Sime~Gen Roleplaying: District Controller's Office Scenario
Episode #210: Corn Maiden (5/16/00)
Homer sits at a corner table in the Congressional Cask, a porstan parlor which caters to legislators and their hangers-on.
Homer has newspapers spread out over his table and the nearby chairs, with sections dripping off onto the floor.
Homer anchors several of the newspaper pages in place with empty mugs of porstan.
Homer is a young Second Order channel with dark hair pulled back in a braid. He has come here straight from work, so he still wears his Tecton uniform.
Homer squints and carefully reads a small article in the Sunburst Stream Times.
Homer: Shen!
Ora, a Second Order Donor, looks around and finds there are no spaces at the bar and looks around for a place to sit. She sees one chair open at a table covered with newspapers and occupied by a lone Sime.
Homer reads the article again more slowly.
Homer: [muttering to himself] They're really serious!
Homer: Shidoni-be-flayed arrogant sons of coyotes!
Ora walks over and hears cursing and wonders if that is where she should sit. She shrugs and tosses back her red hair.
Ora: Mind if I sit?
Homer looks up, searching for the waiter to bring more porstan. He sees Ora instead.
Homer is overwhelmed at the sight of such a lovely Gen.
Homer: Be my guest!
Ora: Thanks, there isn't another place anywhere in here.
Homer's coordination may have suffered from the amount he has been drinking, but he clears the chair with all the speed he can muster.
Homer: Make yourself at home.
Ora sits down and looks closely at the Sime.
Ora: My name is Ora ambrov Baly.
Homer swipes several of the newspapers off onto the floor, clearing the table.
Homer: Ah... ambrov means you are a Householder?
Ora: Yes. Baly is a minor House so we don't get all huffy about things.
Homer: Still, you are most fortunate in your affiliation.
Ora: It's a place to call home.
Ora: And you are?
Homer: My name is Homer Hawke. Second Order Donor.
Ora: I am a Second also.
Homer looks around frantically for the waiter.
Homer: Yes, I can zlin. I am honored.
Homer: Would you like something to eat? Or drink?
Ora smiles.
Homer's brown eyes light at her pleasure.
Ora: I'm not really hungry or thirsty, I just came to get away from work.
Ora: I hate sitting alone in my quarters.
Homer: Well, perhaps I can offer you some diversion then.
Homer: How may I please you?
Homer is always very, very eager to please the Gens he meets.
Ora: Tell me, what were you reading so intently?
Homer: Ah, news about my own home in Arriz.
Homer: That is far to the SouthWest.
Ora is fascinated by the way he wears his hair.
Homer can feel the tingle of her attention on him.
Ora: I've never been there. Is something wrong back home?
Homer's expression turns grim.
Homer: Very wrong. There may be civil war.
Ora: War? In this day and age?
Ora: Why?
Homer: The war was not so long ago as that.
Homer: Yes, the treaty was signed years ago.
Homer: But the treaty did not bind the whole world.
Ora: True.
Homer: Arriz joined the Tecton later.
Homer: A special treaty was negotiated.
Ora: I suppose I just would like to believe that we haven't suffered in vain.
Homer: Now some would like to renege on the terms of that treaty.
Homer: I am afraid there will be blood shed.
Ora gently folds her nager about him.
Ora: I hope for their sake it doesn't happen.
Homer lets himself rest on her field.
Ora: I for my part have been having a vile day.
Homer: What is happening?
Ora: My channel is an idiot and I can't strangle her.
Homer finds it hard to believe anyone could let such a lovely Gen be unhappy for a moment, but he is prepared to rectify the situation.
Homer is distressed by her anger.
Homer: The Simes here can be quite... arrogant.
Homer: What troubles you?
Ora: I don't really want to hurt her, well not much, but she can't zlin what is right in front of her and we lost a changeover. A really sweet kid.
Homer: The child died?
Ora: Yes.
Homer: A most terrible tragedy.
Ora struggle to keep her emotions out of her field.
