End of the World as We Know It...

[farrahfawcetts]

WHO: Steve Harrington, Chrissy Cunningham, Eddie Munson, and YOU!
WHERE: Upside Down Temba, Temba, and Personal Hell
WHAT: Steve finding an old friend, loving his boyfriend, and having lots of PTSD
WHEN: Start and middle of the storm
WARNINGS: Blood, death, trauma... That's about it.

Steve had been so sure he left this shit behind. He'd been so fucking sure. Robin had asked him if there was any of the Upside Down shit here and he'd told her no. He'd told her she would be safe. But that wasn't in the fucking cards for them, it seems. No, the Hawkins kids were tainted. And now it had come to Agra 10 to hunt for them.

Steve wanted to offer his services on the network but it was down. The best he could do was what he did now: patrolling. Sometimes with the new mace he had, sometimes with the tried and true bat that felt so at home in his hand. He had practice with these fuckers. He knew how to take them out. So he patrolled around the gates, through the forests, wherever he could. No one here was going to get hurt on his watch. No one was going to get taken by this fucking Hell dimension ever again.

He walks as quiet as he can, listening for movement or screams. Finally, he hears what he thinks is a growl and takes off at a run. It's bat day, today, and he's got it ready to strike as he leaps on the source of the noise.

"Eat nails, fucker!"


He knew the storm would come eventually. Everyone has told him of the infamous storms with the ghosts and the loss of powers. The minute the temperature starts to change and there is lightning in the air, Steve knows what's coming. His first thought, of course, is to find Eddie and go hole up somewhere; they both have ghosts enough that would come calling for them.

He doesn't get far in his search until he sees what must be one of those apparitions. For a second, he swears that it is Max and even knowing better, he takes off after it to check for sure. Steve loses it after a moment or it fades away and, confused (and a bit embarrassed to have fallen for that), he heads back the way he came. Only to see another apparition. And this one? Well. This one is confusing. He never knew Chrissy that well. Why would the storm pick her?

"Nice try," he tells the ghost as he walks to pass her. "Next time try for Robin or Dustin. But it's a good attempt..."


Steve hates this. He fucking hates this. Not just because he was actually enjoying being away from this but because he was really happy Eddie was away from it. And now? Well, his boyfriend didn't run away anymore even though he should. And if he wasn't running then neither was Steve. Steve would season himself with salt and pepper for those bats before letting Eddie get hurt by them again. And wherever Eddie was going? Yeah. He had a Steve-shaped shadow with his fancy new mace.

Even when it was in the Upside Down. God, he fucking hates this place.

Steve is walking as carefully as he can, not wanting to see if Vecna is here for a Round 2. But the rest of his attention is on Eddie. Eddie and anything that can come within a fucking mile of him. No hero shit, this time.

"We should head back soon," Steve offers. He has no idea how long they've been here but more than a minute is too long as far as he sees it. There's no sign of Hawkins here or anything familiar to them. Only more things that want to chow down on their body.

He tightens his grip on the mace.

"Jesus H. Christ. Fucking hate seeing this place again. I really thought we were safe..."

Comments

[ephemerios]

Meanwhile, living in ignorance is bliss land, she just thinks the red tinge looks neat. It might look even better from somewhere inside and safe, but, details.

She also knows they won't be finding anyone faster if they look the same directions at the same time at the same speed. "I'll check another direction." She says as she starts moving the opposite way Steve's going.

[the_freak]

Steve's call seems to work magic, a responding- "STEVE?" echoing out in the distance.

Eddie doesn't like this shit. And he wants to run for Steve, but- he's pretty sure he sees his mom out there, and his feet stand frozen, locked between the two urges. He can't look away from her, afraid she'll disappear if he does.

[farrahfawcetts]

He hears the call and gives out a shout of victory. "Chrissy! Over this way!" He takes off at a jog, not wanting to have Chrissy lose sight of him. Still, he is moving quick and playing a super fun game of Marco Polo here in a fucking hellstorm.

"Eddie! Say something again so I know I'm getting closer!"

[ephemerios]

Keeping up with him a few seconds later, she follows Steve, glad that appears to have worked as quickly as it did. (Note to self: try this next time and try it sooner.) Hopefully it also means they're close. She doesn't say anything, not wanting to add too many voices at once to the mix of them, and plus it means she can try to listen more.

[the_freak]

Eddie's feet take a few steps towards the retreating figure of his mother without thinking, pausing as Steve's voice breaks through again.

"Steve?...I don't like this shit, fuck, man... I'm here-"

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve takes off faster, not stopping until he sees his boyfriend and...and a ghostly figure he doesn't recognize but can guess who it is. He rushes to Eddie's side and wraps his arms around him, tight.

"Baby, c'mon. We gotta get somewhere safe." He glances over at the woman and back at Eddie. Sympathy burns inside him. Fuck everything about this storm.

"I...I saw Dustin, too. It's not real..."

[ephemerios]

“That's definitely becoming more and more my favorite idea.” More so than it already was. She's of course speaking of Steve's suggestion to get somewhere safe, that's anywhere but here. “Any suggestions?”

[the_freak]

Eddie holds him tight but struggles to tear his eyes away from the figure, swallowing thickly and nodding as his eyes turn to meet Steve's.

The lightening flashes overhead and Eddie winces, gaze turning to Chrissy with an anxious frown.

"...I've got walkmans back in our room. I prepped tapes for everyone in case-" he breaks off, chest tight. How the hell did this shit follow them here?

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve strokes a hand through Eddie's hair and tries to keep those big eyes facing their way instead of at the ghost. But even he's interested. Steve can't help but look over at what must be Eddie's mother. This will probably be the only time he'll ever see her, real or not.

But they can't stay.

