#raz writes

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

because all i tend to see on writeblr is the dreaded Blank Page

the absolute euphoria of spending a morning in front of your wip, getting up for a little stretch and a cup of tea and coming back to a wall of writing - YOUR writing (!!!) - looking back at you from your laptop screen??? impeccable! amazing! my new favourite feeling!! you do need to write the things to get there but golly goodness it's so so so worth it

[riding-palominos-every-day]

Finally finished a little piece I've been working on for a while called Stop Soaking The Scabs:

After Crutchie’s arrest, Jack had been ready to bail on the strike. There was no chance he was putting his boys back in danger after what had happened; half of them had already been in the Refuge, and the other half Jack prayed never saw further than the exterior wall. He’d rather die than willingly put any of them in a situation where they could end up there.

But there was finally hope. His faith in their cause had been reignited by Davey and Katherine, and his motivation was in full swing. The other newsies had been overjoyed to see him back at the lodging house, and with an upcoming rally in three days time Jack had helped with the preparations, lending his artistry to a representative sign for Manhattan, as well as several picket signs.

The evening edition was being rolled out, scabs were no doubt still selling, but the Lower Manhattan newsies stood fast in their decision. Some of the older boys went out to try and convince scabs to join the cause, whilst the rest were laying low at the lodging house. Jack doubted there were many scabbers left, now that Brooklyn had voiced their support, but he was well aware Pulitzer and Hearst both had hired strikebreakers.

Davey, Racetrack, Albert, Mush and Specs were out, everyone else was supposed to be in: Smalls, JoJo, Mike and Finch were playing cards, Buttons was patching up Ike’s vest, and most of the other boys were dozing or talking softly. Sniper and Splasher, still recovering from their injuries from the riot, were sat by the window on watch.

But Jack had noticed two more absences. Two that worried him.

“Where are Elmer and Romeo?”

A few boys mumbled vague uncertainties, glancing between each other and shrugging. Even JoJo, Elmer’s closest friend, shrugged helplessly when Jack turned to him for an answer. He saw a look of guilt flash across Splasher’s face, and without even needed to ask Jack figured they weren’t in the lodge.

He stood up, straightening his vest and putting his hat on.

“M’gonna go look for ‘em.”

“Be careful, Jack.” Smalls said, not looking up from his cards.

Jack climbed out onto the fire escape, making his way down to street level. He wracked his brains, trying to think where the kids could be. They wouldn’t be selling, so it was no use checking their usual corners. If any of the protesting boys had found them, they would’ve brought them home.

Maybe Elmer had gone to visit his siblings? But why go without telling anyone? He doubted Romeo would’ve gone with him... and he knew Romeo would rather be dead than see his family again.

They were in trouble, Jack concluded. No other explanation added up. Heart quickening, he made his way down every street with haste, hoping to find them before things got too serious.

He’d expected to find the youngest boys in trouble. Not to find them being the ones causing it.

Romeo had another boy pinned to the ground in an alley, whilst Elmer paced back and forth by the boy’s head, a newspaper bag clutched in his fist. Ripped papers littered the ground around them. Jack felt frozen, not quite believing what he was seeing.

“We told ya we ain’t sellin’ anymore!” Elmer’s voice was louder than usual, and Jack could tell he was trying to put on a tough facade, “Not until Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Hearst stop, uh.. stop...” 

“Screwin’ us around?” Romeo suggested. He readjusted his hold, pushing the scab harder against the ground. “Quit squirmin’!”

“Yeah, yeah! Til they stop screwin’ us around! So why’re you still sellin’?” Elmer emphasised his last word with a sudden kick to the boy’s shoulder. Their captive let out a squeal of pain.

“B-But I gotta feed my family!” He protested. Elmer’s eyes flashed angrily.

“And y’think the rest of us don’t?” The younger boy’s voice was steadily growing angrier, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

“I ain’t the guy to be talkin’ about feedin’ a family to.”

