Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #121: One Chicken, Thawed (2/25/99)
Darrel urges his weary and half frozen horse towards the gates of Naros.
Darrel is exhausted and overly chilled himself, but is too driven to notice much.
Lucia sits atop the wall, alternately studying Darrel's lumpen figure and trying to find him on her list of expected visitors.
Lucia: That's odd.
Lucia doesn't think he's anybody from town, and he's definitely no Narosian.
Darrel halts the stumbling horse under the gate.
Lucia: Hello!
Lucia looks down.
Lucia: Welcome, traveler.
Lucia had been waiting to try out that line ever since she became one of the gate people.
Darrel looks up at Lucia.
Darrel: Is this Naros?
Lucia: Yes, it is. ~~avidly curious~~
Darrel: ~~ hope ~~
Lucia is a young, pretty female Gen.
Darrel almost collapses with the intensity of his ~~ relief ~~
Lucia: Wow.
Darrel: Thank goodness. I was afraid I'd never make it here.
Lucia: Hold on.
Lucia hurries down the stairs inside the wall.
Lucia opens the gate for him.
Lucia: This isn't exactly the time of year to be traveling.
Darrel pulls the horse through the gate, propping himself up on the beast.
Darrel: I didn't have a choice.
Darrel: To stay where I was would have been... infinitely worse.
Lucia: Oh.
Darrel: Ghosts and gnomes and trolls were the least of it.
Lucia winces.
Darrel shudders at the memory.
Lucia: Sounds like you're well rid of those people hey?
Darrel sincerely hopes he's rid of them, or can become so.
Darrel: Please, is Sectuib Riyyh in residence?
Lucia: Oh, yes he is.
Lucia: Hold on... let me get one of the kids to take your horse, and then I'll take you straight to him.
Darrel: Thank you. You don't know how good it is to zlin a friendly nager.
Zoeth comes at Lucia's beckoning, and takes the stiff reins.
Lucia: You take good care of him, Zo, he's been a long way. [smiles]
Darrel pries his stiffened tentacles from the reins with difficulty.
Darrel: All the way from Bender Cove.
Lucia: Do you want me to get your saddlebags?
Lucia: My word!!! Really?
Lucia: In this weather?
Darrel: Yes.
Darrel is starting to shiver.
Lucia: Never mind, you can get them later.
Lucia waves Zoeth and the horse away, then takes Darrel's elbow.
Lucia: ~~support~~
Lucia: I hope you don't mind... you really don't look too good.
Darrel wilts onto the support.
Darrel: It's been awful.
Lucia: Is it urgent, or do you want to rest for a little bit first? We have guest cabins....
Darrel: Please, I'd prefer to talk to Sectuib Riyyh first.
Darrel's paranoia is feeding him visions of the Tecton, or its Bender Cove representatives, snatching him from Naros before he can talk Riyyh into helping him.
Lucia: Oh, all right.
Lucia leads him slowly in the direction of the Administrative building.
Lucia: ~~concerned/dying of curiosity~~
Lucia: So, um, you came from Bender Cove, you say?
Darrel quivers with nerves.
Lucia: This isn't about Sectuib's working for the Tecton is it? I thought that was all straightened out.
Darrel: ~~ alarm ~~
Darrel: They're not planning to take him back, are they?
Darrel clutches at Lucia.
Lucia: Well, I don't know.
Lucia is surprised by the strength of his grip.
Lucia: ~~reassuring support~~
Lucia: Um, I just thought... well, never mind.
Darrel slumps under the influence of the reassuring support.
Darrel: They can't take him back. It would be a disaster. [muttered]
Lucia: No kidding!
Lucia: Come on, up these stairs....
Lucia leads Darrel up to the doors of the Admin building.
Darrel stumbles in a most unSimelike fashion on the first stair, then recovers.
Lucia hovers (well, clings to his elbow) in solicitous concern and support.
Lucia: Are you going to, um, stay here long?
Darrel: That's up to Sectuib Riyyh, isn't it?
Lucia: Oh, um, well....
Darrel's hope is warring with his usual pessimism and paranoia.
Lucia holds the door open for him, as heat issues from the building.
Lucia: Well... I hope you do.
Darrel stumbles through and stands, dazed by the heat.
Lucia figures, the guy is a little bit freaky, but he's cute, not related, and hasn't met anybody else at Naros yet.
Lucia: And if you wanted to spend any time with me later, you know, maybe have dinner or something....
