Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #120: Zow (12/21/99)
Lemuse is in the assigned transfer suite, preparing it for Homer's arrival.
Lemuse had to ask Homer what he liked, since there wasn't enough information in his file yet to be able to just research and do.
Lemuse bustles about making sure tea items are nearby, clean towels and a medical kit are available, etc.
Lemuse feels cheerfully optimistic about the transfer while still taking it seriously.
Homer is lying on his bed in the dorm, feeling utterly miserable.
Homer is certain he is going to make another terrible mistake and then the Controller will be angry at him and take his Gen away again.
Homer wonders if it would be a good idea to go down to the transfer suite a bit earlier or if this would indicate a lack of control.
Homer hates transfer suites in any event and always has.
Homer reminds himself that he has to stay in perfect control and do everything right this time.
Homer decides that he isn't improving matters by brooding in his room.
Homer decides to go down and see if Lemuse is there yet.
Homer hopes Arat will not arrive until the exact time he said he would.
Homer drags himself out of bed, straightens his uniform, and trudges down the hall.
Lemuse lights up the transfer suite with (nageric) sunshine as she arranges a small box of surprises on the table.
Homer reaches the right room.
Lemuse fusses with the bow.
Homer enters.
Lemuse: Oh!
Lemuse turns and straightens, looking innocent.
Homer is relieved to see Lemuse there and Arat not there.
Homer: I thought I might come down a bit early. Is that all right?
Homer: I could go away again if it isn't.
Lemuse: Gosh, no. By the time you got all the way up there and back down again, you'd be late anyway.
Lemuse grins.
Lemuse's nager is reassuring and promising.
Homer: I don't want to be in trouble for being late again.
Homer looks gaunt and anxious.
Lemuse: Since when has a Sime ever been late to his own transfer?
Lemuse: Come on let's work on you, you're all tense.
Lemuse smiles and takes his hands, pulling him towards the transfer lounge.
Homer: Something is going to go wrong. I know it is.
Lemuse: Like what?
Lemuse: ~~ soothing ~~
Homer: And I told the Controller there was nothing wrong.
Lemuse's hands are cool as they encircle his wrists.
Homer: And he will be angry again.
Lemuse: So what's wrong?
Homer is as tense as a board.
Homer: I don't know when I am making a mistake until the mistake is made.
Homer: But my dreams have been very bad.
Lemuse: But Homer, why didn't you tell me? I asked if you wanted me to sleep in your room.
Lemuse: ~~ concerned ~~
Homer: Sometimes dreams are important.
Homer: They tell you secrets.
Lemuse: You know, you can get the same secrets by not avoiding thinking about stuff in real life. Why lose your sleep over it?
Lemuse continues to work on him with her nager, her hands moving over his wrists in a calming, but not yet enticing, way.
Homer: There is something in my dreams that I think I need to see.
Homer: And I don't want to see it.
Homer: But I may not have a choice.
Lemuse: That's why it comes in dreams. Your body knows you have to know that stuff.
Lemuse smiles at him.
Homer feels the calming nager begin to do its work.
Homer becomes somewhat less stiff.
Homer: [miserably] There is something wrong.
Lemuse: What is it, Homer?
Homer: I don't want to think about it.
Lemuse: Isn't getting it out into the open better than being in denial on it, and dwelling on it in your subconscious?
Homer: I'm just afraid.
Homer: I shouldn't be afraid.
Lemuse looks up at Homer, attentive and supportive.
Homer: I'm ridiculous.
Lemuse: No, no, of course not.
Lemuse: Everybody has these emotions, it's not just you.
Lemuse: ~ belief ~
Homer: I have to stay in control.
Homer: I have to do everything right.
Homer: I can't afford this nonsense.
Lemuse: What are you afraid of?
Homer: Pierce...
Homer: The Controller said he would send me home after three months, but Pierce....
Homer: You heard him!
Lemuse listens.
Lemuse's hands hold Homer's.
Homer: He said Tecton rotation was like being on the circuit.
Homer: They won't send me back, Lemuse.
Homer: Not if I am "rehabilitated".
Homer: Maybe not ever.
Lemuse: Why do you think that is, Homer?
Homer would like to cry, but he can't.
Homer: You heard what he said.
Homer: That when changes happen, sometimes someone has to pay.
Homer: Sometimes everyone has to pay.
Lemuse thinks Homer is still avoiding the real issue: What he did that put him in this position in the first place. His guilt.
Lemuse squeezes his hands sympathetically.
Homer: And he told me to remember where I came from.
Lemuse: Homer? I want to show you how to do something.
