[ robin's smile fades, too, when he pulls away from her, resorting to pacing. ]
... Eddie?
[ she prompts softly, hoping he'll explain what he means when the silence hangs for too long. and then it's out-- he thinks he doesn't get to go home. thinks he'll be left here, by himself, because he'd died. thinks there's no longer space for eddie munson in hawkins, indiana.
her eyebrows pull tight, and her lips wrinkle as she purses them. ]
No, that's--
[ she straightens and gets to her feet, pressing both hands to the countertop as she leans over it. ]
That's such bullshit, Eddie. You're coming with us.
[ it's with fierce certainty that she tells him this. the yellow overhead lights of family video reflect off her blue eyes like little matchstick flames.
she gets one knee up on the counter and then slides both legs over it to hop down on the other side. she starts to gesticulate, using her hands to help drive her points home. ]
If this place can- can just pull us out of our universe, then it should be able to do the reverse. Because I know neither of us believe in a higher power, and this place didn't just borrow you from the afterlife. That big magical... rock thing! It found you, and it fixed you.
[ she comes close enough to him to set her hands on top of eddie's shoulders, gripping him by them firmly. ]
It's going to send you back. Even if we have to make it.
Eddie huffs out a soft bark of laughter and scrubs a hand across his face. Is it, though?, he thinks. It can’t be that simple. But Robin slides over the counter to stop his pacing and he wants so desperately to believe her, but hope is such a dangerous, fragile thing for a person to have. He got his second chance and he knows better than to expect more…but she seems so certain.
And maybe it just took Robin’s frantic, offbeat explanation to drive it home, but…she’s not wrong. There was no afterlife. He wasn’t a spirit or a ghost or some unearthly embodiment of his own consciousness. He was nothing but dead. He’d physically felt the life drain out of his body, and then here was nothing. Nothing until he was fished out of that pool in Solvunn—whole and uninjured. However it happened, the Singularity snatched him from the jaws of death and fixed him in the process. ]
Yeah, well. Good luck making that thing do anything it doesn’t wanna do.
[ His gaze flicks up to her face, dark eyes wide and full of anxiety. But he doesn’t tell her that she’s wrong. He doesn’t try to argue with her, because she’s just given him a tiny, fragile shard of hope, and he’ll do anything to make sure it doesn’t shatter. He also refuses to build it up any further for fear of getting hurt. ]
Jesus Christ, I’m probably insane for even wanting to go back there.
[ she smiles wryly at him, the inner corners of her eyebrows curving up. ]
Maybe. But it's not what it used to be... things are kind of a disaster right now, literally. But we wouldn't let anything happen to you. Promise.
[ then she scoffs, anger setting her jaw. ]
You know Jason Carver almost killed Lucas? And then Jason just-- died. Like, really gruesomely. One of the gates just melted him right in half.
[ she won't say good riddance because that's just on the wrong side of terrible to admit... but she's not not saying it either. after all the hell he gave eddie? the kids? making up some sick story about how they were all in it together, every death wrought by vecna twisted into some stupid satanic ritualist crap. the hawkins populace had slurped it right up, too, adults arming themselves to hunt down teenagers.
so no, she hadn't shed a single tear for carver when sinclair had explained what had happened with max in the old creel house. ]
There has to be literature on magic right? Libraries? I spent a whole afternoon with Nance combing microfilms, I'm talking hours, before we found one measly article in The Weekly Watcher of all places that gave us a clue.
[ she gently presses a finger to his chest, over his heart. ]
And we did that for you, dingus. For Max and for you. And I'll do it again. So, shut up about how you're not coming with us, because I'm not leaving without you either.
[ Eddie has been so focused on the inability to go back that he’s barely thought about what might happen if he could go back. He’s still a wanted man, probably by all of Indiana by now, but that’s very much a bridge they’ll cross if they come to it.
He hasn’t heard the name Jason Carver in what feels like years, though, and it’s damn near a shock to hear it now. ]
Wh—wait, seriously? What the hell?
[ He did not know that. He grimaces at the mental image of someone being melted in half and vaguely wonders if the police think he did that as well. Probably. ]
Jesus Christ. What a dick.
