Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Bender Cove Township Scenario
Episode #237: Another Case of "Lobby Rash" (5/5/98)
Darrel wakes up suddenly from a dream of having his laterals roasted over a slow fire... in the lobby, of course.
Mytag is fast asleep, dreaming, for some reason, of a BBQ.
Darrel gasps, then slowly relaxes as his position sense tells him that he is in his own room.
Darrel notices that the burning sensation in his laterals hasn't gone away.
Darrel tries to zlin for the problem, and discovers that the fields are weirdly distorted.
Darrel stumbles over to the light switch and flips it.
Mytag rolls over and, in his dream, gropes some woman at the BBQ.
Darrel looks at his arms and screams.
Mytag: Wha! Wha!
Mytag sits up in bed quickly and promptly falls out of it.
Darrel winces as the pain redoubles.
Darrel: Look at my arms!
Mytag quickly looks at Darrel's arms.
Mytag: Shen!
Darrel has a brilliant red rash on his arms, centering on his laterals.
Darrel starts to shake, envisioning attrition.
Mytag: ~soothing~
Mytag: You have a rash [brilliant observation]
Darrel tries to extend his laterals and fails.
Mytag: Settle down and we will put something on it.
Darrel: Mytag, I can't extend my laterals at all!
Darrel: And things zlin all funny.
Darrel: ~~ growing fear ~~
Mytag: OK, let's go to the infirmary and have a closer look.
Mytag: ~soothing support, keeping fields nice and steady~
Darrel's handling tentacles, somewhat less affected, are able to extend and tie themselves in knots.
Mytag leads him down to the infirmary.
Darrel is shaking like a leaf.
Mytag gets a lamp and angles it so that Darrel's arms are clearly lit.
Mytag examines them closely.
Mytag: Looks like a contact rash.
Mytag: Have you rubbed up against anything recently that you can think of?
Darrel glances at the oozing mess, then closes his eyes.
Darrel: No...
Darrel: Oh, yes.
Mytag: What?
Darrel: When I served Walter yesterday, he had just taken a bath in his own mop bucket.
Mytag: Ah! Industrial strength soap - that would be it.
Mytag: Lets see what they have here....
Mytag starts going through the cupboards and drawers.
Darrel starts to think of what might be in the soap.
Darrel then tries to figure out of dying of fright would be less painful than dying of attrition.
Mytag pulls out a tube of ointment.
Mytag: You allergic to anything that you know of?
Darrel: No.
Darrel: Except for industrial cleaners, apparently.
Mytag: OK, this is an anti inflammatory, with a pain killer as well.
Mytag: Should get the rash to settle. And help the burning.
Mytag: But you won't be able to work for a few days. [worried look]
Mytag: We will handle any entran that may arise, as it arises okay?
Darrel thinks about that, and smiles with relief.
Mytag: Don't look forward to more trouble then there is.
Darrel: Almost worth it, to stay out of that shenned lobby.
Darrel holds his arms out so that Mytag can smear the ointment on them.
Mytag: It's certainly the center of excitement around here.
Mytag smears the ointment on Darrel's arms and tentacles.
Darrel sighs as the goop takes effect.
Mytag: We'll apply this a couple of times a day, you should start to feel better soon.
Darrel: Ahh, that's better already.
Mytag: Smells a bit though, doesn't it?
Mytag wrinkles his nose.
Darrel is finally able to think past the immediate crisis.
Darrel considers the further ramifications, and stiffens with renewed alarm.
Darrel: Shen!
Mytag looks at him questioningly.
Mytag: What?
Darrel: Remember how that Tecton inspector insisted on doing a lateral exam?
Darrel: That was just after I served Walter... and I'd bet anything that she's a Farris.
Darrel: She'll have a worse rash than me, and they won't have the slightest idea what caused it.
Mytag: Oh, dear.
Mytag: Well, we can contact her I guess.
Mytag considers that maybe it would be better if they didn't.
Darrel: I suppose that Hajene Briel would know where she's gone....
Darrel: ~~ reluctant ~~
Mytag: I guess we should.
Darrel's Tecton loyalty struggles with his personal dislike for the arrogant inspector.
Darrel: She should know I'm off the rolls for a few days, as well.
Mytag: Who? Oh Briel. Yes
Mytag: Did you do any work after that?
Darrel: No. By the time we managed to escape the inquisition, my shift was over.
Mytag: That's right.
Mytag: Well - that's a relief. [smiles]
Darrel: Yes.
Darrel stands, a bit steadier on his feet.
Mytag: zlinning better?
Darrel cautiously lets himself go duoconscious.
Darrel: Not really. You zlin like there's four of you.
Mytag: I'm sure there is only one, but without a mirror I can't be positive.