"C'mon," He takes Eddie's hand to start leading them back toward the hotel building. "At the very least we shouldn't be in the open. You'll be safe at our place, Chrissy."

[ephemerios]

No one has ever seen as much of a confused, what the fuck expression on her face as there is now. “Uh, yeah, I think I accidentally got super lost again. Just wondering, is someone explaining the relevance of music or am I just going with it?” Because she can totally just go with it too.

[the_freak]

He leans into the touch before remembering Chrissy and shying slightly back, cheeks pink. Eddie doesn't release Steve's hand though, sparing a fleeting look back at the retreating form of his mother before letting Steve pull him away.

He looks back to Chrissy with a guilty expression. Right. She...wasn't there for that part. "...it'll keep us safe from Him," he summarizes best he can.

[farrahfawcetts]

He keeps forgetting Chrissy was gone so early into all of this. He winces a bit at the reminder and tries to bridge the gaps of information. "The...dude. The one who got you? You can break out of the things he shows you if you hear your favorite song. It has something to do with...brains or... I don't know. Sound waves?"

He glances toward Eddie helplessly. That part was too science-y.

"Whatever, it helps. Keeps him from getting into your head."

[ephemerios]

Most people might get mad that something so simple was the answer, or might just continue to be confused (she kinda is a little), or think they're bullshitting, or think they are very high. Chrissy is not most people. So what does she do? Starts laughing, hard. Giver her a sec here. “Sorry, it's not that I don't believe you, it's—” Wait. Nope hang on, not done laughing yet. “— Cthulhu-with-his-skin-turned-inside-out has a weakness to music? That's actually hilarious, oh my god.”

[the_freak]

"It's sort of more how the music makes you feel...I think." Eddie hasn't had the 'pleasure' of experiencing Vecna's torment directly and he hopes he never will.

"What's your favourite song? I've got a lot of shit stockpiled, I can probably find something."

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve hears Chrissy's laugh and...yeah. He wasn't expecting that sort of response. But it makes him break out into sort of hysteric giggles himself. "Vecna hating music is a lot more entertaining. I think I'll go with that. Corroded Coffin's #1 enemy."

[ephemerios]

“Right? Anyway, first: Favorite song is Uptown Girl. Second: really, Vecna? I don't know what a Vecna is but it sounds like a Russian or generally-Slavic-region stew recipe and less of a name for a creepy whatever the hell.” That gets a quieter laugh. She's just saying, that name might have needed more workshopping there, guys. She'll stick with Lovecraftian comparisons.

[the_freak]

"It's a D&D villain. The kids name all the Upside Down monsters after them." Which Eddie doesn't exactly know the reasoning of, but it does make everything sound pretty damn epic in his opinion. "He also goes by Henry," he offers with a smirk, glancing at Steve to finish up with the last of Vecna's names.

[farrahfawcetts]

"And One. And Cthulu without the skin," he finishes, giving Chrissy a smile. "Vecna is just the first name we gave him. The kids are nerds. The big kids, too." He bumps Eddie's shoulder, " 'Mordor'."

He looks back at Chrissy and tries to keep the mood lighter. "But, Chrissy, that favorite song is amazing. I am so glad there's finally someone around here with good music taste..."

[ephemerios]

There was no way she would have guessed that, so, cool, sure. Smile and nod. It'll probably make sense later to her.

“Oh, if we're talking shit about people's tastes, I'll have you know I have great taste in pretty much everything except boyfriends. Which I can see is a problem only I have out of the three of us here right now.” The last bit is said with a smile. Yeah, we're going back around to that now that her mind isn't "???????????" about what music has to do with anything — and she still has functional eyes, ok. (Admit it, it was the smoothest segue you've heard in a while.)

[the_freak]

"We really need to just settle on one, it's a bit of a mouthful," he says, sticking his tongue out at Steve's teasing.

He rolls his eyes playfully at Steve's enthusiasm, but he's glad for him.
"Oh good, we don't have to pretend Carver's not a prick then," Eddie, like he was ever actually planning to, and he's totally not blushing or distracting from that smile at all. Nope.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve glances at Chrissy and then at Eddie before smiling and blushing himself. He looks at the ground for a second before shrugging a shoulder. "Hey, it took me awhile to figure out how to pick 'em myself," he teases, bumping Eddie's shoulder a second time.

"And if it helps," he adds, "Jason had me fooled too when I was in school. He's charming when he chooses to be. I totally thought he was just a nice guy on the team. If I didn't see him go completely psycho, I don't know if I would have believed it."

[ephemerios]

She's ten thousand percent mentally noting that ‘completely psycho’ description and asking someone to be elaborating on that later. It doesn't even matter which someone from Hawkins.

“Yeah, I guess there's way more of those types than there should be back home. As long as they stay there.”

[the_freak]

Eddie snorts in disbelief at the thought of Jason being charming, but he supposes that Carver never really had much reason to be charming to him or his friends. But he knows of them had been on the perimeter of the shit he pulled with them in the past, whether they saw it for what it was on not.

"You never saw him and Tommy break Gareth's arm," he grumbles, "Wasn't a surprise to me."

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve's whole head flips toward Eddie and he looks devastated. Not just because that sounds horrible but because that had to have happened while Steve was around. Had he missed that? Had he seen it and not cared? "Babe, I'm... Fuck, I'm so sorry. Jesus."

He looks back at Chrissy and looks more stern than he had before.

"If they don't stay there, I'll handle them. Trust me."

[ephemerios]

"You can have them, because me volunteering for that is how I try to punch someone and wind up also breaking bones in the process too, except they'd be mine." Honestly, considering that fact, she's not surprised she got got by a creepy halfway other dimension monster. Humans are already no match for her. Which is probably not ideal for their current situation looking not so great but it's fine, don't worry about it, nothing to see here, etc.