Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #17: Neptude (4/9/99)
Beni brings Arat another cup of tea.
Beni: Here. Drink this before it gets cold like the last one.
Beni: ~~ concern ~~
Arat takes the tea. (like last time)
Beni sips at his own tea, relishing the flavor(?) by way of encouragement.
Beni: Drink it this time.
Arat gives Beni a cynical look.
Beni: Come on, you know you feel better when you do.
Beni: ~~ encouragement ~~
Arat takes a small sip.
Arat: I'm fine, Beni. [tired]
Beni: ~~ support ~~
Beni: You will be.
Beni sets down his tea and starts rubbing Arat's shoulders.
Arat's shoulders are as tense as suspension bridge cables.
Arat sets down his tea before it spills.
Beni: Come on, relax.
Arat tenses up at the word "relax".
Beni rolls his eyes in exasperation.
Beni: ~~~ relaxation ~~~
Arat: I wonder if Controller Neptude has received my second letter yet.
Arat's irritation has been moderated to fretfulness by Beni's influence.
Beni: Probably. The courier got back earlier today.
Beni was keeping track, since his own letter was in the stack.
Beni works carefully, using hands and nager to unknot Arat's neck.
Arat: Why does he do this? I just don't understand.
Arat's fretfulness is degenerating to bitter whininess under Beni's skillful nager work.
Beni: Shhh, it'll be all right.
Arat is appalled at the weakness that Donors cause in him.
Beni: ~~ reassuring confidence ~~
Beni: And I'll take care of you until Jeniard can get back here.
Arat would be humiliated if anybody else were to witness him like this... or if a Donor ever talked of their private sessions with anybody else.
Beni works his way gradually down Arat's arms.
Beni is not 100% convinced that the relationship between Arat and Jeniard is healthy, but has come to believe that at least for Arat, not having Jeniard is even less healthy.
Beni therefore took some pains with the composition of a literary effort designed to convince Neptude that Jeniard should be returned to Arat.
Beni hopes that it will have the desired effect before Arat is ready for transfer.
Arat leans back in the chair, eyes closed, as Beni's hands do their magic on his forearms.
Beni: There. See? I'll be here when you are ready for transfer, so there's nothing to fear.
Arat's tentacles extend to touch Beni's arms.
Beni lets his ~~ pleasure ~~ at the caress show.
Arat opens his eyes.
Arat: Thank you, Beni.
Arat removes his hands.
Beni: You're welcome.
Beni picks up Arat's tea mug and hands it to him.
Beni: Do you think you could manage a piece of bread with that?
Arat automatically resists the idea.
Arat: This will be fine.
Arat sips the tea to demonstrate.
Arat has been finding Beni to be very persistent lately.
Beni hands Arat a piece of bread.
Beni: You really should eat.
Beni: Here, I put honey on it for you.
Arat knows it's contradictory to hate the persistence and resent Beni's presence while simultaneously recognizing his very real need of them.
Arat therefore tends to feel hypocritical, and from there defensive, around Donors.
Arat goes through contortions of self-control to prevent anybody from realizing this.
Arat takes the bread with a sigh.
Beni: I know need makes you feel a bit nauseated, but still, it's not healthy to fast.
Beni: ~~ approval of Arat ~~
Arat: Beni... really, I'll be fine.
Beni smiles.
Beni: That's what I've been telling you for days.
Beni sits back a little, regarding Arat.
Beni: Tell me, is there anything special you like during transfer?
Arat looks surprised at the question.
Arat, like any Sime, finds the subject of transfer an worthwhile one at this time of the month.
Arat: We are properly matched, I think nothing special should be required.
Beni, like most Donors, finds the subject of transfer interesting at just about any time of the month.
Arat has a hard time with transfers that require him to be shorted, he gets very depressed after them, so he is glad Beni has the capacity.
Beni: Required, no. But there are many ways to fulfill a requirement.
Arat unthinkingly takes a small bite of bread and a sip of tea.
Beni thinks that unfortunately, zlinning like Jeniard would as a Gen isn't one of the possibilities.
Beni: What gives you the most pleasure in transfer?
Beni: ~~ light Gen seduction mixed with support ~~
Arat's expression, during this less-than-guarded moment, indicates that Beni's question did not compute at all.
Arat looks at him, in other words, like he just climbed out of a tree and started singing "Mine all Mine" wearing red and green polka dots and an orange hat.
Arat: [squinty eyed mystification]
Beni: Do you like to be bathed in selyn....
Beni demonstrates.
Beni: Or do you prefer to work for it?
Beni withdraws his nager just a bit, in a teasing fashion.
Arat: Not that.
Arat shudders.
