day by day by day we're falling down [OPEN]

[goldtoxicity]

WHO: Josh Foley and YOU!
WHERE: All around the city
WHEN: Early to mid-event
WHAT: A week in the life of Josh Foley. Everything from healing fellow metas to assassination plots.
WARNINGS: Mild body horror, torture, terrorism, mental illness, violence, blood

safehouse.

[ it's not often that he's here. but if the porters are active again, that means it's time to act. right? right. time to recruit, or in the very least, make sure that everyone who turned up here is in fighting shape. because they will need to fight.

he's all smiles as he approaches new folks, reaching out to take hands. ] I'm a healer, [ he says, and his hands begin to glow. ] don't worry, it's gonna be okay. Did you just get here?

[ and to the oldbies, he flashes a lopsided grin that doesn't quite meet his eyes. ] Never thought I'd see this again. Did you?

healing.

[ anyone who knows of elixir most likely knows three things at this point. the first, and perhaps the most important, is that he's wanted for a damn good reason. the faction of the resistance he runs with doesn't really have a name, but the brotherhood of evil metas is bandied about in hushed whispers. they're extremists. assassins.

the second is that he's a healer and a powerful one at that. you want that incredibly obvious scar removed? he's got you covered. broken bones mended? easy. a limb regrown? sure. it comes at a cost to him, sometimes. but a cost to you. money, loyalty, or information. his hands might itch to touch the wound to fix it when it's presented, but he'll stay back unless you're a friend or willing to owe a favor to his team.

( but he's never great at sticking to it. some parts of the old kid remain. he was never meant to be this. )

the third, and the most important, is that there is something fundamentally wrong with joshua foley. there wasn't always. he used to be a pretty good kid, the kind of kid that'd rush up to strangers to heal them. but that golden skin of his isn't quite so golden now, blotched and spattered with black spots that induce illness when touched. sometimes, while healing, he can't handle whatever it is he's trying to do. sometimes he loses the thread, sometimes you get hurt before you get better. he's always apologetic, always quick to fix it, but it's a game of russian roulette.

but still, he's here. operating out of an abandoned storefront for the time being. there's a cot set up behind the counter. if you need him, you only need to ring the bell to draw him from the back room. ]

harming.

[ this side of his powers comes easier now. the gold washes away, leaving shiny ink black in it's place.

this guy is small potatoes. metas are coming back in a big way, if the porter being active again is any indication, and right now people's focus is on containing the newly activated porter. resources are split, information is easier to get a hold of, and that leads him to here and now. walking down the street in the middle of the night wearing all black, hood pulled over his shock of white hair as he follows a few yards behind a man.

the guy's not really all that important in the grand scheme of things. has some fun ideas on metahuman imprisonment. used to be opposed but now he's been bought out, because every human has a price that can be paid for their mortality, and as far as josh's fucking concerned he deserves to suffer.

maybe you do too. or maybe you don't. maybe you're sick of extremists making it hard to go about things the proper way and you're keen to intervene. ]

running.

[ and of course, you can't be one of the most wanted metas alive without complications. something goes wrong, somewhere somehow, and josh is bolting through the streets, running as fast as he can to evade pursuers. there's a price on his head - enough for someone to live very comfortably for the rest of their days - and the promise of immunity if they come forward.

he springs over a fence. shoves a pile of boxes over in his way. weaving in and out of traffic, alleyways, doing whatever he can to ditch the eyes on him so he can disappear into the shadows.

maybe you're keen to cash in. maybe you believe in his cause. but he's running your way and you've got one shot at a choice. ]

hurt.

[ the thing about his dark side? it doesn't heal.

anything. all processes dedicated to fixing grind to a halt and reverse, even the ones that should be fixing the damage to himself. the higher his bloodlust, the harder it is to switch back. trading compassion for power only leads to misery and bullet holes.

he's dripping blood. the streets are mostly deserted and the chaos that was following him has finally died down, but he's a long way from any safehouse. breathing hard and pressing an arm to the bullet wound in his gut that's warning him he doesn't have a ton of time to be fucking around. he came back from the dead once, but there's really no telling whether that was a fluke or not. he isn't keen to test it.

but he's not moving very fast either. he looks like hell. his head hits the back of the dumpster he's hiding behind, teeth grit as he tries to force himself to his feet. ]

wildcard.

[ choose your own adventure! hit me up at minimoffs

Comments

here 4 harm 8)

[besainted]

[ Damian is very good at finding people these days. He's good at a lot of things. When it began to look like he wasn't going home any time soon, Damian started taking a few of the darker pages out of the old family book, and began farming powers. (They're nice farms. The people he keeps for their powers are safe, and cared for, and generally want for very little. They're just never, ever free to go.)

