Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #178: King for Just One Day (3/20/00)
Neptude puts the finishing touches on his latest piece of paperwork.
Neptude reflects that even with rioters tearing the city apart, the paper keeps on multiplying right on schedule.
Lexus walks briskly towards the office of his uncle, the Regional Controller.
Lexus is, as usually, impeccably coiffed and attired, but there is an unaccustomed grim set to his lips.
Lexus concentrates to keep his nager suitably confident and serene.
Lexus signals at Neptude's door.
Neptude looks up, zlinning for the identity of the caller.
Neptude is a bit ~ surprised ~ at the answer.
Neptude: Come in!
Lexus enters, offering his uncle the usual family embrace.
Neptude: Sit down, my boy. Have some tea.
Neptude: What brings you here?
Lexus: Thank you, Uncle. Good to see you.
Neptude wonders if the reason for Lexus's visit has anything to do with the reason for Seruffin's two days ago.
Lexus: Well, I see what you meant when you said the Controller's job at the District level might be a challenge.
Lexus: Never a dull moment, eh?
Neptude smiles in a paternal fashion.
Neptude: It takes experience to handle it well.
Lexus laughs.
Lexus: And if it isn't handled well, you have demonstrators breaking your windows and setting fire to the furniture.
Neptude winces at the reminder.
Lexus: The renSimes in Golden Hills tend to be more... uh, sedate.
Neptude: I'm sure they are.
Lexus shakes his head, though he is really rather enjoying the excitement of the crisis, as the protests aren't aimed at him.
Neptude thinks that any city Center that does not have a Narosian outreach program in it sounds tame to him.
Lexus thinks that the most physical danger he has faced in the past have been protests from jealous husbands.
Lexus thinks but that is usually a situation he can handle, as there is only one antagonist and not a mob.
Neptude: A certain amount of discretion is required for higher office.
Neptude: For instance....
Neptude's face and nager become stern
Neptude: ...it is not necessary to disrupt department heads in the middle of their duty shifts in order to conduct an investigation.
Neptude: It is better to wait until they are free to talk with you.
Neptude: Particularly if you want them in a cooperative frame of mind.
Lexus: Arat has filled his section with stooges and sycophants, and I doubt any of them would be in a cooperative frame of mind ever.
Lexus: There are a few exceptions... Hajene Ormof, for instance, was quite courteous.
Lexus: I am making a list. I plan to clean house.
Neptude frowns at being offered an excuse, instead of an apology.
Neptude: That is a bit premature. You have not been given the District Controllership yet.
Lexus shrugs.
Lexus: Well, if I do get it, I will be ready.
Neptude: If you continue to antagonize the 53rd District staff when it is not necessary to do so, you will not be given charge of them.
Lexus raises his eyebrows in surprise.
Neptude: Seruffin would send you back to Golden Hills, and there you would remain for the rest of your career.
Neptude: Or some place equally bland.
Lexus: I thought you wanted a change. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.
Neptude: Very true. But there's a difference between breaking the two eggs an omelet requires, and smashing the entire dozen out of carelessness.
Lexus: Well, I will move with more care.
Lexus: That's part of why I wanted to speak with you.
Neptude: Oh?
Lexus: I've gone over the paperwork and procedures for the District.
Neptude allows himself a hint of optimism that Lexus has had the sense to ask advice when he's in over his head.
Lexus: The scheduling would be a challenge, but I could handle it.
Neptude: You disapprove of Arat's schedules?
Neptude is well aware that Arat's paperwork is all in inhumanly pristine order; it's one of the reasons he wants Arat gone.
Lexus: Not at all. He is quite competent in that area; though the work hardly requires a channel of his abilities.
Neptude nods agreement.
Lexus: But the one really difficult problem is how to schedule for Arat himself, and his rogue daughter.
Neptude: I see.
Lexus: The District isn't really set up to handle these Audnes Farrises.
Neptude: What is the difficulty? There are two Donors in the District who can handle both Audnes channels: Beni and Nick Reckage.
Lexus: Beni is solid.
Lexus: I don't trust Nick with Wise Snake; his rogue loyalties still over-shadow his commitment to the Tecton.
Neptude: Does that matter so much, if his rogue tendencies urge him to do exactly what the Tecton expects of him in this instance?
