Catch Up (Derrick)

    ...So not only were they rude, they literally had nothing but the fact that they had volunteered themselves for a role to boost themselves above the rest. That was like going to Suzy Q, being some kind of street performer and looking down on someone who also wanted to be in show business. Despicable. ...Well, if what Maria said held any weight, those people would soon get a nice wake up call, assuming they let their status get to their heads. Derrick smiled lightly at the thought.

    He glanced at Maria out of the corner of his eye, somewhat jarred at the topic jump. He was carrying his equipment, so how she arrived at that made sense, but it took him a moment to switch gears before he gave a nod. "I find it so. It's also helpful." Being blind had its perks, he supposed. It allowed him to drop his gaze to the ground for a moment, musing on if any pictures he'd taken today were worth saving, while his cane did the seeing for him. Hm...most were of some bruises, a scrape or cut, and ultimately none too exciting. Perhaps...

    "...Liz wanted you to walk me home, didn't she?" He asked nonchalantly, shrugging afterwards. "I'll be taking a detour. If you have somewhere to be, you might not want to waste the extra five minutes this'll take." That said, he turned off suddenly, traipsing into a neighborhood nearby. His pace slowed, and he began to peer at the houses he passed, almost appraising each one before he continued on down the street.

"I see, that's interesting..." Maria murmured to herself as she began to be absorbed in thought. A lot of people do tend to have a hobby as a result of growing an interest or pursuit of something. But it also begged a question that she wanted answered. "So how does it help you?"

For the life of her, the Cadet couldn't figure out how Photography could actually help someone other than recording what it sees within the lenses. But in the first place, she was largely ignorant of the world for the most part and being cooped up inside a Church for a half decade had its effects to a certain degree. She couldn't help, but notice that the boy was showing some signs of smugness at the idea of the troublesome Cadets feeling the harsh rap of Reality's hammer.


Maria felt utterly guilty as she sheepishly pressed the ends of her index fingers together while awkwardly looking to the side. Kids can sure be darned perceptive these days. She felt bad for Manry, but she knew better than to insult a child's intelligence. It was better to be honest with them rather than to treat them with metaphorical kid's gloves at his age.

At first Maria felt tempted to take him up on the offer. But maybe she could tarry away a bit longer, Maria did at least made a promise to Manry after all. And what's a few leaps over rooftops going to do to her as she hurries over to Brittany? Besides, a few minutes wasn't going to hurt her. She shook her head at him as she slowed her gait behind him, "Not a problem! By all means, go ahead. And what are you looking for? Maybe I can help?"

    "I can actually see through the lens."

    His response fell heavy, if only for the dullness, well, moreso bluntness of the delivery.  To him it was just common sense, after all. Of course, there were other reasons for getting involved in photography, just as he'd gotten involved in his other pursuits, but they were far more personal than he'd like to share.

    It took all Derrick had not to bite out, "So now you admit it?" That would be rude he recognized now that his anger had passed. So instead he continued along the street, peering at each of the houses, their lawns, anything left on the streets. Her latter question he could at least answer simply enough, though, with, "Color. Brighter the better."

    He came to a stop in front of a house on the street corner, in front of which were flowerbeds full of colored flowers Derrick knew not the names of. All he knew was that they were bright purple, yellows, pinks, the occasional splash of white. He knelt down and gently fingered one of the flowers' petals, musing on whether or not he'd taken pictures of these a few days ago or if he was remembering the garden he'd gone to a few days ago.

"...Ah."

A blank utterance was all she could reply with for all the awkwardness between them. Despite the as-a-matter-of-fact manner that Derrick replied with, Maria didn't actually quite understand. She didn't exactly pride herself as an intellectual in the first place. But she kept her mouth shut on the matter and simply nodded along in faux-understanding. Maybe she'd understand more later on. Yet she didn't quite understand by what he meant by "colors" either. Was it a kind of stylistic choice? Speaking of which, she barely remembered he was looking into a sliver of something... green.

When he was busy observing the flowers, a thought crossed her mind. "Would you like to see the garden at my Church? If colorful plants are your thing, maybe it could be a place for you."

