[01: audio] white knuckles

[manhunthotline]

[With oddly apropos timing, given the recent appearance of the traveler, detective Benny Stango has arrived in the middle of a conversation with Mark Meltzer's answering machine--his last conversation with either it or the man himself, in fact. Without his noticing, the ground has changed under his feet from damp concrete to carpet, and the pay phone he's been clutching has been replaced by the Wonderland standard-issue communicator unit.

So the network gets treated to a low voice, sharp with panic and thickly-accented (the Bronx, if anyone was wondering). And he's shouting. Despite years of smoking, the man has a set of lungs on him.]

--Jesus, Meltzer, what is that thing?! I took a shot at it, it didn't even flinch! I ran the whole way back to the squad car--yeah, I gotta remember to clean the seat--jesus, Meltzer, I never believed you were right, I'm sorry! Just gimme a c--

[The voice stops, almost cut off. Stango's looked up, finally noticed the change.]

What the hell...?

[At least he's still blissfully ignorant of the whole hellhound issue.]

Comments

[paper_knight]

Stango.

[Mark is in the middle of turning his room into a defensive bunker, so he's stressed and preoccupied and apt to snap--but part of him is still pleased to hear from Benny. He could do with an ally to balance out the Traveler's arrival--however uneasy said alliance might be.]

...Stango, where are you?

[manhunthotline]

Oh, now you can answer the goddamn phone!

[It's automatic, but his tone has lost some of his bite; it's more reflex than anything, as he's still staring around himself in bewilderment.]

Well, I was in a phone booth just outside Montauk, but...I ain't anymore.

[paper_knight]

Indoors? You sound indoors.

There should be a room number just outside your door. Can you check it for me?

[manhunthotline]

Indoors--hey, maybe you shoulda been the detective. [Sarcasm. Not only his default state, but his most reliable fallback in a panic. He sighs and jerks around to look at the nearest door.]

Says one-oh-one.

[paper_knight]

Yeah, yeah.

[So it was maybe a little obvious, and really, he should have remembered that Wonderland's room numbering system makes no sense. Benny is out of earshot, so he could be anywhere.]

Can you see a stairwell? There's usually one at the end of every hall.

[manhunthotline]

There's a door with no number. Might be stairs behind it, why?

[paper_knight]

Because I would like to catch you up in person rather than by yelling over the radio, and it's easier to meet on the stairs than it is to navigate the hallways.

[Especially, he thinks, for someone panicked and unaccustomed to the mansion's unique idea of direction.]

[manhunthotline]

…Okay. I'm headed there now.

[He is deferring his many many questions and possible incoherent screaming until a more convenient time.]

[paper_knight]

Same. Call back if you can hear me.

[A minute later he'll be on the second floor landing, looking over the railing and calling experimentally up and down.]

Hello?

[manhunthotline]

[He'll see a head of dark hair below him, and then Benny looks up.]

Right here, and I'd love to know what the hell is goin' on.

[paper_knight]

Sure, come on up. I've got a sort of office--two years of files you can look over, a desk you can rifle, the works.

[Surely if Benny's allowed sarcasm, he's allowed the joke.]

[manhunthotline]

[He points as he starts to move up the stairs.]

Meltzer, there is something weird about you.

[Beat.]

Weirder than usual.

[paper_knight]

I bet there is.

Last time you actually talked to me would have been...Tollevue, right?

[manhunthotline]

[His lip curls.]

That's right.

[paper_knight]

By my count, it's been almost four years since then.

[One and change on Earth, almost three in Wonderland. He looks aside for a moment, not out of any dishonesty, but because Cindy would be ten years old, and he can never talk about how long he's been in Wonderland without taking that tally--and the weight of guilt that comes with it.]

[manhunthotline]

Hah! Bullshit.

[Short and to the point.]

Don't try to sell me on some sci-fi crap, Meltzer. Maybe you were right about that friggin' demon outta the river, but 'I'm from the future' is just a little bit too rich.

[paper_knight]

All right. I won't try and sell you, Benny.

[He knows where that goes.]

[manhunthotline]

[He heaves a heavy sigh.]

Hey, for all I know, I'm sellin' myself, right? I mean, I was in a phone booth, I know I was. The only way to end up here would be…to not be here.

[And then a sardonic smile.]

That, or that thing caught up with me and now I'm in hell.

[paper_knight]

You can decide what to think for yourself--explore the place, ask questions--read the pamphlet, for what it's worth--

[His tone implies that even having agreed to copyedit, he's still not pleased with the presence of a pamphlet, however helpful it might be.]

But for now I'm going to ask you to take my word on a couple of things. Just for the next day or so. Think you can handle that?

[manhunthotline]

[He sighs again, puffing his cheeks out.]

How do I know you're even really here, though? How do I know I didn't snap and you're a figment of my imagination? Christ, I've spend enough time on you for it.

[paper_knight]

You don't. And there's no real argument that anyone here can make for or against your sanity--although personally, I'd never have guessed you were unstable. Or even likely to worry about it.

[Before Wonderland, that is. He remembers hearing Benny mention the possibility more than once.]

[manhunthotline]

Well, a year ago I woulda agreed with you, but things change.

[paper_knight]

The Traveler, right?

[manhunthotline]

…Yeah. Yeah, that's it.

[paper_knight]

She's here too, you know. Showed up a few days ago.