metalogs | OPEN | Paint Yourself A New Life

Entry tags:

OPEN | Paint Yourself A New Life

Who: David Alleyne

helpdesk_hero, Mina Ashido

pinkxeno, Harry Osborn

nepotis, Bucky Barnes

sinistral
What: David Has Many Meetings (Including Open Post)
When: [Forward Dated] April 1st through 5th
Where: Excelsior - Guild Housing #1, Excelsior - Connoisseur Coffee,
Content Warnings: Only in Thread Labeled V - Seeking Comfort: discussion of murder of children, attempted suicide, David's death, hate crimes

I. A Home Of Clashing Styles | Closed to Mina Ashido | Excelsior - Guild Housing #1
David had been living in the guild apartment for a month now, or just a shade over, and all that time he'd been holding his tongue. Beyond introducing himself to Mina when he'd first moved in at the start of March, he had not engaged with the young woman much, and definitely didn't stay long in the public spaces of their shared home. How could he when he was faced with the absolute disaster of the appearance? A living room painted electric green with zebra stripes? Horrid. A kitchen filled with insanely colorful and not always matching touches and appliances? Oh god. Even the small touches of decoration in the public spaces made David try not to wince.

Honestly, he hadn't even invited his boyfriend over because of the state of things. Most days he just came home from work or other things, walked in the door, visibly winced, and went right to his room or attached lab. But today, as he came back from the office in full business wear, vest and long sleeve shirt and tie and all of that. And walking in like that, with his back pack and a bag of groceries for him to cook dinner, he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Just... do it like an adult," he told himself before lifting his voice, hoping it would carry to wherever his housemate was.

"Mina, can we talk for a moment?"

II. Looking At The Moving Pieces | Closed to Bucky | Excelsior - Guild Housing #1
The weekend. David made a hard and fast rule to not go into the office on weekends, which made it the perfect sort of time for outside consultations. Today was one of those instances. After a previously successful first meeting with one Bucky Barnes (because of course David had recognized the man for who he had to be) back in March, today was going to be the first full check over, for the two of them to determine if David would be a good emergency tech for the man.

David waited in the living room for the knock at the door, knowing he'd have to let the former Winter Soldier choose his own pace at being comfortable with his arrival. What what little first hand knowledge that had been shared with him by people back home, he imagined the man would be... nervous. But David couldn't be certain. He'd met people from other versions of his world, and they didn't always line up personality wise.

But he was going to do his best to support the guy, and try and hide that he might have pre-formed opinions based on a whole other man. So he kept himself quiet and patient until he heard the knock at the door. David rose quickly and moved to it, opening the door to meet the other man.

"Mister Barnes, good afternoon. Come on in. Would you like any refreshments before I guide you back to my work room?"

He had no intention of calling it a lab. Not with a man no doubt tormented by his universe's Hydra.

III. The Coffee Conundrum | Closed to Harry Osborn | Excelsior - Connoisseur Coffee
Coffee. It was something that mattered to David, quite a bit actually. Caffeine was part of his diet, perhaps more than it should be. And, until he had the money to properly kit his kitchen out with a good brewing set up, David found a local coffee shop to indulge his needs. The world had blessed him with a great coffee shop between the apartment and his office, and it was here that David appeared multiple times a day. A quick stop in first thing for a coffee on the way to work, a trip in the evening for a cup to take home, and of course this, his lunch break.

David was currently settled in the cafe as he was most afternoons, in a table near a wall that normally wasn't the most desirable area of the care. His back was to the wall, and in front of him on the smaller table was a laptop. The other chair at the table was taken up by a back pack, and taking up the rest of the room on the table was another laptop, sitting closed, which was a weird thing, unless one knew David. Truth was the two laptops were interfaced, and he was using his technopathy to boost the processing of the one he was currently working on.

Thing was most days David did this, and it wasn't a problem. But today? Today there was a convention in town, something David wasn't aware of, and the cafe had packed to almost bursting when David wasn't aware of it. He'd been too engrossed in his current design project, his attention flicking back and forth between his typing and the medical journal at his side, opened to a recent article about a new study on regenerative rates of the nervous system. Truly, he had no idea how rude he was being taking up a table that could be used by others, especially after he'd finished his packed punch and coffee just a few minutes ago.

Perhaps someone should go and shuffle the man out of the space.

