Zack Dill
November 11, 2007 1:34 AM
Have you seen any little notes around? by Zack Dill
Zack wasn't sure about this. He hadn't worked out what, if anything, Sagittarius had to do with the infirmary. That annoyed him, especially since astronomy was supposed to be his best subject (which was saying something). There was some clever correlation that he was missing. If he could just figure out what the note meant by 'Sagittarius' kin' he'd feel much better about the whole thing.But the poem led here. The poems were key. And Zack could think of nowhere else in Sonora that needed to be as spotlessly clean as the Hospital Wing did.
So here he was. He entered the infirmary, hoping he wouldn't be bothering the medic, especially since the poem implied he was easily irritable. His eyes darted about, looking for a small note with a holiday border.\r\n\r\n
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Zack Dill
Have you seen any little notes around?
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Zack Dill
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*clears throat unobtrusively*
November 11, 2007 9:13 AM
Does it look anything like this? by *clears throat unobtrusively*
The hospital bed was crisply made up, just the way Medic Wolfe preferred that they be, with the corners just so and the top sheet and blanket turned back to mathematical exactness. But, to the observant eye, a corner of paper stuck out from under the pillow, completely undermining the austere effect. There was even a very slight hint at a decorative Christmas border of holly leaves; a hint that was confirmed the moment the note was brought into full view.The first, a celestial flurry
The second, observe the campaign
The third's short duration can hurry
Almost there, but not quite yet.
No time for a swing; hurry on, hurry on
It probably wasn't the best place for it, but inside the pillowcase there wasn't much in the way of the usual pillow filled with stuffing or feathers or foam. Rather it was filled up with little bags of chocolate galleons, sickles and knuts, which made for a lumpy effect - especially after some had been removed by the clever seekers of the notes' rewards.
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*clears throat unobtrusively*
Does it look anything like this?
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*clears throat unobtrusively*
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Zack Dill
November 11, 2007 11:08 AM
Yes, quite like this by Zack Dill
OOC: To the other hunters, I'm assuming you caught up to me. Hopefully this isn't stepping on your toes. BIC:He was less certain of his welcome here (as he'd opted eventually to actually take Divinations as a RATS level course, he had felt perfectly at ease tearing through the classroom to find the note there but this was unfamiliar territory) so he was slower and more cautious in his search. In fact, he very nearly missed the note, mostly hidden as it was.
Fortunately, he had sharp eyes and caught the edge of the brightly colored border before he gave up and left. Approaching the bed, he pulled back in surprise when the pillow felt completely unlike a pillow as he tried to push it aside.
Curious, he looked inside the pillow case and found chocolate money. Having always been especially partial toward the candy coins, Zack took a large handful and dropped it into his robe pocket with his other candy cane (he was still eating the first one - candy canes took a long time to eat). Once rewarded with candy, Zack turned his attention toward the next clue.
An ABAB rhyming scheme four line poem. He'd seen them before but couldn't recall if they had a special name. He pressed his lips together thoughtfully and wondered if the 'celestial flurry' had anything to do with Sagittarius from the last note.
Before he could deduce anything further, the door swung open and Zack looked up guiltily, half expecting Wolfe to come down on him for invading the Hospital Wing without being hurt (the last time he'd been here, he was twelve, and Wolfe wasn't even the nurse so Zack had very little idea what the medic was like though he'd been competent enough that day Zack broke his leg playing Quidditch).
It wasn't Wolfe, though. It was three girls, including Chrissy and Mia and the red-haired girl he often saw hanging around Echo from Noveling Fury! "Hi," he said, still holding the poem in hand and not quite clued in yet that they were looking for the same thing.
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Zack Dill
Yes, quite like this
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Zack Dill
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Mia Kerova
November 11, 2007 11:40 AM
Looks like we caught up. by Mia Kerova
Mia still couldn't make the connection between Sagittarius and the Hospital Wing, but all the girls seemed to be in agreement on where to go next so when Chrissy gave the word, Mia was ready to go. As the girls moved on to the next location, Mia wondered off handedly how many of these notes they would be looking for.Was this a huge scavenger hunt that would span the entire school eventually or was it just a few notes of bad, but clever poetry and you got to the prize quickly just for being able to decipher it at all? Either way, she felt like she was on the start of a roll. She always felt that way after actually being able to figure something out. She kept her fingers crossed that the next clue wouldn't totally throw her off like the first.
