Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #134: Beware of Snake (1/13/00)
Wise Snake has been double-timing Pylor down Capitol sidewalks and in and out of Capitol City Sime Centers for two and a half days, and enjoying the work.
Wise Snake has noted with satisfaction that Pylor is getting a good work out, both physically and nagerically.
Pylor has neither been particularly enjoying the work, nor finding it terribly satisfying.
Pylor's neatly pressed Tecton uniform is a thing of the past, due to sweat and the dirt accumulated in slogging through the winter streets.
Wise Snake hurries Pylor down an icy sidewalk in the heart of the city, muttering to herself something about picking up a few things on the way to their next destination.
Pylor has also been working harder than ever before in his life, which offends his lazy nature.
Wise Snake has, of course, been providing Pylor with the regulation tea and meal breaks - when she remembers.
Pylor is, however, too worried about what an unpredictable rogue like Snake would do if he voiced a complaint, to quite dare to do so.
Pylor's arms windmill as one Tecton regulation boot hits an icy patch.
Pylor: Wooooahhh!
Wise Snake winces as Pylor is nearly run over by a passing beer wagon.
Wise Snake absorbs herself temporarily in analyzing the snapshot of Pylor's motor reflexes she got during his moment of loss of control, and decides he's getting tired enough to warrant a break.
Pylor climbs back to his feet, and makes a feeble attempt to brush the muddy slush off of his uniform pants.
Wise Snake double checks that with the time of his last break, and realizes it's more than due.
Wise Snake: Ah well.
Wise Snake: Come on then, you may as well eat while I'm shopping.
Pylor feels a bit of hope at the mention of food.
Pylor thinks it is a measure of the rigors of the past few days, that he responds to a long-overdue meal as a gift, not a right.
Wise Snake is pretty sure that the Slop Parlor sells food in addition to what she wants.
Pylor: Shopping? For what?
Wise Snake: Oh, a little of this, a little of that.
Wise Snake leads him purposefully along the sidewalk.
Wise Snake looks decidedly unusual in her Tecton uniform (just as mud-spattered as Pylor's), generic cape and crazy black hair.
Pylor looks around at the surrounding formidable buildings, all housing banks and other respectable firms.
Wise Snake locates a preposterously narrow one-story building wedged into what should have been an alley between two more impressive structures. It is a bar-style diner with a sign reading "The Slop House".
Pylor: A diner?
Pylor had been hoping for a nice place, with slow service, requiring a significant break.
Pylor is ~~ hungry ~~ enough not to object too vehemently, however.
Wise Snake pushes her way inside, notes that there is a line, sees that somebody is just getting up, cuts in front of the first person in line, quiets his protests with a snakish glance, and then points Pylor to the two empty stools.
Wise Snake: Save those. Get whatever you want - I'll be back.
Pylor smiles apologetically at the person Snake just cut out, and slips onto the indicated stool.
Pylor looks around for a menu.
Pylor: Do you want anything? [to Snake]
Wise Snake has already disappeared farther back into the cafe.
Foxy Waitress makes her way past the hissing grill to smile at Pylor.
Foxy: What'll it be for you?
Pylor shrugs and turns his attention back to the menu, which he has discovered is scribbled over the bar.
Pylor: I'll have the soup of the day, there, and a cheese sandwich.
Pylor: Oh, and you might as well bring some of that fruit salad, too.
Foxy: OK.
Pylor: And two hot teas!
Foxy: Two teas. Gotcha.
Foxy turns to relay the order to the cooks.
Pylor wiggles his toes, trying to encourage them to thaw.
Wise Snake returns some minutes later, after the food has been served.
Wise Snake looks somewhat pleased with herself as she slips into the free stool.
Pylor pushes the untouched tea towards her.
Pylor: It's worse than Tecton #5, but at least it's hot.
Pylor goes back to the important business of consuming his soup while it's hot.
Wise Snake sips it and nods appreciatively.
Wise Snake: Ummma.
Wise Snake: So, about you and my dad.
Wise Snake has never brought it up before now.
Pylor: Controller Arat?
Pylor is a touch ~ uneasy ~, not knowing if Snake intends to take revenge for her father's collapse.
