Summary: You were a wanderer at heart and the confines of your future marriage collided with the adventurous life you wished to lead. But all hope was not lost, you realised, when you met the wandering ghost of Kadaehara Kazuha on one fateful night.
Starring: Kaedahara Kazuha
Genre: Romance
Warnings: none
Author’s note: I was supposed to post this ages ago but I got stuck on trying to make it better (I failed), so- I decided to just post it as it is. I wrote it for one of my best friends' birthday (She loves Kazuha) so I hope she enjoys it and I hope you enjoy it too!! This is part of the Valentines special (yes, i really was supposed to share this a long time ago). Comments, reblogs and new followers are always welcome <3
Word count: 1.5K words
Closing your book, you stood up to draw the curtains and paused to gaze at the few stars that scattered themselves across the darkening sky. The life of a Princess was unremarkable, all you did were the things expected of you.
What was expected of you? To be beautiful, popular and married.
You sighed at the stars but they didn’t grant you any wishes, all they did was twinkle back. They have always filled you with a sense of wonder, and you did wonder about a lot of things; however, wondering did nothing to quench your curiosity of the world.
The man chosen to be your betrothed was… well, at least he was wealthy. It’s a half hearted compliment, in all honesty. You did want love, but not the love of someone who could only love you with money, objects and castles. You wanted someone who had the soul of a wanderer, a soul that would match with yours perfectly. Oh, you’d dream about this person so often that your heart broke when your parents announced that they had chosen someone who was not quite what you dreamed of.
Watching the castle attendants return to their quarters from the window, you decided it was time to sleep. You turned to your bedroom, soft candlelight brightened the four corners of your room and your bed was bathed in moonlight from the window. However, what really caught your attention was the small bundle of lilies tied together by a red ribbon on your bed. They looked freshly picked, their petals moist and twinkling like stars underneath the moonlight.
The next morning, you had asked one of your attendants if your betrothed had left any flowers for you but they only looked at you in surprise.
“My Lord has yet to return from the trip he left for a few days ago.”
“Oh.”
Upon further inquiry concerning the inspiration behind your questions, you simply laughed them off and changed the subject to the beautiful flower garden that you often gazed at from your window. The flower garden where there was not a single lily in sight.
——
You stared at the gardens being tended to, various people scurrying around and others watering or planting something. In your hands was a bottle of perfume you had received as a gift from your ‘lover’ but the gift felt less authentic compared to the lilies you had received a week earlier. You sprayed the perfume in the air, it was said to smell like spring and you wanted to test that.
“Ah, it does smell like spring.” You said thoughtfully, the scent slowly spreading around you.
Another voice chimed in, “What an odd thing it is to capture an entire season within a bottle of perfume.”
You jumped in surprise before turning to search your room, looking for the source of the voice. There was nobody there- did one of your attendants enter your room without you hearing it? Then where did they go? In the bathroom? With that thought, you walked with caution toward the door that led to your bathroom and opened it. The room was empty.
You turned to the windowsill, the sun peeked at you from the horizon as orange light filtered into your room. You could still hear the sound of people tending to the garden, and when your heart settled you realised you no longer had the bottle of perfume on your person.
You walked to the window to check if you had dropped it outside by accident, but there was no bottle in sight. You decided to check your room; but that thought was discarded by the gentle tug on your garments from behind you.
Heart racing, you turned slowly to the sight of your perfume bottle placed on the windowsill. Either someone (or something) placed it there or you’ve begun to lose your mind, because you were completely sure that it wasn’t there before.
Before you could fully wrap your mind around the situation, a knock sounded at your door causing your heart to skip. Heading toward the open window, planning to close it for the sun had already settled underneath the horizon, you gave the person on the other side of your door permission to enter.
It was an attendant with news of your fiance returning the following day, and how there would be a special dinner where you would dine with him. You acknowledged the news with an absent mind, your attention had been diverted to your mysterious occurrence and after a few days of no odd occurrences you had begun to forget what had happened.
