THE CHARACTERS

THE LORE

DISCLAIMERS ;
- First and foremost, please forgive any spelling errors as I do have dyslexia!
- These are my own portrayals of canon characters within my own universe, I am not trying to force my own headcanons on anybody whatsoever.
- Obviously, I do not own Stranger Things in any way — I am not affiliated with the show, the creators, the actors, or any of the actors I used for face claims! This is completely an AU created by me for fun!
- The only retconned death as of right now in my verse is Eddie's!
- My characters are original and somewhat inspired by other fictional characters — any similarities to any other OCs are completely coincidental.

• pre-st
• st1
• st2
• st3
• st4
• st5

PRE-STRANGER THINGS ;
Sometime in 1975, the Hawkins National Laboratory loses two test subjects to a daring escape plan — 008 and 009 somehow make it all the way to Chicago, where they unfortunately get separated. We know 008, Kali, finds a family but has to leave them behind, and eventually leads a band of misfits in a life of crime. As for 009, she's picked up by the police and put into the system. She's adopted by Richard and Shirley Barnes, who (unbeknownst to her) actually used to work undercover at the lab years ago. She's given a good life with them, but tries her damndest so not show off her powers in fear of being sent back to the lab.As the years go on, two kids at Hawkins Middle School find themselves out of place in their own way. Colby's just been dumped on his aunt and uncle for the millionth time, having to always live in the shadow of his cousin, Steve Harrington. And Willa's having some strange feelings for her best friend, Chrissy Cunningham.On the other side of the country, twins Amber and Billy are just trying to survive—especially Amber, being hurt by her father and brother alike. Modelling and feeling pretty is one of her only escapes, she loves it. Even as their father introduces them to their new stepmother and stepsister, she tries to make the most out of what she's got.Before Nellie started high school, the Barnes family packed up and moved back to Hawkins. In truth; Richard had heard about the massacre, and made the choice to be closer in case his former colleagues needed his assistance. Brenner was no longer looking for him or Shirley; and Nellie didn't seem too nervous (even though she was).But, Nellie's nerves subsided as she made two friends; Jonathan Byers, and Eddie Munson. Jonathan she fell hard and fast for, while Eddie she just seemed to follow around like a lost puppy, often sitting in on Hellfire Club sessions though not joining herself.Willa, was still having those funny feelings about Chrissy, even as Chrissy caught the eye of many Hawkins Tigers, like Jason Carver. But they became cheerleaders, they were popular, Willa had to make a good impression. when Chrissy started dating Jason, Willa began dating Andy. Willa also met a "weird" girl, Robin Buckley, who she got very close to very fast.Colby joined the Hellfire Club, thinking Eddie was just ridiculously cool. He finally found a place where he wasn't just King Steve's cousin—he had friends, his own friends.back
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STRANGER THINGS 1 ;
Of course, Nellie tried to be there for Jonathan when Will went missing. But, wanting to protect her, especially when all the upside down stuff started happening, he kept her shielded from it. All of it. Kind of ironic, since she could've helped in the whole demogorgon department.Willa was honestly not really overly involved in anything at this time; she did feel bad for Jonathan though, and did help in the search party when she could.Colby, however, was very involved. He definitely shamed Steve for having a party during such a tragic time, and though Carol and Tommy tried to get him to let loose and have fun, he just scolded them all, and said he was gonna go see if a search party was still out so he could help. When Steve, Nancy, Tommy, and Carol, were all upstairs, Colby was about to leave when he heard Barb screaming outside. He reached the backyard, only to discover that barb wasn't there. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and decided to stay in for the night instead.When Barb was officially reported missing, Colby took it upon himself to help Nancy and Jonathan start investigating. He'd already respected Nancy, but he gained more respect for her as she showed off how badass she really was. He was definitely Jancy's awkward third wheel for most of this time... including confronting Steve over the "Nancy the slut Wheeler" graffiti. He was astounded when Steve came over to apologize to Jonathan, and even more when he came back inside to help them beat the demogorgon.He and Steve gained a new understanding and respect of one another, that was for sure.back
