#dontretreat

[sacredpyre]

❝ this just keeps getting worse. ❞

"No, no. I'm sure this can be saved." Whatever reassurance Alena put in her voice did little to ease the concern wrinkling her brow as she stared down at the charred abomination that was meant to be their afternoon dessert. Meant to be was the key word there.

Tentatively, Alena picked up a fork and gave the would-be cake a poke,only to frown as it slid off the top. Even frosting couldn't save this mess. Time to say a prayer and bury it. "We can make another," She offered instead, a soft smile tugging at her lips as she turned her gaze to the brunette.

"I'll double check the timer this time."

@dontretreat

[apoprockindajock]

why do you make everything a competition?

Conrad turned to Nancy, a curious eyebrow arched at the question. But, he then furrowed his brow, bringing his hand to his mouth as he decided to actually think about the question. "...prob'ly a mix of boredom and getting into sports early. I like to win, and that's something they push pretty heavy when you do team sports. Sure, when you're a kid they give you the 'everybody is a winner' schtick. But you learn quick that winning is obviously better. Like, don't be a fucking asshole if you lose and don't be a shithead winner either, but obviously winning is better. And to win, you gotta be in competition." Conrad mused, before shrugging. "But yeah- boredom is a big part too. When you live in bumfuck nowhere, you gotta make your own fun. And competition is fun, at least if you're any good at what you're competing for." Conrad said, before smiling at the shorter brunette, curiosity in his big brown eyes. "Why'd you ask, Wheeler?"

[vahaemion]

aeron's rolling his eyes : "go on… i'm listening. convince me this disaster isn't somehow connected to you."

White  noise  was  the  only  thing  he  heard  as  his  cameras  were  rebooting.  Well,  almost  the  only  thing.  Nancy  Wheeler  stood  in  front  of  him  with  a  more  than  sure  attitude.  The  kind  he  completely  hated.  Because  it  offset  his.  Which  annoyed  him  to  the  point  of  yanking  her  into  his  apartment. Aeron  wasn't  used  to  answering  anyone.  He'd  been  alone  since  he  was  sixteen.  The  court  thought  he  was  mature  enough  to  handle  himself.  That  was  a  laughing  matter.  Acting  mature  and  actually  being  mature  were  two  different  things  in  his  book.  If  the  Mountain  Dew  cans  and  Cheetos  were  anything  to  go  by,  it  didn't  take  a  rocket  scientist  to  figure  out  how  far  from  the  judge's  ruling  he  was.  To  trick  the  court,  that  was  his  greatest  feat.  "I  don't  need  to  explain  myself."  Turning  in  his  seat,  he  faced  his  computer.  "What  are  those  things  anyway?  Nothing  in  the  government's  databases  mentions  those  things."

@dontretreat

[paladinstales]

i'm not leaving until i know you're okay.

Where It Hurts Starters | Accepting | @dontretreat

Mike shakes his head. He appreciates the fact that Nancy is here for him, of course. He loves his sister. They're both not too good at talking, but it doesn't change that fact. He deeply cares for her, and right now... he feels like a burden. Since El disappeared with the Upside Down, Mike became a shadow of himself. He's always thinking about her, he's having nightmares all the time, he barely eats... so of course Nancy worries. He can't blame her for that. But it just makes him feel even more like shit.

"But... I will be fine, Nancy. I mean, not fine, but..." Mike feels like she doesn't even want to leave him alone, not even for a short period. Maybe it's because she's scared of what he could do. "I won't do anything stupid. I guess I'll just... try to sleep." Try is the keyword, though.

[3demos]

slumped shoulders and a vacant expression, the harsh words thrown at him by some of the older boys at hawkins high were still ringing in his ears. will would probably be able to deal with it better if it wasn't for the unexpected audience— the aisle of canned goods in the background as they made their escape laughing with each other, and nancy wheeler. he suddenly felt a surge of animosity for every circumstance that had led him to that exact moment, starting with saying yes when nancy asked if anyone else would like to join the hunt for supplies for the next crawl. the shame made his face burn, somehow making it worse, because it demonstrated how affected he was by it. it was a variation of something he's been hearing his entire life: freak, weirdo, zombie boy, you name it. but it was ten times worse now that it was laid out in the open. the ride back to the radio station is awfully quiet until @dontretreat's brave enough to break the stunned silence between them, her voice cutting through the static inside of his head.

