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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Cut me off, though I may well stay as well," he admits, his voice so very drained. "If the others succeed, I need to talk to the young Loki. TO let him know that he's not alone, and that I'll be there for him."

He won't abandon the kid.

“That sounds like a reasonable step, but I think it will benefit both of you if you are rested before that conversation. Your sweet heart is still too rattled.”

He kisses his love, stroking his cheek.

“Alright, dear one, let me up for a moment. I’m going to get glasses. I’m also going to suggest you go shower. I have the shirt you left here and some sleep pants that will fit you, and I cannot oversell the calming power of being clean.”

"Sounds like something I'd say, with more affection though."

He gestures back toward the table by the door, where the port is.

"I also missed lunch, so you might need to cut me off early. I'm going to go grab that shower."

Balthier gets the port as Davis climbs the stairs, placing it on the coffee table with two stemless glasses. He also pulls out what he has in the fridge — some olives, cheese, breads, odds and ends but something.

Once he hears the shower start he goes upstairs to place the clean garments outside the bathroom door, then goes back to put on hot water, just in case. He also gets a pitch of water.

He can, if nothing else, host.

It takes a while for David to come out of the shower, but when he does and comes back downstairs he looks... calmer, if still a touch shaken. And when he finds his love and all that is laid out he has to smile.

"Competence is highly attractive, and you've laid out what amounts to a feats for a nervous stomach in so little time. Thank you."

David’s voice pulls his attention, and a smile comes unbidden. David looks more himself. And is leaving Balthier a little off-balance in his willingness to accept support. A pleasant adjustment to make.

“Tea? Flat water? What else can I get you?”

Why shouldn't he accept support when he needs it right now? Oh, there are so many reasons. So many times he refused to let the people who loved him close. And it's bit him in the ass. He's... trying something new, even if he's not good at it.

"Is there a tea that goes with olives and cheese and port? Genuine question. I'm still only dabbling lightly in it."

He’s doing fine tonight. And earning even more of Balthier’s trust.

“I will tell you mint with conviction, but I truly don’t know how much of that is habit and childhood fondness. I won’t be offended if you decide not to drink it. Sit. Eat.”

He disappears back to the kitchen long enough to make a pot of mint tea with the already boiled water then returns with that and mugs.

While David was in the shower he changed as well, and now he sits cross legged on the couch beside him, putting his hand on David’s leg.

“I’m glad you came.”

The tea is nice, and he doesn't want to mix stronger caffeine with alcohol, so this is good. By the time the man returns he's actually worked through a bit of the cheese and olives. The flavors were just delightfully complex.

"Tell me which market you got the olives at. I need some of those for home. And... And I'm relieved you offered to let me come. I didn't want to go home so shaken, and I couldn't stay with Loki. His teasing can feel cruel."

And he definitely moves closer to Balthier, leaning weight on him.

Frankly, he's not used to being comforted.

Mint tea is non-caffeinated but he’s not going to point that out.

David’s demanding information about food which makes Balthier chuckle. “Of course. It’s not far from the tea shop we like.”

As David leans into him, he puts his arm around his love, squeezing him close.

“You know where the key is. You would have been welcome even if I hadn’t happened to catch something was amiss. I hope in the future you’ll tell me if your shaken again.” It’s not chiding; he knows today was fast and unpredicted. But there’s no reason for David to go be alone and shaken in the future.

"Wonderful. I'll have to find it. I wonder if they have stuffed olives."

What can he say, he likes olives? Salty and slightly bitter and sometimes with a bite.

"Gotta warn you, I'm shit at telling people that. I bottle things up. I'm trying to be better. It's been a goal of mine. I don't always succeed."

It’s rare that Balthier doesn’t have olives in the fridge so he notes with amusement that they share taste there.

“I am too,” he says. “So I’ll try not to hold you to a standard I struggle to meet. But I will mercilessly point out how much calmer you are now and beseech you to remember that next time you’re deciding.”

He won’t push it anymore. He kisses David’s cheek. “I’m sorry you’ve had to be brave on so many fronts today. But I’m glad you were with me.

“Let’s leave the rest of this sorrow for another time. I have you here. We have libations. Let’s revel in that.”

Though of course if David wants to talk more he will be read to listen.

It's rarer for David because he's lived so long with people who don't like them. To be able to enjoy them with a beautiful man (who might not judge him for licking his fingers) is its own comfort.

"You are a balm to my soul," David admits.

He'll have to face Josh some time. But he can wait.

"Librations then," David agreed with a deep sigh. "I just... Did it have to be a demon?"

No, he’ll find it endearing. He knows David has manners when he wants to. And he’ll be glad David is enjoying them.

Balthier reaches to pour port for both of them in low crystal scotch glasses. He snorts at David’s question, which was the exact one he had had when he stumbled across that post.

“Life is only poetic when it intends to wreak havoc on us. It had to be a demon. I’m sure there’s some law that describes that.”

He hands David the glass.

David takes the glass and slowly sips the port. He'd chosen it because port had never been something he was good with more than sipping at.

"I never told you all of it. What happened with Belasco. What led up to it."

Balthier masks the way he goes a little still by sipping his port. He’s calculating whether it’s better to have David keep releasing pain and risk spiraling. He thinks it is. And maybe he selfishly wants to know, wants to be brought closer. Wants to understand David more.

“You didn’t,” Balthier agrees. An invitation but not an ask.

