Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Two Roads Diverged Scenario
Episode #29: Hallucinatory Aura (6/21/98)
Eliza walks into the office carrying a paper bag that looks a bit soggy.
Eliza: I've got those pastries you wanted, Snake.
Wise Snake is back in the office, wrapping up a bit of paperwork, with Nick having been sent off on an errand.
Wise Snake looks up.
Wise Snake: Ah... just set them over there. Thanks.
Wise Snake: Where's Tanzarra?
Eliza: She is looking at a place for us to stay, thought you might want these.
Wise Snake: Oh... great. Thanks.
Wise Snake doesn't have the heart to tell Eliza she already ate.
Wise Snake: I had hoped to get Tanzarra to come with me on some house calls.
Eliza brightens up.
Eliza: Can I come with you maybe?
Eliza: ~ control ~
Wise Snake looks at Eliza dubiously, then firmly tells herself Eliza is never going to learn without practice.
Wise Snake also tells herself that she, Snake, is never going to be more robust than she is now.
Wise Snake sighs.
Wise Snake: Of course, Eliza.
Wise Snake: Please do.
Eliza: ~ controlled type cheerfulness ~
Wise Snake offers her the medical satchel to carry.
Eliza takes it and slings it over her shoulder.
Wise Snake walks out of the office.
Wise Snake: Now, these aren't scheduled house calls or emergencies or anything.
Eliza: I thought people would be coming here rather then you doing house, calls now that we have a permanent place.
Wise Snake: What I had in mind was to cover, ah... well.
Eliza: What are they then?
Wise Snake: This is simply a covering of certain neighborhoods to make sure that all are being fully served.
Wise Snake, in fact, plans on covering all the neighborhoods, although not all in one day.
Eliza figures that Snake is really going to sniff out juncts.
Eliza follows Snake along the rutted road.
Wise Snake goes to the residential neighborhood nearest Town Hall (starting right behind it) and signals at the door of the first house.
Lothezi takes some time bumping and banging about the house before finally coming and opening the door.
Lothezi is a middle aged Gen with a pot belly and a lousy shave.
Lothezi looks at Snake dubiously, then his eyes light upon Eliza with somewhat more interest.
Wise Snake: Ah, yes. Pardon me for disturbing you, but I am the local channel in town for the next few days, and I was wondering if you would allow me to come in and talk to you for a bit?
Wise Snake: I promise I won't take but a few moments of your time.
Eliza tries to look and feel like a professional Donor.
Lothezi nods, eyeing Eliza appreciatively.
Lothezi grunts. "Come on in."
Lothezi moves his beer to the other hand so he can hold the door open for them.
Eliza follows Snake into the not-terribly-tidy living room.
Wise Snake looks around, and seeing only one chair free of the mess (and that one obviously Lothezi's) leans against a handy wall instead of sitting.
Eliza stays close to Snake.
Lothezi sits in his throne? Nest?
Lothezi gestures to Snake to speak, while rubbing his chin and studying Eliza.
Wise Snake: Er...
Eliza wishes someone would tell this guy it's rude to stare.
Wise Snake: Ah well, you have probably seen in the news about the unfortunate demolition of Frooter's house, uh, [has only now noticed that the mess in the room contains bottles, cans, and boxes but no newspapers; forges hastily on.]
Wise Snake: And, uh, this has led to a complete lack of current records regarding the channelling in the town of Vortez Lake, so I was wondering if I could get you to answer a few questions about your household?
Wise Snake isn't sure "household" is the precise term, but feels a touch of claustrophobia coming on and isn't about to mince words.
Eliza pulls out her trusty clipboard and gets ready to take notes.
Lothezi grunts and twitches a finger to indicate assent.
Lothezi watches Eliza in fascination.
Wise Snake: Uh... great, great.
Wise Snake: Great. Uh, number of persons living in this residence?
Lothezi lifts up two fingers, without bothering to lift his arm off the chair's cluttered armrest.
Eliza writes down "two".
Wise Snake: Two? Ok... ah, yourself, and...?
Lothezi lets out a titanic, rolling belch.
Lothezi: My wife.
Lothezi: [actually it's more like, "muh waf"]
Eliza writes down, "Man and waf".
Wise Snake: Is your wife also a Gen?
Lothezi grunts.
Wise Snake zlins that it was an affirmative grunt, and nods to Eliza.
Eliza writes down "yes".
Wise Snake: Great. Now, I zlin that you are relatively low field. Does your wife also donate?
Wise Snake: I imagine you donated to Frooter?
Lothezi: Yeh.
