Post the Thirteenth: The Callous Codes

[mysilenceknot]

[Filtered to Icabod Crane]

I was wondering if I could speak to you about something.

[For the rest of the town you can find him sitting outside for once.....reading a book. Annoy him?]

Comments

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Yes. Will you be at the park?

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[Hmmm...that does sound like a good idea]

Yes. Would you care to meet me there?

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

I can.

[He liked the idea better meeting at a location where video and audio devices can't be used against them when something sensitive can be on the horizon.]

I have no more appointments today and I shall meet you there shortly.

[After he hangs up the phone, he meets Lemony in a private location at the park and sat under the tree where he met him with the accordion a month prior.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[Lemony had been sitting there reading a book. A bag sitting at his feet and he glances over when he sits down and closes his book.]

Good afternoon.

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

[He stops to the side of the bench, juxtaposed to Lemony before taking his seat.]

Good afternoon.

[He inhaled deeply as he thought about the events a few days prior.]

I gather that you have seen the fire or at least heard of it by now?

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[And he'll notice that Lemony is visibly uneasy after he says this...]

Yes...yes I had.

Such a horrible thing.

Fire

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

[He sat up straight and his eyes widened slightly from the subtle uneasiness that Lemony began to show.]

I'm sorry. I [He clears his throat.] I did not know that this would be so hard to discuss. I understand if it bothers you and I shall not pry.

[Even he knows that some past hurts can't be talked about so easily. His own hands were proof of that.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

...no...it's quite alright.

[Lies, obvious lies]

I...just have a....great many painful memories I suppose. In regards to fires....and people lost to them

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Yes, I understand the feeling. I tried to save them only to nearly break my own arm in the process.

[He lowers his head and shakes it slowly. He's now much calmer than he was a few days ago and his thoughts are much clearer.]

I think, the plans in discussion should be met with more caution now that Grady knows that we are on to him.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He takes a moment to try not to think about her.]

Yes....

That is actually what I wished to talk to you about.

As I stated before, I believe it would be bennificial if we hid the important information in codes.

Codes are....one of the many odd things I have been trained in.

[He picks up the bag that was on the ground and opens it]

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Yes, the codes. Of course.

[This was just the distraction he needed to get his mind off of the tragedy and on to more important matters that were much more practical.]

You managed to write an entire set of them within a *fortnight?

(*Fortnight- Two weeks time. I used to think it meant just before dark. That was also before I started looking up period words and phrases.)

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He pulls out some papers]

No. I've learned many types of codes since I was little. However I think it would be best if we stick with the Sebald code for things we intend to disguise as personal letters.

Anagrams are always good for names. Most people do not look past them if you can make normal names out of them.

[He's flipping through a book with some notes here and there]

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Ah! Clever. How does it work?

[He's really interested in anything that could be useful for the betterment and secrecy that could be involved in delivering sensitive information. Now that he was getting closer to finding more out about the town and about the people in it, anything that would help him and Lemony document and safe keep records was a start.

He takes his own notebook from his briefcase to take notes.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

It's not that complicted. We usually used it to communicate messages in movies. However it was used in personal communications as well.

You see when the key word, in our cases, the word ring or some form of this word, is mentioned, the code is activated. The first word after the ring is in code, as is every eleventh word thereafter. When the ring is said again, the code ends.

[He'll pass over a page that has an example of this. The words that are coded are underlined. It reads, this is an example of the Sebald Code, and it is inside a letter about an book]

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Ah, sounds like it would make things a grand touch easier than simply trying to use physically convert methods.

[He takes a look at the letter and writes in his notebook the basis of the code. He has his own methods of taking notes that he would understand which made things easier for him to hide in plain sight.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He nods, flipping through to a new page. He's more absorbed in his work so there might be some slight slips that he would have caught before]

Yes. Another one utilizes grammer and spelling errors. J was quite skilled with it. I recall the mesesage she left for the Baudelaire's was coded with this.

You see what you do is write a normal message and fit your secret message into the words as spelling errors. This works best for hiding key words as you spell them out letter by letter.

The secret message is formed by the letters or punctuation that is missing from the message.

