Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #21: Next! (9/24/98)
Linn goes looking for Snake.
Wise Snake is (still) in the office she appropriated in Naros' administrative building, working away.
Linn pokes her head in the door.
Linn: Snake, there you are.
Linn: How are Riyyh's interviews going?
Wise Snake: Ah, hello Linn.
Wise Snake looks tired.
Wise Snake: Well, I suppose those are going about as well as can be expected.
Linn: That bad?
Wise Snake considers.
Wise Snake: Well, maybe better than some expected.
Linn: Nobody's tried to throw rutabagas yet?
Wise Snake gives Linn an odd look.
Wise Snake: Not that I know of.
Linn: Well, then, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me why you're looking so worn out?
Linn: And why Nick walked right into the door of the cottage before he noticed that it wasn't open?
Wise Snake: I can't vouch for Nick.
Wise Snake hasn't seen him in a while.
Wise Snake: I'm fine.
Linn: I thought you two would have had transfer by now?
Wise Snake: We have.
Linn: You don't look like it did you much good. Did something go wrong?
Wise Snake: The transfer was okay.
Wise Snake: Nick blew up at me because I wouldn't have sex with him.
Wise Snake: I haven't seen him since.
Linn decides that this might take a few minutes, and sits down.
Linn: I have a feeling that there's more to it than that.
Linn: Want to talk about it?
Linn: ~~ sympathy ~~
Wise Snake pauses.
Wise Snake: OK.
Linn: I was under the impression that you've been enjoying Nick's... attentions for several months now.
Linn: What made you decide that you didn't want him any more?
Wise Snake scratches her head.
Wise Snake: Well it isn't a matter of wanting, or not wanting.
Linn: It isn't?
Wise Snake: I didn't want to die from fatal complications of coital deprivation... which is possible for a Farris, you know.
Wise Snake: And Nick being a person I could trust, and apparently willing to do the job....
Linn: You turned to him.
Wise Snake: I really had no idea he would consider me to have obligated myself in turning to him.
Wise Snake: The thought had never even occurred to me until he brought it up.
Wise Snake: I mean, he never showed any interest other than that.
Linn: Other than wanting you?
Wise Snake: Other than enthusiastically taking advantage of my (admittedly rare) post-transfer condition.
Wise Snake could be discussing tap-dancing, for all the passion she is displaying at the moment.
Linn would have considered Snake's attitude clinical, if she hadn't seen how exciting Snake finds clinical matters, the more entran-averting the better.
Wise Snake: Don't get me wrong, he definitely provided a needed service at the time it was needed.
Wise Snake: And there are few people I could have trusted with the task, especially that first time.
Linn is starting to see where the problem might lie.
Linn: Snake, were you talking like that when you refused Nick?
Wise Snake looks slightly confused.
Wise Snake: Talking like what?
Linn: About using his "services" as a convenience to avoid a medical problem?
Linn: And, presumably, about not requiring them any more?
Wise Snake: No, I just told him I could spare him for a few hours if he wanted to get together with any of Riyyh's daughters.
Wise Snake: He seemed to think I had somebody specific in mind to service me, so he demanded to know who it was.
Linn: I see. What did you tell him?
Wise Snake: I explained that I had considered asking Sectuib Riyyh.
Wise Snake: Seeing as how he's experienced, as well as sterile.
Linn groans.
Wise Snake shrugs.
Wise Snake: Personally, I think Nick heard a lot more than I really had to tell him.
Wise Snake: You and he are always complaining that I don't tell you enough.
Linn: Snake, you may know all about managing this "coital deprivation", but you don't know a thing about managing a man.
Wise Snake wonders what in shen Linn is talking about.
Wise Snake: Oh?
Wise Snake: Do enlighten me.
Wise Snake: ~~annoyed~~
Linn: Snake, you may not have meant it that way, but you effectively told Nick that he's a lousy lover. And there's nothing that's more guaranteed to get a man upset.
Wise Snake: He's not my "man", he's my Donor!
Linn: When it comes to that issue, being a Donor doesn't make a difference.
Wise Snake: Look, it does to me. ~irate~
Wise Snake: Nick and I have no romantic involvement whatsoever.
Wise Snake: What he did for me was necessary and appropriate at the time, and beyond that my sexual activities are none of his business!
Wise Snake: I don't know what he thinks he is to me, but he is not my husband.
Wise Snake: Unless the fact that my life depends on his charity forces me to be his sexual slave as well?
Wise Snake: If that is the case, I may as well be back in Bender Cove on the streets.
Wise Snake: ~disgusted~
Linn: Snake, I doubt Nick is interested in having a slave.
Wise Snake: What is the difference if I am not allowed to have my own preferences in the matter?
Wise Snake: Shendoni, I'm a hostage to his bad and good moods.
Wise Snake: Do I have to sleep with him to get a Donor back in this office again?
Linn: I don't know. You'll have to work that out between you.
Wise Snake gives Linn the most perfectly poisonous look.
Wise Snake: No. We will not.
Wise Snake: My sexual organs are not up for negotiation ever. Period.
