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S⠀T⠀A⠀T⠀I⠀C
❝Are you receiving me?❞
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❛To care is to heal and be healed, and you are an open wound that never stops giving.❜

CONDUIT
Series, Book One

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⠀⠀⠀⠀EYES SWOLLEN, heart heavy, and standing at the foot of his parents' bed. In that fateful moment, Thorn Dillon was forced to remember it as their last. Blood-stained shirt, hands red, breath hitched—no older than ten years of age, and yet, suspected and trialed of murder in the second degree.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Rumours back in Thorn's childhood city of New York say he's seventeen now and nothing has changed aside from his place of residence and his surname. Taken in at twelve by a godmother who doesn't love him and an adoptive older sister he can never seem to see eye-to-eye with, Thorn—now Thorn Dillon-Holman—knows all about bad luck and baggage. Though he was acquitted of any involvement all those years ago, the unsolved case of his parents' murder still feels fresh and very heavy—eternal, like the invisible remnants of their blood he can never truly wash out.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The small town of Hawkins, Indiana, might be one of the only places left on Earth where Thorn isn't tagged as an irredeemable criminal aside from on the books and word of mouth. He was a new mystery solve; a new face to avoid in fear of touching so much as his shadow. The whispers followed. So did the eyes.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Blend in—that was his motto. Shut up, keep your head down, and don't do anything you shouldn't be doing (And if you breach step three—which he usually did—at least don't get caught). Eventually, the "new kid" novelty began to wear off—everyone had their own problems to turn back to now. The girl that sits alone during lunch is now depressed, the woman who tells fortunes on the corner of Eldwhich went bankrupt, and the town's very own Sheriff is a drunk. Thorn has become just another face around town—he's the "head case" who sits at the back of the class, keeps too many handwritten notes in his locker, and excels in astrophysics and mathematics. The only thing that puts him out of reach from 'ordinary' is his clinically ill adoptive mother who uses violence over rationality (...And maybe his very real juvenile record, but that's neither here nor there).

⠀⠀⠀⠀ Thorn Dillon-Holman has done his time in the dark—he looks now to the stars, silently wondering when it will be his turn to burn vast and bright instead of continuing to fizzle out. Then suddenly, as if to test him or play a very cruel trick upon the town, on a cold November night of 1983, the universe answers. Around the same time a young Will Byers goes missing, Thorn's radio starts speaking to him in static frequencies—frequencies that begin to morph and talk and growl.

⠀⠀⠀⠀In a matter of days, Thorn goes from "shut up" to "batter up" as he joins the effort in search of Will and some answers, seeking companionship with his quippy best friends, a frantic mother who has started speaking to lights, her quiet camera-wielding son, and the first real genius brunette he's had a crush on since Leia Organa from Star Wars.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Whatever evil pollutes the water in Hawkins doesn't just begin and end with Will, for a great and terrible power finds Thorn when and where he least expects it—in darkness, when all other lights go out.

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STARRING CAST
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Tom Holland stars as...
THORN DILLON-HOLMAN

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Gina Rodriguez as...
REGAN HOLMAN

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Eli Goree as...
JAMESON ❛JAY❜ PALMER

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&
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Lana Condor as...
ABIGAIL ❛AUGGIE❜ BLUE

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[ + additional cast ]
nicola correia-damude as jane holman
young!christian slater as flash morgan
claudia jessie as laura dillon &
lewis pullman as nathan dillon

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author's note. (2023)

hi! welcome to the 2023 revamp/rewrite of STATIC! whether you're a new reader here or one of old, i hope you'll stick around as the story receives a slight overhaul. and by slight, i do mean slight — everything is essentially the same as the OG version (first posted in 2016) aside from a few tweaks such as fixing plot holes, expanding upon certain scenes and dialogue, generally writing with much better grammar and vocab (...lol), and most notably, tweaking thorn's character just a touch

long story short, thorn's character reflected the state of my mental health between 2016/2018 (which is why i put a halt on updating static since then...) and as such, getting into his "original" headspace was very hard for me. with this rewrite and the slight tweaking to his character, OG readers may find thorn is a bit more lighthearted, and he has a "less stiff" sense of humour in general now

now, with all that said, i would like to thank those of you who waited patiently for some kind of announcement and/or update on the state of static, no matter if you've only started reading as of this week, were here since 2016, or took interest anywhere in between. i hope you decide to stick around for the rewrite/editing process, and eventually come back for any new updates (HOPEFULLY!!)

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original author's note. (2016)
( everything written below is still
pretty much valid )

Basically, I'm working off the theory that Will Byers has 'untapped powers' like Eleven and is sensitive to the monster and The Upside Down universe itself. There are a few clues as to how this could be canon but I won't go through them lol. In this fanfiction (whether the theory be canon in the show or not), Thorn is also prone to this sensitivity and can communicate between the two dimensions much like Will did with Joyce through the lights. Unlike Will, though, Thorn is able to communicate into the Upside Down rather than from it, thus, think of him as the flea while still being an acrobat.

You can hear more about the Will Byers theory on a neat channel named FoundFlix on YouTube. They did a few theory videos on Stranger Things and ya'll should definitely check them out if you're interested!

Despite the fact that Static is intended to be a Nancy Wheeler fanfic, the romantic relationship between her and Thorn is not the main focus — their friendship and the story is. Also, it will be heavily hinted at that Thorn is bisexual, however, he nor any other character will disclose or state whether he is or not because I want to leave it open for the future. I can happily tell you that Jay is closeted gay and Regan is pansexual, though!

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DISCLAIMER.
I do not own Stranger Things or anything relating to it's original characters, plot lines, or dialogue as seen in the show. I do, however, own Thorn and every other character you (of course) wouldn't normally see.

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WARNING.
Static will contain violence, character death, gore, coarse language, sexual themes, alcohol use by minors, social issues (racism, homophobia, bullying), etc

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PUBLISHING DATES:
[ Original: Nov 1st, 2016 ]
[ Revamp: July 21st, 2023 ]

( official cover created by me )