#as a big emma and max fan though i love the idea of how they'd bond afterwards in the event he infects her. they are MY BEST FRIENDS

[emmamountebanks]

HI i've been compiling a document of my own personal headcanons for the quarry characters because i used to lovee reading other peoples' ud headcanons when those were like. being posted frequently.

anyway. i feel like they'd make an effort to keep in touch after everything, considering that they were (for the most part) friends over the summer, with some of them knowing each other for longer, and because there's likely some sort of 'these are the only other people who could possibly understand' mindset that i loveee in the aftermath of stories like this.

however. it's probably super easy to fall out of touch for a time, since they're mostly gonna be really far away from each other, and some of them, when left to their own devices, may be prone to isolation, depending on the events of the night, whether they felt any sort of guilt or regret, or saw something super gruesome, stuff like that. ryan i could see isolating from the others if he's left alone with his feelings after killing chris, and losing kaylee and possibly caleb as well. i do think the others would probably make an effort to reach out to him, but he still might withdraw for a bit.

emma i can see outwardly seeming like she's handling things really well (she probably only takes a short break from streaming and putting out videos and stuff but goes right back to it), and if the group makes a groupchat i think she'd talk in it a decent amount? but never about the events of the night, i don't think. especially in a timeline where she was a werewolf at any point, and DOUBLY especially in a timeline where she killed someone as a werewolf. i think it would eventually boil over though into some sort of heartfelt conversation where she's finally vulnerable with someone (abi comes to mind, but in a universe where abi's dead... idk who she'd open up to? maybe she and max become close friends after the game or something and bond over the werewolf guilt of harming/nearly harming someone they really care about. actually hold on that's such a good concept for werewolf!emma and max friendship)

i also think that keeping up her social media presence gets. tough. she used to pride herself on being candid with her fans, regardless of whether that was true, but what used to be sort of fun acting just turns into an increasingly uncomfortable feeling of fakeness, as the things she's not talking about have shifted to something extremely traumatizing that's pretty much made it so she'll never be the same. and that's just not fun! streaming was already a little draining for her, and she resented her audience to a degree, but it gets worse and worse until she has to take at least a serious break to get her shit together. on some level she still loves it and might get back to it, but it's just not healthy or sustainable for a while.

jacob i think probably doesn't talk to anyone a ton, kaitlyn wouldn't let him completely isolate. they are besties <3 she sometimes just comes over to his place unannounced and forces him to spend time with her. like... idk they play ping pong together or something. i can see them playing ping pong in my minds eye. jacob eventually talks through his guilt over kickstarting the night with her, and she's like. 'hello. you had no idea what was going to happen, and you wouldn't have been able to mess with the car in the first place if i hadn't told you exactly how to do it. and nobody would've wandered off into the woods and gotten separated if i hadn't given that dare to emma. i never would've given that dare in the first place if dylan hadn't suggested having a party. if we play the blame game we'll be here all day, but really, there was no way to know what was going to happen.' and he probably cries a bit and she hugs him. (also i picture this scene happening on like. someone's front or back steps during golden hour)

max and laura obviously stay together. they get like. a tiny bit codependent but like it works for them. and honestly who wouldn't be a little codependent after that. they figure out some way to stay near each other, whether that's max maybe going to a nearby community college and trying to transfer into laura's school the next year or something else. but they are so absolutely in love it's great.

dylan and kaitlyn absolutely keep in contact. i think they text all the time and facetime a ton. one of them will text or call the other late at night after having nightmares or thinking too hard about that night (it's usually dylan, but kaitlyn sometimes initiates too) and they'll talk until they pass out. they also find out that they don't live that far away from each other, and sometimes they take like. day trips to hang out. once kaitlyn and jacob have their heart to heart he sometimes tags along.

i think dylan and kaitlyn also periodically reach out to ryan and invite him, but at first he gives like. noncommittal answers or very obviously fake 'im busy' answers because he's just like. not ready to Deal with all that. laura is the only other one who really reaches out to him after a bit (with most people either also not really wanting to talk about things, or just thinking it's a good idea to give him some space) and she usually sends pretty basic 'you okay?' texts which he answers with a basic 'yes'. she knows he's totally lying, and he knows she knows, but it's more a way for her to check that he hasn't completely checked out. since he was pretty much the only one of the counselors she met, she knew how much chris meant to him, and she was also someone who had to set aside her morals to do what she had to to save herself and the others (whereas pretty much everyone else only hurt people by accident, whether in werewolf form or by not understanding the severity of their actions), so she kind of gets it.

