[IC] take a photograph with the character above 📷

I'm taking the freebie

DanishTheMenace (and yes, it's connected to the whole "Attila showing Francis some musicals/plays" interactions XD)

Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, as well as the birthplace of the deathrock during the same time as goth has sprung up. This is not the first time Évariste went to the US, solidarity events and punk shows occur often outside his home country. Sometimes it just happened that the band Évariste is in has to go elsewhere besides Europe. 

Currently, there was a kind of pop culture convention on going somewhere in the LA. Crowded as one may expect in a convention. Geeks, enthusiasts, cosplayers, artists, gamers, actors, and even just regular people are all jam packed in one giant event area. Évariste wasn't prepared in this, as it was unexpected to arrive such. Heck, his attire can blend within the crowd. Looking like as someone from an edgy 2000s era movie or game. 

He remembered a certain actor named Francis Burtkins. Évariste encountered this lively elderly man before in an arcade and his expert gaming skills despite the age. Was he a Hollywood actor in the past or someone from rather, more obscure shows. The chemist easily recognized Francis' face, and his enthusiastic vibe. Though, there are several people, or rather a sea of fans wanting to get an autograph, take a picture, or quoting some dialogs from a show in the 60s to 70s with this elderly man. The sound of laughter overshadowed by the chatter around the area.

As soon as the group of people were gone, Évariste finally has to see Francis face to face. "I know you before, but I watched the play Attila wanted you to try out" a spark of joy filled the chemist's face, he opened his phone and opened the camera app "I must say that you are one badass professor vampire hunter, even you haven't acted for a long time, you still nailed your acting skills and humor like you used to do." 

Évariste's hand forms a claw, while his other hand readied his thumb at the capture button "As a fan, I think we should take a picture."

     "Brooo!!!" Chad strode over to Evariste and pointed at the nearby building he seemed to be headed. "Do you work there? Bro, you are totally not what I expected for some in, uh--" He looked back at the building's sign. "Waste management! You, like, look like a rockstar, brah!" Or... a vampire. Although even if he was one, Evariste didn't seem vicious or the kind to attack others. That was usually the case with some, though, wasn't it? No, he needed to be sure, so with a goofy smile bright on his face, Chad pulled out his selfie stick and extended it.

     "I've got to grab a selfie with you, brah, puh-lease!!" he begged while attaching his phone. He seemed too lost in his own thoughts to really regard Evariste's answer and got up close to him. "Trust me, it'll be totally righteous! Just look at the phone!" He looked ahead at his phone, held on the stick and pointed down at them. It showed their reflection. Theirs. His included. So. Not a vampire... or one that was good at hiding.
     The smile on Chad's face relaxed slightly as he took the picture. He pulled the selfie stick closer to get his phone, observing it. Hmm, needed filters. "Thanks again, brah!" he told the other. "Do you, like, have any socials or anything? I can totally shout you out on my Instagram-- Do you have Instagram? Facebook? Twitter? YouTube?" He listed on and on.

        This guy. Was so. He sure was.

       How she got pulled into this, she had no idea. Squinting, Remei's eyes wasted away upon meeting the pixels on the screen of Chad's phone. Whatever a phone was. She didn't even know what it meant to "take a picture", but context clues led her to believe he was sitting her down for a portrait, but you needed time to prepare a portrait, and he didn't seem like the kind of person to want to sit down for a long time to be painted. She hadn't the time to get situated, either, and the end result...

       Chad had done this so many times before, surely, because he looked normal, that was just how celebrities or influencers or whatever were, but as for Remei, there was something about how she appeared in the picture that she loathed. She had kind of a double chin there. And her glasses were glinting so brightly. And behind them, her eyes were squinting as the sunlight hit them. And her dry ass skin was on full display around her chin.

       For a moment, she thought she might cry, and she definitely looked like it. Instead, she took in a deep breath, and said to Chad, quietly, "Cut me out of this one."

@ NP: because remei is stuck in a backwards ass no-cameras-allowed hellhole, if you want someone who actually knows how to take a picture you can respond to Shrike instead . peace and love

" So you're a...superhero or something? "

Gidget stared blankly at the masked figure that had supposedly just saved his life from a group if terrorists. Just a few hours ago, he had gone to sleep before he would find himself in an empty, dimly lit room tied in rope to a chair with a bomb behind him. He didn't know it, but he'd been held hostage on a livestream to a caption that read " THIS CUTE LITTLE ROBOT JUST TOOK YOUR JOB ". Gidget stared blankly at the camera in front of him the whole time in confusion, thinking the mysterious ticking noise was just a clock.

The stream garnered the attention of this woman, named " Shrike ", who tracked the location of the bomb and quickly freed Gidget and " yeeted " the bomb out of a window and destroying it with an " energy blast " (a bullet from a gun).

Shrike infodumped all this to him and proceeded to ask of he wanted a photo with his " new favorite hero ". Before Gidget could say a word, the peculiar woman whipped out her phone, reeling in the little robot by the shoulder and snapping a picture of the two. She gently kissed him on the head (he reminded her of a plush) and disappeared into the night (3 pm in the afternoon).

For being a demon, it was honestly kind of hard to get out. Ximena loved being around people, thrived on it honestly, but lately, they were way too busy to really go out and explore. Finding a city wasn't hard. Los Riveracci was close to where she had been summoned anyways so making a day to go out in the city? Easy peasy.

