Fandom Stranger Things 4 (Main) (OPEN

[Shibe]

April, 1986
Hawkins, Indiana
Palace Arcade and Video Rentals
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Another lovely spring afternoon in the small town of Hawkins, Hawkins Middle and High school just released its students from another day of learning.

Friday always meant the arcade would be packed, pre-teens and high schoolers of all kinds would flood the arcade in celebration of the weekend, which meant they couldn’t close until damn near midnight. Usually by then, Keith would have to run any of the remaining kids off. Although the other workers seem to be annoyed with the heavy influx of customers, it meant Steve Harrington would get to see his favorite group of kids.

Well, they weren’t kids anymore. But he still thought of them that way. Every Friday afternoon the gang would stop by the arcade and chat it up with Steve and Robin while hammering away at the controls on the games, the best part about being friends with two people who work at the arcade is that Steve would occasionally sneak some quarters from the register for them. Sometimes snacks from the vending machines too.


Ever since Eleven, Jonathan, and Will left, the kids seemed kinda down. Hell, Mike even got straight up depressed after the first few months after their depart from Hawkins. Steve tried his best to be there for them as much as possible and try to cheer them up with his silly antics, when things got especially dreary, he and Robin would take them out to the nearby dairy bar for some ice cream.

A dull voice ripped Steve away from his thoughts. “Hey Harrington, it’s almost time for ‘the wave’ to hit. You done sweeping or what?” Keith droned from behind the counter, his work shirt covered in cheese puff dust. He still seemed to be munching on a bag of them, Steve was pretty sure that was the third bag Keith had ate that day.

“Uh...yeah! Yeah! I’m done. I just got kinda lost in the sauce for a bit there.” Steve joked, flashing one of his signature grins. He had literally been staring at the floor for an entire minute in deep thought before Keith had spoken. That was damn embarrassing, he probably had a stupid look on his face too.


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[SomebodyElse]

Juliet had finally arrived at Hawkins. The mysterious town which rumors had begun to sprung up about.
Supposedly the mall had been shutdown and before that a secret government agency had been stopped from doing weird things.
It was really a place she had wanted to visit for awhile. The whole thing just sounded so interesting.
Driving her truck through the town she had gotten a good look of the place. It was much smaller than she was used to in Austin.
"Hawkins better be ready for a Texan to come and shake things up." She spoke to herself, leaning back against the driver seat.
She had pulled down her cowboy hat to give her face some shade from the sun.

She decided to find the arcade, something one of the locals told her about. She wasn't really big on arcade games but she didn't really know the area well and it might as well pass some time.
Finding the arcade wasn't too hard. The town wasn't actually as big as Austin. That was actually alittle refreshing. She was always used to getting lost and ending up in some crazy place.
Not that this town sounded less crazy, if anything it sounded more. Maybe the rumors were true.

She had some quarters and cash. Perhaps she could meet somebody who knew something about the mysterious shutdown of the mall.
She ended up parking her truck in the parking lot, noticing not a ton of people here yet.
Heading into the arcade she walked up to counter. Some weirdo was sitting at the counter with cheesepuff dust all over him.
"Ya'll open? The door was unlocked so I thought it was okay to come in."
She noticed another guy was there too seemingly distracted and looking abit weird too.
"Do ya'll accept card or cash? I would like to get twenty's worth of tokens." She spoke, fishing in one of her pockets for her wallet.

There definitely wasn't much going on right now here. Maybe she beat out all the people arriving. Both boys seemed rather depressing in a way so that she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask about the rumors. Were people nervous or hurt by the mall closing? Plus the boys just seemed...weird.
Hawkins sure was a different town. She honestly wasn't used to all the smallness but it wasn't bad.

S Shibe

 

[EphemeralSunshine]

Ashley Powell
:: Palace Arcade and Video Rentals ::​

Ashley pedaled furiously to keep pace with her friends, quarters clinking rhythmically in her pockets. Her legs burned from the effort, but Mike had insisted that they try and beat the crowds, and she was still too new to the group to feel confident asking them to slow down.
Even though Max and the boys had been nothing but welcoming, she couldn’t ignore the fact that they had history together that she hadn’t been a part of, making her sort of an odd one out. It didn’t help that there were certain things they refused to to talk to her about, and that sometimes everyone would fall silent when she walked into a room. Still, having friends with secrets beat having no friends at all.

