RAYA E2 - Sisu Together

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(Outdated) Planning Notes

• In adding depth to Sisu’s characterization, I’d like for her to use weird old-timey terms and a foreign language to describe things and places. Kind of like ATLA’s Aang saying “flameo hotman”! Which is way better than Sisu spouting wannabe millenial slang.
• introducing three major characters in one episode might be rushed. may be better to push introducing Boun into Episode 2B, and focus first on Sisu and Namari. Here’s some things we can add to Episode 2A:
• Raya and Sisu travelling through the Tail wasteland to the Temple
  • Sisu fighting and being the natural predator of Druun
  • maybe stumbling across the ruined campsite from Episode 1
  • a proper episode for fleshing out Tail, because Episode 1 only shows one bit. So exploring more of Tail culture/locals, why the local geography makes them navigators, why the islands all dried up, how the ex-chieftess messed things up and their shard became lost
• we could also explore Namaari
  • think like the Zuko scenes in ATLA’s earlier episodes. Quickly establishing her story
  • her vastly improved in combat, against Druun and enemy humans
  • and if there’s episode screentime to show her life after the Shattering
    • her mom commenting on her betrayal of Raya and the messy aftermath (positively? negatively?)
  • 12-years old Namaari, still naive, expresses conflict over her actions, that caused so much destruction and distrust
    • was she just tricking Raya, or does she really believe in the hope of Sisu?
    • and has that belief/hope changed since?
  • we can show Fang’s gem embedded into Fang’s sceptre
  • could also fit an action sequence, 20-years-after-Shattering.
  • Fang goes into lockdown. There’s enemies within walls, some elite spectre-ninja squad causing city-wide havoc.
  • Chieftess Virana sends Namaari to lead the policing.
  • Namaari finds Raya, for the first time since the Shattering, both now 21yo, both alone.
  • Raya, a terrifying one-woman-army, seems to have come for Fang’s Gem shard.
  • they fight it out—Namaari with the combat edge, but Raya with the cheating
  • Namaari manages to protect the Shard. But Raya shrugs, because she got her objective: Namaari’s Scroll/Map to find Sisu
  • They bitterly reminisce, they were so starry-eyed about Sisu. Raya still carries Namaari’s pendant “gift”
  • Namaari (pretends?) cynicism of Raya’s pursuit of Sisu
  • Namaari’s been kept safe within Fang for 20 years, indoctrinated in self-sufficiency. Raya spits, half the population, from every tribe, is now stone.
  • they clash. Raya wins, leaving Namaari with a face wound that would scar. Raya flees the city.
  • Namaari’s furious. Swears her revenge aloud to Raya. She returns Fang’s Shard safely to her mom.
  • in-story notes for myself: Namaari’s not seen the outside world since the Shattering. It’s only after this, she checks it out and finds that Raya’s truthful.
• Episode 2A would end with Raya and Sisu finding Tail’s Gem shard, and Namaari revealing herself.
• Episode 2B would start with Namaari’s sympathetic “I’m sorry”. So 2A itself doubles down on her ruthless throughout (as Raya narrates), but 2B would offer a puzzling melancholy Namaari (now that Sisu herself has met Namaari)

Sisu’s dragon forms

Issue is that for a lot of upcoming story, Sisu is kind of passive. She doesn’t really have meaningful conversation with anyone. Barely with Boun, she’s dead weight during Talon, up till the big reveal in Spine. Her human form doesn’t contribute much to the story.

In the original show, Sisu needed a “human” form so that other characters don’t learn her true identity so quickly. But her dragon form was commonly used for plot, e.g. to drive the Shrimp-o-rium. The show originally had Sisu gaining incremental dragon magic with every reclaimed Gem piece, and had the “shapeshifting” power to explain this. But then they had to throw in a bunch of other powers on top too. And Raya could solve so many problems too quickly by just pointing to Dragon!Sisu and say, “Dragons are back, trust me.”

Instead, we can instead have Sisu have increasingly dragon-like forms, and showcase the local animals! Her best purpose is being a Jiminy Cricket in Raya’s ear. In this new version, Sisu won’t have a human form. Think of Mushu in Mulan, conversing with Raya but he’s never revealed to the other humans.

1. Dragonfly
2. ??? Lizard
3. Sailfin Dragon
4. (giant fantasy) Komodo Dragon
5. Full flying fantasy dragon

This works well with story pacing.

