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The music is playing, and the Lovin' Spoonful is singing what might as well be the anthem for the summer of 1965.
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright…
The beach at Coney Island is littered with bonfires, except for one large college group from ESU that seem to have a little trouble lighting theirs. The students, free of finals and schoolbooks for three months, watch skeptically as two young men try to light it.
At least one person at this party looks entirely dead- the Dead Girl who's dancing among the various parties- wandering up, freaking some people out, and making others curious and excited- glowing red eyes shining in the dimming light.
Eventually, Dead Girl makes her way over to the ESU bonfire- or lack there of. "You guys having some trouble starting a fire?" The corpse of a young woman offers with a smile, "You've got wet tinder there- it's got to be dry to catch the spark."
The first of the two, a blonde-haired young man who is already a full member of a frat, blinks and jumps. "Jesus!"
"Bobby, you okay?" his friend asks.
"I dunno…" Bobby says, clutching his chest. "Is a HEART important??"
Then someone says, "Hey…look up there…"
Someone points up at the sky, where what looks like the light of a helicopter is growing closer.
Dead Girl laughs quietly, "Oh man- you'll be fine, don't worry." she says, clapping her hands and grinning. "Oh man, you should have seen your face- classic. I'm Dead Girl." she says with a wave, "Nice to meet you!"
OF course, she grows quiet and looks towards that approaching light. "Ooh. What's that?"
The light gets larger…a LOT larger. Acouple of people back away, wondering if it's a meteorite…okay, a slow-moving meteorite…when a voice comes from the burning object, as it slows down and the wings spread wide.
"Having a little trouble with the bonfire?"
It's when she is only 30 feet up that she can be clearly seen, and there are a few sighs.
She is recognized, of course. She had saved that ship last month.
FireHawk, the Nuclear Woman.
"Oh hey, I think that woman is like on fire or something." DEad Girl says to no one in particular, as the light comes closer and starts speaking. "Well, not me, personally, but sure- I guess there are general issues with the lighting of this particular fire." she offers, the others mysteriously mute.
"I like your shine, very much like a star. Super cool." Dead Girl offers, glowing red eyes gazing up at FireHawk.
FireHawk smiles, then says, "Step back. It's about to get warmer."
The two guys look to each other, then jump back from the bonfire.
She does wait until the people are clear before she points one arm down and a beam of heat lances into the center. Not too much heat, but enough to dry the fuel and set it alight. A loud FLOOMPH can be heard as the bonfire flares to life.
"Woo!" Dead Girl says, clapping as fire comes. "Fancy!" Dead Girl says next, "How'd you do that, anyways?" she wonders curiously, "Is it like a mutation thing?" she wonders of FireHawk.
"Can you set other things on fire?" Dead girl wonders, next, "Is it like just pure heat, or is it some other kind of energy?" A curious girl, it seems, this Dead Girl is.
"Oh! I'm Dead Girl, sorry, I should introduce myself before the whole twenty questions thing."
FireHawk descends to the sand in front of Dead Girl, with the bonfire at her back. "Hello…Dead Girl, is it? I'm FireHawk. And, to answer your questions in order, Nuclear energy, I think it is, Yes, I can, and technically I believe it is pure heat. I can push it up to 5,000 Celsius, but that didn't seem necessary for this."
"Nuclear energy?" Dead Girl wonders, voice dropping low. "Couldn't that be dangerous for some people?" she wonders, a touch of the innocent there in her voice. "Nice to meet you, by the way." she says with a smile, "A real pleasure." Dead Girl offers a bluish-pale hand to FireHawk.
"You'd think there'd be less out there cats like us in New York, but they seem to be everywhere. The place is lousy with them."
FireHawk doesn't seem put out by Dead Girl's appearance. But then again, she is a fiery angel of nuclear science. Judge not, lest ye be fecking judged.
She shakes the blue porcelain hand, smiling wryly, her luminous eyes bright. "I have learned to control how much radiation I give off. So, I am no danger to anyone." She looked around as people started dancing to the music, but giving the both of them a wide berth.
"Well, I mean, that's cool. Better to not irradiate the living." Dead Girl says with a grin. Dead Girl's hand is cold- or rather, it's ambient temperature. "So, are you from around here, or did you just like fly across the ocean to see what was happening across the pond or something?" Dead Girl wonders, "You don't sound foreign- but really- what were you doing out to sea?"
FireHawk smirks. "Testing my welding technique. Want to move over to the side? We can watch the revelers while we chat." She looks down to her wings. "I think I might knock one or two people down dancing with these."
"Sure, we can move." Dead Girl says as she steps to the side. "They're really nice wings, though." Dead girl offers as she reaches up, "Can I touch one?" she asks, then, "Are they made of fire or something?" she wonders next, just intensely curious about this flying, glowing woman.