[ Like Robin, he so desperately wants to say good riddance, because Jason took his anger and grief beyond whatever problems he had with Eddie. Lucas shouldn’t have ever been involved, and Eddie can’t help but feel guilty that he was. Now he really owes it to him to go to one of his basketball games and pretend he undestands that’s happening.
And yes, he is dimly aware that it kind of makes him a hypocrite for not being horrifically angry with Henry, but this isn’t about him right now— ]
Alright, alright, alright.
[ He sighs and throws up his hands, like having people who love and care about him enough to help with his problems makes him the most put-upon man in the world. It’s not that he's not grateful (he very much is, beyond words), it’s just that his problems tend to be large and cause problems for other people as well. ]
Thorne’s library is huge, apparently, but, uh…given…everything? We’re mostly limited to the one in the primary settlement. And…maybe Wanda’s help if she wants to give it.
[ He doesn’t even know where to begin with something like this. It’s all incredibly overwhelming and he doesn’t really want to give himself more hope when he could just be preparing himself for shattering disappointment instead…but hope is what he’s been given, and he’s not going to leave Robin to this on her own. ]
One condition.
[ Because yes, he’s still going to be stubborn. ]
If the opportunity presents itself? Both of you go back. With or without me.
[ Sure, Steve is the king when it comes to self sacrifice, but never let it be said that Eddie doesn’t have a bit of that in him as well. It’s exactly what led to his death in the first place.
He lowers his head slightly, eyes wide and serious. ]
[ her mouth twists off to the side, eyes narrowing. ]
... Ugh! Fine. Not like that's a choice we're going to have to make, but sure. If it makes you feel better. I'll-- I'll drag him if I have to.
[ she really doesn't want to think about having to do that, being forced to bodily tear them apart because it's what eddie wants. a conditional. she wonders if their friendship, even as solid as it is, could survive that. or if steve would just end up hating her for it. no matter the outcome-- she loses.
it's better for her morale not to consider it an option at all. ]
You know, it's really- it's so stupid we can't just get special summoned passports or something. If we're such a big deal, why do we have to basically swear allegiance to one of the major territories?
[ robin leans her head back to sigh through her nose. the mention of wanda is a good one; they don't know each other very well yet, but robin has enjoyed taking lunch with her several days a week. sometimes dinner and breakfast, too, if she spends the night in one of the spare rooms. she's taken a particular liking to one high up in the tree house, tower-like and brimming with books. though not the ones she wants to be on the lookout for right now.
still. the small library of solvunn will be a start. ]
Well. Unless cross-territory travel suddenly becomes a thing, we'll just have to put a pin in that. Maybe we can ask a summoned from there to help? But I'll comb through what we have at the primary settlement before we go chasing after other options.
[ she places fists on her hips, arms akimbo. they have the makings of a game plan; nancy's shot in the dark had been a bullseye, who's to say they can't pull off the same hat-trick twice? ]
We should brief Steve about it over dinner.
[ though she can already guess he's not going to take eddie's terms and conditions all that well. ]
Yeah, well if we’re ridiculously lucky, it won’t even come to that. But just in case? That's our backup plan.
[ It might destroy him if it comes down to Robin dragging Steve along with her, but he refuses to be the reason why anyone cuts off their entire lives back home. It will hurt either way, but they’re just going to have to hope that they get lucky and things go a different direction.
Not that him being left behind is being seriously considered as an option at all, but he doesn’t know that part. ]
You tell me. We didn’t even get to choose territories they want us to pledge loyalty to.
[ He snorts humorlessly. He doesn’t dislike Solvunn, not by a long shot. As of now, it’s his home, but it never sat well with him that not a single one of them chose to come here and not a single one of them was given the option to leave. Basically, there isn’t a whole lot of choice here. ]
I know some people in Thorne who might be able to look. Not sure about the Free Cities.
[ He may reach out to some people there too, but he’s heard more about their military than he has about any libraries.
But Robin brings up the idea of taking this to Steve, and he huffs out another anxious laugh an drags his hands down his face. ]
Uh, no, we shouldn’t.
[ He already knows that Steve is going to refuse his terms and conditions, and even if he somehow didn’t, he won’t hold to it. And Eddie can already picture the look on his face, because they’ve been through this and Steve isn’t likely to go back on his word, even if that works was spoken at least a year ago.
