entranceway | [VIDEO]

[ She'd spent her first couple of days lingering in the shadows. Not hiding or lurking, really, and maybe there's a chance you've seen her around, but she did her best to play observer -- to get a feel for the place and the people here. She goes into this skeptically, and by nature it's just hard not to, but it isn't long until she realizes Wonderland's residents are a lot like her.

It becomes a series of questions she needs to answer: who are they? Where are they from and what have they left behind? (And most importantly, because of what she's left behind, why are they here and how do they get back? She isn't satisfied with anything she is finding on that particular subject.)

For a moment, she is out of frame, cursing silently under her breath as she checks the device in her hand to make sure the video feed is on. Lois adjusts the device, holding it out so that her face is now in frame. ]

Okay. Okay. Here we go.

[ She coughs, clearing her throat, and runs her fingers quickly through her hair to tuck her hair behind her ears. Lois manages a pretty impressive "on air" presence, even if she's always been a little more interested in seeing her byline on the front page than she was in being on camera. ]

Hello, Wonderland. From the looks of things, you've all had a... rough week.

My name is Lois Lane and it looks like I will be joining you for the interim. I was hoping there would be a few of you willing to... share your experiences. Maybe help me fill in some blanks here?

We can communicate through... uh, this -- [ She shakes the device a bit, the video going a bit Blair Witch Project for a second. ] -- thing, but I am open to meeting in person for a cup of tea or something, if you'd prefer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's gonna be real interesting, having another reporter-type here. Just so long as she doesn't try to dig into his personal stuff like George did.]

little over two years now. we got several people who've been here for five years or more.

[ So long as he doesn't give her a reason to snoop. ]

Two years. [ She swallows hard, as if all the emotion had risen up into her throat and the act alone is instrumental in keeping her composure. It's been days and she is ready to go home, to be here for two years? Five? More? ] God, I am so sorry.

Being here as long as you have, is there... anything you could tell me that you wish you'd known when you arrived?

[The obvious horror on her face and the way she apologizes makes him feel...weird. Almost self-conscious. Like he's just told her something completely disgusting and horrifying, something he shouldn't see as--commonplace. He looks away and gives a vague shrug.]

i mean, it's not--that bad. could be worse.
this place could be all bad all the time, but it's not. we get a lot of downtime between the bad stuff.

[It's weird also because from his perspective, getting to say that two years has passed at all is practically a triumph. It's weird, the way your values shift when you're repeating the same few days over and over.]

heh, that's an interesting question. lemme think...

[He taps his chin for a moment. He's not one for wishes and such.]

i guess i wish i'd known sooner that people can come here from different versions of your own world. that their version of events could be just...competely different, the sorta stuff you never coulda guessed. and that people can come from different points in the time...like before you even met them, or before such-and-such happened.

and...do wish i'd known more about the mirror side sooner.

[ Another time and place, she might explain it better. Lois has a whole life she's ready to get back to -- the Daily Planet, her husband, their friends and family. She has Jon and she's grateful for that -- in a weird way that makes her feel completely selfish -- but this isn't what she wants for either of them. This isn't their life.

But this isn't about her, so instead, she listens. Off-camera, she takes notes in a nearby notepad. ]

That's got to make things awkward. [ Something she'll soon figure out, considering all the people here who at least resemble people she knows back home. ] Have you met anyone from your world for from a different version or timeline of your world?

You're going to have to explain this whole mirror side thing to me. I am familiar with a version of Wonderland, but it's all storybooks and animated adaptations where I'm from.

[Even two and a half years later, it's still hard for Sans to process linear time. He's also probably one of the few people he knows of here who actually wants to stay.]

[She's writing stuff down, but, well, that's fine. It's not like he's getting into personal crap.]

it does. pretty much all the time. hell, sometimes it takes weeks or months until you realize that your timeline doesn't match up with someone else's. and, uh...most of the people who are here from my world are from different sorta...versions of it. it gets complicated. hard to keep the details straight.

[Especially when it comes to who knows what, and who has experienced or remembers what.]

yeah, heh. i never read 'em before coming here, personally. i guess one of the stories is about a mirror world. we've got one here, on the other side of the glass. and it's filled with alternate versions of everyone. we call 'em mirrors. they're, uh. not a real friendly bunch. they look like us, but each of 'em has some kind of difference. something that's twisted them up, either a little or...a lot.

[VIDEO]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]