“We’re doin’ this so we can afford to look after ourselves and our families!” Romeo snapped, his tone colder than Jack ever thought possible for a twelve year old, “You scabs are messin’ everything up!”

And all at once, the two kids pounced. There was a shriek from the scabber, his legs kicking furiously in an attempt to get away. Jack heard a crack and felt a sick feeling in his gut; Elmer and Romeo were sweet kids, he’d never seen them act so ruthlessly violent.

“Alright, enough!” He barked, marching forward. He hauled the younger boys off the scab -careful not to grab them too tight or be rough- and knelt down. A SoHo newsie from the looks of him. His elbow was scraped and his nose bleeding; his eyes were blown wide in fear.

“Hey, hey... s’okay kid.” Jack soothed, “I’m sorry ‘bout my coworkers.”

He pulled out one of his old painting rags from his pocket, finding a clean corner before carefully dabbing at the other newsie’s bloody nose.

“Go on, get outta here.” He helped the younger boy to his feet, watching as he tore out of the alley and down the street. A sharp blow to his side made him wheel round, the next making contact with his stomach. He grabbed Elmer’s fist before he could throw another punch, and the kid let a wordless, agitated shout through gritted teeth.

“Don’t hit me.” Jack said softly.

“You messed everythin’ up-!”

“Don’t hit me, Elmer. You’re old enough to know better.”

Elmer made a few clumsy swipes at him, still making those angry little half-shouts he made when he was stressed or frustrated, but he very quickly seemed to lose heart. Jack released the boy’s hand, satisfied when Elmer let his arm drop to his side. He hated reprimanding the younger boys over anything, usually the younger kids could do no wrong in his eyes, but he had to nip this behaviour in the bud before it got his brothers in serious trouble.

Romeo’s kept his gaze fixed on the ground, fiddling with his hands. Elmer now looked on the verge of tears. Jack immediately felt his usual instinct to pull them close and soothe them, but he stood firm. He needed to figure out what had caused this.

“Naw, no tears an’ no lookin’ away.” He kept his tone firm, but was careful not to sound too angry, “You guys have got some explainin’ to do. We told you guys to stay inside, and you not only snuck out, but went to go attack some poor kid-”

“He was scabbing!” Elmer interjected shrilly. Jack raised a hand to silence him.

“-You guys attacked a kid, and at a time where the cops are more on our asses than ever. A bull catches you soakin’ some guy and you two would be joinin’ Crutchie in the Refuge.”

Jack ignored the sob caught in his throat, the pain in his chest when he thought of Crutchie.

“I already got one brother locked up, ain’t no way I’m havin’ you two taken away as well.”

Both boys had the decency to look suitably ashamed, although Jack could still see Elmer’s fists were clenched tightly.

“You wanna talk ‘bout anythin’, El?”

Any composure Elmer had kept until then suddenly exploded all at once.

“I’m angry, Jack! I’m angry at the scabbers, I’m angry at the bulls, I’m angry at the Delanceys an’ Mr. Pulitzer and Mr. Hearst and- and...” He paused to catch his breath, physically shaking with the emotion of his outburst. Jack saw his hand reach up to his head, and he swiftly -but gently- grabbed the younger boy’s fist before it made impact.

“We’s just trying to survive, and it feels like everyone’s against us.” Romeo finished. 

Jack couldn’t deny it. They were right, he hated how right they were. He felt a weight against his shoulder; Elmer was slumped against him, his breathing ragged and shaky. Jack instinctively wrapped an arm around him, inviting Romeo into the hug with his free arm. He didn’t agree with what they’d done, not at all. But his kids were scared and very rightfully angry, he couldn’t stay mad with them.

They stayed there for some time, holding each other tightly and surrounded by the scabber’s ruined papers.

“C’mon, we’re goin’ home.”

Romeo seemed content to walk beside him (although he kept a death grip on Jack’s hand), but Elmer seemed to have exhausted himself. Jack hoisted him onto his hip, and Elmer instinctively wrapped his arms around his neck. They walked in silence for the first block or two, before Jack had to have another question answered.

“Splasher looked like I’d caught him with his hand in someone’s pocket when I asked where you two where. D’you tell him where you’d gone?”

“We asked him,” Romeo said, still struggling to make eye contact, “Well.. Elmer did. He said he didn’t wanna come though, said it was dangerous an’ we weren’t s’posed to.”

“And he’s damn right on both accounts.” Jack said, “Shame on you for askin’ him to go out when he’s recoverin’ from a head injury. And so’s you, in fact!” He jostled Elmer slightly, making sure the eleven year old was listening.

“No wonder you got the idea to go out soakin’ scabs, your brain’s still all rattled after that knock you took.”

Elmer made a strange little noise, halfway between tired and agitated. He’d no doubt overwhelmed himself with this little escapade, and for once Jack hoped it would be one of the times he was exhausted for the rest of the day; at least he’d stay put if he had to rest. 

“We were tryin’ to help, Jack.” Romeo’s voice was very quiet, barely more than a whisper.

“I think what really happened is you kids are stressed t’your limits and don’ know how to cope. Y’knew the scabs were a problem, so you saw a chance to both get out some’a that pent-up anger and get a couple more scabs on our side.”

The silence from the younger boys was all the answer he needed. Maybe they didn’t know how to verbalise it quite that articulately, but he was fairly confident he’d hit the nail on the head. Romeo’s grip on his hand tightened a little, and he felt Elmer’s head push further into his shoulder.

Jack started humming to himself as they walked, one of the piano tunes they played at Medda’s theatre. It seemed to put the kids at ease.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You found them!”

JoJo shot forward as soon as Jack entered the room, quickly scooping up Elmer and carrying him over to his bunk. Jack let him fuss for once; tensions were high enough, and the kids’ unauthorised venture had stretched everyone’s nerves to the breaking point. Romeo let go of Jack’s hand, heading for his own bunk and curling up into a ball.

“Yeah, found ‘em tryin’ to crack some kid’s head open.” Jack said, sitting beside Tommy Boy.

“Why?” Sniper asked, looking concerned. 

“They say they though they were helpin’. I reckon they‘re just gettin’ overwhelmed by the whole strike. Ro said he felt like everyone’s against us.. he ain’t exactly wrong.”

The room fell into an uneasy silence. Tommy Boy bumped his head against Jack’s shoulder, a rare sign of affection for the younger boy. Jack paused, before wrapping his arm around Tommy’s shoulders. 

The boys playing cards were hardly focused on their game anymore, tossing down and picking up cards at random. Ike was humming agitatedly, rocking back and forth, whilst Buttons kept unraveling and rewinding the same spool of thread. This latest incident had clearly unsettled everyone.

Jack glanced over to Elmer, already asleep beside JoJo. The whole idea seemed to be more his plan than Romeo’s, and that worried Jack somewhat. Elmer was usually a sweet, happy kid, but there was a lot of anger in the little guy, and he didn’t always have the healthiest ways of releasing it. He’d been in a lot of fights in the past.

“Once all’a this is over, m’gonna ask Spot if I can the kids over to Coney.” Jack announced to nobody in particular, “They need a break most outta all of us.”

There was a scattering of murmurs and grunts of agreement. Jack started running his fingers absentmindedly through Tommy Boy’s hair, suddenly feeling a swell of pride in chest. Despite everything, his boys still stuck together.

He made a mental note not to let a repeat of today happen again. At the rally, perhaps he could mention something. He doubted Elmer and Romeo’s attack was an isolated incident, and it wouldn’t do any good for newsies city-wide to be fighting amongst themselves. 

He didn’t want anyone else hurt.

[whistlingstarlight]

You should do a prompt about Sammy during a key moment in her childhood (or early years if her species don't start out as kids)

(Sammy goes by he/him X) but yes I will write for him!)

