Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #45: The Plot Thickens, the Ceiling Thins (10/22/98)
Nick goes in search of Snake, after he's finished his shift with Kenmore.
Wise Snake is snoring on Riyyh's couch, smelling of Porstan.
Hero bounces down the garden path, bursting with news and ideas as usual.
Nick is still feeling irritable and out of sorts after his lousy transfer with Kenmore.
Nick has never had a bad transfer before, with the exception of the time when Snake burned him.
Nick quickly determines that Snake isn't eating, working in the infirmary, hanging out in the guest cottage, or walking in the garden.
Nick: ~~ worry ~~
Hero sees Nick coming and, having already heard many rumors about how his transfer went, turns around and starts tiptoeing back in the other direction.
Hero however was in plain view of Nick before she turned back.
Nick: Hero!
Hero spins around.
Hero: Nick! Oh I didn't see you there!!
Hero: ~whoops~
Hero runs toward him at her usual reckless pace.
Nick: Have you any idea where Snake's got to?
Hero: Oh yeah! She's at Riyyh's house.
Hero smiles brightly.
Hero: Her and Dahlia.
Nick: Riyyh's house?
Nick has visions of Snake standing over Riyyh's strangled body.
Hero turns and points to the house, which is tall enough that its roof is visible over several intervening rows of smaller dwellings.
Nick hopes that Dahlia has managed to be a moderating influence.
Nick: Thanks!
Hero grins.
Hero: No problem!
Nick sprints in the direction of Riyyh's house.
Hero considers, then decides to follow him and see his expression.
Hero: [from safely out of arms' reach of course]
Hero bounces after Nick, a prudent distance back.
Nick reaches Riyyh's door and hesitates, then signals just in case somebody is in condition to answer the door.
Ansen is passing in front of Riyyh's house.
Ansen looks up to see it is the smelly man.
Ansen: ~~ alarm ~~
Hero skids to a stop behind some bushes and studies Nick intently.
Wise Snake rolls over onto her face and becomes still again.
Nick waits about ten seconds, then goes in.
Ansen: ~~ relief ~~ as he goes inside.
Riyyh and Dahlia are asleep upstairs in Riyyh's bed.
Wise Snake is asleep face down on Riyyh's couch, surrounded by empty bottles and glasses.
Wise Snake's shirt is unbuttoned and she has hickies on her neck.
Nick looks around, somewhat relieved that there are no obvious signs of a struggle.
Hero creeps to a window and peeps in.
Ansen follows Hero.
Nick goes over to Snake, noting bottles, hickies, and half unbuttoned shirt.
Hero doesn't realize Ansen is there.
Wise Snake reeks of Porstan. [the other bottle is brandy]
Nick is ~~ relieved ~~ that apparently horse tranquilizers were not involved.
Ansen stands on tiptoes in a futile attempt to see in the window past Hero.
Hero: Wow... he is such a hunk. Too bad he's related.
Hero means, related to Naros... not to herself.
Hero is not going to believe she's related until her mother says so, and her mother ain't said so.
Nick lets his nager link with Snake's as he reaches down to shake her shoulder.
Nick: Snake, wake up!
Wise Snake: Ummwha huh??
Wise Snake rolls over groggily.
Wise Snake: What?? Oh, Nick... [blinks at him]
Wise Snake: Oh, my head.
Ansen wonders what Hero means. Sounds like icky girl stuff.
Wise Snake belatedly grabs her forehead.
Nick: Here, let me.
Wise Snake grabs for Nick with her other hand.
Nick displaces Snake's hands and starts to work on the headache.
Hero: And she is... er... well, I can't say they're a cute couple.
Wise Snake: Ahh.
Wise Snake lays back.
Nick feels some of the numbness from his transfer start to wear off under the influence of Snake's field.
Nick: Better not let Kenmore zlin you like this.
Wise Snake zlins Nick.
Wise Snake: You don't zlin so good yourself. What in shen happened?
Wise Snake assumes Kenmore is still alive, or Nick wouldn't be worried about his opinion.
Hero decides to move to a better vantage point, and turns around to find Ansen standing there.
Hero: ~~shock~~
Nick: I'm not really sure.
Hero: Oh my... you startled me!!!
Hero: [wide eyed]
Ansen jumps back.
Ansen: "I'm sorry!"
Nick: He was real slow starting his draw, and then just as it finally started to feel good, he quit.
Wise Snake glances at the window, then dismisses yet another typically Narosian invasion of privacy.
Nick: Afterwards, he said I might be a decent Donor someday, once I'd been properly trained.
