Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #105: Visseranade (2/25/99)
Riyyh is in the bathroom of his office.
Vissera brings Riyyh's lunch to his office and signals.
Riyyh has found a moment in his day (well, perhaps a moment is an understatement) where he can take a little time to himself for one of his favorite activities.
Riyyh: [namely, looking at himself in the mirror and preening]
Riyyh notices the signal and sighs.
Riyyh: Oh dear, it's been so busy lately.
Riyyh notices he's been in there for 2 hours now, and sighs again, this time a bit self-deprecatingly.
Riyyh goes out into his office and gets the door.
Riyyh: Oh! [voice changes]... Vissera. [smiles]
Vissera has brought enough for a recently-post-transfer Sime, having noticed Rapol in the cafeteria without Riyyh.
Vissera: Hello, Sectuib. I brought you some lunch.
Riyyh: Thank you. It is so good to see you. Please, come in.
Vissera smiles brightly in return, physically and nagerically.
Riyyh basks in the response.
Vissera enters and puts the lunch on the desk.
Vissera: I thought you might be a bit peckish, and I wanted to get your opinion of my new salad dressing.
Riyyh closes the door and follows her.
Riyyh: I am sure I will find it delightful.
Vissera: I do hope so. I made it for you.
Vissera hopes that the rutabaga is suitably subtle.
Riyyh: You did? [smiles]
Riyyh: Well then, I shall try it at once.
Vissera nods shyly and waits eagerly for the verdict.
Riyyh reaches out and touches a curl of her hair with a tentacle, and then goes to sit down at his desk.
Vissera reaches up unconsciously to tenderly smooth the curl he touched.
Riyyh, who grew up in the lap of gourmet heaven at Naros, knows good food when he tastes it... but then again, he has been treated to countless children's overambitious attempts as well.
Vissera holds her breath.
Riyyh of course responds to all of them in precisely the same way.
Vissera: ~~ anticipation/apprehension ~~
Riyyh: Vissera! [wonderingly]
Riyyh: This is delicious!!
Vissera: ~~ joy/relief ~~
Vissera: I'm so glad you like it.
Riyyh: You are indeed a genius.
Vissera blushes.
Riyyh: I knew you would be worth every effort that was made to bring you to Naros.
Riyyh: My compliments.
Riyyh smiles.
Vissera: It's a rutabaga and rosemary based buttermilk dressing.
Riyyh: It's quite tasty.
Riyyh: What do you call it?
Vissera: I don't have a special name for it yet. Do you have any suggestions?
Riyyh: How about... Visseranade?
Vissera: Visseranade?
Vissera considers, then smiles.
Vissera: I think I like that name.
Riyyh: It belongs to a very special person.
Vissera watches Riyyh eat for a minute.
Vissera: Sectuib?
Riyyh looks up at her.
Riyyh: Yes, Vissera?
Vissera: A few days ago, you mentioned that I might learn to give transfer, at least to a renSime.
Vissera: I've been thinking about it, and, well, I'd like to try.
Vissera: ~~ eagerness ~~
Riyyh: Do you have someone in mind? [gently]
Riyyh hadn't heard any rumors to that effect.
Vissera: I didn't want to raise false hopes, until I was sure I could do it.
Vissera: I was talking to Anjie yesterday, about her partnership with Zaft.
Vissera: She said that not all Gens can serve all renSimes, even after completing the training.
Riyyh: Please, sit down.
Riyyh doesn't want Vissera's hopes to be raised falsely, either.
Vissera: And at my age... well, I know I don't have the flexibility of youth any more.
Vissera sits.
Riyyh sets his plate aside.
Vissera looks at Riyyh hopefully.
Riyyh: Vissera, I don't want you misunderstand. We don't train general-class Gens to give transfer to renSimes.
Riyyh: That is illegal in the Tecton, and could get us into a good deal of trouble.
Riyyh: But we are not one hundred percent compliant with the Tecton's laws, it is true.
Riyyh: If there is a couple who are married, or wish to be married, and wish to serve one another in transfer as well, we are prepared to work with them to determine whether they are compatible and whether they both can be trained.
Riyyh: Do you see? We do not make little Donors. It would not be wise.
Vissera: Oh.
Riyyh: These Gens are like little Companions instead.
Vissera: ~~ disappointment ~~
Vissera: So you only allow it between married couples?
Riyyh: But if you do meet a Sime, or if you are interested in meeting a Sime, to bond with in a lifelong relationship of this sort...
Riyyh: Well, yes.
Riyyh: A Sime must know that his or her transfer partner is there for life.
Riyyh: Not going to disappear.
Riyyh has had recent personal experience in this area.
Vissera is very interested in meeting an appropriately matched Sime.
Riyyh: I can introduce you to our matchmakers and have them examine you and try to introduce you to some appropriate Simes.
Riyyh: There won't be many, as we are a small Householding.
Vissera nurses the small flame of hope.
Riyyh: If you hit it off with one of them on a personal level, then we should speak again.
Riyyh smiles.
Vissera's small hope zlins larger than it is, since she is high field at the moment.
Riyyh: All three of us.
Vissera: I would be very glad to meet your matchmakers.
Riyyh: Of course. I will arrange for it at once.
Vissera: I admit, I wouldn't know anything about how to discover which matches were even possible.
Riyyh: It is an art which requires not only sensitivity in zlinning possessed usually only by channels, but also a good deal of experience. Both of our matchmakers have years of success behind them.
Vissera is starting to feel a bit more confident.
Riyyh: Of course, it is a little trickier now that there is new blood involved.
Riyyh: I have every hope that if there is a match here for you, they will find it. [smiles]
Vissera: Oh, I do hope so.
