in a summertime frame of mind!

let the world we dream about be the one we live in now.

[lightingcues]

Iris knew, she knew she had too many references, too many photos she’d left to sit on her phone immediately after she’d taken them, scribbled notes of scenes in whatever she’d been watching that had stood out to her only to never be followed up on - but she also knew that if she needed to learn how to light every possible scene, then she needed to practice every possible scene, and to practice every possible scene, she needed a record of every possible scene. It wasn’t as if she had her phone’s camera on constantly, but it was good to know that she had it near, just in case there was a moment that had some colour, some reflection she needed to capture she couldn’t usually - and this was one of those moments.

“Hang on a second, stand still! Sorry, sorrysorrysorry, just - would you mind if I took a photo? It’s just for reference, for the colours and all that, I promise I’m not one of those guys in those movies and shows who take photos and hang them up and is just a real creep about the whole thing, and you don’t have to say yes but I promise it’ll be deleted as soon as I can get the lights down, and just - don’t move - would it be okay?” The words were tumbling out of her at a hundred miles a minute as she rushed to explain, grabbing her phone from her pocket. Sure, she could remember it just fine if she wanted - but it was always good to have something to double check with, wasn’t it?

@sunnysidestarters​ 

[lightingcues]

waterxwings·:

“Maybe we’re just- what to they call them? Serial mono-gamists. Everyone’s different, so I guess it’s possible there are some that are destined to be happy with dating anyone at anytime. Anything’s possible,” Just because Sil didn’t really understand it didn’t mean it wasn’t a valid way of living, of course. They were the one who’d just said they’d stay married to someone after knowing them for ten seconds, of course. A relationship expert, Silvie was not, “Do you believe in soulmates?” Sil asked, but then added, “Do flies have soulmates?”

“Yeah, guess anything is,” Iris concurred quietly, squinting up at the ceiling and letting a few seconds pass in silence. She’d never really been one to bother with romance - but love, she knew, was everywhere, of course it was, how much she cared about her parents and her friends was evidence enough of that, so there was no reason why everyone shouldn’t experience it differently, even if that meant marrying immediately, never marrying at all, getting a new partner every five minutes. It all counted, at least, she was fairly sure it was - before she could mentally dwell any longer on the matter, she was drawn back in by Sil’s quickly succeeded questions. “Well I mean - flies? Sure, why not?” she grinned, propping herself back up again. “I mean, they’re motivated to do… whatever it is they do in their lives, so there’s probably a soul there, so I don’t see why they shouldn’t have a soulmate. Maybe Fawn would know - like, it’d make sense if they did, wouldn’t it? Like to know, like... who to go to when they’re born, live their life quickly?”

[lightingcues]

waterxwings·:

“I… I don’t know if I could ever get a divorce. That’d be so heartbreaking,” Sil knew people got divorces for good reasons in most cases, but they also knew the mental toll such a process could take on people, “I think I’d just work really, really hard to get to know them. Everyone’s worth getting to know,” The swimmer nodded, suddenly very determined at the thought, “I think cus a marriage could affect children or other people in your life too, people take it more seriously. And not everyone simply knows what they want.”

Iris opened her mouth to say something about how it probably wouldn’t be too heartbreaking to end a ten second relationship, but after a moments consideration she decided against it, instead just deciding to listen to what they had to say with a slowly growing smile. Though she knew they had a point about how rough divorces could be, Sil’s constant willingness to see the best in others to the point where they’d apparently be happy to see out a marriage with someone they didn’t know - in that moment, that was all she could think about. “Guess you’re right,” she finally conceded, laying her head back down, “Some people say we aren’t meant to stay with the same person forever, which, like, I get, but - like, I dunno if I’ll ever get married, but that seems sort of harsh on people who might’ve found their soulmate or something, doesn’t it?”

[lightingcues]

ccndle-stcks·:

If it looked like a bomb went off on his director’s table, it was a good day. Lumiere kept his papers in… a well-kept mess. Luckily, his lighting assistant was just as familiar with some organized chaos as he was. It may have been a lot of work, ut everything had it’s place, “Ah, Iris!” He greeted the girl’s lit up face, searching for a pen to take notes, “What did you want to run by me?”