Lucia: Come on, you're almost there.
Darrel makes an apologetic gesture with two tentacles.
Lucia: ~sympathy~
Darrel: It's been so long since I've been warm.
Darrel was, of course, too paranoid to augment for warmth like a normal Sime.
Lucia: Maybe I could help you warm up when you're finished talking to Sectuib Riyyh?
Lucia thinks, if Riyyh doesn't decide to help warm up Darrel himself.
Lucia thinks Riyyh does tend to be awfully helpful in that way.
Darrel: Thank you, thank you.
Lucia: Here's the stairs, Sectuib's office is up there. Or... would you like to sit down for a bit first?
Darrel finds a bit more nervous energy, with his goal in zlinning range.
Darrel: No, I must see him. He has to know....
Lucia glares at a face poking around the corner, as the whispering peeking figures that have been shadowing them in increasing numbers start to get a bit too bold.
Darrel starts to show more agitation.
Lucia turns immediately to Darrel.
Lucia: He has to know what?
Lucia: Maybe you could tell me as we go up the stairs.
Lucia tugs him in that direction.
Darrel stumbles again, then starts to climb.
Darrel: Well, he knows, I think. I mean, he did spend time in the lobby, after all.
Darrel: But I doubt he realized the true extent of the problem. It's insidious that way.
Lucia: The lobby?
Lucia looks back over her shoulder at what is, more or less, a lobby of sorts just inside the Admin building's door.
Darrel's eyes open wide in remembered terror.
Darrel: It's not just a lobby, it's Disaster incarnate.
Lucia: Do you think the green curtains are that bad?
Darrel: And they made me go there, day after day, month after month, and I couldn't get away....
Lucia begins to realize they aren't talking about the same lobby.
Darrel's voice takes on a hysterical note.
Lucia: It's OK. ~~soothing~~
Lucia: It can't hurt you now. Right?
Lucia thinks this guy is maybe too high-maintenance for her, cute or no. But, she does know some other Narosian ladies who would just swoon over having their own poor little needy channel to dote on.
Lucia will enjoy being the first to be able to give them details.
Darrel sincerely hopes not, but can't truly believe himself free of his nemesis.
Darrel: You don't have any gnomes in your gardens, here, do you?
Darrel: ~~ desperate hope ~~
Lucia: No.
Darrel: Not ones that talk to people, and walk around destroying things?
Lucia: Dennifa said she saw an Emu in the orchard the other day, though.
Lucia: It scared the stuffing out of her.
Lucia: She thought it was a giant Yellow-Bellied Red-Rumped Stump Sucker.
Lucia leads him down the hall toward Riyyh's office.
Darrel: Emus are supposed to be alive, though.
Darrel: Garden decorations aren't.
Lucia looks at him oddly.
Lucia: Well, here we are!
Lucia jumps as the door flies open before she has a chance to signal.
Riyyh had already heard many rumors they were approaching.
Riyyh: Darrel! What a, a pleasant surprise.
Darrel jumps at the sudden impact of Riyyh's nager.
Darrel: Sectuib Riyyh!
Darrel stumbles forward and more or less falls into Riyyh's arms.
Darrel: You've got to help me.
Riyyh: Well! Er... of course.
Riyyh: Please, come in.
Riyyh helps Darrel the rest of the way to a couch.
Lucia: I'll just... er... yeah.
Lucia closes the door and turns down the hall, and only then remembers her abandoned post.
Lucia: Whoops!
Lucia takes off at a trot.
Darrel wilts onto the couch.
Darrel: It's been awful.
Riyyh squeezes Darrel's hands, feels how cold they are, then rearranges a couple of pillows so Darrel can lie down.
Riyyh: I hadn't expected you to come here... oh dear. It must have really been bad.
Riyyh tries to think of what powerful and far-ranging repercussions this might have, as he fetches some blankets to put over Darrel.
Darrel: The gnome came into the lobby, and... I couldn't stay.
Darrel: You know what it's like. I couldn't stay, but they wouldn't let me go.
Riyyh: ~~sympathetic~~
Darrel: I asked and asked, but they wouldn't.
Riyyh: Do you think you could augment a little bit to warm up some? Here is some nice tea for you. You do like trin?
Riyyh starts untying Darrel's boot laces.
Darrel takes the tea and wraps tentacles around it.
Darrel: I was afraid to augment--afraid they'd catch me before I got here.