Mia made sure Silk stayed by the door and that she finished her ginger bread elf before going in. It would be one less thing to worry about the medic flipping out over. If Wolfe came in and saw a bunch of students moving things around trying to find a holiday note, he was sure to have a cow. Mia thought it wise to make the search thorough, but quick…or not at all. After taking a proper step inside, she saw Zack was still in the Hospital Wing and he had already found the next note. That gave her another good feeling. The girls had caught up.
“Hey Zack.” Mia greeted after him and walked over. She indicated to the holly-bordered note in his hand. “Mind if we take a look too?”
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Mia Kerova
Looks like we caught up.
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Mia Kerova
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Chrissy
November 11, 2007 11:48 AM
Thanks for finding the clue for us. by Chrissy
Chrissy felt like she woul lose ten pounds just by running around the school looking for these stupid clues. Wouldn't her mother be happy with her then? Of course, munching on the cookie probably wasn't helping her with that battle. Candycanes were one thing, but gingerbread elves were something totally different.Walking into the Hospital Wing, the first thing Chrissy noticed was Zack. They had finally caught up to him and he was holding coins. Or rather, chocolate coins. Chrissy sighed, so much for the hopeful weight loss. Mia was already asking to see the next clue, but Chrissy didn't really care to wait to see if he would share.
She wandered up next to him and read over the clue. This was one was more difficult to decipher than the last two. "The nature comment makes me think the gardens, but the only campaign that I know is going on right now is in the Library with that D.I.S.C.U.S.S. thing." Chrissy commented.
She really wasn't up in up on the goings on with the school, she knew she ought to be due to her status as a Prefect, but if she wasn't interested in it, she didn't pay any attention. The only reason she knew about D.I.S.C.U.S.S. at all was because her mother had banned her from playing Quidditch because it apparently would turn her into a 'lesbian' and D.I.S.C.U.S.S. was fighting that.
"I don't know what the celestial flurry is or what a swing has to do with anything." Chrissy sighed. "Any ideas? She asked around her, including Zack too.
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Chrissy
Thanks for finding the clue for us.
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Chrissy
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Zack Dill
November 11, 2007 12:01 PM
No problem. by Zack Dill
Zack blinked in mild surprise. Take a look? Oh. The note. They were after the notes, too. "Yeah," he agreed with only a moment's hesitation. He tilted it to the side so that Chrissy could read it more easily. "Sure. Here." When Chrissy finished, he handed Mia the holly-bordered card. "There are chocolate coins in the pillowcase," he told all three of them, pointing to the hospital bed.The last piece of the candy cane in his mouth had dissolved fine enough to start chewing so he bit down on it and swallowed the pieces. Before breaking off his next bite, he pointed the half-eaten candy cane in his hand at the note. "I was thinking the 'celestial flurry' might refer back to Sagittarius, from the last note. My other thought was that it might have something to do with time - possibly History. From the part about a 'short duration'. History has reigns and campaigns and even the celestial big bang to start it all off. I'm not sure about the swing either, though."
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Zack Dill
No problem.
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Zack Dill
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Elly Eriksson
November 11, 2007 12:21 PM
Wow you guys post fast by Elly Eriksson
The bit about Sagittarius didn't make a great deal of sense, but the rest of the clue seemed to strongly indicate the Medic's area, and the others obviously felt similarly. The gingerbread elves were delightful, and Elly happily munched on one as they progressed to their next destination.When the girls reached the hospital wing, it was to find Zack there already – they had managed to catch up with him fairly quickly. Elly returned his ‘Hi', but nothing more because she'd never actually spoken to him before – just lost to him in Quidditch. Chrissy and Mia crowded round Zack to look at the next clue. For her part, Elly was quickly becoming more interested in the small treats accompanying the cryptic clues. She quickly found the source of Zack's chocolate coins, and helped herself to a bag.
