Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #80: Praise, with Faint Damns (9/25/99)
see note 1
Neptude: You believe it might be a separate issue?
Neptude: Perhaps a more manageable one?
Arat thinks yes to the former, no to the latter.
Arat: Pylor is no longer... manageable... in any sense, in these matters.
Neptude: Dear me.
Neptude: ~~ dismay ~~
Neptude is not happy about having a Donor ruined on his watch.
Arat: Perhaps if he were to be tried out with a series of Farrises, until one was found who he approved of on a personal level, and was allowed to work with that Farris indefinitely....
Arat knows this is impossible.
Neptude dismisses the suggestion with a wave.
Neptude: You know how the Tecton goes. And what Farris channel would accept a problem like Pylor for more than a month, if he had the ability to get a replacement?
Arat: And, at this point, Pylor has declared that he does not wish to work with Farrises, or learn to work with Farrises, but would prefer to work only with the lower Firsts. It is my opinion that he would flat out refuse to cooperate with them, just as he has refused to cooperate with me.
Neptude looks at Arat measuringly.
Arat pauses for a moment and then adds, "I am not sure that he would even cooperate with a Farris superior, were he assigned to a facility where there was one. Although perhaps in time...."
Neptude: You're usually a bit better at winning cooperation than that.
Neptude: ~~ displeasure ~~
Arat's nager becomes even more transparent than usual.
Arat: This was not an easy situation. The problem had been established long before we were first assigned together.
Neptude: Yes, about that problem....
Arat is aware that he sounds defensive, but he can't help it: He can feel a big hammer hovering over him, ready to come down on him.
Neptude: Perhaps you could be more specific about it?
Arat looks uncomfortable.
Arat: Pylor says he resents the relative difference in social class of our fathers and grandfathers... a difference which he says I perpetuated in my youth, to his displeasure.
Neptude raises an eyebrow.
Neptude: So your presence makes him feel inferior?
Arat thinks it is closer to "resentful loathing".
Arat: Perhaps it was that, in the beginning.
Neptude is not unfamiliar with the phenomenon, having worked around Farris channels frequently since he started holding high Tecton office.
Arat doesn't feel very in control of events which happened more than 20 years ago, especially as he is one of those people who barely remembers anything before about age 10.
Neptude: Surely it would be possible to reassure him that he is valued?
Arat: I am sure it would be, however at this point it would be necessary to play entirely by Pylor's own rules in order to gain his cooperation.
Arat rejects that as a matter of principle.
Arat would do it temporarily for, say, a Nick Reckage, but for a Pylor?
Neptude's frowns at this implication that Arat has rejected a possibly fruitful approach.
Neptude: Just what rules would those be?
Arat: When we were first assigned, [explains] he felt it necessary to insult and degrade me verbally at every juncture.
Neptude: And how did you handle that?
Arat: At first I ignored it.
Arat: When it became too much, I asked him to stop.
Arat learned younger than most that there is no point in trading insults, and generally manages to avoid that.
Arat: However, there were other issues.
Arat: His handling of me was... careless.
Arat: Granted, he did not know much about it at the time, either. He had not been prepared to work with Farrises. However, when I requested gentler handling or more attention or any number of other things, he felt I was being unreasonable.
Neptude: Careless? Or merely on the level he was working, at that time?
Neptude: Would his handling of you have been acceptable if you had not outrated him so severely?
Arat: It is difficult to say. I think his personal dislike of me was a factor. Perhaps if it had not been me, but another Farris.
Arat: It was difficult for him to see my requests as anything but a display of dominance.
Arat had no trouble with Pylor seeing them that way, of course, so long as it produced a jump to comply with said requests.
Arat's problem with it is that it produced a different reaction entirely.
Neptude sighs.
Arat: Then again, I am not the only Farris he has worked with since we were first assigned, and my impression is he does not like Farrises at all.
Neptude: I haven't read his chart lately. Refresh my memory?
Arat: His post-transfer reports for Farris-assigned months generally refer to exhaustion and a sense of having gained little and been appreciated less.
Arat knows that the post-transfer reports for his months were considerable more colorful.
Neptude: I see. How did his assigned channels rate his efforts?
Neptude: Apart from the difference in rating, that is?
Arat: They felt he required more training.
Neptude: Well, of course.
Neptude is well aware that that is the standard complaint of channels assigned an under-rated Donor.
Arat: I am sure Pylor did not approach them as lifelong objects of hatred, however.
Arat will never forget the expression on Pylor's face and the zlin of his nager the first time they came face to face as adults.
Arat however has forgotten most of the petty insults and tauntings since then, mainly because he has been telling himself to forget them before they happen as a matter of survival.
Neptude: It appears, though, that it will be necessary for Pylor to get over his feelings for you, before he will be able to progress.
Arat: That was my assessment of the situation as well.
Arat: That is why I arranged for him to be sent away.
Arat has been worrying about why Pylor still hasn't been removed.
Neptude looks at Arat in annoyance.
Neptude: Arat, you know that it's impossible to work a decent trade for a Donor with unresolved problems of that severity.
Arat had been hoping that the value of the trade would be considered less important than the value of the results with Pylor.
Arat nods.
Neptude: And besides, how can he work on getting past his problem with you, when you aren't around to work with him?
Arat actually pales.
Arat has a moment where he envisions the assignment to Alea has been simply to "healthy him up" for another stint with Pylor.
Neptude: What have you been doing in the way of therapy for him? Personally, not by assigning him elsewhere.
Jeniard tries to be supportive without either touching Arat or technically supporting him, given who's in the room with them.
Arat: He has been in counseling since our last transfer. I have also given him two special assignments, first an easier assignment with a lower-rated channel who required special attention, and then a more difficult assignment with a channel whose... difficulties... were enough like his own that I thought he would discover the root of his own problem in helping her.
Arat sounds distinctly disappointed in describing that last.
Arat: Unfortunately, he was not able to do so without my guidance, and he refused to accept my guidance.
Arat: He carried out the assignment well enough, but he and everybody else already knew he could do that.
Neptude: So you have not been working with him personally?
Neptude: Except to supervise his assignments to other channels?
Arat: It seems, from what I have seen, that contact with me brings out the worst in Pylor, to the extent that he stops caring about his career at all.
Arat: This did not seem like something to be extended unnecessarily.
Neptude: You mentioned that you would have to "play by his rules" to gain his cooperation. What rules would those be?
Arat thinks this entire conversation would be so much simpler if Neptude could have ever zlinned and heard Pylor alone with Arat.
Arat: He is hypersensitive to criticism from me. It would be necessary to forbear offering any advice or correction of any kind. I suppose this would be possible if someone else were in charge of his actual training.
Arat thinks it would be a nightmare.
Arat: It would also be necessary to take the insults and so forth with a certain sense of humor which I am not sure I am capable of.
Arat in fact is very sure he is completely incapable of it.
Neptude sits back and looks at Arat measuringly.
Arat looks very unhappy.
Arat: In addition, Pylor requires a large amount of verbal praise, on a regular basis.
Arat: If he does not receive it, he becomes extremely resentful and no longer cooperates.
Arat operates more on the principle that the fact that he has laid his life in the hands of his Donor should be evidence enough that he needs their help.
Neptude: Arat, I would think that a channel in your position would be willing to set pride aside, in order to salvage a Donor for the Tecton.
Arat looks at Neptude.
Neptude: Particularly when it involves something as simple as providing positive feedback, or ignoring petty bickering.
Arat: I agree that Pylor is worth salvaging, but I do not agree that I am the right channel for the job. He has lifelong, deeply rooted feelings against me.
Arat shudders at the thought of having to submit himself completely to that hatred.
Neptude has no true conception of how difficult something such as praising less-than-perfect results can be for a Farris channel.
Arat also, having had first Nick, and then Alea, now has a very good picture of what a decent month is like, and is terrified of going back to any regular Donor, much less Pylor.
Neptude: Well, perhaps you are right that it would do more harm than good to assign the two of you together at this time.
Arat looks significantly relieved.
Neptude looks at Arat severely.
Neptude: However, I expect you to be working with him on a daily basis--short sessions, at first.
Neptude: Let him fill in for you when your own Donor is busy elsewhere.
Arat controls his expression with an effort.
Arat nods.
Neptude: Challenge him, but don't demand more than he can give.
Arat nods again.
Neptude: And it wouldn't cost you anything to give him some of that praise he craves, when he does acceptable work.
Arat agrees, except that Pylor so rarely does acceptable work where Arat is involved.
Arat: Yes, I agree.
Arat forces himself to finish the sentence. "... that he would appreciate more praise."
Neptude: Mind you, don't demand that he be perfect before you offer encouragement.
Arat: All right.
Neptude: Give him a reason to continue striving, and he will make the effort.
Arat chafes at the thought of ignoring Pylor's insults and sullenness and being forced to compliment his ineptitude.
Arat can't even imagine how hard it will get when Pylor finally realizes Arat is being forced to do it and starts taking advantage of the situation.
Arat supposes Neptude is completely incapable of realizing that is what is certain to occur.
Arat: Yes, Controller Neptude.
Arat: It will be difficult, but I will do as you ask.
Neptude: Good.
Neptude: I'll leave it in your capable tentacles, then.
Neptude's tone makes it clear that Arat's tentacles had better be capable.
Arat looks down.
Arat hopes this was the spontaneous decision it seemed like, so that he needn't fear Pylor will be walking in 5 minutes later by Neptude's previous arrangement.
Arat will require some time to work out a method by which he can simultaneously endure Pylor's manhandling and negativity and speak inaccurate, but sincere sounding, praise.
see note 2
Pylor is in the library, checking some references he felt might be of help in managing his current channel's case.
Arat walks toward the library, going over his strategy in his mind.
Arat on the one hand is certain that he doesn't have what it takes to coddle Pylor through his lifelong temper tantrum against the Audnes race, but on the other hand there is a certain clinical challenge to the task, which his Farris heart naturally rises to.
Pylor knows a tendency to cry incessantly at turnover isn't usually considered nasty enough to justify such extra work, but he feels he can't afford anything less than a perfect review.
Arat enters the library like a great black shadow stretching across a previously sunny landscape. Or at least, that's the result upon the atmosphere within.
Arat zlins for Pylor, and then walks in that direction.
Arat hasn't exactly been looking forward to this moment, but has the discipline to buckle down and do his duty as ordered.
Pylor looks up at the disturbance, and frowns as he sees Arat heading in his direction.
Pylor: ~~ wary ~~
Pylor nods in a stiffly formal fashion.
Pylor: Controller.
Arat stops before Pylor, his expression about as empty as it gets, which unfortunately is not one of his less fearsome appearances.
Arat takes a moment to deliberately ignore all of his own feelings in this matter or anything which has gone before.
Arat: Sosu Pylor.
Pylor hopes that by hiding behind strict Tecton etiquette, he can maintain appearances in front of witnesses.
Arat pauses, and then pulls up another chair and sits down.
Arat knows that his imposing height can intimidate even normal people, even standing.
Pylor "carelessly" drapes his hand over the book in front of him, obscuring what he was researching.
Arat carefully skirts any thoughts of what Pylor actually is, other than normal.
Arat then carefully phrases his next words to sound like a request instead of an order.
Arat: I would like you to work with me during Alea's break periods.
Arat's voice is neutral.
Pylor forgets the potential embarrassment of being found out in his astonishment.
Pylor: What?
Arat gets the rest of it out with an effort. "As... you would appear to be the best choice for the work."
Pylor had been expecting a reassignment to Outer Mongolia, not such a request.
Arat thinks he should have used something warmer than "you would appear to be", but it was already such a blatant lie he just couldn't make himself go farther than that.
Arat notices signs of emotion in himself and carefully distances himself again.
Arat: It would be twice a day, at noon in the evening, for approximately one hour each session.
Arat: If you are interested, I can arrange for it to begin at once.
Arat is banking heavily on the theory that an hour spent enduring Pylor's harassment will not be measurably more stressful than an hour fighting with Alea or Jeniard about food.
Pylor jumps to the erroneous conclusion that Neptude's visit earlier was to kidnap Beni, that Snake is keeping Nick completely tied up, and that Arat has been in trouble over Jeniard again.
Pylor has no illusions that Arat would choose him, even temporarily, if there were other options.
Pylor is also aware that Arat has actually given him a choice in the matter, and can't help but respond to the hint of collegial treatment.
Pylor knows how desperately his records require mending his fences with Arat.
Pylor sometimes finds this difficult to remember when actually in Arat's presence, but he has had ample Arat-free time to consider it, over the past week or two.
Pylor: Very well.
Pylor: At noon, you said?
Pylor: For one hour?
Arat: At noon, and at dinner hour. One hour each.
Pylor wonders briefly how Arat managed to talk Alea out of supervising his meals.
Pylor figures he'll have to eat early, eat late, or bring his own meal along.
Pylor: I will be at your office at noon, then.
Arat maintains a deadpan expression as he forces himself to utter the words: "Thank you for your flexibility. I appreciate it."
Pylor blinks, not quite sure that he heard correctly.
Pylor: You're welcome.
Pylor's response was more reflex than a considered reply.
Arat rises hastily, glad he has that over with.
Arat turns and flees the library.
Pylor looks after Arat.
Pylor: What the shen was that all about?
Notes:
1) This scene is continued from the previous episode, DCO #79. [return]
2) Some hours pass between these two scenes. [return]