Beni returns to the "selyn bath" option.
Arat: And I prefer to control.
Beni: The Tecton generally prefers the channel to control, unless otherwise indicated for therapeutic purposes.
Arat of course knows that is the regulation way of doing it anyway; the implication is that some have tried otherwise.
Arat nods.
Beni has known more than one channel who consistently requires such therapy.
Arat: My past is... was... such that I find games in transfer to be... stressful.
Beni: Of course.
Beni: Is there anything you like to do before transfer?
Arat: I usually retire to the transfer room a half hour before scheduled to.
Beni: And how do you like to spend that last half hour?
Arat is usually so wound up by then, having gone through days of denial, fighting with his Donor, and often postponing the transfer time as well, that he has to take the extra time just to get in the right frame of mind.
Beni lets himself feel a gentle ~~ anticipation ~~
Arat tries to think of a less-than-offensive-or-self-incriminating way to say this.
Arat: I try to relax in order to be ready.
Arat: Usually by reading.
Beni nods encouragement.
Beni: What do you like to read?
Beni doesn't know too many channels who have the concentration to read just before transfer.
Arat doesn't ordinarily have the patience to deal with lite conversation, but with Jeniard gone is struggling to get along with Beni as well as he can.
Beni continues to ~~ soothe and encourage ~~ Arat.
Arat: Lately I've been reading a book of essays on border towns.
Beni: Border towns?
Beni: ~~ interest ~~
Beni: There are some interesting problems which crop up in them, I understand.
Arat: These are more like sketches of the personality, if you will, of various towns.
Beni: Have you ever been assigned to a border town?
Arat: No.
Beni nods.
Beni: What do you like to do after transfer?
Arat had, during his younger and less prestigious days, been considered too high a political risk to post anywhere near large Gen populations.
Arat has now become fairly well established in this area.
Arat: I try to arrange to have the day off afterward.
Beni: And what do you do, during your day off?
Beni hopes the answer won't be "get caught up on the things that were left undone when I was in hard need".
Arat usually collapses into a snoring sleep, unable to sustain whatever extended waking session he'd been on before that.
Arat: Not much. [admits]
Beni smiles.
Beni: That's the best kind of day off.
Arat: Jeniard says.... [pauses, then a hard light glints in his eyes]
Arat doesn't finish.
Beni: What does Jeniard say?
Arat fiddles with his tea cup.
Beni: ~~ gentle ~~
Beni: I know you miss him.
Arat looks uncomfortable, but doesn't deny it.
Arat: He calls them blackout days.
Beni doesn't mention his efforts to get Jeniard back for Arat, fearing to raise false hopes.
Arat: Because the schedule has to be blacked out.
Beni is starting to get the picture of Arat's usual post-transfer state.
Beni wonders if there is another reason for the term.
Beni: Do you usually have Jeniard with you during that time?
Arat looks evasive.
Beni: ~~ gentle persistence ~~
Arat: We are in phase, if that is what you are asking.
Beni: Would like company, after transfer?
Arat: I... would not object.
Beni: I'll be there, then.
Beni: As long as you want my company.
Beni: ~~ promise ~~
Arat zlins him thoughtfully.
Arat hadn't thought that Beni would offer such a thing.
Arat nods.
Neptude is between crises at the moment, trying to catch up on his paperwork.
Runner arrives from the postal room, carrying the last week's worth of Neptude's mail.
Neptude's goal is to keep the stack in the "in" box short enough to be self-supporting.
Runner stops his cart and starts loading mail into the In box.,
Runner: (maybe "onto" is a better word)
Neptude sighs as the self-support goal has to be set aside once again.
Runner guides the falling pile into a gentle slope onto the desk, then deposits the rest of the paper in a nearby chair.
Neptude: You know, I'd swear that you keep pregnant envelopes down in the mail room. How else could you breed such as pile every day?
Runner tips his hat to Neptude and leaves.
Neptude starts sorting the mail.
Neptude opens an envelope with Diplomatic seals on it.
Neptude scans the text, and an eyebrow reaches for the ceiling.
Neptude: Dear me.
Neptude suspects that he is only getting half of the story, and starts sorting the mail for the rest of it.
Neptude finds a letter from the other party, and opens it.
Neptude: Well, we'll see what's up.
Neptude finds the contents of Arat's first letter are not only irrelevant to the matter at hand, but offensive as well.
Neptude runs a tentacle underneath a particularly strongly worded passage.
Letter: "... I find your reassignment of my assistant to be not only in poor taste, given our last conversation, but also petty, spiteful, and childish."
Neptude tsks at this evidence that Arat is completely unrepentant.
Neptude does not, however, find any further information on the supposed diplomatic crisis.
Neptude opens a second, later, letter from Arat, hoping that this one will have the missing details.
Neptude scans it.
Letter #2 is a painfully polite and submissive letter recanting the contents of the previous letter and requesting a reconsideration of the decision to transfer Jeniard Chartas, based upon various points made about his indispensability to the District Office.
Neptude finds this a bit more palatable, but it only confirms his decision that removing Jeniard is an effective way to discipline Arat.
Sabrino signals at Controller Neptude's office door.
Neptude: Come!
Sabrino is a secretary of sorts.
Sabrino enters and stands just inside the door.
Sabrino: Controller, Tuib Hamish from the Diplomatic Corps is here for you?
Neptude winces, wishing that he had gotten the full story before being confronted by this interview.
Neptude: Very well, show him in.
Neptude adjusts his nager to zlin like a "busy Regional Controller".
Sabrino exits, and returns a short time later, ushering in the tall, balding renSime.
Hamish: Good day, good day, Controller. Sorry to drop in on you like this, but I was in the area, and....
Hamish looks smart in his Diplomatic Corps uniform.
Neptude: Good afternoon, Tuib Hamish.
Neptude: To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?
Hamish: Ah yes, well you see, I was hoping you could clear up a bit of a problem we are having with an employee of yours.
Hamish looks and zlins apologetic.
Neptude: An employee of mine?
Neptude: ~~ bland ~~
Hamish: Yes, one Arat Farris, District Controller? Really, I am sure he is a perfectly nice fellow, under ordinary circumstances, but....
Neptude: What seems to be the difficulty?
Hamish's forehead knots up.
Hamish: Well you see, one of my officers and he have had a number of dust-ups now, and things only seem to be getting worse, not better.
Hamish: I had hoped that if we both....
Neptude: Really? What are these... er, dust-ups about?
Hamish: Well you see, may I have a seat here?
Neptude: Of course, of course.
Hamish seats himself.
Hamish: Thank you. Well, you see, it started with a request by our office for Controller Arat to supply several staff members as escorts for an important diplomatic event coming up this month.
Neptude: I see. There was a problem with this?
Hamish: The World Controller's office assured us that we could expect full cooperation, but I'm afraid Ekwoo reported he was very unhappy with his treatment by the District office.
Neptude: Arat refused to provide Escorts?
Hamish raises hands and tentacles in a placating manner.
Hamish: Everything was straightened out eventually.
Neptude assumes from this statement that he is not being asked to act on this matter.
Neptude: I'm glad to hear it.
Neptude: I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding.
Hamish: But you see, that was only the beginning. [sadly]
Neptude: Oh?
Neptude offers a ~~ polite encouragement ~~
Hamish: Some translators overheard that we were given second-choice escorts, and they reported it to... [the reader is spared a lengthy description of how a good number of muckety mucks, including the WC, heard about all this and it got blown way out of proportion]
Hamish has a pretty good idea that Neptude does know about all this, but since Neptude hasn't admitted it, he speaks as if this is all news.
Neptude isn't about to acknowledge knowing about the matter unless the WC complains personally, since he knows Arat had no choice in the assignments but can't get around the fact that the WC's office was given the specific authority to request specific Escorts.
Neptude: I see. And you say that the bad blood has flared up again?
Hamish: Well, it has only been a few days since the first incident, after all....
Neptude nods.
Neptude: What happened?
Hamish: As you know, we are in the middle of an exchange program whereby prominent scientists from both sides of the border are visiting each other's facilities to learn each others' cultures.
Hamish: Some of these scientists, some psychologists, were placed in the District Sime Center Arat presides over.
Neptude: Did he object to the placement?
Hamish: No, the trouble came a couple of days after they arrived.
Hamish: It seems that Arat had volunteered(?) to speak to one of our visiting psychologists, a Dr. Roosle from a university in Gen Territory.
Neptude: Did he manage to offend the fellow? He can be a bit abrasive at times.
Hamish: Shortly thereafter, the fellow went missing.
Hamish: Well... immediately thereafter, actually.
Neptude: Missing?
Neptude: Has the fellow been located?
Hamish: It seems that Controller Arat had taken a disliking to him and suggested that he might find more fruitful grounds for research in some far off location... yes, he has been found, some two days' ride away.
Hamish: Fortunately!
Neptude's mind boggles at the thought of the damage an unescorted out-T Gen could do.
Neptude: Two days?
Hamish: When Ekwoo went to speak to Arat about this, the Controller was quite rude.
Neptude thinks about the destinations within two days of Capitol.
Hamish: I'm afraid he was not only rude, but he threatened Ekwoo.
Neptude waves aside the threat.
Neptude: I'm met the fellow; he's impossible and you know it.
Neptude: Just where did your stray Gen end up?
Neptude has a bad feeling about this.
Hamish doesn't know whether Neptude is referring to Ekwoo, or Arat, when he says "impossible".
Hamish is sure Neptude couldn't possibly know what Roosle is like... fortunately.
Hamish: Householding Naros.
Hamish: Apparently quite safe and sound.
Neptude: Naros?
Neptude: But Arat has never gotten along with Sectuib Riyyh.
Neptude: ~~ bewildered ~~
Hamish: Ekwoo said that Arat chose that location because it would be easier to deny misdirecting our honored guest there.
Neptude: Well, Naros isn't the sort of place I'd care to stay at, myself, but I don't think the fellow's in any danger there.
Hamish: No, no, thank goodness.
Hamish: I have no objection to him being there, it's this consistent mistreatment of my staff that concerns me.
Neptude: Mistreatment?
Neptude leans towards Hamish.
Hamish: Really, it isn't appropriate for selyn management employees to interfere with the functioning of the Diplomatic Wing.
Hamish: And Controller Arat is genuinely rude. Furthermore, he lied in a letter to me.
Hamish actually doesn't know this for a fact, but Ekwoo seemed very convinced.
Neptude bristles at being tarred with the "selyn management employee" brush.
Neptude: As I understood it, your man Ekwoo started off by demanding most of Arat's senior staff, and refused to modify his request when Arat explained the chaos that would have caused.
Hamish doesn't think Ekwoo is the world's brightest - after all, he got where he was by an accident of nephewism rather than by any particular talent - however, he does know what he zlinned in the man's nager.
Hamish: I think it could have been handled a bit better.
Neptude: Your man then proceeded to make an interterritorial incident over the perfectly competent substitutes Arat sent in their place.
Neptude: You yourself admit that there is bad blood between them now.
Neptude: I expect that the rudeness has gone both ways.
Hamish: Granted, Controller Arat isn't a Diplomatic Corps employee, and shouldn't be held up to as stringent standards of cooperativeness and politeness as a consequence, but really. Was this all really necessary? The man is insufferable.
Hamish: I know Ekwoo, and he is anything but a troublemaker.
Hamish can't really say much more about Ekwoo without straying into the wildly erroneous.
Neptude: For a non-troublemaker, he seems to make a great deal of trouble.
Neptude has already caught the half-truths, since as a renSime, Hamish's showfield control can't hold up to a channel's sensitivity.
Neptude: Perhaps things might run more smoothly if you found someone else to be the liaison between your office and District Controller Arat?
Neptude: Since the two seem unable to get along.
Hamish: But where does it end? Ekwoo is the third person we've had in that position in the last two years.
Hamish sighs.
Hamish: All right, I will place someone else in the post. But can you do something about this man? He has not been much of a help.
Neptude shrugs.
Hamish has in mind sending Ekwoo to Naros to retrieve his lost Gen.
Neptude: Most of the time, he's an excellent Controller.
Neptude: Although he's never been one to suffer fools gladly.
Hamish turns purple.
Neptude: Come now, you have to admit that Ekwoo isn't the brightest on your staff.
Hamish: That's no excuse for rudeness!
Hamish: Or obstructionism.
Hamish: And as for sending a high field Gen cross country without even notifying us....
Hamish: Well, if that sort of thing keeps up, I will have to inform the World Controller's office.
Neptude straightens alertly.
Neptude: High field?
Hamish: Yes, he was high field.
Neptude: I understood that all participants in these exchange programs were required to donate before coming in-Territory.
Hamish: This is just the sort of irresponsible... well, yes, they were.
Neptude: And yet you say this man was high field?
Hamish: ...Yes, he was.
Neptude: After what, over a week in-Territory?
Hamish suddenly remembers an appointment he might be late for.
Hamish shifts uneasily.
Neptude: Have you any idea what kind of trouble it would have caused if he'd gotten upset and forced some renSime to kill him?
Hamish: Yes, of course, that's exactly what I'm.... ~ trying to muster self-righteousness ~
Neptude: You're past turnover--it could have been you, moving into the Last Year House.
Hamish shakes his finger at Neptude. "Just remember what I said!"
Hamish: I am very late for an appointment,
Hamish: Good day!
Neptude: How did this oversight happen, that he wasn't taken to the nearest channel?
Hamish turns and high tails it out of Neptude's office.
Neptude picks up his pen and drafts a quick complaint to Hamish's boss, cc to the Word Controller's office, on the subject of nondonating visitors.
Neptude believes in covering himself as completely as possible.