'right' is a tiny box made by people who feel afraid.

❛ do you really believe that? ❜ will doesn't mean for it to sound so dejected, but it's hard to accept it as anything other than pity for what he's going through. his eyes don't move away from the car window, watching the trees blur together as they make their way back. ❛ it's just... all my life people have been saying different versions of that to me. sometimes i worry that— that they're just trying to make me feel better about being so... so different. ❜ even as a little kid, will could never hide from it. the bullying started long before anything related to the upside down happened, people around him were able to work out that there was something... not quite right about him. something that made him stand out. ❛ maybe they're right. maybe i'm not like them... maybe there's just something wrong with me. ❜ it sounds bitter even to his own ears, and he suddenly wishes he could take the words and shove them back inside his mouth. ❛ can we not tell anyone else about this? i don't want my mom or jonathan to worry. ❜ especially when he was dealing with it just fine. the teasing at school was the least of his concerns lately.

[hawkinsfoster]

@dontretreat » liked   my   starter   call   to   get   a   thing   from   mars!

Michael Jackson's Thriller blared from the headphones  resting  around  his  neck,  singing  quietly  along  with  the  lyrics  as  he  steadied  his  aim.  Three  shots  rang  out  in  quick  succession  .  .  .  one  target  hit,  second  target  hit,  third  target  -  standing.  Shit. So  much  for  that  hundred  percent  accuracy  he'd  been  going  for.  Puffing  out  frustrated  breath,  he  adjusted  his  aim  and  took  another  shot,  taking  out  the  final  target.

A  thousand  drills  to  learn  how  to  throw  a  punch  without  missing  doesn't  correlate  to  shooting  a  gun,  but  he  wasn't  half  bad. “In  the  woods,  being  shown  up  by  Nancy Wheeler,  I  never  thought  I'd  be  able  to  say  that  sentence  before.”

[acceptedrisk]

' i'm having fun, i promise. '

ginger brows furrow with suspicion , milky eyes searching the air as though she still might decipher nancy's expression . these days it's much harder for max to determine when someone's lying : one of the many downsides of being crushed like a bug in a lich's iron grip . but if nancy promises .... well , fine . her trust in the older girl mostly outweighs her doubt . ' if you say so . in an effort to keep it that way , i'll have mercy & not make you watch sleepaway camp with me . '

[dealtgod]

where are your keys? you're not driving like this. (for billy)

Hawkins is slowly killing him. Which is why he's a little drunk after their umpteenth unsuccessful crawl. Billy's trying to drown himself in something of his choosing instead of the past that washes over his body like waves, taking him further out to sea. He thinks it's stupid that he feels like this because he couldn't be farther from the ocean right now. And yet he's still drowning. In the mid-west. Go figure.

Hawkins is slowly killing him, but the truth is that Billy came back here by choice. He pulled all the monitors off his body, escaped the windowless government hellscape that existed under the guise of a hospital, and came back to Hawkins (much to everyone's surprise). For Max. He still feels her, even now as she's lying unconscious in a hospital on the other end of town. He feels the same fear in her that exists in him. She shouldn't feel like that-- trapped alone with some monster that treats her like prey for amusement. It makes him sick to his stomach, but it also sets something off in Billy-- some knee-jerk response that keeps him going full force with these crawls. Billy thinks he doesn't have it in him anymore, especially these days. The truth is that Billy doesn't want to fight. But he's full of fucking vengeance right now, and it makes him stride into the upside down on autopilot with the group time after time to end this son of a bitch and get Max back.

It is true; he'd go through hell again and again for his sister.

Billy doesn't know how much time has passed, only that the beer he was drinking is now gone. He's starting to think that he should get back to the hospital. So he reaches for his jean jacket, shrugs it on, and thumbs mousy blonde curls out from under the collar. He shifts a bit, lets the denim settle, then starts digging around for his keys. That's when Nancy Wheeler shows up.

'Where are your keys? You're not driving like this.'

He stops, looks at her with something halfway between incredulity and amusement. "Listen, Wheeler," he scoffs. "Thought you were the brains in this shitty town." Nancy has nerve, Billy will give her that. But it's still his fucking car. "If y'think I'm lettin' you drive my car, you're not as smart as I thought." He's feeling restless and starts digging for his keys again. "I'm goin' t'see Max. Don't stop me."