RAYA E3 - Tail Behind

Skip To Story

Planning Notes

• 2024-08-09: just got the idea to rename Boun’s ship as “the Steamboat”. It’s such an apt and cultural name. I don’t think steamboats are of this time period, maybe it’s some dystopian prototype, just say it’s magic lol. And he’s gonna champion steamboat ↗ (hotpot – dish whereby a heat source placed on the dining table keeps a pot of soup stock simmering)!
• v1.1 goal notes
  • Namaari’s intro
    • what’s her actual and perceived goal?
    • why is she pursuing Raya all the way here, for so many years?
  • Chase Sequence
    • a soldier gets stoned by a Druun
    • This makes Namaari extra angry
  • OH! How does Fang treat stone citizens?
    • 1. do they leave them, because they either
      • lose hope in Sisu
      • no clue about Sisu’s scroll
    • 2. collect them all back, because they know about the scroll and intend to reunite the gems
      • then why don’t they do what Raya is doing?
  • we can explore Boun and Sisu abit more

The Story

Fang Attack

Namaari

THRONE ROOM, TEMPLE, TAIL

• (see previous episode for a description of the setting)
• “Raya!”, a voice calls out. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”
• Raya turns around; it’s Namaari, adult, alone, just pulling herself up onto a landing that’s a stone’s throw away. (She only sees Sisu after she transformed)
  • Raya grits, “Naamari.”
  • “Oh!” Sisu exclaims, “The Namaari who backstabbed you twenty-five years ago!”
• “I’m sorry, Raya. It’s been five years. I’ve come to realise I was wrong. Please listen—”
  • “Snakes don’t change their spots, they just shed their skin. You make the worst rumours we heard about Fang sound like children’s fables…”
• “I was a kid, wanting to please my mother. But now I understand now that I need to make things right. ”
  • “You caused the world… to come to this! You took away my Bábá. You expect me to believe you now?”
• “For five years, I led a team of top scholars to study the ancient texts… Sisu’s scroll dates back five centuries. It isn’t junk. It’s legitimate.”
  • Raya sarcastically, “Good for you! All my life, I already believed that.”
  • Namaari: “My mother doesn’t. She needs to see the original scroll itself. If we can prove to her that Sisu is real, then we’ve got all of Fang behind us… Please come back to Fang with me.”
  • Raya mockingly waves the stolen Scroll, “I’m never stepping foot in Fang again. Fang is the last tribe I’d work with, and you’re the last person from Fang I’d trust.”
  • Namaari: “Raya, this is your last chance to honour your father’s One-Kumandra. We can still find Sisu, together.”
• Raya snaps back: “How dare you talk about him. Besides, I’ve already found Sisu.”
  • Sisu waves her (pathetically human) arm, “That’s me, Sisudatu the Dragon!”
  • Namaari arches a concerned eyebrow.
  • Sisu: “Raya, she said she’s sorry. We should work with her! Then we can get the Gem artefact from Fang, then we’re more than halfway complete!”
• Namaari: “Raya… I don’t know who is this crazy person you’ve convinced to be Sisu… but she’s right. If you’re collecting all the five Gem artefacts, you can’t reassemble the full Dragon Gem without Fang.”
  • “Don’t worry about the Gem shards, Namaari. Worry about the landslide…”
  • “What landsli-”
• Raya triggers a booby trap, causing some loose rocks to fall onto Namaari. The temple starts to collapse.
  • Namaari’s caught in the landslide and needs to retreat.
  • Raya grabs Sisu by the hand. “Run!”
  • While running, Raya blows on a seemingly silent whistle

TEMPLE, TAIL

• Raya and Sisu burst out of the main Temple doors
• Four Fang soldiers jump out of hiding!
  • Raya deflects attacks, but she’s pushed back
  • Raya desperately focuses on her whistle… we actually hear it now…
• Tuk-Tuk jumps out!
  • He swipes the Fang soldiers away like bowling pins
• Raya and Sisu mount on Tuk-tuk, and pull away
  • Soldiers launch in hot pursuit of Raya on their Serlots, one stays back to help Namaari
  • “See, Sisu!” Raya shouts, “Namaari laid an ambush! We can’t trust Fang!”

