Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Bender Cove Township Scenario
Episode #106: (12/21/97)
Nick drags himself out of bed an hour early, but with less effort than usual.
Linn is already up, decorating the living room with candles and greenery.
Wise Snake sees it's getting light and trudges home.
Linn places several packages wrapped in colorful paper at the base of a large vase filled with fragrant branches.
Nick retreats to the bedroom to retrieve a few more to add to the stack.
Nick builds a fire, heating the living room and filling it with the scent of greenery, reminiscent of spring.
Wise Snake climbs the front steps of the house and unlocks the door.
Linn cores half a dozen apples, dusts the holes with cinnamon, stuffs them with raisins and brown shuger, and sets them into the oven to bake.
Wise Snake enters and closes the door behind her.
Wise Snake is half frozen and covered with snow...shakes it off on the entryway floor and puts her cloak away.
Nick: Is that you, Snake?
Wise Snake: Yeah...
Wise Snake wonders who else they were expecting.
Wise Snake notices the place is positively teeming with sweet odors.
Nick: Come in by the fire and warm up.
Linn hears the voices and pours fresh tea for three.
Wise Snake advances into the living room cautiously, sees that all her paperwork has disappeared and the place is all nice and clean, with various decorations.
Wise Snake takes a short detour into the spare bedroom to see how B'cal is doing.
Linn hands Nick a mug of tea, then hands another to Snake as she returns to the living room.
Linn: A joyous Year's Turning to you, Snake!
Wise Snake: Uh... thanks. [amazed at all the effort
Linn put into the living room]
Nick grins at the suprised look on Snake's face.
Nick waves Snake over closer to the fire.
Nick: Come thaw out, and then we'll open the packages.
Wise Snake moves closer, and sits in one of the chairs.
Wise Snake spreads her tentacles near the fire, still wondering if there is something important she should know about all this/
Wise Snake: .
Linn and Nick sip their tea, nagers brimming with the mischief of a successful conspiracy.
Wise Snake takes off her boots and moves her feet trying to find evidence of circulation.
Nick: You're not frostbitten, are you?
Nick: ~~concern~~
Wise Snake: I doubt it.
Wise Snake warms up her feet on the hearth stones.
Linn puts another log on the fire.
Linn: How did your family celebrate Year's Turning,
Snake?
Wise Snake: Yeah, tonight was a lovely night. Pulling frozen people out of doorways and helping Gens find their way through the snow.
Wise Snake glances up quickly at Linn.
Wise Snake: Do you mean at Zeor? or... before.
Linn: Either...or both.
Wise Snake: Well, before Zeor, I didn't have any family.
Linn distinctly remembers that Snake has a brother.
Nick: My family used to spend the day outside, wandering around whatever city we happened to be in at the time. We'd come home half frozen, and my father would tell stories half the night.
Wise Snake studies Nick.
Nick's nager is a bit nostalgic.
Wise Snake: And you, Linn? Is this [gestures around them] how yours celebrated?
Linn: Yes.
Linn picks up a taper and lights it from the fire.
Linn carries the taper around the room, lighting the candles.
Linn: The candles symbolize the return of light as the days grow longer, the greenery is a reminder that spring will come in time, and the presents show thanks to the people who's friendship provides warmth in the worst weather.
Wise Snake: An expensive holiday.
Linn grins and hands Snake a good-sized package wrapped in red paper.
Wise Snake is surprised.
Wise Snake automatically zlins the package.
Linn: ~~the package zlins like cloth~~
Wise Snake: Am I supposed to open it?
Linn: Of course.
Linn grins in anticipation.
Wise Snake wary.
Wise Snake cautiously opens the package, conscious of Nick and Linn's amused attention on her.
Nick gasps in admiration as Snake uncovers a bulky, hand-knit sweater, brightly colored and short sleeved so it won't restrict her tentacles.
Wise Snake stares at it in amazement.
Wise Snake: Did you make it?
Linn: Yes. Does it fit? I had to guess at the size.
Wise Snake puts the sweater on.
Wise Snake feels like a poodle.
Wise Snake: Seems to...
Linn checks to see how the shoulders fit.
Wise Snake submits to Linn's tugging and pinching.
Linn: It's a little loose, but that will just make it warmer.
Wise Snake: I think it's too warm for indoors.
Wise Snake squirms out of the sweater.
Wise Snake: But it ought to be perfect in this weather.
Linn hands an even bulkier package to Nick.
Nick opens it, and finds a new wool coat, lined with fleece.
Nick tries on the coat.
Nick: It fits perfectly, Linn. Thank you.
Nick retrieves a box from the gift pile and hands it to Snake.
