a faulty line | cordelia

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ATOP A MOUND OF DIRT, brown and unappealing in colour, lay a trail of brightly coloured beans. As if planted there, some exotic and fruity plant sure to sprout from its skin. However, they were not as they seemed. In fact, if a passerby were to pop one in their mouth, they'd find they tasted an awful lot like Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans.

And above the beans, on a hanging tree branch of precarious length and thickness, lay a lanky boy named Elijah. How he'd found himself there, he couldn't really tell you. The Flemings had all ventured to Hogsmeade on a 'family adventure', only to split off after a pub lunch Eli didn't finish. It was while there he'd overhead a half-cut wizard regaling patrons with the menacing gnome infestation in a neighbouring field.

And so explained Eli's location. Scurried up a stout tree on the villages outer limits. Not five minutes from the train station. His old camera in hand and a trap of Bertie's Beans laid upon a mound of dirt Eli was certain housed a gnome or two. All he had to do was lie... and wait...

If only patience had been a skill of Eli's. If only his attention span allowed for quiet and secretive dwelling. Not fifteen minutes in to his solitary adventure was his head laid upon his bent arms, belly full of beans, as he began to drift off to sleep with camera still in hand. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

The last time she was in Hogsmeade had only been a few weeks earlier, dragged there by her parents on a spontaneous day trip. Today was similar enough, though this time she was there of her own volition, tagging along with her father who wanted to catch up with a few of his old Quidditch mates. They were a rowdy bunch, quickly jumping into old stories that she had either heard before hundreds of times, or into ones that she really didn’t care about, like the play-by-play of a match they had all been in two decades ago whilst still rookies. While repeat head injuries and crashes had dulled most of them, the one thing they never forgot was a solid match, something she had learned over the years. But Cordelia’s raison d'etre for being in Hogsmeade was not to regale in stories of old: there were pictures she had to take that she had missed out on during her previous trip here. Last time, she had thought Hogsmeade would be dull and unamusing during the summer months, but she had been completely wrong about that. The town was seen in a completely different light when students weren’t bustling along the streets, and when she had time to actually frame and compose proper photographs without any distractions. Her time limit today was by sunset, when she was to head back to the Broomsticks and gather her father to bring him back home, thankful for once that she was old enough to legally apparate now.

Cordelia quickly found herself on the outskirts of town, starting off with some standard wide-shots of the buildings and surrounding landscape. For once in her life, she was able to capture Hogsmeade without anyone walking along the streets. A little part of her wished she was able to get onto the grounds of the school so she could do the same there, but sneaking in probably wouldn’t reflect well on her, and that was too much of a daredevil approach for her tastes. There were a few friends that would more than likely drag her along to do that, namely Lily, and Cordelia couldn’t help but look around her immediate area to make sure the Gryffindor wasn’t on the prowl somewhere nearby. That was a very Lily-esque thing to do. Stretching her arms above her head and cracking her back, Cordelia was content with the shots she got and quickly unclipped her camera from her tripod before folding up the latter. There were more spots outside of town that she wanted to hit before the end of the day, and dawdling around admiring the scenery wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

Watching where she was stepping on the unsteady, craggy ground, Cordelia spotted a tree off in the distance, which was a bit away from everything else. That looked like a good place to set up shop next. Practicing her balancing act along the rocks, she eventually found even footing on a patch of grass along slope of the hill, which made her life a thousand times easier when it came to traversing the terrain. A spill here would spell doom for her camera, which had only been smashed a handful times while in her care. For as often as she spent staring at the ground to avoid making eye contact with others, she tripped and ran into things often, usually resulting in something of hers breaking or scattering across the ground. Everything seemed to go her way today though, and she made it to the tree swiftly and without fail, stopping suddenly when she looked up at the foliage and saw a boy lying on a branch. And here she thought her balance on the rocks had been pretty impressive. She wasn’t sure if he had noticed her or not, but there was no way she was going to be giving up this opportunity for a photo-op. Gently setting her tripod down at her feet, she quickly scoped out the correct settings on her camera, focusing directly on the boy in the tree. Pressing down on the shutter release, the click of the photograph being taken echoed through the silence.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THOUGHTS LIGHT AND DRIFTING, Eli's eyes had just drifted closed. His mouth slackening against where he'd rested it on his arm. The thickness of the branch bore his lanky frame, but the security of it surely depended on his lucidity. For as his shoulders relaxed his stance loosened. And the deeper he fell, the more likely he was to fall. Suppose it was a good thing he was awoken.

