Drop an image or two, or an idea, or even just a starter if you want, this is where all those things go, plus where I'll move things from memes when they need to be pinned down.
[It's going to take her at least that long to walk there anyway. She's not as fast as she used to be. She also doesn't like the sound of wicked witch of the west, but. She knows what goes on behind closed doors isn't always easily perceived on the outside.]
[It's a well-known fact that Chrissy's family sucks, or at least her mother, her father's apathetic and she mostly gets along with her brother. They have an agreement at least and that's always been good enough for her.
The fact that he's the only one of them who hasn't started treating her differently since her return is also a factor.
Either way, it's almost exactly an hour later that she makes her way up the front steps of the library and into the main lobby, already scanning for that shock of red hair.]
[Max is sitting in the lobby of the library, listening to her Walkman when she spots Chrissy and waves hesitantly. They haven't spent a lot of time together, and she doesn't know Chrissy all that well yet. But they'd both somehow survived Vecna, and that ties them together. The fact that they both have shitty family lives is probably another. She rises to her feet, pulling her headphones off her ears and letting them rest around her neck.]
[Chrissy can't help but smile in turn, returning the almost-awkward wave as she closes the space between them] Hi.
[She's a far cry from the Cheer Captain she'd been before spring break, wearing indigo blue jeans and a sweater that's almost big enough that she's swimming in it, sleeves long enough to mostly cover her hands, a large-gauge checkerboard pattern of powder blue and pistachio green, none of her usual makeup and previously perfectly manicured nails chewed down to ragged edges, more than that her hair's loose, which definitely never would have happened in school.
Her smile tilts though, reaching out to nudge at Max's elbow gently to steer her deeper into the building, apparently knowing exactly where to go even without checking the card catalog] C'mon, we'll check indoor hobbies first, move to outdoor ones if we don't find anything there.
[She likes Chrissy's new look. It looks more casual, less perfect. She looks more like a real person now, in Max's opinion. Like this is maybe who she really is, and less like she's trying to just fit in. Not that Max is judging her for that if that's what it had been before. She finds herself wondering what kind of hobbies Chrissy is thinking about, if she's done with cheerleading. She allows the older girl to lead her into the library, back into a particular section of shelves.
She finds herself gravitating toward books on writing, though she doesn't go so far as to pull any off the shelves, just...peruses the titles on the spines of the books.]
[Part of it is absolutely a deliberate distancing herself from the image -and plan- that her mother had for her, and part of it is that she's still learning who she is without that plan. It's a bumpy road.
She's not thinking about that at the moment, however, just skimming past books on crafts and sewing -definitely not her forte and too much like something her mom would actually like for her to do- and along past architecture drawing, art history and then into art, fingers trailing along the spines as she goes, finally tugging a book on Easy Watercolor Techniques down] Art? Or is that too traditional for you?
[She doesn't really know much about Max, not besides the patented Laura Cunningham Rant about anyone and everyone who lived in Forest Hills, but that's not the kind of thing Chrissy's going to repeat.]
[Max looks over at her when she asks, considering. She's definitely not Will, who actually has art skills. Good ones. But there was something soothing about art, even if she sucked at it.]
Definite maybe. Writing? [She glances at the book her hand has landed on. Journaling for Beginners. She wonders if that one might be too risky, with Chrissy's mom.]
If -- you didn't want your family to accidentally see something, you could always hide it at my place. If you wanted.
[She smiles, though it's a little brittle.] I've had a diary since my Confirmation, I was eleven or twelve. By fourteen I'd already learned what not to put in it.
[The smile softens a little at the edges.] But thank you, for the offer of, um, an off-site storage area. I might take you up on it. [She shakes her head] Maybe I should just take up archery again, she'd hate that so much.
[It's difficult to tell by her tone whether that's a point in favor or a point against.]
I was, yeah, for a while in grade school, even into middle school, because it was a sport that 'was fit for girls' [Both hands lift to make air quotes around the statement, not her words but her mother's.]
But then the range moved archery classes outside, and I had to quit because of the sun exposure. [She gnaws briefly at a thumbnail -or what's left of one- before deliberately curling that thumb against her palm and curling her fingers over her thumb, the sleeve of her sweater sliding down over her hand as she lowers her arm] And that's when I got into cheer.
[She listens quietly, doing her best not to grimace at the air quotes, or at the way Chrissy bites her nail before seeming to realize what she's doing and covering her hands up instead. She doesn't have to ask; quitting archery hadn't been Chrissy's idea.]
[Quitting had definitely not been her idea, and the reprimand she'd gotten for 'talking back about what was best for her' was one of the worst she'd ever had. But she's not thinking about that right at the moment, mostly she's thinking hard enough that she only barely realizes she's taking way too long to answer a simple question, and she nods] Yeah. I did. And I was good at it. Never brought home any trophies or anything, but I was still learning.
[She smiles then, it's thin but it's genuine] How about you? Is it just videogames that you're good at or other games too?
