entranceway | Video/Action

Current Mood: panicked

Entry tags:

Video/Action

[Wirt has never addressed the network directly, or on purpose. He's never felt the need to, and he's not much of a public broadcast kind of guy. The whole public speaking thing usually leaves him weak in the knees, but this is different. It's an emergency.]

H-Has-- Has anyone seen my brother, Greg?

[Wirt quickly turns the camera away from himself and shows the room behind him. The view is shaky, due to his unsteady hands, but it gets the point across - it's back to the default, like Greg was never there at all. Even his frog is nowhere to be found.]

I-I-I...sure he runs off on his own a lot, but-- but! But I would have heard from him by now, o-or there would be some sign of him somewhere, right? It's like he just...disappeared, out of nowhere! Spirited away somewhere!

[He's panicking. He's absolutely panicking and he's still kind of half-expecting Greg to just pop out somewhere and be like "Oh hey Wirt! I wound a WAY better room!" or something. Wirt knots his fingers in his hair, which knocks his hat slightly out of place. He can't help thinking of every horrible possibility. Didn't someone say there was a serial killer on the loose, or a cannibal or something? Or what if he's hurt somewhere, or worse? Does that make all your things disappear? Wirt hasn't been in Wonderland long enough to know.]

He...H-He's about this tall. [Wirt gestures accordingly, bending down a little.] He's six years old, a-and he's-- teakettle! He's been wearing a teakettle on his head! And there's...there's this frog he's been carrying around everywhere - I think his name's James right now? Greg might've changed it by now b-but you can't really miss them. Has anyone seen them? Anyone? Please, if someone knows where he is...!

[They're not going to know. Greg's gone. Greg's gone and this is useless. Wirt looks down, not sure what else to ask, or what else to do. But, there's only one thing he can do.]

I...I have to go. But please, if anyone sees him, let me know? Um, thank you. ...I appreciate it.

[He shoves the device in his pocket, but forgets to shut it off. The last few seconds on his broadcast are just the sound of Wirt running as fast as he can down the hall. There's only one place he hasn't looked yet, so maybe...maybe he's in the woods, where they first arrived.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I met him once before. He caused the flood of frogs at Christmas, didn’t he? [ Carlos speaks up louder than usual, aware that the sound of his voice will be muffled by Wirt’s pocket. He had promised to show Greg the first dinosaur he found in Wonderland, and that had been about the extent of their interaction with one another, but he still feels a twist of anxiety at the thought that something had happened to him. If Greg is missing within Wonderland, then… the possibilities are mixed. If he’s still in Wonderland.

Have you checked his room? I know this is a strange question, but was it still there?

[ He knows the feeling of finding no door where you’ve come to expect one. ]

Huh? [He stops running for a minute and fishes the device out of his pocket to reply.]

Yeah! Yeah, that was him!

[There's a very brief relief in his voice, that somehow he had managed to describe Greg well enough in his panic that someone Wirt's never met actually recognized him. But, there's only room for so much relief when Greg is still missing, and Wirt has no idea what to make of the room question.]

Uh...yes and no? I-I mean it was there, and there was a door and a room but it was totally empty. Like when we first get here, I guess? It didn't look like anyone was living there anymore, much less a little kid.

[No six-year-old's room is that clean, in any world.]

[ Carlos has experienced this feeling before- the nauseating weight of bearing bad news- back on the few occasions he’d had to inform the families of his scientists about a lab accident. Thankfully there had been no deaths involved (just one minor injury and the production of an extra limb, which had actually doubled the tech’s efficiency) but that didn’t make it any easier. It doesn’t help now, either. ]

That’s… [ Where does he even begin? He seems to struggle for the right words. The comm flickers from just audio to a video feed of a very apologetic looking man. ] Wonderland seems to bring us here randomly, and… sometimes, it sends us back the same way. If your brother’s room is empty, that means he’s been sent back to whatever world and timeline you came from. He's not here anymore.

[That...isn't really the answer he was hoping for, and it shows on Wirt's face.]

But this place brought us both here at the exact same time...why wouldn't it send us both back at once?

[Why would Wonderland ever send just Greg away?]

I can’t answer that. I really wish that I could, but… Wonderland is unpredictable. There’s no telling when or how this sort of thing will happen. It just does.

[ One day he hopes to figure it out. There must be some theorem, some formula to be able to know how Wonderland makes its decisions… but he'll spare Wirt the technical talk this one time. ]

I’m sorry. Someone very close to me was also sent back home very recently, so I understand how difficult this is. I… don’t know if this will help you feel any better about it, but people don’t remember being here when they leave. They’ll go back to their lives as they were before. So if you two were together in whatever world you came from, he’ll still be with you there. He won’t be alone.

That's...uh.

[Wirt looks like he wants to be reassured by it; he really does. But, there's one part of it that's nagging at him and holding him up. He's never had this explained very well to him, but he's starting to put the pieces together and he really doesn't like the picture that's coming out of it.]

