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[closed] help, they need an adult

WHO: eddie munson & steve harrington
WHERE: stygia
WHEN: post-october festival event
WHAT: two dudes try house decorating in an abandoned building
WARNINGS: language (will update as more develop)

[ the hard thing about the afterlife is that it's also pretty much a capitalistic nightmare where you have to work to get all that you need and survive. there's also the added horror of the fact that coins here are the souls of the dead and they could be turned into coins any time.

eddie's not a fan.

it's almost worse than the upside down, which they could leave, but only marginally so because this place has monsters too.

without much money to their names, or any money in eddie's case because he doesn't know how he feels about earning souls, there's limited options in where to find accommodations. luckily, eddie's standards are on the ground. he's lived in a pretty messy trailer, slept in the back of his van when he needed too and rick's boathouse wasn't exactly comfortable. so when he looks around the abandoned apartment that he and steve broke into and then claimed as their own, he's not going to complain. he could. he has plenty of complaints but he also feels a higher level of anxiety than normal (a feat!) and guesses steve has more.

eddie's also trying not to wonder who it belonged to. this is totally temporary. totally.

heating is a problem and so is electricity but there's some furniture left behind, even if it's all worn down and there's no beds or anything to sit on. eddie picks up an abandoned pillow off the floor; it's seen better days and has a cat stitched into it. he holds it up to show steve. ] I know we said we need to make this place look more lively, man, but I vote we burn this thing for heat.

[ he turns the pillow back to look over the cat. it's hideous but in a sad way. maybe he's already getting attached. ]

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I mean, not all the time. And it doesn't hurt like, a lot.

[ He stares down at his own leg too, and then glances over in Eddie's direction as though he might see the same thing echoing back at him, full of answers and revelations unknown. ]

But it's something. Kind of like an ache, you know? Like when you bump into a table corner on your way to the TV or whatever.

[ He is trying so hard right now to not sound like an asshole, or to give an impression that Eddie's some kind of burden, because he isn't. He totally isn't. ]

Okay. [ Well, that's a relief at least. Eddie totally does not want to hear any of the thoughts (which, yeah! He totally has them!) in Steve's head. ] So we're ... we're good then. For now.

[ A beat. ]

You don't hear anything I'm thinking, right?

[ that's sound a bit like a burden, steve!!!

eddie's frowning at him, brows furrowed and eyes narrowed for a moment. that's not how he'd describe the pain that he's still not really used to, it's more of a constant tingling and pulling on his muscles like they're still working out how they're not all chewed up. his thigh cramps up a lot but if the worst steve feels is walking into a table, well, that sucks but it's not the worst thing.

eddie nods after a moment, swallowing and really wishing he had cigarettes. he wonders if the nicotine withdrawal is hitting steve too. that would suck balls. ] And that's all you feel? My leg?

[ ignoring that 'for now' that eddie's not sure he gets, he blinks and tilts his head at steve. ] No? Think about something random and I'll try to guess.

Yeah. And the intense anxiety stuff from earlier, but yeah.

[ And here's hoping it doesn't get worse than that. It would suck to feel a withdrawal for an addiction he doesn't even have. Hawkins High had a strict policy about drinking and drugs if you wanted to stay on the team, and even after he graduated he kinda kept up with the routine.

But for now ... for now, he tries to think of something random ... and eventually his mind wanders to thoughts of home. Hawkins. Their high school, the strip mall, the shops and restaurants; all the rows of houses packed together in claustrophobic clusters to form the neighbourhoods he'd been raised in. His parents still live there. The Wheelers do too. And Dustin and his mother ... Robin.

Robin. The video store. He thinks about Robin, his best friend, the weirdest girl he ever met, and the coolest one too. ]

Okay. What am I thinking?

Yeah, that makes sense. I've been riding on fifteen out of ten on the good old anxiety meter since we got here. [ since they died and ended up in a weird purgatory. eddie's still out on if this is worse than hawkins, all things considered.

no one's tried to chase him out of town yet and the other people on the netherwork seem to have just as good of a chance of that happening to him as he does. things are kind of looking up if you forget the dead thing and eddie really hasn't forgotten.

this time when eddie gives steve a once over, tilts his head back as he narrows his eyes and appraises him. he can't really guess what steve harrington is thinking about, doesn't have a hint of thoughts in his head that don't sound like a version of his own voice.

so he defaults to what most guys their age in small town indiana would think about. ] Tits.

[ Well.

That confirms it at least. ]

The literal one time I'm not thinking of boobs, and you mention boobs.

[ This is a nightmare. ]

[ that's a relief, at least.

also, that's a lot of time spent thinking about boobies. is there any room for anything else left in that brain of steve's? ] So what you're saying is if I stick to the same answer, we'll never be certain that I'm not reading your mind.

[ does that make sense? eddie's not sure that makes sense after he says it but he's sticking to that statement with a deadpan expression. ]

[ Uh, yeah. Duh. There's tons of room for other stuff. Like Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler's —

And also! Also, like, Life Stuff! Obviously! His rapidly declining prospects for the future, his recent death, there is just so much going on in Steve's head, Eddie's lucky he doesn't have access to his thoughts.

