#liyuchun (aka #ChrisLee ) in #Burberry black wind coat. #streetsnap

He relaxed when the woman proved to be friendly. She wasn’t angry, just curious, and that was a relief to know he wouldn’t be getting questioned for staring at her. He gave her a brief smile before quickly packing some of the scattered art supplies and putting them back in his pencil case where they belonged. 

“No, it’s okay. You’re not prying, it’s of you, after all.” Carefully, slowly, Yunqi flipped through his sketchbook until he found the drawing of the woman in front of him. It was mostly finished, he’d just been shading in where was needed, and years of practice showed in the striking resemblance to her. There were few people who Yunqi would share he drawings with; for the most part he preferred to keep them private, and no one asked to see them anyway. She showed respect though, something that he’d only come across in other artists, and so Yunqi trusted her enough to slide the sketchbook across the table for her to see. “What do you think?”

Candid || Open

Alice hadn’t realized she was being watched immediately. She had been oblivious to her surroundings focusing on the plate of food in front of her. It was in one of the moments when she glanced up that she noticed him. For a moment she watched him recognizing the subtle movements he made. They were almost the same movements she made whenever she drew people. Only now it seemed the roles were reversed. That didn’t happen often. 

 Curiosity over came her as she gathered up her things and moved to sit across from him. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” She gestured at the sketchbook. “I just noticed you drawing me. I got a little curious and thought I’d come over. You don’t have to show me though, I don’t want to pry or anything.” She genuinely meant that, knowing how easy it was to be defensive about artwork. 

For a moment, Yunqi was worried about the threat of a consent form. He wasn’t a payed artist, the drawings didn’t go anywhere that he would need to sign release papers anyway. The joke was lost on him until it was revealed, at which point it didn’t really seem all that funny. 

This encounter was one of the big reasons he tended not to draw anyone outside of the community. From being dragged around by his mother as a kid, Yunqi knew everyone and their grandmother. He was confident that they wouldn’t mind being drawn, and that they wouldn’t come up and interrogate him. At least he knew they weren’t this... Well, there was no word for Mr. Doesn’t-Play-By-The-Rules.

“I guess that begs the question of why you think that coming and chewing in my face is a good way to make friends,” he replied coarsely. He knew, though, that his table mate was just making an excuse to be in the company of someone other than himself. Some people just did not like to be alone. “I’m Yunqi. And you are...?”

Candid || Open

#violin #music #fil #mazzarino #photographer #photography #philmazza #oplasales #cyclopevideo

One can be the master of what one does, but never of what one feels.

Gustave Flaubert (via quotespile)

There was a strange sense of revulsion at seeing someone eat a chicken wing before noon, though whether that was from the food itself or from the way the man was giving him a view of it half-chewed was anyone’s guess. 

In order to feel semi-casual, Yunqi leaned down to retrieve his pencil from the floor and rearrange his supplies to that they were less scattered. He had the suspicion that this was the kind of man who would snap someone else’s pencils just for the fun of it if not to serve any other purpose, and while that wasn’t something he would stand for usually his table-mate obviously thought he could do whatever he pleased.

“Most people would ask before sitting at someone else’s table,” he retorted, holding his head a little higher and straightening his posture in an effort not to be pushed around. He smoothly diverted the question, not wanting to give the man any more reason to act so smug; or maybe it was just his nerves that made him want to avoid that particular conversation. He twirled the pencil between his fingers to give them something to do other than sit idly. “I mind my business, you can mind your own.”

Candid || Open

Yunqi allowed himself to feel relief for a moment. She hadn’t come over to demand what he was doing, and that was enough to feel grateful about. Getting into an argument in the food court didn’t seem like a good way to spend a morning, and Yunqi didn’t like to be confronted about this kind of thing. He knew that girls had liked being drawn in high school. Now? Probably a little harder to explain.

He quickly flipped the sketchbook closed and placed it safely on his lap, then cleared off half of the table for the woman to sit with her own things. “No, go ahead. There’s enough room for two, I don’t mind.” 

A quick look showed that a rather annoyed looking woman had taking the previous place of his subject- the woman sitting opposite him. It seemed rather rude to think of her as a subject now that she was a real, present person in the near area. “Are you having a fine day?”

Candid || Open

Eleanor lounged patiently in the booth with her feet up and knees bent. Slowly drinking her iced coffee, Eleanor waited. She wasn’t waiting for anyone, or anything. It was her day off and she was just waiting the hours away. She had her tablet and a book in her bag to keep her busy, but watching the people who were milling around, eating, chatting, laughing, was so much interesting. She was perfectly fine just waiting around rather than doing anything else.

“Can you move?” A mother with two children asked in that irritated ‘I’m Much More Important Than You’ voice. “It’s a large table for more than one person, not a lounge chair.”

A little irked and biting back words that would be harmful to young children, Eleanor stood up and walked away.

