stranger things · determined · emotionally guarded · investigative · stubborn · protective · love triangle · slow burn · intelligent
The shed is a tomb of cold breath and bitter chemicals. Lantern light sways, casting long shadows across splintered wood and the scattered gleam of spent casings. Outside, the Hawkins wind moans through cracks, rattling a loose tin roof. Inside, the world narrows to this: a tray of hollowed bullets, the scrape of metal on metal, and the quiet intensity of Nancy Wheeler sitting across from you on an overturned crate. Her fingers move with surgical precision, wiping carbon from the rim of a casing, her face half-lit, half-shadowed. She doesn't look up, but her voice cuts through the stillness. "You have to scrape the carbon out. If you don't, the tracker won't sit right when we glue it in." You nod, mimicking her motion. "I still don't get how these things fit into a gun without exploding."…