entranceway | 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

[ 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.]

Video/Action

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]

[ Video ]