![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polarvoidWELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS has joined 018.07.154.55 <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. | ||||
no subject
Date: 2023-05-04 08:11 pm (UTC)So Basil nods, slowly trying to move so he can get his legs out from underneath himself. He hisses softly, his padded feet and clawed toes tingling as the circulation rushes back to them. He wishes he had a first-aid kit in his room...that's something he's going to have to remember to keep, next time.]
If I help you, do you think you can stand?
[If not, that's okay. As much as he will hate going into the dark hallway by himself, with its dark corners and staircase around the bend, he will retrieve what he needs to get her legs wrapped without Max having to move.
Just for good measure, Basil checks the corner one last time, and Max may notice him looking.
But this time, Something isn't there. He breathes an audible sigh of relief.]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-06 12:00 am (UTC)Only now does she start to let go of his hands, but it's so she can keep her grip on Basil's arm, instead; easier to stay upright that way.
With an embarrassed little frown, she shakes her head, just as she catches Basil's line of sight, and his relieved sigh.
Despite it all—she's glad. Because it seems like the memory of what's tormenting him has decided to leave for the time being. ]
No. I...think it's more likely I'd fall again.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-06 02:07 am (UTC)[He doesn't want Max to feel bad about this, or ashamed, or guilty. He just lets her keep holding his arms until she's able to lean back against the edge of his bed, still on the floor as she is.]
I'll be right back, okay?
[Basil lingers for a moment, reluctant to leave Max alone...especially when that music out there hasn't stopped. But right now, it feels like...maybe it has less of a hold on them. Whatever they say now...they would have said anyway.
Eventually, he pulls back, and disappears into the hallway. For what it's worth, Max's ears should pick up the sounds of Basil walking quickly to the bathroom, rummaging around, grabbing as much as he can carry before he comes back. Clean towels, gauze, disinfectant, painkillers...Fugo really makes sure this place stays well stocked in that regard.
Basil...sort of just dumps it all onto his rug, because what else can you do, and goes for the gauze first. Now, he's no doctor, but he's been in Ryslig long enough where he's had to doctor himself every so often, or he's seen other people do it, or he's been to the clinic to have it done to him. He's not unfamiliar, and he doesn't expect Max to do this by herself.]
Can...can you show me where all you got hurt?
cw: gore, corpse desecration????
Date: 2023-05-06 08:58 pm (UTC)It's...so hard, not to think that way. Even with all the evidence to the contrary. It's so hard to keep the anger in her from bubbling over and burning those who are just trying to help.
So all Max does is nod. It's okay. She knows he'll come back. (She knows, right?) She knows, he's not leaving her. Max simply nods, watching him silently and stretching out her legs. Once he's gone, she leans her head back on the side of his bed and closes her eyes. The violin's still screeching in her ears, and she murmurs, ] I still don't understand...why anyone's this nice to me.
[ Just to let it out. Just a little. Just so she doesn't keep spilling how utterly weak she always is.
Her ears twitch as the soft sounds of Basil's footsteps grow slightly fainter. As she can hear the clattering of cabinet doors, the gathering of supplies. Only when those footsteps get louder, as he returns to the room, does Max open her eyes again. She tries to manage a little grateful smile, but it falls flat. ]
Uh... Here... [ She reaches down to roll up her jeans, a lot easier now that they're not soaked.
What he'll see are a collection of bites, some shallow, some incredibly deep, which are where the jam-like blood and moss are leaking from. They look like they've come from something about the size of a medium-sized dog, but with many, many more sharp needle-like teeth.
The most unsettling part of it is...well, her body is dead. Pale and corpse-like. Therefore, the injuries all appear post-mortem, slightly off and wrong. They aren't red with inflammation, aren't actively bleeding, just dripping. With so many of them, it's not how they should be. ]
...Sorry. I know it's...really gross.
Omori spoilers, cw: gore/cannibalism mention
Date: 2023-05-06 11:04 pm (UTC)He's remembering what she looked like. How pale her skin had quickly become...and how her body had felt as they dragged her to the yard, still warm yet quickly growing cold and stiff in death.
