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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. | ||||
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Date: 2023-07-21 05:15 am (UTC)What she can't explain—what she doesn't know the explanation for—is that the need to see Basil was compounded by the Dyster ghost. It left her with an incredible feeling of hunger, comparable to her normal state as a Waldgeist, and an unbearable emotional emptiness. Her heart convinced that everything and everyone was lost to her. Max doesn't understand it, just knew that all of a sudden she had to go, had to leave, and...
And see Basil.
Even as she's terrified that she'll burn him up just by touch. Terrified that the predator in her will look at the prey animal that he is and want to rip him apart.
Neither happens. The sight, feel, the very scent of him at least calms her enough to breathe. ]
...You'll...go with me? [ Of course. Of course, it's barely a question, but...an expression of relief. ] Thank you- I'm sorry, I- I really wanted to...to hold on, but.
[ A shake of her head, fins, shrinking down. ]
cw: cannibalism mention/past self harm
Date: 2023-07-21 06:10 am (UTC)How could he turn her away now, after all of that?
He shakes his head a little, not quite cutting her off but instead reaffirming what he's already implied.]
There's no way I'd make you go by yourself.
[This isn't even a question. Of course, he doesn't yet realize just how he's going to feel once they actually get out there and find themselves a target. This is going to be uncharted territory for Basil. He has never once felt hunger without the urge and drive to kill accompanying it. It's really...one of the main reasons he's been able to go through with any of it at all.]
A-and...don't try to hold on. Not when you start feeling like this. ...please, trust me.
[He will never forget the way he felt, when he attacked Bakugo. When the Harpy had to force some of his own flesh on Basil just to get him to stop rampaging.
That's a feeling Basil wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. Certainly not Max.]
cw: cannibalism in multiple forms (we'll come back to this cw later)
Date: 2023-07-21 10:32 pm (UTC)It's even more at the forefront, being around Basil, because she's actively keeping something secret.
Right now, however, she's too focused on how much she wants to tear something apart with her claws. How much she wants to tear into something. How much...she wants to... She doesn't know, like...drain...someone... She's read over and over about energy feeders, which Fae are, but she can't conceptualize it. At least fucking cannibalism is easy to comprehend, there's a thousand horror stories, she's seen The Hills Have Eyes at a horrendously young age, she understands the very simple mouth eat flesh.
Her claws, right now, quivering, hold Basil's, and she doesn't want to let go. But she also doesn't want to hurt him. She-
She ends up going in circles, just nodding along with him and not fighting on it. ]
How- how soon, can you...?
cw: omori spoilers
Date: 2023-07-22 01:05 am (UTC)No amount of asking for help, or stalling this by eating something hunted for them, is going to work in this case. He knows how it feels to need to rip into something alive, and it's......
Basil looks down for a moment, at the way Max is gripping his hands and how they shake, much like his own had when he first changed into a Waldgeist. Amazingly, he isn't shaking right now. Because he's settling into a very grimly familiar mindset, one that took him over in a moment of crisis four years ago.
He has to take control here. He will help her, just like he helped him.]
Right now. We need to go.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-22 03:25 am (UTC)She doesn't want to feel excited about this. It hurts to. Like poisonous anticipation.
And then she nods, and pulls Basil along by the hand, down the hall, heading for the stairs. ]
It's- gonna be kind of weird this time— [ She says, as if any time she's accompanied him on his hunts has been not weird. ] I have these things, rings of mushrooms, and- we have to...get someone to them, before I can...finish it. At least, that's how Faeries work.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-23 01:10 am (UTC)The last thing he wants is for her to wind up stuck the same way he'd been. Starving, confused...unable to control himself.
So he lets Max lead him from his room, the door remaining ajar as they step through the hallway. Basil's footsteps feel painfully loud to his own ears compared to normal, rhythmically hollow thunks of wood like someone walking with a cane.]
We can do that.
[If it's what Max needs, then they have to. Whether it be through coercion, or fear, or even just chasing someone into it...he supposes he'll understand and have a better idea once he actually sees one of Max's rings for himself.]
It'll have to be somewhere wooded, then...
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Date: 2023-07-24 03:20 am (UTC)She noticeably slows, taking care as they descend the staircase. Her hand still shakes in his. ]
Maybe- one of the parks? If... I think I read something about the rings able to like...teleport, so...we could get there. Fast.
