Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #60: Seeking Stable Relationship (8/3/99)
Arat strides down a hallway with Pylor presumably close behind.
Arat is on his way to an examination room where he has arranged to meet Linn Haskins.
Pylor keeps up as best he can, while maintaining at least some dignity and not bumping into stray people and equipment.
Pylor knows that if he falls too far behind, most channels will slow down a bit, so as to stay within his nager.
Pylor does not have all that much experience working with Farris channels, as has been mentioned.
Linn sits in the small room's one chair, wishing that she had something to read besides the pamphlets.
Linn is, of course, too well mannered to twiddle her thumbs, much as she is tempted.
Arat enters the room.
Linn looks up with a smile.
Linn: Controller Arat.
Pylor makes it to the room about ten seconds later, breathing a bit more rapidly than usual.
Pylor inspects Linn, and finds her appearance surprisingly normal, for one of Snake's party of rogues.
Arat: Linn Haskins. This is Sosu Pylor, my assigned Donor.
Arat: Pylor, this is Linn Haskins. She has entered into basic Donor training, and will eventually be part of Wise Snake's therapy program.
Linn: Pleased to meet you, Sosu Pylor.
Pylor notes Linn's out-Territory accent as he mutters an appropriate response.
Pylor would be pitying Linn for having to associate with Snake, except that scuttlebutt has it that she already does it, frequently and voluntarily.
Pylor wonders a bit if Linn is as crazy as the rest of Snake's party, despite her relatively wholesome appearance.
Arat: I have brought you these reading materials to take home with you.
Arat offers some small books which more than make up for their smallness in dryness.
Linn takes the stack and briefly inspects the offerings.
Arat: What I'd like to do today is do some tests to evaluate your current level of training, and nageric awareness.
Linn sets the books aside, with the reluctance of a scholar forced to deal with real people when there are unread books around.
Linn: Very well.
Linn figures that it won't take long to evaluate her pretty much non-existent training.
Linn is, perhaps, not clear on exactly what Snake was doing when she pounded "nageric manners" through Linn's skull.
Terski signals at the door.
Pylor sighs, and plays doorman, since that seems to be the perennial task of Arat's Donor.
Terski: Sorry I'm late.
Terski is a female 3rd Order channel of about 25 natal years.
Terski looks muleishly sheepish, if such a thing is possible.
Pylor figures that this is one more detail Arat's didn't brief him on, and steps aside.
Pylor: Come in.
Linn looks curiously at the new arrival.
Terski enters, giving Arat an apologetic glance and Linn a curious one.
Arat: Linn, this is Hajene Terski. She is going to assist us today.
Arat pretends Terski has been there the entire time, which is one step below ordering her out the door again on the Arat scale of annoyed-by-showing-up-late.
Pylor moves back to Arat's side, trying to support without interrupting.
Linn: I'm pleased to meet you, Hajene Terski.
Terski: Likewise.
Arat: The two of you, stand farther over there... by the wall.
Arat has been studying their nageric interaction already.
Linn hopes that this doesn't mean she's already committed an error.
Linn moves to the wall as directed, however, with none of the fuss her younger students kicked up when made to stand against the wall.
Terski obediently goes over to the wall.
Terski: First day, huh? [to Linn]
Arat zlins them more thoroughly.
Linn's nager responds to Terski's nearness, with somewhat more precision than might be expected in a largely untrained Gen.
Linn: Yes, it is.
Pylor keeps his nager out of Arat's way.
Arat: Now, touch her hands. Just hold both each other's hands.
Arat: Move closer....
Arat has no idea how closely he resembles a fashion photographer when he gets this involved in what he's zlinning.
Linn has seen enough of Snake's work to realize that there is likely to be a lot of preliminary zlinning before things get started.
Linn pretends that this is a portrait session, and moves as directed.
Terski wears a wry smile as she does as told.
Terski: You'll get used to it after a while. That's all it is, a lot of "stand there and do this".
Arat: Now Linn, move your hands up to her forearms.
Linn: I'd gathered that.
Linn performs the indicated maneuver, careful to avoid pressure on the laterals.
Terski enjoys the sensation, although that probably isn't strictly speaking necessary for Arat's purposes.
Arat: All right, turn around... no, so you're both facing me. You can let go of her arms.
Arat: And walk this way.
Pylor is just as glad that he's not playing guinea pig for a rogue, however nominal.
Arat gestures at Pylor to stand aside so the pair will walk between them.
Pylor steps back as commanded.
Linn walks towards Arat, wishing she knew what he was observing.
Terski walks at Linn's side.
Arat zlins the interactions between their nagers and the edge of Pylor's, with great intensity.