Before finding the first gem in the Tail temple, Sisu can just be a fragile dragonfly. It can be a comedic disappointment to the awesome dragon reveal! Sisu can explain each Gem piece reclaimed will restore her true form. And a dragonfly is sufficient for communication. This also removes the need for dressing Dragon!Sisu in human clothes, which was needed for when she turned human. Simple.

After getting the first gem, Sisu can become a small lizard. She just needs to tug on Tuk-Tuk’s reins to send them into the water. After that, she just talks with Raya. Boun doesn’t need to know Sisu exists.

The Story

Hook—Raya’s Scroll

WILDERNESS, TAIL - DAY (PRESENT)

• Chyron: TAIL - ONE WEEK LATER
• We’re in Tail
• Raya and Tuk-Tuk follow a river, now shrunk to a pitiful stream. It flows into an old wrecked ship, surrounded by old whale bones, trash, etc.
• POV: Raya sighs tiredly, focusing on her Map Scroll
  • she points to the last un-crossed-out circle
  • she unrolls the Scroll more—there’s some ancient writings, and a drawing of the ritual that she did to try to summon Sisu in Episode 1
  • unrolls it a little more, revealing it’s stamped with—the official Fang insignia.

Fang

The Attack and the Plan

MAIN GATES, OUTER WALLS, FANG - NIGHT (PAST)

• Chyron:
  • FANG (large title)
  • TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE SHATTERING (smaller subtitle)
  • FIVE YEARS AGO (this one replaces the previous small subtitle)
• Set before a nearby waterfall, an intricately-designed city with ambitious scaffolding, surrounded by a simple stone wall and a water moat.
• BANG! Iron gates crash down shut. A wheel is spun to lock it in place. not much walls, they have water aqueduct things
• Soldiers, in the glow of torches, pace up and down the battlements. Commanding shouts are heard, close-by and far away.
• In the distance, a tower bursts into flames. Purple glows. In the foreground, a captain dispatches some troops towards it.

NORTH TOWER, OUTER WALLS, FANG

• A Druun mightily leaps up onto the crumbling 10ft walls.
• A team of soldiers bravely takes it down—but a few were defeated in the process, petrifying them and spawning one more Druun each.
• The last soldier is backed up against the wall—a Druun slinkers closer.
• A FLASH of blue! FWIP! The Druun cries out and vaporises.
  • It’s 32-years-old Namaari!
  • wielding mother’s Sceptre, but it’s now glowing blue, empowered with a Gem shard (just like Raya’s keris whip-sword from Episode 1)
  • she effortlessly clears all the other Druun in sight. There’s silence.
  • she sees the petrified soldiers, then grits her teeth.
  • Namaari: “Reinforcements are coming.”
• The last soldier: “We’ve never had to fight them before…”
  • Namaari: “How did the Druun get past our water moat?”
  • The last soldier: “It’s all dried up! Then our communication…”

FADE TO:

ROYAL COURT, PALACE, FANG - CONTINUOUS

• Namaari relays the soldier’s message to a court of frenzied generals, their voices cross-faded in volume:
  • “…dried up. Then our communication, supplies, all cut. I’m getting reports of water disruptions, in almost every sector. The city is in lockdown.”
• The Generals panic:
  • “This is too intelligent for the Druun—it must be a sabotage attack from another tribe!”
  • “There must be a squad of at least thirty elite akyaar!”
• Chieftess Viraana, on the chief seat, points across the table—“Namaari?”
  • The rest fall silent in deference.
  • Namaari analyses out loud: “It has to be Tail. The Chieftess of Tail has been missing for five months, along with their Gem shard. They must be trying to steal our shard now that they’ve lost theirs. Besides, they are skilled infiltrators, they would know how to strike our weak spots like this.”
  • Viraana beams proudly. “My daughter, the sharpest among all Fang.”
• Viraana to everyone: “Restore the water piping, send troops to the borders! Assure everyone that our Sceptre will go out to slay every last Druun!”
  • The Generals nod in agreement, salute, and file out.
• Now alone, Viraana turns to Namaari with the glowing Sceptre:
  • Namaari rejects it: “We can hold off the Druun without bringing the Sceptre to the frontlines. We would practically be handing it to Tail.”
  • Viraana: “Correct… but if everyone believes that the Sceptre is at our walls, even our own—then our Tail enemies would be drawn out of the city and we safely take the fight to our borders.”
  • Namaari huffs, impressed.
  • Viraana: “Take the Sceptre to the secret vault. Nobody can know, not even the other Generals.”
  • Namaari recieves the Sceptre. “Other, Generals?”
  • Viranna: “I’m proud of you. My new Chief Military General.”
    • Viraana presents a military armband. Winks.
    • Namaari softens… then straight-faces and tightens her grip. Nods.

