Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #65: The Scent of Melting Fur (8/30/99)
Arat waits impatiently for Darrel to arrive.
Arat has been forced to summon Darrel to explain a certain equipment breakage which he was led to believe was Darrel's fault.
Arat has been forced to summon Darrel because Darrel's supervisor was so embarrassed when attempting to explain how it happened that he became entirely incoherent.
Darrel hurries down the hall towards Arat's office, tentacles flying as he frantically straightens hair and uniform.
Arat's tentacles tap impatiently.
Darrel wishes the summons had contained more detail, so he could at least make a stab at preparing a defense.
Darrel skids to a halt at Arat's door and signals.
Arat: Enter.
Darrel opens the door, zlinning for any hint of Arat's mood.
Darrel looks at Arat's face, too, which is sometimes more revealing.
Darrel: You wanted to see me, Controller?
Arat zlins inscrutable but looks forbidding.
Arat: Yes. Please come in and sit down.
Darrel's knees start knocking, which interferes with his attempt to follow Arat's directions.
Darrel: ~~ uh-oh ~~
Darrel assays a weak smile, on general principles.
Darrel does manage to make it to the chair without tripping over his own feet, but it is a near thing.
Darrel tries to look attentive, and obedient, and loyal, and generally possessed of all sorts of good employee-type qualities.
Arat waits until Darrel's butt is more or less in the chair.
Arat: Hajene Darrel, I am given to understand that there has been a problem with the autoclave in the burn ward.
Arat: Would you mind explaining what happened?
Darrel shifts uncomfortably in the chair, which somehow feels more lumpy than it should.
Arat waits, attempting to be patient.
Arat, sadly, has already used up most, if not all, of his patience on Darrel's supervisor.
Darrel: I put some things in to be sterilized just before I went on duty. I'd arranged for one of the nurses to take them out after the cycle was finished.
Darrel does not go into further details about the "things".
Darrel: For some reason, the door didn't seal properly--that happens sometimes, you know.
Darrel: It didn't get up to pressure, so the cycle never started.
Darrel: Fidella was waiting to hear the buzz at the end of the cycle, and it was over an hour before she thought to check why it hadn't happened.
Darrel: Some of my things had melted because of the prolonged cycle, but they were in a tub, so the autoclave stayed clean.
Darrel: I'm afraid the tub wasn't so lucky.
Darrel: ~~ apologetic ~~
Arat is a bit surprised by Darrel's objects having melted.
Darrel: I've already ordered a replacement.
Darrel: And I assure you, from now on, I will make sure the autoclave is cycling properly before leaving it.
Arat: That is the extent of the damage? ~~slight display of puzzlement~~
Arat wonders why it was deemed necessary to bring Arat into it, if that is the case.
Darrel squirms.
Darrel: Well, the melted... objects... did smell a bit.
Arat's nostrils curl a bit.
Arat: What melted?
Arat asks the obvious question.
Darrel: The, er, objects I was autoclaving. The plastic wasn't up to the prolonged heat, you see. Or maybe it was the glue.
Arat looks even more puzzled at the mention of glue.
Arat double checks his notes from the previous conversation.
Darrel: I think Hajene Ormof was mostly upset because problem tied up the autoclave, and because his office was downwind from the smell.
Arat: I see.
Arat laces his fingers and tentacles together on his desktop.
Darrel would rather not speculate on how much of Ormof's distress was due to his discovery of exactly what was being autoclaved.
Arat: I am not sure why he saw fit to bring this to my attention.
Arat: However, he was very clear that he felt the use of the autoclave in this fashion was, and I quote, "unacceptable".
Darrel: He is right. I should have made sure that it was working properly before I left it.
Darrel is the picture of earnest contrition.
Arat: Therefore, unless you have anything else to add, I see no other choice but to assign you to a laboratory training course.
Darrel nods philosophically.
Darrel: Yes, Controller Arat.
Arat checks a schedule.
Arat: Report to O'Melly at 0500 hours tomorrow morning for your first 2-hour session. After the standard 12 week period, your lab skills will be reevaluated.
Arat thinks that by then, Darrel's boredom level will have surpassed any tendency to be sloppy in the lab.
Arat of course is unaware that it was Darrel's use of the autoclave for the sterilization of stuffed animals and finger puppets which set Ormof off, since Ormof hadn't given him those details.
Darrel thinks a wasted hour or two a day for the next three months is a small price to pay, to get out of this situation.
Darrel hadn't thought that Ormof would be so upset as to mention the matter to Arat.
Arat pens in the assignment, then closes the book.
Darrel: Is that all, Controller?
Arat: You may go.
Darrel: ~~ meek ~~
Darrel doesn't require a second invitation, but hops up and scurries for the door.
