Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #165: On the Go (2/29/00)
Lalique walks down the hall of the Dormitory wing.
Lalique has gotten off shift and is hurrying, because she wants to get a chance to say good-bye to Buggfa before he leaves.
Lalique has been assigned less and less time at the studio during the last few days and more time assisting Rifan in the medical section.
Lalique hopes the young singer hasn't already been whisked away by his record company handlers.
Buggfa in fact has only just managed to escape them, and is stuffing his things in his duffel bag in the hopes of being done before someone comes to claim him.
Lalique signals at the door to Buggfa's room.
Buggfa had been promised more like 2 hours to say his goodbyes and so forth, but c'est la vie.
Buggfa goes to the door.
Buggfa: Oh, hi, Lalique.
Buggfa: Come on in.
Lalique: Hey, kid!
Lalique: You all ready?
Lalique gives Buggfa a hug.
Buggfa: Oh well, I'd hoped to shop for a couple of things, but you know how it is.
Buggfa flashes a grin before being engulfed in the hug.
Buggfa hugs her back.
Lalique: Yeah. Life on the road.
Lalique: Never a dull moment.
Buggfa: Tell me about it.
Buggfa: So how was your transfer with, er,
Lalique: Rifan.
Buggfa: Right!
Buggfa has him slotted as "that beady eyed guy who jumps around like a bug on a griddle", rather than "Rifan".
Lalique: It was okay.
Buggfa: Just OK?
Buggfa: Or, you mean, like "Oh, kay!!!!"
Lalique: It was OK.
Buggfa: Oh.
Lalique: I mean, they're watching me. I can't exactly get wild and crazy.
Buggfa: Oh, yeah, I spose.
Lalique: And you saw him, he's... strung out.
Buggfa: No kidding.
Lalique: I know ways of dealing with that, but they're not in the rule book.
Buggfa: Do you think you guy's boss has any clue?
Buggfa means their supervisor in the medical clinic.
Lalique: You and I can see it. A Sime would have to be post to miss it.
Lalique: But it means he works faster, so maybe they don't care.
Lalique shrugs.
Buggfa: Sounds pretty messed up to me.
Buggfa: Sorry I won't be here to see who you get this month!
Buggfa: Or do you know already?
Lalique: I'm not sure.
Lalique: I might spend another month with him.
Buggfa: Hey at least you won't have to exercise, right?
Lalique: Yeah, I was starting to put on a bit of weight.
Lalique grins.
Lalique: But really, it kind of messes up his cycle.
Buggfa: Whose, Rifan's?
Lalique: Yeah.
Lalique: Makes it harder to mesh with his field, and when I do, it kind of speeds me up too.
Buggfa: Oh, come on.
Lalique: I'm trying to think of some way to bring him down that won't get me thrown back in jail.
Buggfa: How about hiding his dope?
Lalique: In a hospital? I don't think he'd be to long about finding a refill.
Buggfa: Oh, yeah. [grins]
Lalique: It's not like he has to buy it on the street.
Buggfa: Well, you could trade.
Buggfa: You know, make a deal.
Lalique: Hmmm. Like what?
Buggfa: Well, you know, like what do you have that he wants?
Lalique frowns.
Lalique: Well, what he wants is to score brownie points with his boss.
Buggfa: Oh.
Lalique: That's what the drugs give him.
Buggfa doesn't think that sounds as easy to accomplish as the good old withholding-sex-until-boyfriend-knocks-off-the-dope technique he is most familiar with.
Lalique: I'm kind of tempted to--
Lalique: Well, he could get the same effect with augmentation.
Buggfa: Yeah, kind of expensive isn't it?
Lalique: It would mess up the schedule.
Lalique: And I'm on probation.
Buggfa nods understandingly, being somewhat in that position himself at the moment.
Lalique: But that's what I'd offer him if we were on the street.
Lalique thinks about it some more.
Lalique: What do you do when this kind of thing crops up in your touring group?
Buggfa: Um, well, it's usually the guys who get hired on just as techs and stuff.
Buggfa and the other band members experiment, but they are ridden too closely to be able to develop any serious habits.
Buggfa: Usually if it affects their work they get canned.
Lalique grins.
Lalique: It makes him work better.
Lalique: At least for now.
Buggfa: Yeah, nothing lasts forever.
Lalique: So are you glad to be getting out of here and back on the road?
Buggfa: Yeah!
Buggfa: This place is boring, and if I can tour and still get treatment, then that's the way to go.
Buggfa: Definitely.
Lalique: I'm glad it's working out the way you wanted.
Lalique: Composing any new songs about your adventures here in-Territory?
Buggfa: Oh, yeah.
Buggfa digs in his still-open duffel bag for some rumpled sheets of paper.
Buggfa pulls them out and pages through them.
Buggfa: I've been thinking about this idea I had, about not knowing who you should be listening to when everybody is telling you what to do.
Buggfa: I think the kids would like it, and I think the label might even OK it, with their changes of course.
Lalique: That sounds like a really good topic.
Buggfa has no hope of ever convincing them to take the others he thought of while here, which were just too obviously about how screwed up the label is.
Lalique: Every kid has got people telling them all sorts of things, parents, teachers, newspapers.
Buggfa nods.
Buggfa: And none of it agrees.
Lalique: You got that right.
Buggfa: And then when it does agree, you never know if they really believe that or if they're just trying to get you to do something.
Lalique: So how do you decide?
Buggfa: Well, the song is just about how it is.
Buggfa: Not about having the answers or anything.
Lalique is nevertheless pleased at this glimmering of independent thought on Buggfa's part; asking the question is the first step to finding the answer.
Lalique realizes that she herself has lived thirty years without finding an answer to this one.