The snick of a shutter slicing through the air, Eli jerked his eyes opened, his body wobbling as he came to. "Wha-" Had he fallen asleep? His centre of gravity seemed to flee for the hills as he struggled to maintain his balance on his elbows, camera still in hand. His torso went first. Feet wedged at the base of the trunk. And he felt himself begin to fall before he truly did.

Eli scrambled for grip, letting go of his camera as his upper body slid off the precarious branch. "No!" He yelled, not for his falling body, but his camera as it sailed through the air and landed with a sickening crack on the ground. Though he didn't see it fall as he'd let go, regretted it, and then instinctively reached to find grip on the branch as his legs came tumbling down alongside his chest. The weight of his own body tugged at him, and Eli's sleepy arms only bore his weight for a few seconds before he dropped. Though, fortunately, this meant he landed feet first.

On impact his knees ached, jarring up his entire frame as he landed and then immediately fell in to the dirt. He was stunned, his mouth open as he looked at his camera, the ground, and then at the blonde girl he hadn't noticed until he'd hit the dirt. She stood there, camera in hand.

"What... the fuck?" He breathed, winded with panic and shock. He looked at his camera again. "You... you... what have you done?!" He cried out, shifting on to his knees to go to his camera. He lifted it from the ground, cradling it in his hands as he looked at the shattered lens. The cracked frame. "Look what you did!" He accused, shaking the broken camera between them. Something tightened in his chest as he looked down at it, his face going warm and red. It wasn't entirely her fault, he'd fallen asleep. But reason couldn't be seen in that moment as Eli looked down at the most important gift his mother had given him before she'd vanished, shattered. "Aren't you gonna say something?!"

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

Cordelia never seemed to be able to catch a break when it came to taking pictures. If it wasn’t the incessant questions that were commonly brought up by other students, it was that she typically found herself in predicaments that pertained to her photography. The usual was the need for portraits or headshots to send back home to their families or for job applications. She didn’t have the time or resources to do that for everyone. They seemed to not understand that the process she followed rigidly for developing her photos meant she was consistently backed up for months, the number of rolls always accumulating faster than she could finish the previous. The other sort of trouble she found herself in with her camera was of this nature: her bumping into a person and dropping her beloved possession, or taking pictures of the wrong people. It happened enough that she always had to sit down and remind herself that there was a reason why she refused to focus her work on people after something like this happened. And of course, it happened again. She could tell that the snap of her shutter was the catalyst for the boy to wake up (something she was unaware of until she saw his reaction), and then subsequently drop his own camera from the branch he had been lounging on. Cordelia watched the machine fall in slow motion, having been in that same position one too many times. The sickening crunch of it making contact with the ground was enough for her to know that multiple pieces were broken and cracked. This was going to be a fun exchange.

The boy followed the camera off of the branch, but unlike the camera, he seemed to manage the drop a lot better. That was good. She knew she could fix the camera in a heartbeat, but there were certain parts of her healing spell repertoire that she still was not confident about, despite numerous people telling her she looked like she was ready. Cordelia didn’t respond when the boy started talking to her – his anger scared her slightly, enough so that she pulled her own camera and tripod closer to her body, afraid that her gear would be next on the chopping block if he wished it so. She understood what it was like to have this happen. It was terrible, an agonizing, choking feeling that she didn’t know how to put into words, mostly because her cameras meant so much to her. From the boy’s reaction and the way he was barking at her, he was the same way. Though she would never yell at someone in the manner he was…

“I-I-I-I…” she started, realizing right away that there was no way he was going to be understand her through her stutter. Angry people only got more upset when they had to wait for her to explain herself, and then that just fueled her nerves even more, making the stutter unbearable even to her own ears. Cordelia swallowed, her mouth dry because she didn’t know how to proceed. She needed to apologize and at the least offer to fix it, but saying so was going to be difficult. He asked if she was going to say anything, though her brain processed it more as a demand for her to say something, and she took a half a step back, pulling her camera even closer to her than it was before. “…s-s-sorry…” It came out as a whisper. Wonderful.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ELI HADN'T HAD TIME TO THINK. He'd been so befuddled from the fall, and then the sight of his beloved family heirloom laying in pieces in the ground and he'd replaced grief with anger. It was an easy slip, one he'd fallen in to before. But, he wasn't thinking about the fact that he was yelling at a person. Just that his camera was broken and his arse was sore from falling, so he had lashed out accordingly.

