Open Imperial Red

[Elliot Briar]

Open After @Vader Hume

Elliot hadn't met his next rose recipient, but he had to say their name was certainly.. memorable. He could swear he'd seen it somewhere around the school year book before though, and after a bit of asking around, someone had suggested he try the art room. Apparently Vader hung out here sometimes with friends, so maybe Elliot had even seen them before when he'd been here with Lars. "Is someone called Vader here?" He asked the room at large, lifting his rose basket hesitantly to explain the interruption. It was a little awkward to call out someone's name while folks were busy working on projects, but Elliot felt better about that than trying to find someone while at lunch or waiting by a common room and hoping to luck out.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader had finished delivering his roses and though he wanted to go develop some of the pictures that he'd taken. However, he'd taken longer than planned to do so, and had decided that he needed to begin on one of the other tasks that he had set for accio that day before he went to develop them. He had set himself up in the arts room, pictures from the recent valentines ball spread across the table, trying to pick the best ones of the wide shots he'd taken. He had his third coffee of the day in the flask and the camera sitting on the chair beside him off the table. Vader was working away when he heard someone ask if anyone was name Vader was in the room. "Oh that's me," Vader stood up, looking towards the person who'd asked about it, hoping he wouldn't say it again too loudly. He was sure that it would be about accio, there was no way he was getting any more roses. ​

 

[Elliot Briar]

"Oh, good," Elliot let out a relieved breath, walking over to Vader and fishing out the rose. He was a little surprised at how many red and pink roses he'd been given today, and hoped it wasn't too awkward handing them out to people he didn't really know. "Here you go," He said, handing over the rose and note. "Oh those are really nice, is that the uh, from the dance?" He said, tilting his head to look at the photos Vader had spread out in front of him.

Spoiler: Note

I Love youuuu Timmy!! ~Helene!

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader's cheeks visibly reddened when he pulled out a red rose and handed to him. Vader was quick to take the note and open it, visibly relaxing when he realised it was just from Ava. A small warm smile spread over his features, she was the best friend that any person could ever ask for. He looked up when the other boy motioned to the pictures and asked about them. Vader looked between the boy and the pictures and nodded, "Yeah, they're for Accio, trying to find the best ones," the boy told him with a little smile, Accio though it stressed him to no end, having to lead it was an immense pressure, he could talk about it passionately for hours. he loved accio. "I tried a new method of getting the wide hall shots, so, I'm seeing if it worked well enough to include any of them in the yearbook," he held the rose and note lightly in his hand as he spoke. ​

 

[Elliot Briar]

He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't curious about some of the red or pink roses he was delivering today, especially since all of them had come with notes too, but Elliot figured it was none of his business. He did note that Vader seemed to relax a bit after reading the note, so he guessed it was good news. Not that he'd really expect someone to said a red rose with bad new he supposed. Elliot nodded when Vader explained some of the pictures. "Are they harder to develop or anything when there's more people? Like.. more moving parts?" He didn't know much about photography and hoped it wasn't a weird question, but seeing the wide shots Vader had mentioned with so many students and decorations where amazing.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader put down the rose and the note next to his camera and picked up the coffee taking a small sip of the drink as he listened to the question, "They aren't harder to develop, but, it's not like a muggle camera, where you can see how it looks before you develop it," Vader told him with a little shrug putting the coffee back down once he'd taken a second sip of it, and looked between the pictures until he found one where several people were moving but the manner in which they were moving made the picture blurry, he held it up to the other boy, "The wider lens captures more, but with everyone moving in different directions at once, it can make ensuring focus hard, so you end up with something like that," he motioned to all the sections he thought were wrong with it, and then grabbed what he thought was the best photograph of the lot, everyone in focus, seemingly moving in sync, flowing outfits, "But you want something like this," he held out the other one, "If too many end up bad, it's not a method to use moving forward in accio, but if most are good, it means we won't have to be carrying the camera's all night," Vader stopped himself, blushing heavily when he realised he'd been rambling to someone who probably didn't care much. "Sorry," he looked at the ground between them with a shy expression on his features.​

