Lights, Camera, Fraction
Alfred smiled as he opened the door to his one bedroom apartment with its brightly decorated walls and artsy furniture. Quickly slipping off his converse, he headed into the dining room that doubled as a living room and set his bag on his dining room table. Then without much trouble he took off his sweater, headed over to the couch, plopped down, and pulled his laptop into his lap. It was time for his favorite part of his Friday night: YouTube time.
Most would call it lame seeing as they rather be out partying, but Alfred was a much different man. He enjoyed watching videos that other people made. They were kind of like a fuel to his imagination, something that kept him wanting to come up with his crazy video ideas. Sadly none of these ideas ever really made it though. It usually went something like, Lights, Camera, Fraction because Alfred was known to pull the cord on his ideas. He could just never come up with something good enough to get out there into the world…This of course was his opinion against many who said his ideas were wonderful.
There was one person though, this person made Alfred feel like his videos were actually worth something and always succeeded in making him smile despite whatever mood he may be in. This one person was somebody that didn't even know he existed; Alfred was only just a one up on his number of subscribers really. Al didn't mind though, he knew that as long as he could just watch the dude's videos he would be the happiest guy ever. This 'dude' is ArtIsNoPro or Arthur as he asks the viewers to call him.
As Alfred clicks the name in his subscriptions box he faintly begins to remember the first video he'd ever watched from the other man. It had been one entitled, Space Pants, that Alfred had come across whilst searching the web with his older twin Matthew. After watching a few of his other videos the American had become intrigued with how easy Arthur seemed to spit out ideas and how amazing they all sounded. Soon enough Arthur became a type of inspiration to an eighteen year old Alfred, now nineteen. Humming as the video loaded, Al stared at the small pinwheel spinning around and around, his mind beginning to forming an idea.
Hastily the sunny blonde pulled out a well worn sketch book and began drawing out a storyboard. A man named Dave getting sucked into his computer where he meets a giant bug-man that has to help him get out. The catch in the story was that of course the bug-man, also named Dave, can't remember how to get out of the computer! As Alfred read over the storyline in his head again, he sighed and tossed the sketchbook onto his clear coffee table. His attention quickly turning to the screen of his computer for some entertainment that was actually worth a penny…
"Hey guys, so the other day I was out in town and I noticed for once just how odd adverting can be," Arthur said on the computer screen, his rather large eyebrows making the video seem more comical as Alfred watched. You could never get him to admit his eyebrows were huge, nor that the man liked to talk about funny things that seemed to make little sense. "Who advertises a toy as, 'The more you play with it the harder it gets'?! That just sounds bloody sexual to me! If I had a child I defiantly wouldn't buy anything that has a slogan like that.
Alfred chuckled at Arthur's antics as he cuddled into the couch to watch the two new videos that his favorite Briton had put out.
About a half an hour later the American felt his stomach growl and with a groan he rose from the couch. Leaving his laptop on the coffee table he quickly went to get his jacket so he could head out into the busy streets of London. Pulling on the thin leather jacket he noticed the large cat sitting in the window sill that was eyeing him rather intently. "Oh hey Gentleman," he said nervously, "I forgot to feed you again didn't I?"
With the cat finally fed and only minor damage done to his hand, he quickly went out the door to hopefully catch a bus that could take him somewhere nice to eat. He wasn't exactly the richest man in the world, but he could still manage to get by quite fine with the money that he did get from both his parents and his nice job as a clerk at a local shop. It also helped that he actually only rarely went out to eat, much more interested in home cooking seeing as it kept him from missing home in Virginia too much. "You and me just fishin' in the dark," he softly sang off key as he waited for the bus at the stop.
He noticed as he did the light starting to turn on and he watches as the crowd around him began to shift, changing from tame to wild. It was an odd display really though of course it made sense, it was late on a Friday and so many people would be out to party. It gave Alfred ideas though; lovely colorful ideas that made him creepily grin and scare the poor man sitting on the bench beside him. Finally though, he pulled out his sketchbook to begin another storyboard which he continued on the bus once it had come for him. There he noticed a man sitting in a bench asleep, his suit ruffled and he looked rather worn out making the American smile sympathetically.
The man he saw was quickly transformed into his bug-man and the people out on the streets to an array of butter-fly people who rushed to clear the streets, so then the spiders and bugs could come out. He was amongst them, the bugs and spiders watching from the buses. Their eyes watched as the butter-flies rushed to hide away though there was one person on the bus unlike them. That was Alfred the human trapped in their world that in the morning would wake with a shriek as he found a spider on his head!