He barely heard her stutter when she finally spoke. An explanation wasn't really necessary, it wouldn't change the fact that it was broken. He was already looking back down at his camera, a shroud of dark hair masking his features as he squeezed stinging eyes shut and blew out a long, hard breath. Eli looked back up in time to see her mouth struggle with a word, a whisper coming out between them. He thought she might have said sorry, but he couldn't be sure. But her face...

Eli slumped down on to his calves, his camera held close to his chest. The glass from the broken lens littered around him. It was her face that stopped his verbal diatribe. It looked crumpled. Her shoulders hunched up around her ears. She looked to be caught in a permanent flinch. He shook his head, his mouth falling open and then shut silently.

"No- I just-" How could he explain the gravity of the situation without getting angry again, or scaring the girl off. He still simmered with indignation, his mind whirring from its short lived slumber. "Look- you scared me, okay?" He said diplomatically, his tone a little hard, but not loud this time. "I didn't mean- I shouldn't have yelled..." He looked down at his camera again, biting his lower lip hard as he turned it this way and that.

"The camera it's- it isn't mine..." He revealed, unwilling to reveal the sentimentality, but feeling the desire to explain in the heavy silence between them. Slowly, to fill the time and because he felt the desire to, Eli began gathering up the broken shards of plastic and glass. If there was a spell, he could try it. But Eli felt so useless with most spells that he often left his wand at home in the summer. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

Cordelia maintained her distance from the boy, even as he knelt down to observe the damage. She didn’t need to be up close to see that a lot of pieces were snapped off, and the body cracked. Too many times this exact picture had been of her with her own cameras, shattered all over the ground. Except that it always seemed to be her own fault for that. Not paying attention and running into someone, or tripping on the staircase, and ending up with broken camera could never be blamed on anyone but herself. Even now, with this boy and his camera, it was her fault. One could argue that he could have eventually dropped it from there on his own, but she certainly exacerbated it. Cause and effect dictated that her camera snap was what woke him up, and then eventually led to where they were now. This only reinforced why she found it difficult to make friends, because even those with similar hobbies could be turned away in a second due to her actions.

Even though it sounded like he was trying less and less to be angry with her, his tone was still enough to keep her nervous enough that another bark or two would come her way. Cordelia bit down on her lower lip, hard, as he continued to examine the camera and talk at her. She felt another pang of guilt, or the addition of more to it, when he said that the camera wasn’t his. Her equipment was closely guarded, only ever handing it over when she knew that the person could handle it without messing with her settings or dropping it on the ground. That was why Lily would never get ahold of it without a fight. But if she did lend it to someone else, or was lent one herself, she had a feeling that her reaction would be similar to this boy’s. It was bad enough that the thing was broken, having the owner getting upset over it as well would be even worse. “I-I uhhh…” Cordelia cleared her throat, trying to bring the pitch of her voice high enough for the boy to hear her. “...c-can fi-fix it…” she moved her camera and tripod to one arm, restraining it tightly as she pulled her wand out of her jacket pocket.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THIS WAS QUITE POSSIBLY THE WORST THING that could have happened, as far as Eli was concerned. He kept going back as to how it had happened. His head drooping, the snick of the girl's own camera shocking him. Why had he fallen asleep? Well, it might have had something to do with the very small kitten he and his brother were rearing. It had been his rotation last night, and he was paying for it.

The camera was a mess in his hands. Weakly apologising for his behaviour. Yes, he felt guilty for yelling. He'd been groggy and sore. Not to mention the sight of his mother's camera split in to a dozen different pieces had left him distraught. But, if his mother were around, she'd have told him 'it's no excuse!'. A great advocate of her son thinking before he spoke, to no great avail. He turned it around, muttering to himself.

Admitting it wasn't his was difficult. It was like ushering his mother in to the space between them, which was less than ideal. But, it felt important. If only to somewhat explain why he'd lashed out. She seemed unmoved, so hee began picking up the broken pieces tentatively. Though, almost as soon as Eli had written off ever getting another word out of her, she spoke. The stammered sentence came together in fractured syllables. Had he frightened her so badly? His guilt was like a rock in his throat as he looked at her.