Pylor is pretty sure that he will at least survive whatever action the Tecton takes (assuming Neptude allows the Powers That Be to find out about it), but Snake is a rule to herself.
Pylor suspects that if Snake were to get really pissed at him, the consequences would be a lot nastier than a reprimand in his file and an undesirable assignment.
Wise Snake: If I have another dad, you'd better let me know now.
Wise Snake: Of course Controller Arat.
Wise Snake: What exactly is wrong with you around him?
Pylor's face assumes a sour expression.
Pylor: What do you mean?
Pylor can't help being a bit ~~ defensive ~~ about the subject of Arat.
Wise Snake: Well, just from your two files, it sounds like the two of you have a regular hate thing going.
Wise Snake: I doubt it's anything personal on Arat's side, so what's your excuse?
Wise Snake looks through somebody's wallet.
Pylor snorts, then notices what Snake is looking at and does a classic doubletake.
Pylor: Is that...???
Wise Snake looks at him questioningly.
Pylor indicates the wallet.
Wise Snake: Oh.
Wise Snake hands it to him.
Wise Snake: So you were saying?
Pylor automatically opens the plain leather wallet, and sees his own Tecton ID card inside.
Pylor: Hey, this is mine!
Pylor: ~~ indignation ~~
Wise Snake: What, do you think I would hand you some perfect stranger's wallet? Give me some credit for lawfulness.
Pylor: Lawfulness!
Wise Snake: Anyway, I think you are trying to change the subject.
Pylor stuffs his wallet back into his pants pocket.
Pylor: You want to know what I have against Arat?
Wise Snake looks at him evenly, her white eyes gleaming.
Wise Snake: Well, it can't be the same thing I have against him. [points out]
Pylor: You said it wasn't personal on his part. I suppose you're right. Apart from Jeniard, I don't think Arat's ever had a personal feeling for anyone..
Pylor: Even as a child, he expected every child in New Othwol to worship at his feet, just like our grandparents did at his grandparents'.
Wise Snake: Worship, really? Like how?
Wise Snake is genuinely interested.
Pylor: You've spent time at Zeor. You know how they feel about their Sectuib and his family.
Pylor: The Audnes family ruled New Othwol just as surely--even more so, in some ways.
Pylor: They owned the town and everyone in it, for all practical purposes.
Wise Snake listens keenly.
Pylor: And they didn't particular care about anyone outside of the clan, except insofar as they were useful to shoring up the Audnes enterprise.
Pylor: The Tecton changed all that--shut down the Superfarm, freed the Gens and the workers. The Audnes were finished, any sensible person would agree.
Pylor: But they didn't seem to realize it. Their house was gone, they were as good as beggars, living on the charity of the Tecton's enemies.
Wise Snake raises an eyebrow.
Wise Snake hadn't thought of it that way before.
Wise Snake: So, you didn't like that?
Pylor: They still demanded to be treated as if the Tecton had never happened, as if they still owned the whole town and its inhabitants.
Pylor: They wanted all the privileges of their old life, particularly the deference to their own position--or rather, what their position had been.
Pylor: Arat was just as insufferably smug as a child, maybe even more so.
Pylor: He hardly spoke to his classmates; we were beneath him. But you can be sure he noticed whenever anyone failed to show him the complete and utter deference he felt he deserved.
Wise Snake: Oh yeah?
Wise Snake: Speaking from personal experience?
Pylor nods reluctantly.
Pylor does not elaborate, however.
Pylor: Anyway, I was glad when the remaining Audnes were taken by the Tecton.
Pylor: I thought their power had finally been broken; that New Othwol could finally start being a place for the rest of us.
Wise Snake: Just because you didn't like Arat?
Wise Snake thinks that's a pretty nasty sentiment, even for a little kid.
Wise Snake does some math to figure out how old Pylor would have been when it happened.
Pylor: I went into Donor training the following year. I wanted to be part of the new world the Tecton was building, part of the group which was overturning the old order.
Pylor: And then five years later, I was assigned to work at New Othwol, my old home. And I discovered that Arat Audnes was running the place, just like his parents and grandparents before him.
