Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Two Roads Diverged Scenario
Episode #14: An Idyllic Country Morning (6/9/98)
Wise Snake walks back to the camp, carrying a bundle of filched garden vegetables.
Nick turns over, groaning at the stiffness from sleeping on the ground all night.
Wise Snake is wearing a big grin, having just enjoyed nearly every form of channel's functional that could be done to one family in one morning.
Eliza trudges along side, still damp from her wash in the tank.
Nick notices something is missing.
Eliza has never seen Snake so happy and wonders if it's something she didn't do.
Nick tells himself (somewhat incoherently) that of course something's missing: A bed.
Nick mulls that over for a long moment.
Nick sits up abruptly.
Nick: Snake!
Nick looks around frantically, hoping to spot what he can't sense.
Wise Snake: You called?
Nick: ~~ relief ~~
Nick: You're back.
Nick: Where do you go?
Wise Snake: Oh, here and there.
Wise Snake: We brought back food. [grins]
Nick: ~~ starving Gen ~~
Wise Snake: Maybe we can get Linn to cook.
Wise Snake: She knows how [adds, to Eliza]
Eliza: Didn't you find the eggs?
Wise Snake: He was asleep.
Wise Snake: How could he find them when he was asleep?
Wise Snake knows something is seriously amiss when it's up to the only Farris in the vicinity to be the logical one.
Nick looks around.
Eliza: Oh.
Nick: Where is Linn, anyway?
Eliza: We left her here asleep with you and Griff.
Linn returns from behind a nearby clump of boulders.
Wise Snake frowns at the image of Linn "sleeping with" Nick and Griff and makes a mental note to give Eliza a few Simelan lessons.
Linn: Oh, you two are back.
Linn: Is there anything to eat?
Wise Snake grunts.
Eliza: I left some eggs over on the satchel.
Linn looks at Snake.
Wise Snake is holding a large bundle of fresh vegetables.
Linn: Was that a "no" grunt, or a "yes" grunt?
Wise Snake looks down at the bundle.
Wise Snake: Er....
Wise Snake: I would say, "yes".
Wise Snake holds them out to Linn.
Eliza: Linn, can I have some of your clothes to change into please? I had an accident on the farm and tried to wash it all off... but....
Linn takes the bundle and inspects its contents.
Linn: Hmm, and you said there were eggs?
Linn nods absently at Eliza.
Wise Snake: May want to wash yours off in the creek.
Wise Snake: I was thinking of heading down there.
Eliza: Ta Linn.
Linn: You can have the green outfit.
Wise Snake is referring to a small creek that lay between them and the farm, in a misty dell.
Eliza smiles at Linn.
Eliza is glad Linn came along.
Linn starts collecting cooking supplies from the luggage.
Wise Snake shrugs and turns and starts walking down toward the creek.
Eliza gets out the clothes and runs to catch up with Snake.
Nick decides that now he's sitting up, he might as well stand.
Nick staggers after Snake and Eliza towards the creek.
Wise Snake gets to the creek and starts pulling off clothes.
Nick is unable to appreciate the "misty dell": To him, it looks much more like a foggy swamp.
Wise Snake sneezes at the misty air.
Eliza strips off and wades in.
Wise Snake: Ummh.
Eliza pulls her icky clothes after her.
Wise Snake crouches by the brook and washes all her clothes, muttering to herself, then hangs them on branches.
Nick looks at Eliza, and moves upstream before kneeling down to wash his face.
Eliza proceeds to sing "one misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather, I met with an old man, aclothed all in leather"
Nick doesn't want to know what Eliza did with the leather-clad man.
Eliza vigorously washes her clothes.
Wise Snake finally sighs and climbs into the brook herself, starting to scrub.
Eliza: "He was clothed all in leather, a cap beneath his chin singing 'how doya do and how doya do and how doya do' again"
Wise Snake's sighs (there are more of them) have a lugubrious quality suggesting the loss of a loved one or the ruination of a fortune, rather than a simple bath.
Wise Snake feels really surreal sitting in freezing cold water in the mist listening to Eliza... yodel. Or whatever.
Nick decides that he might as well take the plunge.
Nick strips and jumps in.
Eliza: "I went a little further and there I met a maid, a going off to market, to market sir she says. And I began to compliment and she began to sing, singing 'how doya do and how doya do and how doya do' again"
Nick hadn't realized Eliza's tastes were so... broad.
Nick scrubs quickly and gets back into his clothes before she gets any ideas.
