Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #19: Slumming It (7/22/00)
Arat remains ominously silent as he and Nick hike up a steep, muddy mountain trail in a light cool drizzle.
Arat is anxious to get some sort of estimate on how many renSimes and Gens they are dealing with, but the mud, drizzle and strenuous exercise scene is not his scene at all.
Nick is rather enjoying the change from nonstop work; hiking is very much his scene, although it is less scenic than it was before thousands of squatters started camping out in every clear spot, and lots that weren't.
Arat's silence began when they began to encounter pockets of shantytown complete with squalidly-living residents, which pretty much means as soon as they left the in-house meeting with the other Tecton personnel.
Arat is augmenting to avoid the exercise, but the rain and mud are unavoidable, and the there's the view....
Nick pauses at an overlook.
Arat's dark eyes study the trash, trampled mud, unwashed bodies and rickety structures with masochistic yet somewhat distanced intensity.
Arat: [yes, distanced intensity is possible; Arat does it all the time]
Nick: There are a few spots you can observe from here that will be hidden from above.
Arat stops when Nick does.
Arat: Very well. I will remember the place.
Nick points in the general direction of a narrow wrinkle in the topography.
Arat follows Nick's point.
Arat nods again, and then fishes in a pocket for a not-yet-filled handkerchief.
Nick can't see much through the trees at this distance, but zlinning isn't quite so handicapped.
Arat blows his nose for the 4,246th time.
Nick pats the inside pocket of his slicker with a bit of concern: Arat's handkerchief-consumption rate is a bit faster than Snake's, because of his larger sinuses and greater inclination to use them, and Nick isn't sure he's brought enough.
Nick: Do you want another antihistamine?
Nick: I'd hoped that getting away from the blasting dust would help.
Nick: ~~ concern ~~
Arat: It has.
Arat means, he hasn't been incapacitated by wheezing.
Nick clucks like a mother hen, notes the condition of Arat's handkerchief, and passes him another.
Arat uses that one too.
Arat had resigned himself to the side effects caused by the insect repellent, so at least he is not being mobbed by mosquitoes.
Arat is not dizzy enough for his work to be interfered with, but must concentrate carefully.
Arat: Let us move on. We will return here once it is determined which areas cannot be zlinned from above.
Arat would like to get this over with, and it is going to be a long day. It already seems like a long day.
Nick nods, and starts up the trail again.
Nick is glad that he's had a chance to get back in shape, after the soft life he was living in Capitol.
Nick spent his first week or two on the construction site wheezing as badly as Arat is now, in his efforts to keep up with Snake.
Arat has no intention of getting in shape now or ever; he is only climbing this mountain (with as much help as augmentation can provide) in the line of duty, and hopes it will not be necessary again for some time.
Arat in fact wouldn't have dreamed of doing this at all, except that he can't trust anybody but himself to do it right. The estimated head count, that is.
Nick comes around a corner, and finds himself walking into the wind.
Nick: You're not letting yourself get chilled, are you?
Arat: No. [automatically]
Nick puts his head down and slogs into the wind, wishing for a brief moment that he was able to augment, too.
Arat is used to augmenting as needed, when needed. A person of his rank and significance is more expensive to the Tecton if he allows himself to become ill or injured, than if he just spends the selyn to augment.
Arat just isn't used to doing quite this much augmenting.
Nick navigates the final scramble, and emerges on the relatively flat, almost unprotected promontory.
Arat arrives beside him, and surveys the job at hand.
Arat's sensitive Farris lips convey his disgust at the situation rather clearly.
Arat zlins the slopes as he waits for Nick to assemble the recordtaking materials.
Nick retreats to the shelter of a twisted tree (or large shrub, many would call it), in hopes of providing some shelter to his notebook.
Nick is glad he brought pencils instead of quills: ink would not be practical at all under these conditions.
Nick: Do you want to start with the closer camps, or the remote ones?
Nick adjusts his nager to aid distance precision zlinning.
Arat turns to look at Nick.
Arat had not been thinking at all in terms of a site-by-site head count, not today.
Arat had not hoped for better than a crowd-estimation as used in large public events.
Arat: I will attempt only a general evaluation of the situation, today.
Nick notes Arat's dismay, and secretes the notebook and pencil temporarily under the protection of his slicker.
Arat: The official count will have to be done by physically travelling to each site.
Nick abandons the almost-shelter of the tree and goes over to take Arat's hands.
Arat does not intend to be stuck with any part of that job, himself.
Arat has a preliminary plan to take four or five solid days of clinical work while most of the 2nds and 3rds handle the census.
Nick: Arat, this may be an impossible situation, but you've handled that sort of thing, before.
Nick: So has Snake, for that matter.
Arat's hands are cold and wet and covered with day old red mosquito bites.
Arat looks at Nick, trying to guess what point Nick is trying to make.
Nick's hands are wet and have dirt under the nails, but at least are throbbing with selyn production.
Nick: Together, you should make a nearly unbeatable team.
Nick overlooks for the moment the difficulties inherent in that small word "together".
Arat can zlin how cold Nick is getting, and frowns to himself. He does not know how he could have fulfilled this duty without Nick, and yet it is plainly wrong to subject a Donor to such conditions.
