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played by Steph
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Post by Cassandra Leah Stone on Jun 26, 2018 12:38:16 GMT -5
She's been living in her uptown world
I bet she's never had a backstreet guy
I bet her momma never
told her why
(But I won’t try) for an uptown girl The thrill was. . . kind of wearing off, and to be perfectly blunt, it was tapering off to a kind of bone-thrumming anxiety. There had been a band that she saw that. . . well, she had no idea about it, because she wasn’t familiar about it, but there was an empty drum set, an empty guitar, an empty mic that wasn’t commented on. Blank spaces, really. She’d say it felt sort of empty, but she’d only heard bands playing on the radio, iPods or phones people shared with her, and on YouTube, so she wasn’t the best with live music she’d never heard before. Some political comment, some protest?
But she couldn’t puzzle it out, neither did nor could she ask. She’d slipped in for one song, slipped out, did her best not to jump at every bit of alien magic, from wondering what else they could use it for, tried to shut out the ways that they could kill her with those same spells. Magic was used freely enough at Maria’s, free enough that Cass couldn’t bring her phone, but never in this loud, eye-grabbing way. She’d never said she could understand the fear of magic before, even when Medea got her letter, and then all the siblings seemed to, but now. . .
Now she was in a crowd where nine out of ten people probably didn’t care about her, would walk past her dying without a care. Why had she let herself be separated, why hadn’t she gone to the agreed meeting place at once, why had she agreed to go for Vindra’s birthday wish despite everyone’s concerns? Just because residual magic or whatever cloaked her, didn’t mean she belonged. She needed to leave, to get out and into normality, back into her safe little world where—
That was vintage, wasn’t it? Brown eyes landed on an old-fashioned camera. She’d only really seen that type on the tourists trying to take the best pictures or splattered around Facebook on the photography friend’s pages, and they always screamed expensive. And there it was, in the possession of a girl who looked like. . . Coachella? Okay, so not that Cass has ever been there or desired to be, even if she could somehow afford it, but she’d seen those media articles put out, okay, and she could see the girl’s outfit not being out of place there. It was, overall, a hint of normality, so maybe, okay, maybe the girl was. . . halfblood or something?
"I love your camera!" She hoped the smile she had on was more casual-seeming than child-friendly. "I’ve seen some of those before— do you really have to develop them yourself?"
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played by Quinn
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Post by Theodora Lillian Mountbatten on Jul 6, 2018 9:37:44 GMT -5
 You know I’m in love
with an uptown girl ❧ The first year of Razzamatazz was going off without a hitch. Thea had never felt so at ease — even around her family. There was something about sharing a love for music and for the bands that were performing that made her feel like she was home. She’d seen kids of every age — some accompanied by parents, some over seventy years old — enjoying the concerts, the people, the food, and drink. She was amongst her people. She could only hope that Matka saw the same sort of warmth in her pictures. The entire feature was at stake. If Thea could pull this off, the festival would get the coverage it deserved in HOME. If she couldn’t…well, Thea couldn’t exactly see Witch Weekly doing an in-depth featurette. This wasn’t exactly their target market of stay-at-home moms drooling over Oliver Wood. Then again…the Weird Sisters II did look good during their set a few days ago.
She shook her head. She wasn’t going to lose this feature. She’d yet to lose a photography feature in her mother’s magazine. Somehow — be it by the grace of her good photography, or her mother’s good spirits — her pieces always ended up in the final draft of that issue of HOME.
Leaning forward, she angled a shot through the crowd, getting their hands in the foreground and the band in the background. The layout was sublime, she thought, dropping the camera down to her neck and moving through the crowd to adjust her angle. She needed options. And lots of them. As she reached her new destination, Thea realized she didn’t have many pictures of the fashion. Matka loved fashion shots. Instead of focusing on the stage, for the first time in two days, Thea turned her camera to the men and women that were flocked together like a flamboyance of flamingos. She focused in on small details and overall outfits.
A voice said something to her, Thea looked through the lens, half expecting to see someone she knew. Then again, she reasoned, looking at the unfamiliar face in front of her, if it was someone she knew, they probably wouldn’t sound so surprised to see her camera. The girl was pretty — all hair and big eyes. Thea felt a smile grow on her lips as she snapped the picture and drew the eyepiece away from her face to greet her, “Thanks,” she returned, holding it out for the girl to look at. The camera might have been her most prized possessions, but it had been through hell and back this weekend and was thusly enchanted with enough protection charms to keep it from even denting. Even if the girl was clumsy and happened to drop it, that camera was like a tank.
