they built paradise

[goldtoxicity]

WHO: Joshua Foley and YOU!
WHERE: Krakoa
WHEN: ~2019 and back
WHAT: Backdated events! Before his kidnapping.
WARNINGS: nsfw here and there!

OPEN PROMPTS.

a diplomatic visit. ~ two years ago

[ this is a necessary evil. if they want to maintain their independence then they need to be non-threatening, or at least enough of an asset that allies are willing to let them be in exchange for a few favors.

no wonder scott summers lost his mind. his life is nothing but moving parts now. so little is stable and nothing feels certain - this empire is built on sand and the slightest rumble will make it fall. all of this has given him newfound respect for the mutants who had come before him, understanding them in a way he never could have back home... but still with the determination not to repeat their mistakes. if sacrifices are to be made, he intends for them to be his.

and it doesn't leave a lot of time for himself - not when he feels like he's promising parts of his soul to people, and sacrificing what's left to maintain the balance. he's tired twenty-four seven.

and it only worsens when someone docks at their harbor. he could leave this to the rest of the council, but he's always found it better to be the first one to greet a new arrival. lest they decide to try to turn the five into a four. ]

So glad you could make it, [ he says, hoping it sounds genuine. golden hands clasp the outstretched hand, his lips curved into a smile. ] Krakoa welcomes you.

beach day. ~ a year and a half ago

[ keeping krakoa running is a full time job. most of the population is too young to really care for themselves. joshua foley has gone from a largely irresponsible mess to - well, still a mess, but a mess with a ton of responsibilities. david's technology keeps him tapped into almost the entire population of the island and their health.

but sometimes? sometimes he needs none of that. he needs quiet.

the beaches are quiet during school hours. josh is sprawled out on the sand in a pair of black swim trunks, one arm folded behind his head, his eyes shut behind a pair of stylish sunglasses. when the shadow falls across his face he groans low and turns away. ]

Oh come on. I know nobody is dead or dying. [ he pushes the glasses up his face. ] Today is me time. Did we not establish this was me time?

stress. ~ a year ago

[ he doesn't remember what set him off. an article, maybe. something small to feed into growing paranoia. realizing that there's yet another person now on krakoa that shouldn't be. something small, something that he can't catch, and he knows there's no point in having that fight because they've had that fight and he can't justify it.

and so his office is in shambles. his fingers tangled in his hair, eyes clenched shut as he breathes hard. ]

Fuck!

[ he sinks slowly down the wall, gritting his teeth. he hears the door open. ]

Not the time!

WILDCARD.

[ hit me up at minimoffs @ plurk or shoot me a dm if you'd like to plan something specific or something off krakoa! ]

Comments

~ stress

[cantgetanyworse]

[The door doesn't open very far, not at first, and Jane pokes her head around it to survey the general destruction before ignoring Josh's words entirely and slipping into the room. She closes the door behind her and briefly plants her hands on her hips...

But, no, not the time.

Jane picks her way across the room and crouches down beside him, lightly plucking at her skirt to arrange the fabric more smoothly across her knees.]

Can I help?

[goldtoxicity]

[ shit.

if there is anyone here that doesn't deserve his wrath, it's jane. none of them do, but jane - jane is the opposite of a problem. she's a solver. ]

No.

[ he shoves his fingers through his hair and closes his eyes. ]

Sorry, just - having a bad day.

Beach Day

[helpdesk_hero]

[It's a good point, and David spares a chuckle as he lays a towel out for himself. His own trunks are in a softer shade of yellow, because fuck it, his colors are a specific brand and he's sticking to them when they compliment Josh so well. And, once his towel is down and his glasses adjusted, David too is sprawling out.]

Well, Council Member Alleyne respects your 'me time' and isn't bothering it. Krakoa Resident David feels like he's earned a day off and has disconnected himself from all tech support requests that don't involve fire, and even those are going through an intern first. And your boyfriend...

[David smirks and lowers his sunglasses just enough to give Josh a very thorough and very obvious once over look. Yeah, there's something distinctly predatory there.]

Thinks that he's found the best view on all of Krakoa for his beach day.

[Josh is that view. He gets that, right?]

[goldtoxicity]

My boyfriend is corny is what he is.

