Photography Session

Hey Hey! Hope you all had a nice holiday season. Now that it's over it's time for more weekly chapters from your friendly neighbourhood dragon. Please enjoy!

John never spent time on this side of the town, only passing through on the bus to go to the mall. Luckily, since Alison lived here, she seemed to know her way.

Not long after setting off, John had a slight feeling of awkwardness washed over him. He quickly checked his character sheet, and saw his suspicions confirmed. The effect of the idol had worn off.

He realised the effect must have worn off for Alison too as she became more rigid; her face was obscured since her head had snapped down towards the floor.

Though John felt a little uncomfortable, he didn’t like the thought that Alison might feel bad. “I thought your artwork was really beautiful by the way. You are probably one of the most talented artists I know, though I have to admit I don’t know all that many other artists,” he awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

John heard Alison taking a few deep breaths. “Th-thanks… Yo-mmh-y-you’re really g-good too,” she stammered.

“Thanks. I hope you didn’t feel pressured to go along with everything. I’d never want to **** you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with,” John offered sympathetically.

“N-no, I w-wa-w-wanted to try it… I w-was just a l-l-little self con-conscious b-be-cause I’ve only been n-n-na-undressed in front of V-Vanessa,” Alison explained.

John took a little breath, even knowing Alison liked him didn’t really steady his nerves for this kind of thing. “Uh, well… You really don’t need to be self-conscious, you’re, uhm, really cute…”

Alison looked towards John, showing her adorable crooked smile, which lit up her blushing cheeks. She fell silent for a moment fidgeting with her camera before looking up at John. “Even my, uhm, boobs?” she asked.

John was shocked she’d been so forward but laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, they’re, uhm, they are really nice.”

“E-even w-wi-though they’re small an-nd o-odd?” Alison managed to ask, her gaze now back to being locked to the ground, completely avoiding any kind of eye contact.

“That just makes them more cute and unique. It’s, uhm, something that makes them different from all other pairs of boobs. Not that my opinion should matter but I like boobs no matter the size. Yours stand out in a great way so you shouldn’t feel bad about them,” John reassured her.

Alison had taken them down a more quiet path, which avoided going through the cityscape. Not something John would complain about, he much preferred to look at the smaller family-owned stores and houses over walking through the giant grey buildings which reached to the sky.

Eventually, they came to the Old Mill. Due to Springfield’s dam, the river bed was almost empty, and if the wheel were still in the river, it would probably only be submerged about a foot or so. Now, however, the mill itself was surrounded by a brick wall with a water pump that turned the wheel, making it more of a giant water fountain.

Due to the building being a national historic site, the building legally had to be well maintained, so it looked exactly how it did in 1846. The large two-story building had wooden shingle clad walls, white painted windows with wooden shutters and a slate tiled roof.

“H-hey, John. Uhm, after w-we’ve taken some pi-pictures of the landscape around here c-co-uh-w-would y-you want to g-go inside and t-take a look ar-round?” Alison asked.

John fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. Seeing he had around two and a half hours he smiled and nodded. “Sure, that sounds great, but I won’t be able to stay any later than seven-thirty. I, unfortunately, can’t cancel what I have to do later.”

Alison’s face lit up but then dropped a little when John said he had to be somewhere. Feeling a little guilty he decided to explain, “Basically, I bought a gift using credit and have to go to the store and explain why my payment is late, as well as hoping they won’t charge me extra.”

She nodded, though still looked a little disappointed. “A-alright. L-let’s go then!”

John almost fell as Alison pulled him towards the wooden fence that separated the road from the countryside landscape. On their right in the distance was the old farm that would have provided crops to the watermill for grinding, and on their left were rolling hills that had the occasional grouping of trees.

The two began following a beaten path down to the river bed. John wasn’t too concerned about getting his clothing wet; the cameras, on the other hand, he opened up his bag and placed both cameras inside, secretly storing them in his inventory just in case, before easily skipping from one stone to the other.

He turned around to see Alison standing at the other side, a lot less sure than John had been. “Come on, Alison. You’ll be fine. Just one step at a time,” John encouraged her.

Alison nodded, though the look on her face made it obvious she was still nervous. Three steps in, she was fine. On the fourth, she almost overstepped causing her to wave her arms in an attempt to balance herself.

“You’re doing great, just take your time,” John called.

After taking a breath Alison continued, at the last stone she skidded a little, again causing her to swing her arms to try steadying herself. She managed to not fall but seemed even more unsure of herself than before she even started.

John placed his bag next to a dead tree stump, then stood at the edge of the river holding both hands out. “Just one more jump, Alison. I’ll catch you so don’t worry.”

