ＶＩＤＥＯ;

[villainously]

( the video opens with a pair of bright blue eyes, far more fur than any one creature could need, and a practically thunderous purr. it's not surprising, seeing as Hook has tried about 5 times to set the thing up to record and the damn cat keeps knocking it over. his company is painfully exposed as he scoops up the purring beast and puts it on the floor.

no he's not going to mention or talk about the cat. that's not important, all right? thanks to that bloke with cat fantasies practically all of Wonderland has a cat. that's not what he's trying to talk about.

the pirate looks tired, but anyone that knows him knows that's a 24-7 thing for him. he's been tired since he arrived, months ago. that doesn't seem to be stalling anytime soon. not sleeping doesn't help, but his busywork does, at least a little. busywork for a pirate means making maps, which means... )

Is there a proper map of this place? I haven't spotted one yet. If there's not, I've been considering starting on a draft. It won't do us any good once the place is tits up on these events, but it's not a horrible thing to have on hand.

( he rubs at his forehead, as Dave jumps back up onto his desk and paws at the many pens scattered there. )

I'd ask for a star chart while I was at it, but speaking of things going tits up, the stars here are absolutely mad. I don't remember them being like this when I arrived, does anyone know what happened to them?

( the stars running wild bothers him more than he cares to admit. stars shouldn't move nightly... it's utterly ridiculous. Dave seems to have decided that the first eight times he was put on the floor for messing with the camera were just a cute joke, and tries to nuzzle it with more of those dementedly loud purrs. the pirate sighs and plucks it back off the table to the floor. )

If anyone has experience with cartography, I suppose I'd take the help. Making a map from scratch is difficult.

Comments

video;

[krmvgivv]

[There's a solemn looking 13 year old frowning thoughtfully at the question.]

The problem is the entire place isn't reliably laid out as it is. Have you been down to the caves? Mapping those is a nightmare. But you're not the first person to try it. I've got my own attempt, I've got one that's about as accurate as you can get.

[A beat.]

Um, not to assume or anything, but do you... need me to explain how to open attachments before I send it?

[villainously]

A risk of the location, as it were. I'm sure the stars aren't the only things set on changing.

( he knows the library goes on holiday every once and awhile, for example. which is very annoying but less frustrating to him than the stars. )

I'll take it, lad. ( he seems relieved more than anything that he doesn't have to start over from scratch. it's a pain and a half, and... ) Attached to what?

( that's probably a yes. )

[krmvgivv]

Everything changes except us.

[Physically, anyway. Not that someone is annoyed about his eternal adolescence or anything....

That's about what he expected with regards to the map. Dipper frowns and scratches his head, debating how best to put this.]

So do you know how you can text with these things? [Probably doesn't know what texting is, hm.] Uh, the typing words at each other part? [Was typing even a thing before typewriters? Probably not.] Like... letters except way faster?

[villainously]

( look, don't get him started on eternal adolescence. he's eternally grateful that all his years in Neverland were set post prepubescence. )

Right, vaguely.

( he's not much of a texter. because of the one handed thing. )

You're going to attach it to this, then?

[krmvgivv]

I'm gonna attach the file and-- [A beat. Dipper sighs.] ...or I could just bring you a physical copy. Might be easier than giving phone lessons on top of the map.

[villainously]

( oh, good. he's not going to give away how perplexed he is, but he prefers a physical copy anyway. )

Right, that'd be appreciated. Though I hardly need lessons.

( liar. )

[krmvgivv]

Yeah, I'll bet. I'm Dipper, by the way. I'm pretty much an expert on this place.

[villainously]

( as far as he's concerned, nobody under the age of twenty can be an expert on anything. sry Dipper. come back and see him in a few decades. )

Like the constellation? And Hook will do. Been a while I take it.

[krmvgivv]

Yeah, like the constellation. And it's been over a year. [Rate he's going, he will be here for another few decades. And still will look 12.] Hook as in Captain? Are you part of Henry's crowd? Is the pirate ship yours?

[villainously]

Captain Hook, aye. ( he's quite used to people recognizing him as fictional at this point, he won't even pretend it's possible someone knows him for who he actually is. damn Disney. )

That I am, in a manner of speaking. ( he wouldn't consider himself to be a part of 'Henry's Crowd', but close enough. ) I take it you know him. And she's the Jolly Roger, if you please.