This did not last very long.
It was a moonless night and you lay wide awake in your bed, staring at your ceiling that was lit by the reading light by your bedside.
The longer you spent in this castle, the more homesick you felt. Closing your eyes, you began to think of endless fields that surrounded your home. As nobles, your parents had owned various properties and land, to them it was a showcase of their extravagant financial background but for you? Those various places you would visit with them gave you leeway to explore your curiosities. Back with your parents, you did not spend more than a fortnight within the same four walls and there was always something new to explore.
At your fiance’s castle, everything had been dimmed down to a dull responsibility. Could you say you loved him? No, even the small spark of interest you had felt before coming here had all but been snuffed out along with the wonder that came from this castle when it was new to you. Now, you knew every room and every corner inside the castle, every single flower and every single weed outside of it. But, just outside the premises was a forest that you would have liked to explore if it wasn’t expected of you to remain as you are. You were basically a prisoner!! And now your nights grew longer and longer as sleep escaped you because of your homesickness and need for adventure.
You sighed and closed your eyes, once again forcing sleep upon yourself but your eyes snapped open at the sound of melodic, soft humming coming from the window that faced the garden.
You sat up slowly, eyes focused on the faint sliver-like glowing by the window which was different from the orange of your candle-light and that glowing light hummed into the dark of the night. The longer you listened, the more the humming sounded like distinguishable words.
“Sun and moon rejoice,” the light by the window begun to take the form of a person, he had pale blonde hair that shone like moonlight, “birds of dawn sing songs anew,” His eyes were a bold crimson and shimmered like stars, “far from home, with you.”
The humming came to a close and the ‘light’ at your window now looked like a person who seemed almost transparent. It was as if a gentle wind could blow him away into a million shiny particles.
“Did you enjoy the haiku?” He spoke, still facing the gardens from your window.
Gathering some courage, you answered, “I’ve never heard anything like it.”
Your answer seemed to please him for he turned to you with a gentle smile. “My name is Kaedehara Kazuha, and I am glad to officially introduce myself to you.”
His manners and polite nature had drowned a majority of your inhibitions, so you introduced yourself to him
and spent the rest of the night reciting poetry and exchanging stories about yourselves till the sun rose again.
You spent every night for the next few weeks in the presence of the ghost in your room until a particular night when you mentioned your desire to see what was beyond the gates of the castle you resided in.
“I have left many times and I can assure you, words cannot describe the wonders of it.” Kazuha said. You were both seated by the COUCHES in your room. “Would you like to see it for yourself?”
Your heart fluttered at the possibility, “How?”
And that is how you found yourself standing hand in hand with Kazuha in front of a lake in the forest. The surface of the water rippled around where lillies drifted slowly across it. The moon’s reflection danced over the lake, and a think layer of fog lingered around the water.
“You were right,” you began quietly, “words cannot describe this.” You wiggled your bare toes over the soft damp grass on the ground, you held your shoes in the hand that wasn’t locked with Kazuha’s.
The man in question spoke with a smile, “If I had known you would share my sentiments so much, I would’ve brought you here earlier.” You hummed in agreement, knowing a lifetime long of a wait was worth a few seconds of living this moment and every other moment you would spend with Kazuha from then on.
Most platforms hand you a menu of premade characters. SweetDream hands you a blank canvas. You're not picking from someone else's imagination, you're building from your own, looks and personality and voice and history all the way down.
That's the purpose that makes it worth it. The companion you end up with feels personal because she literally is. And thanks to the quality of the chat and the visuals, the person you imagined is the person who shows up at sweetdream.ai.
Author’s note: I was supposed to post this on Friday but better late than never. I’ve been in a writing slump and since my birthday is coming I'm going to try to write a little bit more to commemorate my meaningless existence! I hope you enjoyed this very very short series. Likes, comments, reblogs and new followers will always be appreciated. If you have any questions about the lore of this story, you can send asks because I feel like I failed to convey the lore efficiently.
