Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #110: Xocalatl (12/5/99)
Darrel sneaks over to a little-used cabinet in the burn ward's break room and zlins around to make sure there aren't any authority-types around.
Homer is slumped in a chair in the break room, completely exhausted.
Curtisse, who has long ago been relegated to non-authority status in even Darrel's fearful book, watches Darrel incuriously.
Darrel is satisfied that Arat and Ormof aren't around, and extracts a small, decorated box.
Lemuse sits near Homer, supporting him.
Lemuse: [nagerically, that is!]
Lemuse eyes the slump and wonders if she should be doing more.
Darrel opens the lid with loving care, and being a courteous channel at heart, extends it towards his Donor.
Darrel: Chocolate?
Curtisse: Thanks.
Curtisse takes one.
Homer's uniform is creased and damp with sweat, as he waits to recover from his last secondary functional.
Lemuse: You doing OK? [to Homer]
Homer slowly lifts his pounding head and watches the interaction with curiosity.
Homer: Yes, I'll be all right in a little bit.
Darrel takes the box over to the others.
Darrel: Would anybody like a chocolate?
Darrel looks at Homer sympathetically.
Homer: (to Darrel) What is it?
Darrel: Chocolate. Very tasty, even when you're past turnover.
Homer scans the contents of the box and sniffs at it.
Lemuse looks at Homer curiously, since she'd wrongly assumed his people being farther south would have more, not less, access to chocolate.
Darrel: Haven't you ever tried it?
Darrel is genuinely ~~ curious ~~, as well.
Homer reaches out gingerly to take a piece.
Darrel: It's very good. ~~ encouragement ~~
Homer: I think they served something like this at Azalea's wedding.
Darrel has been blatantly addicted to chocolate for most of his life.
Homer: Imported from the south. It was very expensive.
Darrel: Well, yes, but it's well worth the money.
Darrel speaks from the perspective of a man who doesn't get much other chance to spend money.
Homer tastes the chocolate.
Homer: ~~ Delicious ~~
Darrel: Lemuse?
Darrel offers the chocolates to her.
Lemuse grins and takes one.
Lemuse: Thank you.
Lemuse allows her pleasure at the taste to color her field with delight.
Lemuse: [er, figuratively speaking]
Homer feels his appetite heightened by his Donor's enjoyment.
Homer: Yes, it's marvelous!
Darrel basks in Lemuse's pleasure, at least to the extent he dares when his own Donor is nearby.
Darrel: Lemuse knows a company that sells chocolate in interesting forms.
Darrel licks his lips in fond remembrance of the chocolate wallpaper.
Homer: Oh? ~~ interest ~~
Darrel: It makes an interesting flavored milk, as well.
Lemuse: Darrel is the only certified cocoa addict I've ever met.
Lemuse: Well, not certified literally, but....
Darrel samples one of the chocolates to make sure they haven't gone stale in the past two minutes.
Darrel believes in quality control.
Homer: I have seen a Mehecan recipe where this was used to flavor stew.
Darrel: Stew?
Darrel: ~~ dubious ~~
Darrel: Don't the vegetable flavors get in the way?
Homer: Oh, yes. Cocoa and tomatoes and apples and cinnamon. Very good.
Lemuse laughs.
Darrel pulls out a chair across from Homer and sits down.
Darrel: Was it good?
Curtisse gets up and moves closer to the other three, finds a different chair.
Darrel automatically nudges the chocolate box towards his Donor; it is, after all, a Sime reflex to feed one's Gen properly.
Homer: Yes, I liked it. Mehecan cooking is very spicy. But the land is much more fertile there than in Arriz.
Curtisse obligingly takes a second piece, and not just to make his channel happy, either.
Darrel: Oh. I don't like very spicy food. It makes my mouth burn so much I can't taste anything else.
Homer: [to Darrel] This is very very good.
Lemuse: I love spicy food.
Lemuse in fact loves all food, being rather undiscriminating.
Homer: [to Lemuse] You know where to buy more? I would like to get some.
