Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #54: Bread & Cheese with Prunes (7/25/99)
Prunida looks around the room (closet-sized but at least moderately private, if you aren't too picky about the insulation) that she has reserved for her lunch with Nick and his current channel.
Prunida has ordered a few light snacks, but didn't see the point in providing a banquet when she's past turnover, and trying to convince Nick she's poverty-stricken anyway.
Prunida has not been around a hungry Nick since his Establishment, much less his Qualification, since the sight of her tends to take away his appetite.
Nick is, in fact, more ~~~ apprehensive ~~~ than ~ hungry ~ as he and Deah make their way to the cheap hotel where Prunida is staying.
Nick: I just don't trust it.
Deah: I suppose they've been saying there's no such thing as a free lunch since Ancient times. [muses]
Nick: Grandmother never gives anyone anything, if she doesn't expect to get twice as much back in profit.
Nick: But she hasn't announced what she's buying yet.
Deah: She said she wanted to make up, isn't that enough?
Deah would have thought that would be a big enough profit for anyone, especially if Nick is Prunida's only grandchild.
Nick: She's never tried to make up with anyone before, that I know of.
Nick: ~~ dubious ~~
Deah: Well, you know, Nick, as people get older, they start thinking about when they're going to die, and it's natural to look back on their lives and think about their mistakes.
Nick: Maybe.
Deah doesn't realize that in Prunida's case, this leads only to trying even harder to do what she'd been doing all those years.
Nick: Although I've always been under the impression that Grandmother considers some of what I consider her worst mistakes to be accomplishments.
Deah: After all, if she doesn't make up with you, she'll never meet her great-grandchildren... oh?
Nick: She's always been proud of her ability to wrest profit from any situation--at knifepoint, if necessary.
Nick reflects that apparently she didn't have to go that far to breed him.
Deah thinks this Prunida sounds more interesting all the time.
Deah looks forward to the lunch.
Nick: And she's always considered me and mine her property.
Deah: Well, grandparents do tend to be that way.
Deah: My mother used to have to kick and scream to get me back from her mother.
Deah prudently leaves out the further details that her grandmother had become senile at an early age, forgot there had come Unity, and tended to think of Deah as a pre-Gen.
Nick: I don't think Prunida ever cared about me; only about having a Donor as her property.
Nick: She lost interest in me for ten years when I washed out of training, and didn't contact me until I was working with Snake.
Nick: She didn't like that at all.
Deah suspects there was more to a grandmother's not liking her grandson to work with a rogue, pain-addicted insane Farris channel than simple possessiveness.
Deah nods.
Deah: Well, maybe things have changed.
Nick: I wish I could believe that.
Nick looks up as the cheap hotel comes into view.
Nick: That's the place, isn't it?
Nick: Doesn't look like much, does it?
Nick's tastes have been improved since his stays at Naros and in Capitol.
Nick's Narosian tendency to appreciate luxury hasn't completely overcome his memory of the days when any roof would do, if it was reasonably waterproof.
Deah tries to look at the Shoe Inn objectively.
Deah: I guess it's not the best hotel in town, but then everything here is less than 20 years old, so it can't be all bad.
Nick: Well, I've slept in worse often enough. Still, I'd have expected Grandmother to use one of the better places.
Nick: I wonder if something's wrong?
Deah rolls her eyes.
Deah: Nick, if you get any more nervous about this lunch, you're going to have no appetite at all.
Deah: Can't you just try to go with the flow?
Nick smiles weakly, and ~~ apologetically ~~
Deah: I mean, what's the worst that can happen? She's just your grandma.
Nick: What's the worst that can happen?
Nick wonders if Deah has actually read Nick's file.
Nick: She kidnapped me, after several unsuccessful tries, she's assaulted my channels, she may have left Snake to die in that avalanche....
Deah: Now, Nick. Your grandmother saved your life when she rescued you.
Deah: And where would you bring an injured Donor, if you were a renSime?
Deah: I know she's been an ass in the past, but try to give her the benefit of the doubt, just until the end of the visit, all right?
Deah: After all, if nobody wants to have a fight, and nobody starts one, then there can't be one.
Nick thinks that Deah is drastically underestimating Prunida's reluctance to fight, but he's not hugely better than Riyyh at ignoring requests for assistance, at least not from a channel he likes.
Nick: I'll try.
Deah realizes that Nick has some genuine grievances against his grandmother, but much of what Nick describes has few reliable witnesses, and besides, she is supposed to be encouraging Nick to become a stable individual.
Deah also hopes to get to know Prunida better, as she sounds interesting, and that would hardly be possible during a screaming fight.
Nick starts dithering again in front of the door.
Deah goes ahead and walks in.