IV. Wildcard | Open to all
[OOC: I'm open to anything here, giving David a chance to hang out with his standing CR or meet new people. My only rule is that interactions would happen in Excelsior. If you have an idea that the above open post doesn't allow for, either private message this account or hit me up on plurk at

churbooseanon or discord at Churby#4290. OR throw your own starter out in here. I'm happy to do many things.

IF you're looking for things that may be good hooks, David's a technopath, associated with a company that makes prosethetics and assistive technology, an accomplished chef that will be hitting up stores around the city for quality food and cookware/appliances, a technopath that will be around many computer shops, and honestly? He's a hockey nerd so you might find him at sports bars sometimes. Other than that, he'll likely often be out reading books in parks, or even just scientific journals. Guy has a spread of interests and we can talk it out to figure what might best hook a character into paying attention to him or coming over to say hi.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[David freezes. He knows a lot of people, and is a very good detective. But that is a final puzzle piece he isn't expecting. And then he goes from frozen to grinning.

Now he sees it.]

I spoke to you because I was intending to help someone who seemed to need to carefully budget for food who might not know the tips. I didn't expect to meet someone I'd heard both so much and so very little about in the past.

[ bruce's brow knits a little and he sits back, setting down his coffee. though he doesn't open his mouth, david might notice his tongue touch one of his molars. he's thinking. ]

You don't know me, but you know Harleen Quinzel. Did you... come from another world like this one?

Once david is back, Mina immediately opens the door, way too excited about this. "We should go for burguers even if you don't get hungry!" because there is always time for burgers, she things. Mina trains plenty so she doesn't particularly care about eating too much, and thus she is always ready for a snack.

As they head out, Mina reaches for her phone to check the map function where to head next - that way she never gets lost around the city. "Hmm-- what is your job? A salaryman?" she is asking because he was all dressed up today.

Another world. I spent a few months living with Harley and Joker.

[And he knew other people too. He has to smirk as he tilts his head.]

You don't chew on scarves do you? Because that would make you more polite than the hyena.

"I mean, if you want burgers, we can bring some back for you. I don't have the highest metabolism."

So he'd have to work extra to get it back off. But he made some damn good lentil burgers.

"I make technology to help people with disabilities."

It depends on who you talk to.

[ he has not always been regarded as the most polite person, scarf chewing or not. ]

But you met the both of them and lived. I don't know whether or not to apologize or congratulate you.

Harley was a doll. Joker learned within the first week that I can cook really fancy meals. He was on the outs with Harley and was trying to impress her, so I was making two-hundred a week, plus expenses, just to make sure he had at least two casseroles and one NICE dinner for her each week.

[Extra spending money had been ncie.]

Mm.

[ he shouldn't have pushed that. he's certainly not ready to entertain stories of a mass murderer and abuser wanting to make dinners for a victim who found it difficult to stay away from him. clearly, there's a lot of unpacked history there... ]

I guess that leads me to my follow up question: how did you escape that world?

[IT is. But to David's knowledge, she'd finally left the guy. So applause there.]

We didn't. We tried to. To stabilize the dimensional tear and go home. A lot of us ended up here instead.

[OOC: After the Loki Plotting Party.]

Balthier had offered him shelter, and once David stepped through the portal to leave Loki's apartment, he went seeking it out. He stopped at a wine shop first, acquiring a bottle of port, and then he was off through the streets to the residence. Didn't even wait to knock, just subtly slipped the hidden key out, unlocked the door, replaced the key, and then went inside.

"Please be here, Balthier," he mumbled as he started moving through the space. "Hello?!"

It had gotten late. Balthier had left a light on in the entry but retired upstairs to keep himself distracted at his desk. He hears the door open and stands, coming down the stairs as David calls.

It takes him a minute, but then he’s there, embracing David firmly. “I’ve got you, dear one.”

The arms around him are important, and finally David breaks down. It goes from silent crying to soft sobbing into Balthier's shirt in very little time at all, even as his knees go weak and he starts to go toward the floor. Hopefully Balthier will just lower down with him.

He doesn't cry often, but this? This is the sort of situation that forces it for him.

He holds firmly and lets the other man cry. When David’s legs start to buckle, he eases them both to the ground, gently pulling back toward the staircase so he can lean them against it. He keeps his grip firm on David but lets one hand rub gentle circles on his back.

