Open Cheesy

[William Kaimarama]

((Open after Emzies))

William was almost an adult, and it felt good. He didn't think he had ever felt good about himself before. He knew for a fact that a lot of it had to do with how he had chosen to spend the holidays. He had been on thousands of hikes with his family, but spending a full week in the bush by himself, living off the land and his own wits had reminded him of who he was. He didn't need other people to remind him of that. So coming back to school, William felt like a new person. He was also eager to keep playing with his Christmas present from his parents, something they had given him to document his week in the wild. "Say cheese!" William said with a grin, falling into a seat opposite Vader's and snapping a quick picture of the Gryffindor before he had time to react properly. "Check it out!" He added, holding the camera out to show him. "Christmas present, isn't it awesome?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was startled as someone sat down next to him, and quickly took a picture of him. He was a little stunned for a second as he just stared at the boy, William. But his mind seemed to catch up as he noted the camera, ”Wow,” he said, but lightly shook his head and gave the other boy a smile. He never knew where he stood with William, but aside from the first negative encounter they had been nothing but friends since. He reached out to look at the camera, ”It looks like a good camera,” he hoped that William might give others more time to react to pictures being take but he was sure that there would be plenty of funny pictures because of how he had taken the picture, if that was how he always took pictures. ”If I knew you were interested in photography I’d have tried to find you work with Accio,” he told the other boy. He knew from the fact that the first time they’d met he’d used his camera, but he hadn’t known how serious the interest had been then. It was sometimes difficult to tell. ”What did you do over the break?”​

 

[William Kaimarama]

William handed the camera over when Vader reached for it, letting the other boy inspect it. He didn't actually know all that much about different kinds of cameras, but he was pretty sure it was a good one. "Thanks." He said happily when the Gryffindor confirmed his suspicions. He laughed softly when Vader mentioned the yearbook, shaking his head. "Nah, I dunno how to take good pictures of people, I've only ever done nature photography. My parents work in conservation, so we take lots of pictures of like, native plants and birds in the bush and stuff." He commented, picking up a piece of toast. May as well steal some food from the Gryffindor table while he was here. He perked up when Vader asked about his holiday. "Oh man it was great. Went out on a weeklong bush walk solo, I've never been out that long by myself before. It was awesome, just doing my own thing and living off the land." He grinned happily. "How about you, what'd you get up to?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was good at this point at noting things about cameras, knowing what things were good and bad about them. But he had also come to learn that people could do well with any camera’s. There were advantages to having a nice and good camera but it was aided by the skill of the person who was doing it. But it was a decent camera. He smiled at William’s response, he wondered if nature photography would suit him more. He didn’t want to encroach on William’s spot or his family’s but he couldn’t help but offer. ”Well, if you guys ever need another pair of hands on photography, I’m free,” he smiled at him, but he knew that he didn’t need to ever take him on. Vader took a cup of coffee and took a long sip of the drink nodding as William described his break, Vader had to admit that spending a week in the wilderness was about the last thing he wanted to do but that did seem more William. ”That must’ve been pretty intense,” he told him. He couldn’t imagine not having a nice bed. He slept badly enough already a week in the wild would probably be him awake the whole time, ”Were you able to use magic?” he wasn’t sure if William had turned seventeen yet or if that would actually detract from what he was trying to do. ”I slept quite a bit, and I did some odds and end for the internship i’m doing. There wasn’t enough time to really get stuck in, but Evelyn’s pretty good at finding odd things for me to do,” Vader was rather proud of his internship but he didn’t exactly want to boast about it. ​

 

[William Kaimarama]

William smiled at Vader's offer, surprised. As unusual as his family life was, he had gotten accustomed to classmates never taking an interest in it, and Vader's offer came as a pleasant surprise. "Thanks." He said sincerely. They never wound up needing an extra camera, but the offer was nice. And he'd never had a friend from school over before, maybe he could take Vader for a hike some time. He grinned slightly when Vader said his hike sounded intense, nodding slightly. Bush walks were such an everyday thing to William, it always amused him how impressive some people found them. "Nah." He said to Vader's question. "I'm not seventeen 'til February, but I wanted to do it muggle style anyway. You know, put my skills to the test." He smiled, unable to resist the slight boast. He looked up when Vader mentioned an internship, nodding. "That sounds pretty cool. What's your internship for?" He asked, before taking a bite of a piece of toast.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader gave a little nod, it was likely that William would never take him up on it but he was always willing to give it. He loved photography, it was very part of who he was as a person, and there was nothing he loved more than photography, it never bored him, or made him want to quit. It was just his passion. Had always been. He couldn’t imagine though doing a bush walk, couldn’t think of himself as someone who would manage to do it. He’d want to for the pictures but he wouldn’t think of himself as very good. Even more so if he had to do it without magic. Despite being from a muggle family, that part of his life was so distant that he knew he wouldn’t be able to live now without magic. ”Wow, that’s really impressive William. I’m sure I’d have like given up after a few hours,” he replied, it was impressive, ”Oh, it’s with EVELYN, the fashion company,” he told him a little shyly, there were differing reactions to this, depending on how well people knew it. ​

