. Don’t make the mistakes of your parents’ generation, don’t turn your back on the one person you let closest into your heart. Listen to him. You chose Callum for a reason. Trust him to be right about the things he’s good with.

Love’s power comes from trust and connection. On the journey. Strength only cares about results. We gotta put in the time to get things right. Snap decisions are bad, and doubling down on them because it’s easy is worse.

All these dads broke the loving trust they had because they were too hard. That’s just one more thing Rayllum needs to work hard to do differently than their parents did. Or they’ll just end up repeating the cycle of pain, loss, and bad decisions.

#tdp meta #tdp #rayla #callum #sarai #harrow #viren #viren's wife #runaan #ethari #tdp dads #tdp parallels #narrative of strength #narrative of love

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