Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #166: Assorted Roguery (3/2/00)
Nick waits until Beni is off sleeping, then drops by Arat's office.
Nick has learned enough Tecton etiquette to signal before entering, as he is no longer Arat's assigned Donor.
Nick is not anyone's assigned Donor at present, a matter of some concern to him.
Arat: Enter!
Arat looks up from the State of the District report he has been taking extreme care with.
Nick opens the door and slips through, automatically offering ~~ light support ~~, seeing as Arat is unattended even by Jeniard.
Nick: Arat. How has Beni been taking care of you?
Nick inspects Arat for signs of neglect.
Arat nods once.
Arat appears well enough, if a bit harassed.
Arat: Beni has been most attentive.
Nick wonders how much of Beni's attentiveness is by way of an apology for not keeping a closer watch on Snake.
Nick checks Arat's teacup.
Arat's tea cup is empty.
Arat sees Nick ogling it and passes it over wordlessly.
Arat has accepted the support, but only partially, like a cat which has not decided it wishes to sit in a person's lap, but only crouches there with all four legs digging in painfully.
Nick accepts the cup with ~~ affectionate amusement ~~, and takes it to the tea table for refilling.
Arat frowns to himself, fiddling uncharacteristically with his pen.
Nick is not unfamiliar with such attitudes, and the best strategy for dealing with them.
Nick therefore does not press the issue nagerically, but keeps the promise of comfort open.
Nick returns to Arat's desk with two cups of (Narosian) tea, and sets one down on Arat's desk.
Nick: Is something wrong?
Arat debates various answers, then finally spreads his hands.
Arat: No.
Arat doesn't feel comfortable in talking about his fears regarding Neptude and Seruffin to anybody at all, much less a loose cannon like Nick.
Arat has actually talked about it with Jeniard, but Jeniard isn't just anybody after all.
Arat looks at Nick worriedly, in total contradiction to his words.
Arat still wants to trade Nick away, but won't know where to until he finds out what is going on in the higher ranks.
Nick: Then what's gone right, to make you so worried?
Nick: And is there anything I can do to help?
Nick is ~~ genuinely concerned ~~
Arat finally decides upon a topic of concern which is both relatively safe and relatively relevant.
Arat: Controller Seruffin questioned me about your... investigative activities regarding the Snake River Dam project.
Nick: Seruffin?
Arat: It seems that they have come to his attention, via people on the other end of your letters.
Arat: He did not know it was you who had sent them, but under the circumstances I had no choice but to tell him that was the case.
Nick is not completely happy about that.
Nick: Well, I suppose it was inevitable that it would come out sometime.
Nick: I'd hoped it would take a bit longer, though.
Nick: Was he very upset about it?
Arat looks at Nick somewhat incredulously.
Arat: He paid a special visit to ask me about it. It seems that he became aware of your activities shortly before I spent two days on personal business in the city.
Arat: He seemed to feel that the two were connected, and that my activities might be some cause for concern.
Arat's activities could certainly be some cause for concern, but Arat is hardly going to let anybody find that out by accident.
Nick: I see. I'm very sorry if it caused you trouble.
Nick: You hadn't mentioned that you were doing anything unusual.
Nick: You were able to reassure him, weren't you?
Arat: He seemed reassured enough when he learned you had acted on your own, unbeknownst to me.
Nick is ~~ relieved ~~ to hear that.
Nick: I don't know why he would be so worried, even if he did think you were interested in the dam project.
Arat: There is always some concern when I become associated with issues concerning Norwest Territory.
Nick: They're still that afraid of you?
Nick is probably one of a handful of non-Farrises who find the idea astonishing and absurd.
Arat: They are... concerned about any possible political ambitions I may hold.
Arat knows that many people who have only known him in recent years would find the idea of an Arat with political ambitions laughable, but that is all to his advantage.
Nick looks at Arat over his cup.
Nick: You said that you would go back to Norwest Territory, given a choice.
Arat: It is no secret.
Nick: Do you actually want to hold office there, or do you just feel that the only way they'd let you go at all is as a Controller?
Nick is not criticizing either option, and his nager shows nothing but the sort of curiosity an interested friend might show.
Arat frowns.
Arat: It is not likely that I will be posted in the New Othwol area in any capacity any time soon.
Arat means, not if the Tecton's higher level bureaucrats have their choice, anyway.
Nick: The Snake Reservoir is in Norwest Territory, but it's hardly in the political mainstream.
Arat: Perhaps.
Nick: Still, one might visit occasionally.
Arat looks sharply at Nick, wondering what he is about.
Nick: Is that what Seruffin was concerned about, when he thought you were the one making the inquiries?
Nick would like to know how much high-level resistance he's going to have to overcome.
Arat cautiously avoids any mention of value of the dam position other than its proximity to New Othwol, since Nick has no idea Arat has his own designs on it. If nobody knows, nobody else can find out.
