TDP One-Shot: Of Jackets And Cold Nights

TDP One-Shot: Of Jackets and Cold Nights

1,073 words, Rayllum, Romance, Funny, Slice of Life, Book Three Spoilers

It was over. The battle was won, there was peace between Xadia and the human kingdoms, and as far as anyone knew, Viren was defeated. When they stopped to sleep en route back to Katolis, Callum had every reason to rest well.

Just one problem: He was cold.

—

Callum awoke to find himself lying down on soft Xadian grass. He opened his eyes, looking up to the full moon that hung high in the night sky. It was still night, maybe 2 or 3 in the morning, he guessed. The dying embers of the nearby campfire illuminated some of his surroundings, but not quite as much as the moon.

Through the light of the moon, Callum could make out the sleeping figure of Ezran, new king of Katolis and his little half-brother. Bait, Ezran’s pet glow toad, was curled up at Ezran’s feet. Callum smiled at seeing his brother sleep so peacefully. As he looked around, he also noticed the rest of his group asleep, including his aunt Amaya, Gren, Opeli, and Corvus. Soren was gone, having taken the night watch.

Nearest to Callum was his girlfriend, Rayla. She was asleep on her side, and Callum could see her silver hair reflect the light of the moon. As Callum looked at her, he couldn’t help but feel a great warmth inside. Callum and Rayla had gone through so much together over the past month since they first met, but they had stuck by each other through it all. He was so glad to know her.

Reassured knowing that everything was safe and sound, Callum rested his head back on the grass and closed his eyes, falling back asleep.

Or at least he tried to.

Something felt off. He sat back up. “Hmmm?” he murmured quietly. What was it that felt so… wrong?

Callum had every reason to rest well that night. It was over. Not only was the battle won, but there was finally peace between Xadia and the human kingdoms, after years of constant warring between them. As far as everyone knew, Viren was gone. Callum had slept outside before, and he was exhausted from the battle, too, so it wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep. 

So why couldn’t he?

A brisk, gentle breeze blew through the air, rattling the leaves of the nearby trees and causing Callum to shiver. He clutched at his own arms, and it was at this moment that he realized what was bothering him so much: He was cold.

The one thing that made this night different from others was the fact that he was without his usual blue jacket, which had been lost in the battle from the day before. That made all the difference on a cold spring night like this one, where all he had on for warmth was his red tank top and scarf. Having not thought to ask for a blanket before everyone fell asleep, he was now facing a dilemma.

Maybe if I…? The young mage took off his scarf and tried wrapping it around himself. Unfortunately, it was not big enough and didn’t do much against the chill of the night.

“No, that’s not it…” He looked at the fire, which had all but died out. “Ugh!” He really, really regretted not learning a tad of Sun Magic.

“Callum?”

He let out a soft yelp at the sound of another voice. Turning to his side, he saw that Rayla was now sitting up, rubbing her eyes. Her ears were drooping down from grogginess. “What’s going on?”

“Oh. Hey, Rayla.” Callum kept his voice down, so not to wake the others. He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry I woke you. I’m just… um… a little cold.” As if on cue, another breeze blew through the area and he had another round of shivers, his teeth chattering with the cold.

As tired as she was, Rayla couldn’t help but find the display amusing. “So wait… you’re this amazin’ human mage who can cast lightning spells an’ grow wings, and you helped take down an entire army, but you’re vexed by a littl’ cold?” she asked with a smirk.

“Hey, it’s pretty chilly out here, you know,” he protested, covering his bare arms.

“Well, why don’t you put on your jacket?” Rayla then wondered. “Hey, where is your jacket, anyway? I ’aven’t seen it since the battle.”

“Oh, right, you didn’t see that. Well, remember that time when you were falling and I grew wings? Yeahhhh, it kind of shredded my jacket to pieces.”

“Oh.”

“Yep. No more jacket, which means chilly Callum. ‘Chillum,’ if you will.”

Rayla’s gaze followed Callum’s arms. Her ears perked up as she allowed a small smile. “I think the sleeveless look suits you, myself. You look good.”

Callum’s blush was barely visible in the moonlight. “Okay, compliment well-received, but looking good isn’t really going to help me out here. What do I do?”

Rayla scooted closer to him. “Well, I’d offer you my vest, but something tells me it won’t be a lot of help.”

“Yeah, no, unless you have something with sleeves. And aren’t you cold?”

“Eh, you get used to Xadia’s chilly nights.” Rayla then decided it might be fun to tease Callum for a bit. “Maybe you should’ve taken off your jacket before you jumped for me.”

