Sime/Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #59: Unauthorized Procedure (11/13/98)
Sidie huddles in the deserted cafeteria, wrapped up in sweaters and sipping a cup of tea.
Sidie: ~~ cold Gen ~~
Tarana, entering cafeteria, suddenly feels the need for her sweater.
Tarana sees Sidie, wants to help.
Tarana: Hello.
Sidie wonders if there's any soup left.
Sidie looks up.
Sidie: Hello.
Sidie: Cold, isn't it?
Tarana: It does seem so.
Tarana: Aren't you warm under all those sweaters, though?
Sidie shivers.
Sidie: No, I'm not.
Tarana: Are you coming down with a chill?
Tarana notices something not quite right.
Sidie: Hajene Bumanuel said I was just adjudusting to being a Gen.
Sidie still has trouble occasionally with big words.
Tarana is taken aback by the thought that becoming a Gen is something one needed adjusting to.
Sidie: He said it would go away, but it hasn't.
Tarana: What happened?
Tarana: May I... read you?
Sidie: Read me?
Sidie: ~~ momentary confusion ~~
Tarana: I mean, zlin?
Sidie: Oh, you mean zlin me.
Tarana: Yes.
Sidie: Sure.
Tarana zlins.
Sidie: ~~ rapidly climbing Gen field, chills due to slightly out of whack metabolism ~~
Sidie: ~~ otherwise disgustingly healthy ~~
Sidie shivers again.
Sidie: I'm always colder around Simes.
Tarana: Can I try something?
Sidie: Umm, I suppose so.
Sidie: What?
Tarana: Well, there is something out of balance.
Tarana: I think I could... the words aren't right... push it into place.
Tarana: No, that's not right...
Sidie: Yeah, Hajene Bumanuel said producing selyn so fast is a stress, and that it would go away when I am high field.
Tarana: But you are too strong in one place.
Tarana: And too weak in another.
Sidie: Can you tell how long it will be before I'm high field?
Sidie: ~~ misery ~~
Tarana: I don't know how to describe it.
Tarana: But I think I can help.
Tarana goes into healing mode.
Tarana balances her fields to be less "Sime" feeling.
Ifto goes into the cafeteria in search of tea.
Tarana: I need to touch you.
Tarana: To ... zlin better.
Sidie: Sure.
Tarana: May I?
Sidie: Yeah.
Sidie holds her hands out.
Sidie did not, however, roll the two sweaters and flannel shirt back.
Tarana extends hands, then stops in momentary confusion.
Sidie waits patiently.
Tarana: I think it would work better if you unbuttoned your sleeves....
Sidie: My.... Oh!
Sidie: ~~ embarrassed ~~
Sidie does so, although the many layers of clothing prevent her from baring more than the lower half of her forearms.
Sidie's teeth start chattering at the additional exposure.
Tarana clasps her arms, sliding her fingers gingerly a little into the sleeve to position her laterals better on the Sidie's arms.
Sidie is a bit ~~ surprised ~~
Tarana wraps her tentacles and makes lateral contact.
Tarana: You okay?
Sidie: That sure feels different than it used to.
Tarana's skin is quite warm to the touch.
Sidie: When my dad would check me for changeover.
Sidie's field responds to the Sime contact by increasing selyn production.
Tarana: What?
Sidie: It feels different somehow.
Tarana: What does?
Sidie: You... Simes.
Tarana: How did that feel?
Sidie: It felt like you weren't just touching my skin, but... Oh, I don't know.
Tarana adjusts field even less sime.
Tarana zlins more carefully the imbalance.
Sidie: It's gone now, anyway.
Tarana brings secondary systems to the fore.
Tarana: I am going to work with your li-- I mean, fields now, just a bit.
Ifto zlins a disjunct channel handling a very young Gen.
Ifto: ~~ disapproval ~~
Tarana focusses her nager.
Ifto strides over to them.
Ifto: What's going on here?
Tarana thinks it should be possible to change the shape.
