 Lovely™ | Captain Hurted | Ariana's Bane | Resident Antagonist | Unparalleled Delight
Still just sitting quietly in the back corner of the room, Nem was watching their hand as they listened to the lesson. They'd taken one of the metal matchsticks from their pocket and were walking it with preternatural precision over their fingers and knuckles, with only the slightest of finger twitches now and then.
Nem could not claim any expertise about photography itself, or the process of developing photographs. They'd never been particularly interested in being behind the camera, or in front of it; it was such a niche and, as far as they were concerned, unimportant area that they'd also not bothered to learn anything about it. Most of what they knew was information that had filtered through during everyday life or the context of other pursuits, largely unintentional, like this stuff about dark rooms, and the potion to develop magical photographs. Nem knew all their school textbooks cover to cover, and then some; it was no surprise they ended up knowing things they had not set out to learn. All things considered, there was nothing they wanted to add here, even if they felt like speaking up.
As they watched the small metal shape balance, tumble, and roll end-to-end over their fingers, Nem recalled the last time they'd been home and had happened to note some of the family photos around the house. Almost every recent photographed version of themselves had abandoned the scenes, especially the group scenes - it was interesting to note the parallels, or maybe the foreshadowing. Jake and Becca, of course, had always kept regular muggle photos around as well, so it was hardly an issue.
But it was an indication that, in some cases, it was better to not have moving photos at all, if it was memories you wanted to capture. The subjects could bail out just as easily as their real life counterparts. Conversely, it was better if someone magically developed a photograph of you, if that version of you was likely to act appropriately and walk when the time came.
Which led to the question of exactly how and why that occurred, what kind of magic was picking up on what aspects of a person's behaviour. How much of the subject they could see.
Nem's hand stilled. The metal matchstick fell from their fingers with a tiny clatter, and they stared without really seeing it. |