“Well, it was either saving you or the jacket, so…”

Rayla raised an eyebrow. “I see. You’re starting to think you made the wrong choice, eh?”

Callum’s eyes grew wide and he held out his hands. “No! No, no, don’t get the wrong idea, I—”

“Relax, Callum! I’m jokin’!” Rayla punched his arm lightly. “Here, ya dumb human.”

She grabbed Callum and pulled him into a hug. Needless to say, he was surprised by the gesture. “Rayla…? What are you doing?”

“We’ll share our body heat, keep each other warmer this way.”

“Huh…” Callum laid down with Rayla, wrapping his own arms around her. He immediately felt himself warming up. “You’re right, this feels… nice.”

Rayla smiled. “I told ya it would.” She cuddled closer to him.

Callum looked into her eyes, smiling himself. “Thank you.”

“Oh, it’s nothin’—”

“No, not just this. I mean, thank you for always being here for me, for sharing in my struggles, my laughter, being my friend, my girlfriend… and now… this.”

Rayla giggled. “You’re welcome, Callum. And hey, when we get back to Katolis, maybe I’ll buy you a new jacket or something.”

They laughed, then moved their faces closer to each other and shared a kiss for a few seconds.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They kissed each other once more before drifting off to sleep together, warm in each others arms.

—

So I watched Book Three of The Dragon Prince when it dropped on Friday, and I have feelings. I’ll be posting my full thoughts on the season soon, but I was mainly impressed with the character development on the parts of Soren, Rayla, and Callum (especially with the latter two becoming a thing). Feeling inspired, I decided to write this fic as sort of a sequel to the events of Book Three. Hope you all like it!

AO3

So, this is really cool! For anyone who is unaware, in addition to original music, I post video reviews of rock albums and musical movies, and yesterday I received the honor of Great Blogger of the Month on the website Manic Expression! I am very surprised and honored to receive this award, as I put a lot of work into making my videos as entertaining as possible.

Thanks for the award, Manic Expression, and I can’t wait to post more videos in the future!

Happy (late) Halloween to all my followers! I wanted to draw something for the occasion, so here’s a picture of my characters dressed up in costume: Al is a skeleton, Sabrina is a mummy, and Reilly is Toph Beifong. (Is it too on-the-nose to draw the blind girl dressed as Toph? Eh, IDK.)

Apologies for not having this finished on time, BTW; my art tablet started crapping out on me as I was working on this. I hope it’s not dying. (This is also why I went with this more minimalist coloring style instead of my usual shading/coloring.)

I hope you enjoy it regardless!

Characters and art © me

And don’t forget to support me on Patreon!

Are you looking forward to the new live action ATLA show?

Honestly… not really? Like, as much as I want to be excited that we’re getting new Avatar stuff, I’m not feeling very good about the quality of the new show.

On the one hand, it is good that Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino are back to work on the new show. On the other hand, they also worked on The Legend of Korra and the Avatar comics, neither of which I was a fan of. And the fact that this new show is going to be without the help of series director and head writer Aaron Ehasz, who came up with some of the show’s best ideas, also concerns me.

On the one hand, it’s great that they announced that they would be giving the new live-action adaptation a racially accurate cast of POC actors, as one thing that was criticized in M. Night Shyamalan’s much maligned adaptation was the whitewashing of many of the characters. On the other hand, let’s not forget that Shyamalan’s movie was inherently flawed. I mean, we aren’t seriously going to pretend that the earthbender prison scene would have been any better with a racially accurate cast, are we? No, there are more aspects of making a good show, like the quality of the writing.

And… okay, let’s be honest: How many times has there been a live-action adaptation of a popular animated property that was actually good? The only ones I can think of are Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel, Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed (2004). And even those have very mixed reception.

Moreover, rebooting it just feels unnecessary. What I’d prefer Bryke do at this point is abandon Avatar and work on some new projects. Stop beating a dead horse. Come up with new ideas, new characters, a new world. That’s what Aaron Ehasz has done with The Dragon Prince.

So I’m trying not to be too pessimistic about the new show, but I’m still not looking forward to it, no.

somehow I got 95/20 on an assignment

I hope they never fix it and leave it this way forever

The Dragon Prince AMV - “Wasted Time” (Skid Row)

Hi all! So, I have been actively working on this video for about three weeks now, and wanted to release it before we got Book Three of The Dragon Prince. Skid Row is one of my favorite bands, and for the longest time I have been unable to hear “Wasted Time” without thinking of characters and scenarios from The Dragon Prince. Hope you enjoy, and I can’t wait for Book Three!