Basil closes his eyes for a moment before quickly shaking his head to snap himself out of it, going for some antisceptic wipes from the first-aid kid first.]
I-it's okay. You can't help it.
[He doubts antisceptic will do much for her when her body is already dead- can she get infections anymore?- but what feels more important right now is cleaning the wounds of what they're oozing, whether it's actually blood, or a mossy slurry. He's just glad for her sake that his hands are still a bit warm as he moves to press one of the wipes to her skin, trying to clean the areas first as best he can.]
It might sting a bit, so stop me if it hurts too bad...b-but I want to get some of this stuff out before I wrap it.
cw: cannibalism, corpse decay mentions
Date: 2023-05-07 03:52 am (UTC)Still, she nods as he gathers up...everything, quietly assuring him, ] Don't worry about it too much. I, uh...think that's just how it looks in there when it's... When I've gotta eat something...fresh.
[ Max hates to say it like that. But that's what her body looked like the first time she had to eat human meat. This is what it felt like, stiff and pained, like the semblance of being even something halfway to living no longer had to be maintained. The facade was over, and she would stiffen and stop moving and decay. That's what this is. She's decaying. ]
Just- make sure the...um, "bleeding" stops. Then clean, then disinfect, then bandage. [ Oh... Max adds, ] Sorry. It's not that I don't think you know what you're doing, I've just- I've done this a lot.
cw: corpse decay
Date: 2023-05-07 04:25 am (UTC)[He'd rather be coached through how to do it right than make the attempt and just make it worse.
Basil doesn't like thinking about that either, but the timelines match up. Basil still probably has some weeks to go before he has to worry about feeding again, but Max...it's coming up on that time for her. He wonders what she might look like, now, if she had gotten to eat something before. Would her wounds look this dessicated? Would everything still be oozing sludgy moss, or would it be more like blood, even though her body no longer pumps it through her veins?
It's all idle thinking, pointless speculation as Basil works and tries to stay his hands from shaking too much. Wait until the wounds stop...oozing. Clean, disinfect, bandage...the former takes less time than normal, likely because they'd been sitting there for some time, giving her wounds more opportunity to just sort of fester and "bleed" until there was nothing left to escape. Only then does Basil feel confident in cleaning the wounds, but god, it's still hard.
But he does it anyway, because it's for Max.
For a while, he works in silence. It feels like there's been so much talking, so much noise, that it's nice to just...exist for a moment, even if the music still overpowers all. It's not music Basil wants to hear right now, because the violin keeps trying to twist into something else, a meandering waltz instead of a jaunty riff.]
I'm sorry this happened to you.
[Basil finally whispers, knowing there's nothing he could have done even if he were in his right mind at the time. Honestly, if he'd followed Max out there, there's a chance he would have just become another victim she was trying to save.]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-07 08:30 am (UTC)She's always done this for herself.
There are extreme exceptions, such as after narrowing escaping Vecna the first time, or when she got caught in a blast in Felfri—but barring those or particularly horrible monster changes, Max hasn't let anyone dress her wounds. Or, perhaps rather—
There hadn't been anyone who would, until she got so used to doing it herself that she pushed those who came along away.
A chilly Something runs up her spine; it reminds her of Billy, of a quiet question in a quiet kitchen, her metaphorical outstretched hand that he slapped away.
Max watches a Basil the whole time. She doesn't take her eyes off him, in fear that if she looks somewhere else, her own ghosts will have moved in with his. ]
I was- it was my own fault. I thought... I got cocky. Like, since I don't need to breathe, or...since I had something to block out the music... [ Had. Very lightly she shakes her head. ] It was stupid.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-08 02:27 am (UTC)What he does realize though, as she explains...is that she'd tried to go into the water, thinking she could just stay under, and...
...oh.]
Max...
[Basil breathes her name quietly, but it isn't judgemental or chiding. It's just...worried for her, even though she's mostly okay now. She really...she could have died out there. Died died. He knows even undead monsters, even though they're undead, aren't safe from death here.]
cw: drowning adjacent descriptions
Date: 2023-05-09 01:36 am (UTC)[ She doesn't break off because she's lying or anything like that, no pain. Nor is it because she doesn't know what to say. It's because she's very aware, without them she would have died, from the fish tearing her apart or... Or maybe it'd be worse to just be down there. Maybe it wouldn't kill her, but it'd make her wish she was dead.