[Max nods slightly at that, trying to picture Chrissy with a bow and arrow. It's surprisingly easy to imagine. She draws in a breath and lets it out slowly at the question, though.]
Mostly just video games. I used to skateboard, though. [It's been kind of out of the question since Vecna.]
So trade the skateboard for roller skates, maybe? Or are you supposed to avoid fall-risk kinds of things? Like is it a brittle-bones situation?
[She shakes her head almost immediately upon asking] Sorry, I'm prying, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, honest, we'll still find something for you to do.
[Because focusing on finding Max a hobby will keep her from wondering what her mom actually did with her archery kit and even her uniform from back then, not that it would still fit, but she'd probably be able to salvage the badges, if it hadn't been destroyed.]
The doctors said to be extra careful because I could cause reinjury without much effort. So skateboarding's out, at least for now. And -- [She pauses, sighing a little.] Honestly, my balance isn't exactly back to normal either. [She just hasn't mentioned that to anyone before now.]
It's fine. Really.
[She reaches out and takes the book on art from Chrissy.]
What about you, though? If not archery, what do you think you might want to do?
[She nods, actually taking in what Max is saying, and managing to look serious as she goes over the points she's just been given] So what I'm hearing is that you need something low-impact, but that still needs some kind of hand-eye coordination and maybe muscle control to help with the balance.
[She shakes her head then, giving an exaggerated shrug, because the suggestion she's about to make is mostly a joke, but the kind that's still partly serious.] It sounds to me like we're both going to have to take up archery.
[That idea certainly isn't without merit. Bow and arrows might be considered ancient in the world of weapons, but they're weapons none the less. And it's not like she can legally own a gun.]
[She smiles, softer than before, but nonetheless pleased that Max is playing along if nothing else.]
I'll have to see if mom just stashed my bow somewhere or if she actually got rid of it, and I'll have to find the range I went to before, see if they're even open anymore.
[A thoughtful sound then, brow creasing a little] Or if we're doing this on weekends we can use the track field at the school. But if you'd like to, yes, I'll be happy to show you what I remember.
If she didn't, I know a place where we can get the equipment.
[She smiles, glancing at the book on painting and remembering her rather pathetic attempts at art when they were all trying to figure out the situation with Vecna. She reluctantly sets the book back on the shelf.]
And I bet Steve would let us set up in his backyard if we wanted.
[It's clear that the gears in her head are turning at that suggestion, the Harringtons are safe enough, despite everything -and despite the fact that her mother definitely has a few barbed opinions about them- but visiting Steve would be a much better excuse than anything she could come up with as far as going to the range again and she nods a moment later] That might work, actually. Don't have to figure out as many lies that way.
[An actual smile follows, looking surprisingly devious for her usually polite almost lack of expression] And if my kit isn't where I think it is, my brother owes me one. Several, actually. If it comes to that I can cash in.
[She might not have to lie as much these days, because Neil and Billy were both gone and her mother just didn't really care that much what she got up to.]
[She shakes her head, teeth scraping at a thumbnail again before doing what she'd done the first time, just curling her fingers over it and letting her sleeve cover her hand] Not once. Obviously when I was younger it was the fear of going to hell for being a lying sinner that kept me in line, and by the time I realized that wasn't likely to happen?
[She shakes her head] By then I was already too old to start practicing, she'd definitely know, and now it's just not worth the firestorm that would follow, and the damage that it would cause anyone 'aiding in my delinquency'. [There's finger quotes, and a wrinkle of her nose, she's trying not to believe it, but it's not as easy as it should be.]
[It isn't really that foreign of a concept for Max. Billy had gone after Lucas and Steve, after all, and for similar reasons. Still. After Vecna, she doesn't have much fear of people anymore.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cheerybomb
no subject
Date: 2023-02-26 04:31 pm (UTC)[It's going to take her at least that long to walk there anyway. She's not as fast as she used to be. She also doesn't like the sound of wicked witch of the west, but. She knows what goes on behind closed doors isn't always easily perceived on the outside.]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-28 08:33 am (UTC)The fact that he's the only one of them who hasn't started treating her differently since her return is also a factor.
Either way, it's almost exactly an hour later that she makes her way up the front steps of the library and into the main lobby, already scanning for that shock of red hair.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-04 05:50 pm (UTC)Hey.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-05 02:10 am (UTC)[She's a far cry from the Cheer Captain she'd been before spring break, wearing indigo blue jeans and a sweater that's almost big enough that she's swimming in it, sleeves long enough to mostly cover her hands, a large-gauge checkerboard pattern of powder blue and pistachio green, none of her usual makeup and previously perfectly manicured nails chewed down to ragged edges, more than that her hair's loose, which definitely never would have happened in school.
