phxtobombalec

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nxt-a-wxtch‌:

“Magicians never tell,” they grinned. It was true, but not for the reason most people thought. If DJ told all their secrets, they’d probably be locked up with a collar around their neck. No, their tricks would stay with them. “Cool. Well, maybe I’ll let you take one or two. Not for free though; gotta pay the bills somehow, right?”

Alec chuckled once more. “Right, right. Of course!” He said and shook his head some. “Really? That’d be great! So, what kind of show do you have for us?” He asked with an eager smile.

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nxt-a-wxtch‌:

“Good choice. Although you might want this,” they added. A lens cap twirled lazily through their fingers before they handed it over. Crisis averted, and no harm done. “You a news-man?”

Alec gave them a friendly smile, watching the lens cap for a moment in stunned awe. “When did you---?” He started, but just took it from them and laughed. “Uh, no, not a news-man. I’m a freelance photographer. I take photos and sell them.” he explained.

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limbitless‌:

He was no hero, regardless of what the X-Men proclaimed they did and where he was he wasn’t one of them. But, if he happened to be on his way back to the distract after a job and spotted a very uneven looking fight… Turning the tables could be rather fun. He paused at the mouth of the ally and crossed his arms, “It’s rude to pick on little snap-shooters.” he said dryly, getting the groups attention.

The ringleader had only just opened his mouth to speak when several sets of arms sprouted from each of their bodies, grabbed various body parts from arms to legs, fingers, knees and elbows and several cruel-cracking noises filled the air followed by howls of pain as the group limped and hobbled away.

Kid smirked at the man left behind, “It’s not very smart to go around getting caught by nasty men in the name of journalism.” he said lightly, walking casually down the ally.

When arms start sprouting out of nowhere, there really is only so many reactions a person can go through. Alec’s body had settled on remaining frozen in place, a look of confused disgust on his face as the sound of snapping fingers and knuckles filled the air around him before dispersing the men down the alleyway. “What... what was that?” Alec asked before it registered the young man had been talking to him. He swallowed once more and, perhaps in a stupid display, peeled himself from the wall and carefully followed the man. “Why did you have to hurt them?” He asked. “So much cracking...” He shuddered lightly.

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@limbitless

“You think it’s funny, going around a taking photos of places you shouldn’t be in kid??” The burly man stated as he a pair of thugs closed in on Alec after they’d realized he had been snapping photos of their criminal activities. “Y-You shouldn’t be breaking the law...” Alec stated as he backed himself up until he felt the solid thickness of brick behind him. When one of the men casually drew a switchblade from their pocket, Alec swallowed hard.

“The photos are already uploaded to the cloud... e-even if you kill me, they’re going to find their way to a news source..” Alec said, trying to remain calm. He wasn’t a fighter--not in the slightest. 

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Alex thought for a moment and shook his head with a warm smile. "That's okay. I don't want to ruin the experience." He replied and let his camera dangle against his chest.

phxtobombalec‌:

Alec couldn’t help the grin on his face as the woman called him over. “Oh! Street performer? Awesome!” He said excitedly. “Do you mind if I take photos?” He asked and gestured with his camera and a smile as he positioned himself closer to the scene of the action. 

DJ’s smile faltered as he held up his camera. They didn’t want to dampen the budding enthusiasm- especially before the show even started. But their illusions didn’t show up on camera, so if DJ fumbled it would be caught on screen. “I’ll let you take a few now, but maybe put it away once the show starts? It’s always better live.”

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property-of-joker‌:

“Hiya, sweets!” Harley wigged her fingers at him and grinned. “Can’t ya at least get my best angle?” Putting a hand on her hip, she shook her head so her pigtails whipped back and forth. “Ohh, actually, save yer film, I gotta betta photo op for ya!” She grinned wickedly and beckoned for him to come down. “Now c’mon before the supernovas get here. They ruin everything.” All the relentless patrolling and rules from NOVA really made her miss the cops. At least they knew how to have a little fun. “Oooh, this ain’t even my best outfit, ya wanna see the other one?” She skipped merrily over the broken glass and hopped up to the window. Her eyes widened when she saw the shopping cart below her, a cowering woman underneath it. “Ohhhh, this is just what I was lookin’ for! Thanks, lady!” It was a piggy bank shaped like a donut. “Whaddaya think?” She asked the terrified woman. “Never too early ta start savin’ for college, right?”

Alec wasn’t sure what to do and his body seemed frozen in place for a moment. His curiosity finally willed his legs to move, dropping himself to the ground and nervously making his way closer to her at the allure of a better photo op for him. “Uh, another outfit? You just carry another set of clothes with? Or...” Alec trailed off as he noticed the terrified woman. “You’re not going to hurt her, are you?” Alec asked, taking a quick snap of Harley in the busted window. It wasn’t registering right now that associating with Harley while she was in the middle of her heist essentially made him an accomplice. He was in a thrall of curiosity and fear at the same time. He didn’t want to do anything that might set Harley off on him -- he knew she was dangerous, after all -- and he wanted to know more about this photo op she had for him.

