Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #69: Trolling (9/5/99)
Beni heads back towards the Sime Center, several sizable parcels under his arm.
Beni is not in any particular hurry, since for once, he can be fairly sure that his free time will not be impinged upon.
Beni is glad that at least the rain has stopped, although the occasional puddle makes the walk interesting.
Riyyh rides down the street, coming from the direction of the city center where the courthouse is.
Beni is far from the nature enthusiast that Nick is, but he does enjoy an occasional walk in decent weather.
Riyyh's horse is in high spirits, having not been given its morning shakeout before being ridden to the courthouse and left there to get bored during several hours of Coalition for Progressive Land Use legal wranglings.
Beni blinks as a gust of wind hits, sending leaves and paper scraps whirling through the air.
Riyyh smiles and pats the horse's neck, and tries to channel its energy into something resembling fashionable dressage steps rather than simple unruliness.
Riyyh is not exactly the master of fine riding, although he may have more practice than a non-Narosian horse unenthusiast.
Riyyh being a Narosian horse unenthusiast.
Riyyh is, at least, very pleased with the admiration he zlins in passers by.
Riyyh does suppose they paint a pretty picture, which of course was the whole point.
Riyyh clatters around a corner, and nearly runs over a high field Tecton Donor.
Beni squints against the wind, then dodges as a dancing horse comes too close for comfort.
Beni: Watch out!
Riyyh: Pardon me!
Riyyh pulls his horse to a halt.
Riyyh: Are you all right? I'm terribly sorry.
Riyyh in fact had been caught completely by surprise, as Beni's nager had been hidden by a large brick building.
Riyyh apologizes reflexively before he realizes he knows this Donor. "Beni!"'
Beni eyes the--dare we say, borderline gaudy?--sight of Riyyh dressed to impress the court.
Riyyh decides to dismount and hold the reins, since the horse is much less excitable under those conditions.
Beni: I'm fine. A little more mud isn't going to hurt me.
Beni looks ruefully down at his pants, which are a bit bespattered from this and a puddle he stepped into earlier.
Beni shuffles the parcels he's holding to free a hand to touch Riyyh's tentacles in greeting.
Riyyh is truly sympathetic about Beni's pants. He goes to great lengths to avoid such spatters himself.
Beni: I'd heard you didn't travel away from Naros.
Riyyh smiles ruefully.
Riyyh: I haven't done much travel recently, it is true. But as my daughter takes on more responsibility at Naros I will be spending more time working with our social outreach programs in different towns and cities.
Beni wonders which of Riyyh's allegedly numerous progeny is the daughter in question.
Beni: I see. I'd heard there was an arrest or two made in association with some agricultural program?
Riyyh: Oh dear, yes, there have been some problems lately. That is part of why I decided to make the changes.
Beni was working too hard on keeping Mayor Osca's nager from bothering Arat too badly, to gather more than a vague gist of her tirade.
Riyyh: But they are good people, good kids. They just require a little bit of guidance, more than I was able to provide from afar.
Riyyh: Times are different now than they were in the early days.
Beni: Have you told Mayor Osca of your intentions?
Riyyh blinks at this evidence of inside knowledge of the situation.
Beni is trying to figure out if he should give Alea the heads-up that Osca may come complaining again.
Riyyh: No?
Riyyh hopes that looking innocent and naive will fool the Donor.
Riyyh has, after all, a good deal of experience appearing delightfully naive, especially since starting to look for places to stay.
Riyyh is aware, however, that Beni has had experience with Riyyh appearing innocent and naive in the past.
Beni: She has been very upset about the activities of your people.
Beni: Although why she thinks Arat can do anything about it is beyond me.
Riyyh looks surprised.
Riyyh: I apologize if this has caused you an inconvenience in any way.
Riyyh certainly hadn't expected to take heat for the Coalition problem from this quarter; the Tecton has been remarkably hands-off about it in the past.
Riyyh can't wring his hands since he's holding the horse's reins, so his tentacles wave in distress instead.
Beni: Well, I expect she was desperate.
Riyyh: I assure you that I will do my utmost to satisfy everybody in this matter.
Riyyh always does that anyway, of course.
Riyyh: [in every way possible, actually... but I digress.]
Beni: Well, mending fences with Osca might be a good place to start. I admit I'm not an expert on the situation, but it seems a great deal more complicated than it has to be.
