01 | 🕐 | audio

[mirrortouch]

[ It's not something that really ever becomes routine, it doesn't matter how often he wakes up someplace strange and uncharted. The voice on the line sounds about as scattered as he feels. ]

My name is Will Graham, it's- [ He's pulling back his sleeve to look for a watch that's not there. ] I don't have the time. I don't- I don't have the time.

[ Hang on, don't get too lost. ]

It's not clear to me exactly where I am, but- [ a dry laugh ] you probably already knew that. This isn't even my phone. But you probably knew that too.

[ He's missing details. He's missing plenty. His voice trails off for a short while before he can get his bearings enough to speak again, and even then it's almost unconsciously. ] I don't know. I don't know.

[ It's as if the fact that he has no idea sparks him back into the present. His voice grows more composed, if somewhat cracked. ] So if you're hearing this, if anyone is hearing this - [ is anyone hearing this? ] - any singular indication will be key.

[ Another beat. ]

I feel as though I've strayed a long, long way from home.

[ The air goes dead, and then so does the line. ]

Comments

[lastincident]

Mr. Graham? [ Bruce's voice is calm, the cadence of his words even and careful, as rhythmic as a metronome. ]

I'm Bruce Banner, head of the infirmary here. You have died, and reached the barge. It's a way station for lost souls between life and death.

Are you injured or at all unwell? The infirmary is on the second level. If you step outside your room your door will have a number. The first is the deck, the second is the room number.

[halfofeverything]

Yes, well, that's because you have. Welcome to prison. You ought to know up front that your civil liberties were left behind on whatever patch of land you were abducted from.

[routemistress]

Will. I should calm down a bit if I were you. I can't promise you much, but I can promise you 'ave time. As much as you need. That's not a thing we're short of 'ere.

And you are a long way from 'ome, I'm afraid. But we'll 'elp as much as we can.

[godsays]

Just one indication?

I'd say you're not insane. But you might be.

[Video]

[deadly_ned]

Hi Will. I'm. Ned.

This is Digby.

[He gives a slight indication of his head to the sleeping golden retriever behind him]

You are a long way from home. I'm not sure how best to break it to you except to come right out with it.

I'm sorry.

But it won't be for forever.

[Private]

[youwill]

[Hannibal is torn. Will being here means, not necessarily that he has died, but that he has come close - yet he must consider the worst, and the worst is not only that Will died, but that Hannibal himself was forced to kill him.

He is dismayed by the prospect, if he is to be honest with himself.

Yet here Will is, clearly an inmate. Perhaps he's getting ahead of himself. He can't avoid considering the best as well, and that would be a wonderful thing, having a true friend here.

He doesn't smile when he turns the camera on, lets concern travel across his features in his usual downplayed way.]

A very long way, Will.

[versusnurture]

Hi, Daddy.

[Which, of course, she's said once before. To help cement Hannibal in a lie; to protect herself, most of all. This time, it's clear she's joking, even if it's not a kind joke - even if the streak of cruelty in her voice is strong.]

[She drops it, after a moment. She doesn't think she's angry at him. (Maybe she is. This is an impossible situation.)]

Everyone's hearing this.

[And, vaguely reproachful,] What did you do?

private

[deshabille]

You're on the Barge. If you didn't make a deal to come here, you've probably died, and you're probably not going to be terrifically happy when I tell you that there's nothing to be done for it but to stay and endure.

The time, I think, is nine thirty-three in the morning. If that helps.

You're going to give me a headache being here, aren't you? I can already tell.

[mirrortouch]

Well, I'm not bleeding.

[ Died. That's - funny, that's really clever. He's laughing on the inside.

The thing is that he remembers something like it. Three hits: Gut, lungs, heart, in quick succession, that still ache in their own certain ways for whatever reason. Call it a dream, but especially call it an inability to suspend that much belief. ]

Level Two, Room Five, yes, I'm aware. Are you always so glib with your patients, Dr. Banner?

