Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #191: Some Help You Are (12/26/99)
Riyyh has, true to form, remained indoors while Nick went to help several other people try to push a stagecoach out of a ditch.
Riyyh feels just a little bit guilty, but when he'd commenced his usual handwaving ritual upon being asked to go out into a blizzard to do physical labor, Nick had left him in disgust.
Riyyh does not mind having been left out, but does want to make it up to Nick later for letting him down. Riyyh has a few ideas about that already.
Riyyh in the meantime is sitting by the fire in their room, writing a letter.
Riyyh is not particularly unhappy at their trip back to Capital being delayed by the blizzard; it gives him some time to figure out what to do about his schedule and the people who were expecting him in Zane Heights will have assumed the blizzard is holding him up.
Lalique, who has kept constant watch on the movements of Tiarala and the rest of her Collection team, now sees them distracted by the stagecoach incident.
Lalique notices that several members have been detached to follow Nick.
Lalique can see that those who remain in the Inn are still under surveillance, but the forces have been split.
Lalique sees the collection team members at the Inn are mostly watching Buggfa or patrolling the exits to the building.
Lalique sees her chance for a private chat with Riyyh.
Lalique smoothes out her field so it is uninteresting, projecting her special "there's nobody here" nager.
Lalique opens the door to Riyyh's room without signaling and slips quietly in.
Lalique closes the door behind her, hoping the Inn has decent insulation.
Lalique observes Riyyh writing his letter.
Riyyh is wrapped in a warm blanket and has a pot of tea nearby.
Riyyh doesn't notice her.
Lalique shades her nager back to ~~ neutral control ~~
Lalique: [softly] Sectuib Riyyh.
Riyyh looks up. "Lalique! I didn't see you there."
Riyyh looks embarrassed and apologetic.
Lalique: Sorry. I must talk with you privately.
Riyyh: I was writing this letter... no, no, of course. Please, sit down. Tea?
Lalique: Do you think the insulation is good enough here?
Riyyh looks at the walls, thinking about the insulation.
Riyyh: It isn't wonderful, [confesses] but I do think that there is no harm in our talking to one another, as long as nobody overhears our words.
Lalique advances to the indicated chair and sits carefully.
Riyyh can't think of any reason Tiarala and company wouldn't want him talking to Lalique... or Buggfa for that matter.
Riyyh can be dreadfully naive at times.
Lalique is over mid-field at this point and keeps her nager under strong control.
Riyyh rather is just so used to being considered completely harmless that he assumes most people will have that reaction.
Riyyh pours her some tea and hands her a cup.
Lalique's anxiety is, however, impossible to mask completely, and she looks unusually pale and tired.
Lalique: Thank you.
Riyyh: It has been rather stressful, hasn't it?
Lalique takes the cup of tea and sips gratefully.
Lalique: Yes. You know this channel, Tiarala?
Riyyh smiles genuinely and fondly.
Riyyh: Yes, she's an old friend.
Riyyh: Although sometimes business does intrude upon personal matters. [adds]
Lalique: Can you influence her?
Riyyh hesitates.
Riyyh: She will listen to me openly, but she will make her own decisions. [says finally]
Riyyh has to admit that in most of their encounters, Tiarala decisively gets the better of him, although even she can't prevent him from deflecting her from what he really wants to protect.
Lalique: Is there any way you can persuade her to leave me alone?
Riyyh: You mean, to overlook your... status?
Lalique: Yes.
Lalique: I told you a little about my situation.
Riyyh puts down his paper and pen on the table beside him, as a delay in answering that immediately.
Riyyh: A little.
Riyyh sips his tea, feeling a bit more anxious himself as he feels himself being positioned to get pinched between Tiarala and Lalique.
Lalique: I told you that there was no one hunting me, and that was true, then.
Riyyh looks at her.
Lalique: But I cannot afford Tiarala's... interest.
Riyyh: Not at all? No Tecton contact?
Lalique: This is more than just contact.
Riyyh had been trying to think of what he could do for Lalique, but so far his thoughts had been along the lines of deflecting her processing to some Tecton official less terrifying than Arat. The City Controller, for example.
Lalique: She keeps questioning me. She keeps zlinning me.
Lalique: So far she only has suspicions.
Riyyh: Perhaps you will have to tell her the truth?
