Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #106: Loungeflower (1/28/99)
Vissera goes in search of the House matchmaker.
Vissera is ~~ nervous and excited ~~ as she hasn't been since she thought she was going to be asked to the school dance.
Vissera hopes that she won't be as disappointed as she was when the young man asked someone else instead.
Mostan is in the library.
Mostan is reading a magazine, "Valzor Review."
Vissera pokes her head into the library, searching for someone of the right description.
Vissera hopes her informant was more accurate than Hero.
Vissera sees a candidate and approaches him.
Vissera: Excuse me....
Mostan looks up and smiles. "Good Evening!"
Vissera: Are you Hajene Mostan?
Mostan nods. "At your service, Naztehr."
Mostan stands up.
Vissera: I'm Vissera, the new chef.
Vissera is a middle-aged Gen who is a bit on the stout side, and completely unrelated to Riyyh.
Mostan: I'm very pleased to meet you. Are you the reason the pastries have gotten so good lately?
Vissera: Why, thank you.
Vissera blushes in a motherly sort of way.
Vissera: I'm glad you like them.
Mostan is a young channel from deep in-Territory originally.
Vissera: Sectuib said that you might be able to help me fulfill a dream I've had for many years now.
Mostan: I'll certainly help if I can.
Mostan zlins around the library to see who else is in here.
Vissera: When I first came to Sime Territory, not too long after Unity, I wanted to be a Donor, you see.
Vissera: The channels told me I didn't have the nager to serve a channel, but I've always wondered what it would have been like to serve transfer.
Vissera: Sectuib said that a few of the renSimes here are permitted to form matches with willing Gens.
Vissera: And that you were the one who makes the matches.
Vissera realizes that she is gushing like a teenager, and closes her mouth.
Mostan: Yes I am.
Mostan sees that no one seems near enough to overhear. "Shall we sit down?"
Vissera takes the hint and perches on the edge of a chair.
Vissera: ~~ eager/fear of disappointment ~~
Mostan sits down on his chair, and puts his hands together.
Mostan pops out his tentacles suddenly and winds them together in a speculative fashion.
Vissera looks at the tentacles curiously.
Mostan zlins Vissera covertly for her reaction to the sudden tentacle movement.
Vissera is not particularly upset by the movement, but is waiting tensely for Mostan's verdict.
Vissera doesn't know if she could bear to lose the dream a second time.
Mostan notes the lack of a startle reaction ~~ approvingly ~~.
Vissera: Ever since Sectuib told me it might be possible, after all, I've been as giddy as a young girl.
Mostan smiles and nods.
Vissera might be exaggerating a tad, but she's about as giddy as it's possible to be and still put three meals a day on the table for several hundred people.
Mostan: So you grew up out-Territory?
Vissera: Well, yes. I crossed the border when I wasn't much older than you.
Vissera: I'd burned my bridges behind me--my relatives weren't going to accept a Donor in the family, or even someone who wanted to be a Donor.
Vissera: So, when I was rejected for training, I stayed on this side of the Border.
Mostan: Ah. Why did you want to be a Donor?
Vissera: Well, at first it was mostly a young girl's romanticism. The raids had stopped, the economy was booming, and the media said it was all due to the dedication of the channels and their Donors.
Vissera: I'd never met an actual channel or Donor at that point, you see.
Mostan: And you wanted to be part of that?
Vissera: But when I did, there was a sort of attraction--I can't describe it.
Vissera's nager offers a fairly clear demonstration.
Mostan: I don't know much about what was happening out-t then. When did they start putting Sime Centers in out-t cities?
Mostan zlins her nageric responses carefully without being obvious about it.
Vissera: Oh, there were Centers in the cities within a year or two of the treaty. That was miles away from my family's village, though.
Vissera: It wouldn't surprise me to learn that there still hasn't been a channel visitor in Steer Hollow.
Mostan has never heard of the place, but isn't surprised.
Mostan: What would you have done with your life if there hadn't been Unity?
Vissera: I'd probably have taken up cooking, just as I did here.
Vissera: People have to eat on both sides of the border, after all.
Mostan nods and jokes, "Just with a larger choice of ingredients out-T?"
Vissera shakes her head.
Vissera: Naros's selection of produce is far greater than anything in Steer Hollow.
Vissera: There, it was corn and potatoes, and maybe an onion or carrot or two.
Vissera: Not much fruit, and no rutabagas, of course.
Vissera has actually been enjoying the challenge of cooking with rutabagas.
Mostan: Yes, I was surprised how much better the food is here than back home.
Vissera: I suppose it's because Gens will eventually get hungry enough to eat even poorly prepared foods.
Mostan: So you moved in-Territory and applied for Donor training? And they turned you down?
Vissera: Yes. They said my nager wasn't strong enough to interest even a Third Order channel.
Mostan: So you just gave donations?
Vissera: Yes. But somehow, that was never quite as satisfying as I'd imagined.
Vissera frowns just a bit.
Mostan sighs. "True."
Vissera: I never felt anything at all, you see.
Vissera: It always seemed paradoxical to me, giving life and not being able to feel it happening.
Mostan: "Yes, the Tecton is very careful to train us to allow no sensation, even if it means a lower yield."
Vissera: I suppose that's just as well, for most Gens. Still, it doesn't leave much room for those like me, who want something more, but aren't able to serve a channel.
Mostan sighs. "I know what you mean. That's an essential part of the Tecton system, I'm afraid. I saw it from the other side."
Vissera: The other side?
Mostan: Yes. I was misdiagnosed as a renSime at changeover.
Vissera: Misdiagnosed?
Vissera: I thought a channel was a channel, easy to tell?
Mostan: Not in the case of Third Order channels like me. Remember that we were only discovered a few months before Unity.
Vissera blushes.
Vissera: I'd forgotten about that.
Mostan: Before that Thirds were thought just to be a breed of sickly renSimes by the HouseHoldings.
Vissera: Steer Hollow learned about Thirds at the same time we learned about the Firsts and Seconds.
Mostan: I was dissatisfied with channel's transfer, and I knew a lot of renSimes who were also.
Vissera: Sectuib said that you were experienced in matching renSimes. That's where you learned?
Mostan looks a bit ~~ embarrassed ~~ "That's how I learned about matching."
Vissera: And when you came to Naros, Sectuib put you to work using your specialty?
Mostan: "Yes he did. Said I was the right man for the job."
Vissera: Well, as I told him, I would be very interested in partnering a renSime, if there someone well matched and willing.
Mostan: "Well, I'm certainly all for that. Shall we step over to the clinic so I can zlin you?"
Vissera smiles.
Vissera: I'd be delighted to.