Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #79: Handwriting Assertiveness Training (9/24/99)
Nick brings a tray piled high with his lunch and tea for two into Snake's cell.
Nick has not neglected the apple factor in his choice of menu, having learned long since that Snake eats most when she "grazes" off her Donor's plate.
Nick: They had some of that leek soup today.
Wise Snake: Ummh.
Nick: ~~ appetite ~~
Wise Snake is reading a report from one of the wards in the building.
Wise Snake gets to read as much as she wants, unlike work.
Wise Snake reaches out and snags a sliver of carrot off the tray as Nick passes.
Nick settles down on the cot, conveniently near to Snake.
Nick: Anything interesting?
Nick nods at the report.
Wise Snake: What is it with this guy?
Nick: Who?
Wise Snake indicates a line with a spare tentacle.
Wise Snake: This Hajene Darrel.
Nick leans over to scan the report.
Wise Snake: Everything he writes is so... so....
Nick: Timid?
Wise Snake: Yeah. It's as if he doesn't want anybody to notice he wrote anything.
Wise Snake: I mean look. The text is scrunched way up in the corner of the comments box, as if it's trying to get away or something.
Nick chuckles.
Wise Snake doesn't actually know Darrel, having missed him in Bender Cove and Naros and not run into him here.
Nick: At least the handwriting is legible. Well, if you have good eyes.
Wise Snake's pale eyes bug out as she scrutinizes the precise, narrow squeezed letters.
Wise Snake: Yeah... I guess so.
Nick is well aware that Snake has never set much store on the legibility of handwriting--particularly not her own.
Wise Snake: They should offer handwriting assertiveness training in the First Year Schools.
Nick chuckles, and hands Snake a cup of her preferred "tea" blend.
Nick: From what I hear, Hajene Darrel has done some things that never made it into his reports.
Nick: There was the bit about the autoclave....
Wise Snake: What about the autoclave?
Wise Snake looks up from the report and at Nick curiously.
Nick's Narosian gossip-mongering genes haven't been completely dormant, despite his irregular status.
Nick: I'm told he was the one responsible for a rather nasty smell. Melted plastic, possibly part of the props he's said to use with the children in the burn ward.
Nick: At least, when there isn't a First around who might report him to Arat.
Nick: He did get reported for using the autoclave improperly, but as far as I know, Arat never did learn the whole story.
Nick is mildly ~~ amused ~~ at this.
Wise Snake: Probably just as well. Arat's sense of proportion is pretty out there.
Nick: He's under a lot of pressure. And I'm afraid that some of it is my fault.
Wise Snake: You mean for existing?
Wise Snake's expression is wry.
Nick: Well, for existing as I exist now.
Nick: He wants me to pledge, Snake.
Nick: By the end of the month.
Nick: ~~ uncomfortable ~~
Wise Snake's half smile disappears.
Wise Snake: Or what?
Wise Snake: He'll never dirty his tentacles on you again?
Nick: He says that if I don't, he'll no longer be able to let me work here. With you or any other channel.
Nick: ~~ distress ~~
Wise Snake frowns, looking rather like Arat.
Nick catches himself quickly, and dampens his upset.
Wise Snake: I'll just tell him that's unacceptable.
Nick can't help ~~ loving ~~ Snake for her support.
Wise Snake: If you go, I'll stop cooperating. What can he do about that? He can't afford to lose us both.
Wise Snake: Especially after how he bungled Pylor.
Wise Snake still thinks Arat should have let her put the Fear of Farris into the guy.
Nick: You would do that? Even though it would probably mean that he'd cut your work schedule?
Wise Snake looks a little less resolute as Nick mentions the loss of work.
Wise Snake: Well, yeah, I mean, in principle anyway....
Nick's face falls.
Nick: Oh.
Wise Snake: Look, Nick, I mean, what do you want me to do?
Nick: You'll do what you have to.
Wise Snake blinks in frustration.
Nick: Shen, Snake, if they'd let me stay here and look after you, I'd work for them.
Wise Snake: Nick, what do you really want?