Chase Sequence

LIMESTONE CLIFFS, TAIL

• Tuk-Tuk is a respectably fast tank, but the tough terrain favors the predator ATV-like Serlots
  • Tuk-Tuk’s scale armour and Raya’s whip-sword repels the Fang attacks from all around
  • Namaari eventually joins the ranks of her soldiers on her own Serlot
• Let’s extend this chase sequence by adding some more mythical elements!
  • Perhaps some Druun pop up.
  • Namaari is delayed as she stops her chase to defend her people. She can actually take on at least one Druun herself with normal weapons.
  • Perhaps they use some wild local vegetation to their advantage
  • using magical properties, maybe some giant opposite-mimosa leaves that expand when touched
  • perhaps Sisu, being ancient, knows secrets to take advantage of the landscape and wildlife
• Raya gets bruised by Namaari’s attack
  • Raya reinforces her point, “Naamari just wants to steal the other tribes’ Gem shards to make Fang stronger!”
• Eventually, the chase leads them along a narrow cliffside, with a large lake basin below
  • “We need to lose them!”
  • Sisu exclaims, “The Druun and the Serlot [large hybrid cats] mounts are both afraid of water!”
  • Raya rebutts, “We are not jumping into the water!”
  • But as Namaari gains distance, close enough to touch them…
• Sisu yanks the reins on Tuk-tuk, veering him sideways and hard launching them (Tuk-tuk, Sisu, and Raya) a good distance off the cliffside and into the the water below
  • The Serlots completely halt, refusing to go into the water
  • One Fang soldier dismounts and dives in
  • Namaari to the rest: “Follow me to the docks!”

LAKE, TAIL

• SPLASH!
• PANIC. Raya is flailing all about. She takes in gulps of water – she can’t swim.
  • she was also lightly wounded
  • Whenever she falls underwater, we see quick FLASHBACKS of when she fell off Heart’s bridge, her dad turning to stone…
• Sisu tries but can’t transform into dragon form
  • (She has to remain human so that they can’t just mount on Sisu and swim off, they will need a boat)
  • but she has human limbs. She tries swimming like a dragon, which kind of works
• Sisu then notices Raya struggling. She fetches and drags her upright
  • it’s a battle, trying to save a flailing person in water. But Sisu is adept enough
• “Ika. Ika! Stop resisting. I’m here to help.”
  • Sisu calls out to Tuk-Tuk: “I’ll come back for you!”
  • Tuk-tuk wrestles with the one Fang soldier who dived in. He’s winning — pandolins are great swimmers ↗. He does a cute wave back to Sisu before continuing pummelling him.
• As Raya catches her breaths, we now see that the lake is a dock for a dozen-or-so fishing ships, mostly unoccupied
• Sisu swims over to the nearest boat and tosses Raya aboard
  • Raya thrashes around, hysterically confirming that she’s touching land again
  • Sisu swims back towards Tuk-tuk
  • Back on the boat, a shadow is cast over Raya
  • Raya, soaking wet, looks up:

