faderift | Need that picture of you (Open)

Entry tags:

Need that picture of you (Open)

WHO: Prompto and YOU fine denizens of Kirkwall
WHAT: Open log for Justinian
WHEN: After the Inquisition returns to Kirkwall through the end of the month
WHERE: Various. See prompts for details
NOTES: Will update as needed (but don't expect anything. This is sunshine human we're talking about)

A) The Grand Re-Opening

[In the Gallows, one might across any number of signs and posters advertising a certain side business of a certain blond rifter. They may remember them from the past, but it's been some time since those crudely drawn ads were displayed in the Gallows. But they're back and read:

GRAND RE-OPENING!!

WANT A PORTRAIT? DON'T HAVE THE TIME, MONEY, OR PATIENCE FOR A PAINTING?

THEN YOU'RE IN LUCK!! SEE PROMPTO IN THE GALLOWS FOR A PORTRAIT YOU CAN HAVE IN A FRACTION OF THE TIME! SIX SILVERS ONLY!

**Supplies limited, so first come first serve! Will take reservations if all remaining spots for this month are filled**

Sure enough, one can find Prompto up in his usual spot in the Gallows, where he's got a table set up, along with some chairs. On said table is his camera, the large box that hasn't been seen around in awhile. Some may remember Prompto saying he had run out of film developing supplies. However, he seems to have come into some, enough to re-open his business. Anyone who's reached out to him in the past wanting a photo will have been contacted and informed of the development.

Now Prompto, not one to rely purely on his makeshift signs, will try and flag down people as he sees them and try and entice them. And he's got that kind of cheeriness that's hard to ignore.] "Hey! Come for a photo? You totally should~"

B) People Suck, But At Least the Weather's Nice? Usually?

[Well this whole invasion business is... not great. Wow Anderfels, way to go. Jerky McJerkfaces. For Prompto, it smacks a little too much of home. At least the Anderfels doesn't have a magitek army. That would be Bad. But while that's not something they'll need to worry about here, he still wants to help and make sure the people in Orlais don't have to fear a foreign army coming in and taking over.

For now, there's little to do but wait as things unfold. It doesn't stop Prompto from practicing his archery as much as he can. He didn't even make it into the tourney, so clearly he has a lot of work to do. The weather has turned for the better, so he gets to improve his skills AND get a tan. Win win.

That is, of course, until a storm suddenly rolls in. Prompto doesn't really notice until the wind suddenly picks up and carries one of his arrows way off course. He frowns and looks up. Oops, those sure are some dark, ominous looking clouds.

And then the heavens open up with a roar of rain.

Prompto sputters, hauling ass out of the courtyard and into the nearest building. Of course, it's a bit of a trek, as the Inquisition wisely set up the archery targets away from most known pathways. By the time Prompto stumbles inside, he's a tad drenched, and he makes for a sight: blond hair hanging in front of his face, clothes sagging and his boots making that awful squishy noise with each step he takes.]

I miss having a weather forecast.

C) Freedom!

[Freedom from curfew, that is. Prompto whoops ecstatically when it's announced the curfew's been lifted. And what better way to celebrate than to head out into the city at night?

The best way to encourage it, he thinks, is by giving back to the city. As in, boosting its economy by spending his coin. Which he happily does at a local tavern, enjoying a few ales while looking over some of his notes. He jots down stuff he learns about Thedas in his little hidebound journal. The tourney proved to be a treasure trove of information, so much so that he finds himself going almost cross-eyed as he looks over the notes he took. While he might be nose deep in the book, it's not enough to deter him from having a conversation with someone if they wish it.]

D) Wildcard

[Hit me with a prompt of your own!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The first time Christine sees the sign, she's not really prepared to have her photo taken. She's been working all day, and she doesn't have the other subject she needs for the photo. But she's excited, and with recent developments in Orlais, sending her mother a photo might help convince her to leave the country to be closer to her daughter. And so the next day she's dressed far nicer, and toting her small dog with her to the Gallows. She stops in front of the table, smiling at Prompto.

"I see you have been blessed with more supplies."

Prompto hoped Christine would be by. He grins when he sees her trot in, her little dog in tow. "Can you believe it? They fell out of a rift!" Then again, that's how they got here the first time, so he supposes it makes sense. "Not that I'm complaining~ So just a portrait then?"

