#alec han

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I’m Not Twelve | A Short Solo Post

Tagging: Lumen Blake, Alec Han Location: Lumen’s Brownstone, East Village Time Frame: 09 June 2016, Midnight General Notes: Lumen’s indecision on what to wear for Cole and Pietro’s wedding has resulted in an.. interesting confrontation between the two friends.

A handful of previously worn party-suitable dresses hung from various points in her bedroom, feet shuffling against the carpet as she paced from one to the next. The colours on the invitation to the Wedding had been gold and black, colours of wealth, money, gambling.. From what she could gather, this would be a fairly rich event to attend, and while most of her dresses suited, the darker blues didn’t seem to suit, and Alec had protested notably against the red dress.  He’d left mildly frustrated, but with the familiar sound of all the right locks clicking open, the blonde knew he’d returned. Hardly two minutes later he appeared with two dress bags draped over one arm, and found a spot to hang them. “I’ve been permitted to borrow these for a bit,” the hesitation prompting Lumen to raise a brow. “If these have been stolen, I’m not-” “We’re not going to debate this. Just let me show you-” “Alec. I don’t want to wear stolen goods.” “Isn’t that what you’ve largely been wearing?” he quipped, an unamused brow cocked at her hypocrisy. “Ass.” He was right. Most of her wardrobe upon arrival in New York City had been stolen, and his argument was thus fair. “You can wear this,” Alec continued, turning to unzip the first bag, “I’ll pick it up Saturday, and you won’t have to worry about it from there.” It was a nice piece, suitable for summer with the white base fabric, and also calling to the invitation with the geometric gold lines. Infinitely more suitable than anything else she had, and it wasn’t overly absurd. Except he stole it. “Or this other fun number. Personally I like this one more,” the man chuckled. There was another zipping sound and Lumen was then quite certain he was trying to make her eyes bleed.  “What the fuck, Alec?” He laughed then, tugging at the pink fabric and the bow. “I’m not twelve. I don’t need help dressing,” she continued, “and I’m sure as Satan’s asshole not wearing pink.” “In most comical depictions, I’m sure his asshole is red, but sure.” The blonde groaned, and Alec zipped the dress bag up once again, slipping over to ruffle her hair. “You’re still easily infuriated. It’s great!” “Get that damn thing out of here before it starts breeding.”

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Fuck. | A Text Convo

Alec: Summer comes soon and it it a change in tides.

Lumen: Winds will lift and storms will come.

Alec: Your fucked if that shit goes through.

Lumen: Can we not do this right now?

Lumen: I already know this.

Alec: I am also fucking screwed if you register. This whole thing will hit the fucking blender like a tomato.

Lumen: I KNOW. I can supress it. Maybe. But... Xaviers records...

Lumen: Fuck.

Lumen: Was Izzy's shit legitimate?

Alec: Yes.

Lumen: Wasn't He some powerful influential guy?

Alec: I dont have his ear enough for that and hes busy always

Lumen: Try anyway.

Lumen: What choice do we have? Fall will come and cold will settle in for a long night's rest.

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An Interview with a Manager | 12/15/2015

Tagging: Lumen Blake, Crystal, Mentions of Alec Han and Jubilee Location: J. Crew HQ Time Frame: December 15th, 2015, roughly 10am General Notes: Lumen interviews for a job as a maintenance/janitorial worker at J. Crew. 

Lumen Blake had nearly paced a pathway into the carpet of her bedroom, running over every last detail that could possibly occur in an interview. There was no real need to be stressed. Her cover for the past five years was relatively solid, and could be verified with the contact information listed on her references. As long as Alec did his part, anyway. He would, wouldn’t he? He had to. They had an agreement, a trust. Yes, she assured herself, her friend would do as he promised. Yes, this would all be okay. Yes, she could do this. 

It was just a maintenance job.

“Miss Blake?” The receptionist for J. Crew’s Human Resources department peeked over the top of her desk, and the blonde’s gaze snapped up in response. “Crystal will see you now. Just go down the right side here and it’s the third door on the left,” she instructed, hands gesturing with her words. “Thank you,” Lu replied, and clutched her binder, complying with nominal fuss.

The office wasn’t all that plain, knicknacks and photos lining the shelves alongside manual after manual, binder after endless, boring binder. Some of them were particularly old, she noted, and probably were simply kept for historical reference. Crystal’s desk was very neat and orderly, and the woman herself seemed as firm as any hiring manager should be, hair pinned carefully into a french twist, eyes sharp and clear. The younger woman refused to be intimidated, and took a seat quickly, sitting straight and with her binder in her lap. “You must be Lumen, then. Nice to meet you,” Crystal said with an offered hand, to which Lu responded with a raised hand, open palmed. “I don’t want to seem rude, but I dislike touching other people.”