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STRANGER THINGS 2 ;
It's coming up on the anniversary of Will's disappearance. Colby got a job at Palace Arcade, so he's keeping an eye on the boys when they come in to play their games! And, of course, letting them play for free (it annoys the bajesus out of Keith.) And this new job allowed him to start sort of seeing a guy who'd been driving his sister to the arcade a lot.Enter Amber, Billy, and Max. Billy's speeding camaro first spotted by Nancy and Steve, the twins had all eyes on them as they entered Hawkins High for the first time. Amber was determined to make a good impression, but to also disassociate from her brother.Nellie could sense Jonathan's nerves about Will's anniversary from miles away, but also his feelings for Nancy, which made her feel just the most insane jealousy she'd ever felt in her life. She was gonna make an attempt to get him to notice her at Tina's stupid Halloween party.The Halloween party was all kinds of messy for everyone;- Nellie not only saw Jonathan flirting with Samantha, but then saw him leaving to take Nancy home. he didn't even notice her. She left with Eddie, who was also upset after seeing his crush leave with Steve freaking Harrington.
- Willa, after being broken up with by Andy for getting so close to Robin, and still trying to convince herself she was straight, hooked up with Billy. And hated it.
- Colby got many warning glares from Billy to not come anywhere near him; eventually left cus he wasn't having much fun anyways.
- Amber, after turning town advances from Tommy Hagan, got deemed a "priss" but then got deemed a "boyfriend stealing slut" by Carol Perkins. Upset, she ended up leaving with Steve, who was also upset after his fight with Nancy.Thrilling all around!Again, Willa and Nellie are not very present for the supernatural parts of this season cus neither of them know yet!Amber and Colby mostly stick with Steve and the kids during this. Steve calls Colby when he and Dustin are attempting to catch Dart. Amber makes an excuse and follows Max when she sneaks out with Lucas. Amber clearly thinks Lucas's crush on Max is adorable, and encourages Max to go for it, meanwhile Colby and Steve are... idiots trying to be demodog bait.When Billy showed up at the Byers house, Amber remained hidden inside with the kids, but still heard the, "am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?" "yeah it's me, don't cream your pants" conversation... yeah she wonders why the hell Steve said that to her brother too. Colby, standing outside, was trying not to laugh his ass off. But he was very hurt when Billy hit Steve, and had intentions to harm Lucas. As the fight broke out, Amber shielded the kids, Colby tried to pull Billy off of Steve, then Max finally stood up to him.Yes, though Amber and Colby were both technically capable of driving... Colby didn't know how to drive the camaro, and Amber refused to let him drive her bike. so Max still drove the camaro!Seeing Steve's bravery in wanting to help the kids, Amber was definitely (and unfortunately for herself) falling for him.As the gate was closed, and the upside down was vanquished once more, Amber helped Max get ready for the Snow Ball and drove her. She saw Steve gazing at Nancy through the doors, and knew that she was pretty much screwed in those feelings; but she was gonna make the most of whatever the hell she had going on with Steve.Colby refused to speak to Billy after knowing that he was going to harm Lucas, and knowing the reason why, so their "relationship" was over as quickly as it began.back
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STRANGER THINGS 3 ;