“I have a dark room, yeah. It’s amazing. I actually prefer it to the insta-develop film. Feels like you can’t get any emotion out of those pictures. These…” she wished she could show the girl the pictures she’d taken, but it would be a few days until they were developed. Thea paused and held out her hand. “Thea. Are you a photographer?” She didn’t see a media pass around the girl’s neck, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t freelancing or hanging out on her off-hours. [newclass=.cred]text-align:center;font-size:6pt;color:rgb(132, 132, 132);letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;margin-top:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.cred a]color:rgb(132, 132, 132);font-size:6pt;letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass] |
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played by Steph
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Post by Cassandra Leah Stone on Jul 7, 2018 9:20:35 GMT -5
 I'M NO UPTOWN GIRL
“More of a dilettante,” she responded, in half-surprise that she’d been acknowledged. “One of my earlier schools, they were well-funded in the arts, and I had a few friends that were photographers. . .” It was middle school, true, and she’d never been able to see the actual process because that one thing the school didn’t do. They’d learned to point and shoot, but that was about it, since there wasn’t any film. That was scrapped together by the parents of the richer kids, and things were sent away, returned after. Well-funded meant ceramics, art, photography, orchestra, band, chorus, but other than the absolute basics— the instruments, the kiln, a certain amount of paints, glazes, plaster, clay, and the cameras, the teachers had subsidized with the help of parents. There weren’t any dark rooms— she was half-convinced they never really existed in schools except in television shows. She guessed magical photographs needed more, because she’d seen enough to know they moved like gifs, except they were also vaguely alive.
A test of sorts, was this? She admired the camera’s lenses for a moment. Like some many-eyed insect, the glass gleamed in the light, vaguely threatening and enthralling. She knew magic was hidden, could be hidden in and around, maybe there were spells that would throw her on her ass somehow, but—
This was an all-magical event. Except for her. There was no need to spell things to harm muggles and use them here— it was a waste of magic, if magic could even be wasted.
“No, I work at a home,” she responded absently. It was a safe enough answer— Maria had one of the smaller orphanages, one of the larger foster care centers. There were others, she knew— one in London, she thought one in Wales or one of the Irelands, but there were enough staff and kids-turned-staff that she could hide herself there.
She took the offered camera at last, the weight reassuringly grounding. She knew that was another silly thing, that the weight itself was helpful, but it was another ounce of normalcy. Domum ran on spells, duct tape, and the rules of Jenga. Sometimes she had to duck out or into Charlotte’s office when Maria, Willa, or Elizaveta announced it was time for another group activity of practicing spells— the official name for all Hogwarts students and up to enchant the house’s issues better. After the semi-sentient desk— well, she knew she wasn’t the only one, kid or mentor, to think twice about the other potential of enchanted objects. Luckily the younger kids had claimed that they weren’t having flashbacks anymore when the floorboards creaked.
“May I?” She raised the camera, mentally convincing her hands they still remembered the motions. Pretty young woman— wide hazel-greenish eyes, dark hair cropped short, a few years older if she had to guess. A similar jawline, similar eyebrows to Willa, which. . didn't do much for her own stomach/nerves, really. Excited, clearly loving this. She half-wondered what her friends from middle school would do. Well, Diana Ortiz would have been bolder, really. Laura Avellaneda, quieter. Sofia Nishat, she wasn’t sure. They’d drifted apart, but she followed them on a few social media sites. Then again, that happened when you’d moved across the ocean, from the center of world to We-Officially-Still-Have-Royalty and being in on one of the world’s largest secrets, even it wasn’t particularly well-kept. Some concert had blown up across SnapChat, Facebook livestream, and she’d seen parts of it before it left.
It would be difficult to selfie what was happening now, really, and the other woman looked like she was really enjoying herself. “Cass.” Common enough name here— apparently there was another Cassandra in her sister’s House, not uncommon in her own world. There were a fair amount of half-bloods, according to her sister that had gone to normal schools beforehand, and she would have been almost twelve going in, had she been magical. As it was, she'd just finished middle school back home before going into an upper school here. The testing had been awful, and her birth month had fucked things weirder.
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played by Quinn
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Post by Theodora Lillian Mountbatten on Aug 6, 2018 9:06:46 GMT -5
You know I’m in love
with an uptown girl ❧ Thea had always loved photography. There was something about capturing someone’s soul — and essence — on camera. Later, she could go back and look at the photos and remember. Like the ones of her father. There were days when she would stare at the pictures of her father she kept in her desk drawer and wonder why she hadn’t seen it. How could she have been stupid enough to ignore what he was doing to Matka? Was the strange glint in his eyes something malicious or joy? Was it anger or happiness? She wasn’t sure she would ever know. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
All Thea knew was that she couldn’t blame herself for what had happened. She had been so young, there was no way that she could have known what her own father was capable of. All she could do now was make sure that her mom was protected. And she would be. In a few days, she would marry Malcolm and life would enter a surreal state of normalcy. Perhaps even happiness. Matka deserved that. “I’d kill for that. Working at home, I mean.” The office was okay, but Thea found that most of HOME’s employees weren’t exactly her style. They were the pump-wearing, dress-rocking type. She mostly preferred jeans and a good band tee.
