Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #190: Reconnaissance (4/6/00)
Tiarala has managed to sidetrack Lexus with some chores that will keep him safely occupied for some time.
Tiarala is therefore free to take care of business she doesn't want Neptude to know about--like finding out exactly what the shen is going on.
Tiarala therefore seeks out Jeniard, unofficially, so that Lexus is less likely to find out.
Tiarala is fortunate enough to locate Jeniard in his office.
Jeniard is nearly obscured behind a towering mound of paperwork.
Jeniard has just found clean desk somewhere in the middle, and is currently scrutinizing a piece of paper to determine whether it can safely be recycled.
Tiarala: Jeniard, do you have a moment?
Jeniard: Sure.
Jeniard: Sorry about the mess.
Jeniard gets up to move some papers off of a chair.
Jeniard: Here's a seat.
Tiarala: Thank you.
Tiarala zlins ~~ friendly but concerned ~~
Jeniard: Shall I start some hot water?
Jeniard isn't blessed with enough regular office time to be able to drink tea here often.
Tiarala: Please. I haven't had time for tea since--well, you don't want to know.
Jeniard nods sympathetically and goes to light the little burner.
Tiarala: I admit, Arat took me completely by surprise.
Jeniard: Did he?
Jeniard looks around for an assortment of 2 clean cups.
Tiarala zlins discreetly to see if Jeniard was also expecting recent events.
Tiarala: The last time we spoke, he implied that he would try to take me with him, when he moves on.
Tiarala: However, recent events would seem to imply otherwise.
Jeniard thinks, as he measures tea into the two cups.
Jeniard: You say, "when" he moves on.
Jeniard stands there with his back to Tiarala, frowning at the little blue flame under the pot.
Jeniard has to be careful, because Arat will skin him alive if he gives away anything Tiarala hadn't already figured out for herself.
Tiarala: When District and Regional Controllers have chronic problems with each other, it's not usually the Regional Controller who moves on.
Tiarala: And when the Regional Controller in question sends a hand-picked successor to poke his nose into things, it usually happens sooner, not later.
Tiarala: By appointing me to carry out his duties while the negotiations are in progress, Arat has nominated me as his own candidate for his successor.
Tiarala: That's going to put me into conflict with Neptude; how much depends on how serious he is about putting Lexus in the position.
Jeniard: I can't speak for Controller Neptude's motives.
Jeniard turns back to Tiarala.
Jeniard: But I agree as to what it looks like.
Tiarala: And what of Arat's plans?
Jeniard looks wary as her question encounters years of rigorous training.
Tiarala's nager combines understanding, and a hint of irritation.
Tiarala: Jeniard, I am not Arat's enemy.
Tiarala: Quite the opposite.
Jeniard: Yeah, I know.
Tiarala: But I can't act effectively, for Arat or for the District, if I don't have information on his plans.
Jeniard: Sure you can.
Jeniard: You just want to know.
Jeniard: I can understand wanting to know.
Jeniard: I saw what he prepared for you. You have enough information to handle the District, if you're sharp.
Jeniard: But you want to know for yourself.
Tiarala: Yes. And for my future.
Jeniard: What do you want to know, exactly? And how would knowing it change your actions?
Tiarala: If Arat plans to leave me in charge of the 53rd District, I must start making long-term plans.
Tiarala: Particularly if I may have a hostile Regional Controller to deal with.
Jeniard spreads his hands.
Jeniard: It's not up to Arat, any more than it would be if this had come as a surprise to everybody.
Jeniard: All this means is you're getting a little bit of a head start on being picked. It can't mean anything else.
Jeniard: If you are picked, it's not up to Arat what happens to you, it's up to you.
Jeniard: Well, it does mean one other thing. It means Lexus won't run amuck here while Arat is tied up in those shenned negotiations.
Jeniard: Can you imagine the damage that little prick could do given complete lack of supervision?
Tiarala nods agreement, noting Jeniard's tacit admission that she is right as to Arat's intention to leave the District.
Tiarala: Lexus requires as much supervision as Snake.
Tiarala: After the past few days, I'm sorely tempted to lock him up in the cell with her.
