Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #34: Serpent in the Garden (6/7/99)
Arat is in his office, sorting out his early morning batch of mail before a work shift.
Arat is in hard need.
Arat's mail is correspondingly seemingly uninteresting.
Nick sets a steaming cup of gourmet tea beside Arat.
Nick: ~~ comfort ~~
Arat forces himself to look at each piece and evaluate it logically. [Farris discipline]
Arat looks up at Nick.
Arat: Thank you.
Arat is more interested in the comforting nager than the tea at this point, but makes a show of taking a sip.
Nick sits close to Arat and sips at his own cup.
Jeniard bursts into the office.
Jeniard: ~~panic excitement~~
Nick quickly tries to block the worst of the onslaught.
Jeniard: Arat! You have to come down to the emergency room, right now!
Arat jumps up.
Jeniard starts to run out the door, then runs back in. "Leave him here." [pointing to Nick]
Nick: What?
Nick stops, halfway to his feet.
Nick: Why?
Nick: ~~ protective ~~
Arat had started out after Jeniard, then pauses in confusion.
Jeniard grabs Arat and hauls him the rest of the way out the door.
Nick wonders what regulations the Tecton has about channel-napping so close before a transfer.
Nick limps as rapidly as he can towards the door and pokes his head through.
Nick: What's going on?
Arat and Jeniard have augmented down the hall and are just disappearing into a far stairwell.
Nick starts after the augmenting pair, at a more sensible pace.
Nurse is coming up the stairs, and turns white as a sheet when she sees Nick.
Nick flags Nurse down.
Nurse turns around as if to go after Arat and Jeniard, realizes they are long gone, turns back to Nick, and generally looks like she's a waffling worried person running in circles.
Nick: Do you know what's going on?
Nurse: Oh no!
Nurse would have given anything not to be the person to have gotten stuck in this position.
Nurse: No, er, no, I don't. Maybe you should sit down, honey, you look....
Nick looks at Nurse sternly.
Nurse sees her career going down the tubes.
Nick: I'm fine, it's Arat I'm concerned about.
Nurse: Oh! He's er, he ought to be just fine. But maybe you should wait up here.
Nick: He shouldn't be running around without his Donor in his condition.
Nurse: Should I send somebody down to ask him about it?
Nurse: [hopefully]
Nick: Never mind. He wouldn't ask for help, no matter how much he required it.
Nurse tries to "accidentally" block Nick's way on the stairs as they speak.
Nurse: Well, if you stay up here he'll know where to find you if he....
Nick: I'll just hang out where he can zlin me easily.
Nick starts to sidle past Nurse.
Nurse, a small Gen female, can't really do much about it.
Nurse looks stricken.
Nick: Unless you can tell me what the problem is?
Nurse shakes her head wordlessly.
Nick: Well, then, I'll have to see for myself.
Nick starts the awkward business of descending stairs with one leg immobilized in a walking cast.
Nurse hovers behind him for a few moments, and then starts hurrying down the stairs past Nick.
Nick pauses, watching as she rapidly outdistances him down the stairs.
Nurse has no physical impediments and soon disappears.
Nick has alas spent far too much time with Snake not to have picked up some paranoia.
Orderly 1 and Orderly 2 start climbing the stairs in Nick's direction soon thereafter.
Nick therefore hastily retraces his steps and heads for the alternative staircase.
Orderly 1 and Orderly 2 are two big male renSime fellows suitable for lifting people into beds, or wherever else they may have to be moved.
Orderly 1 and Orderly 2 climb all the way up to the roof and then remain there scratching their heads for a while before starting back down.
Nick makes his way down the other staircase with a bit less caution than his injury would normally require.
Meesa, a First Order Channel employed by the Center, hurries down the hall and spots Nick coming out of the stairwell.
Meesa is startled.
Meesa, too, looks in all directions as if wondering what he should do.
Nick nods politely to Meesa, but does not stop to talk.
Meesa: Wait!
Meesa darts after Nick.
Meesa: Don't go in there.
Nick turns to look at Meesa.
Nick: My channel is in there.
Meesa looks very sincere [very sincerely worried about his job as it happens, but...]
Meesa: I know. That's why you... that's why you shouldn't go in. Please.
Meesa: It will be better if you wait.
Nick leans against the wall to spare his leg.
Meesa looks relieved.
Meesa is sweating.
Meesa: Are you all right?
Nick: I am fine. I am even willing to wait out here, as long as you, or someone, will tell me exactly what is going on.
Nick looks at Meesa sternly.