Homer: And you think it could have been prevented?
Ora: I guess it happens but where I come from it could have been prevented.
Ora: But we don't always use Tecton approved methods.
Ora: My channel is a strictly by the book type.
Homer: Yes, I know about this book.
Ora: It should be burned or rewritten.
Ora: I tried to tell her that she could fix the problem and how to fix it but....
Homer has had the book relentlessly drummed into him for the last months.
Homer: ...but she insisted on keeping to the regulations.
Ora can't keep all of the pain out of her field.
Ora: Yes!!
Ora: Sorry Hajene!
Homer lets her pain flow over and through him.
Ora get her field under tighter control.
Homer: If you can bear your sorrow, I can bear it too.
Ora can't believe a channel is willing to bear her mistake.
Homer actually thinks that most "civilized" channels are incredibly soft when it comes to enduring discomfort.
Ora: You are the first Tecton channel who hasn't gone into hysterics because I dropped my control.
Ora: Thank you.
Homer can't deny enjoying the pampering Tecton Donors offer, however.
Homer: Well, I am not entirely a Tecton channel.
Ora: Will you be going home?
Homer: If they will ever permit it.
Homer: Perhaps never.
Ora: I guess you are safer here.
Ora: What has your day been like?
Homer: Long.
Homer: They have me working Dispensary.
Homer: I am not very skilled and the renSimes complain.
Homer: And I get very tired.
Ora feels sympathy for him.
Homer laps up the comforting attention.
Homer: Tell me about your House.
Ora: It can be very trying to serve transfer after transfer. My House?
Homer: Yes. I am wanting to learn more of the Householdings.
Ora: We don't really have a specialty like most Houses. We banded together to share our resources.
Homer: What resources brought you together?
Ora: We are just a farming community and there isn't anything special about that. But it does give us all a home. That's important when you work for the Tecton.
Homer: Yes. You said your House was small. How many members?
Ora: Six families all affiliated with our House but not actually related.
Homer: Like a village, then.
Ora: Very much like!
Homer: And when was this House founded?
Ora: Sixty-two years ago.
Homer: Forgive me if I ask too many questions.
Homer: You will tell me if I pry, please?
Ora: Not at all. I get so homesick some times that I like to talk about it.
Homer: I like to hear you talk about it.
Ora: Most non-Householders think that it's bragging.
Homer: Tell me what it was like, to grow up as a child in that village.
Ora: You can't get away with anything.
Homer smiles.
Homer: Everyone knows everything.
Ora laughs at the memory of childhood mischief.
Ora: Yes. And every adult has the right to paddle you for anything you do wrong.
Homer delights in the zlin of her laughter.
Homer: Hmmm. And were you very evil?
Ora: Me? I was the worst of the lot.
Ora: But I seldom got caught.
Homer: Oh, that is impossible to believe! You are a vision of loving-kindness.
Ora remembers some spectacular messes.
Ora: I got it all out of my system when I was a kid.
Ora: And you, sir, are a flatterer.
Ora chuckles and it lights up the room.
Homer: I say nothing but truth.
Ora: Tell me of your home.
Homer expression changes to one of distress.
Homer: When I was a child our land was at war.
Homer: Between those who wished to join the Tecton, those who rejected it.
Ora sees his distress and sends a wave of comfort through her field.
Homer: I ended up with kinfolk in the Canyon Clan in Sancrist.
Homer: It is a desert place. They herd sheep.
Homer: A very tiny village. And everyone knows everything.
Ora: Did you have kids to play with?
Homer: Yes, there were other children.
Ora is concerned by his wording.
Ora: Did you play with them?
Homer: Though it took a while for them to like me, since I had been raised in a different Clan.
Homer thinks in fact they never accepted him at all.
Homer: I lived with my Aunt Thistle.
Ora sees the rejected child in his eyes.
Homer: And helped herd the sheep and goats.
Homer: And went exploring in the mesa. I wanted to be a prospector.
Homer: I used to dig holes everywhere.
Ora: How adventurous.