[ Fast. It has to be fast.
It feels weird to volunteer a place in Bavan itself, not just on the outskirts. It's easier to bring what isn't eaten back if the hunt happens further out. Hell, it's weird not to be heading for her car, as usually she parks it a distance away, so they can wrap up the leftovers and shove them in the trunk.
But even though Max is part Gargoyle, this isn't like Basil hunts. It can't be. She knows it in her bones, even though she doesn't know what it will look like. ]
cw: cannibalism/gore description
Date: 2023-07-24 03:43 am (UTC)It hadn't been pretty. What little details he does recall have stuck vividly in his mind. The way his chosen prey seemed to stand out like a cut-out comic panel against the broken-up, staggered lights dotted all along the city streets. Those lights lit up their bloodied skin in almost neon relief, leaving Basil himself half shrouded in darkness as he tore them limb from limb near effortlessly. It wasn't something he should have been able to do, but he could do it...without question, without thinking.
He'd feasted on some hapless stranger's charred flesh until he could handle no more, and to this day he wonders if it would have felt different had he chosen someone different. He's chosen to take that life, and that...wasn't something you could undo.
Back to the present, Basil tries to keep his focus on Max, who clearly isn't doing well. She's still shaking beside him as they very slowly make their way down the stairs one at a time, with Basil having to take extra care to make sure his feet don't slip out from underneath him.]
That...that could work.
[He doesn't know how they work, exactly, but if it's some kind of monster magic then it's going to be innate. Max may know how to already, and she just doesn't realize it because she hasn't actually tried yet.]
I can- [Ah. His throat is dry. But it's never not dry, like this, and it makes every plant on his body strain in frustration.] -I...I can find somebody to lure, if there's nobody already there.
[So Max doesn't have to make that choice.]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 04:03 am (UTC)For obvious reasons, he hasn't spoken of it. And Max hasn't asked, not wanting to push or pry. Besides the hunt he did specifically for her...she's been there for each one after. If and only if he wants to tell her, he can. They've had enough of their traumas and secrets dredged up by this place.
Her dragon feet touchdown on hardwood floor just as Basil suggests...that. And Max tightens her grip on his hand. ]
...I can't ask you to do that.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 04:18 am (UTC)As they step off the staircase onto the main floor, Basil's ears flick up and forward when he feels Max change her grip on his hand. He had a feeling she might say that...and really, it's hard to argue. There's definitely a part of him that wants to concede immediately and let Max deal with it, while the side of him that's trying to keep the burden off her wants anything but.]
I know. But...one of us has to, right?
[And if that's true, then why not let it be him? He's already done it so many times now.
Even before coming here.]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 04:38 am (UTC)I-I can...do some...weird hypnosis thing, I...think. I mean, in theory.
[ She hasn't tried any of her Fae powers, essentially. Not a single one. Which is...probably bad. ]
Let me try, okay? And...if it starts going...bad, then...
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 04:46 am (UTC)Basil sighs, realizing that he's probably not going to be able to convince Max otherwise on this one. But there's only so much he wants to press her on right now, so...he inclines his head, ears drooping a little.]
Okay. You can try.
[If it works, then maybe this will be a bit more painless than the alternative. After all, Basil had no such powers as a Gargoyle. The best he could hope for was to make a death as quick and painless as possible...but if someone could be hypnotized, unaware of what was going on...
Well. He won't think too hard about it now.]
Let's just get there first...for now.
cw: mild suicidal ideation
Date: 2023-07-24 05:13 am (UTC)She pulls him along. She'll have to do this. She does not want to force him to do this. She can't.
All the while, Max snaps her mouth shut, because she's terrified she'll blurt out something else, something too vulnerable and too soft and too honest, something like i would rather die again than make you do that, which is dangerously dangling on the tip of her forked tongue.
Her faerie ring is off to the side of the Palazzo, around where the halfpipe Max started and still has not completed sits under a tarp. It really is just a ring of mushrooms, oddly conspicuous on the ground. ]
Okay, uh. I've never done this before, so... Hold on tight.
[ Like she'd even let him let go in the first place.
