ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ's ɴᴏ ᴇxᴘʟᴏsɪᴏɴs ʜᴇʀᴇ ( ᴏᴘᴇɴ )

[perfecting]

Who: Nancy Wheeler + you!
Broadcast: no
Action: heron, iskaulit
When: all through march.



( A; Heron - Arrival )

[ The new arrival can't be more than seventeen-years old. Carrying a school bag, pins in her hair, wearing a pale pair of jeans and red jacket above her sweater. Nancy looks like a high-school girl on the way to her locker.

She had given those who had seen her arrival a little tight smile before slinking off. She never really had the new-school jitters. In Hawkins, everyone knew everyone since they were children. Nancy knew the kids in her high school since pre-school. She never really had to deal with so many strangers before.

She finds a room and places her bag, takes out her books an pencil-box. It's far from her room but it's still better than the Marsiva.

If you pass by her room, you might notice the door is open. If she sees you, she'll get up and call out, a hesitant and yet certain, 'hey'. ]

( B; Heron - nights )

[ the new security officer doesn't really sleep. She tries, however. Nancy lies in the dark and closes her eyes and manages a little sleep but in the end, it's always the same. She hears a terrible growl, sees a dark, cold world and a faceless monster and wakes up gasping.

You might find her wandering at odd hours, making herself tea in the kitchen, going to sit in the shuttle bay or in the armory, reading one of her study books, writing names of people and worlds and terms in a notebook she names FLEET. ]

( C; iskaulit )

[ when she learns the truth of her destined job, she accepts it without a fuss.

It gives her easy access to what she wanted since her arrival, weapons. She places the broken piece of glass she armed herself with on the Marsiva beneath her pillow and goes to the armory.

Instinct leads her to a handgun and she takes it with her, hidden in her jacket pocket. She knows better than to try and use it inside the ship. She goes through the network, reading files and messages until she finds what she's looking for.

She knows nothing about this world but she had seen enough to let herself think she might not need to use one again. It's harder on her own, harder without Jonathan and their conversations but she pushes nerves aside. This isn't any different than shooting cans and it is certainly easier than shooting -

the thing. the monster.

It's the monster she thinks about when she enters the firing range. No beast that she has ever heard of is one of its kind. If there is one, there is another. if there is another than this time, Nancy Wheeler is going to be prepared for it when it comes.

She looks up at the lights, draws a breath when they remain steady, not a single flicker.

It's just me, she thinks, it doesn't like the light.

She thinks about the monster, she thinks about what it had done to Barb ( there is a scream in her head, dead, dead! ) and pulls the trigger once and then again and again and once more.

The noise doesn't startle her, her hand remains steady. Some people are fine dancers or singers. Nancy Wheeler is a good shot. Sixteen years old in jeans and a sweater, she loads more bullets and tries again. ]

Comments

[perfecting]

Are you sure?

[ she falters for a moment, looks at her hands, takes care to unclench them. ]

You don't know what that is.

[ what she's been keeping and protecting so fiercely. ]

[axiomed]

I don't need to.

[ He reaches out to touch her hand lightly. ]

I just need to know who you are. That's more important.

[perfecting]

I'm not - special. I mean, there's nothing special about me. I just.

[ she frowns. to explain how she got dragged into this would be to expose her biggest failure, her most heartbreaking one. ]

I wanted to find my friend, that's all. She went missing. My brother's friend went missing. It was my fault. I needed to fix it.

[axiomed]

We're all special. With or without powers.

My point is, whether we are or not, we shouldn't have to be alone. My offer is simply that sharing it might make it easier to feel like you're not alone.

But it's your choice. And I'll support it either way.

[perfecting]

I'll just have to - think about it? remember it?

[ the very thing she has been trying ( and failing ) not to do for days and days now. ]

[axiomed]

Yes. However you like and I'll be able to follow.

[perfecting]

Okay.

[ she frowns. the images that she's been fighting against have been playing in her mind each time she closed her eyes, haunting both her sleep and her waking hours. Unlocking them, for someone else, though - Nancy hasn't even told Jonathan exactly what she had seen. She didn't know how to.