[ much as he'd like to have the space to himself just to think - he hasn't had all that much time for either david or laurie. hell, he's pretty sure he sees kavinsky more than either of them lately.

he rolls over on his side, a pale eyebrow quirking as a playful smile settles across his face. ]

And probably something else that rhymes with that.

beach.

[timehit]

[ Truth be told, Five isn't really concerned about trivial concepts such as "me time", privacy, or taking a day off for the sake of mental health. It could also be said, in argument, that the Hargreeves siblings weren't raised in the best of environments, either.

Standing over the kid, it's evident to anyone who would bother to look that there are no footprints in the sand leading over to this place. Arriving in a sudden flash by the boy's side, he doesn't appear to look amused; then again, with Five, it's always hard to tell. ]

Who are "we", exactly?

[ There's a smell of fresh donuts as the ocean breeze rolls past. Caught in the middle of relenting to his own sweet tooth, he apparently thinks the scene merits some investigation. Five shuffles his donut box from under one arm to the other. ]

[goldtoxicity]

Me, myself, and I. The council of Josh.

[ ... donuts, though. he sits up a little. ]

Buuuut... we'll vote for an exemption in your case. You can stay if you share.

Stress Stuff.

[fridgeflower]

Apparently.

[ She knows that things have been escalating. The curve to the whole of Krakoa being unsustainable has been climbing upward since they started, and they're an inch away from critical mass. A lot of that weight is on Josh, which... It's not fair. Or necessary. But good luck to anybody who want to convince him of that.

Either way, she wasn't about to take a full-blown tantrum as a good sign. She walks into the office, anyway, the click of her heels disrupted as she moves to carefully step around scattered objects. ]

Did anything in particular happen, or...?

[goldtoxicity]

[ shit.

shit. shit. shit. shit. regret splashes over him like cold water, guilt overpowering whatever anger he feels. ]

N-no. [ he presses his face into his hands, sucking in a breath to try to calm himself down. ] No, no, just -

[ she knows him. she knows exactly how well he deals with things like this. no one knows better than laurie collins how poorly josh foley handles stress. ]

I'm sorry.

[numberthree]

[ The thing is they don't get breaks, and they don't get off days, and they don't get to pretend. Even when the rest of the island is cheering, laughing, dancing into the night. They know the exact count of the sticks and stones, bricks and bones, and pools of blood all this world is precariously balanced on. Networks of words, and threats, and lies, and half-promise threaded with fear, more fragile than spider silk.

It means they don't get to fall apart, and they don't get to leave each other alone when they start falling apart anyway. Because they're all human, for as much as that word means what it doesn't (because some of them aren't). They're all fallible. They all break, too. Even five people isn't enough to truly carry the weight of an entire world.

Especially when one of them keeps taking far more on himself than he should. ]

Yeah, it is.

It is the time, until you stop being a dick.

[ That's Allison at the door, looking at the vast destruction of the room, and Josh curled into a wall, maybe the only one who wouldn't try to defuse Josh with soft words, with the promise things are fine, will be fine. That he needs to calm the fuck down and let someone hug him. Like that solves anything more for them either. She has two people for that, and on the worst nights, her worst nights, it doesn't make it better.

It just bleeds you drier on the nearness of what you have to lose even more.
Sometimes it takes more than compassion to just get it out of your head again. ]

[goldtoxicity]

Allison, just - fuck off right now, would you? For once leave something alone.

[ he doesn't mean to say it so bitterly. he doesn't mean to take it out on her but there's a small, angry part of his soul that lays the blame for this at her feet. this was her idea. her and david's.

they put him in an impossible position. each new person here is another way his power and attention has to be split. the amplifier tied to the barrier was straining before they decided to add to the population, now its mind numbing. the fatigue is bone deep, yet still doesn't come anywhere near the terror and fury at knowing what this looks like to their supposed allies.

despite his dismal grades in school, he's not fucking stupid.

but he's starting to think they are. ]

[germhating_hypochondriac]

[Eddie's finding power has become more powerful over the years.  Sometimes there's an almost tug, pulling him to someplace he needs to be, even if he's not sure why.  He's walking into the building when he hears Josh.  He's got nothing against swearing.  Fuck's one of his favorite words.  There's a lot of stress in that tone though.  That must be what's got his finding sense tingling. Eddie walks faster, opening the office door without a knock.] 

It's just me.

