HOLIDAY POLAROID | JESS

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ON A POLAROID

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FIRST WEEK OF NOVEMBER

Danielle had been tasked with going to Hogwarts and taking photos of the Halloween spirit that had taken place there. At first, she had been confused about why she was doing such a thing, but when she got there, she was utterly surprised. The place had become something the students had called ‘Haunted Hogwarts,’ and it was beautifully done. She had talked to some of the students in charge of the spirited event and even got one of them to show her around the different attractions they had come up with, taking photos as she went along. She had a ton of pictures that she placed on her flash drive and was utterly excited to show her boss.

She had shown up that day at the headquarters for the Daily Prophet and went straight to their office, rapping on the door before entering and showing the photos she had taken. Her boss, to not be egotistic, was beyond thrilled at the turn out of them all and had enjoyed looking and see what the students had done. Leaving the drive with her boss, who promised to return it by the end of the day, she left the room with a huge smile on her face. After taking pictures of the players before the season had started, she was glad that she had done another excellent job. She made her way through the building and found herself in the break room where she began making herself a cup of coffee at the counter. It was silent in the room; no one was inside when she had entered.

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TAG @jessavette

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Today was a long day at the Daily Prophet. Granted, that was how each and every day was for Jess. She was still an intern (though she only had two weeks until she should be getting promoted, provided they agreed she'd had enough experience), which meant that she was the one given all the small jobs. Go get everyone drinks, make copies of this, edit that. She became a professional at remembering everything she was supposed to do and prioritizing it. At first, Jess was entirely overwhelmed by everything she was expected to do. She almost quite in those first months, deciding that nothing was worth torturing herself this much, but she hadn't. She stuck with it and now she was the pro. She was actually feeling pretty honored because she got to review and look at and copy work of writers that were so much better than she was on a constant basis. She could study their writing styles, practice on her own when she was at home. It was a privilege, one that she finally appreciated. That wouldn't stop her from accepting a promotion however.

She ran around the office for much of the morning, mostly delivering coffees, but when she finally found a second for herself, Jess headed to the break room. She needed to grab a bite to eat and give herself just a few minutes of quiet, without people calling her name and shouting out what they needed. Breaks were allowed, she was just taking one now. 

As she made her way into the room, it was with the realization that she wasn't the only one in there. She smiled at the woman, nodding her head as she made her way to the vending machine that was changed to accept magical coins and carry all sorts of objects that muggle ones never would. "Morning," she greeted as she looked at her options, debating internally whether or not anything sounded good. She didn't want to be too much of a bother, since generally when people took breaks here they still were working. That's dedication for you.

@danielle

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BLOOM OF COLOR
ON A POLAROID

[attr="class","next"] The silence of the office was filled with the brewing of the coffee within seconds. Her fingernails tapping against the counter as she waited for it to finish. Her mind was elsewhere, her eyes staring at the dripping of dark liquid. Her fingers gently tapped and played with the glass much that sat before her, the sugar already within it. It was weird to her that many English people preferred tea over coffee, but she was glad that they still had the right mind to offer the option. It helped her out in the long run. Just as the coffee finished brewing someone else entered the room and made her way to the vending machine, it looked like a muggle one, but she was surprised her first day when it accepted the magical coins of the magical world and carried different things that differed from the original use.

She poured her coffee into the mug and just as she began adding the creamer, the woman spoke, and she finished and turned towards the woman. “Mornin’,” she said as she took the mug, after putting everything back, and sat at the table, casting a spell on the spoon to make it stir as she turned towards the girl. “I’ve seen you around but I don’t think we’ve actually met,” she started, her southern accent more prominent as she spoke, “I’m Danielle,” she said with a smile.

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The other woman in the breakroom seemed a bit occupied taking care of her drink, the smell of coffee lingering in the air. Jess smiled at the scent, but didn't say anything. Personally, she preferred tea, but she found the scent of coffee soothing for a reason she could not explain, had she wanted to. After a moment she bought a chocolate bar from the machine and then turned as the girl- Danielle, she introduced herself- started talking to her. Jess sat at the same table with an easygoing smile. "I'm Jess. Yeah, I've seen you a few times. I'm an intern here though, so I sort of run around a bit." Actually she ran around much more than just a bit, but Danielle probably knew that just from the title. An intern was always running around and doing what their superiors wanted. "So what do you do for the Prophet, Danielle?" Jess asked, trying to help keep the conversation going.

