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]

[notafuckingnut]

[A blink. He's here! It's fine. He's done.

Probably.]

If you don't know how you got here, yeah. Just how it works.

...sorry.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

[For a long moment all she does is stare, and there's something very dangerous in the look.]

...Fuck!

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

[The faintest of flinches.]

You can go back though? Eventually. Apparently.

[He doesn't really seem to believe this himself though, he's just parroting.]

[video]

[deadliestviper]

Eventually's not going to do me a hell of a lot of good, is it? [The doubt is tangible, and Beatrix accepts it wholeheartedly. Shit. The one thing she had left to do and she fucking failed at it. Due to Budd of all fucking people. Way to add insult to injury.]

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

No, you go back when you came from. At least, that's what they say.

...if you believe it, anyway.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

Do they give you a reason to believe that? It sure as hell sounds like you don't.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

They don't give you an alternative. It's either do your time here and go home, or...nothing. Stay dead forever, I guess.

[A shrug; he knows he doesn't want to be HERE, but he doesn't have anything else to believe.]

[video]

[deadliestviper]

We're backed into a corner, got it. Christ. You avoid prison all your life and then you end up here.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

[He chews his lip in thought, molars grinding away for a moment or so because she's just unsettling somehow (though not in a way he particularly minds, truthfully), and when he finally speaks his tone is incongruously quiet with what actually comes out.]

Yeah, welcome to the Barge. It's pretty much guaranteed to fuck you up the ass from day one.

[...so much for trying to watch his language.]

[video]

[deadliestviper]

[The feeling is mutual. The staring, the twitchiness to his mannerisms, the low quiet voice, all add up to something a little disconcerting.]

No shit. And we deserve it, right? We're all evil here. Baddies. Dangers to our societies.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

Well, that's what they say. But not everybody is? I mean, we've got just regular people too. ...not just the wardens, either.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

Normal people such as? If I've heard right, correct me if I'm wrong, we're all meant to be rehabilitated from our respective crimes. Everyone's guilty of something.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

Except the wardens, yeah. But I don't know what everybody did; some are pretty obvious, others...aren't.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

And what about you? [Not that she doesn't have her suspicions, but maybe he fits into the second definition more than the first.] What are you in for?

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

Um.

[...things...? B may have some silence and shifty looks.]

I helped rob a bank. And some liquor stores. And killed some people.

[And...other things which he will never admit guilt for any time soon because they weren't his fault, dammit.]

What about you?

[video]

[deadliestviper]

Huh. [Not surprising but not exactly what she suspected either. B wonders if that's the "I'm in the triple digits" killed some people or the "it was an accident" killed some people. She decides the truth is probably somewhere in between.]

I killed someone. This bitch I used to work with got between me and my ex. [Which is technically true. Vernita, B thinks, is probably a big reason she's here. Her battle with O-Ren had been fair, though bloody. Good old Copperhead had beaten her near to death and tried to bushwhack her but did that excuse killing her in front of her daughter?]

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

[...tending towards "irrational overreaction" killed some people but hey. The whole...prison thing tends to put a damper on that.]

Well shit.

[Color him impressed. Or something.]

[video]

[deadliestviper]

[The prison thing may be necessary but it definitely isn't flattering either of them. He sounds interested and she quickly changes the subject, not wanting to share any further details. Always better to get them on other people.]

What'd you say your name was?

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

...I didn't. But it's Richie.

[Have a winning smile here.

...and by "winning" we of course mean "deceptively innocent". Do not trust it, B, no matter what meds he's on.]

[video]

[deadliestviper]

I'll remember it. [Though not necessarily fondly, and that smile does nothing to assuage her doubts about him.] Anyway. Thanks for sharing, Richie.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

Yeah, sure, no problem.

...I didn't get your name though.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

[There's absolutely no reason to tell the truth.]

Beth.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

[Sure, and he doesn't suspect anything amiss. Which helps.]

Nice to meet you, Beth.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

It'd normally be nicer. You'll have to excuse me, I'm not exactly at my best right now.

[video]

[notafuckingnut]

That's okay. I wasn't really in the greatest mood when I first got here either.

[Mostly because he was panicking because he couldn't find his brother but that is...not the point.]