Tai

“Considering I’m in Auradon right now…you’re mistaken on the latter point, kiddo.”

“Oh, I haven’t trusted anyone since I was 4 years old. If I end up with something bad etched onto my body, I’ll blame it on my own bad decision making, don’t you worry. How good are you with wording and quotes? I’ve heard those fade easier.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Words? Can do. It’s not as fun for me, but you’re right, they do fade faster. Easier to change down the line, too, if necessary. I’m pretty good with calligraphy, all a those fancy, flowery kindsa fonts. What’cha thinkin’?”

“You kinda butchered it, not gonna lie, but I’m not a huge fan of my name, so it’s whatever. Just call me Tai. What’cha want, kid?”

“Oh, well, I’m glad to hear it! Not that I butchered it, or that you’re not a big fan, just that it’s whatever. What do I want? Nothing, just to say hello. But I’ll leave now, if you want me to. Or not, if not” 

“I’m just asking ‘cause people usually come to me to talk art. Particularly art they wanna buy offa me. You interested in anything of that nature? I specialize in tattoos.”

The girl turned around, feeling a tad nervous for reasons she couldn’t entirely understand. She’d been having an internal debate over whether to ask him to prom or not, which was unusual for her to say the least. Normally she’d just do it without an extra thought but this was different and the 16 years spent in the savanna had done little to prepare her for it. It felt as if she was letting her guards down and it was..weird.

What she knew though was that he was here, carrying a painting.

“If that’s an obscene painting of me,” she smirked, raising an eyebrow, “You may prepare your last wish. What’s up?” she asks, eager to see what this was about. She assumed it was related to the painting but it was just a wild guess. Used to deciphering body language, she noticed the unusual hesitance in his steps but decided not to bring it up unless he started.

Ayana was stunned. This was the kind of thing she didn’t expect coming here, and  it made her wonder whether Auradon might have been the worth the trouble. Because Tai was artistic, funny, authentic and he never treated her as if she was too much. 

She laughs a little at the temporary confusion, but she finds the idea behind the idea magnificent. Sure, it was surprising coming from someone so attached to their art, but she wasn’t going to question his intentions.

“You should start adding poetry on your resume,”  she smiled before taking a few steps closer to him. She  wished she could have expressed her feelings in a way that went beyond insults, comebacks and occasional shouting. Because the things she felt in that moment went beyond that. No one’s done this sort of grand gesture for her before, and it never bothered her but she was glad that it started this way. 

“You know, most people wouldn’t trust me with a lighter, let alone artists. But I always did enjoy risk-takers” she gave the boy a wink. 

“Ready, set, fire,” she said, before turning the lighter on with a grin and watching the masterpiece turn into something else..

Ayana’s laughter provides Tai with some much-needed relief, what with his anxious mind imagining multiple different worst-case-scenarios. He smiles as she describes his words as poetry. “I mean, when describing someone who is, herself, poetry—is there really any other way?”

He tenses slightly more as she steps closer, but not as much from fear this time. Like there was something almost electric between them, causing the little hairs across his arms to rise. He takes a step towards her, as well.

“And you know I don’t mind getting a little burned,” he reciprocates the wink, though he’s almost certain his came out more cheesy than flirty.

The paper, rather than burning into a pile of ash, solidly chars, leaving color in some areas. These areas had come together to form an array of figures—letters. Words soon appear clearly, in a glassy sheen surrounded by a charred black background.

‘Castlecoming. Let’s light it up, shall we?’

The girl turned around, feeling a tad nervous for reasons she couldn’t entirely understand. She’d been having an internal debate over whether to ask him to prom or not, which was unusual for her to say the least. Normally she’d just do it without an extra thought but this was different and the 16 years spent in the savanna had done little to prepare her for it. It felt as if she was letting her guards down and it was..weird.

What she knew though was that he was here, carrying a painting.

“If that’s an obscene painting of me,” she smirked, raising an eyebrow, “You may prepare your last wish. What’s up?” she asks, eager to see what this was about. She assumed it was related to the painting but it was just a wild guess. Used to deciphering body language, she noticed the unusual hesitance in his steps but decided not to bring it up unless he started.

As he hands it to her, he begins explaining immediately in case she had gotten the impression that he didn’t enjoy painting her—he did. He savoured every line, every brushstroke. “See, I paint...I paint to capture things. Moments. Musings. Memories. Perceptions and feelings...render them onto a canvas—something I could keep or someone could buy offa me.”

“But, see, it doesn’t feel right doing that with you. I don’t want to capture you. You can’t be—you shouldn’t be. It’d be like trying to contain a wildfire.” He pauses, knowing that this whole thing is turning into a bit of a ramble, but he just goes where his mind takes him, and he’s got a lot to say. “Destructive as those fires are, without them, forests can’t sustain themselves. That’s just science, Ayana. You’re a revitalizing force of nature that cannot, should not, be contained.” Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out a lighter and offers it to her.

“I want you to keep burnin’ like you do. Light it up,” he finishes, gesturing back to the painting.

Anthony never understood how ‘pretty boy’ was meant to demean or undermine him in any way. Tai wouldn’t know pretty if it sucker punched him in the face, so it meant even less coming from the artist. It didn’t even register to him as flirting, Tai would never use affectionate names with someone if there wasn’t something to gain for himself out of it. ‘Tony’, however, he took issue with. Is it that hard to say his full name.

“Anthony, baby, Anthony,” He corrected with poison on his tongue. For someone with such a terrible name himself, Tai was in no place to be using nicknames with Anthony. If he was going to invite himself over only to alluded that he wanted to get painting practice in, he would speak with respect in the Tremaine house.

“What sort of proposition is that? I’m supposed to be honored at your offer?” He ran a hand through his hair, correcting his appearance in the broken mirror, “If you’d like to brush up your tone, I’d be happy to oblige.”

Tai narrows his eyes at the boy, showing distaste with the word baby—not because he’s against cute pet names, but because baby is what his name actually means and he wonders if Anthony knows this already. “Tony’s cuter. Unless you prefer Ant. ‘Cause I’d like to call you that, too.”

He groans as Anthony admonishes and demands a better tone from him, though if he’s honest with himself, he finds the boy’s arrogance charming. “Oh, my apologies, your highness. If you would be so kind as to allow me the honor of painting a portrait of your immaculate self, I would be forever grateful,” he responds, mockingly, emphasizing it all with a grand bow.

Song Lyric Meme - Introducing Me from Camp Rock 2

To really relax herself lately, Jessie had taken to designing her own car parts. Though she wasn’t amazing at it, drawing ( along with some math ) was a fun activity to loosen up her spacial awareness and make scale measurements properly. Syr had been acting weird which worried her more than usual, and the truck she’d been working on was still not starting. Her client would be back for their car at the end of the week and she still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it ( and if she couldn’t figure it out, no one could ). Even after replacing the battery, Jessie just needed to take a step back and not think about it.

She hadn’t been expecting to take a step back into someone else, “Ah!” She clutched her sketchbook close to her chest defensively, “Oh, I thought I was alone in here.”

@askchaghatai

Tai stumbles back at the girl’s yelp, but manages to catch him before falling. His helmet, however—not as lucky. He picks it up off the ground, brushing it off as he peers over at the mechanic’s work. “Hey, those drawings are good. A little more detailing and you got yourself solid concept art. Planning on building those?”

He holds his helmet under his arm and continues with what he actually came here for, “Jessie, right? We met a while back. You fix motorbikes, by any chance? I’m having some trouble with mine. Heard you’re good with these kindsa things.”