entranceway | [Video/Action]

[The video feed shows Kanji leaning against the counter in the diner, his chin in hand as he props himself up on one elbow. He's still wearing his blue apron, but it looks like he's been taking a break from his usual clean-up duties for a little while now, frowning to himself thoughtfully.]

I got a question for you, Wonderland. Riley an' I were talkin' about events awhile back, and I've been thinkin' about it ever since. A lot of 'em have been pretty rough lately, right? But sometimes you hear people say that they're not always bad, that sometimes they're kinda fun. People seem to be havin' a rough time lately, so maybe it's time we thought about some of the positives of Wonderland, instead. Long as we're stuck here, we might as well.

So, tell me: what events have you seen here that you really liked? Maybe someone's asked this before, but if they did, I missed out on it. I heard there were a bunch of puppies once, that sounds like it was probably a good one. I thought Hogwarts was pretty fun, but I know it wasn't like that for everyone. If you can't think of any events you liked, maybe just talk about some of the good stuff that mighta happened to you here. Friends you've made you wouldn't have gotten to meet elsewhere, stuff like that.

I'll be in the diner all day if anyone wants to talk in person.

[Later in the afternoon, anyone who comes into the diner will find that he's abandoned his post at the counter, having taken up residence in a corner booth with his mop and bucket resting against the wall nearby. He's made himself comfortable in the booth itself, sitting length-wise with his feet sticking out of the end, several sheets of paper spread out across the table with the Rabbit Hole's basic menu next to them as a reference. There are a few scrapped attempts already-- sketches in colored pencil of menu designs he's decided he doesn't like, but it's pretty clear that he's undertaken a Project.]

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Yes--although considering how far this dimension has strayed from Lewis Carroll's tale, it wouldn't be surprising to hear that Neverland had done the same. [Since as Kanji himself confirms a moment later, for someone out there it is indeed real--just perhaps not as Rip knows it. Rip shakes his head, unable to help a sense of wonder at the thought: the actual people from the stories his mother read to him as a boy, as real as Rip or Kanji themselves.]

I imagine they might have special reason to be frustrated. For most of us, the insanity of this realm is nothing like we know--but for them, it might be familiar and still quite wrong.

Neverland was pretty damn vicious. All the Lost kids there... they were killers. [He should say we, although he'd been lucky that Souji had been able to get through to him.] Didn't want anyone on their island, threatening their way of life. Got pretty crazy.

[He frowns to himself as Rip goes on, thoughtful.]

Never thought about that. Wonderland could be real somewhere else for them, right? So it'd be like-- if I got taken to someplace that was kind of like Inaba, but nobody I knew was there an' it was all different.

That's rather different than the story I'd heard back home--which of course makes what you've said no less plausible. [Rip, after all, comes from a universe where there the concept of the multiverse has already been proven true. It stands to reason that the same could be said of worlds seen as fictional to another universe.]

Indeed, assuming Inaba is where you are originally from. You'd find some similarities, distinguishing traits that make it unmistakably a version of "Inaba", but at it's heart it would be quite different from the world you know.

Instead of your home, it'd be something more of a cruel mockery.

That'd be hell.

[He pictures an Inaba with no Tatsumi Textiles, no Ma, no Aiya diner, none of the people he cares about-- it's not an Inaba he'd ever like to visit. It's what he and the others had fought so hard to keep from happening when the fog threatened to take over.

He exhales slowly.]

If there is someone who feels that way about Wonderland-- I feel bad for 'em.

Then I suppose you and I might consider ourselves lucky that this world is entirely foreign to us.

[Strange to consider things in such a way, but it’s hands down the most positive position Rip’s had on Wonderland to date. Of course the fact that it’s a variant of the classic “it could be worse” really isn’t surprising, but still!]

Well. I really hadn’t expected to come out of this after finding something good about our current predicament. Job well done.

When you put it that way, yeah, I guess we could. Glad I had somethin' familiar here when I showed up, though, although I ain't too happy about the fact that my buddy's been stuck here for so long. Back home, I never knew the difference. He was there the whole time, but I turned up here and he'd been here for years.

[He huffs a little, grimacing.]

Sometimes you gotta look for the good, even if you don't like what's goin' on around you. Keeps you from lettin' yourself get dragged down.

You couldn't have known. It's almost entirely certain that Wonderland is a separate pocket dimension from any of the universes we come from, one that exists not only in an entirely unique space but also outside the very flow of time itself. So while for you your friend had been in your home universe the whole while, he had in fact been removed and returned to the very same point in your timeline, even if your friend himself hasn't experienced the latter yet.

[Simple, right?]

But that is another bit of good fortune we have in common; I found comrades from home here upon my arrival as well.

[Though none of them have been trapped for years just yet.]

Well. Hopefully your attempt does manage to do that for the people who need it. There is, after all, a great deal to be "dragged down" by in this world.

[Right. Simple.

Kanji frowns, and it looks like all of this is starting to give him a headache.]

Yeah? You found friends here, too? Good-- I'm glad. I mean, it ain't great that they're stuck here, but... it makes it easier, y'know? Havin' people you know to help you get through whatever Wonderland feels like throwin' at you.

[He'd have been a mess without Souji, he's sure.]

I hope so. I ain't tryin' to convince anyone that everything is all hunky-dory, but I figure lookin' for silver linings never really hurt anyone.

[Ah, but then it's Rip's turn to pause. Certainly relations between himself and the Rogues of his team have improved a great deal. Friends, however may remain too strong of a word to describe the relationship between them. Certainly "help you get through" feels as if it should be.

And yet, the heart of what Kanji proposes certainly is true enough. Where would he be without the Legends in residence to challenge him constantly?]

Indeed. [This might be the part in the conversation where Rip points out just who those friends are--yet considering the confrontation Mick and Kanji had, it's likely a better idea to remain mum on that subject for now.]

Likely not; if someone were to get focused on all the terrible aspects of this place without a counterpoint, the despair could easily overwhelm. Without any hope of relief, what Wonderland forces us all to endure would in the end be unbearable.

[And there are those silver linings lurking around, should one care to see them. Even Rip has found a few, despite his overly pragmatic nature.] It's also rather brave of you to be the one to speak up in such a manner. Finding the metaphorical bright side isn't always the easiest of endeavors.

[Probably a good idea. Kanji's not going to be joining Mick's fanclub anytime soon.]

It ain't easy, no, but most things worth doin' aren't, right?

[At least that's how his last year in Inaba had made him feel. After everything he and the rest of his teammates had been through there, trying to coach people into keeping their sunny side up was nothing in comparison.]

If it was easy, people probably wouldn't need to be reminded to do it.

No, they certainly aren’t. [However he’s come by his attitude, it’s an impressive one. Really, Rip does wish Mick hadn’t pushed the poor kid quite so hard; he seems the sort who truly would take care of someone he’s developed a fondness for.

A quality Rip definitely appreciates.]

Well, in light of that, perhaps I should let you get back to your efforts. You’ve got quite the task ahead of you, after all.

It’s been a pleasure.

Yeah-- it's been real nice talkin' with you.

[He means that. Even when he inevitably finds out that Maya doesn't like the guy, his conversation with Rip has been a hell of a lot better than most of his encounters with adults, in Wonderland or elsewhere.]

Gonna do my best, anyway. Maybe I'll see you around?

Of that I have little doubt. [Although hopefully it won’t wind up being in the context of Rip attempting to get between Mick and Kanji, or Maya once more declaring Rip to be an unrepentant dick beyond any form of redemption.

One can hope.]

Take care.

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