Darrel considers, then decides that having four Donors sure beats not having any.
Darrel looks away from Mytag before the visual singularity and nageric multiplicity make him nauseous.
Mytag: Go hypo maybe?
Darrel does so.
Darrel: Much better.
Mytag: Okay, want to go back to bed? Get something to eat now we are up? Or what?
Darrel thinks it over.
Darrel: I suppose I should eat something. Healing requires raw materials, after all.
Mytag: Sounds good, just stay hypo or you are likely to get sick
Darrel is feeling a bit sick anyway, but takes the advice as it is meant.
Darrel: I will.
Darrel starts for the door, knees wobbling only a little.
Mytag stays close to give him physical support if needed.
Mytag thinks that hypo channels are very similar to turtles on their backs.
Darrel almost bumps into the doorjamb on the way out.
Darrel: Shen!
Mytag takes his upper arm to steer him.
Mytag: This way.
Mytag leads him into the cafeteria.
Mytag: You sit down, I'll get the food. OK?
Darrel: All right.
Darrel: At least this way, if you spill tea on yourself, I won't feel a thing!
Mytag never spills tea on himself, well, hardly ever.
Mytag smiles and goes and gets 2 teas and some hot cereal.
Darrel looks at Mytag's smile, and is inexplicably reminded of naval captains.
Mytag puts the tray down for Darrel, lifting the plates off and onto the table.
Darrel zlins Mytag for just a moment, and finds himself suddenly as hungry as a tar who plows the water--or maybe a lord who rules it.
Darrel thinks that it figures that four Mytags would be four times as hungry as one.
Darrel starts eating.
Mytag has almost finished his cereal before Darrel has even started.
Darrel manages to clear half of his bowl before Mytag's hunger eases.
Griff hurries down the walk of the Ferry Building, for once not bouncing.
Griff: ~~ worry ~~
Griff bangs loudly on the door.
Sky peeks out the window, wondering what buffoon is breaking his hand on the outside of the building.
Sky sadly realizes it's somebody he should let in, and hurries to the door.
Sky: Hello, er, [forgets Griff's name] my boy. Come in, come in.
Griff hurries in.
Sky: Come to get your knuckles healed?
Griff: Where's Miz Ferret?
Sky: Nowhere, if you call her that! [squints at Griff]
Griff looks as distraught as only a youngster can.
Griff: Please, I've gotta see her.
Sky is made nervous by Griff's distraught expression.
Sky waves his hands.
Sky: Okay, okay. I'll go get her.
Griff looks at Sky with a pleading expression.
Sky disappears up the stairs.
Griff paces back and forth, missing that fun banana couch.
Wise Snake comes down the stairs a few minutes later, looking harassed.
Wise Snake: Ah... Griff. What can I do for you? [zlins his anxiety]
Griff sees Snake descending and runs over.
Griff: Miz Ferret, Mr. BumBum's disappeared!
Griff: I went to his house today, and he wasn't there.
Wise Snake: I could have sworn we talked about this already, Griff.
Griff: Talked about what?
Wise Snake: Have you forgotten? BumBum has been out of town for a couple of days now.
Wise Snake: He won't be back for a few more.
Griff: Then what were those guys doing taking things from his house?
Wise Snake scratches her head.
Wise Snake: Well, either he's getting robbed, or it's the police taking it all for evidence.
Griff: ~~ doubtful ~~
Wise Snake thinks probably the former, since she'd previously taken care of the latter, at least for the next month or so.
Griff: They weren't wearing police uniforms, but they looked like they belonged there.
Wise Snake zlins that Griff doesn't believe her, but isn't sure what he would rather be hearing.
Griff: Casual, you know?
Wise Snake: Well, did you ask them?
Griff doesn't think thieves would be casual--it doesn't fit the ooky nature of their profession.
Griff: All they would say was, "Get lost, kid."
Griff: Are you sure Mr BumBum didn't move away without telling you?
Griff can remember a classmate or two who did that.
Wise Snake: Well, if he did, it's his loss. As far as I'm concerned, he's nothing but a charity case.
Wise Snake: Look, Griff, everything is probably fine.
Wise Snake: I know he got on the train to V'lar because I was there.
Griff: You saw him?
Griff: ~~ hope ~~
Wise Snake: So far as his stuff goes, it could be anything. He has a lot of enemies, and I think he rents half his furniture anyw...
Wise Snake: Yes. I watched him board the train. Him and Fise together.
Griff: ~~ relief ~~
Griff: Then he'll be back and we can work again?
Griff has been finding life dull and deficient in ookiness for the past few days.
Wise Snake: Unless V'lar suddenly takes a liking to him, yes.
Wise Snake thinks that is exceedingly unlikely.
