James Potter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pottershotter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entranceway2016-05-24 06:00 pm
pottershotter) wrote in entranceway2016-05-24 06:00 pm
Video
[James pops up o the screen, in what is clearly a pre-planned and perhaps even rehearsed message. By now he's been in Wonderland so long that the network devices are no longer a mystery to him, and he's nicely centered in front of a blackboard and grinning.]
Hullo! I'm James Potter - yes, that one, and if it sounds vaguely familiar it's likely because my future son is going to be a rather famous wizard.
[He waves a hand though, like it isn't a big deal. No one can fourth-wall James Potter harder than he's already fourth-walled himself.]
Now that that's out of the way, I've been thinking a lot about Wonderland lately, and how long it keeps people here. When I first arrived, it was fairly common for people to vanish after a year or less, but lately I've noticed more and more of us have been staying longer and longer. I'm not certain why either, but it does present one awkward problem - counting ages. [James vaguely gestures at himself.] I'll wager a guess that no one would believe I'm in my twenties, right? And it's hard to feel I'm twenty-two when I'll never look the part as long as I'm here.
[He's right. Frankly, he looks like he's barely out of school, and even that's being somewhat generous.And there's the pesky fact that he's only scheduled to live until twenty-one at home, but that's not the point.]
So, I've been thinking about how to reconcile the two ages in a way that won't take ages to explain in casual conversation, and I think I've got it.
[He steps aside and reveals a formula on the board - A (+W).]
The 'A' stands for age - the age you were when you arrived - and the 'W' is the amount of years you've spent in Wonderland. For myself that would be...[Underneath his formula he writes 17 (+5)]. So, I'd write it this way, and in conversation I'd say "seventeen and five" - you know, like that song about the blackbirds and the pies? I forget how it goes, but it'd be like that.
Does that roll off the tongue as well as I think it does? I'll keep trying to make it happen either way, and maybe it'll start to catch on. I could start a trend here! But I'd also welcome theories on why Wonderland seems to be keeping us longer and longer, because frankly that should be alarming everyone at least a bit.
[On that cheery note, he waves the camera goodbye and shuts it off.]
Hullo! I'm James Potter - yes, that one, and if it sounds vaguely familiar it's likely because my future son is going to be a rather famous wizard.
[He waves a hand though, like it isn't a big deal. No one can fourth-wall James Potter harder than he's already fourth-walled himself.]
Now that that's out of the way, I've been thinking a lot about Wonderland lately, and how long it keeps people here. When I first arrived, it was fairly common for people to vanish after a year or less, but lately I've noticed more and more of us have been staying longer and longer. I'm not certain why either, but it does present one awkward problem - counting ages. [James vaguely gestures at himself.] I'll wager a guess that no one would believe I'm in my twenties, right? And it's hard to feel I'm twenty-two when I'll never look the part as long as I'm here.
[He's right. Frankly, he looks like he's barely out of school, and even that's being somewhat generous.And there's the pesky fact that he's only scheduled to live until twenty-one at home, but that's not the point.]
So, I've been thinking about how to reconcile the two ages in a way that won't take ages to explain in casual conversation, and I think I've got it.
[He steps aside and reveals a formula on the board - A (+W).]
The 'A' stands for age - the age you were when you arrived - and the 'W' is the amount of years you've spent in Wonderland. For myself that would be...[Underneath his formula he writes 17 (+5)]. So, I'd write it this way, and in conversation I'd say "seventeen and five" - you know, like that song about the blackbirds and the pies? I forget how it goes, but it'd be like that.
Does that roll off the tongue as well as I think it does? I'll keep trying to make it happen either way, and maybe it'll start to catch on. I could start a trend here! But I'd also welcome theories on why Wonderland seems to be keeping us longer and longer, because frankly that should be alarming everyone at least a bit.
[On that cheery note, he waves the camera goodbye and shuts it off.]
no subject
Agreed. All of this time is a curse, but it's also a blessing. We might be able to do what the prisoners before us couldn't.
[It could change everything and it's what keeps James going every day.]
no subject
[His smile is teasing but in an amiable manner. Changing diapers is a noble calling in some circles.]
Nice thinking with the mathematics. You must get a lot of questions for you to resort to equations to save time.
no subject
[He laughs a bit at that, taking the good natured-teasing for what it is.]
I do get a fair amount of questions though - that's what happens when you've been in Wonderland as long as I have.
[Five years is such a long time...]
no subject
After all this time, I bet you three know more about Wonderland than anyone else. Have there been other changes that have stood out besides people sticking around longer?
[Anders doesn't have the same experience as James in order to spot patterns; perhaps there have been other shifts in the way Wonderland operates that he hasn't noticed while he's been busy finding his footing.]
no subject
[It's worth a try, at least. And finding changes might make it easier to figure out how Wonderland changes in the first place.]
no subject
Sounds like a good idea. With everything you've managed to document over the years, there has to be something that could help us.
[Evelyn's work in the library as certainly been a boon in that regard.]