But Christ. ]

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?

[ And Steve scrubs his face, feeling ... weirdly embarrassed? He lets out a huff of laughter. ]

This clock would be right like most of the time. [ eddie points out, looking a little smug about this as if he's not at least in a similar boat as steve.

there are plenty of other things occupying eddie's mind. plenty of people, actually, but it's not like he's not also thinking about boobs a good amount of the time. he was but a mortal man, once. oh cruel, cruel world depriving him of any of those fantasies becoming more than that.

wait. is that his own embarrassment or steve's? eddie's not sure but he coughs, shakes his head. ] At least our minds are safe? Silver lining here after the pain thing?

Along with the not going crazy and preventing our Shadows from taking over? [ whatever that actually means. gotta take the wins where you can get them. ]

Yeah. And in a place like this, I guess we can't really be picky about whatever silver linings we can get, huh?

[ If there's one thing to be glad of, it's that their initial mistake provided them with protection against the darkness slowly seeping into their brains and possessing them like pod people.

But it does bring about a few more questions. Or a few hundred more, but he'll start with a few. ]

Speaking of Shadows ... has yours been doing anything weird lately?

Definitely not. Any reason we find is a reason to celebrate in the good ole Netherworld. [ eddie sweeps his hands out to the side in what's meant to be a grand gesture.

he pushes off the wall he's been leaning on, tucks one arm behind his back and then cups his cheek with his free hand. ] Define weird here, Steve. What I'd consider weird or what you'd consider weird?

[ A grand gesture to ... total and utter bullshit, sure.

Steve glances around their run down, dusty, half-broken, unkempt hovel and thinks, Welcome to the Good Ol' Netherworld. But ... it really could be worse. ]

What any self-respecting person would consider weird.

[ So, it'll be Steve-weird but also Eddie-weird, but also literally anyone-else-weird. Or it should because it's a Shadow. ]

Does it speak to you at all? Does it show up unwanted? I dunno, man — never mind, it's probably not a big deal.

[ touching for steve to assume that that encompasses eddie, really, but the older of the two lets out a bark of a laugh at that before his brows knit together and-- yeah, he can be serious about this.

he can.

sometimes it's better not to play the jester, to try to distract with humour to ease the tension or draw attention from the uncomfortable looming thing in the room.

eddie frowns and wraps that arm around his middle, over where the demobats decided were the good meaty parts. ] Nope. No way, man. No never minds about the shit that could be a problem for the both of us.

It doesn't speak to me or anything. [ not much, anyway. not more than the normal levels of self-doubt he's sure everyone deals with. ] Sent a few fucked up texts though.

It hasn't done anything evil yet. Why? [ he bites into his lower lip, suddenly feeling like he should be worried about where this conversation is going. worried for steve because while eddie gets that soulmates are supposed to protect them from their shadows, he's not really fucking sure what their shadows are. not completely. ] Is yours being weird?

[ Steve shakes his head. He'd found himself migrating to the gross couch in their living space and somehow planting his feet on the little coffee table. He pulls them down now and sits up a little straighter.

Because yeah. This kind of is a serious conversation.

There are too many unknowns in this place, and their Shadows are a huge one, all tangled up into their reason for needing a soulmate, but there's definitely more to it. And he's no Sherlock Holmes or whatever, so maybe he's never gonna be smart enough to figure the mystery out but ... he's got his questions. Maybe if he lets them out into the world, someone can help him find answers.

Eddie's smarter than he is at this stuff too, so maybe ... ]

Nothing any weirder than you've seen. There was the weird Soulidarity thing, and sometimes I think I hear something inside my head talking to me. Like, it's me you know, but it's not me. [ That harsh insecurity tends to have a point, even if it's a really dickish one. ] But are we supposed to battle those things together when we see them? Will things get worse the longer we stay here?

[ eddie wishes he had answers but as much as he's poured hours into dnd manuals, those don't exactly have anything about how to deal with a shadow or voices in your head.

at least, not non-magical voices.

the thing is he doesn't know. which isn't new for eddie with most things in life but fantasy shit is supposed to be up his ally. except that he's also learned he likes the supernatural in movies, books, and in the contained space of hellfire instead of all around him. he does better with it then too. ] I think so?

If soulmates stop your Shadow from taking over then we're supposed to be able to help each other out if ours start trying to take over. Or do something. [ don't focus on the fact he doesn't really answer that second question. ] Stop it from winning because you go nuts if it wins and then... your soulmate feels it.

[ shit. he hadn't mentioned that yet, had he? eddie clears his throat. ] I can ask around to figure out what the fuck we're supposed to do to help. It's probably not like any of the books from home. It's probably better, you know, than trying anything out from good ole Tolkein's manual.

[ there's that babbling again. put him out of his misery and panic about something, steve???? ]

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[closed] help, they need an adult

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