@lightingcues·

“Hey!” As soon as she’d stepped in to meet Lumiere, Iris hadn’t been able to stop her smile from growing wider and wider - though she wasn’t able to check in on the production as much as she would have liked, just judging by how much was on his desk was a good indicator of how things were rolling along. “Okay so, basically, I know I shouldn’t be jumping this far into the show but yesterday I just - I couldn’t get Lot Of Livin To Do out of my head, my brain just wouldn’t stop ticking away on it, so I threw together a couple rough ideas for the lights near the end, the full ensemble part?” as she spoke, she pulled up an empty chair and put her bag down, pulling out a sketchbook and hurrying to flick through the pages, “Most of the clips I watched from other productions, they have everyone who’s not Birdie sort of... in the dark, you know, but since it’s one of the first songs in the second act and it’s meant to be big and fun and with - oh! Are those some of the costume ideas?"

[lightingcues]

waterxwings·:

“Y’know, humans are shocked when couples get married after knowing each other for less than a year, but I bet fruit flies get together even faster. They live for what, three days? For them, a year is like, 10 seconds. What if you married someone after only knowing them 10 seconds?”

@lightingcues·

“Well that depends, is that someone the one?” Iris asked after a few seconds contemplation, and though she was able to make herself sound genuine, she couldn’t stop herself from grinning, a joking twinkle in her eye. “I… don’t know, probably just get an immediate divorce or something? Why are people shocked when people marry quickly, though? People make lots of decisions really quickly, like, committing to… a doctor, or a school, or something, and they can effect your whole life, why is choosing someone to be near that big a deal?” Suddenly seriously confused, she propped herself up with an elbow from where she was lying, looking at Silvie as if they’d be able to provide her with all the answers.

[lightingcues]

tinnybelliever·:

“Iris, I love you and it is because I love you that I’ve got two words for you, okay? Lazy susans. You drill a hole or four in them, put wooden pillars in each so you can stack them on top of each other and ta da! You would have a nice rotating display for your… this.” She carefully held up her arms that cradled all of her friend’s equipment. “Oh! Or better yet, modular shelves,” Tins ranted on, probably losing the other’s attention as she lost herself in organizational ideas whose vision only existed in her head. But let’s be real, how cute would a shelf in front of a chalkboard be, on which Iris could place her cameras and trace their silhouettes around? Or shelves in the middle of a picture frame so it would look as if she framed her cameras on the wall? Tins suddenly saw the recurring problem with her ideas and ended her own creative process with a sigh, “I guess that wouldn’t help your transportation problem. Maybe next time I’d better come over to your place again. I’m sure that we can find space in a tiny dorm room somewhere, somehow.” Her higher growing pitch didn’t sound as convincing, however. “It could be a fun change!” It was the sound of a liar who didn’t even believe herself.

When she saw Iris give up her extensive search, Tinsley helplessly looked around for a place to unload and reach out a hand to her friend. Instead, she tried to offer some verbal reassurance, “Yeah, that’s no problem. It was time to update my Insta feed’s colour scheme anyways if all should go wrong. But I don’t see how it could as long as the best of the best is behind the camera.” She smiled gently.

Though Iris could always happily sit back and listen to hours of her friends talking about their individual areas of expertise, there was always something about hearing Tinsley's invention ideas that managed to really hook her - even if she wasn't always able to mentally follow what she was explaining, just something about how quickly she always managed to think of and then make some new solution she would've thought was impossible, if she'd even been able to think of it at all, that made her unable to fully let her attention fall away, even if she was preoccupied with lamps. She intermittently glanced up from the box towards her as she spoke, trying her hardest to imagine something even close to what she was describing, though deep down she knew she was definitely getting nowhere close. Envisioning lights and colours she could do - contraptions for storage, not so much. Suddenly noticing her friend's quick change in tone, now more uncertain than what she was used to, she quickly looked up to give her a reassuring smile before finally pulling herself up from the ground, taking the box with her and turning to rest it on the coverless bed behind her - where, logically, she should have put it in the first place.

"Thanks, Tins - I've got the right gels, and some extras if you do want to try something new, and they're all that really matter - might have to combine a couple different lights to get it exact, but -" turning back towards her as she spoke, Iris was quickly struck by how tall the pile in Tinsley's arms had become and hurried to start dismantling it, setting some back into the box and leaving some aside, giving each lamp a moment's consideration beforehand before snapping to a decision, "- but it should be fine. Oh! And about the shelves!" she snapped a finger, suddenly remembering something and turning towards her with a smile, "I just remembered I've actually got some space in my room I don't know how to fill, and I'd love to have something of yours to put the lights on instead of just keeping everything locked away - I don't know what would work best, but if you want to make something like that? Or you could show me how - I'm not just exploiting our friendship for Lasy Susans - this should be enough?" she trailed away slightly, considering the pile she'd deemed worthy of keeping out, "God, sorry, would you mind helping me carrying some of these again?"

