Fastball o/` The Way o/`

[Brian]

Bjorn:  Ezmereth looks at you oddly.  "If you wished that ... you would need to seek guidance from the Oracle who once governed those who walked the path before you.  Then, of course, you would need to find the keys, and learn the dreams of the Guardian Spirits."

Turning to Paul, Ezmereth frowns, looking up, and says, "Again, the future is what you make of it."

[Huitzil]

"And I'm going to try my damndest to make a future worth living. But I need a straight answer. Is there anything left of the Order of Symmetry, something we could awaken, some artifact we could find, some sleeping army of the dead to hold to an oath?

"We're going to forge the future, we're going to be in this contest. We're going to fight both of them. All of them. The way it's going to end up, we probably would fight if it were us five against the entire world. Because... that's how it is, isn't it? We're going to do it, because that is what has to be done.

"What I want to know is, how can we make it so it isn't five against the world?"

[Brian]

"None left, except the oracle ... but many who would follow, perhaps," Ezmereth admits.  "And if that's the path you choose, then that's the path you choose."

[Huitzil]

"Those who would follow... you mean, people like us? People with, with powers?

"How could we find them? And how could we have them join us?"

[Brian]

"Some might say they already have," Victor says lazilly, leaning forward and plucking the pipe from Paul's hand.  "You don't think all those workshop Escapees are really out-and-out gung-ho for Pax Arcana or the Seventh Cabal, do you?"

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods thoughtfully at Victor's remark, and then addresses Ezmereth.  "You said I'm the... incarnation of some template -- well, that we all are.  Could you tell me more about that?  I've been racking my mind, and I can't think of anything that fits me."

[Dracos]

Dracos, in his slightly dreamlike state of awareness, glanced around, absorbing his environment.

Dracos

[Brian]

"Your powers are still sealed," Ezmereth says, shrugging.  That totem on your wrist ... it is a gift from the Warriors of Dream.  It will protect you, but hide your true power, at the same time.  At a guess, it was not meant for merely you, but you, and the four who join you in the Contest."

He turns back to Paul for this.  "As far as 'rules' figure, there must be five in the begining.  Some may fall along the way, but there must always be five to start.  Your supporters may be innumerable ... but to begin with there are five.  Always five."  He pulls a small collored hoop out of a pouch on his belt.  It's a traditional naitive american cross-in-hoop, one quadrant a different color.  Red, black, yellow, and white.  "And so," he adds, shrugging.

[Bjorn]

"That wasn't really an answer," Bjorn points out.  "You don't have any idea on what I'd be if I was unsealed?"

Frowning at the hoop, he adds, "That's only got four sections.   If it's relevant to entering the contest..."

[Brian]

Ezmereth shakes his head.  "You don't see yet.  What you are is hidden to me.  The spirit of a warrior, I recognize that much ... more, I cannot say, until you share that totem's gift with your companions," he indicates, pointing at the bracelet.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods.  "And how do I go about doing that?"

[Dracos]

Dracos focused, turning off the buzz and blinking focusing.  "There are five colors.  The fifth isn't visible in the standard array of color.  It's pure magic.  What do you call this hoop, Ezmereth?"

[Brian]

"When you are ready, then you ... and those you wish to journey with you ... join left hands.  The totem will do the rest," he says to Bjorn.  Turning to Phil, he adds,  "A hoop is as good a name as any.  It serves as a reminder of the spirits that guide us, more than Grandfather Thunder, or Brother Wolf."

[Huitzil]

"I don't suppose I'll ever be ready. Then again, I don't suppose that matters."

Paul puts out his left hand.

[Dracos]

"What the hell.  In for the round, in for the game."  Dracos shrugged, glancing at Bjorn.  "Somehow, I think the act of attempting to step back out of this would be rather entirely ludicrious at the moment."

Dracos