Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #173: Bitten by the Poetry Bug (3/12/00)
Smitty climbs out of a postal package with a return address of Bender Cove.
Smitty walks across Lexus' desk while his back is turned, and underneath another piece of paper, this one nearer to Lexus.
Smitty: Where am I? I do not know. At least in here there is no snow. [to himself]
Pylor is sitting in Lexus's office, munching his way through a large sandwich..
Smitty: I may be back in Bender town, with all this paper floating round.
Lexus is busy working through reams of District paperwork. His purpose is less to accomplish the District's business than to figure out who actually runs things and who scratches whose back.
Smitty pushes his way across the paper underneath it, causing a moving bulge in the sheet.
Smitty: I scratch my back, they scratch theirs. What a cozy state of affairs.
Smitty pauses to scratch more vigorously, jiggling the paper.
Lexus was trained in translating bureaucratese by his Uncle Neptude, a master of the art.
Lexus is concerned that his completely justified assertion of his Uncle-granted authority the other day may have ruffled some feathers among the staff.
Smitty scurries across an open area and underneath Pylor's sandwich paper.
Smitty: Aha! A feast. I'm starved; Let's eat!
Lexus is deep in thought but catches a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye.
Smitty finds a crumb and starts nibbling with gusto.
Lexus is paranoid about being observed by Arat's spies on the staff, so zlins in all directions. No suspicious nagers are in zlinning range.
Smitty: He who zlins, finds naught. He who watches, sees a lot!
Smitty: [comments, from his hiding place]
Pylor swallows.
Pylor: Is something wrong, Lexus?
Lexus: I thought I saw something move. Maybe a draft?
Smitty: And though I travel world wide, still I find these witless kind. What shall I do to spice their lives? Do a tango? Juggle knives?
Pylor doesn't let any concern he might have hinder his consumption of another bite of sandwich.
Smitty: Perhaps a game of hide and seek? The strong shall never catch the weak.
Lexus realizes he isn't going to zlin much with the huge Gen hunger-nager blanketing the room.
Smitty: Or, after cold and windy trail, a game of tickle suits me well.
Lexus: [annoyed] Sosu Pylor, could you back off for a few moments? I want to scan the area.
Pylor looks up, a bit miffed that Lexus neglected to ask politely.
Smitty takes advantage of Pylor having put his sandwich down, to hitch a ride on it.
Lexus finds the Gen's hunger rather overwhelming and the unappetizing sandwich looking rather tempting.
Pylor does pull his nager in, however.
Lexus zlins the entire room to the extent he is able.
Pylor raises his sandwich for another bite.
Smitty: Hello!
Pylor notices something moving in his sandwich.
Lexus zlins a trace of life on the sandwich!
Lexus: Hey, watch out! It's alive!
Smitty: My, my, my, what a denture. That would hurt going down, I venture.
Pylor yells, and the sandwich flies across the room and spatters mustard on the wall.
Pylor: ~~~ HORRIFIED REVULSION ~~~
Smitty: Up up, away! I soar with grace. And what a look on that Gen's face!
Smitty: Ooof!
Smitty and the sandwich bounce off the wall and litter the floor.
Pylor: It's a cockroach!
Pylor jumps up and starts trampling the sandwich-area vigorously.
Smitty: I know, I know, it's what I am. What I do best; my skill, my scam.
Smitty: And now you wish to dance? All right... too bad I'm nowhere near the site.
Smitty climbs onto a waste paper basket to watch Pylor's performance.
Smitty: Like fairies make their circle twilights, so this ogrous creature gyrates.
Pylor has by now done a very good job of grinding his lunch into the carpet.
Smitty: Not with quite their airy grace, I must admit, but no disgrace.
Smitty: And oh, what stock he's laid in there, for when my parlor becomes bare....
Smitty: For weeks I'll come here, day by day, to nibble at the nap's bountay.
Smitty: And now, I'm late; no wish to tarry. I must off to find my quarry.
Smitty exits, in search of Darrel.