Wise Snake takes it reluctantly.
Wise Snake: I didn't get anything for you guys.
Nick grins.
Nick: That's all right.
Wise Snake opens the package from Nick.
Linn nods in approval as a pair of leather boots, lined with fleece, make their appearance.
Linn: Those should keep your feet warm, even in this weather, Snake.
Wise Snake tries them on.
Nick watches anxiously, hoping he got the size right.
Wise Snake: They seem to fit fine.
Wise Snake wonders if he measured her old boots, or somehow measured her feet in her sleep.
Wise Snake decides she'd rather not know.
Nick: Good.
Nick is still amazed that Snake didn't miss her summer shoes for the week it took the cobbler to make the boots.
Nick reaches for the last package and presents it to Linn.
Linn weighs the package.
Linn: It feels like a book.
Linn removes the paper.
Linn: Oh, it is!
Linn holds up a large, lavishly illustrated cookbook with lots of yummie recipes.
Linn: It's beautiful, Nick. Thank you.
Wise Snake thinks that was an awfully self-serving present and is amazed Linn wasn't angered by it.
Wise Snake decides Linn must just genuinely like cooking.
Linn thumbs through the book, pausing here and there.
Linn: Oh, that reminds me!
Linn jumps up and runs to the kitchen.
Nick
Nick's nose twitches as a mouth-watering aroma drifts from the kitchen.
Linn returns a moment later with a plate of baked apples, dripping juice and brown sugar.
Wise Snake: Hmmm.
Linn scoops an apple onto a small plate, adds a fork, and passes it to Snake.
Wise Snake: Thanks.
Linn passes Nick the next apple, then serves one for herself.
Linn: My mother used to bake apples like this.
Wise Snake has a couple of bits of apple and ponders the mystery of what she had done that night... she only remembers about 2 hours of it.
Nick digs into his apple like...well, like a hungry Gen.
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Linn is also demolishing her apple at a brisk rate.
Nick's nager has automatically fallen into synch with Snake's, more responsive than before his transfer with Briel.
Linn's nager is also unusually calm and peaceful.
Wise Snake frowns, as she slices a sliver off the apple's edge.
Wise Snake remembers something about... the Sime
Center.
Wise Snake thinks she may have gone there in the night.
Wise Snake: Huh.
Wise Snake stabs the slice with the fork and eats it thoughtfully.
Linn looks into the fire, radiating contentment.
Linn: I've always loved the holidays.
Linn: These last ten years and more, it's been lonely, with just me. Even last year, when Alice came over, it didn't seem quite right.
Wise Snake looks at Linn, distracted from her thoughts.
Wise Snake: Why did Alice come to your house last year? I thought she had family.
Wise Snake wonders why Alice did not spend this holiday with Linn, when they live only a block apart... wonders if it is because Linn lives with
Snake.
Wise Snake: ~~depressed~~
Linn: It's a long way to Hamish.
Linn: We only got two days off for the holiday, and
Alice had been sick so much that she'd used up her sick leave and vactation, too.
Wise Snake: And this year?
Linn: I believe she's celebrating with Ola, Rudy, and Hildie.
Wise Snake: Did she even invite you?
Linn: Oh, I'll go over and visit later, and take some of those gingerbread cookies I made yesterday. The morning of Year's Turning is for family; visiting with friends and neighbors is an afternoon thing.
Linn grins ruefully.
Wise Snake takes that as a no.
Linn: And I could hardly ask her to visit here.
She's made a remarkable recovery, considering, but she still won't knowingly come near a Sime.
Wise Snake: Does she even know where the money is coming from, that pays her care?
Linn: No, and with any luck, she won't ask before she's well enough to do without it.
Linn is sure that Alice would refuse to live on money Linn earned donating.
Wise Snake: Unless she plans on going back to
Eastcove, I don't see how she could pay her own way. She can't get a job high-field.
Wise Snake pauses, a horrible thought occurring to her.
Wise Snake: Linn, did you even tell her she's in
Bender Cove, or does she think...
Linn: She knows where she is. She's not happy about it, but she knows what rents are like in
Eastfield.
Wise Snake: Does she know where you live?
Linn: She's been talking about moving deeper into
New Washington Territory, maybe even back to
Hamish.
Linn: I told her I've moved, but she's never asked where I'm living--or with whom.
Wise Snake: I suppose you'd lose her as a friend if she knew.
Linn: She's still so apathetic. I don't think she can muster the energy to care about anyone these days, not even herself.
Wise Snake: ~~depressed~~
Linn: Snake, you're not responsible for the doctrines of Alice's church.
