Understanding the Ways of the Artifice

[Terri Nutkins]

Terri, as ever, was filled with excited energy, a by-product of the adrenaline that she knew many took to understand as one facet of fear. Another facet of the emotion she came to know implicitly was that of a challenge. Today, she hoped to learn from her friend how to connect with a Contract that she had heard of through Danny but never come to understand. However, as she had learned, no-one lives forever and Terri knew that she had to focus on what she wanted; namely to be a decent fashion designer.

Arriving at Marcus' workshop, the converted garage, she had in her hands a couple of lattes and a bag of pastries, a little gift for the afternoon. Wearing something simple, Terri knocked on the door, a smile spreading on her face.

[Marcus Evan]

The door opens to reveal Marcus smiling in his usual work clothes, jeans and a grey tshirt. However, he is surprisingly clean and his workshop is quite tidy and well-organized. Shiny tools and instruments hang from the wall above the drafting table that he had apparently just abandoned. Terri can see bits and pieces of a few of the sketches he had been working on, but they are partially obscured by the drafting tools scattered on top. The elemental smiles even wider as he reaches for one of the lattes.

"You're a godsend. Cheers. Come inside."

[Terri Nutkins]

The Beast grinned as she passed Marcus one of the drinks, stepping inside his workshop. She noted just how clean and organised it was and stifled a chuckle as she thought about her own work space and just how chaotic it was. Perhaps it was the way they're brains worked. Both creative, artistic, but from opposing directions. Terri had always been a bit of a scatter-brain.

"You're welcome," she said, stopping to hold up the paper bag. "I brought pastries too!"

[Marcus Evan]

The metalflesh takes a sip of the warm, caffeine-laden milk and visibly brightens at the mention of food. As often happened, Marcus had gotten so engrossed in his work that he had neglected to eat anything and now his stomach was starting to voice it's displeasure with him. Reaching for the bag, Marcus helps himself to one of the pastries as he pulls up a couple of stools for them.

"Ta. So, you said you needed a hand with something...

Marcus looks at Terri questioningly as he takes a bite of pastry and chews slowly and thoughtfully.

[Terri Nutkins]

Letting Marcus take the bag, Terri sipped at her own drink, a small smile on her face, and it wasn't only due to the satisfaction of milky-caffeine. She was a social creature, had grown to be one. When she first came home to Sacramento all those years ago, the Elemental had been around a month or two but the pair had not really spoken, and in her own words, Terri was a bit of a bitch. Hell, she once kicked Rust for putting his hands on her shoulders prior to the Ash Run on Jacob Greenteeth, or whatever his name was.

But she had known of Marcus and his Summer connections and as Terri had mellowed and fallen in love, Marcus had grown to be more than the best friend of her then-hubby. He had become a solid part of her life, a dependable aspect that she trusted with her life. Marcus was like the brother she had never had.

"I do," Terri nodded, effortlessly perching on the stool and crossing her slender legs. "I was hoping to understand the Contract that deals with Artifice. Danny once mentioned it to me and now that I'm trying to get my business back up and running, a little help wouldn't go amiss." Pausing, she takes another sip of her drink, looking around at the workshop again, smiling as she found a clear space to place down her cup. "As an Artist, I'm guessing you know about such stuff? Any chance you could help a girl out?"

[CyledyrWyllt]

Marcus nods as he listens to one of his closest friend describe her current situation.

"Of course. It'd be my pleasure. I have to admit, it's definitely come in handy more than once."

The artistic elemental takes another sip from his latte as he composes his thoughts. How exactly does he explain how to make a deal with Artifice?

"The first thing you have to understand is that nothing's perfect. Everything gets worn out and will break down eventually. Everything. Tiny little imperfections exist all around us. They're in the walls of this workshop... the legs of the stools we're sitting on... The stitches of the clothes we have on... even in these cardboard cups. It takes a lot of practice, but once you really understand that, you start to recognize how to fix some of those imperfections... or, when you need to, how to make them even worse."