Wise Snake looks back at Nick.
Ansen: "I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry!"
Wise Snake: Well... you're low field.
Nick: I suppose that's something.
Wise Snake: Maybe he was just being careful with you.
Ansen realizes that the smelly man must be a jinx.
Hero: Were you spying on me??
Nick: I asked him if there was anything special he wanted, but he said no, just the usual.
Nick: And then afterwards he said something about signals.
Nick shrugs.
Wise Snake: Signals...? Oh, in-transfer nageric signals.
Ansen: "No! On them!"
Ansen thinks that is a clever way to point out that she is not one to talk about spying....
Wise Snake: I meant to teach you about those.
Ansen points.
Hero: Did you see it happen??
Nick: Oh.
Hero had only heard the rumor later herself, much to her chagrin.
Ansen: ~~ puzzled ~~
Nick: Tell me, how was your transfer? Did it help as much as Kenmore thought it would?
Ansen: See what happen?
Nick is hopeful that something good has come of giving up his channel for a month.
Hero: Did you see her and Mytag do it?
Hero: I heard all about it from Pessy Duncan.
Hero: But she didn't have any of the good details.
Hero pouts dramatically.
Wise Snake: It was... well, it was a good Farris transfer.
Wise Snake: I don't know what Kenmore thought would happen. It was about what I expected.
Ansen: See who and Mytag do what?
Hero: Snake and Mytag!
Nick chases after a persistent knot of hangover.
Hero: Didn't you know they did the nasty last night?
Hero: ~exasperated~
Hero is actually pleased to have won a few gossip points already.
Nick doesn't quite have the nerve to ask if she thinks he could have done better.
Ansen looks ~~ confused ~~ but is leaning towards the "ooky girl stuff" theory.
Wise Snake props herself up and looks around.
Wise Snake: Where's Mytag?
Nick: Mytag?
Wise Snake: Did he leave?
Wise Snake: Or did he and Riyyh go upstairs?
Wise Snake is a little fuzzy on what all happened last night.
Nick: He wasn't here when I arrived.
Wise Snake remembers the bit where Mytag and she were extremely drunk and Mytag was kissing her passionately.
Wise Snake also remembers a post Riyyh holding Mytag by the shoulders from behind.
Wise Snake frowns.
Wise Snake nods.
Wise Snake: OK.
Nick might be a bit more concerned if the state of Snake's clothes didn't make it pretty likely that nothing much happened.
Wise Snake: I'm better... thank you, Nick.
Wise Snake sits.
Wise Snake absently buttons her shirt.
Nick lets Snake up, but doesn't break the nageric support.
Hero thinks Ansen looks confused because he can't understand how he became so behind on the latest news.
Hero nods sympathetically.
Nick: Do you think you're interested in some tea?
Hero: Well, a lot of people don't know yet.
Wise Snake: Sure.
Nick goes to Riyyh's kitchen and starts to explore.
Ansen decides that he can agree with that safely.
Ansen: Well, I gotta go do... stuff.
Hero: Really??
Hero: Like what?
Ansen sidles off trying to look like the man informed.
Hero follows.
Nick puts on the kettle, then opens cupboards in search of tea and cups.
Ansen: Well, you know, things....
Ansen: See if they got that roof fixed.
Hero: Oh, that sounds really interesting.
Hero doesn't seem quite sincere on that last.
Nick inspects the offerings, shakes his head, then digs in his pocket for his Snake kit.
Riyyh left Dahlia sleeping some 2 hours ago and has only just now finished grooming to his satisfaction that he is fit to go downstairs in his own house.
Ansen: ~~ enthusiasm ~~ It's Cosmic, the way they rip shingles up and then whack new ones down!
Nick extracts a slightly battered tea bag of a suitably harsh, cheap blend, and puts it in one of the cups.
Hero blinks.
Hero: It is?
Hero: Maybe you should get apprenticed to the roofer hey?
Ansen: They can drive nails with only two bangs!
Nick selects one of Riyyh's fancy teas for himself, and pours boiling water in both cups.
Hero: They can?
Hero considers.
Nick doctors the cups appropriately, and brings them into the living room.
Nick: Here.
Hero: Too bad they're all related!
Riyyh comes down the stairs wearing a silk nightgown, but otherwise impeccably groomed.
Wise Snake: Thank you.
Wise Snake sips.
Wise Snake: Hey, this isn't half bad.
Ansen demonstrates with an imaginary hammer, tapping a notional nail and then smashing it while pulling the hand away.
