eilonwycaercolur-littletrichster:
“She is brave.” Eilonwy thought of all the things Ella had told her, as well as how the girl had lost a year of her memory. Putting up with that required a great deal of bravery, in her mind. “I-it’s just… Her bravery is d-different.” She sat. She took the bottle. She drank. The burn of the alcohol in her throat was welcome, bringing the promise of a dulling sensation to take her mind off the problem. But for now she was tired and overwhelmed. She had to say something, she wanted to. The pressure of holding it all in was too much. Flinching at the thought of Jessie’s punishment for asserting that she was fine once more, she attempted to detatch herself from her mind. It would hurt less if she didn’t think. “I… I got attacked. S-someone, someone… They tried to, to…” It was still painful to do, her mind racing back to that day, her panicked cries. “I-I screamed for help… I screamed and nobody helped me, he, he just knocked and out and, and-“
“She is,” Jessie said at last. “But not in the way that I’m used to.” In truth, when it came to people like Ella, Jessie preferred them to just be the way she expected them to. Jessie watched Eil drink, having no desire to really do it herself. It wasn’t whiskey and lately, Jess had been running out of reasons to turn to the bottle anyhow. “Attacked?” Jessie’s head snapped towards Eil, her gaze sharpening in an instant. She watched, feeling a prickle of unease grow at the other girl struggled for words, Jessie’s tanned features darkening as she glanced away. Staring down at her knotted hands, Jessie tried to find some words of comfort, something that would ease Eil. But then, Jessie had never been good with words nor with comforting people. That was Bo’s job. If anything, Jessie was the one causing the panic and the tears. “Drink up,” She said at last, voice quiet. “If you keep drinkin’ you won’t care. At least, not for a while.”
“Yeah, Gaston decided he wanted to teach me a lesson, on what I don’t know but he was determined on teaching me something.” She shrugged. “I had really bad whip wounds on my back.” She admitted looking away from her for a split second. “I didn’t but Hades did, and I guess he’s disappointed that I haven’t been broken by the experience so in a way I guess I got him back but it wasn’t violent.”
“Gaston?” Disbelief coloured Jessie’s tone, but not before her lips thinned into a grim line, eyes turning a dad shade of brow. “Didn’t think he was that stupid.” Her lips parted to tell Meg of her own encounters with the French man but she stopped herself. In comparison, her ordeal was trifling.He nodded mutely at the mention of Hades but in some way, found that if it were her, Jessie would have wanted to deal with it on her own. But then, it wasn’t like she had some like Hades to help. “I bet that’s chewin’ his ass,” She commented at last. “Not knowin’ if he got to you or not.”
eilonwycaercolur-littletrichster:
Stumbling over to the bed, as she was used to doing when hauled to Jessie’s room, she crumpled onto it, watching Jessie as she continued to cry silently. “E-Ella?” She asked, confused as to what the sweet blonde had been doing. “T-tequila’s fine.”
“Oh. Her.” Jessie waved her hand as she moved to crouch, extracting a half drank bottle from underneath her bed. “She thought she could be brave.” Jessie snorted, straightening herself, already making a move to uncap the bottle. “Sit,” She commanded Eil before doing the same, perching on her bed. “Drink.” Jessie shoved the bottle Eil’s way before her expression softened a fraction. “An’ tell me what the fuck is goin’ on.” Something passed across her features. “An’ if you say ‘fine’ one more fuckin’ time - I’m gonna make sure you’re anything but for a very fuckin’ long time.”
Meg nodded looking back at the girl. “I was home.” she gave a light hearted shrug. “No, Hearts didn’t send me. But she did have part of it…” She paused for a moment. She was going to tell Jessie that it had been a misunderstanding, that hearts had only believed that Meg had been injured and called her mother who then over reacted but Meg had respect for the other girl and didn’t want to ruin their alliance or whatever this was by lying, if it were possible. “I got attacked pretty bad and my mother freaked out and decided to pull me out.”
“Attacked?” It was the last word Jessie would have heard uttered from Meg and yet it seems to be the only thing that she understood very clearly. Her widening eyes sharpened as she regarded the other woman. “Fuck,” She breathed out the word, trying to wrap her thoughts around it. Jessie only knew of Meg as the strong woman who commanded the asylum much like the way she did herself. “Did you get the fucking asshole?” Her words were casual, her gaze suddenly entranced by the outside landscape.
eilonwycaercolur-littletrichster:
Eilonwy ducked her eyes again, tired and failing more and more to cover her fear and turmoil. So she simply allowed Jessie to pull her along the corridor, roughly dragging a sleeve over her eyes as if it would stop the flow of tears and the shaking.
The girl’s silence unnerves Jessie, though she only grimly walked ahead to her room, her grip firmed on Eil’s arm unyielding. When she reaches her door, Jessie gave the other girl a gentle but firm shove in. “Right,” She sighed, closing the door behind her. “I’ve wasted the whiskey on Ella,” She pulled a face. “You’ill have to make do with tequila.”
“More to look at out there than there is in here.” She replied giving another sigh. Normally Meg would wish that the other person just moved on about their business but she never had minded talking to the brunette “Oh, um, I went back home for a little bit.” Meg answered starting to chew on her bottom lip.
“Say that again.” Jessie made a noise at the back of her throat, recalling the lack of entertainment in the asylum the past while. “Home?” Jessie blinked, thinking of how she had gone back a few times before since Hearts believed her disorder to be closely linked to her roots. “Hearts send you?”
“Phew”
“A ranch? That’ll make you tough. We only had one horse, a couple of chickens and some pigs. ” She said, a little more relaxed. Talking about home always made her relax. “I’ve got Dr. Tremaine. I think she actually knows what she’s doing.” At least she hoped. ”Who do you have?” she asked, curious. She didn’t know much about the other doctors here. At Jessie’s last comment, Dorothy raised her eyebrows and joked “remind me to never get on your bad side.”
Jessie nodded. “Same with a farm, I’d say.” She titled her head at the sound of Dorothy’s doctor. “Seen her ‘bout, She nodded slowly, recalling the sweet, mild woman who wasn’t to Jessie’s tastes. “Dr Hearts.” She smirked, recalling the tiny woman who reminded Jessie of herself on occasion. “You won’t need remindin’,” He replied lightly before shrugging “Besides - you could run a good distance if needs be.”
eilonwycaercolur-littletrichster:
She almost flinched away from Jessie, still on edge and expecting more blows, as she’d been accustomed to. It was with great surprise, therefore, that she found herself enveloped into something not unlike a comforting hug, even if it was more than slightly awkward. Remaining rigid for several moments, she eventually relaxed slightly, moving one shaking hand up to rest on Jessie’s back briefly. At the question, she looked up and saw the worry. A mixture of gratefulness, annoyance and acute embarrassment went through her; if Jessie was giving her a look like that she must have appeared to be pretty damn vulnerable. Setting her features into a look of shaky determination, Eilonwy nodded and tried to scramble ti her feet, wobbling as a throbbing started up in her head. “Y-yeah. yeah. I’m fine.”
Jessie pulled away, scrambling to her own feet. She continued to eye Eil with a worried expression, for a moment wondering what her friend, Bo would do. She was the kind to deal with this, with tears and a stubborn girl who didn’t want to appear weak. A ghost of a smile lit Jessie’s lips at the memory before it fled. “I hate that word,” She muttered, “Fine my ass.” Gripping Eil’s upper arm, Jessie began to move. “C’mon. Fix you up before anyone notices.”
