driftfleet | video + text + action

Who: Agent Carter + YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Starstruck or the Iskaulit.
When: Today!

[ not too long ago, peggy pitched the fleet a diversionary puzzle. with all this talk of encryption and subterfuge, she's reminded how the puzzles were meant to be part of a series (of sorts) and so she gets out her notepad and pencils. after a few scrapped ideas (too long or too advanced or too dull), she settles on a code that's only a half-step up from her last one. ]

Last time we talked ciphers, we did a simple substitution. [ peggy addresses the network directly, and with little else in the way of a greeting. ] This time 'round, I've got something only a teensy bit tougher. Frankly, it can be just as handily brute forced as the other one -- but I'm more interested to know if anyone can figure out the math behind this one. Brute force only brings you so far in this hobby and I'm already working on something for next month that will require a lighter touch.

Extra credit, as ever, to those who can identify the source. Or express the cipher in modular arithmetic. And apologies for those in the Fleet who cannot speak English. Despite our augments, code seems to defy translation.

FA UYBDAHQ UE FA OTMZSQ, EA FA NQ BQDRQOF UE FA TMHQ OTMZSQP ARFQZ.

[ she'll field questions and answers for a little while from aboard the starstruck, but then it's off to the iskaulit where she passes an hour in the library -- in search of new source material, perhaps. for those players whose characters should be able to decode it but who don't want to try decoding it themselves, here is the quotation. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do know. [ -- a beat. ] Some days, I think I'd feel a bit better if I had access to a history book that actually seemed to fit the world I'm from. Nothing I've come across, yet, seems to match what I know.

I guess I got lucky, there. My history books wouldn't exactly have the stuff I do in them. But I wouldn't mind a few spell books or greek mythology texts...

I should hope mine wouldn't have my exploits in them, either -- [ at least, if she's doing her job right then it should all remain confidential. ]

But things go pear shaped. I'd like to figure out why.

[He smiles sympathetically.]

Worrying about things that happen way after you is a good way to go gray early.

Well! Then it's a good thing New York has since lifted its ban on hair dye, Sam.

[He scoffs, but it's in good nature.]

I'm just saying... If you're too worried about the future, you'll lose out on the here and now.

[A soft little sigh, a smile.]

And go gray, of course. That's a lot of money to put into hair dye.

I think I can manage to split my attention a little more equitably than that. The here and now can't all be fun and games.

Pretty sure that's why focusing on now is a better idea.

The fact that it's not all fun and games.

[He shakes his head, relenting.]

But that's just me. I, um, I couldn't afford to think like that, when things back home were heavy. I guess. Kind of hard for me to worry about the future when there might not be one.

[ peggy doesn't ask; frankly, she's not in a mood to stomach apocalyptic story-telling. she's had a bellyful from sam in the past, and it's still ruminating. digesting.

so instead: ] Believe me, now doesn't go neglected. I've already learned my lesson in waiting too long.

[He looks relieved and pleased, anyway.]

That's good.

[If he's honest... He's not sure he has a future back home.

This is good. This place, for all its shit, it's good. Sooner or later, Sam'll return to his torture session; he might die, he might not, but he can't let his brother die alone. He has to be able to follow him. And it's not healthy, lord knows its not, but it's never been any other way for them. The afterlife, it's gotta be them, right? He can't leave his brother waiting forever, even if it's the Empty that awaits them.]

Honestly, it's just nice not to have a rap sheet or a history people know you by.

I'm just Sam, the guy who gardens and reads books, and is tall.

Nice change of pace.

-- I can't say I'm not a little envious. As I've intimated before, my pace changed in the opposite direction. I figure it's never a terribly good thing if someone seven decades in your future recognizes you by sight.

Oh, right. Jeez, I'm sorry.

On the bright side, at least your life isn't a series of fictional supernatural books?

[.....]

Or is that something you're dealing with too?

-- Hammy radio show, actually.

Oh, god. That sounds miserable.

Who the hell did that to you?

Whatever greasy radio executive decided it would be a good idea to make bank on a bit of military propaganda. There's a silver lining, of course. They get my name wrong -- [ truthfully, they probably weren't allowed to use her real name. state-bloody-secret. but she prefers this explanation in public. ] Betty Carver.

... I'm guessing it wasn't very accurate in general.

Betty Carver seemed to be kidnapped by Nazis every second day -- usually while in the middle of extolling the virtues of her Singer. Or whatever brand of soap was popular that week. [ ... ] So no -- not very accurate.

[ and this doesn't even touch on the portrayal of steve. best not to even mention it, really. ]

Yikes. I guess at least mine is 100% accurate...

But then again, maybe I should just switch with you. Accuracy is kind of a terrible thing for me.

I'll trade you? They can kidnap me all they want.

And you're no stranger to hawking bad pitches for worse products.

[ low blow, peg. but it's less personal than the alternate quip which had been i hope you enjoy kissing captain america once an episode. ]

[wince]

Yeeeah... I've already been stuck in a television once before, anyway...

Why not move onto radio shows?

[ television, eh? downright posh! ]

I would happily relinquish the caricature. Let Arlene French voice you for a change.

Hey, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've endured.

You know, one time I went to a high school play about my life. Like... a musical.

Nothing like hearing a jolly tune of your family's depressing origin story. Or watching a kid in a wig pretend-dying in your brother's arms.... We ended up finding a case there, too, if you can believe it.

[It's so nice to vent about these things, thank you.]

-- Was it at least a decent sort of wig?

... Well, I hate to judge teenagers, but they weren't great.

Their hearts were in it by the end, though.

No budding Hollywood starlets, then.

video;

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