[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

[backwordscompatible]

..."Spooky Puzzle Man"?

[theideaguy]

You know. Whoever the mysterious person is who wants us to solve his puzzle!

[backwordscompatible]

So who said it couldn't be a girl?

[theideaguy]

Believe me, I get where you're coming from. Before she became my girlfriend, Suki taught me a huge lesson about girls being awesome by tying me up and embarrassing me in front of everyone. But "Spooky Puzzle Person" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

And besides... who said it couldn't be a ghost or a spirit or a figment of our imaginations either? I mean, I don't even know what the Creep Lord even was. What if he had a brother... and he's the thing sending us all the puzzles?

[backwordscompatible]

[Actually...Puzzle Person did have the alliteration going for it. But, you know, hindsight and all.]

She tied you up before you two started dating? [Wow.] ...I like her already.

[Definitely sounded like her kind of girl, that was for certain.]

You think it's a trap, then?

Like...we defeated the older, so the younger's trying to trick us into performing some sort of revival spell or something?

[theideaguy]

Welllllllll, let's just say that, before I had some amazing cosmic realisation, I didn't think she could be a proper warrior because she—and all of her warrior friends—were girls. And then, after I apologised, I asked for her to train me, and she made me dress up in... hmmm... what you might call a rather noble dress and face paint to train.

And then she fell in love with me. What can I say? I must have looked cute as a woman.

[It seems to be the logical answer, really.]

As for it being a trap, who knows? I'm just saying it's a possibility! [A remote possibility, sure, but a possibility!]

[backwordscompatible]

[Oh, Sokka.]

[...she'll definitely be coming back to those little nuggets of gold information later.]

If you're going by that logic, then everything's a possibility.

We won't know until we try.

[theideaguy]

I'm definitely with you on that one.

[backwordscompatible]

Up for a bit of exploring, then?

[theideaguy]

Sure, why not? I've got nothing better on the turtle to be doing.

[backwordscompatible]

[See, that's where he was partially wrong. There was always something better to be doing, if you knew what to look for.]

Then go exploring. Follow the directions the best way you can think of.

[That's certainly what she'll be doing.]

What's stopping you?

[theideaguy]

[Sigh.]

Well, nothing really.

Besides the fact that it just feels like I don't have the right answer, so it still feels like it's more productive just pounding my head against this and finding alternative theories about what's going on.

[backwordscompatible]

I'm sure your head will appreciate the decision.

1/2

[theideaguy]

It's a figure of spee—!

2/2

[theideaguy]

[And then he identifies the sarcasm just a moment too late.]

Okay, good one.

[backwordscompatible]

[It was all in the delivery, really.]

Thanks.

I thought so too.