Deadside and Dead

November 08, 2018:

Dead Girl meets a dark mirror version of Lara Croft.

Greenwich Village Park

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

People are a little weirded out by Dead Girl. She represents a very real manifestation of Death- an (un)living, non-breathing, but still somehow walking reminder of mortality.

That isn't to say she isn't lovely in her own way- in life she could have been an actress or a model. That corpse-blue skin, though, really does tend to put people off these days.

The people of Greenwich, though, don't really have any clue how to react to Dead Girl as she 'sits' on a park bench. Well, it's more of an upside-down hang. Her back is arched, and her hair- short- seems to barely miss the concrete underpad of the bench. Her legs are tucked up over where one's upper back might normally go, crossed at the ankles. She's just 'hanging out' there still as a corpse.

Unblinking she just stares into the distance, at the people passing. At the world of living bodies and souls… people pause as they pass. It isn't far off from Halloween- maybe it's an art piece, or just a joke. Someone who likes a good costume.

But the costume is *too* real. She's not breathing. She's not moving. She's just staring forward like a corpse hung up on a park bench might be- largely because that's exactly what she is.

Lara Croft was gone, she wasn't a part of this world anymore, but essentially nobody knows that. Because she's been replaced by a doppleganger, the only person who actually does know that the 'real' Croft was no longer here. This doppleganger was happily living Lara's life for her now, though doing it with a bit more… hard edged darkness to her. Lara had been lost in a dark reality, and that dark reality had created a mirror version of her that gave in to darker thoughts and emotions far more easily than the 'real' Croft ever would.

Currently? She's on her way home from her job… she was a special agent with SHIELD and though her work was a little different from the average New Yorker, she was still performing her duties admirably considering she's a 'fake'. An 'evil twin' so to speak. She still had a deep rooted love for the mysterious artifacts in the world though, she still had that drive to find them like the woman she was based on.

Still though, she was changed, different. Darker.

And she just now takes a seat on the same bench as this Dead Girl, on the opposite side, dressed in a black leather jacket with a charcoal gray scarf around her throat, her hair is tied back and her dark brown eyes look around before glancing over to the corpse woman. "I love your look." Lara says, her voice is laced with a thick British flavor. She shaws the corpse woman a sincere smile as well.

"Thanks. It took a while to get the grave dirt out from under my finger nails, but I think they look pretty good now. Though, it may be time for a manicure." Dead Girl replies as she looks over to Lara quietly from her upside-down spot on the bench. "There's a bit of dried blood under there that I can't get rid of without tearing off the whole nail and starting over with. But, those are just the problems of the deceased."

Dead Girl takes a closer look- her eyes are glowing. A red glow- like the balefires of the underworld, ghostly and distant. "I dig the coat. Looks good for this time of year, when the chill sets in." Dead Girl is not protected from the elements- she is, after all, dead. Cold really is sort of her element.

Lara's eyes remain on the woman beside her, she can tell that she's indeed truly dead, but it doesn't seem to shock or horrify her because she comes from a place quite literally labeled the 'Deadside'. So she just smiles and nods her head lightly in acknowledgement of the other's spoken words. "I can only imagine." Lara tells her, she herself is very much alive if but a fabrication of another person. "You'd fit right in where I come from." Wherever that is. "So why are you simply sitting here in the cold?" She asks. "Have you no other place to be or are you waiting for someone… You do seem to have a bit of a waiting air about you tonight."

"Oh, a little bit of column A. A little bit of Column B. Someone told me to wait here, one of the many dead who wander hither and yon." Dead girl answers, "And no. I have no other place really to be. It's very difficult to pay rent with the treasures of the dead." she says with a little grin.

"Yes. I can smell it on you.. well. as it were. An air of death." Dead Girl can always sense death- she can communicate with the biology and every bit of it. "I imagine that was a harrowing experience for you. Dying was certainly not in my plans- and took a rather great deal of work to get used to." she says, "I'd bet this place is uncomfortable for you."

Dead Girl is a font of necromantic energy and the very stuff of Death- potentially a comfort to those used to such things. "I know it is for me, sometimes. Watching people living lives that I can't really enjoy or join."