[lightingcues]

ro-hernandez·:

She smiled widely as soon as Iris saw her, quickly hugging her. “Yes, I should’ve,” Roxanne argued. “What kinda friend would I be if I didn’t surprise ya with a coffee every now and then, right?” Once the other had fixed her backpack, she held out the extra coffee and glanced to the students filing out of the building. “Believe me, noise is real–I just spent the day listening to my neighbor’s kids yell from my balcony.” With a laugh, she started walking toward the door. “But if that ain’t gonna sell ya, I can start screamin’ in ya ear to test out that hearin’?”

"A kind of friend I now very much owe," Iris was practically smiling from ear to ear as she finally stood up straight and took the coffee from her, taking a quick sip and momentarily following her gaze towards her classmates, quickly shifting out of the way of those still heading out. "That's kind of cute though, isn't it?" she tried to reason, tilting her head slightly and hurrying to keep in step with her, "But - yeah I'm okay, screamingwise. Please believe your assurance is enough." Quickly hopping out of the door into the sun, she took another sip from the cup and lingered for a second for her friend to follow suit. "Where did you get this from, by the way?"

[lightingcues]

nyxscouter·:

“Oh my go-” Nyx started to interject as Iris explained how lost they were. However, Nyx was very clearly amused now, rather than mad or annoyed. “Yea, let’s go, I’ll ride with you,” Nyx agreed, motioning for Iris to follow them as they pivoted to cross the street. They had already hit their daily limit on the bus pass, so it wouldn’t cost Nyx anything to catch up with Iris over the commute. “Your school’s usually the last stop on a lot of bus routes, so you can hop on any bus that says University on the front of it.” Nyx chucked. “Living in New York really makes you fluent in public transport, I guess.”

“What, are you sure?” Iris frowned uncertainly, “I mean, I appreciate it, but if you have someplace to be, I really just need to know where th- you’re walking! You’re walking, okay, we’re going.” Her talking pace had significantly quickened by the end, talking more to herself than to them at that point (and honestly praying that they didn’t hear) as she hurried to catch up with them. “Right, okay, University on the front, got it.” She wasn’t fully prepared to admit that, despite seeing a good number of busses in her life saying exactly that, she’d completely failed to make the connection until Nyx pointed it out. “Oh yeah, isn’t it, like, a bit hellish? Like, no offense to New York or anything, but the stuff you hear about the subway and everything, it sounds…” unable to find the words, she gestured vaguely, hoping that it would make her point. “Or is that just a stereotype?”

[lightingcues]

ro-hernandez·:

{ @lightingcues }

Roxanne didn’t make it a habit of keeping her days wide open–she usually had at least one job scheduled on the weekdays so she could have a steady amount of money coming in, but everyone needed a day off. Trying to think of something to do, she remembered that Iris was at school and figured she’d surprise her with some coffee. It didn’t take much to drive to the campus and pick up some coffee before showing up outside the class room she knew Iris would be in. “Hi, sunflower,” she said as soon as she saw her. “Figured you’d need a pick me up. I remember how rough my first year was.”

If it didn’t have the intermittent mention of something she was actually interested and the promise of getting better a few more weeks down the line, Iris wasn’t sure she’d be able to sit through another few hours of learning about location permissions and directors she didn’t know the names of, much less care about - cinematography had never been her first priority, and though she knew she was enjoying it deep down and it would help her in the long run, it was slowly but surely getting to her how much work she would have to do - and, more importantly, how little time she’d have to see her friends. Luckily for her though, as she spilled out of the room, bag pulled onto her front so she could finish stuffing her notebook inside, she noticed that one of them had already managed to (presumably unawarely, given how she was fairly sure none of her friends were psychic) solve the last problem for her. “Rox!” she half-laughed as soon as she saw her, quickly moving towards her, pulling her into a one-armed hug while she used her spare hand to zip up her bag. “Thank you so much, you shouldn’t’ve - sorry, give me a second…” she pulled away for a moment to sling the strap back over her back, “…sorry - do you wanna head outside? We spent like, two hours watching silent films, I need to know noise is real.”