Max steps into the faerie ring, leading Basil with her, and after a few hazy seconds—
They're standing near Libeccio, in the city itself. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 05:39 am (UTC)Still, they both move to stand within the ring, and for a brief moment nothing seems to happen.
Then, Basil blinks, and they're in a new location entirely. This is enough to actually startle him into taking a reflexive breath, wobbling for a second on precarious legs before he manages to catch himself to stay upright, ears perked high by his antlers as he looks ahead at Libeccio in the distance.]
W-woah...
[Max...was not kidding when she said she could teleport.]
cw: homicidal ideation as per hunting instincts
Date: 2023-07-24 06:21 am (UTC)Easy, easy.
[ Even though she's not exactly quick on her feet either...it's hard to feel anything but the bloodlust inside her. Gosh, he's so close, close enough that she could clamp her jaws around his neck—
Okay. Now she feels woozy. And now, only now, does she let go of Basil's hand. ]
P- park, there's- one shouldn't be too far, I- I think?
[ She's turned around and slightly panicked. Worried that if this is how she's reacting to another monster, that if she sees any human, it'll be just like that day by the lake, and she'll strip someone to the bone. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 06:34 am (UTC)Once they're both steady and Max has let his hand go, Basil takes the iniative to see where they are. He recognizes Libeccio, obviously, which means he can easily map out a path straight to the park from here.]
I know which way to go. Follow me, okay?
[It would be a lot easier if they could both fly, but their positions have been reversed as far as that goes. Hoofing it will just have to do.]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 08:37 am (UTC)She simply nods, jaws clamped shut, and follows Basil. She's too worried to even speak now. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-25 01:05 am (UTC)It's comforting, in that way, just as much as it feels wrong to be going there for this purpose. He doesn't allow himself to falter though, not slowing even as the park entrance comes into view.]
cw: cannibalism discussions, ethical consumption under cannibalism
Date: 2023-07-25 04:08 am (UTC)There are a few factors there, it's night, it's a fog night, specifically—but when they arrive at the park and Max can't smell any humans around, nor see or hear any sign of conflict. ]
...Crap. [ She fiddles. Claws tapping and curling, eyes on the ground— ] Okay. Okay, I can- here, um.
[ Her shaking hands extend, and the mouth on her collarbone tenses. After a moment, a perfect ring of mushrooms sprouts, just in front of them, a little into the park. ]
Just have to get s- someone here, and it's fine. So- so, I'll see if I can find...someone nearby.
[ They tend to go for criminals. "Criminals," a shorthand for—a person causing trouble. Max lays awake sometimes thinking about it, wondering if the times they've gone on hunts, few as they have been, they've targeted someone in the midst of a misunderstanding.
It's ultimately better for her than going after whoever's close. Whoever's nearby, like near the lake. If she can pretend, maybe...
It sucks to justify it. But it's normal for her thoughts to go in that direction. So it might as well suck a little goddamn less, and if she sees some asshole harassing a woman on the street, someone pulling a gun on some unassuming people—she'll go for it.
...They'll go for it. ]
That sounds- does that sound right?
[ Like a hamster running in a wheel, Max's mind goes in circles. She's starved, not for food, but for the violence that goes hand-in-hand with it. ]
ITS OKAY I feel u
Date: 2023-07-25 04:44 am (UTC)And besides, Basil has felt like a murderer for a solid fourth of his life, now. It’s only up from there.
As Max falters once she’s made the ring, Basil realizes with a sinking feeling what issue they’re having. It’s not like many locals visit the park this time of night.]
Yeah. Do…should I stay here?
[He could come with her, but two monsters traveling together seems suspicious. At the very least, he could hang back potentially and keep watch…]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-25 06:32 am (UTC)They'll hear. [ And she gestures quickly at his tree-like feet. ] And they'll probably figure, if they see two of us...
[ They're having the same thought processes. Even if Max is having a hard time voicing hers. ]
...But... I mean, if you hang back, maybe...
[ Ultimately, she still...really doesn't want to be alone. She's not sure if she trusts herself. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-26 01:26 am (UTC)Basil wants nothing more than for this to be easy, for Max, even though he knows it's not possible for it to be.]
