Ring Light = A light that's not shaped as a single bulb but is in the shape of a ring. This is especially useful if you want to create uniform lighting from the same angle as your camera, as the camera can film through the ring without blocking any of the light or creating shadows you don't want.
When Luuk and Mya come back to Fleur's room, they've got someone else with them. The guy is carrying a box and grins as he looks around. "Seems I finally reached the fun room."
"Hi, Jason." Alex waves at him. "No dress today?"
"Not yet." The guy Alex just called Jason puts his box on one of the beds. "I was asked to provide a box, and thought I should check out what's going on before I dress up. Also, Izzy and Elliot have overtaken our room, no place for me there."
"Poor you." Fleur laughs and turns in her chair.
We've moved her around in the room so that she can sit with her back to a wall, which makes the background calmer and that helps the video.
I look at the table we've also been able to move around a little and I think we should be able to manage the right height for the filming if we put the box on it. I don't think we can manage much more with lights than we already do. This will have to do.
It's not a good setup like I've got at home, no ring light, no focused lights, but it'll have to do for now... I don't have anything better with me here. Next time, I should remember to take a tripod or something with me and maybe some lights and the ring light.
"Let's get through this first." Luuk laughs as he stands next to me. "I know that look. You're already planning way ahead."
I look at him and shrug. "Better to be prepared."
"Yes, after this weekend." He raises an eyebrow at me. "Do you have everything you need?"
I nod. "Yeah, thanks." Then I look around the room. How did it get so much busier in here? "I kinda need people to be quiet while I'm filming, unless they want to be in the video with us. So, people who don't want to be quiet, could you please go elsewhere?"
Nobody moves. Okay... This is a little awkward.
I busy myself with setting the camera up, try to get the settings the best I can make it in this situation, and then turn it on. I've got enough battery left to film for a couple of hours and the card in it is empty, so we can make this as long as it needs to be. Plus, I've got extra batteries and cards with me, so we can always swap them out.
"Okay..." I move the makeup I'm using on Fleur nearer to us and, after taking a deep breath, I try to smile at her. "Don't mind the camera. Just talk to me or..." I look in her line of sight. "Ehhh."
Alex moves, sitting at the end of her bed, which is not behind the camera, but just to the side. "Or look at me." Alex grins at her and Fleur's eyes start to sparkle.
"That works too." I check the settings on the camera one last time. "We were on the eyeshadow, right?"
"I think so." Fleur smiles, glancing to the side. "You have a lot more stuff than Jade has. Jade usually does my makeup when I want something fancy."
"She probably doesn't run a whole channel about it, right?" I pick up a couple of palettes and hold them next to her.
"No, she just likes to put it on herself and on me." Fleur smiles softly as I pick a few colours that work well with her eye colour and her dress. "She actually did my makeup the first time I met Alex. I was so nervous and had no idea what I was supposed to do."
"When did you meet her?" They look so comfortable around each other, but I don't actually know that much about their story. And if they're both okay with it, this would make a really cute piece to put in the video. I pick up a mid-tone eyeshadow to use as a base for the rest of the colours.
"We met in a game, Destruction of Elysium, but the first time I actually met her face-to-face was during a guild meeting." Fleur carefully closes her eyes as I put the eyeshadow on her. "I didn't know that she was a girl at first. I thought she was a guy. She was called Alex, she played a male character and a tank on top of that. I just presumed..."
"Oh, yes, that was awkward as hell." Alex comes closer and I glance at her, not fully sure, but then she steps next to Fleur, so she's also on camera. "I was already so in love with her, but she had no idea who I actually was."
"Oops. What happened next?" I nod towards the table and Alex hands me the next palette I've laid out.
This could work. If we keep it light, we may actually manage to pull this off. If this keeps going well, I may actually have the courage to talk on film about myself too.
If I don't chicken out first...
***
After I did Fleur's makeup, I did Alex' too, and we talked about their ADHD and how they manage it at school and how they combine their relationship with school and gaming and just other things. As I finished both of them, the event had already started and Jason and Luuk had already left the room, which left me with just Mya, Fleur and Alex in the room.
"Thank you so much." Alex checks herself in the mirror. "That's exactly enough for me."
She's not usually someone who wears much makeup, and her clothing style also was a little more on the 'rough' side, so I went with very little on the rest of her face and just focused on making her eyes even more striking.
