Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #74: The Phantom Rogue (12/4/98)
Mayor Dod arrives at Naros a bit ruffled and trying not to show it.
Pitre: Hi Mayor Dod!
Pitre yells down from the gate.
Pitre goes to let Pitre in.
Pitre shakes his head woozily, then goes to let Mayor Dod in.
Mayor Dod brushes a few flakes of snow from his cape and signals at the gate.
Pitre looks upward.
Pitre: I don't think there's anybody up there. [to Mayor Dod]
Mayor Dod: Oh, dear. I thought I was expected.
Mayor Dod: ~~ flustered ~~
Pitre: I think you were.
Pitre scratches his head.
Mayor Dod: The last time I was here, there was a woman in charge of the gate.
Mayor Dod: ~~ apology ~~
Pitre: Gosh...
Pitre: Well, do you want to come in?
Mayor Dod: Yes, of course. Please.
Mayor Dod: It is getting cold enough to freeze my tentacles off.
Mayor Dod: Do you think this snow will stick?
Pitre lets Pitre in.
Pitre shakes his head in amazement, then lets Mayor Dod in.
Mayor Dod follows Pitre in, blowing on his chilled tentacle tips.
Pitre: Oh, the snow?
Pitre: Beats me.
Mayor Dod: It seems, er, purposeful, as it were.
Pitre: Purposeful snow?
Pitre frowns.
Pitre: That doesn't sound good.
Mayor Dod: Yes. Coming down as if it means to stay a while.
Pitre decides, upon reflection, that the idea of sentient precipitation gives him the willies.
Pitre: ~~~~the willies~~~
Mayor Dod zlins Pitre.
Mayor Dod: Is something wrong?
Mayor Dod zlins around to make sure nobody important is in earshot.
Mayor Dod: You haven't been having... strange... things happen around here, have you?
Pitre: Shen yeah.
Pitre: ~proudly~
Pitre is rarely called upon to reveal gossip, as he usually doesn't know anything everybody else doesn't know already.
Mayor Dod: Do tell.
Mayor Dod: ~~ eager ~~
Pitre smiles, blossoming.
Pitre is so excited his words come out all in a jumble.
Pitre: Well, Wise Snake attacked Sectuib with a machete, or maybe it was a meat cleaver, and then this one girl Eliza want VAVABOOM!!! with her nager, and after that all hell broke loose, only it prolly woulda never happened if we weren't all related including Nick.
Pitre: Nick is Snake's Companion.
Mayor Dod listens to the avalanche, sorting it for useful data.
Mayor Dod: I see.
Pitre: Oh yeah, and then this one guy Kenmore, he's a Farris too, he went and said OK back to school for you Snake, and he and her like hole up in her cabin all day and Nick has to go take a hike.
Pitre beams, having his own theory about what goes on in there.
Mayor Dod: Well, those are certainly strange happenings, but not the sort that have been disturbing the town.
Pitre: Like what? ~very curious~
Mayor Dod is suddenly aware that he's been gossiping with the assistant gatekeeper.
Mayor Dod: Well, I'm sure you'll hear before too long.
Mayor Dod: But I really should discuss it with your Sectuib first.
Mayor Dod does believe in following the gossip etiquette.
Pitre sighs, but knows when he's licked.
Pitre: OK.
Pitre: See you later Mayor Dod!
Pitre waves cheerily.
Mayor Dod pulls his cape back around himself and heads for the administrative building.
Mayor Dod makes his way to Riyyh's office once inside, with a stop at a convenient rest room to shed the cape and run a comb through his hair.
Mayor Dod presents himself at Riyyh's door once presentable, and signals.
Riyyh: Come in!
Mayor Dod enters.
Mayor Dod: Sectuib Riyyh, my dear friend.
Riyyh: Well, hello, Mayor Dod!
Mayor Dod: ~~ oily good cheer of the used car salesman variety ~~
Mayor Dod: So good of you to see me.
Riyyh smiles warmly, giving the effect of having waited and yearned for the surprise and pleasure of the Mayor's company.
Riyyh: No, no, the pleasure is all mine.
Riyyh: Please, do sit. May I fetch you some tea?
Mayor Dod wonders where Riyyh gets his lotions; he can't really have that kind of skin naturally, at their age.
Mayor Dod: Oh, thank you. It's cold out there.
Mayor Dod: I think this snow may actually stick.
Riyyh turns to look out the window briefly.
Riyyh: Yes... it is coming down, isn't it?
Riyyh gets them both some tea and returns to his seat.
Mayor Dod inspects the tips of his fingers and tentacles, which are noticeably pinker than usual.
Riyyh smoothes back his hair, responding naturally to Mayor Dod's discreet attention.
Mayor Dod accepts the tea with thanks and sips.
Mayor Dod: Delightful.
Mayor Dod: You do have such interesting blends here.
Riyyh smiles, pleased by the Mayor's praise.
Riyyh: Why thank you.
Mayor Dod: How have things been going here at Naros since my last visit?
Riyyh: Oh....
Riyyh looks apologetic and smiling and helpless all at the same time.
Riyyh: Let's see, that was back in... May?
Mayor Dod: Yes.
Mayor Dod: I should have come sooner, but you know how busy things can get.