Lalique: [desperate] I can't!
Lalique: If she moves beyond suspicion, if she investigates me, she will find out....
Lalique: ...well, find out enough to destroy my life.
Riyyh: You are asking me to risk myself without trusting me with the truth I would be protecting.
Riyyh: [quietly]
Lalique: Can you protect me?
Lalique: Would you?
Lalique: I will tell you the truth if you want.
Riyyh: I... cannot promise anything but to try.
Riyyh: My influence is not complete with these people, I am somewhat of an outsider.
Lalique: But if you are not prepared to risk yourself, perhaps you are better off not knowing.
Lalique: Perhaps I should just disappear.
Lalique: And then when they ask you why you will be able to say truthfully that you do not know.
Riyyh: If that is what you wish.
Riyyh isn't sure why she is offering that. He doesn't know which one she really wants more.
Riyyh's uncertainty is visible.
Lalique: I don't want to go.
Lalique: I don't know where I could hide, at this point, except maybe out-Territory.
Lalique: Heaven knows, that's not where I want to live.
Riyyh: Lalique, I will try my best to help you, but I cannot sacrifice myself. Too many people depend on me.
Riyyh: If you can accept that, I will do everything I can.
Riyyh: [sincere]
Lalique sighs.
Lalique: Very well, then.
Lalique: You know so much more than I about these people, and the way things work around here.
Lalique: Perhaps you can help without risking yourself.
Lalique: All I ask then:
Lalique: You are quick to notice what is going on.
Lalique: Warn me if you think you can't help me, and I'll leave any way I can.
Riyyh: Of course.
Riyyh: But....
Lalique gets her nager under control.
Riyyh's voice becomes apologetic once again.
Riyyh: It would help if I knew what you were running from, and what you hope I can do for you.
Riyyh means, aside from the frankly impossible task of preventing Tiarala from being curious.
Lalique: Right now, Tiarala has only suspicions.
Lalique: My records say that I was once a Tecton Donor, but was released from service after a traumatic accident.
Lalique: Those records say that the accident left me emotionally unstable in transfer situations and that rehabilitation was not successful.
Lalique: That is a role I have become adept at playing and my performance will pass the scrutiny of most.
Riyyh suspects she has never come face to face with somebody like Arat.
Lalique: But not a First with the skills and curiosity of Tiarala.
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh: Go on.
Lalique: If she can do to me what they are doing to Buggfa--force a deep-zlin examination--they will find clear evidence that I have been working rogue.
Lalique: Then I will be fair game
Riyyh: How long has it been since you worked in that way?
Lalique: Several months. Whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Riyyh forgets the idea of mounting a "no longer actively working" defense.
Riyyh: I see.
Lalique: If that were all, I wouldn't be so worried.
Lalique: They would just try to draft me, the way they did with Nick.
Lalique: And, after all this time, I guess I don't really care any more who I serve.
Lalique: But that isn't all.
Lalique: My records are all forgeries.
Lalique: They are good forgeries--heavens knows they cost enough--but they wouldn't stand up to the kind of investigation that would occur if I either pledged to the Tecton or were prosecuted as a rogue.
Riyyh is becoming visibly distressed.
Riyyh may be slippery, but he would never intentionally resort to something like forgery.
Riyyh has a feeling Mytag would be urging him to drop Lalique like a hot potato, were he here.
Lalique sees Riyyh's distress.
Lalique: Do you want me to go on?
Riyyh concentrates on trying to look more sympathetic and attentive and less worried about his own skin.
Riyyh: I'm sorry, yes, please.
Lalique: This is the truth.
Lalique: I was born and raised in Householding Disenay.
Lalique: A small Householding, in a border area near Gulf.
Lalique: And, as you may recall, one that broke away from the Tecton and sided with the Distect after Unity.
Lalique: I grew up with all that turmoil.
Lalique: Our Sosectu and First Channel believed that the Tecton's decision to allow the semi-junct to die from lack of Gen transfer was criminal. 1
Lalique: In those first years after Unity, political passions ran very hot, especially in Gulf where Gen transfer had never been as tightly controlled as in Nivet.
Lalique: Of course Keon and Carre agreed, but compromised their ideals
Lalique: And the Controller then was very concerned that the exact terms of the Treaty be carried out.