 

[William Kaimarama]

William couldn't help grinning when Vader said he was impressive. Months ago the compliment would have slid off him without really registering in his brain, but for the first time in his life, William was starting to feel confident. Confident enough to actually believe people would say nice things about him. "Thanks." He said with a grin, and listened as Vader talked about his internship. "Oh, that's pretty cool. Doing like... fashion photography?" He asked, assuming that had to be it. Vader had never struck him as all that interested in fashion itself, but the photography aspect made sense to him. "Do you get paid?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader nodded and gave a little smile, ”Is that sort of thing what you want to do once we all graduate?” he wasn’t sure how that translated to work, but perhaps there was something close to it that William would want to do. He laughed lightly at the boy’s question, before giving a shrug, ”Fashion photography is like really busy profiles. I don’t hate it, but I don’t want to like have my whole portfolio of photography to be the yearbook. Its good experience, like the connections I’m making because of it, like, it’s worth doing something I’m now, not 100% sure on,” He knew that before he’d started he’d been less sure of what he wanted to do but this helped make it more specific. ”Technically yes, but it is not very much. But I’m happy to get anything really.” he replied, he would’ve done it unpaid, since his family didn’t have to worry about that sort of thing and the experience for him was invaluable. ”The experience makes up for it, can’t only have some 4 years running accio and almost six years of doing it,” he shrugged and gave a little smile. ​

 

[William Kaimarama]

William was a little surprised at Vader's question, but he nodded. "My parents have worked in conservation for years, we live out in the wop wops near Te Anau." He explained. "I'll probably work with them or do something like that somewhere else." He shrugged. William hadn't put much thought into life after graduation, but he didn't really have to. All he intended to do was the same thing he had always done, but hopefully for money. He nodded as he listened to Vader talking about the amount of thought he had put into career plans, a little shocked. Should he be thinking about that sort of thing more? "That's smart." He nodded, trying to pretend he wasn't surprised. "It'll look really good on your CV." That was the kind of thing people said about work experience, right?

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader thought it was rather cool what William’s family did, and rather cool that his plans involved working with them. Vader could admit his own relationship with his parents was not so good, it was fine, but he wouldn’t want to work with them, and he was rather looking forward to being able to move out. Which would come as soon as he graduated. He’d have enough money saved up and he was sure Ava would be moving out at the same time too. He just nodded, ”I didn’t ever decide on like a back up career if photography like fails, so I have to put everything into it,” he laughed lightly, but really there was no other job that Vader saw himself doing. ”What classes are you taking at NEWT?” he asked, he had dropped no classes at the beginning of the year, and didn’t intend to next. He liked the ones he did and was more keen to keep them around than get rid of them. ​

 

[William Kaimarama]

William nodded when Vader said he had no backup plans. "Oh, same." He laughed. "Either I'll find someone to pay me to live out in the wop wops* or I'll just go out there and fend for myself." He joked, laughing heartily. He shrugged when Vader asked about his classes, counting them off on the fingers of one hand. "Uhh, last semester I had... Charms and Herbology, this time I've got Magical Creatures, Potions, and Apparition." He counted, wiggling the fingers of his hand when he was done. "Didn't wanna take on too much, you know. I'm only really good at Herbology and Creatures, that's the stuff I already know about." He smiled. "How about you?"

*Wop wops - NZ slang for middle of nowhere.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader laughed lightly at his joke. He didn’t know if people were paid to just go into the wilderness and live there. Surely something in care of magical creatures was like that. He hoped that William would find something like that. He wanted his friends...where he was counting William as one of them...to do what they were passionate about. ”I had history, charms, astronomy, herbology and divination, last semester and then this semester potions, DADA, Transfiguration, Ancient runes, care of magical creatures and Apparition,” he then gave a little sheepish laugh, ”I didn’t drop anything, I thought about it and then I thought about all the stuff I wouldn’t learn, and I just thought what’s two more years of stress,” he was joking but since he’d come from the muggle world and was the first of his family he felt a deep desire to do well, more so than he likely needed to. ​