You're a Better View

[Shane Ackley]

Shane had found that so long as he was exploring around the school, the boy could usually find something to do. He had found quite a few fun little things to do in and around the school. It was just a good distraction, while he didn’t have much else that he needed to do. The teen was just always looking for something to do, or someone with whom he could talk to. He didn’t need to talk about anything too serious, but just some things that would be fun. He didn’t need to be dealing with his problems or addressing the fact that after being at school a year he didn’t actually have any real friends. He’d flirted with everyone who’d tried to get close to him, and tried to kiss most of those people. The teen had headed out of the common room, with nothing in mind, but just hoping to find something to do. It was in his exploring that on the sixth floor he spotted a blonde girl who was taking pictures out of the window and of the grounds. The light was probably hitting all of it just right and Shane decided that he would go speak to her, if only because he didn’t have as much to do. He knew that would be a little forward, but he thought that would be easier. ”Hey, I can tell you something much more beautiful that you can photograph?” the teen made his way over to her and leaned on a wall close to her, a flirty smirk on his features.​

 

[Caro Taylor]

When she first arrived, Hogwarts had been what Caro had yearned for her whole life. A change of scenery. Eleven years stuck in the family lodge, hearing story after story of the wonders the world had to offer and never having the chance to see a single one of them, Caro had spent her entire childhood feeling trapped, and Hogwarts had been her escape from that. New views, new places to go, new people, new stories. It had been everything she had wanted, but even back then, Caro had known that couldn't last. She would feel stuck here eventually, trapped once again in a prison she couldn't escape from. And of course that time had come, years ago now. Hogwarts was just another place to sit and wait and long for something better. There were times though, times when the view caught her eye, and she was reminded of those first magical days away from the home she was so tired of. Glancing out the window, Caro caught one such view, the spring sunlight dancing over the buds just beginning to form on the deciduous trees in the forest. Glad that her camera had become a permanent fixture of her outfits, Caro leaned out the window, trying to find the perfect angle to get the picture she knew would capture this moment. Her thoughts were interrupted though, by an unfamiliar voice, and Caro pulled her head back inside quickly, staring at the boy in front of her uncertainly. "What do you mean?" She asked, bewildered by the approach.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane watched as the girl moved to look at him, and he let the flirty smirk remain on his lips. He felt a little silly repeating his words, especially as it hadn’t exactly been his best line perhaps just a little more directly flirted than he tended to go for, but she was a pretty blonde girl and he wasn’t really the type to wait around when he was bored. The teen just let the smile remain, ”I’ve seen something far more beautiful that could definitely do with having their picture taken,” the teen nearly repeated changing his words a little to more heavily reference that he was talking about her, though he could understand if she thought he was talking about him. ”You,” he decided to add with the same easy and flirty smirk on his features as he paid her the compliment, both meaning what he said and also saying it in the hopes of a reaction. He found it so much easier to just flirt with people and it certainly helped that this girl was quite pretty too, ”I’m Shane,” he extended a hand to her with a little smirk on his features. He hoped that his forwardness wouldn’t be too off putting, for some it was and for others it wasn’t, he wasn’t always the best at telling when one work work better than the other, but he’d found that compliments were certainly helpful when first talking to people, or looking to push the conversation in a very specific direction.​

 

[Caro Taylor]

It took a moment for Caro to really absorb the boy's words. She had thought Nixon was flirty, but nobody had ever spoken to her like this. Heart fluttering, she fumbled for the right thing to say in response. Should she return the compliment? Would that be weird? Would it be weird not to? It occurred to her a second too late that the smoothest thing to say would be along the lines of, 'I'd much rather take the picture of someone as handsome as you,' but as it was, what Caro managed to say was a somewhat choked, "Thanks..." It was a relief when the boy introduced herself, that was much easier to respond to. "I... hi." She smiled as she shook his hand. "Caro." She added quickly, cursing herself for her clumsiness with words. Lizzie would have been smoother.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane smiled when the reaction he got from her was what he said to her. ”Of course,” he said in response to her thanks, with a flirty little smile on his face as he did so. He shook her hand lightly, ”So, Caro,” Shane said deliberately slowly, as if testing out her name as he said it. The teen was pretty happy to flirt with anyone and he liked the reaction it tended to get from the people he flirted with. It had become a lot easier to flirt with people and get to know them in this lighter sense than it was to actually get to know them. This girl was pretty and she seemed responsive to his actions, ”What brings you here?” the teen asked with a little flirty on his face, he kept his gaze on her, a lingering smile on his expression and a curious look in his eye. Shane kept the light flirty smile on his expression, ”Are you a photographer for fun or for one of the schools illustrious publications?” he spent time with one of the layout designers of the yearbook and knew between the yearbook and the monthly they both had photographers and he knew no matter what she said in response he had something he could say. It wasn’t too difficult to flirt with people, especially when he kept the conversation focused on them rather than him. ​