Lothezi's eyes crawl up and down Eliza, one inch at a time.
Lothezi: [one eye at a time, as well]
Eliza's skin crawls and she writes down "yes" again.
Ravi stands at the door signaling for admission.
Lothezi grunts, starts to get up, then slumps back into the, er, chair.
Lothezi: COME IN!!!! [bellows]
Lothezi: [actually sounds more like "gummin"]
Ravi enters the room.
Eliza jumps.
Lothezi: Oh, iss you.
Lothezi seems disappointed.
Ravi is a short, middle aged Gen with grey hair and dark eyes. She is carrying a big pot of something that smells delicious.
Ravi: Hi, Lothezi, I brought you something.
Wise Snake zlins Ravi.
Ravi: ~high field Gen~
Ravi: I see you have company.
Lothezi: Got company. [grunts it out so it sounds like Goh' Umpaneeh]
Ravi eyes the Sime curiously.
Wise Snake: Ah, hello, I am Hajene Farris, and this is my assistant Eliza.
Ravi puts the pot on the table.
Wise Snake winces as the stuff that had been on the table ends up on the floor.
Ravi: I'm Ravi, live next door. Pleased ta metcha.
Eliza nods and writes something on the clipboard thinking it makes her look more professional.
Wise Snake: We are doing a survey to replace records lost when Frooter's house, ah, met its end.
Wise Snake is going to run out of euphemisms for "blew up with dynamite" very quickly at this rate.
Wise Snake: I was just about done here anyway. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Ravi? [hopefully]
Lothezi continues to run his eye along Eliza's lines, while his other eye scopes out Ravi.
Ravi: Are you a channel?
Ravi: ~hope~
Wise Snake: Yes, I am. I will be standing in until your official replacement channel arrives next week.
Ravi: ~relief~
Ravi: I - I need to donate.
Wise Snake smiles.
Wise Snake: Would you like to make an appointment, or would you prefer immediately?
Ravi: I used ta all the time but....
Wise Snake is all in favor of "immediately", but....
Wise Snake: I understand. Recent events have disrupted everybody's schedules.
Eliza has written "two" "yes" "yes" and "that smells good" so far and hopes that Snake never asks to see it.
Eliza draws a line and writes "Ravi".
Ravi: Yeah, I haven't donated in so long it hurts. Now would be fine if....
Wise Snake: Great. We have a room set up for donations and transfers in the Town Hall just down the block. Would you like to come with me?
Ravi: Yes, Hajene, thank you.
Ravi: ~happy eagerness~
Wise Snake shrugs at Eliza behind Ravi's back, as she escorts the Gen out the door.
Ravi goes with the channel happily.
Eliza follows Snake out, pleased to be leaving.
Lothezi's eyes follow Eliza out.
Lothezi: Whoa! [chuckles nastily to himself]
Wise Snake leads Ravi back to Town Hall and the special room set up [complete with home made "transfer lounge"]
Wise Snake: Now, you say you've donated before?
Wise Snake offers Ravi a seat on the "lounge"
Wise Snake: I apologize for the primitive conditions, but with all that's happened... [gestures apologetically]
Ravi: ~~field changes to zlin like a well trained mid 2nd~~
Wise Snake scratches her head.
Wise Snake: Ah!
Wise Snake: Are you Frooter's Donor??
Wise Snake had been wondering about Frooter's Donor for a long time, because one had never been mentioned. The guy couldn't have been living without a Donor, could he have?
Ravi: No, I.... ~embarrassment~
Ravi: I used to work for the Tecton but....
Wise Snake next wonders why she, a Farris, didn't zlin that this person was a well-trained TN-2 rather than a GN-3 before.
Wise Snake's eyes narrow.
Wise Snake: But?
Ravi: I couldn't stand the Controller I was working for and he refused to let me transfer to another Center.
Ravi: So I ran away.
Ravi: ~sincere telling the truth as far as it goes~
Wise Snake: What is your real name?
Ravi: Devida Romanian.
Ravi: Formerly Devida ambrov Rior.
Wise Snake: Ummh. And what city was this Center in?
Ravi: Capitol.
Wise Snake: I see.
Wise Snake: Where did you learn those field techniques?
Ravi: Partly from the Tecton, a few things from Rior. I went there because I had nowhere else to go.
Wise Snake backs off of the transfer lounge.
Wise Snake: I'm afraid I will have to delay your donation for a short time, until my assistant returns.
Ravi: ~resignation~
Ravi: You are afraid of me, aren't you?
Wise Snake continues to back away until Eliza is between her and Ravi.
