#daraja

If you were in the THCC in early April 2019, then you will recognize this AU.

Optional theme song of the AU

Claire first fell for Mary when they were in sixth grade. She's never said anything, because by the time she figured out it was a crush, Mary was already very boy-crazy. Claire's tried to make said crush go away, and it has, but never fully. By the time Mary finds the amulet, Claire is crushing on Jim, but that crush on Mary is still in the background. Because Jim doesn’t get the amulet, he never gains the confidence boost he needs to talk to and woo Claire, and her feelings for him fade.

Mary tells Darci about the amulet, but doesn't get the chance to tell Claire until Strickler spies Mary awkwardly walking around in full armor. She claims she's going to be trying out for the play, and when she gets there she realizes something: none of the female roles would work with armor, and the only male role she knows is that of Romeo.

Claire, of course, has been practicing at being Juliet for weeks, and when she realizes that Mary is trying out as Romeo, it's a bit of a dream come true as well as her old crush coming back in full force. After all, Mary had considered playing the part of the Nurse, but she knows Claire is trying out for Juliet, and would that mean she wants to kiss Claire?

Naturally, she's a bit sad when Mary and Darci reveal that no, this is magic armor and they had to keep the cover, sorry, they were going to tell her sooner if they could, but Claire hides her sadness behind the giant troll chasing them and the fact that Trollmarket is beautiful.

Outside of trollhunting and the play, Claire begins to distance herself from Mary. Not from Darci, though. History will call her Darci the Diplomatic, and this is where those legends start.

Mary doesn’t use the Grit-Shaka. After all, it’s just kissing, something you do as a contractual thing with guys or the person you were cast opposite of in a play. Claire is tempted to. It’s kissing her best friend, the crush she’ll never get away from. But she doesn’t. After all, it’s just stage kissing, nothing meaningful. Nothing like what Claire wants even though it’d ruin the friendship if she tried.

NotEnrique knocks down the photo of Claire, and the goblins go after her. Mary tries to save her, only to find that her amulet was stolen. And so the two of them fight the goblins with makeshift weapons. Mary decides to finally confront Claire about how weird she’s being.    “Look, I get it, you’re stressed about Enrique and the play. We’ll get him back, and yeah, sorry for making things weird. I’ve gotta keep my cover as the trollhunter,” Mary says, looking for any goblins. “And yeah, I know you don’t want to pretend to like me romantically and -”    “Pretend?” Claire asks. She puts a hand on her chest, tears in her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for a third of my life!” She turns away, unable to look at her friend after admitting the secret she's kept for the past five years. “I’m just tired of always getting my hopes up.”

The two of them are quiet when Darci and AAARRGGHH!!! find them, Mary from shock and Claire from shame.

The play goes off well, though the two leads seem a bit stilted.

Mary has a lot to think about afterwards. She throws herself into trollhunting, but not even that blocks out her thoughts about the idea of a life where she were to date Claire.

In this AU, the Akiridions land early. Darci ends up befriending Shannon and Aja because she wants a sense of normalcy when her two best friends are being weird (neither will mention Claire’s crush). Normalcy is not something she gets. This leads to the Akiridion-troll secrets coming out early. (Note: Aside from Clairy, the next major ship would be either Shanaja, Daraja, or Shandaraja. No matter what, it would contain a lot less drama than our two favorite theater sapphics.)

Alone in the Darklands, Mary is forced to finally confront those thoughts. A life with Claire seems nice, as opposed to the contractual feelings Mary gets whenever she thinks of a future husband. And yet, the idea of living a life with Claire, or any girl, seems terrifying, while a future husband is at least security. But could Mary ever have security as the trollhunter?

In her heartbreak over accidentally pushing away the girl she loves, Claire accidentally turns to Morgana.

Darci frees Mary from the Darklands. Claire can’t bring herself to be happy. She wants to be happy. Mary is back, and so is Enrique. And yet, a darkness grips her heart.

Darci is the one who finds out how to find Merlin, as well as an alternative way to defeat Gunmar. It helps that she has Akiridion allies.

By the time Mary is able to get over herself and confess her feelings to Claire, Mary has a troll form and Claire has become Morgana’s champion.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17857346/chapters/42263720

The both knew this day was coming, but that didn't make it any easier.

@talesofarcadiafemslashweek

*

Aja placed two of her four hands on Darci’s shoulders and fought to not cry. This was so much harder than she thought it would be.