Wise Snake: To work with me? Is that all it is?
Nick: I want to be where I can look out for you. It wouldn't even have to be every month; I know the problems a dependency can cause.
Nick puts a hand on Snake's wrist, covering her tentacles.
Nick: But if I pledged, they'd send me anywhere they pleased. We might never be allowed to see each other again.
Wise Snake: Nick, I think if we were going to have a dependency, it would have happened by now. [dryly]
Nick: Well... probably.
Wise Snake: And if you don't pledge?
Nick: I don't know.
Nick: I can manage for a while; Riyyh has agreed to help if it becomes necessary.
Nick's nager betrays his usual mixed feelings about his father/grandfather.
Wise Snake's eyebrows climb towards her Farris forelock.
Wise Snake: Riyyh?
Wise Snake: Not for transfer!
Wise Snake: He'll drive you completely crazy. Your production levels... well, go for it if you insist, but it's not going to be pleasant.
Nick: Well, he's not my first choice, or even my second or third. Still, he'd be better than nothing. I think.
Wise Snake looks skeptical.
Wise Snake has never had much respect for the prolific and overly smiley Sectuib Naros.
Wise Snake: Have you talked to Rapol about what it's like?
Nick: No, he's still at Naros.
Nick: I survived it once, though.
Nick: What else can I do, Snake? The Tecton wants me to pledge, and Donors have to be willing. As long as they are still hopeful that I'll give in, they'll probably at least let me see you occasionally.
Wise Snake: Why are you so dead set against it?
Wise Snake: Is it just Prunida?
Wise Snake has always been mystified by Nick's abhorrence of the Tecton, even back in BC when Nick wouldn't like to go to the Sime Center there.
Nick: Partly, although I could deal with her if I had to.
Nick frowns, remembering his grandmother's weird behavior of late.
Nick: Mostly, it's not having any control at all over where I go, or who I work with.
Wise Snake might have pointed out that she never allowed Nick any control over that either, except that being Snake she never really thought about it before, and likely never will.
Nick conveniently forgets that Snake never gave him much flexibility in those areas, either.
Wise Snake: Ummh.
Nick: A channel like you could become a Controller, and win some chance to stay in one place.
Wise Snake: I thought Arat had you locked into some kind of exclusive.
Nick: He did, but that lasted only three months before he assigned me to you, instead.
Nick: Not that I'm objecting.
Nick: Still, Arat gave me no assurances that the exclusive would be honored if I were to pledge.
Nick: And it was never intended to be a long-term arrangement, anyway.
Wise Snake: Um.
Wise Snake rubs her forehead with her fingers and reaches for an apple slice.
Wise Snake wonders if Nick had wanted her to say anything in particular, or just wanted somebody to complain to.
Wise Snake: So, he's just done with you? He's dumping you and he doesn't care if you go to Naros?
Wise Snake doesn't think it sounds like Nick will ever pledge, unless there is a radical restructuring of the Tecton rotation system.
Nick seeks consolation in his tea.
Nick: That's what he said. I don't think he was happy about it, though.
Nick looks at Snake.
Wise Snake: No doubt. His ass will be on the line.
Wise Snake: It'll be me or bust.
Wise Snake grins suddenly.
Wise Snake: Let's see. This could actually be some fun.
Wise Snake: His career depends upon my rehabilitation. He struck out twice, and then there's Snake.
Wise Snake's grin is a rather evil little one.
Nick: If he gave you a chance to rejoin the Tecton, would you take it?
Nick is ~~ curious and amused ~~ at Snake's antics.
Wise Snake looks at Nick.
Wise Snake: Oh, they'll give me the chance. There's no doubt about that.
Wise Snake: They need me.
Wise Snake: That's why I was able to get so much work as a rogue; the Tecton can't quite take up the slack.
Wise Snake: It never has, not in all of Unity, not yet.
Nick suspects that no amount of soap and Tecton uniform could even quite take the rogue out of Snake.
Nick: Will you take the chance when it's offered?
Wise Snake: If it seems profitable.
