Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #68: The Farris Factor (9/4/99)
Arat is in his office in the wee hours of the morning, to meet with Beni for a private meeting before Alea wakes up.
Jeniard is in Arat's office as well, despite the fact that they were arguing throughout the evening.
Beni yawns, nearly splitting his jaw, and rubs at his eyes as he pauses in front of Arat's door.
Jeniard pours hot water into 3 tea cups.
Beni wishes Simes required as much sleep as Gens, sometimes.
Beni takes a few deep breaths in hopes of getting some oxygen to his sluggish brain, and signals.
Jeniard sets down the kettle and goes to open the door.
Jeniard: Hi.
Arat is writing out some personnel transfer paperwork.
Beni mumbles something that might be a greeting, and enters.
Beni: You wanted to see me, Controller Arat?
Arat: Sosu Beni.
Arat: Please sit down. I'll be finished with this in a moment.
Beni makes his way to a chair, trying hard to wake up.
Jeniard brings a cup of tea to Beni.
Jeniard brings a second cup to Arat.
Beni takes the cup with ~~ gratitude ~~ and sips carefully at it.
Arat takes his tea and then stops writing.
Arat studies Beni distractedly with the tea in one hand and the pen still touching the paper.
Jeniard seats himself and his tea at Arat's side, in the chair generally used by an assigned Donor if one is present.
Beni waits for Arat to finish.
Arat: Beni, would you prefer to be assigned to someone else, or remain here as a spare Donor for the rest of this month?
Beni's nager reflects mild ~~ disappointment ~~ at this confirmation that he has been bumped.
Beni: I had hoped to have a chance to work more with you and Hajene Snake.
Beni, unlike Pylor, does not lack ambition for self-improvement.
Arat: That can be arranged.
Arat takes a sip of his tea, and sets it aside.
Arat: Your disposal has been left up to me. I was not told you had to be transferred.
Beni's nager is gradually losing its sleepiness as the level of tea in his cup falls.
Beni: Really?
Beni wonders how Arat managed to pull that one off, with two Farris-trained Donors already assigned here.
Arat actually did very little to pull it off; his superiors had even less to say about Beni than they'd had to say about Alea, which is saying a lot - that is to say, practically nothing.
Beni: I would like to stay in rotation here, then.
Arat nods.
Arat: I may be able to arrange for you to spell Nick and/or Alea on occasion as well.
Arat is not unaware of the demands he in particular makes on a Donor's time.
Arat sees no reason to either get Beni out of synch with himself and Snake or have him sit on his hands for the next week.
Beni: I am looking forward to it. I have learned a great deal from both you and Snake.
Arat: Very well.
Arat writes the pertinent information onto the form and hands Beni his copy.
Beni is aware that he has a great deal more to lean before he will be considered Farris-competent, and knows that his chances of learning it are slim if he's sent away to work with lesser channels.
Beni accepts the form, glancing down at it.
Arat: That will be all, unless you had anything you wish to discuss...?
Beni: Not at the moment.
Beni tries to muffle a yawn.
Arat: I will have your schedule dropped off to your quarters once I have worked it out.
Arat: Good day.
Beni wonders if Arat is aware that the sun will not be up for another few hours.
Beni gets to his feet and heads back to his bed.
Nick drops by Arat's office after a late-night session with Snake.
Jeniard has left by the time Nick arrives.
Nick signals, then pokes his head in.
Nick: Are you busy?
Arat puts down his pen.
Arat: I can spare a moment.
Nick enters, automatically checking Arat's condition as he makes his way to a chair.
Nick: Alea's been looking after you, I see.
Arat has been physically in better shape but emotionally in worse shape with Alea's arrival. The emotional bit is easier to disguise than the physical bit, of course.
Arat nods.
Nick was not completely sure that would be the case.
Arat zlins Nick.
Nick: You aren't letting her make tea, are you?
Arat: Yes.
Arat in fact has specific orders about allowing Donors to make him tea and do other Donorish things around him, so as to keep their morale higher.
Nick zlins a bit more concerned at the admission.
Arat notes Nick's concern.
Arat: Is there a problem?
Nick: She has a tendency to be a bit... clumsy... about things like that.
Nick: It might be better not to zlin her too closely, when she's handling hot or sharp objects.
Arat: I see.
Arat: I will make a note of it.
Arat is more interested in Nick's apparent continued concern for Arat's wellbeing while out of Nick's hands.
Nick: At least it's too warm for sledding.
Nick seems to think this remark is relevant to the discussion.
Arat looks at Nick gravely.
Arat: You seem concerned for my safety.
Arat thinks, actually, that Nick seems mildly hysterical.
Nick: Well, Alea hasn't always been the steadiest of Donors.
Nick vividly remembers Snake diving into the half-frozen Bender Cove harbor after one of Alea's sledding expeditions.
Nick looks around.
Nick: At least she hasn't tried to redecorate your office.
Arat: Nick, please try to relax.
Arat uses a voice which is not far from the soothing voice he might use on a tender and innocent patient.
Nick recognizes the tone.
Nick: Just be careful.
Arat studies Nick carefully, all right.