Griff starts bouncing again.
Eliza looks for somewhere to signal on Snake's door, can't see anything so knocks instead.
Eliza: Snake? You in there?
Griff: ~~ highfield Gen bounces ~~
Eliza opens the door and peeks in, no Snake.
Eliza: Hmmm.
Wise Snake: Ah, Griff, you should get your field taken down again.
Eliza is lonely.
Griff: What?
Eliza misses the hustle and bustle of the Center and hates having nothing to do.
Griff wonders why, when he's making enough cash working with BumBum, which is far more interesting.
Griff: Why?
Wise Snake: Your nager is disruptive. It's like... oh, like having to clean the bathroom right in the middle of your day off from school.
Wise Snake: You don't want to go around making Simes feel like THAT do you?
Griff: Oh.
Eliza wonders over to the stairs and decides that now is a good time to try sliding down the bannister.
Griff thinks that over.
Griff: Mr BumBum says he likes my nager.
Wise Snake thinks her usual analogy, the one about walking around with a long, sticky booger hanging down from your nose to your knees, would not work on Griff. He'd avoid donating for the rest of his life.
Eliza slips a leg over, hang onto the top, then lets go.
Griff has started to see BumBum as a fount of ookiness which even exceeds Snake.
Eliza: Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!
Eliza: ~nervous excited rush~
Wise Snake: Well, Griff, you see, holy moley!!!
Eliza slides off the end faster then she expected.
Griff looks around, guessing that Snake's alarm means that ookiness may be in the offing.
Wise Snake tries to catch Eliza.
Griff sees Eliza fly off the bannister.
Griff: Cosmic!
Eliza slams [physically] into Snake.
Wise Snake is bowled over end over end by Eliza's momentum.
Eliza: Whoops!
Eliza quickly climbs off Snake
Wise Snake: [thinks: ah, yes; physics can also be our enemy]
Eliza: Are you okay?
Griff thinks that looks like fun.
Eliza is blushing furiously.
Wise Snake climbs painfully to her feet.
Wise Snake: I'm fine. [snarls]
Eliza starts to brush Snake down.
Wise Snake: Don't touch me! [snaps]
Eliza jumps back.
Griff sees the expression on Snake's face and decides to put off trying bannister-sliding until she's gone back upstairs.
Eliza: I, I, I'm sorry Snake!
Eliza: I didn't know you would be in the way!
Griff is, however, looking forward to the experimentation.
Eliza: I didn't mean to, to....
Griff: ~~ happy anticipation ~~
Eliza: ~fighting tears~
Griff wanders closer to Snake and Eliza.
Wise Snake: It's fine, it's fine. Just... please don't do it again, all right?
Wise Snake is acting fairly jumpy now, and not sure she likes how Griff is zlinning. [so much for his serious mood]
Eliza: I won't, I'm sorry [looks contrite]
Eliza: I was wondering if you had anything you would like me to do for you maybe?
Eliza: ~bored bored bored~
Eliza looks at Griff and wonders if this is a client of Snake's.
Wise Snake zlins Eliza's boredom and Griff's experimental mood and Eliza's curiosity about Griff and realizes she had better keep these two both thoroughly occupied for a while.
Wise Snake: Ah.... Eliza, Griff, have you two met?
Griff: No.
Eliza: No. Hello, Griff.
Griff: Hi.
Griff isn't very interested in Eliza; after all, she's just a girl, like his sister.
Wise Snake: Griff, Eliza is going to be working with BumBum as his Donor. Do you know what that means?
Eliza wonders BumBum???? Shen - she means Bumanuel! What a horrid nick name.
Eliza wonders what this snotty nose brat has to do with Bumanuel.
Griff looks at Eliza, much more interested.
Griff: That means that he does all sorts of ooky things with her.
Griff got the definition straight from BumBum.
Eliza: Shen! I hope not!
Wise Snake: Eliza, Griff is BumBum's [almost says "little sidekick"] assistant. He has been working as an orderly of sorts, picking up training as he goes along.
Griff looks at Eliza, a bit surprised.
Wise Snake blinks at their words.
Wise Snake: Well, he'll be taking transfer off of her, if that counts....
Griff: You don't want to work with Mr BumBum?
Griff: It's real ooky over at the hospital.
Eliza: Work with him, yes
Griff can't imagine not wanting such an abundance of ook.
Eliza: What do you mean by ooky?
Griff: ~~ enthusiasm for a favorite topic ~~
Wise Snake is satisfied that their attention has been drawn away from the bannister, and begins to consider ways to sort of move their little gathering up to her office so she can get some work done.
Griff: It's like... Blood, and guts, and slime and stuff.
Wise Snake edges toward the stairs. [ow.. ow...]