Ugh. ]
But…
[ He sighs and, throwing out his arms and dipping his head in a slight bow, he relents: ]
[ robin concedes in a deadpan tone. just because it's the smart thing to do doesn't mean she has to like it. or actually follow through.
her brows cinch together when eddie says they should keep all of this from steve. ]
Uh, yes we should. You just started dating and you already want to get into the habit of keeping secrets from your boyfriend?
[ she rolls her eyes so hard her head participates. ]
Maybe math isn't your strongest subject, doofus, but three pairs of eyes are objectively better than two.
[ she really knows how to sniff out and dig her fingers into all the soft, squishy parts of someone, doesn't she? her tongue is a weapon all on its own.
but even after neatly cutting him to the quick, her hands find his shoulders again to give them a conciliatory squeeze. her expression is gentle with sympathy. ]
Eddie... he'll be more than just mad if we don't let him help, he'll be hurt. I know you want to avoid having to talk to him about your silly-- [ read: pointless. ]-- fine print before he signs on, but that's kind of what being together is all about. Talking.
[ she tips her head back and groans theatrically. ]
I can't believe I'm giving you relationship advice when I haven't even been in one yet! This is cruel and unusual punishment!
[ It’s not like he’d have many secrets to keep. Eddie is an open book—it’s just hat a few o the pages are stuck together. What you see is typically what you get, but he rarely talks about himself in depth and often gets scared and thinks he can handle his problems on his own. He rarely can and he’s aware that he wouldn’t have survived as long as he did back home without help.
He sighs rolls his eyes upward, either suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting or pointedly avoiding her gaze. Because she just dug right into him, and he can normally let even the most finely crafted insult roll right off his shoulders, but he’d be lying if he said that didn’t sting a little bit. Math really isn’t his strongest subject unless it’s tied to D&D scoring, but she didn’t need to go there and critique his relationship at the same time. ]
This is my first one, so. Still plenty of time to fuck it all up.
[ He doesn’t mean that. Steve means a lot to him, and all of this is coming from a desire not to fuck things up. He’s scared—of what could happen and what might happen and what might not happen. It just seems like the only way any of them are going to get what they want out of this is if Eddie gets out of here too.
And that requires all three of them. ]
I’ll tell him. But if he never lets himself sleep again? I'm blaming you.
[ robin says with confident assurance... and then her mouth adopts a teasing smile, eyes all a-twinkle with amusement. ]
But Steve might.
[ she turns to lift herself back up onto the counter with her hands, sitting on the edge and swinging her legs. she pulls a lollipop out of the display cone by the register to pick open the wrapper. when she puts it in her mouth, she makes a surprised sound before leaning back to check if the trash bin is still next to the money safe like she remembers it.
she kinda expected food not to really have any kind of flavor here. it's not like it ever has in her dreams. but to her surprise it tastes exactly like whatever candy makers think passes for "watermelon."
when she straightens, she's already trying to chip away at the candy layer with her teeth to get to the underlying gum at the center. proper freak behavior. she pauses only to gesture at him with it. ]
He's not going to lose sleep over it, okay? He'll probably take it as well as I did. He'll-- he'll think it's stupid you're making him agree to something that will never come up anyway, because you not coming home with us isn't an option.
[ like it's that simple. vecna hadn't been. vecna had killed a frightened girl in his uncle's trailer, a girl that- maybe!- could've been his friend. and then he'd extracted his blood price from eddie, too, in the end.
but maybe that's why robin is so insistent. they've been given their second chance, and she'll be damned if it gets snatched from her, from them, like it had the first time. even considering it feels like bad luck. ]
[ Eddie doesn’t look particularly amused by that comment. He doesn’t respond, but he shoots Robin a withering glare as he pulls himself up onto the counter beside her and follows her lead almost exactly. He obnoxiously reaches over her to swipe a lollipop of his own from the display, rips the wrapper off with his teeth, turns to spit it ever so politely into the garbage behind him, and begins to partake in the exact same freak behavior of chipping away at the hard candy layer.
But his thoughts are the opposite of hers. As a connoisseur of only the finest junk food, can’t help but think that sour apple doesn’t taste nearly sour enough here in the Horizon, but it’s what he has available to him, and he chomps away at it with his brow furrowed in thought. ]
Guess I’ll, uh, just have to soften the blow somehow.