Lexus: [distressed more by the disturbance in the fields than by the presence of the bug] It's okay! It's okay! It's gone away!
Lexus has perhaps been bitten by the poetry bug himself.
Pylor gradually calms, at least somewhat.
Pylor: It was a cockroach. In my sandwich.
Lexus approaches the Gen warily.
Pylor feels an overwhelming ~~ nausea ~~ at the thought.
Lexus: Yes. But it's gone now.
Lexus, whose appetite was stirred by Pylor's hunger, now has the opposite reaction.
Lexus runs for the waste paper basket and starts to retch into it.
Lexus: Sosu! Stop that! Please!
Pylor's own stomach heaves violently at the sight, sound, and smell.
Lexus: Ghekshdfh ekkjsahf gurl, kdlsk.
Pylor has enough sense--barely--to recognize a negative feedback loop.
Pylor turns and runs for the bathroom, one hand over his mouth.
Lexus deposits his rather heavy post-transfer lunch in the basket.
Nick happens to be passing by, and notes Pylor's hasty exit.
Nick raises an eyebrow, but the chance is too good to pass up.
Nick pauses in the still-open doorway and looks in.
Nick wrinkles his nose at the mess, but after years of working with Farris channels, it doesn't touch his nager.
Nick: Is something wrong, Hajene Lexus?
Lexus, with the nauseating stimulus removed, rises shakily to a standing posture.
Nick's nager has a very soothing ~~ light concern ~~ in it.
Nick's nager is in any case considerably more appealing than Pylor's.
Lexus accepts the soothing influence of Nick's nager gratefully.
Nick: What happened?
Nick has by now noted the trampled lunch, as well as the mess Lexus just made of the wastebasket.
Lexus: A little training accident.
Lexus: Thank you for your assistance, Sosu... ?
Lexus recognizes Nick from Neptude's description.
Nick wonders what sort of "training accident" could result in a circle of well-trodden cheese sandwich.
Lexus: Nick?
Nick: Nick Reckage.
Lexus: Ah. Pleased to meet you.
Nick has yet to get used to people recognizing him; Snake was always the more easily recognized of the pair, and since his rehabilitation, he has been more or less kept under wraps by Arat, to the extent possible.
Lexus notices that Nick's nager is even larger and more delectable than Pylor's. He muses on the perks of high office.
Lexus: Thank you for your assistance.
Nick: You're quite welcome.
Lexus remembers what his Uncle Neptude told him about this Donor's rogue background and his links to both Arat and his insane daughter Wise Snake.
Lexus peeks his tentacles out carefully to make his own evaluation.
Nick's nager is smooth as silk, with no fluctuations detectable by a non-Farris.
Lexus finds it difficult to believe that any Gen so attractive could be a threat.
Nick does his best to appear (as well as zlin) like a harmless, Tecton-standard Donor, only better.
Lexus: I understand you pledged only recently. How are you getting along here?
Nick shrugs disarmingly.
Nick: It's very different from what I knew before.
Lexus: I understand you were Wise Snake's Companion.
Nick: Yes. She trained me.
Lexus: It must be difficult for you to see a channel you care about in confinement.
Nick: It is.
Lexus: Why do you think she urged Pylor to attack Arat?
Nick: With Snake, it can be hard to tell.
Lexus smiles.
Lexus: Everyone says that. I shall have to meet her for myself.
Lexus: Why did you help her?
Nick has no intention of giving Lexus anything that can be used against Snake, or Arat either.
Nick: Arat had already sent me from the room by the time Pylor made his move.
Nick: If I'd known that Pylor was that unbalanced, I'd have handled the matter differently, though.
Lexus: [genuinely curious] What else would you have done?
Nick shrugs.
Nick: It doesn't matter, at this late date.
Lexus: I am involved with Pylor's rehabilitation. I think your suggestions would be valuable.
Nick has heard all about Lexus's "involvement" with Pylor's rehabilitation.
Nick: Keep him away from Snake--and Arat, too.
Lexus can see that Nick is less than open about this topic. Enticing or not, Nick is clearly committed to Arat or Snake or both.
