entranceway | video;

[ When Sarah comes into view, she's sitting with her elbows on a table, fingers steepled, and she actually looks Very Serious™ while contemplating how best to phrase her question. The conversation has come up privately, and she needs to have a full understanding of one of the parts of Wonderland she's never bothered with - the Vendors. ]

Hey. I know everyone's kind of consumed with what the dormouse had to say or...didn't say. But I really want to see where everyone falls regarding opinions on the Vendors.

Since we can't pick the memory they want, that means somehow they can rifle through our minds to pick the thing they want to take. And it'd probably have to be something meaningful or impactful. If I ever, for whatever reason, had no option but to use the Vendors, I could lose something like the birth of my son. I'd have no choice or say in the matter.

[ Her reason for using the Vendors would have to be extraordinary. Something involving Kurt or Ray and dire circumstances. ]

Anyway, my actual question is...how do we know, if the Vendors can access our minds and memories, that they or someone or something else doesn't do that all the time, on a constant basis? If Wonderland does actually use our memories to fuel the things that happen here, does that mean our brains are constantly being...I don't know. Monitored???

I'd really like some opinions on this.

[ Sarah isn't paranoid at all usually, and she'd say this is more concerned than paranoid, but it feels like such a violation of privacy that she can't help asking the community at large. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I d-didn't think about it before, but I am now!

Edited 2017-06-22 19:57 (UTC)

Yeah, sorry about that. This was the easiest way to ask a big group of people. But if it helps, either way, it probably doesn't matter. You just keep living life the best you can given the circumstances.

I... I guess it's not like we can help it either way.

We can't. Knowledge probably doesn't equal power in this situation. But it does help to know that we're all...helpless together?

[ No one has the advantage, not even the long term vets. ]

Y-Yeah, that's really nice to think about instead!

We all have at least one thing in common, right? None of us asked to be here.

[ Whether or not people want to leave or stay is a different issue. ]

... I might have said 'okay', if they asked.

I don't think you're the only one. I mean, I think there are at least a few peole here who'd rather be somewhere moderately safe even when things get terrible for a few days because it doesn't last. And maybe back home for them is constantly bad.

But that's the point, I guess. If they'd asked. But no one ever did.

... Is there a point to all this, I wonder...

Maybe not to us. I'm sure there's a point that means something to...someone. Whoever or whatever brought us here.

... When I was in a really bad place... it seemed to be for someone's entertainment.

Everything about this place is to get reactions out of us. I'm sorry Wonderland made you feel that way.

[ It's terrible, honestly, how this place brings people down. ]

Well, I, um, meant... th-the last place I was, before I came here. It was a really bad place... and it seemed just for one... person's entertainment.

[She hesitates on 'person'. can you call a bear a person?]

Oh. I'm still sorry you had to go through that. I wish Wonderland was a little less like that and more like a refuge for people who come from places like where you were before here.

Oh, I-I'm still happy to be here, really!

As long as you're happy, then I don't think anything else matters. People are allowed to be happy here just as much as some people really hate being here. Either way is okay.

Th-that's good... I can't help the way I feel, I don't think most people can.

No, and it's perfectly okay to feel the way you feel. Hopefully, no one's ever said anything any different to you.

... People s-say a lot of different things. I think... I'm used to that too.