you should see me in a crown [#piper]

Click! Click! Click! Whirrrrrr! Click!

Thirty minutes in and Sorcha was already getting antsy. Shocking. Okay, not so much. The girl exhaled a thin line up towards her bangs, fluttered them about, got a hiss in chastising protest from the artist over there with the lights and the levitating cameras, and an entire post-processing set up behind the him that was actually quite amazing and interesting, but that wasn’t why she was there. She was the subject. Famous – she cracked a small smile at the thought while her eyes widened momentarily at the very idea of it all – quidditch chaser! At least locally famous. And that had led her to be sitting right here. On this emerald green piece of furniture that wasn’t entirely that comfortable other than being wicked soft to the touch.

But for real.

These photography sessions for quidditch articles became a thing ever since the Falcons’ league victory. Which was amazing and Sorcha was oh so totally proud to be a part of it! But these were among some of the most boring things she had ever had the luxury of putting herself through. And not only that, but she was entirely alone for this one. Just this bloke and his posse of beautification hounds bumbling about and telling her to tilt her chin this way or arch her back or whatever the bloody hell he wanted her to do. But they were ‘the best’, didn’t you know? To that, Sorcha audibly let out a soft groan and loosened herself up and out of her positional hold. It wasn’t natural! Or comfortable! How people made actual factual money doing this made zero sense to the girl.

“Okay! Your turn!” Brows flew up and under her bangs as she eyed the photographer menacingly. “We’ll see how long you can hold it!” It took about two skips for Sorcha to reach the nervous laughing man. Her hands braced his shoulders lightly, she pecked him with a silent threat on his nose, tousled his hair up a bit knowing full well that that move would likely have the gent triggered in some way shape or form, and twirled her way towards the folding table and that much closer to momentary FREEDO –

“Ah, fu – “ she started quietly as she eyed the only person who could mildly control her easily-distracted nature in the form of down to business bossiness and world order,  “—nny seeing you here!” Sorcha finished in a sweet and sing-songy tone. Her twirl ceased to exist and her flowing dress-up clothes fell to drape her frame once more. But her hair! It was super bouncy and super fun! So she let her styled, bouncy waves settle where they may.

She gave Piper a wink and twirled her fingers around in the air in a wave. Turning to go back to her staged arena, Sorcha collapsed into the tufted velvet sofa and politely crossed her ankles as she leaned a little towards Piper’s direction. “I thought you’d be in Germany for the exploding Pitch articles, definitely not here with darling dear me!” She patted the sofa lightly, caught a glance from the photographer she tried to escape from moments earlier, and got the hint. “Oh fiiiiiiiine then! Can I at least multi-task?!” Her brow furrowed as she was on the brink of an adult tantrum – eyes darting from Piper to the photographer and back again. She knew better than to think Piper would let her distract herself from the task at hand – buuuuut she had to try!

@Piper Morel

With the Quidditch profile projects going according to plan and positive reviews from all senior staff members, saying that Piper was in a good mood was a general understatement. She was absolutely elated. And as such had even gone as far as to make her rounds much earlier than usual, something she rarely did these days as she was often so consumed with work that she stayed in the office. Of course, no one could see how very happy she was, Piper had somehow been unable to wear the expression of happiness and positivity on her face ever since she had started working at the magazine.

It was part of her persona, after all, and if she wanted to get anything done without others judging her ability to be in charge, she had to pretend to be the usual cold-hearted woman she had gained a reputation for being. Piper started in the creative department, checking over progress and confirming appointments with some of the members of the department before she was informed that at that very moment, Sorcha Coghlan, Chase for the Falmouth Falcons, was in the very building as she spoke.

Piper had completely forgotten, and for a brief moment, furrowed her eyebrows in confusion until a lightbulb clicked in her head. “Of course,” she muttered, mostly to herself as she took the necessary paperwork from one of the secretaries and made her way to the room in which the photography was taking place. The Falmouth Falcons had recently won the league victory so it had only made sense for members on their team to be the spotlight for the following month’s profile. Piper had poured over each member, taking special considerations of the pros and cons before settling on Sorcha Coghlan.

Not only had she performed fantastically, Piper had kept up with the papers even if she could not attend the games in person, but she had a bubbly personality that made her fun to work with, at least it was something she had heard from other circles. It was nice to get a few female players the spotlight as well, not that she was opposed to the shirtless photographs of some of the Quidditch hunks that had made the way through the doors of Label Magazine. Then again, there were better sources for that type of thing outside of Label, and Piper wanted to ensure to keep it a professional affair. Label Magazine prided itself in being one of the best in Britain, if not all of Europe, after all.

“How’s the photoshoot coming along?” she approached one of the staff members as she entered the room, nodding as she was given a full report while her eyes focused on the young woman as she moved from part of the room to another. She was certainly…energetic, that much she could tell already. However, by the way the photographer and other members were reacting to her, it was obvious that they were all feeding off of her energy. And that was just as well, however, Piper did have a job to do and in front of so many peers, could not afford to break her façade, even for a moment. Piper nodded at the staff member and waved her off with the task of gathering some tea for her and the guest. Then she walked over next to the photographer, forcing a smile when the woman finally noticed her.