Wise Snake had been expecting that froofroo Householding tea that tastes like roses or something.
Nick is ~~ pleased ~~ by his channel's praise.
Ansen: That'd be Cosmic!
Hero: Maybe I could ask them for you.
Ansen wonders why being related diminishes roofing....
Nick takes a pleased sip of his froofroo blend.
Riyyh: Hello Nick, Hajene Farris.
Riyyh walks into the kitchen.
Wise Snake takes another sip of her tea, does a double take, almost chokes, manages to swallow it and not spill any on herself, then looks around suddenly as if only just then really thinking about where she is.
Ansen: Yeah, could you?
Nick offers strong ~~ calming support ~~, just in case.
Ansen: It'd be great to do that when I changeover?
Hero: OK. [smiles]
Hero: When are you going to do that?
Hero: ~joke~
Nick also watches Snake carefully for signs of Sectuibicidal tendencies.
Wise Snake looks after Riyyh with a narrow-eyed expression.
Ansen looks intently at his arms.
Ansen: Uh... I uh....
Nick: ~~ calm support ~~
Nick adds a touch of ~~ thirst ~~, then sips at his tea.
Ansen doesn't want to admit ignorance in front of Hero, but realizes he is engaging in wishful thinking here....
Nick has often found hot trin tea to be an effective sedative for Simes.
Riyyh refills the kettle and puts it on, then wanders back out into the living room.
Wise Snake sips her tea.
Hero looks at them too.
Hero looks at her watch.
Nick: Good morning, Riyyh.
Riyyh smiles at Nick.
Riyyh appears ready to face another month.
Riyyh: [although he really should put on some real clothes first]
Nick is glad that at least someone got a decent transfer this month.
Wise Snake puts down her tea and studies Riyyh pointedly.
Riyyh aborts mission on zlinning either one of them, though neither of them zlinned that great on his initial zoom through.
Ansen looks over at Hero's watch and arms.
Nick: Err....
Riyyh smiles weakly at Snake.
Nick decides to follow Linn's example and insert some small talk before things get nasty.
Nick: Lovely day, isn't it?
Riyyh: Oh, is it? [nervously] I haven't been out yet....
Wise Snake: Enjoy being Sectuib while you still are.
Wise Snake: I expect you'll have plenty of time to examine the weather after next week.
Riyyh looks and zlins alarmed.
Wise Snake: Come, Nick.
Wise Snake gets up.
Riyyh: ~oh, dear~
Hero displays both with pride.
Hero: See, I Established already.
Nick stands, falling into place beside Snake with the comfort of coming home again.
Hero: I'll be 13 in only 9 months.
Wise Snake marches out the front door.
Hero spins to look as someone comes out of the house.
Hero: Oh shen, it's her. ~disappointed~
Ansen squints at the arms, trying to see the selyn flowing in them.
Nick looks down at Snake as they walk.
Hero tried to pester Snake once or twice when Snake and Co. first arrived, with the result that she has stayed away from Snake ever since.
Wise Snake looks hard and determined.
Nick: Just how do you plan to take over here, anyway?:
Nick: ~~ interest ~~
Ansen looks at the sleeping lady, ~~ surprised ~~ to see her vertical.
Hero: Did you hear that?? [to Ansen]
Hero: They're talking about taking over!
Hero: ~greed~
Ansen: Really? Come riding in on horses, overrunning everything?
Hero: Let's follow them!
Ansen: Yeah!
Ansen: ~~ excitement ~~
Wise Snake: For one thing, we have to get rid of that... that....
Wise Snake heads toward the Admin building.
Nick lengthens his stride to keep up.
Wise Snake: .. craven, smiling little rat of a Sectuib....
Nick is glad that his legs are longer than Snake's.
Hero: Watch out for that Snake, she gets nasty.
Nick: Kenmore's likely to be more difficult to work around.
Hero rubs her side where Snake had thrown something at her the last time they met.
Ansen follows along, wondering when Snake will pull out a whip and start a reign of terror like in the stories he's heard.
Hero: Mytag says she used to... oh wow, I wonder why they're going in there??
Wise Snake: I can handle Kenmore.
Ansen sees that they are going towards where Riyyh's office is... and where he committed his great Faux Pas.
Nick assesses Snake's condition.
Wise Snake: ~~has been lying in bed for 2 weeks unconscious, then had a moderately OK transfer immediately followed by a drunken binge and then a night of semiunconscious sleep~~
Nick reflects that at least Kenmore was also unsatisfied by their transfer, and is thus not working at full efficiency.
