"either way, we're not alone..."
In which Sophie Hargrove struggles to close off her heart, especially when she starts to let Steve Harrington in.
STRANGER THINGS
SEASON TWO - SEASON FIVE
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***
Everyone gathered around the kitchen table, a single light hanging above them. Dustin slammed his DnD manual onto the wood, his head snapping upwards. "The Mind Flayer."
The monster in the manual was less spider and more of a humanoid creature with a squid-like face. Sophie wasn't sure how the two could compare.
Hopper stood a little further back, his face shadowed. "The hell is that?"
"It's a monster from an unknown dimension. It's so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home." He was on point with the similarities. "Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers."
"Oh, my God. None of this is real. This is a kids' game." His downcast tone and dull-eyed glare did little to cease the DnD talk.
"No, it's a manual, and it's not for kids." Dustin retorted, pointing his finger at the Chief. "And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor-"
"Analogy." Lucas corrected him.
"Analogy?" His friend bellowed. "That's what you're worried about?" He shot Lucas a quick glare before swiftly moving on. "Fine -- an analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is."
On Dustin's right, Nancy leaned over. She pressed her finger against the manual, rotating slightly. "Okay, so this mind flamer thing-"
"Flayer -- Mind Flayer." He grumbled, interrupting her.
Her face tightened, exhaling through her nose. "- What does it want?"
"To conquer us, basically. You know, it believes it's the master race." And with the Upside Down seeping into their world, the theory was plausible. The shadow monster clearly wanted Will for a reason.
"Like the -- the Germans." Steve inputted, only to gain a variety of confused expressions.
"Uh," started Dustin, twisting his head towards him, "the Nazis?"
He swallowed, realising his error. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis."
Hopper turned away from them, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He shouldn't be here, surrounding himself with idiot kids and teens alike; they had a monster to stop.
"Uh, if the Nazis were from another dimension, totally." Dustin continued, accepting the comparison. "Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself."
"It wants to spread, and take over other dimensions." Mike put it simply.
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it." In other words, if they didn't stop this thing -- they were all fucked.
"That's great." Steve stepped away from the table, scraping a hand through his hair and rambling. "That's great. That's really great. Jesus!"
Sophie stood in a similar stance to Nancy, her arms folded across her chest. "And it's been using the tunnels to spread a disease through Hawkins -- to slowly destroy the town from underground?"
