Seeing the world in a soft red light -Open-

[Kalleyna Masters]

Kalleyna pulled the paper out of the developer and hung it over head to let it dry. Her eyes were well adjusted to the red light of the darkroom. As soon as she'd seen the photography class on the registration and though she'd taken all of them before. Advanced was basically time to do what she wanted. But, it was after class and she had the whole darkroom to herself.

Her hands were a bit chilly as she looked at the pictures hanging on the string. Things she'd seen on her way from Sandersville, Oklahoma. That was a dead town. Her dark eyes moved down the row over the scenery and the people that seemed to come to life.

Her hair was up in a messy updo to keep it out of her face and away from the developer, her eyes were soft as a woman and her child came into focus. Across the Prairie, it was right after a tornado touched down. Her father had insisted they stop and vounteer. And she stared at it, for awhile.

[Ryland Abbott]

Classes were over, and most kids ran out of the building like their ass was on fire. It was different for Ryland. Rather than bolting to his home, or the home of a close female friend (as numerous pseudo-gentleman did these days), he lingered around the art department. Sometimes, if one of the art staff was staying late-- he'd stay just as late and get away with. A lot of students got shit for staying over 4:30, but he was close with the art teachers, and they didn't seem to mind. Once he even stayed after with the sculpture teacher, and discussed how they would save the world from debt. They came up with something brilliant, as usual. Then forgot it the next day.

Today, he was staying after to develop a film he couldn't otherwise. The school prohibited any explicit content from their art, which.. in his opinion, limited a student's creative outlet. The intention of numerous artists who dealt with nudity, or anything that may be deemed controversial, didn't do it just to look at breasts and ass all day. That was called porn, not art.

The door system for the darkroom wasn't the black curtain, where every student prayed to whatever holy entity that no one walked in. It wasn't a double door system either. It was a dark, tube-like revolving door that allowed darkroom users to see outward, but no one could see inward. There was also a very negative aspect of this hidden paradise-- you never know what lay behind the revolving door. Once, he'd walked in on a pair of students that were making out. Ridiculous, right?

Fortunately, that didn't happen this time around. Instead he had entered the darkroom on someone who was in the middle of developing. He had already developed his film earlier in the day, so he had the freedom to spend his time playing around with the actual photo. He came armed with a pack of light sensitive, black and white ILFORD photographic paper.

"How are they coming out?" Rather than just barge in on the girl's business, he decided he would ask instead of lean over her shoulder and look for himself. Usually he wouldn't care, but since the two hadn't really spoken (outside of a few hello's and small talk), he decided to be polite. He knew she was good, whenever they had a class critique, he couldn't help but notice how good she was. She really had a way with contrast..

[Kalleyna Masters]

Kalleyna lifted her head and watched Ryland for a long moment, her eyes adjusting to having another person in on her little moment. Families, always different, always contrasting. She blew some fly away strands of dark hair from her eyes, it was habit.

She shrugged her shoulders lightly and turned back to the photographs. Ryland talked to everyone that she'd noticed and was generally pleasant. So she didn't think she was to special but she rubbed her chilly hands together.

"They turned out about how I thought they would," All in black and whites, Kalleyna loved back and whites, she took her photos to reflect that kind of mysterious and at times macabre feeling. And other times, they just felt timeless. "I really didn't think anyone was going to be up here, I haven't seen anyone in awhile.."

[Lilian Carlier]

Lily stood in silence outside of the school, somehow she was fighting the urge to go in. It was amazing how much she didn’t want to go home, she had even circled the parking lot before parking again. Lily looked down at her camera she did have some stuff she needed to develop, but she wasn’t sure if she should go in. She was the ‘new’ girl people stared at her and made random comments about her, Lily couldn’t say anything of course because she usually just ended up in a fight with them. God she hated small towns in New York is was so different, people didn’t notice you were there half the time and if you were lucky those annoying prep girls would choke and leave you alone. Lily sighed and walked up the steps into the school, the door shut behind her and she looked around the empty hallway. In the distance she could hear what sounded like people talking, most likely a club which was working on something or a sports organization getting ready to talk about this seasons plans. She began to walk her shoes were the only echo in the empty hallway, well that and her car keys, which hung off the back loop of her skinny jeans. Lily walked almost at a snail pace as a pair of girls which had the look of cheerleaders passed her, she could hear them quiet down as they looked at her. She just smiled and continued her walk towards the art department, there was no use in stopping they would just say something and she would get pissed as always.