She had no idea who this girl was, but Thea liked her. She tended to like anyone that expressed interest in her craft. After all, people could so easily forget that photography was art, too. Sure, there were statues and paintings, but photography was…well, it was the window to the soul. Although, ‘earlier schools’ made her pause. Was she talking about primary school? The girl knew photographers in primary school? Thea’s brow furrowed, but she didn’t press. After all, she wasn’t in the mood to discuss schools or marks beyond the: “We should convince Lufkin to add a Photography major. The world needs more dilettantes,” that she offered.
The girl with her camera was careful with it, moving it into her hands aptly. She hadn’t been lying, she at least knew a little bit about it. “Of course,” she said as the girl raised the camera to her eye. It was strange seeing her reflection in the circular lens in front of her. Thea was rarely, if ever, in front of the camera. She preferred to take a back seat to everything. But here, standing in front of a girl she’d never met, Thea felt oddly…comfortable. She even smiled right before she clicked the capture button on the top of the camera’s body.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, taking her camera back into her own hands and then raising it to face Cass. She snapped another picture, this time pulling in some of the background noise to frame her new companion. “Music festivals look good on you. Having a good time?” @ cassie [newclass=.cred]text-align:center;font-size:6pt;color:rgb(132, 132, 132);letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;margin-top:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.cred a]color:rgb(132, 132, 132);font-size:6pt;letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass] |
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played by Steph
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Post by Cassandra Leah Stone on Sept 4, 2018 13:15:45 GMT -5
I'M NO UPTOWN GIRL
"Oh!" A laugh startled out at the other girl's comment. "I mean-- I work at a home, not at home. Orphanage-like, foster place, you know? I mean, not that Hea--my mom would really notice if there were twenty-three odd more people. Maybe my boss, that's it."
She gave a careful shrug at the comment of making Lufkin put in photography. Lufkin-- Minister. . ess? of Magic, recognized from a Third year assignment of Medea's that she'd ended up doing. There was a college named after her? Medea had maybe mentioned it, more of a maybe if I study hard I could get a scholarship but I don't think they give those out sort of thing, and her writing skills likely wouldn't net her any favors with essays. Think fast, think fast-- "So, petitioning, you think? I'd bring maybe a few--" smashed crayons, broken paper clips, half-dried, partially exploded ballpoint pens, all quickly dismissed as possibilities-- "broken combs maybe, to the table and nothing more. Maybe a couple underage hellions, if we're desperate. You've got something else?" Making schools change-- was that naivety, optimism, or confidence?
The shot had been relatively clumsy, she knew. It had been years, and unless magical photography could somehow do things instantly, or there was some Poloroid-like option, it shouldn't have come out too bad. The lingo was buried somewhere in the back of her brain, but her hands had half-remembered the motions, or re-figured them out pretty quickly. It was different than the ones she knew, which made sense-- different makes of different models, across the sea, and magical vs nonmagical. Still, the translation wasn't too bad.
The brunette had been framed against the crowd, pride and fun seeping out of every pore. She'd smiled at click, and it had been natural enough that it didn't seem posed like so many of her friends could do for cameras and did for picture days. Diana had once gone from ranting about a failed test to posed and smiling plastically for the camera. Cass herself was no slouch at the false smile, at putting in warmth and care, because that was her entire life, it felt like. The other girl's had been true, Cass was sure, the love of music and Razzamatazz. She didn't know magical pictures, though, so she didn't know how it would turn out, if she would be frozen against the crowd, or move like the usual gif. That was something beyond her ken, because she learned how to take unmoving pictures, and most magical pictures moved. Still, it had been years-- that she done one that would likely turn out well enough was well enough.
She hadn't expected the returned photo, so the shot caught her happily surprised. How that would turn out on that type of camera, she didn't know. "I-- thanks. Pretty name?" don't blush, do not blush, you are nineteen. you are an adult and a motherfuck "And on you, too!" shit shit shit shit shit. double shitting cakes. "I think. I'm pretty good around crowds-- I mostly grew up in New York before coming here, but I've never been to a concert before, so this bit's pretty new. It's not your first, I'm guessing?"
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