Griff smiles angelically.
Eliza looks at Griff wondering if "ooky" has a meaning she isn't aware of.
Eliza: Oh.
Eliza: You and hajene Bumanuel work over at the Gen Hospital?
Griff: Yeah!
Griff: There's changeovers with lots of blood and stuff. Some of them have been beaten, too.
Eliza: Oh no! That's dreadful.
Eliza is looking forward to helping.
Griff: But I work with Mr BumBum, not that Hadj whatever.
Wise Snake stares at Eliza wondering how in the hell she learned about the Gen hospital.
Wise Snake: Where did you hear about that?
Eliza: About what?
Wise Snake's eyes narrow.
Wise Snake: About the Gen hospital.
Griff admires the aesthetic ookiness of Snake's expression.
Eliza: I was there, before I came here ~uneasy~
Wise Snake: What?
Eliza: Before I came to the Center I was in the hospital, just over night.
Eliza: I told them where I was going and two people brought me to the Center.
Wise Snake still doesn't see where the connection with herself was drawn.
Wise Snake: Go on.
Eliza wonders what else there is.
Wise Snake asks with as much patience as she can muster, "How did you know we were working there? It's extremely important that you tell me."
Eliza gets flustered.
Griff hadn't realized that it was a secret.
Eliza: You said that Griff was an orderly. Didn't you?
Eliza: I just assumed... I'm sorry, have I done something wrong again?
Griff thinks secret ookiness is even better than open ookiness.
Griff: Nah, my mom would faint if anybody called me orderly.
Griff: I just help Mr BumBum.
Wise Snake: Assumed what? [starting to lose her patience]
Wise Snake: I have to know if other people are making this same connection.
Eliza: That he worked at the hospital! [rising voice with frustration]
Wise Snake: Do you realize how dangerous what we're doing is?
Eliza: What!
Eliza: What are you doing?
Wise Snake flinches back from Eliza's yell.
Eliza: ~anxious~
Wise Snake feels a sudden headache like a nice railroad spike right in the middle of the forehead. [if only!]
Wise Snake takes a deep breath.
Wise Snake carefully doesn't zlin.
Eliza takes a deep breath too and pulls herself under control.
Wise Snake: Look, it's... you somehow made a wildly improbable leap of intuition and guessed where we were working?
Eliza takes a few more deep breaths.
Eliza frowns.
Eliza: I guess so....
Wise Snake: I mean, the word "orderly"... it's hardly enough data to make that assumption. Are you sure you didn't know anything else that supported that conclusion?
Eliza: Unless...
Eliza: Unless there is something I can't remember.
Eliza: So you work at the hospital too with Bumanuel, Snake?
Wise Snake looks extremely edgy.
Wise Snake: Eliza, you must understand... you aren't to talk to anybody about this.
Wise Snake: Not your friends at the Center, not even Mostan.
Wise Snake: Everybody involved in this was sworn to secrecy.
Eliza looks seriously at Snake.
Eliza: All right Snake, I promise I won't tell anyone at all.
Wise Snake thinks the average person involved isn't smart enough to keep a secret that large for long, but she'll be shenned if she lets it get out before it absolutely has to.
Wise Snake zlins Eliza for sincerity.
Eliza wonders if Griff had to promise too.
Griff looks at Eliza skeptically, since in his experience, girls aren't too good at keeping secrets.
Eliza: What is it you do there?
Eliza: ~very sincere~
Wise Snake: Look. Why don't you come up to my office.
Wise Snake climbs up the stairs, trying to rearrange how she'd been going to introduce the hospital topic to Eliza.
Griff: I can't, Miz Ferret.
Griff: My mom's expecting me.
Griff: My brother's back from the interior.
Wise Snake goes back down the stairs to let Griff out.
Wise Snake: Don't worry about BumBum, Griff. He'll be back in a few days.
Griff starts to bounce.
Griff: Great!
Griff: And I hope those weren't robbers taking his stuff.
Eliza: I'll see you again then Griff
Griff waves absently at Eliza.
Griff: I really do like working with him.
Griff: He's really ooky.
Wise Snake: Ah... good.
Wise Snake: See you in a few days, then.
Wise Snake: Bye bye.
Wise Snake sees Griff off, then re locks the door and hurries up the stairs.
Eliza is waiting on the stairway.
Wise Snake brings Eliza up to her office.
Eliza: He is a bit, immature isn't he? I mean to be working with Bumanuel?
Wise Snake: Griff? Well, yes he is. But I thought he had potential when I first saw him.
Wise Snake: I think he'll outgrow the immaturity, it's not uncommon to see young Gens acting like that in Gen Territory. Their parents still treat them like children, they have no rights or responsibilities.