Meesa: Arat is handling a very serious case.
Nick waits for elaboration.
Meesa: It's a life or death situation.
Nick: It sounds like he really ought to have his Donor standing by, then. Particularly as close to transfer as he is.
Meesa: It's... this is a special case.
Meesa: Please believe me when I say he'll be glad to see you afterward.
Nick: Apparently. Suppose you explain exactly what's so special about it?
Meesa: It's... [hesitates]
Meesa: Political.
Nick: Political. In what way?
Meesa is really sweating now.
Nick taps his good foot ominously.
Meesa: In such a way that it'd be better if you [gulps] weren't there.
Nick: Indeed.
Meesa wishes Arat would walk out of the ER and rescue him.
Jeniard dashes out of the ER doors, sees/zlins Nick, turns white as a sheet, spins around and fights his way back through the swinging doors again.
Nick is starting to get seriously annoyed.
Jeniard: No no, go back! [muffled]
Meesa: Look, I'm really sorry about this.
Meesa really is!
Nick turns alertly at the sound.
Meesa moves back between again, not very enthusiastically.
Meesa: Look, I can tell you more, but not here. Will you let me take you upstairs for breakfast while I explain?
Meesa: [his voice is enthusiastic enough; it's his nager that isn't enthusiastic about getting in the way of a Donor of Nick's nager size and condition]
Nick nods towards a nearby alcove/waiting area for the families of patients, currently empty.
Meesa is visibly torn.
Meesa would rather take Nick somewhere very far away.
Nick: That's far enough away, when Arat's in need.
Meesa: Well... all right.
Nick makes his way into the area and leans against the wall.
Meesa follows.
Meesa: Have a seat? [offers]
Nick's expression makes it clear that he is not willing to tolerate much in the way of pleasantries, or anything else which might get in the way of a rapid, clear, and concise explanation of the current crisis.
Meesa's expression makes it clear he thinks Nick ought to be seated for this.
Nick's nager remains as disciplined as one might expect of a Donor working with Farris channels.
Meesa: The... patient is a channel.
Nick: And?
Meesa: The patient is a channel who is in hard need.
Nick: Yes?
Meesa: And who... might be unwilling to compromise about who supplies the selyn, but is in no condition to survive being refused.
Nick: Oh?
Meesa: It isn't that anybody is afraid you'd do anything wrong.
Nick: But?
Meesa: And it isn't that Arat wouldn't want you there under any other circumstances.
Meesa: But just because of who, or rather of what you are, your presence could be disastrous to the patient's chances of survival.
Nick: What I am?
Meesa hopes this explanation will be suitable, since he has nearly exhausted his ability to beat around a bush with both precision and bluntness.
Jeniard appears in the waiting area, sees them and comes in their direction.
Meesa notes Jeniard's arrival and just about melts in relief. Anything that happens after this will not be his own fault.
Jeniard: Oh, Nick, good.
Nick: Jeniard. Exactly what is going on?
Nick looks rather annoyed.
Jeniard flicks a tentacle to release Meesa, who scurries off.
Jeniard: I'm sorry about all this, Nick. I rushed in there like a crazy person, didn't I?
Jeniard: Arat's preparing to serve a patient in transfer. He was the only one who could do it.
Nick: And why is that?
Nick: I gather the patient is a channel. Don't you think a Donor would be more appropriate?
Jeniard gives Nick a queer look that is both honest and guarded.
Jeniard: Arat felt he would be the most appropriate.
Jeniard: The only other option at this point would be you.
Jeniard: And then who would serve him?
Nick: Who is this channel?
Jeniard looks away.
Jeniard: I'm not at liberty to say.
Nick: Why not?
Jeniard flinches slightly as the sound of a faint crash comes from the direction of the ER.
Jeniard: Because Arat wanted to tell you himself.
Nick looks alertly towards the crash.
Nick starts automatically towards the sound.
Jeniard: It's all right. Everything is under control.
Jeniard moves with him, staying between Nick and the door.
Jeniard: He's going to be all right.
Orderly 3 comes flying bodily out of the ER doors.
Orderly 3: Whoaaa!!!
Nick: Shen!
Orderly 3 bounces off the opposite wall, gets his bearings, and dives back in.
Nick: That's not "under control"!
Jeniard begins to look more nervous than reassuring.
Jeniard: Maybe I'd better... will you stay here? Please?
Jeniard begins to hurry in that direction without waiting for an answer.
Nick follows.
Jeniard plunges through the doors.
Wise Snake: Don't tell me he's not here, you... there! Right there!!!