Nick: And this time, there's not going to be jealous higher-ups trying to micro-manage your plans down to their own level of incompetence.
Arat: Perhaps.
Arat thinks that Mr. Birch and the others would appear to be prepared to fill that void.
Arat hasn't even encountered any signs of Gen Territory officialdom yet, and he is sure they will have their say as well.
Nick is at least pretty sure that the Tecton administrators he's met would never travel up the muddy mountain in the rain, solely for the opportunity to sabotage Arat's plans.
Nick: You've got a free hand, to handle the situation as you see fit.
Arat nods.
Nick: And this time, they won't take it away from you, as they did New Othwol.
Arat's expression becomes somewhat strained at the mention of New Othwol.
Arat's expression may be due at least in part to the idea of all this never being taken away from him, though.
Arat lets go of Nick's hands and turns away in an attempt to hide his disquiet.
Nick: You're your own Controller here, Arat. Just like an old-time Sectuib.
Arat: That may be so.
Arat thinks that an old-time Sectuib would have commanded more respect from those in his House, however.
Arat: However, first before all else it will be necessary to secure a workable plan for selyn distribution.
Arat: Let me make the preliminary estimation and note which areas must be examined from other points. The less time this takes, the less chance of your taking ill.
Arat overlooks the fact that he is times more likely to take ill than Nick, chill or no.
Nick sighs, and steps back, once more adjusting his nager for assisting long-distance zlinning.
Nick thinks that being out here is much like being a rogue again, and then remembers his own assessment of Arat's chances of surviving as such.
Nick frowns.
Nick remembers Snake's attempts at mischief, and resolves to guard Arat closely for a while, until she has adjusted to his presence.
Arat zlins Nick's protectiveness, and feels reassured in a way the bodyguards lurking farther back on the trail can never reassure.
Nick: Arat, you should make time to reassure Snake. She's been fretting over what you would think of her.
Nick: And when she frets, she gets into mischief.
Arat hesitates, and then turns to look at Nick in some disbelief.
Nick does not see any point in mentioning specifics of pick-pocketing or barbering, just now.
Arat had initially operated on the assumption that what Snake thought of him was important, but had given it up after several months of failing to make any evident impression on her.
Arat: What sort of mischief?
Arat: I had thought that being here would prevent all of that.
Nick: She won't admit it, even to herself, but she cares a great deal about what you think of her.
Nick makes a ~~ calming ~~ gesture with hand and nager.
Nick: She hasn't done anything that could affect our mission here. Yet.
Nick at least hopes not.
Arat: Yet?
Arat's voice is a bit sharp, as he is starting to stress about what Nick might be suggesting is in store.
Arat: Explain.
Nick is starting to wish he'd never brought the subject up, however necessary it was.
Arat does not appreciate the delay, but then again if Nick has something serious to discuss regarding Snake and security, he can understand Nick wanting to talk about it up here, where word is unlikely to reach Snake.
Nick: So far, it's been limited to attempts at practical jokes, directed personally at you.
Nick: And she didn't object when I stopped her.
Nick: But if you two can't reach an accommodation, it may become more than that.
Nick: And Beni will have a harder time curbing her than I do.
Arat's eyes widen.
Arat: Practical jokes??
Arat is not the sort of person people play practical jokes on.
Nick is actually afraid that with Nick guarding Arat, Snake will simply choose an easier target that she thinks Arat will care about--and the dam site is a very large target.
Arat: What sort of practical jokes?
Nick: Harmless ones, so far, although they would have upset you.
Nick: Which is the reason for doing them, of course: she wants you to be as off-balance as she feels.
Arat looks disturbed and thoughtful.
Arat: She should not be housed with us.
Nick: If you send her somewhere else to live, you give her a free hand to do what she chooses to our current accommodations.
Arat looks even more uncomfortable at that.
Nick: Primitive as they are, I much prefer them without holes chopped in the roof, or broken windows, or sheet ice on the steps.
Arat will not be able to sleep a wink just knowing Snake has attempted mischief, and with her actually having free access to his living quarters....
Nick: And by refusing to share your home with her, you'd confirm to her that you are her enemy.
Nick: Believe me, you don't want her thinking of you as an enemy.
Arat: Does she not already?
Nick has rather vivid recollections of what befell some of Snake's enemies.
Arat distinctly recalls the incident of their meeting. In fact, he still bears distinct scars.
Arat had reached some level of civilization in their relations in Capitol when they worked closely together, but he had still been forced to watch her alertly at all times when they were together.
Nick: Arat, I think that you and I are the only people whose good opinion she values. And I'm not so sure she values mine.
Arat frowns, rubbing his hands together uneasily.
Arat: [that last may be because they itch though]
Arat still thinks that there is no way in hell he will live in the same hut with Snake given the knowledge of what she has tried. Well, vague knowledge of what she has tried.
Arat knows himself well enough to know that without a safe retreat to escape to, this new life will undo him almost immediately.
Arat: Well, I thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Arat knows that Nick, with his divided loyalties, might not have felt obligated to do so.