Eliza wishes she could zlin so she could see potential in people.
Eliza sees a way to bring up a subject she has been wondering about.
Wise Snake: He has a good deal of energy and curiosity, and seems to be learning fairly quickly.
Eliza: I suppose his parents are just pleased he has a paying job.
Wise Snake: Uh.. well, they don't know that, they think he's volunteering.
Wise Snake: You see, a Gen can't hold a job in Gen Territory until he or she is 16 natal years of age.
Wise Snake: He's only 13.
Eliza is relieved, if Griff gets paid it's likely she will too.
Eliza: Does he work for you? Or does Bumanuel pay him?
Wise Snake: So I slip him a few bucks now and then on the sly. It lets him pursue his hobbies, which is about all he needs money for at this point. I mean, he's still living like a child.
Eliza isn't relieved any more and bites her lower lip.
Wise Snake: No, he is technically working for me.
Wise Snake: I wouldn't give BumBum that kind of responsibility until his attitude changes a little.
Eliza: Who am I technically working for?
Wise Snake: You, I believe, would be technically considered unemployed.
Eliza: Ah.
Wise Snake: However, with room and board and medical care guaranteed, it'll hardly be a problem.
Wise Snake: ... will it?
Eliza: Maybe I should look for something part time then?
Wise Snake's eyes narrow once again.
Wise Snake: Not if you want to work for me too.
Eliza: I have some money put away, but the weather is warming up and I'll need some summer clothes. I only have some winter ones.
Wise Snake: Give Sky a list. He'll see that something is obtained.
Wise Snake: If you need money for something specific, come to me.
Eliza doesn't think this sounds ideal, but nods.
Wise Snake: I realize you may be used to a different system, but most people are able to adjust to mine after an initial period.
Eliza: Ok Snake. Will I be working at the hospital?
Wise Snake: Yes, you will.
Eliza: Isn't it only Gens at the hospital though?
Eliza: I mean, what would I be doing there?
Wise Snake looks at Eliza oddly.
Eliza wonders if she should be studying Gen nursing.
Wise Snake: Basically the same thing you would at the Sime Center.
Wise Snake: Assisting and supporting BumBum as he helps changeover victims and ill Gens.
Wise Snake: As well as sick and injured children.
Eliza: I see. I didn't think that they allowed Channels there to help?
Wise Snake: They are all supposed to be changeover victims, but in reality we are sent anybody who they think might be, and they can't zlin to tell for sure.
Wise Snake: They don't. That's why keeping it a secret is important.
Wise Snake: This was arranged through one doctor and we don't show our faces in public there.
Wise Snake: The patients are brought to a room in the basement.
Eliza: I see! [she does]
Eliza: if you weren't there though, what would happen to the changeovers?
Wise Snake: Well, what they used to do was shoot the ones who were too close to breakout, but to bring the earlier cases to the Sime Center.
Wise Snake: You see, they had to be sure the victims wouldn't reach breakout while they were still halfway between the hospital and the Sime Center.
Eliza: That's dreadful!
Eliza: Why don't they just have channels on the staff?
Wise Snake: Well, they do now. [points out]
Eliza: Oh yeah.
Eliza fidgets.
Eliza: What do you want me to do until Bumanuel returns?
Wise Snake: Do you have control exercises you can work on?
Wise Snake: And I do believe I had Nick set up to work with you.
Wise Snake: It's only for three or four days.
Eliza: [sigh] I guess.
Eliza: I'm just use to being fairly busy. I'm not use to not working.
Eliza thinks maybe she will get entran.
Wise Snake: Eliza, intense study is just as challenging as working. More so, because it requires self discipline.
Wise Snake: So you seriously think you can't keep yourself busy for three or four days, studying? Because if you can't, I can give you more to study.
Wise Snake glances with idle speculation at an immense tome entitled "Sime~Gen Relations in the Early Post-Pre-Colonial-Uncial-Period"
Eliza follows Snake's gaze and blanches.
Eliza: I guess I can keep busy.
Eliza brightens up when she remember that she has THE BOOK.
Eliza: It's hard to practice control without a channel around, though.
Eliza: You can't tell if you have it right or not if no one is there to tell you.
Wise Snake: Actually, there ARE other ways to practice than to try things out on channels.
Wise Snake thinks, thank goodness.
Eliza: Oh? How?
Wise Snake: [not that she doesn't anticipate a certain amount of discomforting "practicing" getting performed upon BumBum.... with relish]
Wise Snake: Nick has a book here... let's see.
Wise Snake rummages about the crowded office.
Wise Snake finally retrieves the small blue book.
Wise Snake: It's about meditating. Rapol and he both like it. You can't take everything it says in there literally, I mean about rebirth and stuff, but the meditation parts are really good for field control.