Wise Snake: There is no such thing as a TN-2 that can disguise her field from a Farris channel.
Wise Snake: Whatever you are, you aren't a TN-2 and you didn't learn those techniques at either Rior or Capitol.
Ravi: Okay, what do you think I am?
Wise Snake: If you want your field taken down, I can have Tanzarra do it when she returns.
Wise Snake knows Tanzarra will do it because Snake owns Tanzarra body and soul and besides, the 2nd won't realize there is something horribly wrong with this Donor.
Wise Snake: I don't know and if you can do things like that, I probably never will know.
Wise Snake: Nick! [calls out door] Shen, where is that man.
Ravi: If you are a Farris you know I am telling you the truth.
Ravi: ~sincerity field open~
Wise Snake: You may zlin like you're telling the truth, but you zlinned like you were a GN-3 before.
Wise Snake prudently does not zlin.
Wise Snake positions Eliza over slightly so the TN-2's loud, rude field is blocking Ravi's as much as possible.
Ravi: Fine, don't take my donation.
Ravi turns and heads for the door, field flat.
Wise Snake circles around to keep Eliza between them.
Ravi goes outside and shuts the door behind her.
Wise Snake snatches the pad from Eliza and feverishly starts writing down as much as she can remember about Ravi/Devida's field.
Ravi sits on the steps of Town Hall, more than a little depressed.
Wise Snake slips out of the transfer room when it seems safe, and rushes to the Mayor's office to confirm Nick isn't back yet.
Wise Snake: Shen it!
Wise Snake: Where is this town getting all these shenned Donors? First Bowwser, and now this Ravi. And still no Donor for Frooter.
Ravi is beginning to wish she had never left the Center. In spite of the obnoxiousness of Controller Sunlan it had been a pleasant place to work.
Wise Snake: Eliza, I don't know if anybody has ever mentioned this to you, in your training, but there is such a thing as too much control.
Eliza: What was that all about Snake?
Wise Snake: Don't worry, you're no where near that yet.
Eliza looks at Snake in disbelief.
Wise Snake: Ah... that Gen was able to manipulate her field to zlin like something she was not, even to me.
Wise Snake: She would have to be a 4+ to do that.
Wise Snake: Like Piotr Rava.
Wise Snake: Were you at the Sime Center when they captured Piotr?
Eliza: Snake, do you feel okay?
Wise Snake: Do I look like I feel okay?!
Eliza thinks that Snake is having one of her episodes.
Wise Snake looks like she wishes she were having one of her episodes.
Eliza: Snake, you took down that woman's field and she left.
Eliza: You look dreadful. [hands Snake the medicine bag]
Wise Snake: I did not take down her field. I didn't even touch her.
Wise Snake takes the medicine satchel and starts digging through it automatically.
Wise Snake: I'm going to have to report this... shen, I'm going to have to ride all the way back to Novic Place....
Wise Snake keeps rummaging with one hand while grabbing for the stolen notepad with the other.
Wise Snake takes a pencil and adds some more notes to Ravi's numbers.
Eliza: Snake, please just calm down!
Wise Snake: Eliza, this is not a joking matter!
Eliza: ~ calm cool and collected ~
Wise Snake zlins how cool, calm and collected Eliza is and becomes upset.
Eliza: What's not a joking matter?
Eliza: Snake, please just sit down and tell me what's wrong.
Eliza really wishes that Nick was here.
Wise Snake sits down, now digging in the medical satchel with some of the tentacles from each arm but still trying to write with the one hand, even though the paper is getting rumpled.
Wise Snake is looking up at Eliza while she does this.
Wise Snake: What's wrong? What's wrong???
Wise Snake takes a deep breath and puts everything down.
Wise Snake: Eliza. Come sit over here.
Wise Snake holds out her arm, and gestures to Eliza to come sit beside her. [on the Mayor's chair]
Ravi, knowing that the channel most likely isn't going to let this drop, slowly gets up and starts walking towards the small dilapidated house she had learned to call home.
Ravi: No, shen it all. I'm not running again.
Ravi turns and heads back towards Town Hall.
Wise Snake has 2 or 3 of the large blue pills and then sits Eliza down, quietly explaining to her why this is such a big deal.
Ravi slowly mounts the Town Hall steps.
Ravi stands outside Snake's door and signals for admission.
Wise Snake, distracted by Eliza, doesn't realize who/what is at the door until it's too late.
Wise Snake: [opens door] Yes? Shen!
Wise Snake jumps back.
Ravi: Please, Hajene, may I talk to you?
Wise Snake backs around to the other side of the desk.