Lexus: He was involved in orchestrating the disaster with Pylor, for all he denies it.
Neptude: Do you zlin deception in his nager when he speaks of it?
Lexus: No, but then I wouldn't.
Neptude frowns.
Neptude: True enough.
Lexus: But I can add 2 + 2.
Lexus: How did Wise Snake come to be Pylor's trainer?
Neptude: I believe Arat had decided that she might have more success than he had.
Neptude: Of course, that would have been just before his collapse, so his judgment might have been off.
Neptude has no idea that Arat wasn't involved, as he has not been warned about Snake's talent for forgery.
Lexus: She is a brilliant therapist, no doubt about it.
Lexus: But I wonder if her true motive was to train him, or to deliberately destroy him.
Neptude: A brilliant therapist?
Neptude thinks "totally insane" sounds like a better description.
Lexus: Remember, I've been working with him directly.
Lexus: His potential has increased significantly under her care, and the physical changes have inflamed his Donor instincts to the point where he actually craves Arat's transfer.
Lexus: I suspect she used her abilities to deliberately drive him out of control, so he would be disciplined and reassigned.
Neptude: Why should she want him gone? There aren't so many Farris-compatible Donors around that they can be considered expendable.
Lexus: The conflict between Arat and Pylor was well known. Nick has repeatedly expressed the opinion that he doesn't want Pylor anywhere near Arat--typical Donor possessiveness.
Lexus: Snake may also feel some concern for the well-being of her father, or some wish to take a revenge that he would never permit himself.
Neptude nods, rather than have to admit that Nick has good reason for his concern.
Neptude: She has expressed such a concern for her father?
Lexus: Her feelings towards him are complex, so far as she permits me to zlin them.
Lexus: She says she makes no distinction between love and hate.
Neptude notes that Lexus's feelings towards Snake are a bit complex themselves.
Neptude: Really?
Neptude: That's an odd thing to say.
Lexus: She may have also been motivated by the wish to destroy Arat's self-control by manipulating a Gen into essentially raping him.
Lexus: She couldn't lose in that situation; either Pylor or Arat would be discredited, and she wants to hurt them both.
Neptude harumphs.
Lexus: She is truly dangerous, Uncle Neptude. That I am sure of.
Neptude: Well, this is all very interesting psychological speculation, but you haven't explained how you would handle scheduling her transfers, if you were in Arat's position.
Lexus: If I were in Arat's position, I wouldn't require a Nick or a Pylor to serve me.
Lexus: I wouldn't supervise the therapy of my own insane daughter. I would ship her off to Zeor or somewhere they are equipped to handle her.
Lexus: I wouldn't assign a newly pledged rogue Gen to serve his rogue channel.
Neptude: In other words, instead of doing your job and solving the problem, you'd foist it off on someone else.
Neptude is ~~ disappointed ~~
Lexus: Well, I thought that since Wise Snake was so successful with training Pylor, maybe I could assign the two of them together and she could finish the job.
Lexus: But when I asked her about her training methods, she said that Pylor obeyed her because he was afraid of her, and she could succeed in getting him to satisfy her by hurting him.
Neptude can imagine what Arat would say to a transfer assignment between Snake and Pylor--and more to the point, what Seruffin would say.
Lexus: I wouldn't dare make such an assignment; she might end up burning or even killing him.
Neptude: She was addicted to pain at her First Transfer.
Neptude: Opinions vary as to whether she has truly overcome the craving.
Lexus: I would say not.
Lexus: Which means I wouldn't trust her to train up any other Gen, either, although she has a talent for it.
Lexus: Look what she did with that Simephobe Linn.
Neptude: Yes. She'll never be more than a Third, of course, but she seems reliable enough.
Lexus: So that leaves Beni and Nick, and I don't trust her hold over Nick.
Neptude: I see.
Neptude: Even though she is a prisoner, guarded constantly, you feel she is that much of a danger?
Lexus: If Pylor could be stabilized at a High First level, perhaps he could be traded for someone else with potential.
Lexus: Wise Snake seems to have a talent for psychological manipulation.
Neptude: All the Audnes do.
Lexus: In her current state, yes, I think she is a danger to every channel, Donor and patient she comes in contact with.
Lexus: And she doesn't do herself or the Tecton much good as a prisoner.