Nick is, of course, hoping to make the division of his loyalties less of a chasm.
Arat had been mentally drawing up a plan for some new buildings that would be required for the safe and sanitary distribution of selyn, to include new housing for the higher order channels. He mentally amends that to, new separate housing.
Nick is not convinced that Arat took his suggestions in quite the spirit he'd hoped.
Nick: Arat, Snake needs her father, however little she shows it.
Nick: And....
Nick hesitates.
Nick: Wouldn't you like a daughter, too?
Nick has met Clerfia, and is aware that Arat might not place as much value on his children as might be hoped.
Arat looks at Nick oddly.
Arat: I do not reject her as a daughter, if that is what you are asking.
Arat means, as an obligation he must uphold, due to the accident of her genetics.
Nick: You haven't accepted her as one, however.
Arat: I have done everything for her that I can.
Nick: Or rather, you've accepted her as an unwelcome burden, not an opportunity.
Arat frowns. He is used to thinking of Snake as an unwelcome burden, but not in the sense Nick seems to imply.
Arat: [or at least, so he has told himself]
Arat: An opportunity for what?
Nick: An opportunity to share your life with someone who's important to you.
Arat looks at Nick as if Nick just suggested Arat wear a flower pot on his head and entertain the World Controller with a shiltpron.
Arat: ~~astonished dismay~~
Arat: There is a difference between someone who is important, and someone I would want to "share my life with", as you put it.
Arat has only ever shared his life with one person, and some might argue that person is getting the short end of the stick.
Arat can't even imagine having that level of intimacy with Snake.
Nick: Snake grew up wondering what sort of man her father was, hoping for the best, and fearing the worst.
Nick: I expect you turned out to be more impressive than she'd let herself hope.
Nick isn't extrapolating too far: most Farrises are well above average, impressiveness-wise.
Arat seems puzzled by that statement.
Arat thinks that if she is so impressed, why doesn't she act it?
Arat: That was not the impression I had gotten.
Arat's reports from 3rd parties had consisted mainly of stories of Snake putting Arat down in creative and sometimes distressingly perceptive ways.
Nick: Now, instead of worrying that her father was a drunken bum whom she couldn't possibly respect, she worries that you will never respect her.
Arat: Erratic behavior and malicious pranks are scarcely the way to go about gaining what she seeks.
Arat must be disturbed by what Nick is suggesting, or he never would have acknowledged that he may have a point.
Nick: For all her talent as a channel, she was raised on the streets of Bender Cove. When has she ever had a chance to learn how to earn respect from someone like you?
Nick discounts the two years at Zeor: he has long since dismissed them as bunglers.
Arat: I have attempted to teach her.
Arat: However, we have never connected on a personal level.
Arat does not find this admission as distressing as some might; he rarely connects with anybody on a personal level.
Nick sighs.
Arat: There is no way to meet her overtures, without enduring some attempt at humiliation. I cannot condone that, nor correctly do anything but ignore it.
Nick: She cares about your opinion, Arat. Why else would she try and humiliate you? She hasn't bothered to go after other people like that in all the time I've known her.
Nick considers.
Nick: At least, not after her immediate goal was won.
Nick: She certainly never spent half the effort going after my father.
Nick ignores for a moment the fact that it takes much less Snakeish effort to reduce Riyyh to a gibbering puddle of jello.
Arat blinks.
Arat is rarely compared to Riyyh, at least when the speaker is sober.
Arat frowns.
Nick: And for a while, she wanted to take over Naros.
Arat: You found yourself in much the similar situation. [notes]
Nick is just as glad that he isn't doomed to be First Companion in a rabbit warren policed by a weasel.
Arat: You found your father in someone you hadn't expected.
Nick found his grandfather, too, but that's neither here nor there.
Nick: That's different. I grew up thinking that my mother's husband was my father. Snake never had a father at all.
Arat tucks his hands into his cloak, as his laterals are getting cold, augmentation or no.
Nick: And now that she has one, she isn't quite sure how to handle it.
Nick: You at least have had other children.
Nick ignores for a moment that Arat's parenthood has been largely in absentia.
Arat's parenthood has also consisted only of sane children, in the past.
Arat: I have made it clear what I expect from her.
Nick: I know. But you haven't let her know that she can earn your approval, and your affection, if she does what you expect.
Arat looks rather defensive at that.
Arat: I would demonstrate my approval, were she to comply with my guidelines.
Arat thinks it is not his fault that she has so far refused to do so.
Nick: She complies with some of them, and has managed to achieve some of your goals using other means.
Nick: Show her genuine approval for that, and she'll be willing to do a great deal to earn more.
Arat thinks that approval of Snake as an employee is a good deal different from approval as a daughter.
Arat thinks that "affection" is a lifetime away from either of those.
Arat also thinks that he has not failed to show appropriate levels of approval for Snake's legitimate channelling work, and resents the implication that he has.
Arat's manner becomes correspondingly chilly and distant.
Arat: Be that as it may, we had best get to work.
Nick sighs, and retrieves his notebook.
Nick just hopes that he has managed to implant a few fruitful ideas.
Go on to Episode #20: Them's the Rules
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