THE MYSTERY MELODY

[enodiamod]

The Mystery Melody

Enodia Station, Recreation Center

With Ernestine Waters finally being discharged and heading home tomorrow morning, this might be the last that Enodia Station's residents see of her for a while. Some help the eager aspiring-scientist make the most of her last day, giving her one final tour of the Research Building or taking a short hike through the grounds or getting together for lunch at the cafe. Some are ready for her to just go already. Some have forgotten that she's still there at all. Regardless, it's an important day for the teenager!

In the afternoon, though, Annie Song, Enoch Waldinger, Noah Moon, Linus Lowe, and Raine Riley come to her with a more substantive request and bring her to the Recreation Center. There, gathered around a piano, they intend to show her the song that has accompanied the pulse, the storm, and the encounter with a glowing entity in the Riftlands to see if she recognizes it at all.

Noah plays his transcription of the melody on the piano, then Enoch plays the recording of the plasma birds singing that same melody. The two are quite similar...but not the same. Listening intently to both, Ernestine's expression conveys a bittersweet ache that makes her seem older than she is but there's a simultaneous spark of determined curiosity in her eyes. She immediately tells them that she does recognize the song, part of it anyway, and that her dad used to play it with her on her grandmother's old piano. But...it's not quite right.

She hurriedly joins Noah on the piano bench, stares at the keys for a moment, and then starts to plunk out a section of the melody slowly and methodically. While she's out of practice, it's enough, and they all begin to talk. Slowly but surely, the following surfaces...

🎶 Despite initially keeping the events surrounding the song from Ernestine, her ready recognition and the many questions she has for them in return prompt the group to (somewhat reluctantly) fill her in on the situation. She seems confused and troubled...but keen to help them unravel this!

🎶 While Ernestine isn't positive, she believes that her dad, Ernest Waters, composed the part of the melody that she knows. She remembers that he used to play it a lot when she was a little girl.

🎶 The differences between these three renditions of the melody remind Annie of her experience in the Riftlands; the way that what she heard aloud and what she heard in her head alternated between being perfectly aligned and diverging into brief bouts of cacophonous noise.

🎶 The existence of a 'real melody' and a 'psychic melody' is likely the cause of Noah's confusion when trying to transcribe the song. During the chaos of the events, he may've heard fragments of both and could never fully untangle them from each other. It's possible that other forms of psychic feedback played a role as well.

🎶 The group decides that the differences between the melodies are likely important. Painstakingly, they write out and compare all three melodies, identifying where the notes don't match. They're left with a scramble of notes -- letters? -- and begin to wonder if it's some sort of code.

🎶 Using Ernestine's recollection of the melody as the cipher, they're able to spell out: d e a d f a c a d e. Well! That's not ominous at all!

🎶 With this, it seems like Ernest Waters is somehow connected to the pulse, the storm, and the glowing entity in the Riftlands. Though how is unclear. The idea that the glowing entity could be the missing Ernest Waters clearly leaves Ernestine shaken, but Raine is able to reassure her and earn the promise from her that she won't go into the Riftlands again and that she'll contact them if anything strange happens. She insists that she be kept in the loop, though!

🎶 Unfortunately, Ernestine only knows a brief section of the melody and that stops the group from getting any further clarification. The girl, obviously frustrated by this roadblock, insists that she'll search all of her dad's things for music that could align with the remaining portions of the melody. She's on the case!

🎶 Whether he informs the others of this fact or not, hearing the melodies played back again makes Linus realize that he also recognizes a small section of the melody. But he can't quite remember why or from where...

After several hours of working through this peculiar and incomplete puzzle, the group seems to be at an impasse. There's nothing more to do today and, moreover, it's obvious to everyone that Ernestine is emotionally overwhelmed. They decide to call it a day.

While Ernestine does take some time to herself following the investigation, she's as resilient as ever and reappears in the evening, roping as many people as she can into dinner and game night in the Recreation Center. Come have some fun with her before she has to leave forever! The puppy eyes are in full effect to get people to come, but the girl is (perhaps unsurprisingly) wiley and competitive at the gaming table.

All of this wraps up late in the evening and Ernestine refuses to let anyone say goodbye to her. All that sad stuff's for tomorrow morning...