Lexus: Her boredom and resentment are part of the problem.
Neptude: You sound as if you're recommending that she be given freedom.
Lexus: I'm saying I don't have a good solution to this one.
Neptude wonders what else is new; nobody else seems to have a solution, either.
Lexus: But certainly getting her another Donor like Beni--someone who can handle her but is totally loyal to the Tecton--would be part of the solution.
Neptude: And just where would you suggest looking for such a Donor?
Neptude knows from personal experience that Zeor doesn't like to part with their Gens, and out of Zeor, they are few and far between.
Lexus: There I would bow to your vast expertise, Uncle.
Lexus: It might be necessary to call on Wise Snake's links to Zeor.
Neptude raises an eyebrow.
Lexus: That ploy might be more effective with Arat out of the picture.
Neptude: Zeor has not been in any hurry to acknowledge any links to Wise Snake.
Lexus: Well, they are the ones who originally damaged her and I don't know why we should have to foot the bill.
Lexus: Other options might be to trade either Pylor or Nick.
Arat signals at Neptude's door.
Neptude: Do you really think you could trade Pylor for a Donor who could....
Neptude breaks off trying to provide his nephew with a reality check.
Neptude: Enter!
Arat is carrying a copy of a supplemental District report and has his rogue insane daughter in tow.
Arat has been forced to get creative about the time he spends with her, since his Donor can't work enough hours for Arat to both get his work done and watch Wise Snake, non-simultaneously.
Arat enters Neptude's office.
Neptude: Arat! We were just discussing your....
Wise Snake follows, looking around with a sly expression. She has, actually, been here once before, although nobody else realizes this but Pylor.
Arat follows Neptude's glance at Snake.
Neptude breaks off as he sees--and zlins--the bipedal weasel following Arat.
Lexus puts his field in neutral, but certainly Arat's ears should feel suspiciously warm.
Neptude's eyes bulge with astonishment, tinged with alarm.
Wise Snake zlins Neptude's reaction, and immediately looks interested. Most Simes find alarm interesting.
Lexus quickly zlins the contents of his pockets to catalog what is there right now.
Neptude remembers the tales of random violence, homicidal outbursts, and so on.
Neptude looks at Arat sternly.
Arat notes Lexus' actions and deduces that Snake was not well-behaved during their interview. Somehow, he is not surprised.
Arat returns Neptude's look, deadpan.
Wise Snake looks on, curiously.
Neptude: Arat. I thought your wayward daughter was to remain incarcerated when she is not working.
Arat: Indeed. I had hoped that my personal supervision would be deemed adequate.
Lexus forces his lips into a smile and nods to both Arat and Wise Snake.
Arat in fact can trust Snake to remain "incarcerated" only during those hours.
Wise Snake: I see you finally got rid of that pumpkin. 1
Neptude does a double take.
Neptude: How did you... I mean, what pumpkin?
Wise Snake: The one I stole, and Pylor brought back?
Neptude was only recently able to get rid of the odorous thing.
Neptude: ...You...?
Wise Snake: It was his first lesson in enhanced-personal-danger obedience training.
Neptude: Personal danger obedience training?
Wise Snake: I find that the sense of appalling responsibility peaks the responses of those who aren't used to it.
Wise Snake: Don't you?
Neptude: ~~ bewildered ~~
Lexus notes Neptude's reaction with interest. He is pleased to see he is not alone in finding interactions with Snake disconcerting.
Neptude thinks that Snake's individual words appear to be standard Simelan, but they still don't make any sense.
Arat blinks in disbelief. Did he just hear what he thinks he just heard?
Arat has, of course, been entirely ignorant of the entire pumpkin escapade until just now.
Neptude tries to retrace the conversation to see where he went wrong.
Neptude: You stole the pumpkin?
Wise Snake: Well, yes.
Neptude: And then ordered Sosu Pylor to return it as a training device?
Wise Snake beams.
Lexus is rather confused by the role of pumpkins in Regional selyn management.
Arat: That will be enough. [irritably, to Snake]
Neptude recollects himself and turns his attention to Arat.
Neptude: What brought you here?
Neptude: The disturbances haven't reached your Center, have they?
Neptude: ~~ worry ~~
Arat steps forward and hands Neptude the interim report, that includes damages to the building in recent events.