Jeniard: He's been there. Won't go near it again.
Tiarala snorts.
Tiarala: I'm not surprised.
Jeniard: Have you met her?
Tiarala: More by reputation than anything else, although I've seen her from time to time.
Jeniard wonders what it means to meet someone only by reputation, and decides that is the sort of question one can get more answers to by talking to 3rd parties.
Tiarala: Does Arat intend to take her with him?
Jeniard checks the water, then centers it more squarely on the flame.
Jeniard: I don't see how it could be avoided.
Tiarala: Who else? You, I assume.
Jeniard can't see how that could be avoided, either.
Tiarala: Nick and Beni?
Tiarala figures that with Snake and Arat both gone, there will be no reason to keep either, and wants to know if she will have them to trade.
Tiarala realizes that nothing is official yet, of course, but is willing to bet on Arat over Neptude any day, particularly when Neptude's candidate is so woefully inexperienced.
Jeniard: I don't know.
Jeniard: ~ truth ~
Tiarala's eyes widen.
Tiarala: He'd be willing to let not one, but two compatible Donors slip through his tentacles, to get free of Neptude?
Tiarala hadn't realized it was quite that bad.
Jeniard says nothing.
Jeniard hears the water boiling, and goes over to pour the cups.
Jeniard thinks that she is making a lot out of the simple statement "I don't know".
Tiarala: Jeniard, I know that nothing is official yet, but Arat isn't the type to leave anything to chance.
Tiarala: Where is he planning to go, when he leaves?
Jeniard: I am sorry, but I am not permitted to tell anybody.
Jeniard comes and gives her one cup.
Tiarala sighs, and nods acceptance.
Tiarala: I suppose not.
Jeniard: Honey?
Tiarala: Yes, please.
Jeniard brings it back and gives it to her.
Jeniard is so used to running back and forth fetching things that he doesn't give it a thought.
Tiarala: Thank you.
Tiarala sweetens her tea, and returns the jar to Jeniard.
Jeniard puts it back, then goes and pulls his chair around to the front of the desk, so they will be able to see each other.
Jeniard sits down with his own tea.
Jeniard thinks that Tiarala's worries are the sure sign of a person who would rather leave with Arat than take command here.
Tiarala takes a careful sip, with due respect for the heat.
Jeniard: Do you know what you want to have happen?
Tiarala sighs.
Tiarala: I could live with having Arat stay, and Neptude move on.
Tiarala: Not that that appears likely.
Tiarala: But if I have to take over the District, it would be nice not to inherit such a political quagmire.
Tiarala: ~~ philosophical ~~
Tiarala: Oh, don't worry. I'll do it, rather than see everything Arat's done here destroyed by Lexus.
Jeniard thinks that is not the answer to his question, but she's the one who wants conversation, so if she won't respond, he'll let her decide what to talk about.
Tiarala: But you can understand why I wish it could be different?
Jeniard doesn't see what answer there is to that.
Jeniard sips his tea.
Jeniard: Look, Tiarala, I think you're reading too much into it. [finally]
Jeniard: You act like he ordered you to stay and fill his position.
Jeniard: Did he?
Jeniard knows he didn't.
Jeniard: Because if he didn't, you shouldn't do it unless you want to.
Jeniard: And don't make the mistake of assuming you and Lexus are the only possible candidates if Arat is removed.
Tiarala nods.
Tiarala: There is always that possibility.
Tiarala: But in the mean time, Lexus is doing his best to undermine me, and he's in a position to do a fair amount of damage.
Tiarala: So far, he's been spending a lot of time with Hajene Ormof.
Tiarala doesn't think this association is any great danger, as Ormof is too fundamentally lazy to do much damage.
Tiarala: But he's been approaching other department heads as well.
Tiarala: Would you happen to know if any of them have been responding favorably?
Tiarala knows that's not the sort of information one can get except through a third party.
Jeniard wonders if Tiarala has been putting as much time into actual 53rd District management as she has into freaking out about Lexus' behavior and her own future career path.
Jeniard can understand why she is worried about those things, but the whole thing is moot if Arat comes back and finds the District isn't being run properly.