Darrel fights a brief battle with his paranoia, but under Riyyh's soothing influence is finally able to start warming himself.
Riyyh pulls off the boots and tucks Darrel's feet up under the blankets.
Riyyh: They... is somebody pursuing you?
Darrel: Well, I don't think the garden gnome could make it this far--it seems to be restricted to Bender Cove proper.
Darrel: But the Tecton will be looking for me.
Darrel: Or maybe they won't, I don't know.
Darrel looks at Riyyh, ~~ pleading ~~
Riyyh looks questioningly at Darrel.
Darrel: You got them to let you go. Please, do you think you could talk them into releasing me as well? Or at least giving me assignment to a different Center?
Riyyh: I... I'm sorry, Darrel, I thought you'd gotten my letter.
Riyyh: I'm not in a position to influence the Tecton in that way, I wish it were otherwise, but....
Darrel: Your letter? They were keeping my mail from me, at the end.
Darrel: ~~ sinking feeling in guts ~~
Riyyh: I'm not actually sure it would have reached Bender Cove before you left, anyway. [sadly]
Darrel: Please, you can't make me go back there!
Darrel: ~~ utter desperation ~~
Riyyh: ~~soothing~~
Riyyh: I won't make you do anything you don't want to.
Riyyh of course doesn't have much control over what the Tecton might make him do.
Darrel slumps back on the couch in ~~ relief ~~
Darrel: You were the only one I could think of who might be in a position to help.
Darrel: No one else would listen.
Darrel: They thought I was making it up.
Darrel: But you've been to Bender Cove, and zlinned the sorts of things that happen there.
Riyyh places a reassuring hand on Darrel's shoulder.
Riyyh: I can zlin how much you are glad to be away.
Darrel greatly appreciates the sympathy.
Darrel: ~~ heartfelt appreciation ~~
Darrel: Thank you for letting me stay..
Darrel is perhaps overstating the case a bit, but that's understandable.
Riyyh: You are as welcome as any traveler would be, of course. [kindly]
Riyyh: We have a guest cabin you may stay in, and of course you may share meals at our dining hall, and your animal will be well cared for.
Darrel: Thank you.
Darrel: I am, of course, at your disposal, if your channeling staff would like some time off.
Darrel has, in fact, been traveling long enough to encounter the semi-entran Seconds get when not working.
Darrel might have avoided it better if he'd had the courage to look for work as he traveled, but he was too afraid that it would get back to the Tecton.
Riyyh: I'm afraid we are rather overstaffed at this time [in other words, during this century] but you will certainly be able to arrange to work enough to avoid entran.
Riyyh: I will speak to Tictoc about it. [smiles kindly]
Darrel is pretty sure that the Narosians a) won't rat to the Tecton and b) aren't apt to be crazy and/or dangerous.
Darrel: I can go another day or two before it gets bad.
Riyyh: As you wish.
Darrel is sinking into a blissful daze, between the warmth and the offer of refuge.
Riyyh studies him for a moment.
Riyyh: You are welcome to rest here, if you like.
Riyyh: I have some paperwork....
Riyyh would ordinarily offer a guest a tour, or some lunch, but Darrel seems so content there.
Riyyh also thinks Darrel should heal up before trying anything as strenuous as a tour.
Darrel: Please, I had no wish to interrupt your work.
Darrel: ~~ apology ~~
Riyyh: You won't do any harm just lying there. [kindly] In fact, your presence is a pleasure.
Riyyh thinks it's the baggage attached to it that is so distressing.
Darrel: After that horse, lying here quietly in the warmth sounds like heaven.
Riyyh smiles, then gets up and returns to his desk.
Darrel soon begins to snore gently.
Vissera signals at Riyyh's office door.
Riyyh: Come in.
Vissera opens the door and slips through, rather gracefully considering the loaded tray she is carrying.
Riyyh: Hello, Vissera.
Riyyh: [smiles]
Vissera: Sectuib, I'd heard you had a visitor....
Riyyh is pleased that Vissera is finally learning how to follow gossip.
Riyyh had been starting to become genuinely worried for her.
Vissera: And I thought he might like some lunch.
Riyyh: Yes, yes. This is Darrel, Hajene Darrel with the Tec..., er, a visiting traveler.
Vissera, being Gen and a chef, is firmly convinced of the curative powers of food.
Riyyh: Darrel, this is Vissera ambrov Naros, our chef.
Riyyh: Er....