Lara looks away then to the cars that are moving up and down the street not too far away as well as the pedestrians milling about. "Oh, I don't know." She starts. "I've found things that I quite enjoy here." She can tell this woman, dead or otherwise, likely has the sense to know more about her than most others in this city. Does she know exactly what Lara's Shadow is? Likely not, but its amusing to meet someone randomly on the streets who has a somewhat better understanding than the rest.

Lara looks back at her then. "Don't be over dramatic about yourself. Even in your current state you're far more attractive than most of these miserable sods." She raies her left hand up and motions to an over weight man across the street a bus station who's chowing on a half eaten slice of pizza and runnins his hand over his mostly bald head. "You look like one of the billboard models compared to that work of fright." She says then, glancing back to the woman with a smirk shown.

"Oh, that's sweet of you to say. Most people don't look at me as lovely like that." Dead Girl admits as her body goes a little translucent and she shifts herself. She rights herself- just phasing through the wood and ground like one might expect of a ghost. She comes to sit again, this time upright and still next to Lara.

"And really, it isn't being that over-dramatic, is it? I miss eating." she states plainly. "I miss the warmth." Dead Girl shrugs, "It's not unusual, though. A lot of the dead fixate on the living. It's hard not to, when that's all you ever knew before." she continues, "I try to step away from it, though. I mean, I'm not alive anymore so why should I care about the lives of the living?" she asks next- perhaps more comfortable near Lara than most. They have a certain complimentary energy, at least at the moment.

Lara glances away from the woman after she witnesses the phasing ability, but when she returns and speaks she just looks off and listens. "Right." She softly responds with a light and subtle nod. "I suppose that is truth." Her eyes look back over to the woman then. "I can say, however, that there are remarkable magics in this world, I deal with the directly on a near daily basis. I have seen things that would stun the average person. Relics with power that can achieve astounding feats… And along these lines, well… you may be surpriseed what options might befall you someday, should you be around long enough." She shows a faint smirk. "You may yet experience all of those things again, should an opportunity to return to the living ever present itself to you."

"Oh, I'd rather not. There are a lot of things I *don't* miss about being alive. Just a couple of things, really. Food. Sex. Drugs… You know, the fun stuff." Dead GIrl offers, "Overall, being dead is much better than being alive. I mean, at least, in my opinion. And really, what would I do with myself? They had a funeral and everything. It be a mess. Too much trouble being alive, with all that biology happening all the time." Dead Girl says with a little wave of her hand as if it was just 'too much'.

Dead Girl pauses then, looking Lara over very carefully- quietly studying the person who's sat down here with her at this bench. "Those kind of relics should probably stay in the tombs they were meant to be in. The Dead do not appreciate their grave goods being stolen."

"Some do." Lara is quick to respond then to the woman, looking over at her with a faint smile. "Some have grown tired of being trapped in their own tombs and wish to be freed to find actual peace. You see even the most stubborn of soul can grow restless if enough time has passed." She releases a light sigh then and looks away, down to her lap where she fusses with her jacket and straightens it some, smoothing it out over her stomach and waist over the black jeans she's wearing. "Others, who don't? Well… most of them don't know how to stop me. And besides, its better than the artifact falling into the hands of a living person, who's destined to just screw everything up attempting to wield a device's power for their own private gain." She sounds more than a little jaded about it all.

Her eyes glance back to the woman of death then. "So this is your life? To test the various park benches throughout the Manhattan parks?"

"Depends on the day." Dead Girl replies. "Sometimes it's the benches. Sometimes it's the bottom of the Hudson. Other times I play little tricks on the living. Most of the time, though, I speak for the Dead. Help them finish things, or protect the things they can't protect themselves. A little justice for those who can't speak for themselves."

Dead Girl looks then over to Lara. "What about you, though. You're… different." she goes on, "Where did you come from? Why are you here now?" she asks, next. "I live for stories, so please, go right ahead."