Pylor still finds the notion galling.
Wise Snake: Well, not just like that.
Pylor: Oh, he was working in the name of the Tecton, and he was using the Farris name by then, but it was understood that he was the current head of Family Audnes, and he was treated as such.
Wise Snake: Look, just what did he do to you when you were a kid?
Wise Snake: Nobody hates someone this much just out of some, some general principle.
Wise Snake waves a hand and tentacles.
Wise Snake: Give up the goods. Why do you hate his guts?
Pylor: He was always a cold, arrogant child. He never played with the rest of us, and his only associates--you couldn't call them friends, really--were the ones who were willing to worship him for being the Audnes heir.
Pylor: I suppose it all came to head over that history class, though.
Pylor: We would have been, what, eleven or twelve at the time. Tuib Deffris had assigned us an oral report--a ten minute speech on some recent historical event.
Pylor: I had already decided that I wanted to join the Tecton when I grew up.
Pylor: I slaved over that assignment for weeks, to put together an account of the Battle of Shen. I even talked my parents into taking me to Capitol so I could use the big library here.
Pylor: I rehearsed the speech over and over, until my parents refused to listen any more. And then I made my friends listen.
Wise Snake nods thoughtfully.
Wise Snake notices their neighbor get up and leave. She reaches out and pulls the plate full of leftovers in front of her and starts munching on them as she listens to Pylor.
Pylor: They weren't taking nearly as much trouble with the assignment. They all said that I'd be sure to win the top grade--and the framed copy of the First Contract that Deffris had promised to give whoever gave the best talk.
Pylor: The others gave their talks. None of them were half as good as mine, just like I'd thought. I spent that week imagining that prize hanging on my wall.
Pylor: I was the next to last in the class to give my talk. It went well--I'd never given it better. I could see Deffris smiling, leaning forward to listen. When I finished, the class applauded.
Pylor still feels a bittersweet pride in the accomplishment.
Pylor: And then....
Pylor's fists clench.
Wise Snake leans forward in suspense herself.
Pylor: Then Arat got up. His topic was the Tecton's conquest of NorWest Territory.
Pylor: Or rather, his family's role in it. I expect he got his information just by asking his parents, without any research at all.
Pylor: He was good at talking, though, even back then.
Pylor: And when he'd finished, Deffris congratulated him and handed him the prize, calling him "a credit to his family".
Wise Snake: Do you suppose he still has it? [muses]
Pylor shakes his head.
Pylor: A week later, I was walking past the house where he and his parents were staying, and I found the prize in the refuse bin, waiting to burn with all the other trash.
Pylor: He didn't even value it enough to keep it!
Pylor might have been able to get over simply being beaten, but having the value of the contest itself so contemptuously dismissed was too much to overlook.
Wise Snake: Did you take it? [with interest]
Pylor: He didn't want it.
Pylor: ~~ defensive ~~
Wise Snake shrugs.
Wise Snake: And you did.
Wise Snake: And there it was.
Wise Snake: Have you ever talked to him about that?
Wise Snake: [after a pause]
Pylor thinks that whatever justifications one makes, it was still taking Arat's leavings, which pretty much describes what he's had to do every since, every time their paths cross.
Pylor: No. What's the use?
Pylor: I doubt he remembers any of it.
Pylor thinks that having Arat admit that he can't remember the incident would be the crowning humiliation of a long and humiliating relationship.
Wise Snake: Oh.
Wise Snake's mouth twists wryly.
Wise Snake: I'm beginning to sense a pattern, here.
Pylor finishes his tea, despite its substandard quality.
Pylor signals the waitress for a refill.
Pylor has learned over the past few days to take full advantage of warmth when it is offered, in any form.
Foxy Waitress snaps her gum in time with her swaying as she refills Pylor's cup without ever pausing.
Foxy disappears farther down the bar.
Pylor wraps his fingers around the cup, taking advantage of the heat.
Wise Snake: So this is why you treated him like dirt when you were assigned?
Pylor: The first time we were assigned, back in New Othwol, I was still young enough to believe what they teach you in First Year School.