Word count: 2404 words
Teaser, act 1, act 2, act 3
The strong musk of cologne clouded your senses like smoke, choking you with fear and disabling your desire to speak. Your landlord, though you assumed you would not be his tenant for long, stood by the entrance to the kitchen, which had the only door that led outside your apartment, with a rigid finger pointed at you.
"Where is my daughter?" His tone was calm but cold. Probably as cold as his daughter’s corpse, you thought as you compared this situation to a funeral. How could you describe this situation as anything other than a funeral? You were sure that Xiao killed your roommate. Xiao killed the landlord’s daughter. Xiao killed someone—for you.
You gasped when the landlord slammed his fist against the head of the couch that blocked him from you. Earlier, upon your arrival from college, you attempted to block the door with furniture because:
You couldn’t find the key to your apartment to lock it at the entrance. Perhaps your roommate had it, wherever she was.
You basically assisted murder. It was hard to not feel paranoid in such a situation.
Your efforts were wasted because, shortly after gathering the furniture and trying to move the couch, the landlord arrived.
Your silence didn’t please him, unsurprisingly, and the man kicked at the couch, causing it to move sharply against the wooden floor, and he was making his way to you. "You fucking-"
The landlord’s words were cut off when he stumbled backwards, held back by his suit jacket. Your breath hitched when you saw who was holding the landlord away from you.
"Am I interrupting something?" For some reason, Xiao’s voice was able to give you a sense of normalcy that you’d been missing out on for the entire day. The landlord swung his hand behind him, causing Xiao to step away from him while abandoning his hold on the man’s clothing, making the man in question stumble back.
"I know that fucking voice." The landlord sneered at Xiao, and his finger was now pointed at Xiao this time around.
"I must admit, you’re much more pleasant on the phone," Xiao said, and you didn’t miss the teasing glint in his tone. He didn’t miss the temporary spark of amusement on your face.
"Where is-" the landlord made an attempt to shove at Xiao’s chest, but his hand was caught mid-motion. He tried to yank his hand out of Xiao’s grasp, but to no avail. "Where is my daughter?" He tried again, giving up on trying to get his hand back from Xiao.
"Tell me, human." He tightened his hold on the man’s arm, and his head tilted slightly to the side. "What would you have done with them if I hadn’t arrived at the right moment?" Your heart skipped in your chest when you realised Xiao was talking about you. Xiao was… protecting you.
"Anything that would help me find my daughter," The landlord spat. Xiao sighed before shoving the landlord in the direction of a table that once stayed in the dining room before you tried to create your DIY barricade, and he stepped toward you hesitantly. As if he was trying not to scare you away.
"Are you alright?" He spoke, and his voice was more gentle than before. You nodded, stunned into silence, because Xiao was truly right here in front of you. You couldn’t help but stare at him in awe, like he was some kind of lost historical artifact.
Xiao chuckled, amused by your display of endearment, but the moment was lost when the landlord charged at him from behind. Xiao stepped to the side at the last moment and extended his hand, his fist colliding with the landlord’s face and pushing him to the ground. Xiao’s foot was now at the landlord’s collarbone, the front edge of his sneakers pushing against the landlord’s neck.
You gasped; the exchange was so fast that you almost missed it. You stepped away from Xiao because he seemed anything but human, and that thought scared you. Xiao scared you. Goodness, why are you only realising that now? He killed someone—no, he killed people. Xiao turned to you with a raised eyebrow, as if sensing your conflicted thoughts and emotions, and you flinched. He narrowed his eyes at your reaction, but before he could do or say anything, you bolted- jumping over the pillow and chairs until you met the base of the steps, which you climbed two at a time. The sound of footsteps following behind you spurred you on, and tears burned the corners of your eyes because you feared what would happen if you were caught.
