8 Apr 2023, 17:18
Secret codes and clever cryptograms
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But she wanted to do something. So she decided to put up slips of paper throughout the school. Not with fish on them... but with codes. She didn't like pranking people (and therefore was not very good at it), so she wanted to do something that would confuse people without making them too mad at her. The papers were anonymous, after all.
April 1 was a Saturday, so she basically had all day to make and put up the paper slips. She began by writing some messages in what she considered to be easy code:
8 1 16 16 25 / 1 16 18 9 12 / 6 15 15 12 19!
Bwnni Wnkaf Jmmfq!
Apyhp Ilapr Slofo!
All four said "Happy April Fools!" She considered them to be pretty easy, amateur codes - they were famous enough and easy to decode. But Mahlioz wasn't stopping there. She decided to use some codes she had invented. With some more complicated messages, perhaps?Kdssb Dsulo Irrov!
eNij ocg bfuritin higd sceo oHut ap!pp yriAo lflso!
Those two were in the same code, but two different messages, both basically congratulating the reader for figuring out the code and wishing them a happy April Fools. Mahlioz then got out her codebook, a small notebook where she wrote codes she had yet to memorize. Including morse code.'Yoreu dgow ioot hdecy si ouf amageni dtso hHne ap!pp yriAo lflso.
0000 01 0110 0110 1011 / 01 0110 010 00 0100 / 0010 111 111 0100 000
Both said "Happy April fools" but the first one was more confusing, because it looked like binary. Mahlioz didn't know binary, apart from how to make numbers. Hey, maybe she could use that... She took the first code she'd written today and converted it to binary numbers. These were getting more complicated....... .- .--. .--. -.-- / .- .--. .-. .. .-.. / ..-. --- --- .-.. ...
She would have to get to learning binary as letters and words as well. She wasn't sure how it worked, but it sounded interesting. Okay, now, the last two, Mahlioz told herself, taking two last strips of paper. These were the hardest ones. The most difficult to decipher, and the most difficult to compose, as well. That's why they both just said "April Fools". They were both in two codes she had invented herself (and was honestly quite proud of).1000 1 10000 10000 11001 / 1 10000 10010 1001 1100 / 110 1111 1111 1100 10011!
0E 2L 2B 0R 0L / 1D 2H 1S 0X 0S
"Phew," the young Slytherin said, standing back and admiring her work. Eleven little slips of paper with secret codes on them. She grinned, excited to start putting them up around the school. Mahlioz picked them up tenderly, being careful not to rip or drop or lose a single one and put them into a small enveloppe that she slipped into her pocket, before heading for the courtyard. She would put them all over the school, of course, but she felt like loads of people passed through the courtyard every day, so it was a good place to start.00 20100 21000 0010 00100 / 1100 20000 1000 01001 0000
Using some tape, Mahlioz put up a few of her paper slips around the courtyard, half-hidden. She hesitated to go in... and decided on staying outside for a few minutes, at least. She wanted to see what would happen. That was the magic in this, right? There was no point if she couldn't see the fruit of her labours. And so she sat in the courtyard, pretending to read a book, and waiting for someone to notice the little paper slips taped to the walls.
8 Apr 2023, 18:09
Secret codes and clever cryptograms
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date: 4/1/23 | place: Courtyard | #ba9826= Aurora(English) | Thoughts= Italics
After changing into different clothes after the whole getting-food-coloring-dumped-on-me incident, I decided to go outside to the Courtyard to get some fresh air. I was starting to grow fond of being in the Courtyard. Take in the moments of sunshine while I still could. Putting my now purple hair into a ponytail, not bothering to wash it out yet, I was now heading to the Courtyard.
And then I saw something when I finally came to the Courtyard. I saw little slips of paper taped all over the place with nonsensical messages written on them. Was this a joke? And then I figured, yes, yes it was...They looked like puzzles, and boy did I love puzzles. Codes, maybe? Sure looked like it. I looked at the first 4 codes on the wall.
One of them was numbers, and the next codes were all letters. The numbers were repeating, meaning that it didn't spell something completely impossible to figure out. I should get into cryptology more...The first word of the number code had double letters in the middle, both 16. What words did I know that had consecutive double letters in the middle of a 5-letter word? Hmm...
