Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #179: Channel-Handler (11/20/99)
Nick manages to work in a private conference with Riyyh by the simple expedient of cornering him in the bathroom.
Nick has noticed that Gens tend to give up and go for a leisurely meal, rather than wait for his father/grandfather to be finished.
Riyyh of course has no idea he is being cornered, and simply assumes Nick is being friendly.
Riyyh: Why hello, Nick. [smiles]
Nick smiles in return, out of reflex. Who can avoid smiling back at Riyyh, after all?
Riyyh is giving himself a manicure, something which both is more difficult to do, and more urgently required, when on the road. Particularly when riding horseback.
Nick: Hello. The others have gone for some breakfast, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to discuss your plans for Buggfa.
Nick finds himself eager to pursue the one bit of challenging work in sight, a reflex left over from working with Snake and Arat.
Nick has been finding working with Riyyh pleasant enough, but a bit dull in comparison.
Riyyh realizes Nick means business.
Riyyh assumes a bit of an oh-dear expression, but says kindly, "Of course."
Nick: Snake didn't go into much detail about his condition, except for saying he has nasty scarring and a lot of trauma to work through.
Riyyh: Yes, that is my assessment as well.
Riyyh is sympathetic for Buggfa's plight.
Nick hadn't thought to find himself regretting a lack of proper Tecton records, but is starting to realize that they can be useful, when one has to change channels.
Riyyh however is inclined to be sympathetic of both Buggfa's physical condition and his desire for a little bit of control over the situation, which is why he hasn't been pushing him on the subject so soon.
Nick: He didn't seem as distressed donating to you as he was to Snake, at least.
Nick: That's progress, of a sort.
Riyyh: I'm afraid Snake may have rather frightened him.
Riyyh knows she frightens the shen out of him anyway.
Nick: She has that effect on some people.
Nick: Still, it's just as well Buggfa didn't try that drunken Tecton incompetent.
Riyyh would wring his hands at the very thought of her, but he's busy with a small file.
Riyyh: Oh. [disappointed, seeing a callus is trying to form on his right hand where he holds the reins]
Riyyh examines the spot.
Nick does not quite grit his teeth, although his nager remains calm and supportive.
Nick: Lalique wants to start teaching Buggfa some basic nageric control. Is he ready for that, physically?
Riyyh looks up at Nick.
Nick has, perhaps, a bit more stringent definition of "basic nageric control" than the average Donor, thanks to the company he has kept in the past.
Riyyh: It really depends on what sorts of things she wants him to do. He already has a good deal of learned control in certain situations, but much of the deliberate fine control required by Donors would be beyond him at this time.
Riyyh: There is also the matter of acquainting him with the terminology and concepts required to even begin learning precise control.
Nick: How badly is the scarring going to interfere with learning?
Riyyh: It isn't the learning so much as the execution of the techniques which would be interfered with.
Riyyh: And I'm afraid that until he becomes more comfortable with us, and less afraid of what the burns represent, they'll indirectly affect both.
Nick frowns.
Nick: Yes.
Nick: Thanks to the success of that wretched song, Buggfa hasn't had a chance to put his fears aside.
Nick: Instead, he's been reliving the whole incident on an almost daily basis.
Riyyh tends to approach both diagnosis and treatment with an eye to the long long term, due both to the slow pace of life and rehabilitation at Naros, and his experience with disjunction attempts.
Riyyh therefore wouldn't dream of worrying about progress, or lack thereof, at this early date in their association.
Riyyh: It is a shame.
Nick: He said that his vacation was only for a few weeks. How much can we accomplish in that time?
Nick is quite prepared to extend Buggfa's stay if necessary, but he would prefer to start laying the groundwork now in that case.
Riyyh: Oh, my, it can take a lifetime to recover from scarring that serious.
Nick: I know. Unfortunately, he will have to go back to giving concerts eventually.
Riyyh wipes off his hands on a small towel, and then starts putting his rings on again.
Nick: If we can give him a good start, though, he might be able to work with whatever channels are available in the cities where he performs.
Nick: It's not an idea solution, but it's better than he has been getting.
Riyyh looks unhappy at the idea of Buggfa bouncing around from channel to channel during the course of the supposed treatment.
