|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 12:50 pm
Since their meeting, Abbey had been waiting for the chance to set up a photo shoot for her and Yukio. She didn't know if she wanted to do a home hangout photoshoot, or rent a space in a building and pay hourly. Ultimately she decided on her home, which wasn't small, but also not large. Two rooms, two and a half baths, with a large living room. Her style was cozy and warm. Stuff that looked good from Amazon that anyone could buy, but she still enjoyed it. No doubt Yukio would at least see she put effort into her home as well as herself. (Thankfully she was able to afford this place because her parents were well off enough to help her.) She lounged on her couch, texting Yukio make sure he wasn't going to have any issues with doing it in her house. Quote: Hey. So, you are sure that its fine we're at home? I couldn't think of anywhere that wouldn't be too crowded now that the weather is warming up a bit. Open to suggestions.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 2:48 pm
In the still quiet of the downtown apartment, the sound of Yukio's phone alerting him to an incoming text nearly caused him to jump out of his own skin. He had the volume as loud as it could go so it would cut through the music he played when he was writing code for a hack; however, he preferred dead silence when he was coding for a client, which was what he was doing when the text came. Shaking his head to calm himself down, he picked up the phone and read the text, then looked around his own living space, cluttered and messy as it was with clothing and takeaway containers and empty beer bottles. A true bachelor's dwelling, and not fit for human occupation, let alone visitors. He texted Abbey back: Quote: I'm completely fine with doing this at your place. Be right over. Saving his work, he stood and stretched, then removed the lop-eared bunny hat which was his favorite coding hat and started getting dressed to go out as DJ Buster. Which, of course, demanded a different hat.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 1:48 pm
The chirp of her text going off, and the message combined on-screen had her grinning. Good. Maybe there would be an idea between the two of them, and they could go outside and take advantage of the sunlight. Maybe, if he stayed, they could get some awesome dusk photos. "Wonder if there's a field." The woman adjusted herself on her couch and tried to figure out a nice open field. There could be fireflies there! That'd be fun if they could capture some and release them. It'd make for some really fun photos. Plus catching fireflies sounded like a great way to end the night. Mismatched eyes glanced to her own make-shift photo shoot set up and sighed. It was going on 'Bohemian' vibes. Pillows on the floor, lacy drapes attached to her ceiling, and sprawled out around the area. It wasn't decorated for any sort of holiday, since the Fourth of July really wasn't what she enjoyed. It might be fun to get him to take photos in this delicate-looking setup. He was anything but delicate looking.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 07, 2022 7:40 pm
In no time at all Yukio turned up at Abbey's doorstep looking every bit the DJ. He hadn't bothered to tie his hair up under his favorite hat, an old leather flight helmet (complete with goggles), and the scruffy blue ends hung down over his t-shirt clad shoulders. Black skinny jeans and mismatched Converses completed the look. Hopefully it was good enough for a photo shoot. Adjusting the backpack carrying his DJing laptop and headset, he rang the doorbell and waited patiently. This was pretty new for him, and he found himself looking forward to whatever she had in mind for the shoot. He had no clue about any of it; maybe they could come up with something fun and silly that would showcase both of their particular talents. His as a DJ, hers as an influencer. Either way, it was bound to be entertaining. "Hey Abbey," he greeted when she answered the door, the warmth in his voice contrasting with the flat expression on his face. "Um, should I take my shoes off? I don't know how you run your house…"
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 3:41 am
The doorbell sounded, and she jumped up off the couch and made sure her hair wasn't everywhere before she answered. "Oh hey!" The tone made her grin. It never matched his face. Part of his appeal. "Glad you found it okay. You don't have to, nah. I don't actually have many rugs because I don't want to vacuum and I find sweeping easier." A shrug, and she moved to the side and let him in. Her living room was done in a light, warm wood and lots of warm colors with splashes of blue here and there. Clean and orderly. She had company so of course it was clean. "If you're thirsty I got soda, sparkling water, and juice. I also got filtered water. It's all in the fridge in the kitchen." She pointed with two fingers to her kitchen, which was visible thanks to the open concept of this room. The only thing really separating the living room and kitchen was a long island bar and four bar stools. "Don't go into the guest room though, you'll uuuh... So you know PR packages? That's usually what's in this room. But... now it's not." Like she actually took out her recycling. Not yet. She had more PR to open. "So hey! Hi. How you been?"