Elly had never been in the Hospital Wing before. When her knee had been injured by a bludger, the Medic had fixed her up on the Pitch. The room was empty, as was much of the school during the holiday, and immaculately clean. The beds didn't look very comfortable, and Elly found herself silently hoping to never find herself a patient there (not least because that was likely to entail some degree of pain).
Lost own thoughts, Elly was paying very little attention to the older students' musings, until one word broke through to her consciousness. “Swing?” she repeated. “There's a swing in the gardens,” she told them, “but the Labyrinth is closed. There's a sign.” Elly knew this because otherwise that's where she would be: sulking on her swing. Somehow she viewed the turn of events as decidedly favourable. “What does the rest of the clue say?” she asked, doubtful that she was capable of shedding any light, but eager to try nonetheless.
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Elly Eriksson
Wow you guys post fast
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Elly Eriksson
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Mia
November 11, 2007 12:43 PM
We've got a need for speed. by Mia
Chrissy read over Zack's shoulder and Mia got a chance to read through it slowly once until he handed it to her and she could reread it. Well, it wasn't as hard the one in Cascade Hall. It was harder. Mia reread the note yet again while listening to the ideas Chrissy and Zack were throwing out there. She thought of the Gardens when she saw nature and celestial too. The library made sense as well. She heard about that D.I.S.C.U.S.S thing. Another one of those groups she only knew a little about like that W.A.I.L nonsense.Zack's idea about history could work, though she didn't know how much the prairie elves knew about the big bang if they were the ones leaving the notes. What everyone seemed the most confused about was the swing, but that was in the vague direction part of the note that hadn't mattered before. That was when Elly spoke up. A swing in the Gardens certainly helped the first theory she thought of, but not the part about the Gardens being closed.
“Here.” Mia passed her the note so she'd be able to read it and maybe work off of the swing bit. “I think it's going to have to do with something outside. It says nature and celestial flurry.” She paused and frowned in thought. “Celestial means like, sky. Flurry, like snow. The only other place outside is the Quidditch Pitch and that relates to the campaign in the library.” There. She threw her own two cents in and continued to think. “I don't know about the short duration bit though.”
Now they had a whole slew of locations to pick from and only one of them was right. Which one?
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Mia
We've got a need for speed.
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Mia
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Zack Dill
November 11, 2007 1:17 PM
Should I go get Enterprise? by Zack Dill
Now that the red haired girl was closer, Zack twigged onto where else he'd seen her. Of course. She was Elly Eriksson, the Pecari Seeker now that Ginger had left. Shaking his head in self annoyance at missing that before, he listened to the other girls talk about the clue."Three fold." Zack re-read the first line of the poem, looking at it in Elly's hands. "That might be about the three goals on a side in the Quidditch Pitch," he reasoned slowly, thinking it over. It's outside, like Mia said, it's got the WAIL controversy over it, and 'short duration can hurry' . . ." he shook his head, baffled. "Maybe that's how quick a game can go by?"
He looked at Elly again, "But if the swing is the Gardens . . . maybe they're not actually closed, but they're just off-limits so nobody finds the end prize before going through all the notes. It says on this one that we're almost done."
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Zack Dill
Should I go get Enterprise?
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Zack Dill
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Chrissy
November 11, 2007 7:40 PM
I doubt we'd all fit. by Chrissy
Chrissy frowned for a moment. She wasn't sure about the history as she knew little about that sort of thing, but she doubted Sagittarious had anything to do with this clue. "I think Sagittarius can be forgotten." Chrissy murmured. "Sagittarius's kin is Gemini, Gemini's twins were wolves. Wolfe...wolves...it was all a clue to lead us to the Medic if you didn't get the actual poem." Chrissy explained. She would have to thank her uncle's girlfriend for being such an Astrology freak.Elly's input only made Chrissy believe all the more that they were supposed to be in the gardens, even though she was right about them being closed. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that they were supposed to be outside.