"Then it seems they were meant for you to take them." Unless there are some other Rifters here with advanced little portrait boxes that she doesn't know about.

Christine nods, adjusting her hold on Ponce, who has become rather wriggly on seeing Prompto. Let Ponce sniff him!

"Yes, please. Where should I pose for it?"

"I guess so. It's still weird to think that they can just pop out of rifts like that. Almost feels like someone was throwing me a bone, you know?" Beware that fourth wall, Prompto.

"Here, I'll set it up." Prompto grabs a nearby chair and drags it over, positioning it a set distance from his camera. He'll likely adjust it later, but it's a good a starting point as any. "Take a seat. It won't take long, but usually people like to sit for portraits anyway."

"Anything is possible," she agrees. After all, she owns lingerie that fell from a rift.

Taking a seat, she settles Ponce in her lap and tries to get him to look forward. Naturally, he won't do this, because she wants him to, and he must at all times do the exact opposite of what she wants. He stares all around them as if he's never been outside before (though he has, every day), and she sighs in frustration.

"I do hope you have better luck getting him to look at your portrait box."

Animals can be the most fun and yet the most difficult subjects to deal with. While Christine gets settled and Ponce takes in his surroundings with wonder, Prompto gets his camera ready to go, setting it up and making the proper adjustments. As he finishes, he notices the pup still not cooperating. He smiles and whistles, gesturing to the dog. "Heya, look here boy!"

Ponce's bat wing-like ears perk up immediately, and he turns his head towards the sound of the whistle. What is this human doing? What does he want? Ponce tries to jump down to investigate, but Christine holds him steady and puts on her posing smile.

"As soon as he settles, do it." Not that she knows what "do it" entails, but it's the thing with the box that makes the picture. So she keeps a hand wrapped under her dog and another against his chest as the little troublemaker looks up at Prompto and sniffs the air. Does the human have food? Is that why he alerted Ponce?

"Thaaaaat's a good doggy," Prompto encourages as he steps back behind his camera, readying it to take the picture. He wiggles the fingers on his free hand to keep Ponce hopefully looking at him. "Okay. One, two... three!" The camera makes a shuttering sound as it takes the picture. Prompto looks up and nods. "Got it. Did you want me to take more? To a have a variety and all. Though I know that might be tough with someone's attention span." Lookin' at you, doggo.

After the picture is taken and Prompto speaks, Christine drops her forced smile and looks rather surprised at it all.

"That is it? It's so fast!" Ponce is surprised too, because that box made a noise and he doesn't know what it is. And when he doesn't know what something is, he either barks at it or cowers away. At the moment, he's undecided between the two, stepping all over Christine's lap in an anxious manner.

"I would appreciate a few more, if only because he is so unpredictable." She smooths a hand down her dog's back, murmuring "Settle," to him several times before posing again. Ponce looks wary, but does indeed settle back down, though he's keeping his eye on you, Prompto!

He considers himself very watched and on notice, doggo. Don't you worry.

"Yep, doesn't take long at all! But gimme one sec, I gotta change out the plates to get another one in." This would take no time at all with a digital camera. Granted, he'd probably focus more on making sure the lighting was right and all of that. With this old thing, however, that was a bit less of an issue. Still, he had some well-placed candles around the room to try and give as much lighting as possible, assisted by the lone window.

"So how's Church doing?" he asks as way of conversation and to kill the time as he carefully removes the used plate from the camera, putting it down in his "dark room" before grabbing another unused one.

"All right." Christine watches with no small amount of fascination as he works. Maybe someday when he's not busy, and she's not busy, she'll ask how all this works. It seems like a complicated process, for all the ease he claims in changing the plates.

Hearing Church's name has her visibly brightening, and even Ponce's ears lift at the familiar name.

"Very well. He has been doing more studying into the rifts, as well as continuing to greet new Rifters."

And he would do his best to explain it all to her, though he'd be lying if he said he entirely understood it all. Sure, he's gotten much better at working his camera, out of necessity. But he's soooo not enough of a science nerd to entirely explain how photography in and of itself works. Maybe he should ask Iggy sometime...

"He's been here for a while, right? They learn anything new about them lately? I've been kind of out of the loop on everything."

"Oh, yes. He has been here years now." And she doesn't ever want him to leave. Part of that is selfish interest, of course, but the other part is he told he he would die if he returned to the moment he left.

