fandomhigh | Heroics, Fame, and You, Wednesday, Period 4

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heroics and fame

Heroics, Fame, and You, Wednesday, Period 4

"Oh, you're all still here."

Well, there might have been someone missing; it wasn't like Electroclash had memorized the entire class after the first session. Still, that was probably not the best way to greet them after most everyone had filed in and taken their places. They were in a regular classroom again, and Electroclash had the projector running, and there were several cameras on her desk. Along with her go-go boot clad feet, though she kicked those off the desk now and leaned her elbows against it instead.

"Right, we're starting this thing proper off easy," she drawled. "Publicity shots. Everyone needs them sooner or later. They're how you market yourself, especially if you're not managing to do any big heroic things. Sometimes it helps to just be fit and have a pretty face." Because even the superhero game was that shallow, yes. "And the goal is to look heroic, like you're worthy of some sort of praise. Here are a few examples. |Projector change slide.|"

Two photos of... a surly Electroclash appeared on the screen.

The one sitting behind the desk made a face and rolled her eyes. "The photographer was a prick, all right?" she said, by way of explanation. "But look at this one of my mate, Timebomb."

She made the picture on the screen change into one of a man some of them might've bumped into in the bar simulation in Electroclash's previous class, except he'd been in civilian clothes then.

"See, he looks all right, doesn't he? Fairly heroic and shit. And he's basically a psycho assassin, so here you see what a good publicity photo can do for you." Don... wouldn't have argued with that description too much, actually. "Now, some people – pretentious bumwipes, mostly – like to go the action route and hire up some minor villains to beat up in artistic lighting, but most people still prefer the clean studio look. So today, kiddies, you'll be pairing up and taking mock-up publicity shots of each other. Pay attention to your pose and your expression and try not to look like idiots." A pause. "You can also do it on your own, but trust me, the blurry one-armed look is not gonna get you on adverts anytime soon. Now, get your cameras and get to it."

[ocd up!]

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Photogenically!

Lex Luthor

Angelica Jones

Victor Mancha

Tony Stark

Luke Castellan

Bucky Katt

Alex Aaron

Anakin Solo

Rinoa Heartilly

Billy Kaplan

Percy Jackson

Pondering once again how the hell the superhero thing works in your teacher's world.

Angelica was actually kind of interested. She knew in her world if you had powers that didn't come from being a mutant, you could be a hero and deal with fame and things like that (though she didn't know if they actively pursued it like this). But if you were a mutant, you were hated.

Look, her world didn't make sense sometimes.

Victor hunched over his desk skeptically as he listened. Publicity shots, seriously? That felt all Avengers-ish in the lamest possible way. It was even worse than spandex or code names.

He was glad his team wasn't watching class. It would give Nico and Chase something to mock for days, and Molly ... would no doubt be getting Ideas.

And take promo pics of each other!

Or do it by yourself.

For some strange reason, as she got ready to have pictures taken, Angelica could swear she heard a voice in her head talking about "broken down dolls" and "booty tooches."

"Want to work together?" Victor asked. "Not that I think anybody's going to ask for me on a trading card, but I might be surprised."

"Um, hi, sure!" Angelica said, just a tiny bit flustered because hello, cute boy talking to her. "It's kind of silly but it sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

Wait, why was she flustered? Victor hadn't even fanboyed at her!

"I ... guess it could be?" he said, trying to sound agreeable. "I just think heroes should be more about, y'know, helping people than about costumes and lighting."

That would probably blow her mind. What?

"Oh, yeah, definitely!" Angelica agreed. "I was hoping the class would be more about learning about how to control my powers better and stuff like that, but if we're going to be stuck in classes for the summer it's better than having to write essays."

"That's why I signed up too," Victor nodded. "This feels more like 'what not to do,' but I guess I've killed time worse ways. Want to pose first?"

Angelica glanced around the classroom. "Sure," she said. "Where do you want to do it? Should we be in costumes or something? I don't have mine with me...."

She didn't exactly wear it under her clothes to bust out to fight evil. Yet.

"I don't do costumes," Victor said, and he would have sounded apologetic except for how donning a costume struck him as a big step toward becoming Victorious and ugh. "But if you want to go get yours, go for it. Does it make it easier for you to do your thing?"

He couldn't imagine how it would, but sometimes there was a magic feather thing going on.

"And we could take them in that corner," he continued, gesturing vaguely as he too looked around. "I just kind of want something metal to play with."

