Scene Summary: Phone Call: Danny to Hope

Phone Call: Danny to Hope
Chronicle	DC Chronicle
Game Date	December 2, 2015
Real Date	March 27-29, 2016
Characters	Danny Wheyton Hope Gutierrez
Locations	Danny's Apartment The Murder Trailer
Previous Scene	Regrets of the Dying (Danny) A Midwinter Night's Tale (Hope)
Next Scene	When in Doubt, Drink (Danny, Hope)
Content Warnings	Ableism, Child Sexual Abuse, Mental Illness, Self-Harm
Original Scene	Phone Call: Danny to Hope

Phone Call: Danny to Hope is a scene from the DC Chronicle featuring Danny Wheyton and Jacque Beaumont. It depicts Danny and Hope discussing Prince Marcus Vitel on the phone.

Scene Summary

Danny nervously calls Hope after several minutes of struggle, worried that she might be angry if he bothers her. Hope is driving toward Purgatory and answers in the car, startling Danny, who had assumed she would refuse to answer his call. After a few false starts, Danny reminds Hope of her advice to him to avoid Prince Marcus Vitel, and Hope laughs before realizing that he could be in real trouble. Danny explains that he recently found an undead child and that in helping her return to her guardian accidentally made contact with the Prince, the guardian in question. He also tries to explain his misgivings about the Prince's attention.

Hope is distracted by a pedestrian and then asks whether the Prince is a pedophile, an idea that horrifies Danny, who rebukes her for the suggestion. He tries to explain that as a Malkavian, he knows he may sometimes have a sixth sense about things, but is also too paranoid to know whether to believe these warnings. Hope lectures him briefly about the fact that horrific ideas are everyday life for some vampires, but then presses him for more details to help guess what might be going on. Danny, still upset about the Prince's unsettling attention, stutters a little more before abruptly ending the phone call with an offer to talk about this more in person later.

Script Summary

The script summary for this scene pares it down to only dialogue and action directions, allowing for a quicker and easier read through what was actually said and done by the characters. Click on the "Expand" tag to the right to view the entire script summary for this scene.

Phone Call: Danny to Hope Script Summary

Danny shudders as he stares at his phone. He calls Hope, who grabs her phone from the passenger seat and answers as she drives toward Purgatory.

HOPE: Yeah?

DANNY: Oh, eh, hey, Hope... I, uh... I didn't expect you to pick up... Uh... How are you?

HOPE: Peachy keen. What's up?

DANNY: Uh... So... You remember how you told me it's supposed to be easy to avoid Vitel?

Hope snorts.

HOPE: Oh, shit! Oh, shit. Danny, what'd you do?

Danny runs his hand through his hair.

DANNY: I... I was out walking around the city the other night, and I found a little girl who was one of us, she was a Kindred. She said she needed to be returned to her caretaker, and it wound up being him. He just... I mean, if anything, it was kind of on good terms, but... The look he gave me... We made eye contact and just... The way he stared at me. And I know most higher ups don't even give much of a glance to us little people...

Hope slams on her brakes as a man crosses in the crosswalk in front of her.

HOPE: Get the fuck out of the way then! Asshole.

She flips the man off and continues driving.

HOPE: Oh, right. Yeah. So... you found some little vampire kid and took her to Vitel... Wait. Wait. Is he a pedo or something?

DANNY: W... Wha...?

He shakes his head.

DANNY: I hope not. Thanks for the great fucking mental image, though... Literally... Anyway...

He sighs.

DANNY: I've... I dunno. I've had some bad feelings about this... Maybe it's just me being me? I hope so... I mean, you know how us Malks are... We get feelings or visions or some other shit... But I'm also super paranoid... I'm just being paranoid, aren't I?

HOPE: Okay. So you hope he's not some sicko with an immortal kid in his basement, but your kook senses are tingling and it's bad... Shit. Okay. Okay. So first things first, Danny-boy. Just because something's gross and fucked up and wrong, doesn't mean it's not true. Worst thing you can think of? There's probably one of us doing it, right now. And laughing. And B, being paranoid doesn't mean you aren't right.

She pulls into a parking lot and parks. The car's engine rattles.

HOPE: Though, yeah, that does sound pretty paranoid. Did he say anything? When you dropped the little kid off?

DANNY: Uh... No. He just... Stared at me. Like... It was... I can't even describe it. It was full eye contact though, and I just... I mean, I don't think he's a pedo, I just... I don't even know, um...

There is a long pause.

DANNY: Look, I'm gonna go. Maybe we can meet up sometime soon and talk about this more. Just... I gotta go for now. See you sometime, okay?

He hangs up.

Trivia

• Danny's accidental meeting with the Prince is chronicled in Adventures in Babysitting; the little girl he mentions is Melissa.
  
  
• Hope's warning to Danny about Vitel took place in Familiar Strangers.