The point is, Josh Foley is the man he's looking for, and he's registered as a red dot in Damian's vision ever since he began the hunt. Tonight the red dot is finally, finally directly in front of him -- well, almost. There's a man between them, but Damian knows him, too, and figures he isn't long for the world with Foley behind him.

He stands patient in the pool of light from a streetlamp, watching the show about to unfold from beneath sharp and unflattering shadows. His coat is long and dark, the collar pulled high, further obscuring details. There will be no interference here, apparently. ]

[goldtoxicity]

[ It's a fairly quick job. The man is hardly aware of what's happening before Josh is on him. He grabs his wrist when he finally catches up, bare skin against bare skin, and the man tips forward. Nerves misfire and bloodvessels burst, it's utterly unsalvagable to anyone except a healer.

It won't be fast.

It also wasn't what he'd planned on doing. But there's a surprise guest here, he senses him before he sees him. The man gives a pathetic wheeze but he's no longer the focus, and he turns around, Ghastly white eyes shift to the light to confirm, and he drops the dead man's hand. ]

If I were you I'd move along.

[besainted]

[ Josh's kills have gotten very impressive. Damian suspects he could have made that one clean and instant, and simply hadn't wanted to. He also knows, very well, that that's going to be him if he doesn't play his cards carefully.

He wonders only briefly how his life might have gone differently if he'd ignored David years ago, if he'd taken this power after all. Well. If things go poorly tonight, it's never really too late. ]

No, I don't think you would. [ He steps just so, knowing the light will shift from harshly obscuring illumination to something that masks fewer features. The face resolves itself into Damian Saint Lorrant wearing a small and very, very tired smile. ] Do you mind if I go first, before you kill me immediately?

[goldtoxicity]

[ Damian.

Josh's expression doesn't change much. A narrowing of his eyes, thinning of his lips.

He and David might not be on the same terms they once were, their friendship has been different ever since they'd made the mistake of sleeping together. But David was still his best friend, and Damian has still fucked him over. ]

I see somebody already exacted their pound of flesh from you. [ can't say he's surprised, either. Damian has always had more curiosity than he had survival skills. ] SI'll kill you after you're done talking. I can do that for an old friend.

[besainted]

[ The comment would be puzzling, without being so intimately familiar with Josh's range of powers. His arm, the man means. A little rude, Damian thinks. He's had the replacement dark plastic prosthetic made and fitted by only the best, and he only notices the difference most of the time. Better than all of the time. ]

Right. I appreciate it. [ The tired smile goes wry, but soon enough falls away entirely as he lifts a hand to run through his hair, sighing. ] Actually, I'm looking for David.

[ That's solidly a lie, he could know exactly where David was with a thought. He would be as easy to find as Josh had been. But a common connection, a search for the man he should be avoiding — he's banking on a stir of curiosity here to keep them talking. Don't let him down, old friend. ]

Hurt - There IS a doctor in the house

[helpdesk_hero]

[It's not that he's tracking Josh's movements. Even Prodigy isn't that good, and he's good at a lot of things. No, it's pure luck and happenstance that David was in the area, working a situation of his own. Just a little bit of casual B&E to scope out a jewel heist he was... facilitating. And pure luck that he's off down a certain alley at a certain time to hear the noise of a head hitting a dumpster that he's walking past. Which is when he stops, looks down, and sighs.]

I don't know if you've the best or the worst luck I've ever seen.

[He stoops down, moving immediately to scoop the man into his arms.]

Please keep all hands and legs and any other bare skin inside the ride at all times. I've got a safehouse near here, we'll get you patched up if you are stubborn enough to keep going.

[goldtoxicity]

[ David gets a watery laugh for his trouble, followed by hacking coughs and Josh's lethal limbs being pulled in closer to himself. ]

I'm gonna say somebody up there loves me as much as they hate me.

[helpdesk_hero]

Someone up there? Fuck that, Elixir. Someone right here still loves you. And he's even got you in his arms. Put your faith in that. There is no god.

[Jaded, cynical, lack of faith in the world and anything greater than it? Definitely very Prodigy of him. But once he's got Josh secure in his arms he starts off at a brisk walk, heading through the back alleys. OF course he's got a bolt hole around here. They're not as close to his clinic as he would like, but it would be foolish to not keep medical supplies at as many places as he can.]

What you can do for me, Foley, is try and get zen for a moment. It would be better to try and push yourself back to gold for after I've got the initial bleeding stopped.