The word "happy" came to mind. Assuming that P was 16, 1 was A, and so on, the puzzle looked like this: Happy Ap__ _____! And then I found out what I had been missing the whole time. Stupid, STUPID me. They were the numbers that corresponded to what number a letter of the alphabet was if that made sense. H was the 8th letter, A was the 1st letter, and so on.
Applying this knowledge to the entire puzzle, I managed to spell: Happy April Fools! I said it allowed, along with, "Wow! This was a great idea!" The person who did this had to be nearby, and they also had to be quite nerdy, or just loved cryptology. I decided to try and work on the rest of the puzzles there.
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interacting with: @Mahlioz Evethisawe
mentions: @
word count: 330
| Sta-7 Eva-8 Str-5 Arc-7 Acc-7 Wis-6 | Check out my shop! | No sport |
| RO'S ENCY | "You broke the ship! You broke the bloody ship!" | ROKS'S ENCY |
9 Apr 2023, 22:32
Secret codes and clever cryptograms
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Hiding behind one of the benches in the courtyard, Mahlioz got another slip of paper out of her pocket and started writing on it. The girl had figured out the message that was numbers to letters, if Mahlioz remembered correctly... she was going to use that code but make it more complicated. How would she do it... ah yes! combine it with Caesar's code. Mahlioz wrote a new message, destined to the purple-haired girl, and converted it to Caesar's code before turning that code into numbers. The final code said this:
Even if the girl didn't know Caesar's code, it was basically a cryptogram. She would hopefully be able to figure it out.12'16 / 10 15 4 7 / 2 18 24 / 26 8 21 8 / 4 5 15 8 / 23 18 / 9 12 10 24 21 8 / 18 24 23 / 16 2 / 6 18 7 8 22 (: 26 11 4 23'22 / 2 18 24 21 / 17 4 16 8?
Grinning like a madwoman but trying to hide it, she walked by the girl and stuck the slip of paper she had just made on a nearby wall, where Mahlioz was sure purple-hair would spot it. Trying to seem as inconspicuous as possible, she kept walking like nothing had happened, before sitting down at the other side of the courtyard again. It was only then that she noticed what a nice day it was. The sun was shining like there was no tomorrow.
Grinning at the sky and wondering where this code game would end up, Mahlioz sat and the courtyard and waited, once again.
7 Jun 2023, 21:06
Secret codes and clever cryptograms
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date: 4/1/23 | place: Courtyard | #ba9826= Aurora(English) | Thoughts= Italics
After relishing in the fact that I had deciphered the first puzzle, I was about to move on to another when I noticed one other message that certainly had not been there before. I walked over to it and squinted. Hmm...for one, it looked long. And also complicated, definitely more so than the last one, but I was certainly willing to try and decipher this one. Taking out a pen and notepad, I started matching up the numbers with the letters they corresponded to.
When I finished(which took quite a long time), the result was: L’P JODG BRX ZHUH DEOH WR ILJXUH RXW PB FRGHV (: ZKDW’V BRXU QDPH?
Oh, I hope that was right. I'd hate to do it all over again...unfortunately, the message didn't make any sense! But...what if there was more to it? It looked a bit like Caesar's code; I'd try that.
I took out the notepad again and started with trying to shift each letter to the left by 3, since I had read somewhere that that was how Caesar's code worked. That also took a while, but I managed to do it faster than the number to letter decoding. Once I was done, I saw that I had revealed the final message: I'm glad you were able to figure out my codes (: what's your name?
Oh! I was about to say it aloud, since I was sure that the mysterious cryptology expert was listening, but I decided on something better. Why not put it in the same code that they did? I mean, it would make it more fun. Tearing a page out of my notepad, I encoded my message: 16 2 / 17 4 16 8 / 12 22 / 4 24 21 18 21 4 / 23 11 18 24 10 11 / 4 / 15 18 23 / 18 9 / 19 8 18 19 15 8 / 6 4 15 15 / 16 8 / 21 18 / 12 / 23 11 12 17 14 / 23 11 8 / 6 18 7 8 22 / 26 8 21 8 / 4 / 25 8 21 2 / 6 15 8 25 8 21 / 12 7 8 4 / 26 11 4 23' 22 / 2 18 24 21 / 17 4 16 8?
