? Bijou The Ascended (Part 1) ?

Understanding Willow

"What is it?" Skara asked, looking over her shoulder.

"It's that gross human girl's sketchpad! With drawings as lame as these, she'll be at the bottom of the social hierarchy forever."

"Yoink," Edric said, taking the sketchpad from her.

"He-" She flinched, looking up at him. "E-Edric! I was just-"

"Messing around again," he finished for the girl before walking away. "If you ask me, that kind of prank is childish, but it's fitting."

He smirked at her, and she became sweaty with shame. Because Amity's brother was a Blight, she didn't dare to meddle with him.

•°•°•○•°•°•

Luz held a pair of tweezers while the three sat in photo class, which took place in a darkroom. These were how the images were taken; after the memory was extracted, it transformed into a polaroid for development. That concerned Bijou a little, but it didn't appear to have a long-term effect on individuals, so she was...relatively certain it wouldn't do any permanent mental damage...if done correctly, that is.

"All right, memory melon, let's pick another juicy one," Luz said as she pushed the tweezers into Willow's ear.

"Be careful with my brain," she said with a smile, but it was still a genuine caution, as Luz pulled out a snapshot. Willow stroked her ears.

"Ooh...who says brain surgery is hard?" Luz asked, placing it over them.

"Maybe don't joke about brain surgery," Bijou nervously waved his hand before taking a serious tone. "Seriously, no jokes about that. That's my mom's job."

The teacher walked by.

"As you work, note that some prints have greater clarity than others," she instructed them. "These are moments that evoke a strong emotional response."

"Whoa, photo class is intense," Luz said.

"Well, she's not wrong. Memories are really delicate," Bijou replied. Luz smiled as she gazed at the polaroid that had developed into a photograph.

"Oh, my gosh, Willow, you had an awkward hair phase too?"

It was a photo of Willow's unkempt hair from picture day.

"I knew we were meant to be friends," she said, holding up three photos: one of Luz in braids and ribbons, another of Jackie struggling to remove an entangled hairbrush, and another of Bijou with frizzy hair and uneven bangs.

"That hair was a real chore to do every single morning," Jackie giggled at her picture, acknowledging that her curly hair was difficult to manage.

"And look, there's more," Jackie said as they saw images of Willow with her fathers, feeding a creature, with her family on a vacation, and the last one showed her and Amity at a birthday party, it appeared. Luz gasped when she saw it.

"Ugh," Willow said, folding her arms and turning away.

"Hey, I know you and Amity have a history," Luz said, placing her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Wouldn't you feel better talking about it?"

"No, I'd rather do this," Willow replied, taking the photo and flipped it so that the white back is visible. "That's my motto after all. Out of sight, out of mind."

The bell rang, signaling lunchtime. Everyone began to depart, but Luz stopped Willow.

"If you won't tell me what she did, we'll never be able to cook up a scheme to make you friends again," Luz said with a laugh.