Eliza is glad it isn't too thick.
Wise Snake: The key to good deliberate control, as opposed to natural response, is knowledge of yourself.
Wise Snake: A Gen can actually feel the changes a Sime's body makes in his or her own body.
Eliza: What do you mean?
Eliza: ~curious~
Wise Snake: The changes are very subtle, and most Gens don't bother to ever learn how to pay that much attention to themselves.
Wise Snake: How many people do you know who don't know when to quit eating, or when to go to sleep?
Eliza: I can usually tell if a Sime is in need, but I think it's more the way they look at me [in horror] then anything else.
Wise Snake looks at Eliza oddly, wondering if she gets what Snake is talking about at all.
Wise Snake: Well, you could learn to tell another way... by sensing the changes Sime need brings about in your body.
Eliza: [probably not]
Eliza: What I don't understand is how you stay calm in any situation.
Eliza: I mean....
Wise Snake: That book [points with a tentacle] teaches you how to "go to zero" and become fully focused on your.... what?
Eliza: I can be ~control~ controlled when nothing is going on.
Eliza: But if something upsets me - well, I show it.
Eliza: Am I not supposed to get upset? Or just not show it?
Wise Snake: Perhaps your definition of "control" is too limited.
Wise Snake: To be a Donor, you must control your feelings as well.
Wise Snake: There are some feelings you just can't let yourself have.
Wise Snake: Not until later, when you are alone.
Wise Snake: It sounds as if you may sometimes get distracted, or caught up in the events around you.
Eliza sighs.
Eliza: Doesn't some of that just come when you are older like?
Wise Snake considers.
Wise Snake: I think it does, but too late to do you any good as far as training goes.
Wise Snake: You will have lost much of your flexibility by then.
Eliza: Take the other day for example, when Bumanuel told me he was junct and I understood what he meant.
Eliza: I was horrified.
Wise Snake: Understandable.
Eliza: I couldn't help being horrified!
Eliza: It is?
Wise Snake: Yes. But.. you can learn to set the emotions aside.
Eliza: You can?
Wise Snake: Yes.
Wise Snake: A working Donor will acknowledge their emotions and then set them aside until later, devoting themselves to support of their channel.
Eliza: I see.
Eliza thinks about it.
Wise Snake: And you can go about this from two directions at once.
Eliza: So I could have been horrified later?
Eliza: What do you mean, two directions?
Wise Snake: If you learn what is in that book, you will know where your zero-point is, how to feel "nothingness" and yet be fully aware of all your senses.
Wise Snake: And, if you practice setting aside your feelings in day to day life, you can eventually put the two together.
Wise Snake: Let me give you an example... when you talked to BumBum about being junct.
Eliza looks at the book curiously thinking it's a very thin book to teach something that important.
Wise Snake still curses BumBum for blurting that out to a Tecton employee and is still amazed at how well it worked out.... and is still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Eliza: Yes?
Wise Snake: Ok, that was pretty shocking. But....
Wise Snake: What you would like to do in the future is acknowledge 'Yes, this is a horror' intellectually, and then carefully take that actual emotion and put it in a little box inside your heart.
Wise Snake: The emotion isn't gone, it's just being saved.
Wise Snake: Then, later that night perhaps, or when talking with a Gen friend, examine your feelings and let yourself experience them.
Wise Snake: You have to do that, [explains] or storing them up would drive you nuts.
Eliza: I believe you cause I have seen other do it - but it still sounds impossible.
Eliza shakes her head sadly.
Eliza: Can I ask you something about Bumanuel?
Eliza can't bring herself to call him that nick name - after all it isn't how he introduced himself to her.
Wise Snake raises an eyebrow. "Sure."
Eliza: Well, to be honest, he didn't seem to be that upset about the fact that he has killed [shudders] all those people.
Eliza: He seemed more upset about my reaction.
Eliza: I guess it's a horror he has had to learn to live with.
Eliza: Poor man.
Wise Snake: Welllllll........
Eliza looks unhappy for him.
Wise Snake: Sure.
Wise Snake looks rather indecisive about that answer.
Eliza looks at Snake carefully.
Wise Snake looks like she would be grinning hopefully if she had less dignity.
Eliza wonders if there is anything Snake isn't telling her.
Eliza lets it show.
Eliza: ~anything I should know???~
Wise Snake zlins Eliza's reaction and winces.
Wise Snake: Look, I don't think you've had a chance to talk to BumBum enough to really get to know him well and, umh, he's... not... there will be some surprises.
Wise Snake: I am sure that hanging out with you will be a great positive influence upon him, however. [gamely]
Eliza: Why do you call him that?