Boun and the Steamboat

STEAMBOAT, LAKE, TAIL

• There’s a Tail kid, 15 years old. Frying wok in one hand, spatula in another.
• “Welcome to the Kumandra-famous Steamboat! My name is Boun, I’ll be your server today! Shrimp—”
  • Raya, still coughing out water, “Where’s the captain?”
  • “I am the captain! Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp barbecue, boiled shrimp stew, broiled shrimp stew…”
• As Boun yaps on, Raya looks over his shoulder: Namaari’s Fang squad has already made their way towards the coast. There’s a boardwalk that extends a short while, and the Serlots just have to hop across a few ships to get to the Steamboat. T-1 minute.
  • Raya, finally getting her breath, speaks over him: “Can you just drive the boat out a little bit — but not too far out!”
  • Boun: “Oh, I see, you want the steamboat-at-sea Tail experience. It’ll cost you extra!”
  • Raya glances around for people at the other ships.
  • Boun: “Sorry, until sunset, I’m the only sailor in this lake who can serve you!”
  • “What, why?!”
  • Boun, “…because it’s a leap year? On Midsummer’s Eve, the men don’t drive their boats out or do any work, to spend time with their family?—and I’m not sixteen yet.”
• Boun double-takes. “Wait, you don’t know… you’re not from Tail. Sorry, I can’t serve you.”
  • Raya: “No-no, I am Tail! Yes, I’d like the out-on-the-ocean experience.”
  • Boun: “My Mama always said—”
• SPLASH! The boat tilts as Tuk-tuk climbs aboard.
  • Boun: “WHA-WHAT IS THAT! Please, don’t hurt me!”
  • Raya: “Don’t freak out! That’s my pet mount, Tuk-tuk, he’s a Pandolin. He’s friendly.”
• Tuk-tuk uses his mouth to pull a human hand out of the water — it’s Sisu.
  • Sisu greets Boun: “S’lam! The water is so refreshing on a Midsummer noon—”
  • Boun: “Are you Tail?”
  • Raya tries to mouth-signal to Sisu…
  • Sisu spins around and checks her bum, thinking she hasn’t shifted back properly, “Ashka! Wait… no tail. Just a normal-shaped human punggung.”
• Boun: “You’re not from Fang, are you? Please don’t hurt me.”
  • Sisu: “We have gifts! Raya, you said you have lemongrass?”
  • Boun brightens, hops over, “Lemongrass?! No way! I thought they were extinct!”
• Namaari’s Serlot starts racing down the boardwalk towards them
  • Raya shoves a fistful of herbs into Boun’s hands. “Drive!”
• Boun stashes the lemongrass in a basket and hops into the driver’s seat, and launches the boat full-throttle
  • it’s not fast, but it’s enough
  • the Serlots start jumping across the vacant ships to close the gap—
  • but the gang narrowly make their escape

Fang Regroup

DOCKS, LAKE, TAIL

• One of the Fang soldiers notes that
  1. Raya can now escape anywhere, they won’t keep up with the boat
  2. they’ll likely go to Talon next for the next Gem shard
• Namaari commands not to pursue;
  • Talon and Spine are strong and dangerous territories
  • She announces for one of her elite soldiers to prepare to follow and spy on Raya
    • must not interfere. just collect info
• Namaari needs to head back to Fang to talk with her mother, Chief Viraana
  • to tell her she’s found Raya and knows she’s planning to heist the gems
  • therefore to call for more soldiers to hunt Raya down
  • she needs to know what Raya is really trying to do
  • (Namaari doesn’t actually understand the scroll she showed when she was younger)

FADE TO:

Settling into the Steamboat

Trauma

STEAMBOAT, LAKE, TAIL

• Raya looks out: Namaari’s squad retreats behind a mountain
• Raya peeks at Boun: his hands works fast with a chopping knife, slicing up the prawns and vegetables quite expertly
• Raya peers over the boat. She bites her lip in discomfort, and scurries back.
  • Sisu notices this: “Ika. What was that back there?”
  • They whisper out of earshot of Boun.
  • Raya deflects. “Yea. You didn’t listen to me, I said not to go into the water. We’ll dock as soon as possible and continue to Talon on Tuk-tuk.”
  • “Those cat things can outrun Tuk-tuk. If I had control of my full dragon power, I could fly us wherever, but I don’t, so for now a boat is still faster for long-distance travel!”
  • Tuk-tuk lounges lazily, exhausted from the previous chase
• Sisu: “Besides, we’re also safer from the Druun on the water.”
  • Raya: “We can’t be completely sure we can trust Boun, or any other sailor.”
  • Sisu: “Get your own boat.”
  • Raya: “I never learnt how to drive a boat.”
  • Sisu: “You’ve tracked down every river’s end in Kumandra, but you never learnt how to sail? Kumandra isn’t that big. If you learnt how to sail, you would’ve taken much quicker than six years!”
  • Raya, “You got me, I just don’t know how to swim.”
  • Sisu: “Then why didn’t you learn? And come to think of it, if you assembled people to spread out, finding all the river’s ends would’ve taken less than a few months!”
  • Raya bursts: “You can’t trust anyone!”
  • Sisu: “Raya, if you want the tribes to trust each other and reunite under One-Kumandra, you need to start by trusting me. Please, what’s the truth?”
• Raya sighs, downcast.
  • with voiced-over’ed FLASHBACKS:
  • “When my dad threw me into the water, to save me, the last thing I saw was him turning to stone. I wanted to cry, scream, wail. But how could I, when the river was drowning me?”
  • In the extended sequence, we see 12yo Raya had spasms in the water, just like adult Raya previously
  • never dying, never living
  • the river goes on for a long while…
• “So every time I fall into deep waters, my body does this thing…”
  • NEXT FLASHBACK: Raya, from Episode 2, six years younger, diving off the cliff away from Namaari. But from Raya’s POV, her eyes are filled with disaster, just as she hits the water. She spasms again.
• Back to present: “Every time, I’m reminded how my dad should’ve never given his trust to the other tribes.”
• Sisu: “I’m sorry to hear that. Truly. But, Boun… he’s just a kid. He’s not the Namaari who hurt you all those years ago. Namaari now isn’t the same Namaari who hurt you all those years ago either. It seems a little unfair to always assume the worst.”
• Raya rolls her head around, deliberating. “I’ve been unfair to Boun, but Namaari is a different story.”