Neptude skims the descriptions and winces.
Neptude: Something really has to be done about these riots.
Lexus wonders why people who are afraid of losing their health and property are smashing the institutions that keep them safe.
Neptude: I'm all for respecting the rights of the common Sime, but I've never seen the connection between that and--let's see, seven windows, a dozen trees adorned with things best left unmentioned, and spraypainted slogans on the sidewalk?
Lexus wonders about the tree adornments, however.
Lexus: I'm surprised the police can't keep better order, here in the Capitol.
Neptude: That's right, Golden Hills doesn't have a Narosian outreach program, does it?
Lexus: No, just a Narosian Tea Shoppe.
Neptude: Well, then, you could hardly be aware of how much they can complicate a simple issue.
Lexus: I thought the demonstrators were from the renSime labor party, not a Householding.
Wise Snake glances at Arat, in order to determine how closely he is paying attention to her. She rarely spends time with him when he is talking to people higher up in the hierarchy.
Neptude: Well, the protests have become rather broadly based.
Neptude: The question is, where did the incitement first appear?
Arat: Have you been able to determine to your satisfaction that Nick was not responsible?
Arat had given all the materials to Neptude some three days earlier.
Neptude frowns.
Neptude: He appears innocent of any intentional wrongdoing, although his actions were very ill-advised.
Neptude: ~~ reluctant ~~
Lexus has not been able to figure out any way that Nick could have gotten his hands on the documents that were released to the newspapers.
Wise Snake moves nonchalantly over to a nearby window.
Arat: I agree. ~sincerely~
Lexus notices Wise Snakes move and again checks his pockets.
Neptude: Still, blood will tell, and Narosians have been implicated.
Wise Snake watches with interest as a number of looters rush out of the bank across the street, carrying a waste paper basket, a potted palm, and a small armchair.
Lexus still thinks it suspicious that Nick avoided giving the name of the "friend" who wanted to know about the dam project; was that person a Narosian activist or a labor organizer?
Arat shifts uncomfortably.
Arat: As I have noted in the report, there have been... morale issues.
Arat hadn't intended for this report to be given in Lexus' presence, but he can't see how it would ever get covered if he didn't bring it up now.
Neptude: Reckage's morale is slipping?
Arat's expressive Farris lips twitch in undisguised irritation.
Neptude did only skim the report, after all, and is therefore not yet clear on the details.
Arat: The District Office's morale level, as a whole.
Arat: Recent rumor has not done well for it. The people do not like the uncertainty, particularly given the nature of these public disturbances.
Neptude: It is a Controller's job to maintain the morale of his staff, even under trying circumstances.
Wise Snake: Yes, but does the Controller still have a job?
Wise Snake leans on the windowsill, easily.
Wise Snake's pale eyes spark with a perverse amusement.
Lexus, musing on Wise Snake's admission that she enjoys periodically tormenting her father, leans back to watch the show.
Arat casts a forbidding look at Snake.
Neptude looks at Snake in outrage. How can he hold the threat of being dismissed over Arat indefinitely or until it's convenient to get rid of him, if he has to give a straight answer to that question?
Neptude: I can see that you have much to learn in the way of tact and courtesy.
Neptude is a master of attacking to avoid an unwelcome admission.
Wise Snake looks at their two angry expressions, and smiles.
Wise Snake: As do you, about managing people who physically outrank you.
Neptude: Arat, silence your daughter, or take her back to her cell. I don't care which.
Arat was afraid that something like this would happen if he brought Snake here; unfortunately, he'd caught one of her elite guards muttering Labor-sympathy statements this morning and can't trust her to be kept in her cell until the replacements go on shift.
Neptude actually does care quite a bit, and hopes the second option will be taken.
Neptude finds that Snake is creepier than advertised.
Wise Snake grins snakishly.
Wise Snake: A little defensive, aren't we?
Wise Snake: Come now, Neptude. Everybody knows you're in far, far over your head.
Wise Snake: Why deny it? We're all family here.
Neptude: I'm no relation of yours.
Neptude is very glad of that fact.
Arat knows better than to try to move nearer to her, which would likely lead to a merry chase around the room as she eluded direct nageric overcontrol.
Lexus watches the by-play, and figures everyone in the room is in over their heads when it comes to Snake management. She belongs in a facility for the criminally insane and not an ordinary treatment center.