Pylor: I was full of idealism, ready to believe that Arat really had given up being an Audnes when he changed his name.
Pylor: But he hadn't changed a bit. We were classmates for years, but he didn't even recognize my name, much less my face.
Wise Snake: You wanted him to?
Pylor shrugs off that question.
Pylor: And he still expected to be treated as the ruler of New Othwol, just as his grandparents had been.
Pylor: And not just in Tecton matters, either. He dabbled in local politics.
Wise Snake: Oh yeah?
Wise Snake finds this fascinating. She is still trying to figure out how close her own behavior in Bender Cove unwittingly paralleled Arat's in New Othwol.
Pylor: He had a tentacle in every city office.
Pylor: Family connections.
Wise Snake: Does he mess with New Othwol's politics now? Even from here?
Pylor: No. Except insofar as he's allied with Deah Tigue.
Wise Snake perks up.
Wise Snake: They're friends?
Wise Snake: How curious.
Wise Snake: That changes a few things.
Pylor: Not friends, really. But they do owe each other.
Pylor: Or so I'm told.
Pylor does not move in such rarefied circles, much as he would like to.
Wise Snake: I saw a note or two that implied she was going to be brought in as relief for Neptude. I didn't know she and Arat were tight.
Wise Snake: Do you think he'll be pleased, then, instead of offended? Or would that be worse?
Wise Snake finds this all very entertaining.
Pylor: They used to switch off as City Controller in New Othwol. Arat might be trying for another such arrangement here.
Wise Snake: Ah well, it'll probably never happen. Arat will be ready to go after Nick's had him in transfer.
Wise Snake knows what she's talking about, she's had Nick before.
Wise Snake: Well, soon after anyway.
Pylor: Arat will be able to write his ticket with the Powers That Be, afterwards.
Wise Snake: Oh?
Wise Snake hadn't been under the impression that her father was so cozy with his bosses.
Pylor: They've been drooling over Reckage since he was first turned in.
Pylor thinks it's really a pity that the Nick issue didn't backfire on Arat, the way it appeared it would for a while.
Wise Snake: Ummh.
Wise Snake: OK. So, back to the topic at hand. [relentlessly]
Wise Snake: You know you're going to get assigned to him again inevitably. So what are you going to do different?
Wise Snake is not just changing the subject back because she doesn't want to think about Nick being shared around by every fatcat in the Tecton upper ranks.
Pylor sighs.
Pylor: As things stand, the best thing I could do for Arat, is to stay far away from him.
Wise Snake: Why?
Pylor: There's some sort of wobble in my field, that puts a tremendous strain on him. Or at least so he says--none of the non-Farris channels I've worked with mentioned it.
Pylor: I do know that I've never been able to manage a support contact that relaxed him.
Wise Snake waves a hand.
Wise Snake: That's just a matter of training.
Wise Snake: I meant socially.
Wise Snake: Assuming you were trained by the time you got back to him.
Pylor: Socially?
Pylor: What makes you think that Arat would have anything to do with me, socially?
Wise Snake: Well, I'm a little bit out of date on this Tecton thing, but I do believe channels and Donors are supposed to be on speaking terms when they're assigned.
Pylor: You can't still be that much of an idealist?
Pylor: Apart from Nick and Alea, Arat hasn't been on social terms with a Donor in years.
Pylor: Why do you think he has so much trouble?
Wise Snake: Why do I think he has so much trouble?
Wise Snake smiles, a lean, snakely smile.
Wise Snake: Do you want my honest answer?
Pylor shrugs.
Pylor: Why not?
Wise Snake: It's simple fear.
Wise Snake: The man turns fear and self-doubt into anger.
Wise Snake: It's a lot easier than feeling it, you know. Well, you should know.
Pylor winces as Snake's observation strikes too close to home.
Wise Snake: I mean, let's look at this realistically. You've seen his folder, right?
Pylor: Yes.
Pylor remembers the notebook he was shown by his Morale Division councillor.
Wise Snake: He's got more security blankets and cunning ways out of scary bits than most people have changes of underwear.
Wise Snake doesn't realize Arat literally has a security blanket, of course.
