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[wizzardly]

Well, now that all the technomancy's up and running again, I don't suppose anyone ever got that riddle solved, did they? The actual one, mind. Not the one about why we lost lights and things in the first place.

[Rincewind taps a pencil with one hand against the open pages of a book thoughtfully, the other waving his lunch (an egg and cress sandwich) as he intones:]

"We did warn you. All of you have so much power. That comes at a cost. If you can't see in the darkness, then look to the stars.”

...I certainly don't remember any warning, and I've usually a keen memory for those.

Anyway, "power" seems a rather obvious double meaning, but it's the "looking to the stars" bit which has me curious. [a phrase which here means, "debating whether there's still sufficient enough impending threat to flee the country".]

ImPorts could be the stars - we certainly are in their TV and such, that's meaning enough. But if "power" has a double meaning, it stands to reason "stars" would as well. Were we actually supposed to be looking up at the night sky during all of that, do you think?

...I don't suppose anyone did any gazing while they were running about saving people?

[or just running, in Rincewind's case.]

Comments

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[catchacold]

I just looked at you, you beautiful bastard.

[He may or may not be wearing one of Rincewind's coats.]

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[wizzardly]

[Rincewind scowls.]

And at my desk. And in my wardrobe. And through Will and Jeff's liquor cabinet, I'm fairly certain.

[he folds his arms and sniffs.]

That's not a good color for you, you know.

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[helpline]

I did! They looked like stars.

[ what an acute observation from the Doctor. ]

Personally, I'm hoping this is all a drawn out metaphor for space travel. I'd love to get off planet one of these days.

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[wizzardly]

I've been. [morosely.] Getting back on becomes the priority fairly quickly.

If they're offering trips, you're welcome to have my ticket.

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[hunksmash]

I looked. There weren't any obvious changes from the norm, not that I can measure every little thing all that deeply. There's also, you know... We're just one section of the Earth with one section of the surrounding space visible at one time, so I guess there could've been something somewhere else around us, but you'd figure they'd put something where imPorts were likely to see it if they put anything up at all.

[wizzardly]

That would certainly be my thought as well. I mean, not accounting for sheer incompetence, which you should always account for, but since they were so efficient with in taking away all the lights I suppose they should get the benefit of the doubt in this case.

[thevictoriandetective]

I never liked riddles.

[wizzardly]

Me neither. Especially because they always seem to be a question you don't actually want answered anyway. Like "What's this large and mystical door guarding?", or "What awful danger is heading my way?", or "What terrible pun are you about to make?"

[airshow]

I dunno, I was on the roof for a while making a rainbow phallus out of glowsticks and I didn't see anything weirder than usual in the sky. Then again, I'm not much of an astronomer.

Obviously.

[wizzardly]

Right. Obviously.

...I know I'm going to regret this, but why were you making a giant - phallus, you said? Why were you doing that.

[aggressiveapathy]

Clearly, we all've gotta go to Hollywood.

[wizzardly]

[he perks up.]

Is that out of the country?

[idesof]

You may be onto something there, dear. Perhaps look to the stars is a reference to imPorts and a reminder to look at ourselves. To look inside. Not up, up, and away.

[ofc the shakespeare fan gets on board with this interpretation]

[wizzardly]

Rather a lot of trouble to go for just to raise our self-esteem.

Also, I prefer to leave my insides inside and non-viewable whenever possible.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Whoever send that message wants your attention directed specifically. Better to ask why.

[wizzardly]

...

...When you say "your attention"...

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[voicelessresistance]

People don't always put a lot of thought into what they say. Or what they see messages in.

Maybe it's as simple as they're blaming us for what happened, like we made them do it.

[Red has had some experience with that.]

[wizzardly]

Well I won't say shifting the blame isn't always a popular theme. You've a point there.

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[akito]

There are also stars in the American flag.


..And a bunch of other countries' flags, but with the current situation if it was referencing a flag then the only other likely country to come to mind would be China.

[ there are way too many possibilities of how to interpret that stupid riddle. ]

[wizzardly]

Now there's an angle I didn't even consider, I like that theory. It sounds like the sort of needlessly sideways reference people who write riddles would think clever.

Has the Soviet Union got a flag with stars?

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[tacticianing]

I've been wondering about that, too. Do you think it's that literal?

[wizzardly]

I don't know, it's only a guess. Just trying to get at the root of things. Even if that root's above our heads.

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[mischiefsmith]

It could simply be word magic, you know, words that sound interesting but actually refer to nothing in particular.

[Because, people say things all the time that really have very little meaning.]

I'm sure they couldn't be hinting at the whole "with great power, comes great current squared times resistance..." I'm certain that's how the quote goes. To me it just comes off as a thinly veiled threat that never got off the ground.

[wizzardly]

"Word magic" isn't a thing. [is the firm assurance from the man with 'WIZZARD' sequined poorly across his hat.]

Maybe we all got lucky and whoever did it was stabbed by some escaped criminal or something. That's an idea too.

VIDEO.

[mantlepieces]

If it was something we were actually meant to know, wouldn't they just come out and say it? ... Cuz I mean, why would they be leaving us clues, right? It's probably fake.

VIDEO.

[wizzardly]

Of course they wouldn't. These are dramatic bastards - dramatic bastards always have to make things harder than they need to be, just so they can pat themselves on the back for it after. But they can't crow about how hard it was for everyone to solve if there's nothing to actually solve.