"You can fix it?" He reiterated gently, in case he'd missed something. Though, he seemed correct. "I don't know any spells..." He admitted, picking at a scuff on the bottom of the black plating. With a handful of glass and plastic, Eli stood. His back throbbed a little, but he was otherwise unscathed. Slowly, as if she might flee, Eli approached her. He held out the camera and the pieces he'd managed to retrieve. "Can't get much worse, right?" He joked lamely, his smile hesitant. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

There was a multitude of things that Cordelia sucked at. She couldn’t talk whilst under pressure, her normal speech riddled with stammers and ‘uhhs’ when she had trouble thinking of what to say next, or which word wouldn’t pose a problem with her stutter. Approaching and talking to people she barely knew, or even ones she did, was always stressful. Placing herself in this situation was completely her own fault as well, so that didn’t help at all. To make things worse, watching the boy cradle the broken camera in his arms was absolutely heart-wrenching. Not like seeing an animal die in a movie heartache, but one that still had meaning to it. He had stated that the camera didn’t belong to him after all, so she could see how this would make it that much worse than if it was his own.

What she was good at though, was fixing things. Cameras and broken arms to be more specific. Obviously she didn’t know this boy, and he didn’t know her, so it was difficult for her to explain that without sounding like an expert in the subject or a complete klutz. The sad truth was that it was a little bit of both. First-hand experience was the best way to learn, unfortunately. As he asked if she could fix the camera, she nodded her head. While he didn’t know any spells, she certainly did. With her wand out now, she looked around for the best place to set her own pride and joy down, opting for what looked like the flattest part of land as far as the eye could see. “If smaller p-pieces were br-broken, m-maybe,” Cordelia said, not realizing he was joking about it until she had already said it. “S-Sorry…” Inhaling, she knelt down in front of where he was crouched, and looked over the extent of the damage that had been done to the camera. She had seen worse. She had done worse. That was a good sign. “A simple m-mending charm w-works m-m-most of the time,” Cordelia explained as she poked the camera with the tip of her wand. Closing her eyes, she visualized what the camera looked like in its normal state. The goal was to cast the spell without using the incantation, something she had been getting better at lately. “H-hold it st-steady please,” she asked, taking one last deep breath before moving her wand in the proper motions, touching the camera at its completion. Any second now the pieces would be going back together…

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

IT WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN MATTERED HOW THE girl said she would fix his camera. Eli wouldn't know the difference. He'd only heard that she could and his frustration had eased to make room for hope. A tentative kind of hope, though. Rife with suspicion. Though he wasn't in any position to refuse, especially when he felt there was no alternative.

Eli listened wide eyed as she continued to speak, her words still stuttered. He slowly came to the realisation that he hadn't caused this. It was simply the way she spoke. He felt a pang of sympathy. He'd yelled at her to speak. He really was a dick, he thought punishingly. "Don't be sorry," He said with a sheepish smile. Somehow when she apologised he just felt worse.

He held the camera as steady as possible, his gaze flitting between it and the girl's face. She seemed to furrow with concentration and he was fascinated as she swept her wand and tapped his camera. Slowly, the pieces seemed to gravitate toward his hands. He almost jerked back, but held steady, his mouth parted. And, as simple as that, the camera mended itself before his very eyes. Eli had always been a wizard, but he truly loved to see magic at work. The good kind - which meant, the kind he wasn't performing.

Rolling the mended camera around in his hands, he was entranced. "That was fantastic!" He declared, giving a small and baffled laugh. He looked up at her, green eyes bright. "Really... you didn't have to do that," He was almost rambling now, his camera back to being clutched to his chest. "I was a dick, and- and you didn't have to." He shook his head, blowing out a long breath. "Thanks." Finally, he'd managed to say as much. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

The boy told her not to be sorry, but that was all Cordelia could be. This was caused by her, and she was now going to fix it. It was easier to apologize now than have to come back later and ask for forgiveness, at least in her experience. She nodded her head as he spoke to her, showing that she understood. Holding back on that word would be difficult. Typically it was the first thing that came out of her mouth, probably because of all the confusion she seemed to cause people. Right now though, she needed to focus on fixing the camera, and continuously apologizing for something that was said and done with wouldn’t get her any closer to achieving that goal. Just as she had planned, the spell worked and the pieces started snapping back together, the crack on the body of the camera becoming one, seamless piece once again, parts of the broken lens moving back to their proper, functional positions. Cordelia knew it would work, having had to do it so many times prior to this.

