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[thehobbsgirl]

[ Abigail tries to do the smart thing and figure out the situation on her own. She does her best: reads the weird pamphlet three times, glances through the first few videos she finds on the smart-phone-like device, wanders around the grounds trying to look for a way out. Obviously, she does not find one. None of it makes any sense. She sits in the gardens for a few hours waiting to wake up, but if there is one thing her nightmares never are, it's tedious. So with boredom comes fear; if this isn't a dream, it means her life had changed radically yet again without warning. It means that just as she was beginning to have hope for some kind of stability, she was thrown into another mess. ]

[ The video shows her visibly upset, though clearly trying to master it. Her voice is small, and shaky with suppressed emotion, but she gets out what she means to say: ]

I'm not gonna bother asking a bunch of questions when it's obvious there's no one here who can help me.

[ Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't trust any answers she got, anyway. Any stranger might be complicit, as far as she's concerned. Abigail has difficulty trusting on the best of days. ]

I just want to know if... if anyone who sees this recognizes me. Is there anyone from my- [ It sounds so silly saying it, but she does ] -from my world here?

Comments

[camebefore]

[This presents a unique situation for Hannibal. He'd like to know more of the older version, find any weak points that they don't share. But his older self might already be listening to this exchange, seeing the warning signs. This all passes through his mind in the blink of an eye, Hannibal dipping his head and looking back up to her.]

He's on the first floor in the six hundred area. Will Graham is about or someone who said that was his name. [It's her upset he needs to address first that she displayed at the beginning of the transmission.] I'm sure they'll find you soon enough. I would if you were a friend of mine. I'm sure he will as well. You're in Wonderland, not the Black Forest with wolves about.

[thehobbsgirl]

Wonderland?

[ Abigail had heard a couple of people on the network, as she was skimming conversations, refer to this place by that name. At first she thought it was an isolated, inside joke. But now that this other Hannibal has mentioned it, too, she's starting to wonder if it isn't some kind of official title. ]

Why's it called that?

[ Though she doesn't miss what Hannibal said about if they were friends - was that a friendly overture? or merely a turn of speech? - she is too cautious to respond directly. Abigail doesn't want to cross or burn any bridges too soon ]

[camebefore]

The name is taken from the Lewis Carroll books, and it appears to be just that.

[He takes his time to explain, watching her as he does although the intensity of before lessens with each word. A quirk of a smile comes.]

I met a lady a day ago that suggested keeping a bowl of milk or cream for the Cheshire Cat should you meet him. Others have made mention of a Queen and some of the others from the stories.

[A small shrug displays his not being sure on the subject yet.] A mass hallucination on this scale and shared detail seems unlikely.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ Privately, Abigail wonders if it is a mass hallucination of unparalleled proportions, or if it might not be something much smaller. Say, a singular hallucination, in which she figures as Alice. When you've spent the last few months of your life living in a psychiatric facility, it gets a bit easier imagining how all-encompassing a delusion can get. Could the solution be that simple? Has the pressure of killing Nick Boyle, of helping her dad kill all those girls, finally caught up with her? Did her mind snap under its weight and conjure up a world where nothing was supposed to make sense, where she ran into red-eyed teenaged versions of father figures and thought little of it? ]

That's ridiculous.

[ Her distraction is clear in her voice, but she's still present enough to ask ] If you don't think it's a mass hallucination... what is it?

[camebefore]

That would be one of the underlying ideas of Wonderland. Logic, or a semblance of such, didn't quite exist in the stories.

[He shrugs with a practiced nonchalance.]

It isn't something you need to think about or even accept right now. Your friends are here, and you should speak to them.

[As good as it would be to pick at her now, find out her secrets regarding his older self, it's too obvious right now.]

Something familiar in a strange land might help you as they say.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ Abigail blinks a few times, testing this idea in her mind. Can she really just.... not think about the logistics of any of this? Set it aside in her mind, tucked up tight in some corner, to gnaw at her quietly? She'd like to think it would be impossible, but the truth is, she knows she can. She's getting good at compartmentalizing. There is a measure more calm in her next reply. ]

It might.

[ In any case, if Will and the real Hannibal are here, she wants to find them. Just knowing that they are here helps; Abigail even manages a small smile, though it's just for show: ]

Thanks.