Ifto can't help but think Kenmore wouldn't approve of a disjunct channel working.
Ifto adjusts his showfield to protect the Gen in case something happens.
Tarana extends her nager, pushing it out, not quite meshing with Sidie's, using it to "touch" the Rising Nager and reducing the creation of selyn.
Tarana comes duo, not realizing she had gone hyperconscious, and notices Ifto.
Tarana adjusts.
Tarana: She was cold.
Ifto: What the blazing shen do you think you're doing?
Tarana: There is an imbalance....
Tarana: Can you see... um... zlin it?
Ifto: She's perfectly healthy.
Tarana: It's right there.
Tarana uses her nager to "point".
Ifto: And suppressing her selyn production will only cause more problems later on.
Ifto: ~~ firm certitude ~~
Tarana: [ripple to indicate direction.]
Ifto looks down at Sidie.
Tarana: She is too cold.
Tarana: Look at her!
Tarana: I wasn't trying to repress it....
Sidie shivers pathetically.
Tarana: Look - there.
Tarana: [another ripple]
Tarana: There is nothing there.
Tarana: I think she's producing too much to compensate.
Tarana: Do you know how to help?
Ifto: Have you never zlinned an Establishing Gen before?
Tarana: Um.
Tarana: Not up close.
Ifto: I thought not.
Tarana: But this doesn't feel balanced.
Tarana: I know she's healthy, but she's so cold.
Tarana turns to Sidie.
Tarana: Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you out of the conversation!
Ifto: Selyn production is often uneven and patchy for the first week or so.
Tarana: But what can you do to help?
Ifto: Her body will find its balance in a few more days.
Sidie smiles up at Tarana, a bit weakly.
Tarana: She's okay, then?
Ifto zlins Sidie, considering.
Ifto: Well, usually I'd just recommend hot drinks, a soak in a warm tub, and a seat in front of the fire.
Ifto: She's fine.
Sidie: I'm freezing.
Tarana: Usually?
Sidie: I haven't been warm for days.
Ifto: In this case, I might try to adjust the balance a bit, but not by suppressing selyn production.
Ifto: Like this.
Tarana: I was going to be Sime over here, where it was weak.
Tarana: Show me.
Ifto grabs Sidie's arms and reaches out delicately with his nager.
Sidie: ~~ indigation ~~
Tarana disengages her hands, with an apologetic look to Sidie.
Sidie: Hey!
Ifto ignores Sidie's protest, having learned his bedside manner from the Zeor Farris channels.
Tarana: Wait.
Tarana: What's wrong, Sidie?
Tarana unaware she has just told a Farris Channel to wait.
Sidie: He didn't ask!
Tarana: Is it all right if he shows me how to help you?
Ifto looks at Sidie in genuine suprise.
Ifto: I thought you wanted to be warm?
Sidie: Well...
Sidie pouts.
Sidie: I do.
Ifto: Well, then.
Tarana: I think I know what to do, but, Sidie, he's been trained.
Tarana: I want to be able to help,
Ifto: You see, you have to adjust your field like this, and....
Tarana zlins carefully.
Ifto demonstrates the Zeor technique with precision, if not quite with the flare of his Farris mentors.
Sidie gradually stops shivering.
Ifto: You see the difference?
Tarana: I saw something...
Tarana: How did you do that?
Tarana wants words to define what she saw.
Ifto: Well, Kenmore should really be the person to show you.
Ifto: But....
Ifto launches into a very detailed mathematical model of Estabishment and selyn field dynamics, which is mercifully spared the reader.
Tarana: You "pushed" there, and "pulled" over here....
Tarana: Right?
Ifto: Right. Without "quenching".
Tarana: And you did it at the same time. So you didn't have to quench one part before balancing the other.
Ifto: Exactly.
Tarana: How did you get your nager in that shape?
Tarana: I can figure out how to extend in one area,
Tarana: I know I'm probably not using the right words.
Ifto: Well, I....