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Huh.

[He writes that one down too and looks at the example.]

A very interesting and clever tactic should one be known to have such errors in their writing. I do not think that such a code would be best used with me, however it could be an interesting and obvious tactic should one know me well.

[He chuckled softly.]

And this form of coding, how hard is it to translate?

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

It depends of course on how well someone is able to detect spelling errors. One of the many reasons we were taught to have proper spelling and grammer at all time.

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

True. If those that are careless in their grammar cannot spot the errors, then the code would either be lost or it would be overlooked. A difficult one to use for one that is illiterate.

[He's not going to be able to use any of these codes for The Captain.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

Yes. In many cases that is why it was used.

There is of course, always the option of creating an intirely new code from scratch.

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

There is a code that I may have to devise for one individual so he would understand what I am saying without having things too complicated.

[He closes up his pen and looks at Lemony with a stoic yet thoughtful expression.]

I have a serious question for you. What do you think our chances are for survival under my care as a leader? I need an honest answer.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He nods] I could create one for you if you gave me some details as to what type of code you want.

[Lemony looks thoughtful for a moment]

You seem a competent, organized and trustworthy person. I would say we have as good of a chance as any to survive this with you as leader.

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[He seemed very relieved to hear this little bit of reassurance. There was no way that he was going to take a general consensus when others had counted on him to make decisions. Everything had to be carried out in secrecy and it wasn't something that he wasn't afraid of in the least. It also helped that he had a trustworthy adviser to help him along and to keep his mind in tact. Everyone under him had an important task.]

The code I am looking to construct for this particular individual should be one that is symbolic. Something that he would catch. Of course I would have to teach him how to use it, but I think it would be beneficial to him to understand the pictures within the pictures.

He is not as learned as we are and I dare not compromise his safety simply because he cannot read well.

You know you're desperate when you're looking to Lemony Snicket for reassurance

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

I see.

What will the code be used for? Gaining his attention, passing information, reciveing information, hiding information?

[He's gotten his commonplace book out now and is making some notes]

It's mostly out of respect and trust. XD

[passes-out.livejournal.com]

Mostly for gaining his attention and receiving information. It does not have to be elaborate. However it does have to get the point across to him efficiently.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He glances up as he hears her come over and nods.]

Ah yes, it's one of the few decent ones I've been able to locate in this town.

Do you enjoy reading?

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He nods. And his opinion of her goes up. People who like books are less likly to be wicked in his mind]

Four children who go through a magical wardrobe to another world.

[Why yes he is reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

It's one of the books I read as a child. But I still enjoy reading it from time to time.

You'd be most welcome to borrow it.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

Yes...the stars

[He looks thoughtful and then recites from memory]

"And yet with neither love nor hate,
Those stars like some snow-white
Minerva's snow-white marble eyes
Without the gift of sight."

They appear in many mediums of print.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He nods]

Stars by Robert Frost. At least a part of it.

I spent a great deal of my childhood reading.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

I suppose you might put it that way. Reading has always been a very important part of my life.

My family encouraged it a great deal you might say.....

[There's something hidden behind that last bit there]

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[Not exactly negative. But perhaps a little odd. Becoming part of a secrative organization at the age of ...somewhere around 3 or 4 or even younger]

It does.

[And there is a flicker of something that might be a smile as he opens up the notebook/common place book besides him and reads]

"If you feel . . . that well-read people are less likely to be evil, and a world full of people sitting quietly with good books in their hands is preferable to world filled with schisms and sirens and other noisy and troublesome things, then every time you enter a library you might say to yourself, 'The world is quiet here,' as a sort of pledge proclaiming reading to be the greater good."

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

Yes. That sometimes happens. Nothing is ever truely so black and white.

However in my experience I have found that well-read people are less likely to be criminals.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[He sighs]

Yes it truely is.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

Hope is like an interesting piece of mail...it so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

A secret drawer perhaps.

[mysilenceknot.livejournal.com]

[He shakes his head]

I've worn my heart on my sleeve far too often. I'm afraid the great damage that has been done to it is far to much to allow something as fragile as hope inside.