She turned around the corner her eyes shifted to each of the rooms as she got closer to the art department, she knew what the girls were saying she was A new, and B her style of dress didn’t reflect her part of town. Lily was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, which were ripped, around the knee area, a pair of black flats with a small white bow, a white long sleeve shirt, and a black Hello Kitty jacket. She didn’t like the expensive clothing and stuff like that, it was better to look like you had no money than to flaunt it she felt. Lily turned another corner and finally noticed she had reached the right part of the art department the drawings had become photos of different things, she stopped for a second and looked at a picture of a paint can it was different. She had gone through a paint can phase, every paint can in the city of New York she could find become a piece for her photograph. Now it was more about the open fields and different buildings and houses of the town, Lily walked over to the area, which had the darkroom and pushed the door open. It was an odd door, it reminded her the revolving doors back in New York she liked the idea though. As Lily came around and the door shut behind her, she noticed two other people in the room she had seen both of them around school and in her clubs.

Lily stood there and looked around the girl was developing her pictures and the guy was just there, she looked down at her camera and back up at them “Uh hi” she said looking at the girls pictures. She couldn’t see them well but they were black and whites she could tell even from this distance, Lily looked back at them they were both in her clubs even though newspaper shouldn’t have been considered a club. Lily waited to be acknowledge it was odd standing here in this silence, the silence felt anticipated to her but she was sure she was making it up in her mind.

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[Ryland Abbott]

Ryland didn't exactly know if this meant they turned out good, or bad. He assumed though, since there were no surprises in her development, there couldn't be anything wrong or unnerving. "That's good." Tossing his pack of paper beneath one of the enlargement stations set up. Returning his attention to the girl, he allowed his eyes to drift off to the side as he began his response to her final statement.

"Not a lot of people enjoy manual photography on their spare time. Not unless someone is going to develop their film and photos for them." That was the truth, in most cases. People grew bored, or found the work of developing film or photos tedious, and redundant. Ryland wasn't one of those people, he was one of the few die hard photography fans left in the world. The rest had been swept away by digital cameras. The thought alone made him roll his eyes as he tugged out the black package of paper from the paper sleeve he'd brought in.

Knowing the light from his enlarger couldn't harm the photos she had processing at the moment, Ryland cautiously turned his light on. The only time anyone really had to worry about their lights, was when someone had exposed, unused paper out in the open. Once anyone introduced light to photography paper, they were pretty much fucked. Unless they had intended to, that was a different story altogether. With a sigh he glanced upward toward the stack of filters the school had available to him. Ryland never really used to filters, because he usually never had to. The photos he took, not to sound too egotistical, were usually pretty good. They had a wide range of those middle greys, and they had 'white whites, and dark darks.' That's what the head Photography teacher always called them. Ryland carried the terminology into Wednesdays-- that was laundry day for him. He did his white whites, and dark darks. The phrase had become somewhat of a joke between the teacher and Ryland, because he was one of the first to call him out on it. It was silly, who wouldn't?

At the sound of the door spinning itself around once more, Ryland turned his head to offer his attention to whomever was entering. By now his eyes had adjusted to the dark of the room, which he was quite thankful for. It was always humorous to him to watch the kids during class bump into one another, because they couldn't see. Granted, there was a little light offered by the glowing red bulb placed over the chemicals and tank (used for developing the actual picture), but that didn't give off too much light. At least it was only a black and white photo developing room. The colour darkrooms were much worse, their bulbs far less generous with their light. The difference between black and white, and colour darkrooms, was obviously the chemicals, and the way its developed, but also the light. Colour paper was much, much more sensitive, thus you needed a blue or green bulb. He knew this, because he was attempting to build his own darkroom in his basement-- where his room was.

The teacher had even given him one of the broken enlargers.