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 2:56 pm
"I've been good," Yukio nodded as he entered the house. "I've been keeping myself busy, you know, working, playing out a few times, stuff like that." He looked around the cozy living room, then made his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "The usual. Oh, I played at Downtown the other night. A big private party – they booked the entire place. I was only one of several DJs there, but they had specifically asked for me, so that's something." Grabbing a bottle of fizzy water, he closed the fridge and returned to the living room. "Nice place you got here. Feels really warm and inviting." He popped open the bottle and took a drink. "So how have you been? I mean, duh, I follow your various streams, so I have at least some idea. But what's been going on with the real Abbey?" He slid his glasses down and peered at her over the tops. "You can tell me, I won't say a word."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 8:38 pm
"Oh yeah, I feel you. Work's been killing me. I open, I close, I open, I close. Do they care if I complain or look dead on my feet? No. Thank God for make-up. I would look like a zombie otherwise." Even now she had make-up on. There wasn't a moment in her life where she was fully awake and not in make-up. At least not since she started working at Walmart. "Leaches your soul. And the Karens? Ugh." She hated working retail/customer service jobs. Abbey watched as he grabbed one of the waters and then grinned. "Thank you. Sponsors pay the rent." Her paychecks normally sure didn't. It was enough for her daily bills, but this kind of place wasn't cheap. She was a bit taken back when he asked about the real her and not her persona. "I... I could complain a little, but like, I got it good. You know? I'm tired, I hate working at Walmart, but it beats not working. I can't always rely on the same paychecks from my online gigs, so I have to have something to fall back on when or if it all goes kablooey." She made an explosion noise and a hand gesture to go with it. "At the same time I'm relatively healthy, got food, friends." She was lonely despite all that. Ah, well. He didn't need to know. "So were you telling me about the real you or the DJ you?"
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 08, 2022 10:00 pm
"The real me, of course," Yukio replied with the faintest hint of a smirk. Then he sighed – he didn't want to lie to a good friend, and he definitely considered her firmly in that category. He was doing enough lying lately. He sat down on the couch and leaned forward to face her, elbows on his knees. "So here's the thing, and it doesn't leave this room. I'm supposed to be in college at DCU, studying computer science. But I dropped out my freshman year, for reasons I don't really want to go into because it was stupid. But my mom and dad don't know. They're out in San Francisco living the high-tech life and paying for my apartment." He sighed again. "They think I'm going to graduate soon and I don't know what I'm going to do," he said as he leaned back and took a swig of fizzy water. "So that eats at me, so I distract myself with hardcore coding and DJing. And fun things like this," he added with a quirk of one eyebrow. He felt better for getting that out of his system – and he felt he could trust Abbey not to blab it all over the internet. He hoped he was right. "I'm good most days, though the whole graduating thing is becoming more and more pressing." He tilted his head and pushed his shades back up to cover his eyes. "And that's the real me, love it or leave it."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 12:44 pm
The confession had her brows raised, but Abbey listened intently to his troubles. She hissed between her teeth once he finished and tipped her head this way and that as she sat at one of the barstools, propping sock-clad feed on one of the wooden bars. "Yeah, I see that's uh... A big issue." God, how did she even try to help him out with that situation? "What about uuuh... One of those crazy stories you see in the news? People attacking random events. Graduation would be suddenly canceled! Then they just 'mail you' the diploma?" Lying to your parents wasn't something you should do, but when you were in this deep? What else would you do? When he covered his eyes back up, Abbey couldn't help but grin. He was attractive, and that was a pretty cool move. "The other option is you go 'missing' and break your parent's hearts. Or just come clean and show them you're making a pretty good living doing what you're doing and try working out a way to pay them back for all the years of lying. I mean 's a few options." She grabbed her phone from her pocket and checked it real fast before putting it on the bar, screen down. "I mean, I love it. It's definitely not my way of living. My parents live down the street and I go see them about twice a week." More when her mom was cooking.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 1:26 pm
"Yeah, I could do that. Tell them that a monster or something wrecked the ceremony," Yukio nodded. "Or just opt out of the graduation ceremony altogether and get my diploma mailed to me. That's a possibility. Or I could come clean, like I did with you. But you're a lot easier to talk to than my parents. You're really easy to talk to." A faint smile crossed his lips briefly before he tilted his head again. "To be honest, I think they'd be relieved if they didn't have to come back here to watch me 'graduate,'" and he made finger quotes in the air. "They're both super busy out in San Francisco." He gave a soft little snorting chuckle as she grinned at him and checked her phone. Ever the online presence; he could relate, in his own way. Besides, she was cute. "Oh, your parents live that close? That must be nice. I kinda miss my mom's cooking – she's Japanese, so she cooks a lot of Japanese food." He shrugged. "But I chose to stay here when my dad got the gig in Silicon Valley. It's okay, I'm glad I did. Got to meet you." An eyebrow went up for a moment to emphasize that he didn't regret his choices for an instant.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 4:34 am