Eliza was so busy washing and singing she didn't notice Nick in the mist.
Wise Snake climbs shivering and blue out of the water [not because she can't augment to stay warm, but just because the thought of touching water leaves her blue and shivering]
Eliza throws the clothing onto the bank and splashes around happily for a bit.
Wise Snake drags on her wet clothes and carefully retrieves her possessions, replacing them in the pockets.
Wise Snake gets started on heating/drying the clothes.
Wise Snake sighs several more times at how unpleasant the whole process is.
Nick starts back towards the camp.
Eliza gets out and wishes she had a towel.
Eliza starts shivering.
Wise Snake follows him, muttering to herself about chafing and mildew.
Eliza shakes herself off as best she can and puts on the green dress.
Eliza: Hey! Wait for me Snake!
Eliza picks up her wet clothes and runs after Snake.
Nick's nose goes up as he smells the cooking odors.
Eliza notices that Nick is wet also.
Nick: ~~ starving Gen ~~
Eliza goes over close to the fire in an attempt to warm up again.
Eliza: Thanks for the l-l-l-end of the dr-r-r-r-ess, Linn.
Eliza: [chatter of teeth]
Wise Snake begins starving, and shivering, lamentably as well.
Linn: You're welcome. Why don't you wrap up in your blanket until you dry off?
Linn notices Snake shivering, and moves closer to offer her a cup of tea.
Wise Snake: Ah... thank you.
Wise Snake is actually only shivering because Eliza and Nick are, but appreciates the gesture.
Eliza gets her blanket and drags it over to the fire, sits and wraps herself up in it and grins up at Linn.
Linn: The omelet will be ready in a few minutes.
Linn scrapes bits of cheese onto the creation with a sharp knife.
Eliza mouth starts to water.
Eliza: That smells wonderful, Linn.
Eliza: What are we going to do now, Snake?
Linn: Eat, I hope.
Linn: It'll be much better hot.
Wise Snake considers Eliza's question.
Linn takes the frying pan out of the fire just before the omelet is completely cooked, and passes out forks.
Linn: We don't have plates, so we'll have to eat out of the pan.
Eliza: Thank you Linn.
Eliza slips out of the blanket to help her.
Wise Snake: Hold on a minute.
Linn looks at Snake in question.
Wise Snake: Eliza, I thought you wrote up a list of what we required, and Linn, I thought you bought all that stuff while we were in Angst Bluff. Now you two are telling me we have no plates?
Linn: Plates are large and heavy, and not absolutely necessary, as you see.
Linn: I felt that things like forks and spices were more important.
Eliza isn't telling Snake anything, she is too busy eating.
Eliza hands the pot to Nick.
Linn watches in satisfaction as Nick makes great inroads on the food.
Nick: Come on and eat, Snake. It's good.
Nick: ~~ starving Gen ~~
Wise Snake takes her fork and picks diffidently at the edge of the pot while Nick scarfs.
Griff: Yeah!
Griff is not allowing his share to go to waste--and he considers "down Nick's gullet" as waste.
Wise Snake feels undignified snatching for bits between a crowd of big hungry Gens, like a rooster at a cattle feed trough.
Wise Snake walks off some distance, disgruntled.
Wise Snake wasn't that hungry anyway (she discovers as she gets out of range)
Nick: Come back here and eat, Snake.
Nick focuses on Snake, which extends his influence a bit.
Nick: ~~ hungry Gen ~~
Wise Snake looks at them with obvious reluctance.
Wise Snake: I'll wait.
Wise Snake's stomach growls with Nick's manipulations.
Wise Snake: [it's a contest between Nick's power of hunger-creation and the Farris physical denial thing.]
Nick: Well, when we're done, you won't be hungry any more.
Linn: Here.
Linn scoops a portion of omelet onto the chopping board and goes over to present it to Snake.
Wise Snake: Ah... thank you.
Wise Snake takes the chopping board and goes and sits somewhere well away from the conflicting, competitive nagers.
Linn: Your clothes are sopping wet. Come over to the fire and dry off.
Wise Snake reluctantly goes and sits on the side of the fire away from the grubbing Gens.
Eliza shakes her hair out in front of the fire.
Eliza: You know, I think I'll cut this off, and we still have to bleach yours.
Spark jumps up the requisite few inches and lands on Eliza's hair.
Eliza doesn't notice the sparks leaping from the fire.
Wise Snake hopes to have a moment's peace AT LAST to eat her meal.
