[ It doesn't take long for Josh to be fully finished picking out all the little bits and bobs that made their way into Beat's fur. He's careful this time about the twigs. He's here to groom, not to maim. The brush gets employed as soon as there isn't any more debris to get in the way, which is just as soothing for him as it is for Beat. Just one more good pass all over... ]

Mm, good to know. So it was a matter of necessity at first, and then it... proceeded.

[ The best way he can put it.

It sounds so easy. Like all of his problems would be solved if it was for trauma, weird as that may be to say. It's just them here, too, but... somehow, he feels robbed. Forced onto the harder path. Jealous of a version of him that had the means for adjusting handed to him. There's no trauma here to bond over. In Beat's other world, this other him had had the trauma to push him out of his comfort zone. But what's his push here? Beat has already had his, a long time ago by the sound of it.

He's being thrown directly into the hot water and trying his best to keep from boiling.

... oops, his fingers went still. Let's fix that! Nothing wrong here. ]

Sounds like the two of-- [ No, no, Beat thinks of him and the other Joshua as one in the same. ] --we went through quite a lot. It's a shame I can't recall it.