Angelica shook her head. "Not really," she said. "I had to wear it at my old school when I was training, but I don't need it or anything. Except if I was out doing anything with my powers back home so people wouldn't know who I was."

Because her mask so cunningly disguised her. Right.

"That corner looks good," she agreed. "Nobody's claimed it yet." She tried to remember what he'd said his powers were during introductions the prior week. "You can control metal and electricity, right? That is so cool."

"Yeah - metals, electricity, machinery," Victor confirmed, nodding. "And you're microwave radiation."

He didn't need to think back to her introduction; he just knew that. He started to pick his way towards the corner they'd selected. "The two of us could do some serious damage if we weren't in a classroom."

"I've kinda done some damage by mistake," Angelica said sheepishly, following along with him. "But I'm a lot better at controlling it than I was. I shouldn't blow up the camera or anything."

She said the last teasingly, which was a big step from how nervous she'd been the last time she was in Fandom. She wasn't so sure just what was really her blowing things up and what had been Emma in the past, but she was willing to bet Emma was a lot to blame most of the time, and it had given her more confidence.

"I'd fix it if you did," Victor said back, also the slightest bit teasing. "But that'd use up our time, and then my modeling career would be way shorter than it should be."

He bounced the camera in his hands a little. "I think everybody goofs right at first. I'm still getting better."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one," Angelica said.

She positioned herself in the corner, trying to figure out how best to post fiercely and not look bored like Electroclash had. "Should we do a few without showing powers and then some with?" she asked.

"Hers were without," Victor pointed out. "But it's kind of hard to show talking to a machine, I guess? So, yeah, some without and some with is good."

He waited for Angelica to get into position and clicked the shutter.

Angelica was smizing -- SMIZING -- as she posed, trying to look tough (halfway successful), but approachable (more successful). She started to giggle after a few shots, though. "I must look really silly," she said.

Yeah, this wasn't strange at all. Really.

He glanced around the room to see if anyone wanted to take ridiculous pictures with him. He wasn't going to get shirtless, though. Because he was a classy superhero. ~~Hank. Or Clint. Steve that time he was Nomad with his Zorro does gay porn costume. Look, the narrative could go on for a while here. Bad costume choices were abounds.~~

Lex ~~was so glad he was from a continuity where he never considered purple and green tights/power armour valid life choices~~ came up to Tony. "Want to partner up? I can promise I won't sell anything to the press."

It was funny if you'd spent most of your life surrounded by paparazzi.

"Or leak it on the Internet," Tony added with a grin.

#richpeopleproblems

Lex grinned back. "I think you've just discovered an upside to most of back home still being on dial-up."

Geek.

Dial-up? WAS THE PONY EXPRESS STILL A THING TOO?

"How did people survive with that?" Tony asked. Because he never knew a time without computers or high speed Internet access.

NO, BUT THANKS FOR REMINDING LEX TO INVEST IN GOOGLE STOCK WHILE ALTA VISTA WAS STILL A THING.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure."

Come graduation, they'd have to pry his broadband wifi connection from his cold, dead hands.

He'll cry himself to sleep, just thinking about that horrible noise the dial-up makes. That could be the new horror movie sound effect for the 90s generation.

Tony shuddered at the thought. "You'd think a real hero would be too busy, you know, helping people instead of doing photoshoots."

Tony's narrative said that like you could sleep through the sound of dial up.

Lex shrugged. "You'd think," he agreed. "Maybe they figure good PR now will help with rescues later?"

The horror... The horror...

"You think so? I mean, what person is going to refuse to be saved by someone because of bad press?"

A douchebag, Tony. Deal with it.

"Douchebags, mostly," Lex said. "But trust me, there's a lot of people would rather the media decide what others are like than make the effort to think for themselves."

So young, so cynical.

Bucky still had a sign from yesterday's Photography class that said "Picturs of Bucky - 2$". He got it out and posed next to it dramatically.

Once they ping in.

Rinoa was here. And fixing her hair. And coming up with a way better superhero name than the stupid one that the teacher she wasn't talking to had come up with. She was really, really tempted to get her wings out for a photoshoot. Except that was stupid and immature especially since people could get hurt but they were pretty wings and Electra had made fun of her last time.

Billy spent so much time trying to avoid cameras that this assignment seemed kind of weird. But not as weird as the pictures of Electroclash made him feel. So awkward.

She's playing at giving her camera voice commands camera because there's nothing better to do.

This my day off, omfg I'm so happy.

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