[13: video]

[paper_knight]

There's a click and a whir, and a round-faced boy in a starched white shirt appears on the screen. He doesn't seem aware that the comm unit is recording him; the feed shakes and spins disorientingly as he turns the device over and over, examining it with a steadily widening smile.

"It's really broadcasting? Gosh.He clears his throat and speaks

Comments

[playingbadcop]

Mark Meltzer. Detective.

Up until that point, Benny had simply assumed that this was a new arrival to the Mansion, and then he said his name. And then he kept talking.

In his surprise, Benny inhales his coffee, and spends the rest of the broadcast choking.

"...what did you say your name was?" he croaks hoarsely.

[paper_knight]

"Mark. You sound funny."

[playingbadcop]

"Got coffee down the wrong way. Mark, huh?"

He's used to the mansion doing weird things, but this...this is just too much. There's nothing to shout at Mark about, all their previous conversations are out the window, and Benny would feel like too much of a heel for just...ignoring the kid.

"You sound pretty hard-boiled. Tough guy?"

[paper_knight]

"I'm a detective."

A pause. He's talking to an adult, here.

"Well, I'm gonna be. When I'm older."

[playingbadcop]

The mansion is just throwing him curveball after curveball, and he doesn't know what to make of any of it. Now it's nostalgia--he remembers how he worshiped the pulp heroes when he was that age--and a strange, unwilling affection for the child that will grow into one of the most disastrous cases of his career.

"I just bet you will," he says with genuine feeling, though he knows it's a lie. "I'm Benny Stango." A pause, and then on impulse, "Detective Benny Stango, NYPD."

[paper_knight]

"Really? Oh wow."

He goes quiet for a moment, suddenly shy.

"...Are you on a case? Right now?"

[playingbadcop]

"No. No, I ain't, I just...got off a coupla cases when I wound up here. Not a lot to do. Not a lot to solve."

[paper_knight]

"Um. If you're not busy, then, would you tell me about what it's like? Please?"

[playingbadcop]

Oh, god.

Say no.

"Sure thing, kid."

[paper_knight]

He breaks into a broad grin.

"Where are you? Can I visit your office?"

[playingbadcop]

Benny gives him the number, and goes to wait for him, smoking a thoughtful cigarette with his feet on his desk.

[paper_knight]

A little later, there's a knock.

Mark's waiting on the other side of the door, fidgeting excitedly in place.

[playingbadcop]

He swings his feet over and goes to the door, looking down at the part in Mark's hair with an odd half-grin on his face.

"It ain't that exciting, kid, it's just an office." He gestures Mark in with a mock-bow. "I got a desk, a filing cabinet, an ashtray...normally I'd have a phone, but not here."

files are just always exciting to him.

[paper_knight]

True to form, Mark heads for the filing cabinet.

"Do you keep all your old cases in here?"

[playingbadcop]

"Well...no. See, I had 'em in my other office, back in New York, but they didn't come with me here. I got, uh..."

What would entertain a detective-obsessed child? For a moment, Stango is more deeply flustered than he can remember being.

"...dusting powder! I got dusting powder. To dust for prints."

[paper_knight]

His eyes go big again.

"Like in all the books?"