polarvoid: (❀ Frangipani)
Basil [Omori] ([personal profile] polarvoid) wrote2022-12-31 02:56 pm

Inbox for [community profile] ryslig

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<Daisy>This is Basil! I'm not around right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to it as soon as I can.
<BANNED USER> SCREENED MESSAGE. UNSCREEN? Y/N -- sample for when you ban someone
<USERNAME> First sentence of message.
<USERNAME> First sentence of message.
zoomingupthathill: (i feel it all around me)

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-22 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It shakes her to her core, because she knows for certain that he's not lying to her.

He doesn't care, everything he's seen so far... It outweighs the rest of it.

And though it feels good—the assurance, the reciprocation to her request for physical comfort—

(she hadn't thought it would feel like this. so soft.)

She has to set him straight. If he knew, he wouldn't say that. She just has to explain.

Except she still feels dizzy. Maybe it's worse with her eyes closed, so she blinks them open, even though her head feels too weak to raise. She thinks the non-broken antler's digging into his shoulder. ]


Nn- no, you...

[ Much like Basil, she can't let that stand. ]

Basil... You're not... You're- so nice. And sweet. You...don't even get mad when I- say you're a nerd or, when I'm being just a- total bitch. You aren't- broken.

[ Right? ]
zoomingupthathill: (🕹️ it's you and me)

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
[ Basil moves, and Max wobbles. For a moment she thinks he's trying to get away from her—but no, he's burrowing into her, more like.

And it reminds her. The question he'd first asked, do you see it, too?

He's hiding. He's hiding from something, and she'd forgotten.

Max finally summons the strength to lift her head. The flowers on Basil's horns finally aren't blinding her, probably because of the angle. Still, as she tries to see what he cowers from, there's nothing there. ]


Basil...? What...are you hiding from...?
zoomingupthathill: (👟help me‚ please)

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ That's what he said before. In the Pale Fog. It served as a mantra, when her music wasn't working. It grounded her.

But right now...

Right now it sounds like it's a more like a noose. ]


Basil? B-Basil- who's- hurting you? [ He's curling up against her. She's still leaning against him to stay upright, but now he's hiding against her, they're leaning on each other, and it really is like the Pale Fog, isn't it?

One hand holds his tail. The other, shaking still, rests against his head. ]


Pl- please... I want to know. I want to help.

[ She can't be anything but truthful right now. ]
zoomingupthathill: (👾 i'd make a deal with god)

cw: suicidal ideation

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Basil moves, and her hand slips off his head. It remains hanging in the air for a moment, weak and damp. His natural fire's started to warm her, dry her—but only a little.

Now, she's stuck staring at his eyes. That's not right.

This isn't right. ]


Wha... [ Her mouth feels dry, which is funny, considering how much lake water she's swallowed today.

If she asks him, he'll have to answer. That thought lays unbidden in the back of her mind. ]


I don't...wanna leave you.

[ Here, huddled on the ground in a dark room, gentle blue glow enveloping them... It feels like Max is back in the attic of the Creel House. There, she ripped herself open voluntarily, and for her troubles Vecna spun her a vision wherein her worst fears came true—that when those she loves most hear what's in her head, they'll reject her.

They'll egg on the pain dragging her down into the depths of her own misery.

Is this like that? Are her and Basil...more similar than she'd realized?

Max holds as firm as she can to his tail. It's not firm at all, and if he wants he could probably pull it free, but still. ]


I... I thought everyone would leave me too. If- if they knew. So... I pushed them. I- pushed all of them away, instead. So...they wouldn't know what kind of person I am. How much [ a swallow of nothing, her lips trembling ] I wa- wanted to die, how much I- prayed for something...terrible to happen to me.

[ It's happening again. That attic, only filled with blue light, where she spilled her guts. Where she died. Even though it feels like she's a step from death again, she's not there. This isn't there. She keeps reminding herself that.

And she keeps talking, more voluntarily than she could've imagined. ]


But if I'd s-said something, sooner, maybe... Maybe it wouldn't've turned out like it did.