Eliza can't believe that she could be a positive influence on anyone, but lets that slide in the more pressing need to know about that dreadful nickname.
Wise Snake: Oh? Everybody does, it's his nickname. He can't stand it.
Wise Snake: Actually, he never minded at all until he changed over.
Eliza: If he doesn't like it I'll call him by his given name then.
Eliza doesn't want to upset him.
Eliza: You know Snake, I know you don't like my nager and all, but I feel really comfortable with you. I guess that you and Alea are the only female friends I have ever had.
Wise Snake: Oh?
Wise Snake considers that.
Wise Snake tries to think of who else she knows that Eliza might like to hang out with, that would be a positive influence.
Wise Snake: [that last bit being the difficult part]
Wise Snake: Well... thank you.
Eliza beams at Snake and radiates happiness and contentment.
Jirelle bounces cheerfully down the street, on her way to buy incense.
Jirelle has not been able to burn incense since Eliza developed the allergy to it, but now that Eliza has split, she's free to do it again.
Jirelle catches herself and realizes she had almost just thought a negative thought about somebody... surely being glad somebody is gone, even for indirect reasons, isn't a very nice thing to feel?
Jirelle: Oh wow.
Jirelle: ~~guilt~~
Jirelle perks up again at the thought that Eliza is probably a lot happier wherever she is.
Jirelle: ~~cheerful sunny ~~
Jirelle looks around at all of the beautiful people and lovely buildings in this wonderful town called Bender Cove.
Jirelle: Wow, I love it here. [to the street at large]
Lars is hiding behind a barrel intently watching a Gen across the street.
Jirelle: ~~le-sigh~~~
Lars does not see the channel.
Jirelle zlins a renSime in hard need stalking a Gen.
Lars sneaks behind a wagon behind the channel he sees as another renSime.
Jirelle locates the Gen, zlins the renSime moving behind the wagon, and positions herself between the renSime and the Gen.
Jirelle: ~~what a bummer~~
Jirelle projects ~~High Field, ripe Gen with Much to Offer~~
Lars runs across the street diagonally thus getting around the channel.
Lars stops, zlins the new field.
Jirelle keeps moving to keep herself between the renSime and the Gen victim.
Jirelle: ~~alluring friendly loving enticing~~
Lars forces himself hypo.
Jirelle is flabbergasted.
Lars: Get away from me you filthy pervert!
Jirelle hadn't thought that was even possible.
Lars turns his attention back to the Gen and starts running in its direction under augmentation.
Jirelle, who is between the two, augments toward the Gen also, hoping to intercept Lars before he can grab him.
Jirelle thinks people who augment when hypoconscious must have a screw loose.
Jirelle thinks, then again, renSimes in hard need were never known for their common sense.
Lars goes hyper and reaches for the Gen.
Jirelle piles into Lars, knocking him aside.
Jirelle has never liked physical violence. It just seems so... unfriendly.
Lars jumps up and starts to move towards Gen. Stops and zlins channel.
Jirelle tries to grab his arms before he can wrestle free again.
Jirelle: ~~Gen~~
Jirelle zlins that he is junct and changes it to ~~Gen/fear~~
Lars pulls away. Tries to go duo and fails. Attacks the channel.
Jirelle: ~~a bit of real fright at the attack~~
Lars is now unable to resist.
Jirelle entwines laterals with him and feeds him selyn.
Lars draws savagely trying hard for killbliss
Jirelle: ~~soaring joy/fulfillment~~
Lars is pushing for killbliss..desperation almost near repletion.
Jirelle: ~~peace/contentment/soothing~~
Lars reluctantly accepts channel's offering and terminates the flow.
Jirelle continues to support him and project peace/soothing.
Lars rejects his tentacles and wipes his mouth with a look of disgust.
Jirelle: There, there, you're all better.
Lars sneers at channel in disgust.
Lars: You had no right to do that to me, Pervert.
Jirelle smiles at Lars, projecting a sweet caring.
Jirelle: I'm sorry.
Jirelle: Do you want to come with me back to the Center now?
Lars: Stop it you lorsh.
Lars takes a swing at the channel.
Jirelle: ~~friendliness/soothing~~
Lars: Shen no!
Jirelle is forced to dodge the swing.
Jirelle: Oh, please don't. Please? I didn't hurt you, after all.
Jirelle: ~~appeasing/friendly~~
Lars screams "stop that, you lousy..." and augments to attack the channel.
Jirelle: ~~surprise~~
Lars stops. Blinks at the channel.
Lars: Oh don't play games. You know what you did.
Jirelle: Yes... yes, I did. I served your Need.
Lars: You violated me with your filthy ways.