Wise Snake pecks at it with the fork.
Wise Snake stops, her long Farris nose scenting something odd in the air.
Wise Snake: ~~puzzled~~
Eliza: I wonder if Bumanuel will catch up to us today.
Wise Snake: Not if he knows what's good for him. [mutters under her breath]
Wise Snake goes back to poking her eggs.
Eliza: At least he won't be in need for a few more weeks so that ouch! What's that!
Eliza shakes the small burning ember out of her hair and surveys the damage.
Eliza doesn't notice that it falls out of her hair (which isn't flammable, as it is wet) and onto Linn's green dress (which is)
Eliza: Oh shen, look at that, my hair is smoldered. Oh well I was going to cut it anyway.
Wise Snake finally manages to pick up steam and is actually eating something, not paying attention to anything around her.
Eliza tosses her hair back and looks over at Griff and Nick stuffing themselves.
Tojam: [snap] AAIAIIAIAIIAIIAGHHHHHHHH!!!!
Tojam: [a horrible scream echoes through the woods]
Eliza: What the shen was THAT!
Eliza jumps up.
Wise Snake jumps so violently the eggs jump too.
Wise Snake's laterals shoot out so suddenly they knock the plate out of her hands.
Wise Snake: Ow! Shen it!
Wise Snake: That way. [points into the woods.] A kid I think.
Wise Snake: Ow.
Nick is already reaching for the (now de-egged) medicine satchel.
Eliza: [the ember on the dress is fanned by the movement and burns a hole through the material]
Tojam: OOOOOOOOoooohhhhhh God!!!! [anguished]
Eliza feels a sudden burning on her breast and looks down.
Wise Snake lunges into the woods.
Eliza starts slapping madly at her chest while dancing away from the fire.
Nick races after Snake.
Linn grabs her cup of tea and empties it over the smoldering dress.
Wise Snake comes rushing back a few moments later.
Wise Snake: Shen... shen, I'll require boiling water, and these sterilized [tosses a scattering of medical probes and such in Linn's general direction]
Wise Snake: And something for a splint! No... a cast. Shen!
Eliza: Thanks Linn.
Wise Snake runs in a small circle and rushes back into the woods again.
Eliza: What's the problem?
Eliza rubs her chest woefully.
Linn catches the stuff and drops it into a saucepan.
Eliza looks from Linn to the place Snake disappeared.
Eliza: Ummm.
Eliza: Be right back!
Eliza takes off after Snake.
Tojam: Oh, sweet mother, oh.... [delirious]
Wise Snake skids to a near-halt by the patient.
Nick reaches out to hold Tojam still.
Eliza follows the stream of semi cursing.
Nick: Don't thrash around, kid.
Wise Snake: Watch your step Eliza! [jumping up again suddenly]
Wise Snake: There's another one right there.
Wise Snake points at a heap of dead leaves.
Eliza freezes.
Eliza looks at the leaves.
Eliza waits for the leaves to move or something.
Wise Snake: Use a dead branch to prod it.
Wise Snake: There are two others... one there, and one there. [pointing]
Tojam stops thrashing, but is still rocking from side to side, making a keening noise in his throat.
Tojam is a old child, surely on the brink of either Establishment or changeover, with his leg caught in a trap.
Nick: That's right. Hold still, and we'll get you out of that thing.
Eliza picks up a stick and pokes the trap, snapping the stick in half as the trap snaps shut.
Wise Snake is searching for a suitably sturdy branch to use as a pry.
Wise Snake gives up and goes back to the kid, kneeling down by the trap.
Wise Snake: I'll try to pull it apart just enough for you to tug him loose, okay? [to Nick]
Nick: All right.
Wise Snake is more concerned about it taking too long than in making this neat.
Nick grabs Tojam's shoulders, ready to pull him free.
Eliza: Had a dog caught in one of those, had to shoot it.
Eliza thinks that Griff is going to love this - really ooky.
Wise Snake grasps the trap's jaws and increases augmentation until they slowly ease apart.
Nick pulls Tojam free, not wanting to think about what the movement is doing to the broken leg.
Tojam: IIIIIIiiiieee!!!
Tojam faints.
Eliza: Do you think he comes from that farm? Should I go get someone?
Wise Snake looks at his ragged clothes.
Wise Snake: I don't think so.
Nick looks at the unconscious boy.
Wise Snake: Nick... support me please.
Wise Snake: Eliza.. get on the opposite side, where Nick is now.
