Who: Liv and Helena What: Going for drinks after work When: Sometime in August Where: A bar Warnings: Low, but Liv's on alcoholic brains and some slightly morbid discussion of their day jobs
Liv had been spending her fair amount of time at bars lately. Alcohol didn’t actually do anything to her, being undead and all. But man was she having cravings. That’s what she got for consuming the brain of an alcoholic. Another side effect? She would actually act drunk too. Lucky for her this guy seemed to be a happy drunk. She was over being sad. Over being broken heard. She was back in Orange County trying her best to move on with her life.
She had been going to bars both by herself and with people. Whoever she could drag along. Today it was Helena. Their working relationship was pretty great. Liv figured it was time to take it up a step. After work drinks seemed like a good way to go.
Liv was currently nursing a cayenne and grapefruit margarita, heavy on the cayenne. It had to be spicy or she couldn’t taste it. “So,” she said to Helena. “What do you do when you’re not digging up bones?”
Helena definitely needed this. While she’d talked with Harley about changing jobs, she hadn’t taken steps towards that yet. Mostly she needed something solid on the inventing front before she left her current job. Helena liked her job, but after her dreams and having the inventor crossover, and having received a couple of her inventions as gifts, Helena was starting to feel like she needed to follow that.
But for now, she would keep working as a forensic archaeologist. It wasn’t a glamorous job, and it was often incredibly depressing, but she enjoyed putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It was one of the things she was good at.
“I like to tinker, build things. Spend time with my daughter and wife. I also like to read a lot. What about you? What do you do when you aren’t doing autopsies?”
“Like inventions?” That was interesting. Liv certainly hadn’t imagined that. “That’s pretty different from archaeology.” Way to state the obvious Liv. Besides it wasn’t like she could talk given how varied her interests were. But her diet could be blamed for that.
Liv took another sip of her drink before answering. “Depends on my mood. I’ve done skateboarding, surfing, magic, basketball, video games, painting,” the list went on. However if Liv was just being herself? She would prefer a quiet night in. With friends or alone.
“Yes,” Helena confirmed with a nod, sipping her glass of wine. “It is, though it’s carried over from my dream life. I was quite heavily into engineering, though I also was a prolific writer of fiction. Among other things.” Helena had been a little bit of a jack-of-all-trades type in her dreams. Whatever she put her mind to, she accomplished, whether it was for better or for worse.
“That all sounds quite varied as well. Though considering your work with the dead, it stands to reason that you need some varied hobbies to keep you from getting dragged down by death all the time.” Helena understood their line of work could get highly depressing. She’d actually worked on excavating a mass grave a few years back. That had definitely stuck with her, and she wasn’t one who got overwhelmed by such things easily.
From archaeology to inventor to writer. That was also quite an array of interests. Liv seriously doubted Helena’s interest had to do with personality changes based on diet like Liv’s were. “Ah, dream carry through.” Liv knew that all too well, obviously. “Do you write here as well, or did just that engineering?”
If only Helena knew. Liv was literally dragged down by death. She was undead. But that wasn’t something she shared with acquaintances. It was information for friends, well friends that were dreamers. Helena was certainly on that path but it was still new. “Honestly, I’ve grown kind of used to it.” The constantly being around dead bodies. “I just want to help as many people get justice as I can.”
“I am not published as a fiction writer, no. I’ve dabbled, however. I was actually a double major in Archaeology and English Literature. I have been thinking about writing a book, but nothing yet has come in that respect.” Helena’s main outlet of late had been building things in her workshop. But she would write now and then as well.
“Understandable. Some cases get to me if the victim is a child. Though I did once work on uncovering a mass grave in Germany. That was a little much to take in.” Helena smiled, though. “Getting justice for them is what matters most. We may not be able to save them, but we can at least put their spirits to rest, give their families some measure of peace and ensure the killer does not get away with it.” Helena had a strong sense of bringing the wicked to justice. In her dreams, she had simply gone the road of taking the law into her own hands, but it had been a special case.
“I’m sure you could write a whole series just based on the events in Orange County alone.” Of course the rest of the world would probably think it was fiction. Hell, Liv would have if she didn’t live her herself. However it was Helena’s call what she wanted to write about, if she even wanted to write. Archeology was a time consuming profession. And an honorable one. Not to mention that it sounded like Helena had her hands full with the inventions as well.
“Children are the worst,” Liv agreed solemnly. She had yet to try out a child’s brain. As much as she felt they deserved justice. The kind of justice her visions could help deliver, she just couldn’t seem to bring herself to do it. “From World War II?” It was a fair assumption. And honestly, Liv was kind of hoping that was what it was from. Another mass grave would just be too much. There was already more than enough violence thanks to Hitler and his Nazis.
“Indeed I could. The things that happen here would serve as an excellent basis for novels.” Though Helena wouldn’t set out to use actual things they had experienced, but instead try to use them to jump start the thinking process. It wasn’t a difficult task to accomplish, Helena’s mind tended to be highly overactive. It was one of the reasons she didn’t sleep a lot. Helena did have insomnia, and there were periods where it would get really bad, but that was when she’d just work on inventions or write or something.
Or Harley would find other ways to tire her out if it went on for too long.
“Indeed they are,” she said. Helena knew it all too well. Her daughter had been murdered in her dreams, something that she still potently felt the pain and sorrow of that loss. It made her treasure her daughter in this life even more, and she savored every moment she had with her. “No, actually. It was a few thousand years old. It wasn’t the most gruesome of graves I have excavated, but it was intensely overwhelming with how many people were in the grave.”
Part of Liv wished she could work cold cases. Give justice to all those people that were killed thousands of years ago. But there would be no brains, and Liv needed brains. For her own survival. Plus the visions she got from them also helped solve murders.
“Just proves how long humans have been cruel to each other,” Liv couldn’t help but frown at that taking a sip of her drink. “But anyway, on to happier topics.” They needed them in their line of work. “Tell me more about your daughter.”
Helena liked working cold cases, if only because advances in technology helped bring people to justice that otherwise had gotten away with it. Though of course, some cold cases weren’t able to properly prosecute the murderer because they had died in the interim. Though it could give peace to the family of the victim, so that at least was worth it.
“Indeed it does.” Even if the dead had been victims from a battle, it didn’t make it much better. At the change of topic, Helena smiled warmly. “Christina is my pride and joy. She’s eleven now, and growing up far too quickly. She’s smart and tends to take after me in most respects. Which may not be a good thing as she goes through puberty and gets into her teenage years.”
Of course Liv noticed how Helena’s face seemed to light up when she talked about her daughter. Liv knew she would never have that joy. She couldn’t have children. Hell she couldn’t even have sex without spreading zombieism. It was something she still struggled to accept. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t be hear about other people’s children. Or be happy for the,.
“Only a few years away,” Liv commented taking another sip of her drink. “Good luck with that. I couldn’t imagine raising a teenager.” Boy or girl.
Helena chuckled. “It is terrifying, but she is a good girl. I have faith that whatever her teenage years throws at us, we can weather it. My mother and I may not get along most days, but we at least are still on speaking terms. So there is hope for my daughter and I. Though I hope we can be far more cordial than my mother and I are.” Helena and her mother tended to argue far more than not, partly due to Helena having inherited her temper. Aside from that, and her looks, Helena took after her father. Something she was forever grateful for.
“I’m sure you guys will always get along.” Not that Liv had any personal experience. Her own relationship with her mother wasn’t the best. And she didn’t have kids, never would. But still. “You seem like you’re a great mom.” She could tell that at least, just by how Helena talked about her daughter. Liv finished off her drink and looked over at Helena. “Another round?” Whether Helena was up for another one or not, Liv was going to have one. Thank you oh so very much alcoholic brain.
“I certainly hope so,” Helena said. As it went, Helena hoped that things would go well, but she was preparing herself for the worst. And considering her dream self had already experienced the worst, her daughter being murdered, Helena felt she could handle anything so long as Christina didn’t die. “Thank you, I do my best.” She smiled. And she did do everything she could to be the best mother she could be. “Sure, I’ll go for another round.” She had pleasant company, and it would also give Harley and Christina a little more time together, something that she liked to see them have.