Pylor thinks that only Arat would spend so much effort calculating the interactions between two Thirds to twenty decimal places, when the Thirds themselves only work to three.
Pylor is, of course, not closely acquainted with Snake.
Arat: Linn, stay where you are. Terski, go over to Pylor.
Linn stops, glad that she wore comfortable walking shoes.
Terski does as she is told, going over to stand at his side instead.
Arat zlins Linn thoughtfully.
Linn had thought that Nick's initial grumbling about sore feet, when he began Donor training, was due to the distances he and Snake covered between patients.
Linn waits a bit more patiently than Pylor for Arat to come back from nagerland, having grown used to Farris zlinning fits.
Arat: Come here.
Arat holds out his hands.
Linn sets her hands in Arat's.
Arat: I am going to make lateral contact and perform a deeper zlin than you are used to.
Linn gives her consent with a nod (not that Arat was asking for it, actually).
Arat does so, zlinning her with great thoroughness while manipulating her field with his.
Terski has a look at Pylor, since she's heard a lot about him recently.
Pylor raises an inquiring eyebrow in Terski's direction.
Terski smiles.
Linn manages to retain her equilibrium as a faint selyn-movement sensation comes and goes.
Linn thinks that at least Arat is more subtle about it than Snake usually was, during donations.
Pylor lowers his voice so that only Terski will hear.
Pylor: Were you just called in for this session, or are you assigned to Qualify her?
Terski: Just for this session.
Terski: I don't know the guy they assigned to her.
Pylor: Who is it?
Terski: Some guy... Anim... something.
Pylor has been spending too much time chasing after Arat to keep up on the gossip.
Terski shrugs apologetically.
Terski: Like I say, I'd never heard of him before.
Pylor: I think he's new.
Arat releases Linn.
Arat: Thank you, Terski, that will be all.
Arat thinks he knows what he wanted to know, now.
Linn is slightly ~ relieved ~ at the end of the exam: while selyn movement no longer terrifies her, she is still unable to view it as normal.
Terski nods and turns to leave, not without saying "Nice meeting you" to Pylor and Linn.
Terski leaves.
Linn wonders what all that was about.
Arat: Please, have a seat.
Arat: You have been given the basic schedule I made out for you?
Linn sits on the only chair.
Linn: Yes.
Arat's spare tentacle gestures to Pylor to come over and attend him now.
Arat: Good.
Pylor moves closer to Arat, offering light ~~ support ~~, of a normal First grade.
Arat pauses for a moment to recover, and not from the channel's work he just did, either.
Linn sorts through her pamphlets, and locates the schedule.
Linn: Here it is.
Arat looks over the schedule, and nods.
Arat: And you will have no trouble making this?
Arat expects Linn to work hard, of course.
Linn is actually a little surprised at only being scheduled for eleven hours a day of sessions, having lived through Nick's initial 20-hour sessions.
Linn: Yes, I think I can manage.
Pylor thinks Linn's schedule is excessive, particularly for a Third trainee, but then, his opinion wasn't asked.
Arat: Good. I would like to see you, additionally, for a fifteen minute session once per week, starting a week from today, so that I can evaluate your progress and bring you up to date on the proposed integration of your and Snake's schedules, to occur some two months from now.
Linn: Two months?
Linn had been under the impression that it would happen a bit sooner than that.
Arat, who had said "two or three months" when they'd discussed it before, assumes she thinks that sounds sooner than predicted.
Arat: As I say, that date will be adjusted depending on your, and her, progress.
Linn: I see.
Linn checks the schedule again, trying to figure out the best way to integrate visits to Snake in among all the sessions.
Linn: How is Snake progressing?
Arat knows that Linn, who speaks with Snake once a week, is more or less abreast of Snake's social condition.
Arat: She does not require much in the way of retraining, in terms of channeling skills. The emphasis has mainly been upon procedure and adherence to regulations.
Pylor, having now met Linn, is even more at a loss as to why an out-Territory school teacher would voluntarily associate with a rogue like Snake.
Linn's mouth quirks upwards.
Linn: Snake never has been one for pausing to fill out paperwork, when she could be spending that time finding the next patient.
Arat gives Linn a long, unreadable look.
Linn: Although she can be quite thorough about it, when she thinks it's necessary.
Linn calls to mind the survey of the inhabitants of Vortez Lake.
Arat: I see.
Arat had been speaking more of safety regulations and behavioral standards than paperwork.
Linn: It's just as well, I suppose. Many of the patients she treated, in Bender Cove and elsewhere, would have gladly slit all our throats, if they thought she was keeping records on them.
Arat nods.
Arat is well aware of the cultural differences that make Snake's assimilation into the Tecton difficult.
