001 VIDEO LIST ONE

[deadliestviper]

[The screen switches on, revealing a face caked in dirt, covered in dust, streaked with sweat, and smeared with blood. A pair of troubled, if clear, blue eyes look out from it, and then there's a shake of the head, followed by a swirl of long, messy blonde hair – underneath all the grime, the new arrival's a female. She gives a bright smile, the sight slightly disarming on such a gritty face.]

Hi. [Her voice cracks when she speaks and she coughs, then clears her throat.]

Sorry to bother you folks, but it appears I've got some new business to attend to and I'm a little out of sorts. [Her smile turns apologetic, a little self-deprecating. It might be cute if she didn't look like an adult female approximation of Peanuts' Pigpen.] If one of you would be so kind as to point me toward the showers, I'd be in your debt.

[One last thing: her voice lowers, the sparkle gone from her eyes.] Budd... If you're here, I'll find you.

Comments

Video;

[deadliestviper]

Yeah, well, Texas isn't mine. [She gives a wry smile.] I'm not dead yet, right? No harm done.

Re: Video;

[lastmanstanding]

You're the second woman who's shown up looking like they were run over by a truck I-

[Amused. And then out of nowhere.] Cherish your life. All you really can do.

[Something about that makes him frown but he shakes his head. In the distance-of where-ever she is there's a big man in a rumpled suit with an untied-tie coming. There's a big box in his hands.]

Video;

[deadliestviper]

Looking like they were run over by a truck you what? [She arches an eyebrow; her voice has that dare-you-to-tell-me edge to it.]

Wise words. [And good advice, at least for other people. At present she hasn't got that much worth living for. Now that her baby girl was gone, the only thing left was taking care of unfinished business. That, and this bullshit.

The wounds she's acquired aren't really enough to warrant a doctor, in her opinion. She'd just have to wash and slap some rubbing alcohol on her knuckles, and hopefully the rock salt in her chest sanitized as much as it stung. She's got it together by the time he nears her, cool and half-smiling despite her messy state.]

Delivery right to your door. Thanks a bunch, I didn't catch your name.

Re: Video;

[lastmanstanding]

It's been a hell of a month. [Well. That's a woman. And gosh she's dirty.] I was attacked, and now two more people show up beaten and bruised.

[He extends the box and offers her a hand] Mark Hoffman. Warden.

[deadliestviper]

Don't doubt it, if I'm the second girl who's stumbled in in this state. Mind if I ask what happened?

[She takes the box gratefully, tensing almost imperceptibly as she takes his hand. A Warden. Just what she needed.] Beth Solberg. New arrival.

[lastmanstanding]

I don't know. She showed up looking like she'd been in a fight. I- [Hoffman shrugged] when I showed up I was ranting and raving and half-starved but I hadn't been...bludgeoned or buried to death. Her name was Natalie.

Nobody's really responsible for anybody else until a warden's assigned to them. This place is dangerous.

Shoes okay?

[deadliestviper]

Nothing so weird about that, maybe she had been. Did she pull through or is there a reason you're talking about her past-tense?

Well, I can assure you I'll keep to myself and be all right. How quickly do wardens tend to be assigned?

[Lifting the lid, she grabs one of the shoes and lifts her foot, holding the soles together.] They'll fit, that's good enough for me.

[lastmanstanding]

I haven't checked in on her again but she seemed okay. I just-

[He looks flustered for a moment] Depends. I was an inmate-I've been a warden now for 3 months. My-

Another one, inmate turned warden assigned right away. It depends. Most people just build alliances or so it seems. I've become kind of disconnected from it.

[His lip curls upward and his scar twitches.]You're welcome. Have you checked your cabin?

[deadliestviper]

Are you all right? [He's clearly struggling to tell his story and to be honest, Beatrix doesn't care. The interest is only for appearance, except for the parts that concern her.] How long were you an inmate?

I – not yet. I was focusing on the shower first.

[lastmanstanding]

Fine. Sorry. I died recently and it's still kind of something that's on my mind. A year and a half.

If your cabin doesn't have facilities-inmate showers are down a ways. [He points and waits] Warden or inmate yourself?

[deadliestviper]

You died recently. And you're back again.

[Warden. It almost comes right out of her mouth but she catches the word between her teeth at the last moment. That might fly in a regular prison, could earn her the time and benefit of the doubt needed to escape, but it wouldn't work in fucking space. She'd get caught, sooner rather than later, and until she knew all this place's rules breaking them was not a wise decision.]

Inmate.

[lastmanstanding]

[he speaks to himself] We need a pamphlet or something.

[His brow furrows and he speaks] yeah. there's something called the death toll. A sort of restart button. I didn't buy it myself. When I first arrived though I was...killed and woke up again. That kind of shit tends to happen.

[His expression doesn't change. If anything he looks a little concerned.]

You sure nobody roughed you up?

[deadliestviper]

[If he weren't claiming it happened to him she'd write it off as complete bullshit, but he doesn't seem delusional and if what she's heard about death and this place so far are true...] Fine, fine. I'll process that on my own time. [And test it, possibly.

Chuckling breathlessly, B shakes her head.] Someone tried and didn't do a good enough job of it, that's all.

[lastmanstanding]

Back home?

[He looks amused for a moment] I know what it's like to be buried alive. It's a pain in the ass. To put it mildly.

[deadliestviper]

In my cabin, which is as close as I'm going to get. [Home. There wasn't a home to go back to. And if this guy thinks he can win her sympathy with a premature burial story, he's wrong, but at least he catches her interest.] It's not a party at any rate. How'd you survive?

[lastmanstanding]

I didn't.

...That's normally how you end up here. You die.

[deadliestviper]

...So you're telling me I'm dead.

[lastmanstanding]

[There's a spasm of emotion across his face but it's gone.]

I'm not saying anything. I'm stating a common act.

[deadliestviper]

[That look that passes through his eyes puts her on her guard, making her wary.]

There are exceptions to that rule?

[lastmanstanding]

...I honestly couldn't tell you. I wish I could. But it'd be up to your warden to try and figure that kind of thing out. I just-

Shit I fucking knew. If you don't remember dying you're not dead.

[deadliestviper]

I have to wait until I get my very own warden to find out if I'm alive?

[One thing's for sure, though – she remembered getting shot full of rock salt and drugged, trussed up and thrown in a coffin, buried alive and even fighting her way out of it, but she never had that moment of complete despair, of knowing she was done for.] Assuming you're right about that... I got out, now I'm here.

[lastmanstanding]

The admiral thinks you're worthy of a second chance. [Is there a note of bitterness there? amusement? Some sort of other emotion?] He thinks you have something to live for.

[deadliestviper]

[Whatever it is, she's curious. Beatrix tilts her head, studying him.] Yeah, I know. I was in the middle of pursuing it when this place reeled me in like a trout. [And she's just waiting for someone to try and gut her like one.]

[lastmanstanding]

I was buried alive for two months in a hell hole. More then prepared to die. What were you after?

[deadliestviper]

Christ. [That had to fucking hurt; there's not a lot more she can say about that. At least she'd only been underground for a matter of minutes.]

Seeing that someone got what they deserved.