It had to have been at least five hours they had been out around the city. Denizens all were either really open minded or just didn't care much about what she was, a few even going as far as to compliment their 'cosplay', whatever that was. She'd find that out later anyways. Right as they were about to walk in a shop, freshly bought sunglasses perched on the tip of their nose, they saw an unlikely sight. A robot walking into a store. How peculiar. It was peculiar enough to peak their interest, prompting them to lose whatever plan they had before just to follow the little creature.

As soon as she got to the store, a gaming one they realized quickly enough, they found themselves inside, close to where the robot was. "Hi! Sorry if this is a bit strange but could I get a picture with you?" They asked, tapping Gidget on his shoulder. "I saw you walking in here and I've never seen someone quite like you- not that it's a bad thing! Just different. Anyway-" Continuing on chattering for a good few minutes, Gidget stood there, dumbfounded by the demon, completely unsure what to say or do. Normally he's just insult whoever it was and hoped they'd go away. Being faced with a hooved, winged, tailed whatever it was was a completely different situation that that though.

"I- uh, I guess?" He said after they finished, Ximena lighting up at the go ahead and whipping out his phone, making sure to get them both in the shot before snapping the photo. "Oh my gods thanks! Again, sorry to bother. Cya later lil' dude!" They grinned, leaving a confused robot alone in the store as they left with a smile.

“Okay, you need to act like I caught you,” she instructed Ximena. “And I do a cool pose, with like my arms,” Leika added. She fidgeted around with the small rotary knobs of the camera she held in her hands. It wasn’t originally her camera. But she put it to good use. So her crimes should have been forgiven.

“Man, people are going to be so impressed when I show them this picture.” Leika placed her free hand on her hips and looked at the other with a big smile.
“Did you caught that demon ALL by yourself?” she said as she changed the usual tune of her voice in a more high feminine voice. “You múst be soooo strong. I need to date you!” The lijfwacht's smile grew into a toothy grin. This was a perfect plan.  Pause. Leika lowered the camera and frowned slightly. “I’m not sure if you impress demons in the same way,” she muttered. “But after these pictures, we can stage some pics of you catching me! If you also want something to boast about as well!” 

--
thank you for my life

Truthfully, Illanya had been awkward throughout the entirety of the ‘blind date’ she’d been put up to by Roswell, appreciative of the older man’s concern for her safety but initially off put by Leika’s bluntness and manner of speaking.

Still, the flowers had been a nice gift, and had flourished a little further when the Paladin had taken them in hand. Having company while she attends to her own personal errands and a few errands required of her as a knight was nice though, and frequently Illanya would do what she could to included Leika in the more amusing of her tasks. 

The awkwardness has somewhat remained, even as the knight got more comfortable around her new companion. Her attention is drawn by the clicks of a camera, coming from a stand selling quick photos. Anxiousness melts into curiosity and curiosity into excitement. Taking the other’s hand Illanya all but drags the shorter girl to the stand, quickly paying for 3 photos before her city-spotter could stop her. With an almost a smug smile she gestures to the front of camera, 

“It’s be a shame to let the photos go to waste. Come on, we’ll do one serious one, and figure out something fun for the last two, eh?”

A knight, hm? But I think I recognize her, don't I?

Of course he did. He recounted the details of his internal investigations on his former employer, and how they used him as their scapegoat for their poison, to Illanya half a year prior. It was something he had only told one person so openly before, but her careful handling of him fostered a sense of trust that allowed him to accept her terms at that time. And now, here she was again, and he knew there was no point pretending he had never met her -- he already told her who he really was. 

"Nice to see you around," he greeted, grinning and striding up to her with an almost theatric confidence, a sign he had no reservations about her. Of course, they weren't too different, were they? Both at one point seeking answers to the sicknesses befalling different locales, they now stood face to face again. "Illanya Mariold, wasn't it? I knew I've seen you before. How have things been? Is the FFS treating you well?"

He spoke to her like an old friend despite only having met her once, but such a familiarity was one he found fit to foster with her. Equally, he was eager to see if she was the same outside of that truth bringing spell, or if she would somehow be more guarded. She did seem rather careful of a person, but he had no right to judge lest it make Phantom a hypocrite. 

"If you're busy I'll leave you be, but I'd like to bother you for a moment, if I may. Are those wings? They look like passive soaring wings. May I take a closer look?" As Phecda asked this, he extended his own wings, a few sets of elliptical wings, to show her his own. "I'll be careful with them, I promise."

He analyzed her wings carefully, his interest in the subject taking over rather quickly. "You're missing a few feathers, it seems. Either way, it looks like you take care of your wings quite well. Mind if I take a few photos? Your wingspan is rather impressive, and I'd love to get a picture or two with you, you know." Upon waiting for her approval, he set his phone up in a nearby tree branch and set the timer on it, and asked Illanya to extend her wings as he did the same. Truthfully, the wing photos were mostly an excuse to get a picture with someone he now considered a friend (he had to remember those he met somehow for his centuries of lifespan, of course), but this time he wasn't bound to the truth, so he would let his feelings of growing friendship remain at least thinly veiled until he could be sure she felt the same way. 

He gathered the phone from the tree and looked at it, smiling to himself. Now he would be certain to recognize her if he ever found her again, and he would certainly cherish their photo together in the meantime. 

vvv YUNE OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THIS SO SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!!