Hero looks at Ansen with a mischievous grin.
Hero: We'll be the first to know all their plans.
Nick: Don't you think that it might be better to wait a few days, until you're fully recovered, before you start such a large project?
Wise Snake: You sound just like Linn.
Wise Snake enters the Admin building and heads for Riyyh's office.
Wise Snake: I'm perfectly fine.
Wise Snake: Of course I'd be even better if I could find any of my possessions.
Wise Snake pats herself in search of pockets contents... unfortunately all pockets are empty.
Wise Snake: What did you do with my picks?
Nick: Oh. I had Linn take most of it back to the guest cottage.
Wise Snake paid a hefty sum for those.
Wise Snake: Ah, great.
Wise Snake hopes Linn didn't recognize them for what they were, or they might have met the same fate as her favorite shirt (the one with all the holes).
Nick: Those I kept myself.
Wise Snake: Great!
Wise Snake holds out her hand as they reach Riyyh's office.
Nick: She'd likely think they were just scrap wire.
Nick extracts the picks from his pocket.
Wise Snake: Thank you.
Ansen grins widely at being brought into the conspiracy.
Wise Snake gets down on her knees in front of the door.
Nick ~~ steadies ~~ Snake for optimum concentration.
Wise Snake: Don't you worry about this month, Nick. You did fine, and even if there were a few bumps just the fact that you got through transfer will prevent us from developing an unnecessary dependency.
Wise Snake concentrates upon the lock.
Ansen: We gonna hide in the ceiling and listen with a glass against the wall?
Hero: Wow!!
Hero looks at Ansen in admiration.
Hero: I never thought of that.
Hero: How do we get into the ceiling?
Hero thinks this guy's roof fetish may come in handy for more than just social brownie points.
Ansen: There's a hatch in the storeroom.
Hero: Oo!
Ansen: You just pile up some boxes to get up to it.
Hero: Lead on, Hammer!
Ansen: ~~ proud ~~
Ansen leads skulkily around to the back door.
Wise Snake pops the lock open.
Nick waits ~~ confidently ~~
Wise Snake: Well, they have money, I'll say that for them.
Wise Snake thinks, at least they had money about 150 years ago when this lock was built.
Wise Snake stands and slips into the Sectuib's office.
Hero tiptoes after.
Nick slips in after.
Ansen peeks in the back door, then waves Hero after him into the hallway.
Wise Snake locks the door after them, then goes over to sit in the Sectuib's chair.
Wise Snake: Now, let's see what we have this week.
Wise Snake rifles through Riyyh's in basket.
Nick isn't too shocked--he did a lot of that while Snake was unconscious, to keep from going mad with boredom.
Nick: Anything in particular you're after?
Wise Snake: I just like to stay on top of... ho ho ho, what's this?
Wise Snake pulls out a letter on rich paper, with Zeor's seal at the top.
Wise Snake scans it, then hands it to Nick.
Nick reads the note.
Hero follows in an exaggeratedly stealthy fashion, since it seems to give him a thrill.
Nick: Sounds like quite a party.
Hero: Are we really going into the ceiling?
Hero: [hushed voice]
Ansen leads her into a room filled with mops and buckets, and boxes of supplies labeled in Simelan.
Wise Snake taps the paper with a tentacle.
Wise Snake: How much do you bet Kenmore has to be there for that?
Ansen nods and points at a dark corner of the ceiling.
Nick: He hasn't mentioned it, but then, he's not big on confidences.
Hero: Wow!
Nick: Any chance we could get Riyyh to attend? With both of them gone....
Wise Snake: I was sort of hoping he would stay, while Kenmore leaves.
Wise Snake: Although... where is this located?
Hero tiptoes after.
Nick checks.
Nick: Bender Cove.
Nick: ~~ surprise ~~
Wise Snake smiles.
Wise Snake: I thought so... this, [points at a name] guy has been in BC for years and years. 1
Ansen starts hefting boxes around, trying assemble a crude staircase.
Nick: Who'd have thought Zeor would throw a party in Bender Cove?
Wise Snake: It's happened before. [points out]
Wise Snake: Although they called it a "grand inspection" last time.
Ansen peeks in the back door, then waves Hero after him into the hallway.
Wise Snake had been conspicuously absent.
Nick thinks Bender Cove is the sort of place that the Tecton's top brass usually avoid like the shaking plague.
Wise Snake cracks her knuckles.
Wise Snake: OK... transfer forms.
Wise Snake starts looking through drawers.
Wise Snake: This, my friend, will be your last month in Naros!