Nick blanks his nager as much as humanly possible and follows through in Jeniard's nageric shadow.
Wise Snake: I can zlin him you bastards!
Wise Snake: [loud crash]
Nick hears Snake's voice and stops, looking as pale, well, as if he'd seen a ghost.
Nick: ~~ incredulous hope ~~
Nick: ~~ shock ~~
Arat has his hands full, as he has Snake by the arms and doesn't dare let go, since she is behaving like an enraged wildebeest.
Jeniard has thrown himself into the fray, helping the orderlies try to hold her down, and helping Arat try to calm her down.
Jeniard: ~~~calm please!!!!!~~~
Nick: Snake???
Wise Snake: Nick!
Wise Snake uses her head for a large club and knocks one of the orderlies out, then lunges at Arat and bites him in the neck.
Jeniard tries to grab Snake in a choke hold as the whole assemblage goes flying off the bed.
Jeniard: [arms and legs going every which way]
Orderly 4 staggers up looking disoriented.
Arat is not used to this sort of treatment.
Arat hangs on out of sheer desperation, and only because he knows it will be a disaster if Snake is loose in the building.
Arat: Nick! Stay back!
Student nurse's classes haven't yet covered restraint of deranged Farris channels.
Student nurse nonetheless throws himself onto Snake's legs.
Jeniard's hold is ripped loose, along with a handful of black hair.
Jeniard: Shen!
Wise Snake: Nick...!
Nick hesitates, torn between two channels.
Wise Snake augments wildly, trying to drag and/or push them all in Nick's direction.
Wise Snake is taking extreme advantage of the fact that they don't want to hurt her and she doesn't mind at all hurting them.
Student nurse grips Snake's leg with one arm, and clutches the bedpost with the other, making himself into a living manacle.
Jeniard flings himself onto Snake's back again.
Nick: Snake, stop wasting selyn and behave yourself!
Student nurse yelps as Jeniard's heel lands on his cheek, but holds on.
Wise Snake focuses her nager on Arat and tries to zap him.
Wise Snake howls in rage as Arat scrabbles for, and seizes, control of her field.
Lesser channel darts in, bearing a needle.
Arat: No sedatives! [gasps]
Jeniard: Do it, damn it!
Nick can tell by the noise that somebody had better do something, or a lot of people are going to get hurt--including the resurrected Snake.
Orderly 5, who has been hugging Snake's middle for the last 10 minutes, closes his eyes and keeps on holding on.
Lesser channel hesitates.
Nick steps through the door to the treatment room and looks quickly around.
Wise Snake suddenly stops pushing and instead jerks Arat toward her, catching him by surprise.
Nick is keeping his nager as uninvolved as possible.
Nick: ~~ not here ~~
Wise Snake's free knee connects with a delicate portion of Arat's anatomy.
Wise Snake follows that up with a ferocious head-butt and suddenly her arms are free.
Nick: Snake, stop that!
Wise Snake: Nick, what have they done to you?
Wise Snake: [finally sees his Tecton uniform]
Lesser channel sees Arat lose his grip and decisively jabs Snake with the needle.
Nick sees the needle.
Nick: No!
Lesser would rather get his ass chewed out by Arat than get his ass chewed out for letting Arat get murdered, although it did take him several seconds to decide.
Nick starts forward to grab the hand with the needle before the sedative can be injected.
Nick is, of course, a lame Gen, not a scared channel.
Lesser accidentally gets Nick in the palm with the needle, instead of Snake.
Lesser: ~~panic~~
Nick: Yeow!
Jeniard: Holy shen!!!
Nick: ~~ stabbed Gen ~~
Orderly 5: So this is it... I'm going to die.
Orderly 5: [to himself]
Jeniard: Somebody lock that door!
Jeniard: Call security!
Jeniard: Argh!
Jeniard: [this last as Snake flips him over her head]
Nick stares stupidly at his bleeding palm.
Arat staggers up painfully, looking a bit wild himself.
Nick's nager starts to loose its disciplined edge as his control relaxes.
Arat decides to try another tactic.
Arat: ~~~~~~~SELYN FOR YOU~~~~~~~
Student nurse moans.
Arat: ~~~YOUR NEED SATISFIED HERE~~~
Arat's projection is reasonably convincing since he had just drained several Donors to obtain the selyn.
Wise Snake: Nick, run while you still can! I'll meet you north of the city.
Nick looks around anxiously as he starts to sway.
Nick is hard pressed to tell up from down, much less north from south.
