Here She Comes

[work_wife]

WHO: Robin Buckley, You?
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: New Arrival Trying To Figure It Out
WHEN: July 12th
WARNINGS: None
NOTES: I am considering TDM stuff canon unless otherwise asked.

I. Beat The Heat? | Temba Fountain

There's nothing that is even remotely nice about her arrival. Here she is, tired, grieving, freaked out about everything going on at home, and BAM! Wake up in a damn fountain. Her clothes are dripping now, her hair is limper than Steve's without his expensive hair spray, and it's blisteringly hot. Oh, and did she mention she woke up with her bicycle on her? Which she was now having a hell of a time lifting over the edge of the fountain?

Okay, it wasn't that it was too heavy. But it WAS fucking awkward and her hands were slippery and...

"Oh Fuck you!" she curses as she loses her grip again and the bicycle splashes back into the water.

II. That's Not What I Expected | Temba Hangar

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me."

Aliens. She was kidnapped by ALIENS, and she didn't even get to see the space ships that were supposed to be here? She's biked all the way over here, over the literally worst roads ever, had to carry her bike around massive cracks and rubble, and tried awkwardly to follow the weird map on her little 'pocket computer' and this was what she got?

"Come on!" she shouts into the hangar. "Aliens have space ships! I want to see the space ships!"

III. Give Me A Break! | Temba Hotel

It's been such a stupidly long day. The fountain. The empty hangar. The diner she was at earlier and had met people at. And now this.

"Why?" Robin asks as she looks at the stairs. They're taller than they should be. She looks from them to the bicycle she had at her side. It was bad enough that she was going to have to go up them. But she was tired and upset and confused and now she had to carry this thing up them too? "What sort of hotel doesn't have rooms on the bottom floor? This is the worst design!"

Comments

[work_wife]

"Don't you try and be funny," she grumps, smacking his arm just a little. "You're not allowed to be funny when I'm mad at you."

And maybe possibly crying. Just a little. You wouldn't even notice it. Don't notice it.

[the_freak]

He snickers softly, faux wincing and rubbing at his arm. "Heeey, oww," he whines, but his expression softens at the thing he definitely doesn't notice. Nope. Nothing to see.

"...Gonna have the whole crew here before long."

[work_wife]

"Oh god, now I'm imagining Hopper here and that's a whole thing that I think we're all very happy without," she says, trying to control her voice as she lets him go. Okay. She's functioning.

"You really hurt Dustin you know. And Steve. Nancy. And Mike seemed sorta broken when he learned about it too, even with all of his other Mike-ness."

[the_freak]

Having no idea the former Chief of Police is still alive, Eddie's not sure why exactly he's someone her mind goes to. "Yeah, I think I can do without more cops for a while."

He shifts awkwardly, and takes a drag of his cigarette to try and mask the guilt that brings front and center. "...I know. It wasn't my goal, obviously, but, uh- so what, Sinclair didn't have any tears to shed for me? He still sour about that game of his?"

[work_wife]

"After everything I don't think he counts as a Police Chief now. Who knows what he's going to do now that he's back, other than help us take Vecna down for good."

Of course Lucas would have but...

"He's too focused on Max for anything else right now. He hasn't left her side since they got her to the hospital, except when he gets kicked out."

[the_freak]

"Hard to picture him as anything e-...wa- back? What do you mean he's back?" Eddie back tracks after a moment.

He looks a bit uncomfortable at the mention of Max, and nods faintly, quickly trying to distance himself from that discussion. "...Let me grab your bike," he says, going down to collect it and toss the butt away, "Steve and I are up a few floors," he directs.

[work_wife]

"Steve didn't tell you?" She asks, because of course he had told her Eddie was here. Believing it had been hard until now.

She waits for him to go fetch the bike and cringes at the idea of that many stairs. But of course she's going to be closer to them.

"I'm going to hate these stairs. I have already decided. But anyway, Hopper came back, just in time for Mike and Will and El to show up. Apparently he got captured by the Russians."

[the_freak]

Had he? Eddie's not sure. He feels like he'd remember, but also...well- the second they start messing around Eddie feels like he loses a good chunk of memories, so...

"...there's been a lot to catch up on."

Eventually they can probably find somewhere on the main floor to store it for her. Maybe wrangle up some kind of bike lock or something in case one someone decides to run off with it.

"I remember when shit like this would've sounded weird," he murmurs with a teasing smile.

[work_wife]

Yeah, sooner or later she's going to find out about that 'messing around' (or maybe she already has and is waiting for Eddie to bring it up), but that's for another time.

"How long have you been here? Not long enough for catching up on two days I guess."

Two days. He's been gone for two days. And she's so happy to see him.

"Yeah, I remember it too. At that time I would have found being friends with Steve The Hair Harrington impossible."

[the_freak]

"A few...months? There was snow..." Eddie does some mental math and...has it been almost half a year??? Which makes his excuse feel a lot dumber.

"Heh, same, man, same. That one still catches me off guard sometimes. But he's basically a whole different guy now."

[work_wife]

Seriously? Steve's been here for almost half a year with Eddie and they haven't caught up? Can you see the 'that's bullshit Eddie' written on her face?

"A very different guy. One who has apparently lost his attention span."

[the_freak]

Well, to be fair, Steve came (heh) a little later than him. But...it's not a great cover, clearly. "We did kinda get radiation poisoning for a bit. So...that ate up some time."

And oh look, they're here, so Eddie can more effectively distract with- "This one's us." Cause yeah...he and Steve share. For convivence. And...safety. "Hargrove's the one right across. Used to be Max's room."

[work_wife]

Yeah, she was going to have so much fun finding out that her best friend was very much her queer best friend. That would give them a lot more to bond over.

"Wait, radiation poisoning?"

She reaches up to tug at his hair. Not falling out. So uh, wow.

"Us?" she asks, intrigued by that. Were the rooms, like, suites? And then she freezes.

"Hargrove? Billy Hargrove? Billy Hargrove who tried to kill us last year? Who spent a school year picking fights with Steve? You live not only with Steve but across from Billy Hargrove?"

And no one thought to tell her that Billy Fucking Hargrove was here!?

[the_freak]

"Puking our guts out, wanting to die, radiation poisoning," Eddie confirm, swatting at that offending hand. "Oww."

"Seemed easier." Which had been true. At first.

And as for Hargrove...Eddie nods. "Yeaaah, it's uh...there's a tentative truce going on now, so there's less fists flying?"

[work_wife]

At least he still had hair. That's something. And somehow she's just, like, the FOURTH best hair from Hawkins in this place. Which is too much.

"I've got a lot of questions about that, probably not for you. But can we go back over Hargrove. Are we talking pre-, post-, or during-Vecnification?"

Because the guy HAD BEEN POSSESSED and that's important to figure in here.

[the_freak]

"Post. I think? I mean...he's not currently...Vecna-ing. Or if he is he's hiding it pretty well. But also I wasn't there for all of that, so maybe he is?"

Steve probably would have pegged it though, right?

[work_wife]

Robin sighs. Well, they've got options.

"Sooooo sauna test. I hear that went so well last time."