Open The Lens

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie was starting to be more involved in her photography hobby, trying to experiment more and generally just enjoying it- as it branched off directly into her scrapbooking hobby, as well. Dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a slim fitting blue shirt, Elodie went out to the lawn. Deciding to try and get some good landscape shots, Elodie stretched out on the grass, angling her camera and trying to get some pictures of the grass and of the skyline against the ground, humming softly to herself as she worked.

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

As much as Briony loved wandering the castle especially on a stormy Winter day, but nothing could beat being out on the grounds when it was sunny out. She'd been picking her way around the trees closer to the castle, trying to discern which ones were best for climbing and which ones looked like they might secretly be sleeping ents and up for a good conversation or two.

The lawn was less appealing to traipse around, though Briony was happy to pretend it was the great estate of the princess who lived in the castle beyond, or maybe farmlands of an impressive kingdom. She was also intrigued when she spotted a girl sprawled out in the grass, focusing intently on something on the ground and picked her way over. "Are you looking for bugs? You'll have a better shot if you unfocus your eyes and stare at one spot," she said, crouching down nearby and seeing if she could spot a few ants about in the grass or maybe a pillbug if she was lucky.

 

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie blinked, looking up when she heard someone speak. She smiled, holding up her camera to show the girl. "I was actually going for horizon shots," She explained. "But the bugs sound interesting- do you know any tricks for the camera to capture the bugs nicely?" She asked, sitting up a bit to get a better view of her new companion. "I'm Elodie," She introduced herself, offering out her hand.

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

Briony looked up from where she was trying to coax and ant onto her fingernail, glancing briefly at the skyline nearby before back to the girl, finally registering the camera in her hands. "Oh, no, I've never really done any camera stuff, did you try getting really close to them?" Briony offered with a shrug. "I can help you find some though, I mean obviously there's loads around, but it's still fun if you're not scared of them," she said, shuffling a little closer. It was hard to find friends, especially girls, who didn't mind bugs, which made getting them go on bush walks and adventures with Briony extra difficult. "I'm Briony," she said perfunctorily, holding out her hand when the ant proved unenthused with her attempts to tame it. "I like your name, it sounds like 'melody', it's pretty. What's your last name?"

 

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie smiled. "I've tried, but I can't seem to get the focus right," She admitted, wondering if there was just some sort of setting she wasn't using properly. She nodded eagerly at the girls offer. "Thank you! I would really appreciate that," She agreed, unthinkingly already looking around to see if she could spot any. Her attention was drawn back when she was heard the girl speak. She smiled a bit brighter. "Hi Briony! Thanks, I like my name too! I like yours as well, it's really pretty," She agreed. "My last name is Wynshaw. What's yours?"

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

Even if she couldn't help, Briony was encouraged by the fact that Elodie had at least tried to take pictures of bugs. Maybe she should take pictures of bugs? She'd drawn then before sure, it'd be pretty fun to have some photographs of them that moved though. Much more exciting than the specimens that her dad kept in his office that she wasn't allowed to touch too. "I don't know anything about cameras, so I'm out of ideas, sorry. Maybe we should get bigger bugs?" She offered with a grin, imagining a pillbug big enough for her to ride on. Now that would be a pet.

She smiled bigger when Elodie returned her compliment, excited to tell Vanity about this interaction later. She if her sister still thought she couldn't make proper friends after this, she thought happily. "Elodie Wynshaw, wow you sound like a character in a romance novel, lucky," Briony said with a dreamily sigh, sounding the syllables out. "Oh, it's Mettlestone, I like it well enough but it's kind of at odds thematically, you know. Briony means climbing vines, but Mettlestone. It's like. Metal. Stone." Briony shrugged, discontent.

 

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie considered the question, wondering where they could find the bigger bugs. She looked towards the forest, but decided against it- if there were bigger bugs in there, odds were that they were too big and she'd not perfected her spells enough to challenge those. She was brought back to the moment though as the girl continued to speak, and Elodie felt herself blush. She giggled. "Thank you! I like your name," She countered. "It's soft and strong all at once." She mused.

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

Briony couldn't help but preen a little at Elodie's compliment; she didn't get to hang out with many older girls except for Vanity and 'soft and strong' wasn't exactly something her sister would say to her. "You make it sound like a warrior princess, thanks," she said, rather fond of the idea considering it was one of her favourite daydreams to revisit.

They'd gotten pretty distracted from Elodie's camera though and Briony let recrossed her legs as she got properly settled on the grass, casting around for any clovers or daisies growing nearby. "So why horizon shots? Is it like taking pictures of sunsets and stuff? Wouldn't it be better to go up high for those?" She asked, picking a blade of grass and twirling it as she looked over at the sky through a gap of trees across the lawn.

 

[Elodie Wynshaw]

Elodie considered the question. "Oh, I just wanted to try them, I thought it would be fun." She replied and laughed lightly. "You're a warrior princess and I'm in a romance novel. It sounds like we should write a story about that," She mused, looking up to the clouds. "Maybe the warrior princess saves the maiden from the dragons keep and they set out to free the cursed royals," She mused, thinking of a good way to put it all together. She looked to Briony with an easy smile. "What do you think?"