( Collette only blinks at the correction in terminology. Envenomed is sometihng to file away, probably to be forgotten until the next time they all ran into supersized venomous spiders. Whenever that'd be.

Next Tuesday?

In the silence that falls between them, Collette also sits still. She finally lets her hand touch Ellie, anything neutral in reach, to see how her friend will react.

Her own reply is slow in coming. When Collette does find it in her to be honest, to continue to be honest, it's with a small smile and a glance down to Ellie's hands. )

Yeah. I do.

( She tugs on Ellie's arm, pulling her closer, if Ellie will come. )

It's part of why I keep swimming here, you know? I have to breathe for that. So I don't get so freaked out. You keep breathing 'cause you know how to, and it passes.

( She tugs again, more insistent. Collette takes measures of comfort in physical contact. But right now, more than anything, she wants some reassurance about Ellie being there, and not being lost in dark places where she thinks like she was talking. If Ellie doesn't actively resist, Collette will pull her into a hug, awkward and unprefaced by anything more than the last words she'd said.

They need to be okay. Scared, and regretful, and whatever else they are too, but they need to be okay. )