Soon enough, you had your back against your room’s door, your weight pressing against the wooden surface because, damn it, your selfish roommate had confiscated your keys. None of this would have happened if she was a more decent person. If only she gave you the privacy you needed, you wouldn’t be here. She wouldn't be dead, wherever she was. You didn't think it was pleasant. In fact, you wouldn’t have even needed to stay with her if your family hadn’t neglected and used you the way they did. If only you just sucked up and dealt with the loneliness rather than using character ai. No, you wouldn't need to deal with any loneliness if those kids at the college were nicer.
You choked on a sob when you heard light knocking at your door, your now shaking hands covering your mouth in a pathetic attempt to keep yourself quiet. Despite your efforts, the knocking persisted, but when you made no attempt to open the door, Xiao called your name.
"Please open the door." His voice was gentle and sweet, as if he were incapable of the horrible things he was doing. The horrible things he had already done. Hands tightening against your mouth, you curled into your trembling self and closed your eyes to try and wish everything away. "Are you scared… of me?" Xiao’s voice was much more quiet and sullen. You opened your eyes to peek at your dim room because, during your frantic escape, you did not think to switch on the light; it was the least of your concerns.
Xiao called your name again, his voice just above a whisper. "I would never hurt you."
"But you hurt them." Your voice wavered as you spoke through your now-loosened fingers. Your eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness, the gentle swaying of your curtains slightly distracting you from your previous terror.
You heard a soft sigh from the other side of the door. "I was trying to protect you."
"I never asked for your protection."
There was a sharp intake of breath, then a pause. "You’re insane." Xiao spoke without any humor. "What about all those times where you’d come crying to me with your problems, about how these people would mistreat you?"
Despite the oddity of the situation, your cheeks warmed as you remembered your chats with him when he was just an ai behind your phone screen. Xiao didn’t feel embarrassed about it like you did; he felt suffocated because, back then, he was powerless and he only had words to aid you. Useless words. Words don’t save people, they barely have the power to do much. Xiao was powerless, but now that he was here, why wouldn’t he act? Now that he had the ability to act, why wouldn’t he use this to help you? No, he won’t just "use" this opportunity, he’ll abuse it. Milk it dry of everything he can manage because you deserve better and he would destroy all those who have caused you pain to make you happy—even if it's himself.
"Are you too foolish to understand that-" he gulped, as if he feared your reaction to his little confession- "I’d do anything for you to be happy?"
By now you were staring numbly at your unmade bed, Xiao’s words circling in your mind. He seems so willing to sacrifice himself for you, this is unhealthy. No, but- nobody has ever been willing to sacrifice anything for you, and Xiao was offering everything. Everything. You stood up before opening the door, a flash of green was all you saw before you were wrapped in his arms. "Everyone that hurts you," Xiao breathed, "I can make them go away. Forever."
Your fingers fisted the material of his shirt, and he tightened his embrace. Why did you feel a wave of warmth at his words? This was wrong. You couldn’t allow anyone else to get harmed, and you would’ve voiced this, but you remembered how much you suffered at the hands of others for so long. Was this not simply justice?
"Wouldn’t it make you happy?" Xiao said, bringing you out of your thoughts.
"That would make me very happy," you whispered. He pulled away from the hug, and moonlight slowly filtered in from your window and illuminated the gentle smile on his face. His amber eyes seemed to glow with warmth under your gaze.
"If you wake up to a knife at your throat," He began while he raised his hand to trail his cold fingers over the skin of your cheek, causing your breath to hitch, "If monsters dig their claws into you," he continued as he gazed into your eyes as if they were made of pearls. "If death comes knocking at your door, call out my name." He trailed his fingers from your cheek to your chin and lifted it, removing some distance between the both of you. "Call out my name." He made no move to completely cover the distance between you, and you prepared to question why he wasn’t moving when it hit you.