Jirelle: Well, yes, but.. there was no harm in it was there? ~~eagerness for peace, soothing~~
Lars [calming slightly]
Lars: Yes there was. But I can't expect a lorsh like you to understand.
Jirelle: I'm sure I never could, but... I do care about you and want to serve you.
Jirelle: ~~truth~~
Lars: ~denial~
Lars: All you care about is keeping all the Gens for yourselves.
Jirelle smiles to Lars.
Jirelle: No... no, I care about keeping them safe. All of us safe, you, them, us. ~~truth/yearning to make him see~~
Lars frowns back.
Lars: Yeah right. You get a Gen every month. I'm stuck with....
Lars: ~~nausea and horror~~
Jirelle: ~~peace/joy/strength~~
Jirelle: No... it doesn't have to be that way. You can have what we have. [beautiful smile]
Lars: ~resignation~
Lars: A gen every month? But the bloodyshen Tecton won't let me....
Jirelle: I know it's hard to see right now, but the world is a beautiful place... and you have your place in it right alongside the rest of us.
Lars: ~rejection~
Jirelle: Why don't you come back with me now. [gently] I can show you.
Lars: I don't believe it. All channels are lying lorshes. I hate you.
Jirelle: You don't want to be angry, and hateful, all the time do you? Of course not. nobody wants to live in fear.
Lars: ~???~
Jirelle: Not you... not Gens.
Jirelle thinks, 'not me either!!'
Lars: You expect me to love the people who killed my sister?
Jirelle smiles at him again.
Lars: ~total rejection...thinking of attacking again~
Jirelle: We should all do our best to love everybody in the world, if we want it to become a better place.
Jirelle: Whoever killed your sister did a terrible thing, but doing more terrible things will not end the fear and hate.
Lars: I can't love channels.
Jirelle: Your sister can't. You can. ~~love~~
Lars: A channel killed my sister. I'll never forgive that. She had every right to live.
Lars starts to cry.
Lars: ~despair longing extreme grief~
Jirelle: Of course she did. We all do. Everybody. ~~soothing~~
Jirelle reaches out softly toward him, projecting ~~sympathy/compassion~~
Lars: ~rejection~
Lars: But but she can't because a channel killed her.
Lars moves away a few steps.
Lars: Don't touch me!
Jirelle thinks this guy is a nutcase.
Jirelle smiles, appealing. "Come on.... we can help you. I can help you. I wouldn't have served you if I didn't want to help you. Right?"
Jirelle: ~~caring~~
Lars: You can't bring my sister back. She's the only family I have.
Jirelle: No, I can't. ~~sorrow~~ All I can do is try to stop the pain and dying from continuing.
Lars: ~rejection~
Jirelle: ~~uplifting hope~~ But I know you can do it... I know your love for your sister can help you do better.
Jirelle is starting to get sick of being positive... which is really unusual for Jirelle.
Lars: That will never happen as long as channels keep renSimes from killing.
Lars: ~resignation~
Lars moves towards channel, head hung.
Jirelle: Dear.... [softly, sadly]...oh dear...Gens are people. Every one who gets killed is somebody's sister.
Jirelle: Or brother, or father....
Lars: My sister died trying to disjunct. She wanted to please a channel and it cost her her life.
Lars: ~defiance~
Lars: But if my sister had a Gen like you she would be alive today, but the channel shenned her and it killed her.
Jirelle: Come back with me. Please... your sister is gone, but you are young enough to disjunct and live, and never kill any more people.
Jirelle: Don't you think your sister would have wanted you to?
Jirelle: ~~entreaty~~
Lars: ~extreme sadness~
Jirelle: ~~sympathetic understanding~~
Jirelle: Come back. There's food and a place to sleep, at least. Please?
Lars moves very close to channel.
Lars: ~shame~
Lars: She would want me to.
Jirelle: ~~soothing/support~~
Lars cries again.
Lars confesses "I have a room there. I just ran away when they told me she was dead and why."
Lars: ~guilt and sorrow~
Lars: I'm sorry, Hajene.
Jirelle offers him her hands. ~~comforting~~
Lars takes the channel's hands, tentatively extending tentacles for entwining.
Jirelle: I'm sorry too. I didn't want to... to... do anything you didn't want yet.
Lars: ~more sorrow~
Jirelle: Come on. ~~soothing~~
Lars: Nobody can do what I want - bring Sueann back.
Jirelle leads Lars back in the direction of the Sime Center.
Lars willingly goes with Jirelle.
Jirelle: I'm sorry. [again] I feel your pain.
Lars: ~sorrow and regret~
Lars: I - I'm sorry I yelled at you. It's not your fault
Jirelle smiles at Lars.
Lars smiles back tentatively.
Go on to Episode #238: Grooming Rituals
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