Sole Purpose

[Teeramus]

"How you wear em's up to you mate." The Australian said with a grin.

He was surprised to hear that Falstaff didn't know any of the others of his path, at least the ones that Striker knew of. His face turned quizzical as he said "Nous is number one in your street isn't she? You know long curly hair. I mean I only saw her at that meeting a while back but you gotta know who's in charge right?" It was half a question as half Striker trying to clue Falstaff in on something that he thought was obvious. The fact that Falstaff might happily operate under different principles didn't occur to him. He knew what was right.

He thought on the other Mage's question. "If a problem's right in front of you then it's easy. You just fix it. Or break it, if that's what ya want. No need for tricks." He said before using his teeth to again break the pretzel down into manageable pieces. Then he continued "What I'm still tryin' to put together is how to figure out problems that aren't right in front of ya. I've got a handle on seeing how lucky I could be trying something or whatever, but I don't know what to do to make sure somethin' happens the way it needs to." He dipped the peice of pretzel in a random sauce and munched on it.

[Falstaff]

"Curly hair? Yeah, I think I saw her up front at our last convention. I kind of, well . . . I have this medical condition: either my foot is mouth-shaped, or my mouth is foot-shaped--either way the two get drawn together like magnets. I try not to meet boss-people if I can help it, although most the time I can't. I'm sure if they want to meet me they will, right?" Falstaff tries to eat the pretzel the same way as Striker, not moving his one arm, shredding it with his teeth--fun times.

"No tricks? I'm not sure I understand." Tricks are the best thing--how do you get by without them? "I know all about that other stuff you said there at the end, seeing down the road and getting lucky--well, not with women, unless you count Lady Luck. You could say I have a . . . what's bigger than a G.E.D.? Someone once told me it's better to be lucky than good; I've found it's better to be lucky than smart, handsome, or generally competent." He tries to rub salt off his lip and gets mustard on his nose. Maybe the man would trade him stilts for getting his fortune read?

[Teeramus]

Striker frowned at Falstaff's admission of lack of knowledge of his superiors but said nothing.

"Yeah. No. I prefer to actually be competent at stuff." He told the other mage. "That why I find it easier to work with stuff you can get your hands on. Something wrong with your arm mate? Need me to take a look?" He asked, noticing the other mage's eating efforts.

[Falstaff]

"My arm?" Falstaff asks. "Oh, no--I'm practicing my compassion. I've been criticized for being inconsiderate, for not being able to walk a mile in anyone else's shoes. You just bought your shoes, so I thought it would be best if I didn't. See? Considerate."

  Falstaff doesn't notice Striker's frown.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-10 23:40:03		Falstaff rolls 6 to 6 to Wits + Empathy (10 Again)		3, 7, 4, 6, 5, 3		failure

He leans in to whisper. "You said you didn't understand much about ate-Fay--I could show you some things if you like, mess with some shoppers? Only overt-cay ells-spay." This could be fun!

[Teeramus]

Striker looked at the funny little bloke with a bemused smile. He obviously didn't take himself or anyone else very seriously. Was he an idiot or did he just naturally turn every second sentence into some sort of joke?

"Yeah that'd be alright." He said with a nod, bringing up the Sybils Sight so he'd be able to see what the other mage was about to do. "Just, nothing bad or harmful right?" He added. He didn't know what kind of jokes the other mage was into, but he'd met enough people with a twisted sense of what was 'funny' to clarify. He was sort of beginning to maybe like this bloke and it'd be a shame if he turned out to be some sort of psychopath.

  1 suxx Sybils Sight (-1M)

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-12 13:11:29		Striker rolls 2 to Sybils Sight (10 Again)		9, 7		1 success

[Falstaff]

Falstaff grins with delight--finally, someone to make mischief with . . . good mischief. He looks around the eating area, spots a children's carousel: old, with ponies and elephants and camels dancing in creaky circles beneath dimming lights. First target.

He pops covers his mouth, makes some whispers in High Speech, before sneezing in the direction of the carousel.

  Platonic Mechanism

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-13 15:52:10		Falstaff rolls 8 to Platonic Mechanism: 8 to Improv (3F + 3G + 2HS) (10 Again)		5, 5, 8, 2, 10, 3, 6, 4, 10, 10, 2		4 successes

The light return to prefect clarity. The music clears, free from its prior muffle. And the animal-seats bob with oiled ease, much to the delight of the playing children. "Ate-Fay is the boss of everything, see? Even machines."