Pylor wishes, just a bit (okay, more than a bit) that those clients had disposed of Snake before she came into his life.
Arat however is hoping that heredity (his side, not the mother's) and current environment will eventually win over upbringing and past experience.
Linn: She has seemed a bit happier, since she's been allowed a bit of work.
Arat is unaware that Snake's instability may be related to his own, mainly because he doesn't think of himself as unstable.
Linn looks more closely at Arat.
Linn: You know, the resemblance really is very strong.
Arat looks at Linn in surprise, having lost his train of thought.
Linn: Except for your eyes, of course.
Arat: Is it? ~~ uneasy ~~
Linn wonders if Snake got her white eyes from her mother.
Linn: Yes. And not just in your faces. It's the way you move, too.
Arat finds that being compared to Snake by somebody who knows Snake rather well is more disturbing than being compared by someone who doesn't know her at all.
Linn means, fidgeting, pacing, irritability and so on.
Linn does not yet know Arat well enough to judge his tendency towards homicide, insane rages, and so on.
Linn is, of course, from her limited viewpoint, inclined to consider such behavior normal for higher order channels.
Arat: Perhaps in time she will come to respect the Tecton as I do, and reap of it the benefits that I have. [stiffly]
Linn: I do hope that she will be able to lead a relatively normal life.
Linn: ~~ sincerity ~~
Linn is assuming, probably wrongly, that Snake would recognize a normal life if she had it.
Darrel hurries towards the room where his new Donor is waiting.
Darrel isn't quite sure whether he is glad or sorry that he won't be able to have Pylor, after all.
Darrel figures that it doesn't matter, since his feelings were never consulted.
Darrel is curious about this new Donor he's supposed to be working with, however.
Darrel reaches the room and opens the door cautiously, zlinning ahead.
Darrel: Sosu Hero?
Hero's nager is small and subdued.
Hero looks up at Darrel's entry.
Darrel: I'm Hajene Darrel.
Darrel is a bit reassured at the non-threatening nature of Hero's nager.
Hero: Hi.
Hero is a young (12 natal years) female Gen dressed in a trainee's uniform, sitting rather forlornly in an empty dorm room.
Darrel looks around.
Darrel: This room is awfully bare. Don't you have anything to make it look more homey?
Darrel slips in and shuts the door, zlinning Hero again to evaluate her potential as a transfer partner.
Hero: Prunida didn't let me bring anything but some clothes when she kid... took me away.
Hero: And then Snake didn't let me have any money to buy anything....
Hero: And then when I got to school they didn't give me any time to go shopping.
Darrel: Oh, dear. No wonder.
Hero's nager is strong, and seemingly calm, but very reserved.
Hero: [this is the effect of the Tecton's initial training measures, combined with her subdued mood]
Hero: But they told me I shouldn't buy anything anyway, because I'd have to carry it around everywhere when I had to move places.
Hero seems depressed by that last.
Darrel: Well, this Sime Center was one of the earlier ones. There should be some hangings of some sort in storage, that you could use while you're here.
Hero: OK.
Darrel: Ask the cleaning staff; they know where everything is.
Hero: Yeah I know, they already told me where... OK.
Hero apparently changes her mind about the end of that sentence.
Hero: Thanks.
Darrel: You know, they were right, that you shouldn't have a lot of luggage.
Hero looks at Darrel curiously.
Darrel: However, there's room for a few keepsakes.
Hero: What are your keepsakes?
Darrel bites his lower lip, then admits:
Darrel: I have a barrel of monkeys that a friend of mine gave me.
Darrel: I find it soothing to make monkey chains, when I get nervous.
Darrel: Did you ever play that game?
Darrel: Pick-up-sticks works just as well.
Hero, being Narosian, picks up on his embarrassment easily.
Hero: I don't usually get nervous.
Hero: Do you?
Darrel: All the time.
Darrel drifts over to sit by Hero.
Darrel: I guess I'm not very brave.
Darrel is in fact a blatant coward.
Darrel: Do you miss Naros?
Hero: I did for a while.
Hero: But it would be so weird to go back there.
Hero: I guess I just don't belong. Anywhere.
Hero's nager automatically falls into rhythm with Darrel's.
Darrel: It's always different when you go back to some place you haven't been for a while.
Hero: Everything would be different. There would even be people who don't know who I am.
Darrel sighs in relief as Hero's nager dulls his need.
Hero: I guess I don't want to... [pauses, because this is kind of embarrassing] ... I don't want to see it different.
Darrel: It's you who are different, and that will go with you wherever you are.
Darrel: That doesn't mean you have to stay away from the places you used to know.
Hero: But it makes me want to.