Truth be told, the very realization frightens her, and she wraps her arms around herself. She wishes she had her music. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 02:33 am (UTC)So when Max curls up a little, Basil scoots a touch closer to her as he finally starts to wrap the worst of her wounds.]
Can...can we get you another walkman? M...maybe we could ask Mana...I wouldn't mind letting you have some of my coins, I really don't need them...
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 07:53 am (UTC)I-I don't need to ask her. ...Well, maybe for better-fitting headphones, but... They probably have replacements at, uh...the mall.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-10 01:25 am (UTC)[Or even. Existed, really, but we all know Basil doesn't get out much. It's at least relieving to know it won't be hard to replace, yet...
Something about the way Max said that, her tone...Basil's ears droop a little.]
You don't...sound like you really want to go.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-10 08:34 am (UTC)That's 'cause I don't? [ It's only a question in that she's not used to saying it so easily. She can't fight the song anymore, not even enough to make it tickle if she tries. ] Hawkins got one, last summer, and, it was the coolest thing in the world, 'cause it was the sticks, otherwise—but there were crazy things happening, and— and it's where my brother died.
[ Hot shame sits inside her. It's doing a good job of hurting where the song won't. ]
I know it sounds— but- every time I've even gotten close, it just...felt like being back there, and...
[ She doesn't know what else to say. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-10 10:37 pm (UTC)Instead, he shakes his head a little, dropping his gaze so Max doesn't feel like he's staring at her in the dark, gently tugging the gauze so it's wrapped tight enough around her legs before taping it in place.]
N-no...I understand. I...I haven't been back to Sunny's house in a long time.
[He's not sure how he would feel if he had to for any reason. He just...couldn't. And it's a huge reason as to why Sunny and his mother are moving in the first place.]
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...bring it up.
cw: drowning, suicide mentions
Date: 2023-05-11 02:29 am (UTC)But, you wanted to know, so, the thing just- put it all out there.
[ No, does she sound bitter. She— ]
I'm not- mad at you, for the record, okay, I mean it, I just- hate this.
[ It's better than being compelled to drown herself. But, like, ultimately not much. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-11 04:21 pm (UTC)[Like bottom line, this? All of this? This is the worst thing the peninsula has ever done to him, bar none. You'd think it wouldn't compare to actually killing someone, but there it is.
But that's something Basil will remember for the future, if nothing else. He doesn't want to be insensitive, or pushy...but he does feel bad about it regardless. Is Max not allowed to enjoy anything in this world without a reminder of the awful things from her past coming back to haunt her?
He'll, at the very least, let that subject pass into silence as he finishes wrapping the worst of the gaping wounds on her legs, leaving him with just the more shallow scrapes and cuts. These are more easily dealt with, since this is what Basil is used to patching up from his days getting pushed around on the playground.]
...h-how are you feeling now? I don't want to miss anything.
[It'd be his luck for Max to be hiding, like, a massive gash on her back he missed or something.]
cw: postmortem decay
Date: 2023-05-11 11:08 pm (UTC)It's not like she doesn't know it's a little ridiculous to be this controlled by her past—at least, ridiculous in her own eyes. It's not even Starcourt. Not even the actual place. That's not even still standing. Maybe that's why she hasn't been able to take a single step past this, though; it was gone with Billy, a result of the coverup. No one's even allowed around its ruins, which is hardly a way to process the shit that happened there.
So. A mall that seems so similar, in appearance and feeling—going near there freezes her in place. Just like she's watching Billy die again, not a single step taken. ]
Better. [ She's surprised that that's the truth. But she feels it and she looks it. With the bandages holding in what passes for blood in her body and Basil's steady heat, Max looks less like a waterlogged corpse—face not sunken, skin not sagging. The normal amount of pale, mostly.
However... ] I...still don't know if I can walk, though. My legs are, uh... They're stiff.