Zack seemed to put two and two together rather quickly and suggested that it was the Pitch. It made sense, of course, since all the clues seemed to point in that direction, but Chrissy only had one problem with it. "What about the rink?" She asked him and then elaborated, "They turned the Pitch into a rink, so if the next clue is there, couldn't anyone just find it?"
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Chrissy
I doubt we'd all fit.
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Chrissy
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Mia
November 11, 2007 9:50 PM
Then maybe a new direction is in order. by Mia
So they had pretty much leveled their choices to the Quidditch Pitch or the Labyrinth Gardens. The Pitch made more sense to Mia, but then Zack brought up how the Gardens may have only been off limits so no one could get to the prize before the end. That and Chrissy's statement made Mia reconsider the Gardens.“They turned the Quidditch Pitch into a skating rink?” Mia asked incredulously. “That's new for the elves.” Mia didn't go down to the Pitch often and hadn't realized what the elves had done. She made a note to check that out before midterm ended. She hadn't been ice-skating in the longest time. “But I guess that does make it seem unlikely the clue will be there.”
For a second, Mia thought that same theory could go for the Labyrinth Gardens. There must be a way to get past the barriers, but then if there were prairie elves working in there surely you'd have to prove you made it there fairly. Plus, the Gardens were huge. To sneak in and search the whole place for the note would be ridiculous. But then—no. She was doing a lot of ‘But what about this?' and ‘Then again…' and ‘But maybe…' One place was bound to be right and just staying in the Hospital Wing wasn't getting them any closer to ‘the place to be.' Mia figured they had stood still long enough.
“So should we just check the Labyrinth Gardens? I mean, worst-case scenario is we're wrong and we check somewhere else. But we might want to get out of here before Wolfe comes in and has a cow.” Mia half joked and went over to the pillowcase Zack pointed to earlier. She took a bag of chocolate coins before she forgot about them.
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Mia
Then maybe a new direction is in order.
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Mia
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Elly
November 12, 2007 10:26 AM
*points* This direction! by Elly
Mia passed the note over and Elly scanned it, though, as she had expected, only the bit about the swing made any sense to her whatsoever. The other students seemed to be favouring somewhere outside, though, based on the ‘nature' and ‘celestial flurry' parts of the clue. Elly nodded thoughtfully – maybe the garden being closed had something to do with the notes, as Zack suggested. But then the bit about her swing was in the last couple of lines following the poem, the bits that hadn't so far had anything to do with finding the next clue. It didn't seem likely that all of a sudden the note-making-person (whoever or whatever it was) would change tack. Of course it could just be trying to confuse them, and if so, it was working.The only thing Elly didn't agree on was Chrissy's explanation of the Sagittarius link. The last clue had said something about Sagittarius' kin giving directions, and so Chrissy's explanation didn't make any sense. Elly wasn't going to contradict the other girl though, especially as she didn't have any explanation of her own to offer instead. She couldn't even remember what Sagittarius was – a goat, maybe?
“So should we just check the Labyrinth Gardens? I mean, worst-case scenario is we're wrong and we check somewhere else. But we might want to get out of here before Wolfe comes in and has a cow,” said Mia.
Elly laughed, but she agreed whole-heartedly – the Medic wasn't exactly the most cheerful man on the planet. “I'm as confused as ever,” she admitted, “so I'm just gonna follow you guys.” After all, as Mia had said, the worst that could happen was that they would have to turn back and look somewhere else.
\r\n\r\n
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Elly
*points* This direction!
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Elly
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Zack Dill
November 12, 2007 10:28 AM
So . . . left? Two of them? by Zack Dill
Gemini! Of course! He'd considered Scorpio, but he'd completely overlooked Gemini! He mentally kicked himself for the oversight and then focussed on the other part of Chrissy's statement. A skating rink. Given his combined lack of biological insulation (even after five and a half years at Sonora, he was still notably underweight - probably due to a tendency to forget to eat when he got caught up in something) and a threadbare hand-me-down winter coat, Zack tended to avoid the outdoors during the colder months as much as possible and consequently hadn't known what had become of the Pitch.That made the destination pretty obvious, and Mia brought up the suggestion first. Zack nodded, but felt compelled to add, "Since three of us are prefects, I don't think we're in much danger of getting in serious trouble for going into a restricted area. So, do we want to go get coats and things and meet up there in a few minutes?"
