O-kay, how does one make nifty line drawings in a forum? The spacing was whacked out unless I used the lil stars.

Use the Code tags:

Incidentally, since the post reply window does not use a fixed-width font, you'll probably find it easiest to create any particularly complex ASCII art in a text editor (Notepad, emacs, or vi are all reasonable choices, depending on preference and operating system) or other program which does use a fixed-width font and then copy/paste it into the code tags. (Not a word processor, they tend to use variable-width fonts).

You'll start to notice the reason for this as soon as you put names between those walls.

The other advantage of the code tag is that the font won't mess up and cause problems on different browsers, as all browsers should use a fixed-width font in there.

Ba-ba-ba-bam! InfoDUMP!

Okay, so I'm trying an experiment here. Since I don't know how far María can push the telepathy, weatherwax is going to have to weigh in on her attempt at steganotelepathy. Will the other humans be able to perceive the message, or will they just see a picture? How do the aliens react? (Oh, and how does the "soup" taste?) If it works, I would hope that with practice the humans would be able to send private messages to each other without having to resort to creating elaborate images to pass around, instead just weaving them into normal background thoughts.

There's a much easier solution to the problem.

Yeah, that is easier. Although I think I failed to make clear that the Patiae were only supposed to see a "still life" image of María enjoying soup with a few miscellaneous items on the table, not witness the actual act of writing; that part was supposed to remain behind the door.

Oops! I thought the idea was that she was writing a secret message and trying to send it without being "seen."

Yeah, my idea was that I write the message in secret, then send out the still scene. The Patiae just see María enjoying soup with a collection of items on the table. The humans see the items and make the immediate connection to secret writing, and mentally iron the paper to read the message.

Well, now I feel silly for not catching that.

Oh, well. All Maria did was crush Gil's poor lil heart.

Also, I thought it'd be a good time to move things along. We can sit around the kitchen world building all day, or we can get down to biznezzz.

I do actually have the ability to tell a fake smile from a real one in real life. The eyes are the key, more than anything else.

Something tells me that the party is going to get real good at ventriloquism real fast.

It will de an intortant skill.

(Labials may be a problem - f, v, b, p, m would need to be replaced by th, th, d, t, n)

A reminder that I will be without Internet access from Monday until Saturday afternoon. I've got María following Cecil right now; I propose she continue to do so during this week, obeying any reasonable instructions he gives. As suggested by Cecil, she'll keep a sharp ear out for any sounds of interest, as well as trying to notice any behavior or thoughts that seem out different from other Patiae. If Lykke & co. show up again, she'll follow any instructions they give. María will be back with a vengeance on Saturday.