Nick follows, thus encouraged.
Prunida has been keeping a zlin out for them, and descends with a large, false (but well practiced in front of the mirror) smile on her face.
Prunida: There you are!
Nick is reminded of a vulture circling down to a carcass.
Prunida: I've got a private room for us up here.
Prunida waves them up the stairs.
Deah lets Nick go first this time.
Nick ascends with as much aplomb as he can--which isn't much.
Nick: Grandmother.
Prunida can't resist giving Nick's arm a possessive pat as he goes by.
Prunida: Nick, dear.
Prunida remembers that Riyyh stressed the importance of endearments in building intimacy.
Deah watches with interest.
Deah still doesn't know what to make of Prunida's conflicting actions and nager.
Prunida: Come in and sit down.
Nick notes a temporary refuge down the hall.
Nick: I'll be back in a minute.
Nick dashes for the men's room.
Prunida looks after Nick, not particularly pleased by even a temporary escape, then turns to Deah.
Deah sighs.
Prunida: I've got a pot of tea in here.
Deah: Oh, how nice.
Prunida remembers that Riyyh stressed the importance of being nice to Nick's friends.
Deah remembers something in Wise Snake's file about her and Nick frequently losing each other during bathroom breaks, and glances over her shoulder down the hall.
Prunida isn't sure if Deah is a friend, but figures the same principal should hold for channels.
Deah comes in and sits down.
Deah: Sorry, he's a little bit nervous.
Prunida pours a cup of rather forgettable tea for Deah.
Prunida: The poor boy always has been a bit indecisive. Like his father. Too bad I couldn't breed that out.
Deah chokes on her tea.
Prunida: But what do you expect, with only a rabbit to work with?
Prunida sips at her tea in a meditative fashion.
Deah grabs for a napkin.
Deah had been aware of Nick's parentage, but hadn't known Prunida went around announcing it'd been on purpose to one and all.
Deah: Excuse me.
Deah wipes off the table.
Prunida: Well, at least he's making something of himself at last.
Prunida: Though I didn't notice a ring?
Prunida is very eager to confirm Nick's permanent attachment to a Tecton salary.
Deah: Well, one step at a time here.
Deah: Nick's got to get adjusted to the idea first.
Deah thinks, bet with Arat notwithstanding.
Prunida sighs.
Prunida: He always has taken forever to make up his mind.
Prunida thinks, with the notable exception of his decision to scrap Tecton training.
Deah was under the impression that most Narosians went through life putting off one decision after another, and wonders if there could be any genetic reason for it.
Deah and everybody else in the area has been wondering if there is any genetic reason for (insert anything whatsoever having to do with Naros) for the last year now.
Prunida: Well, I had to work with the material available. I suppose it's just as well I got Riyyh drunk, and not Arat.
Prunida imagines raising a Snake, and shudders.
Deah looks at Prunida in astonishment.
Deah: You actually considered....????
Deah: But no, that's impossible.
Deah chuckles.
Deah: You had me going there for a second.
Deah doesn't think she'll pass that particular joke along to Arat.
Prunida: Well, it would have been much more difficult, it's true. Particularly the second generation of the program....
Prunida doesn't know Arat that well, but suspects that he might have scruples about fathering a child on his own daughter.
Prunida: And then there were the technical difficulties.
Deah: He was only five when Nick was conceived, for one.
Deah: So, what brings you to New Othwol? Business?
Prunida: I wanted to mend fences with Nick, mostly.
Prunida considers that the most profitable business she could be engaged upon.
Deah: Oh, I see.
Prunida: He's been very unfriendly since he Established.
Deah wonders what's taking Nick so long.
Prunida: Rather naughty of him, don't you think?
Deah looks at Prunida oddly.
Prunida: After I bred him and all....
Prunida: You'd think he'd remember his obliga... Nick, have some tea!
Prunida hastily pours Nick a cup.
Nick accepts the tea warily, then slips into a seat next to Deah.
Deah is starting to think that Nick's grandmother, if nothing else, is very flaky.
Nick sips at the tea, hoping that it will provide him with another excuse to duck into the men's room soon.
Prunida: There's bread and cheese for your lunch.
Deah had thought those were just a pre-lunch snack.
Deah resigns herself to working without Nick her first hour back on shift so he can get himself a real meal.
Prunida thinks that should be plenty; after all, the Tecton should be able to provide him with fruit, greens and other supplements.
Prunida didn't embark on her Gen breeding program without doing some research on how to maintain healthy stock.
Nick is a bit apprehensive about any food offered by Prunida, after the drugs he was administered during his kidnapping, but decides that it is unlikely she would try something like that in Deah's presence.
Nick therefore reaches for the bread and cheese.