Riyyh: He is very tired. [apologetic]
Riyyh: I hope you don't mind if he eats a little later?
Darrel snores, then settles more deeply into the couch.
Vissera: Oh.
Vissera: The poor man.
Vissera: ~~ sympathy ~~
Vissera: Well, I expect this soup will be stone cold before he wakes up. Perhaps you might enjoy it? I just finished making it, and you didn't come down for lunch.
Vissera comes closer to Riyyh's desk, and looks for an empty spot to set the tray on.
Riyyh: Oh, er....
Riyyh: Better put it on that chair.
Riyyh has about a foot high layer of paperwork covering his desk.
Riyyh: You are so thoughtful and kind, to bring me things.
Riyyh: I do appreciate it.
Riyyh inspects the tray to see what's contained.
Vissera blushes.
Vissera sets the tray down, then lifts the cover off the soup tureen and starts ladling a clear broth with noodles and other goodies.
Vissera: This is a version of a special soup that the women used to make where I grew up.
Vissera: The noodles are for health, the greens for stamina and the egg is for... um....
Vissera sets the bowl in front of Riyyh.
Vissera: Try it.
Vissera is a bit reluctant to mention the symbolism of the egg, or the reputed effects of the ginger.
Vissera hopes that it will be enough to distract Riyyh from his preoccupation with paperwork.
Riyyh tastes it.
Vissera of course intends to be on hand and available if the soup has its reputed effect on Riyyh.
Riyyh: This is very good!
Riyyh: ~surprised and pleased~
Vissera: ~~ pleasure ~~
Vissera: I was hoping you would like it.
Riyyh smiles at her.
Vissera moves a bit closer.
Riyyh obligingly takes her hand.
Vissera: My father always said that this soup was just the thing to get him in a relaxed mood when he'd been working hard.
Vissera squeezes Riyyh's hand.
Riyyh: And you thought I required some assistance in relaxing? [fondly]
Vissera: You have been working so hard, lately.
Vissera: It's no way to spend your days, locked up in an office with only paper for company.
Riyyh puts his other arm around her waist and draws her near.
Riyyh: I know. You are right, of course.
Vissera uses her free hand to brush Riyyh's hair back out of his face.
Vissera: I worry about you.
Vissera: ~~ concern/desire ~~
Riyyh is becoming very, very relaxed indeed as he looks up at her.
Riyyh: You are a dear, sweet woman.
Vissera bends over to kiss Riyyh's forehead.
Riyyh further demonstrates his affection by leaning his head against her.
Vissera: I admire you, Sectuib.
Vissera sneaks a peek at the soup, and is delighted to find that the ginger has been consumed.
Vissera thinks about the reputed... energizing... effects of the herb, and is very happy that there aren't any other females in even Riyyh's zlinning range.
Vissera is well aware that her current actions would be considered a foul by most of Naros's female population, and a good number of the men as well.
Vissera doesn't let that stop her from kissing Riyyh again, this time on the lips.
Vissera: Mmmmnnn. I do like the taste of ginger.
Riyyh: Really.
Riyyh kisses her back, gingerly.
Vissera: Yes. It's... exciting.
Riyyh: Mmm...
Riyyh stands, the better to embrace her fully while experimenting more with the effects of ginger on the sensation of kissing.
Vissera reaches out and unfastens the top two buttons on Riyyh's shirt, so as to more conveniently slip her hand inside.
Vissera doesn't let that interfere with the kissing experiment, however.
Riyyh's tentacles assist in unbuttoning any extras that may be impeding further arm insertion.
Riyyh's tentacles aren't very particular about whose buttons are getting unbuttoned.
Darrel starts awake.
Darrel: No!
Riyyh nearly jumps out of his skin.
Darrel looks around wildly, then realizes where he is.
Darrel then realizes what he interrupted, and is ~~ mortified ~~
Darrel: Oh, I am sorry.
Riyyh's heart hammers wildly.
Riyyh: No... it's fine. [glances at Vissera]
Darrel: For a moment I thought I was back at Bender Cove, with that shiltpron and Galinda....
Vissera is a bit ~~ embarrassed ~~ herself, not having been at Naros long enough to absorb all the local habits and attitudes.
Darrel stands up, edging towards the door.
Darrel: I'll just go and, er, make sure my horse is comfortable.
Riyyh: Let me show you to your guest cabin. [hastily]
Darrel smiles in an appeasing fashion.
Riyyh would be devastated if it were ever said that Naros was less than courteous to guests.