(Then there's the whole thing about him being an artificial construct who was granted a body when he fell through the rift, but she tries not to think on that too hard. It gives her a headache.)

"As far as I know, nothing new has been learned. They are mysterious things, and quite dangerous too. It is no surprise the research is slow going."

"Yeah, he'd already been here awhile when I came, and that was... sixteen months ago now? Wow, time flies." Sometimes it feels longer, and sometimes it feels like it's only been days.

"Kind of thought so, but hey, thought it was worth a shot. If I had the brains for it I'd be helping them." But he's far from being a scholar. So he'll just plunk along with scouting and taking photographs, when supply allows.

"It does, doesn't it?" When she thinks back on her time with the Inquisition, it seems surreal that she's made it this far. From a rebel mage in Redcliffe with her back against the wall, considering taking off into the woods to face off against deranged Templars rather than allow herself to be enslaved in Tevinter, to a Spirit Healer and Knight-Enchanter heading the Inquisition's red lyrium research. It's more than she ever dreamed of while living in the Circle.

"I think you are putting your brains to good use here. I cannot begin to understand how this instant portrait works, but you seem so fluid in your movements; like doing this comes naturally to you."

Prompto blushes a little at her compliment as he finishes changing out the film. He's been a decent photographer for awhile, but he never thought of it as something that particularly required a lot of intelligence to use. And perhaps back home it doesn't, but here, to these people who had never seen one before he showed up, it was different.

"Well, it took some getting used to using this camera rather than the one I had back home. You should have seen how some of the early photos turned out." Luckily Church's impromptu portrait turned out okay, but mostly because he saved that for last after testing developing the first batch of photos, many of which were ruined. "Oookay, and here we go." The new 'film' is in. "Ready for another shot?"

"Well, they say practice makes perfect. And I am happy to give you an opportunity to use it more." She straightens up, adjusts her hair across her shoulders, and checks Ponce to make sure he still looks nice.

"Yes, we're ready." Ponce has settled somewhat, and does look as ready as one can get the energetic little dog to be.

"And I'd be happy to. So long as I still have supplies." Because he only has so much, and who knows if he'll be lucky enough to have a rift spit more out at him again.

"Reaaaaady? One... two... three!" He takes the photo, keeping his hand up to indicate them to keep still until it's done, then he lowers it. "Perfect. Do you want another one, or is two plenty?"

"Oh, two is plenty, thank you." She lets Ponce down, where he spins in a circle in excitement as she rises from her chair.

"This was remarkably fast. But there is more involved to come to the finished product, yes?"

"Yep. I gotta develop them and get them on the right material so they can be framed. It takes a few hours." And that's assuming it all goes right the first time. He's more or less got the process down, but he does screw up every now and again.

"A few hours is still far more expedient than the time it takes to complete a portrait." Ponce sniffs around the ground and tugs at the leash, wanting to go.

"Would you prefer payment now or when I pick up my pictures?"

"Yeeeeeah. I have no idea how people sit still long enough for those." He's way too fidgety for it.

"When you pick them up! On the off chance something goes wrong in the development, I won't charge you for bad photos."

"Probably because they feel the end result to be worth the trouble." She thinks of the miniature portrait of her father she always keeps on her person and is once again thankful he chose to sit for it, so she has the chance to see his face now that he's gone.

Christine smiles and nods. "Very well. I will pick them up at your convenience. Thank you very much."

[Being out at night again without a curfew means a chance to actually do some real gambling. Not that Araceli didn't but keeping track of the time, cutting it short to get back to the docks or arriving late if something kept her late at the Gallows certainly put a dent in the routine she'd enjoy back at Skyhold.

Eventually, running on more rooftops than just around the Gallows might be a possibility but there's too much at stake for her to dare pushing it so relaxing past the evening is enough for now.

Prompto is spotted when she's coming back from the bar between games, more coin in her purse, a drink in her hand.]

Is this seat taken?

[Sometimes a person would rather be alone so she'll get up and leave if so, no skin off her nose, but the chance to take a little break is a fine thing.]

It's strange to be out so late again, no? Still feels like breaking the rules.

[Prompto lifts his head, offering her a smile before shaking his head.]

Nope. It's all yours, if you'd like it.

[He scoots over a bit to make room for her, mostly by moving his journal and drink out of the way.]

I know, right? Practically instinct by now to be keeping an eye on the time and ready to bolt back to the boat. It's gonna take awhile to kick it.