[He skips asking if Josh is okay.  He clearly isn't. Instead he asks.]  What's wrong?

[goldtoxicity]

[ ah, shit. ]

... It's nothing. Just, needed a minute.

beach day

[rebelarrow]

[His presence made, Judd takes a step back. He's learned people are very particular about the angle in which they absorb sunlight.]

I just wanted to see if you wanted anything.

[goldtoxicity]

[ bless judd. at least he's consistent. ]

Just a nap. [ a beat. ] But I wouldn't say no to a cold beer if you're playing gofer.

beach

[khajidont]

Don't be a dick. Or else I'm gonna think that you don't enjoy my company. You might even hurt my feelings.

[ Jaime leans over Josh, holding a glass, sweaty with condensation, and decorated with a little umbrella over his head. With other people in charge, it's left Jaime ample time to stick to his own devices. And to do a little experimenting, as any young man on his own on a party island full of models will. The point is, he's pretty sure he can handle his booze as well as the Leader-Man can. ]

Here. It's on the house.

[goldtoxicity]

Jaime, have I ever told you that you're my favorite person on this island?

[ he sits up, grinning ear to ear. ]

tw: torture, kidnapping, starvation, injuries, chicken pecking injuries

[goldtoxicity]

[ he doesn't know how long he's been in here. there's no way to mark the passage of time. they don't give him a consistent schedule. meals don't come three times a day. anyone here is careful to keep quiet. to keep him trapped in the isolation of his own mind, with nothing but the ache of his largely depowered body to distract himself with. the flood of his healing factor has been turned down to a trickle. his lethal touch can't even hurt a fly now.

josh suspects that without what's left of his powers he'd have been died a merciful death by now. his keepers come just often enough to keep him living and inflict new injuries on top of the old. he feels like a living wound, the only parts of him that don't feel pain are the parts that he's lost circulation in.

the door to the cell opens. josh barely moves. his hazy blue eyes open, focusing on the floor beneath him. ]

Re: tw: torture, kidnapping, starvation, injuries, chicken pecking injuries

[tobeahero]

[His ears are assaulted by the sound of someone banging a metal spoon on a frying pan for several seconds. The flood of noise after the absence of any for so long would like shock his system for a short time.

During that period, when she guessed he couldn't focus, a second chair was dragged in and set in front of him. There wasn't enough light to see her face once the door was closed, but he'd recognize the voice.]

Wakey wakey little baby~

POST RESCUE PROMPTS

[goldtoxicity]

immediately post rescue. open.

[ he's in bad shape.

mentally, physically, emotionally - the year of isolation and torture has left him absolutely wrecked. he's running a fever, the wounds may not be infected but they are tender and have healed poorly. he's sick, coughing and shivering despite the heat of krakoa's topical climate - and he's lost a significant amount of weight, mostly just skin and bones under barely golden skin.

the power dampener takes work to get off. in the interim, josh is hooked up to an IV full of nothing but painkillers to try to dull the pain. his unique physiology makes him as impossible to treat as ever. its highschool all over again. ]

recovering post rescue. open.

[ he's on strict bedrest. the kind of 'strict' that has friends and family checking in frequently, making sure he's obeying. there are guards all around, every effort is being taken to keep him secure.

he'd have complained about it once. now he just takes what comfort it brings, though he's left jumping at the slightest sound. the dark and the light are both too much, he ends up closing the blinds and plugging in a nightlight from one of the younger kids dorms.

the wounds are healing. slower than they usually would as he's far from full power, too scattered to do the job right and too far from his old normal to remember exactly how that should be. his scarred psyche leaves marks as its wont to do - there are thin black lines criss-crossing the worst of his injuries, body and mind working in tandem to leave a lasting mark. this won't be forgotten.

it takes a few days before he's taking visitors. then the doors are open. he's sleeping most of the time, and when he isn't, he's trying to catch up on everything he'd missed despite warnings not to. ]

'recovered'. open.