Whatever this is, it’s deep. Sometimes the best thing to do is just let the waves come. He suspects there’s more under it, pressure that’s been built over time. That’s the only thing that makes him cry that way, anyway.

“I know,” he says periodically. “I’ve got you. You’re alright.”

It is nice, to trust the arms around him. To want to be held like this. To be given this support. When he has himself more under control he whispers against Balthier's shirt.

"I failed the kid, and I think I broke something with Josh."

“If there was a demon involved, then you cannot claim fault entirely.”

The Josh portion is trickier. All he knows is that this person is dear to David. Though that doesn’t preclude it from the previous statement.

"All he wants is to live, and I don't know how to keep him safe from the foolishness that desire gives," David said, pulling away at last. "The kid he... he's doomed. And he can't be saved. That's why he agreed."

“A heavy fate to bear. Either his fate can be changed, and then you have not failed because he may still change, or it cannot, and it is arrogant of you to take responsibility for that which is immutable.”

As David pulls away, Balthier reaches out to cup his face, using the back of his free hand to wipe away the accumulated tears.

“It is so hard to feel powerless to keep people we love safe from their own self-harms, but it is also impossible to do that work for them. They have to choose. They have to reach for us.”

He knows. Gods, he knows. There is no fragility like seeing what is happening, seeing the script play out, act for act, and being unable to alter it.

"I feel responsible for the choices he made because it can't be changed," he counters, clearly intending to point out he's a failure for that.

But the other part... That sounds too much like Josh, and he pulls away further.

"Why should it be that way? Why can't we protect them? Why does it have to be so wrong to try and do it?"

It hurts when he pulls away. It hurts to be handled gruffly when offering softness. Even if he knows rationally that this has nothing to do with him, that lashing out is a sign of trust.

He keeps his face even, his voice gentle. His legs are still touching David’s and he’s mindful to keep contact and also to give space.

“It isn’t wrong to try. It isn’t wrong to love and to protect. I don’t know why it can’t be that easy and clean. But I do know nothing good comes of letting things you can’t control or fix for someone else consume you. It doesn’t rescue them, and it certainly doesn’t make you any better for it.”

"Then why does it hurt so much?" David asks, calming down a little. It's... it hurts so much.

"How do I keep fucking this up and pushing them away? Why do I try to protect them when they hate me for it?"

“Because, my love, you have a heart that knows pain and hasn’t hardened from it.” He takes David’s hand, curling is own around it, holding it to David’s thigh.

“You want to prevent that pain for others. You want to reach for them the way you want them to reach for you. But you don’t get to choose that for them. Not everyone nurses their pain that way. Not everyone is ready to accept love.”

He turns David’s face toward his, gently gently. “This isn’t about you, dear one. You’re trying to control others to feel safe. I know. Scions, I know.”

"Josh said something like that. A lot meaner. God, I fucked up."

He moves again, sitting down this time. In a way he's further away, but it also says he's not going anywhere else.

"Loki seemed to be convincing him to listen to this possessing force. I messaged him and said he shouldn't do it. And he snapped at me. He wasn't wrong to."

“You’re going to have to be patient with me because there are a lot of parties involved that I do not know.”

But he leans back against the stairs, glad David looks more settled. He’ll be here for more holding if David needs, but it’s good he’s a little more composed, good he isn’t fighting Balthier’s words.

“One of the Lokis was convincing the younger one to listen to this demon? And you suggested he not? Did he snap at you or Josh?”

He needed all the pieces of the story — or at least enough — to help show David the structure he was missing.

"No. The youngest Loki is convincing Josh to listen to the demon. And I told Josh he shouldn't do that and why, and Josh snapped at me, saying I refuse to let him have agency."

Which wasn't entirely wrong. And he'd apologized. But it still hurt. He loved Josh.

He knows all of three things about David’s relationship with Josh, but he does not like what he’s hearing.

“If he’s already consorting with a demon, he very well may be addled in his reaction already. And even if not…it can both be true that you overstepped your bounds and that he is being a grand idiot. Agency is one thing. Using it to make choices that harm oneself is another.

“It’s still not your decision. He does get to do that for himself. But it doesn’t make you wrong for wanting to protect him. Or trying. I’m sorry he chose to see malice in a gesture of care and fear.”

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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OPEN | Paint Yourself A New Life

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V - Seeking Comfort - Closed to Balthier

Re: V - Seeking Comfort - Closed to Balthier

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