no man's land || kgf (slow updates)

four

1978
BANGALORE

"This is a camera. You can take pictures with it. Pictures are basically moments captured on paper. It's really nice you see-" Rocky cut off Meghna's passionate speech on cameras. 

"Just tell me how to work it." She made a face at him. 

And he made one back, which quite frankly surprised her because she didn't expect an assassin to be childish. 

But Rocky surprised her almost every five minutes. 

And so, she rolled her eyes and fixed the strap around her neck. 

"Make sure you have the strap around your neck always. It's important because your fingers might slip and you might drop it." She looked at him to see if he was listening and he nodded. 

"You have to look through the viewfinder, focus on what you want.... " she trailed off as she focused into the market. 

More importantly, on the one man who sat on an upturned copper vessel. A vast array of dyed threads spread out in front of him. Colours from magenta to emerald, crimson to aquamarine. He had it all. And though she hadn't felt the threads, they all look so soft all the way from here. She watched through the lens as a woman took a baby blue thread bundle and felt through the material. 

"Once you've gotten what you want, you press this button over here," she explained placing her pointer on the little button and pressing it lightly, "and... there. The thread man by Meghna in collaboration with Rocky." She said dramatically, smiling proudly at it. 

He pushed himself off of the pillar he was leant on and grabbed the camera from her hand. He'd completely forgotten that she had the strap fastened around herself. 

So naturally, when he pulled the camera,  he pulled her along. 

"WHY WOULD YOU-" she made a choking noise as he stared at her bewildered. 

God this girl was dramatic. 

"OH MY GOD! You could have killed me you little shit!" She was gasping for air and removing the strap from around her neck. 

"I didn't even pull that harshly." 

"Yes you did." she sassed back. 

He sighed at her antics. "You can go now." he said bringing the camera up to his eyes. 

She scoffed, "what do you mean, 'go now'?" 

"I mean, 'go now'. I said exactly what I mean. go." He said, still looking through it and moving it too fast all around. 

She stared at him with concern for the camera. 

He hadn't put the strap around his neck and he was quite wildly moving it around. 

"The strap! Put the strap around you neck! You're gonna break it. Be gentle!" She reprimanded him. He slowed down his rapid movements. 

"Hold it properly oh my god you're going to break it and I have only two and- "

"Okay listen here pattaki. I can take care of it. You go now, take the other camera and cover the bigger road and the party office." She looked at him and the camera skeptically. 

"I said, go." she stared for a couple of minutes and he carried on with finding something to photograph. 

They were stood on a building right in front of the market street. The most chaotically photogenic place she knew. 

Almost every little thing in that place was worth capturing. So what in the world was he searching for? 

"Fine. I'm going. But if that breaks, I will snap your neck in half." She warned. "Oh god. I'm scared." He said in faux panic.