"Hey, only two of the stations are working. You can take the one I'm at first, I wouldn't mind." Ryland offered a warm smile to the girl that had just entered, being his usual friendly self. He was only friendly to certain people, but to people who he spotted sporting sweatshop endorsing clothes, or anything he dubbed as trend-- he was mean, and sarcastic to the point where he'd gotten in a brawl or two. Some Jocks just couldn't take heat about their sexuality. "I've got time.. Lilian right? I'm Ryland." Tugging his paper away from the enlarger he had set up, Ryland offered one more smile before extending his hand to her. By now he had neared where Kalleyna had her developed photos, so he snuck a little peak at them. Smiling to himself, he looked up at the brunette. "They look really good. You've got great range, and your placement is amazing."

[Kalleyna Masters]

Kalleyna was silent for a moment watching the new girl enter the room. She could care less what anyone was wearing, trends changed with whatever region you were living in at the time. She'd learned that rather quickly moving around to much. She nodded at Lily. "Kalleyna." There was a subtle warning in her tone.

No nicknames, don't shorten her name. It was Kalleyna. Her face had been pretty much expressionless until Ryland gave her that compliment. It made her smile, she had a beautiful almost impish one. It changed her face, made it brighter and more alive then her normal soft contemplative look.

"Thanks, Ryland.." It was the first time she'd actually been really friendly to anyone, compliment her photographs, her music, or her Camero and she would like you. Otherwise she was just quiet and kept to herself. Her eyes flickered over to Lily.

"You're on the paper, right?" Kalleyna took photos for the paper, rarely did any real writing for it. But her pictures would grace the page soon enough. Amazingly, no matter how much she loved photography no one had yet to coerce her into being in the photography club.

[Lilian Carlier]

Lily smiled back at him warmly, she was in no rush either no need to go home early “No it’s fine finish up, thanks anyway” she replied still smiling. She knew he was a pretty decent guy, “Nice to meet you Ryland, and yeah it’s Lilian; I prefer Lily though” she replied watching him take his paper out. She looked back at him as he extended his hand and she shook it, she looked around and found a stool where she set down her stuff. Lily was truly in no rush her father and mother were probably fighting and not even the loud sounds of Iron Maiden could drown them out, she looked around and then back at the girl’s work. Lily was taken aback when the girl introduced herself “Oh nice to meet you” she replied look back at Ryland who mentioned her work, okay so the girl smiled she seemed a bit abrasive at first but to see her smile meant she was nice. Lily fiddled with her camera for a second since she noticed the strap became twisted again, it was really annoying she looked at the little clasp and removed it from the side of camera. It wasn’t till Kalleyna spoke that she looked up again “Yeah I am, you are too. I think you took the pictures for my article right?” she asked looking at the pictures they were really good now that she looked at them with her eyes focused to the light in the room. It was interesting to be standing here, with them Lily hadn’t talked to people yet but it was nice to finally talk to people, which she happened to already know.

She looked at both of them again and then asked “So what have you guys been up to?” Lily sat down on the stool and went back to untangling her camera strap. That seemed to happen often she had been meaning to get a bag for it, since her last one was lost somewhere in one of the moving boxes and there was no use in sending Nanny to get them. She sighed the attic was a mess much like her family, her eyes were fixed on the camera it was odd she rather sit in this dark room with two people she had just met then to go back home. Lily finally got the knot out and looked at both of them, her eyes fixed on Kalleyna’s work it was really nice, she had never seen things like it. Well maybe that was because she had never left the Northeast, well except for California or Hawaii she had never seen the middle of the country it was on her list of things to do.

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[Ryland Abbott]

[Apologies, ladies. I had no intention of making you wait so long for a response]

As Kalleyna displayed the slightest bit of happiness to go with her gratitude, all Ryland could do was merely offer a smile and a nod in response. It was nearly impossible for the two to have never even heard of one another, and he'd definitely seen her around. Ryland was the type of guy that knew everyone in the school, and on the few rare occasions he actually didn't know someone's name; he made up for it by spending quality time with them. Such would be the case with Lily. He knew her name, but the two probably didn't know anything more beyond that. Besides the fact that they both obviously enjoyed photography.