Riyyh: You're right, of course.
Riyyh always says this to anything a Donor tells him.
Riyyh smiles.
Riyyh: I will be sure to approach Osca at the earliest appropriate opportunity.
Riyyh: I had not been aware that she had been... contacting [pestering] the District Office.
Beni: I think she felt it was a way to get around your....effectiveness.
Riyyh: Oh?
Riyyh is uncertain how that could be the case.
Riyyh: I'm terribly sorry if it has caused any difficulties for you.
Beni: Well, Controller Arat deals with all sorts of problems that aren't, strictly speaking, part of his job description.
Riyyh supposes it's just as well that Arat was disinterested, as things might get ugly if the fearsome Controller suddenly decided to take matters into his own hands.
Riyyh: I see.
Beni: But he has been rather busy lately, and a last minute change of Donor is always difficult for a channel.
Beni does not mention how difficult it is for a Donor, too, as the Tecton takes no official notice of such difficulties.
Riyyh had heard rumors, of course, but since the party he'd attended last night was a theater opening party he'd heard everything 3rd hand rather than from the Tecton's mouth.
Beni does feel the difficulty quite strongly, however, particularly as he is without an alternative transfer this month.
Riyyh makes a connection as he zlins Beni's field's changes.
Riyyh: You were the one that was replaced.
Riyyh's realization becomes open sympathy.
Beni smiles wryly.
Beni: Is it that obvious?
Beni tries to get his nager in order, just in case.
Riyyh: Now that you've said it, it is. I'm sorry.
Riyyh: It must be so difficult.
Riyyh thinks it would be difficult to be Arat's Donor too, from what he's heard, but he understands that transfer partnering, even when dictated by the Tecton, is more about people's feelings than about logic.
Beni: I will survive. And being the odd Donor out has given me some time to catch up with some chores.
Beni indicates his packages.
Riyyh smiles.
Riyyh: It is a pleasant day for it.
Riyyh is glad to take the subject away from unpleasantness.
Beni: You know, after two months working with Hajene Snake, I'm no longer surprised Nick was looking so scruffy when they brought him in.
Riyyh looks confused for a moment.
Riyyh: Ah, you worked with her. How has she been?
Riyyh does worry that Snake will become physically and emotionally capable again while remaining quite insane.
Beni: She's much improved from her first days here, but she's still one of the most difficult assignments I've had.
Beni forbears to mention that Arat was the other.
Riyyh: I can't imagine a more difficult assignment. [confesses]
Beni: At least she didn't try to eat me.
Beni means this quite literally.
Riyyh's eyes widen.
Riyyh: Er, well, that is good.
Beni: To tell you the truth, I don't see how Nick managed to survive training under her. After all, he had no experience at all beforehand.
Beni: It was hard enough for me, and I've been a working Donor for years.
Riyyh: But Nick is a natural.
Beni: Still, it's quite an achievement.
Riyyh thinks, as natural as "natural" gets, except for the fact that he was artificially created by line breeding.
Riyyh: Yes, it is.
Beni looks at Riyyh more closely.
Beni: You're proud of him, aren't you?
Riyyh's smile turns sheepish.
Beni is a tad surprised; he'd understood that Nick wasn't raised in Naros, and wasn't very enthusiastic about his parentage.
Riyyh: Of course I am.
Riyyh of course is proud of all of his children and grandchildren, and feels equally attached to quite a few people who he isn't related to at all, but who have visited Naros or who he's met on the road here and there.
Riyyh has a large capacity for fatherliness.
Beni: I hadn't thought that the two of you were all that close.
Riyyh: We only met a year ago, and there have been some difficult times.
Riyyh: But Nick is a good man.
Beni is aware from personal experience how easy it is to get close to Riyyh, but had heard that Nick was remarkably resistant to the so-called Riyyh Effect.
Beni wondered at the time if it was some sort of genetic immunity.
Riyyh doesn't want to come right out and admit Nick doesn't like him very much, so he leaves that up to communication by omission.
Beni: You have had difficulties with Nick, you say? It that because of his rogue status?
Riyyh: Oh my, no. [chuckles]
Riyyh is not exactly famous for believing everything the Tecton believes.
Beni: You don't mind that your son is a criminal?