[ he's not completely fine and isn't certain he will be again. but the way he sees it - if he allows this to break him, then they've won.

the won because he allowed himself to be weak. tried to be xavier when he knew damn well how well that worked out. there was a reason he'd signed on with magneto by the end of his tenure in his own world. there was a reason he'd pulled back from the world here.

blind trust was a luxury he could no longer afford. looking soft and vulnerable would no longer be permitted.

his overgrown hair is cut short, the soft boyband locks styled into something trendier and sharper. something to compete with the white tower's chic, slick look. josh orders a suit from the tailor, something far different from the previous suits for these gatherings. gone are the soft white colors, the non-threatening pastels replaced with contrasts. and he goes to his office, sits down in his chair, and considers the future this move may bring. ]

I'm going to the Synod. [ he says, his jaw tightening. ] Stark thinks he's won.

[ his pale eyes flick up. there's something cold and merciless in his eyes where there'd once been hopelessness. resignment to their fate. ]

I'm gonna show him we haven't even started playing yet.

recovering post-rescue

[obediences]

[ luther had wanted to hover and check in on josh immediately afterwards, but in the end, he's too practical: he knows his capabilities and that they're not useful for someone half-dead, and that there's nothing he can do to help anymore. he'd just be dead weight in the room, taking up space. he's a clenched fist and superstrength and a strange televator ability, and so he's already done his part, used his skills for what they're good for. there are faint memories of it for josh, swimming in and out of the haze: luther's face looming in front of him, blue eyes widened in concern, then the expanse of a broad shoulder beneath josh's weakened body, an arm curled protectively around him, the swaying motion of a run.

but that part is done. so he lets others take over now: the people with the medical degrees and training (david), better-able to fuss over josh, help drag him back from the brink. it's not like luther would really know what to say, either, tongue-tied in front of that crumpled form on the bed.

when josh eventually wakes up today (every day inching further and further away from that low-point), he opens his eyes to see luther sitting on a chair in the room; slouching a little, reading, halfway through a book. it looks like he's been here for a while. at the sound of rustling blankets, the man glances up. ]

Hey. Morning. You're looking better.

Post Rescue and Beyond? - The Doctor is in

[helpdesk_hero]

[Was it wrong for David to shoo nearly everyone away once Josh is brought in? Perhaps. But in the moment he sees his lost lover, he stops being David Alleyne, ex-boyfriend, David Alleyne, member of the five, and David Alleyne, former high school friend. It was instead Dr. Alleyne stepping forward and having Luther take Josh to his home. From there it was Dr. Alleyne sending people out to bring David all of the tools he'd need, given until the last year, Krakoa hadn't exactly been rich with them.

But he gets things set up. There are IVs and drugs. There's a line for saline and another for nutrients because Josh's body is going to need them. There are blood samples collected to test for illnesses that Josh isn't fighting off, there's a heart monitor. As much as David hates putting Josh into a hospital environment, it's what is needed, and so here he is, pushing it little by little until David's the absolute master of a medical environment, dozing in a chair by Josh's bed with vital statistics scrolling across his glasses while David was busy diving deep into the mechanisms of the suppression collar. First step, get that thing deactivated.

It turns off, after two whole days of dedicated work, and David heaves a sigh of relief. The collar itself can wait a touch.]

Stark is going to pay for this. I swear it.

'recovered'

[cantgetanyworse]

[She had been to see him while he was recovering, but mostly while he was asleep. Jane hadn't been able to keep herself in check for long enough to stay around and speak to him after he woke up. It's relief, mixed in with no small amount of guilt for not being able to protect him a year ago (and that guilt had only come to full fruit after seeing him again, lurking as something she had barely acknowledged before that moment).

But she hasn't cried in front of him. Not yet.

Today, she's visiting him in his office, and it doesn't take a genius to see that so much about him has changed. She had come in after knocking and without any ceremony, sitting down opposite him and crossing one knee over the other. She's as bright and vintage-styled as ever but there's still something more severe about her as she sits there, clasping her hands together.

When he looks up, she meets his eyes without flinching.]

No one's getting near you without my hearing of it, Josh. I won't let that happen again.

immediately post rescue.

[numberthree]

Allison stays in the doorway.

Or when the doorway still has people rushing back and forth in and out of it, carrying things, bringing in the people who can best do the job (all of them being directed by David), she stands a short distance inside the room, from the door, against the wall.

She can't help here.

But she can't not be here either.

She counts the bruises, cuts, contusions she can see from here. She listens to every notch of David's voice, tight and worried and tries not think of him on the beach. Sobs wracking his frame under her arms, terrified Josh would have forgotten he loved him, that he was looking. Listens closer than ever to his words about how 'they can't help him more', that his powers won't let them.

