notjosh

[notjosh]

TASK 001. — @c23tasks

1. what’s your mutant ability?

joshua has the pain illusion ability. he is able to manipulate people’s minds into thinking they’re in any sort of pain without leaving a trace on their bodies.

2. what’s your mutant’s classification level?

joshua is an alpha level mutant.

3. how old were they when they first discovered their abilities? how did it happen?

he was in his early twenties, rehearsing for a concert he and his bandmates-slash-friends were looking forward to give. what he thought was passionate guitar-shredding, was actually his ability manifesting onto his friends and ending their lives. well, two dead. the other? let’s not talk about him.

4. what can your mutant do with their abilities?

joshua is able to mimic any kind of physical pain; from a paper cut on the finger, to a gunshot in the stomach, anything as wild as his imagination can go. he is also able to control the intensity of the pain and use his ability on multiple targets at the same time. only recently can he completely phase out any feeling of pain on his own body...but he’s not too sure how this works yet.

5. what can’t they do?

it only really happened once, so he’s pretty sure he’s not able to induce any kind of psychological pain onto people...just yet. he’s also limited to people without any mental powers as they can see right through illusions. and although he is becoming immune to pain, he is not immune to death. nor can he lessen (or eliminate) other people’s real physical pains.

6. what’s one thing they hope to learn or are currently trying to learn with their abilities?

he’s kind of terrified of his ability evolving. he’s content with what he’s got so far, not liking the brand new emerging symptom. perhaps he’s trying to keep his ability as stable as possible. new things are scary because he has no control over them, so no thank you.

7. what is the most powerful thing your mutant can do with their abilities? do you think they would actually do it?

he’s already done it-- once, yes-- which is the exact reason joshua would never want to do it again. the brain is an extremely powerful tool, and with the right illusions you can make it believe anything. you can even make it believe it is dead, and it will act accordingly, shutting itself off. also, people screaming and squirming in pain until they die isn’t really fun to look at, or listen to. joshua isn’t on this earth to feel uncomfortable, he’s just here for a not-so-bad time.

8. what are your mutant’s weaknesses?

mutants with mental abilities. his own human emotions. using his ability makes his body feel extremely strange. it’s like electricity running through his bones and (what feels like) making soup out of his organs. the longer and stronger he uses his powers, the more intense the feeling is. and then he feels very sore all over, and inside of his body too. he can’t really move that well, everything feels heavy, even his own thoughts. and strangely enough the only remedy is to use his ability. it’s a vicious cycle. it makes him feel good until it doesn’t.

oh, and he has to be able to see his targets to use his powers. but that’s the least of his worries.

9. do they use their abilities in their day-to-day life? in what ways?

oh, yes. almost every day.

joshua, or beau as is his stage name, uses his ability to enhance the experience of his concerts. only a really specific niche of people enjoy the feeling, like waves of pain washing through their bodies along the beat of the music coming out of the booming speakers. it’s tingles, or electricity, or pokes. sometimes it’s the feeling of falling down. it’s fun-- spicy.

10. as a mutant, do they have any goals? dreams?

...not necessarily. or not yet, at least. he’s lagging behind, sure. he just found a little pocket of people who enjoy his presence and who like him...for him, really. he hasn’t yet thought of anything further than that. goals? please, he needs to nap first. dreams? a little to similar to illusions for him. they’re not real.

11. how do they feel about the last 30+ years of mutant history?

he doesn’t feel. truth be told, he’s privileged enough that he doesn’t really need to think about it. if the humans hate mutants, he can simply pretend he doesn’t have anything to do with superpowers. that’s about as much as he thought about it. he’s not a rebel, and he’s not trying to change the world either. he’s content just conforming to the masses. he’s really only using his ability as a really neat toy-- take it away if you want!

[notjosh]

{dane dehaan, 35, cis man, he/him} || joshua 'beau' bellefield is a mutant with the ability of pain illusion. they’ve been in new york for two weeks where they spend most of their time as a rockstar. when i think of them, i think of bruised lips kissing mom’s forehead, coffee with too much milk and sugar, flipping off the camera. they are affiliated with no one. [mango, 26, she/they, EST, n/a]

helloooo! very excited to be here! here’s a short rundown of joshua.

@c23intros​

comes from a small town in nebraska, he’s the eldest of four (one of them being atticus!)

wasn’t really involved as a human being. fear of failure/disappointing miss mom and mister dad discouraged him from really trying...anything.

he sometimes played his dad’s old guitar (dad swore it was owned by jeff beck. no way, even the autograph on it looked fake.)

mediocre at school. could barely hold down a job. hung out with losers who littered parks and gas stations’ parking lots at night.

after his younger brother left to join xavier’s institute, joshua toyed with the idea of leaving as well. he couldn’t just rot there.

he and his loser friends gathered all their money and left to nowhere in particular.

with jeff beck’s alleged guitar and whatever other instruments they could get their hands on, they played in semi-abandoned bars in where-the-fuck town and other similar spots.

you could call their music...experimental. but since they hadn’t been booed or thrown trash at, they felt like the real deal.

it took them about two or three years to strike gold-- their biggest stage yet. an old library turned strip club turned restaurant turned back strip club bulldozed into a skate park, not too far away from fucktown’s downtown area!

...everything happened so quickly.

it was supposed to be a simple rehearsal; joshua would shred on jeff beck’s alleged guitar, his loser friends would do their thing, and they’d howl in excitement. end.

but the losers went on for too long. their howls turned yells turned screams. joshua joined in, sure, but he found it weird.

he had to stop after tingles in his body felt as strong as their voices. he could feel them inside of his muscles, in his bones. it was painful, but it felt good.

imagine this in slow-mo. joshua finally turns around to ask what the fuck was that? to the loser friends. two of them splayed on the ground, the third can’t even stop screaming. he drops jeff beck’s alleged guitar on the ground to run towards them.

...

well. two dead (and one no one wants to talk about) was enough to push the band into the spotlight. it would be foolish not to ride the wave.

it took a few years for joshua to even think about making music again.

years in which he got to learn his ability and how to properly control it. pain illusion, who would’ve thought! 

that meme of marge holding up a potato and thinking they’re neat-- that’s how joshua feels about his mutation.

coming back to the music scene, he was known as the dude who lost his whole band. and the dude with the fake jeff beck guitar. allegedly fake.

now in his mid-20s, with a somewhat reputable discography-- reputable only in the most niche circles, of course. people come to his shows to feel. literally.

joshua controls his ability so precisely he knows how to tread the line between pain and pleasure. he incorporates it into his music, so really you’ve probably never heard of him. oh, he’s too indie. too cool.

he sends all his money to his mom, eats and sleeps wherever free food is served. really, too cool.

lately (about..ten years later), he’s realized he can’t feel. anything. is his ability taking a toll on his body? is he...

is this...

[notjosh]