Nick goes over to a filing cabinet.
Nick: Over here.
Nick fetches the forms.
Wise Snake had looked through Riyyh's office thoroughly several times before her injury. What she doesn't realize is that Nick had completely reorganized the storage system during his boring 2 weeks there.
Wise Snake: Ah... thank you.
Hero moves to help him, with all the strength and power of... er... a 12 year old female Gen.
Ansen starts scrambling up the boxes pushing another box before him.
Wise Snake fetches a pen and carefully begins filling out a form assigning, with great pomp and circumstance, Riyyh Sectuib in Naros over into the willing and permanent service to the Tecton. [in his own writing of course]
Wise Snake hums delightedly to herself.
Hero starts pushing another box up behind Ansen, right on his heels.
Hero: What's in all these boxes? [sneezes]
Hero follows in an exaggeratedly stealthy fashion, since it seems to give him a thrill.
Wise Snake: Hmm... I suppose this will have to be OK'ed by the District Controller.
Wise Snake pauses.
Ansen puffs "Paper and soap and stuff. Nothing useful."
Wise Snake: Do you think I should fake Arat's signature or do you think he'll get a thrill out of signing this himself?
Nick: I don't know. I've never met the man.
Wise Snake: I think there's still time, if we send it by courier.
Hero: Wow!
Wise Snake: Well, better safe than sorry.
Wise Snake licks her lips and then carefully forges the Controller's signature.
Nick: True. Would you like a model signature to work from?
Wise Snake: No, no, thank you.
Wise Snake had had to learn it for the transfer into Naros of those 5 Tecton employees before.
Wise Snake: They make me nervous.
Nick admires the completed masterpiece.
Wise Snake writes, "and to be assigned, for the period of 1101 Year 31 until 1201 Year 31 into the post of QN-1 in the service of the Lower Bender Cove Sime Center, this assignment to be perpetuated monthly until such a time as a greater requirement is deemed to exist elsewhere."
Wise Snake puts down the pen with a flourish.
Ansen carefully taps up at the hatch, knocking loose a large quantity of dust.
Ansen holds his breath to keep from breathing it in.
Hero: Shoosh!! It's dus[SNEEZE]y up there!
Ansen nods furiously through puffed out cheeks.
Nick hopes the actual travel part of the assignment goes as smoothly.
Ansen lifts the hatch and sticks his head up.
Wise Snake: Now, we'll submit this to Tecton Central immediately, and you must remind me to slip his copy into his bags before he leaves.
Wise Snake: You and I, and the others, will peacefully leave Naros headed West.
Wise Snake: We'll leave maybe a day before they do.
Wise Snake is sure Riyyh packs at least a week before he leaves town. He's just that type.
Nick nods.
Ansen explosively lets out his breath and sucks another in.
Wise Snake: But we'll be back the moment they board the train.
Wise Snake's eyes glint.
Hero: What's up there??
Hero jumps up and down in urgent curiosity, causing the stack of boxes to creak ominously.
Ansen: Well, pipes, and pigeons, dead ones.
Ansen pulls himself up and reaches down a hand to Hero.
Ansen: Don't eat any of the corn. That's what happened to them.
Hero: Ewww!!
Hero accepts a hand up.
Nick: How will you convince Naros to accept you as Sectuib?
Hero clings to Ansen's arm a little longer than strictly necessary, partly because it's spooky up there, and partly because he's kind of cool, in a dorky but adventuresome sort of way.
Ansen half-drags Hero up in a fashion that might be considered improper in someone older.
Wise Snake: I have been considering a multi-pronged approach.
Wise Snake: I would like to appeal to the greed, laziness, kindness and intelligence of the people.
Wise Snake thinks that will pretty much cover it.
Nick: Give them a better, harder working Sectuib, and they won't go to the effort of retrieving their old one?
Ansen: [light filters in from louvers at either end of the building, cutting planes through drifting dust motes.]
Ansen: Now you see those studs there? Don't step anywhere but on them.
Ansen: Other places won't hold up your weight.
Hero: OK. [giggles]
Hero: What would happen?
Wise Snake: Yeah.
Wise Snake: To the ambitious ones, I'll offer full training and a transfer out into the Tecton. Shen, once they realize what they could have, they'll fall all over themselves for it.
Wise Snake: To the lazy ones, I'll offer a solution to their other problems that involves no effort whatsoever on their part.
Ansen: You'd fall through the ceiling tiles into the room below. The bathroom, right there. [points]
Nick: And you're not a constant reminder that they're all related.