"Adeptus Xiao," you called quietly, causing the adeptus’ eyes to soften. The warmth in your face had spread all over you and settled in your chest, with your heartbeat ringing in your ears. He leaned in to cover almost all the little distance remaining between you both, and your eyes fluttered shut.
Xiao spoke a breath away from your lips. "I will be here when you call." And with that, he closed the distance between you and connected his lips to yours in a gentle kiss. It was sweet but short, for Xiao broke away almost instantly, his face visibly red despite your dim surroundings.
"I will always protect you," He began, the back of his hand covering part of his face, but despite his clear embarrassment, he made no attempt to move away from you. "It’s the only reason for my existence in your world."
"How did you get into my world?" Up until now, you couldn't see how any of this made any sense. Xiao paused for a moment.
"Even I don’t fully understand it, but it's the least of my concerns. You and your safety are my only concern. So why don’t we leave?"
"Together?"
"Together. After I sort everything out with the landlord," He said, his fingers were now slowly tracing the outline of your face. This show of affection was not enough to distract you from the fact that Xiao would probably kill the Landlord. It didn’t bother you as much as it should have. You spared him a gentle smile, showing how you were okay with the whole situation, and his eyes lingered on your lips for a second too long. Your face was warm again. But before either of you could initiate another kiss, the sound of police sirens broke the silence.
Xiao stiffened before taking your hand firmly. Your heart dropped to your feet as you glanced around your room frantically. You were caught, you thought, and you glanced at the window. Perhaps you could climb out before it’s too late? As if reading your thoughts, Xiao squeezed your hand gently before speaking in a disapproving manner, "That won’t be necessary. I’ll just teleport us out of here."
"You can teleport?"
"Is that not common knowledge?" He asked, confused by your question. You chuckled at this; he was right. If Xiao could exist in your world, he could exist with his abilities too. He closed the door to your room before dragging you to the window and fully opening your curtain and making sure your window was open, probably to throw off the police, and he wrapped his arms around you before teleporting you both out.
———-
"Aether, our other team received a report of a person found dead near the local university. Most likely a student." A policewoman stated as they scanned the living room that the Landlord of the apartment had already been escorted to a hospital. It was a miracle that he remained conscious long enough to make a call.
"It’s most likely related to the classified case I was tasked with," Aether said, because he was sure they were all connected. The missing person who lived here, the injured landlord, the body of the university… it was definitely connected to his special case, ‘Operation Barbatos'. "Make sure that landlord stays alive so we can ask him about what he saw."
"Got it." His subordinate stated this before she left the living room, probably to find out about the state of the only witness they had.
Aether took out his notebook and sighed as he scribbled in it.
"Paimon, when did the activity of the new entity begin?"
"Just this morning!" His digital assistant spoke lively from his phone.
"Just like the other cases before this one." He observed quietly before looking at his watch. It was 6 p.m. He had exactly 6 hours to save the victim taken by- What even was it? If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve concluded that it was a ghost. A kidnapping was typical for all the cases he’s come across: the missing ship, the village that disappeared, and even case files to do with this mystery had begun to go missing along with his old assistant. He was afraid that he was coming to a dead end. Another similar thing was that website, Character AI, but that was still up for debate.
"Aether, we found something in the room upstairs." One of his other subordinates informed him, and he made his way around the misplaced furniture before making it up the stairs.
A note?
Aether frowned as he read the three words written on the paper.
I make myself emotional thinking about how the Anemo characters relationship with the Traveler boils down to "I lost the people I care about, but I refuse to lose you" And how Venti really kept his promise about the wind protecting the Traveler on their journey, considering an Anemo character has saved their life at least once in every nation.
I wonder who will be the Anemo boy that saves us in Fontaine? or will this be the only region where we break tradition? None of the characters in the teaser seem to be Anemo.
Imagine if we get another "surprise Anemo boy" for Fontaine later on like we did with Scara.