Calling her work fantastic had her eyes flick from the fully fixed camera, to the boy, then back down to the camera, a small warmth in her face. That didn’t happen often, since usually she was only cleaning up her own mistakes. Being thanked for messing up was something new for sure. “It was m-my fault though,” she said, standing up, placing her wand back in her jacket pocket. “And-And I kn-know what it’s like so…” Cordelia added, looking over at her own camera, which was still nestled in the spot she had placed it.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ELI WAS STILL MARVELLING OVER HIS CAMERA, so when the girl stood up he didn't immediately catch it. But, her words were slow to come, so his racing mind had plenty of time to catch those. He shot to his feet, camera in hand once again. A body filled with relief and admiration, the anger completely forgotten for him. He shook his head vehemently.

"Hey, no." He disagreed, wrinkling his freckled nose. "I was up a tree... and I fell asleep..." Slowly, as if the ridiculousness of it needed time to take root. "I think I get to take some of the blame for that." Eli was thrown back to his reaction, and he wondered if that was why she seemed so intent on taking full responsibility. It only made him feel worse for lashing out.

Instinctively, Eli reached out to gently grab her arm to get her attention. His hand touching her skin before he yanked it back. He was always too hands-on. Realising a second too late that not everyone else felt the same way. And he had a feeling that lingering wouldn't help the girl's already anxious appearance. "I... look... what I said earlier-how I said it..." He huffed a sigh, looking this way and that. "It was shitty. You didn't mean it, and you didn't deserve to be yelled at." Twisting his lips, he put his hand behind his back.

"The camera was my mom's." He reluctantly revealed, though he didn't reveal why it mattered all the more to break it. "What about yours, you break yours a lot too?" He asked with a small and encouraging smile, recalling her previous statement. She was used to fixing camera's apparently. And honestly, he just wanted her to not look like she was about to turn heel and run anymore. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

Cordelia really wanted to let the boy take all the fault for the situation, but her conscience wouldn’t let that happen. She was the spark that ignited the fire, and without her snapping the picture on her camera, there was no telling if he would have dropped his own camera at all. While he could try to blame himself for as much of it as possible, it didn’t change the fact that she had a role in all of it. How to explain all of that though…“S-Sure…b-b-but I still t-took the p-picture and yeah…” That sounded okay. Then they could split the fault without debating about it any further. Especially if it meant she could get on her way and continue what she had been doing.

Thinking that would be the end of it, she felt something touch her arm, looking down in time to see the boy pulling his hand away from her. A year ago she would have probably grabbed her camera and ran as fast as she could. Talking was difficult enough as it was. Having a stranger suddenly touch her out of the blue? Luckily, this was nothing compared to Lily, who had more than acquainted her with random hugs, pokes, and an assortment of other things that seemed to be common with her. He was apologizing though, for his reaction to the camera breaking, and Cordelia rocked back and forth on her heels as she listened. “I uhh…thanks,” she said when it seemed like he had finished talking. Most people didn’t take the time to apologize. Most people didn’t even bother to notice she was there too, so it was an even trade between being yelled at and completely ignored. She would take the latter over the former any day though.

He wasn’t completely finished though, it seemed, this time explaining that the camera was his mother’s, which probably gave it sentimental value like she had expected (his reaction to it breaking was indicative enough of that fact). Cordelia didn’t know what to say about the camera belonging to his mother and opted for another nod of her head. It had yet to fail her. “Umm y-yeah. D-Dropped it a few times and had c-coffee spilled on it.” Cordelia said, biting onto her lower lip. Saying that out loud was awkward.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ELI SHRUGGED OFF THE GIRL'S ATTEMPT TO TAKE blame. Though he didn't entirely disagree, he still felt guilty for his reaction. But, she seemed intent on taking some form of responsibility, and he didn't want to upset her again by arguing in his point. So, he bit the inside of his cheek and let it pass, focusing instead on an entirely different strain of thought. "I'd like to see that photo," He said with a small smile. "It's probably hilarious." She'd caught him in quite the unfortunate situation.

Something in him tightened and then eased with relief as the girl passed on his small revelation. It had felt important for her to know how much the piece of machinery meant to him, but he didn't enjoy the idea of having to explain further than that. Luckily, she seemed to agree. "Really?" He said in passing, thinking about all the times he'd nearly broken his mother's camera and avoided it. "Though I suppose if you can fix it as well as you did mine," He shrugged, a small laugh rumbling in his chest. "It can't be as bad, right?"