Late Lunch

• “Soup’s boiling!” calls Boun
  • Raya sits up and goes over to Boun.

<!-- - "Wait!!" -->
<!-- - Raya swaps out the herbs in Boun's basket (which were actually padipepper) with a whole head of actual lemongrass from her satchel -->
<!-- - Boun: "The colour's different." -->
<!-- - Raya lies: "These ones are fresher, they just grow like that." -->

• Boun takes some spring onion, expertly slices them up, and scatters it into the steamboat
  • “It’s about the theatrics, the customers love the theatrics!”
• Boun takes a test scoop — he dramatically falls to his knees in awe
  • “WAH! I never thought my shrimp steamboat could get any better.”
• Boun serves up a bowl for Raya first — but notices that Raya’s apprehensive
  • “You haven’t even tasted it yet”
  • “Oh, it’s just that… I’ve lived on my own dried jackfruit for the past 25 years of my life… I’m not saying you’ve poisoned my food! Haha! You wouldn’t poison my food! I wouldn’t poison your food! Hahahahaha…..”
  • Sisu: “Quit being weird and eat the stew.”
  • Raya: “…all I’m saying is that you never know! You know!”
  • Sisu forces a spoonful of stew in her mouth
• Raya protests at first, but then she surrenders, groaning at how good it is
  • (just like Young Namaari in Episode 1 tasting the full stew)
  • Raya mumbles: “I haven’t tasted food like this since…”
• Boun distributes the rest, throwing new items into the steamboat
• Sisu: “Hey, Boun, if it’s ok with you, we’d like you to sail us to Talon.”
  • “Talon! Another tribe. I’ve never left Tail all my life.”
  • Raya: “Or just drop us off at the next stop, we’ll get our own boat—”
  • “I think I could—”
  • Raya: “No, we don’t want to trouble you. The next stop.”
• Boun: “But first I’ll need to make a quick stop on the way. There’s something I need to do.”
  • “What is it?”
  • “Oh. Just family matters. Midsummer things. Anyways, shrimp is…”
  • Raya squints suspiciously.

Namaari Interlude

DRAGON GRAVEYARD, WILDERNESS - DUSK

• Namaari and her soldiers pass through a field.
  • Petrified dragons lay in heroic poses—they look merely hand-sculpted
• Namaari solemnly (genuinely?) pays her respects, more so than the others

The Visit

Suspicion

STEAMBOAT, RIVER, SWAMP, TAIL OUTSKIRTS - NIGHT

• It’s dark-out. Fierce winds cause the Steamboat to rock back-and-forth on the turbulent River. Dry lightning flashes.
• Raya paces around. “What if he’s arranging an assault with his village?”
  • Sisu: “Boun has been gone for 5 minutes. You must have damar. You were so worried he’d poison our porridge, and see, we’re fine!”
• Raya: “But what if that’s just a trick, to get us to trust him?”
  • Sisu: “What if, what if. What about what is?”
• Raya: “What is the reason why he made us stay on his boat?”
  • Sisu kicks back on a couch. “Our comfort? He also told us to watch after the boat.”
  • “I could steal his boat!”
  • “He trusts you that you wouldn’t. And you don’t know how to sail anyways, heh.”
• Raya shakes her head and jumps out of the boat onto land. She sighs at the safety of solid ground.
  • “No one trusts like that anymore.”
  • “Raya, no! Wait! I don’t know how boat anchors work!”
• Raya wades to shore in the ankle-height muddy waters.
  • She spots Boun’s footprints in the mud. She follows it.

