[video] un: eleven

[savingthrows]

[ The video clicks on to a young girl, perhaps 14 years. Her round eyes look a little unsure, brows drawn together in concentration as she figures out how to work this new tablet machine with the stupid name - it's not liquid. She's learned how to operate the application tools back in Beacon, so it's a transition rather than a completely new skill.

Eleven sits cross legged on her bed, half cast in the light of the strange lantern sitting right next to her. She sets the Fluid down on the nightstand, then briefly leans out of frame and picks something up that looks like a beak shaped, half plague doctor mask, distractedly scratching at her neck, where healed scars looks as though something once grabbed her by the neck. Finally, she stops fidgeting and looks at the camera. ]

Hi.

[ She speaks with a pattern that might strike as odd. Sometimes halting in odd places, or saying words slowly, as if she has to place them on her tongue very deliberately. ]

Is there an angel? Here? I need a... miracle. Or maybe. Someone old, with magic?

[ She glances down at the mask, worries her lower lip between her teeth, then adds: ]

There's something in here. It smells like... where I'm from. Home. It's fading. I lost my friend who did the... miracle. So it's fading. But it's important. [ She swallows, lips pursed. ] To me.

[ The things unsaid sit deep in her chest and ache - the home she lost months ago. The friends she lost along the way. A short, deep breath, she gathers herself, serious face relaxing into something softer, but still somber. ]

I can pay. With glitter pens. Or birds, if you have paper.

[Another small pause. She's about to reach out and shut the video off, when she remembers lessons learned. Right - manners. Or the attempt at them. ]

Thanks.

Comments

action;

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Knocking is dumb, as far as Brianna's concerned, so she doesn't mind when Eleven just opens the door and walks in. The lantern is the first thing she notices, with the purple light... kinda cool. Interesting. She sits up a little straighter against the pillow and gives Eleven a small, slanted smile. ]

Hey. Eleven, right?

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven hovers by the door for a moment, then finally comes closer. The hesitance is something shy, something sure. Brianna lives her. It means she's a friend, but she's not someone Eleven knows yet. She told Bruce once; she's not good at making friends.

Finding them is easier than making them. ]

Yes. ... Breeze. Brianna.

[ Her nose scrunches up a little, as she weighs the options. She'll settle on something eventually, if Brianna has no preference. ]

Why are you. Sick?

[fayzedandconfused]

People call me that because I'm fast. Like "as fast as the breeze."

[ It's a name she came up with herself, when she was twelve. A name for a superhero: The Breeze, capital T, capital B. These days she focuses much less on that and it's mostly just a nickname, except for the times when she decides to be all self-important about it.

Eleven's question has her wrinkling her nose. ]

Oh, uh... has anyone told you about dying here? [ Awkward. ]

[savingthrows]

[ A zoomer, then. Like Max on her skateboard.

Eleven smiles a little, though the expression falls when Brianna mentions death. ]

No... So you. Died?

[fayzedandconfused]

Yeah. It takes a week, and then you come back. But you get really sick. For like a month.

[ It's been over a week, and she still feels like she can barely get out of bed to walk to the bathroom. She misses running more than almost anything. ]

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven shifts. Dying in Beacon was... different. ]

I drowned, once. But. I only came here. I wasn't sick.

[ She tugs some hair behind her ear, looking sheepish. ]

I'm sorry. That you died.

[fayzedandconfused]

It's okay. It... wasn't the first time. And I'm a superhero, so it comes with the territory. Superheroes are always dying and coming back in comics.

[ It's easier to sound confident in that statement when you're not recovering from being dead. As it is, she makes it sound like being a superhero is mainly just exhausting. Which it is, a lot of the time. ]

You... drowned? [ That's alarming news to her. Mike never said anything about it. ]

[savingthrows]

Like. Wonder Woman. And Spider-Man.

[ Eleven's eyes go round and wide. She likes super-heroes. She wants to be one, in her own dark and quiet way. ]

Yes. There was... a Flood. Not at home. I was in a different place before... here.

