Zari Tarazi (thedragongirl) wrote in momadness_log, @ 2021-11-01 17:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | dc: ray palmer, dc: zari tarazi |
WHO: Ray and Zari
WHAT: Outfit shopping, and then tragedy
WHEN: Wednesday, October 20 (Backdated)
WHERE: New York
WARNING/STATUS: Low, Complete
Zari came very, very close to swallowing her tongue when she saw Ray walk out of the fitting room in his latest suit. They'd been at it for a couple of hours now, and gone through several stores wherein she'd been very blunt in her critique of all the suits he'd tried on. This was the one that left her silent, however.
The way the inky black fabric wrapped around his arms and legs and torso, broken up by the crisp white of his shirt, was like something out of her dreams. It didn't matter if it wasn't bespoke; they didn't have that kind of time. She had to grip the side of the chair she was curled up on and set her tea down before she splashed it everywhere. It was taking everything she had not to launch out of her chair just to get her hands on the smooth lines of him. "Oh. Hello," she murmured as she unabashedly drank him in. "Oh, yes."
This was the last shop before they broke for food, hopefully. Not that he was trying to rush things, but he figured Zari would be bored of looking at him in suits by now. He knew he was, a few years ago he would have enjoyed picking out a new suit, but billionaire Ray Palmer was long gone. The only suit he really cared about now was ATOM. Though as he looked himself over in the mirror he had a feeling this one was a winner; the black wool was definitely the correct weight for the season. Stepping out into the little waiting area, he stopped in front of Zari and waited for the critique.
It didn’t come. In fact the way he was being stared out drew a blush to his cheeks before his brain even registered the look and he ducked his head looking down at the Armani with a bashful little smile. “So, this is the one?” Lifting his head, he smiled fully, feeling a surge of something flood his system in the wake of her reactive words.
Keeping her movements slow and deliberate, Zari unfolded herself from her seat and rose. There would be no awkward flailing or stumbling into his arms like some twitterpated waif in need of saving. Not if she had anything to say about it, at any rate. She walked up to him, still trying to keep her gaze as appraising as possible instead of appreciative, and reached up to turn him toward the mirror by the shoulders. Bless him, he went without a single protest. "Look at the way it fits, and tell me I'm wrong."
She brought her hands around him and guided him through all the ways it was made for him, but was ever so careful not to touch as she pointed out the coat length and the way it brought his waist into focus. And those shoulders. Ugh, they were ridiculous, but she kept that part to herself. And, okay, so maybe—maybe—she let her fingers run lightly under his lapels that didn't need a bit of straightening, but sue her. Zari looked into his face from over one shoulder and smiled. "It's perfect."
As Zari approached, he felt himself frozen in place and oddly warm under her appraising gaze. A part of him wondered if it might change to an appreciative one if given the chance. He was so distracted by that particular thought and what it might lead to if Zari did decide she liked what she saw, that he almost forgot to look at himself in the mirror when the woman in question turned him toward it. “Okay, I’m looking, it’s fine across the shoulders.” He gave a little shrug to prove the point, it wasn’t too snug a fit so he could actually do so freely.
Ray’s eyes tracked the movement of Zari’s hands as she indicated each place where the designer had ensured the suit would fit the wearer perfectly and he had to admit, Z was right. He could feel how close she was to his back and the way she ran her fingers under his lapels sent a shock right down his spine. Catching her gaze in the mirror, he smiled and nodded, “Perfect.”
She had to admit, it was getting more and more difficult not to act on her impulses where Ray was concerned. For just a moment, Zari let herself have the touch of his shoulders and the top part of his back as her hands came back toward her. They lingered between his shoulder blades for a handful of seconds, where she told herself to calm down before patting him lightly and then nudging him back to the dressing room. This was the part where she resolutely ignored the heat in her face and the fluttering beat of her heart. "Back to street clothes, mister. And then food, before I get hangry."
He could feel the heat from her touch long after the little pat to his back broke the stillness. Ray went easily as he was nudged back toward the dressing room, holding up his hands in mock surrender at the words. “I’ll be as quick as possible. I really don’t want to see you hangry.” Disappearing from sight, he carefully undressed, slipping the suit and shirt back onto their hangers, and his own clothes back on. Looping the wire hooks over his fingers, he let the suit hang over his shoulder as he rejoined Zari, and looked for the closest cash desk. “What are you hungry for, Z?”