She seemed to relax a little after that reassurance and readied herself for the final jump. She crouched slightly before putting her all into the last step, flying through the air and into John’s arms. Not expecting the **** of her jump, he took one step back, then another before feeling one foot catching on the other. Not wanting Alison to get hurt, he wrapped one hand around her back pulling her closer and tighter into him while the other arm held her head to his chest.

-8HP

John grunted as he thudded onto his back. His arms loosened around Alison but he didn’t let go, just taking a moment to recover before looking down. “Hey, are you alright?”

Alison looked up at him and nodded. “You d-didn’t get h-hurt because of m-m-me, d-did you?”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine as long as you are.”

A sweet crooked smile formed on Alison’s face, then she seemed to realise how close she and John were, at that moment her face flushed bright pink.

John let out a small chuckle and stroked her hair. After a moment, he managed to get them both back onto their feet. “How about we continue on? We still have to get some nice pictures. Then we can relax a little and go around the mill.”

He moved over to pick up his bag when Alison cleared her throat. “Uhm, w-wait, y-you have s-something on your b-back.”

John was about to reach his arm back to try swatting it away when he felt a soft palm against the centre of his back. she began brushing dust and bits of leaves off until his back was clear. John turned his head to look at her and smiled. “Thanks, I’m sure I’d have looked silly walking around with all that on me.”

He reached inside the back and pulled the cameras back out of his inventory, handing one over to Alison and looping the strap of the other around his neck before putting his bag over his shoulder and gesturing towards the path. “After you.”

Alison blushed again but smiled and walked forward. They were mostly quiet as they began taking pictures of the landscape, only breaking the silence to point out to each other when they saw good focal points to take images of.

After some time John could feel the awkwardness of the silence begin to creep in and decided he should attempt to break it. “Hey, it’s been really nice spending time with you, by the way. I don’t really get to interact with people my age that aren’t on the other side of a computer screen because of… ahem, yeah. So it’s been really great getting to know you better and I feel like even when we’re silent for a little while it’s not awkward or at least not unbearably so, because I have you as company.”

Alison dropped her head making her hair obscure her face and brought the camera closer into her chest.

John let out a nervous laugh and began rubbing his arm. “Sorry, guess I kinda did the opposite of what I meant to do, and I’m making you uncomfortable aren’t I?”

She stopped and turned to John before lifting her head up to reveal her bright red face adorned with her adorable crooked smile once again. “N-no, I-I’m glad we’ve b-been able to spend ti-time together too.”

John let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good,” he let out another awkward chuckle, “I really need to work on my social skills sometimes. I know we haven’t really been out here for long, but we’ve been taking a bunch of pictures, how about we take a couple more before heading back to the mill?”

Alison smiled a little wider and nodded. “S-sounds good!”

The two walked for another five or so minutes, taking the last few pictures before turning back to head to the mill.

Back at the stepping stones, John easily crossed again, followed by Alison, though she did pause at the last step. John, seeing her nervousness, dropped his bag again and held his arms out. “You did really well this time, just one more step and you’ve made it all the way across without even a small slip.”

She nodded with determination then took one last jump. John made sure he was ready and wouldn’t be knocked down this time but it wasn’t needed. Instead, Alison pulled herself into him for a hug; it didn’t last long but John still felt a pleasant warmth spread even after seperating. Alison looked up from his chest. “T-thank you f-for catching me ag-a-again.”

John chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, it was my pleasure. Come, let's go to this Mill. I’m kinda curious about it.”

They climbed the fence and headed into the Mill. John was aware it had been a museum of sorts for a long while but had never actually gone to see it. Inside, the building was much more spacious than John anticipated, he was expecting large turning shafts and the smell of flour but instead, the building had several large glass cases, something that should really be unsurprising for a museum.

As they walked around they saw farming equipment, things about the fur trade, civil war memorabilia and a small section on the postal service. In the centre of the room was a giant grinder, basically two giant stone wheels.

At the end, they came to the other side of the water wheel, which was still turning. Several large gears spun but the entire thing seemed to do nothing and was completely encased in glass.

“C-could I b-b-buy you a d-dr-drink?” Alison asked, at which point John realised he’d been able to smell coffee and baked goods.

John smiled. “Getting a drink with you sounds great. But it’s my treat, for being such great company.”

Alison smiled and nodded, and without thinking, John took her hand and followed his nose.

Please if you enjoyed the chapter leave a LIKE. Also, I am always eager to hear peoples comments, feedback and hopes for the future of the branch, so feel free to leave any of those in the comment section, direct messages or my branch discussion channel in the Gamer Discord.

I also have a buy me a coffee page, all the money I receive goes directly back into my story in the form of art commissions. If you are a member you will gain the benefit of getting access to my private discord, a sneak peek at the artwork and each stage of the development, as well as getting early chapters.

I'd like to give a special thanks to:

HungrySkate
The_Magnar
Mekkkosadx
And the rest of my Members