Linn: I care a great deal for Alice, but I don't share her religion, or live by its rules. Nor would she expect me to.
Wise Snake: I'm amazed she can still believe them herself.
Linn: She's had a lot of practice.
Linn grimaces, remembering her brief exposure to the regimented lifestyle taught by Alice's pastor.
Linn: It's not how I would choose to live, but it seems to give Alice comfort.
Wise Snake toys with the remainder of the apple.
Nick has nearly finished his second apple.
Wise Snake: You know, about three months ago I would have seen it as a challenge.
Nick: And now you don't?
Wise Snake shakes her head.
Wise Snake: I'm sick of trying to help people who don't want to be helped.
Wise Snake: Poor starving people who don't like the food you bring, poor shivering people who don't like the clothes you brought because they're used, sick people who don't want to be healed because they don't like Simes. It's endless.
Wise Snake: When I was a little kid it was the same people who wouldn't help me, because they didn't care or they didn't have enough energy to think about some mutt kid that was bound to die anyway.
Wise Snake: Now I'm busting my hide trying to do some good and change something and they still don't care. They don't care either way.
Wise Snake: That's why they're so low in the first place... if they cared about something, they never would have gotten there, or stayed there long.
Nick could easily add "channels desperate for support who act terminally depressed and grouchy when offered said support", but decides that wouldn't be tactful.
Wise Snake stabs a bit of apple a couple of times.
Wise Snake zlins Nick's exasperation and morosely looks away from him.
Linn: Are you trying to help them because you want their gratitude...or because they require the help?
Wise Snake: Oh, I don't know.
Wise Snake tosses the fork aside so she'll stop playing with it.
Wise Snake: I used to try to figure those things out.
Wise Snake: All it does it make me crazy.
Linn puts a comforting arm around Snake.
Linn: Cheer up. You know that you've helped a lot of people.
Wise Snake: I don't think it even matters why. You're just supposed to help people, you're not supposed to have a reason.
Wise Snake shakes her head.
Wise Snake: I don't know. Maybe it is their gratitude
I want.
Linn: If you want gratitude, you'll have to find clients who aren't so caught up in their troubles that they don't have the energy to spare for it.
Linn: The ones who require your help to survive will just take what you offer, and hope that it gives them the strength to last until the next crisis.
Linn: It's like teaching, in a way.
Linn: The students who came back to thank me for what I taught them (and there weren't many) were the ones who picked up their lessons without much effort on my part.
Wise Snake: This is not cheering me up.
Wise Snake: Why does it have to be that way, Linn?
Wise Snake: Why can't it be that I hand them what they require, and then they are grateful, and the next time I see them they have done something productive with what they gained?
Wise Snake: I mean, if a person refuses to help themselves, and accepts the help of others only when forced to, why do they exist at all?
Wise Snake: It's almost as if they weren't meant to.
Linn: People are people, Snake. Some of them have turned your gifts to productive uses, I expect.
Others will never be able to do much more than survive. The variety is part of what makes our species interesting.
Linn: And who's to say that the ineffecutual and the incompetent don't serve a purpose, if only to set an example for the rest of us?
Nick thinks that if Snake wants a concrete example of the good she's done, she has only to look at the progress Linn has made during their relatively brief acquaintance.
Wise Snake: For me, Alice serves as an example of my own failure.
Linn is suprised.
Linn: How so?
Linn: You aren't responsible for her injury, or for the beliefs which have prevented her from accepting your treatment for them.
Wise Snake: But I am.
Wise Snake: If I had succeeded in taking your fields down during that field trip, you could not have attracted the berserker.
Linn shakes her head.
Linn: Snake, the only way you could ever have gotten a donation from Alice would be to force her, the way you did the Anti-Tectonists.
Linn: And if you had, Tarra would have attacked some other Gen.
Wise Snake: That other Gen was not my responsibility.
Linn raises a slightly offended eyebrow.
Wise Snake raises her chin a bit defensively at the look.
Linn: Oh? And when did Alice--or I, for that matter--cease to be responsible for ourselves?
Wise Snake: You? When you came here.
Wise Snake: To Bender Cove, to the Sime Center.
Wise Snake: The day of the field trip.
Wise Snake: Alice was never responsible for herself.
Linn: Of course she was.
Wise Snake: Not really.
Wise Snake retrieves the fork and begins eating the apple again.
Linn finishes her apple, letting the taste and the memories it brings put her back in a holiday mood.
Wise Snake keeps the rest of her thoughts to herself.
Nick puts another log on the fire.
Nick sits back down, enjoying the combined scents of wood smoke and pine.