One summer can change everything.Starcourt is open, what a magical time in the small town of Hawkins! Amber's working at Scoops Ahoy with Steve and Robin, and Willa is working at Fashion Bug with Chrissy. Colby still works at the arcade, but it's been basically dead since the mall opened. And Nellie... is not doing much at the moment other than moping over Jonathan.Colby made a habit of popping in on Mrs. Byers down the street, seeing if she needed any help with anything since he was so bored. The day he walked in on her going crazy with magnets, he was... a little worried. But, since he was intrigued, they joined together to go talk to Mr. Clarke to figure out what in the world was going on with the magnets. He was avoiding the pool like the plague since he didn't really wanna see Billy.Amber, on the other hand, was worried about Billy; she could feel something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Eventually this led to Amber participating in the sauna test with the kids, and ultimately ended up with a concussion as a result of one of Billy's violent mind-flayer induced outbursts, and thus ended up in the hospital; she was not present for Steve and Robin's adventure in the Russian base with Dustin and Erica, or for the Battle Of Starcourt.After the sauna test, Nellie, growing ever suspicious of how weird Jonathan's been all summer, decided to follow him (plus Nancy and the kids) to the hospital. Lucky she did, because she helped save Jonathan and Nancy from the mind flayer chunk! And well, Jonathan felt pretty stupid for hiding everything from her the whole time. Now she had to explain everything to them—being a number like El, escaping the lab, all that good stuff. She also had a long talk with Jonathan; apologizing to each other for not sharing these secrets with each other earlier, they're best friends, they're supposed to tell each other everything.During this time, Colby had followed along with Joyce, Hopper, and... Alexei, listening to Jopper bicker like an old married couple, for christ sakes, could they be any more obnoxious? He definitely didn't sign up to babysit the adults! Regardless, he goes to Murray's with them, and annoys the shit out of Hopper as they go to get Alexei's food and slurpee (Colby loves slurpees).And then, all this time, Willa, who conveniently stops by Scoops during her break on every shift... is wondering about the mysterious disappearance of Steve and Robin. She ends up finding them when she flew solo to see Back To The Future (she was supposed to see it with Chrissy... thanks a lot Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham!) and, well, they spill their guts to her, cus they're still very much drugged. She does not hear the bathroom conversation, since she's waiting outside while they're sick, but she joins Dustin in coming to get them afterwards.Now everybody meets up! Minus Amber.Amber is still in the hospital; and she gets a surprise visitor, none other than Eddie Munson! He brought her a little teddy bear, and just kinda checked up on her. She had to lie; to tell him she fell, cus it was a little much to explain that her brother was possessed by a monster from another dimension right now. He told her, "goin' for some USS Butterscotch at Scoops just ain't the same without you there." It's the first time this damn guy has actually plucked up the courage to flirt with her! At least she has some happiness before the finale.You all know how the Battle Of Starcourt goes; I'll spare you all the gorey details and instead give you what's different here:- Willa is part of the Scoops Troop; she stays with Dustin & Erica while Dustin tries to contact Suzie.
- Colby & Nellie are with the Griswold Family. Colby throws fireworks with everybody, Nellie attempts to save El with her powers but is unsuccessful and knocked unconscious by Billy.Obviously we end with the Byers moving away. Nellie is devastated. during an attempt to say goodbye to Jonathan alone, she sees the way Nancy holds him, and remembers she just can't have him.Amber is devastated by the loss of her twin brother; he was terrible, but he was still her twin, he was a part of her, whether she liked it or not. She pulled herself up, and got a job at Family Video with Steve and Robin.back
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STRANGER THINGS 4 ;
We're skipping all the California and Russia stuff, because it's pretty much the same! All my characters are in Hawkins, so that kinda makes the most sense here.ALRIGHT, for starters, where's everybody at?
- Amber remained in Hawkins despite Neil leaving. She chose to stay with Susan and Max, Max needed her, especially when Susan's drinking got bad. She was going to be there for Max no matter what.
- Colby felt some guilt for never forgiving Billy before his death, and not speaking to him for so long. But, he tried to stay strong, considering this whole Satanic Panic bullshit. Thankfully, still had his job at the arcade.
- Willa's increasingly worried about Chrissy every single day. But, when Chrissy pushes her away, insisting everything is fine, she doesn't know how else she can help.