Jeniard: Just rumors, and it sounds like they all despise him.
Tiarala is ~~ cautiously relieved ~~
Jeniard thinks a suitably aroused Arat-rage could do wonders for Tiarala's long-term career as a department head.
Jeniard would be afraid to see just what department that would be.
Jeniard: He's less channel than most of them are. His entire Sime Center was smaller than most of the wards.
Jeniard: The only thing he has over most of them is breeding, and the ones who believe in that stuff know it only goes back 2 generations.
Jeniard: Why should they listen to him? He's just a waste of their time.
Jeniard repeats the anti-Lexus propaganda he was instructed to spread among the staff.
Jeniard: Mind you, this is just between you and me.
Jeniard: Arat would have a cat if he knew I was saying it to you.
Tiarala nods.
Tiarala: Of course, two generations or no, he does have well-connected relatives.
Tiarala: And Neptude seems inclined to further his nephew's career.
Jeniard looks at Tiarala.
Jeniard: I asked you once, and I'll ask you again. What do you want to have happen?
Tiarala realizes that Jeniard is serious about ascertaining her preferences, and wonders if it's on Arat's orders or on his own initiative.
Tiarala then realizes that there isn't as much difference between the two as one might suppose.
Tiarala: I want what Arat has built here to survive.
Tiarala: There aren't many Centers where the standards are so high, and where there is so little deadwood dragging performance down.
Jeniard thinks about that for a moment.
Tiarala: I'd thought such things were stories, tales of Householding Zeor told by the envious.
Tiarala: To find out that the rest of us can actually hold to the same standards... well, that was a revelation.
Tiarala: What about you, Jeniard?
Tiarala: What do you want to happen?
Jeniard looks a bit puzzled, as he often does when asked things of this nature. The puzzled look comes from not having thought about it seriously before.
Jeniard of course always double-checks the results of such thoughts, when they do occur, against Arat's opinions.
Jeniard: I want him to be somewhere where he'll be physically safe, and able to be happy.
Jeniard thinks wherever that place is, the Snake River Dam ain't it.
Jeniard therefore looks rather unhappy himself.
Tiarala is, of course, well aware of who Jeniard means by "he".
Tiarala: What would make him happy?
Jeniard thinks Tiarala has a point.
Jeniard: Well, at least not desperately unhappy.
Tiarala: What sort of a place would that be?
Jeniard: Quiet. Dignified. Clean. A place where people care more about truth and loyalty and helping others than they care about covering their own asses.
Jeniard: Or getting ahead.
Tiarala nods.
Tiarala: Have you ever found such a place?
Jeniard snorts.
Jeniard: Not lately.
Tiarala is intrigued.
Tiarala: Not lately? Did you have such a place once, then?
Jeniard: New Othwol was like that.
Jeniard: It must be hard to imagine, but when a new city has been created from the bare ground, everybody feels a different way.
Tiarala: Different? How?
Jeniard: They cooperate. They're part of creating something.
Jeniard: There's this golden moment, like a marriage during its honeymoon.
Tiarala nods thoughtfully.
Jeniard: And there's no desperation, no... no do or die.
Jeniard: Just building something together.
Jeniard is speaking of the building of the new society, not the physical building of the city, particularly of the channels' school. that was another story entirely.
Tiarala: And when the building is done?
Jeniard: I don't know.
Tiarala: How do you sustain the feeling when the honeymoon is over?
Jeniard spreads his hands again.
Tiarala: And when the challenge is more to preserve what you've built than to create new things?
Jeniard doesn't know what Tiarala is asking him.
Jeniard just looks at her, somewhat quizzically.
Tiarala: Or is the only solution to leave what you've created and move on to build something else?
Jeniard: Well, if you're talking about Arat, I think it's pretty obvious to all that any change would not be by his choice.
Jeniard thinks if Tiarala had been the one who had to nurse Arat through the brutal transition from New Othwol's City Controllership to the 53rd District Controllership, she wouldn't have to ask.
Tiarala: Not even if the change was to a place more congenial than this?
Jeniard: I suppose it would depend how it happened.
