awkward tree app

[palaverous]

( PLAYER ★ INFORMATION )

NAME: Ru
AGE: 25
CONTACT: plurk at bowtie
CURRENT CHARACTERS & LATEST AC:
Ellie-Last month’s AC This coming month’s AC

Clara-Last Month’s AC, This upcoming month’s AC
RESERVATION LINK: Link

( CHARACTER ★ INFORMATION )

DOES THIS CHARACTER MEET SKELETAL BASICS? Yes.
NAME & AGE: Wirt. His age is never given beyond him saying he is in high school. I would put him at about 15.
CANON & CANON POINT: Over the Garden Wall, episode 6. Lullaby in Frogland.
CANON INFORMATION: Over the Garden Wall is the story of two brothers, Wirt the eldest and Greg the younger, struggling to find their way home after becoming trapped in a strange forest called the Unknown. There they encounter a mysterious Woodsman who tells them to “beware the beast” that lurks in these woods. The Beast is said to capture lost souls and turn them into Edelwood trees. The Woodsman also grinds these trees into oil for his lantern.

Along the way, Wirt and Greg meet Beatrice, an irritable bluebird who is trying to undo the curse on her entire family that caused them to become bluebirds by meeting Adelaide, the good woman of the pasture. She decides to bring the two along. They also encounter other strange things like a teacher creating a school to teach animals to speak, a paranoid tea mogul who believes his house is haunted by a ghost, a town populated entirely by skeletons wearing pumpkins, and a boat full of fancy dressed frogs. Wirt and Beatrice in particular begin to form a bond. Unfortunately, this bond is broken when it is revealed that Beatrice intended to give Greg and Wirt over to Adelaide to become her slaves in exchange for the scissors that would free her family from the curse.

Beatrice tries to call the deal off and even causes Adelaide’s death in order to protect the boys. However, Wirt sees her actions as a betrayal and grabs Greg, leaving without her. Wirt grows increasingly sullen and depressed now that he has no idea how to get himself and his brother home. Unbeknownst to Wirt, he is slowly being consumed by Edelwood tree roots. Greg, in an attempt to save Wirt, makes a deal with the Beast and leaves. Wirt has a horrified realization of what happened, and goes to chase after Greg.

Then the story reveals that Greg and Wirt are from the modern time and are dressed so strangely because it was Halloween. Wirt had been attempting to give a girl he had a crush on (Sara) a tape of music and poetry he made for her. Greg took it upon himself to try to give it to her causing Wirt to freak out and try to steal it back. Wirt and Greg eventually climb over the wall of the Eternal Garden Cemetary and end up on a train track in front of an oncoming train. Wirt shoves Greg out of the way and they both tumble down a hill and land in a lake, unconscious.

Back in the Unknown, Wirt finds Greg and struggles to free him from the Edelwood roots. The Beast suggests a deal with Wirt. He will put Greg’s soul in the lantern and it will live on as long as Wirt continues to feed the lantern Edelwood oil. Wirt nearly agrees but then realizes that the lantern actually contains the Beast’s own soul and that the Beast’s plan is to trick people who have lost loved ones to the woods, like the Woodsman, into keeping his lantern lit. Wirt refuses and leaves with Greg, putting the Beast at the Woodsman’s mercy.

Back in our world, Wirt wakes up in the lake and grabs Greg’s unconscious body, dragging them both to shore. They are eventually taken to the hospital where Wirt finally speaks to Sara with the confidence he gained in the unknown, suggesting they listen to music together. Despite it now appearing to be a dying dream, the end of the show indicates that the Unknown and its inhabitants are real in some capacity.

PERSONALITY:
Wirt: You’re always messing up, Greg.
Woodsman: Boy, you have it backwards! You are the elder child! You are responsible for you and your brother's actions!
Wirt: I’m I'm I'm sorry. Maybe I can fix it? - I-I can't fix it.

At first glance, Wirt appears to be a badly dressed, hapless, irresponsible loser who tries too hard and is deeply uncomfortable with himself. The second glance confirms the first.

Wirt's most defining trait is his irresponsibility when it comes to his younger brother, Greg. Wirt is quick to chastise or blame Greg for problems that are often caused by his own neglect for Greg or his failure to properly act in times of danger. He lets Greg wander off, but is often terse with him when he does. He doesn’t listen to his younger brother and is dismissive of his ideas and actions and then is frustrated when Greg tries to solve the problems on his own.

