1st roll, 2nd exposure | Video

[strangeandunusual]

[the feed shows a sunny spot in an alley, just outside the Gibson Girl. Lydia has borrowed one of their tables and set it with an assortment of snacks, fruit, a pile of napkins, a stack of glasses, and a pitcher of their amazing lemonade... but the clear focus of the shot is propped against the alley wall: a giant book that anyone from the Temple party of the Jungle mission will recognize as a retired but unusual tent. She's wearing black jeans with splatters of maroon spray paint, courtesy of her roommate's creativity, and a matching brocade top, with a large, full envelope in her hands. The envelope is 8x10, yellow slashed with red diagonal lines.]

Hi, everybody. I've met most of you, I think, but my name is Lydia Deetz, and I work at the camera shop when I'm not training. I take pictures when I'm out exploring, and when we have parties, and meetings ... pretty much all the time. My friend Fenton made this giant book with his magic as a mistake, but... I want to turn it into a big photo album for all of us, as a record of everything that happens. I have a lot of pictures already, from the first two months I've been here... And some of them are from the other night, so you're all here.

[she pats the envelope]

One of my favorite myths about photography is some people think it steals your soul. Not really, but... It helps keep a memory. And memories are part of our soul, so ... Maybe what it really does is make our souls stronger. If we're going to be doing a lot of fighting and exploring and repairing... We're going to need to be strong. So. Maybe this will help. I'm in the alley by the Gibson Girl, if you want to come and help... Or even if you want to just look at the pictures. Once all the pictures are in, I'll keep it in the lobby of the apartments until I get more.

[an awkward pause as she realizes she has no clue how to end this]

Um. Hope to see some of you?

Comments

[strangeandunusual]

Lydia tilted her head. "You know, Mal, taking missions off Merlin's board actually pays. You wouldn't go broke so far if you treated those like patrol."

[mal_contented]

"Wait, what?" [Who what now pays?]

[strangeandunusual]

[she laughed a little, surprised and not at the same time that Mal was so set on her own picture of What Being A Good Apprentice Looks Like that she'd completely missed the mission board]

Merlin has a board up near the training grounds with a list of things for us to investigate and do. I think Pain and Panic or Archimedes find out about them, or maybe they just know because of their magic? I'm not sure. But anyway, he pays Apprentices to go out and take care of things on the board. And it's about as much as working gets me. I did one with Atem because you can't go alone, and he wanted to go.

[mal_contented]

"..... No kidding? Guess I'll be doing that from now on then. I'm going to be patrolling anyway, so getting paid for it? I think I could live with that." [She grinned.] "And then getting paid to paint to blow off steam between missions? How long do you think before I could buy us that castle?"

[strangeandunusual]

The whole .....?! Oh, geez. I don't know. It would depend on who you'd have to haggle with for it... and what the market is like here. Though, I mean... It needs a lot of work, but with our powers that's no problem. Loads of equity, sturdy craftsmanship ....

[she stopped, eyes wide, then laughed at herself, embarrassed]

Oh my God, I'm turning into my dad.

[mal_contented]

[She laughed a bit.] "If that's what sounding like your dad is like, seems like you lucked out with at least one parent." [Given she never ever wanted to sound like her dad? And probably never would?]

"I should find out who we would have to speak to. We might need a third person in on paying though. Not sure just two of us could afford it. Evie could, if she was here, but Evie's clients are also generally rich kids to start with."

[strangeandunusual]

"I bet Missy would love living in a castle with us. Have you met her yet? She's got this whole regal-crazy-fun thing going on, and she loves purple and black like you do."

[mal_contented]

"Nope I haven't, maybe we should all patrol together sometime."

[strangeandunusual]

"That could be fun! I ... have to admit, I've never had the super-traditional group of girl friends you see on TV and stuff. The thought of it is pretty cool. We could even just... go hang out somewhere. Maybe the arcade? Get some candy and some ice cream..."

[mal_contented]

"The tv I've seen,. at least at home, those traditional things seem pretty boring to me. Patrolling would at least be useful." She considered, then grinned. "Think if we go part way out there with a candy and ice cream picnic with a boombox and loud music we can chase off the weaker corroded and lure in the ones that might be lurking for easy prey by pretending to be weak and stupid?"

[strangeandunusual]

It was so out of left field and absurd that Lydia blinked for a moment before it all clicked... then she laughed. "You know what, I love it! You always come up with the most creative stuff. Sure! I'll see if she wants to."

[mal_contented]

"Anything that tries for easy weak prey deserves the surprise it would be in for," she said with a grin that held a bit of a nasty edge.

[strangeandunusual]

That nasty edge was something she knew both friends had in common, and she was curious to see what might happen when they met. She might have a mess on her hands in some way or another, but at the moment it was a risk she was willing to take. Some great things came out of messes, after all.

"Especially if it makes the mistake of thinking we're easy prey."

[mal_contented]

She tossed an arm around her shoulders. "Exactly."