Nick: ~~ disoriented Gen ~~
Wise Snake tries to fight her way clear of the orderly wrapped around her middle, though her eyes are on Arat.
Jeniard: Arat lurches toward Nick and steadies him.
Nick's knees start to buckle.
Jeniard catches Nick.
Wise Snake, disoriented by Nick's dizzy projection and the promise of Nick and Arat's nagers, leaps in that direction, arms outspread.
Nick collapses, as catatonic as Snake after three blue horse pills.
Lesser channel: Oh dear.
see note 1
Jeniard massages Arat's shoulders in Nick's recovery room.
Nick is starting to snore less loudly as the sedative wears off.
Arat has been a shaking wreck ever since the disturbance in the ER.
Arat had done fairly well until the transfer was complete and Snake firmly under control and he was out of the room.
Jeniard: Look, he's almost waking up now.
Jeniard: ~~soothing~~
Nick is a bit reluctant to wake up, since he remembers vaguely a dream about a fantasy world where Snake was still alive, and raging in fine style.
Arat: How could he sedate Nick instead of her? [for the millionth time]
Jeniard is too smart to mention Arat told the guy not to sedate Snake.
Nick can almost feel something Snake-like in the nearby Farris nager's need.
Jeniard keeps rubbing Arat's shoulders instead.
Nick thinks perhaps it's the touch of crazy desperation.
Nick is quite a connoisseur of psychotic, disturbed, and otherwise mentally abnormal states in Farris channels.
Jeniard: Now, are you going to get that wound looked at?
Jeniard: [for the millionth time]
Arat: Not until I know Nick is all right.
Arat: [dogged]
Arat also may be interested in transfer first.
Arat is almost certainly interested in transfer first.
Jeniard: I'm sure he's all right. Zlin.
Arat: I don't mean physically.
Arat has no idea what effect this is going to have on Nick emotionally, psychologically.
Nick's nager is becoming more responsive as he wakes, increasing his ability to deduce the identity and state of nearby channels.
Arat shakes off Jeniard's hands and rises, going over to Nick's bedside.
Arat: [walking a bit oddly, alas]
Nick: Arat?
Arat: Nick? [quietly]
Arat sits down gingerly at Nick's side.
Arat touches Nick's shoulder reassuringly.
Nick forces his eyes open, although they don't seem to be focused correctly.
Nick's nager isn't quite focused correctly, either.
Arat's appearance is not at all reassuring: Covered with blood from a hastily self-healed augmented human bite wound, uniform ripped up, bruise on forehead, hair sticking out of its braid, etc.
Jeniard notes that Arat isn't handling the unfocused nager bit well, and comes over quietly to stand beside him in support.
Nick has seen a lot worse, but he wouldn't be more surprised to see Snake dressed as a Tecton Controller.
Nick: What happened to you?
Arat: You know what happened to me.
Arat: You were there.
Nick tries to think back, a rather difficult task in his semi-sedated condition.
Nick: Snake?
Arat nods once.
Nick struggles to sit.
Nick: Where is she? How is she?
Nick gets his good leg off the bed.
Arat: She's in custody. I served her in transfer.
Arat: Do you want to see her?
Arat looks like he never wants to see her again.
Nick: Yes, of course.
Arat: Do you want to wait for a few minutes until your head clears?
Nick: Was she injured in the fight?
Arat: No.
Nick: ~~ relief ~~
Arat signals Jeniard to fetch a cup of hot tea for Nick.
Jeniard turns away to do it.
Nick habitually turns to asses Arat's condition.
Arat appears, aside from his physical traumas, to have had the crap scared out of him for about 20 minutes straight, about an hour ago.
Arat: [aside from having served an unwilling Farris channel in transfer on his own due date]
Nick starts to reach out in ~~ reassurance ~~, then pauses.
Nick: Why did you tell me she was dead?
Arat: I thought she was.
Nick: And how long have you know that she survived?
Arat: I had people investigating rumors she still lived, but I had no reason to believe any of them were true until two hours ago.
Arat: Nick, I would have told you.
Arat aches for that withheld reassurance.
Nick considers that, and his nager reaches out to offer ~~ support ~~
Arat practically collapses in relief.
Jeniard zlins the connection between them, and presses his lips together as he pours boiling water into the tea leaves.
Nick works to stabilize Arat.
Jeniard keeps his nager to himself.
Arat's hands and tentacles seek Nick's arms, not yet for transfer, but to make Nick's - and his own - work easier.
Nick decides that he's not going to get much in the way of coherent information about Snake until Arat is out of need, and concentrates on the task.
Arat clings to Nick for a little longer after his system is better, then forces himself to open his hands.
Arat: It isn't time yet. But thank you.
Jeniard brings the cup of tea to Nick.
Nick is momentarily ~~ confused ~~, then remembers that the Tecton schedules transfers.
Nick thinks things would be a lot simpler if he didn't have to face coping with a channel who follows the regulations so fanatically.
Jeniard gives Nick an ironic look as he hands it to him; he thinks Nick will forget Arat once he's had a chance to spend any time with his previous channel.
Nick has learned enough to know that it's useless to argue with Arat.
Nick takes the tea.
Nick: Thanks.
Jeniard nods, and turns away again.
Nick is well aware of Jeniard's distrust, and finds it grating.
Arat massages his arms, which (like the rest of his body) are filled with miscellaneous growing aches and pains. (And some growing glands!)
Arat: Thank you for staying back... earlier. I know it was a difficult situation for you.
Arat's other, non-arm-situated glands aren't going to be doing any growing any time soon, although they certainly are filled with aches and pains...
Nick nods, wondering if Arat knows that his hesitancy was at least as much for Snake as for Arat.
Nick sips at his tea, trying to shake the last of the drug.
Arat: As it still must be.
Arat shifts uncomfortably.
Arat: I hope you will trust me to know what is best.
Nick does not zlin completely convinced of the superiority of Arat's judgment.
Arat has had to rearrange several of his notions of what will be best for Snake since being bitten in the throat by her while trying to serve her in transfer.
Nick: It sounded as if she knew I was here.
Arat: She zlinned you in the hallway.
Arat: And it's no secret you were taken by the Tecton.
Arat uses the word meant for the capture of prisoners.
Nick finds Arat's choice of words jarring.
Nick: No wonder she was trying to murder you.
Nick does feel a bit responsible for his former channel's excesses.
Nick: Were there any other injuries?
Arat looks away.
Arat: I haven't heard the full report yet. I was with her for a half hour after you went down, and I've been here since.
Nick is more than a little surprised at this un-Arat-like inattention to business.
Jeniard: I tried to get him to have his injuries looked at, but he refused.
Jeniard says it pointedly, hoping to arouse some presumably existent guilt reflex in Nick.
Arat darts a look at Jeniard.
Nick is ~~ annoyed ~~ at Jeniard's dig.
Arat: Jeniard, go check the office and see if Neptude or Serrufin have responded yet.
Jeniard: You're not to be alone with him, remember?
Nick: Whyever not?
Nick wonders if this has anything to do with Arat's choice of the word "taken" earlier.
Jeniard: What do you mean, whyever not? You're a rogue Donor, with no pledged or promised loyalty to the Tecton, and your channel has just done this (points) to him.
Arat: Jeniard. Leave. Now.
Arat: ~~warning~~
Nick looks at Arat.
Arat stares at Jeniard until the other channel backs down.
Nick: Do the rest of them think like he does? That I'm an untrustworthy, dangerous criminal?
Jeniard turns away, without saying anything else, and slams out of the room.
Arat looks back at Nick.
Arat is shaking again.
Nick wonders how much of the courtesy he's been receiving the past month has been an act.
Arat: They did when you first arrived. I convinced them otherwise.
Arat: This will change things, at least for a little while.
Nick: Apparently.
Arat regrets having not had more time to get Nick integrated into high society, where he could have made friends who could have helped him more than Arat.
Nick: Or perhaps it simply gave them the courage to say aloud what they've been thinking all along.
Arat: Jeniard is not the same as the others.
Arat: Jeniard is afraid you will seduce me away from the Tecton.
Nick: You'd never survive as a rogue.
Arat says nothing.
Nick's comment was a statement of fact, without emotional context.
Arat places his hands carefully together in his lap.
Arat had never considered whether he would survive or not; he had learned soon after changeover that even surviving within the Tecton would be a miracle.
Nick: What are the others afraid of, that they all turn white as a sheet the moment they zlin me?
Arat looks at Nick.
Arat: Do they?
Arat: Are you sure it isn't me they are afraid of?
Arat does not feel very frightening at the moment, not after what he's just been through.
Nick: Not entirely. They were so careful to stay out of reach.
Nick finds it rather hard to comprehend being afraid of Arat.
Nick: As if they thought I went around randomly slamming renSimes.
Arat: They do not comprehend your refusal to take the oath.
Arat: To them, it means a refusal to promise to serve and to protect.
Arat: It means you are not held to the moral and physical obligations the rest of us are, not by your word at least.
Arat: Their uneasiness should not affect your work, however. I have not allowed it, have I?
Arat dislikes about Nick's recent freedom that he was able to encounter people, Tecton and otherwise, without Arat's being there to witness it.
Nick: No, but then, I haven't really worked with anyone but you.
Arat: You would do well to ignore their looks, then. Your own behavior will speak louder than any expression of theirs, on your record.
Arat: It is the same where Snake Farris is concerned.
Arat: If you do not change your behavior because of her presence, her behavior will not harm your reputation as badly.
Arat means on a Tecton level, although it is true for his own personal opinion as well.
Nick: And what of Snake?
Nick thinks that things must not be going well since the avalanche, or she wouldn't have tried anything so desperate as a rescue attempt while in hard need.
Arat: What of her?
Arat: She is ill. She will require care for some time, no matter what.
Nick: How ill?
Nick thinks that at least physically, she seemed to be well enough to do considerable damage.
Arat: She has been unhealthy for a long time. There is a lot of accumulated damage.
Arat: Drug addiction takes its toll. So do entran, malnutrition and exposure.
Arat: Snake Farris is also mentally unstable.
Nick feels ~~ guilty ~~ for not being there for Snake.
Arat thinks this hardly has to be said, but like all Farrises is a stickler for detail.
Nick also feels ~~ guilty ~~ for failing to learn enough, fast enough, to prevent the damage from accumulating.
Nick: I should have been there for her.
Arat: You were.
Arat: So long as you could have been - if you'd been buried as she had, you'd be dead.
Arat: As it is, this will go down in the record books as the longest known survival of a snow burial.
Nick wonders if Snake would prefer him dead, as opposed to alive and out of reach.
Arat pales at the negative turn to Nick's nager.
Nick: I should have known better than to accept Grandmother's word as to her death.
Arat: I told you, I had people investigating all the rumors I heard.
Arat: If I had known she lay there still, instead of turning up in random small towns and villages, I would have sent people there immediately. But who could possibly have guessed a Sime could remain buried, and alive, so long?
Nick: How did she manage to survive?
Arat sighs.
Arat: I haven't had a chance to talk to the collection team yet.
Arat: But the evidence is for a combination of menar sleep and lowered body temperature.
Nick: "Collection team"?
Arat: Nick, it was my channel collection team that found her.
Arat: They're normally used for going into dangerous conditions to retrieve unwilling or incapacitated channels - often young channels just after changeover, or runaways like Darrel.
Nick: No wonder she was so wild.
Arat: She wasn't even truly conscious until shortly before you saw her.
Arat: I was about to serve her in transfer when - [decides not to say it was when Snake zlinned Nick through the wall] - she came fully conscious.
Arat: It is a miracle she lived, Nick.
Nick nods, willing to accept the channel collection team on a provisional basis.
Nick: I've learned never to underestimate Snake's talent for survival.
Arat: If she had succeeded in murdering me I doubt she would have survived long.
Nick: She's had an expected life expectancy of only a month or two almost since her changeover.
Arat: Snake Farris could have a decent life if she straightens out.
Nick wonders whether Snake has any desire for decency.
Nick: Did your team find any of the other members of our party?
Arat: I don't know. I haven't had a chance to speak to them yet.
Arat: All I know is what I found when I reached Snake's bedside, and what we've spoken of since then.
Nick once more assesses Arat's condition.
Arat, though he doesn't realize it yet, is going to be incredibly stiff when he stands up.
Arat doesn't have much experience with this sort of thing.
Arat however has other problems to keep his attention at this point.
Nick: Is the water in that teakettle still warm?
Arat blinks at the non sequitur, then looks at the pot.
Arat: Would you like more tea?
Nick: Not exactly.
Nick gets a bit unsteadily to his feet, and makes his way over to the pot.
Arat watches in some concern.
Nick checks a drawer or two, until he finds hand towels.
Arat: How do you feel? [zlinning]
Nick: ~~ most of the drug gone/emotionally unsettled ~~
Nick wets two towels with the heated water, then appropriates two dry towels and returns.
Nick sets the towels within easy of reach of both of them, then chooses one of the wet towels and begins to scrub his face.
Nick nudges the other towel towards Arat.
Nick: Here. Your face is a mess.
Arat picks up the towel, knowing a good deal more of him than his face is a mess.
Arat appreciates the gesture, though.
Notes:
1) An hour or two passes between these two scenes. [return]