Darrel is struck by a sudden apprehension that Curtisse might be hiding disappointment at sub-standard chocolate, and performs a quick taste test.
Lemuse: You can buy it in the gift shop right here, actually.
Homer: ~~ excitement rising even through his exhaustion ~~
Lemuse: It's kind of overpriced, but compared to a Donor's salary....
Homer: Yes, gifts. I have to send some gifts.
Darrel: There's a very nice shop that carries it in town, also.
Homer: Perhaps you will show me where it is some time.
Lemuse: Well, the gifts are mostly flowers and stuffed animals, for people who are patients here, but there are some small items that could be sent without too much trouble.
Homer reaches into the pocket of his uniform jacket and extracts a torn letter.
Homer: A box of chocolate like this would be just right.
Homer: I have good news.
Darrel: Really?
Darrel wonders if Homer has managed to get back on Arat's good side, or something.
Homer: Yes! A friend is coming to visit me!
Darrel: A friend? From Arriz Territory?
Homer: Yes. My old teacher. Hajene Pierce.
Lemuse: Oh, how wonderful for you!
Lemuse knows how much Homer has missed working under Hajene Pierce.
Darrel: Is he just coming just to visit you, or to meet with the Tecton authorities as well?
Curtisse, who doesn't know Homer well at all, listens in.
Homer: Well, I am sure he will follow procedure.
Darrel can't help wondering if this Hajene Pierce will have the same distorted view of what Tecton procedure actually is that Homer has shown on occasion.
Darrel: That's good. Arat can be very touchy about following procedure.
Homer: But I wrote to him explaining how confused I was, and he says he has an answer for me from the Matriarch.
Darrel: Your Matriarch is the local expert on Tecton protocol?
Darrel is, of course, even more clueless about Arriz Territory society than Homer is about Tecton regulations.
Homer: The Matriarch is the spiritual leader of my people and she holds my pledge.
Darrel: Oh.
Darrel doesn't see how this will help Homer with Arat.
Homer: I have been confused about how to reconcile Tecton protocols with my spiritual obligations.
Darrel: Obligations to do what?
Darrel: Arat's pretty reasonable about some things.
Darrel: If you require time off for religious observances, he'll probably be willing to do what he can.
Homer: The Earth spirit guides us in every thought and action.
Homer: There are rituals for all things, and sometimes the rituals of the Tecton differ.
Homer: So I requested guidance.
Darrel: And she's sending this Hajene Pierce instead of just writing back with the answer?
Homer: Apparently. My people do not do much writing.
Darrel: Oh. Sounds kind of nice, actually.
Homer: We do not keep reports; you cannot zlin if they are true or judge the expression of the one who wrote them.
Darrel: What do you do when the person who knows what's going on isn't available, then?
Darrel: At least the report is still there after you leave.
Homer: Well, we do not have many people and situations are much more simple.
Lemuse, who has never minded paperwork (she must be a mutant!) imagines what a disaster a huge Center like this would be without any previous records on any of the patients, and decides she wouldn't want to see an experiment like that tried here.
Homer: I would just zlin and use my own judgment.
Homer: And of course everyone knows everybody else, because we all grew up together.
Darrel: So what would happen if, say, one of your patients had been taking a medication you had prescribed, and forgot to tell the new channel about it? You could get a nasty drug reaction that way.
Lemuse: But there aren't any new channels. That's his point.
Lemuse: Everybody knows everybody, and there's nobody who's new or coming or going.
Homer: Just so.
Curtisse, who never has anything to say even in situations where he could plausibly be considered an expert, keeps his mouth shut.
Homer: And we know their sisters and brothers and mothers and aunts and second cousins and someone knows anything you would want to know.
Curtisse does wonder what it takes to get kicked out of a society that close, though.
Darrel can believe that easily, after his stay at Naros.
Homer is feeling more normal again, especially as the buzz from the chocolate kicks in.
Homer: ~~ bravely ~~ I am getting better at writing reports.
Darrel: It takes practice.
Darrel: Still, you won't lack practice here, that's for sure!