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot listened as Vader explained a bit about the pictures, peering at each photograph as Vader showed them to him. He figured he mostly got what Vader was talking about, he knew you had to focus cameras and everything, though he wasn't quite sure what Vader had done differently, it was clear he knew what he was talking about. "That cool that you're working out a new way to do it, the year book's lucky to have you," He said, hoping it didn't come across too much like he was pandering. Elliot raised his hand placatingly when Vader apologized though, he could recognize that guilty feeling when it felt like you were talking way too much. "It's okay, it's interesting, I promise, though I uh, I don't want to keep you from all this or anything." He said, motioning to Vader's photos.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader laughed a little nervously, holding the pictures still in his hands with a little sigh escaping, "I'm not so sure, but it doesn't have much of a choice, I run the yearbook," the boy gave a nervous, tentative smile to the other boy. The gryffindor appreciated the boy's tone and words assuring him that it was interesting. He looked back at his work and nodded, "I have so much to do," he agreed with a grimace, thinking of all the things that he needed to do just that day. Vader rubbed his eyes tiredly, before he looked back at the boy who'd delivered his rose, "Would you mind if I took your picture with your rose basket?" Vader gave a little smile, "I tend to take pictures when delivering roses, but wouldn't mind the change up?" ​

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily needed to find Elliot. Now. She'd been running, remembering the list of names she'd seen he had. She was hoping he would be in the arts room- given the amount of time he'd been delivering she really really hoped she was right. She was beyond relieved as she turned the corner and saw him standing there.

"El!" She ran right to him, knocking into him and burying her face in his side. She was burning a bright red, she was sure the blush carried all the way to her ears. She bit her lip, clinging to her best friend as she struggled to catch her breath.

 

[Elliot Briar]

"You should make sure to take breaks. If you can, I mean," Elliot offered back, returning Vader's tentative smile with one of his own. He was glad his own club commitments were pretty light, but he could still relate to the tired look in Vader's eyes. Elliot was a little taken aback by the offer to have his picture taken, and even though the idea made him a little anxious, he wanted to be a good spot. "Uh yeah, sure, that'd be-" Elliot was cut off by the sudden collision of Lily into his side, clutching his basket and flower crown while he regained his balance. "Woah, uh hey. Lily, you okay?" He asked, giving her hand an awkward pat with his free hand and shooting Vader an apologetic look for interrupting him even more now.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader shrugged lightly, he didn't particularly have that much time, and with the exams approaching, he wasn't going to have much time at all. But, he'd been preparing to take a picture of the boy when seemingly from nowhere a girl, Lily, Ava's cousin, who'd baked the cakes that he and Helene had eaten on his birthday, flew into the boy who'd given him the rose. Vader put down the pictures he'd been holding and ignored the camera he might've otherwise gone for and instead took the flask of coffee instead. The gryffindor sipped it lightly as the younger boy interacted with Lily first, "Hey Lily," he added with a little smile, lowering the coffee but keeping a hold of it. ​

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily shook her head, not moving away from his side. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest; she wasn't sure if it would ever go back to normal. She nearly jumped out of her skin when an unexpected voice spoke out. She quickly spun behind Elliot, peeking out from behind him. "O-oh, h-hello," She stuttered, holding tightly to Elliot's shirt, the fabric bunched up in her fists. "Vaaa.... ah, Timmy, wasn't it?" She murmured. "I-I'm sorry," She apologized, feeling embarrassed. "I didn't, ah, didn't mean to interrupt." She swallowed nervously.

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava had been eating her breakfast, watching the rose deliveries happen around her. It was always fun to see people react. Her eye was caught by one of the deliverers approaching Lily. Ava quickly swallowed her food and leaned forward to get a better look at her cousins' face. Ava's eyes lit up when she saw the rose was pink. Oh, that was so cute! But it seemed Lily didn't think the same.

Ava watched with wide eyes as the younger blond fled. What? She scrambled to get out of her seat, accidentally falling over and scraping her elbow on the stone floors. Hardly noticing the sting or that she was bleeding a little bit, Ava took off after her cousin.