Marcus almost uses Betony Rue's knowledge of herbalism and anatomy as an analogy to better illustrate his point, but then thinks better of it when he realizes where that train of thought would eventually lead. He takes a long sip of his latte to buy a little time to think.

"I used to think Artifice was fickle, because it doesn't seem to care if you mend the cracks or make them bigger. But, then I realized that you always need to tear down the old if you're going to build something new, and that anything you build will then eventually fall apart. One always seems to lead to the other. I guess in the long run, it's really all the same to Artifice, so why should it pick sides?"

The elemental realizes that he was rambling on a little bit, so he searches the beast's face to make sure he didn't lose her.

[Terri Nutkins]

Terri listened and it came to no surprise that she could appreciate Marcus' explanation, which reminded her of the way she used to instruct back in the day. As he came to a pause, Terri grinned and looked down at her stool.

"This thing won't suddenly collapse under my weight, right?" she joked, giggling. "I mean, that does not help a girl's self-confidence."

Still, despite her jovial nature, Terri knew there was certainly a lesson in Marcus' words. "I've always been one to fix things, ever since I escaped the first time. Always looking for ways to make the world a better place. I suppose in a way, I need to appreciate that things naturally break down before they can get better."

Perhaps that is what's needed between me and Rick, she mused, dropping her eyes slightly before quickly locking them with the Elemental's, giving him a determined nod. "Ok, where do I start?"

[Marcus Evan]

Marcus smirks at the petite redhead's comment about the stool breaking under her weight.

As if...

Looking around his workshop, he spots something that might help illustrate the lesson. Walking over to his workbench, he picks up an old fashioned radio and holds it out for Terri.

"This belongs to my land lady. She calls it an antique, but it's really just an old piece of junk... hasn't worked in ages. Still, it means something to her, so she asked me to fix it. I want you to take a good, long look at it and tell me what you see."

[Terri Nutkins]

"Ok," Terri says with a bemused look on her face as she took the old radio. "Wow, this is old. I mean, this could be Gianna old!" she joked with a lighthearted chuckle. Turning it over in her hands, she gazed at it trying to pick out anything wrong. It wasn't easy for the Beast, given the fact she knew diddly about electronics. A piece of clothing and she could have found the frayed threads and dropped stitches at a glance but this? It wasn't as simple as she thought.

However, the Autumn Courtier persisted. It took about a minute but she thought she could see a couple of things, pointing them out to Marcus. "This and this," she said, indicating where she meant, looking up into the Elemental's steely eyes.

  Looking at radio (penalty for knowing nothing about electronics)

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-09-23 03:32:19		Terri Nutkins rolls 5 to Intelligence + Crafts -1 (10 Again)		9, 7, 9, 2, 7		2 successes

OOC

Sorry about the vagueness in Terri's reply but like my petite Beast, the player know's bugger all about electronics also

[CyledyrWyllt]

Marcus nods as Terri points out the cosmetic problems.

"Yes, the knobs are broken and the power cord is frayed. Without any power, it won't function. But, even if we repair the cord, we still need to fix the knobs to make it work."

Pulling his trusty multi-tool from his pocket, Marcus deftly removes the back of the radio and exposes its inner workings.

"I already figured out that a couple of the old capacitors need to be changed, so I ordered replacements online. They won't arrive for another week or so, but let's say we needed this radio to work today... right now. What should we do?"

The elemental returns the beast's look and she sees her own inquisitive features reflected in Marcus' steely eyes.

"Terri, did you ever see that old show, MacGuyver? The guy that fixed everything with chewing gum and a paperclip? That's exactly what Artifice does. It allows you to improvise when you don't have the proper tools. It uses the tools of necessity. That is its strength."

After removing the useless capacitors from the radio, Marcus inclines his head toward Terri's handbag as he continues.

"Tell you what... we're going to use whatever odds and ends you have in your purse to fix this radio right now. Are you game?"

  2 suxx Radio Repair

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-09-23 10:57:35		Marcus Evan rolls 5 to Intelligence + Science (10 Again)		6, 9, 7, 10, 4, 3		2 successes