Providence, Somewhere

Gift of the Raven-Child

"What if the sidebars were more neutrally-toned?" Marinette asked.

Aelita nodded, typing in a hex code for a neutral grey. Refreshing the output, it seemed way better than the soft beige she had intended. Pleasing to the eyes, Aelita had a feeling she was working with the right set of people.

This project was something she was working on ever since she first arrived. She had more time now that her leg was broken, and considering the arcade and roller rink were temporarily closed due to current events, she figured now was a good time more than anything to finish. With Dexter having given her a server tower, once the site went online, this would've been her greatest achievement.

Besides, Jeremie and Dexter weren't the only smart guys she knew.

"Marcy, check to see if you can make a post on the board," she commanded.

Switching apps, Marcy rapidly typed something from her spot on Aelita's couch. "Done!"

Marinette camped out next to Aelita, on the bed, her leg still raised. It'd be a while until it healed completely.

"I see it," Marinette said, showing her phone to Aelita. "Look, her post is global."

Aelita smiled. She had pitched her idea to both Marinette and Marcy yesterday when they went to hang out. A phone app and a website that could be used to post whatever people were thinking at a specific moment to everyone in town, whether it be news or just a pretty flower. Both girls laughed, mentioning that they already knew the concept of social media, and were glad to help her out. The skeleton was already done, and all that was left was the cosmetic, something both teens knew how to help with. And when that was done, the girls needed to test it.

"I can't believe you just made Facebook in your bedroom," Marcy said. "Man, I could totally do that, but I'd rather stick to illustration."

"Don't doubt yourself, Marcy," Aelita replied. "You're the one who helped debug the software."

"Yeah, it's impressive," Marinette added.

"You, too, Marinette. You have an eye for color."

"Oh, gosh, thanks. I just want to make it more readable and customizable."

Marcy stood up, grabbing her tablet and joining the two. "We made something better than Facebook, and I'm so sure the town will love it!"

"Well, all that's left is to save and upload the data." With a few more keystrokes on her laptop, Aelita crossed her fingers. "Exit the beta app and let me know if it's getting through."

"Wait, it's downloading on our phones?" Marinette asked. "Without our input?"

"We don't have an app store, and everyone's gotta start using it, so why not just go the guerrilla marketing route?" Marcy quipped. "Oh, we have to get a gorilla to advertise our app sometime."

"Wait, won't people find it weird that they suddenly got an app on their phones?"

"Not if we spread the word."

"I already told Eclipsa," Aelita said, staring focused on the screen. "She said it'd be okay. Wasn't expecting the release to be so soon, and with such a soft launch to boot. She'll probably be one of our first users. Either way, it'll be brought up next meeting."

"It's already been a week?" Marcy asked.

"Strange," Marinette noted. "Not to mention we have five new residents in town. That'll definitely be brought up."

"Five?!" both girls said in alarm.

"We've always had one or two come through the same day, but five?" Marcy noted, crawling onto the bed. "I know this isn't Dungeons and Dragons, but I read that if more elves are born in a specific time-frame, it means something catastrophic is coming."