I was used to staying up to whatever time I liked in Skyhold. Not that there were so many places to go but you could stay out on the battlements or in the Herald's Rest until the next morning. [Skyhold us about to loom large in all their futures, especially so hers, better to remember it as the place she knew from clambering all over.]

It was worth it though, we couldn't have just been presumptuous about these things, not in Kirkwall. [She says it lightly, as if it hasn't even now been brought up as one of the almost crimes against rifters but sometimes you have to put up with something unpleasant for it to pay off later.]

Taking the chance to catch up on work somewhere that isn't the Gallows then? The possibilities for the places Korrin's going to have to come to track me down with mine.

I wasn't in Skyhold long. Just a few weeks before they herded everyone up to Kirkwall. I've always lived in a city, so I prefer it here, but yeah... there's a few shackles that come with it.

[To put it lightly.]

Pretty much. Just mostly enjoying the chance to be able to stay out late. I was looking over old notes and stuff. [It's the novelty of it all, really.] Keeping her on her toes, huh?

Where I came from is - did you go on the mission to help rescue rifters from the rift at sea? It's where we ended up for repairs, Llomerryn, Antiva, and Rivain, all three of those stirred in a great pot together but for my nation. Islands, archipelagos, and I lived on the main one that was hugely built upon. Knew it like the back of my hand, Kirkwall I know...well I have no desire to go to Darktown, I've seen enough of the dark.

[Her left thumb, rubbed at the base where it meets the rest of the hand, pops sharply into place. Her hands drop back to the table. Nearly guilty.]

It's boring if they know how to find you, she's got long legs and she's tall, make her think she's going to have to go back to peeling me off the walls or spotting me on the rooftops again. [How to keep the relationship fresh: parkour edition.] Anything interesting? Places the Inquisition's been or just a diary sort of thing?

I did, yeah. [Red lyrium sea monster. Not forgetting that anytime soon.] You lived on an island? Was it warm? I lived in a pretty dry, landlocked place my whole life, so I've no idea what it's like. Kirkwall's kind of the closest I've ever come to it, at least in being by the ocean. I'm getting to know it pretty well, though... yeah. I don't go down there too often, either. Darktown's kind of a gamble with your things and life.

[He laughs at the mental image of Korrin chasing down Araceli.] Hope she's good at climbing, too. Or is she good at convincing you to come down from wherever you're perched? [At her question, he glances at his notebook.] Kind of a diary. It's where I jot down stuff I learn about Thedas, so I keep it all together. Hard learning about a whole new world. Too much stuff to take in and it's easy for it to get lost in my head.

A large one, yes, bigger than some cities here easily. Most of the year it was hotter than it gets most places here, hot enough you sleep in the afternoon because it's impossible to do anything, especially in the places it's too humid to sweat. But in the winter the storms would roll in wild from the sea to sweep over the ship's, the buildings, cold enough to freeze a few times and crust it all in salt. When the sun peeked out from behind the clouds it glittered brighter than diamonds. [Araceli's seen plenty diamonds to know their lustre, a smile on her face; it'd be winter at home if it was summer for her arrival.] Being in Skyhold was the furthest away from the sea I'd ever been. Kirkwall is...easier. I can see ships. Smell the salt. The ocean gives life no matter how far you are from it.

Korrin usually has incentives to get me down. [Gifts last time. Because the idea of Korrin climbing is setting Araceli off, head falling forward to rest on her arms.] Ah I still have those rattling around in drawers when I was trying to catch up on all the history I needed to understand why anything is the way it is. Not that it helps it to make sense a lot of the time but I have it. All the things that might be used or interesting.

Sounds... beautiful. Kind of rough climate wise, not sure I'd want to live there long term, but still beautiful. Insomnia was kind of consistent year round. Lots of dry heat and not a lot of rain or snow. But man, it had some of the best sunrises and sunsets. [Ones he may never see again. Or at least, perhaps not for a very long time.]

Yeah, I get that. Seems like the more I learn, the less I understand. But I guess if someone came to my world, they'd probably feel the same after awhile.

If you live that way all your life, it's all you know. I was so cold when I came to Skyhold even before it was winter, it was as if my body forgot any memory of having heat in it. Is Insomnia close to desert then? Two friends from home live by different desert lands, that's how the heat comes for them, hotter than the over. [The Western Approach had been the same, blistering when she'd helped with repairs trying to follow the shadows about the keep.] You must've been able to see for miles, no clouds if there's no rain or snow.