Wirt is an overdramatic and indecisive person. He instantly goes to the worst possible scenario that could possibly happen for any situation; he assumes noises in the woods are murderers or that that his companions abandoned him when really they freed him from his chains and simply expected him to follow. He often panics and struggles to figure out how to next proceed, which means most of the time, it’s his younger brother who drives all of the action while Wirt reacts to him. And when Wirt falls to act, he then often spends time angsting over if he should have done x or done y.

Even though he tries to pretend that he knows what he's doing and to take command of the situation (and Greg), he's actually quiet cowardly and tends to suggest running away or surrendering before trying to figure things out. Wirt even hides behind his younger brother, asks him which way to run, and then gets frustrated when Greg is wrong or gives him an answer he doesn’t want to hear. He’s also comically submissive to the point where Beatrice tells him to just “stop talking” and he does so without realizing that she’s mocking him. And then once he does realize it, he simply pouts because he doesn't have the courage to call her out. In fact, he goes an entire episode without tying his shoe because Beatrice keeps telling him to keep up when he tries to kneel down and tie it.

Beatrice: Let’s go, Wirt. Come on. [Whistles] Here, boy.
Wirt: What? Did you say something? I can't hear you because I'm too - busy doing what I'm told.
Beatrice: What? What are you [sighs] - No, no. Let's go.
Wirt: Oh, no. See, I'm a pushover, remember? - I have to do what she tells me to do.

Wirt also has a nasty passive-aggressive streak underneath that submissiveness. Once Beatrice starts poking at his flaws. Wirt simply decides to annoy her by being agreeable to the point of absurdity, derailing their entire journey, and getting himself shoved in a dunce chair. At that point Beatrice even admits he’s not a pushover but is in fact, “a stubborn jerk”. Which further spurs Wirt to declare that he’ll “never give up” being passive aggressive to spite her.

Wirt: Once again, you ruin my life.
Greg: Who? Me?
Wirt: Ugh! You and your stupid dad! You're always prodding me, trying to get me to join marching band.
Greg: Oh, yeah! If you join the marching band, you could hang out with Sara more!
Wirt: That ship has sailed, Greg, thanks to you messing that up, too.

Most of Wirt’s struggles come from his anxiety and his horrific self-esteem that comes from it. He likes Sara, but is too terrified to talk to her when he knows another guy, Jason Funderberker “who has it all together” is going to ask her out first and goes through over the top shenanigans to get his tape of poetry her created for her back. He even goes as far as to believe that Jason and Sara will spend all their time together mocking him. The reality is Sara obviously is interested in Wirt and finds Jason to be a complete and total loser and Jason himself, is in fact awkward and nasally and does not have it together at all. He also assumes that no one wants him at a Halloween party despite the fact that everyone greets him kindly and seems pleased to see that he showed up.

The anxiety that Wirt displays is extremely destructive and paves a path of quick reluctance and defeat. Wirt almost seems to force the idea of failure upon himself rather than to try observe a situation logically or even with just a bit of hope. He jumps at the excuse of Jason Funderberker and Sara being together as a reason to simply give up trying to talk to her or give her the tape. It’s easier for Wirt to deem something to be “impossible” and be upset because it is easier to be upset than to actually get up the courage to put himself out there and risk some kind of rejection.

Most of Wirt’s anxieties are taken out on Greg and his stepfather. He resents his stepfather and thus pushes his resentment onto his little brother. It’s obvious that Wirt’s resentment is completely illogical and actively hinders him in many ways. Unfortunately, Wirt is too selfish to see that he is being unreasonable and unfair to Greg, who really only wants attention from his older brother. This anxiety is also what causes them to be continually lost in the Unknown. Wirt, despite all his fears of being lost, is never actually upset that they have not returned home but only that he doesn’t know how to fix the situation and sometimes never even considers going home at all

The Beast: I can put his spirit in the lantern. As long as the flame stays lit, he will live on inside. Take on the task of lantern bearer or watch your brother perish. Come here.
Wirt: [Sighs] - Okay. [A Pause.] That's dumb.
The Beast: What?
Wirt: That's dumb. I'm not just gonna just wander around in the woods - for the rest of my life.
The Beast: I'm trying to help you.
Wirt: You're not trying to help me. You just have some weird obsession with keeping this lantern lit. I-It's almost like your soul is in this lantern.

