[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

[shiro2hero]

I can ask him, sure.

His name is Vyng. He looks a little wild, but he's a great guy. really.

[savingthrows]

Well. My friend says you're good. So your friend. Must also be good. Yes?

[shiro2hero]

Yeah? Which friend?

I like to think I'm all right. But I try and let other people make up their minds on their own.

[savingthrows]

Will. Byers?

He says you're like. Hopper. And Hop is good.

[shiro2hero]

Ah, yeah. Yeah, I know Will. I've known him since he got here. He's ... really important.

Who's Hopper?

[savingthrows]

He is. [ That's something she can agree to very happily. ]

Hopper is... [ My Dad. She's never said it out loud, and even after 6 months in a different place, she doesn't dare say it casually. Misses him too much. ] ... he takes care. Of me. I live with him.

[shiro2hero]

Ahh, got it.

[And then, because Shiro can't help himself...]

You going to be okay? You've got Will and the others, right?

[savingthrows]

Yes. I protect them.

[ It's easy to say that, and she says it with the sort of gravitas that no 14 year old should have - but it's also very obvious that she means it, with ever fiber of her being. ]

They're my friends.

[shiro2hero]

Then it's a good thing you're here for them.

[He probably should be a little more hesitant, hearing that kind of statement. But by now? In this town? He believes her.]

And that they're here for you.

[savingthrows]

They can't save me.

[ She doesn't mean that in a bad way - her friends are smart and can do a lot of things. But they're just normal. They don't have powers.

They aren't monsters. ]

But. I try to save them.

[shiro2hero]

They might be able to be there for you in other ways. Sometimes, just having your friends here... it helps.

[And sometimes it makes things worse. But this is meant to be reassuring.]

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven nods. ]

You can... share the load, together. Friends make you strong.

[shiro2hero]

Yeah, you got it. That's exactly right.

They probably agree with it, too.

[savingthrows]

They are a party. Warriors and wizards. In their game. But it makes them brave, too.

[ The smiles a little. ]

I love them. A lot.

[shiro2hero]

Ah, yeah. I remember hearing about that.

I - I understand. Completely.