Maria remembered tending to a garden centered inside the walls of the Cathedral. As a young experimental subject, she was given some relative freedom within the religious establishment and some chores to do. Gardening was one of them widely shared with all members of the Church and for that, it was actually prized by the Mother Superior.

She suddenly eyed at several cluster of billboards ahead with some kind of advertisement. It seemed colorful enough with a mixture of all kinds of hues that it made you wonder if they were going for anything avant-garde to catch people's attention.

Maria pointed at its general direction, "Why not those? Think that might work?"

    When she made her suggestion, Derrick paused, looking up from the flowers and staring straight ahead as he thought. Flowers were not his "thing", per se, but they were bright and loud and striking. However, something else caught his attention... "Church?" He asked aloud. Hm...he'd been to a few, one for the service and others in passing, but he never stayed long. Although there was usually some kind of stained glass window or detailed carvings and reliefs in metal or wood in some he noticed... "...I think I would like to go there sometime." IT could be a complete dud in the end, but it couldn't hurt to try, he supposed.

   "Huh?" The boy twisted around to face her, face screwing further in confusion when he realized she was pointing at something. He tried to get a sense of where it exactly she was indicating, but when he turned in that direction, there was simply too much ground for his limited vision to cover. He ended up staring blankly down the street, mumbling aloud, "...the cars...?" as he searched for anything else colorful she may be indicating.

Maria's lips began to spread into a pleased smile that the boy would actually consider taking her offer. It seemed as if her patience was starting to pay off after all. Maybe there were some works of art within the religious establishment outside of the decorated stained windows and the marble statues. To her recollection, there were other artistic projects that were kept away in the attic and she only needed to get permission from Father Jorge.

"Hm? Nah, up there. The billboards, near that brick-layered building. They have lots of weird colors you probably might like. The ones that look like some odd abstract works," Maria supplied as she stepped closer to him while pointing at the cluster of advertisements she mentioned earlier that were far above the ground that the boy was scanning. When taking the cane into consideration, Maria knew there was a kind of issue with his vision. But she didn't quite know it was that bad and it was a wonder how he was walking around despite such a debilitating state.

    Brick...brick...

    It took him a few seconds, but he managed to locate the building and, a moment later, the billboards Maria wanted him to see. "Oh. Those."

    It really wasn't what he'd been looking for (he'd seen far better abstract works and adverts felt too...engineered), but he dug into his bag anyways for his camera. It was polite, probably, and distracted from the fact he'd had a moment of weakness. He usually got around just fine on his own--a fact he prided himself on--and he hated the possibility that someone thought he was less capable.

    He soon had his camera out and, after pulling the appropriate lens from his case, snapped a few shots of the billboard towering high in the sky. There was actually one he particularly liked, where the advertisement blurred in the background, becoming a warped, hazy blend of color smeared across the bright blue sky, and he smiled at the thought that something good had come out of that suggestion.

    "Thanks." he said, not looking up at the girl but instead putting away the lens he'd used. Once that was done, he stood up, glancing at the camera in his hands. Wordlessly, he raised it to his face and snapped a picture of Maria, watching the screen as the shot appeared. He studied her pixelated features for a moment, humming, before deleting the picture and hanging the camera around his neck.

    My house is about three blocks this way." he offered before picking up his case and cane before making a right and walking down the street.

"Mhm. Any time, Derrick!" the woman replied rather happily. She glanced at the boy who finally found the cluster earlier pointed out. It turned out that she actually helped a little once she saw him focusing on something in the distance and took the shot. Knowing that he was a rather reserved boy who likely valued his privacy, Maria continued to look at the billboards trying to see if there were any of Brittany's advertisement for a perfume company. Of course, she didn't notice the boy taking a picture of her when she was busy trying to spy for the familiar image in vain.

"Sure. Lead the way!" she chimed in with hurried steps following him. Maria glanced at her phone to check the time and it looked like she had much to spare based on how far away it was. So far the trip shouldn't last too long and she was familiar with the road so far. "When did you take up photography by the way?"