Lexus: Snake trained you. What did she do with Pylor, that shifted him from hating Arat to wanting him?
Lexus would really like to know how this trick was managed.
Lexus is privately working on the manuscript of a journal article "How to Win Gens and Influence Donors."
Nick: I think most of it was simply an increase in Pylor's capacity.
Nick: And in his belief that he actually could serve Arat.
Nick won't go so far as to say that the belief was justified.
Lexus: Well, his capacity has certainly increased.
Lexus: It's unfortunate, leaving the job half-finished, as it were. He's too high field for most Firsts, but too low to serve Farrises. A very unstable condition.
Nick: Yes.
Nick thinks that the term "unstable" is a very good description of Pylor, and has been for most of his career.
Lexus: Do you think Wise Snake engineered that particular outcome, to punish Sosu Pylor or get him reassigned away from this District?
Nick: I believe that Snake genuinely felt a transfer with Arat was both possible, and likely to heal much of Pylor's dissatisfaction with serving Farris channels.
Nick does not speculate on how much of that belief was likely due to overindulgence in recreational pharmaceuticals.
Nick also is quite aware that Snake was mostly interested in the sheer technical challenge, and not in the long-term well-being of either Pylor or Arat.
Lexus: Interesting. But your recommendation is to keep Pylor away from both Arat and Wise Snake.
Lexus: So you do not agree with her assessment?
Nick: Pylor has grown increasingly unstable. What would have worked then is much less likely to work at the present time.
Lexus nods.
Lexus: Certainly his track record with Farrises is not encouraging.
Nick: No, it isn't. Particularly not with regards to Controller Arat.
Lexus: It is not easy to find Donors for the Controller.
Lexus: Hajene Arat is quite lucky to have acquired you.
Nick nods cautiously and looks at Lexus, to see where he is going with this line of gratuitous flattery.
Lexus: How do you find serving him?
Nick: We work well together.
Lexus: I hear that other Donors complain of how he treats them. In fact, almost none of the Zeor-trained Gens will work with him.
Nick: Zeor Donors much prefer to work with channels from their own House.
Lexus: And yet I hear that you have been looking into this Snake River Dam Reconstruction program that's in the news so much. Planning to ask for re-assignment?
Nick looks modestly abashed.
Nick: I'm afraid that whole incident got blown out of proportion.
Lexus: What really happened, then?
Lexus watches and zlins carefully for signs of prevarication.
Nick's nager is a model of embarrassed innocence.
Nick: I worked as a common laborer for ten years, before I met Snake. It was the best way to stay out of my grandmother's clutches.
Nick: There have been rumors circulating about the dam project for some time, among those who travel from job to job.
Nick: One of my former colleagues heard that I'd become a Donor, and asked me what I knew about the project.
Nick: I said I'd see what I could find out for him.
Nick: I had no idea that it would cause such a fuss.
Lexus: Did you have to talk to newspaper reporters to get your information for this friend?
Nick has managed to tell the complete and utter truth--he actually has been in touch with several old friends about working on the dam--in the secure knowledge that nothing in the letters Neptude received will contradict his story.
Nick: Reporters? No, I haven't talked to any reporters.
Nick: Arat has been very strict about news leaks for some time, and most of the staff has been very conscientious about following his directives on the matter.
Lexus: Details about construction projects aren't common knowledge in the selyn management division. Where did you get your information?
Lexus, having been trained in bureaucratese by Neptude, recognizes a truthfully evasive answer immediately.
Nick: Various places. I have exchanged letters with the engineer in charge of the project, to find out what sort of work force was required and what the wages and working conditions will be.
Nick: And I asked various friends and relatives to see what they could uncover.
Lexus: And has your friend gotten the job he wanted?
Nick: I believe he plans to head for the Snake Reservoir when his current job has ended.
Lexus: What is his name? I have influence in some places. I could give him a recommendation.
Lexus's smile is rather shark-like.
Lexus thinks that if Nick spilled his info to a union organizer, that could explain the leaks and the uproar in the newspapers.