"You." Well, apparently it wasn't just the suit itself that was working for her, but she couldn't really pinpoint exactly when her thoughts had shifted that way. But shifted they had done. Zari had stood and had her bag ready to go, but she hadn't slid her sunglasses into place just yet, so there was no hiding the blush along the top of her cheeks. "Zu," she went on after a second's pause as they went to find a checkout counter that was staffed. "I have a craving for Japanese food, and there's a place near here that does a great vegan soba noodle salad with yuzu dressing. Sound good?"
Nailed it.
Ray didn’t quite catch himself before his eyebrows headed toward his hairline at her initial answer. Though he distracted himself by making a beeline toward the till, and definitely didn’t think about what would happen if he admitted he felt something similar. The blush didn’t go unnoticed and he had to admit on Z it was incredibly cute. “Yuzu soba noodles sound great.” Smiling at the beautiful man behind the counter, Ray handed over the suit and put the purchase on his credit card, glad he’d managed to secure one of those when he’d arrived in this world. “Thank you,” he gave another smile as he took the bag and offered Z his free hand. “Does this restaurant have good Saké too?”
She couldn't fault the man behind the counter for giving Ray a very appreciative smile. It was similar to the one she'd kept herself from giving him. Zari especially could have kicked herself for that when presented with his hand, which she just kind of stared at for a couple of seconds. After banishing her phone to the bottom of her purse, she took it, and was gratified to earn a subtle dirty look from the counter-god. "It's...comprehensive. You'll have to teach me."
They stepped out into a grey day, but Z didn't mind. Ray was pretty much a walking ball of sunshine. Her purse buzzed and chirped, but she ignored it. "Aside from the Waverider, just how well traveled are you? I wonder how different that looked for you than me. Every once in a while I forget that you're, what?" Her nose wrinkled in wry and teasing amusement. "Thirty-something years older than me?"
“I’ll do my best,” Ray’s smile brightened as soon as Zari took his hand, squeezing her fingers gently as they navigated their way out of the store and onto the street. It wasn’t the best weather, but in her company he really didn’t notice. He did hear the chirping coming from her bag, but if Z was ignoring it, then he could too.
Her teasing question brought a startled laugh as he processed the words and how true they were. Somehow the fact that he’d met Zari in the future had fallen along the wayside during their travels together on the Waverider. They were similar-ish ages in their present, but if he were to return to when he’d come from before joining the team Z would still be in junior school, and technically still Zee, while he’d still be legally dead. Best not think about it too hard.
“Aside from the Waverider, I’ve traveled enough for business purposes, the usual places; Japan, Europe... oh, and I went to New Zealand to see Hobbiton. Though that was just for me. Anna and I went to Antigua, that was lovely.”
The usual places was right—except for the next to last one. And the one after that. Anna. His fiancée. Zari already had it in her head to bump shoulders with him over the whole Hobbiton thing, but she softened it into something much lighter at the mention of his personal tragedy. Sometimes she forgot about that, what with the smile he wore all the time. Ray had some darkness in his past, and pretty much all of it was things that had been done to him. An irrational part of her wanted to wrap him up and keep him away from the kind of nasty world they lived in—regardless of the universe—that could hurt him so.
But she wasn't the vain, selfish woman who would have actually tried to do any such thing, especially without keeping Ray's wishes and desires in mind. "I'll bet it was gorgeous. We were practically island buddies, but several years apart, I imagine. I spent a couple of weeks in Barbados after I graduated from business school. As a treat." Her phone kept buzzing and chirping. It hadn't been this obnoxious when she was dating that one actor for two days she barely remembered because she'd been bored and he'd been far more interested in her (male) assistant at the time. "Please tell me you wore costumes in New Zealand, and that we can find photographic evidence of this if we ever get back home. I need it for… reasons, okay?"
He could tell that mention of his former fiancée put a slight edge on the conversation, but that always tended to happen whenever Anna was brought up. People didn’t quite know how to handle it. The shoulder bump made him smile and he squeezed her hand lightly in response, glad that it hadn’t become a thing. “It really was very gorgeous and our hotel was in a fairly tranquil spot. That's where my love of dark rum was kindled. Not that I drink much or often, but you know what I mean.”
If Zari made a mental note right then and there, well, that was between her and her own head. The holidays were probably going to be insane, but totally worth it.
“I’ve never been to Barbados, but I’d like to go back to the Caribbean one day; maybe I’ll try there next.” Ray smiled, though his glance did stray to the chirping purse, “You sure you don’t need to get that?” A blush crept up his neck at the mention of costumes, and he gave a little tilt of his head as if trying to remember. “There might be some pictures of a Ranger in Hobbiton, but I don’t know where they are exactly. Speaking of costumes though, I’ve just about finished my knight for the Masquerade.”