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@property-of-joker

Glass was everywhere from the broken windows of the shop front. Alec had been careful as he entered the area, but now that he was there he wasn’t exactly sure where to go. Alec hadn’t seen Harley since the first - and only -- time he had run into her and she had allowed him a tiny photo op. Now that she was in action, he had managed to take a few photographs of the woman when she had started her joy run, but he was in the middle of trying to shimmy himself atop on of the tall, sturdy shelves in the shop to get a few more photos when he heard her voice directed at him.

“I... um...” He struggled to find words to explain himself. 

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nxt-a-wxtch‌:

DJ’s cards twirled in their hand, seemingly defying gravity in fluid motions. “Come on over, ladies and gentlemen. I promise, you don’t want to miss this!” They called from the street corner. “I may be a master of none, but you’ve never seen the Jack of All Trades do this!” A few people paused out of curiosity, but it wasn’t quite a crowd yet. DJ needed a real audience. “You! Hey you! Get over here. It’ll be fun, I promise!”

Alec couldn’t help the grin on his face as the woman called him over. “Oh! Street performer? Awesome!” He said excitedly. “Do you mind if I take photos?” He asked and gestured with his camera and a smile as he positioned himself closer to the scene of the action. 

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goldenelixxir‌:

“If you manage to keep from making it worse, I’ll consider that a win.” And maybe there was some useful advice he could’ve given him, an actual idea for how to help, but he didn’t have the mental energy left to guide a human along in the basics of defency. He seemed like maybe he’d figure it out. “But uh, don’t snoop around here anymore. The next person you snap a picture of might be less forgiving.”

“You have my word -- won’t make things worse.” Alec said and held up a hand before chuckling awkwardly. He listened to Josh’s warning and gave a few nods. “Yeah, right. No more snooping around here for me.” He agreed, even if it was a shame. There were so many missed opportunities but he had a better understanding of what was at risk by such photos now.

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goldenelixxir‌:

“I don’t think anyone is going to melt your brain or anything for walking around with me, but sure.” It’s not like he didn’t have things to be done. He’d only left the clinic to help that family - not play tour guide. So Josh headed back toward the gate. They’d barely gone beyond it and were standing back on the other side in a couple of minutes. “Hope you can survive all that excitement.”

Alec gave a tiny chuckle. “No, I don’t think so, but I know you’re probably busy and you’ve done more than I expected you would after my paparazzi stunt.” The photographer explained. “Thank you for showing me around the place a little bit. I’ll try to find some other ways that I can help out with you guys’ situation.” He said as they made their way back towards the gate and passed through it once more.

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goldenelixxir‌:

“The news?” As soon as he asked, he sighed. “When they arrested us?” He couldn’t think of any other time he’d been in any kind of spotlight. The whole point had been to stay out of it. Too late for that. He’d never asked of Lois Lane did anything with their interview, but it didn’t really matter. “Normal people can not be bigots and assholes,” he suggested. “So if you’re doing that, congratulations. You’ve managed to do the bare minimum a lot of people don’t bother with.”

“Yeah, back then.” Alec responded quickly. He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips slightly at Josh’s answer, but nodded. “Well, I’ve got that down -- so I guess there’s not really much else that I can do.” He sighed. Alec was quiet for a moment before speaking reluctantly, “I suppose you’d better escort me back out of here. Probably not a good idea for me to stick around all that long.”

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pbandparker‌:

Peter couldn’t help the smile. “It’s… A different kind of fun, I think. It’s kind of stressful to the point where you don’t sleep for a few days, but uh… You get steady money. So, that’s a plus.” He shrugged; there were pros and cons for both, but it really all depended on which one worked best for the person. “Once… Or twice. Y’know, ran into him in the elevator… Once. He’s cool.” Don’t blow your cover. Don’t be an idiot. Peter nodded as Alec explained, “Nice, man. Nice… What do you, uh, think about all this?” He asked as he gestured to the line of people entering the police station. It was insane. And not in the good way.

“Yeah, sounds like an awesome gig.” He laughed. “Really? He always seemed like he would be a a cool kind of guy, but not really someone that you’d want to hang out with, you know?” He explained before shaking his head some as Peter asked his thoughts on the City’s situation.

“Honestly, I don’t understand why everyone is in such fear of all the heroes and villains in this town. I mean, I personally find them fascinating -- and I think the heroes do a great job of keeping everyone safe from everything. This stuff with mutants though -- they’re just people, like you and me. So they were born different, but that’s not grounds for these extreme actions, right?” He frowned some.

