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Third Dispatch. I have Advice. Written.
Dear Luceti,
My efforts to gain notice by the Malnosso Organization for my considerable human resources skills have not been enough, I fear.
To this end, I shall be offering my services free of charge: Effie's Advisements. No problem is too large or too small! We shall overcome -- together.
Most Sincerely,
Effie.
[That signature has a very elegant flourish to it.]
My efforts to gain notice by the Malnosso Organization for my considerable human resources skills have not been enough, I fear.
To this end, I shall be offering my services free of charge: Effie's Advisements. No problem is too large or too small! We shall overcome -- together.
Most Sincerely,
Effie.
[That signature has a very elegant flourish to it.]
[Written | Locked]
[Written | Locked]
[That was a very informal sign-off. Effie reconsiders and adds, after a moment:]
Sincerely,
Ms. Effie Trinkett.
[She will hurry to the library. The timing of it all means that she doesn't have a chance to wig-up or put on half the makeup she would ordinarily don. Oh well. She doesn't want to be late. Learning to lock a post could be extremely useful.]
[Action]
Either way though, it takes him a few seconds to find her; he's entirely too used to recognizing the wigs and 'out there' make up that he almost passes over the blonde, thinking she might be another new feather, or at least an infrequent patron of the library.
When he realizes who he's looking at, though, he actually smiles a little.
"That's a good look for you."
[Action]
[Action]
"...We obviously have different standards, then. You look fine. Maybe even a little too much make-up. But then, I guess you could always discount what I'm saying, since I'm not from your home world."
He'll gesture to one of the tables.
"C'mon, let's get this worked out for you." He'll head to where he indicated without any further invitation.
[Action]
Never again. Never AGAIN do I leave the house so underdone!
Effie plunks herself down in as ladylike a manner as possible at the table and lays her journal out on the surface.
"Your standards are obviously very low," she chides, probably too sharply. "I don't want to take too much of your valuable time. If you could even give me the general idea, I can probably figure it out."
[Action]
He's not meaning to make it sound like an insult; it just is what it is. People really would think she was a clown...or worked for Cirque Du Soliel.
He brings his own journal out, turning it to a fresh page as he lays it on the table.
"I think it works a little differently for each person; whatever makes sense for them. But what you do is essentially make a 'lock', like this," and he'll tap the upper left hand of the page, draw some sort of symbol on the rest of the surface, and end it with a twist of his fingers, like he was turning a deadbolt.
"And that locks it. Depending on what names you include in the code, it'll lock the journal to them, or just to residents in general. Like this one; there's no names, so it'll be locked, but everyone can still see it. Yours looked like this,"
Another series of symbols, followed by her name, and the same twist again.
[Action]
"Wait, WHAT? I can't even tell what you just did! Do it MORE SLOWLY, if you please!"
Her own curlicued attempts to lock things to him in her journal are sad failures.
[Action]
He'll stop, shake his head.
"Okay. Let's try this again. The parts that stay consistent are this," he taps the upper left corner again, "Which activates the locking system. And then this," and he'll make the twisting motion on the page again,"Which completes the lock once you get all the information in it. The pattern itself is your 'code' for the lock to open. You have to be able to make it exactly the same each time. If you can't, you can always use a number or word sequence instead."
[Action]
She traced his name very carefully in her journal.
[Action]
[Action]
She tries to send Derek a locked message: Hello Mister Bliss. I am glad to see your wings in order today.
[Action]
"You're close, but it's not quite strong enough, I think. It's partially blocked."
Don't ask him how he knows that.
"Maybe make the code just a little more complicated."
[Action]
She tries again, this time adding in a few numbers and hoping she'll remember what they are.
They are a very respectable shade of brown.
"There -- now?"
[Action]
"Yeah; a lot. Here," he'll move over to her journal, "Can I see it for a second?"
[Action]
[Action]
Really, he doesn't care. At least not right now. He's just trying to teach her right the first time.
[Action]
"Here, Mister Bliss."
[Action]
"Yeah, see, right here? You went over a little. That'll make the lock a little shaky. If someone knows what to look for, they can break it. You'll want to stay in a smaller space, probably no further out than this."
He'll trace a border around the page, a little in from the edges.
[Action]
This WAS helpful. Effie begins to relax a bit. "Who are the someones? The ones who like to break codes, here?"
[Action]
[Action]
And then Effie blanches. What if...what if that was a transgressive thought? What if the Malnosso frowned upon discussions of alternative communications? What if she and Derek were at this very moment being watched?
In a shaky voice: "Don't...don't tell anyone..."
[Action]
He pauses, then shakes his head at her next comment.
"I don't typically talk about people to other people."
[Action]
"Right, right -- about people to other people." She clutches the journal to her chest. How can she have gotten so glib and careless?
[Action]
"Let me be more precise; I don't tell other people what I find out. Tends to make you less trustworthy to others. And using what I know only extends to vampires, or saving lives."
[Action]
[Action]
[Action]
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