“Hey, you don’t have to explain,” Darci reached out and grabbed Aja’s two remaining hands with hers “You have your parents, and your brother, and your people; I would never expect you to stay when they all need you,”

The wetness on her cheeks told Aja that she had lost the battle of holding back her tears “I wish I wasn’t queen in waiting, I wish I was being a normal girl, who could stay here on earth, with you….”

Unable to bear it any longer, the afro-headed girl pulled Aja into a hug that she quickly reciprocated.

Aja squeezed her as tight as she dared, wanting to burn Darci’s memory into her skin, to create an image in her mind that she could cherish for the rest of her life.

The damp feeling on her chest told her that Darci was crying to.

The roar of Mother’s engines from behind her was a reminder of Aja’s unavoidable departure. Still the two girls clung to each other, both wanting their embrace to just last a little longer.

All too soon, Krel called out from the ship that it was time for them to leave.

They looked at each other, both faces streaked with tears.

Aja spoke up first “....we are never going to be seeing each other again, are we?”

A sob broke free from Darci’s throat as she leapt up and threw her arms around Aja’s neck.

“I won’t ever forget you,” she choked out past her tears “Even when I’m ninety years old and living in a nursing home I’ll always remember you,”

Aja let out an anguished sob of her own “I will remember you to, even when I am becoming queen, I will always remember the time we shared,”

Darci looked into her eyes, Aja’s heartbroken expression mirroring her own, before leaning in for a kiss.

This was not their first kiss.

They had shared many kisses. Shy kisses on the cheek. Quick kisses when they met between classes. Long, impassioned kisses beneath starry skies on summer nights.

This was not their first kiss, but it would be their last.

Krel shouted again from the ship, more frantic this time.

The two girls pulled apart. A fresh wave of sobs threatened to break free from Aja when Darci stroked the side of her face.

It was now or never.

She gave the earth girl’s fingers one final squeeze “Goodbye Darci,”

Darci squeezed her back “Goodbye Aja,”

Even though it was almost physically painful to do so, Aja turned away from Darci and walked aboard Mother. She didn’t look back, if she looked back now she would never be able to leave.

All too soon, the hatch sealed shut behind her. Krel approached her, mouth open in preparation for an apology.

Aja waved him off, she wasn’t mad at Krel, none of this was his fault, but she really  needed to be alone right now.

Taking the hint, Krel walked back to the command center as the engines revved in preparation for takeoff.

Only now did Aja allow herself to look out the window at the girl she left behind.

Darci hadn’t moved at all, still standing alone in the forest clearing, tears openly flowing down her face as she watched the ship depart.

Aja looked back at the girl she loved, even as Mother rose into the atmosphere and Darci and the forest surrounding her disappeared from view. Even as the planet Earth itself shrank while Mother flew further away, Aja kept her eyes locked on the spot in the distance where she imagined Darci would be.

#VOA. | Moto mkubwa umezuka katika daraja linalounganisha Crimea na Russia

Moto mkubwa uliosababishwa na bomu la kwenye gari umezuka katika daraja kuu linalounganisha Crimea na Russia ambalo ililiteka eneo hilo mwaka 2014 Moscow ilisema Jumamosi bila kuilaumu Ukraine mara moja. Daraja hilo la barabara na njia ya reli lililojengwa kwa amri ya Rais wa Russia Vladimir Putin na kuzinduliwa mwaka 2018 lilikuwa kiungo muhimu cha usafiri kwa kubeba vifaa vya kijeshi kwa…

Ujenzi wa Daraja la Tanzanite (km 1.03) ambalo linapita katika Bahari ya Hindi kuunganisha eneo la Agha Khan pamoja na Coco Beach umefikia asilimia 70.6 na linatarajiwa kukamilika mwishoni mwa mwaka huu.

Ujenzi wa Daraja la Tanzanite (km 1.03) ambalo linapita katika Bahari ya Hindi kuunganisha eneo la Agha Khan pamoja na Coco Beach umefikia asilimia 70.6 na linatarajiwa kukamilika mwishoni mwa mwaka huu. Urefu wa km 1.03, upana mita 20.5 pamoja na barabara unganishi zake zenye urefu wa zaidi ya km 5.2, litakuwa na njia 4 za magari pamoja na njia 2 za watembea kwa miguu.