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goldenelixxir‌:

“You don’t want to imagine what being a mutant is like.” He wasn’t going to sugar-coat it. It wasn’t as if he saw the X-Gene as some kind of curse, or that he didn’t think the things they could do were gifts, but when could any of them enjoy it? For every brief little respite or moment of joy they stole the world seemed to come down on them harder for it. “I went to the school in Westchester.” Nothing in his tone indicated that he wanted to elaborate on that point. “I came to Star City about a year ago, started the clinic, and we moved it here right before NOVA stepped in.”

Alec frowned quietly as Josh shot down the idea of imagining mutant life. “Oh, I see. I’m not familiar with the different schools, sorry.” Alec apologized lightly, but listened as Josh continued speaking. “You run a---of course, you were on the news. Why didn’t I remember that sooner?” Alec said, mentally kicking himself. He gave a few more looks around the area before returning his gaze to Josh. “Is there anything us outsiders can do?” He asked. “I’m no hero or anything, but this... just doesn’t sit right with me.”

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goldenelixxir‌:

“Probably makes you the lucky one.” Being a mutant, regardless of what gifts the X-Gene might give, didn’t make for an easy life. It certainly didn’t make for a happy one. They’d all thought they were boring, uneventful humans at some point or another. Josh had parents, friends, a whole life as that person. Pretty much immediately after the X-Gene activated he’d lost every bit of it. He walked on, pausing several feet from the entrance to the school. “There’s the Institute. I’m sure you’ve seen it on the news or something.”

“I don’t know... I mean, I can’t imagine what being a mutant is like, but it gets awfully boring being plain.” He rolled his shoulders as he listened to Josh speak. They traveled on until them came to a stop outside of the school. “Yeah,” Alec responded quietly, “Things always look... different in person than they do over the news or anything.” He hummed before turning to Josh. “How long have you been here; or were you part of the school that was supposed to have existed a few years back?” He asked.

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lilstrlrd‌:

Peter was a little surprised when the kid just believed what he said without questioning it too much. It wasn’t as if he were lying about being a Guardian, but still, the kid needed to have better defences. He was tired from the previous day, sore even, but he still tried to offer his company a smile as he took his hand and gave it a brief shake. “Nice to meet you Alec, I’m Peter.” He gestured to the headphones. “What are you listenin’ to?” It was an honest question, especially considering whatever the kid was listening to had mentioned his team. At least, he assumed it did.

Alec’s smile widened as Peter introduced himself in return and he blinked a moment when Peter questioned what he was listening to. “Oh! This, right. It’s just the latest podcasts from a few internet speakers, talking about the different heroes and villains in the City -- kind of a ‘let the public know’ kind of thing.” He tried to explain the best he could without coming off as a super-fan. 

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pbandparker‌:

Peter shrugged, “Hey, it’s no big deal. We’re all suppose to so it’s not like it’s your fault… It could, uh, happen to anyone.” He smiled at Alec’s offer - honestly, he didn’t have much else to do except avoid NOVA, so if he could do that relatively safely, he was all for it. “Oh, okay, sure. I’ll follow you, then.” Peter looked down at his camera and nodded, though he looked as if he were surprised to see the camera hanging around his neck. “Yeah, I used to photograph for the Daily Bugle until I moved here. Now I intern at, uh, Stark Industries.” Peter gestured to Alec’s camera, “What’s the lens size?”

“Oh, yeah? That’s awesome! I’ve never officially worked for any newspapers, but I’ve always wondered if it is more fun or less fun than doing things freelance. Stark industries sounds like an awesome place to work. You ever get to see Tony Stark?!” Alec smiled as he laughed. “This? Uh, I just grabbed one of my telephoto lens that can zoom up to 200mm, so I can get some good shots from a good distance away. I keep an ultra-wide lens on hands just in case I can get a little closer to some scenery.” He explained in a happy little rant.

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goldenelixxir‌:

The fact that he was still walking toward the gate was going to have to be proof enough that he was serious. They weren’t stopped on the way in. Nearly everyone knew Josh, and anyone going inside with him wasn’t going to be questioned. He didn’t answer until they were on the other side of the gate. “It’s a secondary mutation. It’s not just gold.” The black spot that constantly moved around wasn’t anywhere visible at that particular moment, but it was always somewhere. “So you’re just human?” His fascination with District X showed that plainly enough.

Alec quietly followed the other, giving a few passing glances to people as the pair of them entered the District without anyone questioning a thing. The male was quiet until Josh finally responded to his question and gave a small nod in response. “Oh? Interesting.” He replied, but nodded once more. “Uh, yeah. That’s me -- boring, uneventful human here. Nothing particularly special about me.” He chuckled some.