Arat shakes his head, wondering why Ormof has wasted his Controller's time with this.
Arat supposes it has something to do with relative levels of intimidation, but surely even Ormof could intimidate Darrel?
Arat puts the schedule book away and turns his mind back to more important matters.
Beni comes back from the bathroom, passing a scuttling Darrel in the hall.
Beni enters Arat's door without signaling, of course.
Beni: I see Hajene Darrel finally put in an appearance.
Beni is just a bit ~~ amused ~~
Beni: What did you say to him, to get him in such a dither?
Arat looks up at Beni.
Arat: I didn't say much to him.
Beni has heard plenty of stories and speculations, but few clear facts.
Arat: I assigned him to a lab procedures training course.
Beni: I see.
Arat actually thinks the training course is a waste of time, but without more information on exactly what happened, he doesn't see what else he can do. And besides, it never hurts for even experienced workers to get a little re-education in how to properly close autoclave doors and such.
Beni: A very neat solution, actually.
Beni: ~~ respect ~~
Arat responds to the ~~ respect ~~ by relaxing a little bit.
Beni would never have thought of such a neat way to placate that stick-in-the-mud Ormof without punishing Darrel to the extent that he stops his unauthorized (but effective) child-handling techniques.
Beni looks at Arat critically.
Beni: You know, you're looking much better than you were yesterday.
Beni: I thought Jeniard was tied up with that quarterly report.
Beni's voice has a slight questioning note.
Beni is pretty sure that he, himself, is not responsible for the improvement, much as he would like to think so.
Arat actually looks a little defensive, and loses the relaxation.
Arat: Nick Reckage came by. Unannounced.
Beni: He did, did he?
Beni: Was there some new problem with Snake?
Beni is well aware how often those tend to crop up.
Arat squirms.
Arat: No, there wasn't.
Beni: He hasn't decided to pledge, has he?
Beni hopes not, as he was betting that it would take at least another month.
Arat: No.
Beni: Did Jeniard send him?
Beni hadn't thought Jeniard was really on speaking terms with Nick, but is aware that Jeniard will resort to desperate measure when necessary.
Arat: I don't think so.
Arat actually was so focused on how uncomfortable, and simultaneously comfortable, the meeting made him that he hadn't really analyzed Nick's motives very heavily.
Beni: He must have had some reason for coming.
Beni: ~~ reasonable ~~
Arat: No doubt.
Arat supposes Beni must have some reason for tormenting him with these questions, too, but that doesn't make them any less pesky.
Arat zlins Beni for signs of jealousy.
Beni is mostly worried that if the rogue Donor was trying to unduly influence Arat, Beni will get the blame.
Beni: He wasn't asking you to do anything, was he?
Arat doesn't zlin anything untoward in Beni's nager, and feels even less inclined to dig into the details of the little meeting with Nick.
Beni: Nick worked with you for his first two months in the Tecton, and he's still thinking very much like a rogue at times.
Beni: He seemed to think that he was responsible for Snake, even when he was in New Othwol. Are you sure that he understands what a Tecton assignment really means?
Arat narrows his eyes and looks questioningly at Beni.
Beni notes the narrowed eyes.
Beni: Now, don't get all defensive on me. If Nick doesn't understand that his responsibility for a channel ends with his next assignment, it will only cause grief for everyone--starting with Nick himself.
Beni: You know that.
Beni is starting to get genuinely ~~ concerned ~~ for Arat.
Beni: If he was just doing you a favor, on a casual basis, well and good. I've done that, too.
Arat: It was more like that.
Arat says this with a definite finality.
Arat says it that way so that nobody, including Arat, will have to worry about the possibility of it being Arat and not Nick whose feelings are running over the line.
Beni studies Arat, trying to determine not whether Arat is being truthful to Beni himself, but whether Arat is being truthful to himself.
Beni is much less sure of this second possibility.
Beni: Well, I suppose it's all right, then. He probably feels an obligation to look after you because you're Snake's father, and the Controller.
Beni: Goodness knows, he's done more for you with one session than I managed in two weeks.
Beni: ~~ moderate chagrin ~~
Arat relaxes a little bit at Beni's words.
Beni had been feeling rather proud of his progress in erasing the Pylor-damage, until he saw the results of Nick's intervention.
Arat: You'll require time to gain the experience he's gotten with Wise Snake.
Beni: She is an exacting task mistress.
Beni speaks with the voice of experience.
Beni: Frankly, I don't know how Reckage managed, coming to her without any prior experience worth mentioning.
Arat: Nick is a natural Donor. One in a million.
Arat: He has advantages no other Donor can match except through painstaking practice.
Beni smiles wryly.
Beni: It would be easy to envy him that.