Video/Action

[singloversing]

[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.]

Comments

[intelligently]

Sometimes it takes longer for people to be found. Like a week.

[singloversing]

A week is like way too long for a little kid to be running around by himself.

[Sure, Wirt let Greg run around by himself a lot, and there would be days where Wirt only saw him a couple of times because he was running around adventuring or something, but even he knows letting a six-year-old roam alone for a whole week is really irresponsible and awful.]

[intelligently]

If it takes that long to find him he's probably gone home. But most people come back.

[singloversing]

What? Really?

[He's actually never heard that before, and he's never met someone who told them they left Wonderland and came back.]

[intelligently]

It's more common than you might think. Everyone here probably knows someone it's happened to.

[singloversing]

How come I've never met someone it's happened to then?

[Excuse you; he's part of "everyone".]

[intelligently]

Have you ever asked them if it's happened? It isn't something that people mention much unless it comes up in conversation.

[singloversing]

Well...no. I guess I just figured someone would have, you know. Said something.

[He feels kind of dumb for it now that it's been pointed out though.]

[intelligently]

Maybe they should. It's not always the first thing on someone's mind. It isn't always the nicest thing when it happens.

[singloversing]

Yeah, I...I guess it wouldn't be, huh? Getting dragged back here after you got to go home.

[It sounds kind of awful, actually.]

Uh. ...Has it ever happened to you?

[intelligently]

Twice, and to my friends. Going home can be great, although Wonderland doesn't pick great moments to bring you back.

( Either after terrible knowledge or you're just in the middle of something. SIGH )

[singloversing]

That makes sense. It's not like it picks great moments to bring us here in the first place, so of course it wouldn't be nicer the second time around.

But...that means we'll never really be free of this place, right? It can always drag us back whenever it wants to.

[intelligently]

It's possible. There are some people that have left before that have never returned so far, but it doesn't meant that they won't ever.

The only thing is that most people don't remember it - not when it's been a long gap.

[singloversing]

I...guess it's okay if they don't remember? They wouldn't know the difference either way, but it still sounds kind of depressing.

[Being trapped in an endless looping of leaving and returning to Wonderland sounds kind of...not great.]

[intelligently]

It can be, but it can also be confusing when other people remember them. One of my friends has been here twice now - he'll never remember some of the things that I remember doing with him.

[singloversing]

...Okay, yeah. That definitely sounds depressing. I mean, it's confusing too, but...mostly depressing. How do you deal with that?

[intelligently]

I don't really talk about what he doesn't remember. It doesn't change who he is, or what we do now.

[singloversing]

Well, no, but...isn't it hard on you? You still remember everything from before.

[intelligently]

It was more at first. I think now I've just accepted it. We'll all forget when we leave here anyway.

[singloversing]

...Oh. Right. I-I keep forgetting that part.

[Ironically enough.]