However, in the Unknown, Wirt does begin to develop and show more positive qualities. It starts out just by luck where his passive haplessness causes him to stumble into heroic situations.. He defeats a "crazy gorilla" (really a man in a suit) by tripping and knocking him over. He also manages to placate a bunch of furious frogs on a riverboat by using his musical skills to play the bassoon. Even Beatrice has to admit that in the Unknown, Wirt manages to be a hero despite being a huge loser back home. Later, his confidence grows even more and he actually starts to act on his own. When he fears that the Woodsman has attacked Beatrice, he steals a horse and rides off to go find her. It all culminates when Greg gives himself over to the Beast to save Wirt, Wirt has an epiphany over what a selfish and irresponsible big brother he’s been. He immediately rushes to try to save Greg, completely willing to risk freezing to death to save his brother. When he finally finds Greg, he is overcome with guilt and admits to all of his wrongdoings and failures as an older brother. He even tries to cheer up Greg by giving his frog a silly name (Jason Funderberker).

Even though he seems to be unaware of it, Wirt shows himself to be surprisingly perceptive and clever. He is intelligent enough to recognize that two people who thought they were seeing ghosts were actually just two neighbors accidentally building their mansions into one building by noticing that two connecting hallways were each built in two completely different styles. He also manages to realize that he can save a young girl possessed by a spirit by using the spirit’s own power against itself. Of course, this perceptiveness is most clearly demonstrated where he is able to realize that the Beast is tricking him about the purpose of the lantern, and he even manages to get the Beast to inadvertently reveal the truth himself by threatening to blow out the lantern flame.
This is also reflective of the character growth that Wirt goes through in regards to fear. He spends most of the series being afraid of things that aren’t there or misunderstanding situations. And back home, he’s clearly self-destructive with all his anxieties and fears of what could happen. But now he can realize when fear is just being used to manipulate him. Before, he was content to wander around in the woods with no clear purpose in order to try and avoid what may be worse out there. But now he recognizes how stupid that was and how sometimes, you must face fears and take risks in order to move forward instead of aimlessly staying in place.

Wirt, when not into his own fears, is good at dealing with emotions and sensitive situations. He is understanding and kind when he learns Beatrice used to be human and, albeit awkwardly, tries to relate to her by sharing his “dark secrets”. He also immediately takes it upon himself to try to help out a young woman named Lorna who appears to be forced to do chores by her wicked Aunt. However, this also means that he takes Beatrice’s betrayal extremely personally and decides to abandon her despite the fact that she had clearly changed her mind. He quickly cuts ties and becomes bitter towards her in order to deal with how upset he is over trusting her. There is a definite indication that Wirt is poor at making friends, not because of any real problems with his personality, but because his anxiety prevents him from really trusting anyone. Being in the Unknown and gaining some confidence allows him to be a better friend and a more relatable person.

He's also not a complete stick in the mud. When he manages to get into a good mood, he'll even join in on Greg's singing and sometimes even enjoys it despite himself. He has a sense of humor and is capable of making a good joke or two when he's comfortable and nothing is putting him on the defensive.

