[Netbook] [Mid-month, a day or so after Loop's post]

[The handwriting on this page is distinct enough to be familiar to those who've read Timekeeper's comments before - a neat script, albeit missing some of its signature little hooks and arrows at the end of letters, and less mechanically precise than usual.]

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. As I've come to understand it, some of us have been lured into the woods this month and come back different. Insofar as we can tell, those who have done this appear to have swapped timelines with a different version of themselves. A little rough immediately after we all had to deal with doppelgangers, I know, but please don't panic if someone you know seems a little off.

That being said, hi! I'm Croissant Cookie. Loop tells me that the version of myself who was here before was called Timekeeper Cookie, and that she's... quite different from me. I don't know much more than that, but I'm not really sure how appropriate it would be to pry, so sorry to anyone who was expecting her instead. I also apologize for not writing this sooner - I've been quite wrapped up in getting things sorted so I can work on this timeline issue.

If you want to help, Loop asked who went into the forest on a previous page, it would be great if anyone who did could go there and answer honestly! Or just answer here if you don't want them teasing you. I won't judge, I did the same myself after all. :)

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Not gonna lie, I would kill to have his first two journals. It feels like the missing link in whatever he had going on. It must be nuts.

[But, yeah, he will let her look at the photos all she wants. He'll shuffle a few more of them out. There's a lot of pictures of the Pines, notably including his sister. There's a bunch with assorted people that neither of them will recognize: acquaintances from his previous dimension. Something that might stick out is the abrupt shift in setting between some of them. All the photos of Dipper wearing an eyepatch, he seems to be in some average looking modern town, but all the photos where he's stopped wearing it, and his right eye is visible in all it's blind, scarred pink glory, he's dressed like a Victorian with a goth phase, and all the scenery seems to match.]

[Dipper will also help himself to the weirder photos, frowning in thought, remembering reading specifically a journal entry that had outlined photo development with blood magic, of all things. He recalls seeing the little stones in the dark room and couldn't bring himself to touch them.]

[The photo of Timekeeper does make him go very still, however. There's no mistaking her resemblance to a certain other someone.]

..."Timekeeper", right? She looks ...[Hnn. How does he put this.] ...I've told you about Bill Cipher, right?

[There's definitely concern settling in Croissant's face as she notices Dipper's reaction - a reaction not unlike fear.]

The demon you and your family fought, right? Of course.

[Although the conversation had never happened to include Bill's appearance. Croissant thinks she doesn't like the implications of where this is going.]

[It wouldn't be fair of him to make such a direct comparison when he knows Croissant and who she is now, but there really is no mistaking the resemblance here.]

[Dipper picks up a pen and actually takes a second to draw a quick Bill on the margin of the journal. A very simplistic looking thing, but it should get the point across. A little triangle guy with one eye, a top hat, and bow tie.]

I don't exactly have much in the way of pictures or anything, and it's not like an conjure the memory out of thin air, but ...there's something eerie about her expression that reminds me a lot of him. The aesthetic is weirdly on point, too. Actually-

[He picks up the journal and actually flips through a few pages to find ...Timekeeper's entry!]

[A weird cookie who time travels and looks way too much like a certain terrible dorito, but she's actually pretty cool. Not many people will just let me talk about crazy portal stuff and not be weirded out. Tnfib M ergzwmzxkppn wvgb qzovcdrv mw flo hvtedlkmto mrhxvtl aj qiximez umh, cli lej txbebiripp bubvowwth? Jhuqlya? Fjx jam ajpivth dx iz mxxigrjaqb asxl wii Mqyi Yvkprzsifmyr awmta qe e mveoc kaqzk ds xwmed insex. M iscw pqv S'h lpzv mw fevo xd qp yiymvc jxvjm jqjyvi X qrwm m hogmhmfg, etmml wwi rvkqtdih.]

I wrote an entry about her, which I apparently made the same connection, but I guess I didn't think it was that big of a deal? I haven't cracked the code on the rest, yet, though. It definitely needs a key.

I... see.

[Croissant frowns as she reads the uncoded part of the entry, not quite sure how to feel about this at first.]

I really don't like that any version of me reminds you so strongly of something like that... although... I guess if the other you liked Timekeeper anyway, that speaks to her character despite our differences. Or... maybe she's not so different from me where it matters?

[She bites her lip, then shakes her head and gives as much a tiny laugh as she can muster.]

Well, if it were me, I'd be giving myself an aesthetic makeover as soon as I knew. One question though, sorry if this sounds silly to you, but what's a "dorito?"

It's hard to say without knowing either of them. I do think that this other me ...I won't say he's as different from me as you and Timekeeper are, but there's a lot about him that feels ...off. Whatever went on in that dimension, Trench I guess, it changed him. It's kind of spooky.

[A long pause.]

Oh. Uh. Doritos are a triangle shaped corn chip usually covered in cheese powder.

Experiences make the cookie - er, person, I suppose. That's why it's never easy seeing yourself or people you know from other timelines, no matter how used you are to time travel. I don't think it's something to be sad about, it's just... different! ...But I don't think anyone can help that weirded out feeling either, heh.

[She drops a long pause here as well. They're both feeling it in this clock tower tonight, man.]

Ah, I see! That makes sense, cheese cookies are rather fond of triangles too.

Mabel threatened to eat him with guacamole once.

[He would have paid a lot of money to watch her crunch on his stupid corn chip ass, too.]

The really weird looking photos, I think he treated them with magic, because I have an entire two pages in here that outlines photo development with blood magic, using something called "bloodstones" which uh. It seems to heavily imply he's using his blood to do this. Which is weird.

That's... well, when it's what you have to work with then you do, I suppose. What an unnerving way to use magic, though.

[She picks one of the weird photos out of Timekeeper's stack, squinting at it.]

I don't suppose he outlined the exact effects, did he? To me this looks a lot like an overlay of concurrent timelines. A uh, lot of concurrent timelines. How much time travel does my other self do...?

[Netbook] [Mid-month, a day or so after Loop's post]

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