Homer smiles.
Ora: Did you find anything?
Homer: Oh, yes.
Ora: Do tell!
Homer: Sometimes water.
Homer: That is very precious.
Ora: I bet they liked you for that.
Homer: Oh, yes. I have the gift for it.
Ora is surprised to hear him say that.
Homer: When I grew up, they sent me searching for whatever was lost. Goats. Children.
Ora: We have a dowser in our House.
Ora: So you are a finder of lost things.
Homer: Do you really? I didn't think that art was known outside Arriz?
Ora: It isn't something that we talk about.
Homer: Yes. But it is not in the book, so I don't do much work in that line these days.
Ora: Yours is a rare Talent.
Ora: I'm afraid I don't have any Talent.
Homer: You are just beautiful.
Ora: You are just drunk. But thank you.
Ora smiles all the way through her field.
Homer: Are you married?
Ora: No. Who has time or opportunity, getting moved every few months?
Homer: Very true.
Ora: I used to think I would settle down someday but....
Homer: In the old days in Arriz, there were Clans who settled and Clans who always moved.
Homer: The ones who moved took everyone together.
Ora: Which type is your Clan?
Homer: I have ancestors from both.
Ora: Clans sound like Householdings.
Homer: Very much so.
Homer: That is what is at issue in the Treaty.
Homer: It said that the Corn Society was to have the status of a Householding.
Homer: But now there are those who do not wish to accept that.
Ora: Who doesn't want to accept it?
Homer: The rule-bookers of the Tecton, who say that Corn Society ways are not civilized.
Homer: And the hotheads of my own people, who say the Treaty is destroying our traditions.
Ora: To bad you can't find the peace that your people have lost.
Homer: Oh, there was never peace. Only balance. But now the balance has been lost.
Ora: Is there no one who can unite your people?
Homer sighs.
Homer: There are those who try.
Ora: It is sad that the Tecton can't just leave them alone.
Ora warms her field with compassion.
Homer: My errors helped destroy the balance that we had.
Homer: That is why I have been exiled here.
Homer: I wish I knew some way to set things right again.
Ora: You are a finder of lost things.
Homer stares at her and then zlins, tentacles emerging slightly.
Homer: You are right.
Ora: Maybe you can find what will make things right.
Homer nods.
Homer: I must seek an answer.
Ora smiles and nods also.
Ora: How will you seek it?
Homer pokes at the pile of newspapers.
Homer: I think I will not find it here.
Ora agrees.
Homer: I must seek it... in the spirit world.
Homer: Do your people know of that?
Ora: We aren't very religious. Farmers tend to be more pragmatic.
Ora: But I don't have a problem with it.
Homer: Spirits are most practical, I assure you.
Homer: Just like dowsing.
Ora smiles and nods.
Ora: How will you proceed?
Homer: I am a finder of lost things. But I must decide... what it is I am seeking, precisely.
Homer: One must be very careful when dealing with the spirits.
Homer: They like to play tricks.
Ora: That sound very inconvenient.
Homer: It is complicated.
Homer: If you ask the wrong question, you get the wrong answer.
Ora: So your spirits don't really care if they help or not.
Homer: They are like people. Some care, some do not. Some must be bribed or threatened. Some do whatever they wish.
Ora: Do you have one who wants to help you?
Homer: The Corn Maiden always helps. She let me drink from her spring.
Homer: But I am not sure she is wise about politics.
Ora thinks that it all sounds a bit far fetched, but if he believes that is all that matters.
Ora: Is there another more wise about politics?
Homer: Perhaps. I must think about the pattern. Decide what it is I seek. Then find the path.
Homer: It may be one I have not met before.
Homer: There may be a price.
Homer looks at Ora.
Homer: Thank you! You have inspired me!
Ora: That's what Corn Maidens do.
Homer: Yes.
Homer grins.
Ora smiles again.
Homer: And you don't fool me with your disguise-- all that red, red hair.
Homer: I know you whatever form you take.
Ora: Then find what you need and return.