- Nellie is feeling more alone than ever with Jonathan so far away. Of course, she still has Eddie, but Jonathan's letters and phone calls have become more sparse. She misses him so much.Now we enter the day before spring break; Amber tries to convince Max to come watch the game with her, but we know she doesn't. Willa's obviously cheering, while Colby and Nellie are at Hellfire. Willa sees Chrissy leave with Eddie, which she thinks is odd, but surely she'll see Chrissy later, right?Oh, how wrong.When the lights flicker, when things feel off, Amber watches as Eddie peels out of the trailer park in his van. Amber tells Max to go back to sleep, to not follow her, and Amber tears after Eddie on her bike. something is very, very wrong.The next day, Nellie and Willa, after finding out the found body was Chrissy, follow the trail to Eddie before everybody else (ironically while they're all figuring it out at Family Video) — well, technically Nellie follows the trail to Eddie, and Willa follows Nellie, knowing she'll lead her right to him.Initially, Willa blames Eddie. she knows Chrissy was with him that night, she doesn't even think it might be the upside down, anything like that. She's yelling at him, crying, hitting him like a sad little girl, and he just feels awful.Nellie, then yells at Willa, for both stalking her and assuming Eddie could even be capable of such a thing. As the two practically break out in a cat fight, Amber breaks it up, and the three sit and listen while Eddie tells them what happened.Then they hear something, or someone outside. They all scramble to hide, then Eddie attacks Steve with his broken beer bottle. Dustin and Amber both defuse Eddie, explaining that Steve is okay. Steve is somewhat astounded that Amber, one of the "it girls" of Hawkins High, is vouching for Eddie freaking Munson of all people.So, everybody knows everything. It's now time to clear Eddie's name. Nellie is on Eddie guard duty, while everybody else goes to investigate. And it dawns on her... El's powers are gone, and she isn't even in Hawkins. The fate of Hawkins rests on her shoulders this time. This, in turn, causes Nellie to finally tell Eddie the whole story, her time in the lab, her escape, her powers. He's surprisingly... calm... about the whole thing. Then again, he did just witness Chrissy's gruesome death.Willa joins Nancy and Robin on their library search, while Amber and Colby stick with Steve and the kids.As everybody investigates everything they can, and Max's curse is discovered, Amber is devastated. She can't lose another sibling, she can't lose Max. She tries so hard to put on a brave face, but that isn't very easy with everything piling up on her. She's near the edge of a breakdown.Willa goes with Robin and Nancy, all of them in their college research aliases, Ruth, Rose, and Beth. And the others all join Max on her journey to Billy's grave. Amber hadn't been there since his funeral, she'd planned on maybe going on their birthday though.When Max is taking longer than expected, Amber goes to check on her; and she's unresponsive, fluttering rolled back eyes... shit.As Amber is trying not to lose her mind, begging Max to wake up, hear her calling, come back — Steve finally notices how upset she is, and goes to see what's up, followed closely by Lucas, Dustin, and Colby.Dustin and Colby run back to the car, trying to reach the girls after their encounter with Victor Creel, and as they scramble to get Max's music set up, Amber exclaims that she's been listening to Kate Bush a lot lately.And we get the iconic Running Up That Hill scene! Don't need to recap that really. The only additional thing is that Steve is literally holding Amber while Max is floating up in the air cus she's sobbing and losing her mind.Max comes down, Lucas and Amber both comfort her. Amber's so fucking happy that Max is alive.If Vecna can't get to Max, he must need a backup target, right? ... Willa gets a sudden headache. and a nosebleed.The jocks find Nellie and Eddie, and Nellie is suddenly a suspect in accessory to murder alongside Eddie when Patrick gets Vecna'd. Nellie did make an effort to try to save Patrick, but ultimately failed.Cut to skull rock, Max and Willa both with their headphones and now Nellie is as wanted as Eddie. Amber will hardly leave Max's side, but she knows Lucas is there for her too.Now we get to Lover's Lake! And there's a sliiightly bigger boat to accommodate that Nellie and Amber join them on the boat. Steve, being Steve, still insists on diving and investigating, and after he gets yeeted into the upside down, Nancy follows him first, then this is the way it follows suit —"Goddammit, he's so stupid!" Amber, diving in after Nancy.Nellie and Robin look at each other, shrug and while Eddie is yelling at them to NOT dive in after the others, they do. And finally, Eddie dives last.Nellie uses her powers to fight the demobats, while everybody else uses ores or their fists... and in Steve's case, also his mouth.Willa, Colby, and the kids, get caught and are brought back to the Wheeler house while the others are in the upside down. Eddie feels some creeping jealousy over Amber helping Nancy look over Steve's wounds, Nellie and Robin tease him about it a little bit because who wouldn't. Amber ends up kinda telling Eddie about the feelings she had for Steve, and how things have changed, but she does still care about him very deeply after everything they've been through together.Eddie finally has the golden opportunity to ask Amber out officially, and he does right before they travel back through the gate in his trailer!Right as Nancy is about to go, she gets those rolled back fluttering eyes. Steve turns to Nellie to beg for her help, and...Nellie's in the same state.Steve freaks out cus... cus... BOTH OF THEM?!Until Vecna starts telling his story and revealing himself to them, they're trapped separately — Nancy in Steve's pool with her guilt about Barb, and Nellie locked in a closet in the lab. They're together after a moment, listening to the tale of Henry Creel, 001, Peter Ballard, Vecna. And he even goes as far as addressing Nellie as "Nine" in front of Nancy. Nellie and Nancy reach a new understanding of one another through this shared traumatic experience. They know they need to take him down, now they just need to cook up a plan.We're gonna jump right ahead to the plan because yeah everything between is pretty much the same! the only real difference is Amber smirks while Nancy stands up to Jason, and Willa sees Robin pining for Vickie and gets sooooo sad dude just so sad.NOW here's how the teams get divided up;- lookout: Erica and Colby
- distract Vecna: Max, duh
- watch and guard Max: Lucas and Amber
- distract the demobats: Eddie, Dustin, and Nellie
- take down Vecna: Nancy, Robin, Willa, and SteveEverything is mostly the same; there's a few key differences, including Eddie being saved! Jason brings some more guys with him, cus somebody needs to hold back Amber and Colby too lol duh. Amber and Eddie share a sweet lil kiss and Amber tells him, "please don't do anything stupid" before they part ways for the battle ahead.When Eddie goes back into the upside down, Nellie immediately goes in after him and tells Dustin to stay put. He doesn't, still resulting in him hurting himself, but yknow.Nellie saves Eddie from the demobats, in the strongest use of her powers she's ever displayed. Eddie doesn't escape completely unscathed, he's still injured, but YAY HE'S ALIVE! Good job Nellie, you saved the internet from losing its mind.When Jason breaks Max's walkman, Amber, in anger, breaks free of the grasp of the jock holding her back, punching him out, and tries to get to Max in time. But she doesn't. She's with Lucas while he holds her, holding her hand and telling her that she and Lucas are right here, that she's gonna be okay.The "earthquake" happens, everything is insane, everything is still split up, Nellie and Eddie have to remain in hiding even despite that. Dustin reassures Uncle Wayne and Nellie's parents that they're safe.Nellie doesn't even know Jonathan came back yet. He asks about her, but he can't see her yet.Amber will not leave Max's hospital room. She practically lives there. she doesn't even know if Max can even hear her... but she'll keep trying.Colby's attempting to help fix up the cabin, and makes fast friends with Argyle because of course he does.And the upside down starts to infiltrate Hawkins. Shit.back
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GOING INTO STRANGER THINGS 5 ;
Amber's been practically living by Max's bedside, occasionally seeing Eddie and giving him updates on Max. He's supportive, he knows she loves her sister.
Nellie sneaks around to go visit Jonathan. He apologizes for having been distant in California, he never meant to hurt her. He's amazed about her powers growing stronger. Oh also Nellie might die.Have not decided much in terms of how Colby and Willa work out yet, but know that Robin and Willa are officially together at least!back
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