Ansen: Where do you think they'll be?
Nick is all too aware that he is also related to most of them.
Wise Snake: Well, the brainy types will realize that the sort of radical, hard-hitting changes I propose - as well as my own presence - will result in clean, yet strong bloodlines.
Wise Snake actually is not a big fan of bloodlines at all, maybe because hers is such a curse.
Nick: And for the rest, you'll provide enough new members who aren't Riyyh's children that they can resume their old lifestyle?
Hero: In the bathroom!
Hero giggles.
Hero: Probably at the desk? Or looking through the files?
Hero knows that's where she'd be if she managed to get in there alone.
Ansen: OK. Along about there... [points]
Ansen holds out his arms tightrope style and starts carefully walking along a stud.
Wise Snake: Of course.
Wise Snake: And, more to the point, they wouldn't think of me as the new Sectuib, I'd just be their Sectuib.
Nick is suddenly just a bit alarmed.
Wise Snake has come to view Household management in a much more hardcore and practical light since coming to Naros than she had before.
Nick: It just occurred to me.
Hero nerves herself, and tries to suppress further giggles.
Nick: If you become Sectuib here, that will make me First Companion.
Hero follows Ansen.
Wise Snake: Er... [hadn't considered it]
Wise Snake: Well, yes.
Nick had thought that sort of position was comfortably years in the future, back when Snake was talking about remodeling the Ferry building back in BC.
Nick gulps.
Nick: ~~ stage fright ~~
Ansen comes to a place where two boards have been laid down across the studs by a hole with light coming up through it.
Wise Snake looks at Nick in amazement.
Ansen gestures at Hero as he lies down on one board.
Hero lies down on the other.
Hero: ~~excited~~
Hero grins at him.
Ansen smiles back, ~~ proud ~~ at showing off his secret place (Never mind that Tikky showed it to him).
Nick shuffles his feet.
Nick: It's just--there's all the administrative and social responsibilities.
Nick: I never was good at doing paperwork.
Ansen peers down through the hole.
Nick: And I can't stand political types.
Hero looks down too.
Hero: What do you see? [hisses]
Wise Snake: Nick!
Nick looks at Snake sheepishly.
Ansen hisses "They're there!"
Ansen leans back to give Hero room to look.
Hero looks.
Hero almost loses her grip on the board in her excitement.
Hero: Wow!
Hero: What are they talking about??
Wise Snake: I'm sure you'll get used to it.
Nick: Well, I hope so.
Wise Snake: Better than being First Companion under Riyyh, eh?
Nick: Definitely.
Ansen puts out a hand to steady her.
Ansen: Shh... try and hear.
Ansen cocks an ear towards the hole.
Nick reaches out to put a hand on Snake's arm, just because he can.
Wise Snake studies Nick, then smiles a small but, for her, genuine smile at him.
Wise Snake: Now then.
Wise Snake picks up the dried document and carefully slides it into a courier envelope.
Wise Snake: There is the matter of Mytag and Tictoc.
Nick: Yes. They won't allow this to go quietly.
Wise Snake: I'm not so sure about that.
Wise Snake: Tictoc did actually ask me about taking this on, before.
Wise Snake: Admittedly a few things have happened since then, but she does have a good head on her shoulders.
Nick: Yes, but Mytag has opposed us from the start.
Nick: He might go with Riyyh.
Wise Snake: To Bender Cove? [disbelief]
Wise Snake: Don't forget, he's seen it.
Nick: Well, there is that.
Nick: Although if Riyyh asks him to go....
Hero looks at Ansen to see if he understands any of this.
Ansen whispers "Tictoc is going away with Riyyh's head!"
Nick: And what about Riyyh's search for an heir?
Hero: What??! [whispered]
Hero: His head?
Hero gulps.
Wise Snake: Ah, yes, let's see if there's any mention of that.
Wise Snake drops the papers back in the In Box and grabs the contents of the Out Box.
Ansen: Can't have it around after she conquers us.
Wise Snake: Oh shen, how could I have forgotten.
Wise Snake puts it down.
Wise Snake: Mytag told me last night. Anmyn ambrov Fior. She's been chosen and is on her way.
Wise Snake actually knows exactly how she forgot, but never mind that.
Nick: Is she likely to cause trouble?
Wise Snake: I don't know anything about her.
Nick: It could get ugly.
Wise Snake: Yes, we'll have to do something about her. Ah... arrange for her to be picked up by somebody loyal to us, from the train.
Wise Snake: Then, we'll have her brought to... er.... [thinks]
Hero heard that part OK.