SWAMP, TAIL OUTSKIRTS - NIGHT

• Raya picks up her pace, weaving through the mangroves with determination
  • She brandishes her weapons; Heart’s whip-sword in one hand, Tail’s kujang in the other
• She reaches a hut. Through a window, a candle reveals the shadows of Boun and three figures inside
  • Boun whispers, “Dad… Mom… She has lemongrass AND Tail’s gem shard… what do we do?”
  • Raya narrows her eyes. Gotcha.
• Raya sneaks up, readies herself, and bursts in through the door.

Mistakes

HUT, SWAMP, TAIL OUTSKIRTS - NIGHT

• Boun turns around. His face is red with tears. He’s alone, kneeling before three stone statues — his petrified family.
• Raya drops her weapons in horror. “Oh… family matters… I’m so sorry…”
• Boun: “Wait, who’s watching the Steamboat?”

SWAMP, TAIL OUTSKIRTS - NIGHT

• Raya and Boun race through the swamp, vines swaying in the dry storm
• “Help!!!” cries Sisu. Tuk-tuk wails. Tempest. Lightning. Thunder.

STEAMBOAT, SWAMP, TAIL OUTSKIRTS - NIGHT

• The ship had drifted to the near coast of the river, splintering against rocks
• A bunch of Druun manage to climb on and tear apart the ship
• Sisu and Tuk-tuk hardly buffer the Druuns
• Raya grapples onto the roof with her whip-sword, and expertly fights off some Druun
• Boun climbs a tree, landing on the Steamboat’s roof next to Raya.
  • “Give me Tail’s artefact! Let me help you!”
  • Raya ignores him, and demolishes the Druun
• But because of her light wound from Namaari from earlier, the final Druun lands a heavy wound on Raya, knocking her down into the river
  • the satchel containing Tail’s artefact was flung onto the roof next to Boun
  • On the lower deck, Sisu grabs hold of Raya’s feet, but…
  • Raya’s upper half gets submerged under the currents, and she starts spazzing out
  • Raya struggles and finally manages to sit up out of the water
  • from the tattered roof, a Druun looks down at her
• The Druun on the roof jumps down onto Raya…
  • There’s a rapid flash of blue.
• Pulling the camera back: Boun takes Tail’s Gem artefact (we’ll be referring to it as “the Kujang”) and slices up the Druun as it falls mid-air
  • Boun has chef slicing skills.
• The Druun vaporises.
• Boun expertly releases some slack ropes, causing the Steamboat to recenter itself in the River
  • Large cloths unfurl throughout the ship’s exteriors, shielding them in sudden silence and peace
• Raya passes out from exhaustion.

Resolution

STEAMBOAT, RIVER, TALON OUTSKIRTS - DAY

• Sisu shakes Raya awake: “We’re here.”
• Boun steadily brings the tattered Steamboat towards some meagre docks
• Raya sees her wounds bandaged: “Thanks, Sisu.”
  • Sisu: “I don’t know how to bandage wounds.”
  • Raya spots the roll of bandage besides Boun. He did it for her.
• Raya: “It’s already noon?”
  • Sisu: “Yeah, lunch is ready.”
  • Raya: “I’ve always woken up myself before sunrise. But for the first time in years, I’m waking up to voices other than Tuk-Tuk. I feel safe. On a boat.”
  • Sisu nods over to Boun
• Raya walks up to him. “Thanks for saving me… I’m sorry about the Steamboat.”
  • Raya, “Sorry. For assuming the worst of you. And for what happened to your family.”
  • Boun, “That’s Kumandra, I guess.”
• “It doesn’t have to be. Boun, would you still be willing to take us to Talon — I’ll pay for your boat repairs… do you trust me?”
  • “No.”
  • Raya sighs. Nods in acceptance. She opens her mouth—
  • Boun: “No, not yet. Maybe, in time. Besides, the ship needs repairs.”
  • Raya: “Gus-gus, captain. Let’s sail.”
  • In the back, Sisu smiles.