Jeniard enters Lexus' office, carrying a stack of papers.
Jeniard is startled to see Nick there.
Lexus nods to Jeniard.
Lexus: Good day, Hajene.
Nick: Hello, Jeniard.
Jeniard: What's up? [warily]
Jeniard wonders if Lexus is trying to get Nick to cooperate against Arat.
Nick: Pylor was taken ill, it appears.
Jeniard doesn't have much respect for Lexus, though for the sake of decent work relations he hides it as well as possible.
Jeniard: So I smell.
Jeniard: Nothing serious I hope?
Lexus: Yes. There was a cockroach in his food. We will need to call the exterminators.
Jeniard puts the paperwork on the desk.
Jeniard: A cockroach? [in disbelief]
Jeniard: There hasn't been a cockroach seen here in three years.
Jeniard doesn't quite ask if Lexus brought it with him.
Lexus: Well there is one here now. He almost ate it. A truly disgusting incident.
Jeniard: Well, let maintenance know.
Jeniard thinks that Pylor is very unstable indeed if something like the sight of a cockroach would cause him to both lose his lunch and leave his channel without a Donor.
Jeniard turns to leave.
Pylor staggers back into the office, pale and shaken, but at least not radiating active nausea.
Jeniard: Nick. [nods]
Jeniard leaves, hoping he has successfully transmitted his disapproval at seeing Nick there.
Nick: Here's Pylor now.
Nick: Feeling better?
Lexus: Ah, Pylor. Glad to see you have recovered your equilibrium somewhat.
Lexus cautiously pulls his consciousness as close to post as possible in case of a further outburst from the unstable Gen.
Pylor nods, and sets himself to navigate to his chair, a task made difficult by wobbly legs.
Nick: That's good. I'm sure Lexus will have you back to normal very shortly.
Nick starts for the door.
Lexus: So, Nick, are you planning to join your friend on this construction project? Leave Capitol to go live in a hut by a mud puddle?
Nick pauses.
Nick: I'm a Tecton Donor now, Hajene Lexus. I go where the Tecton sends me.
Lexus grins.
Nick: Right now, however, I'm afraid that I must go to the burn ward--I'm on duty in another ten minutes.
Lexus: Oh, yes, you're just a humble servant of the people. I understand completely.
Nick: It pays a great deal better than--how did you put it?--living in a hut by a mud puddle.
Lexus: And we all know how much you care about money. Well, I just wanted to be sure the Controller wasn't driving you away like all his other Donors.
Nick raises an eyebrow.
Lexus: You're a very valuable asset.
Nick: So I've been told.
Lexus: If you require anything, feel free to approach me at any time.
Nick: I will certainly do so.
Lexus moves closer to Pylor, another valuable asset that needs a little refurbishing.
Nick leaves, hoping that the interview has accomplished what he'd hoped.
Pylor looks after Nick resentfully.
Pylor: I don't trust him.
Lexus cautiously extends his laterals and begins to go to work on healing Pylor's physical discomfort.
Lexus: And why not?
Pylor: He's too smooth.
Pylor means by this, that Nick has actually managed to achieve the "impossible" level of perfection demanded by Arat, thus proving that Pylor probably could, too.
Lexus: Donors should be smooth.
Pylor: Perhaps.
Pylor: But he never went through training at a Tecton camp.
Pylor dodges the point that Snake's training was more rigorous; somewhat surprising, as he's now experienced if for himself.
Lexus: So his loyalty's in question, I agree. And he's skilled enough I can't catch a glimpse of what he really feels.
Pylor: He should never have been allowed to pledge.
Pylor didn't have to worry about being shown up by Zeor Donors; every knows they're superhuman, in training since infancy. That Nick achieved the same expertise on his own is intolerable.
Lexus: Well, the proof of the nager is in the transfer.
Lexus: We will see.
Pylor is hard put not to ~ sulk ~, and truth to tell, isn't trying very hard.
Lexus frowns at the nageric shift.
Lexus: And that applies to you as well.
Pylor subsides, thinking that Nick has managed to show him up again.