Riyyh: I support his wanting to work for the Tecton now, if he wishes to. As for 'criminal' activities.... [hesitates]
Riyyh smiles gently, apologetically.
Riyyh: I remember the old days very well. Perhaps too well.
Beni: You don't mind his attachment to Hajene Snake, then?
Riyyh considers.
Beni finds that a bit surprising, as he has gathered that Riyyh and Snake did not exactly hit it off.
Riyyh: In principle? Not at all.
Riyyh: Practically speaking, of course, it is dangerous. And he was assisting Wise Snake in denying that she required treatment.
Beni: It is surprising that she'd survived.
Riyyh personally reserves that thought for his own survival, when speaking of Snake.
Beni: She owes Nick a lot, for that.
Riyyh isn't sure where Beni is going with this.
Riyyh: Nick is a good Donor.
Riyyh strokes his horse's narrow muzzle. It's truly amazing how calm the beast can be when it isn't being ridden in public.
Beni nods.
Riyyh: So how have you been, Beni? Aside from the assignment changes?
Riyyh: You zlin well.
Riyyh is zlinning Beni after the Donor has had a few days to catch up with his sleep after 3 weeks of working with Arat.
Beni: Well enough. Although it looks like it may be a while before I get a chance to boost my rating.
Beni is under no illusions that either Arat or Snake will choose him if Alea or Nick is available.
Riyyh zlins Beni's disappointment.
Riyyh: How disappointing.
Riyyh places a sympathetic hand on Beni's wrist.
Beni: There are other Farris channels around, and there's always a shortage of Donors who can handle them. The Tecton won't leave me waiting forever.
Riyyh: It is good to remain optimistic.
Riyyh smiles.
Beni forbears to mention that most of the other Farrises around are ambrov Zeor, and not particularly interested in teaching nonHouseholders.
Beni might, in fact, be clutching at straws here.
Riyyh senses Beni's lack of optimum optimism and smiles encouragingly.
Riyyh supposes his own nager isn't exactly inspiring to the Donor; despite Beni's wish for more rating, he definitely outrates Riyyh by a significant margin.
Beni: Or Alea Farris might get another assignment, or Nick, if he ever pledges.
Riyyh however finds Beni's nager quite inspiring.
Riyyh: Yes, you're quite right.
Beni is definitely feeling the channel-deprived Donor syndrome, or he wouldn't be thinking of Snake as an assignment to envy.
Riyyh knows through the grapevine that Arat's office is little more than a stepping stone for Alea, and only a fool would assume that Nick won't be snatched up and shared by a dozen higher Controllers as soon as he was deemed fit for the duty.
Beni: Although I suppose Nick would make an awful fuss if they tried to separate him from Snake again.
Riyyh's tentacles creep out and linger on Beni's skin.
Beni allows--and enjoys--the touch.
Riyyh: Perhaps. But if Nick believes that the Tecton is the right place for himself and Snake, it will only be if he trusts it to handle them correctly.
Beni has been feeling just a bit neglected lately, channel-wise, although he's tried not to let it show in his nager too much.
Riyyh of course isn't saying Nick will ever feel that way, just that the two tend to go together.
Riyyh picks up on Beni's feelings of neglect and his own nager opens up subtly to tempt Beni with his need. Not enough to drive the man crazy, of course, just enough to make Riyyh infinitely more attractive as a person.
Riyyh is possibly not even aware that he is doing it.
Riyyh: You'll get your chance. [sincere]
Beni: I hope so.
Beni reflects on how very nice it is to be the center of a sympathetic channel's attention.
Riyyh: My Companion does not travel.
Riyyh: We are thinking he may switch over to my daughter, in the future. [explains]
Beni: So you're traveling without?
Beni is, of course, very ~~ sympathetic ~~
Riyyh: I'm afraid so.
Riyyh is, in fact, enjoying it very much at the moment.
Riyyh smiles.
Beni: Are you sure you will be all right, until you can return to Naros? It's quite a long ride.
Beni can't quite stop himself from ~~ offering ~~ assistance.
Beni: I do have some free time.
Riyyh: I think I shall be all right, although it is a pleasure to be in your company. Perhaps we could spend the afternoon? ~~ hopeful ~~
Beni: I would be delighted.
Beni just hopes that Arat never finds out.