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Zack Dill
So . . . left? Two of them?
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Zack Dill
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Chrissy
November 13, 2007 7:36 PM
OOC: Posted in the Gardens. (nm) by Chrissy
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Chrissy
OOC: Posted in the Gardens. (nm)
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Chrissy
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Stephen and Geoffrey
November 24, 2007 10:25 AM
Somehow, I doubt it though. And I bet no plant dude either by Stephen and Geoffrey
Both boys paused outside the Hospital Wing to finish scarfing down their gingerbread elves and brush off crumbs. Stephen held up a warning hand, crept closer and listened carefully. He couldn't hear anyone on the other side of the door and so he changed the halting gesture to indicate that Geoffrey should follow and led the way into the room."If you were an insane writer of poetry and clues - and supplier of treats - where would you hide a note in the Hospital Wing?" Stephen asked, looking around the almost entirely white environment.
Geoffrey looked around, considering. "There?" he pointed at a pillow that wasn't the same as the rest. Rather that lining up properly as the pillows on the other beds did it looked as though it had been moved. And instead of looking soft and comfortable it looked lumpy. And besides all that, there was something sticking out from under it.
Geoffrey retrieved the note while Stephen examined the pillowcase. "What's it say?" he asked as he looked inside. "Oh, cool. Chocolate coins." He pulled out two bags of coins, tossing one to Geoff before pulling out a galleon, tearing off the wrapper and starting to eat it. "Another easy one?"
"No," Geoffrey said with a frown. He tucked his coins into a pocket of his robes and read the latest poem aloud for Stephen's benefit.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Search me." Geoffrey passed the note over and pulled out his own parchment and quill again to copy down the bit underneath the main clue.
"Three-fold nature? I think whoever wrote this has been eating a few too many treats."
Geoffrey finished writing and peered at the clue again. "Celestial means the stuff up in the sky. Maybe we have to go to the Astronomy classroom?"
"Astronomy hasn't got anything to do with campaign's though, although there's a lot of 'observing'."
"I don't get it."
"Neither do I. Stupid poem... why's it so cryptic?"
"Campaign... campaign... campaign...."
"WAIL? That 'DISCUSS' thing?"
Geoffrey shrugged. "They're not really celestial, are they?"
"No." Stephen sighed, sat down leaning against the bed and started to eat another chocolate coin. "Maybe we should see if anyone else knows where to look next? It does look like there's people ahead of us in this."
Geoffrey pulled a face. "That'd be cheating though, wouldn't it? If they soaked you for trying to take too many candy cane's what would they do if you tried to cheat on this?"
"Eh, it's not like they'd know, whoever they are."
"Yeah, well, it's not like we know who to ask anyhow."
"True."
The fell silent for about five minutes, with the exception of the intermittent sound of crumpling foil and Stephen eating. Geoffrey opened his own bag and pulled out a galleon of his own. He paused before opening it.
"Hang on."
"Got an idea?"
"Quidditch." Geoffrey said with quiet triumph.
"Quidditch has a 'three-fold nature'?"
"Er... it's in the sky. And it's a campaign, sort of. And people watch it. Dunno about that last bit though. Quidditch isn't always quick."
Stephen thought about it. "How about just the pitch? 1 - the game. 2 - the spectators. 3..." he snapped his fingers. "Midterm."
"What's midterm got to do with Quidditch?"
"There's always something there, just for the holidays. That's a short duration, right?" Stephen pushed aside a dark thought. "And it always seems to hurry so it's over too soon."
"Well... if we're wrong we can think of something else."
"Exactly. Let's get moving then. There's got to be something interesting at the end of all this."
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Stephen and Geoffrey
Somehow, I doubt it though. And I bet no plant dude either
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Stephen and Geoffrey
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