Set just after The Fall, when Lucy finds him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You need a name. People tend to have names."

The human -Lucy, she said to refer to her as- paced back and forth in front of him, her footsteps light and delicate. He thought for a moment

"I like your name."

Lucy snorted, her eyes bright with laughter. "Maybe not. It'll get confusing. No, you need something that's yours. I think Mom's still got her old baby name book somewhere, let me go find it."

He watched her go, before turning his attention to the room. He'd already grasped a strong idea of objects, thanks to the Memory Replication she'd allowed him to perform. Table, lamp, bed, mirror, he knew what these things were without having ever seen them before.

Mirror.

It reflected back a face that was new to him. Three bright green eyes, framed by indigo hair. His skin was violet. This was him, was it?

He knew he hadn't quite got the human look perfected, but he quite liked the face looking back at him.

"Found it!"

Lucy padded back in, nudging the door closed with her foot as her only hand was occupied. She set the book down beside him with a soft thump, before perching on the other end of the bed.

"Wasn't where I'd expected, I forgot the folks haven't used it since picking my name. They had Ellen's name already chosen from the start." She flipped the book open, tapping the page, "Have a look in there, see if you find something you like the sound of."

Humans had so many names. It was a little overwhelming really, scanning pages and pages of names. How was he supposed to choose just one? And how could he like the sound of it if it was written down? You didn't hear writing, you read it.

"I- I don't know." This was... fear? Anger? He couldn't quite place the emotion. He was still figuring those out.

"It's alright." Lucy soothed, shifting closer to sit where she could see the pages, "Whereabouts are you?"

"Can't you pick for me?" He practically begged, "I don't know if I'll pick the right one."

All of this was so new. He'd never had a name before, he'd barely even had a body. Lucy's mind had given him a good grasp as to facts, yes, but there was so many, so much going on-

"Hey, hey, cool it. You're shaking." Lucy reached out, gently squeezing his hand. She was quiet for a while, clearly thinking.

"What about Sammy? It's nice and casual, rolls off the tongue."

"Sammy..."

He liked it. He -Sammy, his name was Sammy!- smiled appreciatively.

"Sammy's good. I like it."

"Good. Now, one more thing before you join the human race... purple skin, how attached are you to the colour?"

[dammarchy211]

Sorry I live in oc land. Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay

C.R.I.M.E. Gets a style guide though isnt that cool wooaaahhh.

Now that they have a different logo tho I should definitely remake the psycho-portals. The ones that aren’t Wanda’s look like ass (Cheri’s a psychonauts one but it also looks kinda good)

[mdmraz]

"THE BLOOD MOON SYMBOLIZES THE DEATH OF A KING, BUT SOME BELIEVE IT SIGNIFIES THE NEED FOR AFFECTION."

☪︎

WHEN A GIRL FROM ONE OF THE BIG 4 CLANS HAS A SECRET EVEN SHE DIDN'T KNOW OF.

cw: 18+ content!! fem. reader, angst, nsfw, graphic violence, abuse, mentions of death and near death experiences, depressing themes

genre: enemies to lovers, ANGST

taglist: open!! (send a narcotics anonymous or comment)

⧉ chapters!

⌗00 - prologue.

⌗01 - first years.

⌗02 - mission one; part one.

⌗03 - mission one; part two.

⌗04 - the death of itadori yuuji.

⌗05 - in the making!

C11H15NO2

[barrenclan]

[bcdrawsandwrites]

Day 19: Taken for granted / Left behind / "Why wasn't I enough?" Characters: Razputin Aquato, Mirtala Aquato Warnings: Brief description of drowning Summary: Raz has a nightmare, and Mirtala overhears.

The jet was finally started up! Or Raz was pretty sure it was, anyway. Okay, guys! We're ready to go! he called out over telepathy, and watched as everyone immediately came pouring out of the base. They were all talking hurriedly, and ran right past him without looking back.