Hero stares at Ansen, pop-eyed.
Hero: Did you hear that? [squeaks]
Hero: They are talking about taking over!
Nick cocks his head.
Nick: Did you hear a mouse just now?
Ansen: I knew it!
Wise Snake: No, that's Hero.
Wise Snake points upward.
Nick: Hero?
Wise Snake can't zlin much of Ansen's child's field compared to Hero's 2nd order Donor field.
Nick follows Snake's finger.
Ansen: "Eep!"
Hero: Ooops.
Ansen shrinks back from the hole.
Hero: ~chagrin~
Hero: Never mind, we heard it all, come on!
Hero jumps up and runs back in the other direction, forgetting not to step on just the studs.
Ansen starts trying to push himself up quickly but quietly.
Ansen: Look Out!
Nick hears a cry.
Nick: That's wasn't Hero.
Wise Snake: Privacy in this place is just completely nonexistent. And the insulation is, well, not nonexistent, but....
Hero: Yeeeeooowwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nick: We'll have to get at least this office taken care of.
Ansen tries to dash over to help.
Hero crashes through the ceiling into Riyyh's office.
Hero: [along with a sizeable quantity of plaster, lath, insulation, crawlway dust and odd debris left by centuries of workers]
Nick winces in sympathy as Hero hits the floor.
Ansen falls over the hole, catching himself on a second stud, bridging the new hole.
Wise Snake jerks back, then watches stunned as everything settles.
Nick also blocks the sensation from Snake's perceptions, as well as he can when lowfield.
Nick looks up.
Wise Snake fortunately remembers not to withdraw her tentacles when covered with plaster dust.
Wise Snake sneezes.
Hero: Oh.
Hero: That wasn't what I had in mind.
Hero faints.
Nick goes over and opens the window.
Wise Snake looks up at Ansen.
Nick returns to Snake's side and looks at Hero.
Ansen: I told you!
Riyyh has finally finished dressing and having a leisurely breakfast and is now going in to do a bit of work at the old office.
Wise Snake: Are you all right?
Wise Snake: [to Ansen]
Wise Snake: Nick, help him down.
Wise Snake goes over to Hero and turns her over.
Ansen: Uh... I can't... uhhh....
Ansen obviously is in no position to pull himself up.
Hero comes conscious again as Snake rolls her over.
Wise Snake: You seem to be fine. You're lucky, that was quite a fall.
Nick moves a chair under the hole and climbs up on it.
Nick: Here, lower your feet through the hole.
Riyyh fishes for his keys outside the office door.
Ansen is unsure what to do, since they'll surely lock them up to keep them from talking.
Hero: You... you aren't going to send my head to Tictoc? ~nervously~
Ansen resigns himself to having to make a clever escape later.
Nick: Come on, you can't stay up there forever.
Ansen frees one foot, which then flops down to hang down.
Riyyh opens the office door and walks halfway in.
Nick: That's right, now the other one.
Riyyh stops, wearing the perfect expression of, er, flabbergastment.
Riyyh: ~~flabbergasted~~
Riyyh: [only on him, it looks more elegant]
Ansen works the other one use, and swings down pendulum-like.
Nick hears the the door open, and nearly falls off the chair.
Hero: Sectuib!!!! [shrieks]
Nick: ~~ shen! ~~
Wise Snake jumps.
Nick sees Snake in distress and jumps off the chair.
Nick: Swing down to the chair! [to Ansen]
Nick goes over to ~~ support ~~ Snake.
Ansen sees his chance, and drops to the floor for a daring dash out the open door.
Hero jumps up and rushes to Riyyh and hugs him for dear life.
Hero: ~~terrified~~
Riyyh: ~~now he's surprised as well as flabbergasted~~
Riyyh: Hero?
Riyyh: Ansen, Snake, Nick... what happened, what's going on?
Riyyh: [bewildered]
Ansen lands on his foot wrong, twisting his ankle ~~ Pain ~~.
Wise Snake looks around wildly to see where the envelope with Riyyh's transfer paperwork ended up.
Ansen rolls up into a ball, clutching his leg.
Nick: The youngsters took a wrong turn in the ductwork and fell through.
Riyyh: Hero, there there, you're just fine. Let me help poor Ansen, okay there?
Nick: There isn't any work in the infirmary, so....
Nick shrugs.
Riyyh pulls Hero toward Ansen.
Riyyh has to augment to do it, the wimp.
Ansen thinks through the pain that smelly man is stupid if he can't tell a pigeon from a duck.