Riyyh: No, no, that's quite all right.
Riyyh: I understand perfectly.
Mayor Dod: I'm sure you do.
Mayor Dod preens at this show of understanding.
Riyyh: Well, let's see... we have had several prominent visitors....
Mayor Dod: Has there been anything...particularly unusual happen?
Mayor Dod: Things you can't explain?
Riyyh: Oh dear, well, of course there have been many things which I have found difficult to explain.
Riyyh thinks Mayor Dod surely already has heard about many of those and hopes the guy won't press him for the gory details.
Mayor Dod appears just a bit spooked under the oily exterior.
Riyyh zlins Dod's spooked-ness and realizes something is amiss.
Riyyh: What's wrong?
Mayor Dod: Well....
Mayor Dod looks around, although he realizes that the average Narosian eavesdropper would never be observed by a relative amateur like himself.
Riyyh: ~concern~
Mayor Dod: In the past few weeks, er, things have been happening in town.
Mayor Dod: Strange things.
Riyyh's eyebrows raise.
Riyyh: Oh really? What sort of....
Mayor Dod: You remember old widow Neffins? Lives alone, hardly gets out because she's so stiff with arthritis?
Riyyh nods kindly.
Riyyh: Yes, I do. How has she been?
Mayor Dod: She was much the same, until two weeks ago.
Mayor Dod: Then she woke up one morning and the arthritis had practically disappeared!
Mayor Dod: Now she's running around like a Gen half her age, sticking her nose into everything.
Riyyh: Oh dear.
Riyyh: I mean, oh, how nice!
Riyyh: ~nervous~
Riyyh thinks he may know the cause of the bizarre occurrences.
Mayor Dod: And young Jin had a, um, difference of opinion with the Hawser boys. Came home with his tail between his legs, two black eyes, and that was only the start of it.
Mayor Dod: The next day, he was running around as if nothing had happened.
Riyyh nods attentively and gravely.
Mayor Dod: And Qissdon hasn't had a real hangover in over a week, but he got a fantastic transfer from somewhere, because he was chasing the barmaids like he hadn't long since forgotten what to do with them.
Mayor Dod shudders.
Mayor Dod: It's spooky, that's what it is.
Mayor Dod is indeed, truly ~~~ spooked ~~~
Riyyh: ~oh dear~
Riyyh's tentacles wave in consternation, sheepishness, and vague sense of un-nailed-down guilt.
Mayor Dod: You haven't had anything like that happen around here, have you?
Riyyh: No, we haven't.
Mayor Dod frowns.
Mayor Dod: I was hoping you'd have some idea what was causing it.
Riyyh: Oh... well.... I'm afraid I do. [confesses]
Mayor Dod: You do?
Mayor Dod: ~~ hope ~~
Riyyh spreads his hands and tentacles apologetically.
Riyyh: I'm not sure if you want to know, though.
Mayor Dod: I've got to tell my people something.
Riyyh: Well, yes, I can understand that. ~sympathy/torn~
Mayor Dod: Please.
Mayor Dod makes a gesture of supplication with all eight tentacles.
Riyyh: Well... well, all right.
Riyyh has no resistance whatsoever to such begging.
Mayor Dod wonders if it's a ghost or just a spirit.
Riyyh: You see, all of the people you mentioned are the same people who refuse to be looked at by a channel except for transfer or donation.
Riyyh: A... a special channel has been visiting them and healing them.
Riyyh: In their own homes.
Mayor Dod: A special channel?
Riyyh: I know, I know - they have refused that too, but this channel is very er, persuasive.
Riyyh: And, ah, sneaky.
Riyyh: Well, perhaps more sneaky than persuasive.
Riyyh: ~apologetically~
Mayor Dod: Really, if you were going to start a new outreach program, as Mayor, I should have been notified.
Mayor Dod: ~~ slightly hurt and offended ~~
Mayor Dod: Unless....
Riyyh: I am terribly sorry, I really am, but I wasn't one hundred percent certain that this, er, program, existed myself until you confirmed it just now.
Mayor Dod: Just how sneaky is this channel, anyway?
Riyyh: Er... rather. [apologetic]
Mayor Dod has always been very good at keeping his nose clean by not knowing about semi-legal activities.
Mayor Dod: Really, it's unlike Naros.
Riyyh: Yes, it really is.
Riyyh: I am hoping she will leave this week. She keeps saying she will.
Riyyh: ~honest/helpless~
Mayor Dod: I see.
Mayor Dod: Well, I'll find something to tell the curious.
Mayor Dod: Right now, though, I'd best get back to town while the road is still passable.
Mayor Dod nods towards the increasingly thick shower of snowflakes.
Riyyh: Oh... of course.
Riyyh is glad Dod is taking this so well.
Mayor Dod: I do thank you for letting me know about this... program.
Riyyh: Thank you for visiting, I do hope you come again soon.
Riyyh smiles.
Mayor Dod smiles in return, and picks up his cape.
Mayor Dod: I will be sure to do so.
Mayor Dod leaves the office, making sure to be out of sight before he spoils his costume with the heavy cape.
Riyyh waits until the Mayor is gone and then sighs, once more, "Oh dear."