Remembering is a bit easier. Her eyes flutter and she tries to focus on it without feeling too much, a world that's trapped in eternal darkness and cold, a warped forest covered in something between spiderwebs and sap. it's empty and silent and the only thing she seems to focus on for a moment is that, the cold an the dark and her voice echoing in the empty vastness, a hysteric, terrified scream ( jonathan i'm right here ) and a faded voice yelling something back, but it sounds a bit like someone yelling underwater, i'm right here, - but it couldn't be, it sounds worlds and worlds away.

and then, something else, more present, a low, terrible growl, heavy footsteps and there is a flash - something humanoid, tall and faceless, its arms too long for its body and it's faceless but suddenly, it isn't. it opens up like a flower but there's nothing but teeth and a terrible scent of blood.

she drops her pen, her hands are shaking and her breath comes far too quickly. calm down, it's gone. it's gone.

but whatever the thing is, whatever world it dominates, it scares her to the very core of her being. ]

[axiomed]

[ Charles lets the memory wash over him. Another dimension? That seems likely. Something unearthly has touched her world, changing it forevermore. Charles can't fathom that kind of unreality, that strangeness. But he can understand fear, the creeping notion of something invisible and dangerous lurking under your skin.

After Apocalypse, Charles knows.

With a quiet whisper that drifts over her mind, he smooths some of the fear away, I'm here. ]

[perfecting]

[ she manages, mercifully, not to be sick, mostly due to the echo of a voice that didn't belong in that scene. not real, just a memory. ]

It took my friend.

[ she raises a hand, wipes at her eyes. ]

It took her to that place. I've never seen her after that. I think it -

[ but she shakes her head, she can't complete the sentence even though she knows. in her heart, she knows how barb found her death. she knows what predators do with prey. ]

[axiomed]

[ Quietly. ]

I am sorry for your loss.

[ It doesn't sound pithy. Charles can feel the pain, no matter how deeply it is buried. ]

[perfecting]

It's all my fault.

[ it's a heartfelt confession. she feels her guilt, a heavy weight, a terrible burden. ]

That it took her.

[axiomed]

[ Charles meets her gaze quietly. ]

No. The fault is in the thing that took her. Not you.

[perfecting]

It wouldn't have if I didn't tell her to go home. I wanted - I was stupid. The last thing I've said to her was that I don't need her. I told her to leave me and go home and that's when it took her.

[ she frowns and bites her lip. ]

I couldn't even bring her back from there. I couldn't find her.

[axiomed]

Even so.

[ His tone is measured. ]

Even so, you did not intend to hurt her. You didn't mean for it to happen and that is important to remember. There's hurt and there's hurt.

You can't let one bleed into the other. Otherwise there's no end. There'll only be blame, the hate, the self-loathing.

[ He smiles, feeling old and pats her hand. ]

Take it from someone who knows. I don't think your friend would have wanted that for you.

[perfecting]

I just wish I could get her back. I know she's -

[ gone, dead. ]

I still hate that she's still there. She'll be there forever.

[axiomed]

We never know what the future might bring. Forever is a difficult concept and I find it rarely applies.

I won't tell you to have hope. But things can change. They tend to.

[perfecting]

Yeah. I guess - I always thought monsters and space travels weren't real.

[ a wry smile. ]

That definitely changed.

[axiomed]

The world will continue to change.

[ He smiles back. ]

And sometimes, what we learn can make it change for the better.

[perfecting]

You must be a good teacher.

[ she shrugs with a little smile. ]

I don't think mine know anything about me. I'm not sure they care.

[axiomed]

[ He rubs his chin. ]

It's hard to say. My school . . . my students were very unusual. It required more from me than, say, an ordinary principal.

But you never know. They might surprise you.

[perfecting]

I don't think so. We're a small town and I'm - I'm not like them anymore. I think this changed everything.

[ and it can't be helped. ]

I can't go back to worrying about biology midterms and English papers.

[axiomed]

Maybe you shouldn't.

[ His gaze is quiet, assessing. ]

You have other things to worry about.

[perfecting]

Monsters.

[ if there is one, there is more than one. Nancy never heard of any animal with only one individual. ]

Barb.

[ she failed in finding her, after all. she knows what happened, knows how it ended but Barb is still there. ]

--- Eleven. She disappeared with it. with the monster. Maybe - I don't know. Maybe she sent it there, maybe she's in there with it.

[axiomed]

[ He nods, accepting those concerns and questions. ]

It's possible someone here might have the answers you seek. Everyone here come from different walks of life.

[perfecting]

About the Upside Down?

[ she frowns ]

If I tell people about it, they'll think I'm crazy.