[fayzedandconfused]

Yeah. [ She chuckles, but it turns into a cough. ] Except I'm more like the Flash.

You... were in a different place, but not home? [ She feels like she's heard about things like that, vaguely—other sleepers commiserating over the network, stuff like that—but never talked to someone who'd actually been through it. ]

[savingthrows]

Flash?

[ And utterly missing the point, Eleven holds up her hands, mimicking taking a picture on a camera with a confused expression. ]

Beacon. It was called. Beacon. It was very dark. There were... green-eyed monsters. And World Eaters.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Brianna cracks a grin at that. ]

No, no, the Flash. He's a superhero. He can run at, like, the speed of sound! So can I.

[ Then Eleven says something about World Eaters, and Brianna's smile fades, leaving a confused frown in its place. She's... heard that term before, but she can't remember where. ]

Never heard of a place like that, [ she says finally, deciding it must not be important. ] But it sounds awful. Sorry.

[savingthrows]

[ It was - awful.

Eleven hovers on the edge of the topic for a moment, but then perches on the edge of Brianna's bed instead, pulls her legs up onto the covers. ]

Tell me more? About you. Being a superhero.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Brianna opens her mouth, but the words don't come. She can't remember how she got her powers, or... anything about what she used to do before she came to Deerington. It's like walking up a set of stairs in the dark and misjudging where they end, stepping out into nothing. She can only remember being here. ]

I... um. [ She takes a breath, lets it out. Stay calm. ]

I can show you once I stop feeling so gross. One time—Mike and me fought zombies together.

[savingthrows]

[ Fought together - protected him, or so Eleven hopes. Mike and Will and Dustin, Steve, Nancy. They need protection, and people like them can provide it. ]

Yes. When you're... okay again.

[ Eleven shifts a little. It seems she has missed the subtlety of Brianna avoiding anything from before Deerington. ]

I can... show you mine. My powers.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Well, yeah. But Mike has such a constant death wish that he tries to fight, too.

Brianna grins, her eyes lighting up again. She genuinely thinks superpowers are the coolest thing ever. ]

Yeah! Show me.

[savingthrows]

[ A flicker of excitement in Eleven's face. She... enjoys showing them off, her powers. There's something not quite allowed about it that makes it all the more fun. She unclips the lantern from her belt, puts it on the bed between them, then stretches out her hand - tattoo of a deer skull on her palm, with vines and flowers growing from it.

The lantern wobbles slightly, then lifts into the air. Eleven moves her arm to the side, and the lantern, hovering, moves with it. ]

[fayzedandconfused]

[ Despite feeling like crap, Brianna's face lights up as she watches Eleven move the lantern. It's not a huge demonstration, but it doesn't have to be. She can see on Eleven's face that this is just the bare minimum of what she can do, and that just makes it cooler. Even her tattoo is cool. Eleven is cool. ]

That's badass. I bet you can kick serious butt when you want to.

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven glances at Brianna, and something about her expression shifts, from something somber and hesitant to soft delight, like any other kid getting to show off a cool trick.

She looks younger like this, too. ]

I can also. Spy. On people.

[fayzedandconfused]

What do you mean?

[ This girl is officially the coolest. ]

[savingthrows]

[ She's bitchin'. ]

With my mind. I can spy on people. See what they're doing. See what they're saying.

[fayzedandconfused]

No shit?

[ Brianna is grinning, thrilled. She leans forward, caught up in the excitement of it. ]

So what's everyone doing right now?

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven chuckles a little at that, shakes her head a little. ]

Not that easy. I can look at.... one. At a time. Maybe people they're with. I can look at Mike, and if Mike is with Will and Dustin, I can see them, too. I need.... a blindfold. To see. And... white noise? Like static.

[fayzedandconfused]

[ That deflates her a little, but not by much. ]

Oh. Sounds complicated.