(no subject)

Fraser, Stan, and others had told El the universal truths about Darrow: you come alone, and you can't leave. Eleven is no stranger to being places alone: The lab. The Upside Down. The woods. Hopper's cabin, when he's working. (She doesn't hold that against him, but it's something she recognizes as true.) Darrow's Home for Children is not very different. She's in a room of strangers, but she's still alone. She's strange enough to them that they leave her alone.

Which is how she finds herself now, alone on the floor, her back against her bed. She's got her clothes back, and she's wearing the black-and-yellow top and black jeans now, as she pulls a pillowcase over her eyes to block out the light. There aren't any radios here, not like she's used to, but one of the staff showed her how to use her small, strange phone to make white noise, so she can listen to that, instead. Then she relaxes her shoulders and reaches out.

She tries for Mike, first. She pictures him in her mind's eye, and she focuses, and...

Nothing.

Eleven swallows and tries again. And still nothing. She tries again, until her nose starts to drip sluggishly from the effort, and she sighs and pulls the blindfold off. This isn't working. Which means he's not here, but even if he weren't, shouldn't she have been able to find him anyway? She'd found Kali states away. Why is Darrow any different?

With a breath, she reaches up to wipe her nose. This isn't working, and she's getting frustrated trying. Eleven sighs and tosses the pillowcase back onto the bed as she stands. She'll go for a walk, clear her head. She'll try again later.

The coat she's wearing is too big, still. She has money, but she hasn't gone to buy a new one. Most of the last week has been learning the rules of the Home, and reading up on the things the school will expect from her when she starts going. She's not nervous, except for a little part of her that doesn't know what to expect. She'd only been into the school a few times, in Hawkins, and it hadn't been to learn anything. Stan has been helpful. He's made lists that are easy to read, and if he thinks she's a weirdo, he doesn't say so, or act like it.

She likes Stan. He's a lot like Mike, in the ways that he's nice to her, and calm and patient. There's a tension in him that she's not familiar with, though. He seems always ready — not afraid, not exactly, but not prepared, either. She wants to ask him about it. Maybe she will.

She gets lost in her thoughts like this, frowning to herself and moving from topic to topic as she walks.

(no subject)

Hopper had warned her, before they'd come here. There's another girl. Not like her in the way that she had powers, but like her in the way she'd needed a family. Eleven tries to keep that in mind when she meets her.

She'd needed a family, too. Just like Eleven.

She doesn't expect the red hair, or the freckles. She doesn't expect her to look like she could be Max's sister. Not like Max, not exactly. But like her the way that Nancy looks like Mike.

And just like Max, it's hard not to feel jealous when she sees her. This girl she doesn't know has crept into the hole of El's absence, and it stings to see her. No matter how much she knows the words Hopper has said, it stings, and she frowns at the girl when they're finally face to face.

"...Hi," she says.