[CONSOLE]: VIDEO

[backwordscompatible]

[She wasn't paranoid.]

[...but she was interested. Also experiencing a strange sense of not-quite deja vu. It had been a while--more than a year, including time spent Dreaming--but she still remembered the days when she would have received telepathic visitors into her mind. First, Asti. Then the babies. Granted, the latest mystery message had been a text. But that just made things even stranger: no voice to tie the source back to.]

[She definitely wan't paranoid. Yet. Which was why she made the decision to go public, putting on a smile for her first Network appearance in some time. Like this was meant to be nothing more than a game.]

For the record? The person who sent me that cute little Scavenger Hunt message--

[And it had taken a long, hard period of consideration before opting for that particular phrase. On the off chance anybody else had received a similar message recently, they might see through it. On the slightly more probable chance one of the locals was listening in, they'd think this was nothing more than some Foreign custom.]

--you get points for creativity. And vocabulary.

But if I'm going to be color-hopping my way through the sectors, there better be a nice reward at the end. Maybe not diamonds, but...something to make all that effort worth it, you know?

Also, next time? Try signing it so I know who to thank personally.

Comments

[raavashing]

Color-hopping?

[That was familiar. But it could just be a coincidence.]

Would you define color-hopping for me?

[backwordscompatible]

[Hello, Wan.]

[She'll not only define it for you, she'll do one better: with a few discreet movements off-camera, she pulled out a notebook of some kind and began to skin through whatever was written on that particular page. Purposely selecting the relevant highlights.]

Let's see...

...we go from "orange soil" to "red embers" to "sapphire tides". Then there's talk about "violet ores" and "viridian trees". Ringing any bells for you?

[raavashing]

It's the same message I was left. It had a purple star next to it.

[The same purple star they'd been seeing on the consoles.]

[backwordscompatible]

You don't say. [She leaned forward, still outwardly as ease as if this were an everyday occurrence.] Mine had an orange...oh, I forgot if it was a hexagon or a heptagon. Didn't really pay attention to the number of sides.

I'm down at the Welcome Center, if you wanted to stop by and compare notes?

[Away from the public eye and ear. Just in case.]

[raavashing]

I can do that. Should I bring lunch?

[He didn't get why she was asking him to come there, but he was fine with doing so.]

audio;

[inkulcation]

Oh, is everyone getting one of those? And here I was hoping I was special.

[Heavy on the sarcasm there. She's reasonably sure of the message Zatanna means, and has at least some sense of how to be circumspect.]

Presuming we mean the same thing, of course. What makes you think you'll get an answer?

audio;

[backwordscompatible]

[That's another one. Regardless of sarcasm, the message came across loud and clear.]

I don't.

But I have a better chance than if I kept quiet about it.

audio;

[inkulcation]

Fair enough.

[It still seems rather a long shot -- no guarantee of the dispenser of those messages even being another Foreigner -- but not everyone is content to wait and watch.]

And if you discover anything, how widely do you plan to disperse that information?

audio;

[backwordscompatible]

Well, sharing is caring, right?

[Not to mention, depending upon exactly what she encountered, there seemed little reason not to share. Especially if it was a city-wide message meant for the city.]

I'm not exactly going to shout it all from the skies, but it would be boring to keep everything to myself all the time.

[gathersnomoss]

I think I got the same message. How easy would it be for someone to send each one of us that message?

[backwordscompatible]

[Three.]

[So far.]

[She was fairly certain there were more than that, but for now, she would focus on the three she definitely knew about.]


Not that hard, I'd say.

My friends and I used to message each other kind of like this all the time before the Big Battle. The only difference was that we always knew who the sender was.

[gathersnomoss]

And it wasn't sending multiple messages at once.

Would you have to send it a few times or is it like... I don't know, a printing press... where you can make a lot of copies once you write something and set it up.

[backwordscompatible]

I'm probably the wrong person to be asking about this sort of thing, honestly.

I know how to use the consoles, yeah, but I don't know every last detail of how they work or what hidden tricks they might have. You'd be better off looking to some of the more tech-savvy people. Stark Industries, maybe?

[theideaguy]

[Sokka just shakes his head.]

Apparently, we didn't get the message the first time.

Whomever is sending the message though needs to learn how to send better messages.

[backwordscompatible]

[Well, to be fair, the first message was kind of vague. Though he did have a point; this time, it did seem to spell things out in significantly greater detail.]

Maybe it's their first time?

I mean, what kind of message would you send if you were trying to set something like this up?

[theideaguy]

Oh, well, I would have probably been a little more obvious. Maaaaaaaybe something like, "Hey, everyone! I put the secret treasure in a secret chest somewhere hidden in Keeliai! To find it, maybe you should stand on your head, spin around three times, and then you'll just magically find it in front of you."

[Sokka laughs a bit.]

Man, how many juulan I'd pay to see that.

[backwordscompatible]

[Sokka, please.]

[...whatever you do, do not suggest that idea to Jack. Not even a hint. Ever.]

Are you sure it'd be worth it?

I mean, the city's only so big. They'd find you eventually.

video;

[denyamenti]

The most cordial reply to the sender yet.

video;

[backwordscompatible]

[THAT FACE She could only shrug in response to a comment like that.]

What, like I was going to yell at them?

omg that's also the wrong icon, gdit phone tagging. it was supposed to be this one

[denyamenti]

It wouldn't be the first time someone's tried it. I don't suppose you've gotten any answers yet?

curse you, phone icons

[backwordscompatible]

[She supposed she could start yelling and throwing wild accusations around. It hardly seemed the effort, though, given that the worst-case scenario thus far was a dull headache in the works.]

Definitively? No.

But I do have confirmation that I'm not the only participant in this game. Though I kind of already knew that one.

[audio]

[pushtheboundaries]

I'm not sure you'll be that lucky. With the signing. Whoever's responsible for this, it's clear they'd rather stay anonymous for now.

[audio]

[backwordscompatible]

[Yeah, she had kind of figured that part out by then.]

Can't blame a girl for trying?

[audio]

[pushtheboundaries]

It was worth a try, I suppose. I won't fault you for that, but I think we'll have to solve this one on our own.

That said, what color was your symbol?

[audio]

[backwordscompatible]

It was Orange.

And judging by your phrasing, would I be correct in guessing you had a colored symbol too?

[Was there anybody who didnt get a message?]