[CENTER][h1]Zavakri[/h1]
[h2]& The Dungeon Master[/h2][/CENTER]

A procession of wooden unicorns stands motionless on a circular wooden platform. Fairgoers clamber onto the unicorns' backs, and a female centaur sets the ride in motion. The unicorns shake their manes and creak to life, cantering around the carousel to the delight of their riders.

The centaur greets Zavakri with a soft smile and voice, "Hello. Welcome to the Carousel. A ride costs only one ticket punch,"

Zavakri's eyes widen upon approach; A carousel was delightfully mundane and wondrously [i]mathematical[/i] to her mind. These things were a joy; [i]Let X equal radius, let Y equal acceleration...[/i]

Oh, how it gave her mind something to chew on! She was only a mite distracted as she approached the centaur and offered up her ticket;

"Mmm....How fast does it go on the innermost radii?" She asks offhandedly. "Difficult to tell at a glance. My name is Zavakri, how do you do?"

She looked up at the Centaur and blinked, then paused. She'd heard...Many stories about the centaurs of the far eastern steppe. Stories of their raids and their pillages and their conquests and their wildness and the things they did for money and women and power- but for each of those stories, she'd also heard of their pride and their connection to the land and their compassion. This meant she truly didn't know what to think, and this woman seemed pleasant enough.

This damned carnival and the way it's forcing her to face her preconceived notions!

The centaur answers Zavakri's introduction politely and kindly, "It's nice to meet you, Zavakri. I'm Diana Cloppington. I'm doing well this night, how are you?" Zavakri that while the mood around the carnival is joyful, and the centaur seems to be happy herself, there's still a sort of sadness in her eyes.

"Oh, well, I'm quite frantic to be honest. I've got a rather dreadful headache from all the sound- though I did sign up for it!- and I must admit to a rather curious purpose for even being here. Care for a bit of gossip?" She prompted sociably, if awkwardly.

Diana tilted her head in confusion before she answered Zavakri, "...Oh, you mean you want to just talk? Sure, I wouldn't mind a discussion,"

"I'll take the direct stance then; Have you noticed anything odd lately? Folks around here don't seem terribly chipper- least, not you worker types. You have my sympathies if it's the working conditions, but I've gotten some strange feelings by the hall of illusions, and I've also heard some unsavory rumors about people and things disappearing." She says honestly. "It all started with my own sister- and I was wondering if you had any insight into this. I might be able to figure it out... Balance the equation. I'm doing it for me and myself as much as I am for the people who've talked to me, and if you feel put upon just say 'I'm not interested in talking about this' and I'll hop right on my way to ride the carousel. So, what'll it be?"

She produces her ticket.

"Punching my ticket, or talking heart to heart, friend?"

Diana blinked at Zavakri's words. She did a silent gasp in realization that Zavakri is investigating. The woman speaks sympathetically, 

"...It's not that I'm not interested in talking, dear. I want to help, truly. But...I can't,"

She then starts "It's--" before she starts coughing violently, practically coughing out...tree sap (?) onto the ground. 

She stops coughing after a bit, and she gestures to it while saying, "See? Every time I try, this happens,"

She thinks for a moment, and she speaks, her voice hushed "There is something I can do, though. Listen, you'll need to speak with the unicorns," She nods towards the carousel horses when she says 'unicorns'. 

She grabs a paintbrush and a pot of gold paint, as she continues, "I can close the carousel for necessary repairs. Once you help the unicorns, they can talk to you. Can you help?"

She hands the pot and brush to Zavakri

Zavakri's eyes widen at the sap-producing cough; this reeked of fairies and chaos and all things unnatural but torturously tolerated by the Balance. Capital B. She sighed softly; not an unhappy or dreadful sigh, merely the sigh of one about to be put to task.

"This I can do!" She said cheerfully, putting on a smile. She takes the pot and the brush and looks at them directly.

"Sure thing, I'll get right to it!"

Diana gives a small smile and a nod in return. She moves, closes the carousel, and allows Zavakri to get to work. 

As soon as Zavakri steps onto the carousel with the pot of gold paint, and brush, in hand, she would see what needs to be done. She would see the unicorns' bridles have names on them, but half of those unicorns' names are faded out and unreadable. 

She sees that there are four pairs of unicorns, situated side by side. 

For the first pair of unicorns, the left unicorn is clearly named 'Fortune', while the right unicorn's name is faded out except for the first letter: B.

For the second pair of unicorns, Zavakri would be able to read the right unicorn's name as 'Fall'. The left unicorn's name is faded out, except for the first two letters: PR

For the third pair of unicorns, the left unicorn's name is 'Stone'. The right unicorn's name is faded out except for the first and last letters: M, S.

For the last pair of unicorns, the left unicorn is shown to be named 'Stitch', while the right unicorn's name is faded out except for one of the middle letters: N.

Zavakri easily picks up that she is supposed to repaint the faded out names...

Zavakri approaches each Unicorn in order, taking her time and reading and studying each piece of information carefully. She delicately touches over the Unicorns, carefully observes their poses and postures, then takes a few seconds to calculate the approximate word length on each of the bridles based on font sizes and available numbers. Once she has her groundwork established, she carefully and cautiously begins repairing the Unicorns with deft hands and graceful paint strokes.

"Let's see...Rirvudd always says Fortune favors the..." [b]Bold[/b] "...Though I think 'Brave' would be much more fitting, I'd rather a brave husband than a bold one...Bold just sounds like trouble with extra steps!"

"Fall...Fall...That's so ambiguous, really; It could be Autumn or it could be 'plunging' or it could be 'tripping', or any other synonyms really...Well, I did stop by the Temple of Tyr once, trying to discuss wedding venues, and that woman had rather strong opinions on..." [b]Pride[/b] "...And things falling based on that. I'm not sure how I'd feel having it as a name, and if you'd prefer 'Prince' I'm sure I could adjust the font to make it fit just dandy!"

"As for you...Hmm...Stone...There's lots of things to think about when it comes to stones. My mother used to always say that a Rolling Stone Gathers No..." [b]Moss[/b] "...But to be honest, that just sounds downright lonely in this context. Now that I think about it, mother may have also been lonely. She may have felt trapped and her saying it might have been a hint into that facet of her life. I'll be honest, I never had a good relationship with my mother, but I know that settling down and getting married wasn't what she wanted for her life at the time. She wasn't a bad mum, she just had to settle. I'll need to write her more when I get home. For you guys, I prefer to think of it as 'The Happy Stone Collects Moss'. That's much less lonely and makes you guys a happier pair."

"I suppose this is truly the one I have to thank mum for; she was a wiz seamstress. Absolutely dab hand with the needle and thread, some folk even teased she was a witch with needlecraft- which only earned a proper slap from the woman, mind you... This lesson in particular has stuck with me though; A Stitch In Time Saves..." [b]Nine[/b] "...Which, as far as names go, are good enough...Stitch saves Nine...Oh, to be Nine!" She laughs gaily. "But I'm out here having to do my own rescuing, eh?"

She finishes up repairing and painting the unicorns, seemingly pleased and fulfilled even if her answers turn out to be wrong. The task itself was simple and earnest, and just doing something helpful for Diana was nice.

As Zavakri paints the names onto the bridles, she would see that the missing letters fit perfectly! Once she finished, Diana calls to her, “Oh! If you’re finished, feel free to ride the carousel. It’s on the house as thanks!”

After Zavakri picks a horse, the ride would begin, with the unicorns coming to life. As the gallop along the circular track, Zavakri would hear words clearly in her mind.

Zavakri smiles to Diana, putting the paint and her ticket away. She laughs softly, shaking herself a bit as she considers the Unicorns. At last, she decided upon Stone as her chosen mount. You knew where you stood with a good stone underfoot. As she rode, her eyes shut and her mind listened. For once on this unfathomable night, she seemed to enjoy herself and relax. Alas, the ride must come to an end at some point, and when it does she steps off the unicorn and softly caresses its head.

"Thank you, friend, you've been very helpful. I now know this errand of ours is most foolish indeed; we are sabotaging ourselves, to be true." She said to it. She pulled herself away and strided to Diana again, more confident and comfortable than before.

"You've been a wonder all in your own right; what brings sorrow to your eye, friend? How can I help Diana, as I helped the Unicorns?"

Diana answers Zavakri, "Oh, don't worry about me. Thank you. I...simply made a bad deal in the past and I'm living with it now," She then tells Zavakri, "Please enjoy the carnival,"

Taking the woman's words as simple honesty, Zavakri curtsies to the centaur. "I can understand that. My Rirvudd has made many 'bad deals', but in our circumstances that's just finances. You have my sympathies, Diana." She offers a kind smile, before rising up and shutting her eyes. "...Well damn, I've a better shot at winning the competition myself than of convincing the others this task is futile!"

She stamps a foot suddenly, her eyes opening, and looks up to Diana.

"I have a set of spare tickets and just learned I don't need them; give them to some little boy or girl who looks like they don't have one for me, would you?" She offers up the children's tickets to Diana, unpunched and fresh, before suddenly turning and breaking into a, for her, reckless pace of 'mild jogging' to the Ticket Booth.

Zavakri easily reaches the booth, pays for tickets for any late comers to the carnival, and heads to her next destination...