Afternoon Snapshots (Sora & Chiaki)

It was a beautiful day out, and given that she was (for once!) relatively on top of her assignments, Sora had decided to make the most of it. She would have brought her best friend along, but Amaya had been busy with something or other (hadn't been very clear what) and couldn't join her. Ah well. Such was life.

The loveliness of the day made up for the disappointment of being alone though. Pleasantly cool, just enough to need a light sweater, with a soft breeze, and hardly any clouds in the sky. On top of that, the cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom. All in all, it made for a perfect day to capture some lovely photos.

While some dedicated photographers might bemoan the fact that Sora exclusively used her smartphone camera, she'd never been disappointed in the quality of her photos. Besides which, it was distinctly easier to sort through and decide if any of them were good on a smartphone versus a fancier camera, at least in her opinion. Which, really, was the important thing to worry about as far as she was concerned.

For now though, what she was most concerned about was getting a few good shots of the cherry blossoms, and anything else pretty that came into view. And hopefully getting someone to take a quick photo of her so she send it off to her parents. They did a video call every couple weeks, but they still liked to get updates in between those, and given the day, this seemed a good thing to share. Sora paused for a moment in the middle of the path as she spotted a particularly good angle, and snapped a quick couple shots of the blossoms overhead. Picking up her pace again, she glanced at the people around her, partially to make sure her brief pause hadn't inconvenienced anyone, and partially to see if there were any moments around that would make for a good candid shot.

There was no luck on that front, but she did spot a tree which would lend itself to some very nice framing for a picture of herself. And it seemed luck was on her side, too, there was someone standing right by it - someone she recognized in fact. Well. Sort of. Sora knew the blonde girl was a classmate of hers, but beyond that... yeah she wouldn't be able to tell you anything about her. Still, better than asking a stranger.

She approached the other girl with a wave and a smile. They were classmates after all, maybe the other girl would recognize her. "Hiya! Lovely day out, right?" Best to start by breaking the ice a bit. "I dunno if you recognize me, but I'm Sora, we've got history together right after lunch, Monday-Wednesday?" She held out her phone, camera already set up. "Listen, can you do me a quick favor and take a picture of me at that tree?" She gestured at the tree next to them. "It's too nice of a set up for just a selfie, ya know?"

Chiaki's day currently? It was going well, but nothing notable was achieved, whether it be academically, or something that was serving her goals. She'd been slacking on the assignments as always, and tended to cram them in consecutively at the very last moments possible. Being on your own in a dorm meant you had no one to nag you about those things, unlike staying at home with family, which was good... but if she didn't have the motivation to do anything, what was the point? Better save it for later, if you feel like doing it.

The clouds were nice, and so was the sky. And the weather was nice enough for Chiaki to not get antsy about too much rain, or too much sunlight. Of course, she could go back inside, but that was boring! Gotta enjoy it for what it is!

Half-daydreaming, and not particularly having anything on her mind besides staring up at the sky, Chiaki was slow to react, her eyes widening, as she took a few moments to process what was happening, responding with her voice in a high-pitched surprise.
"Oh... r-right, sure!"

Sora-san of all people today? She didn't know Sora too well, just having seen her a few times here and there. That was unexpected, but oh well, Chiaki hadn't settled too well enough into school just yet. But this seemed more than good enough, if someone managed to recognise her already.

She then gently took hold of the phone, and focused on the tree in front of her.
"Isn't it a bit.. yanno, odd to introduce ya- yourself like this, Sora-san? And do you want any filters or anything? And how much focus do you want on the tree, more of you, or more of yourself? I'm not too familiar with what your photography preferences are."
The blonde raised an eyebrow, as she stepped back a bit, just to get some more of the scenery in shot.

Once the phone was safely passed over, Sora moved into position, tree in the background, ready to smile for the camera. This was going to make for a lovely photo, regardless of the skill of the photographer - which, she was still wracking her brain for the name of.

A hot, embarrassed flush made its way up her neck and face when her introduction was called out. Yeah... there was no way this looked good. "Ahahaha..." A nervous chuckle bubbled out as her face turned even redder. Well, nothing to it but rip the band-aid off. "Yeah... um, truth be told, I couldn't remember your name and I wasn't sure if you'd recognize me..." She trailed off, trying to will her face to return to something less blatantly red.

"So, um, no filters." The photograph was a welcome distraction from the shame, and hopefully shifting the subject would reduce the flush on her face. "Focus a bit more on me, it's okay if the tree is a bit out of focus." This was a picture mostly intended to send off to family... and maybe to be a profile picture on social media. In both cases, you wanted the focus more on the person than background - but a pretty background did make it nicer.

"I can always add some filters after, anyway." The flush on her face was under more control now. She took a deep breath and smiled towards her classmate. "Alright, ready when you are!" She wasn't really posed, just standing at a slight angle, hands resting together at her waist. Nothing too fancy. "Just get like 3 or 4 shots - always nice to have a few options in case of a blink or something."

Sora not picking up on Chiaki's name was ever so slightly annoying, yes. But Chiaki again, was still in her habit of barely making her presence known among her classmates. There was no coherent plan ahead, and she didn't want to just seem like some maniac, grabbing at the slightest bit of relevancy possible. It was easier to just start off small with Sora-san, and then move on to whoever else wasn't going to run off screaming once Chiaki was at her full pace.

Not that she would do something as stupid, or fail. Why would she, of all people fail at taking pictures of her classmate? This was an easy task!

No filters, and more focus on Sora-san than the tree itself. That was as easy as it could be, supposedly.
"Ok, got it! Don't sneeze or anything, and it's done."
Although saying that, it did seem that her classmate was easily flustered. Fair enough, no one was exactly invincible, as annoying of a fact that was.

Chiaki nodded, and as such, focused the camera more on Sora, zooming in a bit.
As long as any bugs, or kids, or whatever else didn't get in the way, this meant things were going to be as easily said, as easily done.
She took five pictures, letting some time, but not too much time pass between each shot. Four was a number she wished to avoid in particular.
A few different angles, but not radically different, were more than enough to get by with, just a bit of variety if this angle turned out to be less photogenic for Sora-san than another, it just made a lot of sense to her.
"All good."

Once finished, she approached Sora, holding the phone out to her, a friendly grin prevalent on her face.
"I think that's great, and if not, we will do it again until it works. And as for introductions, I think it's best if we both know a little bit more about each other, yes?"

She tilted her head, raising an eyebrow.