004 VOICE LIST TWO

[deadliestviper]

So. Angels, aliens, mutants, magicians, vampires, motherfucking superheroes and a few I've got to be missing. It's getting tough to ignore exactly who our fellows are.

It's got me a little curious. How many of us are warriors? In the handful of weeks I've been here I've seen everything from bruised knuckles to plate-mail, so I figure there's no shortage of fighters around which means no shortage of fighting styles. Following up on that, one more question: How many of us – or of you – might be willing to share your knowledge? A girl can never know too much self-defense.

[It's a sorry excuse for a supplication like that, and she amends it.]

Whatever your preferred weapon or style, please, I'd like to learn. Anyone who'd take on a student or a not-entirely-green sparring partner, I'll offer you a trade. You show me what you know, and I'll be your punching bag.

Comments

[text]

[deadliestviper]

I might as well learn, what else am I going to do?

[text]

[lastmanstanding]

Don't mistake me, it's a good idea and a lot of these guys are good people. [Teeth grit] Grayson's the best.

Why self defense?

[text]

[deadliestviper]

Grayson, huh? I'll be on the lookout.

Because my ass has already been handed to me more times than I care to remember.

Re: [text]

[lastmanstanding]

[He won't suggest not fighting. Because...honestly he would fight too.]

Outsmart opponents.

[text]

[deadliestviper]

Yes.

Doesn't always work in an ambush.

Re: [text]

[lastmanstanding]

...What works in an ambush?

[text]

[deadliestviper]

Evasion and prayer.

Re: [text]

[lastmanstanding]

Obviously you don't work with a gun.

[text]

[deadliestviper]

That's when taking cover works.

[text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

..so out of courtesy which do you prefer?

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

Do you mean guns vs. other weapons or peace vs. conflict?

[text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

...Is there honestly such a thing as peace?

[He's so proud of that statement. Look at him being so proud-of course John Kramer came up with it.]

..guns versus hand-to-hand

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

Not in my experience.

[Hey, we all have our moments of hero-worship!]

Hand-to-hand.

[text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

[But John was a hilariously bad person who saved him from..being...in..jail...QUIET YOU.]

Why?

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

[Plenty of heroes are hilariously bad people!]

Less immediate. A gun is controlled chaos. Hand-to-hand gives complete control.

[text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

[...John said something along those lines as well.]

...I'm old. hand to hand is hard and it's hard to shake yourself out of restraint as opposed to stopping an opponent.

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

There is something to be said for guns. They're quick and easy and usually effective. [Usually. Even killshots sometimes fail, knock on metal plate.] They get the job done.

Re: [text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

Not when you want to be quiet. Not when you want to..

[He is perhaps ignoring the warning signs because he wants this woman to respect him. Because he has secrets enough. They're like two people staring at each other in the dark trying to guess how many fingers the other are holding up.]

When you want to make an impression.

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

Death is rarely quiet.

[The next line gives Beatrix pause. The story about Seth Baxter, the immediate understanding of her desires for revenge, his admission that he'd kill everyone on board for Angelina, the way he, a warden, doesn't discourage her – she wonders exactly how many people he's killed, and exactly how he's killed them.

She wonders if he's killed as many people as she has.]

Guns can make a hell of an impression. You should know that, Boy in Blue.

Re: [text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

Recognized boy in blue. Award winning. Medal of Valor winning. But I won that for saving a life, not for shooting the guys I had to shoot.

You have issues with cops.

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

They never give out medals for shooting the guys you have to shoot.

Not especially.

Re: [text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

..No. But there's such a thing as law and order and justice.

You know the technical term is peace officer? I always found that kind of funny. what do you do-Beth, besides violence?

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

There is. It's just that the law and justice so rarely coincide.

It's like they knew it'd be a joke before they coined it.
I worked in a used record store with my fiancé.

[text][private]

[lastmanstanding]

...I never wanted anything else besides that.

[pause]

...I did not peg that. At all. Records? You must be a big music fan.

[text][private]

[deadliestviper]

Wouldn't it be nice if it worked out that way?

I am, but I was a bigger fan of Tommy. He owned the shop. What did you think I did?