Wise Snake: And thank you both for turning what was promising to be something not so bad after all, into a... another kind of nightmare.
Linn sighs.
Wise Snake: ~vicious and bitter~
Wise Snake picks up papers on her desk and moves them around angrily.
Linn: Snake, if you want your Donor back, you're going to have to heal the hurt you gave him.
Wise Snake looks up at Linn sharply.
Wise Snake: Is that how it is?!
Wise Snake: He talks about leaving me over this??
Wise Snake has fight-or-flight written all over her face.
Linn: He hasn't said much of anything, at least where I could hear.
Wise Snake practically wilts into a puddle.
Wise Snake: Shen and shid, Linn, don't say things like that.
Wise Snake: Do you know how many years it's been since my very life depended on a man's cock and how it was feeling that day?
Wise Snake: Maybe two.
Wise Snake: If you count Trelaine Farris, less than that even.
Wise Snake: I don't need this!
Linn compares "two years" with Snake's age, and draws some unpleasant conclusions.
Wise Snake: I came to you as a teacher because I didn't want the little kids in your class having the same things done to them that have been done to me.
Wise Snake: OK?
Wise Snake: And I don't need any lectures on how men like to be treated.
Wise Snake: Shen Nick.
Wise Snake: ~upset~
Linn: Snake, Nick isn't the man who abused you.
Wise Snake: So what! I still get to say no when I want to.
Wise Snake: It's my right.
Linn: Of course it is.
Linn: But with rights come responsibilities.
Wise Snake: And in case you care, it wasn't just one man.
Wise Snake: Look, Linn, I am up to my eyeballs in responsibilities right now.
Wise Snake: I'm sorry if an entire Householding of eager women wasn't enough for Nick, and I'm sorry that his... his problem, whatever it is, didn't let me get mine either, OK?
Wise Snake: Why don't you go off and talk to him.
Wise Snake: It sounds like the two of you see eye to eye.
Linn: Snake, I can't solve your problems for you. Not that kind, anyway.
Wise Snake: Who asked you!!
Wise Snake: You're the one came in here prying about what I did to upset Nick.
Wise Snake: Shedoni, I should never tell anyone anything!
Wise Snake: All it does is lead to trouble.
Linn stands.
Wise Snake plants her elbows on the desk and holds her head in her hands.
Wise Snake: (maybe "clutches" is more accurate)
Linn goes around the desk and hugs Snake, hoping that the gesture will help more than words.
Linn: Shh, Snake, you'll work things out with Nick.
Wise Snake is sweating.
Linn: ~~ sympathy/concern ~~
Linn: He's not the type to want a prisoner or a slave.
Wise Snake: Linn, must you take everything I say so literally?
Wise Snake: I don't care what "type" he is as a man.
Wise Snake: I want him, and need him, as my Donor.
Wise Snake: He has the selyn I absolutely require, need to live.
Wise Snake: That is what he is to me.
Wise Snake: His penis is of absolutely no consequence to me.
Wise Snake: I do care about him, so far as I am able to care for anybody.
Linn: is that why you assumed that what you did with him was of no more consequence to him than it was to you?
Wise Snake: He has never displayed romantic interest in me, other than those brief nights.
Wise Snake: How was I to know he had this... this idea of exclusivity on my part?
Wise Snake: Shen knows he feels enough for other ladies we pass by.
see note 1
Sethan fidgets in his chair.
Riyyh: Hello, Sethan. Thank you for coming to see me today.
Riyyh: ~ kind, gentle manner ~
Sethan looks up.
Sethan: ~~ dull anger under worry ~~
Riyyh smiles in an attempt to reinforce his peaceful message visually.
Sethan: So.
Riyyh: Would you like any tea?
Sethan: No. Thanks.
Riyyh hopes to put off the bit where [insert name of person in chair] starts yelling at him.
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh: Very well, then.
Riyyh: Please, I am here to hear your concerns and to make any amends possible.
Riyyh: ~sincerity~
Sethan: You.... We ....
Sethan: I've known you for a long time.
Riyyh: Yes, that is true.
Sethan: You gave me my second transfer. Even though I didn't want it.
Riyyh nods, his attention fully on Sethan.
Sethan: You told me a bunch of things. About not having to kill again.
Sethan: You talked about not having to kill from the Pens.
Sethan: You talked about how Naros meant sharing.
Sethan: About sharing life between Sime and Gen.
Sethan studies the tips of his dorsals.
Riyyh: Yes, I remember. [softly]
Sethan: And the ninth time ...
Sethan: When I was losing control. Not that I ever really had it.
Sethan: You were there. And a Gen.
Sethan: You asked me if you could share with me.
Sethan: If I could turn away from taking to sharing.
Riyyh: And you did.
Riyyh: ~caring~
Sethan: Yes. I did. You shared with me.
Sethan: ~~ betrayal ~~
Sethan: But you never told me just how much sharing was going on here.
Sethan looks directly at Riyyh. "Did you?"
Riyyh's kind, gentle Sectuibly look is in imminent danger of curdling into nervous sadness.
Riyyh: Ah, Sethan, I'm afraid you are right.