Wise Snake feels like a jerk for having brought her depression into what is supposed to be their celebration.
Wise Snake tries not to care about any of it, leaning on Nick's quiet nager.
Linn moves to sit on the hearth, leaning back against Snake's chair as she looks at the flames.
Wise Snake gets up restlessly after a few minutes.
Wise Snake: I can't sit here.
Wise Snake: I'm sorry.
Wise Snake goes to the closet to retrieve her cloak, bringing the new sweater and boots with her.
Wise Snake doesn't understand how they can want to do nothing at all, when inside she feels driven to action.
Wise Snake puts on the winter clothes, and the black cloak over them.
Nick gives Linn a rueful glance, then gets up, putting on his new coat.
Wise Snake knows on a vague level that Linn was offended by something she said, but knows she will truly go crazy if she sits around in silence anymore.
Wise Snake also knows she should say something in thanks for the gifts, but the right time for that seems to have already slipped past.
Wise Snake waits impatiently for Nick to get ready.
Wise Snake paces back and forth a little bit, then pauses, frowning at Linn's back.
Wise Snake: We'll have to take that field down, Linn.
When do you want to do it?
Linn: The raido said that the Torn By Tentacles concert was going to be completely concelled, not just postponed. There's no real reason to wait.
Linn looks at Nick.
Linn: I'm sure Nick would appreciate staying inside a bit longer.
Nick spreads his hands in agreement, and starts taking his new coat back off.
Wise Snake approaches Linn, in no mood for squeamishness.
Linn holds out her hands, glad that this isn't happening in front of a few thousand screaming, stoned teens.
Wise Snake grips Linn's arms.
Nick moves to Snake's side, offering support.
Wise Snake: Oh, by the way, I was going to qualify you GN-1 this month.
Linn's eyes widen.
Linn: You were?
Wise Snake: Why not? It's as good a time as any.
Wise Snake seems to think it isn't a big deal.
Wise Snake leans forward with the intention to take a 5th contact.
Linn remembers that the GN-2 business wasn't any worse than the GN-3, really, and holds still.
Wise Snake makes the 5th contact and draws selyn.
Nick tightens up his support, in case Snake has miscalculated.
Wise Snake strips off the GN-3 and -2 levels, then begins pulling gently from the GN-1
Linn starts as she feels a wierd sensation.
Wise Snake teases the speed up to something comparable to the selyn-motion exercises she'd been working on the unwitting Linn with for days now.
Wise Snake carefully monitors for signs of alarm or real fear.
Linn feels something quite similar to Snake's demonstration of a section of the equations she and
Nick worked out for the cancelled Torn By Tentacles transfer.
Linn puts two and two together, and it comes out the square root of sixteen.
Linn tries very hard not to tense against the sensation, now that she knows what it is.
Linn hopes that being able to feel the selyn draw isn't a sign that something is going wrong.
Wise Snake feels Linn's worry and slows her draw to about the minimum speed it is still possible to pull from GN-1 at.
Linn continues to struggle for control, her barriers hovering dangerously, but not quite snapping closed against Snake's draw.
Nick sees Linn's growing distress, and deduces that something isn't going according to plan.
Wise Snake allows the flow of selyn to come to a halt.
Linn relaxes as the sensation stops.
Wise Snake waits for several moments before releasing Linn from the transfer position.
Nick is almost as relieved as Linn.
Wise Snake lets go of Linn.
Linn looks at Snake.
Wise Snake: Well.. you're a GN-1. Sort of.
Linn: I thought you weren't supposed to feel a donation?
Nick: Sort of?
Wise Snake: GN-1's sometimes do, because that is physically the border state between being a passive donor, like most Gens, and an active one like Nick.
Linn: Oh.
Wise Snake: I say "sort of" because you were a lot more fearful than the average person is who is qualified as a GN-1.
Linn wishes that Snake had warned her about that in advance.
Wise Snake: I don't think you could actually go into a Sime Center somewhere and donate as a GN-1, not yet.
Wise Snake is glad Linn probably has no incentive to go to any other channel.
Wise Snake: But you did well. You managed to control the reflex to stop the flow.
Wise Snake: That ability will improve with experience.
Linn smiles at the praise, and also because the work seems to have gotten Snake out of her depression.
Wise Snake smiles back, and thinks it's a pity it will be at least a couple of months before she dares prance Linn past Lanyi.
Nick remembers Lanyi's response to learning that
Linn had been qualified GN-2, and shudders at the thought of the other channel's response to learning that Linn is now a GN-1.
Wise Snake pulls out a large wad of cash, performs a little mental arithmetic, and peels off some bills.