[ It’s his turn to shoot her a teasing grin, and he chuckles, leaning into her shoulder like they’ve been proper friends for years and not just for weeks. ]
You two ever going to sick of coming to my rescue?
[ Well, Eddie, you see, they didn’t come to your rescue that one time because you said you wouldn’t try to be a hero… ]
Edited (SORRY HAD TO FIX A WORD) 2024-12-26 00:23 (UTC)
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no subject
... Eddie?
[ she prompts softly, hoping he'll explain what he means when the silence hangs for too long. and then it's out-- he thinks he doesn't get to go home. thinks he'll be left here, by himself, because he'd died. thinks there's no longer space for eddie munson in hawkins, indiana.
her eyebrows pull tight, and her lips wrinkle as she purses them. ]
No, that's--
[ she straightens and gets to her feet, pressing both hands to the countertop as she leans over it. ]
That's such bullshit, Eddie. You're coming with us.
[ it's with fierce certainty that she tells him this. the yellow overhead lights of family video reflect off her blue eyes like little matchstick flames.
she gets one knee up on the counter and then slides both legs over it to hop down on the other side. she starts to gesticulate, using her hands to help drive her points home. ]
If this place can- can just pull us out of our universe, then it should be able to do the reverse. Because I know neither of us believe in a higher power, and this place didn't just borrow you from the afterlife. That big magical... rock thing! It found you, and it fixed you.
[ she comes close enough to him to set her hands on top of eddie's shoulders, gripping him by them firmly. ]
It's going to send you back. Even if we have to make it.
no subject
Eddie huffs out a soft bark of laughter and scrubs a hand across his face. Is it, though?, he thinks. It can’t be that simple. But Robin slides over the counter to stop his pacing and he wants so desperately to believe her, but hope is such a dangerous, fragile thing for a person to have. He got his second chance and he knows better than to expect more…but she seems so certain.
And maybe it just took Robin’s frantic, offbeat explanation to drive it home, but…she’s not wrong. There was no afterlife. He wasn’t a spirit or a ghost or some unearthly embodiment of his own consciousness. He was nothing but dead. He’d physically felt the life drain out of his body, and then here was nothing. Nothing until he was fished out of that pool in Solvunn—whole and uninjured. However it happened, the Singularity snatched him from the jaws of death and fixed him in the process. ]
Yeah, well. Good luck making that thing do anything it doesn’t wanna do.
[ His gaze flicks up to her face, dark eyes wide and full of anxiety. But he doesn’t tell her that she’s wrong. He doesn’t try to argue with her, because she’s just given him a tiny, fragile shard of hope, and he’ll do anything to make sure it doesn’t shatter. He also refuses to build it up any further for fear of getting hurt. ]
Jesus Christ, I’m probably insane for even wanting to go back there.
no subject
Maybe. But it's not what it used to be... things are kind of a disaster right now, literally. But we wouldn't let anything happen to you. Promise.
[ then she scoffs, anger setting her jaw. ]
You know Jason Carver almost killed Lucas? And then Jason just-- died. Like, really gruesomely. One of the gates just melted him right in half.
[ she won't say good riddance because that's just on the wrong side of terrible to admit... but she's not not saying it either. after all the hell he gave eddie? the kids? making up some sick story about how they were all in it together, every death wrought by vecna twisted into some stupid satanic ritualist crap. the hawkins populace had slurped it right up, too, adults arming themselves to hunt down teenagers.
so no, she hadn't shed a single tear for carver when sinclair had explained what had happened with max in the old creel house. ]
There has to be literature on magic right? Libraries? I spent a whole afternoon with Nance combing microfilms, I'm talking hours, before we found one measly article in The Weekly Watcher of all places that gave us a clue.
[ she gently presses a finger to his chest, over his heart. ]
And we did that for you, dingus. For Max and for you. And I'll do it again. So, shut up about how you're not coming with us, because I'm not leaving without you either.
no subject
He hasn’t heard the name Jason Carver in what feels like years, though, and it’s damn near a shock to hear it now. ]
Wh—wait, seriously? What the hell?
[ He did not know that. He grimaces at the mental image of someone being melted in half and vaguely wonders if the police think he did that as well. Probably. ]
Jesus Christ. What a dick.