I hope did that right, too, and that it was at least readable. I stuck the notepad paper on the same wall that I had found the other person's message on, then took that message, the one that wasn't mine, off the wall. I felt very proud of myself for this, especially for trying to code a message the same way with number-to-letter and Caesar's code. I was very confident that the stranger would figure it out.
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interacting with: @Mahlioz Evethisawe
mentions: @
word count: 463
OOC note: OOC I'm not very good with codes,so let me know if I've made a mistake somewhere!
| Sta-7 Eva-8 Str-5 Arc-7 Acc-7 Wis-6 | Check out my shop! | No sport |
| RO'S ENCY | "You broke the ship! You broke the bloody ship!" | ROKS'S ENCY |
24 Jun 2023, 17:12
Secret codes and clever cryptograms
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Reducio
Don't worry about it! No mistakes whatsoever (: Also, sorry for how long this new encoded message is! 
Much to Mahlioz's relief, purple-hair had indeed found her new message. The girl had even gotten a ped and notepad out, and seemed to be decoding what the Slytherin had left her. After a while, purple-hair's eyes lit up and she finally looked up, as though about to say something. But then she stopped herself, and began writing again. Mahlioz frowned, worried. Had she decided against continuing the codes? Did she no longer want to keep going?
Her fears were quickly dropped when the other girl stuck a piece of paper of her own onto the wall. Mahlioz couldn't see very well from where she was sitting, but it looked like instead of letters, there were numbers and slashes on the wall. Purple-hair had encoded a message for her! The Slytherin could barely repress a yell out in joy. Never would she have thought that someone else liked codes as much as her here at Hogwarts.
But now there was the dilemma of how to read the new message without revealing who she was. She wished she had some binoculars with her, or a phone (though they didn't work here, unfortunately), but she had nothing of the sort. She would just have to risk it, and hope the purple-haired girl wouldn't notice her. Or maybe that didn't matter. They were having fun with codes now - why ruin it by talking to each other?
Mahlioz got up and walked to the message. She meandered by it, slowly enough to write it down on another slip of paper, but quickly enough that she didn't look too suspicious. Or maybe she did. She couldn't know. Leaning against a nearby wall, she inspected the message. It looked similar to her last one... maybe the girl had used the same code. She tried it out, changing the numbers into letters, which quickly gave her this:
Grinning, she knew she had been right about the code. Now all she had to do was Caesar's code backwards. This one too more time - especially because it was a long message - but Mahlioz was too excited not to figure it out. After what felt like ages, she finally had it.PB QDPH LV DXURUD WKRXJK D ORW RI SHRSOH FDOO PH UR L WKLQN WKH FRGHV ZHUH D YHUB FOHYHU LGHD ZKDW'V BRXU QDPH?
The Slytherin wanted to squeal, which was a very rare occurence. The purple-haired girl was named Aurora, and she was asking for Mahlioz's name. The first year didn't care about secrecy anymore - she was fine with giving her name, if it meant continuing this. Never before what she ever exchanged codes with someone like this. Getting yet another slip of paper out of her pocket (yes, she had a seemingly infinite supply), she got to work on a new code. She wasn't sure whether to use the same encoding or a different one... but she settled on the same. She didn't want to confuse this Aurora too much.My name is Aurora though a lot of people call me Ro I think the codes were a very clever idea what's your name?
After a few minutes of encoding, she had this message:
The last part was to know whether she could use a different code she'd invented. It was always fun to make up new ones, keep the codes changing. She wondered if Aurora had ever invented a code before, or used multiple together. Hopefully she'd find out soon, but she was in no rush... this was too much fun.16 2 / 17 4 16 8 / 12 22 / 16 4 11 15 12 18 3. 23 11 4 17 14 / 2 18 24 / 9 18 21 / 2 18 24 21 / 6 18 16 19 15 12 16 8 17 23 22, 12'16 / 10 15 4 7 / 23 18 / 11 4 25 8 / 9 18 24 17 7 / 22 18 16 8 18 17 8 / 26 11 18 / 15 12 14 8 22 / 6 18 7 8 22 / 23 18 18! 7 18 / 2 18 24 / 14 17 18 26 / 5 12 17 4 21 2?