video + text + action

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter & YOU
Broadcast: Y, fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Starstruck, if you like.
When: Today.

[ a video feed flickers to life, and fights for a moment to adequately focus on its subject. peggy carter sits in the kitchen aboard the starstruck, cup of tea and her elbow and half a biscuit in her hand. dabbing at crumbs, she sets her food aside and offers the network a bright smile. ]

That message -- the ominous one, in the bizarre language? It put me in mind of the sort of cryptograms and puzzles you might see in the Sunday paper. [ her expression is cheery enough, although she's not being wholly honest about her interest in such games. she won't be the one to say the words bletchley and park.] I loved them. Them, and crosswords. I thought maybe some of you might like them, too. [ ... ] We could do a few together. I'm not saying we all join a club, exactly, but back home they were always better solved in good company.

Let's start you off with one that's easy enough. But there's no shame in needing a hint, if needed. For what it's worth, the text I'm attaching is, in its deciphered form, English -- not yet certain how the augments' translation will handle it. We'll see.

BLSTKBC YLBSFKGISRX XL QIYT SL SFVBWIKAKJR STR QKBZ VX V XSRVZU EIFELXR — V ELKBS LB OTKYT STR XLIA QVU NKM KSX KBSRAARYSIVA RUR.

[ -- and then an afterthought: ]

...By chance, has anyone been brewing their own beer?

Comments

video

[takingkarabusiness]

I don't know anyone who's been brewing beer but I'm definitely down for a good puzzle!

video

[mucked]

As it is, I've stuck with a simple substitution cipher. But I'm happy to come up with something harder, if you like.

[takingkarabusiness]

Well, let me get through this one first.

You're Peggy, right?

[mucked]

I am. [ pleasant enough. ] Peggy Carter. Didn't realize I was so recognizable, however.

[ she might know precisely who is speaking to her, of course, but that's only because she's a nosy sort and has gone to lengths to be aware of certain names and certain faces. ]

Video - private;

[winn]

[ looking a little scruffier than usual - winn clears his throat, holds his hand up, and recites in a dramatic voice. ]

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose – a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

Video - private;

[mucked]

Good work, Winn. [ she doesn't mean to sound matronly. and yet. ] I'll ascribe you a few bonus points if you can tell me what it's from.

[ apart from simply being an apt description of exactly what they're doing right now. ]

Video - private;

[winn]

[ he likes the matronly, he misses it in his life. ]

Uh, the description of this week's fleetesode?

Video - private;

[mucked]

[ an almost laugh. something between a bark and a snort. ]

It should be, shouldn't it? We could all use a bit of steady purpose.

Video

[per_audacia_ad_astra]

[This is absolutely Betamx's jam and she'd be much better at it than her mun]

Ooooo! A puzzle! You are about to become one of my favorite people here.

[She's already moving aside the items she'd been tinkering with and starts typing it out as she works up a key.]

So you had papers? Like newspapers? [Betamax had seen some ancient examples in the archives of the Last City - under glass case and so fragile it looked like a soft breath might tatter them apart.]

Video

[mucked]

Daily ones, [ she explains. ] but the weekends always had the better puzzles.

Re: Video

[per_audacia_ad_astra]

That makes sense, I suppose; give you something to look forward too.

action bc I can »

[uprightness]

[ it's about 15 minutes later when he walks into the kitchen, frowning at his notepad. he copied the thing down, of course he did and he's busy trying to make sense of it. ]

-- I hope this message has a bit more cheer to it than the one they gave us.

[mucked]

It's not cheery. [ she is quick (and merciful, she thinks) to burst his bubble. ] But it is heartening, in its own way.

[ she leans back from her network device and points her half-eaten biscuit at the seat across from her.

join me? ]

[uprightness]

I'll take heartening over ominous any day.

[ he had a bit too much of that with a future that doesn't bode well for anyone, a rift that has finally come to pass when the memories surged in tony and now this, a message from a planet, of all things, or perhaps, the spacecraft? it's hard to say who is warning them and of what.

a butcher, the message says and he sighs as he sits down, smiles and takes a piece out of the biscuit. ]

I'm still not sure what to think of the other one.

video

[scanninggaydis]

[Oh, hey. Felix has already copied down the cryptogram when he starts his response, eyes flicking between it and the screen.]

It sounds like a good idea to kill some time. I'm in.

[...This man needs more hobbies, definitely.]

video

[mucked]

[ her smile is polite -- a little distant, perhaps, but certainly not unfriendly. ]

Cheers. The more, the merrier. If there's enough interest, I might make it a regular thing.

text

[robitussin]

nice quote that's real deep

what made you choose it

text

[mucked]

School-day nostalgia. And it seems apt, doesn't it?

text

[robitussin]

[hm.]

k zlbs dblo otvs ksx nflq lf k qkcts vcfrr. ylbsrms kx kqelfsvbs vbz vaa stvs.

xervdkbc ln otkyt otvs kx ks nflq?

text;

[survivalistcookbook]

Sorry, I haven't figured out beer yet. There's no real source of grain to make a decent mash, or if there is, I haven't heard of it.

I do, however, have a still that puts out a pretty decent 80 proof clear spirit (along with a 130 proof first run that I don't advise using for anything but de-greasing and sterilising). Not to worry, it's distilled responsibly and won't make you go blind.

text;

[mucked]

[ -- it takes her a moment, but she switches over to text. ]

Unfortunately, in this instance I'm after the yeast extract from a home-brew operation.

That said, I wouldn't turn down a bit of bartering for some of your 80 proof.

text;

[survivalistcookbook]

That's fair. What are you bartering?

(And what are you making with yeast extract, anyway? Marmite?)

text;

[willynilly]

[She squints at this message for way longer than she rightly should have.]

I don't get it at all ( ﾟдﾟ)

text;

[mucked]

[ IS THAT A FACE? dear lord. ]

It can feel a little counter-intuitive, at first. Would you like some help?

text;

[willynilly]

[Beware the emotes, she uses them often.]

sure!!

i mean yes please