Nick: Thank you, Grandmother.
Nick was well trained as a child to give thanks for his daily bread--or else.
Deah thinks the atmosphere here is definitely weird.
Prunida smiles at this evidence that some of her early training has remained intact.
Deah: So, uh, you were saying? [to Prunida]
Deah hopes Prunida will have the sense to change the subject.
Prunida: Err....Yes, about that boy I hired to help Nick's mother run the store. Lazy boy.
Deah is relieved.
Prunida gives a rather sickly grin.
Nick doesn't believe it for a moment, of course.
Prunida: It's so hard to find good help these days....
Nick assembles a cheese sandwich.
Deah hopes these two aren't counting on her to hold up the conversation.
Deah after all is supposed to be here only as Nick's guest.
Deah: So, ah, it's been very nice having Nick here.
Deah: He's been a great asset to the Center, and a joy to work with.
Prunida smirks.
Prunida: I'm sure he has.
Prunida does, of course, take full credit for Nick's Donor talent.
Deah: Arat Farris writes at least once a week to make sure I'm not planning on keeping him.
Prunida: I heard that Snake was being held there.
Prunida doesn't want Nick anywhere close to Snake.
Deah: Yes, she's there.
Deah: It's a miracle she survived, really.
Deah: After all those weeks buried in that avalanche.
Prunida: ~~ disapproval ~~
Prunida: She's a menace.
Nick is not a bit surprised that Prunida would see Snake as dangerous.
Deah: Well, after Arat and his team are finished with her, she'll be a shining example of Tecton propriety.
Deah thinks, or at least a concrete example of Tecton bureaucracy, if Arat succeeds in reshaping her to his own mold.
Prunida: ~~ doubt ~~
Prunida: I think it was a mistake to try to rehabilitate her.
Deah: Oh?
Nick: Snake is a very good channel.
Deah glances at Nick.
Nick is starting to get offended at this dismissal of his channel.
Prunida realizes her mistake and tries to smooth it over with a smile.
Prunida: I'm sure she is, dear.
Deah thinks if all Prunida ever talks about is Nick's bad points, behind his back, and Nick's channels' bad points, to his face, then it's no wonder Nick dreads talking to her.
Deah can feel somewhat sympathetic, having mannerless parents of her own.
Prunida is at least refraining from actual assault, and should be given full credit for the improvement.
Nick has long realized the futility of arguing with Prunida, of course; his defense of Snake was just reflex.
Deah: Actually, it's true that Snake's abilities as a channel are not in question.
Prunida: What use is the ability if she can't be persuaded to use it properly?
Deah: Arat seems to believe that she can.
Nick does not, of course, miss the double meaning, particularly after Prunida looks hungrily at the hand which doesn't have a Tecton ring.
Deah is accustomed to thinking Arat can beat just about any odds his pits himself against, when it comes to channeling challenges.
Prunida: I doubt he's dealt with someone like Snake before, though.
Deah: Perhaps not exactly, but the Tecton has a good deal of confidence in Arat. [confidently]
Prunida: She's dangerous.
Prunida absentmindedly fingers her throat in remembrance.
Deah: Snake is in good hands.
Nick feels somewhat reassured at this expression of confidence in Arat's mentoring abilities.
Deah thinks, better Arat's hands than Deah's.
Deah wouldn't touch that gig with a 10 foot pole.
Prunida: Well, I hope he will at least keep her from....
Prunida notes the clouds in Nick's nager and changes the rest of her sentence quickly.
Prunida: ...hurting herself.
Prunida forces a smile.
Prunida: But Nick, you haven't finished your food.
Nick: I'm not hungry.
Nick's appetite has indeed been decisively squashed, at least temporarily.
Prunida: You must keep your strength up.
Nick pushes the food away decisively.
Nick stands.
Nick: We really should get back to the Center. Our shift is coming up.
Nick thinks the timing is getting rather tight, but he should be able to sneak in a quick snack.
Deah rises also.
Prunida tries to remember what Riyyh taught her about leavetakings.
Prunida: I won't keep you from your duties, then. I'm sure they are quite important.
Prunida: I will come by tomorrow to continue our visit.
Prunida hasn't quite got the asking-about-convenience part of the exchange down yet.
Deah starts to object, then decides that if Nick wants to allow it, she'll put up with it for a while.
Deah doesn't object to visitors on the job, per se, as long as they aren't disruptive.
Nick wishes that Prunida would just leave town, but feels inhibited in saying that in front of Deah.
Nick is also understandably apprehensive about Prunida's response if he tried to say it in private.
Nick: Very well.
Deah zlins Nick's apprehension and foresees 24 hours of lead-up to the next visit.