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Before your mind can flood with waves of self-loathing thought, she returns your hug. Her slightly muscular arms squeeze and tighten around your torso, just firm enough to make sure you can't break out now.
Her athletic body is soft yet firm in your arms. You can feel the subtle but defined muscularity of her frame, honed from what must've been months of exercise and training. She clearly takes care of her body way more than you do. You bet you probably feel stringy and skeletal in her arms.
The two of you stand there without saying a word. There's nothing else to really say about it. It just feels nice to hug someone. You really don't remember the last time you've hugged, or been hugged by, someone.
You're the first to break out of the hug. You stammer out something, trying to explain why you did that. You don't even have to turn around to know that Lucy and Hidaka are staring at you.
God, you're a fucking idiot; you should've at least asked her first. Ashton shushes you before you can spew a wave of verbal nonsense at her.
A wistful sigh escapes her. "thank you. i...i really needed that. today fucking sucked, i think we both needed a hug after everything." She flashes a warm smile, trying your best to calm you down. "am i right?"
Now that you think about it, she's right. You needed that as much as she needed it. You silently nod.
>You feel a lot better after hugging her. Next time you roll, you add +5 to the modifier.
"I should, uh. Probably go in there." You mumble, trying to not dwell on what just happened.
"cool, cool." Ashton doesn't push it. "well, i'll be keeping guard out here. again, thanks for everything."
"i'll pay it back to you, i promise." "N-no need." "nah, man, don't worry about it."
With that, you're ready to head into the medbay. You slowly turn your head around to check on your two coworkers. Both of them are trying their best to keep a neutral poker face, but it's clear how they felt about what they just saw.
"Cute-"
"T-that was nice of you. C-Could I have a hu-"
You loudly clear your throat to interrupt them. "Anyways. See you later, Ashton." "see ya."
You quickly rush inside MEDBAY without another word. Your coworkers scramble after you so they don't get left behind and to make sure you don't do anything too stupid.
You do your best to regain your composure as you check to see how MEDBAY is holding up. As you expected, there are a lot more injured guards in here than before. The nurses are working overtime to tend to them. They actually have the supplies to tend to them now, so, hey, that's good.
It doesn't take a genius to realize most of them were shot. You spot a tray filled with dented, bloody bullets on one of the many tables scattered through the room.
One of the nurses breaks away from the guard he was tending to check up on the new arrivals. He quickly recognizes who you are. "Ah! Vincent, how's it going?"
"Good, you?" "Tired, but hey, it's a lot better these days. So, what brings you here today?"