[Castileos always has cloud to burn through more often than not, takes its sweet time getting ready to cook them.]

Settling helped. [Maybe that's more dangerous territory, Araceli is less likely to keep track of individual politics unless people go shouting about them in public.] I saw my friends learning to settle in Castileos when they moved there, this is-- they have commitments that bind them, returning is more of an option than it will ever be for us but some things that people take for granted baffle me. The Chantry, mostly. Or how anyone who isn't human or a certain sort of human is treated.

[This coming from a human. The certain sort of human who would be treated fairly well if circumstances were different; strip her of the hand that marks her out, what would she be? The days she passes as an Antivan and no one bats an eye at her unless it's some insult or leering about Antivans, and that's something she's used to anyway.]

Skyhold was cold, yeah. I've been in colder, but I never really get used to it. [He hated the Sunless Lands with a passion.] Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it's not a proper desert, there's grass and stuff, but it's really warm and dry. Sometimes it might as well be one. And, well, if it weren't for the wall around the city, I'm sure I could have seen a lot.

[Not that he could complain about the lack of view. The wall kept the city safe for years...]

Settling - yeah, I can see that. Guess it's sort of happened to me by degrees, you know? Just getting used to things and learning to sort of fit in. But then something will come up that I don't understand and I feel like an outsider all over again. [Technically, he always is, but at times he can almost pretend otherwise.] The Chantry... they're definitely the most baffling. To put it lightly.

[Ignis is there waiting for him with a clean rag to help dry himself off. He probably just knew where Prompto was that day and had heard the rain. This entrance made the most sense as it was the nearest to the archery field. It took very little effort on his part to find something to help Prompto dry off and be there when he came in.]

It does make for poor planning. How will you know how to style your hair if you can't guess how it will respond to the weather?

[There is light teasing there, but of course Prompto isn't the only one who spends too much time with his look. It's probably worse for Ignis now as he can't even see it anymore.

Then, after a moment, he adds.]

I miss... quite a lot, if I'm honest.

Thanks.

[Prompto takes the offered rag and dries off his face, and then focuses on trying to dry off as much of his hair as he can.]

Ha. I've given up styling it like I used to. Made me stick out too much anyway, so it just sort of flops wherever now. Of course, now it's gonna look like a mess.

[rip the aesthetic

Prompto slows in his hair drying at Ignis' thoughtful afterthought.]

Me too. Getting some homesickness lately?

Perhaps. [Ignis replies thoughtfully.]

I was thinking I should ask you about something.

Oh? [Prompto tilts his head thoughtfully.] Sure. What'd ya wanna ask?

When I arrived I had on my person a single can of Ebony.

I've been saving it... for some reason.

I realized today I should have someone check the expiration date.

Oh! [Phew, that's way less dire than he was fearing.] I can definitely check. Might be hard to tell if it's still good, though without opening it. The months here aren't the same as back home.

Then... perhaps we ought to open it. [He isn't sure why that feels so final, like accepting Thedas as home.]

Yeah... [He picks up on it, the finality and sadness of it.] It's our last little piece of home, but it'd be a waste to just keep hanging on and never using it, only for it to go bad, right?

My thoughts exactly.

Though, I would add that it isn't our last reminder of home. We still have each other.

True, true. But I guess it's like, the last material thing from home? Possession? Thing? You know. And short of preserving a bit of it and keeping it in a jar and hoping we get a chem lab and the means to recreate it, the last we'll have for what could be a loooong time.

[....wow that got depressing]

But! It'll be okay. Maybe we can find something close to it here.

I know they have tea here. I wonder if they have anything close to coffee beans.

Not sure. They have cocoa beans though. Or something like them. I've heard of cocoa being a thing here. That stuff grows in the jungle, right? That means going up into either Seheron or near Par Vollen. Which, uh... yeah.

I doubt the Qunari are willing to trade.

Nooooooope. Not anytime soon, anyway. Though who knows, maybe they'll like the Inquisition enough someday to do some trading?

Imagine the historical significance of such an event. It would be something to experience - the history of two different worlds unfolding around us.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Need that picture of you (Open)

A

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

c;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

b; omg i am so happy you gave me an opening to for iggy to tell prompto something silly

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject