[video] they're starting to open up the sky

[slapfight]

[It's roughly an hour after Entrapta's announcement that Peridot comes online with her own. By now the rain has started to fall heavily now, and people have had their chance to be angry. Hopefully, Entrapta's fielding some of that. Peridot offered, but... Well, she's glad she doesn't have to yell at everyone.

She's vacated the lab and returned to the barn/room she shares with Lapis. The window and door seem to have been barricaded, though whether that's for the weather or the possibility of an angry mob, we just don't know. In her hand, Peridot has Entrapta's tape recorder, while her own communicator is propped up a few feet away.]

As Entrapta has already informed you, we did contact the Core, and there were some... complications, but that doesn't change our results! Witness this.

[She hits play with a savage "nyeh!" sound and a horrific distorted, almost Zalgo-like sound comes out of it. It's difficult to catch everything because there's a constant loud droning of voices that blend together into nonsense, but occasionally responses can be heard. Under the din, Peridot's own voice is more clear with her questions.

"What is Wonderland's intended purpose and what controls it?"

"S-so what about the Residents? Where do they go when they're not needed? Can you set them free? Have any them actually been unmade? If you need everyone to be together, then what about them? Where do they fit in?"

"What about the Mirrors? Is it because we don't belong here, so you're trying to make something of ours that does belong? Are they part of us or are they part of you?"

By the last question, the voices have become a din that crackles the recording into static. For the most part, there's not much that can be heard from the Core itself except for a litany of voices and occasional words thrown together. TOGETHER, BALANCE, WELCOME HOME, ALWAYS, and WE'VE MISSED YOU seem clearer than others. It's honestly terrifying.]

As I have a perfect memory, I remember the Core's exact responses, though... it was just as hard to understand in person. Most of the answers were nonsense, but it seems to be incredibly focused on all of us being together. There's a moment early on where it starts singing. Here.

[She rewinds the tape until she reaches the beginning where the Core answers her first question, and while the sound is distorted and awful like a music box played underwater, when Peridot joins in to sing along, it becomes much more clear.] Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow...

See? There's a lot of things like that. [She shifts the recorder in her hands.] This is preliminary data, and we may not ever be able to speak to the Core again, but there's one thing I feel absolutely certain of.

[Her voice, as arrogant and proud as it had been, suddenly goes very grave]

I think Wonderland wants us to stay here.

[ooc: the relevant parts of the log the recorder is playing can be found here, though be warned, it is VERY difficult to make out a lot of it from a recording device that was affected heavily by the distortions.]