[Ashley shakes her head. If they hadn't gotten into that mess with the wendigos, if they hadn't been thrown into Josh's fucked-up revenge scheme... just looking at Jess would've given her nightmares, probably.]
It's like... I dunno. It's like they picked up a different person, not Jess.
[It's deeply, deeply concerning. How much of her has been ripped away. He shakes his head, he's tried to understand this, any of this, give some REASON for it all happening. He can't. It's just a nightmare none of them will ever escape. ]
[Josh had suffered, and he hadn't done enough for him, and in doing so he lost his best friend forever. Over ten years of friendship torn apart in the space of one night. Josh had lost himself to the darkness, and he'll be damned if he'll let the same thing happen to Jess. ]
Or at least make it so she knows she's not alone in it all.
It won't happen. What she went through... even if we don't know the specifics, we all had run-ins with the wendigo. We all had to run and hide from them, and we all saw a lot of fucked up shit.
It's... it won't just be us going in blind to how she feels when we try to help her. We really can sympathize, so... that would help.
[He gives a long, slow exhale. An attempted release of tension, of the sick, horrible feeling in his stomach that things have been fucked up for them for the rest of their lives now. That there's no going back from any of this. ]
[This time, when Ashley reaches up, she does put her hands on his cheeks. She's not going to force him to look at her, but... it's contact, a comfort she's sure he needs right now.]
I am. We screwed up with a lot of things in the past, but we're different now. Nobody's going to let that happen again.
[He tenses, just for a moment. This is still so new, this closeness. He;s still coming to terms that it's happening. The panic only lasts a second, before he closes his eyes, leaning into it. Taking the strength he can from her. ]
[The barest hint of a smile crosses Ashley's face, and she lets the thumb of her unbloodied hand run across his cheek. Maybe it's a bit forward, a bit inappropriate, but... he needs this contact. This comfort. Awkwardness will just have to be shoved to the side for now.]
[That feels so nice. More to the point, it feels right. One of the few right things he's experienced in the last twenty four hours. He opens his eyes, offering a small smile. ]
[Maybe it's too forward. Inappropriate, even. The full scope of their trauma hasn't even really settled in completely yet. But that brief smile... it tugs at something inside of Ashley, and the desire - the need - to keep comforting Chris is just too much.]
... C'mere.
[Her hands move from his cheeks back to his shoulders, and with the gentlest tug - more than enough to resist or pull back from if he doesn't like it - pulls him towards her and down a little, so she can wrap him up in a hug.]
[He does, indeed, need to bend a little what with the awkward height difference and all, but that hug is more than welcome. It's something true, something solid. After a night of crap that should only exist in bad horror movies, he welcomes something he knows is real.
He returns the hug, giving her a gentle squeeze and taking a few, deep centring breaths. He doesn't know if they're going to be okay after all of this. Hell, he doesn't even know if they'll learn how to cope with it at all. But so long as he knows Ashley is safe, that she's alive, then not all is lost. There's still a glimmer of hope in an otherwise exceptionally shitty world.]
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[Ashley shakes her head. If they hadn't gotten into that mess with the wendigos, if they hadn't been thrown into Josh's fucked-up revenge scheme... just looking at Jess would've given her nightmares, probably.]
It's like... I dunno. It's like they picked up a different person, not Jess.
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[It's deeply, deeply concerning. How much of her has been ripped away. He shakes his head, he's tried to understand this, any of this, give some REASON for it all happening. He can't. It's just a nightmare none of them will ever escape. ]
What the hell did those things do to her.
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[Because the LAST thing Jess needs is to be reminded of is what happened to her.]
If that's one thing about our night up on that mountain remains a mystery... well. That's okay with me.
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[Josh had suffered, and he hadn't done enough for him, and in doing so he lost his best friend forever. Over ten years of friendship torn apart in the space of one night. Josh had lost himself to the darkness, and he'll be damned if he'll let the same thing happen to Jess. ]
Or at least make it so she knows she's not alone in it all.
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I'm all for being there for her and helping her however we can, but... we also need to make sure we don't hurt her even more.
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[The argument dies before he can speak it. Of course she's right. They can't just keep poking at it, like stopping a scab from healing. ]
I just... I don't want the same thing to happen to her, y'know? That she ends up feeling like she can't come to us. That's she's alone.
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It's... it won't just be us going in blind to how she feels when we try to help her. We really can sympathize, so... that would help.
[Or so she hopes.]
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I really hope you're right on that one, Ash.
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I am. We screwed up with a lot of things in the past, but we're different now. Nobody's going to let that happen again.
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One for all and all for one, right?
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Exactly. And that's how it should be from now on.
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Yeah. It really should.
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... C'mere.
[Her hands move from his cheeks back to his shoulders, and with the gentlest tug - more than enough to resist or pull back from if he doesn't like it - pulls him towards her and down a little, so she can wrap him up in a hug.]
no subject
He returns the hug, giving her a gentle squeeze and taking a few, deep centring breaths. He doesn't know if they're going to be okay after all of this. Hell, he doesn't even know if they'll learn how to cope with it at all. But so long as he knows Ashley is safe, that she's alive, then not all is lost. There's still a glimmer of hope in an otherwise exceptionally shitty world.]