"Well Lily, it's nice to meet you. I assume you've already received the grand tour of our beloved, and yet entirely wretched school?" Granted, he was affiliated with some of the clubs and organizations in the school, but overall he hated it. Ryland always hated the idea of being controlled, of being forced to abide by the rules. In 8th grade he was voted most likely to pull the Senior prank, something he probably would end up masterminding. He wouldn't just make it any prank, like putting snickers in the pool, or doing something equally fruitless. Ryland derived joy from making statements, and watching the few that sat on pedestals fall straight down on their ass.

In short, he'd probably attack the 'beautiful people.'

"I've been.. writing, reading. Drawing. The usual, still unpacking." Ryland had taken a mission trip down to Mexico for the majority of the summer, a trip he was still trying to recuperate from. Was it possible to get jetlag, when you'd never even taken the plane? "What about you two lovely ladies, anything exciting?" A lot of people mistook the way he was with girls for flirting, and in a sense, it was. This was just typical Ryland, the kind of guy who would go up to a perfect stranger and hug them if he thought they looked sad.

[Kalleyna Masters]

(And here I was planning Chinese water torture.. ^-^)

Kalleyna watched Lily for a moment then went back to her photos, listening. She was listening to their conversation, because in her mind it didn't concern her overmuch. Lily was to bubbly for her taste though she would be polite. Her father had raised her right.

"I am." She replied to Lily's comment over her photos in the paper. But she didn't offer more up. She moved around to much to make any real friends so she didn't see Legend Falls as being any different than anywhere else she'd been. Idolly, Kalleyn rubbed her hands together once more, she had some earphone buds, one stuck in her ear the other hanging down.

She didn't respond to Lily, because, it really wasn't in her nature to offer up information like that. What had she been up too? She looked over at Ryland and wrinkled her nose in question. Unpacking? "I just moved here. I've been trying to get some parts for my car from Philadelphia." Why did she respond to Ryland? Because she figured he was a lot more than she'd thought on first glance. Polite, he was just being nice. They didn't know each other from Buri.

[Lilian Carlier]

((SORRY!! I got really busy with work, my site, and registering for my college's. But here is my post Don’t hate me!))

Her eyes scanned the pictures hanging near Kalleyna, for some reason she didn’t snap back till Ryland spoke. “Yeah I did, nothing too out of this world if you ask me” Lily replied it was true Legend Falls was just another small in the middle of Pennsylvania, to her this was just a place where people knew everyone’s business. Lily hated the small town feel it was just so mundane, she looked at Kalleyna who only gave her a two-word answer. From what she could see and hear Kalleyna was the type of girl who didn’t seem to like people, Lily let out a sigh she wasn’t going to bother with it; If the girl chose to be abrasive it was alright by her no need to bother with that. Lily looked back at Ryland and smiled at his reply “That sounds like fun except the un-packing, never did like un-packing just a reason for Nanny to yell at me” she replied her hands rested on her camera. She looked back up expecting Kalleyna to reply but she seemed to be engrossed in her work, Lily hadn’t expected her to answer so she went back to looking at Ryland. For some reason Kalleyna wasn’t someone she planned on being friends with, since she was intent on being well abrasive and Lily had no time for that. Lily sat there for a moment and Ryland asked the same question it was a good ice breaker question, it wasn’t till Kalleyna answered that she stopped and looked over at her. She didn’t see what the difference between her and Ryland last she checked they were both human, Lily bit her lip and looked back at Ryland she may as well answer.

“Well being that I’m new in town nothing too out of the norm, mostly adjusting it’s so different” she sighed in reply, something about Kalleyna irked her and that was never good with Lily she was so quick to judge on some days. Lily looked back the girl she meant no harm, but then again why did she bug the pants off her. This was place was turning into a major thorn in Lily’s side, the people were odd and the students at school were thicker than syrup first chance she got she was running back to New York. To her this was bullshit she stopped and looked at her shoes she could feel the frown on her face, people must have thought she was insane looking happy and content one moment and the next angry. She let out a deep sigh and looked back up at the pair her eyes focused on the space between she was resisting asking Kalleyna why she had ignored her question and answered his, there was no way around it she had to ignore the fact her anger was getting the best of her.

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