[ Bleeding so much she went numb. Eyes white and milky. Unable to even feel Lucas' arms around her. ]

If I'd talked to the- the people who loved me, maybe... I wouldn't've... [ This one she holds in. Because if she says it, it'll derail everything. She bites down on her lip, just staring into his inexplicably frightening eyes, until the wave of pain passes. ]

I want- to stay. I want to- listen. I want to listen to you.
zoomingupthathill: (help me‚ please)

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Max doesn't like promises.

Whenever they're made to her, they always end up being broken.

But right now, as she sits here, she remembers, "Do you accept the risk?" and where it got her, and how in the end she'd do it all again, if she could help her friends.

All of it. ]


I promise. [ She tries to squeeze his hand, but she's too weak. ] I promise, I won't tell.
zoomingupthathill: (👟 be running up that hill)

And Then Max Misinterprets Omori, cw: domestic abuse

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ Max listens.

She said she wanted to, and she does. She promised. She won't break it. She's been handed something so, so precious, and she won't break it. His most vulnerable parts. The things that could destroy him.

Basil looks behind her, and Max almost follows his gaze. Now, however, she's starting to understand.

It's like Billy. A creature got inside Basil's friend, Sunny, and he did things that he would never do.

(It isn't exactly like Billy. Billy still hurt her—but, he wouldn't have tried to kill her. He wouldn't have grabbed for her, screaming about how he would gut her—)

He killed his sister and Basil, out of fear for his friend, covered it up.

Max blinks out tears. She doesn't know what to do. Doesn't know what to say. Everything's coming up blank, except for one thing, as she keeps holding his hand— ]


I... I get it. I understand.

[ She sounds breathless. She feels breathless. She'd forgotten how that felt until today. ]

I don't hate you. I— Basil, I'm...so sorry.
zoomingupthathill: (🛹 and i'd get him to swap our places)

cw: suicidal ideation

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ I just want you to take me away.

Max watches Basil sob with wide eyes. She watches him, so completely open for perhaps the first time. Wailing and sobbing in front of her, as she holds his hand, his tail.

And I want you...to make me disappear.

Her confession in that quiet attic. The first time she'd said it out loud. The very first time she acknowledged it, to anyone, to herself, didn't just let it float around in her head.

The blue lights. Back in that quiet attic, now she's the one standing on the sidelines like Lucas, listening. In the vision, Lucas spoke up. He condemned her. It was something he'd never do, but Max fell for it anyway, in her emotional state. Vecna could've spun anything and in the moment, she would've believed it. She was vulnerable. The most vulnerable.

Like Basil is, right now.

Max pulls with what little strength she has on Basil's hand. She wants to pull him into a hug, the tightest one she can manage right now. ]


No. No, no, no it- it matters. It still matters. You still matter.

[ The eyes stare at her. The eyes on his wings. It's terrifying, unnerving.

But it's also dark. With the little light and her own damaged eyes, it's hard to study them.

And what matters most right now is Basil, anyway. What she says to him, in this moment, matters. And her mouth, as it always does, goes without her permission.

Thankfully this time, it doesn't say anything she disagrees with. ]


I'm sorry. I'm so, so so- sorry, but you- you matter. You matter so, so much.
zoomingupthathill: (and i'd get him to swap our places)

cw: domestic violence, homicidal ideation-ish, car crashes, abuse logic

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ Basil's empty and hollow. But despite how much she hurts, despite how broken, Max still feels so, so full. The violin sings in her drooping ears, especially as he tries to reassure her. His head lays against her shoulder, and hers lays against his as well. She's still shivering, despite how warm he is. ]

No. No, I'm... I'm still- n-not a good person.

[ He's so warm. So, so warm and he's wrapped around her sick, aching body. Max's own tail, laying limp, curls to a spiral. ]

You remember, don't you? In the...the fog. I know you- heard him. My stepfather- my...ex stepfather.

[ Screaming on the other side of the door, letting her brother die.

Max blinks away tears. ]


I wanted him to die. [ Her voice wavers, but she continues. ] My brother. I... I prayed...f-for him to...for horrible things to happen to him. I- imagined it. I imagined him- crashing my- his c-car, and never- ever coming home again, 'cause I thought- it'd be better.

[ A horrible pit in her stomach. Her legs, sprawled out to the side so she's not putting weight on them, shake and tremble, prompting more red moss to slither out. ]

It wasn't. It made- everything so, so much worse, and I- he saved us and I wanted to- I stood there and watched and he- s-said he was sorry and I k-kept- begging him to wake up, I w-wanted him to die, I wanted it bu- but I didn't. I didn't!

[ Her admission and insistence break into sobs, like those in the Pale Fog. Crying onto his shoulder, body hitching. Basil explained, as best he could, but Max can't even begin to. The Mindflayer, Vecna, all of it. ]
zoomingupthathill: (👟 i'd be running up that road)

cw: mild emeto

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ The only reaction she's ever had was Vecna's, manufactured to hurt her.

"You ever have thoughts like that about me?"
"Normal people don't fantasize about killing other people, Max."
"I thought you were getting better. But you're not, are you? You are sick."

The lie's all she's had, and overtime, it's become her one and only truth. Her single reference point for how someone would react. It was what she feared. It's started to paste over what experience and logic dictate Lucas would've said—that it was okay. That she'd been through so much. That he didn't hate her.

It's just what Basil's saying now.

Max cries so hard it hurts. So hard her useless organs ache inside her. She tries shaking her head, but she's trembling. She's shivering too hard to do much but sob until she starts to cough.

And...keep coughing. She worries for a moment she's going to cough until she breaks apart. Wouldn't that be awful, literally crumbling in Basil's arms, dying again literally on top of someone she cares about?

It turns out it's not that, however, and she realizes with only moments to move, very suddenly starting to shove Basil away. It may look like she's rejecting his comfort, but that's not it, truly!

She's merely trying to put some distance between them so she doesn't cough the water that's been stuck in her lungs up onto his shoulder. ]


Agh— cr- crap—
zoomingupthathill: (🕹️ i'd make a deal with god)

cw: hypnosis, drowning

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-23 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's not the truth compulsion that stops her when she tries to say I'm fine but the continued coughing. Another round of water—oh, she'd really thought she got all that out earlier, and groans, shoulders heaving. ]

If... I try and say yeah... I think the freaking violin's gonna cave my freaking skull in. [ Grimacing and blinking out tears from this time the force of her body expelling what was left in her lungs, Max raises her head to look at Basil. ] I- I was trying to help. I wanted to make the music stop, but...

[ Voice scratchy, she starts to explain... And she shakes her head. ]

I'm- really, really glad you weren't out there. The song...changed. It...made people try and throw themselves into Lake Fors.
zoomingupthathill: (👟 oh‚ here i go)

cw: cannibalism

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-24 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
What—? [ A small squint.

And then she straightens a little bit, wiping her mouth with her arm. ]
Oh, like— Um, s-sure. I...actually am, kind of cold.

[ For a second it sounded like some kind of line—but like, sincere, because even after all this Max can't think of Basil as not sincere. At least not with his emotions. But then her brain catches up with her, and she gets it. ]

I think really I just- I need to get dry. And... [ She winces. ] Probably eat something.

[ Max wonders if she's going to start growing the moss again soon. Maybe over the injuries on her legs. ]
zoomingupthathill: (i'll be waiting for you)

[personal profile] zoomingupthathill 2023-04-25 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ His hands like that remind Max of sitting on the Palazzo stairs, her Walkman between them. It's late in the day. The sun's out, but not bright enough that it hurts her eyes. She can just be, sharing part of herself, in silence.

This moment... They're nothing alike. But the focal point draws the comparison, as they're about the same distance apart, and in the minutes she's waiting, she's utterly silent. It's only the way her eyes flicker from Basil's hands to his face that indicates she's not just a still corpse. She's just about to say that it's okay—he doesn't have to, they can just find some fans—

And then his palms glow, like a space heater. Her eyes widen a little, as she can feel the water sunken into her skin start to dry. ]


H... Holy shit. [ Max sounds breathless again. Perhaps it's just because she sounds so soft and scratchy with her sickly, slightly feverish appearance. ] You've b-been...practicing, haven't you?

[ She's been terrified of getting too warm. Ever since getting literally burned and how badly her body reacted, she's been so scared. But, she doesn't feels scared right now. If she did, she couldn't hold it back, would be blabbing without a second thought. But she's not.

It makes her want to reach out and hold his hand. She won't, because that would be dangerous. But she wants to. ]


Thank you.

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