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.
[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.]
Cheer practice went over time by about 45 minutes once, she called the police to report me as a missing person and the cheer coach as a potential kidnapper. [She shakes her head, grimacing faintly] Didn't bother to call the school first to see if we were still there, or even to come by, no, just straight to the police.
[She has to stop herself from gnawing on her thumbnail again] I almost had to finish out this year as homestudy, she wasn't going to let me go back, because of the 'criminal influence', but then dad reminded her it was my senior year and I should get to enjoy it with everyone else.
[She grimaces. She also doubts Hopper had been very happy to get that particular call.]
Okay well we definitely don't want you stuck doing home schooling for the rest of the year. [But frankly the rest of the year wasn't much longer. They'd just have to help her get through it til she could get out of her mom's house.]
It's only a few more weeks, right? [It's what she's been telling herself since spring break, eventful as it was, ended.]
After that we'll see what happens. [She knows she's not about to follow her mother's plan, but knowing what she knows now, she isn't sure she can follow through on her own plan to just buy a bus ticket to Chicago as soon as she turns 18, or after that, just as soon as she graduates.]
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cheerybomb
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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.]
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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.]
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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.
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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.]
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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!
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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.
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Date: 2023-03-10 03:34 am (UTC)Did you like it? Archery?
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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?
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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.]
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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.]
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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?
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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.
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Date: 2023-03-17 08:42 pm (UTC)Would you teach me?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.]
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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.
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Date: 2023-03-19 03:33 am (UTC)[Her eyes are wider than usual right now.]
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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.]
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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.]
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Date: 2023-03-26 12:19 am (UTC)[She has to stop herself from gnawing on her thumbnail again] I almost had to finish out this year as homestudy, she wasn't going to let me go back, because of the 'criminal influence', but then dad reminded her it was my senior year and I should get to enjoy it with everyone else.
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Date: 2023-03-26 12:57 am (UTC)[She grimaces. She also doubts Hopper had been very happy to get that particular call.]
Okay well we definitely don't want you stuck doing home schooling for the rest of the year. [But frankly the rest of the year wasn't much longer. They'd just have to help her get through it til she could get out of her mom's house.]
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Date: 2023-03-26 03:39 pm (UTC)After that we'll see what happens. [She knows she's not about to follow her mother's plan, but knowing what she knows now, she isn't sure she can follow through on her own plan to just buy a bus ticket to Chicago as soon as she turns 18, or after that, just as soon as she graduates.]
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Date: 2023-03-26 07:12 pm (UTC)[She hesitates for a moment, considering.]
But...plans are good. And it helps give you something to look forward to.
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