[ Like Robin, he so desperately wants to say good riddance, because Jason took his anger and grief beyond whatever problems he had with Eddie. Lucas shouldn’t have ever been involved, and Eddie can’t help but feel guilty that he was. Now he really owes it to him to go to one of his basketball games and pretend he undestands that’s happening.
And yes, he is dimly aware that it kind of makes him a hypocrite for not being horrifically angry with Henry, but this isn’t about him right now— ]
Alright, alright, alright.
[ He sighs and throws up his hands, like having people who love and care about him enough to help with his problems makes him the most put-upon man in the world. It’s not that he's not grateful (he very much is, beyond words), it’s just that his problems tend to be large and cause problems for other people as well. ]
Thorne’s library is huge, apparently, but, uh…given…everything? We’re mostly limited to the one in the primary settlement. And…maybe Wanda’s help if she wants to give it.
[ He doesn’t even know where to begin with something like this. It’s all incredibly overwhelming and he doesn’t really want to give himself more hope when he could just be preparing himself for shattering disappointment instead…but hope is what he’s been given, and he’s not going to leave Robin to this on her own. ]
One condition.
[ Because yes, he’s still going to be stubborn. ]
If the opportunity presents itself? Both of you go back. With or without me.
[ Sure, Steve is the king when it comes to self sacrifice, but never let it be said that Eddie doesn’t have a bit of that in him as well. It’s exactly what led to his death in the first place.
He lowers his head slightly, eyes wide and serious. ]
Okay?
no subject
... Ugh! Fine. Not like that's a choice we're going to have to make, but sure. If it makes you feel better. I'll-- I'll drag him if I have to.
[ she really doesn't want to think about having to do that, being forced to bodily tear them apart because it's what eddie wants. a conditional. she wonders if their friendship, even as solid as it is, could survive that. or if steve would just end up hating her for it. no matter the outcome-- she loses.
it's better for her morale not to consider it an option at all. ]
You know, it's really- it's so stupid we can't just get special summoned passports or something. If we're such a big deal, why do we have to basically swear allegiance to one of the major territories?
[ robin leans her head back to sigh through her nose. the mention of wanda is a good one; they don't know each other very well yet, but robin has enjoyed taking lunch with her several days a week. sometimes dinner and breakfast, too, if she spends the night in one of the spare rooms. she's taken a particular liking to one high up in the tree house, tower-like and brimming with books. though not the ones she wants to be on the lookout for right now.
still. the small library of solvunn will be a start. ]
Well. Unless cross-territory travel suddenly becomes a thing, we'll just have to put a pin in that. Maybe we can ask a summoned from there to help? But I'll comb through what we have at the primary settlement before we go chasing after other options.
[ she places fists on her hips, arms akimbo. they have the makings of a game plan; nancy's shot in the dark had been a bullseye, who's to say they can't pull off the same hat-trick twice? ]
We should brief Steve about it over dinner.
[ though she can already guess he's not going to take eddie's terms and conditions all that well. ]
no subject
[ It might destroy him if it comes down to Robin dragging Steve along with her, but he refuses to be the reason why anyone cuts off their entire lives back home. It will hurt either way, but they’re just going to have to hope that they get lucky and things go a different direction.
Not that him being left behind is being seriously considered as an option at all, but he doesn’t know that part. ]
You tell me. We didn’t even get to choose territories they want us to pledge loyalty to.
[ He snorts humorlessly. He doesn’t dislike Solvunn, not by a long shot. As of now, it’s his home, but it never sat well with him that not a single one of them chose to come here and not a single one of them was given the option to leave. Basically, there isn’t a whole lot of choice here. ]
I know some people in Thorne who might be able to look. Not sure about the Free Cities.
[ He may reach out to some people there too, but he’s heard more about their military than he has about any libraries.
But Robin brings up the idea of taking this to Steve, and he huffs out another anxious laugh an drags his hands down his face. ]
Uh, no, we shouldn’t.
[ He already knows that Steve is going to refuse his terms and conditions, and even if he somehow didn’t, he won’t hold to it. And Eddie can already picture the look on his face, because they’ve been through this and Steve isn’t likely to go back on his word, even if that works was spoken at least a year ago.