@danielle

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BLOOM OF COLOR
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[attr="class","next"] Danielle knew that she was the odd one out when it came to working at the Prophet. Many of the employers were British, and she was the only American in the mix. She knew that many preferred the taste of tea over that of coffee, but she was weird, she enjoyed the caffeine kick from the beverage. Her preference of drink and her southern drawl surely gave her away to not being someone from here, but a foreigner – or a horrible tourist if you thought about it. The female introduced herself seconds after Danielle did, offering her position as an intern that runs around the building a bit. She smiled, nodding her head before revealing her position, “Intern doesn’t sound too bad. I’m a photographer,” she said, her southern drawl thick with each word she spoke.

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It was kind of nice to run into someone new here at the office. Sure, Jess ran into new people all the time, but she didn't normally get the chance to talk to them. She was normally too busy running around and helping people that asked her to do things. At least she could actually talk right now. She shrugged at the girl's response. "Yeah, intern is all right. I'm really excited for when I get promoted and actually get to start writing articles." She paused before continuing, "Do you shoot photos exclusively for the Daily Prophet or do you get to take them for other places too?" She'd never really spoken with one of the photographers before and actually had tons of questions. She figured she should probably start slow though so she didn't overwhelm the other girl.

@danielle

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BLOOM OF COLOR
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[attr="class","next"] The girl revealed her excitement and Dani found herself smiling brightly; she was glad the girl was excited. “Do you know what path you’ll go down once you graduate from interning?” she questioned, curiosity clear in her voice. And then the girl asked about her photography, and she smiled. “I usually shoot photos exclusively for the Daily Prophet, but I do have my website where I take photos for both the wizarding and muggle world. I take wedding photos, graduations—stuff like that. So anything I take of the wizarding world or for the Prophet, stays exclusively in the Prophet,” she said with a smile on her face. Keeping a wrap on the wizarding world meant that she couldn’t upload any photos taken within it on the site that she held. Mostly it was just landscapes and her pictures for her sessions with muggles that made its way on the site.

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Jess shrugged at Danielle's question. It was a hard question for her to answer, even to herself. "I should be done interning very soon, but I'm not exactly sure what area I'd like to write about. I think I'm going to try a few articles here and there, see what fits, you know?" Jess felt a bit uncomfortable that she didn't quite know what she wanted yet, but she also was trying to convince herself that it wasn't a big deal. People figured things like this out all the time. She wasn't anything special when it came to that. 

Her eyes widened as Danielle started to explain a bit more about what she did. "That sounds amazing!" Jess enthused. "Do you- can I see any of your photos right now? Do you have any on you?" It was so cool that she could do something that she was obviously so excited about. Jess couldn't wait until she figured out what she wanted to write about. Hopefully she could like it as much as Danielle enjoyed her job. "What are your favorite kind of photos to take?" she asked, wanting to know more now that she was actually thinking about it.

@danielle

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BLOOM OF COLOR
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[attr="class","next"] Danielle nodded her head quickly; she understood just what the girl meant. “It’s always the best idea, get a feel for different areas. Are there any you think you’ll like? Or maybe something you’ll think you’ll hate writing about?” she questioned, with a curious glint in her eyes. She couldn’t help it; she’s always been a curious soul. Maybe that was why she became a photographer, allowing her to take pictures of things that she was curious about and was sure others were as well.

She let out a soft laugh at the girls enthusiasm and slowly nodded her head, “I just might—let me check my bag for the SIMS card, and I can show you on my camera,” she said as she went to grab the bag that she had sat down on one of the tables. She began digging through it looking for any sign of a card when the girl asked her another question. She smiled into the bag, just as she found one that she was looking for and pushed it into the slot. “I enjoy nature stuff. Sometimes I like taking photos of people in their natural habitat, I know, it’s semi-bad that I’m taking photos without permission, but I enjoy seeing the world for what it is, even if that means taking a photo of a child throwing birdseed or someone waving for a taxi. I don’t know, I just like taking photos of life,” she said with a shrug as she turned on the camera and opened up the photo-lookback section and handed it off to Jess.

“Here—these are some of my latest works. I haven’t gotten a chance to edit them yet…but that’s all I got.”

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Jess shrugged when Danielle asked if she had any idea what she thought she wanted to write about. "I mean, I could always write about Quidditch. I love the sport and played when I was at Hogwarts," Jess told her easily. Then she continued, "but I've been thinking about investigative journalism lately. I don't know if I'll be any good at it because I am pretty clumsy, but I can't seem to get the idea out of my head, so I think I'm going to give it a try, you know." Jess was probably explaining far more than Danielle cared to know, but she did ask so maybe she did want to know. 

