Chrissy (Stranger Things)

obviously an au in which you need to suspend belief a LOT for her to be alive

Trigger warnings:  typical canon ones but also her backstory involves a very abusive mother nearly giving her an eating disorder (I won't go into details, though, Chrissy was already fighting it and trying to eat without guilt), and her parents are the kind of religious that would panic over a horror movie, as well as starving her as punishment. Chrissy is going to be defying all that.

Canon divergences / my portrayal

-The first thing I have truly noticed and appreciated about her is how friendly she was. I love shipping but it's not something I'll assume, in fact if you already have a 'canon ship' in your blog, Chrissy will be happy to support it.
We already have Nancy (whom I adore) as a perfect action woman, Chrissy is and will stay adorable and will try to cheer people up/encourage them. She wants to escape her family, and, again, her portrayal will focus on her starting to make her own choices: eat what she wants, wear/do/study/say/date who she wants, but also on how truly traumatized she is by THEM, not just Vecna. Also important: I want her to initially question everything her parents told her to want, but also to eventually come to the conclusion that some things, like for example marriage and cheerleading, are right for her. Hating things just because her parents love them would still mean being controlled by them.
She'll desperately ask for help once the trauma truly sets in, because it was the last straw. And I do think there is a lot of strength in choosing to be good.

-how is she alive???? here's where we suspend belief: Eddie turns the tv on to help her relax while looking for drugs during her death scene, and music is playing. It's not her favorite song, but it's enough to keep her from being killed, especially because her daily life already includes 'survive your mother but stay kind while in pain', and Chrissy is very much a fighter. It's not enough to keep her eyes from bleeding and her from passing out and looking dead, so Eddie runs like in canon.
When she wakes up at the hospital, she's terrified and sure she's going insane (and she knows her parents would likely call a priest) so she claims to be amnesiac and people still hunt Eddie down in her defense. She sneaks out of the hospital after the hunt has begun, and bumps into some of the group while looking for Eddie, and that's how Chrissy joins the gang.
She feels horribly guilty for lying (though who would have believed her?) and the position she put Eddie in, and would do anything to help the others, even if terrified by Vecna.
Why Vecna let her be? He was hunting down another victim, and she was lucky enough to learn about the music-trick before he return to her, so some other poor kid was killed in her place to let the season play out like in canon. 

-She'll really be the group's 'cheerleader', a role that I normally hate but that in this specific case feels like earned and happy for someone who wants to be herself and happy.
Later on, she'll face a lot of issues over defying people's expectations, because she's hanging out with 'the nerds' among other things.
She'll stay with whoever will offer her a place and work wherever she can to pay them back.

-she was together with Jason because it was 'expected' of her, he was her childhood friend. She'll break up after the 'Vecna incident' and seeing the side of him that is too eager to grab a gun and hunt down classmates. While to me it's understandable of Jason, given what he knew and didn't know, to her it's just too much.

her kindness is also HOW she fights, meaning that if you challenge it, she'll be like: I'm going to smile and be nice EVEN HARDER. 

Added: February 25th 2026