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[zoomingupthathill]

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during the event

[demogorgoned]

[When the song stops, Will's hand slides down from his ear to touch the back of his neck. The action is automatic, and for a moment he just sits there and stares blankly into the distance.

Then, he rises. He has to find Nancy, because she'll know what to do—no. Nancy's not here anymore. Steve isn't either. He wishes Barb was around, desperately. She always had a plan, no matter how scared she was, and right now Will is scared. He could use her support and he misses her something fierce. She's like an older sister to him, and Will misses her almost as much as he misses Jonathan.

After considering the options, Max is his first stop. He doesn't remember where Robin is working off the top of his head, but he knows Max is probably at home. If she's not asleep, this is important enough to wake her up.

He knocks on the door.]

Max? Max, something weird happened and I think the Upside Down might have come to Ryslig.

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Max, in fact, is asleep!

Behind the door, there's a light, light grumble, but no other stirring.

Knock louder, Will. ]

[demogorgoned]

[The knocking gets louder. Actually, it's straight up banging. He is pounding on the door. You know the persistence that Mike Wheeler has for things? The way he talks when he wants people to get moving, fast and almost annoyed? It's weird to hear it in Will's voice.]

Max! Max, wake up! I don't know where Robin is and everyone else is gone! If Vecna's here, what are we gonna do?

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Well, that gets something!

There's a loud thump in return, the clap of hooves on hardwood, and after a few more the door opens, with Max looking absolutely murderous. ]

What. The hell. Are you doing here this early?!

[ Girl got to sleep four hours ago. ]

[demogorgoned]

It's like 10, it's not that early. Did you have a late night or something? Usually you're awake by now.

[Sometimes she's still sleeping at this time, but she usually gets up by like 10, 10:15. Same as him. It's not like he woke her up super fucking early.

He's just generally not quite as observant, this Will, otherwise he might notice she's not the Minotaur he remembers. All he sees, though, is the horns and hooves he remembers. They look different when you're always looking at them from above anyway.]

[zoomingupthathill]

Wh- no? In what bizarro world- I had class last night, Will, it's always a late night!

[ Something is instantly wrong. But Max, too tired and grumpy from being woken up early, isn't quite putting together the time of the month with the strange occurrences. ]

[demogorgoned]

[Bizarro world is right, Max.]

Class? We don't have class for another three hours, Max, and there's more important shit going on. Did you feel the [He makes a hand motion that's clearly supposed to convey something and conveys nothing.] earlier? It felt like when stuff happens under the Hawkins Lab. Like there's about to be a blackout.

[He looks at her expectantly. Now is where Max, as the female character, is supposed to solve the plot.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Max, the female character, just stares at him as if he's grown a second head. ]

Did you miss the part where I just woke up? [ A little shake of her head. ] I- you're being weird, I don't even know what're trying to ask. The- you felt the Upside Down?

[ Okay, she's still pissed and tired. But she'll try to play along, for like. A minute. ]

[demogorgoned]

[He nods enthusiastically. It's the most like Will he's looked so far.]

Yeah. You know when it shifts, it feels a little bit like an earthquake? Something like that happened earlier. I know we decided Vecna probably isn't here, but what if something weird happened with Felfri?

[He has literally never said anything about earthquakes in relation to the Upside Down, but it very much feels like something he believes. This doesn't seem like Will playing a joke at all. He's not a good actor and he does seem genuinely concerned about whatever he's trying to convey.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ The more he talks, the more uncertainty starts to flood Max. She knows that they weren't exactly close before his family moved. She knows that they've been picking towards something closer here. But she also knows what Will sounds like, by virtue of being his friend, spending afternoons crashing the guys' AV Club, playing at the arcade, pretending not to listen whenever they talked about D&D—she knows Will.

And this...doesn't sound right. ]

You...never... Will, the only time there were earthquakes was when you were in Lenora. Are you, like, feeling okay?

[demogorgoned]

... What are you talking about? I've never been to Lenora. We all wanted to go to see Barb, but Owens said the government was only paying for Nancy and maybe we could see her in the summer.

[Will takes a closer look at Max, like he's searching for some sign she's been whatever the Ryslig equivalent of Flayed is. That's when he notices her horns aren't horns. They're antlers, like a deer.

Like a waldgeist.

Oh, this problem might be bigger than he thought.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ This is probably going to be upsetting to Will, but when tired Max has even less of a filter than usual, so: ]

Who's Barb? ...Wait, that...girl, Nancy's friend? The one the Demogorgon...uhhh...

[ Got. That's how Lucas put it in the story. The Demogorgon got Will. They just got him back. Barb wasn't so lucky.

Max cranes her head back a little, squinting, as she stumbled over without wearing her glasses. Still, she can make out Will's expression enough to ask, ] Why're you looking at me like that? You're the one not making any sense.