sensitivity traininig

who: lauren and nic
where: park cemetery
when: mid-afternoon

Lauren was sitting on one of the benches just inside Park Cemetery, by one of the quaint little ponds. There weren't ducks anymore, but then, it was a bit snowy for that. The snow 'beneath' her was undisturbed, of course, and she was wishing there were ducks. She liked the ducks. She liked animals in general, though most of the time they could sense her, and kinda went high tailing it the other way. It wasn't like she was going to do anything to them. And, hearing another shriek, she looked up, and saw some little old lady fleeing in the opposite direction. Sighing heavily, she sulked, propping her chin on her good hand's heel, looking sullenly at the ground. That whole screaming thing could quit any time now. Seriously.

To Nic, few things were as funny as little old ladies fleeing in terror. There was something about the wrinkly shuffle that made her smile the same way children tantruming in public did. Technically, she was shortcutting through the cemetary, though Nic didn't have a real destination in mind. There was no kickboxing class today, Ash didn't need her at the shop, and her mom had given her the afternoon to actually go out and do something. Eventually, she'd be trying to track down the white magic shop Nate had mentioned a while back, but for now? She was just walking. "At least she didn't try exorcising you!" Nic called over at the indistinct outline of Lauren, by now secure in the idea that spirits couldn't harm her. She was too far away to recognize the ghost, and was just doing her usual wry sarcasm bit.

Lauren looked over, only half wondering what was going on there. She still wasn't used to anyone speaking to her. Screaming and fleeing for their lives? OH yeah. Talking to her like she was a sentient being with thoughts, feelings, and a talky-bit that could express such things? Not so much. But it looked like the girl was talking to her. And, after a quick look around, she was the only one there. So, either Chick over there was talking to herself, or she was talking to her. Lauren decided to answer anyhow. "Quiet down with that talk! Don't give people ideas." she said. Exorcism was a scary, terrifying idea. And, as was typical for Lauren, she was finding, she kept right on talking, without thinking better of say, keeping her thougths to herself. "Way to make me feel awesome. Yay, let's all talk about exorcism! Let's toss that word around like it's no big deal when you wouldn't ever have to deal with it! Nope! No magic ritual that people are hunting you down to perform, to make you disappear forever or anything! Where we don't even know where it'll boot you to! Awesome! That's so terribly appropriate, and sensitive, to the already dead!" she ranted to herself, even if she also forgot that since she was at the cemetery--she could be heard pretty damn well.

The first thing that Nic realized was that she recognized that particular voice. She didn't think she'd easily forget the first spirit she'd ever encountered, really, so when Lauren went off on a tear? Yeah, switches were flipped. The second thing Nic realized? She'd probably gone too far with that comment. She had to start considering that anything paranormal she'd seen fiction on probably had grains of truth in it. Which meant there was a point to all the horror movies she'd watched. Heading over to Lauren with both hands held up placatingly, Nic sighed tensely. "Whoa, sorry! Do you, um... remember me? Halloween? I was the genius who's like 'oh hey, you're dead!' and everything? Sorry, sorry, I didn't know that that shit actually worked or anything."

Lauren winced faintly at the 'woah there' gesture Nic made. "I said that out loud, didn't I." she said, sighing. Then she paused, and tilted her head to the side, eyeing Nic curiously. "Yeah, you do look familiar." she noted. Then she made a bit of a face. "Not the world's most sensitive girl or anything, are you?" she asked rhetorically. "And yeah. It does. I know that there's like...a few spirits I knew that aren't here anymore. So either they got their unfinished business finished really quickly, or someone yanked the plug on them." she decided. "You know back in my day, people wouldn't have been so rude." she decided. Back in the seventies. It had been a nicer world back then. Or so Lauren's romanticized memories of it dictated. "What're you up to?" she asked, as if she didn't mind continuing the conversation at all, even if she was telling Nic she all but needed happy feelgood sensitivity training with rainbows and talking sticks...the whole nine yards.