Wise Snake: Here's how much your selyn would have earned at the Sime Center.
Wise Snake: [low GN-1's earnings]
Linn blinks at the sum, which is considerably more than Snake gave her last month.
Wise Snake: Let me know if you require any more for anything, though, because I think the Sime Center's fees are a tad on the low side.
Linn nods, still dazed by the unexpected riches.
Wise Snake turns to Nick.
Wise Snake: Well. Ready to go?
Nick nods curtly, putting on his coat again.
Wise Snake is still wearing hers.
Nick waits until they are outside to express his opinion verbally.
Nick: Snake, you're playing with fire, there.
Wise Snake glances at Nick.
Wise Snake: She's fine. It's just a matter of leading her the right way.
Nick: Well, it could have been a disaster, particularly since you didn't brief me until the last moment.
Wise Snake incredulous.
Wise Snake: The last moment? What, how long in advance do you want to know these things?
Wise Snake thinks Nick is lucky she remembered to say anything at all, since she almost didn't.
Nick: It would help to know a few days in advance.
Wise Snake: I saw your equations for the concert. You knew.
Wise Snake: Well, either you knew, or your grasp of the math isn't as strong as I thought.
Wise Snake: == scratch those two lines ===
Nick: That would give me time to study up, so if something goes wrong, I'll be able to help you.
I'm still learning, you know.
Wise Snake: Nothing was going to go wrong [a bit testily]
Wise Snake: I wouldn't have done it if she wasn't ready for it.
Nick: Snake, all it would have taken was a popping log in the fireplace to startle her, and she'd have paniced.
Wise Snake: I don't think so. I know exactly where her attention was, and it was on her own body.
Wise Snake: Nick, I'm not as much of a daredevil as you seem to think I am. I didn't want her to abort it any more than she or you did. I ended it before it went too far.
Nick: Look, Snake, I'm not questioning your competence. You wouldn't have treid to quality
Linn if you didn't think you could pull it off.
Nick: However, we're not working in a Sime Center.
Nick: We don't have insulated, sound-proofed donation rooms, where there's no outside influence to interfere with things.
Wise Snake thinks, tell me about it.
Nick: That increases the risk, no matter how good you are.
Wise Snake: Fine. Fine. I'll tell you in advance, if
I know in advance.
Nick: Good. It's my job to pick up the pieces if something goes wrong...and I'll do that better if
I'm acting from knowledge, not ignorance.
Wise Snake thought it was bad enough to have to remember to tell people things... but to be expected to think of it days in advance?
Wise Snake shakes her head.
Wise Snake smiles unexpectedly.
Wise Snake: Although, I can't wait to see the look on
Lanyi's face.
Nick grins back.
Nick: Don't you _dare_ take Linn by the Sime Center without me!
Wise Snake: I meant, a couple of months from now.
Wise Snake: What, because it's too dangerous, or you don't want to miss Lanyi's expression?
Nick: Both.
Nick: I'd hate to have her call Tecton Security on you.
Nick: Or try to shen you out of the donation.
Wise Snake: Linn will be much better by then. Lanyi wouldn't have any basis for either of those actions.
Nick: I'm not so sure she'd require a basis before acting.
Wise Snake: Nick, she's a Tigue. Tigues are nothing if not practical about these things.
Wise Snake: If the donor is obviously fine with it, and nothing bad happens, then she'll just shrug and figure it's a once in a lifetime situation.
Wise Snake hopes actually that Lanyi is wildly jealous of Snake's prowess, but keeps this thought to herself.
Nick: I hope you're right. After the scold she gave you the other day, I'm not so sure that she's as pratical as you think.
Wise Snake: Well, give her a little time to adjust.
She was brand new to town.
Wise Snake refuses to be anything less than perfectly optomistic with regards to Linn's donation situation.
Nick: Wasn't today the day our room over at the
Eastfield hospital was supposed to be ready?
Wise Snake: Not yet. Soon though.
Wise Snake looks at Nick curiously.
Wise Snake: You really miss that hospital, don't you?
Nick shrugs.
Nick: It makes a nice change, to have all the prospective clients in one place.
Wise Snake: And law abiding citizens.
Nick: That too. They're so much less suspicious.
Nick: Even the ones who are a bit wary about Simes.
Wise Snake: In a couple of hours they're going to be blowing up the old grain elevator on Yard Street.
What do you say we check out the nursing home on
Pigge and then kinda segue over and see if anybody got hit by flying bricks.
Nick resigns himself to giving his new coat a thorough test.
Nick: Sure.
Wise Snake and nick walk off in the direction of the
Pigge Street Home for the Advanced of Age.