Wise Snake nudges Nick and signals him, "where document??"
Hero: They're going to send your head away!
Hero: Oh Sectuib Riyyh, we were so scared!
Hero was actually only scared during the very last bit, but this sounds more colorful.
Nick looks around and locates it under Riyyh's desk.
Riyyh manages to forcibly detach Hero, and kneels down by Ansen's side with Hero now latched onto his upper arm.
Riyyh: Hero, it will be easier for me to examine him if you didn't do that. [kindly]
Nick points it out to Snake.
Wise Snake nods.
Wise Snake points at Hero, then at Nick, and mouths "get her out of here"
Nick goes over to Hero.
Nick: Come on, Hero.
Nick: You look like you could use a nice, relaxing cup of tea.
Ansen: ~~ throbbing pain in ankle ~~
Nick takes Hero by the arm and pulls her away from Riyyh.
Nick: Let Riyyh help Ansen.
Hero: Eeeiii!! Sectuib Riyyh, they're going to send me to Bender Cove!!
Hero: ~~terror~~
Riyyh: Thank you, Nick. [gratefully]
Nick: Are you sure you didn't hit your head?
Riyyh: Hero, Hero, you'll be just fine. Let Sosu Nick help you.
Nick: Come on, you should sit down for a while after that fall.
Nick "escorts" Hero towards the door.
Nick can't augment, but he's in decent shape, and significantly larger than Hero.
Hero: Oh noooooooooo [trails off as Nick drags her away]
Ansen has forgotten all about the necessity for foiling the evil plot, focusing only on his ankle.
Riyyh: You'll be just fine. [sooths]
Riyyh: Well, you have quite a twisted ankle here. That really hurts, doesn't it?
Riyyh gently removes Ansen's shoe and sock.
Ansen grits his teeth at the additional pain.
Ansen nods real hard.
Ansen: [ Ankle is swelling ]
Riyyh takes the ankle gently in his hands and extends his laterals, projecting a healing field.
Ansen: I'm sorry, Sectuib.
Wise Snake slips out of the office, carrying the transfer document, intending to find a courier immediately.
Ansen: I should have landed right.
Riyyh: Now, what in the world persuaded you that crawling about in the ceiling was a good plan? [gentle chiding]
Riyyh blocks as much of the pain as possible while speeding healing in the child's ankle.
Ansen: It was going fine until she stepped between the studs.
Ansen: ~~ fluids slow in their rush to the injury ~~
Riyyh: Well, Ansen, even if nobody fell through, you really shouldn't have been climbing around up there.
Riyyh: That's only for maintenance workers to use.
Riyyh: It just isn't safe for children, or young Gens. [kindly]
Ansen: ~~ Shame ~~ Wanted to hear what was going on.
Riyyh: I do hope you won't go up there again?
Ansen: Well... all right. ~~ resentment ~~
Riyyh looks surprised at Ansen's resentment.
Riyyh: But Ansen, surely you understand I only have your best interests at heart.
Riyyh: Of course it's fun to hear what others are talking about, but there is a limit.
Ansen: Yeah, but....
Ansen wants to say it's fun, but knows that grown-ups never approve of fun.
Ansen: All the kids do it! ~~ defiant ~~
Riyyh seriously doubts that.
Riyyh: Well, all right. We'll be sure to talk to everybody then.
Ansen: ~~ doesn't like that idea ~~
Ansen: No, please don't. I won't go up there again, I promise!
Riyyh zlins for truth.
Ansen: ~~ sincere ~~
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh: Very well then.
Riyyh smiles kindly at Ansen.
Riyyh: Why don't you try to get up, very gently, now?
Ansen puts a hand on Riyyh's shoulder and lifts himself up on the other leg.
Ansen carefully tries the injured ankle.
Riyyh: That's good. [encouragingly]
Ansen: ~~ bearable pain ~~
Riyyh: Now, try to walk very carefully for the next few days, all right?
Riyyh: No running or jumping until it's all better.
Riyyh: If it starts to hurt badly, go see a channel.
Ansen: Ok, Sectuib.
Ansen: I'm Sorry.
Ansen starts limping towards the door.
Riyyh turns, still kneeling, to watch his progress.
Ansen winces each step, but keeps going.
Riyyh smiles sadly for the mistakes of youth.
Riyyh looks around at the wreckage of his office and sighs.
Riyyh has utterly failed to realize, as of yet, that Snake and Nick were somehow inside his locked office at the time the kids fell through.
Notes:
1) This guy = Veraik [return]