Riyyh: I confess I was silent too long about these things... and should not have done them besides.
Sethan: It was a lot more then selyn, it seems.
Riyyh: I am sorry that I hurt you, and your loved ones.
Sethan: Of course. ~~ doesn't buy it ~~
Riyyh looks unhappy at what he zlins.
Riyyh: Sethan, I have failed my House and its members. That much is clear.
Sethan: But when Teesa Established, she didn't want to stay in Naros.
Riyyh listens.
Sethan: She wanted to go out-Territory. She was all starry-eyed about the Tecton and Klyd Farris and his new way.
Sethan: She decided to go find my family. What was left of it anyway. Tell them about how the killing could end.
Sethan: And she did. Went back to my home, found my sister and her family.
Sethan: Getting news from them was.....
Sethan: Anyway.
Sethan: ~~ stiffens resolve ~~
Sethan looks at Riyyh again. "She stayed there. Married, started her own family."
Sethan: I didn't like it, but she wrote to tell me it was all right. That there was a Sime Center in a town nearby.
Sethan: That it was only 6 hours ride, plenty of time to move a changeover victim.
Sethan: Sectuib... you told me something once. About channels.
Sethan: Channels in changeover.
Riyyh: Ahh... yes.
Riyyh: They require Gen transfer from a trained Donor.
Riyyh: I understand your concern.
Riyyh: ~truth~
Sethan: ~~ tightly ~~ [ overly casual ] And how long does changeover take, Hajene. For a channel?
Riyyh: I understand, Sethan.
Riyyh: I have asked them to move back to Naros before.
Riyyh realizes blaming the danger of the situation on Sethan's relatives is not really going to win him any prizes though.
Riyyh: What can I do? Tell me, I am your servant.
Sethan: But you couldn't say why, could you?
Riyyh shakes his head.
Riyyh: Teesa knows, Sethan.
Sethan: So.
Riyyh: She must, she grew up here, and she knows... [doesn't say... who the father was]
Sethan: The important ques-*
Sethan: What?
Riyyh: [painfully] She knows what you have only just found out.
Sethan: ~~ puzzled ~~
Riyyh: But yes, I agree, they should not be living there.
Riyyh: If you know of a way to help them, that they would agree to, I will do all that is in my power to help.
Sethan: She knows that... I have no child. No grandchildren.
Sethan: Nothing.
Sethan: ~~ devastated ~~
Riyyh: Sethan... I never meant to hurt you.
Riyyh: ~sorrow~
Sethan: If she knew, why would she go?
Sethan: She had no kin there.
Riyyh: I'm sorry, Sethan.
Sethan stands up. "I have to go there."
Riyyh stands.
Riyyh: Please, Sethan, know that they, and she, and you, will always have a place here. At Naros.
Sethan: You talked about helping.
Riyyh: Yes, yes, what can I do?
Sethan: Retainers. Passport. Money.
Sethan: Whatever else is needed to go out-Territory.
Riyyh: [hesitates] ... All right, Sethan. I can get you those things.
Sethan: I can't do this in a letter.
Sethan: I have to talk to m-your daughter. In person.
Riyyh: She is your daughter too, Sethan.
Riyyh: You raised her.
Riyyh: She is still as much yours as she ever was before.
Sethan: Is she? ~~ disbelief ~~
Riyyh: Yes. She is. ~belief~
Riyyh: To me she is. [adds]
Sethan: You'll get me what I require? Quickly?
Riyyh: As quickly as can be done. Retainers... that will be difficult but the rest can be done right away.
Sethan had steeled himself for a big fight about how renSimes can't go out-T, and how he couldn't take that much time in retainers....
Riyyh had been prepared to have the crap beaten out of him, so this seems relatively painless by comparison.
Sethan: ~~ surge of determination unable to cope with this mental judo ~~
Sethan: Fine.
Sethan: Fine then.
Riyyh: I will arrange for your measurements to be taken at the infirmary building. Someone will come by and let you know when.
Sethan tries to think of what he was going to do after he won the argument.
Sethan realizes he hadn't gotten that far in his planning.
Riyyh: The retainers will have to be built elsewhere, of course, but if you know your point-of-entry into Gen Territory, we could have them forwarded.
Sethan: All ... All right then.
Sethan: G-
Sethan remembers he is talking to someone not worthy of basic courtesies.
Sethan turns and goes to the door.
Riyyh: ~sadness/resignation/caring~
Riyyh: Thank you for being as understanding as possible, considering.
Riyyh: If there's anything else I can do for you....
Sethan turns back ~~ rage ~~ showing through.
Riyyh flinches back.
Sethan: I'm not.
Sethan: I'm not doing anything for you!
Sethan: But Teesa's children require me.
Sethan: That takes priority.
Riyyh: ... yes.
Sethan turns and yanks the door open.
Sethan steps out and closes the door carefully.
Sethan: [click-clack]
Sethan walks slowly and carefully down the hall.
Riyyh sinks back down into his chair, trembling.
Notes:
1) The Linn/Snake scene was never finished. [return]
Go on to Episode #22: Amazing Powers
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