Alright so I've been watching a little bit of the 2003 two season wonder as per recommendation of the lovely wonderful @justanothercommonera here are my thoughts for an AU because I think this premise really suits Shawn Simmons' characters. Just pilot thoughts n premise for now but strap in this is a long one
After aging out of the foster system, Del's social worker pulls some strings to get her an office job she hates. She's been living in a very survivalist mentality and is generally unhappy with her life, but when she's crushed under a vending machine on her lunch break the literal next day, it doesn't mean it comes as a relief.
She's found post-humously by two twenty-somethings, Trish, and Wayne. One much more talkative than the other, which does little to comfort her. She doesn't take very well to the news.
She stays with her body until the funeral, where she meets Stephen Geller, who, being the more experienced and seemingly the boss here, does far better in helping her understand and accept what's going on. She's died at an inconvenient time in space, and has a duty to fulfil for an indetermined time as a grim reaper. She can live, but only in a body that isn't hers, and only according to the wishes of the universe. She hates it.
Trish has a "very close friend" Jenny who generously allows Del to crash at her place until she finds her footing. For a bit, Stephen has her tag along to one of the other reapers' appointments. In the nicest way she can, she chooses Wayne, because she's not in the mood for friendly banter, and he's not chatty.
With him is the first time she actually thinks to ask how he and the other reapers provide for themselves. She's pretty ticked off to find out reaping souls for a higher power doesn't come with free room and board.
She determines she'll probably be better off stealing, to which Wayne disagrees. It's the first time she actually sees him actually express something about himself, and it's enough to persuade her to keep her hands to herself... for this appointment.
The worst thing for her is how she struggles to connect to the people they're reaping. She was only human a few short days ago, it should be harder than it is for her to see them dead. But strangely for those first few days she doesn't feel anything but a deep repressed remorse.
Until it's time for her first appointment. A train wreck with one predicted fatality. She'll be on her own. She waits in the back of the carriage for whoever the initials on her slip might indicate, hoping for a crazy redneck or an apnea-riddled old woman. Not that anyone's lives matter less than anyone else's, but at least it'd be easier to rationalise her own involvement in it.
Five minutes later, nearly late enough to miss the train entirely, a woman rushes in and sits down. No obvious radical organisations or life-ending medical conditions, just a grown woman in plain clothes, boarding alone. Del doesn't know what to think, and surmises that it's probably best if she doesn't think anything of it.
When time ticks closer, Del gets out of her seat and walks down the isle, planning just to brush against her shoulder and pull her soul out with her as casually as she can. But when she gets to the front, the car shakes, and Del stumbles a little, catching herself on the chair opposite her. The woman checks on her, asks her if she's okay, if she's travelling alone, and asks her to sit down with her for a moment. Trains make her nervous.
At a loss, Del sits down across from her. She tells herself not to get too involved, but she can't help but ask why she's taking a train at this time of night if they make her so nervous. The woman tells her she's going to see her daughter. She's twelve years old. The woman's been in recovery for addiction and only gets to see her one weekend a fortnight, and she doesn't have a car, so she takes the train down to the city every second Friday so she can make every second count with her girl. In another month there'll be another custody hearing and she might be able to visit more often.
Except there's not going to be another custody hearing, and she's not going to make it into the city tonight, or ever again. Del sits there listening to this woman rambling on and on, like she's been sitting here alone the whole ride just waiting for somebody to ask about this daughter she loves so much knowing full well she's here to carry out the last piece of the process that keeps this woman from seeing her daughter ever again. Fuck this.
She asks the woman if she'd be so kind as to sit back with Del so she can keep an eye on her things while she goes to the bathroom. Because Del remembers all too well being fourteen and cursing and pleading with whatever higher power got to decide which mothers deserved to live to see their little girls grow up and which didn't. What fate left her to live with wasn't okay, what fate left her to die for wasn't okay, and what fate wants for this woman and her daughter isn't okay, and she can't go through with this without feeling like she's endorsing every part of it.
When the car goes off the rails the woman is in the wrong seat and crawls out of the wreckage alive and well. The first thing she does is look for Del to check if she's okay.
For the while that them and the rest of the passengers in that cabin are waiting for help to arrive, Del has a sense of uneasy satisfaction. She feels like a kid waiting to see if they're going to get told off for something or not. But she thinks she's done good. She thinks she's helped, maybe just a little.
An eerie presence helps her find Stephen in the forest. He's not mad, just disappointed, because of course he is. Because even though she's an adult (sort of) and she's been taking care of herself her whole life there hasn't been a single point throughout her afterlife where she's been taking care of anything. She might as well be five years old.
Del doesn't know what she's expecting. Stephen doesn't scold her, not really. He understands. It's hard at first, and it's hardest when you see yourself in the living affected, but a soul can't continue to live a life past it's expiration date. And whatever good you think you're keeping them here for isn't going to come as you've planned.
It isn't fair. And he knows it isn't fair. But nobody can cope with reality by running away from it. So she goes back and takes the woman away to a flash of light that presents as a ballet recital. The woman, enamored, takes her seat at the front, and then they're gone.
Del has more questions than she started with. And nothing feels any better or makes any more sense than it did before, but she feels like maybe one day, maybe an eternity away, it will.
She doesn't go back to where the woman's body is. The thought of it makes her think she'll cry. Maybe in a way that means she's healing, and maybe that's why this destiny is hers.