Tarana: But you did one thing here and another thing there.
Tarana: Doing two things at once with your nager.
Tarana: And zlinned all the time.
Ifto launches into another technical lecture.
Tarana: I don't understand.
Ifto: All it requires is practice.
Sidie looks at Ifto.
Tarana: Can you help me learn?
Sidie: If you're done practicing, do you mind letting me go? I've still got to learn the pledge ceremony.
Tarana: I'm sorry Sidie. Do you feel better now?
Ifto absently lets Sidie go.
Sidie: Yes.
Tarana: You look better.
Tarana: Thank you for helping her. Oh! I don't even know your name!
Sidie rolls her sleeves down just in case.
Ifto: I'm Ifto ambrov Zeor.
Tarana: Zeor!
Ifto: I'm here with the team which is caring for Hajene Wise Snake.
Tarana: Oh!
Tarana: ~a little awe~
Sidie: Bye you two.
Sidie skips off.
Tarana: Bye bye.
Tarana: Now, could you show me again what you did?
Tarana: Or help me shape it?
Ifto demonstrates.
Tarana attempts to match the shape of Ifto's nager.
Tarana: Like this?
Ifto: Well....
Ifto: Not quite.
Tarana: What am I doing wrong?
Ifto: Look, why don't you just relax for a moment and do some basic drills to warm up.
Ifto: Frustration won't help you.
Tarana: Okay.
Tarana: What should I do?
Ifto: You know, the basic drills.
Tarana: Which ones?
Ifto goes through three elementary exercises in succession.
Tarana: Could you do those again, slower?
Ifto looks at Tarana with some astonishment.
Ifto: You don't know the basic drills?
Ifto: Who trained you, anyway?
Ifto doesn't think even Sectuib Riyyh could mess up training so badly.
Tarana: Well, I learned to control at Graven, near the border.
Tarana: I just got here.
Ifto: I don't mean control, I mean who taught you to channel and heal?
Tarana: I'm just starting to learn.
Tarana: I've been on the road since my....
Tarana: Since I became free.
Tarana: They said I should come here, that I would be more useful here.
Ifto: You haven't had any training, and only the minimum of control, and yet you were trying to heal a Gen too young to have learned any control of her own?
Tarana: ~abashed~
Ifto: When this House has plenty of properly trained channels?
Tarana: She was so cold.
Tarana: I could see the imbalance.
Ifto: Better cold than dead, if she'd managed to challenge your disjunciton.
Ifto: ~~ anger ~~
Tarana: She wouldn't do that.
Tarana: I wouldn't do that again.
Tarana: And I'm before turnover.
Ifto: She hasn't the faintest idea of what not to do to provoke you.
Tarana wonders if she's going to be treated like a cripple her whole life.
Ifto: All it would have taken was something to startle her, and you would have been facing disaster.
Tarana: I asked, about everything.
Tarana: Was I wrong? I just wanted to help.
Tarana: They wouldn't train me at Graven.
Ifto: And you could have left her with chronic problems.
Tarana: I could have?!?
Ifto: Please, stick to techniques you know well, unless it's an emergency and there are no other channels available.
Ifto: Yes, you could have.
Tarana: Okay.
Tarana: But could you show me those exercises again?
Tarana: So I won't always be....
Tarana: So I can learn to help?
Tarana: I hate not being able to help!
Ifto: Just make sure that what you do will actually help, and not harm.
Ifto: Sectuib Riyyh can show you the basic exercise, as they're done in Naros.
Tarana: When?
Ifto wonders why Tarana would think he's responsible for scheduling Riyyh's appointments.
Ifto: I suppose you'll have to talk with him and schedule a time.
Tarana: I mean, Riyyh is busy, isn't he?
Ifto: As Sectuib here, he's responsible for either training new channels or Donors, or appointing someone else to do so.
Tarana: Oh. Sorry.
Ifto: He taught me an interesting Naros exercise a few weeks ago.
Tarana: I just feel ...