“..I see. Will this be an issue on the job? You will be maintaining the area that we assign you to, which depending on your qualifications, can be anywhere from cleaning to mechanics and repairs.” Lu could only shake her head slightly, a brow raising. “I wouldn’t think so, I mean, how much interaction with people do janitors really have?” 

“A good point, but we should get started. I’ve got a meeting in forty-five minutes. You were referred to this position by Jubilee, correct?” “Yes, I was,” she agreed, opting to sit back into the chair at last. Crystal flicked over her resume again, and glanced at her computer screen, tapping the keyboard a time or two. “And she’s on your references list, as well. How do you know her?” “I went to school with her, at least until I dropped out.” “And Alexander Hanover? He was a coworker?” “A supervisor and trainer, yes.” “And you’ve worked with him at The Collective’s Shipping and Handling for the past.. five or so years?” “...Yeah. Look, is there any real need to confirm this sh- stuff? It’s on the resume, and you can clear it with my references anyway,” Lu shorted, lips pursed. She would need to get a better handle on her cursing for the next half hour if she wanted this to go well. “..Okay. Why did you drop out of school?” “Personal reasons, mostly. I wasn’t able to deal with a lot of things. Was better to pursue my education on my own.” “I see. And why did you decide to work for the CSH?” “It was an opportunity to see more of the world, and it let me get some perspective on things.”

Crystal nodded then, and took another long look at her resume, situating herself to type effectively at her computer, probably to record notes for the next question. “Tell me about your experiences with them, if you would. What did you do there?” “It was a journey, for me. Training was ongoing, and we were always learning. Movers, like myself, would be given an assignment. Sometimes it’s an item small enough to be carried by hand, but sometimes it could be entire crates of stuff. We would be tasked with ensuring that the items got from one client to another safely, and would also work with middlemen for either party to make sure that all involved had an acceptable experience. Sometimes this involved learning a bit of the local languages and customs, and sometimes there were extended stays where we would be tasked with transporting the items from more local locations repeatedly, such as when the item was being shown or displayed when for sale. We had special clients, sometimes, that would contract us out for other stuff too. Whatever brought in money as long as it was legal and within our terms of service and didn’t violate the safety contracts.”

There were several minutes of typing as the interviewer tried to jot all of this down, and after a moment, she looked to Lumen. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting so much there. Sounds like you were relatively busy, and like you liked it. So why come here? Why apply for this job?” “I was getting pretty tired of it all, the constant moving, never really being anywhere.. And I missed having time to myself, I guess, and having friends. It’s time I settled somewhere, at least for a while. I have my GED, but no college credits. Makes it hard to get anything that isn’t retail or food service.. and I’m not fond of either. I can get by with this, and it’s lower on the absurd customer service index.”  “So you don’t like people?” “I prefer to be neutral, but there’s some nonsense I refuse to put up with. No, it shouldn’t be an issue here. Ju says there are decent people here, and I’ll trust her on that.” “I see. As long as this wouldn’t prevent you from doing your job effectively.. Do you have any certifications that would enable us to place you in a more mechanical position? Plumbing, electrical, anything like that?” “No, though that doesn’t mean I couldn’t do the work.” “True, but that isn’t the point of them. Certifications are formal statements that you can do certain types of jobs safely and within regulation.” “I realize that but.. eh. Next question?” The questions became more and more mundane, and were asked more out of necessity than anything. The hiring manager had what she needed, and Lu was feeling a bit more verbally poked and prodded than she had expected. Crystal informed her kindly that she would receive a call that Friday to let her know of her success or failure. Lumen felt quite glad that she never had to open the binder, to actually prove anything. 

That, she knew, would come later once the actual hiring process began. That would be the true test of a great many things.

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Moving In | Lumen & Alec

Tagging: Lumen Blake, Alec Han Location: The Brownstones Time Frame: 11th of December, 2015, roughly Noon General Notes: Lu finally gets to move in to her apartment.

Her phone had been agonizingly ringing for all of three seconds before it was flicked open and she steeled herself for anything strange, not having recognized the number in the ID screen. “Miss Blake,” came a professional, female voice, fortunately using her legal name. It was, therefore not a threat of any sort. “Speaking.” “This is the Marie, the property manager for the apartment you applied for. We’ve decided to go ahead and approve you, and you’re quite welcome to move in today once we have the paperwork back from you and your middleman. Per your request, we’ll leave him the keys. Everything’s been emailed to you, including the lease, our regulations, and the costs pertaining to you.” “..Oh. Well, thank you. I’ll have that back to you as quickly as I can then. Thanks.”  “You’re quite welcome, and we’re happy to have you with us. Have a nice day!”  Click.

