When Zombie Worlds Collide

(a day late because I started writing on Wednesday night... and fell asleep.  Let's pretend it's still Wednesday!)

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:

Write a dialogue between two of your favorite YA characters

After my last post, I just couldn't resist the chance to play with two (or maybe more... we'll see if anyone else wanders in) of my favorite Fictional Dead Boys.  Today, I'm introducing Bram from Dearly, Departed to Vincent from Die For Me (the Revenants series.)  Let's see how this conversation would go...

Bram

This Paris was disconcerting.  All of the research and holos that Ren had pulled up for me on the Aethernet hadn't prepared me for the noise and smell and differentness of this place that no longer exists, at least in our time.  I hurried down the streets following a memorized map, thanking God Nora wasn't with me.  If her Punk practice clothes made her blush, I couldn't imagine her reaction to some of the clothes that these old-time women were wearing. 

I swung around a corner to find the bridge over the Seine that had been indicated on my map.  Someone high up in the New Vic had made a deal with a completely different kind of monster to get me here, and another kind of monster was supposed to meet me on this bridge, in this very spot, to give me some information before I was sucked back to my own time.  "Excuse me, are you Captain Griswold?"  A slightly accented male voice came from behind me and I turned, pulling my scarf up higher on my face.

His blue eyes grew wide when he caught sight of me, but he quickly swallowed back his surprise and held out his hand.  "Jean-Baptiste told me to come meet you.  I am Vincent."

"Call me Bram," I told him automatically.  Formality was silly, considering what we were going to be talking about.  "So... I've been told that you have something for me?" 

Vincent handed over a book almost as thick as the ones that Renfield was always dragging around with him and a bag full of what looked like test tubes.  He studied what was showing of my face with a frown.  "You're not like any of the other non-humans I've ever met."

"My girlfriend would beg to differ about the non-human part." I retorted.  "Just because I have the Laz doesn't make me less human.  And you don't look dead at all."  In fact, he looked healthier than most living people.

He ran a hand through that black, wavy hair. "Well, I've been 'dead' for about eighty years or so.  And you?"

I gaped at him.  "Three years."

"I win."  He flashed a confident smile.  Chas had warned me about these Frenchmen being worse that the Victorian aristocracy, but this guy took the cake.  My opinion shifted, though, when that smile then turned to a chuckle.  "I can't believe that we're debating about who is more dead."

"Yeah.  It's still hard to believe that you're a zombie, though.  I didn't think the Laz showed up until my time."

"I've never heard of this 'Laz.'  We're Revenants."  He leaned against the bridge railing, never really relaxing.  His eyes would alternate between sweeping the bridge and continuing to study me.  It wouldn't surprise me if this boy also had military training. 

"Never heard of them. Maybe they were all destroyed in the nuclear blast of the second American Civil War. Maybe they still exist and our military just doesn't know about them. Hell, I just found out about them yesterday, when someone contacted Victor to let him know that you people existed."  I rolled the bag of test tubes in my hands.  The blood in there could be the key to fighting the Laz in our undead bodies without making us un-undead.  "Then again, I didn't know anything about whatever sent me back to this time, too, so, apparently, I'm on a need to know basis about fellow monsters."

"I would--"  He looked down, as if he was listening to something and sighed, speaking to somebody who wasn't there.  "Jules, I don't think that's something I should--"  He listened again and then looked back up at me with an apologetic smile.  "My friend has a question for you."

I looked around, but no one was there.  Warily, I gave the Revenant a shrug.  "Okay..."

"You have a girlfriend?  A living girlfriend?"

"Yes.  Her name is Nora."

Vincent listened again, letting out a small laugh.  "Jules wants to know your secret.  He says that you're his new hero."

---

That's my Fictional Dead Boy conversation... how about you?  Are there any fictional characters that you'd like to introduce to each other?

Fictional Dead Guys

I have a confession to make:

I have a thing for fictional dead boys.

I think that it started in high school/college with my vampire obsession, fueled by Dracula: the Series (Don't laugh! It was a complete and total cheesefest, but it was still awesome), Dark Shadows, and Forever Knight, as well as multiple readings of Dracula, Anne Rice, and books like The Vampire Diaries.
If it had stopped at vampires, I could possibly pass it off as a trend... or maybe a freak incident.  BUT:

The other night, I sat in the deserted gym locker room for an HOUR reading just… one… more… page of a book (and one more, and one more) because of a certain steampunk-dystopian zombie named Bram who was making me melt (1). And the other night, a French zombie kept me company for hours as I swooned over his sweet interactions with his girlfriend (2).  I can't get enough of these latest incarnations of fictional zombie boys. (1-- Bram from Dearly, Departed, 2-- Vincent from Die for Me and Until I Die)

Yes, I said zombies. And, as someone who occasionally works with dead bodies, I need to pause and note here that real dead people are in no way, shape, or form, hot. Or animate. Or even good-smelling. (TMI and gross, I know.) I’m only into fictional dead guys, okay?

So, why are these fictional dead boys (FDBs for short) so wonderful?

1. There's something so interesting about someone who has lived through history.  These FDBs didn't just live in the past (well, most of them-- we're excluding Bram for now because he's a special situation), but they almost always had "lived" through an interesting part of history.  As if they have an internal GPS for all of the big events of their era(s).  It would be so INTERESTING to be around someone who actually LIVED in the 1930s (and not just thought that he was from the '30s, like an unfortunate coffee date that I had once. I'm not exaggerating, btw. Occasionally wearing vintage and knowing about big band music= cute. Getting a little TOO into the whole scene, down to talking about famous people from the time as if you had met them? A tad too weird for me.)
2. They know how to be chivalrous and treat their girlfriends in a way that has gone out of fashion and yet, they're not chauvinistic jerks.  As a woman who works in a traditionally male field, has been asked "You're such a pretty girl.  Why aren't you married and at home with children by now?" and has been ignored in meetings in the past by men who are "uncomfortable working with women", this mix of old-fashioned mannerisms and girl-powered support in FDBs is dead sexy. (see how I worked that pun in there? Hee-hee!)
3. Even dead, they're gorgeous.  And strong.  And you know that they won't get pot-bellied and out of shape the minute that they're comfortable with your relationship.
4. They write letters.  With paper and pens.  In bea-u-tiful handwriting with language that will melt your heart.

My 1940's New Look platter hat and 1960s gloves!

All of this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. I love history, fairy tales, and myths. In college, I was a part of the medieval society (specializing--for our group-- in costuming and dance. I can still do a mean flirty curtsy and really miss "Toss the Wench"), I'm doing a 1940's themed skating program, own a replica Victorian under-bust corset, and have a few outfits that would easily pass in the '40s and '50s... including a pile of vintage hats.  These FDBs would fit in my world so well!












So, bring on the FDBs.  I'll be waiting here, fully costumed and ready to go out dancing (oh, did I mention that FDBs dance, too?  *swoon*)

At the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire-- I made the outfit, minus the wreath!