[sunnysidegossip]

most likely to brighten your day?

                  UGH, BORING. but fine – i can name some overly happy-go-lucky annoying balls of sunshine… from the top of my mind: IRIS, TIMOTHY and FAWN. only looking at their happy bouncing gives me a headache… but hey, i guess that’s what people like around here ( the bouncing, not the headache – duh ). { @lightingcues, @nctawoozle & @ofsunandpaws }

[lightingcues]

nyxscouter·:

As Iris got going, Nyx held back a laugh. Truthfully, they were more proud than anything, that Iris had a passion and a drive to get things done. Plus, she was in college working towards that. Still, Nyx was very lost on the whole lighting thing and what all that world entailed. “Yea, hello to you, too,” they replied with a bit of attitude. “But keep up that initiative. If they see you working hard on your own, your professors and folks will see that.” Iris’ miniature rant almost distracted Nyx from realizing that Iris was now following them. “And just where do you think you’re going now?”

Though Iris could tell, mostly by Nyx’s stifled expression, that she’d ended up sounding somewhat ridiculous, she could only give them a slightly embarrassed laugh at their greeting before looking up at them with a small smile as they gave their encouragement. It was at moments like that when she realised just how lucky she was for her friends, especially friends like Nyx, who she was well aware had very little clue or interest about or in what she was talking about, but they still managed to humour her enough to allow her to not feel nervous about being so enthusiastic about it. “Oh!” she started, genuinely not having realised she’d started to tail them, “Sorry, it’s just... I honestly have no real clue where I am right now?” she laughed, glancing away for a moment. “Like, I know it’s stupid, cause I’ve been around here… forever, but before I started at college I only ever looked at these streets from the other side, and now everything’s, like, off, and… you wouldn’t know where the closest bus back to school would be, would you? I've just been going in circles.”

[lightingcues]

“Can you just hold this for a moment? And this one too - sorry, I know that the one I’m looking for is in here somewhere.” With no regard for the stack of lights and plugs in Tinsley’s arms that was growing precariously taller by the moment, Iris passed up another lamp from her position on the floor, kneeled in front of a box she’d been carrying under her arm since leaving for her friend’s apartment. Normally she would have done her friend’s photos back at her house - her dads’ house, she had to keep reminding herself - but since moving into her Walter Elias dorm, it had just felt too strange to go back when her parents weren’t there, her room too empty and unfamiliar to make her feel like it was even allowed to just have her and a friend over like she used to. If configuring the lights somewhere she hadn’t properly before was getting to her, though, she was doing a remarkable job of not letting it show - she’d promised Tins she would get her good photos with good lighting, and she wouldn’t let anything get in the way of that. Except maybe the fact that she light she usually used for her was nowhere to be found. Sitting back for a moment, she swore under her breath before finally looking back up towards her. “I think I left your lamp back at school.” she half-whispered, defeated. “You don’t mind if we make do with these ones? Like, we totally can use these, but they might look different.”  

(@tinnybelliever)

[lightingcues]

mcsterfredrick·:

ₒ°❂ — AFTER getting what seemed like a dozen text notifications on his phone ( which was quite unusual for the rather unpopular guy ), fred put his videogame on pause and threw his console next to him on his king-size couch. checking his phone, fred found out iris had texted him multiple times, asking him for help, without a lot of detail as to what was going on. maybe she needed help with assembling furniture. then again, iris liked to be as independent as possible, and she wouldn’t be so dramatic about it. unless… damn, he really hoped nothing collapsed on her in the process of moving. ‘stay where you are, fred’s coming to the rescue,’ fred quickly responded as he stood up, taking his jacket. walking towards iris’ new place, fred’s heart sunk at the thought of her not being her usual beaming self. in the short time fred had known her, he had grown to love her contagiously radiating energy. fred knew all too well that having an all-round positive attitude in life couldn’t hold back every struggle. as he stood in front of her brand new dorm for the first time, fred knocked softly. the door wasn’t closed, so he let himself in. instead of finding a crime scene or an accident in the room, fred found iris, seeming perfectly fine, physically, at least. sighing softly, he walked towards iris and sat down on the side of her bed. “ came as soon as i could, ” he spoke calmly, observing the younger girl. maybe it wasn’t hard to figure out the emergency after all. “ you’re feeling overwhelmed, aren’t you ? ”

