[ When Ashley wakes from her nightmares, she practices being still. She practices, just in case she'll ever need to, because that one time she had to was one of the worst moments of her life. She watched it smash Mike into the wall, heard his bones crack. She heard Sam's scream as it gutted her. She felt the heat as the lodge exploded, because Mike of all people sacrificed himself, to save her.
Ashley fell into the snow and stayed still, arms wrapped around her knees, willing herself to freeze if it would just keep her from moving.
So she is good at being still. Even when snippets of vision kaleidoscope in and out. Even when a scream chills the blood in her veins. Even when she can see them, all of them, Percy and Viktor and Mafuyu, Wolfwood and Wednesday, Ed and Yves. Ashley stays fucking still. She doesn't not move.
But when a flash of something primal cuts her from the inside out, when the feeling of a limb crack to something new and bestial overtakes her, Ashley not only jerks out of her curled up state.
When she comes out of it, the roar boils her blood until she's screaming for him, sharp and quick and panicked. ]
—Aaah! Ahh, ahh...! Oh, oh no, oh no no no no—
[ She stares at her trembling hands and sees them normal, not long and clawed. She feels her skin, her teeth.
It's at that moment that she realizes something is there with her. That moment where she remembers, she has to be still, and she's not. ]
Ohh my god, oh my god—
[ Now she's still again. But it feels too little, too late. Her eyes dart around, searching. ]
f,
Ashley fell into the snow and stayed still, arms wrapped around her knees, willing herself to freeze if it would just keep her from moving.
So she is good at being still. Even when snippets of vision kaleidoscope in and out. Even when a scream chills the blood in her veins. Even when she can see them, all of them, Percy and Viktor and Mafuyu, Wolfwood and Wednesday, Ed and Yves. Ashley stays fucking still. She doesn't not move.
But when a flash of something primal cuts her from the inside out, when the feeling of a limb crack to something new and bestial overtakes her, Ashley not only jerks out of her curled up state.
When she comes out of it, the roar boils her blood until she's screaming for him, sharp and quick and panicked. ]
—Aaah! Ahh, ahh...! Oh, oh no, oh no no no no—
[ She stares at her trembling hands and sees them normal, not long and clawed. She feels her skin, her teeth.
It's at that moment that she realizes something is there with her. That moment where she remembers, she has to be still, and she's not. ]
Ohh my god, oh my god—
[ Now she's still again. But it feels too little, too late. Her eyes dart around, searching. ]