"If you can knock people down with them, so..they're physical?"
FireHawk smiles, then raises one arm, the wing rising with it. "They are physical. And you may touch them…they won't burn you, even though they do glow."
The "feathers" of the wing are smooth, firm, and warm without being not to the touch. There is a subtle pulse of energy that runs through them.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about hurting me. I'm dead, you see. Don't really worry that much about burns and all that anymore." Dead Girl assures FireHawk. "I've had people attack me, you know, afraid of the walking dead reactionary things. You don't really need to worry about it, as it turns out, when you're dead." she says with a grin, "They feel really neat.. "
The glowing woman chuckles. "Well, I think I should be as considerate as possible. Just because I *can* possibly burn you doesn't mean I *should.* She looks at the bonfire, which is burning merrily away. "So…if I may be so bold, how is it that you're…well, dead…and still walking around?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm a mutant." Dead Girl replies, "And my mutation was activated by my dying. Well, being murdered- but the death was a big part of that." She assures FireHawk. "So, anyways, I was arguing with my boyfriend- well, ex-boyfriend obviously, about his career and my career. I'd just gotten my first speaking part off broadway, right, I mean- bit part, but speaking role all the same. He was jealous, because he'd worked for years before getting his first speaking part and I was here barely a year. Push came to shove cam to.." Dead Girl mimes stabbing herself. "Twelve times!"
FireHawk simply stares for a moment. "You were…just killed, just like that…? And…it didn't work?" She blinks. "And what happened to the waste of air that did this to you??"
"Oh, I'm slowly driving him insane." Dead Girl offers, "I show up in his apartment- just stand there, all ghosty, and he can't touch me. Just stand there. Don't say anything- stand in the corner and stare at him. Follow him around the house and stuff. You know, nightmare fuel." Dead Girl offers with a grin, "He deserves it, so I don't really feel that bad about it."
"And yeah, I was killed- just like that. I just sort of woke up a little after that- he was freaking out, stuffed me in a sack. I hadn't like completely gotten the hang of everything, at first, but yeah. That's how death is, usually. Just like that."
Firehawk is at a loss for words. For five seconds, she is just gobsmacked. "…ohhhkay. And I thought *I* had it bad when…well, THIS happened to me. I didn't think getting tortured for six days, brainwashed, and almost remade as a nuclear bomb could be topped, but you…you definitely ahave my sympathy…" She exhales. "What a way to find out you have special gifts…"
"Well, it took a couple of months to really figure it out, right, and then I had to like dig myself out of my own grave- I hadn't figured out the whole going ghostly thing, then." Dead Girl explains, "Anyways, I was there in my body, but not in my body for a while. When they found me- autopsy in the morgue, all that stuff. Learned a lot, really. Friends helped bury me. Nice place, just outside of town. Not too expensive, but, I mean free realestate, right?"
FireHawk may be capable of intense heat, but she cannot suppress the shiver that runs down her spine at the thought of being buried in a box for months, plural. "That…sounds truly horrible. I get claustrophobic now, and the thought of that…BRUH…" she says quietly. This is a party, and she doesn't want to bum anyone out with this.
"Hey, it gave me a lot of time to think." Dead Girl says, "At first it was terrible, sure, but after a while of just sitting there you have to kind of make a decision. Something weird was happening to me, right? So, I little by little figured it out. It kept me focused and distracted and before long I found out I could move my body and all that neat stuff." she says with a grin- still upbeat and peppy, despite the grim talk.
"But, yeah. it was a pretty interesting experience. Dying. Being dead for a little while. Then, not being quite as dead. Over all, I wouldn't recommend it, but it is working for me!"
FireHawk nods. "We have something in common. Someone tried to do me wrong, too…except they wanted me to poison all of Congress. But it didn't work." She looks thoughtful. "Instead of using a nuclear reaction to fatally irradiate me, I drew out every last bit of radioactive energy from the reaction chamber. Depleted the control rods of every last bit of radiation."
"Oh, that's pretty cool, I guess. So, they tried to irradiate you and send you to Congress all irradiated?" Dead Girl wonders, "So you'd like give them radiation poisoning? Or, I mean, you actually poisoned Congress, but the poison didn't work or something?" Dead Girl is a little confused, scratching her head, "I mean, I guess what's important is that you're not dead, and you're only lightly irradiated."
"I was supposed to visit Congress, and fatally poison everyone in the room. It didn't work, and I became…this…instead." She shrugs, the wings rising and falling slightly with the shrug. "Maybe we can chat after the fire goes out and everyone goes home, okay?"
"Oh sure," Dead Girl offers, with a wave towards FireHawk, "Hope to see you around. When the fires go down!" she says with a smile. "Cool."