Upon the Lakeshore...

[PoeticJustice]

At the grumbling sound behind her, Alice was a blur of motion, leaning down to grab up her bat out of pure reflex. Her other hand dropped the knife to free her pistol, and as she turned to draw down on Madrigus, her lips were moving silently.

When she saw who it was, she straightened some. The gun was shoved into her thigh holster, and the bat turned towards the ground. She eyed Madrigus and turned so that she could lean against a tree, watching the others. Madrigus's speech drew a small nod of agreement before her eyes drifted back towards Brett.

[Brett]

Seeing the beach party come together Brett calms a little, he isn't phased too much by Alice's motions, he calms himself, lifitng his ballcap and revealing the shiny tin layer underneath before putting it back on.

"It's just... when you've been around a long enough time, you can see patterns in things. People make choices that have effects on the world around them. I have a rock in my hand, if I was fated to chuck it at someone's head it's not my -fault- it was pre-ordained. Or I could, you know... choose not to do it."

"The whole point of my work is that there is no fate, just conspiracy. People acting in one way or another, often in congress to accomplish something. Was it fate for Nixon to resign? Nope, it was CREEP getting caught and the paper trail that followed."

"Was it pre-ordained for us to bomb Nagasaki? Nope, it was a change in weather patterns at the last minute and it changed everything."

"Once you state something is "pre-ordained" the questioning stops, you go no further up the chain to see who made it happen, the highest echelons of power pull strings and make plans and maybe they see it as fate. But the strings don't go al the way to the top of the universe, it can't... or else we have a very, very sick minded divine creator up there."

Pre-ordained means you can't get an answer, can't question it because that's that.

I have to question everything...

Brett looks out to the lake and winds up to throw the rock out, instead he hesitates, and puts it back on the ground, smiling.

[Madrigus]

"You misunderstand me then," replied Madrigus. "Someone who can 'read Fate' is really just looking into the future. Time to terrestrial beings is linear, but to the forces that Made, "time" is but an object. Everything to them has happened, nothing will happen. But to us, we still need to make decisions.

"As such, Nixon resigned specifically because CREEP got caught, yes, but then, that had already happened. Have you seen the Matrix? Ryan let me watch it once. Morpheus summons it up nicely: all we have is choice. There are just some, like the Oracle, who will know what will happen.

"If I read your future and told you that you would cause the death of another man, and then you tried to prevent that, well that's your choice. If your ministrations improved his life situation, say he got a job interview because of you, and then he died, such as he got hit by a bus on the way to that interview, then that's your fault. You made those choices. Would he have died if I hadnt told you about him? Probably not. But that's the way the universe works: there is only choice, your actions cause reactions, and there are some who can see what will happen because of your choices. There is no 'pre-ordination ,' no 'Fate.' Do you understand what I'm trying to say now?"

(Is it bad that the only response I can think of is "ambient waste all sanity to self" AAAAAAAAAUUUGHH!!!)

[PoeticJustice]

Her eyes turned towards the frozen lake for a moment before looking back. Her head bowed and she picked up the knife she'd dropped, sliding it into her pocket. She considered both arguments for a moment, her eyes drifting towards the horizon while she listened. She let the tip of her bat rest on the ground while she traced her tattoos with a finger.

"I would agree that Choice and the idea of Fate are not as antithetical as you imply they are," she said quietly. "Although, perhaps, humanity has a tendency to use one to discredit the other... Some small number of things being fated does not mean all things are fated. Certainly not choices or crossroads we stand upon."

[Brett]

Brett seemed satisfied with the response. Taking out his little notebook he quietly writes something down and puts it back.

"Ok, now that fate and choice have been covered comes my question."

He turns to Alice for a moment and asks the simplest question.

"Why do you ask?"

[PoeticJustice]

She considered the question for a moment, as well as the two newcomers, frowning slightly before she straightened and looked out over the horizon.

"No reason," she lied, badly. "Although I do find it curious the group we have gathered here. We have an odd mix, I don't know if you noticed..." the corner of her mouth twitched up towards a smirk. "I wonder what... threads have drawn us all here, and if we'll ever see the tapestry they weave."

[TJ Boyd]

::Raises an eyebrow at Madrigus' comments, then another soft chuckle as he turns to address Alice.::

In my experience we are exactly where we are because of the choices we have made. These choices being influenced by the choices of those around us, those choices influenced by those around them. Even all of those choices are influenced by the prior choices each of those people have made. Think about it, why are you here? What lead to it? If you followed someone, how did you meet them? Further and further into the past, wider and wider the web gets, until the whole damn thing seems infinite and the idea of coincidence fades.

::Takes a deep breath as he looks out over the frozen lake.::

I am here because Gus is here, and you can always count on Gus.

[Madrigus]

Madrigus' pleasure with TJ his annoyance at Alice's dodge. At least one of them seemed to understand what he was trying to say. As he walked further onto the beach he suddenly decided to try throwing a rock.

He swiftly bent over and scooped up two rocks and immediately sent one skimming across the hard ice. "TJ has the right of it. My mentor once told me that 'whither thou walks, so shalt thou go; yet others at hand shall guide thee.'" The demon gave a small smile as some unseen object on the ice caused the small rock to shoot up into the air. "I am also here because of the choices of others, although," he looked at his wrist bemusedly, "that's a little obvious isn't it?" He bounced the other rock in his hand.

[PoeticJustice]

"I was sent here," the girl offered quietly, staring out across the horizon. "Although I suppose I did choose to obey the... suggestion..." she smirked, her tone clear that the suggestion was anything but.

"I am not sure whether or not I regret that decision yet. I suppose time will tell..." she scooped up a rock and tossed it over the ice.

[Brett]

The truth came out, just a trickle from what was probably the Hoover Dam.

"Well, you got horrible moths the size of Yugos, entities from the void that are not so polite, Fae pranksters as serious as a heart attack, locals that have everything to hide, mud up to your eyeballs, and the biggest collection of misfits and miscreants as colleagues since the Muppet Show..."

"Regret nothing, do the best you can, and always try to do the right thing."

Brett looks off into the distance, lost in a memory for a m oment before snapping back to reality.

Besides, if it really was -Pre-Ordained- then regret means nothing, if it's all choices and connections like I think, then you just do the best you can. We don't have time travel yet so there's no point to agonize. We're all just winging it anyways!