it takes a conversation with ryan's sister a couple months after that night at hackett's quarry for him to finally take dylan and kaitlyn up on their offer to hang out. i think she's pretty young, looks up to ryan a lot, and can see that something's wrong and he's not happy. and she brings it up to him in that super blunt, but really innocent way that only kids can really do, and he sort of realizes that isolating and not talking about everything that happened isn't sustainable, and no matter how shitty it makes him feel to confront things, he has to. and the best way to do that is with people who get it and care about him. after that first hangout with kaitlyn and dylan (jacob opts to stay home this time), he slowly starts responding to peoples' texts and talking in the groupchat a bit. he might even meet up with laura at some point (and fully meet max for the first time as well).

nick... idk if nick is staying in america for college, or if he's going back to australia, or if he already lived in america for a while, or what. i think he probably responded to people pretty normally and regularly at first, but he absolutely did not talk about that night. mostly because he doesn't remember a ton of it, and what he does remember he feels extremely weird about. i also think he doesn't talk to abi much at first, but she makes the first contact, wanting to build their friendship back. i don't think they ever get together, but they become friends again over time.

jacob and nick still talk a decent amount, especially after jacob and kaitlyn's conversation, and nick and abi's conversation respectively. but not a ton about hackett's quarry stuff, mostly about their regular lives.

abi is one of the people most willing to talk about the events of the night at first, but the people she's closest to aren't really in that space at first. i think she talks to kaitlyn about it the most, but at one point, kaitlyn's not available for whatever reason, and she can see laura's online, so she reaches out to laura instead. they end up having a really long conversation, and the two of them start doing that pretty regularly. i think laura is who abi goes to to talk through her complicated feelings surrounding nick, since she's sort of a neutral party who wasn't privy to their flirting all summer. and eventually, she's who abi goes to to talk through her feelings for emma. (this is culminating in abi laura besties emma max besties lauramax blygbank double date)

i think that emma and jacob have a conversation pretty shortly after everything (maybe even the morning after everything goes down) that's basically them fully talking about their relationship. i think similar to what happens if you reunite them? but i haven't seen that ending so i'm not sure. anyway, after that, they don't talk for a bit, but one day emma sends him some stupid joke tweet or something and is like 'this sounds like something you would say' and they build a friendship from there.

emma and abi keep in contact but since emma's not really talking about hackett's quarry and everything that happened at first, it's more casual. but like, there's an obvious elephant in the room that's kind of hanging over all their conversations. and then there's the second elephant of them both having feelings for each other (feelings that i personally believe emma didn't fully come to terms with until the storm cellar, but that abi had 100% been aware of for a while). i think it takes a while of emma finally talking to someone (max) about what happened, abi's conversations with laura, kaitlyn and nick, emma's conversations with jacob (she comes out to him as a lesbian at some point also i think), and abi and emma slowly broaching the topic of that night before they Finally can put their feelings on the table. and then they go on double dates with laura and max.

i think they all make an effort to meet up periodically. the first time is awkward for a bit, but pretty quickly they slip into something familiar and fun, if not a little morbid at times. i don't think they ever fully fall out of contact, since they all appreciate that comfort of other people 'getting it' on some level, and they also just enjoy each others' company.

sorry this got so long i just have a TON of thoughts about these guys and i didn't want to leave anyone or any of my favorite dynamics out. i could probably go on but i figure this is long enough for now LMAO.

OH MY GOD UR RIGHT THIS IS SO LONG BUT I LOVE EVERY BIT OF IT.

i dont even know if i can add a response to all these so ill just post it as is cuz they're perfect beautiful amazing and realistic and i LOVE YOUR MIND i am kissing ur brain. im in love with every piece of this, especially the jacob/kaitlyn moment and emmabi + double dating w laura/max. that is up my ALLEY

i especially just love the idea of them slowly coming all together after a bit of time. i think the same with the until dawn kids. sure, maybe they don't want to talk about what happened, but they all know no one gets it like they all do. cuz they all went through it. trauma bond baby!