Lemuse: It won't solve everything, but it's something everybody ought to know, OK?
Homer looks at her with attention.
Homer: Yes.
Lemuse smiles at him.
Lemuse: I know the times have got you down, but it's really important that you get in a better mood before your transfer. Otherwise your whole month will be off.
Homer nods tightly.
Lemuse: A friend of mine showed me this little game that she invented, to get herself thinking happy thoughts just long enough to make the different for herself.
Lemuse: Not to pretend she had no problems, nothing like that - just a tool, to fix herself up so she could get a good transfer and be ready to attack her problems head on the next month.
Homer: Okay.
Lemuse: Maybe you'll think this is just silly, but maybe it'll help you too.
Lemuse: OK.
Lemuse: Do you know any little kids?
Lemuse smiles.
Lemuse: Who's one of them? Your favorite one.
Homer: Dandy. She's my third cousin's second daughter.
Lemuse: Is she cute?
Lemuse watches his face for hints as to his feelings.
Lemuse: How old is she?
Homer: Four.
Lemuse grins.
Homer feels warmth towards his family, even in need, although thinking of them also makes him more homesick.
Lemuse: Were you there for her 3rd birthday?
Homer: No, I had to work that day.
Lemuse: When you got back, did she tell you all about it?
Lemuse feels like she's talking to a dead piece of wood.
Homer: She wore a new dress with red stars on it.
Lemuse: Was she still excited?
Homer: Yes. She kept jumping up and down.
Homer: And she has a dog, and the dog followed her. And barked.
Homer: Until she got tired.
Homer: Then Cousin Gilly put her to bed.
Lemuse studies his face, trying to get some idea of whether he is starting to think fondly of his memories instead of wallowing.
Homer is becoming calmer, remembering his connection to these people rather than focusing on his fear that they have abandoned him.
Lemuse: You know, I have a daughter, Nellie. She's six.
Homer: I did not know that you had a child.
Homer: What is she like?
Lemuse: She lives with her father, in Hanover Hills. 1
Lemuse: She's very bright, very pretty. ~~ fondness ~~
Lemuse: He wanted to keep her, because he wanted her to grow up in one place instead of traveling.
Lemuse: I was sad at first, but I can see his point. I visit her whenever I can.
Homer: Does she live near to here?
Lemuse: Not near here. Farther northwest, on the coast.
Homer: That is a long way.
Lemuse: Yes. Maybe if Arat gets transferred back to New Othwol....
Lemuse never lets herself get too wrapped up in wishing for a particular future.
Lemuse: Anyway, she is in children's school this year, and doing very well.
Lemuse smiles.
Homer is becoming focused on the emotions in her nager.
Homer begins to lose track of his own concerns and fascinated by the zlin of hers.
Lemuse's nager is tender, wistful, and yet full of caring and responsibility.
Homer: It is hard, for a mother to leave a child.
Homer can't resist letting a tentacle curl around her fingers in sympathy.
Arat arrives at Homer and Lemuse's transfer suite precisely on schedule.
Arat is sans Donor and has a lot on his mind. However, he takes a moment to focus on the issue at hand, and then enters quietly, not disturbing the ambient.
Homer: [startled] Good day, Controller Arat.
Arat: Hajene Homer, Sosu Lemuse.
Arat zlins them briefly and determines that things have progressed well so far.
Homer focuses on his surroundings, determined to behave correctly.
Arat gestures for them to continue.
Arat positions himself so as to have an excellent zlin of them without interfering, and then goes still and watching.
Lemuse notices Homer has gone all self-conscious again.
Homer, his head clearer than it was when he came downstairs, runs once again in his mind through the etiquette of Tecton transfers.
Lemuse's nager encourages him to be as ~~ relaxed and confident ~~ as she is.
Homer looks to Lemuse to take the lead.
Lemuse smiles at him.
Lemuse: How much time do we have left?
Homer: Ten minutes.
Homer takes a few deep breaths, trying to relax again.
Lemuse: Do you want to see what I brought you?
Homer: Certainly.
Lemuse looks pointedly at the lead-foil wrapped box on the table near Homer.
Lemuse: I was hoping you'd be feeling pretty good later on, so I bought you something you might enjoy then.
Homer looks at the box bemused.
Homer: Should I open it now?
Lemuse: We've got plenty of time, and this way there won't be all that suspense.
Lemuse grins impishly.
Homer: Very well.
Homer gives a sidelong glance at Arat watching, wondering if this is within the rules, but he figures Lemuse wouldn't steer him wrong.
Arat seems to be engrossed in their nageric interaction.
Homer goes to the box and examines it.
