Message 2

[wherethereislight]

Type: Text
Sender ID: wherethereislight (Shadow)
To: Public
Subject: Rifts
Warnings: Nothing? Just a grumpy hedgehog yelling at people to get off his lawn boat.

Stop going into the rifts. They don't take you wherever they show.

[Sincerely, a hedgehog that's getting tired of people landing on his damn boat.]

Comments

text; un: multidisciplinary

[multidisciplinary]

How do you know? Have you tested all of the rifts?

[ Now, if that sounds sarcastic, it's actually not (entirely). Zelda's just curious how much scientific testing Shadow has done on this subject. ]

[wherethereislight]

Walked through one. Two fell on my property. [Is that enough proof these rifts are not as they seem? And just before Zelda gets a word in.]

Three. [Is someone specifically targetting his boat or what??]

[multidisciplinary]

That's not a very large sample size, given the abundance of rifts being reported. I'm not sure you can make such a sweeping conclusion about where they go.

[ Although it seems like there's an alarmingly high rate of "rifts that go directly to Shadow." ]

[wherethereislight]

[It's "bother Shadow the hedgehog week" apparently.]

And what have you heard then?

[multidisciplinary]

[ Isn't every week "bother Shadow the hedgehog week"? ]

A smattering of nonsensical complaints on the network: "rifts should go here, but it goes there," so on and so forth. Unfortunately, I've not had the time to test any rifts myself, so I'm limited to what I read about on the network.

[ She would really like to go into a rift herself, just to see what happens. ]

[wherethereislight]

You didn't bother to ask where they all ended up amoung the complaints?

[multidisciplinary]

I've hardly had the time. Believe me, I would rather be collecting data from people who have traveled through the rifts than spending all of my waking hours negotiating new supply contracts because of the massive political upheavals across the armadas.

[ She complains, but no one is forcing her to spend all her time on contracts except the workaholic captain herself. ]

[wherethereislight]

Then you have no argument to stand on. Don't speak if you can't support your claims.

[What Zelda does with her time is none of his concern. This became a waste of time.]

[multidisciplinary]

[ WOW, RUDE. Zelda will now proceed to waste his time further. ]

I beg your pardon! I am not the person drawing sweeping conclusions based on only three samples.

[wherethereislight]

And you have nothing to prove me otherwise. [What is she getting upset for?]

[multidisciplinary]

You're not much of a scientist if you aren't willing to entertain the possibility that your hypothesis might be wrong.

[wherethereislight]

When did I say I wasn't? Rather quick to making conclusions yourself when all I asked is that you provide evidence for your claim. You have not. This is pointless.

[multidisciplinary]

Very well then. I will go find a rift right now to walk through and collect some data. Would that be sufficient?

[ She's just mad because he's calling their conversation pointless. ]

[wherethereislight]

If it makes you feel better.

[multidisciplinary]

It does, thank you.

[ There's about a fifteen minute delay between that last text and the next one, long enough that he might think Zelda has finally stopped bothering him. But no, unfortunately for Shadow, she's going to make this whole endeavor his problem. (Or he can just stop answering her texts. But that's not going to stop her from sending them. She's on a mission now.)

The first thing Shadow receives is a picture of a rift that appears to lead to a quaint village. Zelda's text follows immediately after. ]

Here, this one clearly leads to Snaxburg Island. You can clearly see a baker's dozen of Sprinklepedes right there in the center.

I'm going to walk through it.

[wherethereislight]

[He had honestly moved on by the time he gets a message from Zelda. He needed a moment to register who and what they were talking about.

...

Well, all right. This is happening he suppose. No he doesn't respond, but she's marked as read, meaning he can see what's going on?]

-> action

[multidisciplinary]

[ She's actually waiting, watching her messages change from 'sent' to 'read,' and then.....

... Nothing. No response. She's left on 'read.'

Zelda actually scoffs at her phone in annoyance. That's so rude! He should at least have the decency to acknowledge her messages.

But fine. It doesn't matter. She's not even mad. Definitely not even more driven to prove a point only she cares about.

Shoving her shellphone into her pocket, Zelda marches through the rift. She expects her feet to connect with solid ground on the other side, but when she passes through, there's suddenly nothing beneath her feet but a two foot drop. Like when you misjudge how far down the next step on a staircase is, Zelda drops heavily through the rift and lands with a -WHUMP- on the other side. ]

Oww...

[ She looks around. This is... not Snaxburg Island. Or at least, not outside the village like the rift showed. She's inside of somewhere. One of the huts? But then everything pitches to one side and Zelda goes sliding several inches across the floor. Is she inside a ship?

Without bothering to stand up, she fishes her shellphone out of her pocket and snaps a couple pictures of her surroundings. She's definitely below decks on a boat or ship of some kind, in an area that has been modified with unusually large portholes to allow in enough light for an assortment of plants. Zelda's eyebrows go up as she looks over the space. This is a very nice indoor garden!

Much as she doesn't want to admit that she's wrong to someone who's been kind of a jerk to her, Zelda also has too much pride as a researcher to lie about her findings. So she sends her photos on to Shadow. ]

I must concede that you are correct this time in regards to the rifts. [ Note that very intentional inclusion of "this time." ] My rift did not lead to Snaxburg Island like I expected, but to the lower deck of a ship.

[wherethereislight]

... [His ears swerve at a sound. He can't have imagined it. He heard something hit his boat? From below? It could have just been a creature passing on through, but he decides to head below deck. That's when he receive another message from Zelda.

He's staring at the photos, groaning irritably as he puts together what that sound was. The door to the cabin room Zelda was in opens abruptly, and she'll be greeted by the small rude hedgehog she had been arguing with.]

Did you touch anything? [Not even a greeting or asking if they're all right. Honestly, he hardly has any sympathy after they were so insistent on proving a point and got themselves in this mess in the first place.]