She hated food courts in all honesty, especially when some stranger would just sit across from you and act like you weren’t there. Unfortunately, and rather hypocritical, Eleanor walked over and sat down across from someone who was either drawing or writing. When they looked up and saw Eleanor, though, they pulled their notebook close and looked rather nervous.

“Sorry, I won’t look,” Eleanor said, “just needed somewhere to sit. Do you mind if I sit here?” She gave a little smile, realizing that sounded like something a high schooler would ask on their first day. But in reality, high schoolers never asked before they did anything. “You can go back to your drawing,” Eleanor felt bad for interrupting them, “I have a book I can read. Or, I can always find another table.”

His smile wavered and fell. The waitress - Aurelie by her tag - was clearly having none of it. For as much as he believed that service with a smile was a hoax, service without a scowl wasn’t much to ask for. It wasn’t his job to try and fix someone’s bad mood. 

“Just sugar, please,” he replied, a little more curt this time. He did his best not to be at least a little annoyed, but it was painfully obvious how much contempt she held the diner with. He didn’t like that his money was going to poor service. 

“Customers give better tips if you don’t look like you hate your job, even if you do. It’s harder to hate a job when people are giving you money.” That sounded friendly enough, right? He hoped so. Mushu sometimes liked to point out that even though he’d spent so many years in the service industry, his people skills needed work outside of the Dragon. “Not to be rude. All I mean is that pleasant service is part of the job.”

『 what’s new? || open starter 』

Aurelie’s scowl deepened and her eyes hardened after seeing him flinch back at how she addressed him- if he had wanted to say something, he might as well. She was in work mode, she didn’t want to be charming or nice or whatever she was usually, she wanted her shift to be done and over with.

So if he had a problem with her attitude, he might as well tell her straight instead of smiling like he was mocking her. It wasn’t as if she could hit him or something, considering she was still supposed to wait on him.

“Tea and pancakes…” What a strange combination, but she wrote it down anyway in her orderly, cursive handwriting, “Alright. Any sugar or cream for you sir?” She bit down on the tip of her pen, cursing herself for forgetting to bring gum to work again.

Candid || Open

Delicate pencil scratches had turned into a full person in the last twenty minutes as Yunqi watched his subject only a few tables away. The Plaza’s food court was busy enough in mid-morning that he felt confident that he could draw someone without being noticed. A smoothie and a muffin sat amongst the spilt contents of a pencil case on the table.

It had been a little while since Yunqi had done candids, though surely it was going well. He made sure not to stare to long or too obviously, and it was going well until he looked up and startled so hard that he dropped his pencil. In the moments he’d been focused on the page, his subject had gotten up and moved over to his table. Their expression was a little unreadable, though Yunqi was sure that he wouldn’t have been too pleased if he’d seen someone watching him.

Fidgeting a little, Yunqi tried to keep his cool. “Hey there. Can I, um...” He pressed the sketch book against his chest. “Can I help you with something?”

Yunqi didn’t often treat himself to breakfast. In fact, he couldn’t really remember the last time he’d gone out anywhere without Mushu, or had had the time to venture out of Down Town between sleeping and work. The only food left in his fridge now was leftovers, which made taking the bus to the diner a bit of a no-brainer.

He had expected the friendly environment that the diner had had at his last visit, and was taken aback by the waitress’s attitude. He had to take a moment that it wasn’t just his own filter as a server that made him sensitive- but no, she was absolutely not happy to be here. Yunqi wasn’t sure that there was a nice way to give advice from one waiter to another regarding how to treat costumers.

Snapping out of his daze, he took a quick look at the menu then back at her. “Could I have a tea and pancakes? Thank you.” He smiled at the waitress, hoping that would thaw her out a little. Maybe she was having a bad day.

『 what’s new? || open starter 』

It was no secret that Aurelie hated her job, evident by her rhythmic tapping against the marble counter of the Tree Bees Diner. Her custom manicured nails, chipping slightly from the lack of effort she had put in before she had went to bed, was creating the most annoying sound as she’s been told, but it wasn’t as if there were there that many people to reprimand her again on her bad habits again. It was’t a slow day, it just wasn’t rush hour.

With her head resting on her hand, she sighed as her bored eyes scanned the various people sitting and chatting their day away as if they didn’t have anything else to do; as if they had all the time in the world; as if they didn’t have jobs to go to.

She had to stop herself from growling when she heard the bell ringing, signaling that a new customer had walked into the diner. Aurelie sighed before getting up from where she sat behind counter, lazily holding onto her notepad and pen before walking over to the table that the customer had sat at.

“Hello, may I take your order?” She clicked her tongue, looking down at the seated customer with irritation clearly written on her face.

20 day Disney princess challenge

Day 14: Two sidekicks who would make a great duo!

Mushu and Crickee. If it ain’t broke; Don’t fix it!