An Unknown Assailant

ROAD, RESIDENTIAL SECTOR, FANG

• Namaari confidently strides through a guard checkpoint.
  • She’s wrapped the Sceptre in black cloth and tied it with cords, concealing it
• The junior guards salute her. The stoic leader of the guards initially doesn’t, but he notices the new armband, and reverently salutes her too.
• In the background, a shadowed silhouette tails her from the rooftops.

CLEARING, WATERFALL CLIFF, FANG

• Namaari enters a clearing, at the top of the waterfall cliff.
• There’s an odd-shaped mound. She pulls away a camouflage-patterned cloth—revealing a metal vault.
• She unlocks and opens it. Tosses the cloth-wrapped Sceptre inside the vault.
• She senses something creeping behind her.
  • With concealed actions, she unwraps a pack of padipepper brambles
  • She quickly ducks. A sword swings past, narrowly misses her neck.
  • She swipes at the assailant’s legs with the padipepper —but the thorns shatter against the assailant’s leg greaves armor
  • Namaari unsheathes a foot-long dagger
• Namaari kicks out, sending a figure staggering back. They standoff, and size each other up.
  • A lone assailant, masked in full stealth.
• Namaari scans the area. “It’s just you. You took on my entire city by yourself. Who are you?”
  • The assailant, speechless, charges Namaari with heavy strikes and tough grunts.
  • They exchange blows, with Namaari breathing cooly and parrying defensively.
• Namaari rolls backwards, giving herself space, and produces a whistling firework rocket (like in the previous episode!) and points it upwards into the sky.
  • The assailant speaks—a female voice taunts: “Wouldn’t want mámá to think that her new Chief Military General couldn’t handle me on her own?”
  • Namaari locks eyes. She lowers the firework… and tosses it over the cliff’s edge.
• They fight some more.
• Namaari disarms the assailant’s blade, then drives in for the kill—
  • But the assailant unsheathes a new blade.
  • In slow motion, Namaari readies to dodge it
  • The new blade comes out. It’s glowing bright blue. The blade seems to curl and extend, longer than expected.
  • Namaari, caught off-guard, leaps backwards. She slips at the edge of the waterfall cliff.
    • She quickly catches the top rock, and starts pulling herself up.
  • The assailant runs into the vault.

Success: Sceptre & Scroll

• Namaari pulls herself up to see the assailant stepping out of the vault, victorious with the cloth-wrapped Sceptre.
  • Namaari jeers: “Raya. You’re not a stone statue.”
• Raya sheathes the glowing Whip-Sword. She pulls down her face mask.
  • “My people are stone. My Bábá is stone because of you. Because I trusted you.”
• Raya unfurls the cloth-wrapped Sceptre, revealing—it’s a fake sceptre replica, not glowing at all.
  • Namaari proudly cackles. “The real Sceptre never left the palace.”
  • Raya: “You’re still the same sly binturi.”
  • Raya tosses the stick at Namaari’s feet
• Namaari laughs: “There’s no ‘secret vault’—this is where we bury our junk.”
• Raya twirls a Scroll in her hands. “Actually, I got what I came for.”
  • Namaari sneers. “Sisu’s Scroll? It’s a known forgery. You should’ve just asked for it! Keep it!”
    • “You’re lying, as usual. I know Sisu is real.”
  • (What if the scroll was a fabric ↗ embroidery ↗, so it’s naturally waterproof?)
    • Raya stashes the Scroll into a fantasy Kumandra pitcher-plant, which acts like her (waterproof) satchel.
  • Namaari: “You really bought into all that trash.”
  • Raya: “You’re a back-stabbing traitor. But I know you bought into it too.”
  • Raya pulls her collar, revealing she’s still wearing the same Dragon Pendant necklace that Namaari gave in Episode 1.
• Namaari scoffs: “You’re going to track down every river’s end? Every last one? There must be hundreds. Thousands. Just to find that it was all. Made. Up.”
  • Raya: “I actually believed we would have done all that. Searching out ten thousand rivers for Sisu, TOGETHER, the two of us. Even if we would find out it WAS all made up—we could have been the first step towards One-Kumandra.”
  • Namaari: “You’d be a child to believe everything.”
  • Raya: “I was. Never again.”
  • Raya grips her Whip-Sword, ready to unsheathe it…
  • (Note: “Sisu Together” is the title of the episode)
• RUMBLE! The earth cracks—two Druun break out of the ground
  • Namaari only has the fake Sceptre to defend herself—she’s good, but she’s barely keeping up
  • The second Druun attacks Raya
    • She easily kills the Druun with her Gem-embedded whip-sword keris
    • She hesitates, then decides to kill Namaari’s Druun, saving her
• While Raya’s distracted, Namaari charges at her with an attack
  • on instinct, Raya slashes out in defence with the Whip-Sword—
  • It cuts across Namaari’s face. She screams. Raya huffs proudly.
  • Namaari attacks back, blows are traded.
  • She lands a good kick, sending Raya backwards.
  • Backed up against the cliff, Raya trips and commits to diving off the waterfall
• Namaari halts, and watches Raya disappear into the foam
  • While shaking with fury, she fires the firework rocket in the air. Boom! (decided to have her throw away the rocket earlier, more dramatic)
  • She stands over the waterfall.
  • “I SWEAR I’LL GET YOU, RAYA!”
  • We hold on this tense moment for a few sconds…