Tiarala: Arat isn't inclined to see the opportunity in misfortune?
Jeniard isn't inclined to place his foot in a bear trap.
Jeniard: It depends on the misfortune, and the opportunity.
Jeniard: It's no secret he has wanted to win free of Controller positions for some time. Perhaps an opportunity of that nature would have appealed to him.
Tiarala tries to imagine Arat as a department head, and her mind boggles.
Tiarala is, after all, Sime, and thus defers automatically to hugely dominant nagers.
Tiarala: I can't blame him for that.
Tiarala: Has he ever tried for a post in a Center with other Farris channels?
Tiarala: I'd think in such a place, there would be less pressure on him to be an administrator.
Jeniard: His relations with Zeor are....
Jeniard tries to think of a way to put it delicately.
Jeniard: Not promising.
Tiarala: Snake is ambrov Zeor, isn't she? That must have been very awkward.
Jeniard: Extremely.
Jeniard: ~~ that was an understatement ~~
Jeniard: Then again, at the time she was accepted, she fit their profile. Arat never has.
Tiarala: Their profile?
Tiarala thinks Arat and Snake have quite similar profiles, featuring an extra-large nasal appendage, for starters.
Jeniard: The pursuit of excellence, and all that.
Jeniard: Arat can do anything your average Farris can do, but Zeor isn't about averages.
Tiarala: They wanted more?
Tiarala's mind boggles at the concept.
Jeniard: Zeor seeks excellence.
Jeniard: It doesn't matter if the person is a Farris or a low 3rd. They have to be excellent for what they are, or strive for that.
Jeniard: It implies a certain mental state, a certain emotional state.
Jeniard: An optimism and never-say-die spunk.
Tiarala: I can't say I've ever considered putting "Arat" and "optimism" in the same sentence.
Jeniard: He survives.
Jeniard: And his goals are all the Tecton's goals. He doesn't seek excellence as its own ends.
Tiarala: And yet you say he was happiest when he was part of building something new, at New Othwol?
Jeniard shakes his head.
Jeniard: You misunderstood what I meant.
Jeniard: I said the entire city was new.
Jeniard: Everybody felt differently, went about their lives differently.
Jeniard: It was a better environment for a person to remain healthy in.
Jeniard: Emotionally, that is.
Tiarala: Well, I suppose that a construction site would be physically hazardous.
Tiarala not being quite as prone to entran as the average Farris, disapproves of such dangers.
Jeniard sighs, as Tiarala persists in having no clue what he was talking about.
Jeniard: Never mind.
Tiarala: So how can one capture that spirit of adventure, that optimism?
Tiarala: And bring it to the rest of the Tecton?
Tiarala: Or at least to some place where Arat could be happy?
Jeniard assumes it is a rhetorical question.
Tiarala waits for answer.
Jeniard realizes she's waiting for him.
Jeniard: I don't think it's something you just do to a population. Events have to cause it.
Jeniard: Like Unity.
Tiarala: A sudden change is important, then, an overwhelming task that forces people to work in new ways?
Tiarala: Preferable to accomplish a common goal?
Tiarala is considering possibilities.
Jeniard: Look, Tiarala.
Jeniard: I don't mean to be blunt, but....
Jeniard actually does mean to be blunt. He just doesn't know how to segue into bluntness, particularly with someone like Tiarala.
Jeniard: I look up to you. A lot of people look up to you. You could probably make a great District Controller one day.
Jeniard: But you are in a little over your head.
Jeniard: I don't think worrying about Lexus or Arat so much is going to make it any easier. It's one of those problems you're going to have to face straight on and grab by the horns.
Jeniard: And there's no way to do that but to sit there 20 hours a day and be the District Controller.
Tiarala: You're right, of course.
Tiarala sets her teacup down.
Tiarala: And I'd better get started.
Tiarala: Thank you for the tea, and the advice.
Jeniard looks puzzled as Tiarala takes his words without a blink and is ready to leave immediately.
Jeniard thinks that all in all, she asked a lot of questions and didn't do much listening. This isn't Tiarala as she's been in the past. The stress may be getting to her already.