somethings gotta give (clopin)

An actual pool of tears? This place was absolutely twisted! There wasn't much of Wonderland that Clopin could make sense of, but why would that be if he hadn't been anywhere else before? Or, perhaps, he had just only plopped into existence - it seemed somehow unlikely, but what else was he to think of it? Maybe that had been why finally coming to this place had seemed so appropriate. Admittedly, it was mostly curiosity that had driven him to the place but he still had a pinch of despair in his chest. It was despair that had come from feeling so strangely lost.

Approaching the pool Clopin could see that he had not been the only one to visit. Through narrowed eyes he looked the young man over and then stuck his nose up toward the air, a grin spreading across his lips. Clopin walked near the edge of the lake, picking up a stone to toss up and down and then eventually skip across the water. He looked over in the young man's direction, still appearing in a much better mood than anyone who'd contributed to the pool.

"Adding to the collection are we?" he asked, motioning toward the pool. "I don't imagine anyone your size contributing much, but with hard work anything is possible!"

Now that both of them were aware of the others company, Clopin decided to approach although he did so slowly while he very curiously listened to the answers that he got. He got the feeling that this young man (who was obviously so incredibly cheerful at the moment) was not too keen on having Clopin’s company. As a matter of fact, he felt like he probably hadn’t been seeking out any company at all! However, Clopin was curious about him. To be fair though Clopin was curious about most of those who inhabited this strange place called Wonderland. He just happened to have a moment of one on one time with this one.

As he got closer he furrowed his brow and eyed the shepherd’s crook with some suspicion. He made a small leap out toward a rock situated out close to the pool and then squatted down after he turned to face the blonde. He slowly cocked his head with one eyebrow raised up as he looked over at him and grinned again.

“It looks like to me that you have gone and lost your sheep. I had assumed that perhaps that was something to shed a tear or two over,” he explained to him while replacing his smile with a sympathetic frown. “Especially since I haven’t seen any sheep since I’ve gotten here. Are they a rarity in these parts or have they all gone missing?”

Clopin placed a hand on his knee and gave him a look that was somewhere in between startled and amused. Because why in would Clopin ever be out here to add to this pool of tears? Certainly he did not appear to be too overwhelmed with emotions! Well, except when he thought of those poor sheep.

“Oh, yes,” Clopin quickly answered him while nodding just as fast. “I thought it was only appropriate to mourn somewhere where the tears would be of use. Because it does seem that I have gone and lost something myself – although, it proved more difficult to catch than sheep.” He waved his hands in front of himself then, grinning. “Not to say that sheep aren’t wily little things, I’m sure yours were quite clever.”

He could have been a sheep herder in the past. The thought actually caused a moment of pause in Clopin’s busy mind. Even though he’d been the one to point it out Clopin really hadn’t thought of it that way – that way being that the staff could have been something that held significance to a mysterious past. That also meant that this young man clearly would not be here to mourn the loss of any sheep. Maybe he was here to try and chase after the same things that Clopin was after? This fellow even had some proof with him, didn’t he? He had a shepherd’s crook that had made it to this strange place with him. Clopin could not say as much since he only had a few tricks that he wasn’t sure the origin of!

Clopin’s nose wrinkled up as he stared over at him. “One would assume it were for herding sheep,” he said quietly while rubbing the bottom of his chin. He gave a slight grin while adding, “Or perhaps you had a different use for it. Like pulling poor performers from a stage or bashing in heads?”

At the mention of memories Clopin’s fingers reached up to swiftly tap at the side of his face as if his secret had just been discovered. However, it had become increasingly evident that everyone in his place was suffering from a wicked case of amnesia. Maybe it’d been contagious?

“You’ve found me out,” Clopin admitted with a dramatic sigh. He dropped his chin and shook his head in a display of false shame as he tapped himself on the forehead with his hand. “Whatever has gotten a hold of everyone’s mind has gotten away with mine as well. It is most unfortunate.” Clopin looked back up to him again then, seeing that he now had a grin and a little more enthusiasm caused Clopin to smile once more as well. “I’m not terribly fond of mysteries,” he told him. “So I’m very interested in finding out where all of these memories could have fluttered off to. And, I suppose, your sheep as well. I am Clopin. You haven’t lost your name have you, shepherd?”