Riyyh: Your local Controller was not your Sosectu?
Riyyh thinks that is odd.
Lalique: No, our Household was kind of a world unto itself, really.
Lalique: An isolated settlement in the middle of a vast swamp.
Riyyh thinks those circumstances would make it even more likely that the House's head would also be the local Controller, and wonders if that person refused the post based upon politics.
Riyyh: I apologize, go on.
Lalique: Well, our Sosectu got so angry at what the Tecton was doing he pulled our House out of the organization.
Lalique: The official Controller at that time was from Keon.
Lalique: And was trying to run a tight ship in the District.
Lalique: And, well, our Sosectu got so angry at what they did after we seceded that he couldn't just ignore it and take care of the House.
Lalique: And he sent people out to do things that were illegal.
Lalique: That was right around the time I Established.
Lalique: I didn't hear all of the details, I was so busy with my training.
Lalique: And they said I was really talented, so by the time I was done training I was promoted straight to Third Companion.
Lalique: By that time things had gotten really bad.
Lalique: Sosectu Disenay and the Controller were threatening each other.
Lalique: And when our Sosectu traveled with a group of our people to Lanta, they were arrested and put on trial.
Lalique: And then the ones who were left said we couldn't expect fair treatment from the Tecton and made a plan to break them out of jail.
Riyyh, who had avoided excessive involvement in the post-Unity Tecton by failing to attend meetings and cultivating a reputation for flightiness and genteel unreliability, cannot really relate to her former Sosectu's confrontational methods. He pales at the talk of a jail break attempt.
Lalique: With Sosectu in prison, that made me acting Second Companion.
Lalique: Of course, I helped in every way I could.
Lalique is having difficulty controlling her sorrow at these memories.
Lalique: I was so young, I had no idea of how the world worked.
Riyyh wonders what "every way" includes. Murder?
Lalique: The jailbreak was a disaster.
Riyyh listens carefully.
Lalique: People were killed on both sides, including our Sosectu and First Channel. 2
Lalique: The Tecton used it as justification for declaring our House outlaw and arresting all our members.
Lalique: Those of us who were left disbanded the House and went into hiding.
Riyyh: What had you done, that warranted their arresting your Sosectu in the first place?
Riyyh sounds - and is - quietly appalled by the story.
Riyyh is also now thinking that ending up in Arat's office isn't the worst thing that could happen to her.
Lalique: We could not stand by and watch the semi-juncts perish without trying to help.
Lalique: Some of them might have had their lives extended by direct Gen transfer.
Lalique: Of course, there were not enough trained Gens within our Household to serve all who were in Need.
Lalique: So we tried to train Gens from the general population.
Lalique: And there were accidents.
Lalique sighs. These memories are terribly painful.
Riyyh tries not to look sickened and upset.
Lalique: That is why, when I saw what was happening with Buggfa, I could not just walk by.
Riyyh was Sectuib ten years before Unity and has seen a lot, but that doesn't make it any less distressing. There is also the issue of her having traveled with them without warning them of the severe risk she was putting them all in.
Riyyh's tentacles flutter about as he tries to decide what to do.
Lalique: I know only too well what can happen.
Riyyh: Lalique, I can't....
Riyyh: I don't know what to say.
Lalique: So you see why I must avoid the Tecton.
Lalique: But they don't know any of this, not yet.
Riyyh: I thought you were a Tecton employee who had gone astray, something manageable, something....
Riyyh doesn't quite say "civilized".
Riyyh: I knew your story wasn't straight, but I never dreamed it was something like this.
Lalique: If they don't investigate, my secrets might stay safe.
Lalique: I lived in hiding for seven years. Then I constructed this false identity, which has served me for ten years.
Lalique: Luckily, I was never arrested.
Riyyh: Oh, dear.
Lalique: I was so young that few people outside my own House knew the look or zlin of me.
Riyyh: Lalique, I cannot condone murder, not for any reason.
Riyyh can put two and two together: She wouldn't still be in hiding now if all she'd done was serve a few renSimes and driven the getaway wagon for the jailbreak.
Riyyh: And what you're asking me to do would ruin my House if you are discovered.
Riyyh: Surely you can see that?
Lalique didn't murder anyone herself during the jailbreak, but she fought for her people and, as a ranking Companion, cannot disclaim responsibility for what occurred.