W-wait, guys! What about me?! he cried, watching helplessly. He couldn't move, and he realized with horror that his body was still inside the rapidly-flooding base.

"Five seconds to self-destruct," the PA system announced cheerfully. "Four—"

Wait!

"—three—"

Don't leave me!

"—two—"

GUYS?!

They filed into the jet, which began to rise.

"—one!"

DON'T LEAVE—

His mental voice was drowned out by a deafening explosion that combined with the roar of water as he was catapulted out of the hangar and, somehow, into the ocean. The water was freezing and clung to him, and he couldn't breathe, and the hands of Galochio grabbed him and pulled him further down. He tried to call out for help, but his mental voice felt too weak and dazed to speak, somehow like he was surrounded by psilirium, but he tried to call out again, and again, and the hand of Galochio began to shake him—

"Raz!"

Groaning, Raz blinked to find that he was not underwater, though he was drenched in sweat. It was dark, and he could feel blankets clinging to him, though he was still being shaken.

"Raz, wake up!"

"I'm awake," he grumbled, finally pushing himself up to a seated position. He was in his cot, and Mirtala was sitting next to him. Even in the dim light of the stars peeking through the open tent, he could see her big eyes staring at him.

"You were having a nightmare!" she whispered, though her tone betrayed her excitement. "What were you dreaming about? Getting eaten by bears? Or by sharks? I had a dream I got chased by a shark once!"

"Nah, nothing like that," Raz replied, smiling at Mirtala's questions. He thought for a moment, trying to remember what he'd been dreaming about, and shuddered. "I just... dreamed I'd been left behind."

"Like that time we left Queepie behind?"

"What? No. We didn't leave him behind. He jumped out of the caravan just to see if he could stick the landing." He rolled his eyes at the memory. "He did, which is why mom didn't kill him when we found him again."

"So you dreamed we left you behind?"

"No, I dreamed I was back on a mission I'd been on. We had to leave a base before it exploded—"

"WOAH!"

"I know, right? And I had to start up the jet so we could get out of there. But I was astral projecting, and—"

Mirtala blinked.

Raz faltered, wondering how to put it. While it was nice not having to hide his psychic powers from his family anymore, it wasn't easy explaining the more complicated psychic powers to his non-psychic family. "So... it's like I wasn't in my body—I was in the body of a fish... person."

"You transformed?!"

"No, no, my body was still there—I was just in a different one."

His sister's brow furrowed as she took this information in before she suddenly let out a gasp. "Like a ghost?!"

"No, Tala. There's no such thing as ghosts, and—" He stopped, staring into her big, shiny eyes, and sighed. "Yeah, like a ghost."

"COOL!" Mirtala exclaimed, grinning.

"It is pretty cool," Raz admitted. "So, I was in this fish person's body, and told everyone that the jet was started up and ready to leave. I saw them all run out, but... it felt like they were leaving me behind. I kinda forgot I wasn't in my body, so I got scared when they didn't even look at where my astral projection ghost was."

"Oh no!"

"They all got onto the jet, which flew away, and the base exploded!"

"Did you die?!" Mirtala leaned forward, eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

Raz's excitement at recounting his adventure immediately dropped. "No, Tala, I didn't die."

"Just checking!"

"It turned out they brought my body onboard. A second later, I was back in my own body. But..." he sighed, curling in on himself. "Before that happened, it... really felt like I'd been left behind."

For once, Mirtala went quiet. Slowly she crept closer to him until she was sitting right by his side. "So that's what your nightmare was about?"

"Yeah." He sat quietly for a moment before shaking his head and loosening up. "But—I'm okay! They didn't really leave me behind, and I know they wouldn't. It just... scared me, is all."

Again, Mirtala was quiet. Just when Raz was about to say that he was ready to go back to sleep, his sister whispered: "I was scared, too."

Raz's brow furrowed, and before he could protest that she hadn't been there, she went on:

"When you left us behind."