Even if everyone could see the spirits? Nic wouldn't be sharing this encounter with her mom. Emily seemed to deal with it as little as possible, and Nic's embracing of it wouldn't get her ungrounded any sooner. "No, I ah.. I'm kinda notorious for being as sensitive as steel wool," Nic admitted with an apologetic smile, shoulders shrugging, "BUt I'm working on it." Okay, there were things to learn here: exorcisms worked, spirits could move on if they finished things, no one knew where they went... She noted all of it, shrugging again at the question and looking around. "Just walking, killing time. I've got like... thirty bucks from my paycheck, might go shopping. Figured I'd take the scenic route to wherever."

Lauren smiled, and when she did, it lit up her features nicely. "This is a pretty place to be." she said. The cynicism seemed to completely leech from her tone with that. "I just wish there were duckies. I like the duckies. Like the little baby ones who come to hoard you." she said. Which might have been a bit of a random thought. It had been quite a while since she'd fed the ducks, after all. "What are you shopping for?" she asked curiously.

Still unsure of how her hopeful magic studies intersected with spirits, Nic gave a pensive look to Lauren, biting her still-tender lip lightly. "Um, I hope it's not like, a sensitive topic? I swear I'm not looking to mess with you or the others. But, uh... magic. Witchcraft," she answered, smiling slightly. Hopefully, Lauren knew that she was clueless enough to understand that. If she liked baby ducks? Well, she had to have a forgiving side, didn't she?

"Really?" Lauren asked, appearing to think about it for a moment before she hummed and nodded to herself. "Far out." she noted. "Never knew much about anything like that. I mean, I could tell you that you were going to hell and stuff, but I don't even know about that anymore, honestly." she said. She still couldn't get rid of the damn cross around her neck in her projection. It was just always there. "I mean, you could still go to hell for it, I suppose. Aren't witches like...devil worshipers or something?" she asked, as if this question wasn't potentially offensive.

"Not that I'm aware of," Nic answered, shrugging to plainly say she didn't quite know. "Like, I bet some of them are? The black magic users and shit? But that's not what I'm looking for. A few friends told me I could learn some stuff to keep my mom safe, and that white magic's a safe way to learn. I guess there's a little shop in town." Which was weird, but not any weirder than anything else that had happened to Nic in the last month of her life. "Not to do the whole bitch thing, but if you believe in hell and all, aren't you supposed to be... not here?"

Shrugging one shoulder, Lauren didn't look phased. "The holy spirit's written right into the entire god thing." she said. "But then again so are angels, and demons and satan and heaven, and hell, and...I don't know. After I died, I spent a lot of time at the cathedral? But no one ever came for me or anything. So either I missed it, I wasn't worthy, or it's pretty much all crap." she mused. "I kind of landed on the 'it's all crap' side. I mean, the candles were pretty and everything, but I don't know. I never saw any shining lights from the heavens, all 'aaaahhhh!!' with sparkly bits or anything. It was just...another building. Where people would occasionally walk through me, and complain that it was cold. So..." she trailed off, her thoughts having got away from her at the end. She was sure she'd had a point at the begining.

'It's all crap.' That was yet another observation to note, though hey, Nic knew an angel. Not the kind that you really associated with a benevolent, welcoming god, but he still existed. He was probably flushing someone's transmission as they spoke. "So... you've been here a while," Nic murmured, studying Lauren's clothes more critically than she had the first night she'd seen her. That sounded like hell unto itself, trapped in the world of the living, invisible to the lot of them. "Never a sign from the Big Guy in the sky. What... what happened? Was it just like 'bam! everyone can see me!'?"

"What happened like, when everyone could?" Lauren asked. "Yeah, I was just out for a walk, minding my own business, liking looking at all the costumes the kids were wearing, and all of a sudden, everyone's screaming and running away." she said. "Which, just so you know, is really not at all fun." she said with a sulking sort of sigh, her form flickering from the dress she'd been wearing to her more corpselike guise, not that she noticed. "I didn't mean to scare them. The little kids? I didn't mean it at all." she said, sounding despondent over it all.

The shift was an odd one to see, though Lauren's faded appearance made the grisly shape easier to stomach. Really, it was fascinating to witness, but Nic wasn't about to start in with a bunch of questions. She'd already fucked up by joking about exorcism, after all. "Well, people here have been through a lot lately," Nic reminded her with a frown, all too aware of the fact that Lauren was bothered by this. It was an alien idea, how she was so broken up by freaking people out, but Nic felt for her on it. "After the vampires, the shadows, all that? I think even the ones who were denying stuff were just waiting for the next big freakout."

"Don't forget the werewolves." Lauren said. Then glanced to Nic's eyes again. "I've been here." she pointed out. "Just because no one could see me til recently doesn't mean I haven't been here." she sighed heavily. "But I know what you mean. I think everyone is a little on edge." she agreed. "Y'know...strange things and all. Spooky scary ghosts." she wiggled her fingers. "Ooh. Scary." She rolled her eyes. "I mean are we that bad?" she asked honestly.

"Well, it's relative," Nic answered thoughtfully, again amused by the moment itself. "Like, I had my witness-cherry popped by someone casting magic, then a werewolf trying to eat me. So against that? No, you're pretty tame." Tamer, even, as Nic had talked to Lauren. She didn't just see a ghost and run, by now she knew there was still a persona attached. "But even after all of that stuff? You know there were people who'd been hiding and saying the shadows were swamp gas, the wolves were wild dogs, and the vampires were gang kids who'd been corrupted by rap. So you? Well, you're proof they can't deny, and you don't seem to be going anywhere. That last bit, I think that really bugs people."

"That we haven't quietly died, and gone off into oblivion?" Lauren asked, sulking and rolling her eyes. "You'd think people would be happier. They could think that there's at least proof of existence beyond the mortal coil or whatever." she added. "But nooooOOOoooo." She made a face. "No, people are all 'oh no! It's a ghost! Run!' even though it's not like we're hurting anyone. Werewolves rampage through town, and like, shred people, but people are scared of us, just because they can see us now. Makes no sense, I'll have you know."

Nic laughed quietly, shaking her head. It probably wasn't a laughing matter, but she couldn't help herself. "Um, it is society," she pointed out dryly, "Y'know the people who used to burn witches for saying that the world was round or... that women could learn to read without the Devil's involvement? They'll happily take a body count if it goes away in a few days, but complain about a problem that just makes them think. And that's what you're doing, y'know?"

She dug out her cigarettes, leaning on a small embankment wall and lighting up. "If they're religious? Now they have to wonder if they chose the right religion. If they're not? I bet they want to be when they see you lot."

Lauren shrugged. "Doesn't make it less stupid." she said. "Or hurtful." she added on the end of that. "I mean, I'm here. I've got thoughts and feelings, just like you breathing people. I just...don't happen to have a body anymore. Or, I do, it's buried back there somewhere." she said, making a vague gesture back over her shoulder.

It sounded lonely, which was a surprise. Sure, the spirits weren't everywhere, not near as thick as at the hospital, but for some reason? Nic had it in her head that the ghosts would be some kind of friendly with each other. Lauren didn't give the idea much confidence, though; she made the afterlife sound lonely. Very lonely. "Maybe give it more time?" she suggested hopefully, "It's only been a few days, people have to come around to the fact that it's not changing sooner or later, right?"

"Yeah, it just doesn't make it any more acceptable now." Lauren said. Then she made another face. "I was here first, for half of you people." she said, voice sullen. "Okay, not everyone, but still." she added. "It's just silly. And rude!" That was her thing, anyways. She thought it was very rude.

Could this get more surreal? The dead were restless, they were visible, and they were concerned with manners? "I, um... I don't think this is the sort of situation where people are minding their etiquette," Nic pointed out with a wry smirk. "They're more worried about their challenged world views? And besides, most people, me included, only think of what movies tell us? And most movies say that ghosts are pretty simple beings. They can throw chairs and write spooky messages, but if you're not desecrating their graves then whatever."

"Well, it's just basic human interaciton rules!" Lauren said, standing up abruptly. "I mean, honestly, people can't be a little polite? Not stare at us like we're horrifying? It's just not fair. We've been perfectly happy midning our own business, and sure, alright, there are ghosts out there who throw things and write cryptic messages, but most of us don't! I swear, one bad apple...." she shook her head and crossed her arms. "People were so much nicer back when I was your age." she said, effecting a kind of pouty-face.

"Were they?" Nic asked, giving the question a moment to seem innocent before grinning sardonically. "Really? Because according to my history classes, the underlying theme is that mankind has pretty much always treated itself like shit. Maybe you remember the..." she trailed, studying the phantom outfit Lauren wore, "The seventies? Late sixties? Whatever. You might remember them better? But I'm sure people back then would've freaked out just as bad, if not worse. All the LSD and shit, y'know? And pick an era, we're always a fucked up society." Which felt better to say, just getting back a bit to the pessimistic side of herself.

"The seventies." Lauren confirmed. "And yes, they were. Do you often go around invalidating people's thoughts and feelings or am I special because I'm dead?" she asked haughtily, crossing her arms and giving Nic a bit of a look. "I never said things were perfect. Just...not like it is now. So..." she paused to search for a word. "Jaded."

"You came from a time of cocaine and disco," Nic pointed out dryly, unable to fight her smirk as it grew wider. "Of course things didn't seem too bad back then. But actually, I do have a habit of smashing up peoples' perspectives. I keep debating if I should quit that or smoking first." She shrugged, seeking out a new cigarette in silence for a moment, then lighting up and sighing. "Yeah, we are pretty jaded, I'll cop to that. But with how things are going, can you blame us?"

Lauren looked stricken with Nic's statements, and her jaw dropped, before she snapped it shut again. "God, are you ever--" she started, and broke off, sputtering for a moment. She turned to start walking off, around the pond, not making any tracks in the snow as she walked through it. "I suggest you stop flagrantly hurting people's feelings, dead or alive." she snapped over her shoulder. Then, muttered under her breath, she added in: "Thoughtless cow."

"Oh grow some thicker... ectoplasm!" Nic snapped after her, realizing in time that 'skin' wasn't really relevant here. "It was a joke! Seriously, does a sense of humor not translate into the afterlife?" She hopped from her lean, moving after Lauren with a scowl. "Or did you just not put any time during your afterlife into thinking about this? Things are shitty! They've always been shitty, and until the world ends? They'll still be that way. I would've thought dying and becoming a constant voyeur would give a little perspective."

"Why should I have to? Why should I listen to you just...be mean and insensitive to me about everything, who died and made you the bearer of 'this is the way the world is'? Huh? And maybe it isn't shitty! Maybe you just think so, so you want to run around and make everyone else unhappy too! Well find someone else's day to ruin!" Lauren shouted back. "Perspective is a word you should latch onto! like say, maybe yours isn't the only bloody one!" she continued, even if she'd thought she was done shouting. "And another thing!" she added, rounding on Nic. "I spent my afterlife watching the people who lost me either move away or throw their lives away! I spent my time just watching this town, this city, and so if anyone would know if the place was nicer back then, it would be me, little miss sunshine, so piss off! God, teenagers, and their stupid, ignorant belief that they know everything! How about you not even having been a twinkle yet? And how about you not knowing anything about what you're talking about? And how about you don't go around talking about things you don't know anything about! Thanks for completely cutting my entire lifetime down to cocaine and disco. That was particularly brilliant. And here's another hint--if you're joking? Make it sound like a bloody joke." she finally ran out of steam there at the end, and turned back around to march off, form flickering. Shouting took a lot out of her, even if she was in the graveyard.

"Oh fuck off," Nic cursed under her breath, eyes wide as she reeled from Lauren's barrage of words. "I? I am picking up perspective left and right, you translucent bitch," she spat, fingers snapping forward to flick her cigarette at and through Lauren's form. "Okay? Do you get that? Do you get that this world, this jaded world, is fucking eating itself? Yeah, there was more in your days alive than blow and bellbottoms, though apparently deadpan-fucking-comedy wasn't invented yet. You know what else wasn't around to tarnish your silver little ideals? Werewolves eating bedridden people in hospitals. Vampires burning down half the town. That's my perspective, dig? Are you hip to that? Can you get the idea that all I know is that I don't know shit, and every time I learn something it makes me want to stop learning?" Her own voice had raised as she went off, and eventually Nic's throat closed up tight as her real fears loomed large. She was powerless to do much more than crack wise about the world, even that was getting her in trouble now. "Whatever," she muttered finally, turning to head opposite from Lauren, "At least now I know why people run screaming."