"Parents, you gotta love 'em but you don't have to like them. It's so hard talking to them about what you think is a failure. It's a disappointment! Then they're all, we're not mad, just disappointed." She put her hands on her hips after the appendages had been flying around while she talked. Even her expressions were animated while speaking, taking on tones of a mom and dad. Abbey did pause to listen to him and then grinned when he said he got to meet her. "Fate's funny like that, isn't she?" It was interesting to learn his mom was Japanese though. Now she was curious about if he spoke it, but that also seemed like a typical question someone would be tired of being asked. "That's cool. That you got to pick who to stay with. Lot of the times it happens and the kid just gets ordered to stay with one or another. Do you see your dad at all anymore though?" Well that was an invasive question. Hopefully he didn't mind that one.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 7:58 am
"Oh no, my parents are still together, out in California. They just left me here when they moved." Yukio snorted softly. "I make it sound like they abandoned me. They didn't – I guess they just figured since I was going to college, I was mature enough to live on my own. Little did they know." He nodded, amused by Abbey's animated way of talking. It just made her all the more cute. "Yeah, that's what I don't want to deal with, the disappointment. You don't know disappointment til you've had a Japanese parent become disappointed in you," he smirked. "But I don't think my dad will be disappointed once I tell him what I've been doing. He's a bigger computer nerd than I am. He's a phreaker – he used to scam the telephone company into letting him make long-distance calls by whistling particular sounds at the phone. Later he'd phreak computer networks. I do that sometimes too, just for fun." With a shrug, he looked at her for reactions. He'd basically just confessed to being a hacker. "Yeah, fate's a funny thing. Entity. Whatever." Yukio gave her an actual, honest-to-god smile, a brief one, blink and you'd miss it. Then he sat back and put his hands on his knees. "Anyway, this photo shoot you want to do. Got any ideas? I'm game for about anything."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:00 am
Ah, the actual meat of the hang-out. Abbey perked up a little more and hummed. Well, I thought it'd be cool if you were mixing or something, and I could just be like 'getting candids' of you working, photobomb them. Or we could go out and find an area that has a really great background and do a few generic photoshoot poses, you know." She struck a pose, looking a bit gentle. One-hand as in the air, fingers delicate-looking almost like she was in mid-caress. "Like this, but imagine with more like of the 'golden hour' light. Maybe some pretty trees, or a field of flowers. But for you? Oooh, I think if we go later in the day, like when it's turning dark, we take you to a graveyard and get a few tasteful ones like that. No sitting on the gravestones or anything, but like, hanging out in the trees, a couple up angle photos.." She could do that at a fairly flattering angel. She was wicked with a camera. "Uuhm, or we can go find an industrial site and see what comes from that. The pipes and lighting are often a big hit once I photoshop some colors and stuff."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 2:31 pm
Yukio nodded as Abbey detailed her suggestions for photos. "Those all sound great to me. We should do them all." Quirking an eyebrow, he let a little smirk slip for just an instant. "I'm kidding, except not. That's like more than we could get done in one day. But I'd like at some point to do them all." Especially the "golden hour" one, with the trees and flowers and Abbey posing gently with him… He sighed heavily. Was he developing a crush on her or something? "The graveyard one sounds fun for today. So does the industrial site idea, if you think we could squeeze both in." He thought for a moment. "We need to get some of you too, though – this can't just be all about me. You're the marketing wizard here, you deserve some good photos to market yourself."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 5:23 pm
She winked at him and flashed a grin. "You do not have to worry about me. I never miss an opportunity to take a selfie." It was said with a laugh and Abbey got her phone into her hands again before searching for potential locations. "Just making sure of the address of the one I'm thinking of. There's a place on the outskirts of DC with a huge statue and some pretty impressive trees." When she pulled up images, her eyebrows shot up and she nodded. "Cool! It's the right one. So, let's go. We've got plenty of time. I am booking an Uber as we speak." Abbey really was, too grabbing her bag, keys, and a bottle of water to be safe. After Yukio made his way out, she locked her door and shoved everything else into her bag but her phone before jerking her head. "He'll be here in a couple minutes."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|