Nick moves.
Eliza rushes around.
Eliza: Okay.
Nick: I'm glad he fainted. This wouldn't be fun for him.
Eliza nods.
Eliza: He doesn't look like he has had any fun for awhile.
Wise Snake takes the kid's leg and straightens it out, carefully, as much as possible.
Wise Snake: Ucch... this is a mess. [zlinning]
Wise Snake looks a bit pale.
Eliza looks away.
Nick: ~~ support ~~
Wise Snake: This guy's leg is completely crunched.
Eliza: Can you do anything?
Wise Snake pulls out her knife and hands it to Eliza handle first.
Eliza: ~ upset ~
Wise Snake: Give this to Linn and tell her to sterilize it, too. And bring back those others she did.
Eliza takes the knife and looks at it.
Nick is actually taking the sight of the mangled leg pretty well: He's gotten used to a certain amount of nasty injuries since joining Snake, he can't feel them, and he hates dealing with Snake on entran--or drugs.
Eliza rushes off with the knife.
Eliza: Linn! Linn! Snake wants this boiled and I'm to take the other stuff back.
Wise Snake: [to Nick] we have nothing for splinting! This is a disaster. We have to pick up more medical supplies somewhere.
Nick nods.
Nick: Well, this wouldn't be easy to handle in a fully-equipped Sime Center treatment room.
Wise Snake is keeping the bleeding to a minimum with her field.
Eliza hands Linn the knife, takes the other things and rushes back.
Eliza runs back and hold out the equipment to Snake.
Wise Snake: Thanks.
Wise Snake: Just set them... er... [no place sterile to set them]
Wise Snake: Can you hold them in your lap?
Wise Snake takes a probe from Eliza and starts drawing out splinters of bone.
Eliza: Okay.
Eliza watches carefully.
Wise Snake alternates between zlinning and plucking.
Linn makes her way into the trees, carrying the sterilized knife.
Linn: Snake, where are...Oh, my goodness!
Linn has learned enough not to crowd a working channel.
Wise Snake: Eliza... please hold the ambient steady.
Wise Snake: Take that knife from Linn and give it to me.
Eliza does so, on both counts.
Eliza: [she can be surprised about that later]
Eliza hands Snake the knife.
Wise Snake zlins carefully, then nerving herself, cuts a slit near the break.
Eliza swallows.
Nick: ~~ heavy support ~~
Wise Snake puts the knife down on Tojam's stomach and reaches for a large bone chip with shaky fingers.
Wise Snake carefully fits the larger splinters back into place.
Wise Snake: Linn, could you and Griff cut me four straight, bare branches for a splint? And find some kind of cloth or clothing for bandages? Or a blanket. We can get more later.
Wise Snake loses contact with outside reality as she concentrates on the bone and the flesh around it.
Eliza: If you tear off the outside bark it's smoother and cleaner too.
Linn: Of course.
Wise Snake's laterals are in the thick of it as she uses handling tentacles and tools to hold tissues in place for healing.
Eliza watches carefully, so attentive to what Snake is doing she forgets what Snake is actually doing.
Linn returns shortly with three dismembered saplings and a branch, and starts stripping bark.
Wise Snake works her way outward, in a hypnotic sort of healing-trance.
Wise Snake spends about 15 minutes on the leg.
Wise Snake pulls away from it when the outer wound has been sealed over.
Nick is glad that Snake is getting a good workout, even if that sort of concentrated support is hard to sustain.
Wise Snake reaches for the kid's arms, taking him in a "transfer" position for a deep zlinning.
Eliza has never seen anything like this done on a human before.
Wise Snake balances his bodily systems, trying to counteract the effects of shock and injury.
Eliza wonders what would have happened if Snake had been around when her uncle got squished by the cart, then realises that Snake would have been shot, of course.
Eliza: Will he live?
Wise Snake finally releases the kid and sags back against Nick.
Wise Snake attempts to rally herself for dealing with the splint.
Wise Snake: He'll be... it depends on what happens to him next.
Nick wraps his arms around Snake.
Wise Snake sounds tired, but appears to be recovering nicely.
Eliza: I can wrap it for you if you like Snake.
Wise Snake: Hold on a minute... I want to zlin while you're doing it.
Eliza gets the strips of cloth Linn brought in and carefully arranges the splints.
Wise Snake: Take two of those sticks and wrap strips around them to make a, a, sort of a tiny stretcher. Maybe 10" across.
Wise Snake: Then take the other two and do the same thing.