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro didn't think anyone had ever talked to her like this. No, she knew nobody had ever talked to her like this. She couldn't quite hold back her grin as Shane shook her hand, face slightly flushed. There was no chance she was misinterpreting or reading into this - Shane was flirting with her, far more directly than Nixon ever had, and Caro's heart fluttered at the attention. She smiled warmly as he spoke, subconsciously leaning closer. "Oh, um... yeah, I'm head photographer for the Monthly, and I take pictures for Accio too." Caro beamed, blushing slightly. "Always busy." She hesitated, scrambling for something, anything to say in response. He was so charming, and it had chased every coherent thought out of her brain. "Not too busy to talk to you, though..."

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane noted the flush in her cheeks and kept the light smirk at her. He was surprised to hear she was on both of the publications, and head photographer, he gaze a little noise to show how impressed he was with that. ”Wow, you must be the best photographer in all of Hogwarts. On both publications. Beautiful and creative I should’ve known,” he replied keeping a light flirty tone, but allowing himself to be impressed by it too. ”I can imagine,” he replied and he hadn’t expected her to follow it up with that, ”That’s good, I like talking to you,” he let the flirty smile remain wide, his gaze never really leaving hers. He reached out, ”Can I try?” he asked, motioning towards the camera that she had in her hands, ”I promise I’ll be so careful Caro,” he kept his gaze on hers and kept the tone light. He knew that photographers were the sort of people who’d be very protective over their equipment so he hoped that the soft tone he had taken and the flirting would be enough to make her trust him. He would of course also be very careful, flirting wouldn’t go well if he broke her camera.​

 

[Caro Taylor]

As soon as it left Shane's mouth, the word 'beautiful' rung through Caro's mind like a bell. Beautiful. Caro had never in her life really entertained the thought of someone calling her beautiful. She knew she was... kind of pretty, she supposed, but beautiful felt... special. She was lost for words, smiling helplessly at the boy in front of her. When Shane asked if he could use her camera, Caro jolted back to the moment, nodding quickly. "Of course!" She removed the strap from around her neck, holding the camera carefully as she held it out to him. "Do you know how to use it?"

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane let himself smile at her, a flirty and warm expression when she held out the camera for him. He very carefully took it in his hands and turned it over a little, in truth he was sure that he could figure it out, but it would be easier under Caro’s kind guidance. ”Not particularly, show me,” he looked from the camera back to her, holding her gaze as he took a small step forward holding the camera out in front of him, to try to draw her in a little more as she showed him how to work the camera. The teen kept a light smile on his features, an easy expression as he flirted. It was nice, proving to be quite good, Caro seemed interested enough, interested enough to not shove him away.​

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro nodded and felt her face flush as she leaned closer, though as she handled the camera she was all business. As much as she enjoyed the attention, Caro's camera meant a lot to her, and she wanted to make sure it was being handled properly. Plus, maybe it would be a chance to impress Shane further with her knowledge. "So, the basics are sort of what you would expect, this is the shutter button, the viewfinder, the flash... the parts you need to know how to adjust are the focus and the aperture." Caro turned the camera around slightly, indicating the rings around the camera's lens. "This ring controls the focus, you'll need to look through the viewfinder as you adjust it to make sure you're focusing correctly. This one here is the aperture, which... you can think of like the pupil of the human eye, it controls how much light is let in. You want to make sure it's wide open if there's not much light, and a bit more closed if there's better lighting, the same as the pupil expanding and contracting." Caro explained, able to center herself a bit as she focused on something she understood so well. "You can... sort of tell through the viewfinder if you need to adjust anything before taking the picture." Caro smiled and blushed, letting go of the camera and reluctantly stepping back. "Does that make sense?"