...Isn't that conditional though? If I get stuck here forever, then that means I wouldn't go back to that spot in time, which means Greg would be not only be alone, but he wouldn't remember Wonderland so he wouldn't know why he was alone. He'd just think I up and abandoned him or something.

[No, he wouldn't. Greg's thinks too well of him. He'd never assume Wirt abandoned him, but Wirt's guilty conscience can't help adding in that jab.]

I-I know we have all the time in the world to figure out how to get out but...What I'm saying is, unless I actually leave then he won't wind up back with me. Because if I never leave Wonderland then, I'd never wind up being there, right? I'd have to get back myself in order for that to work.

That’s… some impressive set of deductions. [ Highly impressive, actually. Carlos has taught college students who weren’t quite able to grasp the finer points of multidimensional existence like Wirt is just beginning to. Not that Wirt likely recognizes it as such, but still. ]

From what I understand, our original universes run parallel to this one. While we’re here, another version of ourselves continues to populate the original, so no one at home will even notice you’re gone. In a way, you’ve never actually even left… or so the theory goes. [ Because no one can really test that from the outside. ]

You won’t be with him, but he’ll be with you. As much of a you that exists here now.

[Wirt doesn't know if it's really impressive or not. His parents and teachers and even Greg's dad keep saying he's bright, but that always kind of feels like what everyone says about the kids who don't quite fit in. It's never felt impressive but...this is also some adult who's never met him before, so it feels a little different coming from him.

That's the first explanation he's gotten that makes any sense of that though, and his eyes go wide at the thought.]

...Oh! Huh. So...there's two of me now?

[He still sounds kind of unsure, but a lot of the panic is gone. If that's true then Greg isn't alone and someone's looking after him.]

Are we both real? What would happen if I went back? Does one of us stop existing, or do we just kind of...I dunno. [He holds his hands in front of him and laces his fingers together.] Fuse together into one Wirt? I know we're supposed to forget about Wonderland when we leave, but something has to happen or we'd like, hear about people running into weird doubles of themselves.

[At home, of course. Like weird news articles saying things like I MET MY TWIN FROM ANOTHER WORLD right under BIGFOOT MARRIES MOTHRA or ELVIS IS ALIVE AND LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE.]

There being two of you is one way to think about it. But neither of you are occupying the same space, so it’s less like a duplicate of yourself and more of a… a simultaneous, multiplanar existence. You’re both definitely real, but I wouldn’t know what would happen if you were to meet. I assume that if you came from the same source, you would both… maybe not fuse, nothing that dramatic, but… well, actually, yes. Something like that.

[ It’s actually really refreshing having someone ask all these questions and show a real interest in the answers. Even if the technicalities are beyond Wirt, he’s at least engaged. Carlos gradually becomes more animated as he talks, his hands gesturing in ways that may be less helpful and more distracting than he’d intended. ]

You’re right that something has to happen to reconcile the two instances of ourselves. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing what happens. Maybe if we could manage to move someone from Wonderland to a universe that isn’t their place of origin, they could observe… but if we could do that, then we could get home. That’s still a work in progress.

[Actually, given that there isn't really much that Wirt can do about this situation, distractions are absolutely helpful.]

Yeah, I guess there really isn't a way of knowing. [And frankly Wirt isn't enough of a scientist to want to stay and figure it out once there's a way out of Wonderland. He's got stuff to do and a life to live at home.] Or at least, not one that can actually be tested. But that's...that's kind of amazing, that we could be living not just two lives but countless lives all at the same time in different worlds. What if there was one of us in every world that someone's from here? What if...I-I mean, the Earth is so populated that the odds are kind of impossible, but anyone here could be just someone who's passed through our lives and been forgotten about. It's kind of like...

[He pauses, trying to decide if this is dumb or not. It's not like he has a source handy, but it's a fact he heard that stuck with him, and to be honest he kind of hopes it's true.]

...I heard somewhere that when you dream, you never make up totally new people? Every person you dream about is supposedly someone you've like, passed in a crowded mall once or someone from your childhood that you haven't seen or thought about in years. All of these people who would be completely lost and forgotten to you otherwise...apparently we remember them in our dreams. Give them new lives, put them in new crowds, things like that. So...it feels kind of like that, somehow.