[mirrortouch]

[ Comforting. ]

Yes, thank you - for the warm welcome, but it's not actually my first time. I'm - [ Firmer: ] No, I'm sorry, nobody's exactly told me what I've been charged with yet.

[mirrortouch]

Those imprisoned together must band together? While I appreciate the, ah, sincerely optimistic attitude -

You know, I'd call 'lawyer' if I noticed anything else here that was orthodox.

[mirrortouch]

Those ... are the two choices.

One indication to have started with would have been too much to ask, I suppose.

[routemistress]

We do actually 'ave one ...no, two lawyers on board that I know of. Possibly three, depending 'ow you count 'em.

But no, it's really not that kind of prison, lovey. Mind you, in a lot of ways it's better.

Is your room all right?

[lastincident]

Glib? That's something I haven't been called... [ Ever. Bruce can be catty, no doubt -- but glib? ]

I'll step outside the infirmary, you'll be able to see me down the hall if you're on the second floor. I'll be the man with the dog.

[ And he disconnects to do just that. Tony follows him him faithfully, harness advertising that he's a service dog. A blue pitbull with a white blaze down his chest and belly, he sits patiently with his quiet human. ]

[ Bruce puts his glasses on and looks down the hall. ]

[audio]

[halftheman]

Two-Face didn't pass the bar.

I did.

[ Harvey can help Iris count. ]

He's Abigail's Will.

[ And that explains Harvey's quick response. He's curled up in his room with his dogs, quiet and seething. Another broken father-figure from the world that failed his little girl Abigail completely. ]

[ He is less than pleased. But he posts publically, refusing to hide from Abigail's view... Or Hannibal's. ]

[mirrortouch]

Being - ephemeral in nature is one thing right.

[ Sorry, Ned, you can't pay him enough to return that video. Speaker phone it is.

But Digby does win you points. ]

They let you have a dog here, Ned?

[audio]

[versusnurture]

He doesn't belong to me.

[But you can sort of tell, if you know what to look for, that she's all right with it.]

[Private]

[mirrortouch]

[ At once, his heart's in his throat. That gut-wrenching feeling that doesn't just come with being (presumably, maybe, it can't have been) shot. Something much more visceral than that.

The trick, as always, is to keep himself calm.

He could laugh. But then he'd laugh. And keep laughing himself silly until he'd never stop. He might still laugh, which is why his voice is all the more tighter than he means for it to be.

(Only voice. Like hell is Will Graham Skyping.) ]

You're - in prison?

[audio]

[halftheman]

Of course he doesn't. Not quite what we meant.

[ The odd note in his voice says that he knows what she means, as surely as he knows she catches the subtext here as well. ]

We'd like to meet him, in time.

[ Tacitly seeking her okay, knowing this is part of her extended murder family? Maybe. ]

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker does not mind. Shyness is something he's used to, and he attributes it to that]

Depending on your definition of it.


They didn't say one way or the other. But Digby always comes with me, wherever I go. He wouldn't have stayed put where I'd left him.

You're, uhm. Dead. By the way.

[audio]

[versusnurture]

Mm.

[Which means a thousand things. One of them is yes.]

[She'd say play nice, but that would really insult everyone in this situation.]

Both of you?

[audio]

[routemistress]

I 'ad a feeling that's 'ow it worked. But I'm the last girl to discount any of you.

[audio]

[halftheman]

Yes.

[ There's a brief moment; they are conversing behind eyes she can't see. ]

We can leave the dogs, if they'll scare him.

[ They are not like other barge dogs. Remus and Romulus are extensions of Harvey's will -- Two-Face's rage, at the wrong moment. Maybe he doesn't like dogs. ]

[audio]

[halftheman]

We're just clarifying.

He understands the law as well as I do.

[ Two-Face laughs, gurgling and harsh. ]

I just remind him how many times it failed us.

[audio]

[versusnurture]

No. I don't think so. I don't think that's necessary.

[It might even help. But--]

Ask him. [He's not like Hannibal. Or he is, but the opposite way.]