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

Re: Spam

[lastmanstanding]

[Hoffman looks mildly amused at that] I have to admit it's a lot easier to make an impression on somebody when they don't have to deal with people professionally.

It's rare. From one buried alive person to another.

[Maybe that's it. Maybe that's why he felt so odd about it.]

Re: Spam

[deadliestviper]

I've always found the same thing.

[It's a perfectly valid reason to feel odd, in fact it's downright unsettling. She'd been hoping that wouldn't come up again and after wincing, apparently at the strong drink, she tries to steer the subject away.] So I hate to open old wounds, but you've got me curious. How did it happen that you ended up underground?

Spam

[lastmanstanding]

[Hey, it's so rare. Hoffman studies his hands]

I tried to give someone what was coming to them. [Something very dark and very nasty crosses his features and he shakes it away and takes a sip of his drink.] I succeeded but they ended up getting the better of me at the end.

Re: Spam

[deadliestviper]

[As she watches that expression cross his face B wonders what his prey had done to deserve it and how exactly they'd turned the tables so entirely on him, but she doesn't ask. Asking too many questions invites him to do the same.]

I'm sorry.

Spam

[lastmanstanding]

...There was nothing about that which was good. I mean, doing...doing real...[Don't explain your odd notions of justice to a woman you just met Hoffman. Jesus.] ...doing something. Doing...it was justice for me. It felt differently. Revenge...I dunno. Maybe revenge shouldn't be refrigerated. And that's what it was.

So I got fucked over and ended up in hell. The end.

[Sip of the coke] You?

Spam

[deadliestviper]

But it was justice. [Those blue eyes are clear and focused a she listens, never leaving his face.] Someone once told me that's always a risk we take with revenge, losing our way. Getting it turned around on you, getting lost in it. I can't say whether it was worth it or not, but if you ask me, it's worth trying. [One more danger to add to the list, that's all.

She shrugs and takes a sip of her drink.] Something similar. I went to confront someone who once fucked me over. It didn't turn out the way I planned.

Re: Spam

[lastmanstanding]

You misunderstand. I achieved it. The- [Another real spasm of anger across his face.] ...The person who was responsible for hurting me is dead. Slowly and painfully, but I got screwed over anyway.

...I'd ask you for details, but seems kind of rude when you've first met somebody to give out such personal details.

[He's tried to paint his with the broadest strokes]

Spam

[deadliestviper]

[Now she understands. She understands everything, especially the little quirk of rage on his face. It stings for him the way Budd's victory had for her.] Was it worth it?

[To put him at ease, she smiles over the rim of her glass.] I'll tell someday, and I'm sure you'll hear it. Today is not that day.

Re: Spam

[lastmanstanding]

...I don't know.

[Stop making him think. He'd successfully repressed Jill Tuck.]

She was responsible for this. [He tilts his head to illustrate his scar-it's deep (but not so deep) and ugly looking all the same.] In a rather creative way so.

[And at that he laughs] my little sister used to say that men have scars and women mysteries.

Spam

[deadliestviper]

[Poor Hoffman's mental health, standing between Beatrix and her curiosity. Her eyes trace over the scar before dropping back to her drink – not a cut, a tear. Creative wasn't the word for it.] Sounds like she deserved it.

You know, my ex used to say something like that too.

Re: Spam

[lastmanstanding]

[He swallows the "She did" with a sip of his drink.] What'd your ex used to say?

Re: Spam

[deadliestviper]

That women have war wounds and men have history. [It was something Bill had said while holding and examining her hands when she returned from China. "But this woman," he'd added, "has history of her own to make." He hadn't been wrong about that.] I'm not sure he was right about that, but he had a way with words.

Spam

[lastmanstanding]

[Hoffman is thinking of Sarah when he speaks. Thinking of the woman who was gone, thinking of Allison Kerry.]

When men go off and do wrong, do stupid shit, women are the ones that end up both paying and fighting to bring everything to the right way it needs to be. It sounds pretty accurate.

Spam

[deadliestviper]

In some cases. [She turns her glass by the stem absently, looking down at it as if lost in a reverie.]

He was a sharp, silver-tongued bastard all right. Always knew what to say.

Re: Spam

[lastmanstanding]

You sound like you miss him.

Spam

[deadliestviper]

No.

Maybe.