[goldtoxicity]

Easier said than done, Prodigy.

[ it's light and teasing, like he isn't bleeding all down the front of his friend. he's mindful when he brings his head down to rest against David's clothed shoulder, his laugh a little wheeze that splutters into a cough. ]

I really wish my power had a better range.

hurt.

[germhating_hypochondriac]

[Eddie's using his direction power again.  The first few times, he's tried to find his way back home.  That only led him to government enforcers near the porters.  Too dangerous.  Now, he's trying to find people he knew.  Even if they only spoke once on the network. He slows down as he reaches the dumpster and walks around it to see an unfamiliar face.  He doesn't recognize this guy as the same Josh doctor with the cool powers.  Still, he knows his powers might give some comfort and the guy doesn't look like he's in any shape to be dangerous]

I can help you.  I can make it feel better for a little bit, so we can find a safe house.

[goldtoxicity]

[ oh shit, it's a kid.

josh foley the doctor and josh foley the rebel aren't fundamentally different people. one rejected the worst of his powers and the other had learned to embrace them, but both wanted to save the world and do right by the people who trust him.

and not hurt anyone who really didn't deserve it. the kid approaches and he doesn't recognize him, but he's talking about safehouses and making it feel better and that makes it clear he's a meta. ]

Don't touch me. [ which sounds bad, he realizes. he clears his throat. ] It's dangerous to touch me.

[germhating_hypochondriac]

[Eddie takes a step back and wonders if his direction power messed up and took him to someone dangerous. But if that were true, the guy would have done something already.  The government people he'd met didn't give this kind of warning.] 

'Cause of blood and germs? 

[He's gotten past that worry before.  And he's already dirty from living on the run.] 

I don't mind.  You need help, dude.   

[He looks around and lowers his voice, just in case.]  Or is it because of your powers?

[goldtoxicity]

[ oh kiddo, you should run. ]

That one. [ the powers. ] You'll get sick if you touch me. I-It's okay, I can manage.

[ he kind of can't. ]

wildcard, cw: mention of suicide

[fridgeflower]

[ They've got a system, a coordinated way of breaking apart and coming together again that keeps them under the radar. It nothing terribly complicated, just rendezvous points and other places of significance, hours and days that mean something, months of dodging the authorities mapped out ahead of them.

So she waits in a small vacation cabin outside of Tuxedo, New York. Isolated, otherwise unoccupied... It's only just stopped raining, and the woods around the house swiftly sink into an inky darkness. The inside of the place is comfortable, though, furnished and maintained by someone who's never known a hardship in this world.

Laurie's more than happy to have pulled it out from under him.

She's just showered when she hears Josh's knock, and her hair's still wrapped up in a towel when she answers the door, clad in just the worst oversized, inexplicable wolf t-shirt. There's a TV on in the background, a newscaster launching into a story about the suspicious suicide of a Mothers Against Metas activist in Vermont.

It's been a little while since they've seen each other, and she grins at the site of him, practically launching forward to pull him down for a kiss, luxurious in nature. ]

Hey.

[goldtoxicity]

[ he doesn't get to see her much, not with the stunts they're pulling. he paints a bigger target, an easier target, and he's more than happy to do so. a meta with power over life and death waging war against an unjust system is what those shlocky protest movies made by people who fetishize their struggle are all about. she's the one who gets shit done while he makes the big distraction.

she's the real genius here.

and boy, if there's one good thing about this miserable world, it's that she's in it with him. he wraps her in his arms and kisses her like she's the only thing that's real, pulling back and pressing their foreheads together when they're both breathless. ]

Hi. I missed you so much.

[fridgeflower]

I missed you, too.

[ Which is the simple truth of it. There's not much in this world that's not mired in complication and, while Josh isn't explicably one of those things, this is easy enough to boil down to something basic.

She was made to be a monster, maybe, created from and inheriting something drastically dangerous, pushed beyond her humanity's limitations. Even knowing all of that, though, she'd rather not be alone. Though she wonders about the remaining depths of her empathy, of her emotions… She cares for Josh more than she's ever been able to care for anyone else, and she's thankful that she's not alone in all of this mess.

She gives him another squeeze and a quick kiss before breaking away, heading towards the kitchen. ]

We can stay here through sunset tomorrow, head out again once it's dark. We've got a few things to figure out in the meantime. [ There's a victory or two to go over and, more than that, there's intel to wade through. They have to stay steps ahead of everyone against them. ]

I got some sandwich fixings, if you want to eat.

[goldtoxicity]

Oh, man, food.