Arat instead places himself to be able to intercept her if she decides to interfere with either Neptude of Lexus in anything other than a verbal manner. Not that that's not bad enough!
Wise Snake: What I don't understand, is why you don't try to use Arat to your advantage, instead of wasting his talents.
Neptude has been doing precisely that for over two years, and to good effect, but Arat's results are coming dangerously close to showing up his own, earlier ones.
Wise Snake: You obviously know how to wring blood from a stone, or you wouldn't be considering Lexus for Arat's job.
Wise Snake: Why, if you put half as much effort into Arat's career, you'd have quite a tool.
Wise Snake: Not quite the same as having a relative, perhaps, but as you say, we aren't... quite... related.
Neptude can't bring himself to dignify Snake's words with a response, particularly since there is no way to do so in a dignified fashion.
Neptude: Arat, silence her or remove her at once!
Arat: Please remain calm.
Wise Snake's grin widens at Neptude's reaction.
Wise Snake prefers a challenge, but there is a certain satisfaction to having some fun with someone who is easy to bait.
Neptude: Have you anything else you wanted to discuss, or is it all in your report?
Wise Snake is momentarily distracted as a rise in crowd noises outside is accompanied by faint sound of breaking glass.
Arat: I... do not think there is any purpose to further discussion.
Arat can tell that Neptude is not interested in anything Arat has to talk about.
Lexus zlins out the window as the outside ambient shifts with the crowd's excitement.
Arat takes advantage of the distraction to move between Neptude and Snake, giving himself better access to her nager.
Neptude is not interested in anything much at the moment but getting Snake out of his office, where he doesn't have to hear her disturbingly honest evaluation of his abilities, deeds, and motives.
Wise Snake: I've never seen a statue christened with blood before. [comments]
Wise Snake turns back from the window, to find her father looming near her.
Neptude: Blood?
Arat's nager is - to make a massive understatement - no-nonsense.
Wise Snake: See for yourself. They're burning effigies in the square.
Neptude forgets himself so far as to take a full three steps towards the window.
Neptude: That's....
Arat rather firmly moves to stay between them, and takes the added precaution of grasping Snake's upper arm.
Neptude's voice trails off as he reads the large signs placed by the bonfires.
Neptude's hand rises protectively to his throat.
Neptude: ~~ shock ~~
Wise Snake smiles.
Wise Snake's smile is about half wince, as Arat's grip is fueled by a healthy and quite appropriate paranoia.
Wise Snake: Isn't it nice to know the people think so much of your powers?
Lexus feels the frisson of Neptude's shock and the crowd's exhilaration play rather pleasantly along his nerves.
Wise Snake: If you weren't powerful in their eyes, they wouldn't bother to burn you after all. [points out]
Wise Snake: Of course, I wouldn't let them get their hands on you in person, if I were you.
Neptude backs away from the window.
Neptude: No, no, of course not.
Neptude winces as glass shatters.
Arat is not very impressed by Snake's tormenting of Neptude. He would never stoop to such a thing, himself, no matter how loathsome and inadequate he finds the man. It's beneath him.
Lexus thinks it is the nature of the ruled to resist and the nature of power to overcome that resistance. He licks his lips, anticipating the day when he has the opportunity.
Neptude: You will excuse me, I hope, while I make sure my security staff is prepared to defend the building.
Arat nods, his expression dark.
Arat: And we will return to our... duties.
Arat would have left at this point even if the conversation had been going well; the coach and guards he'd left at the side entrance wouldn't stick around forever in this kind of mob.
Neptude: Yes, yes, do that. Lexus! Come with me.
Wise Snake: It was a pleasure meeting you, Neptude.
Neptude rushes out the door, forgetting in his haste his usual policy of not allowing anyone in his office unsupervised.
Arat looks like he'd like to strangle Snake as he strides out the door, dragging her with him.
Lexus waves good-bye to the visitors.
Lexus notes that Neptude has already fled the scene.
Lexus decides to delay following him long enough to do a bit of extra research.
Notes:
1) This is in reference to the events of DCO #133, though erroneously. In that episode, the owner of the pumpkin was actually Ekwoo Domle, not Neptude. However, nobody caught the error so the scene goes on as if it had been Neptude all along. [return]