Hello, Sisu

The Dragon in the Cavern

SHIPWRECK CAVERN, TAIL - DAY (PRESENT)

• Chyron: TAIL—PRESENT DAY (FIVE YEARS LATER)
• It’s an old wrecked ship, surrounded by old whale bones, trash, etc.
• Raya methodically prepares the ritual, and postrates:
• “Sisudatu… I don’t know if you’re listening. For the past five years, I’ve searched every river in Kumandra to find you. And now I’m here at the very last one. I trusted too much, and I broke the world… Sisu, I just really… really want my bà back. Please.”
• Nothing happens.
  • Raya mumbles, “Even if it were all made up…”
  • She begins to pack up…
• Then magic happens, Sisu majestically appears!
  • “WAHOOOO!!!”
• Raya breaks down in joy, disbelief, wonder, celebration.
  • “You’re real! It’s all real… My bá….”
• “Where’s everyone?”
  • “It’s just me. Everyone else forgot about you.”
• #todo (we need to explore this)
• We completely scratch out the part about unique individual dragon magic abilities. It’s meh and doesn’t really add much.
• Raya pitches: the Scroll says a fully reassembled Gem will destroy the Druun, just like the first time, and bring everyone back from stone
  • But while the other Gem shards are with the tribe chiefs, Tail’s shard has been lost with the Tail chieftess, for the last five years
• Sisu confirms that she is drawn to the Gem shards and can direct Raya to each shard

Naamari Pinch

HILLTOP, TAIL

• (Adult 27yo) Naamari stands on a hilltop
  • we see her face for the first time: a huge scar cuts right across
• She inspects the footprints of Tuk-tuk. Her own Serlot sniffs the tracks. Four Fang soldiers on their own Serlots flank her.
• One of them point out that:
  1. Tail is infested with Druun, Raya’s good as stone
  2. Retrieving the scroll isn’t worth the risk
• Namaari turns to him, sharply spitting, “Then go back home.” The soldiers side-eye amongst themselves.
• Namaari hops onto her mount, “Or, follow me and make things right for Fang.”
  • Namaari pushes her mount onwards, leaving the rest of them to continue on.

Setup Sisu and Namaari

Introduce Sisu

SHIPWRECK CAVERN, TAIL - DAY (PRESENT)