Lara considers these words from the woman and she slowly nods her head. "That last bit certainly sounds more interesting than the rest. I imagine the spirits in this old city have quite a number of fascinating tales." She then looks back over to her and actually turns to face her on the bench, putting her right elbow back on the rear of the outdoor furniture piece that they mutually occupy.

"I'm not who everyone here believes I am." She says with an amused look on her face. "I'm a replacement of her. I come from another reality… a reality that I'd grown somewhat bored of and now I'm seeking… a reprieve?" She smirks at herself. "Call it a vacation, thats a more commonly comfortable word for it. This place is fascinating to me. So many people, pretending to all be one another, yet they're so very different. I find it… amusing." Why hide the truth from this woman? She doesn't fit into this society either.

Dead Girl nods quietly, just leaning back and listening as Lara speaks. "Are you pretending to be her?" she wonders, "Like one of those fairy replacement changeling dealies?" There isn't any judgement there in Dead Girl's tone, more curious interest.

"How did you get here? What happened to the woman you've replaced?"

"I am her." Lara corrects the dead one seated across from her further down the bench. "We're two sides of the same coin." She holds a self satisfied smile on her lips and then glances away to release a light sigh at the last question. "She's alive. I can… feel it. She's where I came from." Her eyes return to the other. "Its the Deadside, where creatures and monsters go when they perish. Things not of this world, not natural to this plain of existence. This is where she is now, fighting for her life." She smirks them, seemingly uncaring toward her twin's well being. "I have to return to it… eventually." A heavy sigh acompanies that 'eventually' when she speaks it. "In the mean time, however, I'm enjoying my life here… and now. Or is it her life? Either way. Its an amusing experience."

"I see." Dead Girl says, sitting there next to the woman who spills out death energy- the very energy Dead Girl can communicate with. Can control. She doesn't, however, exhibit any of that power for now. Just watching this woman from the 'Deadside'.

A place that someone like Dead Girl would be more than welcome. With her abilities- she could likely cut herself out a nice little kingdom.

"What happens if she dies? Are you connected?" Dead Girl wonders next, intensely curious.

Lara shows her a soft smile and shakes her head lightly. "No, nothing so dramatic." She says in response. "She'd simply… cease to be, and I'd be the one true Lara… Amelia… Croft. Heir to a family fortune that sits untouched in banks around the world." Her right hand comes up and she runs her fingers through her own dangling ponytail. She looks out at the traffic of cars and peoples then sighs softly. "We live unique lives, you and I…" She glances back to the other, having not asked her for a name yet. "You should visit my world some time. I think you might like it." A short pause and a quick smirk. "Well, parts of it at least."

"I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually." Dead Girl says, "For now, I still got a lot of work to do here. Too many voices calling for me, and I can't ignore them." In life, Dead Girl was undoubtedly a kind and loving person- someone who'd help anyone she came across.

Death, though. Death changes people. Dead Girl knows it better than anyone else.

"I'm sure I'd be welcome with open arms, though." Dead Girl says with a wicked little grin, "And I'm not sure I'd call what I do living. I lived a life- a short one." Dead Girl corrects, albeit gently. "I was your everyday normal human girl with a bright future, until I was murdered. He was my boyfriend at the time." Dead Girl looks far away, just remembering.

"After I got a hang of all of this…" she indicates herself, "I drove him to suicide. I wanted the same hand that killed me to kill him. I was glad to see his soul dragged to hell."

Lara's hand drops back down to the back of the bench that they're seated on and she listens closely to the other with a grin appearing on her lips as she hears that last part. "Thats a girl." She encourages her after hearing that she'd forced the man to suicide. "He deserved much worse, but ultimately got at least… enough. I would've likely tortured him for a stretch of time, for what he'd done, but still… I imagine the death of such a man was quite an enjoyable feeling. Of course…" She cuts herself off then and tilts her head now to the woman. "Does that mean he too lingers in a way that you can still interact with him?"

"He isn't a ghost, if that's what you're asking." Dead Girl replies, "But he is not beyond me." she continues, "Like any soul I can forge a connection to, I can drag him screaming out of hell if I so choose." Dead GIrl states. "A body part is best for that." she continues, suggesting she's done some testing.

"It's much harder to grab them when there isn't some connection… it can be done, but..it's hard." Indeed, Dead Girl can drag the resting souls of the dead from their just rewards and punishments at more or less a whim. It should be terrifying to almost anyone who hears it.

"The same as I can force the recently deceased to reanimate their bodies, or just animate them for myself." Dead Girl points across the road- a dead pigeon there.

And it isn't difficult at all for her to reanimate the corpse. No words. No motions- just suddenly the creature is twitching and shivering and standing on it's feet again before flying over to land before the pair. A zombie pigeon in Manhattan? The worst nightmare of so many people.

Lara remains quiet throughout this and her eyes go over to the pidgeon as its brought back to life before their very eyes. She has a smile showing on her lips though, amusement clearly playing across her face at this display of morbid powers. "Fascinating." She says then to the other, her stare going back to the dead one's controlling the bird. "Best be careful where you go, this world is still filled with people will grow quite offended by these displays of necromancy. You're liable to get a mob after you, wanting to mount you to a flaming stake." She looks back to the bird on the ground then. "I can see why you don't seem overly… depressed about your current condition, at least it has its benefits, right?" She glances back then to judge the reacton to that. "Create your own un natural entertainment."

"I'm not that worried." Dead Girl notes, as the pigeon just stands in quiet attention before the Dead Girl's attention shifts and it just falls over- still dead.

"I've burnt myself down to bones before. I'm already dead." Dead Girl notes, "And it doesn't take." she just grins at that. "I don't think I'm going anywhere soon." she continues, "In fact, I think I'm here- like this- forever."

Lara watches the bird as its feathery time comes to an end, again, and then she looks back over to the other. "Well, to be fair, nothing lasts forever. Not even the stars." She seems to still be smiling even with that statement said. "I'd tell you to 'live for the now' but if you're already as dead as our little feathered friend here, then that might be uncooth of me to say." A faint smirk is given to the other then. "Still though, you're better than the average conversation I've had lately. So it means you are still an enjoyable individual to be around, even if you might start to smell a tad in the summer months. Thats something to feel positive about, yes?"

"Oh, no. I'm stuck like this. No scent. No breath. Two minutes after dying." Dead Girl explains, "It makes the summer months much nicer, I'm sure, without a stinking corpse walking down the streets." Dead Girl remarks as her eyes slide there. A Ghost among the crowd. Standing quietly, looking onto Dead Girl with hollow eyes.

"I think work is calling me." Dead Girl says slowly, as the ghost approaches.

"Something hidden in exchange for work." The ghast says.

Dead Girl nods, "That's the usual deal, unless you have a good reason not to pay." she says as she stands slowly.

"They seek to knock down my house. Stop them, and the hidden thing is yours. It is of value."

Dead Girl nods, "SHould be easy enough to scare some people away from an old house."

"Ah, well that does sound like an interesting magic." Lara says in response to the first part. She doesn't figure its a mutant or meta-human power, she (or well the real Lara) works for SHIELD's WAND division, which deals in Wizardy, Alchemy and… Necromancy. "Certainly a benefit for you as well."

But when the talk of works arises, Lara just quietly observes and looks from the dead girl to where she's speaking. She of course cannot see the ghost, Lara doesn't have magical powers, not that she's yet aware of anyway. She's just a replica of another person, with a tendancy to be a bit different… personality wise.

"Well, don't let me hold you back from your deadly duties, MIss." Lara says with a soft smirk as she starts to rise up herself and adjust the dark gray scarf around her neck. "I should be back to my home as it is. I have a pet to feed after all." She smiles at the other. "Its been interesting. I will keep a look out for you going forward."

"I'm sure there are ghosts around you who can find me." Dead Girl states simply, "Just ask for Dead Girl. I'm sure someone will hear and find me. They usually do- I'm hard to miss."

Dead Girl then is off like a shot, she runs to a nearby building and leaps into the air- moving with the power and grace of a predator.

She doesn't move like a zombie at all. No. She scales that building's wall like an acrobat before she leaps into the air and literally flies away- through the walls of a taller building, and into who knows where.

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