Lalique is miserable.
Lalique: I hoped there was a chance.
Riyyh: I can try to get you as fair a hearing as possible. I know some people, I have some slight influence, in places.
Riyyh: Even... [hesitates] well, if you are honest with Arat he may be of considerable help to you.
Lalique: That's not good enough.
Riyyh sighs.
Lalique: I will need to leave.
Lalique: It will be best for you if no one has the opportunity to learn the secrets I have told you.
Lalique: Best also for Buggfa, who does not want bad publicity.
Riyyh's eyes widen.
Riyyh: What do you mean by....
Lalique: I have not lived in hiding so long without learning some tricks.
Lalique: When we reach Capitol, I will simply disappear
Lalique: Before Tiarala can find facts to back up her suspicions and justify a real investigation.
Lalique: I will go over the border if I have to.
Lalique: I don't see any other option at this point.
Riyyh is glad she didn't mean she'd have to prevent him from being available for questioning.
Lalique: All I ask of you, Riyyh, is to keep what I have told you confidential.
Riyyh puts down his tea cup and pulls his blanket tighter around himself.
Riyyh doesn't look at her as he tries to decide whether he'll be able to do that.
Lalique: And, anyway you can, divert Tiarala from her interest in me, and delay any formal action that she might initiate.
Lalique: I will take care of the rest and be out of your life forever.
Riyyh: I can use more of Tiarala's time.
Riyyh has often made a practice of using all of her time in the past, and so it won't be particularly unusual... or unpleasant.
Lalique: ~~ fierce determination to survive ~~
Riyyh's own determination to survive is just as strong, although much less fierce. His manner is more a cross between a dog trying not to meet the eyes of an alpha, and maybe a fawn trying to lie very still so the predators won't find it.
Riyyh: I cannot refuse if they demand to know directly, but I can tell her I must tell it to Arat himself.
Riyyh: I will not see him until you are gone, I think.
Riyyh: Will that help?
Lalique perceives Riyyh's submissive stance and can see that he won't be much protection at all. She just hopes he can hold together long enough not to spill the beans until she is safe.
Lalique: If this is handled correctly, they will not demand anything until I am already gone.
Lalique: And they will not know enough then to ask the right questions.
Lalique: And when they can not find me they will not pursue the matter.
Riyyh hopes so.
Lalique smiles at Riyyh gently.
Lalique: I know this is disturbing for you.
Lalique: Me, I have lived the last decade of my life this way, and trust me, I know what I am doing.
Riyyh looks up and meets her eyes.
Lalique: I only hoped for a chance to have something better.
Lalique: But I see that's impossible.
Riyyh: I wish you had told me when we first met.
Lalique: Would it have made any difference?
Lalique: You would have just sent me away immediately.
Riyyh: And we both would have been in a better position now.
Riyyh looks apologetic.
Lalique: I am sorry I put you at risk.
Lalique: But you have done nothing wrong.
Lalique: You can say truthfully, you did not know of this until now.
Riyyh: If I told them now, I could.
Lalique: I will leave as soon as I can.
Riyyh nods.
Riyyh: I am sorry I cannot do better for you.
Riyyh has not gone out so far on a limb even for his own members very often.
Lalique shrugs.
Lalique: I understand how it is.
Lalique just hopes he will not hand her over to the Controller.
Lalique reminds herself that she is a fool to trust or get close to anyone, ever.
Lalique reasserts control of her nager and schools it to neutrality.
Lalique leaves the room.
Riyyh looks after her, and then turns back to the fire, wishing Nick to come back soon.
Notes:
1) According to canon, a junct can live on transfers most of the time but must still kill once or twice a year. A semi-junct has the junct's physical need for the kill but has lost the ability to force themselves to make their yearly kill. This happens when an otherwise mentally healthy junct learns to view Gens as human beings rather than as animals. While it is possible for a semi-junct to live indefinitely on transfers if they find a Gen matchmate, this is extremely rare. It is not clear what Lalique is referring to in her statement about Disenay's beliefs. Given some of the things Lalique says later in the episode, it is possible they were attempting to train as many Gens as possible in an effort to find matches for semi-juncts, and possibly taking more matchmaking risks than even Keon and Carre could countenance. [return]
2) killed = murdered? [return]