I'll stay right near the park entrance. If you need help...I'll be able to hear you if you call for me, like this.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-26 06:01 am (UTC)Max nods with a jerky kind of motion. ]
Right. Yeah. If something's- if I need to, I can just...call your name.
[ She wants to do or say something else. Doesn't want to leave it on that, should give him something else because she knows he must be freaking out too, but—
But Max has to hunt. She has to.
So. Very quickly, she turns and leaves the part, claws lightly clacking on the concrete but generally quieter than hooves or Basil's current set up. And Max does what girls are not advised to do, in general, she wanders the dark city streets at night.
That never scared her when she lived in San Diego. Okay, she didn't go out of her way to—but she's walked on the beach under the pier, stayed out until the sun had long gone down, walked home with fireflies as her only light. It's never scared her before, yet now...
Now, what she fears isn't some kind of external threat. It isn't muggers or perverts or anything like that—it's that she may come across a perfectly innocent person and snap.
For that reason, she's remarkably careful. Remarkably selective on where she walks. Jaw clenched tight, Max finds herself going down the nearest alleyways she can find, fully disregarding every single city lecture she's ever sat through. ]
Come out, come out...wherever you are... [ Max murmurs under her breath. Involuntarily, her tongue swipes across her muzzle as she starts weaving through the alleys.
From Basil's perspective, almost ten minutes have passed, and Max hasn't returned. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-26 11:23 pm (UTC)Besides, you're in danger during the day, too. It often matters little for the people here, even when they try to be careful.
He's diligent, standing at the park entrance with his hands together, nervously twisting his fingers as he occasionally looks up and down the street to see if anybody is coming. Max, someone else...but there's nothing.
Ten whole minutes of nothing.
Basil starts to pace, his wooden feet clomping against the sidewalk as he goes. Another moment passes. Then another...]
Oh, Maaaax....where are you?
cw: violence + threats against teenagers, mild unreality
Date: 2023-07-27 07:09 am (UTC)That's the complicated part. But at least this time, she's aware as a human foolishly approaches her, this one with a knife. He gets a small slash across the membrane of the wing attacked to the arm reaching for him—slashing him across the chest. It isn't foolish in motive, as his goal is to stop the trance Max has his uppity, fast-talking leader caught in. The trance... The trance, that Max is so completely unprepared for. Has never once attempted. Wait, rewind, it's—
It would be very noble to say Max found a trio of twentysomethings menacing some innocent kid or a lady in the wrong part of town. But no, they're just loitering, lingering, talking big and talking shit. One of them catches the light reflecting off the bits of her body that are not scales, are instead a pastel carapace, and yes, he does shoot off some charged things that Max will not repeat, and he does start towards her with a threat to skin her like the beast she is—
But even before that. The moment she lays eyes on them, a bunch of assholes who're sneering and wearing too much denim, hair a little too curly and eyes a little too eccentric but sleepy, smile a little too tight, it's a foregone conclusion. One of these men is going to be who she hunts tonight. Before the threats. Before the trance. Before one nicks a wing. Before the other throws a metal trash can at her that she slaps back with her tail. Before she's walking backwards, barely able to keep track of the lackeys as her whole attention and focus is on this guy with dirty blonde hair and a bad attitude, who reminds her in so many superficial fucking ways of the brother she lost July 4th, 1985, at Starcourt Mall.
Time continues to stretch on. Until there's a noise, a soft one normally, but for Basil's ears...? Well.
It's the clatter of two sets of footsteps, distant but quickly approaching, and notable in how quickly. They almost cover up the slower ones, one with the same general weight and sound—of shoes on concrete, step, step, step—and the other scratchier and heavier—scales, claws, clack, clack, clack—that are closer, down the hall, down a nearby alley.
They don't cover up the small gasp, though. Nor the heavy breathing, or the wince, all familiar in voice.
Max backs out of an alley, eyes wide by force and watering. She looks dazed but determined, like her very hold on her sense of self is floating away. Red, living blood runs from a small cut on her left Gargoyle wing, and she's gritting her teeth. Both sets of teeth, clenched to a soundless snarl, save for her struggles.
She's been doing this for nearly six minutes, all the while being assailed and distracted, and for a first time with no practice... That is, about, her limit. ]
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From:cw: the cannibalism (traditional!), gore + death
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