Vissera: I used to dream about being a Donor. It was such a blow when I was told I was already too old to make even Third Order.
Riyyh: Truly, there are no hard and fast rules.
Riyyh: They say that, but... it is like saying somebody who is thirty natal years is too old to enter the Gen Army.
Riyyh: It is an artificial barrier, a line of convenience, nothing more.
Vissera: Well, it becomes real enough when no exceptions are allowed.
Riyyh: If you worked many hours a day at it, for many years or even decades of your remaining life, you no doubt could become a Donor of sorts, but... [spreads hands and tentacles apologetically]
Riyyh: Here at Naros, you are far more valuable as a cook. [admits]
Riyyh doesn't elaborate as to exactly why that is.
Vissera: I see.
Vissera can't quite bury the old ~~ hurt ~~ at the familiar verdict.
Riyyh zlins the hurt and his shoulders droop.
Riyyh finds it quite unbearable enough without the power of a Technical Class Donor behind it to boot.
Vissera: Ah, well, at least there's a chance at something real.
Vissera: Merely donating has always seemed so... uninvolved.
Riyyh: I do hope you'll consider that you are worth far more than can be measured by your service to Simes. [hesitantly]
Riyyh: And that even if you can never serve in transfer to anybody, that you are not less of a person because of it.
Riyyh: Thousands upon thousands of Gens have never done it.
Vissera: But most of them don't want to.
Riyyh: Well...
Vissera: At least, not the ones I've met.
Riyyh's tentacles wave about as he reflects that is mostly because of the Tecton's propaganda.
Vissera: They don't even wonder what it would be like.
Riyyh: Ummmmm yes.
Riyyh: Oh dear. [to himself]
Riyyh: If you find somebody else, somebody who is a Gen or an incompatible renSime or even a channel, I hope you will not discard them as a possible life-partner because of your other hope.
Riyyh: [gently]
Riyyh of course uses the term life-partner in the Narosian sense... the person to whom one technically belongs while sharing equally in the persons of those belonging technically to everybody else.
Vissera: I'll try not to.
Vissera has a somewhat unNarosian view of the term.
Riyyh smiles.
Vissera: But... what if I prove to be most compatible with a renSime who is already married? Or another woman?
Riyyh: Well, it would depend entirely upon who it was and what the situation is, of course.
Riyyh: It is not unheard of for a person to be transfer mated to somebody who is not their husband or wife, although usually that person is married to somebody else.
Riyyh: They might even all live together. We have four such families now, one just married this summer.
Vissera: It sounds so beautiful.
Riyyh: As for women, [hesitates] that would depend upon your own feelings, and hers.
Vissera: Are many of the renSimes here in search of a compatible Gen partner?
Riyyh: Not all of them are actively searching, although quite a few would be open to the idea if a match was proposed to them.
Vissera: Oh.
Vissera takes this to mean that the pool of candidates is very limited; she has no true conception of how widespread Riyyh's easy-to-persuade genes are in Naros.
Riyyh zlins Vissera.
Riyyh: Don't worry, I am sure you will find at least one or two people to talk to. [reassuringly]
Vissera: Oh, I do hope so.
Riyyh puts on his best persuasive tone and appearance.
Riyyh: We do want you to find a place here at Naros, to be one of us.
Riyyh smiles at her.
Riyyh: And not only for your cooking, although it is difficult to overlook a talent so prodigious!
Vissera is indeed bordering on the prodigious, at least in her proportions, but who would trust a skinny cook?
Vissera: To be able to run a large kitchen and have transfer as well -- that's all I've ever wanted.
Riyyh: Well then, we'll do our best to make sure that if there's any chance that can happen for you, it will. ~~sincere~~
Vissera smiles.
Vissera: I'm looking forward to meeting your matchmakers.
Riyyh passes the empty plate back to her.
Riyyh: Thank you for bringing me this. It was delicious.
Vissera: I'm so glad you liked it. One can never be sure, you know: Tastes are a rather personal matter.
Vissera: They vary so much from person to person, it's almost impossible to predict what will go over well.
Riyyh: I hope you will find that at Naros, the people appreciate a wide variety of cooking, and an adventuresome spirit in design and creativity in food.
Riyyh: We do grow some of the finest crops in the area, and receive others in trade.
Vissera: I'd noticed how the greenhouses provide fresh greens year round.
Riyyh: Yes, and we do try to keep as many for ourselves as we can afford. [smiles]
Vissera: It's such a luxury to have really good materials to work with.
Vissera: You have no idea the sorry, wilted vegetables I've been expected to turn into a banquet.
Riyyh: If you have any special requests, be sure to let somebody know.
Riyyh winces at the mention of sorry, wilted vegetables.
Vissera: Right at the moment, I'm discovering what I can do with the materials on hand.
Riyyh: Of course. Well, there is certainly plenty of time.
Vissera: Yes. I'm quite looking forward to summer.
Vissera: I hear that some new food varieties are being grown here -- things that have never been used for food before.
Vissera finds this ~~ inspiring ~~
Riyyh: You will find that people's appetites increase during the summer, as well.... yes, well, we are constantly experimenting.
Riyyh: Many of them are, in fact, food from foreign lands, and delicacies here.
Riyyh: Others are... [remembers the unfortunate rock-hard ear of corn] ...simply experiments.
Riyyh: Leading, perhaps, to innovations.
Riyyh does hate to put pressure on people, but he wishes this year wasn't going quite so badly on the innovations front.
Vissera: I do love being on the cutting edge, as it were.
Vissera's kitchen is, in fact, well equipped with cutting edges.