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So that's what ghost people like to do.

Watch? Yep.

About all we can do.

No rattling chains or making 'ooOooOoOoOoOooOoOO' noises?

Chains are way too heavy. ...Flickering the lights can be fun though.

Flickering lights is the most annoying thing ever.

~~See, I could've said Annaying, but I resisted~~

Sadly, it's like watching cable. There's something on all the time.

Also hilarious if you're feeling mean spirited.

~~It would have been funny tho!~~

I feel bad sometimes because you can't really do anything about it, you know?

Sometimes you just have to shrug and say "sorry. You need to learn from this mess on your own."

"Yes, I suppose that's the point of life, right? Figure it out and when you've touched the hot stove once, maybe you won't do it again. At least there's a choice." Val presses her lips together. "But some manipulation is just subtle and cruel and requires...a decent intervention and a good right hook."

Anna shrugs. She doesn't know if there is actually any point to life or if there should be just one.

"People are cruel and selfish. Basic human nature. You can't tell them how to be and you waste your time trying to change them. You step in and you'rr putting your own hand on the stove instead of letting someone else learn not to get burned. I'm done getting burned for other people."

Edited 2014-02-09 16:53 (UTC)

Mean... spiri...

Was that a ghost joke.

Yes!

Oh my God.

So many ghost jokes today, and it isn't even afternoon yet.

You don't like Ghost jokes? What about Zombie jokes? I have a great Zombie joke...

"That's one perspective and a sweeping generalization based on whatever must have happened to you." Val says despite herself because she knows how her own experience has colored her perspective in humanity. "Getting burned, though. It's part of the human condition, no? We all get burned. That's how we learn not to do it to others. We just...don't learn that lesson all at the same time."

"I haven't met a person yet who isn't cruel and selfish to someone when it's in their interest. It's the people who aren't who stand out as something special and unique."

She shrugs again.

"I don't know anything about a human condition. I'm not human and none of my friends are."

Val considers and isn't sure that she can agree despite what's happened to her. Her family. Despite everything she's seen. But she doesn't preach, either.

And THAT should have thrown Val for a loop, maybe a month ago it would have but, now?

Yeah, no, it still comes as a surprise.

She looks at the girl more closely. "So, am I going to have to guess or can you just spare me the embarrassment of trying to figure it out?"

Most people aren't really surprised. Stick around long enough and something undead or magic will cross your path.

"There's not a lot to figure out. Undead. Ghost. Vengeful Spirit. Grim Reaper... Hot mess of supernatural whatever you want to call it" She shrugs, because what's in a name? Used to be power, but there's a lot less of that nowdays when you have more than one name.

"You can call me Anna. It's better than 'Hey You' or 'Dead Girl'"

Right. And maybe if she lives to stick around long enough, someday none of this will surprise her. It's a long way from car pools and soccer practice though.

"Overachiever." Muttered Val loud enough to be heard with a little smirk. "Anna." She couldn't imagine calling anyone 'dead girl' not when. Val stiffened a moment. "Valora. Nice to meet you." She pressed her lips together in consideration. "Wait, so, why can I see you?"

"It's nice to meet you, Valora."

And if you asked her, she'd say that getting to use magic and the supernatural is not only possible but likely to happen sooner rather than later. Things tend to snowball...

"I get Bitch and Feminist Harpy a lot too I guess. But thank you, I prefer Anna."

There's a bit of a rueful smirk in the smile and the eyes of a Ghost, shadows on the face are of course haunted.

"Largely? We're visible to people who want to see us, or can see us. Hard to keep up being social if you're invisible."

"F-feminist harpy?" Valora repeated with a laugh so loud that it sounded foreign to her, lately. "It's only true if you've got it on a business card." She added, reigning her laugh into a chuckle as if it was inappropriate.

"Oh." said Val quietly. "Right." Valora is a pro at plowing through her own awkward silence before it becomes, well, awkward. "Kinda sucks that you can't will to appear yourself. Why didn't you, well, 'move on'. Whatever that means."

"Yup...One of my brothers coined the term. And... now I actually want a business card that says that! Because how awesome would that be?"

She laughs too because genuine amusement is rare and contageous when you exist feeling sorry for yourself, bitter or sad and Anna is largely some mess of the three.

"It's a lot of work. Like carrying things and touching things... I can if I have to. I try to save it up for when it's really important though."

The laughter sobers, dissipates and Anna considers a moment and then nods slightly, to herself.

"I was murdered. I've got unfinished business."

Valora visibly paled at that. Murdered. It felt like her stomach sank into her feet and held her there like lead weights. Madison. Is Maddy out there somewhere, a ghost looking for retribution. She swallowed hard. And now felt more guilty. She knew how the events of the last year impacted her but, she had no idea that the dead...didn't actually stop existing. But she should have. At least from what she saw in hell.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. Her voice conveyed a very deep sentiment. A sympathy crafted from experience. "I'm sorry that happened to you." Pause. "What sort of 'unfinished business', I mean, what can you do?" She shook her head. "That's not how I meant it. I'm sure you're capable but, what are you going to do?"

The reaction, a physical reaction besides just the 'aww sad!' face that people usually make is interesting. Valora wasn't particularly surprised by the fact that Anna is a Ghost so it's even more interesting, really.

"You didn't betray me or murder me. You have nothing to apologize for."

She can't quite muster enough to sound like she genuinely means her words. That's part of being a Ghost through. Part of what makes her still exist. The sheer willpower to be angry.

"Right now? Right now I'm living my life. Or something that resembles it. I'm taking back what was taken from me. Long term? We'll see."

The opportunity to see the people she blames suffer the same loss, or die, that might actually release her, but she doesn't know that. Not for sure. Until then, she's a Ghost. She haunts.

"Did you kill someone?"

That she could still have some sort of life was comforting. Sort of. This kind of stuff made her blood boil.

"W-what? No. No! I mean, yes, I'm a cop. I've killed in the line of duty but...no. Not like that." She sputtered. "My daughter." She started uncertainly, "was murdered when a case followed me home." Literally. She waved the conversation away as if she were shooing away a fly.

"Did they find them? However did this to you?"