"Do... you want ot hear it? It's not pretty. For a lot of reasons. Has to do with the way my people were hurt, a lot of personal suffering for me too."

Unloading on the other man wasn't a welcome thing to do. At all. But answering someone who truly wished to know he could do.

David will eventually have him trained to be direct. This question helps.

He finds David’s hand, interlacing their fingers, and makes sure he finds David’s gaze with his. “I want all of you. Not just the beautiful parts. And I’m going to ask eventually. If you feel comfortable sharing tonight then it seems like a reasonable time.”

"There are a lot of ugly parts. Hideous parts. Bad parts."

But he takes a deep breath and starts into it.

"There's... important context. We already talked a little about the racism, but something happened to us. My people call it M-Day. A woman went mad with grief over losing her sons. People were having trouble getting her back to mental balance, which was dangerous because she's what we call a reality warper. She can take and bend the nature of reality itself to her will. Afraid that her powers might go further out of hand in her madness, heroes and mutants of the world were trying to make a decision on how to handle her. Her brother, her very protective twin brother, found out, and thought the only way to save her was to convince her to remake the world anew, in a way that would make everyone happy."

David scoffs at that. Make everyone happy. It wasn't possible for everyone to be happy. Some people just enjoyed stepping on others too much. Perhaps one day it could happen, but it wasn't this day.

Balthier shakes his head. His world had been in enough of a mess with one god-demon and a few high level magicians. He was impressed these worlds with more powers hadn’t ripped themselves apart.

And somewhat glad, for maybe the first time, he hadn’t ended up with larger more complicated powers.

He also doesn’t point out that there’s a part of Davis that so desperately wants to make things happy for as many others has can. But he registers it.

“Can’t imagine anything going wrong there,” Balthier says.

"Oh so very wrong. She created what I think was an illusion. People were caught up in it, worldwide. I don't remember it much, I don't have those memories. I just know that those who got their memories back fought her to try and get the world back to how it was. In the process, her father killed her brother in anger. And she said three words in her grief."

Three words that haunt those mutants who know them. And in his time, they all know them.

"No more mutants. The words of a reality warper carry a lot of weight. My whole universe was made by one we think, called the Demiurge. The other reality stopped and world flowed on like it hadn't existed, save for those who remembered it was fake. Except... Except words carry weight. Before that day my people numbered in the millions. By the end of the month there were one hundred and ninety eight mutants. Most lost their powers overnight. For some it meant being nothing more than human, like me. For others it meant death, because their powers could no longer support their altered physiology, or they had been doing something their body could no longer handle, or because of bigots murdering us, mutants and former mutants alike."

He's shaking, so he sips more port to try and steel himself.

How horrible. His mother’s city being decimated had been bad enough.

He’s honestly surprised David isn’t more uncomfortable with Balthier’s illusions given that story.

He sees the shake in David’s hand. Hears it reach his voice. He sets his own drink down, wrapping his arms around the other man. A silent I’m here. I’ll sit in it with you.

It's a lot to sit through.

"The school wasn't safe for those of us who were human, they decided. Some parents came to pick their kids up. Others... well, some didn't care. But the school tried. Loaded the kids on a bus to take to the airport and..."

He has to set the cup aside and he wraps himself around Balthier then.

"I know the scent of burning flesh. I know the screams of my friends and classmates as they died. The way the noises petered out to nothing but the crackle and burn after the explosion. The assholes, a group called the purifiers, for got their hands on an RPG and blew up the bus. I was lucky, my parents were going to come in specifically to pick me up. I had no place there because I was only human, but it was the human kids who died. Then, not long after, they came back. Killed Laurie with a sniper round so they could attack the school, deemed her the greatest threat. My friend Jay, he... he wished he wasn't a mutant and cut his own wings off because of his grief over keeping his own powers. Was driven to it by the people who murdered Laurie right in front of Josh. And later when Jay went to confront them, they shot him too."

The people he had loved kept dying.

"We buried so many people."

Those words bring up memories unbidden. He too knows what burning flesh smells like. Has burned it himself. Has seen the horrors of war. Thought he could outrun it.

But this is different. He was targets for his career choice but not what he was. Not his body. Not when he was fleeing. He knows others were. Knows he’s always had a cloud of privilege around him. So he just holds David close, marveling that this sweet man had held onto that sweetness at all.

And to feel powerless to protect people. Wasn’t that why he’d left Archades in the first place? To preserve some illusion that he had control of his life and his actions and his loved ones?

He didn’t know, in David’s situation, if he’d have kept his heart. But it’s soft and full tonight and he cradled this man he loves, who he cannot protect but he can comfort, and he is glad to be able to do it.

"And then it got worse. Laurie's mom smacked me for offering condolences. Then my parents decided the only place I would be safe would be staying at the school. Sofia left, and just like that I was the only human and more than a few mutant classmates turned even colder. I was a flat scan, a baseline."

He had already been torn down in his life for being black, for figure skating, for being a mutant, for having a non-active power. Now being thrown out of the community he knew? Fuck that had hurt.

"The purifiers then attacked the school. I took a bullet in the shoulder to protect some people. Josh... found the other half of his powers. And at last we come to the bad part. Turns out something happened in that reality that was created. A person that should have been dead was brought back to life, and had been close to me. A person that as a girl had been kidnapped by a demon, intending to use her to create a deadly weapon called a Soul Sword. That history doesn't matter. The fact that after she was gone for years did, and that the Demon Lord Belasco, ruler of the hell dimension of Limbo, could smell her on me and two others."

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