As the group neared the arcade, the boys began to bicker good-naturedly about the best way to spend their money. Ashley and Max shared a knowing glance and rolled their eyes. The boys did this almost every Friday, and the outcome was always the same. Their debate got louder and more unintelligible as time went on, finally screeching to a halt at the same time as their bikes. As everyone ditched their ride and school bag in the usual spot, Ashley noticed an unfamiliar truck with a Texas license plate in the nearly empty parking lot. She stared at it for a moment before being tugged toward the doors of the arcade by an impatient Mike.
As the gang entered the arcade, the dim lights made it seem like an entirely different world from the sunny outdoors. Blinking lights from the rows of games illuminated five grinning faces as the teens surveyed the mostly empty arcade. Their after-school rush had paid off, they had managed to arrive before the crowds.

Ashley followed her friends over to the counter to greet Steve, Robin, and her idiot brother. A blonde stranger in a cowboy hat stood at the counter, looking entirely out of place. Shooting a confused glance at the rest of the party, Ashley ignored the stranger and waved hello to the boys behind the counter. “Hi Trashley,” mumbled Keith through a mouthful of cheese puffs. Rolling her eyes at the obnoxious nickname, she gave her brother the finger.

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Nancy Wheeler
:: Hawkins Public Library ::​

Nancy shifted from foot to foot in her uncomfortable heels, trying to give her sore feet a break. She glanced at the clock for what was probably the the hundredth time that day, mentally calculating the time left before her shift ended and she could go home. Her job at the library was less infuriating than working at the Hawkins Post, but it was excruciatingly boring. With nothing to do between helping patrons but listen to the rustling of paper and the tick of the clock, she often wished she were in a big city somewhere, on her way to being a star journalist.

She had only stayed in Hawkins to make sure Mike was okay, at least that was what she told herself. In reality, Mike was probably doing better than she was, considering that he’d made a new friend and was trying to make the best of his current situation. After the terrifying events of the past few years, being fired from the Hawkins post, and being separated from Jonathan, Nancy hadn’t exactly been in a good place. She hadn’t been visibly depressed and sulky like her brother, but for a while she hadn’t known what to do with herself. At the encouragement of her mother, she had applied for a job at the library to give herself something to do. It had been a comfort at the beginning, but months later, the monotony of work had become nearly unbearable.

At the moment, the only thing keeping Nancy going was the thought of being able to call Jonathan when she got home. It had become their routine to talk on the phone every Friday evening, and while it usually made her miss him even more, their conversations were always the highlight of her week.

A few more minutes ticked by, but to Nancy they felt more like hours. She glanced at the clock. A patron came up with books to borrow, making her lose count of the dark tiles on the floor somewhere in the seventies. After checking out their books and feigning interest as she listened to them drone on about what they were researching, she sent them on their way and glanced at the clock again. It hadn’t even been ten minutes since she last checked the time. Groaning quietly, she drummed her fingers on the counter and restarted her count of the dark floor tiles.

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[CaptainSully]

Leo Cormack
:: Hawkins Public Library ::​

With one final turn of the wrench Leo slowly emerged from under the sink. He turned the tap on and watched as the water swirled down into the plug hole. Leaning to look under the ceramic and back at the piping beneath he saw that the leak had not disappeared. "Awesome." He spoke out loud in the empty bathroom of the library, called in to repair a stubborn leak. With the sink back in proper working order he packed up all his tools and made his way into the main part of the library.

He had been massively into reading books at a younger age but these days he was more interested in music, video games and girls. He looked down the many aisles as he made his way towards reception where the familiar face of his cousin sat drumming away at the counter. She was so focussed on the floor that he made the assumption she hadn't noticed him. He sidestepped down one of the aisles and decided to surprise her in his trademark way. Moving surprisingly softly for a man his size, little noise was made with each footstep he took. His eyes caught sight of the one book he remembered most fondly, the name J R R Tolkien emblazoned on the spine in large, golden letter. However his plan took priority over nostalgia.

Emerging from the far end of the aisle he turned and walked with his shoulder close to the wall. With the last aisle in sight he peaked out from the side, seeing Nancy still counting away at the floor tiles. What else was someone to do working in the library? He moved quietly along the wall under he was to her right handside. Step by step he cautiously moved forward, like a lion ready to pounce on his prey. WIthin moments he was next to the counter, stood just behind Nancy's side. Then with a swift moment he dropped his toolkit onto the counter top, sending a massive bang throughout the library. "Hey cus!"

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