Tarana: At home I knew exactly what to do.
Tarana: He did?
Ifto: Yes.
Riyyh comes into the cafeteria and goes to the tea area.
Riyyh pours himself a cup, then peruses the small selection of pastries.
Riyyh has about a million things on his mind.
Tarana: What did he-- oh, hi Sectuib Riyyh!
Ifto: It consists of reading frivolous books in the garden. Supposed to help one be able to work at full efficiency when one goes back on duty.
Ifto: Rather effective....
Ifto: Good morning, Sectuib Riyyh.
Riyyh turns, distracted.
Riyyh smiles.
Riyyh: Hello, Ifto, Tarana.
Tarana lets herself get distracted.
Tarana: Those look like good pastries!
Ifto is not distracted, unfortunately.
Riyyh turns back to the pastries and selects one, putting it on a small plate.
Ifto: Sectuib Riyyh, I regret to inform you that I caught Hajene Tarana here trying to work on a very young Gen.
Tarana: I'm sorry. She was so cold.
Riyyh looks up at Ifto.
Ifto: The consequences for her disjunction if anything had gone wrong, let alone the danger of a completely untrained channel doing that sort of work....
Ifto: ~~ disapproval ~~
Ifto: I found out that she doesn't even know the basic training exercises.
Riyyh looks between Tarana and Ifto, holding his tea and pastry and looking like he just walked into a domestic argument.
Tarana: Ifto told me I could have hurt her. I wouldn't want that!
Riyyh: Oh..? Well, no, naturally, of course not.
Riyyh suppresses nervous tentacle flutters.
Tarana: So I won't try again until I know what I'm doing.
Ifto: That sort of ignorance can be very dangerous.
Riyyh: That is probably for the best. ~apologetic~
Tarana: That's why I have to learn!
Tarana: He said you'd show me Naros' basic exercises.
Tarana: Or get someone else to.
Riyyh: Tarana, we did talk about this yesterday. [gently]
Riyyh: Naros will train you, as I promised.
Tarana: I'm sorry. I'm too impatient.
Riyyh smiles at her.
Tarana: I always knew what I was supposed to do at home.
Ifto doesn't really approve of training disjunct channels when it isn't necessary any longer, but is aware that Zeor isn't in the majority on that issue--yet.
Tarana: I could help out when there were problems.
Riyyh: Even the best channels do not learn in one day.
Ifto: Next time you zlin a cold Gen, try offering her some hot soup instead.
Tarana: Okay.
Tarana: Why didn't the tea help?
Riyyh realizes at this point that they are not going to let him get back to his office, so he may as well join them.
Riyyh comes over to their table and sits down with his tea and pastry.
Riyyh: May I join you?
Tarana: She was drinking hot tea.
Tarana: Please!
Ifto absently invites Riyyh to sit with a wave of one tentacle.
Riyyh had really gotten the impression from Tarana's paper profile that she was more interested in agriculture than this.
Riyyh sighs.
Riyyh: Who was the Gen?
Ifto: A young woman named Sidie.
Ifto: Recently Established, and feeling the stress.
Riyyh nods.
Tarana: She's going to be all right now, right?
Riyyh: Sidie only Established recently, Tarana. [explains]
Riyyh: Her body is still getting used to producing selyn.
Riyyh: Her systems will be slightly out of balance for a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks.
Ifto: Hajene Tarana was trying to force the selyn production to slow, instead of bringing it into balance.
Riyyh looks to Ifto.
Riyyh: Ifto, Tarana has no training to speak of. She couldn't have been expected to know what she was doing was incorrect. [gently]
Riyyh: Now that she realizes she is not to attempt functionals she is unfamiliar with, she won't do it anymore. Right, Tarana?
Riyyh looks to Tarana.
Riyyh: ~encouraging~'
Tarana: Of course not! I didn't want to cause any harm!
Ifto zlins Tarana for sincerity.
Tarana: ~exceedingly sincere, surprised it even needed to be asked~
Riyyh nods ~approvingly~.