Wise Snake: Thank you, Nick.
Wise Snake: [touches his arms]
Nick rests a comforting hand on Snake's tentacle sheathes.
Linn looks at their patient.
Linn: He's been unconscious a long time.
Wise Snake: He's only sleeping now.
Linn: Will he be all right?
Wise Snake looks uncertain at the question.
Wise Snake: I don't know... if he has someplace we can take him where people will take care of him and he can sleep, yes.
Linn looks around the clearing, which is remarkably devoid of passers-by.
Linn: That may create difficulties.
Wise Snake: Ummh.
Wise Snake sees Eliza is done.
Wise Snake: Okay, now lace the two together, to make a sort of hinge.
Wise Snake: I'm not going to wake him up until we're done putting the brace on.
Nick: Probably wisest.
Wise Snake is always the wisest.
Wise Snake: [or so she believes, anyway]
Wise Snake: All right, now, place it alongside the leg... like this.
Wise Snake adjusts the position slightly.
Wise Snake: Linn, can you give a hand here?
Wise Snake: We're going to lift his leg up, very evenly so as little stress is put on it as possible, and slide this thing underneath.
Linn: Would like me to move the splint?
Linn is not too keen on trying to move the shattered leg--unlike Griff, she doesn't like "ook".
Wise Snake: Okay.
Wise Snake: Eliza? On my count. Gently... one, two... [they lift the leg up very carefully]
Wise Snake zlins.
Linn slides the improvised splint underneath.
Wise Snake and Eliza let the leg down carefully.
Wise Snake zlins again.
Wise Snake: Thank you, Linn.
Linn steps back a bit so her field won't interfere.
Wise Snake takes the remaining strips and, wrapping the 2 halves of the splint up around the leg, lashes it together at the front of the leg, so the leg is held rigid without pressure on the break.
Nick nods approvingly.
Nick: Neatly done.
Wise Snake: Thanks.
Wise Snake wakes Tojam gently.
Tojam: Un... huh?
Tojam focuses blearily on the 3 adults above him.
Tojam: Ohhh... my leg?
Tojam settles on Linn as the most likely looking nice-person.
Linn: You're going to be all right, hon.
Tojam tries to look at his leg over his stomach, then sees the bloody knife lying there.
Tojam: Whh... wha!
Linn has no idea if that's true, but figures it can't hurt to say so.
Tojam lets his head fall back.
Linn: It's all right.
Tojam: What are ya going to do to me?
Nick: We'd like to get you home, so you can rest.
Tojam: Oh. [closes his eyes briefly]
Tojam: My dad done threw me out.
Nick: I see. Where were you going?
Nick figures "why" can wait for later.
Tojam: Nowhere. I just been walking, to take my mind off it.
Tojam: ~~hunger, as the shock of the incident starts to fade~~
Nick wonders if the kid's father meant to throw him out permanently, or only temporarily.
Wise Snake scratches her head.
Wise Snake: Is there somewhere we can take you?
Tojam: No... I mean... not unlessn' you take me back to my folks.
Tojam: They live in Bungle.
Nick: Bungle? How far away is that?
Wise Snake tries to think if she's heard of it.
Tojam: I dunno. My dad done threw me out two weeks ago and I been walking, but not all the time.
Tojam: I didn't think I was never gonna go back there again so I didn't pay no attention.
Nick: Well, if you've been walking even a large part of two weeks, you've come too far to return untnil you've healed.
Nick: We'll have to find you someplace closer.
Wise Snake: The kid at the farm mentioned a Householding.
Wise Snake: Do you know anything of a Householding near here?
Tojam: No. Don't know nothing around here.
Nick is not all that happy about Householdings, after his stay at V'lar with the drugged sandwich and all, but at least that's preferable to a Sime Center.
Wise Snake tries to figure out how they can deliver the kid to an unknown Householding in an unknown location without revealing themselves to any natives.
Linn: We could look at the map.
Wise Snake: There's a map?
Wise Snake has never used a map in her life.
Wise Snake has been living in the same town all her life though.
Linn: ~~ bewildered ~~
Linn: Of course.
Wise Snake: Oh.
Linn: You said to get everything we'd require to travel.
Wise Snake didn't think they'd require a map, but oh well.
Wise Snake: Er... right.
Linn: I'll get it. In the mean time, why don't the rest of you figure out how you're going to move him.
Wise Snake had been thinking more like, leave him in the woods and drop off a note at the Householding as to his location.