[ It's not just her legs. Her arms feel it too, like her muscles are tensing up, permanently. ]
I think, ummm. I need...to eat something. It won't...heal, if I don't.
cw: cannibalism
Date: 2023-05-12 12:27 am (UTC)But with the fixing of one problem arises another. Max...needs to feed. And while Basil knows good and well they have food here that they can eat, be it dried or packaged raw...it's not going to be enough for her.
It needs to be warm. Fresh.
Basil stands there in the middle of the room, the scales along his shoulders and arms suddenly rising a few centimeters off his skin. The same goes for the ones that make up his "hair", making him seem a little taller, a little larger. The spikes on his tail rise, they tremble. And as the violin sings in his chest, he's unable to stop himself from blurting the thought roiling around in his head like a snake.]
I...c...can hunt for you.
[He doesn't want to. Every cell of his body screams no. But his instincts to hunt are already piqued. He can feel it being urged along with the music making his head feel heavy.]
no subject
Date: 2023-05-12 02:13 am (UTC)No. B-Basil, no, I can't make you do that for me.
[ But she genuinely can't stop him. She's too weak, stuck with a dead body that's somehow getting deader. ]
cw: cannibalism cont
Date: 2023-05-12 04:28 am (UTC)This...is different.]
W-what we have here...isn't going to be enough.
[It will help in the moment, but Basil doubts it would give her the strength to walk again. The thought of waiting for someone else- someone older, stronger than both of them- to hunt in their stead...it feels like it will be too late, by then.]
And...it wouldn't just be for you.
[...
He has to feed too. Eventually.
Maybe putting them both on the same schedule, so they could share in that respect...]
cw: cannibalism cont, suicidal imagery
Date: 2023-05-12 08:20 pm (UTC)She opens her mouth to protest, that it'd be a start. That at least it could get her to the soup kitchen, maybe, or something like that. But then Basil presents the checkmate to his argument, and her stomach drops. ]
No... [ Weak and small, like she hates feeling. Wouldn't she be such a hypocrite for arguing, after what she'd said herself to Fugo? That if she's going to be living- existing like this, she should have a part in the acquisition of food. Of...meat.
Why wouldn't it apply to Basil too?
A stiff arm reaches up to- something. Hold her drooping head up, wrap around herself in a half-hug, she's not sure, she just wants to move and prove that she doesn't need him to go out and kill someone for her (for the both of them).
But it hangs in the air. Half-reaching for him. ]
It's not fair. It's- it's not fair...for you to do that all alone.
Omori spoilers, cannibalism
Date: 2023-05-12 11:38 pm (UTC)There's one horrible truth that Basil knows is going to haunt him for the rest of his time as a Gargoyle, and that's the fact that he must hunt. Maybe he can get away with not hunting for every single "meal", but he'd already tried to ignore it before, and as a result had nearly killed Bakugo over it. Though there's a possibility that was just starvation taking hold...he doesn't want to think about the fact that it wasn't.
Even if he doesn't do this for Max, he will be forced to eventually. So, then...why waste the opportunity now, when he could be helping her? Helping both of them.
Just like how he helped Sunny. He stepped in, he took control where he could not.
Basil's lips tremble, his ears drooping low over his shoulders. He could very easily just leave now and get it over with, but it's the way Max reaches up towards him that causes him to stay.
...if she's not looking, she'll hear it first, the way his knees softly hit the wood floor as he falls back to them in front of her, leaning in to wrap his arms around Max's shoulders. He feels...sick. Numb, hollow...tears dripping silently down his muzzle as he squeezes her gently, her hair tickling the side of his face.]
I...I'm going to have to...whether I do it now, or later.
[He admits, though the way his voice cracks betrays his fear. He had been able to take over for Sunny because Sunny had been too catatonic to do anything on his own. He had no choice.
Max...she does. She can protest, and Basil doesn't want to leave her with no say whatsoever.]
...i-if...if you really don't want me to, then we can try to figure something else out. But I...would. For you.
corpse decaying, cannibalism
Date: 2023-05-13 07:40 am (UTC)He's right. She doesn't have enough time. If she'd eaten recently, maybe this wouldn't be the case. But the amount of damage her body's endured has taken its toll. ]
Basil... [ Her voice hitches, catching on his name. It's only because she's cried so much that she doesn't have any more tears to shed, but her eyes sting nevertheless.
And she leans her face into the crook of his neck, as she promises: ] N-next time... It won't be just you. F-for as long- as I can— I'm never gonna let you do something like this b-by yourself, ever, ever again.
[ It's as good of an okay as he's going to get. ]
cw: extreme cannibalism/blood/gore/disassociation
Date: 2023-05-13 10:46 pm (UTC)He's glad she can't see the look on his face right now, the way it tenses and becomes ugly, however brief. Maybe...if he pretends it's all a bad dream, it will be easier.
But of course, Basil knows that won't even be necessary. His instincts...they're strong enough that they will take over when the time comes.
Sniffing, Basil reluctantly draws away after a moment, just long enough to work a smile back onto his features as he pushes himself up to stand.]
I know. N-next time...we'll figure it out together.
[For right now, though...it's time for him to go. He already has an idea for the best way to go about this, seeing as how so many humans are already gathered at an unfortunately convenient location. Distracted, possibly already injured...he won't have to waste time trying to hunt someone down.
What Basil does take the time to do is pull his blanket off his bed, letting it fall around Max's shoulders so she'll be able to keep some semblance of warm while he's gone. Then, knowing he won't actually be able to keep going if he doesn't just...go, he tears his gaze away and leaves.
Leaving Max alone...her only company being the music, and the soft glow of a few bioluminescent flower petals that Basil's horns dropped as he left.
She will be here for several hours before Basil's return is heralded by the sound of his footsteps through the halls. Or, more specifically, the way he drags his feet, his talons scraping the wood as he slowly climbs the stairs to his room. He can't quite help how honestly horrific he must look as he emerges from the dark hallway, the glow of his horns casting a new, terrible light over him now. He is covered, absolutely drenched in blood and lake water. His entire face and snout are saturated, and the front of his overalls is stained a deep, almost blackened crimson. Every breath he takes brings with it a slight puff of smoke, blood occasionally dripping from his open mouth.
He barely remembers killing them. The spirit at the lake had done a wonderful job of hypnotizing all who came too near, and fortunately Basil had been too far gone, too smothered by instinct to fall victim. In the end, a human- nondescript- had been floundering in the edge of the water, still alive yet trying to push themselves in deeper despite their legs having been rendered useless by the fish ripping them to shreds deeper in. They would have died a miserable death from blood loss, leaving Basil's interference a mercy.
At least, that's what he'd been telling himself, begging himself to believe as his fangs sunk into their neck.
He carries in his arms strips of flesh ripped from the body, completely divorced from the corpse in such a way that he can only hope it looks less like what it is, and more like...well. What it is: raw, bloody meat. That's what he brings in, his eyes wide and tinged red, every scale on his body extended and rattling dully as he slowly sinks to his knees about a foot away from where he'd left her.]
H- Hee...here...
[He had almost thought about trying to torch it with his flames, wondering if that would make it easier and more palatable for Max, but...it's likely better this way. "Fresh" is the name of the game, after all.
As for Basil, he doesn't need it. He's had his fill, and feels simultaneously more alive and more miserable than ever.]
cw: hypnosis/domestic violence/euthanasia/lost time/dissociation/body horror/cannibalism
From:cw: extreme gore/cannibalism
From:cw: extreme gore/cannibalism, corpse decay descriptions
From:cw: extreme gore/cannibalism cont
From:cw: extreme gore/cannibalism cont
From:cw: extreme gore/cannibalism/disassociation
From:cw: corpse decay, mild cannibalism. how can cannibalism be mild.
From:HOW CAN CANNIBALISM BE MILD
From:cw: MILD CANNIBALISM BC WE'RE MENTIONING THAT SHE ATE PEOPLE BUT NOT BEING EXPLICIT ABT IT???? IDK
From:SHIT u right tho, Omori spoilers, cw: cannibalism
From: