Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #103: Take me to your Water (11/9/99)
Leta folds her washing and puts it neatly away in her wardrobe.
Leta hums under her breath.
Leta: "Caro mio ben, cre di me almen, senza de te...."
Leta puts her socks away and sings out loud "Il tu fidel, so spiro nor...."
Leta has hear that some singers can break glass, but so far all she has been able to break is a mirror.
Homer, having just gotten off his shift in the Pediatrics ward, comes staggering down the hall.
Leta: "Il tu fidel, so spiro nor. So spiro nor!"
Homer pauses in the hall.
Homer listens to the music in a language he does not recognize.
Leta: "Caro mio ben, cre di me almen, senza de te languish il cor."
Leta sighs melodramatically.
Leta starts the song again. "Caro mio ben, cre di me almen, senza de te...."
Leta never gets sick of the beauty of ancient Gen, even if the meaning is a little clouded.
Homer nervously signals at the door of his assigned Donor.
Leta warbles "Come innnnn!"
Homer enters.
Homer glances at the floor.
Leta smiles at her assigned channel. "Hello Homer, would you like some tea?"
Leta heads over to where she has some cooling.
Leta: Sit down, make yourself comfort...
Homer: I hope I am not interrupting.
Leta frowns. "How can you be interrupting! We are assigned together."
Homer: I have never heard music like that before
Leta: Oh that's Caro mio ben. It's an song in Old Gen about a transfer dependency.
Homer: It's very beautiful. You have a lovely voice.
Leta pours a cool glass of tea. "Here you go." ~ blush ~ "Why thank you!"
Homer sits gingerly.
Leta: How was work? ~ without me ~
Leta gets herself another glass.
Homer takes the glass.
Homer: You are very kind.
Leta: All part of the service.
Homer: Actually I came here to give you something.
Leta: ~ wary ~ Yes?
Homer: I don't know if you will like it, but I hope....
Leta wishes she could zlin sometimes.
Homer holds out a little red clay pot.
Leta looks at it, then gingerly takes it.
Leta: I... ummmm... thank you. What is it?
Leta turns it over.
Homer smiles bashfully.
Homer: Something from my homeland. Cactus flower tea.
Homer's pot is quite small and has a little clay cover.
Leta: Oh! I've never heard of that.
Leta takes the lid off and looks inside.
Homer: Trin doesn't grow in the desert very well.
Leta takes a tentative sniff.
Homer: (The pot is filled with dried and crumbled fuschia flower petals. The odor is very sweet and flowery.)
Leta: Nice. Thank you.
Leta rewards him with a glowing smile that goes right through her nager.
Homer's relaxes a little and he steals a glance at Leta.
Leta: You look tired, would you like to put your feet up and rest for awhile?
Leta wonders exactly when this channel is due for turnover, and how it will affect him.
Leta puts the pot on a shelf with several other little ornaments.
Homer: Thank you.
Homer: The day was long.
Leta: "But the dark night cometh...."
Homer: There are so many people here.
Homer shudders.
Leta realizes what she said and blushes.
Leta: Sorry, just a quote.
Homer: Oh! I thought you meant....
Homer Never mind.
Homer returns his glance to his cup of tea.
Leta: Yes, it's a busy place.
Leta: Would you like to rest for awhile, or would you like to have a little tour of the city?
Homer: There are more people in this building than there were in my whole village.
Leta thinks that getting Homer out of the building would be therapeutic.
Leta: I came from a small town myself, originally. But that was a long time ago, and you get used to it.
Leta smiles again. She smiles a lot.
Homer: Oh, would you like to go outside? I would enjoy that.
Leta: I'll just get my coat.
Leta walks over to the wardrobe and removes a warm cream wool coat.
Homer zlins Leta politely to see if she really wants to go out or is just being polite.
Leta: You haven't had a chance to have a look around yet have you?
Leta: ~ happy to go out ~
Homer: Not very much, no.
Homer: I understand that I am here to work.
Homer shrugs.
Leta: There are several buildings that are interesting. There is the library, and the city pool. It's closed at the moment, but the building it is housed in is very old. Then there is the treasury, and the Old Court House and the New Court House, and the Middle and Lower Court House.
Leta has never seen a channel morose because they had to work before and pauses.
Leta: You don't like the work?
Homer: There are just so many people; how do you get to know them all?
Leta smiles. "Give it time. You will probably never get to meet, or know, everyone. But you don't have to."
Homer: I would be honored if you would show me your city.
Leta picks up her bag and checks inside it to make sure she has her papers, and her purse, and her comb and her handkerchief.
Leta is very organized.
Homer: It is important to know your patients in order to heal them properly.
Homer: But here there are so many sick people I feel I cannot perform with correctness.
Leta opens the door and steps out into the hallway.
Homer steps after her.
Leta: In a perfect world you might get to know all your patients that way, but here I'm afraid you just have to do what you can.
Leta pulls the door shut and makes sure it is locked.
Leta heads towards the closest exit, which is still a fair distance due to the size of the building.
Homer follows close on Leta's heels.
Leta trots down the stairs.
Leta: I think we will catch a carriage into the center of town.
Homer: All right.
Homer looks around in every direction.
Leta walks into the lobby, very self composed, and signs out, then passes the pen to Homer.
Homer takes the pen in surprise, then imitates Leta's action.
Leta: Just in case there is a fire you see. So they know who got out and who didn't.
Homer: It takes time to find the balance for each person.
Leta: It will get easier for you as time goes on.
Leta: ~ soothing ~
Homer enjoys being ~~ soothed ~~
Homer: You are very kind.
Homer basks in her nager.
Leta opens the door to a rather cool breeze.
Leta checks to make sure the channel in her care will be warm enough.
Homer enjoys the bracing feel of the wind.
Homer checks to be sure his Gen is properly protected from the elements.
Cab waits at the head of a line of cabs out front.
Leta is pleased to see a few cabs hanging around outside. She hates having to call one, or worse still, use nageric influence to make one stop. She does it when she has to, but she always feels guilty afterwards.
Homer examines the horses with interest.
Homer thinks they are pretty poor specimens and look overworked.
Cab's driver notes Homer's reaction and decides he doesn't like him.
Leta walks over to the head of the line and smiles at the cabby. "Post Office Square please, driver."
Homer wonders if he should stop by here later and heal all the horses.
Cab's driver thinks the dame isn't so bad, though.
Cab's driver: Hop in.
Homer follows Leta.
Leta steps up into the cab.
Homer enters the cab. He would rather be riding the horse.
Leta settles her coat over her knees in a lady-like fashion.
Cab's driver waits until they are seated, and then clucks to his horses and steers them out into traffic.
Homer is wearing denim jeans and a loose tunic.
Homer stares all around.
Leta: Other than the hospital, there is the Municipal Oxindator there [points] and the Deli there.... The rest of the buildings around here are all new, as you can see.
Homer: I have tried, but I cannot even find the balance of the building.
Homer: Let alone the city.
Homer: I get a headache whenever I try.
Leta: Well, the building, like the city, is a mixture of the old and the new.
Leta: Most of the building is rather old. But the interior is new, and of course, we have the latest equipment.
Homer: But everything has a balance, a place in the circle.
Leta: The same with the city. Some of the buildings have the original frontages, but when you are inside it's all new.
Homer: I am not sure the building knows its place.
Leta: That's because so much had been neglected for so long, and so much of the heritage hadn't been respected.
Homer: What is its heritage?
Homer: Why has it been neglected?
Leta thinks that the building knows perfectly well its place. The corner of Maple Drive and Unity Place, right opposite the water works, where it has stood for decades.
Leta hesitates as she tries to think.
Leta: Well, mostly it's money I guess. It costs a lot to upkeep these older places. And until recently people didn't really have a feel for history you know what I mean? It was all "look forwards into the future and Unity."
Leta: Now that we have that there is time to look backwards.
Cab turns onto Hope Plaza Boulevard, the horses' hooves clip clopping gently, audible now that they are on a quieter street.
Homer senses that his comments may not have been completely understood.
Homer tries to understand what Leta is telling him.
Homer: To find the balance between the future and the past?
Leta: It's too late to protect some of the buildings, the damage is too great.
Leta: Well, yes. Between our history and our future.
Leta: The link between where we are coming from and where we are going to.
Homer nods.
Homer: That is it exactly. The place in the circle.
Leta isn't sure that they are talking about the same thing.
Homer looks at the buildings that line the road.
Leta rests back and enjoys the ride.
Homer: I have not yet found my own place in this circle.
Homer: But I am glad to be here with you.
Leta: Thank you. Don't try to rush finding your place. It will come in time.
Leta pats him on the hand.
Homer trembles at the Gen's touch.
Leta: ~ quietly, gently ~
Homer feels a bit giddy.
Leta sees the planned destination approaching.
Leta: Almost there. If the weather holds we can walk back if you like.
Homer senses her anticipation.
Cab pulls over at a cab stand fronting on Post Office Square.
Homer zlins the surrounding area.
Leta dismounts from the cab and opens her bag, takes out her purse, opens her purse, takes out a small zippered bag, opens the small zippered bag and hands the cabby some money.
Homer steps out of the cab and gazes about in wonder.
Leta takes the change and reverses the sequence.
Leta: Thank you so much driver. It was a very smooth ride. (smiles)
Homer drifts hyper and tries to center himself within the pattern of the city.
Homer senses concrete and metal cutting him off from his connection to the earth.
Cab's driver smiles back.
Homer is starting to become disoriented.
Pigeon pecks around the ground near Homer's feet.
Homer takes a few shuffling steps, trying to regain his equilibrium.
Pigeon flaps away indignantly.
Homer is losing his awareness of his psycho-spatial location and freezes in place, terrified.
Leta senses that something is wrong and focuses her attention more tightly on the channel while she finishes putting the purse away.
Homer feels as if he is drifting off into an empty void.
Leta: ~ I'm here ~
Homer zlins the light of a Gen nager and turns towards it.
Leta: ~ here for you ~
Leta smiles at him and reaches for his hand.
Homer grips her roughly with his handling tentacles.
Leta: Errrr... ~ relax a little ~
Homer slowly responds to her nageric signal.
Leta had her fair share of bruises and burns during training, but hasn't been handled this roughly by a Sime in a very long time.
Homer feels dizzy and nauseous.
Leta pats his hand. "Come over here and sit down. It's only turnover."
Homer gets sick all over her shoes.
Leta fights down ~ revulsion ~ and leads him over to a park bench.
Homer follows her nager.
Homer clings to her.
Homer feels the universe begin to stop whirling.
Homer sinks duo-conscious and becomes aware of his grip on the Gen.
Homer also becomes aware of smells again.
Homer: Oh, no!
Leta: Are all your turnovers this bad?
Homer loosens his grip.
Homer: I'm so sorry!
Homer's head is clearing now.
Leta pats him, physically and nagerically.
Leta: ~ there there ~
Homer: Oh, your shoes are ruined!
Leta: That's OK. They will wash.
Leta thinks that they will. Otherwise the Tecton will replace them, after she has submitted the required forms, in triplicate.
Homer: I'll get you some more... somewhere.
Homer looks wildly about the cityscape.
Homer: Please forgive me!
Leta: There is nothing to forgive! But, if you will be all right for a moment, I'll just go over there and wash them.
Leta points to a tap.
Homer: Oh, let me!
Homer lightly picks her up and carries her to the water source.
Leta: Errr, ummmm, oh all right.
Leta gives in graciously.
Homer sets her down gently and kneels to remove the offending shoes.
Leta: Please, I can do it!
Leta: ~ embarrassed ~
Homer washes her shoes off thoroughly and then plays the water over her bare feet.
Leta is quite certain that channels should not be kneeling on damp grass.
Homer: This is some place, huh. Water in the street!
Homer makes sure that each toe is individually doused.
Leta looks around to see if anyone is watching. Of course people are watching.
Leta is dreadfully ticklish, but has learned to suppress it.
Delta walks down the sidewalk towards Homer and Leta.
Leta: ~ slight tickle ~
Homer zlins his Gen and sees that she is both ticklish and chilled.
Delta is a prim old lady walking a Standard Poodle.
Delta looks pointedly at them and then sniffs.
Delta didn't live in Sime Territory back in her day, but she is fairly sure people didn't do such things even here, back then.
Leta is glad her Tecton badge is covered by her coat. She would hate to give anyone the wrong opinion about the Tecton.
Homer takes off his shirt.
Delta gasps.
Leta goes bright red.
Leta: Hajene! Please, put that back on!
Homer wipes off Leta's damp feet, making sure not to tickle her.
Leta tries to pull his shirt back up his arms.
Delta hears the word "Hajene" and stares.
Leta: ~ oh dear ~
Delta had heard the Sime Territory folks used to call channels and their Gen Companions "perverts", but she never realized there was any truth to the fact.
Delta and her poodle are standing there staring at them from about 15 feet away.
Leta gives in once again and waits until he gets it out of his system.
Homer: I am fine! But you are cold!
Leta: I'm not that cold!
Leta closes her eyes so she won't have to see the old bird staring at them.
Homer zlins Leta is annoyed by the elderly passer-by and gives her a curious look.
Leta likes her life the way it is, everything ordered and in its place. The number of public shirtless channels she has been caught wet with so far she could count on one of her fingers.
Leta thinks it could be worse, he could remove....
Leta hastily stops thinking that.
Homer zlins the old lady's disapproval and realizes he has probably run afoul of another incomprehensible Nivet custom.
Leta: ~ everything's all right ~
Homer sees that Leta's feet are now dry.
Delta shakes her head and keeps on walking.
Delta's poodle keeps looking over his shoulder as they recede slowly into the distance.
Homer puts his shirt back on to please Leta.
Homer's shirt is now damp, wrinkled and smelly.
Zook walks up to them.
Homer looks at the shoes.
Zook is a young renSime stoner, with bangs covering his eyes.
Homer: Do you want to put these on, or would you rather I carried you?
Zook: [to Homer]
Zook: Hey, man, can you spare five or ten?
Zook doesn't notice Homer is talking to somebody else.
Leta: I'll put them on!
Leta hurriedly puts the wet shoes back on before Homer can pick her up again.
Zook: Hey man, can you spare some change?
Homer glances at Zook.
Leta keeps her nager down and away from the young renSime.
Homer zlins a Sime who seems badly out of balance.
Homer: What do you want to change?
Zook: I am so broke man. Gimme like five or ten to buy some dinner and some tea?
Leta pulls herself together.
Leta: I'm sorry, we can't do that. There is a soup kitchen three blocks that way that will be happy to give you some food.
Leta points.
Homer: Shouldn't we feed him?
Leta: ~ NO ~
Zook zlins the big no and backs off.
Zook: It's OK lady I don't want to make no trouble.
Leta: Oh, good.
Leta rubs her head.
Leta: I think we should probably head back.
Leta: Maybe another day we can see the sights.
Homer falls back a bit in shock, appalled that he has distressed his Gen so much.
Homer: Of course. Whatever you want.
Homer looks around for the cab.
Homer sees a cab and signals wildly.
Cabby sees somebody signaling and steers toward the curb.
Cabby is a young kid.
Homer: Can you take us to the DCO?
Leta is relieved that they don't have to walk home. She doesn't think she could manage it in wet shoes.
Homer: ~~ frantic ~~
Leta: ~ calm and steady ~
Leta puts a steadying hand on Homer's shoulder.
Leta: It's all right, Hajene. There is no hurry.
Cabby: Sure. Climb in.
Cabby: Which one?
Homer feels ~~ incredible relief ~~ that his Gen is calming down.
Homer: 53rd District.
Homer guides Leta to the cab.
Leta smiles at the driver to show him all is well and steps into the cab.
Homer enters the cab.
Homer scrunches in the corner of the cab so as not to brush Leta's lovely coat with his damp, stinking shirt.
Leta pats his leg reassuringly.
Leta: Don't worry about it Hajene. These things happen.
Homer is trembling.
Leta: But you didn't tell me, are all your turnovers this bad?
Leta: ~ soothing calm ~
Leta: ~ friendly and slightly cheerful ~
Homer: No, not usually.
Homer: I can't seem to find the center here.
Leta doesn't think pointing out its physical address will help.
Cabby swings the cab away from the curb and starts the horses jogging down the center of the street.
Homer: Ever since I left Arrizz....
Leta ponders a few minutes, then knocks on the cabs hatch to talk to the driver.
Leta: Driver!
Leta: ~ calm, soothing ~
Homer: Thank all the Gods I wasn't still on the train....
Homer is calming down; the worst is over.
Cabby: Yes, ma'am?
Leta: Can you take us to the River Gardens please?
Cabby: Sure thing.
Leta: {to Homer} I hope you don't mind if we stop off for a few minutes. It's somewhere I go when I need to just rest and unwind.
Homer: ~~ surprise ~~
Homer: Anything you want.
Homer: Are you sure you don't want to change those shoes?
Homer: Let me get you some new shoes.
Homer looks around in frustration; he has no idea where new shoes might be found.
Cabby takes a side street that will get him onto the diagonal toward the river.
Homer zlins Leta to be sure she is all right and not too cold.
Leta: No, it's OK, I'll take off my shoes to walk in the grass anyway.
Leta: ~ concerned about Homer ~
Homer: All right.
Homer smiles at her shakily.
Leta points out the window. "See those big trees over that low building? That's the River Gardens."
Leta: I go there sometimes to watch the ducks.
Homer is pleased to see trees and green growing things.
Homer: It looks like a place that is full of life.
Leta: A lot of people use it to unwind. You will find that most big cities have a place like it. Sometimes several places like it.
Leta: We have the River Gardens, the Botanical Gardens and the Main Park.
Leta: I like the River Gardens best, because of the river and the bird life.
Homer: I am sure I will like it too.
Leta likes the frogs too, but that's her secret.
Leta is a closet amphibiophile.
Leta kisses princes in the hope that they will turn into frogs.
Cabby turns down a waterfront road.
Homer thinks that perhaps he will feel better if he can get his feet on the ground instead of concrete.
Homer remembers that any place with running water is a place of power.
Leta gets her multiple purses ready.
Leta knocks on the divider again. "Anywhere here, thanks, driver."
Cabby pulls over.
Homer opens the door.
Leta slides out of the cab and onto the pathway and hands the Cabby the money.
Leta: Thank you.
Homer notices what Leta is doing and remembers the money customs.
Homer says "Thank you" also.
Cabby tips his hat to Leta and Homer and drives off.
Homer looks around.
Leta takes Homer by the hand and leads him off the path and down towards the river. There are many big trees, some rose gardens, and some smaller bushy trees.
Homer takes his own shoes off.
Leta: Is this better?
Homer: You are right, this is good.
Leta: ~ pleased ~
Leta thinks that maybe she does know where he is coming from after all.
Homer sits on the grassy edge of the river by the ducks.
Leta wishes she had brought some crumbs for the ducks.
Homer tries once more to orient himself to his new surroundings.
Homer feels his perceptions take root in the earth and the flowing patterns of the river.
Homer begins to regain his equilibrium for the first time since he boarded the train in Flag.