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[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.]

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Honestly, folks've been doing short visits home-- well, short on our side --more and more, lately. So it's a pretty good chance Greg'll come back with a story or two, and that'll be it.

[She gives him a look, not sure if he'll clam up if she asks, but...she's kinda gotta.]

You weren't home?

[He does, but only because he's not sure to explain exactly where they were. It's beyond words, but mostly he doesn't want to sound like a crazy person.]

No, we...w-we got lost in the woods. Really lost. We'd been trying to get home for days before we were brought here.

[And now Greg is back in the woods, possibly alone. It's easy to see why Wirt would be worried about it. Though, the thought that he might just come back helps a little bit.]

Aww, Wirt. I'm sorry. That sounds real scary. Guess finding the mansion all of a sudden might've almost been a relief. At least there're lots of people here.

[She's almost positive neither Wirt nor Greg had any sort of survival skills, even if they've been to a few boy scout meetings. If Greg went back to that, he's sure to be in for some uncomfortable days, assuming nobody finds them-- which hopefully they will. And, of course, it's hard to imagine Greg being truly uncomfortable anywhere.]

Well, at least if he comes back he can maybe tell you how the two of you get back home, right? [The "maybe" mostly hinges on whether Greg is paying attention at the time.]

To be honest, we...kind of thought it was just an extension of the place we came from at first? I know that sounds kind of weird, but had just come from this other huge mansion we found, so we thought maybe we got turned around somewhere but...nope. It's kind of a long story.

[A story that involves maybe trying to steal from a lonely old man, so maybe he shouldn't mention it. Even if it was definitely Beatrice's idea.]

And...that'll be good, I guess. But, that's assuming we even get back home at this point. Our odds weren't looking very good there anyway, but...time can't move forward there unless I definitely leave Wonderland, right?

[He's been kind of fixated on that part, but no other version makes sense and he can't just assume he'll go home eventually. That's a good way to get stuck somewhere forever.]

[She nods.] If you go back, it'll be like you never left.

[It's not super comforting for some folks-- some don't have anywhere to go back to, and some feel cheated out of their extra time by going back without their memories --but Beiste senses that Wirt might feel better just knowing that he isn't really separated from Greg back home.]

If the last thing you remember is being lost with Greg, that'll be where you go back to, I'd think. It's how it's worked for everybody else. Wish there was some way to fix you being lost and all from here, though. James and the other wizards are working on trying to remember this place so they can fix some things, but I don't know that you remembering this place would help you find your way home, 'specially since we don't know where it is you were lost...

Still. Greg ain't alone. He's got you. That's important.

[It's an interesting thought. Wirt just kind of accepted that they're not going to remember, and he's still not really sure he's ready to believe in wizards, but...what if they could remember?

But, she's right. It wouldn't do him any good.]

Yeah, we...I don't even know how we got that lost. I didn't think the woods were even that big...

[Logic says it must be, since they're lost in it, but the truth is it's not. Calling it "the woods" is generous. If one walks in five or ten minutes in any given direction they'll be spit out into suburbia, but...they're lost in the woods. That's where they've been for who even knows how many days now. He frowns, and moves his thoughts away from the logistics of it all. It actually kind of gives him a headache.]

I wish I could be sure. I don't have any way of knowing what he went back to...

Hmm. And you were close to home, you thought? You weren't, like, camping?

[Sounds like this might be something some of the others might get better than she can. Something magical. Maybe these kids got kidnapped to that place before they got kidnapped here? Ugh. No wonder they were so quick to accept this place but so unhappy they were doing so.

Or well, Wirt anyway. Greg doesn't seem the type to be unhappy about anything.]

No, I...we weren't camping. We were walking home.

[He feels a little like he's grasping at straws though. Why is it so hard to think about exactly how they got to the Unknown? He's pretty quick to try and mentally make up for it though. He must have just forgotten. It's been a while now, if he counts Wonderland...and maybe even if he doesn't.]

...Yeah, we were walking home, and then we got lost. We...w-we must've just gotten turned around somewhere, or something.

[He doesn't know how or when or why, but that must have been what happened. He still sort of feels like it's Greg's fault, but he kind of knows better than to blame him in front of an adult. She'd never agree.]

[Beiste lifts one end of her lips up, almost smiling.]

Sorta sounds like how you got here. Might've been connected to here, for all we know. You wouldn't be the first ones who had a better handle on the woods than the rest of us, actually.

[Although that Lorax fella was sorta magic on his own, and these kids were still surprised by the concept, to an extent.]

Not that you should go search for him in there. People have gotten lost and...and lost lives, doing that. It's not worth the risk.

[That sounds thin, even to her own ears.] Just...I think if you talk to folks who know more about magic, they might be able to explain it all, maybe. I can't, though. Much as I wish I could.

[Does it sound like how they got here? He wrinkles his nose a bit as he thinks about it. He can't pinpoint exactly when the Unknown became Wonderland, but...well, he doesn't know, so he avoids it.]

I don't know about that anyway. I mean, if we had a handle on the woods, we probably wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place.

[He's never been much of an outdoorsy person.]

Um...thanks anyway though. I appreciate you trying.

[He still sounds really skeptical about the magic thing though. He knows there's magic in Wonderland, but the idea of individual people knowing about magic is still weird to him, and he did almost get traded to a witch apparently. So, he's not really sure he wants to take that chance.]

I can point you to some folks who might be able to help better. Least I can do.

[And it really is. Because she gets the feeling he's not any less freaked out after this talk.]

[He really isn't, unfortunately.]

Uh. ...Okay. I guess it's worth a shot?

[Except he will probably get too nervous and not actually contact any of these people.]

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