He's skin and bones. He's a testament to abuse.

She can't stop looking at him, and she can't walk away.

She sees Ben. Cold and still and split wide open, bloody and broken. The cold, grey of his stately coffin, dusted with the snow. The too still, too shiny bronze of his statue. Hears her father's voice. You did this. Take this to heart. Let it sink in, and latch, and fester. Don't let it happen again.

Luther comes and goes, staying out of the way. Helpless to help here, too. As much as she pays attention to his words, the touch of his hand, she doesn't at all, and she knows he knows it even. That it's part of why he keeps coming back. He might be the only reason she actually knows time is passing. That there has to have been a duration he's made himself wait between the coming back.

She doesn't know if he's coming back and forth from Claire. She doesn't know if she's with one of the others. Their family. Somewhere out of the way, distracted and enchanted -- and never as oblivious as anyone could wish her to be this year. She can't get to her daughter's face without something cold, and still, and angry, and afraid, and more dangerous for all of that, starting to rattle in her chest.

She pushes it away.

It and the truth of this, but with any of their faces.
Her family. Luther. Claire. Fear never leads her to being afraid.

Allison doesn't know how long it is until the last time Luther comes back. The room is quiet and empty and still. Except for her. Except for David and Laurie, like parentheticals around Josh's body on the medical bed, fitting into a space they shouldn't, but always will. She can't remember the last time someone spoke, except to whisper something to Josh from inches from him. To will him better. To will him to wake up again.

It's the first time she moves. She doesn't know if Luther tugged her toward him, or she just folded in against his chest the first second she realized how close he was. It probably has something to do with the silence. With the low barely lit night of the room. She can feel the tension in him, just as much as the relief when his arms curl around her. She doesn't know if he kisses her hair or just tucks his face against it, but registers the words, You need to sleep.

And she could say she doesn't. They don't. They were born and built to be monsters. To be better machines than people. She could probably go on standing here another day. Or two. Lucidity would become more problematic, but it was controllable, too. She knows it's not the right answer, even if it is the true one. Just like his is. No lie in the words. In his touch. In his concern. Whispers, not loud enough to carry, still unable to look away from the body across the room, I know.

Her family is waiting. Claire is. No. She's probably long asleep. But she's probably worried, too. The only time she doesn't come home like clockwork at the end of even the long days is when she has to be off Krakoa for delegations and appearances. She needs to go home. She can't do anything. She still doesn't want to go. But she needs sleep. They need to decide what to do about this. Tomorrow. Or the next day. Or whenever Josh is fully awake. It's disjointed, late, but Allison finally turns her face into his chest, with a shaky breath, the first all day, too, and nods.

Even though the first thing she does is catch David's eye (still just as awake, even more refusal in those eyes: to move, to sleep, to stop looking at Josh only a breath's distance from him) and says only loud enough to carry, I'll be back.

recovered

[numberthree]

[ You'd think she'd be grateful for this flip. She's not. Her gratitude is in short supply. She's snapped at more people lately than in forever and had to make herself apologize to at least half of them because none of this is their fault.

Devil's advocate and concern that can probably be laid at the feet of Claire comes first, even when Allison is one of the two people least likely to disagree. She's imagined hundreds of things she'd like to open her mouth and say to Tony Stark and any of his accomplices to the events that still leave Josh looking like this. The anything but familiar hold of his body, his shoulders. This change in appearance. The high keyed state. The startle at unexpected noises.

Her expression is shrewd, calculation more than anything like rebuking. They've played nice for so long. If Josh wasn't one of the two of them who did it best among them, he was the one who had killed himself over it the most, what it could cost. Would cost. Had now. ]

Do you think that's wise?

You haven't even been back on your feet long.

recovering.

[fridgeflower]

[ At some point, David does have to stop hovering and rest, which he finally does after Josh falls into another fitful sleep. Laurie takes that opportunity to trade off. Quietly posting up with a book, not expecting Josh to wake up any time soon.

That's partially why she's here, after all. She fills the space around them with calming and sleep pheromones, willing a decent nap onto their recovered Council member and paramour.

But it only lasts as long as Laurie herself does. When she slowly nods off, the air clears. Eventually, her book slips from her hands, and the little 'clunk' as it hits the floor startles her awake. ]

Shit. What time is it?