Danielle said she might have some on her and Jess grinned, so excited at possibly seeing some of the girl's photographs. "Sounds great!" Jess agreed to seeing them on the camera. As she searched through her bag, Danielle started to explained that she liked nature pictures, or ones of people that didn't know they were being photographed. She chuckled a little. "I don't think that's a bad thing," Jess argued, "I think it sounds like the way things should be." She took the camera as it was extended toward her, nodding as Danielle said she hadn't had the chance to edit them or anything yet. 

Jess stared as she clicked through the photographs, her eyes wide with awe. "These are amazing!" She said as she continued looking through. "I really like your style and the attention to detail. They're beautiful." Jess stopped on the picture of a lone flower on the sidewalk. "They definitely portray the beauty of nature," she agreed, handing the camera back to her new friend before she could do something like drop it. That would be bad.

@danielle

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BLOOM OF COLOR
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[attr="class","next"] Danielle smiled, “That’s a start—always starting with what you love is the best idea,” she said just before Jess continued with her thoughts about what she wanted to do, she laughed when the girl called her clumsy but couldn’t seem to get it out of her head. She shrugged her shoulders, “How clumsy can you be if you played Quidditch? I say follow your heart—it usually leads you to what you’re supposed to do,” she said with a smile. Her mother always told her that, to follow her heart, and it never failed her. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually, plus, I’m almost positive that the prophet will work with you if you find out it isn’t for you.” If the owner was anything like his son, Finn, she was sure that they would be okay with working with her thought process, strength and weaknesses, and interest.

The girl argued that it didn’t seem like a bad thing but a natural thing, seeing things for the way they were intended to be seen. And she smiled, “Maybe you’re right,” she said as she watched Jess look through the different images that were on her camera. She seemed in awe, and a huge smiled appeared on the southern girl’s lips as she exclaimed that they were amazing, that she liked her style and attention to detail. She laughed, taking the camera away from her with a huge smile, “I’m glad you like them. If you want, I can write down my website, and you can take a look at my commissions, I usually don’t keep those SIMS cards, but I do same a few to the website before I give them to their rightful owner,” she said with a smile. Her website was filled with some of the pictures that Jess had just seen, but there were pictures of graduations, baby showers, weddings—you name it, they were likely to be found there.

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Jess laughed when Danielle argued with her, asking how clumsy she could be if she did quidditch. "Oh, I'm not clumsy in the air," Jess answered instantly, chuckling at herself, "But the second I have both feet firmly on the ground ... I tend to trip over the air." It wasn't really an exaggeration either. Jess was definitely not one of the most graceful people in the world. Unless you caught her in the air. There she could definitely trick you. She nodded at the second part to the girl's answer. "Thanks. I hope it works out. If not, I'm sure I'll find somewhere that fits," she answered. Jess did feel quite confidently about that. She didn't know what made her want to try investigative journalism so much, but it was definitely a strong feeling on her part and she was excited to try it out.

When the girl took the camera back, Jess looked to her with a grin. Her talent was incredible! It made Jess want to travel with her and write about the pictures, but they stood for themselves. A story that went along nicely could be good, but it would have to be some story to keep up with those pictures. Jess nodded,"I would love to check out your website!" Jess thought that maybe looking at these pictures, or similar ones, could help her write. "So where are you headed now?" Jess asked, not wanting to make Danielle late for anything.

@danielle 
(you wanna end? Or we can keep going. Haha either way!)

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BLOOM OF COLOR
ON A POLAROID

[attr="class","next"] Danielle let out a soft laugh, shaking her head, “Oh I guess I’ll give you that. I’d probably be the opposite, clumsy in the air but firm on my feet walking around,” she said with a laugh. Danielle was never one for sports, not even when she was back at Ilvermorny. She rather photograph the sport than play it, if she was quite honest. Though it sometimes looked fun to play until you watched someone fall off their broom and fall to the ground, breaking bones and such. She had witnessed that once, and it had been horrible. Danielle smiled, “I’m sure it’ll work out,” she said truthfully, she had faith in the girl’s ability even if they had only met just now.

‘I would love to check out your website! So where are you headed now?’ Danielle quickly looked down at her watch and slightly gasped, she had a meeting with her boss in a few minutes and quickly realized how into the conversation she had gotten. “I’m—actually heading to a meeting. Here—” she started as she grabbed a pen from her pocket and a piece of napkin from nearby and wrote down the URL for her website, handing it off to Jessa, “This is the website URL…It was nice meeting you,” she said quickly as she began packing up her things, it wasn’t long before she wished the girl a quick farewell and disappeared out of the breakroom, making her way to her bosses office.

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TAG @jessavette

NOTES le fin!

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