He sees a fat kid without money to ride, looking longingly at the carousel. Second Target. Same covert routine.

  Winds of Chance

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-13 15:54:31		Falstaff rolls 8 to Winds of Chance: 8 to Improv (10 Again)		9, 8, 8, 5, 3, 2, 6, 3		3 successes

Seconds later, the fat kid finds a five dollar bill hiding in a plastic potted plant. A cute girl giggles before giving him a kiss on the cheek and then running off squeezing to her girlfriends. And then a mall vendor gives him a free ice cream cone, having made too many on his las order. The fat kid pays for a ticket, gets on the carousel, and rides round and round while licking his ice cream cone under the affectionate stare of a young girl.

"With ate-Fay, you don't have to pick the things that happen, just whether they're good or bad. What do you think so far?"

[Teeramus]

Striker raised his eyebrows as Falstaff cast his first, then second spell. He watched as the threads of Fate pulled the mechamisms of the carousel into alignment and hold them on course. Of course he couldn't actually see the mechanisms, yet. He brought up the Crafters Eye on his second attempt, resorting to risking high speech and hoping the noise of the crowd would drown him out.

It was fascinating seeing exactly how the machine should be groaning under the weight of the child on old bearings and hinges, and yet at the same time seeing how Fate kept it running smoothly somehow finding the optimal path for each moving part.

"Mate, that's pretty impressive. It'd take me hours to get it running that smooth if I was doin' it manually." Striker said before getting a dubious look on his face. "But what happens when ya tricks are done an' gone?" he asked.

"It's weird ya know, 'cause usually I rely on my instinct for stuff, but some people reckon I'm too impulsive an' I need to learn how to control meself. And then you show me this and it's like control doesn't matter at all." he sighed. Ya think ya have life figured out.

  2 suxx Crafters Eye (-2M)

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-11-13 16:36:03		Striker rolls 3 to Crafter's Eye (10 Again)		9, 9, 2		2 successes
2014-11-13 16:35:18		Striker rolls 2 to Crafter's Eye (10 Again)		6, 4		failure

[Falstaff]

"Control?" He doesn't understand. "Like when the ell-spay, ends-ay? I guess things go back to the way they were. Having time-Tay makes for a good eraser though." He smiles. "I guess I've never tried anything important enough to be bad if it went wrong. Not really an important guy you see. Just a carousel mechanic. But, anyone will tell you: I'm not the one to ask about control."

Instinct. Impulse. Striker sounds like . . . Falstaff? "Can you teach me how to make ad-bay uys-gay into toads?" No one's afraid of toads. Even if those toads were Banishers before. Why hasn't anyone else thought of this solution before? He and Striker were going to be a dynamic duo: eating pretzels on stilts, fixing carousels, and turning Banishers into toads. The possibilities are endless . . .

[Teeramus]

"Toads?" Striker says surprised by Falstaff's sudden ambition. "I can't even do that mate. Animus maybe, but not me. I can't even help myself yet." He said shrugging his left shoulder.

"Usually I just hit stuff until it stops moving. A good kick in the nuts sometimes does it." He explained. "Course the B's'll have tricks too so I'm hopin' Weavebreaker'll be able to shut 'em down when we go in." The Australian continued. "Are you hooked up with a group that'll be helpin' deal with the problem at the uni?" He asked curiously.

[Falstaff]

Animus: Falstaff will remember the name for the toad spell. He brainstorms ways to make his new friend an arm, comes up with nothing. Not the domain of Time, Fate, or Falstaff. He sighs. Maybe someday . . . Until then--pretzels.

"Nut kicks: I agree, but I can never reach--thus the stilts. But how many nut sacs do you suppose you could kick before your feet get tired? I get exhausted just thinking about it! The B's . . . got to think of something . . . maybe a nut-kicking machine?" Falstaff wonder whether he should start wearing a jock strap. "Maybe we can get some of those bosses who are so mad at you to do product testing?" He smiles. "Group? Nope. I'm more of an ass than an asset, you see . . . Even the ee-Fray council-Cay and Acanthus-ay have reservations about my, uh . . . well, me, I guess. Can't say I blame them--that's something you say, right? Really, I don't ever blame anyone for anything. Fate, see?"