She patted the side of her bag like she might be trying to sooth a whiny pet, but ignored it for a few moments more so she could pout up at him. "A Ranger. Well, here I was hoping for fuzzy Hobbit feet, but I suppose the tall, dark thing probably really worked for you. Guess I'll just have to make do with my own very fertile imagination." Her eyes lit up as she reached across herself to take his upper arm and shook it lightly. "You have not! I'm so behind on Halloween, it's not even funny. Well, I'm behind on getting something. You know me, I already have oodles of ideas."
Finally, she gave up on pretending her phone wasn't losing its damn mind, and let go of him so she could pull it free. The number of news alerts was one thing, but then she started going through her dozens of texts and missed calls and urgent emails. Cold stole through every part of her body, starting with her feet, which stopped dead. Her hand slipped out of Ray's as she stared in mounting and unblinking horror as her dreams started falling through her fingers. "No." The word was nothing more than a breath, and the street swayed around her. "No, no, nononono, no. No!"
“I’m a couple of feet too tall to be a hobbit, much as I’d like to have been Meriadoc.” He had to admit that his Strider costume had been accurate and the tall, dark, thing did work in his favor. Another blush came to his cheeks as Zari admitted to letting her imagination go crazy picturing him of all people and he chuckled as she shook his arm. “I’m sure you’ll get something amazing pulled together in time for the party.”
Ray didn’t mind at all when she let go to answer the chirping, buzzing device, though as she fell silent, he could tell something was wrong and when her hand slipped from his he knew it was bad. Moving to stand closer, as a buffer between her stationary form and other pedestrians who shot them both annoyed looks as they had to skirt around them on the sidewalk, he caught glimpses of messages regarding a Wall Street black out, leaks about companies’ dirty secrets and potential investors backing out of their deals with Z and her new company.
Sliding a steadying arm around her shoulders, Ray dipped his head, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Z, I’m sorry… let’s get someplace where we can try and fix this.” He knew exactly what this kind of setback felt like; things hadn’t been all smooth sailing with Palmer Technologies, especially in the early days. “I have my courier, if you want to go back to the facility?”
Zari's entire world narrowed down to a handful of words burned into her brain and the arm around her. She caught just enough of Ray's voice to catch the questioning tone, and might have nodded, for all that she felt disconnected with absolutely everything. It wasn't as bad as losing her brother—nothing could touch that particular agony, but it was right up there with sucky things to have happened in her life. If asked later, she wouldn't have been able to recount exactly how they'd gotten from Fifth Avenue to her room without drawing attention, but she was sure RayRay had led them somewhere quieter and out of the way before opening up the door back to the compound.
Her phone was still making noises in her hand, so she did the one thing she never, ever, ever did.
She turned it off.
Vehemently.
And then she threw it on her bed for good measure and watched it bounce harmlessly a couple of times.
And then she turned into Ray's chest and allowed herself a good, solid cry. "It's so stupid. I know it's stupid. It's just money, and I shouldn't even be worried about that right now with the fate of the universe stuff going on, and people disappearing and coming back, some of them with no memories of this place. I should have better priorities, I know, but this is what makes me happy, y'know? Building something for me that can also help other people. I was so close, RayRay. So close to being able to take things to a global level, and now… now I'm right back to where I was. And I just—I just wanted something I could look at around here where I could go, oh, that's me."
When they arrived back in the tranquility of Zari’s room, he set his bag down and took her carefully into his arms, allowing her to cry into his chest. He knew it was important for her to get it all out, every frustrated, angry, word, and listened instead of speaking himself. He understood how important this was for Z, back home she had built a multinational brand and helped others whilst doing so. It was only natural she wanted something similar here, to make a contribution in this new world. “I’m sorry, Z. I really am, and I know how important this is to you. You’ve every right to be mad and upset about this. So, just take all the time you need and tell me how I can help. If I can.”
All her best laid plans for the day were utterly shot, from lunch to finding a dress for the wedding. She knew her body was still hungry, but all her mind could feel was a hollow void into which she wanted to hurl all her rage and frustration and sadness. Ray was being so kind. Sweet. His arms were a lifeline, and she let herself sink into them. "Just be here." Her breath hitched miserably. "All I need right now is to have you with me."
“I can do that.” Ray gently stroked Zari’s back, holding his friend protectively, “I’m not going anywhere.”</div>