MISSION 011 Sidelogs

[etrayamods]

WHO: Individual sign ups for mission 011
WHEN: September 19th - October 3rd
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: Mod-driven threads!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Psychological horror, hallucinations, paranoia, body horror, violence, death imagery, loss of autonomy, existential horror. Mother thread will have parental abuse to a child (physical, emotional, and verbal) as well as neglect. PATHOS thread will have severe dissociation and assisted suicide.

Please indicate in the subject line if you're specifically looking for a mod response to a tag. A simple o7 will do! Otherwise I will use my judgment about where to pop in.

Comments

[brat]

I know. ( that her sense of what is right and wrong may not match up to theirs. that she would find reward in punishing them as giving them reason not to repeat mistakes would be reward enough. it's not what he means. but that's irrelevant.

the sketch of damian and maelle is almost complete, but mother is still just a rough outline. )

We'll get out.

[maellum]

[Maelle looks down at the sketch. Maybe when he grows up he'll be an artist. Mother would like that.

Not that it matters. She won't see it. Not if Maelle has anything to do about it.]

... but, if you're up there, and there's the opportunity for you to get out... even if I'm there too, or something happens...

You take it, okay?

[He says he'd come back for her but maybe there won't be a point it. Locked away so somewhere worse. Injured. At least one of them would be out. A win for Maelle either way.]

[brat]

No. It's all of us or none of us.

( he won't leave someone else behind solely for his own benefit, that's not who damian is. and the statement is enough for him to put down the paper and refocus on maelle herself, rather than what they are trying to do to impress mother. )

I won't leave you.

[maellum]

[Maelle looks at him with a tired smile, pencil resting lazily against the paper.]

Hey. I'm older than you. Putting you first is what I'm supposed to do, yeah?

[Without hesitation. But it is nice to at least hear him say he won't leave her, even if he doesn't keep to that. She means it: him, first.]

[brat]

You wouldn't put a newborn before yourself, a newborn has little to no chance of survival on their own.

( it's more statement than anything, followed up with a roll of his eyes. )

And you are barely older than me, it hardly counts for anything.

[maellum]

[Brat.]

Six years isn't barely. Please.

[She gives him a nudge.]

You know what I mean.

[Mother should be looking out for their best interests. In her eyes, maybe she is. Maelle, however, disagrees. It's up to her and she wishes there were some way to get them out without involving Damian. It doesn't matter how strong or quick or intelligent he is: he's still just a boy.]

[brat]

It's approximately half the time I have been alive, I am calling it 'barely'.

( six years is a significant amount of training for someone of damian's caliber, but he recognizes that maelle is - well. there are very few who have experienced childhood in a similar manner to damian. although both he and maelle are down here. . .

something isn't connecting, but it's nothing that he needs to piece together currently. )

You and I went into this together, and we will get out of it together.

[maellum]

Yeah. We deserve... more than this. This isn't right.

[Right and wrong are things taught by parents. Mother has shown them that they must be obedient, but the rest? Maelle can't name where it came from, but she knows they can't love their whole lives beneath her feet.]

That makes sense to you, doesn't it? This isn't where we belong.

[brat]

I don't know.

( it's - significantly less sure of himself than damian frequently sounds, at least. he lifts his shoulders in a shrug, considering, )

It doesn't feel all that. . . off.

[maellum]

[What a worrying thing to hear when they're plotting their escape. Maelle's lips part, surprised, as she tries to find what to say.]

... well, you're the favorite.

[As if it's made his prison any more tolerable.]

And younger. You haven't dealt with this as long as... [As long as... her? No, that doesn't seem right] As long as me.

[brat]

You keep calling me the favorite as if that is a compliment. Even if I was, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

( not that he believes he is regardless. but he's pushing himself up to his feet, leaving the sketch behind. )

More expectations just means more ways one could fail.

[maellum]

You'll just have to settle with being my favorite without any expectations.

[It's partly a joke and partly... something that should be true, right? The list of people in her world is small. Damian would be the clear winner.

She sighs and scribbles aimlessly on her paper, a little darker from pressure. Abstract tree branches.]

[brat]

I don't like you that much.

( it's a poor defense, given how it's said with his face scrunched up like a particularly irritated cat. affection is gross. )

[maellum]

Didn't say anything about you liking me, did I?

[She doesn't care. She smiles his way before looking down at her page. Mother will know if she didn't try. Art has never really been an interest of hers, though...]

[brat]

( that just makes it even worse. she smiles, and damian glares as if that will offset the emotion she is feeling toward him. contemplates, too, how to best. . . handle this situation, despite also realizing that there is nothing that he can truly do about it.

he settles for reaching out a hand to shove against her shoulder instead. it isn't a light push, but it isn't a particularly hard one either. )

⏩

[maellum]

[Mother allows Damian upstairs, as planned, and Maelle feels sick to her stomach with worry. Damian is confident, but no warnings of don't be too cocky seem to sink in, and so all Maelle can do is pace back and forth and hope that he's okay. The worry grows and grows and grows until she glances to the small windows and confirms that so much time has passed without a sound, without... anything. It could be this house, or it could be Mother, or it could be that everything is fine and Damian is just... waiting.