Ugh. ]
But…
[ He sighs and, throwing out his arms and dipping his head in a slight bow, he relents: ]
You, Robin Buckley, are the boss.
no subject
[ robin concedes in a deadpan tone. just because it's the smart thing to do doesn't mean she has to like it.
or actually follow through.her brows cinch together when eddie says they should keep all of this from steve. ]
Uh, yes we should. You just started dating and you already want to get into the habit of keeping secrets from your boyfriend?
[ she rolls her eyes so hard her head participates. ]
Maybe math isn't your strongest subject, doofus, but three pairs of eyes are objectively better than two.
[ she really knows how to sniff out and dig her fingers into all the soft, squishy parts of someone, doesn't she? her tongue is a weapon all on its own.
but even after neatly cutting him to the quick, her hands find his shoulders again to give them a conciliatory squeeze. her expression is gentle with sympathy. ]
Eddie... he'll be more than just mad if we don't let him help, he'll be hurt. I know you want to avoid having to talk to him about your silly-- [ read: pointless. ]-- fine print before he signs on, but that's kind of what being together is all about. Talking.
[ she tips her head back and groans theatrically. ]
I can't believe I'm giving you relationship advice when I haven't even been in one yet! This is cruel and unusual punishment!
no subject
[ It’s not like he’d have many secrets to keep. Eddie is an open book—it’s just hat a few o the pages are stuck together. What you see is typically what you get, but he rarely talks about himself in depth and often gets scared and thinks he can handle his problems on his own. He rarely can and he’s aware that he wouldn’t have survived as long as he did back home without help.
He sighs rolls his eyes upward, either suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting or pointedly avoiding her gaze. Because she just dug right into him, and he can normally let even the most finely crafted insult roll right off his shoulders, but he’d be lying if he said that didn’t sting a little bit. Math really isn’t his strongest subject unless it’s tied to D&D scoring, but she didn’t need to go there and critique his relationship at the same time. ]
This is my first one, so. Still plenty of time to fuck it all up.
[ He doesn’t mean that. Steve means a lot to him, and all of this is coming from a desire not to fuck things up. He’s scared—of what could happen and what might happen and what might not happen. It just seems like the only way any of them are going to get what they want out of this is if Eddie gets out of here too.
And that requires all three of them. ]
I’ll tell him. But if he never lets himself sleep again? I'm blaming you.
no subject
[ robin says with confident assurance... and then her mouth adopts a teasing smile, eyes all a-twinkle with amusement. ]
But Steve might.
[ she turns to lift herself back up onto the counter with her hands, sitting on the edge and swinging her legs. she pulls a lollipop out of the display cone by the register to pick open the wrapper. when she puts it in her mouth, she makes a surprised sound before leaning back to check if the trash bin is still next to the money safe like she remembers it.
she kinda expected food not to really have any kind of flavor here. it's not like it ever has in her dreams. but to her surprise it tastes exactly like whatever candy makers think passes for "watermelon."
when she straightens, she's already trying to chip away at the candy layer with her teeth to get to the underlying gum at the center. proper freak behavior. she pauses only to gesture at him with it. ]
He's not going to lose sleep over it, okay? He'll probably take it as well as I did. He'll-- he'll think it's stupid you're making him agree to something that will never come up anyway, because you not coming home with us isn't an option.
[ like it's that simple. vecna hadn't been. vecna had killed a frightened girl in his uncle's trailer, a girl that- maybe!- could've been his friend. and then he'd extracted his blood price from eddie, too, in the end.
but maybe that's why robin is so insistent. they've been given their second chance, and she'll be damned if it gets snatched from her, from them, like it had the first time. even considering it feels like bad luck. ]
no subject
But his thoughts are the opposite of hers. As a connoisseur of only the finest junk food, can’t help but think that sour apple doesn’t taste nearly sour enough here in the Horizon, but it’s what he has available to him, and he chomps away at it with his brow furrowed in thought. ]
Guess I’ll, uh, just have to soften the blow somehow.
[ It’s his turn to shoot her a teasing grin, and he chuckles, leaning into her shoulder like they’ve been proper friends for years and not just for weeks. ]
You two ever going to sick of coming to my rescue?
[ Well, Eddie, you see, they didn’t come to your rescue that one time because you said you wouldn’t try to be a hero… ]