Episode 4: In which there is actual nudity this time, courtesy of Erza.
"Lucy!"
Erza's voice bellowed from the second she swung open the front door to the apartment. Lucy glanced up from the couch, startled by Erza's sudden entrance.
"What?"
"I have a request for you," Erza said.
Lucy hesitated. "What kind of request?"
"I've decided what I want to do for my senior project," Erza said.
Out of their whole group, Erza was the oldest. Well, Jellal was the same age as Erza, but he'd taken a gap year so he was a junior just like Lucy and the rest. While all of them were preparing their final projects, Erza was preparing for her final project ever.
"How does it involve me?" Lucy said. "Are you doing portraits?"
"Something like that," Erza said. "I've avoided doing really personal shoots, but I think for my last project I want to try. I was thinking about how far I've come since I was a little girl, when the thing I feared most was being vulnerable. If I was vulnerable, I could get hurt again, so I avoided it. But sometimes, like with friends, being vulnerable was a good thing, and it took me a long time to realize that. I want to do a photoshoot that explores vulnerability through the lens of how I experienced it, both the good and the bad."
Lucy smiled faintly. While Erza didn't talk about it much, she'd been in and out of foster care as a kid. Abusive homes, bullies, you name it. While certainly many kids ended up with good families, Erza's story was one of the tragic ones, the type that often got sensationalized in the news. That was why Erza didn't like talking about it. But if she'd decided to do a project inspired by her journey of healing and recovery from that kind of past, Lucy would do all she could to support her.
"What do you need me for?" Lucy said.
"I want you to model for me."
Lucy immediately agreed. "Just tell me when you want to shoot so I can fit it into my schedule."
"There's one more thing you should be aware of before you consent to this," Erza said.
"What is it?"
"This shoot is about vulnerability, after all," Erza said, "so I hope you don't mind shedding a few layers."
Oh. A nude photoshoot.
It was embarrassing to think about, but Lucy trusted Erza. If it was for Erza's sake, Lucy could let herself be exposed and vulnerable, just like Erza's topic called for.
"That's fine," Lucy said, her chest filling with determination. "Let's do it."
"Sorry to drag you into this too, Natsu," Erza said. She'd picked Lucy and Natsu up from the front lobby of the communications building and was walking them up to the photography studio she'd reserved. "I'd make Jellal do it if he were in the country this semester. I tried to get Gray to replace him first, but he refused to do it for me even after I threatened him. He takes his clothes off all the time so I'm not sure why." Erza's brow furrowed.
"He's shyer about his body than you'd think," Lucy said, laughing lightly.
"I wonder how Natsu got him to be a figure model."
"I wonder," Natsu echoed mysteriously, smiling a little.
"Well, here's the studio. I'm just finishing setting up, so make yourselves comfortable for a bit," Erza said. She opened the door to a well-lit room. On one side was a tall screen that almost looked like a projector, but hanging from it were screens of several different colors: white, blue, green, and the one currently in front, black. A few standing lights were set up around the shooting space, making the white walls almost glow in their light.
They closed the door firmly behind them. Erza went over to the lights immediately, adjusting the position and brightness of one of them. Meanwhile, Lucy wandered over a strange pile of objects set off to one side. There was a pile of different colored cloths, what seemed to be a fancy black birdcage, a rather dangerous-looking knife, and a little vial of red liquid.
"I borrowed props from the theater department," Erza said. She stopped fiddling with the light. "Lucy, bring the birdcage here."
Lucy did as she was told, setting the cage down on the floor.
"Okay, I'm starting off with the easiest one. I'll do Lucy first. Lucy, I want you to take off your clothes and huddle inside the birdcage."
Lucy flushed. "A-All of them?" Right now? At once?
"Yup. Don't worry, it'll be warm enough under all these lights. And if not, I brought blankets for you two to use between takes."
"I'll have to be naked, too?" Natsu said.
Erza looked annoyed. "Partly, yes. I told you two this project is about vulnerability. Yes, you will be spending most of these shots naked. I do have one or two clothed scenes in mind, but I picked out clothes you'll need to change into later."
Lucy began stripping down, feeling a little embarrassed. It wasn't that she was ashamed about her body, but there was something odd about being photographed naked. Sure, it was for an artistic photoshoot, but it almost felt like she was taking straight-up nudes. But she'd already agreed to all this, and she wasn't about to back out on her word just because of a little discomfort. She could handle it.
When she curled into the birdcage, just barely managing to squeeze herself in comfortably, she realized that at least in this shot, most of her "inappropriate" parts would be covered by her legs, which were drawn up to her chin. So this was what Erza meant by "the easiest one."
Lucy did her best impression of a wistful, lonely expression as Erza flitted around her, camera snapping away. She had a good laugh when Erza turned the birdcage, causing Lucy to fall off-balance for a moment and nearly toppling herself sideways. But soon enough, Erza was finished, and Lucy sat patiently inside the cage while Erza did a brief once-over of the photos she'd taken.
"They look good," Erza concluded. Lucy smiled in relief. It was getting cramped in here. "There's one more thing I want to try with the cage. Do you need to get out and stretch?"
"I'll be fine for a little more," Lucy said.
"Okay, come out halfway and I'll tangle your hair in the bars a bit. Don't worry, I won't knot it up for real, just enough that it'll be convincing in the photos."
"What kind of weird shoot is this?" Natsu said with a derisive snort, earning a glare from Erza.
"I welcome suggestions, but if you're going to complain, you can switch places with Lucy right now. I'm going to make you do the same things anyway," Erza said.
