video;

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji's not in the diner for once. He's in the library. Not really...doing anything, just...being. In the library.]

Did anyone else get this in their advent calendars today?

[He holds up a piece of paper with the following message printed on it:

Pc dsts kvkqbw cbu rq afvg zziu
Tfv vvfwg oeh ocii, K ogsncxmbs
Esy W’mi pcklkbx pgtk xq uzzg
Oeh pcn, rqbv sh mfy uvrpn zzzg
Kyev wj hqbv gcbk fg iehqbv
Mo gfvtm, jstfp, ixsicqbv]

I know people have gotten different riddles or poems. So I'm wondering, did everyone get different messages, too?

Comments

video;

[entreats]

[ It takes her a few times to look back and forth between the message he's holding up and the one she has - it's not easy to see the difference when the letters seem so random, after all - but.. ]

It seems I got the same thing this time.

video;

[eatsyourscience]

It must be important if more than one of us got it.

[entreats]

Even though it looks like a garbled mess?

[ At least the poems were easy to read, despite being weirdly gloomy and omnious. ]

Then it's either some sort of code or this place is pranking us.

[eatsyourscience]

A code is most likely, under the circumstances.

["The circumstances" being the disappearance...all...of Wonderland.]

[entreats]

Are you any good at solving those?

[eatsyourscience]

It would probably take me a while. I think there are people here who are better at it than me.

[entreats]

Maybe that Dipper kid. [ Don't say 'kid' as if you aren't still literally a teenager yourself, Ange.. ]

Back when some people got changed into random objects, he turned into a book sprouting nonsense text which turned out to all be in code.

[eatsyourscience]

Yeah, you're probably right about that. I'll see if I can ask him.

[Or Dipper will just tell him soon enough.]

[entreats]

Let me know if you find anything particularly interesting.

[ You know, if the decoded message isn't just this place making fun of them or something. She wouldn't put it past Wonderland. ]

[eatsyourscience]

Yeah, I will. I'm kind of worried it won't be anything good, though.

[entreats]

At this point everything seems not very good here lately.

[ Not that it was before, but things recently truly seem to be collapsing in on themselves. ]

So if we can at least get to know something concrete about said not very good situation, it's a start.

[eatsyourscience]

Agreed. I'll let you know if I learn anything.

[entreats]

Thanks.

[krmvgivv]

Oh yes!! I mean, no!! I got the same message. I've been working on decoding it all morning.

[He takes a notebook out of his vest pocket and clears his throat.]

"No more tricks and no more lies
For those and more, I apologize
Now I’ve nothing left to give
And now, none of you shall live
What is done cant be undone
I'm sorry, sorry, everyone."

[He looks up and grimaces.]

So like, that's a thing.

[eatsyourscience]

That's...

[He gropes for an appropriate word for a moment.]

Pretty awful.

[krmvgivv]

Putting it mildly.

[Dipper lowers the poem and frowns.]

Something's seriously wrong with Wonderland. Like, more than usual. And I don't know how we can fix it.

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji's seen Wonderland get pretty bad in the past, but yeah, it's never been this bad.]

In the past, feeding the Core always seemed to do it. But there's not exactly much left to give it.

[krmvgivv]

Besides... us.

[Dipper doesn't like that idea. He's not sure what else they can do. He shakes his head. No, that's quitter talk.]

I mean... what's it taken in the past? Items with sentimental value, I know, maybe items from home? Would that count?

[eatsyourscience]

Maybe? But I'm not sure how many of us actually have things from home here with us.

[Sure, Wonderland hands them out occasionally, but there are so few there now that he's not sure there would even be enough to do any good.]

Besides, I doubt that's going to be enough at this point. If it's cannibalizing itself, it's going to need something more...substantial.

[krmvgivv]

Like... a whole person.

[Dipper swallows.]

Right? I mean, what else could be enough?

[eatsyourscience]

Probably not much. But we're not throwing anyone into the Core, so we'll have to think of something else.

[Not even Bill.]

[krmvgivv]

What if that's the only way? What if we have to do it or we all die?

[eatsyourscience]

Is it okay to sacrifice one person so the rest of us survive?

[krmvgivv]

Is it okay not to?

[Dipper doesn't know. He paces, frowning hard.]

It's like that ethical problem thingy. You know, with the hoard of rampaging elephants? Where if you do nothing they'll charge and trample five zebras, but if you cause a landslide those zebras will be safe but there's an especially cute baby antelope that will be crushed. Do you save the zebras and murder an antelope? Are you murdering the zebras if you don't murder the antelope? Is this a really contrived moral dilemma? I don't know!

[eatsyourscience]

...No, it's definitely a really contrived moral dilemma.

[Zebras and antelopes? Really?]

I guess "if I can't save everyone, then no one should be saved" isn't that great of an outlook either, though.

[krmvgivv]

Hey, I didn't make it up. Moral philosophers are weird.

[He huffs out a sigh wraps his arms around himself.]

No. There has to be a better way. I just... don't know what it is yet.

[eatsyourscience]

We'll figure something out. We have to. It's just a matter of if we figure it out in time or not.

[tetractys]

YOU GUYS HAD BETTER STOP MESSING AROUND, BECAUSE I'M NOT DYING HERE!

[eatsyourscience]

I thought you were going to fix everything that broke.

[tetractys]

OH, THAT WAS CONTINGENT ON YOU GUYS COOPERATING WITH ME! WHICH YOU DIDN'T! I MADE MY TERMS VERY CLEAR!

[eatsyourscience]

So you still could do it, you're just choosing not to?

[tetractys]

SURE COULD!

I WAS FINE UNTIL THIS PART. YOU GUYS DON'T GET A FREE LUNCH FROM ME OR FROM ANYBODY!

[eatsyourscience]

So you could fix it, and it's in your personal best interest to fix it, but you're not going to out of spite.

[tetractys]

FIXING IT AND NOT DYING ARE DIFFERENT! I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE I GET OUT OF THIS JUST FINE, DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR OLD PAL BILL!

[eatsyourscience]

So how are you planning on not dying?

[tetractys]

I SAID DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!

[eatsyourscience]

I wouldn't call it worrying.

[More like snoopy curiosity.]

Even if it was worrying, would you be able to stop me?

[tetractys]

[bill has no plan and he's just taking it out on everyone]

I CAN HANG UP.

[he's gonna. of course, when has that ever stopped anybody on a comm network?]

[eatsyourscience]

[Well. Okay. That really instills confidence in the idea that he has got it all figured out and is in no way worried about what is happening.]

VIDEO

[kingtrousele]

[Papyrus squints at the paper. Just at a first glance, he can’t make heads or tails out of the garbled code. But soon, it seems that this scrap of paper is familiar to him!]

OH!! THAT’S EXACTLY LIKE THE PIECE OF PAPER I RECEIVED AS WELL!! I ALSO GOT A WEIRD POEM FROM MY ADVENT CALENDAR EARLIER THIS MONTH AS WELL!! IT WAS SOMETHING ABOUT…THE DARKNESS I THINK? WHICH, IN RETROSPECT…YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE WITH WHAT’S GOING ON NOW.

HEY!! HERE’S AN IDEA!!! COULD THESE POEMS AND THE CODE BE CONNECTED SOMEHOW????

VIDEO

[eatsyourscience]

That's possible. We all got different poems. And poems are subjective enough that we could connect a lot of them to this code.