Riyyh can't imagine it could possibly work out under those conditions; otherwise, he'd already be on a program of treatment.
Nick is also unhappy at the prospect; the reflex to grab all available work for the exclusive use of his channel is still very much there.
Riyyh: I have been working on winning his trust, and I hope that he will begin to feel more comfortable around me.
Riyyh is perfectly sensitive to the difference between a person who has been "worked on" to get him to go along with a plan, and a person who genuinely wants to go along with it.
Riyyh finds it nearly impossible to heal a person against their will.
Nick: He's seemed a bit less jumpy, the past day or so.
Nick still finds it incredible that even a nerve-burned nondonor would find being handled by Riyyh alarming.
Riyyh picks up a necklace bearing an emblem of wheat, and holds it up against his shirt in the mirror.
Riyyh has to use his imagination, since he isn't wearing the shirt he'll actually be wearing today, of course... this is just his morning clothes.
Riyyh smiles at the sight.
Nick waits patiently until Riyyh has had sufficient chance to admire himself, then continues.
Nick has learned a bit about successful handing of Riyyh.
Nick: He seems a bit more responsive to Lalique's discussion of shiltpron techniques than in learning the sort of techniques a Companion requires.
Nick: I wish I knew more about shiltpron music; it might let me phrase things in a more understandable fashion.
Nick knows just enough to be pretty sure that the skills are similar, even if the results differ.
Riyyh turns to Nick.
Riyyh: From the conversations I have had with Buggfa, it seems that he is not at all aware of what his nager actually does; he lacks the background knowledge to figure it out based upon the circumstances and environment.
Riyyh: The control he has learned has been entirely based upon his own sensation of the ambient, or rather his sensation of its effect upon Simes.
Riyyh: And from what I have been able to gather, his skill is largely imitative rather than innovative.
Nick hadn't realized that Buggfa's knowledge was quite that limited.
Riyyh: Lalique said that he is shown what to do for the performances, as part of the choreography of the pieces.
Riyyh: I suspect that that is the very reason why he has been able to succeed as long as he has, with the burns; after all, his own reception of the fields will be distorted exactly as his output will be, meaning an imitative learning style will largely cancel out the problem.
Nick: So they taught him each piece as a separate event, as if they were unconnected?
Riyyh: When he begins to learn specific deliberate techniques, the damage to his system will suddenly become much more... pardon me?
Nick feels a new respect for Buggfa's ability as a performer, and a new realization of the magnitude of his problems.
Nick: I wouldn't have thought it would be possible to get such an consistent effect, without him having some idea of what he was doing.
Riyyh: It is all in the perspective, I'm afraid.
Riyyh: He certainly believes he knows what he is doing, to the extent that he feels he is required to.
Riyyh has already come up against the "that's not my department" defense several times in his limited conversations with the musician.
Nick: I'd think he'd want to know more than "stand over here".
Nick, too, has run up against Buggfa pleading lack of need-to-know.
Riyyh smiles kindly at Nick as he sorts through his clothing hunting for a particular shirt he'd wanted to wear today... or maybe another one he'd also been thinking about, so he can compare them.
Nick knows better than to offer advice, for fear of prolonging the process.
Riyyh: His desire to not know is a defense, Nick. It probably has very little to do with what his actual desires would be under other circumstances.
Nick: A defense? Against his managers?
Riyyh: Against feeling too trapped in his situation. After all, if he isn't allowed to make decisions about his own safety, his own nager, and his own lifestyle, isn't it kinder to himself to not care about those things than to agonize over it or become frustrated?
Nick hadn't realized that the apathy served a purpose; he'd started to think that Buggfa was merely a bit on the lazy side.
Nick: I suppose you're right.
Nick: Still, it's not going to make things easier for us. Or him, for that matter.
Riyyh: Possibly not. [admits]
Riyyh slips out of his morning shirt and puts on one of the others, pausing for a moment to brush at a cat hair still clinging to it.
Riyyh hasn't seen Kadi in weeks, but her legacy lives on.
Nick watches the hair drift with feline malice to land on the morning shirt.
Nick doesn't have the heart to point out the hair's new resting place, however.
Nick is, after all, a Companion, and not upsetting channels is part of the job.