The Dark Room (Shiloh/Adelaide)

[Adelaide]

And just like that Adelaide snapped back to reality...

"O-oh. This is what you wanted to show me..."

She would say a bit let down. But then she put on a smile.

"I mean it's lovely. Thank you for sharing this with me. That's, very sweet of you."

She said smiling.

[Shiloh]

Shiloh deflated slightly at Adelaide's lack of enthusiasm. She wandered over to some of the equipment.

"This... this is the thing that keeps me grounded, and makes me... feel good about myself," she said, as an explanation. "My photography... it means so... much to me. And I want to... to share this piece of my heart with you. Because I've never shared this with anyone before."

[Adelaide]

Adelaide noticed how upset Shiloh got and felt bad. She immediately went over and wrapped her arms around Shiloh.

"Thank you. I love it. Really. This is important to you and therefore it is important to me."

[Shiloh]

Shiloh reached up to grasp one of Adelaide's arms in both of her hands, and nuzzled her head gently into her friend. She seemed nervous, scared almost.

"I... this is all I really have, you know? Except you, Adel. I have you, and I have my pictures. I dont... I don't really have anything else."

Shiloh so rarely talked about her past. She seemed content most of her life to just leave it behind her. She never talked about her parents, or the orphanage... In fact, she realized that she probably hadn't ever told her best friend that she grew up in an orphanage. She bit her lip and hid her face.

[Adelaide]

Adelaide just continued to pet Shiloh's hair.

"What you have is perfect. Never regret that."

[Shiloh]

She kept her face buried in Adelaide's shoulder and just stood there for a moment, simply enjoying the moment with her friend. She suddenly wanted to tell her everything, about her parents and her world, about how she had held on to belief that this would all work out and she would see her parents again, about her powers... She wanted to tell her everything.

But she heard Drake's voice in her head, and it stopped her. He told her to keep it a secret. Did he mean from her best friend? Did he mean from everyone? Could she do that?

"I love you, Adel..." she whispered, her voice cracking as she held back tears.

[Adelaide]

"I love you Shiloh."

Adelaide said softly with a slight squeeze.

[Shiloh]

Shiloh stood in Adelaide's arms for a moment more before pulling away, her brilliant smile back across her face, and she turned with a wave of her arm. She began to take her friend around and explain each piece of - surprisingly complicated - equipment, and what it did and how.

Eventually, she pulled her camera out, and managed to somehow extract an actual reel of film.

"They call this a dark room because any sort of light can actually damage the exposure... so we utilize red lights, instead of actual light. Your eyes eventually adjust, but it doesn't affect your night vision at all, and it actually doesn't affect camera film either!"

She waved Adelaide over to show her how to work with the negatives and film to get the actual pictures.

[Adelaide]

Adelaide nodded and listened.

"Wow, that's pretty cool, I didn't know that."

She said still smiling.

[Shiloh]

The girls spent hours together in the basement room, with Shiloh showing her friend everything she could about the cameras. She seemed so much more relaxed than she had, basically ever before. She was totally comfortable here, in her underground dark room. Eventually, Shiloh would yawn, and give a shake of her head.

"It's a waiting game, now. I can leave the pictures up to dry overnight... We've been here for a while, though." She looked up at Adelaide, still smiling. "Are you hungry?"

[Adelaide]

Adelaide would stand up and stretch.

"I could eat, you."

She would giggle and wink, knowing full and well that Shiloh wouldn't get it.

[Shiloh]

"Okay, awesome!" Shiloh said, bouncing up onto her toes. Sometimes, it was almost painful how ignorant this poor child was to the ways of the world. "You pick the place this time, okay?"

[Adelaide]

"Hmmm... How does Barbecue sound?"

She would ask with a raised brow.

[Shiloh]

"Sure! Is there a good barbecue place that has baked potatoes?" She grinned from ear to ear, nodding as she began to put away all of the equipment that she needed to store.

[Adelaide]

Adelaide couldn't help but be warmed by the other girls smile.

"Yeah, I know a place lets go."

She would say tilting her head towards the exit.