It only took a handful of seconds for Iris’s brain to catch up with how many texts she’d ended up sending, but by the time she’d scrambled to pick up her phone again and try to see if there was any way she could take them back (a useless endeavour, she’d had her phone long enough to know,) they’d already been seen, and before she had a chance to send a quick ‘all good dont worry actually sorry to bother you’ she felt her stomach drop as the three dots of Fred’s response almost immediately popped up - though she did have to smile when his message did come through, it didn’t do much to alleviate the guilt that had crashed over her like a wave. It didn’t take knowing Fred for a long time to know there was pretty much nothing she could say that would make him turn back, so she figured she may as well try and make the room look somewhat presentable before he arrived, hell, maybe she could use the motivation to actually solve the whole problem - but as soon as she put her phone down and pulled herself back up to her feet, she immediately wanted to just collapse back down again, so she settled for just unlocking the door and leaving it slightly ajar before doing just that and waiting in silence for him to actually get there. He’s going to think you’re an idiot, she thought to herself, but before her inner monologue that would primarily consist of telling herself she was making a mistake by even being there could go on for much longer, it was cut off by Fred’s voice, and she quickly sat up to see him stood in the doorway. Giving him a grateful but still apologetic half-smile, she shifted over to make more room for him, glancing away as he sat down to look over daunting mess of boxes once more. “It’s just - I had everything, and I had all these ideas, but it’s just it’s different, but I don’t know what it’s different to because I just, and there’s too much...” she stammered through her botched explanation, mentally hitting herself with every word, before just hiding her face in her hands and nodding. In theory, she supposed it was better to text someone than just sit there and do nothing, and he didn't seem to have minded dropping everything to come check up on her, but that was slightly outweighed in her mind by the fact that he really didn’t deserve to have to see her acting like a child. “I’m sorry.”

[lightingcues]

nyxscouter·:

Iris not living at Mama Odie’s was understandable but mildly irritating all the same because they knew how crazy college campuses could get. So, running into Iris around town gave Nyx the ease to know the kid was okay. As Nyx passed by Iris on the sidewalk, they slowed down and nudged her to get her attention. “I hope you headin’ home to study, Iris Dean.”

@lightingcues

If there was one thing Iris had figured would be easier to get used to, it would be returning to her dorm instead of her family’s house - she’d been going back and forth to the Walter Elias accommodation since her friends started college years before her, so it shouldn’t have been too hard - but apparently, as evidenced by the fact it had taken her 15 minutes to try and find her way to a bus stop that would take her to the right place near the theatre, it wasn’t as simple as she’d assumed. She’d been so preoccupied trying to figure out why her maps app was apparently acting up, in fact, that she hadn’t even realised one of said friends was nearby until she was physically alerted to their presence. “Nyx!” she exclaimed, a grin quickly spreading on her face as she hurried to stuff her phone into her pocket and turn on the ball of her foot so she’d be walking in the same direction. “I mean, technically, I was just trying out some colouring stuff because my brain just could not stop ticking away on it, and they were finishing up clearing out from the last show in there so they said if I helped pack up I could use the lighting board, and it actually turned out really good, and I know that’s not really studying? But with what I’m doing it’s more just… practice, than studying, really, unless you’re going to see something, but those classes haven’t even properly started yet and we won’t get to that for a while anyway, and…” she trailed off, suddenly realising how much she said and finally settling on a sheepish smile. “Hi.”

[hemmo-96]

Fawn isn’t the fastest flyer, but she can’t be beat at tag. +

[angelwarm]

i love yellow ! it’s the color of kindness and caring, buttercups that sparkle in the sunlight, and gentle sunrises ! every good day feels yellow

[lightingcues]

ro-hernandez·:

“Nothin’ wrong–unless that mess is my make-up. Then I gotta fix it as soon as possible.”  Roxanne smiled softly, grabbing her friend’s hand to lead her toward the nearest ice cream shop. “Just somethin’ to cool off in this heat. And maybe somethin’ dairy-free. I don’t need to be bloated.”

Iris laughed quietly, rolling her eyes fondly as she let her take her hand and guide her away without putting up a fuss. “You’re saying this as if you don’t always look perfect - you know you don’t need to worry about this stuff so much, yeah?” she asked, and though she was mostly teasing, something in her tone was genuinely serious. “I know that makeup and everything’s like, your thing, and you are the best there is, but trust me.” She smiled, skipping forward a step to cover the short distance between them so she could nudge her shoulder against hers.