Then Alex looks around the room. "Are we going downstairs immediately or are we going to do something else first?" Her eyes end on me. That wasn't a question for the room, but a question just for me...
"I don't know." I keep myself busy with packing the makeup back up. By concentrating on doing their makeup, and just listening to their stories, I was able to sort of ignore that there's a whole event going on downstairs. An event I'm supposed to attend too...
"We can check how busy it is downstairs, if you want to. Or we can stay here a little longer." Mya comes over and starts moving the chair and table back to where they used to be.
I nod, trying to sort my thoughts. I know that I'm here to go to the event, but I saw how many people there already were when I arrived and there will probably be more by now. And, I'm here with Mya and Fleur and Alex, all people who want to attend the event, all people who don't mind the crowds and who probably want to visit specific games and things like that. I know that they want to go places, and I'm only holding them back.
"Troy just messaged me that they're showing off a new strategy game and that there aren't a lot of people in that room, since it's not that popular, not as popular as some of the other games they're showing off anyway and people tend to go to the super-popular games first." Alex moves around, looking through her bag and grabbing a couple of things.
My heart beats faster. "I guess I could check that out." I don't know how long I'll manage to stay, but I guess I have to at least try...
"Cool." Mya grins, looking so happy that I don't want to take that away from her. "Let's put all of your big stuff in my room and then we can go downstairs."
"I think I'd like to keep my camera with me." I put it in my shoulder bag. "That way I can maybe film a little."
"Sure. Just, usually, you're not allowed to film the games and things like that." Mya warns me.
"That makes sense, but I was thinking more along the lines of filming some people. I don't know..." Maybe I shouldn't do it? But then Mya puts her hand on my arm.
"If you're just going to film people who are there, people who are okay with it, then it should be fine." Her eyes are soft, her voice calm and I nod.
"Okay." My heart beats in my throat just thinking of how many people there would be around me.
I just have to get through this. I just have to manage to get through this.
I can do this.
I'm just like the others, I can be okay when I'm in a room with other people. I'll be fine.
I'll be fine.
***
After dropping my makeup bag off in Mya's room, we went downstairs, to the entrance of the venue and it was super busy. I had a hard time believing that there were so many people going to the event, and they were all standing in this hallway. But Mya, Fleur and Alex kept me company the whole time and I managed to get through the ticket check and then into the large hall.
The sounds and lights were way too overwhelming and we quickly found the place that Troy had talked about. It's a strategy game based on some tabletop wargaming game and while I have no idea what it's about, Luuk is super excited about it somehow.
"Their tabletop version is sleek and works really well, but to see it like this... Wow." His eyes are huge as he looks at some of the videos they're showing of the game. "I guess I may have to actually get into this franchise. I put off buying it, since I didn't know if it was going to be popular enough, but if they're going to make a videogame of it..."
I smile. Luuk can get super excited about these things. I've seen him play different tabletop wargames often enough, but they're usually not very different from each other to me. But then, I'm not really that interested in them, they're just not my thing. Just like Luuk probably doesn't know much about makeup apart from the bare minimum that he has learned just hanging around me all the time.
"Do you have a place in the city where you can play?" Troy holds his head to the side a little. "I'm not into tabletop usually, but if it looks or plays anything like this... I may be converted."
Luuk laughs. "I'm going to have to warn you upfront. Once you start, you don't stop collecting, usually. And it costs a lot of time."
Alex bumps her shoulder into Troy's. "You don't have time for this. You barely have enough time between school and DoE..."
"Meh." Troy shrugs. "I can find some time... Fleur and you can date and play videogames. I can take on an extra hobby."
This makes both Alex and Fleur laugh, and Fleur answers him. "Yeah, but we play videogames together. We get to play games and basically have a date at the same time, no matter if we're in the same room or not. I don't think you can combine gaming with putting together those little models."
"I sometimes manage." Luuk smiles, shrugging. "But generally only when I have to wait in the game and it takes a while. It's harder to do it when you've only got a couple of minutes of downtime at a time."
"Hmmm." Troy frowns, then he looks back to the big screens. "I guess I'll have to try, then."
I laugh too. I know that feeling, that feeling of wanting to do something new but not knowing how you're supposed to combine it with other things you're already doing in your life.
Just like I don't know how I'll be able to spend more time with Mya when I also have my videos and university and Mya is into games and things like that, and our hobbies are so different. We both don't have a lot of free time.
So, even if we really start dating, or if we become girlfriends, how are we going to spend enough time together?