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Bella brings two blank notebooks to school the next day. Her old one is safely computerized and boxed up with its predecessors.
At lunch, she sits with Angela; Jessica and Eric and Lauren sit at the same table but mostly talk to each other, and Mike is nowhere to be seen.
Bella is just about on time to gym, thanks to an overnight icing that means she has to pick her way with extreme care across the slippery grass or the slick sidewalks. The second time she falls down, she gives up on attempting any dignity at all, and, cradling her thwacked elbow, scoots the rest of the way to the gym on her rear. This leaves her with damp jeans but no further injuries, and they were a little damp anyway from the falls.
She doesn't have time to do more than smile and wave at Alice on her way to get her mat and get out of the way of careening balls. She spends the class doing the subset of her safe activities that won't stress her elbow.
self_composed
edgeofyourseat
"Nice," says Alice, perching on a corner of his bed. "Okay, so what kind of stuff would be urgent?"
self_composed
"Well, for example," Bella says, "it might turn out that the cipher is really complicated and takes me weeks to crack, or heavy-duty magic that I'm not currently ready to generate. You might want the pentagon for emergencies during that time. I'll give you some squares and triangles either way. In case you need them," she adds softly.
self_composed
"Mkay." Bella closes her eyes. "I wonder if the triangles can make any amount of progress on the cipher? If so I can probably do the whole thing with a pair of tweezers pulling out leg hairs or something. I honestly know nothing about cryptanalysis." She picks up one of the triangles that she brought into existence near her foot, and pulls out Elias's book and turns to the cipher/map.
self_composed
Bella tries a series of wishes regarding the cipher on her triangle. Wishes for this letter to be decrypted - wishes for the cipher key - wishes for a hint, a clue, for a single pixel of same to appear on the page.
The triangle stays put.
"So much for that." She puts it away and takes out a square.
The triangle stays put.
"So much for that." She puts it away and takes out a square.
edgeofyourseat
"I wonder if it's even solvable," says Alice. "...I wonder if you could use a wish to check. How big a thing is the answer to a question?"
self_composed
Bella flips to Helpful Charts. "I'd be really surprised if he went to all this trouble to lie to someone he'd never meet," Bella says. "Hmmm... all the purely information based stuff that's listed is pentagon and up. Vocabulary words for magically acquired languages, and whatnot." She tosses the square into the air, and catches it. "What seems like a good test question? What do you want to know?"
self_composed
"You want me to test the square's information gathering powers by asking it if it has any?" Bella asks.
self_composed
"A pentagon ought to be able to give me permanent cryptanalysis expertise," Bella reasons. "Maybe the square can do a temporary version of the same thing, even if it can't answer direct questions." She tries this.
The square disappears, and she blinks, and dives for her notebook. "I have no idea how long this lasts - pen, pen - where's a - there -" She finds a pen and starts flicking her eyes rapidly back and forth between cipher symbols and her growing list of notes.
The square disappears, and she blinks, and dives for her notebook. "I have no idea how long this lasts - pen, pen - where's a - there -" She finds a pen and starts flicking her eyes rapidly back and forth between cipher symbols and her growing list of notes.
self_composed
Bella is muttering to herself rather madly. "Not enough for good frequency analysis - original spacing? Is it English-based, even? Numerical symbols..."
edgeofyourseat
It is really cool. Alice is not even sure what he's feeling right now, but he likes it.
self_composed
The temporary skill wears off before Bella has even transcribed the entire alphabet of the cipher. Her pen stutters to a halt.
"Okay," she says, clearly not liking the disappearance of the skill. "So. If nothing else, there's that. I can afford to blow the pentagon on the necklace because I don't need a pentagon in particular for the cipher..." She looks at her notes. "Even if it would be more efficient that way."
"Okay," she says, clearly not liking the disappearance of the skill. "So. If nothing else, there's that. I can afford to blow the pentagon on the necklace because I don't need a pentagon in particular for the cipher..." She looks at her notes. "Even if it would be more efficient that way."
edgeofyourseat
"I dunno," he says. "One pentagon from me would be more efficient than a shitload of squares, but you are obviously not into the idea of breaking your own leg and you seem to make squares pretty easily, so it kinda seems like they're more... fuck, what's the word... cost-effective. If all you wanna do is read that one map."
self_composed
"Right." She shudders. "I just really don't like the feeling when all the knowledge goes out of my brain... and I don't know how many times I'd have to do it. Ten times? That's probably still better than handing over a hammer. Thirty? Not sure."
self_composed
Bella smacks herself in the forehead. Not even hard enough to get a triangle, but still. "Yes. Yes, please do." She hands over one of the remaining squares, the in-progress decryption, and the cipher.
edgeofyourseat
Alice makes a wish.
"Whoa, rush," he says, and starts writing. Unlike Bella, he doesn't say anything, but he frequently draws things—charts, diagrams, sketches of parts of the map. Sometimes he writes new things down directly on top of old things. It's kind of a mess. He keeps the actual decryption reasonably neat, though, except when he makes a mistake and has to scribble something out.
"Whoa, rush," he says, and starts writing. Unlike Bella, he doesn't say anything, but he frequently draws things—charts, diagrams, sketches of parts of the map. Sometimes he writes new things down directly on top of old things. It's kind of a mess. He keeps the actual decryption reasonably neat, though, except when he makes a mistake and has to scribble something out.