Her smile tilts though, reaching out to nudge at Max's elbow gently to steer her deeper into the building, apparently knowing exactly where to go even without checking the card catalog] C'mon, we'll check indoor hobbies first, move to outdoor ones if we don't find anything there.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-05 05:35 pm (UTC)She finds herself gravitating toward books on writing, though she doesn't go so far as to pull any off the shelves, just...peruses the titles on the spines of the books.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-06 04:51 am (UTC)She's not thinking about that at the moment, however, just skimming past books on crafts and sewing -definitely not her forte and too much like something her mom would actually like for her to do- and along past architecture drawing, art history and then into art, fingers trailing along the spines as she goes, finally tugging a book on Easy Watercolor Techniques down] Art? Or is that too traditional for you?
[She doesn't really know much about Max, not besides the patented Laura Cunningham Rant about anyone and everyone who lived in Forest Hills, but that's not the kind of thing Chrissy's going to repeat.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-07 12:29 am (UTC)Definite maybe. Writing? [She glances at the book her hand has landed on. Journaling for Beginners. She wonders if that one might be too risky, with Chrissy's mom.]
If -- you didn't want your family to accidentally see something, you could always hide it at my place. If you wanted.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-08 09:15 am (UTC)[The smile softens a little at the edges.] But thank you, for the offer of, um, an off-site storage area. I might take you up on it. [She shakes her head] Maybe I should just take up archery again, she'd hate that so much.
[It's difficult to tell by her tone whether that's a point in favor or a point against.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-09 02:29 am (UTC)Yeah, of course. Anytime. [They have the opposite issue with their moms; Chrissy's is too invasive. Max's couldn't care less these days.]
Wait, you were into archery? That is so cool!
no subject
Date: 2023-03-09 04:55 am (UTC)But then the range moved archery classes outside, and I had to quit because of the sun exposure. [She gnaws briefly at a thumbnail -or what's left of one- before deliberately curling that thumb against her palm and curling her fingers over her thumb, the sleeve of her sweater sliding down over her hand as she lowers her arm] And that's when I got into cheer.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 03:34 am (UTC)Did you like it? Archery?
no subject
Date: 2023-03-10 05:30 am (UTC)[She smiles then, it's thin but it's genuine] How about you? Is it just videogames that you're good at or other games too?
no subject
Date: 2023-03-11 09:50 pm (UTC)Mostly just video games. I used to skateboard, though. [It's been kind of out of the question since Vecna.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-12 01:48 am (UTC)[She shakes her head almost immediately upon asking] Sorry, I'm prying, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, honest, we'll still find something for you to do.
[Because focusing on finding Max a hobby will keep her from wondering what her mom actually did with her archery kit and even her uniform from back then, not that it would still fit, but she'd probably be able to salvage the badges, if it hadn't been destroyed.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-12 09:32 pm (UTC)It's fine. Really.
[She reaches out and takes the book on art from Chrissy.]
What about you, though? If not archery, what do you think you might want to do?
no subject
Date: 2023-03-13 06:36 am (UTC)[She shakes her head then, giving an exaggerated shrug, because the suggestion she's about to make is mostly a joke, but the kind that's still partly serious.] It sounds to me like we're both going to have to take up archery.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-17 08:42 pm (UTC)Would you teach me?
no subject
Date: 2023-03-17 11:29 pm (UTC)I'll have to see if mom just stashed my bow somewhere or if she actually got rid of it, and I'll have to find the range I went to before, see if they're even open anymore.
[A thoughtful sound then, brow creasing a little] Or if we're doing this on weekends we can use the track field at the school. But if you'd like to, yes, I'll be happy to show you what I remember.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 03:01 am (UTC)[She smiles, glancing at the book on painting and remembering her rather pathetic attempts at art when they were all trying to figure out the situation with Vecna. She reluctantly sets the book back on the shelf.]
And I bet Steve would let us set up in his backyard if we wanted.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 05:26 am (UTC)[An actual smile follows, looking surprisingly devious for her usually polite almost lack of expression] And if my kit isn't where I think it is, my brother owes me one. Several, actually. If it comes to that I can cash in.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-18 07:31 pm (UTC)[She might not have to lie as much these days, because Neil and Billy were both gone and her mother just didn't really care that much what she got up to.]
Awesome. [Max beams, proud.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-19 02:10 am (UTC)[Like the few times she's just conveniently not known where her brother is despite knowing that he was getting high with friends.]
I'm not even a good liar anyway.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-19 03:33 am (UTC)[Her eyes are wider than usual right now.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-19 04:47 am (UTC)[She shakes her head] By then I was already too old to start practicing, she'd definitely know, and now it's just not worth the firestorm that would follow, and the damage that it would cause anyone 'aiding in my delinquency'. [There's finger quotes, and a wrinkle of her nose, she's trying not to believe it, but it's not as easy as it should be.]
no subject
Date: 2023-03-25 06:07 pm (UTC)[It isn't really that foreign of a concept for Max. Billy had gone after Lucas and Steve, after all, and for similar reasons. Still. After Vecna, she doesn't have much fear of people anymore.]
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: