Chapter 196: Weird Shit [#10]
[November 1: Night, Byers Residence]
Will Byers.
It always comes back to him, doesn't it? The giant spider monster that he saw in his dreams as well as the flesh monster and the many, many insect-like things were all drawn by him as a mean of recording what happened on his vision, he didn't know why he was so focused on it but he remembered vividly and drew it using color- A black butterfly glowing green like a firefly, being squashed by a tendril of flesh on the next panel, almost like a comic strip. He also drew one of those insect things and the weird Demogorgons that looked like dogs, and he also drew a single red moon from the sky, illuminating everything from the Upside Down. He didn't know how, but it was so good, so detailed! He can't stop thinking about it, he closes his eyes and he's back there, so drawing it felt like he was pulling it out of his head and putting it on a prison of paper, away from him.
Once he was done, he laid in bed and closed his eyes...
Not knowing what would happen to him in the future.
-Scene Cut-
[November 2: Morning, Hawkins High]
Watching the Billy play on the skins side of the basketball game was a blessing Zunni didn't know he'd got, even more so one as he was so covered in sweat- i mean, he only recently unlocked his Regenerative Healing Factor and he was not as tired as the others around him, so he was easily dominating the entire game, moving without fear of hurting himself as Zunni said that he'd teach him later a method to makes his bones and muscles stronger and that he shoukd focus on working out more. 'Remember, Hargrove, Strength within is Strength without- You are as strong as you can be, as long as you are strong within as well, and you're one of the strongest men I know.' Did he lie at saying that? Not exactly, since Billy had this deep need to be strong, a growing hunger for power that could be good if used right, but it was also really dangerous if he becomes a Devourer.
'I'll make sure it doesn't happen-' His thoughts were cut short when someone did a weird move and knocked him down by making him lose balance- 'Fuck.' Sighing, Zunni's eyes turned goldrn for a moment as he turned them into the eyes of a hawk and through his superior senses he detected that with the speed Billy was going at and the strength he fell on his face with, his nose was definitely broken, and if not, very much bruised.
Meanwhile, the man of the hour had his fave on the ground as a flashback fell into his mind, the sensation of having his face thrown towards the ground and being brutally kicked by his dad after he found out he was going out with a boy- 'Remember Billy- All living things, from complex mammalsto single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger. Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defense mechanism. We're very much the same. When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding... But there's one thing about anger, fear, and any other emotions-' He sighed in and out as Vermont's voixe echoed inside his mind: "It can be conquered." Whispering to himself he got up, blood falling to the ground as his nose quickly was fine, he could pass it up as a bruise but he'd need to go to the nurse: "You were not planting your feet there, Hargrove." He heard Steve Herrington huff a breath through his nose, until he made eye contact with him and the boy visibly paled- rage, deep anger boiled inside his heart as he completely forgot about Vermont's words.
"Hargrove." A single word echoed out and the burning anger was reduced into a single ember as he turned around and walked over to Vermont, the guy was sitting on the benches as the substitute for the school nurse here, he said so himself as he had a first aid kit with him and a metal bottle with pure alcohol with him to clean wounds. "Chin up." He felt... calm again, that same aura surrounding the taller boy was once again affecting him and he was never so thankful before: "Here, hold this..." He gave him a napkin as he turned around and went to mess with his first aid kit, cotton on his hand: "Well, good news its that it's not broken... But it is bruised." He nodded, napkin cleaning his blood before fingers touched his chin gently and pushed his head up and they msde eye contact- There was a moment a feeling of embarrassment and gay panic flashed through his mind, eyes lowering to stare at the lips of his nurse as he shoved cotton up his nose to close it: "You'll probably feel dizzy..." He turned to look at the coach and shakes his head, the message was quite clear- Billy can't play for the rest of the day, since it could make it "worse".
[-Be Ready, today I'll try to teach you something... Since you can't draw your inner strength to Shapeshift yet, I'll teach you something useful that can help you-] Old Tongue was useful to speak, now that Billy understood what he meant, but even so he was surprised by the fact that he used it in the first place and the fact he understood it perfectly! [-Sure...-] He felt weird speaking Old Tongue, even though he was supposed to be a natural at it: [-Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it eventually.-] He scoffed and turned his head to the side to see him, Steven Herrington looking at the weirdly- Well, to someone who didn't speak the Old Tongue it sounded as if they were speaking some kind of gibberish and nonsense mixed into a blender and added a few shots of fuckery to it.
"Oh now, don't cream your pants yet Herrington." He offered a small smirk to the guy, who just ever so slightly turned his head to the side before his face paled: "Go take a shower, Hargrove." He felt like gravity was weighting on him, after all, this was the presence a powerful Chimera had and a Presence he sought to achieve one day- "Hot water? Really Vermont? With a bloody nose?" Billy sighed, he only felt a hand reach around his arm and pull him along as he heard the guy say: "No. Cold water." He dreaded what was about to come...
-Scene Cut-
"What the fuck?"
"Yeah! It was so sudden, and he felt like he wasn't in pain at all!" Steve raised his hands to the air while Robin and Nancy just looked at the Camaro still there, they were both by Steven's car, they came to talk to him about to tell him their plan to find out if the lab is still out there when he talked about the odd situation today, how Billy was acting and reacting, and how suddenly his emotions changed by being the the presence of Victor Vermont, and how they were speaking gibberish to each other and yet seemed to understand each other perfectly: "You don't think it has to do with that, do you?" Nancy whispered as her eyes darted to the two boys walking to the camaro- Vermont and Hargrove, side by side. "And what tickles me is that guy, Vermont... I can't feel him." Instantly, both Nancy and Rogin snapped towards him, he worried about their necks for a moment as they both asked in the same tone of voice: "What?" He nodded dumbly before he whispered so only they could hear: "Just like when El kept me from feeling her too... But like, all the time."
"Oh shit, you think he-"
"Well... When i got out thanks to Kali, i learned that there were others who'd left, well, only one... number 2, he was said to be someone special in the eyes of the monsters there, like Eleven was too." Steven scratched the skin of his wrist as he told them what he could remember from his time in the lab as subject number seven: "Like, i heard it from Three that they had to redo his tattoo for some reason, and that he was the least cooperative one and he had his own type of punishments and an isolated room too." Shivers went down his spine, like a meerkat he raised his head and turned to look at where the feeling of coldness came from and he saw behind him a raven on top of a car, looking at them- "Seven! Steven!" It screeched in a human voice, like a parrot or a toddler, saying only one word before it flew away. "Okay... That was creepy." Jonathan came from behind them and spoke, scaring the shit out of them- "For fuck's sake Jonathan!" Nancy, the one to not take shit from peope, slammed her hand on Jonathan's shoulder while chuckling.
"So, care to tell me what were you guys whispering here?" Steven's eyes didn't leave the place where the raven was a faw seconds ago, and when he felt Robin's hand touch his shoulder he flinched before his eyes blinked and he looked back at them: "Oh... Right..." Steven sighed, he must've heard it wrong, ravens can talk and that one must've just repeated 'Steven, Steven' and not what he his paranoid mind tells him he heard: "Apparently Hargrove's gay for Vermont."
"... Wah?"
-Scene Cut-
[November 2: Morning, Hawkins Middle School]
"Just... Be careful when hanging around certain types of people." Is he serious? Max thought as she looked at her brother and the guy beside him in the front seat of the camaro, she had to sit on the back while thise two stood in the front- "Wait, what?" She whispered while looking at Lucas Sinclair, the boy who looked at the while being stared down by her stupid brother: "Phrasing, Hargrove. Don't want her to think shit about you..." She still wasn't sure why her brother was hanging out with this guy, but apparently he was rather more calm around him, he hasn't accelerated beyond the maximum yet! "What he meant is simply, Max... Careful hanging around Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, and Dustin Henderson... They bring trouble alongside them, next time you know, you'll be upside down with their problems, and Billy here just wants you to be safe but doesn't know how to say it." She turned to look at her brother, who was equally as surprised as her, but in a different direction- while her surprise was both from hearing the guy tall so well about her brother's feelings (And the fact that he said that they were brothers and Billy didn't explode), while Billy was surprised that Vermont was able to distinguish what he wanted to say with a simple phrase.
"What?"
"Nothing... Just-" Billy turned and proceeded to ignore the other boy the whole ride, the song [Welcome to the Jungle] blasting the whole way to the Hargrove residence, once out of the car, Vermont just turned to Max as he said: "Sometimes, Max, men are stupid... Well, men are stupid most of the time, but you know what to do with stupid, right?" She nodded, a little bit confused, but the next words from his mouth made her even more confused- A butterfly landed on his hand, it was a completely black butterfly too: "Butterflies always show you the way." With that, he just turned and walked away, Max turned to look at Billy who also froze there before saying: "Man, your boyfriend's weird." And walking back to the house without saying anything else.
-Scene Cut-
That night, after doing his shores around the house, Billy stood on his bed with his eyes wide open as this weird feeling... An uncomfortable itch touched his skin and he couldn't quite place where it was, only that it was not exactly coming from his body at all- A knocking came to his window, and when he turned to look at it, he saw the same weird demonic-looking owl at his window, he knew who that was: [-I came to ask if you wanna, you know, go for a walk or something?-] In the middle of the night he came here, just to invite him for a walk? He listened closely for the voice of his father downstairs as he drank himself into unconsciousness and turned to look at Vermont, his previously bruised arm no longer bruised at all, so he was fine to go right?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone