Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #47: Yes Comment (7/4/99)
Gleeta rushes forward and catches Pylor as he leaves the cafeteria.
Gleeta: Excuse me, Sosu Pylor? Sosu Pylor, could I have a moment of your time?
Gleeta is a reporter, carrying a note pad and wearing pencils in her hair.
Pylor: I really shouldn't be away from Controller Arat much longer....
Pylor is a bit ~~ uneasy ~~ about reporters, ever since the regrettable incident.....but I digress.
Pylor is also, however, aware that reporters have a tendency to fill their column inches with speculations if they can't get hard news.
Gleeta: It's really just for a short time, I'm here from the COMMENT just to see you.
Gleeta is an astute enough reporter to know that Pylor is rarely sought out for the juicy articles.
Gleeta in fact would ordinarily not be caught dead chasing Pylor, but it hasn't been easy to get the information she wants any other way.
Gleeta smiles winningly at the other Gen.
Pylor: Well, perhaps one question....
Pylor rather likes the implied compliment.
Pylor briefly entertains the notion of having his opinions on the advisability of retraining rogues cited in the COMMENT.
Pylor has always thought that his opinions are superior to most of the usual experts.
Gleeta: I know you've gone on record as anti-Audnes in the past. What do you make of the recent scandals? And how does it feel to be assigned to Arat?
Pylor is, of course, aware that this is two questions, not one.
Gleeta is well aware that most people will say anything they want to the COMMENT, because it is so easy to claim later that it was a fabrication.
Pylor: Well, a Tecton Donor works with the channel he is assigned, of course. Still, one hopes for an assignment with a channel whose behavior is beyond reproach.
Pylor tries to look like a martyr.
Gleeta: Oh... well, yes, of course! [sidling closer in obvious appreciation of the material]
Gleeta: I assume you've met Snake Farris?
Gleeta and the rest of the staff of the Comment are still burning in humiliation that the Tattler broke that particular story first.
Pylor's chest, which had been puffed out with self-importance, deflates at the mention of Snake.
Gleeta can't help but notice the difference.
Pylor: Snake Farris is a dangerous rogue, and ought to be treated as such.
Pylor thinks death by attrition would be a good start.
Gleeta: So you don't think she can be rehabilitated?
Pylor: It's a matter of practicality. A channel must above all be dependable. Snake has already run away from the Tecton once, showing that she will not be bound by her pledge.
Pylor: And some of the things she has been rumored to have done are... chilling.
Pylor shudders.
Gleeta: What about her Audnes blood? Can you see it in her?
Pylor has, of course, assumed that the worst of the rumors about Snake are only the tip of the ice berg, particularly since the other day when she tried to grab him from Arat.
Pylor: The resemblance to Arat is remarkable. In more ways than one.
Pylor: There can be no doubt about her parentage, even if Arat did not admit it himself.
Gleeta: Really??? Except for being a rogue, of course...?
Pylor: Well, Arat has never been what you might consider free of controversy himself.
Gleeta: No, I suppose not. [chuckles]
Pylor: There were those who objected from the start to his being trained at all.
Gleeta: What about Nick Reckage?
Gleeta: Have you met him?
Pylor frowns.
Pylor: I've seen him, yes.
Gleeta: What did you think? The next Hugh Valleroy, or the saviour of the District?
Pylor: A rather scruffy looking fellow.
Pylor is well aware that Nick was drugged and injured at the time, but fairness has never been a high priority for him.
Gleeta notes down the information word for word.
Pylor: And his training has been spotty in the extreme, I understand.
Pylor: Not that you'd expect anything different, trained as he was by a pain-addicted rogue.
Gleeta: Oh, my.
Gleeta is reminded of the pain addiction angle of the now-passe early Snake stories, and wonders if she can tie that in somehow.
Gleeta: They say Arat made considerable improvements in health and morale when he was with Nick Reckage. Is that true?
Pylor: No proper Tecton channel would prefer a rogue to a properly trained Tecton Donor.
Pylor leaves wide open the issue of Arat's properness.
Gleeta finds this response very fresh and exciting, and it shows in her hungry expression.
Gleeta: How is he doing now? There have been all sorts of rumors. Exhaustion, dependency, nervous breakdown....
Gleeta lists the usual stories about famous channels.
Pylor: He is a very difficult channel to work with.
Pylor wouldn't like to actually take the blame for Arat's condition.
Gleeta: How so?
Gleeta is willing to be diverted to the topic of famous people's foibles.
Gleeta can always find a way to use that stuff.
Pylor waves aside the question.
Pylor: He's a Farris. They're all temperamental and subject to fits of temper and imagined illnesses.
Gleeta nods.
Pylor: Can't spend a moment without a Donor hovering over them, not that they bother to say thank you for the effort.
Gleeta makes a note about Pylor's obvious bitterness.
Gleeta: And with the recent scandals... and a daughter...?
Pylor: He's been impossible.
Gleeta: So do you think they'll assign you again next month?
Pylor opens his mouth to say, "I hope not", then remembers that if he's up for reassignment, he might get Snake instead.
Pylor: Assignments are made by the Controllers.
Pylor: It is not for me to speculate where my services will be required.
Pylor does, however, hope that it is far away from Capital.
Gleeta senses that she's gotten about all she's going to this time around.
Gleeta: Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
Pylor: Only that I don't approved of how this matter has been handled. I feel that the risks far outweigh any possible benefit.
Gleeta: Which matter are you referring to? Snake Farris' retraining?
Pylor: And Reckage's.
Pylor: A rogue is a rogue. You can't change that.
Gleeta: Thank you very much, Sosu Pylor.
Gleeta folds up her notebook.
Pylor: You're welcome.
Gleeta turns and trots off.
Gleeta doesn't want to miss her deadline.
Pylor looks after her, only then starting to wonder if he should have been quite so candid.
Pylor consoles himself with the thought that he didn't say anything that everyone else hasn't been thinking already, and that furthermore, Arat is not likely to read the COMMENT.
Pylor feels an unaccustomed moment of pity for Arat, well aware of the sort of feeding frenzy that the lesser papers enjoy when they get on to a juicy tidbit.
Pylor then remembers that it is Arat who is the victim this time, and much of his sympathy disappears as he faces an afternoon in his channel's company.
Pylor grits his teeth and makes his way back to Arat's office.
Pylor enters without signaling, of course.
Arat is sitting hunched over his desk, writing a letter to Nick.
Pylor: I'm back.
Arat looks up at Pylor darkly.
Pylor draws closer and glances at Arat's desk.
Arat: Where were you?
Pylor: Another note to your pet rogue?
Arat covers the letter with something else.
Arat: It is not of your concern.
Arat: I've asked you to keep your breaks shorter.
Pylor: He's Controller Tigue's problem for another month. Why are you bothering with him?
Arat scowls dangerously.
Pylor: I ran into someone on my way back.
Arat: It is not of your concern. [repeats]
Pylor: If you get yourself into trouble with Reckage, I get blamed, too. I don't think you should be writing him so much.
Arat feels conflicted by his irritation at Pylor's question and his own inexplicable guilt at writing the letter in the first place.
Arat: What does it matter to you? [snaps]
Arat: You'll just use it to make me look worse, and get yourself reassigned.
Arat thinks maybe if Pylor hadn't been thinking of next month since their first moments together, this might have been a better month for Arat.
Pylor: As long as I'm assigned to you, I get blamed when you do anything questionable.
Arat: It's not questionable, shen you, I am responsible for monitoring his rehabilitation.
Arat wonders if it isn't questionable, why he feels secretly panicky at the suggestion.
Arat covers with fury, of course.
Pylor: Have Deah Tigue send you reports.
Pylor: Reckage doesn't know enough about his own situation for his views to be significant.
Arat's nerves, rather than being soothed by Pylor's return, have only worsened.
Arat finds himself speechless with anger and resentment.
Arat takes something else from his In basket to work on instead.
Arat: Are you going to help, or just stand there?
Pylor: The whole idea of letting Reckage act as a Donor, without making him pledge, was a mistake in the first place.
Pylor: He should have been given the option of pledging or jail. Or maybe both.
Arat is having difficulty concentrating on the document in front of him due to seeing red.
Pylor starts to pace back and forth as he pontificates.
Pylor: People must know that there are penalties for going rogue.
Pylor: How else can the Tecton maintain discipline, and keep the lid on the Distect?
Arat finds Pylor's nager not helping out is bad; Pylor's unhelpful nager walking to and fro is positively nauseating in his current state.
Arat: By making examples of those who are already in the public eye.
Pylor: So when you catch the most notorious rogue Donor in a generation, what do you do?
Pylor: You can't wait to seduce him into transfer, and you fall all over yourself giving him every privilege a Donor earns.
Pylor: And without any assurances whatsoever!
Pylor: ~~ resentment ~~
Pylor: What sort of an example is that, for the next generation of Donors?
Arat regards Pylor with narrowed eyes.
Pylor: They'll think that they can do what they please, and get "rehabilitated" at the end of it.
Pylor: Just walk into any Sime Center and start drawing a salary, without training or pledging or paying the penalty for their crimes.
Pylor: You've made a mockery of the law.
Pylor is finally forced to pause for breath.
Arat: I carried out my duties as assigned to me by my Controller. [stiffly]
Pylor: Did Controller Neptude insist that you coddle Reckage to this ridiculous degree?
Pylor: Writing him letters all the time, when you're not even assigned to him at the moment?
Arat: Controller Seruffin specified that I was to win Nick over to the Tecton's service, and to allow him to set his own pace.
Arat's irritation sparks again.
Arat: And it is hardly coddling the man to write him letters. People write letters to each other all the time, Donors or no.
Pylor: I doubt Controller Seruffin meant for you to take his assignment so... personally.
Pylor: It's one thing to take on a patient, even a controversial one.
Pylor: It's quite another to go mooning after him like a lovesick schoolboy.
Arat: You are hardly in a position to lecture me on impartiality in assignments.
Arat's statement has the sting of a hellish month behind it.
Arat realizes he's letting Pylor goad him, and furiously orders himself to not respond to the man anymore.
Pylor: If by that you mean that I prefer a channel who makes reasonable requests, and is occasionally able to bring himself to express a bit of appreciation for my efforts, I'll be the first to admit to being "partial".
Pylor: You may be a talented channel, Arat Audnes, but as a human being you're a failure.
Arat looks at Pylor, his posture defensive but refusing to respond.
Pylor: No wonder you spawned a rogue like Snake.
Arat's nager is drawn in like a knot, not that Pylor would know.
Arat: Are you quite finished?
Pylor: Yes, I'm finished! I'm finished with this whole assignment. I will officially request reassignment within the hour, on the grounds that your behavior casts serious doubts on your reliability and loyalty as a Tecton channel.
Pylor: I don't have to work for rogues.
Arat's expressive Farris features display an odd expression halfway between terror and profound relief, with overtones of Farris-under-extreme-physical-and-emotional-stress.
Pylor storms out of the office, slamming the door behind him.
Arat stares after him for a few seconds, and then down at his hands, which seem to be shaking.
Arat wonders if it is possible for a month to go more wrong than this one... and if so, will it be next month?