Nick: And after you've made Arat sweat?
Nick: ~~ amusement ~~
Wise Snake's poisonous little snake-smile returns.
Wise Snake: I think he deserves to sweat after 15 years of silence.
Wise Snake: Perhaps it won't even be him to "rehabilitate" me, perhaps it'll be his successor.
Nick isn't particularly averse to having Arat experience some difficulties, of a minor nature.
Wise Snake: After all, ambitious goals lead to dramatic failures, and several ambitious goals leads to... well.
Wise Snake doesn't intend to let the fact that she's a prisoner here cramp her style at all.
Wise Snake's style has always been deceit and nasty trickery.
Nick: He's not a bad person, Snake. Under all that rigidity, he's been as accommodating as he could manage.
Nick feels compelled to be honest.
Wise Snake: Oh yeah?
Wise Snake doesn't sound particularly convinced.
Wise Snake: Like for example, he accommodates the idea of an extra daughter, after the media makes it impossible for him to lie about it any more?
Nick: Well, he's not much for fatherhood, even with the kids he knew about. Although he has paid for their upkeep.
Wise Snake: This isn't winning me over.
Wise Snake: Nick, Arat isn't anything special. Don't be fooled by the nager.
Nick hasn't ever been very good at realistic assessments of the channels behind attractive nagers.
Nick might have avoided becoming attached to Snake, if he was.
Wise Snake: He's just the stereotypical cowardly, ass-covering bureaucrat who's blinded by his own ego half the time, and the other half, by simple denial.
Wise Snake: He's not even that nice to you.
Wise Snake: And this ultimatum... it's a crock.
Nick: You don't think he meant it?
Nick: ~~ hope ~~
Wise Snake: He's just trying to use reverse psychology on you.
Wise Snake: I'll bet you ten to one he hasn't even told his superiors he made it yet.
Wise Snake: About two days before the deadline, he's going to be sweating bullets.
Nick: You think he'd ignore it if I do?
Wise Snake: I'll bet if you went to Neptude or Seruffin right now and told them what Arat did, his ass would be busted back to department-head before you could say "oops".
Nick chuckles at the thought.
Nick: Maybe then, they'd have to make you Controller in his place.
Wise Snake snorts.
Wise Snake: Unlikely.
Nick: That's got to be their plan, eventually. Put you in charge of a Center somewhere.
Nick: What else can they do with talents like yours?
Nick has almost as high an opinion of Snake's abilities as she does.
Wise Snake: Beats me. Right now the plan seems to be to tease me with gradual increases in duties, and then clobber me with punishment if I so much as lift a tentacle outside them.
Wise Snake: Quite tedious, actually.
Wise Snake isn't actually objecting to the increased duties bit, though.
Nick: They've been making me work on learning the paperwork. Reports, forms, memos....
Nick: Being a rogue was a lot simpler, in some respects.
Wise Snake: Because it didn't matter if we forgot anything important. [agrees]
Nick: They were threatening to give me an office, at one point.
Nick shakes his head in amazement.
Nick: I've never thought I was the office type.
Nick is much more used to thinking of himself as the rogue Companion of the world's best rogue channel.
Nick: You know, if you're right that Arat hasn't told his superiors about his ultimatum, things could get very interesting here in a couple of weeks.
Nick chuckles.
Wise Snake: Why don't you ask him and find out?
Wise Snake: Or better yet, ask them.
Wise Snake: You could get quite a bit more of that power you're looking for if you make them your friends instead.
Wise Snake: After all, if you're serving powerful enough channels, there's only so many possible places to be rotated between.
Nick chews a stick of celery thoughtfully.
Nick: That's true.
Nick: And far too many of them are someplace else.
Nick: It's in Arat's file--the Farris-rated Donors are monopolized by the Householdings.
Wise Snake: So are the Farris channels. [points out]
Wise Snake: It's not exactly a rose garden being one of the left overs.
Wise Snake: Being monopolized by them might not be such a bad thing.
Nick: Well, yes. Do you think they'll remember that you're pledged to Zeor, when it comes time to find a Donor for you?
Wise Snake shrugs.
Wise Snake: They always have before.
Wise Snake: Then again, I was in First Year before.
Wise Snake: Even Arat got good Zeor Donors in his First Year.
Nick: He's got one now, though. Alea.
Wise Snake: And I'll get her next, unless she's sent away.
Nick: She's much steadier than she used to be. She hasn't been in the infirmary since she got here.
Wise Snake nods.
Nick looks closely at Snake in an attempt to assess her feelings about Alea.
Nick: Are you looking forward to working with her again?
Wise Snake seems reasonably OK with it.
Wise Snake: It could be worse.
Nick: Yeah. Beni really tries, and he's learned a lot, but he's not really ready to handle you, yet.
Wise Snake: Anyway, Arat will require Beni.
Wise Snake: If you aren't going to be around.
Nick: I'm a bit surprised they didn't make Arat send him on, when they send Alea here.
Nick: Isn't that the way it usually works?
Wise Snake: Maybe they were planning on taking either you or Alea away from him at the end of the month anyway.
Nick grins evilly.
Nick: You know, I can't decide whether it would be more fun to not show up the day after our transfer, or to walk in as usual.
Wise Snake cocks her head, thinking as she studies Nick that this sort of humor is not his usual style - the dilemma must be bothering him even more than he realizes.
Linn reports to Arat's office with her usual punctuality.
Linn's signal is noticeably sharper and more precise than it was before she started training.
Arat flicks a tentacle at Jeniard, indicating that he should get the door.
Jeniard gives Arat's shoulders a final squeeze and then walks around the desk to open the door for Linn.
Jeniard nods politely to her.
Linn smiles politely back.
Linn: Good afternoon, Hajene Jeniard.
Arat is looking over the work Devera has done and brought up for his inspection, and the work Jeniard has done and left for his inspection, and waiting for Alea to come back from lunch, and generally wishing he was doing some solid channeling work instead of fiddling with papers.
Arat looks up.
Arat: Linn.
Arat gestures at the seats before his desk.
Linn: You wanted to see me, Controller Arat?
Linn chooses a seat.
Arat: Yes.
Linn folds her hands primly in her lap.
Arat picks up Linn's file and carefully detaches a transfer assignment card that has been clipped to it.
Arat reaches over his desk to hand the card to Linn.
Jeniard seats himself in the Donor's chair beside Arat.
Linn stares at the card for a moment.
Linn: My goodness.
Arat: Congratulations.
Arat: If you succeed, you will be a Third Order Donor and a Tecton employee of full scale pay and benefits.
Arat: And I have no doubt that you will.
Linn zlins partly happy, a touch alarmed, and more than a little shocked.
Arat of course wouldn't have arranged for her Qualification if he'd thought her less than ready.
Linn is, however, a great deal more trusting than Darrel, having had skepticism of Farris channels beaten out of her early in her association with Snake.
Linn: I hadn't expected this for several more months.
Linn has, of course, thoroughly researched the subject of Donor training.
Arat: As you work one-on-one with your assigned channel, you will learn the working aspects of being a Donor much more soundly than in a theoretical setting.
Arat: And of course, serving transfers will enhance your physical capabilities.
Arat says this in such a way that nobody could possibly misconstrue it as a racy comment.
Linn recognizes the sink-or-swim method of Donor training, familiar from watching Snake train Nick.
Arat folds his hands and tentacles together on the desk.
Arat: You will begin working with her tomorrow morning.
Linn: I don't believe I've met this... Hajene Jree.
Arat nods.
Arat: She is recently assigned here from the 12th District.
Arat: The two of you will be working on-call to support teams of Firsts and Seconds in the emergency ward.
Linn finds the idea of working with a strange channel much less intimidating than she used to, but is still not completely comfortable with it.
Linn: Emergency?
Arat: It will be varied work, some of it very well supervised, and some of it more challenging.
Arat means to say that sometimes the place gets so jammed with emergencies that the 3rds have to just jump in.
Arat also means that the rest of the time, they'll be micromanaged by sleep-deprived, overly egotistical Firsts and Seconds who consider themselves gods because they are used to performing miracles upon demand.
Linn is aware that Emergency slots tend to go to teams which are trusted to handle the unexpected.
Linn: Well, I'm sure we'll do our best.
Linn finds herself rising to the challenge.
Arat: Very well.
Arat: Also, it is time for you to begin having some working interaction with Wise Snake Farris.
Linn: Does Snake know about this?
Linn holds up the card.
Arat: Not yet.
Arat doesn't make a practice of sharing the details of his subordinates' transfer assignments with others, except in the context of actual schedule discussions.
Linn: I hope she won't be upset by it--she's always considered me, well, sort of her personal property. At least as far as selyn is concerned.
Arat: If she gives you any difficulty over it, I will arrange for you to work with a different First.
Arat makes it clear that he doesn't tolerate that sort of nonsense at his Sime Center.
Arat hopes that Linn will keep it quiet if it does happen, unless it is simply unbearable.
Linn nods, hoping that Snake will at least wait until there are no witnesses around, if she decides to object.
Linn: I'm sure she will appreciate the extra work.
Arat gives Linn a hard look.
Arat also does not tolerate criticism of himself, no matter how veiled.
Arat: It will make little difference either way, in that regard.
Arat doesn't like the implication that he gives Wise Snake so little work that working with a 3rd Order Donor a half hour once a week or so will have any impact on her health or happiness.
Arat does tend to get a little bit defensive on the subject of his rehabilitation projects these days.
Linn has become inured to the Farris Look, and returns Arat's gaze calmly.
Jeniard quietly places a hand on Arat's forearm.
Linn: Perhaps not, as far as entran goes, but it will give her less time to brood.
Arat says nothing.
Linn is also hopeful that being allowed to tell someone what to do will be therapeutic for Snake.
Linn recalls the lesson in transfer assignments.
Linn: I believe I am supposed to familiarize myself with the contents of Hajene Jree's file?
Arat: Yes.
Arat: You may obtain that from Confidential Files downstairs, by presenting your assignment card.
Linn: Very well.
Linn hopes she will be able to figure out what all the information means.
Linn takes her leave, passing Neptude on her way out.
Neptude: Ah, good, you're free.
Neptude helps himself to a seat.
Neptude: I just thought I'd drop by and see how things are going.
Neptude: That was one of your rehabilitation projects, was it not?
Arat: Linn Haskins.
Jeniard realizes where his hand is, and it slinks away back into his lap.
Neptude: Doing well, I trust?
Arat controls his breathing carefully, since surprise visits from his Controllers tend to freak him out at the best of times, and this one had blindsided him completely.
Arat: Yes, she is.
Arat: I have authorized her Qualification and introduction to a working rotation.
Arat: She and her channel will be on-call to begin with, to be evaluated after a month.
Neptude: Good, good.
Neptude is ~~ pleased ~~
Neptude: And what about the others?
Arat: I am still not satisfied with Hero's progress and have adjusted her training schedule slightly. I will re-evaluate her in another month.
Arat wouldn't have had to be in such a hurry with Hero if it weren't for the Nick thing going so badly.
Neptude: What is your assessment of the potential to be found among the Narosian stock?
Arat: Based upon my observation of Hero and Nick, and the records of Mytag, Ison and other Tecton-employed Narosians, they do seem to favor Firsts when adequately pushed.
Arat: At least in the case of those who... possess more than a single parent carrying the channel's genes.
Arat doesn't mean just any channel's genes, either.
Neptude: High Firsts? Or is Nick unusual in that respect?
Arat: As for how far they can be pushed, Hero is the only sample available to me. The others, aside from Nick, were not pushed.
Arat: And without more information on the... father, it would be difficult to assess without an empirical test.
Arat means he'd have to put Riyyh through a wringer, and deep zlin him a while, to put a tentacle on what his potential might have been in youth.
Neptude: You said you were disappointed with Hero's progress?
Arat: Yes, I had initially left her training up to her assigned channel.