Lemuse: I had to wrap it that way so my friends wouldn't zlin the goods and get tempted!
Homer decides the lead-foil wrapping is too pretty to tear, and so removes it with extreme care.
Lemuse moves with him, her field a reassurance.
Homer is unusually steady for a Sime this far into Need.
Homer opens the box to find some chocolate and a small leather book.
Lemuse: They make them in Maple Leaf territory. [explains]
Lemuse: It's for writing your thoughts for other people in, so you can tell them later when you see them again.
Homer: Thank you, Sosu.
Lemuse: And the chocolate is in case you have an appetite!
Lemuse's nager is filled with optimism that he will.
Homer: I am sure I will want them, soon, and you must help me with this gift.
Lemuse: It would be my pleasure.
Homer is beginning to be lured hyperconscious by Lemuse's nager again.
Lemuse removes the items from Homer's hands and lays them on the table, then tugs him back over in the direction of the transfer lounge again.
Homer would enjoy it more if there weren't another Sime in the room with them.
Homer lets himself be led.
Lemuse's hands stray up his forearms as they sit down.
Lemuse's fingers, for all their Genness, are remarkably unclumsy just at the moment.
Lemuse's fingers in fact are rather nimble in their current occupation.
Lemuse: ~~ anticipation and good feelings ~~
Homer, for all that it is time for his transfer, is not yet showing much intil.
Lemuse had anticipated a certain amount of trouble with this, since Homer is so funny about Donors, had been wallowing in bad feelings, and doesn't like being monitored.
Lemuse remains patient, knowing there are still a few minutes left before they could begin even if they wanted too.
Lemuse does not try to hide her own ~~ readiness and inspiration ~~, however.
Homer relaxes in the pleasure of her touch and the allure of her nager.
Homer frets momentarily about the watching Sime presence, but is distracted by the shimmering Gen field.
Lemuse's hands coax and tease his tentacles, fingertips lightly brushing the orifices and ronaplin glands.
Lemuse thinks of happy things, of pleasurable things, like giving transfer for example.
Lemuse's nager sparkles with a hint of laughter.
Lemuse pays not one shred of attention to anybody but Homer.
Homer fixes on the sparkling field before him.
Homer zlins with amazement that this Gen is truly his.
Homer slowly, carefully grasps her with his handling tentacles and pulls her closer.
Lemuse: ~~ anticipation ~~
Lemuse opens herself up in offering.
Homer lets his laterals find their position on her arms.
Homer cautiously allows himself to drift into making the fifth contact.
Lemuse is quite beside herself with eagerness, but due to Tecton regulations wouldn't dream of initiating.
Homer begins to draw, very slowly.
Lemuse savors the suspense of the slow beginning.
Homer explores the flavor of her bubbling nager and, zlinning the eagerness, increases speed.
Lemuse knows an increasing ~~ pleasure ~~, as well as a playful delight at the changing rates.
Homer steps up his speed in gradual increments, continually testing Lemuse's reactions to be sure she is feeling pleasure and not pain.
Lemuse relaxes into his draw, feeling a soaring joy and optimism.
Homer discovers she is easily able to handle his optimum speed and draws full out with ~~ delight ~~
Homer finds they are well-matched in capacity and draws to satiation.
Homer: ~~ bliss ~~
Lemuse peaks in exquisite satisfaction.
Homer keeps holding Lemuse, giddy after this wonderful transfer.
Lemuse continues to support him when it is over.
Lemuse is smiling.
Homer slowly drops duoconscious and then hypoconscious.
Homer: (gasps) Thank you, Sosu.
Lemuse: Thank you.
Lemuse: I enjoyed every moment of it, as I am sure you were well aware.
Homer stares around him, dazed.
Arat, who had been zlinning the transfer deeply, comes back duoconscious after some delay.
Homer, who has not been post since before he was arrested 3 months ago, feels the whole weight of his repressed feelings squash his moment of joy.
Lemuse sees his face crumple and moves to hug him.
Lemuse: It's all right... You'll be all right.
Homer buries himself in Lemuse's arms, shaking and trying not to sob.
Lemuse: Let it all out, it's time now. [soothing]
Lemuse pats his back.
Homer fails the not sobbing attempt.
Lemuse, knowing Homer probably isn't zlinning her anymore, meets Arat's eyes over Homer's shoulder. She signals that she thinks everything will be all right.
Arat nods.
Arat rises, somewhat stiffly, and walks out of the room, already formulating how he will phrase his report on the transfer.
Notes:
1) Since a previous episode established that Lemuse had had no kids "of her own", this child was probably given up immediately at birth. [return]