Arat: I realize that Alea Farris has had some difficulties in her past. [acknowledges at last]
Arat: However, she has been through some rehabilitation and is on her way to returning to her former duties.
Arat: At this stage in her retraining she must work with a Farris channel and that is why she was assigned to me.
Arat likes to think it is because of his excellent track record in rehabilitating difficult Tecton employees, rather than his expendability from Zeor's point of view.
Arat: She is supposed to be quite reliable now. And treating her as anything but, may set back her self-confidence.
Nick: Will you be able to keep Beni around, just in case?
Arat sighs.
Arat: Beni will be here.
Arat: He will be available if there are any problems, but Alea will be working with me primarily.
Nick makes no secret of his ~~ relief ~~ at the availability of a reliable backup.
Nick: She did have the most problems when she had free time on her hands.
Nick is aware that Alea is not likely to have much of that while assigned to Arat.
Nick: Will she be working with Snake at all?
Arat: She most probably will, at some point.
Arat: Unless in my judgment it would not be a good idea.
Nick: Snake used to get along with her all right.
Nick: Though perhaps it was simply the medical challenge.
Arat nods.
Arat has some records of disastrous occurrences between the two, but prefers to analyze the situation for himself when the time comes.
Nick perks up a bit at the thought of the increased stream of staff injuries which tended to occur in Alea's vicinity.
Nick: Of course, back in Bender Cove, they both believed that they were cousins of some sort.
Arat: They most likely are.
Arat: Very distant cousins, that is.
Nick: I thought that the Audnes line was separate?
Nick is Narosian enough to find genetics interesting.
Arat: Everybody carrying the Farris genetics is related in some way. It is true that the Audnes branch would have split off many generations ago.
Arat: Or rather, the branch of Farrises that bred into Family Audnes.
Nick: Does anyone know when it happened?
Arat is pretty sure whenever it happened was before his great-grandfather's time, because their Farris-safe family herbal remedies date back from at least that far.
Arat: Unfortunately, all family records were destroyed in the Unity wars.
Arat: So an exact date would be difficult to determine.
Arat: Since the Farrises of that name have not bred into junct families since Rimon's time, Family Audnes may have merged with an unknown Farris branch.
Nick: I take it that Zeor hasn't been terribly informative on the matter?
Arat: No, Zeor has not been forthcoming on the issue. I believe they have no record of it either.
Arat is operating on the assumption that some overenthusiastic know-it-all would have let Arat know the details by now if such information were available.
Nick nods.
Nick: It is curious.
Arat then again had no idea he had a 16 year old channel daughter either.
Arat: There are other oddities.
Nick: Oh?
Arat: Aside from Wise Snake and myself, nearly every other Sime Audnes in recent memory was a renSime.
Arat means, of course, the ones that survived to change over, and survived changeover, and lived long enough to be seen by somebody who could tell a channel from a renSime, which actually cuts out quite a few Audnes.
Nick: What about the Gens? At least, after Unity.
Arat hesitates.
Arat was conditioned not to talk about this as a child, although there is no reason at all not to talk about it now.
Arat: They made good Donors.
Nick: I don't think I've heard of any of them.
Nick is aware that his knowledge of Tecton Donors isn't huge.
Arat: There weren't any in my generation.
Arat: Perhaps one or two of my children will Establish, but they aren't old enough, yet.
Arat has pretty much admitted that the "good Donors" he referred to would therefore have to have been pre-Unity, but then this isn't anything Nick couldn't have found out elsewhere, with a little digging.
Nick wonders if Anmyn would have any additional information on Audnes Donors.
Nick still isn't sure how he feels about Riyyh's information on the Garlenists, and their connection with the Audnes.
Nick: Are any of the Audnes Donors from your parent's generation still around?
Arat: There were three. One went to live in Gen Territory and was never heard from again. Two lived with the family and one of them went to prison when my parents did.
Nick: And the other?
Arat: I killed her in changeover.
Arat says this with no inflection or expression whatsoever.
Nick winces as this statement hits him where he lives--straight in the Donor reflexes.
Nick: ~~ sympathy/compassion ~~
Nick: She wasn't up to your draw?
Arat: She could handle my draw. She had served my parents for more than a decade. But she did not share my capacity even in my newly changed over state.
Arat: Because they were Farris renSimes, not channels. [explains]
Nick reaches out to place a sympathetic hand on Arat's arm.
Arat: It was a long time ago.
Arat doesn't shake off Nick's hand, though.
Nick: Snake's changeover wasn't quite as much of a disaster, but you both deserved better.
Arat flinches.
Nick: Arat, there was nothing you could have done. It was Zeor's mistake.
Arat is still raw about the bad deal his daughter received as a result of his not having been aware of her existence, and despite all logic he does feel very responsible.
Arat: Yes.
Nick: They, of all people, should have known what a newly changed over Farris channel requires.
Arat can use all the logic he wants, but he still feels responsible - and mad as hell at those who were ultimately at fault, the pranksters who did this to them.
Nick: Arat, you've given her something she's never had before: Another channel who cares about her, and who can be trusted to be her advocate.
Nick: That's worth a great deal.
Arat thinks, if she isn't too damaged to accept it after all these years.
Arat looks bitter.
Arat: We'll see.