A backpack slung over one shoulder, Lumen Blake strode towards the housing area known as The Brownstones, hands shoved in her pockets, eyes looking to and fro for the familiar face of her contact, Alec. He helped her orchestrate her escape, and this was his last task. She would be on her own after this, and she would have to trust that there would be no circumstance for which her previous employer would ask him what happened. He could keep secrets, certainly, but this was rather large, and it left her slightly ill at ease knowing it was being left with anyone at all. 

She stopped before what would be her front door, essentially, or at least the first one, as she had an upstairs 2 bedroom unit to herself. Plenty of sight from the windows, and warning via the hilariously noisy stairs if anyone decided to come up. Multiple locks on the door from within, and plenty of space for her to sprawl out and start over. Her thoughts were distracted as she glanced about, noticing a particularly nice motorcycle in her parking spot, apparently modified in small ways for added security, and she suspected she spotted a nitrus line lurking in its workings. With a smirk, she strode over, boots clicking softly on the sidewalk, walking a circle around it and admiring the machinery, favouring the semi-flat black colouring especially. 

“Like it, do you?” popped up a familiar voice, and the blonde’s attention snapped to Alec, whom she then met on the sidewalk. “Just maybe. What’s it to you? I’m not stealin’ it.” The man chuckled, and retrieved a relatively thick folder from the messenger bag at his hip. “I know, Sig. You always sucked at hotwiring cars. Like hell you could rig a bike,” he mused, offering her the folder. “Everything you need’s here. I uh.. took the opportunity to furnish it a bit for ya too, hope you don’t mind. Didn’t seem right leaving you with jack shit in there.” Lu raised a brow, tentatively grasping the folder before taking it from him. “Uh huh. You know I’m gonna have to check all that shit for bugs, right? I mean, you’ve been a good friend all this time, but..” He rubbed the back of his head in an oddly sheepish manner, and Lu could only watch, trying to understand his motives or reasoning. “I know. I-I just wanted you to have some nice things to start off with. You earned that with the shit you put up with.”

Lu could only laugh, shaking her loose curls. “I’m not so sure about that, man. I mean, I had it easy. You had to drag my ass through it all, though. I mean, I know I’m not the only one, too. You trained a number of us.” Alec chuckled, watching her body language with care. “I still remember trying to talk you into putting on that gown for the Coin Job. Fought with me for hours until I bribed your hungry ass with a cake. I mean, really? A cake of all the things you could’ve gone for?” “I was hungry, okay, I mean, would you blame me?” she exclaimed, burying her face in her empty hand for just a moment. “But really, I should probably get out of here, before anyone starts lookin’ for me,” he said as he shifted his bag to sit more towards his back. Alec then closed the expanse between them, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Be careful out here, would you? I won’t be able to warn you if they go looking, if they can find any whiff of your trail. I mean, I do this shit for a living, after all,” the man smirked. “I’m serious, though. Watch your back.” 

The only reason the young woman was at all okay with his proximity was because she had adjusted to it a long time ago as part of some of her job-specific training, especially when dancing had been involved. Alec did not alarm her. He had been walking her through the last several years, and was almost like a comfort. “Everything you’ll need is in that folder. Keys, manuals, contacts if you need anything related to the apartment and banking shit. Your identity is in there. ...Don’t lose that, Lumen. Don’t lose who you are.” The man then placed a soft kiss atop her head for which she closed her eyes, and let her go, walking to the bicycle resting against the steps of another entrance. “I managed to smuggle out some of your clothes, stuff you could use mostly, so that’s in there too.” His kindness was most undeserved, she felt, but made no attempt to argue. “Well, Alec, you watch your ass, and.. thank you, really. You’ve done a lot for me. Maybe you made me a better person, fuck if I know. But.. thanks. Don’t get killed out there or some shit.” 

Alec waved her off, mounting the bike and preparing to pedal off to gods-only-knew where. “I’ll be fine. Take care, kid.”

It wasn’t until she’d gotten into the apartment that she started flipping through the folder, noting the hard copy of her lease agreement and their regulations, the many, many manuals for her various new furnishings, and other information that she managed to notice something strange. A set of motorcycle keys were buried in one of the pockets, tucked beneath the manuals, registration, and other documentation to show that she legally owned the bike and could ride it. The grin scrawled into her face was bright, and Lu found herself peering out of the window, seeking the possibly hidden face of the friend she had said goodbye to only a few minutes ago.

Take care, kid.