“Good morning, Ms. Coghlan,” she started politely, looking as she patted the seat next to her but not moving to sit down, rather, she glared at one of the staff members who immediately brought over a chair so that she could sit across from the young woman. “Breaking news is not really my cup of tea, anyway, believe it or not, this is much more interesting for me, regardless,” she explained, looking over at the photographer, and putting up her hand as if to stop him, “Take a break, I’ve some business to discuss with our guest,” she said coldly, before returning her attention to the woman again. “You’ve been doing quite well, I saw some of photographs and it seems that we have plenty to work with. But I did want to ask you a few questions since we are here,” she said, setting down some of the papers she had brought along and retrieving her memo and a pen from the pile. Piper had always preferred taking notes the muggle way. “I suppose it’s been a bit of a whirlwind for you, how have things changed for you?”

So much formality! Sorcha fought the urge to express an eye bulge followed by audible roll as the prefix stuck to her like those super sticky toy lizards in Zonko’s. Y’know, the ones you sling at windows and they’re covered in goo and they just – ugh! Instead, Sorcha displayed a toothy smile with the gap between her teeth in full view. Her cheeks straining through the smile as she let out a light laugh whilst watching her torturer and his minions clear the room for whatever allotted amount of time Piper was able to manage in her seemingly authoritative role.

Respect.

Sorcha’s brows rose at the positive feedback and her forced smiled evolved to a small, genuine one. “It’s so funny how they end up so much better looking than how you think they look when you’re actually being photographed.” She mused, the ‘art form’ of photography lost on her. You point. You shoot. You get a picture. You’re done. What skill did it really take?

Shuffling her thoughts aside, Sorcha gave a small nod in agreement and curled her legs up and onto the emerald green velvet-ed prop. She bent an arm and busied herself with adjusting a pillow in just the right place atop the armrest before stacking her arm against it. There! She was mostly comfortable in this obnoxiously staged environment. Though admittedly, the emerald hues were growing on her.

“Whirlwind is an understatement!” Sorcha said, her voice chirping out her reaction with an added airy laugh. “This year was definitely the most competitive, by far.” She gave a quick nod, emphasizing her self-agreeance with this fact. “But I still think that referee made a bad call.” The fingers of her propped arm reached themselves into her mass of hair at the reference. An act done in natural movement to ready her hands for more vivid conversation. “Allen’s play was totally within regulation limits.” Iiiiiiit kiiiiiinda wasn’t all the way within limits – but Sorcha had gotten so used to saying it while at the pub with her mates that it came up as a word vomit of an answer anymore.

Her arm flopped forward against the pillow once more as she let out a pint sized groan. “Their seeker just couldn’t handle the physical aspect of the game.” Fingers flipped themselves forward and metaphoriclaly brushed away the memory of Allen being ejected from the match as It played out before her. She gave a half-hearted shrug, the fabric of her flowy dress following her movements with a sort of lag. “But, it is what it is.”

The girl untangled her legs and let them drape along the edge of the couch at an angle. “Now everyone thinks our team is splitting up and selling out for more galleons elsewhere!” Sorcha spat out in frustration. “Like… like we’re just bought so easily! We’re a team!” Whether she was saying it out loud to convince Piper or herself was altogether clear. But based on the rouging of her cheeks and the widening of her eyes, well, Sorcha was having difficulty even believing her own words as they fell from her mouth.

Shite.

“Well the photographers at Label are the very best at what they do,” she explained with a polite smile, even though Piper was unable to tell if her comment arose from actual interest or a twisted sort of backhanded compliment. The brunette did not dwell on the matter for much longer; after all, it was obvious that the energetic woman did not harbor any malicious intent. In fact, Piper was almost certain that she was enjoying herself quite thoroughly, which lead her to wonder how often the young woman was invited to do these sorts of things. It was not uncommon for a woman to be on the cover or in any of the spreads of the magazine, but it was not every day that Quidditch women were given an opportunity to showcase their skills and just how important they were, if not more so, in comparison to their male counterparts.

Piper listened to the woman’s words with much enthusiasm of her own. It was contagious somewhat, her positive attitude, and it was not something that the broodier woman cared for. Piper was rarely in a good mood these days, the overwhelming environment of work and less time for leisure left her wishing for a vacation far away from London. “Competitive is a good thing, I hope, I believe that will only encourage the teams to work even harder, spice things up as it were,” she nodded in agreement. Piper longed to attend a match; in fact she could not even remember the last time she had the time or the pleasure to do so. “Certainly,” she said in agreement to her following statement. Piper was not really sure what play in particular she had been talking about but had always found that people tended to spill their secrets more easily if the listener was sympathetic.

“Do you think that the referee was working for the other team?” she asked as casually as she could, crossing her legs as she settled into her seat. Now that would make a great headline: The Truth of the Game or something similar, a sort of expose on all the dirty dealings going on before the matches. “The referee’s tend to be unreasonably unfair at times,” she continued as she took meticulous notes of the information.

“Splitting up?” she asked in confusion, sure the roster got moved around as was natural but she had never assumed that it was as bad as Sorcha was making it seem. “Has management made more decisions regarding who’s going where?” she asked curiously, though Piper was certain that the woman would not comment more on the issue. Even so, she waited. Based on Sorcha’s body language, it seemed as if she needed to do some venting. This would surely give her intel that Nancy would be proud to receive. Piper feigned concern, tilting her head just slightly as if she were curious about what was going on. “You seem to be very upset, would you like to talk about it?” she asked with as much concern as she could muster. “The Falmouth Falcons were always my favorite team, you know,” she mentioned in an effort to gain her confidence. Though it was not entirely untrue, she did like how they played together. “You think the team’s changed or management? What’s been going on?” she asked, her voice dropping just slightly as she leaned forward. Hopefully this would be what was needed to get her to open up just a little.

It was odd for the woman to act in this way but she was willing to go the distance for the perfect story, there was nothing Piper liked more than to be praised for her hard work.