quietplacelogs | (no subject)

Featuring: Max Mayfield + Open
What's Happening? Meeting people, exploring things, etc.
When: Feb. 19 - ?
Content Warnings: None so far.

[House 11 Spam]

[Staying in a house that is mostly completely silent around the clock is strange in a lot of ways. The silence itself is eerie and takes her a few days to get used to, considering she's used to living with Billy and Neil who are anything but quiet unless they're unconscious or not at home. She keeps expecting to wake up from a dead sleep to the sound of screaming down the hall, or something getting broken. Instead she lies awake at night, staring at the ceiling, hoping that no monster hears one of them breathing and Godzilla's the house and eats all of them.

The other thing that's strange is staying in a house full of boys and...a centaur. She feels an odd sense of belonging among them that's both a relief and also troubling. One thing that life's taught her over and over is not to get too attached to anyone. She doesn't want to get attached to anyone and yet she also wants the easy camaraderie that she sees with Bill and Eddie and Richie. The same kind she'd witnessed back in Hawkins with Lucas, Dustin, Will and Mike. She so desperately craves it, but she doesn't know how to make it happen, either.

After a mostly restless night of sleep, Max makes her way quietly through the house toward the kitchen, her stomach twisting with hunger. If any of the others are there, she'll lift a hand to wave at them.

She also sends the following message to everyone else who lives there, via the device:]

I think we should start soundproofing the house.

[Out and About]

[Max finishes her full time quiet maintenance work for the day and decides to check out the rest of the town. She carefully makes her way over the sandpaths, barefoot, and when she closes her eyes for a moment she can almost pretend she's at the beach. Almost. But not quiet.

She'll trek to as many places as possible, including the hospital, outside Town Hall, and finally to sit beside the fountain, wishing she had a pen and a notebook to write in.

Later she'll end up going through abandoned houses, looking for anything that might be useful to have at the house. Like a hairbrush since her hair is a mess, and while she's not a fussy person when it comes to her looks, it's driving her crazy.

She's also on a mission to find the library. The whole time she's out, she's keeping her eyes and ears peeled for monsters or people who look sketchy.]

[Open to People in House 9]

[Her last stop of the day is to swing by the house where Will and Mike live. She's there to see Will, so she shoots him a quick message (I'm outside on the porch of your house) but remains on said porch because she's not about to barge into someone else's house without an invite, and it's not like she can knock.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Will's already rearranging his nest of blankets and paper so the eraser has a place to sit. There we go, right on the pillow. Spot of honor. Come on, Max, sit down.]

you're exploring abandoned houses??? aren't you scared??

[Her lips turn upwards even more when he sets the eraser right on the pillow. She hesitates a second, then sits down on the edge of his bed, pulling her legs up and sitting cross-legged across from him.]

it's kind of exciting, but...a little scary I guess, yeah. [Still. She's scared sitting in the house, too, so it doesn't make that much difference.]

you're braver than i am. [Will types it matter-of-factly, fishing out his pencil and drawing a line on a scrap of paper, then using the eraser to carefully scrub it away.]

[He survived a week alone in what in her mind is basically a hell dimension. He's braver than he gives himself credit for. She smiles a little though, shrugging.]

or just dumber.

[She can do self-deprecating humor with the best of them, okay.]

[Will makes a very soft huffy sound, elbowing her gently, then sliding one of the scraps of paper and a pencil stub her way. We're bonding now, Max.]

you're not dumb.

[She glances at him when he elbows her, faint smile tugging at her mouth.]

it was a joke.

[She looks at the paper and the pencil, though, arching her eyebrows.]

i'm not good at art.

that's fine. i'm not gonna judge. [Bonding, Max!!! Non-optional!!!]

[No. She actually believes that's true. She's a decent judge of character most of the time - which is probably the main reason she can't bring herself to actually hate Mike. So she reluctantly picks up the pencil and paper, glancing over at him. She doesn't really know what she's supposed to draw, so she just starts to doodle her skateboard, hair falling in her face as she leans over to work on it.]

[Good job, Max. Will settles in a little closer, always wanting to be warm, especially now. He never feels like that icy coldness is completely out of him.

He'll reach over and add some flames around her skateboard. And clouds underneath it. Flying, fiery skateboard, see?]

[She glances at him out of the corner of her eye when he shifts closer to her. She doesn't mind, really, it's just new to her. If anything, there's something about Will that makes her feel calmer than usual. Like her nerves just settle. She wonders if the others from home feel that way around him, too.

Max smiles when he adds to her drawing and she scoots the paper closer to make it easier for him. Anything he does to it will certainly be an improvement. Art is definitely not a strong suit for her.

She stretches out a little, legs in front of her, wondering what he's working on at the moment. Her gaze drifts back to the drawing he's done of Lucas and she ducks her head a little, chewing on her lip. Then she picks up her device and types out a message.]

You're really, really good.

[Will raises and lowers a shoulder, ears burning pink at the compliment.] thanks. i'm not good at hands yet, really. they're hard to do. and noses. eyes are easy, and dogs and trees and stuff. and dragons.

everyone's good at different stuff.

[She smiles just a little, looking back down at her paper and doodling an arcade machine near the skateboard.]

i wouldn't even try to draw people. [It would be horrible.]

yeah i know.

you can't learn if you don't try, though. when i first drew people they were REALLY bad.

[Now look at him, basically Monet. He's outlining someone's face now, hair and lines and shadows and -- yeah, it's Joyce. Joyce is in a lot of the drawings. Someone's homesick.]

you should ask one of the tech-y people if they can make you a...hoverboard or something. something quiet, but so you can still do what you like.

[She knows he's right, of course. Still, there's something inherently different about having talent at something like art and how to figure out how to stay upright on a skateboard, or beat level 8 on Dragon's Lair.]

Yeah, maybe.

[It would still be risky. A hoverboard would be different from a skateboard. The chances of falling would be higher for her. Falling would make noise. She sighs inaudibly and leans back against the headboard of Will's bed, watching him work.]

I like to write.

[She's not sure what prompts her to admit this, something she hasn't told anyone, ever. Essays in school came to her easily, but she likes to write fiction. Sometimes poetry. She ends up tossing most of it back home, worried that Billy would find it. That it would give him more reason to ridicule her.]

[Will blinks over at her for a moment, surprised. Then he recovers, turning back to his drawing, not wanting to make a big deal and make her self-conscious.]

you do? what kinda stuff like...stories or...stuff for school?

both. and poetry sometimes.

[Her cheeks flush, and she rolls her eyes, mostly at herself. She doodles another cloud on her paper.]

for real? that's really cool! [He looks 100% serious, okay, he respects your coolness, Max.]

[And this is why she likes Will. She feels like she could tell him a lot of things and he wouldn't make fun of her for it.]

Thanks.