Her words hit him like a shock of cold water.

"I-I thought you didn't want to be family anymore." She sniffled and rubbed her face on her sleeve. "I thought we weren't gonna see you again."

Raz hugged her as her words sunk in. He'd never once considered how it would look from his family's side—his thoughts had entirely been on getting to Whispering Rock and becoming a Psychonaut. "No, Tala. I wasn't planning on being gone forever. I'll never, ever leave you guys behind, okay?"

Mirtala sniffled, hugging him back. "Okay, Raz." She went quiet again, then, "We're not gonna leave you behind, either."

Smiling, Raz hugged her tighter. "Glad to hear i—"

BONK!

A pine cone bounced off his head.

"Would you be quiet?! Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Okay, okay," Raz grumbled, rubbing his head.

"I'm gonna go back to bed," Mirtala whispered, slipping off the cot and creeping out of the tent.

"Tala?"

She looked back at him, blinking.

"Thanks for being a cool sister."

Mirtala grinned. "Thanks for being a cool brother! Even though you're kinda dumb sometimes."

Raz raised an eyebrow, but she was already leaving. Snickering quietly to himself, he settled back into bed, and into a sleep free from nightmares.

[lulu-draws-stuff]

I've been writing a lot more than drawing lately. here is my doodles though 👍 mostly oc stuff

[buckywonkle]

Now that I think about it, in Psychonauts. When Raz goes in the brains, does he just. Stand there??? And what happens to the person that he's in the brain of??? Do they just. Stand there as well???

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Thank you, dear Anon.

The prompt:

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

one of those days where the word count never seems to increase no matter how much i write

[jenniferstolzer]

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

Psychonauts - The Hornblower Incident - Chapter 69

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

Psychonauts - The Hornblower Incident - Chapter 69

Jaoquin

Raz and Hollis run down to Medical for Jaoquin Leblanc's interrogation and hopefully some answers.

Tumblr's Ao3 link formatting broke again. I'm thinking it's because I'm on Bing on this computer. I hate Bing. Anyway this chapter's later than I said it would be because it's super important and really long. Hopefully you guys will get answers to some of the questions plaguing the team.

[donatellaquato]

What exactly do you think the steps of freaking were for Dona when she figured out Raz was gone?

OH BOY well i think she realized when she woke up that she forgot to lock their doors so she went to go check on them, saw raz was gone, checked to see if he was with the other kids, and then proceeded to go into full panic mode and have a full scale meltdown for a few hours thinking he might be dead

i think once they put together that raz had run away and not been kidnapped or anything she was probably bouncing between being really angry that he did that (even more so when they found out where he was.) and really scared that was out there all on his own in possible danger (again. doubly so when they found out where he was bc no doubt she thinks the psychics might harm him in some way)

[dammarchy211]

DON’T BE SAD, TOTALLY REAL DEFINITELY DIDNT DRAW THESE PSYCHONAUTS TV SHOW SCREENSHOTS, OKAY?

And these guys designs I’ve been putting off posting lol

Sasha is finally doing intern program and gets saddled with the crazy alien kid instead of the calm one—

These aren’t set in stone but here’s the idea (also Hollis needs an intern lol, I might make a new character so it isn’t entirely just camp kids, or maybe an Aquato kid)

Raz is Cher’s “assistant teacher” which is hell on earth for both Raz and Kitty.

[mdmraz]

« menu. ⋆ chapter 01. »

CHAPTER 00;

PROLOGUE.

notes:

just to make it clear noya let atsumu in 😭

alsoo idk how yall be measuring ur shit but, a 3rd - 0.3g, 5th - 0.5g, a 7th - 0.7g. then we go into the normals like 1g 2g.

love triangle maybe..? maybe not...? find out..?

i wanna b the old lady with a lot of cats and xanax when i grow up.

wrote this while tweaking bc im 2 weeks sober after relapsing (was on a 5-6 day bender after being sober for 7 months)... so u can say its definitely not my best work.

this first chapter is bringing me back to when this ACTUALLY happened (since this is based off true events and my life) and damn i miss everything.