Riyyh turns back to Ifto.
Riyyh: Be gentle with her, Ifto. She is from Gen Territory and simply had no idea.
Ifto: Well, I did manage to stop her before she hurt the young woman.
Tarana: I'm supposed to get someone else, someone trained, and watch what they do, right?
Tarana: If there's a problem, I mean, and I see it first.
Riyyh: Tarana, to be trained as a channel is a formal, closely monitored program of studies.
Riyyh: You will not be expected to find your own experimental subjects or your own teachers. [smiles]
Tarana: (to Riyyh) I couldn't manage to balance....
Tarana: Oh.
Riyyh: I do hope you will be patient with us; we have been training channels here for centuries and we do have an established method.
Riyyh: [kindly]
Tarana: I wasn't trying to slow her selyn production, though...
Tarana: Just to balance it.
Tarana: Okay.
Tarana: I didn't know.
Riyyh reaches out and touches Tarana's hand lightly.
Riyyh: It's all right. This time.
Riyyh: Nothing happened, after all.
Riyyh: But now you will wait, and stay to your assigned studies, eh?
Riyyh: And if you see somebody who is sick, help them get to the Medical Center and talk to a channel on duty, all right?
Tarana: Okay.
Tarana: It's all so new.
Riyyh: Of course.
Riyyh: Hajene Ifto here is a student himself.
Riyyh smiles at Ifto, then Tarana again.
Riyyh: His teacher is Kenmore Farris, who brought him from Zeor.
Tarana starts, surprised at the information.
Tarana: Really?
Ifto nods.
Ifto: I've been studying Farris transfer pathologies, so when Hajene Snake was so ill.
Tarana: What are you learning?
Ifto shrugs.
Tarana: Oh. That sounds complicated.
Ifto: It can be, yes.
Ifto reluctantly decides that Tarana's education has not progressed to the point where she can properly appreciate his specialty.
Riyyh sips his tea.
Ifto: But then, I wanted a challenge.
Ifto: That's why I pledged Zeor, instead of staying at Frihill.
Tarana: Why?
Ifto: Why did I want a challenge?
Tarana: What did Zeor have-- for you I mean -- that Frihill didn't?
Tarana: [trying to understand Ifto]
Ifto: In Frihill, people were content to do what comes easy, and leave the harder things for emergencies.
Ifto: Zeor doesn't reserve effort for emergencies.
Tarana: Oh.
Ifto spreads his tentacles helplessly.
Ifto: It's hard to explain what makes a House a good fit for a person, sometimes.
Riyyh frowns to himself.
Tarana: I understand -- a bit.
Riyyh sips his tea thoughtfully.
Ifto: I just know I would have been miserable and bored in Frihill.
Ifto: It's not that it's a bad place, my sisters are very happy there.
Ifto: But it wasn't right for me.
Ifto: ~~ passionate conviction ~~
Tarana: I know how it feels not to be able to give the most you can.
Tarana: If you only knew how.
Riyyh thinks Tarana has a very narrow definition of "giving the most you can".
Tarana: What does Frihill mean? I've heard that the Householdings all have a ...
Tarana: Purpose?
Tarana: Is that the right word?
Ifto: It's usually called a "virtue".
Ifto: It's a House's vision of what's necessary for Unity.
Ifto: Frihill studies the past, to rebuild the Ancient's technology and to prevent humanity from repeating past mistakes.
Ifto: Zeor strives for excellence, because that's the only way to improve who we are.
Ifto: Naros... well, perhaps Sectuib Riyyh would share his House's vision.
Tarana: So between the two of you, you have the past and the future...
Riyyh: The past and the future?
Tarana: Well, excellence is about pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and that is about shaping the future.
Ifto nods at the description.
Tarana: Do you think Naros takes care of the present? (to Riyyh)
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: I had never thought about it before. [confesses]
Riyyh: We are somewhat traditional in many ways.
