OUT OF (TOUCH) ... eddie munson

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"SO HOW'D YOU GET CAUGHT UP IN THIS?"

the scoops troop all looked at lucille, awaiting an answer. steve had asked the question as they sat near cerebro-- dustin's ham radio-- waiting to be of use. she sat on her knees, putting her hands on the ground and leaning forward, towards him as she listened in for the question. "what was that?"

"i said, uh," he leaned forward, towards her, articulating. "how'd you get caught up in this?"

she blinked for a second, then sat back up, "ohh," she nodded, mouth left open. "some journalists tried to kill me," she said, short and blunt. robin practically glitched from her spot, a wildly confused expression on her face as steve parted his lips but couldn't figure out how to respond. "yeah," she went on. "then they died and melted together, naturally, and formed into like a... like a loud, slimy spider crab... with a limp." she looked out at the sky.

"wh-um," robin cocked her head. "okay," she frowned like a muppet, nodding to her friend.

steve surveyed her, "so... you ran into nancy and jonathan?" he tried to follow along, and lucille nodded for him. "did you know them like, before you got caught up in their families' curse?" he joked, and lucille smiled at him.

"not really," she sighed. "i mean, of course i, like, knew nancy, we had ap classes together, but... i never talked to her," she shook her head. "i don't think i ever really talked to jonathan, either, but we had mutual... friend."

"and that's jonah?" robin asked her, making sure. lucille nodded to confirm. jonah had been in photography club, and he'd had a few chats with jonathan, but it was more of a quiet, introverted mutual respect. and lucille and jonathan, too, had just a mutual respect for the other. she had reduced it to 'loser solidarity'.

"what were you doing at the hospital?" steve asked, "i mean, nancy and jonathan were there to find someone who'd been possessed by the mind flayer, but you weren't with them?"

lucille swallowed, her eyes permanently wide and unblinking as her gaze shifted to robin. the realization had dawned on her, and she gasped, "i think we should check the status of-- what was it-- bald eagle? is that what everyone landed on?"

dustin popped up, moving to the radio and working it with ease. erica followed him, and steve had been looking between the two with confusion. "what was that about?"

"hm?" robin turned to him with an expectant expression. "what?"

he had a grim and grave look on his face, eyes sad like a puppy, "is it something bad?" he mumbled quiet enough so the younger kids wouldn't hear.

"i don't want to get into the details, i just was there for my brother, he..." she hesitated, looking up at robin-- who had yet to find out about the update. she was worrying herself and, after realizing, snapped out of it, "he's got like a brain injury, i was just checking stuff," she smiled.

"is paul-- is he okay?" robin asked her, holding down lucille's hand on the ground. lucille twitched out an eager nod, keeping her face lightweight, ensuring that it wouldn't look like she was forcing herself to feel okay-- which she was.

she felt a great and sudden amount of pain underneath her skin. the thought of her baby brother's skull having to be surgically opened just so that he could possibly get back to how he was. not even how he used to be, before everything changed, this would only allow him the ability to move his body like how he'd been moving it the last 6 years-- which wasn't much, but it was something. this had to happen just so that he could eat and be fed by hand and with actual food rather than have to go through tube-feeding. this had to be done just for the chance that he might make it longer than another couple of months, give or take.