Now let's talk characters and relationships because i think the greatest part of ideating this au is fancasting their undead selves. Obviously Del sees everyone as they are originally Wayne-styles, but they can't appear as they are to everyone, and i had a lot of fun digging through my brain a bit for these guys
first of all my day 1 Brittany Raymond i think would be great for an undead Del. So much of her energy just reminds me of Ciara Bravo it just makes sense
if i had a nickel for every dark-haired sharp-nosed male actor slash indie band frontman that played a socially awkward bike-riding protagonist with a strong sense of justice at a point in 2019 i'd say dylan minnette as undead Wayne ok
Straying from my ghosts AU for kicks - I think Wayne died at an underground punk show in the mid eighties when the mosh pit got a bit too violent
At the point of her death, the last thing Del is thinking about is a boyfriend. But she gets along well with Wayne. It doesn't take her long to warm up to her girls but even still she feels understood in his quietness, even if the others don't get along with him quite as much.
And while a big part of her would feel fine living with stealing from the people she reaps and not caring about the internal moral repercussions, she kind of likes that he has such a strong sense of right and wrong. It's admirable. And she doesn't like being told what to do but she kind of likes that he'll hold her accountable when she's doing something shitty. He's kind of her moral accountant for a little bit.
But he's not a mentor type. And she sees how she might want to seek guidance elsewhere the first time she sees him wreak havoc on a living for being shitty to a homeless person or something. That's when she starts seeing him as more of a peer. A very strange, somewhat amusing, violent and kind peer.
And when everyone doubts her because Del wants to interfere with fate and its treacherous plans he's the only one that doesn't talk like he knows any better than her, even though he probably could. She likes that.
Wayne likes Del when she arrives, in the black and white yes or no question kind of way. She's not especially distraught, which he wouldn't know what to do with, and she's not pushing him to talk, which he wouldn't know what to do with either. He thinks she's funny, when she does talk to him though.
Dating isn't on the cards for a very long time, because Del's new to things, and anyway what kind of idea would that be? Dating someone you'll have to see for what'll feel like eternity. And on the other hand Wayne doesn't know what the right way would be to feel about dating someone who died the same age as you 30 years apart
But more than that, after all the shit fate's had in store for them so far, neither of them are quick to believe that they might've lucked into something good.
slowburn friendly coworkers to lovers ok
Ciara Baxendale as Jenny, in honor of the first Ciara B. whose imdb page I have stalked, and Sofia Rosninsky as Trish, in honor of the fact I legitimately couldn't tell the difference between her and Odessa the first time I watched Ghosts
Jenny was a young woman in the mid sixties who died when a peaceful protest against the Vietnam war got really super not peaceful really super quick. Trish was a young woman in the late seventies who got hit by a road-rage ridden slightly intoxicated truck driver when she flipped him off on her bike ride home.
They instantly connected but because of The Times (TM) neither of them are really familiar with lesbianism in the practical sense. They are Really Very Good Female Friends. Everyone else just says they're dating. They'll figure it out in the next few years.
Initially Jenny is Del's roommate out of necessity. Del doesn't really click with her instantaneously because Jenny doesn't really present as weird as she really is, and Del doesn't know what her deal is. But she's a really good friend to Del. I think she'd have a photography gimmick similar to Betty's. It helps her cope with the work that they do, taking photos of the deceased so they'll be remembered.
Del finds some of the photos and they're weird and sick, but she likes her a little more after that.
And then because Jenny and Trish are kind of her best friends at a point, she stays with Jenny because she wants to, and it works for both of them to split the rent and have the company around.
Trish is sort of the first friend Del makes. She's really insistent on it, actually, and it pisses Del off originally until she's just worn down enough to warm up to it. It makes her feel really good, having someone really want to be her friend. She didn't have that when she was alive.
and hold onto your socks ok. Sgt. Stephen Geller is David Tennant. I have not misspoken with the intention of fancasting Stephen to be in part played by David Tennant I mean Sgt. Stephen Geller was killed in a shootout in the 19th century, became undead, lived a lifetime, and then literally became and is David Tennant. ok.
He carries the same presence he does in the show, and in regards to his Dead Like Me counterpart he kind of just serves as a slightly more heart-on-his-sleeve version of Rube. He's been doing this for decades. He's seen souls and reapers come and go and he holds on to his questions with a faith that what's important will come in due time.
He offers his couch to new reapers for a firm three weeks to get them on their feet. Wayne was the only one to take him up on this.
He really just wants the best for everyone but he's not without his moments of frustration, no one is. He's been around too freaking long!! But he's never been without empathy, and he still remembers what it felt like to be new and confused scared, and he can't do much, but he can try to make things a little less confusing and scary. He tells himself that's his purpose, and in a way that's why he's hard to irritate. He has his center.
Del doesn't know what to think about Stephen. She doesn't like cops. Doesn't care much for middle aged men. It's cool that he's David Tennant, but he feels a lot less like a boss at times and more like a really optimistic voice in her head that has no business being in there. No business being in her head!
But really she sees what he's trying to do and thinks well of him for it, it's just hard to relate sometimes at first. But over the years, and this is the case for everyone, it gets a lot easier to not just look at the reapers around her as beings with some higher power and more just like her coworkers.
ok by 4 now thx for reading my brain spasm