She chased glimpses of Lily until finally, Ava went skidding into the door of the arts room, hitting it with a thud. She hurried over to Lily, gently brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Lily, what happened? I saw the pink rose, was the note bad? If someone's bullying you, I swear I'll... uh, I.... wiiillll sneak into their dorm and paint flowers all over them to make them nicer!" She nodded decisively, noticing the younger boy. "Oh, hi!" She greeted the boy Lily was clinging to. Then she saw Vader. "TIMMY!" She chirped happily, skipping over and hugging him.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Before Elliot could really speak more to Lily or Vader, there was even more bustle and another girl arrived, bursting through the art door apparently also concerned about Lily's flustered appearance. "Someone sent you a pink rose?" He asked, picking out a few details from what the girl had said to Lily and trying to twist to face her. He knew she'd gone to the ball with Mihail.. but would he have sent her a pink rose as well? Did that mean things were getting serious with the two of them? He hoped it was that and not someone actually bullying Lily like the other girl had suggested. He gave the new girl a small nod and smile when she noticed him, though was still mostly focused on Lily. It was a bit confusing when the other girl also referred to Vader as "Timmy", but maybe that was a nickname or something. Apparently everyone knew everybody here except him and Vader.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader felt a little like he was intruding a bit on whatever was going on between Lily and the boy who'd given him the rose. "It's okay, I have to get back to work," he'd replied shortly, not wanting to take up any more of these people's time, especially not while he still had work to get done. Vader would've sat down and taken a sip of his coffee and gotten back to work then, but Ava flew in, appearing out of no where and was speaking quickly to Lily about a supposed pink rose. He thought briefly of the one he had gotten, should he have sought Pho out...acted upon it...would she be offended if he didn't....would she know. His thoughts were stopped from spiralling when Avaria addressed him. He let his arms wrap around her in a quick hug, feeling his tiredness hit full force in the comforting hug of his friend, thanking her quietly for the rose he'd just gotten from her. But he just pulled away and yawned, unable to stifle it much. He felt awkward unsure of what to say and hoping that the boy who'd delivered him the rose wouldn't question the fact that they were calling him Timmy rather than Vader. "Timmy's a nickname for me," he explained quickly to the boy who'd given him the rose. ​

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily turned wide-eyed to face her cousin. "Ava?" She murmured. "Wha? No!" She squeaked, hiding farther behind Elliot. "Y-yes," She murmured to El. As Timmy and Ava started talking. "E-el, this is my c-cousin Avaria," She told him softly. "Vader- ah, Timmy, is her best friend." She laid her head on his shoulder. "C-can we, ah, can we go? Somewhere?" She asked softly, putting her hand in his. She needed her best friend right now. Without the crowd.

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava hugged Vader before pulling back a little and whacking him lightly on the chest. "I take that rose back, meanie," She teased. "I got yours and it was all sweet and super nice. Mine is silly compared to yours," She teased, ruffling his hair. "How long have you been working?" She chastised. "Have you had any water or is it all coffee again?" She took one of the water bottles she'd started to keep in her bag and pressed it into his hands. "Silly brother," She scolded affectionately.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot glanced between Lily, Ava, and Vader, feeling there was suddenly a lot going on in here. He felt extra bad about interrupting Vader when he's so busy too. "Yeah, maybe we should go," He said softly to Lily, shoving down his curiosity about her rose and sudden appearance for now until they weren't in the way. "Uh, nice to meet you, Ava, and uh, bye Vader.." He said, giving them both a quick wave goodbye, unsure if he should have called Vader 'Timmy' or not. Elliot felt a little bad about leaving without letting Vader take his photo, but he'd probably only offered to be nice and Elliot was just saving him the trouble. He gave Vader one last apologetic smile for the interruption before shepherding Lily out of the room.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader shook his head at her, "No, I liked yours, you can't have it back," Vader to Helene. He looked towards Lily and Elliot and smiled at them both, "Thanks for delivering the rose," he said before giving them a small wave and letting his attention be drawn back into Helene. He shrugged, "Not long enough," the boy told her, before looking at the ground between them, he didn't particularly want to lie to her about the amount of coffee that he'd had and it's ratio to water, but he took the water that she pressed into his hands. He opened it up and took a drinking sitting back down at the table he was working at, "I need to keep working, Helene, I'm behind on everything today," he told her as he took a second drink of the water. ​