ic Dead Man's Party

[Lone_Star]

West Freedom

Lantern Hill Cemetery

Saturday, January 11th, 11:48 PM

 

Vik popped her bubblegum as she swung her Doc Martens back and forth over the edge of the mausoleum she was perched on. She was listening to her battered old iPod, and bopped her head as she sang along to a particularly appropriate song from the 80s. 

 

"I was struck by lightning, walkin' down the street
I was hit by something last night in my sleep
It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more?
Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door
Leave your body and soul at the door."

 

She felt good about tonight. Luckily, the mausoleum was unoccupied (even the dead have standards, after all) for their meeting tonight, her fellow "Friends of Romero", as she lovingly called them. Revenant, Deadbolt, and Dust Devil: three living-impaired superheroes living in Freedom City. After she met Lucy at the Christmas party, she told her about others like them. It felt damn good to not be so alone. She popped her gum again and looked out over the graveyard. 

 

Thick fog descended over the graveyard, reminding her of the old monster movies she watched with her dad as a kid. She wasn't scared, not exactly (well, maybe a little), but there was a certain mood that those movies had. The rows of upright headstones standing up like crooked teeth of some terrible beast, the wind blowing eerily through the trees...yeah. This was right. The first meeting of the...well, she hadn't come up with a name for their team, but hopefully the others would have some ideas. After all, some of them had been around a lot longer than her. 

[RocketLord]

Dust Devil II

 

A letter had been delivered to the Broken Crow Refuge. Not the usual way that people would ask for the Dust Devil's aid, and not the usual type of request either. A hero, Ghule, sought to gather the dead, to keep the city safe. So, what? Make them appear all safe and cuddly to the people? Not exactly Cassidy's way of doing things.

 

Still... It falls well within his mission here in Freedom City, and so...

 

He is the first there, aside from the host, it seems. He is wearing a pair of jeans, an off-white dress shirt with a black vest and a tan duster. He takes his dark brown stetson hat off as he enters the mauseleum. Aside from his glowin blue eyes, he appears to be human and alive, for the moment, at least.

 

"You're Ghule?" he asks, reaching into a pocket and pulling out the letter. "I got yer invitation."

[Supercape]

Deadbolt

 

Deadbolt stormed through the plains of America, running faster than a speeding train. Why? 

 

Partially for the sheer fun of it - because he could. 

 

But also, because he had received a letter. How anyone got his name, let alone his old address (last recorded, 1898) was beyond him. But the US postal service was a strange beast, one he sure contained mysterious and eldritch energies and forces beyond the ken of man. Or zombie. 

 

He could not turn down the opportunity to meet some fellow not-quite-alives. This was the opportunity to actually hit the 21st century running. He was already twenty five years too late, which was reprehensible for a super-speeder. 

 

With a trail of dust settling behind him, he came to a stop beside Ghule and Dust Devil. 

 

"Howdy!" he said. His zombie face opened wide. "Lord! Another cowboy?" he asked Dust Devil. "Names Dead Bolt. Used to be called Rufus Redhill. Fastest Zombie in the west!"

Edited January 11 by Supercape

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy Harker

 

Ironically the last to arrive was the one who lived in the Hills, but Lucy had been in the graveyard for a while.

 

She'd been chatting with lovely old ladies, all technically younger than her, who tended the graves and kept the place neat and tidy. Along with those who preferred the place at nice, who'd she negotiated a peace between the two camps, she got news of any strange events happening in the area. With their help, there'd been no malicious entities going on in the area for a few years now.

 

"What is the collective name for a group of un-dead?" she wasn't surprised as she'd sensed the other a good distance away from the mausoleum

 

"Lucy Harker, pleased to meet you all!"

[Lone_Star]

Ghule

 

Vik grinned at the blue-eyed cowboy. Who said the dead couldn't be easy on the eyes? She hopped off the mausoleum to greet him, storing her iPod in her leather jacket. "Yep, and I figure you're Dust Devil, pardner," she said with a little wink. "Seriously, thank you for coming. It's hard enough to track down people who've been...well, in our condition for some time." 