• Chyron: TAIL - ONE WEEK LATER
• Raya and Tuk-Tuk follow a river, which has now shrivelled up to a small trickle. It flows into an old wrecked ship, surrounded by old whale bones, trash, etc.
• She enters inside the shipwreck
• She repeats the ritual.
  • “Sisudatu… I don’t know if you’re listening. I’ve searched every river to find you. And now I’m here at the very last one. I trusted too much, and I broke the world… Sisudatu, I just really… really want my bà back. Please.”
• Magic happens, Sisu appears!
• Raya: “I need to catch you up on a few things…” CUT transition;
• “What?! This is bad. I’ve been asleep for 500 years, you brought back the Druun, and none of my brothers and sisters came back? Why didn’t they come back?” #todo
• Let’s skip the part about unique individual dragon magic abilities. It’s meh and doesn’t really add much.
• Raya pitches: the scroll says a fully reassembled Gem will destroy the Druun, just like the first time, and bring everyone back from stone
  • But while the other Gem shards are with the tribe chiefs, Tail’s shard has been lost with the Tail chieftess, for the last five years
• Sisu confirms that she is drawn to the Gem shards and can direct Raya to each shard

Naamari pinch

HILLTOP, TAIL

• On a hilltop, Naamari inspects the footprints of Tuk-tuk. Her own Serlot sniffs the tracks. Four Fang soldiers on their own Serlots flank her.
• One of them point out that:
  1. Tail is infested with Druun, Raya’s good as stone
  2. Capturing Raya isn’t worth the risk
• Namaari turns to him, sharply spitting, “Then go back home.” The soldiers side-eye amongst themselves.
• Namaari hops onto her mount, “Or, follow me and make things right for Fang.”
  • Namaari pushes her mount onwards, leaving the rest of them to continue on.

Tail’s Forgotten Gem Shard

Tail Temple

TEMPLE, TAIL - DAY

• Sisu guides Raya, on Tuk-tuk, to uncover a hidden limestone temple in a cave of a cliff
  • Raya: So this is where Chieftess Wounyen hid her Gem.
• Raya explains: each Gem shard was claimed by each of the chiefs of the five lands.
• We get a splitscreen, showing each tribe chief holding a weapon that has been embedded with their Gem shard.
  • Heart’s Gem is embedded into Chief Benja’s whip-sword keris ↗
  • Fang’s Gem is embedded into Chieftess Virana’s scepter-trishula ↗
  • Talon’s Gem is embedded into each of Chief Dang Hai’s four karambits ↗
  • Spine’s Gem in a tipped kudi ↗ of a bamboo spear
  • Tail’s Gem in Chieftess Wounyen’s kujang ↗
• Sisu questions why she (in dragon form) is draped in human clothes.
  • Raya says they have to disguise so they don’t attract attention.
  • Sisu rebuffs, “But don’t people love us, after all we’ve done for them? Won’t the tribes finally unite if they see me?”
  • Raya replies, “All the other tribes have bad people, just like Namaari. Trust me.”
  • Sisu, “I don’t think this will hide me very well…”
• Sisu exclaims, they should have brought a housewarming gift for the Tail chieftess!
  • Raya mockingly waves, “I have loads of lemongrass to trade with, I’ve seen people go nuts over some common Heart herb. But this temple is abandoned.”
• They work through the temple; and Raya preemptively triggers traps safely.
  • Sisu, “Wow, you’re real good at slipping and sliding.”
  • Raya: “Yea, my dad trained me for this with our own version at home.”
  • Sisu stops, confused. “These traps wouldn’t stop the Druun.”
  • Raya replies, “They’re to stop people.” Sisu huffs in disappointment.
  • Raya also remarks that people from Tail are naturally good navigators/infiltrators, so these traps are totally in-character
• We skip the awkward setup dialogue about Sisu being “good at swimming”.

THRONE ROOM, TEMPLE, TAIL

• They enter the temple throne room. It’s a wide and deep cavern.
  • Giant-sized carved statues are carved along the entire wall.
  • Skylight beams down through the ceiling, spotlighting glittering statues
  • It seems once-majestic, but now decays in dilapidation
  • The deep bottom holds a shallow basin of murky water
  • In the dead centre, is an island atop a rock stack.
    • Rope-suspended wooden bridges form a network of walkways
• They see the skeleton of the Tail chieftess, clutching her artefect.
  • They retrieve Tail’s Gem weapon artefact: a glowing kujang ↗.
• They celebrate!
• Sisu suddenly falls to the ground, transforming into a human version of herself.
  • “I’m losing my dragon magic because the Gem is shattered! We can’t take our sweet time. But now that you don’t have to disguise me, the rest should be easy!”
• “This one was easy, but the rest of them are being held by a bunch of no-good binturis.”
• A familiar voice booms from across the cavern:
  • “RAYA!”
  • A silhouetted figure pulls herself into view—it’s Namaari.