That shut him up quickly.
They proceeded to do a variety of shots, some of them variations on the same concept, all of them seeming to lead up to something. First she was in the cage, then held back by the cage, then she was tangled in thorns, then she was weaving a daisy crown, then she was eating a peach. The props seemed random, but Lucy knew each situation meant something significant to Erza, so she did her best to follow Erza's specific directions. There were a few standard "vulnerable" poses of just Lucy against the black background, then they moved on to poses involving Natsu as an antagonist-like character. He held a knife to her neck, she held out her hands dripping with fake blood.
After a break to rest and revive their energy with pizza Erza had delivered to the studio, they did it all again with Natsu as the vulnerable one this time.
By the time they finished shooting, the sky outside was dark.
"Wow, we were in there a while," Lucy said.
"Thank you two for coming today. I had a lot of trouble coming up with poses for this photoshoot, but I think it'll turn out great. I'll treat you two to sushi sometime as payment."
"Yes!" Natsu cheered. He was always a sucker for free food, Lucy thought while giggling. Well, she was a sucker for free food too. Erza got her photos taken, Lucy and Natsu got sushi. Fair trade as far as Lucy was concerned.
Erza started work on editing them the very next day. While Lucy was in class, she got a text from Erza telling her to come by the photography computer labs.
"I'm going through the photos from the shoot," it read. "Want to see?"
When Lucy arrived, Erza let her in. Lucy stood behind Erza's chair, leaning over to get a better view as she scrolled through the photos. It seemed Erza had already narrowed it down to a few options per scene, so Lucy could see several of the poses at once. Erza wasn't kidding when she said this shoot was about vulnerability: there was sadness, childlike trust, fear, all sorts of emotions she'd captured on Lucy and Natsu's faces, all of which came back to that central theme of being vulnerable. Seeing them all together, it was really incredible.
"It looks great, Erza," Lucy said, a little astonished at how well they'd turned out.
"I still have to narrow it down and do some editing," Erza said, "but you two were good models. The expressions and body language are exactly what I was looking for."
"I'll be expecting some high-quality sushi, then, as payment for our good work," Lucy said, grinning.
Erza kept scrolling, past one that had Lucy full-on nude in front of the camera, everything showing. Almost on instinct, Lucy frantically covered the screen with her hands. "Delete that one!" she said. "Delete, delete!"
"I actually like that one," Erza said. "It looks candid, not staged."
"But I'm…I'm…" Lucy could feel her face heating up.
"You're practically nude in all of them, Lucy."
"Yeah, but…"
Erza sighed. "If the model wishes it so, I won't refuse," she said.
Lucy's cheeks burned. "Thanks," she mumbled. She was fine with most of them, but there was something about having her full-on naked body displayed at the senior art show that Lucy couldn't manage to stomach. She'd gotten enough gross cat-calls on campus already. And what if, by some long shot, her father ended up seeing them? She didn't even want to think about what kind of backlash she'd get from him over it. No, it was best to play it safe by using the less risqué photos.
Of course, the whole photoshoot was unexpectedly risqué. But that was Erza for you. She was so strict it was easy to think she'd be a more modest person, but out of the girls, the one who wore the most revealing clothing and read the most trashy romance novels was definitely Erza.
Though the photoshoot was themed around Erza's life experiences, Lucy couldn't help the nagging feeling that Erza also had really just wanted to do a nude photoshoot before her time in school was up.
Erza's scrolling made it to some of the more intimate poses, and Lucy found herself blushing all the way to her ears again. At the time the poses had been kind of fun and ticklish, actually, but the angles and lighting really did make the photos look sensual. And all those seemingly random props suddenly gained meaning and context that hadn't been apparent to Lucy during the shoot.
Erza's perfect 4.0 GPA even in a difficult and subjective art major often seemed impossible, but looking at her skill with the camera, it was obvious where those grades came from.
"Man, I really hope my father doesn't decide to come out of the woodworks anytime soon," Lucy said. "Even without that photo I told you to delete, he'd probably kill me if he saw some of these."
"Oh, I already plan to pick at least one photo that would give Levy a heart attack," Erza said with a smirk. "Exposing oneself to intimacy and physicality is one type of vulnerability, after all. I couldn't in good conscience do this project without exploring some sensual shots, too."
"I know how much you love that stuff, but don't forget the non-sensual ones either, okay?"
"Don't worry," Erza said. "I have my goals with this project and I don't intend to forget them."
Lucy glanced at the paper Erza had next to her that outlined her artist's statement for the project:
Through action and emotion, I will photograph the various types of vulnerability we experience in our lives: the vulnerability of a child dependent on its guardians, the vulnerability of opening oneself up to love and friendship, the vulnerability of one's delicate life held in someone else's hands, the perpetual vulnerability of both the mind and body. By learning to embrace our vulnerability instead of fearing it, we can survive and endure the things that make us feel weak. We learn that to be vulnerable is not a weakness, but a strength. We overcome.
Lucy smiled. She hadn't known Erza when Erza was at her weakest, but even Lucy could tell how far Erza had come from the broken and guarded young girl she was in the past.
Wrapping her arms around Erza's shoulders, Lucy hugged her from behind. "You're the best," Lucy said, squeezing Erza tight.
"W-What is this for?" Erza said, flustered. But she turned in her chair to hug Lucy back.
"Nothing," Lucy said, closing her eyes and smiling into Erza's shoulder. "You're just the best, that's all."