Act 1-1: Roger the Negotiator

[Roger Smith]

He took his time with the fruit. Several minutes of time, in fact. Because he enjoyed it, of course, but also to buy time to think of what he should do next. Sitting here was going to do nothing except get him nowhere fast. Which didn't leave him with terribly many options. There was nothing of interest to be seen here, aside from the ruined old fountain. All that he could see otherwise was...on that distant horizon, however many miles it was, and he couldn't even tell what they were. Well...he could see to figuring that dilemma out.

With the fruit consumed, Roger once more held his hand out, palm upraised, and let his eyes drift closed. He focused and turned his thoughts toward what he had in mind. Again, he noted, it took at least a few minutes, before he felt the weight settle into his hand.

He opened his eyes, and looked down at the object in his hands. "Not really my thing, usually...but when the situation calls for it..." He trailed off, raising the binoculars to his eyes. It took a moment to steady them, adjusting the zoom levels properly to get a clear picture, but after a minute of effort (he was not terribly skilled with the things; always relied on his own eyes) he managed it. "Some sort of...archway?" He lowered them from his now narrowed eyes, thoughts shifting into a higher gear. It was still hard to tell much from this distance, but definitely some kind of archway. He could only think of a handful of reasons why it was there. Decoration, someone's idea of a joke, or... Well, fitting in with all the other absurdity this place had displayed so far, it probably acted as some kind of door. Lead to somewhere else that wasn't this empty, blank expanse of nothing.

Which meant it was something worth looking into. But not on foot. With his closer, magnified look at it, he could tell it was indeed at least half a dozen miles away, and very probably more than that, as he had originally guessed, just judging by the size of what he could see were humanoid figures standing near to it. Assuming they were at least close to his own height, it provided a clear enough picture of not only the size of the archway they were standing near, but also the relative distance they were from him.

He carefully folded the binoculars, setting them aside on the rim of the fountain. "Anything I desire..." he reminded himself again as his eyes once again slowly closed. This one would be a little more complex...