Still, Maelle can't help herself. She usually stays away from the stairs to the door, not wanting to be caught doing anything that might upset Mother, but up she goes, stepping around the spots that creak.

She presses her ear to the door and tries to listen for anything. Not that she can do anything, trapped behind it, but she can't just do nothing.]

[brat]

( getting upstairs isn't the hard part.

she had offered it to them, after all. offered them the world outside of the basement in exchange for impressing her, and they had aimed for just that - but only for one of them, and they both knew damian had a better chance of finding a way for them both out should he be able to get upstairs. it isn't that maelle is incapable, she is plenty clever, but damian is smaller.

quieter. more used to sneaking, even if he couldn't ascertain why just yet.

but he goes upstairs, and sees - nothing. the house is empty, decrepit. but there's something about mother that draws in his attention. she tells him she loves him, how she worries for him, and it feels - wrong, but wanted all the same. like something he's been aching for longer than he would know how to put into words.

it takes a fair amount of time - days, possibly weeks, he couldn't place it - as the sickness gets hold of him, as he begins noticing that something is wrong with her, that he seems to remember why he had come up here to begin with. the key is easy enough to spot around her neck, as she coos softly and leans over him to run bony fingers through his hair as he lays in bed.

it's pure resolve that has him able to climb out of bed, limbs weakened and body full of led, quietly making his way from the dust-covered room upstairs down to the basement door where he knows maelle is waiting. mother had left his room some time ago, he assumes it's safe enough, given the amount of time before her taking leave for the night and her reappearances in the morning.

the key gets slotted into the lock, and damian quietly turns it enough to unlock the door. carefully grabs hold of the door and slowly pushes it open while leaning his weight against it. except maelle is right there, and he opts to drop down to ground on his knees in front of the door. lets her push it open the remaining way as he shoves the inside of his elbow up against his mouth, muffling a cough. )

[maellum]

[Maelle nearly falls backwards down the stairs when she hears the key in the door, worried Mother would find her eavesdropping. Worried to find Mother, and not Damian. But the way it opens is not the way Mother would, with absolute ownership of anything and everything in this space, and so when she hesitantly pushes it the rest of the way to see Damian, it's both a relief and a punch to the gut.

He's here. He kept his promise.

What does that mean happened?

The only sound she makes is a soft inhale of surprise, because there's something wrong with him. She just can't tell what, and she knows better than to make noise by asking. This is their chance. Their one and only chance.

But a hug is silent and quick and Maelle does so tightly.]

[brat]

( usually, this would be where damian grumbles and stiffens, acts as if he absolutely loathes the physical contact that is offered to him while also not quite pushing maelle away and allowing her to get away with touching him despite his discomfort. usually. but this isn't an ordinary scenario, and so instead, damian - raises a hand, pressing his palm against the back of her shoulder to gently return the hug. it lasts mere seconds, but it's something.

but getting out of here quietly is what they need to focus on. he muffles another cough into the curve of her shoulder, before shoving against her to get her off of him, gesturing instead behind him to the floors above as he pushes himself up to his feet unsteadily. )

[maellum]

[Maelle lets go, but her hand remains on his arm, unsure if she needs to steady him on his feet or not. She glances up and then around them, eyes wide. This isn't the comfortable and warm space she'd imagined, with sunlight pouring through the windows.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, is it?]

Let's go.

[She whispers, carefully stepping around him. They just have to make it to a door or window. That's all.]

[brat]

( he is in awful shape, but not incapable. weakened, yes. his limbs feel heavy, everything else feels - more. an illness, mother had called it, and it certainly feels like one. like a flu that has run it's course but refuses to end. he needs this to pass, but knows that it won't regardless of how long he stays in bed within the worn-down walls of their home. )

She isn't our mother. ( it's whispered just as quietly, as damian presses a hand against the wall to steady himself. ) She is - something else. Something darker.

[maellum]

[Maelle stays close, albeit a half-step ahead, a hand back to keep on Damian. She can't get past how neglected the house is when she was certain upstairs had to be so much better than their basement.]

Doesn't matter. We just have to leave. We'll never see her again.

[The front door, then. She nods in the direction they need to go, but she won't go any quicker than he can manage.]

[brat]

That's not what I meant.

( it's hissed between teeth, somewhere between irritation and an anger born from exhaustion. damian is slower to move than he'd like but still quicker than he has any right to be given how - drained his body feels. still, despite the irritation, despite his slow pace, he's using maelle's grip on him to direct her toward the way out. )

If it appears, do not let it catch you. Run.

[maellum]

Not this again.

[No matter the circumstances, she still has it in her to roll her eyes. There's a stubbornness shared between them that feels familiar, but it couldn't be from Mother.]

I'm only running if you're running with me.

[A part of her will forever feel guilty that he's been made so unwell, taken upstairs, out of her sight.]

[brat]

I did not say I wouldn't.

( it's grumbled, intent there but hidden under the need to be petulant. )

I will run, but if I fall behind, you -

( there's a noise that sounds similar to a chair dragging across hardwood floors that has damian's head jerking up, looking toward the second floor of the building as whatever it is gets itself up, and that dragging turns into distinct thuds against the flooring. his hand raises, shoving his palm up against maelle's mouth as damian stills, not even breathing while he waits to see what the thing does. )