 

Speaking of dust, the second living-impaired showed up out of the blue. Given his chosen name, that was no big surprise... "Wait, you're both zombie cowboys? Is it weird that that's kinda awesome? I wish I had thought to bring my Stetson 'n six-shooters!" 

 

Lucy showed up shortly thereafter, and the four undead were together at least. "Hmm...a horde of undead? Does that feel too stereotypical to you? I mean, a horde can be a powerful thing, like the Mongolian Horde...anyway. Lucy!" Vik ran over to embrace her. Having met her at the Christmas Party, Vik was excited to see her friend again. She looked over at the two zombie cowboys, and coughed a little, slightly self-conscious at this display of comradery. 

 

"Thank you all for making it out tonight...this felt like the most appropriate place to have a meeting." She pulled open the door to the mausoleum and bid them enter. 

 

The inside of the small mausoleum was a comfortable and somber place to honor the memories of the dead: a small skylight on the ceiling and windows on the far wall made the space as inviting as it could be. Vik had set out a table and four chairs for everyone. She busied herself with unpacking a Wal-Mart bag, stuffed with sodas, candy, chips, and other snacks. "I didn't know what everyone liked, so I just got everything. You know...'or-durves' and all." 

 

"I guess you're wondering why I asked you to come here. When I met Lucy at the Freedom League Christmas party, it made me feel like I wasn't alone in this world. I'm sure you all know exactly what I mean...to be treated differently, ostracized, or even hunted for who you are. But I think the four of us can do a lot of good for Freedom City if we team up as one...our own undead super-team. What do you think?" 

 

[Supercape]

Deadbolt

 

"I don't eat," said Deadbolt. "Least, don't need to eat. I can eat, but when you don't feel hungry no more," he shrugged. "Even when I alive, somehow it don't taste the same."

 

He popped a crisp in his mouth, just to be polite. Raw teeth crushed to the item and the remains went down to the fetid sac called his stomach. 

 

"I've always been a-huntin the undead. At least, the ones that do the botherin and possessin of people. Ain't got no beef with you guys, see. Frankly, be a relief to talk to a zombie that can talk back, have a decent chinwag, maybe play a game of cards."

 

He gave a cowboy spit to the floor. 

 

"And then, theres the matter of the big ones. The ones I can't proper take on, least, not on my own. I could do with a gun by my side just as much as I could do with a friend looking out for my back, you get me?"
 

He paused, chewing his dead lips with his dead (but remarkably, in excellent nick) teeth. "I heard about them there super teams in Freedom City. I'd be honored to be in one....

 

...The Graveyard Shift!"

[RocketLord]

Dust Devil II

 

A running cowboy. Another woman. All of them zombies. Go figure that Cassidy would stand out here. He stands around for a moment, looking between them all, before Ghule begins to lead them inside the mauselum.

 

Ghule gives a whole nice speech about camaraderie, sticking together and being a super team. Dead Bolt talks about how it's nice to talk with zombies that can talk back. 

 

He crosses his arms, before he talks.

 

"I ain't a zombie." Cassidy's voice sounds slightly hoarse and gravely. "I ain't alive, an' I mean no disrespect, but I ain't like you three. Not in that way, anyway. Not sure if I'd qualify for yer Graveyard Shift."

 

He's not sure if he should qualify, anyway. Who knows what the Mesa'd want him to do?

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy Harker

 

"I don't believe it matters how you are, Inter mortem et vitam. It's more that you're willing to help despite being un-dead!" she gave a little shrug "Besides technically I'm like one-quarter vampire so none of us is exactly perfect zombie material!"

 

As she spoke she picked at the snacks on offer, since coming back she didn't really have a sense of taste anymore, as the old saying went, it tasted like ashes. But Vik had gone to all this effort and she didn't want to put the young woman off by being all grumpy about something that wasn't anyone's fault.

 

"And I'm always keen to help people when I can, and I'm sure we can find something that suits our unique set of skills and abilities!"