Arat: Perhaps. [in a tone of concession]
Arat: He may not have had anything specific in mind at all. He may have only acted on impulse.
Nick nods, satisfied that he has managed to plant one more advantage of the Snake Reservoir project in Arat's mind.
Nick's thoughts follow a logical course from Arat Farris to Snake Reservoir to Snake Farris.
Nick knows that Snake is a sore subject just now, but the opportunity to have Arat all to himself might not come again for a while.
Nick: Arat, how has Snake been tolerating the lack of a Donor?
Arat's look sours at the mention of his rogue daughter.
Arat: Well enough. She's pre-turnover, her work load has not been heavy and I have been with her more often.
Arat has by necessity, since nobody else seems trustworthy to keep an eye on her.
Nick can't hide his concern--for both Snake and Arat as well.
Nick: Snake tends to get a bit frantic, when she doesn't know where her next transfer is coming from.
Nick: Much more so than any other channel I've worked with.
Nick thinks that's a bit more tactful than saying, "she's worse than you are about it".
Arat looks at Nick strangely, then remembers most of Nick's experience with Snake was while she was working rogue and literally could not know where her next transfer will come from.
Arat: I have assured her that there will be channel's transfer from me, if nothing else.
Arat didn't exactly "assure" her that, he told her when he informed her there'd be no immediate assignment, and he doesn't imagine she'll forget.
Arat had been rather angry at the time.
Nick can imagine what Snake would have thought about that.
Nick: How did she take the news?
Arat thinks it is difficult to judge, since the news came at the very end of an extended tirade about her behavior that was more like a father berating a child than a Controller berating a channel, except that with his nager in fully functioning order once again, he was able to dominate her rather thoroughly in that way as well.
Arat thinks it is the first time in his life anybody besides Jeniard succeeded in getting him to raise his voice for enough sentences in a row to run out of breath.
Arat: She was not pleased, but saw the necessity of adjusting. [decides]
Nick wonders how much of that "adjustment" is wishful thinking on Arat's part.
Nick had not credited the rumors about a mutual shouting match, but is beginning to think that they were correct, after all.
Nick: Has she calmed down since?
Arat thinks she was pretty subdued at the time, actually.
Arat: She has been calm enough, in my presence.
Arat: At other times... [hesitates] her behavior has been less than exemplary, rather as it was when she first arrived.
Arat in fact suspects that this is more to do with not being able to get loose for devilish behavior about the Sime Center and beyond, than to do with a lack of Donor.
Nick finds this ~~ alarming ~~
Nick: What exactly has she been doing? And to whom?
Arat has been valiantly trying to prevent any such behavior by spending at least eight hours a day with Snake, and doing it in such a random fashion that it is not possible for either her or her guards to predict when that will be.
Arat as has been mentioned before, looks somewhat harassed.
Arat: Mostly trying to manipulate the guards, and making verbal threats against other personnel.
Arat: [like Arat, for example]
Arat's interest in the dam project is at least partially motivated by the need to find some means by which he can supervise Snake more than 8 hours a day. He is confident that he has greater stamina than she does, if only the environment can be set up just right.
Arat may be just a tad wrong about that last, but we'll see.
Arat is certainly overly optimistic about how well the environment can be set up in the Snake River Dam situation, and will surely be shocked and appalled by the conditions should he ever get into that situation.
Nick: She's been unpleasant but more or less rational?
Arat has to ponder that one, as his definition of "rational" would appear to be radically different than Nick's.
Arat: Her behavior is certainly not acceptable by ordinary standards.
Arat: However, she is not without some level of self-control.
Arat means, she hasn't thrown herself foaming on anybody yet.
Arat rubs his throat unconsciously.
Nick does not try to hide his ~~ relief ~~
Nick: When I learned how often she'd been slipping Beni's leash, I was concerned about what, um, recreational pharmaceuticals she has been indulging in.
Nick: With some of her favorites, the withdrawal symptoms can be rather unsettling.
Arat reaches into a file and pulls out a list, which he hands to Nick.
Nick inspects the list.
Nick: What is this?
Arat: These were the items found either in her possession, or in her system, when she was apprehended after Pylor's attack on me.
Nick: This is pretty extreme, even for Snake. No wonder she was so precipitous.
Arat does not think that the stunt was particularly out of line with what was on Snake's records, even if the drugs were.
Arat takes the list back and puts it away.
Arat: This is why I feel security is of the utmost importance.
Arat thinks, among several other reasons.
Nick: Snake takes fewer drugs when she's working, but she's always required oversight in that area.
Arat nods.
Arat has read Nick's additions to Snake's file, of course.
Arat in fact has read the entire file several times in the last week, while racking his brains for a long term solution.
Nick: Security is also important--trust that she has a future worth staying sober for.
Arat says nothing. Talking to him about security is definitely preaching to the choir.