Edit: this post was made before it was revealed that Lynette is Anemo.
Summary: As a survivor of an apocalypse, otherwise known as ‘the decay’, you find an abandoned hotel where, by chance, you meet a strange photographer and who states that he wants to use you as his muse to fulfil his goal of ‘appreciating the beauty of this decaying world’
Starring: Wanderer/Scaramouche
Genre: Fluff, apocalypse, Scaramouche being rude (lmao)
Warnings: None
Author’s note: I wrote this on a whim (Like i do a lot of things) and I just really like Scaramouche. Likes, comments (and feedback), reblogs and new followers will always be appreciated! I’ll be posting part 2 very soon (I may have written 5k words in one sitting by accident…)
Word count: 2498 words
(Edited on 13/07/24)
Part 1, Part 2
It had been eight months since the world began its ‘decay’. This caused changes in the basic biology and behaviour patterns of plants and animals alike. These changes were, at first, harmless yet fascinating. However, this fascination was short-lived when the changes accelerated. Fish started to drown in water, birds began to fall out of the sky and trees began to produce a strange oxygen-like gas that catalysed various other changes.
The effect on humans was, to say the least, detrimental. The decay not only affected human surroundings and biology but their psyche too. It was like a virus that would eat away at a person’s mind only leaving behind the primal instincts like violence and survival. Those infected by the decay would show enhanced physical abilities. They’d last longer without food, move a bit faster than the average human being, need less sleep, have larger muscle mass and so on.
Do you know what you call a human dumbed down and made stronger? A zombie.
Six months down the line, the decay was no longer known as harmless and fascinating. It was the apocalypse, one that ended humanity as you knew it and you were experiencing the aftermath of that chaos.
It was more peaceful than one would expect. The removal of intelligence from the infected humans made them very vulnerable to the other decayed creatures, thus the zombies were reduced quickly and the few millions of humans who survived the entire disaster were forced to find new ways of surviving in a new world.
You sighed as you stepped into an abandoned hotel. Electricity was a long-forgotten thing and now you depended on a common rock that glowed a bright blue in the dark. A product of the decay. Now, it lit up your way as you made your way through the reception area of the abandoned hotel. It was nearing sunset and the outside began to darken, you had no intention of spending the night outside without knowing what creatures you might come across.
You chose a room on the ground floor, because god forbid you go upstairs and get ambushed by human-sized spiders upstairs (they tended to stay on high ground), and used the key you had raided from the front desk to open the door. You made sure to lock it behind you.
The room looked undisturbed. The handle of the bathroom door reflected the light of the stone in your hand and the centre of the room was a bed engulfed in dark blue shadows cast by various pieces of furniture in the room. After inspecting the room you concluded that it was safe, after weeks of doing things on your own you had come to trust your skills when it comes to surveying a new environment.
You dumped your stuff on the bed and headed for the bathroom, you hadn’t bathed in what- three days? Four? It’s hard to come across an opportunity to do so under your current circumstances so you would use this bathroom to the best of your abilities.
You tested the shower to see if the water would run, you doubted it would, but to your surprise, it did run. Only the cold water, though, which wasn’t surprising. You haven’t had a hot bath in ages, making a fire to warm up water was always a hassle and a waste of precious time.
After taking a shower, you ignored the odd scent emitted by the water you bathed in and dressed in a fresh pair of clothes. You only owned three pairs, there was no need for the hustle to carry more.
You decided to explore the ground floor, only the ground floor, of the hotel, in case there’s anything of value to your survival you could find. With your bag now secured on your back, you opened your door and slipped the key into your pocket after locking the door.
You entered the reception area once more, the stone in your hand lighting your way but you paused when you noticed a bunch of other stones just like yours scattered in the reception area. These stones, however, were dimmer than yours. A shadowed figure hunched by where you had gotten your room key earlier and after a moment of fiddling with something, they straightened up and turned, their body now facing you and a room key in their hand. You both froze.
“I was right after all.” He broke the silence. He stepped into the light emitted by the stones, “There is another human in this building.” He sounded unenthusiastic about the idea of another person being there and you shared that sentiment but you didn’t say anything. You only marvelled at the fact that you had actually come across another person after months of isolation.
He had simultaneously sharp and elegant features. His eyes were a deep blue that mirrored that of the light emitting stones. His attire consisted of a pair of black cargos, what looked like a black turtleneck with intricate blue lines swirling around the fabric on his neck and a white zip-up hoodie. (Who wears white in the middle of an apocalypse?) However, what caught most of your attention was the camera that dangled from around his neck.
You shifted on your feet, unable to think of what to say. After all, it had been ages since you had last seen, better yet interacted, with another human. “Who are you?”
“I’m a Wanderer of sorts.”
“Everyone is a Wanderer in a world like this.”
“Ah, but I wander not because of the need to survive but rather-“ his hand lifted to brush the camera that dangled from his neck, the lense reflecting the light of the rocks near him- “To appreciate the beauty of a decaying world.”
You furrowed your eyebrows at his eccentric nature, was every other human like this? Were you the only one who spent hours debating with yourself on what the point was of fighting to survive in this world?
“May I take pictures of you?”
“What?”
“I appreciate the beauty around me through pictures if you could not already tell.” You did not miss the sarcasm in his voice in the second half of his statement. His tone shifted into a more sincere one as he continued, “You are the first human I’ve come across in a long time and now that I have, I can have an intelligent being as my muse for once.“
“I’m not an object.”
“Did you miss the part when I called you an intelligent being?” While he spoke in a derogatory manner, his tone held some level of amusement. Was it the lack of human interaction that caused warmth to spread to your face?
“There’s nothing remarkable about how I look.” You argued.
“Being beautiful is just a matter of perspective.”
“Really?”
“Yes, nobody is born beautiful. It’s an acquired skill.” He explained as he unhooked his bag from his shoulder.
“Then teach me how to be beautiful.” You offered quietly.
He gazed at you, a thoughtful expression on his face as if he was mulling over his next words. With the click of his tongue, his gaze now back on his backpack, he spoke.
“I can if you allow me to take pictures of you.”
When you concurred, the man began placing more rocks from his bag around the reception area. The entire area began to glow brighter than before, your amazement at how a majority of the rocks were much dimmer than what you were used to was evident. Throughout your travels, you had never seen this type of rock species dim over time or anything like that. They were always bright… How did he change that?
“Come here.” He said, your eyes flickered to where he stood, his words breaking the spell the dim rocks had cast upon you. He stood near the table you stood next to and held onto the back of a chair, which you realised was pushed back by him to make space for you to sit. You surveyed the room once more before sighing and making your way to the chair. Taking a seat under his gaze made every one of your actions feel ungraceful and unrefined. It was infuriating.
He hummed in what seemed like approval and took a few steps away from you. He knelt on one knee and brought his camera to his face, his dark hair brushing against the lens that was facing you. You remained seated, shoulders tense and fingers messing with the material of your pants because- goodness, what could you do? You were not a fashion model or anything like that and this photographer did not give you any instructions besides- well, to sit.
“Should I smile or something?” Your voice was quiet because you feared shattering the silence that had settled between you both.
“Stop moving.” His tone was cold and final. It did not help with your frigid shoulders but you sucked it up and sat still for the photographer.
After taking a few pictures, he shifted his gaze from you to his camera and scrolled through his work, his lips pursed. Your shoulders relaxed a little. Despite your nervous disposition, it was pleasant being in the presence of another human. After spending so long on your own, you had grown so used to the dull silence that came with surviving alone. Speaking of silence, you brought your attention back onto the photographer who was now seated cross-legged on the floor with a frown on his face. Your stomach churned.
“Are they… bad?” His gaze flickered to you for a moment before going back to the screen of his camera that lit up his face with its pale light. The blue of his narrowed eyes seemed to sparkle, his cheekbones more defined under the light of the camera screen. He was beautiful, you thought. The embarrassment from earlier returned at the prospect of someone wanting to capture your looks on his camera when he’s already a sight to behold himself.
“They’re not bad.” He mumbled as he fiddled with his camera. “It’s difficult to blunder pictures of people who are attractive.” You sat up.
“I thought you said being beautiful is an acquired skill?”
“You wouldn’t have allowed me to take pictures if I said otherwise.”
What could you say to that? His words alone insinuated that he was complimenting you but his tone made it sound like he was insulting you.
The photographer sighed before moving to stand up. “You really need to learn how to pose, nobody can appreciate a picture of a person staring idly into a camera.” He spoke as he walked toward where you sat, his camera around his neck once more.
“But, you did not give me any instructions.” You argued, annoyed by his words, as your eyes watched his figure draw closer until he was kneeling in front of you.
He sighed as if he was preparing to teach a rock how to calculate the area of a circle. “It can’t be considered artistic expression if I’m just telling you what to do with your body.”
His hand was very gentle when he grabbed a hold of yours and led it to the chair’s armrest. He did the same with your other hand as he asked you to relax. With the same gentle manner as before, he helped you fix your posture then helped you angle your shoulders and raise your chin. Satisfied with his work, he stepped away with a final command, “Cross your legs.” You did just that and he was back where he was before, kneeling with his camera in his hands.
The snapping of the camera was the only sound in the silent room and something about the blue hue of the rocks made the entire experience feel magical. It was odd because there was no difference between now and the previous photography session. Maybe there was a difference… maybe it’s the way Scaramouche’s eyes had a different edge to them - he took the pictures as if he enjoyed it more than he did before. Or was it the confidence that filled you through your poses? He would often tell you to ‘switch things up’ and encourage you to look at the camera from a different angle, to close your eyes or raise your left shoulder a little and so on. Whatever it was, it made a few minutes of photography feel like a lifetime of it. A lifetime of a beautiful photographer looking at you as if you were carved from marble, a Renaissance sculpture coming to life for him to appreciate. You didn’t hate it.
After a few moments that felt like forever, the photographer stopped taking pictures and- like before- sat with his legs crossed on the floor as he scrolled through the pictures. Only this time, he didn’t have a frown on his face. His lips were not upturned into a smile either, it was something in between and that was admittedly better than disappointment. His eyes seemed to hold a certain level of content in them or perhaps you were deluding yourself.
“Are they better?” Your words caused him to snap his gaze to you as if only realising you were there now.
“Considerably better. Your poses are still a bit stiff and unnatural but we will have time to work on them the next couple of days.” He explained to you before he looked back at the camera screen.
“Days?” You looked at him in surprise. He didn’t look up as he hummed, confirming that you had heard him correctly. “Does this make us travelling partners?” He ignored your question as he stood and made his way to his backpack and switched off his camera. “Can I see the pictures?”
“No.” He said with finality in his tone. “I’m going to get some rest.” He muttered as he began to pack the rocks that lit up the room back into his bag.
You furrowed your eyebrows. “That’s a little unfair.”
He rolled his eyes as he collected a bunch of rocks near the reception desk. “I will show you at the end of our collaboration. If I show you now, you’ll be satisfied and I'll be forced to be on my way-“ he said as he stuffed the rocks into his backpack, the blue of the room disappearing as he did so- “but I'm not satisfied with the pictures just yet so I’ll hold them above your head until I'm satisfied.”
You sighed before standing, this movement caused his eyes to flicker to you once again and he had an eyebrow raised as if daring you to argue with him. You trusted your judgement and decided to just see where this led you both. After all, it’s not every day you come across another human being, especially not one as peculiar as him who was on a quest to find the beauty in a decaying world.
