Liv Hall's Questionnaire

She looks confused at the camera in front of her face, but ultimately resigned to answer this thing’s pestering questions.

“Yeah uh, I live in Madrid. Spain. Where we are now. Why do I choose to live here? Honestly, it’s great for two reasons, having news to share, and actually being able to get it out there. What can’t be put on my sites can easily be pushed by the street corner to a couple dozen young punks to distribute on whatever soshes they have, and soon enough the entire world can see this shit.”

”Currently, I share a flat with what, four people right now? Hey Leo, we’re at four now right?”

From offscreen: “Kate’s girl is here for a bit, so five. Putting out an add for rent money?”

”You wish, maybe you’d get someone in here who won’t see you for such a dumbass.”

”Nah chica, just making sure you can afford those pricy body mods you got going on, what did you get an inheritance or some-“ The video cuts there.

“Yeah I mentioned last time, I film, edit, and caption videos for big news events around the city. And other places if I get paid enough. It’s hard to do reporting in a fair and ethical way that also pays for…” she spins in her chair, waving at the small room. “Basic necessities. But I make enough off of side commissions and ad traffic on my site to keep things afloat. Barely.” She turns her attention back to something else on screen.

”I’d like to give a cool answer about the awesome things I spend my euro on, but it’s really just making ends meet at this point. Maybe some tools for the jobs, but even that’s a slim order. I’d love to buy myself a motorbike though.”

“Oh yeah, that. Are you familiar with the concept with a surveillance state? Basically I want the opposite of that. Everywhere. Companies and governments shouldn’t be able to have anything other than FULL TRANSPARENCY with us.”

Her brow furrow, as her eyes flick between several articles. The logo for the RSF is mirrored in her eyes for just a moment.

”It’s… a pain in the ass. I’m only one gal, and I don’t really have the power to swing much out of my weight class at the moment. So I take the jobs. I get to help people, those unfathomable powers out there get their little live tv events, and I take a step towards swinging out of my weight class.”

She removes her glasses, closes her eyes and rubs the bridge of her nose. 

“A few years ago when I was a teenager, there was a huge cover-up surrounding these murders happening around the city. The news all said they were a collection of accidents and what have you, but I never believed them. About a dozen people dying of fire in a week, the area around them relatively unscorched. Pretty weird, but I’d normally be able to overlook something that weird.”

”Until of course, I encountered him. Whoever he was, draped in otherworldly flame, cornered me when I was alone in a condemned parking garage and tried to touch me, ignite me too. As my luck would have it, I managed to fall down four flights of stairs and not die, giving me enough time to get away.”

“Well you have my mates, Leo, Kate, and Jackie. Leo is a real rockstar type. Out all right, trying to sway people with his music. He’s an idealist with a baby face so charming that nobody is willing to take him seriously as a revolutionary. Which is a damn shame given he has some good ideas. I do some videographer work for him when I have the time.”

“Katie teeters on the fine line of genius and bimbo, and I don’t mean that in a “has wild ideas sometimes” way. Girl is a fucking genius biochemistry major. If I’m a smartphone, she’s a supercomputer. She’s also constantly flirting with anything that moves, I swear the most disinterested man on the planet could hand her take-out and she’d come out blushing up a storm.”

“And then gym rat Jackie. Super athletic, I ran track with her, and she was doing wrestling at the same time. She got a sports scholarship, and is getting her diploma in mechanical engineering. “

“Really? My childhood? It was fine, I guess. Nothing too interesting really. In school I got good grades, yeah. Got into lots of mischief, no surprise there when I was too bored in classes. Pulled fire alarms, made the teacher’s computer do embarrassing things. That kind of stuff. Everyone told me I was “wasting my potential”. Maybe they were right but… no I don’t really have a real rebuttal to that. All I can say is that I’m enjoying myself way more than if I had went into some stuffy tech job. More boots on the ground work instead of entirely focused on making my next paycheck.”

”My parents? Henry and Eliza Hall. Dad’s an immigrant from England, and mom was born and raised in this city, not much to tell. Wanderlust was one heck of a drug for pops, and mom fell for a man she could barely hold a conversation with.”

“I mean, I’ve had dates and hookups, nothing completely earth shattering, mind breaking, reality defining at all. First kiss was this girl I met at catholic school, but she turned out to be a bitch who told the teachers I was “engaging in acts of homosexuality” so that was scuffed. I went on a blind date a couple weeks ago with a friend of a friend, who kinda lost interest when I told him what I do. Apparently riot reporting isn’t “feminine tradwife” enough for the guy. Which I’m glad it’s not. I have to speak to my friend about it because I really don’t think she knows this guy as well as she thinks she does.”

Liv looks up from her breakfast, staring down the camera with a look that’s a mix of annoyance, frustration, confusion and a dash of curiosity. “Worst fears, sure. Do you mean before or after I’ve started taking these jobs?”

The camera does not respond, much to her furthered annoyance.

”Right, okay then… I guess ever since that incident I told you about, I’ve had a thing about fire. Yeah I said it, don’t go around telling everyone. I can see it and be just fine I just can’t really get too close, y’know? And god forbid I have to be present for reporting on a building fire. I nearly pissed myself last time I had to do one of those.”

She shoves another whole magdalena into her mouth, hoping it would stop her from talking long enough for the camera to be finished. It wasn’t.

”Though lately it’s gotten a bit more… existential. Given I’ve almost died twice by high speed crash, rapid onset lead poisoning, a whole ass GHOST trying to disembowel me, I’m surprised I’m not more worried in my place in the grand scheme of things. If the stories I put out there actually matter at all. Why I’m here, putting metal in myself instead of someone more capable. Is that enough for you?”