« menu. ⋆ chapter 01. »

taglist: @sunarots , @exclusiverinaa , @diorzs ‹𝟹

(send a narcotics anonymous or leave a comment to be added ‹𝟹)

[sxrrandomfanfics]

RazLili Week 2024 Day 1 - Animals

Raz grabbed Lili's hand as Truman and Augustus were deep in conversation. "You two feel free to talk as long as you want!"

As he tugged on Lili's hand, she added: "Take your time! We'll be fine!"

Augustus smiled, "ah, young love."

Truman chuckled, "they think they're being subtle."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You still have those on?" Lili asked as Raz walked around only in his acrobatics outfit. The boots seemed fine when Raz did his acrobatic tricks, but stomping about the grounds seemed uncomfortable, given that they went up to his knees.

"You never know what's on the ground at a circus. Besides, stopping at my trailer might mean that we'll miss what I want to show you."

"And what's that?"

"It's a surprise." Raz squeezed Lili's hand as the two made their way over to what seemed to be a stall that horses would be in, but it was... very tall.

"Some secret horse? Like your sister's 'World's Smallest Pony'?"

"Uh. No. I'm still not allowed around Sugarcube." Raz shook his head. "Actually, this fine lady here is the opposite of a World's Smallest Pony." Raz then opened the door to the pen.

As Lili's eyes went up, her jaw dropped lower and lower. A large elephant, wearing purple jhul on her head and back raised her trunk.

The elephant was polite as she waved her trunk. Oh, Razputin has told me so much about you!

"Yup! Lili Zanotto, meet Naomi: The Crown Jewel of the Fildes Circus."

"Fildes? But I thought you were in the Aquato Family Circus."

"Yeah! Multiple small circuses usually work together to make these shows run." Raz waved his hand. "Anyways, I'm glad you two get to meet one another."

"Wait, so you just... talk about me to random animals?"

"Not random. Naomi was the first animal I ever really learned to talk to. Well, understand the emotions, if you're including proper Zoolepathy with Harold."

"... I thought you were just lying about having the elephant to have a badass line in front of Agent Nein."

"Nope! I uh... my family agreed to have me assist with Naomi after..."

"... after what?"

He pulled my tail. He used to be awfully rude.

"Raz? Rude?"

"I mean... I think I'm pretty rude."

"The rudest you got with me was staring at me. And the worst you called Bobby was 'hair boy.' You're not rude."

Naomi lifted her trunk with a laugh. Oh, the stories I could tell you about this young man.

Raz groaned, "please, my mom is enough." He looked back up at Naomi. "Does this mean we still can't try what I wanted to?"

Oh no. I'm still fine with it. Naomi turned around, showing she was still wearing the howdah that she had been wearing for the show.

Raz then got onto his Lev-bubble, and looked down to Lili, expecting her to do the same.

Lili understood, but then smirked. "What, not even going to help me up?"

Raz raised an eyebrow, then mirrored the smirk. He put on his best theatrical voice. "Oh, my apologies, princess. Let your knight assist you onto this glorious creature so that way we may galavant around the town."

Lili laughed, joyful that he would reciprocate, and took his hand. Up, they climbed onto the back of Naomi. Lili smiled, but gulped as well.

"Nervous?"

"Never been on an elephant before."

Don't worry. I'm perfectly calm.

Raz patted Lili on the shoulder, smoothly putting his arm around her after she realized which shoulder he patted. "We won't go too far on this. Just a quick little ride."

"Wait, we're going outside?"

"It would be more fun!"

"Do you have permission?"

"Well, I often like to think of asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission."

Oh, he begged for permission.

Raz frowned, feeling less cool, but Lili smiled.

"Glad to know you're at least somewhat responsible now."

Raz pulled Lili in tighter, smiling.