[krmvgivv]

Yeah, I know, we-- [......Dipper has just enough common sense to not tell the pirate he and his sister commandeered the ship for their birthday party. Neal was mad enough.] --have seen it. But yes. We're friends. I know Neal, too.

[villainously]

( that is what is known as a Good Call, Dipper. )

We? ( he assumes that doesn't mean Henry, because he knows Henry has seen the Jolly Roger. ) Hard not to know his father, I suppose. Neal was keeping mind of my ship when I was away, but I'm back now.

( lucky me, his voice says without saying. )

[krmvgivv]

Me and my sister. [Sometimes he forgets that he has to specify that to people that don't know him and Mabel. He's a twin. There's a default we for a lot of things.]

You don't have any memory of before, right? [Dipper had never actually met the pirate, but, well, the ship had to come from somewhere.] After this long, that's almost always how it is.

[villainously]

Ahh, I see. It must feel both lucky and unlucky to have your sister here.

( lucky, because she's family. and unlucky, because she's trapped in Wonderland and suffering the consequences attached to being a resident. )

No, I don't remember any of it. In my world losing memories is practically effortless, through magic, but I'm not certain of any proper way to retrieve them in this instance.

[krmvgivv]

Lucky. We'd both rather be together here than separate somewhere else.

[When they're together, they can protect each other. When they're separate, all they can do is worry. He wishes they both weren't here, but if one has to be, so does the other.]

So far we haven't found a way. I mean, I've taken extensive notes on my time here laced with secret codes and clues to confirm my own identity so that if I do lose my memory in the future and then return I can at least read to catch up, but it's not the same, and it only works if you thought to do that when you were here before. And then thought to leave it with someone who's still here.

[villainously]

( to Hook, that's a rather childish perspective. preferring to be together in danger seemed foolish. he'd always rather suffer danger on his own, though honestly, he hasn't been too lucky in that; everyone he cares about happens to be in Wonderland, too. )

Well, notes and codes are one thing, but I was rather thinking magic. I wonder if that would work.

( he knows Regina is on about a memory potion, maybe if she gets one together he'll remember his previous time in Wonderland.

though he'd rather just remember his time in Camelot, if he's honest. )

[krmvgivv]

[I mean Dipper is a child. But it's also a twin thing. They need each other.

But the magic thing makes him frown a little. It's a nice thought, but...]

No one's found any spell strong enough to get around Wonderland's powers. Nothing that direct is going to have much effect.

[villainously]

Right, and nobody ever gets out, and everything is hopeless. I've heard this spiel before.

( clearly he doesn't believe it, though. )

[krmvgivv]

People get out all the time, just not intentionally. And I didn't say it was hopeless. [Though after being stuck in Wonderland a year and making zero progress, he's starting to feel like it is.] Just that if the solution was as obvious as someone doing a spell, someone would've done it already.

[villainously]

I'm no expert on magic, far from it, actually. But in my world, there's never a spell and it's all impossible, until suddenly there is and it isn't.

The answer is out there. Wonderland doesn't want us to find it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

( and maybe it isn't a spell. but Hook is pretty used to magic being the troublemaker in his life so that's what he assumes. )

[krmvgivv]

That... sounds pretty contrived. [In Dipper's world magic tends to create problems and quick wits and creative thinking solve them.] Which makes sense for a world that's literally fairy tales, I guess. I'm still pretty willing to bet we won't suddenly come across the Deus Ex Machina spell. If there are answers, they'll come from thoughtful deductions and being smart enough to find the patterns in all the random weirdness.

[villainously]

( dude he only understood like 45% of that. ........ maybe 50%. still, he agrees to the point. Finding a way out requires them to be clever. He simply also believes it'll require magic. )

If anyone knows the way out of here, it's whoever is responsible for us being here. Figuring that out seems the first step.

[krmvgivv]

If it's a who. There are theories that it's the dimension itself.

[villainously]

So I've heard. That's based on what, exactly?

( he's never heard of a malevolent land. and he's been in Neverland. for centuries. if there was ever a land that had it out for you...it was Neverland. )

[krmvgivv]

The complete lack of rhyme or reason to who's taken, mostly. I mean, it's not like there's no pattern, since a lot of times people who know each other show up, but there sure isn't a predictable pattern. Maybe there was someone running the show once, but I think they left it on autopilot.