Alfred giggled at the idea, earning a few stares from some of the other people riding in the large bus. He didn't mind though…this was art.
Walking into a new restaurant was always fun to the American man because he always enjoyed having new adventures to go on. That was one of the reasons he'd moved to London in the first place, aside from school. Upon entering the dining area he was greeted by a happy looking man with an odd curl off the side of his head, "Ciao! Please take a seat, a waiter will be with you soon!" Alfred nodded as he went to one of the tables near the windows where he could watch the small raindrops fall against the glass. It was a big secret of his that he actually loved the rain. Not that it was bad; it was just that everyone thinks loving the rain means you love sadness, but that wasn't true in the least! Rain was pretty and it made him think of his mother who'd come from Washington back in the states.
With a content bubble around himself Alfred took out his sketchbook once again so he could begin sketching out an array of different little scenes with his new favorite character. The bug-man wasn't exactly an original idea, but it was a classic which was another thing Alfred likes. Beginning to sketch out the long trench-coat of the bug-man, Dave, he began to feel like he was being watched. Turning quickly he found himself looking straight into the chest of a man with a black apron hung around his neck. Said man seemed to have been watching him draw. "Uh, e-excuse me but sir could you maybe back up a bit? I don't mind you watching, but it's a bit uncomfortable to have you behind me," Alfred muttered.
Immediately the man stepped away, a bright blush obvious on his face as well as the surprise. "Sorry," he grumbled as he cleared his throat from behind his fist. "Could I…uh…take your order?"
Alfred was surprised as the voice sounded familiar and looked at the man for a good minuet before he just shook his head and grabbed the menu. "Coke-A-Cola if you have it, but Pepsi will be fine if you don't. I'll also have a burger with nothing on it but cheese and ketchup, please," he said a bit awkwardly, the other man seeming to calm down. Then Alfred looked back over at him as he scribbled it down on the small notepad he'd pulled out, "If you want I could draw you something. I'm not the greatest, but its fun for me and it helps me practice."
The waiter smiled at him momentarily before the smile transformed back into a frown, "Sure, how about you draw that guy over there?" He tilted his head slightly towards one of the other patrons inside of the restaurant, a punk no doubt. The American only nodded as the waiter turned to walk away, his challenge accepted and pretty soon the waiter was back. His green eyes lightly traveling over the sketchbook as he set down the cola on the table next to the lad. He noted that the peculiar man had changed the white page, and his simple request into something far different. Instead of just the punk sitting at a table, he saw a dinosaur in human's clothing playing a guitar from atop the table, the poodles and Persian cats sitting around him all looked displeased.
The messy haired waiter gaped at the drawing, setting the plate of food down when the American finally lifted his head. With amazement in his voice he said, "Amazing, how the bloody hell did you do this all so fast? You must be a cartoonist or something?"
Al simply smiled at him for a moment before he shook his head, "No, I'm a film-student that's hoping to be a director someday…or maybe a camera-man. Either way, you know?"
He noticed then how the other man's face paled, "Y-You have to be bloody kidding me? No offence lad, but you have a great talent here and I think you're putting it to waste if you're planning to become a film director." With that the waiter turned, walking away from the table and leaving a very confused American behind at the table.
Finishing his meal off Alfred looked around the mostly empty restaurant with a small frown on his face. He really wanted to give that waiter a piece of his mind, but as the man came back out from the kitchen Alfred noticed something. The waiter looked nothing like he had before, his jeans had changed from blue to black and he now had a studded belt on instead of the plain one from before. He also wore a large leather jacket as well as a band tee-shirt, "I got your bill and everything right here, so don't worry yourself. "
Alfred nodded and felt the pricks of realization flood him as he looked over the man in his new attire. It was ArtIsNoPro, in person. Alfred almost squealed from how absolutely fantastic this was and instantly forgot about anything the other had said as he quickly signed the bill and handed over his card to the man. "Thanks for what you said earlier," Al said, "if you want I could give you the picture I drew."
The British man smiled at the other for a moment again, "Yeah that would be awesome." Then without another word the Brit was gone and back again to hand Alfred his card. Al, before he got up to leave, handed Arthur the picture from his sketchbook with a large grin on his face.
"Take good care of it!" Al exclaimed and the waiter nodded, but before Al could leave he shoved something towards him. It was a napkin with something jotted down on it, "What's this?"
As the words left Alfred's mouth, Arthur had already left the building leaving him with the napkin that simply read: Contact me at ArtIsNoPro on YouTube or Tumblr. I look forward to seeing more of your art.