Darrel: Oh, no! I wouldn't want to... interrupt your day.
Riyyh: Vissera... would you mind terribly if we...?
Riyyh looks distressed, caught between two conflicting urges.
Vissera: Oh, dear, of course not.
Vissera: ~~ embarrassment/disappointment ~~
Vissera starts redoing the buttons on her shirt.
Riyyh: I'll... I'll catch up with you later. [sincere promise]
Vissera is glad of the sentiment, although not completely sure that Riyyh will carry through, once the ginger has worn off.
Vissera: I'll just take the dishes back to the kitchen.
Vissera piles the soup bowl back on the tray, forgetting for the moment that her original excuse for coming had been to provide Darrel with refreshments.
Riyyh turns to Darrel.
Darrel: I am sorry to have interrupted.
Riyyh: Please... the apology is mine. ~~kind and gracious~~
Riyyh: Allow me to show you....
Darrel realizes that he's still lacking shoes, and goes back to the couch to retrieve them.
Darrel: You are very kind.
Darrel puts his boots back on, then indicates with a tentacle gesture that he is at Riyyh's service.
Riyyh leads the way out of his office.
Riyyh, while hastening to reassure Darrel he was perfectly within his rights to interrupt, happened to notice Darrel is very good looking.
Riyyh: I do hope you will enjoy your stay here. ~~kind, gracious and somewhat flustered~~
Riyyh notices that his shirt is unbuttoned to the navel and self-consciously begins to re-button it.
Riyyh smiles apologetically.
Darrel: Believe me, I've been dreaming of nothing else for the past two months.
Riyyh: Of staying here? Really?
Riyyh is flattered.
Darrel: Yes. Of all the places I know about, it's most different than Bender Cove.
Riyyh chuckles.
Riyyh: Well, we will certainly enjoy having you.
Darrel has, perhaps, a romanticized, pre-genetic-scandal vision of life at Naros.
Riyyh bumps against Darrel in the stairwell and his hair stands on end, a pleasant tingling sensation.
Darrel reaches out absently to steady Riyyh.
Darrel: Careful.
Riyyh: ~pleasure at the touch~
Riyyh: Pardon me.
Darrel: But, seriously, I've met three Narosians so far, and all three have been reasonably sane.
Darrel says this as if it were a remarkable phenomenon.
Riyyh: I should hope so.
Darrel: You zlin? What is normal here is unheard of in Bender Cove.
Riyyh: Yes, I imagine that is certainly true.
Riyyh holds the door to the outside open for Darrel, touching his back ostensibly to guide him through.
Darrel: To be in a place with normal people--it's all I've wanted for a long time.
Darrel's nerves have already relaxed a bit, although only someone familiar with his recent state would notice the improvement as such.
Riyyh wishes Darrel could relax more, and resolves to help him in any way possible.
Riyyh: This garden is quite beautiful in summer.
Riyyh: There are roses, and lilies.
Darrel tenses at the mention of gardens.
Darrel: Is there a gnome?
Darrel: ~~ apprehension ~~
Riyyh blinks at Darrel.
Riyyh: ~~calm/soothing~~
Riyyh: Naros is a peaceful place, and everybody is quite sane, I assure you.
Riyyh isn't 100% sure about Darrel though... did he just ask about gnomes living in the garden?
Darrel relaxes, under the combined influence of Riyyh's nager and the implication that there are no phenomena causing mass insanity at Naros.
Riyyh leads him the rest of the way to a nice cabin.
Darrel looks around.
Darrel: This is beautiful. And so well insulated.
Riyyh: Here is firewood... do you know how to lay a fire?
Darrel: I can manage.
Riyyh isn't sure, after some other Tecton channels he's had visiting.
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh: It will be chilly in here until it's going....
Riyyh wonders if Darrel would like any assistance in staying warm until then.
Darrel has had recent occasion to learn a number of new survival skills.
Darrel starts laying the fire, a bit awkwardly.
Darrel: I can always wrap myself in a blanket until the fire is going well.
Riyyh: Of course. Let me get one for you.
Riyyh goes to the bedroom, and fetches one from its standard location in the closet.
Riyyh: [it is a Narosian quilt]
Darrel lights the fire, taking five matches to do the job.
Riyyh comes out of the room with the quilt wrapped around his shoulders.
Darrel blows on the flickering flame, and feeds it with a dry twig or two.
Darrel: I think that's got it.
Riyyh smiles.