Wise Snake is speaking figuratively.
Wise Snake counts off on her fingers. "He's agoraphobic, he's scared to eat, he's scared to sleep, he can't let go of Jeniard, he's scared of his Donors, he's scared of the public opinion...."
Wise Snake switches to tentacles when she runs out of fingers.
Pylor hasn't heard anyone else describe Arat in such bald terms.
Pylor: And he's scared of Neptude and Seruffin, as well.
Pylor at least assumes that a fearless Arat would have stood up to them rather then face physical collapse due to overexposure to Pylor's nager.
Wise Snake: Oh, of course.
Wise Snake: They have total control over his future.
Wise Snake: They can destroy him on a whim, or give him exactly what he wants and needs.
Pylor: Nick.
Wise Snake: Well, I suspect powers higher than them are going to be involved where Nick is concerned. But yes, to start.
Wise Snake: It'll be tempting to them to release Nick to others soon. They'll get points for it.
Pylor wonders what it would be like, to have a powerful channel not just want, but need you so badly.
Pylor wouldn't know from personal experience, of course.
Wise Snake: Fear is weakness, is it not?
Wise Snake: The last thing a person so afraid wants to do is admit weakness.
Wise Snake: At least not to an enemy.
Pylor: Yes. And Arat's never been any good at making friends.
Pylor has serious doubts as to whether Arat even comprehends the meaning of the term.
Wise Snake: So... what are you going to do?
Pylor shrugs.
Pylor: If the Tecton assigns us again--well, I'll do my best not to murder him.
Wise Snake looks cynical.
Wise Snake: Is that the best you can do?
Wise Snake, if truth be known, has a few plans for how to change that attitude.
Wise Snake wouldn't want sullenness to get in the way of Pylor's future, of course.
Pylor turns anguished (well, OK, this is Pylor, but at least genuinely upset) eyes on Snake.
Pylor: Snake, shen knows I don't like Arat, and he doesn't like me, but I've never come so close to accidentally murdering a channel in my career. Not even in training.
Pylor: If he had died, because I failed as a Donor....
Pylor shudders.
Wise Snake studies him earnestly.
Wise Snake: So whose fault was it? Yours? Or his, for being weak?
Pylor buries his face in his hands.
Pylor: I don't know. I couldn't learn fast enough, and he didn't know how to teach me more effectively, and Controller Neptude wouldn't believe that anything was wrong...
Wise Snake's pale eyes are bright and intense.
Wise Snake: Do you want to learn it?
Pylor: Yes. No. I don't know.
Pylor: I just know I never want to be responsible for a channel's collapse again.
Wise Snake: Because if you do, I can teach you.
Wise Snake: I taught Nick.
Wise Snake is not unaware of the special place Nick holds in Pylor's little knot of inadequacies.
Pylor looks up slowly, barely flinching at Snake's weird white eyes.
Pylor has, of course, had a bad case of Nick-envy for months.
Wise Snake's expression is a mixture of slyness and boldness.
Wise Snake in fact resembles nothing so much as a scavenger that has come upon a particularly delectable tidbit of carrion and would like to throw a spectacularly large party for all of its friends.
Pylor's mother was a progressive, secular sort, and didn't read him cautionary tales about making pacts with diabolical entities.
Pylor: You can? You would? Like Nick?
Pylor forgets for the moment that he is not a Natural Donor, even if he is a high First.
Wise Snake lifts a tentacle.
Wise Snake: It won't be easy. [warns him]
Wise Snake: I pushed Nick to within an inch of his life over and over again.
Wise Snake: He walked through city streets for months. I burned him badly. He saw things that horrified him and turned his stomach.
Pylor's own stomach clenches uneasily at the warning.
Wise Snake: And, if you agree now, I won't let you dodge it later.
Wise Snake is perfectly serious.
Pylor's intestines try their best, but are unable to overcome Pylor's desire to win the professional acclaim and respect he has always been sure he deserved.
Pylor puts a hand on Snake's scrawny arm.
Pylor: Teach me.
Wise Snake searches his eyes and nager for a moment longer, and then she smiles a slow, snakish smile.