Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #147: Fancy Footwork (8/9/99)
see note 1
Nick reaches out with his ringless hand to nab one more piece of bell pepper.
Nick crunches the pepper, and follows it with another.
Nick: I pledged to Snake long before I started working for Arat. That obligation must come first.
Nick is struck by a thought.
Nick: You didn't know her before she left Bender Cove, did you?
Riyyh: Only what one reads in the papers.
Riyyh means both the tabloids and the Tecton publications.
Nick: She was still in First Year when I met her, a scrawny slum kid who had dreams of dragging her neighborhood out of the muck and turning it into a place worth living in.
Nick: She could have done it, too, if something hadn't happened.
Nick sips at his tea in a meditative fashion.
Nick: I want to see that kind of hope in her again.
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: What effect has meeting Arat had upon her?
Riyyh and 1,000 other people are curious about this.
Nick: I don't know!
Nick's fists clench in ~~ frustration ~~
Nick: She was furious when she found out that he was her father.
Nick: I suppose that's natural enough, considering.
Riyyh nods thoughtfully.
Nick: She was mad at me, too, for not being there when she needed me.
Nick still feels some of the hurt from that rejection, involuntary as it was.
Riyyh naturally feels compassion for Nick's hurt.
Riyyh moves closer to him on the couch and places a gentle hand on his arm.
Riyyh: You couldn't help it, Nick.
Nick: They sent me away to New Othwol the next day, and I've spent the last two months looking after a channel who much prefers to look after herself, while Snake and Arat both were stuck with incompetents.
Nick is perhaps justified in classing Pylor this way; he knows little about Beni except that Beni is not Nick, which is more than enough reason to consider the man incompetent to handle Snake, in Nick's opinion.
Riyyh: But you are going back now, right?
Riyyh: And perhaps you will be assigned to her.
Nick: Yes.
Nick's nager lights up at the possibility.
Nick: It was supposed to be Arat, but that assignment was made before Snake was pulled out of that snow drift.
Nick: There can't be many Donors in the District who could handle a channel like Snake.
Riyyh considers what he knows of the situation, mainly gleaned from Darrel.
Riyyh: Beni will have been with Snake for two months, so they wouldn't likely assign him to her again.
Riyyh: But there is also Pylor, depending on his current status.
Nick: Pylor??
Nick: If he can't handle Arat, how could he manage Snake?
Nick: She isn't nearly as patient with fools as Arat.
Riyyh: That can't be so!
Riyyh knows that Arat is completely impatient with fools, which is at least part of why he despises Riyyh so much.
Nick: Well, at least there are no records of Arat physically assaulting people who annoy him.
Riyyh winces.
Nick: And Arat is used to working with Donors who don't know his particular requirements.
Nick: Snake believes in making sure her Donors are properly trained, so that they adapt to her, instead of the opposite.
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh thinks that many channels prefer properly trained Donors, but he wouldn't be at all surprised if Snake has her own ideas of what constitutes "trained".
Nick: And she tends to be rather exacting, as you know.
Nick: I don't know if she can adapt to a Tecton rotation.
Nick: ~~ worry ~~
Riyyh: She has been on one before. [points out]
Nick: For a few months only, and that was a disaster.
Riyyh: Arat will be working with her, at least in the beginning, will he not?
Nick: Yes, that was his plan. And he seems to at least be trying to get her the best Donors available.
Nick is trying hard to be optimistic about what he suspects is a bad situation, and one he hasn't been able to do much about.
Riyyh: Perhaps everything will come out all right, then.
Riyyh is genuinely attempting to be reassuring, despite personally fearing and distrusting both parties under discussion.
Nick: Maybe.
Nick suddenly remembers what he had considered a minor postscript to one of Arat's letters.
Nick: Oh, Arat asked me to pick up some sort of selyn usage form from you.
Riyyh: Oh, dear. I'm afraid I don't have that one filled out yet.
Riyyh: I'll just send it on after you.
Riyyh smiles apologetically.
Nick: That's all right; I won't be leaving until tomorrow morning.
Nick: Surely you can have it ready by then?
Nick is under the impression that it's a minor matter, which might get Arat in a good mood for once.
Nick has been a bit concerned at the tone of some of the letters he received.
Riyyh: I'll try.
Riyyh will try to squirm out of it, that is.
Riyyh: Now Nick, I hope you will try to meet your grandmother halfway in this.
Riyyh speaks as if they never left the subject.
Nick is quite capable of doing his own squirming-out.
Nick: Perhaps I could assist you to prepare the forms? I've learned that Tecton forms often involve a lot of chasing around after obscure bits of information.
Nick: It seemed to mean a lot to Arat to get the information quickly.
Nick is, like any Donor, eager to pamper a channel who might be in trouble.
Riyyh: Oh, no, no, enjoy your vacation. I can do it. [oodles of gentle concern and sincerity]
Riyyh: But about Prunida....
Nick frowns.
Nick: What about her?
Riyyh: She is trying her best.
Nick: Riyyh, she left Snake to die.
Nick is much more capable of forgiving an injury to himself, than one to Snake.
Riyyh looks unhappy, but can't really answer that one. Especially since the best answer he can think of is 'perhaps that would have been for the best'.
Riyyh: I really think she has turned over a new leaf, Nick.
Nick: Perhaps she has, but then again, perhaps she hasn't.
Nick: In either case, I think it would be better for all concerned if she stayed far away from Snake.
Nick: They never really did hit it off.
Riyyh remembers their first meeting, in which Snake marched Prunida out the door in an armlock and threw her to the ground.
Riyyh: Oh, dear.
Nick's talent for understatement has served him well, when he has been faced with questions about the less palatable portions of Snake's twisted psyche.
Nick looks at Riyyh, then blinks and looks harder.
Nick: You know, I'd thought that the people who talked about a family resemblance were exaggerating, but it's quite apparent, when your hair's like that.
Riyyh first looks confused, and then horrified, as he realizes what state his hair must be in.
Nick absently runs a hand through his disordered and badly trimmed mop.
Riyyh looks down at himself; he's wrapped in a bathrobe.
Riyyh: Perhaps you would like to go to your cabin and rest up now. [desperately]
Riyyh: We could speak again later?
Riyyh has been thoroughly distracted from the subject of Prunida, which is OK since he'd only brought it up again to avoid the subject of the Tecton's paperwork.
Nick: Oh, of course. You'll require time to prepare those forms.
Nick: Perhaps I could accompany you as far as your office?
Nick can, perhaps, be excused for mistaking Riyyh's magnificent bath apparel for a robe of state.
Riyyh: I was actually going to spend some time here first.
Riyyh: You see, I was about to have a long, hot bath.
Riyyh will have to make more hot water now, alas.
Riyyh: In fact, I had sort of already begun. [confesses]
Nick: Well, I can have a second cup of tea while you finish up.
Riyyh tends toward 4 hour baths, when he can get away with it.
Nick: ~~ magnanimous ~~
Riyyh hesitates.
Riyyh decides if Nick gets tired of waiting, he will simply wander off.
Riyyh: All right. [nods] Thank you.
Nick: In fact, why don't I bring the tea along, so we can chat?
Nick pours another cup.
Riyyh: Er... well, if you'd like, er....
Riyyh decides it'll be little enough trouble to distract Nick from the paperwork issue again at his convenience.
Riyyh: All right. [smiles]
Nick stands up.
Nick is, of course, far more in need of a bath than Riyyh has been for some time.
Riyyh rises, also, and leads the way up the stairs.
Nick follows.
Notes:
1) This is the conclusion of a three-part episode. [return]