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane gave a little flirty smile as she came in close and began showing him and telling him about the camera, it was far more information than was really necessary for him to know, he made sure that his gaze was largely on her as she explained, he would nod along in parts but was largely not really paying attention, a camera wasn’t something he was completely clueless about, he knew a little about it and it was fairly self explanatory once she’d shown him which button he needed to press but it wasn’t like he was really interested in the camera or interested in taking a picture, not really. That definitely wasn’t what interested him. She was what interested him, and listening to her talk about it, made him know that she was much more than just a pretty face. When she finished she gave him full control of the camera and took a step back. He kept his gaze on her an easy impressed look on his features as well as the simple flirty smile, ”Wow,” was all he said for a moment, ”You look so beautiful when you talk passionately,” he closed the gap between them again and held the camera lightly back out to her, though he was a lot closer, his gaze moving between holding her gaze and to her lips. He leaned into her a little, ”I can’t ruin your pictures with one of mine, but I’d love to show you where I can be equally as passionate, if you’ll allow it,” the boy was very clearly looking at her lips, asking without asking about what he wanted and if he was reading this right, she might just be as keen as he was. ​

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro had been doing her best to collect herself as she spoke, focusing on something she knew so much about rather than how she felt standing so close to Shane, but it was hard to concentrate when he spoke, especially calling her beautiful again. She felt her face heat up and took the camera back curiously, wondering why he didn't take a picture. It only took a moment to notice the line of his eyes though, and Caro's heart sped up even more. Her only kiss had been under the mistletoe with Nixon last year, and the realisation that Shane wanted to kiss her sent a small shiver down her spine. Caro's heart fluttered as he spoke, and she nodded before even really thinking about it, leaning closer herself. "I would like that..." She breathed. Part of Caro felt almost as though she were betraying Nixon, but it had been more than half a year now since they had kissed, and he was yet to make any more moves. There was nothing wrong with going for someone who actually showed that he was interested in her.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane didn’t need any more incentive than her saying she would want to kiss for him to reach up and gently guide her cheek before leaning in and kissing her lightly on the lips. He enjoyed the soft feeling of her lips on his as he moved to deepen the kiss, trying to softly gage whether or not she was actually interested or enjoying it. Trying to feel for any indication that she wasn’t enjoying it. He pulled away lightly and met her gaze, a little smirk on his features. She was beautiful, and he had deeply enjoyed the little kiss, and was seemingly looking to her to see if she wanted a little more in the kiss, if she would return it or if that was it. ”You are beautiful Caro,” he spoke with a flirty but sincere enough tone. She was beautiful, it didn’t matter that Shane found a lot of people beautiful it didn’t diminish or water down the word to him. Shane liked flirting, he liked kissing, he liked the intimacy it could provide for a few short moments. He hoped it had been a good kiss for her too. She deserved good kisses and though he thought he was a very good kisser he couldn’t of course say for certain.​

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro knew what was coming, but a thrill still rippled through her as Shane leaned closer. It had been so long since she had been kissed, and the anticipation alone made Caro's heart flutter. As soon as she felt Shane's lips against hers Caro kissed back, clumsy but earnest, letting herself get entirely lost in the moment. She felt happy, and pretty, and wanted, a feeling Caro had yearned for her whole life, and one that she was finally getting. The kiss was over far too quickly and Caro made a soft noise of disappointment, searching Shane's face to see if she had done anything wrong. His comment reassured her at once though, and Caro broke out into a beaming grin, her entire face flushed with joy. "You're... amazing." She murmured back, no other words coming to her that could really describe how Shane made her feel.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane smiled softly at her when she grinned, his flirting and the kissing were both things that she seemed to have liked, things that she had wanted. It was especially clear when the girl had made a little noise of disappointment when the kiss had broken off. He just let his gaze linger on hers before leaning in again and kissing once, a deeper and more passionate kiss, a little less delicate than the one before. He would be ready to break it off if she made any noise to indicate that he didn’t like it. He liked kissing, kissing, flirting all of that was so easy, came to him so naturally. Allowing him something to do which wasn’t just standing around in his own mind or trapped in some conversation that would only end badly when they realised Shane wasn’t going to give up much more information about himself to them, when it was clear Shane was trying less than they were. Eventually he broke away from her again and let his gaze linger on hers with a little smile. ​