Hero's nager becomes more reserved as Darrel tries to push her in a direction she doesn't want to think about.
Darrel: I only stayed at Naros for a few weeks, but I thought it was a very restful place.
Darrel: But Capitol here isn't too bad, either.
Darrel: Controller Arat can be a bit intimidating at times, but he runs an orderly Center.
Darrel: Have you met him yet?
Hero's nager becomes more relaxed and interested as the subject changes.
Hero: I saw him twice.
Hero: First when we all got brought here, and then again when I got dumped from the school.
Hero frowns at the memory.
Hero: I don't think he was very happy with me.
Hero has had quite a bit of experience with people being unhappy with her behavior, and thinks she knows it when she sees it.
Darrel: I don't think I've ever seen him happy at anyone, really.
Darrel: Maybe with Sosu Nick.
Darrel: So don't take it personally.
Darrel scoots closer to Hero, hoping for a return of the relaxed and interested nager.
Hero: OK.
Hero: Are you in trouble too?
Hero: ~~ curious ~~
Darrel hides his face with hands and tentacles.
Darrel: Ever since I was assigned to Bender Cove.
Darrel: The place is cursed.
Hero finds this very ~~interesting~~ and as a result, becomes very relaxed and curious.
Darrel: I finally had to run away, and that didn't go over very well.
Darrel: I'm sort of on probation at the moment.
Hero: Really?
Hero: I know some people from Bender Cove.
Hero: All of them were always in trouble.
Darrel: That sounds about right.
Hero has, as can readily be seen in this interview as well as the one she had with Arat, begun to identify with people who are always in trouble. This is what caused Arat to decide a change in her schooling was needed, before something drastic happened.
Darrel: I'm hoping that eventually I can put it behind me.
Hero: Oh.
Hero thinks.
Hero: Kind of like me and Prunida.
Hero wrinkles her nose.
Darrel: Probably.
Darrel has only a hazy idea of what sort of person Prunida is, although he has gathered that she's some sort of relative of Nick's.
Hero: What about that guy?
Darrel: Which guy?
Hero: You know, the guy.
Hero had heard rumors, of course.
Hero: The one you were supposed to have instead of me.
Darrel: Sosu Pylor?
Darrel: He's been reassigned to the Controller.
Hero: Really???
Hero's nager lets out a spurt of titillated excitement.
Darrel: He's not the type to be wasted on a Second like me.
Darrel has, perhaps, an exaggerated view of Pylor's accomplishments, because of his First Order rating.
Hero: You mean I'm sharing a channel who was sharing a Donor with a Controller?
Hero: Awesome!
Darrel: Well, I think the temporary assignment was more in the way of therapy.
Hero: ~~bits of control shredding away in the face of a growing internal brilliance~~
Hero's nager is, indeed, Nicklike in flavor, but of a manageable size and not nearly as precisely controlled. (alas)
Hero: But still. You got to have him for a little bit, and now I get to have you.
Darrel feels suddenly rather as if he had gulped down a large glass of champagne, leaving his stomach unsure whether the bubbles are a good or bad development.
Hero: ~~totally baseless fondness for Darrel~~
Darrel has never before been considered an acquisition, at least not as a channel, and basks in the fondness.
Hero jumps up and starts bouncing around the room in excitement, her attention fixed upon Darrel and fondness rapidly giving away to optimism and excitement.
Hero: Wow, so like, what are we going to do and stuff?
Hero: Do I get to work, like I used to?
Hero: Is there going to be school?
Hero: What about working with other channels and Donors and stuff?
Darrel clutches at the bed with all eight handling tentacles.
Darrel: For now, could you please stay in one place? [plaintively]
Hero stops suddenly, looking stricken.
Hero: ~~deflated~~
Hero: OK, Darrel.
Darrel sways as the champagne goes suddenly flat, without the relief of a burp.
Darrel: It's all right to get excited, Hero, but having the ambient shift so much makes me feel sick, when I'm this close to need.
Hero: I'm sorry.
Hero sidles closer to him, offering ~~support~~.
Hero seems very subdued once again.
Hero: You're not going to... report me, are you?
Darrel: Of course not. It always takes a Donor a little bit of time to get used to a new channel's habits.
Hero: Oh. ~~relief~~
Darrel: Just concentrate on keeping steady, and you'll do fine.
Darrel has already caught on that steadiness is not Hero's forte.
Hero: That's what they always say.
Hero concentrates anyway.
Darrel: See? You're doing better already.
Hero perks up somewhat.
Darrel is perhaps overestimating Hero's attention span.
Hero's short attention span is precisely what allows her to feel optimism at this "evidence" of quick improvement.
Darrel: Keep up with that, and you'll be a very good Donor.