Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #11: Shades of Brown (3/22/99)
Lemuse tiptoes through the bedroom, putting the finishing touches on her new chocolate overload decorating scheme.
Lemuse has located chocolate wallpaper [actually wax paper with chocolate stars stuck to it], a couple of foil-covered chocolate books, a chocolate bezbol, an "I love chocolate" pin that looks rather like the Tecton logo, and a set of brown curtains with a foil label that, upon closer inspection, reads "I wish these were really chocolate!"
Lemuse then tiptoes out of the room, shutting the door rather loudly.
Lemuse sits down in what passes for a living room in a Tecton 2nd's... suite... and starts doing her nageric exercises again.
Darrel starts awake as the noise and sudden disappearance of soothing Gen nager overcome the effects of the mickey Lemuse slipped into his tea.
Darrel: What...?
Darrel decides on second thought that he's still asleep, since this room obviously was not decorated by the Tecton.
Darrel slips out of the bed, forgetting to put on his robe.
Darrel's nose twitches at the delectable odor, and he reaches out to touch the wall.
Darrel's fingers brush across the wax paper, then halt at a star.
Darrel plucks the star from the paper, and nibbles one point.
Darrel: Ahhh!
Darrel pops the rest of the star into his mouth and chews.
Darrel: ~~ bliss ~~
Darrel is feeling nicely relaxed, as the chocolate combines with the remains of the sedative.
Darrel thinks a nice cup of cocoa would go down well, just now.
Darrel can almost smell it.
Darrel realizes after a moment that he is, in fact, smelling it.
Darrel looks around and discovers a steaming mug on his bedside table.
Darrel decides to perform the complete ceremony, and puts on his robe and fuzzy slippers before picking up the mug and sipping.
Darrel smiles broadly, assisted by the smear of whipped cream around his mouth.
Darrel: Aaaaaaah!
Darrel does a brief but thorough inspection of his room, noting curtains, books and other accessories.
Darrel runs a handling tentacle over the pin (his hand, of course, being occupied with the cocoa), then attaches it to his bathrobe.
Darrel then goes in search of the instigator of this prank.
Darrel is not particularly surprised to see Lemuse waiting in his sitting room.
Darrel: You rascal!
Darrel walks over and hugs her with his free arm.
Lemuse grins.
Lemuse: ~~pleased~~
Darrel starts to chuckle, and ends up with a full guffaw.
Darrel: Whatever possessed you to play such a prank?
Darrel: Or does Controller Arat believe in chocolate therapy?
Darrel is a firm convert himself, but knows that many don't share his opinion.
Lemuse: Actually, it was Controller Arat who made me think of it, although not directly.
Darrel: Really?
Lemuse: A former teacher of his is in town for a special assignment, and there was some talk of, er, prankish behavior that went on in his school days.
Lemuse thinks it need not be said that Arat was not in on the discussion.
Darrel: Ah. Well, I can imagine that Arat had more than his share of pranks played on him. He's that type.
Lemuse: Yes, I suspect you're right there.
Lemuse: Anyway, you're going to actually get to meet this guy, Sosu Mileay.
Lemuse: He's a real teddy bear.
Darrel takes another sip of his cocoa.
Lemuse: And I mean it, he really is.
Darrel: Mileay? I don't think I've heard much about him.
Darrel was not at Naros long enough to really perfect the art of gathering information.
Lemuse: Oh no, he's nobody famous, but you know, Arat's taken an interest in your case and he had Mileay brought in to help you.
Lemuse: He has special skills.
Darrel: What skills would those be?
Darrel clutches his cocoa mug for comfort.
Lemuse: Umm... well, I haven't seen his file, and I can't zlin for myself, but I have it on good authority [she means Arat's] that he is about as harmless as a Donor can get.
Lemuse recalls Arat's exact words: "About as harmless as a Donor can get... and as useless."
Darrel: I see.
Darrel is afraid that he does.
Darrel: He's a First?
Darrel: ~~ apprehension ~~
Lemuse: Not so that you'd notice.
Lemuse: I'm sure it'll be just fine.
Lemuse: If anybody knows what will or won't scare the bejesus out of a person, it's Arat.
Darrel: Oh, so he was doing that on purpose?
Lemuse: Come on, Darrel, cheer up. Nothing bad's happened yet, right? Capitol's been a great time so far.
Lemuse: ~~ reassuring cheer ~~
Darrel: It's had its moments.
Darrel lifts his mug to her in salute, then sips again to seal the toast.
Darrel is a long-time member of the AEC (Any Excuse for Chocolate) society.
Neptude signals at Arat's office door..
Jeniard hastily steps back from his position of giving Arat a sooooooooooooooothing neck rub.
Arat smoothes back his hair and tries to summon some indignity at the unannounced visit, but is handicapped by Jeniard having just made him mellow.
Jeniard goes to the door and sticks his head out.
Jeniard: Hello, may I... oh! [seeing the uniform of the Regional Controller's Office]
Neptude: Hello, Jeniard. If you're here, Arat must be in.
Jeniard: Yes, he is.
Jeniard manages to avoid blushing at the pointed comment.
Jeniard: Please, come in, Hajene Neptude.
Jeniard enunciates the name carefully, lest he accidentally use the Regional Controller's common behind-back nickname instead.
Neptude enters, going directly over to the desk and sitting down.
Arat: Hajene Neptude.
Neptude: Arat, what kind of games have you been playing with the Diplomatic Office?
Neptude: ~~ exasperation ~~
Neptude: And why do I have to hear about it from the World Controller's assistant?
Arat's expressive Farris features betray a subtle wince.
Arat: I have been as cooperative as possible.
Arat's neck, by the way, is now twice as tense as it was before Jeniard massaged it.
Jeniard wishes Beni were available to offer some support that could be zlinned by the Regional Controller, and has to settle for puttering about with the tea set, comforting by his presence alone.
Neptude: Look, I'm not blaming you for wanting to pick who you wanted to stick with Escort duty, but I thought you'd at least be tactful enough to make the Diplomatic types think it was their idea.
Neptude zlins like a parent whose precocious kid has just done something amazingly stupid.
Arat: That would not have been possible under the circumstances.
Neptude: They sent you a renSime. You should have been able to convince him that down was up, much less that he actually wanted the people you could spare.
Arat's nager begins to zlin like nothing whatsoever.
Arat: It may seem like that now, but it was not the case at the time.
Neptude: It's a Controller's job to handle people. You do well enough, usually. What happened?
Jeniard decides to hell with what the Regional Controller sees, and after he hands a steaming teacup to their guest, he pulls up a chair to sit near Arat.
Arat appears distinctly upset, at least to the trained eye.
Arat: He had been told in writing he could take whoever he wanted.
Arat: I have the letter here.
Arat: And he did not stay long enough to be convinced about the alternatives.
Neptude holds out a tentacle for the letter.
Arat looks through a couple of drawers (a sure sign he feels under pressure) and finally locates it.
Arat hands it over.
Neptude scans it.
Neptude: This is just the usual "full cooperation" promise.
Jeniard falls into ~~ support ~~ of Arat, a bit diffidently.
Neptude: If the Diplomatic Office had a specific person or two in mind, you should have granted the request, and steered the rest of the group towards the ones you could most easily spare.
Arat: Twenty.
Arat: All Firsts, except for my chief purchasing agent.
Neptude: ...What?
Arat: Controller Neptude, I do not believe I was being at all unreasonable.
Neptude: ~~ astonishment ~~
Arat: To grant his request would have been disastrous, on a purely operational level.
Arat locates, and hands over, the original list of names and his own modified list.
Arat is much steadier now.
Neptude: Well, I can see why you were concerned. But that's no excuse for sending the man away convinced that you were deliberately sending him second-class people--even if you were.
Arat: Second class people?
Arat allows a flicker of amazement to cross through his nager.
Arat: These are not second class people.
Neptude: ~~ exasperation ~~
Neptude: They are more than competent to do Escort duty, which as we both know isn't terribly challenging.
Neptude: We both know that your selections are not of the caliber of the Diplomatic Office's choices--as well they shouldn't be.
Neptude: I'm not quarreling with your decision, Arat, only with the way you implemented it.
Arat: He didn't give me much of a choice, Controller. He was gone before I'd even made it.
Arat: He was in and out of this office in less than 10 minutes, with a warning that the exact people he'd specified had better be there the next day.
Neptude: Because you got him angry by offering direct defiance, instead of talking him around to a more reasonable point of view.
Arat: If I'd had some advance warning of this request I might have had time to formulate a different response.
Arat: As it was, I did not defy him, I simply explained to him the positions the people he wanted were holding, and why they were so critical.
Arat had noticed that the practicality argument seemed to have little or no effect upon the Diplomatic officer.
Neptude: Couldn't you have invented a convenient outbreak of flu or something?
Arat looks incredulous.
Arat: Six weeks in advance?
Arat wouldn't have dreamed of inventing an outbreak of any kind, actually.
Neptude: It would have given you time to regroup, and take your case to the man's boss.
Neptude: As it was, he complained at length about the people you sent.
Arat: What is wrong with them? [defensively]
Arat: He made it up, they're perfectly good people.
Neptude: Right in front of the table where the translators were sitting.
Neptude: They, of course, took his complaints at face value, and told the envoys.
Neptude: Who used it in the bargaining sessions as an example of the Tecton's undependability.
Arat grows more upset the more defensive he feels.
Arat of course grows more angry the more upset he gets.
Arat controls his nager, and (with a lot of effort) his expression.
Neptude: The negotiating team complained to the World Controller, who sent his assistant to me with orders to report back with the name of the individual responsible for this fiasco.
Arat looks at Neptude stonily.
Arat understands now... it's simply an ass-kicking mission, and when Neptude is done Arat will have another black mark on his record and the subject will never come up again.
Neptude is annoyed as only a bureaucrat can be, who has been humiliated in front of his boss by the unilateral actions taken without his knowledge by his staff.
Arat steels himself to have his ass kicked, therefore, and gives up on trying to defend his reasoning or his position.
Arat nods.
Arat: I understand.
Jeniard glances surreptitiously at Arat.
Neptude: Good. Then I'm sure you'll be happy to go over tomorrow and assure the envoys that their safety is our first concern, and that the people you sent were the best for the job.
Neptude: I'd take your Donor with you; some of them are rather nervous about Simes.
Neptude: Speaking of which, where's Beni?
Arat: He is taking a break.
Arat is internally dismayed by what all Neptude has just said, but his voice is flat.
Arat knows it is just part of the punishment.
Arat: He'll be back in about a half hour. [when Jeniard goes back on duty, he doesn't say]
Neptude is ~~ skeptical ~~ but doesn't openly challenge Arat's explanation.
Neptude: I'll speak to him tomorrow, then.
Neptude looks at Jeniard, then Arat.
Neptude: ~~ faint disgust ~~
Jeniard's nager flattens slightly.
Neptude gets to his feet.
Neptude: In the mean time, stay out of trouble.
Neptude strides from the room.
Arat stares after him.
Jeniard looks at the floor, masking as much of his dismay from Arat as possible.
Jeniard knows better than to try to speak to, or touch, Arat right at this moment.