It was then that Eli was distracted by the kicking of dirt and rocks and... the scattering of jelly beans. He turned his head rapidly, breath catching as he gripped his camera. "The gnomes!" He exclaimed, running toward where he'd had his camera pointed among the brush. With the same panic as somebody who had suddenly remembered they had their oven on.

Eli scattered, but all he caught with his camera lens was the sprouted, brown top of a head and a trail of multi-coloured jelly beans as it disappeared back in to a mound of dirt. "Damn it!" He gritted, kicking a rock with the toe of his sneaker. "Missed em..." 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

Even with the boy’s change in tone and demeanor since he had cooled off, Cordelia was unsure of how to react around him. While falling out of the tree could have been more serious than it actually was, and she certainly deserved the scolding for it, who was to say her inability to converse efficiently wouldn’t send him down that same anger-infused path again? The stutter and awkward silences annoyed her constantly. With someone that was quick to yell before thinking, the odds of his frustration towards her growing were high. That was how some of the professors were, and almost every group she was ever put into for a class project. The only time she was ever of any use was in Charms, and that rarely had group work. So when he said he would like to see how the photo she had taken would turn out, Cordelia simply shrugged. “M-My shutter speed wasn’t s-set p-properly…it’s going to be b-blurry.” She didn’t need to look down at her camera settings to confirm – her shutter speed was only changed when she was hunting down animals or people. A person sleeping on a tree branch didn’t warrant anything out of the ordinary. Of course, if the picture went through before he fell, that was a different story. For now, it was best to brush it off and move on.

Trying to reason that breaking a camera wasn’t that terrible since she could fix it at the end of the day was kind of messed up. Every time her camera shattered on the ground or was fried via caffeine intake, it suffered. The roll of film or SD card inside were at risk, and images, unfortunately, were extremely difficult to recapture when they were damaged beyond repair. Certain photographs were irreplaceable too, and having a dead memory card because it got wet or a fully exposed roll of film meant there was no going back. The average picture of a flower didn’t matter to her, but the snapshot of a shocked child as a blob of ice cream sloshed off of their cone did. That moment in time could never be captured again. It was unique to her experience and point of view as much as it was to the child who lost their ice cream. “I d-don’t prefer it…b-but yeah it’s better than w-waiting to have someone else f-fix it.” The other caveat here being that not all camera repair shops could work on her film cameras. Digital, sure. The parts required for her film camera though, were expensive. Replacing it with a new model would be a smarter choice at that point.

Cordelia was going to add more to her experiences with fixing her camera, but the boy suddenly jumped away from her, yelling about gnomes for some reason. Moving slowly into a position that allowed her to observe what was happening, Cordelia tilted her head to the side as she tried to figure out what was so interesting about gnomes. They were literally everywhere in this area, the rocky ground being perfect for safe underground colonies. That was one of the first creatures they were taught about in school. Then again, from the accent he seemed to have, there was no way this boy went to Hogwarts with her. She wasn’t the best with faces or names, but if there was someone else as intent about photography as she was, she would know of them. “If y-you wait l-l-long enough they’ll come b-back,” Cordelia explained. “Especially if y-you feed them…”

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THOUGH ELI TREASURED HIS MOTHER'S OLD camera for obvious reasons, he was by no means a professional. His lackadaisical words about breaking and fixing her camera was, most certainly, callous. It didn't come from a callous place, more ignorance. "Well, obviously." Eli's smile lost its edge, but he persevered, ruffling his hair nervously.

However, his attention was quickly shifted back to the task at hand, the gnomes. He changed motivation in mere seconds, though it wasn't uncharacteristic. Eli's attention span short and easily stolen. They were gone before he had a  chance to snap them, and it was like the cherry on top. His shoulders rolled and he crouched by the mound. The blonde stood a little ways behind him, curious as Eli turned his head to address her.

"That's why I brought the beans," Eli explained, fishing around in his pockets before pulling out a handful of the sweet treats. "Apparently they're big fans?" Which appeared true as his previous path of lure was already greatly depleted. He tossed one from his hand in to his mouth, shrugging off his disappointed as best he could as he chewed. "Just wanted to try and get a picture while I was here." He didn't know the towns proximity to the school, and when he wasn't at Hogwarts, Eli knew he'd be in London. "Next time." He said, though it was fact that Eli would not have the patience to wait much longer. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!