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WELCOME 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.

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From:

zoomingupthathill

[ At first, Max tries to take strips of flesh a little too fast for her arms, as the groan under her movement. She lets out a few soft grunts as she fights against the stiffness of her body. Like whole entire slabs of muscle are dethawing or...something, and it almost burns. But soon, she brings piece of meat after piece of meat to her mouth, becoming a little more animated with each one, with about the worst table manners ever.

It stains her paw pads red as Basil's little hands.

For a Waldgeist, it seems meat is the ultimate cure-all.

It's most of the corpse fragments that Basil brought back that Max devours. Maybe she should've left some for later, but it tastes best when it's fresh, and she does it rarely enough that...

That it's hard for her to hold back or even concentrate. Truly as soon as she gets going, her mind goes so blank it's like the music can't even affect it anymore, as all that's there is the rich, warm meat. No place, no person, nothing but her meal.

Except. Midway through, her own skull tail, limp on the floor alongside her, slithers over Basil's, curled about the flower-like ending tip. It's not a conscious action at all, but when she slows, eyes wide and wet, she does not remove it. ]

You...s-saved me, [ Max's voice comes out in a croak of a whisper. The lower half of her face is stained in red, blood dripping from her fangs and eyes fully yellow instead of their cool blue.

Saying it out loud feels like it's going to break her heart. She really isn't used to it. People coming through for her. ]

From:

polarvoid

[Basil's floor is going to need a deep cleaning after all of this, and this is honestly not even the worst its seen after how he changed violently in here. It's the furthest thing from his mind currently as he sits next to Max, watching her as she eats her fill. It almost feels like a dream, like he's watching this happen from outside his body. Everything that happens in Ryslig is so absurd as to be unbelievable, yet at this point he's almost certain he's seen and been through it all. The trauma runs deep between them both, and he figures that if it ever went any deeper, they'd simply break.

At some later point, Basil will ask someone from the Palazzo to help break down the remainder of the corpse they couldn't finish, because between them there's still roughly a quarter of body mass left in one of Basil's many tunnels, mercifully kept dry from the elements and hidden from wild animals who could make their own meal of it. For now, his focus is on Max as she eats until her body finally seems to be slowly starting to get back to normal. Whatever counts as "normal" now, anyway.

Her words seem trivial, in the wake of things. Basil just sort of looks at her with his eyes half closed, yet still managing to seem so large in the darkness.]

I...I w-wasn't going to let anything happen to you.

[Everything is going to be okay.]

You're...you're one of my best friends. I can't lose you.

[He's lost everyone else. He can't do it again.]

From:

zoomingupthathill

[ It matters to her. The thought of what was happening to her... Limbs stiffening, body growing still. Slowly finding herself completely unable to move.

It terrifies her. It makes her think of the future that was left for her in Hawkins. It makes her think of the attic and her dwindling sensations. So it matters. More than anything, it matters.

She's still tired, and it shows when she tries to readjust her position. Her body's sore, her blood having settled at the lowest points of it, but she wants to lean closer to Basil. The blanket's kept her warm but it's nothing compared to feeling another person beside her. Her cold body settles, bloody hand grasping for bloody hand.

Softer, she repeats: ] Basil. You saved me.

[ She's not done with eating, just has finally slowed down. But she can take a moment to squeeze his hand and gaze at him, gratitude radiating from her. ]

Thank you. Thank you, for...for doing this for me.

Edited Date: 2023-05-21 03:45 am (UTC)

From:

polarvoid

[Basil's ears twitch, eyes flickering from the floor back up to Max when he feels her reaching for his hand. His hands are warm, as they always are. A little overly so, but thankfully not burning-hot. Warm, like a heat pack. It means that in contrast, Max's hand feels blistering cold to him, but...it's hard to be cold when you're so warm all the time. To that end, it doesn't bother him at all.

He lets her, and once their hands are joined, he'll carefully curl his claws over the back of her hand.]

Y-you're welcome.

[This time, he accepts her thanks, simply. It seems like the best thing to do.

His face feels warm, and he's not sure if it's from the blood still caked onto it, or the fact that he's blushing. He's just glad his scales hide it for the most part.]

I'll...I'll stay with you, okay? Until you're better...a-and all of this is over.

[Until it feels like they can exist as themselves again.]

From:

zoomingupthathill

[ At that moment, Max is overcome with a feeling she's only had for one person. A desire, and it's...

It stills her. It churns something in her stomach, as she realizes what it is, looking quietly at Basil who has done so much for her. Who she's heard so much about, the good and the bad, who has heard so much about her. Being like this, looking at each other, the intimacy reminds her of the Snow Ball.

It's stupid. Because this isn't the closest they've been. And her face is covered in dripping blood, and the blood between their hands oozes to the floor, but the first time she felt like this before it was in a junkyard on top of a broken down bus waiting to see her first monster—so it's par for the course, but she feels stupid, and it's stupid, and like she's betraying herself and—

Lucas...

She's frightened of it. The feeling. The desire. But she doesn't let go of Basil's hand, because that feels like it would be giving up. It doesn't show on her face, besides a few twitches of her lips and narrowing of her eyes, which she covers up with another bite of meat. ]

Mm- um, okay.

[ After everything that's happened... This sentiment shouldn't make her feel so good. But it does. She shouldn't be feeling this.

Maybe it's just the moment. She's not currently compelled to say anything about it, so—maybe it's just because she's tired, and he saved her, and the shock of almost dying again has her heart feeling like it's going to start again.

Max thinks maybe it's circumstance. Maybe, for now, she can just let it sit and not do anything about it, because she knows, for sure, that everyone would get hurt. ]

Yeah. I'd...really like that.

From:

polarvoid

[While Max is being hit with this feeling for perhaps the first time, Basil...has felt it for some time, just buried deep beneath his own insecurities, fears, and convictions that Max would hate him if she knew about all of the literal skeletons in his closet. But...it seems that his fears in that regard were unfounded, or at least they share in so much of their trauma that Max couldn't judge him for what he'd done even if she wanted to. Perhaps she never would, simply because...it's Basil.

It isn't the first time Basil has felt it. But the last time...was a long time ago. Back home, back when things were simpler, and easier...back when there wasn't this awful secret keeping them miles apart.

Basil...has to hope that nothing that terrible happens ever again. He feels like in this case, in Ryslig...it's not possible for anything to be as bad as the fact they literally have to kill innocent people to survive. So...perhaps there's no reason for him to think that way.

There's no reason for him to think it at all.

Max can probably hear the way Basil breathes quickly, still overwhelmed by what he's just so recently done, his body coursing with adrenaline and unable to calm down. He's wet, bloodied, and exhausted...but he's done what he set out to do. They should both he set now for the rest of this month, he has to hope...

He doesn't say anything else. He just sits there as she feeds, resting his head against her shoulder.]