Open Capturing Dances

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Ajaccio Skey

ajax ; wanderlust; travel photographer
 
Messages
1,179
OOC First Name
Emzies
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Seeing Somebody
Wand
Knotted 10 1/2" Sturdy Black Walnut Wand with Billywig Stinger Core
Age
3/2038 (23)
There were a few people that Ajaccio had thought about asking to the yuleball, but after being asked to be the primary photographer for the event by Vader, essentially from Ajax could tell, doing that boy’s job. He had decided it was likely better that he hadn’t asked anyone, anyone he asked was bound to have a boring time, so it was just better that he would stick to doing his job and just interacting with people. He spotted the leader of Accio as he walked into the room, and he gave the older boy an excited and warm greeting before continuing into the room. Ajaccio was getting himself a few early shots of the room. He had the tripod with him, and knew he could set up a few steadier shots. Ajaccio intended to still have fun at the event but he knew he needed to really make sure that he did this well. He didn’t want to let anyone on the team down. That was just unacceptable, so he grabbed himself a quick snack and then continued into the growing crowd of people taking pictures as he went.
 
Harper wasn't really sure what to expect for the Yule Ball. She'd never been to a school dance before. Her primary school had had some, but they were reserved for the older kids in Year 7 and Year 8. She'd missed the cutoff by a year, but she supposed that didn't matter much now that she was at Hogwarts and could attend not just one, but two dances a year. When her older brothers had found out, they'd warned her that school dances were always incredibly lame affairs that involved kids milling around in a dark, poorly-decorated gym. But she figured they couldn't be that bad. At least there'd be food. And dancing to pop music was always fun.

Walking into the Great Hall, Harper was immediately struck by the sight of snow. Summer was approaching, but white flecks fell from the ceiling before disappearing above the crowd. The effect was surreal, especially since she was wearing sandals and a simple sundress — the only dress she'd bothered to pack for Hogwarts. Thankfully, it wasn't very cold. Harper slowly surveyed the crowd, taking in the decorations while trying to figure out where her friends were. She really should have talked to them beforehand to figure out their plans.

The sound of a camera shutter drew her attention, and Harper turned to see a boy a bit older than her snapping photos in her general direction. She wasn't sure if he was aiming at her or the people right next to her, but she decided to strike a pose anyways just in case. She remained as still as possible for several seconds before suddenly stopping, realizing that he was probably using a magical camera. Her eyes widened, and she made eye contact with the photographer before giving an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry, I keep forgetting wizard photos move. I must've looked ridiculous." She could already imagine the image — her, standing stock still like some bizarre smiling statue, as everyone else moved around her.
 
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Ajaccio had been taking pictures of the students dancing in their groups, he was occasionally asked to take a picture by a couple and he was always happy to oblige. He hadn’t yet used the tripod, he had found his hands to be steady enough to manage it. The boy had been talking a wide shot of people dancing, he happened to be pointing the camera, towards a girl who suddenly stopped moving. He had thought for a moment about telling her, but he could still capture the moment if it was still, he’d been told by Vader that sometimes with moving picturess, even if the subject didn’t move, you could still get a shot with everything else that was going on in the picture. But it seemed the girl came to realise what she was doing and smiled at her. ”You’d be surprised how many people don’t realise,” he told her with a little laugh and little shrug, ”Do you want to take another one, this time with some movement?” he offered to the girl, holding the camera up. He wouldn’t mind doing that at all, and he was sure lots of people like posing for a magical camera where the sky was the limit on what could be done. ”And really you can do anything, like backflip, curtsey, or just wave,” he told her, though he would let her decided what she wanted to do in this picture that he might take for her.
 
Harper was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one who made the mistake of doing still poses. The boy offered to take another picture of her, and she nodded. It'd be nice to have something to remember her first Yule Ball by. He listed a couple of suggestions, and Harper immediately replied, "Oh, a backflip!" That was definitely a lot more fun than a curtsy or wave. Harper took a quick step forward away from the people behind her and glanced behind her. As she moved, her arm brushed against the soft fabric of her dress, and she suddenly stopped, frowning. "Or maybe not. Probably not the best idea while I'm wearing this," she said, grabbing the sides of her dress to fan out the skirt a bit. She really should have worn shorts under her dress.

Harper thought for a bit, the backflip suggestion making her think of other gymnastics skills she could do instead. "Maybe a split jump?" Definitely less of a chance of flashing everyone. She took several steps away from the crowd and surveyed the surrounding area to make sure it was clear so that she wouldn't accidentally kick someone in the face. "You might want to stand back," Harper warned. After a few seconds, she took a small step forward before jumping, turning mid-air, and bringing her legs into a front split. As she landed facing backward, she tried to remember her old coach's advice about keeping her limbs extended. She paused for a second before turning toward the boy. "Did you get that?"
 
Ajaccio thought it would be so cool to catch the girl doing a backflip, but after a moment she seemed to decide against it. ”if you want a picture doing a backflip, I am so down to take that,” he told her excitedly. He would so be keen to capture that. He was sure that someone else had, but he wanted that for himself. He wanted to take that picture too, because in his mind it was just going to be amazing. However, she opted for something else. A split jump and he knew he would soon find out what that was. He took his camera and got the settings right. He moved a little back and made sure it was adjusted right. She counted it down silently, and Ajax had the camera taking the picture as soon as she jumped. It was only a few seconds. Didn’t take long at all. Ajax kept the camera up until he knew it was done and therefore at the question nodded, ”That was awesome!” he told her. He laughed lightly before extending his hand to him, ”I’m Ajaccio, or Ajax, intern for the Accio yearbook and yuleball principal photographer!” he introduced with a lot of grand statements and a mock bow to her.
 
Harper smiled widely as the boy nodded and complimented her. "Glad you think so!" She was also pleased that she was still flexible enough to do split jumps. Her Hogwarts acceptance letter had opened up a new world to her, but to enter it, she'd had to leave behind some things—like Muggle sports. Harper had tried to keep up her old stretching routine and drills in order to maintain her gymnastics skills, but it was hard to practice without proper equipment. She missed her old gym and suddenly felt an urge to start tumbling down the Great Hall in a series of handsprings and round-offs. "We'll have to save the backflip pics for sometime when I'm not wearing a dress," she said in part to the boy, but also as a reminder for herself.

The boy extended his hand, and Harper shook it. "I'm Harper, no fancy nickname or titles," she said laughing slightly before dipping into a clumsy curtsy to match his bow. "Intern is so official-sounding. Do you get paid?" She'd never heard of a school having interns, but maybe the yearbook was a bigger deal here than it had been in her old school. "And did you sign up to shoot the Yule Ball or was it assigned to you?" she asked curiously. Given that it was one of the few school-wide events of the year, she imagined it was an important assignment that came with a lot of responsibility. At the same time, being in charge of photos for the ball probably made it difficult to actually enjoy the dance.
 
Ajaccio was sure that doing a back flip with a skirt would be no issue, but he’d take this girl’s word for it. He of course didn’t wear skirts and so he couldn’t say if it would. He also couldn’t do a back flip but that was definitely beside the point. He nodded at her introduction, Harper, no nickname or titles, which he thought to expect, since he was sure she was a first year. He laughed lightly when she asked if he was paid, and if he signed up. ”I don’t get paid, it’s all voluntary, this is like my year to decide whether or not I want to actually do it,” he said, ”There’s also a lot to learn,” he added, thinking about all of the different things he had needed to learn for it. As for this dance, ”I didn’t really sign up for this event. The leader of accio asked if I would do it, and I said yes. It makes it a little difficult to enjoy it, but I also just really like taking pictures and I can take breaks,” he explained. He knew it would’ve perhaps bothered him more if he had bothered to find a date for the event, but without it was easier to just work away. ”How are you enjoying the Yuleball?”
 
Harper nodded, listening as Ajaccio explained his role. She supposed it made sense that the school wasn't paying yearbook members. At least he still got a cool title and seemed to genuinely enjoy the job. "Well, if you ever want a longer break and need someone to create a distraction, let me know," she said with a smile. However, there was so much going on that she thought it'd probably be quite easy to slip away without anyone noticing.

At his question, Harper thought for a second. "I just got here, but it's been nice so far! They really went all out with the decoration though the snow's a bit strange," she said with a little laugh, glancing upward at the white flakes that continued to drift downward. "It's like we're in a movie." Then again, her whole life was like a movie now. After all, magic was real. "But I bet the snow makes for cool photos. What about you? How have you found the ball so far?" she asked, curious to get an older student's take. Everything about Hogwarts was just so new to her, and she wondered if the novelty ever wore off.
 
Ajaccio nodded, ”I might just take you up on it,” he probably wouldn’t owing to the fact he didn’t want to let Vader down meant he was probably unlikely to really do it. He wanted the other guy to have a good yuleball, and he would do this. It wouldn’t be too bad. He was having fun and taking people’s pictures was good fun to him. He listened as she spoke, nodding along at how amazing it was. It was sorta like a moving. ”It’s pretty incredible,” he said. ”I’ve seen a lot of really cool places in my life but this was like whole other level first time I saw it,” He said with a little smile. ”I’m in third year and I can assure you it never gets old,” the ravenclaw told the younger girl. He knew that every year he liked seeing it and why he liked taking pictures too, to capture and hold on to how amazing this place was. ”Are you here on your own Harper, or with some friends?”
 
It was reassuring to hear that Ajaccio still found the Yule Ball enjoyable, even as a third year. "On my own," Harper said in response to his question. Though she knew some of the other first years had gotten dates for the ball, she hadn't bothered. The idea of slow dancing or being stuck with one other person the entire night sounded boring. "I was going to look for my friends, but that might be tough." The crowd was growing bigger by the minute, and everyone's outfits were creating a dizzying array of colors. "Things would be a lot easier if cell phones worked here." Harper had found over the past semester that trying to arrange things with her friends on the fly was impossible at Hogwarts. She always had to wait until she saw them in person. "How do wizards communicate in these situations? I don't think trying to send an owl now would be a good idea," she said with a smile, picturing an owl dive-bombing someone mid-dance. Ajaccio was a third year, maybe he knew about some other magical communication device.
 
Ajaccio smiled at her and nodded, ”This event is fun alone too, they can be fun with people, but fun without,” he told her, of course his three years of experience now was more than her none, but it wasn’t as much as other people. Though Ajaccio couldn’t really see it getting that old. ”Yeah, magical people have a lot of good things, but keeping easily in touch is not easy especially not at an event like this,,” he laughed lightly, ”From what I’ve heard the ministry has these memo things. They’re like emails but rather than going via like the internet they fly in the air like paper airplanes,” he had never been to ministry so this wasn’t something he could say for certain, but it was probably true. ”I’ve also heard that when you learn a patronus you can use it to speak to people. Well send a message, like leaving a voice mail,” he thought that would be cool but it would take a while before either him or her could do that. ”Hey Harper, do you want to dance?”
 
Harper eyes widened in wonderment at Ajaccio's description of the flying messages. "That's surprisingly whimsical for a bunch of government officials," she said with a smile. "I'm sending all my messages via paper airplanes from now on," she declared. Levitating them would be easy, but enchanting them to seek out the recipient was another matter. Maybe she'd seek out Professor Kain and ask if he knew some kind of homing charm.

At Ajaccio's questions, Harper nodded eagerly. "Yeah, sure!" She'd gotten a bit caught up in their conversation and had momentarily forgotten that presumably the whole point of a dance was to, well, dance. She started to turn towards the dance floor but paused, eyeing his camera. "Are you going to be able to dance holding that?" It looked expensive and fragile. She suddenly frowned. "I'm not keeping you from your job, am I? I'm not distracting you?" Personally she thought dancing would be a lot more fun than watching people dancing, and her offer to create a diversion so he could sneak off was definitely still on the table. But it was clear he enjoyed his job, and she didn't want to get him in trouble.
 
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