[ he's so hungry he could eat a horse - and he didn't even realize it until now. He's fundamentally bad at taking care of himself without someone else around him to remind him how to be a human.

maybe it's being an omega level mutant.

or maybe, far more likely, it's the soul-crushing depression. but who knows! ]

You wanna talk shop now, or do we have a nice dinner first?

[ and, more importantly ]

I'm loving this look on you.

Harm!

[rocksforbrains]

[Santo had only been back in the City for a few hours and he already started to remember why he hated it.

And, okay, there were a lot of reasons for that - people constantly coming and going, the interdimensional shitshows that would put his friends in harm's way, the pizza that was nowhere as good as Real Actual New York's pizza - but that feeling in the air, where everyone can feel everything being on the edge of falling apart? Yeah, he hated that most of all.

But maybe the next item down on Rockslide's List Of Things That Suck About The City was trying to make your way through a back alley only to come across what was clearly a crime in the making. Sure, that was great back when he was playing vigilante, but now it was just an obstacle in his way. One he could walk away from, sure but...

Even this many years out from being a "superhero" or an "X-Man" or anything really, he still couldn't let this slide.

Heh. Slide]

C'mon, man. [A large stone hand goes to clamp down on Josh's shoulder. The man it's attached to is mostly obscured by an ratty grey hoodie - only barely fitting thanks to Santo making a smaller-ish rock body for traveling purposes - and baseball cap, but the rumbling voice is pretty unmistakable.] I get that you're trying to be super stealthy, but to anyone watching this is the most obvious and crime-y stalking.

[goldtoxicity]

[ there's a laundry list of people he doesn't ever expect to see back here.

josh's head whips around, one hand coming up to grab whoever the hell decided to grab him until he recognizes the voice. ]

Holy shit. [ in a hissed whisper, blank eyes going wide as he takes stock of the rock before him. ] Santo?

[ Josh's target hasn't seemed to notice. but he didn't notice he was being stalked either, so, you know. what a winner. ]

[rocksforbrains]

[It takes a second for the fact that mysterious alley creeper man is someone he knows. Santo pulls his hand away.]

Josh? What the hell, man? Why are you crime-stalking some dude in an alley? [There's a pause as Santo takes in...well, everything about the situation. Gears are turning in his head.] Wait, is he bad? Were you going to jump him? Is the hoodie your costume now? 'Cause if so I gotta say- [He points to his own outfit.] -I beat you there. Be more original.

[goldtoxicity]

I...

[ ????????????????

he has no line for this. he's just dumbfounded. how bad is his luck? seriously, how bad? it's not like he was tracking the guy to play a game of canasta. a lethal game of high-five where the prize is not dying if you do what i say except no i'm gonna welch on it and you're stuck with an uncurable supervirus probably won't fly here. ]

No. [ kind of. ] I - I mean, yeah, he's a bad guy. No, this isn't my costume. [ no it really kind of is ] I just can't walk around looking like me without there being problems.

HURT

[bodilesswarrior]

[ Aegis is not designed for search and rescue. That was part of its function, once, but now it's just an instrument of destruction, of brutally controlled chaos.

Unfortunately, her comm is busted by the time she approaches the dumpster, and there's no one else close enough to help, not with a wound like that. She curses to herself before broadcasting a heavily filtered, mechanised voice. ]

Elixer. I'm here to help.

[ Hopefully he recognises her. They haven't worked together that often; she may have stopped caring about fatalities in a fight, but she hasn't gone as far as planned assassinations. Granted, she doesn't get in their way, either. ]

[goldtoxicity]

[ The nice thing about his powers is that, inevitably, he'll wake up from a temporary death. Or so he thinks. He hasn't really gone as far as to test it, he just... knows that there's something off with the way he 'dies'. He lifts his head up at the sound of the voice. ]

Uh...

[ It clicks a moment later. He looks a little relieved. ]

You're a serious sight for sore eyes.

[bodilesswarrior]

[ Oh good, she really didn't want to have to try and gently subdue him if he tried to go on the offensive. This thing really isn't built for that. ]

Haven't heard that in a while.

[ Aegis kneels down, and she examines the wound. ]

There's a safe house a couple of blocks from here.

[ It was Bruce's, once, and only her closest circle within the Resistance knows about it. She's got a spare chair in there, if she needs to stitch him up.

Best case scenario, he'll shift back on the way, but she doesn't rely on that kind of thing. ]

I can carry you.

[goldtoxicity]

I'm not too proud to turn that down.

[ he tries to sit up straighter, gritting his teeth and making a small sound of pain. ]

Just, uh, don't drop me?