Arat: However, there was a difference of opinion on what was required.
Arat: We have discussed it, and now more emphasis will be placed upon pushing her physical development.
Neptude: That's good, then.
Neptude: How is your... daughter... coming along?
Arat: Slowly, but we are nearly back to the point where we were before the... incident.
Arat hardly needs to say which incident that was; stories of Snake's little walkabout were rampant at the time.
Neptude: Yes. I'd still like to know exactly how she got out.
Arat: She was on a work release and slipped free of her assigned Donor.
Arat's very sharp tongue has already punished said Donor even more thoroughly than his own conscience ever could have.
Neptude: Which one was that? Beni?
Neptude: I trust you have assured that her next Donor doesn't repeat the error?
Arat: Yes.
Neptude: Good.
Neptude: Your work has been attracting a good deal of attention in high places, as I'm sure you are aware.
Neptude: In fact, there will be a groups of visiting dignitaries coming through in about three weeks--I realized that it would be premature to have Hajene Snake meet them, but perhaps something might be arranged for the others?
Arat: Of course.
Arat: Linn, and Hero, certainly....
Arat: Perhaps Wise Snake.
Neptude: And Nick. That nager of his will be the crowning touch.
Arat shifts uneasily.
Arat nods.
Neptude: Good. I'll leave it to you to get them ready.
Neptude: My staff will contact you to iron out any last minute details.
Neptude: Oh, and one more thing.
Arat: Controller Neptude?
Neptude: Just what has been going on between you and Sosu Pylor?
Arat looks, and is, completely thrown for a loop by the question.
Neptude zlins annoyed at having to deal with the matter... again.
Arat: Controller Neptude? [repeats, in surprise]
Neptude: From the reports I've had, he's been going from bad to worse.
Arat: He has.
Arat: [admits]
Neptude: You were supposed to help him develop his potential, not ruin him for working entirely.
Neptude: What happened?
Arat flinches.
Arat: He is not interested in developing his potential whatsoever, and has said so in so many words.
Arat: I attempted to persuade him otherwise by first placing him with a channel who vastly under-rated him - which he enjoyed - and then placing him with a channel who exhibited even worse social prejudices than his - which he grossly misinterpreted.
Neptude: Has he given a reason for his desire not to develop his potential? That's not normal behavior for a Donor.
Neptude: In fact, it wasn't normal for Pylor, either, at least not historically.
Arat: Was there ever any attempt to have him work with Farrises before?
Arat knows there wasn't.
Arat knows, at least, there wasn't any record of such attempts in Pylor's file.
Neptude: No, of course not. It's been only recently that his capacity has grown to the point that he could be assigned to a Farris, for anything other than an emergency.
Arat: Because that is the line he has drawn. He does not wish to work with Farrises, and he specifically does not want to work with... [hesitates]
Arat: He particularly resents my Audnes origins.
Arat does not repeat the specific stinging accusations Pylor hurled, regarding certain incidents occurring in childhood and whose father and grandfather treated whose how.
Neptude: I would have hoped that your dedication to the Tecton was obvious to anyone working with you regularly.
Arat: In Pylor's case, the seeds were planted long before he Established.
Arat: He was born and raised in New Othwol, as were his parents and their parents before them.
Neptude: And that caused the problem?
Arat: Most renSimes from that stock respect the Audnes name, rather than revile it. I cannot speak for the rest of Pylor's family, either. Perhaps it is Pylor alone, who resents my past this badly.
Arat wishes he could say he'd never treated Pylor coldly or humiliated him in front of other children, but the truth of the matter is, he cannot recall, and probably couldn't have if he'd been asked 15 years ago.
Arat can say, definitively, that he probably knew who Pylor was - and that's about it.
Neptude: So it is a personal dislike?
Arat: It is a personal dislike, one which existed long before we ever formally met.
Arat: It colored all of our assignments together.
Arat: I am not convinced that his objection to Farrises is connected, however.
see note 1
Notes:
1) This scene is continued in DCO #80. See link below. [return]