Riyyh: Yet, we have adapted to post-Unity conditions.
Riyyh isn't sure he likes being compared to Zeor.
Riyyh thinks it is never possible to really look that good when compared to Zeor.
Tarana: It seems to me that all three are necessary.
Tarana: The past, because that is where we come from, where our strengths and weaknesses originate.
Tarana: The present, because we are the ones who have to carry on, doing the things necessary to survive to even get to the future.
Tarana: And the future, so we have something beyond us.
Tarana: Zeor pushes the boundaries so the rest of us can learn and grow.
Tarana: See what I mean?
Riyyh: I'll be the first to admit I am a sensualist rather than a philosopher.
Ifto thinks the roster of Riyyh's progeny make that clear.
Riyyh: Perhaps that does make me "the present".
Tarana: I like the present.
Tarana: When I was younger, with the herds on the hill, I used to think about things like that.
Ifto: It takes all kinds to make a world.
Ifto stands.
Ifto: Well, I admit to liking an occasional bit of philosophy, but I really must get back to Kenmore.
Riyyh nods.
Tarana: Thank you for showing me- what you could.
Riyyh: Thank you, Ifto. [nods]
Ifto: You're welcome.
Tarana: And thank you for helping with Sidie.
Tarana: I would not have wanted to....
Tarana: Anyway, thanks.
Ifto realizes that he is already 27 seconds late for his lesson.
Ifto: I know.
Ifto nods and hurries off.
Riyyh turns to Tarana.
Riyyh: Now that you have had the tour and orientation, have you had any further ideas of what type of work you'd like to do here?
Tarana: You mean until I can work as a channel?
Riyyh: Tarana, nobody works full time as a channel here.
Riyyh: I don't do it, Tictoc doesn't do it, nobody can.
Riyyh: We simply have far too many channels for the amount of work available.
Tarana: I understand.
Tarana: I'm sorry.
Tarana: What types of work... umm.
Tarana tries to remember the right word for need.
Riyyh: You will, of course, receive instruction - but that will only take part of each day.
Tarana: I can work with animals, I can weave.
Riyyh: Do those areas interest you?
Tarana: Although these [indicates tentacles] get in the way.
Riyyh is surprised that Tarana hasn't gained better facility with her new appendages after so many months.
Tarana reads the surprise.
Tarana: I haven't had any practice weaving with them.
Riyyh nods.
Tarana: They should help, but I don't know how to weave as a Sime does.
Tarana: I've seen some of the patterns Simes can weave... they're beautiful.
Tarana: Even my grandmother would be impressed.
Tarana: She taught me to weave.
Riyyh: Well, let Wolfa know that you are interested in those two areas, and she will arrange interviews for you with Mossoa and Chelim.
Tarana: And I know how to weave the family blanket.
Tarana: Okay.
Riyyh: You would, of course, be trained in the new techniqes as required.
Riyyh: I am sure you will catch on quickly.
Tarana: I'd love it!
Tarana: Do you think... I'm not sure if I should,
Riyyh looks at Tarana questioningly.
Tarana: But if I learn to weave such fine patterns,
Tarana: I wonder if my family would like a blanket.
Tarana: To show them I still love them.
Tarana: They helped me, stuck by me, even after....
Riyyh: I always encourage people born in Gen Territory to remain in touch with their families.
Riyyh: It is important for all involved, especially if there was tragedy at the time of changeover.
Tarana: I've heard it isn't that way for everyone.
Riyyh: That is very true.
Riyyh: Many children are still shot down in changeover.
Riyyh: And many of those who survive are disowned.
Tarana: That would break a family apart.
Tarana: How would the ancestors feel, cut off that way?
Riyyh: It is better than it once was.
Tarana: Yes.
Tarana: Naros is a lot like a family.
Riyyh winces despite himself.
Riyyh covers it with a smile, though.
Tarana: Like my family.
Riyyh: Yes, a Householding is very much like a family.
Riyyh: ~kindly~
Tarana: I'm glad.