009 VIDEO LIST FOUR
Oct. 18th, 2012 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deadliestviper[The feed clicks on, showing B sitting at her desk with a notebook in her hand. Before addressing anyone or even glancing at the camera, she reads from it:]
"Beth Solberg, born Bethany Andrea Tiberman, was a prosecuting attorney from the state of New Jersey best known for her work in a 1996 case against the Lucchese crime family's Jersey Crew. Her tireless work produced evidence that the defendant, the acting capo Tacito Capello, had overseen a large-scale money laundering operation over the last four years. Thanks to Solberg's bulletproof case, Capello was convicted and given thirty-five years without the possibility of parole.
A mere eight days after the conviction Solberg was reported missing by her husband and adult son. A search party was organized and the city combed, but no evidence of the attorney was uncovered until February 1997, when a cyclist on a back road discovered a nude corpse riddled with broken bones. The county medical examiner positively identified the body as Solberg's, ruling the cause of death as a brain hemorrhage due to massive head trauma."
[A beat. Those blue eyes of hers stare right into the camera as she closes the book. She adds only one thing before turning off the feed.]
My name is Beatrix Kiddo.
"Beth Solberg, born Bethany Andrea Tiberman, was a prosecuting attorney from the state of New Jersey best known for her work in a 1996 case against the Lucchese crime family's Jersey Crew. Her tireless work produced evidence that the defendant, the acting capo Tacito Capello, had overseen a large-scale money laundering operation over the last four years. Thanks to Solberg's bulletproof case, Capello was convicted and given thirty-five years without the possibility of parole.
A mere eight days after the conviction Solberg was reported missing by her husband and adult son. A search party was organized and the city combed, but no evidence of the attorney was uncovered until February 1997, when a cyclist on a back road discovered a nude corpse riddled with broken bones. The county medical examiner positively identified the body as Solberg's, ruling the cause of death as a brain hemorrhage due to massive head trauma."
[A beat. Those blue eyes of hers stare right into the camera as she closes the book. She adds only one thing before turning off the feed.]
My name is Beatrix Kiddo.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-19 05:37 am (UTC)[She's as unemotional and aloof as she was when reading the obituary. He seems like a killer, but she wants to see if he'll condemn one.]
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-19 06:22 am (UTC)Yes. Because my next question is going to be why you took her name.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-19 06:30 am (UTC)[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 03:59 am (UTC)[He thinks he already knows, but he wants to be sure; and although he's not altogether sure at all that she'll give him an honest answer, he still wants to know.
Then again:] It's easier to be X5-493 than Ben.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 06:41 am (UTC)[A straight answer for once.]
Which one do you prefer being?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 06:46 am (UTC)[It's an honest question, strangely weighted coming from who it's coming from; he continues paying for straightforward information with straightforward information.]
That depends. X5-493 has a specific purpose and I know what it is, I've been told what it is and how to do it.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 06:52 am (UTC)[With her acting skills and ease at lying, Beatrix has been a lot of people, but at the end of the day she still seems to turn back into herself.]
And Ben does what X5-493 can't?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 06:56 am (UTC)[He hesitates, then, and falls silent for several moments. There's the sound of fabric rustling, the faint creak of springs as he either sits down or stands up or maybe just changes positions wherever he's having this conversation from.
Then:]
Ben is the name my unit gave me. It's mine. It's all I ever had that was mine. Only they called me Ben, before.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:08 am (UTC)[She kind of fucked it up the last time too. Or rather Bill did. Involuntarily, she sighs. Sounds like they might be here awhile.]
It's a good name. Seems to suit you.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:13 am (UTC)What is it?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:15 am (UTC)[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:18 am (UTC)Upon hearing that maybe her displeasure isn't with him, he relaxes slightly again.]
Losing your touch for what?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:23 am (UTC)Keeping secrets. But the more time I spend here the more I wonder if that even matters.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:27 am (UTC)He's not anywhere near socially adept enough to reliably track such things as coping mechanisms and self-pity, though he does still try.]
No one forced you to make this information public knowledge.
...Correct?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:38 am (UTC)Affirmative. It's a gamble, I'm waiting to see if it gets me closer to out of here.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:43 am (UTC)I see.
And you no longer fear the consequences of everyone knowing this information. If you ever did.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:53 am (UTC)[Besides, it's not as if she publicly outed herself by her nom du guerre.]
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 07:56 am (UTC)[He's only half-decided, himself, still half-convinced this is some kind of test. And he'll never willingly give up information on his unit, anyway.]
You realize that's less improvement and more discarding an obsolete tactical advantage.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 08:01 am (UTC)I know that and you know that, but my warden doesn't know that.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 08:05 am (UTC)[He pauses, reconsidering, then says in a more confident tone.]
Not discarding, then, but adapting a similar tactic.
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 11:37 am (UTC)[Which is not to say that she won't, but she's getting a bit tired of it.]
By modifying my lies, you mean?
[ Private : Voice ]
Date: 2012-10-25 01:23 pm (UTC)[Then, more relaxed again.]
By modifying your strategy. A more believable cover.