The final episode also shows that once Wirt conquers his anxiety and his fears, he is capable of stepping up and dealing with his problems. He meets Sara at the hospital and is able to suggest that she goes over to his house to listen to music. It just means that Wirt needs a chance to find himself, realize his faults, and overcome them.
Relationships
As touched on in the app, Wirt’s most stark relationship is with his little brother Greg. They act as foils to one another with Greg being hopeful and optimistic to an absurd degree with Wirt is reluctant and cynical to an equal degree. At first, Wirt resents Greg and the place he and his step-father have come in his life. Despite the fact that there’s no indication that his step-father is anything but supportive and Greg clearly looks up to Wirt a great deal. But Wirt is content to use Greg as a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong, while being oblivious to the fact that he needs Greg because he is far too passive to do anything on his own.
Thankfully, Wirt is finally able to realize his own selfishness and become a better big brother to Greg. After that, he promises to Greg that they’ll go find frogs and hang out together. Wirt realizes that his role as an “adult” is to support Greg and to allow him his fantasies instead of constantly trying to make things about himself.
Wirt’s other main relationship is with Beatrice. At first, the two of them are in constant conflict. Beatrice is snappy and rude while Wirt is passive and sulking. However, they seem to bond over having personalities that most people can’t stand and finding that both them have struggles that they’re trying to overcome. Wirt promises to help Beatrice return to human form while she tries to give him relationship advice. They never really are honest with each other about how much they’ve come to care for each other but it’s very obvious. Wirt goes from trying to annoy Beatrice to actively trying to cheer her up. And Beatrice goes as far as to give up her chance to return to human form to protect Wirt and Greg. However, her betrayal really wounds Wirt and it sends him down into a spiral of depression. It’s essentially his worst fears coming true. Thankfully, once Wirt realizes how irresponsible he’s been, he drops the grudge against Beatrice and they work together to try and help Greg. As a final parting gift, he gives her the scissors she needs to break the curse.

COURT ALLIANCE & REASONING: Wirt is a bit hard to place in terms of the courts because he has a lot of qualities that could fit with both but I am going to go with Seelie. The main reason for this is that Wirt is someone who naturally falls into order. He may not necessarily strongly believe in certain ideals or rules, but he can accept that they are there and therefore they must have a good reason. He is definitely not a “mover or a shaker” and rarely steps up to cause major changes. He is, after all, pretty alright with following the direction of his much younger brother.

ABILITIES: Wirt is pretty much just a normal guy.
INVENTORY: -One dumb gnome hat
-One weird band uniform cape.
-Mistmatched shoes
-Shirt
-Pants

( WRITING ★ SAMPLES )

NETWORK SAMPLE: [The locket flicks on to reveal a young man in a strange pointed hat and cap. He looks rather nervous and at the same time, completely put out. Like he really really doesn't want to do this but he has to. He mutters to himself for a bit "okay, okay, just go up and ask and then sign off. No big deal. Easy. Or-or maybe I should just write it out. Then he pauses, realizes thing the locket is on. His eyes widen and he stumbles into a clearly rehearsed question.]

Hey, so my name's Wirt. And I'm lost. Or I was lost. But I guess now I'm kidnapped. But I don't know where this is either, so lost and kidnapped.

Anyway, me and my brother have to get home. And he's.. Well, he's Greg and he's... somewhere. Probably not getting into trouble No, he's getting into trouble. But anyway, if you could give us, or me, some directions and I'll go find him that would be great.

Or if you've even just seen him and could point me in that direction. That would be a good first step. He's about this high [gestures low] carries a frog around named... uh... I think it's name is George Washington now. Or maybe it's Kitty. Anyway, he's wearing a kettle on his head.

If I've lost him, my mom is going to kill me. So hopefully... I haven't lost him.

Uh. Thanks for the help in advance? Yeah. That's a good sign off.

[Brother of the year, clearly.]
LOG SAMPLE:

What a place my weary fit have wandered upon. Bright halls, bright music, and yet... so dark. For I am still far from home. My feet my be rested but my head is still weary. For how can I have been brought here for great purpose when I know not what my purpose is? War. Love. Violence. Dispair.

Wirt sat alone in the dining hall at the welcome feast, pushing food back and forth on his plate. It's not that he wasn't hungry. He was starved in fact, but he was far too overwhelmed by the entire situation to eat. Eat? How can I eat when I've been kidnapped?. He somehow missed the Unknown. At least that was... Unknown. Bad things could happen or good things could happen or... nothing could happen. But war, war was a pretty clear end. A clearly terrible end. How was he supposed to deal with that?

"Maybe I can play in the funeral band." He muttered bitterly to himself as he scraped the fork across his plate. And Greg? What was he supposed to do with Greg? Was Greg here? Or was he back home? A small part of him felt relief at the idea. No more singing or annoying questions. But then he realized he'd also be alone. And his mom would kill him.

A long suffering sigh escaped his lips. He slowly pushed the plate away from him and stood up, ducking under someone moving down the aisle. "Greg? Greg, are you here?"

Also a linked Test Drive thread