Edited 2015-03-27 20:50 (UTC)

[ Carlos doesn’t say anything right away, his expression seemingly serious. It’s really just a look of intense thought, his eyes narrowed at the video feed of Wirt without actually actively seeing it. ]

… You could be right. If we’re all from different universes, even planes of existence, then who is to say that we aren’t somehow present in each other’s alternate realities? Interesting. I’d never even considered… I mean, it is impossible to test, unless one of us recognized someone else, but it’s still worth noting. [ Little does he know of the few people who have passed through Wonderland that do share their exact appearance and voice with another visitor, the two of them physically identical. Wirt may actually be on to something here. ]

And if we were to draw a more direct comparison between that idea and where we are now- the idea that we’re merely projecting outwards, or that we even have the power to alter this reality in that way- then what you could be implying is that Wonderland isn’t a physical place at all, but a… a sort of only semi-tangible place. One that is influenced by those of us who pass through it, like a dream would be. That explains how it uses our memories, how it even accesses them in the first place, it’s malleability- [ His eyes have widened, then glance quickly around whatever room he’s in before settling, wonderingly, back on Wirt’s image on the communicator. ] This is... an entirely new theory.

[That silence makes Wirt really nervous at first and he's already preparing to backpedal as fast as he can, but...it turns out he doesn't have to, and he eases. He even smiles a little. It's worth noting!]

I-I don't know about that, I mean...

[He's still a little sheepish, just in case he's wrong. There's no way to prove any of this, but he still feels a little like there should be a disclaimer on it. He's not a scientist or anything like that after all. Warning: theories hypothesized by a high school dork with a C average in Science. Something like that.]

If that's the case though, then why does everything feel so real? If it's not a physical place, then how come stuff can affect us? I-I mean, for example, if I stubbed my toe on a dresser or something, it would still hurt. We...we sleep, and eat, and things like that, but if we were just projections, wouldn't we not have to?

[He sounds a little less certain of that though. When he has to actually sit and think about it...how much does he even sleep here? When was the last time he slept in the Unknown? He brushes off these thoughts though, and tries to shrug them away. Of course he sleeps enough. He sleeps when he's tired, whatever.]

Dreams feel real while you’re in them, don’t they? [ Carlos is hardly able to stop grinning now. This new theory is the most interesting thing he’s had to examine in quite a while. ] Maybe we only have to do those things because this reality is shaped by our expectations, and why would we expect such normal things to change? If enough people here thought that they would have to live as normally as possible, then… [ He shrugs, palms up, as if to say ‘and that’s that.’ ]

My boyfriend and I had managed to talk a door into existence between our two rooms here in the Mansion. I had thought it was just us communicating somehow to a sentient part of Wonderland, but maybe it had more to do with us than with something outside of us. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there’s not some outside force at work. Wonderland has its own sway over everyone here. But for all we know, the truth could be a lot weirder than we had previously thought…

But...

[It's finally tipped into an unpleasant place, dipping into the murky black waters of the unknown, of what can't be known.]

...but if that's all true, how can we tell what reality is? H-How do we know any of this is real at all?

[But that's exactly the problem. They don't because they can't and it's something Wirt finds deeply uncomfortable.]

Um, that's...that's cool about the door though. I didn't realize you could do things like that here.

[To be honest, he hasn't played with his room very much because he hasn't been able to shake the feeling that it doesn't really belong to him, and that he shouldn't mess it up too much.]

We don’t! [ He says that with the exact opposite of Wirt’s hesitation and discomfort. Nothing is more amazing than the concept of everything you know being a loose construct of unknown origin that may not even exist in any measurable form, right? ]

That door was a special case, I think. My boyfriend, he was- [ A pause, small but noticeable. ] Is very unique. He’s kind of an expert in dealing with strange things, and he is the most amazing public speaker you’ve ever heard. Or private speaker. Speaker in general. The most amazing person who can make sounds with their mouth that also happen to form words that other people recognize as language. If anyone could talk a door into Wonderland, it’s him. It wouldn’t surprise me if it only worked because of him.

[That sounds terrible and Wirt makes no secret of showing it...but, he decides to just not poke that subject any further and just listen to Carlos talk about his boyfriend.

...And it's kind of nice. That discomfort melts into something warmer. It always feels good to hear someone talking about the person they love, and reaffirming that love is real and not just something teenage dorks with mixtapes talk about.]

He sounds like a great guy. [A pause.] ...Is he person close to you who left Wonderland? If so, that...that must be really difficult, to be away from him. I'm sorry.

He is. A wonderful man, and… he did leave. Or he was moved, I guess. Wonderland makes all those decisions for us.

[ If he sounds a little bitter there, it’s because he is. Carlos is really pretty tired of whole universes telling him where he can and can't be. But the smile he gives Wirt is genuine despite that. ]

Thank you. It is difficult, but part of me is happy that he’s back home. He missed it so much.

Mm. I-I mean, it's a little different for Greg? This place is...kind of dangerous for a six-year-old, but so is the place we came from? But most people would probably rather be safe at home, so...that part's good, at least! Wh-wherever he is now is probably less dangerous than Wonderland, especially if he was really missing it...right?

[At least, that's what Wirt would assume. Carlos' boyfriend is probably safe at home, doing whatever he does in his home world that definitely isn't the stuff of nightmares.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Video/Action

no subject

no subject

[ Audio -> Video ]

[Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]