Inspiration on:
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
A Play by Tom Stoppard as well as a hilarious movie.
Go watch it.
Seriously.
ACT I
Two Talons rested on a small chunk of terra. Both dressed unremarkably for the sake of secrecy. They had been flying all morning when the two figured they deserved a lunch break.
Roz had finished his lunch well before his companion and was currently leaning against his skimmer quietly flipping a coin over and over.
Flip. "…heads…"
Flip. "…heads…"
Flip. "…heads…"
Guil, sitting opposite his friend, licked the last of the crumbs from his fingers, leaned back against his own skimmer and closed his eyes; he had just enough time for a short nap before they set off once more. The talon would have been asleep in a matter of minutes, but every now and again a declaration of 'Heads' would draw him back to consciousness. By now the run of Heads has reached near impossibility, a fact that finally occurs to Guil. The fair haired Talon at last admitted defeat and regarded his friend with a single hazel eye.
Flip. "…heads…"
Flip. "…heads…"
Flip. "…heads…"
Flip…"...heads…"
Guil rose to his feet and stood in front of the other Talon. Roz, seemingly oblivious to his friend's scrutiny, continued to flip the coin.
"…heads…"
The next time the coin was flipped Guil reached out and plucked it from the air. He inspected both sides of the small disk, glanced at his companion, and then simply dropped it into the dirt at his feet and returned to his seat.
Roz leaned over the coin. "Heads." He stated, and picked it up.
Guil stared, eyes fixed on the coin as it tumbled through the air.
"…heads…"
The Talon chewed on his tongue. "How many times is that?"
"Seventy-five…" Roz spun the coin again. "Seventy-six."
Guil then retrieved a pouch from his skimmer and drew out an identical coin. He spared a glance at Roz who was now watching him. Guil flipped the coin and caught it, enclosing it in his fist. He then looked expectantly at his friend.
"Heads?" Roz offered.
Guil opened his hand, palm up and stared at the object within for a few seconds before tossing it to Roz.
"Heads."
Guil then repeated the process. Flip. Catch. Heads. Toss. Repeat.
Roz by now had found his own pouch to contain his new found wealth, though he did feel a bit embarrassed at taking so much money from his friend.
Guil got up and walked a few steps away, more worried about the implications of the situation than the money, tossed a coin over his shoulder without looking at it.
"Heads."
"A weaker man might think to question his choice of sides." The Talon tossed another coin over his shoulder. "Or at least question the laws of probability."
"Heads."
Guil tossed two more coins over his shoulder, one after the other, both receiving a call of 'heads'. "It must be indicative of something. Besides the transfer of funds" He mused. "One: I am willing it. Deep inside I wish to 'pay' to atone for my past." Guil spun a coin at Roz. "Two: time has stopped dead, and the single moment of one coin being spun once has repeated –"
"Eighty-five in a row – beaten the record!"
Guil spun around to face his friend. "That's it? That's how far you're prepared to go? A new record."
"Well…"
"No questions? Not even a flicker of doubt?"
"I'm winning aren't I?" Roz countered defensively.
Guil approached him and lowered his voice. "And what if you lost? Eighty-five times one after the other. Just. Like. That."
Roz stared at him dumbly. "Eighty-five in a row? Tails?"
Guil nodded. "What would you think?"
"Well I'd have a good look at your coins for a start!" Roz replied doubtfully.
"Exactly! I'm relieved self-interest is still a predictable factor." Guil pulled out another coin and began to roll it in his hand, deep in thought. "Perhaps… perhaps it is some sort of supernatural force." By now Guil's pouch is nearing half empty which he notices and an idea sparks in his mind. "It must be the law of diminishing profits! I feel the spell about to be broken." With that he tossed the coin high, caught it, turned it over on the back of his other hand and studied it – and tossed it to Roz.
"Well it was a 50-50 chance." Roz offered sympathetically.
Guil sat down, his energy deflated. "True." He took out a coin, spun it, letting it land between his feet, looked at it, picked it up and tossed it to Roz. The Talon took out another coin, spun it, caught it, looked at it, and tossed it to Roz. Guil took out a third coin, spun it, caught it in his right hand, turned it over onto his left wrist, lobbed it into the air, caught it in his left hand, raised his left leg, threw the coin up under it, caught it and turned it over in his hand where he stared at it for quite a while.
Roz got up, looked at it, and then placed it into his pouch with the others. "I'm afraid –"
"So am I."
"I'm afraid it isn't your day."
Guil stared blankly at the air.
"Eighty-nine." The dark haired talon reported innocently. Silence stretches between them.
"What is the first thing you remember?" Guil asks suddenly.
"Oh, let's see… Ah. No, it's no good, it's gone. It was a long time ago."