Ravi: ~~First Order field, neutral/controlled~~
Wise Snake: Er... if talk is all you want to do, sure.
Ravi: What do you think I want to do?
Wise Snake's eyes show their whites, as she can't help but zlin yet another version of Ravi's field.
Ravi enters the room but stays well away from the skittish channel.
Wise Snake: I can't know what you want to do.
Wise Snake: Much less think I know!
Ravi: You're a Farris aren't you?
Wise Snake: Last I checked.
Ravi: Then you can easily control me.
Ravi: I don't understand what you are afraid of.
Wise Snake: You made yourself zlin like a GN-3 in such a way that I couldn't tell you were a 1st. Isn't that enough?
Ravi chuckles. "That is just a defense mechanism."
Wise Snake prudently opens a window and checks to see what's underneath it.
Wise Snake: Oh, er, is that so? [nervously]
Ravi: Everything I told you before is true. I just left out one tiny detail.
Wise Snake: That you're a high First with Gypsy training? [hazards a guess]
Wise Snake: Listen, anybody who can lie to me that way with their nager is in the stay-far-away book for me. I'm sorry.
Ravi: Some gypsy training, yes. I traveled with them for a while on my way to Rior.
Wise Snake: A person doesn't learn those techniques overnight. You spent a long time in getting to Rior. Years.
Wise Snake thinks, if the bit about Rior is true at all.
Ravi sighs. "All the gypsies taught me was how to hide my field."
Wise Snake: Is that so?
Ravi shrugs. I can't make you believe what you don't want to believe.
Ravi: But it is the truth.
Ravi: That's also the only trick I know.
Wise Snake's eyes narrow.
Wise Snake: It is not a question of my not wanting to believe. It's a question of proof.
Wise Snake: The only other Gen I have ever seen who could do that, could also kill a renSime by drawing out his selyn.
Ravi: And how am I going to prove something like that to you?
Wise Snake: You cannot.
Wise Snake: Now, if you want your field taken down, you can wait until Tanzarra is available.
Ravi digs in her pocket and takes out a Tecton ring.
Ravi: Here, catch.
Ravi: Proof I used to work for the Tecton.
Wise Snake: I'm sure it will be today--- [dodges the ring letting it clatter to the floor]--!
Wise Snake flattens herself against the wall, heart thumping.
Wise Snake looks outraged and startled.
Wise Snake looks down at the ring.
Ravi: [the ring is a Tecton First Order Donor ring]
Wise Snake: And I have a Zeor ring, but it says nothing about what I have become since I received it.
Wise Snake: [boy doesn't it!]
Wise Snake is finally managing to work up a bit of annoyance to cover the fear.
Wise Snake: Look... what is it you really want from me!
Wise Snake: I told you my assistant can take down your field.
Ravi: ~hesitation confusion~
Wise Snake studies Ravi, not trusting her other senses, trying to glean what information possible visually.
Wise Snake has had little recent practice in studying someone visually, alas.
Wise Snake: Well?
Ravi: Initially all I wanted was to have my field taken down, but now....
Ravi: ~desire to be working with channels.~
Ravi: Never mind, Hajene. I'll go. I thought I had put behind me the desire to serve but I guess not.
Ravi: And you certainly are never going to accept my service.
Ravi retrieves her ring and leaves the room.
Wise Snake shrinks back when Ravi approaches to get the ring.
Wise Snake goes to the Mayor's chair and sinks into it, shaking.
Wise Snake remembers the titanic nageric battle she fought with Piotr in the streets of Bender Cove, and is thankful she didn't have to do the same just now.
Wise Snake: [it finally occurs to Snake to consider Ravi's last words]
Wise Snake: I am certainly never going to accept her service????
Wise Snake: ~~disbelief~~
Wise Snake: The woman wanted to work for me? More likely to take me in transfer.
Wise Snake wonders how this encounter would have gone if she hadn't been less than 24 hours off the best transfer of her life.
Wise Snake massages her forehead and digs in the bag for one more blue pill.
Wise Snake passes out over the desk.
Eliza had slipped out to try and find Nick.
Eliza heads uptown, following directions from Linn. She is soon lost, of course.
Eliza: ~ worry ~
Eliza asks a townsperson if they had seen Nick, but her description of him left a lot to be desired. Maybe it was the bit about the tight pants that got her directed to the town's one and only bar.
Eliza soon realises that Nick isn't there, but figures it won't hurt to have a quick drink before she continues her search.
Eliza: Do you have something not alcoholic please?
Eliza pulls out the change from the purchase of her new shoes and carefully counts out the required amount.