Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good.

[dashboardlite]

[Dean didn't think it was weird to hear yapping from down the hallway. Philip's dog learned how to bark instead of squeak and whine, and as soon as she did, she learned how to howl, so the sound itself wasn't especially unusual.

The scratching on his door, though? Yeah, that was a little out of the ordinary. Faraday (or as Dean likes to call her, Balto) was practically clawing through the wood, and her owner was nowhere to be found as soon as the hunter opened the door and picked up the puppy under one arm.

He even went next door to make a doggy delivery.

There was no answer. He tried to knob.

Just an empty room.

An empty room.]

Hey, uh- Uhhhhhhh look, anybody seen Philip around?

[Hence the reason for today's strained transmission. Dean tries to keep the panic in his voice to a minimum of fucking Hell.]

British guy, wears sweaters a lot? Physics dweeb?

[A shaky laugh.]

Lemme know ASAP, yeah?

Comments

video;

[airshipswank]

[ Oh, the duke knows that name. Not from frequent repetition, but certainly because he thought it prude to memorise the moment he discovered it. He offers a curious inquiry that comes with him tapping his left eye. ]

Same taste for accessories, Mister Huntsman? That man?

video;

[dashboardlite]

Yeah, he's missing his left eye, I'm missing my right. Call us twins, if you wanna. You see 'im around?

[Dean already knows that Philip is gone. But he can hold onto a vain hope, because he's good at that.]

video;

[airshipswank]

There is a manner of resemblance, I suppose.

[ In that he finds them both remarkably unappealing in every conceivable way, though he would not have chalked it up to blood. ]

Alas, I did not come across your... friend?

[ Might as well clarify that relationship while he's at it. ]

video;

[dashboardlite]

[Dean pauses before replying.]

...best friend. And yeah, I'm- I ain't surprised, but I thought I'd ask around.

[Since he can't do anything else but be depressed at the dog curled up in his lap right now.

Alas, Dean doesn't even feel up for clever remarks today. They're a bit lacking.]

Thanks, though.

video;

[airshipswank]

[ Best friend. No, Buckingham is unfamiliar with that qualifier, at least from experience. He's also unfamiliar with that behaviour from that particular person, it's... intriguing, though almost a little disappointing; if they were designed not to get along then Buckingham would rather have it be with the clever remarks.

(Then again, if he wanted to curry favour with the man then this might just be the perfect time.) ]

...What has happened to him, do you suppose?

video;

[dashboardlite]

[Sadly, Dean isn't up for very witty rapport today. Something about losing a good friend - or in Buckingham's case, a good ship - takes the wind of out your sails (possibly literally).]

What happens to any of us. He went home. Or wherever the Hell he was before he showed up here.

[His Lordship doesn't need the finer details; Dean doubts the guy knows where Greenland is, anyway.]

So wherever he was, his timeline's started again and he won't remember a damn thing about this place.

[Reason #452634 why Dean doesn't like the idea of leaving Wonderland.]

video;

[airshipswank]

[ His Lordship doesn't care about the finer details, at least not the ones pertaining to Philip's life. A little more Wonderland intel couldn't hurt however. ]

How would you know?

[ His tone makes it obvious enough, but he clarifies anyway: ]

How would anyone know?

tagging you everywhere la la laaaa sob

[itsahotone]

[Santana hesitates in actually answering.]

...Is he gone?

[dashboardlite]

...yeah. I think so.

[But the empty room is evidence enough. Still...the dog remains.

On cue, Faraday stretches in Dean's lap and sticks her head into the video frame, licking his chin.]

He left his dog.

[itsahotone]

[...GDI WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING??

Santana gives a bitter laugh.]

Guess you're next.

[dashboardlite]

[IDK WHY DON'T YOU TELL HIM.]

Hilarious.

[Dean tries to laugh. He fails.]

Can't believe the limey fruitcake left me with his friggin' dog.

[It words are bitter, but the feeling isn't there. Dean can't be angry. Not when the puppy snuffles at his communicator and blocks the feed for a moment.]

...you want a drink? I'm gonna have a drink.

[itsahotone]

[It wasn't meant to be amusing. B| There'd be a comment on the dog, but let's face it. Santana doesn't care.]

I would not say no to that.

[dashboardlite]

Shag ass and get over here then before I drink the whole bottle myself.

[Because he will. Really.]

[turn4bout]

[ She can smell how worried Dean is, and while Terezi doesn't really know Philip, she's concerned. ]

W4NT M3 TO SN1FF 4ROUND???

[dashboardlite]

Yeah, that'd be-

[He chuckles hoarsely.]

That'd be great. Dunno what he'd smell like. Probably a limey fruitcake.

[turn4bout]

L1M3Y FRU1TC4K3???
W31RD

UHHHHHHHH

WH4T W4S H1S ROOM??
4ND DO YOU H4V3 4NYTH1NG TH4T US3D TO B3LONG TO H1M??
>:?

[dashboardlite]

Fifth floor. Room 18. I'm in 12, I've got...uh...I've got his dog? She might smell like him if you wanna take a whiff.

[Hell, it's worth a shot.]

[turn4bout]

YOU W4NT M3 TO SN1FF 4 WOOFB34ST




SUR3 WHY NOT
1LL B3 TH3R3 SOON

[ And by "soon," we mean three seconds later, she is kicking at Dean's window. guess who was already there ]

[dashboardlite]

[The woofbeast in question is somewhat bigger now than she was when Philip got her, but she is still equally (if not more so) as troublesome, what with the running around and chewing on everything and howling at the moon.

Dean opens the window and Faraday prances towards Terezi, wagging her tail.]

Fast flying, Ace.

warning I will probably be slow because pages are only loading one in ten times WTF INTERNET

[40410]

[ Have a broadcast from the forest! Alex hasn't tried to contact Philip lately, but a question like that, delivered like that, usually has one meaning. ]

Is his room empty?

[ Oh Christ, not Philip too. 8( ]

[dashboardlite]

Just like my whiskey bottle.

[Dean shakes an empty bottle of Jack at the screen before shoving it across his table. There's a whine from somewhere in the background, but he can't be bothered to pet the dog when he's this dffsdgfhasgdfadfaf.]

An' I don't think he pulled a Houdini on our asses.

[40410]

[ It doesn't stab him like it did when he found out Sofia was gone, because he wasn't as close to Philip, and because there's something standing now between him and things that used to hold the most importance to him.

It's still a really shitty thing to learn.

Alex puts a hand over his face, and then he swears violently, because it's that or punch something. ]

[dashboardlite]

Funny, s'what I said.

[Word for word, too. Dean's never had to lose anyone of extreme importance here, but he's known Philip for pretty much a year. Dean doesn't have friends back home.

It's a big deal.]

You want a drink?

[40410]

[ His first thought is to be wary, because wariness is one of his most ingrained habits. But you know what? Obsessive care about being alert and watchful has done nothing to keep him from being roughed up about eight hundred different times here and at home.

And he's not going to find anything in the forest. No way back, no nothing. Being out here is habit as well, or something like it.

And his few friends are dropping off the face of the world one by one. So yeah, he wants a drink. ]

Sure. Where are you now?

[dashboardlite]

Fifth floor, room eighteen. I got all the liquor a closet can buy.

[He leans to one side, picking up the dog scrabbling at his chair, and sets her in his lap. Dean, completely oblivious to the tiny pink tongue licking the underside of his chin, deadpans to the camera again.]

I'll leave the door open for ya.