Guil gave him a look of infinite patience. "No – the first thing you remember today."
"Oh I see." Roz thought about it. "I woke up I guess." The Talon stood up suddenly. "I've got it now – that man woke us up, called our names."
"A messenger"
"We were summoned by Master Cyclonis."
"Yes."
"And that's why we're here," Roz looked around. "Travelling…"
"Yes."
Roz now paced back and forth in front of his companion. "It was important: official business, no questions asked sort-of-thing."
"About what?"
Roz stopped pacing. "The…Dark Ace?" he said hopefully.
"Correct." Guil flipped a coin to Roz. "Information was what she wanted. A Report."
Roz looked at the coin and placed it into the pouch. "Report? You mean…" Roz looked around and lowered his voice. "…spy?"
Guil nodded slowly.
"But, why would she need to–"
"No questions were to be asked."
Roz sat down, frustrated. "Well how are we to report anything when we don't know what to report on? Unless…"
"Yes?"
"We cannot ask questions of her but we can ask questions of him!"
Guil stood up. "Then what are we waiting for? We better continue on."
"Right!" Roz marched to his skimmer, and then paused. "On where?"
"Forward." Guil said simply.
"Ah. Which way do we…" Roz spun around, searching the sky. "Which way did we…?"
"Set loose to find our own way…" Guil muttered. "I would have thought she would entitle us to some proper directions." Suddenly a familiar noise reached his ears. "Hold on… I can hear –"
"A motor!" Roz exclaimed.
"A skimmer." Guil corrected.
A moment later a bright skimmer appeared just a ways away, flying low. The two disguised Talons flagged it down, whistling and waving their arms.
The stranger landed, skimmer transforming into bike mode, and came to a halt in front of them. He too was dressed for travel, complete with a dark scarf tied over his mouth and nose to keep from breathing in dust.
The dark skinned stranger pulled down the scarf and greeted them. "Now what would two fine gentlemen such as yourselves, be doing in the middle of nowhere such as this?"
"Trying to find a way out of nowhere and back to somewhere." Roz replied happily.
Guil put a hand on his friends shoulder. "That is, we would be grateful to know the direction to Terra Typhon."
It was then that the stranger spotted Roz's rather full money pouch. "Terra Typhon? I might just know how you could get there…" He dismounted his skyride and approached them with a sly smile. "Question is… what's in it for me?"
Sensing an opportunity, a slow smile spread across Guil's face. "Questions… I have a question for you my friend, do you like to bet? I win you tell us what you know."
"What kind of bet did you have in mind?" The smile had faded, but he looked interested.
"Something simple." Guil then drew out one of the few remaining coins in his own pouch and tossed it to the ground halfway between them. Before either man could discern the toss, Guil placed his foot over the coin. "Call it, double or nothing."
"Heads." The stranger said.
Guil raised his foot for him to see. The dark stranger bent and retrieved the coin, a smile once again plastered on his face.
The Talon threw him a second coin. "Again. My call."
The stranger nodded and tossed the coin.
"Heads." Guil called. The coin landed, heads, and he picked it up. Again Guil spun a coin.
"Heads." The stranger called again, it was, and he picked it up. Now having two coins he spun one.
"Heads." Guil picked up the coin and immediately tossed it.
"Tails." The man called hesitantly.
The coin landed with a clatter; heads. Guil retrieved it.
The stranger threw down his last coin as payment.
Instead of picking it up Guil put his foot on it. "Heads," he called.
The traveller looked at him suspiciously.
Guil lifted his foot, squatted, and picked up the coin. Still squatting he looked up at the man. "I win." The Talon spun it again and slapped his hand over on the ground. "Heads."
"You have cheated me." The man said angrily.
Guil uncovered the coin. "I win." He then repeated the process. "Heads."
"I will tell you nothing."
"I win." Spin. "Heads."
"No!" The stranger turned away disgustedly and began to walk back to his ride.
Guil stood up, leaving the coin on the ground without looking at it. "You saw the coins yourself friend, they were no trick."
The man paused then mounted his skyride; it seemed as if he would back on his deal. Guil did not want to have the situation turn violent.
"The place you seek is southeast of here." He started his ride, revving it once and looked back at the two Talons. "Just follow the winds." Finally, placing his scarf over his face, the stranger drove away.
Guil watched as the skimmer converted and disappeared over the horizon. "Come on, let's go." He said to his companion and walked over to his skimmer.
"I say – that was lucky."
"What?" Guil turned to see that Roz had picked up the coin from the ground.
"It was tails." Roz smiled and tossed the coin to Guil.
There was no way I was going to adapt the whole play, just a couple different scenes that I thought were interesting or funny and hopefully make it into some semblance of a story…
